It's Hard to Be the Female Lead's Best Friend (Apocalypse) GL - Chapter 21.2
“Who were those people just now?” Cheng Ziyu had lingering fears. The deviation from the plot made her feel an uncontrollable sense of unease.
“I don’t know, but those people want to kill me. If you’re afraid of being implicated, we can go our separate ways later!” Gu Qingli’s lips held a gentle smile, but the words she spoke were extremely ruthless.
She looked out through the rearview mirror, gazing at the tall building behind them.
“I’m not leaving.” Qin Qingyan was the first to state her stance. “Where else is safe in the outside world?”
There is, the survivor base.
Cheng Ziyu’s heart welled up with tears, and she also stated her stance: “I’m not leaving either. I told you I’d follow you from now on, you can’t shake me off.”
Gu Qingli heard this, and the smile on her lips deepened.
“I’m not leaving either. Compared to outsiders, I trust you more.” Shu Jingyun spoke the truth. Although Gu Qingli was a bit cunning, she wouldn’t harm those close to her.
Gu Qingli leaned back in her seat, adjusting to a comfortable position, her expression relaxed: “Let’s find a bungalow in the suburbs to hide in first.”
“Okay.” Qin Qingyan turned the steering wheel.
The car drove steadily.
Gu Qingli praised her: “Good.”
“I’ll be your driver from now on.” Qin Qingyan had found something to do and finally relaxed her brows.
“Okay.”
Houses flashed past Cheng Ziyu’s vision one by one.
Gu Qingli not going to the base bothered her greatly, but she didn’t know how to change Gu Qingli’s mind. After much thought, she asked casually, “Gu Qingli, have you ever thought about saving more people?”
Gu Qingli looked back, noticing a building with a rescue banner hanging from it. Her indifferent expression revealed nothing: “No.”
Oh my, two words just killed the conversation.
Then, Gu Qingli’s gaze drifted to her and she added, “As for you, the first time you called me by my full name, saying you wanted to be my friend, I doubt anyone would believe you?”
“Uh… I… I guess…” Cheng Ziyu wanted to argue, but when she thought back carefully, it was indeed as the other person said. Her mind immediately crashed: “Uh, I really didn’t notice, but I genuinely want to be friends with you.”
“I know,” Gu Qingli’s smile contained a hint of subtle sarcasm.
No, no, she had to find a way to win a point back.
Before long, the car stuttered, and the smoke from the hood grew thicker and thicker, gradually obscuring their vision. Qin Qingyan could only find a bungalow on the spot. Because it was still some distance from the suburbs, even if there were bungalows here, there were still tall buildings nearby, making them easy targets for snipers.
“Here will do!”
The car stopped. Gu Qingli was the first to get out. This bungalow was a small processing factory, surrounded by an iron fence. Inside, there were a few zombies wearing work uniforms.
Through days of training and fighting, the few of them dealt with zombies with ease. In no time, Qin Qingyan even dug out the zombie crystal cores.
After dealing with the zombies, they used the car to block the iron fence door. The bungalow itself was a chemical processing factory, and a pungent smell still lingered.
“Jingyun, block the door. These fences aren’t sturdy,” Gu Qingli said, entering the door and sitting on the floor by the wall. With a twist of her hand, the air subtly distorted, and the medical kit appeared in front of her.
It’s said that even if a girl isn’t beautiful enough, if she has good temperament, her looks will often be overlooked. Gu Qingli, however, was the perfect combination of looks and temperament in the author’s writing; even in a messy environment, sitting there, Gu Qingli exuded the aura of a fallen noble.
“Come here, let me see your hand.”
Cheng Ziyu looked at the perfectly intact hands of the other two, only then realizing that Gu Qingli was talking to her.
She sat down beside her and extended her hand.
Gu Qingli cut open the bandage with a knife. The wound on her arm had a torn side due to the force. It looked somewhat ghastly. For some reason, although it had nothing to do with her, the ghastly wound made her feel uncomfortable in her chest.
Gu Qingli’s eyelids were slightly lowered. She discreetly glanced at Cheng Ziyu, who was constantly biting her lower lip. Her pathetic yet stubborn expression added a touch of charm, subtly attracting attention.
Gu Qingli pulled her thoughts back and began to clean Cheng Ziyu’s wound again, replacing the old bandage with a clean one: “We still need to go to the suburban hospital and stock up on more medical supplies.”
