Seeing what was happening, Gu Shaoze was momentarily stunned. Though he heard her call the man her cousin, it still made him uncomfortable to see his girlfriend hugging another man.
Unaware of her boyfriend’s jealousy, Rong Mo’er held her cousin for a moment before letting go and asking, "Cousin, why are you here? Have you seen my parents? What about the others?"
Hearing her questions, Rong Qinyu fell silent for a long moment before replying hoarsely, "Mo’er, your parents... they turned into zombies."
"Cousin, what do you mean by that?" Rong Mo’er was shocked.
Lowering his head, Rong Qinyu said softly, "I had a high fever when I visited our grandparents. When I woke up a few days later, everyone had been killed."
He didn’t need to tell her the details as Rong Mo’er understood. If her parents had turned into zombies, it was very likely that the rest of her family had been killed by them.
All this time, her family had been her anchor, her reason to stay alive even during the most humiliating moments of her life. And now she was told they were gone. How could she possibly accept such a truth?
The next moment, her eyes rolled back and she collapsed.
"Mo’er!" Gu Shaoze and Rong Qinyu shouted at the same time.
Before Rong Qinyu could catch her, Gu Shaoze had already taken her into his arms. He gently patted her cheeks and called out, "Mo’er, wake up. Mo’er!"
Standing nearby, Rong Qinyu watched him closely. He saw the worry and anxiety in Gu Shaoze’s eyes. It seemed his concern for Mo’er was genuine.
After Gu Shaoze pressed on her acupuncture point, Rong Mo’er finally woke up and slowly opened her eyes. The moment she saw her boyfriend’s reddened eyes filled with worry, she burst into tears and hugged him.
Fearing she might become too agitated and faint again, Gu Shaoze could only hold her gently, patting her back while whispering, "Mo’er, I’m here. I won’t go anywhere. I will always be with you."
Fifteen minutes later, Rong Mo’er finally calmed down. Though she was still sobbing, she was no longer as devastated as before.
She had been facing the apocalypse for almost a month, had even endured torture and humiliation, yet she had survived. Her mind was no longer as fragile as it was before the world turned into a living hell.
Now that she had accepted the fact that her family was gone, she could think more rationally. Raising her head, she looked at her cousin and asked hoarsely, "Cousin, do you have any plans next?"
Rong Qinyu had been struggling to survive alone. Now that he had reunited with family, he didn’t want to part again. He shook his head and said, "My plan was to look for you. Now that I have found you, I will go wherever you go. You are my only family now."
Hearing this, Gu Shaoze said, "Brother, since that’s the case, let’s rest here for today and head back to the base with us. Mo’er and I joined a mercenary team, and we don’t have to worry about supplies or a place to stay. If you come with us, you will have better living conditions."
Rong Qinyu studied him and asked, "Who are you?"
Realizing she hadn’t introduced them, Rong Mo’er said, "Cousin, this is my boyfriend, Gu Shaoze. He is my senior from university."
Raising his eyebrows at this information, Rong Qinyu nodded but didn’t comment further.
As the sun began to set over the western horizon, Gu Shaoze said, "Mo’er, I will go get some food for your brother."
"Okay."
While he went to the car, Rong Qinyu finally had time to check on his cousin. He looked her up and down before saying, "Mo’er, I don’t know what you have been through these past few weeks, but now that your brother is here, I will protect you. Don’t trust others too easily, even if that person is your lover."
When she heard this, Rong Mo’er recalled that her cousin had a girlfriend, yet he hadn’t mentioned her. Did something happen between them?
Though she was curious, since her cousin didn’t want to bring her up, she decided not to ask. Nodding at his words, she replied, "Cousin, I understand."
Not long after, Gu Shaoze returned with a bag of food. After locking the door and blocking it with some tables and chairs, he checked all the windows. Only after making sure everything was secure did he walk over to them.
The three of them sat on chairs around a table. Gu Shaoze took out an empty bottle from the bag, and before filling it with water, he said, "Brother, I’m a water-type ability user. If you need water in the future, just let me know."
Rong Qinyu nodded and said, "I’m a metal-type ability user. How much water can you produce each time?"
"Right now, I’m at level one, so I can create around 1,000 liters before my energy is drained. To recover, I need seven hours of rest or five transparent crystal cores," Gu Shaoze explained.
Hearing this, Rong Mo’er was taken aback. She hadn’t expected her boyfriend to share such detailed information about his ability with her cousin.
He was usually cautious around strangers and often pretended to be weaker than he actually was. For him to be so honest showed that he truly regarded her cousin as family.
While she was moved by his trust, Rong Qinyu was stunned by the strength of Gu Shaoze’s ability.
In the past few weeks, he had encountered many people, including several ability-users. Most had basic abilities, and among them, only three possessed elemental abilities. Of those, only one was a water-type.
Compared to that person, who could barely produce 800 milliliters of water before exhausting his energy, Gu Shaoze’s ability was a hundred times stronger.
Noticing that he had fallen into deep thought, Rong Mo’er said, "Cousin, my ability is fire-type, but I haven’t broken through to level one yet."
Her words snapped Rong Qinyu out of his daze. He nodded but didn’t say anything. Seeing that he wasn’t in the mood to talk, they didn’t disturb him and handed him the bag of food.