The intern’s name was Han Zhi. He was very tall, but extremely thin. Fu Erdie felt that he was even lighter than she was.
After all, Fu Erdie ate well and slept well. For the past six months, she had run stairs every day to exercise. She had gained muscle, and although her figure still looked as slim as before, she weighed around 110 jin.
Han Zhi and Cen Xiyang, however, were thin inside and out, as if a whole layer of skin had been stripped away. Cen Xiyang was probably only a little over eighty jin and had clearly suffered a lot.
Fu Erdie took out the peaches she had prepared in advance and handed them to the two of them. “I’m not sure whether your stomachs can digest this right now, but I brought them anyway. If you’re really hungry, eat. If not, eat when we get home.”
Cen Xiyang’s eyes lit up. She stuffed the half-finished water bottle in her hand into the intern’s hands, then took the fruit from Fu Erdie and began biting into it in huge mouthfuls.
The metal box slowly rose higher and drifted away. After leaving the survivors’ field of vision, it stopped in mid-air, waiting for Fu Erdie’s arrangements.
Fu Erdie said, “This person, um, Student Han Zhi?”
Before Han Zhi could speak, Cen Xiyang casually said, “You can just call him Intern. That’s what we all call him.”
Fu Erdie did not care what he was called and continued, “I’m Cen Xiyang’s good friend. Originally, I came to pick her up. But she mentioned that you’re her partner and that you have a shared-vision ability, so we also want to bring you back with us.”
“Right now, there are three people at my home: me, this person beside me, Sang Wenhao, and Grandma Zhang, who lives with us.”
“I trust Cen Xiyang. She said your character is decent, so I can trust you too. But it’s better to say unpleasant things first rather than later.” Although Fu Erdie already had many images in her mind of using the intern’s ability to fight together, her expression was cold and serious. “Don’t do anything that harms my interests. Don’t damage my home. Don’t harm the plants in my home. When we need everyone to coordinate and adjust our fighting methods, you must cooperate. When we fight together, you can’t back down.”
The intern looked like someone with a bad temper, and Fu Erdie had already prepared herself for him to turn hostile.
In the end, the intern’s expression was indeed bad, but he did not argue or act flippant. He simply held the half bottle of water and listened, his eyelids drooping as if thinking about something.
Fu Erdie said, “What I can guarantee is that you’ll have a safe living environment and enough food and water.”
In truth, she could originally also guarantee electricity. But considering that later they would be taking the house with them, water could be stored in advance, while the electricity would leave together with the house. So it was better not to promise that.
The corner of Han Zhi’s mouth twitched almost imperceptibly.
This promise sounded just like the empty promises drawn up by his boss—no, his former boss.
“Don’t worry. I won’t cause trouble. I don’t have anywhere to go now, so anywhere is fine.” Han Zhi did not believe Fu Erdie’s words and said casually, “As long as I get something to eat and you don’t make me do anything too excessive, I’ll do whatever you ask.”
Fu Erdie thought his words were acceptable, but Sang Wenhao frowned, feeling that this person’s attitude was not proper.
Sensing Sang Wenhao’s appraising gaze, Han Zhi raised his head and glared back impatiently.
He was giving Cen Xiyang’s friend face, but he would not give face to some unrelated lackey.
The two looked at each other, finding each other equally unpleasant.
Fu Erdie ignored the silent battle between the men and said, “I still need to go to my grandmother’s house to get something. If neither of you has injuries or illnesses that need immediate treatment, we’ll get the things first, then return together.”
A round trip to her grandmother’s place would take four hours. A round trip to the business district would also take two hours.
Fu Erdie did not want to waste time, so she continued with the original plan.
On the way, Cen Xiyang told her about what she had experienced since the apocalypse began.
Although there had been many bitter, wretched, and dangerous things, overall, her situation had been relatively stable, even a little more stable than University Town.
“There are just a lot of zombies around us, and many people died. But because the surroundings are all office areas, there aren’t any large warehouses or anything, so the powerful ability users from other places didn’t risk facing groups of zombies to come here for supplies.”
“After the local survivors looted the few supermarkets nearby, they kept expanding their search area. But the food they could find became less and less, while the distance they had to travel became farther and farther. The supervisor also morally blackmailed us, insisting that we share food with everyone, or he wouldn’t give us clean water. I had no choice. I basically spent whole nights without sleep searching for supplies.”
Cen Xiyang was not a fragile person who loved to cry, but after so long in the apocalypse, seeing a familiar person for the first time—and her best friend at that—made her tears of grievance impossible to hold back.
Fu Erdie stroked her back to comfort her, thinking about what she had seen in the surveillance footage.
