Chapter 395: Daily life 5.

"It was faster."

"It was also airborne."

Lili laughed.

Bai Li looked at the little girl. "Do you want it to fly?"

"Yes."

Yan Cijin pointed at Bai Li. "No."

Bai Li smiled. "Fine."

Lili pouted.

"We’ll make it float better," Bai Li said.

That was how another half hour disappeared.

Bai Li adjusted the bottom of the toy boat with a little bit of plastic

and foam. Yan Cijin held the parts while Bai Li worked. Lili supervised

from the table. Mother Yan occasionally looked in from the kitchen.

When they tested it in a basin of water, the tiny boat stayed upright.

Lili clapped.

"It works!"

Bai Li smiled. "Of course."

Yan Cijin nodded. "Good job."

Bai Li looked at her. "Was that praise?"

"Maybe."

"I’ll remember it."

"Don’t get used to it."

"Too late."

Lili looked at both of them and smiled.

Those were the easy days.

Not safe days.

Easy days.

There was a difference.

The building could still lose power. Water could still become a problem.

Zombies could still enter. The city could still produce something worse

tomorrow. But when nothing went wrong for a few hours, the residents of

Building 9 learned to enjoy those hours instead of waiting for disaster.

And then, three days after Bai Li and Yan Cijin returned from the mall,

disaster entered through the ground floor.

It started with a shout.

Not a scream of pain.

A warning.

"ZOMBIES!"

Bai Li was in the kitchen fixing the lid of a storage container. Yan

Cijin was sorting dried vegetables. Lili was drawing on a piece of scrap

cardboard at the table. Mother Yan was checking rice.

The shout came from below.

Everyone in the apartment froze.

Bai Li stood.

Yan Cijin was already reaching for her weapon.

Mother Yan’s expression tightened.

Lili stopped drawing.

Another shout came from the stairwell.

"They’re inside!"

Bai Li was already moving toward the door.

Yan Cijin followed.

"How many?"

A voice from the hallway answered through the intercom. "At least six on

the first floor. More coming from the service entrance."

Bai Li frowned.

"How did they get in?"

"We don’t know."

Yan Cijin looked at her.

"The basement gate?"

"Maybe."

Bai Li picked up Whisperfang.

Mother Yan stood. "Go."

Lili looked worried.

Bai Li crouched in front of her. "Stay with Grandma."

"You’re going down?"

"Yes."

"Is it dangerous?"

Bai Li smiled. "For them."

Lili looked uncertain.

Yan Cijin crouched beside her daughter. "We’ll come back soon."

Lili nodded.

Bai Li stood.

She looked at Yan Cijin.

"Let’s clean the whole building."

Yan Cijin nodded. "I was thinking the same."

"Every floor."

"Every floor."

"Then nobody has to deal with them later."

Yan Cijin smiled faintly. "And you won’t get annoyed when you come back

from outside."

Bai Li looked at her. "Exactly."

"You really are doing this for yourself."

"Mostly."

Yan Cijin laughed quietly. "Fine."

They stepped into the hallway.

The door locked behind them.

Bai Li’s expression changed.

The relaxed woman who had spent the morning repairing cabinets was gone.

What remained was the woman who could walk into a building full of

zombies and treat it like a cleaning task.

Yan Cijin knew that look.

She adjusted her weapon.

"Ready?"

Bai Li nodded.

"Let’s make it quiet."

They took the stairs instead of the elevator. The building’s elevator

still worked most of the time, but Bai Li disliked trusting machinery

that she had not personally checked that morning, especially when there

were people above and a problem below. Yan Cijin did not argue. She

simply followed one step behind, crossbow already in her hand.

The first floor was louder than usual. Doors had been opened along the

corridor. Several residents were standing behind makeshift barricades,

looking toward the lobby. The main entrance was still blocked with metal

furniture, but something had gotten through from the side entrance near

the delivery area.

Bai Li arrived just in time to see two zombies stumbling across the

lobby. One was wearing the torn remains of a delivery uniform. The other

had once been a security guard. A third was crawling behind them.

A resident raised a metal pipe.

"Don’t come closer!"

Bai Li walked past him. "Move aside."

The resident blinked. "What?"

"Move."

He moved.

Bai Li crossed the lobby in three steps. Whisperfang flashed once. The

delivery zombie fell. She pivoted and cut the second. Yan Cijin fired a

bolt into the crawling one before it could reach a woman hiding behind

the reception desk.

Silence returned.

Then someone from behind the barricade whispered, "They’re dead."

Bai Li wiped Whisperfang clean with a cloth. "They were already dead."

Yan Cijin lowered her crossbow. "She means more dead than before."

A man near the entrance let out a nervous laugh. "Right."

Bai Li looked around. "How many got in?"

"Six that we saw. Maybe more."

"Where?"

"Two came through the side hall. Three ran into the stairwell. One went

toward the basement."

Bai Li’s eyes narrowed.

"Basement first."

Yan Cijin nodded.

The residents watched them move. One older man said quietly, "You really

don’t need help?"

Bai Li shook her head. "Stay behind the barricades."

Yan Cijin added, "If you hear us call, then help. Otherwise stay put."

They went through the side corridor.

The building’s ground floor was a mixture of old lobby space, a small

security room, storage lockers, and a loading area. The service entrance

had been reinforced after the apocalypse started, but one of the lower

hinges was damaged. The metal gate was not fully closing.

Bai Li crouched beside it.

"This is how they came in."

Yan Cijin touched the hinge. "It broke."

"Not enough to let six through."

Yan Cijin looked at the gap. "Then somebody left it open."

Bai Li stood.

"I’ll ask later."

They went down.

The basement smelled worse than the lobby. It smelled of stagnant water,

old concrete, rust, and the unmistakable rot of infected bodies. Bai

Li’s expression became more serious.

"There."

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TO BE CONTINUED.