"Who are you? What do you want? You... stay away, I'm going to shout for help! Dad, get the gun, there's a bad guy here!"
Gao Yuan was pleased, but the girl started shouting, and hearing what the girl said, Gao Yuan was startled at first, but then he burst into laughter.
"Don't be afraid, I'm not a bad person, and stop shouting, be careful not to attract zombies."
Gao Yuan put down the long spear. He tried to use the gentlest tone and demeanor to make the girl let down her guard, and at the same time, he slowly walked toward her.
"Don't come any closer! If you come any closer, my dad will shoot!"
Gao Yuan stopped in his tracks and said calmly, "You don't need to be nervous, I'm not a bad person, and you don't have to scare me. Keep your voice down, what if you attract zombies?"
The girl immediately closed her mouth.
However, the girl didn't relax her vigilance, she just lowered her voice, but still said firmly, "Stop right there! Are you trying to steal my wild boar? I'm telling you, I found this wild boar, you can't steal it!"
Gao Yuan moved forward a step, pointing to the wild boar, he said, "Look at the wire on the wild boar's neck and the wounds on its body, and my spear in hand. I hunted this wild boar and have been chasing it here, so this wild boar is mine."
The girl couldn't help but look down at the wild boar. She had already noticed the wire on the boar's neck and the wounds, so Gao Yuan's words left her somewhat at a loss for words.
Gao Yuan took the opportunity to walk a few more steps forward, he was now only five or six meters away from the girl.
The girl looked quite pitiful, with strands of hair scattered over her shoulders and her face smeared with soot, it was unclear whether it was deliberately applied or not. But the most serious thing was the two lines of clear snot hanging below her nose.
She was wearing a baggy tracksuit, with "Stonegate No.1 Middle School" written on the chest—it was clearly a school uniform. Her sneakers were so dirty that they were almost unrecognizable.
While she wasn't short, she was as thin as a stick and looked like a strong wind might blow her over.
All in all, the girl's appearance was really quite miserable.
Gao Yuan nodded at the girl and said with a gentle face, "Don't be scared, I will absolutely not hurt you, besides, you can barely stand still now, you must be starving, right? With your condition, I could knock you to the ground with a stick, and then do whatever I want, right? And I also know there is no one else around here, otherwise, you wouldn't be acting like this, so don't think about scaring me away. Can we calm down and have a proper talk?"
Knowing she couldn't scare Gao Yuan and aware of her own limitations, the girl, after a brief moment of thought, suddenly bit her lip, and tears began to fall drop by drop.
"Uncle, I'm still young..."
Gao Yuan said urgently, "Stop! Hold on, don't cry, you mustn't cry!"
A low and angry roar momentarily frightened the girl. Gao Yuan, with a helpless and irritated face, said, "Do I really look that much like a bad guy?"
"Yes..."
The girl's reply made Gao Yuan feel helpless, and then he remembered something. He opened the zipper of his waist pack and took out a small mirror from the psk waist pack. As he walked toward the girl, he said, "Come here, take this mirror and have a look at yourself."
The action was strange, and the girl hesitated for a moment, but ultimately didn't resist or run away. Holding a kitchen knife in one hand, she reached out and took the small mirror that Gao Yuan handed to her from a distance.
After just one glance, the girl let out a scream of horror and put down the mirror, but quickly, she couldn't help but lift the mirror again.
"Even if you don't believe I'm a good person, if you have any self-awareness, you should know that I definitely don't have any bad intentions toward you, right?"
The girl suddenly put down the mirror and then glared at Gao Yuan fiercely.
Gao Yuan spread his hands, expressing helplessness, "I didn't mean anything else, I just wanted to tell you that you don't need to worry about me wanting to do something bad. I'm just very excited and happy to see another living person. You should know what the situation is like right now. Do you only feel afraid when you see me?"
Gao Yuan was indeed sincere, and after a moment, the girl said softly, "Why do you carry a mirror with you."
"This is a survival mirror. In case you encounter danger in a deserted place, you can use it to signal for help by reflecting sunlight."
Finally, there was a conversation that wasn't so filled with hostility.
Gao Yuan longed to meet his own kind, and of course, the girl, being a fellow survivor, felt the same. They started to look at each other, but quickly, the girl's gaze fell on the wild boar.
"This wild boar is quite big, but, that, um..."
That look was like gazing at one's most beloved lover, like... no description was necessary, it was clearly the look of a person starved to the point of desperation upon seeing delicious food.
A person who was starved could really do anything. Although there was no need to worry too much, Gao Yuan never dared to let his guard down.
"What do you want to say? Are you starving?"
The girl raised her head with a plea in her eyes, "Can you give me the pig's ears and tail? Anywhere is fine, I just want those parts. I'm really... starving to death."
The girl's pleading look made Gao Yuan feel quite uncomfortable. He sighed softly and said, "Put down the knife. If you thought I wanted to hurt you, would I need to say all this crap? Are you starving?"
The girl looked at Gao Yuan with complex eyes and whispered, "Isn't it obvious enough?"
Of course, it was obvious enough.
Gao Yuan stopped the nonsense, placed the half-spear on the ground, took off his backpack, and then he took out a can of spam from the backpack.
A can of spam?
A can of spam!
The little girl's eyes were riveted on it.
As Gao Yuan put his finger on the tab of the can, the girl couldn't help but take a step forward.
When the can lid was lifted, a soft pop sounded.
And upon hearing that sound, the kitchen knife in the girl's hand also dropped to the ground with a crisp sound.
