013 Broken Window

Page (1/3)

Han Zhu lowered her head and bit her lip hard. She had hidden her emotions well, but a warm tear still slipped from the corner of her eye and fell onto the back of her hand.

Gao Li ignored her and began rummaging through the bag packed with supplies. She was rather particular, turning the backpack completely upside down before finally finding a bar of chocolate.

No one spoke in the living room for a while. Silence settled over the space, broken only by the sound of packaging being torn and food being chewed.

Upstairs.

Wei Qing watched Shen Shiwei eating heartily with her head bowed, and smiled indulgently.

“You’re an amazing cook!”

Wei Qing scratched his head shyly. “I’m glad you like it.”

Shen Shiwei took a sip of soup and fell silent for a moment. Then she set down her chopsticks and looked at Wei Qing.

“You said we’d met before. Where was it?”

Wei Qing only said, “It doesn’t matter anymore. Being able to stay by your side now is all that matters.”

“But I want to know.”

Wei Qing was silent for a while before slowly replying, “In a private room at a bar. I accidentally broke a bottle of expensive red wine, and you paid for it.”

“Oh, was that all?” Shen Shiwei had imagined some dramatic event. She then said lightly, “A bottle of red wine couldn’t have been worth that much.”

“Eighty thousand. That was my family’s savings for three years.”

Shen Shiwei froze for two seconds.

She could hardly imagine it.

To her, eighty thousand was merely the pocket money her father might casually transfer to her.

Wei Qing continued, “My father is bedridden with paralysis, and our entire family depends on my mother to farm. During my first year at university, I had planned to drop out, but your family donated a substantial sum to the school’s financial-aid fund. I qualified for assistance, and the school applied for fifteen thousand a year to cover my tuition and miscellaneous fees.”

“That’s why I’ll protect you with my life.”

Shen Shiwei had not expected Wei Qing to come from such a background, but she did not pity him in the slightest. She merely said, “You’re remarkable. I really admire you. This university is extremely difficult to get into. Fortunately, you didn’t drop out because of your financial situation. If you had, you would truly have regretted it.”

“Shiwei, I’m glad I didn’t give up either.”

A soft tap came from outside the window. Before long, it had become the dense patter of rain.

Shen Shiwei walked to the window and drew back the curtains, gazing at the scene outside.

“It’s raining already?”

Wei Qing walked over as well. He slowly let out a breath, then glanced quickly at Shen Shiwei, relieved that she had not looked down on him because of his circumstances.

Page (1/3)

Page (2/3)

The sky outside had grown pitch-black. Without any lights, the people inside could not make out the landscape beyond the windows. They could only hear the rain, which seemed to be growing heavier.

Just then, a bird that seemed to have flown in from nowhere shot toward them and slammed headfirst into the glass in front of Shen Shiwei.

Under ordinary circumstances, an impact like that could never have shattered the window. Yet now, the supposedly sturdy glass broke into pieces, and the bird’s body fell to the floor, soaked through and dripping with rainwater.

A hole had been smashed into the window. Whenever the wind blew, rain sprayed inside.

Wei Qing shielded Shen Shiwei and backed away several steps, but both of them were still splashed by the rain.

Shen Shiwei’s attention, however, was entirely fixed on the dead bird on the floor.

“How strange. This glass is bulletproof. Just how much force could that have taken?”

Wei Qing drew the curtains shut. “Shiwei, I suddenly feel that we can’t stay here much longer.”

Shen Shiwei lowered her eyes, deep in thought. “Wei Qing, go outside first. Let me think of something on my own.”

“But...” Wei Qing glanced at the bird on the floor.

“It’s only a dead bird. It’s nothing serious.”

“I’ll just throw it out.” As he spoke, Wei Qing took several sheets of toilet paper, picked up the dead bird through the paper, and quickly tossed it outside.

Only then did Wei Qing pick up the bowls and chopsticks. Still uneasy, he reminded her, “If anything happens, shout for me.”

Shen Shiwei nodded. “I will.”

As Wei Qing went downstairs, he heard several people in the living room arguing over the sleeping arrangements.

“There’s only one guest room downstairs. You expect the two of us girls to sleep with them?”

Shen Heng replied coldly, “The fact that we’ve arranged a room for you is already generous enough. The second floor belongs to the owners, and you have no right to stay there. Besides, didn’t the two of them say they would sleep on the sofa?”

Gao Li was still unwilling to accept it. She pleaded, “Your villa is so large. Giving up a room for a few days won’t cost you anything. Brother Shen Heng, I already apologized. Don’t keep taking your anger at me out on everyone else.”

Shen Heng was thoroughly fed up. He had never imagined that a girl could be so irritating. He turned directly to Lu Sui.

“Captain Lu, could you please deal with her?”

Lu Sui said to Gao Li, “You and your friend can sleep in the room on the first floor. We won’t disturb you.”

“But...” Gao Li glanced upstairs. She did not dare contradict Lu Sui, so she had no choice but to give in. She shot an angry look at Han Zhu, who had remained silent the entire time, and stormed into the room.

Han Zhu could only follow meekly behind her.

The sofa in the living room was large, but it was only big enough for one person to sleep on.

Lu Sui said to Song Yingjun, “I’m not tired yet. You go to sleep first.”

Page (2/3)

Page (3/3)

Song Yingjun did not argue. “All right, Captain. If you can’t keep going, wake me and I’ll take over the watch.”

Given the current circumstances, none of them could rest at the same time. Someone had to remain alert and watch for any zombies that might appear.

Lu Sui stood straight-backed before the floor-to-ceiling window. He lifted the curtain slightly and gazed at the rain pouring harder outside, his expression dark and unreadable.

Their supplies were insufficient. They could not stay here for long.

Lu Sui decided that once the rain stopped tomorrow, they would set out for the base.

Inside the room, Gao Li paced back and forth, her voice edged with malice.

“Shen Shiwei, one day I’ll make you pay!”

Han Zhu spoke in a small voice. “Forget it. We just need to follow them and survive.”

“What do you know? From the moment I pushed her out of the car, the grudge between us was sealed. Even if I didn’t target Shen Shiwei, she would never let me off easily.”

Han Zhu fell silent.

She had always known that Gao Li was deeply jealous of Shen Shiwei.

Shen Shiwei was beautiful, came from a wealthy family, and possessed extraordinary artistic talent. She was the object of admiration and envy throughout their department.

But Gao Li was far from the only one who envied her.

The reason was simple: during a preliminary competition, Gao Li had lost to Shen Shiwei. After that, she began targeting Shen Shiwei in secret.

All the darkness hidden within her erupted completely the moment the apocalypse arrived.

She wanted to kill Shen Shiwei, and the zombies were to be her accomplices.

What no one had expected was that Shen Shiwei had an astonishingly tenacious life. Even after all that, she still had not died.

“So I’m definitely going to kill her.”

Shen Shiwei sneezed. Sitting on the bed, she pulled the blanket higher around herself.

Suddenly, a faint voice sounded beside her ear.

“It’s so smelly. This place smells much better.”