Ch 87: The Farmer Ger in the Apocalypse

Song Kaiji ran out of the room, wanting to be alone for a while. But with zombies everywhere outside, where could he go? He could only pace around the stairwell a few times, kicking the corner of the wall in frustration.

Shen Qing watched him for a while and unexpectedly found it somewhat amusing.

Indeed, some people in this world are born to be decisive and ruthless, swift and resolute. But there are also those who, even when upset, still consider propriety and the bigger picture, unwilling to storm out of this small building recklessly.

“What are you laughing at? Do you also think Li Liang is right, that I’m useless?” Song Kaiji didn’t turn around. Instead, he crouched against the wall, back facing Shen Qing, and asked in a muffled voice.

The moment he said it, he regretted it. Why was he taking out his frustration on Shen Qing just because he had been aggravated by Li Liang? Song Kaiji shifted slightly to the side. “…That’s not what I meant. I’m just in a bad mood… I know you’re not laughing at me.”

“I get it.” Shen Qing walked over and crouched down beside him, also facing the wall. “I was just laughing at how little you’ve seen of people. Someone like Li Liang only needs a few words to provoke you, and you’re already upset.”

Crouching was uncomfortable, so Shen Qing simply sat cross-legged. In his eyes, Li Liang was just the kind of person who deserved a beating. If this were back in their village, Li Liang would have been put in his place countless times already—his big mouth slapped shut ages ago. The Shen family, Old Lady Wang, Wang Liuzi—each of them was more shameless, more difficult, and far more skilled in manipulation than Li Liang. If Shen Qing had let himself be affected by a few words like Song Kaiji, he would have died of frustration a long time ago!

Song Kaiji and Li Liang had grown up in a civilized world—one governed by laws, etiquette, and order. That was why Li Liang, despite his sharp tongue, had never been beaten. In their world, hitting someone was illegal; you couldn’t just deal with people as freely as they did in Shen Qing’s village. Likewise, Song Kaiji had never encountered truly difficult people or situations. The worst he had ever dealt with was someone like Li Liang.

Civilization had protected them well.

Shen Qing had glimpsed the beauty of this world’s past through the videos on his phone. In the dramas he watched, people’s biggest worries seemed to be workplace rivalries or unrequited love. For someone who had grown up never having enough to eat or a single decent set of clothes, it was unimaginable—and enviable.

But he didn’t resent Song Kaiji for it, nor did he think Song Kaiji was weak. To have grown up in a peaceful world and then suddenly be thrust into the apocalypse, yet still manage to survive and gradually adapt—Shen Qing already thought that was remarkable. Growth took time, didn’t it?

“I told you before, my mother ran into trouble,” Shen Qing said. He wasn’t great at comforting people, so after thinking for a while, he decided to share his own story. “There was someone even worse than Li Liang, someone who thought they could do whatever they wanted just because they had… let’s say four ability users in their family.” He scratched his ear, struggling to find the right words to describe his situation. “While I wasn’t home, they tried to rob my house. And when I caught them, they turned it around on me, accusing me of—”

His brows furrowed deeply. He didn’t care much about his reputation, but if it had been any other unmarried ger in the village, a false accusation like that could drive someone to throw themselves into the river.

“You got upset just because Li Liang said a few words to you. If you had to deal with people like that, wouldn’t you just die of frustration? If you let every little thing get to you, how are you supposed to keep living?”

Song Kaiji knew Shen Qing was right, but still… was he just fragile? Even now, as Shen Qing tried to console him, his eyes felt warm. “It’s not just about what he said. It’s that… I really feel useless.”

Shen Qing fell silent. That was something that had been troubling him too. After a long pause, he sighed, “Yeah… getting stronger is really hard.”

Even though he was getting stronger. He was already far more capable than before. Back in his village, he only had to worry about protecting Miao Shi from Shen Zhigao’s violence or stopping Old Lady Shen and Zhao Aiye from bullying her. But once they moved out of the Shen household, when those people no longer posed a threat, new dangers emerged.

