BC Chapter 168

Chapter 167

Chapter 167

Often, the world gives people this feeling: things seem incredibly urgent and important, even life-threatening, while they are happening, causing immense suffering. But the wheels of time roll relentlessly forward, never stopping for anything. Once those events have passed, the terror felt at the time becomes like a dream to the remaining ordinary people.

“Oh, right, that’s how it was back then. It seems like it was. Sigh, it’s been so long, I’ve forgotten.”

“Yes, we almost died back then.” “Hmm, what about now?”

“Now… it’s great, everything’s fine. Sigh, that’s all in the past, why bring it up? We have to look forward.”

When people are still trapped in a nightmare, they can’t realize that everything will pass. But once they wake up, they suddenly understand: “Oh, so reality is after the dream ends. Dreams do end, and I’m still alive in reality…”

The experience of surviving a disaster makes people cherish the days that follow even more, and they understand why the older generation always drones on about how ordinary life is a blessing. So, people continue to live, continue to strive, continue to love, and continue to procreate… as if nothing had ever happened, as if life had always been so peaceful.

But this normalcy and forgetting doesn’t include… those who are no longer ordinary.

…

Sheng’an City, Ku Lian Fitness Training Center.

Lu Ziming slowly slid down the safety rope, looking up at the square climbing timer on the artificial rock wall, which displayed a time of 6.5 seconds. She glanced around to make sure no one was watching before letting out a long breath and returning to the ground.

For a 30-meter-high rock wall, a winning time in a speed competition would normally be between 9.5 and 10 seconds. But Lu Ziming saw that her current time was far ahead of even professional athletes. Her body’s physical abilities and explosive power were too strong. If an organization specializing in human physiology saw her time, she might be taken away as a special research subject. Fortunately, no officials had come looking for her to take her away for research, allowing her to maintain a normal daily life three months after the end of the crisis.

However, it wouldn’t be accurate to say she hadn’t had any contact with officials, because there was one exception: Yao Jinglin.

As if to prove the saying “speak of the devil,” just as Lu Ziming was packing up and planning to do one last check of the gym before leaving, Yao Jinglin appeared outside and gently pushed open the gym door.

But she didn’t come in directly. Instead, she poked her head in and looked around, and when her eyes found Lu Ziming, she smiled slightly and walked in with light steps.

“Want to get some late-night snacks?” Yao Jinglin walked to Lu Ziming’s side, watching her slowly pack up her things, and stood beside her, calmly asking.

“You’re making them?” Lu Ziming slightly lifted her eyelids and glanced at Yao Jinglin, deliberately suppressing the urge to smile and asking knowingly.

“Of course, you don’t like eating takeout.” Seeing that Lu Ziming had finally finished packing up, Yao Jinglin reached out and took Lu Ziming’s free hand, rubbing her fingers against her palm, and said, “You were training again today? Your hands are so rough.”

“…Not really.” Lu Ziming tilted her head and thought as she pressed the gym’s central control remote. Then the last set of lights in the gym went out at the same time. The moonlight outside shone through the gym’s huge French windows, and the two slowly walked out, enjoying the dreamlike tranquility, making it difficult to distinguish whether the life-and-death days before had been real. It always felt like everything, both the beginning and the end, was like a dream, leaving one feeling dazed.

As for why Lu Ziming and Yao Jinglin had developed into the sweet, hand-holding lovers they were now, it all started with the city rescue three months earlier.

…

The survivors from various areas, after meeting with the main force, merged into the rescued crowd like rivers flowing into the sea. While the forward troops were responsible for clearing the area, the rear supply troops began to gradually transfer the rescued population out of Qingshui City.

Because the main incident occurred in Qingshui City, and the infected who had spread from Qingshui City to other cities had long been eliminated, the normal arrangement should have been to distribute the Qingshui City survivors to the surrounding cities in batches, allowing everyone to share the burden. However, because the surrounding cities close by had heavy workloads for rescue and reconstruction, the rescued people taken out of Qingshui City were transported further away to Sheng’an City, which was less affected by the crisis. Moreover, because people in Qingshui City had no chance to escape in the later stages, the number of survivors left in the entire city was not as high as expected, so the officials simply let Sheng’an City take over all the survivors transferred from Qingshui City.

After being rescued, everyone spent the first week recuperating in Sheng’an’s major hospitals. In the following days, the authorities gradually allowed everyone to return to their normal lives. Those who were eligible received relief, and those who had the ability to take care of themselves found their pre-disaster work organizations or social groups to return to their previous social identities.

People like Lu Ziming, who were originally office workers, usually had some savings, and as long as they reissued their lost documents and cards, they could survive the jobless days before finding their next job.

Students from various universities, like Xu Rubing and Yan Shaohang, were still taken over and managed by their schools, returning to the protection of their teachers.

Therefore, even if Xu Rubing was a million times unwilling, she still had to follow the school’s arrangements and couldn’t stay by Lu Ziming’s side anymore. After all, she hadn’t gotten her university diploma yet, and entering society now would not only waste her previous university studies but also make it difficult to explain to the teachers who had supported her education. From any point of view, it was inappropriate.

Zhou Yuanyuan was the same. After completing the procedures, she would directly transfer to a high school in Sheng’an City to continue her studies. Although her parents had died in Qingshui City, she still had her maternal grandparents who would take over her life.