(This is the only chapter today)
The girl carefully poked her head out from under the lab bench, glanced at me, and only after confirming that I was alright did she proceed with the task from under the bench.
Just then, the monster outside slammed into the door again, making a loud bang.
"Ah!" The girl screamed in fright and hid under the table again.
I was alright, mentally prepared, and then said, "Shh, keep your voice down, it'll probably be gone in a bit."
The girl covered her mouth, afraid to make another sound.
After the monster rammed against the door twice, it seemed to be distracted by something else and then stopped moving.
We both breathed a sigh of relief.
I sat down against the door, looking at the girl hiding under the table. She looked vaguely familiar. After thinking for a moment, I asked, "Aren't you... Wu Shuang?"
Wu Shuang stared at me with wide eyes. She had short hair and looked quite cute. I knew her from a club activity I had seen her at school.
She nodded, pointed a pair of thin tweezers at me, and said, "Don't come any closer! I... I have a weapon!"
"Uh." I paused for a moment, leaned against the door, and said with a wry smile, "Don't worry, I wasn't bitten."
"I don't believe it! You have blood on you!" Wu Shuang pointed at my white coat with tweezers; the shoulders were covered in blood.
The blood was from when I carried Zhou Yang on my back. To prove my innocence, I took off my white coat and showed it to her by pulling up the fabric at my shoulders.
"I'm fine, you can see for yourself."
She actually leaned over and looked me over carefully. After confirming that I was alright, she didn't say anything.
My stomach started growling, and only then did I remember that I had come out to find food. In the end, not only did I not find any food, but I almost lost my life.
The feeling of hunger was unbearable; I had no strength left. I swallowed hard and asked, "Is there anything to eat?"
"No," Wu Shuang said decisively, her eyes darting away, avoiding my gaze, and then she clutched her chest.
"Is there anything to drink?"
No, not at all.
I closed my eyes, clutched my stomach, and leaned weakly against the door. Right now, I want to eat the steamed buns from the hospital cafeteria. Although the skin is thick, they have meat in them and can fill my stomach.
I can't take it anymore, the more I think about it, the hungrier I get.
Looking up, I realized that this was not just a lounge, but also a semi-abandoned laboratory.
A quick glance revealed the electric kettle on the table!
I jumped up from the ground. Wu Shuang saw my movement and thought I was going to do something. She held the tweezers and kept a watchful eye on me.
I picked up the kettle, weighed it in my hand, and found it was empty. So I plugged it into the tap and filled it with tap water. Just as I was about to look for the power base under the kettle, I looked around and found that there wasn't one in the room!
I was stunned.
How can it burn without electricity?
"Don't bother looking for it. The power base is outside. You can go get it if you want," Wu Shuang said, sitting under the table.
Holy crap!
I cursed inwardly. I definitely wouldn't dare go out. There's a monster in the lab outside. Only a fool would go out if I were crazy!
I swallowed hard, staring at the kettle. Was I supposed to just drink tap water?
Wu Shuang seemed to see through my intention and said, "If I were you, I definitely wouldn't dare to drink it. What if you turned into one of those monsters outside after drinking it?"
Her words made me hesitate. Of course, what if the tap water has already been contaminated?
But I'm so thirsty and hungry!
I swallowed again; I was so hungry my head was starting to spin.
I went around the room, searched all the cabinets, and found an alcohol lamp in one of the drawers! Not only that, there was also asbestos mesh, a tripod, and matches!
I stared wide-eyed, as if I saw a glimmer of hope.
I quickly took all these things out, lit the alcohol lamp with a match, then placed the tripod and asbestos mesh on it. After that, I picked up a beaker from the lab bench, filled it with tap water, and placed it on the asbestos mesh to start burning.
"What are you doing?" Wu Shuang asked after emerging from under the experimental platform.
"Boil some water!" I said. "Tap water is undrinkable, but boiled water is safe to drink, right?"
Wu Shuang stared at the beaker full of water and unconsciously swallowed.
I turned to look at her and found that her face was flushed, and she seemed a little embarrassed.
I gave a wry smile and said, "Wait until it boils before drinking."
"Mmm." She nodded, then swallowed, looking like she was also very thirsty.
Boiling water with an alcohol lamp is a very slow process, and even if it boils, you have to wait for it to cool down, otherwise you'll get burned!
For the first ten minutes, we kept staring at the beaker, but the most obvious sign was that some bubbles were rising from the bottom of the beaker, and it was still a long time before it boiled.
Left with no other choice, I could only wait. I waited for a full half hour, until it was dark, before the water finally boiled.
Steam started coming out of the beaker, which made us both very happy.
However, it will be a long time before we can get water.
It's still so hot, who could drink it?
Outside the south-facing window, the sky was already extremely dark, but the lights inside were still on. I was very grateful that the power hadn't gone out at this hour. If the power had gone out, the house would probably have been completely dark and I wouldn't have been able to see anything.
Another half hour passed, around 6:30 PM, and as I grew increasingly dizzy with hunger, the hot water in the beaker had almost cooled down.
I swallowed hard, then decisively picked up the beaker and took a sip.
The temperature is just right, neither too hot nor too cold.
At that moment, I saw Wu Shuang staring at me with pitiful eyes, his tongue constantly licking his lips, and his throat constantly swallowing saliva.
I blinked, and reluctantly handed her the hot water in my hand.
She was overjoyed and took the glass, drinking it down without a second thought, downing the entire half-glass of water in one go.
Before I could even finish saying "Hey, leave some for me...", she had already finished her drink.
After finishing the drink, she realized something was wrong. "Ah, yes, yes, I'm sorry, I, I finished it."
I swallowed the remaining water in my mouth, shook my head with a wry smile, and thought to myself, "It's a good thing I took a sip at the beginning, otherwise I would have died of thirst. It's okay, there's still water to boil."
As I spoke, I refilled the beaker with water and placed it on the asbestos mesh, watching the small flame of the alcohol lamp continuously burn the asbestos mesh.
Wu Shuang looked clearly embarrassed. She opened her mouth as if to say something, but in the end, she didn't say anything. Instead, she turned her back to me and started reaching into her clothes, as if she was taking something out.
A moment later, she pulled out a whole cookie, the kind with filling!
"Here you go." She placed the cookie in my hand, her eyes filled with apology. "I'm sorry about earlier. You were the one who boiled the water, but I drank it all. This is the only cookie I have left, so I'm giving it all to you."
(End of this chapter)
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