Seducing and Flirting with Boss O While Stockpiling in the Apocalypse (GL) - Chapter 54

“Realgar powder?” Nan Chu moved her injured arm slightly, thinking for a moment. “I doubt we have any. Who would specifically buy that stuff when stockpiling medicine?”

Luo Sheng leaned back in her chair with a look of disappointment. She had pulled Nan Chu aside specifically to ask about insect and snake repellents. Now that a python had actively attacked the house, it was likely that other mutated animals might follow.

These virus-infected animals most likely locked onto locations based on the scent of living humans. After all, their household was the only one left in the vicinity with so many people living together.

Of course, Luo Sheng didn’t know if common repellents would work on mutated creatures. This old building was somewhat fragile, and with the water level so high, the broken window—currently patched with cloth and paper—might not be the only point of entry. It was only a matter of time before something tried to break down the door.

Furthermore, animal attacks were often more agile and stealthy than human zombies. As Luo Sheng thought this, the image of the birds she had seen through the binoculars—tearing at rotting flesh—flashed through her mind, adding to her sense of impending crisis.

Luo Xiaoli happened to overhear the conversation. She had just finished cleaning the kitchen, where she had sewn a thick piece of cloth over the broken window to block the draft.

“Back in the old village, I used to grind garlic and chili into a powder and sprinkle it along the doorway to keep snakes and rats away. It worked quite well,” Luo Xiaoli said as she walked in, glancing at Nan Chu’s wound. “Sigh, things are getting worse and worse. I’m truly worried about you girls getting hurt!”

“It’s okay, Auntie, just a small scratch,” Nan Chu smiled. However, Luo Xiaoli’s mention of garlic sparked a memory. “Garlic… I actually bought some garlic extract softgels for immunity and colds. That stuff has a certain repellent effect. I also stockpiled some mugwort for foot soaks that I haven’t used in a while.”

Luo Sheng patted her mother’s shoulder. “Alright, let’s mix that into water and spray it on the walls. As for the mugwort, we’ll burn it at night to send some smoke out. I don’t know if it’ll work, but it’s better than doing nothing, if only for peace of mind.”

At dawn, Tao Zhihe’s group set off immediately. They didn’t dare stop for a moment; despite their exhaustion, they rowed their inflatable rafts forward at top speed.

The thin ice on the water was sliced open by their oars. While rocks and trees blocked their path, the most common obstacles now were corpses. Fragments of human remains drifted by occasionally, a sight that made their skin crawl in the dim light.

Progress was slow against the wind. Even Tao Zhihe took a turn at the oars. The temperature was so low that many people’s hands turned red and purple from the cold. After rowing for about three or four hours, the group was reaching its limit.

Exhausted from the lack of sleep and the previous night’s terror, and having not even eaten breakfast, their stamina was failing. Tao Zhihe looked around and saw only shorter, ten-story buildings that were almost entirely submerged.

She had no choice but to order them to keep rowing until she spotted a twelve-story building in the distance. Even if the lower floors were flooded, it was better than nothing. She decided they would take shelter there to escape the wind and eat.

The rafts reached the building quickly, stopping at the eleventh-floor level, making it easy for them to climb inside. As expected, the floors were damp, but the sofas and tables were still usable.

They collapsed onto the furniture, resting for a long while before pulling out bread to gnaw on. It was dry and hard to swallow; Lin Fu had to wash it down with a bottle of mineral water from her bag.

At this point, having any food at all was a blessing, so no one complained. Everyone just wanted to reach the shelter. Tao Zhihe leaned back on the sofa and dozed for a bit, feeling much more refreshed after her brain got a brief rest.

By the time they finished resting, it was nearly three in the afternoon. Tao Zhihe rubbed her temples and urged the group to get back on the road. The temperature had warmed up slightly compared to the morning.

With food in their bellies and a bit of rest, the group rowed with renewed vigor, hoping to cover as much ground as possible before dark. Lin Fu looked into the distance as she rowed; the route was starting to feel increasingly familiar, though they were likely still some distance from District B. She remained silent and kept rowing.

However, Tao Zhihe noticed the water’s surface was becoming strange. Why was the current ahead so turbulent? It was swirling around a center point, forming a small vortex.

The vortex seemed to be growing, drifting rapidly toward their rafts.

