The Thunder Squad and their own team didn’t get along. That was what their former captain, Fu Qi, had said himself. If they didn’t get along, then they were enemies—and enemies deserved to be treated with the merciless ruthlessness of an autumn wind sweeping away fallen leaves.
Acting Captain Qin had certainly lived up to that standard.
Looking at the bewildered expressions of the three little shrimp across from her, Qin Zhen felt that when it came to looking down on her opponents, she was far better at it than Fu Qi, the official captain.
She was quite pleased with herself. Striking while the iron was hot, she continued to shock them.
“Don’t worry. Your captain is still alive.”
The three members of the Thunder Squad trapped upstairs had been able to observe what was happening outside. The five people in the outpatient hall had been completely surrounded by a wall of zombies, leaving them no way to send out any information.
Hearing that their teammate was still alive, Zhu Yanjun’s spirits lifted. He forgot all about the strange attitudes and behavior of the two people from the Apocalypse’s First Squad and asked urgently, “Really? How do you know?”
Of course she knew because she had seen him with her own eyes.
To find those people, Captain Qin had painstakingly squeezed into the filthy, stinking outpatient hall packed with zombies. When she came back out, she had been covered in all kinds of dirty, foul-smelling unidentified substances. The experience had practically scarred her for life!
And this guy wasn’t thanking her—he even dared to question her. No wonder the two squads didn’t get along.
“Hmph.” Captain Qin gave an arrogant snort and refused to answer.
Zhu Yanjun: “…”
Why was this Ms. Jiang acting like this?
She was impossible to understand.
He backed away and nudged Fever Bro, signaling him to take over the conversation. Fever Bro stood up and asked the most important question directly. “Miss… No, I mean, Sister Jiang… you—you intend to rescue them how?”
Zombie Sis thought this red-faced kid had at least a little tact, so she generously answered him.
“You, you, and you—stay right here.” She pointed at the three little shrimps one by one, then turned sideways and pointed at Fu Qi. “You—watch them!”
Finally, she pointed at herself. “Me—I rescue.”
The plan was very clear. The contents were utterly outrageous.
Fever Bro opened his mouth, then closed it again, unsure what to say. He nudged Broken-Leg Bro, leaving the question to him.
Broken-Leg Bro thought this woman was worlds apart from the shy and gracious image described in the rumors. He didn’t dare provoke her carelessly. After hesitating, he turned toward Fu Qi and asked pointedly, “Fu Laoqi—Captain Fu—what do you think?”
Fu Qi stood behind Captain Qin with his hands clasped behind his back. At those words, he bent respectfully toward Miss Zombie and said with utmost solemnity, “In front of Zombie Sis, I wouldn’t presume to call myself captain. Just call me Little Qi.”
Broken-Leg Bro: “…”
Yesterday, when you were talking about your Little Jiang teammate, you hadn’t acted like this at all!
Fu Qi ignored him. His expression remained stern as he continued, “Little Qi will do everything Zombie Sis says.”
The three members of the Thunder Squad fell silent in unison. They wanted to question him, but they had no idea how to begin.
There was nothing they could do. Two of the three were injured, their food and water had been supplied by someone else, and even their captain had to rely on this woman for rescue. The moment they opened their mouths to ask questions, they would look like ungrateful bastards.
Everything was far too strange. Far too bizarre.
The three of them didn’t dare say anything recklessly. After a long silence, Zhu Yanjun finally gathered his courage and asked, “Then, Sister Jiang, when are you planning to make your move?”
Captain Qin: “Hmph!”
Beside her, Little Qi translated, “Our Zombie Sis has her own plans. You should rest properly and wait.”
“…”
The three of them were completely silenced.
This was a four-bed hospital room, with one bed still empty. Little Brother Fu took clean sheets from the cabinet and spread them over it, then pulled the curtain closed to block the view from outside. Only then did Captain Qin set aside her aloof and domineering captain’s act and happily flop down on the bed.
