Chapter 14: Departure

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Even if Fu Qi was willing to teach, Qin Zhen still couldn’t handle tablets or smartphones well.

The eager junior watched Qin Zhen hand the tablet to Fu Qi, puzzled. “You can’t use the touchscreen with gloves on... But Sister Ye, why do you insist on wearing gloves?”

“...” Qin Zhen feigned indifference and said nothing.

Fu Qi came to her rescue: “She’s a neat freak.”

“Ohhh,” the junior responded twice, then said, “That must be really tough.”

He was grateful and respectful of others’ choices—he neither criticized Qin Zhen for wearing makeup in the apocalypse nor thought her cleanliness obsession was fussiness. Instead, he admired how, despite being a severe neat freak, she bravely searched for books and clothes in this foul-smelling building last night. Truly heroic.

Fan Xu rummaged through his backpack and solemnly said, “As a token of thanks, Sister Ye, have some candy!”

Qin Zhen had no sense of taste, but seeing the candy’s beautiful packaging, she still accepted it.

Fan Xu also gave one to Fu Qi, but he declined, so both candies ended up in Qin Zhen’s hands.

Unable to operate the tablet, the zombie let Fu Qi find the stored TV shows inside. Chewing the candy with a “crunch,” she curled up on the sofa and started watching, barely glancing at Fu Qi except when she needed help.

Fan Xu, the culprit, seeing Qin Zhen like this, felt he finally had a role to play and was thrilled. To better repay the great boss, he checked through his pile of phones, picked out all capable of playing TV, and saved them separately for Qin Zhen.

He also enthusiastically asked Fu Qi if he wanted to play games.

Fu Qi didn’t want to play games; he just wanted to catch that heartless zombie and give her a good beating.

He asked, “Is Plants vs. Zombies on here?”

It was just a casual remark, but zombies blocked everything except they were peculiarly sensitive to their own species. Qin Zhen immediately looked up from the TV show, warily asking, “Zombies?”

In Fan Xu’s mind, Sister Ye’s presence outshone Fu Qi’s, so he answered Qin Zhen first, “Fu Qi and I were talking about the game, Plants vs. Zombies.”

Then he replied to Fu Qi, “It’s here, but you need to log in to play, so you can’t.”

It had been a joke all along. Fu Qi didn’t actually want to play, but seeing the zombie’s anxious, hesitant expression—wanting to ask but mindful of her image—he feigned regret ambiguously, “So no beating zombies? What a pity.”

Then he got glared at.

The zombie knew nothing about the game and vaguely felt Fu Qi was mocking her, but also doubted herself. The glare was angry yet hesitant, not truly harmful.

After glaring, she noticed Fu Qi laughing and realized she’d been tricked. Annoyed, she turned away, back to the TV.

Finding her amusement, she stayed on the sofa watching TV for a long time. When Fu Qi called her to leave, if not for worrying the junior would starve without food, Qin Zhen wouldn’t have gotten up.

The rain had stopped last night, and after over ten hours of seepage, the streets had mostly dried except for a few puddles. It was time to leave.

The departure plan was Fu Qi’s idea: he would go downstairs first and try to start a car parked near the building’s side front. He had been eyeing them for a long time. With luck, at least one of the four cars would start. If not, they’d escape through the sunroof, climb into the toppled building ahead to hide temporarily, then find other transport on another street.

Qin Zhen had no objections but asked, “What should I do?”

“Wait for me to pick you up.”

Fan Xu asked, “What about me?”

“Stick close to Sister Ye.”

They had no say in the matter, so they obediently packed their bags.

Fu Qi was both the doer and the planner. Before heading down, he reminded Qin Zhen privately, “Watch your junior; make sure he sticks close to you.”

This touched Fan Xu, who marveled at Fu Qi’s kindness and promised not to hold Sister Ye back.

Qin Zhen couldn’t bring herself to tell him the truth—that Fu Qi’s real purpose was to warn her not to stray too far from Fan Xu, lest it reveal that she wasn’t attractive to zombies.

The truth was unspoken; she just nodded silently, “No problem.”

The junior was even more moved.

