Chapter 26

“Ah—”

“It hurts, Ling Qi, be gentler…”

“Mm… that’s enough, that’s enough. Ah… it hurts!”

Poor Yi Sheng was tidying up the medicine he had brought out, preparing the disinfectant, gauze, and oral anti-inflammatory medicine to prevent infection and fever that Mu Xiao would need once she came out to have her wound bandaged.

As a result, the sounds coming from the bathroom made him freeze. The more he listened, the redder his face became, and even his hands started trembling.

Why did those sounds make people’s imaginations run wild so easily?!

Wasn’t Mu Xiao supposed to be the brave, fearless type who gritted her teeth and endured the pain without making a sound even if it killed her?!

Finally, amid Yi Sheng’s restless unease, Mu Xiao and Ling Qi came out.

Mu Xiao was wearing a loose racerback tank top. The shoulder strap on the injured side was not worn properly. When she saw Yi Sheng holding the medicine, she felt a subtle awkwardness—although she knew Yi Sheng was a doctor and would be treating her wound next, she still could not forget that Yi Sheng was a man.

This was very awkward, okay!

In the end, Yi Sheng was even more awkward than Mu Xiao. Seeing the two of them come out, he raised his head and met Ling Qi’s [read the original at bailiantales.com]emotionless gaze. For some reason, he felt like he could no longer stay. He quickly laid out the items he had found.

“Ling Qi, use this to apply medicine to Mu Xiao’s wound. It’s about the same as rinsing the wound. If blood or fluid seeps out, just use gauze to press lightly and absorb it. Don’t wipe back and forth. This is the gauze for bandaging. After the wound is bandaged, just have Mu Xiao take this medicine!”

The more Yi Sheng spoke, the faster he became. After pointing out all these things, he ran out of the room with a red face.

Mu Xiao stared dumbfounded at Yi Sheng, who was even more flustered than she was. She rubbed her nose and looked at Ling Qi. “Was Yi Sheng’s gaze just now a little strange?”

Ling Qi ignored Mu Xiao’s question and picked up the bottle of medicine Yi Sheng had mentioned. “Turn around. Don’t scream as miserably as you did inside again.”

“…It really hurts, okay? Hiss—” Mu Xiao unwillingly turned around and tugged at the strap of her tank top. The rest of her explanation completely vanished into the pain caused by Ling Qi applying medicine.

By the time Mu Xiao and Ling Qi finished bandaging the wound and changed clothes, then walked out of the room, the dining table was already set with the dishes Fatty had made.

Seeing Mu Xiao come out, Fatty immediately smiled and greeted her. “Mu Xiao, hurry over. We discussed things just now and went to the hotel kitchen on the second floor. We really found quite a lot of good stuff!”

The steaming dishes arranged on the table immediately stirred everyone’s appetite: cola chicken wings, tender pan-fried steak, some homestyle stir-fried vegetables, and a fragrant pot of sweet corn soup.

“Although the vegetables have been left for two days and are a little wilted, luckily, they haven’t gone bad. These meats were all from the freezer. Oh, and this!” Fatty was smug about his cooking skills and pulled out a bottle of red wine. “This is expensive! We’re in for a treat!”

Forget Fatty, even Mu Xiao’s eyes lit up.

Meat!

This was meat!!

While they were speaking, Kang Kai, Lu Wei, and the others also came out of the kitchen carrying bowls of rice. “There’s still more rice. Everyone has to eat until they’re full this meal!”

Seeing Mu Xiao, Kang Kai revealed a joyful expression. “Senior, you’re all right now? Is your wound okay?”

“It’s nothing serious. Just a superficial wound.” Mu Xiao answered with a smile, her eyes fixed on the steak on the table, as if the person who had been crying nonstop from pain earlier had not been her at all.

“Speaking of that wound, Yi Sheng gets embarrassed too easily. Are you really a medical student?” Fatty looked at Yi Sheng and teased him. Just now, he had been surprised that Yi Sheng came out so quickly, but only after hearing his stammering explanation did he understand that Yi Sheng had been embarrassed. Thinking of this, Fatty felt rather disappointed in him. “If you ask me, you’re wasting your ability way too much!”

Yi Sheng did not know whether to laugh or cry and looked at Mu Xiao resentfully.

Receiving that gaze, Mu Xiao felt somewhat puzzled. She did not understand why Yi Sheng looked like he had been dragged into trouble because of her.

Fortunately, Ling Qi had already quickly taken a seat at a chair and picked up her chopsticks. “Hurry and eat.”

After a pleasant meal, everyone sat collapsed on the living room sofas, contentedly patting their stomachs.

“If only we could eat meals like this every day,” Kang Kai could not help sighing, his tone carrying a hint of melancholy.

Mu Xiao, however, took a string of keys from her pocket and tossed it ​Read on BaiLianTales​onto the coffee table. The crisp sound of impact drew everyone’s attention.

“Earlier outside, we encountered a giant zombie.” Mu Xiao briefly explained the situation with the giant zombie. As expected, she saw several people reveal grave expressions. “There will only be more and more zombies like that in the future, so our pace absolutely cannot stop. We have to race against the zombies for time.”

This result was not unexpected. Lu Wei was the first to look at Mu Xiao. “Are we setting out now?”

“Yes.” Mu Xiao immediately nodded. “Fatty’s small truck can carry a lot of supplies in the cargo compartment. That’s a good thing. But from the few times we rode in it before, we’ve also seen its drawbacks. The driver’s cab in front can only seat two adults. If we encounter evolved zombies while driving, we may run into trouble.”

Fatty nodded repeatedly. Heaven knew how worried he had been when he drove the truck around wildly before. Yes, the windows were closed, but they were still glass. If they broke, how would he survive?

