Surviving the Apocalypse with the Young Miss - Chapter 57

Chapter 57: Confirmed

Song Ge thought it made sense; the young lady was thin-skinned and would probably find it very strange. But Song Ge wasn’t familiar with Yue Yao, so she said, “Maybe you should go talk to Yue Yao about it?”

Tong Xiangyu’s eyes widened. She looked at Song Ge in disbelief. “What? You’re going to kiss her?!”

Song Ge had only mentioned it in passing. Hearing Tong Xiangyu’s question, she imagined the scene for a moment and couldn’t help but frown. No—she didn’t want to.

However, what Tong Xiangyu saw was Song Ge not denying it. Her initial embarrassment and shock instantly transformed into anger. “Song Ge, are you crazy?”

Song Ge looked at her. “How am I crazy?”

“You… you!” Tong Xiangyu was choked with indignation, unable to find the words. “Anyway, you’re just being way too much!”

Song Ge was completely bewildered. But she knew better than to try and guess the young lady’s thoughts; realizing she couldn’t win, she didn’t argue. “Fine, I’m being too much.”

Hearing Song Ge admit it made Tong Xiangyu even angrier. In a fit of frustrated pique, she stamped her foot and turned to run back upstairs.

Song Ge watched her disappear around the corner of the stairwell. After standing there for a moment, she suddenly made a sharp turn and strode toward a different direction.

The child behind the tree saw things were taking a bad turn and tried to run, but they weren’t fast enough. Song Ge snatched them by the back of the collar. She lifted the little girl off the ground.

The girl was terrified, struggling and kicking her legs wildly.

Song Ge: “Spying?”

“I wasn’t, I wasn’t…” The girl’s face turned bright red from panic and fear. She didn’t even dare look at Song Ge, frantically trying to shout for an adult.

Just then, Tong Xiangyu ran back downstairs—”Song Ge!”

Song Ge turned her head. Taking advantage of the distraction, the girl wrenched her collar free, ducked through a few turns, and vanished.

Tong Xiangyu had come back down because Song Ge hadn’t followed her. She had spent a few moments sulking alone and, despite feeling embarrassed, decided to compromise a little. When she ran back down, she saw Song Ge speaking to someone.

Tong Xiangyu’s heart raced. Song Ge wouldn’t be so reckless as to find a random person to verify a hickey, would she? Even a second’s thought would tell her it was impossible, but her mind was in such a mess that she couldn’t think straight.

The little girl was gone by the time Tong Xiangyu reached her.

Song Ge asked, “What’s wrong?”

Tong Xiangyu stopped in front of her, glancing to the left. She whispered, “Who were you just talking to?”

“Nobody. There was a kid hiding behind a tree spying on us.” Song Ge asked, “Why did you come back down?”

Tong Xiangyu was confused. “A kid? What kid?”

Song Ge: “A girl about six or seven. Phoenix eyes, very thin, dirty face, crooked braids. Her clothes didn’t fit—the top was too small and the pants were too big, made of fabric that looked like repurposed old people’s clothes. Why did you come down?”

Tong Xiangyu looked around but saw no sign of the person Song Ge described. “Where is she?”

Seeing that Tong Xiangyu didn’t want to answer her question, Song Ge shoved her hands into her pockets. “Ran away.”

Tong Xiangyu frowned. “Why did she run?”

“I don’t know,” Song Ge said. “Probably scared off by you.”

Tong Xiangyu: “???”

Seeing the look of shocked confusion on the young lady’s face, Song Ge couldn’t help but smile.

Tong Xiangyu finally realized Song Ge was teasing her. She let out a “hump” and said defiantly, “I think being scared off by you is more like it.”

Song Ge didn’t argue. She asked, “Is Yue Yao awake?”

Hearing Yue Yao’s name made Tong Xiangyu’s heart skip a beat. She looked away unnaturally and told a small lie: “Why look for her? I just asked Yaoyao, and she said… she said she doesn’t want you to kiss her…”

As she spoke, her fingertips kept nervously picking at the seam of her pants.

Song Ge didn’t notice the lie. “Oh. You go back first then. I’m going to walk around.”

In truth, once Tong Xiangyu had refused, Song Ge had dropped the idea of “confirming.” Bringing up Yue Yao was purely to save face; luckily, Yue Yao (supposedly) said no, so she wasn’t stuck in an awkward spot.

Tong Xiangyu didn’t want to go back. Seeing that Song Ge didn’t react much to “Yue Yao’s refusal,” she followed closely at Song Ge’s side. “Where are you going now?”

Where to? Naturally, while it was daylight and they weren’t being actively followed, she needed to scout the area. She had to understand the layout of the base and the number of guards at various points to plan an escape route.

To Song Ge’s surprise, there were no guards along the compound’s perimeter walls. The walls looked renovated and reinforced, about four or five meters high made of red brick. There were wires and switch boxes on the walls, but they were clearly meant to be electrified to keep monsters out, not to keep people in. Song Ge remembered that the outside of the wall was surrounded by dense barbed wire.

Seeing this, Tong Xiangyu couldn’t help but say, “The security here is indeed very good. No wonder they’re willing to stay even if they’re forced. It’s so dangerous outside, and they have no way to protect themselves. They’d be dead the moment they met a monster.”

Song Ge said, “Who said they were being forced?”

Tong Xiangyu froze. “Wasn’t it you?”

Song Ge: “I’m just speculating.” Although she was almost certain.

But it didn’t matter. Song Ge didn’t care if those women were there voluntarily or by force, nor did she care what the organization’s ultimate goal was. All she knew was that this place was easy to enter but hard to leave—a “brass bucket” trap.

