Qin Zhen’s grave was near the northern border. The region was mountainous, and autumn arrived early there. By the time they emerged from the tomb, the mountains were already blanketed in gold.
After leaving the tomb, they kept moving south, as if chasing autumn’s spreading footsteps. But human strength could never compete with nature. The weather grew colder and colder.
The rain was icy enough to pierce the bones. Only the zombies and the reanimated dead felt nothing.
A few zombies, drawn over by the smell of the car—or perhaps human flesh—had wandered their way. Fu Qi dispatched them efficiently. When he turned around, he found Ms. Zombie still sitting in the pouring rain, throwing mud at Ms. Jiang.
“Are you coming up or not? What, sitting in the ditch catching loaches?”
Qin Zhen turned her head, aggrieved and indignant. “How am I supposed to get up? I have a cleanliness obsession, okay!”
The ditch itself was not very large. The problem was that it ran alongside a stretch of abandoned farmland. The soil was loose, and after being soaked by the rain, it had turned into yellow-brown sludge that was extremely easy to slip in. Judging by the tire tracks nearby, the two ladies had gone flying into the ditch after losing their footing on the muddy ground.
Fortunately, they had been thrown clear and had not suffered any serious injuries.
The zombie, filthy as a mud doll, had been throwing mud at people only moments ago. Now she was complaining that the mud was dirty and refusing to leave.
Fu Qi was just about to go over and help her when the old lady spoke first.
Warm-heartedly, she said, “Don’t worry, Miss Zhang. I’ll help you once I’m up.”
An old lady helping a young woman? How terrifying.
“Stay away from me!” the zombie shrieked. Then she called to Fu Qi, “Sweetie! Come save me!”
Fu Qi was already on his way over.
He had changed into combat fatigues similar to those he had worn when he first met Qin Zhen, except that this time they were black. Broad shoulders, a narrow waist, long legs, and a pair of black leather boots strapped tightly around his calves—he stepped through the muck and came to Qin Zhen’s side.
Just as he was about to pull her up, she did not move. Instead, she tilted her face upward to look at him.
No—she tilted her face upward so that Fu Qi could look at her.
Fu Qi crouched beside her, wiped the mud from the tip of her nose, then held her chin and gently turned her face from side to side. With a low chuckle, he said, “It’s fine.”
Her foundation, rainwater, and mud had long since blended together. Apart from the dirt, not a trace of her original skin tone could be seen. There was no need to worry at all.
The zombie relaxed. Using Fu Qi’s shoulder for support, she tried to stand. The moment her weight left the ground, the soles of her feet slipped.
“Ow!”
She crashed back down onto the ground.
Furious, she slapped the puddle, sending filthy water splashing everywhere—including onto her own face.
Fu Qi could not hold back a laugh.
“You’re laughing at me!” The zombie looked ready to cry from anger.
“I’m not laughing.” Fu Qi suppressed his smile. He lowered his right knee and leaned his upper body toward her, wrapping an arm around the zombie’s waist and “pulling” her up. Once she was steady, he bent down, hooked an arm beneath her legs, and lifted Qin Zhen completely off the ground.
He was about to carry her to the road when he noticed the old lady nearby, covered from head to toe in mud. After weighing the situation, he hoisted Qin Zhen higher and shifted her onto his shoulder.
That freed one hand, which he reached toward Academician Jiang.
Academician Jiang grabbed his arm and let him help her to her feet. “Oh my, thank you, Captain Fu. Captain Fu, your muscles are so solid!”
Fu Qi said, “Academician Jiang is pretty sturdy too. You wore our Little Zombie out.”
The filthy Little Zombie lay limply across his shoulder, all four limbs dangling, like a worn-out burlap sack swaying with every step he took.
“Oh dear, I’m sorry…”
Academician Jiang suddenly became embarrassed, a far cry from the foul-mouthed old lady who had been speeding and demanding to pick a fight with someone earlier.
The rain was too heavy and visibility was poor. All three of them had been drenched, and they were worried about getting sick. After dragging the two mud-covered women out of the ditch, Fu Qi found a small courtyard nearby and fetched water so they could wash up.
