Yun Qingyue didn’t regret coming out to investigate. She had accepted this task, so she couldn’t just hide in the RV forever. Whether sooner or later, she’d have to go out.
But a pack of Zombie Dogs was still way too much for her to handle.
This time, Yun Qingyue didn’t dare flee toward the county road, since going that way now would mean an uphill climb.
She chose the national highway on the other side, reaching it after cycling just a few hundred meters.
Only after arriving did she realize where the Zombie Humans she’d encountered earlier had come from.
The highway was lined with wrecked cars on both sides—clearly the aftermath of a massive pile-up, a chain-reaction crash.
It looked like someone had moved the vehicles aside afterward to keep the highway passable.
Yun Qingyue cycled past, practically hugging the edge of the road alongside these cars. She saw zombies trapped inside. As she passed, those zombies thrashed, desperate to get out. But the moment the Zombie Dogs gave chase, the human zombies immediately quieted down.
Yun Qingyue stood on her pedals and kept cycling forward, refusing to look at the Zombie Humans.
But soon, she heard a human voice.
“Brother, someone’s riding a bicycle!”
A child’s voice, so clear it felt like a hallucination, and her body had already sped past on the bike.
There were living people inside the cars on both sides. Yun Qingyue realized this.
Sure enough, when she looked back, the Zombie Dogs that had been following her had stopped. The six dogs had completely surrounded one of the vehicles.
Inside, a brother and sister pressed themselves as far back as they could, while the dogs outside slammed against the glass—Thud! Thud! Thud!
The brother was ten, the sister eight. Neither dared make a sound.
Bang—! Cracks started webbing across the window. The sharp fangs of the Zombie Dogs terrified them so much they hugged each other and squeezed their eyes shut.
The next second, another deafening crash echoed. But what came next wasn’t dog fangs sinking into their necks.
It was a gentle voice: “It’s okay now.”
Hearing a living person’s voice, the siblings opened their eyes. Outside the window was a young woman.
Just moments ago, Young Miss Yun Qingyue had seized the chance while the Zombie Dogs were no longer chasing her to quickly find a nearby car. Since the vehicles on both sides had mostly been in accidents while still running, the keys were still in the ignitions.
She had driven straight into the pack, mowing down all the Zombie Dogs. Only after making sure they couldn’t get up did she step out.
“Are you two alright?”
“Big Sister!” The younger sister rushed to the window, tears streaming down her face. “Big Sister, where did you come from? Have you seen our mom and dad?”
Hearing this, her brother immediately started crying too.
Last night, their mother had developed a fever and passed out. Their father had carried her away on his back, then shut them inside the car, saying he’d be back soon.
But later, the brother had seen his parents return with his own eyes. His father’s neck was covered in blood, his mother’s mouth was too. They were roaming around with other adults, checking the other cars for people.
He had covered his sister’s eyes so she wouldn’t see.
Yun Qingyue figured it out with a moment’s thought—both parents were likely compromised.
She looked at the two children before her.
She knew this was the apocalypse. When she came here, the System had told her to avoid forming too many bonds with this world’s people, because psychological trauma caused by such self-initiated attachments wouldn’t be covered. The System explicitly stated this situation was non-reimbursable.
Yun Qingyue… told herself internally that this brother-sister duo had appeared and helped her escape the Zombie Dogs.
That made them her benefactors.
Inside her RV, there was currently a walking counterexample to the principle of “a favor returned is a favor earned.” A textbook case of “Eh, my benefactor died? Oh well.”
If she didn’t help her two little benefactors now, how could she thoroughly mock the guy back at the RV for his “oh well, he’s dead” attitude later?
Thus, Yun Qingyue swiftly found a justification for disrupting her original plan and picking up two kids in the apocalypse.
“I didn’t see your parents on the way here, but this area is very dangerous, with lots of zombies. I have an RV parked in a slightly more secluded spot nearby. Do you two want to come with me?”
“No, if we leave, Mom and Dad won’t be able to find us when they get back,” the sister said.
The brother immediately wiped his tears and said, “We can write a note and leave it here for them.”
Yun Qingyue had the two children get into the new car she’d just acquired. Then she found a bag and stuffed the Zombie Dogs she’d run over into it.
They’d have to make do.
Meanwhile, back at the RV, Experiment Subject No. 59 had finished shelling all the peanuts.
