“Why is it them?”
“Who knows! That little brat’s body is actually holding up pretty well,” Cheng Qian said, grinding his teeth.
There were three people coming over, all familiar faces.
Zhao Yan and Yang Lele, who they had met earlier in Zhoujia Town, and another boy who had been with them.
Back then, after driving that group out of the house, when they came back out, everyone was gone.
That included Zhao Yan, who had been beaten down to barely a breath.
At the time, Ke Bei and the others didn’t pay it much mind; they thought he had either been taken by a mutated dog or consumed by the wild grass as fertilizer.
Even if those classmates hadn’t given up trying to take him, under those circumstances, he would have either died or been left crippled.
Unexpectedly, now he was alive and well, showing no sign of injury at all.
And judging by his posture, he still clearly looked like the leader among the three.
“There’s something fishy. Stay alert,” Cheng Qian said in a low voice, staring at him a couple more times.
“Mm,” Ke Bei replied, but didn’t even bother to glance that way again.
What could possibly be fishy?
Recovering suddenly after severe injury could only mean he had a stroke of luck.
In the apocalypse, there was only one kind of luck you could encounter, mutation.
There was no other way he could have healed so quickly.
Ke Bei had seen this kind of thing before and didn’t find it strange.
She was just a bit curious whether this person had gained a superpower or had been assimilated by something else.
Thinking that, Ke Bei yawned and lazily clicked her tongue.
Who cares.
Even if he has a superpower, so what?
Still asking for trouble, she’d deal with him anyway!
Two days’ time, no matter what ability someone had awakened, they hadn’t even passed the stabilization period yet. There was nothing to be afraid of.
She stood up and said, “I’m going to sleep for a bit. I’ll switch shifts with you in the second half of the night.”
Cheng Qian shook his head. “No need. I already told Du He to cover for me.”
Since that was settled, Ke Bei didn’t say anything further and turned back to the tent to sleep.
Seeing her leave, Zhao Yan finally let out a long sigh of relief from a distance.
He dropped his backpack to the ground and plopped down, then cast a sidelong glance at Yang Lele beside him. “Give me some water.”
Yang Lele bit her dry, bleeding lips, silently took off her backpack, and pulled out a half-full bottle of mineral water, handing it over.
Zhao Yan grabbed it and downed it all in one gulp. When he finished, he tossed the bottle aside and asked irritably, “That’s all? Got any more?”
Yang Lele shook her head. “No.”
Zhao Yan then turned his gaze to the other boy.
The boy quickly clutched his backpack and said, “Brother Zhao, I only have one bottle left. There are three of us, and we don’t even know if we can find clean water tomorrow.”
Zhao Yan finally said nothing further.
He reached out to the boy again. Reluctantly, the boy pulled out a small bag of spicy rice crackers from his pack, tore it open, and poured a handful into Zhao Yan’s hand, whispering, “This is the last bag too.”
Zhao Yan tossed one into his mouth, chewing and cursing, “Damn, it’s so spicy! Not even a drop of water, how is anyone supposed to eat this?!”
The boy lowered his eyes, and when Zhao Yan couldn’t see, he pursed his lips, lightly kicked Yang Lele with his leg, and quietly handed the bag of crackers over.
Yang Lele didn’t take it. She shook her head at him and said, “I’m going to find some dry wood. We need to build a fire too.”
She stood up as she spoke.
She looked completely disheveled.
Her hair was messy, and the back of her clothes had a long tear, the one the mutated dog had ripped.
Her clothes and pants were stained with blood of varying shades.
Because her injuries hadn’t healed, she walked with a slight limp, having to slow down every few steps to catch her breath.
Even so, she had no choice but to make her way alone into the thicket, feeling around in the dark for suitable dry firewood.
Yang Lele groped along, searching for branches that were completely dry and good for burning, when she accidentally got a sharp splinter deeply embedded in her fingertip.
She couldn’t help but hiss and pull her hand back, bringing it to her mouth to gently lick the wound.
As she withdrew her hand, her gaze instinctively flicked toward the direction she had come from, and she saw Zhao Yan lying on the grass, leaning against his backpack, legs crossed, one leg twitching, not even glancing her way.
