CH 8

Chapter 8: Qingqing, don’t be afraid

The dense forest was dark and damp, the tall trees blocking all the light. White fog filled the air and the frosty cold condensed water dripped down the branches and leaves. Bai Qingqing opened her eyes and felt severe pain all over her body. She wasn’t sure if her bones were broken or not and could only vaguely remember the scene when she had been blown into the air because of Shen Mingxuan.

She tilted her head and noticed a man lying not far away. She was unable to figure who it was in the dim light but was hoping it wasn’t Shen Mingxuan; the man loathed her so much, she wasn’t sure she would be able to survive if it were to be him.

She lay down for a while more, and after gathering some strength, she got up to check on the man. With the small amount of light falling from between the leaves, she was finally able to clearly see his face: the tall nose, the features so beautiful it was difficult to look away. Bai Qingqing was slightly startled, she had not expected the man would be Fu Chen. With his ruthless and peculiar temperament, how could he disregard life or death dangers to save her?

Bai Qingqing knelt beside him and patted his face with her uninjured hand.

“Fu Chen, wake up. Wake up…”

She had a task given to her by the system and prayed Fu Chen wouldn’t die just like that. His camo uniform was stained with blood and he was unconscious. His face was abnormally flushed and he looked seriously injured. Bai Qingqing frowned, put her hand on his forehead to check his temperature, and realized it was far hotter than normal. She wasn’t sure whether fever could be deadly for gifted people, but she could not leave him alone.

She glanced around her but was unable to tell where she was. Nonetheless, she really needed to bring Fu Chen out of this forest, she didn’t know how many dangerous plants and beasts resided here, not to mention eventual zombies.

She had never tried to use her second ability since she had transmigrated and thought it was worth a shot during this crisis. She got up and approached a tree, checked if there was anything weird about it, and tried to put her hand against the trunk to feel it.

This tree seemed ordinary and did not convey anything useful to her. But when she turned around, she faced a shocking scene: a vine had wrapped itself around Fu Chen’s leg and was dragging him away.

She didn’t know how long it took before the plant finally stopped. Bai Qingqing looked up at the source; it was a mutated plant from the early stages of the apocalypse, a breed that far exceeded human knowledge. It looked rather similar to a cartoon monster from her former world, with its vines tightly wrapped around the two of them.

Bai Qingqing noticed there were lots of animal bones around it and even saw a human skull. She could guess those were undigested and spat out leftovers of the mutant plant. She didn’t know what level this thing was or which level she could actually control currently, but if she didn’t try anything, Fu Che and her would soon become dinner.

She took a deep breath and stretched out her hand to hold the vine, opening her mind. The mutant plant sensed the invasion; it frantically struggled for a while and roared. When it realized Bai Qingqing was the intruder, a vine wrapped around her white neck and tightened. The girl’s breathing became more and more difficult, her face was pale and her eyebrows twisted in pain and concentration as she continued to use her power.

She guessed this mutant plant was either of the second-order or higher. After a few minutes of stalemate where she didn’t get control, she could hardly breathe anymore.

“Crack.”

Lightning exploded and the plant let out a terrible roar as its vines suddenly loosened. Bai Qingqing coughed violently and stared at Fu Chen in front of her.

“Qingqing, don’t be afraid.” Fu Chen protected her with one hand and waved more lighting towards the monster with the other. Bai Qingqing was in his embrace and asked eagerly: “Brother! How are you feeling? Are you better?”

Fu Chen endured the pain and discomfort of his body, his low voice a little hoarse, and answered: “I’m fine. I just need to rest for a bit…”

His tone was unusually gentle and he fainted again before he could finish his sentence. His face was very pale and he was in a terrible condition. Bai Qingqing could feel tears gather in her eyes; she gritted her teeth, got up, and checked his temperature one more time: it was even hotter than before. 

Rustling sounds were heard and Bai Qingqin raised her head to look over; there was a small purple plant that was trying to escape.

“Chirp, chirp!” Let me go!

The purple plant actually talked, it was another mutant plant. Bai Qingqing stared in amazement at the chirping red root gromwell1 and used her ability on it to find out more about their current situation. It turned out that as long as they walked out of this forest, they would find a man-made road. After two kilometers, they would find a mountain village and it would take ordinary people about an hour to get out of there. Unfortunately, if people weren’t familiar with the mountains, it was easy to get lost in the fog and encounter many dangers.

