Chapter 48
Su Mo squatted there all night, fortunately her worries didn't come true. Just as the sky was getting bright, she finally relaxed and fell asleep until she was awakened by Lu Jia knocking on the door.
At first, she was still confused, the sounds she heard were also vague. As she became more awake, the voices gradually became clearer.
When Su Mo realized who the voice was coming from, she suddenly stood up and took two steps back, leaving an opening for Lu Jia to open the door.
She listened to the sound of the door, and Lu Jia opened it from inside.
"Did something happen?"
Lu Jia rushed in and immediately showed concern for Su Mo, but at the same time, she slapped her arm.
"Why don't you open the door?"
"Why don't you respond to me?"
"You were fine, why not sleep in bed? What's so good about staying outside?"
"You dare to sleep outside?"
She said, her eyes becoming slightly red, her voice choked. She couldn't imagine Su Mo getting into trouble, just as she couldn't accept that she would disappear from Su Mo's world.
In these days, the relationship between the two had already undergone subtle changes. Lu Jia had gotten used to Su Mo's presence, which was terrifying. That's why she couldn't accept the possibility of Su Mo leaving her one day.
She really didn't want to experience this kind of feeling again in the morning.
Feeling the weak punches, Su Mo couldn't quite understand Lu Jia's intentions, but she sensed the resentment in Lu Jia's heart, so she chose to stay still obediently.
She felt a strange discomfort in her heart, as if she had done something wrong, but she couldn't figure out these emotions by herself.
Lu Jia was still angry at Su Mo, until she noticed something strange on Su Mo's body. There were white spots all over her, and although these whitish things had dried on Su Mo's clothes, Su Mo now looked a bit like a painter who had just finished painting with white paint.
"Why aren't you keeping clean? What's going on?"
Lu Jia's tone at that moment was just like a mother questioning a child about why they dirtied their clothes.
Lu Jia pinched Su Mo's short sleeves between her fingers and couldn't help but pull them up a bit. While questioning, she also used her hand to scrape off the dried white substance on Su Mo's sleeve.
"What is this?"
She asked Su Mo while raising the sticky substance on her fingers and examining this white material carefully. She could also smell a faint fishy odor in her nose.
Out of curiosity, she silently brought the substance on her fingers closer to her nose, sniffed again, and confirmed that the substance on her hand was the source of the smell.
With curiosity about this white substance, she bent down with her head tilted and sniffed along Su Mo's shoulder until she reached Su Mo's chest, making sure 100% that the smell came from something on Su Mo's body.
Lu Jia looked at Su Mo, thinking about the white substance all over her body, which smelled familiar, like something she had previously wiped on her clothes to go to the cafeteria.
Now, when Lu Jia remembered that time, she still felt happy because of Su Mo's presence, but she also remembered resisting the smell and it becoming a part of her.
So when Lu Jia's body reacted unconsciously with disgust towards the smell, she naturally realized what the white substances were.
She tried hard to hide her disgust and looked at the disobedient "child" in front of her, and asked, "Did you go to kill zombies yesterday?"
After Lu Jia spoke, Su Mo, who understood the words, silently nodded.
Seeing the nodding person in front of her, Lu Jia couldn't help but think about Su Mo standing outside the door before and asked, "Did you get hurt?"
Su Mo shook her head, and Lu Jia carefully examined her body, making sure there were no visible signs of injury.
This reassured her a little, but soon she became uneasy again.
She couldn't understand why Su Mo, who was fine, went out to kill zombies, and how did she manage to go out?
From what Lu Jia knew, there were people guarding the staircase day and night, and there were even two boys stationed at the small entrance. So she couldn't understand how Su Mo could get close to these zombies.
Could it be that Su Mo... Lu Jia thought of a possibility and instinctively ran outside the dormitory. She saw two boys still standing near the small entrance, and there were people sitting at the staircase on the fourth floor.
The atmosphere in the dormitory seemed normal, as if nothing had happened yesterday.
Was she just overthinking? Or did Su Mo use some other method that didn't cause any casualties?
As she walked back to her room, she looked at Su Mo, who had already returned to the dormitory from the balcony. With countless doubts in her mind, even though she knew Su Mo wouldn't answer her, she still spoke up, "Why?"
She couldn't understand. Su Mo didn't seem like the kind of person who would take action now. She was worried that there was something she didn't know about.
Listening to Lu Jia's words, Su Mo looked at Su Mo quietly. Maybe it was because of the strange thing in her head yesterday, Lu Jia's figure became blurry in front of her, and she even had trouble seeing Lu Jia clearly.
Gradually, in front of her, the child with braided hair appeared again. The child reached out to her and smiled.
Looking at the child in front of her, Su Mo just followed her heart and took a step forward, hugging the child tightly. Her hand gently stroked the child's back, wanting to comfort the child. It seemed like she owed the child comfort and an apology.
"Hmm~?" Lu Jia, who was suddenly embraced, felt the touch from behind. She didn't quite understand this sudden closeness.