Her eyes immediately stung, and a sense of helplessness filled her heart.
Yang Lele and Zhao Yan had truly been childhood sweethearts.
Their parents worked at the same place, and they had grown up together in the same residential compound.
In high school, they had already started dating, and by sophomore year in college, their relationship was confirmed, they were planning to get married as soon as they graduated.
Yang Lele had only ever liked Zhao Yan, and she believed he felt the same about her.
So when Zhao Yan was injured in front of the small cabin, Yang Lele didn’t hesitate to turn back to save him. At that moment, she never imagined that Zhao Yan would push her toward the mutated dogs.
In that instant, her heart felt utterly shattered.
Even so, when they were finally driven out of the cabin, she still couldn’t bring herself to leave Zhao Yan alone by the roadside.
Yang Lele knew that if she had given up at that moment, there would have been only one fate waiting for Zhao Yan, death exposed in the wilderness.
She thought to herself that she had to save him one more time.
Even if they never interacted again, at least their families had decades of shared history.
Otherwise, if he survived and returned, how could she face Zhao Yan’s parents?
So she promised a large sum of money, begging classmates to take turns carrying Zhao Yan away from that cursed place.
But what happened afterward left her uncertain whether she had done the right thing.
Because of Zhao Yan’s injuries, they couldn’t move very quickly, and before long, the mutated dogs that had been tracking them caught up again.
In the chaos, she, Zhao Yan, and their classmate Yan Chen rolled into the thicket, while the classmate left by the roadside became the mutated dogs’ prey.
That classmate died, giving his life to save the three of them.
After the mutated dogs had eaten their fill, they left, but the three of them were so terrified that they hid in the thicket, unable to move for a long time.
Who would have thought that, under such circumstances, Zhao Yan would actually awaken an ability.
An ability, right?
Yang Lele herself wasn’t entirely sure.
All she knew was that Zhao Yan had first passed out for a while, then experienced a fever, convulsions, and murmuring in his sleep. When he woke up again, most of his previous injuries had healed, and he could walk normally without support.
But that wasn’t all, he could even command plants with his mind, making branches grow in the direction he wanted, and using vines to bind birds in the sky.
It was thanks to him that she and Yan Chen were able to evade the attack of those giant birds and survive.
Yet, he hated her.
Yang Lele knew that Zhao Yan now hated her, and also hated all the classmates who had gone out with them.
He believed that the reason he had been beaten by that couple, subjected to such humiliation, was because of her.
He also thought that the severity of his injuries was due to the classmates not intervening in time while he was being beaten.
So after discovering his ability, Zhao Yan would pull them along as teammates, while at the same time humiliating them to the fullest extent.
But what could she do about it now, no matter how wronged she felt?
All she wanted at this moment was to go home, to return to the capital.
If she left Zhao Yan, Yang Lele felt she might never be able to go back for the rest of her life.
Thinking this, she continued breaking off dry branches, her expression numb, a single tear slowly sliding down the corner of her eye.
Yang Lele carried a pile of firewood back. Zhao Yan was already asleep, lying on his backpack, letting out faint snores.
Yan Chen came over and said to her, “He wants you to go borrow fire over there.”
He subtly nodded in the direction of Cheng Qian as he spoke.
Yang Lele lowered her eyes and, without looking up, said, “I’m not going.”
“Go,” Yan Chen urged, a little anxious, speaking softly, “Hurry, or he’ll get angry again.”
Lowering his voice further, he added, “We can’t afford to provoke him right now.”
Yang Lele lifted her head and glanced around. “There are several fires over there, why do we have to borrow from that one?”
The boy stood with his back to Zhao Yan, letting out a scornful snort. In a voice only loud enough for the two of them to hear, he said, “Isn’t it just because he feels guilty? He wants you to test their attitude, see if they’ll still come after him. People like that…”
He rolled his eyes. “Petty minds! They let him go back then, why would they even care about him now?”
Yang Lele lowered her head again. “I don’t want to go.”
The boy grew anxious. “Go. Nothing will happen. I said I’d go earlier, and he wouldn’t let me. He wants those two to see you; maybe out of pity, they’ll let him be.”
