Chapter 73: Reunion
These days, Qingshan was always like this. She would come to find her every three to five days, either taking her out for a ride or inviting her to dinner, taking every opportunity to show her affection and make her presence known, always with a deeply affectionate look.
Jiang Zao’s indifference was more like a kind of flirtation in her eyes. Someone as overly fawning as Yan Zhen was only suitable as a plaything.
She still preferred Jiang Zao’s unyielding demeanor. It was more fulfilling to watch an iceberg melt little by little.
She knew that Jiang Zao didn’t like to eat Western food, so she had ordered the church to prepare her favorite hometown dishes early on. At this moment, the two of them had just returned to Qingshan’s residence, and the exquisite dishes were already on the table.
Mapo tofu, boiled fish, mouth-watering chicken, and even a cold-eaten rabbit. She really didn’t know how she had managed to prepare such a large table of authentic Sichuan dishes in the resource-scarce apocalypse.
Jiang Zao took a bite. The taste was actually not bad. What was even rarer than authentic Sichuan dishes was an authentic Sichuan chef.
“Where did you find this chef?”
Qingshan looked at her expression and smiled with satisfaction. That trash from the Dragon Tiger Gang was indeed of some use.
“A camp resident who came to us from another place before… he used to be a chef in a Sichuan restaurant for a few years. He was originally working in the engineering department. Recently, I heard from the church that his cooking is not bad, so I let him work in the kitchen.”
Qingshan put some food on her plate.
“If you like it, I’ll have him cook for you separately in the future.”
At the mention of the engineering department, Jiang Zao’s expression became a little dazed.
“What are you thinking about?” Qingshan’s tone became heavier.
“Oh, no, I was just thinking… wouldn’t this be a little too special? After all, everyone eats the same thing.”
Qingshan clapped her hands, and a church attendant came in with a tray. On the tray were two glass cups.
There were also ice cubes in the cups, with straws inserted.
The caramel-colored liquid was still bubbling slightly.
Jiang Zao was stunned for a moment. “What’s this?”
“This is a self-made Coke with white sugar, lemon juice, and all kinds of spices. The Coke that can be found outside now has all expired. I know you like to drink this, so I specially prepared it for you. Try it. The taste is not bad.”
When they used to hike together, Jiang Zao’s favorite drink to bring was Coke. She said it was the fairy water of the high-altitude areas.
“You still remember this.”
“Of course. I remember everything about you. You don’t have to feel that my care for you is too special. I’m only afraid that I’m not good enough to you.”
Jiang Zao stirred the ice cubes in the cup with a straw.
“How good it would have been if you had said this to me before.”
Qingshan suddenly grabbed her hand, slowly stood up, and walked around the long table to her side.
“It’s not too late now. We can start over.”
“Start over…” Jiang Zao chewed on these four words, pulled her hand out, and also got up to leave.
“Thank you for your hospitality. I should go back to the dormitory.”
Qingshan took a step forward and blocked her way.
“After so long, you still refuse to accept my advances?”
Jiang Zao raised her head and looked directly into her eyes.
“I’m already trying to accept it.”
“Then… stay tonight.”
Qingshan’s words were suggestive. She moved closer to her, and Jiang Zao had no retreat, so she could only lean against the table.
Qingshan looked at her fluttering eyelashes, already imagining what she would look like when she was trembling and crying, and that beautiful neck. She almost couldn’t wait to put a dog chain on her neck and see her pitiful look when she was wagging her tail and begging for mercy.
She looked at everything about her almost obsessively, reached out her hand, and caressed the face she had been dreaming of.
“Do you know? Your white hair makes you look even sexier than before—” Qingshan reached out and pulled off her hair tie.
Jiang Zao tilted her head and dodged the falling kiss.
Her voice was hoarse, as if she were enduring great pain.
“I’m not… ready yet.”
Qingshan straightened up and turned her head.
“You know, I don’t have that much patience…”
She stared at the face that had only appeared in her dreams, slowly caressed her chin with her thumb, her eyes a little intriguing. “Your baptism is next month. I hope my Zao’er won’t disappoint me.”