A powerful dragon cannot suppress a local snake. Here, they were at a complete disadvantage in terms of numbers, strength, and terrain. Any attempt to startle the snakes before they fled would be dangerous. They had to leave silently. If they failed, the consequences would be unthinkable. The margin for error was too low, so they had to be perfectly prepared. Monsters were terrifying, but at most, you died. If they fell into the hands of humans turned into demons, they would be facing an eternal hell.

Following the outer wall to the back of the compound, they saw the self-built fish pond Nana had mentioned. Coincidentally, one pond was being drained to catch fish. About a dozen fishermen were in the mud, and some children were covered in it. The scene actually looked somewhat harmonious.

Still, there were no women in sight.

Song Ge stood at the edge, silently memorizing the terrain. Her eyes fell on the pond; once drained, it was several meters deep. An aluminum telescopic ladder was propped there. If fully extended, it would be long enough to scale the wall. However, telescopic ladders make a lot of noise when extended. If they used that…

While Song Ge was deep in thought, Tong Xiangyu had already followed a scent into one of the houses.

Tong Xiangyu found it strange. According to Nana, the first ten buildings were full, and Building 11 was only cleared out for them. In that case, these houses further back shouldn’t be inhabited.

The woman working in the kitchen looked visibly startled. She only sighed in relief when she saw it was Tong Xiangyu.

“It smells so good~” Tong Xiangyu smiled. She was beautiful, and her smile was infectious. She asked curiously in a soft voice, “Sister, what are you cooking?”

“Breakfast. Pumpkin porridge,” the woman said succinctly, tucking a stray hair behind her ear. She turned to look at Tong Xiangyu again, certain she had never seen her before. “You’re new?”

“Mhm,” Tong Xiangyu said. “My name is Yuyu. My two friends and I arrived in Taiyun yesterday. We met Leader Zeus, and he was kind enough to take us in for a few days.”

Hearing this, the woman lowered her eyes. She silently opened the pot lid and stirred the porridge with a ladle.

“What’s your name, sister? Have you been here long?” Tong Xiangyu used her sweet voice to build rapport. “Sister, I haven’t had breakfast yet. Can I have a small bowl of porridge?”

The woman gave a low “mhm” and silently served her a bowl. During the process, she looked at her twice, as if wanting to say something but hesitating.

Tong Xiangyu held the bowl and looked at her. “Sister, what is it?”

“How… how old are you?” the woman finally asked hesitantly.

“I’m a high school senior, eighteen years old.” Tong Xiangyu smiled innocently, but her mind was racing, trying to figure out how to extract useful information. She stirred the porridge, then let her smile fade, saying dejectedly, “Sigh, who would have thought such a disaster from the movies would happen in real life? It was a narrow escape getting here. Luckily, we found this place…”

Seeing that Tong Xiangyu was clean, young, and seemingly naive, the woman stole a glance at the camera in the corner. She bit her lip, turned her back to the surveillance, and whispered, “Do you know what it’s like outside? Is there really no rescue coming?”

“Not yet,” Tong Xiangyu said. She saw the hope in the woman’s eyes instantly extinguish, replaced by a deathly pallor.

Tong Xiangyu felt a pang of pity and added, “But don’t worry, sister, rescue will come soon.”

The woman let out a low, cynical laugh, her eyes dark and hopeless. “If the whole country has fallen, where would the state save first? When the outbreak started, the government told us not to panic, to stay indoors, and that help was coming. We got countless alerts… and then…”

The woman began to sob.

Tong Xiangyu stopped eating and quickly handed her a tissue. “Sister, don’t cry! I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said that.”

The woman shook her head, taking the tissue to wipe her eyes. As her loose sleeve fell back, it revealed a thin, pale arm.

Tong Xiangyu froze. Staring at the bruises on the arm, she suddenly asked, “Sister, is your arm hurt?”

“Ah…” The woman realized what she’d shown and hurriedly pulled her sleeve down to cover it. “It’s nothing, I just bumped it while cooking yesterday.”

But Tong Xiangyu was certain. Those weren’t marks from a bump; they looked like they had been squeezed—ring-shaped bruises!

The thought of the women here being used as “objects” and being subjected to violence made Tong Xiangyu feel like she was sitting on pins and needles. Even taking a breath made her heart panic.

“Do you want some sugar?” The woman regained her composure and stood up to get some. By the time she returned, Tong Xiangyu was gone.

Song Ge asked, “Are you sure?”

“I’m very sure!” Tong Xiangyu nodded vigorously. “The injuries on that sister were definitely from a man. She was so concerned about the situation outside; she must want to leave as soon as possible.”

Song Ge thought that if that was the case, having someone inside to help would significantly lower the risks of their escape. But they couldn’t take chances. Like Tong Xiangyu had said before, the outside was full of danger, while here they at least had safety.

Song Ge thought as she walked back. They passed some uninhabited residential buildings. The area was quiet, with no one around. Seeing Song Ge walking straight ahead, Tong Xiangyu grabbed her shirt. “Wait a second, Song Ge.”

“Mhm?” Song Ge turned, still deep in thought.

Tong Xiangyu looked down. She could feel Song Ge looking at her, and her ears slowly turned red. She whispered, “I… I was just startled before. I think… it’s okay if you try it. After all, it’s so we can get out…”

Song Ge: “What?”

Tong Xiangyu’s face was bright red. Just as she was about to speak—

Song Ge realized what she meant. Seeing the young lady’s face so red it looked like it was steaming, she let out a small laugh. The poor girl really was scared witless, Song Ge thought.

Song Ge said, “No need.”

She didn’t need to confirm it. Whether it was a hickey or not didn’t change things—they just needed to get out as soon as possible.

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