"I..." Yang Mei panicked, quickly raising her head to look at Lin Dong with pleading eyes.
"Little brother, that's not what I meant. I've made up my mind—I won't go back. He... he's a beast... I won't believe him anymore."
Lin Dong neither agreed nor disagreed, speaking indifferently, "It's best if you've thought it through. Let me be blunt—if you choose to go back, I won't stop you. But don't ever come knocking on my door for food again, understand?"
"No, no, I won't go back."
"Then tell him that."
Yang Mei's heart trembled as she looked up at the door across the hallway.
Li Zhiqiang's face was twisted with anger as he cursed at her, "You slut! I sent you to borrow food, and you ended up lending yourself out? Get your ass back here now!"
Even as he hurled insults, his eyes were fixed on the two loaves of bread in Yang Mei's hands.
The resentment she had suppressed for the past six months suddenly surged within her. Her chest heaved violently as she finally broke down and screamed, "Li Zhiqiang, you drove me to this! I don't owe you anything—I don't owe your family anything!"
"All these years of marriage, what have I ever done to wrong your family? I slaved away at endless chores, served you without complaint, and what did you do? All you ever cared about was fishing and playing cards! Every time your so-called friends came over, who cooked for them? Me!"
"And those bosses and coworkers of yours who kept visiting—do you really think they came just to befriend you? How many times did they leer at me behind your back? Don't pretend you didn't know what they were thinking!"
"You spineless bastard! All you know how to do is bully those weaker than you! These past six months, I've seen you for what you really are—a useless coward! Just for a bite to eat, you were willing to hand me over to Liu Erlong and his gang! You're nothing but an animal!"
"You want food? Fine! Here—take these two loaves! Consider it the last shred of kindness between us after all these years as husband and wife!"
Wiping her tears, she hurled the bread at him.
Li Zhiqiang's face lit up with glee, completely unfazed by her tirade. Afraid of missing his chance, he rushed out of his apartment, snatched the bread from the floor, and—still wary of any movement downstairs—darted back inside, slamming the door shut behind him.
From start to finish, he didn't spare Yang Mei a single glance.
Stunned, she stood frozen in place, staring blankly at the closed door.
A pang of regret hit her—why had she given that bastard the bread? What had she been thinking?
What if Lin Dong refused to give her any more food now?
The thought sent a fresh wave of sorrow crashing over her, and she buried her face in her hands, sobbing uncontrollably.
Lin Dong hadn't interfered at all. Watching her throw away the bread, he didn't feel anger—instead, his opinion of her rose.
This was a woman with principles. In a time when food was so scarce, after going hungry for two days, she had still been willing to part with that bread to sever ties with her husband. That spoke volumes about her character.
In a world where morality had crumbled, a companion with a good heart was the most reliable and reassuring thing one could hope for.
Closing the door, he turned and fetched another loaf of bread from the bedroom, handing it to her. "Eat. There's water in the kitchen—help yourself."
"Th-thank you..."
Wiping away her tears, Yang Mei grabbed the bread and began devouring it ravenously.
She had only taken two bites when she choked.
She had been eating too quickly.
Seeing this, Lin Dong immediately handed her a glass of water.
Yang Mei hurriedly took small sips, swallowing slowly. The sweetness of the bread and the aroma of malt filled her senses, bringing her an unprecedented surge of happiness.
Despite being extremely hungry, she forced herself to stop after eating only half, resisting the urge to continue. She carefully wrapped the bread back up.
Lin Dong, sitting on a chair, watched and asked, "Why aren't you eating?"
Yang Mei swallowed hard and said, "Little brother, I... I'm full. If I save this bread, I can have another meal later."
Lin Dong nodded inwardly. This woman truly knew her limits and had self-control.
It was rare to see someone still able to restrain their desires in such circumstances.
Noticing her cautious demeanor, Lin Dong spoke up, "Eat. I have more bread here. You have low blood sugar—if you don't replenish it in time and something happens, I won't save you."
