The Villainous Female Side Character Pretends to Be an Omega in the Apocalypse and Raises a Cat - Chapter 21.2

From the outbreak of the apocalypse until now, Bao Qiujuan had never once worried about food.

Those without worries always maintained a good state.

What could have happened to make her so haggard now?

Seeing Chi Yingdong, Bao Qiujuan seemed to grasp at hope and hurriedly said, “Xu Luo isn’t home. She’s been gone for two days.”

Bao Qiujuan was born into a well-off family and was the only child. Her family never held the belief that Omegas were inferior to Alphas, nor did they consider having a second child.

From girlhood to motherhood, she had never experienced a single hardship.

Now that her beloved had been away from home for two days, it was hard for her not to worry.

But with her daughter still by her side, she didn’t even dare show her anxiety, afraid of frightening the child.

Chi Yingdong asked, “Did they say where they were going?”

Bao Qiujuan shook her head. “That day, Qian Ruanruan originally came looking for Jiang Yun. I don’t know what they discussed, but Xu Luo ended up leaving with them.”

Recalling how Qian Ruanruan had looked as if she had narrowly escaped death when she came to find them that day, Bao Qiujuan felt extremely regretful, annoyed that she hadn’t tried to stop them at the time.

With a troubled expression, Bao Qiujuan said, “They were in a hurry. They only told me they’d be back soon before leaving.”

It wasn’t that Bao Qiujuan hadn’t considered seeking Chi Yingdong’s help during Xu Luo’s two-day absence.

But since she herself had no idea where Xu Luo had gone, what use would it be to ask Chi Yingdong?

Bao Qiujuan had originally planned to wait a little longer. If Xu Luo still hadn’t returned by today, she would ask Chi Yingdong for help.

Learning from Bao Qiujuan that Xu Luo had left with Qian Ruanruan and had been gone for two days, Chi Yingdong couldn’t help but frown.

Based on Xu Luo’s usual way of doing things, unless something had happened suddenly, she would definitely have informed her.

Chi Yingdong immediately concluded that they were in trouble and were no longer in this building.

Searching for them outside would be too broad a scope, and Chi Yingdong felt a slight headache coming on.

“Mom, I want to go with Sister Chi to find Mother.”

Xu Chuyao suddenly ran out from inside the room. The little girl’s eyes were red, but her expression was stubborn.

Bao Qiujuan looked at Xu Chuyao in surprise and tried to push her back into the room. “Adults are talking. Children shouldn’t interrupt.”

Xu Chuyao struggled, unwilling to go back inside. “Mom, don’t always treat me like a child who doesn’t understand anything. I want to find Mother.”

Bao Qiujuan silently withdrew her hand. She had been careful not to reveal any clues in front of her daughter these past two days, but it turned out her daughter had known all along.

Xu Chuyao ran up to Chi Yingdong. “Sister, I can communicate with the little fish in the water. I can ask them where Mother went.”

She had seen her mother leave home and knew she had been gone for two days. She was aware that her mother didn’t want her to know, so she had pretended not to.

Chi Yingdong looked at Bao Qiujuan for her opinion.

Bao Qiujuan nodded.

If her daughter could communicate with the little fish, perhaps she could be of some help.

Moreover, she trusted Chi Yingdong’s abilities. With her taking her daughter out, safety was assured.

Meng Qinghe noticed the anxiety in Xu Chuyao’s eyes and jumped down from Chi Yingdong’s shoulder, playfully asking Xu Chuyao to hold her.

Xu Chuyao picked up the kitten, who had grown so quickly. Once a small bundle in her arms, the kitten now took up her entire embrace.

Meng Qinghe nuzzled the girl’s cheek and noticed tears still clinging to Xu Chuyao’s eyelashes.

This little chatterbox, usually so lively, was now heartbreakingly quiet.

Xu Chuyao held the kitten tighter.

The kitten’s warmth seeped through the fabric, gradually bringing feeling back to her chilled body.

