Chapter 24: Flaunting Wealth

That day, two unusual people arrived at Beigao.

No one knew where they came from. 

Walking against the swirling snowstorm, their figures looked tiny against the vast and desolate world.

One had an ordinary face but a robust build.

The other—goodness, that person was stunningly beautiful, beyond compare.

Even these guards, who had struggled to survive the Apocalypse, grown numb to blood and ugliness, and nearly forgotten what “beauty” meant, gasped in unison the moment they saw the newcomers’ faces clearly.

“Six, let me tell you, people are people, dogs are dogs. In the Apocalypse, you see real skills. With this kind of quality, where could you have run into them before!”

The lookouts atop the sentry tower spotted them first and immediately banged the warning iron plate. 

The dull clang barely carried in the wind and snow, but it was enough to make every guard behind the wall tense up instantly.

Several pairs of eyes peered cautiously through the observation slit beside the iron gate, watching the two figures drawing closer and closer.

Since the Apocalypse descended, every day felt like a year, every day brought life-and-death farewells. 

The world had already begun to diverge from the past, and those adorable ones who couldn’t find a good hiding spot during this little spat had all become fodder for this nightmare city.

People’s ability to adapt is beyond imagination. 

For survival, they could unleash powers entirely different from the past.

This strength is both beautiful and magnificent, dirty and shameless.

The robust man remained silent as stone, uncaring as the snow piled on his shoulders. 

His gaze swept over the reinforced parts of the wall, the connections of the barbed wire, the positions of the sentries.

The woman beside him brushed the snow off his shoulders, then quietly stood by his side.

Her astonishing beauty, rather than diminished by the storm, was only made more uncanny by the harshness of the environment.

Too clean, too flawless. 

Her skin, in the dim light, seemed to glow from within, creating a stark contrast with the filth, decay, and the guards’ exhausted, hardened faces.

‘Bro, is this for real?’

“Stop right there!” a guard shouted hoarsely, trying to mask a strange unease with fierceness. 

“Take one more step and we’ll fire arrows! I don’t care if you’re human or a damn ghost!”

Several homemade crossbows and sharpened wooden spears were instantly trained on the two below.

Lin Mo and Lu Dongnuan exchanged a glance.

“We’re here to join you.”

“Here to join us?” The guard above narrowed his eyes.

“Where’d you hear about us?”

Lu Dongnuan glanced at Lin Mo. 

This was a tricky and dangerous question.

How should she answer? 

Lu Dongnuan pondered for a moment, just about to speak, when Lin Mo cut in, “We didn’t hear about you.” 

He paused, then continued, “We once ran into someone wearing a Beigao school uniform. She could walk among the zombies, so we came to check it out.”

“Where’d you see her?”

Lin Mo didn’t look at Lu Dongnuan, but she answered in perfect sync.

“Hansen Chain Supermarket, it’s closer to Lanhai District.”

“Hansen Chain Supermarket… Lanhai District…” The guard atop the wall repeated the names in a low voice. 

The suspicion in his eyes didn’t fade—instead, it sharpened further.

“That place isn’t close,” he said, fixing Lin Mo with a hard stare before glancing at the unusually calm, almost ornamental Lu Dongnuan. 

“After the corpse tide hit, that area got hit hard. The roads are long blocked—almost everyone alive got fed to the zombies.”

He looked at Lu Dongnuan.

“You two came from there?” He deliberately emphasized “you two,” full of distrust.

Lin Mo’s expression didn’t change.

“We didn’t come directly from the supermarket, we took a roundabout way, walked for a long time.” He avoided specifics, stating a vague but irrefutable fact. 

After all, detouring for survival was routine in the Apocalypse.

“What about that person in the school uniform? What’d they look like? Boy or girl?” Another guard interrupted anxiously, clearly more interested in the idea of someone “able to walk among the zombies.”

Lu Dongnuan picked up the thread, her voice just as calm, “It was a girl, ponytail,” she gestured the height naturally. 

“Wore a school uniform jacket, deep blue with a crest. We were far away, couldn’t see her face—just saw her walk into the zombie horde. The zombies didn’t attack her; they moved aside for her.”

Her concise description instantly caused a subtle stir and suppressed gasps among the guards on the wall.

Though Tang Jie’s “special” ability wasn’t a total secret within Beigao, hearing it described so clearly by outsiders was still a shock.

“And then? She just left? Didn’t say anything to you?” the scar-faced guard pressed, trying to find a hole in their story.

“We didn’t dare get close,” Lin Mo answered, letting a trace of fear and caution show in his tone. 

“Someone who can ignore zombies—who knows if she’s human or something else. We just hid and watched from afar. Only after she left did we dare come out. We figured, someone with that ability must live somewhere safe, so we tried heading in what we thought was her direction, and eventually found this place.”

That made their reason for seeking refuge here sound a bit more convincing but the people above weren’t going to give them a chance.

“Sorry,” the guard’s voice was dry but firm, “We don’t take outsiders.”

Lu Dongnuan smiled wryly, as if she’d expected this, and waited to see what Young Master Lin would do next.

Lin Mo didn’t hesitate. 

He set down the large pack he was carrying, unzipped it, and dumped out all the gleaming white medicine boxes.

Lu Dongnuan’s brow furrowed, an ominous feeling rising within her.

So she spoke first, “You’re picking them up yourself later.”

“Hmph.”

“Yourself.”

“Hmph.”

“🌿”

The white medicine boxes were glaringly bright against the filthy snow, scattered everywhere—antibiotics, painkillers, hemostatic bandages, and even some chronic disease medicines that were nearly extinct since the Apocalypse began.

The wind swept over the snow, but it couldn’t blow away the overwhelming sense of shock—almost like flaunting wealth—brought by that pile of supplies.

The guards atop the wall, including the scar-faced one, stared wide-eyed, making a quick, sharp inhaling sound, then began breathing even heavier.

Medicine! 

In this world short of doctors and drugs, where an injury or infection could mean death, the value of this little heap was far above its weight in gold—even more precious than food.

The bickering between the two seemed trivial in the face of such a stash.

The scar-faced guard’s eyes stayed glued to the medicine boxes, greed, suspicion, and struggle flickering across his face in turns.

He forced his gaze away and looked at Lin Mo, his voice changed by excitement and restraint: “Where… where’d you get so much medicine?”

“We have a Doctor,” Lin Mo replied curtly. 

He patted Lu Dongnuan, bent over, and casually picked up a box of amoxicillin, weighing it in his hand. 

“Is this enough for the two of us to come in out of the storm for a few days, maybe ask around for some news? We won’t freeload—we can help out with chores too.”

His offer was direct—some might say “cheap.” 

Using such precious medicine in exchange for mere temporary shelter and information sounded like a loss-making deal.

Lu Dongnuan’s expression grew bitter.

Time to act like a Doctor again.

The people above didn’t hesitate for long.

“Wait here!” the guard nearly shouted, then spun around and urgently barked at a young guard beside him, “Go! Report to Tang Jie! Hurry!”

The young guard scrambled down the wall, tripping over himself in his haste.