Chapter 5: Tedious and Boring Days
Several more drawings had appeared on the window. Ji Nian would sometimes stare at them for a few moments but still couldn’t understand them.
The days were tedious and boring. If this continued, even with food, it would drive them crazy.
“Ah—”
Just as he was thinking this, a man with sunken eyes, sallow complexion, and a few sparse, oily strands of hair ran out from the opposite building.
The man lived on the first floor; he rushed out of the building, cursing at the sky. “Damn you all! Why are you doing this to us? Why…”
Ji Nian and Qin Xiao went to the window when they heard the noise. The man was already surrounded by zombies, but he still stood stubbornly, clinging to the last of his defiance.
Without hope, without food or water, his spirit and body were severely worn down.
“Daddy!”
“Husband!”
Then, a haggard woman led out a frail little boy.
The virus had already invaded the man’s bloodstream, causing his skin to change. He turned his head and stared at the woman.
The next second, he joined the zombie horde, surrounding his wife and son.
“Ah—”
“Ah—Mom! It hurts—”
Their pitiful cries would receive no pity, only the more ferocious bites of the zombies.
Ji Nian’s expression was complex.
An arm landed on his shoulder. Qin Xiao pulled him into his arms, covering his eyes with one hand and gently patting him, soothing him like a child. “Don’t be afraid, don’t be afraid.”
This earned him a punch.
Qin Xiao touched his chest; it really hurt. “…You ungrateful little thing…”
Ji Nian glared at him, his eyes cold.
Qin Xiao had been punched and was unhappy, so he didn’t cook noodles for Ji Nian at noon.
The plain boiled noodles smelled delicious, a delicacy in this apocalypse.
Qin Xiao ate a bowl of steaming hot noodles, shouting as he ate, like a drama queen.
Ji Nian wasn’t hungry yet, but Qin Xiao’s shouting made his stomach growl.
He took out a piece of bread to eat, drank some water, walked around the room twice, sat on the sofa, leaned back, and closed his eyes.
Qin Xiao couldn’t help but laugh. This guy was like a hedgehog, with cold and unapproachable eyes, but also very well-behaved.
He went for a walk when told to exercise; it was… kind of cute.
“Idiot? Laughing about what?!”
Ahem!
Retract, retract!
Pretend he didn’t say that!
Qin Xiao was an outgoing person. Even if Ji Nian ignored him, he would still chat, rambling for a whole day.
But today, it was almost noon, and Qin Xiao hadn’t come out of the bedroom.
This was clearly unusual.
Ji Nian walked around the living room several times, stopping several times at the bedroom door, finally knocking and going in.
“Hey?”
The person on the bed was curled up, covered with several blankets, wrapped tightly, with only a few strands of hair visible.
“Hey?”
Ji Nian called out twice more, walked in, and patted Qin Xiao, who was wrapped up like a cocoon, on the bed. “Wake up.”
The cocoon stirred slightly, slowly raising its head; its cheeks were flushed red, like a tomato.
“Cough, cough, cough…”
He coughed several times, his voice hoarse. “What? Is it morning? Is it time to eat? I’m not hungry; you eat first.”
Despite being covered with so many blankets, he wasn’t sweating at all; his lips were dry, clearly feverish.
Ji Nian frowned, turned around, and went outside, standing in front of the barrels of water in a daze.
Then he went to the kitchen, took out the kettle, and poured some water into it.
He went back into the kitchen, picked up a knife and came out, wandering around the room, unable to find where Qin Xiao had gotten the small pieces of wood for the fire.
But there was a small wooden stool in the kitchen.
He chopped up the stool with a “crack, crack,” took out a lighter, and started a fire.
He had seen Qin Xiao start a fire; he used a lighter to light paper, and then the paper lit the wood.
Despite the same method, the same recipe, Ji Nian tried for over an hour and failed.
The smell of burning paper made him cry and cough incessantly.
Cough! Cough, cough!
His patience was gone. Ji Nian kicked the blackened stool and went to the window.
After blowing in the wind and looking at the zombies downstairs for a while, he went back and continued to start a fire.
By the time Ji Nian had a fire going and boiled the water, it was three hours later, when he brought it to Qin Xiao.
“Wake up.”
He simply used a bowl to serve the hot water and brought it to Qin Xiao.
Qin Xiao felt a splitting headache, weakly sat up, leaned against the headboard, and reached for the bowl; his hand was barely able to lift it.
“Feed me…”
“I feel so bad…”
“Feed me, okay…”
Ji Nian almost walked away.
But it was his partner. Seeing him leaning there, looking half-dead, Ji Nian suppressed the urge to pour the hot water directly into his mouth and brought it to his lips.
“Hot…”
Who knew this half-dead guy would be so troublesome.
“Blow on it for me…”
“It’s still a little hot…”
“Add some cold water…”
“It’s still hot…”
“Are you going to drink it or not? If not, I’m leaving!”
Ji Nian said, putting the bowl on the bedside table.
“Drink…”
“Don’t be so angry; you haven’t eaten dynamite. Change your attitude; otherwise, you won’t find a girlfriend…”
Apocalypse? What the hell is a girlfriend?!
Ji Nian put the remaining hot water into a thermos to keep it warm.
They usually drank bottled water, cold.
Qin Xiao had a fever and they couldn’t find any medicine; the only way was the common saying—drink plenty of hot water.
After drinking the hot water, Qin Xiao felt much better; covered with several blankets, he began to sweat.
The next day, the fever subsided, becoming less intense, turning into a low-grade fever. The low-grade fever didn’t stop Qin Xiao’s restless nature.
“Um, thank you for boiling water for me yesterday.”
“But where did you get the wood?”
“Bro, to thank you for being so concerned about me, helping me, caring for me, taking care of me, from today on, you’re the most important person in this world to me. If you need anything, just say it, bro…”
“Shut up first.”
“Roar… ho ho…”
A commotion suddenly came from the window; the zombies downstairs were all running towards one place.
“What happened?”
Hearing the sound, Qin Xiao got up and went over. Ji Nian thought it was another person without food running out, provoking the zombies’ hunger.
But he heard Qin Xiao exclaim, “Whoa!”
“Come quickly!”
Ji Nian looked at him, got up and went over, and the next moment his eyes widened in shock.
He saw hundreds of zombies downstairs running towards a central point, dragging their broken bodies, stumbling, bumping into each other, occasionally falling down in large numbers.
The thing at the center point was dodging the zombies; it was completely black, nimbly jumping up and down.
The zombies tightened their encirclement, and the thing nimbly jumped onto the zombies’ shoulders, lightly stepping on their heads and raised arms, running forward.
It was steady, but also frantic.
Its fur was on end, puffing up its already emaciated body, trying to look imposing.