It was clear that the others didn’t find anything strange, and those things that seemed strange, looked normal now after the apocalypse happened.
The dimpled girl seemed to see Gu Ning’s doubts and said with a slight hint of embarrassment: “It’s been too long since we’ve had any newcomers here.”
“You guys have been living here since the apocalypse started?” Gu Ning and her group were taken to a clean spot to sit down and rest, so she asked as if a casual remark.
“Hmm. At first, there were only a few people, then there were more and more joined, some stayed whereas some left. Now it’s just us left, and we’re all too timid to venture out, so you’re very welcome to stay.” The dimpled girl said with a smile.
Zhang XiaoBai interjected curiously and asked: “There are so many of you, what did you guys eat?”
The dimples at the corners of the little girl’s mouth flattened slightly before deepening a little: “We do go out occasionally to find something to eat.”
Zhang XiaoBai continued: “There are so many zombies over here, it’s pretty hard for you guys to find food right?”
The dimpled girl smiled before replying: “I see you’re all so tired, so I’ll leave you to get some rest.”
“Thank you.” Gu Ning thanked her once again.
“You’re welcome. We’re actually the lucky one to have you all here.” An extraordinarily genuine smile bloomed on the little girl’s face. Then she nod to the others before turning around and walked away.
“Why do I get the feeling that she seemed a bit angry just now? Did I say something wrong?” Zhang XiaoBai said sensitively.
Gu Ning’s gaze faintly focused upon his words, watching the little girl’s back in thoughts.
Everyone else was so tired that they found a little corner to rest or just lie down. Gu Ning’s group and Bai Lang’s side were naturally separated into two camps. Having just escaped from death, there was lesser hostility between them and each of them was just taking a break.
The others didn’t mind too much about those subtle sweeping gazes and found it perfectly normal.
On the contrary, Gu Ning had that strange feeling that wouldn’t disappear.
Gu Ning was very tired and leaned against the wall to rest. Her muscles which had been tensed, relaxed a little, while her half-closed lid eyes were cautiously observing the situation in the room.
Perhaps because those people had not been in the sun for too long, their skin was very pale, and they moved so slowly as if they were afraid of wasting their strength when they were walking or doing something. Also, they had a kind of sickly deadly look on them. What caught Gu Ning’s attention was the pile in the corner covered with a tarp, not knowing what was underneath it, the bulge looked kind of strange in shape.
The indescribable, seemingly sour odour always lingered in front of Gu Ning’s nose, mixed with an imperceptible hint of blood……
“It’s a corpse……” Xiang Xu deliberately lower her voice and whispered to Gu Ning as she looked down at her fingers, with her voice trembling slightly: “The thing covered in the corner, it’s a corpse……”
Gu Ning’s pupils shrank slightly as the man sitting in the corner suddenly glanced over and met Gu Ning’s gaze with a clear sense of caution and suspicion. Gu Ning’s expression was not the least bit flustered, she just faintly glanced at him then averted her gaze as if nothing had happened. Followed by looking at Xiang Xu with a smile on her face as she said a few words, and Xiang Xu also put on a smile in a very cooperative manner, as if Gu Ning had told her a joke.
The man stared at Gu Ning for a moment, saw her joking with the little girl next to her. Making sure she hadn’t noticed anything before he turned his gaze away while he pressed the tarp which had buckled up a little at the edges uneasily.
Suddenly Zhang XiaoBai asked curiously as he had overheard what Xiang Xu said: “A corpse? What corpse?”
He did not deliberately lower the volume of his voice, nor was it too loud, but at that moment, the room fall completely silences as soon as he had asked this—— Countless pairs or eyes glanced over and the few men sitting by the tarp looked at each other while their expression slightly changed. The young men and women who were standing at the entrance whispering stopped and also glanced over in silence because of Zhang XiaoBai’s words.
