Chapter 55—Wang Cheng is…uh…strange

by Bocchan13

Song Yu didn’t know how long he slept. That was another issue with the apocalypse, things like time and days were blended together. He turned his head to look outside the veranda. Under the umbrella table, Lan Zhou was sitting down with a map and a pencil, staring intently at the marked locations.

Song Yu got up begrudgingly, only to realize he was still naked. The cold that pervaded his body before was now gone, the aches and pains disappeared and the dull throbbing headache he usually had was gone. He felt…refreshed.

Damn. Sex can help you with spiritual depletion?

No dumbass. He probably massaged you while you were sleeping.

Probably.

Song Yu shuffled down until his feet hit the floor and got up, not minding his nakedness in the least. Picking up a shirt from his closet and lounge pants he silently stepped onto the veranda.

“You up? You slept quite a bit today. Did you have a good rest?”

Lan Zhou smiled brightly and reached his hand to hold Song Yu’s. Leading him to sit on his lap, Song Yu blushed as he felt the warm thighs.

“I slept well. I don’t know why I was so tired. I’m sorry I fell asleep before…aherm…helping you.”

Lan Zhou chuckled and rubbed his fingers.

“Sex shouldn’t be a give and take. It should just be given. I enjoyed making you happy. You seemed…” Lan Zhou blushed happily,

“You seemed to enjoy it very much.”

Song Yu also blushed bright red. The two of them happily blushed together over their shared awkwardness. To dispel the embarrassment, Song Yu pointed to the map.

“You looking at the route?”

“Yeah, you’ve paved it extremely detailed. Each rest location is far away from territories and human groups. Even nomads wouldn’t dare to travel this way due to the terrain. Although we spotted the zombie holes, we were off road. It’s actually remarkable.”

Song Yu happily chatted with him about the route, his eyes lighting up, asking for praise.

“It only took me eight weeks to map it out. Had to change it a few times after the Sun Base was created, but they hardly come to this area due to low rural housing. The only thing of value was the machinery but it was hollowed out a year ago.”

Lan Zhou continued to listen to Song Yu’s observation, his hands circling his waist lovingly. A breeze lifted Song Yu’s hair showing his forehead. Lightly brushing against his cheek was his eyelashes that fluttered.

“…and the only way to find the location is three propped stones near a lake. That’s where you can rest and backtrack to the base. It’s fairly easy…hey, are you listening?”

Song Yu flicked Lan Zhou’s forehead, his sparkling eyes laughing merrily. Lan Zhou just nodded and kissed his forehead.

“Yep. Magazine COS*O, Article #84 Always make your partner comfortable.”

Song Yu chuckled and turned back to the map.

“The planting is already finished, and the only thing to do is get our gear together. I don’t have much gasoline and Wang Cheng’s space is very uncomfortable according to Xiao Zi. What we can do is ride the car until we get to the gas line, fill in and go to City R. It’s a bit out of range, but it’s close to one of my rest locations. 

We can see what is left of City N, I think it was abandoned and the Sun Base don’t go that far for supplies.”

“Mm. It would roughly take a day and a half to reach there. A rest for a night, scavenging for another day and coming back. Around 5 days. We can prep the food for that amount easily. Yu Ci told me that you have guns and bullets right? I think that would cause too much noise, so just bring a few in case and we can use our own weapons.”

Song Yu nodded decisively. Lan Zhou was a good leader. Very meticulous, straightforward and flexible. Bring the minimum in, bring the maximum out.

They planned it some more before heading down for lunch.

Wang Cheng and Squinty had been hungry and started making food. Song Yu, true to his word had given everyone access to the underground supermarket. Wang Cheng had immediately asked for permission to have the chocolates. Since no one (including Song Yu) liked sweet things, the entire chocolate inventory was given over.

Wang Cheng hoarded it like it was gold. Although he was ecstatic about eating it, he was also scared that it would run out. So he carefully savored one the same one for over a week. Song Yu was about to say that he had some more in dry storage, but felt he couldn’t torture this guy any further.

Wang Cheng and Squinty were happily eating side by side, a pile of pasta on their plates. Squinty was munching on a meatball and barked happily when Song Yu and Lan Zhou entered.

“Afternoon.”

“AftjjdsL!” Wang Cheng chewed through his large bite and smiled happily at them.

“Morning!” There was sauce on the corner of Wang Cheng’s lips. Song Yu was about to point that out when it mysteriously disappeared. Wang Cheng had not moved his hand, nor wiped it on somewhere. In a blink of an eye, the stain was gone.

Puzzled, it gave Song Yu that weird feeling again.

“Wang Cheng…have you been having weird things happen to you lately?” Wang Cheng pursed his lips and tilted his head in confusion.

“Weird? Like what kind of weird?”

“Like…a presence close to you or something?”

Shrugging his shoulders Wang Cheng cluelessly shook his head.

“Not that I know of?”

“Hmm.”

Song Yu wanted to continue but Wang Cheng had finished his lunch. Wang Cheng happily picked up Squinty’s plate and washed the dishes.

“Gotta go out! Squinty and Derpy are showing me to the strawberry field! There is leftover pasta noodles over there!”

Wang Cheng naturally put on a straw hat and gloves, waving energetically at them before galloping off with the animals. Song Yu and Lan Zhou just watched.

“You saw it too right?”

“Yeah.”

“Did you feel anything?”

“No.”

“Has this happened to Wang Cheng before?”

“No.”

“…”

Wang Cheng quickly left the villa, his steps running faster and faster. Squinty ran alongside him, his tongue lolling in the breeze. When they went pass the tree line, they met up with Derpy. Neighing happily, Derpy led Wang Cheng to a small prairie. A delicate stream of water from the lake cascaded through, reaching a small hill with a small tree shading the grassy surface.

“I knew I could count on you! It’s perfect!”

Wang Cheng rubbed both Squinty and Derpy. He cupped his hands out, in an instant, a potted rose appeared from his space. Gently holding it, he put the rose next to him as he dug a small hole. Once he finished, he carefully placed the rose in the shade where it could be shielded from the sun, but also absorb some through the branches.

“You like the new place?”

The rose that was quietly sitting on the hill started to move. First, it fluttered a small leaf like it was waving, then the stem started twirling. It looked so cute as it danced happily in its new home.

Wang Cheng started swaying alongside it, laughing. Derpy and Squinty were not concerned with the fact that a plant could dance and trotted alongside Wang Cheng.

“I gotta go back now. I’ll check up on you later okay?”

The rose dropped down, pouting. The leaves shivered like it was demanding Wang Cheng not to go. Seeing its cuteness, Wang Cheng touched its leaves and petted the outer petals.

“Be good. If the rest of the group found out, you won’t be able to stay here. I’ll try to do my best okay?”

The rose drooped a little more but seemed to understand Wang Cheng. It curled one of its leaves on Wang Cheng’s finger, as if he never wanted to let go.

“Okay okay. I’ll come in an hour or so. Derpy will be in the prairie anyways so you won’t be lonely.”

 After placating the rose, Wang Cheng and Squinty left. The rose, after seeing Wang Cheng go felt sad but knew that if it continued to be a nice rose that cute face with smiling eyes would come back.