The broadcast continued playing, and since there were no missions scheduled today and it was a day off, Ling Qingyun remained lying in bed, listening to the broadcaster talk about the evolved humans.
The evolved only appeared yesterday—a soldier suddenly erupted with great strength in a moment of crisis… At the same time, in many places, many people felt they had suddenly become stronger in certain aspects…
Ling Qingyun suddenly jumped out of bed. He remembered when Zhuang Cheng pushed him, the strength he used was unusually powerful. Normally, Zhuang Cheng would never have that kind of strength!
Maybe at that moment, Zhuang Cheng had already become an evolved human? Evolved… If Zhuang Cheng had become one, he could have survived comfortably. But at that time, there were so many zombies… Later, he even saw with his own eyes that Zhuang Cheng was caught by zombies…
He got up and splashed his face with cold water, and Ling Qingyun finally felt a little calmer. Even Zhuang Cheng was gone now—living in this world didn’t mean much anymore. Once he had killed enough zombies, perhaps he would go to the place where they had last been together, and maybe then he’d find a chance to die with the zombies.
Zhang Yi had ordered everyone to take a full rest today, so there was no chance for him to go out and kill zombies. Thinking about what he overheard last night at Gu Jiabao’s door—the conversation and the sounds—Ling Qingyun picked up some things and knocked on their door. He knew Zhuang Cheng must have loved him, and he also knew he loved Zhuang Cheng too, but two men…
The one who opened the door was Gu Jiabao, still wearing his pajamas and brushing his hair with a red comb. When he saw Ling Qingyun, he immediately smiled. “Brother Ling!”
“Jin Xiang already left?” Ling Qingyun looked inside—this room was small, and with one glance he could see Jin Xiang wasn’t there.
“No, Brother Ling, he just went out to buy food.” Gu Jiabao sat back down on the bed, enduring the soreness in his body, trying to make his few blonde strands look impressive with the comb.
Since the great upheaval, last night was the first time he and Jin Xiang had physical contact. He simply didn’t want to reach the end of his life with regrets that he hadn’t enjoyed the pleasures of being alive while he still had the chance.
“He treats you pretty well… How did you two meet?” Ever since meeting Gu Jiabao, Ling Qingyun had been curious about how their relationship started. A few years ago, Gu Jiabao was still whistling at beautiful women, so how did he end up falling for a man? Just like himself—generally, he was more attracted to women, yet Zhuang Cheng was someone no woman could ever replace…
“Brother Ling, to be honest, when it comes to me and Jin Xiang, it was fireworks at first sight, and at our second meeting, I was cursing fate that we hadn’t met sooner!” Gu Jiabao gritted his teeth as he spoke. Seeing that Ling Qingyun’s expression hadn’t changed much, he became even more determined to tell his story—he didn’t believe he couldn’t get a reaction out of the guy!
Moreover, Gu Jiabao’s relationship with Jin Xiang was something even his family didn’t know about. Not even his well-connected uncle in S City had a clue. He didn’t even dare tell his friends, afraid they’d look at him differently. Even before, he thought there was something wrong with himself—otherwise, why would he ignore beautiful women and instead enjoy being pressed down by a grown man? Now that he finally had someone to talk to, it actually felt kind of nice.
“Love at first sight?” Ling Qingyun found Gu Jiabao’s words a bit strange.
“Bullsh*t love at first sight!” Gu Jiabao practically jumped up. “Damn, it was last summer. I went to a night market stall for a late-night snack, ordered a bowl of river snails, ten skewers of grilled meat, and a bottle of beer. Damn it! The vendor must’ve thought I was some newcomer to S City. He had the nerve to charge me 200 bucks for that little bit of food! I was tipsy and started arguing with him, and hell, he was even fiercer than I was! I got so pissed I started fighting him!”
Ling Qingyun knew Gu Jiabao’s alcohol tolerance—he was notoriously a one-glass-down drunk, and after drinking, he got abnormally bold. If he really had drunk a whole bottle, he’d probably have dared to go chop up a cat even if it were just a mouse in his hand.
“You couldn’t win, and Jin Xiang stepped in to save you?” Ling Qingyun guessed. He didn’t really think Jin Xiang looked like someone who could fight, but it was the only explanation that came to mind.
