There's a saying that "fools have fortune," which can also be interpreted as the simpler the mind, the happier the life. Qin Zhen wholeheartedly agrees with this notion and has always used it as an excuse for her lack of overthinking—if she had a highly analytical brain, she would have gone mad years ago from the suffocating underground life she'd endured.
When Fu Qi once accused her of being unfair, she reflected and concluded that her special care for Fan Xu wasn't just because he fed her vanity, but mostly because he was just as simple-minded as her.
Birds of a feather flock together.
But now, Qin Zhen regrets it.
Her little brother is foolishly optimistic and cheerful, thriving even in this apocalyptic world. But when it comes to certain matters, he’s too dense—so much so that it’s downright embarrassing for a zombie.
Exhausted and speechless, Qin Zhen points at Fu Qi, signaling him to explain.
Fu Qi: "We weren’t fighting, just messing around."
"Since when do couples mess around by punching each other in the face?!" Fan Xu doesn’t buy it.
Ever since Qin Zhen learned that Fu Qi’s so-called "high-tech gadgets" were just lies to lure her out of the tomb, she’s never held back when attacking him. But even then, Fu Qi is cunning, and she doesn’t always come out on top.
Take the earlier situation—even if Fan Xu hadn’t rushed in to stop them, Fu Qi wouldn’t have gotten hit anyway.
But admitting that would ruin her tough-girl image, so Qin Zhen forbids Fu Qi from revealing the truth.
Sensing her threatening glare, Fu Qi sighs. As he ushers everyone into the car to leave, he cuts to the chase: "Your ‘Night Sister’ and I aren’t a couple."
Then, he turns to Qin Zhen for confirmation: "Right, baby?"
"Right!" Qin Zhen affirms loudly. But the moment she turns her head, she meets Fan Xu’s sharp gaze, his eyes practically spelling out the word "baby" along with a giant question mark.
This "baby" isn’t that kind of "baby," but explaining the nuance is too much trouble. Qin Zhen blinks and shoves the problem back to Fu Qi.
How is Fu Qi supposed to explain this?
After a moment’s thought, he says, "Well, she’s my ex-girlfriend."
Qin Zhen freezes for a second, then nods along. "Right!"
This revelation is completely unexpected. Fan Xu looks back and forth between them, stunned, before finally swallowing his words in silence.
With this lingering ex-relationship in play, everything—the pet names, the brawls, the mutual care, the targeted jabs, the jealousy, the knowledge of each other’s secrets—suddenly makes sense.
Still, Fan Xu solemnly clarifies again: "Even if you two have broken up, I have no intention of getting between you. I just genuinely want to repay you for saving my life."
Qin Zhen: "We know. Don’t worry."
Fu Qi, ever the performer, chimes in, "Really no chance of getting back together, baby?"
"No!" The zombie is ice-cold and resolute.
With the side drama settled, they resume their journey.
Following Fu Qi’s directions, they pass many villages along the way. He deliberately picks a remote one, bypassing the settlement itself to head straight for the overgrown fields. There, hidden among the weeds, they find a well covered by stones.
Long ago, this was a water source for irrigating crops. After technological advancements made it obsolete, it was sealed off—but now, its isolation has kept it unpolluted, turning it into a lifesaving oasis.
After collecting water, they enter the village.
The place is eerily silent, save for a dozen or so wandering zombies, easily dispatched.
Once the undead are dealt with, Fan Xu digs out a hoe and heads behind the houses to till the soil. He unearths several potatoes and gathers a basket of fresh greens, leaving the zombie utterly astonished.
While Fan Xu sets up a makeshift stove to cook, Qin Zhen tugs at Fu Qi’s sleeve for answers.
"After the virus outbreak, food became scarce. The government sent teams to collect and cultivate seeds, but the safe zones have limited space—they can’t guarantee steady harvests. To help survivors stranded outside, rescue teams started scattering seeds in fertile soil whenever they passed through villages."
