Chapter 123: Fatal G City (Part 8)

Xiao Muyu tried to keep a certain vixen from getting too cocky. Yet, that vixen loved to play dumb while knowing what was going on. She insisted on pestering her for answers like a child.

“How could you not know? Just tell me, I’m curious,” Shen Qingqiu said demurely, giving Xiao Muyu goosebumps. She shot her a sideways glare. “Talk normally.”

Shen Qingqiu pressed her lips together in a smile. “I can’t help it. You’re too uptight. You won’t react if I don’t tease you. A teammate doesn’t activate the feature, so there must be another reason. The only thing I can think of is that red string. Be honest—what does it show? Let me look.”

She clung to Xiao Muyu to peek at her interface. Xiao Muyu stiffly sat up, her expression indifferent. “I already told you it says ‘bedwarmer.’”

Shen Qingqiu remembered, of course. Hearing it again made her smile like a fox spirit out to steal souls. Propping herself up on the bed, she subtly leaned in. “Alright, I’ll believe you for now. So, Leader Xiao, when do you plan to have me fulfill my duty as your bedwarmer?”

Xiao Muyu had a headache. She wasn’t great at holding her composure. Shen Qingqiu might talk frivolously and act unserious. However, she mixed in just enough truth to stir the heart whenever she flirted or teased with her words.

“Shen Qingqiu, stop teasing me,” Xiao Muyu looked at her as if surrendering, her gaze indulgent yet frustrated. The faintest blush tinged her usually calm, unflappable face, and her voice softened, almost like a sigh.

Shen Qingqiu’s seductive smile froze on her pretty face. She rubbed her earlobe, a hint of grievance and innocence in her expression. “You’re always so calm, so I wanted to tease you a little. These instances are dangerous and terrifying. Always being so tense is no good.”

As the leader and brains of their team, Xiao Muyu carried the most responsibility. No matter how considerate the others were, they still relied on her imperceptibly. And Shen Qingqiu knew that Xiao Muyu cared deeply about her teammates, so she always put immense pressure on herself without realizing it.

Shen Qingqiu knew encountering that mutated zombie at the gas station had scared Xiao Muyu. Even though she hadn’t mentioned it once since they arrived, Shen Qingqiu understood how she felt.

Xiao Muyu looked at her and chuckled. “I get it, but too much of anything can backfire.” Her ears reddening, she softly added, “It’s even harder for me to hold it in when you tease me too much.”

Shen Qingqiu blinked at her before bursting out in laughter. Her eyes twinkled as she looked at Xiao Muyu. “Okay, since you’re working hard to hold it together, I’ll stop causing trouble.”

She stood up, ready to pour Xiao Muyu a glass of water, but turned around and grinned when she got to the door. “Actually, you don’t have to hold it in if it’s too hard.”

Xiao Muyu stared at her blankly, her expression grave and stern. Once Shen Qingqiu had left, she shook her head and chuckled. That woman… seriously.

The team had to pause their discussion earlier because of Lin Jian. Xiao Muyu opened the “Loving Family” group chat and sent a message.

Xiao Muyu: [Everyone, check your points.]

Su Jin, Chen Kaijie, and Zuo Tiantian replied one after another: [Got it!]

After compiling the results, they saw that the team had 30 team points.

For individual points, Shen Qingqiu had 138.6, far ahead of everyone else.

Xiao Muyu: 14.5 points
Su Jin: 6.5 points
Zuo Tiantian: 4.5 points
Chen Kaijie: 13.5 points

Shen Qingqiu’s score stunned the others.

For a moment, the same reaction stickers flooded the group chat: [kneel.jpg]

Bow to the boss!

Su Jin: [How is this possible? A regular zombie seems to be worth 0.5 points, and the tougher ones are 1 point. How did you end up with 0.8, Vice-Leader?]

Xiao Muyu was also confused. Was there something special going on? Su Jin’s point system seemed accurate when she used it to calculate her own score. Maybe that mutated zombie at the end had a different value?

Shen Qingqiu returned. She handed the glass of water to Xiao Muyu, then frowned and said, “My points are still changing, and it’s weird. They go up by 0.1 or 0.5 at a time.”

“The 0.5 is easy to explain,” Xiao Muyu replied. “All the zombies that died in the fire are probably being accredited to you. The 0.1 should also be from that, but why 0.1?”