She looked closer and saw a mass of dark shapes swarming beneath the surface. A school of fish…?

Sensing danger, Tao Zhihe shouted to the group, “Watch out!”

She grabbed her long knife and slashed hard into the water, skewering two fish at once. She held the knife up, watching the two impaled fish thrash their tails frantically. Their eyes glowed with a faint green light, and their mouths were filled with sharp, tiny teeth.

She flicked her wrist in horror, throwing the fish back into the water. “What on earth are these things?!”

Panic flashed across Tao Zhihe’s face as she met Lin Fu’s equally grim expression. Lin Fu used her rod to beat back the fish swarming around the raft, her voice urgent. “Could the fish in the water have mutated too?”

Tao Zhihe’s heart skipped a beat. She remembered the strange green glow in the giant dog’s eyes from the night before; it was identical to the eyes of these fish. It seemed the fish had also consumed mutated carrion and become infected.

These were no ordinary fish. This meant that if they were bitten by those sharp teeth, they too would be infected. The thought terrified Tao Zhihe.

At this moment, these creatures were even scarier than a horde of zombies. On land, they could at least fight back with a chance of survival, but if the boat flipped and they fell into the water, it would be a near-certain death sentence.

Several fish even leapt out of the water, launching themselves at the boat in a suicidal frenzy. For every fish that jumped, Lin Fu struck it back with her rod, but there were too many to clear. The group was trapped and panicked.

Despite their intense focus, the mutated fish found an opening. A man with a buzz cut at the back was bitten on the neck by a fish that had jumped aboard. He threw the fish off, but the pain hit him instantly. Shaking, he clutched his bleeding neck, his face a mask of agony.

Before he could even process his terror, Tao Zhihe kicked him into the water to feed the fish without a moment’s hesitation. A bitten person meant a future zombie; he was a liability she had to cut loose immediately.

The school of fish swarmed the falling man, tearing chunks of flesh from his body with their sharp teeth. The man thrashed and screamed, but it was useless. That patch of water turned into a boiling cauldron of bubbles and blood, turning a deep scarlet within seconds.

Lin Fu swallowed hard and urged Tao Zhihe to move. Stunned, Tao Zhihe snapped out of it after a few seconds and nodded. She immediately directed the group to take advantage of the distraction. They rowed with every ounce of strength they possessed, fleeing the area in terror of being overtaken by the swarm.

After an unknown amount of time, as the sky grew dark, Lin Fu panted heavily, leaning against the raft like a deflated ball. She lifted her head, soaked in sweat, and suddenly saw several familiar buildings. This… this looked like the residential area where Luo Sheng lived, the place she had secretly followed her to?

A hint of excitement and joy sparked in Lin Fu’s eyes. It seemed they had reached District B.

“Cough—cough—”

Qiao Bai pinched her nose, feeling like she was about to pass out from the mugwort smoke. She didn’t know if it would keep the snakes away, but she felt like it was going to do her in first.

But there was no other way. Luo Sheng could only hope these methods were effective. While they might work on normal snakes, she had no certainty they would stop a mutated python.

Having finished the mugwort smoke and sprayed the garlic water, Luo Sheng slumped onto the sofa, exhausted. Liu Lin stepped forward, intending to wipe her sweat as she had before, but Nan Shuwan beat her to it. She was already touching a warm towel to Luo Sheng’s forehead.

Unlike her polite refusal with Liu Lin, Luo Sheng obediently tilted her head up, allowing Nan Shuwan to help her. The scene made Liu Lin feel a pang of bitterness, and she seemed to realize something. Her eyes dimmed, and she turned to head into the kitchen to serve the food.

After a simple dinner and washing up, everyone went to bed. Luo Sheng lay in the mezzanine, staring at the glass canopy. She couldn’t sleep; there were no stars, only dark clouds. Her mind was a mess as she pondered their next move and where else they could go…

As she thought, she noticed something was wrong. Why did the “clouds” tonight look like they were drooping so low, almost touching the glass?

Am I so exhausted that my eyes are playing tricks on me?

Luo Sheng bolted upright, staring intensely at the glass canopy. Then her pupils dilated, and her breathing became rapid and shallow.

Those weren’t clouds. It was a massive swarm of black birds flying toward the glass, and before Luo Sheng’s disbelieving eyes, they began to attack the canopy en masse, slamming into it again and again.