So this was what it meant—there was always someone stronger, always a higher mountain to climb. Shen Qing wondered, if he ever opened a workshop, or set up a shop in the city, would he just encounter even tougher problems as he grew stronger?

He glanced at Song Kaiji. “How about this—why don’t you just cry it out? Once you’re done, we’ll keep getting stronger.”

Song Kaiji finally cracked a smile. “What about you? Have you solved your problem yet? Maybe…” He hesitated before making a suggestion. “Maybe you should bring your mother here. The base is pretty safe. If needed, we could rent a villa in the inner city. She could stay with Aunt Tang.”

The inner city housed the government’s top officials and the most powerful ability teams. Its security was leagues above the outer city’s.

“…I’ll think about it.” Shen Qing was reluctant to bring Miao Shi here unless absolutely necessary. No matter how bad things were in their village, at least there were no zombies. That alone made it a hundred times safer than Red City Base. And Shen Qing still hadn’t figured something out—was he the only one immune to zombie attacks, or were all people from his village safe? He had no way to test it, and he definitely wasn’t going to risk his mother’s life to find out.

Besides, even if zombies didn’t attack him, his experience at Yucai High School had already proven that mutant plants did. He couldn’t afford to let his guard down in this world.

As Shen Qing was lost in thought, Song Kaiji suddenly asked, “By the way… what did she mean when she said you had ‘something’ with her son?”

That “something”—was it what he thought it was? Did Shen Qing… like men?

Song Kaiji’s heart pounded with curiosity. Based on Shen Qing’s story, his mother’s home was in some other settlement with a lot of people. Was it another base?

“She was slandering me! I don’t like her son at all. He just wouldn’t stop pestering me…” Shen Qing abruptly stopped. He had almost forgotten—this world didn’t have gers! But then, he recalled the men he had seen near South Gate, those who dressed seductively and entertained clients like women did.

So men being with men was a thing here, right?

“Anyway, there was nothing between us.” Shen Qing glanced at Song Kaiji. “Do you think it’s weird? For men to be together?”

How could Song Kaiji possibly think that? If anything, he hoped it was normal. He had already fallen for Shen Qing—so much so that even his usual obliviousness couldn’t hide it from himself anymore. But he had no idea if Shen Qing could accept being with another man, so he had never dared to show his feelings.

Just as he was about to say something, a flash of green reflected in the stairwell window caught his eye.

“Watch out!” Song Kaiji tensed.

Shen Qing spun around. They instinctively moved closer, backing toward the room while keeping their eyes locked on the movement outside.

It was a thin, creeping vine, inching toward the glass in a suspiciously deliberate manner. When it realized it had been spotted, it recoiled—as if it had intelligence. Just like the mutant wisteria at Yucai High School.

Song Kaiji flipped his hands, summoning two Tang swords. The two of them stood back-to-back, slowly retreating into the room, ready for battle. Song Kaiji regretted coming out here. What had he been thinking? If he couldn’t stand Li Liang’s nonsense, he should have just thrown Li Liang outside instead!

The vine lashed out, slamming against the window. The sturdy glass cracked instantly, a small hole punctured through. A web of fractures spread across the pane. Then, as if testing its success, the vine tapped the cracks a few times—sending a shower of shattered glass raining down.

The scent of living humans leaked out.

The zombies outside instantly went into a frenzy, hurling themselves at the window, clawing and pounding.

But instead of attacking further, the vine retreated, vanishing from sight.

A chill ran down Shen Qing’s spine. It was smart. It didn’t need to break in itself—it had simply weakened the glass, letting the zombies do the killing. Then, when the zombies were done, it could harvest the leftover corpses for nutrients.

No wonder this gas station had looked so ransacked when they arrived. There were bloodstains, signs of struggle—but no corpses.