“But there are so many zombies,” Cheng Ziyu said, moving her arm. The pain had already lessened significantly.
Shu Jingyun closed the door, leaving only a small gap to observe the outside situation: “How about Qin Qingyan drives to lure some of the zombies away?”
“You and Qingyan go together,” Gu Qingli nodded. “After you lure the zombies away, go directly to the Xinxi gas station to get fuel.”
“Okay.”
Cheng Ziyu’s eyes lit up. She was eager to show off in front of the female lead: “Then I’ll go with you to the suburban hospital.”
Gu Qingli didn’t refuse. She chuckled softly, reaching out to touch her head: “Before we go, you’ll have to cooperate with me on an experiment.”
“What experiment?” Cheng Ziyu’s heart skipped a beat. She felt wary of the female lead’s sudden gentleness, always suspecting it wasn’t a good thing.
“Rest first. You’ll know later.”
This kind of half-explained, half-held-back information was the most agonizing.
Qin Qingyan threw all the crystal cores in front of Gu Qingli: “Put these in Sister Qing’s space, then.”
Gu Qingli shook her head, took out her dagger, and cut open the outer gelatin of each one, then washed them clean with water: “Jingyun, try absorbing these crystal cores.”
Shu Jingyun was stunned. She held the grey, shimmering crystal core in her hand: “How do I absorb it?”
“Hold it in your mouth.”
Shu Jingyun put a crystal core into her mouth. A warm current surged in her mouth, and soon it spread through her limbs, slowly replenishing the energy she had just expended.
She spat out the crystal core. Now, the crystal core was no longer gray but like crystal, with faint gray specks: “How amazing!”
Gu Qingli handed another one to Cheng Ziyu: “Try it.”
She hesitated for a moment after taking it, feeling as if the crystal core had an un-washable smell of rotten bl00d. After a moment, she put it in her mouth, and it didn’t taste as nauseating as she imagined.
A faint, clean taste filled her nasal cavity.
It flowed down her throat and into her body, like feathers tickling her heart and lungs, causing a faint, ethereal haze to appear in Cheng Ziyu’s eyes.
Cheng Ziyu, in this state, left a deep, yet subtle, impression on Gu Qingli’s eyes. Only when she noticed a nearly imperceptible crack appearing in the concrete floor near Cheng Ziyu’s feet did she snap back to reality.
The crack was too small, as if it had always been there.
Cheng Ziyu spat out the crystal core, identical to the one Shu Jingyun spat out: “Haha, see? I really do have an ability!”
Qin Qingyan truly couldn’t bear to dampen her spirits, but still couldn’t help but ask: “What exactly is your ability? It can’t really just be understanding zombies and plants, can it?”
“Wait, I’ll try again.”
Cheng Ziyu closed her eyes, feeling. The surroundings were so quiet she could hear the air flowing. Not giving up, she simply took a horse stance, trying to sense with all her might.
“Pfft—” A long fart was released.
Everyone covered their noses, their eyes smiling.
Cheng Ziyu’s face flushed crimson. She felt her dignity shattered: “I’ll go to the outhouse first… hehe!”
Cheng Ziyu walked into the factory. Usually, such factories would have separate toilets in the back. This factory was neither big nor small, and the toilet was right after the workshop.
Perhaps because the factory was so dirty and there were no cleaners, even the toilet was blocked, and the gutters were full of feces and paper: “Ugh, that’s too dirty!”
The toilet had a single trench, separated into rows, but there were no doors. In the last row, there was scattered minced meat everywhere. Cheng Ziyu took half a step back.
Before she could leave, a finger bone, devoid of flesh, suddenly reached out. She was alone in this confined space. Even though it was a hot day, she felt an eerie coldness, and a foul, cold wind blew in her face: “Don’t be afraid, don’t be afraid, I’ve killed so many zombies.”
Cheng Ziyu raised her dagger and slowly walked deeper inside, step by step. The closer she got, the more terrified she became. Although she had killed many zombies, those were always with companions.
[Food.]
Cheng Ziyu swallowed. This zombie was completely devoid of flesh, only its upper skeleton remained, yet it stubbornly crawled outwards.
The zombie’s dark, skeletal eyes stared at her, smacking its lips.
Following the skeletal eyes, Cheng Ziyu finished it off with one swift strike.