Bai An’an followed the sound with her gaze.
Another man stood at the entrance of the supermarket. He was tall and slender, wearing a gray trench coat. He looked as if he had walked straight out of a magazine.
His features were much gentler than those of the man standing beside Bai An’an. There was a hint of a smile in his eyes, but the smile did not reach them. There was an inexplicable sense of detachment about him.
He looked at the remains of the zombies on the ground, then at Bai An’an.
“You picked up a person?” he asked Fu Shen.
Bai An’an’s heart sank.
Fu Shen.
One of the male leads mentioned in the comments.
Then this smiling man who looked like a typical sweet-on-the-outside, ruthless-on-the-inside type was most likely Shen Hanzhou.
Two male leads.
Now they were both here.
Alarm bells went off in Bai An’an’s head.
No, wasn’t this happening way too fast?
She had only been here for a short while. She had not even seen what she looked like yet, and the two male leads were already standing right in front of her?
Shen Hanzhou walked over, his gaze fixed on a certain part of her body.
“Looks like you picked up a treasure,” he said with a smile.
Noticing that his gaze was fixed on her hand, Bai An’an lowered her head and looked at it too.
It was slender and fair, with neatly trimmed nails. There was a thin callus over the knuckle of her middle finger, left behind from years of holding a pen.
There were a few tiny wounds on the back of her hand, probably from accidentally scraping it against something while avoiding the zombies earlier.
It was an ordinary hand.
If not for the faint white light radiating from it.
Bai An’an’s eyes widened.
She watched as the wounds on the back of her hand slowly healed under the white light, then disappeared completely without leaving even a scar.
If there were not still traces of undried blood on the back of her hand, she would have suspected that she was hallucinating.
“What… what is going on?”
She instinctively hid her hand behind her back.
Shen Hanzhou’s gaze moved from her hand to her face, and the curve of his lips rose slightly.
“Healing-type,” Shen Hanzhou said.
Seeing that Bai An’an still had not understood, he continued, “You should have awakened recently. You still can’t control your ability, which is why your wounds healed on their own just now.”
“Of course, it’s also possible for healing-type ability users to have passive self-healing.”
Bai An’an looked down at the back of her hand, then at the two men in front of her.
She had read at least eight hundred novels, if not a thousand, so she knew exactly how valuable a healing ability was in an Apocalypse novel.
A strategically scarce resource.
It was no wonder the readers in the comments had been urging for a vicious female supporting character with such a setting to be written out.
But right now, something else was more important.
She was caught between the two male leads.
One on each side, blocking her completely.
Neither of them said anything, but Bai An’an could feel both of their gazes fixed on her.
It felt as though she were being watched by two beasts at the same time, making her whole body uncomfortable.
“What is your name?” Shen Hanzhou asked.
“Bai An’an.”
“How long have you been staying in this supermarket?”
“I… I wasn’t staying here. I came out to look for supplies.”
Bai An’an pointed at the backpack in the corner with its zipper still open. It really did contain several packs of instant food and some bottled water, which the original owner had scavenged earlier.
“Have you been alone since the Apocalypse began?”
“Mm.”
“It’s not easy to survive this long on your own.”
“I’m lucky.” Bai An’an pressed her lips together. “I like stocking up on food, so I haven’t gone outside since the Apocalypse began. Today was my first time.”
Fu Shen finally spoke.
“Where do you live?”
“Not far away. In the residential complex across the street.”
Bai An’an answered according to the original owner’s memories.
“How did you get here by yourself?” Fu Shen frowned.
This area was a small commercial district with quite a few zombies.
“The underground parking garage of the supermarket is connected to the residential complex. I came up from the underground garage.”
Facing Fu Shen’s suspicious gaze, Bai An’an answered with forced composure.
Shen Hanzhou chuckled softly beside her, clearly enjoying the show.
Bai An’an cursed the two of them in her heart, while maintaining a polite smile on her face.
“Well, thank you both for saving me and answering my questions. I’ll be going…”
Before she could finish, footsteps sounded again at the entrance of the supermarket.
A young man wearing rimless glasses walked in, holding the hand of a little girl.
The man looked to be in his early twenties. He was wearing a gray windbreaker zipped all the way to the top, giving off an unmistakable “don’t mess with me” aura.
