Chapter 23 p1
Xia Weishuang could understand Ke Xiaoxiao’s fear. Even though Sang Lu was smiling, she still couldn’t hide the dangerous aura around her.
Besides, she really did look a bit scary. Her smooth, snow-white legs and feet were covered in blood, her red dress was tattered, and she was barefoot. This messy appearance on Xia Weishuang would be that of a survivor of a tragedy; on Sang Lu, it was that of the perpetrator of a tragedy.
Xia Weishuang comforted her, “Don’t be afraid. She’s with us. Her name is Sang Lu.”
“Senior Sang Lu,” Ke Xiaoxiao murmured. “I know, but isn’t Senior Sang Lu already dead?”
In the past, Sang Lu and Xia Weishuang were quite famous in school, although most of this fame was related to their relationship and sexual orientation. Moreover, Ke Xiaoxiao and Xia Qingxue were roommates, and Xia Weishuang was Xia Qingxue’s sister. With a little effort, she knew quite a bit.
Whenever she had to explain this problem, Xia Weishuang would feel a little awkward. In fact, she didn’t know what was going on either. She could only say vaguely, “That was just a misunderstanding. Sang Lu is back. She’s an esper. Don’t be afraid.”
Ke Xiaoxiao bit her lip and said nothing.
Then Xia Weishuang let go of Ke Xiaoxiao and turned to run towards Sang Lu. Just seeing her made her happy. “Sang Lu!”
Sang Lu watched Xia Weishuang, watched her come up to her and hold her shoulders. She looked down and saw the joy in Xia Weishuang’s eyes.
“You’re back. Are you hurt?”
Sang Lu didn’t answer this question, but she looked fine, not like she was injured. To her, Xia Weishuang was more important than this question.
Out of some intuition, Sang Lu had felt a subtle sense of threat just now, but in fact, she didn’t think that the weak Ke Xiaoxiao could pose any threat to her.
The threat came from Xia Weishuang herself.
Sang Lu took a step forward on her own initiative. Her hand gently touched Xia Weishuang’s arm, as gently as she touched herself. She felt her temperature, felt the pulse under her skin, felt the vibrant aura from the woman in front of her.
With a secret greed, she tried to absorb all of her responses. With her deep purple eyes, she imprisoned her in her gaze, and with the embellishment of her appearance, she won her affection and trust.
“Sang Lu?” Xia Weishuang was a little puzzled. Sang Lu, who was staring at her deeply, gave her a strange feeling, making her feel a little timid. So she asked, “What’s wrong with you?”
What’s wrong?
Sang Lu shook her head and temporarily put aside some questions that she couldn’t explain clearly. She knew that she wanted to possess Xia Weishuang, and she also knew that the current Xia Weishuang belonged to her.
There was no problem, no need to doubt.
But Sang Lu glanced at Ke Xiaoxiao and still felt a sense of disgust.
Xia Weishuang checked around Sang Lu and saw that she was indeed fine, so she didn’t ask her again, just curiously, “What did you do just now?”
Xia Weishuang stood by the railing and looked down, and couldn’t help but be very surprised, because the rats that had returned to the underground supermarket before had suddenly scattered again and were killing each other.
The rat army that had been working together to attack humans not long ago had suddenly started to fight among themselves. It was absolutely impossible that Sang Lu hadn’t done something.
But that was good. This way, the rats wouldn’t have time to bite people.
And Sang Lu gave the answer to this question. She opened her palm, and inside was a black-red crystal the size of a ping-pong ball.
“This is from the rats?”
Sang Lu nodded slowly.
The rats below didn’t look like they would have such a large crystal. Xia Weishuang guessed, “Could it be that the rats also have a leader? Is this from the rat king?”
Sang Lu thought, the rat king and the rat queen were about the same, so she nodded again.
Xia Weishuang thought this crystal was for her, so she reached out to take it, but Sang Lu immediately clenched her fist again. When she opened her hand, it was empty.
Xia Weishuang: “…” She was a little frustrated. They used to be very in sync, but now, Xia Weishuang often couldn’t figure out what Sang Lu was thinking.
This frustration made a trace of helplessness appear on her face. Sang Lu noticed it. She reached out and gently stroked the top of Xia Weishuang’s head.