The person still hadn’t returned.
At a loose end, he went and washed the dishes again.
He had already washed them this morning.
He washed the two bowls again.
Still no sign of her.
Sitting there, he mulled it over. Should he just leave now? Staying here always seemed to make him uncomfortable.
Suddenly, the sound of an approaching car came from outside.
A white sedan pulled up.
He sensed three people inside, one of them familiar.
Soon, someone got out.
It was Yun Qingyue.
She opened the back door, and two human children emerged.
She had picked up two kids.
Yun Qingyue brought them inside and said, “These are the siblings I met on the road. Their parents went out, so they’ll stay with us for a bit. The brother is called Haihai, and the sister is Yangyang.”
Both kids were sneaking glances at the tall young man, and then both stared, utterly dumbfounded.
Yun Qingyue was about to introduce her colleague buddy, but then realized that while she knew his name was Zhong Xianming, he had never actually told her that himself.
It dawned on Yun Qingyue at that moment… that the new colleague had consistently dodged the question of his name.
“You can introduce yourself. Tell them what you’re called.”
“My name is No. 59.” The lab had never given him a name. He still remembered one researcher saying they should give him a name, and another arguing against it—saying that once you gave him a name, you’d start treating him as human, start feeling emotions.
Experiment Subject No. 59 had never named himself either. He wanted the last words these people uttered when they died to be “Experiment Subject No. 59.”
Yun Qingyue: “…” Was Zhong Xianming keeping secrets? Not using his real name?
The siblings piped up in unison: “Brother No. 59.”
“You two probably haven’t eaten yet. Go sit there, I’ll cook something for you,” Yun Qingyue said. She was much more lenient with children.
The brother and sister had been hungry for half a day. The moment food was mentioned, they immediately went and sat down.
No. 59 felt deeply out of place, uncomfortable that two more people had been added, especially since those two people were now sitting on the sofa he had always occupied.
Yun Qingyue simply boiled some noodles and set the bowls before the two children.
The kids, ravenous, wolfed the food down in huge mouthfuls.
Sitting nearby, Yun Qingyue watched them and contemplated a problem.
This was the apocalypse now. She obviously couldn’t raise kids in the ordinary way.
These two children could also join their team and contribute what they could. That way, when they reached a Base later, they’d have the skills to make a living.
So, once the siblings had finished eating, Yun Qingyue started inquiring: “Do you two know how to cook?”
“No.”
“Would you like to learn?”
“Yes!”
“When your mom and dad come to pick you up, you’ll be able to cook for them.”
Knowing how to cook and find ingredients was crucial to surviving the apocalypse.
Experiment Subject No. 59 watched from the sidelines. He could sense the emotions of these three people merging together.
These emotions weren’t directed at him, so they didn’t transfer to him. He was merely an observer.
He, who had spent the first half of his life confined in a lab, had always maintained an adversarial relationship with the people around him. They had never been his kind.
As a child, No. 59 had once gazed through the lab’s glass at the adults outside. Back then, two researchers in hazmat suits had their backs to him.
They were mixing serums, chatting and laughing, discussing some matter. By that time, he already had his emotion perception ability. He could feel something merging between those two people.
Still unable to comprehend his own circumstances, he had simply watched through the window, observing those two, their emotions melding together.
In those days, he would secretly talk to the chairs in his room.
And now, he looked at the three people in this RV.
He turned his head away. He wouldn’t look.
Yun Qingyue successfully placated the two children, but she still remembered the business at hand.
“No. 59?” Yun Qingyue found it a bit amusing, calling him that. “Should I just keep calling you No. 59 from now on?”
Experiment Subject No. 59 had been staring at a scratch on the countertop. When she called him, he nodded.
He felt that when she called his designation, the sound of her voice fell on his ears, making them itch.
A bit uncomfortable. Just as he thought. He had to leave tomorrow.
“Come outside with me for a moment. I scored big today.”
He followed her.
As Yun Qingyue walked out, she said, “I discovered that Zombie Humans are afraid of Zombie Dogs.”
She opened the sedan’s trunk. The bag inside was still moving.
Yun Qingyue explained the situation with the Zombie Dogs she’d encountered.
“If we can find a way to pen these Zombie Dogs and place them outside our safe zone, it should effectively stop those Zombie Humans from entering.”
He was leaving tomorrow.