Chapter 16: Survivors
It took nearly an hour for Xiao Mei to bathe and blow-dry Pao Pei. Another half an hour went into slurping down a bowl of instant noodles. At the moment, Pao Pei looked like a little prince, pampered and well-cared for.
Around this time of year, the weather started to get chilly... Granny Li Zhu was knitting a new jacket for Xiao Mei. Pao Pei sat beside her, gnawing on a perfectly ripe peach that gave off a mouthwatering aroma.
"Pao Pei, let's go collect some crystals," Xiao Mei suddenly appeared in front of him, fully dressed for the outing. She carried a large black backpack with a matching fishing hat hanging from it, wore long trekking pants, sneakers in the same shade as her hat, and a wind-and-rain-proof jacket.
"Xiao Mei, Pao Pei just ate—look at his belly, it's still full," Granny Li Zhu lightly poked his side. Lately, he'd gotten noticeably plumper, and she felt he'd become more agile and strong.
Xiao Mei flashed her grandmother a sheepish smile, but gave Pao Pei no time to sprawl belly-up. She scooped him up and headed straight for the car. Before leaving, she turned and called back:
"We might be back late, Grandma. Don't worry—you know just how capable Pao Pei is." She grabbed one of Pao Pei's mangosteen-like paws and waved it toward Granny Li Zhu before getting in and driving off.
Granny Li Zhu followed to close the gate. Even though Pao Pei had said the energy barrier could keep out zombies and mutant creatures, he hadn't said anything about people. So the old woman took extra caution.
Pao Pei took his usual place in the passenger seat while Xiao Mei drove toward the city with soft music playing in the background.
Several kilometers in, it was finally time for Xiao Mei to interrogate her "guardian" for abandoning her at the farm that morning!
"How could you just leave me alone? And you call yourself my guardian?" Her first sentence was filled with reproach—there was no way she'd let Pao Pei ditch her again.
"Pao Pei won't do it again, Master…" His ears drooped and tail slumped, full of remorse. He'd thought he'd be gone only a short while and would be back before she woke up. It shouldn't have been a big deal. But he'd gotten caught up watching those people and lost half a day.
...Wait a minute… those people!!
How could he forget to tell her?
"Master… yesterday Pao Pei saw survivors—ten soldiers and one weak-looking man," Pao Pei said while dumping a pile of collected crystals in front of him. He picked up a pale blue crystal and began gnawing on it like a snack, while recounting what he saw.
"Pao Pei thinks they were soldiers. They looked just like the ones I saw on TV with Grandma. I watched them for half a day—they split into smaller teams, went into alleys, came out different ones, and kept avoiding zombies. Can you guess what they were doing?" His voice brimmed with excitement—he'd spent quite a while sneaking around and observing.
"Scavenging for supplies?" Xiao Mei guessed, seeing how thrilled he looked like a child with a secret.
"Wrong!! They were looking for people. Hehe." Pao Pei giggled gleefully when she guessed wrong, clearly delighted by her puzzled expression.
"Looking for people?.. So the military has started searching for survivors?" Xiao Mei smiled wide—that meant the government was finally taking action.
"They only brought one person out. A man—not as old as Grandma—looked weak and was kept in the center. Three soldiers died, you know," Pao Pei added while munching on another crystal.
Xiao Mei fell silent, digesting the story. She wasn't keen on getting involved with the military. If she could avoid them, she would.
"Other than that... did you notice anything else?" she asked curiously.
"Pao Pei remembers that man's face. He had his picture up on the building where we bought the medicine," Pao Pei said after thinking a moment. He hadn't really cared much about the soldiers or that man.
Xiao Mei realized immediately—Pao Pei must have seen the famous private hospital owner.
"Where are we going?" Pao Pei's voice broke through her thoughts.
"I want to see for myself what the city looks like now."
Truthfully, Xiao Mei wanted to witness firsthand whether the apocalypse had truly arrived. Until now, she'd been safe in the farm—safer than any military camp. There weren't many zombies around. She went out to practice zombie hunting and crystal collecting every day. But outside the countryside, houses were sparse, the population was low, and thus, so were zombies. Most meteors had struck farms and orchards more than residential areas, so the damage she'd seen was minimal.
Xiao Mei drove into the city's outer roads. The outbound lane was choked with cars blocking the way. She maneuvered the vehicle along a road filled with wreckage—crashed cars, oil and blood stains now dried, some vehicles flipped, others submerged in roadside ditches.
The road was eerily silent, like a graveyard.
There was no sign of survivors.
Xiao Mei parked by the roadside and got out with Pao Pei to scout the area. They arrived at a large intersection that had once led into the city. The outbound lane had been cleared—wrecked cars piled along the edges. Some still held shriveled corpses, their blood and body parts scattered, stinking of rot. Xiao Mei raised her hand to cover her nose as she peeked inside one vehicle.
"How tragic... The corpses are barely recognizable," she murmured softly, pity in her voice.
Pao Pei stood atop a car roof, scanning the area to ensure his master's safety. Roughly a kilometer away, a few zombies wandered aimlessly in the distance.
Xiao Mei checked every car—there was no food or water left anywhere.
"Looks like someone came through before us," she said while lifting Pao Pei down. The crunch of glass beneath her boots broke the heavy silence. The stench made her dizzy and anxious—hugging Pao Pei close to her chest helped calm her down.
She drove away slowly. The tension began to ease. Her eyes stayed locked on the empty road ahead. The path had been cleared, probably by government forces—or by a group desperate to escape the city. The ruins in front of her told a story of...
Xiao Mei drove for a while longer. Soon, she would reach the edge of the city that used to be teeming with people. Pao Pei told her to stop the car at the corner of a street, where low-rise buildings helped block the view. Climbing onto the roof of the car, Pao Pei scanned the surroundings. After confirming that there were no survivors in the area, he told Xiao Mei to get out of the car and proceed on foot.
"From here on, we walk. The sound of a car will attract too much attention."
Pao Pei led the way, always one step ahead of her. He kept within a meter of Xiao Mei and never once let his guard down throughout their journey.
Xiao Mei had never seen him this tense before. Pao Pei moved forward at a steady pace, stopping to observe at regular intervals. He guided her in silence, inching forward carefully until they reached a corner intersection. There, he froze. His tail shot up — a signal of danger.
"There are people up ahead," Pao Pei whispered softly.
He led Xiao Mei into a nearby pet supply store. The two of them rushed up to the second floor and hid behind the curtains of a glass window.
The atmosphere was so still that Xiao Mei could hear her own breathing. She nervously pulled out the gun Uncle Zhen had equipped with a silencer and held it close.
She was just about to ask Pao Pei what was going on when her eyes widened in shock. A group of more than ten people appeared, moving in a tight formation — protecting two women positioned in the center…
As if those women were very important.