Apocalypse: I Can See Health Bars

Chapter 155: Chapter 154: The Gunsmoke Settles, the Cooking Smoke Rises

"Sister Qing! There’s news! It’s Brother Lin!"

Chu Zhaotian waved the walkie-talkie in his hand, running toward Su Qing, who was standing at the edge of the building.

After the three of them went up to the roof, Su Qing had been standing there the whole time, gazing at the southern sky.

She had watched it turn from orange-yellow to its current dark red.

Meanwhile, Chu Zhaotian and Xu Qian had been using the walkie-talkie, calling for Lin Fan and Chu Zhaozhao every few minutes.

It wasn’t until just now that they heard a response.

"Zhaozhao is with me. Don’t say anything important over the walkie. I’ll be back in a bit. Just letting you know we’re safe..."

Just as Chu Zhaotian handed the walkie-talkie to Su Qing, Lin Fan’s voice crackled out in a rapid-fire burst.

"Oh... okay..."

Although Su Qing didn’t know what had happened, she could hear the caution in Lin Fan’s voice, so she didn’t say anything more.

She didn’t turn around. She just closed her eyes and privately absorbed the wave of relief that rose from the bottom of her heart, making her legs feel a little weak.

’As long as he’s back, that’s all that matters.’

...

"Big Bro, look..."

Chu Zhaozhao said, pointing at the brightly lit gas station across the road.

"All these people are here. So many cars, so many people..."

Ever since discovering that the little girl’s walkie-talkie seemed capable of scanning civilian channels, Lin Fan had become more cautious about the information he transmitted.

Putting the walkie-talkie back in his pocket, Lin Fan carefully looked across the road.

The gas station’s lights were all on, making the large words "Tianshui Road Gas Station" especially conspicuous in the darkness.

Shadowy figures were moving back and forth inside the gas station, while a few people stood sentry at the edge of the road.

But most were wearing civilian clothes, with only a tactical vest and utility belt worn over them.

"Looks like neither that little girl nor Zhang Wenyuan told us everything..." Lin Fan whispered. The two of them were lying prone on the roof of a storefront across the road, watching the main armed personnel move about in the gas station.

"What didn’t they tell us?" Chu Zhaozhao asked, confused.

"It’s nothing. Let’s go. They won’t dare to move at night. I’m guessing they’ll have to scavenge for supplies at dawn before they can leave... Let’s head back first."

The vehicles and people in the gas station were all arranged in a tight, inward-facing formation, and the people in the buses and trucks hadn’t even gotten out.

If they weren’t planning to leave right after refueling, then they were obviously planning to spend the night here and wait for dawn.

Lin Fan estimated that he and Chu Zhaozhao would get back much faster than Ye Qingniao, let alone those two veterans.

He just had a feeling that the demeanor of the sentries outside was different from Zhang Wenyuan and his companion. Their clothing was different, too. It seemed their group wasn’t as simple as they’d claimed—not just an escort team...

The gas station’s lights illuminated the street, so to avoid trouble, Lin Fan took a detour behind the building.

Three or four kilometers later, in less than five minutes, the two of them appeared at the entrance of their neighborhood alley.

The moment they appeared, a smell completely different from the one outside the alley washed over them.

It was no longer the nauseating stench of scorching and blood, but the faint aroma of food.

A few camping lanterns were hung over the supermarket entrance and on top of nearby ground-floor balconies.

Under the lights, women in small groups were rolling out prepared dough into flatbreads, then taking the cooked ones out of the pan, letting them cool, and packing them into boxes.

The others were moving case after case of supplies onto a bus parked in the middle of the street.

As the two of them walked further in, the hubbub of people talking in low voices and the clinking and clanking of tools and spatulas reached them.

"Brother Lin is back!"

The two men standing guard with spears in the distance saw the approaching pair, flashed a light on them, and upon recognizing who it was, quickly lowered the beam and shouted excitedly to those behind them.

"Brother Lin! Miss Zhaozhao, are you two okay? We couldn’t reach you. You had us worried sick!"

Liu Bin, who was directing people under the lights, heard the shout and quickly emerged from the crowd to greet them.

"Miss Su and the two young guys climbed up to the roof to get a better signal..."

"Lin Fan!"

Before he could finish speaking, Su Qing’s voice came from behind him.

Lin Fan looked toward the voice and saw Su Qing jogging through the crowd toward him.

She stopped about a step away from Lin Fan, her gaze quickly scanning him over. Her brow furrowed slightly when her eyes landed on his cartoon duck jacket, but they ultimately settled on his face.

"You... As long as you’re back..."