The little girl's eyes were locked onto the spam, and Gao Yuan could be certain that if he were to put the spam in his mouth now, the little girl would definitely fight him for it.
What's the point in talking nonsense? Right now, nothing is more effective than handing out food.
Gao Yuan, holding a can of luncheon meat with a grave expression, said, "Come with me, if you come with me there'll be food."
"Mm, okay, okay."
"Really come with me, I mean no harm, I'm just... too lonely, I just want someone to keep me company."
"Okay, give me the can first."
Gao Yuan took a step forward and handed the can of meat to the little girl. After catching it, she pressed the can against her left hand, and then propped the large chunk of luncheon meat onto her left hand and took a bite.
The girl's manner of eating could only be described as frantic—it was the kind that belonged to someone who had been starving for two months, not dead yet but barely clinging to life.
"Eat slower, eat slower! Oh, never mind..."
A four-hundred-gram piece of luncheon meat, in the hands of someone driven to the edge by hunger, was devoured in just a few seconds, then the girl's gaze shifted to Gao Yuan's backpack.
"Stop looking, I only brought one can as dry food, you won't find any more if you keep looking, but there's plenty at my place, will you come with me?"
Gao Yuan extended a sincere invitation to the little girl, and indeed he had no ill-intentions. As a normal person, he craved companionship.
Humans are social animals, and so loneliness can torture a person into madness or even to death.
If he were dealing with a man, no matter how lonely and isolated Gao Yuan felt, he wouldn't dare rashly invite a stranger back to his shelter. But with a little girl, especially one who seemed incapable of surviving on her own and posed no apparent threat, Gao Yuan felt brave enough to issue the invitation immediately.
Besides, even a weak girl could help Gao Yuan with many things. Two people surviving together was definitely more advantageous than one person alone.
"I'll go with you!"
Choking to the point of her eyes rolling back, the girl briefly and succinctly answered Gao Yuan's question before immediately turning her attention back to the remaining bits of meat in the can.
"So delicious, I've never eaten anything this tasty before. I never knew luncheon meat tasted this good, it's so good!"
After speaking, the girl couldn't help but start licking the tiny bit of residue left in the can.
Seizing the moment, Gao Yuan quickly asked, "What's your name?"
"I'm Luo Xingyu."
"Where are you from, around here?"
"No, I came over from the city."
"Is it just you now?"
Luo Xingyu didn't answer, merely nodding her head gently, then she asked softly, "What's your name?"
"I'm Gao Yuan, and I'm also on my own now."
Gao Yuan didn't ask Luo Xingyu what had happened to her family. There was no need to ask, nor was it appropriate—it was a basic etiquette in communication among those who lived through the apocalypse.
The atmosphere grew heavier, and after a brief silence, Gao Yuan spoke softly, "Come with me, it's just me, but where I live is safe and there's food. Look, I've got a wild chicken in my pack, I know how to hunt, I can provide for the two of us, so you won't have to go hungry again. I have no bad intentions toward you, I'm just too lonely, I..."
Luo Xingyu said quietly, "You don't have to say anymore, I'll go with you."
Gao Yuan let out a long sigh of relief, smiled and nodded, and then pointed to the house behind Luo Xingyu, speaking softly, "Where do you live? Do you have anything you need to take?"
"Yes, I have four cabbages and two radishes. Besides that, just this vegetable knife."
Hearing about the cabbages and radishes, Gao Yuan first was stunned then became excited.
"Cabbage and radishes? That's great! That's great! We can have pork stew with cabbage today!"
The phrase "pork stew with cabbage" held a magic of its own, prompting both Gao Yuan and Luo Xingyu to involuntarily swallow their saliva.
After exchanging a glance, Gao Yuan quickly said, "I'll carry the wild pig, let's go get the cabbage!"
Attracted by the prospect of pork stew with cabbage, Luo Xingyu did not object. Thus, Gao Yuan, dragging the wild pig with one hand, followed Luo Xingyu and slowly approached the villa.
The place was indeed a villa, but more accurately an incomplete one. Only the main structure had been completed, with parts like doors and windows entirely absent, leaving no room to even discuss furnishings.
There were two small annexes in front of the villa. One of the rooms had its doors and windows tightly covered with pine branches, which, although not perfect, provided some protection against the wind and were better than nothing.
Luo Xingyu removed a bundle of branches, and Gao Yuan peeked into the annex.
The annex was small and cold, with traces of smoke on the wall, but there was no fire now, and in the corner, there were a few cabbages and two large radishes.
"You didn't make a fire?"
"The fire has been out for a while, and the lighter broke a long time ago..."
Speaking, Luo Xingyu's voice nearly broke into tears. In this bitter cold, a life without even a fire to warm by is something to cry over.
Gao Yuan sighed, walked into the annex, squatted at the corner and couldn't resist plucking a leaf from the cabbage.
Then, Gao Yuan put the cabbage leaf in his mouth.
It was a taste both familiar and strange. Chomping on the cabbage stalk, Gao Yuan felt profoundly content at that moment.
Gao Yuan nibbled the cabbage like a rabbit because he hadn't had vegetables in two months. Living off compressed dry food and canned goods had left him with a bad case of stomatitis; he just wanted to eat vegetables—raw or cooked didn't matter—as long as it was a vegetable.
"Is it that good?"
Luo Xingyu asked Gao Yuan with curious disbelief, and he replied with a satisfied expression, "It's delicious. I haven't had vegetables in two months, just cans and compressed biscuits. I can barely stand it anymore."
After being stunned for a moment, Luo Xingyu said with envy, "You're really lucky!"