Chapter 162 — Disappearance
The room was deathly silent.
The man stared blankly toward the wall with dull, unfocused eyes.
Yesterday, that corner had still been piled with cardboard and pieces of wood he had painstakingly scavenged from other empty apartments.
In winter, those things were priceless for heating.
Even outside of winter, they were necessities for cooking and daily life.
But now—after Liu Xiangyu gave birth, the doctor and two nurses had set their sights on them.
Everything had been chaotic at the time. Right after delivering the baby, the three had demanded that pile of supplies as payment.
Then Liu Xiangyu died.
And after handling the aftermath of her death, those people had still taken advantage of the confusion to steal the supplies away.
And now…
The man suddenly lifted his head, hatred filling his eyes as he stared toward the apartment door.
Yan Gexin… Yan Gexin…
He himself had no backing.
Before the apocalypse, he had merely been relatively good-looking and happened to fit Liu Xiangyu’s preferred type, so he’d managed to cling to her for support.
But life after the apocalypse was truly…
He had no connections whatsoever in the military.
And after the apocalypse, the military was even less a place he could worm his way into.
Meanwhile, after her father died, Liu Xiangyu herself possessed almost no survival abilities beyond the few old contacts left behind from when Old Master Liu had still been alive.
As for him—he’d long since been branded as part of the Liu family.
And the people truly holding power despised men like him who climbed into power through women’s beds.
So once separated from Liu Xiangyu, it would become even more impossible for him to find a way out.
But now Liu Xiangyu was dead.
And Yan Gexin’s threats before leaving still rang in his ears…
A starving camel was still bigger than a horse.
Even if Yan Gexin had little real use in the apocalypse, he could still secure himself a place within the military system.
But him…?
Countless thoughts churned through his mind.
A faint, kitten-like crying sound came from the bedroom—yet the man neither noticed nor heard it.
Everyone had spent nearly the entire day busy, and by the time they returned home they all looked somewhat exhausted.
Even if it wasn’t their own family member who died, simply seeing that someone else’s family still had people to send them off on their final journey…
made everyone think of their own loved ones.
Even if they returned to their hometowns now—
would they even be able to find the bodies of their family members anymore?
Everyone patted Yan Fei’s shoulder with melancholy sympathy.
“When you decide on the burial day, we’ll all go with you!”
The outside of the base was relatively calm at the moment, but no one knew whether trouble might arise on the road between the base gates and the cemetery.
If they really intended to leave the base, they’d need thorough preparation.
Yan Fei nodded slightly.
“Thanks.”
“Come on, who are we to each other?”
After saying goodbye to everyone, Luo Xun and Yan Fei returned home.
As before, they’d left the little creature and Little Xinran at home to guard the place.
No matter what, most people still disliked bringing children to places where someone had recently died—even if everyone here had already killed more zombies than they could count.
Once home, Luo Xun immediately headed into the kitchen to prepare dinner for the two of them.
After setting the food on the table, however, he began wandering restlessly around the apartment.
“What are you looking for?”
Yan Fei finally asked after watching Luo Xun pace around distractedly, unable to even sit and eat properly.
Luo Xun rummaged around a while longer before returning to the table and scratching his head.
“I found a couple pieces of softer cotton cloth…”
Then, somewhat guiltily, he added:
“Tomorrow when we go over there… I was thinking the baby’s still too small. They probably don’t have suitable things for him there.”
“So I thought I’d bring a few pieces of cloth…”
“…as diapers.”
Luo Xun wasn’t some saintly person.
He simply felt that the child was, after all, Yan Fei’s half-brother through their mother.
Besides, the baby had just lost his mother.
Back before the apocalypse, when visiting relatives with children, elders would usually bring some small gift, wouldn’t they?
Now, in the apocalypse, the child’s biological father still appeared to possess plenty of supplies.
So Luo Xun didn’t have to worry about causing trouble by bringing over a few things—such as the family becoming greedy or trying to latch onto them.
That was why he wanted to at least bring something for the child tomorrow.
Yan Fei pulled him down to sit beside him and handed him chopsticks.
“You like children?”
The baby was red, skinny, and tiny…
As the older brother, Yan Fei hadn’t found the slightest resemblance to himself in the child, nor could he tell which parent the baby resembled.
Naturally, he couldn’t understand why Luo Xun seemed so concerned about him.
Though perhaps…it was because of him?
Because the child was technically half-related to Yan Fei, Luo Xun might feel somewhat more attached.
Luo Xun froze briefly and unconsciously bit the end of his chopsticks.
“That… not really…”
In his previous life, he had wanted to buy and raise a child.
But at the time, what he truly wanted was companionship more than a son.
As for this life—he already had Yan Fei to accompany him, and there was also a spoiled, adorable dog at home.
He had no real need for children.
“I just think…”
He shrugged.
“That child’s too small. Too weak…”
With such a frail constitution, and with his biological mother already dead—if his father wanted to raise him, he could only feed him things like rice soup.