Zombies don’t eat plants, but their mindless wandering often tramples crops. Between that, harsh weather, and competing weeds, not all seeds sprout—but some do, bearing fruit.
And even if these crops aren’t found by the hungry, it doesn’t matter. When they wither, their seeds scatter in the wind or lie dormant underground, waiting for the right moment to sprout again, offering new hope.
This method of sowing only took shape a year or two into the apocalypse. Now, it’s proven effective. Anyone who’s been to a safe zone knows: if you’re stranded without food, head for villages and farmland. There might be hope there.
Farming—humanity’s most fundamental survival skill for millennia—has returned to rescue them from ruin, even as technology rose and fell.
Qin Zhen feels something indescribable, a tingling sensation. She wonders if it’s awe at humanity’s resilience.
"Impressive. Not… not beat, zombies?"
They’ve taken shelter in a house with a courtyard. The walls are intact, but the iron gate is damaged—Fu Qi is fixing it as he answers, "The real enemy was never the zombies."
It’s the virus, the one that keeps turning humans into more of the undead.
"Humans strong," Qin Zhen says sincerely. Then she asks, "Three years… end?"
"Don’t know." Fu Qi can’t answer, but after a glance at her, he amends, "With your help, maybe."
"Me? How?"
"Aren’t you the Zombie King? Zombies and the undead are both transformed from humans—practically cousins. You even look alike. Just unite them, make them coexist peacefully with humans. Problem solved."
"……"
Too many flaws in that logic. The so-called "Zombie King" is speechless for a long moment before snapping, "Your cousins! You look like them!"
"You do."
"You—!"
"Would you dare say that after washing off your makeup and looking in a mirror?"
"……"
The debate over zombie ancestry escalates, and Qin Zhen, at a disadvantage due to her stutter, grows furious. Just as violence seems imminent, Fan Xu’s startled shriek erupts from the low-roofed kitchen.
"Must be your ‘cousins’ getting hungry, eyeing your little brother as a snack."
Fu Qi isn’t worried—they already cleared the area of zombies, so Fan Xu’s scream isn’t danger-related. "Your family drama," he tells Qin Zhen. "I’ll stay out of it, baby. Handle it yourself."
She smacks him twice before yanking his arm, dragging him along.
Amid the struggle, Fan Xu comes running out, pointing east in excitement. "Yellow smoke! Two plumes!"
Safe zones send out teams to scavenge supplies and rescue survivors, using yellow smoke as a signal. Two plumes mean it’s the Dawn Base—Fan Xu’s former home.
He’s ecstatic. "It’s gotta be a search team! Oh man, my little brother might be with them! He’s definitely out looking for me—he’s got a temper, he’s gonna chew me out for sure!"
"Your brother?"
"Yes, we're twins. My younger brother is named Fan Kong, five minutes younger than me..." Fan Xu was a chatterbox, and now, overly excited, he kept talking animatedly. If it weren't for the fact that it was already getting dark, he would have dashed straight to the rescue team's camp.
"Our base was set up by the government—strict discipline, very organized. Sister Ye, Brother Fu, you should both come with us! I’ll show you movies! I’ve collected so many films, and I even set up a projector screen! Watching movies on a rainy day—pure bliss!"
Qin Zhen’s eyes lit up!
Ever since she’d seen a tablet, this internet-addicted zombie had never mentioned going back underground. She wanted to go to the base with Fan Xu. But she hadn’t been apart from Fu Qi since leaving the tomb, and the thought of suddenly leaving him for an unfamiliar crowd made her uneasy.
After all, she wasn’t human.
Qin Zhen blinked expectantly at Fu Qi, hoping he would come along.
But Fu Qi was still staring at the two yellow smoke signals in the distance, his brow slightly furrowed.
"What’s wrong? Is there an issue with the signals?" Fan Xu asked.
Smoke signals were used for communication and positioning—bright, long-lasting, and visible for miles across the gray-blue sky as long as there were no obstructions.
