Zhong Xianming didn’t have a fever. He didn’t know he was supposed to have a fever. Naturally, he also didn’t know how much the blood he accidentally smeared on himself while moving the body would affect him.
At this moment, looking at the overwhelming news of the world’s apocalypse, he was completely numb.
What… is this?
After accidentally killing someone, what arrived before the police were zombies.
The stone weighing on his heart was suddenly gone. Zombies had appeared, and laws had naturally become a thing of the past.
He jumped up and down in his house, his heart filled with indescribable joy.
The apocalypse is here! The apocalypse is here! Wait, the apocalypse is here, the body was thrown out by him, and no police will investigate it.
He was happy for a short while, then remembered it was the apocalypse now. Fighting alone wasn’t good. He needed to form a small team.
He had read quite a few post-apocalyptic novels: building bases, establishing new orders, becoming a king and hegemon. The old order had fallen; he had to carve out his own place in this drastically changing world.
Yun Qingyue only slept around four in the morning. She then had a nightmare, a very eerie yet realistic dream.
In the dream, she was chased by zombies. Finally, a zombie came close and bit her on the neck.
After she woke up, the feeling of fear in her body hadn’t completely faded. Her hands were still trembling slightly.
She sat on the bed for a long while before her whole being returned to real life.
This dream… was her ending in this world. Perhaps because the project was steadily advancing, she dreamed of the final ending.
She was sleeping in the enclosed bed above the RV cabin. After waking up and groggily staying there for a bit, she opened the door on her side.
There was still her colleague in the RV. He was sleeping on the bed made from the sofa.
At this moment, he was also awake and reading a book below. She didn’t know where he had gotten the book from; he was reading with great interest.
Seeing the new colleague, Yun Qingyue just remembered the System’s reply from last night.
Yun Qingyue had been half-asleep when she received the System’s reply. She only knew the System confirmed the person had no problems, presumably meaning no transmigration or regression. Her project progress was normal.
When she fully woke up, clear-headed, she realized that the System indeed hadn’t read her report carefully.
Because it didn’t say anything about what to do with the villain’s leg. There was indeed medicine in the RV, but that medicine wasn’t some miracle cure.
Yun Qingyue thought to herself, it was the same even in another world. She was willing to bet the System hadn’t finished reading her entire work report. So, it hadn’t seen the part about the villain’s leg injury, which was why it hadn’t replied about the leg issue.
Yun Qingyue sighed. It didn’t matter where you worked; you’d encounter the same kind of boss.
Forget it. She’d report it again in tomorrow’s work report. This leg injury had to be resolved.
She had probably gotten enough sleep. Now she was very clear-headed. Looking at the new colleague, his tall stature impossible to hide even while sitting, she suddenly realized why they had broken his leg.
Yesterday, she had actually been wondering, why break his leg? Was it necessary to be this vicious?
Now, looking at his large build, she understood. It was probably because that group of people feared if he turned into a zombie, his destructive power would be too great. So, they broke his leg while he was unconscious. That way, after turning into a zombie, his killing power wouldn’t be as strong.
This guess was very reasonable, quite reasonable.
She was probably too tired last night, so she hadn’t thought of this.
Indeed, people need sleep.
She got up and went to wash up.
Her mind was turning over the basic situation of this period.
At this stage, large-scale zombie attacks should be happening in the cities, especially in urban high-rises. It must be extremely gruesome.
They were currently in the suburbs. On the contrary, there weren’t many zombies here. But she still had to figure out how to build a small base.
They couldn’t stay in the RV forever. Staying in such a small space all the time wasn’t healthy for her mind and body.
After finishing her washing, she saw her new colleague watching her.
Since the System had certified that he had no problems, she accepted that he had no problems.
So, Yun Qingyue said, “Starting today, we’ll have fixed working hours and weekly rest days. Do you have any objections?”
Even though the apocalypse had come, and conditions were harsh, Yun Qingyue didn’t want to disrupt her routine.
No. 59 shook his head. He had no objections. He just figured he’d be leaving in a few days anyway; he wouldn’t be with this person for a lifetime. So, he’d go along with her.
Yun Qingyue continued, “Zombies themselves are more active at night and less active during the day, so our main working hours will be during the daytime.”
“At this stage, our life goal is to provide for ourselves and establish a small safe zone. We’ll use the RV as the center point. As for how to build it, I’ll check the situation. What’s certain is that for this part of work, we’ll start at 9:00 AM and finish at 5:00 PM.”
A nine-to-five schedule.
“Friday, Saturday, and Sunday are rest days, time for us to use freely.”
