Chapter 63: What You Are Doing Is Illegal
Chapter 63: What You Are Doing Is Illegal
In the ward, Chen Jiao's bed is piled high with food—various biscuits, egg yolk pies, and chocolates. She has run out to collect them while An Ran and Hu Zhen are on the fifth floor. Seeing An Ran enter aggressively, Chen Jiao stands up from the bed, looks directly at her, and shouts, “Do you not know to knock when you come in? Are you out of your mind?!”
"Give me some food!" An Ran doesn’t waste time with pleasantries; she stands firmly at the door and states her purpose directly.
Chen Jiao, however, laughs, adopting a somewhat childish and unreasonable attitude. She is determined not to give in and can hardly tolerate An Ran’s arrogance. “Why should I? I found these things; why should I give them to you?”
Fine, An Ran thinks, no more talking. She charges forward, blocking Chen Jiao at the side of her bed like a shrew. The intimidating stance makes her appear somewhat frightening.
Before Chen Jiao can react with a furious retort, An Ran shouts, “Chen Jiao!!! I’m someone who has killed zombies! In the past ten days, I’ve killed at least two hundred zombies on the fourth and fifth floors. I don’t care if I kill one more human! If you keep acting oblivious like this, I’ll stab you with this knife next time to save myself the trouble!”
Food is a sensitive topic, especially in such a dire situation. There is so little of it, and if anyone hoards the supplies, it could drive others to desperation!
“You dare!” Chen Jiao exclaims, tears spilling from her eyes as she glares at An Ran with hatred. “What you’re doing is illegal.”
“Illegal?” An Ran throws her head back and laughs wildly. “In a place where social order has collapsed, everything I do is justified!”
There is a hint of the idea that power comes from the barrel of a gun in her words. Watching Hu Zhen’s ineffectiveness as she always plays the peacemaker with Chen Jiao, An Ran feels that if she doesn’t show some strength now, Chen Jiao will only become more outrageous in the future.
How can a person who has done nothing think that whoever finds supplies can claim them? This mentality needs to be curtailed, or Chen Jiao will only escalate her entitlement.
An Ran is surprised by her own fierce attitude. Perhaps it is the result of having killed so many zombies. Once hesitant even to argue with her ex-husband, she now finds herself shouting at Chen Jiao and threatening her. She isn’t sure if this transformation is good or bad, but she recognizes that without adopting a tougher stance, she can’t continue to fight zombies and endure Chen Jiao's bullying.
When Chen Jiao attempts to argue further, An Ran pulls out the fruit knife and points it at her. Chen Jiao presses her lips together and recoils in fear.
At that moment, An Ran realizes the effectiveness of violence. She understands that as long as she holds the knife, communication will go more smoothly whenever she faces any problems that cannot be communicated through words.
She turns to Hu Zhen, who is worried behind her, and says, "Take the supplies and go back to the fifth floor."
Hu Zhen hesitates, a look of uncertainty on her face. An Ran glances back at her and urges, "Hurry up! Your son He Wen is still upstairs. He might wake up now."
Upon hearing that He Wen might wake up, Hu Zhen stops hesitating. She steps forward, rummaging through the drawer of her bedside table on bed 17, and pulls out a large plastic bag. She quickly sweeps all the supplies from Chen Jiao’s bed into the plastic bag, then hesitates for a moment, glancing at An Ran. She takes out a large bag of unopened Zhenzhi chocolate biscuits from the plastic bag and places it back on Chen Jiao’s bed.