Edge of the Apocalypse
Chapter 28 - 26: I Know a Place with Food

Chapter 28: Chapter 26: I Know a Place with Food

After eating, Lin Xiaojun stepped out of the war room and lit a Hongtashan cigarette.

He took a deep drag, filling his lungs, a look of satisfaction on his face.

"Enough... please, enough. You’ve been doing this to me all day. I can’t take it anymore... I’m begging you, just let me go."

Zhao Yun lay on the floor, her clothes in disarray.

In just one day, the former head of property management had become the lowest of the low in her own office.

Lin Xiaojun flicked his ash.

"Manager Zhao, I much preferred that defiant look you used to have during our morning meetings. Try to bring it back. Otherwise... this isn’t any fun."

Zhao Yun turned her pleading gaze toward Liang Mian, who was outside the room.

She remembered him as an obedient, ambitious young man. A little tan and rough around the edges, maybe, but the most reliable one on staff. She never thought...

Liang Mian awkwardly looked away, unable to meet Zhao Yun’s eyes.

It would be a lie to say he’d never fantasized about the young manager, who came to work every day in black stockings and a form-fitting skirt. Before the apocalypse, that is. As a 20-year-old physical education student, Liang Mian was in his prime.

In his fantasies, things always ended horribly for Zhao Yun...

But reality had rules, and Liang Mian, revering those rules, could only be a repressed P.E. student.

But when the apocalypse came and all order vanished overnight, Liang Mian hesitated.

He saw that Zhao Yun didn’t dare to refuse...

Once that first sin is committed, countless more are sure to follow.

Seeing Zhao Yun in such a state, Liang Mian felt a pang of guilt and couldn’t stop himself from speaking up.

"Brother Jun, we should think about what to do next. We can’t just stay here forever..."

Lin Xiaojun had also grown a little tired of his "fun." He casually pulled on a pair of boxers and sat down with the other two to talk.

"Jiang, go check how much food we have left."

While the other two were... occupied, Jiang Xupeng had already been busy, gathering all the food and drinks from the entire property management office.

"Brother Jun, we’ve got two and a half jugs of water, six cups of instant noodles, twenty ham sausages, and a large bag of Panpan mini-breads, plus a few other random snacks."

"Damn it! These women don’t even bring decent food to work. All this for snacks? How did they not starve to death!"

Jiang Xupeng even cursed out the zombified receptionist they had already killed.

The six cup noodles and twenty ham sausages had come from Lin Xiaojun’s security monitoring room; they were provisions for the night shift.

And the three men had already eaten a good deal of it.

Hearing the mention of food, Zhao Yun, who was lying limply in the other room, swallowed hard.

For the past three days, she hadn’t eaten anything besides two pieces of candy from her purse. Luckily, there was a water cooler in her office with half a jug of water left.

But after these three men had "rescued" her from her office, they hadn’t given her a single bite to eat.

Now, she was completely drained of strength.

"Give me... give me a bite to eat. I’m so hungry... I can’t hold on much longer."

She cried out to the three men outside.

Jiang Xupeng heard her and immediately cursed, "Fuck that! There’s barely enough food as it is. If we give you some, what the hell am I supposed to eat? If I get hungry enough, I’ll start eating you."

At a time like this, there was no way Jiang Xupeng would share even a scrap of food with Zhao Yun.

In his eyes, women weren’t worth wasting resources on. This food was what was keeping them alive.

There were so many zombies outside, and they were fast as hell. Going out there meant certain death.

A glimmer of pity showed in Liang Mian’s eyes. He looked to Lin Xiaojun, waiting for him to speak.

Zhao Yun also looked at Lin Xiaojun. She knew that of the three men, Lin Xiaojun was the leader. If he didn’t give the word, no one would dare give her food.

Her gaze filled with despair, because she knew Lin Xiaojun was the most ruthless of them all.

Yesterday, when Lin Xiaojun had grabbed her, she’d struggled a little and he’d kicked her a dozen times for it.

Lin Xiaojun wasn’t even human.

SMACK!

Lin Xiaojun turned and slapped Jiang Xupeng right across the face.

"Don’t you fucking get what you want and then pretend you don’t know her? You got your fun, and now you won’t even feed her? Are you a fucking animal?"

"Liangzi, get her two mini-breads and a ham sausage."

Jiang Xupeng was stunned by the slap, and his fists clenched tightly.

Liangzi immediately got the food and handed it to her, patting her on the shoulder.

"Go on and eat, Manager Zhao. It’s over now..."

Zhao Yun held the mini-bread and ham sausage, looking at Lin Xiaojun in astonishment. She never imagined... that he would actually be willing to spare her a bite. It wasn’t much, but it was something.

That Jiang Xupeng, on the other hand, would have let her starve.

Zhao Yun eagerly tore open the packaging and devoured the mini-bread, then finished the ham sausage. A little bit of her strength returned.

"Th... Thank you..."

For reasons she couldn’t explain, Zhao Yun found herself saying this to Lin Xiaojun.

Lin Xiaojun’s lips curled into a grin as he patted Jiang Xupeng’s shoulder.

"Jiang, remember this. A woman doesn’t deserve a seat at the table, but as long as a man has food in his mouth, he can’t let his own woman starve. Got it?"

"We might not be good men, but we’re not complete animals, either."

Jiang Xupeng concealed the hint of hatred in his eyes and said in a low voice,

"I get it, Brother Jun..."

Satisfied, Lin Xiaojun patted Jiang Xupeng’s cheek, then hopped up and sat on the large reception desk.

"It’s just food, right? I’ll make sure you guys don’t go without."

With that, he reached into his pocket for his cigarettes, only to find the pack of Hongtashans was empty.

He glanced around, but there wasn’t a single pack to be found.

"The vibe in this place is too damn grim. I can’t stand it without a cigarette to take the edge off."

Liang Mian didn’t smoke. As for Jiang Xupeng, he’d been on his way downstairs to buy cigarettes when the outbreak hit. He didn’t have any on him either and had been jonesing for days.

Lin Xiaojun opened the window of the property management office and glanced outside. An old, zombified security guard was wandering nearby.

Lin Xiaojun strode over and yanked open the main door to the office, shouting,

"Hey, Li!"

ROOOAR!!!

The zombified old guard charged right at him!

Lin Xiaojun swung a baseball bat with both hands.

The instant the old zombie lunged, Lin Xiaojun used its own momentum to deliver a devastating, sweeping blow.

CRACK!

The old zombie’s skull caved in. It collapsed to the office floor, twitching. Lin Xiaojun delivered another blow to make sure the old man was gone for good.

Then, he fished half a pack of Hongtashans out of the corpse’s shirt pocket.

"Thanks, Li."

The wide-open office door had scared Liangzi and Jiang Xupeng witless. They scrambled to shut it.

"Are you insane?"

They stared at Lin Xiaojun like he was a lunatic.

Hearing the commotion, a dozen or so zombies rushed over, surrounding the office and beginning to pound on the door.

As if nothing had happened, Lin Xiaojun lit one of the Hongtashans.

He took a long, slow drag.

He exhaled, then glanced toward the security monitoring room.

"I know a place with lots and lots of food..."

"Enough to last us for years."