Zheng Feina’s face turned pale as she looked at Zheng Heng. "Humanity has so many brilliant scientists. I... I think they’ll definitely be able to invent a cure for the zombie virus, or... a vaccine or something."

"You’re too optimistic." Zheng Heng shook his head. "Let’s not even talk about how long it takes for a vaccine to go from research and development to production and public release. Just look at our current survival environment. Where will the machinery come from? Where can we find large-scale medical equipment, research apparatuses, and the necessary drugs?"

"Many medicinal plants that were common before the apocalypse have probably gone extinct by now."

"Most importantly, where are we going to get factory workers? The workers have all turned into zombies. The number of living people is dwindling. This is going to become a world for zombies to revel in."

Everyone shivered. Zheng Heng’s words were like a basin of ice water poured over them in the dead of winter—a chill that pierced them to the bone.

Zhuang Xinyi covered her face and huddled next to He Zhi, starting to cry pitifully. "I don’t think we should have left the school. We shouldn’t have listened to Xie Ning and run off campus."

"We should have gathered at the main cafeteria across the way. The army would have definitely come to the school to rescue us first."

Zheng Heng glanced at her. "You’re wrong. Running was our only way out."

"You think the cafeteria is some kind of paradise?" The boy who had spoken earlier, Zha Peng, couldn’t help but add, "Think about it. With so many people crowded into one big cafeteria, what would they eat? What would they drink? Where would they handle... their business?"

Zhuang Xinyi’s face grew even paler. She asked with a trembling voice, "Then... then what will happen to them?"

Zha Peng shrugged. "Who knows? It’s up to fate. If they can hold out until a rescue, they’ll have a chance to live. If they can’t..."

He didn’t finish the sentence, but they all understood what he meant.

"You all stay here and keep the doors and windows shut tight. Zha Peng and I will go down and check out the situation," Zheng Heng decided.

"I’ll go with you." A slightly chubby girl with a round face, who had been perched on the arm of the sofa, suddenly stood up.

Her movement was so abrupt that everyone else turned to look at her.

Xu Ling bit her lip, feeling her neck flush. "I think... it’s not very safe to stay here."

Zheng Feina rolled her eyes. "Senior Sister Xu, what are you going down there for? Can you fight? Can you run or jump? You won’t be any help and will just drag my brother and Senior Cha down."

Scolded by Zheng Feina, Xu Ling hung her head, completely mortified.

’She just felt there was little safety in staying here with the delicate Zhuang Xinyi and Zheng Feina.’

’Isn’t that how people are? They admire and follow the strong, especially in such difficult times.’

’She didn’t think she was wrong.’

...

Xie Ning and her mother, of course, had no idea they were already on someone’s mind.

The two of them slipped into the seafood market as planned. Song You’ai pulled her daughter straight toward their destination. "Let’s go to that one inside. That stall has a better variety of fish and shrimp, and they’re bigger."

"The zombies here haven’t been cleared out. I have a feeling we’re going to score a big haul today."

"It’s just up ahead." Song You’ai pointed to a stall in front of them and pulled her daughter into a run.

"Careful." Xie Ning yanked Song You’ai back as a Metal Spike shot from her fingers, burying itself deep in the skull of a legless zombie.

The creature had probably had its legs chewed off by its own kind and could only flail and struggle in a king crab tank.

Song You’ai’s first reaction was one of heartache. "What a waste of those king crabs!"

In the end, the mother and daughter didn’t take anything from that stall. Worried the seafood might have been contaminated, they ran to a neighboring one and found a stall with no signs of a struggle to collect from.

Xie Ning had Little Spider summon the Dimensional Space and, in one go, swept all the lively fish, shrimp, and crabs from the stall into it.

Little Spider’s mechanical, electronic voice sounded. "Hello, Subject Ningning. Based on precise calculations, it is recommended that you do not add any more items to the water. After all, fish, shrimp, and crabs also require living space! Overcrowding is not conducive to the growth of aquatic products and may even cause the products to suffocate!"

Xie Ning glanced down at Little Spider. ’You’re the one who makes me feel suffocated,’ she thought. ’I’ve never heard of fish, shrimp, and crabs suffocating from being crowded.’

"Then can you help me expand it?"

"No!" Little Spider flatly refused.

’This Subject Ningning was too much! More bizarre and ridiculous than any subject it had ever encountered before!’

"It is recommended that the subject not be too conspicuous. A sudden, large expansion will attract the suspicion of the main system’s monitoring."

"Didn’t you say you broke away from the main system?"

If the electronic Little Spider had fur, it would definitely be standing on end right now. It felt like it was impossible to get through to its subject!

"I did break away from the main system, but that was to stop the main system from monitoring you, Subject Ningning! But I myself am still fundamentally a small point of light within the main system." Little Spider explained until its metaphorical mouth was dry, feeling like it was about to go berserk.

"If the main system is our universe, then in the future, system 00008531 will just be a tiny, tiny, tiny point of light in this vast cosmos. Although we’ve used a bug to escape the main system’s surveillance of you, the subject, if we are too conspicuous, we will definitely arouse the main system’s suspicion!"

The electronic Little Spider felt like it had explained itself to death. It hurriedly asked, "Does the subject understand?"

Xie Ning reluctantly nodded. "But I’m not asking you to expand it by a huge, huge amount. Just expand it to two cubic meters! Let me pack all the rest of this in. We can’t let it go to waste."

Electronic Little Spider: ...

Xie Ning patted its metal shell. "How about this: after you expand it, I definitely won’t get any sudden urges to make you do anything else ridiculous for the rest of the week."

Little Spider’s electronic voice piped up, "Thank you, Subject, but today is already Sunday!"

’So your "rest of the week" ends today. Tomorrow you can go right back to tormenting me!’

"Today’s Sunday?" Xie Ning paused, genuinely not having noticed.

She reached out and stroked Little Spider. "Then let me ask you this, can the fish, shrimp, and crabs all be raised together?"

"With normal technology, of course not. Are saltwater and freshwater the same? Are pond-raised and lake-raised species the same?" A trace of smugness crept into Little Spider’s electronic voice. "But this is a Dimensional Space! And you, Subject, filled it with superpower water. Rivers, lakes, seas—it’s all the same in here."

"When the time comes, whatever the subject wants to scoop out, I can naturally help you retrieve multiple types at once. It’s no trouble."

"Then... then can they... reproduce?" This was the most important part, a matter of sustainable development.

"Some can, some can’t! Some can spawn on their own, while others require male and female cooperation. However, for those that can reproduce, their reproduction speed will be accelerated in the superpower water. But if your space is too small, there won’t be room for their offspring, and they’ll suffocate again!"

’Suffocate, my foot,’ Xie Ning rolled her eyes.

’All she needed to know was that they could reproduce and be kept together. Even if it was only a small portion of the species, it meant her grand project of sustainable development was going reasonably well.’

’Worst case, she could just catch more seafood to throw in later.’

Five minutes later, Xie Ning stared at the rotating blue cube in front of her, blinking and blinking again.