Surviving the Apocalypse with the Young Miss - Chapter 10

Chapter 10: Sickness

“I’m not sleeping. If you want to sleep, sleep yourself!” Tong Xiangyu marched over, snatched the small stool, and sat down. She propped her face in her hand and glared out the window, seemingly out of spite.

It was so quiet.

How could a night in Kecheng be this quiet?

Tong Xiangyu stared up at the streetlights in silence. She thought: If I hadn’t followed Song Ge, where would I be now? Would I have been eaten by monsters?

She couldn’t climb trees, couldn’t scale walls, and certainly didn’t have the ability to find a bicycle. Qiaoqiao and Qin Mo were dead. Her classmates were all dead. Only Fan Mingyuan remained, and he had committed such an inhuman act.

Song Ge took out the multi-tool she had used during the day to sharpen it. Suddenly remembering something, she pulled open a drawer and took out a new pack of toothbrushes—a pack of ten, mostly in shades of blue, green, and grey. Song Ge hesitated for a moment before picking the only pink one in the middle.

Song Ge laid the toothbrush face-up on the table. “The toothbrush is here. When you’re ready to sleep, brush your teeth first.”

Tong Xiangyu snapped out of her daze and looked over. She saw a large, rustic-looking toothbrush on the table. She swore she had never seen such an ugly toothbrush in her life. Her beautiful face wrinkled slightly, but she didn’t complain; she only whispered a “thank you.”

Song Ge felt she had been quite considerate, so she continued with her tasks.

By the time she finished, it was very late. Song Ge stretched her stiff body, having held the same position for too long. She looked back at the silent Young Mistress, who was still staring blankly out the window.

Song Ge went into the bathroom to wash up. When she came out, she stood before Tong Xiangyu. “It’s late. Aren’t you going to sleep?”

Tong Xiangyu looked at her. “I’m not sleepy. I don’t want to sleep yet.”

“I want to sleep.”

“Then go ahead. I won’t make a sound to disturb you.”

Song Ge clicked her tongue. “You’re sitting on my stool. How am I supposed to sleep?”

“You can sleep on the bed.”

“I’m giving the bed to you.” Song Ge couldn’t let a pampered heiress sit on a hard stool all night. The single bed was small even for one person; if they had to squeeze together, she figured the Young Mistress would rather stand all night.

Tong Xiangyu shook her head. As a guest, how could she occupy Song Ge’s bed? After a moment of silence, she said in a tone that was—for the first time in her life somewhat sharp, “I’m not sleeping on the bed. Your bed is too hard; it makes my whole body ache.”

Song Ge laughed in annoyance. “The bed is hard, but the stool you’re sitting on isn’t?”

Tong Xiangyu was stumped. She muttered, “I can’t sleep anyway.”

Song Ge thought back to how soundly she had slept that afternoon but didn’t call her out. She turned to a cabinet on the wall, opened it, and took out a mattress pad to lay on the bamboo slats. “It’s not hard now. Come sleep.”

Tong Xiangyu looked at the bedding, then at Song Ge. Though touched, she remained stubborn. “I really don’t want to sleep yet…”

“Then come sit over here. Sleep whenever you get tired.” Song Ge frowned, her expression turning impatient. “Why are you so difficult to serve?”

Tong Xiangyu’s nose prickled. She stood up aggrievedly; she had only wanted Song Ge to have the bed…

Song Ge was exhausted from the day’s events. She sat on the stool, leaning against the corner, and quickly fell asleep. In the middle of the night, she heard a movement. She alertly opened her eyes and, after listening carefully, looked toward the bed.

Tong Xiangyu was sitting up, clutching her stomach. Even in the dim light, Song Ge could see that the girl’s fair face was flushed deep red.

Song Ge felt helpless but said nothing. She opened a box nearby, took out two packs of compressed biscuits, a small bag of dried meat, and a bottle of water. She walked over and handed them to her. “Eat.”

This time, Tong Xiangyu wasn’t stubborn. She took them with both hands and whispered in a voice as quiet as a mosquito, “Thank you.” The redness on her ears spread down to her neck.

Song Ge walked back to her stool.

However, the night didn’t end there. Shortly after Song Ge drifted back to sleep, she heard footsteps and the sound of the light being switched on, followed by the sound of the toilet flushing. This repeated several times.

Finally, Song Ge got up and blocked the door.

Tong Xiangyu’s face was pale. As she opened the bathroom door, she was startled by Song Ge standing right there and took a large step back. Song Ge caught her just in time to keep her from hitting the sink.

Tong Xiangyu looked flustered. “Do you need the bathroom? I-I’m done.”

Song Ge asked, “What’s wrong with you?”

Tong Xiangyu’s eyes flickered away, looking aggrieved. “Nothing…”

“Diarrhea?”

Being exposed made Tong Xiangyu feel embarrassed to the extreme. Her small hands clenched into fists as she stammered, “I… I…”

“Sigh,” Song Ge sighed. “Truly a stomach made of gold.”

Tong Xiangyu felt humiliated and argued softly, “I’m fine now.” Fearing she wasn’t convincing enough, she added, “Really.”

“I don’t have medicine at home,” Song Ge said. “But you reminded me—I need to stock up. If the rescue team doesn’t arrive in time and we get sick, it’ll be inconvenient without common medicine. When I go out tomorrow, I’ll find a way to get some.”

Tong Xiangyu was so shocked she forgot her embarrassment. She grabbed the hem of Song Ge’s shirt. “We’re going out at a time like this? Don’t! I’m really fine! It’s dangerous outside, it’s full of monsters!”

Song Ge corrected her: “Not we are going out. I am going out. You stay here.”

That was even worse. Tong Xiangyu’s eyes turned red with anxiety. “Please, just download the navigation app and call my dad’s company. It’s called Tongda Group. He will definitely send people to rescue us!”

Song Ge looked at the anxious girl. Her lips moved slightly, wanting to say that she had already tried downloading the app and calling the company. It had been 3:00 PM working hours yet none of the three numbers for Tongda Group had been answered. They were likely already lost.

But Song Ge didn’t say it. She only said, “I’ll try tomorrow.”

Tong Xiangyu finally smiled. Her beautiful almond eyes were still full of tears and her eyes were red, but she nodded vigorously. “Mhm! Believe me, my dad will definitely send people to get us out.”

Song Ge gave a half-hearted, perfunctory reply: “Sure, sure. I believe you.”

Tong Xiangyu, exhausted by the diarrhea all night, finally fell into a deep, weak sleep near dawn.

As the sky brightened, the half-window was hazy with light. Song Ge tore off a piece of paper and left a few words for Tong Xiangyu. Then, taking her javelin sharpened the night before and her folding multi-tool, she quietly left the basement.

Song Ge didn’t plan on going far. There was a supermarket and a community pharmacy a few hundred meters away. she needed food and medicine. Otherwise, given the Young Mistress’s “golden stomach,” she’d lose her life before the rescuers arrived.

It was still early; she didn’t know if the monsters had a sleep schedule. Yesterday they were everywhere, but now not a single one was in sight. Despite this, Song Ge didn’t let her guard down. She kept her footsteps light, gripped her javelin, and stayed alert.

Before she had gone far, a foul stench hit her nose. She saw the old beggar lying not far away the one she had kicked yesterday. He was lying in the greenery by the road, motionless, covered in bite marks.

Because it was mid-summer, the corpse was no longer fresh, and flies swarmed around it.

Song Ge felt a surge of nausea and quickly looked away. But as she did, she realized that the chaotic roadway and the blood-stained sidewalk were littered with bodies lying in every direction.

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