With no lights and no electronic devices to play with, the bored Song Qing went to bed early, still lying on the gray two-seater sofa.
Before falling asleep, she remembered the small river she had seen during the day. Smacking her lips, she thought to herself that she would go to the river tomorrow and try her luck. Maybe she could catch a couple of fish.
After going two whole days without any oil or meat in her stomach, every cell in her body was protesting.
The next day, she woke up as soon as the sky began to brighten. Sitting up from the sofa, she stretched lazily, feeling refreshed all over. When she turned her head toward the bed, she found that Jiang Chenyu was already awake.
He was leaning against the headboard, his dark eyes quietly watching her. With his tall, slender figure and pale, cool-toned skin, he looked rather like a sickly but handsome young man.
After spending several days together, Song Qing had completely come to regard him as the male lead from the novel before he turned evil—the gentle, refined, patient, and kind-hearted version of him. So she did not think much of being quietly watched by him.
With a bright smile and a lively voice, she greeted him, “Good morning.”
The girl’s smile was bright and sunny, making it easy for others to be infected by her cheerfulness. Looking at her, Jiang Chenyu felt as though the nightmare he had experienced in the middle of the night had faded somewhat—the pain of being cut open and injected with various unknown liquids in laboratories for more than a decade.
His expression softened, and he opened his lips to reply, “Good morning.”
There was absolutely no trace of how he had awakened in the middle of the night, filled with killing intent, his mental powers running wild as he wanted to destroy everything around him, including the sleeping girl only a few steps away.
Song Qing had no idea that she had once again narrowly escaped death. She happily went to bring out a basin of water for Jiang Chenyu to wash up.
After heating up the leftover porridge from last night and finishing it, Song Qing went out to look for food.
Before leaving, afraid that Jiang Chenyu would be bored staying inside all the time, she also took out several books she had tossed into her space yesterday and left them for him to pass the time.
After drinking a bowl of porridge in which she could not see even the slightest trace of oil or meat, every craving in her body came rushing out. The moment she stepped outside, she headed straight for the small river outside the residential area, chatting with the System along the way.
“System, do you think I can find fish today?”
The System maintained its principle of praising whenever possible and encouraged her, “You can, Host. You’ll definitely be able to catch fish.”
Song Qing hummed a cheerful tune as she walked. Looking at the abandoned residential area overgrown with weeds and thorns, she felt somewhat fortunate.
Although this place was close to Hua’an Base, which made it unsafe because she was afraid they would find Jiang Chenyu, there was also a benefit—the zombies had already been almost completely cleared out. She did not have to face large numbers of zombies with rotting flesh and exposed, ferocious teeth.
Especially after experiencing yesterday’s search by the ability users, she had not seen a single zombie now.
It gave her a great sense of security.
The only problem was that the place was completely deserted. There were not only no people or zombies, but she could not even see a single dog. Occasionally, black birds could be heard chirping from the tangled utility poles.
It gave her the frightening feeling that she had been abandoned by the entire world and had come to some uninhabited wasteland.
When she reached the river, she found that after two years without human industrial activity, the water had become crystal clear. She could clearly see the variously colored pebbles and green aquatic plants at the bottom.
Song Qing carefully approached the riverbank and observed it. She only saw a few fish about the size of her thumb swimming by occasionally. She did not see a single large fish. She did not know whether they were hiding beneath the aquatic plants or whether there simply were none.
Forget it. Even a mosquito was still meat.
She took the bucket she had prepared earlier and placed it on the riverbank. Then she rolled up her sleeves and trousers and stepped into the water. The water was very cold, but it only came up to her knees, so it was still manageable.
Taking a deep breath, she stared intently at the surface of the water and focused on catching fish.
“Host, there’s a fish on your left. Yes, right there!”
“Host, there’s another one behind you.”
“Wow, great! You got it!”
With the System’s assistance, Song Qing caught more than a dozen fish. The largest was only half the size of her palm, while the rest were about the size of her thumb.
By noon, she decided not to continue. Tired, she wiped the sweat from her forehead and climbed onto the riverbank.
Dragging herself along in her soaking-wet clothes, she shivered and hurried back toward their shelter.