In fact, Fu Qi’s luck wasn’t great. He tried four or five cars in a row; none would start for various reasons. Luckily, he was agile and quick, so he promptly activated the backup plan.

Qin Zhen waited for half an hour before hearing an engine start and immediately led the junior downstairs.

The zombies gathered in the street all got excited, clawing and rushing forward. The car crashed through them, splattering filthy blood everywhere. Watching this, Qin Zhen was utterly convinced she was a severe neat freak.

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She absolutely couldn’t fall into a horde of zombies. Seeing Fu Qi’s car approaching, she didn’t care about the height from the ground, grabbed the junior, and jumped down directly onto the car’s roof, then quickly climbed through the sunroof.

Fan Xu nearly fainted from fright. “I thought you were going to fall to your death!”

Qin Zhen replied, “Don’t worry, I was cushioning you.”

Fan Xu recalled that she had really been beneath him and hurried to check on her. Seeing her expression cool and aloof, completely unharmed, he breathed a sigh of relief and immediately showered her with compliments, which made the zombie feel blissful and almost broke her cold, aloof persona.

Fu Qi couldn’t stand it anymore. “You’re so amazing, why don’t you help me?”

“Dream on,” Qin Zhen answered coldly and mercilessly.

Rejected, Fu Qi had no choice but to go alone. He drove fiercely. Having studied maps and road conditions earlier, he plowed through the streets and soon left the city.

Zombies still roamed outside the city, but far fewer—scattered and less threatening.

As they went forward, they passed a weedy farmland where a car had flipped on its side, with several zombies nearby. Fu Qi stopped the car.

The braking vibration was strong. Qin Zhen was engrossed in her show and the sudden jolt made the tablet slip from her hands, almost hitting the ground, which made her heart ache.

“What’s wrong?”

Fu Qi grabbed his knife, pushed the door open, and mimicked her tone: “None of your business! You’re not helping me.”

“...” Qin Zhen glared at him fiercely.

Fortunately, the junior didn’t catch on and kindly explained for Qin Zhen: “That car is flipped over; maybe it crashed and was abandoned. There should still be gasoline inside. Plus, those zombies are carrying bags that probably contain supplies.”

Qin Zhen understood.

They were going to loot.

Fan Xu finished explaining and got out, and the zombies, weak and disorganized, were quickly dispatched.

After looting the zombies and collecting gasoline, Fu Qi resumed driving while Qin Zhen and the junior rummaged through the bags.

Moldy food was discarded; clothes were kept. All three phones were dead and thrown away; most remaining items were daily necessities.

Qin Zhen was holding a small fan, blowing on her face, when Fan Xu said, “Hey, sanitary pads. Sister Ye, do you need these?”

Qin Zhen paused, instinctively looked at Fu Qi, who answered for her, “She doesn’t need them.”

“Oh, then forget it.” Fan Xu didn’t ask why and sighed as he was about to toss the items out the window, but Qin Zhen stopped him.

She said, “Keep them. Someone else might need them.”

Zombies don’t eat or drink, so they naturally don’t have normal female physiological cycles. She had no use for them. But in an era of scarce food, such supplies were definitely not abundant.

If they met other women later, they could be of use.

“Sister Ye, you’re so tough you don’t need them; others even less so,” Fan Xu said. “Besides, there aren’t many women left alive...”

At the early stage of the apocalypse, chaos reigned—laws were ineffective and people panicked. Some, perhaps influenced by too many sci-fi novels or virus-induced madness, gathered followers to seize power and declare themselves kings.

Women, along with children and the elderly, were the most vulnerable and thus ideal for asserting dominance.

This ambition was doomed to fail. These small groups were soon annihilated by zombie hordes or government intervention. Yet even after their fall, women, due to physical strength, empathy, and susceptibility to moral coercion, were often seen as prey in resource struggles.

Women became fewer, and those who survived gradually lost menstruation due to food shortages, disease, and hygiene problems.

Sanitary pads became basically useless.

Fu Qi had never told Qin Zhen any of this. Though she had seen the zombies’ savagery, she hadn’t witnessed anyone suffer firsthand. Fu Qi hadn’t suffered losses from zombies either. Her mind wasn’t sharp enough to consider what ordinary people’s lives were like.

