Chapter 26: Are You Hurt?

An Nan stared at the bloodstains in the nest, her nerves instantly on edge.

Did she get hurt up in the mountains and not notice?

Heart aching, she scooped up Fugui and checked her over from head to toe, but couldn’t find any wounds.

But Fugui looked listless, clearly feeling unwell.

Just as An Nan was puzzling over it, she suddenly felt warmth in her palm. Looking down, she saw a drop of blood.

She lifted Fugui’s little butt to check.

Suddenly, it all made sense.

This little girl is having her period!

Wait, do dogs get periods too? Well, at least she’s not injured. An Nan breathed a sigh of relief and rummaged through her storage space. Sure enough, among the mountain of pet supplies, she found doggie diapers.

She gently wiped Fugui down with a towel, put on the diaper, dressed her in a warm little outfit, and gave her a clean bed.

Seeing how downcast Fugui was, An Nan couldn’t help but sigh:

So dogs can get moody and lose their appetite during their period too.

Aunt Flo really is an equal-opportunity tormentor for all females!

Thinking back, it was probably because Fugui fell in the water during that fight a few days ago and then caught a chill in the mountains—no wonder she’s feeling so poorly.

An Nan headed to the kitchen and cooked up a bowl of warm millet porridge for Fugui.

She added red dates for blood nourishment, carrots to stimulate appetite, angelica root for pain relief and blood replenishment, motherwort for circulation, and Chinese yam for energy.

Finally, she mixed in a bit of lamb, and set the bowl in front of Fugui.

“Good girl, eat up and get some nutrition. You’ll feel better soon.”

Fugui seemed to understand, slowly getting up and eating at a leisurely pace.

It was the first time An Nan had seen her eat so daintily. Usually, every meal was a wild, piglet-like frenzy.

Seeing Fugui able to eat, An Nan finally relaxed and returned to her own meal.

She hadn’t used any hot pot base in the pot, just scallions and ginger slices. Copper pot lamb is all about savoring the pure, original flavor.

With so much lamb in her storage, An Nan generously used the meat slicer to prepare two heaping plates of lamb rolls.

Unlike at hot pot restaurants, where the meat sits on a bed of ice or veggies, her plates were pure, unadulterated lamb.

After days of hunting in the mountains, she really needed a good meal to replenish herself.

Sure, she’d never lacked food in the mountains, but the conditions were rough and she always had to be on guard against wild animals. At home, it was safe and cozy—she could truly relax and enjoy her food.

An Nan took a big bite of lamb, but something still felt missing.

She glanced at her dipping bowl and added a chunk of fermented bean curd and half a spoonful of chive flower sauce to the sesame paste and chili oil.

She mixed it all up and tasted it with her chopsticks.

Ah, that’s the flavor!

She picked up a trembling slice of lamb, dipped it thoroughly in the sauce, and popped it into her mouth.

The aroma exploded instantly, and An Nan’s face was pure bliss.

She cooked up a plate of quick-boiled tripe alongside the lamb.

Feeling that too much meat was a bit heavy, she tossed in some greens and frozen tofu to balance things out.

Finally, she added a handful of hand-pulled noodles to the pot, making herself a bowl of lamb noodle soup.

The house was filled with steam and mouthwatering aromas.

For a moment, An Nan felt like the apocalypse wasn’t so different from before. Good food, good drink, and her beloved Fugui by her side.

But while An Nan was enjoying her cozy life upstairs, her neighbors downstairs were struggling to divide up their food.

The whole family sat around the table, laying out the day’s rations: each person got a dry cracker or a piece of expired bread to choke down.

They only had one meal a day, and it barely filled them halfway.

They ate every crumb as if it were treasure, picking up every last scrap from the table—nothing could be wasted.

Today, for some reason, as they ate their crackers, they seemed to catch a whiff of hot pot lamb.

Sigh. They must be so hungry they’re hallucinating.

Everyone couldn’t help but reminisce about the good old days.

Back then, the family meals were lavish, and leftovers were thrown away without a second thought. At hot pot restaurants, there was always meat and veggies left uneaten at the end.

Now, just thinking about it made their mouths water! If only they could go back in time, they’d scold their wasteful selves and eat every last bite.

……

For a long while after that, An Nan didn’t go out.

First, because Fugui was on her period and weak. Second, she didn’t really need to stock up on anything else for now.

The mountains of supplies in her storage space needed to be sorted and organized bit by bit.

Outside, people still came and went every day, searching for food.

But in apartment 1402, the girl and her dog each lay on their beds with their eyes closed.

The difference was, Fugui was actually sleeping, while An Nan was using her mind to organize the supplies in her space.

Using mental power was tiring at first—she’d get exhausted and dizzy after a short while. But now, she could move things around in her space for long stretches.

Her mental strength was getting better and better.

Once everything was organized, An Nan started processing the leftover meat she hadn’t finished before.

Different animals required different methods, but luckily she’d downloaded all sorts of tutorials and guides, so she could follow along step by step in the kitchen.

When she got tired, she’d watch some downloaded TV shows and enjoy good food with her dog.

And so, her days passed in this harmonious, pleasant routine.

But outside her little haven, things were getting more and more tense.

The supermarkets and factories with abundant supplies were all underwater now, with only the upper floors of some tall buildings left to search.

Most of these buildings were offices, with hardly any food—just the odd snack or instant noodles left by office workers.

With so many people and so little food, everything had already been picked clean.

There was barely anything left above water, and without diving equipment, the supplies underwater were out of reach.

Even those who could free dive and managed to haul up some soaked food found it inedible.

People were starving, growing more and more desperate.

The death toll began to rise. At first, the floating bodies in the water were mostly people who’d drowned while searching for supplies. Now, many were those who’d starved to death and been thrown into the water by others.

With the drainage system down, toilets couldn’t be used, so people dumped their waste and garbage straight into the floodwaters.

The water quickly became foul and reeking.

But with the tap water supply cut off, people had no choice but to filter the floodwater and boil it for drinking.

Many with weak constitutions got sick from drinking it, but there weren’t enough medicines to go around...

In short, survival conditions had become extremely harsh.

With life under constant threat, the darker side of human nature began to show itself once again.

Fewer people were out searching for supplies; more and more were turning to looting and robbery.

One day, as An Nan was watching a movie with Fugui in her arms, she suddenly heard the sound of someone banging on a pot in the stairwell.

“Neighbors, meeting! Everyone from 1302, gather up!”

An Nan thought for a moment, then decided not to go out.

Everyone outside was skin and bones from hunger, while she was looking rosy and well-fed—it really wasn’t the time to show her face in a crowd.

Besides, who knew what they were planning…"