Along the way, she avoided several ability users and sighed inwardly. She had no idea how long Hua’an Base would continue searching. She prayed that they would be able to leave this place safely.
When she returned to their shelter, Song Qing did not dare cook in the courtyard, afraid that the smoke and smell would attract the ability users.
She carried several bricks into the middle room and used them to set up a stove, then cooked a porridge with the little fish.
Finally, when she sat on the sofa and took a bite of the fresh, fragrant fish porridge, Song Qing’s taste buds danced with happiness. She closed her eyes and savored the delicious porridge with its faint salty flavor.
After coming to the apocalypse for several days, she had finally eaten meat!
She had really suffered!
Jiang Chenyu was amused by her exaggerated reaction.
“Is it really that delicious?”
He had studied all kinds of medical knowledge since childhood and had never had many requirements when it came to food. As long as it filled his stomach, that was enough. After spending more than a decade in laboratories being kept alive through nutritional injections, he had even less desire for food.
Song Qing nodded vigorously at him, her eyes shining.
“It’s delicious! Don’t you think it tastes good? It’s so fresh and sweet.”
After hearing her enthusiastic praise, Jiang Chenyu scooped up another spoonful of porridge and put it into his mouth, carefully savoring the taste. It was indeed quite fresh and delicious.
He turned his head toward the girl who was eagerly waiting for his answer.
“It’s delicious.”
“See? I told you.” Song Qing happily withdrew her gaze and focused on eating the porridge in her bowl.
Her petite body curled up on the sofa as she held the bowl and sent spoonful after spoonful into her mouth. The satisfied expression on her face was simply adorable.
Jiang Chenyu stared at her and asked, “Would you think I’m useless because I can only lie in bed and make a girl like you go out to look for food?”
Hearing this, Song Qing’s almond-shaped eyes widened. She looked at him in shock, completely forgetting about the porridge in front of her.
“How could you think that? You’re so amazing. Just a few months after the apocalypse began, you were able to develop medicine that could prevent people from being infected by the zombie virus for a week. And you have both mental and healing abilities.”
“If it weren’t for those insane bastards at Hua’an Base, you probably would have already developed medicine that could prevent people from ever being infected by zombies.”
“If even you count as useless, then I’m nothing at all.”
Looking at the girl whose fair, tender face was filled with admiration, Jiang Chenyu inwardly scoffed.
Although he had long since rejected that foolish version of himself who had only wanted to end the apocalypse and reduce the suffering of those still alive, he had to admit that hearing someone mention him in a tone filled with admiration was rather pleasant.
Jiang Chenyu sat on the edge of the bed and lowered his head, his voice dejected as he put on an expression of self-reproach.
“But right now, I can’t do anything. I have to rely on you for everything.”
“No, you don’t. You can help me deal with the cockroaches I’m most afraid of, and you can stay with me so I’m not so scared. And later, I’ll still need your healing ability to treat me.”
Song Qing hurriedly tried to comfort him, afraid that he was genuinely blaming himself.
Jiang Chenyu chuckled and stopped teasing her. He lowered his head and ate the porridge the girl had spent the entire morning preparing. His gaze seemed distant, as though being reborn into this life was not quite as boring as he had thought.
Song Qing looked at the smile on his face and wondered if he had been comforted properly.
To prevent him from staying in the house all day and overthinking things, she showered him with all kinds of flattering praise without holding anything back.
The corners of Jiang Chenyu’s lips never dropped. Even he did not realize how gentle his expression had become.
Over the following days, Song Qing focused on searching for a vehicle to leave in and practicing her ability, making preparations for their departure.
There were abandoned vehicles all over the residential area, but finding one that was suitable, still functional, and had fuel was quite difficult.
She first found a small car that still had its key inside. Then, she siphoned gasoline from various cars and poured it into the ones that had run out of fuel. Any excess was stored in the System’s space for later use.
These few days went unexpectedly smoothly.
She had initially been afraid that the ability users who repeatedly appeared in the residential area searching for Jiang Chenyu would discover him. Every time she returned, she was terrified, only to find Jiang Chenyu safely staying inside the house.
