Chapter 77 A Glossy Golden Retriever
Zhan Wenyuan's eyes were red with emotion.
"Yamaran-kun, it really is you! Thanks to you, my boyfriend and I were able to get back home safely to Zone 1. You saved our lives, sob sob..."
I thought we'd never meet again after the apocalypse, but you became a big celebrity, and I often see news about you. Knowing you're doing well is enough.
Zhan Wenyuan and her boyfriend were classmates who went to the 4th District University to participate in the competition with Shan Ran.
At the time, they were feverish and unconscious. Some people even advocated against taking unconscious people with them, not only because they were worried that they would spread the virus, but also because they were worried that carrying these people on the road would be a burden.
It was only after Shan Ran insisted and guaranteed that they would not spread the virus that everyone agreed to take the person with the fever along.
Neither of Zhan Wenyuan's parents had a fever. They walked together to the bus stop and took their unconscious daughter home.
After waking up, she thanked Shanran in the group chat, but Shanran was too busy to check her phone at that time, and the message was quickly scrolled away.
After the apocalypse, Zhan Wenyuan and her boyfriend struggled to survive with their parents. They also gathered with several classmates who had returned from Zone 1. Finally, the safe zone was established, and they settled down in a house in the outer city, where they formed their own team.
Once life settled down a bit and I came to my senses, when I heard news of Shan Ran again, she was already a distant and unattainable figure.
However, the two were not familiar with each other before the apocalypse. To be precise, Shanran was not very familiar with anyone in the class.
Oh, no, except for Rong Shuyao.
But after the apocalypse, there was no news of Rong Shuyao, and Zhan Wenyuan believed that she must be dead.
Zhan Wenyuan's emotions came and went quickly; she cried for a short while before bursting into laughter.
“I almost didn’t recognize you,” Shan Ran said, her expression indescribable. “I remember you didn’t dress like this in class before.”
Zhan Wenyuan looked down at herself, then smiled awkwardly, "I... I've always liked this kind of outfit, but I've always had to be well-behaved at school since I was little."
When I woke up, I saw a post saying the apocalypse was coming, so I got a perm and a tattoo. I decided to be completely myself in my last few days, but I never imagined I'd actually survive until now.
"By the way, Xiaolan and the others are upstairs. They all came back together. After the apocalypse, we survived together. Hey, we actually survived until now! I originally wanted to name it the Survival Team, but Brother Long said it sounded too much like Dog Pillar, so I changed it to the Brave Team."
"Dad! Mom! Grandma! Xiaolan! Xiaohu! Come down quickly! You'll never guess who's here!"
Zhan Wenyuan looked up and shouted upstairs, and soon more than a dozen people came down.
The younger ones were people Shan Ran knew; they were all her classmates. The older ones were their family members, and there were even a few elderly people in their seventies and eighties.
Three sprightly but thin middle-aged and elderly men walked up to Zhan Wenyuan.
She enthusiastically introduced Shanran to her parents and grandmother, showering them with praise. Her eloquence was so great that even the seasoned Shanran blushed slightly.
The entire hero team is here, most of whom do not possess superpowers.
By outside standards, this is a very weak, incompetent, and abnormally poorly staffed team.
It can't even be called a team; it's just a group of classmates and family members who have come together to rely on each other.
Yet, in this chaotic world, such a team has managed to survive to this day, leading a group of unarmed elders unscathed.
Shan Ran didn't stay long. After a brief exchange of pleasantries, she mentioned the purpose of her visit.
Zhan Wenyuan wanted to give the cigarettes and alcohol to Shan Ran for free to repay her for saving her life, but Shan Ran firmly refused.
She could tell that the living conditions of the hero team were average, or even rather poor.
Shan Ran lost her parents at a young age and fell out with her family and relatives. The neighbor uncle who watched her grow up had a dark side that no one knew about.
In her mind, the concept of family was very vague.
But with the Brave Squad, she learned that the unity of family can bring unimaginable courage.
