Chapter 20

The bus was crowded. Lin Tantan leaned against the door, thinking about what she’d just done in the gym, guiding the feverish people’s internal energy. The theory was sound, but it had been her first time doing it; she didn’t know whether the results would be ideal.
Suddenly she heard “Meimei” from behind: Ye Xiao’s voice, loud and frantic. She’d never heard him speak with that tone before.
She straightened at once. What was happening back there?
But standing by the door she couldn’t see what was going on; people pressed in on every side and she couldn’t move. She asked, “Driver, what’s happening back there?”
The driver was a stranger, oddly relaxed for such a tense moment, the sort of seasoned hand you’d call an old pro. While driving he glanced back and noticed Lin Tantan had spoken. Checking the rearview, he said, “Everything’s fine. The bus behind is following.”
“Really?”
“Really.” The driver, who’d been alert while waiting for passengers, had sized up the girl and realized she was different, someone who could beat zombies without even using a weapon, so he’d been especially polite to her. He looked in the mirror again and added, “Oh, another group popped up, but it’s okay. The bus behind has picked up speed too, they won’t catch up.”
Lin Tantan still wasn't completely at ease; her heart remained tight. What had Ye Xiao been shouting about?
During the retreat, once Xu Qin arrived by helicopter the command had been handed over to him, so her headset only picked up Xu Qin's voice, it wasn't connected to Ye Xiao's channel.
Moments earlier, Mei Baisheng had lifted a gun to his own temple right in front of Ye Xiao. Ye Xiao felt his heart stop, without thinking he sent out a blade of wind that knocked the gun from Mei Baisheng's hand, then jumped clear from the vehicle.
The driver turned to look and panicked. Why get off again? Are you coming back in or not? Ye Xiao waved a hand. "Keep driving. Stay with the convoy."
He walked toward Mei Baisheng. Mei Baisheng immediately brought up the small submachine gun hanging on his chest. "Don't come any closer!"
He trained the barrel on Ye Xiao. "What are you getting out for? Go! I'm going to die, what are you doing coming here?"
"I don't know what I can do, but I can't leave you here alone." Ye Xiao stepped in front of him without even looking at the gun. His voice was steady, his face taut but almost calm, and just that one sentence made Mei Baisheng's eyes go red.
He slumped down in despair. "How did this happen? I've been through countless battles and never died, and now I'm going to die at the hands of these disgusting things!"
He stared at the scars on the back of his hand and a thought struck him. He snarled, "It's Cai Chengliang, he must have cut something on my hand! That bastard!"
He meant to chase after the vehicle, but suddenly a swarm of zombies poured out from the intersection ahead, cutting the two of them off from the convoy and blocking their path.
The things seemed to realize the vehicles were too fast to catch, so they turned and zeroed in on the two isolated pieces of prey.
Mei Baisheng shoved Ye Xiao. "Boss, go! I'm done for anyway, you can still catch up with the cars."
The reply was the rat-tat-tat of gunfire. Mei Baisheng knew he couldn't change Ye Xiao's mind, so he bit his lip and lifted his own gun.
Above them, the helicopter circled. The pilot was a policeman Ye Xiao had rescued from the public security bureau, a demobilized soldier who'd handled military aircraft and could just about fly; manpower was desperately thin.
The four fighters who could actually fight were all on the ground. Bai Cheng sat at headquarters; Jiang Xiaotian and Cheng Qinan hadn't come out either, arranging the reception and setting up perimeter defenses were important tasks.
Xu Qin looked down; his delicate features seemed cold. He'd planted bombs along many of these streets and knew each location by heart. Seeing another wave of zombies forming to the convoy's right front, he typed on his computer and hit the enter key.
Boom,
Somewhere on the street where the zombies had gathered blew apart, the zombies sent flying.
Seeing a few scattered groups of zombies appear on the convoy's left flank, he said, "Too high, go a bit lower." The not-quite-professional pilot broke into a sweat and handled the controls gingerly. The helicopter tipped and dropped down; once they were in range Xu Qin swung the cabin machine gun on them and opened fire: rat-a-tat-tat.
Suddenly he noticed something off at the back of the convoy. He lifted his binoculars, studied for a moment, frowned, took off his headset and grabbed a radio. "Captain, what's your situation with Mei Baisheng?"
On the ground Ye Xiao, dodging the zombies with Mei Baisheng, answered, "We've got something to handle here. Don't worry about us, your job is to get everyone back safely."
Xu Qin was silent for a moment, then, not pressing the matter, said, "Okay. I understand."
He switched back to the all-channel so every driver, including Lin Tantan, could hear: "All units copy. Accelerate and move out."
The further they got from the university district, the less at ease Lin Tantan felt. She had a growing sense that something bad was happening.
What finally convinced her was when the road opened up into a wider stretch and the car behind pulled up to run alongside hers. Lin Tantan widened her eyes and searched, but she didn't see Ye Xiao on that vehicle.
