XG 71 - It was quite taxing to his mental health

With their new alliance, the group relocated deeper into the store. No longer wary, those still in hiding could finally show themselves.

Ash joined L.L. and helped out in keeping watch.

Who knows if the newcomers were chased by something and brought them over?

Wong Xue Guo slipped beside Chen Yibo, wrapped an arm around his, and tugged him to share what they said before the conversation turned to English. He quickly told her everything, which had her frowning.

“So they know how to survive the bite?”

“Maybe it’s because of Yuna that they figured it out.”

It was just a guess since all of the young ones have black hair and the older ones have healthy body sizes. To know the truth, they had to know more about them.

Wong Xue Guo went to grab Kim Sung-Ho to join up with Chen Yibo, letting them speak more with the newcomers. She discovers she really hates it for not understanding the Korean language. If the internet was still working, she could have downloaded an app to translate the conversation without relying heavily on human translation.

Kang Xunsu was keeping an eye on Do Eunhyuk, who had purposely sat quite far away from the others to avoid any casualties. Only his daughter insisted on remaining by his side and continued feeding him biscuits.

With the truth already exposed, there was no need for him to continue pretending. Do Eunhyuk did not remain polite and ate the dry biscuits with large bites, swallowing them with the help of water.

“Eunhyuk is a retired soldier. He helped us when we got into trouble. If not for him, this old man might have already gone to reunite with my wife," the bearded man explained with a sigh as he gazed at Do Eunhyuk.

They found out the woman in the black jacket goes by the name of Do Wheein, who was also the daughter of the injured man, Do Eunhyuk. Do Wheein was a policewoman while her father was an active soldier that happened to be on leave when the infection hit the country.

The woman in gym clothing introduced herself. “I’m Lee Su Hwa, Wheein’s aunt. I used to be a dancer before everything went crazy.”

“You can call me grandpa Donghae. I'm a farmer. I still have enough strength to deal with one or two of those monsters.” The elderly man with a beard smiled. Towards Kang Xunsu, he was more guarded, but towards these children, he was like a gentle grandfather with low defenses.

“This is my younger brother, Sungmin. He grows delicious fruits and is a smart businessman!” Park Donghae introduced the elderly man with a slimmer figure that shared similar features with him. His tone was full of praise towards his younger brother.

After the newcomers introduced themselves, Chen Yibo did the introduction on their group’s behalf.

“You are from Malaysia? Do you understand Mandarin?” Park Sungmin asked.

Chen Yibo nodded. "Yes. It's good that we have another language to communicate with."

It also saved him from being a translator. The difficulty does not lie in translating the conversation, but in doing so quickly between both sides.

It was quite taxing to his mental health.

Wong Xue Guo, Chen Yibo, and Kang Xunsu usually used Cantonese as their daily conversation language, but that does not mean they do not know mandarin, especially for Chen Yibo, whose paternal family was from China.

“Ah? Mandarin? I don’t know that language,” Park Donghae sighed. Unlike his younger brother who was used to dealing with tourists visiting his strawberry farm, he only does business transactions with the locals for his fresh vegetables.

As for Kim Sung-Ho, he used to hang out with the kind grandmother next door that took care of him after school so that his parents could work with less worry. He had learned basic mandarin from her, enough to carry a light conversation.

“Where did you come from before coming to this mini-market?” Chen Yibo asked in mandarin. That was a question that their group wanted to know.

“A temporary shelter in a hospital,” Sungmin answered darkly.

Wong Xue Guo understands from his expression that it does not seem to be a good experience, just like those people had experienced in the apocalypse movies. They either met ungrateful people that were selfish for their own survival, or religious fanatics that think human sacrifice would keep them safe.

“Why do you leave that shelter?”

“They knew Eunhyuk was bitten and got scared, no matter what we try to say. They do not believe we know how to survive the bite, or thinking it will be fine after he chopped off his hand…” Lee Su-Hwa bit her lips. Yuna tilted her head up when the soft patting on her head stopped. With a strained smile, Lee Su-Hwa resumed patting the ignorant girl, coaxing the younger girl to smile.

“Eunhyuk sacrificed himself to save them, yet they treated him like this in return. They are a bunch of ungrateful people!” Park Sungmin complained with a heavy gaze, feeling very disappointed with humanity.

It was not strange of him to feel so when this was the second shelter they were treated unfairly. Unlike his elder brother who was more forgiving, Park Sungmin was not as open-minded.

Both brothers were in their late sixties and considered useless to the youngsters. The first shelter discarded the elderly when food was running out quickly. The second was because they did not agree to throw out the bitten Do Eunhyuk so they followed him to leave.

They rather follow one they could trust with their backs than stay at a place filled with people that would sacrifice them when danger comes.

Although Wong Xue Guo was rather curious to learn more of their backstory, it was more important to check Do Eunhyuk’s state. Separating from them, she approached Do Eunhyuk, ignoring Do Wheein’s questioning gaze that was much friendlier than before.

“Do you feel anything strange? Other than hunger?” Wong Xue Guo asked.

Do Eunhyuk paused, accessing his body. “No other.”

“Can you tell me whatever you know about the disease and how to survive it?”

“What I know is from Yuna and her father’s experience.”

"Oh." So that explains if they knew about Yuna's awakening. But how much do they know?

“Can you elaborate?” Looks like Kang Xunsu, who was listening to their conversation, was also aware of a potential problem.

After getting the gist of what they wanted to know, Lee Su-Hwa said she will explain it so that Do Eunhyuk could continue to replenish his energy.

In standard Mandarin, she explained, “We had a chance to visit Yuna’s father before we go to the shelter, and it happens that she got bitten, along with her mother. It was too late to save Mina, but Yuna is still a human. Ji-Hyun, her father, does not want to kill them and tries to find a way to save Yuna. She got so hungry and Ji-Hyun fed her until she suddenly went into a high fever. We figured out that as long as they eat as much food as they can after being bitten, we will be fine. The virus makes us exhausted and saps all our energy, and we need to counter it.”

Kang Xunsu’s expression was grim as he asked, “Is Yuna the only one you had seen to survive the bite? Did you tell anyone about Yuna’s method to survive?”

Wong Xue Guo’s eyes went to Yuna, who was hugging Lee Su-Hwa’s waist and blinking sleepily.

“Yes, Yuna is the only one we have seen to survive the bite so far. We have told it to some people in the hospital, but who knows if they believe it or not?”

“Ms. Lee, do you know how many times Yuna got bitten?” Chen Yibo asked, his urgency could not be concealed.

“Ah? This… I’m not sure.” Lee Su-Hwa asked the same question to Do Wheein in Korean, who was the one that treated Yuna’s wound.

“... Yuna got bitten twice above her ankle, one on her thigh and one on her hand. My father got bitten once.” Do Wheein added the last sentence without being asked, as she got a strange feeling that the number of bites was an important detail.

Wong Xue Guo suddenly smiled weirdly as she stared at Do Eunhyuk, who also realized his knowledge of the virus was actually lesser than the other group.

“You are getting skinnier. Do you have white hair before? If not, you can know now that you have some white hair now," Wong Xue Guo mused, just as her body grew increasingly tense. "You are going to become one of those zombies soon."