Cooking Gourmet Meals in the Apocalypse

Chapter 30: Chapter 30: The Building Incident

Chen Xing: ”...”

’I have to give Song Yiguo credit for how he handles things.’ His efficiency was impressive!

Thinking back on it, she had made the right choice in saving Song Yiguo.

He really hadn’t disappointed her!

’Still, it would be best to be careful around Song Yiguo from now on. The man is usually kind-hearted and willing to help the weak, but the moment his own interests—especially his life—are on the line, he instantly becomes utterly ruthless. He’s the type to repay every grudge, and immediately, too. It just isn’t worth making an enemy of him.’

Seeing Mr. Hu kowtow, Mrs. Hu hardened her heart, pulled her son down to his knees, and started kowtowing with him.

Just moments before, they had received a call from headquarters ordering them to vacate the building immediately.

They had a guilty conscience, and they were filled with regret.

Not only had they failed to stop Song Yiguo and the others, but the man had already entered the building and contacted the people in charge.

They had begged and pleaded on the phone, but the other party’s only response was a single, cold word: ”Scram.”

With all this chaos and monsters everywhere outside, leave? Where could they possibly go?

But if they didn’t listen to the higher-ups, would things turn out any better for them?

Even though it was the apocalypse, they couldn’t be sure that the authorities wouldn’t send people to ”clean them up.”

Since reasoning with headquarters was impossible, their only option was to get on their knees and beg Song Yiguo himself.

They had heard that Song Yiguo was a magnanimous man, and they had spoken a couple of times before. Surely he would spare them for old times’ sake?

While Mrs. Hu and Hu Dawei were just going through the motions, Mr. Hu was kowtowing for real, his forehead turning red from the repeated impact.

He just hoped Song Yiguo would spare his family.

Song Yiguo merely shot them a glance before entering the room with Yan Junxi to tend to his wounds.

Chen Xing watched the whole thing unfold. ’A storm is brewing in this building.’

Hao Wenli seemed to be consoling Mr. Hu and the others, but her eyes kept darting toward the surveillance camera.

’She must be plotting something again.’

Sure enough... seeing that their begging had no effect, Hao Wenli secretly pulled Du Yina aside and whispered something to her.

Du Yina immediately understood her role and turned to the crowd. ”Did you all see that? We were trying our best to plead for you! But that little influencer, Chen Xing, thought you were all an eyesore for blocking the way. Who knows what strings she pulled, but now there’s a call demanding you all move out of here immediately.”

”Uncle Hu was pleading for you, but not only did they refuse to listen, they’re trying to force us all out too! The world may be in chaos, but there should still be some basic human compassion, right? How can they kick so many of us out of the building under such dangerous circumstances? Sending us out now is basically a death sentence! This goes against all reason, and it’s completely heartless. Weren’t we all taught to help the weak? They’re bullying us, the weak!”

When the people heard this concerned them, the crowd immediately erupted. ”What right do they have to kick us out?”

”Do they own this building?”

”Actually, they do!” someone said meekly.

”Even if it is theirs, what’s wrong with us just taking shelter here when it’s so chaotic outside? Are rich people’s hearts made of stone? What’s wrong with helping us when we’re in trouble? Besides, this dump of a building has nothing but water. If it weren’t so dangerous outside, I wouldn’t even want to stay here. And who was it that said there was tons of food here?!”

”It was probably that food vlogger! She just wanted her video to go viral. She never actually intended to help us!”

”Isn’t that just inhuman? At least we had some food where we were before. Now look at us! We’ve been surviving on just water for two days!”

”I should’ve brought all the food from my house! They said there was plenty to eat here, so I came over without a second thought. I can’t believe they won’t give us any food and are even kicking us out! What a huge liar!” When he had left his home, he had been worried this place might not be secure and that he might have to go back, so he hadn’t brought his supplies.

”They’re feasting while they watch us starve, without an ounce of charity. This world has really changed!”

”Exactly!” Seeing her words were having an effect, Du Yina doubled down. ”She’s using her influencer status, using some burner account to claim there’s endless food here. Maybe she’s planning to kill us and eat our flesh. The day before yesterday, right after we got here, we saw her kill Doctor Wei’s whole family... If you don’t believe me, you can ask Brother Hu...”

”We saw it with our own eyes!” Hu Dawei looked like he wanted to throw the group upstairs out himself. ”She claimed Doctor Wei turned into a zombie, but we had just spoken to him on the phone an hour before that. Sigh... If only we had gotten here sooner, maybe Doctor Wei wouldn’t have been killed.” His voice was tinged with regret.

He believed in strength in numbers.

’With so many people on our side, let’s see how Song Yiguo tries to kick us out.’

”If we all stick together, I don’t believe they have what it takes to drive us out!”

However... the crowd wasn’t as riled up as he’d expected. Only a portion of them chimed in.

Another group was more concerned about what Du Yina had said—that Chen Xing would eat human flesh.

’How terrifying is that?’

’Making an enemy of someone like that is too dangerous. After all, your life is the most important thing.’

The remaining small group of people remained relatively level-headed.

They had seen Chen Xing and the others ringing the doorbell outside; they didn’t understand why they weren’t allowed in.

After getting inside, the newcomers hadn’t done anything drastic, either. They just went back to their own apartment.

As for all this talk about eviction, murder, and cannibalism, they hadn’t seen any of it with their own eyes.

Besides, who could say for sure that Doctor Wei hadn’t really turned into a zombie?

Since her plan didn’t have the desired effect, Hao Wenli’s mood soured.

She deliberately nudged Mrs. Hu in the side. ”Aunt Hu... If Uncle Hu keeps kowtowing like this, his body won’t be able to take it! We can’t afford to provoke them. It looks like our only choice is to leave quietly!”

”Oh, my wretched life...” Seeing her family was about to be kicked out, Mrs. Hu let her heavy body collapse to the ground with a THUD. She started slapping the floor and throwing a tantrum. ”I’ve lived to this old age, survived the monsters, only to be hounded to death by those rich people upstairs! They won’t even let us common folk live...”

”Aunt Hu...” Hao Wenli feigned kindness as she helped Mrs. Hu up. ”Please, don’t be anxious. Everyone here is flesh and blood; how could they just watch us suffer and do nothing? When they were in danger, *we* were the ones who opened the door and let them in.” Her implication was clear to the crowd: it hadn’t been the people upstairs who opened the door.

Desperate to avoid being kicked out, Du Yina decided to go all out and offend Chen Xing directly. ”Look, I don’t think this has much to do with Boss Song. It’s all that influencer, Chen Xing! She tricked everyone into coming here to get famous, and now she’s holding a grudge because we know she killed Doctor Wei, so she’s deliberately trying to drive us away!” Her keen intuition told her that Chen Xing and Boss Song were definitely not a couple.

Besides, a big shot like Song Yiguo would never be interested in someone with a flat figure like Chen Xing’s.

He would surely prefer a sexy bombshell like herself, who had both the face and the figure—curves in all the right places.

With that, she deliberately stood under the surveillance camera and puffed out her impressive chest again and again.

”Your precious influencer is a dangerous person! If she stays, all of our lives will be in danger!” Du Yina grew more and more agitated as she spoke, looking as if she wanted to drag Chen Xing down and throw her out the main entrance that very second. ”If we don’t get her out of this building, you might be the next one to end up like Doctor Wei!”

Chen Xing had the audio feed on and heard every word spoken downstairs.

’Time to kill the chicken to scare the monkeys.’

Without a word to the others in the room, she walked directly over and pressed the elevator button.