Not only was Ye Xiao missing, Mei Baisheng was gone too, not even up on the roof.
Lin Tantan froze.
So something had happened, after all?
Was it Mei Baisheng? Shouldn't he have been out of danger by now? Or was she jumping to conclusions?
"Driver, open the door!" she shouted to the driver.
"Open the door? No, you can't open doors while the vehicle's moving," the driver answered.
Stopping right now didn't make sense. Lin Tantan was frantic but not irrational. She pressed a button on her headset. "Xu Qin, can you hear me? What's going on over at Ye Xiao's side?"
Xu Qin on the helicopter sounded surprised. "Tantan? They're fine. Don't worry."
Lin Tantan said, "But I didn't see them on the last vehicle."
Xu Qin was silent a moment. "They're tied up for a bit. They'll fall in later. We continue the plan, that's an order." Lin Tantan's eyes went wide; she ripped the earpiece off and glared at it. "An 'order'? Don't tell me that!"
Xu Qin: "……" He almost forgot, she wasn't a soldier and didn't have to answer to their captain.
Lin Tantan was furious. Ye Xiao and Mei Baisheng were surely in trouble, and Xu Qin, calm as ever, was carrying on with his plan and orders as if nothing had happened, leaving them to fend for themselves!
She started fiddling with the headset. The thing was complicated; after fooling with it for a while she confirmed that once authority had been transferred she couldn't use it to reach Ye Xiao. Deflated and panicked, she accidentally used too much force and broke it.
…Of all moments, she suddenly had a lot of strength!
She glanced around, moved toward the seat by the door. "Excuse me, let me through." She opened the window and the wind rushed in. Smoothly she slid out, adjusted her angle, and let go.
She rolled across the ground a few times. Dressed thickly, she only scraped her palms and felt a little sore; the wood-type ability ran through her body twice and left her unharmed. She quickly ran back the way she had come.
Xu Qin, watching from the helicopter: “…”
This girl…
He hurried to call her but couldn't get through, so he contacted Ye Xiao and told him that Lin Tantan had gone back to look for him.
Ye Xiao: “…”
Ye Xiao: “Where is she now?”
Xu Qin glanced at the buildings below. “I can't see her anymore.” She wasn't carrying anything that could be tracked, so finding her would be very difficult.
The helicopter could have chased after her right away, but the convoy still needed constant guarding.
Ye Xiao said helplessly, “I understand. Do what you need to do.”
Although he felt helpless, there was a strange stir in his chest. He had no time to think further, Mei Baisheng's condition was wrong. He was firing when his hand suddenly lost strength; his palm went rigid.
Ye Xiao supported him, whipped up a gust that drove the zombies back, forced open a nearby car, killed the zombie inside and dragged it out, settled Mei into the seat, then slid into the driver's seat and started the engine.
The road out had been cut off by a horde of zombies; for now he could only head back into the university campus.
Mei Baisheng lay sprawled on the back seat, staring at his right hand, black and bruised, his fingers curled like a chicken's claw.
He looked terrible and forced a bitter smile. “I'm about done. Really done. Boss, you go on without me.”
Ye Xiao looked at the road ahead. “Let's find a safe place first.”
“Didn't you hear me? I'm turning into a zombie! I'll lunge at you and bite you!”
“Shut up!”
Mei Baisheng choked, and indeed fell silent, but after a moment he scooted closer, pressed against Ye Xiao's seat and began to sob, “I can't believe I'm going to die. I was still thinking about what kind of superpower I'd get in the future. Boss, having a power must be so much fun, Tantan even has two, two totally different ones, both awesome, and I don't have a single one. I'm so unlucky.”
Ye Xiao: “……”
His chest tightened; he reached over and ruffled the boy's fuzzy hair. “There, there.”
Mei Baisheng was the youngest of the seven, only twenty-two and the last to join the team. He was the liveliest and the loudest; hot-tempered, but he followed orders. His jokes lifted everyone's spirits and changed the team's atmosphere, so everyone liked him.
Ye Xiao treated him like a younger brother and often took care of him.
But this time… he had no idea what to do, didn't even know what he could do for him.
Seeing the wound on the back of his hand, he knew Mei's fate was sealed.
All because of such a small wound…
He almost crushed the steering wheel; his reddened eyes fixed ahead. Cai Chengliang!
Mei Baisheng suddenly said again, “I still wanted to attend your wedding someday, see what kind of sister-in-law you'd give me… no, Boss, have you ever held a girl's hand at your age? I mean, a normal, ordinary holding-hands. You won't be single your whole life, will you?” He thought for a moment, a little slow, “If that's the case, me dying early doesn't seem to be much of a loss.”
Ye Xiao: “……” He nearly swerved the car.
Whatever. It's the last time, I'm not going to hit him.