The entire building has experienced a power outage, and the hotel's sensor-based door locks are programmed to unlock during special situations to prevent guests from being trapped in their rooms. As a result, the key cards have become ineffective.
In such a situation, if someone is inside a room, they can manually lock it from the inside. However, there is no way to lock the door from the outside, which means that as soon as you leave your room, there is a possibility of someone invading it.
The sophisticated man is aware of this, so even though he knows that staying inside will expose his actions, he doesn't dare to take the risk.
At least, the supplies of water and food he gathered can sustain him for a while.
Unfortunately, today everyone, except for Sea Lily, either had a half-filled stomach or barely ate anything. As night fell, their hunger grew, making it impossible to sleep. They had no choice but to get up and find something to eat.
Aunt Li was one of them. She now shares a room with Aunt Wang and Wang's daughter, Xiao Yu. Aunt Wang complained that no one is taking care of them, the widowed mother and daughter. Although Aunt Li had a fish to eat, she is small in stature and lacks meat, so she felt hungry again in the late hours of the night. The two of them gathered together to vent their frustrations, and during their conversation, they brought up the topic of the missing food.
Unlike the food salvaged by others today, Aunt Li believed that they should have their fair share of the food in this place, and that despicable thief took what rightfully belonged to them.
It was only fair for them to get it back!
"Can you all tell me if I'm right or not?" Aunt Li didn't feel the slightest guilt this time. She believed that everyone felt the same way. "Why should one person take everything from the hotel? It should be shared among all of us!"
The sophisticated man sneered, "I have no idea what you're talking about." As he attempted to close the door, Aunt Li agilely squeezed through the doorframe. The sophisticated man was too late to close it, and Aunt Li shouted, "It was him! He's the one who stole it! I saw him taking a lot of things!"
As she shouted, a tantalizing aroma of instant noodles wafted out, causing everyone to instinctively salivate.
Even on a normal night, a bowl of instant noodles would be a great temptation, let alone now, after being hungry all day.
The sophisticated man started to panic. He forcefully pushed the door, trying to push Aunt Li out, but she firmly held onto the doorframe and even began to scold him, "Are you trying to kill someone? Isn't there any justice left in this world?"
Aunt Wang, wearing a troubled expression, nudged her pregnant daughter's bulging belly. "Young man, look at my daughter. She's five months pregnant, but she hasn't eaten anything today. Adults can endure, but children can't. You have so much food, can you spare some for us?"
The refined man didn't buy into their tactics and sneered, "So what if the items are in my possession? First come, first served. You didn't grab them yourselves, and now you want to snatch them from me. What kind of logic is that?"
Tang Tang couldn't help but interject, "Then let us buy from you. How much do you want?"
The refined man seemed to have heard a big joke, "You must be mistaken. What use is money at a time like this? I won't give it to you. Get out!"
Aunt Li, being older, couldn't compete with this strong and vigorous man. He shoved her out of the door.
With a loud bang, the refined man closed the door, cutting off the aroma of instant noodles.
Hai Baihe began seriously considering whether to go and grab a pack of instant noodles to eat. She was hungry too.
Aunt Li was furious and pointed at the others, "Am I doing this for myself? Isn't it for everyone to seek justice? You young people have thin skin, but I'm not afraid. Why should he be the only one to devour everything? Are we supposed to starve to death?"
It wasn't just her who was hungry and thirsty. Aunt Li's words struck a chord with everyone. Yes, were they supposed to starve and die of thirst? This was originally public property, and it wasn't fair for him to monopolize it. They needed to support each other to survive.
The rest looked at each other, but no one took the first step. They maintained this last layer of dignity. Finally, Zhao Dali looked around, walked over, and knocked on the door.
No response came from inside.
Zhao Dali knocked heavily again and said in a deep voice, "Brother, think it through. You can't hide in there forever. You'll have to come out once the food is finished. Aren't you afraid of our revenge?"
"Survive until that day, then we'll talk." The mocking voice from inside the door stirred everyone's nerves.
Lv Chao became highly alert. He went into the room next to the refined man, climbed over the wall, and tapped on his window. "If you don't come out now, we'll break the door."
The refined man swiftly pulled the curtains shut.
Zhao Dali continued, "If you come out now, we won't hold you accountable for the food you've eaten. The rest will be evenly distributed among all of us. But if you don't come out, we'll go in, leave you with nothing, and won't look for food together afterwards. Think about it carefully."
Upon hearing this, Hai Baihe already knew the outcome.
Sure enough, a few minutes later, the door opened.
Sophisticated Man - Now revealing his name as Min Jie - had consumed a limited amount of food throughout the day, with some remnants of pies and instant noodles. The most delightful thing was the water. The hotel had several dozen rooms, each containing two bottles of water. Everyone was able to receive five bottles each.
On the surface, this distribution seemed fair, but in reality, the distributor, Zhao Da Li, showed favoritism. He kept the instant noodles for himself, Lv Chao, and Liu Kai, while distributing pieces of pie to a few girls.
Hai Baihe and Liang Xiao had no objections to this allocation.
Back in their room, Liang Xiao couldn't help but sigh, "Today's events..." He shook his head, unable to continue, "From now on, we need to be cautious."
Though they didn't say anything explicitly, accepting the distribution meant they became accomplices. But they had no choice but to accept it. First, they needed to survive, and second, if they refused, others might suspect them of having ulterior motives.
