Sixteen Years

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Liu Ruosong stared calmly at the others, looking unfazed and dependable.

He Tang quickly caught up and kicked the young man’s calf. She didn’t seem to use much force, but her kick made the guy stagger and almost lose his balance.

“Don’t speak recklessly,” He Tang scolded, her face stern. She continued, “Calling him ‘sister-in-law’ right away, aren’t you afraid of scaring people?”

Liu Ruosong thought that there was a sensible person among them. He was about to nod in agreement, but before his chin could come down, he saw He Tang turn to him with a smile. Then, he awkwardly wiped his palms on his clothes.

“Right, Brother Liu,” He Tang said.

Liu Ruosong: “…”

Who could tell him where these “heavenly soldiers” came from, and how had he become so famous that everyone knew him.

Liu Ruosong stared blankly at the person in front of him. He was still puzzled when He Tang and the young man looked at each other, pursed their lips tightly, as if they wanted to laugh but didn’t dare to. It looked like they were about to burst.

Liu Ruosong was full of question marks. Before he could ask for more details, he heard a slightly mocking male voice from behind, “Because the captain always carries your two-inch passport photo with him – it’s in the inner pocket of his training uniform, and he checks it regularly.”

As soon as the other person finished speaking, both He Tang and the young man burst into laughter as if they had lost all their air.

Liu Ruosong: “…”

“He thought he was hiding it well.” Two similarly sized men walked over side by side behind him. He Feng took over the conversation with a teasing tone and continued, “Seriously, every time he goes to work, he pats his chest so many times. Who wouldn’t be curious?”

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Liu Ruosong: “…”

Although the timing was wrong, the place was wrong, and it was not the right occasion for jokes, Liu Ruosong couldn’t help but feel like he was losing his mind.

Unfortunately, these team members didn’t know how to “protect” their captain’s image, and they took the opportunity to reveal his secrets one after another.

“There’s a stack of your outdoor magazines in the captain’s dormitory.” He Tang exaggeratedly gestured with her hand, saying, “It’s piled up this high, all hidden in his closet.”

………………….

On a remote highway more than a thousand kilometers from Yizhou, Fu Yan sneezed out of nowhere.

Poor Colonel Fu had no idea that his comrades had exposed his secrets, and he furrowed his brows, confusedly touching the collar of his jacket – his clothes had dried three hours ago, and the weather was hot, so he shouldn’t be catching a cold.

Fu Yan rubbed his nose in puzzlement, then surveyed his surroundings, switching on the car’s headlights and gradually slowing down. He glided the vehicle down the side road next to the highway and parked it under a dirt slope at a fork in the road.

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He turned off the engine and waited inside the car cautiously for over ten minutes. Seeing nothing unusual nearby, he finally raised his collar, opened the door, and got out of the car.

Two hundred meters away, there was a large gas station, and behind it, the adjacent supermarket was still lit. The shelves inside the supermarket had been overturned, indicating that someone had been there before.

Fu Yan had his only gun handed over to Liu Ruosong, and now he only had a folding knife he found in the car.

He carefully approached, flicking open the knife’s blade and gripping it in his hand. Instead of pushing open the front door, he lifted the latch of the window at the back of the supermarket and jumped inside.

Most of the bottled water on the supermarket shelves had already been looted. Fu Yan bypassed the overturned shelves and went to the front. In the end, he found an untouched bottle of water hidden under the counter.

He was about to bend down when he saw something flash out of the corner of his eye—

Fu Yan instinctively crouched down and avoided a zombie that had crashed into the cash register with a loud noise, denting the metal surface.

—This thing must have been in a dormant state before, hiding in the gap behind the supermarket shelves, so Fu Yan didn’t see it.

Unfortunately, just when trouble was added to trouble, Fu Yan noticed another shadow nearby that had been alerted by the noise and was heading straight for him.

