Chapter 35: Plastic Sisters

Zhang Yi sighed, "Does this woman think I’m a scrap collector?"

While Fang Yuqing was a manipulative, fake-innocent social climber, she at least knew how to flirt and dress well. As for Lin Caining, besides being a narcissistic parasite, what did she even have to offer?

Driven by a streak of mischief, Zhang Yi smirked and replied, "Oh, is that really so?"

"But I just gave Fang Yuqing a severe dressing down. You two are best friends, aren't you? If you were to be with me, wouldn't that ruin your friendship?"

Lin Caining’s eyes lit up; she thought she had a chance. Without a moment's hesitation, she said, "Best friends? We’re just roommates sharing a place."

To earn Zhang Yi’s trust, she began spilling all of Fang Yuqing’s dirt.

"You have no idea how much I despise her!"

"She’s incredibly lazy. These past few days, she claimed she was afraid of the cold and refused to even go to the bathroom. She’s been peeing into mineral water bottles—it’s disgusting!"

"Don’t let her act all pure; she goes to nightclubs every single day looking for men."

"If she finds a rich kid, she tries every trick in the book to throw herself at him."

"If she’s short on cash, she sells her body. Otherwise, how could she afford designer bags and expensive cosmetics on a monthly salary of only 5,000?"

"Only 1,500 a night—she’s so cheap! Hmph, a woman like that, I don't respect her at all."

This was the first time Zhang Yi had heard about Fang Yuqing’s side hustle. He gritted his teeth, feeling more and more that the world had become utterly absurd. Fortunately, he wasn't stupid; while he had pursued Fang Yuqing, he hadn't stooped to being a pathetic "simp" like Zhou Peng.

In an effort to win him over, Lin Caining continued to pour out more filth about Fang Yuqing.

"Don’t look at her like she’s innocent; she’s had several abortions already."

"Back in college, she even had a few construction foremen supporting her for four years."

...

Zhang Yi watched silently and then took a screen recording of everything she said. It was clear that Lin Caining had long harbored a grudge against Fang Yuqing. After all, Fang Yuqing was better at flirting and prettier than her, leaving Lin Caining to serve only as a background character.

In this world, how many women are truly willing to be someone else’s sidekick? Why do you think that in colleges, the "goddess" figure's best friends are usually the ugly, overweight girls?

***

After venting her frustrations about Fang Yuqing, Lin Caining returned to professing her feelings for Zhang Yi.

"Zhang Yi, do you know how miserable I’ve been all these years watching you pursue Fang Yuqing?"

"Now I finally have a chance to tell you how I feel. Let me be your girlfriend! I will love you so well in the future."

"And you must be so lonely at home right now, aren't you? Having a woman by your side could help you with so many things."

Lin Caining was blatantly signaling to Zhang Yi that as long as he let her into his home, she would do whatever he wanted. Unfortunately for her, Zhang Yi had no interest in trash like her.

He immediately forwarded their entire chat history to Fang Yuqing, then said to Lin Caining, "I’m touched, truly, but let’s just leave it at that."

Lin Caining asked, unwilling to give up, "Why? Don’t you need a woman right now?"

Suppressing the nausea rising in his stomach, Zhang Yi spoke into his phone, "I do like women, that’s true. But you? You’re just too ugly!"

With that, he muted his phone and tossed it aside.

When Lin Caining heard the voice message, her face distorted in rage. He... he actually called her ugly? It was slander—absolute, malicious slander! Whenever she posted her photoshopped pictures online, countless people praised her as a great beauty!

Just as Lin Caining was fuming, an angry shriek erupted in her ear.

"Lin Caining, you bitch!"

Fang Yuqing had seen the messages where Lin Caining trashed her and instantly snapped. The two women began brawling, pulling each other's hair and clawing at each other's arms. They fought until they were too exhausted to continue, yet they still glared at each other with pure hatred. If not for the bitter cold and the need to keep living under the same roof, they might have even considered killing one another.

Lin Caining knew exactly what had happened and was filled with hatred for Zhang Yi. However, like Fang Yuqing, perhaps her envy of Zhang Yi’s situation outweighed her hatred. If only Zhang Yi would agree to let them into his room and share his food, they would gladly discard their dignity and crawl toward him like dogs.

As for Zhang Yi, he continued living his simple, boring, and abundant life.

Every night, he would turn on the television to watch the news, something he never used to do. Although the reports were still heavily filtered, he could at least glean some information about the outside world.

"The Tianhai municipal office has issued a notice: to meet the public’s demand for electricity, power will be supplied daily from 1:00 PM to 2:00 PM."

"High-wattage appliances cannot be used; the power is only for low-wattage items such as electric kettles and mobile phones."

"All major power plants are currently suspended due to a lack of resources. We urge everyone to consciously reduce power consumption to prevent large-scale, long-term blackouts."

Zhang Yi raised an eyebrow at the news. In truth, over the past few days, the power had been coming on sporadically for less than an hour at a time—sometimes for only a few minutes. At this point, the fact that the authorities were still willing to provide any electricity to the masses, however brief, was likely the best they could do. Most power plants worldwide were paralyzed, and until the Ice Age ended, energy would only become scarcer.

What caught Zhang Yi's attention wasn't the content, but the news anchor's tone and the format of the broadcast. This time, the anchor sounded somber, and the report no longer focused on comforting the public. This meant the authorities had given up on hiding the true extent of the national disaster. Once they lost control, they had no choice but to release the information fully, forcing everyone to face reality and find ways to save themselves.

Sure enough, when Zhang Yi checked his phone, the various group chats were in a frenzy. Some were cursing the authorities for their inaction, some were weeping in despair, and many more were trying to buy supplies at astronomical prices. The price of instant noodles had jumped from 2,000 per pack two days ago to 5,000 per pack!

Zhang Yi felt speechless. The inherent greed of humanity was on full display. Even knowing the world was at its end and that money would soon be worthless, they were still willing to trade food and water for cash.

Zhang Yi said nothing. Like an observer, he watched it all from a detached, transcendental position. Life had to go on; even if hope was lost, no one wanted to die, even if it meant just scraping by. So, they could curse and argue all they wanted, but come the next day, they would still be struggling desperately just to survive.