Several times, the ability users even caught Song Qing while she was hiding from them during the day and repeatedly questioned her about whether she had seen Jiang Chenyu.
Yet Jiang Chenyu, who had remained inside the house the entire time, had never been discovered by the ability users even once.
Unable to figure it out, Song Qing simply assumed that the place she had chosen was safe and that they were lucky.
Over these days, Jiang Chenyu went from barely being able to take a few steps to slowly walking around inside the house.
Song Qing had looked at the wounds on his body. All of them had scabbed over, and some of the smaller wounds had already healed completely under his healing ability. Only the largest wound on his abdomen was not as easy to heal, but it did not affect his ability to walk normally.
His body, however, was still painfully thin, with his joints and bones clearly protruding.
Thinking that she had only been feeding him porridge and wild greens these past few days, Song Qing felt rather guilty and secretly resolved that she absolutely had to find some food and fatten him up.
There were more and more ability users outside, and Song Qing’s four jin of rice had also been completely eaten up, without a single grain left. She decided to leave before dawn the next day.
At that time, there were basically no ability users coming to this residential area. It would be the best time for them to set out.
At five in the morning the next day, Song Qing woke up with the help of the System’s dedicated alarm service. She got down from the sofa and walked over to the bed. Just as she was about to push Jiang Chenyu awake, she noticed his pair of dark eyes reflecting the moonlight.
It gave her quite a fright.
She quickly withdrew her hand and spoke with trembling lips.
“Brother Yu, why didn’t you make a sound?”
After Song Qing finished speaking, she saw him solemnly make a “squeak” sound.
Song Qing burst out laughing, and the fear from being startled quickly disappeared.
“Let’s go. We’ll drive away from here.”
She put all the useful things into her space. Since the System’s space was large, Song Qing even put the pots, bowls, chopsticks, and bricks inside, afraid that she would not be able to find them when she needed them later.
After putting away the bricks in the courtyard, she turned around. Just as she was about to call for Jiang Chenyu to leave, she saw him standing on the steps, looking at her with an unreadable expression.
Song Qing blinked in confusion.
“What’s wrong? Is there something wrong with me?”
Jiang Chenyu was fascinated by all the mysteries surrounding her. After spending these past few days together, he had discovered that she possessed not only a first-tier earth-type ability, but also abilities that increased her strength and allowed her to use a space, neither of which he could determine the level of.
He had lived for more than a decade in the apocalypse in his previous life. Yet until the day he became a zombie, he had never heard of anyone possessing three abilities. Even those with dual abilities were exceedingly rare.
Thinking this, he asked her directly.
Song Qing swallowed nervously.
Her body had been transported directly into this world, and the only ability she had truly awakened in the apocalypse was her currently rather useless earth-type ability.
Her increased physical strength was a benefit given to her by the System, while the space ability was also the System’s. Neither had anything to do with her.
“Ah! It’s already past five! We have to leave quickly. The ability users from Hua’an Base will come later!”
Song Qing changed the subject and walked over, pulling his slightly cool hand as she led him toward the courtyard gate.
As they walked, she explained, “I don’t have three abilities. I’m just an ordinary person. How could I be that amazing? I only have a space ability and a pretty useless earth-type ability. I don’t have a strength ability. I’ve just been strong since I was little.”
Being strong enough to lift stones weighing hundreds of jin? Strong enough to carry an adult man like him and run several thousand meters without even breathing heavily?
There were holes all over her explanation, but Jiang Chenyu did not expose her. He simply followed the force of her pull toward where they had parked the car.
Her little hand was warm and soft as he held it, making him somewhat reluctant to let go. Unable to resist, he gently squeezed it.
Having never been intimate with a woman before, he was somewhat surprised.
Were girls’ hands really all this soft? They were completely different from his own dry, cold hand.
The cool morning breeze brushed against his face, clearing his mind somewhat. Realizing that he was taking advantage of a girl, he pressed his lips together awkwardly.
Meanwhile, Song Qing, who was feeling guilty, completely failed to notice that he had squeezed her hand.
Seeing that he did not question her about her abilities any further, she secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
She knew that there were plenty of holes in what she had said, but aside from that, she could not think of any other excuse.