"Yeah, you were also about to cook, weren't you? By the way, how did you sleep last night?"
Upon hearing Li Ming greet her, a smile spread across Zhang Yuan's face, revealing her pearly white teeth as she responded.
"Thanks to your massage, I slept really well and woke up without any aches and pains."
Li Ming dared not look at the skin revealed on her body, instead, he focused on her eyes, forcing a standard smile as he responded.
"You really shouldn't exercise so intensely before bed. Remember, don't crank up the power of the stove hood when you're cooking, I'm afraid it might make too much noise and attract some monsters."
There was a tired look on Zhang Yuan's face. The howls and screams of zombies the night before had disrupted both her and her husband's sleep. They dared not even turn on the lights, staying scared and tense until they finally fell into a daze of sleep.
Despite having woken up, she still felt a bit listless, and every little noise in the house made her jumpy.
She was afraid to cook this morning and only braved it at noon due to extreme hunger, coincidentally bumping into Li Ming.
Afraid that the noise of the stove hood would attract a monster?
Li Ming looked at her with a puzzled gaze, but seeing her exhaustion and worry, he nodded in agreement.
Upon Li Ming's agreement, Zhang Yuan breathed a sigh of relief. She gave him a smile, turned around, and headed towards the kitchen to start cooking.
After the scare the night before, her husband Peng Zhi was temporarily not in the mood for scheming, causing Zhang Yuan to forget all about the issue of borrowing food.
Their normal city life had conditioned them to think that food wasn't a hard thing to acquire.
Since they hadn't said anything, Li Ming naturally knew nothing of their thoughts. Hungry as he was, he didn't have the energy to think about it now, so he followed Zhang Yuan into the kitchen as she went in to cook.
The shared kitchen wasn't big, even though it was a communal one. Thankfully, there were two stoves that allowed two people to cook at the same time.
Selecting ingredients, chopping vegetables, the two in the cramped space, moved back and forth inevitably brushing past each other, making it hard to control their feelings.
Li Ming dared not look at Zhang Yuan's bare legs and skin, let alone think about the softness he accidentally touched. He quickly stir fried his own dish, bid her a quick goodbye and left the kitchen.
The rice was still in his room, and he intended to eat there.
"Phew, I should manage my time better."
After devouring his meal, Li Ming looked at the rice cooker and the leftovers, feeling slightly worried, his urge to gather more resources grew stronger.
If one day the gas ran out and there was a power outage, even with all the food, how would he live here?
"I should still have enough gas for two months, guess I'll have to stock up on alcohol blocks."
Planning in his head, Li Ming touched his sore arm, sighing a bit.
It's too early to think about these things now, better to wait until he feels confident facing the zombies.
With that thought, Li Ming took his dishes to the kitchen to clean them. Then he washed up, returned to his room, and lay down on the bed to rest.
The room was a bit hot without air conditioning, but he had grown accustomed to it. Under the drive of exhaustion, Li Ming quickly fell asleep.
The sounds of the zombies still echoed in the world, roaming as if they never felt tired.
Li Ming woke up after only half an hour of sleep, took a deep breath, and felt much better.
"I've recovered my strength, time to start practicing!"
The energy crisis he faced today made Li Ming feel an even greater sense of urgency. He was afraid he'd face the crisis before he had acquired enough power.
Getting up from the bed in a hurry, Li Ming drew his long sword and stood in his room, recalling all the brand-new fencing techniques he had learned in his head, and began practicing fencing over and over again in his room.
[Lunge technique proficiency +1]
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The afternoon sun was still as bright as ever, making the room sultry.
Drops of air-conditioning water dripped from high above. The small, distinct sounds attracted a zombie that stood there, blankly watching.
Upstairs, a man and a woman were very nervous.
"Phew, see, I told you it was fine."
Seeing no movement from the zombie below, Peng Zhi pulled back the mirror he was using to watch below and smiled at his wife.
"Honey, I still think it might be dangerous. It's very dangerous outside now, if we were to attract zombies by using the air conditioner, that would be really bad."
Zhang Yuan was hiding in the room. Seeing her husband retracting the mirror and feeling the cool wind from the air conditioner, she couldn't help but speak up.
"Hey, what's there to be afraid of, we're so high up, what could it possibly hear?"
Peng Zhi shrugged it off, looked at the last pear on the table, took a bite and said, "Besides, what if we get a heat stroke because we didn't turn on the air conditioner in such hot weather? Trust me, turn it on. "
"If anything, we can turn it off at night."
Peng Zhi took another big bite of pear, feeling the sweetness spreading in his mouth, his whole body felt satisfied to the point of relaxation.
Upon hearing Peng Zhi's words, Zhang Yuan frowned but acceded due to the coolness provided by the air conditioning. Then she looked at Peng Zhi munching on the pear and complained, "Eating again? We only had three pears. Weren't we supposed to save them for later?"
"It's just a pear, we have to eat it eventually. Here, let me cut you half. What if it spoils or gets infested with bugs?"
Peng Zhi shrugged, cut a half of the unbiten pear with a fruit knife and handed it to her with a cheerful smile, "After we are rescued, we'll have as many pears as we want."
Seeing that the pear was already eaten, there was no use in further objections. Zhang Yuan angrily took the half pear and started eating it.
Actually, eating a crisp pear in the hot summer felt like quite the luxury.
Zhang Yuan squinted her eyes in satisfaction. After she finished eating, she touched her sweaty skin, got up, collected two pieces of clothing, and went to the bathroom to take a shower.
Peng Zhi sat leisurely at the end of the bed playing a game, completely losing track of time. In the meantime, his wife came out to check her downloaded TV shows on her phone, but he didn't mind.
In the blink of an eye, the afternoon passed, and it gradually darkened outside.
"Honey, it's time to cook."
Realizing the lights weren't on, Peng Zhi hurriedly switched them on and called Zhang Yuan to cook.
"Understood."
Zhang Yuan put down her phone, stretched, sat up from the bed, gathered the dishes, and got ready to start cooking.
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[Lunge Technique (67% Beginner Level)]
"Enough, let's stretch and go cook."
Li Ming breathed heavily, feeling as if he had no strength left to hold the sword. He gave up on continuing training, sheathed his long sword, and began to grimace as he stretched his muscles in his room.
When his muscles felt a bit more relaxed after stretching, Li Ming then opened the door to go cook. As he opened the door, a fragrant draft hit him. He turned his head to see a freshly groomed Zhang Yuan passing by him.
Li Ming gave her a smile, greeted her briefly, and quickly started preparing his dinner.