Chun Cao looked up, two streams of nosebleed flowing: “Could you at least pretend to catch me!”
But there were people all around the open ground, and after pondering back and forth, Zhou Rong could only discreetly reach out and gently ruffle his hair at the temple.
Si Nan swallowed the last bite of cookie, yawned, wrapped his coat tightly, and returned to the armored vehicle to take a nap.
The women were holding their children, preparing to breastfeed, gathering wood to make a fire, and carefully heating half a bottle of water to mix with milk powder. Si Nan leaned sideways on the side seat of the personnel compartment, gazing from afar at the half bottle of rich, warm milk, swallowing saliva, and suddenly feeling something hard in his arms.
He took it out and saw it was a Dove chocolate.
“Hey, chocolate!” Wu Xinyan, who was helping collect wood and tidy up breakfast, happened to pass by the vehicle and casually said, “Give it to me to eat!”
Si Nan stared at her.
A few seconds later, Si Nan put the chocolate back in his coat pocket and slowly said, “You’re a girl, you can’t eat too many sweets, you’ll get fat.”
Wu Xinyan: “………………”
Chun Cao and Dr. Zheng had also awakened. Chun Cao was starving and climbed down from the off-road vehicle to find something to eat. She saw a kind-hearted aunt preparing a patient’s meal for the half-conscious Yan Hao and immediately approached, drooling. But before she could reach out to steal a can, a sudden roar erupted behind her: “Lieutenant Yang Chun Cao! Get over here right now!”
Chun Cao trembled all over.
Zhou Rong had finished reorganizing and was about to settle accounts.
“Why didn’t you save the pregnant woman Wang Wen?” Zhou Rong asked.
Chun Cao stood at attention in front of him, head down, dejected. Dr. Zheng rubbed his hands, wanting to explain, but he was pushed back by Zhou Rong’s thunderous rebuke:
“Why didn’t you carry her on your back? Why was your retreat so slow?”
“You and Si Nan had two thousand five hundred rounds of ammunition, and Si Nan fired until the last round! Why didn’t you?”
“You still have eight hundred and sixty-four rounds left!”
Zhou Rong roared into Chun Cao’s ear. Everyone around the open ground was terrified and dared not speak.
Si Nan was awakened by the shouting and suddenly interjected coldly, “I was also there. I didn’t catch her then, so scold me too.”
“Can’t scold you!” Zhou Rong retorted: “You’re not my team member, you haven’t sworn an oath!”
“What can that pay do? Who here is risking their life for that military pay? Can Unit 118 even pay wages now?”
To everyone’s surprise, Si Nan began to argue, his usually taciturn self suddenly sharp-tongued.
Who will give me a gun, and I’ll go to the front market and rob exactly how much Lieutenant Yang Chun Cao earns in a month, and from then on she’ll risk her life for me. Deal?”
Zhou Rong: “…”
Chun Cao: “…”
Dr. Zheng was dumbfounded, and after a while, he mustered the courage to say weakly, “That… that…”
Dr. Zheng steeled himself to explain: “They both tried their best. There were really too many zombies, surrounded on all sides… It’s my fault for not holding her tight. She secretly jumped down, wanting us to run quickly…”
Many people looked sympathetic. The baby was awakened and began to cry loudly.
Dr. Zheng hunched his neck and sighed, “We’d really all be dead.”
The survivors gave Zhou Rong subtle, reproachful looks, implying “How could you be so unreasonable?” Zhou Rong had no choice.
“Are you admitting your mistake?!”
Chun Cao wilted, “I admit.”
Zhou Rong thought for a moment and added, “Go sit over there and don’t eat!”
Chun Cao walked dejectedly to the vehicle’s edge, sitting down, embarrassed, fingers rubbing the dirty hem of her deep green military dress.
Si Nan got off the vehicle wanting to grab a gun.
Guo Weixiang remembered this was the guy who single-handedly fought through a zombie tide and, afraid he might really rob food, hurriedly hugged his gun and ran more than ten meters away: “Stay calm, stay calm!”
Si Nan had no choice and said discontentedly, “I won’t eat either.” Then he walked back and sat down next to Chun Cao.
“…” Zhou Rong helplessly said, “My ancestor, you just ate, okay?”
Yan Hao, fed a few spoonfuls of hot soup, finally came to his senses. He had wanted to interrupt Zhou Rong’s scolding of Chun Cao and Si Nan earlier but couldn’t speak. Now finally able to speak, he covered his ribs and painfully coughed a few times, hoarsely saying, “Rong ge, Rong ge…”
Zhou Rong, still angry, turned to walk towards the other biochemical vehicle: “Awake? Are you okay?”
Before Chun Cao could say anything, Zhou Rong turned back: “What are you doing?”
“Cough cough cough!!” Yan Hao immediately burst into a loud cough – truly desperate. With several ribs already broken, this shake was excruciating, almost fainting from the pain.
Zhou Rong had to turn back to fulfill his duties as team leader: “Quick, bring warm water, tie this splint tightly on his chest…”
The aunt said lovingly, “My poor little girl…” signaling Chun Cao to eat quickly, then tiptoed away.
Chun Cao was starving and immediately began wolfing down an egg. Si Nan sat on the grass, helping her peel the other egg. Looking up, he glimpsed near the biochemical vehicle, Zhou Rong with his back turned, kneeling halfway, embracing Yan Hao’s head, calling others to boil water and disinfect bandages.
To an outsider, the posture did seem somewhat intimate.
For some reason, Si Nan’s mood was slightly low, and he turned away silently without a word.
“Still feeling down?” Guo Weixiang walked over from the other side of the grass with two water bottles, handing one to each of them, and laughed: “It’s okay. In front of so many people, since you didn’t rescue the pregnant woman, Brother Rong will definitely scold you. After scolding, it’ll be fine. He knows you both tried your best.”
Si Nan lazily remained silent.
“Brother Rong said those things because he actually feels guilty about you,” Guo Weixiang lowered his voice to persuade him: “You’re not a special forces member, you should be considered a protected civilian, but due to the circumstances, you had to be used like a suicide squad member. If something happens to you without any promotion or compensation, he actually feels sorry for you…”
Zheng would definitely notice something was wrong and explain something; but Chun Cao was a naive girl, her mouth full of eggs, nodding “mm-hmm” beside them.
“…Just shut up,” Si Nan finally couldn’t bear it, supporting his forehead and interrupting Xiang: “You don’t understand anything. You’re just a big rooster.”
He stood up, casually took out chocolate from his pocket and gave it to Guo Weixiang, saying: “Here for you two.”
Then Si Nan got into the car without looking back, curled his knees in the back seat corner, wrapped his coat tightly and closed his eyes.
At this moment, the slopes were overgrown with wild grass, the setting sun casting its glow, and the distant town seemed to melt into the golden water, with a golden-red vista stretching as far as the eye could see. Sinan was not one to speak up proactively. Dr. Zheng walked alongside, fixating on Yan Hao about using boiling water and being careful with disinfection. After a while, both fell silent, and Yan Hao let out a light cough.
“…Sinan.” “Hmm?” “Back then…” Yan Hao paused, his voice hoarse with complexity, “I think I heard you say that Yingjie survived too, but I was in a daze and didn’t hear clearly…” “I was lying to you,” Sinan said softly. Yan Hao sighed, “It’s okay.”
After a moment, he seemed to have struggled for a long time before asking in a dry voice, “Did you know from that time… from me that we were both Alphas?”
