Chapter 48

Two vehicles remained in the courtyard. One was the box truck carrying Jiang Xiaotian's precious equipment, Jiang Xiaotian and the driver Qian Kai had stepped out, and the other was Lin Tantan's pickup, driven by Qian Feifei, who had come along.
Also there were Mei Baisheng, half-alive and listless, and Cheng Qinan, who had shared a car with Ye Xiao and now looked as pale as a ghost after standing in the rain so long.
And, of course, the mutant rats that had been unloaded one by one from the pickup.
Mei Baisheng and Cheng Qinan drifted inside like sleepwalkers. Qian Kai and Qian Feifei looked awkward and out of place, they didn't seem suited to staying here.
Lin Tantan glanced around and said, "You two stay and help. Unload the stuff from the pickup first."
The supply truck had been abandoned, but Lin Tantan's pickup was private and wouldn't slow the convoy, so it was kept. A lot of its cargo would come in handy now.
Without the supply truck, these few weren't like the other survivors who had at least some essentials on them, they were basically empty-handed. So food, water, and clothing all depended on Bai Cheng's storage space, but Bai Cheng was over in the residential area handing out supplies to the psychics and guards who'd helped.
Those people had risked their lives to help; they deserved to be taken care of properly now.
"Feifei, see if there's anything we need right away that's not in the villa. Get it out so everyone can wash up and change into clean clothes."
"Okay." Qian Feifei answered at once. She had packed these supplies for Lin Tantan and had been careful to include all sorts of brand-new toiletries; everything needed for washing was ready, except for men's spare clothes.
Fortunately, Jiang Xiaotian's truck held a few spare outfits that could serve for now.
Water and power in the villa district were also on a timed, limited supply, swipe a card to activate them. One hundred liters a day; when it's used up, it's gone.
She told the half-dazed Mei Baisheng and Cheng Qinan to take showers first; there was a bathroom upstairs and another downstairs in the villa.
Jiang Xiaotian called down from the stairs, "Tantan, the master bedroom upstairs has its own bathroom. You can have that room."
There was no need to refuse; Lin Tantan nodded and went upstairs.
The master bedroom was a bit larger than the others but sparsely furnished, only a bed and a wardrobe. The bathroom was bare too. Lin Tantan thanked Qian Feifei, who had helped carry her things up, shut the door, and turned on the tap. Rust-colored water trickled out at first; after a moment it cleared to a normal color.
She shut the tap, conjured a thin stream of water in her hand, and split it, one into two, two into four, then into finer streams, forming a makeshift shower that rinsed the whole bathroom. She set out the toiletries, undressed, and used her water-based ability to wash herself and clean her hair.
Her clothes were in the pickup. Just as she was about to dress, she glanced at her left arm. The stump was ugly; Lin Tantan didn't hate it, but she avoided looking at it. This time, on a sudden inspection, she realized... it seemed to have grown a little.
Is it... slowly growing back?
Lin Tantan measured it roughly and decided to keep an eye on it every day. She put on her clothes, summoned a small fireball in her hand, shaping and tempering it into a flat cap to quickly dry her short hair, then pulled on clean, waterproof boots and went downstairs.
Bai Cheng had already arrived; a pile of supplies sat on the sofa. He saw her and said, "Tantan, this quilt is for you."
There was one unopened set of bedding in a bag on the sofa; the rest were sleeping bags.
"I'll use a sleeping bag too," Lin Tantan said.
"It's fine, we have extra quilts. We're used to sleeping in sleeping bags. Girls deserve special care, otherwise Ye Xiao would be mad at me."
He teased, and the moment Lin Tantan heard it her heart began to pound. She slipped quietly to Bai Cheng's side and, while no one was looking, leaned in and said in a low, serious voice, "Brother Bai, I have absolutely no special relationship with Ye Xiao, cough, Captain Ye, really."
Bai Cheng's hand froze; he looked up in surprise. "What did you say?"
Lin Tantan thought he didn't believe her. Facing those piercing, all-seeing eyes made her feel enormous pressure, so she hurriedly made a sworn-gesture. "Really, really, there's absolutely no special relationship, only an innocent, platonic relationship between people." She finished with a heavy "hm" as if to give her words extra weight.
Bai Cheng was unusually puzzled. "What did Ye Xiao do to upset you?"
"No, no, that's not it." Lin Tantan quickly denied it three times. Bai Cheng was jealous, but fiercely protective, nobody could speak ill of Ye Xiao in front of him; that would be asking for trouble.
Bai Cheng thought for a moment, feeling he ought to worry about his friend's lifelong happiness. "Then why suddenly... I thought you and him got along quite well?"
Lin Tantan broke out in a sweat, was that sarcasm? A merciless sort of mockery? The worst part was Bai Cheng's expression; it looked so sincere, as though he were truly baffled.
Panicked, Lin Tantan looked around and dragged over Mei Baisheng. "I get along with everyone, best of all with Meimei, right Meimei? We're the closest!"
Mei Baisheng was still a little dazed; he looked at Lin Tantan blankly and nodded. "Yeah."
Bai Cheng glanced at Lin Tantan's overly earnest face, then at Mei Baisheng's bewildered but sincere nod. He squinted slightly. I can't help you this time, Ye Xiao, he thought, and nodded to show he understood.
Seeing that he seemed convinced, Lin Tantan breathed a sigh of relief, the crisis had passed. She remembered what the mixed-race young man at the gate had said earlier. Would people really think there was something between her and Ye Xiao? She decided she should keep her distance from him and avoid anything that could be misinterpreted.
