Chapter 52: In the Darkness
The part about superhuman powers was true enough, but only Lin Fan himself knew how many life-or-death crises and hardships he had faced since the apocalypse began.
With a full stomach, he was starting to feel drowsy. His mind wandered idly, and before long, he fell asleep, leaning against the wall and listening to the sound of the rain.
He wasn’t sure how much time had passed when the sound of rustling and hushed whispers reached his ears, waking him.
"Zhaozhao, are you crazy!"
"You said he was injured, that he lost so much blood! What if he turns into a zombie?!"
"Brother, how can you say that... Brother Lin... He... he won’t!"
It was Chu Zhaozhao’s voice. It sounded like she was arguing with someone.
"Have you forgotten about Li Tian?! He was only bitten once, and it wasn’t long before he turned into a zombie!"
Another man whispered.
Lin Fan didn’t know who was talking, but since Chu Zhaozhao called him "brother," the first speaker must have been Chu Zhaotian, and the last line must have come from the other guy, Xu Qian.
Lin Fan had expected something like this would happen. He just figured Chu Zhaozhao would be the one to have doubts about it.
After all, she was the only one who had seen his injuries.
He hadn’t expected the girl to be such an airhead. She hadn’t brought it up at all, as if whether or not he might turn into a zombie had nothing to do with her. Or perhaps, she just firmly believed that he wouldn’t.
Since she hadn’t asked, Lin Fan hadn’t brought it up either.
But it seemed he couldn’t escape this melodramatic scene after all.
The three of them were still whispering inside the room. The space wasn’t large, and with Lin Fan’s enhanced hearing, he could still hear them crystal clear.
"What business is it of yours! Shut up!"
"You guys didn’t see it! The mutated monster was THIIIS big! And Brother Lin just—BAM!—smashed it to bits! Total smithereens!"
"And you know what? It wasn’t just one! There were three of them! And each one was as big as a calf!"
"Even if you didn’t see that, you saw all those zombies, right? All those bodies lying outside—he killed every single one of them with a single punch!"
"He’s not a normal person, he’s a superman! What’s a bite or two to someone like him?!"
Chu Zhaozhao was animatedly "educating" Chu Zhaotian and Xu Qian about his glorious history, and listening to it made even Lin Fan himself start to cringe.
’Since when were they all as big as calves? And what was all this about one punch per zombie...?’
But the two guys clearly thought she was exaggerating and remained unconvinced.
"Chu Zhaozhao, you said he was bleeding nonstop when you dragged him back, that he had all those wounds. Then a little while later, he went with you to look for gemstones. How could he possibly recover that fast? Is that normal?"
It was Xu Qian’s voice—the guy Lin Fan had barely heard speak before.
He continued, his voice trembling slightly,
"What if... what if he’s actually some kind of advanced zombie?! And he’s just keeping us around to... to..."
The other guy, Chu Zhaotian, quickly cut him off, saying nervously, "Keep your voice down! ...But Xu Qian has a point. Maybe we should just leave..."
"Brother! What are you two talking about? If Brother Lin hadn’t saved us, we’d already be dead..."
...
"..."
Lin Fan had been woken by the argument but ignored them, turning his attention instead to his own health bar.
He had slept for a little over an hour, and his Life Value had recovered by 84 points, reaching a total of [185].
His energy bar, on the other hand, was down to just 22 points.
The wound on his abdomen had mostly scabbed over. Lin Fan carefully tugged at the skin around it; the scab held firm.
He could move his left shoulder on his own now, though he still couldn’t put any force into his arm. When he tested it, the pain had lessened considerably. The bone was clearly starting to mend.
With a thought, Lin Fan unequipped the Activation Crystal.
As the powerful buff faded, a wave of weakness washed over him. His abdomen also started to itch as the wound continued to heal.
His left arm still throbbed with a dull ache, but after a few minutes, Lin Fan grew accustomed to it.
Lin Fan was already thrilled that his injuries had recovered this much so quickly. That was why he had temporarily unequipped the crystal—to let his energy bar regenerate.
"Ahem..."
Lin Fan faked a cough. A moment later, the sound of pattering footsteps approached, and Chu Zhaozhao was the first to run over.
"Brother, you’re awake!"
Night had fallen. With no lights inside or outside the gas station, Lin Fan could only make out her silhouette and a green [22/100] floating in the darkness.
It was Chu Zhaozhao’s health bar. Two other yellow bars, [21] and [20], remained a little further away, not approaching.
Seeing that Chu Zhaozhao’s health was a bit higher than before, he figured she was recovering and wasn’t in any real danger.
’But why did her health bar turn green, too?’ he wondered. ’Does she really trust me that much?’
"Brother, they were saying..."
Chu Zhaozhao mumbled, hesitating, unsure if she should voice her question.
"If you think it’s dangerous here, you’re free to leave at any time. You know about the quarantine zone, don’t you? The official one is right at your school..."
"You can just go back the way you came..."
Lin Fan couldn’t be bothered to explain much, directing his words toward the other two health bars.
"Hehe..." Chu Zhaozhao gave an embarrassed laugh. "Brother, you heard all that... They were just..."
Before Chu Zhaozhao could finish, the sound of footsteps echoed as one of the yellow health bars approached.
"B-... Brother Lin, are... are your injuries okay? The doors and windows over here are broken. Is it safe for us to spend the night here? Is there anything we need to do, like block the doors and windows with shelves, or take turns keeping watch...?"
It was Chu Zhaotian. Of the two guys, he seemed to be the calmer one.
The moment he heard the coldness in Lin Fan’s voice, he had hurried over to explain and curry favor.
Even though he had just been muttering about leaving, if it were really as simple as "going back the way they came," the three of them wouldn’t have been trapped here in the first place.
"Oh? You’re not afraid I’ll turn into a zombie and eat you all?"
Lin Fan’s tone was cold and sarcastic, but he wasn’t actually trying to be hard on the young man. After all, if he were in their shoes, he’d be scared too.
He just disliked the guy’s pretentious act. Even if they were only working together for a short time, Lin Fan preferred people who could speak their minds directly.
In comparison, Chu Zhaozhao’s straightforwardness was far more endearing.
"Now, why would you say something like that..." Chu Zhaotian was clearly growing nervous, his speech becoming more formal.
"We believe what Zhaozhao said. You should just focus on resting. We’ll take turns keeping watch tonight..."
Without waiting for Lin Fan’s reply, he scurried away sheepishly. After whispering with the other guy, the two of them found a few flashlights somewhere and, by their faint beams, began moving shelves with a series of CLUNKS and scrapes.
They intended to block all the doors and windows of the main hall to prevent any zombies from getting in.
Chu Zhaozhao, meanwhile, shone a flashlight as she found a few bags of snacks and milk candies. She crouched on the floor and said,
"Brother, don’t pay any attention to those two. My brother’s a total coward..."
"When we were kids, we went to steal peaches from someone’s orchard, and he got chased halfway across the village by a Pekingese..."
"And that guy Xu Qian is his classmate. He’s a wimp, too. One time, his girlfriend..."