Apocalypse Survival Guide for a Beta [GB] - Chapter 14

Lin Bai wasn’t particularly interested in food. Food and water didn’t have much effect on her, but to avoid drawing attention, she still took two pieces of bread.

What she cared more about was replacing her concealer and lipstick.

The ones she had were randomly taken from a previous mall and she only took two containers. That cosmetics store had been badly damaged, leaving only a few concealers and lipsticks in colors that weren’t quite a match. Now that she had the chance, she wanted to swap them out.

Back then, to make her body look like a defective bionic human, not only were some of the parts intentionally left incomplete, but there were also quite a few small flaws on her face. They weren’t obvious from a distance but couldn’t withstand close scrutiny.

When she was alone before, she didn’t have to care about such things. But now that she was with the Federal Army, she needed concealer and foundation to cover up those flaws. She wasn’t afraid of being discovered, but being found out would bring trouble. She hated trouble. Besides, she actually liked makeup. Changing her face every day was pretty fun.

Her fingers brushed over the row of concealer tubes and suddenly stopped. Sweet Cream? The shade looked like a good match and it was a twist-up design, much more convenient than flip-cap ones. Lin Bai tested the color, found it satisfactory, and took all the tubes in that shade.

Next was lipstick. There were way more shades of lipstick than concealer; rose, cherry, berry, cinnamon, jujube, hawthorn red… They all looked nice and smelled sweet. Lin Bai picked up one of each.

Lou Tiannan watched Lin Bai’s actions out of the corner of his eye, his temple veins twitching.

Did this woman even understand the situation they were in?!

She didn’t take clothes, gear, or educational books but she took a pile of cosmetics?!

She even took a bottle of perfume?!

Did she think she was on vacation?!

Lou Tiannan furrowed his brow, his gaze lowering as he took a deep breath, forcing himself to stay calm. This wasn’t his concern. It wasn’t his business.

“Xi Ya, there are books here for learning characters. I picked them out just for you.” Zhou Yu, who had offended Xi Ya earlier, was holding a few books, trying to make up for it. He was still hoping Lin Bai would teach him how to improve his abilities, so he couldn’t afford to have Xi Ya mad at him.

Xi Ya, being short, hadn’t noticed the books inside. Seeing them now, she was pleasantly surprised. She knew Zhou Yu wasn’t a bad person and since he had gone out of his way to bring her books, she quickly accepted them and politely thanked him. She no longer looked upset.

Zhou Yu was relieved. He had made peace with the little one. Now it would be easier to patch things up with Lin Bai!

But when he turned and saw that Lin Bai had only taken makeup products, he was puzzled. “Lin Bai, why are you taking so many lipsticks?”

“To use.” Lin Bai casually packed them into a shoulder bag, one by one.

Seeing the bulging bag, Lou Tiannan turned his gaze away, his expression cold. In a low voice, he ordered, “We leave in three minutes.”

Zhou Yu shuddered and turned to Lu Jia. “Little Lu, don’t you feel a little cold?”

Lu Jia nodded in agreement. For some reason, Captain Lou’s face seemed even darker than usual.

***

The vehicle was soon back on the road. Many survivors on board were eating the food they had taken from the supermarket. In the apocalypse, it was best to eat as soon as possible. At least then it was safely in their stomach.

Xi Ya sat reading, learning new words.

Peter sat down next to Lin Bai and pulled a canned fruit syrup from his pocket, handing it to her. “Lin Bai, I got this just for you.”

Ever since he swallowed the X112 alkaline compound, Peter had considered himself Lin Bai’s follower. She hadn’t mentioned the antidote, so he didn’t dare bring it up either. Others didn’t know the situation, assuming he was just infatuated with Lin Bai. But after what happened with Li Meng, no one dared to gossip about it in front of Lin Bai.

Besides, in the apocalypse, people partnering up to survive was common. Omegas were rare and valuable, Betas were in high demand, and when all else failed, even two Alphas could share a bed. To the others, Peter and Lin Bai forming a pair was nothing out of the ordinary. The only thing that made them envious was that can of syrup.

Lin Bai didn’t care what others thought. She reached out, took the can, and tossed it into Xi Ya’s lap. “Have it as a treat.”

Xi Ya was already used to Lin Bai feeding her.

The past few days with Lin Bai had been the best, fullest, and safest days of her life since the apocalypse began.

She wasn’t hungry at the moment, so she put the can away in her small bag. She carried two bags; one was hers, and the other was Lin Bai’s. Lin Bai had entrusted her with the bag and that made her very happy.

After giving the canned syrup, Peter went silent. He knew that no matter how much he spoke afterward, Lin Bai wouldn’t respond to him. He figured it was better to stay quiet. But deep down, he was anxious. He needed to figure out a way to make Lin Bai give him the antidote…

As he was thinking, a middle-aged man, around forty years old, moved next to Lin Bai. He had a square face and a sincere look. Speaking softly, he said, “My name is Hu Dingguo. I heard you’re also a military family member. I am too. My kid is a senator in Parliament. What about you? What does your husband do?”

“A garbage collector,” Lin Bai replied flatly.

