Surviving the Apocalypse with the Young Miss - Chapter 71

Chapter 71: The Puppy

With the air conditioning running, the interior of the car was thousands of times more comfortable than the blistering heat outside. Tong Xiangyu was in a rare good mood, humming a tune as she gripped the steering wheel, driving quietly and swiftly through the empty, desolate streets.

After an unknown amount of time, Song Ge suddenly spoke: “You’re driving the wrong way.”

Tong Xiangyu immediately let off the gas, slammed on the brakes, and turned to look at Song Ge. “Huh?”

Song Ge looked at the familiar streets outside. “You’re heading back. This is the direction of Kecheng.” If they kept going, they would end up back near Zeus’s base.

Tong Xiangyu was startled. “How is that possible?! I’ve been driving North!”

“What are you using to judge direction?”

“The sun rises in the east and sets in the west.”

Song Ge fell silent for half a second. “Is the sun rising or setting right now?”

“I judged it earlier,” Tong Xiangyu argued, “and I was driving toward the commercial street!”

“You were,” Song Ge replied, “but it wasn’t a straight line. You drove in a loop around the city.”

“…Then why didn’t you say so earlier?”

“I forgot.” Song Ge didn’t explain that she had been lost in thought. The weather today was so abnormal that her suspicions felt baseless—more like she was overthinking.

Tong Xiangyu’s driving skills had improved significantly; she successfully performed a U-turn in one go. Hearing Song Ge’s answer, she found it unbelievable. “How can you forget that? What were you just thinking about?”

Song Ge said it was nothing and looked at the car’s electronic display. The top right corner showed the time in 24-hour format: 20:24. If watches and clocks were affected by “magnetism,” would the car’s clock be affected too? It was 8:30 PM, yet the sun looked like it was noon. Was this normal?

Tong Xiangyu asked, “So, are you still going to learn to drive?”

Song Ge snapped out of it. She couldn’t figure out the mystery of the never-ending daylight, so she dropped it. “Yes. Are you teaching me now?”

Tong Xiangyu felt a bit miffed. “But this car is an automatic. I wanted to teach you how to drive a manual…”

“Teach me the automatic first. When we find a manual, you can teach me that.”

Tong Xiangyu’s eyes lit up. “That works too~!”

An automatic car is simple: you only need to master the brake and gas pedals. Release the brake and it moves; hit the gas and it accelerates. Five minutes later, Song Ge was in the driver’s seat. She drove steadily. Seeing how quickly Song Ge picked it up, Tong Xiangyu felt quite proud. “A famous teacher produces a brilliant student~”

Song Ge suddenly asked, “How do I turn the wheel?”

Tong Xiangyu looked ahead. They were approaching a T-junction; if they didn’t turn, they’d crash. She turned pale with fright. “Aya, I forgot to show you how to steer!!” She hurriedly reached over to help Song Ge turn the wheel.

Song Ge truly learned fast. Within thirty minutes, she had mastered the basic essentials of driving. However, because of that heart-stopping moment, Tong Xiangyu didn’t dare drop her guard. She kept asking, “Song Ge, are you tired? Don’t push yourself. Tell me and let me drive. Other people take half a year to get their license; you’ve only been at it for thirty minutes.”

Song Ge just hummed in response and didn’t stop. The car sped along quietly. After an unknown amount of time, Song Ge saw a landmark building in the distance. She glanced at the car’s display, eased onto the brake, and slowly pulled over.

Tong Xiangyu thought she was tired and started unbuckling her seatbelt. But Song Ge asked, “Are you sleepy?”

Tong Xiangyu didn’t understand why she was asking this out of the blue. It was so light out; how could she be sleepy? But as soon as sleep was mentioned, she involuntarily yawned and rubbed her eyes. “By the way, what time is it?”

Song Ge didn’t answer. Her finger tapped rhythmically on the steering wheel. Suddenly, she said, “Little Milk Tea, do you remember the mirage we saw in Kecheng?”

Tong Xiangyu nodded. “I remember.”

Song Ge stopped tapping and looked at her. “Is it possible that the sun we’re seeing right now is a mirage?”

“Of course not,” Tong Xiangyu denied immediately. She explained patiently, “The most basic principle of a mirage is the refraction and total internal reflection of light. A mirage is an illusion refracted through air of different densities. Here, the sunlight is the medium. It’s like seeing yourself in a mirror—without the mirror, you can’t see yourself, but you can’t see the mirror reflecting the mirror.”

The example was easy to understand. Song Ge went silent for a moment before saying, “Then how do you explain that it’s almost 10:00 PM?”

