Doomsday Awakening GL - Chapter 24

An Yimu, feeling helpless but with a smile playing on her lips, took a piece of chocolate from her pocket and handed it to Lan Shang.

Lan Shang accepted the chocolate with satisfaction, tore open the wrapper, broke off a small piece, and put it into her mouth, a look of contentment spreading across her small face. After the first piece melted, she put in another small piece.

They hadn’t been together for a long time, but An Yimu had gained a certain understanding of Lan Shang. Lan Shang was exactly like a child; although she had a mature, ‘big sister’ appearance, she possessed a completely innocent heart—kind, pure, detached from the ways of the world, and unfamiliar with human sentiments. In short, she was a good child. Moreover, Lan Shang seemed to have fallen in love with chocolate since the first time she tasted it.

An Yimu raised an eyebrow and teased, “Aren’t you going to say thank you?”

Lan Shang met her teasing gaze and said faintly, “Thank you? Why?” Her tone carried no emotional color and implied no questioning.

Huh? Well… she knew that would happen…

An Yimu laughed, “At least let me say ‘you’re welcome,’ right?”

Lan Shang blinked and said, “You’re welcome.”

“…” Shouldn’t I be the one saying that? This girl… really… An Yimu didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

Not knowing what lay ahead, An Yimu felt it was necessary to get a good night’s sleep. Humans weren’t made of iron, and no matter how capable she was, she wasn’t a god. She needed sleep to recover her energy. She was already at her limit, her nerves stretched too tightly.

An Yimu was originally leaning against the wall to sleep, but when she fell asleep, her body shifted and she leaned against Lan Shang’s shoulder.

Lan Shang turned her head and looked at the small head resting on her shoulder. This was the first time she seriously observed An Yimu. The first person she saw when she emerged from that box was An Yimu, and that’s why she agreed to go with her.

Yes, she didn’t know that the box was actually a coffin.

An Yimu was 169 cm tall, much taller than Lan Shang, who was only 162 cm even with shoes on. An Yimu was the type of person who was very earnest, her eyes often filled with gentle laughter, as if holding a small sun. Her long hair was tied in a ponytail, her bangs were a bit long, covering her eyebrows. Her sleeping face was very peaceful. Despite her height, she had a very soft-looking face.

Lan Shang turned her head away from An Yimu and looked toward the few people who were talking in the middle of the courtyard.

“How many people should we wait for before we set off?” a muscular man with a fierce face complained.

Xu Zhili gave an awkward laugh, “Now, even with that woman who just arrived, we only have five second-tier awakeners. Our strength is definitely not enough. We should wait until we have more people before leaving. I think we need at least 100 people.”

The man said unhappily, “What kind of damn zombie is so powerful that it scares you like this? I think it’s you, pretty boy, who’s scared. Don’t waste my time. I’m telling you, we leave tomorrow.”

Qin Yumo scoffed, “Don’t you know your own limitations? Do you think you can get through alone? Are you going there to die? There’s more than one third-tier zombie there. Don’t embarrass yourself here.”

Xu Zhili’s face turned green and then white after being spoken to by the man. He was about to lose his temper, but hearing Qin Yumo’s words calmed his anger somewhat. He was originally thinking for everyone’s good, and if this man wasn’t a second-tier awakener, he wouldn’t bother talking nonsense with him.

The last time they went, there were four second-tier awakeners. There was a particularly powerful zombie there, all bones with no visible rotten flesh. The bones were extremely hard. The four second-tier awakeners couldn’t defeat it, and two of them died instantly. At the time, he was a first-tier awakener about to break through. Seeing the situation was bad, he ran, which saved his life.

The man’s face changed, and a fierce look appeared in his eyes. “Are you trying to rebel, you stinking woman!” he said, about to make a move against Qin Yumo.

Xu Zhili quickly stepped in between them, trying to separate them, and pleaded kindly, “Now is not the time for internal conflict. Only Qin Yumo and I have been to that place, so we are naturally more familiar with it. The zombies there are really strong. Many people died when we went last time. Now, only by working together can we get through alive. Everyone has relatives in Chongming City and is anxious to return, which we understand, but we must also return alive, right?”

The man’s expression finally softened. He glared at the two of them, flicked his sleeve, and walked away, finding a place to sit and close his eyes to rest.

“Can you stop being so aggressive when you talk in the future? Look, you’re the one who offended him,” Xu Zhili said to Qin Yumo.

Qin Yumo rolled her eyes, not wanting to look at the man, crossed her arms over her chest, and walked away with a twist of her head.

Xu Zhili’s face was flushed with anger. He was only reminding Qin Yumo for her own good; after all, they had been through hardships together.

There were a total of five second-tier awakeners: Xu Zhili, Qin Yumo, An Yimu, the fierce-faced man just now, and another gloomy-faced man. Of course, it was highly possible that some of these people were concealing their true strength. Most people usually keep a trump card for themselves, just as Xu Zhili didn’t know that An Yimu was actually a third-tier awakener.

