Chapter 38

Having confirmed that the person he liked cared about him, Ye Xiao felt a small calm settle in his chest. He looked at Lin Tantan’s face. Now that he’d understood his own feelings, he shouldn’t hesitate. Although the makeshift brick house wasn’t much, although the floorful of filthy, piggish rats was an eyesore, and although he hadn’t prepared anything, Ye Xiao was always decisive.
After a moment’s consideration, he stifled the fluttering in his chest and spoke, “Tantan.”
Lin Tantan, who had been secretly admiring the strong wind energy in his body, gave a soft “Mm.”
“There’s something I want to tell you.”
She looked up and saw Ye Xiao’s face grow serious; her heart skipped a beat, this must be important. She straightened instantly, eyes bright. “What is it? Is there something you need me to do? Tell me, if I can do it, I won’t refuse.”
She was almost pounding her chest in promise.
Well, she didn’t actually beat her chest because one hand was on Ye Xiao’s arm, no free hands.
A smile appeared in Ye Xiao’s eyes. Lin Tantan stared, a little dazed. The godlike guy’s smile was so warm and handsome!
Ye Xiao took a small breath. “It’s about, feelings, Tantan. I…”
At the word “feelings,” Lin Tantan deflated. “This again? Did Meimei tell you something? I’m telling you, I have nothing to do with Zhou Yan, I haven’t even met him. I’ve only heard he’s not a good person, really! Don’t worry, I’ve turned over a new leaf. Didn’t you say I’m still young and this isn’t the time to think about those things? I think you’re right.”
Ye Xiao: “…”
He said with some difficulty, “Do you really think that?”
“Yes. And right now, with everything unstable, who’s in the mood to think about anything else? Besides, until life stabilizes, until we don’t have to worry about food and shelter, until there’s a house and a car, I’m not going to consider that kind of stuff.”
Lin Tantan thought: to have life completely stable, with plenty to eat and drink and fancy cars and mansions, that would be about when the apocalypse was over. With an attitude this firm, surely the god wouldn’t have to worry every day about her being kidnapped, right?
She gave herself a mental pat on the back for her cleverness, then saw Ye Xiao looking at her with a distant, complicated expression that wasn’t exactly happy. Lin Tantan: “?” Had she said something she shouldn’t have?
Ye Xiao slowly nodded, as if he’d come to a realization. “You’re right. If you can’t even offer someone a stable life, what right do you have to talk about anything else.” He lowered his gaze slightly, then stood. “I’ll go check outside.” With that he left; his figure looked a little desolate as he walked away.
Lin Tantan scratched her head. What was that about?
Suddenly a white flash went through her mind. Oh my god, he wouldn’t have taken her words to heart and started thinking, “How can one speak of home while the country’s troubles aren’t over,” and then fallen out with Bai Cheng, would he?
Thinking that it was the seventh year of the apocalypse and they still hadn’t officially become a couple, she figured he might already have had such thoughts. Now that she’d said that out loud…
Lin Tantan instantly felt like a terrible sinner. She jumped up, startling the rats on the floor; she raced after him but didn't catch even a single back in sight.
"Ah, told you to watch your tongue." She came back, annoyed, and couldn't help wondering whether Ye Xiao had brought up that subject because he wanted to confide in her. After all, aside from Bai Cheng, everyone else was either a roughneck or not the kind to talk about this sort of thing, so it wasn't impossible Ye Xiao might turn to her.
The more she thought about it, the more vexed she became. What was she to do now? Ye Xiao seemed to have been knocked back. She slapped her forehead and sighed.
The mutated rats on the ground watched her curiously, their chewing never slowing.
Once the mutated rats had their fill, Lin Tantan had no heart to fuss over them any longer. She herded them out past the high wall and, while at Bai Cheng's place, grabbed a few boxes of biscuits, bread, nuts and ham to send out with them for the rats that hadn't made it inside.
When she went to Bai Cheng for the food, she hesitated and asked, "Has Ye Xiao been here?"
Bai Cheng replied in surprise, "He was here a little while ago. We discussed the late-night shift rotations. Why?"
