XG 25 - Humans were surprisingly adaptable creatures

They returned to Wong’s residence after Chen Yibo finished packing and took a quick shower.

On their way back, they saw their opposite neighbor with seemingly all their family members present, from young to old, busily moving their luggage into their car. Both of them stopped and silently watched the family hurriedly drive away, clearly in a hurry to leave.

No one knows if they were late with plans of going on a trip or had received a tip about the danger of the virus and now heading on their way to safety.

Chen Yibo's happy mood of clearing things with Wong Xue Guo dimmed from the somber reality. He thought she would have said something about their neighbor, but she just continued walking back with a calm expression.

Five years as neighbors and classmates still had Chen Yibo unable to understand Wong Xue Guo well. He had assumed she would use the opportunity to mock the fleeing neighbor, or to hammer that his father might not even show him concern after he died since it was true that his father had not secured a way to safety for him, much less a single call.

But he knew his father did not bother doing these things because the Wong’s would protect his son on his behalf. It was proven when Mrs. Wong told him to follow them to Korea.

Was he being too judgmental for thinking she was such a bad-mouthed person?

Chen Yibo silently told himself to stop doing so and use this opportunity to get to know his neighbor better. He knew he was never one that understood others much and needed more practice to understand the reason behind a person’s attitude.

The hardest one to crackdown was still his father.

A tall woman with a slim, athletic frame was waiting for them when they stepped into Wong’s house. It was obvious from first sight that this woman was a westerner with her natural-born honey-colored hair. Her gaze was gentle towards Wong Xue Guo, but when they shifted to Chen Yibo, they became sharp and admonishing.

Why does he feel as if they were caught doing something improper? Or that he was Mr. Wolf bringing the Miss Rabbit back home later than promised?

“Miss, Madam is waiting for you at her study.”

“Okay,” Wong Xue Guo replied to her mother’s assistant, Aurora before speaking to Chen Yibo. “There are plenty of cleaned guest rooms. Feel free to pick one for your rest. Do take a nap before we leave to replenish your energy.”

Chen Yibo was used to her hostess attitude and nodded. “Thank you.”

Aurora acted as Chen Yibo’s guide and Wong Xue Guo made her way to her mother’s study. When she stood before the white door, she caught the smell of smoke. She quickly recognized the smell of burning from papers and knocked on the door with slight anxiousness.

“Come in.”

Permission granted, she opened the door and immediately zoomed her eyes at the pot with burning papers in it. Her mother was flipping through a file and pulling out papers to toss them into the burning pot. The window was open wide and the ventilation fan was on to keep the smoke out.

Seeing it was her daughter that entered, Suzie Yap hurriedly waved her out. “Don’t come in. It’s smoky here. Wait for mummy in my bedroom, okay?”

With a neutral expression, she nodded. “Okay.”

Wong Xue Guo has no complaints, especially when she has the chance to visit her mother’s bedroom. This was a very rare chance! She had never stepped into the room before and only had some occasional glance into the room when the door happened to be open as she passed by.

“Guo Guo has not bathed yet?” Suzie Yap noticed when her daughter turned around to leave. “Go and take one first.”

“Okay.” When Wong Xue Guo had the urge to bathe and get rid of the unpleasant stench and liquid from her, it was not the right time or place to do so. But now that she was given the opportunity, she found herself feeling lazy and wanted to procrastinate after getting immune to being filthy.

Humans were surprisingly adaptable creatures.

It was only because she was time conscious that she whacked her lazy self and quickly took her possibly last luxurious bath.

Before taking her sweet bath, she charged both her phones and power banks. She also sent a message to Nurul Hanani’s phone, but the messaging app told her it was still sending to the recipient. Her friends might still be inside the helicopter that was not suitable for accepting calls. She does not know where they will be going, or how long the communication line will last, which was worrying.

Yesterday was the day she graduated from high school and she was still wondering what college course to take. She knew her life would change, but she never thought it would change in such a traumatic way that forced her to be an independent adult with a sloppy self-taught crash course on the arts of stabbing.

With bandaged hands equipped with surgical gloves, Wong Xue Guo did not take a long time to shower, but when she washed her long hair, she wondered if she should cut it short. Will it be more convenient with long hair that she could tie them up, or a short bob… on second thought, she will keep her long hair until she could not.

As Suzie Yap's daughter, she never got to experience a short hairstyle before, except for her forgotten baby years. Her mother would definitely kill her if she cut her hair, which the older woman had the mindset that it was only a low salaried person that could not effort taking care of long hair.

She could talk herself out of wearing a t-shirt and jeans since she had already worn one around her mother. Arguing to have short hair was not one she had confidence in, even if she could use the apocalypse as an excuse. She does not have the guts to challenge her mother too many times in a day.

Not long after she changed into a black shirt with a picture of purple guitar matched with dark blue jeans, a plump woman knocked on her door.

"Guo Guo, I have helped you pack a few sets of clothing… what are you wearing?"

"Aunt Cheung, that's my bag?" Wong Xue Guo eyed the black backpack that she was holding, which was a size bigger than her school bag.

Aunt Cheung swiftly closed the door behind her, hiding the interior of the room from other's eyes. "Guo Guo, your mother will punish you for wearing these! Go change into your dress before your mother sees you."

"She won't. Wearing a dress will hinder me instead of helping. Dying in a beautiful dress will look good during the funeral ceremony, but that is certainly a stupid thing to consider when zombies will make sure you look gross when you die."

Skipping happily to her closet, Wong Xue Guo pulled out a shoebox hidden deep in her closet, treating it like her precious treasure.

"What zombies… Guo Guo!” When Aunt Cheung saw what was in the shoebox, her expression immediately turned scandalized. “You certainly aren't going to wear that! When and where did you get that from?"

Grinning happily, Wong Xue Guo ignored her family's housekeeper and wore her dark green military boots. She had immediately fallen in love with it at first sight and secretly purchased it with Kang Xunsu's credit card. She had only worn these shoes inside her room with locked doors, thinking it would be many years later when she could finally wear them under the sun.

To think she could wear it now!

"Aunt Cheung, mother should have told you about the danger and told you to reunite with your family, right?" Wong Xue Guo asked, bending down to tie the shoelaces tightly. "You have also seen the news. Mother had just saved me from those zombies when the virus spread in the shopping mall."

Done with the shoes, she stood back up and saw Aunt Cheung had a complicated expression on her face. “Madam had told everyone that. But that matter and your clothing aren’t the same. You will be heading to a safe place where you will be meeting other people of the same circle. Madam will not be pleased if you embarrass the family.”

"Aunt Cheung…" Wong Xue Guo sighed. “Mother had not uttered a single complaint towards my attire, in which I wore a t-shirt and jeans for the graduation outing when she picked me up.”

She knew Aunt Cheung does not completely trust whatever her mother had told them about the danger without seeing it for herself so she stopped explaining in that direction. Pulling out her mother’s name was enough to shut any more protest Aunt Cheung had.

How could Aunt Cheung not know the little miss she had watched over for years was actually restraining herself not to speak out her real thoughts just to avoid arguing with her?