Apocalypse: I Can See Health Bars

Chapter 157: Chapter 156: The True General Staff Headquarters

"No, what do you mean ’you’re scared’?"

Lin Fan stared wide-eyed at Chu Zhaozhao, who was standing in his living room in her pajamas, and said speechlessly,

"You can kill a cow with one punch now. What the hell are you scared of...?"

"I don’t care! I saw so many zombies today! I’m definitely going to have nightmares! I’m scared!"

Chu Zhaozhao huffed, hiding behind Su Qing with her pillow and pointing at the spare bedroom Su Qing originally used.

"Sister Qing, you two can sleep in that room. I want to sleep in this one!"

"Go sleep with your brother!"

"My brother only has one room!"

"Oh, little brother, if Zhaozhao is scared, just let her sleep here. This room is empty anyway..."

Su Qing said comfortingly, gently stroking Chu Zhaozhao’s hair...

After the meeting downstairs ended, Lin Fan gave a few more instructions before sending everyone back to their rooms to sleep.

Those who stayed had eaten at Liu Bin’s place, and Chu Zhaozhao had a big meal when she got back too.

Spanning two days and two nights, from yesterday afternoon until tonight, everyone was exhausted. Although they’d rested for a while at noon, they hadn’t gotten any proper sleep.

It was crucial to seize this time to rest. Once dawn broke, there was no telling what awaited them.

He had just been about to wash up and have some quality time with Su Qing, but then Chu Zhaozhao insisted she was scared to sleep alone and had to barge into Room 301.

"You!"

Lin Fan gritted his teeth, looking at her, then at Su Qing.

"Go on, just spoil her!"

With that, he turned and went into the bathroom.

"Pfft!"

Chu Zhaozhao made a face at Lin Fan, then hugged Su Qing tightly, rubbing against her energetically.

"Sister Qing, I’m scared. Can you sleep with me tonight...?"

"Mmm..." Su Qing looked at Chu Zhaozhao’s big, watery eyes and pleading expression, unable to refuse.

"Alright. You go to sleep first. I’m going to help your big brother wash his back, then I’ll come find you."

"Okay! Sister Qing, you’re the best! I haven’t bathed yet. Can you help me wash up later too...? Mwah!"

After saying that, Chu Zhaozhao kissed Su Qing on the cheek and happily dove into the spare bedroom with her pillow.

Su Qing watched Chu Zhaozhao’s retreating back, shaking her head with a helpless, amused smile. She went to the kitchen, poured hot water into a basin, and put more on to boil.

Then, carrying the basin of hot water, she walked to the bathroom door and knocked.

The moment Lin Fan opened the door, he saw Su Qing walk in carrying a basin of hot water.

"I’m almost done washing up... Just let her stay. It’s not easy for the little girl..."

Although Lin Fan bickered with Chu Zhaozhao, the thought that she was just a nineteen-year-old girl made him decide to let her have her way.

Since returning from the gas station, she had been drunk the first night and unconscious the second. This was her first proper night’s sleep, so it was understandable that she’d be scared to sleep alone.

"Yeah... she asked me to sleep with her later. The poor thing..."

Hearing Lin Fan say this, Su Qing’s eyes narrowed into slits as she spoke gently.

"What! She’s gone too far..."

Lin Fan was about to open the door and demand an explanation from Chu Zhaozhao, but Su Qing grabbed his "vital point," forcing him to give up.

"Alright now... What did you two do? The way Zhaozhao looks at you has changed..."

Su Qing asked gently, secretly applying a bit more pressure.

"Heh heh, we didn’t do anything. It’s, uh, you know, she admires me!"

Lin Fan said with an awkward laugh.

"It’s not that far off. She’s trying to understand you."

Su Qing shifted her position and tilted her head as she spoke.

"Hiss... easy there. Who knows with that little brat? What’s there to change or not change..."

As he spoke, Lin Fan pulled Su Qing into his arms and kissed her.

"Mmm, my clothes are dirty..."

"They’re not."

...

At some point, Chu Zhaozhao had come out of her room. She was lying on her side on the living room sofa, staring blankly at the bathroom door.

Listening to the sounds of their playful struggle from inside, she tormented the throw pillow in her arms.

’Who’s a little brat! Hmph!’

...

「Meanwhile, at the Tianshui Road gas station.」

An armed soldier stood guard at the entrance to the main hall, preventing anyone from approaching.

Inside, a green military tent had been set up.

"What do you mean, ’they should be dead’?"

Zhao Cheng, now the supreme leader of the convoy, stood in the tent with a displeased expression, questioning the two armed soldiers before him.

"Well... Brother Zhao, the two of us didn’t dare get too close. We just slashed their tires, then shot out their windows from a distance to attract a wave of zombies. I saw one of them get bitten with my own eyes..."

one of them said in a low voice.

"Two of them! Both of them got bitten!"

The other man quickly added.

"Later, that little girl came back, and we left as soon as we saw her... Brother Zhao, why didn’t you let us take care of that little girl too...?"

He said, drawing a hand across his neck.

"That little girl just got back, on foot. The one surnamed Wang and the other guy didn’t return, so they’re probably done for, hehe... Let’s just finish them off, ditch the bus, and head straight for the quarantine zone. Get rid of the dead weight..."

"The two women and the researchers can’t be killed, and we can’t ditch the bus. Think bigger. What we want isn’t just a few broken-down vehicles..."

Zhao Cheng nodded, his eyes drifting toward the gap in the tent’s flap, toward the armored vehicle parked under the lights.

"Once we get them to the quarantine zone, our men will have become an elite force. Only then will we have bargaining power. If we go by ourselves now, we’ll just be cannon fodder when we get there!"

He said this, then suddenly smiled at one of the men before him.

