Chapter Twenty-Six: Si Qing and Si Yu

The five-kilometer journey was much faster by car than on foot. Lin Qingqing returned to the farmhouse courtyard where she had spent the night. The area was infested with zombies; in addition to the two hundred or so lured out of the Hot Spring Resort by Zhou Mang previously, there were nearly a hundred more—the transformed residents of the Furong residential complex who had been staying there.

Very few people had survived that night; most had perished right here. She had come for two reasons: one was to clear out the zombies, and the other was to see if the group who had been with Zhou Mang were dead.

"Not this one, and... not this one either."

The residents of the Furong complex had only recently turned, so their original appearances were still somewhat discernible through their clothing and features. Lin Qingqing cleared them out one by one, but to her disappointment, she did not see the people who had hunted her down. Aside from Zhou Mang, whose body lay in the backyard, they were not among the dead.

"Are they all actually still alive?"

Lin Qingqing found it hard to believe. She clearly remembered their faces; she couldn't have been mistaken. "Or did Captain Xiao take them all away?"

That didn't make sense either. That night, Captain Xiao had clearly understood that everything was the work of Zhou Mang’s group. Moreover, with so many people dead, he could not have brought such a dangerous group back to the base. "Is there something going on here that I don't know about?"

She hadn't had the chance to see the final outcome of that night, though she trusted that with Captain Xiao’s strength, his team would have survived. She just didn't know if Zhou Mang’s accomplices had chosen to surrender to Captain Xiao or had fled.

"If I meet Captain Xiao again, I must warn him to be careful."

Lin Qingqing recalled their faces once more, etching them firmly into her mind. As usual, after burning the last zombie, she extinguished the fire and drove away. Since she intended to survive on her own, it didn't matter where she went.

Lin Qingqing drove aimlessly, clearing out and burning any zombies she encountered, and finding a place to rest at night. If she couldn't find a place to stay, sleeping in the car was comfortable enough. Five days passed in this manner, and she finally saw other living people again.

***

Today was the sixtieth day since the apocalypse began. At dawn, with thick fog still drifting in the air, no one would usually choose to travel at such an hour. But today was different. On the wide road, a jeep was in hot pursuit of an SUV. At a bend, the jeep's driver suddenly accelerated, crashing into the rear of the SUV with a loud "bang."

"Si Yu, will you ever quit?"

The SUV pulled to a stop. The driver leaned out, his lewd, beady eyes wide with anger, his handlebar mustache twitching.

"Let my sister go!"

The driver of the jeep was a young man, about 1.8 meters tall, with bulging muscles visible beneath his rolled-up shirt sleeves.

"Your sister came with me voluntarily! Besides, I paid her for it!" The man with the beady eyes didn't seem intimidated by the young man at all.

"Si Qing, get down here!" Ignoring the man with the beady eyes, the young man shouted toward the back seat of the SUV.

The girl in the back seat was startled by being called out. She quickly stepped out of the car, standing hesitantly by the door. "Brother... I’m just going on a mission with Brother Chu!"

"Is that a mission you can handle?" Seeing his sister step out obediently, the young man's volume dropped involuntarily.

"I’m just going to help out, and besides..." Seeing her brother glare at her, the girl swallowed the words "the pay is generous."

"Exactly! How could we let Sister Si Qing be on the front lines? If this mission didn't strictly require two water-type ability users, I wouldn't dream of tiring her out!" the lewd-eyed driver said with a fawning smile.

"If there’s no danger, then how did Xiao Xin die last time?" The young man snorted coldly. He looked at his sister, wishing he could drag her over and give her a sound thrashing.

"That... that was an accident!" The man with the beady eyes flickered his gaze. Xiao Xin had been the water-type user he’d hired last time. He had assumed that with three others, they could kill that zombie, but who knew it would be so troublesome?

"Brother, I’ll be very careful!" The girl raised her hand to promise. The reward Chu Wei offered this time was impossible to refuse, and she only needed to stand by and use her abilities; she wouldn't even have to kill zombies herself.

"That’s a second-level zombie!" The young man stomped his feet in frustration, seeing that his sister still wouldn't give up.

"So what if it's second-level? We aren't amateurs. Can't four grown men kill one second-level zombie?" The man with the beady eyes looked indignant. He had been preparing to kill this second-level zombie for a long time and had adjusted his team composition several times. Last time, there was only Xiao Xin; this time, he had two water-type users. He was sure he could take down that fire-type zombie.

Getting the crystal core of a second-level zombie meant a second-level serum, and with that, he could raise his own ability to the second level. Thinking about becoming a second-level ability user soon, he gritted his teeth. "I'll add ten more crystal cores!"

"No! Go find someone else!" The young man refused without hesitation.

"Brother..."

"Shut up!"

The girl pouted when her brother yelled at her, but she didn't dare talk back.

"You—what on earth will it take for you to agree to let Si Qing go?" The man with the beady eyes was furious. He had finally persuaded the naive Si Qing and had set off before dawn for fear that Si Yu would object, only to be found by this narrow-minded man. He couldn't afford to lose Si Qing, so he had to grit his teeth and negotiate with Si Yu.

"No conditions work!"

"You..."

Seeing that the man was completely immovable, the man with the beady eyes lost his temper. "Si Yu, your sister agreed to this herself! I’ve already paid the deposit. Do you want to break the contract? Do you know the consequences of breaking the contract?"

"Brother!" Si Qing grew anxious upon hearing this.

Partnerships required contracts, and those who broke them were fined a large amount of crystal cores. This was the rule set by Brother Kun, the boss of their base. Anyone who didn't follow his rules was fined, and if they couldn't pay, they would be kicked out.

"I’ll pay the fine. You are not allowed to take my sister!"

"Si Yu, don't go too far!" The man with the beady eyes was livid. Whether or not the fine was paid didn't matter to him; he wanted Si Qing.

"As long as I’m here, no one is taking my sister today!" Si Yu stepped forward and pulled Si Qing behind him.

The man with the beady eyes climbed out of his car, holding a long dagger, looking as if he were ready to fight for her. Just as the two sides were about to clash, a cold, calm female voice suddenly drifted from not far away:

"Everything can be discussed reasonably. Why resort to fighting?"

...

"Who?"

"Who's there?"

The man with the beady eyes and the young man spoke in unison. They never expected there to be anyone else in this desolate wilderness.