Chapter 35

A moment later, Lin Yuxuan led An Le out of the restroom.

Xiang Tiange pointed upstairs. “Su Xinge is up there.”

Lin Yuxuan stopped in the hall and said, “Got it. An Le and I will sleep in the second-floor hall today. It’ll be easier to look after each other, and Ye Hai won’t have to keep watch—it’s no good for him to keep losing sleep.”

Ye Hai nodded. “My thoughts exactly.”

Xiang Tiange waved them off. “That works. You guys head up; I’ve already put the medical kit on the table. I’ll come up to rest later.”

As Lin Yuxuan led An Le upstairs, she felt more and more that Xiang Tiange was acting strange. In fact, since her rebirth, everyone who used to be her enemy had become odd—even her own awakening this time was mysterious and baffling.

Lin Yuxuan narrowed her eyes, stealing a glance at An Le, who was following her obediently. She wondered if her sudden awakening had anything to do with this little girl.

Once on the second floor, Lin Yuxuan opened the door. Su Xinge was already lying face-down on the bed. Lin Yuxuan picked up the medical kit, walked to the bedside, and asked, “How are you feeling? Still hurts?”

“It hurts,” Su Xinge said, turning her head toward Lin Yuxuan. “I don’t know if I bumped the wound while washing up, but it feels a bit painful and itchy.”

Lin Yuxuan sat on the edge of the bed. As she exposed the wound, she couldn’t help but gasp. “Why ​read the original at bailiantales.com​has your wound turned black?”

Su Xinge looked puzzled. “Really? I thought I washed it clean.”

Lin Yuxuan picked up a cotton swab and leaned in. “That’s just your feeling. Let’s hope it’s not some other problem.”

“Ngh…” Su Xinge let out a soft hum. The contact was both painful and itchy. The other woman felt as if she were cleaning the wound while simultaneously soothing Su Xinge’s exhaustion.

Su Xinge gradually grew accustomed to it, eventually settling into quiet enjoyment. Her body felt as if it were surrounded by soft cotton.

Lin Yuxuan finished cleaning the wound and stopped. “Half the wound is improving; it’s already starting to scab. But the other half is still quite red.”

She felt relieved. An Awakened’s recovery speed was indeed formidable, but no matter how strong the body, it couldn’t withstand repeated ordeals—especially in such filthy water. Fortunately, the other half was only slightly red.

However, when away from home, an injury was a small matter compared to the series of problems it could trigger—like the wound reopening during a fight, the scent of blood attracting more monsters, or the risk of infection and fever.

In the time before Lin Yuxuan had awakened, no one had ever treated her the way Su Xinge did. Even An Le’s mother had only shared food within her means. Su Xinge’s actions clearly exceeded “being nice”; they were greater than the kindness of everyone else combined in the brief time since the disaster began.

After awakening, kindness was a different matter; her own strength meant she didn’t need others to be good to her. Even if they were, she knew they only sought the protection of her status as an Awakened.

Su Xinge had been enjoying the sensation, but when she felt the person behind her stop, she asked, “Why did ​unauthorized copy​you stop? Is it very serious?”

Lin Yuxuan suppressed her strange thoughts and replied, “It’s alright. I expect it’ll be fully healed in a few days.”

Su Xinge relaxed her muscles again. “As long as it’s not exceptionally serious.”

Lin Yuxuan gave a soft hum in response.

Su Xinge added, “Once you’re done with the medicine, get some rest with An Le. If anything happens, come find me immediately.”

Lin Yuxuan finished applying the ointment and picked up the bandages. “Got it.” This person is covered in her own problems, yet she’s still worrying about everyone else. I have no idea what she’s thinking.

Lin Yuxuan worked hard to keep her gaze fixed only on the wound. Using her previous experience, she wrapped the bandages efficiently. She withdrew her hands and said, “There. Rest up. There shouldn’t be any major issues now.”

Su Xinge said sincerely, “Thank you. I keep troubling you to help me with the medicine.”

Lin Yuxuan packed the kit and stood up. “No need for thanks.” She truly couldn’t connect the “evil” Su Xinge with the person before her who constantly had “thank you” on her lips. They had the same face, but it felt as if two different souls had been forced into it. Besides, as far as she was concerned, she was the one who should be saying thank you in this life.

“Get some good rest,” Lin Yuxuan said, then turned and left the room.

The next morning, Su Xinge woke up with the rising sun.

It was a dreamless night, and the exhaustion of several consecutive days finally felt alleviated. Aside from some stiffness, every cell in her body felt renewed.

