Reborn As A Doomsday Villainess
Chapter 197

Chapter 197: 197

Two weeks later, the structures were finally coming to life but so was the time decreasing.

[Yeah love, you’ve got just 10 days left.]

"I understand. We’re done with building, we are going to speed run the dam."

Qingran looked more rugged after this past two weeks. The hotel’s generator had eventually ran out but she wasn’t willing to use the backup generator and save her fuel.

"Boss. We need power for the drills, we also need water. We’ve also low on food, but I think you’d want discuss that with miss Bai and Feng Yuxi."

Qingran wiped the sweat off her face. "Got it. Get Yu Song and Meng Nian to bring the generator out. I’ll power the one for the hotel when I get to the hotel."

Fang Mokin nodded and turned back to the site, Qingran walked back to the hotel, she has gotten a gym body without needing to go to the gym.

It would be nice to get my girly body now.

She thought to herself, but she knew she would be running too much for a while for her to dream of a girly body.

They had moved the logistics room to the administration office on the lobby, it was right after the front desk. So it was easily accessible.

Since power wasn’t constant in the hotel anymore, Qingran had moved Bai Shiyue to the rooms on the third floor, so she wouldn’t stress herself too much.

To converse electricity in the hotel. Everyone had moved to the first ten floors.

So has to make walking easy.

Getting to the door, Qingran stretched a bit before knocking door.

"Hey. I heard ration’s running low? How much is left?"

Bai Shiyue bowed slightly, then she proceeded to relay her findings.

"We’re down on rice, sesame oil, we still have a bit of chilli oil. There’s no meat, you give that to us when it’s time to cook. There’s no vegetable and we’re running low on gas.."

Qingran nodded, gas was the one thing she hasn’t stocked up on.

They didn’t need it. They could cook using a fire. And that’s what they’ve been using since the cooking gas ran out.

They created a small makeshift kitchen, out side the hotel, just by the corner and far from the construction site so the smoke wouldn’t affect the workers and dust won’t get into the food.

"Alright...the workers get a bigger portion of the rice, and 3 servings of meat. Let’s have something something light for breakfast. Steamed rice with curry, we’ll use beef.."

Bai Shiyue nodded as she brought out the container of rice which now had only a few grains in it.

Qingran nodded and brought out a bag of rice from her space. Taking a measuring cup, she gently poured the amount of rice they would use for the day.

Everyone has snacks for lunch and then ate actual food for dinner.

1...

2...

3...

She kept counting as she poured. When she reached the twentieth cup, she paused.

"That should be enough. One cup per person. Don’t forget the construction crew gets larger scoops."

Bai Shiyue was already moving efficiently, pulling out the ingredients and calling for the morning prep team.

The prep team or cooking team, consisted of Bai Shiyue, Feng Yuxi, Rina and Yiran who insisted on joining.

But she had the morning shift in the makeshift clinic so she’ll be joining them to make dinner.

Rina had taken jobs to avoid facing Qingran, after the whole Zhang Yi accident, she had been removed from the lobby, Qingran couldn’t trust her to be in logistics so she had been without a role for a while until Bai Shiyue picked her to be in the prep team.

Rina took to the job with a kind of subdued desperation, as if cooking meals might wash away the guilt clinging to her shoulders.

She never spoke unless spoken to, kept her head down, and followed Bai Shiyue’s instructions with military precision.

The others didn’t speak about what happened at least not around Qingran but the air around Rina always held a quiet tension.

Qingran didn’t comment either. She simply watched as Rina diced onions with robotic focus, and turned away.

She handed Bai Shiyue the bag of beef from her space next.

"Here, slice it thin. You can stretch it more that way. We’ll need enough for curry now, and for dinner."

"Yes, Qingran." Bai Shiyue accepted it quickly, not wasting a second.

Qingran stepped out to the back where the kitchen had been set up, four large stones circled a wide steel drum turned into a stove. Smoke rose in lazy wisps toward the overcast sky.

It was still early, but steam was already rising from one of the pots.

Yu Song and Meng Nian were there, after setting up the generators, they came to relay it to Qingran.

They had checked the fuel levels and coil wires, already prepared to get the hotel’s limited systems back online.

Meng Nian glanced up and nodded at her.

"Generator’s good to go. Should last six hours if we only run the fridges and the main hall lights and the generator for the site would run same 6 hours if we minimize the use of power drills."

Qingran exhaled. She gave Meng Nian a rare, appreciative nod.

"Alright. It’s still bright, the hotel doesn’t need electricity right now. Get the generator for the site running. You all did a good job, Fang Mokin really knows his stuff, although there are limited supplies, his craftsmanship is still top notch.."

Meng Nian nodded and turned to check out what they’ve built, he hoped he’d be able to get some rest after this. Even if it was only for a day.

"Hopefully we should be done with the dam in time. This method ended up being the fastest.."

Qingran nodded, it was all thanks to Lingquan, only he had the resources she couldn’t provide.

[Of course, you can’t do anything without me.]

Qingran snorted under her breath, lips twitching into the ghost of a smile.

"You’re sounding more and more like a brat every day."

[Excuse you, I’m the reason you have thirty-six feet of reinforced concrete already standing and water routes mapped to the millimeter.]

"That doesn’t mean you can run your mouth. You’re a system, not my annoying little brother."

[If I had corporeal form, I’d be your devastatingly handsome older brother.]

She rolled her eyes and kept walking. Even if Lingquan had no real body, he was starting to get too comfortable with backtalk. Still, he wasn’t wrong — if they kept the pace up, they might actually finish construction on the dam within the next seven days. That would give her three days of buffer time. Just enough to troubleshoot, redirect water routes, and maybe — just maybe — take a nap.

She rounded the corner and checked the edges of the dam. They had poured and shaped the concrete early, following the sloped structure Lingquan had given her, which was modeled after small-scale hydro projects in mountainous regions. It wouldn’t produce a massive amount of electricity, but it would be enough to stabilize life at the hotel and start supplying neighboring zones if they could survive the next wave.

The thought made her pause.

The coming wave was flood, it seems like they wanted to reduce the numbers, of both survivors and that of the zombies

They all felt it in the air, like something coming in on the back of the wind thicker hordes, smarter zombies, or worse... infected humans. She had experienced it all before.

Eventually they might all die in this hell hole.

[Positive thoughts dear.]

"I’m working on that."

She turned and headed to the makeshift kitchen, the smell of curry has began to fill the air.

"Add more salt to the curry Rina, Yuxi check on the rice, remember the servings is one bowl of rice per person"

Bai Shiyue ordered as she added the chopped beef into the mix.

"Smells good in here, you ladies really know your stuff."

"Smells good in here," Qingran said, stepping into the kitchen with a tired but appreciative smile. "You ladies really know your stuff."

Bai Shiyue nodded, her focus unwavering as she stirred the curry. "We’re doing our best. Every meal counts."

Rina kept chopping quietly, while Feng Yuxi carefully checked the rice portions.

The small team worked together like a well-oiled machine, each one silently determined to keep everyone fed and ready for the challenges ahead.

This was a burden everyone was willing to bear, a little to contribute.

"I actually like curry, very homie...I haven’t had it in a while." Feng Yuxi muttered.

"How so?"

"!!!"

"Well my mum was also busy so...curry wasn’t a regular for our meals."

Bai Shiyue nodded, curry also wasnt a regular at their house but they made it on special occasions.

Updat𝒆d fr𝒐m freew𝒆bnov𝒆l.c(o)m