It wasn’t just Shi Zuo An who was exhausted and sleepy, Xia Ao and Jiang Si had also been up all night since yesterday. At this moment, none of them even had the energy to speak.
Each of the three found a “big bunk” to rest on. The moment their heads touched the soft seat cushions, a heavy wave of drowsiness washed over them.
Shi Zuo An was the first to be woken by a full bladder. Half-asleep, he glanced at his watch and realized he had only slept for an hour.
He got up from the chair, squinting, and shuffled toward the bathroom, accidentally kicking Xia Ao’s shoes half a meter away in the process.
He paused, glanced at them, and finally decided to pretend he hadn’t seen them and attend to the more urgent matter first.
After quickly relieving himself, he turned on the tap, only to find no water came out. That’s when he realized they seemed to have forgotten something.
Forgot what?
He rummaged around, grabbed a wet wipe, cleaned his hands, and returned to the spot where he had been lying.
Xia Ao was lying on his side, hugging his arms, eyes tightly shut, but his eyeballs moved irregularly under his eyelids.
He was probably in light sleep.
Shi Zuo An instinctively felt he had forgotten something extremely important but couldn’t recall what it was. He didn’t even consider how wrong it was to wake someone who was sleeping.
“Hey, wake up!” He patted Xia Ao’s large arm on top.
Xia Ao had also removed his outer sweatshirt while sleeping and now wore only a black fitted tank top.
Because it was so tight, every trace of his usual workout was clearly outlined.
Shi Zuo An’s hand touched the warm skin. When the muscles were relaxed, it felt nice, soft, like the belly of the fat cat he used to see at his neighbor’s house.
He… somehow kept moving his hand upward.
“What are you doing? Why are you bothering me while I’m sleeping again?”
At some point, Xia Ao had opened his eyes.
How could he say “again”? This was clearly a rare, one-off event.
Just as Shi Zuo An was about to argue, Xia Ao, still heavy with sleepiness, interrupted: “What is it? You didn’t wake me up just to argue, did you?”
Back to the point.
“Don’t you feel like something’s missing?”
“Huh?”
“I just feel like I’ve forgotten something… but there’s too much going on, I can’t remember it all at once…”
“Woc, Song Zi Qiao!”
“Song Zi Qiao!”
The two shouted in unison, so loudly that Jiang Si, still half-asleep nearby, woke up in shock.
“What’s wrong! Song Zi Qiao? What happened to Song Zi Qiao???” She froze for a moment, then suddenly realized, “Oh no, Song Zi Qiao!”
The three of them had been so focused on handling the zombies in the high-speed rail station that, exhausted, they had fallen asleep immediately, none of them had remembered that Song Zi Qiao was still waiting in the car to be picked up!
Jiang Si, seeing this, quickly sat up across from Shi Zuo An and put on her shoes.
“That idiot is probably hiding in the car right now, crying and terrified, thinking we left him behind.”
“Let’s go get him.” Xia Ao put on his sweatshirt, moving efficiently to go pick him up.
“You two don’t need to come. I’ll go by myself.” Jiang Si hadn’t forgotten a favor she owed Xia Ao. She wanted to give the two of them some space to be alone.
Although they constantly bickered, Xia Ao’s little feelings were actually extremely obvious to anyone watching.
“No, it’s too dangerous for you to go alone!” Xia Ao frowned, his expression serious and focused. “At least one of us, me or Shi Zuo An, should go with you.”
Shi Zuo An nodded, supporting Xia Ao’s point.
“How about I go with Jiang Si, and you get a little more rest?”
“No need!” Jiang Si waved her hand, persuading them, “I can’t have you two accompanying me for everything I do! The speaker’s off, and the zombies have all dispersed from the entrance.”
“Besides, I’m a girl, I walk lighter than you two men. I’ll spray plenty of floral water before I go, and I’ll hold the kitchen knife. Nothing will happen.”
“But—” Xia Ao still felt uneasy, but Shi Zuo An interrupted, giving her a playful slap on the backside.
“Fine, just be careful. If something happens… well, I guess there’s no way to contact us anyway.”
“Then it’s down to fate.” Jiang Si smiled, pulling a small hair tie from her pocket to tie her short hair into a small bun at the back of her head.
“Yeah, fate it is.”
After Jiang Si left, Xia Ao looked puzzled.
“You’re really letting her go like that?” He frowned. “There are so many zombies outside, it’s dangerous.”
“Yes, it’s dangerous, but just like she said, we can only protect her for a while. We can’t protect her forever. What if this zombie disaster never ends, and humanity has to coexist with zombies permanently?”
“Also, just because she’s a girl doesn’t mean she’s any less capable than us. She’s brave, faces danger head-on, and is meticulous and careful when dealing with problems…”
“I don’t think she’s any less capable than us.” Xia Ao interrupted him. “If it were you going out alone today, I wouldn’t feel at ease either. In a situation like this, having one more person just gives a bit more security.”
His tone was sincere, and when he noticed Shi Zuo An’s doubt, he looked genuinely displeased.
It turned out that his resistance to letting Jiang Si go alone wasn’t because “she’s a girl,” but because, for anyone, he simply didn’t want anyone facing danger by themselves.
Shi Zuo An felt an inexplicable sense of relief.
“You’re really thoughtful, Xiao Xia~”
“Hehe.”
After Jiang Si left, the huge waiting hall was left with just the two of them.