“If only that were the case! That unlucky bastard!” Gu Jiabao fumed. “I was the one who had the vendor pinned down, and no one around dared to intervene. But the guy had a pretty daughter standing nearby bawling her eyes out, and that’s what drew in that blockhead Jin Xiang to play the hero! Dammit, just because I had an earring and dyed hair didn’t mean I wasn’t a good citizen! That idiot Jin Xiang didn’t even bother to ask what was going on—he just jumped in to help the vendor and started beating me up. I was so furious! But I was drunk at the time too, and not one to be bullied—I lashed out like a rabid zombie, clawing, scratching, and even biting him.” Gu Jiabao burst out laughing.
What a complete reversal… If it had been Zhuang Cheng, he’d have taken Ling Qingyun’s side no matter what, even without knowing the full story. Ling Qingyun knew Zhuang Cheng was always distant and didn’t like getting close to people—but to him, Zhuang Cheng was always incredibly kind.
“I thought after that fight it was over. I ran away in the chaos without even paying the bill! But bad luck followed—I probably overate and exercised too hard, and I ended up with acute appendicitis. My uncle rushed me to the hospital, and wouldn’t you know it, I was sent to the exact hospital where Jin Xiang worked…” Gu Jiabao looked mortified. “Brother Ling, you don’t know the pain—I was clutching my stomach, hurting like hell, and the lead surgeon turned out to be the same guy I’d just brawled with. The scratches on his face were still fresh, and the bite mark on his neck? Still right there! I wanted to jump up and run away right then and there…”
Ling Qingyun suddenly felt the urge to laugh. Even though he hadn’t been in a good mood these past days, he couldn’t help but smile. Just imagining Gu Jiabao’s reaction at that moment… it was genuinely hilarious.
“Damn, that was the most embarrassing moment of my life!” Gu Jiabao grumbled again.
“It really was. I still remember how you clung to your uncle’s arm, crying and sniffling, saying something about how you were going to dismember me,” said Jin Xiang as he walked in carrying a large lunchbox, just in time to hear the best part. Back then, he could only watch helplessly as the guy who had clawed his face was wheeled into the operating room—it wasn’t exactly ideal.
“F*ck you! Easy for you to say! Try imagining how it feels knowing the person who just beat the crap out of you is about to slice into your body with a scalpel!” Gu Jiabao snatched the lunchbox from him.
Jin Xiang set a packet of pickled vegetables on the folding table in the room. At that moment, Ling Qingyun saw that what was inside the lunchbox was porridge.
“I brought some things—just a share I got from yesterday’s mission,” Ling Qingyun said as he opened the bag he was carrying and took out what was inside. While others had chosen things like rice during the distribution, he had picked items like instant noodles, sauces, and snacks. What he brought this time were all those kinds of things.
“Food is scarce now. We can’t accept this,” Jin Xiang refused immediately. His initial wariness toward Ling Qingyun had already faded, but precisely because of that, he couldn’t accept anything from him.
“Brother Ling, we really can’t take it,” Gu Jiabao added, swallowing hard. Earlier, he hadn’t clearly seen what Ling Qingyun was holding, but now that he had, he couldn’t stop drooling—Lao Gan Ma chili sauce, beef jerky, chicken feet… even those packets of braised beef-flavored instant noodles were treasures now!
“It’s fine. I’m not short on food anyway, and I’m going on another mission tomorrow,” Ling Qingyun said. He had no intention of hoarding supplies, though that’s what most people in the safe zone were doing…
In the end, the three of them shared the food. Using snacks as side dishes for their meal surprisingly turned out to be quite tasty.
After eating, Jin Xiang left—he had to be at the hospital by seven. Gu Jiabao packed up his things to head off to work as well.
Ling Qingyun walked out with him and finally couldn’t hold back his curiosity. “After everything that happened between you and Jin Xiang back then… how did you two even end up together?”
“Who knows?” Gu Jiabao shrugged. “But Jin Xiang really had it rough. Not only did I scratch and bite him, the stall owner thought he was being a ‘righteous hero’ and made him pay 400 yuan… After I got my appendix removed, somehow we started talking. I felt a bit more at peace, and he began seeing me differently… But I think he already had his eye on me back then. After my uncle couldn’t stay to take care of me and asked him to help, all the meals I ate were made with his ‘love and care’!” Gu Jiabao chuckled mischievously. Back then, he never imagined things would go so far—he just thought appearances were deceiving, and that this cold-looking doctor was actually passionate underneath. He wanted to be friends… but in the end, he accidentally gave his whole heart away.
Gu Jiabao worked diligently, and since Ling Qingyun had nothing else to do, he went ahead and signed up with him as a day laborer at a construction site—if he sat idle, he’d only end up thinking about Zhuang Cheng, and that was a terrible feeling.
