Chapter 25: Search

Time passed slowly in the silent standoff, each second stretched out by the wind and snow.

Finally, a jumble of footsteps echoed from the inside of the wall, accompanied by the heavy scraping of a metal latch being dragged open.

“Creak—”

The double doors, reinforced with thick wooden planks and rusty iron bars, slowly opened a narrow gap inward, just wide enough for a person to slip through sideways. 

In the shadows beyond the door, figures gathered, far more than those perched atop the wall.

The first to step out was a woman.

She looked to be just past thirty, her short hair neat and crisp, with sharply defined facial features and skin tanned rough by years of wind and sun.

She wore a faded old jacket, belted with a gleaming machete at her waist. 

Her gaze was as sharp as a hawk’s, sweeping first over the pile of Medicine on the ground, then resting on Lin Mo and Lu Dongnuan’s faces, pausing a moment longer on Lu Dongnuan, her pupils contracting almost imperceptibly.

“Miss Li.” The guard immediately bowed his head, greeting her respectfully.

The woman didn’t answer; her gaze finally settled on Lin Mo’s face.

“These medicines are yours?” Her voice was not loud, carrying a hoarse quality shaped by years of command.

“Yes.” Lin Mo nodded.

“Looking to come inside?”

“Just to get out of the snow. We can work in exchange.”

“Work?” Miss Li’s mouth twitched, not quite a smile, not quite something else.

“Looking at your companion, she doesn’t seem cut out for manual labor.”

Lu Dongnuan chose that moment to lift her eyes, meeting Miss Li’s gaze. 

Her expression was calm, neither afraid nor ingratiating, just a pure, unsettling kind of stillness.

“I’m a Doctor.” She spoke, her voice clear and especially distinct in the wind and snow. 

“Most of these medicines were identified and preserved by me.”

Boss Li’s brows lifted slightly.

“A Doctor?” she repeated, the meaning in her tone deepening. 

“In the Apocalypse, doctors are rarer than pandas, but you—” 

She didn’t finish, but the implication was obvious: you look too clean, too unharmed, not like someone from the Apocalypse.

“Just lucky, and my companion looked after me.” Lu Dongnuan’s answer was watertight. 

Her gaze turned to Lin Mo as she naturally hugged his arm, her eyes nearly overflowing with affection.

Of course, it was all an act. 

To prevent Lin Mo from slipping up, she pinched his soft flesh tightly with her fingers.

Miss Li’s eyes lingered for a second on Lu Dongnuan’s hand clutching Lin Mo’s arm, then drifted to Lu Dongnuan’s almost flawless, utterly dependent face, and finally back to Lin Mo’s expressionless features.

Meeting Miss Li’s scrutinizing stare, Lin Mo calmly added, “We just need a place to stay for a while. The storm outside is too much, we won’t last long. I can work, she can tend wounds and treat illnesses. Fair exchange.”

“Fair exchange, heh.” Miss Li forced a smile. 

“No need to wait out here, come in.” At last, she relented.

“Bring your things in. You two, separate for questioning.” She pointed at Lin Mo and instructed a guard, “Take him to the empty classroom on the west side. Lao San will question him. Find out everything, then put him in the isolation shed. No wandering without permission.”

Then she turned her deep gaze to Lu Dongnuan: “You, with me. Bring your Medicines.” 

She paused, emphasizing, “All of them.”

The guard acknowledged and approached Lin Mo, his eyes still brimming with suspicion.

Lin Mo gently patted the back of Lu Dongnuan’s hand, signaling her to let go.

Lu Dongnuan pressed her lips together, managing a slightly uneasy but forcibly calm look. 

She slowly let go, then bent to pick up the backpack containing the Medicines.

Her movement seemed a bit strained, and Lin Mo naturally reached out, took the bag, and slung it over his own shoulder before following the guard away.

“Hand me the bag,” Miss Li said to Lu Dongnuan, her tone brooking no refusal.

Lu Dongnuan glanced at Lin Mo’s retreating back, then at Boss Li. 

After a moment’s hesitation, she took the backpack off Lin Mo’s shoulder and handed it over.

Miss Li accepted it, feeling the solid weight, then carried it single-handedly as she turned away and said, “Follow.”

Lu Dongnuan took one last look in the direction where Lin Mo had disappeared into the shadows beyond the door, then followed Boss Li.

The gates slowly closed behind them, shutting out the wind and snow. 

The eyes on the square remained sticky, but none dared approach.

Miss Li, carrying the medicine bag, walked quickly ahead. 

Lu Dongnuan had to hurry to keep up.

They crossed the cluttered and crowded square toward the northern main teaching building.

Contrary to what Lu Dongnuan had imagined, Miss Li did not head to the Administration Office, but instead made straight for a room at the end of the first-floor corridor—what was probably once a teachers’ lounge or a small meeting room.

A new, rough iron latch and padlock had been fitted on the door.

Miss Li took out a key and opened the door. 

Inside, it was very basic—just a battered long table, a few crooked chairs, miscellaneous items piled in the corner, and the window boarded up with only a slit for light.

No charcoal for heat, the chill pierced to the bone.

“Sit.” Miss Li herself did not sit, but placed the medicine bag on the table with a heavy thud.

She leaned against the table, arms folded, looking Lu Dongnuan up and down again. 

This time her gaze was even more direct, almost oppressive.

“Take off all your clothes.”

Lu Dongnuan’s breathing paused imperceptibly.

That was unexpected. 

While undressing had become rather routine lately, even if the script changed, the act must go on.

Miss Li stayed where she was, arms crossed, her eyes cold and probing, neither urging nor explaining—just waiting. 

It was pressure, but also a test: would the other party panic, grow angry, resist, or… accept it calmly?

Lu Dongnuan raised her eyes to meet Miss Li’s gaze, letting a trace of startled offense and the instinctive embarrassment of a woman flash across her face.

But she quickly suppressed it, letting it shift into a look of humiliated, stiff submission.

She said nothing, simply stood up slowly.

Her fingers moved to her collar, unfastening the first button of her dark, plain-looking but well-made coat.

Her movements were slow, marked by obvious hesitation and tremor.

Then the second button, the third… 

The coat slipped off, revealing a form-fitting, clean light gray turtleneck underneath.

The sweater outlined her slender yet proportionate figure.

Miss Li’s eyes followed every movement, pausing on her exposed wrist—skin smooth, unmarred by the calluses of weapon-handling or hard labor, without even the usual scratches or frostbite scars.

“Go on.” Miss Li’s voice rang out.

Her attention focused on Lu Dongnuan’s shoulders, arms, waist, and the parts of her back that might show.

Under the sweater was a short-sleeved undershirt, exposing her arms entirely to the cold air.

Her skin was still strikingly pale, almost glowing in the dim light.

No scars, no obvious bruises or old wounds, not even the pigmentation left by bug bites.

Miss Li pinched the discarded clothes, teasing, “Well, look at this—little rich girl, aren’t you?”

Then she continued, “Pants, too.”