Tong Xiangyu gasped. “How is that possible?!”

Song Ge showed her the watch and pointed to the car’s display. Both read 21:53. Tong Xiangyu rolled down the window in disbelief, only to be hit by a surge of scorching heat and the stench of rotting corpses! She rolled it back up instantly. Her brain entered a mental storm, trying to use her knowledge to explain this anomaly.

Song Ge was thinking that if the sun didn’t set for 24 hours, they couldn’t stay awake for 24 hours. They had to rest. Staying in the car wasn’t ideal—it was stifling without AC, and the fuel wouldn’t last if they kept it running. Observing that the route had been safe, she wanted to scout the nearby government building alone first.

“Stay in the car and rest,” Song Ge told her. “I’ll go check it out and be back soon.”

But Tong Xiangyu refused to stay alone. “I’m going with you!” She didn’t forget to grab her rolling pin before getting out.

They were now near the center of Taiyun City. The situation was grim, but compared to the underground garage, it was a paradise. Cars were jammed in front of the government building, blocking the entrance. Song Ge looked through the tinted windows; most were empty, except for some wrecked ones containing mummified remains.

They passed the courtyard and a dried-up fountain, entering the glass-strewn lobby. The ground was covered in blood, body parts, and shredded organs. The dusty reception desk was a mess, showing how chaotic the initial outbreak had been. Song Ge cautiously led Tong Xiangyu to the second floor.

The offices on the second floor had their doors wide open, revealing the carnage inside. However, these offices were facing the wrong way. Song Ge walked to the end of the corridor and stopped outside a locked office. She pressed her ear to the door; it was silent. She backed away and tapped it with her wrench; still nothing.

Song Ge smashed the door handle with her wrench and pushed inside. A foul stench hit them! She fanned the air and entered the room. Inside were several partial skeletons and a large amount of human waste. She pulled back the curtains and found the windows had been completely covered with A4 paper and file folders. No wonder the room was so dark.

Tong Xiangyu covered her nose. “Song Ge, what are you looking for?”

Song Ge bypassed the “obstacles” on the floor and tore the paper off the window. Blinding sunlight flooded in, and as she expected, the view of the building’s entrance was perfect—including their car parked by the road.

“It’s 10:00 PM,” Song Ge said. “We have to rest and figure out what’s happening.”

Tong Xiangyu’s eyes widened. “You’re choosing this place?”

“Yes.”

“Can’t we find somewhere else? It’s so smelly and dirty…”

“The whole building is likely the same,” Song Ge said. “This floor is just right. Wide field of vision, and we’re close to the city center. We can see if the monster hordes actually show up at night.” The dust on the floor was undisturbed, meaning no monsters were active here.

Tong Xiangyu countered, “But Zeus said they only come out at night, and the sun is still so big.”

Just as she finished speaking, the light outside changed. Tong Xiangyu looked out the window. The sun, which had been in the center of the sky all day, had finally shifted. It was sinking—and it was setting with incredible speed, as fast as a sunrise in reverse!

As Tong Xiangyu watched in shock, Song Ge suddenly yanked her behind the curtain! Before she could ask, Song Ge made a “shush” gesture. Tong Xiangyu leaned closer to her, heart racing.

Song Ge listened for a moment, then lifted a corner of the curtain. Tong Xiangyu peered through the gap. A small pet dog, no taller than a human knee, with a bell around its neck, was skipping along. It wasn’t coming toward the building but running happily toward the gate! It looked healthy, though the fur on its face was stained with dark brown blood, and its matted coat had hardened into clumps.

Tong Xiangyu was surprised and about to speak when Song Ge covered her mouth. Song Ge frowned; she heard more than just the dog. This was far from Zeus’s base, and though it was light, it was late—Zeus’s group, having just taken a hit, wouldn’t risk coming out now.

But Song Ge was certain she heard footsteps—and more than one!

Sure enough, the raspy bark of the puppy rang out. Song Ge peeked again. The dog had rushed toward the gate, where a group of strong, armed men stood. They were strangers—not Zeus’s men.

“A dog! Holy crap, scared me for a second!” someone shouted.

Song Ge watched the puppy lunge at the man. He knelt down as if to grab it by the scruff of its neck, but another man stopped him, kicking the dog away with a heavy blow! The dog flew several meters and slammed into the ground, letting out a low whimper.

The man who kicked it growled at his companion, “You don’t even know what that thing is, and you dare touch it?”

The other man rubbed his nose sheepishly. “It’s just a little dog…”

As he spoke, a low growl vibrated in the throat of the dog on the ground. It lunged at them once again!

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