this chapter is brought to you by mio
as translator, proofreader and editor!
The first transaction had earned her so much, which was somewhat unexpected for Jiang Ci.
[This is a great start. The host has done well. Keep it up,] the system’s encouraging voice chimed in at the right moment.
Jiang Ci looked at the point value on her panel, feeling quite proud. She hadn’t expected to have such talent.
However, this pride only lasted for a short while. After the three left, Jiang Ci didn’t encounter another living person for the rest of the day.
Instead, she saw several small groups of zombies, each consisting of about ten, moving together toward an unknown destination.
The visual impact of such a large group of zombies was still quite intense. Jiang Ci finally couldn’t hold back and vomited. Strangely enough, after vomiting a few times, she somehow got used to the sight of zombies.
Later, she even began to calmly speculate about whether the zombies had been male or female, old or young in their previous lives.
The system also educated her on zombie levels. The slow-moving, expressionless ones were the most basic level-one zombies, while the faster and more agile ones were level-two zombies.
So far, only level-one and level-two zombies had passed by the hotpot restaurant. Jiang Ci hadn’t had the chance to see any higher level zombies yet.
As night fell, with no lights at all, the darkness outside the shop deepened, as if the entire city had sunk into a black swamp, leaving only the faint outlines of buildings.
Jiang Ci sat alone in the shop, feeling a bit uneasy as she glanced outside.
At this moment, her phone, which had been silent all day, suddenly rang. Jiang Ci took it out and saw that it was her parents calling from her hometown.
She picked up the phone, and on the other end, her mother’s gentle voice came through, “Baby, have you eaten yet? What are you up to? Have you been busy with work lately?”
Hearing her mother’s voice, Jiang Ci suddenly felt a lump in her throat. She blinked, trying to hold back the tears. She was already a twenty five year old old woman and couldn’t cry like she did when she was a child.
“I’m doing fine. How about you guys? Have you eaten yet?” Jiang Ci could hear the bustling noise on the other end of the line.
She didn’t need to see to picture the scene at her parents’ place.
Her hometown was in a small, remote county. Her parents ran a small supermarket outside their residential area, and it was always the busiest around dinner time. Not only were there customers coming to shop, but also neighbors out for a stroll and a chat.
Life in a small city wasn’t fast-paced, but it had gentle evening breezes and the lively hum of everyday life.
Her parents couldn’t provide her with a life of luxury, but they had never shortchanged her, whether materially or emotionally.
So Jiang Ci’s dream had always been to work hard, buy a house, and bring her parents to live in the big city.
“We’ve eaten. The pork ribs at the market were really cheap today. Your dad made sweet and sour ribs, and he just mentioned that it’s your favorite dish,” Jiang Ci’s mother’s voice came through the phone, accompanied by a faint static.
When Jiang Ci’s father was young, he had apprenticed under a master chef for two years, so his cooking was always authentic.
Just hearing about the sweet and sour ribs, Jiang Ci’s mind involuntarily conjured up an image of the dish—glossy, caramelized, and sprinkled with sesame seeds.
Her mouth was practically watering.
“If you want to eat it, come home. Your dad will make you a feast,” Jiang Ci’s father chimed in, laughing warmly by the phone.
“Okay, I’ll come home when work isn’t so busy,” Jiang Ci replied, though she wasn’t sure when she’d have time off.
“By the way, baby, National Day is in a little over a month. Will you have time off then? Do you want to come home?” her mother’s hopeful voice asked.
“I’m not sure yet. The company has been really busy lately. If I can come back, I’ll call you in advance,” Jiang Ci said. A little over a month—in the apocalypse, that was over a year.
Her mother’s voice remained gentle, understanding, and she reminded Jiang Ci to take care of herself and eat well.
But Jiang Ci knew her mother must still feel a little disappointed. Last year during the New Year, she had only stayed home for three days before being called back to work by her company. It had been over half a year since she’d been home.
After hanging up, Jiang Ci felt a renewed sense of determination. Once the hotpot restaurant was fully hers, she would have her parents close the supermarket back home and come help her run the restaurant.
Then, the whole family could stay together.
Soon, the clock on the wall struck ten. Outside, apart from the growls of zombies, there was no other sound.
Jiang Ci figured no one would still be wandering outside at this hour, so she closed the wooden door.
Even with the door closed, the small colored lights on the sign outside remained lit, like a guiding beacon in the darkness.
Jiang Ci’s room wasn’t large—just a bed, a wardrobe, a dressing table, and a retractable small desk by the bed.
But what made it convenient was the en-suite bathroom, sparing Jiang Ci from having to leave her room and navigate a dark hallway to reach the outside toilet.
The bathroom was stocked with clean toothbrushes, toothpaste, towels, and shower gel, even the facial cleanser was the brand Jiang Ci usually used. The cabinet under the sink was filled with sanitary pads, taking into account every possible scenario.
