Xu An, who had left with Zhou Haimei, heard the gunfire not far away and thought her worries had indeed come true.
Not long after they left, the siblings Zhou Qiang and Zhou Qian had come to find her and expressed their wish to team up.
However, Xu An had politely refused.
She wanted to run out on her own, firstly because she had sensed something was wrong with that road, and secondly because she didn't want to act with the main group.
She didn't want to eat compressed biscuits for a month straight. With only Zhou Haimei, she could occasionally bring out some easily stored snacks to satisfy her cravings.
"An An, do you think we should go help?"
Zhou Haimei's eyes held a hint of worry. Although she was decisive on the lighthouse, she wasn't a cold-blooded and unfeeling person herself.
She wouldn't actively play the saint, but she couldn't stand by and watch others walk to their deaths either.
Xu An knew her concern. She had deliberately taken Zhou Haimei on a detour to check the situation here.
Yes, Xu An could see.
From the moment she left the lighthouse, Xu An found her eyesight so good that she could penetrate the fog and see things in the distance.
This was why she had discovered the strangeness.
What Zhou Haimei didn't know was that they were currently very close to Qin Chuan and the others.
So close, in fact, that Xu An could even see the scene of Liu Dong, looking furious, dragging Qin Chuan to escape.
Well... it seemed they wouldn't die for now.
Xu An clicked her tongue at their good fortune.
"Don't worry, with Qin Chuan there, they'll be fine."
Zhou Haimei thought about it carefully and realized her words just now were a bit too impulsive.
If Qin Chuan and the others could handle it, her going with Qin Chuan wouldn't be of any use. Instead, they would be scolded for being fake for leaving so callously earlier.
If they encountered zombies they couldn't resist, then she and Xu An would only be fodder.
After realizing this, Zhou Haimei shook her head, strongly suspecting that she had been idle for too long recently, to the point of developing a compassionate heart.
Seeing that Qin Chuan and the others were fine, Xu An decisively took Zhou Haimei and left the place of trouble.
With fog everywhere, after Xu An blew up the eighteenth zombie, her stomach finally grumbled uncontrollably.
"Mei Jie, shall we find a place to rest?"
A call brought Zhou Haimei, who was happily hacking at zombies, back to her senses. Now that it was mentioned, she did feel a bit tired.
Since she had developed a pang of conscience, Zhou Haimei had been reflecting on herself. She then decided that she would use the most primitive method to train her willpower.
That is, to hack at zombies with a knife.
Xu An looked at Zhou Haimei, who was getting closer, covered in a mixture of green and other substances, and took a subtle step back. She casually glanced at the machete in Zhou Haimei's hand, which had already been blunted.
She thought with lingering fear, luckily it wasn't her own knife, she would have felt heartbroken.
Both Xu An and Zhou Haimei only carried enough tap water for daily use, which couldn't be used for showering.
Xu An had plenty of water in her spatial storage, but she couldn't openly take it out.
However, the smelly, sticky green substance all over Zhou Haimei was truly an eyesore.
As the saying goes, when sleepiness comes, someone delivers a pillow. Xu An looked closely and saw a废弃 water plant right in front of them.
There were relatively few zombies here, only a dozen or so wandering around sporadically. They easily shot them down with guns.
This time, Zhou Haimei didn't insist and used a gun, mainly because her arms were too tired to lift.
Looking at the water tanks in front of them, Zhou Haimei could smell a fishy odor without even looking.
"An An, this water has been stored for who knows how many years, can it still be used?"
"Did you forget the treasure we bought on the second floor?"
After Xu An's reminder, Zhou Haimei remembered the water purifier filter they had bought. As long as they filtered it with that small device, even corrupted water contaminated by zombies could reach drinking standards.
However, Xu An and the others didn't have such heavy tastes; as long as it could be used for bathing, it wouldn't be truly used for drinking.
What's more, these water tanks were incredibly large, and they had only accumulated mold over the years. Compared to the small rivers outside, already polluted by zombies and soaked with severed limbs, they were much better.
Zhou Haimei slapped her forehead, "How could I forget about this?"
It was better not to slap, but as Zhou Haimei's palm hit her forehead, Xu An, seeing the sticky green substance on a strand of red hair near her temple, forcibly suppressed the urge to vomit.
For the first time, she felt that good eyesight was also a punishment.
Xu An quickly stopped Zhou Haimei from continuing to pat her forehead. She took out the water purifier and, together with Zhou Haimei, installed this small gadget.
The installation of this water purifier was very simple. Xu An first searched around the factory and finally found a transparent plastic soft tube.
Then, she inserted one end of the soft tube into the water tank, connected the filter in the middle, and the purified water would flow out from the soft tube at the other end.
Although Zhou Haimei washed quickly, it still took 15 minutes.
Because Zhou Haimei had long hair, it was indeed a bit more troublesome to wash. Xu An had used her gun all the way and rarely let zombies get close, so she was still relatively clean. Plus, her short hair washed faster.
In less than five minutes, Xu An came out, wiping her hair.
After a simple cleaning, both of them were extremely hungry.
Just as Zhou Haimei was about to take out her compressed biscuits to eat, Xu An stopped her. She mysteriously took out four round, large steamed buns from her backpack. Her mother had stuffed them into her backpack before they descended from the lighthouse.
"Here, eat this first. Let's save the compressed biscuits for later."
"Ahhh! We have steamed buns to eat! An An, I love you."
No matter how hard Zhou Haimei racked her brain, she never expected Xu An to bring such things down from the lighthouse.
Halfway through eating, Zhou Haimei's stubborn brain finally turned, "An An, you brought me out, wasn't it just to let me eat steamed buns?"
Xu An didn't deny it. After slowly swallowing the last bite of the bun, she smiled mysteriously at Zhou Haimei.
"More than just steamed buns."
Zhou Haimei: ...
So, all that righteous talk in front of Liu Dong was just to sneak out and eat alone with me?
Zhou Haimei: Today is another day of falling in love with Xu An over and over again!
While the two were eating with satisfaction, they of course didn't forget to take precautions.
The room Xu An chose was relatively hidden, with only one window and one wooden door. She pulled a thread outside the door that no one could see. As soon as there was any movement within 50 meters of the door, this thread would immediately tighten and pull on Xu An's finger.
They had been rushing and hadn't rested. The people on the lighthouse said they would bomb the city center tomorrow.
Since the lighthouse was hovering over the city this time, Xu An and the others' communicators could also be used. This was specifically set up by the lighthouse to prevent accidental bombing.
On the communicator, Xu An could clearly see their location.
They had already moved far away from the center of the explosion. As long as they hurried tomorrow morning, they could completely leave this area.
Thinking this, Xu An and Zhou Haimei discussed and decided to rest here for the night, gathering strength in the morning to leave together.
Just as Xu An was about to fall asleep, she didn't know that an old acquaintance she hadn't seen in a long time was currently heading towards their temporary lodging in a sorry state...