Seven Stars and Four Seasons (Zhou Qiuqin’s Perspective)

Today is Friday.

I gave Qin Yue a single day off on Tuesday, yet it’s been three days, and I haven’t seen her.

“Hah…”

Standing on the balcony, I exhaled a cloud of white breath, the vapor clearly visible in the lamplight.

The snow hasn’t stopped.

To prevent my camp from being buried, I’ve had my soldiers and the scavengers constantly clearing the roads.

This snow came suddenly.

The crops outside the camp hadn’t been harvested, and our stockpiles are running low.

Every winter, the rival factions begin to stir.

I need to strengthen the camp’s defenses to guard against a surprise attack from the “Seven Stars.”

They are an alliance of seven survivor camps to the north of the basin.

In opposition, I and the three camps to the south have formed the “Four Seasons.”

Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter.

My camp is Autumn, the closest to the Seven Stars.

On the day I gave Qin Yue off, the leader of Spring came to me to discuss forming a convoy to Tongda City, over two hundred kilometers away, to gather supplies.

Even though the survivor camps have developed some semblance of a system over the past few years, small camps like ours still can’t produce many things.

Like firearms and various medicines.

The quickest way to strengthen a camp’s defenses is to acquire more weapons.

The camp has people and ammunition, but we’re short on guns.

Luckily, the leader of Spring hasn’t left yet.

She’s still staying in my camp, and she brought two modified humans and forty soldiers equipped with rifles and grenades.

I have to get enough firearms from Tongda City as soon as possible.

The survival of Autumn depends on it.

My mind was filled with these heavy thoughts.

I reached out my hand to catch the snowflakes falling from the night sky.

The cold touch eased my inner turmoil, and my worries lessened slightly.

For some reason, I thought of that blonde girl, Qin Yue.

Her body was intoxicating, and the way she tried to please me was a great stress reliever.

Why can’t the others in the camp be as obedient as Qin Yue?

Well, Qin Yue isn’t that obedient either.

The fact that she has silently stayed away for days is really annoying me.

I haven’t had anyone to vent my desires on these past few days.

I started to wonder if she had frozen to death in the snow.

Wouldn’t I lose a satisfying toy forever?

No, what does her death have to do with me?

The reason I’m so cruel to my nominal girlfriend is because I want to see her freeze to death, helpless, on some cold night.

Yes, Qin Yue is a despicable scumbag.

I remember every evil thing she has done.

If she’s dead, that’s fine.

The camp would have one less burden, one less piece of trash.

It would continue to run as it always has, without a single ripple.

“Hah… you’d better be dead. If Qin Dai goes to your house tomorrow and finds you’re not…”

I clenched my outstretched fist, then opened it, a single drop of melted snowflake in my palm.

What would I do to a Qin Yue who had so blatantly ignored me?

Gouge out her eyes?

Cut off her hands?

Rip out her heart?

I hadn’t decided.

But I was definitely angry.

Why hadn’t I gone to her house myself these past few days?

Maybe because I was really busy with the leader of Spring, or maybe it was because of the deep-seated contempt I had for her.

I admit, Qin Yue’s self-debasement had pleased me, but it also had consequences.

If she ever did anything to defy me, her fate would be worse than the last one who was turned into canned meat.

Pushing thoughts of Qin Yue aside, I turned and went to the guest room on the second floor, knocking gently on the door.

The person inside must have heard my footsteps and been waiting.

The door creaked open as soon as I knocked.

A tall figure in a black down jacket stood before me.

She wore a black cloak over the jacket and a fluffy hood that completely concealed her hair.

Her face was covered by a black mask, leaving only a pair of dark eyes visible.

“Autumn, what’s up? It’s the middle of the night.”

Her tone was casual, like she was talking to an old friend.

Her voice was a bit rough, but not intimidating or cold.

“Spring, your fashion sense is still terrible.”

I looked at the hooded figure and shook my head, walking into the guest room and sitting down on the bed without ceremony.

This was the leader of Spring.

We grew up together.

She always liked to dress like this, and we always just called each other by a single character from our names.

“Autumn, have you made up your mind?”

“Yes, we’ll assemble the convoy on Monday and head to Tongda City. The Seven Stars get restless in the winter. I need to get a batch of weapons to arm more people.”

“How do we split the supplies?”

The first thing she thought of was supplies.

Of course, even brothers have to keep clear accounts, let alone childhood friends.

She also had a camp to support.

“Thirty-seventy. After all, I’m the closest to the Seven Stars, and I suffer the most losses in every battle.”

I closed my eyes.

If I could, I wouldn’t give her a single thing.

But I couldn’t.

To defend against the Seven Stars, I could only spare a small part of my forces, and all the cities were in heavy-radiation zones.

With just the hundred or so people I could spare, we’d just be feeding the mutants.

The two modified humans and forty soldiers she brought were a crucial addition to our strength.

“Then you go by yourself. I’ll go find Summer and Winter when the snow stops.”

Her tone was still joking, but I didn’t doubt her seriousness.

Spring always sounded like she was joking, even when she was dead serious.

Her strange fashion sense and her unpredictable way of speaking meant that she wasn’t very popular among the Four Seasons.

Of course, I was an exception.

We were childhood friends.

I was used to it.

“Forty-sixty. No less.”

I didn’t want to haggle.

I stood up and looked at her.

She was a few centimeters shorter than me, so I often had the upper hand in terms of presence.

“Tsk, fine. Who knows how much we’ll get from Tongda City anyway. We might just end up losing guns and bullets for nothing.”

She held out her hand, agreeing to my terms.

There was nothing more to say.

I shook her hand firmly, and the deal was done.

If the soldiers sent to Tongda didn’t bring back enough weapons, then with the camp’s current force of just over a thousand, we would likely face annihilation.