It's Hard to Be the Female Lead's Best Friend (Apocalypse) GL - Chapter 30
The people in the enclosure were lifeless, hardly distinguishable from walking corpses. One by one, their faces ashen, they lined up to enter the tent.
Cheng Ziyu was slightly better, forcing herself to look somewhat alive. When it was her turn, as she stepped into the tent, her eyes immediately fell upon a pale back. Inside, four female soldiers held guns, and a girl, completely undressed, was undergoing inspection.
Although there weren’t many female soldiers, these people were quite reasonable and didn’t have male soldiers inspect women.
The girl dressed herself piece by piece, and, unharmed, she directly went to another exit. Cheng Ziyu obediently raised her hands, hoping they would inspect carefully: “My arm is injured, but the wound is already over 24 hours old.”
The female soldier shook her head: “Sorry, for safety’s sake, if you’re injured, you still need to go back and stay for another 24 hours.”
“I’m also an ability user.”
The female soldier finally looked at her properly, her attitude becoming much more respectful: “Oh? What ability? Can you demonstrate it for us now?”
“I… I can understand what plants say,” Cheng Ziyu said, holding her breath, lacking confidence.
The female soldier’s face darkened, feeling played. Her voice even rose considerably: “Are you screwing with me? How would I know if you can understand plants? I can’t understand them. Get out, don’t waste my time.”
“You can take a flower, whisper to it, and then I’ll ask the flower what you said. Wouldn’t that just…”
Before Cheng Ziyu could finish, the female soldier roared: “Get out! I don’t have time to play with you.”
Cheng Ziyu finally emerged from the tent like a defeated hen. Gu Qingli was quietly watching her, a mocking smile on her lips.
Cheng Ziyu walked up to her, saying nothing.
She pressed her lips together, realizing she would have to face the iron-netted prison alone. In the past, she might have shamelessly begged the female lead to stay.
But she couldn’t. She had to become stronger, even if it meant facing being torn apart inch by inch by zombies. She had to grit her teeth and face it alone.
Gu Qingli tilted her head slightly, her soft hair falling with the incline. Her shimmering eyes watched. Cheng Ziyu’s dark eyes held a hint of stubbornness and bravado, but her silent demeanor was like a sulking cat.
Gu Qingli smiled: “I’ll stay with you.”
Cheng Ziyu was surprised: “You…”
“No thanks?” Gu Qingli leaned in closer.
“Uh… thank you!”
Cheng Ziyu’s heart was wary. The female lead’s kind and gentle smile should have been relaxing; but facing this sudden tenderness, she felt at a loss. She still preferred the female lead who was fierce towards her.
Qin Qingyan looked back and forth between the two. Their atmosphere made her feel like she couldn’t blend in: “Then I won’t stay with you. I’ll go out and ask Shu Jingyun about the situation.”
Cheng Ziyu nodded, watching Qin Qingyan’s retreating back and falling into thought. She wasn’t sure how to make herself and her look like a couple. If she directly asked the other person to cooperate in acting, she felt the possibility of being exposed was higher.
“Sit down and rest for a bit.” Gu Qingli saw her zoning out again and helplessly sat on the ground, “Conserve your strength.”
Cheng Ziyu sat beside her, their shoulders touching. The tranquil atmosphere made them stand out from the lifeless crowd around them, seemingly more vibrant, with a budding sense of vitality.
This subtle touch made Gu Qingli frown, and a restless agitation spontaneously arose in the rhythm of her heartbeat. She shifted her position, creating a small distance between them, before returning to her usual calm.
Cheng Ziyu made a bitter face, feeling as if she was disliked. No, it was more like she had never been liked.
She pursed her lips and sighed softly. It was too difficult.
As the number of people being inspected decreased, the area gradually became more spacious. In the end, there were less than thirty people left behind.
They were loosely sitting or standing.
Soldiers outside the iron fence patrolled back and forth.
The afternoon sun shone, but it brought no warmth. A cold wind gradually picked up, and people tightened their thin clothes, standing up and shivering as they moved.
Cheng Ziyu huddled, she looked up at the sun, recalling the temperature described in the novel. It seemed that about a month after the apocalypse, the temperature would drop drastically, and heavy snowfall would be common.
Many ordinary people who didn’t have time to put on warm coats either got sick or froze to death. The most tragic were the newborns, who had no resistance at all.
The winter temperature drop also sharply reduced the ordinary population. Fortunately, the base was established in time, and ordinary people also got a respite.
“Cold?”
Cheng Ziyu glanced sideways, nodding silently.
“Come closer.” Gu Qingli looked straight ahead, her lips moving slightly, as if these two words weren’t spoken by her.
Cheng Ziyu suddenly understood. It seemed the female lead was also cold, and there were many people around, so she couldn’t take clothes from her spatial ability to wear. This was an opportunity for the two of them to improve their relationship.
She moved closer; but the temperature didn’t rise.
She hesitated for a moment, cautiously glancing at Gu Qingli’s cool profile, then tried to loop an arm around her back. Her heart pounded excessively, unable to tell if it was due to the soft embrace or fear of the female lead’s rejection or disdain.
Gu Qingli straightened her posture, like a conservative cadre.
Cheng Ziyu felt the female lead tense up. She was slightly confused, as if the other person didn’t quite like it, but also didn’t explicitly refuse.