Shan Ran ultimately paid twice the points required in the trading market and took the cigarettes and alcohol with her.
Unable to refuse, Zhan Wenyuan finally accepted with tears in her eyes.
"Shanran, if there's anything you need me for in the future, our team will definitely do our best. Although we're weaker than you, there might still be some ways we can be of help. Please remember us!"
After leaving the house, Shanran put her mask and sunglasses back on and left along the same route she had come from.
Sunlight struggled to penetrate the gaps between the stairwells; the light was insufficient, so some people hung their clothes to dry in the spacious square outside.
The tenacity of life can surprise anyone.
——
Upon returning, Shanran informed Chandel about the monopoly on certain goods in the outer city.
It was indeed the work of Shi Yuanxiang and his son. I had heard of it before, but I had not investigated it in detail.
It is not the right time to purge veteran employees now that the safe zone is in its early stages.
What they need most right now is stability.
After hanging up the phone, Shanran sighed softly.
Managing such a large base is really not easy.
Fortunately, she was just a small base commander.
The next morning, Shan Ran, Nan Guishang, Cheng Liucong, Wei Qing, and A Jie went out together to deal with a C-level nightmare beast near a base in Zone 3.
Currently, there is only one safe zone on the Third Continent. The original district chiefs and executive officers of Zones 3 and 4 were from the same group, and Lu Wenrou dealt with them together.
Districts 3 and 4 are currently leaderless and each operates independently, with a large number of bases of all sizes and types.
Some of these bases have never had any contact with the safe zone, their lines clearly defined. Other bases, however, have maintained friendly relations with the safe zone, and a few have even proactively offered to serve as external support bases for the safe zone.
Today they went to one of the foreign aid bases with which they have a good relationship.
Two Class C monsters appeared, leading a group of low-level monsters, and acted arrogantly and domineeringly, located more than ten kilometers apart from the base.
The two sides were originally some distance apart, but recently, it was observed that the group of monsters was approaching, so the base sent a request for help.
Before setting off, Ah-Jie volunteered to go on the mission with his older brother.
"Big brother, I also want to improve. Now that I have superpowers, I can't waste them. I can't stay under your wing forever. I want to be able to protect you in the future!"
Upon hearing this, Nan Guishang was moved to tears. He pounded his chest and vowed to protect his younger brother and ensure his safety.
Shan Ran turned her head expressionlessly, quickly got into the car, and suddenly regretted agreeing to go on a mission with Nan Guishang again.
The location of this mission was quite far, and after a day and a night, the group finally arrived at their destination.
Having previous experience dealing with C-level monsters, they completed this mission quickly.
The total time spent was shorter than the travel time.
After defeating the C-level monster, the base warmly invited the group to stay overnight, but they refused.
Taking advantage of the fact that it was just past noon, they decided to head straight back to the safe zone.
Otherwise, given Shan Ran's current condition, she might attract several more C-level monsters.
Then their cleanup efforts would have been in vain.
On the way back, A-Jie was very excited.
After this period of training, his superpowers have improved considerably.
He now releases blood leeches, which attach to the monsters. Smaller monsters of lower level than him can be drained dry in the blink of an eye.
Even if someone of a higher level is not aware of the presence of the blood leech, they will slowly drain the fluid from his body, and by the time he notices something is wrong, he will already be very weak.
In actual combat, Shanran discovered that Ajie's superpower was actually a powerful weapon.
He can control the size of the leeches he releases. They have a strong suction force, and once absorbed, one will only feel a slight itch.
It's truly an essential tool for assassinations, sneak attacks, and everyday travel.
"Big brother, did you just see that? That thing that looks like a sea cucumber was completely drained in an instant!"
Just hearing A-Jie's description gave Nan Guishang goosebumps.
He replied dismissively, "Yeah, I saw it. That's amazing! Ugh! Don't release it!!!"
Ah Jie was so excited that he couldn't resist taking out a leech and playing with it in his hand.
He used to despise his own superpowers, but now he really likes these soft, boneless little things.
