Gu Shinyue and Gao Haiming had met months ago when one of her friends got into an accident and needed legal counsel. Seeing Gu Shinyue care for and support her friend so selflessly through such a difficult time, Gao Haiming was deeply touched and quickly fell in love.
Initially, he planned to hide his feelings, but the friend had already noticed his affection and decided to play matchmaker. Under her orchestrations, things moved rapidly, and the two officially became a couple soon after.
However, when the disaster struck, Gao Haiming had rushed back to his parents' side, leaving Gu Shinyue to survive the apocalypse on her own. Remembering the immense suffering she had endured while on the run, she had intended to erase him from her heart completely.
Yet yesterday, when she caught sight of his bright, eager eyes searching for her in the crowd, all her lingering anger and resentment melted away, leaving only love. He had come back for her.
So, when he approached her like this, she was quick to pull him aside to talk.
While they hid away catching up, the bus was busy maneuvering through the dangerously clogged streets. They had spent the better part of the day on the road, driven by the urgency to reach the shelter before nightfall. Having a clear destination in mind was precisely the motivation they needed to push forward faster.
Looking around at the students' bright, hopeful expressions, Cheng Xin felt her heart warm, distracting her momentarily from thoughts of Gao Chuan.
For Gao Shen, however, the journey was pure torture. He couldn't stop thinking about his colleague's fiancé. Before the outbreak, he had never paid special attention to Cheng Xin, viewing her strictly as a coworker. But throughout the disaster, her strength, resilience, and reliability had won him over.
He had developed deep feelings for her. At first, he tried to convince himself it was merely friendship or camaraderie, but ever since the mention of her fiancé, he could no longer deny it—he was in love with her.
With every passing minute and every mile closer to the shelter, his heart broke a little more. He could already envision the scene upon their arrival: Cheng Xin rushing joyfully into her fiancé's arms, locking him in a warm embrace. The vivid image left his heart feeling cold and heavy.
While Gao Shen was busy brooding, Cheng Xin stared out at the passing terrain.
They had finally reached the city center, where the harsh sunlight exposed the full extent of the devastation around them. Surveying the ruins, she wondered how Gao Chuan had managed to survive here.
Suddenly, the bus ground to a halt, startling everyone on board.
The students looked on anxiously as the two teachers made their way to the front of the vehicle. They didn't need to ask why they had stopped—the obstacle before them was impossible to miss.
Debris, corpses, and wrecked vehicles choked the road for miles. Surrounded by dense buildings, maneuvering the heavy bus through the wreckage was entirely impossible.
As the three adults stood in the aisle discussing their options, several students spotted figures moving outside: five women walking toward them. Excitement rippled through the bus as the students assumed their savior had sent a rescue team.
In truth, Charity and her group were equally shocked to see a bus full of young survivors. Approaching the vehicle, Charity noticed the impassable road and decided to step in—after all, these were just children caught in a nightmare.
Charity and her friends had survived the initial outbreak only because they had gone to the restroom, returning to find a scene of horrific carnage. Since then, they had stuck together, roaming the ruins, fighting side-by-side, and relying on one another to survive.
At first, they had drifted aimlessly without a clear goal—until yesterday, when they heard the thunderous explosions in the distance. Having not encountered any other survivors in ages, they had rushed toward the noise without hesitation, leading them straight to this bus.
Charity tapped gently on the window and waited patiently as the driver slid it open.
"Hi! Are you guys heading to the shelter?" she asked warmly.
Seeing her friendly demeanor, Cheng Xin nodded.
"Then you'll need to move quickly before the sun goes down," Charity advised gently. "The roads ahead are completely blocked, so you'll have to abandon the bus and walk the rest of the way."
Her words confirmed Gao Shen's own suspicions, and he found himself agreeing with her assessment. "Can we join your group?" he asked.
Cheng Xin was startled by his sudden proposal, though she kept her doubts to herself for the moment.
"Sure," Charity agreed easily before stepping back to rejoin her waiting friends.
"Why are we joining them?" Cheng Xin asked the moment Charity walked out of earshot.
"Think about it—they've been surviving out in the open all this time, while we've been hiding inside a bus," the driver reasoned.
"Exactly," Gao Shen added. "Plus, we need extra adults to help protect the students if we're going to walk to the shelter."
Cheng Xin conceded that their logic was sound. "Alright. You should break the news to the students."
Cheng Xin walked to the back to gather their bags, while Gao Shen stepped to the front of the bus to make the announcement.
"We will be walking the rest of the way," he declared. His words sparked an instant wave of excited chatter among the students.
Ignoring their noise, Gao Shen pressed on. "As you can see, we don't have time to dally. Grab whatever you can carry and follow me."
Fortunately, when they first evacuated the school, every student had packed a single bag with their essentials, allowing them to quickly collect their belongings and clear out of the bus.
As the students embarked on this new phase of their journey, Zhao Yuan was preparing for a new task of her own as she ventured out of the shelter for the second time.
Just a few minutes earlier, she had been resting after the busy mealtime rush when the system sounded a fresh alarm, issuing a mission to clear out any zombie hordes lurking near the perimeter.
This time, however, was different: for the first time, the system was permitting other shelter residents to join her outside, sending selected customers into the field at her side.