Chapter 53: Only For Your Sake
Chu Zhaozhao suddenly stopped talking mid-sentence. She placed the snacks, one by one, on the shelf in front of Lin Fan.
"Big Bro, you eat first. There’s more over there. I’m going to help them set up the shelves, then I’ll bring you more."
After saying that, she got up and went to help the other two move shelves to barricade the door.
Lin Fan grabbed a bag of snacks that Chu Zhaozhao had "fed" him from the shelf. Although it was agonizing to only hear half a piece of gossip, he shifted into a more comfortable position and started munching away.
As long as there was still food in the outside world, he didn’t plan on touching the reserves in his backpack inventory.
Zombies didn’t eat these packaged foods. Besides, with the drastic drop in population, resources were abundant. It was impossible to be short on food in the early days of the apocalypse.
As long as they could kill the ambushing zombies, the stock in any single store would be enough to feed a few people for a while.
The ideal scenario was to stockpile for a year to a year and a half. By then, almost all packaged meat in the outside world, aside from a few canned goods, would have spoiled and rotted.
The meat in his inventory would then become more and more precious over time, turning into a strategic-level source of protein for survival.
The rain outside grew heavier and heavier, and it didn’t look like it would stop anytime soon.
Occasional flashes of lightning illuminated the road outside, and Lin Fan could see that the area in front of the gas station was still clear of zombies.
Even in the dark, Lin Fan could see the zombies’ health bars. No health bars meant it was safe.
He decided to take this opportunity to observe his blue energy bar.
After some time, his blue bar had recovered to 27 points, an increase of 5. It seemed to be regenerating at a rate of about one point per minute.
’Looks like the energy recovers pretty quickly. If I can get my hands on a lot of leveled crystals in the future, I won’t have to worry about them running out of energy.’
’But I wonder how to increase the blue bar’s maximum capacity. Whether it’s for activating crystals or for future energy-consuming crystal skills, the longer the uptime, the better.’
After eating and drinking his fill, Lin Fan equipped the activated crystal again. ’It automatically deactivates when the energy runs out anyway. Might as well recover as much as I can.’
The three of them lined up the shelves, completely blocking the gas station lobby’s doors and windows. Their Life Value was low and their bodies were weak, so the effort left all three exhausted. They slumped to the ground, panting heavily.
Ever since they discovered Lin Fan had sharp hearing, the two guys didn’t dare say another word. They were afraid of upsetting him and getting eaten.
The two of them sat far away, leaning against the wall. Chu Zhaozhao, on the other hand, was the most energetic and took the first watch.
Seeing that Lin Fan hadn’t lain down yet, she walked over and leaned against the shelf in front of him.
"Big Bro, the doors are all blocked now. Do you want me to help you move this shelf...?"
"No need. Leave it here. It’ll give them a sense of security..."
Lin Fan said casually. But it wasn’t just to give them a sense of security; he didn’t trust them either. ’Having myself walled in will help me sleep more soundly.’
"Hey, by the way, why do you keep calling me ’Big Bro’? Are we that close...?"
Lin Fan really couldn’t hold it in any longer and asked out of curiosity. ’There has to be a limit to how friendly this girl is, right? Is it really okay to trust someone so easily in these chaotic times?’
Seeing that Lin Fan didn’t want the shelf moved, Chu Zhaozhao sat down and leaned against it, her back to him.
In the dim light, all Lin Fan could see was the green health bar above her head.
"I... In the novels I used to read, the main characters were all like you, Big Bro..."
she said softly, a matter-of-fact tone in her voice.
"When everyone else is in despair, the protagonist stands up and says, ’The sky isn’t falling yet! If you want to live, listen to me!’"
"My brother, on the other hand, usually just says things like, ’Zhaozhao, what do we do?’, ’Zhaozhao, help!’, ’Zhaozhao, help me up, help me up’..."
"So I decided I want to be your little follower, Big Bro, and stick with you... Hehe..."
"That’s it?"
Lin Fan was completely baffled. ’That’s your reason for trusting someone?’
"...Uh, yeah! That’s it!"
Chu Zhaozhao hesitated for a moment but still answered with conviction.
Although Lin Fan felt she was holding something back, he figured it didn’t matter. Since the health bar above her head was green, just like Su Qing’s and his own, she probably wouldn’t harm him.
This was another function of the health bars that Lin Fan had surmised.
All strangers had yellow health bars, including the few thugs downstairs the other day and the people here at the gas station.
But after spending some time with him, some people’s health bars would turn green.
In Lin Fan’s eyes, this was a signal that they were safe and harmless.
He decided to just lie down on his side, using a pack of tissues as a pillow.
Chu Zhaozhao seemed quite reliable. Since he wasn’t sleepy anyway, he started making small talk with her.
"That quiet guy you mentioned earlier... what happened to his girlfriend?"
Lin Fan asked while lying down and taking stock of the supplies in his inventory.
Chu Zhaozhao was silent for a few seconds before saying sullenly:
"There were five of us when we left..."
"I was out with my brother, and the other three were his classmates."
"There was also a guy named Li Tian, and Huang Qi, who was Xu Qian’s girlfriend..."
"Actually, Li Tian was the leader of my brother’s group. He was the one who rented the car, too..."
"...We were planning to go to Jishan after getting gas here that day, but when Huang Qi went to the bathroom, a zombie grabbed her..."
"We thought she was being assaulted by some thug. My brother and Li Tian went to pull it off her, but the zombie was terrifyingly strong. The two of them together couldn’t move it."
"Huang Qi was bitten on the neck, blood... Li Tian got bitten then, too."
"Xu Qian..."
As she spoke, Lin Fan sensed Chu Zhaozhao glance over in the direction of the other two guys.
"He didn’t dare try to help pull it off, not from beginning to end. When the blood sprayed on him, he was scared stiff. He just sat on the ground, completely frozen..."
"It was my brother and Li Tian who dragged him back into the lobby."
"But not long after, Li Tian started feeling sick. He said he was in agony, like his soul was on fire... While we weren’t looking, he opened the lobby door and ran outside."
"The few zombies gathered at the entrance all chased after him. Otherwise, that glass door wouldn’t have held for so long..."
"I don’t like him..."
Chu Zhaozhao said quietly.
Lin Fan knew she was talking about Xu Qian. To be honest, Lin Fan didn’t like him either, but in a situation like that, who could really blame anyone...
He didn’t know what to say, so he just reached his hand out over the shelf and gently patted Chu Zhaozhao’s head.
But then he heard her continue:
"I was so scared... I wanted to run away... But I didn’t want to become like him... I was completely frozen at the time, I couldn’t even move..."
"You gave me two choices, equal choices..."
"You told me that whether I chose to save someone or to run away myself, neither was wrong, that both had value..."
"Anything is better than being numb, cowardly, and frozen in place, utterly useless..."