“Bai Yang, how are you feeling? Are you feeling any better?”
Looking at Fu Le’s smiling face, Bai Yang’s lips twitched slightly. Why was her university substitute teacher here? When she saw Bai Heyu standing beside him, her frozen brain finally began to work again. Her brother was friends with Fu Le.
“Thank you for asking, Teacher. I’m fine now.”
Bai Yang answered with a forced smile. She really could not stand Fu Le’s refined yet sinister appearance.
“By the way, Brother, are you two going somewhere?”
“Yeah. Something happened on Fu Le’s side, so I need to go over and take a look.”
“For how long?”
“About half a month.”
Bai Yang pursed her lips and fell silent, her expression shifting uncertainly. Fu Le, who was standing nearby, was completely confused. What kind of secret conversation were these siblings having?
Just as Bai Heyu patted Bai Yang on the head and stood up to leave, Bai Yang quickly reached out and grabbed the corner of his clothes, forcing him to stop.
“Brother, I just came back from H City. There’s an infectious disease spreading there. Some people caught it, developed high fevers, and burned to death.”
The moment Bai Heyu heard this, his body suddenly stiffened. He grabbed Bai Yang tightly by the shoulders, squeezing so hard that she felt as though her shoulders were about to be crushed.
“Qingqing, are you all right? Are you hurt?”
As he spoke, he reached out and touched Bai Yang’s forehead. Fortunately, she was not running a fever.
Only then did Bai Heyu calm down. He exchanged a glance with Fu Le, and the shock in their eyes was unmistakable.
“Qingqing, are you telling the truth?”
Bai Yang nodded. During the more than half a month she had spent in H City, she had indeed seen many people with high fevers being admitted to hospitals. They had not actually burned to death, however. Instead, they had lost their minds, and the next step would have been for them to become infected and turn into zombies.
There were less than ten days left before the apocalypse arrived. Bai Heyu was leaving this time and would not be back for half a month. By then, zombies would have already spread across the entire world. Bai Yang did not know exactly what Bai Heyu’s job was, but judging from his reaction just now, there was a very good chance that his work was related to the existence of the zombie virus.
Therefore, all she could do was tell him what had happened in H City and hope that it would be of some use.
In the end, Bai Heyu still left Q City, leaving behind only one sentence.
“I’ll come back as soon as possible.”
Because Bai Yang had warned him, however, he made preparations in advance.
After Bai Heyu and Fu Le left, Bai Yang stayed alone in her room until evening. It was not until she heard the sound of the front door opening that she realized she had wasted an entire afternoon. Although she felt somewhat annoyed with herself, she still left her room.
Her mind was already occupied with thoughts of how she could gather more supplies after the apocalypse arrived.
When Bai Dad and Bai Mom returned home from work and saw Bai Yang coming out of her room, they were surprised, but even more delighted.
“Yangyang, I told you before that I’d make braised pork for you when you came home. I didn’t expect you to leave again after staying home for only a day. Now that you’re back, I happened to buy some pork. Dad will make braised pork for you tonight.”
Bai Dad waved the freshly purchased pork at Bai Yang, put down his car keys, and turned around to head into the kitchen. Bai Mom, meanwhile, sat down on the sofa in the living room and waved Bai Yang over.
“Mom.”
Bai Yang sat down beside her mother and casually poured her a glass of water.
“Have you been very busy with work lately? I remember you used to get home a little after five. Why didn’t you get home until after seven today? That’s a full two hours later than usual!”
Bai Mom worked at a state owned enterprise and had a relatively relaxed position. Her daily workload was not heavy, and she usually got off work early. Bai Dad would always drive over personally to pick her up after work.
Bai Yang could not help feeling a little envious.
Bai Mom took the glass of water and drank some to soothe her throat before slowly speaking.
“I got off work pretty early today. When your dad drove over to pick me up, we came across someone with a very high fever on the road, so we took them to the hospital. That’s why we got home a little late.”
“Someone with a high fever?”
Bai Yang’s heart skipped a beat, and a bad feeling rose in her chest. Sure enough, her mother’s next words confirmed her suspicion.
“Yeah. By the time your dad and I found that person, they were almost delirious from the fever. After we took them to the hospital, we heard that they had come from H City. Apparently, a lot of people in H City have developed fevers, and some of them have become delirious from it.