Since he had been carrying the zombie, Fu Qi had gotten muddy as well, but he was nowhere near as filthy as the others. He simply rinsed himself off outside.
After washing, he tidied up the room.
It was not suitable to go out in the rain, and to guard against accidents, they followed their usual arrangement: everyone slept in the same room. The women took the bed, while he slept on a bedroll on the floor.
When Academician Jiang came out after washing up in the adjoining room and saw the neatly made bed, she praised Fu Qi repeatedly for being so domestic.
Fu Qi said, “If you really don’t know how to compliment someone, Academician, you can always say nothing.”
Academician Jiang burst out laughing.
Fu Qi had only just left the base, so he had brought a generous supply of provisions. He had Academician Jiang eat something first to replenish her strength, then explained some of the arrangements for the handover at Dayu Base.
When he noticed that Qin Zhen still had not come out of the bathroom, he fell silent for a moment before saying, “There’s something I’d like to ask you about, Academician.”
Academician Jiang said, “Is it that medical institution? I still don’t have much of an impression of it.”
“That can wait.” Fu Qi carefully considered his wording before asking, “How much do you know about amnesia?”
Academician Jiang waved a large hand. “I know all about it! I’ve read loads of novels about it!”
Fu Qi: “…”
It was understandable. Everyone needed entertainment, even an academician.
“I’m talking about actual cases,” Fu Qi clarified.
Seeing that he was not joking, Academician Jiang straightened up and became serious. After thinking for a moment, she said, “Amnesia is rare, but it does exist. Generally speaking, it’s caused by two main factors: physical trauma and psychological trauma.”
“Physical trauma usually involves damage to the head. It may result in short-term or partial memory loss, with some chance of recovery, though the specifics depend on the individual.”
“Psychological amnesia usually occurs after someone suffers an extremely severe stressor. The brain activates a self-protective mechanism. Strictly speaking, the memories haven’t been lost—the mind has sealed them away. This is relatively more serious. Unless the person releases those memories themselves, it’s basically impossible to cure.”
Fu Qi frowned.
“As far as I know, the latter is most common among children and women who have suffered severe trauma, and it’s usually related to criminal cases,” Academician Jiang continued. “Before the zombie virus outbreak, the country had already developed a machine capable of inducing deep hypnosis. If the patient doesn’t object, perhaps that method could be used to try to awaken the memories.”
“Where can we find one of those machines?”
“There are several major hospitals in Jingdu that have them.” After answering, Academician Jiang asked, “Where is the patient?”
Fu Qi lowered his eyes slightly. “The patient is already dead.”
“My condolences,” Academician Jiang said.
Amnesia was a rare condition, and she was curious. She wanted to ask more, but at that moment, Qin Zhen’s voice rang out from the bathroom.
“Sweetie, come here!”
Fu Qi apologized and went into the bathroom.
Qin Zhen had already finished bathing. She had changed into a long-sleeved fleece pajama set, and her wet hair hung over her shoulders, staining the fabric with dark patches of moisture.
Her face was clean now, its pale bluish-gray complexion showing through. Her brows were drawn tightly together as she said, “There’s no mirror. How am I supposed to put on my foundation?”
The zombie, having just suffered a terrible ordeal, was emotionally fragile. Even the slightest inconvenience made her feel wronged.
Fu Qi said, “Have that Crazy old lady put it on for you.”
The moment he finished speaking, he was rewarded with a fierce glare.
The corner of Fu Qi’s mouth lifted. “What, you don’t want her to? Then I suppose I’ll have to do it for my precious girl.”
Qin Zhen thought he sounded unbearably smug. Her hands itched to hit him, but she needed his help at the moment, so she endured it for the time being.
“I’m in a bad mood right now,” she warned. “Don’t provoke me.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
There was a small plastic stool with a backrest in the bathroom. Qin Zhen sat down on it, tilted her face upward, and waited for Fu Qi to apply her foundation.
But Fu Qi did not get to work right away. Instead, he picked up a towel from the side and draped it over her head, rubbing vigorously and messily, as if the zombie’s head were a ball.
