Rebirth of the Last Days: Double Pets

The road they had cleared yesterday was now once again filled with zombies, but everyone found zombies far more tolerable than a traffic jam. Killing zombies and digging out crystal cores had already become routine.

As long as it wasn’t a zombie horde, there was no problem.

This time, it only took them four hours to reach the Imperial Court Villas.

Since it was already nighttime, they couldn’t install the solar panels on the roof, but there were many photovoltaic nets in the truck that hadn’t been set up yet, which they could work on inside the villa.

Hu Haotian’s villa served as a temporary base. Following a blueprint drawn by Liu Bing, they began installing the photovoltaic nets on the panels.

This was technical work. Although everyone was skilled in their own fields, they were still novices at this task. After a long while, they only managed to assemble about thirty panels, most of which were put together by Liu Bing and Tang Ruo.

Bai Qi looked at the half-finished photovoltaic nets, feeling close to cursing. Despite his frustration, his refined upbringing—even three years into the apocalypse—still held, so although he looked displeased, he kept focusing on the diagram and assembling the pieces carefully.

Hu Haotian, however, had no such patience. He kicked aside one of the photovoltaic nets and stood up, shouting, “Damn it! This isn’t work meant for humans! I’ve been at this for over an hour and haven’t even managed to finish one panel! Back in the day, I’d be making tens of thousands in minutes. Imagine how much money I could have made in the past hour!”

Everyone burst into laughter.

His outburst helped break the tension and lighten the fatigue of those who’d been focused on their work.

Liu Bing commented, “Nothing we can do about it. This is usually done by large machines on an assembly line. Now that we’re putting it together by hand, of course, it’s going to be difficult. Another fifty panels should be enough.” He glanced over at Tang Ruo, “Sister Tang, you’re pretty skilled at this.”

Tang Ruo froze, her expression darkening.

‘Could you please stop calling me ‘Sister’! I’m clearly younger than you—even counting my past life, I’m still younger!’

Because of her spiritual abilities, Tang Ruo could control some of the smaller components, making this task much easier for her.

“Yeah, I think I’m actually pretty good at this,” she admitted.

Liu Bing said, “Since the batteries over there will run out by tomorrow, let’s pull an all-nighter and get it done!”

The group of rough guys, all struggling to put together a single panel, just groaned.

Hu Haotian looked around at his teammates, who all wore expressions like they’d just swallowed a fly, and reluctantly stepped forward, saying, “Look, even if we spent all night at this, we’d be lucky to finish one more panel. So let’s skip it. First thing in the morning, we’ll head up to the roof to install the panels. We won’t dodge that task!”

Liu Bing took a glance at their sad attempts at assembling panels and agreed with Hu Haotian, “Fair enough. You all go rest, then. If anyone wants to stay up and work with us, feel free to join.”

Out of the sixteen people, seven were regular civilians, including Mr. Qin and Luo Ziqiang’s young son, so they weren’t in a position to pull an all-nighter assembling panels.

The rest included Luo Ziqiang’s wife, Sister Luo, Pan Dawei’s wife, Sister Pan, and Hu Haotian’s former department manager’s wife, Sister Yu.

This meticulous work was more suited to the women, but with their wives staying up to work all night, the men couldn’t just head off to sleep without feeling guilty. So, they all laid out their bedding in Hu Haotian’s area, ready to stay the night.

In a world where survival itself was rare, and with their wives by their sides, they cherished the moment.

They also couldn’t help noticing the young couple in their group, who openly displayed their affection each day. Watching them had somehow improved the relationships between the married couples in the group.

Having been through so much themselves, the men felt they couldn’t fall behind.

They thought, ‘We need to show this young couple that all the affection they’re showing off now—we’ve been there, done that, long ago!’

That night, Bai Qi also planned to sleep on a mat on the floor, staying by Tang Ruo’s side as she worked on assembling the solar panels. Naturally, with his fiancée pulling an all-nighter, he wanted to make sure she had everything she needed.

He went back to his own villa and returned with a bowl of bird’s nest soup for her to enjoy as a late-night snack.

Tang Ruo was delighted. “When did you make this? Doesn’t it need to be soaked?”

Bai Qi replied, “I started soaking it as soon as we got back and just cooked it a moment ago.”

Taking a few bites, Tang Ruo was instantly in a great mood. She scooped up a spoonful and held it out to Bai Qi. “Want some?”

Bai Qi leaned forward to take a bite from her spoon, the sweetness of the rock sugar melting in his mouth. His gaze lingered intently on the girl in front of him, though what he really wanted was to share the taste directly from her lips.

The rest of the team looked on, speechless.

The scene in front of them seemed innocent enough, but somehow, they could sense Bai Qi’s restrained, almost ascetic desire radiating off of him.

This… was too much! They all thought, ‘Guess we really need to practice our “see-no-evil” skills.’

By the early morning hours, everyone was finally too tired to go on and retreated to their rooms for some rest. The group, consisting of just 16 people, only needed seven rooms, so they could share or squeeze in if needed.

However, Liu Bing, Tang Ruo, and a few others stayed behind, soldiering on with the assembly work.

At dawn, Hu Haotian and the others got up right away, ready to head to the rooftop to set up the panels without delay.

The men weren’t used to this kind of manual labor at first, but the thought of a future with electricity and plenty of meat, compared to a caveman life with no power or food, filled everyone with new energy.

Inside the house, the women worked on the finer tasks, while outside on the roof, the men handled the heavy lifting. It resembled the traditional scene of men farming and women weaving.

After a full day of hard work, they finally got everything set up, leaving the technical adjustments to Liu Hai. The group decided that, at first light, they’d haul in the generator from the supermarket along with refrigerators, freezers, and all kinds of frozen meats.

Exhausted from the past two days, Tang Ruo collapsed onto the bed as soon as she got to her room, barely moving.

“Taking a bath before bed will help you sleep better,” Bai Qi gently nudged her.

After waiting a moment and seeing she still didn’t budge, he picked her up and carried her straight to the bathtub in the bathroom. “If you don’t wake up, I don’t mind helping you with your bath,” he said, reaching to help her out of her clothes.

Bai Qi was already well-practiced at this skill, having helped Tang Ruo undress before, so he deftly undid her top without much effort.

Tang Ruo sleepily opened her eyes and glanced at him, and the warmth in her gaze stirred something in him.

“Tang Ruo…” Bai Qi murmured.

“Mm?” she replied softly, lips just barely parted.

Without another word, Bai Qi leaned down, capturing her lips in a gentle kiss, his tongue intertwining with hers in a tender embrace.

It all felt so natural, as if it was meant to be.

She was, after all, his fiancée.

Tang Ruo didn’t resist, letting Bai Qi’s warm lips press gently against hers. His cool tongue slowly slipped in, parting her lips as he explored her mouth, his kiss lingering.

As the kiss deepened, he leaned in closer, pressing her back against the hard edge of the bathtub.

“Bang!” Her head knocked against the ceramic edge.

“Ouch—” Tang Ruo snapped awake, the pain bringing her fully to her senses. “Are you trying to kill me…?”

Bai Qi paused. “… ”

The bathtub really wasn’t the best place for this, too hard and uncomfortable for anything intimate. He reached up to massage the back of her head, a bit regretful. “If you had started your bath a little earlier, this wouldn’t have happened.”

Taking advantage and then making excuses.

Seeing herself almost stripped down to her underwear, Tang Ruo scowled and pushed him out of the bathroom.

After her bath, exhaustion overwhelmed her, and she fell asleep as soon as she touched the bed.

Though Bai Qi was tempted to stay close, he couldn’t bring himself to disturb her rest.