Apocalypse Escape: Day One of Survival

Xie Ning rubbed her nose, unable to argue.

Song Shijun leaned in behind his sister. ”Sis, did you find any goodies?”

Xie Ning opened her bulging backpack to show them.

”Wow, this corn grew really well.”

”I’ll cook it for you when we get home.” Xie Ning closed her pack and said with a smile, ”Once we’re back, we need to make a plan. It’d be best to go out and gather more supplies within the next six months.”

After all, supplies were still abundant at the very beginning of the apocalypse.

But non-renewable resources, like paper towels and shampoo, were things that dwindled with use—seemingly insignificant items.

In the post-apocalyptic world, anyone who could still afford these common daily necessities was either a big shot or rolling in wealth.

Song Shijun raised a paw. ”Sis, I want to go with you.”

Xie Ning nodded. ”Shijun, you should still read more when you have time. Even though there are no more college entrance exams, it’s a waste not to use that smart brain of yours.”

”Okay, Sis. Then when we go out to gather things, we should grab some books to read.”

”Mm, we’ll see.” ’Some things can’t be rushed; you just have to accumulate them step by step.’

By now, the sky was completely dark. Song You’ai drove, sticking close to the convoy, her focus so complete that she stopped chatting with Xie Ning and Song Shijun.

The roads were difficult to navigate at night, but everyone was eager to get home.

’This trip to Su City wasn’t for nothing,’ Xie Ning thought. She felt she had gained a great deal.

She hadn’t been idle in the car. She’d created two more Metal Knives, planning to give one to that doofus Tai Xian for self-defense.

Exhausted from the long day, Xie Ning felt a wave of drowsiness wash over her as dusk settled.

She leaned against the car window and dozed off for a bit. When she opened her eyes again, she found the car had stopped once more.

”Did I fall asleep?”

”Yeah, Sis. You were out for about half an hour.”

”That long?” Xie Ning yawned. The half-hour had passed in a flash.

But after that little nap, she felt a bit more refreshed.

”Why have we stopped again?”

Song You’ai rolled down the window and saw Gu Chen and Lu Wei walking over.

”Xiao Gu, what’s happening up ahead?”

”A lot of Su City residents are driving to your West City to seek refuge. There’s a bit of a traffic jam up ahead, and some Power Ability Users are clearing the obstacles.”

”Oh, how did this happen?”

”It’s like this, ma’am.” Lu Wei pushed up his gold-rimmed glasses. ”A relatively large safe zone is going to be established in the Lanshan Tower Lake area, where West City and Su City meet.”

”A notification should have been sent out already, telling everyone to head there as soon as possible.”

Song You’ai pulled out her phone and glanced at it. ”I didn’t get anything.”

Song Shijun also checked. ”I got the message, Auntie.”

”Oh, then it must be because my thousand-yuan phone is too crappy.”

Xie Ning didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

”Your Song Family Pavilion isn’t too far from the new safe zone, only about a two-hour drive under normal conditions. There should be guides coming to your village to lead the way.”

”Okay, okay.” Song You’ai nodded repeatedly. ”So what do we do now?”

”We just have to wait. We should be able to get moving again after the barricade up ahead is cleared.”

”Why don’t you get out and have something to eat? We cooked a pot of instant noodles,” the man said, smiling at them.

Under the hazy night sky, his curving, peach-blossom eyes sparkled brilliantly.

Her mom immediately pushed the car door open. ”Sure! I’ll eat anything as long as it’s not pickled vegetable noodles.”

”I hate shiitake mushroom and chicken flavor the most,” Song Shijun muttered as he got out of the car too.

Xie Ning laughed in exasperation. ’These two really know how to make themselves at home.’

”Ma’am, I don’t like pickled vegetable noodles either,” Xiao Gu whispered, leaning close to her mom. ”They’re all stomped on by feet.”

”Exactly! So dirty.”

Xie Ning was speechless. She followed them out of the car and locked the doors behind her.

Walking over, she saw a group of young soldiers gathered around a large pot on the roadside, staring at it with longing.

The fragrant aroma of the noodle soup drew many gazes.

People in several cars up ahead poked their heads out to look, swallowing involuntarily.

Damn, eating noodles during a traffic jam? That was just cruel.

Xie Ning pulled a pack of fish sausages from her backpack and passed them around.

’You have to have some meat with noodles, otherwise they just don’t taste as good.’

The young men in the squad were overjoyed, their eyes sparkling as they thanked her profusely.

Just then, a messy head of hair popped out next to Xie Ning, and a voice suddenly asked, ”Can I have a bowl?”

Xie Ning turned to see some disheveled-looking doctor squatting beside her, staring wistfully at the boiling noodle soup in the pot.

Song You’ai felt too embarrassed to fight for food with the young men, so she quickly handed her bowl to him. ”I haven’t touched it. Here, you have it.”

”Thank you, ma’am.” The man turned his messy mop of a head and looked pleadingly at Xie Ning. ”Fierce little miss, can you give me a fish sausage?”

Xie Ning shot daggers at him with her eyes.

The man quickly fumbled in his pockets and pulled out a small, test-tube-sized vial. ”You can have this. It’s specially made to treat menstrual cramps for you girls. One dose, and I guarantee instant relief.”

The moment the words left his mouth, the young soldiers who had been wolfing down their noodles around the pot collectively froze into petrified silence...

Standing to the side, Song You’ai felt as if a murder of crows was cawing noisily as it flew overhead.

’Damn pervert!’

Xie Ning threw a punch at his big, messy head.

’That was a vicious and powerful blow. If it landed squarely, she might actually beat the young doctor into an idiot.’

Feeling like she couldn’t afford to compensate the research institute for such a major talent, the spectating Song You’ai’s lips twitched. She quickly stepped forward to stop her. ”No, no, no! A healing potion is great! Ningning, take it. Maybe Kexin can use it in the future.”

Xie Ning was speechless. ’Can you really just use a potion made by a damn pervert?’

”You can use it.” The messy, white-haired man nodded his large head. ”I have an international medical license. I’m not lying.”

Xie Ning gritted her teeth. ”Aren’t you supposed to be a farming researcher?”

The man blinked his bright phoenix eyes. ”Nope. I’m a physician by profession, but I’m also very interested in biomedical science.”

”Oh, you’re that Yu Tianfeng, the one who went to the Capital Medical Association and took on a whole group of old physicians by yourself, right?” Ji Taixian, who was squatting nearby eating noodles, slapped his thigh as he remembered.

”That’s me.” Yu Tianfeng frowned. ”I went to the Capital for a friendly exchange with the Medical Association. What do you mean, ’took them on’?”

Ji Taixian rolled his eyes. ”Does a ’friendly exchange’ throw the whole Medical Association into chaos? Does a ’friendly exchange’ make all the old masters collapse from anger?”

Gu Chen handed another bowl of noodles to Song You’ai, then shot a sideways glance at Yu Tianfeng.

The famous Dr. Yu was currently squatting in a row with the young soldiers, looking completely eccentric.

”Hurry up and eat. We’re packing up after this,” Lu Wei said, patting a gawking soldier next to him.

The young man was holding his bowl, watching the drama unfold with great relish.