Shen Qi set off again, and this time, she refused Nuonuo’s offer to carry her. In a world like this now, she couldn’t keep relying on Nuonuo forever, the hand-to-hand skills and sturdy body she’d had as a child were worth picking back up.
Their main goal now was finding Little Tiger, so Shen Qi focused on searching places like shops and supermarkets.
h City was a pet-friendly city, back when she used to take Nuonuo and Little Tiger out together, Little Tiger would refuse to keep walking the moment it spotted a store, bounding around excitedly inside, more thrilled than Shen Qi herself, the one actually there to shop.
And whenever Little Tiger snuck off to play on its own, nine times out of ten, store staff would catch it and call Shen Qi using the number on its collar, she’d practically become a familiar face at every shop in the area.
Shen Qi carried the backpack she’d traded for at Captain Li’s, weaving through the streets, her expression grim, keenly aware of just how terrifying the mutations truly were.
In under two thousand meters, Shen Qi had already run into three or four waves of fallen-beast attacks, and had also seen the corpses of fallen-beast lions and wolves along the roadside.
Upon inspection, Shen Qi found these ferocious beasts had all been shot dead, with some knife wounds visible too, clearly, the military and survivors had joined forces to hunt them down.
But this was h City’s downtown, how had lions and wolves ended up here in the first place?
Nuonuo: 【There’s a zoo nearby, newly built a couple of years ago. We passed by it once when we went to the pet park.】
Hearing this, Shen Qi remembered.
She usually stayed home a lot and rarely went out, having little interest in things like zoos or botanical gardens, so she didn’t know much about it.
But a couple years back, some rich second-generation “sea turtle” (a returnee from studying abroad) had come to h City and insisted on building a foreign-style safari zoo right in the middle of downtown, throwing money around and pulling connections to secure a large plot of prime real estate. He’d torn down buildings and roads to force a downtown “savanna” into existence, and before long, wild beasts had been shipped in and the zoo opened for business.
It had actually made the news at the time, becoming a hot topic among h City residents, discussed everywhere, Shen Qi happened to have caught wind of it.
Shen Qi, cautious by nature, knew that with so many animals crowded together at the zoo, the mutation effects there must have been severe, so she led Nuonuo on a route that avoided the zoo grounds.
Searching the stores wasn’t going smoothly, since most buildings had collapsed almost entirely, and the fallen beasts Shen Qi encountered along the way grew more and more frequent, leaving several deep wounds on her body, the medicine Captain Li had given her had already run out.
Nuonuo stayed by her side, panting heavily, frequent fighting was taking a real toll on it too.
Heaven rewards the diligent [1]heaven rewards the diligent (huáng tiān bú fù yǒu xīn rén, 皇天不負有心人) Idiom/Proverb, heaven does not fail those who work hard and stay determined, perseverance is eventually … Continue reading jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_3166616_1_1').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_3166616_1_1', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });, after a full day of traveling, Shen Qi and Nuonuo finally found the one mall building in the area that hadn’t collapsed.
Along the way, Shen Qi had survived on nothing but compressed biscuits and bottled water, while Nuonuo ate fallen-beast corpses, both of them had kept themselves tightly on guard the whole time, utterly exhausted by now.
Looking at the still-standing building, Shen Qi couldn’t help but marvel at how good high-grade earthquake-resistant materials really were, back when the building’s owner had insisted on constructing it this way, he’d been mocked for it, dubbed alongside that returnee rich kid as one of “h City’s Two Fools,” with people calling him a wealthy sucker throwing money away for nothing. Yet after just one earthquake, every mall around it had been destroyed, leaving only this one standing.
If the store could still be open for business, its owner would probably be laughing himself to death, he hadn’t had to do a thing, and all his competitors had simply been wiped out.
Shen Qi led Nuonuo to the main entrance, where she saw two fully equipped soldiers standing guard.
“Recently arrived survivor?” one of them asked.
Shen Qi nodded. “Yes, I came here to find some food.”
The other soldier, eyeing Nuonuo in astonishment, said almost reflexively, “All supplies are being controlled by order from above. Whatever you want, you can’t just take it for free, you’ll need to do labor as compensation, with supplies as payment.”
Shen Qi understood, it seemed the authorities had moved quickly. With disaster and mutant beasts now the reality, no one could say for sure whether farming and production would still be possible going forward, so securing existing supplies in hand was the way to avoid chaos.
Shen Qi then asked, “I understand. But wasn’t this a privately owned mall before? Doesn’t the owner mind, if it’s being directly requisitioned by the authorities?”
The soldier smiled. “We wouldn’t take even a single needle or thread from the people without cause. But these are special times, orders from above say requisition first, compensation later. No one will end up losing out.”
In other words, it wasn’t being taken for free, it was effectively the nation purchasing these supplies.
Shen Qi wanted to ask more, hoping to pick up some fresh news, but she was interrupted.
“New survivors arrived?”
A young officer walked over, his uniform different from the standing guards’, he looked like someone in charge.
