The Post-Apocalyptic Rival Who Crashed My Wedding with a Baby - Chapter 25

The members of Jiang Weiqing’s group were not the type to waste time. Once the decision was made to go to Lingshui Village, they set off immediately. Duan Muyu and her two teammates felt that a trip to the village didn’t conflict with their own goals, so they decided to tag along as well.

Because of the overwhelming strength of the two teams, the journey was largely smooth sailing. Scattered low-level zombies began to congregate whenever they heard the roar of the engines, but the RV modified by Shen Qingyu was incredibly durable, and it simply crushed anything in its path into a mangled mess. Every time Chen Huawei witnessed this, he couldn’t help but nod in amazement, thinking that “Goddess Qing” was truly incredible even at modifying vehicles.

As they moved onto overgrown rural backroads, the chances of encountering mutated plants increased significantly. For most other Esper teams, this would have been an exhausting and annoying ordeal to manage. However, for Miao Jialing and the others, it was quite the opposite. They treated the encounters like an entertaining game and actually complained that there were too few mutated plants to play with.

Miao Jialing precisely launched a fireball, striking a mutated dandelion. The white fluff drifting in the air ignited instantly into a cluster of flames, looking as beautiful as a lit firework even if the sight was fleeting. Seeing Xu Bairan looking on in fascination, Jialing patted his head and told him with a boastful tone that she would find and burn a few more plants for him that were even prettier.

Hearing this, An Songyu immediately voiced his dissatisfaction, asking if it hadn’t been agreed upon that he would be the one to take the next shot. Miao Jialing’s face darkened as she told him in a solemn, lecturing tone that he shouldn’t rob a child of their fun. An Songyu simply rolled his eyes and muttered that he knew exactly what her little scheme was.

Entertainment was a rare luxury in the apocalypse. Although there was a television in the RV, the only channels they could find were news broadcasts, and because of their remote location, the signal was terrible. The large screen was mostly stuck on rainbow static, so naturally, no one watched it. In their boredom, hunting mutated plants outside became a primary way to pass the time, to the point where they had to take turns to attack.

Jiang Weiqing listened to the two of them bickering and curled her lip in exasperation, asking if they were still children to be fighting over such small things. She then pointed to the quiet toddler and remarked that they couldn’t even compare to her. As if she understood the compliment, the baby nodded solemnly in agreement with Jiang Weiqing’s words. The way the two of them acted in sync made Lin Yunxia burst into laughter.

“Captain, you and the baby really do have a special connection,” Yunxia remarked.

Jiang Weiqing raised her head proudly and replied, “Of course. I am the baby’s Mama, after all.” Over the last few days, the child had been calling her that constantly, and she had slowly begun to accept it through a process of subtle influence. She stole a quiet glance at Shen Qingyu, who was still busy studying the mysterious metal, and felt a secret sense of pleasure. Even Shen Qingyu hadn’t been able to correct the title, which served as proof of how much the baby liked her.

Chen Huawei pouted as he listened to the conversation inside the RV and nodded in agreement with himself. “Exactly. So immature! They aren’t steady and composed like the Goddess at all. But that Jiang Weiqing is truly hateful, acting like a real mother just because the baby likes her.” He then turned to Hutong and asked, “Hutong, do you know how amazing the Goddess was back at school? she was a total academic legend…”

As Chen Huawei prattled on, Hutong’s brow furrowed tightly. He opened his mouth and tried to say, “Actually, I don’t really…” He attempted to break off the topic to show he wasn’t interested, but Chen Huawei was like a sealed iron barrel, rambling on with such momentum that Hutong never got the chance to change the subject. A look of pain crossed Hutong’s face as he turned a resentful gaze toward Duan Muyu, only to find that she had calmly put on a pair of white headphones.

Hutong: “…”

Though he tried his best to endure it, the buzzing sound like a swarm of noisy bees finally exhausted Hutong’s patience. He suddenly slammed on the brakes, causing Chen Huawei to cry out in alarm. A split second later, Chen’s forehead slammed hard against the glass with a loud thud, and he slumped over as the world went dark. Duan Muyu, having had the foresight to buckle her seatbelt tightly, remained unmoved.

Hutong let out a long sigh of relief. “Finally, the world is quiet.”

Duan Muyu nodded in agreement and took off her headphones.

On the map, Lingshui Village didn’t look very far from Xiushan City, but it would actually take five hours of driving to get there. As the night grew darker, Shen Qingyu patted An Songyu on the shoulder and suggested they eat and rest where they were. She had been studying the mysterious black metal all afternoon and had begun to understand some of its functions.

