Chapter 82 Part 2

“I need anti-inflammatory drugs and antibiotics. We can offer up to five pounds of flour. How much are you willing to trade?” the woman asked, her tone now cautious and careful.

Five pounds of flour wasn’t much even pre-apocalypse, and trading it for a few pills was already a steal.

“Wuqi, what do you think?” Ye Xu turned to Lu Wuqi, who was still wearing sunglasses, and winked at her.

“I’ll grab it from the car. Xuxu, have them prep the flour,” Lu Wuqi said, reading her girlfriend’s intent. She pushed up her sunglasses and turned crisply to fetch the items.

Anticipation showed in the woman’s eyes. She turned back to tell her companions to prepare the flour.

Lu Wuqi glanced over the trunk’s supplies and selected two boxes of anti-inflammatory drugs and two of antibiotics.

After a brief hesitation, she added a dose from the second batch of Special Effect Drugs. It was useless to her and Ye Xu now—better to give it to someone fated.

Ye Xu took the items from Lu Wuqi and passed them through the door crack to the woman guarding it.

“Is our stuff ready?” Ye Xu asked.

The woman at the door stared blankly for a second before speaking in disbelief. “Just to confirm—you’re trading for five pounds of flour, not fifty, right?”

“Yes, five pounds. It’s New Year’s Eve, so here’s an extra Special Effect Drug as a gift. Hope you never need it,” Ye Xu said, nudging the items forward again.

The woman hurriedly took them with both hands, shoved the drugs to her companion, and quickly handed over a large bag of flour.

“Thank you,” the woman said. “Happy New Year’s Eve.”

“New Year’s peace and health to you,” Ye Xu replied with their most needed blessing. She soon hauled the flour back to the car.

The woman at the door didn’t step out, but she watched as the car slowly drove off into the distance.

“We have anti-inflammatory drugs and antibiotics now. As long as we keep holding on, we’ll definitely make it until the end of the apocalypse.” After receiving this rare act of kindness, the survivor team regained their hope.

–

“There are thirteen of them in total, all women between twenty and thirty years old,” Ye Xu said. She slowed the car down after driving a good distance away.

“No ability users among them. They’re all ordinary humans,” Lu Wuqi added.

Ye Xu glanced at the tall buildings still looming in the distance and couldn’t help asking, “Do you think they’ll be able to survive by sticking together if they join an official base?”

Lu Wuqi thought seriously for a minute. “It won’t be too hard for them to stay alive. Joining an official base means they won’t starve to death.”

Ye Xu chimed in naturally, “But?”

“But they probably won’t live freely.” Lu Wuqi glanced involuntarily at the rearview mirror, where those buildings had long since faded from sight.

“The zombie virus has caused massive casualties. In other words, every base right now desperately needs children.” Lu Wuqi paused for a moment as she spoke. “They’re all at prime childbearing age, with no family around and no backing…”

She didn’t say the rest, but if these women joined a male-dominated base, they definitely wouldn’t get the life they wanted.

Ye Xu fell silent after hearing this. It was a long while before she spoke slowly.

“Wuqi, for the new year, should we try doing something different?” Ye Xu said, suddenly struck by a bold idea.

Ye Xu continued, “What if we build our own base for women?”

Lu Wuqi pondered for a moment. “If we do that, we’ll need a lot of supplies and a safe location.”

“How about we go back and take that spot by the lake? If we kill the leaders, seizing the base should be pretty straightforward,” Lu Wuqi suggested.

“No, there are too many men there. Subduing them would be a hassle, and once the base grows, they’ll start getting ideas they shouldn’t,” Ye Xu replied. She slowed the car even more.

“I remember the radio mentioned a couple days ago that the base in District 52 got overrun by a zombie tide. The officials cut off contact with them too.”

“If we go clear out the zombies there, couldn’t we use the remaining supplies to build the base we want?” Ye Xu grew more convinced of her plan’s feasibility as she spoke.

“At first, we’d have to handle everything ourselves, but once the base reaches over a hundred people, we could pick qualified managers from among them.”

“Our job would just be fighting zombies and scavenging supplies,” Ye Xu’s voice lightened. “Of course, a women-only base wouldn’t get along too well with the officials.”

“There are pros and cons. The officials can’t just send people to wipe us out, right? And without any of their people in the base, we could operate more freely.” Lu Wuqi was starting to get excited by the idea.

Lu Wuqi and Ye Xu had no interest in saving the world. That heavy burden was best left to the people in District 1. They weren’t going to take it on themselves.

But building a shelter and safe zone for women like themselves? Lu Wuqi didn’t mind investing some time and effort into making that happen.

After all, doing enough good deeds would earn gifts from the world consciousness—like the ability in her girlfriend’s body, or her own timely awakening.

And so, Lu Wuqi and Ye Xu traded supplies while discussing their future plans in the car.

–

By noon, when they returned to their self-built house, half the medicine from the car was gone, replaced by various things useful for the New Year.

