The night passed without incident.
The next morning, Lin Zhuoran called them up. Lin Zhuoran originally wanted to prepare food for Xu An and Zhou Haimei, but Xu An stopped her.
"We still have some, you don't need to prepare. My mom made this for me to bring down, you should try some too."
Xu An's ungrudging and generous sharing warmed Lin Zhuoran's heart.
It wasn't that she hadn't met people who changed their tune with the wind; in the apocalypse, human warmth was even more precious.
Xu Yan knew that her daughter was going on a mission, so she made food that was filling and easy to store.
Xu An unzipped her backpack and took out several scallion pancakes. Then, as if performing magic, she found a large piece of braised beef and eggs, and even several packets of milk.
Just by looking at the packaging, one could tell they were products from the Lighthouse.
Zhou Haimei's eyes lit up at the sight of the food.
"Hmph, An'an, you're so biased. Today you have your Zhuoran jie, so you bring out the meat. You didn't have any meat with me yesterday."
Lin Zhuoran chuckled softly, knowing they were just joking and certainly not truly angry.
"Sister Mei, how can you be jealous of me too? Xiao An is usually with you, so I'm the one who should be jealous."
"Hahahaha..."
The three girls giggled and playfully bickered, bursting into laughter.
Not only Lin Zhuoran, but even Xu An and Zhou Haimei hadn't laughed so happily in a long time.
The three of them ate ravenously. By the time Lin Zhuoran realized it, she found that they had eaten all the food Xu An had taken out. She then smiled apologetically, "Xiao An, do you have anything else to eat? If not, I'll bring you some. I couldn't help myself and ate it all."
It wasn't just Xu Yan's cooking that was too good; more importantly, Lin Zhuoran hadn't eaten meat in a long time. Without realizing it, she had finished that entire large piece of beef.
She knew that Xu An and Zhou Haimei had barely touched that piece of meat to take care of her, and she had eaten almost all of it herself. Thinking about this made her feel even more embarrassed.
"It's okay, we have other rations, don't feel bad. Food is meant to be eaten, and besides, we can eat like this usually, you..."
She stopped mid-sentence, seeing Lin Zhuoran's suddenly dejected mood, and realized she had said the wrong thing.
"I'm sorry..."
Lin Zhuoran took Zhou Haimei's hand and smiled gently, "It's alright, this is my own choice. I'm already happy that you didn't call me ungrateful and respected my decision."
After breakfast, Lin Zhuoran, taking advantage of the fact that everyone was still asleep, quietly led Xu An out of the capsule. The three of them left the bunker without alerting anyone.
Lin Zhuoran switched to another car to take them. "The car from yesterday belonged to Yu Qin and the others. This car is mine now."
After saying that, she glanced at Xu An. Xu An looked at the car in front of her. "This is the car you were driving when we separated, right? It's still here."
"Yeah, this thing has saved me several times at critical moments. If I hadn't met you back then, I might have really chosen to perish with those bitches. Fortunately, you appeared."
"I've already told you, I wasn't helping you, we just had a common goal," Xu An replied indifferently, then turned her head back to look at the foggy scenery outside the car window.
Lin Zhuoran didn't argue further. She knew Xu An's good intentions and appreciated them, so she didn't dwell on the matter.
The vehicle still drove slowly. Due to the fog, Lin Zhuoran kept the high beams on, afraid of hitting something.
But sometimes, even if you don't look for trouble, it doesn't mean trouble won't find you.
As the vehicle drove onto a not-so-open highway, Xu An frowned sensitively. She seemed to smell an unfriendly aura.
Just as this thought surfaced, the long-dormant voice in Xu An's mind reappeared.
"Let's make a deal. You change my name, and I'll tell you something that's crucial to your lives right now."
Xu An's lips twitched. "How much do you hate your name?"
"I am the world consciousness! The existence that controls the Gate of Truth. Do you think the name 'Er Ya' suits my noble and cool demeanor?"
Xu An put her hand to her forehead. "Did you peek at the CEO novels I put in my spatial storage?"
"Ah, what's wrong?" the voice asked with apparent bewilderment.
"Read less, it'll make you brain-dead."
But Xu An also knew that now was not the time for joking, and moreover, she did sense that something was not right here.
"Fine, I'll change your name. Tell me what it is first."
"Of course, someone is ambushing you. Not only that, but the base where Lin Zhuoran is staying is also a bit strange."
Xu An didn't ask what was strange at the moment, but she knew someone was ambushing her. However, she couldn't directly tell the other two. Just as Xu An was thinking of a way to make Lin Zhuoran stop the car, a thorny fence appeared before their eyes.
Under the glare of the high beams, the fence lay directly in the middle of the road. Anyone could tell that this was not something accidentally placed there.
It was fortunate that their car was moving slowly. If they had been going any faster, they would have run over this fence.
"Can't we just drive through it?" Zhou Haimei asked.
"No!"
"No!"
Xu An and Lin Zhuoran spoke at the same time, stopping Zhou Haimei's idea.
Seeing Zhou Haimei's confused look, Xu An explained, "This is clearly an ambush. This fence is probably the first checkpoint. If the other party randomly scattered nails and broken glass on the ground, our tires would be directly punctured if we drove over it."
Lin Zhuoran added grimly from the driver's seat, "Not only that, but the enemy might rush us when we're in a panic. At that point, even if we had ten parts of our strength, we would be caught off guard."
Lin Zhuoran had lived on the surface for much longer than the other two.
The moment she saw the fence, she knew someone must be attacking them.
"Both of you, get your weapons ready. I'll park the car on the side of the road, and when they get close, we'll catch them off guard."
Xu An and Zhou Haimei both nodded, agreeing with Lin Zhuoran's plan. The enemy wanted to ambush them.
Then they could use this to their advantage and turn the tables.