The broken window was on the stairwell between the first and second floors. The zombies wouldn’t be able to climb in immediately, but Shen Qing was still deeply unsettled by the vine’s intelligence.

“Xiao Tang! Block the window!” Shen Qing called out.

Inside, Tang Wenjie responded. It sounded like he was putting down his food to come help.

But in that brief moment, Shen Qing’s vision blurred.

Among the frenzied zombies, one was different.

It stepped on the heads of others, pushing itself higher, before gripping the window frame with unnaturally long fingers and vaulting into the stairwell.

Its limbs were disproportionately long, its body taller and leaner than a normal zombie’s. Instead of rotting, its flesh had dried and darkened, like a mummified corpse. Its hands, shaped like enormous suction cups, gripped the surfaces with terrifying ease.

The mutant zombie’s left arm shot out. Its palm suctioned onto Song Kaiji’s Tang sword and flung it away before lunging at them.

Song Kaiji was horrified. It had disarmed him first?

He could teleport away—but he had never tried bringing someone with him.

And there was no way he was abandoning Shen Qing.

This was both Song Kaiji’s flaw and his strength. People could say he was indecisive, unwilling to put himself first, or too soft-hearted. But this was simply who he was—someone who let his emotions guide him, someone who couldn’t easily let go. Maybe it would drag him into the abyss someday, but he couldn’t help it, especially when the person in front of him was someone he liked.

He hesitated, torn between two choices. Should he risk teleporting with Shen Qing, even though he had never tried bringing someone else along? If it failed, he might escape, but Shen Qing would surely die. Or should he stand his ground and fight this strange zombie head-on?

Before he could decide, Shen Qing used all his strength and shoved him backward.

Song Kaiji’s eyes widened in shock. “Shen Qing!” At such a life-or-death moment, Shen Qing had pushed him away and put himself in danger.

But what happened next stunned him even more. The zombie suddenly changed direction, ignoring Shen Qing entirely and charging straight for him instead.

“Still not teleporting? Run!” As soon as the zombie passed him, Shen Qing swung his Tang sword at its back, aiming to sever its head. But the creature’s skin had evolved—his blade only cut a third of the way through instead of fully decapitating it.

The zombie turned sluggishly, facing Shen Qing as if confused, but it still didn’t attack him. Then, just as quickly, it shifted focus back to Song Kaiji, swinging its suction-cup-like hands toward him.

Thankfully, Tang Wenjie finally arrived. Several steel needles shot through the air, piercing the zombie’s brain and putting an end to the fight.

“Are you guys okay?” Tang Wenjie asked, unaware of anything unusual. He only regretted arriving a little late. Stepping forward, he examined the zombie’s body, its head now riddled with needle-sized holes. “Damn… what is this thing? Why was it so hard to kill?”

The others in the room had also rushed out by now. Seeing the corpse, both Tang Wenjie and Qu Weiwei were reminded of the mutated zombies they had seen at Yucai High School—those that scavenged crystal cores. Their expressions darkened.

“Could this be what happens when zombies consume crystal cores and evolve?” Qu Weiwei asked, her voice uneasy.

And if that was the case, did all evolved zombies turn into this, or, like human ability users, could they mutate in countless different ways?

But Song Kaiji wasn’t focused on any of that. He was still staring at Shen Qing in shock. His eyes darted to him the moment he moved. “You… you…”

Shen Qing sighed. He knew he shouldn’t have exposed himself like this in front of Song Kaiji. He wasn’t supposed to let anyone know that zombies didn’t attack him. But at that moment, just as Song Kaiji couldn’t bring himself to leave him behind, he couldn’t bear to leave Song Kaiji to die either.

He had a hundred warnings and threats lined up to make sure Song Kaiji wouldn’t go around talking about this. But in the end, all that came out was a bitter smile.

“We really are too weak, don’t you think?”

◦°˚(*❛‿❛)/˚°◦

Thandar: Is the ger the gong? lol Shen Qing seems more like it.