Chapter 54: Zhou Keer

What was Zhang Yi's attitude toward the messages from those female homeowners?
He merely regarded them as some amusing little essays and couldn't even be bothered to reply.
Of course, there were also a few who went all out and directly sent Zhang Yi private, intimate selfies.
Zhang Yi glanced at them casually without any particular interest.
Mostly, these women were overly confident. While a few looked decent, the majority were utterly plain in appearance.
Unlike the female livestreamers on certain short-video platforms who had professionally practiced how to wiggle their waists and hips, these offered nothing worth watching at all.
Did they really think they could test a man with this?
How many men could possibly fail such a test?
As for the hidden motives of the male residents, those were even simpler.
Either they tried to buddy up with him, calling him brother and buddy, and then begged Zhang Yi for a favor.
Or there were some old men playing the moral high ground card, demanding that Zhang Yi take care of them.
The most disgusting part was that there was even a gay guy!
As for the request he made... Zhang Yi did not even want to talk about it.
After looking through them all, Zhang Yi grew bored.
He found a phone stand, placed his phone in front of him, and waited in anticipation for some innovative and creative ideas to appear.
Then, lying back on the sofa, sipping red wine and eating foie gras, he admired the beautiful snow outside the window.
Half a month had passed, and the snow outside the window still showed no signs of stopping.
The entire city was completely buried under the heavy snow. According to Zhang Yi's memory, a month after the snow began, everything below the fourth floor would be completely submerged.
As for how much longer it would keep snowing, he had no idea either.
However, he truly had no need to go out.
Going out was done to seek a glimmer of hope for survival, but nowadays no one knew where anyone could possibly survive—except for Zhang Yi.
Resting his chin in his hand, Zhang Yi muttered lazily to himself, "Staying at home every day is getting pretty boring. Should I find some time to go out for a stroll?"
Once the people in this building were almost all dead, he could go out for a spin.
Zhang Yi thought for a moment and suddenly remembered that there were still several snowmobiles in his warehouse.
Those were originally supposed to be transported to a nearby city for an artificial snow and ice resort.
That way, even if the snow outside was dozens of feet thick, he still had a way to get out.
"Although it's impossible for me to leave this room right now, with this method, later on, under the condition of ensuring my own safety, I can go out and catch some fresh air."
Zhang Yi was somewhat tempted.
Staying at home all the time occasionally got boring, and going out to relax for a bit actually sounded quite nice.
He possessed state-of-the-art professional cold-weather gear and a snowmobile, so he had nothing to fear even at minus sixty or seventy degrees Celsius.
Zhang Yi continued to boredly scroll through the messages from his neighbors.
Among these people, there was indeed one person's message that caught Zhang Yi's attention.
The message sent by Zhou Ke'er was not about playing the pity card or sending intimate photos, but rather a very calm desire to make a deal with Zhang Yi.
"Mr. Zhang, the food and medicine in our household are recently running close to exhaustion. I hope you can provide some assistance. In return, I can offer you medical aid afterward."
"Zhou Ke'er?"
Her image quickly flashed through Zhang Yi's mind.
A female doctor at Tianhai City First People's Hospital, twenty-six years old, with a slender and tall figure of at least 175 centimeters.
What left the deepest impression on Zhang Yi was not her aloof, ice-cold, ascetic-looking pretty face, but rather her proud 36D figure.
Especially in winter when she wore a black sweater, the way it was stretched tight always made Zhang Yi unable to resist taking a few extra glances whenever they met in the elevator.
"As expected of someone in the medical profession, she's extremely rational. Instead of trying to elicit pity or beg for handouts from me, she wants to make an exchange, is that it?"
Zhang Yi held a somewhat appreciative attitude toward Zhou Ke'er.
In the apocalyptic world, only valuable people were qualified to survive.
And Zhou Ke'er had demonstrated her value, which was her exquisite medical skill.
After all, without a certain level of ability, it was impossible to secure a position at Tianhai City First People's Hospital.
In the apocalypse, medical skills were also an extremely crucial skill set.
Although Zhang Yi had stockpiled plenty of medicine and had been studying up on the subject during this period,
he was not arrogant enough to think he could handle every single illness.
If he had a doctor by his side, it would undoubtedly provide an enormous guarantee for his future survival in the end times.
Most importantly, Zhang Yi had assessed Zhou Ke'er's character.
In his previous life, the reason she died was simply because she gave her food to Xie Limei.
Call it complete despair or genuine kindness, at the very least, Zhang Yi had seen the light of human nature in her.
Zhang Yi placed his left hand near the top of his thigh and adjusted his posture.
Supporting his chin with his other hand, he muttered to himself, "Should I keep her around to take care of me, and my good buddy?"
"Although I'm living quite comfortably right now, my buddy has been having a bit of a rough time, and that's a problem."
Zhang Yi was a hot-blooded young man, and he didn't shy away from issues of this nature.
Moreover, in an apocalypse where morality, etiquette, and laws had vanished into thin air, humans didn't need to live too suppressed; being honest with one's desires was quite enough.
"Hahahahaha!"
Zhang Yi suddenly burst out laughing.
Patting the armrest, he said, "I'm genuinely tempted, what a pity, what a pity though!"
He raised his head to look at the ceiling and said leisurely, "As for me, I really value my life. Although Zhou Ke'er is a choice worth considering, without absolute certainty of being able to control her, there's no way I'll let her through the door."
"Sigh, let's wait and see for now!"
"There will definitely be more survivors in the future. With conditions as great as ours, buddy, should we really worry about not finding a good doctor and a fine woman?"
Zhang Yi was broad-minded about it, truly acting like a man who had died once and returned.
He replied to Zhou Ke'er: "I am in very good health right now, no need for a doctor. However, I do indeed have plenty of medicine in my house, and food goes without saying."
"If you want to trade, at least bring out something that is useful to me right now."
No matter what kind of gorgeous, genius doctor you are, trying to freeload off me is out of the question!
When has our old Zhang ever made a losing deal?
There was a long silence from the other end before a reply finally came back.
"Consider it an advance payment for the consultation fee, okay? I... I really can't hold on much longer."
Zhou Ke'er's tone carried a hint of hesitation and a trace of shame.
It was evident that if she hadn't been completely out of options, she would never have easily begged a man she wasn't very familiar with.
After pondering for a moment, Zhang Yi said to her: "I can give you food and medicine. But you have to do me a favor in return."
"What favor?"
Zhou Ke'er asked.
Zhang Yi said: "These neighbors of mine are probably about to make a move against me. If you find out how they plan to act, let me know."
Zhang Yi knew these crazy neighbors would definitely come to attack his house.
However, he was not afraid.
When he built this steel fortress back then, he poured a huge amount of money into it and personally selected numerous functions.
The purpose was precisely to await the arrival of this very day!
At this moment, his home was like a slightly under-armed war fortress.
Even a group of armed soldiers trying to break into his house would find it impossible without heavy weaponry.
Let alone this mob of neighborly living corpses who had been starving and freezing for half a month and were down to their last breaths.
He proposed such a condition merely to find an excuse to give to Zhou Ke'er.
Besides, having an inside informant would ultimately provide an extra layer of insurance, allowing him to prepare in advance.