As Yangyang and I climbed up to the tenth floor, chatting along the way, we didn't really feel that tired.
While walking down the corridor, Yangyang asked curiously, "Sis, according to what you said, that girl Zhao Qiuting was only kept around before because Dr. Shu Guang could control her. But now that Shu Guang is already…"
He trailed off carefully, glancing at me to see my reaction.
When he noticed I didn't seem too shaken, he continued, "Then why are they still keeping such a ticking time bomb with them?"
Jun Di chimed in from the side, "Maybe it's just like us — they couldn't bring themselves to abandon her. A life is still a life, after all."
Back downstairs, Xu Shu had already heard me explain the general situation with Song Meijing and the others, so she more or less understood.
She replied, "They only have a handful of people, and they're traveling with a pregnant woman. How can they afford to be so generous and keep that girl? Even in our team with Suo Tian, we once thought about leaving Rongrong behind, remember?"
I waved my hand and said, "We'll find a way to ask later. Whatever their reason, the fact is they've kept the girl, even if it doesn't make sense."
When we reached the double doors of the office at the end of the hall, I took a slight breath and knocked.
For a long while, there was no movement inside.
I knocked again, and after a moment, we finally heard light footsteps.
The door opened, revealing Zhao Qiuting's sleepy face.
She glanced at us, then turned around and curled up on the double sofa, resting her head against the back as if to go right back to sleep.
I froze for a second and turned to Yangyang — was Zhao Qiuting seriously sleeping out here alone in the office?
After stepping inside, I gave her another quick look before heading toward Wang Jun and the others' room.
The bookshelf that had previously blocked the small door behind it hadn't been moved back this time, likely because they knew we were downstairs.
As I knocked on their door, I glanced at the bookshelf again — it must've been Zhao Qiuting who always pushed it in front of the door before.
Wang Jun soon opened the door.
Night had already fallen, and when he realized why we'd come, he apologized, saying Lili had already gone to bed.
She'd been extremely anxious lately since she was nearing labor and hadn't been sleeping well.
Hearing that, we understood it wasn't a good time to disturb her, so we decided to ask about what they'd gone through recently instead.
Lao Si, Zhang Qicong, and Liu Rumiao were sleeping on makeshift bedding in the living room, so Wang Jun led us out to the balcony.
After glancing inside to make sure no one was listening, he sighed and began explaining what had happened.
After leaving the county, their group had taken the highway but ran into a large horde of walkers, forcing them to turn off onto a smaller road.
While searching for supplies in a suburban supermarket, they met Liu Rumiao, Zhang Qicong, and the others.
According to Wang Jun, when they first met, that group had around ten people — but over time, most of them met tragic ends along the way.
They kept traveling along the highways, only stopping for a few days at a time when they had to take detours.
Hearing that, I finally understood why they had arrived here so much earlier than we did.
We had always stopped whenever possible to rest, recover, and deal with various incidents, while they had simply kept moving nonstop.
Still, the fact that we managed to reunite in such a vast and desolate world could only be called a miracle.
After a moment of silence, I remembered Zhao Qiuting on the sofa outside and pointed in that direction.
"Wasn't it dangerous traveling with her?" I asked.
Wang Jun followed my gaze — though he couldn't actually see her from here — and sighed deeply.
"Of course it was dangerous. I think that girl's mind is completely gone. But still…"
"But still what?" Yangyang prompted.
"We thought about leaving her behind — more than once after Dr. Shu Guang was gone. But… well, you might say she's out of her mind, yet somehow she seems to understand everything. Every time we made up our minds to abandon her, she'd always end up doing something that made it impossible for us to go through with it."
"What kind of things?" I asked.
"Well, too many to list before, but just since we came to this hospital — she's the one who silently goes out and brings back food for all of us. That creepy mask she wears, and that strange outfit — she found those on her own somehow."
Realization dawned on me. "So when I ran into her earlier, she must've been out looking for food?"
Wang Jun thought for a moment, then shook his head. "We'd already eaten by then. Lili's stomach's been acting up lately — she probably went downstairs to look for digestive pills or something like that."
Hearing that, all of us couldn't help but sigh.
No wonder Wang Jun and his group had kept Zhao Qiuting despite the risks — even a person with a heart of stone would have found it hard to abandon her under those circumstances.
After chatting with Wang Jun for a while longer, we were about to leave when he suddenly called out to me.
His expression looked a bit hesitant as he said, "Chen Yang, Meijing has helped us a lot along the way… Now that we've all met again, like family, I hope you all can…"
Before he could finish, Yangyang waved his hand impatiently and cut him off.