Before the apocalypse, they could at least buy formula.
But now…whether the child could even survive long enough to grow up was uncertain.
In the apocalypse, the weak had no right to survive.
Especially a life this weak—a life unable to do anything, understand anything.
Yan Fei said nothing more.
He simply rubbed Luo Xun’s hair and added more food into his bowl.
The next morning, after tidying up a bit, Luo Xun and Yan Fei headed toward the outer district.
The rest of the team didn’t accompany them today.
There was still far too much work waiting at home—crops needed tending, mature vegetables needed harvesting.
The two slowly made their way to the outer district, found the building, and climbed to the third floor before knocking on the door.
But after twenty full minutes of knocking, no one answered.
The two exchanged looks.
“Want to try calling him?” Luo Xun suggested.
Maybe he’d gone out early in the morning?
Yan Fei took out his phone, found the number the man had called from two days earlier, and dialed.
“Unavailable? Looks like it’s turned off.”
Yan Fei raised an eyebrow slightly.
The two stared at each other.
Had the phone run out of battery?
Forgotten at home?
While they stood there confused, footsteps came from upstairs.
Apparently a resident from above.
The person glanced curiously at the two standing outside the apartment before hurrying downstairs.
“How about… we wait a bit longer?”
The man knew they’d planned to visit today.
Maybe he simply had urgent business early in the morning—such as exchanging for food supplies.
So even if he’d gone out, he should return eventually.
The two waited a while longer.
Residents throughout the building gradually crawled out of bed and began their daily routines, people occasionally passing through the stairwell.
Every so often, Luo Xun and Yan Fei would knock again.
By the third time they knocked, the resident they’d previously seen going downstairs had returned.
Seeing the two still there, he asked:
“You looking for the people in this apartment?”
The pair turned toward him in surprise and nodded.
“Yes. Do you know where they went?”
The man looked around cautiously before lowering his voice.
“Think they moved out. Left before dawn this morning.”
“Moved out?!”
The two stared at each other in shock.
Why move out all of a sudden?
Surely not because someone had died here and they considered it unlucky?
Besides, Liu Xiangyu’s ashes still needed burial.
With their help, things would be far easier than if the man handled everything alone.
The resident stepped back slightly and shook his head.
“I only saw something from my window. Might’ve been them. Can’t say for sure.”
Then he quickly squeezed past them and continued upstairs.
The two looked at each other again.
Luo Xun pointed at the apartment door.
“So… do we just go in?”
For a metal ability user, picking a lock required no tools whatsoever.
Yan Fei activated his ability, and the front door immediately clicked open.
When they entered, the apartment felt strangely empty.
Not completely empty—just emptier.
Large furniture pieces too difficult to transport remained.
But aside from those, almost everything else had vanished.
The food supplies they’d seen hidden in corners yesterday—coal, blankets, warm bedding—all gone.
“He really… moved away?!”
Luo Xun stared wide-eyed at Yan Fei.
Yan Fei frowned.
“Why would he suddenly move?”
This building’s security was relatively decent, and the man had painstakingly moved all his supplies here.
Logically, there was no reason to leave.
As for whether some threat had forced him out…
The two exchanged another glance.
Did they really look that much like bad guys?
Or…
“Could he think you came to fight over the inheritance?”
Luo Xun asked with painstaking sincerity while suppressing a very twisted smile.
Yan Fei: “……”
Did he really look like someone snatching inheritance?
But if the man truly intended to avoid them, Liu Xiangyu still needed burial.
With their help, handling the funeral arrangements would be easier.
And with them present, there’d be no need to pay the military for mass burial services. Once the snow melted, they could personally bury the ashes.
So why run away?
“Maybe he only moved some things first because of something urgent and plans to come back later?”
Luo Xun tried guiding the situation toward a more optimistic interpretation while wandering further into the apartment.
Then—between several large furniture pieces, he spotted a familiar metal box.
“Yan Fei, look! Isn’t this the one you made yesterday…?”
…the metal container holding his mother’s ashes?
Yan Fei stepped forward quickly.
The moment he saw the box deliberately hidden in the gap, his face darkened instantly.
Silence fell again.
If only some belongings had disappeared, it might still mean the man intended to return later.
But now…the man was gone.
The supplies were gone.
Yet the ashes had been left behind.
Had he decided he no longer wanted anything to do with Liu Xiangyu and simply abandoned the ashes for Yan Fei to handle?
Taking a deep breath, Yan Fei picked up the box and used his ability to open it slightly.
Gray-white powder—the ashes he himself had placed inside yesterday.
Just as the two stood there stunned, an extremely faint, tiny crying sound drifted from deeper inside the apartment.
If the room hadn’t been so silent, they absolutely wouldn’t have heard it.
Luo Xun’s expression darkened instantly.
Without hesitation, he rushed toward the master bedroom.
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