Chapter 102: The Wall in the Mind
Chapter 102: The Wall in the Mind
Anran watches as Hengheng and Liu Yuan cry in each other’s arms. Quietly, she walks into the kitchen and opens the refrigerator. The power has been out for a long time, and most of the food inside has gone bad. Meat bones and fish she had prepared earlier are spoiled beyond recognition.
Her eyes fall on a few apples. While parts of the apples are rotten, the good portions can still be salvaged by cutting off the bad spots.
Anran stares at the apples for a moment, lost in thought. Finally, she closes the refrigerator door, leaves the kitchen, and spreads her hands helplessly toward Liu Yuan and Hengheng. “I don’t have anything to eat here either. When I came back earlier, Wang Xin’s people had already robbed an entire truckload of supplies.”
The truth is, sharing two of those apples wouldn’t have mattered much.
But Anran has resolved not to repeat her mistake of helping people like Chen Jiao and Hu Zhen.
She can’t understand why Liu Yuan, despite being forced into such a dire situation, doesn’t venture out to kill zombies. Outside the community, there is an abundance of food waiting to be claimed. As long as one dares to kill zombies, finding food won’t be an issue.
Hengheng isn’t a baby anymore—he is five years old, old enough to understand and follow instructions.
It should be far easier for Liu Yuan to fight zombies than it was for Anran. After all, Anran’s biggest problem is her baby, who might start crying and attract zombies at any moment.
So Anran has no intention of giving food to Liu Yuan.
Even though Liu Yuan is her neighbor and has helped her a lot in the past, Anran firmly believes it is better to teach someone to fish than to give them fish.
If Liu Yuan is willing, Anran will take her along to figure out how to steal back the supplies from the security office.
But she will no longer protect or feed anyone, no matter who it is.
Liu Yuan crouches on the floor, holding Hengheng, seemingly not doubting Anran’s claim about being out of food. She looks up in confusion and asks, “Your food was taken too? What are you going to do? How will you survive? You still have to nurse a baby. Wang Xin… that man is a scoundrel. He’s using food to control us, letting those security guards do whatever they want.”
“Don’t worry,” Anran replies, lowering her gaze to Hengheng. Her voice is vague, her thoughts already elsewhere. “I’ll deal with it eventually.”
Anran recalls something she once read about a “wall” in people’s minds.
From Liu Yuan’s words, it seems that many survivors in the Sunshine Lake community are being controlled by Wang Xin and his security guards, held hostage by their dependence on food.
But why aren’t they going out to fight zombies and find food? Why are they all staying in the neighborhood? Is the outside world really so terrifying, more so than the twisted dynamics within the neighborhood?
Or perhaps they have never ventured outside and are trapped by the "wall" in their minds—the belief that zombies are unimaginably dangerous.
But the wall in Anran’s mind has long since been dismantled.
She thinks differently from everyone else. To her, the real problem isn’t whether she, as a single mother, can kill zombies or survive. Her focus is on reclaiming her supplies and her ex-husband’s car.
How can she face her ex-husband if she doesn’t get the car back?
Author’s Note:
Some readers have commented that this book’s heroine feels disappointing compared to the ones in my previous works.
That’s fair. Since I began writing over five or six years ago, I’ve completed eight novels. My heroines have always been powerful, decisive, and fearless—"white knife in, red knife out" types. While these characters have their appeal, writing them eventually started to feel monotonous, even uninspired.
When I was hospitalized a while back, I realized I wanted to try something new. This time, I aimed to create a different kind of heroine—an ordinary mother adapting to a world that’s slowly crumbling.
I’ll admit, this approach comes with risks. It’s easy for such a character to come across as frustrating or sanctimonious if not handled well. I also understand that many readers who’ve supported me through my journey might feel disappointed by this shift.
To those readers, I ask for your understanding. Writing this book has been an experiment, a challenge, and a way for me to explore something new. It’s my way of letting myself go. I hope you’ll give this story a chance and walk this journey with me.