Fu Qi sat on the edge of the bed and raised an eyebrow at her.
Captain Qin understood immediately. She sat up, solemnly patted Little Qi on the shoulder, and gave him a thumbs-up as a reward.
Fu Qi was amused by her.
Captain Qin was a responsible captain. Since she had said that she would be the main force this time, she naturally had to make a careful plan and protect the safety of every human being.
After finding the hiding place of the other five members of the Thunder Squad last night, she had thrown the food from her backpack to them. Once they had recovered some of their strength, they would be able to leave.
At the very least, she had to wait a day.
Captain Qin had plenty to do during that day: planning the route, clearing obstacles, reinforcing the facilities, and so on. She would also have to scout the way through the zombie hordes. To prevent Zhu Yanjun and the other two from noticing anything strange, they had to stay together.
That way, when she disguised herself as a zombie and went out to take care of business, Fu Qi could keep an eye on them and make sure they didn’t discover her zombie identity.
Fu Qi asked in a low voice, “You’re really not going to explain anything?”
The three people outside were completely in the dark, wandering around like headless flies.
“No!” Captain Qin shook her head decisively. With a petty little air, she said, “They—they don’t get along with us. Serves them right!”
Fu Qi watched her resolute expression as she plotted her revenge. He raised a fist to his lips and coughed lightly before he could say anything else.
Qin Zhen pressed him down onto the bed and ordered him without room for argument, “Rest!”
He would need to help with the operations later, so he absolutely had to rest properly.
Captain Qin herself didn’t need to rest. She couldn’t play on her phone, and with the three underlings outside, she couldn’t exactly go out and find entertainment in plain sight, either. After lying beside Fu Qi and staring blankly at the ceiling for a while, she took a small electric fan from her pocket and switched it on.
Fu Qi reached over to turn it off. She immediately shielded it in her arms, turned on him with an angry glare, and scolded him with her eyes.
How dare he try to take the captain’s belongings?
She whispered a threat. “I’ll have you shot!”
Fu Qi: “…”
The corners of his mouth twitched several times as he tried to hold back his laughter. But he couldn’t hold back his next little act. He rolled over, leaned over Qin Zhen, cupped her face in both hands, and began vigorously kneading it.
Qin Zhen wasn’t a steamed bun! How could she let someone knead her however they pleased?
She wanted to flip Fu Qi over and pin him down for a beating, but she was afraid the people outside would hear them.
After a brief struggle, she ultimately decided that preserving the dignified, aloof image of Zombie Sis was more important. She endured it and let Little Qi knead her like a rag doll.
By the time Fu Qi had had his fill and stopped, her head was practically spinning. Her smoothly combed hair had also been rubbed against the bedsheet until it stuck out in every direction.
Little Qi, on the other hand, simply dropped back down and fell asleep in a second. Anyone who didn’t know better might have thought he had been sleepwalking just now.
Fortunately, the little fan was still intact. Considering how Little Qi had worked so diligently to establish her authority in front of outsiders, Captain Qin forgave him for this one audacious act of insubordination.
The next day dawned clear, with a bitter chill in the air.
Before stepping out from behind the curtain, Qin Zhen tilted up her face and had Little Qi touch up her makeup.
Little Brother Fu was quick and efficient at most things, but he was painfully slow when it came to makeup. He applied the lipstick several times at a snail’s pace before finally getting it right. Then he held her face and jostled it around, rubbing off her foundation in the process.
Once her foundation had been fixed, Captain Qin drew back the curtain with the imposing air of a powerful boss—and immediately found herself facing three pairs of panda eyes.
All night, the three brothers in the hospital room had heard either the zombies’ roars or the bleak winter wind outside. They had done their best to block out the sounds from outside, only to be tormented by the whirring of a little electric fan inside the room…
Who used a fan in the middle of winter?
It made no sense!
The three brothers hadn’t managed to rest, let alone sleep properly.