Shen Qingqiu suddenly thought of something. “Muyu, do you remember those two teams that regrouped later on? They each compensated us with 5 points.”

“I remember. I was thinking about it. The system likely awarded us those points because the fire you started helped them regroup. So this 0.1 is the same?” Xiao Muyu found it hard to believe, but it made sense, considering how unpredictable the system was. It maintained fairness while secretly setting them up as targets—killing two birds with one stone.

The other teams should know that killing zombies gave them points. Now that she thought about it, the zombies that burned but didn’t die in the fire could provide excellent point farming.

Meanwhile, the other three teams had gathered around the heat-cracked windows and doors of the burning skyscraper. As they took turns finishing off the zombies inside, points floated up in their interface, each kill earning 0.4 points.

Zhou Zuo took down a zombie, scowling. “This damn system is so stingy. A burned zombie only gives 0.4?”

The short-haired woman heard what he said and glanced at the burning building. Faint amusement appeared in her eyes. That team is quite something.

When evening fell, Chen Kaijie and the others busily prepared dinner in the kitchen. Since Lin Jian’s family was away on a trip, he hadn’t stocked much food, so it wasn’t practical to cook a full meal. In the end, they just made some noodles.

Simple noodles with a few leafy vegetables were nothing compared to Xiao Muyu’s cooking. Shen Qingqiu didn’t enjoy it.

Still, despite her picky palate, she wasn’t the type to fuss. She wouldn’t say anything at a time like this, even if she didn’t like it. She just ate much slower than usual and didn’t go for seconds. Xiao Muyu glanced at her but said nothing as she helped clear her bowl away.

Everyone had been through hell today, not to mention dealing with zombies the entire way. They were all physically exhausted. Except for Shen Qingqiu and Xiao Muyu, everyone else had multiple helpings.

After dinner, they stood on the balcony, scanning the surroundings. In the building across from them, only three rooms showed faint light. Everywhere else was pitch-black. The neighboring residential complex was much the same, with few scattered lights.

Xiao Muyu quietly watched the scene for a long while before asking. “Is it usually this empty?”

“No. There were over a dozen households,” Lin Jian answered in a low, grave voice.

“Looks like we won’t be waiting for a rescue to come,” Xiao Muyu thought aloud.

Lin Jian leaned heavily on the balcony railing, covering his face with both hands. He was silent for a long time.

Outside, the howls of zombies echoed like wolves roaming the wilderness—chilling, piercing, and unending.

The six returned to the living room. Xiao Muyu stopped hesitating and looked at Lin Jian. “Dr. Lin, I want to ask you something. When Nurse Tian prepared to treat me this morning, she had a 20ml syringe. She was going to inject me with it, but the rust-colored liquid inside looked suspicious to me.”

Lin Jian froze and immediately objected, “That’s impossible. A 20ml syringe isn’t even for injections. And besides, I didn’t prescribe you anything rust-colored. You’re almost fully recovered. The blood test results are good, and the inflammation has gone down. At most, you need some electrolytes. There’s no reason for any other treatment. Are you sure you didn’t misunderstand? It could have been another patient’s medication.”

But even as he spoke, he frowned and corrected himself, “No, wait—that doesn’t make sense either. General surgery wouldn’t use any rust-colored medication.”

He stared at Xiao Muyu in confusion.

Xiao Muyu understood what he meant and shook her head. “I double-checked. It was rust-colored.”

Lin Jian’s expression grew even more puzzled. “I’ve never seen medication like that. I don’t know what it could be. Could Tian Jia have brought it in herself? She has been acting strange lately and was in a bad mental state. Head Nurse Li even told her she could take time off if she didn’t feel well, but she refused.

“She was also the first to fall ill today. However, according to the news, the virus causes symptoms like fever and vomiting. She showed none of that.”

“There was a deep scar on her right wrist,” Xiao Muyu said. “Did you notice that?”

Lin Jian shook his head. “No. Things have been hectic lately, and I haven’t been on shift with her much.”

The trail went cold again. Xiao Muyu felt a headache coming on. Shen Qingqiu glanced over at her and suddenly interrupted. “So Dr. Lin, you’re Muyu’s attending physician?” she asked.

Lin Jian nodded.

Xiao Muyu and Shen Qingqiu exchanged a glance out of the corner of their eyes. Shen Qingqiu inquired further, “Then what happened to Muyu? I was away on a business trip, but when I rushed back and asked her, she wouldn’t tell me anything.”

