Kingdom of Corrosion
Chapter 925 - 402 Flowers, Vegetables, Meat_2

They didn’t find any zombies around the houses, which made Lin Ma immediately cautious. When they approached House No.1, a girl came out with a basin of clothes to dry on the sidewalk.

Startled by Lin Wu, the girl exclaimed happily, "Hi, hello there."

"Hello," Lin Ma replied, walking in the middle of the road, staying alert.

The girl asked warmly, "My name is Xiao Hua."

Lin Wu said, "I’m Sunlight."

Maya said, "I’m Starlight." Damn it, why am I copying him?

The girl asked, "Would you like to come in for a cup of tea? Xiao Cao, Xiao Cao?"

As Xiao Hua called out, a man came out, looking surprised at Lin Ma but without any apparent suspicion or defense, just joy: "Hello there, I’m just preparing breakfast. Would you like to come in and sit?"

Breakfast at ten in the morning?

Maya declined, "No thanks, we’re in a hurry."

Lin Wu looked at Maya: "Isn’t it almost lunchtime? Besides, aren’t you a little tired?" After others cook for us, wouldn’t it be nice to pillage following the meal?

Maya glanced at Xiao Hua, "Wouldn’t that be a bother?"

"Welcome to bother," Xiao Hua called, "Please come inside."

Xiao Hua hung up the two pieces of clothing and called for Xiao Cao to usher them into the first floor. There weren’t many windows, the lighting was bad, and the floor was dirty. There were four stools and a table in the living room.

Xiao Hua explained, "The flood destroyed the furniture on the first floor, making everything a mess. Xiao Cao."

"Yeah?"

"Go next door and borrow some cured meat. We don’t often have visitors, so we can cook some glass noodles," said Xiao Hua, glancing at Lin Ma. "Pork and cabbage stewed with glass noodles is a famous dish from my hometown; we just need pork."

Xiao Cao replied, "Alright," then took a pot of porridge from the fire pit and set it on the table, nodding to both of them before heading out the side door to House No.2.

This behavior made Lin Wu and the others a bit nervous. Should they make the first move? Lin Wu looked at Maya, who agreed, yet Lin Wu hesitated unexpectedly.

Lin Wu asked, "Xiao Hua, how many people are here?" Considering the four stools.

Xiao Hua scooped something stinking out of a jar with chopsticks, appearing to be some pickled vegetables or tofu. "Just Xiao Cao and me here. Want to try it? Fermented tofu and dried radish, it’s our local pickled dish," she said, serving them both a bowl of porridge.

Lin Ma didn’t partake but continued to inquire and learned that Xiao Hua and Xiao Cao were newlyweds renting this place. They hadn’t expected the apocalypse to happen just a day after their wedding night. Since their residence was far from the apartment complexes and with the help of their neighbors, zombies weren’t much of a threat to them.

At that moment, Lin Ma spotted someone’s shadow at the back window, a man leaning by the window, looking inexperienced. Part of his body was concealed, but the shadow cast by the sunlight wasn’t. Maya signaled with her eyes that there was someone else by the front window, revealed by the wind blowing her long hair.

Either someone was eavesdropping on their conversation, or Lin Ma was already surrounded. Maya looked at Lin Wu, realizing that after days of not seeing him, Lin Wu’s resolve to kill had softened. But that’s not quite right to say; just like herself, in previous communications with other players, Maya’s principle was to not attack first unless the other party attacked or clearly showed hostility. Lin Wu’s principle was even less stringent than Maya’s.

But when it came to NPCs, they always agreed. Today, Lin Wu seemed to regard NPCs as real people, at least feeling some psychological burden when killing NPCs. It wasn’t that Lin Wu had become a good person, resembling purity, rather his attitude towards NPCs was similar to how he treated players.

Lin Wu was hesitant; on one hand, he sensed danger, on the other hand, he found Xiao Hua to be simple and sincere, making it difficult for him to make a move.

"I’m back," Xiao Cao announced, coming back in the side entrance, holding a piece of cured meat weighing about 200 grams.

Xiao Hua served Xiao Cao porridge, asking, "Did you give any vegetables to our neighbor?"

Xiao Cao answered, "Took some potatoes."

Xiao Hua explained, "We used to grow a lot of vegetables in the backyard, but the flood destroyed them all."

"The worst part was the soil being ruined," said Xiao Cao, sitting down.

From outside the window came some noises, Xiao Hua stood up, puzzled and went to check, calling out, "Hey, neighbor, I have some friends over, want to join us for a bit?"

Then a woman in her thirties with a bow and arrows entered the living room, her face sneering, on one hand, scrutinizing Lin Ma as if with her expression she was telling them they weren’t welcome. On the other hand, she was very kind to Xiao Hua and Xiao Cao.

Xiao Hua introduced her as Xiao Cai, and that she and her husband, Xiao Rou, were outdoor survival experts, and also a couple of internet celebrities, not so famous, who frequently went hunting in the Southwest Mountains.

With that, Lin Ma basically understood their relationship.

Xiao Hua and Xiao Cao were graduate students in agronomy and botany, their passion was growing flowers and plants, so they rented this house with a large backyard two years ago, making a living by selling vegetables. As there were many residents nearby, everyone knew their vegetables were genuinely organic, and they had a decent income.

The personalities of Xiao Cai and Xiao Rou contrasted with Xiao Hua and Xiao Cao. They were hostile and suspicious towards strangers but over the past two years, their trust in Xiao Hua and Xiao Cao had grown.