He was addressing the standing guards, but his gaze was fixed on Shen Qi, and on the unmistakably enormous mass that was Nuonuo.
Shen Qi was studying him too, along with the military dog he had on a leash.
Astonishing.
This military dog was a border collie, its size looked unchanged, but its fur had turned entirely into steel needles, gleaming with a cold sheen, visibly razor-sharp. Its tail also seemed to have mutated, far longer than a normal dog’s tail, trailing on the ground like a whip.
Shen Qi couldn’t help but imagine, during a fight, would it just suddenly burst outward into a ball of spikes, skewering enemies like a hedgehog, then whip its tail around to wrap up the enemy and pull them off the spikes?
“Sir!”
“Sir!”
He waved a hand dismissively, then turned to Shen Qi and said, “Hello, I’m Third Sergeant Chen Qinglie, in charge of rescue and reconstruction efforts around here. This is my partner, Babu.”
The military dog Babu wagged its tail, its whip-like long tail slapping against the ground with a crisp snap. Its gaze locked onto Nuonuo, eyes burning with the urge to fight.
“Grr—” Babu growled low, and Shen Qi, oddly enough, understood it perfectly: “Big guy, let’s have a match!”
Nuonuo remained composed as an old dog, not particularly interested in engaging with this battle-hungry newcomer.
Babu bared its teeth: 【Get up! What kind of nerve is it, hiding behind a two-legged beast!】
Shen Qi’s mouth twitched, this military dog was quite the fighter.
She pretended not to see or hear any of it, replying with a smile instead: “Hello, I’m Shen Qi, I came from the East District. This is my dog, Nuonuo.”
“Haha, great dog! This is a Blue Bay Shepherd, right? I heard it’s a breed just recently introduced to the country, the military was running obedience tests on them, but the earthquake hit before we got any results.”
Chen Qinglie paused, noticing Shen Qi’s obvious travel-worn exhaustion, and quickly wrapped up the small talk: “Alright, no need to keep standing outside, come in and rest. East District isn’t exactly close from here.”
……
The mall was full of survivors, along with soldiers and medical staff, the population density was high, but somehow it didn’t look chaotic at all, the military’s management was clearly meticulous, everything neatly zoned, the kind of order that would make even someone with obsessive tendencies nod in approval.
Right now, Shen Qi desperately wanted to clean herself up, a proper shower would be even better.
For over half a month now, Shen Qi had been wiping herself down with a damp towel, Nuonuo had been doing the same. Shen Qi felt like if she didn’t find somewhere to properly wash soon, she’d start smelling awful.
Nuonuo smelled even worse than she did, besides the dust, its fur was also caked with blood, since it liked biting and clawing during fights, leaving it covered in fallen-beast blood. Shen Qi, on the other hand, fought mostly with a thick branch, so she’d barely gotten any blood on herself.
Fortunately, the mall was quite comprehensive, it sold bathtubs and shower heads, and the military had already set up a row of shower stalls during this time.
She exchanged her supplies with a logistics soldier for bathing supplies and a change of clothes, and, ignoring the curious stares of other survivors in the building, hurried straight to the showers.
Most people found showers more convenient, so the bathtubs sat mostly unused.
Shen Qi found an extra-large tub and filled it with water, having Nuonuo stand inside to soak. She grabbed a big brush and scrubbed it down once, changed the water, applied body wash, scrubbed some more, rinsed, applied body wash again… over and over, changing the water countless times, until Nuonuo was finally spotless once more.
It had to be said, Nuonuo’s post-mutation thick hide had its perks, no matter how hard she scrubbed, it didn’t hurt or itch at all, and she didn’t even need to find special pet shampoo, which saved a lot of hassle.
But its sheer size was the problem, bathing a dog was already exhausting even before, and now it was practically enough to send someone straight to the afterlife.
Shen Qi… Shen Qi was already thoroughly wrecked.
Her back ached, and she was out of breath.
Bathing a dog, of all things, and bathing a giant dog was pain multiplied several times over!!
She looked at Nuonuo with resentment: “If only you could wash yourself…” Shen Qi finished the sentence and ended up laughing at herself, that idea was clearly wishful thinking.
By the time Shen Qi finished her own shower, she was thoroughly worn out.
She led Nuonuo, who had shaken itself dry on its own, over to the sleeping area the military had set up, a small partitioned space, and collapsed straight into bed. The space was small, this was the private stall she’d rented using her contribution points so she wouldn’t have to squeeze into the shared bunks with everyone else. Shen Qi slept soundly that night.
Nuonuo had originally intended to guard her side, but the partitioned space was simply too small for it to fit into, so in the end, it could only lie outside the stall, sulking a little, and gradually drifted off to sleep as well.
The next day, Shen Qi was woken up by a commotion.
She sat up, brows furrowed. This early in the morning, and people still wouldn’t let her sleep!
“Woof woof woof woof!” Nuonuo barked furiously. 【You shameless two-legged beast, blah blah blah blah blah, you…】
Shen Qi immediately got out of bed at the sound, Nuonuo was such a calm, good-tempered dog, who could possibly have made it this angry?