***
Late at night, in the collective dormitory, the people who had been tired all day were already snoring softly. But Wen Zhao was not yet asleep. She sat on the bed, her eyes red, and was carving horizontal and vertical lines on the wall with a small knife. It was a camp defense map that only she could understand. This was the harvest of her work for so long, including that hydropower station, which was also marked on the map with a triangle.
She would improve it a little every day from memory. Now, only the church was left on the map to be explored.
Ever since the incident of a man and a woman having a tryst in the middle of the night in the camp, the patrol team had strengthened its defense at night, especially around the collective dormitory. There was a person every three steps and a post every five steps.
She had not been able to sneak out to find Jiang Zao again. Although they were so close, she could only pour out her longing on paper.
Wen Zhao touched the dense “Zao” characters on the wall, thought of the scene she had seen in the afternoon, and her eyes turned red again.
“Little Zao, you… you won’t betray me, right?”
Jiang Zao was escorted back to the dormitory by the soldiers. She closed the door and gritted her teeth, punching the sandbag hanging from the rafters, and began to vent her pain.
Ever since she had witnessed Qingshan’s skills that day, she had realized the gap between the two of them. She had been holding it in, also to secretly accumulate strength and wait for the best opportunity.
Although the difference in strength was huge, she had never given up hope. Every move was even more serious and diligent than before.
She needed to adjust her physical condition as soon as possible so that she could take Little Mi and Yan Zhen and escape from the camp with her A-Zhao.
This was also the condition she had used to exchange with Yan Zhen that day.
She had given her a promise that if she left, she had to take Yan Zhen with her. She had long since stopped wanting to stay in this place.
Jiang Zao bent down, panting heavily, and looked at the swaying sandbag in the air. She punched it hard again.
Qingshan’s words today were like an ultimatum. She didn’t have much time left.
Jiang Zao turned around and drew another circle on the wall to count. This was already the 68th day they had been in the Utopia Camp.
Kele… still hasn’t appeared.
The next morning, Jiang Zao got up to work as usual. Besides her work at the Red Cross, she would occasionally go to the farm to learn how to plant wheat from Old En. The horse was tied to the door of the house.
This was also a right that Qingshan had given her.
She could freely enter and leave the camp. Although she said so, there would always be two soldiers with guns following her like ghosts.
Jiang Zao mounted her horse, a sarcastic smile on her lips. She raised her whip and whipped the horse’s butt hard.
“Giddy-up!”
Qingshan was examining the gun in front of her and the blood-stained bullets wrapped in a white cloth.
“Did you find the people who ran away from the camp last time?”
Lorian nodded.
“We found them, but they’re already dead. A family of four all died a violent death. This is the bullet that was extracted from the man’s skull. It was a fatal blow, with no room for error.”
Qingshan twirled the handgun in her hand, took out the magazine. She was a firearms expert and could tell at a glance that this bullet that had killed someone was identical to the rest in the magazine.
“Interesting. I seem to remember that this is the handgun that was confiscated from Jiang Zao’s sister. So, they killed that family.”
Lorian bowed again.
“The Prophet is right. Even the knife wound on the teenager’s chest matches the knife that the woman brought with her.”
Lorian presented the knife with both hands.
Qingshan took it and drew out the Mountain Stream Snow with a whoosh. A cold light flashed, and it could cut a hair blown on it.
She couldn’t help but sigh, “Good knife. It’s a pity to be used by someone like her. What about her identity? Have you found it out?”
“This… not yet…”
Lorian lowered his head again.
“We’ve turned her dormitory upside down and found nothing. But I think if she really came from the Hong City Third People’s Prison, then the base might have a record.”
Qingshan sheathed the Mountain Stream Snow with a whoosh.
“Then go and find it.”
“But…”
Lorian was about to say more. Qingshan knew better than anyone what was in the base. Every time they went to the vicinity to collect supplies, the patrol team would suffer heavy casualties.
A cold light appeared in Qingshan’s eyes.
“No matter what the cost, you must find her criminal record for me. I want her to be disgraced in front of Jiang Zao.”
Lorian looked at her face. It was as graceful and noble as before, but there was something in her eyes that he couldn’t figure out.
The former commander had valued the lives of her soldiers more than anyone else.
A chill ran down his spine, but he still slowly bowed and withdrew from the room. “Yes.”