The tallest tree catches the wind; everyone understood this principle.

Lan Shang withdrew her gaze, her face devoid of any expression. She gradually began to feel sleepy, leaned against the wall, closed her eyes, and fell asleep too.

It wasn’t until past 11 p.m. that another group of people arrived in the courtyard, also attracted by the smoke. It turned out that Xu Zhili had deliberately created the smoke to gather people.

An Yimu felt much better after a sleep, and her mood was good after being well-rested. When she opened her eyes, Lan Shang was sitting next to her, seemingly never having moved, so An Yimu didn’t know that Lan Shang had also slept. However, waking up leaning on Lan Shang’s shoulder made her feel a little guilty. She had slept for so long; it must have hurt Lan Shang, but Lan Shang hadn’t made a sound.

This group consisted of more than 20 people, mostly men. Their leader was a middle-aged, slightly plump uncle, also a second-tier awakener.

The uncle was curious to see so many people gathered here. “Why are you all gathered here?” He was also planning to go to Chongming City and had only planned to stop and rest here after seeing the smoke.

The others were already used to this and didn’t react.

Xu Zhili consciously stepped forward to explain: “The road from here is blocked by a large group of zombies, at least a thousand of them. We are gathering people to cross together.”

The man was greatly shocked: “A thousand? That many?”

Xu Zhili continued, “That place used to be a processing factory with thousands of employees. After the first major earthquake, it collapsed. Now it’s a major zombie base camp, and there’s also a particularly powerful zombie inside. Four of our second-tier awakeners died there.”

The man’s expression became serious. His clever eyes sized up Xu Zhili, and he finally decided to agree to an alliance with Xu Zhili to cross together.

Not everyone believed what Xu Zhili said, but it was better to be safe than sorry, and most people stayed. One more person wouldn’t matter. Even if Xu Zhili had some devious plan, could he harm all of them? Most people thought this way: in this post-apocalyptic world, one could only trust oneself.

Before 12 a.m., seven or eight more people arrived intermittently, men and women, including a couple with a ten-year-old child. Including the original people in the farmhouse, there were now over 80 people gathered here.

Xu Zhili mused that tomorrow they could reach over 100 people, and perhaps then they could try. But the thought of that skeletal zombie made him tremble with fear.

Having slept all afternoon, An Yimu was no longer sleepy when she woke up, even though it was past midnight. She looked around and saw people sleeping all over the place. At this time, no one cared about their sleeping posture. They seized the opportunity to rest whenever they had time because every moment of safety was precious.

She stretched, then asked Lan Shang to lean on her to rest.

Lan Shang hesitated for a moment, then agreed. She didn’t tell An Yimu that she had rested too.

Lan Shang’s hair was very soft and had a faint, delicate scent. Her soft head against An Yimu’s face was incredibly comfortable. An Yimu felt very relaxed smelling that delicate scent and narrowed her eyes.

An Yimu took the remaining chocolate from her pocket. Only five pieces were left. Lan Shang loved chocolate and needed at least one a day. She didn’t want to disappoint Lan Shang and planned to buy more chocolate for her when they returned to the city. In her heart, she still hoped that Chongming City was safe and that there might have been other reasons why help hadn’t reached them in time.

An Yimu looked up at the dark purple sky, feeling a little lost. How long had it been since she last saw the stars—those twinkling, bright stars? Every night, apart from a faint crescent moon, there was nothing else to be seen.

Around 2 a.m., the cold spread. Everyone, except for the watchmen, had fallen into a deep sleep.

An Yimu held Lan Shang in her arms. Lan Shang’s body temperature was a bit low, and they couldn’t find any blankets. No one dared to be careless, so they all gathered to sleep in the courtyard. An Yimu was afraid Lan Shang would catch a cold, so she held Lan Shang’s soft hand to transmit her own warmth. Her physique was four times that of an ordinary person, and the night wasn’t very cold for her anymore.

Suddenly, a scream came from a corner.

This was immediately followed by several successive, chilling screams.

Those who had survived until now were accustomed to light sleep at night. As soon as the screams erupted, everyone else woke up alertly.

An Yimu hadn’t been asleep, and she was even more startled now. She quickly pulled Lan Shang close to her and stood up.

In just a few short seconds, four people had already lost their lives.

She narrowed her eyes to observe. Relying on her vision, which was four times better than an ordinary person’s, she quickly discovered the abnormality.

Lan Shang also woke up, blinking her sleepy eyes as she looked toward the source of the screams.

They saw multi-colored spiders crawling out of every corner. The spiders were as large as a basin, clearly mutated spiders.

Of the four people who died, one had their head covered by a spider, with a slender tube from the spider pierced through their brow. One was completely covered in spiders, and their body had been chewed to pieces—this person was closest to the corner. Another person had a large hole torn open in their chest by a spider. And one more person was wrapped head-to-toe in layers of spider silk, seeming to have suffocated to death.