The cameras had been placed around ten o’clock and had recorded until now. They had only captured a few wretched people returning, not the scene of them going out earlier. It seemed they really had gone out as soon as it became dark and then worked outside the entire night.
Fu Erdie said, “Do you want to nap for a while?”
Cen Xiyang shook her head, laughing through her tears. “I’m happy. I finally don’t have to suffer there anymore. I’m so happy I can’t sleep.”
Fu Erdie laughed helplessly.
Fine. If she could not sleep, then she could not sleep. Anyway, once they returned, she could sleep as much as she wanted.
The group arrived at her grandmother’s home at an unhurried pace. They abandoned the metal box and transformed the nearly two-hundred-jin bed into a new and larger metal bed-box.
With the four of them sitting inside, it was finally not cramped. They happily headed back.
Cen Xiyang’s happiness was real. Although she also felt that Fu Erdie’s claims of a safe residence, sufficient food, and water were said in an exaggerated way to reassure her, she trusted Fu Erdie. She knew that even if there was some exaggeration, there had to be something real there to exaggerate from.
In her imagination, Fu Erdie was probably a plant-type ability user, which was why she had fresh fruit. Perhaps she also had some kind of water-type ability, giving them water and enough food and clothing. As for safe accommodation, that was probably because she had this handsome bodyguard who kept looking displeased at the intern.
His metal ability had shocked the survivors in the office building, and it had shocked her too.
Based on all these considerations, Cen Xiyang believed she had prepared herself mentally.
Han Zhi, on the other hand, had no particular expectations. As long as he did not have to see the supervisor and that group of irritating things, it was fine.
However, when he saw the destination from a distance before they had even approached, Han Zhi was shocked. His drooping eyes instantly widened.
He was mental-type, and his perception was far stronger than ordinary people’s. With just a casual sweep of his gaze and a rough mental sense from far away, he could feel the enormous vitality over there!
It was as if it were a primitive forest that had never been polluted. All the plants were rising upward, growing tall and unrestrained, as if they wished they could pierce the sky.
Of course, in reality, the plants were not truly that tall. It was just that the shock brought by their vigorous life force was too great.
By the time the metal bed-box floated over the residential complex, it was not only Han Zhi who was shocked. Cen Xiyang also joined the ranks of the stunned.
So even in the apocalypse, there could be a place with such a good environment?
In the huge residential complex, there was not a single zombie. Everywhere were large, blooming dandelions. Tomato and cucumber vines climbed up the windows, and small, unripe fruits swayed beneath the windows like swings.
Upon discovering Fu Erdie and the others’ arrival, the dandelions suddenly blew out countless fluffs like a welcoming ceremony.
Fu Erdie stretched out her hand. The dandelion fluff followed the wind and pressed close to her, then was gently blown away.
Cen Xiyang widened her eyes, not daring to make a sound and ruin this dreamlike scene.
She hated that her phone was dead and she could not take pictures!
Only Sang Wenhao knew that behind this seemingly countless floating dandelion fluff, all kinds of scrambling, fine, hidden battles were taking place.
The fluffs that stayed beside Fu Erdie for a moment and were then blown away had not left by themselves, nor was it truly the wind. They had been driven away by the other dandelions arriving from behind.
Sang Wenhao: “…”
Thinking of this, he could not help sighing.
Suddenly, Fu Erdie turned her head and stared at him. “Have you noticed? The bed-box has become lighter.”
Sang Wenhao paused, then immediately focused on sensing it.
It seemed… it really had?!
To verify that it was not an illusion, Sang Wenhao circled a few more times in the air, then finally confirmed it.
“It has indeed become lighter.”
Fu Erdie looked at the flying dandelions.
It was them!
That was right. Dandelions naturally had wind attributes and could fly.
The strength of one dandelion was relatively small, but if there were many, many dandelions, they really could reduce the weight and save a lot of effort!
“I have an idea.” Fu Erdie touched the dandelion fluff. “We can make an improved dandelion-version ‘hot air balloon.’ Abbreviated as a dandelion balloon.”
Sang Wenhao understood instantly and nodded. “You go do what you need to do first. I’ll take care of these two friends.”
Whenever Fu Erdie thought of something, she could not help immediately wanting to do it. She arrived at the balcony of 16-1, got down, and rushed straight to the dining table in the living room. She picked up the paper and pen from yesterday, which had not yet been put away, and started drawing.
Cen Xiyang and Han Zhi were both utterly confused. They were still immersed in the shock of the clean residential complex and had completely failed to keep up with Fu Erdie’s train of thought.
Especially this unit building where Fu Erdie lived. It looked far too special.
