Nadia stepped into the kitchen, picked up a cleaned egg, dipped it in a bowl of clear liquor, then rolled it in salt, and wrapped it in plastic. "After a month, it'll be ready to eat." Just as she was about to take a nap, someone knocked at the door. The folks in 1801 and 1803 were preparing to head out, and even Lily was putting on a raincoat. Harrison wanted to take the two pets out for training. Seeing Colby's excitement, Nadia thought for a moment and didn't refuse, "Wait a moment." She went back, took out a makeup palette, and brushed some dull colors onto Lily's face. It was necessary for Lily to understand the harsh reality of this post-apocalyptic world, but she was just too fair-skinned and soft-looking, which would easily draw attention.After painting Lily's face to look pale and sickly, Nadia finally stepped back, satisfied with her work. Colby nudged its face forward, wanting some makeup too. What’s there to paint on it? That brown-black face is already ugly enough. Feeling its confidence bruised, it snorted and stomped off with the trainer without looking back. After her nap, Nadia was preparing to give Elizabeth acupuncture. Elizabeth pulled out a baked sweet potato wrapped in several layers of cloth from her pocket, "Nadia, my back feels much better. Thank you so much." The sweet potato was still warm, but Nadia declined. "I already charge for treatments. Keep it for yourself." Food was life, and Nadia didn't want to take someone else's survival chance. Elizabeth, hoping to build a good rapport, insisted on giving it to her. Just then, loud knocking sounded downstairs."I appreciate the thought," Nadia gestured for her to keep it. "If you really want to offer something, you can use sweet potatoes for future treatments." The knocking downstairs continued, and when no one answered, a loud voice shouted, "Girl on the 18th floor, I came for a treatment! Open up!" With such a strong voice, what kind of illness could she possibly have? Irritated by the noise, Nadia went downstairs and spoke coldly, "What illness?" A woman in her forties or fifties saw her and immediately plastered on a smile, "You're Dr. Jean, right?" "I'm not a doctor. Just a medical student." "Dr. Jean, I have a headache and a fever. Could you take a look?" "I charge for treatments." The woman's smile froze at the mention of a fee. "What? It's just a headache and fever. Just give me a couple of pills.""Would you expect free stuff from the department store?" Nadia had no patience to deal with her. "I don't have any medicine, and I can't help you." "No medicine? Then, at least give me a few needles." "Acupuncture is five pounds of food per session." "What? Acupuncture doesn't cost you anything, so why would you charge five pounds of food?" The woman jumped up in anger. "Young lady, this isn't how neighbors treat each other! We're supposed to help each other out! You already have so much, but you're charging us our survival food? You're heartless!" Nadia opened the door, drawing her knife. "Say that again." "What... What are you doing? Are you going to kill me?" The woman backed up, startled, her bravado faltering. "I know people at the police station! If you touch me, you'll be in serious trouble." Her loud voice was irritating, making Nadia's ears ring. Nadia raised her knife threateningly. "She's going to kill me! There's a murderer on the 18th floor—she's lost all conscience!" the woman shrieked. "Keep shouting. Just look at you—loud and sturdy, with a full waist and heavy hips. You've been well-fed, haven't you? And now you're coming here to stir up trouble?" Nadia recognized her. The woman was from out of town, supposedly here to help with her grandchild but was selfish and always looking for freebies, rummaging through every building's trash cans and even asking people for their half-finished drinks. "Nonsense…" The woman's face turned pale, her voice weakening. "My family's been out of food for a while now." My family had indeed stocked up on a lot of food. When the typhoon first hit, I went door to door asking for food and managed to gather quite a bit, but who knew she would find it out. I also heard that the 18th floor had medicine, so I came up here hoping to get some, but who knew that Jean woman would be so difficult to deal with. The woman's voice faltered. "Really, there's no food. If we had any, I'd have brought it in exchange for medicine already." "I don't care what you have, but if you try to take advantage of me again, don't blame me for breaking down your door!" Seeing the viciousness in Nadia's eyes, the woman broke out in a cold sweat and dared not make a sound. She quickly hurried downstairs to hide her stash. She didn't get the medicine and had only made a fool of herself—this was going to cause her trouble. Back upstairs, the acupuncture continued. "Nadia, don't take what that woman says to heart. She has a sharp tongue," Elizabeth mentioned. "She lives just below me and always tries to take advantage. She often brings her child over to my place to mooch food and drink. She hasn't raised her child well either; whenever there's something good, the child grabs it and won't let go. Eventually, we stopped letting them in. By the way, you should keep an eye on that young girl who lives next door, she's been saying some bad things about you.""The one who had her hair cut off?" Elizabeth lived on the 12th floor, so she must be referring to Maya. "Yes, she's been trying to ask me about you, asking if you have any medicine." Elizabeth wasn't fooled. She knew Maya had bad intentions. "I told her you didn't have any, but she didn't believe me. She's a bad influence on those around her, they all seem to have a deep prejudice against you." Having lived a full life, Elizabeth had seen it all. "Nadia, this disaster is harming people; it's turning hearts black. I know you're capable, but still, you need to be careful when coming and going." Having died once before, Nadia was cautious. She was selective about who she treated, not everyone could just walk in for help. In her previous life, she had seen the darkness of human nature in this building. The people she chose to treat were those whose consciences hadn't completely fallen apart, even though many of them had died in the end.Thinking of Maya, Nadia narrowed her eyes. "Elizabeth, what has she been saying about me?" "She didn't say it directly, but it was all hinted at. Everything she said implied that you had something." Elizabeth remembered another detail. "She even tried to flirt with that handsome young man from your building, but unfortunately, he didn't give her the time of day." She flirted with Harrison? "She's young, but her mind is full of schemes. She used a pretty woman's trick, purposely stumbling and pretending to fall in front of the young man. But he, being decent, didn't even glance at her before walking away." Elizabeth wasn't just talking about Maya; several of the pretty girls in the building behaved similarly. Some even used their bodies in exchange for food. For just a pack of instant noodles, they’d be with two or three men at once… Sigh, how could the world be like this?Austin had also been harassed before, but thankfully, she was strict enough that they didn't dare to act recklessly. Jasmine and the others didn't return until it was almost dark. They brought back a lot of firewood, and behind them was a large stainless steel water tank. Colby was very strong, dragging a big tree branch upstairs. Later, following behind Lily, who was carrying firewood, she said, "Miss, open the door. We’re here with the firewood!" The dog was very excited, constantly jumping into her arms, and wetting Nadia with water. Lily had a few scratches on her face, probably from falling or scraping herself, but her eyes sparkled with brightness as she smiled. She leaned close to Nadia's ear and whispered, "Miss, there's meat, Colby found it, and it was from Harry's hunt." Ah, no wonder the dog was looking so proud—he was waiting for me to praise him. Nadia patted the dog's head and kissed it.