Dark Ruins Dawn

Chapter 43 Hua Xin
"Hey, get up."

Hua Xin spoke softly, nudging the catwoman with her elbow, "I bought the water filter, look."

The catwoman did not react.

"Didn't you say you were thirsty? Stop drinking that dirty water. Your cough hasn't gotten better."

Hua Xin nudged her again.

The body twitched stiffly, but still did not respond.

"Hey, wake up! You're sleeping so soundly!"

The air became silent for a moment.

The smile on Hua Xin's face gradually faded.

She held her breath, slowly reached out, and touched the catwoman's nose.

My fingertips touched my cold cheek.

There was no breath left.

Hua Xin froze.

She remained in that outstretched position, stunned for a long time.

She doesn't believe it.

He withdrew his hand, sat down, and took out a piece of black bread from his pocket.

Are you hungry? I have some food here.

It was as if she was talking to herself.

"Look, I even saved the softest part in the middle for you, and I'll eat the hard parts on the sides myself."

She broke the bread in half and gently placed the better-looking piece next to the catwoman.

"Aren't you going to eat? Then I'll eat first."

She picked up her half and nibbled on it slowly and forcefully.

She said no more.

The shack fell into dead silence.

After an unknown amount of time, her shoulders began to tremble slightly, initially only slightly, but later becoming more and more intense.

She covered her mouth tightly with her hand, and scalding tears slid down her fingers.

Even you have left me.

The sobbing was suppressed.

After a short while, she stopped sobbing, vigorously wiped her face, mixing her tears with coal dust and smearing it all over her face.

She regained her numbness, as if nothing had happened.

Just then, the door to the shack was opened.

A sliver of light shone in, and a figure appeared in the doorway.

Hua Xin's body tensed instantly.

She grabbed the shovel from the ground, and with a flick of her wrist, sent it flying straight at the face of the dark figure.

"clang!"

There was a crisp sound of metal collision.

The dark figure casually raised his hand and precisely parried the shovel blade with a dagger.

"Hua Xin, your brother sent me."

Zhuang Fan's voice was quick and clear, followed by the coded message: "Brother is the shield."

He simultaneously raised the rough hemp rope in his hand, the one Watson had previously tied to the wooden pendant.

Hua Xin was stunned.

Her lips moved, and she responded to the second half of the sentence in an almost inaudible voice.

"...My sister is a burden."

The other spare dagger in her hand slipped from her fingers and fell to the ground with a clatter.

"Is my brother alright? Hasn't he come out yet?"

“He’s doing well inside. I’ll come out and earn some money first, then I’ll bail him out.”

After hearing this, Hua Xin felt a complete release of tension.

She took the hemp rope and confirmed that she had woven it herself.

"I'm sorry, I thought they were here to arrest me."

"You're quite vigilant."

Zhuang Fan recalled the shovel that had suddenly flown in; luckily, he reacted quickly enough.

He walked into the shack, about to say something, but noticed that Hua Xin's expression was off.

"what happened to you?"

Hua Xin shook her head, wanting to say she was fine, but a sharp pain shot through her body, and she couldn't help but curl up, her forehead beaded with cold sweat.

Zhuang Fan then discovered that the room had no fog lights and was filled with the eerie fog belonging to the cat people.

Hua Xin's bones made a faint "clicking" sound, and the muscles under his skin were twitching abnormally.

She is on the verge of distortion.

Zhuang Fan quickly reached out and pressed his hand on her back, drawing all the wisps of eerie mist out of her body.

"Uh……"

Hua Xin let out a muffled groan, feeling as if her internal organs were being churned, the pain almost causing her to faint.

"Alright." Zhuang Fan withdrew his hand, his face slightly pale.

"What... happened just now?" Hua Xin's voice was still a little weak.

"You have been infected by the cat-people's eerie mist."

Zhuang Fan glanced at the cold corpse on the bed. "If it had been any later, you would have turned into a catwoman."

A flicker of lingering fear crossed Hua Xin's eyes.

Zhuang Fan took a portable fog light out of his backpack and handed it to her.

“You have embarked on the catwoman’s path of transformation, which is irreversible. Therefore, from now on, you cannot leave a distance of more than three meters from her.”

Hua Xin took the fog light, nodded vigorously, and his trust in Zhuang Fan increased dramatically.

The two were silent for a moment.

Zhuang Fan's gaze fell on the catwoman's corpse.

"what is her name?"

".I have no idea."

“I work in an illegal coal mine during the day, and after work I stay here for the night.”

"She was very kind. When she saw that I had nowhere to go, she gave me her seat."

Zhuang Fan glanced around and asked in confusion, "Does she also work in the coal mine?"

"She is in poor health and has not been working."

Any catwoman in the wasteland will be drained of all her value and will never have a moment to rest.

Zhuang Fan probably guessed what was going on and didn't say anything more.

Hua Xin's voice was very low, "I have nothing to repay her with, so every day when I receive a piece of black bread, I share half with her."

She pointed to the untouched half of the bread next to her.

Zhuang Fan walked over and picked up the piece of black bread.

It's very heavy and has a rough texture.

He gently broke it open, and inside was not bread crumb, but a black paste-like substance that emitted a faint stench.

"This is cockroach powder mixed with some industrial starch."

Hua Xin lowered her head: "I know it tastes bad, but at least I can survive."

Zhuang Fan looked at her thin shoulders and threw the black paste on the ground.

"You don't need to eat this anymore."

He looked into Hua Xin's eyes and said, word by word:

"If you work for me, you'll have protein bars, starch biscuits, and candy for every meal from now on."

"Well, I'll try my best."

Hua Xin nodded vigorously, but her nose felt a little sore.

Zhuang Fan picked up the shovel and walked out of the shack.

"We buried her."

The soil in the mining area is very hard, with a thick layer of coal gangue on the surface, mixed with gravel and frozen soil underneath.

Zhuang Fan found a spot with soft soil, and the two of them dug for nearly an hour before clearing a shallow pit large enough to accommodate one person.

He went into the shack and carried out the catwoman's body.

It's very light, almost weightless.

He gently placed the body into the pit, and Hua Xin tidied her disheveled hair.

The brown soil was filled back in, handful by handful.

Soon, a small mound of earth appeared on the ground.

Hua Xin found several stones of different colors and arranged them in front of the mound of earth as a tombstone.

There was no name, and no eulogy.

In the wasteland, having a place to rest is already a luxury.

The next day, dawn.

Five kilometers outside Linhai City, there is a graveyard that has been washed away by a horde of corpses.

Here, metal debris and concrete blocks are everywhere, and a lingering fog permeates the entire wasteland.

Zhuang Fan travels under the identity of "Wuya".

He held a simple detector in his hand, and a weak signal flickered on the screen.

Hua Xin clutched an old pistol, cautiously observing his surroundings while digging for any usable scraps.

She was very perceptive and quickly figured out what kind of scrap Zhuang Fan needed, so she was able to find it much faster than Watson.

She couldn't understand why Zhuang Fan was able to solve the "rotten fog" clinging to the waste.

But like Watson, she was sensible and knew what she should and shouldn't ask.

Zhuang Fan greatly admired this tacit understanding and sense of propriety.

The girl's seemingly delicate demeanor was merely a reserved facade.

He had a clearer understanding of the situation.

Watson never utters a word of nonsense, and he always carries out the tasks assigned to him in a clear and organized manner.
Hua Xin is very perceptive and can detect danger or notice details that others overlook.

These brother and sister might be his right-hand men.

(End of this chapter)