She moved her stiff limbs slowly. Once the numbness passed, she got out of bed, tidied up, and walked out. Concerned that Chen Rusheng might still be resting, she didn’t disturb her. She walked to the second-floor hall, but didn’t see Lin Yuxuan, so she headed straight downstairs.

In the first-floor hall, Zhang Tian and the others were leaning against the shelves, eating. Su Xinge walked down and, seeing everyone gathered, asked, “Why is everyone eating here today?”

Wang Qingyue said helplessly, “Those people we brought back yesterday are in the dining room. I didn’t feel like moving them back and forth, so we just decided to eat here.”

Su Xinge walked over to Lin Yuxuan and An Le. “You guys are up so early today?”

An Le looked up and replied, “It’s just that you got up too late.”

Lin Yuxuan used one hand to pat An Le’s head. “Just eat. You can have the other half of my biscuit in a bit.”

Ye Hai finished his food in a few bites and said, “I feel like things are a bit off outside. I’m going upstairs to take a look.”

Xiang Tiange, just finishing her meal, added, “I didn’t see anything unusual when I came down, but if you’re worried, I can go back up and look with you.”

Ye Hai nodded. “I only just noticed something was wrong.”

Su Xinge quickly made way for them. Her stomach was growling, and she didn’t want to care about “anomalies” right now; ever since she transmigrated, anomalies had been the only constant.

As Wang Qingyue ate, she remarked, “Having Ye Hai in your team is really a relief. You can hear everything outside without even leaving the house.”

Zhang Tian stopped eating and said, “That ability has pros and cons. If he hadn’t heard the commotion outside, we wouldn’t have gone out to meet those people, and Su Xinge might not have gotten hurt.”

No one responded. Su San and the other ordinary people didn’t dare comment on the abilities of the Awakened; they just ate in silence. Although Su San had been brought in by Zhang Tian, he didn’t want to offend the other Awakened—and who knew if Ye Hai would overhear him if he spoke?

Before long, the two came back down, their footsteps heavy. Su Xinge looked up. “What’s the situation?”

Ye Hai’s face was dark. “There are a lot of wandering zombies outside. It feels like the ones from the teaching buildings have come out again.”

Zhang Tian set down his food and turned to Wang Qingyue. “That’s not right. No one ran out to attract them in broad daylight. Why would they come out? Has this happened here before?”

Wang Qingyue shook her head. “Usually, there are only more zombies outside at night. The daytime situation is usually like when you first arrived.”

Su Xinge’s heart sank; she couldn’t help but consider the worst-case scenario.

Lin Yuxuan caught the crux of the matter and asked, “Are the ​Read on BaiLianTales​zombies moving in a pattern, or is it something else?”

Ye Hai shook his head. “The lack of a pattern is exactly why it’s weird. It doesn’t look like anything is drawing them.”

Su Xinge couldn’t help but speak up: “We might need to hurry up and leave this place.”

In the novel, different monsters had territorial instincts. The fact that zombies stayed in the buildings during the day had been proof of that. A large number of monsters had died in the lake yesterday, and today the zombies were wandering aimlessly—it was likely the “monster” in the lake that suppressed them was dead. Though the cause of the lake monsters’ deaths was unknown, the probability of the two being linked was high.

Zhang Tian was puzzled. “Why? Why the sudden rush to leave? We haven’t even finished scouting the passage.”

Ye Hai made up his mind and agreed. “This place can serve as a short-term shield, but if those zombies find a trace and surround us, it’ll be much harder to get out the longer we wait.” He had already been suspicious of yesterday’s events; with Su Xinge’s reminder and what he’d seen from upstairs, he immediately jumped to the worst possibility.

Wang Qingyue spoke up, “Is it really that serious? Can’t we wait a few more days? Our teacher isn’t fully recovered…”

Ye Hai thought for a moment. “If we’re lucky and make it back to the base, we can have Xiang Tiange’s cousin come pick you up. That might work, since our combat strength isn’t that high anyway.”

Suddenly, Chen Rusheng came walking down with her crutches. “If we’re going, let’s go early. There’s no need for anyone to ‘pick us up.'”

Xiang Tiange turned, surprised. “Teacher, why are you down here?”

Chen Rusheng steadied her pace and said, “I’m much better. I read the original at bailiantales.comcan even make it down the stairs now. Don’t worry about me; the sooner we get to a safe place, the better.”

Wang Qingyue said firmly, “We won’t leave you here alone.”

Chen Rusheng smiled. “What are you thinking? I’m going with you. What, you look down on someone with a leg injury?”

Wang Qingyue shook her head quickly. Xiang Tiange chimed in, “But it’s not safe for you out there like this.”

Chen Rusheng dropped her crutches and stood straight and firm. “Is this not safe enough?”