Fu Qi took them to find the search-and-rescue team.
The team’s base was not far from the village where they had been staying, so they arrived soon.
The moment the captain of Search-and-Rescue Team Two saw Fan Xu, he asked whether Fan Xu had a twin brother. He then told him that his brother had come looking for him and was with Team One. They would be reunited by noon.
Fan Xu was overjoyed.
Since they were all from the same base, and Fan Xu and Qin Zhen appeared to be in good mental condition and showed no signs of mutation, the team accepted them without any trouble.
“Stay put and don’t go wandering off,” Fu Qi reminded Qin Zhen one last time before driving away.
Qin Zhen had been thinking about nothing but movies and phones, but the moment she watched Fu Qi leave, a sudden sense of panic seized her.
Being separated from Fu Qi meant that no one would be covering for her anymore. From then on, she would have to rely entirely on herself.
First, she had to perfectly disguise herself as a human. She couldn’t neglect any of the ordinary needs humans had.
That part wasn’t difficult. Ever since she had taken in her little brother, she had spent quite some time practicing under Fu Qi’s supervision. Still, to keep herself from forgetting, Qin Zhen had specifically asked her little brother for a phone dedicated to telling the time and carried it with her everywhere, so she could remind herself when she needed to do what.
Second, she couldn’t get hurt. She absolutely couldn’t bleed.
Fu Qi had told her that there were many survival bases, large and small, scattered across the country. They could generally be divided into government-run and privately run bases. The former were more strictly managed and could accommodate more people, but living conditions were poorer and ordinary people made up most of the population. The latter had obvious class divisions. For those with ability, life there was comfortable and they enjoyed a great deal of freedom. For ordinary people, however, those bases offered nothing but exploitation.
They were headed to Dawn Base, the northernmost survival base, which was government-run. Under normal circumstances, no one there would make things difficult for her. She just had to be careful not to get hurt.
Then there was the issue of her complexion.
Qin Zhen carefully patted her backpack. It was packed with cosmetics—enough to last her two months.
Besides, Fu Qi had also found her a powerful protector: Xu Feng, the captain of Dawn Base’s Special Operations Team. Xu Feng carried considerable influence and had some history with Fu Qi. No matter what happened, he would have no trouble protecting her until Fu Qi arrived.
She could do this.
Humans had already been reduced to such a miserable state, yet no Taoist priest had emerged from seclusion to save them. Maybe Taoist priests had already gone extinct.
If there were no Taoist priests, then no one could hurt her. There was nothing to be afraid of.
Qin Zhen encouraged herself silently.
That was what she told herself, but she still couldn’t stop turning around to search for Fu Qi’s figure.
Her little brother finally couldn’t take it anymore and said, “Sister Night, you obviously can’t bear to part with Brother Fu, and he’s been pursuing you this whole time. Why won’t you agree to get back together with him?”
What could Qin Zhen say?
She could only put on a solemn expression and sigh. “You wouldn’t understand.”
“I really don’t,” Fan Xu said. “The world is such a mess now, and no one knows whether they’ll even see tomorrow’s sun. Who has the time for all this back-and-forth and breaking up and getting back together? Enjoying yourself while you can is what matters. Otherwise, when you regret it later, there won’t even be anywhere to regret it…”
The search-and-rescue team was using a large truck, and all the rescued survivors were packed into the same vehicle.
Qin Zhen had thought people would stare at her because she was wearing makeup. She hadn’t expected that so many others in the carriage would be even more eye-catching: the one-eyed boy, the man in the tight pink shirt, the bald auntie, and the bald little girl in her arms. Compared to them, Qin Zhen was merely a young woman deliberately concealing her looks. It was understandable.
If anyone could truly be called conspicuous, it had to be Fan Xu.
There was a character meaning “void” in his name, but there was nothing hollow about him. Even crammed in among so many people, he still couldn’t stop talking.
