Surviving the Apocalypse with the Young Miss - Chapter 63

Chapter 63: Betrayal

“Let’s go,” Song Ge said, her words carrying a double meaning.

Tong Xiangyu sat up from the bed, rubbing her eyes and nodding. She knew they couldn’t bring their belongings. Looking at the backpack filled with essential items she had painstakingly selected after opening thousands of packages on the road, she picked up a single sanitary pad and told Song Ge to wait for her outside.

Not only did she change her pad, but she also changed out of her skirt, putting on loose-fitting long sleeves and pants that were more practical for an escape. Then, she walked back to the backpack, intending to take two more pads. For a girl on her period, carrying one or two extra pads for emergencies was perfectly normal.

However, while rummaging through the bag, Tong Xiangyu suddenly saw the tablets she had risked stealing from the warehouse that morning. If everything went well, they would successfully escape tonight. This medicine wouldn’t be needed. But after a moment of hesitation, as if possessed, she tucked the blister pack of pills between two sanitary pads. Under the direct gaze of the surveillance camera, she walked out with them openly and put them in her pants pocket.

She stepped into the living room. The dim, yellow afterglow of the sunset fell through the large transparent windows, dyeing everything in a murky amber.

Yue Yao was still in her room reading, though she had turned on the light and shifted from her stiff, upright posture to resting her face on one hand. Tong Xiangyu knocked on the door.

Yue Yao looked up. “Yu-Yu?”

Looking at Yue Yao’s innocent and clear gaze, Tong Xiangyu felt a bit conflicted, realizing that after they parted this time, they might never see each other again.

Song Ge called out: “Little Milk Tea.”

Tong Xiangyu snapped back to reality and said to Yue Yao, “Yao Yao, Song Ge and I are going to have buns for dinner at a sister’s place in the complex. Do you want to come? Or are you going to have dinner with Zeus and Nana?” In her heart, she knew that eating with Zeus meant seeing Gao He, and Yue Yao wouldn’t want to miss that chance.

Sure enough, she heard Yue Yao ask, “Are you going right now?”

“Yeah, going a bit early to see if we can help with anything,” Tong Xiangyu made up a random excuse.

Yue Yao, still holding her book and showing no intention of getting up, looked at Tong Xiangyu and said, “Then you two go ahead. I’ll read for a while longer.”

This sentence alone represented her attitude. First, she didn’t ask which building they were eating in, and second, she didn’t ask about the time. It was clearly a brush-off.

Tong Xiangyu understood, so she said, “Then tell Zeus and Nana when you see them tonight.”

Yue Yao: “Okay.”

That was the end of the conversation, and they could leave. But looking at Yue Yao, who had already bowed her head back to her book, Tong Xiangyu gripped the doorframe, the words stuck in her throat. Seeing her hesitation, Song Ge pulled her away without a word.

In the backyard of the complex, the large fish in the ponds had all been caught, and the two ponds were refilled with water. Under the setting sun, the surface shimmered. Perhaps because the water temperature was high, some small fry swam to the surface for air.

The aluminum telescopic ladder was leaned haphazardly against the wall of a residential building. The rungs were still stained with half-dried mud, looking as if work had just finished recently. The workers had either forgotten to put it away or were too lazy to bother.

Watching this, Song Ge sensed something was slightly off. Is this going too smoothly?

But her footsteps only faltered for a second before she walked in.

The woman was already making buns. Kneading the dough, mixing the filling, steaming—she did every step herself, without any help. When Tong Xiangyu and Song Ge entered, the kitchen was filled with steam. Since the first floor was a converted garage with no windows, the heat from the large stove had nowhere to go.

The woman was only surprised for a moment to see them arrive empty-handed, but she didn’t ask questions. She smiled and said the buns would be ready soon, telling them to sit down and have some water first.

Tong Xiangyu asked, “Where are the uncles who were working?”

“They’ve been busy all day and went back to rest after finishing,” the woman said. “People don’t usually live here. It’s just that they wanted a place to rest and eat when they’re thirsty or hungry, so they set up a kitchen.”