Could it be that the female lead was slowly accepting her?
Cheng Ziyu tried moving her bottom again, simply pressing tightly against the female lead. The cold wind blew their hair, intertwining them, making it impossible to tell whose was whose.
At this moment, soldiers brought hot vegetable soup and distributed it to them: “No meat, just vegetable soup and plain porridge. It’ll be like this from now on, unless you join the rescue team after you get out. Only laborers will be prioritized for meals.”
No one complained, and they all lined up to get their food.
Cheng Ziyu let go, and Gu Qingli let out a heavy sigh of relief.
“Actually, the treatment here is pretty good. I wonder who is leading this group. The leader must be very good too.” Cheng Ziyu collected two portions, handing one to her.
“Not necessarily. To still be so generous in the apocalypse, they’re mostly trying to win people over. Their equipment isn’t weak, so they might be laying the groundwork for establishing a base.” Gu Qingli accepted it but didn’t eat.
Cheng Ziyu wasn’t very hungry, having already eaten the food Gu Qingli prepared. But food was precious now, and she didn’t want to waste it, so she could only slowly drink the soup and porridge. The warm soup warmed her limbs considerably: “No wonder. Even in the apocalypse, these high-and-mighty people are still playing politics.”
“No matter when or where, where there are people, there will inevitably be factions. I just don’t know who is behind these people.”
Hmm?
She felt that the female lead was also curious about the identity of this group.
Cheng Ziyu secretly peeked at her; but just happened to meet Gu Qingli’s deep, dark eyes, which scared her into quickly adding: “Mmm… paper can’t cover fire. We’ll find out sooner or later.”
Gu Qingli smiled: “Mm, you’re right.”
Cheng Ziyu looked away and buried her head in her food. The female lead seemed to have an ulterior meaning in her words just now. She was a little afraid to guess that the female lead was reborn, which would mean it would be even harder to get along with her.
Gu Qingli placed her food tray on the ground. Her eyes darted around, seeming to feel restless. Unintentionally, she noticed a fat man. Actually, it wasn’t that he was fat, but his stomach was excessively large, making his proportion look somewhat disproportioned.
Gu Qingli frowned, kicking Cheng Ziyu’s foot, and subtly indicated the fat man: “Could the small zombie be inside his body?”
Cheng Ziyu glanced: “No way?”
The man’s belly was huge, large enough to hold three or four basketballs. If the little zombie was inside, its size had clearly grown a lot. She only hoped it wouldn’t evolve to E-class, otherwise, under these besieged circumstances, it would be impossible for the female lead to keep a low profile.
And don’t expect these soldiers to save anyone. Probably because of the recent zombie transformation incident, even if everyone was shot dead now, a group of ordinary people would still applaud.
“No need to worry. If these people dare to open fire, I don’t mind giving the little zombie a hand and letting it eat its fill.” Gu Qingli’s eyes held a smile, her tone light and cheerful, as if she were talking about something very ordinary.
Cheng Ziyu, who had been worried, gradually relaxed due to Gu Qingli’s casualness. She took two more sips of porridge and carefully observed the man.
The man ate and drank like a normal person. He had a huge appetite, eating like a ravenous wolf, getting rice all over his mouth. Not full enough, he even snatched food from two girls.
The man’s stomach was so large that his shirt could barely cover it. He gulped down the soup, some spilling from the corners of his mouth, the grease staining his collar. Suddenly, his stomach showed a subtle wriggling. A small hand pushed up, his face changed, and he vomited all the food he had eaten!
Cheng Ziyu was startled: “Did you see that?”
Gu Qingli nodded: “Yes. Be careful.”
Captain Zheng, from the high building, had been observing the dozens of people in the field. He pointed at the fat man and ordered Shu Jingyun and others: “This fat man is not injured, but he hasn’t accepted the inspection. Send a team to check him. Be very careful. If you find anything unusual, kill him on sight. Better to kill mistakenly than to let one go.”
“Yes!”
Shu Jingyun subtly glanced down at the two relying on each other, then turned and led a team downstairs. She had an imposing aura, truly looking like someone in a position of authority.
Cheng Ziyu wanted to greet her, but the person upstairs was constantly watching, so she could only remain silent and pretend not to know her.
Shu Jingyun walked up to the man. The soldiers behind her surrounded him: “Please cooperate with the inspection.”
“Officers, didn’t you say we could voluntarily stay for 24 hours?” The man’s face was pale. He wiped the stains from the corner of his mouth and asked politely, “I shouldn’t have done anything wrong, right?”
Shu Jingyun ignored him. She raised a hand, and the soldiers stepped forward to pin the man to the ground. The man flailed his limbs. His strength seemed immense, requiring eight people to hold him down simultaneously.
“What are you doing?”
Shu Jingyun’s eyes were cold: “If you don’t cooperate with the inspection, I will consider you infected and kill you on the spot.”
Upon hearing this, the fat man struggled even harder. He tried to shout and scream, using public opinion to secure his survival: “This is unfair! Everyone, look! These people are unreasonable and want to kill me! You must see their true colors!”
His struggles were futile.
Most people just watched like it was a show.
Shu Jingyun tightened her grip on her gun, unsure whether she should kill the fat man on the spot.