Not long after Yu Yao left the house, Yun Ying took a shower at home. It seemed Yu Yao had deliberately boiled hot water for her before going out, and he'd left the small space heater on, so it wasn't exactly cold.
She showered quickly, changed into her fuzzy pajamas, lifted the blanket, and curled up in bed.
Yun Ying patted the mattress beneath her. Yu Yao had added an extra layer of padding just for her, and it felt soft to the touch. The four-piece bedding set was his—a deep, dark navy blue.
She caught the fresh scent of laundry detergent, on the cooler side, a very clean fragrance. If you were strong enough, you could stay tidy even in the apocalypse.
At the Jiangcheng Base, Yun Ying had slept on nothing but a thin mattress laid over a bare wooden board—extremely hard and lumpy. But in the apocalypse, being alive was already good enough. She wasn't that delicate; she could sleep on anything.
Pulling the blanket over herself, Yun Ying turned on her side and spotted the book on the nightstand. Yu Yao wasn't really the literary type—before the apocalypse, he'd only read finance books. An encyclopedia like this, with a bit of fun to it, was something he'd specifically sought out for her.
Yun Ying fell asleep while reading. Perhaps the environment put her at ease, because she slept rather deeply and didn't hear the door open—until she vaguely sensed something moving beside her.
The moment she opened her eyes, her soul nearly flew out of her body.
Yun Ying's hand shot out with lightning speed, pressing down on Yu Yao's hand. "What do you think you're doing?! You pervert!"
Pervert…
Yu Yao knew what the situation looked like. He really had no good explanation—opening a girl's door in the middle of the night, sneaking in while she was asleep, and trying to undress her. Anyone would misunderstand.
The girl's soft palm pressed down on the back of his hand. Her intent was to stop a certain pervert's perverted behavior, but unexpectedly she ended up pressing his hand completely onto it. Yu Yao's throat rolled. Meeting Yun Ying's wide-open eyes, the soft sensation beneath his palm should have been unfamiliar—yet for some reason, it felt familiar.
Yu Yao's brows furrowed slightly. His hand moved faster than his brain, and he unconsciously gave a squeeze. Yun Ying kicked him in the waist and abdomen, then nimbly flipped off the bed and stood on the other side.
"You bastard!"
Yu Yao turned his head away and raised a hand to pinch the bridge of his nose. The situation seemed even harder to explain now.
He was blocking the doorway. Yun Ying estimated whether she could make a run for it, thought about it, and decided she probably didn't have the ability. She watched him warily.
Yu Yao stood up. If he couldn't explain it clearly, he might as well just be a pervert—after all, in Yun Ying's mind, he was already a bad dog who lusted after her at first sight.
"Didn't you say there's no mole on your chest?" Yu Yao glanced at her tightly clutched collar. "I think I just saw something."
Yun Ying had never imagined this guy would sneak into her room in the middle of the night just to confirm whether she had a mole?
She clutched her pajama collar and firmly refuted him: "You saw wrong. I don't have a mole on my chest!"
"Then let me take another look." Yu Yao lifted his foot to walk toward her.
Yun Ying hastily backed away. "You stay right there and don't move! Otherwise I'm moving in with Sister Lin tomorrow!"
She sure knew how to threaten people. Yu Yao had only been teasing her. She was awake now, and she refused to admit it no matter what—he couldn't very well actually strip her clothes off.
The girl already had deep misunderstandings about him. Now his image as a pervert would be thoroughly ingrained in her mind, wouldn't it?
Yu Yao nodded. "Fine. We have plenty of time."
He curved his eyes and smiled, no longer giving Yun Ying a hard time.
He'd see it sooner or later anyway.
Yu Yao turned and left, closing the door to Yun Ying's room.
The moment the door shut, he turned into the bathroom, twisted on the faucet, and splashed water on his face. The cold water couldn't wash away the heat in his body. Yu Yao looked at his hand, his palm curling slightly.
…So soft.
How could anything be that soft?
Yu Yao had never squeezed anything like that in his life, yet just now it had given him a familiar feeling. Looking at his palm, he could almost recall the sensation of kneading and pressing, shifting within his palm with the changes in his grip—
Stop.
