The two of them came to room 602 and searched everywhere, taking all the usable containers to gather water. There wasn't time to wait for the water to fill up, so Wang Tao took Ding Yuqin back downstairs to other rooms. He also took the opportunity to remind the bald uncle.
The bald uncle was also a smart man, already collecting water, but he still expressed his gratitude for Wang Tao's reminder.
After being busy all morning, they finally managed to fill up all the containers in these empty apartments with water. Wang Tao was ready to take Ding Yuqin back to cook.
"Ah! Suddenly, I remember I haven't stored water in my house…"
Ding Yuqin suddenly slapped her forehead, looking somewhat embarrassed.
"...Then let's go to your place first; we can cook later."
Actually, Wang Tao had forgotten as well.
"Thank you!"
Coming out of 201, when they got to the fourth floor, Wang Tao suddenly heard some noise from room 401.
Wang Tao didn't speak, while Ding Yuqin instinctively hid behind him, nervously clutching the corner of his clothes.
She didn't know there were survivors inside; she thought they were zombies.
Wang Tao made a hushing gesture and then went to the front of room 401 to listen closely.
He faintly heard a man's voice inside cursing under his breath, complaining about the power outage that caused him to be unable to play his games, but as he cursed, he began to cry.
Wang Tao was somewhat speechless. Is electricity really the focus right now? It should be how to survive from now on!
Ding Yuqin obviously heard the voice inside too but, unlike Wang Tao's bafflement, she could somewhat understand why the person would be addicted to gaming.
It wasn't because the games were so much fun, but because he had already given up hope. He didn't want to face this world of despair; he was escaping reality.
"If I didn't have Wang Tao, maybe I'd be the same..."
Ding Yuqin felt a bit relieved in her heart.
"Let's go."
Wang Tao shook his head. After all, it was someone else's affair, and he didn't want to meddle too much.
Reaching the fifth floor, Ding Yuqin invited Wang Tao into her apartment.
"It's a bit messy inside..."
Ding Yuqin was slightly embarrassed.
This was Wang Tao's first visit to her place.
Ding Yuqin's apartment had the same layout as the one upstairs, 602, with three bedrooms and two living rooms. However, her home was decorated more cozily and felt more lived-in.
The "mess" she referred to was the pile of filmmaking props in the living room.
"These are all from Brother Zhao's work; he doesn't let me tidy them up... Don't mind the mess in the house."
"It's not much different from my place."
Wang Tao smiled and shook his head; if it weren't for Ding Yuqin's help, his place would be even messier.
"Let's get water first."
"Okay."
After being busy for a while and preparing all the usable containers, with all the taps open, Ding Yuqin said to Wang Tao:
"Wang Tao, I'll watch over it. It will take a while to fill up the bathtub with water. You can sit for a bit..."
"Alright."
Wang Tao nodded in agreement, but didn't sit down; instead, he walked around her apartment.
Her living room was spacious with excellent natural lighting.
A huge picture frame hung on the wall above the sofa.
In the photo, a woman in a white bridal gown intimately held the arm of the man beside her, her face beaming with joy. The man in formal attire gazed at the woman with deep affection, his eyes tender as water... Under the bright sunshine, they seemed to be glowing.
The people on top were indeed Ding Yuqin and her husband Zhao Yuan.
Next to the sofa, there was a floor-standing coat rack with a pure white strapless wedding dress hanging on it.
This was the same style as the one Ding Yuqin wore in her wedding photos, or perhaps it was the very same dress. It was normal for wealthy people to purchase their favorite wedding dresses.
Wang Tao glanced at the photo and then at the wedding dress.
It was said that those with smaller busts couldn't pull off this type of wedding dress, and he always felt that some parts of Ding Yuqin in the picture had traces of photoshopping. Unfortunately, he had no way to prove it.
"Wang Tao, I'll get you a glass of water!"
Ding Yuqin came out of the bathroom; she felt it was inappropriate to invite Wang Tao into her home without offering even a glass of water.
Although it was the apocalypse, it was still early days, and she retained the courtesy she had before.
By the time Ding Yuqin came over with a glass of water, Wang Tao suddenly asked:
"Brother Zhao had contacted you earlier, hadn't he? How is he doing now?"
"He... I'm afraid his chances are slim."
Talking about her husband, Ding Yuqin's face instantly showed a hint of sorrow.
"He went to the film city for work early that day. After the virus outbreak, he kept sending me messages, asking me to hold on for rescue. But the day before the network went down, he stopped messaging. No matter how I messaged him, he wouldn't reply... sob sob..."
As she spoke of her sorrow, Ding Yuqin covered her face and cried.
"Brother Zhao is blessed by the heavens, and perhaps he is safe now. Maybe he's not replying because his phone's battery has died. Sister-in-law, don't worry too much..."
Wang Tao consoled her.
"Sigh, it's impossible. He told me at that time that he had borrowed a power bank, look, if you don't believe me..."
Ding Yuqin, while dabbing her tears, picked up her phone from the table.
Though the internet was down now, the chat software still revealed the local chat history.
However, after flipping to the chat history, she suddenly blushed and put her phone away.
"Ahem, the records were deleted... um, I'll go check if the water is filled."
Ding Yuqin wiped her tears and quickly left with her pink and white sneakers.
She was obviously lying, but Wang Tao thought it might be because she had some private messages with Zhao Yuan that she didn't want outsiders to see, so he didn't mind.
But in reality, in the chat history between Ding Yuqin and Zhao Yuan, Zhao Yuan had said some things about Wang Tao that weren't very nice, and Ding Yuqin dared not show them to Wang Tao. Otherwise, if Wang Tao got upset and stopped looking after her, she could only wait to die...
When the apocalypse arrived, Zhao Yuan couldn't make it back, so all he could do was comfort Ding Yuqin while trying to figure something out. Then Zhao Yuan heard from other survivors that Wang Tao was at home.
In terms of physical fitness, men definitely had an advantage over women. In a chaotic environment, having a man around was certainly more convenient, especially someone like Wang Tao who was strong and imposing.
The couple, Zhao Yuan and Ding Yuqin, were neighbors with Wang Tao. Although their relationship with Wang Tao wasn't particularly close, it was at least not bad.
So, Zhao Yuan messaged Wang Tao, hoping that Wang Tao could take care of Ding Yuqin. After the chaos subsided, he would definitely thank Wang Tao.
But Wang Tao didn't reply to any messages.
At the time of the apocalypse, a saying was circulating in some small circles: the better one's physical condition, the less likely they were to become infected with the virus; the worse one's physical condition, the more susceptible they were to infection.
Wang Tao also saw this baseless claim online later, and he didn't agree with it. Instead, he felt it was an excuse concocted by some people who wanted to abandon the weak and the vulnerable.
But it didn't matter if he believed it or not, others did. For example, Zhao Yuan believed it.
Therefore, Zhao Yuan suspected that Wang Tao was deliberately not replying to his messages and didn't want to help his wife.
Of course, suspicion was just suspicion; Zhao Yuan continued to message Wang Tao courteously.
But in his chats with Ding Yuqin, Zhao Yuan cursed Wang Tao, complaining about all the bad things Wang Tao had done and threatening to make Wang Tao pay in the future.
This was actually a display of impotent rage.
Zhao Yuan loved his wife dearly and didn't want her to get hurt.
But sadly, he was powerless.