#407 - Chapter 407: Sleepless
Night.
The time belonging to zombies arrived, and humanity once again relinquished the outdoors to another group of beings on this blue planet.
Inside Mentang Town.
All the survivors who had worked diligently for a day returned to their homes to eat and rest.
At this moment.
A dilapidated three-story house on the outskirts of the Green Source Zone.
Faint light emanated from the windows on the third floor, indicating that someone was living inside.
"Xin Xin, how many times have I told you?! Don't speak so loudly outside, it's not good if those people hear you!"
Zhu Fen reprimanded her precious son with some annoyance.
However, because she had doted on her child too much from a young age, her reprimand lacked force and had no effect whatsoever.
"Mom, what's wrong with me saying a few words? Do they dare to hit me?! Doesn't the Green Source Base claim that fighting is prohibited in this area? Would those people dare to break the rules?"
Zhao Xin responded loudly to his mother, completely unconcerned. Now that he was home, he didn't need to restrain himself and freely vented his dissatisfaction with Green Source.
"You little rascal! Zhao Xin! You better watch yourself next time! If you cause any more trouble, I'll slap you! Is the Green Source Base something you can talk about carelessly?! Huh?!"
"Why did I give birth to such a senseless thing like you?! Sigh!"
Zhao Zhigang couldn't help but shout angrily from the side.
The thought of his good-for-nothing son uttering such disrespectful words in public this afternoon, directly revealing his true feelings, made him feel like something was stuck in his chest, and he was filled with anger.
This son, Zhao Xin, had never given him peace of mind since he was a child.
It was bad enough that he didn't study hard when he was young.
He also got into fights and bullied classmates every day, forcing his father to go to school to apologize and compensate people every other day.
Then, unsurprisingly, he became unemployed immediately after graduating from high school, and instead of going out to work, he stayed at home, freeloading.
Relying on the small fortune that he and Zhu Fen had accumulated from running their fruit shop, he hung out with a bunch of bad friends, not only failing to work and earn money for years but also learning to engage in various online loans and spending extravagantly!
Last year, when he realized that his game of borrowing to repay loans couldn't continue, and the creditors came knocking on his door, Zhao Zhigang finally found out that this good-for-nothing had racked up more than 600,000 yuan in debt!
That was almost all the savings of him and his wife for half their lives!
In the end, they were forced to painfully cover the hole for their only son.
As a result, Zhao Xin was confined at home for a full six months.
Then, the apocalypse broke out at this time, and they relied on their relatively ample preparations to survive until this spring before finally venturing out.
"Don't let me hear you say a single bad word about Green Source in Mentang Town!"
"Use your pig brain to think! Is that something you can say?! Huh?!"
"One report from someone else and our whole family is finished! You damn thing! I'll f*** your mother!"
Speaking in desperation, Zhao Zhigang couldn't help but utter a curse word.
He was really angry.
Seeing his father so enraged, Zhao Xin didn't dare to retort for a moment, although he still felt that there was nothing wrong with his behavior.
It was just a few words, would they dare to kill someone?
Seeing the disgruntled expression on his son's face, Zhao Zhigang's anger surged again, and he wanted to stand up and give his good-for-nothing son a slap, but Zhu Fen, with her sharp eyes, stopped him and said:
"What's wrong! The son already knows he's wrong! If you want to hit someone, hit me! If you dare to hit Xin Xin, I'm not finished with you!"
Seeing his mother skillfully standing in front of him, Zhao Xin felt a little smug in his heart. As expected, his mother would always come to the rescue in time.
Zhao Zhigang raised his hand, unsure of who to hit, swayed it left and right, and finally put it down helplessly.
Sigh.
Seeing that the mother and son had triumphed over their father, they exchanged a smug look.
"Alright, what happened today is over, let's hurry up and eat and sleep."
"Today, Xin Xin took the initiative to do the hardest work, he must be exhausted, look how motivated he is now! How can you bear to hit him?!"
Zhu Fen pulled her husband and son to the campfire, scooped a bowl of thin porridge for each of them, and began to boast happily.
This morning was indeed the most touching performance their son had given them in years.
Not counting the time he acted foolishly and spoke carelessly in the evening.
In the morning, Zhao Xin took the initiative to ask to do the hardest work, wanting to earn the most food, which made them very happy for a while.
Although their son was eventually caught slacking off by the supervisor and transferred back to an ordinary position, it still made them feel a sense of relief they had never experienced before.
It was as if their child had grown up.
Although they later realized it was an illusion.
Thinking of this, Zhao Zhigang's expression softened a little, and he stopped speaking, carefully drinking the watery porridge with only a few grains of rice.
Paired with some wild vegetables and tree roots he had scavenged nearby in his spare time.
He felt the food sliding into his shriveled stomach, releasing nutrients and energy, and burped contentedly.
Being able to survive in the Green Source Zone was not bad.
The Green Source Base wasn't as unbearable as his son complained.
He hoped that his son could mature and grow up as soon as possible in this world.
"Tch! These tree roots are really disgusting! This is not something a human eats! Even a pig wouldn't want it?!"
Zhao Xin threw the wild vegetables and tree roots he had painstakingly found back into the pot, and went to the porridge pot to scoop more thin porridge for himself, slurping it up as if no one else was around.
"Slow down, slow down, don't choke."
Zhu Fen not only didn't scold him but instead spoke with a smile, saying words of concern with doting.
"Sigh..."
Zhao Zhigang sighed again.
Dinner time ended quickly.
Next was naturally rest time.
The nights of the apocalypse were very lonely.
Besides the darkness, there were only the occasional zombie roars.
In addition to protecting their residences, the surviving humans also needed to develop a strong heart.
Otherwise, they couldn't sleep at night at all.
Just the thought of the hideous zombies that might appear below or outside at any time and rush in made most humans who had just entered the apocalypse not dare to sleep soundly at night.
Because sleeping soundly might really mean "sleeping to death."
Only those who adapted to this atmosphere and survived to this day had more or less found their own ways to survive.
In the darkness.
Zhao Zhigang, lying in bed, thought about many things.
Especially what Zhao Xin said about seeing his former daughter today.
His current wife, Zhu Fen, was a woman who was considered to have decent looks when she was young.
During his previous marriage, he had a relationship with her, and after she became pregnant with Zhao Xin, he divorced his ex-wife and remarried, forming a new family with Zhu Fen and her son.
It was also his fault for being too patriarchal at the time, heartlessly abandoning his ex-wife and daughter and choosing Zhu Fen and her son, who were pregnant with Zhao Xin.
If he hadn't done that back then, what would things be like now?
Was the woman Zhao Xin saw today really his former daughter?
For a time, his mind was filled with various chaotic thoughts.
"Sigh..."
Finally, it turned into a sigh.
Tonight was destined to be sleepless.
(End of this chapter)