His eyes behind the lenses were sharp. He swept his gaze over the supermarket before finally landing on Bai An’an.
The little girl, however, was completely different. Her hair was tied into two little buns, and she wore a pink Hello Kitty sweatshirt. Against the current backdrop, she looked especially out of place.
She held the man’s hand and curiously looked around, as though she had already grown accustomed to scenes like this.
“Lu Xi, Paopao, over here.”
Shen Hanzhou waved at them.
The man named Lu Xi nodded and led the girl over.
“Who is she?” Lu Xi’s expression remained blank, and his voice was equally cold.
“Bai An’an, a healing-type ability user. Fu Shen just saved her.”
Lu Xi’s expression changed, as if he had encountered something interesting.
“Alone?” he asked.
Bai An’an nodded.
“How did you survive?”
“I stocked up on a lot of things and never went outside.”
Bai An’an was starting to feel numb. She felt like a suspect being interrogated.
Lu Xi stared at her for two seconds. Bai An’an had no idea whether he believed her, but he did not question her further.
He lowered his head and said to the little girl, “Paopao, say hello to your sister.”
The little girl had a fair, chubby face and bright, round eyes. In a sweet, childish voice, she called out, “Hello, Sister!”
Bai An’an’s heart instantly melted.
At this stage, human children were practically angels.
“Hello,” Bai An’an said, crouching down so they were at eye level. Her voice unconsciously softened. “Is your name Paopao? What a cute name.”
“Mm! My full name is Lu Man, and my nickname is Paopao. My brother said it’s because I liked blowing bubbles when I was little.”
Paopao introduced herself fluently. Afterward, she smiled at Bai An’an, revealing a neat row of tiny baby teeth.
Unable to resist, Bai An’an reached out and pinched her little cheek. It was soft and squishy, and felt especially nice.
Then she felt a cold gaze.
Bai An’an looked up and met Lu Xi’s eyes through his glasses.
The meaning was crystal clear.
Take your hand away.
Bai An’an immediately withdrew her hand and gave an awkward smile.
Confirmed. He was a serious sister-obsessed brother.
Shen Hanzhou watched the scene from the side, the smile on his lips deepening.
He turned to Fu Shen. The two exchanged a glance, as if silently communicating something.
Bai An’an noticed that exchange.
The highly upvoted comment immediately surfaced in her mind:
“Fu Shen and Shen Hanzhou are seriously something else.”
No way.
Were they already exchanging meaningful glances?
There was a child here too. Couldn’t they at least avoid corrupting the kid?
Bai An’an quietly took half a step to the side.
“Bai An’an.”
Shen Hanzhou suddenly called her name.
“What are you planning to do next?”
Bai An’an was not stupid. She could tell that Shen Hanzhou wanted to form a team with her, but she had been given the role of the vicious female supporting character.
What if she was forced to follow the original plot?
Wouldn’t she end up dead sooner or later?
“I… I’ll gather some supplies, go home, and continue hiding there until the situation improves.”
“Until the situation improves?”
Lu Xi adjusted his glasses, his tone carrying a hint of mockery.
“There is currently no vaccine or specific treatment for the virus. The zombies are still evolving, and there are more and more mutants. What are you waiting for at home? For the zombies to learn how to pick locks?”
Bai An’an was rendered speechless.
The original owner had holed up for three months and knew very little about what was happening outside. She had learned about the emergence of ability users online while the national communication network was still functioning.
But she had only just learned that zombies could evolve.
What could she do?
Before transmigrating into the novel, she had been an ordinary medical student. She would have nightmares for days after a single anatomy class.
And now they expected her to fight zombies?
“You’re a healing-type ability user,” Shen Hanzhou said leisurely. “Ability users generally receive very good treatment at the Dawn Base. They have official positions, housing, and food rations. Since yours is a non-combat ability, you won’t need to go to the front lines. You’ll definitely live comfortably there.”
Bai An’an immediately caught the key term.
“Dawn Base?”
“A safe zone established by the military and government two months ago,” Fu Shen explained. “It’s currently the largest survivor base in East China, with a complete defense system and management structure.”
Bai An’an’s heart stirred.
According to the standard vicious-female-supporting-character plot, she should start causing trouble on the way to the base with the protagonists, eventually bringing about her own downfall.
But if she went to the base on her own instead of following the protagonist group, she should be able to avoid the original plot.