Hu Dingguo chuckled. “You’re funny.” Seeing that Lin Bai wasn’t interested in chatting, he got to the point. “I don’t mean anything by it. I just saw your daughter learning to read and thought I could help. I used to be a teacher. It’s been so long since I last saw a child this young in the apocalypse…”

As he spoke, his voice grew emotional, his eyes slightly reddening. “I don’t even know if I’ll ever get the chance to teach kids again.”

Lin Bai leaned back against the vehicle wall, glanced at him, and said, “If you want to teach her, ask her. Don’t ask me.”

Hu Dingguo seemed surprised that Lin Bai was so difficult to talk to, but he still replied, “I figured I should ask you first since you’re her mother…”

Peter, seeing Lin Bai close her eyes, immediately recognized the expression. He could predict exactly what she was about to say. Silently, he mouthed the words, ‘Don’t bother me.’

And sure enough—

“Don’t bother me.”

Called it.

Peter turned over, muttering to himself, “She doesn’t care if your kid is a senator or a minister. When it’s time to be quiet, just stay quiet.”

But Hu Dingguo genuinely seemed eager to teach Xi Ya how to read. Seeing that Lin Bai ignored him, he gently asked Xi Ya if she would like him to teach her.

Xi Ya hesitated before nodding. She did struggle with recognizing characters and she couldn’t bother Zhou Yu, Song Yan, or the others who were on guard duty. Since Hu Dingguo offered to be her teacher and she wasn’t sure about Lin Bai’s thoughts on the matter, she decided to follow her own wishes and agree.

Having a teacher really made things easier for her.

By the afternoon, Xi Ya had learned nearly half the characters in the book. Their lesson even attracted several onlookers. After all, scenes like this were rare in the apocalypse. Most of the onlookers carried expressions of nostalgia, warmth, and sorrow…

Soon, some people in the vehicle began praying to Aurora again.

Lou Tiannan peeked into the transport truck, somewhat satisfied with what he saw. But when he spotted Lin Bai sitting there, shutting out the world with her eyes closed, his breath hitched. He withdrew his gaze immediately. Looking at her any longer would only make him angrier.

The journey that day had been smooth. The convoy arrived at the outer ring of Western District One earlier than expected. Lou Tiannan led his team to secure a warehouse as a temporary base and announced that, due to reconnaissance needs, they would be stopping there for at least 24 hours.

There was no avoiding a route through Western District One. Once they crossed it, they would be close to the Eastern Safe Zone. As the team leader, Lou Tiannan had to do everything possible to ensure the civilians’ safety.

As soon as they got out of the vehicle, Zhou Yu and Lu Jia began patrolling the warehouse perimeter and reinforcing the defenses.

That night, the wind picked up and unexpectedly, snow began to fall. The sound of the storm howled into the warehouse.

“Damn this weather!” someone cursed.

No one could disagree. Just that afternoon, it had been so hot that people wanted to strip down. Now, a blizzard was raging.

With the drastic temperature drop, those with weaker constitutions couldn’t handle it. Soon, the warehouse was filled with the sound of coughing.

The others kept their distance, fearing illness. No one wanted to get sick now, not when they were so close to the safe zone.

Zhu Liang, along with Wen Xiaxia, checked on the two sick individuals and distributed medicine to them, instructing them to rest.

“Vice Captain Zhu, I’ll be fine soon! I’ll get better quickly!” One of them hurriedly assured Zhu Liang, afraid of being left behind.

“Me too! Me too!” the other quickly added.

“Don’t worry, we won’t abandon anyone,” Zhu Liang reassured them calmly. At 30 years old, he was the most composed member of the team and commanded great respect.

Hearing his words, the two sick men finally relaxed.

Lin Bai, however, had no patience for those hollow reassurances. She propped herself up and glanced at Xi Ya, who was doing push-ups beside her. Lazily, she tapped Xi Ya’s back. “Lower.”

Xi Ya’s arms trembled as she adjusted her posture while reciting the words she had learned that day, practicing with great determination.

Bored, Lin Bai scanned her surroundings.

Zhu Liang had already left and the survivors were curled up with their clothes, dozing off. “Captain Lou, I’ll take a team to the pharmacy tomorrow. Your susceptible period is in the next two days, so you shouldn’t take any risks.”

Lin Bai’s eyelids twitched. Susceptible period?

Propping herself up on her hands, she appeared to be watching Xi Ya exercise, but in reality, she was listening closely to the conversation coming through the tiny button-sized eavesdropper in her ear.

Zhu Liang’s steady voice echoed in her ear, “Zhou Yu is right. Tiannan, once you enter your susceptible period, your abilities will become highly unstable. You can’t afford to take risks. I’ll take a team to find inhibitors tomorrow. I’ve been to the pharmacies in Western District One. I know the routes better than you.”

“Western District One is extremely dangerous. You don’t have an ability,” Lou Tiannan replied, his deep voice carrying clear disapproval.

“I may not have an ability, but I’m still the vice-captain of the Third Squad.”

Silence followed for a few seconds before Lin Bai heard Lou Tiannan’s reluctant response, “We’ll go with your plan.”