She's spoiled.
February 13th, the 30th day of the twelfth lunar month, the second day of the sixth nine-day period. In previous years, this time of year was around the beginning of spring, the coldest days of the year in Huaicheng, with the cold index even higher than the third and fourth nine-day periods. People relied entirely on heating, electric blankets, and padded pajamas to stay alive.
This year is different. Across the country, regardless of north or south, the daytime temperatures are uniformly tropical, while the nighttime temperatures are uniformly polarized, with a clear distinction between day and night. If you're only out for a short time, a short-sleeved shirt is enough, but if you can't return home at night, you'll need to bring a warm coat.
My backpack only contains a pair of thermal underwear and a down jacket, which I've been carrying everywhere lately. My home is too far to go back, and the campsite is just an occasional stopover; I'm out and about most of the time.
Around three o'clock in the afternoon, sitting behind a bunker made of trucks and sandbags, I gulped down several mouthfuls of water and tore open a packet of instant noodles, chewing them dry. Gunfire overhead and explosions dozens of meters away were incessant, and sometimes spent bullet casings would hit my shoulder, hurting my flesh.
Han Bo jumped down from the bunker, roughly snatched the water from my hand, and gulped it down. The skin on the back of his hands was as rough as tree bark, his face was covered in soot, his hair was a mess, and his old-fashioned shirt, worn for who knows how many days, was dirty and tattered, the round neck almost turning into a V-neck, hanging loosely on his body. If you replaced the submachine gun on his chest with a black plastic bag, he would look just like the old scavenger who used to pick up vegetable scraps at the Huafu Street market.
"Damn it, this wave is too big. We've been fighting for three hours and they're still surging forward. We haven't even advanced ten kilometers. When are we going to be able to get into the city?!"
I crunched on another unopened bag of instant noodles, making sure the noodles were mushy, then tore open the bag, thoughtfully poured in the seasoning, shook it a few times, and handed it to him: "You're getting more and more impatient. Half a month ago, you would play for a whole day at a time. It's only been three hours, what's the rush?"
Han Bo held up the bag and shoveled the contents into his mouth, chewing and talking, spewing crumbs everywhere: "I'm afraid Zhou Yi will beat me to it again. That kid doesn't use any tactics when he fights, he just relies on bombardment. He makes a gap and goes into the city first, without cleaning up the tail and left and right flanks. He still has the shamelessness to take credit, claiming that it was all taken by his team. How many times have I cleaned up his mess on the outskirts? I can't let him have his way anymore!"
Despite the filth and the dark complexion, Han Bo was in remarkably good spirits. His eyes shone brightly, gleaming with a fanatical light that had gradually solidified from prolonged periods of heightened excitement. Not only him, but all the dozens of men in the team showed signs of becoming fanatical zombie killers. After fighting for over a month, every day they had to set off upon waking, and engage in combat upon receiving orders. A small amount of time was spent in close combat, wielding machetes, but most of the time was spent repeatedly operating various guns and cannons. Even I was getting tired of it, but they weren't at all. They competed, vied for the right of way, openly and secretly rivaled their brothers, turning zombie killing into a game, their spirits rising with each battle.
We weren't the main force; like other survivor reserves, we were a guerrilla unit. Our main responsibility was to clear the outer perimeter, mop up the rear, prevent convergence, and eliminate small groups of zombies on the city's outskirts after the regular army's sweeping attack on the zombie horde. Of course, this "small" was only relative to the million-strong zombie horde; in reality, it was anything but small.
"Xiao Bo, do you know what day it is today?" I saw him swallowing hard and rolling his eyes, so I opened another bottle of water and handed it to him.
Han Bo replied without thinking, "I don't know. Is it your birthday? My birthday? Valentine's Day? Our local Valentine's Day? Or is it our 20-something-year anniversary?"
This is the aftereffect of having been in seven relationships; the moment a woman asks about the date, I reflexively highlight the important information.
I chuckled: "What birthday or anniversary? Today is February 13th, Lunar New Year's Eve. Tomorrow is Valentine's Day."
Han Bo hesitated for a while before saying, "This crazy weather makes it hard to tell summer from winter. It's the first time we've ever spent New Year's Eve in this sweltering heat. How about we block the roads tonight, retreat to camp, get some good stuff, and have a big celebration together?"
When the main force set off, my parents made it clear that they would not return home for the time being, but would stay in Jinyinshan to await our victorious return. Ninety percent of the men and forty percent of the women were approved to join the westward expedition through self-recommendation. That left behind only twenty or thirty elderly people and children, middle-aged women, and a few young and strong men.