“In the cargo compartment, we really know nothing about the situation outside.” The others also felt the same. Knowing there were many zombies outside, yet having no idea what was specifically happening, did not feel good at all.

“So, this is something we picked up from the giant zombie earlier. They’re all car keys. They should have belonged to the hotel’s dedicated valet attendant.” Mu Xiao grinned. “Aside from Fatty, who else can drive?”

She swept her gaze over everyone and saw Yi Sheng and Kang Kai raise their hands high.

Mu Xiao looked at the two of them and immediately made the arrangements. “Kang Kai and Fatty will be responsible for the small truck. If there’s danger, Kang Kai, you need to protect Fatty. Yi Sheng, we’ll go down later and choose a car. The rest of us will ride in that car and travel together with the small truck!”

“Okay!” An Qi did not care about anything else, as long as she could sit in the same car as Mu Xiao.

Yi Sheng and Lu Wei naturally had no objections, and Ling Qi went without saying.

For a while, aside from Kang Kai, whose face was gloomy with misery, everyone else was quite happy.

In short, no one objected to Mu Xiao’s arrangement. The group packed up their things and soon followed the stairs down to the lobby again.

They had gone back and forth along this route several times already. The zombies that had originally been there had also been cleared out. The way was smooth and unobstructed, and they soon arrived at the parking lot.

When they saw the giant zombie’s corpse, the people who had not witnessed it with their own eyes all changed expression. Imagining themselves facing such an enormous zombie, they unconsciously quickened their pace.

“Wow, this is an Audi R8!” Earlier, when they had rushed into the parking lot, they had been in too much of a hurry and had not had time to look at the cars. Now Fatty took one glance and immediately pounced toward a nearby sports car. He stroked the car’s lines, patted it twice, and looked at Mu Xiao. “Look at these lines, this texture! Let’s take this one!”

Mu Xiao only glanced at it before directly rejecting it. “The chassis is so low. If a zombie gets caught underneath once, it won’t be able to move.”

“…”

Fatty looked at the sports car with resentment and regret, only to discover that Mu Xiao was right. Speaking of running over zombies, he alone had already done it two or three times, which showed there would definitely be no shortage of that in the days to come.

“How about this Range Rover? Its performance is good, and it can run on any terrain.” Kang Kai seemed to be familiar with cars too. He patted a black Land Rover not far away as he spoke.

Adding in the considerations Mu Xiao had made earlier, everyone unanimously approved. After they found the key to the Land Rover Range Rover from the key board, Yi Sheng quickly got into the car to familiarize himself with it.

After getting the car and key they wanted, before getting in, Mu Xiao placed the key board on the hood of another car. Facing Ling Qi’s gaze, Mu Xiao smiled. “In case someone else comes here later, it’ll be good if they can have a car too.”

Ling Qi did not comment and quickly got into the back seat. There were five people, two men and three women, so naturally [Read on BaiLianTales]Yi Sheng and Lu Wei sat in the front, while Mu Xiao, Ling Qi, and An Qi sat in the back.

Fatty started the small truck and shouted through the window at Mu Xiao, “We’re still heading northeast next. You lead the way in front, and make sure to watch the map!”

Now that there was no phone network, they could only rely on a more primitive navigation tool: a map. Fortunately, this thing had not been completely eliminated yet. They had still found Qingzhou City and roughly figured out the route.

Very soon, Yi Sheng started the car and drove out.

As the SUV left the parking lot, the small truck also followed the SUV’s route forward.

After driving for about half an hour, the group made a new discovery.

The zombies on the road began to decrease. From time to time, they could still see zombie corpses with smashed heads lying by the roadside or on the road itself. Gradually, there was not a single moving zombie on the road.

“Could someone have already passed through here?” Yi Sheng asked as he drove.

To be honest, driving on a street like this was far more comfortable than driving on streets full of zombies.

“Probably more than just one or two groups.” Mu Xiao glanced outside a few times and answered. The reason was actually simple. Some of the zombie bodies lying on the street looked like they had been down for quite a while, while others looked very fresh.

“I see them!” As soon as Mu Xiao finished speaking, Yi Sheng pointed ahead and said happily, “It’s a bus! And a few scattered small cars!”

“Don’t rush to get close.” Mu Xiao, however, was not as happy as Yi Sheng. Instead, she had Yi Sheng slow down and keep [bailiantales.com]a distance from the convoy ahead.

Although Yi Sheng was somewhat puzzled, he did not intend to question Mu Xiao’s decision.

The SUV slowed down a little, and with it, the small truck following behind also had no choice but to slow down, leaving Fatty completely confused. However, it was not suitable to immediately shout and ask about it.

After following for a short while, the convoy ahead still maintained an unhurried speed and did not pay any attention to the SUV and small truck behind it.

Seeing no movement from the front, Mu Xiao relaxed somewhat. “It’s better to be careful. The small truck is carrying a lot of things. No one can guarantee that other people won’t try to rob us if they see it.”

Ling Qi could not help glancing at Mu Xiao. So she was not stupid after all. She clearly could think of the possibilities that better matched people’s interests.

However, even so, she still insisted on principles. This Mu Xiao was still a fool.

On the road ahead, the convoy’s speed slowed somewhat.

Mu Xiao raised her head to look. Through the gaps in the convoy, she saw the large sign marking the toll station.

“Is that the highway entrance ahead?” Mu Xiao narrowed her eyes, and something stirred in her heart.

“Yes.” Yi Sheng immediately nodded. “If we get on the highway here and drive quickly all the way, we can reach Qingzhou City in about three or four hours.”

According to the time, the sky would not even be [unauthorized copy]dark by then. This was something worth being happy about.

However, before Yi Sheng could be happy for long, he heard Mu Xiao’s unquestionable order.

“Turn. Take the provincial road!”