Apocalypse: I Can See Health Bars
Chapter 25: Zombie Siege, but a Fireside Chat

Chapter 25: Chapter 25: Zombie Siege, but a Fireside Chat

As he slowly walked into the living room, the dizziness gradually subsided.

The living room, like the bedroom, was unlit. A single small night light sat on the coffee table, casting a soft, yellow glow. Lin Fan had never seen it before; it must be Su Qing’s.

"Sister Qing, did you hear any strange noises upstairs today? Why are the lights off?"

As he spoke, he casually flipped on the main living room light. The sudden glare seemed to startle Su Qing, who was in the middle of cooking noodles. She rushed out of the kitchen, slapped a hand on the switch, and plunged the room back into darkness.

"Are you crazy?!" Su Qing whispered urgently, her face tense. "Can’t you hear the noise downstairs?"

Dazzled by the abrupt flash of light and then darkness, Lin Fan frowned. He couldn’t quite make out what Su Qing was saying, but there was no mistaking the anxiety on her face.

"What’s going on?" Lin Fan asked, still frowning as he dug in his ear with his pinky. He showed Su Qing the flakes of dried blood on his nail.

"I hurt my ears today, so my hearing isn’t great right now. Sister Qing, you’ll have to speak up..."

"’Speak up’..." Su Qing wore an exaggerated, sky-is-falling look of disbelief. She grabbed Lin Fan’s arm, pulled him to the living room window, and pointed down.

The sight below made Lin Fan’s eyes widen!

At least several dozen zombies were gathered beneath the balcony. They were packed together in a dense, dark mass, milling about the entrance of Lin Fan’s shop.

The dense sea of [300/300]s made his vision blur.

Another group of zombies had been drawn by the lights in a few apartments across the street. They crowded around the first-floor windows over there, relentlessly pounding on the walls and glass.

’Those lights haven’t been turned off for two days, so the apartments are probably empty. It seems it’s not just sound; lights at night can attract zombies, too.’

"How did this happen!" Lin Fan was stunned. He walked to the north-facing window to get another look and saw the same roiling sea of health bars. Then, it hit him.

The sound!

That scream!

’It was loud enough to nearly deafen me. A scream like that must have traveled at least a mile. I can’t believe it drew this many zombies!’

’But on second thought, this probably isn’t that many...’

’Thankfully, the street south of my building is blocked by another apartment complex. The ones that gathered are probably just the zombies from this street!’

’Even if zombies from farther away heard it, there’s no way they could pinpoint our exact building from just a scream... right?’

’Still, I can predict that zombies within a certain radius are probably all heading this way. The density of zombies outside must have skyrocketed by now.’

Su Qing watched Lin Fan frown as he leaned on the windowsill, staring silently at the zombies below. She quietly turned and went back to the kitchen. A moment later, she emerged with a large bowl of noodles and a small dish of pickled vegetables.

With an egg and meat added, it was just like Su Qing to make even a simple bowl of shredded pork noodles so fragrant it made Lin Fan’s mouth water.

"Well, it is what it is. Let’s eat first..." Su Qing patted Lin Fan’s back and whispered close to his ear.

At this distance, Lin Fan could hear her. The sound was muffled and distorted, as if it had been compressed and lost quality, but he could just about make out the words.

Lin Fan didn’t hesitate. They were surrounded by zombies, but the building’s main door was closed, and the pet clinic had its rolling shutter down. Besides, they weren’t making any noise. Despite the horde, the zombies wouldn’t be able to force their way inside anytime soon.

’I just need to recover my Life Value and heal my body as fast as possible. Based on what I’ve seen with Su Qing, all I need to do is eat and rest well...’

[70/100]...?

’Huh? Wait a second.’

After Su Qing placed the noodles on the coffee table and returned to the kitchen, Lin Fan, thinking about restoring his health bar, glanced over. Why had her Life Value dropped too?

A sense of panic washed over Lin Fan as he saw the number drop. ’Is she hurt too?’

He’d been checking her health bar every time he saw her these past two days, as if she were a digital pet. Seeing the bar rise gave him a strange sense of reassurance. To suddenly see her health bar drop made his heart clench even tighter than when his own had fallen.

Su Qing came out of the kitchen with another bowl of noodles, sat on the sofa next to Lin Fan, and began to eat in silence.

Lin Fan had noticed earlier that Su Qing seemed unwell, but he hadn’t found the right moment to ask.

Besides, with his hearing shot, he wouldn’t be able to understand her clearly anyway. He decided against asking and simply focused on his own noodles.

As he ate, Lin Fan felt the sofa beneath him begin to tremble. He turned to see Su Qing beside him, her head bowed low. Her long, wavy hair spilled over her chest, and her shoulders were shuddering.

Her bowl was still more than half full, her chopsticks resting on the rim.

She was crying.

Lin Fan’s expression softened. He knew why; the reason wasn’t hard to guess.

He gently placed a hand on her head, as if stroking a frightened animal, and comforted her in a low voice.

"Sister Qing, it’s okay. The zombies won’t stay here forever. They’ll hang around for a couple of days and then disperse...

We still have enough supplies. The two apartments on the sixth floor, plus 501 and 401... we still haven’t collected everything from them. For the next couple of days, we can just stay home and organize our things...

...And hey, I’m not dead, am I..."

At his words, Su Qing finally stirred. She slowly raised her head and looked at him with tear-filled eyes. "I was so worried about you..."

Lin Fan didn’t hear her clearly, and it was too dark to read her lips. He had no idea what to say next.

He could kill zombies, find supplies, make plans.

But in that moment, looking at the woman who was frightened and silently crying, possibly because of him, he had absolutely no idea how to comfort her.

All he could do was meet her gaze with sincerity, pull a few tissues from the coffee table with one hand, and point to his ear with the other...

The gesture made Su Qing let out a small laugh, tears still clinging to her eyelashes.

As she smiled, much of the stifling anxiety that had been weighing on her chest seemed to lift.

She took the tissues and wiped her face, drying her tears.

Then, she picked up Lin Fan’s bowl, returned to the kitchen, and refilled it with shredded pork noodles.

She turned, opened the security door, and went back to her own apartment.

Lin Fan assumed she had gone home to sleep and went back to eating his noodles.

While eating, he watched his own health bar to see if it was recovering.

’It’s not that fast, though. The noodles are delicious, but they aren’t some game item that instantly restores health after you eat it.’

To his surprise, Su Qing returned a moment later, holding a phone.

She sat down on the sofa, woke the screen, and waved the phone at Lin Fan. Then she opened WeChat and found her chat history with him.

The history was still on those three stickers: "[Collapse][Collapse][Collapse]".

Su Qing’s slender fingers paused there for a second before moving to the input bar below. She began to type: "I was so worried about you [Smack]"

She hit send. The little circle next to the message spun and spun before turning into a red exclamation mark.

But it didn’t matter. She held the phone out to Lin Fan, delivering the message in person.