"Big! Fat! Liar!"
Qin Zhen threw a punch, but Fu Qi swiftly blocked it with his other hand. Realizing the zombie had snapped out of her daze, he quickly said, "I explained everything to you, and you agreed. Once things go back to normal, I’ll help you find TombNet. We had a deal."
"Deal my ass!"
Trying to trick her while her brain was lagging? Not a chance!
The zombie was dead set on beating him up, her strength overwhelming. Fu Qi struggled to dodge while attempting to reason with her. "No swearing, okay? You’ll get shot for that."
Qin Zhen: "Fuck!"
"We had a deal. Now you’re going back on your word. If you keep this up, I’ll get mad and stop being your neighbor. No more hanging out."
"Go to hell!"
The zombie was fuming.
She’d tolerated Fu Qi’s sarcasm, endured him kicking her coffin, and even put up with his lies—all for the sake of escaping the tomb and experiencing human technology. But now her tomb was gone, and he had the nerve to tell her it was all fake? That human civilization had collapsed, and they were barely surviving?
She was going to make Fu Qi taste what "barely surviving" really felt like!
With both her hands pinned by Fu Qi, Qin Zhen couldn’t break free to hit him. In a fit of rage, she spotted his tanned, muscular forearm and bit down hard.
Fu Qi’s eye twitched. He let go with one hand to block her, freeing her right arm—which she immediately used to land a solid punch straight to his face.
The impact stung sharply.
He hissed in pain. Seeing her fist wind up for another strike, he grabbed her hand again. "You’re breaking the rules now. Biting and hurting humans? That’s not what good zombies do. Aren’t you afraid of Taoist priests coming after you?"
"From now on, zombies’ top enemy—Taoist priests second, you first!"
Fu Qi: "..."
If she wasn’t even scared of Taoist priests anymore, she was truly furious.
The intensity of the zombie’s anger caught him off guard. Sighing, he tightened his grip on her wrists. "It’s not that I won’t let you hit me, but shouldn’t you at least avoid my face? I’m a man, after all."
Qin Zhen said nothing, just tried to bite him again.
Fu Qi barely dodged, only for her to lunge at his neck. Realizing this couldn’t continue, he pushed off with his injured leg, sending them both tumbling off the couch.
Using his size advantage, he pinned her down and spoke in a soothing tone. "Promise not to hit my face, and I’ll let you go."
Qin Zhen squirmed but couldn’t flip him over. Glaring, she held out for a long moment before reluctantly blinking in agreement.
"We had a deal—no hitting the face. Sweetheart, the most important thing for a zombie is keeping promises."
Fu Qi released her. The next second, his face took another brutal punch, and he was shoved onto his back.
Lying on the floor, his cheek throbbing, he mused that despite her scrawny appearance, the zombie packed a serious punch.
Gentlemen avoided the face in fights, but zombies seemed to aim for it. Yet when Fu Qi lay there, resigned to his fate, Qin Zhen suddenly stopped.
The sun had set. The apartment was small, its window tiny, allowing only faint twilight to seep in. In the dimness, Qin Zhen sat atop Fu Qi, silently studying him before abruptly standing up.
"Done fighting?" Fu Qi sat up as she headed for the window. "Where are you going?"
The zombie paused, her back to him, staring at the desolate ruins and shadowy figures wandering beyond the glass. "We’re through. Going back to my tomb!"
Humans were insane. Their world had no technology, no computers or internet, just corpses and filth everywhere. Zombies had standards—this was unacceptable.
The mortal world wasn’t worth it.
Qin Zhen, heartbroken, decided to pack up and return underground.
"Go back? Sweetheart, your tomb blew up. Remember?"
The reminder earned Fu Qi another punch—this time to the gut.
No mercy.
Only after the zombie abandoned her "no harming humans" rule did Fu Qi realize how much he’d taken those nonexistent, all-powerful Taoist priests for granted.
Truly a blessing.
Fu Qi raised his hands in surrender. "Fine, I’ll stop. Just one last thing—if you go back now, you might run into those foreigners. If they realize you’re not human, they’ll hunt you endlessly."
The zombie hesitated.
Seizing the opportunity, Fu Qi softened his voice. "Besides, even without the internet, human society still has clothes. If you go back empty-handed, what’ll you wear when yours rot in a few years? What if grave robbers see you naked? Embarrassing, no?"