The little blood leech was created by him; it was connected to his mind and was wriggling on his hand like a baby, as if it were rubbing against him affectionately.
Nan Guishang, who had just turned his head, happened to see this scene and was so frightened that he jumped up and almost hit the roof of the car.
"Big brother, don't be afraid. It's a part of me. It's very well-behaved. I treat you as my big brother, and it treats you as my big brother too. Look, it's calling you big brother."
"Aaaaaah, don't come any closer..."
Chaos erupted inside the car, with people shouting and arguing. Shanran couldn't help but turn around, wanting to stop them.
But at that moment, the car suddenly braked hard and made an emergency turn, veering to the other side. Then there was a huge jolt before it came to a stop at an angle.
Apart from A-Jie and Nan-Gui-Shang, everyone else was wearing seatbelts and was fine, but the two of them rolled around inside the car several times.
The merchant from the south was tough and experienced, only suffering minor bumps and bruises. Ah Jie, however, was completely unprepared, suffering a head injury and a broken hand.
Kui Qing hurriedly took out his first-aid kit and gave A-Jie some basic treatment.
The others got out of the car to check their surroundings.
Cheng Liu looked guilty. "Captain Shanran, I'm sorry, it's all my fault! I was distracted and looked at the back seat, but I didn't expect a child to suddenly rush out from the front. I didn't react in time, which caused the car to overturn into the field next to us."
Just as Shan Ran was about to say something, she heard a woman's exclamation from behind her.
The group turned around warily, only to see the little child who had almost been hit sitting on the ground, sobbing. Two women appeared out of nowhere and squatted down to check on the child.
How could a child suddenly appear in the middle of nowhere?
Shan Ran put on a hat, mask, and glasses, exchanged a glance with Cheng Liu Cong, and walked together in that direction.
Nan Guishang was checking on A-Jie's condition when he saw Shan Ran preparing to go over, so he followed behind her.
Cheng Liu walked over to the child in the middle of the road and said, "I'm sorry, I was driving carelessly. I didn't expect a child to suddenly run out and I almost hit him. Is he alright?"
The younger woman was examining the child's body, while another older woman was holding the child's arm and crying.
Hearing Cheng Liu speak, the older woman glared at him angrily, "What do you mean by that? Are you blaming our little Bao? What's wrong with a child being a little naughty? He didn't do it on purpose."
"Our little one has a special ability; he's too young to control it, so he runs really fast, which means he has potential! And you, a grown man, driving without watching where you're going! If you scare our little one badly, I'll never forgive you!!"
The woman fired off a barrage of words like a machine gun, her tone sharp, her voice high-pitched, and her words extremely penetrating.
The eloquent Cheng Liu was completely overwhelmed at this moment. In the past, what he feared most was encountering such unreasonable and entangled elderly people, but now that he had encountered one, he still had no way to deal with it.
He was about to say something when the younger woman spoke first.
"Mom, don't get too excited. Xiao Bao is fine. He just fell and got a few scrapes. He'll be fine soon."
After saying that, she turned to Cheng Liucong and said, "Don't mind me, my mom is just an impatient person and quite protective of her children. Our little one is quite naughty and likes to run around after he got his superpowers. It's not your fault, I should thank you."
My son is spoiled rotten by my mom. I always say he needs to learn from his mistakes to grow up. It's better for him to suffer a minor injury now than for something serious to happen later.
Hearing what the other person said, Cheng Liucong, who was still a little angry, felt embarrassed. "It's okay, it's just that I was driving too fast."
The woman smiled and said, "I'm Xiaobao's mother. You can just call me Xiaobao's mom. This is my mother-in-law. She's only speaking like this because she cares about Xiaobao. It's not your fault that the visibility is poor in the evening."
Ignoring her mother-in-law who was fuming, she looked down at the child in her arms and scolded, "Xiaobao, you can't be so naughty next time. You were lucky today. Uncle overturned the car into the ditch because he was trying to avoid you. You have to apologize to Uncle."
