Experiment Subject No. 59 had discovered long ago that people emitted a kind of emotional aura.
In the past, the only human group No. 59 could observe was the one inside the research facility.
He could perceive many things from these people.
He had also roughly figured out some patterns.
When that gloomy, damp aura appeared on the researchers, their experiments on him would become crueler, a way for them to displace that aura.
Now, Yun Qingyue had agreed to the elderly woman’s request to go into the city, and he naturally assumed her agreement was because of his self-healing ability.
Over the past two days, he had realized Yun Qingyue was very smart. Perhaps this person had already guessed, through his self-healing ability, that he possessed immortality.
So, her agreeing now was surely preparation to take him into the city. Just like she said the first time they met, he had to listen to her and become her weapon.
Experiment Subject No. 59 tilted his head to look at Yun Qingyue.
Yun Qingyue had a smile on her face, feeling an inexplicable excitement.
This excitement came from breaking through a certain limitation.
Yun Qingyue had indeed planned not to enter the city before. She intended to lie low here until the base was established, then go to the base and wait for the plot to kill her off.
A standard process for apocalyptic cannon fodder.
It was a nice thought, but she overlooked one thing.
She hadn’t been raised to be “apocalyptic cannon fodder.”
Quite the opposite. What found her before identities like “workplace side character” or “apocalyptic cannon fodder” were sixteen years of quality education, a grandmother who firmly believed she would achieve great things when she grew up, and herself—a person who, after eating too much caterpillar fungus, even dreamed of becoming the Zombie King.
A person like her, faced with the elderly woman before her, found it very hard to convince herself not to help.
So, she barely hesitated before deciding to take the elderly woman into the city to check things out. What if the person was still alive? What if there was a way? Even if the search turned up nothing, they could still find some supplies in the city to bring back.
She had to do something. If she truly did nothing, life would be too meaningless.
She categorized this thing she currently wanted to do as her slacking-off activity in this apocalypse world.
In the real world, she could clearly separate her daily work and life. That way, occasionally slacking off during work hours to entertain herself was simple.
But this world was different. Life and work were too intertwined. In fact, one could say that in this world, work was survival—which was also life.
She felt her soul needed to do something to alleviate the pain brought by work.
This thing she wanted to do, something outside the scope of work, was perfect.
This was her slacking-off activity.
As for the System, she wrote the work reports, and she had ways to balance the books. Those years in the workplace, she hadn’t just suffered.
And so, Yun Qingyue decided to take the elderly woman into the city to see the situation.
The elderly woman also hadn’t expected her luck to be so good. She’d only been out for a short while and already encountered someone, and the other party was even willing to help her.
At her age, she naturally understood that the current situation was dire. Even in her village, so many elderly folks had turned into zombies, let alone in the city.
Fearing the young woman before her might change her mind, she immediately said, “I have water at my house. You can have as much as you need.”
It was only then Yun Qingyue learned that the village’s tap water was still running.
The tap water in this village was different from the city water that came through a water treatment plant.
The village’s tap water came directly from a reservoir on the mountaintop. Zombies wouldn’t specifically destroy these pipes, so the tap water was still usable.
Yun Qingyue drove her car, following the old woman’s three-wheeled cart. They drove for about three kilometers.
The fields on both sides were planted with rapeseed, with an occasional patch of fava beans. It was currently the season when flowers fell and seeds formed, vast expanses of bluish-green, with scattered zombies shambling among them.
Small Western-style houses began appearing sporadically along the road. Some had their doors tightly shut, while others stood wide open.
Yun Qingyue observed very carefully. She guessed that the tightly shut doors meant the residents either hadn’t returned or were still alive, hiding inside. The houses with open doors had certainly already met with disaster.
Soon, the elderly woman’s cart stopped in front of a small Western-style house.
Yun Qingyue was shocked.
The elderly woman’s home was surrounded by a barbed wire fence, with iron posts welded to the ground roughly every meter.
The elderly woman opened the large iron gate and drove her cart inside.
Yun Qingyue drove her own vehicle in as well.
Once inside, Yun Qingyue noticed a large pile of fava beans stacked in the yard, with corn kernels drying nearby. A black cat was sleeping on top of the corn.
Seeing the three people enter, the black cat wasn’t afraid of strangers. It simply stretched and went back to sleep.
If no one said anything, you would never guess this was already after the apocalypse.
This elderly woman… was terrifyingly capable. Should she just bring her small team here and follow the elderly woman’s lead? It felt like their survival rate would be higher.
Of course, she was just thinking this; she still needed to train and rely on herself.
Sensing the overwhelming survival ability of the older generation, Yun Qingyue couldn’t help but nudge her colleague buddy with her elbow, wanting to share her admiration.