Xiao Muyu frowned and feigned annoyance. “I told you, it was nothing serious.”

Shen Qingqiu had no intention of letting it go. Lin Jian chuckled, oblivious to the act. “Oh, I wouldn’t call it ‘nothing serious.’ Ms. Xiao became something of a celebrity in our hospital.”

He looked excited and disbelieving about the last part.

The others watched as Xiao Muyu and Shen Qingqiu seamlessly played off each other to gain information from Lin Jian. They all turned to him, waiting for an explanation.

“Ms. Xiao was brought to our hospital after a car accident,” Lin Jian began. “Her condition was serious—she was nearly in shock when she arrived. We initially suspected a ruptured liver. If we didn’t do the surgery in time, she could have—” Realizing he might be alarming the patient’s loved ones, he coughed and skipped ahead.

“But when we were getting ready to send her into the OR, her blood pressure and heart rate suddenly stabilized. The CT scan showed significant internal bleeding in the abdominal cavity. Yet, the liver and spleen had no clear bleeding points, only some bruising. We did a laparoscopy for good measure and found no active sources of bleeding, so we didn’t operate. We just drained the pooled blood.”

Xiao Muyu found some odd points in Lin Jian’s recount. She didn’t think he had any reason to twist the truth, but what he described was highly unusual. She had been brought to the hospital quickly after an accident. Such severe internal bleeding couldn’t have healed on its own in under an hour. But where had the bleeding come from if there was no wound?

“That’s strange,” Chen Kaijie said tentatively. “Could there be another bleeding source you guys missed?”

“No way,” Lin Jian replied. “That level of blood loss would have killed her if we hadn’t located the source. Ms. Xiao knows this.” He paused, then added, “But yeah, the whole case was bizarre. The internal organs weren’t ruptured, yet the infection was severe. She ran a high fever for several days, and all her lab results were abnormal. She needed IV fluids for days before she recovered.”

Lin Jian shook his head. “I’ve been a doctor for years and have never seen anything like it. Ms. Xiao’s body is something else.”

Xiao Muyu had remained silent the entire time. Her expression was calm, her gaze focused and deep as she pieced things together. Finally, she asked, “Dr. Lin, since you work in the hospital, do you know when the first reported case from Yaxiang Waterside Homes appeared?”

“We’re part of the healthcare system, so we’re more tuned in to that information. I remember the first case showed up on May 3rd at the Second Hospital,” Lin Jian replied after recalling.

May 3rd was the day Xiao Muyu had been admitted to the hospital.

They hadn’t learned much from Lin Jian. However, Xiao Muyu had extracted a great deal about her situation from the conversation.

“Alright. It’s been a long day, so let’s rest. We’ll need to head out first thing tomorrow morning. That zombie we ran into today was unnerving. If I’m right, these zombies have different types. I’m worried they’ll continue to mutate over time. We’ll be at a serious disadvantage if more of them turn out like the one at the gas station. That’s why we must keep gathering supplies tomorrow. We have to plan ahead while we have running water and electricity.”

Everyone agreed with Xiao Muyu’s assessment. The encounter with that zombie had left a heavy shadow over them. Shen Qingqiu might not have made it out alive if it hadn’t been for her reflexes and Xiao Muyu’s decisiveness.

As they returned to their rooms, Chen Kaijie quietly followed behind Xiao Muyu and handed her a can of food.

Xiao Muyu was surprised. Chen Kaijie smiled and said, “You and Vice-Leader didn’t eat much tonight. She killed so many zombies today. It must’ve drained her strength. If the noodles didn’t sit well, she can have this when she’s hungry. It’s canned beef. We already tried it on the road, and it’s good.”

She hadn’t expected Chen Kaijie to be this thoughtful. Xiao Muyu accepted the can, thanked him, and sighed. “She’s tough, just picky with food.”

Chen Kaijie laughed. “Vice-Leader always works the hardest. Nothing wrong with letting her eat what she likes.”

Xiao Muyu nodded. “You have a point. But she’ll have to make do in this instance.”

It sounded to Chen Kaijie that their leader was upset the apocalypse was making things hard for the vice-leader. He shook his head and quickly excused himself, heading back to his room. Hanging around Su Jin and Zuo Tiantian too much had messed with his head. He also started to think their two leaders were a bit too close.

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Author had something to say:

PDA has become our couple’s daily routine. Congrats to Xiao Shen for getting extra points, haha.