So she spent the whole afternoon worrying about Ye Xiao but didn't dare ask. Bai Cheng hadn't stayed at the villa either; after a quick lunch he had gone out.
Lin Tantan wandered around the villa. Seeing everyone else had gone to nap and that she couldn't sleep, she called the mutant rats over, filled a basin with water, and bathed them one by one.
After their baths the mutant rats were clean, their fur fluffed out, and the smell was gone, at least they no longer looked filthy. Lin Tantan set up a big cardboard box in the corner of the living room, lined it with several blankets, and made it their nest.
Later, Xu Qin, Xu Li, and Zhong Xiong returned to rest. They said the convoy's lodging was being arranged and that by evening everyone should have a place to stay.
When Lin Tantan asked about Ye Xiao, they told her he had left the base and gone with the troops stationed there, probably with Xing Guoliang's group.
Lin Tantan frowned slightly. "I see."
So he did go. He should be okay, right?
The rain grew heavier that afternoon. Night fell, everyone returned and gathered, but Ye Xiao still hadn't come back.
Lin Tantan sat on the living-room sofa, idly playing games on her phone until after nine. Then she heard a car pull into the yard. She rushed to the door; two bright beams of light cut through the curtain of rain with startling clarity.
She hurried upstairs to the second floor; downstairs, two people had just come in, one was Bai Cheng, the other Ye Xiao.
Because power was limited, only a single small lamp was on in the living room. Lin Tantan squinted and finally made out that Ye Xiao looked far worse than he had by day, mostly just dirty; otherwise he seemed fine.
At that moment Ye Xiao looked up and seemed to lock eyes with Lin Tantan at once.
Lin Tantan: "..." How did he see her in this darkness at one glance?
She waved a hand. "You're back?"
Ye Xiao nodded. "Mm."
"Oh." Lin Tantan gave a dry one-syllable reply. "I'm going to bed then."
She went to her room and shut the door.
Ye Xiao, who had been waiting for her to ask something: "..."
The living room was silent, as if a cold wind had swept through.
"Pft." Bai Cheng couldn't help but laugh aloud. Ye Xiao glared at him, and Bai Cheng sobered up. "Seriously, what did you do to make everyone start avoiding you?"
Ye Xiao frowned. "What do you mean?"
"I mean, this afternoon she swore to me she had no relationship with you at all, and that she's closest to Meimei." Bai Cheng relayed Lin Tantan's words verbatim, no embellishment, but his schadenfreude was impossible to hide. Honestly, watching Ye Xiao squirm was kind of entertaining.
Ye Xiao's face darkened another shade and his brows drew even tighter. Bai Cheng patted his shoulder. "Come on, clean yourself up. Maybe it's just your appearance putting people off. By the way, the room next to hers has been kept for you."
Ye Xiao said nothing and went upstairs. When he finished tidying himself and came out, Lin Tantan's door remained firmly shut. He checked the time, it was late, so he stopped dwelling on it, ate a little, and went to bed.
The next day it was still storming. As Ye Xiao had predicted, many people were sick, coughs, colds, fevers. Lin Tantan didn't charge the others; for those who had worked hard yesterday she treated them free of charge.
So that morning she started her makeshift clinic.
Everyone was unusually idle; Ye Xiao stayed in the villa and didn't go out, and he watched from the side while Lin Tantan treated people.
Lin Tantan felt enormous pressure. She knew he wasn't watching her on purpose, but what if it was misunderstood again?
So she kept her head down, pretending not to notice anything.
Another one healed, Lin Tantan withdrew her hand. "Done."
The fellow still didn't want to leave. "Miss Lin, isn't this really a sign that I'm about to awaken a power?"
Lin Tantan told him matter-of-factly, "No, it's not."
He slunk off dejectedly. The next was Jiang Zhongyi, he had two wads of tissue stuffed in his nose and, muffled but excited, asked, "Sis, I feel congested, my head aches and I have a bit of a fever, my whole body is sore, do you think I'm about to awaken a power?"
Lin Tantan was speechless. Why were people so happy about getting sick? Although the rain was said to make zombies evolve and also cause some people to awaken powers, the odds were still pretty small.
Lin Tantan hooked a strap around Jiang Zhongyi's wrist, hesitated, and glanced at him.
Jiang Zhongyi looked expectant. "Well?"
Lin Tantan probed more carefully, withdrew her hand. "You probably already have a power."
"Ah? Really? What kind of power?"
Lin Tantan, "Why don't you try releasing it yourself?"
Jiang Zhongyi got so excited that the moment he let go, he unleashed a sea of flames.
Lin Tantan was sitting nearby, directly in the line of fire; she instinctively raised her hand to shield her face. A swift yet gentle gust brushed her cheek. When she opened her eyes she saw the chaotic flames wrapped by an invisible force into a fireball, which then fizzed out with a puff.
She froze for a moment, then realized the fire had been enveloped by wind-type powers, which sucked the air away and snuffed it out.
Ye Xiao came over and looked her over. "You didn't get burned, did you?"
Lin Tantan's eyes lit up. "Your power..." She wanted to say your ability had improved again, but remembering she needed to avoid giving the wrong impression, she quickly stifled her smile and shook her head solemnly, "It's fine, you didn't get burned."
Mei Baisheng happened to murmur, "Fire-type, I really want that."
Lin Tantan took the chance to sit closer and reassure him: "It's okay, your power is strong too."
Ye Xiao gave her a long look, then glanced at Mei Baisheng; his mouth tightened. When he turned to Jiang Zhongyi his gaze grew stern.
Jiang Zhongyi had no idea what was happening before he was... thrown out of the villa.