Sixteen Years

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Zhao Jincheng’s “Self-Rescue Proposal” was played three times. On this sleepless night, no one knew how many people had heard his voice.

He Tang leaned against the door with her head down, and after a while, she touched her face heavily and then turned to the driver’s seat.

“No more delay,” He Tang said. “There are many of us here. We will switch shifts every four hours and rest in turns, and then go to meet the team leader as soon as possible.”

The special task force regarded her as the overall commander, and the only non-official member, Liu Ruosong, also genuinely wanted to meet Fu Yan as soon as possible. So everyone in the car didn’t say anything. They quickly packed up their things and hit the road again.

Fu Yan’s location remained stationary throughout the night. It was only after the break of dawn that he began moving again. Liu Ruosong noticed that the other party’s pace was gradually getting back on track, which made him gradually relax.

He hadn’t slept well the previous night. Every time he closed his eyes, he had chaotic dreams that left him feeling anxious and restless. It was as if he had lost something precious, and there was a heavy, murky feeling in his chest. He would wake up in haste after just half an hour of sleep, feeling agitated.

Yet every time he woke up and tried to recall his dream, he couldn’t remember what he had dreamt about, blaming it on the high stress he was under recently, causing him to be mentally exhausted.

After daybreak, He Tang switched to the back seat. At this moment, He Feng was sleeping soundly with his head tilted to one side. Shao Qiu’s driving style was different from He Tang’s; it had a wilder element to it. He drove so aggressively that Liu Ruosong felt a little dizzy and had to press his temples as he leaned back in his seat.

“Liu Ge, you can sleep if you want,” Shao Qiu said, looking at him. “We can handle things here.”

“Alright,” Liu Ruosong didn’t resist and made a hand gesture, saying, “Pull over to the side. I’ll switch with Yao Tu, let him sit in the passenger’s seat for a while.”

“It’s fine without it,” Shao Qiu said, placing one hand on the steering wheel and giving him a smile, “I can manage it by myself.”

“It’s safer with more people,” Liu Ruosong insisted. “If there are zombies hidden in the shadows by the road, it’s better to have more eyes looking out.”

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Since he had put it this way, Shao Qiu didn’t push back further. So, following Liu Ruosong’s suggestion, he had him and Yao Tu switch places.

The He siblings leaned on each other, while Liu Ruosong sat alone, propped against the window on the other side. He took off his jacket and wrapped it around himself, quickly drifting off to sleep.

He wasn’t sure how long he had slept, but in a state between being awake and asleep, he felt like he was having a recurring dream.

The dream was chaotic, full of fragments that didn’t connect, and Liu Ruosong felt as if he were walking in a maze of mirrors. No matter where he looked, he saw repetitive mechanical things. The dream’s scenes were like being shrouded in heavy fog, and no matter how hard he tried to look to the other side of the “mirror,” he could only see a silhouette. Throughout the entire dream, he felt a deep and painful sense of longing and anxiety, as if something was right in front of him, and his survival instincts warned him to escape.

This dream consumed a lot of Liu Ruosong’s energy, and the more he slept, the more tired he felt. His body and mind seemed to be sinking in deep water, and he felt himself falling deeper and deeper.

He didn’t know how long he had slept, but at one point, he suddenly felt a hand on his shoulder, shaking him.

“Liu Ge,” someone called him.

Liu Ruosong woke up abruptly, as if he had been pricked by a needle, grabbing the person’s wrist tightly and calling out, “Fu Yan.

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“I just remembered; I didn’t ask your age,” He Feng said with a smile. “I’m twenty-nine this year. What about you?”

Liu Ruosong was still disoriented. His chest heaved violently, and he stared blankly at He Feng for a couple of seconds before finally coming to his senses and quickly releasing the other’s hand.

“…I’m also twenty-nine, born at the end of October,” Liu Ruosong said.

“So, I’m older than you,” He Feng said. “I was born in June.”

He Feng tactfully avoided the awkwardness of Liu Ruosong waking up and calling him “Fu Yan” by mistake. He looked at Liu Ruosong’s complexion and was reassured that he had improved. Then he opened a bottle of water and handed it to him, asking if he was okay.

“I had a dream,” Liu Ruosong said. “But I can’t remember what it was about… I forget as soon as I wake up, it’s strange.”

