Chapter 14
Lu Jia carefully cleaned Su Mo's body. The dry towel glided along her back, revealing several red scars as wide as thumbs. The skin around the scars was much paler than the rest of her back.
Not only on her back but also on her waist and stomach, there were some folded red marks. The starting point of each scar was different, but in the middle, there were overlapping scars.
Remembering how Su Mo's skin had healed, Lu Jia looked at the scars on her body and couldn't help but find it strange, especially because these scars didn't seem recent.
Were they beaten?
But thinking of Su Mo, who is smart, beautiful and seems to come from a good family, it's unlikely that anyone would want to harm her.
But... it can't possibly be done by oneself. It's not that difficult to create the marks in the front, but when it comes to the ones in the back, it becomes quite challenging to do it alone.
She was still pondering on the possibility of how these injuries appeared, but at this moment, Su Mo in front of her made a move.
Originally sitting obediently, Su Mo suddenly stood up and walked out of the bathroom barefoot.
The person who snapped back to reality hurriedly followed after Su Mo's strange actions.
At the doorway between the balcony and the dormitory, the gaze of the person catching up paused when they saw Su Mo, who was not wearing any clothes, the white light shining through the curtains illuminating her.
From the front to the back, there were traces behind her, as if she was enveloped in a thin layer of white mist, as if white wings were about to grow.
An angel... perhaps?
There is no better word to describe Lu Jia's feelings at this moment.
But the angel quickly turned into a demon with black horns. Lu Jia, who was in a daze, snapped back to reality when she saw Su Mo approaching the dormitory door. Without thinking, she pounced on the person in front of her.
"Hiss~"
Lu Jia, wearing slippers with white foam, took a few steps forward and slipped on the floor tiles. It was only then that Lu Jia realized that her slippers were not slip-resistant.
"Bang~"
Su Mo, who was standing still, was directly bumped into the door. At this moment, there was someone tightly pressed against her back, using her as a buffer from the impact.
This collision was not light.
Lu Jia, realizing what she had done, silently left the person she had harmed. She slowly stood up straight while leaning on the door. With a turn, she involuntarily took two steps back, keeping a safe distance.
Because of this collision, Su Mo's previously flawless face turned red, and there was a mark on it from the door's rough surface. As for the unharmed half of her face, it was a bit gruesome, and the blood seemed blurrier.
Countless regrets flooded her mind. If she had given Lu Jia another chance, she would've changed her shoes or locked the balcony and dormitory doors.
"Um...erm..."
The person in front of her took a step towards her, making Lu Jia feel extremely nervous. Her tension was visible in her facial expressions. She wanted to explain, but her language abilities were completely overwhelmed.
Instinctively, she wanted to step back, but the person in front of her looked at her and only took two steps before stopping.
The slender and fair left hand extended towards her, reminding her of a waltz invitation. This sudden gesture confused Lu Jia.
Is this... to hold hands?
"Um..." Perhaps because he hadn't seen any response from her for a while, the person in front of her became impatient and made a dissatisfied sound.
Lu Jia was frightened by her voice and reluctantly placed her trembling hand into Su Mo's hand. Su Mo closed her eyes silently due to the unknown events unfolding.
Su Mo remained still for a long time, until Lu Jia felt a slight vibration in her hand. When she touched it with her fingers, it felt rigid, not like the texture of a hand.
"Buzz~"
It is shaking.
The familiar shaking feeling made Lu Jia imagine a specific object, she opened her eyes again and saw Su Mo staring at her quietly.
Looking at the flashing screen of Su Mo's incoming call, even though it was an unknown number, it was enough to make Lu Jia excited and no longer concerned about her own danger.
Taking the phone from Su Mo's palm, she directly slid to answer. As soon as the phone reached her ear, the voice on the other end saying "hello" made her eyes well up in an instant.
"Good girl," even though the voice was transformed by the phone, it was the voice of Lu Jia's familiar roommate, the young lady in the dormitory.
"Not bad, you can answer the phone, it seems like you're not dead yet," although the voice on the other end sounded faint, the trembling in the tone couldn't be concealed so well.
"Lu Jia, please don't stay silent, you haven't been bitten, have you? Or are you dying?" The nervousness in the tone transmitted through the phone reached Lu Jia's senses.
"Go away, if you can't speak, then don't speak," Lu Jia laughed and scolded. Finally, she didn't feel so lonely in this apocalyptic world.
"That's good, you better stay alive, don't let us find your corpse later. I don't like being the one to collect bodies," the person on the other end said jokingly. It sounded like her tone became lighter after hearing that Lu Jia was okay.
"Us? Well, who were you with? Was it Cheng Du and Lin Yin?" Lu Jia remembered that night there was a gathering with four people, and she was the only one who went back to the dorm. It's very likely that the others were together.
