Doomsday Awakening GL - Chapter 22

The first thing to do after coming out was to find food! An Yimu’s stomach was already protesting violently against her.

Grumble

An Yimu rubbed her stomach, thinking that she really wanted to have a good meal and then a good sleep.

“Lan Shang, why are you going to Chongming City?” An Yimu suddenly thought of this question and asked it.

Lan Shang looked down at An Yimu, who was lying on the ground, and said, “I don’t know.”

“…” Forget it, the questions surrounding this girl were more than just one or two anyway. An Yimu stood up and smiled, “Let’s go find some food.”

“Why are you taking me? Aren’t you afraid I’ll implicate you?”

Unexpectedly, Lan Shang would ask that, An Yimu shrugged and answered naturally, “You’re a girl too, aren’t you? It should be safer for two people to be together, plus you are even more powerful than me!” She found it incredible to think that Lan Shang had just pulled her to leap out of the crevice.

“No, you’ll lose your life if you’re with me,” Lan Shang shook her head and said seriously.

An Yimu laughed, “I’ll be very troubled if you make decisions for me like that. Let’s go together.” An Yimu felt a strange sense in her heart; after all, Lan Shang came out because of her, so she felt a sense of responsibility.

Lan Shang’s golden hair sparkled in the sunlight, and a flash of sadness and confusion flickered in her clear eyes.

The two returned to Changping County. The once prosperous county town had completely become a ruin, even more of a mess than the last time An Yimu came here.

An Yimu found the place where she had searched for food before, but found no edible food—it was either expired or rotten. So she took a chocolate bar from her pocket, gave half to Lan Shang, and popped the rest into her mouth. The sweet sensation bloomed on her taste buds.

Lan Shang imitated An Yimu, putting the chocolate into her mouth. Her eyes narrowed into slits, and a pair of tiny dimples appeared on her cheeks. “So sweet…”

“Pfft…” An Yimu couldn’t help but laugh at Lan Shang’s adorable look, clutching her stomach, her shoulders shaking.

“What are you laughing at?” Lan Shang opened her big, puzzled eyes and stared at An Yimu without blinking.

Of course, she was laughing because Lan Shang was cute, but she didn’t say it out loud. An Yimu raised her hand to wipe away the tears of laughter, sighing in her heart that it had been a long time since she had laughed like this.

“Nothing… nothing, let’s keep looking for food,” An Yimu waved her hand, bent down, and found a backpack in the ruins. Fortunately, this thing hadn’t been completely snatched away, or else she wouldn’t even have anything to pack things in.

Lan Shang was somewhat dissatisfied that An Yimu ignored her question and followed her unenthusiastically.

Wandering around, they encountered many corpses of zombies along the way, and of course, human ones too. Severed limbs were everywhere. An Yimu was used to seeing this; from the initial discomfort and nausea to the current state of habituation, she was more curious about why Lan Shang didn’t look scared at all. Shouldn’t girls be very afraid of such things?

The few initial zombies they met were also taken care of by An Yimu in two moves. After the Spider Mutant Zombie died, An Yimu no longer feared this place.

Finally, An Yimu couldn’t hold back and asked, “Lan Shang, aren’t you afraid of these zombies?”

Lan Shang answered calmly, “Why should I be afraid?”

“…” She shouldn’t have asked.

It took An Yimu more than half an hour of walking before she managed to find food in the corner of a ruined building, relying on her experience. Because the location was somewhat remote and the storefront was small, it had not been discovered.

An Yimu stuffed a few bottles of mineral water and things like compressed biscuits into the backpack. To her surprise, she also found clothes here. She looked down at her own clothes, which were practically rags, and decided to change into a new set.

She conveniently grabbed a tracksuit and went inside to change. Looser clothes were more convenient for fighting zombies.

Lan Shang curiously examined the food scattered on the ground, a strange light flashing in her beautiful eyes.

Half a month had passed, and An Yimu hadn’t been able to take a shower. She sighed helplessly. Forget it, she’d endure it. She dipped a towel in mineral water, roughly washed herself, and then put on the new clothes, which were much better than before.

Her previous clothes were stained with zombie brain matter and were nearly starting to stink. An Yimu threw that piece of clothing away with great disgust.

After changing, she opened a can and found some other edible items to put together a meal.

“Lan Shang, come eat.”

Because she hadn’t eaten for two days, An Yimu felt like stars were spinning before her eyes and wolfed down the food.

Lan Shang seemed to really love chocolate. Seeing Lan Shang’s cute expression while eating chocolate lightened An Yimu’s mood considerably. Some emotions were always infectious.

After finishing the simple meal, An Yimu decided to first go back to the place where she had fallen. She wondered if Nuan Qianyu and Ling Qiuyu would wait for her, or if they thought she was dead and had already gone to Chongming City. If no one was there, she would just go directly to Chongming City.

An Yimu found a car and didn’t encounter any danger along the way. The scattered zombies couldn’t catch up to the speed of the car.

She reached the location at noon. An Yimu got out of the car and looked around. The footprints headed to the left. There were no signs of fighting here, so they must have left safely. An Yimu felt relieved.