With few men and poor combat effectiveness, I was worried about their safety and was trying to figure out a solution when Feng Huo sent six guards up the mountain to keep watch. At that time, Yu Zhongjian had already been with General Shen for two days, and we hadn't yet coordinated with the base. It couldn't have been anyone else who handled this matter.
My second uncle and Binbin went to the Wolf Smoke Base, and Base Chief Hu quickly approved an additional ton of medical supplies on top of the original compensation. We got all the approvals, but the supplies couldn't be transported until we returned.
On New Year's Eve, my family members went their separate ways. We didn't realize how much we missed each other when we were together, but we felt a pang of longing when we were apart. They were worried about me, and I was worried about them too.
"Let's go!" I finished the last sip of water in the bottle, stood up, grabbed my gun, and said, "Give them a good thrashing, then we'll go home for the New Year!"
Running zombies now make up the majority of the horde, a higher proportion than a few months ago. This group of wild zombies gathers quickly and in large numbers, one after another, making it difficult to finish them off quickly. We fought from summer daylight to winter night, with corpses scattered everywhere. Several team members who weren't wearing thick clothing were getting a little clumsy wielding machine guns before we finally managed to disperse the core of the horde.
Back at their campsite tent, located about twenty miles away beside a hill, Ma Li and the girl named Bai Xueying busied themselves adding clothes and blankets for everyone. Warming themselves by the fire gradually warmed their hearts. The promise of a good meal on New Year's Eve meant they wouldn't have to rely on dry rations anymore. Two large pots of instant noodles were cooked, along with several cans of meat. The twenty male team members and four female team members huddled together in two groups, enjoying the noodles and soup with apparent satisfaction.
No one mentioned the New Year much, and I didn't either. We should have exchanged auspicious greetings, but I felt that no blessing was quite appropriate for the current situation.
Ma Li squatted next to me, slurping noodles from a small iron bowl. After more than a month of living with the army, the beauty's skin had become much rougher, and her demeanor was no longer as charming and graceful as before. While eating, she nudged my arm and said, "Hey Da Feng, let me go up and fire a couple of rounds tomorrow."
"What's the use of asking me? Ask the squad leader."
Ma Li looked at Han Bo, who had a stern face: "If you leave, who will prepare the meals? Who will guard the camp's supplies?"
Ma Li pointed at Bai Xueying: "Xiao Bai, and Xiao Cui too."
The two girls protested: "If we're going to go, we should go together. Why should you go to the front lines while we two stay behind?"
“Because I’m old!” Ma Li said without stopping her eating. “You young people will have plenty of opportunities in the future. Every day I kill is one less day I have left.”
Bai Xueying shouted, "You're kidding me! You're not even thirty yet! I've only ever seen people who act old and act superior, never those who pretend to be old!"
Everyone laughed and chatted, thoroughly enjoying watching the three girls bicker. The large tent finally had a festive atmosphere.
I quickly gulped down the noodle soup, got up, put on my down jacket, and went out to relieve the two sentries who came in for lunch. Alone, carrying my gun, I patrolled the cold, windswept fields from south to north, around the tents. A special New Year, a special way to stay up all night; how happy everyone would be if we could have dumplings on New Year's Day morning!
Han Bo, holding a walkie-talkie, lifted the curtain and said, "Where's Dafeng? Gao Chen is coming."
As soon as he finished speaking, two headlights swept over from a distance, and soon a brand-new military jeep drove up to the tent and stopped. Gao Chen opened the door and jumped out: "Han Bo, where's Ai Feng? I just received the airdrop today, so I brought it over to you."
My mood immediately soured when I saw the vehicle. I slowly walked out from the side of the tent and said, "You're here?"
Gao Chen and Han Bo were busy unloading things from the trunk, while the black figure in the passenger seat seemed to be permanently rooted to the spot, not moving an inch. I walked over and knocked on the window, but the figure ignored me. I then turned to the driver's seat, opened the door, and said directly, "Get out. It's New Year's Eve today. Come in and have some soup to warm up."
The shadowy figure snorted and turned its head to the side.
I tapped the car frame with the barrel of my gun: "Hey, you're not fair. Gao Chen lied to you too, so why are you always so hostile towards me? Didn't you say you were going to scold him back then? You gave him a new car, you gave him men, and you're still lingering on the western front. What are you trying to do?"
The shadowy figure said coldly, "Do I need to report to you what I want to do? Who do you think you are!"
