Surviving the Apocalypse with the Young Miss - Chapter 39

Chapter 39: Rainstorm

Song Ge took a few steps toward the small path. Lightning flickered in the sky; when it lit up, she saw that the person was carrying a basket in one hand and a folding umbrella in the other.

No weapons.

The sky had turned dark, and with the dense cloud cover today, the light was even dimmer. However, Yue Yao had walked this path since childhood and was very familiar with it; usually, there were no accidents. She only lowered her head and quickened her pace as she passed the pond.

Seeing Song Ge waiting, Yue Yao broke into a trot at the end. Once close, she handed the basket to Song Ge. “You probably don’t have anything to eat, right? These are sweet potato strips that haven’t been dried much yet. You’ll have to make do with these to fill your stomachs.”

Song Ge originally didn’t want to accept them—one must be cautious about anything ingested. But she noticed snags and rusty scrapes on the girl’s red skirt; she must have gotten them while climbing over that pile of scrap metal.

This trip was not authorized by those men.

Sure enough, Yue Yao’s next sentence confirmed Song Ge’s suspicion: “I originally wanted to bring them after dinner so I could bring some cooked rice and dishes, but it’s about to rain, and if I come out at night my dad might find out. I could only come now…”

Only then did Song Ge reach out to take the basket. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” After replying, Yue Yao seemed to want to explain something, but ultimately stopped herself. “Then I’ll head back first.”

“Take the basket back with you.” Song Ge took the sweet potatoes in her hands and returned the basket.

Yue Yao nodded, took the basket, and quickly returned the way she came.

The rain hadn’t fallen yet. Song Ge watched from a distance as the girl carefully climbed back over the scrap metal. Just then, a man stepped out into the lit yard and alertly shone a flashlight toward the blockade. Soon, the man asked suspiciously, “Yaoyao?”

“It’s me, Uncle Jiang. The wind blew the basket over here, I’m just picking it up.”

The wind carried their conversation over. Seeing the girl land safely, Song Ge returned to the car with the sweet potatoes.

Seeing the food in Song Ge’s hands, Tong Xiangyu immediately asked, “Is it for us to eat?”

Song Ge: “Mhm.”

Tong Xiangyu said worriedly, “It’s not poisoned, is it?”

Song Ge gave Tong Xiangyu a slightly surprised look, thinking that this young lady wasn’t so naive as to be beyond help; at least she had the necessary vigilance.

Song Ge turned on the flashlight and inspected the sweet potatoes thoroughly. They were peeled and cut into long strips, soft and waxy to the touch, with only the outside slightly hardened—this was the result of being dried in the hot sun. There were no needle holes or signs of them being soaked in anything.

Earlier that afternoon, she had seen the girl standing in the yard flipping something on a bamboo tray; it must have been these sweet potato strips. Song Ge finished her inspection and turned off the light. She looked at Tong Xiangyu and said teasingly, “Don’t worry, I’ll eat first. You can eat after I’m fine.”

Tong Xiangyu’s eyes widened. “That doesn’t make me worry less at all! What if you eat it and something is wrong?”

Song Ge smiled.

Tong Xiangyu: “You can still smile?”

Tong Xiangyu was truly worried and told Song Ge not to eat. After a hesitation, she added, “When we rode past that small path this afternoon, I saw several bloody shoes on the slope. Men’s shoes and women’s shoes.”

The smile faded from Song Ge’s face. She looked at Tong Xiangyu. “You noticed?”

Tong Xiangyu was surprised. “You saw them too?”

“Mhm,” Song Ge said. “So something definitely happened here, but these sweet potatoes should be safe.”

“Why?”

“If they really wanted to hurt us, wouldn’t it be easier to let us stay and poison our dinner? Besides, they outnumber us and they’re strong farmers. To overpower two ‘helpless’ girls… to put it bluntly, they wouldn’t even need poison.”

Tong Xiangyu said, “No, no, no.”

Song Ge: “What ‘no’?”

“I’m the only ‘helpless’ girl. You are definitely not.”

Song Ge laughed and handed her the sweet potatoes. “Then, helpless girl, are you eating or not?”

“I’m eating. Since you put it that way.” Tong Xiangyu took the sweet potato with both hands and asked, “Then what was with those shoes?”

“I don’t know, but it’s definitely related to the reason why a group of men didn’t even dare to take in two help—” Song Ge paused and corrected herself, “—two girls like us.”

Song Ge’s guess was correct.

After Yue Yao returned home, she was scolded by her father. A broken basket being blown away should have been left alone; one shouldn’t go over there, especially at night. Yue Yao obeyed honestly and didn’t talk back.

At this time, Jiang Ming, the loud-voiced man from the afternoon, spoke up: “Are they really from Kecheng? They didn’t ask anything?”

“No,” Yue Qiuxiong said. “They only said there’s some kind of infectious disease in the city that makes people bite.”

Yue Yao thought to herself that they had said even more—that everyone in Kecheng who got the disease was dead. Of course, that might have been an exaggeration…

Jiang Ming was startled. “Biting? Isn’t that just like—”

Yue Qiuxiong glanced at the elder at the table and quickly glared at him, signaling not to discuss that topic.

