Chapter 56

A steaming bowl of noodles was set down, topped with a slightly misshapen fried egg.
They'd used the pork-bone broth straight from the packet with no other seasonings, and it tasted very good, but Lin Tantan ate with her mind elsewhere.
She stole a glance at Ye Xiao, then another, so he hadn't developed some other romantic interest in her; he was sulking like a schoolkid, craving attention because he'd been ignored?
Lin Tantan found it strange. Would Ye Xiao really be that sort of person?
Yet compared with the idea of him "falling for someone else," this explanation made more sense to her.
Torn inside, part of her still felt something was off, while another part thought it was probably that simple. Moving out was completely unnecessary, he was just being particularly concerned because she's a woman, disabled, and owes Mei Baisheng her life. Besides, he's the team leader; not telling him things and only telling Bai Cheng did seem slightly improper.
And if he considered her a friend, her behavior did look like deliberate distance, it would hurt.
Lin Tantan ran the thoughts around and around, eyes darting. Ye Xiao watched it all clearly, amused and helpless, like someone watching a large snail with exquisitely sensitive antennae: at the slightest sign of his goodwill she retreated into her shell; when he stepped away a little she would slowly poke her head out. He wanted to be straightforward, yet the tiniest hint had already scared her into wanting to pack up and run.
Was he really that terrifying?
Left with no choice, he fell into a long silence. Since she disliked that approach, he'd have to try a different tactic; giving up was impossible, he'd proceed slowly and steadily.
In fact, if not for her evasiveness and that kid named Xu Tianjin showing up, he wouldn't be so anxious.
He lowered his eyes and then said naturally, "Do you remember Zhou Yan?"
"Huh?"
"Weren't you trying to find him? He's here at the base now, and I even checked into his situation. Want to hear about it?"
Xu Tianjin had said some things about Zhou Yan, but he didn't know much. Lin Tantan sat up straighter and said, "Tell me."
Ye Xiao smiled, "Eat, listen while you eat."
"Before the apocalypse, Zhou Yan ran a company in Ning City. When the end came, in the first few days he brought his surviving employees to the base. He's good at socializing and did well there. After linking up with Zhou Li, the brothers combined their forces, gained bargaining power, and threw in with the military."
Ye Xiao paused. "Not Lu Jianping, but another military faction. Their leader was aligned with my former superior. Though they lost out in the fight to be the base's top leader, their overall strength wasn't much weaker than Lu Jianping's. Zhou Li handed Xu Meijuan and her daughter over to them as a sort of pledge of allegiance, and that helped him secure a foothold."
Lin Tantan blinked and swallowed a mouthful of noodles. "Xu Meijuan? Oh, I remember." She was one of the four rescue targets Ye Xiao's team had; Zhou Li had rescued the mother and daughter first. Lin Tantan had seen her from afar during the migration, quite beautiful, a mature, striking kind of beauty.
At the time she had thought: rumor had it Zhou Li's rise had something to do with a woman who had ties to the military. Seeing Xu Meijuan sparked a rush of wild imaginings in her head, things like they cuckolded Xu Meijuan's ex, colluded inside and out to seize power, and so on.
She hadn't expected it to be like that.
She suddenly thought, "What about Old Mr. Xu and those two scientists...?"
"They went there too."
"So you didn't get any reward?" If Zhou Li had secured a position in the military with a single rescue target, Ye Xiao had two.
Ye Xiao: "Cai Chengliang is still in our custody."
Alright, understood.
Ye Xiao continued, "Zhou Li's a big name over there now, and Zhou Yan's risen with him. If you have an old grudge with him, don't act rashly."
Lin Tantan asked, "What if I insist on killing him?"
Ye Xiao looked at her for a moment, then considered, "If it's just about killing him, that's actually simple. He always has plenty of people around, but he's not an important figure, assassinating him wouldn't be hard." He was silent a moment, then, "I'll help you."
Lin Tantan's heart fluttered. "You don't ask why I want to do it. What if I simply want to kill him and he's completely innocent?"
"I don't know the grudge between you two, but I don't think you're someone who can't tell right from wrong. If someone made you want to kill them, there must be a reason. Of course, if you want to tell me, I'm willing to listen."
Lin Tantan bowed her head, stirring the nearly finished broth of her noodles. She thought, No, I can't say it. Zhou Yan and I have never met; in this era he has done nothing that harmed me.
He only... treated you unfairly.
He plainly stepped into the gap you left, took up your banner to rally the people and become president, and once he had secured that seat, he erased all record of your deeds.
The Zhou family, generation after generation, monopolized the new nation, propping up their one-man rule, quietly and tirelessly diminishing the contributions of other survivors from the apocalypse. As the foremost among them, you, your images, writings, recordings, all your materials were almost completely destroyed.
After the New Era, by the third and fourth generations, almost no one knew you had ever existed, and no one remembered everything you had sacrificed for this world.
If, if it weren't for rival politicians in the Zhou faction trying to bring them down and igniting an archaeological craze, who would have known that there had once been someone named Ye Xiao in the apocalypse? Who would have known your loves and hates, your joys and sorrows, your life-and-death grudges?
Every time Lin Tantan thought of this she felt terribly sad, and she grew to loathe Zhou Yan and his descendants.
Especially after she actually met Ye Xiao, that disgust sank into her bones so deep and fierce she wanted to kill Zhou Yan outright to prevent any future trouble.
