The town was deserted in the sunset, and the ruined buildings were bathed in the afterglow.

With fallen streetlights across the road, Lin Yuzu stopped in her tracks, “Brother Du, you don’t have to send me off anymore.”

Du Yan followed her. He’s a power-up player with a strong physique. He’s two and a half heads taller than Lin Yuzu, but he arches his back slightly when facing her, appearing a little bit shorter.

The tall, middle-aged man showed a bitter face, “Yuzu, I’m really sorry. . . .”

Lin Yuzu said, “No need to be like that, I understand.”

She was wearing a black long-sleeved sports jacket. Her left shoulder bulged slightly and white bandages were visible from her neckline. This was the injury she suffered from fighting with mutant animals before, resulting in her now only being able to carry her hiking bag and tent using her right shoulder.

In that encounter, in addition to her, Du Yan’s five-year-old daughter, Du Anan was also injured.

Children, unlike adults, are quick to get infected and catch a fever. They don’t have many medical resources on hand and they will have to walk at least three days to get to their destination – the only remaining southern base. But compared to leaving Lin Yuzu or Du Yan’s wife who has wind powers, the two adults holding the child will be able to arrive in a day without eating or drinking.

Between teammates and family members, it was clear which was more important.

“That’s not what I said. I. . . I’m sorry for you, even more, sorry for your sister. . .” Du Yan looked even more embarrassed, “Wait to meet at the base. . .”

His throat moved and didn’t say anything further, probably because he felt hopeless for the future. How long can a single woman who has no offensive abilities and is injured live in the crisis-ridden post-apocalyptic world?

Lin Yuzu smiled instead, “Okay, have a safe trip, goodbye.”

She didn’t say that she actually did not intend to go to the southern base.

Lin Yuzu was not as optimistic as Du Yan. It was half a year ago when they heard about the southern base from others, and after that, they hadn’t seen any other living people along the way.

Does this ‘only remaining base’ really still exist?

Lin Yuzu reached into her pocket and held the wooden harmonica she carried close to her. Her fingertips gently rubbing the sunken carvings on the wooden surface.

In the remote town, plants grow freely and the towering trees in the central area can be seen from afar. Their branches squeezing through the concrete buildings, their shade like an open umbrella, casting large shadows.

Lin Yuzu took the opposite direction, the direction with few plants.

Mutated plants don’t chase the taste of blood like zombies and mutant animals, but they are still aggressive and not something to be taken lightly.

Before it got dark, Lin Yuzu found a fairly intact bungalow on the side of the road. She cleaned the living room to the bare minimum and caught a mutant mouse from the side of the road to cook for dinner. She used the caught mice to cook with wild vegetable soup with salt its only seasoning.

The light outside the window gradually sank and the fire was burning quietly and sparks would occasionally crackle and explode. The pot is flooded with the smell of cooked food. Lin Yuzu sat down, made her bed, and leaned against the wall.

She was left alone again.

The pain on her shoulder was dull and painful, so to distract herself, Lin Yuzu fished out the harmonica from her pocket and blew a section of catching the mudskipper. Her harmonica skills were self-taught after the apocalypse to pass time and can only play a few nursery rhymes now.

The crisp notes reverberated in the room and usually at this time, Du Anan should be lying on her lap, blinking her sleepy eyes. Lin Yuzu thought of the little girl’s innocent and tender face and couldn’t help but smile slightly before sighing softly.

Without the music, the night was especially quiet and subtle movements became obvious.

Tuk tuk tuk. There was a knock on the door.

Lin Yuzu froze for a moment and held her breath slightly. She thought she heard it wrong, but after a while, the person outside knocked once again, tapping the door three times – both standard and polite.

Mutated creatures don’t know, they would just roughly break down doors or walls to enter.

This place actually has other living people besides her?

Lin Yuzu stood up, quickly checked the weapons on her body, walked to the door, and held the handle. She then vigilantly opened a gap on the door.

There was indeed a person standing outside.

