Ch 55: The Farmer Ger in the Apocalypse

Shen Qing was surprised to learn that there were so many different types of face cream. At first glance, they all looked like white creams, but upon closer inspection, there were subtle differences in texture. Some were more translucent and runny, while others were thick and milky white. Some even had tiny shimmering particles inside, and the scents varied.

He marveled at this in his mind but, being mostly illiterate, he couldn’t read the labels or understand what these differences meant. He could only pretend to examine a few of the fancier-looking jars with interest. One bottle, in particular, caught his attention—it had a shell-like exterior with an iridescent glow, and its cap was adorned with a pearl bigger than a hawthorn fruit.

Even the container itself must be worth quite a bit.

As he looked closer, Shen Qing’s brow furrowed slightly. Among the small characters on the bottle, he recognized one.

He could recognize a few common characters—ones his mother, Miao Shi, had taught him. Shiqu Village had a school, and while girls and gers weren’t officially enrolled, they weren’t chased away if they went to listen. In her childhood, Miao Shi had attended a few times and picked up some basic literacy. She had taught Shen Qing a few characters, like Qing from his name, big, child, good, not, one, two… He even recognized some slightly more complex characters when placed in context.

And here, among the small characters on the bottle, was one he recognized—“white.”

Shen Qing held the bottle in his palm. Did this mean the written language here was the same as in his world?

Qu Weiwei, watching from the side, was getting anxious. What kind of choices are these? “Ugh, you guys are terrible at picking skincare!” She assumed Shen Qing wasn’t illiterate, just clueless about skincare, like a typical straight guy. She rummaged through the pile and expertly picked out a few high-end moisturizing creams. Looking at Shen Qing’s complexion, she even grabbed a whitening cream. “Forget about that fancy-looking jar—it even says Noble Lady Cream or whatever. I guarantee it didn’t cost more than thirty bucks before the apocalypse. It’s just some gimmick to trick old ladies who just learned how to shop online. You might as well use it as hand cream. If you actually put it on your face, your skin will probably rot off!”

The ones she selected, on the other hand, were high-end brands. Even during sales, they would’ve cost at least eight or nine hundred yuan before the apocalypse. Only in the apocalypse could she finally indulge like this. She was already planning to ask Song Kaiji if he had the matching serums so she could live out her rich lady fantasy. While doing so, she patiently explained to Shen Qing, “Everyone’s skin is different. Try a little on your face first. If it doesn’t itch or feel uncomfortable, then you can apply it all over. Just in case you’re allergic to something. Here, these are for moisturizing, and this one is for whitening. Use the moisturizing ones first, and once your skin stops peeling, then use the whitening one.”

Shen Qing memorized her instructions carefully. At the same time, he caught the white character in her words. He picked up the bottle for a closer look and, sure enough, spotted the white character again, strengthening his belief that the writing system in this world was the same as his own. The unfamiliar character before it was probably beauty.

He hadn’t expected skincare to have so many rules. Turning to Song Kaiji, he asked, “Do you do it like this too? Moisturize first, then whiten?”

Song Kaiji hesitated. “…No.” He rummaged through the pile and pulled out two bottles of SOD lotion. “I don’t think about it that much. As long as my skin isn’t dry, it’s fine.” Why would a guy care about whitening?

Shen Qing nodded and picked up one of the bottles. Compared to the fancy creams Qu Weiwei had chosen, this one looked much cheaper. But on its label, he spotted a big character—another word he recognized.

He decided to take one back as well. “I’ll try this too,” he said, already thinking that he should find some books from this world and compare them with the ones from his own.

Meanwhile, Qu Weiwei gave him a strange look. What is this, ‘if you use it, I want to try it too’? It was just SOD lotion—what was there to test?

Song Kaiji also paused for a moment before slightly turning his head away.

After reviewing everything Song Kaiji and Qu Weiwei had handled recently, Shen Qing was satisfied. “Alright, I’m heading back now. Tomorrow, I’ll come here directly and bring some seeds.”

Qu Weiwei nodded eagerly, feeling like a bright future was waving at her. Song Kaiji hesitated, then said, “I’ll walk you out.” After a brief pause, he added, “…And grab some soil while I’m at it.”

For now, Qu Weiwei’s ability wasn’t high enough to grow plants without soil—it would work, but much less efficiently. They planned to get some foam boxes or build wooden crates to fill with soil so she could grow multiple plants at once.

Qu Weiwei cleared her throat. “I’ll stay here and tidy up.” She casually rearranged the remaining face creams on the table, making herself look busy.

Song Kaiji, who had been about to store them back into his space: …

Shen Qing didn’t think much of it. “Alright, let’s go.”

The two walked side by side out of the base. Shen Qing initially thought Song Kaiji had something private to say, but even after they left the city gates, Song Kaiji remained silent, head lowered.

Shen Qing felt a little bored and sensed something off about the atmosphere. It made him inexplicably uneasy. Whenever they walked around Red City Base before, Song Kaiji was always chatty, introducing everything with enthusiasm. He even had a bit of a talkative streak.

Clearing his throat, Shen Qing tried to start a conversation. “When you collect soil, do you store it directly in your space, or do you have to dig it up first?”

Song Kaiji, still lost in thought, took a moment to respond. “I dig it up first… but I’ve never tried storing it directly. Maybe I can. I’ll test it later.”