Gu Ning sensitively felt the change in atmosphere and her heart thumped, but her expression remain the same as if she didn’t notice that Zhang XiaoBai had attracted so much hidden attention, so she glared at him before saying: “What are you yelling about? We’re talking about when you found Wu Qiang’s body, and I don’t know how Brother San had taught you when you just blindly rushed over. If it wasn’t for me who had reacted quickly, you would have turned into a zombie too by now.”Gu Ning seemed to be afraid of disturbing others, and her voice wasn’t too loud, yet it was clear enough to reach those people’s ears. However, Gu Ning could also clearly feel that those wary gazes didn’t disappear with just that statement.
Zhang XiaoBai was reprimanded by Gu Ning, but he was very ashamed and scratched his head and replied: “I was in a hurry…… and I’ll promise to be very careful the next time.”
With his reply.
Gu Ning immediately felt those eyes staring at them disappeared, and was relieved but her expressions still carried a hint of anger.
Xiang Xu had just been called out by Zhang XiaoBai and was almost so scared to the point of having a heart attack. Yet when she saw Gu Ning’s calm demeanour, and the way how she had to disperse the crisis into nothing with just a few words, made Xiang Xu suddenly felt so reassured.
Zhang XiaoBai, however, was reprimanded by Gu Ning and wilted away to find a corner to reflect.
Unable to sense any more prying gazes, Gu Ning finally put her mind at ease and switched to wipe her knife with the corner of her coat, while her mind pondered another question.
Whose body did that belong to? Why was it left in the corner instead of disposing it away?
Meanwhile, it was clear that the soldiers were worried about something else.
Zhang Yang stood up and looked out of the window into the distance and said worriedly: “I wonder how the Company Commander and the others are doing.”
Zhang XiaoBai replied: “They should be fine, Zhong Xu, Zou Ming, and the others who have good marksmanship are there, besides Company Commander is not there for decoration either.”
Even Zhang XiaoBai, who was always so optimistic, only dare to say that they should be fine instead of saying that they for sure would be fine as right now this was just a comforting statement he gave to himself.
“Are you guys talking about Brother San?” Bai Lang who had been leaning against the wall resting, suddenly interjected while his half-opened eyes glanced at Gu Ning before closing them again, stretched his long legs for a moment before saying it lazily: “They were being chased by zombies when I saw him, they were heading in the direction of Eleven Square.”
The soldier’s expression changed, Eleven Square? That’s where the downtown zombie stronghold was at…… If they did break in there and were lucky to survive, how are they even going to get out of there?
Gu Ning’s expression was also slightly gloomy, but staring at Bai Lang’s face, she wondered how credible his words were.
She stood up and went to the window sill to look out into the distance. Diagonally opposite of this building was the Eleven square, but there were too many tall buildings in between, so there was no way for them to see what was going on there. She glanced down and saw that the dense mass of zombies still huddled below the building, refusing to disperse.
When she lifted her wrist to check her watch, it was already ten minutes past four o’clock. The sky was already dark and cloudy, and Gu Ning saw large black clouds looming over the city, covering up the whole sky as if some terrible beast were hiding behind those black clouds that would swoop out of there at any moment while bringing a larger disaster to the world.
Even the air was tingled with dullness.
Gu Ning suddenly stretched out her hand and a drop of water smashed down on her palm.
“It’s raining.” Gu Ning said as she stared at the black clouds. Immediately afterward, the sound of clattering rain rang out, countless raindrops condensed within the black clouds before dripped down, like a majestic waterfall poured down.
It was the first rain after the apocalypse happened, and it meant a lot.
Then she has pushed aside.
Those sluggish and sickly people seemed to come alive at this moment, rushing to the window with all sorts of utensils and reaching out to collect the rain.
Gu Ning’s group all backed away.
Watching those excited and thrilled people, they were somewhat bewildered.
“The rain has come at a really good time. If we don’t get this rain, we’re going to run out of water. Today seems to be a good day.” The dimpled girl walked up to Gu Ning’s side again at some point and watched those people who were catching the rain and explained.
Gu Ning always felt that her last sentence seemed to have a double meaning, but she didn’t ask and only smiled faintly and gripped the knife in her hand tighter.
