Apocalypse Escape: Day One of Survival

Before leaving, Xie Ning glanced at the people inside the villa.

Lu Qin was kneeling at the kitchen entrance, wailing her heart out. Zhu HuiZhen, pale-faced, huddled in a corner with her daughter, gasping for breath.

Zhong Shichong sat on the floor, still in a daze.

Li Xiang stood beside a tall, pale young man, carefully trying to comfort him.

Such is the tapestry of human life.

Xie Ning and the other two walked out the gate of Villa 59.

Glancing at Song Xiaolong, who was silently trailing behind her, Song You’ai couldn’t help but sigh. ”Xiaolong, you just saw it for yourself. Not one of those survivors in your family’s villa is willing to lift a finger to help anyone else. It shows how selfish they are to the core.”

”Your grandfather has been a pushover for decades, to the point he can’t even tell insiders from outsiders. It’s been hard on my aunt.” Song You’ai sighed. ”With so many strangers living in your house now, sometimes letting your guard down is the biggest danger.”

”Auntie, I’ll remind my family to be careful.”

Xie Ning glanced at him. ”You’d better hide your food and water soon.”

They had made it clear before anyone moved into Villa 59 that it was a temporary arrangement and that no food or water would be provided.

But when people are desperately short on food and water, there’s no guarantee they won’t do something drastic.

In Xie Ning’s eyes, her great-uncle was letting wolves into his home, and it likely wouldn’t end well for him.

The three of them ran into Uncle Ge Liang and his daughter, who were hurrying over, in the workout equipment area of the Song Family Pavilion.

”I was just about to look for you.” Ge Liang looked relieved when he saw Xie Ning’s group. ”Something’s happened at Chen Juan’s house in Villa 96.”

Ge Liang looked vexed. ”Remember those two people we saw yesterday, fighting over soda crackers? One of them was gnawed to death by a Mouse-man, and the other one ran away.”

”The one who ran off was Chen Juan’s eldest son. He had a high fever all night and just turned, killing his own wife and son. By the time Yanzi and I got there, the two of them—one adult, one child—were bitten all over. It was a pitiful sight.”

”Oh my goodness.” Song You’ai stamped her feet repeatedly. ”Why didn’t they tie him up when he had a high fever?”

”You don’t know the half of it. Yesterday, Chen Juan’s husband and some others went to rob Tie Zhu’s convenience store at Number 13. Apparently, a lot of people who got caught in the rain collapsed on the spot. The others all turned into zombies, but after Chen Juan’s husband broke his fever, he awakened a Strength Ability.”

”When they saw their eldest son had a fever too, they didn’t think much of it. They were even happy about it! They must have been gambling on the hope that their son would awaken some incredible superpower like his dad. Who knew it would end like this.”

Song You’ai and Xie Ning exchanged a look.

Uncle Ge Liang, however, looked rather guilty. ”That poor grandson of Chen Juan’s was only five years old. If only we had noticed he’d been scratched back then.”

”I remember Chen Juan’s son fell and cut his head open,” Xie Ning said.

”Right, right.” Uncle Ge Liang exclaimed in frustration, ”That must be how the virus got in. It didn’t act up right away, and he only started running a fever at night.”

Song You’ai sighed and suddenly said, ”Everyone has their own fate, I suppose.” Uncle Ge Liang sighed along with her. ”It’s just a shame about such a little kid! Sigh.”

”Uncle, let’s hurry and scout around. We need to deal with the zombies in the estate as soon as possible.”

”Right.”

The group of five wound their way through the estate, quickly dispatching any zombie they saw.

Turning the corner to the entrance of Villa 96, they saw Auntie Chen Juan sitting on the ground, wailing and pounding on her husband while shouting curses at him.

Xie Ning, Song You’ai, and the others made a full circuit of the estate to ensure there were no more stray zombies before they all returned to their respective homes.

It was now just after two in the afternoon. Exhausted and hungry, the mother-daughter pair collapsed onto the sofa, not wanting to move.

Xie Ning took a small velvet pouch, the kind used for cosmetics, out of her backpack and tossed a handful of Crystal Cores into it.

From that one round through the estate, Xie Ning and her mother had received the lion’s share of the Zombie Crystal Cores. By now, they had nearly twenty First-order Crystal Cores.

”Let’s just eat one of the meal boxes, Mom.”

”No.” Xie Ning’s mom sat up straight. ”Let’s use the portable gas stove to cook some noodles. It’ll be quick. We’ll save the meal boxes for when we’re on the move and can’t cook.”

Xie Ning nodded, taking out the portable gas stove, a bunch of vegetables, and a pack of beef rolls. The mother and daughter divided the tasks of washing the vegetables and the pot, and soon they were eating.

After resting for half an hour, they each went to their rooms to practice their superpowers.

They didn’t come out of their rooms until after seven in the evening, when they heard shouting from outside the main iron gate.

Xie Ning poured all the water her mother had produced over the past two days of practice—filling large and small buckets—into the large water tank on the terrace, but it still wasn’t full.

By now, the sky had darkened. The rain had stopped that morning, and after a full day under the scorching sun, the ground was bone dry.

Xie Ning and her mom went downstairs, habitually locking the villa door behind them before walking to the front yard.

She slid open the large iron gate and saw her third great-aunt and her daughter-in-law standing at their door. The moment they saw the mother and daughter, tears started streaming down their faces.

”Third Auntie, what’s wrong?” Song You’ai stepped forward to support the old woman, then turned to the middle-aged woman. ”Sister-in-law, what’s happened to Third Auntie?”

The moment Song Guang’s wife opened her mouth, her voice choked with sobs. ”We can’t go on like this. Rescue still hasn’t come, and those people Xiao Long’s grandfather brought home couldn’t sit still any longer. They smashed the lock on our cellar door, rushed in, and took everything. They even ripped open the rice sacks.”

Song You’ai started stamping her feet again in exasperation. ”Didn’t I have Xiao Long go back and tell you to hide your things properly?”

”What good would that have done? Xiao Long’s grandfather said they were all civilized people and that no one would touch the cellar since it was locked. He told us to relax and not to think the worst of everyone.”

”But just half an hour ago, those people looted every last bit of our supplies.” Song Guang’s wife sobbed endlessly as she supported her mother-in-law.

”We have no other choice. We could endure the hunger until tomorrow and try to find food, but they even took all the well water and bottled water we had stored. We’re dying of thirst, so we had to shamelessly come and ask you for a couple of cups of water.”

Song You’ai was so angry her hair could have stood on end. ”Third Uncle took them in, and they repay his kindness with malice! I’m going to go confront them.”

”Don’t go.” Song Guang’s wife grabbed Song You’ai’s arm, crying and wiping her tears. ”You can’t take on that many of them. There are more than ten of them.”

”Xiao Long already tried to reason with their leader, but he was beaten up by two of that Zhong Shichong’s lackeys.” Song Guang’s wife wrung the thermos lid in her hands, looking utterly haggard.

Her expression grim, Xie Ning took the thermoses from their hands and ran back into the villa to pour them two cups of warm water.

The great-aunt was both crying and overcome with shame. ”It’s all my old man’s fault for being so naive. He always thinks there’s no harm in helping people. And now we’ve become a burden to you and your daughter. You probably don’t have much water either, do you? Just one cup is fine for us.”

”Xiao Long was beaten. Let him have some water and rest early. If an old woman like me dies of thirst, so be it. I’m old anyway.”

”It hasn’t come to that, Auntie,” Song You’ai said, feeling both angry and sad.