The RV rolled out of the warehouse with barely a trace of smoke.
Tang Li Yue sat in the passenger seat with Sir Edmund Pawtipurr on her lap, one hand resting protectively on the cat's back while the other clutched a pack of disinfectant wipes like a talisman against the collapsing world.
Behind them, the mutated chihuahua sat on the floor. It was undoubtedly alive and breathing much to Tang Li Yue's distaste.
She refused to look at its mug.
"I still think we should have left it behind," she muttered.
Lu Chengran steered the RV through the dirt road leading away from the warehouse. His expression remained calm, but his eyes occasionally flicked toward the rearview mirror.
The chihuahua wagged its tail.
Tang Li Yue felt her eye twitch.
"Don't wag at me. We are not friends. You have a history of trying to eat me."
It barked once. Sir Edmund immediately hissed, seemingly annoyed by the noise.
"See? Even Sir Edmund agrees."
Lu Chengran's lips curved faintly. "Sir Edmund looks like he disagrees with everything."
"That is because he has taste."
The cat settled more comfortably on her lap, accepting the compliment with the natural arrogance of nobility.
The warehouse had been located in a rural area near the city, far enough that the first wave of chaos had not completely swallowed it, but close enough that signs of ruin had already crawled across the landscape.
At first, the roads were almost peaceful.
The morning sun cast pale light over open fields and scattered houses. Mist lingered over the roadside ditches, softening the world into something deceptively gentle.
If one ignored the burned vehicles abandoned by the shoulder, the shattered windows, the black smoke rising from a distant farmhouse, and the corpse dragging itself along a fence with one arm missing, it could almost be mistaken for an ordinary countryside morning.
Almost, that is.
Tang Li Yue stared out the window, expression darkening.
A sedan had crashed into a tree, its front end folded like paper. The driver was still trapped inside, face pressed against the cracked windshield, blackened eyes following the RV as it passed.
A thin trail of blood led from the passenger door to a field of tall grass.
Whatever had crawled away from that car was no longer visible.
"Just one day," Tang Li Yue murmured.
Lu Chengran glanced at her.
"In just one day, everything has been overturned."
The words sat heavily in the RV.
Even Tang Li Yue, who came from a world where sects could be annihilated overnight and power changed hands faster than spring rain, felt a strange chill.
This world had been soft, utterly convenient.
A world of brightness and lingering peace.
It had hot showers, food delivery, automatic cat feeders, and beds that embraced the body like clouds.
Then one morning came, and people became monsters in their own homes.
How rude.
How unbearably rude.
She quite liked this world, now not so much.
Tang Li Yue tightened her hold around Sir Edmund.
The cat bumped his head against her wrist as she sighed.
"At least you are still fluffy."
Lu Chengran drove past a burning house.
Flames licked through the broken windows, and smoke billowed into the sky in thick, ugly waves. In the yard, two zombies stumbled aimlessly, their clothes charred, their mouths opening and closing as though they had forgotten how to scream.
The farther they drove, the worse it became.
The rural silence broke apart as they neared the roads leading into the city.
Vehicles clogged the lanes in uneven lines. Some had been abandoned with doors hanging open. Others had crashed into one another, forming tangled knots of metal and glass. A bus sat overturned near a ditch, its windows smeared dark from the inside.
Tang Li Yue's stomach tightened.
She had seen Li Yue's memories.
She knew this would happen.
But memory and reality were different beasts.
One haunted the mind while the other breathed decay into the air.
No wonder Li Yue didn't want to live through this again. Any sane person wouldn't.
Lu Chengran slowed the RV.
Ahead, a cluster of zombies wandered between the vehicles, drawn by the low rumble of the engine. At first, there were only a handful. Then more emerged from behind cars, from a convenience store with shattered glass doors, from the mouth of an alley leading toward a small residential street.
"They are following the sound," Lu Chengran said.
"I noticed."
"Can this vehicle handle impact?"
Tang Li Yue looked offended. "This is a luxury RV, albeit an apocalypse-proofed one. Not a battering ram."
"That does not answer the question."
Tang Li Yue reluctantly answered, "It can probably handle a few major tosses and turns before it becomes unusable."
"Probably?"
"I bought it before the apocalypse, not during a siege."