Xiao Bao wiped his eyes with his dirty hands, pouted and looked unhappy, but still listened to his mother and reluctantly apologized.
"Uncle, I'm sorry."
Cheng Liu waved his hands repeatedly, "It's nothing, it's nothing, it was an accident, Uncle was careless, it's alright."
As he spoke, he took out several crystal cores, indicating his willingness to pay for Xiao Bao's medical treatment.
Xiao Bao's mother refused and continued, "I'm from Xianrui Village nearby. It's getting dark now. If you're not in a hurry, you can go to the village to rest for a while."
Since the apocalypse, our village has shrunk considerably, but we've become more united. Fortunately, there's no fog nearby, so we can handle the monsters that come each time. It's rare to have someone come over, so we go out for a meal together, which keeps things lively.
Then she stood up, took Xiaobao's hand, and looked at the car that was tilted to the side by the roadside. "Can your car still be driven? There are car mechanics in our village. Would you like me to take a look?"
Before Cheng Liu could reply, Xiao Bao's mother looked at her mother-in-law and said, "Mom, go back and tell the village chief to ask Master Lü to come and take a look."
Grandma Xiaobao pouted impatiently and glared at Cheng Liucong, but she still listened to her daughter-in-law and turned to leave.
She left very quickly, proving she was also an agility-type ability user.
As soon as he got out of the car, Cheng Liu moved it back to the ground and checked its condition; it was temporarily unusable.
Both he and Wei Qing knew how to repair cars, so it didn't matter whether there was a mechanic named Lü or not. It was just that Xiao Bao's mother had arranged everything on her own initiative, and Xiao Bao's grandmother was so quick that he didn't have time to refuse.
Cheng Liu turned to look at Shan Ran and saw that she was standing calmly and composed, so he stopped worrying.
Ah Jie only suffered superficial injuries. In addition, Shan Ran's water-based supernatural ability had a small healing effect. After bandaging his head and immobilizing his arm, he was fine.
Before long, Xiao Bao's grandmother arrived with several people.
The man walking at the front was probably in his forties or fifties. He was short and thin, and wore a beaded bracelet with several bells hanging from it. As he walked, the bells made a clear and melodious sound, which was very penetrating and seemed to go straight into the brain.
Surprisingly, it sounds quite nice.
A large dog followed closely beside him.
This is a golden retriever with light golden fur that is very thick and smooth, clearly well cared for by its owner. It walks with its tongue lolling out, as if it's smiling, and its round eyes make it look incredibly cute.
The group approached Cheng Liucong, and the lean man greeted them with a smile, “Good evening, everyone. I am the village chief of Xianrui Village. I heard from Xiaobao’s grandmother that your car overturned into the ditch by the roadside while trying to avoid Xiaobao.”
"Oh dear, we feel so guilty. Look, it's getting late. Why don't you come with me to Xianrui Village, rest for the night, get the car repaired, and then set off tomorrow? What do you say?"
While the village chief was speaking, the golden retriever sat obediently next to him, still sticking out its tongue, its fluffy tail sweeping back and forth on the ground.
It tilted its head, sizing up the group of strangers in front of it.
At this moment, Wei Qing, supporting A Jie, also came to Cheng Liu Cong's side, and the eyes of the group couldn't help but be drawn to the golden retriever in front of them.
The fact that the owner can take such good care of their pet dog in the apocalypse shows how much effort they've put into it. It's so soft, cute, and fluffy that you just want to pet it.
Nan Guishang glanced at Shan Ran. He remembered that she really liked furry creatures and couldn't resist touching wolf ears.
Surprisingly, upon seeing the glossy golden retriever, she showed no intention of handling it.
Cheng Liu turned his head and glanced at Shan Ran casually, then met her gaze.
At this moment, Shan Ran was wearing a large baseball cap pulled low, along with thick black-rimmed glasses that covered the upper half of her face.
She looked at Cheng Liucong with a smile, and he understood the meaning in her eyes.
