To be honest, You An had his own selfish motives when it came to approaching Zhao Chen. Given Zhao Chen’s current personality, staying glued to him meant that even if Song Chengyu wanted to kill You An, it probably wouldn’t be easy to make a move.
With their own hidden thoughts, the two of them finished eating and sat on the steps to enjoy the rare peace of the apocalypse, soothing their long-tensed nerves.
After who knows how long, the field of vision suddenly darkened. You An looked up to see the tall boy standing behind him, the shadow he cast completely enveloping him.
Being tall isn’t everything! Out of jealousy for Song Chengyu’s cool abilities, You An muttered a silent complaint.
However, he kept a blank face on the outside, obediently standing up and dusting off his trousers. “Are we leaving?”
Although it hadn’t been explicitly stated, the temporary three-person squad tacitly let Song Chengyu take on the role of leader, since he was the strongest and contributed the most to the team.
Song Chengyu shook his head, glanced briefly at Zhao Chen before looking away. Zhao Chen averted his gaze and stood up as well.
“The drive to the next service area is too long, and it’s getting late. We’ll set off tomorrow at daybreak. Besides, I’ve found a lodging area.”
He didn’t miss You An’s eyes lighting up abruptly, and a hint of a smile that he himself was unaware of flashed across the depths of his gaze.
You An excitedly ruffled Tangyuan. “Take your word for it! We can finally get a good night’s sleep today!”
The zombies inside the entire service area had already been completely cleared out. For safety, Song Chengyu chose a room with two single beds. The three of them took turns keeping watch: Zhao Chen took the first half of the night, Song Chengyu took the most dangerous midnight shift, and You An took the period right before dawn, waking the other two resting members immediately if any emergencies arose.
This room was clearly an empty one that had been cleaned beforehand. Disposable paper cups, toothbrushes, and toothpaste prepared for guests still sat on the vanity.
You An turned on the faucet. After two sputtering, blocked sounds, a stream of dark water mixed with unknown substances poured out, staining the pristine white ceramic washbasin a murky gray.
It was polluted to this extent after only the second day.
In fact, it wasn’t just the water source; You An noticed that the plants were also changing in an abnormal trend. Those bushes were much taller and more lush than he remembered.
The outside world would only become increasingly unsafe, not to mention that they would encounter higher-tier zombies after this. You An lowered his eyelashes. It seemed they still needed to reach the base as soon as possible.
If he could survive and reach the base, he would definitely stay far away from that villainous boss, Xin Jian, and cut all ties with him.
After a simple brush and wash with bottled water, You An threw himself onto the soft bed. His exhausted mind and body made sleep come exceptionally fast; before long, he had slipped into a sweet dream, the warm-toned lighting casting a soft, ambiguous glow over his profile.
Song Chengyu stood lost in thought, gazing at the dim colors of the night outside. He finally allowed himself to ponder things unrelated to revenge and growing stronger.
During the day, he had confirmed the answer to the question that had been plaguing him. Following that, other questions came flooding in. He was often skilled at keeping his impulses hidden, but he had a premonition that habitual suppression and restraint would only cause his desires to rage ever more fiercely.
He urgently wanted to know where that desire originated.
After a moment of silence, the boy turned off the lights, plunging the room into pitch darkness.
At around eleven o’clock at night, You An was woken by slightly urgent shouting. He rubbed his eyes, his still-sleepy brain mumbling a few soft, vague complaints, “What is happening again? Damn zombies, can’t a guy get a good night’s sleep?”
Zhao Chen found it slightly amusing, but now wasn’t the time for jokes. He shushed softly and explained in a whisper, “It’s not zombies. People are coming from outside.”
In situations where one couldn’t judge the visitors’ intentions, it was best not to expose their own presence. You An forced himself to wake up, nodded, and followed him quietly out of the room.
Song Chengyu had already rushed to the hallway. This building had a circular structure with a hollow interior and walkways on both sides, allowing them to observe the situation downstairs from the third-floor lodging area.
The roar of car brakes drew near. A minute later, chaotic footsteps echoed, and the first-floor lights flickered on. The blinding white light tore through the darkness. You An squinted, opening his eyes once he adjusted to the sudden brightness to inspect the appearance of the three intruders.
The arrivals were two men and a woman. The leader was around twenty-five or twenty-six, wearing glasses and looking quite scholarly, while the other looked very young—You An guessed he was probably around his own age.
The most unique one was a white-haired, red-eyed girl. Having just experienced the apocalypse, anyone other than someone as powerful as Song Chengyu would more or less betray fear on their faces, yet that delicate face carried almost no expression.
After sizing up the newcomers’ background, Song Chengyu made a hand gesture signaling the others to follow.
Having gone without food for nearly a whole day, Zhuang Yujiang and the others headed straight for the convenience store after making sure the surroundings were free of zombies. He rounded a shelf and caught sight of a zombie corpse with a blown-open head lying up ahead.
Cold sweat instantly soaked his back. “Wait…” He raised a hand to warn the other two. “There’s someone here.”
Before he could finish speaking, a hand rested on his shoulder from behind, making his blood feel as though it had frozen solid in that instant.
“We mean no harm. We just want to confirm a few things.”
The two fledgling teams stood facing each other across a standoff, and it was Zhuang Yujiang who ultimately broke the silence.
He pushed up the glasses on the bridge of his nose. “Did you guys kill all the zombies here?”
“That’s right.”
Upon first arriving, he had sensed that this place was unusually quiet, but he hadn’t expected it to have been cleared out by three young men who looked like students.