Still, because he had arrived so quickly and rescued the zombie from the mud pit in time, getting her away from the terrifying old lady, Qin Zhen knew he had done her a favor. Her tolerance for him was relatively high at the moment, so she simply let him rub her without making a sound.
When Fu Qi had rubbed her hair to his satisfaction, he combed it back with his fingers.
His large hands were warm with a hint of roughness as they threaded through her hair, occasionally brushing over her scalp and stirring up a tingling, pleasantly numb sensation. The zombie let out a comfortable little hum.
Fu Qi heard her and lowered his head to ask, “Feeling better now?”
Qin Zhen tilted her head against the chair, hummed twice more, and did not even open her eyes.
Seeing her like that made Fu Qi want to laugh. He asked, “Does my massage feel better, or does your wife’s motorcycle?”
The moment he mentioned the motorcycle, Qin Zhen remembered being thrown into the filthy ditch along with it by the old lady. Goosebumps rose all over her. She opened her eyes and smacked him.
Fu Qi said, “I’m giving you a massage, and you hit me?”
That probably wasn’t very nice.
Qin Zhen reluctantly appeased him. “Your massage feels better.”
Fu Qi asked again, “Then who’s better, me or your wife?”
Qin Zhen replied, “You. I hereby appoint you my first wife.”
“The first wife isn’t favored,” Fu Qi said. “I want to be the delicate little concubine.”
The zombie had already humored him enough. Hearing that, she felt a wave of revulsion and lunged forward to pinch Fu Qi’s cheek, but he caught both her hands and held them against his chest.
She was about to struggle free when Fu Qi suddenly said in a low voice, “You’ve worked hard, sweetheart. You did very well.”
Qin Zhen immediately stopped resisting and said with certainty, “That’s true.”
Fu Qi let out another low laugh. The vibration of his chest shook the zombie along with it.
Qin Zhen had had enough of these humans with their ridiculously low threshold for amusement. She gave him an elbow strike and asked, “Is my wife all right?”
“Fine. Better than fine.”
The Dayu Base had been taken over by the government. Ye Hui was considered a hero, and with her previous experience managing a base, she was smoothly brought into the government’s service.
When Qin Zhen asked why Ye Hui had fallen out with her biological father and cousin, Fu Qi explained briefly, “Ye Peng wanted her to die outside the base. He failed. Her father saw the evidence, but chose to cover it up and pretend nothing had happened.”
That made it easy to understand why Ye Hui had wanted to destroy the two of them. If Qin Zhen were in her place, she would have done the same.
Still, the zombie could not understand why anyone would neglect a capable daughter who did not even rely on him, while favoring a useless nephew instead.
She sighed. “You humans are so hard to understand.”
Fu Qi said, “You used to be human too.”
The zombie’s eyes widened. “Are you insulting me?”
Fu Qi said, “…You’re the one insulting me. And your level keeps getting higher.”
Qin Zhen also realized that she had made a pretty good joke and began to giggle.
The moment Fu Qi saw her laughing, he could not help joining in. After laughing with her for a while, he set her back down on the little stool and patiently scratched her head for a bit longer before picking up the foundation and applying it to her face.
After doing it once or twice, the task had become familiar. There was no real technique involved; he simply spread it on as if he were painting a wall. He covered her face, ears, and the back of her neck without missing a spot. However, when he reached her throat, Fu Qi hesitated.
Qin Zhen was wearing clean clothes he had brought from the base. They were a little too large, hanging loosely on her zombie body and revealing her collarbones and a small patch of skin above her chest.
Her blue-gray skin was not attractive. She was thin and bony, and her figure was hardly curvaceous. But the difference between male and female still existed.
Qin Zhen was leaning back lazily, entirely without any sense of modesty between men and women. Fu Qi did not know whether that was because she trusted him, or because she firmly believed that, as different species, there was no way he could develop feelings or desire for her.
Fu Qi was not sure whether he ought to be pleased by that. After pausing for a moment, he switched to a makeup puff and continued applying the foundation.
Once they were all cleaned up, they returned to the room. The moment Academician Jiang saw Qin Zhen, she said, “Miss Zhang, you look so polished. You even put on makeup when you’re not going out.”
