The eight of them finally made it smoothly from B University’s south gate to the construction site beside the west gate, where they regrouped with Xue Chen and the other four.
Because it was already late at night, Xue Chen’s group had started a fire at the construction site.
Compared with Ruan Ning’s group, who had gone around B University, the few of them had not encountered any danger while staying at the construction site all day.
“All right. Everyone’s been tired out today. Get a good rest. We’ll set off and leave this place tomorrow morning,” Gu Yicheng said, looking at the group.
“In that case, Da Cheng and I will keep watch tonight. We rested quite a lot during the day anyway,” Xue Chen said voluntarily, considering that the people who had gone into the campus to find someone definitely had not had much chance to stop today. Not to mention, some of them were injured, so it was not suitable for them to keep watch.
Gu Yicheng thought about it and did not refuse Xue Chen’s suggestion. He smiled and said, “Then we’ll trouble you two to pay more attention tonight.”
Jiang Jingyang and Jiang Jingchao had not seen each other for a long time. Now that they had reunited in this apocalypse, both brothers were very emotional. They chatted and caught up at the side, while also discussing going home tomorrow to look for their parents.
As for the other members of the squad, they each had their own things to do.
After Ruan Ning finished dinner, she did not see Gu Yicheng anywhere in the open space in front of the tents.
The zombies at the construction site had already been cleared out, so Ruan Ning did not need to worry about danger. She slowly wandered around the unfinished buildings on the site, wondering whether she might run into the male lead later.
Unexpectedly, in the end, she really did see a familiar tall and upright figure beside an open space around a corner.
It was Gu Yicheng.
He stood there alone. The light between his fingers flickered on and off. The cigarette in his hand was not brought to his lips to smoke; he simply held it there and let it burn, while its owner looked into the distance, seemingly lost in thought.
Seeing this scene, Ruan Ning hesitated between going over to greet him since she had run into him, and silently leaving without disturbing him. In the end, she chose the latter.
However, just as she was about to turn around and leave, Gu Yicheng, who had sensed movement from over there and turned his head to look, caught her red-handed.
“Brother,” she called out.
Since she had been seen, Ruan Ning no longer had to choose. She could only walk over.
Gu Yicheng looked at the girl walking toward him, his eyes lowering slightly. He quickly extinguished the cigarette he had barely taken a few puffs from, threw it to the ground, and stepped on it. His thin lips curved upward almost imperceptibly. Even the cold indifference in his eyes lessened somewhat, gaining a trace of warmth as he said gently, “Ningning, why are you here? Why haven’t you gone to sleep earlier?”
Ruan Ning noticed Gu Yicheng’s series of movements as he put out the cigarette. She suddenly remembered that when she first met him on the first day, in order to show herself as an obedient and sensible younger sister, she had mustered up the courage to tell him to smoke less. She had even said something like smoking was harmful to his health—words that still made her feel awkward when she thought about them now. In the end, she had directly received a pack of cigarettes from him.
Speaking of which, that pack of cigarettes she had “confiscated” back then was still sitting in the inner pocket of her schoolbag.
Actually, thinking back now, her purpose at the time had indeed been a little too obvious. She had even acted pitiful in front of Gu Yicheng. Fortunately, she had not made a joke of herself back then, nor had he discovered her less-than-pure little thoughts.
To the current Ruan Ning, Gu Yicheng was no longer merely the so-called golden thigh she wanted to cling to. Human hearts were made of flesh. When people spent time with others, they could not help but invest some degree of emotion, more or less.
The more Gu Yicheng took care of her these days, the more Ruan Ning felt that her prejudice against him back then had been a little too deep.
“Um, I just ate a bit too much at dinner, so I came out for a walk to digest. I’ll go to sleep in a bit.” Ruan Ning pressed her lips together and smiled, revealing two pretty, sweet little dimples.
Ruan Ning really was rather tired today. Everything she had experienced on the university campus could be described as thrilling and dangerous. On top of that, she had even experienced jumping from a building, although she had jumped terribly and had almost crippled herself in the process.
Speaking of which, Ruan Ning still had to thank the big boss in front of her again for saving her. If he had not rushed over in time to catch her, she probably would not have escaped that disaster.
Gu Yicheng stared at Ruan Ning for a while, rubbing his fingertips together. Suddenly, he asked, “Ningning, do you have any plans for the future? After we find Chaozi’s family in B City, we’ll head to the Imperial Capital with all our strength. Once you arrive at the base there, do you have any thoughts or plans?”
Gu Yicheng was now calling Ruan Ning by her nickname more and more naturally, without the slightest sense of awkwardness.
Hearing his question, Ruan Ning really did think about it properly. Finally, she said, “After arriving at the Imperial Capital, I’ll probably first find a place to settle down, and then go see Uncle Gu.”
When she mentioned Gu Yicheng’s father, Ruan Ning secretly raised her eyes to observe the person opposite her. Seeing that he did not show any displeasure toward her because of this, she secretly let out a sigh of relief.
