Surviving the Apocalypse with the Young Miss - Chapter 41

Chapter 41: Allergy

Tong Xiangyu was deeply moved after listening to the story. Having experienced the tide of monsters in Kecheng, she knew exactly how dire the situation was; once bitten, it meant death. She turned to look at Song Ge, waiting for her reaction.

Song Ge, however, gave a conclusion with no expression: “A one-sided story.”

Yue Yao hurriedly tried to defend herself: “That’s really how it was. My dad told me.”

Song Ge: “And isn’t your dad’s account a ‘one-sided story’ too?”

Yue Yao froze.

Song Ge then said to Tong Xiangyu, “Little Moral Paragon, since when are your standards so low? Her family killed so many people, and you actually pity her?”

Tong Xiangyu said, “Wasn’t it out of self-defense at the time?”

Song Ge: “The first time was. What about the rest? Killing the eyewitnesses because they were afraid of the truth coming out—is that also self-defense?”

Tong Xiangyu was instantly silenced.

In truth, Song Ge didn’t think the girl was lying. From the behavior and dialogue between the father and daughter that night, it was clear that the male head of the house was the one who was more alert and reactive. If there was a lie, it was the father lying to the daughter. And considering the timeline of the outbreak in Kecheng, the likelihood of the man lying was slim. If one truly intended to lie, they would instinctively avoid points that painted them in a bad light—such as beating eyewitnesses to death. The man could have easily claimed those people had also gone mad and tried to bite them.

However, the fact that she was telling the truth didn’t mean Song Ge was going to take on an extra burden. Song Ge tossed a seat cushion into the fire and turned to strip another one from a nearby car.

Seeing Song Ge leave, Tong Xiangyu immediately looked at Yue Yao. Yue Yao kept her eyes down, and at some point, she had started crying again.

Tong Xiangyu didn’t know how to comfort her, so she just said, “That’s just how Song Ge talks—very blunt. She doesn’t actually have any ill intent, don’t take it to heart.”

Tong Xiangyu added, “As for what your father did, I know it must have been a last resort. Don’t worry about it too much. After all, no one cares about those things anymore. The number of people dead in Kecheng is far greater than this.”

Yue Yao wiped her tears and looked at her. “You said before…”

“Yes, almost everyone in Kecheng is dead. I wasn’t lying to you,” Tong Xiangyu said. “Monsters bite people to death, and the dead become monsters themselves. The whole city is full of those zombie-like creatures you see in movies. Song Ge and I escaped to find help.”

Yue Yao stared blankly at Tong Xiangyu.

Tong Xiangyu’s tone was sincere. She stood up to stomp her numb feet, flipped the shirt that had dried on one side, and squatted back down. “Don’t be fooled by Song Ge’s cold exterior; she’s the one who saved me. If it wasn’t for her, I’d be dead long ago.”

Hearing this, Yue Yao remembered how Song Ge had suddenly grabbed her wrist just as she was sliding into the pond, certain she was going to die. She looked in the direction Song Ge had gone.

Tong Xiangyu said, “I said everyone in Kecheng is dead, but actually, no—there are still many survivors.” At this, her eyes dimmed. It had rained for half a month; she didn’t know how Grandma Tian or Auntie Jiang were doing. Especially Auntie Jiang’s family, who lived on the rooftop. With such a massive storm, the rooftop wouldn’t just be flooded; the water would pour from the roof into the entire building.

Although she and Song Ge had a hard time in the wild, they hadn’t seen any biting monsters since leaving the city. While there were rotting corpses on the road, it was nowhere near as terrifying as the city. Usually, heavy rain would clog the city sewers, and water would flood the streets or even the lower floors. Now, with so many rotting corpses, the water pollution would be more severe, and bacteria and viruses would spread faster.

Tong Xiangyu was filled with worry.

Song Ge returned. She maintained the fire and looked up at Yue Yao. She noticed the girl had been staring at her. Meeting Song Ge’s gaze, Yue Yao immediately looked away.

Song Ge withdrew her gaze. While stripping the seat cushions, she had observed the roadside carefully. Although the flood had submerged many fields, the water was receding quickly. And because they were in a mountainous area, the pollution from mountain torrents was likely less than in urban areas—unlike the moat. After half a month of rain, the river had surged; those “giant’s view” bloated corpses were likely torn to pieces, flowing into the city along with rotting fish. The situation in the city would only be more tragic.

But Song Ge didn’t have time to worry about Kecheng right now. For them, the most important thing was that a large section of the provincial highway had collapsed. They needed to find a detour to the next city. If they encountered multiple landslides, they would have to detour multiple times, greatly extending their journey. Combined with the damaged roads making it impossible to bike, the whole trip would consume much more time.

Song Ge didn’t know how far the next city was. Her concern was that if there were no monsters on the road but there were rotting corpses, it meant the monsters had passed through but were chasing people toward the next city. This was as tricky as the virus having an incubation period and breaking out nationwide at the same time.

Tong Xiangyu’s clothes were dry. She put them back on and ruffled her hair to help it dry faster. She didn’t take off her pants; since she was squatting, they were close to the fire and mostly dry. She tried to get her hair dry as quickly as possible, but she couldn’t help scratching her back—it was itchy.

