Black Sky - Chapter 46

It was clearly a residential area, but there wasn’t a trace of “human life” to be smelled.

Only a few windows in each building emitted a faint glow.

There were no grandpas and grandmas taking a walk after dinner, no couples or single men and women walking their dogs in the neighborhood, and no busy deliverymen who could always be seen everywhere in the city.

Although Bai Zi’s hearing was extremely sharp, she couldn’t hear any sounds related to daily life, such as the sound of stir-frying in the kitchen, or the sound of a TV series playing in the living room, not even the sound of people talking to each other.

In the span of a year, this disaster seemed to have worn away a layer of people’s lives.

“It’s three o’clock in the morning,” Meng Yilan seemed to have guessed what Bai Zi, who was looking around, was thinking. “Everyone is resting.”

Bai Zi couldn’t help but ask, “Why do they allow Mao Mao to come in?”

Meng Yilan turned her head, and saw Bai Zi and Mao Mao on her back staring at her with their round eyes. The scene was a little cute, so she couldn’t help but look at them for a few more seconds, and then replied, “Currently, there is no research showing that the mutant virus affects animals other than humans, and I reported it in advance.”

Finally, Bai Zi followed Meng Yilan to an apartment building that was about a dozen stories high.

The lobby was empty, and the elevator seemed to have been abandoned for a long time. After the two walked up to the fifth floor through the fire escape, Meng Yilan stopped.

Bai Zi carefully looked around. There were two households on each floor of this apartment building. Although the stair railings were covered in dust, there was no trash, so it was relatively clean.

Meng Yilan took out the key, opened the door to her home, and threw her bag casually on the sofa. Then, she lit the stove.

Bai Zi, carrying Mao Mao on her back, also followed Meng Yilan into the house.

It was a very spacious living room. Although there were no decorations, it was quite tidy.

Mao Mao jumped onto the leather sofa in the center of the living room and rolled around, then lay down unceremoniously.

Hanging on the wall opposite the sofa was an ultra-thin TV, but it probably hadn’t been used for a long time, and the dust on it was so thick that it couldn’t reflect an image.

Bai Zi walked to the balcony, and was about to look outside, but found a piano placed near the balcony.

“Take a shower first after the water boils,” Meng Yilan took a set of clean clothes for Bai Zi. “Wear mine first, and I’ll take you to buy a few new sets in a few days.”

“Thank you.” After Bai Zi took the clothes, she couldn’t help but turn her head back to look at the piano.

Few people knew that Bai Zi could play the piano.

Although she hadn’t taken any exams, and had never participated in any competitions, since she was a child, apart from occasionally being dragged by her father to camp in the mountains because she was frail and sickly, her mother would play with various musical instruments at home with Bai Zi during other free time.

Before Bai Zi applied to be a martial arts assistant at the gym, she had wanted to work as an accompanist in a restaurant or teach people to play the piano at a training center, but she had been rejected because of the burn on her face.

Seeing Bai Zi standing blankly by the balcony, staring at the piano without moving, Meng Yilan raised her eyebrows: “This piano isn’t mine.”

The implication seemed to be to inform the other party that she couldn’t play the piano.

But in fact, Meng Yilan not only could play the piano, but she had also participated in competitions and won a championship.

But Meng Yilan hadn’t lied, this piano really wasn’t hers.

More than a year ago, one of Meng Yilan’s friends had temporarily left the piano here because of moving, but after the virus broke out, this friend suddenly disappeared, and her life and death were still unknown.

In this way, the two people who could both play the piano ended the conversation hastily, both mistakenly believing that the other couldn’t play.

At this time, there was a knock on the door behind them.

Bai Zi immediately and vigilantly took out the handgun from her bag, but was stopped by Meng Yilan. The other party signaled her to relax with her eyes, and then gently took the weapon from her hand, walked to the door, looked through the peephole, put away the gun, and opened the door.

Although Meng Yilan was so calm, Bai Zi still walked behind her worriedly, cautiously sticking her head out, and saw an old woman with silver hair standing outside the door.

“Granny Zhang?” Meng Yilan’s tone was obviously gentler than usual.

Granny Zhang lived downstairs from Meng Yilan’s house. Before the mutant virus broke out, the two had hardly ever met.

It wasn’t until half a year ago, when the building had several water and power outages, that Meng Yilan helped Granny Zhang solve many problems in her life, and their interactions became increasingly frequent.

“I knew it was you coming back when I heard your voice. I brought you some small things, the gloves and scarves I knitted, and the rest I have to take to the market to sell tomorrow…” Granny Zhang had just raised the bag in her hand when she saw Bai Zi behind Meng Yilan. “Little Lan, you have a guest?”

Meng Yilan nodded: “This is my friend, she’ll be staying at my house for a while.”

Unlike before, Meng Yilan used “friend” instead of “assistant” to introduce Bai Zi.

But Bai Zi remained silent, still staring at her warily.