After struggling through the night until dawn, they had barely exchanged a glance with Zombie Sis, the acting captain of the Apocalypse’s First Squad, before inexplicably feeling as though she had just looked them over and despised them.
“Fu…”
Zhu Yanjun no longer dared speak casually to this bizarre Sister Jiang.
He wanted to ask Fu Qi what they were supposed to do next. Thinking about what had happened yesterday, he couldn’t bring himself to call him “Fu Laoqi” or “Captain Fu.” “Little Qi” was far too intimate, and even more impossible to say. His face turned red with the effort before he finally remembered that he could simply leave out the form of address.
He gave Fu Qi an awkward “Hey” and asked, “Should we act as soon as possible?”
Little Qi possessed an extraordinary actor’s professionalism. First, he sought Zombie Sis’s approval with his eyes. Only after she nodded did he say, “Of course. How are you feeling?”
“Much better!”
Finally able to communicate normally, Zhu Yanjun hurriedly reported the condition of the three of them.
His strength had mostly returned. Fever Bro had taken some medicine and his high fever was gone. There was nothing they could do for Broken-Leg Bro; he needed one or two months to recover. Still, this was the best condition the three of them had been in over the past few days.
“Then we’ll act today,” Fu Qi said.
Remembering Sister Jiang’s plan from the previous day, the three of them tried to take advantage of Fu Qi’s clear-headed state to work out some relatively reliable details. They asked anxiously, “How exactly are we going to do it?”
Fu Qi said, “Turn around.”
The three exchanged glances, then turned around in confusion, presenting the backs of their heads to Fu Qi.
Fu Qi said, “This is how we’re going to do it.”
As soon as he finished speaking, he raised his hands and brought down three knife-hand chops in succession. The underlings closed their eyes in disbelief and collapsed.
There was no helping it. Today’s rescue operation was Captain Qin’s moment to shine, and it was destined to be foul-smelling. Ordinary people were forbidden from witnessing anything that might damage her image.
Captain Qin’s method of rescuing people was very simple.
The ground was frozen and vehicles were skidding, so they would turn the large truck into a sled. After all, there was an abundant supply of free labor. All they needed was Fu Qi, emanating the scent of a zombie, to lure them from the front. Then the zombies would have an inexhaustible supply of energy.
The large truck belonged to the Thunder Squad and was used to transport medicine. It was parked directly in front of the outpatient hall.
True to Captain Qin’s principle of never letting anything go to waste, she had trudged back and forth through the zombie horde many times, carrying piles of medicine into the truck. She only stopped reluctantly after making sure there was still room for the eight members of the Thunder Squad.
Once the medicine was loaded, she went to pick out zombies, specifically the sturdy and powerful ones.
After choosing them, she tied them to ropes. Like contestants in a tug-of-war, they were arranged neatly in eight rows and fastened to the front of the truck.
When she had finished, she stood directly in front of them and gave them a speech, clearing her throat with an air of authority.
“I know this mission is very, very difficult, but I believe in all of you. You can do it! Keep going! Work hard! And be careful! If you fall and get, get dragged beneath the truck, don’t blame me!”
After her speech, she climbed into the driver’s seat, started the truck, and pulled out a loudspeaker.
“Little Qi, Little Qi, you can start now!”
Little Qi had already received the order and transported the three unconscious underlings to the safe house on the second floor. He went out onto the balcony, and the zombies outside caught his scent and surged toward him all at once.
The elite zombies selected by Captain Qin were no exception. They charged forward frantically. At first, it was extremely difficult, but once the wheels began spinning rapidly and crushing over the frozen snow and ice, things became much easier.
The elite zombies dragged the large truck in a wild, headlong slide to the bottom of the inpatient building. Captain Qin hurriedly slammed on the brakes, shut her eyes, and covered her ears, unable to bear looking at the carnage ahead.
It wasn’t her fault. The road was icy, the truck had skidded, and the brakes had failed!
