Chapter Ten: It's You!

Qin Sheng noticed that someone was missing behind her and turned around in confusion, only to see Jiang Miaomiao doubled over against the wall, unable to stop herself from vomiting.

At the sight of that terrifying head, Qin Sheng instantly understood.

“You’ll get used to it,” Qin Sheng patted Jiang Miaomiao on the back, offering a comforting word.

Truth be told, there would be far more horrifying and disgusting things ahead, but Jiang Miaomiao was a newcomer and couldn’t handle too much for now.

“By the way, Shengsheng, where are we going?” After catching her breath, Jiang Miaomiao asked the question she’d wanted to ask all morning.

Qin Sheng smiled with a hint of mystery, “You’ll know when we get there.”

“So secretive?” Jiang Miaomiao, seeing how tight-lipped Qin Sheng was, didn’t press further, but an uneasy feeling gnawed at her all the same.

When Jiang Miaomiao finally arrived at their destination, she understood at last why she’d had such a bad premonition.

Qin Sheng had brought Jiang Miaomiao to the sixth floor of the red-roofed dormitory from the day before. The corridor was eerily quiet, and Jiang Miaomiao clung tightly to Qin Sheng, afraid a terrifying zombie would leap out at any moment.

“We’re here.” Qin Sheng spoke as she opened the door to what had once been an eight-person dormitory.

“Zombies!”

The first thing Jiang Miaomiao saw upon entering were two live zombies, tightly bound.

“Your task today is to—deal with them,” Qin Sheng said, as calm as ever. “Take your knife and kill it.”

“Are you serious?” Jiang Miaomiao trembled, clutching the knife in her hand.

Qin Sheng didn’t answer; she stepped forward and kicked one of the restrained zombies, which instantly sprang to life, growling at Jiang Miaomiao.

The moment the zombie was unbound, it lunged at Jiang Miaomiao. She was so frightened she nearly burst into tears, and just as it was about to reach her, Qin Sheng kicked it far away.

“Don’t be afraid, I’m here.” Qin Sheng glanced at Jiang Miaomiao, then positioned herself somewhere she could protect her without interfering.

The zombie charged again. Jiang Miaomiao instinctively tried to run, but in such a cramped room, there was nowhere to go. She had no choice but to grit her teeth and face it.

“Let’s do this!” Jiang Miaomiao gripped her knife, face set in desperate determination, and drove it straight into the zombie’s heart. The zombie froze, blood spurting from the hole in its chest.

Looking at the fallen zombie, Jiang Miaomiao turned to Qin Sheng with excitement, “Did I do it?!”

Qin Sheng nodded, then pulled a Tang sword from behind her and swiftly chopped off the zombie’s head.

At the sight of the spraying brain matter, Jiang Miaomiao couldn’t help but retch again, her stomach empty, her face white with nausea.

“Next time, go straight for the head,” Qin Sheng said expressionlessly as she moved the now cold zombie aside.

“Do I have to keep going?” Jiang Miaomiao looked at her in distress.

Qin Sheng nodded and released the second zombie.

“All right! Here goes nothing!” Jiang Miaomiao took a deep breath, steeling herself for battle.

She used the same tactics as before, circling for a while before finally bringing it down.

Even so, Jiang Miaomiao felt this was harder than running an 800-meter dash—she was gasping for breath.

“You’ve improved, but there’s still plenty of room for growth.”

Hearing Qin Sheng’s evaluation, Jiang Miaomiao’s face broke into an irrepressible grin. She had never imagined she could defeat a zombie herself!

“Let’s go, there are more upstairs.”

“What?!”

Why did Shengsheng have such a penchant for collecting zombies?

“Right side, right side, lift your legs higher.”

All morning, Qin Sheng had Jiang Miaomiao either fighting zombies or practicing stances on the rooftop. Fortunately, Jiang Miaomiao’s stamina was decent, or she might have collapsed from exhaustion.

“Shengsheng, can’t you give me a break?” Jiang Miaomiao, legs trembling in her stance, looked miserably at Qin Sheng, who was contentedly munching on snacks.

In just that short time, Jiang Miaomiao saw Qin Sheng pull out a jelly from her pocket, then a pack of spicy sticks. She couldn’t tell whether this was meant to build willpower or test her endurance.

Qin Sheng shook her head and reached into her pocket again.

This time, she produced another jelly.

Jiang Miaomiao could take it no longer. Pouting, she feigned deep grievance and complained, “Shengsheng, ever since I started training, your mouth hasn’t stopped snacking. Why did you bring so many treats? I’m dying of envy here!”

As Jiang Miaomiao spoke, Qin Sheng finished the last of her jelly. She didn’t conjure up any more snacks this time; she was full.

“Keep training. Tonight I’ll take you out for snail noodles.” Qin Sheng stood, dusted off her pants, and tidied up the trash. “Keep at it, I’m going down to find some water.”

At the mention of snail noodles for dinner, Jiang Miaomiao’s trembling legs instantly straightened in excitement.