He gently poked Yang Lele. “Hurry up and go. I’ve even hidden a few cookies here for you, wait until he falls asleep and I’ll give them to you.”
Yang Lele had no choice but to slowly walk over to Cheng Qian.
“Brother, may I borrow some fire?” she asked softly as she approached.
Cheng Qian, half-asleep, opened his eyes and wordlessly pulled a burning branch from the fire, handing it to her.
Yang Lele took it, said “Thank you,” and was about to leave.
“What’s his problem?” Cheng Qian suddenly asked.
Yang Lele froze.
She instinctively bit her lip but didn’t dare to say anything.
Turning back, she pretended not to understand and asked, “What do you mean, problem?”
Cheng Qian lifted his eyelids to glance at her, then closed them again, waving his hand. “Nothing. Go on.”
Yang Lele thanked him again and carried the branch back to their spot.
Summer mornings always came early.
Ke Bei woke a little after five, went out to swap night duty with Du He, letting him wash up with Cheng Qian, while she prepared breakfast by the nearly spent fire.
In a crowded place like this, the only practical breakfast was convenience food.
Ke Bei first took two branches meant for firewood, peeled off the bark with a small knife, then skewered four steamed buns from her space and roasted them over the fire.
She then took an enamel mug, poured in a bottle of mineral water, and heated it by the fire. Once it boiled, she added a packet of oatmeal.
Although they were in a place near mountains and water, everything was unfamiliar. No one dared to go far.
So “washing up” meant little more than finding a spot to relieve oneself, then using a bit of water to wipe their faces and rinse their mouths.
They were sparing even the little water they had for washing their faces and rinsing their mouths, since no one knew where they would next be able to find clean water.
So the two of them returned quickly.
They handed over the golden-brown roasted buns and steaming hot oatmeal. Ke Bei also pulled a packet of [1]Fuling pickled vegetables are a type of traditional Chinese preserved vegetable from Fuling, a district in Chongqing. They are usually made from mustard stems that are salted, fermented, and … Continue reading jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_1790293_1_1').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_1790293_1_1', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });Fuling pickled vegetables from her space to go with the meal, then used the excuse of waking Xiao Tian to return to the tent.
Inside the tent, Ke Bei took out two bottles of milk, two egg sandwiches, and then a box of pre-cut fruit platter containing dragon fruit, strawberries, grapes, and sweet, juicy Kirin watermelon.
Xiao Tian took a piece of watermelon, and the pink juice dribbled down the corner of his mouth.
He squinted his eyes in delight and smiled, pointing at the watermelon. “Mom, this is so sweet!”
Then he tugged at Ke Bei’s arm. “Call Dad to come in and eat too! Mom, this is so good, can Dad have some too?”
“There are people outside, it’s not convenient. We’ll call your dad later,” Ke Bei said, wiping the juice from her son’s mouth with a wet wipe.
Xiao Tian climbed to the edge of the tent to look outside. “Is Brother Du He out there? Can we ask him to come in and eat too?”
Ke Bei shook her head.
Xiao Tian seemed to understand his mom’s concern. He leaned his face against Ke Bei’s arm and whispered softly, “Brother Du He is a good person.”
His voice was gentle, but his tone was very serious.
Ke Bei reached out and rubbed her son’s fuzzy little head, speaking warmly, “I know. But even if someone is good, we can’t easily tell them our family’s matters.”
Xiao Tian didn’t say anything more.
He rested his face against his mother’s arm, lost in thought, and after a long moment, nodded slightly.
After breakfast, they packed up and set off toward the village.
This time, Du He naturally walked with Ke Bei and the others.
As for Zhao Yan and the other two, who had treated Ke Bei and her group like venomous snakes the night before, they now silently fell in line behind them, keeping their distance.
The three of them didn’t dare get too close, staying about ten meters back, neither too far nor too near.
Cheng Qian glanced coldly over his shoulder but said nothing, neither refusing nor speaking.
The other dozen or so people, perhaps thinking there was strength in numbers, also didn’t leave ahead. Seeing the group set off, they joined in quietly.
Thus, the team entering the village suddenly grew in size, swelling to over twenty people.
After a night had passed, the plants in the village had grown even more lush; the wild grass that had only reached their knees yesterday now surged up to their waists.
