Apocalypse: I Can See Health Bars

Seeing Chu Zhaozhao pour a glass, Su Qing, not to be outdone, took the bottle and poured one for herself as well.

When the other two guys saw this, they too took the bottle and filled their glasses.

"Huh? Brother, don’t you usually not drink?" Chu Zhaozhao asked quizzically when she saw Chu Zhaotian pour himself a glass too.

"You... say that as if you’re a regular drinker yourself..."

Chu Zhaotian pursed his lips, signaling for her to just shut up.

...

After a few rounds of drinks, they were well into their meal.

The small supermarket didn’t have any fancy liquor; the bottle they had was only 38% alcohol, so after one glass, everyone was just a little tipsy.

They hadn’t drunk much, but they’d eaten a lot of meat.

The five of them had sliced up at least six or seven pounds of beef and lamb, and in the blink of an eye, more than half of it was already gone.

"Has your sister always been able to eat this much?"

Lin Fan raised his glass to Chu Zhaotian and asked in a low voice.

Watching Chu Zhaozhao wolfing down the hotpot meat, Chu Zhaotian was also at a loss for words.

’She never used to eat this much... Maybe she was just starving...’

Just as he was spacing out watching his sister eat, Xu Qian, who was beside him, suddenly raised his glass. "...Brother Lin, I’d like to toast you..."

Lin Fan was a little surprised to see Xu Qian suddenly speak up.

He had gotten used to this quiet but very obedient young man.

Seeing him take the initiative to speak, Lin Fan responded by raising his own glass and taking a sip.

But when he saw that Xu Qian hadn’t put his glass down, he raised an eyebrow at him and asked:

"Is something on your mind?"

"Um... Brother Lin, can I ask you something?"

With a couple of drinks in him, it was unclear if Xu Qian had finally found some courage or if the formless, intangible fear had just been diluted. He asked Lin Fan timidly,

"It’s just... Li Tian... he got bit once and... You were injured too... so why?"

"..."

"..."

"..."

The moment the question was asked, not only did Chu Zhaotian fall silent, but even Su Qing, who had finished eating and was putting food on Lin Fan’s plate, and Chu Zhaozhao, who had been madly stuffing her face with meat, instantly quieted down...

Only the HUMMM of the electric pot echoed in the room.

GULP. Chu Zhaozhao carefully swallowed the meat in her mouth, then sprang to her feet and glared at Xu Qian.

"What business is it of yours! Don’t ask questions you shouldn’t!"

Scolded by Chu Zhaozhao, Xu Qian lowered his head awkwardly, but he continued to fiddle with his chopsticks, his mind clearly troubled.

Lin Fan was silent for a moment. Then he reached up, wiped a speck of sesame sauce Chu Zhaozhao had splattered onto his forehead, smeared it on her thigh, and said slowly:

"It’s okay. I was planning on telling you guys anyway..."

This was also the reason Lin Fan had gathered everyone for this meal.

He knew that it wasn’t just Xu Qian; even Su Qing was curious about this question. They just didn’t ask.

He just hadn’t expected Xu Qian to be the first to ask, using the alcohol for courage. It seemed the matter had been putting a great deal of pressure on him.

His gaze slowly swept across everyone, from the nervous Xu Qian to the somewhat worried Chu Zhaotian, and then to the resolute Su Qing and Chu Zhaozhao. Then, he spoke calmly:

"This world isn’t as simple as you think...

Zombies, Mutated Zombies, mutated monsters, and even some terrifying beings you’ve never even seen before.

So, I don’t think it’s that I *can’t* be infected...

My guess is, I’ve already been infected."

His calm words hit them like a bombshell, causing Xu Qian’s and Chu Zhaotian’s faces to turn deathly pale.

Su Qing instinctively grabbed Lin Fan’s arm, while Chu Zhaozhao leaned in, tilting her head to carefully examine his eyes.

He patted Su Qing’s hand, then pushed Chu Zhaozhao’s head back, and continued to slowly recount the events of a few days ago, starting from when he took in the sick dog...

Of course, he carefully omitted anything about health bars and drops, explaining their questions only from a physical perspective.

"I don’t know the principle behind it, but ever since that day, I can feel some kind of energy circulating inside my body...

"It didn’t kill me. It changed me. The strength, speed, and recovery abilities you’ve seen are all part of this energy...

"So, the answer to your question is, the reason I’m different from Li Tian is because six days ago, when none of you knew, I already had a brush with death. Maybe I was just lucky and survived."

"But this is just a special case for me alone. It’s likely the result of countless coincidences piling up. So you absolutely, positively must not get any ideas about getting lucky."

"Getting bitten, getting scratched—there’s only one outcome: ending up like Li Tian. Your job isn’t to be curious about me, but to protect yourselves. Make sure you don’t get hurt. Do you all understand?"

Across from him, Chu Zhaotian and Xu Qian fell silent after Lin Fan finished, as if they were deep in thought.

Beside him, Su Qing remained quiet, but Lin Fan could feel her sense of relief from the way she gripped his arm.

Meanwhile, Chu Zhaozhao leaned in again, looked into Lin Fan’s eyes, and said:

"So, Big Brother, you really are the main character of a novel!"

"...Isn’t there still meat left? Go on, eat up..."

It seemed Chu Zhaozhao had relaxed as well. Lin Fan reached out, pushed her back, and picked up another piece of meat from the pot for her with his chopsticks.

"Then... Brother Lin... us..."

Xu Qian hesitated, pointing a finger at himself before asking quietly,

"Can we... really survive...?"

Lin Fan understood that the "we" he was talking about referred to everyone except for Lin Fan himself.

The question made Lin Fan fall silent as well.

He just stood up silently, picked up the liquor bottle, and started from Su Qing on his right, filling everyone’s glass one by one, all the way to Chu Zhaozhao on his left.

Then he slowly sat back down. Only then did he speak, his tone as casual as if he were discussing the weather.

"I don’t know..."

Although Lin Fan’s words were uncertain, they unexpectedly made everyone relax. They just watched him quietly.

Lin Fan, however, picked up his chopsticks, thought for a moment, then simply plucked a piece of meat dipped in sesame sauce right out of Chu Zhaozhao’s bowl. He popped it into his mouth and continued speaking as he chewed,

"I don’t know if we can survive."

Although Xu Qian’s "we" hadn’t included him, Lin Fan’s "we" clearly did.

"What the future holds, no one can say for sure.

Maybe a stronger monster will show up tomorrow. Maybe a new virus will appear and make all the food rot. Maybe something else will pop up and make everyone sick...

The only thing I can know for sure right now is today."

His gaze slowly swept over the two desk lamps hanging on the wall, over the bubbling hotpot on the table, and over the health bars above everyone’s heads.

"Today, we have meat to eat, liquor to drink, and beds to sleep in.

What we can do is eat our fill and get a good night’s sleep.

And then tomorrow, we pick up our weapons and don’t die."

’Thinking too far ahead will drive you crazy...’