Chapter 9: Night and AnXia

"Brother Lin, are you leaving?"

"My older brother... is he okay?"

AnXia leaned against the wall, cautiously watching Lin An repair the door.

She, who knew nothing of the Apocalypse.

She didn't know that if Lin An failed to obtain the antidote, she would face what.

She had her hands behind her back, her slender fingers twisting the hem of her clothes back and forth.

Under her long skirt were a pair of snow-white slender legs, with some scrapes on her knees.

Her white dress was stained with blood and dust, looking filthy.

Her frail body, gazing at Lin An's pale face lacking a bit of color, made one's heart ache.

"Clang!"

Lin An carefully re-installed the iron door that had been kicked flying.

After becoming an Awakened One, he still wasn't quite used to his current power.

Hard metal in his hand was like plastic, easily bent.

If he used force carelessly, he would completely scrap the iron door.

Therefore Lin An had to gather a pile of discarded steel bars to patch; after hammering and pounding, the damaged iron door could barely be used.

Only the dented, damaged part in the middle of the door could not be repaired.

Ugly and unsightly, but still somewhat usable.

After Lin An installed the door, he fell silent for a moment.

"AnXia, I'll be back soon. Don't worry about me."

He didn't intend to hide anything.

"Jing Tian."

Lin An paused, then with a determined expression gave AnXia a gentle smile.

"You and Jing Tian will be fine."

"Trust me."

He let out a light sigh.

His parents had left him early since childhood.

AnXia and An Jing Tian were the only people he cared about.

Although not related by blood, they were closer than family.

Jing Tian's parents took extra care of him, treating him as their own child.

And AnXia and her brother even regarded him as their real older brother, growing up together.

AnXia and An Jing Tian were the last soft spot in his heart.

AnXia looked at Lin An's resolute, handsome face, her expression freezing.

Her eye sockets reddened.

Hearing Lin An's familiar tone.

As always, she felt reassured.

Just like when they were children.

It seemed as long as Lin An and her brother were there, nothing needed to be worried about.

"Brother Lin."

"Then when do you plan to leave?"

"You can..."

AnXia looked at the still busy Lin An and timidly asked in a low voice.

She feared disturbing Lin An.

She hesitated for a long time.

AnXia also didn't say what she wanted to say.

She hoped Lin An could stay with her a little longer.

Within the residential area, the wails of zombies and the living never ceased.

And her brother remained unconscious.

She was very afraid.

But she also feared that voicing such thoughts would be too selfish and affect what Lin An needed to do.

After Lin An sealed all the windows inside the house, the interior was pitch black.

He turned his head, his enhanced vision ignoring the darkness; the interior appeared as bright as daylight to him.

"We'll leave again tomorrow morning."

"I'll stay here tonight."

Lin An understood AnXia's expression.

Don't say AnXia is just a little girl now.

In his past life, when the Apocalypse broke out, even though he was of military background, he was still uneasy, fearful.

In the face of life and death, amidst the Apocalypse.

Many people with poor psychological resilience even chose to end their own lives.

"Really?!"

AnXia's lowered head lifted in surprise, looking toward Lin An in the darkness.

Although she couldn't see, she knew Lin An was there.

Lin An did not answer, merely walking slowly up to AnXia and affectionately rubbing her head.

The light, pleasant-smelling body wash rinsed away the bloody smell in his nostrils.

He was not delaying time due to romantic love.

Now 【Suturer】 has not yet appeared.

After 12 hours, that zombie inside Ten Great Shang Cheng will mutate from among the many zombies into a 【Suturer】.

After subtracting two hours of travel time, he could still stay at Jing Tian's home for about ten hours.

Moreover, his condition is extremely poor, and he must rest.

After repeated battles and activating his awakening skill.

His body has already reached its limit; now he is purely relying on willpower to hold on.

He pulled the girl into his embrace.

AnXia buried her head deeply in his chest, her body trembling slightly.

"Lin An brother, I'm so scared..."

Lin An felt the trembling of the girl in his arms and remained silent.

He merely slowly clenched his right hand, which was wrapped around AnXia's back.

The night passed without a word.

The next morning.

Outside the window, there were no longer the usual chirping of birds.

A sharp wail startled Lin An; a man's panicked cry for help not far away was quickly drowned out by the zombies' howls.

Accompanied by a miserable scream, moments later there was no sound at all.

It looks like someone else died.

He paid no attention.

Upon waking, Lin An felt his condition had returned to its peak, his body full of strength.

As long as he rests sufficiently, his condition will quickly recover; this is the benefit of the data-driven template.

After Lin An quickly checked An Jing Tian's condition, he confirmed he was unharmed and breathed a sigh of relief. In his peripheral vision, as he glanced over AnXia curled up on the sofa, he slightly shook his head.

In her deep sleep, AnXia slightly furrowed her delicate brows, her hands unconsciously feeling around beside her a few times.

On her delicate, exquisite face, tear traces could still be faintly seen.

Lin An bitterly smiled in his heart.

It was evident that AnXia had secretly cried for a long time last night.

He casually covered AnXia with a blanket, then lightly walked to the window to observe the outside situation.

He arrived at the window.

In the distance, thick smoke rose from the tops of buildings, looking as if they had been burning all night. The smoke billowed. On the nearby rooftops, many survivors waved desperately the white cloth-made rescue flags. Trapped on the rooftops with no way out, they could only hope the military would send helicopters to rescue them.

But they didn't realize that this apocalypse was far more terrifying than imagined.

Withdrawing his gaze, Lin An looked toward the interior of the residential complex.

Not far away, the blaring car alarm attracted many zombies. By the roadside, several zombies crouched on the ground, greedily gulping down chunks of flesh from corpses. Through the anti-theft windows, one could occasionally glimpse a fleeting zombie shadow in the opposite building.

In an extremely short time, the city's order had completely collapsed.

After the apocalypse broke out, unmanaged cities would quickly decline.

After a while.

Natural gas pipeline leaks, water plant shutdowns, and factory explosions will become the norm.

Without convenient electricity and water, human civilization would quickly regress. Remembering the later stages of the apocalypse, a bottle of clean mineral water could drive countless survivors to fight desperately for it.

In silence.

Lin An subconsciously wanted to pull a lighter from his pants pocket to light a cigarette.

Smoking while thinking is his habit.

He just felt around for a while but couldn't find the pocket.

Only then did he discover in surprise that his clothes, originally stained with blood, had been completely renewed.

Lin An laughed helplessly.

It seemed that AnXia had secretly taken off his blood-stained clothes in the middle of the night and changed them into clean ones.

The two were similar in height and build, so they fit each other perfectly.

"Beep beep."

The alarm clock set before going to sleep last night rang.

Lin An stubbed out the cigarette in his hand and took a deep look at the two of them.

But as he was leaving, AnXia, who was sleeping with her back turned, suddenly had a tear trace slide across her face.

AnXia still has many things she wants to say to you... You must come back safely...