Chapter 69: Holiday
’He’s surprisingly observant.’ Back at the gas station, they had always just relieved themselves outdoors. Lin Fan hadn’t really given the toilet situation much thought.
Even if the sewers were still functional, they didn’t have the water to spare for flushing. They would just have to figure something out themselves.
He was right, one person per room would be more convenient in that regard.
"Alright, let’s do this. Zhaozhao, you take 302. You and Xu Qian can take 601 and 602. Those two doors are unlocked. You can get some exercise climbing the stairs."
There was another reason he didn’t tell them: Lin Fan recalled that these were the only three apartments without corpses...
"Okay!"
"Sounds good, we’ll take the 6th floor."
Hearing Lin Fan’s arrangements, Chu Zhaozhao was naturally overjoyed, while Chu Zhaotian and Xu Qian had no objections either.
The four of them arrived at 301. Su Qing had the door open and was waiting in the entryway. Seeing Lin Fan and the others come up, she ran over excitedly.
"The power is on! I didn’t dare open the fridge for the past two days. I just checked the freezer, and the outer layer of the meat has thawed a little, but it’s mostly still frozen!"
"That’s good. Are you all hungry?"
Lin Fan nodded and asked the group.
"Not hungry! I ate something while I was waiting for you guys..."
Chu Zhaozhao was the first to answer, followed by Chu Zhaotian and Xu Qian, who had also snacked on something in the car.
"Perfect. Let’s get some work done first, then we can rest. Otherwise, once we relax, we won’t feel like getting back up."
Lin Fan clapped his hands and addressed the group.
"Sister Qing, you’re helping too..."
"Right now, 301 is the only apartment in the building with electricity, so forget about air conditioning. If you get hot, we still have wiring. You can run an extension cord from your RV to power a fan..."
"You two, go to the two apartments on the sixth floor. Open up the refrigerators and check them. Throw out anything that’s gone bad, and bring down anything still edible from the freezers. Zhaozhao, you check 402 and 401. Sister Qing, could you go tidy up 302 for her? Is that okay...?"
"Mhm," Su Qing nodded. She was only renting the place anyway, so she was fine with whatever Lin Fan decided.
"I’ll go pack up my clothes and things then..."
With that, the group dispersed, leaving Lin Fan alone.
Since he was still grimy, he decided to take advantage of it. He grabbed a short spear, climbed down a rope from the balcony to 201, kicked open the window, and dealt with the zombie inside.
This was the only apartment in the building where there had been any signs of activity. The others, 502 and 202, were likely unoccupied.
There had been no response when Lin Fan had knocked on their doors earlier. As for the other first-floor unit, 102, it was a storefront that had been vacant since last year. It was unlikely to hold any useful supplies.
’Still, I should bring the others tomorrow and we’ll pry open all these rooms, just in case there’s a Mutated Zombie or something hiding inside...’
After tossing the zombie’s corpse out the north window into the complex grounds, Lin Fan checked the apartment’s refrigerator.
The zombie had been a middle-aged woman. Judging from the decor, two people had likely lived here, but the other person wasn’t home.
The fresh food compartment of the fridge held plenty of leftovers and eggs. The vegetables had wilted, but the eggs were probably still fine.
In the freezer, he found a good amount of meat and various hot pot meatballs. They had started to thaw, but were still cool to the touch and hadn’t spoiled yet.
The power had been out for over thirty hours, so the contents of everyone’s refrigerators were in a critical window. A fully packed freezer might last another day or two, but a less full one would be completely thawed by now. In another day, everything inside would be spoiled.
Lin Fan did a quick search of the kitchen. Besides the usual staples like rice, flour, and cooking oil, he also found a large electric hot pot.
An idea struck Lin Fan. He piled the contents of the freezer into one of its drawers. Since there was no way to refreeze the ingredients, they might as well have a hot pot tonight and unwind a little.
It wasn’t just Chu Zhaozhao and the other two who had been cooped up at the gas station for so long; Su Qing had also spent the last couple of days terrified.
Even Lin Fan himself, though his health had recovered from his injuries, felt like he hadn’t gotten any proper rest. He had planned on coming home for a good sleep, but ended up running around for the better part of the day.
He wasn’t just physically exhausted, but mentally drained as well. That was why he’d pushed himself to deal with the zombie in the 2nd-floor apartment before his adrenaline wore off.
The zombies on the road to the south had quieted down, and the ones that had been gathered below the building in the northern part of the complex had already scattered. He had killed nearly twenty today, so things were significantly quieter.
As Lin Fan was carrying the items back, he ran into Su Qing, who was leaving 302 with two rolling suitcases. Seeing him carrying a basket full of food, she asked curiously:
"Huh? Where did you get that? They sell meat at the gas station?"
She saw Lin Fan coming up from a lower floor and assumed he’d brought it from the RV. Seeing her expression, Lin Fan chuckled.
"It’s from 201. We can use it to have hot pot together tonight!"
He said, giving the basket a little shake in front of Su Qing.
"...Huh? 201! You climbed down with the rope? Why didn’t you tell me so I could keep watch..."
The moment she heard Lin Fan had come from 201, Su Qing knew exactly what he’d done and spoke with a hint of reproach.
"Relax, relax. It’s only the third floor. Even if I had fallen off the rope, it wouldn’t have killed me."
Holding the refrigerator drawer, Lin Fan stepped aside to let Su Qing enter the apartment first, speaking as he followed her in.
Before the two of them could even step inside, a voice shouted from the stairwell landing behind them:
"Hot pot! I want hot pot, too!"
Chu Zhaozhao’s excited figure then came running down from the landing. She was also carrying a refrigerator drawer, which contained some eggs, potatoes, and frozen meat in plastic bags.
Her face was beaming with excitement, but halfway down, she suddenly remembered Lin Fan had told them to sort out their own food, and her expression immediately fell.
"The only thing still edible in the fridge in 401 is potatoes..."
"This meat is a little thawed..."
"I’ll go check 402 now..."
"I can just have instant noodles for dinner..."
Her true intentions were showing.
"If you’re having instant noodles, eat the pickled cabbage flavor first," Lin Fan couldn’t help but tease, seeing Chu Zhaozhao’s crestfallen expression. "Save the shrimp and fishcake noodles for me..."
"Huh? We’re really eating that...?"
Holding her refrigerator drawer, Chu Zhaozhao saw that Lin Fan wasn’t giving in. She furrowed her brow, her eyes widening as she turned a pleading, watery gaze on Su Qing.
"Sister Qing, what’s your favorite flavor? I’ll save one for you, too..."
Su Qing couldn’t hold back any longer at Chu Zhaozhao’s expression and let out a PFFT of laughter.
She didn’t know if Lin Fan’s offer to "have hot pot together" was for all five of them, or just the two of them.
Even with Chu Zhaozhao looking at her, she couldn’t make a decision on Lin Fan’s behalf.
So, she just smiled and turned her head to look at Lin Fan.
Seeing that Chu Zhaozhao looked like she was about to cry, Lin Fan gave Su Qing a slight nod.
Su Qing immediately understood and spoke up, pleading on behalf of the three newcomers.
"The three of them are exhausted, too. It couldn’t have been easy being stuck in that gas station for days. Why don’t we all just eat together...?"
As soon as Chu Zhaozhao heard Su Qing’s words, she immediately whipped her head around to stare at Lin Fan.
"Alright, alright. Just this once. We’ll take a break, have a good meal, and get some rest. Tomorrow, we’re finding some weapons, and you all are going to start training..."