“Exactly. Now’s no time to be squabbling. Staying alive is what matters most.” The man in the pink shirt joined in. “We only get one life. Birth, old age, sickness, and death—who knows which one will come first? If you can live in peace, don’t go making trouble. Treasure what you have right now!”
“Right!” Fan Xu agreed, but he still remembered Fu Qi saying that Qin Zhen didn’t like talking to strangers, so he quickly steered the conversation elsewhere. “Big brother, where did you come from? How come you’re only getting to the base now?”
The man was just as talkative and immediately began describing how he had gone to the previous base and how it had eventually fallen.
Fan Xu sighed sympathetically, then told him about the escape he and his younger brother had made.
The entire carriage was filled with their voices. It wasn’t exactly noisy, but between the jolting vehicle and the unpleasant smell, the ride was always uncomfortable.
Qin Zhen began missing Fu Qi again. She quickly came to her senses, however, and decided it was just her maternal instincts acting up—like a fledgling missing its nest.
The conditions weren’t suitable for playing on her phone, and she didn’t want to stammer and ruin her image, so she sat there blankly for a while. Then she took out her beloved little fan and held it up to her face, letting it blow with a soft whir.
As she was doing so, she caught someone staring at her. Turning her head, she found it was the bald little girl.
The girl looked five or six years old. She was painfully thin, with flushed cheeks, as though she were sick. Her moist eyes were fixed on the little fan as it spun, never blinking.
Qin Zhen pressed her lips together and pretended not to notice. She turned the fan toward her palm instead.
After a few seconds, she still couldn’t withstand that gaze. Gritting her teeth, she held the little fan out.
The girl didn’t take it.
Qin Zhen assumed she was too shy. She extended it a little farther and waited. When the girl still didn’t accept it, Qin Zhen felt secretly delighted and hurriedly pulled the fan back, continuing to blow it at herself.
After a few more whirs, though, she suddenly felt that it wasn’t fun anymore.
Humans were such a nuisance.
She still preferred being with Fu Qi.
Maybe it was because he wasn’t entirely human sometimes!
Qin Zhen secretly slandered Fu Qi in her heart. Then she turned off the little fan, tossed it between herself and the girl, and closed her eyes to sleep.
Of course, she couldn’t actually fall asleep.
Restless, Qin Zhen closed her eyes and began reminiscing about her tomb. As she thought about it, she couldn’t help sighing… If human society were still functioning normally, how wonderful would that be? There were so many antiques in her tomb. She could take out any one of them and exchange it for tens of thousands of little fans.
After realizing that humans had gone mad, Qin Zhen finally understood why Fu Qi had said that the treasures in her tomb were worthless. She had once sighed over it to Fu Qi, and he had replied, “Then you’ll just get arrested and thrown in prison for it.”
The reason was that she had been doodling inside her tomb, damaging the antique coffins and the craftsmanship of the murals. She had committed a crime.
How ridiculous.
Even a zombie wasn’t allowed to touch her own tomb anymore.
“Then I’ll—I’ll report you for grave robbing.”
Fu Qi had never expected a zombie to possess such a strong sense of legal awareness.
Yes, Qin Zhen was a law-abiding zombie, and a model of moral virtue.
Having just lost her beloved little electric fan because her moral conscience was too strong, Qin Zhen suddenly felt confident again. A zombie as kind-hearted as her had absolutely no reason to be afraid of Taoist priests.
Forget humanity suffering a catastrophe—there were barely any living people left. Even if she did run into one, the Taoist priest might have to thank her on behalf of humanity!
Just as she was thinking this, the truck suddenly stopped. A burst of commotion rose outside: gunfire, shouting—it sounded like they had run into a horde of zombies and started fighting.
Before long, the noise died down somewhat. Then, with a loud clang, the truck door was thrown open.
The instant sunlight streamed in, Qin Zhen happened to look outside. The ground was littered with zombie corpses, strewn every which way. One of them had half its body missing, yet it was still wriggling forward, trying to grab someone.
