Room and board included: [Stop the nonsense, send the photo.]
Cpt 3201, Bldg C "Tenderness": [...I can I trade a gold necklace for a packet of instant noodles?]
Room and board included: [No gold necklace, send a full-body photo immediately, otherwise I'll blacklist you.]
Olivia hesitated for several minutes before sending a full-body photo. In the photo, Olivia stood in front of the camera expressionlessly, her long hair cascading over her shoulders, black, shiny, and smooth. She wore a light blue silk pajama top, her skin fair. She looked like she had been hungry for a few days, her face pale, but still carrying the charm of a top-tier beauty.
The system automatically prompted:
[Olivia] [Age: 25] [Quality Score: 9 points] (Pure and transcendent) [Character Score: 10 points] (Untouched) [Overall Score: 9 points]
[Ding! Meets system requirements!]
Jake smiled with satisfaction.
Room and board included: [Okay, come to my place.]
Cpt 3201, Bldg C "Tenderness": [...I can I go home to sleep tonight?]
Room and board included: [No, this is a transaction, you must stay here. Coming or not? Don't waste time.]
Olivia fell silent again.
Jake wasn't anxious; he knew Olivia was still hesitating. It was fine, then you can just starve. Anyway, I'm not hungry.
Jake put Olivia out of his mind and continued watching videos. Just then, a live stream popped up. Four men nearby were risking going outside to find food, and one of them had started a live broadcast. Jake became serious, taking the opportunity to understand the situation outside.
In the camera feed, the road outside was already covered with dense wild grass, the height of which even exceeded an adult's thigh! The asphalt road surface was completely ruined. Plant roots penetrated the road surface like steel bars, standing upright like iron nails, baring their fangs and claws. Jake had no doubt that these things could easily blow out tires.
"Cars can't be driven, so there won't be organized troops coming to rescue us, we must save ourselves..."
Jake frowned as he watched the live stream. In the camera feed, the breast-height diameter of one pine tree exceeded what four people could wrap their arms around. The trunk grew straight upwards, disappearing into the red mist, with no end in sight. From the streamer's perspective, it looked just like a terrifying Tower of Babel!
They passed a row of shops, now empty and overgrown with various plants everywhere. Even the walls and ground were covered with strangely shaped vines. As the streamer explored, more and more giant plants appeared in the video. The four men walked among them like little dwarfs who had wandered into a land of giants!
The road that used to be bustling with traffic was now completely deserted. The roadside was covered with deep wild grass. Parked vehicles were entangled with vines. In just a few short days, the bustling city had turned into a primeval forest.
Just then, a massive cat leaped down silently, striking the man at the front with a paw and killing him instantly!
"Holy crap!" "Help!" "Run! Run!"
The remaining three men screamed and scattered in panic. The streamer was flustered, and he dropped his phone on the ground.
Splish!
"Ah!"
A splash of blood covered the camera. The live stream ended abruptly.
Jake's face was grim. It was just too dangerous outside.
...
Olivia picked up her phone then put it down, repeating this several times, unable to make up her mind. She felt both ashamed and helpless.
"I really have no other way."
Her parents happened to be away on a business trip and were completely unreachable now. The day before yesterday, all the food at home ran out. For the past two days, she could only drink plain boiled water to fill her stomach. If she didn't find a solution soon, she would starve to death.
Originally, she deeply despised [Room and board included], feeling she could hold out and would rather starve to death than stoop to such a vulgar person. Only after truly experiencing starvation did Olivia realize that in the face of hunger, all dignity was fake. Under intense hunger, it felt like someone was endlessly rubbing her stomach with glass shards, incredibly painful and relentless.
Olivia endured for another half hour, utterly unable to bear it any longer. She initiated a private message again.
Cpt 3201, Bldg C "Tenderness": ["Can I really eat my fill?"]
Jake saw it but didn't reply, deliberately leaving her hanging. You want to contact me when you feel like it, and just go quiet otherwise? Dreaming! Starve, you!
Olivia waited anxiously for over ten minutes, still with no response. She felt despair, tossing and turning on the bed. Another night of starvation.
...
