The vehicle turned and drove toward a small side road, stopping beside a two-story house with a small courtyard.
A few zombies wandered around the house, but the ability users who had gotten out first finished them off cleanly. The front door had been locked from the inside; they didn’t think much of it, guessing that whoever had been inside had either mutated or been bitten.
They broke down the door. Liao Feifan led his team in to check the place, while the ordinary survivors stayed in the vehicle for safety. The team split up, each person checking a room in case any zombies were hiding.
Liu Yue put away her portable music player, turned, and gathered all the scattered snacks and fruit from the… into her spatial storage. She looked in the mirror, deliberately mussed up her neat hair, thought for a moment, then took out a bottle of eyedrops from her space and dripped them into both eyes. Satisfied with everything else, she sat down on the floor of the second floor, waiting for the others to come up.
The house was simple, just an ordinary residence. Liao Feifan came up the stairs and twisted the doorknob; unlocked. He pushed it open. It was a young woman’s room, elegantly arranged. On the floor was a rack holding an unfinished painting, watercolor brushes, and scattered paints.
In the corner, a young girl was curled up on the floor. She was trembling. With her head lowered, it was hard to tell if she had been infected or not.
“Hello? Are you alright?” Liao Feifan asked cautiously.
Hearing the sound, Liu Yue forced down the smile tugging at her lips. She slowly lifted her head and looked at him. “I—I’m not infected… please save me!”
The tension in Liao Feifan’s chest instantly melted. His heart softened. The girl in front of him was wearing a pink tracksuit, around eighteen or nineteen, with long hair draped over her shoulders. She looked pure and pretty, her watery eyes blinking up at him. Her face was dirty from hiding for days, streaked with tears, and her body trembled lightly.
He couldn’t help but feel a stab of pity. How had this fragile girl survived alone here? How terrified she must have been. A girl so pure and delicate should be protected, cared for.
His voice softened. “Don’t be afraid. We’re here to save you.”
The girl immediately stood and threw herself into his arms, bursting into tears.
Liao Feifan gently patted her back. She must have been horribly frightened after being alone for so many days. His heart swelled with pity. He silently vowed to protect this girl so she’d never feel afraid again.
Liu Yue leaned into his embrace, arms around his waist, her hands secretly clenching with excitement.
After confirming that the house was safe, the group signaled for the people in the car to come out. Liao Feifan carried Cao Xiner down as well.
Liu Yue approached with concern. “What’s wrong with this sister? Is she sick? I study medicine, I can help take care of her.”
Liao Feifan brightened, clearly worried. “That would be great. Xiner has had a fever these past couple of days.”
Liu Yue smiled gently. “Don’t be so polite. If anyone gets sick, come to me. I should be thanking all of you, I was terrified these days.”
Following Liu Yue’s guidance, Liao Feifan carried Cao Xiner into the room where they had found Liu Yue earlier.
Looking at Cao Xiner’s sleeping face, he asked, “What’s wrong with her?”
Liu Yue said, “Don’t worry. Probably a chill, and she hasn’t rested. That’s why the fever dragged on. I have cold medicine, give her some, she should recover after a good sleep.” She opened the bedside cabinet and took out a bottle of cold medicine and a bottle of water.
Liao Feifan took them, lifted Cao Xiner, and fed her the medicine.
Liu Yue watched with satisfaction. She watched Cao Xiner drink the water she had spiked with sleeping pills. Seeing that Liao Feifan was still sitting at the bedside, she softly said, “Let’s step outside. We shouldn’t disturb her.”
“Okay.” He tucked the blanket around Xiner before leaving the room.
As they walked, Liu Yue said, “My name is Liu Yue. I’m from B City Medical College. I love painting. I came here with friends to sketch, but… they never came back.”
Her pure little face looked filled with sorrow. Liao Feifan comforted her, “Maybe they’re hiding somewhere safe. I’m a senior at Yicheng XX University, older than you, just call me Older Brother Liao. It’s dangerous to stay alone. Come with us to the shelter.”
Liu Yue nodded. “Thank you, Older Brother Liao. If not for you all, I would’ve died here.”
Du Mengyao finished settling the others and walked over.
“Senior, is Senior Xiner okay?” she asked. Her eyes scanned Liu Yue: clean, delicate, the type who stirred men’s protective instincts. Already acting pitiful and trying to seduce their senior. Her instincts screamed danger.