“I like you a lot.” The dimpled girl suddenly stared at Gu Ning sideways and asked: “Can you stay here with me?”
Only then did Gu Ning realised that the dimple girls’ black eyes were very dark till the point of frightening, even the two dimples on her face looked a bit odd. A chill rose from Gu Ning’s back, but she still had a smile on her face but was slightly cold: “There are still people waiting for me back home.”
“That’s a shame.” The dimpled girl seemed to really felt a bit sad for herself, that even the dimples on her face were gone. Yet soon the dimples appeared again and she said in a light tone: “It doesn’t matter, the zombies are still down there anyway, and it’s raining heavily. You guys just stay here for the night and leave tomorrow then.”
Although Gu Ning’s heart was a little uneasy because of the corpse under the tarp and the strange hunch in her heart, there was nothing else she could do at this moment so she reluctantly agreed.
“With water. We can cook meat for dinner today.” The dimpled girl looked out at the rain and suddenly said in a cheerful voice.
“You still have meat to eat?” Jia DaoZhang suddenly interjected and asked surprisingly.
“Yeah. We found some meat out there, cooked it, and then dried it to preserve it for a longer time. It tastes so good. Do you want to try two pieces of jerky first?” The dimpled girl replied and pulled out two finger-long pieces of dried meat from her pocket and handed them to Jia DaoZhang.
The dried meat was finger-long and thick, but the colour was not brownish like sun-dried meat, as it remained bright red.
Jia DaoZhang took it with delight and spoke: “How kind of you.”
As he said this, he was about to stuff it into his mouth, as it was so long since he had eaten meat and was craving for them.
Gu Ning’s gaze swept past the little girl’s dimple and saw it deepened, and a meaningful expression flashed past the little girl’s eyes. Gu Ning instantly had a bad intuition, without any hesitation, she forcefully plucked out the whole jerky by its end that was hanging outside of Jia DaoZhang’s mouth. Then frowning at him when the dimpled girl’s gaze snapped to her before she continued sternly: “Are you that hungry now? Save it for later when you’re very hungry.”
It was clear that the others didn’t find anything strange, and those things that seemed strange, looked normal now after the apocalypse happened.
The dimpled girl seemed to see Gu Ning’s doubts and said with a slight hint of embarrassment: “It’s been too long since we’ve had any newcomers here.”
“You guys have been living here since the apocalypse started?” Gu Ning and her group were taken to a clean spot to sit down and rest, so she asked as if a casual remark.
“Hmm. At first, there were only a few people, then there were more and more joined, some stayed whereas some left. Now it’s just us left, and we’re all too timid to venture out, so you’re very welcome to stay.” The dimpled girl said with a smile.
Zhang XiaoBai interjected curiously and asked: “There are so many of you, what did you guys eat?”
The dimples at the corners of the little girl’s mouth flattened slightly before deepening a little: “We do go out occasionally to find something to eat.”
Zhang XiaoBai continued: “There are so many zombies over here, it’s pretty hard for you guys to find food right?”
The dimpled girl smiled before replying: “I see you’re all so tired, so I’ll leave you to get some rest.”
“Thank you.” Gu Ning thanked her once again.
“You’re welcome. We’re actually the lucky one to have you all here.” An extraordinarily genuine smile bloomed on the little girl’s face. Then she nod to the others before turning around and walked away.
“Why do I get the feeling that she seemed a bit angry just now? Did I say something wrong?” Zhang XiaoBai said sensitively.
Gu Ning’s gaze faintly focused upon his words, watching the little girl’s back in thoughts.
Everyone else was so tired that they found a little corner to rest or just lie down. Gu Ning’s group and Bai Lang’s side were naturally separated into two camps. Having just escaped from death, there was lesser hostility between them and each of them was just taking a break.
The others didn’t mind too much about those subtle sweeping gazes and found it perfectly normal.
On the contrary, Gu Ning had that strange feeling that wouldn’t disappear.
Gu Ning was very tired and leaned against the wall to rest. Her muscles which had been tensed, relaxed a little, while her half-closed lid eyes were cautiously observing the situation in the room.
