“Chu Yan?” A steady, forceful voice interrupted the two.
Cut off mid-excitement, Chu Yan snapped back to reality and realized that Chu Yu had awakened.
“Captain, you’re finally awake! I thought I’d never see you again in this lifetime. You bastard, Chu Yu, you scared the hell out of me! If anything had happened to you, how could I ever show my face back home to explain things to everyone…” The tone shifted completely, and as Mu Yining straightened up, she was greeted by this exact scene.
Chu Yan was nearly in tears, weeping like a child out of sheer joy.
She hadn’t expected Chu Yu to wake up so quickly.
“Alright, help me up. What does a grown man look like blubbering like this? What happened? Tell me everything, detail by detail.” Just as the words left his mouth, he noticed someone else sitting in the corner. Sweeping his gaze toward that direction, he saw a woman with refined features and an extraordinary aura. Her strength was by no means inferior to his, yet he hadn’t even noticed her presence until now.
“This is Miss Mu Yining. Boss, you really have to thank Miss Mu this time. If it weren’t for her, you wouldn’t be seeing me right now. She even helped me awaken my ability—look!” Chu Yan explained the entire sequence of events, including Mu Yining’s abilities in vivid detail. He then reached out his hand, releasing a burst of flames.
Chu Yu merely gave it a nonchalant glance without offering any other reaction, simply extending his mental power outward.
“Ah… Boss, what are you doing?” Chu Yan had reverted to his usual easygoing demeanor in private. The sudden sharp pain in his head made him cry out in agony, and even more miraculously, he instinctively knew this was his boss’s doing.
Mu Yining had felt the energy surge long ago, though her sensation was nowhere near as intense as Chu Yan’s. Chu Yu’s strength was truly not to be underestimated.
“Thank you for saving my life, Miss Mu. However, how do you know so much? We don’t know each other, do we?” Chu Yu looked at Mu Yining calmly. The person before him gave him a faint sense of familiarity, perhaps out of gratitude for saving him and Chu Yan, yet he couldn’t recall ever knowing someone like her. Why would she risk her life to rescue them?
“You saved me once in the past. I am merely returning the favor in the same manner.” Saving each other from the jaws of zombies, just as before.
She knew Chu Yu wouldn’t have died in this incident anyway; the person she had actually saved was Chu Yan.
Though her voice remained cold and distant, it took on a different flavor in Chu Yu’s eyes. It was the first time he found a voice so pleasant to listen to, and his mood brightened instantly. What an intriguing woman.
Once the three of them gathered their belongings, they stepped out of the storage room.
Seeing the ground littered with charred, unrecognizable zombie corpses, Chu Yu looked at Mu Yining with newfound respect once more. Such a woman was truly remarkable.
Stepping through the supermarket entrance, Mu Yining stood beside her car and turned to look at the two men.
“What are your plans, Miss Mu? Do you have any family? We can help you—consider it a small gesture of our appreciation.” Mu Yining was just about to decline when she remembered Alan and Xiaoyao inside her spatial dimension.
“I have a younger brother and a dog. They are my family. Get in the car; once we pick them up, I’ll send you on your way.” For the first time, Mu Yining took the initiative to invite others to travel with her. She was curious about what kind of person Chu Yu had been in the past. In her previous life, she only knew of his formidable powers, completely unaware that he had also been a mercenary. If Chu Yu could clearly read the direction of the apocalypse, establishing good relations with him early on would bring her nothing but benefits.
After getting into the car, Mu Yining grabbed her backpack and poured out all the food stored inside.
“Eat up and replenish your strength. Unforeseen accidents are bound to happen on the road, and I don’t carry dead weight.” Though her words sounded harsh, Chu Yu knew she was cold on the outside but warm on the inside. Giving away all her provisions like this—what would she eat herself? Zombies were everywhere now, and Chu Yu had already received the latest intelligence: a global viral outbreak had occurred. This time, all of humanity was facing a monumental crisis.
Taking only two bottles of water and a few pieces of compressed biscuits, he placed the rest of the supplies back into the backpack.