The vehicle had been traveling on the road for about half a month.
For several days now, our convoy had left the mountain village roads and instead turned onto the highway.
Over the past few days, we passed through nothing but tunnels and extremely tall overpasses.
Towering mountains flanked both sides, one after another, stretching endlessly.
The highway itself almost entirely wound along the edges of mountain valleys.
Along the road, aside from the occasional sight of some abandoned vehicles, there were almost no walkers to be seen.
Even though I was terrible at geography, just looking at the environment, I could roughly tell that we had probably entered the Yunnan region.
Most of the people in our vehicle had previously lived in places without mountains, so seeing these endless green peaks over the past few days sparked immense curiosity.
Everyone spent their days glued to the windows, peering outside, never feeling bored.
On the contrary, even passing by a tiny, naturally formed waterfall would get the whole car excited and chatting enthusiastically about it for the entire afternoon.
This time, it wasn't until midnight that our convoy pulled into a service area.
The service area wasn't small, and the bright moonlight made it not too dark.
With the headlights from our many vehicles shining around, the general layout of the area was clearly visible.
After quickly refueling our vehicles, we parked them side by side near the exit.
Aside from a few people stationed on the rooftops of cars keeping watch, the rest of us sat on the ground in a circle and began eating our long-overdue dinner.
Wang Tingyun had already fallen asleep.
Uncle Gazi had placed her back in the car instead of carrying her out, worried she might catch a chill in the night.
Zheng Rongrong had continued to sleep day after day recently, but now she was actually awake as the black-clad man—who had been taking care of her all this time—carried her down from the car.
Xu Shu and I used bottled water to cook two pots of instant noodles and vermicelli.
After everyone had eaten and drunk their fill, I glanced at Rongrong, who was now so thin she was practically skin and bones.
I sighed, then took out a stainless steel bowl and boiled some water, mixing in powdered milk and oatmeal before pouring it into a thermos.
I handed it to the black-clad man who was holding Rongrong, gesturing for him to feed it to her.
If I remembered correctly, this black-clad man was one of the snipers in our group.
I'd heard Big Beard call his name once.
It sounded like... "Ji Rai" or something.
The moment Ji Rai took the thermos from my hand, Rongrong—who had been resting her head against his chest with a dazed look in her eyes—suddenly jerked her head up and looked straight at me.
Her sudden movement startled me so much that I instinctively took two steps back.
Before my brain could even process what was happening, I saw a faint shimmer of moisture begin to well up in her once lifeless eyes.
She stared blankly at me for two seconds, then trembled her bloodless lips and softly called out, "Auntie."
Hearing that, I was instantly frozen in place.
My eyes locked tightly onto Rongrong's little face, trying to spot any trace of something wrong with her.
But even after a long while, until Suo Tian got up and came over to squat beside her, I still couldn't see anything unusual.
The others also noticed the commotion.
Xu Shu, Yangyang, and the others all came over.
After staring at Rongrong for a couple of seconds, Yangyang finally looked at me with confusion and asked, "Sis... did she just call you?"
It had been over a month since Rongrong last spoke a single word.
Everyone had grown used to her lying there quietly like a little doll.
Now, her suddenly speaking caught everyone off guard.
The sound of Yangyang talking to me caught Rongrong's attention.
She slowly shifted her gaze from me to Yangyang's face.
Then her small mouth quivered, and she called out in an aggrieved voice, "Brother Yangyang."
At that, Yangyang's expression subtly changed.
He seemed like he wanted to respond, but after a long moment, not a single word came out.
Suo Tian gently took Rongrong into his arms.
He looked tender, but I knew he was fully alert right now.
Seeing that Yangyang and I hadn't responded, Rongrong looked visibly hurt.
After a long pause, she hesitantly turned her gaze to Shen Feng, who was standing beside me.
Her face was deathly pale, completely drained of blood, and after a long while, she finally spoke in a trembling voice:
"Brother Shen Feng… I'm sorry, I shouldn't have bitten Sister Xiao Xue… Let Sister Xiao Xue hit me… I won't cry."
Rongrong's voice was very soft.
Her recent drastic weight loss had left her sounding extremely weak and breathless.
By the time she got to the part about not crying, she seemed unable to hold it in any longer—big tears started falling from her eyes, one after another.
She looked absolutely frail.
I didn't even have to turn my head to imagine the expression on Shen Feng's face.
Suo Tian glanced at him, then turned his head back without much expression.
He gently patted Rongrong's back as she cried heartbreakingly, and spoke in an especially gentle tone: "No one blames you. Don't cry."
Hearing that, Rongrong looked at Suo Tian through her tear-filled eyes and, pouting, asked, "Suo Tian, where's Sister Xiao Xue?"
All of us, except Suo Tian, froze at those words.
For a while, no one said anything.
Just as I was about to change the subject, Suo Tian suddenly smiled faintly, rubbed his face against Rongrong's little cheek, and said, "Be good and eat something. Tomorrow, I'll take you to a fun place."
After that, Suo Tian took the thermos from the black-clad man and slowly began feeding Rongrong.
