Surviving the Apocalypse with the Young Miss - Chapter 20

Chapter 20: Comforting Her

Song Ge shifted her shoulder bag and realized the shop she had entered was a nail salon. The place was a mess; tables and chairs were overturned, and old blood spatters stained the walls. However, it appeared abandoned; no monsters remained inside.

After the intense struggle, Song Ge’s physical energy was severely depleted. Combined with the sweltering heat trapped by her masks, sweat poured off her like she was in a sauna. She scanned the workstation for anything useful and caught sight of various pretty, cartoonish nail patches. A thought flickered across her mind: The Young Mistress would probably like these.

But there were no “weapons” useful to her.

Song Ge gripped her spear. Hearing the sounds of monsters chasing from downstairs, she decisively stepped out onto an air conditioning unit and moved to the adjacent building.

Next door was a gym.

Now here was useful stuff. Song Ge grabbed several dumbbells and picked up two resistance bands from a counter. Wasting no time, she leaped from the second-floor railing onto the roof of a parked private car.

The monsters below let out excited howls and lunged toward her. The creatures inside the shops also began swarming back downstairs.

Time was of the essence. Song Ge quickly tied the highly elastic resistance bands across the doorway. Sweat covered her eyelids and lashes, but the more nervous she felt, the steadier her hands became. Once finished, she turned and ran back onto the main road.

The monsters gave chase, but they were blocked by the resistance bands. They lunged forward, but the bands didn’t snap—not until they all crowded forward at once. The glass doors couldn’t withstand the collective force and shattered with a loud bang. The front row of monsters, suddenly losing all resistance, tumbled forward, and those behind them piled on one after another.

By then, Song Ge had finished off the monsters “guarding” the bottom of the stairs.

She rolled the dumbbells across the ground toward the monsters. She didn’t expect to knock them all down like bowling pins, but monsters aren’t flexible; they charge without looking at their feet. That many dumbbells were bound to trip some up.

Just as she expected, some fell, and the rest piled on top.

Seeing her chance, Song Ge finally wiped away the sweat obstructing her vision. Without a moment’s hesitation, she sprinted toward where Tong Xiangyu had been standing.

In the distance, the faint sound of a massive horde rumbled like thunder. Song Ge glanced back as she ran; the dense, black mass of creatures sent a shiver down her spine. Reaching the door, she pounded on it, ripped off her mask, and shouted: “Tong Xiangyu! It’s me!”

The door opened a few seconds later.

Song Ge burst inside. Before she could say “lock the door,” someone threw themselves into her arms.

Tong Xiangyu hugged Song Ge tightly around the waist, her hands patting and squeezing her back and arms to check if she was whole, sobbing piteously all the while. “Song Ge, Song Ge! Thank goodness you’re… you’re okay…”

The grandmother hurried to lock and bolt the door.

Held in that tearful embrace, Song Ge realized her whole body was stiff. Her hands were spread awkwardly at her sides, and she was holding her breath, not daring to exhale loudly.

Though the life-or-death tension of combat had passed, it took Song Ge a long time to recover her senses. After a while, she managed to say, “I’m covered in sweat… there might be zombie blood on me…”

But Tong Xiangyu didn’t let go. Instead, she hugged her tighter and cried even louder!

Song Ge tilted her head slightly, feeling the crying was vibrating in her ears. She then figured that since it was the first time the “Young Mistress” had seen such a scene, she must be truly terrified.

I was the same at the beginning, she thought.

Song Ge exhaled slowly and reached out her right hand to awkwardly pat Tong Xiangyu’s back, offering a clumsy comfort: “Don’t be afraid. It’s over.”

The grandmother looked at the two girls who had survived the ordeal and asked, “Have you eaten anything?”

Song Ge gently pushed Tong Xiangyu back and thanked the elderly woman solemnly: “Thank you, ma’am.”

Tong Xiangyu snapped out of it too, wiping her aching eyes and sobbing a thank you: “Th-thank you, Granny. We’ve… we’ve already eaten.”

“Then rest here for a bit.” The grandmother smiled kindly. She had no candles, but the windows were large, making the room very bright. The decor was nice. She led them to a spare bedroom and said, “It’s just that there’s no water in the bathroom; the water’s been cut.”

