"You know him. He's one of Brother Shen's business partners. He came to Haicheng for a meeting and met with him too," Yu Ke said as he crouched down and reached out to check Qiao Chengming's breath.
Finding that he was still breathing, Yu Ke's tense nerves relaxed. "He's still alive, probably just unconscious."
"I'll go tell Brother Shen and see what we should do."
After all, they were acquaintances. Qiao Chengming's condition clearly wasn't good, and since he was a business partner, they couldn't just leave him to die.
Besides, the piles of dirt around Qiao Chengming were suspicious. Could he be an ability user? Otherwise, there was no way to explain this strange phenomenon.
"Wait," Jiang Yuntan said. "Let me grab some things first."
As she spoke, she put the coffee beans in front of her into her space. She didn't pick and choose; she just took whatever caught her eye.
She didn't take too much—first, because there was no room left in her space, and second, because taking too much would leave the shelves empty and raise suspicion.
Yu Ke saw her actions and didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
But she didn't delay too long; she finished packing up in under a minute.
Yu Ke thought for a moment and asked her to stay there while he went to call the others.
Jiang Yuntan's eyes fell on Qiao Chengming's face, then on the clumps of dirt on his body. She guessed that before losing consciousness, he had used his earth ability to surround himself.
An earth ability user—seemed quite useful.
As she watched, Qiao Chengming's eyelids suddenly twitched. She silently stepped back a bit, and the next second, she saw him open his eyes.
Jiang Yuntan quickly said, "I'm a teammate of Shen Hegui. We happened to pass by here to rest and found you."
"Wait a moment; someone has already gone to call him. He'll be here soon."
She had to explain immediately, or he might think she was going to do something to him and attack her.
After hearing her explanation, Qiao Chengming's tense fingers slowly relaxed.
"Thank you..." Qiao Chengming said weakly.
"You're not in good shape. Better not talk for now," Jiang Yuntan said as she looked around and spotted a bottle of water on the counter. She picked it up and opened it.
Seeing how feeble he looked, as if he might pass out at any moment, she found a straw, inserted it, and then handed the water to Qiao Chengming.
Qiao Chengming's eyes were fixed on her. Suddenly, he remembered that he had heard about a family friend's younger sister living in Shen Hegui's home. He had once seen a photo on Shen Hegui's phone, and he figured this must be her.
After giving him the water, Jiang Yuntan didn't keep staring at him. Instead, she began observing the coffee shop.
As she looked around, she searched her memory. She now regretted not having read that apocalyptic novel carefully. She had only skimmed through it because she thought the plot about Lin Tingxue stealing the Blood Jade Bracelet was too absurd.
If not for the coincidence of sharing the same name, she wouldn't have read it at all. So she had skipped through to the original owner's ending.
As for Qiao Chengming, she only knew he was one of Shen Hegui's teammates, with no other impressions.
Soon, Shen Hegui and Yu Ke appeared in her sight, followed by Lin Tingxue.
Jiang Yuntan stepped aside to let Shen Hegui talk to Qiao Chengming.
"Senior Brother," Qiao Chengming said weakly.
"What happened? Why are you here?" Shen Hegui frowned, seeing him looking like he might pass out at any moment.
"I came out with others to gather supplies. I thought the port area had plenty of supplies and a lower population density, so it should be much safer than the city center. So we came here," Qiao Chengming continued.
"But unexpectedly, there was a giant husky here. Everyone else died. I was lucky enough to awaken an ability, found a chance to attack it, and escaped from its sight."
"We figured out that zombies rely on smell and sound to track people. So after I ran into this coffee shop, I used my ability to surround myself to keep my scent from spreading. Not long after, I passed out."
"I didn't expect to be so lucky as to run into you. Otherwise, I was thinking of just burying myself with my ability," Qiao Chengming said with a bitter smile.
After speaking, he suddenly realized something and asked, "By the way, did you encounter that zombie husky when you came here? You should leave quickly. It's terrifying—its body can crush a person to death."
"We did encounter it, and we've already taken care of it," Shen Hegui said solemnly. "Because of it, there aren't many zombies nearby. Rest and recover for now."
"We have a medical kit in the car; let's treat your wounds first."
"Thank you." Qiao Chengming didn't stand on ceremony, given his state.
Shen Hegui turned and said, "Yuntan, could you go get the medical kit from the car? Also, grab some anti-inflammatory medicine."
"Sure." Jiang Yuntan understood and turned to leave.
Qiao Chengming's eyes lingered on her delicate face, and he asked, "Is she the younger sister from your family?"
"Mm," Shen Hegui replied.
Qiao Chengming said, "When I woke up, I saw a stranger in front of me and was on guard. But she immediately said she knew you. Pretty clever. No wonder she's your family."
He and Shen Hegui had the same advisor; they had met through their advisor's introduction. In business, Shen Hegui had helped him a lot. Of course, he wouldn't let Shen Hegui suffer losses either.
When Jiang Yuntan had stood before him earlier, he had genuinely worried she might attack him. In the apocalypse, you couldn't test human nature and expect someone to save you for no reason.
Shen Hegui smiled. "She's usually quite sharp."
Lin Tingxue stood a few meters away, looking at Qiao Chengming lying half on the ground, feeling deeply annoyed.
If only she had come in before Jiang Yuntan, she would have been the one to save Qiao Chengming. She had been searching outside just now, not expecting Qiao Chengming to be inside this coffee shop.
After all, who would have thought that a locked coffee shop would contain a severely injured person?
Thinking this, Lin Tingxue suddenly voiced her doubt, "Wasn't the coffee shop door locked? How did you get in?"
Although Qiao Chengming didn't know her, he knew she was with Shen Hegui's group, so he replied, "I smashed the back window and jumped in."
Lin Tingxue instinctively glanced back and indeed saw some broken glass.
She clenched her palms. A voice in her head kept telling her that she couldn't let Jiang Yuntan take all the credit for saving Qiao Chengming.
The life-saving favor of a loyal and capable ability user could be very valuable.