Lu Chengran exhaled quietly and maneuvered around a pileup. The RV's side scraped against the bumper of a truck, producing a metallic screech that made Tang Li Yue wince.
More zombies turned toward them.
Their heads jerked up in eerie unison.
Tang Li Yue shivered, "Disgusting."
The RV lurched forward. A zombie slammed against the side, leaving a smear on the window.
Tang Li Yue's face went blank.
Then she slowly reached for a wipe.
Lu Chengran saw her expression and said, "Don't open the window."
"I am not stupid."
"You looked tempted."
"I looked offended. The distinction matters."
They continued onward, but progress was slow. Every route closer to the city showed more destruction. Police cars abandoned mid-road. Delivery vans with broken windshields. Bodies that were not yet moving and bodies that unfortunately were.
Tang Li Yue looked down at her hands.
Li Yue's memories and words of caution surfaced in her mind, each sentence sharp and bitter.
Stock up.
Trust no one.
Supplies will become life.
Gasoline will become more precious than gold.
She turned to Lu Chengran. "We should stop."
His gaze remained on the road. "For what?"
"Supplies," she reponded curtly, not bothering to explain more.
Lu Chengran reasoned, "We have supplies."
She shook her head, "Not enough."
"You have a space ability."
"Still not enough."
This time, he looked at her.
Tang Li Yue lifted her chin. "Do not look at me like that. There is no such thing as too many supplies in the apocalypse. Food runs out. Medicine runs out. Fuel runs out. People run out of morality first, but that is harder to store."
Lu Chengran was silent for a second.
Then he nodded. "Agreed."
Tang Li Yue blinked.
"You agree?"
"The longer this continues, the harder supplies will be to obtain. It will take time for the government to stabilize the situation and re-establish order. Until then, fuel, medicine, food, clean water, and transport routes will decide survival."
Tang Li Yue stared at him.
"You say that like a man who has hardly given this too much thought."
"I work in logistics." Lu Chengran answered with a shrug.
Tang Li Yue rolled her eyes, "Again with the logistics."
He did not answer.
Still, Lu Chengran turned the RV toward a gas station attached to a small roadside mart.
Several cars were already parked haphazardly around the pumps. One had crashed into the convenience store entrance, shattering the glass. Smoke rose from a nearby motorcycle lying on its side.
Tang Li Yue peered through the windshield.
"I hate this." She said with a pout.
"Well, we need fuel. You were the one who suggested it, as well."
"I know. I still hate it."
Lu Chengran parked the RV at an angle that kept its rear clear. "Stay close."
Tang Li Yue unbuckled her seatbelt and reached for her barbed-wire baseball bat.
Sir Edmund immediately leaped toward the cushioned bench near the back of the RV, clearly deciding that fieldwork was beneath his station.
The mutated chihuahua, however, sprang up with alarming enthusiasm.
Tang Li Yue pointed at it, sternly. "No."
It barked.
"No."
It barked again.
Lu Chengran opened the door. The chihuahua shot out first.
Tang Li Yue stared at the empty space where it had been.
"That thing has no discipline," she commented.
"Don't you think it seems eager?"
"It seems cursed."
Outside, three zombies staggered from behind the gas station sign. The chihuahua rushed forward with a shrill bark and launched itself at the nearest one.
Tang Li Yue froze, her face darkened at the sight.
The creature's small body moved too fast, a dark blur with red-veined fur. It slammed into the zombie's leg, causing the undead to topple. Then it bit into the zombie's face with a ferocity entirely disproportionate to its size.
Tang Li Yue gagged almost violently. This apocalypse was doing a number on her cleanliness obsession and her sanity.
"Nope. Absolutely not watching that."
Lu Chengran moved beside her with a crowbar in hand. "It's quite efficient."
"It is chewing a corpse."
"It is still helping."
Tang Li Yue looked absolutely offended. "It is disgusting."
Both could be true.
Tang Li Yue tightened her grip on the bat and stepped out. The air struck her first, thick with gasoline, smoke, blood, and the sour rot of the undead.
She nearly stepped back inside.
Then she remembered Li Yue's letter.
Remembered the words written like blood across paper.
Get your shit together.
Tang Li Yue inhaled through her mouth and swung her bat into the skull of an approaching zombie.