The Invasion Day – Chapter 83

Table of Contents | Character Guide

Chapter 83

This was also a matter of a friend caring about him, so even though Fu Shiwu felt a little strange, he still accepted Tang Xuhai’s kindness.

Of course, an infirmary was indispensable for such a large resort. Not only that, but the medicines were quite complete, and the equipment that community hospitals usually had were available here. It might not be possible to perform major operations, but there were even facilities for pregnant ladies to deliver babies here…

Tang Xuhai, who was looking for a treatment room, was lost for words as his eyes accidentally laid upon a delivery bed.

“Over here.” Fu Shiwu stood on the other side of the corridor and waved at him.

The two went in two different directions to look for it. Tang Xuhai’s luck was indeed just that bad.

With a black face, Tang Xuhai walked into the treatment room. After weighing his choices a little, he pulled out an unopened pack of antiseptic swabs and dipped them in disinfectant water to wipe Fu Shiwu’s wound.

As his brows furrowed due to the irritation on his wound, Fu Shiwu said with an unflinching expression: “The things here are quite complete, and there isn’t even any damage.” 

“Uhm.” Tang Xuhai responded softly: “Didn’t we find a few corpses when we first came? It’s impossible for this resort to have so many people. It must’ve been used as a temporary shelter when the aliens first appeared.”

“Probably.” Fu Shiwu said.

Foods and other things were gathered closely together, which was a typical characteristic of a shelter.

“These people held up until death. They must’ve kept all the bodies somewhere, otherwise, we would have seen more now.” Tang Xuhai said indifferently.

Now these tragedies were everywhere, and he had begun to feel numb.

Fu Shiwu also fell silent. Unlike when he had just left Heavenly Gardens, regarding things outside of his profession, he could start to understand and examine them.

Two months had passed since the opening of the sky veil. Fu Shiwu could somewhat imagine how desperate it must have felt for those stuck in this resort at that time.

They had no weapons and no barricade, and they could only struggle in a scenic spot far from the city.

Although it took only 2 hours to get here from the provincial capital using the highway on weekdays, in the situation where aliens were everywhere, they likely would be killed or seriously injured before they could even make half the journey.

“It’s also thanks to our luck.” Tang Xuhai lowered his eyes, not looking at Fu Shiwu’s face: “Let’s bring these equipment and medicines along. When we reach the military district, we can give them to the relevant departments or the government, in exchange for a place to stay.”

“Uhm.” After a while, Fu Shiwu replied gently, then he continued: “It’s only now that I feel how lucky I am. Living in Heavenly Gardens, being your neighbour… We’ve shared triumphs and hardships through this whole journey, and even when we encountered grave danger several times, everything was alright in the end. Because you took me to escape with you in the first place, I can live till this day. I haven’t thanked you seriously yet.”

As Tang Xuhai raised his head in surprise, Fu Shiwu said sincerely and solemnly: “Thank you, Xuhai.”

Even with Tang Xuhai’s thick skin, Fu Shiwu’s heartfelt thanks made his ears turn hot and his face go dry.

“What… what thank you!” After a moment of hesitation, Tang Xuhai rubbed Fu Shiwu’s still-wet hair and said: “We’ve helped each other all the way, right? Since you said that, shouldn’t I thank you for saving my life too? If it weren’t for being with you, I might’ve died in that place with my inflamed leg injury. Even if the fever was due to my ability awakening, without your timely treatment, I might’ve burnt until my brain was ruined.”

The corner of Fu Shiwu’s mouth twitched a little: “It’s what I should do.”

Tang Xuhai looked directly into his eyes: “And it’s what I should do too. The words you said are correct, we share all the triumphs and hardships. In the future, we must also support each other and survive in this apocalypse. Sooner or later, we’ll get rid of all these aliens. By then, peace will come back, and we’ll still be neighbours!”

Fu Shiwu’s spirits were greatly lifted and he said cheerfully: “Uhm! I’ll definitely be a reliable friend. Let’s be neighbours again, it’s decided!”

With a happy mood, Tang Xuhai treated Fu Shiwu’s hand and neatly bandaged it. Only then did he realise that both of them hadn’t changed their clothes.

Although the clothes felt a bit chilly, Fu Shiwu felt that he shouldn’t catch a cold, but Tang Xuhai opposed him wearing wet clothes.

After rummaging through the infirmary and spotting some clothes that he had no idea who left behind, he picked up a light-coloured striped shirt and a plush sweater.

“You should be able to wear this.” Tang Xuhai frowned: “Unfortunately, I can’t find any pants. This sweater is a turtleneck, better to give it to Lao Wen or Miao Jia.”

Fu Shiwu tried to put on the shirt, but the bandage around his fingers put by Tang Xuhai was a tad too tight, so he couldn’t unbutton his shirt very smoothly.

“Let me help you.” With a displeased gaze, Tang Xuhai said.

