Surviving the Apocalypse with the Young Miss - Chapter 12

Chapter 12: Incubation

The suddenness of it gave even Song Ge a bit of a startle.

Tong Xiangyu, jolted awake, saw Song Ge standing by the bed and let out a breath of relief. “I’m sorry,” she apologized.

“Why are you saying sorry to me?” Song Ge asked. “What kind of nightmare was it?”

“I dreamed about what happened at school.”

“Like what?”

“…Falling from the teaching building.”

Song Ge misheard it as “jumping” and remarked, “Then you really are a bit of a coward.”

Tong Xiangyu thought to herself: Do you think everyone is as fearless as you? She had been exhausted and wanted to keep sleeping, but seeing Song Ge dressed in a long-sleeved shirt and trousers, she became alert and sat up immediately. “Where are you going?”

Song Ge thought: I’m not going anywhere; I’ve already come back.

“Nowhere. Are you hungry?” Song Ge asked.

Tong Xiangyu was starving, of course. Everything she’d eaten the night before had either been vomited up or lost to diarrhea; her stomach felt painfully empty. But thinking about the kind of food Song Ge had at home, she endured the discomfort and shook her head. “I’m okay.”

“Why are you acting tough?” Song Ge said. “Do you think all I have here is compressed biscuits and ham sausages?”

Tong Xiangyu corrected her: “They’re called starch sausages.”

“There’s no difference.”

“There is a huge difference…”

Song Ge pulled out the bag of snacks she had tucked into the cabinet.

Tong Xiangyu’s eyes widened instantly. “How do you have these?” Even through the bag, it was obvious these weren’t the kind of snacks a person like Song Ge would buy.

“The landlady gave them to me,” Song Ge lied effortlessly, leaning against the edge of the desk. “Her daughter visits often and has a sweet tooth. The landlady was afraid her daughter would eat my food and get sick, so she bought a bag of snacks to keep here.”

“Then those are for her daughter. I can’t eat them.”

Song Ge said, “Silly. You can just buy more to replace them later.”

It was the first time in her life Tong Xiangyu had been called “silly,” but after a pause, she realized Song Ge was right. She’d just buy even better snacks to pay her back later!

“Take a look and see what you can eat,” Song Ge said.

“I can eat anything.”

“Right and then you have diarrhea.”

“I didn’t have diarrhea because I ate your food last night.” Having food improved Tong Xiangyu’s mood significantly, though she remained stubborn. “I was just… scared yesterday.”

“Then should I get you the biscuits and dried meat?”

Tong Xiangyu immediately opened the shopping bag to look for things, pretending she hadn’t heard Song Ge.

Song Ge let out a small laugh at the sight. Hearing the sound, Tong Xiangyu peeked up at her.

Sunlight filtered through the half-window, falling on Song Ge and her half-smiling expression. Song Ge wasn’t conventionally “bright and beautiful”; she had a straight nose, a thinner upper lip compared to the bottom, and a lean face with a sharp jawline.

Her skin wasn’t incredibly fair but it was clear. She wore her hair in a clean, short cut with bangs that slightly covered her eyebrows. There was a small mole on her thin right eyelid; it was visible when she looked down and disappeared into the crease when she looked up.

Song Ge was quite tall for a girl, though her frame looked a bit slight. Tong Xiangyu couldn’t imagine how someone so thin had managed to hold her during those two escapes at school.

Moreover, Song Ge had a very unique aura. It wasn’t the “gloominess” people gossiped about; on the contrary, Tong Xiangyu felt a sense of security around her. It felt as if nothing was worth worrying about—even if the sky fell, one should still eat and sleep.

Tong Xiangyu thought: When Dad sends people to get me, I must take Song Ge with me. I’ll give her lots of good things to thank her for saving me.

“What are you looking at me for?”

Tong Xiangyu had been so lost in thought that she pulled her gaze away hurriedly, her ears turning red with embarrassment. “I’m sorry.”

“Do you top students like saying ‘I’m sorry’ all the time?” As Song Ge spoke, she heard something. She turned around, stood up straight, grabbed a newspaper from the desk, and began taping it over the window.

Tong Xiangyu noticed the room darken instantly. Confused by Song Ge’s actions, she asked, “Why are you covering the window?”