Yang Mei's heart skipped a beat, hesitating. She wanted to save the bread, but she was also afraid Lin Dong might be telling the truth.
If she fell ill now, she would truly become a burden.
Seeing her still wavering, Lin Dong frowned. "Just eat when I tell you to!"
Not daring to argue, she quickly lowered her head and reopened the bread bag.
This time, she ate slowly, taking tiny bites, letting the crumbs dissolve in her mouth as she savored the flavor.
The pallor on her face gradually gave way to a faint flush.
Lin Dong admired her graceful figure, especially the torn stockings that revealed her slender legs—a kind of fragmented beauty.
As Yang Mei ate, she gradually became aware of Lin Dong's lingering gaze. Flustered, she instinctively pressed her knees together and tugged at her short skirt.
But the skirt was too short, and with her naturally wide hips, the torn stockings couldn't cover much.
Noticing this, Lin Dong snapped out of his thoughts and stood up. "The spare bedroom over there is empty. You can sleep there tonight."
Yang Mei nodded nervously, though she inexplicably felt a wave of relief.
She probably knew what price she'd have to pay for stepping into her neighbor's home like this.
But since Lin Dong hadn't made any explicit demands, she relaxed slightly.
Even though she had mentally prepared herself, she wasn't truly ready yet.
Lin Dong ignored her and dragged Lao Tan's corpse into the living room.
Fortunately, most of the blood had spilled in the hallway, so the apartment wasn't too messy.
Yang Mei watched in horror as Lin Dong moved the body, pressing herself against the wall, covering her mouth in fear.
Lin Dong paid her no mind and quickly stripped Lao Tan's shirt off.
Lao Tan was emaciated, little more than skin and bones, with a gaping hole in his chest where Lin Dong had stabbed him, still stained red.
Lin Dong carefully examined the body, searching for anything unusual.
"The system confirmed I killed another Mutant. It must be this corpse."
"But why did I only get 2 points this time?"
"Do Mutants have different point values?"
He glanced at the system notification screen, puzzled.
The two people he had killed before had each given him 5 points.
But Lao Tan only gave him 2. What was the difference?
After inspecting for a while, Lin Dong couldn't find anything unusual.
This was clearly a perfectly normal human body, so why had the system identified it as a Mutant?
"Could there be some internal changes?" Lin Dong speculated, but he was just an ordinary person with no knowledge of anatomy or such.
Besides, killing was one thing, but dissecting corpses was downright grotesque.
Even he found such acts hard to stomach.
Yang Mei, who had been watching Lin Dong work, mustered her courage to ask when he paused, "What... what are you looking for?"
Lin Dong glanced at her and asked, "Have you noticed anything different about Liu Erlong and the others compared to before?"
Yang Mei hesitated, then whispered after some thought, "They all seem more vicious now. Liu Erlong would never have dared to kill anyone before."
Lin Dong was speechless. What did that have to do with mutation?
During such catastrophic times, with order collapsing and human morality declining, what wouldn't people do to survive?
Shaking his head, Lin Dong dragged the corpse up, intending to throw it out through the balcony window when another thought occurred to him.
He turned to fetch some nails from the entryway and stuffed them into Old Tan's corpse.
"Maybe some Mutated creature will eat the body and get stuck by the nails. That'd earn me more points," he thought.
After tossing the corpse out the window, Lin Dong washed his hands and turned to Yang Mei.
"I'm tired and going to rest. You should too. Remember—don't open the door for anyone without my permission, or don't blame me for turning hostile," Lin Dong said coldly.
Yang Mei nodded eagerly and vowed, "Don't worry, little brother, I definitely won't open the door recklessly."
Without another word, Lin Dong first locked the main door, then retreated to the master bedroom and locked that door too.
But he wasn't actually going to sleep. Instead, he quickly opened his phone and connected to the surveillance camera in the living room.
The camera, fully charged in advance, could operate for one or two days on standby.
Normally Lin Dong wouldn't need it, but he'd activated the camera earlier.
Lying in bed, he began observing his female neighbor through the camera feed.