Chapter Fourteen: Crisis!

Qin Sheng had already made thorough plans for their route to the cafeteria. On the way, the five of them only encountered a few stray zombies.

The weather in the apocalypse was unpredictable. Qin Sheng clearly felt that it was exceptionally cold today. Normally, it should have only been early autumn, but now, the chill felt more like the depths of winter.

“We barely ran into any zombies along the way. Do you think zombies hibernate too?” Lin Xing’s incessant chatter accompanied them all the way, buzzing like a little bee.

Jiang Miaomiao rolled her eyes at Lin Xing’s endless stream of questions, utterly exasperated.

“I heard from Shengsheng that zombies have another habit,” Jiang Miaomiao said as she moved to Lin Xing’s other side.

Lin Xing’s curiosity was instantly piqued, and she leaned closer. “What is it?”

Jiang Miaomiao grinned mischievously, leaning in to whisper, “They like to catch people in advance as reserve food…”

Lin Xing’s expression became indescribably complicated, and her chattering finally ceased.

Qin Sheng could only shake her head and laugh softly, saying nothing more.

Her gaze soon fell on the cafeteria in the distance, and a cold, stern glint flashed in her eyes.

“Captain Li, there are some people coming from the girls’ dorm—if I’m not mistaken, it should be Lin Xing and her group,” reported a student tasked with keeping watch, immediately informing Li Chengbin of Qin Sheng and the others’ approach.

Li Chengbin sat up straight at the mention of Lin Xing’s name, frowning in surprise. “They’re back?”

“It’s not just Minister Lin; there seem to be two more girls with them,” the reporting boy continued.

Li Chengbin tensed up at once. Could it be that Lin Xing didn’t encounter zombies—and even managed to save two girls?

“What’s wrong, Captain?” The reporting student noticed something off about Li Chengbin and asked with concern.

Li Chengbin quickly composed himself and replied with a smile, “It’s nothing, I understand.”

Once Qin Sheng’s group had been checked for infection as required, they were allowed into the cafeteria.

After the apocalypse hit, most students had been buying food in the cafeteria, which had become a temporary safe haven. Fortunately, the doors had been closed in time; otherwise, it would have been overrun by now.

There was still some rice and flour left in the kitchen, enough to satisfy the dozens of people here for now, but it was clearly insufficient in the long run.

Qin Sheng’s hand trembled slightly as she looked at the piece of bun and the bottle of water she’d been given. Around her, other students devoured their buns the moment they received them, but she remained motionless, standing out from the crowd.

“Hey, if you can’t finish yours, hand it over. I’ll help you out.” A chubby boy sitting on the floor nearby eyed Qin Sheng’s untouched bun after finishing his own.

Qin Sheng wasn’t hungry. She was about to hand over half her bun when someone stopped her.

“Hey, everyone only gets a little food. If you give yours away, you’ll just go hungry,” Lin Xing said as she walked over and saw Qin Sheng about to give up her bun.

The chubby boy, seeing he’d lost his chance, pouted and walked away.

“Listen, you’re kind and all, but if you give it away, what will you eat when you’re hungry?” Lin Xing said, protectively pushing the bun back to Qin Sheng like a mother hen.

Qin Sheng couldn’t help thinking of the food piled high in her own space. She touched her nose awkwardly—she certainly wasn’t lacking food.

Lin Xing sat down beside Qin Sheng and began eating her bun with some water. Yet after having eaten snails in chili sauce earlier, this plain bun now seemed tasteless.

Qin Sheng, having noticed Lin Xing’s usually speedy eating had slowed, guessed the reason immediately.

“Here,” Qin Sheng discreetly pulled a packet of pickled vegetables from her space and handed it to Lin Xing.

Lin Xing accepted it furtively, and when she saw it was spicy strips, she almost dropped her bun in shock. After making sure no one was watching, she turned and whispered, “Where did you get pickled vegetables from?”

Qin Sheng simply raised an eyebrow and replied breezily, “It’s a secret.”

Knowing she wouldn’t get an answer, Lin Xing looked around for a long moment before quietly tearing open the package. Soon, she was polishing off her bun in alternating bites with the pickled vegetables.

They had barely finished eating when Chu Xingyu and Jiang Miaomiao returned with their own buns and water, sitting down beside Qin Sheng.

“Shengsheng, we get one bun and one bottle of water each per day. As long as we’re careful, we’ll manage,” Jiang Miaomiao explained the situation, taking just a small sip of water before tightening the cap and setting it aside.

Qin Sheng thought for a few minutes, then leaned over and whispered a few words to Jiang Miaomiao.

Jiang Miaomiao was stunned into silence by Qin Sheng’s suggestion.

“If we don’t stay here, where will we go?” she finally whispered after a long pause.

“Back to where we used to live.”

