“You could have just said something if you recognized me, instead of following me for two streets without saying a word! I thought I was being chased by a robber and was scared the whole way,” Ruan Ning complained inwardly.
“Qin Renhao, so it was you. I remember now,” she said.
Since she had now recognized who he was, there was no need to follow through with her earlier plan. While Qin Renhao wasn’t paying attention, Ruan Ning quickly and discreetly put the gun away.
Seeing that she had recognized him, Qin Renhao continued, “But with the way you’re dressed, I almost didn’t recognize you. From behind, though, you looked familiar, so I followed you… I was worried I might get mistaken for a bad guy and get beaten up.” He laughed awkwardly.
Ruan Ning forced a smile—if only he knew how close she came to mistaking him for a robber!
Thanks to the original owner’s memories, Ruan Ning knew quite a bit about Qin Renhao. Although they were classmates at the same school, and even from neighbouring classes, they hadn’t interacted much before. It was only in the last month before the apocalypse, after the incident on the basketball court where he accidentally hit her with the ball, that they began to talk more.
In the original timeline, during the first half month after the apocalypse broke out, the original owner had stayed with Qin Renhao and a few other classmates. Together, they had managed to find a relatively safe place to hide in the school, waiting for the rescue team to arrive.
Recalling how he had helped the original owner, Ruan Ning’s wary gaze softened a little.
The original Ruan Ning had been introverted and didn’t have close friends at school, so Ruan Ning wasn’t too worried about her slightly different personality being noticed.
“By the way, Ruan Ning, where have you been this whole time? After the apocalypse started, I looked for you at school, but your classmates said they didn’t know where you were. I had no idea you’d already made it to the safe zone,” Qin Renhao asked.
Ruan Ning repeated the excuse she’d been using all along: “I wasn’t feeling well that day, so I took a sick day and wasn’t at school when the apocalypse hit…”
“So that’s what happened. Well, it’s a good thing you weren’t at school that day. You have no idea how many zombies were at the school after the outbreak. From my class, only me and my desk mate survived,” Qin Renhao said with a lingering sense of fear.
Originally, Ruan Ning had planned to exchange a few polite words and then part ways, but after hearing him mention their classmates, she changed her mind. “Are you the only one who came to the safe zone? What about the other survivors from our school? Didn’t they come with you?”
“I’m not alone. We came to the safe zone with a group of about fifty people. Thankfully, the rescue team came to our school and managed to save us. Oh, and your classmates Chen Ying’er and Xu Chi are here too. We’re all staying together.”
Ruan Ning’s eyes flickered slightly at the mention of Chen Ying’er. She remembered that in the original timeline, it was Chen Ying’er who had pushed the original Ruan Ning into a horde of zombies.
She sure was lucky. Even in this life, she managed to get rescued from the school.
But Chen Ying’er wasn’t just selfish—she was the kind of person who would push someone else into danger to save herself. In peaceful times, what she did would be tantamount to murder. The fact that they were classmates made her actions even more vile.
“Where are you staying now?” Ruan Ning asked, trying to sound casual.
Qin Renhao gave her the location.
Ruan Ning realized that it wasn’t far from where she was staying.
“Ruan Ning, I awakened an ability a few days ago, so I’m able to deal with zombies now. Why don’t you come stay with us? We’re all from the same school, so we can look out for each other. I’ll protect you,” Qin Renhao offered sincerely.
Ruan Ning explained that she had been rescued by a team of people and had followed them to the safe zone. She didn’t specify that these people had been tasked with protecting her.
Though she appreciated Qin Renhao’s offer, Ruan Ning had no intention of moving in with them, even without the male lead and the squad members around.
But since she had decided to avenge the original owner by teaching Chen Ying’er a lesson, she couldn’t sever ties with Qin Renhao just yet, as he was her link to the other survivors from First High School.
Seeing Ruan Ning’s hesitation, Qin Renhao assumed she was just feeling shy, so he suggested they go meet the other classmates first.
This time, Ruan Ning didn’t refuse.
The place where Qin Renhao and his group lived was also a small villa, roughly the same size as the one Ruan Ning was staying in. However, unlike Ruan Ning’s group, where only six people shared the space, this villa housed over thirty people.
When the safe zone was first organized, this villa area was designated for ability users and their families, as well as influential figures. Ruan Ning recalled that while ability users could apply for housing in this area, it wasn’t free. They needed to pay with food supplies, which only ability-user teams could usually afford. However, those who revealed their abilities would receive good treatment, joining the safe zone’s rescue and supply missions in exchange for significant rewards.
“Renhao, you’re back.”
