Chapter Seventeen: Preparations, Departure

  Back home. The first thing I did was rush to the bathroom, squeeze toothpaste and prepare to brush my teeth. But after squeezing the toothpaste, I didn't continue moving. Looking at myself in the mirror, my lips were moist and slightly red. It was obviously a look of being bullied. In my mind, it was still him kissing me, and throughout my body, as if his breath was stirring everywhere.

  I put down the toothbrush, one hand pressed against my wildly beating heart, the other hand stroked my lips, slowly closing my eyes thinking of him kissing me just now.

  No, no, no, he's a dead man. If we two play kissy-face, isn't that the same as me kissing a corpse? Brush your teeth! Brush your teeth! Who knows if this corpse has been left out for so long and has germs or not?

  He's not a corpse, he's a living person. This thought popped up in my mind again. The feeling of him kissing me, how could it be from a dead person?! I leaned back against the bathroom door. I had once thought about giving my first kiss to the boss, even if the person he liked wasn't me, at least my first kiss would be given to someone I liked. But I never expected it to turn out like this.

  Why did Su Haicheng suddenly kiss me out of the blue? Shouldn't he already have a girlfriend? If he has a girlfriend, why would he kiss me? What does this kiss mean to him? Is it to thank me for my help? Can't he just say thank you if he's really grateful? Am I just a way for him to vent his anger? Would he do the same if a man had made him angry?

  My mind is all muddled.

  I spent the whole night in such chaos. The next day was still chaotic, and I spent the whole day like this. Actually, a big factor is that my relatives are here, and I'm too lazy to get out of bed, so I just lay in bed all day. Sometimes I think, Su Haicheng and Ah Tian should already be on their way to Dead Island now? They drove there, and driving there would take at least several days and nights! There's so much equipment behind their car, it must have been prepared for this trip. With such thorough preparation, they shouldn't be in any danger, right?

  I was woken up by Kakaxi's ringing phone. He yelled at me on the phone, "Sister 41, come quickly, something big has happened."

  "What's wrong?" I haven't gotten out of bed or eaten all day, and even speaking is exhausting.

  "The boss is preparing to enter that dead zone again. He says he must find Sakura no matter what."

  "Have the cherry blossoms come out yet? What's he going in for?"

  "He said that there are many people here, and Sakura didn't dare to come out and meet him, so there must be a reason for it. If he goes there, maybe Sakura will follow him. Then they can talk. Even if he dies, he wants to know the cause of his girlfriend's death."

  It was for this reason that I got out of bed and rushed to school. When I arrived at the workshop, there were only two people in the office, the boss and Kakashi. They were huddled in front of the computer, apparently studying the route. Seeing me come in, Kakashi smiled and said: "Yonbi no nee-chan, do you want to go this time? We're all prepared and won't end up like last time."

  "What preparations can you make? We don't even know what's going on over there. What's the difference between being prepared and not?"

  "At least we'll bring a tent this time." Kakashi said, waving the tablet in his hand, which had the cover of a book on it: "Zombie Survival Handbook". An American-written book that teaches people how to protect themselves when surrounded by zombies.

  "What we're going to deal with are corpses, a pile of dead people, not zombies that bite around everywhere. And it's in the depths of the mountains and forests, is this book useful?"

  "Many things are interconnected. Are you going or not? Sister Siyi?"

  Su Haicheng had just left. If we go now, we might run into him. I barely thought about it before responding: "I'll go, of course I'll go."

  The boss looked up from his computer and said, "Don't go."

  "Why can't I go?"

  "It's dangerous for a girl like you to run there."

  "You'll be in danger too. Boss, I won't hold you back. In terms of physical strength and various skills, I'm even stronger than Kakashi." As soon as I said this, Kakashi glared at me: "Without me, the two of you will get lost in those deep mountains and old forests!"

  The boss's gaze returned to the computer: "April 1st is gone. It's decided."

  I bit my lip and hesitated for a moment before saying: "Did Su Haicheng go yesterday? I want to go too."

  My words made both of them look over, the boss's eyes were full of questions, and Kakashi's eyes were full of shock. The first to speak was still Kakashi, that chatterbox. "Four-one sister, you can't really like him, can you? Like a dead man who's going to chase after him?"

  "What nonsense is this? It's like a riddle, giving us the riddle but not letting us find the reason. Not knowing the answer makes my heart itch like a cat scratch, I just want to find the answer no matter what."

  The boss looked at me for a while before saying: "Alright, you can go! But I don't want to let Sakura misunderstand, she's watching us from somewhere."

  It turned out that the boss's initial reason for stopping me from going was actually because he was afraid of misunderstanding with Sakura. I secretly let out a sigh, and just nodded towards him without saying anything else.

  The preparation time is always one day, which gives me an extra day to send off my family and relatives. On that day, Kakashi and I went shopping together. He held a tablet and referred to the items in the manual. We bought a lot of things, and I also bought a set for myself. A military green outdoor sports suit. Our big purchase was all swiped on Su Haicheng's card.

  It wasn't until nightfall when we returned to the school and met up with Boss to have dinner that I discovered he had placed many instruments on the rented off-road vehicle. There was even a winch, several steel claws, and even a standard first-aid kit, which contained several injectable medications.

  Kakaxi hugged the medicine box, studying the injections and said: "Boss, is there anything in here to prevent being bitten by zombies? Or something to prevent zombie venom?"

  "Are you going from zombies to grave robbing now?" I asked.

  "Fourth sister, with your way of thinking, if this is really a perilous war, then I will definitely be the one to survive."

  "I just think it's too exaggerated. That village, at most, there might be some sort of mysterious incident. And aren't those dead people just passing through?"

  Kakaxi looked at the boss who was still tidying up things on one side, and leaned into my ear to whisper: "You think we're just going to take a look. The boss's ultimate goal is to find a way to open the Ghost Gate. As soon as he heard that Su Haicheng had already gone, his eyes lit up. The key has been passed over, so it's convenient for him."

  "That might be the key, but there's absolutely no Ghost Gate!"

  "It's almost the same thing."

  We had our meal in a restaurant outside, now nobody has the heart to cook. The boss took a week's leave, if after a week we still haven't returned, it will be hard for the school to say anything.

  While having dinner, they came up with many plans. For example, on the way there, they would take turns driving day and night, with Boss and Kakashi taking shifts. Given that Kakashi had just gotten his driver's license less than half a year ago, the highway driving would be done by Boss.

  For example, in the village, our first step is to find Su Haicheng because he has the key. If we can get it, we will try to get it. If not, we will think of a way to let him use that key and follow behind him.

  For example, if Sakura appears, Kakashi and I will automatically disappear, so the boss can have a good talk with her. It's best to ask directly about the usage of that key.

  The next morning, we set off. The car sped towards the dead village. The car ran on the highway, and the trees by the road quickly retreated. I leaned against the window and looked at the scenery outside, feeling complicated in my heart. I wonder how Su Haicheng would react when he saw me in the village?

  I closed my eyes, thinking that it was him who kissed me in the darkness. Maybe he had already made up his mind and prepared himself to never see me again. If I appeared before him like this, he would probably be very surprised.

  We arrived at the village on the second day in the afternoon. We pitched our tent right where we used to make fire before. The surroundings were so quiet that there was not even a bird chirping, and the ruins nearby still looked eerie as ever.