"Alright, then I'll trouble the village chief to lead the way. I'll be taking care of you tonight."
The village chief laughed heartily a few times, "Not at all. After the apocalypse, human survival is not easy, so we should help each other. Please come with me."
Two men emerged from behind the village chief, carrying the cart together and following the group.
We passed many abandoned houses along the way. The village chief explained that these used to be the homes of the villagers of Xianrui Village. After the apocalypse, many people died, and these houses were abandoned.
All the surviving residents are currently concentrated in the village's largest breeding farm.
Xianrui Village used to rely mainly on animal husbandry. This farm is a public property, covering a very large area, and has many dormitories, which now provides convenience for the remaining villagers.
The village chief had the car parked on the open ground next to the factory, and then led Cheng Liu and the group toward the dormitory.
The dormitory was a row of three-story buildings, facing south, with a staircase in the middle and long corridors on both sides of the staircase, where the rooms were neatly arranged.
The village chief arranged for them to stay in a room at the very end of the third floor.
Nan Guishang and three others shared a room, while Shan Ran had a separate room.
"Ladies and gentlemen, dinner is at eight o'clock. Please rest for a while and come downstairs to eat later."
As it approached eight o'clock, the area downstairs became increasingly lively.
On a long table, simple yet substantial food was laid out.
Not far away are several factory buildings of the breeding farm. The roofs are very high and the area is very large. There is no light and it looks pitch black.
Shan Ran squinted as she looked into the distance, then heard Nan Guishang ask beside her, "Shall we go down for dinner? It's probably best not to eat out too often, isn't it?"
Shan Ran turned to look at the red-haired youth with an approving smile, which gave the other person goosebumps.
"Not bad, you're quite vigilant."
Upon hearing the praise, Nan Guishang unconsciously puffed out his chest, a smile playing on his lips, unable to hide his pride.
"So, you stay here and take care of A-Jie, while Lao Cheng, Lao Wei, and I go down to the banquet."
"Huh?" Nan Guishang was dumbfounded. "Why?"
"Because you're very capable. Ah Jie is injured, and I need someone capable upstairs so I can feel at ease."
Nan Guishang's ear tips turned red, but because the surrounding hair was all red, it wasn't very noticeable.
"Since you've said so, then I'll stay and take care of him. Be careful when you go down, and don't eat anything from outside."
Shan Ran nodded repeatedly, reached out and pushed Nan Guishang into the room, closed the door, and then went downstairs with Cheng Liu and Wei Qing.
Upon seeing the visitors, the village chief hurriedly greeted them, "Come, come quickly, sit here. You are honored guests and should sit in the main seats." He then led them to the center of the long table.
"By the way, where are the other two brothers? Why didn't they come?" the village chief asked with a smile.
Cheng Liu smiled politely, "Village Chief, my companion is injured and not feeling well. Another person is taking care of him, so he won't be coming down for dinner."
"Alright, I'll have someone bring some things upstairs," the village chief said, and after giving instructions, he warmly greeted Cheng Liu and the other two. "Come, come, sit down! Our village hasn't had any guests in a long time, it's so lively today!"
As he spoke, the village chief raised his hand and gestured for everyone to sit down. The bells on his bracelet jingled as he moved.
Shan Ran glanced at the village chief, chose to sit in the place furthest away from him, and remained silent, hiding herself behind the other two to keep a low profile.
The dishes laid out on the long table in front of us were very simple: the meat dish was stewed meat, and the vegetable dish was a hodgepodge of green vegetables.
The cooking method is simple, but it smells delicious.
The villagers sat around the long table, their mouths greasy from eating. Some even gave up chopsticks and grabbed the meat with their hands, stuffing it into their mouths.
They have a particular fondness for meat dishes and eat them very quickly.
While Cheng Liu was chatting with the village chief, he took a moment to glance at Shan Ran.
"Young man, why don't you eat meat and only vegetables?" Xiao Bao's mother, sitting not far away, looked at the group with a smile.
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