“She’s the same. Still asleep.”
“They’re in that room.” She pointed downstairs.
Liao Feifan hesitated. “Alright, I’ll go discuss the night shift with them. Mengyao, stay with Liu Yue. She must be scared after being alone for days.”
Liu Yue gave him a grateful smile.
After he walked away, Du Mengyao said coldly, “Don’t get any ideas you shouldn’t. Senior has a girlfriend. Senior Xiner is only sick, their relationship is good.”
Liu Yue looked aggrieved. “I’m not. I’m just thankful he saved me.”
“Good.” Mengyao turned away, but after two steps, she looked back. “And remember, it wasn’t just him who saved you. Don’t get confused.” Even if Senior didn’t have a girlfriend, it wouldn’t be some random newcomer’s turn.
Liu Yue snorted quietly.
—
At midnight, everyone slept except the ones on watch. In one of the second-floor rooms, Liu Yue sat up, glanced in disgust at the women and children sleeping nearby, and slipped out. She lightly knocked on the next door. Someone opened it.
“Older Brother Liao, you worked hard today. You have to protect everyone tomorrow too. I’ll stay with Sister Xiner tonight,” she said gently.
Liao Feifan was exhausted and nodded. “Thank you, Little Sister Liu Yue.”
After he left, Liu Yue entered and shut the door.
She sat at the bedside and looked at the sleeping Cao Xiner. Then she picked up the bottle of water from earlier, the one laced with strong sleeping pills. Enough to kill. But with Liao Feifan beside her earlier, Xiner hadn’t drunk enough.
Liu Yue lifted Cao Xiner’s head, shoved the bottle into her mouth, and forced her to drink.
Xiner swallowed a few mouthfuls, then suddenly began to struggle violently. Seeing her on the verge of waking, Liu Yue grabbed her throat and squeezed hard. Xiner’s face turned increasingly blue. With a burst of strength, she shoved Liu Yue away and vomited over the bedside.
Liu Yue crashed into the painting rack, causing a loud bang.
Footsteps thundered up the stairs.
Cao Xiner, dazed, could vaguely recall someone forcing weird-tasting water down her throat. She resisted, but the person was strong. Then fingers clamped around her neck, choking her. She used all her strength to push the person away and vomit.
Her fever had lasted two days, she hadn’t eaten, and she was pale, nearly strangled but now she felt a strange new spiritual ability flowing through her body.
She lifted her head, the girl who had tried to kill her had a pure and innocent appearance, but her heart was vicious. Seeing the girl look pitiful and teary only enraged Xiner further. She lunged, grabbing her throat.
Liu Yue screamed. Liao Feifan pulled Xiner away and shoved her onto the bed. Liu Yue hid behind him, trembling. “Older Brother Liao, did Sister Xiner mutate? She’s so scary.”
Liao Feifan frowned. Something was wrong. Xiner was bratty sometimes, but she would never attack a stranger. And she had been vomiting earlier, her face pale with a bluish tint. She did look like she had mutated.
“Xiner, calm down. What’s wrong?”
Cao Xiner saw the woman who had tried to kill her before, hiding in Liao Feifan’s arms and putting on a fake act. She was so angry that she wanted to rush over, and it took several people to hold her down. Because her throat had been injured by Liu Yue’s hard choking, she could not speak, and could only glare at Liu Yue with her eyes wide open from anger.
Liao Feifan also went to the bedside and grabbed Cao Xiner, who looked somewhat crazy. Liu Yue stood at the doorway and, seeing Cao Xiner staring at her in a crazed manner, showed a smug smile at her. Sure enough, just as she had imagined, the other party became even more crazy.
Cao Xiner was stimulated by the other party’s smile and wanted to go forward to tear at that face, but she was pressed down even tighter by the people who had, just a few days ago, gone through hardships together with her, including the boyfriend who had always been close to her. Thinking of that woman just now, being held in Liao Feifan’s arms, she became even more angry and opened her mouth to bite down on Liao Feifan’s wrist.
With a “puchi” sound, “Ah” Liu Yue let out a sharp scream, her hands covered in fresh blood. Trembling all over, she ran to the corner of the room and squatted down, her face full of tears, her mouth continuously muttering,
“I didn’t do it on purpose, she mutated, I didn’t do it on purpose, she mutated.”