Hearing Fan Xu’s words now, even the small fan felt powerless.

Originally, their journey was lively with chatter, but now the atmosphere turned heavy and oppressive until Fu Qi said, “Keep them. Collect more. When the apocalypse ends and everything returns to normal, selling these could make us rich.”

Obviously, he was joking.

Fan Xu laughed heartily. “Then saving phones could make me rich too! I could open a phone shop.”

He turned to Qin Zhen. “Sister Ye, what career do you want after the apocalypse?”

How would Qin Zhen know? She was planning to return underground.

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Before she could answer, Fu Qi smoothly replied for her, “She’s going to open an internet cafe.”

Qin Zhen was speechless.

Feeling poked fun at, she turned the small fan to its highest setting and aimed it fiercely at the back of Fu Qi’s head, viciously wishing the breeze would blow his brain dry!

Fan Xu scratched his head, puzzled by their silent battle of wits. Just then, a zombie lunged suddenly. The car jolted, and he stumbled, knocking over the tablet Qin Zhen had placed nearby.

The tablet had been paused on a show Qin Zhen was halfway through, but when he picked it up, it slid into another app.

“Sorry,” Fan Xu apologized, handing the tablet back.

Qin Zhen, unable to operate the touchscreen, was troubled. But looking at the tablet’s screen, she saw a beautified image of herself and exclaimed in surprise.

Fan Xu peeked over and said, “Wow, so many filters!”

He got excited and asked, “Sister Ye, want to take some photos? I’m good at photography—I used to carry a camera around tourist spots and make money taking pictures.”

The rustic zombie had never seen a beauty filter camera and nodded eagerly.

Putting aside their worries, the two started taking pictures in the backseat.

Fan Xu was chatty and optimistic, great at boosting morale. “Wow, cool!” “Yes, just like that, don’t move from that angle!” “So handsome, take another!” His endless compliments made the zombie’s heart bloom with joy, almost breaking her cold, aloof boss image.

“Hey, what about the driver? No one’s taking care of him?” Fu Qi called out. “Am I being isolated?”

“No way!” Fan Xu quickly turned the camera on him, calling him handsome with an endless stream of fresh praise.

But Fu Qi was sly. Knowing Qin Zhen couldn’t tap the screen, he teased her, “Baby, you take my picture.”

“Take...” Qin Zhen wanted to say, “Take a picture by smashing the tablet on your head,” but stammered after one word and stopped, glancing at the junior before coldly saying, “No!”

Fu Qi said, “Reject me again? That’s unfair. I won’t be partial to you anymore.”

He began bossing Qin Zhen around.

The car barreled forward, knocking away zombies blocking the road. But when debris like abandoned motorcycles blocked the way, Fu Qi said, “Baby, get out and clear the trash.”

When zombies surrounded them during cleanup, he ordered, “Zombies are dangerous; baby, you go block them.”

When they stopped to rest and recharge, he also chatted: “Food’s running low, baby, you better not eat.”

All normal things, but coming from Fu Qi’s mouth, they especially annoyed the zombie.

Later, when they stopped for a bathroom break, Qin Zhen took the chance while the junior was away to pounce on Fu Qi and hit him.

Fu Qi said, “I stopped specially so you could go, and you hit me?”

Since the sanitary pad incident, to avoid blowing her cover, Qin Zhen had to fake human physiological needs.

Instead of thanking him, she hit him.

“You asked for it; serves you right.”

Fu Qi said, “Then I won’t help hide it for you anymore. If you get exposed, serves you right.”

Daring to provoke a zombie meant bearing the zombie’s wrath.

When the junior returned after his business, he saw this “human versus zombie” scene, froze for a moment, then rushed over to pull them apart.

“Stop fighting!”

Fan Xu was even more worked up than the combatants. He shouted at Qin Zhen on the left, “Fu Ge is just jealous, not really trying to make things hard for you. Sister Ye, calm down!”

Then he yelled at Fu Qi on the right, “Fu Ge, don’t be impulsive! I have no feelings for Sister Ye—I’m not the other man!”

“...”

The junior’s low IQ exhausted the great boss Qin Zhen, who didn’t want to say a word.