Surviving the Apocalypse with the Young Miss - Chapter 75

Chapter 75: Blackout

Tong Xiangyu stuffed Song Ge into the passenger seat, buckled her seatbelt, and then got out to check the damage to the car after the two consecutive collisions. The front had a dent and the rear bumper was knocked off, but neither was a major issue.

Tong Xiangyu finally returned to the driver’s seat with a sigh of relief. She didn’t start driving immediately; instead, she took the map and pen and carefully finished drawing the remaining route.

They were very lucky. This car had a nearly full tank of gas, which would not only get them out of the city but keep them going for a long time. Although the routes in downtown Taiyun were complex and unfamiliar, there were very few cars stopped in the lanes. Compared to the endless queues of traffic in Kecheng, the roads in Taiyun were practically “empty.”

Once the route was set, Tong Xiangyu prepared to hit the road. Song Ge, though “tied” to the passenger seat, wasn’t staying still. Seeing that Tong Xiangyu had finished the map, she reached out to take a look.

Noticing how seriously Song Ge was studying it, Tong Xiangyu didn’t want to disturb her. However, as she retracted her gaze to buckle her own seatbelt, she realized something was off. She looked up again and confirmed she wasn’t mistaken.

Song Ge was indeed holding the map upside down.

Tong Xiangyu hesitated for half a second between pretending not to see it and reminding her. She eventually chose to kindly inform the drunkard: “You’re holding it backwards.”

Song Ge gave Tong Xiangyu a remarkably composed look, then flipped the map over in her hand.

Tong Xiangyu almost laughed out loud. She leaned over, rotated the map 180 degrees, and stuffed it back into Song Ge’s hands. “Look at it this way.”

Song Ge said lazily and slowly, “I know.”

The implication was that she was being meddlesome. Tong Xiangyu bit back a smile, thinking, You know nothing. As she started the car, she wondered: I wonder how long it’ll take for Song Ge to sober up…

Tong Xiangyu knew the cause and effect of Song Ge’s intoxication. Those two bottles of liquor were extremely high-proof. Song Ge had no tools, so she had taken the alcohol into her mouth to spray it out. She had set up the rooms on several floors this way. Even though she only held it and didn’t swallow, there was bound to be residue in her mouth. Swallowing her saliva once or twice meant she had definitely “drunk” a fair amount.

Tong Xiangyu thought: Looking at it this way, it’s a blessing among misfortunes that it took this long for the alcohol to hit her.

If she had gotten drunk while the mutant dogs were coming upstairs, or while rappelling down the window, or while catching her on the first floor during the stray dog’s sneak attack, they would both be dead. It was purely good luck.

Tong Xiangyu felt a wave of lingering fear. She turned to look at Song Ge, only to find that the person who had been holding the map a moment ago was now leaning against the window, quietly asleep.

Sunlight fell on Song Ge’s face. Song Ge had always been a person so rational she was almost cold; usually, her face remained expressionless even in sleep. But now that she was drunk, two flushes of red bloomed on her cheeks, making her look unexpectedly cute.

Tong Xiangyu couldn’t help but think of how Song Ge had pinned her against the car. At the time, she had wanted to struggle, but Song Ge’s strength was so immense she couldn’t move.

When Song Ge sobers up, will she remember that?

They say there are two types of drunks: those who remember every detail clearly, and those who have a total blackout. Given Song Ge’s usual rational and calm demeanor… she should be the first type, right?

Tong Xiangyu couldn’t bear to think about it; the thought made her nervous. Her fingers gripped the steering wheel tightly, her heart rate accelerating. Her ears turned red as she told herself: It’s fine, she just wanted to verify if it was a hickey or not.

If Song Ge hadn’t given up last time, they would have verified it long ago. What was the big deal? The innocent remain innocent. They were perfectly clean! Last time was the same—because of the kidnapping and Song Ge being unconscious, it was a special situation that required special measures, like feeding her medicine by mouth. “Feeding medicine by mouth” and “verifying a hickey by mouth” were of the exact same nature.

Don’t panic.

Tong Xiangyu told herself the whole way not to panic, to stay calm, and to act natural when Song Ge woke up. But by the time the car drove out of Taiyun, Song Ge still hadn’t woken up.

Leaving the city went smoothly. They saw no monsters and encountered no mutant dogs. The “Zombie Siege” Zeus had talked about was nowhere to be found. Tong Xiangyu became increasingly certain that Zeus was lying; otherwise, there would surely be traces of “wandering monsters” from the night before. During the day, with no place to hide, at least one or two would have been visible.

The thought that “the monsters might have naturally died out” relaxed Tong Xiangyu considerably. Although mutant animals were troublesome, she and Song Ge had handled them perfectly once. They could just do it again next time; it didn’t seem too difficult. At least it was simpler than dealing with a horde of zombies.

Except for Baibai… Tong Xiangyu shook her head, forcing herself not to think about it.

As she drove the car out of the outermost suburban ring of Taiyun, the burned and collapsed houses in the rearview mirror receded faster and faster. What met her eyes was no longer skyscrapers, but range upon range of mountains. Compared to the low hills outside Kecheng, the mountains of Taiyun were clearly dozens of times more majestic.