No red lanterns, but Lu Wuqi traded for red paper, brushes, and ink. She considered her calligraphy decent, so after mulling it over for a few minutes, she dashed off a pair of Spring Festival couplets.

The content wasn’t flowery poetry, just simple, everyday blessings.

Spring Return to Earth, Thousand Peaks Show; Sun Warms Divine Land, Ten Thousand Trees Flourish.

After posting the couplets on the door, even the sky seemed a bit brighter, briefly dispelling the apocalypse’s gloom.

“Too bad we couldn’t find any fireworks. It would’ve felt even more festive,” Ye Xu said. She awkwardly kneaded and proofed the dough, then rolled it into a long strip and cut off small pieces with a knife.

Lu Wuqi, holding the rolling pin, first pressed a small dough piece flat with her palm, then worked it with the pin. Soon, she had a dumpling wrapper about a millimeter thick.

Seeing this, Ye Xu sped up her own work, quickly cutting the long strip into small pieces. Then she started wrapping dumplings with the wrappers.

The current weather meant that without a stove, anyone outside would be shivering from the cold.

But it also turned the outdoors—and any unheated indoors—into natural refrigerators. Even if they made fifty or sixty dumplings at once, there was no worry about them spoiling.

Scavenging supplies was no challenge for Lu Wuqi and Ye Xu, so this batch had two fillings: one canned meat with Chinese cabbage, the other fish and shrimp with a bit of scallion.

After half an hour of work, sixty-five neatly arranged dumplings sat on the table.

“Separate or mixed?” Ye Xu asked as she brought the water to a boil.

“Mixed. That way it’s more exciting,” Lu Wuqi said.

Ye Xu nodded and casually tossed thirty dumplings into the boiling water—both fillings represented.

Dumplings didn’t provide much energy for Lu Wuqi; she was mostly in it for the ritual. She only took ten, putting the remaining twenty in her girlfriend’s bowl.

After the hot dumplings and soup warmed her belly, Ye Xu felt cozy all over.

Once she swallowed the last sip of soup, Ye Xu dragged Lu Wuqi outside to build a snowman. They played for over half an hour before heading back inside.

“If the apocalypse hadn’t come, we’d probably be in an air-conditioned room watching TV, waiting for the New Year’s Eve dinner,” Ye Xu said, lying on the bed and letting her mind wander.

“Wuqi, when do you think the apocalypse will end?” Ye Xu asked.

Lu Wuqi lay beside her, hands behind her head. “Once they develop the special effect drug, probably. The day the zombie virus is conquered is the day the apocalypse ends.”

Ye Xu asked, “If it’s conquered, can the people who turned into zombies turn back into humans?”

Lu Wuqi was quiet for a moment. “Xuxu, I think I’m a special case. Even level 4 zombies are driven by hunger.”

“For level 5 or level 6 zombies, their goal is just to get stronger. They have some logic, but no past memories, and they don’t see themselves as human.”

“If everything goes ideally, once the zombies are fully dealt with, the apocalypse ends,” Lu Wuqi said.

Ye Xu pursed her lips. “And if it doesn’t go ideally?”

“Then we create our own paradise,” Lu Wuqi said softly. “We just stay out of the messy stuff and live out our lives.”

If things didn’t go ideally, there could be many different futures.

After all, the zombie virus had two outcomes: turning into a zombie or an ability user.

Human desires were endless. Until they fully understood the mechanism, zombies wouldn’t go extinct.

Meanwhile, zombies would keep evolving and leveling up. In the end, it was anyone’s guess whether the land under their feet belonged to humans or zombies.

They didn’t dwell long on the heavy topic. After a short nap, Lu Wuqi noticed it was snowing again outside.

The snowy scene was beautiful, but without power, this weather could claim many lives.

–

At eight in the evening, another helping of steaming dumplings went into their bellies.

New Year’s Eve without the Spring Festival Gala felt dull, so Lu Wuqi and Ye Xu sought other ways to capture the joy of the occasion.

The windows were closed, but a rechargeable bedside nightlight provided a special treat for the night.

Hugs, kisses, and more.

Different bodies brought different pleasures. Abilities or nimble tongues were just tools for fun on this New Year’s Eve.

The room lacked heating, with only a tiny window crack open.

But that didn’t stop the fine sweat beads from their exertion—or other glistening fluids.

“Mmm, it’s midnight,” Ye Xu said, ever mindful of time, as she opened her eyes. “Wuqi, Happy New Year.”

“Happy New Year,” Lu Wuqi replied, freeing her mouth before diving back in.

The new year deserved to start with brand-new pleasures!

–

After the official base in District 52 was destroyed by the zombie tide, District 1 made no move to rebuild as people hoped. They only said nearby official bases would take in survivors.

Provided those survivors could make it out of District 52 on their own and reach the surrounding areas.

District 52’s terrain was worth noting: a small basin surrounded by mountains, not very large, with low urbanization.