Perhaps because those people had not been in the sun for too long, their skin was very pale, and they moved so slowly as if they were afraid of wasting their strength when they were walking or doing something. Also, they had a kind of sickly deadly look on them. What caught Gu Ning’s attention was the pile in the corner covered with a tarp, not knowing what was underneath it, the bulge looked kind of strange in shape.
The indescribable, seemingly sour odour always lingered in front of Gu Ning’s nose, mixed with an imperceptible hint of blood……
“It’s a corpse……” Xiang Xu deliberately lower her voice and whispered to Gu Ning as she looked down at her fingers, with her voice trembling slightly: “The thing covered in the corner, it’s a corpse……”
Gu Ning’s pupils shrank slightly as the man sitting in the corner suddenly glanced over and met Gu Ning’s gaze with a clear sense of caution and suspicion. Gu Ning’s expression was not the least bit flustered, she just faintly glanced at him then averted her gaze as if nothing had happened. Followed by looking at Xiang Xu with a smile on her face as she said a few words, and Xiang Xu also put on a smile in a very cooperative manner, as if Gu Ning had told her a joke.
The man stared at Gu Ning for a moment, saw her joking with the little girl next to her. Making sure she hadn’t noticed anything before he turned his gaze away while he pressed the tarp which had buckled up a little at the edges uneasily.
Suddenly Zhang XiaoBai asked curiously as he had overheard what Xiang Xu said: “A corpse? What corpse?”
He did not deliberately lower the volume of his voice, nor was it too loud, but at that moment, the room fall completely silences as soon as he had asked this—— Countless pairs or eyes glanced over and the few men sitting by the tarp looked at each other while their expression slightly changed. The young men and women who were standing at the entrance whispering stopped and also glanced over in silence because of Zhang XiaoBai’s words.
Gu Ning sensitively felt the change in atmosphere and her heart thumped, but her expression remain the same as if she didn’t notice that Zhang XiaoBai had attracted so much hidden attention, so she glared at him before saying: “What are you yelling about? We’re talking about when you found Wu Qiang’s body, and I don’t know how Brother San had taught you when you just blindly rushed over. If it wasn’t for me who had reacted quickly, you would have turned into a zombie too by now.”Gu Ning seemed to be afraid of disturbing others, and her voice wasn’t too loud, yet it was clear enough to reach those people’s ears. However, Gu Ning could also clearly feel that those wary gazes didn’t disappear with just that statement.
Zhang XiaoBai was reprimanded by Gu Ning, but he was very ashamed and scratched his head and replied: “I was in a hurry…… and I’ll promise to be very careful the next time.”
With his reply.
Gu Ning immediately felt those eyes staring at them disappeared, and was relieved but her expressions still carried a hint of anger.
Xiang Xu had just been called out by Zhang XiaoBai and was almost so scared to the point of having a heart attack. Yet when she saw Gu Ning’s calm demeanour, and the way how she had to disperse the crisis into nothing with just a few words, made Xiang Xu suddenly felt so reassured.
Zhang XiaoBai, however, was reprimanded by Gu Ning and wilted away to find a corner to reflect.
Unable to sense any more prying gazes, Gu Ning finally put her mind at ease and switched to wipe her knife with the corner of her coat, while her mind pondered another question.
Whose body did that belong to? Why was it left in the corner instead of disposing it away?
Meanwhile, it was clear that the soldiers were worried about something else.
Zhang Yang stood up and looked out of the window into the distance and said worriedly: “I wonder how the Company Commander and the others are doing.”
Zhang XiaoBai replied: “They should be fine, Zhong Xu, Zou Ming, and the others who have good marksmanship are there, besides Company Commander is not there for decoration either.”
Even Zhang XiaoBai, who was always so optimistic, only dare to say that they should be fine instead of saying that they for sure would be fine as right now this was just a comforting statement he gave to himself.
“Are you guys talking about Brother San?” Bai Lang who had been leaning against the wall resting, suddenly interjected while his half-opened eyes glanced at Gu Ning before closing them again, stretched his long legs for a moment before saying it lazily: “They were being chased by zombies when I saw him, they were heading in the direction of Eleven Square.”
