Surviving the Apocalypse with the Young Miss - Chapter 66

Chapter 66: Part One

Song Ge was not as optimistic as Tong Xiangyu, but she didn’t voice any dampening thoughts. She simply let go of Tong Xiangyu and said, “Let’s find a place to spend the night first. Once they find Gao He, they’ll know we’ve escaped.”

Tong Xiangyu asked, “Do you think Zeus and his people will send someone to catch us and bring us back?”

“They’re currently occupied with their own problems, but later—who knows.” Song Ge picked up the backpack and the flashlight, then turned to look at the iron cages. Inside, the three wolves lay motionless.

Song Ge had originally thought they were drugged by the buns, but now it seemed that wasn’t the case. The dogs weren’t snoring, and there wasn’t even the rise and fall of breathing; they were clearly dead. As for how long they had been dead…

Song Ge turned and asked Tong Xiangyu, “Do you smell anything?”

Tong Xiangyu replied, “Just the stench of rotting corpses.” She hadn’t smelled it for two days while inside the residential complex. As soon as she jumped down, she was hit by it; because the air didn’t circulate well and the smell settled low, the scorching heat made it even more pronounced.

Song Ge thought to herself: As I expected.

Tong Xiangyu didn’t dare be careless; they weren’t out of danger yet. She grabbed Song Ge’s arm. “Song Ge, let’s leave quickly. Which direction?”

Song Ge replied, “Eeny, meeny, miny, moe.”

Tong Xiangyu: “?”

“…Whichever way I point, that’s where we go.” Song Ge pointed in the direction her rhyme ended. “This way.”

Tong Xiangyu’s eyes widened slightly. “Isn’t that a bit reckless?”

Song Ge said, “It is. Next time I’ll let you choose; your luck is better than mine.”

“…That’s still reckless!!”

Song Ge smiled and said no more.

She actually felt a bit dizzy, but as she led Tong Xiangyu, she put all her effort into staying alert, pricking up her ears to catch every anomaly within range.

But it was very quiet. Zeus had once said that zombies usually come out at night to feed. Why was it so quiet?

Song Ge’s flashlight moved left and right, illuminating the road ahead and the surroundings. Compared to the main roads, which were filled with horrific scenes of shredded meat and rotting corpses, the alleys were slightly better; most remains had already been bleached into dry bones by the sun.

Not far away, a male corpse lay slumped over a doorstep. His limbs and face were shriveled, cockroaches crawled in his hollow eye sockets, and a rat with shiny fur and pitch-black eyes scurried out of an empty pant leg. As Song Ge approached, the rat paused alertly for a moment before quickly turning and running away.

During the day, the temperature reached forty-five or forty-six degrees Celsius, but at night, it was very cold. The temperature difference between day and night was massive. Tong Xiangyu rubbed her arms and followed Song Ge closely, not daring to fall a single step behind.

The alleys were narrow, the path paved with bricks, and both sides were flanked by the stone-brick walls of residential houses. In the darkness, only the single beam of Song Ge’s flashlight flickered. Their footsteps fell in a staggered rhythm.

There was no need to go further. Song Ge knew that encountering a monster in a place like this meant a narrow escape; the success rate for fighting back or fleeing would be very low. They still needed to return to the main road and eventually find a car to drive out of Taiyun. At least the road conditions in Taiyun looked much better than in Kecheng.

The residential buildings on both sides were silent. Song Ge picked a house that looked relatively new and went inside. The main gate was wide open. Inside, they found a small, old-fashioned courtyard style house. The skeletal remains on the ground had been chewed beyond recognition, and old, brownish-black bloodstains were smeared across the floor as if something had been dragged.

The small pond in the center of the courtyard was dried up, leaving only a bit of sludge at the bottom where a bloated corpse lay. Goldfish and koi, dead for a long time, floated with their white bellies up, covered in green oil.

Song Ge walked further in. The house showed obvious signs of being crudely ransacked. Things in the main hall lay scattered across the floor as if a gang of bandits had broken in. The bedroom contained only an empty bed, a chair, and an empty desk.

Zeus’s men were like a plague of locusts; they had scavenged everything useful or edible from these residential buildings. Looting the inventory of various stores wasn’t enough; they had to strip these places clean as well. Clearly, they weren’t leaving a path for anyone else to survive. Song Ge had long expected this.

Song Ge knew that Zeus and his men had suffered a loss during the day and were on high alert tonight; they definitely wouldn’t risk coming out to catch the two of them. So, she closed the main gate and slid the bolt home. If she thought those men would come looking for them, she actually wouldn’t have closed the door—since the houses on both sides of the alley all had their doors wide open, a closed door would essentially shout, “We’re hiding in here!”

But since she was certain Zeus wouldn’t send anyone, she needed to guard against monsters. Song Ge bolted the main gate, shut the door to the hall, and then locked the bedroom doors and windows before pulling the curtains.

Tong Xiangyu said to Song Ge indignantly, “I know why everyone won’t come out. Zeus steals what he can and destroys the rest. If there’s no rescue, those survivors won’t be able to live at all.”

Song Ge gave a noncommittal response. She let out a long breath, walked to the edge of the bed, sat down, and leaned back with her eyes closed to rest. Seeing her like this, Tong Xiangyu was startled and hurried to her side. “Song Ge, Song Ge, are you okay?”

“Yeah. Dizzy.” Song Ge’s vertigo was severe. She had been forcing herself along since she woke up, and she had spent all her energy. Now, she was covered in cold sweat and felt lightheaded; even sitting up felt like her waist didn’t belong to her.

Compared to Song Ge’s “weakness,” Tong Xiangyu—who clearly had a weaker constitution—seemed perfectly fine. Song Ge looked at her, her voice raspy and faint: “You’re not dizzy?”