Turning her head to look at Cao Xiner, there was a knife shockingly stuck in her back. Her whole body twitched a few times and then stopped moving.
Liao Feifan sat there in a daze, clutching his bitten wrist, looking at her in disbelief. He could not imagine that someone who had been fine before would suddenly go crazy and be stabbed to death.
“Feifan, don’t be sad, looks like she really mutated.” A person in the team patted Liao Feifan’s shoulder to comfort him.
Du Mengyao also came in. Seeing the situation in the room, she let out a low cry of surprise. Seeing Liao Feifan’s bleeding wrist, she hurried forward, “Senior, how did you get hurt?”
“Senior Liao, Senior Xiner may really have mutated. Liu Yue was also trying to protect you.” A classmate who had always been in Liao Feifan’s team comforted him.
Du Mengyao saw Liao Feifan’s lost and dazed look and did not ask further, signaling the people upstairs to take him downstairs. She deeply glanced at Liu Yue in the corner and followed them downstairs.
Liu Yue was also gently comforted by others and helped downstairs.
After tossing about for so long, it gradually became light outside. Everyone discussed it and decided not to stay any longer and to set off immediately. The bloody smell of Cao Xiner’s corpse upstairs might attract zombies, which would be very unsafe.
In the started car, everyone got in and prepared to leave. Liao Feifan looked up at the second floor reluctantly, at the room where Cao Xiner had stayed.
The always pitiful-looking Liu Yue suddenly shouted, “Stop the car, wait for me, I’ll go get something.” After saying that, she ran back into the house without looking back.
Liu Yue hurried upstairs and went straight to the room where Cao Xiner’s body was. As she walked in, she used her spiritual power to take out a knife from her space, walked to the bedside, and swung the knife toward Cao Xiner’s head.
In her hand she held a crystal core still stuck with Cao Xiner’s brain matter. This was a milky white crystal core, a crystal core that, after eating, could awaken a recovery ability. Because the ability had just formed, this crystal core was very small, only about the size of a little fingernail.
Liu Yue took out a bottle of mineral water from her space and rinsed the brain matter off the crystal core. After seeing it was washed clean, she opened her mouth and swallowed the crystal core. After swallowing it, she suddenly felt a wave of comfort inside her body. With an intoxicated look, she took out a tissue and, facing the mirror on the wall, wiped her mouth, and washed her hands.
Other ability users could only rely on using spiritual power outside the body to absorb crystal cores. Crystal cores were only useful to ability users and had no use for ordinary people at all. She had also discovered it by accident that, unlike others, she could absorb the ability of the original owner of the crystal core by eating it. But it only worked for the first one she swallowed, and those swallowed later had no reaction at all.
She took out a lighter from her space, lit it, and threw it onto the bed. The bed immediately burned. She turned around and went downstairs. Everything was so perfect, and she felt satisfied.
While running, Liu Yue took out a bundle of gauze she had prepared in advance from her space and ran breathlessly back to the car. Liao Feifan was standing under the car looking up at the upstairs. Liu Yue felt a little guilty. “Big Brother Liao, here, your hand is injured, bandage it.”
Liao Feifan looked at Liu Yue’s guilty face, and then at the gauze she handed over, feeling very conflicted. He shouldn’t blame her. Cao Xiner had already mutated. If they didn’t kill her, everyone would be in danger. Liu Yue had done that for everyone’s safety. She looked like such a kind girl.
He reached out and took the gauze and said softly, “Thank you.”
Liu Yue’s tears immediately fell. “Big Brother Liao, it’s all my fault. You saved me, and I, I, I will definitely not let you mutate too.”
Liao Feifan felt a bit of heartache and was about to comfort her when he suddenly glimpsed the firelight coming out from the second floor.
“Senior Xiner just left like that, I, I am very sad, I want to hope to let her leave more beautifully.” Liu Yue explained.
When Liao Feifan heard this, he felt even more distressed and a little guilty. This girl did it for him, and before he had even blamed her a little. “Mm, get in the car, we’ll leave this place.”
Liu Yue nodded and got into the car.
The car squad slowly drove away, following the small road forward. Looking back from afar, only a ball of fire could be seen.