The soldier’s expression changed, Eleven Square? That’s where the downtown zombie stronghold was at…… If they did break in there and were lucky to survive, how are they even going to get out of there?
Gu Ning’s expression was also slightly gloomy, but staring at Bai Lang’s face, she wondered how credible his words were.
She stood up and went to the window sill to look out into the distance. Diagonally opposite of this building was the Eleven square, but there were too many tall buildings in between, so there was no way for them to see what was going on there. She glanced down and saw that the dense mass of zombies still huddled below the building, refusing to disperse.
When she lifted her wrist to check her watch, it was already ten minutes past four o’clock. The sky was already dark and cloudy, and Gu Ning saw large black clouds looming over the city, covering up the whole sky as if some terrible beast were hiding behind those black clouds that would swoop out of there at any moment while bringing a larger disaster to the world.
Even the air was tingled with dullness.
Gu Ning suddenly stretched out her hand and a drop of water smashed down on her palm.
“It’s raining.” Gu Ning said as she stared at the black clouds. Immediately afterward, the sound of clattering rain rang out, countless raindrops condensed within the black clouds before dripped down, like a majestic waterfall poured down.
It was the first rain after the apocalypse happened, and it meant a lot.
Then she has pushed aside.
Those sluggish and sickly people seemed to come alive at this moment, rushing to the window with all sorts of utensils and reaching out to collect the rain.
Gu Ning’s group all backed away.
Watching those excited and thrilled people, they were somewhat bewildered.
“The rain has come at a really good time. If we don’t get this rain, we’re going to run out of water. Today seems to be a good day.” The dimpled girl walked up to Gu Ning’s side again at some point and watched those people who were catching the rain and explained.
Gu Ning always felt that her last sentence seemed to have a double meaning, but she didn’t ask and only smiled faintly and gripped the knife in her hand tighter.
“I like you a lot.” The dimpled girl suddenly stared at Gu Ning sideways and asked: “Can you stay here with me?”
Only then did Gu Ning realised that the dimple girls’ black eyes were very dark till the point of frightening, even the two dimples on her face looked a bit odd. A chill rose from Gu Ning’s back, but she still had a smile on her face but was slightly cold: “There are still people waiting for me back home.”
“That’s a shame.” The dimpled girl seemed to really felt a bit sad for herself, that even the dimples on her face were gone. Yet soon the dimples appeared again and she said in a light tone: “It doesn’t matter, the zombies are still down there anyway, and it’s raining heavily. You guys just stay here for the night and leave tomorrow then.”
Although Gu Ning’s heart was a little uneasy because of the corpse under the tarp and the strange hunch in her heart, there was nothing else she could do at this moment so she reluctantly agreed.
“With water. We can cook meat for dinner today.” The dimpled girl looked out at the rain and suddenly said in a cheerful voice.
“You still have meat to eat?” Jia DaoZhang suddenly interjected and asked surprisingly.
“Yeah. We found some meat out there, cooked it, and then dried it to preserve it for a longer time. It tastes so good. Do you want to try two pieces of jerky first?” The dimpled girl replied and pulled out two finger-long pieces of dried meat from her pocket and handed them to Jia DaoZhang.
The dried meat was finger-long and thick, but the colour was not brownish like sun-dried meat, as it remained bright red.
Jia DaoZhang took it with delight and spoke: “How kind of you.”
As he said this, he was about to stuff it into his mouth, as it was so long since he had eaten meat and was craving for them.
Gu Ning’s gaze swept past the little girl’s dimple and saw it deepened, and a meaningful expression flashed past the little girl’s eyes. Gu Ning instantly had a bad intuition, without any hesitation, she forcefully plucked out the whole jerky by its end that was hanging outside of Jia DaoZhang’s mouth. Then frowning at him when the dimpled girl’s gaze snapped to her before she continued sternly: “Are you that hungry now? Save it for later when you’re very hungry.”