Feeling a tug at his clothes, the man turned around, revealing a face strikingly similar to Fan Xu’s.
Qin Zhen was just about to ask Fan Xu if that was his younger brother when she saw the young man raise two swords. One was a peachwood sword plastered with cinnabar talismans; the other was a silver sword strung with copper coins.
Both swords came down at once. The man’s thick brows drew together as he barked, “Evil creature—taste my blade!”
With a wet *shhk*, the silver sword plunged in and was pulled back out, sending a spray of scarlet blood arcing through the backlight.
Qin Zhen: “…”
Something seemed off...
She turned hesitantly to her lackey, hoping he would tell her she was hallucinating.
But the next second, Qin Zhen saw Fan Xu shout excitedly, “Little bro! That was awesome! Our family’s Taoist temple is going to flourish under you!”
The zombie: “...?”
The weapons Fu Qi had on him were still the ones he’d taken from those two men from Country A when they had first left the tomb. The knife was still usable, but he only had two bullets left. A direct confrontation was out of the question, so he could only circle around and lead the people tracking him down the wrong path.
Fortunately, they wanted clues from him now, not his death, which made things much easier.
Fu Qi looped around several times before finally managing to lead them onto a false trail. By then, two days and one night had passed. Worried that something might have happened to Qin Zhen, he set off for Dawn Base at once without stopping to rest.
Qin Zhen had left with the rescue squad. She had an underling who practically worshipped her at her side, and Xu Feng was at the base as well. It was unlikely that anything serious would happen—though she had probably made quite a spectacle of herself.
Fu Qi rather wanted to see the zombie make a fool of herself. He also intended to ask Qin Zhen whether, if something similar happened again, she would choose him or the movie phone.
But life was always full of surprises.
Early on the third morning, Fu Qi arrived near Dawn Base just in time for their agreed deadline. There, he ran into the Fan brothers, who were driving around restlessly on the outskirts.
Fan Xu looked miserable. The moment he saw Fu Qi, he nearly burst into tears.
“...Everything was going fine, but then Sister Night suddenly jumped out of the vehicle... Fu, I’m sorry. I didn’t keep an eye on Sister Night. It’s all my fault...”
Seeing the anxiety written all over Fan Xu’s face—and seeing Fan Kong beside him, but no sign of the zombie—Fu Qi immediately had a bad feeling.
When he heard from Fan Xu that Qin Zhen had jumped from the vehicle and disappeared, he was surprised, though he also felt that it was entirely in keeping with her character.
“Don’t rush. Start from the beginning and tell me exactly what happened.”
His calm voice soothed Fan Xu. Once he had composed himself, Fan Xu began from the start.
“After you left, we set out with Rescue Team Two. There were several other survivors in the vehicle as well. Sister Night didn’t talk much, but she seemed to like that bald little girl. She even gave her the handheld fan… We met up with Team One without a hitch at noon and started back for the base. Everything was fine. Who could’ve known that, just as we were about to reach the base, the little girl wouldn’t be able to hold on any longer…”
The little girl was the niece of the bald woman. She had been living in an underground cellar with the adults all this time. Some time ago, heavy rains had flooded the cellar, forcing them to come out. Fortunately, they encountered the search-and-rescue team and were able to follow them to the base.
Unfortunately, fate had other plans. Perhaps she had caught something from being drenched in the rain, or perhaps she had been infected by bacteria in the contaminated water. In any case, the little girl developed a fever.
By the time the rescue team found them, she had already been burning with fever for four days.
With no medicine available, all they could do was hope she endured it.
After another two days on the road, by the time they neared the base, she was barely opening her eyes.
Everyone carried the virus inside them. The instant their heart stopped beating, the virus would spread at astonishing speed, rapidly transforming them into zombies.