Within mere seconds, he weighed the situation in his mind, appropriately lowering his posture and introducing himself to gain their trust.
“Su Lang and I met at the highway entrance, and later we ran into Ye Tong along the way. Since we were headed in the same direction, we teamed up to head for the District A Base.”
You An was slightly puzzled. “Why did you arrive so late? Did you run into a lot of zombies?”
“Just because we set off relatively late.” Zhuang Yujiang shook his head. “On the contrary, there were almost no zombies on the second half of the road.”
Song Chengyu’s meaningful gaze fell upon the girl named Ye Tong. “What is her ability?”
The white-haired girl shrank back slightly under his cold, scrutinizing gaze. Zhuang Yujiang frowned, somewhat displeased by Song Chengyu’s suspicion. “I’ve personally confirmed it. Ye Tong’s ability is fire; she’s very strong.”
“As for Su Lang…”
The boy called out by name smiled, revealing two small canine teeth that looked rather cute. Instead of looking at anyone else, his eyes fixed entirely on Song Chengyu. “I’m a wood-type user, you know.”
He seemed intensely interested in Song Chengyu, asking with gleaming eyes, “You look so strong, completely different from everyone else! What’s your ability?”
You An hadn’t been able to place who he was initially, but hearing this line made it click: wasn’t this the little fanboy from the original plot who harbored a frantic, secret crush on Song Chengyu?
Later on, this person even caused trouble right in front of the protagonist shou, acting as a glue-like catalyst during the on-and-off phases of the main couple. Come to think of it, he was quite a textbook plot-device character.
As a cannon-fodder character himself, You An couldn’t help but feel a twinge of shared sympathy. Still, this guy had zero emotional intelligence—did he think this was a stan community where he could start fanwars and drag people down?
Puffing up his cheeks, You An poked Tangyuan, leaving an indentation in the soft, fluffy creature’s body. He inwardly admitted that, as someone with zero combat prowess, his pride took a slight hit.
Song Chengyu glanced indifferently at Su Lang without answering. The boy’s smile froze on his face. He clenched his fists viciously, his fingernails leaving distinct marks on his palms.
Seeing this, Zhuang Yujiang immediately stepped in to smooth things over, pulling the conversation back to himself. “My ability is water, level two.”
A water-type ability…
Both You An and Zhao Chen changed expressions upon hearing his self-introduction, a faint look of anticipation hiding in the depths of their eyes.
Could it be…
Zhuang Yujiang guessed what they were thinking the moment he saw their expressions. He sighed helplessly, asking with an almost self-defeating resignation, “Do you need me to conjure some water for a bath?”
“That would be amazing!”
You An immediately tossed his recent displeasure to the back of his mind, sincerely thanking the other person. This was something he genuinely needed!
Zhuang Yujiang offered a faint smile. “It’s my honor to help. Since our destination is the District A Base anyway, we might as well travel together so we can look out for each other along the way.”
Song Chengyu nodded, as he had the exact same intention. “It’s getting late. The lodging area is on the third floor; we can discuss the specifics tomorrow.”
The bathtub and available containers in the bathroom had all been filled with water by Zhuang Yujiang. As the first one to enter the bathroom, You An stripped off his clothes and picked up the water scoop. The sensation of hot water cascading over his skin and his pores expanding gave him an invigorating sense of relief, like a fish returning to the open sea.
However, since the other two people were waiting outside, he quickly finished cleaning up and dried his body, only to run into a new dilemma: what to do when you don’t want to put dirty clothes back on after a shower.
He did have clothes in his storage space, but they all belonged to Song Chengyu, meaning they were far too large for him—not to mention the other guy wouldn’t let him wear them anyway.
Perhaps because he hadn’t heard the sound of water running for a while, Song Chengyu tapped a few times against the bathroom’s frosted glass door.
“What’s wrong?”
“I… I don’t have a change of clothes.”
The moment the words left his mouth, You An regretfully tapped his fingertip against the grout lines of the tiles. His brain really must have turned to mush; why on earth would he tell the guy that?
The slightly aggrieved voice drifted out amidst the hazy, billowing steam overhead, causing the black-haired boy’s lips to curve upward by the tiniest fraction.
“You can wear mine.”
The moisture-steeped, dewy blue eyes widened in surprise. After a brief internal calculation, he mumbled a soft thank you. No matter what, wearing something a bit too large was still infinitely better than putting on dirty clothes.
Song Chengyu’s clothes were mostly in shades of black, white, and gray. You An chose a pair of jeans, a button-down shirt, and a black hoodie. Aside from the shirt hanging loosely and revealing a small sliver of his collarbone, the overall effect was surprisingly good.
Tangyuan, acting as a hype-man, circled him a few times and starry-eyed declared, “My master looks amazing in anything! This is totally the trendy boyfriend style look right now, quack!”
“That’s a girl’s fashion trend, shut up.” You An couldn’t take it anymore.
He pushed open the door, wiping his still dripping hair. “I’m done.”
The fair-skinned, dark-haired youth carried a rush of fresh, clean moisture with him. As he lowered his head slightly, the somewhat wide collar exposed the skin of his nape, where the subtle contours of his spine beneath the flesh possessed a jade-like luster.
“Song Chengyu?”
He lifted his gaze from beneath the towel. At such close range, one could easily catch sight of the beautiful youth’s rosy lips and white teeth. Looking down at him from a slightly elevated angle, even his innocent expression carried an indescribable, clandestine allure.