After they finished eating, the sky gradually darkened.
They could no longer make it to the destination they had originally planned.
Song Qing drove the car away from the hospital and found a house on the outskirts of Tonghua City where they could settle down for the night.
That evening, candlelight flickered in the living room as they sat in a circle discussing their route ahead.
More accurately, it was Song Qing and Wang Haiting discussing it. Jiang Chenyu sat beside her without saying anything, only answering briefly whenever she asked him something.
After they finished discussing their plans, Wang Haiting took out the third-order crystal stone and looked eager to try it. Song Qing reminded him,
“If you feel like your second-order ability has reached its limit, then try absorbing a third-order crystal stone to advance. But if you think your second-order ability still has room to improve, don’t act rashly. What if you force yourself to advance, fail, injure yourself, and waste a third-order crystal stone?”
“Ah? Then I’ll wait. I’ll absorb a few more second-order crystal stones first and wait until I reach saturation before trying to advance.”
Wang Haiting reluctantly kissed the crystal stone before putting it into his pocket with a regretful expression.
Song Qing: “…”
That crystal stone had been dug out of a zombie’s head. Had he forgotten that?
Song Qing shuddered in disgust and returned to her room.
The room they had chosen seemed to have once belonged to the homeowner’s two children. There was a very pretty wooden bunk bed.
The lower bunk was larger, so Jiang Chenyu slept there since he was tall.
When Song Qing climbed up, she first smiled down at Jiang Chenyu, who was lying flat on the lower bunk.
“Good night.”
After receiving his reply, she happily climbed into bed.
Once she lay down, she stared at the white ceiling within arm’s reach and felt very uncomfortable.
In the past, whenever she opened her eyes, she could see Jiang Chenyu sleeping nearby, which made her feel very safe.
Now she couldn’t see him at all.
She wriggled around and turned over several times, but she still couldn’t fall asleep.
She suddenly sat up, leaned over the edge of the bed with both hands, and hung her head down to look at him.
Jiang Chenyu wasn’t asleep.
He was staring at the ceiling with his eyes open, his finger tapping lightly against the mattress as he pondered something.
Suddenly, a little head dangled down from above, long black hair cascading toward him.
Even he, who was usually quite fearless, was startled.
The light in the room was dim at night. He could only make out the general outline of her face and her lively almond-shaped eyes spinning around.
He asked helplessly, “What’s wrong?”
Song Qing gripped the edge of the bed with her fingers.
“Don’t you feel like something’s different?”
Jiang Chenyu shook his head in confusion.
“No.”
Song Qing pointed at him, then at herself.
“Look, you can’t see me anymore! We could always see each other when we slept before!”
Her train of thought completely caught Jiang Chenyu off guard.
He had thought something serious had happened, only to find out it was this?
An urge to tease her suddenly arose.
His voice carried a faint smile.
“Why don’t you come down and sleep?”
“Okay.”
Song Qing’s eyes lit up, and she immediately agreed. She grabbed her blanket and climbed down.
Jiang Chenyu’s eyes widened in astonishment.
“You’re really coming down?”
Song Qing stepped down the wooden frame and firmly replied,
“I’m coming down.”
Jiang Chenyu’s throat tightened.
He had only wanted to tease her and was waiting for her to refuse. He had never actually expected to sleep together with her.
Thinking about the feeling of her soft, petite body in his arms, Jiang Chenyu’s thoughts instantly became a mess. His eyes flickered unconsciously as he wondered how he could refuse her.
Being able to tolerate her touching him from time to time was already the limit of what he could accept.
Sleeping together was absolutely impossible!
While he was frantically thinking about this, Song Qing had already conjured a large, soft sofa out of thin air and placed it on the floor three or four steps away from the bed.
She lay down on it and turned her head, looking contentedly at Jiang Chenyu in the distance.
It was still better to be able to see him.
When she couldn’t see him, she simply didn’t feel safe. She felt as if some thief might come and steal her male lead away.
