It's Hard to Be the Female Lead's Best Friend (Apocalypse) GL - Chapter 27
In the darkness of the night, many lights swayed back and forth. Soldiers, with their personnel, meticulously searched every corner. There were dozens of them, and when they pushed into the civilian area, they even caught people one by one to identify them.
Gu Qingli pulled Cheng Ziyu into a corner to observe the soldiers’ movements. Cheng Ziyu leaned closer to her, their heads touching.
The soldiers’ formation was somewhat frightening.
A man, seeing that the soldiers were only checking women, felt a little confused. He boldly ran over to ask: “Big brother, has something happened? Why are you suddenly checking people?”
“Someone in the wooden house in District Two was infected, and two girls ran out. If you find anyone suspicious, or anyone injured, you must report to us immediately, lest all of you get infected.” The soldier patiently explained, then continued his search.
Upon hearing this, those around spread the news, and soon a commotion arose in the civilian area: “Big brother, we’ll help search too. What do the people you’re looking for look like?”
“Pretty, about 1.75 meters tall, wearing a white shirt, slender figure.”
“Alright, brothers, let’s all help look.” The man cheered. Many men dispersed to search.
The man saw a white-clothed girl of similar height, directly pulled her hand, and seeing that she was ugly, he turned and grabbed another person. This girl had a sweet face and fear in her eyes. He chuckled, then directly hugged the girl and walked towards the leading soldier. During this, he pressed tightly against the girl’s buttocks, one hand feeling her up and down.
His breathing was heavy: “Is it her?”
The soldier shook his head. The man chuckled and led the girl away.
The girl wept silently, facing the impending horror, yet she was helpless, not even daring to call for help.
The soldiers continued their search step by step.
Gu Qingli turned her head; her lips accidentally brushed against Cheng Ziyu’s cheek. She froze for a moment. The dirty little face should have made her feel disgusted; however, her germophobia seemed non-existent at this moment, wanting to get even closer.
Gu Qingli stopped her head from moving forward. She should have immediately apologized; but she forgot what to say due to her irregularly beating heart.
The touch was brief and light. Cheng Ziyu felt her cheek warm slightly. She unconsciously touched her face, and her palm indeed felt warm. This action ironically confirmed that a kiss had indeed landed, leaving Gu Qingli a little flustered.
“Check over here.”
Gu Qingli snapped back to reality, pulling Cheng Ziyu to a secluded corner where there was a large tree. The two of them hid behind it. Gu Qingli hesitated for a moment, then unbuttoned her shirt and took off her white shirt.
Cheng Ziyu’s eyes widened, like a block of wood.
Her fair skin was as smooth as cream, reflecting silver light under the moonlight. Her slender shoulders resembled butterflies, seeming to dance with her every movement.
The warmth that should have subsided on her cheeks suddenly flared up again, intensifying so much that Cheng Ziyu’s ears couldn’t escape a faint blush. She covered her eyes, turned her head away, and foolishly said: “You told me not to change in public, but you’re a public exhibitionist too.”
Gu Qingli paused her changing motion, amused by her words: “Is this time comparable to that time?”
“Anyway, we’re both the same.”
Gu Qingli changed into a black T-shirt, unconsciously revealing a faint, almost imperceptible gentle smile: “Let’s go. We’ll blend into the crowd and find Qin Qingyan.”
“Okay!”
The two quietly blended into the civilians, using the cover of night to move among them. Gu Qingli saw some people squatting in a corner, eating cold white rice. She pulled Cheng Ziyu down, gave her a piece of bread: “Don’t make a sound.”
“Okay!” Cheng Ziyu mimicked their chewing. These people’s faces were lifeless, as if the apocalypse had extinguished their light.
The soldiers, leading their men, gradually approached. They walked closer step by step, their lights sweeping over the crowd: “Strange, why can’t we find them? Check everyone.”
“Yes!”
They pushed into the crowd, pulling people one by one to check. Cheng Ziyu pressed tightly against Gu Qingli, her taut nerves feeling these people approaching step by step.
“Ah… there’s a zombie!” A man with bl00d on his wrist ran over in a panic, pointing to the back door of a tall building and shouting.
The soldier was expressionless. He pointed his gun at him and mercilessly pulled the trigger, “bang bang.”
“Wait, this bl00d isn’t mine…”
The man’s words were cut short as bullets pierced his body, and he fell to the ground, dying with wide, unseeing eyes.
“Damn it, go check over there.”
“Understood.” The people immediately scattered.
Cheng Ziyu was clearly still shaken. While zombies were terrifying, they were, after all, the dead, or non-human. But the soldiers fired without hesitation, even if the person didn’t look injured, choosing to kill mistakenly rather than let anyone escape.
Gu Qingli, as if nothing had happened, slowly ate the bread in her hand: “Are you scared?”
Cheng Ziyu was silent for a moment: “Just a little.”
