For quite a long while after that, no one spoke again.
It wasn't until everyone had gradually laid down and fallen asleep that I still sat there, my back stiff, my whole body nearly numb—but I didn't want to move.
It wasn't until Xu Shu, who had been lying down for a while, got up and forcefully dragged me down onto a blanket in the back that I finally turned my stiff neck just a little.
Shen Feng's calm, emotionless words kept echoing in my mind over and over again.
Honestly, he wasn't wrong.
If the one who had died wasn't Xiao Xue, but Yangyang, there's no way I could've been so composed and understanding.
There's no way I could've said those things.
My little brother was fine, so I'd stood in front of the real victim, Shen Feng, and rattled off all those lofty, detached insights like someone who didn't have to feel the pain.
Thinking about it now… it really was hypocritical of me.
My mind was a mess.
I thought I wouldn't be able to sleep.
But maybe it was the mental strain from the day, or the intense physical exertion we'd gone through.
Once I actually laid down, I ended up falling asleep after all.
I dreamed nearly the entire night, but when I was woken the next morning by the sounds of people getting up, I was groggy and couldn't remember a single thing I had dreamed about.
The black-clad men were no longer in the room.
I stood up and looked out the glass window, and saw that they were all crouched down in the lobby, watching as Suo Tian drew something on the dusty floor.
Shaking my head to clear it, I simply turned around and started helping Xu Shu pack up the blankets and such.
Whatever Suo Tian was doing out there—I wouldn't have understood it anyway.
As I was lowering my head to fold the blankets, Xu Shu—who was standing across from me—suddenly called out to me softly,
"Chen Yang."
"Hm?" I looked at her in confusion.
She motioned subtly with her mouth toward something behind me, signaling for me to look.
Pausing for a second, I turned around—and saw Shen Feng standing not far away, watching me, his expression clearly saying he had something he wanted to say.
Because of everything that had happened the night before, seeing Shen Feng now only filled me with an indescribable sense of guilt and awkwardness.
The moment our eyes met, I instinctively looked away, letting my gaze fall into the corner of the room.
"About yesterday... I'm sorry."
After staring at me for a while, Shen Feng finally spoke those words—then turned and walked away, leaving me standing there, momentarily stunned.
Not long after, Suo Tian gave the order to leave Chen Pu, Uncle Gazi, Tingyun, and Rongrong behind to stay here while the rest of us prepared to head back to the shelter to retrieve our equipment and rescue those few people.
Just as we were about to get in the vehicle, Suo Tian seemed to think of something.
He turned to glance at me and said,
"Chen Yang, you stay here and guard this place."
I was caught off guard at first, but after a moment of hesitation, I glanced at the people already in the car and then nodded to Suo Tian.
For now, only the elderly and children were staying behind here, and neither Uncle Gazi nor Chen Pu had much fighting ability.
Leaving another person just in case was definitely the safer move.
Among our group, Shen Feng and I were considered the more experienced ones—but he had to drive.
So me staying behind really was the best option.
After signaling to Yangyang and the others to be careful, I stepped away from the car.
Xu Shu handed me the dagger I'd left in the vehicle.
I took it, secured it back into my gear pouch, then turned and headed back inside the bank.
Uncle Gazi was playing with Tingyun and joking around with Chen Pu.
When he saw me come back, he asked curiously,
"Why'd you come back, girl?"
I shrugged as I walked over and joked,
"Well, I didn't want you guys getting bored, right? I thought I'd stay and keep you company, shoot the breeze a little."
But in truth, my heart was in complete turmoil.
I was worried about Yangyang, worried about Shen Feng, worried about everyone going back—what if something happened?
That shelter was full of unknown dangers.
Even setting aside the walkers, there were plenty of other things that could threaten them.
Maybe Uncle Gazi noticed my uneasy expression, because he quickly switched the topic and started chatting with me about some of Tingyun's embarrassing childhood stories—like how, shortly after his granddaughter was born, his son and daughter-in-law had gone off to work, and he had to take care of her alone.
He didn't have time to wash diapers, and he couldn't bear to let disposable ones chafe her, so he just left things as they were.
As a result, the little girl would end up with pee stains all over the legs of her pants every day.
The way Uncle Gazi animatedly acted it out—with exaggerated expressions and his strange accent—had me laughing so hard I was doubling over.
Nearby, little Tingyun must have had a reflexive reaction to hearing her grandpa talk about her like that, because she glanced at the two of us, then suddenly blurted out,
"Grandpa, I need to go poo-poo."
Uncle Gazi burst into laughter:
"You little rascal, always taking things so literally!"
As he started getting up to take her outside, Chen Pu, ever the thoughtful one, stepped forward and said,
"I'll take her."
"Nah, no need to get you dirty. Kids can't handle that kind of stuff yet."
I glanced at Chen Pu.
I knew that at his age, he probably wanted to prove himself, so I said to Uncle Gazi,
"He's pretty reliable. Let him take Tingyun out."