Granny Zhang didn’t mind, she squinted her eyes and looked at Bai Zi’s left face: “That’s good, your friend can use these things too. It’s cold in the winter, so you have to keep warm, especially you young girls.”

“Thank you,” Meng Yilan took the bag, “Have you found your grandson?”

Granny Zhang had a grandson who is in his early twenties, who was originally a programmer, but lost his job after the mutant virus broke out. Later, he accepted a job at Hongya Group and followed the construction team to build buildings in the yellow zone.

Therefore, the grandmother and grandson were able to live a stable life.

But before Meng Yilan left home, Granny Zhang’s grandson suddenly disappeared.

Granny Zhang laughed twice: “I found him, he came home a few days ago, he’s doing well…You should rest early, I’ll go back now.”

Meng Yilan wanted to see Granny Zhang out, but was stopped by the other party: “It’s cold, stay at home!”

After Granny Zhang left, Meng Yilan asked Bai Zi to take a shower, but Bai Zi insisted on washing Mao Mao first. Meng Yilan wanted to help, but was rejected by Bai Zi because of her gunshot wound.

After a long while, Bai Zi walked out of the bathroom, carrying Mao Mao, who was wet all over. Meng Yilan helped Bai Zi wipe Mao Mao’s body, and then went to the bathroom to take a shower.

When she came back to the living room after washing up, she saw Bai Zi sitting on the sofa, playing with Mao Mao.

Bai Zi turned her head and glanced at Meng Yilan. She naturally took the towel, gestured for Meng Yilan to sit on the sofa, and carefully wiped her hair for her, being careful not to let her hands directly touch her long hair.

Suddenly being taken care of so attentively, Meng Yilan stiffened on the sofa. When she came back to her senses, Bai Zi had already wiped her wet hair: “It’s time to change the medicine.”

Then, Meng Yilan saw Bai Zi sitting next to her with the medicine, waiting for her to take off her clothes with a calm expression.

She watched Bai Zi patiently unwrapping the gauze for her, pouring disinfectant on her wound, and then carefully applying the medicine again, finally wrapping it up with new gauze, without causing a trace of pain.

Bai Zi’s warm fingertips occasionally touched Meng Yilan’s arm, leaving her with a tingling sensation.

Meng Yilan could clearly feel that she was being cared for extremely carefully by the other party.

Since childhood, many people had pampered Meng Yilan, but Bai Zi was the only one who made her feel so comfortable and at ease being pampered like this.

She looked at Bai Zi’s profile, lost in thought.

Just now, if the other party had asked about the piano, she wouldn’t have minded playing a song for Bai Zi, maybe even several songs.

This was a thought that Meng Yilan had never had for anyone, but Bai Zi was completely unaware of it. She only wanted to finish changing Meng Yilan’s medicine as soon as possible, and then go to sleep quickly.

If possible, she wished that time could skip directly to the afternoon, so that she could go to the warehouse to check her things.

“Bai Zi,” suddenly, she heard Meng Yilan say softly, “If the world was still the way it used to be, if those troubles hadn’t happened, you and I could have be…”

Bai Zi raised her head, looking at the other party in confusion.

“Become pretty good friends,”” Meng Yilan considered her words, and then looked at Bai Zi as if she didn’t care, “Right?”

But Bai Zi didn’t answer, only lowering her head again, continuing to tighten the gauze.

Ever since witnessing the explosion in the RV, Bai Zi had always been in this slightly gloomy state. Although she would occasionally show a harmless smile, it was obviously not as relaxed as when she had first come out of the prison a few days ago.

Meng Yilan wanted to ask her what exactly she had seen in the RV, but she was worried that it would affect Bai Zi’s emotions, so she didn’t bring it up, and began to arrange for them to sleep.

Although it was a two-bedroom apartment, one of the rooms was a bedroom, and the other was originally a study, but after more than a year of neglect, it had become a storage room.

“I’ll sleep on the sofa with Mao Mao.” Bai Zi said very consciously.

Meng Yilan defaulted to Bai Zi’s suggestion. After she took the quilt and pillow and handed them to Bai Zi, she turned around and went back to the bedroom to rest.

When Bai Zi lay down on the sofa, it was already around five in the morning. At her feet was Mao Mao, who was sleeping soundly, and she was surrounded by Meng Yilan’s soft scent.

Actually, she didn’t want to sleep much. As soon as she closed her eyes, she would always think of the scene she had seen in the RV before.

Some scattered memories flashed through her brain like fragments, but they couldn’t form a complete event.

Her originally carefree mood had been quietly lost somewhere.

So, Bai Zi lay stiffly on the sofa, letting Mao Mao, who seemed to have ADHD, sleep and wake up, wake up and sleep again—until she heard a series of whistles coming from outside the window.

Mao Mao, that lazybones, was still lying on the sofa, sleeping soundly, and Meng Yilan’s bedroom was still quiet. Only Bai Zi, out of curiosity, got up and went to the balcony.

In the darkness, Bai Zi saw a giant loudspeaker next to a street not far away. The whistles were coming from there.