These two zombies had clearly mutated for a while. The one in the work uniform was tattered, and there were marks of a struggle on its body. There was a large wound on its arm, and the edges of the wound had turned white, with thick blood dripping down.

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Fu Yan twisted his brows, propped up the zombie’s arm with one hand, and evaded its second pounce with ease. The zombie had already extended its neck in an attempt to bite his shoulder but couldn’t make it in time. Its teeth clamped down heavily, making a sour impact sound.

Fu Yan almost hesitated for a moment but used one hand to forcefully twist the zombie’s arm down, slid behind it, and used his knee to press against its lower back, pinning it to the ground.

Next, he drove the folding knife deep into the vulnerable junction of the zombie’s neck and spine. Fu Yan inserted the blade and violently stirred it around, as if he were stirring something, until the creature went limp as if it had lost power.

Ten minutes later, Fu Yan cleaned up the supermarket, closed both the front and back doors, and turned off the bright lights.

After doing all this, he picked up the unopened bottle of water from the ground, unscrewed the cap, and took a sip.

Water droplets flowed down from his lips, dripping into his collar. Fu Yan lowered his eyes, expressionless, and poured a handful of water onto the folding knife, washing away the traces of blood on it.

—In the early days of the apocalypse, the virus was still in its highly active period, and he had to be careful.

In the first three months of the apocalypse, the virus transmission and mutation effects were at their peak, and blood exchange could easily lead to infection, with a high mutation rate. However, after three months, the virus’s fluctuations stabilized, and the differences in mutation time gradually shortened.

After finishing half a bottle of water, Fu Yan’s cell phone suddenly vibrated. He took it out and saw an unfamiliar number.

“Hello,” Fu Yan said.

“I did as you instructed, and I’m now hiding in a very safe place in Pengcheng,” a melodious male voice on the other end said. He sounded young, perhaps in his mid-twenties. “There’s no one else around, and the building is absolutely stable.”

“Good,” Fu Yan said as he put away the remaining half of the water. He continued, “I will get there as soon as possible.”

There was a silence on the other end of the phone for a moment before the caller asked, “But may I ask, do you have any credentials to prove your identity or your position?”

“No, I’ve already stated my military status, and I have no additional identity besides that,” Fu Yan said. “If you have doubts about this position, I can only assume that you have preconceived hostile intentions.”

This time, the silence on the phone lasted even longer.

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“I don’t distrust the military,” after a long while, Fang Sining finally said, “but I have a request… I have someone I trust, RU8315. I’d like to speak with him.”

“Don’t worry, he has also received the rescue and reception task,” Fu Yan said. “If everything goes as planned, you will meet my deputy captain within three days.”

The phone remained silent again, and this time, Fu Yan didn’t have the patience to wait. He simply hung up.

When Fu Yan left the gas station with a bucket of gasoline, the sky was gradually getting brighter.

……………………

The sun emerged from the night, and several hundred kilometers away in a makeshift camp, a bonfire had just been lit.

“…He’s my brother, He Feng.”

In the temporary camp next to the military jeep, Liu Ruosong had already bandaged his wound and was now wearing Fu Yan’s training uniform. He was holding a cup of hot water and listening to He Tang introduce the team members.

“This one, Long-Eared Harrier, call him Xiao Ming,” He Tang said. “As for that one—”

She pointed to the man who had jumped down from the front passenger seat and said with a smile, “That’s our deputy captain, White-Headed Kite.”

Liu Ruosong, holding the cup, raised his head, and the tall and long-legged man had already crossed over the military backpacks and sat down next to him.

The man was well-built and had sharp features, and although he always had a smile on his face, he had a hint of untamed charm.

“Hello,” White-Headed Kite sat down next to Liu Ruosong without hesitation. He reached into his backpack and handed him a box of military rations. Then, he extended his hand with a friendly smile, “White-Headed Kite, Bai Touyuan or Shao Qiu if you prefer.”

Liu Ruosong’s hand, when he shook it, suddenly tightened, and he was instantly stunned.