Chapter 17: The Missing Woman

An Nan’s life had returned to a state of calm.

Although the sounds of smashing, looting, and robbery in the neighborhood were a constant nuisance, at least no one was coming to bother her anymore.

So she focused on improving her physical fitness and practicing her combat skills at home, often working up a sweat.

When she got tired from training, she’d turn her attention to cooking.

That evening, An Nan was threading meat onto skewers at home, getting ready to have a barbecue with Fugui.

Suddenly, a piercing scream echoed from the 13th floor.

""Ahhh! Murder! Someone’s been killed!""

An Nan froze. In her previous life, there had only been some petty theft at this point—no murders yet.

Who could be so ruthless, resorting to killing so soon?

Since her rebirth, everything had unfolded step by step, almost exactly as it had in her previous life.

Her greatest advantage was her foreknowledge of the future after being reborn.

So this sudden variable immediately caught her attention.

She decided to go downstairs and take a look.

When An Nan reached the lower floor, she saw that the one shouting was the buzz-cut guy from 1301.

The buzz-cut guy knew that the chubby uncle across the hall had just butchered half a pig before the storm hit, and had also bought a lot of instant noodles and dried noodles at high prices.

So he’d snuck into the uncle’s apartment to steal some supplies.

There weren’t many instant noodles left, but the kitchen was full of fried jerky.

With the fridge out of power, meat couldn’t be kept fresh, so all the meat in this household had been made into jerky for preservation.

Excited, the buzz-cut guy stuffed the jerky into his bag. Finally, he wouldn’t have to go hungry!

Halfway through, he suddenly noticed an ear.

A human ear.

He was horrified.

Looking closer, he saw a few fingers mixed in with the jerky!

This meat was… human?!

A wave of terror made him scream out loud.

The scream instantly woke the chubby uncle from his deep sleep.

The uncle shot up from bed and rushed to the kitchen, following the noise.

""What are you doing?!""

Seeing the homeowner coming, the buzz-cut guy shuddered in fear.

He’d always thought this chubby, honest-looking man was harmless—who would have thought he was hiding a corpse at home?

He’d even claimed he and his wife were butchering a pig at home. Now it was clear—what pig? They were disposing of a body!

He remembered how he’d even come to knock on their door during the dismemberment, warning them not to disturb the neighbors…

Too terrifying!

Looking at the uncle’s face now, the buzz-cut guy only felt a chill run down his spine.

At that moment, a sleepy woman walked out of the bedroom.

""Brother Sun, what’s going on?""

The woman looked about ten years younger than the uncle, with a curvy figure.

The buzz-cut guy took a closer look: this wasn’t the uncle’s wife either…

Unbelievable! The mistress had moved right in?

Impossible—this man was known for being completely henpecked.

Wait… could it be?

Suddenly, the buzz-cut guy realized whose meat the jerky was made from.

His wife?!

He broke out in a cold sweat, grabbed a kitchen knife from the counter, and waved it wildly.

""I’m warning you! Stay back!""

""You two cannibalistic freaks! I’ll fight you to the death!""

Seeing him brandishing the knife like a madman, neither of them dared approach. The woman screamed in terror.

He managed to dash out the door.

By the time the chubby uncle gave chase, the buzz-cut guy had already run back to his own apartment.

The woman said nervously, ""Brother Sun, what do we do? We’ve been found out.""

The man put his arm around her. ""It’s fine. He can’t call the police anyway, and soon the meat will be all eaten—there won’t be any evidence left.""

""True."" The woman relaxed. ""If the police really come, we’ll just say your wife went out scavenging and disappeared. There’s no surveillance now anyway.""

""My clever Xiaoyu. Come on, let’s go back to bed.""

These two really were shameless.

The man, Sun Peng, was an ordinary guy who’d lucked out by sweet-talking his way into marrying a business-savvy wife.

With his wife’s money, his social status rose as well.

But he was no good—he soon started an affair with a new female colleague, Wang Xiaoyu, and even brought her home.

When his wife came home early and caught them, he got down on his knees and begged for forgiveness.

His wife, furious, insisted on a divorce and wanted him to leave with nothing.

Driven mad, he killed her in a fit of rage during their argument.

He’d planned to dismember the body and dump it in the mountains bit by bit, but before he could, disaster struck, trapping the two of them and the corpse at home.

Afraid the body would start to rot, they had no choice but to fry it dry.

As their food supplies dwindled, the jerky only became more tempting.

As conditions outside worsened, the two finally gave in to their dark thoughts—during a famine, what difference did this meat make from beef jerky?

It solved their hunger and helped destroy the evidence.

And so, today’s events unfolded.

An Nan, hidden around the corner of the stairwell, had listened to the whole thing.

She wasn’t as shaken as the buzz-cut guy.

In her previous life, she’d seen too much of humanity’s darkness. In the later stages of the apocalypse, there were even people eating their own children.

Rather than judging others’ morality, it was better to stay far away.

In a lawless apocalypse, people like this would only become more reckless.

As An Nan walked home, she thought:

In her past life, she’d only known the man in 1302 liked to stir up trouble—no one knew he’d killed his wife.

How did the buzz-cut guy discover it this time?

What An Nan didn’t realize was that this was actually a butterfly effect caused by her rebirth.

In her previous life, she hadn’t fallen out with the Bai siblings and had even taken them in.

So the Liu brothers hadn’t come to break into 1402, and the neighborhood hadn’t descended into chaos so quickly.

By the time people started breaking in, Sun Peng’s jerky had almost all been eaten…

But in this life, the buzz-cut guy had caught them red-handed.

He ran back home, panting and terrified.

He collapsed onto the sofa, still shaken.

A woman came out of the bedroom, half-asleep. ""Honey, what was that noise just now? Why are you sitting on the sofa instead of sleeping?""

""Wife!""

Seeing his wife, Chu Peipei, the buzz-cut guy suddenly burst into tears and threw himself into her arms.

""Wife! I was scared to death!""

Trembling, he recounted everything he’d just seen in 1302.

Chu Peipei’s eyes widened in shock. ""Something like that actually happened?!""

She was only three months pregnant, and in the early stages of pregnancy, she was always sleepy, sleeping deeply through the night and only waking up to find her husband missing.

""Honey, I told you not to go sneaking into people’s homes like that.""

""It’s so dangerous! Thank goodness you’re okay.""

""We won’t steal or rob—let’s rely on ourselves. Tomorrow, we’ll keep using the washbasin to go out and look for supplies.""

""But you’re pregnant…""

""What’s there to be afraid of? I’m not even showing yet. My child isn’t that fragile.""

After a moment, she added, ""Things are chaotic now. Keep what happened in 1302 to yourself for now—don’t spread it around. Just stay away from him and be careful.""

The buzz-cut guy nodded. ""Okay, I understand.""

A few days passed like this.

The neighborhood finally quieted down.

After all, no matter how much people fought and stole, there was only so much food in the complex, and soon there was nothing left to take.

Everyone was equally hungry.

But fortunately, after the rainwater flooded up to the sixth floor, it finally stopped. The clouds cleared, and daylight returned.

Even though the city was still submerged, people seemed to see a glimmer of hope. They all went out, searching for supplies.

For a while, the water’s surface was filled with people floating in plastic basins, bathtubs, and the like.

Some found bags of chips floating in the water, others fished out waterlogged watermelons—who knew if they were still edible…

Some even found kayaks from outdoor supply companies in the office buildings outside.

The extras were brought back and traded to neighbors—not for money, but for food.

Human beings might not be as resilient as cockroaches, but they were still tough.

An Nan watched the comings and goings outside for two days, and thought it was about time for her to venture out as well."