About a minute later, the whistles stopped, and then a gentle female voice said, “The curfew is over. I wish all citizens a wonderful day. Next, we will broadcast this week’s hot news…”

At this time, some residents gradually walked out of the surrounding apartments, heading towards the entrance of the neighborhood. They were dressed neatly, but they all looked tired. They occasionally exchanged a few words with each other, but their spirits were low.

The broadcast was still talking about some topics that Bai Zi didn’t understand, such as the time for receiving supplies, or various specific arrangements for daily virus testing, and the precautions for using weapons in Bei City.

After listening for more than ten minutes, Bai Zi finally left the balcony.

In the living room, Mao Mao had already woken up, but it was still sleepy-eyed, sitting on the sofa and staring blankly at Bai Zi.

There was still no movement in the bedroom.

Bai Zi looked at the watch. It was about nine in the morning now.

After estimating the time when Meng Yilan would wake up, she first went to the bookshelf outside and took a popular science book introducing various survival skills to read for a while. When it was almost time, she walked to the kitchen, and took out a few cans from the cabinet.

Around noon, Meng Yilan finally walked out of the bedroom wearing a loose long dress. Then, she smelled an enticing aroma, and followed the scent to the dining table.

Two servings of food were placed on the dining table. Although they could be seen to be canned food, they had obviously been carefully cooked.

At this time, Bai Zi, carrying Mao Mao on her back, came out of the kitchen, and placed a cup of steaming coffee next to Meng Yilan’s serving, greeting her in a cheerful tone, saying, “It’s all freshly cooked, eat it while it’s hot.”

Bai Zi’s hair had grown a little longer, but it was still a round buzz cut. Her slender body was wearing a dark blue thin sweater that Meng Yilan had given her, paired with white jeans. She looked like a college student who had just graduated from campus.

Very obedient, and also very…Meng Yilan thought, looking at the food on the table.

Well, also very virtuous.

Meng Yilan, who had originally wanted to say thank you, muttered for a while, and finally only awkwardly brushed her loose long hair, saying, “I’ll go wash my face first,” and then turned around and walked to the bathroom.

After washing her face, Meng Yilan hurriedly returned to the bedroom. After a while, she came back to the living room with her hair loose.

The loose nightgown had been replaced. At this time, Meng Yilan was wearing a tight turtleneck sweater, with a black leather jacket on top, and dark tight jeans on her long legs. Most importantly—she seemed to have put on some light makeup.

But Bai Zi, who was busy feeding Mao Mao, didn’t notice this. It wasn’t until the moment when she finally noticed that Meng Yilan had put on makeup that it was time for the two to leave.

These days, Bai Zi had only seen Meng Yilan without makeup. Now, although the other party had only put on light makeup, she had a completely different charm.

Having already thought about how to respond to Bai Zi’s praise, Meng Yilan’s face immediately turned cold when she realized that her appearance had been completely ignored by the other party.

Bai Zi clearly felt that Meng Yilan, who was standing in the hallway waiting for her to come out, seemed to be in a bad mood, and even exuded an aura that made it difficult to approach her.

Therefore, she didn’t say the words of praise that she had in her heart.

Bai Zi used canned food to lure Mao Mao to stay at home, and then took the opportunity to close the door, following Meng Yilan down the stairs quickly.

In front of the building, Meng Yilan asked Bai Zi to wait on the main road for a moment, and then walked alone towards a small path.

Bai Zi obediently stayed where she was, but when she unintentionally looked up, she found a man standing on the balcony, his eyes staring at the departing Meng Yilan.

In the next second, the man turned his head, making eye contact with Bai Zi.

Although they were far apart, Bai Zi could still clearly see the man’s extremely gloomy expression.

Bai Zi immediately counted the floor that the man was on, the sixth floor.

At this time, the man turned around and went inside. Bai Zi couldn’t help but frown, but before she could think too much, she saw Meng Yilan pushing a burgundy heavy motorcycle towards her.

Meng Yilan, wearing a black leather jacket, raised her hand to tie up her long hair, put on a black helmet, and then raised her long legs to straddle the motorcycle, handing another helmet to Bai Zi: “You have to report in advance to drive a car now, let’s just ride a motorcycle over, it’ll take about half an hour.”

Her posture was dashing, and her charm was endless.

Bai Zi was stunned in place. She didn’t know if she should praise the other party’s appearance at this time, or mention the suspicious man she had just seen on the sixth floor.

“What’s wrong?” Meng Yilan asked in confusion.

After thinking for a long while, Bai Zi shook her head, took the helmet and put it on, and sat behind Meng Yilan, deliberately distancing herself from the other party.

“Hold on tight.” Meng Yilan directly grabbed Bai Zi’s hand, making her hug her waist tightly, and then quickly started the motorcycle, twisting the throttle and driving towards the entrance of the neighborhood.

At the moment when their bodies were close together, Bai Zi couldn’t help but hold her breath.