Xiaohua touched the ring on her index finger. It was the wedding ring that her mother returned to her father that she found in the closet of her parents' room yesterday.
She was a little surprised that her father had survived to this day.
After venting for a while, Xiaohua took a closer look at her father who had turned into a zombie. She hadn't seen him for many years and he had changed.
Even though he has turned into a zombie now, he is still not the high-spirited tall man in Xiaohua's memory.
His feet that liked to wear leather shoes were replaced by black cloth shoes at some point. He was hunched over because he had almost lost all his hair after turning into a zombie, and the remaining hair was all white.
Xiaohua always thought that her feelings for her father were all hatred, but at this time she didn't understand why she kept crying.
Whenever she closes her eyes, her father will always appear in her mind from time to time.
He was wearing the same gray down jacket he had worn many years ago, with one hand in his pocket and the other holding a cigarette. His back was a little lumpy, and the wind blew up and made the sparks on the cigarette shine brightly.
The smoke blew away with the wind, and then he stood there smiling at her and calling her name: Xiaohua, Xiaohua, Xiaohua.
One after another, they spoke the dialect of their hometown that Xiaohua could not speak but could understand.
When you were a child, how small were you? Xiaohua thought she was as small as when she was sitting on her father's neck.
Xiaohua remembers that it was autumn, and she was wearing a long skirt-like coat, black pants, leather shoes with two small bows, and a white lace baby that she liked very much.
Xiaohua sat on her father's neck and held his head with both hands. The sun was very sunny and there was a slight breeze. She vaguely remembered that she and her parents were waiting for the bus at the bus stop.
There were a lot of people that day, and she still remembers very clearly the way the bus came, and her father took her off her neck and called her mother to get on the bus.
Xiaohua's mind is very confused. It's strange. She obviously can't remember many memories about her father, but there are always one or two scenes that are fixed in her memory, as if they are imprinted.
After the apocalypse, Xiaohua's mother passed away due to an incurable illness, and now she has even lost her hated father.
Loss, these two words are too strong. Some people become completely defeated because of loss, and some people become resilient because of loss. This word is always filled with the uneasy flavor of sadness, helplessness and acceptance of forgiveness.
When she was young, Xiaohua thought that she was forced to become an independent and strong person because of her father's indifference. After the apocalypse, she was really too naive, indulgent, rogue, and willful...
"Ho! -" Xiaohua's father struggled to break free from the rope that bound him, and his strong hunger drove him to pounce on the nearest Xiaohua!
"boom!--"
Xiaohua hesitated for a second, but still raised the gun in her hand. Her father, who had turned into a zombie, instantly fell to the ground, no longer a threat, and no longer alive.
With the help of everyone, Xiaohua buried her father. The ring on her index finger shone coldly under the refraction of the snow light.
"Xiaohua, what do you want to eat? I'll cook it for you..." The only thing Lin Shengsheng could think of to comfort Xiaohua now was to make her a dish she wanted to eat.
Xiaohua took a deep breath and shook her head, "Thank you, Sister Lin, I don't really want to eat..."
"Can you give me some time? I want to be alone... say goodbye to the past, and then go to the Windy City base with you."
Originally, the group planned to set off after breakfast, but everyone understood Xiaohua's mood at the moment and temporarily slowed down their schedule.
Chen Li glanced at the ring on Xiaohua's finger, as if he had been stimulated by something, and his eyes suddenly turned sinister.
But when he looked at the crowd, his face changed into that of a good old man.
"If you're not in a hurry, I'll go to Su Miao's camp and help them. I'll be back around noon."
Ye Hui looked at Chen Li who was about to leave, "Let's go, I'll come with you."
Lin Shengsheng and Xia Tingchuan's team were discussing the route to Fengcheng Base. With the experience of Lancheng Laboratory, they were also preparing backup plans.
"The first base has the most complete laboratories and scientific research personnel except x company... How about we go back?" Gu Chenghui suggested.
Xia Tingchuan immediately objected, "No, when I go back this time, I find out that Molly was let out by Mustache before and deliberately framed our team."
"Furthermore, when Yu Ziyuan was kidnapped from the base before, it was because Mustache had some kind of trading connection with the Mamen Base or Company X's laboratory."
"The current No. 1 base is no longer the base it was originally. There are too many people watching overtly and covertly."
Yu Ziyuan was surprised. She hadn't been back since the last time she was kidnapped at the base. She didn't expect that Mustache did it!
"There are so many high-level officials in the base, but this little guy likes to cause trouble!"
"It would be nice if there was a safe place..."
Yu Ziyuan looked at the Xi'an flower on Hotpot's shoulder and thought of the X plan between the First Base and Company X, "Didn't our base capture a lot of zombies similar to Hotpot for Company X before?"
"Yes, why do you suddenly ask this?" Xia Tingchuan was startled. His brother died in Plan X. Unfortunately, his suggestions could not stop the implementation and development of the plan.
Lin Shengsheng suddenly understood the point in Yu Ziyuan's words, "Sister Yuan, do you want to say that this rest flower may be more than just the one on the shoulder of the hotpot?"
Yu Ziyuan nodded heavily.
Everyone suddenly realized a problem. The First Base and Company
But with Company
Until almost noon, when Chen Li and Ye Hui returned from Su Miao's camp, Xiaohua had not returned yet.
Lin Shengsheng and Yu Ziyuan were a little worried, "Let's go find Xiaohua nearby."
So several people split up and went in different directions.
"I remember Xiaohua said yesterday that when she was in school, her father liked to fish in the creek nearby. Let's go and have a look." Yu Ziyuan recalled, so she and Lin Shengsheng went to look for it in the nearby creek.
Chen Li went to the woods to the east, Ye went back to the hillside to the west, and Ji Feng and Yue An were responsible for the outermost search.
However, everyone searched around and couldn't find Xiaohua.
"Master! I found Xiaohua in the woods to the east, but she seems to be dead...maybe she committed suicide?" Instant Noodles reported the situation in his mind.
Huazi stepped forward and looked at Xiaohua, and suddenly discovered a problem, "Xiaohua's index finger on her left hand is missing..."
What?! Lin Shengsheng clearly remembered that Xiaohua was wearing the ring left by her mother on her left index finger.
Yu Ziyuan couldn't believe it after hearing the news, "How could it be possible? Xiaohua has always been an active person in survival."
Lin Shengsheng and the others hurried towards the woods to the east.
"Do you still remember Ke An who died at the Baicheng Hotel? His finger with the ring on it was gone..."