“This is just the tip of the iceberg. Food will gradually decrease in the future. If humans can’t resume farming, the situation will only get worse.” Gu Qingli’s expression was grim. She looked up at the starry sky, “Even if survivor bases are built, planting in mutated soil will only grow a bunch of monsters.”
Indeed, a large number of plants mutated in the middle stage of the apocalypse. Their existence was even more terrifying than zombies. Only plant-type ability users could control them, but only according to their own abilities.
Farming in the bases also relied entirely on plant-type ability users, but this type of ability user was rare, making it difficult to feed so many humans.
“So, you’re here! I just heard that everyone in the wooden house died, it scared me to death!” Qin Qingyan distinguished them by Gu Qingli’s aura and found them among the crowd after a search.
“Another zombie escaped, its numbers might increase dramatically soon,” Cheng Ziyu made way for her, and she sat between the two.
“It seems it’s not safe here anymore either.”
Gu Qingli pursed her lips, her cold eyes showing displeasure; she concealed this strange emotion: “How was it?”
Cheng Ziyu turned her head and listened intently.
Qin Qingyan whispered: “Besides collecting supplies, they seem to be rescuing people everywhere. It looks pretty normal. But I found one place I couldn’t get into. I waited for a while and saw people in hazmat suits enter the hospital.”
Cheng Ziyu was confused; the novel hadn’t mentioned anyone conducting research at the suburban hospital: “Hazmat suits? Are they doing some kind of research?”
“I don’t know,” Gu Qingli’s gaze went past Qin Qingyan, “How about, let your Little Grass go inquire?”
“Oh right, Little Grass.” Cheng Ziyu touched her shoulders, but found Little Grass was gone. “Little Grass, where are you?”
After waiting a while, there was no reply, and Cheng Ziyu felt deeply disappointed. It seemed her ability was still not under control: “It seems to have left.”
Gu Qingli’s heart sank with her disappointment. She thought for a moment, trying to find words to comfort her.
“It’s okay, try again later.” Qin Qingyan leaned against Cheng Ziyu, clenching her fists to encourage her.
“Okay!”
Gu Qingli remained silent, her face grim.
The three huddled together. The ink-stained sky gradually showed a hint of crimson as the sun slowly rose. It should have brought vitality and warmth, but instead, it brought a deathly chill.
Cheng Ziyu frowned, suddenly recalling the strange weather in her original world. December should have brought cold, but it was still unbearably hot, making people not want to go out and just wanting to stay in the cool air conditioning.
And the weather in this world had been the same a few days prior. A cold wind had just blown in, clearly indicating a drop in temperature. But she still had doubts as to why everything written in the book was exactly the same as her original world.
Could it really be a parallel universe?
Qin Qingyan rubbed her arms: “Whew, this dreadful weather seems to be getting colder. Those without clothes are going to suffer.”
“Indeed.” Cheng Ziyu looked at the scantily clad people around them. Most of them had fled with food, who would carry heavy clothes while escaping in the apocalypse? “By the way, where’s Shu Jingyun?”
Qin Qingyan pouted, annoyed: “Because she’s a fire-type ability user, they brought her into their team. Now she’s a small team leader with soldiers under her command. Why would she care about whether we live or die?”
This news was truly sudden. Shu Jingyun had been with them all along, and if she were to suddenly leave their small group, Cheng Ziyu felt a sense of reluctance: “You can’t say that. Everyone has their own ambitions. Besides, she hasn’t done anything to harm us. We can’t force her to stay with us, can we?”
“I didn’t say I wanted to restrict her freedom. It’s just that she left without a word, and I’m a little annoyed,” Qin Qingyan’s face remained etched with dissatisfaction.
Leaving without a word was indeed disappointing.
Gu Qingli finally spoke, drawing their attention: “Don’t always think the worst. Although Shu Jingyun used to be flamboyant, she’s not a bad person, and she never easily trusts people. Her joining the team this time is an added layer of cover for us.”
Cheng Ziyu didn’t understand, tilting her head to look at her. Gu Qingli smiled, nodding to indicate a team of people was approaching.
Following her gaze.
A burly man led a team of people, searching. Shu Jingyun silently followed behind him, seemingly second only to him.
“Everyone listen up, a zombie has gotten in and bitten someone. Check if anyone around you is injured.”
That one sentence sent ordinary citizens into a panic. They began to scrutinize those around them, striving to identify the infected in a short amount of time.
This was bad. Cheng Ziyu’s hands weren’t healed yet.
“Officer, this person is injured…” One of the civilians pointed at her back and shouted.
A man behind her quickly scrambled away, covering his hand, shouting as he ran: “I’m not infected, it’s her…”
“Bang!”
Before the man could finish speaking, he was shot in the head. He fell to the ground, his eyes still fixed on her back, clearly unwilling to die.
The man smiled faintly, put away his pistol, and looked back at Shu Jingyun: “There are two other women, they used to be your companions, right? See if they are among them.”
“Okay!” Shu Jingyun walked step by step.
Cheng Ziyu pretended to be cold, curling her body and hiding her hands in her embrace, waiting for her to approach.