As soon as Ye Xuan went out, he saw Zhao Ping who was wandering up and down in the corridor. The latter heard the sound of the door opening, walked over quickly and asked, “Ye Xuan, I heard that Ling Jiaze is awake. How is he?”
Ye Xuan was not surprised that Zhao Ping knew his name. He had studied at C University for four years. He knew that although there were not many of his teachers and classmates still there, there were always a few left. He simply replied, “Everything is fine. He just awakened the ice-type ability, and is now resting inside. We will leave in a while.”
Zhao Ping frowned and asked, “Leave? The snow has blocked all the road outside. Where are you two going?”
“Home.” Seeing what Zhao Ping had to say, Ye Xuan said first: “Teacher, don’t worry. If I can come see and Ling Jiaze in school, I would definitely be able to take him back safely.”
Zhao Ping didn’t know whether Ye Xuan was too confident or too arrogant, but it was true that he was able to rush to the school even in the snow. However, he still tried to persuade him with one more sentence, “Why don’t you wait until the snow melts before leaving?”
Ye Xuan knew that he was well-intentioned, but he still categorically refused, “No, I was able to come here because there was a lot of snow trapping the zombies with stiff movements. If the snow melts and the zombie activity resumed, it would not be so easy to go back. “
“Wait a minute. Do you mean that after the snow melts, the movement of the zombies will not be affected by the low temperature? Can you clarify this?”
Zhao Ping knew that it was inconvenient for zombies to move after it snowed. The school originally planned to take advantage of this time to organize people to go and collect supplies nearby, but the snow was also too restrictive for human movement. The school also had no cars that were suitable for driving in the snow so this plan was abandoned.
Now the school’s plan was to wait for the snow to melt, and then move after the restrictions on vehicles were minimal. Anyway, the zombies’ movements would still be stiff at that time, and they were not afraid of accidents. But if it would be like what Ye Xuan said, then this plan must be changed.
“You should also know that zombies are not as sensitive as humans, and it is difficult for them to walk through the knee-high snow. But as far as I have seen along the way, the zombies were only limited by their lower bodies which were buried in the snow. Their upper limbs above were not affected at all. Humans may affected by low temperature but zombies are not afraid of it.”
Zhao Ping asked with an extremely ugly face: “This, what can we do?” It was cold outside, and it was difficult for ordinary people to go out, so only a small number of them could move freely. If the zombies were also affected, then it would be a good thing since everyone was affected equally. But now only humans were affected by the weather, which made Zhao Ping feel desperate.
Ye Xuan knew what Zhao Ping was thinking when he saw his desperate expression. It was the same sense of despair he felt when he found out that the zombies were not affected by the weather in his last life. However human beings were always strong. Under the pressure of survival, most ordinary people survived the extreme weather and their physique had also been greatly improved.
He shook his head and did not continue the topic. It was still too early to say this, and if he said that as an ability user, he felt a little like he would be a bit insensitive. Besides, even if he said that ordinary people still had the upper hand in dealing with zombies now, or suggested that they take advantage of the inconvenience of zombies to collect supplies, it would be useless. It was still too hard to do.
Ye Xuan even thought that the stability of C University would not last long. After the supplies were exhausted, would those students who had awakened their abilities still listen to the school’s directives? There would only be more and more people who did whatever they want. Zhou Jian was just an example of one who had already started acting out and was a little bit on the dumb side.
“Senior, I have packed everything.”
Ye Xuan and Zhao Ping stood in the corridor and chatted for a while about the current situation outside. Ye Xuan heard Ling Jiaze talking and said to Zhao Ping: “I went in to help Ling Jiaze pack his things, and he just told me that everything in his dormitory would be given to the school. Do you want to wait a moment, teacher?”
Zhao Ping sighed and said, “We’re interested. You go first, I’ll just wait here.” After the apocalypse, everyone thought about bringing more things when they left, and no one would think about giving things to others.
Even if the supplies in Ling Jiaze’s hands were spread evenly among the many people in the school, it would not be a lot, but it still showed his good intentions.
Ye Xuan pushed open the door, went in and saw Ling Jiaze standing by the table holding a schoolbag. When he saw him come in, he said, “Senior, I have everything packed in this bag.”
“Nothing else?” Ye Xuan was afraid that he would be reluctant to take some things that were inconvenient to carry, so he lowered his voice and said, “As long as it’s not too big which could make others suspect something, I can put it in my space.”
Ling Jiaze shook his head and said, “No, although I live on campus, I keep very few personal items in the dorms. Right now I don’t need books or clothes, and the only useful things are those in my bag.”
“Okay,” Ye Xuan put away the food warmer and electric heater that he had taken out previously, then picked up Ling Jiaze’s packed bag and said, “Then I’ll go downstairs first. You and your teacher should negotiate while I wait downstairs.”
“Okay, see you later.”