Tong Xiangyu was almost dry, but Yue Yao was still soaked—her shirt, red skirt, and long braid were all dripping. She didn’t dare move much, wanting to minimize her presence. Her father was dead, Uncle Jiang was dead, and Grandma Chen’s family was dead. She was the only one left in the village. She had no plan; she just wanted to follow these two.

But while Tong Xiangyu was easy to talk to, the short-haired girl who had saved her in her moment of peril clearly didn’t intend to take her along.

Tong Xiangyu knew it might take a little time to convince Song Ge. But since Song Ge tacitly allowed Yue Yao to follow, it was only a matter of time before she agreed. So, she just told Yue Yao to follow quietly.

Her hair was dry now, so Tong Xiangyu used the “wooden hairpin” Song Ge gave her to put it in a bun. After all these days, she had learned the technique; it was still a bit clumsy, but it worked.

Song Ge needed to find a safe place to spend the night. But given the conditions after a storm—mountain slopes might collapse, and upstream might have flash floods—she figured it was better to stay on this cleared section of the highway. At least the landslide wouldn’t spread here, and the visibility was good enough to react in time.

Just then, Tong Xiangyu suddenly let out a cry.

Song Ge was startled and immediately looked over. “What’s wrong?”

Tong Xiangyu was sitting by the fire, taking off her shoes. Her shoes were still wet; she had forgotten to take them off earlier. But once she removed her socks, she saw that her ankles and the tops of her feet were covered in a red rash.

Tong Xiangyu touched them; it was incredibly itchy. She looked up at Song Ge piteously. Song Ge met her gaze and saw that her face was also covered in the same red rash. Seeing her instinctively raising her hand to scratch her face, Song Ge rushed over and grabbed her wrist. “Don’t scratch. You’re likely having an allergic reaction.”

The rain wasn’t clean, and the young lady had delicate skin; being drenched for so long was bound to cause an allergy.

“But it’s so itchy, Song Ge…” Tong Xiangyu couldn’t help herself. Whether it was psychological or not, she found that not just her feet, but her face, arms, and body—every single inch of her—had an uncontrollable itch that was driving her mad.

“Ah!” she struggled hard, trying to pull her hand away to scratch.

Song Ge was strong and could forcefully control her hands. But holding her down was useless. Tong Xiangyu, unable to take it anymore, rubbed her face against Song Ge’s chest repeatedly. But this only treated the symptoms, not the cause; the itch became even worse after rubbing. Her neck, back, buttocks… Tong Xiangyu was going crazy.

Yue Yao watched this blankly, then suddenly remembered something. “I know a herb that can stop itching!” She stood up immediately. “Wait a moment!”

The “moment” took quite a while.

Tong Xiangyu was in agony, her face flushed red, almost twisting into a pretzel in Song Ge’s arms. Finally, Yue Yao ran back panting, holding a large bundle of emerald-green, oblong leaves. She squatted down, stripped the wet leaves from the stalks, rubbed them dozens of times with her hands, and prepared to press them onto the rash on Tong Xiangyu’s face.

Song Ge immediately blocked her with a hand, frowning. “What is this?”

“Tougu Grass (Japanese Enkianthus),” Yue Yao replied breathlessly. “We use it all the time. it can treat bruises, promote blood circulation, and also stop itching and detoxify.”

Song Ge: “Try it on her hand first.”

Yue Yao: “Mhm.”

Tong Xiangyu was held tightly by Song Ge. Because she couldn’t scratch, she stayed leaned against Song Ge’s chest. The itch was so bad she was struggling to endure. Once the herb juice was applied, two or three minutes passed like years. It seemed to work. Tong Xiangyu said piteously, “It seems… a little less itchy…”

Seeing it was effective, Song Ge told Tong Xiangyu not to scratch. She took the herbs from the ground, stripped them, and began rubbing them rapidly. Then she flipped up the hem of Tong Xiangyu’s shirt; sure enough, her body was covered in it. She pressed the leaves and juice onto the rash on Tong Xiangyu’s back.

Seeing this, Yue Yao hurriedly said, “I’ll go pick some more!”

Tong Xiangyu also started helping. She forced herself not to scratch; whenever an itch felt like it would drive her insane, she would rub some leaves and plaster them onto her body. She didn’t know if this was just a temporary fix, but at least it stopped the itching for now.

This time Yue Yao was gone even longer. When she returned, she was carrying a stainless steel washbasin filled with Tougu grass and half a basin of water.

“Decocting the herbs in water works better,” Yue Yao said, setting down the basin. “I found the basin in my house.”

Song Ge: “What kind of water?”

Yue Yao hesitated, looking cautiously at Song Ge. “Rainwater. Because the taps at home are all broken…”

Song Ge: “Her rash was caused by the rain.”

Yue Yao tried to argue: “But boiling the water will kill the bacteria. It should be fine.”

Tong Xiangyu tugged on Song Ge’s clothes. Song Ge frowned but could only agree. She gathered several large stones, propped up the stainless steel basin, and began boiling the herbal water.

Seeing this, Yue Yao said, “I’ll go back one more time!”

Song Ge didn’t respond.

Yue Yao ran back and returned quickly. This time she had a pot and a bag of rice noodles that looked wet and soft. Yue Yao said, “I figured you might not have anything to eat. These dried noodles were kept high up, but they were soaked by rain. They didn’t touch the mud, so they’re still fairly clean. They should be edible once cooked, right?”

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