Everyone knew that she was a dangerous presence lurking inside the vehicle. Later, the vehicle was even assigned a search-and-rescue officer carrying a gun. Everyone knew exactly what that was for.
The little girl clearly knew it too.
The base was crowded with people, and there were many zombies wandering nearby. Later, when the rear doors were opened to fend off a wave of zombies, the little girl—who still had one breath left in her—crawled out of the vehicle while everyone was busy and threw herself into the horde.
After so long in the apocalypse, nothing seemed particularly unusual anymore. It was common for people who knew they wouldn’t survive to use themselves as bait to hold back the zombies. But when it was a little girl, it was still impossible not to feel heartbroken.
Everyone in the vehicle was still frozen in shock when Qin Zhen shouted, “Don’t look for her—look for me!”
Then she jumped down after her.
Fu Qi listened in silence before asking, “What happened after that?”
Fan Xu’s face was full of guilt. He was about to speak when Fan Kong cut in.
“My brother wanted to jump down and save her, but the zombies had already surrounded the vehicle. Then the rescue convoy from the base arrived. Everything was chaos, and no one saw where Sister Night went…”
When no one had seen someone, it usually meant that the person had been eaten by zombies.
She had once saved Fan Xu’s life. The brothers felt deeply ashamed that they had failed to keep her safe.
Fan Kong lowered his head. “I’m sorry.”
Fu Qi glanced at him and noticed the two swords strapped to his back, along with the talisman papers attached to them. After a pause, he asked, “What were you doing when the two teams met up?”
Fan Kong didn’t understand why he was asking and couldn’t remember for a moment. Fan Xu answered for him.
“We were killing zombies.”
Fu Qi nodded, then asked, “Where did you get those two swords?”
Fan Kong looked back at them before replying, “I found one of them. It was pretty useful, so I kept it. The peachwood one, I made myself… I thought peachwood swords were supposed to ward off evil, so I made it for a little peace of mind.”
Fu Qi asked again, “What did Bao Bei do after the teams joined up?”
“Didn’t do anything. Didn’t say a word either. She just sat there, spacing out.”
“I understand.” Fu Qi’s voice was calm. “It’s fine. You two head back to the base first.”
“I—I…” Fan Xu had genuinely thought the two of them were a pair of exes who still had feelings for each other. The calmer Fu Qi was, the guiltier he felt, until his eyes had reddened.
Sensing his emotions, Fu Qi gave it some thought before saying, “This was her own choice. It has nothing to do with either of you. And before she jumped out of the vehicle, she said not to look for her, which means she has a plan of her own.”
“But she fell into a horde of zombies…”
“There’s a drug in Country A that can temporarily disguise humans as zombies.” Fu Qi cut Fan Xu off. Seeing the brothers’ astonished expressions, he continued, “The North City Research Institute obtained a sample three months ago and has been studying it ever since… The efficacy hasn’t been confirmed yet, so it can’t be mass-produced. Please keep this confidential.”
The brothers immediately nodded in agreement.
“Good. Go back, then.”
“What about you?”
“I’m going to find her.” Fu Qi’s tone remained even, his manner composed. When he saw them about to volunteer, he gave a faint smile. “It’s all right. Go back. And while you’re at it, pass a message to Xu Feng: tell him to keep the watch. I need it for something.”
With that, he turned the vehicle around and drove in the direction opposite the base.
Fu Qi had seen all kinds of accidents. Once, in order to retrieve a piece of laboratory equipment, he had ventured deep into a dead city crawling with zombies and been trapped there for seven days. He had finally found it, only for a teammate to accidentally destroy it—and even then, he hadn’t gotten angry.
He was taking Qin Zhen’s disappearance remarkably well. He had no intention of blaming Fan Xu and his brother.
If anyone was to blame, it was him. He had known that zombies feared Taoist priests, yet he had still let her go with Fan Xu.
—Fu Qi truly hadn’t expected her to be so terrified of Taoist priests.