The traces left by the monkeys dragging people, which Ke Bei and the others had seen before, were now completely gone, buried under the overgrown grass.
Yuehe Village had originally been designed as a tourist route, so it had not undergone any modern large-scale renovations and still retained the old, traditional village appearance.
The roads were paved with bluestone slabs, and every household had planted numerous flowers and fruit trees in their yards.
In Du He’s words, in spring and autumn, the scenery here was breathtaking, a favorite spot for many photography enthusiasts.
But that same environment now posed huge difficulties.
Wild grass grew between the road edges and the gaps in the stone slabs, the trees in each yard had grown rapidly, and wild vines had sprouted seemingly from nowhere…
The entire village was almost completely wrapped in greenery, making every step a struggle.
Yuehe Village was a small village built along the mountain, with one side against the hills and the other along the river. A road ran through the middle of the village.
So now, in order to pass through, they had to cut a path through this green cocoon of a village.
According to the plan they had discussed earlier, Cheng Qian and Du He would lead, with Ke Bei and Xiao Tian following.
Cheng Qian walked at the very front with a sickle in hand, while Du He followed closely behind with his double-edged machete, both cutting through the branches along the roadside.
The branches were dense, and here and there sprouted thorny shoots like roses and climbing briars. A careless move could easily slash someone’s arms or hands, leaving long cuts.
Ke Bei handed them two pairs of thorn-resistant gloves and kept Xiao Tian at a safe distance.
In this environment, she didn’t want Xiao Tian to get close unless absolutely necessary; if he got pricked and started bleeding, it would be trouble waiting to happen.
The people behind, for some reason, stopped in their tracks when they saw Cheng Qian and Du He start cutting. They all stood back, watching from a distance, not a single person stepping forward to help.
Ke Bei glanced sideways, her eyes growing colder and colder.
Cheng Qian saw it too, but he said nothing and kept working, whether or not they helped, the path still had to be cleared. He didn’t expect anyone to assist anyway.
But Du He refused to continue silently.
After a few chops, he stopped and shouted back at the group, “Brother Wang, Li Xin! What are you doing? Can’t you see we’re working over here? And you just stand there? What, waiting for us to finish so you can reap the benefits? Do you even deserve that kind of benefit?”
His shout immediately embarrassed the group.
At this point, social order had not yet completely broken down; people were still accustomed to following basic norms of behavior.
Soon, the healthier-looking men from the group came forward, including Yan Chen, the boy who had been with Zhao Yan and Yang Lele, who followed along awkwardly.
The man Du He called “Brother Wang” spoke first: “It’s not that we don’t want to help, it’s just that we don’t have any tools!”
He pointed to the machete in Du He’s hand. “Not even counting a professional like you, even if you just gave us a kitchen knife, we could lend a hand. But like this… we don’t even know how to help.”
Li Xin, a boy about the same age as Du He, stepped forward.
“Let’s use our hands! There are so many of us, we can break these branches even without tools. Du He’s right, we can’t really expect him and that big guy to do all the work, can we?”
After he said that, the others, regardless of what they were thinking, at least came over, rolled up their sleeves, and got to work.
Seeing this, Ke Bei’s expression finally softened a little.
She walked over, pulled out the kitchen knife she had brought, and handed it to Li Xin.
Seeing her action, an older man standing behind also pulled a kitchen knife from his bag, likely something he had brought for protection when leaving home.
Brother Wang took the older man’s knife and, together with Li Xin, stood next to Du He.
Then he told the others behind them, “Let’s take turns. When we get tired, the next four of you step in. Rotate like this so we can move faster.”
The others all agreed.
With four people working together, the speed indeed improved significantly.
The other men who weren’t currently working also consciously took positions on the outer edges of the group, forming a protective circle around the elderly, women, and children.
Using limited tools like sticks, they swept the grass on both sides, trying to create noise to scare away any small animals hiding in the undergrowth.
The group steadily moved forward.
Ke Bei and a few others stayed in the middle, but she kept a vigilant watch on their surroundings.
Fortunately, although the plants in Yuehe Village were thick and overgrown, no mutated species had appeared that could harm them.
The monkeys she and Cheng Qian had been worried about had likely left as well; at least so far, there were no signs of them nearby.