Meanwhile, Little Qi began the next stage of the operation. He lifted a wooden platform made by joining two bed boards together and extended it from the balcony. The platform slanted across the densely packed sea of zombie heads, with the other end aimed at the truck bed.
The three underlings were thrown onto it one after another. Like parcels being delivered, they rolled down the boards and into the truck.
As soon as all three were inside, the platform was pulled away. Captain Qin, who had already climbed onto the roof of the truck bed, quickly tugged on a chain. This was another invention developed by humanity after the apocalypse: the two doors on either side of the truck were connected by a chain above. All one had to do was pull the chain from the roof, and the truck doors would snap shut.
At the same time, Fu Qi drew the zombies’ attention while firing at any that tried to climb into the truck bed.
The process was dangerous, but fortunately, the humans and the zombies coordinated perfectly, and the operation went off without a hitch.
Captain Qin locked the truck bed, then selected another group of elite zombies to pull the truck. Little Qi changed positions, leaping to the safe house on the second floor of the outpatient building and once again serving as bait.
There were no steps in front of the outpatient hall, and both the entrance and the fixtures inside had long since been smashed to pieces. Once the truck was dragged to the doorway, it used its momentum to charge straight into the hall.
The floor inside was not frozen. Captain Qin stylishly turned the truck around, calling out “Beep beep, reversing!” through the loudspeaker as she slowly maneuvered the truck toward the examination room where the other five people were trapped.
Only after angling the truck bed toward the examination-room door, and finding that she could not get any closer, did she switch to a different announcement.
“People inside, listen carefully. You are already surrounded, sur-surrounded by zombies. If you want to live, listen closely. There is a la-large truck at the door, facing your examination room. In a moment, I’ll open the truck doors. You must enter the truck bed as quickly, as quickly as possible…”
Long sentences were still difficult for Captain Qin. She stumbled over her words, which truly undermined her authority.
Unfortunately, Fu Qi had insisted that she be the one to make the announcement. That way, the members of the Thunder Squad would remember that she was their savior, which would help when they applied for a first-class commendation on her behalf.
Captain Qin had no choice but to agree—quite happily, in fact!
She repeated the announcement three times. After the people inside knocked on the door to signal that they were ready, she shouted, “Little Qi, move!”
The moment she finished, there was a tremendous boom as a car outside exploded.
The blast shook the entire building. Upon hearing the noise, the zombies scrambled outside in a mad rush.
After the zombies had scattered somewhat, Captain Qin drove away several dozen of those nearby and tied several ropes across the area as obstacles. Then she lay flat on top of the truck bed and shouted, “Opening!”
She threw open the truck doors as fast as she could.
At the same time, the tightly closed examination-room door flew open. Several tall, broad-shouldered figures shot out like lightning and leapt into the truck bed.
The entire process was as smooth as flowing water and took no more than three seconds.
Once inside, however, it was unclear whether they had stepped on one another or crashed into the stacks of medicine boxes. Their anguished cries rang out one after another.
Captain Qin paid no attention. She coldly locked the doors from the roof and drove away.
Once they had left the hall, Captain Qin took advantage of the fact that every living person except Little Qi was locked inside the truck bed. She boldly selected another mass of elite zombies to pull the truck and, working together with Little Qi’s lure, drove grandly toward the outskirts.
The plan was proceeding smoothly. The elite zombies were full of energy, but Little Qi, serving as bait, first had to find a safe place to stand before they could inch their way toward the edge of the city.
That foothold could be the outer wall of a high-rise building, a large tree, or even another vehicle. The only thing they had in common was that they were all extremely solid. Again and again, they caused the large truck to be unable to stop, resulting in a loud crash as it slammed into them.
Captain Qin didn’t care. The members of the Thunder Squad inside, however, suffered terribly. They rolled around inside like sardines in a tin, and suppressed cries of pain rang out every so often.
But there was nothing to be done. Life was bound to involve a few bumps along the way.
