ALL NOVEL Chapter 23 - Bath
Tang Ruo set the water, saw that Bai Qi was still standing there, and took out a transparent tablet computer she had just collected from her space. She handed it to him and said, “I’ll take a bath first. You can take yours later. Why don’t you go watch a movie for a while?”
This tablet seemed to have been left by the staff. When she found it, she noticed it still had power and contained many movies. Tang Ruo didn’t understand the titles and didn’t have time to explore them, so she just put them into her space.
In the post-apocalyptic world, nights come early, and there aren’t many entertainment options. Watching movies on the tablet is a good choice.
Seeing she was going to bathe, Bai Qi took the tablet and went outside.
In the hallway outside, they had placed several security dogs. All the zombies in the area had been eliminated. They had thoroughly searched both inside and outside, and as long as the zombies didn’t swarm and break down the doors, it was actually quite safe to stay here for the night. Thus, the two of them were at ease.
However, Bai Qi didn’t go far. He simply pulled over a stool and sat down by the door. Bored, he turned on the tablet and started browsing through the movies stored on it.
He hadn’t watched a movie in three years.
After the apocalypse, although the A City base provided electricity, the daily amount was limited and required a significant fee. When Bai Qi arrived in A City in his past life, he paid for housing but didn’t have extra resources for personal comforts like a computer. With the constant focus on hunting every day, he hadn’t used a computer since.
Before the apocalypse, Bai Qi had studied computer programming in college. However, he never graduated because the apocalypse struck, rendering his knowledge useless.
The tablet contained many movies, most of which were in Japanese, a language Bai Qi didn’t understand. He selected one in Chinese with an artful title, “A Door Away.”
Given the current situation, the title seemed quite fitting.
The film’s production appeared quite rudimentary.
A man goes out to buy cigarettes but doesn’t bring an umbrella. When a sudden downpour hits, he seeks shelter under the eaves. Upon discovering that the door he leans against isn’t locked, the man, curious and surprised, steps inside the house.
In the first two minutes, Bai Qi thought it was a suspense film. However, after a few more minutes, he was dumbfounded and astonished.
This wasn’t a suspense film at all; it was clearly an action film from Japan!
It’s pitiful that, after three years in the apocalypse, he had forgotten even the most popular Japanese films among Chinese people before the apocalypse.
The film was set not on a bed but in a small space like a bathtub.
Bai Qi watched the woman in the movie and thought she didn’t compare well to Tang Ruo in any aspect.
He then thought about how Tang Ruo was in the next room, taking a bath. Her fair, delicate skin and overall appearance were a hundred times better than the woman in the film.
Bai Qi felt a warm sensation in his nose.
He touched it.
Damn! It seemed his internal heat was getting out of control lately.
He had managed to stay calm as a monk for over twenty years in his past life, but now, in just over a week…
When Bai Qi turned off the computer, feeling frustrated and conflicted, Tang Ruo had finished her bath. She was wearing a set of pure cotton loungewear. She opened the door and said to Bai Qi, “I’ve prepared the water. You can take a bath now.” Then she dried her hair and left the small room to him.
Now that there was no electricity or internet, Tang Ruo had brought many camping lamps and had also collected a lot of solar-powered lamps here.
So, the small office was quite bright.
The result of the brightness was that the scene of the beauty emerging from the bath was even more intoxicating.
It was simply breathtakingly charming.
Bai Qi covered his nose and hurried into the office with the tablet.
“Hey, let me watch the movie too,” Tang Ruo called from outside. Hearing no response, she didn’t ask further and took out a manual hairdryer to dry her hair.
As she dried her hair, she marveled at the technological advancements in this world.
For instance, this manual hairdryer works without electricity.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the door, Bai Qi, sitting in the bathtub, had a very displeased expression.
He decided to suggest that they sleep in separate beds from now on.
After spending half an hour in the bath, Bai Qi got out and was about to wash his clothes in the water when he noticed that the water seemed quite dirty.
Had he really gotten that dirty after just two days without a bath?
They had always taken showers before, and the water was always drained away, so he hadn’t seen how dirty the water was.
Opening the door, he saw Tang Ruo sitting on a stool reading a book, which was “Modern History of China.”
Bai Qi: “…”
The serious book Tang Ruo was reading was completely at odds with the Japanese film he had just watched.
Bai Qi’s mood was a bit complicated.
Seeing Bai Qi had finished his bath, Tang Ruo closed the book and asked, “Did you enjoy the massage function of the bathtub?”
The bathtub had a full-body massage feature to relieve fatigue, and it was one of the selling points of the smart bathtub.
Bai Qi: “…”
Listening to her mention this, Bai Qi felt even more conflicted.
Noticing Bai Qi staring at her without blinking, Tang Ruo felt uncomfortable and decided to bring up another topic: “Did you notice how dirty the bathwater is? Did we get covered in a lot of zombie blood or something?”
Only then did Bai Qi remember the issue, and he started to clear his jumbled thoughts, focusing on the topic at hand: “I was just thinking about that.”
Tang Ruo: “…”
Seeing your expression earlier, it clearly seemed like you weren’t going to say this.
The two of them then discussed the issue of the bathtub water.
Tang Ruo said, “This water is from the spring in the space. I thought using mineral water would be a waste, so I boiled this water for the bath.”
Bai Qi asked Tang Ruo to add more water for an experiment.
They each put their hands in the full bathtub. After a while, they noticed the water in the bathtub gradually turning black. Although it was only slightly discolored, both of them noticed it.
Tang Ruo took out a container to check and said, “I think my hands have turned whiter.”
Bai Qi was speechless for a moment but honestly responded, “That’s probably just from soaking.”
Tang Ruo was not convinced. She examined her hands closely, waited a bit, and still felt that her hands had become whiter. “It really looks whiter. Could this be whitening water?”
Compared to Tang Ruo’s belief that it was whitening water, Bai Qi didn’t find more information. However, upon closer inspection, he also noticed that both of them seemed to have become somewhat whiter recently. So, they could only tentatively conclude that the water had a strong whitening and decontaminating effect.
With everything done, it was time to sleep.
Tang Ruo laid out the mattress against the wall, made the bed neatly, and even hung a mosquito net. She lay on the inner side, leaving the outer side for Bai Qi.
It was quite normal.
In fact, it was very normal, since since arriving here, they had never slept separately.
Bai Qi: “…”
He struggled internally for a moment, then remembered the often-repeated motivational phrase of the apocalypse, “If there’s a bargain and you don’t take it, you’re an idiot.” Bai Qi silently ignored his internal conflict, with his palms burning with heat. He maintained a calm expression and, with a serene demeanor, lay down next to Tang Ruo.