Jiang Zao was busy at Old En’s farm for a while. She was thinking about things and would look around from time to time, planning her escape route. In a moment of inattention, she stepped on a newly sprouted wheat seedling.
Old En was quick and pushed her away, but the wheat seedling still couldn’t be saved. He knelt on the ground, holding the wheat seedling, his eyes a little sad. He turned around.
“Your heart is not calm. Go back.”
Jiang Zao opened her mouth, about to say something, but a soldier also came over.
“Miss Jiang, you should go back too. The Prophet is waiting for you for lunch.”
Qingshan was always like this. No matter when or where, as long as she thought of her, she had to appear in front of her immediately.
Jiang Zao turned and walked up the hillside.
“I know.”
She had not gone far when she suddenly heard a faint bark from behind. Jiang Zao immediately reined in her horse, turned around, and scanned the lush forest with her eyes.
The surroundings were quiet again.
There was only the sound of the wind blowing through the leaves.
“Miss Jiang…” the soldier couldn’t help but urge.
Maybe… maybe I’ve been under a lot of stress lately and was hallucinating.
Jiang Zao looked back reluctantly. After her horse had trotted a few steps, she turned around and rode off.
When she reached the entrance of the camp, a few all-terrain assault vehicles and a Hummer were driving over from the other side of the drawbridge.
The narrow bridge could not accommodate both groups at the same time. Jiang Zao moved her horse aside a few steps and watched as the convoy sped past her. The cars were filled with fully armed soldiers.
When she returned to the camp, the church attendant had already set the food on the table. Seeing her sweating profusely, Qingshan took a handkerchief and was about to wipe her sweat, but Jiang Zao dodged it without a trace.
“I saw a lot of people from the patrol team go out just now. Is there a large horde of zombies that needs to be cleared out near the camp?”
Qingshan’s nonchalant tone was as if she were talking about the weather.
“Oh, they went out to find supplies.”
“Isn’t the camp self-sufficient?”
With food, water, and electricity, Jiang Zao couldn’t think of anything else that was worth going out to find with such a large force.
“No one would complain about having too many supplies.”
That was true.
Jiang Zao said no more and ate quietly.
Qingshan sat down beside her and affectionately put some food in her bowl. “What did you do this morning?”
“I went to learn how to plant wheat from Old En. He thought I wasn’t concentrating and stepped on his wheat seedlings, so he sent me back.”
“Old En is just like that, so stingy…”
The two of them were chatting as they ate, and Qingshan would also put food in her bowl from time to time, like a real couple. Only Jiang Zao knew that she wanted to stab her in the throat with her chopsticks at all times and had to use all her strength to resist this strong impulse.
After dinner, Jiang Zao went back to the Red Cross to work as usual. Qingshan looked at her departing back. Because she had to ride a horse, she was not wearing a nurse’s uniform, but her own usual clothes.
The tight black jeans outlined her long and well-proportioned legs. A fit person’s waist was always slender and powerful.
Qingshan measured her proportions with her fingers and secretly calculated. Perhaps she should have a custom-made long dress for her to attend the baptism?
Besides attending the baptism… she could also wear it for her to see at night.
The gray linen clothes that everyone wore really couldn’t bring out her best features.
When Jiang Zao returned to the Red Cross, Yan Zhen had already been busy for a while. She didn’t know what was wrong today. The patrol team had sent in one injured person after another, saying that they had all been bitten by some wild beast while working or on guard on the outskirts of the camp.
As the two of them were talking, the patrol team brought another person over, put down the stretcher, and was about to leave with their guns.
“Doctor Yan, the injured person is here. That beast has injured several of our men. We have to kill it and eat it today.”
The soldier on the stretcher was wailing. Jiang Zao lifted the clothes that were covering his leg and saw a neat row of teeth marks, from which blood was gushing. The familiar teeth marks…
Jiang Zao was stunned for a moment and grabbed his clothes.
“What… what kind of wild beast?”
“That thing is very fast. It’s always trying to rush into the camp. It has yellow and black fur. It seems to be a wolf…”
Before the soldier could finish, Jiang Zao had already stumbled out, mounted her horse, and whipped it hard as she rushed out of the camp.