“Qinghe kitty…” Xu Chuyao buried her face in the soft fur, her voice muffled.

Sister Jiang Yun and Qian Ruanruan were both ability users, but her mother was just an ordinary person. With the outside world so dangerous, Xu Chuyao was afraid.

“Do you think my mother might…”

“Meow.”

Meng Qinghe lifted her paw, gently pressing her pad against Xu Chuyao’s lips to stop her from continuing.

Whether Xu Luo was in danger or not, Meng Qinghe didn’t know, but there was no need to make the child worry excessively.

Meng Qinghe: “Meow meow.”

No, she won’t be.

Xu Chuyao stopped overthinking and scaring herself.

Descending from the 19th floor to the 15th, the mildew smell in the stairwell grew heavier with each step, the air so damp it felt like it could be wrung out.

Chi Yingdong’s flashlight beam swept across the walls, where mold patches spread like living creatures, gray-green fungal filaments glowing eerily in the light.

Even more nauseating were the leeches clinging to the walls, each as long as an adult’s palm.

Their plump bodies squirmed slowly, continuously secreting mucus that left slimy trails on the surfaces.

The sight made Meng Qinghe’s stomach churn, her small body trembling slightly.

“Don’t look.”

Chi Yingdong sensed the kitten’s unease and softly reminded her.

Meng Qinghe obediently closed her eyes, but with her vision gone, her hearing sharpened.

She heard Chi Yingdong’s military boots hitting the ground, each step steady and firm.

Beneath the footsteps came the squelching sound of soles pressing against the damp floor.

Occasionally mixed in were the faint popping sounds of leeches being crushed underfoot.

Followed by the sticky, stringy noise of shoes pulling away from leech bodies.

Finally, the sound of moisture condensing on the ceiling and slowly dripping to the ground.

Every sound amplified infinitely in the darkness.

These noises made Meng Qinghe even more uncomfortable, so she opened her eyes.

Only then did she notice the guards on every floor had disappeared.

Not long ago, when Qian Ruanruan gave her a gift, she mentioned she had posted guards on each floor and asked if they wanted one for their level.

This matter traced back to when Chi Yingdong lent Qian Ruanruan a boat, leading to Qian Ruanruan catching a “water rat” who had swum over from the neighboring building.

One late night, frequent doorbell ringing disturbed their sleep.

Chi Yingdong opened the door to find Qian Ruanruan standing soaked at their doorstep.

Seeing Chi Yingdong, Qian Ruanruan first apologized, her voice hoarse, lacking its usual liveliness.

“I know you have an inflatable boat. Can you lend it to me? The floodwaters are too deep, I can’t swim out.”

Perhaps because Qian Ruanruan looked so pitiful that night, Chi Yingdong’s irritation at being woken vanished. Without asking for details, she lent her the inflatable boat.

…

The next day, through Xu Chuyao, Chi Yingdong and Meng Qinghe finally learned the whole story.

That night, a child in the building had been running a high fever and urgently needed fever-reducing medicine. Qian Ruanruan had gone door to door asking, but none of the households in the entire building had any medicine left. With the child’s condition critical, Qian Ruanruan had come to borrow Chi Yingdong’s boat.

After securing the boat, Qian Ruanruan rowed alone out of the residential area to search for medicine at pharmacies outside. Chi Yingdong couldn’t comprehend Qian Ruanruan’s actions, risking her life for someone else’s child.

One might call her cold and selfish, but the truth was she simply lacked that grand sense of compassion. She only wanted to tend to her own small world, protect her cat, and survive the apocalypse in peace. Yet, she respected people like Qian Ruanruan, who possessed great compassion, because the world needed such individuals.

Later, when Qian Ruanruan tried to return the inflatable boat, Chi Yingdong refused to take it back.

With the inflatable boat, Qian Ruanruan began regularly taking people out to fish in the flooded areas, each trip yielding plentiful catches that kept everyone in the building from going hungry. As their safety and sustenance improved, the residents grew to respect Qian Ruanruan even more.