But to act so directly, she now hesitated. She needed to figure out why the apocalypse was accelerating. If the changes she made caused a butterfly effect, Zhou Yan is the future president, who knew what would happen if she killed him.
No matter what, she didn't want to drag Ye Xiao into it.
Lin Tantan looked up and said, "You don't need to worry about this. It's just a small personal grudge, I can handle it myself. But thank you for telling me."
Ye Xiao watched her for a long moment. "All right. If you need help, tell me."
Lin Tantan smiled. "Okay." A person who had once vanished from history was sitting right in front of her now, and she felt a flash of joy.
...
While they were talking about Zhou Yan, Zhou Yan was talking about the two of them.
"That Xu Tianjin really went to find that Lin Tantan and then didn't come back?" Zhou Yan frowned.
The man being questioned hurriedly said, "Our people didn't dare follow too closely, but Xu Tianjin did go after them. We meant to look for him tonight, but it seems he's now living with a number of people."
"Are you sure Xu Tianjin didn't know Lin Tantan before?"
"He probably didn't. Xu Tianjin was born in Ning City and never left; his life has been very simple, he's never come into contact with anyone named Lin Tantian... Oh, right, her old name was Lin Tantan. I don't know why she changed it; the base records list the current name." The man added, "But it's hard to trace her past now. It's also possible they met online."
Zhou Yan was irritated, this was all useless chatter!
But one thing he was sure of: this Xu Tianjin was suspicious. Many small habits were completely different from the Xu Tianjin he remembered. Zhou Yan had a gut feeling he couldn't let the man go. And someone who would sneak around and stake out for days just to meet Lin Tantan was not to be underestimated.
At that moment Zhou Li returned. Zhou Yan made a show of being dutiful: "Bro, what did Major General Li want to talk to you about? Why so late?"
Zhou Li didn't guard himself against his brother, not out of warm brotherly love, but because he saw Zhou Yan as weak. As long as Zhou Yan wasn't completely stupid, he'd realize who was good for him and follow, so Zhou Li felt confident.
He said, "Tomorrow we leave the base to grab supplies."
"Leave the base? Although the rain has mostly stopped, aren't there still a lot of zombies out there?"
"There are, but not many. Precisely because others don't dare go out, we must." Zhou Li sat down and squinted. "This rain has lasted more than half a month. Do you know how many people have starved? Everyone is pressuring Lu Jianping to distribute relief grain to ordinary people, but where would Lu Jianping find spare grain? Whoever can hand out relief now, even if it's only a few grains per person, will be able to win people's hearts."
"So what's tomorrow's target?"
"The granary."
Zhou Yan thought, "Ning City only has one granary left unopened, right? I remember it's far from here."
"Water far away won't put out a nearby fire, so the granary must be taken. But it's also a decoy, the primary target is the supply trucks."
"Supply trucks?" Zhou Yan was about to ask where these trucks came from, then remembered something and pointed to the east, toward the villa district. "Those over there?"
Zhou Li nodded. Although those supply trucks had originally been abandoned by a convoy on Bai Cheng's orders, they still bore the Yang City insignia; they might as well be the private property of Ye Xiao and Bai Cheng's group. Messing with them would be an open provocation, but this wasn't something he could refuse.
First, he knew exactly where the trucks had been left. Second, although he had some standing before Major General Li, he hadn't yet done anything to prove himself, this was his first chance to perform, and he couldn't turn it down.
In any case, Ye Xiao was someone you couldn't befriend. If offending him was necessary, so be it; it was a choice that had to be made.
He said, "Go call the brothers. We leave at first light."
Almost before long, in the villa, Bai Cheng received the news and immediately knocked on Ye Xiao's door.
Lin Tantan had eaten her fill and couldn't sleep. She paced to help digest for a long while before lying down, and she vaguely heard some noise next door, a knock, a door opening, and what sounded like voices?
She hadn't planned to pay it any mind, but she remembered that when she once opened her door and went downstairs, Ye Xiao next door had heard and assumed she was out scavenging and had even come down to check, so attentive. Now that it was his turn, how could she show no response?
She checked the time, well into the night. There must be something going on. She got up, intending to take a look.
The door opened. A few steps in, Ye Xiao's room was lit. Bai Cheng stood in the doorway, Ye Xiao directly opposite him, one hand still on the edge of the door, apparently he'd opened it and was standing there talking. Both were in their sleepwear; Ye Xiao's chest showed a little more skin than necessary, his hair a touch messy, he looked like he'd just been woken.
Lin Tantan: "…" Her jaw dropped open.
For a moment a line of text flashed through her mind: Bai Cheng knocked on Ye Xiao's door at midnight XXXXXX
The rest, thirty thousand words of filler and smut, omitted. All the racy fanfic she'd ever read washed over her like a tide.
Bai Cheng turned, saw her and smiled, "Tantan, did I wake you?"
Ye Xiao's brow had been slightly furrowed, but it smoothed when he saw her. "You're still up so late?"
Lin Tantan shut her mouth and, keeping a composed face, said, "Mm, just out for a walk. I'll go back now, you guys… keep chatting."
She turned, went back to her room, and slammed the door.
Then came a silent scream: ahhh, this is so thrilling! Wait, hang on, wasn't Ye Xiao frowning just now? He looked troubled, even reluctant. Ahhh, what a dense, hopelessly unromantic guy!
Ye Xiao raised an eyebrow. Had she been awkward, acting odd and clumsy, with a strange expression? He glanced at himself out of habit, straightened his collar with his hand. Hmm, seems he found the reason.