The grandmother asked Song Ge, “Are you injured anywhere?”

Song Ge’s adrenaline had been spiking so high she hadn’t felt a thing. She wasn’t sure if she had been hurt during the struggle. However, since she hadn’t turned, it meant she hadn’t been bitten. She checked herself and found only a scraped wound on her wrist that was bleeding slightly; she didn’t know when she had grazed it.

Song Ge said she was fine.

Seeing the wound, Tong Xiangyu looked panicked. Her crying hadn’t even finished when she tearfully asked the grandmother if she had a first-aid kit.

“Yes, yes,” the grandmother said. “It’s in my room. I’ll go get it.”

Tong Xiangyu went with her. She learned that the grandmother’s surname was Tian, her name was Tian Yuehua, and she was the landlady of this building, sixty-eight years old.

The old lady had silvery-white hair and a slight slouch, but she was nimble and had sharp hearing and sight. She watched Tong Xiangyu open the first-aid kit and then said to them: “I’ll come call you when it’s time for dinner. We’ll go upstairs and join the others.”

“‘Others’?” Song Ge looked at her. “How many people are here?”

“Twelve,” the grandmother recalled perfectly. “There are two of my original tenant households—one family of four and a young couple. The other six are students like you who escaped from the school over a week ago, boys and girls.”

Granny Tian stood for a moment before leaving. Before she went, she told them to rest well and said they could keep the kit for now; no one else needed it at the moment anyway.

Tong Xiangyu thanked the grandmother again.

After Granny Tian left, Tong Xiangyu took an alcohol cotton ball to clean Song Ge’s wound. The scrape on her wrist was quite bad; blood had even smeared onto her clothes.

Tong Xiangyu kept her head down in silence. The room became quiet.

Song Ge felt the sting of the alcohol and couldn’t help but let out a soft “hiss.” The next moment, two large tears dropped plop, plop warmly and symmetrically onto the back of her hand.

Song Ge: “…”

Song Ge cleared her throat and reached for the tweezers in Tong Xiangyu’s hand. “How can you be effective being so gentle? Let me do it.”

Tong Xiangyu pulled away, refusing to let her take them. With her head still down and her vision blurred by tears, she continued to clean the wound with extreme gentleness and care.

Song Ge ran a hand through her hair, feeling a bit out of her element. After a moment, she remembered something. She reached into her pocket and felt a surge of satisfaction when she touched the item.

Song Ge pulled it out and held her hand open in front of Tong Xiangyu. “Here. Little Milk Tea, for you.”

Tong Xiangyu’s vision was too blurry to see what it was; it just looked like a splash of colors. She wiped her tears and realized it was a handful of adorable, moist-looking nail patches.

Tong Xiangyu looked up at Song Ge.

Seeing the girl’s beautiful eyes red from crying and her nose flushed, Song Ge said softly, “Really, stop crying. Your eyes need rest after being hit by that strong light. If you keep crying, they’ll get inflamed. You’ll actually go blind.”

Tong Xiangyu pouted and sniffled.

“I took these from the shop just now,” Song Ge said, lightly tossing the nail patches in her hand before handing them over again. “I thought you’d like them.”

Tong Xiangyu’s nose was stuffed, making her voice sound muffled. “Taking without asking is stealing.”

“You look down on them? Fine, I’ll return them later then.” Song Ge teased, pretending to pull her hand back.

But Tong Xiangyu reached out to stop her, her fingers brushing over Song Ge’s palm as she snatched the patches away. She said with a nasal voice, “I’ll just pay for them next time.”

Song Ge laughed. “That won’t do.”

Tong Xiangyu looked at her.

Song Ge looked back and said, “I’m the one giving them to you. Of course I’ll be the one to pay.”

Tong Xiangyu bit her lip. Finally, she couldn’t help it; she broke into a smile through her tears.

Seeing the “Young Mistress” finally smile, Song Ge felt a weight lift from her heart. Once she relaxed, she realized every muscle in her body was aching. She let out a long sigh and flopped down onto the large bed.

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