She had encountered the apocalypse as soon as she transmigrated over. Earlier, even surviving had become a major problem for Ruan Ning, so how could she have had the energy to think about future plans? The only thought in her heart had probably been to stay alive. If she aimed a little higher, then it would be to create slightly better living conditions for herself in the apocalypse, so that she would not end up too miserable, unable to keep living day by day, starving every day and looking pitiful.
In the apocalypse, being alive had already become an extravagant hope for many people. How could they dare think about anything else?
Fortunately, although Ruan Ning’s abilities were not very offensive right now, they were extremely practical. Healing and space-type abilities—weren’t both of them essential abilities in the apocalypse? Weren’t both of them abilities people fought over? Presumably, even if she were alone in the apocalypse, she should not fare too badly.
Not to mention, she now had backers. More than one, too. When the time came, even fewer people would dare bully her. Maybe she could even walk sideways in the base.
Ruan Ning was someone who was easily satisfied. Just like now, she was actually quite content with her current situation. Every day had something to look forward to and things she wanted to do.
Compared with many people still struggling in the apocalypse, she was already doing much, much better.
The girl’s soft and gentle voice sounded somewhat warm in the ink-dark night.
As Ruan Ning kept talking, she gradually became a little distracted. Her eyes remained fixed on the steep slope beneath her feet, so she did not notice that the man’s gaze had been on her the whole time. By the time she reacted, a distinct, slender hand had already reached over from the side.
Gu Yicheng’s fingertips were a little cool. When they touched Ruan Ning’s cheek and earlobe, she felt a little ticklish and subconsciously wanted to dodge. But unexpectedly, a low voice stopped her.
She halted her attempt to avoid him.
“Don’t move.” Gu Yicheng’s eyes darkened slightly. In his obsidian-black pupils, only her figure was reflected now.
He leisurely helped tuck the loose strands of hair near his side behind her ear, revealing a slightly reddened earlobe. The girl had no ear piercings, and her ear looked small and delicate.
Ruan Ning stared blankly at his movements, a little confusion in her almond-shaped eyes. For a moment, she did not understand what had happened.
“Your hair was messy.” There was a faint smile in his eyes, and his tone was the same as usual. Nothing seemed particularly different. It was as if he really had only casually helped her fix the loose hair by her ear.
“Oh,” Ruan Ning said slowly. She blinked, her long eyelashes sweeping down. Yet the strange, awkward feeling in her heart still had not passed. She reached out and tidied the loose hair on the other side too, trying to cover up that inner discomfort.
She was probably overthinking it, right? Otherwise, why had it felt just now like the male lead was… flirting with her?
No, no, no!! She must be overthinking it. She must be overthinking it.
Putting aside the fact that Gu Yicheng was simply not someone who would actively flirt with others, Ruan Ning had only recently complained about his complete lack of romantic luck.
Besides, the two of them were siblings! Damn it!
What exactly had given her this illusion?!
Only after Ruan Ning finished mentally building herself back up did she barely feel better. But that illusion from just now still made her unable to help suspecting whether it was because she had not dated in too long, so now whenever someone treated her even slightly well, she thought they had improper intentions toward her.
….
The next day.
Because the place they were going today was not far, they were not in such a hurry. There was no need to set off as soon as the sky brightened.
Jiang Jingchao went to university in the Imperial Capital and lived far from home, so Jiang Jingyang had stayed locally for university. Their home was also very close to B University’s new campus. Before the apocalypse, it was only a ten-minute drive away.
Even now, it would not take too long to get there from here.
Because of what had happened last night, Ruan Ning had tossed and turned the whole night, unable to sleep. She had kept thinking about what exactly had gone wrong on her side to make her develop such an illusion.
She even felt guilty, knowing she was in the wrong, as if she had “blasphemed” the male lead big boss’s tall image of calm self-restraint and indifference toward women. So when it was time to set off, Ruan Ning did not wait for Gu Yicheng to come over like usual. Instead, she got into the car first and found a seat.
On the other side, after Gu Yicheng finished discussing matters with the people in the other two cars, he discovered that the girl who used to wait at the side before every departure was nowhere to be seen today.
Seeing this, his dark eyes moved slightly, and a hint of a smile flashed through them.
…
After leaving the construction site, strangely enough, the number of zombies did not decrease. Instead, there seemed to be more and more of them. It was not the kind of sudden explosive increase; it just felt as though these zombies were deliberately targeting them.
This situation was somewhat similar to what they had encountered the day before yesterday, during the day, with that rescue team. It felt as though something was controlling these zombies from behind the scenes. Yet they could not find the mutated zombie doing the controlling.
Jiang Jingyang had overused his mental ability yesterday, and by today, he had still not fully recovered. Lin Yang returned to a primitive detection method and held a pair of binoculars in the car, observing their surroundings. He said, “I didn’t find anything. I think that even if there really is a mental-type zombie, after so long, even if it followed us from over there, it has probably already left. Otherwise, why was nothing wrong all day yesterday?”
What Lin Yang said made a lot of sense. But the uneasy feeling pressing down in their hearts still made them uncomfortable.
Ruan Ning had originally wanted to catch up on sleep in the car, but she could no longer continue.
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