Surviving the apocalypse with a wife and a system! [GL]

It was the kind of thing that did not need to be used all the time to be useful. Sometimes just holding it was enough. Sometimes the fact that it existed was enough to make people think twice.

Bai Li held the revolver in her hand for a moment longer and looked at it with a calm expression. The weapon felt heavy enough to matter, but not so heavy that it would be awkward. She turned it once, then twice, and checked the balance with her fingers. Five bullets were not a lot, but they were real bullets. Real bullets could change a situation fast, especially when the other side was human. Zombies were stupid, but people were much harder to deal with. People could hide, scheme, threaten, and fire from places you could not easily reach. That was why Bai Li was not planning to keep this gun for herself.

She intended to give it to Yan Cijin.

The thought came to her naturally, without much hesitation. Bai Li did not even need to think too hard about it before she decided that Yan Cijin should have it. Yan Cijin was not weak, but Bai Li was not thinking about her wife as someone who needed to fight zombies with a gun every day. Bai Li would be there for that. Bai Li would handle the dirty work, the close combat, the ugly stuff that required getting your hands wet and bloody. What Yan Cijin needed was something for those moments when danger came from a human being instead of a monster. Humans were sometimes far worse than zombies. Zombies were just hungry and stupid. Humans could be mean on purpose.

Thinking about Yan Cijin, Bai Li could not help but smile a little.

Not the kind of smile she would show to other people. This one was quieter. Softer. A little private. She could already imagine the look on Yan Cijin’s face when she handed the gun over. Yan Cijin would probably try to refuse at first. She would probably say something practical, maybe that Bai Li needed it more, or that Bai Li should keep it because she was the one who went out more often. But Bai Li knew her well enough to predict the rest too. Yan Cijin would end up taking it, her face red or her expression helpless, probably trying to act calm while secretly worrying about whether she was doing enough.

That thought made Bai Li’s lips curve a little more.

She wondered what Yan Cijin’s reaction would be when she gave it to her. Would she blush? Would she frown and pretend not to like it? Would she hold it carefully like a strange precious thing and then quietly keep it close because she knew Bai Li had given it to her with real thought behind it? Bai Li liked imagining that. She liked imagining Yan Cijin’s eyes softening a little after the first surprise passed. She liked imagining the way she would try to hide that she was touched.

Bai Li let the thought linger for just a second longer, then put the revolver away.

With a thought, she stored the gun in her spatial storage. The weapon disappeared from her hand almost instantly, as if it had never been there at all. That little flash of convenience still felt useful no matter how many times she used it. In a world where people had to carry everything physically and worry about bags, pockets, weight, and visibility, having a space like this was a big advantage. She did not take it for granted. She had seen enough people suffer because they did not have access to something even half as useful.

After that, Bai Li crouched beside Hu Xuecheng’s body and began searching him with a look of mild disdain.

There was no respect in the movement. No pity either. He had just tried to shoot her. He had fallen from the balcony and died in a way that was ugly enough to make the whole building remember him for the wrong reasons. Bai Li did not feel the need to treat his body gently. She checked the pockets with quick, practical movements. First one side. Then the other. She had expected to find at least a little more useful stuff, and she was not disappointed.

In his pants pocket, she found thirty two bullets.

Bai Li paused for a beat, then her face lit up with genuine joy.

That was much better.

Thirty two was not a huge amount in the grand scheme of an apocalypse where weapons and ammunition could become priceless, but it was still very useful. Especially for Yan Cijin. Bai Li did not plan to let Yan Cijin fight zombies with it every day. That was not the point. She wanted her to have it for emergencies, for human threats, for situations where a gun could buy time or keep someone from getting too close. In a world like this, human malice was not less dangerous than zombie teeth. Sometimes it was more dangerous because it came with a brain attached.

Bai Li quickly stored the bullets as well.

The small cluster of ammunition vanished into her spatial storage in a blink, and she straightened slightly, feeling a little more satisfied now. Five bullets in the gun and thirty two loose rounds. That was a pretty decent harvest from a man who had tried to turn himself into a threat and failed badly. Bai Li did not care that the amount was not enough to build an arsenal. She cared that it was enough to matter in the kind of sudden emergency that could happen at any time.

Her expression turned thoughtful for a moment.

If Yan Cijin had this, she would be better protected.

Not from zombies, exactly. Bai Li was still the one who would handle those most of the time. But from people. From idiots. From anyone who thought they could bully her because they assumed Yan Cijin looked too gentle to defend herself.

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TO BE CONTINUED.