Chapter 40: He Ying

"Why are you following us?"

Chen Mu only now had the time to take a good look at the two people before him.

That female student was probably about the same age as him, wearing a white T‑shirt, but because it hadn't been changed for a long time, it was already filthy.

In fact, everyone, Chen Mu included, is now in this situation.

That male student looked noticeably younger, and he was wearing the uniform of Ziwei High School, so he was probably a freshman or sophomore.

The girl was tied to the ground, showing neither anger nor resentment, as if resigned, she no longer struggled, but even after Chen Mu asked several times, she refused to speak.

This put Chen Mu in a bit of a bind; they wouldn't talk no matter what, but he couldn't just kill them outright, could he?

But letting them go?

Nor was he willing to accept that.

Besides, who knows what background they have? If they go back and bring reinforcements to cause trouble, what then?

That male student clearly lacked that kind of backbone; seeing his companion silent, he wanted to speak but didn't dare, glanced left and right, and in a pleading tone said to the girl, 'Senior…'

The girl seemed to soften, sighed, and then spoke: 'We really mean no harm; we just… just wanted to steal something to eat.'

"Why don't you just go to the cafeteria yourself to find food? Weren't you also nearby before?" Chen Mu asked.

"The cafeteria is the stronghold of those people from Yi Zhong; we've suffered many losses at their hands, so we dare not go back in." The girl said this, her face clearly showing anger.

"What's your name?"

Chen Mu had just finished asking when a voice of mixed surprise and delight came from behind him: 'He Ying?'

Only to see Zhao Xiao Yan come running over, her face full of utter disbelief: 'The person following us is you?'

"Zhao Xiao Yan?" The girl obviously hadn't expected to run into an acquaintance, her face showing shock.

"You two know each other?" Chen Mu asked.

"He Ying, from Class 7, she's my childhood friend and neighbor, my best friend."

Zhao Xiao Yan had previously been told by Chen Mu to stay at a distance, and as a precaution he had also left her a hand grenade.

Only after the fighting here ended did Wei Dalei go over to greet her; but upon arriving, he found he'd run into an acquaintance.

"Friends?"

Wei Dalei patted his chest, feeling a surge of relief; luckily he hadn't injured her just now, or else he'd have a hard time explaining things to Zhao Xiao Yan.

"Exactly, she's the sports committee member of Class 7, has won many awards at the sports meets, a school bigwig—she's not any less known than Dong Junwei; you two surely can't have never heard of her." Zhao Xiao Yan glanced at each of the two companions in turn.

Chen Mu and Wei Dalei exchanged a glance and both shook their heads.

In Wei Dalei's eyes, the only girl was Zhao Xiao Yan; too bad he had no clue, secretly loving her yet not even knowing her best friend.

And Chen Mu hardly interacted with his own classmates, let alone those from other classes.

"I'm impressed with you two."

Zhao Xiao Yan wiped her forehead, then turned to He Ying and asked, 'How did you end up here?'

He Ying, whose face usually showed little expression, rarely revealed a hint of shame: 'We have a few companions; our food is almost gone, so we came out to look for something, and we just happened to run into your team, and we wanted to…'

"Why didn't you just come find me and tell me?"

"I didn't know it was you, and… the people we'd met before were… not very nice, so…"

Zhao Xiao Yan turned to look at Chen Mu, a bit embarrassed, and said, 'Chen Mu, He Ying is actually a pretty good person…'

"Since it's a misunderstanding, then there's nothing more to it."

Having confirmed that the other party wasn't some vicious villain, Chen Mu also breathed a sigh of relief; what made him most willing to trust this person, besides Zhao Xiao Yan's guarantee, was the fact that He Ying hadn't abandoned that male companion to save herself at the time.

Given her abilities, if she hadn't been trying to save her companion, Chen Mu might not have been able to stop her.

"Right, right, right, a misunderstanding, a misunderstanding, hehehe…"

Seeing the situation ease, that male student instantly broke into a happy smile.

Chen Mu undid the handcuffs on He Ying's wrists and ankles; after the earlier fight he could also tell that her ability was likely an enhancement of speed and leaping—basically the sort of light‑skill found in martial‑arts novels—but her front‑line combat ability was very limited, which is why she kept thinking of fleeing.

He Ying rubbed her sore wrists and ankles, slowly rose to her feet, but her eyes kept scanning Chen Mu's weapons, obviously very curious about his ability; however, since they weren't really acquainted yet, and given what had just happened, it was impossible for her to just ask outright.

"His name is Sun Yuan, a first‑year junior, his ability is enhanced hearing." He Ying introduced the male student.

"Greetings, seniors." Sun Yuan was a bit nervous yet excited.

Given his performance just now, it was truly awful—he had been completely useless the whole time, merely a burden on He Ying, and really lacked any backbone.

But Chen Mu didn't look down on him for that.

If begging for mercy were the only option left, Chen Mu would do it without hesitation; besides, Sun Yuan's final action at least showed he still had a bit of righteousness in him.

Zhao Xiao Yan laughed and said, 'You're quite like me—I have enhanced smell; both belong to the five senses.'

Sun Yuan, seemingly accustomed to flattering everyone he met, immediately laid on the praise: 'Being able to have even a little connection with an upperclassman is an honor beyond words…'

"Chen Mu, Wei Dalei."

Chen Mu also introduced his own people to them.

He Ying nodded, counted it as a greeting, thought a moment, and then said, 'You're really strong.'

"The strong one is Old Wei."

"You're all strong, no wonder you can snatch food from Yi Zhong's turf." He Ying said rather wistfully.

"We've also run into people from Yi Zhong before, but they don't look like much—just a couple of bluffs and they run away." Zhao Xiao Yan recalled Chen Mu's acting earlier that day and still wanted to laugh.

However, He Ying shook her head helplessly and said, 'I'd guess you only ran into a small squad they sent out to scavenge for food; many people have survived in Yi Zhong, and quite a few have strong abilities, but those people aren't anything good—they lord it over everyone and always send ordinary folks to do dangerous work.'

Chen Mu sighed; only a few days into the apocalypse, and already humanity, struggling just to survive, has begun to stratify itself.

He felt a bit fortunate to have met He Ying at this point; she seemed to know more about outside information.

The nine of us from Senior Three Class Four are getting by okay for now, but we're somewhat working in isolation, reinventing the wheel.

Now it seems that quite a few people have survived in Ziwei High School; if we don't get timely information, we'll likely suffer losses later.

Now that we've met He Ying, Chen Mu certainly won't let this opportunity slip by.

However, before he could ask, He Ying spoke first: "How did you know we were following behind you?"

She still had some confidence in Sun Yuan's hearing, but she really couldn't fathom how the other party could detect the two of them from such a distance, and even successfully ambush them.

Chen Mu, however, countered: "May I ask first—why, when you were outside the cafeteria, didn't you just steal outright, but instead insisted on following us all the way here?"