A cool sensation brushed against her cheek, relieving the slight warmth on her face. The coolness temporarily drew her into the embrace, keeping her still.
Soon, a slight itchiness reached her neck due to someone's nuzzling.
For some reason, Lu Jia couldn't help but feel that Su Mo's actions were somehow connected to her.
"Is it because of me?" she whispered, feeling the person pressed against her, who seemed to hold her tighter.
It was supposed to be a heartwarming moment, and Lu Jia had indeed come to a certain conclusion in her heart because of Su Mo's reaction. But Lu Jia almost forgot one thing, and it was because of this thing that she had to push Su Mo away.
Seeing Su Mo reaching out to hug her again, Lu Jia had to hold onto the person's shoulder.
"Let's change clothes first."
She said, and for Lu Jia, the scent was indeed too strong. Even though the person holding her was Su Mo, she couldn't bear it anymore.
So she forced Su Mo to take a simple bath and helped her change her clothes.
Su Mo obediently sat on the chair, while Lu Jia stood behind her, drying her freshly washed hair.
Lu Jia rubbed the damp strands of Su Mo's hair with a dry towel, occasionally finding a few drops of water falling onto Su Mo's back, leaving tiny marks on her light blue shirt.
As Lu Jia felt the smoothness of Su Mo's hair, her thoughts shifted to Su Mo's back, reminding her of what she had seen during the bath.
Considering Su Mo's abilities, the wounds wouldn't even cause any damage to her. Even the previous scratches from the Ethernet cable had healed completely.
However, the strange marks on Su Mo's back still remained, without any signs of improvement.
Could it be that these scars were from a long time ago and couldn't be healed?
Lu Jia was uncertain about this speculation, but what confused her even more was why Su Mo had these old scars on her body.
The weight of these marks made it impossible for Lu Jia to resist imagining what Su Mo had gone through to leave such deep scars.
Su Mo was like a big mystery to Lu Jia. She turned into a zombie but not really a zombie. She had strong strength and understanding. Overall, the zombie that Su Mo turned into seemed different from the zombies she knew.
These days, Lu Jia had been wondering why Su Mo was different from those zombies. She had a feeling that if she could figure something out, maybe she would understand what she was going through.
As she was thinking about this, she heard footsteps outside the building, pulling her out of her tangled thoughts.
Lu Jia glanced at the shadow reflected on the window, saw the person disappear from the window, and quietly let go of the towel in her hand. Barefoot, she got out of bed.
She quickly rinsed the towel, put it back in its place, and hung it up to dry.
Looking at the person beside her, Lu Jia couldn't help but sigh. Looking at Su Mo's face, the loose bandage hanging on it was especially bothersome.
It's about time to change it, she thought. So she took Su Mo back to the dormitory and took out a new bandage.
While asking Su Mo to stay still, she reached out and peeled off what was on Su Mo's face.
"Wow!" Lu Jia was momentarily stunned as she looked at Su Mo's fair skin on the right side of her face. The wound from yesterday's bandage change was still fresh in her memory, but now there was no trace of it on Su Mo's face.
"How could it be, is it because you killed a zombie yesterday?"
Lu Jia was filled with countless doubts in her heart, and the only explanation seemed to be that Su Mo had taken the initiative to attack the zombie last night, unlike any other night.
But why?
Su Mo had also killed zombies before, like when they went to the cafeteria, Su Mo had taken action. However, whether it was her leg injury or the scars on her face, it took some time for them to improve.
Is it still not real?
Trembling, Lu Jia touched Su Mo's face, feeling the smooth texture and faint coolness on her fingertips. This kind of sensation, no matter how she tried, didn't feel like an illusion.
Su Mo's face... has it really recovered?
Thinking this way, Lu Jia unconsciously increased the pressure in her hand, from caressing to kneading, no matter how she moved, the elastic skin would return to its original position.
"Heh~" Although she didn't know the reason, she still felt a sense of happiness.
Every day when Lu Jia changes Su Mo's bandage, she can't help but imagine how terrifying the action must have been to leave such a serious injury. These thoughts make her heart tighten in anxiety.
So as she watches the wound on Su Mo's face gradually diminish, she continues to hope for the day when the mark on Su Mo's face can disappear. In her mind, maybe this can drive away the pain that used to be inflicted on Su Mo.
"That's wonderful, Su Mo, truly wonderful," Lu Jia says, but her eyes start to turn red. Her reaction to Su Mo getting better seems a bit delayed, and she becomes excited a little too late.
She cradles Su Mo's face, this perfectly intact face, holding it carefully as if afraid it might vanish completely.
In her opinion, Su Mo should be like this, not because of her appearance, but because Su Mo shouldn't be a subject of gossip or mockery. Even though those people's words don't matter much to Lu Jia.
Su Mo should be like she was in high school, standing on the podium, calmly expressing her ambitions, then receiving applause and admiration from everyone. Instead of hiding in a tiny dorm room, with that face, and accepting pity from those people.
Lu Jia has no desire for victory or defeat. It's as if all her competitive spirit is reflected in Su Mo.
