Surviving the Apocalypse with the Young Miss - Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Cake

Song Ge ducked to the side, hiding her figure.

But once she was hidden, she frowned, not understanding why she felt the need to hide in the first place. Regardless, since she had already done it…

Song Ge waited for a moment, then turned and walked downstairs without looking back.

That night, a strange topic surged to the top of the trending searches.

It was reported that following the recent heavy rain, a vast number of deformed, dead fish had appeared along the coast. As the tide rose, these dead fish were left stranded on the shore. In this sweltering heat, leaving dead fish out for even two hours created an unbearable stench; after four hours, the area became infested with maggots and flies. People were calling for the relevant authorities to intervene as soon as possible.

Song Ge closed the video after watching it.

Abnormal movements in a species usually signaled an impending natural disaster.

When it involved fish, it was typically an undersea earthquake, a volcanic eruption, or if not natural some cold-blooded, soulless people dumping toxins into the ocean. Neither was impossible; the world is vast, and as long as one is alive, one will eventually witness the full “diversity” of the human species.

But none of this concerned Song Ge. She set her phone aside and dragged a large cardboard box out from the corner of the room.

Inside was manual labor she had taken on from her landlord: assembling clips for clothes hangers.

One hanger required fourteen clips. She had to fit two small wooden pieces into a metal core. It was physically demanding, but finishing one clip earned her three cents, meaning a full hanger was worth about forty cents.

Song Ge could finish over a hundred in a single night.

She had no choice. The city had strict regulations, and no one outside would hire a minor. If she tried to work at a restaurant or hotel, she would likely be sent home the same day she arrived—and without any pay.

After finishing half a box, Song Ge packed the items neatly and put them back in the cardboard box. She lay down on her small single bamboo bed to sleep.

She had grown quickly in the last two years, and the bed was starting to feel a bit small. Song Ge curled her legs slightly to fit.

The next day, on her way to school, Song Ge bought two plain steamed buns at a breakfast shop. However, a young man running blindly into the street slammed into her, knocking them to the ground. Someone behind was shouting urgently: “Stop that thief! Catch the thief!”

Song Ge looked at her buns, which had fallen to the ground and been stepped on by the thief. Without a word, she gave chase.

Despite her thin and frail appearance, she ran fast and possessed great strength.

Catching up to the thief, she swept his leg, twisted his arm behind his back, and had him pinned to the ground within seconds.

A good while later, a heavy-set auntie arrived, panting heavily.

Song Ge returned the stolen bag to the woman.

The woman opened the bag to check the contents, spat at the thief, gave him a hard kick, and turned to leave.

Song Ge called out to her, “Auntie.”

The woman turned back to look at Song Ge, only then remembering to thank her. She smiled. “Oh, right, thank you, student.” She glanced at Song Ge’s school uniform and said, “I’ll send a commemorative banner to your school later. What’s your name? Which class are you in?”

Song Ge replied, “A banner isn’t necessary. My breakfast just fell. Could you buy me two more?”

“Breakfast?” The woman frowned.

Song Ge said, “Or just give me two yuan, and I’ll go buy them myself.”

The woman rummaged through her bag. “I don’t have any change. Do you want a hundred-yuan bill?”

Song Ge was silent for a moment before saying, “I can buy the breakfast and bring back the change to you.”

The woman sized Song Ge up from head to toe once more, let out a “tch,” and simply turned around and walked away.

Song Ge watched her walk away quickly and didn’t call out again. Instead, she released her knee from the thief, who was still howling in pain. “What about you? Are you going to pay?”

The thief scrambled up, muttered “Crazy,” and immediately bolted.

Song Ge went back, picked up the flattened buns from the trash, and threw them away. She felt the few coins in her pocket but decided not to go back to the shop to buy more.

Song Ge continued toward school, not noticing that a black private car waiting at a red light nearby had lowered its window.

Tong Xiangyu watched Song Ge walk away and suddenly said to the driver, “Uncle Chen, have the chef make forty sandwiches… actually, make it forty small cakes and send them to the school. Make it quick.”

Although Uncle Chen was confused, he replied, “Yes, Miss.”

Song Ge slept through two classes in the morning. She was awakened by the sound of various voices around her, sensing movement coming toward her. She lifted her head from her arms and saw a beautiful girl standing in front of her. The girl’s skin was as fair and tender as a freshly peeled boiled egg. Her long, dark, soft hair was tied in a high ponytail that brushed against her neck.

“Sorry to disturb your sleep…” the girl spoke first.

Song Ge’s eyebrow twitched slightly. She didn’t speak, just looked at her calmly, as if asking: Is there something?

Tong Xiangyu felt a bit nervous under her gaze. Her toes, hidden from view, tapped the floor lightly. She said, “Someone at home is having a birthday. I’ve left a small cake here for you.”

Song Ge looked at the large piece of cake packaged in an exquisite transparent box and said nothing.

Tong Xiangyu stood there for two seconds, not knowing what else to say, so she turned and left.

As she was walking away, Song Ge finally spoke: “Happy birthday.”

Tong Xiangyu paused slightly. Just as she was about to turn back to say thank you, she saw that Song Ge was already tearing into the cake box. She ripped the box open roughly, stabbed a large chunk of cake with the fork, and stuffed it directly into her mouth.

Tong Xiangyu was dumbfounded. She had never seen a girl no, even few boys eat with such a manner. After a second of awkwardness, she forgot to even say “thank you” and walked away.

When she returned to her seat, Chu Qiao whispered, “Why give one to her? She’s a weirdo.”

“Everyone got one. It wouldn’t be right to leave her out.”

Nearby, Qin Mo was happily admiring her tiger-patterned bag while saying to Chu Qiao, “You know how kind Xiangyu is.”

“But that person is just so strange. She doesn’t study when she should, and every day she just sleeps as soon as she gets to school. No matter how much the teachers scold her, she’s so thick-skinned she doesn’t care at all. She doesn’t act like a girl at all,” Chu Qiao said. She glanced cautiously at Song Ge again and lowered her voice to tell Tong Xiangyu, “I think she might be a psychopath. Why else would a girl cut her hair that short?”

Tong Xiangyu said, “Stop talking. Eat your cake and taste it; our family chef is very talented.”

“Mhm!”

Song Ge could hear them, but she turned a deaf ear to their words. The cake was indeed delicious, but she was like “a mountain pig who can’t appreciate fine bran”—she only used it to fill her stomach and couldn’t really savor the flavor.

She casually tossed the box into the trash can behind her and went back to sleep on the desk.

Break time always brought a lot of chatter.

Before long, a new topic was brought up by the students in front of her.

They were talking about yesterday’s trending search.

But beautiful girls, of course, wouldn’t talk about dead fish washing up on the shore. They talked about which “young idol” was trending, celebrity gossip, or upcoming concerts.

Song Ge really didn’t want to listen, but her hearing was unfortunately too good. She reached up to pull her hoodie over her head.

She grabbed nothing but air, only then remembering she was wearing her school uniform, which had no hood.

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