And just like that, Xia Weishuang threw her worries to the back of her mind.
Xia Weishuang turned to look at Ke Xiaoxiao. “We have to leave here.”
Ke Xiaoxiao supported herself against the wall, a little unsteady. “I’m all alone. Sister Shuangshuang, take me with you.”
Xia Weishuang nodded and said, “The clothing store is right next door. Xiaoxiao, you should go change your pants first.”
She helped her into the store, then took out some bread and drinks that she had taken from the supermarket earlier from her backpack and stuffed them into Ke Xiaoxiao’s hands. Unlike the shopping cart, this bag was not filled with practical things. After all, people sometimes needed to relax.
Ke Xiaoxiao immediately wolfed it down after receiving it. Fortunately, she had some self-control and stopped after eating some, but her hand was still tightly clutching the bread, unwilling to let go.
“I haven’t eaten or drunk for days,” she said in a hoarse voice. “I thought I would starve to death there.”
Xia Weishuang was packing clothes on the side. She had originally planned to bring a few changes of clothes back this time. Hearing what Ke Xiaoxiao said, she asked, “What happened? How did you get locked in there?”
Ke Xiaoxiao was silent for a while. The food had replenished some of her strength. She took two more bites of bread before putting it down and starting to look for pants she could wear.
“I was working here during the summer vacation and rented a room with others next door as a dormitory. I came here with them to find some food. The window on the third floor that was connected to our dormitory wasn’t completely closed, so we set up a ladder and climbed in.”
She found new clothes and pants, stood behind the counter to change, and continued, “But there were zombies in the mall, and one person was injured. I was on my period, and they thought I had attracted the zombies, so they used me as bait and locked the zombies that were chasing us in.”
Ke Xiaoxiao changed into a fruit-green T-shirt and blue jeans. She said, “But my period is over now. I won’t attract zombies anymore.”
Xia Weishuang sighed softly in her heart, not knowing how to comfort her. Besides, time was a bit tight now, so she said, “It’s not your fault. Zombies will be attracted as long as there’s any movement from living people. Here, help me fold this.”
She placed the selected clothes next to Ke Xiaoxiao, then pushed down Sang Lu, who had been leisurely picking out pretty clothes from the beginning.
That’s right, from the beginning, Sang Lu had been making trouble on the side.
Xia Weishuang picked clothes: soft and strong, breathable and durable.
Sang Lu picked clothes: pretty, pretty, pretty, pretty.
Camisoles, lace chiffon dresses… Sang Lu would pick up a piece, hold it up to Xia Weishuang’s body, and then throw it into the pile of clothes Xia Weishuang had selected, only to have Xia Weishuang pick it out and throw it away.
She didn’t get angry, nor was she stubborn. For every piece Xia Weishuang threw away, she would leisurely pick out the next one.
Xia Weishuang was very helpless. She pressed Sang Lu’s shoulder and said, “That’s right. You’ve been wearing this for so long. You should change.”
The dress Sang Lu was wearing was one Xia Weishuang had given her before. She liked it very much and cherished it. This could be seen from the fact that the dress had not been damaged much after so many battles.
So Xia Weishuang picked up some of the clothes she had just thrown away. Sang Lu’s eyes sparkled, as if she was a little surprised. Unfortunately, she didn’t know yet that in the near future, these clothes might be worn by her…
Xia Weishuang pushed Sang Lu down not to change her clothes. The clothes could be changed when they got back. She took a pair of flat Mary Jane shoes, crouched down, and helped Sang Lu put them on.
The shape of her feet was beautiful, white, thin, and cold. She slowly put the shoes on for her, fastened the buckle. The wine-red leather made her look even more elegant.
“Although you might not be able to wear them for long,” Xia Weishuang pursed her lips and smiled, “they suit you very well.”
Sang Lu sat on a low leather stool in the shop, her hands propped behind her, her legs crossed, letting Xia Weishuang put on her shoes. She looked down from above, at Xia Weishuang’s lowered eyelashes and pale pink lips, and thought, so just putting on a pair of shoes can make her like me more.
A rather simple request.
She reached out and scraped Xia Weishuang’s earlobe, and felt pleased to see Xia Weishuang’s slightly shy appearance.
**
After packing up, the three of them began to go downstairs, preparing to meet up with Liu Damin and the others.
