Chapter 60: High Temperature, Team Wipeout

"I guess so."

Seeing Evelyn Ford admit it, Quincy was a little surprised. "You’re so capable, you could adapt anywhere. Besides, you have a weapon—what’s there to be afraid of?"

Evelyn Ford looked at him like he was an idiot. "You think they’ll let you bring weapons into a base? Besides, in a hostile group environment, being the one who sticks out is incredibly stupid."

Evelyn Ford gave Quincy a wry smile. "You’re actually not bad-looking, you know? It doesn’t matter if you’re a man or a woman—if you’ve got the looks but not the ability to protect yourself, your fate will be even worse."

Quincy couldn’t help but shudder.

After saying her piece, Evelyn Ford opened her door and went inside. The sky wasn’t light yet, so she could still get some more sleep. As for her words, she wasn’t just trying to scare Quincy. It wasn’t only women—young, handsome men were in just as much danger in this post-apocalyptic world.

In the days that followed, Quincy and the others continued to go out searching for supplies. He seemed to be their lucky charm, always managing to find a decent haul. He even found several barrels of gasoline at a gas station. With gasoline on hand, everyone felt much more secure. At least when the day came that they needed to leave, it would be just as Quincy had said: just step on the gas and go.

Evelyn Ford, meanwhile, kept herself shut inside, preparing cooked food. Once the outside temperature hit fifty-four degrees Celsius, the winds grew stronger, and the fire in Norcast had already burned through several industrial parks and commercial districts.

Since there were still quite a few people in the city, Quincy’s group often ran into ambushes. During the worst incident, all their supplies were stolen, and everyone was beaten black and blue.

By now, Evelyn Ford would treat their injuries and bandage their wounds without asking for supplies in return. In this building, their fates were intertwined; they had become a team. She was willing to do her part for them.

The povidone-iodine and gauze she had found at Corinth University came in handy. Quincy stared at the medical supplies, his face a mask of envy.

He was the one most seriously injured this time, with a broken rib, a dislocated wrist, and a fractured lower leg.

Evelyn Ford took back her earlier thought about him being their lucky charm. ’This guy is clearly a jinx incarnate.’

"Where did those people ambush you?"

"Are you going to get revenge for us? Evelyn, I knew I was right about you! You’re the best! From this day forward, we’re practically family—siblings from another mother! If you’re ever in trouble, your big brother will go through hell and high water for you, no questions asked."

Evelyn Ford deliberately pressed down hard on his wound, making Quincy howl in pain.

"OW, OW, OW! I was wrong! I’ll call you Big Sis, and I’ll be your little brother! Is that okay?"

"Stop fooling around. Can you speak seriously for once?"

Quincy said, aggrieved, "I have been speaking seriously."

Meeting Evelyn Ford’s cold, menacing gaze, Quincy shivered and whispered, "At the farmer’s market on Northgate Avenue. There were a lot of them, eight or nine big guys, and they had weapons."

Evelyn Ford was confused. "You have a weapon, too. What’s the problem? Don’t know how to shoot?"

Quincy looked guilty. "I left the gun at home."

"Looks to me like you left your brain at home."

Evelyn Ford quickly treated and bandaged him. Roy Henderson and Owen Chapman were the least injured, so she would treat them last. Officer Graham’s nose was broken, and he had been shot in the back with a crossbow bolt. His condition wasn’t good.

"Miss Ford, please don’t go after those people. It was our fault for being careless this time. We’ll just have to accept the loss. But those guys have crossbows—bigger than yours. If Mr. Graham hadn’t thrown one of his homemade bombs, we would have been completely wiped out today."

Roy Henderson had a tooth knocked out, and his speech had a slight lisp.

’What a pitiful sight.’

Wendy was desperately fanning Officer Graham with a small fan. Evelyn Ford walked over and gently stroked her hair.

"Wendy, don’t be scared. Your dad will be fine. Miss Ford is going to bandage his wound right now. You have to cheer us on, okay?"

Wendy reached out to hug Evelyn Ford, then nodded emphatically.

Evelyn Ford took out her medical kit and began to treat Officer Graham. Whoever had fired the crossbow had poor aim, so the bolt hadn’t hit a vital spot. Officer Graham woke up from the pain as Evelyn was stitching the wound. Seeing that he was clear-headed and in relatively good spirits, she felt much more relieved.

"Ford, I’m sorry to trouble you."

Evelyn Ford shook her head. "It’s no trouble. Just rest and don’t talk. Your injuries are pretty serious. You probably won’t be able to leave the apartment for at least half a month."

Officer Graham gave a bitter smile. "We finally managed to find some crackers and sausages last night. What a waste of food."

At the mention of this, the mood in the room sank.

"Mr. Graham, don’t lose heart," Quincy chimed in. "Once we’re healed up, we’ll take Evelyn with us and wipe them all out! It would be dishonorable not to get revenge for this."

Evelyn Ford expected Officer Graham to object, but to her surprise, he nodded in agreement.

"Alright. I’ll start sharpening my knives in a couple of days."

Evelyn was speechless. ’Well, I guess an eye for an eye is a virtue of its own.’

After treating the four of them, Evelyn Ford went back to her apartment. She ladled the bone broth she’d been simmering into plastic containers and sealed them. One large barrel of broth filled two hundred containers. Evelyn Ford placed the containers into boxes and stored them in her Space.

After several sleepless days of work, the amount of cooked food in her Space had visibly increased. The plain and stuffed steamed buns she had made before were already gone. Over the next few days, Evelyn planned to steam several thousand more plain ones.

Corinth was in the south, but Evelyn Ford loved steamed buns. When she was little, she had been much taller than her peers. Her classmates’ parents used to ask her own parents if she was taking some kind of nutritional supplement. Her mother would just tell them that she loved wheat-based foods and wasn’t a picky eater, which was why she shot up in height.

Evelyn Ford couldn’t help but smile at the memory.

After a week of rest, Quincy and the others started doing recovery exercises on the eleventh floor. Evelyn Ford brought them a box of Agastache Harmony Tonic and did a follow-up check on their wounds.

"I’ve made a huge discovery," Quincy announced. "I haven’t seen any vultures these past few days."

Quincy pointed out the window. Everyone looked where he was pointing, but all they saw was a sky full of yellow sand and the howling wind.

"With the wind this strong, could it blow embers from the Norcast fire over here?" Roy Henderson couldn’t help but worry.

"We’re in the southeast of Corinth. It’s impossible for them to blow this far," Quincy said, patting Roy Henderson on the head.

"The vultures are gone... That doesn’t mean some new species is going to appear, does it?"

Everyone looked at Roy Henderson. He rubbed his ear and gave a bashful smile.

"I was just talking nonsense."

"What Roy said makes a lot of sense," Evelyn said. "Everyone should be extra vigilant for the next half a month." She mentally calculated the date. It was already mid-September. In five days, it would be the Mid-Autumn Festival.

"For the Mid-Autumn Festival, why don’t we all pool our food and have a reunion dinner together?" Officer Graham suggested.

The last time they’d had a reunion dinner, it had also been at Officer Graham’s apartment. Back then, his family had still been whole.

Lauren Keller had still been alive.

"Sounds good! I’ll contribute two packs of instant noodles and a bottle of water," Quincy was the first to say.

Evelyn Ford naturally had no objections either. Officer Graham’s proposal passed unanimously.