Even if the other party was nothing more than a pretentious amateur.
Thinking about it now, it was absurd—and a little funny.
The corners of Fu Qi’s lips curved upward as he accelerated toward the gathering zombies ahead.
To zombies, the human body was an exquisitely delicious feast. They were obsessed with it, pursuing it madly and endlessly obstructing Fu Qi’s path.
At last, on the evening of the third day, Fu Qi noticed something unusual in the wilderness fifteen kilometers from the base.
The wandering zombies had caught the scent of human flesh and were charging toward him in a frenzy. Yet two figures—one large and one small—were moving away from them. Looking closely, it seemed that the larger one was dragging the smaller one along as they fled.
Fu Qi narrowed his eyes, then smiled. He rammed through the zombies blocking his way and sped forward.
When he drew near the two figures, he honked the horn. In the next instant, the larger shadow flopped down and pinned the smaller one beneath it in the grass, vanishing from sight.
Only the smaller one refused to cooperate, wriggling nonstop and making the surrounding weeds sway.
Fu Qi slowly drove closer. Once he was beside them, he honked again, then rolled down the window and asked politely, “Excuse me for disturbing you, but have either of you seen a zombie young lady named Ye Xue Lingshang?”
The moment he said this, the figure hiding in the grass instantly lifted her head, revealing a face smeared like a little tabby cat’s.
It was Qin Zhen—the one Fu Qi had spent so long searching for.
She had no idea how long it had been since she’d touched up her foundation. It was so badly worn away that her face was splotchy—blue in some places, white in others—with a few flecks of mud stuck to it. At first glance, she looked as though she had some kind of skin disease.
She was filthy all over, too.
Pitiful, a little funny, and somehow a little adorable.
When she saw Fu Qi, she was delighted. “Xiangxiang!”
The moment she got excited, her grip loosened. The little zombie she had been pinning down scrambled to its feet and charged at Fu Qi with a roar—only to slam into the car window as it rolled up with a bang.
“Hey, hey, hey!” Qin Zhen hurriedly hauled it back by the rope tied around its body. “How many times have I told you? You can’t eat—eat people! You’ll get beaten by a Taoist priest! Can you listen, lis—listen to me!”
The zombie was very small, no more than six years old. It was bald, matching the little girl Fan Xu had mentioned—the one who had suffered from a high fever that wouldn’t go down—except that it was missing an arm.
She had still been alive when she jumped from the car, so the zombies had probably eaten her arm afterward.
Though it had only one arm, the lure of human flesh gave it tremendous strength. Qin Zhen had to exert a great deal of effort to keep it under control.
Fu Qi sat in the car, watching the two of them struggle. Puzzled, he asked, “Baby, did you jump out of the car because of her, or because you were afraid of the Taoist priest?”
Qin Zhen was doing her best to stop the little zombie from eating Fu Qi. Seeing him lounging in the car and enjoying the show, she grew furious. “Open the door already!”
Only then did Fu Qi laugh and unlock the door, letting her and the little zombie squeeze inside.
In the enclosed space, the scent of human flesh grew especially strong. The little zombie howled and lunged straight at Fu Qi in the driver’s seat, nearly knocking Qin Zhen off her feet in the process.
She lost her temper. Wrapping the rope around the little zombie’s neck, she forced it down against the seat and shouted, “If you don’t lis—listen, I’ll beat you!”
The little zombie couldn’t understand her. It arched its body and continued howling.
“You’re not much of a Zombie Queen, are you? Even a tiny zombie like this won’t obey you.” Fu Qi watched the spectacle in the rearview mirror as he drove.
“It hates—hates you.” Qin Zhen was using all her strength to restrain the little zombie, making it incredibly difficult to speak. “When you’re not around, it lis—listens perfectly!”