Lin Tantan asked, "Is he all right? Did he act differently at all?"
Bai Cheng thought for a moment. "I didn't notice anything, what do you mean?" But inwardly he thought Ye Xiao had indeed seemed a bit off. Had some girl given him the cold shoulder? He studied Lin Tantan's face.
Lin Tantan sighed and looked at Bai Cheng apologetically. "I may have said some things that weren't appropriate. Don't worry, I’ll try to make it right."
Bai Cheng: "?" What was there to worry about?
But Lin Tantan couldn't find a good moment to talk to Ye Xiao. The next two days were hectic: more survivors kept arriving, and with them more zombies and zombified animals.
Finally, on January 18th, the rescue force everyone had been hoping for arrived in Yang City.
It amounted to nearly two divisions, almost twenty thousand troops. When word of the army's arrival spread, Lin Tantan didn't know about the other districts, but the whole west side of the city was jubilant. Then, when people learned there were fewer than twenty thousand soldiers, everyone exchanged uneasy glances.
That number was clearly far from what they'd imagined.
Everyone longed for the national forces' rescue and aid, yet on the west side alone there were roughly one hundred and fifty to one hundred and sixty thousand people. Almost everyone had family, commanders, friends or colleagues still trapped in the city, and they were all hoping the army would come and bring their loved ones out.
But what could twenty thousand do?
The army reached the west side first. Ye Xiao went out with a group to greet them, saluted the commanding officer and escorted them inside.
Space within the high walls was limited, so the vehicles had to remain outside.
Lin Tantan, along with many others, stood on the wall watching the huge, solid military trucks and jeeps roll by. Some of the vehicles even had mounted guns and short cannons. Some soldiers stayed on their vehicles, others disembarked; a few stood guard with rifles, while most were resting and eating.
Historically, this unit had clashed with Ye Xiao's group, supposedly because Ye Xiao's people refused to follow the unit's orders. Back then, Mei Baisheng had died, and Ye Xiao's side had to bow to General Chen to secure the unit's arrival. They were already simmering with anger; then to be expected to obediently follow orders too, wasn't that absurd?
Hmm, probably had something to do with Cai Chengliang as well.
That kid had been locked up the whole time; no one knew what kind of state he'd ended up in.
Whether there would be another clash this time was uncertain, but as Lin Tantan watched the vehicles and soldiers she felt guarded.
After about twenty minutes, the people who'd been conferring came out. Ye Xiao began to deploy personnel, the officers started arranging the troops, and one by one military and civilian vehicles rolled out. They split into several routes toward the towns around Yang City, taking out anyone they could.
Lin Tantan watched for a while, then climbed down from the wall and threaded her way through the busy crowd.
Then she heard two people talking.
"Just like the commander said, Ye Xiao's group is unruly. Brother Xing politely asked them to lend some manpower, and out of seven people only Ye Xiao and Zhong Xiong showed up; the others kept doing whatever they were doing. I told Brother Xing, why be so polite? We have the commander's orders, they should obey!"
The first voice was a young man's, agitated and angry. The older one answered, "Didn't they send quite a few people? I think those citizens are doing fine, and there are quite a few people with special abilities."
"Talking about those ability-users makes me even madder. Brother Xing asked how many there were and wanted to meet them, but Ye Xiao refused without a word. Those aren't Ye Xiao's soldiers, he's afraid we'll snatch people away! What exactly is he trying to do?"
Lin Tantan walked around a vehicle and saw the two men standing there. Both wore uniforms, though they looked a bit scruffy and dirty. The younger man, not yet thirty, resembled a hedgehog, his hair cropped into sharp spikes, his features harsh and haughty. The older man, in his thirties and slightly plump, looked friendlier.
But Lin Tantan found both of them disagreeable. The younger one kept speaking, lowering his voice: "Other cities can organize rescue on their own too, but Ye Xiao's the capable one. Here there's a solid one hundred and fifty to one hundred and sixty thousand people, organized and proper, practically a small safe base. It's only been a few days... seven soldiers, dozens of ability-users, over a hundred thousand ordinary civilians, and from start to finish not a single zombie crossed the safety line, no one caused trouble... If you let a wolf like that into our base, do you think the commander could control it?"
