057 Madmen and a Half - 1

The happy moments were always brief, and more than thirty years of savings could not be withdrawn all at once. So it was only when Joanna lazily awoke in the gentle sunlight, her whole body sore and limp, not even wanting to move a finger, that she realized she had spent most of the night in a frenzy with Fang Qiang on the entertainment room floor.

Thinking back on last night’s wild abandon, and on the warmth and ardor that had shown through Fang Qiang’s ugly face, especially his endurance no less than that of a young man’s, Joanna was very satisfied with her choice. Women, after all, once they reached middle age, were not the same as those young girls who cared only about looks and money. Once the lights were out, what difference did it make? The key was stamina, stamina, and still more stamina.

Besides, Joanna had lived for years in a grand estate. Even if the memories dated back more than twenty years, the luxury and decadence she had seen were beyond ordinary imagination. So now she valued practical benefits far more. The gains she received from her intimate relationship with Fang Qiang far outweighed what she had given up: a sufficiently safe environment, the trust of the Chinese, Fang Qiang’s wholehearted care, not to mention the bliss that made body and mind feel utterly clear and light.

Of course, Joanna would not be like a little girl, thinking that once she had gone to bed with someone, everything must then follow in a certain way. She knew very well that this was only the beginning. Whether in love or in society, long and careful maintenance was needed if anything was to endure for as long as possible. A mature middle-aged woman was naturally far better at this than a young girl.

As for that fellow Fang Qiang, he was practically floating when he walked. Besides being secretly overjoyed, he was speaking far less than usual. There was no other reason: he was just grinning stupidly.

Men were still creatures who thought with the lower half of their bodies.

Once she left the room, Joanna suddenly realized that her son seemed never to have appeared, and Wang Chen and Sheng Qingru were nowhere to be seen either. Had they not gotten up yet? Instead, Ellie, upon seeing Joanna finally awake, trotted over and handed her a letter. Pablo’s terrible Spanish handwriting was crooked and ugly, and the content was brief: he had gone with Wang Chen, Yang Xiaohua, and Sheng Qingru to pick someone up, and Mom need not worry.

Need not worry? As if.

Joanna folded up the scrap of paper and asked Ellie in a low voice, “Did Pablo and the others leave in the armored vehicle?”

Ellie, whose presence had always been faint, remained as cautious and timid as ever. She nodded without speaking. Joanna did not mind her reaction. In the past few days she had also noticed that after being frightened so many times, the girl’s mind seemed a little disturbed. Fortunately they were now in a relatively safe place, and given time, Ellie should recover into that cheerful, innocent Mexican girl again.

Since her foolish son had already gone, Joanna could do nothing about it. Besides, she understood that as an unofficial member of Team Zero Eight, he could not simply eat without working. In a sense, Pablo was earning the price of survival for her and Ellie.

Perhaps, at that moment, all Joanna could do was pray for Pablo in accordance with the customs of her homeland.

The simple-minded Pablo, naturally, could never have imagined that his mother had just found an intimate lover to soothe body and soul, and that less than twenty-four hours later she would already be worrying about him again. Right now he was thinking of nothing so complicated. Standing in the firing position of the armored vehicle, gripping the twelve-point-seven-millimeter heavy machine gun and facing the wind, he was only a shout away from crying out to vent the passion in his heart.

A man had to have a gun. And a big gun.

“Do you think all men are like this? Once they’re holding a gun, they’ve got strength all through them? Ma Tian’s leg still isn’t healed, and every day he’s fondling that shotgun of his and won’t let go.” Yang Xiaohua sat in the communications seat, yet could not help gossiping with Sheng Qingru.

Sheng Qingru, having achieved her wish, was not listening at all to what Yang Xiaohua was muttering. Her eyes were fixed entirely on Wang Chen, who was driving, a faint smile playing at the corners of her mouth.

“Hey, I’m talking to you!”

“Hm? What?”

“What exactly are you thinking? You know perfectly well what Wang Chen’s situation is. It’s enough that you flirted with death once. Are you really planning to keep rolling around in bed with him forever?”

“It’s fine. Without him, I’d sooner or later rush into a warehouse and burn myself to death anyway, so dying on him isn’t wrong either.” Sheng Qingru spoke chillingly of horrifying things in a matter-of-fact tone. “Just be careful not to kiss him too deeply or take him directly in your mouth, and don’t drink too much bodily fluid. Besides, if he doesn’t mind me, why should I mind him? A young man with that much responsibility is rare indeed…”

As Sheng Qingru spoke, she drifted off into a daze again. Yang Xiaohua could only roll her eyes. She really should not have left Ma Tian behind and come out to carry out this unofficial pick-up mission. Now look at the situation: one companion was lovestruck, another gunstruck. How were they supposed to get this task done?

Fortunately, among the four of them there was always one clear-headed person. Wang Chen drove the armored vehicle, pretending not to hear the two girls’ explosive conversation, and reminded Yang Xiaohua in what he considered a proper tone, “How’s the route planning coming?”

“There’s basically nothing to worry about on the highway. No blockages. It’s just that the number of zombies has been increasing these past few days. The soldier last made contact four days ago, and reported that the place where he was hiding was surrounded by at least ten zombies. The situation wasn’t very good, and he was trying to figure out a way to deal with it. Once we come down from the Linzhou highway exit, we may have to face the largest zombie horde we’ve seen in days. Also, the fuel in the vehicle is running low, so we still need to find a place to refill with diesel. I marked the nearest gas stations that haven’t burned down yet. My suggestion is to check them one by one until we’re full.”

As a communications operator and switchboard operator, Yang Xiaohua was genuinely conscientious. From the start of the rescue work in the Harbin epidemic zone to the present, she had accumulated a great deal of logistical experience. With her coordination and planning, the difficulty of the drive had been greatly reduced.

Over a hundred kilometers of highway, the armored vehicle stopped only once to refuel, to assess whether obstacle vehicles should be rammed aside or towed away. The rest of the time, its speed never dropped below forty kilometers an hour. So when Wang Chen drove it off the highway, it was just past noon. If all went well on the return trip and no new obstacles appeared, they should be able to make it back to the substation for dinner before sunset.

Linzhou lay at the eastern foot of the Taihang Mountains. The destination the team was heading for was in the hills. In the early autumn mountains, the leaves had not yet turned yellow, and red foliage dotted the green slopes. Along the county road, they occasionally passed a few dwellings. The houses were somewhat old but very clean, their upturned eaves and carved brackets steeped in antiquity. With the mountains as a screen and the road as a frame, the scene was like a landscape painting. With the window rolled down, mountain wind drifting in, the cabin was filled with fresh air, uplifting body and spirit. There was a free, poetic beauty in the way the vehicle ran through the mountains while the people traveled within a painting.

As they rounded a dense shelterbelt, the view suddenly opened wide. Beneath the blazing sun, the majestic Taihang range stood mighty and vast against the sky, setting off the entire city of Linzhou. It was a pity that the avenue that should have been busy with traffic was now deserted. Only the charred wreckage of overturned cars and the bodies roaming about nearby still told those who came later that this had once been the main street of a county town.