Tch, what luck? More like bullshit luck. Her ties to Xishan Base were getting deeper and deeper.
Just then, her phone buzzed. In her high school WeChat group, she and Su Mali got tagged.
[Xie Zihao]: "Guys, look! The news says the donors from Xishan Base HQ are @Jing Shu and @Su Mali? These two are badass! They're actually from Xishan Taoyuan!"
Jing Shu groaned. Damn it, the thing she dreaded most just had to happen. How did something this secret end up exposed to people who knew her, and now she was tagged in the group chat too?
2E Net lagged forever before the photo finally loaded.
From the picture and background, Xie Zihao should be at a Wu City shelter. A massive 200-inch projector lit up the square, where tens of thousands huddled together, shivering. The government had taken the chance to broadcast the evening news since the projector still worked.
A 200-inch screen made the names big and bold, impossible to miss at a glance.
Jing Shu sighed and stuffed a chunk of braised beef and potato brisket into her mouth while scrolling through the group.
[Wang Chao]: "So it's beef porridge, huh? The same kind we had for a year where an entire cow barely shed a layer of skin?"
"Can't be, right? Even Kang Shifu's beef noodles use at least a whole cow in a year."
"Who cares how much beef's in it? If I can just sip some beef broth scraps, I'll be happy."
Jing Shu: "…" She stayed silent. Since Su Mali wasn't talking, she wouldn't either.
The quake yesterday had left everyone shaken. Now that things settled down, the group was alive again, way livelier than it'd been in months.
[Shi Lei]: "Why aren't Jing Shu and Su Mali saying anything? Don't forget us old classmates now that you've made it big. That Mr. Shiyuan's been blowing up lately, I heard they're hiring there. Full employees get two bowls of white rice a day and a place to stay. Word is the quake didn't even affect Shiyuan."
[Liang Xin]:"No joke. That's an 8-grade quake shelter. Mr. Shiyuan built it special. Why don't you hook us up? We can start as contract workers."
Everyone chimed in. The group hadn't been this noisy since half a year ago, when Zhang Lingling's scam investment blew up and exposed her. After that, hardly anyone talked.
[Yao Zixin]: "I heard Nima caught that zombie sickness. Anyone know how she's doing?"
[Wang Chao]: "Don't mention her! Just thinking about her pisses me off. Zhang Lingling, get the hell out here. You tricked us with that 'investment,' and we nearly died. I ate those poisonous red nematode patties for days, thought I was gonna drop dead for a month. But Zhang Lingling stuffed down the most and didn't get sick. Figures. Scourge of a thousand years, that one."
[Liang Xin]: "Nima's with Su Mali getting treated. I heard she's doing fine now, even eats white rice every meal."
[Yao Zixin]: "Wait, I still have the screenshot of Zhang Lingling's oath back then. Look, her oath came true!"
She dropped the old screenshot, Zhang Lingling's exact words back in the day:
"How do I usually treat you guys? What kind of person am I? If I ever meant to scam you, let my house be flooded next year and leveled by an earthquake the year after."
The timing matched perfectly, too perfectly. Even Jing Shu started wondering if Zhang Lingling might actually be the reborn one.
"Pay me back my blood and sweat money! You said sweet words back then, but you scammed my family of so many virtual coins. Now it's time to return them!"
The group raged. Zhang Lingling's so-called oath had really come true.
Then a horrifying image loaded, taking forever to appear.
[Nima]: "@Zhang Lingling, you ruined me. Even if I die and become a ghost, I'll never let you off. Just you wait."
The photo shocked the group. Even Xie Zihao, who used to date Nima, cursed: "Back when she was with me, Zhang Lingling was a total beauty. Now look at her. Zhang Lingling, you'd better take responsibility!"
Su Mali had said she was treating Nima, but Jing Shu hadn't expected her to be this bad. She'd basically turned into a faceless woman.
In the photo, Nima stared blankly into the camera. The latest surgery had cut away her face. Because of the zombie sickness, her flesh started rotting from the face outward. If they didn't cut it off in time, it'd spread across her whole body.
Her luck was rotten. They cut a piece, another grew. Again and again until her face was gone. Now the rot was spreading across her body too. She wasn't human or ghost anymore.
From what Jing Shu knew, in her previous life, the longest anyone with this sickness survived was a few years, with rotten tumor-like flesh covering their whole body until there wasn't a single good spot left.
She had no idea how long Nima could last. Her appearance was scarier than full-body rot and it terrified their classmates.
"Serves you right."
Just as everyone pitied Nima, Zhang Lingling finally spoke.
"Serves you right. Hurry up and die already. Stop struggling, and don't think about revenge. You'll never find me. Back then, I scammed you all on purpose. So what? What can you do to me? It's the apocalypse. You can't touch me. And just wait. All my enemies will die miserable deaths one day."
With that, she quit the group.
She vented, felt good about it, then dipped, leaving the whole class fuming.
The chat exploded. People swore if they found her, they'd kill her.
After the storm of curses, Su Mali finally spoke up.
"Yeah, those two names really were me and Jing Shu. But I've got no say in Xishan Base. I can only introduce you guys. As for the outcome, who knows. Jing Shu's got more authority than me. If you wanna beg for favors, you'll have to ask her."
As soon as Shiyuan got mentioned, the topic jumped back again.
[Liang Xin]: "We haven't had a reunion in forever. Why don't we all head to Shiyuan to shelter from the quake? @Jing Shu, @Su Mali, you two have pull inside, right? Surely you can get us in."
Jing Shu rolled her eyes. She'd been doing everything she could to stay away from Shiyuan, yet these idiots were practically begging to throw themselves in. And when the knives came down, they'd all be dragged in too.
She had to make them face reality.
"Even if I let you in, how do you plan on getting there without transport? With quakes this bad, what if the road collapses halfway?"
[Liang Xin]: "Then send a car to pick us up."
"And who's paying for the fuel?"
[Liang Xin]: "Come on, big shot, fuel's nothing for you. We're broke. We can't afford that stuff."