An Songyu was surprised and mentioned that they were at most an hour away, suggesting he could reach it if he just drove a bit faster. However, Shen Qingyu shook her head and explained that the strength of zombies at night was twice as high as during the day, so it was better to be safe. An Songyu wanted to argue further, but Jiang Weiqing patted his shoulder and told him to just do as she said.

Jiang Weiqing knew that Shen Qingyu wasn’t the type of pampered woman to be afraid of everything; if she made this decision, she had her reasons. Despite the tension between them, Weiqing respected the other woman’s strength. Furthermore, she noticed that Shen Qingyu seemed remarkably familiar with the local terrain, having corrected them at a fork in the road that everyone else would have missed. Duan Muyu and her group had no objections either, as they trusted Shen Qingyu’s character based on their previous interactions.

Because there were so many of them, they ate together every time. In the cold of the night, nothing comforted the soul like a hotpot meal. Lin Yunxia systematically prepared the ingredients Shen Qingyu produced from her space. Chen Huawei blinked sheepishly and told Shen Qingyu how kind she was, admitting he felt a bit bad for eating and drinking for free these past few days. He then clenched his fist and promised that if she ever needed anything, he would go through fire and water for her without hesitation.

Jiang Weiqing curled her lip at his grand speech and remarked that he was better at talking than doing. She pointedly raised a piece of vegetable and suggested that he should focus on being practical instead. Chen Huawei huffed that he wasn’t that kind of person and immediately began washing a potato with great speed. The bickering between the two of them was a daily occurrence, and the group treated it as a fun distraction from their monotonous life.

Shen Qingyu had initially tried to mediate their arguments, but she soon realized that the more she interfered, the more heated they became, as if they were both trying to get her attention. Eventually, she began to ignore them entirely. The baby, however, often watched them with great interest, and under this constant influence, her speech was becoming more fluent and her vocabulary richer.

After the warm meal, no one was particularly sleepy. Shen Qingyu looked at the child who was still clinging to Jiang Weiqing’s arms and massaged her forehead, telling her in a low voice that it was time for bed. The toddler pouted and gripped Jiang Weiqing’s finger tightly, insisting she wanted a bedtime story. Jiang Weiqing looked at the expectant child and found she couldn’t say no. She looked at Shen Qingyu and negotiated, suggesting she tell the girl just one story.

Perhaps because she couldn’t bear to see the child disappointed, Shen Qingyu reluctantly agreed. Seeing this, Jiang Weiqing cheered as if she’d won a battle and tossed the baby into the air. The child was surprisingly brave, laughing joyfully as she was thrown high. Shen Qingyu was both amused and annoyed; though she worried for the girl’s safety, she knew Jiang Weiqing would never let her fall.

When Chen Huawei heard there was going to be a story, he immediately volunteered to tell one as well, claiming he knew the classics like Sleeping Beauty and Little Red Riding Hood by heart. Seeing his persistence, Shen Qingyu offered a vague “we’ll see” to brush him off.

The group gathered in a circle around a roaring campfire. The bright flames licked at the dry wood, and the crackling sound combined with the whistling cold wind added a mysterious, suspenseful atmosphere to the setting. Jiang Weiqing held the baby with one arm while adding wood to the fire with the other.

“The story I’m telling today is absolutely brilliant,” she boasted. “I guarantee none of you will be able to sleep tonight.”

Chen Huawei scoffed at her bragging, but Jiang Weiqing gave him a meaningful look and told him he would find out soon enough. Her mysterious manner made Chen Huawei uneasy, though he tried to dismiss it, thinking it would just be a scary version of a classic fairy tale for the child.

Lin Yunxia and the others urged her to start, eager to hear a story for once. Jiang Weiqing didn’t keep them waiting.

“The legends of ghosts and spirits have always existed,” she began. “Specifically, ‘Little Ghosts’ born from resentment. They are incredibly loyal and are said to bless people with wealth and status, so raising them and learning the ‘language of ghosts’ became a business.”

Chen Huawei frowned and asked why a bedtime story for a baby was sounding like a ghost story. Jiang Weiqing countered by asking if he was already afraid. Chen Huawei insisted he had a clear conscience and wasn’t afraid of ghosts, so Jiang Weiqing continued.