In a rental apartment not far from the Fortune Center Apartments. Ethan lay lazily on the sofa playing on his phone:
"Sis, I'm starving to death, let's eat!"
"Okay." Sophia quickly got up. She opened the empty refrigerator, growing increasingly anxious. All the refrigerated and frozen food was gone. There were a few packets of instant noodles left, two cans of luncheon meat, and a few braised eggs. This was all the food left in the house.
Sophia was very uneasy. What if Ethan had to go hungry? He was the only male heir in their family line!
Sophia thought and thought, then took out a packet of instant noodles and a braised egg. The instant noodles were quickly prepared. Sophia divided it into two bowls, only leaving a few mouthfuls for herself, giving most of the noodles and the braised egg to her brother.
Ethan poked at his bowl and said discontentedly: "Sis, only this much? It's not enough to fill me up."
Sophia said softly: "Ethan, just bear with it, there's almost no food left at home."
"No food left?" Ethan's face turned pale: "Then what do we do! Sis! Hurry and buy some!"
Buy? Where to buy? Sophia wouldn't dare go out. She looked out the window with a bitter expression. It was all red fog, too terrifying! Yesterday she even saw a rat as big as a cat!
In her anxiety, she remembered her ex-boyfriend, Jake. Jake was forced by Fatty Mike (Mike Peterson) to buy a lot of expiring food... How could he not proactively send her some? How could this man be like this? She only broke up with him, right? He didn't even know to send her some food! Was he even a man!
Sophia silently complained in her heart: "Jake should have food."
As soon as Ethan heard this, he immediately said: "Sis, then what are you waiting for, ask him for it! I'm almost starving to death! Tell him to send it over to us!"
"Okay!" Sophia felt annoyed thinking about Jake posting in the Fortune Center group chat looking for women! Damn Jake, you actually dare to look for other women! Men really can't do without a woman managing them, are you trying to defy the heavens?
Sophia picked up her phone and angrily called Jake.
Jake saw it was Sophia calling and smiled. Anyway, he was just idle, so he answered.
"Jake!" Sophia's clear and cold voice came through, in a tone of demanding an explanation. Jake couldn't help but remember Sophia again. She was beautiful, but she always had a cold face, putting on airs of being aloof. Thinking about it now, he was really foolish before to be infatuated with that manipulative type.
Jake said coldly: "What do you want?"
Sophia said self-righteously: "Why didn't you send me food!"
Jake scoffed. After graduating from university, Sophia wanted to pass the civil service exam. Jake worked part-time at night and drove for ride-sharing during the day, supporting her for three full years. Today, she finally passed. As a result, Sophia immediately dumped him under the pretext that he couldn't afford the 380,000 bride price.
"Give it to you? Who are you? Didn't we break up?"
Sophia paused, becoming flustered. She didn't expect Jake to be disobedient. She shouted unreasonably: "Jake! Break up? I was testing you! I didn't expect you to really fail the test and actually try to find other women!"
Jake sneered: "Testing? No need to test. I'm just an ordinary person, I can't afford a 380,000 bride price."
Mentioning the bride price, Sophia also got angry: "Do I care about money? I care about your attitude! You think about it carefully again..."
Snap.
Jake hung up the phone.
"He dares to hang up on me!" Sophia was furious.
Ethan said anxiously: "Sis, what about the food!"
Sophia suppressed her panic and pretended to be certain: "Don't worry, Jake will call back." Jake wouldn't dare speak loudly to her at all.
"As long as I hint at getting back together, he'll be overjoyed, right!" Sophia convinced herself, regaining her confidence.
Ethan smiled: "Hehe, Sis, so your boyfriend is a simp."
"What boyfriend!" Sophia said dismissively. She had already become a government employee! How could she possibly date an unregistered convenience store worker? Sophia said disdainfully: "I'm just asking him for some food, how could he be worthy of me?"
"Hehe, Sis, when he gives up, tell him to send all the food over, don't let him keep any!"
"Uh, this... Jake isn't stupid, he won't give me everything. But, I should be able to get most of it."
"How about this, Sis, lie to him, say you heard news that the government is organizing large-scale rescue soon, keeping too much food is useless anyway."
"...Okay!"