Whether to choose Always, Kao, Kotex, or Sofy, it's always a serious question for women. Some like to constantly switch products and experience something new every month, while others fall in love at first sight and remain committed until death.
Lin Dilei belongs to the latter category.
So when she couldn't find her favorite brand on the shelves, she was devastated.
But what's even more frustrating is that just as you're carefully examining the applicability, thickness, length, and other parameters of a potential brand, a man follows you from behind.
Even the fiercest Lin Dilei blushed unconsciously.
Unexpectedly, the person ignored her completely, swept all the sanitary napkins on the shelf onto the ground, and then climbed to the top of the shelf, panting as they opened the only ventilation window.
Lin Dilei was horrified. There were monsters outside, and this desperate act of opening the window seemed to her no different from suicide. But before she could ask, three more people followed behind, all of them looking anxious.
Lin Dilei subconsciously took two steps back to make room, swallowing back what she wanted to say and ask.
Meanwhile, Song Fei had already opened the window, leaning half her body out, and urgently called out, "Qi Yan—"
As the smog dissipated, everything returned to its original quiet.
Song Fei's heart sank to the bottom. After a moment's thought, he gritted his teeth and was about to turn over and get out when a pair of feet brushed past his face and landed steadily on the shelf. The next second, Qi Yan squeezed in completely.
Song Fei quickly closed and locked the window, making sure everything was safe before turning back to look at Qi Yan.
Qi Yan exuded a chill, not the kind of coldness from the outside weather, but a natural, emanating quality from within. His nose was bright red, and his half-closed eyes swept over his comrades below—
Luo Geng quickly raised his hand: "You didn't lure all the zombies away!"
Johns nodded immediately: "Three!"
Zhou Yilu wasn't as shameless as them; he sincerely said, "We believe you."
Qi Yan felt that if she developed angina at the age of sixty, the root cause would be today.
Retaining the last shred of his sanity, Qi Yan finally turned to look at Song Fei. Usually, after the minions finished their attacks, the boss would finish them off with a critical hit. He had experience and was confident that he could survive with a smile.
"I'm sorry," Song Fei said.
Qi Yan stood there, stunned.
If he was almost frozen into an ice sculpture on the roof just now, at this moment, he has truly been petrified into a statue.
In Qi Yan's memory, Song Fei had never said sorry. When he was in the wrong, he would argue illogically; when he wasn't in the wrong, he was even more lawless. This man was just like Sun Wukong during the time of his havoc in the Heavenly Palace, never learning to bow his head.
But now, he says sorry.
Perhaps his ears had been exposed to the cold for too long and malfunctioned, Qi Yan's thoughts wandered aimlessly.
A pair of warm hands covered her ears.
The heat spread from his ears to his limbs and bones, and the stone sculpture named Qi Yan shattered into dust.
Are you still cold?
Through his hand, Qi Yan could only see Song Fei's lips moving, but his voice sounded unnatural.
"It's not cold."
The same goes for one's own voice, which is also unreal.
"I'm sorry," Song Fei said again.
Qi Yan could no longer recall all the accusations, rebuttals, complaints, and criticisms he had prepared beforehand. He only heard himself speak with unprecedented gentleness: "It's okay."
The three people who watched the whole thing from under the shelf each had different focuses, but without exception, they all had mixed feelings.
Josh: "Idiot."
Luo Geng: "A true veteran driver."
Zhou Yilu: "What a disaster..."
Qi Yan jumped down from the shelf and only then noticed Lin Dilei. The latter had been hiding silently to the side, but she was clearly stunned by the pink bubble of his and Song Fei's relationship, looking completely incredulous.
"Ah, this is the junior we just rescued," Luo Geng said quickly to break the awkward silence, afraid that the girl might misunderstand the attributes of their entire team if she kept thinking about it. "She's from the School of Journalism and Communication, Lin Dilei."
Miss Lin walked up to Qi Yan, looked him and Song Fei up and down, and finally sighed and stamped her foot: "How annoying, why didn't you say so earlier!"
Qi Yan felt awkward. Looking at the three classmates' "you better give me an explanation" looks, and then at Song Fei's warning glance, she finally gave a helpless bitter smile: "Stop messing around, senior."
In short, four idiots.
Lin Dilei pouted, her voice tinged with a hint of resentment, "I told you not to call me 'senior sister,' I'm forever eighteen!"
Qi Yan immediately raised his hands in surrender: "Okay, little landmine."
Miss Lin smiled radiantly, clearly delighted with this fresh and elegant nickname. Halfway through her smile, she suddenly covered her mouth, as if only then remembering that she had something important to do. She quickly stuffed what she was holding into her coat pocket and ran towards the restroom in the office area behind the supermarket without looking back.