She told the story of Xiao Mi, an orphan raised in the Happy Orphanage where children were forced to practice ghost speech just to get food. Xiao Mi eventually entered the entertainment industry to serve minor celebrities who wanted to use spirits to find fame. Her business boomed, but one day, a crazed, disfigured woman committed suicide in front of her, blaming her for everything. Xiao Mi later realized that every star who had used a spirit died from accidents or illness within three years. Xiao Mi herself grew weaker and weaker until she realized her soul was leaving her body at night.

As the story grew more intense, Lin Yunxia leaned closer to Duan Muyu for comfort. Duan Muyu calmly assured her that ghost stories were fake, but Yunxia couldn’t help but visualize the scenes in her head. Chen Huawei felt a chill as well and crowded closer to Hutong, who told him to stop listening if he was so scared. Chen Huawei insisted he wasn’t afraid at all, even as his arms trembled.

Jiang Weiqing teased Chen Huawei, telling him he could plug his ears if he wanted. She then leaned down to kiss the baby, whose silver-bell laughter lightened the mood for a moment. She then described how Xiao Mi’s situation worsened until she sought help from her former mentor at the orphanage. The Director told her that a ghost envoy had chosen her, and that if she pledged herself to the Ghost King, her problems would vanish. Xiao Mi followed the instructions, set herself on fire in a ritual, and became a spirit, followed by a long line of others.

As she finished, a creepy piece of music suddenly started playing. Chen Huawei jumped, demanding to know who was playing music. It turned out to be Xu Bairan, who had been playing with Duan Muyu’s tablet and forgot to turn the volume down. Chen Huawei’s anger faded as he asked for the rest of the story, wanting to know what happened to Xiao Mi after she became a spirit.

Jiang Weiqing simply shrugged and said the story was over. When the others complained about the “plot holes” and the lack of logic, she told them that ghost stories were just for fun and they shouldn’t take them so seriously. She then told everyone to go to sleep.

“No way, Captain! You’re just going to leave us like this?”

“You should have worked on the logic before telling it!”

“With all those unanswered questions, how are we supposed to sleep?”

Chen Huawei was particularly frustrated, feeling more annoyed by the “clunky” story than he was scared of the content. Jiang Weiqing remained unbothered, claiming she didn’t find the ending frustrating at all.

Shen Qingyu reached out to take the baby, but the girl clung to Jiang Weiqing’s sleeve, clearly wanting more. Jiang Weiqing tried to advocate for her, but Shen Qingyu was firm, telling the child she had to keep her word. Jiang Weiqing muttered that she shouldn’t be so strict, but she silenced herself when she saw Shen Qingyu’s serious expression. Lin Yunxia also agreed that they shouldn’t spoil the child too much.

The baby suddenly had a bright idea and pointed to both women. “Mama, Mama, we sleep together. The three of us.”

Jiang Weiqing coughed, thinking she couldn’t refuse the child’s request. But before she could agree, Shen Qingyu coldly rejected the idea, saying it was too crowded. She then set up a tent for herself and the baby. Jiang Weiqing muttered that the tent was big enough for two more people, but she countered by saying she preferred sleeping alone anyway.

The night passed without incident—no zombies or mutated plants attacked. At seven the next morning, they continued toward the village. An Songyu suddenly stopped the RV. “Captain, there’s an old woman and a girl up ahead surrounded by Level 2 zombies.”

An Songyu looked to Jiang Weiqing for an order. In the apocalypse, not saving someone was a test of conscience, but saving people often meant becoming a target, especially with a duo as vulnerable as an old woman and a child. After a moment of thought, Jiang Weiqing ordered the rescue. She couldn’t watch her own kind die while she stood by.

With her permission, An Songyu smiled and drove the RV into the fray, breaking the zombies’ formation. Lu Yan and Miao Jialing jumped out to finish them off. Lin Yunxia offered bread to the girl, telling her not to be afraid. The girl hid behind the old woman, her eyes fixed on the food.

“Thank you, kind masters,” the woman said, her voice steady despite her aged appearance. “This is Xiao Mi. She’s a mute, so please forgive her.”

The woman smiled and stroked the girl’s head. “We are from Lingshui Village. Actually, she isn’t my granddaughter. I am the Director of the Happy Orphanage. I took her in when her parents abandoned her.”

The names sent a wave of horror through the group. Happy Orphanage. Director. Xiao Mi. These were the exact names from the horror story Jiang Weiqing had invented the night before. Chen Huawei spun around to stare at Jiang Weiqing, his eyes demanding an explanation. Jiang Weiqing herself was utterly stunned. The story had been a complete fabrication—so why were these people appearing in front of her now?

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