"....Only Cheng Du," the sound from the phone paused for a moment, and then spoke again.
"Then... what about Lin Yin?" Lu Jia's fingers involuntarily tightened around the phone as she asked this question.
"I'm not sure. When we woke up, we were in the hotel. As for Lin Yin, she wasn't with us," the tone on the other side of the phone was clearly downcast.
"She's so smart, she should be able to stay alive."
Lu Jia wasn't sure how likely it was for her words to come true, but it's good to be hopeful. After all, she had just received news about her roommate, and that gave her hope.
"Hmm, if you can stay alive, then someone as smart as Lin Yin surely can protect herself."
"Yeah," Lu Jia smiled as she listened to the voice on the phone. This could bring more peace to both of them, or maybe it's just a way for them to deceive themselves for a while.
"By the way, did you change your phone number?" Lu Jia suddenly remembered the unfamiliar phone number displayed on the screen. This was Li Guai Guai's phone, and they usually saved each other's numbers.
"Don't mention it, my phone got broken when it fell. Luckily, I remembered a few numbers and decided to try my luck by dialing each one. I didn't expect to have good luck."
"Roar~"
Along with Li Guai Guai's explanation, Lu Jia heard a familiar and chilling voice from the other end of the phone, "Guai Guai, where are you guys now? And where's Cheng Du?"
Because of the voice, Lu Jia's heart started to race again.
Li Guai Guai listened to the words from the other end of the phone and silently turned her head towards the back. There, she saw someone swinging a three-section staff, hitting the approaching zombies one by one. She quietly replied, "As for her, she's quite busy at the moment."
After saying that, she lifted the copper rod in her hand. It looked like an antenna, with a black copper wire connected to it. The wire was inserted into the remaining half of the phone in Li Guai Guai's hand, directly linked to a red line on top.
As she raised the antenna, the screen, which originally had only one signal, faintly showed a trend of two more bars appearing, although still somewhat indistinct. However, the static noise from the phone became more noticeable.
"Miss, can you hurry up? These things are increasing," said a woman wearing a fire department uniform. She severed a zombie's arm and complained while giving a reminder.
Li Guai Guai listened to the person behind her and knew that time was running out. In order to make the phone call, they had exposed themselves in an open area. Even if Cheng Du could make the call, it was still very dangerous, especially since Cheng Du seemed to be showing mercy to her subordinates.
"Lu Jia, are you in the dormitory?"
"Hmm."
"There's some food in the dormitory that will last you for a while. Just stay inside and don't wander around. We'll come back to find you."
"Where are you all?" Lu Jia understood what Li Guai Guai meant, but she was also worried about their situation.
"Don't worry, I have someone who can fight for me."
As the zombies surged towards them, Cheng Du had no choice but to interrupt the conversation.
"Uh-oh, we need to leave."
After defeating a zombie, she grabbed Li Guai Guai's arm and started running.
"Don't wander off, wait for me to contact you."
Cheng Du pulled Li Guai Guai and they got into the taxi they had found earlier. Both of them quickly sat in the car, and the antenna that Li Guai Guai had been holding in her hand hit the taxi door, breaking in half and falling to the ground with a hissing sound.
"Buzz~"
The engine started and the car drove forward.
As for Lu Jia, who was in the dormitory, her phone was hung up after a beep sound, and she looked at the phone that returned to the no call page, feeling a sense of loss.
She knew that Li Guai Guai and Cheng Du were still alive, which was good. But before ending the call, the situation on the other end of the phone made her feel that things might not be optimistic for the person on the other side.
Unable to let go of her worries, she couldn't calm down her thoughts.
As for Su Mo in front of her, Su Mo looked at her and reached out her hand, but eventually silently pulled it back.
"Um~" she made a sound. She wanted to do something, but she didn't know what to do.
Lu Jia, who snapped out of it because of Su Mo's voice, looked at Su Mo's actions, thinking about what Li Guai Guai had entrusted her. She knew she should trust Li Guai Guai and Cheng Du. They would definitely come back, so she had to survive until she saw them again.
As for Su Mo, Lu Jia looked at her and took a step towards her.
He placed his hand on Su Mo's back and gently stroked from top to bottom, saying, "This is how you comfort someone when they're worried."
Lu Jia wasn't sure if she misunderstood the meaning of "zombie," but she was grateful. Looking at five missed calls on her phone, she knew that if it weren't for Su Mo, she would have missed this call.
"Thank you, Su Mo."
Listening to her words, zombie looked at her for a while and finally nodded slowly. With her unique and confused expression, she didn't know if she understood the comfort or the gratitude.
