Apocalypse: I Can See Health Bars
Chapter 16: You Did This Too?

Chapter 16: Chapter 16: You Did This Too?

A work of art is meant to be admired, and Lin Fan made no secret of his appreciation.

"What is it? What are you so focused on?"

Su Qing put the cloth bag she was holding in the kitchen, then came over and leaned in, looking down at the object on the windowsill.

She didn’t mind Lin Fan’s admiring gaze. After all, if it weren’t for him, she would have starved to death. Besides, he was a genuinely good person.

As she drew near, the faint scent of her makeup, mingled with sweat and the cool air from the air conditioner, created a unique fragrance that wafted into Lin Fan’s nose.

"Huh? A hand-crank radio?"

Seeing how curious Su Qing seemed, Lin Fan shifted to the side to make room for her.

Su Qing leaned in, bending over slightly. She held the radio steady with one hand and began to crank the handle vigorously with the other.

Lin Fan stayed silent, simply admiring the "work of art" without mentioning he had already cranked it.

A turbulent swell, bountiful and generous.

Just as Lin Fan was starting to feel a bit "short of breath," Su Qing finally stopped.

She then expertly switched on the radio, pressed her ear to the speaker, and turned the dial, listening intently.

Watching her practiced movements, Lin Fan couldn’t help but be surprised. He asked in a low voice,

"Sister Su, you know about these things?"

With her eyes closed, Su Qing turned the dial slowly and carefully, trying to pick something out from the bursts of static.

Hearing Lin Fan’s question, she answered in a low voice without opening her eyes. "I know a little. I was really into this stuff when I was younger. I even worked as an announcer for Linjiang Radio right after I graduated."

She then cleared her throat with a couple of dry coughs and continued in a gentle, smooth, and reassuring tone:

"FM 88.5, Linjiang City Music Radio. To all our dear listeners, a very good afternoon to you all. This is your old friend, Wanqing."

When she finished, she turned her head and grinned at a completely mesmerized Lin Fan, her smiling eyes seeming to say, ’See? How was that?’

Lin Fan had to admit, he was completely captivated.

’A beautiful, bountiful, and generous woman in a slip dress, pressing up against you, suddenly starts speaking in a perfect, professional announcer’s voice, gentle and magnetic, that seems to linger in the air...’

’The feeling was probably second only to her resting your head against her chest and massaging your temples with long, delicate fingers.’

If it weren’t for the zombie downstairs—the one with the [96/300] marker—letting out the occasional low growl like a cow choking on phlegm, Lin Fan feared he might have completely lost himself in the intoxicating moment.

Slowing his racing heart, Lin Fan awkwardly tried to break the tension, giving Su Qing a thumbs-up. "That was so professional! I had no idea you used to do that, Sister Su..."

’That doesn’t really sound like a compliment,’ Su Qing thought. But seeing Lin Fan’s discomfort, she didn’t press the issue. She just pouted and turned the topic back to the radio.

"There’s nothing on FM or AM. They must be completely down."

’Isn’t that the same conclusion I came to?’ Lin Fan thought. ’So much for being a professional...’

But then Su Qing’s tone shifted. "However..."

She seemed to be deliberately trying to pique his curiosity, pausing and looking at him.

Lin Fan knew she was being dramatic, but since she was the expert here, he played along. "However what?"

He shot Su Qing a curious glance.

Seeing him play along so nicely, Su Qing’s eyes crinkled into a smile. She said,

"However, this radio of yours is a high-end model. It can pick up shortwave."

"Shortwave?"

Now Lin Fan was truly lost. He was a veterinarian—in the medical field, broadly speaking. He was fine when it came to gaming, but when faced with knowledge that wasn’t used for his job, taught in school, or encountered in a game, he was completely out of his depth.

"I usually just listen to FM-whatever and AM-whatever. Which one of those is shortwave?"

Lin Fan listened intently, eager to learn from Su Qing. After all, if the quarantine zone from the text message really existed, this radio might be their only way to get information from the outside world.

"Neither of them," Su Qing said, wagging a finger at Lin Fan. "Shortwave is SW. Look..."

She said, pointing to the "SW1" and "SW2" markings on the radio’s frequency display.

"FM signals don’t travel very far, and AM requires fixed broadcast towers. If that quarantine zone from the text message exists, emergency services would typically use a mobile shortwave broadcast vehicle. That’s what SW is for..."

"But this antenna is too small. It won’t work... Hey, can you help me find some copper wire or something similar?"

"Will electrical wire work?"

"Yes, but we’ll have to strip off the plastic insulation..."

Lin Fan went back down to the first-floor clinic and rummaged through the shelves, finding a dozen or so meters of electrical wire left over from renovations. He hadn’t thought it would be useful, so he hadn’t brought it upstairs earlier.

Su Qing’s eyes lit up when she saw the coil of wire. She found a utility knife in the toolbox and immediately started stripping it.

Seeing this, Lin Fan joined in. Before long, they had stripped the entire length of wire down to the copper core and twisted it into a single copper strand.

Su Qing found a plastic bottle, filled it with water, and tied one end of the copper strand to it. She then handed it to Lin Fan.

"Here, help me throw this over that tree. Try to get the wire to catch on a branch..."

Lin Fan understood she was trying to extend the antenna. He grabbed one end of the copper wire and tossed the water bottle, tied to the other end, out the window toward an ornamental tree by the side of the road.

It was a perfect shot, catching right in the middle of some branches.

He then tightly wrapped his end of the wire around the radio’s retractable antenna. The dozen-meter-long extension was complete.

"This should work..."

Su Qing bent her head down and went back to fiddling with the radio...

Before long, the sharp crackle of static changed to a different, deeper humming sound.

It was accompanied by intermittent, completely distorted squeals.

"It’s no good..." Su Qing said, sounding dejected. "The sun on a clear day seriously interferes with the signal. We’ll just have to wait and try again tonight..."

Seeing her disappointment, Lin Fan knew she had done her best. He tried to comfort her.

"It’s fine, there’s no rush. Even if we did get some news, it’s not like we can go outside right now..."

As he spoke, he remembered the cloth bag Su Qing had been carrying when she came in.

"In that case, let’s make some food..."

"Oh! Right!"

Hearing Lin Fan’s words, Su Qing suddenly remembered her true purpose. She turned and trotted toward the kitchen as she spoke.

"I grabbed a few potatoes and green peppers from upstairs, and some tomatoes too. I’ll make some stir-fried potatoes with peppers and scrambled eggs with tomatoes..."

"The rice is already cooked. We can eat soon..."

The kitchen immediately filled with the frantic clatter of pots and pans...

’Watching her flustered state, Lin Fan wondered if he had given her too much to do. But there was no other choice. It was just the two of them, so anything he didn’t have time for naturally fell to her.’

While Su Qing was cooking, Lin Fan headed upstairs again. Since the two apartments on the top floor were already cleared, it was time to continue downward.

Besides the two apartments upstairs, only Su Qing’s place had an old-fashioned iron gate. The rest, including Lin Fan’s apartment, had modern security doors. An angle grinder wouldn’t get through those easily.

How to get into 501 and 502 was still a problem, not to mention 401 on the floor below. Lin Fan’s initial plan was:

Go through the windows...