Qin Zhen wavered.
"I was wrong to lie. You’ve yelled, you’ve hit me—let it go. At dawn, I’ll take you to find clothes. Then you can decide whether to go back. Deal?"
After a pause, the zombie nodded and walked back—only to sucker-punch him again as she passed.
Fu Qi: "?"
Qin Zhen’s grayish face remained stern. "One sentence. That was extra."
Fu Qi: "...Fair."
Truce achieved, for now. Fu Qi rewrapped the bandages around his leg, undone during their childish scuffle, while Qin Zhen sat curled on the bed, sulking.
With no electricity or running water, humanity had reverted to sleeping when darkness fell. The zombie and the human spent the night in stubborn silence.
Any attempt Fu Qi made at conversation was swiftly shut down by a raised fist.
At dawn, rain poured relentlessly.
Qin Zhen, already disillusioned with the human world, had planned to leave at first light—grab clothes, then dig her way back into the mountains. But the downpour ruined everything.
"After the apocalypse, humans fled everywhere. The streets are clogged with corpses and rotting limbs. The sewers are useless now..." Fu Qi gazed at the murky floodwaters outside before adding, "But I guess zombies don’t get athlete’s foot?"
"Shut your damn mouth!"
The zombie was in no mood for jokes, especially not Fu Qi’s brand of nonsense.
Stuck inside, she stewed in silence.
Fu Qi, however, was used to this. When trapped by weather, he scavenged neighboring apartments using ropes. Five years into the apocalypse, food was nonexistent—rotting bodies and prowling zombies weren’t. But he was experienced, slipping in and out unharmed, returning with clothes, shoes, makeup, and a basin. Not much, but usable.
He collected rainwater for washing.
It wasn’t clean, but at least it hadn’t soaked through corpses.
After shaving with a found razor and changing into fresh athletic wear, he looked as put-together as when Qin Zhen first met him.
The backpack looted from the two Americans was fully stocked—even included a telescope. Fu Qi propped a foot on the windowsill, balancing effortlessly as he scanned the outside world.
The pose highlighted his broad shoulders, narrow waist, and long legs—a striking sight, if one ignored the ruined cityscape and the zombies clawing at the door, drawn by the scent of living flesh.
Qin Zhen had washed up and changed into well-fitting women's clothes—a soft white sweater and blue trousers, the color scheme clean and simple. If not for her complexion, she could pass for a lively college student.
Zombies usually didn’t hold grudges, but this time Qin Zhen was genuinely furious, and her anger wasn’t so easily dispelled. She didn’t want to look at Fu Qi, so she hugged her knees and shifted to face the opposite direction.
Fu Qi, however, deliberately moved closer to her. After observing the situation outside, he approached and asked, "I even drew your bathwater for you. Still mad?"
Taking favors makes one indebted, and accepting meals softens one’s tone. A zombie couldn’t just turn hostile right after benefiting from someone, especially since Fu Qi had already been punished—his mouth and cheekbone were each bruised a deep shade of purple.
Qin Zhen simply ignored him.
Fu Qi pressed on, "If you hate me so much, do you still want me to help with your makeup? Should you even bother wearing the colored contacts I went through so much trouble to find?"
Well… she did want those.
Aside from vanity, the zombie also wanted to cover up her unnatural skin tone to avoid being mistaken for a flesh-eating ghoul and getting beheaded by other humans—that would be far too unsightly.
Plus, she’d never seen colored contacts before. Anything unfamiliar she automatically classified as human high-tech, and she absolutely had to try it.
Qin Zhen gave a haughty nod, stepping onto the out Fu Qi had offered.
"Then why the long face?" Fu Qi seemed to smirk, but the motion tugged at his bruises, making him hiss softly. Still, he kept his tone teasing. "Still holding a grudge? That petty?"
Qin Zhen scowled and said, "Miss my husband."
Fu Qi thought for a moment, then picked up the dirty clothes he’d changed out of earlier and handed them to her, speaking gently, "Your husband isn’t here, so use these as a substitute for now. Go wash them. Make sure they’re spotless."
Qin Zhen took the jacket and walked away. After two steps, she turned back and whipped Fu Qi with it.
"Wash—wash your head, you idiot!"
Give him an inch, and he’d take a mile. He deserved a beating!