"No issue."
The signals weren’t the problem, and the base was safe. What worried Fu Qi were the people who might see them.
Those A-country operatives would never stop looking for him.
After a brief pause, he turned to Qin Zhen. "I have something to take care of. I’ll probably only make it to the base in about two days. Sweetheart, do you want to go with Fan Xu first or stay with me?"
Qin Zhen widened her eyes at him. "You… will come?"
Fu Qi nodded. "I will."
"Fan Xu!" Qin Zhen immediately made her choice without hesitation.
Fu Qi rubbed his forehead. He’d expected this outcome, but it was still infuriating to be abandoned by a zombie for the sake of phones and movies.
But maybe it was for the best—it would keep her away from those A-country agents.
And so it was settled.
Too excited about reuniting with the rescue team, Fan Xu didn’t sleep all night. Since he was awake, Qin Zhen had to pretend to be a normal human and was forced to lie still the entire time—agonizing.
At dawn the next morning, another yellow smoke signal rose from the east.
Qin Zhen’s foundation had smudged, and she was hiding inside to touch up her makeup while Fan Xu bid farewell to Fu Qi outside.
"Brother Fu, what’s your business? Need any help?"
"Not something you can assist with."
"Oh, got it." Fan Xu had seen his skills firsthand and knew he had a special background—probably some classified mission. He didn’t press further and instead started rummaging through his pockets.
"Brother Fu, you saved me, and I don’t know how to repay you. Sister Ye is so strong, she doesn’t need me to protect her. So here—let me give you a protective charm. May it keep you safe."
With that, he pulled out a yellow talisman covered in cinnabar script and handed it to Fu Qi.
Fu Qi had never seen anything like it before. "No need."
"Take it!" Fan Xu insisted. "This charm was personally drawn by Fan Kong, the 13th-generation master of Qingyang Temple! It wards off evil and protects the bearer!"
Fu Qi didn’t believe in such things and was about to refuse when something struck him as odd. "Fan Kong is your younger brother, right?"
"Yep." Fan Xu nodded. "In Taoism, we value ‘emptiness, clarity, stillness, and tranquility’—that’s where our names come from."
…Wait.
"You’re Taoist?"
"Yep. My family’s from the mountains. We own a Taoist temple, and my brother inherited it as the master. He’s a legit, certified Taoist priest—trained at Longhu Mountain and everything. We had it all planned out: he’d run the temple, draw talismans, and perform blessings, while I’d handle marketing and turn it into a viral tourist spot. We even had a business plan! Then the zombie virus hit."
Fu Qi: "My respects."
He never thought he’d meet a Taoist priest post-apocalypse—let alone one from a prestigious lineage.
This was getting interesting.
Out of concern for the zombie, he asked, "Does your brother know actual Taoist magic?"
"Whoa, Brother Fu, don’t think like that! We’re a proper temple—talismans and blessings are just for good luck. We don’t dabble in superstitious scams!"
Fu Qi: "…"
He just hoped the zombie wouldn’t get spooked by Fan Kong’s "non-magical" Taoism.
Just then, the zombie emerged from the house, her face freshly powdered pale.
Fu Qi asked one last time: "Sweetheart, really abandoning me?"
Qin Zhen: "Pure bliss~"
She’d latched onto Fan Xu’s line about movies on rainy days and was too excited to back out now. Besides, Fu Qi would come for her in two days.
"Alright." Fu Qi gazed at her tenderly. "Go on, have fun. Don’t get hurt."
He then reminded Fan Xu: "She’s a neat freak, doesn’t talk much, and hates physical contact. Please keep an eye on her for me. I’ll come get her in two days—if anything happens, go to Xu Feng. He’ll know what to do."
"Don’t worry! I’ve got it all memorized!" Fan Xu thumped his chest. "And if I can’t handle it, my brother will. We’ll take good care of her!"
Fu Qi: "…Yeah. I trust you both."