And then they would become the second Min Jie.
However, the apparent benefit of receiving more food masked the chilling problem that had surfaced.
In a world devoid of law and state machinery, morality alone was insufficient to constrain people's behavior. For the sake of survival, humans were capable of anything.
Hai Baihe fell silent for a moment before speaking, "I particularly despise some post-apocalyptic novels that use survival as an excuse to extinguish human nature. If being born human means only living for survival, I would rather be a fish."
Within her bloodline flowed another lineage distinct from that of humans. Though lacking evidence, she firmly believed in it.
Her bloodline brought her many advantages, almost as if she had unlocked special abilities. She had a sense of affinity towards this unclear bloodline and admitted that she was not purely human. She was also very curious about the mysterious genes within her bloodline.
But occasionally, she had concerns. Would there come a day when the animalistic aspect of her blood overwhelmed her humanity? What would she become?
Would she lose her humanity and transform into a creature driven solely by instinct?
Liang Xiao was unaware of her worries, assuming she was concerned. Unusually gentle, he said, "Don't worry, I will protect you at least."
Hai Baihe suppressed her sentimental thoughts and rolled her eyes. "Forget it, I'll just take care of you, boyfriend." She tilted her head, her eyes filled with a playful glimmer. "The sea is my world."
She proved her words through actions.
The next day, Liang Xiao woke up to find her sitting outside the window, eating...eating pomelos? When she noticed he was awake, she pointed at him and said, "I prepared breakfast for you."
Liang Xiao followed her finger and saw a pack of biscuits, a carton of milk, and a bottle of mouthwash.
Using mineral water for brushing teeth was too extravagant, and using seawater wouldn't do. But not brushing teeth was unbearable due to the taste. So, when the sea lilies dived down to the supermarket today, she specially brought back some toothpaste.
Liang Xiao rinsed his mouth, wiped his face with a wet towel, shaved using a razor, soaked the biscuits in milk, and inexplicably felt like a wicked imperial concubine.
After finishing breakfast, Hai Baihe waved for him to come over. When she chose the room earlier, she had an extra thought. This was the best room in the hotel, with a large terrace, and it was the easternmost one. She sat on the windowsill facing east, where people from the west couldn't see what she was doing.
Liang Xiao opened the window and sat down. Hai Baihe handed him the remaining half of the pomelo. "I got lucky to find this."
"You went diving?" Liang Xiao peeled a piece of pomelo and was about to put it in his mouth when he caught sight of Hai Baihe squinting her eyes in a playful manner. On impulse, he changed the direction of his hand and offered it to her lips.
To be honest, making love is the most intimate act between lovers, but interestingly, making love doesn't necessarily mean good feelings, while feeding each other is different.
The intimacy of feeding is not as intense as making love, but it reflects the quality of affection.
Hai Baihe didn't expect him to feed her and hesitated for a moment before slowly biting into the pomelo meat.
Liang Xiao continued peeling the pomelo as if nothing had happened. He pretended that their previous act was not driven by desire but merely a casual gesture.
The sun rose, and the sea sparkled. Hai Baihe enjoyed the sea breeze brushing against her face and couldn't help but think that there was a hint of sweetness, not from the pomelo, but from her heart...
Liang Xiao silently finished half of the pomelo, casually put it in a bag, and threw it into the sea to dispose of the remains.
As he was about to turn back to the room, Hai Baihe suddenly grabbed his collar, forcing him to lower his head. She bit his lips and then let go, pouting. "Hmph!"
Liang Xiao: "..." What did he just do? Was he wrong?
After breakfast, they went to the rooftop for a walk. Yezi and Tangtang were distilling water by the fire pit. The sunlight was directly shining on them, making their cheeks rosy. Tangtang couldn't help but say, "Yezi, I can't stand it anymore. It's so hot."
Yezi was also sweating profusely, and she inexplicably felt a surge of anger. "You think I'm not hot?"
"Then let's stop," Tangtang pouted. "We already got water yesterday."
"With the weather so hot, how long do you think that water will last you?" Yezi licked her dry lips. "By the time you feel thirsty, it will be too late."
Tangtang felt wronged. "Yezi, how can you say that? Don't you see that I'm hot too?"
Yezi bit her lip and whispered, "I'm sorry."
"Let's wait until evening, it won't be hot then," Tangtang quickly reached a resolution with her friend.
Yezi agreed to this suggestion.
Just as they were about to go downstairs, Charlie and Liu Kai came up carrying several sheets. Hai Baihe glanced at them, puzzled. Could it be that they were planning to sunbathe?
It turned out she had a corrupt mind.
They used the sheets to spell out a huge SOS, hoping that a rescue helicopter would spot it.
After completing all of this, Zhang Li ran up and said, "There's some food washed up over there." She and Bai Wenwen lived together, and their relationship had gradually improved. They had planned to explore and see if any new items had been washed up today.
The area near the emergency exit was a blind spot, and many things had washed up and stayed there. In addition to some clothes and plastic tables and chairs, there were also a few packets of puffed snacks.
Originally, Zhang Li and Bai Wenwen planned to secretly inflate a raft and bring it back up. But they got caught red-handed by Auntie Li and Auntie Wang, and the two aunties immediately started quarreling. Since the secret was out, Zhang Li decisively informed everyone.
By the time Hai Baihe and Liang Xiao reached downstairs, the argument had already escalated into a heated battle.