Originally, due to her young age, Qian Ruanruan wouldn’t have been given the position of team leader if not for her exceptionally strong abilities. Some older members of the team had always eyed the leadership role covetously. However, through the use of the inflatable boat and her unwavering dedication to the group, everyone gradually came to accept her, solidifying her position as the leader of the Super Electromagnetic Team.

While residents of other buildings weren’t aware of the specifics happening in their building, they had witnessed Qian Ruanruan returning with large hauls of fish and shrimp multiple times, fueling their desire for her inflatable boat. This eventually led to incidents of people swimming over from neighboring buildings to steal it.

Meng Qinghe still remembered the day they caught the “rats.” Qian Ruanruan shook the keys attached to her waist, making them jingle loudly. These were the keys to her home safe, though now the safe didn’t hold money but the inflatable boat Chi Yingdong had given her. She wore the keys on her belt like a knight displaying her medals.

“Now every floor has sentries guarding it. It’s completely secure,” Qian Ruanruan had said.

Since non-ability users still made up the majority in the building, Qian Ruanruan worried about their safety with these “water rats” around. After posting sentries on each floor, they caught several more people who had swum over from nearby buildings attempting to steal food. Qian Ruanruan had always believed that stationing guards on every floor was one of her best decisions.

But now she had removed them, or rather, taken them away.

Chi Yingdong’s eyes darkened, and her steps on the stairs grew unconsciously heavier. Meng Qinghe’s heart tightened as well, her claws gripping Chi Yingdong’s shoulder without realizing it.

Chi Yingdong took a speedboat out of her storage space. The metal hull gleamed coldly under the sunlight. Meng Qinghe looked at her in surprise, since the apocalypse began, Chi Yingdong had always kept a low profile. Today, she had directly produced a speedboat. It seemed that despite her outward indifference toward Xu Luo and the others, she had inwardly accepted them as part of her own.

Steadying the speedboat, Chi Yingdong helped Xu Chuyao and the cat board first. Once they were seated securely, she started the engine.

The moment the engine roared to life, peering eyes lit up behind every window in the building. Those gazes felt tangible, clinging more uncomfortably than leeches on a wall.

Now, with a speedboat far superior to an inflatable raft at their disposal, the crowd’s greed reached its peak.

Behind them, someone was shouting something, but the distance was too great to make out the words.

Chi Yingdong ignored the gazes of those people and steered the yacht away from the residential area.

The water surface shimmered with an oily rainbow hue, like spilled gasoline spreading out.

Xu Chuyao leaned over the edge of the speedboat, her fingertips lightly tapping the murky water, creating small ripples that spread outward.

“Little fish, little fish,” Xu Chuyao called softly.

A few silver fish surfaced, curiously observing this unfamiliar human girl.

Seeing the fish respond to her, Xu Chuyao immediately asked, “Have you seen a short-haired aunt?”

Her voice carried a cautious hope.

Unfortunately, fish only have a memory of seven seconds. As soon as they heard the question, they forgot why they were there and began swimming in circles.

The girl’s shoulders visibly slumped, her bangs falling forward, casting a fragmented reflection on the water’s surface.

Meng Qinghe let out a soft “meow,” gently patting the back of the girl’s hand with her tiny paw.

Xu Chuyao sniffled and shook her head at the kitten.

“Let’s search around here first.”

Chi Yingdong suddenly spoke up, reaching out to gently pat Xu Chuyao’s shoulder.

Her voice was softer than usual; she could empathize with Xu Chuyao’s feelings at that moment and understood the fear of losing a loved one.

Meng Qinghe also comforted her, “Meow, meow, meow.”

Yes, let’s search nearby. Maybe we’ll find her.

Xu Chuyao forced herself to perk up, offering a smile to Meng Qinghe and Chi Yingdong.

“Mhm, everything will be fine.”