He trailed off, giving his companion a look that implied the rest. The older man frowned. "You're overthinking it. They're heading back to the capital."
"What if they refuse to leave and squat in our base?"
Lin Tantan thought to herself, Give me a break! They haven't even gone to that so-called base yet and you're already worried they'll refuse to leave, what, is your place heaven or something?
She was furious to the core; with a lift of her finger she sent out a golden spike that whooshed and jabbed the young soldier in the backside.
The young soldier cried out and spun around, but all he could see were people coming and going in the distance, no one suspicious. He felt at his butt; there was nothing there, yet the pain was unbearable, as if something had driven straight into the cracks of his bones. He gasped, his face paling, and quavered, "Old Zhou, go look, what's stuck in my butt?"
The older man glanced and said, "Nothing. Don't stand here talking, we've got a lot to do."
Lin Tantan, still stewing, walked into the temporary command camp. Bai Cheng was directing people, and Mei Baisheng was there too, sorting through several thick rosters.
Seeing her enter with a stern face, Mei Baisheng asked, "What's wrong? Who made you angry?"
Just then the outsiders left, leaving only Bai Cheng and Mei Baisheng. Lin Tantan told them what she'd heard and then asked, "Are we supposed to go with them to that... base?"
Bai Cheng's expression grew icy. Mei Baisheng jumped up, "That little bastard, I'll beat him to a pulp! So what if his ass is bigger!"
He turned to Bai Cheng and said, "Old Bai, they clearly don't welcome us. Why go put up with their cold stares? Let them go their way and we'll go ours. Split from them now!"
Bai Cheng frowned. "Leave now and what about the 150,000 people? Let them set off in chaos? We'll keep this between ourselves for now, don't make it public. Get out of Yang City first. One person's attitude doesn't represent everyone. If everyone felt that way..." He didn't finish the sentence, but the look in his eyes made Lin Tantan and Mei Baisheng feel a chill.
They exchanged a glance, yeah, not worth messing with.
Lin Tantan suddenly felt her earlier worry and anger had been for nothing, would Bai Cheng let his own people suffer?
Mei Baisheng said, "Then let's go hand out the number tags." With that he grabbed Lin Tantan and pulled her along.
Handing out number tags meant distributing paper slips with numbers to the survivors in Yang City and registering them in the rosters. Early tomorrow, actually in the small hours, they would board vehicles according to those numbers, form the convoy before sunrise, and then depart.
Yang City now had many vehicles that had been deliberately gathered, big ones, small ones, comfortable and uncomfortable. People would be assigned depending on the vehicle: seats went to the elderly, children, and the injured; if someone had to cram into a truck bed, that would be for the young.
There were a lot of details to consider, so handing out number tags was quite a big operation.
Fortunately Mei Baisheng didn't have to do the distribution himself; it was handled by assigned people, he only had to oversee them.
People from each building came down to collect tags, and Mei Baisheng started complaining to Lin Tantan, "That guy surnamed Xing is the commander of these twenty thousand. He used to be on the same level as our boss, but to fit the role of leader of twenty thousand he jumped two ranks and became a major general, old and lucky. I don't like him; he acts respectful and spouts officialese about hoping we'll cooperate. When our boss said he needed people here too, his face just fell."
"I don't know anyone else there; our boss Old Bai probably doesn't either. We used to work abroad and aren't familiar with folks back home. That hedgehog of a guy you mentioned, I saw him earlier but don't know his name. If I get the chance, I'll beat the shit out of him."
Lin Tantan said, "I just jabbed him with a needle, he'll be hurting for a long time."
Mei Baisheng patted her shoulder. "Well done. Having an ability sure is convenient. When will I ever get one?"
As he spoke he looked at his hand and suddenly noticed a patch of pitch-blackness surrounding his palm. He jumped. "What is that?"
Lin Tantan hurried to look. The space around Mei Baisheng's palm was utterly black and looked strange. She reached out carefully to touch it; she hit nothing, but it felt slightly sticky, increasing the resistance against her hand.