"Hoo—"
Seeing that Wang Tao had agreed, Ding Yuqin finally breathed a sigh of relief.
She had already prepared herself to be rejected by Wang Tao; after all, yesterday he didn't even want to let her into the house—thinking of this, she still harbored some minor grudges in her heart.
Wang Tao opened the door and handed a slightly smaller parcel to Ding Yuqin.
"Sister-in-law, could you help me take this inside?"
"Sure—ow!"
After Ding Yuqin took it, she felt a heavy weight in her hands; she was too weak, scarcely having any strength at all.
Wang Tao reached out to support the bundle, somewhat helplessly saying:
"Sister-in-law, if it's too much, I can do it..."
"Ahem, it's fine, I can manage!"
She finally found an excuse to enter Wang Tao's house and didn't want to waste the opportunity.
"Alright then."
Wang Tao let go and watched as Ding Yuqin shakily carried the small bundle inside. He quickly brought the rest of the items back to his house, then closed the door.
"Wow~"
Ding Yuqin knew that Wang Tao had a lot of supplies, but she was still somewhat astounded when she actually laid eyes on these things.
"Sigh, they are just some useless stuff..."
Wang Tao sighed.
Most of these items were miscellaneous. The truly important things, such as food, were not plentiful. As for weapons, only those three steel rods passed muster; for the time being, they were indeed of little use.
"...Ahem, Wang Tao, how about I help you tidy up? Your place is too messy!"
Ding Yuqin ignored Wang Tao's ostentation, getting busy organizing as she spoke.
"Sure."
Wang Tao didn't refuse.
His house was indeed in disarray. He had spent the last few days either eating, sleeping, exercising, or fighting zombies, with no time to clean up.
Today, Ding Yuqin wore a form-fitting white dress that accentuated her figure, her hair tied up high, revealing a slender and exquisite neck, with a platinum necklace deeply nestled in her cleavage.
Perhaps knowing that there were no zombie threats in the hallway, she also wore a pair of impractical caramel high heels. Paired with flesh-colored stockings clinging to her skin, they added much sensuality and allure.
Wang Tao watched as she crouched on the ground, deftly categorizing items, before finally pulling his gaze away from her legs.
Watching Wang Tao's retreating figure, Ding Yuqin's tense body finally relaxed a little.
She could feel Wang Tao's unrestrained gaze sweeping over her body, and she had started to regret dressing up so much. If Wang Tao lost control of his animal instincts... she wouldn't be able to resist.
At the time, she was just thinking that since she was asking for help, she should at least appear clean and tidy, rather than sloppy and unkempt.
Fortunately, Wang Tao only watched her for a while and then left, without making any inappropriate moves.
"How could I doubt Wang Tao? If it weren't for him, I'd have starved. He's a good man!"
...
In the bathroom, Wang Tao took off his gear and carefully set aside the books inside; these were vital for survival and couldn't get wet.
Then he removed the coat stained with some zombie blood and washed it separately with water. After rinsing the coat, he stripped off the rest of his clothes and washed them in the machine.
While bathing, he looked at the bruise on his right arm and frowned.
This was where he had been injured today, a zombie slapped away 5 drops of his HP.
During the fight and scavenging before, he had not felt pain. But now, whenever he touched hot water or even lightly brushed the area, he felt a piercing pain, and he started to wonder if the bone had been injured.
Wang Tao had been thinking before that he had only been slapped by a zombie, without any wound or serious pain, so why did he lose 5 HP? After all, his total HP was barely over a hundred. Wouldn't it mean that a few more slaps from a zombie could kill him outright?
It seemed a bit unreasonable to him.
But now it appeared that it wasn't unreasonable at all, but rather very reasonable. That's because there's a limit to human pain endurance.
It's not that you only die by being decapitated or stabbed in the heart. Even some superficial pains can be enough to kill a person from pain alone.
The bruise on Wang Tao surely wasn't fatal, but if he accumulated more of these types of injuries, even to the bone, he might die of pain. So losing 5 HP was quite reasonable.
This HP bar didn't just represent the HP amount like in some games, but also represented the condition of one's health.
That also explained why Ding Yuqin's HP bar was only at 15.
Although Ding Yuqin wasn't attacked, her health kept dropping under conditions of hunger and fear. Without help, she might end up dying from starvation or fear...
After the bath, Wang Tao put on long pants and a tank top, exposing his arms. The bruise was painful to the touch, and although he could endure it, he saw no need to torture himself.
Ding Yuqin was rather capable, it had to be said.
In the time it took for Wang Tao to bathe, she had already sorted many items. Everything was neatly placed together, creating a comfortable visual.
"Yu Qin, no rush, take a break."
Wang Tao spoke.
"Ah? No, no, it's okay, just give me a moment!"
Ding Yuqin looked up, and upon seeing Wang Tao's explosively muscular figure and his somewhat unfamiliar but handsome face, she quickly lowered her head again.
Before long, they had sorted the items into simple categories. There weren't too many things and no need to categorize them too meticulously.
Wang Tao saved these items with the mentality that it was wasteful to throw them away. Whether they would be useful or not was another story.
Ding Yuqin's legs were feeling a bit sore from squatting; as she prepared to stand up, she suddenly felt a wave of darkness before her eyes, and her body started to uncontrollably fall backwards.
Wang Tao, quick as lightning, caught Ding Yuqin's waist with his arm.
"Yu Qin, are you alright?"
Ding Yuqin's face was extremely pale, and the words 'losing HP' even appeared above her head.
[-5]
[10/100]
Good lord, just tidying things up and she's losing HP? Found a scam, did she?
And now that she's down to such low HP, wouldn't it be game over with just a slap—Wang Tao thought with a bit of wicked amusement.
"I'm fine... maybe just a bit anemic..."
After recuperating in Wang Tao's arms for a while, Ding Yuqin quickly struggled free, a bit embarrassed as she tidied the hair beside her ear, her pale face flushing slightly with a tinge of red.
"Hmm? Are you injured?" But when she saw the bruise on Wang Tao's arm, she let out a gasp, instinctively stepping back.
"Yeah."
Wang Tao nodded his head, not elaborating much, since being injured was nothing to brag about.
Ding Yuqin initially thought Wang Tao might have been infected. However, seeing that it was just a bruise without any wound, and that Wang Tao was quite composed, she breathed a sigh of relief.
Feeling that her step back might have been an inappropriate reaction, Ding Yuqin hurriedly stepped forward and grasped Wang Tao's arm, gently stroking around the muscles near the bruise, saying softly:
"I have some experience with treating bruises and injuries..."