Chapter 33

Besides the freelance work of supervising, Lin Tantan took on another job: she was back to her old trade, treating the injured.
Survivors streamed here from all over the city; inevitably some were hurt, and that's where Lin Tantan's role came in.
On the vacant lot in front of the office building a row of long, low bungalows was erected. These were the screening rooms for new arrivals. Everyone, men and women, had to strip; inspectors chosen from the older survivor ranks conducted the checks, with at least three examiners per room.
Those found with fevers were isolated. Those suspected of infection, to prevent panic, weren't dealt with on the spot but also isolated; once someone zombified, they were humanely destroyed. Those with ordinary wounds needing treatment were sent to be treated.
Behind this row there was another small row of cottages. This was the medical area. A few doctors administered medicine here, and Lin Tantan had one room as well, using her powers to treat people.
A middle-aged male survivor slipped off his blood-splattered shoes, revealing soles pierced by glass. They were haphazardly wrapped with cloth. Lin Tantan glanced and said, "You're lucky, you didn't step on any zombie remains, or you'd be done for."
She said to the water-affinity girl beside her, "Bring some water and rinse her off first."
The water girl calmly complied. A fine stream flowed from her hands and washed the patient's soles, not only clearing away the surface blood but seeping into the wounds to flush out the deep grime, the rinsing was so painful it drained the man's face pale.
The man endured it, supported by his son, not uttering a sound.
Once clean, Lin Tantan produced a wood-affinity band that wrapped around the man's ankle; threads of energy seeped into his sole, and the wound began to close at a visibly rapid pace.
"Huh? It doesn't hurt anymore?" The man's pain eased, and his young son looked delighted. "My dad's wound healed already?"
"Not entirely," Lin Tantan said. "I only closed the surface to prevent infection. The deeper tissues need more time. Don't let him put that foot down, rest it for several days."
The two men thanked her cheerfully and left.
Next came someone with a fracture, a neighboring herbal doctor had set the bone but, with limited resources, only applied a splint, so they asked Lin Tantan to use her ability to nourish it and speed the healing.
Lin Tantan treated him.
He soon felt much less pain.
The next was a boy whose face had been scraped when he hit the ground. This time Lin Tantan didn't step forward herself; instead she turned to another solemn young man present and said, "You give it a try."
The man was an intern at a hospital named Ming Ze, who had arrived a few days earlier while running a fever. Lin Tantan had tended to him, and the next day he awakened, wood-affinity, with a healing bent. He was astonished by his power and asked to apprentice under Lin, so she kept him by her side.
He nodded solemnly and reached out to the boy; a tuft of green grass sprang from his hand and, amid the boy's startled cry, wrapped itself around his face.
Well, that did look a little frightening.
But it worked. Two minutes later the grass wilted and fell away, and the abrasions on the boy's face had already crusted over with fresh scabs, better than any salve.
"How was that?" Lin Tantan asked Ming Ze with a smile. His face was a little pale but his eyes were electric. "This power is incredible, too bad I'm still too weak."
He felt he could only do that three times. Looking at the dead grass on the ground he asked, "Miss Lin, why can I make grass and Xinyu make vines, and once they're formed they can't be reabsorbed, but your creations never do that?"
Lin Tantan said, "I don't know either."
Lin Tantan differed from many ability users of this era, anything she sent out she could draw back. Ming Ze and Yang Xinyu, by contrast, saw much of their power become physical grass or vines that couldn't be reclaimed, wasted in plain sight.
The same went for other types of abilities; this physical manifestation burned far too much energy.
Lin Tantan cracked her neck. "Okay, next. Ten more and I'll take a break." She wasn't going to pretend she was a tireless superhero, she could treat at most twenty patients at a time, but even that was impressive.
Among those ten she ran into two acquaintances: one from the same campus club who'd once borrowed her meal card; the other someone who often saw her in the study hall.
Both tried to cozy up, and Lin Tantan brushed them off with cool indifference.
But this couldn't go on. After thinking it over, Lin Tantan decided to ask Bai Cheng, whom she considered the most scheming, the best at pulling strings behind people's backs, for help.
The number of survivors in the Yang City was growing, thousands, sometimes tens of thousands daily, so Bai Cheng, the head coordinator, was swamped. Lin Tantan didn't want to bother him during the day, and he wasn't around at dinner either. One night she waited in room 301 until late and, when he still hadn't returned, she went downstairs to wait.
The neighborhood was dark except for a few scattered lights. Lin Tantan sat by the entrance of Building One, continuing to absorb her water-affinity crystal core.
Two shadowy figures approached, talking as they came; from their voices she recognized Ye Xiao and Bai Cheng. Lin Tantan squinted at them for a long moment, clicking her tongue inwardly, of all people, these two, who were so busy, went out and returned together...
"Tantan, what are you doing here?" Ye Xiao spotted her first.
Lin Tantan tucked the crystal into her pocket and stood. "Couldn't sleep, thought I'd get some air." When they reached her she said to Bai Cheng, "Bai Cheng, I need your help."
The two froze. Lin Tantan had always been closer to Ye Xiao, who also paid more attention to her than Bai Cheng did, this was the first time she'd asked Bai Cheng for something directly.
Ye Xiao looked puzzled. "What is it? Do you want to put something in his storage space?"