“……Yang Fan?”
Sure enough, the person who had Nuonuo so furious it couldn’t even finish its sentences was none other than Shen Qi’s former coworker, Yang Fan. Besides him, plenty of other survivors were watching the show.
Yang Fan laughed awkwardly. “Haha, ha, Shen Qi, what a coincidence! I was actually just looking at this dog because it seemed cute, came over to take a look, didn’t expect it’d be your Nuonuo.”
Cute? Shen Qi glanced up at Nuonuo’s massive frame, at its cold, gleaming fangs bared in fury, and thought, hmm… maybe this coworker’s eyesight was a little off.
Shen Qi recalled running into this man a few times while walking her dog before the earthquake, not close, but they’d exchanged a few words. She studied Yang Fan’s evasive expression without giving anything away.
“Long time no see, is there something you need?”
Yang Fan stammered, “Just, well… it’s been over two months, how have you been?”
Back then, terrified of Nuonuo as some kind of monster, he’d spent over a day traveling before finally taking shelter here at the mall, and he’d even thought his decision had been quite wise. But just a few days later, the authorities had announced that animals had turned into mutant beasts and fallen beasts.
His turtle had turned into a fallen beast, while Nuonuo had clearly turned into a mutant beast, and a rare, human-friendly one at that.
Yang Fan was both envious and jealous, why hadn’t his own turtle turned into a mutant beast instead?
He regretted his choice deeply, if only he’d known, he shouldn’t have changed course back then, and should’ve clung tightly to Shen Qi instead. Given enough time, maybe Nuonuo would’ve recognized him as its master too, and he could’ve had it at his command.
Whatever schemes were running through Yang Fan’s head, Shen Qi didn’t care to know. She only noticed the growing crowd of onlookers, and the soldiers coming over to check on the commotion, and she frowned. “I’m doing fine, thanks for asking. Was there anything else?” If not, please stop blocking the doorway.
“Well, this young lady only just got here yesterday, and already has a private room and keeps a big dog, must be well-off.”
“There’s fallen beasts and mutant beasts everywhere outside now, and I don’t think that dog’s quite normal either, who knows when it might just snap. How can the military let a dog like that inside? Clearly they don’t think much of us survivors.”
“But military dogs aren’t normal either, that fur’s like needles, why aren’t you saying anything about that one?”
“Well, that one’s got the military controlling it…”
“So you’re just being biased, huh, when the military dog’s right here you don’t dare say a word, scared of getting kicked out for angering the officers, but you go and pick on a young lady who looks easy to bully! Didn’t you see how protective her dog is of its owner? Didn’t you see that man just get yelled at?”
The whispering around them had grown loud enough to practically qualify as shouting, and Yang Fan heard it too. Afraid Shen Qi might get angry and walk off, he didn’t dare stall any longer and finally blurted out his real purpose: “It’s just, uh, I saw you came here yesterday, traded for supplies and rented a private room using some kind of card, not an ID card, not a bank card, what was that? Why don’t we, um, have one?”
Shen Qi had been wondering what could possibly be worth him blocking the doorway like this, the personal card wasn’t exactly a secret, it was just that very few had been issued so far, eventually the authorities would roll it out to everyone.
“It’s a personal card. As for that, the military knows more about it, you can go ask them.”
Yang Fan wasn’t pleased. He wasn’t close with the military at all. His mother had always told him, when you need something, go find someone you already know first, and here was Shen Qi, this pretty young lady, being so difficult about it.
“I’m just asking, that thing can be exchanged for supplies? If I want one, how do I get it?” Once he finished asking, the whispering around them noticeably quieted, clearly quite a few people had already noticed the personal card and wanted to know more themselves.
A card that could be exchanged for supplies, who wouldn’t want one?
Before Shen Qi could say anything, Nuonuo lost its patience first: 【Qiqi, don’t listen to him, he said earlier that you’d be his wife eventually, and that I’d have to listen to his orders too! Feh! Ugly as sin and dreaming way too big! Just tell him to go ask the military himself, don’t bother with him!!】
Shen Qi’s gaze turned cold.
“Details on how to apply for a personal card will be announced by the authorities soon. Everyone, please be patient.”
Nuonuo had barked so fiercely at the start that Chen Qinglie personally came over with Babu to check on the situation, arriving just in time to smoothly get Shen Qi out of the awkward spot.
Yang Fan still wasn’t ready to give up, and pressed on: “If it’s only going to be issued later, then why does she already have one now? We’re all survivors here, given how bad things are right now, shouldn’t everyone be treated equally?” He pointed at Shen Qi.
Chen Qinglie said coolly, “All survivors will be issued one eventually, in due time. Those who currently hold a personal card are people who made significant contributions to the nation and its people, either before or during the earthquake. If you’d like a personal card now, that’s fine, just provide proof of your own contributions, and you can apply for one anytime.”
Yang Fan’s face burned with embarrassment, and amid a mix of mocking looks and amused stares from the crowd around them, he slunk away in defeat.
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