Green peaks layered upon each other, silent and deserted. Tong Xiangyu drove on the wide provincial road. The path ahead was clear, though abandoned vehicles were occasionally seen parked by the roadside. Having finally left Taiyun, she was in a great mood. She turned on the car radio and adjusted the volume to a very low level.

Song Ge heard a soft humming. Before she even opened her eyes, her consciousness snapped awake—she got a shock. She had fallen asleep?! Wasn’t she driving?!

Song Ge opened her eyes abruptly, only to find the car was moving, and what she was holding wasn’t a steering wheel, but a map. She turned her head immediately and saw Tong Xiangyu wearing sunglasses, humming a song while driving.

Am I dreaming?! Song Ge thought instantly, then pinched her thigh hard. She immediately felt the pain.

Tong Xiangyu also noticed Song Ge was awake. She slammed on the brakes. The car came to a sudden, jarring halt! The relaxed atmosphere of her humming vanished instantly, replaced by tension. She looked at Song Ge. “S-Song Ge, you’re awake?”

“Mhm.” Song Ge asked, “What happened?” She clearly remembered that after leading Tong Xiangyu out of the government courtyard, she was the one driving. She had even asked Tong Xiangyu to mark the route out of the city on the map and had driven all the way to the bridge. How was Tong Xiangyu driving now while she sat in the passenger seat?

Seeing this, Tong Xiangyu asked cautiously, “You… you forgot everything?”

Song Ge frowned. “Forgot what?”

“Just…” Tong Xiangyu’s mind raced as she observed Song Ge’s reaction. After a moment, she said tentatively, “Forgot that you had an accident and hit the bridge guardrail? We almost went over the edge and fell to our deaths…”

Song Ge denied it without a second thought: “Impossible.”

“Why impossible? You were drunk.”

“Drunk?” Song Ge found the word utterly absurd. “I didn’t drink any alcohol.”

Tong Xiangyu knew words were useless. She unbuckled her seatbelt and got out. “Get out.”

Song Ge stepped out and soon saw the damage to the front and rear of the car. She fell silent for a moment. “I don’t remember.”

Hearing Song Ge admit she didn’t remember, Tong Xiangyu’s pounding heart finally settled. She pushed her sunglasses up the bridge of her nose and said, “It’s okay. Luckily nothing major happened. I woke up the moment you hit the bridge rail and then we switched places.”

Song Ge looked at her immediately. “You weren’t hurt, were you?”

Tong Xiangyu shook her head.

Song Ge frowned, looking at their surroundings. “We’re out of the city?”

“Yes.”

Song Ge checked her watch: 10:05 AM.

They had woken up at 3:20 AM. They finished setting up the government building at 5:34 AM. Luring the dogs and successfully escaping took until about 5:50 AM, after which she drove for about half an hour. That meant she had been out for nearly four hours.

Seeing Song Ge frowning at her watch in thought, Tong Xiangyu hurried back to the passenger side, grabbed a hat, sunglasses, and a backpack. She equipped Song Ge with the first two, then took some food out of the bag and handed it to her. Song Ge snapped out of it and said thanks.

“You’re welcome.” Tong Xiangyu tore open a pack of biscuits, took a bite, and continued rummaging through the bag. Then she shrieked: “Ah! The chocolate all melted!”

“Eat it first,” Song Ge said. “It melts easily in this heat.”

Tong Xiangyu looked gloomy, pouting. “But I wanted to save it for later…”

“It’s fine, we can find more later.”

Hearing this, Tong Xiangyu was startled again. “Oh no! I shouldn’t have driven straight out of the city! There are no monsters or mutant animals in the city; we should have gathered more supplies for the road. Otherwise, if we’re stuck in the middle of nowhere, what will we do?”

Song Ge looked back. “It’s not too late to go back. There are no monsters in the city?”

“None,” Tong Xiangyu said. “They must all be dead.”

Song Ge opened the door to get into the driver’s seat. Tong Xiangyu immediately stopped her. “Let me drive. I don’t even know if you’ve fully sobered up yet.”

“You’ve already driven for four hours,” Song Ge said. “If you keep going, it’ll be fatigued driving, which is more dangerous than me.”

“…”

“Don’t worry, I’m sober.”

Tong Xiangyu pursed her lips. Song Ge added, “I’ll drive slowly.”

Hearing that, Tong Xiangyu had no choice but to walk toward the passenger side. However, as she turned to walk away, something flashed past Song Ge’s eyes. In that split second, before her brain could even process the thought, her hand had already reached out and grabbed Tong Xiangyu’s arm.

Tong Xiangyu stumbled from the pull and looked up at Song Ge in confusion. By this point, Tong Xiangyu had already cast the matter of “Song Ge getting drunk to verify a hickey” to the back of her mind.

Song Ge’s gaze, however, was fixed intently on the deep red mark behind Tong Xiangyu’s ear. She reached out and touched it. “What is this?”

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