Chapter 154.1: Refreshing Jasmine
After leaving the uninhabited zone, the roads around several major scenic areas became much easier to travel. Occasionally, they even came across stretches of highway that hadn’t been destroyed—though scattered zombies had begun to appear as well.
They had spent nearly two weeks weaving through the wilderness. Forget the so-called savages of Shenjian—they themselves were practically turning into savages.
Although the forests outside had long since been transformed beyond recognition, they were still different from the completely uninhabited wild woods. Everyone let out a faint sigh of relief.
The forests of the region stretched proudly into the clouds. Whether broad-leaved trees or the various fir species unique to Shenjian, they all grew upward with the same wild vigor as before. Most of them, before the apocalypse, would have had the potential to become research specimens.
As dusk approached, the team failed to reach Shenjian’s main city. With still thirty or forty kilometers to go, they had no choice but to rest nearby, settling into a restaurant within one of the scenic areas.
“Stay alert. Watch out for zombies. Wherever there are signs of human activity, there tend to be more mutated animals and plants,” Jiang Xun reminded them.
The restaurant was surrounded by dense flowers and forest. A stream murmured behind it. Vines had climbed across the roof and hung down from the eaves, leaving only a few windows and doors standing wide open.
A place like this—no matter how you looked at it—couldn’t possibly still have humans inside.
Still, everyone remained cautious, trying not to make any noise even while walking.
Wen Yuan, at the front, trampled down wild grass taller than his shoulders. The team behind him followed in his footsteps.
No one spoke until they reached the steps at the restaurant’s entrance.
From the back, Lin Mengzhi tilted her head and peered inside. “It’s so dark.”
“That’s easy,” Mo Zhaohong said, striding forward. He pressed his palm against the wall. A flash of white light flickered beneath his hand, and a lamp inside the room lit up. He lowered his hand. “As long as we can see, that’s enough. In a place like this, too much light tends to attract things.”
No sooner had he finished speaking than a loud crash of tables and chairs toppling over rang out from inside the building, followed by the rapid movement of some creature.
A streak of white flashed past the window. It circled around once, then burst straight out of the main entrance—followed by a string of smaller creatures of the same kind trailing behind it.
They ran with astonishing speed. Bursting out of the main entrance, they didn’t even spare the group at the door a glance before plunging straight into the grass. The vegetation kept rustling for several minutes before finally going still—they were gone.
“Looked like porcupines,” Yang Xiaoyun said, sheathing her blade.
“White porcupines?”
“I’ve heard Shenjian has white porcupines.”
“Then why’d they run?” Lin Mengzhi muttered, resting his elbow on Wu Heng’s shoulder. “We’ve never eaten white porcupine before, have we?”
“Not all mutated creatures are hostile to humans,” Jiang Xun said. “Let’s head inside first.”
Wu Heng entered the restaurant last. After everyone else had gone in, he stepped aside and stood beneath a window. Raising his hand, he hooked a finger around the kudzu vines hanging down from the eaves.
The dense, web-like vines covering the roof seemed to stretch lazily, making the roof creak under their weight. In no time, they began growing rapidly, completely covering the eaves and two-thirds of the windows.
“You’re on watch tonight,” Wu Heng said, whether they understood him or not, before heading inside.
It turned out the restaurant had been the porcupines’ nest. Inside were large piles of dried grass, and quite a few animal bones lay in the corners. The grass nest was even still warm.
“Already made for us? Then I won’t be polite,” Xue Qi said casually, flopping down right into the porcupine nest.
Yang Xiaoyun grabbed a few others to help move the overturned tables and chairs, stacking them against the wall. He picked out several usable tables and pushed them together in the open space at the center before finally starting to take off his gear.
Not far away was the restaurant’s bar counter. Everything on it—and everything that had been knocked over—still faintly hinted at what the place had looked like before the apocalypse. A large oden pot sat there, with a sausage grill machine beside it. Two popcorn machines stood nearby—one upright, one toppled over. Behind the counter were shelves, with various colorful small goods scattered messily across them.
With his back to the others, Lin Mengzhi slipped behind the counter. He lifted the lids of the two refrigerators one after the other. There was no food left inside, but the interiors were crawling with wriggling worms. Pairs of tiny red eyes turned upward toward the suddenly opened fridge doors.
“Sorry, sorry, sorry!” Lin Mengzhi slammed the refrigerator door shut with a bang, pointedly ignoring the rapid thumping noises coming from inside.
He sidestepped and began rummaging through the messy shelves.
“Can this spicy gluten still be eaten?”
“Potato chips?! They’ve lost their seal, but they should still be fine, right? I refuse to believe they can poison a fire-type ability user like me!”
“There are cigarettes too.” His voice unconsciously dropped. He slowly crouched down and dug through a pile of trash on the floor, pulling out quite a few packs of cigarettes that had fallen from the cabinet.
With over a dozen people in the team, there were bound to be others who smoked like him. So while constantly glancing up to make sure no one came over to share the loot, he hurriedly stuffed the cigarettes into his bag.
Slow, steady footsteps approached. Wu Heng’s face appeared outside the bar counter. Looking down, he saw Lin Mengzhi—practically glowing with excitement like a mouse that had fallen into a rice jar.
Clearly, people shouldn’t eat too well.
“Smoking’s bad for your health,” Wu Heng said calmly.