Whenever she shook her head and refused to eat, he always managed to come up with a few short little stories to coax her.
In the end, he somehow got her to finish the entire cup of oatmeal.
Just a few minutes after eating, Rongrong asked Suo Tian several times what fun place they were going to tomorrow.
Then she quickly fell back into a deep sleep.
Only then did Suo Tian hand her back to Ji Rai, stood up, said "Let's go," and headed back toward the vehicle.
Since Shen Feng had driven all day, Jun Di took over for the night shift.
To create more space, we had removed the middle two rows of seats from the van.
We laid blankets over the floor to make a simple bed.
It wasn't very big, but sleeping on a flat surface was still much more comfortable than dozing off in the seats.
Chen Pu and Yangyang were very considerate—they knew Shen Feng was exhausted, so they voluntarily gave up the bed on the floor for him.
Tingyun, being a kid, had special privileges and was sprawled out comfortably on the ground, sleeping soundly.
Shen Feng could only force a bitter smile and curl up in a small corner.
"Sis Chen Yang," Jun Di called out to me from the passenger seat shortly after the vehicle started moving again.
"Hmm?" I turned to look at him.
"Just now, when Suo Tian mentioned taking Rongrong to a fun place, do you think he meant we're almost at our destination?"
Hearing that, Xu Shu spoke up from the back seat, "Yeah, I was wondering about that too. We've been on the road for so long—it should be about time we get there, right?"
I turned my head slightly to glance at Xu Shu, then shrugged and said, "I'm not sure either. I've been with you guys 24/7 lately. I only exchange a few words with Suo Tian during meals. He's never mentioned where we're going, or when we'll get there, so I really don't know anything. Maybe today he just said that to distract Rongrong."
As soon as I finished speaking, Uncle Gazi said, "Isn't the walkie-talkie right there? Just ask him now."
I glanced at the walkie-talkie beside me, then looked at Uncle Gazi and asked hesitantly, "Isn't it a little sudden to ask just like that?"
"Just ask Brother Suo Tian directly when we'll arrive. I also feel like we're almost there," Yangyang added from where he was leaning back in his seat, head tilted to the side.
"This whole journey has been nothing but mountains—why else would he suddenly tell Rongrong they're going to a fun place?"
I glanced at Yangyang and the others again, took a deep breath, and thought, "It's just a question—no big deal."
So I stopped overthinking it, picked up the walkie-talkie, pressed the talk button, and called out, "Suo Tian."
Within two seconds, his voice came through: "Hmm?"
"How much longer are we going to be on the road like this?"
But instead of Suo Tian responding, Big Beard's voice came through the other end: "Not much longer. I figure it's just a few hundred kilometers left. We should arrive around noon tomorrow."
"Hey, speaking of which—where exactly are we going?" This time it was Han Xue who spoke, bluntly asking the other question I'd been wondering about.
Big Beard seemed to hesitate for a moment before replying, "Since we're taking you there tomorrow, no point keeping it a secret now. We're heading to one of the key outposts of our headquarters. For the time being, we and the boss will be staying there for a while. You're welcome to stay too."
"Headquarters? Key outpost? What does that mean? Are you guys military? Or are you from the legendary mafia or something?"
Yep, that was classic Han Xue—totally straightforward, the kind of person who blurts out whatever pops into her head without filtering anything.
All of us had been wondering the same thing for ages, but none of us had dared to ask.
Yet here she was, asking it casually like it was the most natural thing in the world.
"That has nothing to do with you. You don't need to know too much." This time, it was the middle-aged man's deeper voice that came through the walkie-talkie.
"Tch, I was just asking. No need to be so grumpy about it," Han Xue grumbled, clearly a little miffed after being shut down like that.
No one spoke after that.
The convoy continued silently along the road, and the inside of the vehicle grew quiet as well.
Before long, the steady sound of breathing could be heard from the back seats.
To keep Jun Di from getting drowsy while driving through the night, I kept my voice low and chatted with him off and on.
But it wasn't long before I drifted off into a deep sleep myself.
The car was quiet, and I slept soundly.
I had a beautiful dream—vivid and stunning.
In the dream, all of us were walking through a vast sea of flowers.
The surroundings were gorgeous, and I could even hear the babbling of small streams nearby.
Zheng Rongrong and Wang Tingyun were laughing joyfully, running through the flower fields.
Everything was wonderfully peaceful.
But just as we were playing and having fun, a thick fog suddenly rolled in all around us.
It was so dense that in an instant, we could no longer see each other.
Then, within the fog, I began to hear the screams of others.
The next moment, a deafening wave of that all-too-familiar, sickening sound of walkers filled the air.
I ran around blindly in the fog, shouting everyone's names, but the only responses were the occasional scream… and the furious howls of hordes of walkers.
I was woken up by Xu Shu shaking me.
When I opened my eyes, I was still a bit disoriented.
The glaring sunlight outside the car window made my head feel fuzzy.
From the walkie-talkie, Big Beard's voice came through on repeat:
"Pull over for a rest and breakfast—we'll be at our destination in three more hours."
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