“I am Gao Chen, the deputy commander of my battalion. I have the right to question any shady or unsavory people who come to our unit!”
"You're the one who's disreputable!" the shadowy figure roared, turning to point at my nose. "Don't mess with me, I'm telling you, we still have a score to settle after the Western Front is over!"
I got angry too: "If you don't count, you're a coward! And don't even bother finishing the Western Front, let's settle this now. Come on, get down here, let's see what kind of score you're going to settle with me, and how you're going to settle it!"
"You know perfectly well what you're doing! You're a liar!"
Before my blood rushed to my head, I managed to maintain a semblance of rationality: "I apologized and explained to you a month ago, and you didn't say a word back then, so I took that as acceptance. You came here with five people without telling anyone, and you were surrounded by zombies under the railway bridge, crying and begging for help but no one paid any attention. If my teammates and I hadn't happened to pass by and saved you, you'd still be here causing trouble, always being sarcastic and sarcastic to me. How many times have I put up with you? Do I owe you a favor for life? We're even now, let me tell you, if you keep messing around with me, I won't hold back!"
The dark figure shrieked, "You call that an apology? That's coercion! You forced me to accept it in front of the base commander and Gao Chen. I didn't say anything because I was giving the base commander face! You used me, lied to my sister, and had an ambiguous relationship with Gao Chen while pretending to be his cousin. You think you can just wipe the slate clean? Not so easy! My sister won't let you get away with this, you shameless trash, liar, and scoundrel!"
Alright, the shadowy figure successfully wore down my last bit of patience and rationality. Without saying a word, I lunged from the driver's seat, grabbed her arm, and forcefully dragged her out.
"Ah! Ah! Gao Chen, help! Murder!"
"What's wrong? What happened?"
Many team members came out of the tent carrying bowls, but apart from Gao Chen, no one came to break up the fight. When he tried to pull me away, I shoved him aside: "This is none of your business! Get out of here! I've had enough! Today I'm going to teach her a lesson in how to speak like a human being!"
I had already pulled half of the shadowy figure out of the water. Ignoring whether it would attract zombies, she screamed with all her might, kicking her legs wildly but unable to break free from my grip. In desperation, she opened her jaws and bit down hard on my hand.
"Holy crap!" I loosened my grip with my right hand and grabbed her hair with my left, prying her head up.
A sharp pain shot through my hand, I could clearly feel the skin and flesh breaking open, like a needle piercing through the skin. She was biting down hard with the intention of tearing a chunk of flesh off me—that wretched woman!
Gao Chen's persuasion couldn't stop my rage. I didn't want to be too rough with her; I thought I'd just drag her out and kick her a couple of times and be done with it. But now, no matter who tells me to let it go, I won't listen!
Once I grabbed her hair, she stopped causing trouble. I dragged her to the ground with a jolt, stomped on her butt twice, flipped her over, and raised my hand to slap her apple-shaped face, which looked like it was about to explode with terror.
The arm was stopped halfway, and as expected, it was Gao Chen: "Don't do this, Ai Feng."
Han Bomali and several teammates stood at the door watching the commotion, laughing as they watched, but still showed no intention of stepping forward to mediate.
"She bit me!" I cursed. "This idiot must have rabies! I haven't even done anything to her yet, and she bites a hole in my hand!"
Gao Chen took my hand and looked at it. "It's bleeding. Go get it bandaged up."
"No, I need to beat her up first."
“She’s spoiled and never thinks before she speaks. I’m making her apologize to you.”
I remained silent for a while, then relaxed slightly. "Ever since you remembered who she was, you've been constantly looking for excuses for her."
Since Xiao Qing arrived at the western front, she's done only one thing every day: pester Gao Chen. Except when she's on the front lines killing zombies, Gao Chen always has a human-shaped ornament by his side when they return to the base. She brought two brand-new jeeps, several boxes of awesome SIG MPX submachine guns, and some fruit stored in the car refrigerator specifically for Gao Chen's personal enjoyment. Han Bo and Zhou Yi even managed to get a couple of apples, but I didn't get anything—she always gives me a hard time and is always ready to say something nasty; I've been putting up with it for a long time.
Originally, the guerrilla brigade wasn't divided into groups; everyone stayed together. So I saw them together every day. A common scene was Gao Chen doing his own thing while Xiao Qing chattered on and on about nonsense. If Gao Chen told her to leave, she would cry; if he ignored her, she wouldn't give up, maintaining her relentless, high-level persistence. The words I used to say about Gao Chen being heartless and cruel were like an illusion, an illusion I heard alone.