Although he had given Fu Shiwu a plaid shirt before, Fu Shiwu wasn’t wet and caught in a difficult posture at that time. Tang Xuhai dexterously unfastened the shirt’s buttons, and subconsciously, his eyes stopped at Fu Shiwu’s collarbone.

Due to sun exposure of the past two months, Fu Shiwu’s skin had gotten two tones darker than before. At this moment, it carried a light shade of wheat.

Midsummer was now over, and because he had such a fair complexion previously, the darkening of his skin was rather conspicuous.

“It’s not that fair…” As though possessed by something, Tang Xuhai mumbled softly.

“What is fair?” Fu Shiwu asked with puzzlement.

Embarrassed, Tang Xuhai blinked and quickly changed the subject. He oh-so-casually stared at Fu Shiwu’s neck and said: “You can’t wear high-neck clothes, so how do you get through the winter?”

“Winter?” Fu Shiwu raised his hand and pushed his glasses up, which still didn’t feel very clear. Forget it, let’s go back and find something to wipe them later. Then he said: “I never wore any high-neck thermal underwear. In the past few years, I’ve been wearing shirt-style warm clothing with thickened fleece. Just put on a coat as the outermost layer, and when it gets very cold, I’ll get myself a down jacket.”

Fu Shi Wu recalled: “Back when I didn’t know what was wrong with me, I didn’t want to wear autumn clothes. So during those autumns I put another singlet below, and if it got a tad colder, I would put on a cardigan, then a thicker coat outside. In any case, winter has never given me any issue.”

“Isn’t it quite inconvenient?……” Tang Xuhai rolled his eyes helplessly, then he went back to gazing at Fu Shiwu and said: “During winter, didn’t you feel cold without a scarf?”

“Not too bad. I always choose coats with a stand-up collar, while my down jackets’ collars are usually thicker due to the hood.” Fu Shiwu said with a hint of embarrassment: “I think I only feel repelled by t-shirts and round-necked clothes. In fact, if the collars are large, or in a button-up style, I should still be able to wear them.”

He already knew the root cause of this psychological issue, so he naturally came to understand the very core of his subconscious resistance, as well as what he could try to accept.

“That means you’re fine with it so long as it’s not around your neck?” Tang Xuhai said with astonishment, then he continued: “This way, you still have a lot of options.”

Fu Shiwu raised his finger to the position of the third button of the shirt and said: “As long as the collar reaches here, it should be fine.”

If a collar was open till that position, it honestly could be celebrated for such an unworldly size. For a moment, Tang Xuhai felt his hands seriously tied. For men’s clothing, only a cardigan could even reach that collar size.

Fu Shi Wu fastened the buttons, and the two left the infirmary to head back to the lakeshore again.

By the shore, the crowd of energetic onlookers had dispersed, and only the people in their team were still chatting enthusiastically about the huge snakehead fish.

“How is it? Have you managed to prepare it?” Tang Xuhai said.

Having heard the commotion, Wen Zhaoming also came over. He responded: “This fish weighs 78 jins in total.”

“You even weighed it?” Tang Xuhai said with a hint of amusement: “No matter how many jins it weighs, today, it’ll get into our stomachs all the same.”

“Such a big snakehead is rare.” Huo Enting said.

“Indeed, I haven’t seen one like this in years.” Ma Dong added.

“I think this fish must’ve been in this lake before. I mean before the establishment of the scenic spot.” Liu Zhao analysed it a bit: “Otherwise, if it only came here after the establishment of this resort a few years back, it would be impossible to grow to such a large size. Shuijing Lake was overfished before, but this fish managed to escape. Then when they tried to restore the lake’s ecosystem, a lot of young fish were put in. Receiving so much food, this fish began to grow strongly.”

What Liu Zhao said was very likely to be true. After all, if it hadn’t reached more than a dozen years in age, the fish couldn’t have grown more than one meter in size.

But Tang Xuhai didn’t care at all, for he was busy thinking about a menu full of snakehead fish courses.

With a fish this large, even 11 of them wouldn’t be able to fully finish it. They couldn’t bring themselves to waste it at such a time, so they directly gave a part of the fish to Zhou Weihua’s team.

An hour later, they finally indulged in their late lunch — a sumptuous feast of fish.

It not only satisfied Tang Xuhai’s desire to eat three courses of fish but also exceeded everyone’s expectations.

The meat of a snakehead was very delicious, and everyone couldn’t help but praise continuously.

Liu Zhao even exclaimed: “Are all the mutated species all so tasty? The meat of that special ability giant ox was fantastic, and this snakehead is nowhere inferior.” 

Liu Peiqi shook his head: “It might not always be the case. Wasn’t that special ability corn quite mediocre?”

“That is the problem of which variety. Maybe it’ll be different if we try other varieties.” Liu Zhao insisted on this viewpoint, firmly believing that the meat quality of mutated species would be superior.

“In that case, the aliens and sky veil have done at least one good thing to humanity: improving our dining table. They don’t seem too abominable anymore, do they?” Zhen Zi uttered a joke so cold it crept into people’s bones.