“Nothing worth seeing.” Just as Song Ge was sealing the corner of the window, a bloody arm “flew” by and slammed against the glass with a splat. The hand holding the tape flinched, but her voice remained calm. “Just wait for rescue.”

“Then hurry up and download the navigation app.”

“No. Phone’s dead.”

“If the phone is dead, you can charge it.”

Since the window was blocked, it was quite dim. Song Ge went to turn on the room light and said, “You really are noisy. Just eat.”

“I’m not eating.” Seeing Song Ge go back on her word, Tong Xiangyu got a bit angry. “You promised me yesterday you’d download the navigation and call my dad’s company! How can you break your word?”

Song Ge replied, “Fine. Let me ask you one thing: have you considered that your parents might have turned into monsters?”

“Impossible!!” Tong Xiangyu cried. “My dad has a dozen bodyguards around him. Monsters couldn’t get near him!”

Song Ge thought: Then congratulations, he’s definitely the hardest one to kill. Out loud, she said, “Regardless of whether it’s possible, let’s just discuss it, and then I’ll give you the phone. If your parents are dead and turned into monsters, what do you plan to do?”

Tong Xiangyu fell silent for a long time. Suddenly, her beautiful eyes reddened, and she spoke with a sob, “Then… I wouldn’t want to live anymore…”

Song Ge watched the Young Mistress’s tears flow like a broken levee, her hands becoming drenched as she rubbed her eyes. It wasn’t a surprise she was a “delicate flower” who hadn’t experienced a drop of rain. Song Ge sighed and tossed her phone to her.

Tong Xiangyu picked it up while sobbing, only to find that the navigation app was already installed. She looked at Song Ge.

Song Ge didn’t look back; she sat on her stool and closed her eyes to rest against the wall.

Tong Xiangyu opened the app and saw her father’s company name in the search history. Recalling Song Ge’s question, a sudden wave of terror and cowardice washed over her. She didn’t have the courage to hit ‘search.’ After hesitating for a long while, she gripped the phone and looked at Song Ge. “With something like this happening, my dad’s employees must have all gone home for the holidays.”

Song Ge, eyes closed, asked back, “Then do you remember your home phone number?”

“No,” Tong Xiangyu said righteously. “So you have to take me home!”

Song Ge laughed in frustration and opened her eyes. “By what right?”

Although Tong Xiangyu felt safe with her, they had only been together for two days, so she didn’t dare be too brazen. She lowered her voice. “Because you’re the one who brought me here. If you hadn’t taken me, maybe my dad would have already sent someone to the school to save me.”

This was nonsense. Without Song Ge, she would have been bitten and turned in the classroom long ago.

However, Song Ge said, “Fair point.”

Tong Xiangyu’s eyes lit up. “So you agree?”

“No.” Song Ge closed her eyes again. “You’re right, but don’t say it again. Just stay here and wait for rescue.”

Tong Xiangyu pouted, unhappy. She opened the snack bag, found a piece of chocolate, and felt a bit better after eating half of it. She took two small sips of water and opened a bag of cucumber-flavored potato chips. After finishing them, she tied the shopping bag shut. She had to ration this one bag.

Once full, Tong Xiangyu finally began to care about the main issue. “When will the rescue team arrive?”

Song Ge rested with her eyes shut, her tone lazy. “How should I know? They’ll have to figure out what kind of virus this is first, otherwise, they’re just sending people to their deaths.”

“Why is there a virus like this?” Tong Xiangyu asked. “I mean, why did it break out in the school and outside at the same time?”

“It spread during the incubation period,” Song Ge replied.

Tong Xiangyu said, “If this virus has an incubation period, isn’t that a disaster? We are a provincial capital; the daily flow of people from all over the country is huge, and there are even more international flights. If it spreads during incubation, wouldn’t it break out in many cities or even countries? What did the trending searches say yesterday?”

Song Ge was startled. She opened her eyes.

Yes. If people didn’t realize there was an incubation period, the virus would spread without anyone knowing. But once the incubation ended, the outbreak would begin.

Kecheng shouldn’t have been the only one on the trending list.

Wait.

Song Ge was horrified.

What if there were other trending topics before, but they were suppressed just like the ones she saw today?!

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