Zhao Yin stepped into the small villa. The first thing that greeted him were two human skeletons.

Only blackish-brown scraps of flesh clung to the bones-devoured by zombies not long ago.

No wonder one or two hundred zombies had gathered here. Two survivors must have been living in this place. Something had drawn every zombie in the village straight to them.

After the feast, the horde hadn't dispersed.

The villa's interior was a wreck. Nearly all the furniture had been destroyed, and the air reeked of zombie stench.

Garbage littered the floor, mixed with dried blood and the viscous fluids that dripped from undead flesh.

Song Xiaodao ran to the backyard to drink some water, then returned with a broken broom head, ready to clean.

"Forget it. Sweep the rooftop instead. We're sleeping up there tonight," Zhao Yin said.

He headed to the detached kitchen in the backyard. The zombies had wrecked this place too. The wood-burning stove had collapsed, and shattered pots and pans covered the floor.

Zhao Yin used his Spatial Ring to collect all the firewood, then walked to the old well to fetch water.

The wooden bucket was still intact. Half a bowl of clear water remained at the bottom-Song Xiaodao had just drunk from it.

Zhao Yin hauled two buckets up to the rooftop, retrieved the hanging pot he'd brought from home, built a simple support frame from wood, and lit a fire to boil water.

Nearby, Song Xiaodao had already swept out a clean patch of ground. No mats, no bedding. She and Little Monkey lay sprawled on the rooftop, staring blankly at the dark sky.

Zhao Yin pulled out over a dozen fist-sized chestnuts and tossed them directly into the flames.

Soon, a rich fragrance wafted through the air. Little Monkey sprang up, squeaking as he scampered over: "Master, Master! Is it time to eat?"

Song Xiaodao sniffed. "What smells so good?"

"Mutated chestnuts!"

Zhao Yin used his Tang Dao to rake the charred chestnuts from the fire. He picked one up and split it open, revealing golden-yellow flesh inside.

The aroma grew even richer.

Song Xiaodao and Little Monkey couldn't tear their eyes away.

"Come on. Let's eat," Zhao Yin said.

Little Monkey immediately snatched up a chestnut and started gnawing, unbothered by the heat. Zhao Yin didn't plan to restrain the creature's animal instincts. He cut another chestnut in half and handed one piece to Song Xiaodao.

The water in the hanging pot had come to a boil. Zhao Yin added some salt and poured out three bowls of salted water.

He ate his chestnuts slowly, washing them down with the warm brine. Little Monkey had already finished one and was staring longingly at the pile in front of Zhao Yin.

"Before, there wasn't enough food. From now on, we won't go hungry," Zhao Yin said.

"Really, Master?" Little Monkey's voice echoed in his mind, eyes wide with disbelief.

Mutated beasts and evolvers had appetites several times greater than before.

Ever since following Zhao Yin, Little Monkey had never truly eaten his fill.

"Eat up." Zhao Yin offered no further explanation.

He himself devoured three chestnuts in one sitting-a full three or four jin. That was equivalent to thirty or forty jin of pre-apocalypse chestnuts. He couldn't eat another bite.

Little Monkey polished off seven or eight, his belly round and swollen. He flopped back onto the clean patch of ground, utterly content.

Song Xiaodao managed only a few bites before she started burping. Then, suddenly, she set down her chestnut and began to cry.

"What are you crying about?" Zhao Yin asked.

"Zhao Yin, I miss my brother. We haven't seen him anywhere along the way..." Song Xiaodao sniffled, fat tears rolling down her cheeks.

"He did it for me. Wang Quan forced him to lure the zombies away. If he's dead... he never even got a full meal before he went..."

Zhao Yin frowned. "He's definitely dead. Once he turns into a zombie, he can eat people. He won't go hungry anymore."

It was meant as comfort.

Song Xiaodao only cried harder.

Zhao Yin ignored her. He poured the remaining water into the pot, boiled it, transferred it back to the bucket, and carried it down from the rooftop.

At the well, he stripped off all his clothes, retrieved soap and a bath sponge from his Spatial Ring, and began scrubbing.

Over a month without bathing. Only hot water could get him truly clean.

As the disgusting zombie stench gradually faded from his skin, Zhao Yin finally felt human again.

Aside from the fishnet stockings and the military jacket, he threw away all his other clothes. Time to change into something clean from his Spatial Ring.

Then he remembered the dress he'd just obtained.

He pulled it out and held it in his hands, hesitating once more.

Should he wear it?

Wearing it increases my strength. More capital to survive the apocalypse. I've already got the fishnet stockings on. I'm Zhao Yin, a straight man. What am I afraid of?

But this dress... it'll be a stain I can never wash away. Someday my name will echo across the entire apocalypse. How can I carry such a disgrace?

The dress was the same style those internet celebrity streamers wore before the end. Zhao Yin wavered back and forth.

In the end, he decided... to wear it.

As long as he kept his outer coat on, no one would ever know.

Zhao Yin returned to the rooftop feeling refreshed, carrying two buckets of clean water. He planned to boil them so Song Xiaodao and Little Monkey could wash up too.

Song Xiaodao had stopped crying. She was cramming the remaining half of her chestnut into her mouth like a starving ghost.

Zhao Yin set down the buckets. "When you're done eating, boil water and wash yourself."

Song Xiaodao nodded. She pulled open her collar and carefully tucked the last small piece of chestnut against her chest, inside her clothes.

She had no pockets. To her, food this precious was only safe when stored against her body.

She huffed and puffed her way over to boil water while Zhao Yin retrieved the tent from his Spatial Ring. He set it up near the campfire and laid out a moisture-proof mat and bedding inside.

Song Xiaodao was just an ordinary person. A full day of hard labor had worn her out. Tonight, she'd get proper rest.

Little Monkey was injured too. He needed sleep to recover.

"Zhao Yin, do you have any clean clothes? I can't wear these anymore," Song Xiaodao asked after the water was ready.

Her white t-shirt and bare thighs were smeared with blackish-brown zombie brain matter.

Zhao Yin glanced back. If not for the slight swell of her chest, she was so filthy you couldn't tell if she was male or female.

He pulled out another t-shirt and tossed it to her. "Wear this. Don't throw away the one you've got on. Wash it-you can wear it again tomorrow."

He paused, then added, "Oh, the clothes I changed out of are by the well. Wash those too while you're at it."

"Do you have laundry detergent?" Song Xiaodao asked.

"No. Just scrub hard with hot water."

With that, Zhao Yin grabbed Little Monkey.

The creature was half-asleep and squeaked in protest: "Master, more work?"

"Bath time."

Zhao Yin dumped Little Monkey straight into a bucket of cold water. Song Xiaodao lugged her hot water down from the rooftop to wash.

The cold water jolted Little Monkey awake. He instinctively tried to scramble out, but Zhao Yin shoved him back down. "If you don't get clean tonight, no chestnuts tomorrow."

"Master, I don't want to bathe! I'll just get dirty again killing zombies tomorrow. What's the point?"

"Tomorrow's dirt is tomorrow's problem. From now on, whenever there's a chance, you will bathe!" Zhao Yin's tone was stern.

He knew perfectly well that no matter how clean he got tonight, tomorrow he'd be covered in zombie stench again.

He might not even find water.

But whether in his past life or this one, Zhao Yin refused to forget that he was still a normal person.

Whenever he had the chance, he would wash himself clean. Even if it meant being human for just one second-then one second was enough.

He was clean now. This lazy monkey would be too.

Under Zhao Yin's coercion, the clear water quickly turned murky. Once Little Monkey was mostly clean, Zhao Yin hauled him out of the bucket.

At that moment, a thought suddenly struck him...