“Me? I’m okay. I only felt really sick and nauseous when I first woke up.” Seeing Song Ge breaking into a cold sweat, Tong Xiangyu said hurriedly, “Drink more water. Water promotes metabolism. You’ll feel better once you flush the sedatives out of your system.”

Song Ge couldn’t move. Tong Xiangyu grabbed the bag, found a bottle of mineral water, and felt lucky they still had the bag. She unscrewed the cap and carefully fed Song Ge water. Under the flashlight’s beam, Tong Xiangyu saw Song Ge’s lips; the upper was thin and the lower was full, a pale light pink. With her mouth slightly open, she could even catch a glimpse of the tip of her tongue.

Tong Xiangyu’s heart trembled for some reason, her hand slipped, and water immediately spilled onto Song Ge’s face and neck. “Sorry, sorry!” Tong Xiangyu apologized repeatedly, wiping the water away and trying again.

Song Ge felt that Tong Xiangyu was acting a bit strangely, but her brain was too groggy to think about much. She could only close her eyes to rest. After drinking and resting for a while, she looked at the backpack and asked, “You said the kid helped you get the backpack. Why didn’t you have her get mine?”

“Because she was hungry, and your bag didn’t have any food.”

“Well, your bag doesn’t have much besides food anyway.”

“Of course it has other things!” Tong Xiangyu immediately started rummaging through it. However, as she searched, it really was mostly impractical items. The only useful thing was a band-aid. She sighed and crumpled a pair of new underwear in her hand.

Using the flashlight, she scoped out the bathroom and then cautiously stepped inside. There were no corpses. She breathed a sigh of relief and changed her underwear and sanitary pad. After so much physical activity that night, she had naturally leaked.

She threw the dirty underwear into the trash and moved to wash her hands, but remembered the water was definitely cut off. She retracted her hand, not touching the dusty faucet handle.

There is no harm without comparison. Looking at it this way, Zeus’s residential complex really was an Eden. Tong Xiangyu thought stubbornly: When we find a less dangerous place to settle down temporarily, I’ll make a simple rainwater collection and purification system, and then get some solar panels for electricity. While it wouldn’t be large-scale or professional, it would definitely be enough for her and Song Ge’s daily use.

Tong Xiangyu walked out of the bathroom. Hearing the movement, Song Ge opened her eyes to look at her.

“Song Ge, sleep a bit longer.” Tong Xiangyu sat on the edge of the bed and looked at her. “You’ve always kept watch for me; this time it’s my turn.”

Song Ge didn’t try to be a hero; she truly needed to rest to regain her strength and spirit. “Wake me if anything happens.”

“Mhm! Don’t worry!”

Song Ge fell asleep instantly.

Left alone and bored, Tong Xiangyu noticed the dried blood on her pants at the knee. She rolled up the pant leg, wanting to clean the wound and apply a band-aid to prevent infection. But when she pulled up the fabric, she saw that the scrape on her knee had already formed a thin scab.

She touched it with her finger; it didn’t even hurt that much. Can a scrape heal this fast? She felt it was strange, but having never been injured before, she didn’t know if this was normal. She blew on the wound a few times, didn’t think much of it, and pulled her pant leg back down.

Song Ge was asleep. The knee didn’t need treatment. Tong Xiangyu turned off the flashlight to save the battery. The room instantly plunged into darkness.

The same darkness that had made her panicky and anxious in the garage not long ago now felt incredibly peaceful. Even though they hadn’t escaped Taiyun yet—and might not even be out of Zeus’s sphere of influence—she felt strangely at ease.

In her state of peace, she inevitably thought of Yue Yao…

Though she had been groggy at the time, she remembered what Yue Yao had said. Yue Yao claimed she was worried about them encountering danger if they escaped at night. But if she was truly worried, as a good friend, why didn’t she stop them and talk to them face-to-face? Why did she go to Gao He instead, drugging and plotting their kidnapping?

Since they didn’t want to go through Zeus and decided to leave secretly, they obviously had their own reasons. But Yue Yao had betrayed them directly!

Forget it; Tong Xiangyu didn’t blame Yue Yao. As Yue Yao had said, she didn’t truly know her or Song Ge’s background, nor did she know Zeus or Nana’s. Song Ge had saved Yue Yao in the storm; she was her savior, so Yue Yao clung to her and trusted her. When Song Ge resolutely abandoned Yue Yao and their paths diverged, Zeus and Nana became her new saviors. Naturally, Yue Yao would then cling to Zeus’s group and trust them.

In times like these, what was a friendship built over days and nights? It was practically fragile. There was only interest…

Tong Xiangyu sat on the bed with her knees pulled to her chest, thinking of Qianqian and the sister who had helped them. She thought of their future and their ending. But she also asked herself: Was it really good to bring them out? There were so many unknown and terrifying dangers outside—an uncertain existence, sleeping in the elements, not even having a place to sleep soundly, and being constantly on edge. If given the choice, they might be more willing to stay in that residential base like Yue Yao. At least there was no threat to their lives, and their basic needs were guaranteed.

Tong Xiangyu then couldn’t help but think of Grandma Tian, of Uncle Jiang and Auntie Jiang, Dandan, Yingying, and Zhu Lulu…

How was everyone? The amount of rice and flour she and Song Ge had taken from the supermarket that night was limited. Over a month had passed, including that terrible storm that lasted for many days… Were they okay? Were they… still alive?

Disasters were heartless and cruel, making no distinction between old or young, high or low, easily taking everyone’s lives. When would rescue finally arrive? Was this truly the end of the world? Could they still wait for rescue?

Mom, Dad… where are you?

Support