Bai Yingxia waited outside for a while. When she heard a faint conversation coming from inside, her eyes lit up.
Although humans were no less dangerous than zombies in the apocalypse, it was still the beginning. People still kept law and morality in their hearts.
Without wasting time, she quickly walked to the store. The moment she opened the door, several pairs of eyes stared at her.
The moment she met their sharp gazes, Bai Yingxia’s heart sank. These people didn’t look like good people.
If she had another option, she didn’t want to spend the night here. Unfortunately, the sun had set and night had descended. No matter what, she had to stay here, at least for one night.
With this thought, she raised her hands and said, "I only want to rest for one night. I will leave tomorrow."
After she said this, the group exchanged glances, and one of the men pointed at the area near the counter and said, "You can stay here, but you can only stay at that corner."
Bai Yingxia glanced at the spot and noticed a man leaning on the wall with his eyes closed at another corner. From how flushed his face was, she was sure that he was having a high fever.
Since there was no rigor mortis on his body, he shouldn’t turn into a zombie. Perhaps, he was in the process of awakening his ability.
After confirming her safety, Bai Yinxia nodded. "Okay."
The group stepped aside to let her pass. As she walked to the corner area, she heard their conversation.
"Wen Yang, we can’t stay here for too long. My brother will arrive tomorrow with his friends. As long as we follow him, we will be able to return to Yanjing City safely."
"Anling, it’s not that I don’t want to go with you. But Senior Si’s condition..."
Before the woman called Wen Yang finished her words, a man interrupted her, "Junior Wen, you are not planning to bring him with us, are you?"
"Senior Lu, if we leave Senior Si here, he will die. We must bring him with us."
"Wen Yang, you should think about yourself first! Do you know what kind of situation is outside? Not to mention bringing an unconscious person, we don’t even know if we can survive when we meet those monsters!"
"Anling, I understand your concern. But Senior Si has treated us well. We can’t just leave him behind like this. This is not right," Wen Yang tried to persuade her.
"Senior Si has had a high fever for days now. Let’s not talk about the possibility of him never waking up. What if he suddenly turns into a monster and attacks us? Wen Yang, will you take responsibility if that happens?" another woman asked unhappily.
Despite their hushed voices, Bai Yingxia was still able to get a rough understanding of the situation. This group was planning to abandon one of their members, and they planned to leave tomorrow.
Turning toward the man called Senior Si, she found him looking familiar. But she didn’t know where she had met him before. Since she couldn’t remember, she didn’t dwell on it.
The group continued arguing.
In the entire group, only the woman called Wen Yang disagreed with their decision to abandon the man. But with the majority having reached an agreement, she had no other choice but to follow their decision.
When Bai Yingxia saw this, she shook her head. In the face of survival, no one could blame another for prioritizing themselves. If she were an ordinary person without her space, she would also choose her own survival first.
After they finally stopped arguing, the store returned to tranquility. Besides the sound of zombies’ growls outside, there was only the sound of the group’s faint breathing.
Bai Yingxia waited until everyone fell asleep before she checked the shelves and counters. She took fever-reducing medicine and a pack of cooling patches from the shelves.
Afterward, she went to the unconscious man’s side. Using her backpack as a cover, she took out a thermos flask from her space.
Then, she used her hand to pry open his tightly clenched lips. When he finally opened his mouth, she fed him the fever-reducing medicine and spring water.
The moment the water went into his mouth, he drank it as if he were a traveler in the desert. From his chapped, pale lips, it was clear that he was very thirsty.
Seeing that he was still unsatisfied, Bai Yingxia stored the empty thermos flask and took out another one, and continued feeding him water. It was only after she fed him three thermos flasks of water that he finally calmed down.
After she stored her thermos flask in her space, she put the cooling patches on the man’s forehead, the back of his neck, and his armpits.
When she was done, Bai Yingxia glanced at the man’s disheveled clothes and said softly, "I’m not taking advantage of you. When you wake up, you can’t blame me, okay?"
The cooling patches only reduced skin temperature locally and didn’t treat the underlying cause of the fever or lower the core body temperature. So, she was unsure if he would be able to survive the high fever.
She turned and saw that the group was still sleeping like logs and decided to find some alcohol to help him lower his body temperature.
She wasn’t a good person or a holy mother. But she wouldn’t stand aside and do nothing when she could save someone’s life.
What’s more, this man might become an ability user when he wakes up. For her own safety, she should pull him to her side. And the best method was to make him owe her a life-saving grace.
With her own agenda, Bai Yingxia no longer felt as tired as before. She used a clean hand towel taken from her space and wet it with alcohol.
She unbuttoned the man’s shirt and folded his pants up. Using the wet towel, she wiped his body over and over again without stopping.