Bai Qingqing looked at Fu Chen who was still unconscious on the ground. If she had to carry him on her back, it would take her easily two or three hours before she could find the way out of there. She used a rope to tie the chirping plant to her side and took medicine from her space to do some simple first aid on Fu Chen’s wound. It was a little troublesome and she endured the embarrassment as she gave her first kiss, prying open his mouth with hers and feeding him the medicine. Fu Chen was still resisting in his coma and she failed the first time; she pinched fiercely his chin the second time and pressed her hand on his delicate jaw to prevent him from spitting it out. After giving him the medicine, she laid on his chest and exhaled deeply. She had never thought she would ever experience such a ridiculous situation, but she had to do everything that was in her power to save this fake brother of hers.

The purple plant was forced to lead the way and Bai Qingqing reluctantly lifted Fu Chen’s tall body and carried him on her back, step by step and carefully, in the direction on the road.

As time passed away bit by bit, the sun broke through the white fog and the forest finally became a little brighter. Bai Qingqing walked for half an hour before throwing Fu Chen aside with exhaustion and falling on the ground, out of breath. She didn’t care whether it was dirty or not, she just wanted to make it out of the forest as fast as she could. She really did not want to die there, but felt very tired; she decided to rest a little before getting on the move again and closed her eyes.

When she opened them again, Bai Qingqing was the one being carried on someone else’s back and she woke up at once. Noticing her movements, the man said in a low voice: “You’re awake.”

Bai Qingqing had not planned on taking a nap, she had just wanted to rest for a little bit. She hugged the man’s neck, her voice somewhat happy: “Brother, you’re okay.”

“Um.” Fu Chen sounded gentler and he added, “I will take you out of here in a minute.”

“I trust you, brother.” Bai Qingqing obediently laid back on his back.

***

Fu Chen’s family had not been a happy one. His father had been extremely strict and his mother had been indifferent; he hadn’t grown up surrounded by love and the emotion was very foreign to him.

Because of his gloomy personality, he also had very few friends. Someone had once tried to enter his world but Fu Chen had later realized it had only been a facade to grab the benefits of his family’s background. His vengeance had been rather terrible.

Since then, his reputation had been one of a lonely freak and had spread to both adults and children; they had looked at him with judging and disgusted eyes as if his whole existence had been a mistake. He had thought that it had not mattered and had decided to stay by himself, ignoring the weird gazes and harsh taunts he could receive. But perhaps his heart had not entirely gone cold or the least he had gotten, the more he had wanted to obtain.

When the world had come, he had met several people on the way. Xiao Yang, Liang Zhiyu, Shen Mingxuan, and Cheng Rui had all become his teammates and subordinates. They had fought together side by side and had swept zombies as a team to establish a base. It hadn’t been until later when they had been torn apart over Bai Tiantian that his team had fractured.

He had wanted to build a new world with them during this apocalypse but each of them had become more and more desperate for Bai Tiantian’s attention, only to be killed by the Zombie Emperor. He knew they would become particularly strong later but only by not losing their minds over Bai Tiantian would they survive.

After being reborn, his first objective had been to stay away from Bai Tiantian and he had originally only been using Bai Qingqing as a shield, to control the unworldly infatuation. What he had not expected were all the surprises she brought with her.

Fu Chen walked in the forest with the girl on his back, listening to her shallow breathing. His expression was gloomy as usual but a strange feeling spread in his heart. As he walked, he thought of the slender girl who had carried him on her back for a long time. She probably really saw him as her dependable brother and although it may only be amnesia, she treated him so wholeheartedly he couldn’t help but feel a little happy about it. In the future, he would treat her as his precious little sister, spoil her and protect her well during this apocalypse.

The light bathed the two figures in perfect harmony. Fu Chen picked up the pace, Bai Qingqing still on his back. He had not encountered any danger on the way and was only a few hundreds of meters away from the road.

When they finally made it out, they both let out a deep breath. As long as they were alive, they would find a way to meet their teammates again.

Fu Chen turned his head slightly and asked gently: “Are you in any pain?”

Bai Qingqing mistakenly thought he didn’t want to carry her anymore and quickly tried to get off.

“No, brother. I’m fine, I can walk.”

Fu Chen put her down, holding her slender arm, and asked again: “Really no pain?”

She had originally been injured and although he had tried his best to protect her when she had fallen down the mountain, she was still soft and delicate. It was highly possible she had been more hurt.

Bai Qingqing shook her head: “Really.” She looked into the distance, pointing in one direction, “There is a mountain village there, let’s go.”

Fu Chen stared at where she pointed, his expression dark. No wonder he had found the surroundings familiar, it turned out to be near Zhou Village, which he had experienced in his first life.

After they had saved the three women from Zhang Qiang’s team, the Thunder Squad had reached this village and the whole team had been very close to death because of these girls. But because both Bai Qingqing and he had disappeared, he guessed his team had gone there, just as they had gone before.

Fu Chen took Bai Qingqing’s hand and said in a low voice: “Don’t wander around after entering the village and follow me closely.”