Shen Qing replied, “Oh.”

Silence again.

So weird. What’s wrong with Song Kaiji today? Shen Qing was about to find another topic when suddenly, someone stumbled out from the refugee camp beside them, rushing toward them. “Old Third! Is that you, Old Third?!”

Shen Qing was startled. Did someone turn into a zombie?! He hadn’t encountered many zombies, but could some actually talk?

Song Kaiji was just as startled. His first instinct was to pull Shen Qing behind him and step forward defensively, his homemade crossbow appearing in his hands. The staggering figure froze, then burst into tears. “It’s me, Old Third!”

Hearing the voice, Song Kaiji suddenly felt a twinge of familiarity. Looking closer, he realized—Tang Wenjie?!

It wasn’t surprising that he hadn’t recognized him at first. Tang Wenjie had once been a burly man, six feet tall and nearly two hundred pounds, built like a small mountain. Now, his face was sunken from malnutrition.

Tang Wenjie had arrived at Red City Base three days ago with a rescue team. Like many others, he had set up a tent outside the base to temporarily settle. While Song Kaiji had been asking around about his own family, he hadn’t run into Tang Wenjie, since he wasn’t from the same town.

But earlier, when Song Kaiji and Qu Weiwei brought Shen Qing into the base, Tang Wenjie had caught a glimpse of him from afar. At first, he thought he was seeing things—Song Kaiji and Qu Weiwei were too clean, too well-dressed, like they hadn’t experienced the apocalypse at all. By the time he processed it and tried to follow, they had already entered the base. Unwilling to let it go, he had waited by the road, hoping to see Song Kaiji again.

And he did.

Tang Wenjie clung to Song Kaiji, sobbing, “I finally found someone I know! You don’t know what I’ve been through!” He had been in Red City when the apocalypse began, alone with his mother. His father had been away, and they lost contact. Thankfully, his mother had a habit of hoarding food, allowing them to survive at home for over two months. But with no sign of rescue and their supplies running low, they had no choice but to set out for Red City Base.

“We took so many wrong turns. Without navigation, it was impossible to find our way. We also ran into bad people, a lot of bad people. We nearly died several times.” Tang Wenjie wiped his tears away. They had moved from one temporary private shelter to another, each time struggling to survive. Throughout these ordeals, Tang Wenjie had been forced to grow up. The food they had brought from home had been stolen—and he had stolen it back. At first, he was terrified of killing zombies, but now, he could strike them down with a steel pipe without even flinching.

“I do have some crystal cores, just not enough for two people to enter the base. I still have my mom with me. I even signed up when the officials called for teams to go hunt zombies, but hardly anyone else signed up, so the team couldn’t be formed, and nothing came of it. We had no choice but to set up a tent here…” He had killed plenty of zombies along the way, but he wasn’t an ability user, and at first, he hadn’t even thought to dig out the crystal cores. Later, when he learned their value, he often had to flee immediately after killing a zombie, never getting the chance to retrieve the cores. That was the downside of fighting alone.

On top of that, he had another major concern—if he went out to hunt zombies, he feared that the moment he left, other refugees would ransack his tent and take his mother away.

Despite traveling together and enduring hardships side by side, the bonds between refugees were weak at best. There was more wariness and distrust than real camaraderie.

“I can go out and hunt zombies. As long as my mom has a safe place to stay, where I don’t have to worry about her, I swear I’ll be able to save up enough crystal cores to get into the base! Old Third, can you…” As Tang Wenjie spoke, his body suddenly swayed, and he collapsed to the side.

Song Kaiji was startled and rushed to catch him, only to realize that Tang Wenjie’s entire body was burning up!

He had noticed earlier that Tang Wenjie’s face was flushed, but he had assumed it was from excitement at seeing an old friend and from running over in a hurry. Only now did he realize that the redness was actually due to a fever!

“Wenjie! Wenjie!” Song Kaiji shook him a few times, but Tang Wenjie remained unresponsive.

Shen Qing had been watching from the sidelines, observing everything. This person, Wenjie, clearly had a close relationship with Song Kaiji, and his concern was completely genuine. Even when Qu Weiwei had lost her arm, Song Kaiji hadn’t looked this anxious.

It seemed they were truly close friends. Since that was the case, Shen Qing decided not to stand by idly. Seeing Song Kaiji panicking, he quickly suggested, “Why don’t we take him into the base first and find a healing ability user to take a look at him?” After seeing how Qu Weiwei’s arm had regenerated, Shen Qing had an almost blind faith in the abilities of healers. As long as there was money, anything could be fixed. “Come on, let’s go. There’s no time to waste. It’s not like we can’t afford it.”

Shen Qing adjusted Tang Wenjie’s weight on his shoulder, estimating that the half-year of hardship had reduced the man’s weight significantly. At six feet tall, he must be no more than 120 or 130 pounds now. Without hesitation, Shen Qing hoisted him up onto his shoulder.

Song Kaiji: ???

He instinctively stepped forward to help, but then suddenly remembered Tang Wenjie’s mother, whom he had just mentioned before passing out. After hesitating for two seconds, he turned and ran toward the cluster of refugee tents, shouting, “Is Tang Wenjie’s mother here? Who is Tang Wenjie’s mother?”

As he glanced back at Shen Qing carrying Tang Wenjie, Song Kaiji thought to himself, I owe Shen Qing more and more with each passing day.

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