“Brother Ling, my uncle’s family is still trapped at home. Is your team still recruiting? If I joined you guys, could we maybe go rescue them while we’re out on a mission?” Gu Jiabao suddenly leaned over and asked.
In Ling Qingyun’s mind, Gu Jiabao had always been a simple, spoiled kid—not exactly someone who’d be suited for zombie-killing missions. “There’s no limit to how many people we can have, but it’s really dangerous out there… Besides, I’m not the team leader, so I can’t decide where our missions take us.”
“Then… Brother Ling, is there any way to form our own team and go out? My uncle’s always been really good to me…” Gu Jiabao said. “I even talked to Jin Xiang about this. He’s willing to go with me, but honestly, I don’t want to put him in danger. This is something I should handle myself.”
“How long can your uncle’s family’s food last?” Ling Qingyun asked. If it was someone he didn’t know, he wasn’t going to risk his life for them.
“The food’s still enough for now, but they’ve already lost power and water. I can still call them, but probably in another couple of days, their phones will be dead and we won’t be able to contact them anymore,” Gu Jiabao scratched his head. “I can’t just watch them starve to death…”
“I really can’t do much to help with that,” Ling Qingyun replied. “But right now, there are a lot of teams that specialize in rescuing survivors. You can go ask around.” In fact, the government had always been carrying out rescues—there were plenty of helicopters flying to and from the safe zone every day. But those being rescued were always valuable individuals… If Gu Jiabao’s uncle was some kind of professor or a researcher, he probably would’ve been evacuated long ago.
“I guess that’s the only option now…” Gu Jiabao didn’t press the issue. He wanted to save his family, but he knew that with just his own strength, he’d probably end up as zombie food halfway there.
The monotonous task of building the walls should’ve felt exhausting and frustrating, yet it somehow calmed Ling Qingyun down.
He stopped thinking about anything—just focused on the repetitive labor. Normally, Gu Jiabao was quite talkative, but maybe due to concern for his relatives, he had also gone quiet.
“Aren’t you that guy who’s friends with senior Zhuang?” someone suddenly grabbed Ling Qingyun by the arm. The man’s face was darkened with dirt from labor.
“Who are you?” Ling Qingyun frowned, thinking the person looked somewhat familiar.
“My name’s Wang Zhenhui. I was in the same department as Zhuang Cheng. He used to help the professor teach our class. I’ve seen you before!” Wang Zhenhui said. Their foreign language department had once been a popular major, but now… what use was knowing another language? The most he could do now was manual labor.
“Oh,” Ling Qingyun replied, finally recalling a vague impression of him. Since the man was connected to Zhuang Cheng, Ling’s attitude softened slightly.
“I wanted to ask… do you know where Senior Zhuang is now?” Wang Zhenhui asked cautiously. “I remember it was you who rode off with him on the motorcycle that day.”
Ling Qingyun fell silent. He had taken Zhuang Cheng with him… but he hadn’t been able to protect him.
“It’s nothing major… I just wanted to thank him. If it weren’t for that student ID, I might not be alive right now…”
“What student ID?” Ling Qingyun frowned deeply.
Wang Zhenhui took a student ID out of his shirt pocket. “It’s this one.” Back then, he ran out of the classroom without bringing anything, but to get on the rescue vehicles, he needed proper identification because those vehicles couldn’t fit all of them.
He had thought he was doomed and even considered hiding in the school cafeteria with other students. But unexpectedly, he saw Zhuang Cheng throw away his student ID. Quick-witted, Wang used Zhuang Cheng’s student ID to get into the safe zone. Now, seeing Ling Qingyun, he naturally remembered that incident.
Ling Qingyun looked coldly at the student ID. In the photo, Zhuang Cheng was smiling right at him.
Was he smiling because Ling Qingyun was stupid or foolish? Suddenly, Ling Qingyun felt a sharp pain in his heart.
Why was Zhuang Cheng so good to him? Why did he die after being so good to him? Now, what else could he possibly do?
Ling Qingyun held the student ID in silence for a long time, then finally took out all his meal coupons and handed them to Wang Zhenhui. “Thank you.”
After saying those two words, he turned and walked away, completely losing the will to continue working. In his daze, he didn’t notice a sudden voice saying—”Self-sacrifice for others, gain one merit point.”
The soldier supervising their work tapped Wang Zhenhui on the shoulder with a stick. “Keep working!”
Wang Zhenhui didn’t dare delay. He stuffed the meal coupons into his pocket and returned to work, still feeling very unreal.
He hadn’t been short of money before, but those meal coupons—there were about twenty or thirty—were definitely a huge fortune to him now.