The ground suddenly trembled. Shen Yi, who was sitting and fishing, managed to maintain his balance.
Beside him, Cheng Jun lost her footing, and the paintbrush fell from her hand.
Shen Yi quickly stood up to support her, and they leaned together as they gazed into the distance.
Part of a high-rise building's wall crumbled in the tremors, sending up clouds of dust.
The vines on the exterior wall, like parasitic ropes clinging to the concrete cracks, somehow managed to keep the main structure from completely collapsing.
The direction was towards the southernmost point, an area they hadn't yet explored.
The tremors didn't last long, and everything around them grew quiet again.
Cheng Jun's face turned pale, her lips trembling,
"Is... is it an earthquake?"
Shen Yi, still supporting Cheng Jun, wore a grave expression,
"I'm afraid it's not that simple."
If it were just an earthquake, that would be one thing, but he feared the disturbance might have been caused by something far more terrifying.
The peaceful life was merely an illusion; Shen Yi constantly reminded himself that he was living in an apocalyptic world.
"Let's go, we should head back home and check things out."
Their home had just experienced an earthquake, and they needed to verify if there was any damage - that was the immediate priority.
Shen Yi left his fishing rod behind, only quickly gathering some essentials to put in the car.
"Squeak..."
The familiar sound made Shen Yi stop in his tracks.
Looking towards the sound, he saw that purple mouse again.
Due to the earthquake, a bottle of drink had tipped over, and now the mouse was licking the sweet liquid flowing from its mouth.
Shen Yi rushed over in a few quick strides, grabbed the mouse's body, lifted it up, and stared at it saying:
"Was that your doing?"
Out of Cheng Jun's sight, Shen Yi had already summoned a gun and pressed it against its neck.
If it made any sudden moves, Shen Yi would not hesitate to shoot.
Regardless of what kind of monster it was, he wanted to see if it could still move after having its head blown off.
But under the current threat, the mouse neither squeaked nor struggled, simply hanging in Shen Yi's grip without biting or trying to escape.
Shen Yi actually saw innocence in its eyes, as if saying,
"Oh no, little mousey got caught."
Suddenly, the purple mouse slipped from Shen Yi's hand like water, landing back on the ground to continue licking the remaining beverage.
Shen Yi was startled - the slipping wasn't just a figure of speech, it literally happened.
It had truly transformed into a black, oil-like liquid as it fell to the ground.
"This..."
"What's wrong, Shen Yi? Who are you talking to?"
At this point, Cheng Jun had put down her things and rushed over to ask.
Shen Yi didn't say much, just pointed at it.
The mouse continued drinking nonchalantly, completely ignoring the two people above it.
"It appeared again..."
Cheng Jun's expression darkened; she was naturally afraid of mice, being the type who would feel uncomfortable just seeing one.
"Could that earthquake have been caused by it..."
Clearly, Cheng Jun had developed suspicions too. It was hard not to make the connection - this mouse was the only living creature they'd encountered in this world, so who else could they suspect?
"I'm not sure, we have too little information to go on. We're completely in the dark here."
Shen Yi shook his head; a gut feeling told him this mouse wasn't the real culprit.
But given its peculiar nature, it definitely had some connection to what was happening.
Cheng Jun was deeply worried. After living peacefully for just two or three months, incidents had started occurring frequently, and the more they learned, the more questions arose.
Most of the phones, tablets, and laptops they'd collected from homes were password-protected, and without internet access, they couldn't even scratch the surface of understanding this world's catastrophe.
After some consideration, Shen Yi crouched down to try communicating with it.
"Can you understand what I'm saying? If you can, nod once."
Shen Yi's words made the purple mouse lift its head from the bottle.
It made no gesture, but the small flower on its head turned in a different direction, and the surrounding weeds instantly grew more lush.
Then it vanished from their sight in a flash.
"What do you think that flower on its head looks like?"
On their way back, both were lost in thought.
Shen Yi scratched his chin thoughtfully and recalled something similar,
"The Stairway to the Sun?"
This was from a Resident Evil game Shen Yi had played in college, a plant-based setting that was essentially the origin of the game's story, with the virus being extracted from this flower.
The plant's characteristics matched the background setting Shen Yi understood - alien plant invasion.
Cheng Jun hadn't seen it, but he had witnessed clearly how the mouse had turned into liquid and slipped from his hand.
"Resident Evil? That makes some sense, but I can think of a more fitting story background - The Last of Us."
"What's that?"
"It's also a game, where the fungal infected are quite similar to that mouse we just saw."
Cheng Jun explained, as she had played more games and could make a more apt comparison.
She then gave Shen Yi a detailed overview of the plot.
Shen Yi nodded after listening; this did seem more reasonable.
Since their villa was newly built, it hadn't suffered much damage in the earthquake.
They entered and started picking up fallen decorations.
Then they each checked their stockpiled supplies in their rooms.
At the dining table, Shen Yi noticed Cheng Jun eating as if the food had no taste.
Seeing her still worried after their earlier conversation, he tried to engage her in casual chat,
"Tomorrow I'll go check out where the earthquake happened. We can't keep operating blindly."
Hearing this, Cheng Jun put down her chopsticks, losing even the will to force down the tasteless food, her words brimming with concern.
"I... I'll go with you."
Shen Yi swallowed his mouthful of rice before responding:
"No way. I took you out before because things were quiet, but now with all this commotion, I can't risk putting you in danger."
"But... you..."
Cheng Jun frowned, words failing her.
If it's too dangerous for me to go, isn't it just as dangerous for you?
Shen Yi naturally understood her concerns. Their fates were intertwined now - if anything happened to him, Cheng Jun would likely struggle to survive alone.
After these few short months together, Shen Yi had developed both admiration and affection for her.
She was resilient, sensible, determined, and crucially, showed remarkable toughness when needed.
Sometimes Shen Yi would think rather mundanely that if she could be his girlfriend in real life, he'd be grinning even in his sleep.
Pulling his wandering thoughts back, Shen Yi reassured her,
"Don't worry, I'll be fine. I'll just observe from a safe distance, won't get too close."
"You know, like throwing shurikens from 800 miles away."
It took Cheng Jun, despite her quick wit, a moment to catch this old meme reference.
When she did, her gloomy mood lifted slightly, and her lips twitched into a small smile.
Seeing this, Shen Yi's eyes lit up, and he asked:
"You know about that too?"
Cheng Jun felt underestimated and couldn't help but roll her eyes at him,
"How could I not know? I've been in the ACG community for so long. It's just edge OB, right?"
Before her 'crossing over,' her hobbies had been games, anime, and novels. Now, after living here for three months, those memories felt like a lifetime ago.
Their playful banter continued on this topic until Shen Yi finally admitted defeat - he couldn't help it, work had left him with little time to keep up with these things, and his knowledge showed its limits when the conversation deepened.
Naturally, Cheng Jun seized the opportunity to tease him mercilessly.
No matter how peaceful life might seem in this apocalypse, it was still a foreign place. The homesickness could only find momentary peace when soaked in memories.
In the kitchen, Cheng Jun washed dishes while still basking in the recent cheerful mood, softly humming her favorite song from before.
Suddenly, the gentle humming stopped.
Cheng Jun gradually realized that she had unknowingly cast aside the gloomy dining table mood, cheered up by Shen Yi's playfulness.
Yes, he always had a way.
Lost in these thoughts, she didn't notice she had polished the utensils until they gleamed.
Then, once again, singing could be heard from the kitchen.