They stayed in that small town for two days.
Lu Yu said they needed to wait for the contaminated rain to pass.
Lin Wan didn't understand why they had to wait out the rain. In her mind, rain was just rain. But Lu Yu's expression as he watched the sky was serious, as if he were reading a book only he could understand.
"This rain isn't clean," he said.
"What do you mean?"
"The airborne contaminant comes down with the rain. If it gets on your skin, you'll break out in a rash. In severe cases, the skin will ulcerate."
Lin Wan instinctively touched her arm.
"How do you know?"
He didn't answer.
Again.
The rain came down in the early hours of the second day.
Lin Wan was awakened by the sound of it. She crouched by the window and looked outside. The rain struck the ground, splashing up water with a faint yellow tint, as if it had been dyed by something. Soaked by the rain, the weeds along the roadside began to blacken and curl at the edges of their leaves.
She watched for a long time, cold sweat slowly seeping down her back.
If she had been alone, she would have walked straight into that rain.
She might even have opened her mouth to drink it.
Lu Yu sat in the corner of the warehouse, sharpening the folding knife with a whetstone. His movements were slow and rhythmic. The scrape of metal against stone sounded especially clear in the quiet space.
Lin Wan sat back down, hugging her knees as she watched him.
"Do you never sleep?"
"I sleep."
"How come I've never seen you sleep?"
Lu Yu's hand paused.
"I sleep when you do."
"Then who stands watch?"
He said nothing and continued sharpening the knife.
Lin Wan understood.
He hadn't slept at all. Or rather, he only dozed off after she was deeply asleep, then woke before dawn.
She parted her lips, wanting to say, You can't keep doing this, but swallowed the words when they reached her mouth.
Because she knew he wouldn't listen, even if she said it.
The rain stopped in the evening.
Lu Yu waited two hours. Only after confirming that the puddles on the ground had begun to evaporate did he let her go outside.
They continued west.
This stretch of road was somewhat easier to travel. The highway was still mostly intact, with vast fields on both sides. All the crops had withered and died, but at least the view was open. There were no woods, no overpasses, and no corners they couldn't see.
Lin Wan's foot was much better. Lu Yu's bandaging had really helped. The blisters had begun to scab over, and walking no longer felt like stepping on shattered glass.
She walked behind him, watching his back.
Broad shoulders. A straight back. Footsteps always falling into the same rhythm.
Suddenly, she spoke. "Do you have any family?"
Lu Yu didn't stop walking.
"Not anymore."
Three words, delivered as evenly as if he were saying, The weather's nice today.
But Lin Wan heard the weight in the words not anymore.
He had once had a family.
"...I'm sorry."
"Don't be."
They walked in silence for a while.
"Me too," Lin Wan said. Her voice was so soft, it seemed meant for the wind. "My parents died in a car accident when I was in high school. I've been alone ever since."
She didn't know why she was telling him this.
Maybe because he had said not anymore.
Maybe because in this empty world, it had been so long since she'd told anyone anything about herself.
Lu Yu's pace slowed by a beat.
Very briefly. So briefly that Lin Wan almost didn't notice.
But he had slowed.
"So you're used to being alone," he said.
It wasn't a question. It was a statement.
Lin Wan froze for a moment, then laughed.
It was the first time she'd laughed since the apocalypse began.
"Yeah. I'm very good at being alone," she said, with a hint of self-mockery. "Eating alone, moving alone, going to the hospital alone. I can do anything alone."
She paused.
"But I can't do the apocalypse alone."
Lu Yu didn't respond.
They kept walking.
At dusk, they found an abandoned house.
The house wasn't big, but the roof was intact, and the doors and windows could still be shut. There was a sofa in the living room. The upholstery was dirty but undamaged. When they turned on the kitchen faucet, water actually came out—yellow, though Lu Yu said it could be used after boiling.
He found an iron pot and half a bag of rice in the kitchen.
Lin Wan stood in the kitchen doorway, watching him start a fire.
