Picking Up My Ex-Wife in the Apocalypse - Chapter 2

Si Qi pulled herself off the mutated hound, her face deathly pale. A few beads of blood seeped from her cracked lips. Staggering, she continued toward the shadows; she knew that in her current state, even the weakest mutated plant could finish her off.

Worse still, she could feel the air growing heavy with a biting chill. The Great Frost was beginning. In this world, cycles of extreme cold and extreme heat usually lasted about a month. Before they hit, people would hoard enough food to ensure they wouldn’t have to step foot outside.

Her legs grew heavier with every step. She struggled forward, finding no trace of mutated plants—only a few sparse clumps of grass and abandoned burrows left by unknown creatures.

She grit her teeth. If she kept going like this, she’d drop dead on the road. Without a detector to find a “guardian” plant to hide under, she decided to gamble on finding an abandoned animal den instead.

Most post-apocalyptic animals had mutated and gained a certain level of intelligence, building complex, interconnected burrows. Likely sensing the approaching zombie tide, the local wildlife had already vanished.

She eventually found a dry cave with a narrow entrance that sloped slightly downward. Since warm air is lighter than cold, it would rise and stay trapped inside—a perfect natural shelter.

Inside, she found the half-eaten remains of a carcass and a mound of dry straw arranged into a nest. There was even a small pile of firewood the previous occupant had scavenged.

Si Qi didn’t have the strength to deal with the bloody straw or the stench on her own body. She blocked the entrance with firewood, leaned against the stone wall, and fell into a deep, exhausted sleep.

In her pocket, the crystal from the mutated hound emitted a faint, white glow.

When she woke, it was night. Moonlight filtered through the firewood, casting a bleak, pale light across the cave.

Si Qi’s throat felt like it had been scraped by a razor. She took a few sips from her waterskin and divided her remaining hard bread into three portions, forcing herself to eat one small piece.

The chill was far worse than it had been during the day. Based on experience, the Great Frost would fully descend in less than three days. If she couldn’t find enough food and fuel by then, she was a dead woman.

She had only just been reborn; while she wasn’t particularly obsessed with living, she certainly didn’t want to die such a miserable death again.

As she stood up, a few crumbs fell from her pocket. The large mutated hound crystal that had been there was gone without a trace.

She stood in silence.

Fine, she thought. Nothing is easy in this world.

Wait, no—where is my crystal?! That was a significant haul, meant to be traded for rations at a nearby base. Had she eaten it in her sleep because she was so hungry? Why hadn’t she choked to death?

She took several deep breaths, barely managing to keep herself from dying of pure frustration. She tried to see if she felt any different—perhaps she had absorbed it?

Nothing. Not a single spark of power. Her heart felt as cold as the cave.

When she stepped outside, the wind froze her heart into icy shards. She was wearing only a thin outer coat. Ironically, as the Frost approached, finding food in the wild became slightly easier as creatures prepared for hibernation.

She spent the day renovating her cave. She gathered stones and skillfully built a crude fireplace, then hauled out the filth—the bloody straw and the rotting carcass. She replaced it all with fresh, dry grass.

Following the scattered animal tracks, she found a small stream. She washed the grime from her face, gave her body a cursory wipe-down, and refilled her waterskin.

Over the next two days, she worked tirelessly, scavenging straw and wood. She sharpened a stone flake to process the half-eaten carcass, salvaging whatever edible meat remained.

By the third day, the cave was packed. Tiny ice crystals began to fall from the sky. She grabbed a stone, intending to make one last supply run before hunkering down for the month.

The sudden zombie tide had forced many animals to migrate, leaving their winter hoards behind. Si Qi scavenged a dead rabbit, several handfuls of wild fruit, and a batch of wild mushrooms from beneath the trees, hauling them back trip by trip.

By noon, the sun looked as though it were encased in a layer of ice, offering no warmth. Gray light filtered through falling snow—the world looked exactly like it did right before the collapse.

She found a patch of bramble berries. They were small and grew on thorny bushes, but they were sweet, plentiful, and easy to find. Just as she approached the thicket, a patch of black grass suddenly twitched.

Adrenaline flooded her brain; her muscles locked tight. Most animals should have left by now, unless… a wandering zombie? She gripped her iron bar. If it was just one, she could kill it and take its crystal to trade after the Frost. If it was a pack… well, she’d just be their first meal of the winter.

Nothing emerged for a long time. Just as she thought her nerves were playing tricks on her, a faint, weak woman’s voice drifted from the thicket.

“Help… help me…”

Si Qi froze.

It was a hauntingly familiar voice—one that had once filled every corner of her life, and since their split, had only visited her in her dreams.

It was Si Ruxu.

Si Qi had always imagined that if she saw Si Ruxu again, she would be able to smile and walk away. Their divorce had been “peaceful”; they hadn’t even traded a harsh word when they ended it. But then the apocalypse came, her friends and family died one by one, and their former intimacy was buried deep beneath blood-soaked earth.

Steeling her heart against the pounding of her chest, she parted the thorns.

A woman lay curled in a ball inside. She had no major external injuries aside from some scratches on her clothes, but following the trail of blood, Si Qi saw a puncture wound in her abdomen. A faint, green energy was pulsing around the wound, slowly trying to heal her.

Si Qi filled her pockets with wild fruit—and then filled Si Ruxu’s pockets too—before hauling her back to the cave. She sealed the entrance tight with wood and straw. In the crude fireplace, a small flicker of flame cast a warm, orange glow.

She checked the wound. With Si Ruxu’s own powers at work, recovery was only a matter of time, but the woman was still unconscious. She couldn’t let her starve.

She carefully peeled the fabric away from the wound to prevent the new skin from sticking to the cloth. Then, she crushed some bramble berries and tilted the woman’s chin up. She slowly fed the juice past those pale lips—lips that were perfectly shaped, not a vivid red, but a soft, delicate pink.