The five men watched her ride away, leaving everyone else in the dust.
Only after the beautiful figure had completely disappeared did the four of them turn around and stare at Qi Yan.
Qi Yan quickly explained, "We're both in the student union, it's purely a working relationship." The second half of the sentence was naturally directed at Song Fei.
However, Song didn't believe it: "What's with the little landmines?"
Qi Yan took a deep breath and slowly exhaled, her hand unconsciously clenching into a fist: "Being forced to call someone such a depraved name has left me with a lot of trauma!"
Song Fei couldn't ask any more questions.
All she wants right now is to hug her ex-boyfriend!
"You just called her 'senior sister'?" Luo Geng was very particular about this detail.
Qi Yan nodded: "She's a junior, a year ahead of me."
Luo Geng's eyes lit up: "Then she's not a junior, she's a classmate..."
The students had no idea what was so wonderful about this seemingly insignificant change. But then they thought, maybe math students always have a different kind of logic.
When Lin Dilei returned from the restroom, Song Fei and the others had already unpacked a bundle of blankets and spread them out on the floor of the household goods section. This section was located in a corner of the supermarket and was quite spacious. It was filled with sheets, duvet covers, pillows, and the like. Looking up at the shelves over there, there were cups, kettles, plastic basins, and plastic buckets—all common dormitory items, which felt strangely familiar.
Lin Dilei sat down on the quilt without any hesitation, but her face was even paler than before. She frowned, bit her lip, tucked her hair behind her ears, and had a little sweat on her temples.
The heating in the supermarket was also cut off, but fortunately there were still a few terrace air conditioners, which were usually used in the summer, and now they came in handy.
With the heating on full blast, the chill of the past few days is gradually being dispelled.
"Are you feeling unwell?" Luo Geng asked with concern as soon as he saw Lin Dilei's complexion.
Lin Dilei hesitated for a moment before vaguely replying, "It's alright."
"Why are you clutching your stomach? Are you injured somewhere?"
"..."
Luo Geng asked about everything he saw without thinking. Only after asking all the questions did he belatedly realize, amidst the girl's eye-rolling and the disdain of his four companions, that the first thing she rushed to when she entered the supermarket was the feminine hygiene products section!
"I...I didn't mean that, I forgot, but now I remember, I..."
"It's nothing," Lin Dilei interrupted him with a smile.
Luo Geng always felt that what he saw was laughter, but what he felt was a knife.
"What does it taste like?" Qi Yan suddenly asked.
The air was filled with a pungent yet fragrant spicy aroma, the smell of Lao Gan Ma chili sauce that Luo Geng had smashed when he fought the three zombies.
Qi Yan was puzzled, but Luo Geng understood perfectly. Seeing that Miss Lin was also frowning, he immediately volunteered to go to the front line to work: "I'll go and tidy up!"
Feeling that something was amiss, Qiao Siqi and Zhou Yilu stood up in unison: "Let's go help!"
There were only three people left on the quilt.
Lin Dilei looked at Qi Yan, then at Song Fei, and suddenly smiled sweetly at the latter: "What's your name?"
Song Fei felt immense pressure from that beautiful smile, and he unconsciously swallowed: "Song Fei."
Lin Dilei nodded, somewhat apologetically saying, "When I asked you to open the door earlier, I was a little anxious and lost control."
Qi Yan: "You broke the glass again?!"
Song Fei: "..."
Lin Dilei gently lifted her eyelids: "What did you say?"
Qi Yan jumped up: "What are they packing? They're taking so long, I have to go see—"
There were only two people left on the quilt.
Lin Dilei looked at Song Fei quietly without saying a word.
If there truly are femme fatales in this world, Song Fei thought, it must be the face before her.
"No wonder he didn't respond no matter how much I pursued him." Lin Dilei bent her legs, hugged her knees with her hands, and let her long hair slide down to her chest, creating the illusion that "I am very sweet."
Song Fei had already guessed what was going on when Lin Dilei stomped her feet at Qi Yan in a mournful manner. However, after seriously considering Qi Yan's hasty escape, he felt that the fact that his ex didn't respond to Miss Lin might really have nothing to do with whether she was straight or gay.
"But none of that matters anymore," Lin Dilei suddenly gave a bitter smile. "All I want now is to survive."
"You managed to stay in the water room by yourself for five days," Song Fei thought it was almost unimaginable, "and you'll definitely be fine afterward."
Lin Dilei lowered her eyes, remained silent for a long time, and then said weakly, "I want to drink hot water."