Hearing that, Uncle Gazi laughed again and waved to Chen Pu:
"Alright, kid, take my granddaughter. Just call me when it's time to wipe her butt."
Chen Pu responded with a quick "okay" and took Tingyun outside.
I reminded them not to go far and stay near the entrance, then turned back to look at the room where Rongrong was locked in.
I couldn't help but let out a sigh—the restroom in this bank was located inside that very room.
"Sigh… what's going to happen with this child?" Uncle Gazi must have noticed me looking toward the room, and followed my gaze.
Older folks are often more tender-hearted toward children, and seeing such a young girl being guarded like a monster by a group of adults—even if she wasn't his own—clearly tugged at his heartstrings too.
I was just about to say something when Chen Pu suddenly shouted from outside, startling me into snapping my head toward the door.
Before either Uncle Gazi or I could react, a chorus of walker roars erupted from outside.
Both our faces went pale instantly—the sound suggested there were quite a few of them!
Almost immediately, Uncle Gazi and I rushed out the door.
I noticed he was so panicked that he hadn't even grabbed a weapon.
I quickly drew my dagger and followed close behind.
Chen Pu and Tingyun were at a blind corner diagonally across from the bank.
We didn't see them until we had fully stepped outside.
At that moment, Chen Pu was carrying Tingyun and running toward us at full speed.
I noticed Tingyun was still fully dressed—apparently they hadn't even had time to start using the bathroom.
Sure enough, a group of about a dozen walkers was trailing right behind them.
To the right side of the bank was a very narrow alleyway.
The walkers must have come from there.
To even call it an alley is generous—it was more like a narrow gap between two buildings, barely wide enough for a single person.
I had noticed it yesterday but never imagined it would turn out to be a natural passageway for walkers.
The road in front of the bank was wide and straight—if walkers were approaching from any other direction, we would've seen them from far away.
Uncle Gazi rushed forward and quickly took the now-crying Tingyun from Chen Pu's arms, then the three of them turned and ran straight back toward me.
"Go, go, go! Get back inside!" I waved them toward the bank, signaling for them to retreat as I gripped my dagger tightly and locked eyes on the dozen or so walkers ahead.
My heartbeat was starting to speed up uncontrollably.
I'd said it before—facing a whole group of walkers alone really wasn't easy.
You had to be on guard constantly, ready for one of them to lunge at you from any direction.
Hearing my words, Uncle Gazi and the others didn't hesitate.
He shouted,
"Hang in there, girl! I'll be right back to help you!"
Then he carried Tingyun and ran back into the bank with Chen Pu.
From the corner of my eye, I saw them make it into the main hall.
Only then did I allow myself the slightest breath of relief.
I turned my full attention to the dozen or so filthy, foul-smelling walkers ahead.
Gritting my teeth, I set my sights on the one at the front of the group that was slightly separated from the others—and charged.
To avoid knocking it into the others and getting overwhelmed, I didn't kick it down.
Instead, I charged in close, gripped my dagger tight, and with a wet thud, drove it deep into the walker's skull.
Then I quickly yanked the blade back out and stepped away, putting distance between me and the advancing group.
Once you land the first strike cleanly, the rest tends to flow much more smoothly.
That was a bit of wisdom I'd picked up after taking down so many walkers.
I guess it's kind of like what gamers used to call "getting into the groove."
And today—my groove was feeling pretty good.
Locking onto my next target, I lunged forward again.
Thud! Another clean hit.
I withdrew the dagger and backed away once more.
Just as I was gearing up to charge in again, a faint engine noise suddenly drifted in from behind me.
Before I could even turn around, a series of gunshots rang out through the air—bang, bang, bang!—and nearly half the walkers in front of me were instantly blown away, their brains splattering as they collapsed to the ground.
I gripped my dagger tightly and instinctively turned to look.
I hadn't even had time to feel the relief of backup arriving before a wave of confusion hit me—how had they gotten back so quickly?
The gunfire continued for a while longer, only stopping once every single walker in front of me had dropped dead.
I stood there, waiting as their vehicle pulled up and came to a stop in front of the bank.
Then I ran over quickly, wanting to ask what had happened.
Just then, Uncle Gazi—still holding a kitchen knife—rushed out from inside the bank.
He froze for a moment at the sight of the vehicle, then looked at me in confusion and walked over.
Yangyang was the first to leap out of the car, shouting from a distance,
"Sis! Are you okay?"
I shook my head to signal I was fine, and just as I opened my mouth to speak, I saw Han Xue, Zhang Hongsheng, and the others jumping out of the vehicle as well.
I shifted my gaze toward Suo Tian, who had just stepped down, utterly confused.
They couldn't have possibly finished up everything at the shelter and returned in under ten minutes—could they?
Noticing my puzzled stare, Suo Tian first issued orders to the nearby black-clad men to pack things up and prepare to depart.
Then he turned and walked toward me.
Before I could even ask, he spoke first:
"When we got there, all of them—and the gear—were already outside the shelter gate. According to them, the people inside let them out."
I froze for a moment, then asked in disbelief,
"How is that possible?"
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