As she spoke, she took a small step forward, moved to Lin Fan’s side, and hugged his arm to her chest.

The warmth and softness, mixed with Su Qing’s unique scent, instantly traveled up his arm, enveloping and melting away the lingering smell of gunpowder and blood on Lin Fan.

She whispered in Lin Fan’s ear, "You’re hurt again, aren’t you? Otherwise, you wouldn’t have changed your clothes..."

Lin Fan turned his head to look at the woman who was so concerned about him.

She was still wearing the same clothes she had on when Lin Fan left, but her hair was a little messy. In her eyes, beyond the concern, was a deep exhaustion and relief.

He reached out and gently stroked the hands holding his arm, comforting her in a soft voice:

"It’s nothing, just a minor injury..."

"I brought Big Bro back!"

Chu Zhaozhao, standing nearby, finally found a chance to interject. She puffed out her chest as if seeking credit, her face filled with pride.

Seeing that Lin Fan was full of energy and seemed truly fine, Su Qing released his arm. She turned to Chu Zhaozhao, who had sidled up, and began to straighten her hair, which was as messy as a bird’s nest after being blasted by fire and tossed about.

"You’ve worked hard too! You must be exhausted. It’s good that you’re back..."

At some point, the surrounding survivors had stopped their work and were all quietly watching.

In their eyes was awe and curiosity, but more than that, it was a heartfelt sense of security upon seeing Lin Fan.

In this post-apocalyptic safe haven, the sight of Lin Fan was their greatest assurance of a peaceful night’s sleep.

"Alright, don’t just stand around crowding me..." Lin Fan said, clapping his hands.

"Sister Qing, you all go back to the clinic or upstairs to rest first. Zhaozhao, you go with them... Go on."

"Mm... Okay."

Su Qing knew Lin Fan had things to discuss with Liu Bin and the others, so she reluctantly let Chu Zhaozhao pull her toward the clinic. They hadn’t gone far when Chu Zhaozhao’s voice drifted back:

"Whoa, Sister Qing, let me tell you, that fire over there was huge! It was so hot I couldn’t even get close. I hadn’t even reached the closest point when I took out the walkie-talkie..."

After sending them off and letting Chu Zhaozhao go chatter with the others, Lin Fan gestured for Liu Bin and Wang Yuanhua, who had just approached, to walk with him toward the light of the supermarket entrance.

As soon as he reached the supermarket, the aroma from the large woks made Lin Fan’s mouth water.

"You guys carry on, I’m going to rest for a bit..." he said, grabbing a large flatbread from a nearby box and sitting down on a stool to eat.

"We have meat, we have meat..."

Seeing how famished Lin Fan was, Liu Bin quickly called out to a woman making flatbreads, pointed, and said, "Sister Qiao, get Brother Lin a bowl of meat."

Lin Fan, who had only been a little hungry at first, found himself getting hungrier the more he ate. He simply couldn’t stop.

If the survivors hadn’t already witnessed Wang Yuanhua’s appetite, they would have been dumbfounded by the way he was eating.

Even so, when they saw Lin Fan eating his tenth flatbread, the few women in charge of cooking still muttered under their breaths, "My god, these superhumans can really eat..."

They couldn’t quite understand it. Wang Yuanhua was one thing—he was built like a bear—but how could the normal-looking Doctor Lin eat even more than him?

It wasn’t until he had eaten fourteen flatbreads, three bowls of meat, and chugged several sugary drinks that he finally felt somewhat full.

"Brother Lin, how is it? There’s more. We don’t have any delicacies, but we have plenty of flatbread..." Liu Bin said quickly. He didn’t know what had happened, and seeing Lin Fan stop, he was afraid he wasn’t full or was too embarrassed to eat more.

"That’s about enough. I used up a lot of energy, but it’s fine..."

Despite his words, Lin Fan keenly sensed that this craving was different from normal hunger. It was deeper, more fundamental.

’I’ve never felt like this after a fight before. But this was probably the first time I’ve used four intermediate-grade potions at once, on top of healing from my injuries and the constant drain on my Energy Value.’

’Although my remaining Life Value is well above the safe threshold, the toll on my stamina was far greater than ever before.’

’The potions just activate or enhance abilities; they’re definitely not a free lunch.’

’Stimulating a physique with two or even three thousand Life Value from a base of one thousand... if that isn’t harmful to the body itself, then the stamina drain must be immense.’

’I just don’t know what these potions from ability drops are made of. The scientist in me is itching to find out. I should analyze them when I get the chance and the equipment.’

"Where’d you get the bus? You guys are pretty resourceful..."