She got back into the car and drove to the left. Lan Shang sat in the passenger seat without speaking. An Yimu focused on driving and observing the surroundings, so she didn’t try to strike up a conversation. Besides, she couldn’t exactly ask, ‘Why were you buried under the crevice?’

After driving for about half an hour, Lan Shang suddenly spoke, “There is someone there.”

An Yimu roughly guessed that Lan Shang meant to save someone. She raised an eyebrow and smiled.

After stopping the car, An Yimu and Lan Shang got out. Sure enough, there was an old woman leaning against a broken wall, covered in bl00d. Her clothes were so stained that their original color and style were unrecognizable.

Lan Shang quickly ran over, gently nudged the old woman, and whispered, “Grandma… Grandma… Are you okay?”

The old woman had suffered very serious injuries. Her chest had been torn open by something, and half of her leg was broken, exposing jagged bone fragments.

The old woman narrowed her small eyes and looked at the anxious Lan Shang. She stretched out a rough hand and touched Lan Shang’s cheek. “Run… run… away…” After saying that, her hand slid down, and she stopped breathing. She had been abandoned here by her son while she was still alive and hadn’t expected someone to care about her before she died.

An Yimu instantly raised her guard.

Lan Shang stared blankly at the old woman, her cheek stained with bl00d from the old woman’s hand, the red contrasting sharply with her pale skin.

“Look out!” An Yimu suddenly saw a pure white object pouncing on Lan Shang from above the broken wall.

In a hurry, she threw herself over. Hiss…

An Yimu’s back was scratched by the thing, and bl00d soaked her clothes. She felt speechless. The new clothes, too…

After successfully ambushing, the thing leaped in front of An Yimu. Only then did she clearly see that it was a pure white cat. This cat was about the size of a regular dog, its body was very agile, and its sharp fangs were exposed as it glared angrily at An Yimu.

Lan Shang was suddenly hugged by An Yimu and realized something was wrong, but she couldn’t react in time.

An Yimu stood in front of Lan Shang, facing off against the white cat.

Lan Shang immediately saw the shocking wound and murmured, “Why…” If An Yimu hadn’t protected her, she wouldn’t have been hurt.

In fact, An Yimu’s reaction was purely subconscious. Her instinct was to protect others.

The white cat let out a screech and lunged at An Yimu. An Yimu’s expression was serious, and she held the spider spear, preparing to end the fight with one strike.

Unexpectedly, the white cat used its agility to dart past An Yimu’s feet and immediately turned back to bite.

An Yimu’s left calf was instantly bitten, leaving a bloody hole.

The white cat’s speed was too fast; even An Yimu couldn’t see it clearly and suffered a major setback. She estimated that the mutated white cat’s awakening level was definitely higher than hers. The white cat’s attack method was simple and wouldn’t cause a fatal injury, but its advantage lay in its speed, making it impossible to guard against.

Soon, An Yimu had many more wounds, yet she hadn’t managed to injure the cunning mutated white cat at all.

Lan Shang felt a sharp pain in her chest. Thinking of the old woman who had just died in front of her and then seeing An Yimu being injured by the white cat, her pupils suddenly widened and diffused towards the edges. She clutched her chest and knelt on the ground, gasping for air. Her pupil color gradually turned light purple. “En… En…”

An Yimu stared angrily at the rapidly moving mutated white cat. Suddenly, she noticed many small pieces of rubble rising around the white cat.

The mutated white cat also noticed it. Its round black eyes were full of surprise. The next moment, all the small pieces of rubble attacked it.

The mutated white cat dodged quickly, but one piece of rubble still shot directly into its body. The white cat let out a tragic cry, leaped onto the broken wall, and fled.

An Yimu then noticed Lan Shang’s abnormality and was greatly alarmed.

Lan Shang looked as if she were suffocating, breathing faintly. Her golden long hair covered her face.

An Yimu helped Lan Shang lean against her. “Lan Shang, Lan Shang? What’s wrong?”

Lan Shang gripped An Yimu’s clothes with difficulty, her entire body hanging on An Yimu, her eyes glazed over. “En… En…”

While An Yimu was at a loss, she suddenly noticed that the wounds on her body were slowly healing. She was extremely shocked. Could it be Lan Shang’s doing? Looking at Lan Shang’s unusual state, countless thoughts flashed through An Yimu’s mind, along with the sudden attack on the white cat by the surrounding stones, making it hard for her not to link the two together.

Only when all the wounds on An Yimu’s body had healed did Lan Shang’s expression return to normal. She leaned against An Yimu, completely drained, as if she had been pulled out of water, sweat dripping down her cheeks.

An Yimu felt uneasy. Was this… protection? She was indeed too weak.

She secretly clenched her fists. No matter what Lan Shang’s identity was, she would protect her.

After recovering, Lan Shang moved away from An Yimu’s embrace and said calmly, “Let’s go.”

An Yimu nodded. She didn’t ask Lan Shang what had just happened, instead accumulating the questions in her heart. One day, these truths would surface.