The Post-Apocalyptic Survival Journey After Becoming a Beautiful Girl Chapter 16

I moved the corpse aside and stood once more before the iron gate, squinting as I peered through its gaps.

"Is that... a hospital bed?"

Through the gap, the sixth-floor corridor looked fairly clean, not too chaotic. But right behind the door, an iron bed frame was wedged there.

"No wonder it was so hard..."

An iron bed wasn't light to begin with, and on top of that, there were all sorts of odds and ends piled on it.

Mm, it felt like someone had moved the bed behind the iron gate, then added more things to weigh it down, making the gate nearly impossible to push open.

After a moment's hesitation, I tried knocking on the iron gate.

"Bang bang bang!"

But it was useless. The hallway remained dead silent.

After hesitating again, I knocked three more times.

"Bang bang bang."

Suddenly, a little girl's voice came from inside the iron gate: "Mommy, Mommy... knocking like that, with a rhythm... could it be a person?"

Hearing that voice, I jolted alert!

Finally! Finally, I'd found people!

'Wait. Now's not the time to get excited.'

With that thought, I suppressed my joy and anxiety, and knocked on the iron gate three more times.

"Bang bang bang!"

At the same time, I spoke: "Is anyone in there?"

"Mommy! See, there really is a person!"

"Who! Who's out there!"

The little girl's voice, and then an adult female's voice.

"I'm... a survivor. I passed by here, found this man at the door... and that's how I noticed this place."

"A person?"

"Yeah..." I replied, a bit confused.

Then came a clattering sound from inside the iron gate. Clearly, the gate was being moved. Then a creaking noise as the iron gate slowly opened a crack, and a woman with a grimy face peered out through the gap.

"Uh... hello."

I gave her a quick once-over. She looked about twenty-seven or twenty-eight, decent-looking, but with heavy dark circles under her eyes and a sallow complexion, like a refugee.

The woman stared at me in surprise at first, then frantically looked left and right. After confirming something, she let out a long breath and immediately said to me:

"Hurry, get in! There are lots of those things on the fire escape."

"Those things?" I thought for a moment, then said instinctively: "You mean... zombies?"

"Mm-hm! Yes, those things. Quick, come in..." As she spoke, she seemed to suddenly remember something. Her voice paused, she hesitated for a long moment, then gritted her teeth and said: "You... come in. I still have a little food here. It'll last a few days at least."

"Well... I appreciate the kindness, but I have my own food." I pointed at the backpack behind me, then looked down at the little head poking out from below the woman. It was a little girl, no more than eight or nine years old.

"Is this... your daughter?"

"Yes... no! Now's not the time for that! Hurry, get in! Once they come, it's over!" the woman said urgently, reaching out to pull me inside.

I sidestepped slightly, showing what I thought was a very kind smile, and said: "If you're talking about the dozen or so zombies crammed in here, they're all dead already."

"...dropped."

"Dead... how? Who? Who did it? Was it the national army?! How many people did they send?!" The woman's barrage of questions left me reeling, so I quickly raised a hand to cut her off.

"It wasn't the army. It was me."

"You...?" The woman looked me up and down with suspicion, then asked in a doubtful tone, "A girl like you... killed all those... those Zombies?"

"Mm, all of them."

The woman stared at me with disbelief.

"If you don't believe me... well, the bodies are on the ninth floor. You can go see for yourself." As I spoke, I looked down at the little girl, but her gaze wasn't on me—it was on the backpack behind me.

"Mm..." After a moment's hesitation, looking at this little girl who was clearly malnourished and frail, I asked, "Are you hungry?"

The little girl nodded very honestly.

Hesitating again, but under the little girl's longing gaze, I still took off my backpack and rummaged out some things I'd picked up along the way.

"Here... this is candy, and this... some chips, even though they're already crushed."

While I was digging through the bag, I kept an eye on the woman from the corner of my vision. In this dangerous world, you shouldn't have a harmful heart, but you absolutely must have a guarded one!

"This... this..." The woman's surprised voice came through.

I understood what she was surprised about. Just looking at how thin and weak the two of them were said it all. In this world full of danger, food was probably more precious than gold, right?

In fact, it wasn't even rare for people to kill over food...

Chapter 13: Hah, Women

After giving the little girl some snacks, I took out a bag of bread and handed it to the woman.

"Eat up..."

Under the woman's stunned gaze, I calmly put my backpack away and held out the bread.

"Thank you..."

Her voice was choked with emotion. Maybe she was thinking of something. But the first thing this woman did with the bread wasn't to eat it—she put it away. Then she looked at the man's corpse, and her eyes instantly reddened.

"This person is..." I tried asking.

"My husband..." The woman answered very naturally.

"I see... please accept my condolences." I said politely.

Suddenly, something tugged at my pants. Instinctively, I jumped back two steps and reached for my gun, but...

The little girl blinked innocently, and I awkwardly lowered my hand at once.

"Uh... this, ahem... what's your name?"

"My name is Juan'er~" The little girl tilted her head and answered cutely, then looked down at the snacks in her hands, and raised her head to gaze at me with very grateful eyes: "Thank you, Big Sister..."

"Big... Sis... ter."

Little girl, little girl, you don't know it, but those simple words dealt me fatal damage!!

"Yeah~ Big Sister~" The little girl dragged out her words in a babyish voice and said it again.

"I'd rather..." you call me Big Brother~

But I didn't say the last part out loud. After all, that would be way too weird.

"Mm... okay, take your time eating." I twitched the corner of my mouth and gave an awkward smile.

"Big Sister... you're so pretty~"

Little girl... if it weren't for the fact that you meant no harm, I'd have hit you already, you know?!

I clenched my fist, but then helplessly remembered that this little girl wasn't wrong. And... in her mind, praising Big Sister for being pretty was probably something that deserved a reward, right?

Awkwardly reaching out my hand, under the little girl's expectant gaze, I... had no choice but to place it on her head and gently pat it. She really was like a little cat.

"Mm... Juan'er is such a well-behaved girl~"

My words didn't match my heart... but I had to say them anyway.

"Heehee~"

The little girl, having received praise, let out two 'heehee' laughs.

Just then, that woman walked over. I naturally lowered my hand, but no matter who it was, I kept a sense of vigilance in my heart. Maybe it was because I used to be too much of a shut-in? Or perhaps it was because I was already on alert for all the possible situations the apocalypse might bring?

"Thank you..." the woman said softly, then suddenly glanced down. Maybe she had spotted the pistol at my waist.