Yu Qingxian chose a decent location and observed the large tree for a while.
After about half an hour, the bait suddenly moved.
What had originally looked like a mass of leaves was now slowly forming into a ball shape.
The animal inside was still struggling, and Yu Qingxian zoomed in closer, realizing it was likely some sort of carnivorous animal.
It was black in color, but she couldn't quite make out what kind of animal it was.
After struggling for around ten seconds, the animal stopped moving.
It then turned into a ball hanging from the tree canopy.
The heart-like object pulsed with a faint red glow a few times.
Yu Qingxian thought to herself, if she fired a shot at that 'heart' now, would the tree die?
The only relatively powerful weapons she had on her were a gun and an axe.
But Yu Qingxian quickly dismissed the thought.
Yu Qingxian and Mima had been wandering the mountains for around seven or eight days now, watching as Mima fed twice.
And both times, Yu Qingxian had been the one to spot the target first.
There was no helping it - once any living creature entered her 3-kilometer radius, she could sense it.
These were the easiest hunts Mima had experienced in a while.
This little zombie had even set traps, catching several mountain chickens.
When Yu Qingxian handed the mountain chickens over to Mima, she smiled and said, "You must have learned these trapping tricks from the locals around here."
Mima looked puzzled.
She had never seen Yu Qingxian before.
"On video," Yu Qingxian explained, taking out her phone to show Mima a video.
She explained what a video was.
Mima's red eyes looked on with curiosity.
But the video depicted humans battling zombies.
Zombies and humans she had never seen before.
She had never ventured out from this area.
For some reason, Mima had no desire to leave.
"That human is quite formidable, an official tasked with protecting us humans. But now that we're zombies, if she saw us, she'd kill us on sight." Yu Qingxian showed Mima the footage of Gu Wanqing battling mutated zombies.
Mima stared at Gu Wanqing for a while, then said, "That human is very powerful."
Seeing that Mima could recognize Gu Wanqing's strength, Yu Qingxian quickly nodded in agreement.
"Yes, yes, incredibly powerful. If you ever see that human, don't even think about it - just run. Got it?" Yu Qingxian stressed emphatically.
Just like Shi Xingyu, who had heeded her words and thus survived to this day.
If Mima had tried to fight Gu Wanqing head-on, there would have been no happy outcome.
"Got it," Mima nodded.
On the ninth day since leaving, they returned to the county town.
The town remained deserted as before.
Yu Qingxian still had some of the rations she'd stored for the Tyrannosaurus Rex.
She took some and loaded them onto the sled, preparing to set off again the next morning.
As for Mima, she simply stood by the house entrance for a moment before turning and leaving.
Yu Qingxian didn't say anything.
She didn't need a zombie around to engage in human social niceties.
They were zombies now, so they could do as they pleased.
Thinking about it, Yu Qingxian realized she didn't have much humanity left herself.
This time, the Tyrannosaurus Rex didn't get angry upon seeing her, and was quite affectionate instead.
The fire inside the house had not gone out, and Yu Qingxian didn't know where the Tyrannosaurus Rex had found more wood or other fuel to keep it going.
Yu Qingxian felt that the longer the Tyrannosaurus Rex spent with her, the smarter it became.
This prompted her to take out another photo of the Tyrannosaurus Rex from her backpack and place it in the picture frame containing her family photo.
Upon seeing Yu Qingxian's actions, the Tyrannosaurus Rex's eyes immediately lit up.
It recognized its own photo, and that this photo was being placed with Yu Qingxian's treasured family photo.
So now its photo was a treasure too.
This made the Tyrannosaurus Rex huff and puff excitedly as it circled around Yu Qingxian, wanting to see the photo.
Yu Qingxian finally held the framed photo up for the Tyrannosaurus Rex to see.
"Look! One big family!" Yu Qingxian said with a smile.
"Although you're way bigger than me and my parents now, haha, what a funny family photo." Yu Qingxian looked from the photo to the Tyrannosaurus Rex, finding the size disparity amusing.
The Tyrannosaurus Rex's photo was indeed massive in the frame.
A huge dinosaur like that.
But the Tyrannosaurus Rex was just a big dog.
The bigger, the better - it would be harder for humans to forget it existed.
The next morning, Yu Qingxian and the Tyrannosaurus Rex prepared to leave.
She checked the time on her phone.
It was already November.
Last November was when people had started showing signs of unexplained high fevers, and the weather had slowly become warmer too.
But back then, no one could have imagined the impending disaster that was slowly descending.
On her birthday, there had been several ambulance trips to the neighborhood.
Though she had only glimpsed it from behind her apartment door at the time.
But as more and more people started collapsing from the high fevers, those who fell ill later on could only remain quarantined at home.
And as the abnormally hot weather set in, Yu Qingxian had simply been busy updating her streams and videos.
Spending her remaining time watching videos and occasionally gaming.
On the night of her birthday, November 2nd, Yu Qingxian did have a slight fever.
But at the time, she had no idea the apocalypse was upon them.
She had simply gone to sleep, only to wake up to a world that was no longer the same.
News everywhere of zombies biting people.
Though the situation was still somewhat under control at that point.
Official notices instructed that anyone showing signs of fever must be tied up and confined to a room, and to then call the authorities.
Yu Qingxian thought, if people had just listened and not shown favoritism toward their loved ones back then, their country might actually have been able to contain the outbreak.
But that's not what happened.
Who would tie up and lock away their own family members?
When Yu Qingxian woke up without any symptoms and saw those zombies, she knew she hadn't turned in the initial wave.
And throughout the entire hallway, occasional sounds could be heard, but no screaming.
Yu Qingxian opened her door, peering out through the safety gate to see those fleeing people.
Upon hearing her door, they didn't even look back, too preoccupied with escaping.
Yu Qingxian could only stand there holding a cup of hot water, watching through the gate as they fled.
There was nothing she could do, only stand back and observe.
By the time she came to her senses, the water in her cup had gone completely cold in the abnormal heat.
Yu Qingxian closed her door and carried on with her routine.
As if the apocalypse wasn't happening outside.
It wasn't until the official broadcasts reached her ears that she finally snapped out of it, allowing a zombie to scratch her to drive the point home.
At that moment, Yu Qingxian clearly saw the shock on the face of the official who had spotted her.
She simply gave them a slight nod, then closed and locked her door.
Though her body ached terribly, she still lay down on her bed.
Yu Qingxian regained her senses and glanced at the date on her phone - November 2nd.
It had been a full year since the apocalypse occurred.
Today was also her twenty-ninth birthday.
She pocketed her phone and gazed at the Tyrannosaurus Rex circling around her, reaching out to pat its head.
"It's alright, let's go," Yu Qingxian smiled, indicating to the T-Rex not to worry.
She had simply been reminded of some past events.
Speaking of leaving the county town, Mima was standing at the town entrance.
It was unclear whether she had come to see them off.
Yu Qingxian waved at her, unable to utter the words "goodbye."
For she knew they would likely never meet again.