She didn’t know how Liu Damin and the others were doing. Before, Sang Lu had counterattacked the underground supermarket and attracted more than half of the red-eyed rats back. If something still happened under these circumstances… Xia Weishuang didn’t know what to say.
At this moment, she suddenly felt a little annoyed.
Her ability was really quite useless, working on and off. How good would it be if she were as powerful as Sang Lu?
And although Ke Xiaoxiao had eaten something, the weakness from the past few days could not be replenished in a short time. She had no strength, couldn’t run, and walked slowly.
Therefore, Xia Weishuang supported her as she walked, and temporarily gave the packed clothes to Sang Lu. But as they walked, the arm on her shoulder suddenly slipped, and the two of them separated.
Xia Weishuang was taken aback and turned to look at Ke Xiaoxiao. Ke Xiaoxiao also looked confused, not knowing why she had suddenly slipped backward.
Xia Weishuang continued to support her. As they walked, the two of them separated again for no reason. Xia Weishuang tried to support her again and again, and as they walked…
Xia Weishuang said helplessly, “Sang Lu!”
The woman standing next to her slowly turned her head, smiled, naturally, without a trace of guilt.
Xia Weishuang had no choice but to hold Sang Lu’s hand with her other hand and said, “Stop messing around. We have to go back quickly.”
Perhaps because she had the comfort of her hand this time, Sang Lu finally suppressed herself and didn’t try to throw Ke Xiaoxiao away again.
Ke Xiaoxiao also knew that it was Sang Lu who had done it. She was angry but didn’t dare to say anything, and lowered her head to reduce her presence.
The three of them went downstairs, preparing to enter through the back door of KFC on the second floor. The first floor had become very disgusting because of the rats fighting. The loss of the rat king brought them not only fear, but also the ambition and impulse to compete for the next rat king. In this situation, it was better to avoid them.
But the back door of KFC on the second floor was still locked. Xia Weishuang frowned, but could only endure the disgust and go downstairs.
Just then, Sang Lu suddenly reached out and gently pulled open the padlock. Her effortless posture was as if she were just pulling a spoon out of ice cream.
Xia Weishuang didn’t have time to praise her for her ability and helped Ke Xiaoxiao in.
To Xia Weishuang’s relief, Liu Damin and Yang Dajun were both fine and staying in KFC. They looked fine, just very dejected and listless.
And during the time they were waiting, they hadn’t been idle. When the rat swarm poured out, they were only focused on escaping and didn’t have time to push out the shopping cart. Now, the car was full of the food Xia Weishuang had collected earlier.
The only things these two big men had brought out were the bags of gold they had been carrying on their backs and two sausages they had stuffed in their pockets.
But fortunately, the back kitchen of this KFC still had some undamaged food. The two of them had moved out some dry bread, rice, and onions that could last for a long time. Unfortunately, the back kitchen of a fast-food restaurant was mostly frozen semi-finished products. Now that the power was out, the frozen products had long since spoiled and were inedible.
Seeing Xia Weishuang and Sang Lu return, the two of them stood up, a little excited. After seeing Ke Xiaoxiao, they were a little embarrassed. They had just lost a companion, but a new, seemingly very weak girl had arrived.
Yang Dajun frowned but said nothing. He was already a man of few words.
Liu Damin was an honest person and didn’t say much either, just asked, “Are we going back now? What about Little Zhang? Are we just going to leave him?”
Little Zhang was the unfortunate young male white-collar worker who had died. Xia Weishuang shook her head, walked over to the two of them, and pretended to casually touch their arms. “He’s already passed away. We can’t bring him back. We can only cherish our own lives.”
The ability still didn’t work.
Liu Damin scratched his head, a little sad. “Why is this world so difficult? A perfectly good person, gone just like that.”
Xia Weishuang also wanted to ask this question, but perhaps they would never get the answer.
Because the car was piled with a lot of things, it couldn’t fit five people. They had to find another car.
There were a few cars outside the mall, but unfortunately, most of them were locked and had no keys. Another one had been in a car accident, the front of the car was crushed, and it was overturned on the side of the road. It was not known if it could be used.
“What do we do without a car?” Liu Damin wiped the sweat from his forehead. “Why don’t we transport some back first, and then make a second trip?”
