Dou Qing’s group returned from Jialeyuan around seven in the evening. They brought back several burlap sacks of food along with two new companions.
Both newcomers were students from the dormitories near Jialeyuan. By their fifteenth day trapped inside, their rooms still had water, but their food had run out, leaving them ravenous.
With no help available from neighboring dorms, they had finally worked up the nerve to venture downstairs.
Fortunately, luck was on their side, and they ran into Dou Qing’s team almost immediately. Neither possessed remarkable ability, and a duo was far too vulnerable to mutated animals. Joining a larger group finally allowed them to breathe a sigh of relief.
Living so close to Jialeyuan Supermarket meant they shopped there regularly and knew its layout well. The glass window had already been smashed days earlier by the five students who later joined Jiangpu Canteen, so all they had to do was chisel away the rest of the broken pane to gain entry.
Back inside the Jiangpu Canteen, an animated young man gestured wildly as he recounted how they had gotten into the supermarket that day.
“It was mostly Dou Qing being a total badass. He slipped inside, and somehow he just got the door open.”
“After that, the rest of us went right through the front…”
Worried, Fang Yangyang poked Dou Qing in the side. The touch sent goosebumps prickling across the back of his neck. When he turned, his girlfriend was glaring at him, her beautiful eyes wide and her brow furrowed.
“There were mutated rats and mutated cats in there,” she huffed. “How could you go in alone?”
Dou Qing realized she was actually angry.
When angry, her cheeks flushed pink and her eyes went round, her face so delightfully expressive and unpretentious that he couldn’t help laughing.
In response, she pinched his arm.
“…”
“You think this is funny?” she whispered, scolding him for not taking it seriously.
Holding back his amusement, Dou Qing lowered his head meekly. “My ability happened to be perfect for freezing those mutated creatures…”
The boy picked up the story from there. “As soon as we walked in, we saw that Dou Qing had frozen all the mutated animals inside to death. Seriously awesome.”
“We didn’t take all the food, either,” he added. “Other students are still living in the nearby dorms. If they run out of supplies, they can still head down to Jialeyuan to find something to eat.”
Now, all of Xichi University was a community. They had to support one another and live in harmony if they wanted to survive in such a harsh environment.
Fang Yangyang pressed her lips together and listened intently until he finished before turning her gaze back to Dou Qing.
She cared deeply about her future meal ticket. If anything happened to Dou Qing, all the effort she had invested would go down the drain.
Behind his thin lenses, his eyes held a gentle, relaxed warmth. Dou Qing reached out, tentatively trying to take her hand.
Fang Yangyang did not pull away.
Her fingers were slender and smooth, feeling like cool jade. The light calluses on Dou Qing’s fingers tickled slightly against her skin as he took her hand.
“You need to understand something,” Fang Yangyang said.
Dou Qing listened obediently as she spoke with such gravity.
“If anything happens to you…” Her eyes rimmed with red. Dou Qing panicked immediately. He had never seen her cry before, and the sight left him completely stunned, cold sweat breaking out across his back.
“…there won’t be anyone left to protect me.”
Her voice was soft. Moist lashes framed her clear, dark eyes as she stared at him for a long moment.
Sweating profusely, Dou Qing felt a surge of panic and confusion. In the end, he offered a gentle, strained apology. “I only went in because I was certain I could handle it.”
“…You’d better be.”
Fang Yangyang pressed her lips together tightly, her nose scrunched up like a fierce little animal as she glared at him.
“If something happens to you,” she trailed off, leaving the threat unspoken: she would just find another meal ticket to cling to.
Her gaze drifted across the cafeteria, lingering for a brief second on Yan Fengji and Meng Zizhao in the distance.
That fleeting glance jolted Dou Qing like a bucket of ice water poured down his spine, snapping him to full alertness.
“It won’t,” he said, swallowing hard as his Adam’s apple bobbed. He gripped her fingers tightly, pleading softly, “It definitely won’t happen. I’ll stay by your side.”
How could he possibly hand that chance over to anyone else?
“Hmph.”
Fang Yangyang was furious, and the consequences were dire.
That night, Dou Qing watched with a wry smile as she turned her back to him, sleeping soundly on her own without edging even an inch closer.
He tentatively reached out, intending to draw her gently into his arms.
Half-asleep, she slapped his hand away with a sharp smack.
Dou Qing withdrew, sheepish.
While the young couple squabbled, Meng Zizhao, blessed with sharp ears and keen eyes, caught the whole exchange. A smirk tugged at the corners of his mouth, and he hummed a cheerful tune.
“Brother Meng, not asleep yet?” A companion returning from the bathroom saw him sitting on his mat with a grin, clutching his sheet and looking thoroughly amused.
“What time do you think it is? Aren’t you tired?”
“I’m fine, not really sleepy,” Meng Zizhao replied, waving a hand. “Go on to bed. I’m going to look at my phone for a bit.”