Seeing this scene, Jiang Chenyu stared at her in astonishment. All the thoughts in his head disappeared.
“You said you were coming down to sleep, and this is what you meant?”
“Yeah.”
Song Qing lay on her side and nodded like a little chick pecking at grains.
“Brother Yu, I think I’m too silly. I’m always sleeping on sofas. Although sofas are comfortable enough to sleep on, I can completely put a comfortable bed in my space. From now on, whenever we sleep at night, I’ll just find a bigger room and put a bed inside. Then we can both sleep on a bed.”
“Mm.”
Jiang Chenyu was still immersed in the thoughts he had just been having, so he responded absentmindedly.
Song Qing didn’t notice that his attention was elsewhere. Her little mouth continued chattering away.
As she talked, her voice gradually became softer, and her eyelids grew heavy before she eventually fell asleep.
The next morning, they ate a simple breakfast and set off.
Two days later, Wang Haiting, who had remained at the second order for quite some time, was the first to advance to the third order.
When he swung his hand, the water he released could transform into a powerful water dragon, sending the vehicles and zombies on the road flying toward both sides.
Song Qing watched with envy.
But she had not yet reached the threshold for advancing. She could only desperately exhaust her ability, then frantically absorb second-order crystal stones to push herself toward the barrier where she could advance to the third order.
Her intense desire to advance was so strong that even her favorite food no longer mattered as much to her.
Aside from continuing to nervously watch over Jiang Chenyu’s safety every day, she spent all her time training her ability.
A week later, they passed through a remote mountainous forest and encountered a zombie dressed like a villager.
Its clothes were neat, and its face was barely decomposed. It even waved at them in a human-like manner.
They nearly fell for it.
Song Qing and Wang Haiting worked together to surround and attack the zombie. They spent a great deal of effort before finally killing it.
Normally, Wang Haiting was already a third-order ability user while Song Qing was at the late second order, and they also had the advantage of enhanced physical strength. They should not have had such a difficult time.
It was only after they dug out the zombie’s crystal stone that they discovered it had been on the verge of advancing to the fourth order.
Several bloodstained cars were parked by the roadside. It seemed that they had all fallen victim to this zombie, which had eaten them to increase its own energy.
After killing this zombie, Song Qing suddenly realized that she had finally touched the threshold she had been unable to reach for so long.
She had touched the third-order barrier!
She eagerly took out a crystal stone and absorbed it.
After successfully advancing, she excitedly wrapped her arms around Jiang Chenyu and jumped up and down in his arms.
“Brother Yu, I advanced! Hahaha! I finally don’t have to watch Wang Haiting show off anymore. I have a third-order ability too!”
Wang Haiting was standing nearby and had initially been happy for her.
But the moment he heard this, his face darkened.
When had he ever shown off?
Only this childish little girl would think that his incredibly cool zombie-killing skills were showing off!
Jiang Chenyu looked at Song Qing bouncing around in his arms like a little rabbit, a faint smile flashing in his eyes.
Song Qing was happy for quite a while before embarrassedly letting go of the arms wrapped around his waist.
Before moving away, she couldn’t help measuring him with her hands.
Had he gotten a little meatier?
She raised her head and turned her gaze toward his face.
Only then did she notice that after receiving proper nourishment these past few days, he had gained some flesh on his face.
His features were as beautiful as a painting, his nose high and straight, and his eyes gleamed with gentle warmth and amusement.
“Like jade on a stranger’s road, unparalleled among all men.”
She had always thought the meaning of that phrase was beautiful, but she had never believed there was anyone who could truly fit it.
Not even the countless celebrities adored by people online.
Now she realized that, apart from this phrase, she could not think of any better words to describe Jiang Chenyu.
The rumbling of her stomach brought her slightly heated gaze back to reality.
The male lead was too handsome!
Song Qing reluctantly shifted her gaze away, took out ingredients from her space, and had Wang Haiting cook.