With nothing pressing to do, they wandered around.
Xia Ao rummaged through a small corner store at the southeast corner and found two old-fashioned thermoses filled with hot water, while Shi Zuo An discovered that the water dispenser in the break room still had hot water in it.
“Probably because the internal storage tank itself is made of insulating material, so the heat hasn’t dissipated for so long.”
“Now we not only have hot water to drink, but we can also eat warm meals!”
Shi Zuo An was thrilled. Judging by the resources available in the high-speed rail station, if they didn’t plan to stay long-term, they didn’t need to be overly frugal.
He calculated that now that they had found a water source, he asked Xia Ao if they could take a shower tonight.
Of course they could.
After several days of conserving water and all the physical activity they’d done, they naturally smelled a bit of sweat.
Moreover, if they didn’t wash now, water resources would become even tighter later.
Xia Ao tilted his head, watching Shi Zuo An bouncing along like a child, and couldn’t help but smile.
“Hey, Xia Ao, come over here!”
Shi Zuo An suddenly waved at him.
Somehow, they had wandered to the ticket gate.
The doors behind the gate leading to the platform had just been closed by them. Through the large glass window beside the door, they could see a high-speed train stopped at the nearest platform.
But looking along the train, all the car doors were tightly shut.
Too far away, and with the reflection on the glass, it was impossible to see inside clearly.
“Xiao Xia, do you think there are still people alive inside?”
“Tch, probably not.” Xia Ao put his hands on his hips, scanning the train just like Shi Zuo An. “The platform is only a few steps from the waiting hall. If there were people alive inside, why would they trap themselves in such a cramped space?”
“And in a high-speed train, such a sealed space, if even one zombie gets in, no one on the whole train can escape.”
Shi Zuo An pressed one hand against the glass, leaned his head closer, and observed for a while. There really was no movement at all, still dead silent.
He sighed. “Sigh… after so many days of this zombie outbreak, we haven’t seen a single living person. I’m starting to wonder if we’re the only four people left alive in this world.”
“Huh? Old Zhang isn’t a person?”
“He doesn’t count!”
Even if biologically he could be considered a person, morally and in terms of value, they certainly didn’t regard Old Zhang as one.
“Let’s go, get some rest—”
“Mm.”
Song Zi Qiao returned with Jiang Si, and what he saw next was a scene he would never forget in his life.
Shi Zuo An noticed him first and greeted him perfunctorily: “Hey, you’re back.”
Before the words even finished, he turned and threw down the two cards in his hand. “Tch, don’t fidget, I’m about to win… wait for it!”
Shi Zuo An didn’t draw the card he wanted, but now that he had an extra card, he immediately hid it behind his back and swapped successfully.
“You guys left me in the car and then played Ghost Cards here by yourselves?!”
Song Zi Qiao shouted in disbelief.
Unfortunately, Xia Ao immediately drew the last card that could make a successful pair. The game ended, and Shi Zuo An sulkily tossed the ghost card back onto the empty seat being used as the table.
“Don’t get so worked up. Aren’t you safely back now?”
He didn’t even show the slightest hint of remorse!
Song Zi Qiao’s eyes welled with tears as he looked at Xia Ao, silently begging for care: “Xia Ge—”
“……”
“Alright, alright, stop pretending. I’ve already agreed to everything you asked. Big men shouldn’t whine like this.” Jiang Si, annoyed, rubbed his temples.
“What did you agree to?” Shi Zuo An swore he had only asked casually, with absolutely no curiosity or ulterior motive.
So when he heard Jiang Si’s reply, he mentally cursed himself for even asking the question a few seconds ago.
“I promised to give him another chance at love.”
Before Jiang Si even finished speaking, Song Zi Qiao’s eyes lit up like searchlights, his mouth opening wide as if ready to start chattering endlessly—
Xia Ao’s eyes were sharp and his reflexes faster, he slapped his hand over Song Zi Qiao’s mouth.
“Don’t get too excited yet!” Jiang Si forced a wide fake grin at him. “Song Zi Qiao, I only promised to give you a chance. Whether you two can actually get back together still depends on your performance!”
“Ugh ugh ugh!!!”
The person in question struggled excitedly, trying to break free from Xia Ao’s grip.
Shi Zuo An quickly shot Xia Ao a warning look: Don’t let go of him!
Xia Ao nodded firmly, his gaze resolute, then asked:
“Did you two encounter any danger on the way here?”
“Not really. Aside from Song Zi Qiao kicking a bottle and attracting a few zombies, nothing else happened.”
Where there was no danger, Song Zi Qiao himself became the biggest hazard.
He continued protesting, finally wriggling free from Xia Ao’s hand. “I didn’t do it on purpose! Who knows why that can ended up following me when I ran by?”
The can had bounced like a ball right to his feet, and he had instinctively kicked it away.
But that damned can wasn’t ordinary, it was filled with heavy stones.
He kicked it, and it didn’t fly away, instead, the tip of his foot got painfully smashed.
At the same time, the nearby zombies noticed the commotion and started approaching them.
After sprinting for almost ten minutes, the two finally returned safely.
Sounds dangerous, right?
But as long as they made it back safely, everything was fine.
Shi Zuo An dragged over a 28-inch suitcase and invited everyone to play cards.
Song Zi Qiao hadn’t had breakfast yet and said he’d watch for a while, letting the remaining three play first.