Su Nian did not know when she had fallen asleep.
By the time she woke up, it was already morning. Light filtered through the gaps in the tent, falling across Xingxing’s face.
The first thing she did was reach out and touch his forehead.
It was cool.
His forehead was damp with sweat, but it was cool.
Su Nian kept her hand there for several seconds, making sure it was not just her imagination. Xingxing woke under her touch, opened his eyes, and looked at her blankly. His lips moved, but no words came out.
“Are you thirsty?”
Xingxing nodded.
Su Nian took a water bottle out of her storage space and helped him drink a few mouthfuls. Water trickled from the corners of his mouth, running down his chin and onto his neck. She wiped it away with a tissue before tucking the blanket securely around him again.
Still not reassured, she took out a thermometer.
Five minutes later, it read 36.6°C.
His fever had truly broken.
Even so, Su Nian could not shake the worry in her heart.
She studied Xingxing’s face for a long time, checking whether his eyes were bloodshot or whether his fingernails had turned black.
There was nothing unusual.
He simply looked like an ordinary five year old boy, though his lips were a little dry.
“Do you still feel uncomfortable anywhere?”
“No, Mommy.”
Xingxing’s voice was a little hoarse.
Su Nian took a small pot from her storage space and gathered a few pieces of firewood nearby. Outside the tent, she cooked a bowl of vegetable noodles. The leafy greens were still tender and vibrant, releasing a fresh fragrance when snapped. Once the noodles had softened, she added a little salt and two drops of sesame oil.
They had been traveling nonstop for the past few days, constantly on edge, and Xingxing had not been eating properly. Today, she had to make sure he had something hot.
Nothing mattered more than his health.
Wrapped in a quilt and sitting on the blanket, Xingxing held the bowl and ate one small bite at a time. After finishing half of it, he stopped and handed the bowl to Su Nian.
“Mommy should eat too.”
Su Nian took it and quickly finished the rest. The noodles had already become a little soggy, but she ate them without complaint, drinking every last drop of the soup.
After packing away the tent, she took out the electric scooter and continued heading uphill with Xingxing.
“Mommy, are we riding again?”
Xingxing looked at the steep dirt road ahead before turning back to his mother.
“Mm.” Su Nian settled him onto the back seat. “It’s okay. Hold on tightly to Mommy’s waist.”
She twisted the throttle, and the electric scooter moved forward almost silently. The dirt road was uneven, but she rode slowly, carefully steering around the larger potholes and rocks.
They were almost at Shuixi Village now, and Su Nian finally felt herself relax.
Xingxing had been remarkably well behaved throughout the journey. Perhaps sensing that his mother had finally let down her guard, he began giggling happily behind her.
Whenever the road became too steep, Su Nian got off and carried Xingxing on her back instead.
Forty minutes later, they finally reached the entrance to the village.
A stone bridge stood at the entrance, its surface overgrown with grass, while a stream with a strong current flowed beneath it.
At the highest point of the village stood a two story house with white walls and gray roof tiles, surrounded by a courtyard enclosed by a wall taller than a person.
Su Nian stared at the house for more than ten seconds.
This was the place.
Six years ago, Lu Chen had pointed at it and said that they could spend their old age here someday.
She put the electric scooter back into her storage space, took Xingxing’s hand, and entered the village on foot.
The village was eerily quiet. Some of the houses along the road had their doors standing open, revealing nothing but darkness inside.
Xingxing instinctively shrank his shoulders, and Su Nian tightened her grip on his hand.
“Don’t be afraid. Mommy’s here.”
“Mhm. I’m not scared. I can protect Mommy too.”
After saying that, he proudly puffed out his little chest.
Su Nian could not help but feel her eyes redden.
This time, no matter what happened, she would protect her son.
As they passed by the abandoned houses, she glanced inside. Broken roof tiles and rotten wooden planks littered the floors, while moss had spread across the walls.
When she reached the two story house, she stopped.