There was a water dispenser in the office area, but when Song Fei got closer, he noticed that the water bottles were stained with blood. He turned around, picked out a thermos from the shelf, rinsed it under the bathroom tap, filled it to the brim, boiled it with an electric kettle, and finally poured it into a new mug.
Lin Dilei paused for a moment when she took the cup, blew on it a couple of times to warm it up, took a small sip, and smiled faintly: "Brown sugar."
Song Fei casually shrugged: "No money required, plenty of it."
Lin Dilei laughed out loud, and her pale face regained some color.
"It's a good thing you're gay," she said, "otherwise I don't know how many young girls I would have ruined."
Lin Dilei finished her cup of brown sugar water, but her four friends still hadn't returned.
Although the supermarket was large, it wasn't so bad that they would never return, and Song Fei couldn't help but worry. He took a pillow and let Lin Dilei lean against it while he went to search for his companions. As soon as he reached the food section, he saw his four comrades sitting on the floor, eating heartily.
Enraged, Song Fei strode over and snatched the pork floss bread from Qi Yan's hand: "You didn't even call me!"
Song Fei's biggest dream when she was a child was to open a supermarket where she could eat all kinds of snacks without having to beg her parents or cry to her grandparents.
Now his dream has come true.
Even though it's more than a decade late, it's still... awesome!
"This hunger is unbearable," Joss said, his cheeks bulging. "My biggest dream right now is to drown in instant noodles."
"Look at your meager aspirations," Zhou Yilu scoffed. "Give me twenty cans of luncheon meat!"
Song Fei watched them with a smile while slurping down her AD calcium milk, feeling an unprecedented sense of happiness and satisfaction.
After eating about half a meal, Luo Geng couldn't wait to bring the instant noodles and sausages he had prepared to Lin Dilei.
Lin Dilei readily accepted, but since there was no one else around, she spoke frankly: "You're very nice, but you're really not my type."
Luogeng asked, "What kind of food do you like?"
Lin Dilei bit her lip, unwilling but still insisting: "Someone like Qi Yan."
Despair spread across Luogeng's face: "It's too hard to like men."
Lin Dilei: "I wasn't talking about him!!!"
Around noon, the smog dissipated somewhat, and the sunlight shone faintly from behind the clouds.
In the vast supermarket, shelves were overturned and bloodstains were everywhere, all telling the story of the horrific catastrophe that had taken place. Yet now, it is a haven for survivors, a place of hope for survival.
After filling their stomachs, the six people thoroughly inspected all areas that might attract the attention of zombies or have the potential to be breached, covering up what needed to be covered and reinforcing what needed to be reinforced. About an hour later, they finally sat down together again, calmed down, and talked about the events of the past few days, seriously considering their future path.
"Lin Dilei, from the Broadcasting and Hosting Department of the School of Journalism and Communication, you can call me Little Landmine."
"..."
"..."
"..."
"..."
"..."
"Say something!"
"Zhou Lu, Department of Architecture, School of Civil Engineering!"
"Qiao Siqi, English Department, School of Foreign Languages!"
"Luo Geng, Department of Mathematics and Applied Mathematics, School of Mathematics!"
"Song Fei, Department of Tourism Management, School of History!"
"Qi Yan, Department of Biological Sciences, School of Life Sciences!"
Song Fei: "Why do you also have to introduce yourself..."
Qi Yan: "It's safer to line up in a queue..."
Even though Lin Dilei is tough, she still feels lingering fear when she recalls what happened five days ago: "I was getting water in the water room when I saw a group of people running back frantically. I thought there had been a terrorist attack. Don't they always report on TV that people are being slashed at and that there are school shootings? But then I found out that none of that was true. It was zombies."
Song Fei asked in surprise, "You believed it was a zombie virus from the very beginning?"
Lin Dilei nodded: "My ex-boyfriend loved these kinds of movies the most, and I used to watch them with him all the time."
Song Fei squinted and looked at Qiao Siqi suspiciously.
Johns looked miserable: "I haven't even had my first love yet, you can't just frame me like that..."
"Actually, by this morning, I was in despair. I almost thought, 'Just open the door and go out. I'm going to die sooner or later anyway. I might as well be bitten to death quickly rather than starve or scare myself. But I was unwilling to give up. I've held on for so long, why should I give up? Then I heard someone playing music on their phone…" Lin Dilei looked up, her smile fading, and looked seriously at the five people. "The one riding a white horse isn't necessarily a prince, but the one fighting zombies definitely is. Thank you for saving me."
Song Fei: "We're classmates, no need to thank me!"
Zhou Yilu: "It's just a small favor."
Josh: "We're men!"
Luogeng: "How about you repay me with your body?"
Qi Yan: "Don't worry about it."
I have a feeling that something strange has gotten mixed in.