This is apocalyptic

Chapter 17: Strength in Numbers
It is hard for Lin Duoduo to imagine what the world would be like without zombies. Only some old photos left by her family can allow her to get a glimpse of the world.

Her family had described it to her many times before, but she found it difficult to imagine it as a concrete picture. If there were no danger in the world, what would people do every day?

No wonder so many tall buildings were built, they are all idle.

"Where are you from?" Lin Duoduo suddenly asked Bai Xiao.

Bai Xiao asked all kinds of weird questions, while she asked very serious ones.

"I came from..." Bai Xiao was stuck. How should he say it? Did he come all of a sudden when he was drunk?
He himself didn't know why this meal was so expensive, and he paid the price of half his life. If possible, Bai Xiao wanted to switch with his boss and let his boss be bitten by a zombie instead, so that there wouldn't be so many words to say and so many meetings to hold.

"You are going to lie." Lin Duoduo said firmly.

"No, I... got infected. It's like a dream."

"Oh?"

"I feel like I came from a place where there are no zombies." Bai Xiao said.

"How could there be such a place?" Lin Duoduo smiled. She was indeed dreaming.

However, she had never even dreamed of such a place. The world without zombies, as her family members said.

"How did you get bitten by a zombie? Are there new zombies in the city?" Lin Duoduo asked again.

"Fresh zombies..."

Bai Xiao felt that this word was awkward, as if he himself was the only one who was new.

He never thought that he would discuss such a strange topic with others and hear such strange words. If it was zombies with bared fangs and claws surrounding him, a scene of civilization collapsing, it would be more reasonable.

"It's an old zombie." Bai Xiao thought of that rotten thing. It was indeed very old.

"Are you suffering from some terminal illness? Let it cure you, right?" Lin Duoduo's expression became a little strange.

"How is that possible? What are you thinking about?" Bai Xiao really wanted to open her head and take a look.

Lin Duoduo shrugged. It was quite a miracle that someone could be bitten by an old zombie.

She was even able to rush out from among the old zombies while wrapped in her coat, holding a hoe and riding a bicycle.

Just like my grandfather said in the story, Liu something went in and out seven times, and no army could stop him.

Lin Duoduo recalled carefully, but couldn't remember the general's name, she only remembered that he was very powerful.

"What does the place without zombies look like in your dream? Do you just build buildings when you have nothing to do?"

"Well... I'm not idle. There's still a lot to do." Bai Xiao thought about his unfinished projects and the overtime he had worked over the years.

Strangely enough, after being infected, he had the most free time.

"For example?" Lin Duoduo asked.

"Let's have a meeting if we have nothing else to do." Bai Xiao said.

Lin Duoduo was no longer interested. What a mess. The rice was ready. She stood up and paused for a moment. She had a little hypoglycemia. She took a break and scooped a large spoonful for Bai Xiao. Bai Xiao pretended to blow on it. In fact, he was not afraid of the heat. He just had some resistance to this change. He blew it like a normal person and ate it after it cooled down.

"Eat more." Lin Duoduo said.

"Ok?"

"Don't you realize there's any difference between you and those zombies out there?"

"I can eat? A vegetarian?"

"Yes, maybe this is one of the reasons why you are getting better. They seem to be always hungry and refuse to eat."

"I'm always hungry too." said Bai Xiao.

"But you can eat." Lin Duoduo said. That makes sense.

Bai Xiao somewhat agreed. When he was first infected, he couldn't digest the food he ate and kept wanting to vomit it out. Then, he felt that he had started to digest it and was beginning to feel better. He didn't know if there was any connection between the two.

"And since you're a vegetarian, you should eat more."

Lin Duoduo said this, filled herself with the remaining rice in the pot, and went to eat aside.

She knew the feeling of eating only vegetarian food and not eating meat. People would not have much energy left, so they still had to eat meat.

After dinner, the sun was still strong and the afternoon was still hot. She put on gloves and took a knife to split bamboo strips to make a basket. The basket she made last year was almost broken, otherwise she would not have used a snakeskin bag.

The bamboo basket can be carried on the back so that the hands are free, which is sometimes much safer. It is not like today, where she has to carry the bag and the cabbage at the same time. If she encounters a rat, it would be more inconvenient than carrying the bamboo basket. Rats are not afraid of people and will rush straight towards her. She had to drop the cabbage before shooting it to death.

"I can do this." Bai Xiao said.

Lin Duoduo thought about it, went back into the house to find a pair of gloves for him and asked him to put them on.

Bai Xiao took over Lin Duoduo's job. Lin Duoduo scratched her ears, pulled up the simple screen, and took a shower, washing away the bloody smell from dealing with the rat.

In Bai Xiao's eyes, Lin Duoduo looked a bit fierce just now. A girl like that, carrying a bag on her back and holding a dog-like corpse in her right hand, she skinned and pulled out the tendons without any hesitation at all, like an old butcher.

In fact, carrying a gun around all day is quite aggressive.

After Lin Duoduo finished her shower, changed into loose clothes, and sat on the doorstep, fanning herself with a palm-leaf fan to enjoy the cool air, she looked much more normal.

"What should we do with those locust flowers?" Bai Xiao saw the big bag of locust flowers and only ate a little bit. She brought back a lot.

"Save some for tomorrow's meal, and dry the rest for soaking in water," said Lin Duoduo.

Bai Xiao discovered that she had the habit of storing various things. Not only did she dry the elm seeds and keep them, but she also kept the locust flowers. Maybe this was a life habit she had developed over the years. She always kept some, so that even if she didn't soak them in water, she could eat them in an emergency.

"Isn't there such a gathering place for survivors?" Bai Xiao suddenly asked.

"Hmm?" Lin Duoduo paused.

"It's the remaining survivors who unite to fight the disaster. There is strength in numbers."

"Even if there are any, they are human." Lin Duoduo said. If someone encounters a zombie, there is a high probability that they will be shot and killed.

"Really?"

"Probably... I heard from someone a few years ago that there was a similar place in Beiyuan." Lin Duoduo recalled carefully, "I wonder if it still exists."

"Why don't you go?" Bai Xiao asked curiously.

"Why should I go?" Lin Duoduo was even more puzzled.

"Um……"

Bai Xiao originally wanted to ask if life wouldn't be better, but looking at Lin Duoduo's appearance, he thought there was probably some hidden secret that he didn't know about.

"Why don't you go?" Lin Duoduo asked back.

"...I am a zombie." Bai Xiao said after thinking for a while.

"What about before you were infected?" Lin Duoduo asked.

"Can not remember."

Bai Xiao was very sad. With the collapse of the sky at the beginning, even if he wanted to find an organization, he had to be accepted by them.

It is always easier for people who survive a disaster to live together than to live alone... maybe.

(End of this chapter)