Chapter 21: A Small Episode Before Departure

Volume 1 “Year of Calamity”

The next day

The team heading down the mountain to search for supplies consisted of ten people, all strong laborers from the fortress. However, just before departure, a woman appeared before the team.

“What!? You want to come with us? No, absolutely not! Even with Pighead Three and me here, we can’t guarantee complete safety. What’s a girl like you doing trying to join in on this?”

An Sheng looked at Zhou Xiaoxiao before him and flatly rejected her request. This was no joking matter—a delicate woman without the strength to truss a chicken would only cause trouble if she followed them.

Zhou Xiaoxiao, having been rejected by An Sheng, waved her slender arms indignantly in protest.

“This is sexism! What era do you think this is, still pushing this macho attitude? Why can you men go but not us women? I reject your rejection—I must go with you!”

Though Zhou Xiaoxiao appeared strong-willed on the surface, she was actually quite anxious inside. She knew exactly who An Sheng was—a monster capable of confronting Pighead Three head-on and beating him into a pig’s head. Well, she had to admit there was something wrong with that thought, since Pighead Three already had a pig’s head to begin with.

“Hey, why can’t you tell what’s good for you!? I’m worried about your safety. Searching for supplies means going into towns. We have no idea how many zombies and mutated monsters are in those towns—it’s too dangerous!”

An Sheng still held his ground. Among the seventy-eight people here, he couldn’t bear to see any of them turn into corpses or get infected and become those half-human, half-ghost zombies.

Seeing An Sheng stubbornly clinging to his opinion, and being someone who wasn’t good at arguing with others, Zhou Xiaoxiao turned and angrily ran into the bunker.

Before long, she rushed out of the bunker dragging over a dozen women with her. As they ran, she shouted toward the vehicle team: “I’m the representative sent by our female comrades! We demand that your search team must take me along—this is the decision of all us women!”

Now An Sheng was in a difficult position. Though Zhou Xiaoxiao was young, as the fortress’s only medical staff, everyone respected this girl quite a bit.

An Sheng’s objection to bringing women along in the search team was entirely out of concern for their safety, with no intention of discriminating against women. But with Zhou Xiaoxiao making such a scene, it made him appear somewhat unreasonable.

Just as An Sheng was struggling with this dilemma, Su Yao approached him and whispered a few words. After hearing what Su Yao said, An Sheng showed a sudden understanding and then looked helplessly at the female comrades before him, nodding to agree to their demand—the rescue team would bring Zhou Xiaoxiao down the mountain together.

The reason An Sheng agreed was actually because Su Yao told him that these women were all facing a very awkward problem: their menstrual cycles. Adult women experience their periods for several days each month, and modern people solve this issue by using sanitary pads. However, Yushan Fortress didn’t have such things.When we first arrived, some people had brought supplies, but after three months, they were long gone. Especially in the tube-style apartment building, where most residents were single women working away from home, everyone felt too embarrassed to ask the men to bring such personal items. So, they discussed and decided to have one of the sisters join the search team down the mountain.

After brief preparations, the search team set off with a van and a high-sided semi-trailer.

Butcher, An Sheng, and Zhou Xiaoxiao rode in the semi-trailer’s cab, while Pighead Three sat in the cargo container at the back. His massive frame took up half the space inside. Although he occupied a lot of room, he was a valuable asset to An Sheng and the others—able to help move heavy items and provide protection for the convoy, killing two birds with one stone.

“That big guy in the back might be ugly, but he’s kind of amusing in his simple way, huh?” Zhou Xiaoxiao made small talk with An Sheng, trying to break the silence.

An Sheng merely responded with an “Oh,” showing no interest in continuing the conversation. Truth be told, An Sheng wasn’t particularly fond of this woman, though it wasn’t because she had opposed him before.

In fact, An Sheng was generally indifferent to almost all women. The reason was quite simple: after the upheaval in his family before the catastrophe, his wife showed no regard for their past and chose to divorce him. She had been his childhood sweetheart since middle school. Despite coming from a wealthy family and having the status of a rich second generation, An Sheng had never adopted any of the spoiled habits; he valued love and family deeply, believing in commitment and loyalty.

This was influenced by the environment and upbringing in his family. His mother had loved and stayed with his father, and after his father’s business failure and suicide, she passed away from overwhelming grief, following An Sheng’s father in death.

This failed marriage had deeply wounded An Sheng, leading to his current distrust of young women.

“Why are you like this? I’m talking to you!”

Seeing An Sheng’s indifference, Zhou Xiaoxiao felt a little disappointed. She wondered, was it because she wasn’t pretty or didn’t have a good figure?

Then, glancing at her flat chest, she felt somewhat deflated. Okay, when it came to her figure, it really wasn’t anything to boast about.

An Sheng didn’t argue with her, nor did he want to. He claimed that he needed to stay fully alert to their surroundings and didn’t have the energy for casual chit-chat.

Butcher couldn’t stand An Sheng’s aloofness and the awkward atmosphere in the cab any longer and quickly stepped in to smooth things over.

“Little sister, don’t take it personally. Haven’t you seen it in shows? Experts are always like this—deadpan and cold, keeping everyone at a distance.”

“Him? An expert? I…” Zhou Xiaoxiao was about to spit out the word “pfft,” but seeing An Sheng’s unfriendly glare, she swallowed the word before it could escape her lips.

She had known An Sheng was a Mutant since the day she was rescued. People in the Fortress spoke of him in almost mythical terms—wasn’t that the mark of an expert? It was just a pity that she had never been present during any of An Sheng’s transformations; she truly wanted to witness the legendary demeanor of the Demon for herself.When An Sheng turned away, Zhou Xiaoxiao playfully stuck her tongue out at him before addressing Butcher: “Brother Wang, didn’t you witness his transformation? Tell me about it.”

“Tell you about it?” Butcher deliberately raised his pitch, clearly teasing An Sheng. He could tell Zhou Xiaoxiao held great interest in An Sheng, yet over these past few months, An Sheng had been indifferent toward her, often deliberately avoiding her. Thus, Butcher never missed a chance to joke about the two, calling it “shipping the CP.”

“Alright then, let me tell you. When An Sheng transforms~~ he becomes extraordinarily mighty! He grows horns on his head, his body bursts into flames, and his height reaches…”

Butcher launched into his usual storytelling mode, much to An Sheng’s exasperation. An Sheng thought this guy was a born crosstalk performer held back by his meat-selling job, and a talented one at that.

Amid the roar of the diesel engine and Butcher’s nonsensical chatter, the search team entered National Highway 103 and headed toward the nearest town.