Fortunately, the sun came out that day. By the time they had slowly made their way far from the hospital, it was already evening. After a full day beneath the warm sunlight, the ice and snow on the road had melted slightly, making it barely passable for vehicles.
Fu Qi seized an opening, leaped onto the big truck, grabbed the roof, twisted at the waist, and nimbly slipped in through the window.
Captain Qin hurriedly vacated the driver’s seat for him.
As a driver, Fu Qi had no psychological burden whatsoever when it came to killing zombies. He slammed down on the accelerator, mowing down a whole swath of them. Even Captain Qin couldn’t bear to listen to the sound.
“Little Qi, you’re being way too cruel!” Captain Qin scolded him.
Fu Qi replied, “That’s right. I’m a cruel and heartless bastard. I’ve been driving ever since we left the hospital, and I’ve run over countless zombies.”
Zombie Sis was quite pleased with how well Fu Little Qi was playing along. Putting on a false air of innocence, she said, “Oh, there was no other choice. You had to save your fellow humans… You’re different from me. I have no quarrel with the zombies, so I’ve never hurt them.”
The corner of Fu Qi’s mouth curled upward. Glancing at her from the corner of his eye, he said, “That’s right. Little Dr. Qin is the kindest person in the world. She never hurts the innocent.”
At some point, Captain Qin had acquired a white coat. It was enormous and baggy, hanging loosely from her body and making her look even thinner and smaller.
She also had an employee ID clipped to her chest, with a stethoscope hanging dutifully around her neck. At first glance, she really did look like a young doctor fresh out of medical school.
Fu Qi had been wanting to ask her about it for a while. Why had she changed disguises in the middle of a mission?
They weren’t filming some kind of spy movie.
“Oh, right—I forgot!” Captain Qin finally remembered that she was still wearing the white coat. “I ran into a… a security guard zombie while moving the medicine. I was scared…”
When she’d encountered law enforcement while stealing the medicine, Captain Qin had felt terribly guilty. She had deliberately run into a doctor’s examination room and thrown on a white coat, pretending to be a doctor.
As she spoke, she removed the stethoscope and took off the white coat, rolled them up together, and stuffed the bundle onto Fu Qi’s legs. “Little Qi, these are the things you stole!”
Fu Qi said, “Of course I stole them. I’m the kind of person who burns, kills, loots, and does anything else that’s bad. I’m awful.”
His words made the zombie want to punch him.
But he was driving, so she couldn’t hit him. Captain Qin clenched her fist and reminded him, “I’m still the acting captain, you know. Show Zombie Sis some respect!”
“Yes!” Fu Qi immediately straightened up, transforming into Little Qi. In a loud voice, he said, “Little Qi would never dare disrespect Zombie Sis!”
“That’s more like it!” Captain Qin was finally satisfied.
The snow piled up on the road made driving difficult, but it also hindered the zombies’ pursuit. In particular, the zombies had no brains and didn’t know how to turn. Every now and then, one would slip and fall, tripping up a whole group behind it.
The big truck continued onward at a slow but steady pace. Gradually, fewer and fewer zombies remained in pursuit. Once only a few dozen were left, Fu Qi shot them all, then drove the truck back to the small village where they had been staying.
By the time they arrived, it was already deep into the night.
The truck had been parked for a long time, but its cargo doors remained closed. The people from the Thunderclap Team inside had no idea what had happened outside. Afraid of attracting zombies, they didn’t dare make a sound. Several of them stayed on guard all night, until light finally began shining through the cracks in the doors the next morning. Only then did someone belatedly come over to open them.
It was broad daylight outside. The red sun hung in the distant eastern sky, its dazzling rays casting the shadows of two figures before them—one tall and one short.
The taller one had handsome brows and elegant eyes. His lean, upright figure resembled a poplar tree. Dressed in a clean, stylish black combat uniform, he opened the doors and then stepped aside, standing with his hands clasped behind his back like a bodyguard.