The courtyard wall stood two meters high, built from red bricks coated with a layer of cement. Some of the cement had peeled away over the years. The iron gate was shut, blocking any view of the courtyard, and the rusted lock hanging from it had long since seized.
Su Nian took a pair of bolt cutters out of her storage space and cut through the shackle.
With a creak, the iron gate slowly swung open, and a wave of damp air rushed toward them.
The courtyard was overgrown with weeds that reached above her knees. Half the ground was paved with concrete, while the other half remained bare earth. A well stood in one corner, covered with a heavy stone slab. Against one wall was a cement sink with a rusted faucet, and although several cracks had appeared in the courtyard wall, it remained standing.
Carrying Xingxing in her arms, Su Nian crossed the courtyard and walked to the front door.
She pushed once, but it would not budge.
She pushed again, and something inside scraped against the door.
With a forceful kick, the door finally flew open, releasing the stale smell of mold that had been trapped inside for years.
The main hall was completely empty.
A faded New Year print still hung on the wall, its colors almost entirely gone, while a thick layer of dust covered the floor.
Su Nian carried Xingxing through the two rooms downstairs.
The room on the left contained a wooden bed with a palm fiber mattress that had already gone moldy. The room on the right was piled with old farming tools and miscellaneous clutter.
She found the staircase behind the main hall. It was built of concrete and had no handrail, so she climbed carefully with Xingxing in her arms while supporting herself against the wall.
Upstairs were four rooms, two on each side.
All of them were empty.
Broken glass and dried bird droppings covered the floors. Several windows were shattered, allowing cold wind to pour through the holes. After checking every room carefully, she confirmed there were no zombies and no people.
Su Nian chose the room with the least damaged windows. She took a stool from her storage space, placed it by the doorway for Xingxing to sit on, and began cleaning.
She first swept away all the broken glass. The water in the well looked surprisingly clear, so she used it to wipe the room down twice before mopping the floor another two times.
Once everything had dried completely, she took a brand new bed from her storage space, spread the sheets and bedding she had brought, then nailed sheets of plastic over the broken windows, shutting the wind outside.
Sitting on the stool with his teddy bear in his arms, Xingxing quietly watched her work.
“Mommy, are we sleeping here tonight?”
“Mm.”
“Are we going to live here from now on?”
Su Nian put the hammer back into her storage space and turned to look at him.
His eyes sparkled with excitement.
“Yes,” she said. “We’ll live here from now on.”
The courtyard still needed to be cleaned, and she mentally noted the cracks in the surrounding walls. She would repair them that afternoon.
The kitchen was located in a separate room outside on the first floor.
Su Nian stored all the clutter from every room and the kitchen inside her storage space, then carried Xingxing on her back while taking the junk outside. About a hundred meters away was a very steep hillside where she discarded everything.
The location of the house was actually quite good.
A slope lay directly in front of it, while vegetable plots of roughly a dozen square meters each stretched along both sides. Beyond the vegetable plot on the left was another steep slope. Once she fenced it off with wire, it would be very secure.
The vegetable plot on the right and the forest directly behind the house would also need to be enclosed with wire.
While Xingxing stayed upstairs playing with his toys, Su Nian gave the downstairs rooms one final thorough cleaning.
She straightened up and rubbed her aching lower back.
Just as she was about to turn around, the corner of her eye caught something in the western sky.
A column of thick smoke. It was very far away, beyond the mountains.
Grayish black, thin, and rising straight into the air.
Su Nian stared at it for several seconds.
More than ten minutes passed, yet the smoke still had not dispersed.
Then Xingxing called down from upstairs.
“Mommy, I’m hungry.”
“I’m coming.”
She answered and turned toward the stairs.
Boom!
A distant explosion echoed through the mountains, the sound reverberating for several seconds.
Su Nian paused midstep and looked back.
The column of smoke was still there.
The explosion, however, was over.
She turned and continued upstairs without looking back again.
But she had memorized that direction.