Yu Yao closed his eyes and let out a deep breath.
What was he even thinking?
No wonder Yun Ying thought he was a pervert and a creep. Everything he was doing now couldn't be explained away even if he jumped into the Yellow River—which of these actions could be considered gentlemanly?
Woken by Yu Yao, the drowsiness Yun Ying had just mustered scattered once more.
She ran over and locked the door, staring at the door panel until she heard Yu Yao's door open and close, then sat back down.
Yun Ying looked down. Near her left chest, a tiny black mole sat on her skin. That bad dog's eyes were far too sharp—he could even see that.
Yu Yao's memories seemed to be slowly returning. Lu Yao had clearly told her that after losing his memory, Yu Yao had never recalled anything from the past. But now, perhaps because of her arrival, something had changed.
The path that had once gone off track was slowly being corrected.
Yun Ying lay awake all night. At dawn, hearing the sounds of activity in the living room, she sat up with dark circles under her eyes.
Yu Yao knocked on her door: "Awake? Want to go get something to eat?"
Yun Ying opened the door and drifted past him like a wandering ghost, shutting herself into the bathroom.
Yu Yao leaned against the door, unable to hold back a few laughs.
This cute first thing in the morning—what a darling.
Yun Ying had assumed Yu Yao would eat at home, but to her surprise, after she changed clothes, Yu Yao was getting ready to go out.
"…Eating out?"
"There's a cafeteria in the inner city. We'll eat there." Yu Yao replied. Seeing Yun Ying's confusion, he explained, "There's no gas line here. Ability Users have their own cafeteria—just pay Credits. Lu Yao and the others should be there already."
Yun Ying thought to herself that this was somewhat like Jiangcheng Base.
Jiangcheng Base also had a cafeteria, specially built to subsidize Ability Users. But because ingredients were precious, only Ability Users who risked their lives for the base were allowed to eat there. Family members and lovers had to spend Credits to buy food outside.
In the apocalypse, what you could buy was mostly just dry rations, canned goods, and steamed buns.
Dingcheng Base actually allowed family members without abilities to eat there.
Yu Yao took her to the cafeteria, just two streets from the residential compound. He Fangchen and the others were already eating. Seeing the two of them approach, they waved.
"Captain, little sister, over here, over here."
Yu Yao pulled Yun Ying over to sit down and asked her, "What do you want to eat?"
Yun Ying replied casually, "Whatever's fine. I'm good with anything."
After the apocalypse, she had stopped being picky entirely. As long as there was food, she was fine.
Yu Yao went to get the food. Yun Ying turned her head and met the gazes of the four others, which made her flinch. She asked quietly, "What is it?"
He Fangchen asked, "Is living with Captain Yu alright?"
Cheng Zainan also leaned in: "Come on, little sister, don't be afraid of him. He's just a paper tiger in front of you. If he ever upsets you, just give him a beating and yell at him all you want."
Yu Yao wouldn't lay a hand on Yun Ying anyway—he can't cherish her enough.
Yun Ying looked pitifully at Lin Xizhi and Lu Yao. "Sisters, can't I live with you? I can sleep in the living room."
Lu Yao's expression turned a bit awkward. "Of course we can, but…"
She glanced at Yu Yao, who was walking over with a tray in the distance, clicked her tongue twice, and shook her head. "We have no choice but to bow to the dark forces."
The dark force walked over and set the tray in front of Yun Ying. "Eat something. In a bit, you'll go train with Lu Yao and the others."
Yun Ying looked down. The tray was the kind of divided cafeteria tray commonly used in schools before the apocalypse, holding one meat dish and one vegetable dish, plus a steamed bun, a bowl of porridge, and an egg. In the apocalypse, this was already an extremely lavish and rare meal.
She asked him quietly, "Is all this for me?"
Yu Yao looked at her, a little puzzled, and sat down beside her. "Can't finish it?"
It wasn't that she couldn't finish it—Yu Yao hadn't taken an especially large portion. This was just about right for Yun Ying's appetite.