The shorter one had a pair of absurdly oversized sunglasses perched on her petite nose, covering nearly half her face. Her exposed lips were painted blood-red, making her look as though she had just eaten a child.
…It was obvious she had just carefully applied her makeup.
And aside from the makeup and hair, she had definitely changed clothes as well. What normal person would wear a light camel-colored wool coat in a post-apocalyptic world crawling with zombies, paired with an inconvenient warm-white scarf?
She stood with her arms folded across her chest. Though she was the shorter of the two, she was in no way inferior in presence. With her chin raised and chest out, she silently surveyed the eight members of the Thunderclap Team from behind her sunglasses.
The two sides stared at each other, and the members of the Thunderclap Team fell silent in unison.
After a long, awkward silence, Captain Xu finally managed to speak. “Fu Laoqi, don’t tell me you actually took the time to wash up and dress like this before coming to open the door for us…”
Fu Qi lowered his eyes and looked to Captain Qin for instructions.
Captain Qin waved a hand. The oversized sunglasses on her nose slipped down with the motion. The pair she’d had at the hospital had been lost, and this new pair was too big, so they were forever sliding down.
She raised an index finger and pushed the glasses back up from the tip of her nose. Then, lifting her chin with icy disdain, she said, “You people? Hmph. You’re not worth the effort.”
Captain Xu: “?”
The few of them had been trapped in the hospital by zombies for six or seven days. Their circumstances had been miserable, though at least their faces had remained uninjured. After being rescued, they had been bounced around inside the truck until every one of them had a bruised and battered face. They looked absolutely wretched.
Compared with the two cool and handsome figures standing against the light, they looked like complete clowns.
“Who are you?” Captain Xu didn’t recognize the girl putting on such an over-the-top act, nor did he recognize her voice. He shot back without the slightest courtesy, “What kind of chūnibyō weirdo are you?”
“How dare you talk to Zombie Sis like that!”
The person who shouted the reprimand wasn’t Zombie Sis’s usual lackey, Little Qi, but the quick-witted Zhu Yanjun.
Zhu Yanjun had been jolted awake in the swaying truck. After waking up, he was still groggy, and his mind hadn’t quite returned to normal. At this point, he had no idea how he and his teammates had gotten out of the hospital.
But there was no doubt that he and his teammates had been rescued by this Sister Jiang and Fu Qi.
Team loyalty was certainly precious, but he also treasured his own life very much.
Therefore, Zhu Yanjun immediately and decisively took the side of his rescuers.
“Exactly!” Fever Bro followed him over and scolded Captain Xu. “Show some respect to Zombie Sis, Xu the Second!”
Captain Xu: “…Huh?”
That still wasn’t enough. The next second, Broken-Leg Bro stubbornly hopped over on one leg and said in a hard, cold voice, “Apologize!”
Captain Xu: “…”
What was going on?
He turned around. The other teammates who had fought alongside him through life and death were staring at one another, all four faces filled with confusion.
Then he looked at Fu Qi and saw that Fu Qi was frowning deeply, his face full of reproach—as if Captain Xu had committed some unforgivable offense.
Captain Xu was utterly baffled. After thinking for a moment about the woman’s voice he had heard while they were trapped with no way out, he hesitated and said uncertainly, “…S-sorry?”
Captain Qin parted her red lips and gave a contemptuous “Hmph” before turning and walking back into the house.
“You can stay in any of the empty rooms over there. Clean them up yourselves. There are crops around the village, so find something to eat yourselves. Zombies will show up from time to time, so watch out.”
Little Qi took care of the remaining formalities. After giving them a brief introduction, he issued a solemn warning: “Zombie Sis lives in this house. Don’t come bother her unless you have a reason. If you do have a reason, you must report it in advance. Remember that.”
With that, he turned around and strode into the house on his long legs.
At the moment he turned, a northern wind came howling past. It carried the fresh scent of shower gel from his body straight into Captain Xu’s face.