“I’ll train hard, promise!”

Seeing Jiang Miaomiao’s determined expression, Qin Sheng smiled with interest and left the rooftop.

Once out of Jiang Miaomiao’s sight, Qin Sheng took a bottle of ice-cold cola from her spatial storage. The chilled drink was a delight, and she closed her eyes in satisfaction.

After several days’ study, Qin Sheng had been amazed to discover that her spatial storage maintained a constant temperature. That meant anything she put inside wouldn’t spoil and would always keep its original temperature.

This was wonderful news. Qin Sheng had worried about running out of electricity to keep things cold, but now she only needed to chill items to her preferred temperature before storing them, and they would stay that way indefinitely.

In the apocalypse, there was nothing more comforting than an ice-cold cola or a frozen treat.

“Help!!”

Qin Sheng had just swallowed the last mouthful of her cola when Jiang Miaomiao’s cry for help echoed from the rooftop.

“Not good.”

Qin Sheng’s expression changed instantly. Her right hand summoned the Tang sword, and she dashed toward the rooftop.

There, she saw Jiang Miaomiao surrounded by a horde of zombies atop a small platform. Qin Sheng tightened her grip on the sword, about to move, when suddenly two or three people appeared, wielding sticks and torches, joining the fight against the zombies.

“Burn, you bastard, take that!”

Hearing that familiar male voice, Qin Sheng realized who had come to Jiang Miaomiao’s rescue.

“Lin Xing, we’re out of torches!” Wang Yu called to Lin Xing as he fought off zombies.

Chu Xingyu, seeing his own torch dying, cast an unhappy glance at Lin Xing.

“Forget it, I’ll finish these bastards today!” Lin Xing clenched his torch and thrust it at a zombie lunging at him, jamming it into the creature’s mouth as the last flame sputtered out.

Lin Xing looked at the extinguished torch, at a loss, and quipped, “What do you want, a COVID test from me?”

The group was clearly losing ground.

Jiang Miaomiao, clutching her knife, joined the battle too.

“Not bad, little sister.” With one swift motion, Jiang Miaomiao sliced open a zombie’s head, helping Lin Xing out of a tight spot.

Jiang Miaomiao smiled sheepishly—she’d only managed thanks to the moves Qin Sheng had drilled into her earlier.

Qin Sheng, who’d been watching, nodded in approval as she saw Jiang Miaomiao grow braver with every fight.

The noise on the rooftop was attracting more and more zombies. Jiang Miaomiao and the others were barely holding on, but they still did their best to take out as many as they could.

Qin Sheng, gripping her Tang sword, swept onto the scene like the wind. With a few swift moves, she took down more than half the zombies on the rooftop.

“Sister Sheng!”

“Boss!”

Lin Xing and Chu Xingyu were so stunned to see Qin Sheng again that they couldn’t speak, their eyes shining with excitement.

“What are you two doing here?” Qin Sheng asked, her gaze settling on Wang Yu, who stood with them.

Wang Yu, equally astonished, stared at Qin Sheng. After seeing her kill zombies firsthand the day before, he’d told everyone in the rescue team, but nobody believed a delicate-looking first-year girl could do such a thing.

Seeing it again today, even more brutal than last time, Wang Yu was at a loss for words.

Lin Xing and Chu Xingyu, though, seemed unfazed—after all, it wasn’t their first time witnessing Qin Sheng’s deadly skill.

“You know each other?” Wang Yu adjusted his glasses, surprised as he looked from Lin Xing to Chu Xingyu.

Lin Xing immediately straightened his shoulders, strutting proudly over to Qin Sheng like a rooster, “You’re clueless, aren’t you? This is my unbeatable boss.”

Qin Sheng was embarrassed, her mouth twitching awkwardly.

Thankfully, Chu Xingyu was more composed and stepped up to explain, “This is Qin Sheng—Sister Sheng. She saved Lin Xing and me once.”

Wang Yu felt as though the world had turned upside down.

This sweet-faced girl in a fitted tactical outfit had not only killed zombies with ease but had even saved Lin Xing and Chu Xingyu’s lives. It was all too astonishing.

“Close your mouth, you’re drooling,” Lin Xing said, nudging Wang Yu’s gaping jaw.

Then his gaze fell on the short-haired, demure girl standing behind Qin Sheng. Curious, he asked, “Boss, who’s this girl?”

Qin Sheng turned to Jiang Miaomiao, who quickly caught on and introduced herself, “I’m Jiang Miaomiao, Qin Sheng’s roommate.”

Qin Sheng nodded.

“Jiang Miaomiao…” Chu Xingyu murmured as though the name rang a bell. He was about to ask when he met Qin Sheng’s eyes and immediately fell silent.

“This place isn’t safe. Let’s move,” Qin Sheng said at last, glancing around.

“Okay.”

With no way of knowing what was happening outside, Qin Sheng led the group back to the dormitory she and Jiang Miaomiao had been staying in. Luckily, it had once housed eight people, or the room would have been far too cramped for all of them.