After successfully advancing, Song Qing’s appetite, which had disappeared for several days, returned as well.
She took out her stored cured meat, sausages, and other food and had Wang Haiting cook them.
They happily enjoyed a meal before continuing on their journey.
The road ahead did not go smoothly.
The map they had was from before the apocalypse. The main roads were still manageable, and most could be cleared for them to continue traveling.
But whenever they had to take side roads, some had already been buried by landslides over the past two years.
Song Qing could move small piles of earth away, but she had no ability to deal with anything the size of a small mountain, so they could only take a detour.
Even detouring could not solve everything.
Sometimes, all kinds of unexpected situations would arise. There were even groups of people who would occasionally stop their car and try to rob them of their supplies.
Dealing with them was extremely troublesome.
Song Qing asked everyone they encountered along the way whether they had an updated map. Everyone said no.
One person did point them toward a route, telling her to look for one at a base. There were more people there, so news traveled faster.
Coincidentally, she heard that there was a medium-sized base nearby.
Song Qing decided to temporarily stop traveling and head to that base to see if she could get a map leading to Zhuguang Base.
At Hua’an Base, inside the research institute director’s office.
Zhou Wentao sat in a black chair, listening to his subordinate report that the three third-order ability users had gone missing.
He had a refined appearance and a strong scholarly air.
But after hearing that the three third-order ability users had not only failed to find Jiang Chenyu but had also lost contact, his hand resting on the desk clenched tightly, the veins on the back of his hand bulging.
He suddenly stood up. With a twisted expression, he swept the documents on the desk onto the floor and leaned against the desk as he panted heavily and cursed.
“Useless! So many people went to find a dying Jiang Chenyu, and you still haven’t found him after half a month!”
“What use are you to me? Huh? Tell me!”
Zhou Wentao grabbed the documents left on the desk and violently threw them at the man in front of him.
The refined scholarly air he usually carried had completely disappeared.
Huang Jibing, who had come to report to him, felt a sharp pain on his face from being hit. He quickly lowered his head, not daring to breathe too loudly.
Only when he heard Zhou Wentao tell him to get out did he finally leave as if he had been granted amnesty.
Zhou Wentao paced restlessly around the office.
He had sent out the three strongest ability users under his command, yet they had not even caught a glimpse of Jiang Chenyu and had now lost contact with him.
They were most likely dead.
He did not know whether they had been killed by zombies, passing survivors, or Jiang Chenyu himself.
He was more inclined to believe the former.
After all, Jiang Chenyu had only recently escaped from his hands. Whether his injuries had even recovered was uncertain. Where would he have gotten the ability to kill three third-order ability users?
He gritted his teeth, took a small box from the drawer, and headed toward the residence of Liu Qiwei, the base administrator.
“It’s not that I refuse to send a fourth-order ability user to help you find Jiang Chenyu. The base only has one fourth-order ability user besides me, so I can’t just send him out.”
Liu Qiwei sat on the sofa at home, speaking apologetically to Zhou Wentao, who was sitting opposite him.
Zhou Wentao cursed inwardly as he looked at his protruding belly.
He had been quick enough when taking benefits from him, but now that he was being asked to do something, he was pretending to be helpless.
Thinking of the orders being urged by the various bases, Zhou Wentao pushed the small box containing one fourth-order crystal stone and dozens of third-order crystal stones across the coffee table.
He compromised and said, “I understand your difficulties. What about sending a dozen or so third-order ability users to help me look for him?”
The smile on Liu Qiwei’s face deepened as he took the box.
With a sanctimonious expression, he said, “All right. After all, Jiang Chenyu is a medical professor who has made significant contributions to Hua’an Base. It isn’t safe for him to remain outside for so long. I’ll send some people to bring him back safely.”
Even though Zhou Wentao was not a good person himself, hearing those words still made him feel sick.
Yet he still had to force a smile and agree.