Chapter 15: Little Lan
The six of them arrived at the twentieth floor, pushed open a door, picked up a hard object, and smashed its French window, throwing all the glass shards into the water.
Then they placed the raft onto the water surface. Once everything was ready, everyone sat on the raft, with Zhang Wei and a tall, thin man paddling, while Su Qinghan was responsible for holding the umbrella, slowly paddling towards Building Seven.
The raft swayed on the water, making the female member a bit dizzy, and then she started vomiting into the water.
“Tsk, seasick and still came along.”
Zhang Wei complained, then continued paddling. Su Qinghan, sitting next to her, paid no mind; her thoughts were constantly on the situation in Building Seven.
She hadn't been there in her previous life and didn't know much about the situation there; the only information she had was from Zhang Wei, who said there wasn't a single living person in Building Seven.
“Something’s not right. The building has 30 floors, 6 rooms per floor. Not considering whether people went out, assuming one person lives in each room, that’s 180 people. Even if infected by a virus, it’s impossible for all of them to die.”
“There’s also the possibility that zombies attacked the living people inside, and the survivors starved to death.”
“And the last possibility......”
Su Qinghan shook her head: “It should be impossible, after all, it’s been less than two months, but... if they ate all those people......”
While she was pondering, the raft had already reached the outside of a room on the twentieth floor of Building Seven. Zhang Wei unsteadily stood up, picked up the hard object in his hand, and smashed it towards the French window.
Crash~
The glass shattered. Zhang Wei pulled back the rope tied to the hard object and smashed it again at the remaining glass on the frame.
After all the glass was completely smashed, the six of them entered the room in an orderly fashion.
Su Qinghan carefully bypassed the glass shards on the floor. As soon as she entered the room, she smelled a faint scent of blood.
This smell of blood was very faint; the other five people didn't smell it at all.
This was thanks to Su Qinghan already being an ability user, her senses had been enhanced.
Even if Hua*shi(Chinese fast food chain), K*C(KFC), Mai*lao(McDonald’s), etc., were placed in separate black boxes, she could rely on her keen sense of smell to distinguish which brand was in which box.
Su Qinghan frowned and slightly retreated behind the others.
Zhang Wei stood in the living room and said to the people behind him: “Let’s split up to look for supplies, it’ll be faster this way.”
“An unwise decision, daring to split up in this unfamiliar place.” Su Qinghan thought for a moment but said nothing, just nodding.
Actually, Su Qinghan being with them was, on the contrary, restricting her; she couldn’t reveal her abilities, as she didn’t like to be too conspicuous.
In that case, it would be easy to be schemed against by those with ill intentions, who might stab her in the back.
After Zhang Wei finished speaking, he distributed five white plastic cards to everyone.
“These are specially used for lock picking. The doors of the rooms in our residential complex have relatively simple structures. Just insert this card into the door crack, slide it down, and touch the latch bolt to open it,” Zhang Wei explained with a smile.
Not my dude, you definitely have some side business.
Although Su Qinghan knew how to pick locks with a steel wire, this was simpler, but the problem was......
Su Qinghan walked to the entrance, gently pushed the door, looked outside, and said to the people in the room: “No need to pick locks, all the doors here are open.”
“Hmm?”
Zhang Wei was puzzled for a moment: “Could it be that someone else came here to look for food before? For example, from Building Six in front of Building Seven.”
Everyone slowly left this room and walked towards other rooms with open doors.
Zhang Wei, however, walked into the bedroom of this room. He explored inside and soon found some bread under the bed.
“No, if someone had been here, it’s impossible they wouldn’t have searched such an obvious place. Why is this?”
“And there isn’t even a corpse to be seen here... Forget it, no point thinking so much, finding food is more important.”
Su Qinghan arrived at the 24th floor, casually pushed open the door of Room 2404, and walked inside.
The orderly arrangement showed no signs of anything amiss.
Fortunately, the layout of each unit building in this residential complex was the same, which made things a bit more convenient for Su Qinghan.
However, the smell of blood in the air had intensified, which made Su Qinghan even more alert, constantly vigilant of her surroundings.
She walked into the bedroom to observe.
“Snack packaging bags scattered on the floor, wrinkled bedsheets and bedding; the owner of this place seems very unhygienic.”
“Also, the owner of this place didn’t die from a viral infection, after all, no corpse was seen, and the signs of life are no more than a month old. What exactly happened here?”
Thinking, Su Qinghan covered herself with a layer of transparent protective film to prevent herself from touching anything strange.
Lightly bypassing the crumpled paper balls, oil stains, and other dirt on the floor, she came to the bedside.
She bent down and began to carefully examine the traces on the bed; apart from more paper balls, she found nothing else.
Su Qinghan searched through all the rooms in 2404, put all usable items into her space, and then proceeded to other rooms.
2405, 2406, 2401......
It wasn't until she reached the twenty-fifth floor that she noticed something unusual. Su Qinghan sniffed the air and detected a faint fragrance.
“Hmm? Where is this fragrance coming from?”
Su Qinghan stood in the stairwell, looking upwards.
“It seems to be coming from above.”
“Qinghan......”
Just as Su Qinghan lifted her foot, preparing to move, a soft voice from behind entered her ears. Her originally expressionless face, at this moment, upon hearing this voice, actually showed a trace of pain, or perhaps sadness.
She turned her head stiffly, and upon seeing that person, her emotions completely lost control. Her mouth opened and closed, but finally, she spoke.
“Little Lan, long time no see.”
A golden-yellow, beautiful figure stood before Su Qinghan; her waist-length hair was tied into a ponytail, her delicate cheeks seemed to always carry a smile, and her features bore a five or six-tenths resemblance to Xiao Mumu.
The young girl called Little Lan took a step forward and hugged Su Qinghan.
Su Qinghan, on the other hand, made no movement; her hands were clenched into fists, hanging by her sides, allowing the young girl to hug her.
After five or six seconds, Little Lan released her hands and said softly to Su Qinghan: “Qinghan, are you hungry? I have your favorite pineapple buns in my room.”
Su Qinghan still said nothing, just looking at the young girl.
Little Lan said again: “Let’s go, I’ll take you to where I live!”
Saying so, the young girl walked towards the stairwell ahead, passed Su Qinghan, turned back and smiled at her.
Su Qinghan took a step forward, the Mind Creation System ability activated, and a transparent small knife instantly appeared in her empty hand.
Her arm swiftly rose, and the sharp blade slashed across the young girl’s body.
Crimson blood did not flow out as imagined; the young girl’s body split where the blade passed, actually becoming two halves.
The upper body floated in the air, while the lower body remained upright; there was nothing at the incision.
After a few seconds, Little Lan dissipated into the air.
Su Qinghan sighed deeply, reached up to wipe away the tears that were about to fall from the corners of her eyes, her face returning to its emotionless state, as if what had just happened had never occurred.
She turned and walked upstairs.
“It seems it’s the worst-case scenario.”