"No." Yun Ying looked at the tray before her, unsure what to say, and took a small sip of soup. In a very quiet voice, she said, "Thank you."
Several teammates glanced at Yu Yao. Captain Yu was peeling an egg, the smile at the corners of his lips impossible to suppress—he looked thoroughly pleased.
Cheng Zainan shook his head and bit into the bun in his mouth.
So cute—it would only bring out someone's inner dog even more. The girl had been completely bitten to death this time.
After the meal, Cheng Zainan, He Fangchen, and Yu Yao went to return the trays and swipe for credits. Lu Yao propped her chin on one hand and looked at Yun Ying.
"Come with us. There's a training ground here. Captain Yu said that from now on, you belong to us during the day."
Yun Ying's eyes lit up. "Then can I come with you at night too?"
Lu Yao smiled awkwardly.
Lin Xizhi was rather blunt. "The captain said you belong to him at night."
Yun Ying whipped her head around to glare. Yu Yao was standing at the kitchen doorway chatting with someone. His height was so striking that she could spot him at a glance.
Lu Yao stood up and gathered her things. "Let's go too. Today we two will teach you how to use a gun."
Yun Ying asked, "What about them?"
Lin Xizhi said calmly, "The captain probably has to go to the Central Hall. He Fangchen and Cheng Zainan have to go inspect and repair our vehicle—there was damage on this trip out."
Yun Ying nodded. She knew Yu Yao was probably very busy. The stronger the Ability User, the more work they had to do, and the base surely had things they needed his help with too.
She left with Lu Yao and Lin Xizhi. Yun Ying knew she had no supernatural ability, so she could only practice more in marksmanship and physical fitness.
The moment the three of them left, Yu Yao sent He Fangchen and Cheng Zainan off as well, then went to the Central Hall by himself.
Inside, everyone was running around frantically. Yu Yao went straight to a room he knew well, not even knocking before entering.
Chang Shuo looked up and felt his vision go black.
"Captain Yu, if you really have nothing to do, go kill some zombies. What are you coming to the Information Department all day for?"
Yu Yao asked directly, "Didn't you temporarily get Dingcheng Base's network communications working a while back?"
Chang Shuo spread his hands. "It only worked for a few minutes. You know how it is—there are too few people who can do emergency repairs now. Anyway, I found the information you were looking for."
He turned the laptop around. Yu Yao walked over, leaned down, and propped one hand on the table to look.
Chang Shuo opened a file. "I looked up your information. On your family's household registration, you're the only one left. There's no sister at all."
Yu Yao stared at the information above, then glanced at Chang Shuo: "There's no sister listed on the household registration?"
Chang Shuo said, "Right, buddy, you're an only child!"
So where exactly did this sister come from?
The entire base knew that Yu Yao was looking for his sister. Whenever a new survivor entered the base, he would come to check, but after so long, no one had claimed to be his sister.
Yu Yao clicked open his own information file—this was what Chang Shuo had gathered as best he could when the network briefly recovered.
It contained his household registration information. Before the apocalypse, he had indeed lived well—he was the vice president of a publicly listed company and held quite a few assets. But his family information was truly sparse, with only his deceased parents. Even his parents had been only children, so there were no cousins of any sort.
Then who was this sister he kept going on about?
Chang Shuo: "Your mother passed away when you were thirteen, and afterward your father never remarried. They had a very good relationship and often attended banquets together. There was never any news of a marital breakdown, so there's no way you have some illegitimate sister."
Yu Yao raised his eyes to look at him. Chang Shuo stepped back, his voice growing a bit quieter: "I was just joking. Anyway, there really is no biological sister on the household registration. You've been an only child from childhood to adulthood."
Seeing Yu Yao's expression darken, Chang Shuo slid his chair over and asked curiously, "Could it be some romantic interest of yours?"
Yu Yao frowned, and Chang Shuo backed off again, retreating to his own spot.
"I searched for news related to you too. You had no dramatic marriage contract, no publicly known girlfriend. You're indeed unmarried and childless. But since you were so rich… maybe you had a mistress?"
Yu Yao looked at him coldly: "No."