Xia Weishuang pointed to a car and said, “Let’s try that car.”
Liu Damin followed her finger and his face immediately turned extremely ugly. “There’s a zombie in there!”
That car was closed, and the key was in the ignition, but a zombie was trapped in the driver’s seat.
Xia Weishuang said, “If we can’t open the car door, we’ll give up. If we can, we’ll kill the zombie and drive the car away. You’ll have to face zombies sooner or later. There are only a few zombies here now, and they’re easier to deal with. If you don’t take the first step now, what will you do in the future?”
“But…”
“Okay, I’ll try.” The silent Yang Dajun actually agreed.
Now Liu Damin couldn’t say anything more. They prepared to go through the car they had, rush outside, and then try to open the car with the zombie trapped inside.
Ke Xiaoxiao looked at Yang Dajun, deep in thought.
Because this car was found for Liu Damin and the others to use, Liu Damin was too embarrassed to keep troubling the girls, so he said that he and Yang Dajun would go get the car.
Xia Weishuang didn’t stand on ceremony with them. After all, the space in the car was limited, and sometimes it was more flexible with fewer people. She gave some advice, “You can sit in the car at the entrance and jam the car door, lure the zombies outside the car one by one and deal with them, and then go and check that car.”
Liu Damin and Yang Dajun put down the bags of gold they had been carrying on their backs, held their weapons, and got into the car.
While the two men were carefully dealing with the zombies over there, Xia Weishuang continued to search inside KFC.
Ke Xiaoxiao was very weak and was tired even from saying one more word. She couldn’t help much, so Xia Weishuang let her rest in KFC.
Sang Lu, on the other hand, had no concept of collecting supplies at all. She jumped onto the counter and sat there, quietly watching Xia Weishuang come and go, busy.
After a while, Xia Weishuang was covered in sweat.
As the greenhouse effect intensified, summers were getting hotter and hotter. Without electricity, it was almost life-threatening. There was no air conditioning, no popsicles. She didn’t know how long these hard days would last.
But the results were gratifying. Xia Weishuang had found some coffee powder, tea, and sweet and spicy sauce. In Liu Damin and the others’ eyes, these were not proper food, and they looked down on them. But there was still space in the car, so Xia Weishuang found a few boxes and packed some of each to take with them.
She didn’t take everything. These things could be stored for a long time. Maybe other survivors would come here in the future, and it could help them. Although it was every man for himself, in the face of a global disaster, if humans didn’t learn to help each other, they might really be finished.
Over there, Liu Damin and Yang Daguang had just finished killing the zombies gathered outside the car. Liu Damin held the mop handle and panted, his face excited. “It wasn’t that hard after all!”
But when he looked at the zombies lying on the ground, he couldn’t help but show a look of intolerance. Not long ago, they were living humans, living right beside us.
This was a very painful thing for a normal person. Killing a zombie not only required overcoming the fear of the zombie, but also overcoming human empathy.
If it weren’t for the fact that zombies would wipe out the living, and that being bitten or scratched would lead to infection, who would be willing to harm the bodies of their compatriots?
Xia Weishuang was putting things in the back seat. She saw Liu Damin’s discomfort. In fact, she herself would also feel pain and was not qualified to persuade others not to be sad about it.
“They are no longer who they used to be,” Xia Weishuang said. “You should go and check the car. I’ll stay here and watch. When you drive over, I’ll drive this car away. If you block the door like you are now, you can move the things inside onto the car and leave directly.”
With the experience of killing zombies with their own hands, Liu Damin and Yang Dajun’s courage greatly increased. They pushed away the zombie corpses piled at the car door, and then rushed down in one go to try the car with the zombie trapped inside.
The nearby zombies had been eliminated, and the distant zombies had not yet arrived. Their trip was very smooth. They actually managed to pull open the car door, then killed the zombie in the car and took the car for themselves.
Liu Damin was a little concerned about the bloodstains, so Yang Dajun was the one driving.
Just then, Sang Lu and Ke Xiaoxiao also got into the car. Xia Weishuang saw the opportunity, drove forward to make way for the entrance, and Yang Dajun promptly took her place, blocking the entrance. Then they moved their things onto the car, and the five of them returned with a full load.
**