Simultaneously, the torrential rain finally began to pour.

Song Ge watched the storm through the window. The rain was so heavy it flowed down the glass in sheets, making it impossible to see anything outside except during flashes of lightning.

Tong Xiangyu was a little scared. Song Ge noticed and said, “This car is parked in a good spot. It’s not near any cliffs, so no matter how hard it rains, there’s no danger of falling rocks.”

Tong Xiangyu nodded, but she was still afraid as she looked out. “It hasn’t rained in so long.”

Song Ge: “Didn’t it rain right before the outbreak?”

Tong Xiangyu remembered that time and murmured, “That time it rained for three days before stopping…”

Song Ge said, “Mhm, but the forecast originally said it would rain for a week.”

Tong Xiangyu was filled with worry, leaning over the steering wheel. “What if it rains for three days this time, or even longer?”

Song Ge said, “Then we do nothing and stay in the car. With rain this heavy, it’s impossible for monsters to come out and bite people.”

But Tong Xiangyu was worried about other things. “But so many people died in the city, so many rotting corpses. Once the rain washes them away and the sun comes out, the water cycle starts. All kinds of viruses and pollution will spread even further…”

The water cycle.

Song Ge thought of the dead bodies and fish she saw floating in the moat. She thought to herself that the “cycle” had likely already begun; the spread of viruses and pollution had started long ago.

Thunder and torrential rain lasted the entire night. Tong Xiangyu didn’t sleep well. When she woke up, she could vaguely see the dim light of dawn through the window, but she couldn’t see anything clearly because the rain was still pouring.

The thing Tong Xiangyu feared eventually happened. This extreme rainstorm lasted much longer than three days.

The sweet potatoes Yue Yao sent were finished. The raw ones had been peeled and eaten too. There was one bag of braised chicken legs left, and a few small bags of compressed biscuits and jerky. The remaining food could last another two days.

But their car couldn’t hold out.

Song Ge keenly sensed something was wrong when the steadily parked car tilted forward slightly. Though the movement was tiny and almost imperceptible amidst the wind and rain, Song Ge decisively opened the door immediately.

Tong Xiangyu screamed, “Song Ge, don’t go out! It’s too dangerous!!”

But Song Ge had already opened the door. Before she even stepped out, the fierce, dense raindrops hit her like bullets. The gale blew a mist of rain; her hearing was instantly filled with nothing but the roar of water and wind, and visibility was reduced to almost nothing.

Song Ge wiped the rain from her face and struggled to open her eyes. When she saw the situation, her heart nearly stopped! More than half of the provincial highway ahead had collapsed! Many cars had already fallen; some were submerged at the bottom and gone from sight, while others were halved in the mud.

The collapsed section was only ten or so meters from their car. At the rate this rain was falling, it would be their turn in two or three minutes!

Song Ge immediately shouted to Tong Xiangyu inside: “Come here! This way!”

The rain was too loud. Even though Song Ge shouted twice, it took a moment for Tong Xiangyu to understand. She grabbed the backpack, climbed over the center console from the driver’s seat, and scrambled to the passenger side. Song Ge grabbed her hand and helped her out of the car.

The moment Tong Xiangyu entered the storm, she let out a cry. She was instantly drenched and looking miserable. Song Ge raised her hand to shield her from the rain, though it made little difference.

Song Ge struggled to see in the rain. Although she couldn’t see clearly, the priority was moving away from the collapse. Leading her back further and further, Song Ge suddenly kicked something.

Song Ge looked down; it was actually the bicycle she had parked earlier. In this wind and rain, the bicycle hadn’t been blown away? She looked up and saw they were backed against a large mountain. That mountain had little soil but much vegetation; trees were rooted deep into the cliffside with roots everywhere. This kind of rocky mountain rarely suffered mudslides and provided good protection against wind and rain. Even if there were falling rocks, several days of rain would have already washed them down.

Song Ge decisively led Tong Xiangyu up the mountain. The forest provided cover; though it was still pouring, it was better than nothing. The situation improved slightly. At least Song Ge could open her eyes without as much pain.

Tong Xiangyu also used both hands to shield her forehead from the rain. Then she suddenly screamed, “Song Ge, look!”

Song Ge looked in the direction she pointed. Those residential buildings against the mountain had been mostly buried by mud; some had even collapsed. Furniture and firewood were being washed out by the rain. A girl in a red dress was swaying in the wind and rain, walking with great difficulty toward them. The path beneath her feet was almost unrecognizable.

Yue Yao was sobbing helplessly in the storm. She remembered her father’s hand gradually growing cold, Uncle Jiang’s body crushed by a collapsed beam, and Grandma Chen, who, fearing she and her grandson would be swept away by the flood, tied themselves to a house pillar—only to be drowned alive.

Yue Yao wailed in despair. Her foot slipped, and she nearly fell into the pond. The pond was already overflowing. Yue Yao clawed at the muddy, melting path, trying desperately to climb back up. Suddenly, something touched her.

She turned her head in the storm, only to see a completely bloated, rotting leg.

Yue Yao screamed in terror. Her grip on the path loosened, and she was about to slide into the center of the pond when, in the next second, someone grabbed her wrist with great force.

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