It wasn’t exactly exciting.

But Fan Ningyue and An Muning watched with complete interest anyway.

How should they put it? The apocalypse had already ended three years ago. For people like them, who had clawed their way through that hell, watching zombie movies now felt… strangely dull.

“But if you think about it, we really never considered where the zombie virus came from,” Fan Ningyue said, stuffing her mouth full of popcorn she’d dug out from An Muning’s stash.

An Muning didn’t answer. He simply reached over and snatched the popcorn from her arms.

“Hey, hey—why so stingy?” Fan Ningyue reached out to grab it back.

“I’m pouring some out. Reaching into your lap every time is too much trouble.” An Muning yawned, poured the popcorn onto the table, then tossed the bucket back into her arms.

The popcorn bucket was narrow at the bottom and wide at the top, something An Muning had scavenged from a movie theater.

With that toss, the remaining popcorn smacked straight into Fan Ningyue’s face.

“…You did that on purpose.”

“Haha, yep.”

Fan Ningyue clenched her fists.

If only she could beat him in a fight…

Calm down, calm down… no point getting angry.

She was technically staying in his place for free right now, so she should at least tolerate his shamelessness a little.

On the TV screen, the heroine performed a stylish backflip in midair, raising twin pistols as sparks burst from the muzzles.

“I could do that too,” Fan Ningyue said, tossing popcorn into her mouth. “Yogurt.”

“No yogurt.”

“I’m calling you that.”

“…Huh?”

“See, your name is An Muning.” Fan Ningyue clapped her hands. “Before the apocalypse, there was a yogurt brand called Ambrosial—Anmuxi in Chinese. Your name’s only one character off, so I’m calling you Yogurt. It’s a nickname. Pretty fitting, right?”

An Muning cracked his knuckles. “What do you think the odds are that I punch you to death right now?”

Now that she was recovering, her old personality was definitely starting to come back.

“Hehehe…” Fan Ningyue giggled. “I just wanted to ask if you have cola.”

“No cola. I’ve got seaweed egg-drop soup.” An Muning gave her a friendly smile. “No seaweed either. And no soup.”

“Tch…” Fan Ningyue flopped back down. “With an attitude like yours, before the apocalypse you still wouldn’t have qualified to live off a rich woman.”

“I no longer have any need to rely on rich women,” An Muning said, crunching a piece of popcorn and spitting out the little black kernel in the center.

“Why’d you spit it out?”

“Doesn’t taste good.” An Muning shook his head.

The only good part of popcorn was the outer fluffy shell. That tiny black core in the middle was tasteless and hard to chew.

“By the way, why is your popcorn so sweet?” Fan Ningyue raised an eyebrow.

“I made it myself. Added a ridiculous amount of butter.” An Muning smacked his lips. “Where there’s a will, there’s a way.”

What a use of that phrase.

Before the apocalypse, Fan Ningyue definitely wouldn’t have eaten popcorn like this.

Maintaining her figure had already been hard enough with so many temptations around—why waste calories on popcorn?

But now it was the apocalypse. Who cared anymore?

Fan Ningyue lifted the bucket and dumped all the popcorn straight into her mouth without a shred of elegance.

Crumbs spilled over the edges, scattering onto her legs and into her clothes.

An Muning frowned. “Brother, have some manners.”

“Who’s your brother?” Fan Ningyue wiped her mouth. “Would’ve been perfect if there was cola.”

She lowered her head and picked the crumbs off her legs to eat them too.

Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed An Muning staring at her the whole time. She raised her gaze and met his eyes.

For a brief moment, silence filled the room.

After a while, for reasons even she probably didn’t understand, Fan Ningyue picked up a piece of popcorn from her leg and held it toward him. Hesitating, she asked, “W-Want some?”

An Muning: …

Fan Ningyue: …

Half a second after saying it, Fan Ningyue awkwardly curled her toes against the sofa in embarrassment.

“So… you’re offering me popcorn that fell by your feet?” An Muning laughed in disbelief.

“I just saw you staring at me…” Fan Ningyue muttered, stuffing the popcorn into her own mouth instead.

“I was staring because if you dropped crumbs into the sofa cushions, I was going to beat you to death.”

“Always talking about killing people—you have zero gentlemanly qualities.” Fan Ningyue snorted. “And you wanted to live off a rich woman? More like kidnap one.”

“You should be grateful I’m only talking and not actually doing it.” An Muning grinned viciously. “Besides, aren’t I basically kidnapping a rich woman right now?”

Fan Ningyue rolled her eyes and ignored him. After finishing all the popcorn, she scooted aside and proudly displayed the spotless sofa cushion to him.

“See? Not a single crumb left.”

“Mhm, very impressive,” An Muning replied perfunctorily, yawning.

The movie approached its ending.

The protagonist stood in the middle of a bloodstained street with a gun in hand. The camera slowly pulled back, revealing the ruined city around them.

The apocalypse wasn’t over.

It had only just begun.

The two of them suddenly fell silent.

The apocalypse wasn’t over.

“…Sigh.” Fan Ningyue suddenly let out a quiet sigh.

She was still worried about the human settlements.

Even though her former companions were hunting her down, the ordinary people were innocent.

They were nothing more than sacrifices caught in the exchange of interests.

“Why sigh when you’ve got nothing better to do?”

“I was just thinking… if the apocalypse really starts again, ordinary people will still be the victims.” Fan Ningyue hugged a pillow to her chest. “They never get to enjoy the good things, but disasters like this always land on their heads.”

“You only started thinking about that today?” An Muning glanced at her sideways.

“Not really.” Fan Ningyue shook her head. “But during the three years after the apocalypse ended, their lives were steadily getting better.”

But now, there was a possibility that the apocalypse might return once more.