“Yangyang, don’t run around anymore now that you’re home, all right? What will we do if you get infected?”
“I know, Mom.”
Although Bai Yang agreed verbally and promised her mother that she would not run around, her thoughts had already drifted far away.
In her previous life, she had been at school around this time and had not returned home, so she did not know exactly when the zombies had appeared in Q City.
Could it be that the person her parents had taken to the hospital was the one who brought the zombie virus to Q City?
“Yangyang? Yangyang?”
Seeing that her daughter had spaced out, Bai Mom raised her voice and called her twice.
“Mom, what is it?”
Bai Yang came back to her senses and saw her mother looking at her with some dissatisfaction.
“What’s wrong with you, child? Why do you keep spacing out? Don’t tell me you’ve gotten yourself a boyfriend!”
“Mom!”
Bai Yang hurriedly cut her mother off, assuring her that she did not have a boyfriend yet. She also reminded her mother not to casually bring strangers into their car. If someone was infected, things would become troublesome.
Bai Mom nodded to show that she understood. Just then, Bai Dad finished preparing dinner. The two of them ended their conversation, washed their hands, and sat down at the dining table.
Bai Suisui happened to return from school at that moment. The moment she saw the braised pork, she did not even have time to put her schoolbag back in her room. She hurriedly washed her hands and sat down at the table.
She had vomited so badly earlier, and now that people in Q City were also developing fevers, Bai Yang had little appetite during the meal. She ate absentmindedly, her mind filled with unease.
Bai Mom noticed this and wanted to remind her several times, but Bai Dad stopped her with a look. Although Bai Mom was worried, she did not say anything.
After dinner, everyone returned to their respective rooms.
After returning to her room, Bai Yang took a shower and then entered her spatial ability.
After half a month, everything Bai Yang had planted had already grown and matured. She had no choice but to harvest everything and put it into the refrigerated room she had prepared in advance.
Once she had finished picking all the fruit, Bai Yang sat beside the pond and casually picked up a tomato, placing it into her mouth.
Perhaps it was because of the variety, but the tomato in Bai Yang’s hand was somewhat sour. She did not mind, though. She simply felt that the tomato tasted particularly good.
After paying attention to the variety, she decided to plant more of it.
After finishing the tomato, Bai Yang left the space and lay down on her bed.
Thinking back to what her mother had said before dinner, she gradually began to feel a sense of danger.
She had thought that after experiencing the apocalypse once before, she would not be afraid of going through it again, especially now that her family was by her side.
She had overestimated herself.
Even if she experienced the apocalypse all over again, Bai Yang still instinctively rejected its arrival from the bottom of her heart.
Her mind wandered aimlessly. One moment, she was thinking about losing her family after the apocalypse arrived in her previous life. Next, she was thinking about the final mission she had undertaken in her previous life.
She did not even know when she had fallen asleep.
Bai Heyu seemed to be extremely busy. After leaving for five days, he had only called Bai Yang once. He had mainly called to remind her to buy enough food in advance and store it at home, and to avoid going anywhere for the time being.
He had even worried that Bai Yang might not have enough money and transferred another sum of money to her.
When Bai Yang asked him when he would be back, the other end had already hung up.
Bai Yang lowered her phone and looked out the window. The sun had disappeared, and the sky was gloomy, yet the temperature was ridiculously high.
Looking at the time on her phone, Bai Yang silently counted down the days until the apocalypse arrived.
If she remembered correctly, there would be a huge rainstorm on the night before the apocalypse. The weather forecast had said that it would be the most unusual torrential rain in a hundred years.
On the evening of June 12, after Bai Yang finished dinner, she returned to her room. Sure enough, it had already begun raining outside.
She did not know whether she simply had a particularly sensitive nose, but Bai Yang could also detect a faint, fishy stench in the air. The smell made her feel nauseous.
Bai Heyu had only called her once. When she tried calling him again, there was already no signal.
All Bai Yang could do was hope that her brother would not be among the first group of people to become zombies.
Listening to the rain outside, Bai Yang gradually fell asleep.
At dawn, Bai Yang was awakened by an overwhelming fishy stench.
As she listened to the continuous howling coming from upstairs, Bai Yang knew that the apocalypse had arrived.