Tong Sui leaned in his direction.
His palm cradled Tong Sui’s head, the soft, satin-like hair brushing against his hand.
When Jiang Hua came to his senses, he found Tong Sui resting his shoulder, continue to drift in his beautiful dream.
Jiang Hua lowered his gaze.
Being so close, he could see every lash behind Tong Sui’s glasses, and pressed against his shoulder, his cheek was slightly squished, revealing a bit of extra soft flesh.
The soft sound of breathing was distinctly audible.
Jiang Hua could easily awaken him, push him away, or tell him to sit further up front, considering he had promised not to disturb his rest.
But he chose to simply watch in silence.
It felt as though his carefully established safe zone had been breached by a naive little lamb, despite knowing a butcher’s knife lurked behind him; it still chose to affectionately nuzzle his palm.
Such closeness posed no threat to the hunter.
Much of the pent-up frustration in his chest dissipated.
A playful strand of hair fell over, making Tong Sui’s eyelashes flutter. Jiang Hua lifted his hand gently to sweep it aside.
The night descended heavily.
Three SUVs came to a stop in front of an opulent standalone villa.
A few team members jumped out, methodically sweeping through in layers, not overlooking any corner, eliminating the few zombies lurking inside the villa.
After ensuring safety, they drove the SUVs inside and lowered the garage’s shutter door.
The team members gradually exited the cars.
Wang Tao glanced back at Jiang Hua, about to speak, but was interrupted by a silencing gesture from him.
Upon closer inspection, he noticed the tiny experimental subject still peacefully asleep against Jiang Hua’s shoulder.
Wang Tao promptly closed his mouth and gestured to indicate he would go ahead.
Jiang Hua nodded.
The team member with space abilities started distributing the dinner portions.
Water and fire element users in the team began busily preparing the evening meal in the kitchen on the villa’s first floor.
A few team members were casually chatting.
“Look what I found! There’s beer in the fridge; we can relax tonight.”
“But it’s a shame all the other food has gone bad; I just saw there’s a pond here. I wonder if we can catch some koi for soup.”
“If you want to become a zombie, give it a try.”
A few team members spotted Jiang Hua approaching and were about to speak when they noticed the small experimental subject he was holding.
The team members in the kitchen quickly lowered their heads to continue cooking.
Others pretended not to see anything.
Jiang Hua carried Tong Sui into the elders’ room on the first floor and, after a while, reemerged, closing the door behind him casually.
Wang Tao walked over, holding a map.
“Captain Hua, if we drive along this road tomorrow, we should reach the city center by afternoon. There’s plenty of commercial squares there and we should be able to find a lot of what we want.”
The city center had a large residential population which, after the apocalypse, became a disaster zone. If it weren’t for the nearby resources being mostly scavenged, no one would dare venture in.
Jiang Hua nodded. “Let everyone know as well.”
Wang Tao replied, “Yes.”
When Tong Sui woke up, he found himself surrounded by darkness.
Startled, he quickly sat up.
With the moonlight shining through the window, he realized he was in an unfamiliar bedroom.
He sighed in relief.
Tong Sui fumbled in the dark to wash his face, unable to find any tissues, so he had to awkwardly wipe his face with his sleeve.
As he pushed open the door, he noticed the hall was lit by a few candles, and fresh noodles were steaming on the table, accompanied by two simple meat dishes.
Tong Sui stood at the doorway in a daze when a female team member, sporting a high ponytail, warmly beckoned him to sit down, pushing him into the seat next to Jiang Hua.
“The conditions in the team are limited, don’t mind it.”
Tong Sui replied, “Thank you.”
The female team member exclaimed, “No problem! Just make sure to get along with Captain Hua.”
“He Lan.” Jiang Hua coldly turned to the ponytailed team member. “If you’re not hungry, go stand guard outside.”
“Wait, wait! I was wrong!” He Lan chuckled, “I just have a bad habit of shipping pairs.”
Jiang Hua handed a bowl of noodles to Tong Sui, expressionless, commanding succinctly, “Eat.”
“Oh, oh.” Tong Sui held the bowl, and Jiang Hua handed him chopsticks. He hurriedly said, “Thank you.”
The steaming noodles were topped with a layer of flavorful meat and some hard-earned vegetables.
This was quite a good meal in the apocalypse.
Ordinary people at the Huabei base needed to undertake high-intensity physical labor to earn food to survive.
Even so, the daily food ration was only two buns and a bowl of porridge, with a few salted vegetables.
Other team members ate quickly, and soon the dishes on the table were nearly empty.
Jiang Hua displayed a mechanical pattern while eating, his face emotionless, with each bite timed and sized almost the same.
Tong Sui pulled his gaze away.
Perhaps because he had just woken up and had been in the car for too long today, he didn’t have much of an appetite.
Tong Sui found a small bowl, took a little for himself, and returned the rest to Jiang Hua. “I can’t eat that much.”
Jiang Hua paused with his chopsticks.
He glanced at the small bowl in Tong Sui’s hands, which contained only two bites. “Are you feeding a cat?”
Tong Sui replied, “I’m eating it myself.”
Jiang Hua said, “Finish what I gave you. If you can’t finish it, pour it out.”
Tong Sui exclaimed, “QAQ”
He slowly used chopsticks to finish the noodles in the small bowl, then looked eagerly at Jiang Hua. “I’m really full.”
A team member chimed in, “I’ll take care of it; I can still eat.”
Jiang Hua raised his head and shot the person a cold glare.
He picked up the bowl of noodles and began eating. For a normal adult male, it was a simple task to finish this amount.