Chapter 32: The White Lotus Coaxes and Cajoles

Through the video call, Fang Yuqing and Lin Caining were given a glimpse into Zhang Yi’s current life.

The sight of his comfortable, temperate home, overflowing with food, left them completely stunned. It was as if they were looking straight into paradise. They could hardly fathom how anyone could be living so luxuriously just ten days into the apocalypse.

Zhang Yi asked casually, "How have you both been? You look like you’ve lost weight. Congratulations, I suppose!"

Fang Yuqing and Lin Caining were fuming internally. They didn't want to lose weight—it was pure starvation! They were currently rationing themselves to one pack of instant noodles a day, fearing that their meager stockpile would vanish entirely if they ate any more.

Lin Caining’s eyes were locked onto the food in Zhang Yi’s home. She swallowed hard, her voice trembling with greed, "Zhang Yi, how do you have so much food? Is this what you hoarded back when we went shopping together?"

Zhang Yi glanced toward his kitchen and replied indifferently, "Oh, that? It’s just junk food. I eat a little when I’m too lazy to cook. I don't really touch it that often."

Zhang Yi was telling the absolute truth. His extradimensional space was piled high with mountains of delicacies. After all, he had ordered countless gourmet meals from top-tier restaurants and hotels. Not to mention the Walmart warehouse, which held tens of billions in supplies, including hundreds of thousands of different food items.

To Fang Yuqing and Lin Caining, his offhand comment was a blatant display of wealth. After all, in their residential group chat, a single pack of instant noodles was being bid up to two thousand yuan!

Zhang Yi could clearly see their throats bobbing as they repeatedly swallowed their saliva. He said nothing, simply watching them with quiet amusement, savoring the look of desperate longing in their eyes.

"Brother Zhang Yi, you have so much food at home. That’s amazing! So many people outside can’t even get a meal right now!"

"Hee hee, you were always so smart. No wonder you bought so much back then; you must have planned for this all along!" Fang Yuqing chimed in with a giggle. She had used the term "Brother Zhang Yi" for the first time ever.

Zhang Yi’s lips curled slightly. "Oh, it’s nothing, really. Just good luck."

Fang Yuqing asked again, "Brother Zhang Yi, your place looks so warm. And it’s not even power-supply hours right now, so why is your home so bright?"

This was the question that burned brightest in her mind. Nothing was more desirable than warmth in the midst of this extreme, biting cold.

Zhang Yi gave a faint smile and flipped his phone camera to face his fireplace. "We installed a fireplace! This thing is incredibly cozy; it actually gets a bit too hot in here." He added pointedly, "By the way, you both look like you’re freezing. Is it really that cold outside?"

He hadn't stepped outside in over ten days and had no idea what the situation was like, he claimed. This comment was designed to stoke maximum resentment. How could he not know the situation? He only had to look at the group chat to see the misery of his neighbors and understand just how low the temperatures had plummeted for everyone else.

Fang Yuqing and Lin Caining were seething with hatred. They knew Zhang Yi was saying this on purpose, but there was nothing they could do—he was living in paradise, and he had every right to gloat.

Fang Yuqing only had one thought in mind: she had to get into Zhang Yi’s home! Seeing his state of comfort and his abundant food, who wouldn't be desperate to join him?

She immediately put on a fragile, pitiful expression, batting her eyes and speaking in a sweet, affected voice, "Brother Zhang Yi, you’re so incredible, I’m in such awe of you! Could you let me come over and see your place? I haven't seen you in so long, I’ve missed you so much, Zhang Yi!"

Fang Yuqing felt certain this would work. She had relied on this act to keep countless "simps" at her beck and call. Besides, Zhang Yi had once pursued her. She believed that as a "goddess," she only needed to exert a little effort, and he would surely agree to her request in a heartbeat. Once she was inside, she would have plenty of ways to justify staying. At worst, she could just give him a little "sweetener." Aren't all men just like that?

However, she never expected that Zhang Yi, watching her coy performance through the screen, would feel a wave of nausea. He began to wonder if he had been mentally ill in his past life to have pined for this woman for two years. They had worked in the same warehouse district, where female employees were scarce. Fang Yuqing knew how to act cute and dress well, so over time, Zhang Yi had enshrined her as his goddess. With his "love-struck" filter on, she had become the unattainable moonlight in his heart.

But since he had died by betrayal in his previous life, that filter had shattered completely. Looking at the bare-faced Fang Yuqing on his screen, his heart didn't flutter in the slightest. He only found her affectation repulsive, enough to make his skin crawl.

A mocking curve formed on his lips. He leaned back against the sofa, resting his chin on his hand, and drawled lazily, "It’s too cold out there. You should stay home and rest. Don't go running around."

"Hmm, although I don't really know how cold it is outside, looking at you two, the temperature must be quite low!"

Fang Yuqing and Lin Caining had clearly not expected to be rejected. They both froze, their eyes wide with disbelief. Fang Yuqing’s expression was filled with shock and indignation. In her eyes, Zhang Yi had always been a reliable backup option—someone who would grovel to serve her if she just crooked her finger. Now that she had personally offered to visit him, he had refused without a second thought! It was a massive blow to her ego.

What made it even more unbearable was his smug, condescending tone. No, she could not accept this! Knowing that there was a warm, food-filled paradise right in her own apartment building while she was left to starve at home was simply unacceptable. She was a goddess, after all!

Fang Yuqing’s face stiffened, but she quickly forced a smile back on. "Brother Zhang Yi, stop joking with me! You were always so good to me before, weren't you? Why won't you let me come see you? I’m not asking for anything else." She pouted, putting on a pitiful, wounded look that would usually make any man feel a surge of chivalrous sympathy and agree on the spot.

But Zhang Yi was the exception. Ever since he had been betrayed and killed by her, he had felt nothing for this woman but cold, calculated distance.

"Whenever I asked you to come over to my place in the past," Zhang Yi said, "you always had some excuse. You’d say we were single, and it would look bad if word got out, wouldn't you?"

"I think you were right. We have no real relationship, so we should keep our distance. Wouldn't want people gossiping, right?"

Back when Zhang Yi was chasing her, he had to go to great lengths just to get her out for a meal or a movie—preparing gifts, planning surprises, and booking high-end hotels. Every time he tried to invite her to his home, she always had a new excuse. Now, Zhang Yi was simply throwing her own words back at her with mocking precision.