As Qin Renhao brought Ruan Ning into the villa, a buzz-cut boy happened to come out and glanced curiously at the girl beside him. He asked, “Who’s this? I’ve never seen her before. She’s not part of our team, is she?”
“She’s Ruan Ning, from our neighbouring class,” Qin Renhao replied.
The buzz-cut boy slapped his forehead in realization. “Oh, the class flower from Class One. Renhao’s had his eye on you since the start of the apocalypse, always talking about you…”
“Hey, don’t talk nonsense!” Qin Renhao coughed awkwardly, prompting the buzz-cut boy to change the subject clumsily, though he couldn’t resist winking at the others, as if asking how Qin Renhao had managed to bring her back.
Qin Renhao didn’t deny that he had always liked Ruan Ning. Ever since he accidentally hit her with a basketball, he had been attracted to her. He had thought that after the apocalypse, he wouldn’t get the chance to see her again. But luck was on his side, allowing him to run into her at the safe zone.
Because of his status as an ability user, Qin Renhao stood out in this group of over thirty people. His decent looks only added to the attention he received.
As they entered, several people in the living room greeted him, and naturally, they noticed Ruan Ning standing beside him.
Introduced by the buzz-cut boy, who was Qin Renhao’s desk mate, Xu Yuqiao, everyone soon learned who Ruan Ning was.
Several of the people present were also seniors in high school, and even those who weren’t in their year knew of Ruan Ning. While Ruan Ning herself might not recognize them, her striking appearance was well-known throughout the school. If she hadn’t been such a homebody, going straight between school and home every day and never participating in events, she might have even been crowned the school beauty. When she first transferred to First High School, many boys from other classes would visit Class One just to catch a glimpse of her.
Unbeknownst to Ruan Ning, who had crossed over into this world, she stood quietly on the side, trying to use the original owner’s memories to identify who these people were.
But the original Ruan Ning’s social circle had been quite small, so out of the dozen or so people in the living room, she only recognized a few: Qin Renhao, her classmates Chen Ying’er and Xu Chi, and that was it.
However, not knowing these people was actually a relief to Ruan Ning. It meant she didn’t have to spend extra energy dealing with familiar faces from the original owner’s life.
One person noticed that Ruan Ning was wearing a mask, with only her eyes visible, and asked why she didn’t take it off.
Ruan Ning explained, “I caught a cold and didn’t want to pass it on to anyone, so I thought it would be better to keep the mask on.”
In the post-apocalyptic world, medicine was hard to come by. For minor illnesses or aches, people usually just had to endure them on their own.
Ruan Ning’s excuse about having a cold was perfectly reasonable.
However, after she gave this explanation, a few people subtly shifted further away from her, as if they were afraid of catching her illness.
Ruan Ning wasn’t close to these people, so she didn’t care about their reactions. She wasn’t here to win favour or integrate into this group.
Qin Renhao, on the other hand, noticed this behaviour and frowned slightly. He turned to Ruan Ning with a warm tone and said, “I remember there’s a place in the safe zone where you can exchange for medicine. Ruan Ning, you’ve never been in great health, and it’s not good to let this cold drag on. I’ll take you to get some medicine later and make sure you recover.”
Just as Ruan Ning was about to politely decline, saying it wasn’t necessary, a sharp, haughty voice cut in before she could speak: “Cousin, why should you use our resources to get her medicine? She’s an outsider and doesn’t deserve it!”
The speaker was Qin Renhao’s cousin, Xu Manman, who also attended First High School, though they weren’t in the same grade. She was a sophomore. Since the apocalypse, Qin Renhao had been taking extra care of her, especially because both of their parents had gone missing.
“Xu Manman, what kind of nonsense are you saying?” Qin Renhao’s patience with his cousin had been wearing thin for a while now. She had been spoiled at home, and her unreasonable behaviour throughout their journey had pushed him to his limit. If it weren’t for the fact that they were family and that her parents were still missing, he would have had no patience left to deal with her.
Barely restraining his anger, he said, “This is none of your concern. I’ll be using my own resources, separate from the group’s. From now on, I won’t touch any of the team’s supplies.” Over the past three days in the safe zone, Qin Renhao had gone on a mission with the larger group and was due to receive the rewards from that task today.
Ordinary people could join the resource-collecting teams and earn rewards, but ability users, being stronger and contributing more, received significantly more supplies than regular people.
Everyone had fled the school in a panic, bringing only limited supplies with them. Most of what they had was used up on the way to the safe zone, so now, the majority of the food in the team came from the efforts of the three ability users.
This was why Qin Renhao felt justified in using his resources to get medicine for Ruan Ning. The supplies he had fought hard to earn were his to use however he wanted.
Leave a Reply