Chapter 55: The Young Shen Yichuan

Wen Yao didn’t know why she suddenly appeared here. Wasn’t she lying in bed with a high fever, suffering from a headache after being injected with the water-type awakening agent? Was she experiencing a soul out-of-body experience?

However, she didn’t dwell on it for too long. She quickly noticed the breakfast shop across the street, closed for business. The old red signboard was familiar to her.

It was a breakfast shop she frequented before the apocalypse. It was located at the entrance of her neighborhood. From kindergarten to middle school, she went there almost every day. The owner was a kind-hearted middle-aged woman named Zhang. Every time she saw Wen Yao, she would greet her warmly:

“Yaoyao, you’re up so early today?”

“Yaoyao, didn’t your dad send you to school today?”

“Yaoyao, your new dress is so beautiful today…”

Wen Yao looked at the familiar signboard and the roller shutter door, and couldn’t help but walk over. Those memories that had been almost buried deep in her heart were gradually uncovered.

This was Zhang’s Breakfast, Aunt Zhang’s shop. So this was Qingzhou City, the small city where she had lived for fifteen years before the apocalypse.

The scene was set seven years ago. It seemed like the zombie crisis hadn’t erupted yet…

Seven years ago…

Wen Yao’s gaze shifted, and she suddenly saw a girl in the chaotic crowd.

The girl’s face was young and pale, and she was wearing a dirty blue and white school uniform. She was stepping in puddles, her eyes were filled with tears, and her expression was filled with fear.

She looked helplessly at the people running and fleeing around her, calling out: “Sister!”

“Sister! Where are you…”

Someone who was grabbing food accidentally bumped into her. The girl lost her balance and bumped into the nearby electric pole.

She then covered her head, took a step forward, and grabbed a familiar convenience store owner: “Hello, uncle, have you seen…”

However, the usually kind-hearted uncle waved his hand, his temper flaring: “Get out, get out, don’t block my way!”

He pushed the girl to the ground before he saw her face. He was immediately anxious and remorseful: “It’s Yaoyao! What are you doing here alone?!”

“Oh dear! The city defenses have been withdrawn, Qingzhou City is about to fall. You have to find your parents and escape with them…”

The uncle didn’t stay to talk. He threw a few bags of instant noodles at the girl as his last act of kindness.

Watching the shadow of the van disappear, Wen Yao stood beside the girl on the ground.

Returning to her hometown, she recalled the events that led to this.

When the zombie crisis broke out, she was still in school. Because she was a boarding student, she couldn’t get home in time. Instead, she fled towards her home with her cousin who was also studying at the same school.

They hid and escaped until they finally reached the vicinity of their neighborhood, a few days later. On that day, the government announced the withdrawal of city defenses, Qingzhou City was in chaos, and she and her sister were separated by the crowd.

She searched for her sister near Zhang’s Breakfast Shop for a whole day. Until the crowd dispersed and all the shops around were looted, she still hadn’t seen her sister’s shadow.

The neighborhood where her family lived was sealed off with a notice and a locked iron fence. Inside, dozens of terrifying zombies with bloodshot eyes were banging on the door.

She was alone, with no home to return to, and she hadn’t seen any familiar faces. She could only watch helplessly as the survivors of Qingzhou City escaped in groups by car…

The sky darkened, and the drizzle gradually stopped. The puddles reflected the crimson sunset, and the devastated streets.

Suddenly, a few young men on motorcycles sped past from the middle of the road. The young man with a perm, whose motorcycle stopped in front of the girl, whistled at her: “Little beauty, why are you alone?”

His smooth-talking tone clearly showed that he wasn’t a decent person.

The girl hugged the few bags of instant noodles and turned to leave. However, another motorcycle cut across her path. Another chubby young man said with a chuckle: “She’s still wearing her No. 1 Middle School uniform, tsk tsk tsk, she’s a good student…”

In the early days of the apocalypse, moral order still existed. The girl just wanted to find her family, but she didn’t expect to encounter bad people.

Looking at these young men, her eyes were filled with tears, and she was completely at a loss. If it were a peaceful world, she could call for help, she could call the police, but now, she was only filled with confusion and fear, with no other options.

Just as she was about to try to escape, she accidentally caught sight of the leader’s armband. It had a police academy emblem…

They weren’t street thugs, they were police academy students! They were college students, and they would become policemen after graduation!

The girl stared at the emblem, her eyes lit up. Seeing the group of young men heading towards a commercial building, she quickly ran over and grabbed the leader’s sleeve, looking up at him with pleading eyes.

Everyone looked at her in surprise. One of the young men joked: “Yo, Brother Chuan, you didn’t like her, but she seems to like you…”

“Brother Chuan, just take this little sister with you. She looks so pitiful.”

The girl ignored what the others were saying. She just asked: “Can you help me? Help me find my sister. She’s around here…”

Shen Yichuan tilted his head in disbelief and looked at her: “…Why should I help you?”