"Don’t you want to earn yourself a military rank, huh? Colonel Li?"

"Aiyo, Brother Zhao... no, General Zhao... hehe. As long as we find a chance to get rid of those few soldiers, what trouble can those two broads and the researchers cause..."

The scrawny man addressed as ’Colonel Li’ mirrored the smile and agreed. Then, as if remembering something, his eyes flicked upward and he asked with a wicked grin,

"Before, the one surnamed Zhou wouldn’t let us interact with the people on the bus. There are some pretty babes on there, so we..."

"Colonel Li, look at you. So impatient. What’s the rush..."

The other man standing nearby, seeing the atmosphere finally loosen up, relaxed as well and started joking with the man beside him.

"Colonel Xu is right... Colonel Li, what’s the rush?"

Zhao Cheng patted the man’s shoulder earnestly. Seeing his expression freeze, Zhao Cheng suddenly changed his tune.

"They haven’t had a full meal in days. Tomorrow, we’ll get some food. Won’t you be able to take your pick then? Huh? Haha... We’re in charge now. We’ll rest here for a day before moving out!"

"Oh, right. While you were out, the walkie-talkie crackled a few times. There are survivors nearby. When they see our ’troops,’ they’ll have to fall in line, hehe..."

For a moment, the tent was filled with cheerful laughter.

Phrases like "heroes are born in chaotic times," "oath of the peach garden," "the times have changed," and "we’re the house now" drifted out, mixing with the ash blowing in from the distance and dissipating into the night sky...

...

At the edge of the gas station’s bright lights, the off-road truck assigned to the research personnel was parked half in the light and half in the shadows.

A soldier in fatigues and a tactical vest faced off against a fully-armed soldier near the truck, their guns trained on each other from a distance of several dozen meters.

Both sides had received orders from their superiors to only stand guard and not engage, and they seemed to be maintaining a kind of tacit understanding.

And in the shadows behind the truck, several people slipped under the tarpaulin covering the truck bed.

"What do you mean ’an old friend of mine’ saved Wang Zhong?"

Ye Qingzhou looked at Ye Qingniao, then at the unconscious Wang Zhong lying before them, her eyes full of confusion.

"Uncle Zhang, what exactly happened?"

Ye Qingniao, in turn, looked at Zhang Wenyuan, even more puzzled.

"I hung up the walkie-talkie earlier and went back to find you because I felt something was off. I can’t believe you were hurt and didn’t even tell me!"

"Hey, I just didn’t want you to worry. Besides, Wang Zhong is fine now..."

Zhang Wenyuan said, panting.

"Qingzhou, you don’t know him? Then why did he save us?"

He had originally planned to wait in that room until dawn, but not long after Lin Fan left, Cyan Bird’s voice came over the walkie-talkie again.

He also felt that Ye Qingzhou needed to know what had happened, so he met up with Cyan Bird. The two of them took turns carrying Wang Zhong all the way back.

When they got closer, Cyan Bird contacted other teammates for support, which allowed them to evade the patrols and bring Wang Zhong inside.

"Cyan Bird?"

Ye Qingzhou shone a flashlight on the wound on Wang Zhong’s arm, looking gravely at Ye Qingniao.

Ye Qingniao, however, seriously placed her hand on Wang Zhong’s forehead. After a moment, she said:

"I confirmed it when I first reached them, and I just confirmed it again. It’s the feeling of an Awakened One, but very weak. He needs time..."

She could distinguish the bio-electricity within a human body. With experience, she could naturally tell the difference between an ordinary person and an Awakened One.

"Describe everything that happened from beginning to end. The rest of you, listen up..."

Ye Qingzhou said seriously, looking at Zhang Wenyuan.

Except for the man standing guard below the truck, the other three Jishan veterans were present, and they all turned to look at Zhang Wenyuan.

They had been with Ye Qingniao for a long time and were well aware of the power and advantages of an Awakened One. Now that their captain might also become one, they didn’t want to miss a single detail...

...

’So that crystal is the key...’

Ye Qingzhou thought, coming to a sudden realization after hearing Zhang Wenyuan’s account.

It was just that those crystals were extremely rare. Even on the rare occasion they killed a Mutated Zombie, it was either with explosives or in the middle of a horde, leaving no chance for retrieval.

Not to mention, the round-type crystal Zhang Wenyuan described would evaporate, disappearing completely in just two to three days. Back in the quarantine zone, they had tried every method possible but couldn’t preserve them.

As for the few non-evaporating polygonal crystals they had, they had all been given to Cyan Bird to eat before they set out, to enhance her power.

"Advisor Hu, run a profile on that Lin Fan. Be thorough. This person is extremely important!"

Ye Qingzhou said, her mind rapidly processing the new information. She tilted her head up toward a man of about thirty sitting to the side.

Analyzing people wasn’t her forte, but she happened to have someone by her side who excelled at it.

This man was also one of the veterans, and his epaulets showed he held the same rank as Wang Zhong: major.

"Zhang, I need you to recount everything that man said to you, everything the girl said, and any actions you found strange or distinctive..."

After speaking, Advisor Hu composed himself and skillfully took a PDA and stylus from his bag, preparing to take notes.

"Uh..."

Zhang Wenyuan, clearly not working with him for the first time, sank into thought after he finished, beginning to recall every detail starting from when the man knocked on the window.

"The girl called him ’Big Brother’..."

Through Zhang Wenyuan’s detailed account, Ye Qingniao also realized that the two voices from the walkie-talkie earlier belonged to those two people.

She would occasionally add a comment, helping to complete the picture.

Meanwhile, Ye Qingzhou took out her own PDA. Looking at the profile on Zhao Cheng that Advisor Hu Chen had sent her earlier, she rubbed her forehead and fell deep in thought.