Even without his memories, he was certain he wasn't the type to keep a mistress. If he truly liked a girl, he would date her openly and honestly—why would he do some secret affair or keep someone as a mistress?
Chang Shuo raised both hands: "Okay, okay, you don't seem like the type to keep a mistress anyway. I was joking."
Seeing Yu Yao keep flipping through the files without speaking, Chang Shuo stayed quiet, resting his chin on one hand as he waited for him to finish and return the computer.
But Yu Yao suddenly spoke out of the blue: "No biological sister—did my parents have an adopted daughter?"
Chang Shuo said helplessly, "Bro, if you really want a sister that badly, why not just adopt me?"
Yu Yao slightly lifted his eyelid, and Chang Shuo promptly backed down.
"Even if there were an adopted daughter, your family would have put her on the household registration, right?"
Yu Yao said nothing. What if she just wasn't registered?
Chang Shuo didn't understand why Yu Yao was so dead set on finding a sister who had gone missing in the early days of the apocalypse. He understood even less why, now that the investigation had shown this sister probably didn't exist, Yu Yao was still fixated on believing he had one.
He continued scrolling down and found his family's company and old residence. The Yu family's old residence was in Linzhou, which later became Huai City Base—that place had now been completely overrun by zombies.
But the Yu family company headquarters was in Jinzhou City. He had grown up there, and before his father went to the branch office, they had always been in Jinzhou.
"Is there a map?" Yu Yao suddenly asked.
"Oh, yes." Chang Shuo pulled out a tablet with downloaded offline maps—no network needed.
Yu Yao took a look. Jinzhou was northeast of Dingcheng Base, about a thousand kilometers away. And to go from Dingcheng to Jinzhou, one had to pass through a certain place.
He frowned, looking at that small city on the map.
Lan City—the suspected site of the original virus outbreak.
Seeing him staring at the map all this time, Chang Shuo said in surprise, "Captain Yu, you're not thinking of going to Jinzhou, are you?"
Before Yu Yao could reply, he hurriedly said, "Don't! You'd have to pass through Lan City on the way. It's all Zombies there now—it fell during the early days of the apocalypse. There isn't even a base nearby. A whole horde of Zombies has been festering in there—who knows what kind of monster they've bred! There's an eighty percent chance there are even higher-level High-rank Zombies!"
His voice was too loud, and the people working across from him looked over. Chang Shuo hurriedly lowered his voice. Seeing that Yu Yao really seemed to be entertaining the idea, he pushed his chair over to his side.
"That sister of yours who may not even exist may not even be alive either. Now you've got a girlfriend too. In the apocalypse, there aren't many people she can rely on. Captain, you have to take responsibility for her, at least. Stop looking. It's the apocalypse—just staying alive isn't easy. The world is so big—how are you going to find her?"
Yu Yao straightened up and asked him, "Can you print these things out? And print a copy of the map too while you're at it."
Chang Shuo sighed, resignedly sat back down, and connected the printer with a USB cable.
"I can print them. I'll print them all out for you."
Chang Shuo held out a stack of documents to Yu Yao. He had just sat back down to get busy with work when Yu Yao rapped his knuckles on the desk.
"What is it now, Captain Yu?"
Yu Yao said coldly, "After the network is repaired again, help me look up information on this person."
He pressed a slip of paper down on the desk with one hand and pushed it over. On the slip was written a name and an ID number.
Chang Shuo frowned and said, "Who's this?"
"Girlfriend." Yu Yao casually grabbed a file folder and put the printed materials into it. "Help me look up her information, especially her family relationships."
Chang Shuo said, puzzled, "Why are you investigating your girlfriend? Is she some kind of criminal?"
"Don't guess wildly." Yu Yao took the documents. "Just make sure you investigate thoroughly."
Chang Shuo nodded and repeated, "Yun Ying—look up her identity information, especially family relationships, like parents and relatives?"
Yu Yao curved his lips into a smile. "And her marital status."
Chang Shuo's eyes went wide. "Mar—wait, Captain Yu, what did you do?!"
Yu Yao placed a Credit Card on the desk as payment.
"Just investigate. See whether she's actually married or not, and how many people are in her family."