Chapter 36: You Must All Be Hungry!

So many corpses left soaking in the rain without being washed away was unacceptable. If left for too long, the bodies would rot, swell, become grotesque, and might even explode, turning the entire area into a foul-smelling nightmare. Just the thought of it was terrifying.

Should she go out and push the bodies toward the landslide and mudflow zone? The idea flashed through Su Miao's mind but was swiftly dismissed. The apocalypse was dangerous at night, and equally so during the day. More importantly, she had already pushed herself hard enough by not letting her hands tremble during last night’s battle despite her fear. Unless absolutely necessary, Su Miao did not want to venture outside.

Fortunately, the problem was soon resolved. Around 10 a.m., Chang Jieming, having caught up on some sleep, arrived with several security guards. They said little, silently moving the corpses and sending them into the landslide zone, where the rushing rainwater carried them away.

“Captain, look what I found—there’s meat inside!” As they were about to head back, a guard discovered a foam box wedged in the bushes. Lifting the cloth covering it, he saw it was filled with fresh meat. Although much was dirty or spoiled, discarding the inedible pieces left plenty that looked fine.

The other guards hurried over, faces breaking into smiles. “What kind of meat is it? Let me see.” Chang Jieming approached, suspicious. In the twenty-odd days since the disaster, survivors in the resort area had rarely eaten meat, except for the occasional wild rabbit. If there was fresh, good meat, who would just throw it away in a foam box? No, people would fight tooth and nail for it.

The thought brought a change to Chang Jieming’s expression. He snapped a branch from a nearby bush and poked through the meat. The sight that greeted the guards was beyond belief. They all began to retch in unison. When they had finished, they pushed the foam box toward the landslide zone, letting the rainwater wash it away.

By then, they understood why the meat was a mushy mess and why some of it looked roasted. Connecting it with the intel they’d received, they realized this must have been from the person who attacked Miss Su Miao’s villa last night. That person had been blown to pieces—what terrible luck.

Su Miao noticed the security team leaving after cleaning up the bodies. She drew the curtains and said nothing—this was for the best. Because much had been missed in the darkness, she and Xia Xiao’an continued to scrub away the remaining blood and filth inside the villa during the day. After all, this time, they couldn’t simply move to another villa. Not unless they could leave this place entirely.

Compared to last night, Xia Xiao’an was much stronger—perhaps because she had already emptied her stomach after seeing the corpses outside that morning. It’s worth mentioning that, while cleaning the stairwell, Su Miao unexpectedly mastered the Water Orb magic. The stairs were the filthiest, caked thick with blood, and cleaning them was a nightmare. Su Miao decided to try a small Water Orb spell, making a slight modification based on how she’d previously compressed her magical energy for the blue Fireball.

The result was that her Water Orb spell produced a large water sphere instead. Whether it technically qualified as “Water Orb,” Su Miao couldn’t say, as she had no idea what the standard Water Orb spell was like. In any case, it worked. After several large water orbs, the stairs were much cleaner, making the rest of the cleaning far easier.

The two worked until afternoon before finally getting the villa spotless. As for the areas blown apart, there was nothing Su Miao could do. But looking at the now-clean villa, both she and Xia Xiao’an felt a great sense of accomplishment. Xia Xiao’an deserved special praise for her vigorous efforts—in her hands, even the strong smell of blood that had permeated the first floor faded to almost nothing.

There would be no need to move homes after all. With the villa clean, Su Miao’s mood lifted as well. “Xiao’an, shall we have beef hotpot for dinner again?” Su Miao glanced at the mushroom room as she spoke. The mushrooms had been growing so well lately that she and Xia Xiao’an simply couldn’t finish them all. She had already stored a good number of fresh mushrooms in her magical space, yet more kept sprouting, likely due to the ongoing rain and humidity.

However, when the blizzards, extreme cold, or heat disasters arrived, gathering mushrooms so easily would become a thing of the past.

“Sister, can we not have meat…” Xia Xiao’an blanched at the suggestion. The thought of meat brought back the grisly sight of the corpses by the stairs last night, and she nearly gagged again.

Su Miao blinked. “All right, we’ll have mushroom hotpot instead. Look—there are plenty of beautiful mushrooms growing in there.” Xia Xiao’an peered into the mushroom room, eyes widening. “Sister, these pretty mushrooms are poisonous! Eat them and you’ll start seeing little people!”

Her face drained of color as she suddenly recalled the previous beef hotpots. It seemed Su Miao always added some mushrooms to the broth. Yet aside from a sense of exceptional flavor and a slight craving for more, nothing else had happened.

Su Miao stared at the colorful mushrooms in surprise. The pine logs had been bought wholesale at the market, and the vendor had sworn up and down that they’d spent a lifetime growing and eating mushrooms—anything growing on pine wood was edible, with no chance of poisoning. Could these pretty mushrooms be toxic? Was it possible Xia Xiao’an was mistaken? After all, many beautiful mushrooms were edible.

Erring on the side of caution, Su Miao decided not to try the brightly colored mushrooms for now. “Don’t worry, these pretty mushrooms are for potion-making, not for eating,” she said. Potion-making was a story she’d come up with on the spot. As a witch who could use magic, brewing potions seemed only natural—even if she had no idea how to actually do it. At worst, she could set aside the pretty mushrooms, cook them into a pot, and feed them to any starving intruders who tried to break into the villa. That way, she’d know for sure whether they were safe to eat. Truly, her cleverness knew no bounds. Perhaps she’d never need to fight again, nor worry about bloodstains everywhere.

Xia Xiao’an eyed the suddenly smiling Su Miao with suspicion. Still, as long as her sister wasn’t planning to use the pretty mushrooms for their hotpot, she was content.

“Found it!” A worker shouted from the mouth of a cave. Two others hurried over, spotting the ashes left at the entrance, the security team’s distinctive hat, and some tools—this was definitely the place.

“Damn, this cave is hidden!” said another worker as he arrived. Whether viewed from afar or up close, the cave was impossible to spot unless one was standing right in front of it.

“No wonder the security guards didn’t even bother to hide it further.”

“Let’s go tell the foreman!” The worker who found the cave prepared to leave and raise the alarm.

“Hold on, we haven’t seen the security team’s food stash yet!” The older worker grabbed his arm, his stomach growling. “Let’s mark a stone out here to show where the cave is, then go inside and have a look. If we find any of their food, we’ll move it to the entrance first.”

“You’re all hungry, aren’t you?”