Chapter 291: Under Her
Beside him, Chenghai rested his forearms against the top of the fence and looked out over the massive mutated jungle that acted better than any human guards he had put on the walls in his last life.
"We could do it again," he murmured after a moment. He couldn’t look at the man beside him. it wasn’t that he was scared of Xu Zhenlan, it was that he was worried what the look on his face would tell him.
"We could," Zhenlan agreed, not looking at Chenghai. "We could do a lot of things."
He wasn’t being arrogant when he had said it, it was simply a fact.
They had knowledge no one else possessed yet. They knew how quickly zombies would evolve, how dangerous power users could become, and how the balance between different groups would shift once the remaining government control disappeared.
They could move now, claim a strong position, and build a brand new, stronger compound faster than anyone around them.
They could also spend the rest of their lives protecting it until they died a horrible, cruel death.
Finally, Chenghai glanced toward him. "Do you want to?"
Zhenlan didn’t answer immediately. Instead, he looked back at the mansion and leaned against the newly built fence.
The building already stood behind reinforced walls. Rouxi had gathered enough supplies to fill a hidden room without considering any of it worth keeping for herself. The generators worked, the vehicles were usable, and the workers knew how to repair what the five of them couldn’t.
Leaving would mean abandoning all of that.
With another building, it meant clearing and fortifying it. They’d need food, medicine, fuel, tools, bedding, clothing, and everything else they’d just argued about downstairs.
One supply run wouldn’t be enough.
They’d need several.
They would also need people.
A compound couldn’t operate with only two men, no matter how powerful they became. They’d have to recruit strangers, make promises, assign responsibilities, and slowly recreate the exact structure they’d spent their last lives trapped inside.
All because Rouxi had told them no when they wanted to go out for supplies. Zhenlan’s jaw tightened.
When he stripped away the argument, the urgency, and his dislike of having his authority challenged, the truth became irritatingly clear.
Rouxi was right.
Not about never leaving the mansion again. Eventually, they would need something they couldn’t find on the property. Supplies broke, medicine got used up, fuel ran out, and the world didn’t care whether anyone was ready.
But they didn’t need to leave today.
They had food.
They had water.
They had shelter.
They had enough basic supplies for the workers, even if Rouxi resented sharing every box.
More importantly, they had no idea what was waiting outside.
The warning from the television had been broken and incomplete, but it confirmed one thing: whatever remained of the military compounds could no longer be trusted. People who’d spent weeks moving toward them would now reverse direction, spreading through every road and neighborhood around them.
Any store that had been empty yesterday might belong to someone today.
Any warehouse could become a fortress.
Any road could lead straight into an ambush.
Going out immediately wouldn’t be preparation. It would be kicking a hornet’s nest because neither of them liked being told they couldn’t touch it.
"We stay," Zhenlan finally decided.
Chenghai didn’t respond right away.
The wind shifted across the yard, carrying the scent of fresh-cut wood and something cooking inside the mansion. One of the workers laughed near the garage before Fang Lihua shouted at him to stop wasting time.
They already had what most people outside would soon begin killing to possess.
Walking away would be stupid.
Chenghai turned his back against the fence. "Staying means that she decides everything."
Zhenlan looked at him.
"She made that clear," Chenghai continued. "The house is hers. The supplies are hers. The workers are here because she allows it. If we stay, we can’t make promises in her name again."
The words scraped against every instinct Zhenlan had developed in his first life.
He’d survived by taking control before anyone else could. He’d made decisions because hesitation killed people, and waiting for permission from someone less experienced usually made the consequences worse.
Rouxi wasn’t less experienced.
Not in the ways that mattered.
She understood danger. She simply measured it differently.
Zhenlan had looked at the workers and seen twenty-three people who needed food, clothing, protection, and long-term planning. Rouxi had looked at the same situation and seen no reason to risk the people she cared about when the necessary supplies were already inside the house.
She didn’t care whether the workers had everything they wanted. She cared that Lingyun had nearly died during the last run and that the outside world had become less predictable since they returned.
It wasn’t kind.
It wasn’t fair.
It was practical.
If Zhenlan remained at the mansion, he could still advise her. He could point out weaknesses, organize the workers, strengthen the defenses, and prepare for whatever came next.
But when Rouxi made the final decision, he would have to accept it.
Even when he thought she was wrong.
Even when every part of him wanted to take control and do what he believed was necessary.
That was the price of staying somewhere that already belonged to someone else.
"We could take control," Chenghai pointed out quietly.
Zhenlan’s gaze shifted toward the mansion.
They probably could.
Rouxi had the plants, Lingyun had fire, and Yuche was far more dangerous than most people realized, but Zhenlan and Chenghai weren’t weak. If they wanted another compound badly enough, they could try to turn the mansion into one.
Then they’d lose the very thing that made it different.
This place wasn’t built around thousands of frightened people demanding that Zhenlan keep them alive. Rouxi didn’t want followers, territory, or power over the surrounding city. She wanted her home left alone.
Perhaps that was why it had a chance of remaining one.
Zhenlan had already been a warlord.
He’d already spent one life building a compound that consumed everything he had until there was nothing left except the title.
He had no desire to do it again.
"No," he said at last. "We will stay, but we won’t take control."
Chenghai studied him. "Then we stay under her?"
Zhenlan looked back toward the mansion and the basement door hidden somewhere beyond its walls. Then he nodded his head, slowly and carefully.
"Under her."