If she didn’t have her spatial ability, Qin Sheng might have chosen to stay here. But now that she had more than enough food, staying here would only be inconvenient.

“Sister! You’re here too?”

Qin Sheng had just closed her eyes to rest when she heard that familiar voice. Her brows knitted impatiently.

From the first day of the apocalypse, Qin Mengchun had been brought here by Li Chengbin. Life for her had remained much the same, and she had assumed Qin Sheng was long dead, never expecting to meet her here.

“So, you wish I hadn’t shown up?” Qin Sheng slowly opened her eyes, and the air around her seemed to freeze.

Lin Xing shivered unconsciously beside her.

Qin Mengchun instantly put on a smile and quickly concealed her earlier stiffness and awkwardness. “How could I, sister? I’ve been worried about you all this time, afraid you might get infected…”

“Is that so?” Qin Sheng let out a soft laugh, her tone laden with obvious skepticism.

Qin Mengchun squeezed Jiang Miaomiao out of the way to sit beside Qin Sheng, gripping her right hand tightly, her expression all wounded innocence. “Sister, I’ve been asking Brother Chengbin every day to look for you. Now that I’ve finally seen you, I can finally relax…”

Qin Sheng nonchalantly slipped her hand free, watching her supposedly caring sister perform with amusement.

“Didn’t see you go looking yourself,” Jiang Miaomiao muttered, curling her lip as she shifted to squeeze Qin Mengchun away again.

Qin Mengchun shot Jiang Miaomiao a resentful look, clearly unhappy at how close she and Qin Sheng seemed, and stamped her foot.

In the past, Lin Xing would have been too shy to speak if she ran into Qin Mengchun. But after learning that Qin Sheng and Qin Mengchun weren’t on good terms, she wisely kept her thoughts to herself.

Left standing awkwardly, Qin Mengchun’s gaze fell on Lin Xing.

“Lin Xing, I heard you rescued my sister. Thank you so much. You weren’t hurt, were you?”

Lin Xing was momentarily stunned but quickly recovered. “With skills like hers, does she need me to rescue her?” Lin Xing snorted, as if it were the biggest joke she’d ever heard.

It took Qin Mengchun a moment to realize that “she” referred to Qin Sheng.

But since when did Qin Sheng have such skills?

Countless questions flooded Qin Mengchun’s mind.

Jealousy began to flicker in her eyes. She knew everything about Qin Sheng—except for this. The only explanation was that Qin Sheng and that wretched old man had kept it from her!

Qin Sheng had been watching Qin Mengchun’s every move from the start. Seeing her expression change, she let out a cold, disdainful laugh.

“Sister…” Qin Mengchun began.

A loud crash cut her off.

“What happened?” Lin Xing exchanged a look with Qin Sheng, then she and Chu Xingyu went to check out the source of the noise.

The scent of blood?

Qin Sheng felt a nagging sense of unease.

“What’s going on?” Lin Xing and Chu Xingyu asked as they approached the commotion.

“It’s nothing. A few people were just rescued, but they got attacked by zombies on the way. Only these two made it back.”

Lin Xing looked at the two survivors. They were breathing heavily—no doubt terrified after witnessing their companions devoured by zombies. It would be hard for anyone to process such horror so quickly.

“All right, clear out, clear out…” Lin Xing returned and gave Qin Sheng a quick update.

But Qin Sheng couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong. The scent of blood had been faint but unmistakable.

“You’re hurt?!” One of the rescued girls suddenly noticed blood oozing from her companion’s wrist.

“Please, don’t make them throw me out! I just scraped myself when I fell…” The short-haired girl trembled in fear; she’d cut herself during their escape, and the wound might have come into contact with zombie blood…

If anyone found out, she would definitely be cast out.

The other girl, dealing with something like this for the first time, quietly pulled out a pink handkerchief and bandaged her friend’s wound as best she could when no one was looking.

“Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone.”

“Thank you…”

The two girls each received a bun and a bottle of water. Having gone nearly two days without food, they tore into their meager rations without a thought for appearances.

But as she ate, the uninjured girl noticed something strange. She looked over and saw her companion twitching oddly as she chewed her bun.

At first it was just her arms and legs, then her head.

She writhed on the floor in a grotesque, unnatural way. The creaking and cracking of her joints sent the other girl into a screaming panic.

Chaos erupted in the cafeteria as everyone scrambled to the farthest corners, panic and terror filling the air.

The girl lost all awareness, completely transformed into a zombie. With a wild roar, she lunged at the nearest group of people, mouth wide open.

But she had barely taken two steps before a powerful kick sent her flying.

“Lin Xing, don’t let anyone come over!” Qin Sheng shouted, then, moving at lightning speed, charged forward.

She couldn’t draw her tang blade from her space here.

She would have to fight barehanded!