She rushed all the way to the drawbridge. The soldier on guard was about to stop her. “Miss Jiang, it’s dangerous outside…”
Jiang Zao ignored his advice and pulled the reins hard. The horse’s head reared up, and its hooves flew over his head.
The soldier’s face changed. Seeing her rushing out of the camp regardless of everything, he immediately rushed into the guard post and pulled the alarm bell.
Lorian was taking a nap. The moment the alarm bell rang, he sat up from the bed with a carp leap.
He was putting on his clothes and said quickly.
“Emergency assembly. There’s a situation at the bridge.”
When Jiang Zao rushed over, Wen Zhao was holding Kele in her arms. She happened to be working nearby today and was the first to run over when she heard the commotion near the camp.
She happened to see those soldiers forcing Kele into a dead end, and Kele’s body was covered in wounds, both new and old.
Its fur was completely soaked in blood, and its color could hardly be distinguished. The once tall and strong wolfdog had become skinny and bony after more than two months of survival in the wild. Its fur was matted, here and there.
Most importantly, one of its front paws was completely necrotic, trembling, and hanging on its chest. The flesh and bone were separated, and there were even white maggots wriggling on it.
I don’t know how it had managed to drag such a crippled body, struggle ashore from the cold river, and then follow the scent all the way here. It had taken Jiang Zao and Wen Zhao a day to reach the camp.
But Kele had walked for a full two months.
The moment she saw Kele, Wen Zhao almost couldn’t recognize it, but the tears came as expected.
Seeing the soldier raise his gun, she rushed over without any hesitation, knocked him away, and then started to fight with the surrounding soldiers.
She punched the person under her in the head again and again, fiercely venting her anger from the past few days.
The moment she rushed over, the haggard black eyes of Kele lit up again, and it let out a deep whimper.
Wen Zhao was pulled away by the shoulders. She rushed up again with red eyes and fiercely beat the guy who had just wanted to open fire.
Until she was knocked to the ground with the butt of a gun.
“Beat her, beat her to death!”
The fists fell like rain.
Wen Zhao just curled up and protected Kele’s head. From outside the crowd, a female voice with a hint of a sob came.
“Everyone, stop!”
Jiang Zao didn’t even have time to take off her stirrups. Her dismount was a little clumsy. She stumbled over, opened her arms, and stood in front of them, forming a defensive line with her not-so-tall body.
The soldiers all recognized her and looked at each other.
Lorian came out of the crowd, snatched the gun from a soldier, and with a click, the bullet was loaded.
“According to the Utopia Camp survivor management regulations, all animals that appear around the camp will be shot. All residents who leave the camp without permission will be considered deserters and will be shot on the spot. What are you still standing there for?!”
Jiang Zao grabbed his dark muzzle and pressed it against her own heart. “I dare you?! Try and shoot!”
“You—” Lorian remembered the Prophet’s advice, and his blood rushed to his head. He gritted his teeth and was about to pull the trigger.
A horsewhip came from behind and whipped him hard.
Lorian stumbled, and the military uniform on his back was a bloody mess. Qingshan was sitting on her horse, her face as cold as ice.
“Lorian, you bastard! Who allowed you to point a gun at her?”
The surrounding soldiers all placed their right hands on their chests and made way for her.
“Prophet.”
Qingshan slowly rode over. She didn’t even glance at Wen Zhao and just held out her hand to Jiang Zao.
“Get up.”
Jiang Zao looked back at Wen Zhao and Kele, who were curled up together. Kele poked its head out of her arms and looked at her eagerly. Jiang Zao smiled, but tears welled up.
Qingshan repeated impatiently.
“Get up, and bring your dog. Don’t make me say it a third time.”
When she saw Kele being taken from her arms, Wen Zhao seemed to have lost all her strength. She didn’t even glance at Jiang Zao and just closed her eyes and lay on the ground.
Naturally, she also missed the tears that fell from Jiang Zao’s eyes.
Under the watchful eyes of everyone, Jiang Zao could not even move, let alone leave a word for her.
She could only press her face against Kele’s head, caress its head, and cry silently with it.
Qingshan turned her horse’s head and rode towards the camp.
The soldiers also gradually dispersed.
No one cared about Wen Zhao, who was lying on the ground.
She was like she had been abandoned here.
Wen Zhao put her arm over her eyes and her shoulders shook silently.
