Apocalypse: I Can See Health Bars
Chapter 11: Surging Undercurrents

Chapter 11: Chapter 11: Surging Undercurrents

"It’s not that I didn’t get it... it’s that you never sent it!"

Su Qing’s eyes went wide as she stared at the phone Lin Fan had shoved in her face, looking at the big red "!" in front of the message.

Lin Fan just gave a mischievous chuckle and didn’t comment further.

While Su Qing was getting her IV, Lin Fan sat cross-legged on the coffee table and chatted with her about what had happened over the past two days.

Just as he had suspected, it was a global catastrophe.

"The day before yesterday, I think I heard some popping sounds, probably gunshots. I was so scared back then that I didn’t dare go to the window. I just hid in my bedroom, thinking someone would come to rescue us soon, but then..."

Su Qing’s mood sank as she recalled the past two days, but she quickly composed herself and continued.

"After that, I didn’t hear any more gunshots. At first, there were still screams from downstairs of people being killed by zombies, but then those faded away too... It was like everyone in the world except me had turned into one of those monsters..."

"Gunshots attract zombies. If you’re not part of a large group, you wouldn’t dare use a gun even if you had one."

Lin Fan could see her spirits were low and tried to comfort her.

"Besides, most of the survivors are probably hiding. With so many zombies on the streets, who would dare come out?"

Su Qing asked worriedly, "Lin Fan, do you think someone will come rescue us...?"

Lin Fan carefully removed the IV needle from Su Qing’s hand and glanced at her health bar: [39/100].

The IV and the food had clearly helped. Her Life Value had been slowly recovering ever since she got back.

"Who knows? There are quarantine zones, right? Maybe once they’ve stabilized, they’ll have the resources to launch rescue operations."

’But based on my own assessment, a rescue won’t be coming anytime soon. Since the earlier text message mentioned a quarantine zone at Linjiang University, most of the surviving armed forces are probably there. In that case, there must be a good number of ordinary survivors as well. With so many people, so many mouths to feed, just solving the daily food problem must be incredibly difficult, let alone sparing forces to venture deep into the city for rescues.’

So, Lin Fan decisively changed the subject:

"I did a quick check when I carried you back. It doesn’t seem like you have any broken bones. Do you feel uncomfortable anywhere else?"

"Uncomfortable?... Ah, that hurts!"

Hearing Lin Fan’s words, Su Qing tried to stand up from the sofa, but her brow furrowed the moment her foot touched the ground.

"I think I bumped my calf. It hurts..."

When Lin Fan carried her back, he had only taken off her "paper armor" jacket, shoes, and socks. Since she was wearing long pants, he hadn’t felt it was appropriate to take them off to check.

"Roll up your pant leg. Let me see."

After all, she had been injured while fighting alongside him. Lin Fan took on the responsibility of a doctor, examining her seriously.

"See? This is what I was talking about before. Humans are much easier to treat than animals. At least humans can tell you where it hurts..."

As Su Qing rolled up her pant leg, she secretly rolled her eyes at Lin Fan. ’What kind of comparison is that...?’

As the pant leg was rolled up, a palm-sized red and swollen area was revealed on Su Qing’s long, fair calf.

Lin Fan held her foot with one hand and used his other to support the uninjured part of her calf, gently bending it upward.

"Does it hurt?"

Su Qing’s eyes were half-closed, her eyelashes trembling slightly with each pang of pain. For some reason, the foot Lin Fan was holding began to tingle.

"N-no... it doesn’t hurt..."

The pain in her calf and the tingling in her foot mixed into a strange sensation, instantly draining the strength from her body. She collapsed back against the sofa, panting softly.

Hearing her say it didn’t hurt, Lin Fan was relieved and placed her foot back on the sofa.

"The bone’s fine. Go back and put some ice on it. It’ll be fine in a day or two."

As he spoke, he got up, took a few hard-boiled eggs and two bottles of mineral water frozen solid from the fridge, and put them in a plastic bag.

"Here. Eat these if you get hungry later tonight."

He had found plenty of supplies in 402 anyway, so Lin Fan was feeling generous toward his beautiful neighbor.

’I can always just deduct it from her share tomorrow...’

"You should go back and get some rest. Tomorrow, we’ll go upstairs and bring down anything useful."

Su Qing was still in a bit of a daze. When Lin Fan mentioned how late it was, she finally realized she was in someone else’s apartment and that it was time for her to leave.

So she put on her shoes and socks, took the bag from Lin Fan, and limped out. She went into her apartment and looked back at Lin Fan, who had walked her out, through the metal security gate with a complicated expression on her face.

"Well..."

"Come over for breakfast tomorrow morning. I’m soaking some soybeans to make soy milk."

"Mm, okay..."

Su Qing pursed her lips, gave a firm nod, and closed her wooden door.

...

Looking at the slightly twisted and deformed security gate in front of Su Qing’s apartment, Lin Fan was filled with a whirlwind of emotions.

So much had happened in just half a day; he hadn’t even had time to properly process it all.

He locked his own door, returned to the living room, and sat down where Su Qing had just been lying. The spot on the sofa was still warm.

With a flick of his wrist, a fragmented piece of metal appeared in his hand...

It was a crafting material called a Blade, and it looked like the blade of some kind of large utility knife.

Lin Fan couldn’t tell what kind of metal it was made from. It was about 40 centimeters long and 10 centimeters wide, rectangular, with a single-sided edge.

One end was a sharp point at about a thirty-degree angle, while the other end looked like it had been snapped off something, leaving an irregular break.

The edge was very sharp. Lin Fan just made a casual gesture with it and gave himself a small cut on his hand.

He quickly checked his own health bar and saw that he hadn’t lost any health, which put his mind at ease.

’It seems a small cut like this doesn’t count as actual damage, or at least not the kind of injury that truly affects my physical condition.’

He took out the other Blade and compared them. He found that the broken ends of the two Blades were not identical, which he found a bit strange.

After all, things like scrap metal and steel wire were just messy tangles, so Lin Fan had no way to compare them, but these Blades gave him a clue.

’It seems my ability might not be as simple as a game where you just kill monsters and get loot...’

Lin Fan took out the two potions again for a look. Other than their different names, they looked completely identical; he couldn’t spot any difference.

Then there was the Mutated Zombie he’d encountered today, which was clearly intelligent to some degree. Although it dropped more loot, it was also significantly more dangerous than a regular zombie.

He had to come up with a counter-strategy in advance, just in case he ran into another one.

’Ah, forget it.’ Ever since he’d woken from his coma, the world had suddenly become incredibly strange, full of mysteries.

Deciding not to dwell on it for now, Lin Fan put everything back into his storage backpack and went to his bedroom, lying down comfortably on the bed.

It had been a hectic day. Even though his constitution had been greatly enhanced, he was genuinely tired.

...

Unlike Lin Fan, Su Qing had changed into a nightgown and was lying in bed, applying a towel-wrapped ice pack to her leg.

The cold seeped through the towel, stimulating the injury on her calf. Wisps of tingling numbness and pain traveled along her nerves to her brain.

This made her unable to stop thinking about the sensation of Lin Fan holding her foot.

It made her press the ice pack even harder against her skin, sending a psychedelic sensation from her spine to the tips of her limbs.

Her nightgown rode up as she shifted, and in the pitch-black room, her two firm, rounded thighs clamped tightly around the thin blanket...

It was the soundest she had slept in the last three days.