“Alright then.” The companion shrugged, heading back to his corner, and fell sound asleep in no time.
Yan Fengji was still awake too, talking with his senior brother, Lin Yu.
His senior, Lin Yu, was a quiet, sullen man who rarely spoke unless spoken to. When sitting in a corner, he made so little noise that Wen Qing had once jokingly called him a mushroom.
According to their advisor, Lin Yu was withdrawn and solitary, but he had an exceptional talent for data analysis. More often than not, he could hit the nail on the head with sharp, constructive insights.
“Senior, what do you think causes the mutated animals to have red eyes?”
“A rabbit’s eyes are red because the capillaries in its eyes reflect external light,”
Lin Yu answered. He paused, then added, “Without precise data, I can’t give you a definitive answer.”
Lin Yu never jumped to conclusions when he was uncertain.
Yan Fengji understood and was accustomed to his senior’s style. Nodding, he said nothing more, letting his thoughts wander along the lines of Lin Yu’s explanation.
As he was lost in thought, Lin Yu broke the silence, speaking up unexpectedly, a rare occurrence for him.
“You care about her a lot.”
Yan Fengji looked over. Lin Yu pushed his glasses up with his usual dull demeanor.
The white lab coat he had put on when the first team left for the campus hospital was not his size, hanging loosely around his thin frame and lending him the look of a frail, meticulous scholar.
Silence fell between them.
“She has a boyfriend,” Lin Yu said slowly, laying Yan Fengji’s emotional situation bare in a single sentence.
His tone carried no reproach. They were close as fellow students, but Lin Yu had a rigid moral compass. Their advisor had once described him as stubborn and inflexible, yet still looked out for him in every way.
Among all his senior lab mates, Yan Fengji had always seen Lin Yu as quiet, gentle, and dependable.
“Stealing someone else’s girlfriend isn’t right,” Lin Yu added.
Yan Fengji stayed silent. Lin Yu had noticed his feelings for Fang Yangyang long before anyone else.
The handsome young man looked over to where Fang Yangyang was bundled up in a small blanket like a rolled pastry, her back turned huffily toward Dou Qing.
Yan Fengji understood why Dou Qing had stayed fearless on the way to Jialeyuan, volunteering to go in first even though he knew he would be in the most danger. That move had established his standing in the group. It convinced people of his capability, securing his authority among the eighty-plus survivors in Jiangpu Canteen.
Yan Fengji was a natural leader, backed by a unique family background. The others relied on him, inevitably clinging to the thought that his family had deep political roots and an older brother in the military, making a rescue guaranteed.
It was easy to guess what the others were thinking: when Yan Fengji’s family came to rescue him, they would surely save everyone else along the way.
Meng Zizhao was naturally likable. Out of the eighty-some people present, more than a dozen were his classmates from the Aviation Academy who affectionately called him “Brother Meng.” In just a few days, he had even befriended the cafeteria staff, greeting the older woman warmly as “Auntie.”
His effortless charisma and cheerful personality gave him a significant say in the canteen’s affairs.
Dou Qing lacked these inherent advantages. Consequently, he had to find other ways to secure equal influence.
Yet beyond the contest for authority, there was a deeper, unspoken motive shared by all three of them: Fang Yangyang.
Yan Fengji lowered his eyes and tugged at the corner of his mouth.
“Thank you for the advice, Senior Brother,” he said sincerely.
“Neither of them is married, so it hardly counts as poaching,” Yan Fengji added with utter composure. At the tip of the vine resting in his hand by his side, a tiny, fragrant blossom quietly bloomed.
“I’m only a step behind, that’s all.”
Lin Yu pondered for a moment before conceding reluctantly, “You have a point.”
Yan Fengji’s expression brightened at once. He gave a slight nod and bid Lin Yu farewell.
By bedtime, Yan Fengji had finished washing up. He raised his hand, watching the sprig of vine in his palm sway as if showing off.
Its blossoms were tiny, easy to miss at a casual glance, yet their fragrance was remarkably rich.
Clenching his fist, a brilliant idea sprang to mind.
The next day, Fang Yangyang received a small gift from him: a cutting of the vine with tiny blooming flowers that released a crisp, gentle fragrance.
“For me?” She gave it a sniff, hesitating.
She wondered if she should accept it, having already rejected him in the past while currently focusing all her efforts on staying in Dou Qing’s good graces.
“Yes.”
Yan Fengji held his breath, pretending not to care as he watched her. “I gave a cutting to Senior Sister as well. It’s nothing special, just smells nice.”
Fang Yangyang lowered her head to inhale the scent again. For reasons she could not explain, she found the fragrance delightful. Reassured to hear that his senior sister had received one too and that she was not singled out, she offered him a grateful smile.
“Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
His gaze burned intently on her, but the moment she looked up, he smoothed his expression into an effortless, casual smile.