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Chapter 19: Everything’s not lost (2)
After waking up the next morning, Bai Qingqing stretched her waist and went downstairs only to find Liang Zhiyu cooking breakfast in the kitchen. She leaned over and asked: “Doctor Liang, what are you making?”
“Noodles.” Liang Zhiyu smiled.
Bai Qingqing sniffed and said: “It smells good.”
“The soup is not ready yet, wait a little longer.”
Bai Qingqing turned around and walked through the living room to open the door. Outside, Cheng Rui was on the ground doing push-ups. His body was strong and powerful, with beautiful back lines and defined six-packs, the kind of physic that made women blush. Bai Qingqing stared at him and forced herself to withdraw her eyes.
Cheng Rui belonged to the cold and handsome type; he was a special forces soldier, was full of masculinity, and was solemn most of the time. Bai Qingqing felt she could use two different strategies: the glamorous seduction to provoke his bottom line or act as a charming and lovely girl, soft enough to arouse his desire to protect her. The original Bai Qingqing had flirted relentlessly with him in the past and, no matter how seductive she acted, she had only been vulgar and pushy in his eyes; Bai Qingqing wanted to avoid this mistake.
Cheng Rui did hundreds of push-ups and did not notice her. Once done, he saw Bai Qingqing standing a little far away from him, her eyes on the ground, and he quickly picked up his clothes. He was used to working out shirtless and Bai Qingqing used to observe him in the past. Now that she didn’t dare look at her, it made him feel a little embarrassed. Cheng Rui put his clothes on in a hurry and mumbled: “Morning.”
Bai Qingqing finally raised her eyes again; noticing he was dressed once more, she gave a bright smile: “Good morning!”
She then asked with some curiosity: “I heard some people do hundreds of push-ups in one hour. How many did you do?”
“Five hundred.” Cheng Rui answered honestly.
“Wow.” Bai Qingqing was genuinely admirative, “You are amazing.”
Cheng Rui was a little shy under her praise and he felt a bit uncomfortable as she stared at him with her big bright eyes.
“This is not my record but I just need to stay in shape. Five hundred a day is enough.”
Bai Qingqing rolled up her sleeves and exposed her white and slender arms before sighing: “With my tiny arms, I probably can’t even do fifty.”
Cheng Rui thought about it: “If you take your time, you can do fifty after a few days.”
Under his military green short sleeves, Bai Qingqing could see Cheng Rui’s strong arms and their powerful muscle lines. She blushed and asked in a low voice: “Hm.. Cheng Rui, can I…”
“What?”
Bai Qingqing avoided his eyes, her face red: “Can I poke your arm?”
Cheng Rui was startled. Bai Qingqing waved her hand in a hurry and started rambling: “Don’t misunderstand, I don’t want to offend you! It’s just that… ah… how to say? I never touched muscles? I want to poke.”
In the end, she covered her face with her hands: “What am I even saying? I’m sorry!”
Chen Rui found her flustered expression very funny and he relaxed: “It’s alright. Come here.”
Bai Qingqing’s hands were still blocking her face but she revealed her eyes: “Really?”
Cheng Rui nodded. Bai Qingqing seemed to test the waters, made one small step then another, and said: “You said it. You can’t hurt me.”
Cheng Rui remembered that when she had come to touch him in the past, he had pushed her to the ground, and guilt spread in his heart.
“I won’t.” He promised.
Bai Qingqing had her mission to do but she was also very curious. She had seen the Aquaman movie in her previous world and all of his muscles had already made her eager to poke it. Although Cheng Rui’s muscles were not as impressive, his lines were just right and very beautiful. She stretched out a slender finger and touched his arm.
Wow, so much power! She poked again, and again, and again.
Cheng Rui felt her soft finger touch his arm and looked down at her to see her play like a child. A strange feeling spread in his heart and he observed her.
The girl’s slender arms were delicate, her skin was white and tender, and her petite appearance was very suitable for being hugged by a man and held tightly against his chest. Realizing where his thoughts had wandered, he stopped quickly.
Suddenly, a voice was heard: “Brother Fu, look, I was right. She hasn’t changed.”
Bai Qingqing’s finger stopped and Cheng Rui looked up. At the entrance of the RV, Shen Mingxuan stood there with a sneer while Fu Chen stared at them coldly. Bai Qingqing was embarrassed; she retracted her finger and called: “Brother.”
Cheng Rui knew they had misunderstood the situation and tried to defend themselves: “Captain, it’s not what you think.”
Fu Chen: “No need to explain.”
Shen Mingxuan: “Cheng Rui, I didn’t think you were stupid but I guess everyone can be deceived by women.”
Cheng Rui’s expression darkened: “It’s really not what you think.”
Facing this small battlefield, Bai Qingqing needed to use 100% of her acting skills. She raised her eyes and shouted in a soft and sweet voice: “Brother Shen.”
Shen Mingxuan’s smile froze and he stared at her: “Don’t call me that!”
Fu Chen was about to go back inside the car but stopped and looked at Bai Qingqing’s face too. The girl decided to arouse Shen Mingxuan’s disgust to the end and with an aggrieved expression, she said: “Brother Shen, I don’t understand why you always target me. There is nothing between Cheng Rui and me, what is it exactly that you want me to do?”
