Chapter Five: Discharge from the Hospital

Qin Yu looked helplessly at Xiao Meng, who was chattering endlessly in front of her. She had known it—Xiao Meng would never let her be discharged from the hospital... But she had reasons she simply couldn’t ignore.

“Xiao Yu, your body hasn’t recovered yet. You can’t leave the hospital! I don’t agree!” Xiao Meng fixed a resolute gaze on Qin Yu, who lay in her hospital bed, refusing to yield even an inch.

“Oh, come on, Xiao Mengmeng~ Qin Yu knows her own condition. Besides, I’ve examined her myself—there’s nothing seriously wrong. Since she wants to leave, just let her go. Perhaps she has something important to do,” Dr. Xia Cheng interjected, looking at Xiao Meng.

“But…”

“No buts, Xiao Meng. Don’t worry, I’m fine—I can jump and run,” Qin Yu assured her with a touch of surprise at the doctor’s unexpected support. Still, she didn’t dwell on it; what mattered now was getting out and gathering supplies.

“Alright then. Xiao Yu, you rest here—I’ll go handle your discharge papers,” Xiao Meng said with a resigned sigh.

“Great, hurry up—I’ll wait for you to come back.”

After Xiao Meng left to take care of the paperwork, Qin Yu looked with surprise at the person who remained in her room. Raising her brow, she studied him.

“Miss Qin, your health is no longer in serious danger. I, Xia Cheng, wish you good health,” Xia Cheng said, bowing slightly to the woman sitting on the hospital bed.

“Miss Qin, although I don’t know why you’re in such a hurry to leave the hospital, I hope whatever you’re planning doesn’t drag our Xiao Meng into it. Xiao Meng sees you as her only family, and I’m sure you don’t want anything to happen to her, do you?” Xia Cheng toyed with a surgical knife that seemed to appear out of nowhere, his head slightly lowered.

Qin Yu looked at this man who, though simply standing there, exuded an overwhelming sense of pressure. She stared directly at him and replied, “Of course. Xiao Meng is also my only family in this world. I would never do anything to hurt her. On the contrary, Dr. Xia, it’s you who must not let our Xiao Meng down.”

Xia Cheng looked at Qin Yu with a hint of surprise, as if trying to find some uncertainty on her face. After a long moment, he smiled and said, “Thank you. I won’t.”

Qin Yu returned his smile but said nothing more. Inwardly, she wondered why Xia Cheng hadn’t been by Xiao Meng’s side in her previous life. Though it had only been a day, she could see that this man loved Xiao Meng deeply—yet there was always something else, a shadow in his eyes that she couldn’t quite decipher. Still, she believed Xia Cheng would not harm Xiao Meng.

After Xiao Meng completed the discharge procedures, she sent Qin Yu home. But the company had called her in for work, so she only exchanged a few words with Qin Yu before leaving.

Qin Yu gazed at her surroundings, everything so familiar yet so strange, and her feelings were impossible to describe. She knew her most urgent task was to collect supplies, so she didn’t linger in this long-lost home for long before heading out.

Aware of the scarcity of food in the apocalypse, Qin Yu contacted a wholesaler and bought two hundred thousand’s worth of rice and flour. She then swept through all the supermarkets, never clearing out any one store completely. Instead, she visited every major supermarket in B City, giving each supplier the address of a large warehouse she’d rented in advance and instructing them to deliver by the next day. She explained that she was ill and wanted to do something for impoverished mountain areas before she died, hence the bulk purchases. The store managers were kind enough to let her have all the instant noodles, sausages, and other stock, which Qin Yu gladly accepted.

Originally, Qin Yu hadn’t planned to buy seeds, but then she remembered that time in her space was frozen, and after the apocalypse, plants would mutate. If the world ever returned to peace, those seeds would prove invaluable. Besides, they didn’t take up much room, so she spent another hundred thousand on a variety of vegetable and fruit seeds. The only regret was that she couldn’t buy fish fry or anything of the sort.

Still, Qin Yu wasn’t greedy. In the apocalypse, simply having enough to eat was already a blessing.

Qin Yu stored everything delivered from the supermarkets into her warehouse. She discovered that her space seemed to have an automatic sorting function; despite the sheer quantity, everything was neatly organized. This way, she wouldn’t have to waste precious time looking for things—because in the apocalypse, even a moment’s carelessness could mean falling prey to zombies.

Having already swept through the resources in B City’s supermarkets, Qin Yu knew that continuing to gather supplies here would arouse suspicion. So she bought a plane ticket to S City that very night and sent Xiao Meng a text, telling her she was going there to relax for a while.

Sitting on the plane to S City, Qin Yu quietly planned what else she needed to buy, unaware that back in B City, her actions had already caused an uproar…