NOVPUBThe next day.
The sun was shining, but the temperature remained very low.
Li Yu arrived early in the morning. After going back last night, he had thought a lot about the five newcomers, among whom four possessed high-quality talents that were critically needed in this post-apocalyptic world.
However, regarding the girl named Xiaoshi, he still felt an unsettling uncertainty. He always disliked such feelings.
He preferred to clarify uncertainties as much as possible to avoid being taken by surprise by future problems.
So when he came this morning, heading towards the medical room, he decided that he must figure out the real background of this girl named Xiaoshi.
Inside the medical room.
Dapao and Li Haoran had stayed here all of last night.
Li Yuan was resting in a side room next to the medical room.
Li Yu approached and patted the somewhat weary Dapao and the others: "Go get some sleep, you've worked hard. I'll let Haoran take over for a bit."
"No problem. We'll be heading off then," Dapao waved his hand, indicating it was not a big deal.
Since rescuing those several people last night, Dapao and Li Haoran had been keeping watch over them. Although all four were unconscious, they were, after all, outsiders entering for the first time.
Precautions still had to be taken.
After the two left, Li Yu felt five pairs of eyes on him.
Li Yu turned around and saw that the four who were unconscious yesterday had all woken up. After Bai Jie had somewhat recovered last night, she also took care of the four a bit.
"Are you all awake? How do you feel now?" Li Yu spoke to them with as calm of a tone as possible.
"Better now."
"Feeling much better, thank you for saving us."
"Much better."
....
All five expressed that they felt a lot better.
"Gurgle~"
A rumble came from a stomach.
It was Xiaoshi's, and after the sound, her face, pale from fever, instantly turned red with embarrassment.
Her eyes were closed yesterday, but when she opened them today, there was no longer an air of haughtiness, but rather a quiet and shy girl's demeanor.
Seemingly noticing the others looking at her, Xiaoshi's eyes drooped, and then she tightened her grip on the corner of the blanket.
Ha!
Seeing this, Li Yu thought: So shy. Seems like she isn't one of those spoiled, hot-tempered girls.
Good.
Better to have an obedient fool than a smart ticking time bomb.
"Gurgle~"
Another stomach growled.
Li Yu said with a smile, "I'm hungry too. Just wait a bit. My aunt will bring some food over soon."
"Let me introduce myself. My name is Li Yu, and I'm in charge of this base. I had a chat with your group leader Bai Jie yesterday.
According to what Bai Jie said, some of you have experience as a surgeon?"
One of the women, with very fair skin but some freckles on her face and appearing to be around 27 or 28, said, "I am a surgeon. I worked at the city's People's Hospital before, and I was the main attending clinician."
"Hmm, please introduce yourselves one by one," said Li Yu.
Everyone began introducing themselves.
Bai Jie continued where the surgeon had left off: "As I mentioned to you yesterday, my previous studies were in life sciences. I worked at a research institute and mainly focused on biochemistry and biotechnology..."
Bai Jie used some rather professional terminology, which Li Yu didn't quite understand.
After Bai Jie finished, a short-haired girl sitting on the hospital bed, who appeared somewhat naive, followed up: "I... I'm the same."
Li Yu slowly nodded his head.
Turning to the remaining two individuals, the woman with a somewhat darker complexion and ordinary looks said: "My field of study was agriculture, specifically greenhouse cultivation, seed preservation, and plant breeding. In short, I'm a farmer."
Hearing this, Li Yu raised his eyebrows; this girl was somewhat interesting.
The last girl, who had until now kept her head down, looked up with a bit of unease but spoke anxiously: "I came from the south, I... I'm twenty years old. I studied business management. I'm not of much use..."
After she finished speaking, this young lady seemed to be a bit embarrassed and lowered her head.
Li Yu's gaze sharpened as he looked at her intensely and asked: "What does your family do?"
As soon as he said this, everyone nearby watched intently; they were very curious, especially since they had encountered her with two bodyguards.
What kind of background did she have?
Hearing this question, the young lady's hand shook ever so slightly: "My grandpa is a leader of the Southern forces, and my dad is..."
The name that escaped her lips was familiar to everyone present.
Everyone seemed to think of something all at once.
Hiss~
Hiss~
Hiss~
Hiss~
Everyone collectively gasped in shock.
It wasn't clear if it was just a sensation, but the air in the room seemed to have been sucked out, making even the heated room feel a lot colder at that moment.
Li Yu, too, was stunned, but he quickly regained his composure based on his experience from his previous life.
In a post-apocalyptic world, no matter how impressive someone was before the apocalypse, afterwards...
The girl continued: "I originally wanted to find my family, but the zombies rampaged suddenly, and I couldn't find them. Later, I wanted to go back there to search, but I never found them..."
Li Yu watched the young lady attentively.
Closely observing her small movements and facial expressions while she spoke, he tried to determine whether she was lying.
"Why didn't you tell Bai Jie and the others before, and yet when I asked, you revealed everything?" asked Li Yu.
"I saw you kill someone in Jiefang City; I know you wouldn't feel secure not knowing our backgrounds. I can't hide it from you. It's better to be upfront and let you make the decision." The girl's voice trembled, but she managed to finish her statement.
"You're very smart and sensible," Li Yu said, giving her a profound look.
He then swept his gaze over everyone else and continued: "I won't keep people who do nothing here. You must prove your value if you want to stay."
The atmosphere suddenly turned a bit more oppressive.
At this moment, the door to the medical room burst open.
The aunt and Yutong came in carrying breakfast and were surprised to see Li Yu there as well.
But without dwelling on it, the aunt told Bai Jie and the others: "Hurry up and have some breakfast. The weather is cold now, please make do with what we have."
Bai Jie and the others held bowls of hot rice porridge and some pickles. The steaming aroma of the porridge, mixing with the refreshing scent of the pickles, wafted up to their nostrils.
Make do?
They call this making do?
In this apocalyptic world where people struggle to eat one full meal, let alone in this ice and snow, to have rice porridge and pickles was already a luxury!!
But before they ate, they still expressed their gratitude.