In her unconscious state, the distance Si Ruxu usually maintained was gone, replaced by a gentle, quiet vulnerability.

Si Qi pulled her gaze away. She shouldn’t be looking at her like this. The longer she stared at the sleeping Si Ruxu, the more she felt a dark urge for her to never wake up. She didn’t want to see those eyes—once full of love—filled with the polite, icy detachment that had built a transparent wall between them.

Outside, the gale battered the entrance. Fortunately, the downward slope of the cave and the mud-reinforced firewood kept the interior relatively warm.

Si Qi ate some fruit and began digging deeper into the cave. She planned to create a separate storage alcove for her processed rabbits and meat. Since plants provided far more energy than meat in this world, she had “escorted” the rabbits to their next life, hoping they’d be reborn with better powers next time.

Using her iron bar, she dug for nearly two days until she finally finished the alcove. In the extreme cold, the food stayed perfectly preserved.

During this time, Si Ruxu didn’t wake, but her color improved significantly. Looking at the partially healed wound, Si Qi took a sharp stone and moved closer.

She took a deep breath, mentally psyching herself up. It’s just a wound. You’re just separating the clothes from the skin. You’re just taking care of a patient. Why are you nervous? Get a grip—you’re her savior.

She carefully cut away the remaining fabric, revealing the jagged wound and the new, pink flesh. Likely due to the constant elemental healing, Si Ruxu didn’t smell like blood; instead, she carried the faint, elegant scent of crabapple blossoms.

After cleaning the wound with water, Si Qi wiped the sweat from her own forehead and collapsed onto the floor. She was still so tense, even in front of a literal sleeping beauty. It was pathetic.

*****

After feeding Si Ruxu more crushed berries and eating a quick meal herself, Si Qi closed her eyes. Between scavenging and digging, she hadn’t had a full night’s sleep in days. She kept waking up from nightmares where Si Ruxu woke up and looked at her with disgust for sleeping next to dead rabbits.

That night, she dreamed of the day Si Ruxu said she didn’t love her anymore. Those amber eyes had been so calm, so kind—as if she were discussing a minor errand while simultaneously handing down a death sentence.

Si Qi remembered her legs feeling like lead. She had been holding a ten-year anniversary gift she never got to give. She hadn’t even had the courage to ask “why.” She knew Si Ruxu too well, and she finally had to admit that the “drifting apart” had been the long shadow of the end.

She fought her way out of the nightmare, her eyes shimmering with unshed tears in the firelight.

She turned her head—and locked eyes with a pair of amber pupils.

Si Ruxu’s features were as cool as frost, her brows light and elegant. Her eyes were like a winter mist—classic “peach blossom” eyes that held a hint of warmth buried under layers of polite distance.

Si Qi’s back slammed against the wall instantly, her muscles tensed in a defensive reflex. But the woman merely tilted her head, looking at her with confusion.

“It’s been a long time… Si Qi.”

The voice was just as soft and soothing as it had been years ago. The warmth in Si Qi’s heart died out inch by inch, leaving only the cold instinct of a survivor.

She buried her turmoil, her resentment, and her nerves, meeting Si Ruxu’s gaze with equal coldness.

“Let’s talk.”

The woman’s eyes remained perfectly puzzled, waiting for her to continue.

“The base was hit by a zombie tide,” Si Qi said, her voice sharp. “Given your importance to the base, Miss Si, there is no way you would be left behind. Even if you were separated, you should have headed toward the main force or toward the Hope Base to the west. So why did you choose to come here—the dark side of the sun—right before the Great Frost?”

In the dim light, Si Qi’s jaw was set tight. She looked like a cornered animal, bristling with armor to protect herself.

Si Ruxu’s eyes grew watery, as if wounded by the accusation. Her voice softened instinctively. “Are you suggesting I came here on purpose? But Si Qi… I have no motive to do that.”

Si Qi faltered. Her armor shattered in an instant.

It was true. Si Ruxu had no motive. She hadn’t told anyone she was leaving; no one knew where she was. And they hadn’t spoken in years. Even if Si Ruxu wanted to scheme, she wouldn’t pick Si Qi—a powerless human who couldn’t even guarantee her own survival, a “meat shield” meant to be discarded.

Si Qi didn’t answer. She walked into the alcove, sliced some meat, skewered it on a stick, and set it over the fire. She crushed some sour wild berries and drizzled the juice over the meat. Within minutes, the fat began to sizzle, releasing a rich aroma.

Before Si Ruxu woke, she hadn’t bothered with fire, making do with raw fruit. The smell of roasting meat triggered her body’s survival instincts. She tossed a skewer to Si Ruxu and began eating her own.

Because Si Ruxu was watching, she tried to eat with some semblance of grace, actually chewing her food instead of swallowing it whole.

After finishing, she looked at the woman who was eating with slow, refined movements. High-ranking Awakened usually ate fresh vegetables grown by wood-elementals and premium mutated game—meat that was infinitely better than this week-old scrap.

But Si Ruxu said nothing. When she finished, she wiped her mouth and smiled, her eyes crinkling as she thanked her.

*****

While Si Ruxu was unconscious, they had shared the main cave. Now that she was awake, Si Qi decided to dig a separate sleeping area for herself.

She took her iron bar and started hacking at the wall. When she looked back, she saw Si Ruxu wrapped in an incredibly soft, warm-looking down duvet—who knew where she’d gotten it from? Those amber eyes were watching her every move.

Seeing Si Qi look over, Si Ruxu considerately shuffled to the side and lifted the edge of the duvet, inviting her in.

Si Qi scoffed.

Then Si Qi climbed in.

God, it’s warm.

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