Not long ago, Gao Chen's amnesia made a breakthrough; he remembered more and more of his past, including Xiao Qing. On the surface, nothing seemed to have changed, but because I was always secretly observing them, I could sense that his attitude towards Xiao Qing was no longer the polite, compensatory kind it used to be; it had become much more casual and distant. At the time, I felt this wasn't a good thing.
As I expected, when Xiao Qing spoke rudely to me again and I was about to hit her, Gao Chen stopped me. He said these words: "Don't bother with her, she's spoiled."
I've been wondering if Gao Chen was telling himself the same thing when he received Xiao Qing's breakup text, which is why he didn't take the breakup to heart at all.
Xiao Qing clung to me like a drowning man grasping at a straw, desperately pulling my hand away and struggling to crawl toward him. "Gao Chen, she wants to kill me, she wants to kill me."
I spread out my right hand: "You still have the nerve to say that? Look what you did to my hand! If I wanted to kill you, you wouldn't even be able to get out of the car before you kicked the bucket!"
Gao Chen pulled her up: "Apologize."
"No, she attacked first."
"Apologize!" Gao Chen said, slightly angry.
"No!" Xiao Qing refused stubbornly.
"Alright, when the next transport team comes, you can go back to the capital with them. Don't cause trouble here."
Xiao Qing rubbed her head, sobbing, "I'm not going back. If I go back, this woman will start plotting against you."
I looked up at the night sky for a while, and suddenly all the anger in my heart vanished. The universe is vast, the sky is boundless, the world is so big, and the zombies are so numerous. There are so many things I need to do and so many things I can do. Why waste time and energy on these trivial emotions?
Without a word, I walked back to the tent, clutching my right hand. Xiao Cui quickly found some bandages for me. Xiao Qing was still crying outside. After a long while, the car started, and the annoying noise finally disappeared.
Han Bo came in and said, "Gao Chen wanted to come and see your injury, but that woman wouldn't let go of him. She was practically throwing a tantrum. You're good at fighting, but when it comes to chasing men, you're not in her league. If Gao Chen doesn't step up, you're in trouble."
Anyway, it's New Year's Eve today, so Han Bo and I volunteered to take the night watch so everyone could relax and rest. I chased him away three times in the past two hours, trying to find a more introverted teammate to stand guard with, but his mouth just kept running like crazy, talking about Gao Chen, talking about Xiao Qing, analyzing the causes and dissecting his inner thoughts, babbling on and on for two hours straight.
I walked around and around, my face numb, carrying the emergency light. Eventually, all I could hear was the buzzing of mosquitoes; I couldn't make out a single word of what was being said.
"Hey, there's a car!" Han Bo paused and tugged at me.
It was past midnight, the night was dark and the stars were few. Even the slightest light in the wilderness was very clear. We saw another jeep appear on the slope. Judging from the brightness of its headlights, it didn't seem like the new car that Xiao Qing had brought.
Who is this?
The car quickly arrived, and as soon as the engine was turned off, an unfamiliar man in military uniform jumped out, carrying a large wooden box. He asked, "Are you Captain Qi from the Huaicheng Detachment?"
I went up to him and said, "Yes, that's me. And who are you?"
The man said, "I am a member of the Beacon Fire Commando Team. This is something our Captain Yu asked me to deliver. Please accept it."
It turned out that Yu Zhongjian, who was at the forefront of the zombie extermination effort over 200 kilometers away, had sent someone to deliver supplies. I stepped forward and took the wooden crate; it was heavy. "What is it? Supplies?"
"Captain Yu said, please eat it while it's hot, it won't taste good when it's cold."
Huh? Han Bo and I were puzzled. They brought us food, and it was hot, too?
After handing over the box, the man turned and drove away. I put the box on the ground, opened the wooden lid, and there was another small wooden box inside. I took it out, opened the lid again, and there was another one inside... After unsealing three layers, I finally saw an old-fashioned iron lunchbox wrapped tightly in a small cotton blanket.
A note was stuck to the lid of the box that read "Happy New Year".
Han Bo opened the lunchbox and eagerly shone a lamp on it. Ten frozen dumplings were neatly arranged, dry and without a trace of warmth.
"Ouch!" Han Bo excitedly swung his hazard light, almost hitting my head. "Over 200 kilometers! Strong winds! You wouldn't believe me if I told you you were blind, but look! This is your spring!"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