There was only a little ambiguity between them and unless Shen Mingxuan wanted to have a fall out with his teammate, he would not add fuel to the fire and slander her.
Shen Mingxuan was appalled by her white-lotus act and took a few steps back like he wanted to avoid garbage: “I don’t care about whatever happens between you two. Just stay away from me!”
Uh-oh, he was anxious. Bai Qingqing lowered her eyelashes to cover the smile in her eyes: “I know you hate me but we are teammates. We have to stay together, shouldn’t we get along in the future?”
Shen Mingxuan wasn’t hungry anymore; he decided to skip breakfast and went to the roof instead.
Bai Qingqing stopped her impressive act and looked at Fu Chen who was still standing next to the door: “Brother, I can explain.”
Fu Chen looked at her with a faint smile: “I said there was no need.”
Bai Qingqing had a bad feeling in her heart, afraid of Fu Chen’s thoughts.
The group got in the car and got ready to eat Liang Zhiyu’s breakfast. Xiao Yang was wearing a t-shirt and his maroon hair was a bit messy. He came out of the kitchen and smiled brightly when he saw Bai Qingqing.
“Sister Qingqing, this bowl is for you.”
Bai Qingqing would have accepted before, but she looked at everyone’s expression and said: “Thank you, I’m okay. I will go to the kitchen myself.”
After finishing speaking, she walked quickly away. Xiao Yang was a little bit disappointed at being rejected and his smile faded a little. He went to the table with his bowl in a depressed mood.
Throughout the day, even if Xiao Yang was usually a bit naive, he noticed Bai Qingqing’s attitude had changed; every time he approached her, she would avoid him and find an excuse to not stay in the same space as him. When he asked for snacks, she would give some to him and walk away to do something else.
At first, he had thought he had exposed his mind and scared her but then realized it was not the case. Every time he went to talk to her, she would look at the team’s members with traces of fear and panic in her eyes. Xiao Yang sat on the roof of the car dejected, and thought about it for a long time before understood she was afraid of being scolded by the team for seducing him.
It wasn’t like this! They were all misunderstanding her! It was obviously not her fault! He wanted to hold Bai Qingqing’s hand and tell her to not be scared nor resist him. He was the one who wanted to seduce her and he would pay attention and try to keep his distance until she was willing to take the initiative to get closer.
***
Bai Qingqing clearly noticed Xiao Yang’s emotional changes; his eyes were full of care when he would look at her and she was very happy to finally get some results for her task.
The closer they got to Wucheng, the more zombies they encountered on the road, and compared to the ones from two months ago, these monsters had evolved a lot. At first, they could only move slowly but now their speed had reached sprinting.
At present, except for Fu Chen who was already level 4, the men in the team had level 3 abilities; the Thunder Squad could be considered the strongest survivor team in the early stage of the apocalypse.
Humans outside of Wucheng had established a detection area; only after passing through numerous checkpoints cars could enter and then keep getting controlled until they officially entered the city.
The car drove for a month and finally reached the safe area. Wucheng was not considered a base but was more like a safe area humans could live in temporarily. Because of that, even after entering the city, people needed to pay attention to danger; enemies they could face were humans there. These days, Bai Qingqing had practiced enough she could now accurately explode zombies’ heads and had harvested crystal cores.
Reaching the outer perimeter of the safety zone’s checkpoint, the modified car was taken into the portable space and replaced with an ordinary off-road vehicle, and they drove slowly to the quarantine area.
“Out, everybody out!”
Everyone got out of the car and was forced to line up by soldiers with guns. Fu Chen was holding Bai Qingqing’s hand and they squeezed together with the others. Despite the end of the world, Wucheng still had electricity and the surrounding walls were connected to high voltage power; zombies would get electrocuted as soon as they approached.
The expressions of the people entering the quarantine area were relaxed, happy to finally reach a safe environment, and they chatted together as they walked forward. However, the Thunder Squad’s members were not like them and were still tense; ordinary people were not aware that in the last days, humans could be way more terrifying than zombies.
Bai Qingqing looked at the gate they were about to enter. Two rows of heavily armed soldiers were guarding the entrance, majestic and oppressing. She kept following the crowd and her breathing became a little nervous. As she was about to reach the inspection area, a sharp shout was heard: “Stop!”
The crowd dispersed and the woman in front of her was shaking all over, tightly holding the wrapped baby in her arms. Fu Chen pulled Bai Qingqing to his side and stared at the woman without the slightest trace of emotion.
The soldiers pointed their guns at the woman’s head: “Drop the child.”
The woman didn’t let him go and cried: “He’s okay, he—”
The green and purple-looking child bit her throat. Blood gushed from the wound in terrifying gurgles and two shots were fired.
The woman’s body shook and fell to the ground and the child didn’t let go as they died; red and blue blood flowed out.
Bai Qingqing grabbed Fu Chen’s clothes in horror and held her breath. The soldiers shouted at her with blank faces: “You, stand over here!”
Men and women were separated before entering the city for the required inspections. Some people bitten by zombies would not mutate immediately and all those checkpoints had been set up to carefully check everybody. Bai Qingqing raised her eyes to look at Fu Chen and said: “Go, brother. I will come find you later.”