“That’s a good thing; it means your sleep quality is good,” He Feng patted his shoulder and said. “Although it’s a bit embarrassing, I woke you up because there’s something I need to tell you.”

Although He Feng’s expression was calm, Liu Ruosong found the words, “So, get ready mentally,” quite terrifying. His heart skipped a beat, and his first thought was that something had happened.

“The situation has changed now, and we may need to change our route,” He Feng said, pointing to a bright spot on the screen and added, “The team leader’s location hasn’t been updated for three hours.”

Liu Ruosong then noticed that he had slept through the entire morning. And Fu Yan’s location stopped updating shortly after entering the next city. Initially, Yao Tu assumed that Fu Yan was resting in the same place. However, after waiting for two to three hours without any change, they began to feel uneasy.

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“So we can’t wait for our pre-arranged meeting point. We’ll go directly to find the team leader based on his location,” He Feng said. “We’ll use the location point to provide backup. If his location continues to update during this process, great! If it still doesn’t update, we will need to search for his movement traces based on the location point.”

Liu Ruosong’s heart was beating fast, and within just a few sentences, he thought of countless possibilities, and almost all of them were gloomy.

He clenched his teeth and took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing his emotions. He refused to consider the possibility of something terrible happening to Fu Yan, as it would cause him to lose control of his emotions. Instead, he focused on a less optimistic scenario, preparing himself mentally.

“It’s possible that he’s encountered a dangerous situation and is unable to move,” Liu Ruosong said. “In the cities, the situation is severe. Take S City, for example. Zombies have heightened senses to detect humans. When the zombies encounter a ‘transmission,’ and the conditions allow, they easily gather in large numbers, becoming extremely dangerous. If he encounters such a situation, he might be stuck in one place.”

“So where did Fu Yan stop moving?” Liu Ruosong asked.

“In Lin City,” Shao Qiu replied.

Liu Ruosong was startled, and his face suddenly turned grim and He Feng, in turn, noticed the same shock on Shao Qiu’s face.

“What’s wrong?” He Feng asked. “Is there something unusual about Lin City?”

“During the first three days of the apocalypse, there was a major fan meeting in Lin City,” Liu Ruosong said. “It involved many A-list celebrities, as well as numerous fans. It’s a huge event. The venue is an open sports stadium. There are no barriers to entry and exit unless there’s a security team. If something went wrong…”

Liu Ruosong didn’t complete his sentence, but judging from his expression, it was quite evident what he meant. With tens of thousands of people, and a virus spreading, that place would become a living hell.

If these over a hundred thousand people scattered throughout the city, it would be manageable, but if they gathered in one place, surrounding the nearby area, it would be terrible for outsiders.

Liu Ruosong didn’t dare to dwell on it any further. He saw that He Feng noticed his unpleasant expression, and He Feng reached over and decisively closed the laptop with a loud snap, taking that thing from Liu Ruosong’s hands and handing it back to Yao Tu.

“It’s alright, don’t panic for now,” Yao Tu took the laptop, offering some comforting words. “The team leader is not just idly sitting by. At the very least, he found a building to hide in. As long as it’s an enclosed space, those things can’t pass through walls, can they?”

“I know,” Liu Ruosong said, “But the sports stadium has no water or supplies, and it’s not part of our resupply plan. Fu Yan can’t possibly intend to go there. If he’s really held up, it’s probably because he wandered into someplace by mistake. But given his personality, he should have a plan when choosing routes through the city, and there must be evacuation options along the route he selected.”

Shao Qiu, hearing the calmness in Liu Ruosong’s tone and seeing that his mind was still clear, couldn’t help but be surprised. He turned from the driver’s seat to look at him.

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“What’s wrong?” Liu Ruosong asked.

“Nothing, I just thought you’d be more anxious, wanting to see the captain right away or something,” Shao Qiu said. “In fact, before waking you up, I had several plans prepared to calm you down.”

“I am anxious, but being anxious doesn’t help. Being anxious while also thinking of solutions is more useful than causing chaos,” Liu Ruosong said. “But since you thought I’d be anxious, why did you guys even tell me about this?”

“We wouldn’t hide it from you. Since you’re in the car with us, we are a team. Even if you might break down or lose control of your emotions, we still need to tell you the full truth,” Shao Qiu said calmly. “Concealing and deceiving erode trust. If we want to be true companions, we’d rather endure the storm and be completely honest with each other, than sow the seeds of future troubles.”