Captain Xu watched him calmly walk three meters away, then swore without an ounce of grace. “Fu Laoqi, you bastard! You deliberately took a bath before coming to open the door for me, didn’t you?!”
Fu Qi didn’t look back or slow his steps. He merely waved a hand with the effortless flair of Zombie Sis.
When he returned to the room, Miss Zombie had already kicked off her shoes and flopped onto the bed. Prodding at her phone, she shook her head and sighed, putting on the airs of an old woman as she commented, “Honestly, they’re the Thunder Squad… They’re so, so rude.”
Fu Qi walked over to her, barely suppressing a laugh. “Had enough fun? Now that you’ve had enough, can you give me my captaincy back?”
“Wait a few more days. Until we’re, we’re separated from them.” Qin Zhen was very pleased with herself. Bragging, she said, “Well? Was I a better captain than, than you? I kept the Thunder Squad under my thumb!”
That much was true.
To put the Thunder Squad in its place, Captain Qin had employed every petty trick she could think of.
After arriving the previous night, she had specifically ordered that until she had restored herself to a clean, dignified, imposing state, Little Qi was not allowed to let anyone from the Thunder Squad out.
Not only did she have to clean herself up, Fu Qi had to do the same.
“We have to crush the Thunder Squad from both angles—from strength and from appearance!”
Little Qi had obeyed Captain Qin’s orders without question. To make the zombie-human duo’s bath more comfortable, he had gone to the trouble of heating water over an earthen stove. It took quite some time, leaving Captain Qin so restless that she suspected several times that the stench of corpses would seep into her skin.
Still, hot water was indeed much better than melted snow.
After her bath, Miss Zombie’s hair was smooth and soft, and she smelled wonderful from head to toe. With her makeup done, a clean new outfit on, and sunglasses perched on her face, she was the very picture of a cool, domineering female boss. She had crushed the Thunder Squad into the dirt with ease.
“You certainly are imposing and arrogant,” Fu Qi said. “But, sweetheart… Captain Qin, why are you so determined to put the Thunder Squad down?”
Captain Qin turned her head and said righteously, “Didn’t you say they looked down on our, our squad? When dealing with enemies, you have to show no mercy and, and put them in their place!”
Fu Qi said, “Mm… I think I did say something like that.”
Captain Qin gave him a look that clearly said, “See? I told you so,” then turned back around and continued poking at her phone from the bed.
Fu Qi saw that she was bragging to Chen Xiang about their heroic rescue. After a brief silence, he said, “Take your time, Captain Qin. I’m going to see if the Thunder Squad needs any help.”
“Go, go.”
All Captain Qin needed was her phone, so she generously set her underling free.
Less than two minutes after Fu Qi left, Chen Xiang replied. His first message was full of praise:
“Little Jiang is amazing! You’re practically my idol. You’re even more impressive than the captain!”
Captain Qin swelled with pride. Still using a cotton swab as a stylus, she continued tapping out a message, eager to show off how she had put the Thunder Squad in its place. But then Chen Xiang sent a second message.
“Oh, right. The Thunder Squad used to get bullied by our squad all the time, so they might not be very pleasant when they talk. Little Jiang, try to put up with them, okay? Don’t take anything they say personally… They’ve had a tough time too.”
Captain Qin: “...What?”
Something wasn’t right.
Captain Qin suddenly felt that she might have gotten something terribly wrong.
She played Chen Xiang’s message three times in a row, then cautiously tapped out a reply.
“They, they always got bullied by us?”
Chen Xiang replied, “Of course. Captain Xu’s nickname only caught on because he always lost to us. ‘Xu the Second, Xu the Second’—it sounds awful.”
Captain Qin: “...”
After hearing that, she sat there in a daze for a while. Then she put down her phone, slowly got to her feet, and walked outside. Standing in the cold wind at the doorway, she drew a deep breath and shouted toward the yard:
“Fu! Laoqi!”
“—You bastard, get your ass back here!”
