Madness After the Apocalypse-Chapter 17: The Vanished Her

An Nan's life returned to a semblance of normalcy.

Though the sounds of looting, smashing, and chaos in the neighborhood were disturbing, at least no one dared to bother her anymore.

She focused on improving her physical fitness and honing her combat skills at home, often practicing until drenched in sweat.

When she grew tired of her training, she would delve into researching new recipes.

One evening, as An Nan was threading skewers of meat, preparing to enjoy a barbecue with Fu Gui, a sudden scream echoed from the 13th floor.

"Ahhh! Murder!"

An Nan froze. In her past life, there had only been petty thefts around this time, nothing as serious as murder or robbery.

Who was so ruthless, taking lives so early?

Since her rebirth, things had been progressing in a manner similar to her previous life. Her greatest advantage was the foresight she had, a certain knowledge of what the future would hold.

This unexpected event grabbed her attention.

She decided to go downstairs to investigate.

Upon reaching the floor below, she discovered the source of the scream: a man with a buzz cut from apartment 1301.

The man, knowing the fat uncle next door, was aware that, just before the heavy rain arrived, the man had bought a half-slit pig and stocked up on instant noodles and pasta at high prices.

Seizing the opportunity, the buzz-cut man had sneaked into the uncle's home to steal some food.

Though the instant noodles were running low, the kitchen had plenty of dried meat.

The uncle had prepared the meat, knowing the power would go out, and preserved it by drying it into jerky.

The buzz-cut man excitedly stuffed the jerky into his bag, thinking, "Finally, I won't go hungry!"

Halfway through, he suddenly noticed something—an ear.

A human ear.

The shock sent him into a panic.

He looked again. Among the dried meat, there were several fingers!

This meat was... human?!

The overwhelming terror made him scream out loud.

The scream woke the fat uncle, who had been sleeping soundly.

He sat up in bed, rushing to the kitchen.

"What are you doing?!"

Seeing the man, the buzz-cut thief shuddered.

He had initially thought the man was harmless, a bumbling fool, but now, he was facing a killer who had hidden a body in his home.

Before, the man had claimed he and his wife were just butchering a pig, but now it was clear—he wasn't processing pigs. He was dismembering a body!

The realization made the buzz-cut man shudder. He had even gone to warn him not to disturb the peace earlier...

This was terrifying!

The man's face, under the dim light, now appeared sinister and monstrous.

Just then, a woman, sleepy-eyed, walked out of the bedroom.

"Sun Ge, what's going on?"

The woman looked about ten years younger than the fat uncle, with a curvaceous figure.

The buzz-cut man looked closely: this wasn't even the man's wife...

How audacious—was this his mistress walking in?

Impossible. The man was known for being henpecked and obedient to his wife.

Wait a second... Could it be?!

The buzz-cut man suddenly realized who the dried meat belonged to.

His wife?!

A cold shiver ran down his spine. He grabbed the kitchen knife and waved it wildly.

"I warn you! Don't come any closer!"

"You two sick freaks! I'll fight you to the death!"

The man and woman, frightened by his erratic behavior, hesitated to approach. The woman, terrified, began screaming.

Taking advantage of their hesitation, he rushed out the door.

By the time the fat uncle gave chase, the buzz-cut man had already reached his own apartment.

The woman, looking nervously at the man, said, "Sun Ge, what should we do? What if someone finds out?"

Sun Ge wrapped his arm around her, reassuringly.

"It's fine. Even if he reports it, he can't contact the police. In a while, there won't be any evidence left. The meat will be gone by then."

"True." The woman sighed in relief. "If the police do come, we'll just say your wife went out looking for supplies and disappeared. No one can prove anything—there's no surveillance."

"You're so clever, Xiao Yu. Let's go back to bed."

The couple had no shame whatsoever.

Sun Peng, the man, had once been an ordinary person with a mediocre life. But his fortune changed when he married a business-savvy wife.

Her wealth elevated his social status.

But he soon grew discontent and began an affair with a new colleague, Wang Xiaoyu, whom he brought home.

When his wife caught them in the act, he knelt and begged for forgiveness.

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Angered, his wife demanded a divorce, leaving him with nothing.

In a fit of rage, he killed her.

He had planned to dismember her body and dispose of it in the mountains, but before he could, the disaster struck and trapped them inside their home.

Unable to let the body decompose, they dried the flesh into jerky.

As the supply of food dwindled, they found the dried meat smelled better and better.

With the worsening situation outside, they couldn't resist an evil idea: in a famine, dried human meat was no different from beef jerky.

Not only could it stave off hunger, but it would also help erase any evidence of their crime.

Thus, the horrific scene unfolded.

An Nan, hidden around the corner of the stairwell, had heard everything.

She didn't react as strongly as the buzz-cut man.

In her past life, she had encountered far darker sides of humanity. During the end of the world, people even resorted to cannibalism.

Rather than condemning their morality, it was better to avoid such people altogether.

In a lawless world, these people would only grow bolder and more reckless.

As she walked back to her apartment, An Nan reflected.

In her previous life, she had never fully severed ties with Bai Wenbin and his sister, even offering them shelter.

This had led to Liu Lao'er and his brothers not coming to her apartment to break the lock, and the neighborhood had taken longer to descend into chaos.

If they hadn't been discovered, Sun Peng's jerky might have gone unnoticed for much longer.

But this time, everything had changed because of the buzz-cut man.

Panting heavily, he returned to his home and collapsed on the sofa, shaken to the core.

His wife, Chu Peipei, groggily emerged from the bedroom.

"Honey, what was that noise? Why aren't you in bed?"

"Honey!"

The buzz-cut man, now in tears, threw himself at her.

"Honey! I was scared out of my mind!"

He trembled as he recounted what he had seen in apartment 1302.

Chu Peipei's eyes widened in shock. "That really happened?!"

She was three months pregnant and had been sleeping heavily, only waking up in the middle of the night to find her husband missing from their bed.

"Honey, I told you not to break into other people's homes."

"How dangerous! Thankfully, you're okay."

"We don't steal or rob. We rely on ourselves. Tomorrow, we'll go out with our water basin again to find food."

"But you're pregnant..." the buzz-cut man protested.

"What's there to be afraid of? It's not showing yet. My child isn't so fragile."

After a pause, she added, "The situation is chaotic now. Keep quiet about what happened at 1302. Don't spread it around. And stay away from them. Always stay alert."

He nodded. "Got it."

A few days passed.

The neighborhood finally quieted down.

After all, with so little food left, there was nothing left to steal.

Everyone was equally hungry.

However, when the floodwaters finally receded from the sixth floor and the rain stopped, the sky cleared, and hope seemed to return.

Though the city was still submerged in floodwaters, people ventured outside, eager to search for supplies.

Plastic basins, bathtubs, and other makeshift boats became the common sight on the water.

Some found floating bags of chips, others salvaged waterlogged watermelons, unsure if they were still edible.

Meanwhile, in office buildings, people found many kayaks from outdoor supply companies.

The surplus was sold to neighbors in exchange for food—no money, just supplies.

Though human survival wasn't as resilient as that of cockroaches, it was certainly tough.

An Nan observed the scene for a couple of days, watching people come and go, and decided it was time for her to go out and explore.