"Ah, not that." Bai Cheng's current storage space is roughly ten square meters and about four meters high; besides storing important supplies he left room for each person to put some personal items, but Lin Tantan didn't have anything to store and so her slot was still empty.
Ye Xiao was about to ask more, but Lin Tantan gave him a "you don't need to hear this" gesture and waved him off, so Ye Xiao went upstairs.
Bai Cheng smiled. "What is it?"
Lin Tantan scratched her cheek. "Well, here's the thing, two people showed up today claiming to know me..."
Bai Cheng's handsome brow twitched. "They came to bother you again?"
"Not exactly. Look, remember I suddenly awakened two abilities? I had a fever before I woke up, and after I came to I couldn't remember much about my past." Lin Tantan babbled. "So I don't really remember people who say they knew me; I can't tell if what they say is true."
Bai Cheng was stunned for a moment; then he stared at Lin Tantan in a way that made her feel guilty. She forced herself to keep talking. "These ones are easy to handle, but I think it's necessary to figure out my past, who were close to me, what my family situation was."
Bai Cheng was silent for a moment. "You mean... you have amnesia?"
"You could say that."
"Then why didn't you tell anyone before?"
Wasn't it just that saying she had amnesia sounded too far-fetched, nobody would believe it? But after thinking it over, rather than remain baffled and risk being tricked or pushed into a corner later, it was better to claim amnesia. "Well, I planned to bluff my way through. I was going to ask around myself, but the people I know, aside from other ability-users, are people like Jiang Zhongyi. I meant to have them ask Chen Zhihao..."
"This isn't something you should handle yourself," Bai Cheng said. "Leave it to me. And don't let anyone else know about this."
Amnesia wasn't a trivial matter, and Lin Tantan's powers were strong. If others found out she had lost her memories and targeted her, they could easily deceive her and whisk her away...
Bai Cheng looked at Lin Tantan, whose face still had that unworldly, guileless expression, as if the words "I'm easy to deceive" were written across it.
He asked how much she remembered of her past. Lin Tantan said she remembered nothing before January first, the day the apocalypse began.
Bai Cheng suddenly asked, "So why did you insist on going to North University back then?" He'd wanted to ask for a long time; judging from what happened before and after, Lin Tantan didn't seem to have any clear purpose there.
Lin Tantan: "..." Oh, how long ago was that?
She scratched her head. Since she was claiming amnesia anyway, she said, "I forgot. I just really wanted to go see it."
Bai Cheng gave her a look full of complicated feelings. Not only naive, but impulsive too, exactly the sort of person others could take advantage of.
Lin Tantan thought: ...I keep feeling like they're treating me like an idiot.
Still, she was glad to have the question out in the open; she relaxed and slept soundly.
The next day repeated much the same work. The difference was that the team who had rescued Xu Meijuan arrived in the west district, an impressive convoy, dozens of vehicles and three to four hundred people, entirely unlike the scattered survivors who usually drifted in.
"Captain Ye, you are truly magnanimous, nearly a hundred thousand people, providing food, shelter, and training; so responsible. Compared to that, I feel ashamed. If there's anything I can do to help, please tell me."
Ye Xiao treated the convoy leader with proper respect, showing him around and briefly explaining the setup here, which prompted that courteous response.
Ye Xiao replied politely, "There is somewhere Mr. Zhou could help. With so many people here, our defenses are thin. I hope your people can follow my arrangements for the time being."
Mr. Zhou agreed readily; his condition for staying in the west district had been to accept their arrangements, so Ye Xiao's personal request was a courtesy he appreciated.
He smiled and asked, "Captain Ye, with nearly a hundred thousand people here, you must have a fair number of ability-users, right?"
Lin Tantan had just finished treating twenty people and stepped out to rest. From a distance she saw Ye Xiao speaking with a man surrounded by several people, he looked well-connected. Thinking of the convoy she had just seen, she walked over slowly.
She'd heard people say the convoy only had about three hundred people, two-thirds of whom could kill zombies, and that there were even a dozen or so ability-users among them.
Over the past few days, those who had fevers had gradually awakened, and some of the new survivors also had abilities. With nearly a hundred thousand people in the west district, only a few dozen ability-users had appeared in total.
Gathering such a group in barely ten days was no small feat. Someone like that, if he survived, would surely become a figure of note later on. She wondered if he might be the sort of person recorded in future histories.
With that in mind she approached. The man talking with Ye Xiao turned to her, paused for a moment, then his eyes brightened and the calmness of his face broke into a pleased surprise. "It's you!"
Lin Tantan: "?" Another person who knows me?
Then she realized this wasn't because of Lin Tantan impersonating her, this was someone she actually recognized.
Not exactly "recognized" in any deep way: it was the man from the SUV they met on the first day of the apocalypse, the one with the fever.
Lin Tantan was taken aback for a moment, quickly sized him up, hmm, clearly awakened, and said, "Hello."
He extended his hand, smiling with cultured gratitude. "Thank you for your warning that day."
Lin Tantan thought for a moment, then reached out and shook his hand. "I just said it off the cuff."
Ye Xiao, left standing aside, "..." He glanced at their clasped hands, then at the man's face, which had been composed but was now showing pleasure. "You two know each other?"