Tong Xiangyu: “I see.” She then added, “Sister, let me help you wrap the buns?”

The woman asked, “Do you know how?”

“It doesn’t look too hard.” Tong Xiangyu rolled up her sleeves and washed her hands. She considered herself quite smart and a quick learner, and her fingers were nimble enough. After all, it was just pinching dough. However, after trying one, she found it extremely difficult to control the incredibly soft dough. When she finished, there wasn’t a single pleat on it.

Then she looked at the buns the sister was placing in the steamer—each one as beautiful as a textbook illustration. Tong Xiangyu’s desire to learn peaked, and she begged the woman to teach her. The woman laughed, unable to refuse, and patiently taught her step by step. In the small space, the atmosphere was warm and harmonious.

When the buns were done, the woman didn’t bother taking them to the others. She served white porridge for Tong Xiangyu and Song Ge, scooped a bowl for herself, and sat down. The three of them sat together for dinner.

The woman asked about Kecheng, and only then did she learn that the situation there was even more violent and terrible than in Taiyun. Tong Xiangyu said, “There should have been government notifications at the beginning, but we were in a basement then and couldn’t receive anything. However, it seems there are many survivors in Kecheng’s city center now. Maybe there are perfect shelters like this one there too.”

Perfect? With her back to the camera, the woman’s eyes flashed with irony and numbness as she took a bite of a bun followed by a mouthful of porridge.

Song Ge ate five or six buns that night and had two bowls of porridge. She told Tong Xiangyu to eat more too. Based on the “carry away everything you see” method this base used to scavenge supplies, there probably wouldn’t be much food left for them within a several-mile radius.

Song Ge didn’t think there was anything wrong with the buns or the porridge. When the buns came out, she helped take them off the steamer while they were hot. She had observed the woman’s expression as they were placed randomly in a basin; there was no reaction. While eating, the woman also picked buns at random, not choosing any specific one. The porridge was even less likely to be tainted, as everyone ate from the same pot. Unless something was done to the bowls.

However, if the woman really wanted to move against them, she didn’t need to go to such lengths; she could have simply tipped off Zeus and Nana, and they would have been captured already.

When they were almost finished eating, the woman brought out another tray of buns. The style of these buns was completely different from the ones they had just eaten.

The woman said, “Take these buns back with you to eat. Don’t eat them now; if you eat too much, you’ll get sleepy easily.”

The words were spoken very subtly. But Song Ge understood: these buns were laced with sleeping pills to feed the dogs outside, preventing their barking from alerting others in the complex. Tong Xiangyu took them and thanked her repeatedly.

By then, the sky was very dark. Tong Xiangyu estimated that Yue Yao should have already met Zeus and the others for dinner. Of course, the message she had asked her to deliver must have been passed on. Since it was dinner time, the other people in the complex were surely eating as well.

“Alright, I have to go deliver buns to everyone now.” The woman picked up the stainless steel basin containing the remaining buns and said to Song Ge and Tong Xiangyu with a hidden meaning, “Go back quickly. I’m going to lock the door. The streetlights aren’t turned on here at night, so it will be very dark. Be careful when you walk back.”

Tong Xiangyu was grateful. “Mhm! Thank you, Sister!”

The woman set the basin on the ground and locked the door. While she was locking up, Song Ge, knowing there were no cameras in the hallway outside, took a close look at the telescopic ladder.

“Leave quickly,” the woman whispered. Her feet didn’t stop moving as she spoke, and her voice was pitched so that no one but Tong Xiangyu and Song Ge could hear it.

Watching the woman’s retreating figure, Tong Xiangyu was moved. She turned to Song Ge and said, “Song Ge, look, there really are good…” people.

Before she could finish, the buns in her hand were taken by Song Ge.

Song Ge said, “Throw the buns over the wall first.”

Song Ge’s aim was excellent. She first threw a random stone to create a distraction, and as expected, heard a burst of barking. Then she threw the buns over one by one.