Experiment Subject No. 59 couldn’t see this. He had no foundation in a normal life before, so how could he understand the admiration and shock he should be feeling now?
The person beside him had very active emotions. That highly-activated positive emotion was like a large bird perched on his shoulder, relentlessly pecking at his head, signaling him to look at the pile of fava beans in the old woman’s yard.
Impressive, right? Are you shocked?
What could Experiment Subject No. 59 do?
He could only nod.
The elderly woman had already gone inside. When she came back out, she was carrying two plastic bags filled with candy and melon seeds.
The candy had the Chinese character for “double happiness” on them.
Clearly, these were wedding candies and seeds given out at someone’s celebration, which the elderly woman had been saving.
“I have no teeth left, can’t eat these. You young people will definitely like them.” The elderly woman was still afraid Yun Qingyue might change her mind.
Yun Qingyue accepted them, thanked her, and said, “Your yard is set up so well. Could you teach us how to do it later?” She also wanted to build an enclosure.
“What’s there to teach? If your area isn’t too big, I’ll help you build it.”
Yun Qingyue felt a bit embarrassed, but she also knew the elderly woman must be eager to leave quickly, so she didn’t say anything else.
“Then, when we get back from the city, we’ll talk about it.”
Yun Qingyue grabbed a bucket, handed one to her colleague buddy, and the two followed the elderly woman to the water tank out back to fetch water.
As they walked, Yun Qingyue asked the elderly woman about her son’s family situation. She prayed in her heart, “Please don’t let them live in a high-rise, please not a high-rise.” High-rises were far too difficult.
This time, Yun Qingyue finally heard the answer she wanted.
“My son and daughter-in-law are easier to find. They’re definitely still at the shop. My son runs a breakfast shop near the Sixth Elementary School. My granddaughter is in high school now. She should be at home too, because the school doesn’t allow phones, and she’s very obedient to the teachers.” The elderly woman, speaking of this, added on her own: “On the last final exam, my granddaughter ranked third in her grade. She said there was some drawing problem she misread, worth eight points. Otherwise, she would have ranked first in the grade.”
The elderly woman felt happy just talking about it.
Listening, Yun Qingyue only felt a pang of sadness. The people of this world worked so hard, only to end up as supporting characters for a single apocalyptic overlord male lead.
Thinking of this, Yun Qingyue grew curious. Just who was this apocalyptic overlord male lead in this world? One person, making an entire world his supporting cast. Yun Qingyue couldn’t picture this male lead in her mind.
The System refused to tell her any information related to the male lead. Yun Qingyue strongly suspected the System’s reason for withholding it was fear that she might get so irritable at work that she’d suddenly develop a malicious impulse to assassinate the male lead.
Just like right now, if the male lead were standing before her, Yun Qingyue felt she might not be able to maintain her composure.
Beside her, Experiment Subject No. 59 sensed a new emotion from Yun Qingyue. This time, the emotion was more complex. Experiment Subject No. 59 could even perceive a kind of bitterness.
Experiment Subject No. 59 glanced at Yun Qingyue and heard her mutter quietly, “Who exactly is the male lead…”
Experiment Subject No. 59 didn’t understand what she was saying.
He retracted his emotion perception ability and simply continued fetching water.
The buckets were soon full.
So, Yun Qingyue and her new colleague each carried two large buckets of water and brought the elderly woman back to the RV.
The two kids at home had already fully charged several portable power banks.
Yun Qingyue didn’t forget to mark the two kids’ tasks as complete on the blackboard.
Now that water was found and it wasn’t yet eleven o’clock, it was the perfect time to head into the city. Besides, with something like this, once decided, there should be no delay, to prevent the city situation from worsening over time.
Yun Qingyue then told the two kids, “The elderly woman and I will go into the city first to check the situation. We’ll be back before dark. You two stay here and wait for my return.”
Experiment Subject No. 59 had been in a detached state. At this moment, he raised his head and looked at Yun Qingyue.
“You also stay. While I’m not here, you’ll be the acting captain, responsible for managing this place.”
Yun Qingyue hadn’t planned on bringing this colleague buddy. The colleague’s esper power hadn’t awakened yet, so bringing him wouldn’t mean much. She might as well bring a zombie dog.
Before leaving, she put one of the zombie dogs into the car’s trunk. In case of need, she could release the dog.
Then, she closed the trunk, took the elderly woman, and left.
She just left like that.
No. 59 watched the car drive away. Going to her death?
Experiment Subject No. 59 had originally thought the other party would bring him along. After all, his self-healing ability was so strong, clearly very special. Taking him, even if just thrown on the road, he could still tank zombies.
But she hadn’t considered bringing him. In her eyes, was he always insignificant, of no use?
For the first time in his life, Experiment Subject No. 59 doubted his own value.