After walking for a while, Ke Bei was suddenly drawn to a faint light glimmering through the trees ahead. She couldn’t help but let out a surprised, “Huh?”
Before she could say anything, a young girl beside her also noticed it. She exclaimed excitedly, “There’s light over there! A signboard! This village actually has electricity!”
As soon as she said this, the group immediately stirred.
“Where? Where?”
“Hey, I see it too! A red light, it’s flashing! Could it be a supermarket? Do you think there’s food in there?!”
“Let’s go check! Let’s go check!”
By now, it was the third day since the apocalypse had begun.
Except for a very small number of people who had prepared in advance, bringing luggage and supplies, most people had simply fled when the disaster struck, with no prior preparation at all.
By this point, nearly everyone was running low on food and water.
So when they heard there might be a supermarket over there, everyone’s interest was immediately piqued.
Brother Wang immediately said, “Shall we go over and see?”
Li Xin stopped chopping the branches and even nudged Du He with his hand.
Du He glanced at him and said directly, “Let’s follow Brother Cheng. I’ll listen to Brother Cheng.”
Cheng Qian looked in that direction and faintly made out a signboard.
He glanced at the eager eyes of the people around him, then at Ke Bei, and nodded. “Alright, let’s head that way.”
By now, everyone had subconsciously accepted Cheng Qian as the guide. Hearing him say this, they cheered and chopped the branches with even more energy.
The place with the light turned out to be a supermarket, and it was fairly large.
Although the village had been attacked by mutated creatures before, it was clear that the villagers of Yuehe Village had evacuated in an orderly manner.
Almost every house had its doors locked, and even where buildings had collapsed, most of the yards were clean.
The supermarket was no different.
Although half the exterior wall had fallen, and plants had taken over the inside, the remaining goods on the shelves and the items scattered on the floor were mostly intact, with their packaging largely unbroken, and there was a considerable amount.
There were no signs of looting.
Someone in the crowd let out an “Oh!” of excitement, and then everyone rushed in at once, pushing forward eagerly.
Du He stretched his neck to look inside, excited, but obediently stayed by Cheng Qian’s side without moving.
Cheng Qian gave him a helpless little kick. “What are you standing there for? Go grab it already!”
Du He let out a chuckle. “Bro, I’ll stay here to protect my sister and Xiao Tian. You go ahead and grab whatever you can.”
“We’ve got enough food with us; we’re not going in. Hurry up and get it,” Ke Bei urged from the side.
The reason they were willing to take this longer detour with the others was largely because of Du He.
The couple knew his reserves were running low, but if they didn’t tell him about the space, with his personality, he definitely wouldn’t accept the food they offered once they separated.
Since they could find some supplies here, taking a little extra time to go around was fine, they weren’t in a rush.
Hearing both of them say this, Du He nodded and ran with the others toward the supermarket.
At the same time, Yang Lele and the others at the back of the group were excited.
“Zhao Yan, let’s go over there!” Yan Chen tugged at Zhao Yan’s sleeve eagerly.
Zhao Yan glanced at Ke Bei and her family not far away, shrugged off Yan Chen’s hand, and said, “You go, bring back more.”
Seeing him stand still, the boy then tugged at Yang Lele.
Yang Lele, holding her backpack and ready to go, was suddenly grabbed by Zhao Yan and pulled into the space between him and Ke Bei’s family.
“Go by yourself. Lele stays here with me.”
The boy’s face fell instantly, clearly unhappy.
Who would’ve thought that the more people went, the more supplies they could get? He didn’t understand what Zhao Yan was being dramatic about!
Seeing this, Yang Lele quickly shoved her backpack into his hands and pushed him gently. “Go ahead, hurry! Otherwise, they’ll grab everything.”
The boy finally took the backpack and ran quickly toward the supermarket.
Yang Lele watched him run off longingly.
But then she glanced at Zhao Yan standing beside her, his face dark and brooding, and she immediately suppressed her longing, her expression going numb once again.
Zhao Yan noticed her small gesture but only sneered dismissively, ignoring it.
His cold gaze fell on the family of three resting by the edge of the trees.
His eyes were as cold and venomous as a snake.
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