Seeing her figure, she looked like a woman. She was quite tall so she looks even thinner. She was wearing a very strange attire; a shirt and sweatpants covered with a white coat, a pair of leather gloves, a mountaineering hat on her head, and a mask to cover the lower half of her face. Her whole body was tightly wrapped and only revealing a pair of eyes.

Lin Yuzu looked up and saw her clear ice-blue eyes paired with the moonlight outside.

The two looked at each other for a moment, and the strange woman stretched out her hand and spread her palm, there was a torn note on her hand. It swayed in the night breeze and Lin Yuzu picked it up before being blown away.

— Hello

There were only these two characters and one punctuation mark written on it and the handwriting was beautiful.

Because the soup pot in the room had boiled, it made a grunting sound. The woman’s eyes looked past her after Lin Yuzu picked up the note, and her snow-white eyelashes trembled slightly, revealing a little desire.

“. . . Hello.”

After a moment’s hesitation, Lin Yuzu chose to open the door, “I’ve cooked dinner, do you want to come in and eat together?”

The woman turned her gaze back to Lin Yuzu and stared at her for a while as if she was judging her credibility.

Those eyes were as cold as a glacier, but the gaze looking at others was like a lake under the winder night, soft and pure. Even with the scrutiny, Lin Yuzu didn’t feel offended at all.

After a while, she nodded gently.

Lin Yuzu invited her in. When she closed the door, she saw the woman already sitting cross-legged by the fire when she looked back, staring at the steam escaping from the edge of the pot lid. The hair hanging from her shoulders was white as snow and shone like fine sild under the light of the fire.

A person with an ability usually changes appearance due to the gradual improvement of their ability. Similar to Lin Yuzu’s eyes which are colored light lake blue. Lin Yuzu guessed that this woman’s abilities should be related to ice or water.

She sat back in her original position and the two of them happen to face each other, “My name is Lin Yuzu, grapefruit Yuzu. How should I address you?”

The woman fished out a card from her pocket.

Business card? Lin Yuzu took it and looked at it. It was an SW University dining card, the name was written on the back but it was stained with dark stains. Only the last two words could be read clearly, “Xiao Xiao. . .?”

The woman slightly bent her eyes.

Lin Yuzu’s mood was a bit complicated. She was no stranger to SW University, she was also studying at a university before the apocalypse came and the two schools were only one street apart, so maybe they had rubbed shoulders on the street.

However, compared to the ordinary book she read, SW was a genuine key university – the kind that one can become a legend in the neighborhood after being admitted.

Lin Yuzu shared her plastic bowl and chopsticks with the former school bully. Lin Yuzu was tired of eating wild vegetable soup with just a little salt, but Xiao Xiao held the bowl solemnly and seemed to sigh with emotion.

Seeing this, Lin Yuzu couldn’t help but give her an extra spoonful of meat, “You’re welcome to eat more if it’s not enough.” Originally, Lin Yuzu wanted to warm up the leftovers for breakfast tomorrow, but now it seems that it’s just right for two people.

Xiao Xiao nodded, looked at her, turned her back before taking off her mask to eat.

She didn’t move much while she was eating. She then took out a handkerchief, wiped her mouth after eating, and brought back her mask. After returning the bowl to Lin Yuzu, she took out a thick notebook and pen from her white coat and wrote down three characters;

Thank you

“You’re welcome.” Lin Yuzu was also almost finished eating when she asked, “Is there any water?”

Xiao Xiao shook her head.

Lin Yuzu, “Then put the bowl away. I’ll wash it tomorrow.”

She guessed wrong, the woman wasn’t a water ability user. Lin Yuzu sincerely felt that fire and water ability users were the best abilities to have during the apocalypse. Other abilities were also good, in any case, anything else is better than her chicken rib ability.

Xiao Xiao picked up the pen again, but this time, after writing two characters, she paused for a moment before continuing to write down.

She spread out the notebook and held it up,
I’ll wash

Lin Yuzu saw the opening two words first, and before she could politely refuse, she scanned the next line.

