Chapter 105: They Don’t Owe Us Anything
The moment their eyes met, Lin Xiao’s heart skipped a beat, and he froze as if struck by lightning.
Almost instinctively, he jerked his gaze away, nervously fixing his eyes on a nearby bowl of porridge. At the same time, his feet took a half-step to the side entirely against his will, putting deliberate distance between himself and Su Mubai.
The gentle smile on Su Mubai’s lips instantly froze.
In those soft, clear eyes, a flicker of hurt appeared and vanished just as quickly, replaced by deep bewilderment.
Weren’t things completely fine last night?
Lin Xiao had been genuinely worried about him feeling uncomfortable from the sweat, even going out of his way to find water so he could wipe down and sleep comfortably. Though he had rushed off abruptly at the end, that clumsy, direct concern had been real.
How could his attitude turn so cold and distant after just one night?
Is he actually… avoiding me?
Su Mubai lowered his gaze, his thick eyelashes hiding the turbulence in his eyes. When he looked up again, his expression had returned to its usual gentle calm, as if that fleeting moment of vulnerability had never happened.
Acting as though nothing was wrong, he walked over to the table and took the empty seat beside Chu Yang. Picking up his chopsticks, he focused entirely on the steamed buns in front of him, no longer sparing a single glance for the man deliberately keeping his distance.
Across the room, Lin Xiao’s heart was hammering against his ribs, the heat burning all the way to the tips of his ears.
He had barely slept. When he finally drifted off in the early hours of the morning, his dreams had been completely filled with Su Mubai—not the pale, sickly version from the night before, but the one who smiled so warmly at him. Worse, there were fragmented, hazy images that made him wake up flushing red with his pulse racing, thoughts he dared not even inspect too closely.
He felt like he was losing his mind!
Why on earth did I have a dream like that?
And with Little Bai, of all people?
We’re brothers! Good friends!
It was definitely because we were too close while wiping him down last night. The visual was just too much, combined with the stress lately and being pent up for so long.
Yes, that’s all it is!
Lin Xiao gave his head a sharp shake, desperate to clear away the messy, chaotic thoughts. He kept his eyes locked firmly onto the tabletop, not daring to look in Su Mubai’s direction.
“Old Lin! What are you doing standing there looking like an idiot?” Chu Yang called out, his cheeks stuffed full of food. He grabbed a piping-hot bun straight from the steamer and held it out. “Get over here and eat! Sister Wang’s buns are out of this world!”
Snapped back to reality, Lin Xiao walked over stiffly and pulled out the empty chair farthest from Su Mubai. Taking the bun, he bit into it without tasting a single thing.
At the table, Jiang Jue picked up a seafood-stuffed bun, dipped it into a small dish of chili-infused vinegar, and naturally placed it onto Chu Yang’s plate.
Chu Yang grinned, picked it up without hesitation, and took a hearty bite. The savory, tangy, and spicy flavors burst in his mouth, making him squint in pure delight. With his cheeks puffed out like a hamster, he mumbled around the food, “Thanks, Brother Jiang! This dipping sauce is perfection!”
Nearby, Little Yu was clutching his own bun, eating happily alongside Niu Niu, their mouths shiny with grease. Li Yu and Wang Qiang chatted casually with Wang Li, repeatedly praising her impressive culinary skills.
Slowly, the lively, comfortable atmosphere returned to the breakfast table.
Down in the first-floor lobby, the survivors who had gathered early for departure couldn’t help but crane their necks, sniffing the mouthwatering aromas drifting down from the upper floor.
The rich scent of seasoned meat, freshly steamed dough, and savory seafood mingled in the air. For people who lived on dry crackers, canned rations, and occasional starvation, this smell was pure torture.
“Brother Li… aren’t they eating a bit too well?” a thin young man whispered, swallowing hard as he leaned toward Li Wang. “That smell… yesterday it was braised meat, and today it’s fresh steamed buns. If only we could have just one bite…”
“Seriously. They have all that good food every single day and don’t even think to share a bite with us…” a middle-aged woman muttered nearby, her eyes filled with envy and a hint of resentment.
“It’s just selfish. We’re stuck chewing on dry bread while they feast…” a few others chimed in softly, their appetites stoked and their voices laced with bitterness.
Su Juan pulled her young son, Xiao Lei, tightly into her arms. The boy was staring fixedly toward the staircase, murmuring, “Mom, it smells so good…”
Her heart ached for him, but she could only hold him tighter and soothe him in a gentle whisper, “Be good, Xiao Lei. We’ll have our food soon, okay?”
Li Wang’s brow furrowed in anger. He shot a fierce glare at the people complaining and snapped under his breath, “Shut your mouths, all of you! Do you even hear what you’re saying?”
“The only reason we’ve made it this far in one piece—alive, unharmed, and not torn apart by zombies—is because of the people upstairs! If they hadn’t cleared the roads, killed the monsters, and handled every single danger along the way, do you really think people like us could have walked out of that city alive? We would’ve been zombie food days ago!”
His stern gaze swept across the crowd, carrying an unmistakable warning. “Drop those pathetic, entitled thoughts! They don’t owe us a single thing! The fact that they’re willing to protect a group of powerless burdens like us is already an act of pure charity! If I catch anyone whispering nonsense like this again, don’t expect me to be nice about it!”
A more sensible middle-aged man nodded in agreement. “Brother Li is right. At least we have enough to eat and aren’t starving. That’s a hundred times better than the poor souls outside struggling to survive day by day. Be grateful for what we have.”
The complainers looked down sheepishly and went quiet, though the envy and faint resentment lingering in their eyes didn’t completely disappear.
Once Chu Yang and the core team had finished their hearty meal and packed up their gear, the convoy set out once more.
The three vehicles drove down the open highway, heading straight toward the small gas station Jiang Jue remembered from the past.
After a bumpy drive of more than an hour, the faint red-and-white outline of a gas station roof finally appeared on the distant horizon.
“Brother Jiang, that should be the gas station you were talking about, right?” Chu Yang asked, pointing through the windshield.
Jiang Jue kept a steady grip on the steering wheel, his sharp gaze fixed ahead as he nodded. “It should be.”
“Awesome!” Chu Yang rubbed his hands together eagerly. “I hope there’s still plenty of fuel left, and maybe some other useful supplies…”
As the vehicles drew closer, however, the scene ahead came into clear focus. A makeshift yet sturdy roadblock stretched directly across the road, constructed from several rusted, abandoned cars, heavy wooden posts, and tangled barbed wire.
Beside the barricade, seven or eight men in filthy clothes—armed with various crude weapons—were either standing guard or lounging about, staring down the approaching convoy with blatantly hostile eyes.
