"Shen Yi, Shen Yi... wake up."
Shen Yi opened his eyes to see Cheng Jun standing by the bed, gently nudging him.
"Mm, I'm getting up now."
Shen Yi responded as he sat up.
Last night, he had stayed up until late before finally succumbing to sleep.
Usually, he was a champion at pulling all-nighters, but that was when he had electricity, his phone, and games.
Now, like a primitive human stripped of modern conveniences, sitting idle made it impossible to stay awake.
There was nothing to do - boredom made it easy to feel drowsy.
In the living room, Cheng Jun sat at the table and called out to him,
"Go wash up first, then we'll have breakfast."
Shen Yi acknowledged and walked into the bathroom.
Naturally, there was no running water in the bathroom, but Cheng Jun had left him half a 1.5-liter bottle of mineral water.
Although using mineral water for washing up seemed wasteful, water resources were still plentiful for now, so this was just a temporary solution.
The toothbrush, cup, and towel had all been neatly arranged by Cheng Jun beforehand.
"Not all rich kids have a princess attitude..."
Shen Yi smiled to himself, thinking.
After last night's casual conversation, they had learned quite a bit about each other.
Cheng Jun came from a wealthy family but surprisingly had no airs about her. She was intelligent and had a clear grasp of their situation.
If the system had matched him with some demanding princess, surviving in this apocalyptic environment would have been unbearable.
Having someone with a good personality made coexistence much less exhausting.
After a quick wash, Shen Yi came out.
"Let's keep breakfast simple this morning..."
Cheng Jun had already set the food on the table and beckoned him over.
"Alright."
Shen Yi agreed and sat down.
Cheng Jun wasn't idle during breakfast, munching on a cookie with one hand while writing and sketching in her notebook with the other.
"How did you sleep last night?"
Shen Yi asked casually while eating.
Cheng Jun's writing hand paused briefly, and she turned her face away, trying to appear nonchalant,
"Pretty... pretty well, I'm a heavy sleeper."
After breakfast, Cheng Jun showed him her notebook.
They huddled together to make plans for the day.
If they were just trying to survive, the supplies Shen Yi had brought back yesterday would last them a month.
But that was only meeting the bare minimum survival needs.
Did they really want to live a life of just eating and sleeping, day in and day out?
Anyone with even minimal standards for quality of life couldn't endure such an existence.
Their existing plans remained unchanged, with only slight adjustments to priorities.
Shen Yi would explore the surrounding area to understand their environment better.
Cheng Jun would stay at their base, helping to transport supplies when necessary.
Of course, they had disagreements about this arrangement.
In the end, it was only after Shen Yi's insistence that Cheng Jun reluctantly agreed.
This was, after all, dangerous work, and Shen Yi didn't want to worry about protecting her.
Once he had a better understanding of their surroundings, he could let Cheng Jun get involved.
In the following days, Shen Yi explored outward in a circular pattern from their current base.
They were located in a bustling commercial district.
From their starting point to where Cheng Jun had awakened, there were three streets with various shops and businesses.
Only part of the area had been damaged, with most of it remaining in decent condition.
Whether this was intentionally designed by the system or due to some major event in this apocalyptic world was unclear.
During his exploration, Shen Yi still hadn't encountered anything unusual, except for the mysterious plants visible everywhere.
He hadn't seen any survivors or living creatures, though this was partly due to his caution - he almost never approached areas with dense vegetation.
The mysterious shadow that Cheng Jun had encountered on the first day hadn't appeared again either.
The more he explored, the more puzzling it became, as if they were the only two people left in the world.
After seven full days, Shen Yi had covered all three streets in the vicinity.
Each day upon returning, he would report his routes and findings to Cheng Jun.
Since he hadn't encountered any dangers, Shen Yi gradually grew bolder and started taking Cheng Jun along on his outings.
Cheng Jun, with her drawing skills, had sketched a simple map.
Though limited in scope, it covered all the areas they had explored.
She had carefully marked locations of special resources they could use when needed.
On the eighth day after their arrival in this apocalyptic world.
Breakfast was still canned eight-treasure porridge, accompanied by cookies and canned fish.
Though they knew rationally they needed the energy, their bodies were starting to reject the food.
After eating the same things for seven straight days, not just Cheng Jun but even Shen Yi was beginning to feel nauseated.
Even when trying to force it down, their tongues would press against their teeth, refusing to swallow the food.
Cheng Jun agreed with this sentiment.
Beyond the food issue, there was something else particularly unbearable for Cheng Jun.
It was the matter of bathing. The daytime temperatures here were high, and with all their physical activity, they sweated easily.
By the end of each day, Cheng Jun felt sticky and uncomfortable.
Although they had taken plenty of clothes from the mall to change into, preventing any unpleasant odors, it didn't solve the fundamental problem.
They weren't extravagant enough to use mineral water for bathing.
So each night, Cheng Jun would secretly use a tiny bit of water to wipe herself clean.
By now, she couldn't take it anymore.
After forcing down half a bottle of water, Cheng Jun opened her notebook. She hadn't been idle these past few days.
"It's now the eighth day, and still no sign of authorities or other survivors. We don't need to be so cautious anymore."
"First, we definitely need to change our current living space - being on the third floor is too inconvenient."
Shen Yi was picking at the black beans in his canned fish - at least these had some flavor, as his taste buds were crying out for something more than blandness.
He wanted hot food, stir-fries, hotpot - anything but cold canned food and cookies.
Listening to Cheng Jun, he nodded and said:
"That place I found the day before yesterday would be perfect - it looks like a villa with two floors, quite spacious."
"There's an artificial lake next door, a shopping center across the street, and a large restaurant nearby - everything's convenient."
Cheng Jun's eyes lit up as she flipped to the map page in her notebook, her finger sliding across the paper,
"Is it this one?"
"Yes, that's it."
"Great, then we can solve the electricity problem next."
Cheng Jun's fingertip traced the paper - she had been thinking about this for several days now. They'd been living like cave dwellers for a week.
Being deprived of modern conveniences was almost unbearable.
Electricity was the primary concern - only those who had lived without it truly understood its value.
A look of realization crossed Shen Yi's face as he asked uncertainly:
"You mean...?"
Cheng Jun winked at Shen Yi and snapped her fingers confidently:
"That's right, diesel generators."
"In my wanderings these past few days, I've confirmed at least three locations that should have generators."
Many large restaurants, supermarkets, hotels, and hospitals needed reliable backup power sources to ensure basic electricity supply.
If they looked carefully, finding one wouldn't be too difficult.