He used a fire starter. His movements were practiced, and he had a flame going in three strikes. The fire flickered on the makeshift stove, lighting half his face.
"You can cook?"
"Yes."
"Is there anything you can't do?"
Lu Yu poured water into the pot without looking up.
"A lot."
Lin Wan leaned against the doorframe, folding her arms.
"Like what?"
He was silent for a few seconds.
"Like talking to people."
Lin Wan laughed again.
This time, her laughter lasted a little longer.
The rice finished cooking. There were no side dishes, only plain white rice, but steam rose from it, carrying the long-missed fragrance of cooked rice.
They sat on the living room floor and ate.
Lin Wan cradled her bowl, eating one bite at a time. The grains were a little hard—they hadn't used enough water—but she thought it was the best meal she'd ever had.
It was so much better than compressed rations.
"It's good," she said.
Lu Yu shoveled rice into his mouth with his head lowered and didn't respond.
But Lin Wan thought his ears looked a little red.
The light was too dim for her to see clearly.
Or maybe it was just the firelight.
After they finished eating, Lu Yu went to check the doors and windows. He nailed wooden boards over the living room windows from the inside, leaving only a narrow gap for ventilation. He braced the front door with the sofa, then blocked the kitchen's back door with the iron pot and assorted objects.
Lin Wan sat on the sofa, watching him work.
"I'll stand watch tonight," she said.
Lu Yu stopped while nailing up the last board.
He turned to look at her.
"You won't last."
"You can't keep going without sleeping either." Lin Wan's tone was serious. "You haven't had a proper night's sleep in at least three days. If you keep this up, you'll be the first one to collapse."
Lu Yu looked at her.
His expression was complicated.
There was scrutiny in his eyes, hesitation, and something else Lin Wan couldn't understand.
"If you hear anything, wake me up," she said. "I won't try to play tough. I know I can't beat anything out there. But I can at least listen."
A long silence followed.
Finally, Lu Yu hammered the nail into the board and stood up.
"Two hours," he said. "I'll take over after two hours."
"Four hours."
"Three."
Lin Wan looked at him.
"Okay. Three hours."
Lu Yu sat down at the other end of the sofa. He didn't lie down. He merely leaned against the backrest and closed his eyes.
Lin Wan sat beside him, keeping quiet.
She listened to the wind outside, to the occasional indistinct sounds drifting from the distance, and to her own heartbeat.
Then she heard his breathing.
It had grown steady. It had grown deep.
He had really fallen asleep.
Lin Wan turned her head and looked at him in the moonlight filtering through the gap in the window.
A sleeping Lu Yu was different from the one who was awake.
The tension had left his brow. His lips were slightly parted. The sharp alertness he wore at all times had disappeared, revealing a face that was actually quite young.
He looked exhausted.
Not the kind of exhaustion that came from walking too far.
It was the exhaustion of someone who had carried something heavy for a very long time and had finally set it down for one second.
Lin Wan gently draped his jacket over him.
She didn't know what he was carrying.
But she thought that at least tonight, he didn't have to carry it alone.
Three hours later, she woke him.
Lu Yu's eyes opened fast. Before Lin Wan had time to speak, he was already sitting upright, his gaze sweeping over the doors and windows to make sure everything was normal.
"It's okay," Lin Wan said. "Nothing happened."
He looked at her.
There was something in his eyes that Lin Wan couldn't put into words.
It wasn't gratitude. It wasn't trust.
It was more like—surprise.
As if he hadn't expected anyone to stand watch for him.
"Go to sleep," he said. His voice was a little lower than usual.
Lin Wan nodded and lay down on the sofa, pulling the jacket over herself.
Before closing her eyes, she said:
"Lu Yu."
"Hm?"
"You don't have to carry everything by yourself."
He didn't answer.
But just before her consciousness slipped into darkness, Lin Wan had the vague feeling that—
he seemed to let out a soft sigh.
Very soft.
Like something he'd held in for a long time had finally leaked out, just a little.