Liu Ruoyan had previously thought that this man was the aloof type.
But now, looking at what he had done and listening to what he had said, she knew that the whole "aloof" thing was the biggest misunderstanding she had of him.
Liu Ruoyan lowered her eyes to look at the ring handed in front of her.
The ring was entirely silver-white, about one centimeter wide, with a simple design and no carvings or decorations on it.
When the spikes weren't showing, no one would give it a second glance.
Just as the man had said, if she wore it on her hand, others would only think it was a piece of jewelry and wouldn't be the least bit on guard.
In peaceful times, there was naturally no need for such a thing.
But in the dog-eat-dog apocalypse, this could be considered a trump card.
Liu Ruoyan was quite tempted.
But the price...
The man had said she could offer whatever price she liked. But how was she supposed to do that?
After some consideration, Liu Ruoyan quoted a price, "Fifty thousand yuan."
This was still the price the man had quoted before.
"Deal!"
Hearing the man's agreement, Liu Ruoyan didn't say another word. She directly opened the crossbody bag she was carrying and took out fifty thousand yuan in cash from it.
Fifty thousand yuan was no small amount. The thick stack of cash in her hand was quite eye-catching.
Seeing the money Liu Ruoyan handed over, Zhang Yuan was a bit surprised, "You carry so much cash with you?"
Liu Ruoyan nodded as a matter of course, "Yes! Now places don't accept mobile payments anymore. You need cash to buy anything."
The continuous intense heat, being active at night and resting during the day, water and power outages, school and work suspensions.
Coupled with the increasingly intense talk of the apocalypse on the Internet, people had become vigilant.
Except for large shopping malls and supermarkets, other places basically only accepted cash.
Therefore, every time Liu Ruoyan went out, she would carry a rather large bag to hold cash or the supplies she had bought.
Hearing Liu Ruoyan's explanation, Zhang Yuan nodded in understanding. He took the money Liu Ruoyan handed over with one hand and handed the ring over with the other.
After the transaction was completed and she got the ring, Liu Ruoyan didn't stay any longer.
She nodded at the man, then turned around and walked away quickly, her figure soon disappearing into the darkness.
Watching Liu Ruoyan's hurriedly departing back, Zhang Yuan touched his face.
Was he... that scary?
Did she have to avoid him like this?
Liu Ruoyan had no idea what Zhang Yuan was thinking. After leaving, Liu Ruoyan didn't go home immediately but walked around the community.
This stroll lasted for an hour.
During this hour, Liu Ruoyan wasn't just wandering aimlessly.
Adapting to the outside temperature was one thing. Whenever she passed by a crowd, Liu Ruoyan would always stop for a while to listen to what people were saying.
Even though she had stored so many supplies, Liu Ruoyan had never thought of living in isolation.
It was still very necessary to gather information about her surroundings.
However, she didn't hear any particularly useful information. It was nothing more than things like what had gone up in price again, who in which family had been hospitalized because it was too hot, and so on.
Since there was no useful information and she was sure no one was following her, Liu Ruoyan then walked towards the apartment building where she lived.
It was already past eleven o'clock when Liu Ruoyan got home.
The water had already been cut off by this time.
Liu Ruoyan went to the bathroom, took out a large solid wood bathtub from her space, took off her clothes, and sat in it.
The water temperature in the tub was just right. Liu Ruoyan had prepared it in advance for times like this.
This water could be saved for flushing the toilet after taking a bath, so it wasn't a waste.
Liu Ruoyan wasn't dirty, just a bit sweaty. Plus, her hair wasn't long, so it was easy to wash.
Twenty minutes later, Liu Ruoyan walked out of the bathroom wearing a camisole and short-sleeved top.
Once she had wiped her hair until it no longer dripped, Liu Ruoyan left it at that.
It was so hot that it would dry soon enough.
Liu Ruoyan didn't go directly to the bedroom. She first took out all the ice from the ice maker and put it into her space, then added water to the ice maker before going back to the bedroom.
The three air-conditioning fans had been turned on as soon as Liu Ruoyan entered the house. After blowing for such a long time, the temperature in the bedroom had dropped a lot.
Liu Ruoyan took out her iPad, opened a movie about apocalyptic disasters, and ate crayfish while watching it.
To eat crayfish, you need to pair it with ice-cold beer.
Liu Ruoyan took out an ice bucket. The bucket was half-filled with ice and half-filled with beer. She had put it into the space like this after it was chilled.
With a swig of ice-cold beer, the taste of the crayfish was instantly enhanced.
On a sweltering summer night, having such a late-night snack made one feel that life was worth living.
Liu Ruoyan ate and watched until two hours later when the movie ended. Then she started to clean up the table.
She tied the garbage bag tightly and directly put it into her space.
In a corner of the space, she had specially placed a logistics box as a garbage bin.
When it was inconvenient to go out and throw away the garbage, she would first throw it in here.
When she went out for a stroll at night, she would then secretly throw it into the trash can.
Anyway, the power went out after eight o'clock at night, and there was no surveillance anywhere, so she didn't need to worry about anything.
It was just that the street lamps in the community were solar-powered and didn't need additional electricity generation. Otherwise, the community would surely be pitch black at night.
After turning off the movie, Liu Ruoyan found some video tutorials to watch.
She didn't necessarily watch the same tutorial every day, but they were all related to various wilderness survival skills.
Even though she had struggled to survive for ten years in her previous life, Liu Ruoyan still felt that it was never wrong to learn more skills.
After studying for two hours, Liu Ruoyan turned off her iPad, took out dumbbells and other fitness equipment, and started doing strength training.
The housing prices in the community where Liu Ruoyan lived were extremely high.
Not only was it because the community was in a good location and had good greenery, but also because the quality of the houses was good, and the soundproofing effect was excellent.
Even if you held a party at home, as long as you closed the front door, it wouldn't disturb others.
To survive better in the apocalypse, a healthy body and sufficient combat strength were both indispensable.
Even though the living conditions in her previous life were so difficult, Liu Ruoyan had never forgotten to exercise.
In this life, the conditions were countless times better than in the previous life, so Liu Ruoyan naturally trained even harder.
In the apocalypse, if you were content with the status quo and didn't strive for progress, you would be close to death.
Liu Ruoyan didn't stop until it was already bright outside and the sun had risen, and the water had also come back on.
When the sweat on her body had subsided a bit, Liu Ruoyan went to take a bath, ate something simple, digested it a bit, and then went to sleep.
When she woke up, the sun was already setting.
After opening her eyes, Liu Ruoyan leaned against the pillow and opened her phone.
As soon as she opened the Tieba, Liu Ruoyan saw a post at a glance - Shocking! I'm Surrounded by Flies!
The text content of the post wasn't much, and Liu Ruoyan finished reading it in a few glances.
However, looking at the attached pictures one by one made Liu Ruoyan frown.
In the pictures, green-headed flies were flying in swarms.
The densely packed green-headed flies, even through the screen, made one feel disgusted and gave one goosebumps all over.