“Then you can wash my lungs out later,” Lin Mengzhi replied nonchalantly.
“In your dreams.”
Lin Mengzhi was so immersed in the thrill of his unexpected windfall that he didn’t notice when Wu Heng left—nor when Wen Yuan came to stand outside the counter.
He stuffed his pocket full of cigarettes, tore open a pack, and slipped one between his lips. With a sense of ceremony, he even picked up a lighter to ignite it.
He took a deep drag and exhaled. Through the swirling smoke, Wen Yuan’s deadpan face appeared faintly and ominously.
“Cough—cough, cough, cough!”
Lin Mengzhi nearly coughed up tears, but Wen Yuan said nothing. He simply turned and walked away.
However, Wen Yuan made a point of “passing by” every teammate who smoked—carrying the lingering scent of cigarette smoke with him.
“Captain, why do you smell like smoke? Didn’t we run out a long time ago?”
Lin Mengzhi heard what sounded like an argument starting over there. He hurriedly took a couple more drags. He couldn’t finish the remaining half, but he couldn’t bear to throw it away either, so he stubbed it out and slipped it back into his pocket. Then he stood up, pretending nothing had happened.
“So noisy.”
The arguing died down. Mo Zhaohong was leading seven or eight people straight toward the boy.
“Lin Mengzhi? I’m Mo Zhaohong. You can call me Xiao Hong.” Tall and broad-shouldered, Mo Zhaohong cut an imposing figure.
With a bulging sack nearly bursting at the seams slung over his back, Lin Mengzhi retreated step by step.
“First come, first served.”
But the newcomers didn’t lose any momentum.
“Damn it!” Realizing there was nowhere left to retreat, Lin Mengzhi planted a hand on the counter and lightly vaulted over it. “Nope, nope! I’m not giving it up!” he shouted as he ran.
“After him!” The group had long trained up an extraordinary level of teamwork. The moment the words left Mo Zhaohong’s mouth, the seven or eight of them scattered in different directions, moving to flank the boy who was more nimble than a monkey.
The others sat around the large dining tables in the middle, unaffected by the chaos unfolding nearby—some changing clothes, others cleaning their weapons.
Tonight it was Yang Xiaoyun’s turn to brush and groom X. As he worked the comb through the fur, he asked, “Why haven’t we seen that zombie?”
Jiang Xun deftly shifted the topic. “How exactly did you manage to subdue a zombie? Jingzhou has conducted countless studies, trying to find a way to suppress zombies’ appetite or restore even a fragment of their rationality. All of them failed. But this one doesn’t eat people, can talk, and can even heal—it’s unbelievable.”
Xue Qi replied, “As long as we keep him fed, he can hold himself back. But if he gets too hungry, he might still attack teammates.” He took out a pair of scissors and sat down beside Shen Ping’an. “Ping’an, help me cut my hair.”
Shen Ping’an stood up, and while he was at it, asked Wu Heng if he wanted a trim too.
“No need. I’ll wait until spring’s over,” Wu Heng said. Several large bags of dried meat were laid out in front of him. “What are we eating tonight?”
“There’s fish, and those marsh frogs from earlier. How about grilled fish and grilled frog?” Cao Xian suggested casually.
“What fish?” Xue Shen asked.
“Bro, the fish we caught on the road. The marsh frogs too—we ran into them and caught them along the way. Did you guys find anything good to eat on your trip? Take it out and share!”
Xue Shen said they hadn’t.
“There’s so much to eat in Shenjian—all gifts from nature—and you came back with nothing at all?”
Xue Shen couldn’t be bothered to respond.
After they split up, things had basically been left to Wen Yuan. Wen Yuan was completely different from Wu Heng. No matter the situation, Wu Heng insisted on eating well and eating his fill. Wen Yuan, on the other hand, could make do with just about anything.
In Wen Yuan’s view, food only needed to meet the body’s basic requirements. Taste was the least important thing.
If they didn’t reunite with Wu Heng soon and return Wen Yuan to his original teammates, the few of them might genuinely starve to death under Wen Yuan’s care.
—
Outside the restaurant grew edible wild vegetables—plump, juicy, and tender. Ruan Silian and Cao Xian worked together to gather a large pile, washing them with the water Xue Shen had set aside earlier. They planned to use some for a cold salad and the rest for soup.
The fish Xue Qi had caught were already cleaned and marinated. Two heavy net bags had been carried on their backs in turns along the way. No matter how hard or exhausting it got, none of them had ever suggested abandoning them.
After working together with Ruan Silian for more than half an hour, seeing her drenched in sweat, Cao Xian suddenly realized something. “You’re not an ability user, right? Go get some rest.”
Ruan Silian smiled. “It’s fine. I feel more at ease when I’m doing something.”
For no clear reason, something caught in Cao Xian’s throat. He didn’t say anything more. For a pretty girl without abilities to still be able to fend for herself at a time like this was already incredibly, incredibly fortunate.
It was hard work, and she probably had to endure her share of grievances—but at least she could still live with some semblance of dignity.
“Wu Heng really is a good one. You’ve got good judgment,” Cao Xian said.
“It’s just good luck.” Ruan Silian smiled shyly. “Plenty of people have good judgment anywhere, but even the cleverest housewife can’t cook without rice.”
Cao Xian couldn’t help but agree. In this apocalypse, where death could descend at any moment, luck was far more important than ability.