First, there were many kinds of plants. From far away, they could see that the entire sixteenth floor was covered in pothos. And on the first and second floors, enormous fleshy succulent leaves stretched out from the windows, faintly showing a tendency to wrap upward around the entire building.
Aside from these two very eye-catching plants, there were many slightly less enormous but extremely well-grown plants, such as gardenias, spider plants, peach trees, cherry trees, and so on.
The three of them did not enter through Fu Erdie’s balcony. Instead, they entered the sixteenth floor from the balcony of 16-8, the largest room.
The instant she stepped onto the balcony, Cen Xiyang felt her entire body lighten, and her breathing instantly became incomparably smooth.
Her nose, which had smelled rot for half a year and was almost ruined, instantly recovered its senses, as if she had been moved from a car exhaust pipe into a natural oxygen bar.
Immediately after, the ordinary-looking house flashed with white light, startling the two newcomers.
The white light poured into their bodies. The two instinctively wanted to dodge, but they could not avoid it, and their bodies tensed all over.
But in the next second, they discovered that this house’s white light could actually heal their injuries and illnesses, inside and out!
Whether it was wounds from the past few days or hidden injuries left from earlier that had never fully healed, all of them were relieved.
While the two were still shocked and feeling their bodies recover, Sang Wenhao went to the storage room in 16-2 and brought over two sets of clothes, two towels, two bottles of body wash, and shampoo.
“There are ten apartments on this floor in total. 16-1 belongs to Fu Erdie. 16-2 is mine. 16-5 belongs to Grandma Zhang Dongxuan, whom I’ll introduce to you later. 16-8 is the dining room, and also something like the communal living room where everyone rests and gathers. Apart from these apartments, you can choose any of the others. But…”
Sang Wenhao paused. “It’s best to choose a room without a plant’s main body. Otherwise, different plants have different personalities, and there may be conflicts.”
Cen Xiyang, Han Zhi: ???
They could understand every word of that last sentence, so why did it sound so strange when combined?
Cen Xiyang asked the question from the depths of her soul: “Aren’t the plants created by Fu Erdie’s ability? Why do they have their own… personalities?”
Sang Wenhao did not intend to explain in detail. Although she was Fu Erdie’s good friend, anything involving Fu Erdie should still be left for Fu Erdie herself to decide whether to reveal or withhold.
“They do have their own personalities. Actually, the main thing is not to stay in the same room as Tomato and Cucumber. In other words, it’s best not to choose 16-10. The plants in the other rooms are all very friendly.”
The two accepted Sang Wenhao’s suggestion and began choosing rooms.
Cen Xiyang wanted 16-3. That apartment was directly opposite 16-1, very close.
The structure of their building was divided into five households on the left half and five on the right half.
Each half was then divided into one section of three households and another section of two households.
16-1, 16-2, and 16-3 belonged to one quarter of the entire floor. 16-4 and 16-5 belonged to another quarter.
Since Cen Xiyang took 16-3, Han Zhi could only go to the section near Grandma Zhang’s side, or to the completely empty section on the other side.
But…
He was unwilling to choose either.
He was not the kind of person who hid away for peace and quiet. He had come along not only because he could not stand those people, but also because he wanted to stay with Cen Xiyang, his partner.
If they were separated so far apart now, were they still partners?
“I also want to live in 16-3.” Han Zhi leaned against the wall and said shamelessly.
Cen Xiyang: ???
Han Zhi said, “16-3 has three bedrooms and one living room. It’s too luxurious for only you to live there. It’s just right if we live together. Think about it. In the future, your friend still has to pick up her parents, her grandmother, and her aunt. If she has spare capacity, she’ll also pick up your family. Along the way, because of various situations, she might end up picking up more and more people. In that case, we should save whatever space we can.”
Cen Xiyang: “…”
She wanted to say, wasn’t Sang Wenhao also living alone in a three-bedroom apartment?
But Sang Wenhao’s room contained not only his own things but also many collected supplies. Two of the rooms were filled with all kinds of miscellaneous items, so it was not entirely for his own use.
Cen Xiyang agreed.
After all, since the apocalypse began, their group of refugee-like survivors had all lived under the same roof. Who was still being particular about such things?
Sang Wenhao handed over the washing supplies. Cen Xiyang said, “I’ll shower in 16-3. You can find any room to shower in.”
Han Zhi said, “Okay.”
He planned to shower in 16-6.
However, after only taking a few steps, both of them froze.
Wait a minute. Shower?
“The residential complex still has running water?!”
The two asked almost in unison.
Sang Wenhao said calmly, “The water supply stopped. It’s just that the house’s water hasn’t.”
The two: !!!
Leave a Reply