Because the snow had stopped, the roads that he had cleared would not disappear. Ye Xuan took about four hours to get to C University, but it took only a little more than an hour to go back.
Although the temperature of the earth was abnormal now, the day time was not much different from that before the apocalypse. Therefore, although it was past six o’clock when Ye Xuan and Ling Jiaze got home, the sky outside was still bright.
Ye Xuan put away his snowmobile when he was about to arrive and then walked back to the community with Ling Jiaze. When he met a neighbor on the road, he only said that Ling Jiaze was his friend. He didn’t say a word about where he came from or how he came here.
After entering the house, Ye Xuan withdrew the vines guarding the yard, and said to Ling Jiaze, “Similar to your dormitory, my house was cut off from water and electricity a few days ago so now I use the water I saved previously. I have installed a solar generator on the roof of the building, and I also have solar batteries and previously stored batteries at home, as well as some other solar energy equipment. Although I can’t use water and electricity as freely as before the apocalypse, there is not much inconvenience.”
Speaking of this, Ye Xuan suddenly remembered something, and said a little embarrassedly, “When my house was renovated previously, I didn’t think about inviting others to stay in here. Apart from the master bedroom on the second floor, the guest bedroom was never used. Other than the most basic decorations, it is empty. No one has used the furniture inside, so you can just wipe it clean. The bathroom is the same as the one on the first floor and has no pipes, so you and I would have to use the same bathroom for now. But there are brand new bath towels and unused toothbrushes available. You don’t have to worry about that.”
Living in a dormitory and sharing a bathroom with family members was a very common thing, but thinking of Ling Jiaze’s inexplicable affection for him and his concern for him, Ye Xuan’s simple comment became a bit ambiguous.
Ye Xuan felt embarrassed, while Ling Jiaze reacted even more. His face turned red all of a sudden. He widened his eyes and said hesitantly, “I, Senior, I don’t mind if you don’t.”
Seeing that Ling Jiaze’s reaction was bigger than his own, Ye Xuan’s little embarrassment disappeared strangely. He coughed dryly and said, “I don’t mind. Then, I’ll take a shower first while you clean up the room. Wash up afterwards and let’s talk okay?”
After getting a positive reply, Ye Xuan led Ling Jiaze upstairs, and brought him a bunch of things. Toiletries, a change of clothes, sheets and covers. Basically he took out everything he could think of, and put them in the guest room for Ling Jiaze. After choosing, he went back to his room to take a shower, washing away the dust which got on him after running around all day.
He instinctively stayed out of the room when he was done. If Ling Jiaze came over in a while, he would be embarrassed so he simply went downstairs to the kitchen to make supper. An ability user consumed a lot of energy every day, and the food he had hurriedly ate at school just now was not enough to supplement his body’s demands.
In order to make it easier to eat in the future, Ye Xuan had been making cooked rice and noodles at home during the time he couldn’t go out as it was snowing. Right now he naturally had no reason to choose to eat from the space instead of cooking at home.
Thinking that he didn’t know when Ling Jiaze would come out, Ye Xuan took out the wonton wrappers and pork that he had bought before and started wrapping small wontons, so that whenever Ling came out, he could directly put the wontons in the pot and save the rice. He was not afraid of them becoming cold as he could simply put them in the space when he was done.
Ye Xuan was not a master chef, but he had been cooking for himself for several years and practice made perfect. Besides, he still had a bit of a mental bonus. It was a good to be free to do things like cooking. He made food like steamed dumplings and wontons that required repeated work. He even thought that he looked like a robot in a processing factory. There was nothing wrong with the movements of his hands. The wontons were packed in exactly the same size and style, and they were neatly arranged in a way which was quite pleasing to the eye.
After Ling Jiaze cleaned up his room upstairs and took a shower, he saw Ye Xuan busy on the long table in the living room when he went downstairs, and suddenly had a strong sense of unreality.
He had accepted the fact that the apocalypse had come very quickly, but what happened today was really beyond his imagination. Right now he lived in Ye Xuan’s house and uses his bathroom. After washing, he could still see him cooking dinner in the living room. The warm yellow light which shone on him was warm enough to satisfy all his definitions of home.
This was already a scene that didn’t even appear in his wildest dreams.
Ye Xuan heard the sound of footsteps coming downstairs but after a while, he didn’t see Ling Jiaze. When he looked back, he saw him standing blankly on the stairs. “Come here quickly.”
Hearing his voice, Ling Jiaze regained his senses, quickly walked down the stairs to his side and said, “Is there anything I can help with?”
Ye Xuan pointed to the induction cooker on the table and a large bucket of water on the side and said, “I can’t spare any more hands, so please heat the water for me.”
“Okay.” Ling Jiaze heated the water, sat on the chair, looked at the busy Ye Xuan and thought, if this was a dream, it was probably a dream that he couldn’t even get after exhausting his imagination, right?
🙃