When it wasn’t being drawn in by the scent of humans, the little zombie was very well behaved. Qin Zhen would lead it by the rope, and it followed wherever she went. It wouldn’t even go around a hole in the road—it would just walk straight into it, leaving Qin Zhen to fish it out.
The moment it caught the scent of humans, though, it went berserk. Once, when a convoy passed by, Qin Zhen had let her guard down for just a moment, and it had nearly dragged her away.
For the past few days, she had been so busy keeping the little zombie from eating people that she hadn’t had time to bathe or put on makeup. She was filthy from head to toe, and this zombie was absolutely miserable.
“That’s because I’m irresistible,” Fu Qi said. “Even a child this young goes crazy for me.”
Qin Zhen: “...If you don’t stop being—being shameless, I’ll feed your face—face to it!”
She really felt like letting go and allowing the little zombie to eat him.
Fu Qi wasn’t afraid in the slightest. Instead, he asked, “Why are you keeping it with you? Are you planning to gather all your relatives and form a zombie army to attack humanity, Your Majesty the Zombie Queen?”
Qin Zhen glared at him.
“Or are you planning to take it underground and start a family of three with your husband?”
Fu Qi spoke quickly, and his mind worked just as fast. Before Qin Zhen could say anything, he added, “A family of three, each in a different state. Quite unique.”
“…”
At her limit, Qin Zhen let go and ordered the little zombie, “Baby, go bite him!”
The little zombie let out an “Awooo!” and lunged forward, only for Qin Zhen to hurriedly pull her back.
Fu Qi laughed. “Don’t rush. I have a way to make her behave.”
“What way?”
“Just wait.”
The car had already traveled some distance, leaving the zombies behind far in the distance. At that moment, Fu Qi stopped the car, lowered his seat, and leaned back. When the little zombie struggled to raise her upper body and bite him, Fu Qi swiftly lifted a hand and stuck something to her forehead.
Qin Zhen hadn’t gotten a clear look. She deliberately leaned over for a closer inspection—and nearly died of fright.
“A-a-a-a talisman!”
“Fan Xu gave it to me. He said his brother drew it himself, and that it can suppress ghosts, ward off evil, subdue demons, and vanquish wickedness. If you don’t believe me, let go and see. Your baby should already be immobilized…”
Before Fu Qi could finish speaking, the little zombie with the talisman stuck to her forehead had already opened her mouth right in front of him. Without changing expression, he raised a hand, seized her arm, and held it down. With his other hand, he gripped her chin, leaned closer to examine her, and asked, “Sweetheart, didn’t you say that your kind are most afraid of Taoists? How can your baby still move with a talisman on her?”
Qin Zhen didn’t answer.
Fu Qi turned his head in confusion—and nearly burst out laughing.
The little zombie, covered in grime, sat there with a face ashen as death, staring blankly and completely motionless, as though someone had cast an immobilization spell on her and sucked out her soul.
What was this supposed to be?
The talisman had been stuck to the little zombie, and it had actually frozen her in place?
Fu Qi was torn between laughter and tears.
He had originally wanted to prove to Qin Zhen through firsthand experience that modern Taoists had no magical powers, and that those talismans were merely imbued with blessings to ward off evil by human hands, without any real effect. He hadn’t expected the little zombie to be this superstitious.
No wonder she had jumped out of the car and run away.
Fu Qi sighed, tore the talisman from the little zombie’s head, pushed her aside, then ripped the talisman into shreds and tossed them out the window.
He had barely finished when the one-armed little zombie charged at him again, like a tireless perpetual-motion machine.
Fu Qi restrained her with practiced ease, then waved a hand in front of Qin Zhen’s face to remind her, “It’s gone. The talisman’s torn up. Baby, wake up.”
The zombie’s eyes shifted. Only after a long while did she cautiously let out a sigh of relief. Then her body went limp, and she weakly slumped against the seat.
Fu Qi: “…”
The dangers of feudal superstition really were enormous. It could not only kill people—it could even kill zombies…