—- Can you let me stay?

“. . . Can not.”

Lin Yuzu ruthlessly rejected her and pushed her out.

There was a drizzle outside and Xiao Xiao stood at the door with her notebook, looking at her with downcast eyes that were as innocent as a small car or puppy that was abandoned in a box on the street.

but the cold-hearted Lin Yuzu was completely unmoved and closed the door decisively.

Having lived for eight years in this post-apocalyptic world, Lin Yuzu has developed natural vigilance. She can invite people she doesn’t know to eat with her, but when it comes to her sharing a room at night, she would usually keep her eyes open restlessly until dawn.

In fact, she couldn’t sleep well alone. Knowing that there was a stranger nearby, she couldn’t let her guard down in any way and slept very lightly, waking up before dawn.

Of course, Xiao Xiao was no longer outside.

Lin Yuzu’s plan today is to explore the surrounding environment and find a place suitable to settle down long-term. It would be best if it’s closer to a water source, have an open yard to make two vegetable plots for her. . . Oh and away from that tree.

She stepped on the wet ground and looked at the tall trees in the distance. Perhaps because of the spring rain that fell last night, a small white flower bud formed on the green shade.

There were soft, hesitant footsteps approaching from behind.

Lin Yuzu turned her head and saw Xiao Xiao standing a few meters behind. In the daytime, she pilled her hat lower and she couldn’t see any bare skin at all. She could only feel a faint line of sight under the brim of the hat.

“Good Morning.” Lin Yuzu thought for a while before greeting her.

Xiao Xiao wrote down three big characters with her pen and paper and held them up for her to see,
Good Morning!

The two stood face to face for a while.

“Is something wrong?” Lin Yuzu asked.

She couldn’t just stand there all the time, but Xiao Xiao didn’t take the next step, so she had to ask the question.

Xiao Xiao turned the page of the notebook she was holding up – the one she wrote yesterday,

— Can you let me stay?

“. . .”

Are you a puppy that clings to people after being fed food?

Lin Yuzu thought about it and told her, “I will stay here. If you want to have a meal together, you can come here later.”

Xiao Xiao did not shake her head, nor did she nod her head.

Just as soon as Lin Yuzu walked, footsteps sounded behind her. When she looked back several times, she could see the tall figure lagging a few steps behind.

. . . What is she doing, following diligently?

Lin Yuzu turned to the street corner and heard the person behind her eagerly catching up and then gradually slowing down, keeping a certain distance. The sound of her steps coincided with her steps. She was a little helpless and was thinking about how to convince her not to follow when Lin Yuzu saw a familiar corpse of a humanoid creature that has fallen on the road in front of her.

Dark blue skin, ash-like white hair, hands that were sprawled on the ground bent like claws with fingertips as sharp as knives. Its face was slightly tilted up that exposed sharp teeth protruding from its upper lip that extended to its chin, and a white prismatic crystal embedded in its forehead.

It was a dead zombie.

The author has something to say:

Xiao Xiao is actually not very tall, around 167.

Yuzu needs to look up to people because she herself is too short.

The next martial arts article is posted in the pre-recorded text ~

    The Lord of the Western Demon Church is seriously injured and dying, and the Church is fighting for the next leader, and the soldiers are at war.

    The dark tide is surging, and the eight sects of the East Continent, by the death of the world’s first sword in the Hidden Blade Villa as the beginning of the beginning of the Jianghu storm.

    Tang Zhu is the unlucky No.1 in the world.

    With his right hand crippled and his meridians broken, he fell off a cliff and was saved by a wandering doctor.

    The doctor was dressed in green monk clothes, beautiful face, cold eyebrows, the first words when he saw her wake up was.

    “Do you know how much you owe me for the consultation?”

    Probably a (trying to be) decent martial arts text.

    The dashing and unrestrained female swordsman and the poisonous and arrogant pretty medical immortal, mutual attack 1V1HE.

——你好。(Hello)

谢谢你。(Thank you)

早上好。 (Good morning)