"Brother Wang Jun, it's late. You should go get some rest. We'll head back too."
Wang Jun looked slightly embarrassed but still sighed and saw us out.
On the way, I glanced at Yangyang.
This was my real brother — my blood.
Others could forgive and forget what Meijing had done because it didn't concern them, but Yangyang remembered every bit of it — because I was his sister.
As we passed by the office, I paused and looked at Zhao Qiuting, still curled up on the sofa.
What could I say about this girl?
In this apocalypse, we were all struggling to survive.
Even though her mind was no longer right, she too was desperately trying to live.
But compared to us, she had to live with far more effort — cautiously, tremblingly, in constant fear.
Noticing that I had been staring for too long, Xu Shu sighed softly beside me and said, "Let's go, Chen Yang. Everyone has their own fate. You can't pity everyone."
I turned to glance at her, nodded slightly, and led the way out.
As we headed downstairs, we stopped by a few other floors to find some digestive tablets to bring to Lili the next day.
When we returned to the second floor, the whole hallway was empty and silent except for the few black-clad men standing guard by the stairwell and lobby.
The stillness of the night gave the air an eerie tension.
I first went to check on Uncle Gazi and the three kids.
Aside from Rongrong, who was still listening to Jun Di whispering a bedtime story, Xiao Hu and Tingyun were already sound asleep.
Looking at their small, peaceful faces, I felt a wave of warmth in my chest.
Children's worlds are pure — their hearts are kind, free from malice or deceit.
Perhaps that's why the cycle of life and death exists — because the world always needs purity and kindness to replace its filth and corruption.
I kissed each of their foreheads softly before stepping out and gently closing the door.
Then I went back to the room where Han Xue and Xu Shu were resting.
There were three beds — just enough for one each.
When I entered, Han Xue immediately sat up in bed and asked, "Why are you here?"
I paused, hand still on the door, and asked in confusion, "To sleep. What do you mean, why am I here?"
"Suo Tian's next door!" Han Xue said with a teasing grin.
I waved my hand dismissively and sat down on the empty bed.
Xu Shu, lying on the bed by the wall, turned to face us and said to Han Xue, "Don't tease her. She's probably still upset right now."
"Upset? About what?" Han Xue asked curiously.
Xu Shu looked at me for a moment, then explained briefly what had happened today.
After listening, Han Xue sighed. "There are actually people like that? Unbelievable."
"Right? She looks so pretty, and yet she's that ruthless," Xu Shu added.
I lay down quietly, listening to their back-and-forth chatter.
My mind drifted from one thought to another, messy and restless — until, without realizing it, I slowly fell asleep.
When I opened my eyes again, it was already morning.
Xu Shu and Han Xue had gotten up early and were happily playing in the hallway with Xiao Hu, Tingyun, and Rongrong.
As I walked around, I noticed that our group seemed to be the only ones on the entire floor.
Seeing my confusion, Han Xue explained that Suo Tian had taken some people out early in the morning to clear out the supermarket at the corner from yesterday.
I thought back for a moment — indeed, when we turned onto this street yesterday, we'd passed a fairly large supermarket, only about a ten-minute walk from the hospital.
After playing hide-and-seek with the three kids for a while, I suddenly remembered the digestive tablets we had found yesterday.
Since there wasn't much to do at the moment, I decided to bring them upstairs to Wang Jun — and perhaps check if Lili was awake.
As far as I could recall, Lili was never one to sleep in late.
Because we'd run into Meijing upstairs yesterday, Yangyang was clearly resistant about going back up there.
But when he heard I was heading upstairs, he immediately insisted on coming with me.
I had no choice but to let him tag along.
By the time we reached the eighth floor, I stopped for a short rest as usual.
While catching my breath, I reminded Yangyang to be polite no matter how much he disliked Meijing — after all, from what I could tell, the others up there seemed rather close to her now.
After a few minutes, once I felt recovered, I was just about to call Yangyang to continue upward when a distant shouting suddenly echoed from above.
Footsteps followed — hurried and chaotic — and the shouting was getting closer and closer.
Ever since the world fell into chaos, I had become extremely sensitive to sounds like that.
Holding my breath, I listened carefully — and realized that the shouting voice belonged to Wang Jun.
Mixed in with it were Sister Liu's wailing cries and her heavily accented, jumbled Mandarin:
"What's going on with this child, ah? Oh heavens, what happened? Oh dear lord, why's it two months early?!"
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