A four-day work week. Even in the apocalypse, a worker must strive to secure the benefits of a four-day work week and a nine-to-five schedule.
When Yun Qingyue reached this point, she remembered his leg and said, “I’ll determine the plan these few days. We’ll proceed after your leg is better.”
No. 59 stood up, walking with a limp. He said, “When I woke up today, I found the leg injury is already much better.”
Eh? It was so serious yesterday, and now it’s already to this extent?
“That fast?”
“Yes, it’s much better.”
No. 59 didn’t mind showing his specialness. He didn’t know why he suddenly did this; it was just a kind of mischievous impulse.
He was waiting, waiting for the other party to be shocked, waiting for her to realize the specialness of his body.
Yun Qingyue wasn’t shocked. She just said, “Oh,” and then, “That’s good. You start work today.”
She guessed she had misunderstood the System. Her work report yesterday might have actually been fully read by the System, and so it handled the leg injury problem.
Yun Qingyue was sure the System intervened because the other party’s leg injury was very severe. After all, she had helped him onto the bike and the RV yesterday, so she naturally knew how serious it was.
An injury to that degree absolutely couldn’t recover to this state overnight. Moreover, the System never mentioned the villain having such a strong self-healing ability.
What else could be the reason? Of course, the System intervened.
What was there to be shocked about? She herself was brought here from another world by the System.
“My leg should be able to walk normally tomorrow,” No. 59 added, his eyes observing the expression of the person before him while also listening to her heartbeat.
The early morning air was a bit cold. Outside the RV, some unknown zombie dog was barking wildly. Inside the RV, Yun Qingyue was thinking that now that his leg was healed, they could get into a working rhythm. Her heartbeat was as steady as ever, without a single fluctuation, as if this were a perfectly ordinary matter.
Yun Qingyue was originally going to prepare breakfast but then noticed her new colleague had been observing her, his eyes carrying a hint of expectation.
Only then did she realize the information asymmetry between them.
She knew his leg injury healed so quickly because the System intervened.
But he himself didn’t know. He must think it was his own healing ability.
So, right now, he probably wanted to show off: [Look, my self-healing ability is so strong. I’m impressive, right?]
He wanted to display his self-healing ability to assert dominance over her, his captain.
Yun Qingyue thought to herself, it was only because she had filed a report to the System. Otherwise, how could he have recovered so fast?
But Yun Qingyue didn’t bicker with him. “That’s good. You’ll be fully healed tomorrow. Tomorrow morning, you’ll train your physical fitness with me. In the afternoon, we’ll go out together to search for supplies. The supplies in our RV are only enough to last us two months. We must start searching for supplies right now.”
And this was the early apocalypse. The probability of finding supplies now was much higher than in the later stages.
No. 59 was stunned for a moment. He didn’t quite understand why the other party had this attitude. Hadn’t she noticed his specialness? Wasn’t she curious?
Yun Qingyue wasn’t curious. Yun Qingyue still had to eat breakfast.
And eating was also a matter.
She walked to the other side, picked up the pot, turned her head, and looked at the new colleague who wasn’t walking very smoothly. “Can you cook?”
The new colleague shook his head. He didn’t need to cook in the laboratory.
Yun Qingyue wasn’t surprised at all.
“Do you need to eat?”
No. 59 hesitated for a moment, then nodded.
“Then, starting today, we’ll take turns cooking for a day each. I’ll cook today. You watch and learn from the side. Tomorrow, it’ll be your turn to cook.”
She had to establish the rules to avoid a situation where only she was doing the work in a team.
As Yun Qingyue spoke, she took two eggs from the cabinet below. Breakfast would be egg noodles. Then, she turned on the stove, poured oil…
No. 59 watched from the side. His original plan had been to find a place to hide after escaping, wait until the serum in his body metabolized, and then he could go kill those researchers one by one.
He hadn’t thought about what to do before killing those researchers, nor what to do after.
All these spaces were blanks. When he came out of that laboratory and entered this small RV, it was like stepping into trivial daily life. He felt very unaccustomed.
Ten minutes later, the two of them each had a bowl of egg noodles.
“Tomorrow, you’ll make noodles the same way I did today. But we don’t have enough dried noodles and eggs. So, if you don’t succeed on the first try tomorrow morning, we won’t have breakfast,” Yun Qingyue said.
No. 59 hesitated. It was too troublesome. Maybe he should just leave tomorrow. He was more suited to finding a place to bury himself and wait for the serum in his body to completely metabolize. Then, he could go kill those researchers.
Not staying here doing boring, meaningless things.
While thinking that he would leave tomorrow, he ate the steaming hot noodles.
Leave tomorrow. Right, leave tomorrow.