Tong Xiangyu whispered, “Can such a small sound really attract the attention of others in the complex?”

“Probably not,” Song Ge said. “But it would definitely scare you. When you’re climbing the wall and several large dogs are barking at you, wouldn’t you be afraid?”

Tong Xiangyu: “Why be afraid? Dogs are humanity’s loyal friends.”

“Fine.” Song Ge decided not to argue with the young lady and turned back to the residential building to get the ladder.

However, when Song Ge gripped the aluminum ladder with both hands, whether it was because the ladder was heavier than she imagined or because she exerted too much force at once, her vision suddenly went black for half a second.

Tong Xiangyu noticed her momentary pause and asked, “What is it, Song Ge?”

“Nothing.” Song Ge steadied herself and exerted force again to lift the ladder. The telescopic ladder was five or six meters long and weighed fifty or sixty pounds; the center of gravity was hard to maintain. Since they were still a distance from the back wall, Song Ge told Tong Xiangyu to keep watch. “If you see anyone, tell me early. It’s dark here without streetlights, so they’ll definitely be using flashlights if they come.”

Tong Xiangyu: “Okay!” She immediately ran to the small path to look.

Song Ge took a deep breath and carried the aluminum ladder down the stairs. However, there were a few steps to descend, and after finishing them, her vision went dark again—a sensation of vertigo. She immediately put the ladder back on the ground, using it for support to keep from falling.

This time, it was definitely not an illusion. Something was wrong.

As those words appeared in Song Ge’s mind, she immediately looked up at the jogging figure of Tong Xiangyu. But Song Ge no longer had the strength to shout; her eyelids grew heavier and heavier. Before her vision completely succumbed to darkness, she saw Tong Xiangyu fall straight forward onto the ground.

D*mn it.

Song Ge’s heart sank, and then she completely lost consciousness.

— “These two really had the guts to try and sneak away?”

— “Brother He, you said the Leader won’t hurt them, right? They are my good friends.”

— “You don’t need to worry about that. We won’t hurt girls; at most, we’ll lock them up and restrict their movement. Nighttime is the most dangerous time outside; all the zombies in Taiyun come out to feed at this hour. If they went out, they’d not only be seeking their own deaths, but they’d lead the entire horde here, bringing total destruction to our base. Xiao Yao, it’s all thanks to you this time.”

— “I was just worried. If they wanted to leave, why didn’t they tell you? You could have escorted them through Taiyun.”

— “Exactly.”

— “Brother He, are they okay? When will they wake up?”

— “Didn’t you say Song Ge is incredibly strong? The drug in the flour was a heavy dose; it’s enough to make them sleep for a day and a night. Let’s go report this to the Leader first.”

The sounds of the two talking faded away.

Tong Xiangyu’s hands were tied. She was in an extremely uncomfortable position in a corner. Her brain was groggy, she felt nauseous, and her eyelids were too heavy to lift. But she still recognized one of the voices as Yue Yao.

“Song Ge…” Tong Xiangyu’s lips moved, but she wasn’t sure if she had made a sound. She wanted to move, but her entire body lacked even a shred of strength. Using every bit of her remaining energy, she managed to shift an inch, moving from leaning against the wall to collapsing on the floor.

A cold pain radiated from her knees and elbows. But she had no time to notice that. She couldn’t see her surroundings; the room they were locked in was pitch black, without a single speck of light. She guessed it might be an unused garage; because there were no windows, it was this dark.

Her tied hands were cold. She felt around on the floor blindly, her hands touching rough dust, and then she felt something else.

“Song Ge?!”

This time, she realized she had spoken aloud. But she immediately lowered her volume. Her hands felt along the object and discovered it was Song Ge’s ankle, which was also tightly bound with rope.

Tong Xiangyu shook Song Ge hard, but there was no sign of the other waking up. She didn’t know if Song Ge was alive or dead. Panic flared in her heart. She took a deep breath, trying to calm herself, but tears burst out first.

Yue Yao.

She never expected that Yue Yao would actually betray them!!

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