The wardrobe in the room was filled with clothes in the casual and convenient style that Jiang Ci loved to wear—T-shirts, jeans, casual dresses, and even a few pairs of shoes, all in her size.
Jiang Ci instantly felt the joy of a novel’s female protagonist. Wasn’t this exactly the kind of scene that would appear when a domineering CEO buys clothes for the female protagonist?
After finishing her night routine, Jiang Ci lay down on the bed. It was almost midnight, and though her body was exhausted, her mind was still buzzing with excitement. She couldn’t believe everything that had happened today.
pls do not share this anywhere or u will always stub ur toe when u walk past a door frame !! this translation has been stolen from mioscorner.com, pls only read there i’m begging u :kneels:
Unbeknownst to her, several kilometers away from the hotpot restaurant, a group of five people had temporarily settled in a high-rise building.
They had come from a nearby base. Originally, they had completed their mission and were ready to return, but as they were leaving, they were suddenly ambushed by zombies. With nightfall, they couldn’t make it back.
The city at night was far more dangerous than during the day, and survival was even more precarious.
This building was the tallest in the vicinity. After clearing out the zombies inside, they made their way to a room that resembled a conference hall. It had a full wall of transparent glass and a sturdy door, allowing them to observe the outside while temporarily keeping the zombies at bay.
Standing by the window was the burly leader of the group, Chen Cheng. He held a telescope in his hand, scanning the outside under the moonlight, planning their route for the next day.
At that moment, a faint glimmer of light suddenly flashed in the telescope. Chen Cheng paused, then quickly adjusted the telescope to locate the source of the fleeting light.
Slowly retracting the telescope, Chen Cheng finally caught sight of the anomalous light again in the lens.
Countless possibilities raced through Chen Cheng’s mind, but as the lens zoomed in, he realized it was a signboard.
The signboard had some writing on it, but it was hard to make out. All he could see was a circle of colorful lights flashing around it. Chen Cheng thought he might be seeing things. He lowered the telescope, rubbed his eyes with one hand, and then raised the telescope again.
The glowing signboard was still there!
Chen Cheng turned to call his teammate, “Xu Ling, come take a look.”
A girl with a ponytail stood up from the floor, “What is it, Captain?”
Xu Ling walked over, took the telescope from Chen Cheng, and looked in the direction he was pointing. The moment she saw it, she froze.
“Cap… Captain, what is this?” Xu Ling’s voice carried a hint of disbelief.
“What’s wrong?” Another short-haired girl, Fang Qing, hurried over upon hearing the commotion and was equally shocked upon seeing the sign.
Actually, having a sign wasn’t unusual. What was unusual was that someone would be willing to use such precious electricity on something so trivial.
After all, in the base, electricity usage was strictly limited to certain times each day.
“Was this shop here when we came yesterday?” The other team members gathered around, looking at the hotpot restaurant’s sign with confusion.
“Who knows? We didn’t pay attention to these things at the time.”
The hotpot restaurant was located on the route they had to take back to the base. After some discussion, they decided to check it out on their way back the next morning.
Jiang Ci had only fallen asleep in the early hours of the morning when her relentless biological clock woke her up early.
Lying in bed, she was momentarily disoriented by the unfamiliar surroundings but quickly remembered where she was.
It was just past six, and the sky hadn’t fully brightened yet. Pushing open the wooden door, she was greeted by the damp smell of rain, and everything was shrouded in a misty haze.
Jiang Ci stretched, feeling more and more accustomed to her new identity after a night of mental preparation. No annoying colleagues, no demanding clients, no overtime, and free meals and accommodation. Judging by the survivors’ enthusiasm for hotpot yesterday, the pay shouldn’t be bad. Apart from the lack of human interaction and the presence of disgusting monsters everywhere, what more could she ask for?
Breakfast was plain congee with cold shredded potatoes. The tangy and spicy shredded potatoes offered a new flavor today, Jiang Ci thought as she chewed on them.
The system was quite responsive, even making midnight snacks for Jiang Ci. But when she opened the ordering system, all she saw was fried potatoes, roasted potatoes, shredded potatoes, potato slices, potato chunks, and mashed potatoes. After a whole day of eating potatoes, Jiang Ci felt like she was turning into one.
She needed to complete tasks quickly to unlock new dishes.
After breakfast, Jiang Ci tidied up the shop, sliced two plates of potatoes, soaked them in water, and then wrapped them in cling film before placing them in the fridge’s fresh-keeping compartment.
Today, Jiang Ci felt she was getting the hang of slicing potatoes, with fewer uneven slices compared to yesterday.
Just as she put the potato slices in the fridge, she heard a rumbling sound of running, as if something large was approaching. She could even feel the ground shaking.
Jiang Ci closed the fridge door and curiously stepped outside.
In the distance, she saw a tall, thin black shadow moving quickly through the mist towards her, accompanied by faint human voices.
i can just imagine how choked up fl would get when the first words mum asks you is baby have you eaten QAQ all asian kids can relate
