Apocalypse: I Can See Health Bars
Chapter 27: Jishan Quarantine Zone

Chapter 27: Chapter 27: Jishan Quarantine Zone

In Lin Fan’s heart, Su Qing had already become "one of his own"—someone he could completely trust.

The line between being "one of his own" and being "his own" was paper-thin.

But right now, Lin Fan’s mind was solely focused on eating, sleeping, and recovering his health. Everything else had been pushed to the back of his mind.

The two of them tidied up the spare bedroom, which hadn’t been used in a long time. Su Qing also went home to grab some of her things. By the time they were done, it was already past midnight.

Lin Fan locked the front door and gave Su Qing a pair of earplugs so a bad night’s sleep wouldn’t affect her work tomorrow.

After carefully checking all the doors and windows one more time, the exhausted Lin Fan returned to his own room.

He didn’t even bother with earplugs for himself. ’To hell with the zombies,’ he thought. ’I’m getting a good night’s sleep first. I’ll deal with everything else tomorrow.’

Lying down on his bed, all he could hear was the sound of his own breathing, but the thought of having someone else living in the apartment with him brought him a great sense of peace.

At first, he hadn’t dared to wear earplugs because of the footsteps upstairs; he was worried the zombie up there would get out.

Now, the only unchecked rooms upstairs were 502, the two units on the second floor, and one on the first. The potential threats had been drastically reduced.

Besides, after a full day of clearing the building and hunting, Lin Fan had more or less gotten used to the existence of zombies.

The horde of regular zombies downstairs was terrifying, but they were child’s play compared to the Mutated Zombies.

The real danger came from the Mutated Zombies in all their varied forms.

He didn’t know what caused zombies to mutate, but seeing as two had already appeared in his own building, the conditions probably weren’t too strict.

That meant the number of Mutated Zombies was likely quite high.

Thinking of this, Lin Fan recalled killing those two Mutated Zombies. Their most striking common feature wasn’t their bizarre forms, but that fragmented health bar that only he could see. ’What’s the deal with that?’

Lin Fan was also curious about why that one Mutated Zombie couldn’t move away from the cabinet. ’It couldn’t have actually been stuck, right?’

It seemed he’d have to make another trip to 401 tomorrow to figure it out. ’The answer should be on the corpse...’

...

When he opened his eyes again, it was already the next afternoon.

He hadn’t escaped it after all. Lin Fan was woken by the cacophony of low zombie growls.

Although the sky outside the curtains looked as gloomy as an early morning, the time on his phone clearly showed 1:26 PM.

The good news was that Lin Fan’s Life Value had recovered to [162/190] and his hearing was mostly back to normal. The bad news was that the building was still surrounded by zombies.

"Overcast again..." Lin Fan got out of bed and stood by the window. The sky outside was thick with dark clouds. He leaned to the side to observe the zombies below. "Looks like there are a few less than yesterday, but it doesn’t make a difference..."

What was the difference between eighty-seven and eighty-two, really?

Fortunately, no nightmares had plagued him, allowing him to get a good night’s sleep.

When he went out to the living room, he found that Su Qing was already up. She had spread a yoga mat on one side of the room and was exercising.

Her hair was tied in a simple ponytail, her slender figure forming a supple arch on the mat. Sweat trickled down her smooth spine, disappearing into the waistband of her yoga pants.

A black sports bra outlined the firm lines of her back, hinting at a surprising strength.

’Looks like she wasn’t bragging when she said she used to exercise often.’ Though she didn’t have obvious muscles, her practiced movements and toned lines were undeniable.

Just then, Su Qing seemed to sense his gaze from behind. Her movements paused for a moment, and she turned her head.

Her face was flushed and covered in a light sheen of sweat from the workout, a few stray strands of hair clinging to her cheeks and neck.

Seeing Lin Fan, a light flashed in her eyes. She gradually relaxed her pose, smoothly transitioning to lying on her side on the mat.

"Ahhh—I’m exhausted..."

Su Qing met Lin Fan’s gaze with her large eyes, drawing out the words in an exaggerated tone, as if to say, ’See? I wasn’t slacking off.’

"Food’s on the table... oh, right..."

With that, she scrambled up from the yoga mat, found her phone, started typing, and presented the message to Lin Fan, all in one smooth motion.

"..."

Lin Fan was left speechless by how practiced Su Qing was. It was a shame his ears had recovered so quickly, making her whole routine unnecessary.

"My ears are basically fine now, Su Qing. I can hear you."

Lin Fan took the phone, placed it on the sofa, and turned to Su Qing.

"Ah! Really? So fast?"

Su Qing seemed to find it hard to believe. She walked over to Lin Fan’s side, turning his head to carefully inspect his ears.

"Are you sure they’re healed? There’s still blood here..."

"They’re really fine... See? I can hear everything you’re saying."

"That’s true. Alright then..."

Seeing how certain he was, Su Qing didn’t insist. "You go wash up first," she said, still half-doubting. "I’ll go heat up the food." With that, she turned and walked toward the kitchen.

Having someone to take care of him really saved him a lot of trouble. The only problem was that waking up to this kind of view every morning wasn’t exactly good for a man’s health.

Lin Fan went to the bathroom, took a nice, cold shower to cool off, and then used a cotton swab to clean the dried blood from his ears. He felt much more refreshed.

By the time Lin Fan came out, the food was already on the table. Su Qing had changed into a practical t-shirt and jeans and was sitting quietly to the side, waiting for him to eat.

There were four dishes and a soup, a mix of meat and vegetables. And considering Lin Fan’s large appetite, she had made extra-large portions of every dish.

"Smells amazing..."

Lin Fan leaned in for a sniff and gave Su Qing an unreserved thumbs-up. ’If he could have lived like this before the apocalypse, he’d have been willing to watch poodles for a living...’

"Oh! Right, Lin Fan..." Flustered by his praise, Su Qing got up even more eagerly to scoop rice for him. Halfway through, she seemed to remember something. She trotted over to grab her phone, opened the voice recorder app, and placed it on the table in front of him.

On the screen was a recording, and the timestamp was from this morning!

"What’s this?" Lin Fan asked Su Qing as he hit play.

"FZZT... please respond... University... isolation zone... respond..."

"A radio!?" Lin Fan hit pause, his eyes widening as he looked at Su Qing. "You can get a signal?"

"It’s probably because it’s overcast outside, so the interference is weaker. I was able to pick up a faint signal, but..." Su Qing said, pressing play again. "Just listen. I couldn’t make it out..."

The recording continued. After a few seconds of static...

"...Calling University City, this is Jishan Isolation Zone... Acknowledge if you receive... Calling... this is Jishan Isolation Zone... Can you hear..."

It seemed the sender was waiting for a reply, as the broadcast dissolved into static. After a moment, a voice came through again...

Judging by the sound, it wasn’t coming from a quiet recording studio. The fierce RAT-A-TAT-TAT of what sounded like gunfire could be heard intermittently in the background.

"...beginning one-way broadcast... This broadcast will... loop for 48 hours..."

"This is a... priority communication. I repeat, this is an emergency priority communication..."