Chapter 12: He Wants to Be Soothed Too
Ji Nian and Qin Xiao had been saved when the owner happened to come upstairs for supplies and saw them surrounded by zombies.
This world didn’t reward excessive kindness, at least not without careful consideration.
Especially since he had a wife and daughter to protect.
Even more frustrating was that he was low on bullets.
Only thirty remained—a whole thirty—any more shots would result in a non-integer number.
After much hesitation, the owner gritted his teeth. “Then…”
“Heh heh heh…”
The convenience store’s situation was extremely dangerous. The two men, weighing almost four hundred kilograms combined, were scared pale. Zombies were banging on the door, relentlessly attacking.
The bearded man and his companion’s legs trembled, and they scooted backward on their buttocks.
“Thump!” The bearded man’s body suddenly swayed, as if the ground was uneven. Accompanying the sway was the sound of his hammer hitting the floor.
It was a hollow sound, not the solid thud of a hammer striking a hard surface.
But the two were almost scared out of their wits; they had no time to pay attention to the sound. Until, a loose thread on the bearded man’s trousers snagged on the wooden cover of the basement access.
The bearded man and his companion were overjoyed to discover the basement, tears and snot streaming down their faces.
The floor of the convenience store was made of wood tiles.
Upon closer inspection, one tile was different from the others.
A handle was hidden in a recessed groove. After the two men found it, they scrambled to get into the basement.
“I’ll go first!”
“I’ll go first!”
“I’ll go first!”
“Then damn it, get down there!”
The two men squeezed into the basement, expecting pitch blackness. Instead, upon touching the ground, they saw bright light and five people staring at them.
Ji Nian and Qin Xiao were standing together. Though the lighting wasn’t great, the four could recognize each other.
Ji Nian’s expression was cold, his eyes like knives, staring at the two men with caution and wariness.
Qin Xiao chuckled. “Didn’t expect to see you again? We’re really destined, aren’t we?”
In this different environment, the two men were less imposing, especially after their recent fright. Their legs were still trembling; even if they wanted to act tough, they couldn’t.
Hearing Qin Xiao’s words, the owner asked, “What? You know them?”
Qin Xiao reached out to take the hammer from the bearded man and nodded to the owner. “Of course. These two guys tried to rob us a couple of hours ago.”
“Huh?”
The owner’s wife immediately pulled her daughter closer, taking a few steps back.
The bearded man noticed this, fearing they would throw them out. He tightened his grip on the hammer, taking a deep breath to appear confident. “No! Who said that? When did we rob you?”
He nudged his dumbfounded partner who wasn’t cooperating. “Right? When did we ever meet them? They’re blatantly lying, ridiculous!”
His partner was still terrified and blankly shook his head. “We haven’t met them. We haven’t met them.”
The bearded man wanted to kick him. In the apocalypse, everyone who survived was smart!
He was still in a daze—wasn’t that clearly telling everyone they were lying?
Damn it!
Upstairs was like hell! No! He couldn’t be thrown out!
A vicious glint flashed in the bearded man’s eyes. He violently shoved Qin Xiao aside and lunged towards the owner’s daughter behind him.
Qin Xiao was actually closer, making him an easier target.
But Qin Xiao didn’t intimidate anyone here, and even with a partner, what good did that do in a desperate situation? Partners wouldn’t necessarily help each other.
“Damn it!”
Qin Xiao immediately reacted to what the bearded man was doing, raising his leg to kick him in the back, giving him an extra push and sending him sprawling.
“Bang!”
The bearded man grazed the owner’s daughter’s clothes but didn’t grab her. After falling, he yelled at his partner, “Grab that brat!”
His partner was still dazed and didn’t think, simply obeying. He grabbed Qin Xiao, pulling out a knife and pressing it to Qin Xiao’s neck.
…Ji Nian looked over, his gaze icy.
Qin Xiao met his gaze, sensing his worry and discreetly gave an “OK” sign to reassure him.
However, before his thumb and forefinger could even fully make the “OK” sign, Ji Nian looked away, walking toward the bearded man, who was trying to get up.
The owner had already rushed to his wife and daughter, protecting them.
The bearded man was getting up, his hands on the ground. Ji Nian walked over and stepped hard on one of his hands.
“Ah—”
The bearded man cried out in pain, looking up at Ji Nian.
The boy was thin and frail, with youthful features, but his eyes were so cold that it made people afraid to look at him.
“Don’t shout.”
Ji Nian had his hands in his sweatshirt pockets, slightly bending down and making a shushing gesture. “You don’t want to die, do you? If you shout again, the zombies will find us.”
The bearded man shut his mouth. Ji Nian sneered, twisting his shoe on the man’s hand, increasing the pressure.
The bearded man couldn’t pull his hand away and gasped in pain, whispering curses, “You son of a bitch, let go!”
Qin Xiao thought his partner was great for avenging him.
But after waiting for a long time, he never heard Ji Nian say, “Let Qin Xiao go and make him apologize and bow!”
Forget bowing, there wasn’t even a word of concern.
They were partners! Partners!
He was here with a knife at his neck, his life threatened, and yet there wasn’t a single word of concern?!
Qin Xiao gave up on the cold, ruthless, possibly indifferent, perhaps even glad he was in danger, maybe even wishing death upon him, brat.
He told the man with the knife, “Let me go.”
“Okay.”
Easy peasy!
The two men were subsequently disarmed, their hands and feet bound, and thrown into a corner.
Only then did they discover that the basement was full of crates of food.
Having been hungry for almost two days, they didn’t care about their dignity and started begging for food, even kneeling down.
Even in the apocalypse, the will to survive was strong; no one wanted to die if they could live.
The owner firmly refused.
Attacking his wife and daughter—it was good enough that he didn’t throw them to the zombies.
His daughter was crying, hiding in her mother’s arms, sobbing, clinging tightly to her mother.
Ji Nian took a candy from his pocket and walked over, handing it to the girl. “Here.”
The girl looked up at the sound of his voice, her big eyes filled with tears, staring at the candy in his palm.
Ji Nian knelt down and offered the candy to her again. “Take it.”
“Thank you, brother.”
The girl hesitated before taking it. Ji Nian patted her head. From Qin Xiao’s perspective, Ji Nian smiled, his coldness gone, his smile gentle.
The slightly upturned corners of his lips were just right, the narrow ends of his eyes slightly raised, his double eyelids deeply creased.
Tsk! Why is he different to others than he is to me?
Qin Xiao felt inexplicably uncomfortable, a sense of unfair treatment.
Though he was two years older than Ji Nian, this feeling was pretty shameless.
But he was human, too. Everyone wants to be soothed.