The zombie had never before fallen into a mud pit. It was a disgraceful chapter in her history, and she had no intention of acknowledging the person responsible. She turned away and began rummaging through her backpack.
The backpack contained all sorts of things. She had brought her foundation, Rubik’s Cube, hair clips, and little electric fan with her. Fu Qi had even thoughtfully packed a tin of candy for her, which made the zombie very happy.
There was just one problem…
“Where are my book and my phone?”
Fu Qi let out a heavy sigh and said helplessly, “It was too chaotic that day. I was barely able to look after myself, and I couldn’t protect your things properly. I’m sorry, sweetheart. I was useless.”
The zombie was stunned. “You couldn’t find even one of them?”
“Not exactly.”
Fu Qi took the backpack and rummaged through one of its inner compartments. He pulled out two items: one was a phone, and the other was a book whose cover was emblazoned with the four large characters Advanced Mathematics.
“It was too dangerous at the time. These were the only two things I managed to save… Sweetheart, are you going to blame me?”
His apology was so sincere, and the situation had been so dangerous that Qin Zhen could hardly bring herself to blame him.
She accepted the pitifully few salvaged possessions with a pained expression and said, “Ah… forget it. We can look for the rest later.”
This time, Fu Qi had also brought her a small crossbody bag. Qin Zhen put all her treasures except the advanced mathematics textbook into it and kept the bag close to her body, swearing that she would never lose them again.
Outside, the rain was pouring down. Although it was only afternoon, the sky was as dark as night. The two humans would certainly want to rest while they had this rare moment of peace. Qin Zhen, however, could not sleep. She was reluctant to use up the last remaining phone, so after wrestling with the decision for a while, she sprawled down on Fu Qi’s bedroll and opened the Advanced Mathematics textbook.
She had only turned one page when she heard the old lady ask from the bed, “Why are you two sleeping together? Team romance?”
Qin Zhen ignored her.
Fu Qi only smiled without saying anything.
The old lady was bored anyway. After listening for a while to the patter of rain outside and the soft rustling of pages turning inside the room, she sighed. “This atmosphere really reminds me of rainy days in the dorm back when I was in school. We always loved getting together to gossip… Miss Zhang, don’t be mad at this old woman anymore. Come chat with me.”
Qin Zhen said, “I don’t want to talk to you.”
“But I want to talk to you. Spend enough time around young people, and you start to feel young yourself.”
“If you spend, spend enough time with pigs, you’ll start to look like one too!”
The old lady burst out laughing.
Her sense of humor was so strange that the zombie began to wonder whether the fall had damaged her brain.
The raindrops outside were snapping against the roof, the sky was gloomy, and the book in Qin Zhen’s hands was obscure and difficult, making it impossible to summon any interest. Perhaps because of all that, the old lady’s laughter no longer grated on her nerves. In fact, Qin Zhen even felt a little inclined to continue this intermittent conversation.
She asked, “What do you want to talk about?”
“Anything will do… Let’s talk about romance. Back when I was in school, the girls in our dormitory loved talking about romance and gossip.” The old lady said, “How did you and Captain Fu end up together?”
How was she supposed to answer that?
Qin Zhen thought about it for a while but could not come up with anything, so she said, “What’s it to you?”
“I’m just reminiscing. Yours is a workplace romance, after all…” The old lady sighed. “I’ve never had much faith in workplace romances, but your boyfriend has a great body—solid muscles, a handsome face, long legs, and a very perky butt. Give it a try; you won’t lose anything.”
“…I’m still here, Academician,” Fu Qi interjected.
“Oh, right, I forgot!” The old lady smacked her forehead. “The atmosphere is so much like a girls’ dorm… Never mind, I was complimenting you, Captain Fu.”
“Thank you?” Fu Qi returned the polite compliment. “Academician, you may be getting older, but your heart is still young. You’ve got quite the girlish side.”
“What’s wrong with that?” the old lady said. “Young flesh is something Grandma and zombies both like.”
They had supposedly been having a late-night girls’ chat, but between the two of them, Qin Zhen had been completely left out.
Qin Zhen had never paid particular attention to Fu Qi’s physique, let alone complimented him. The old lady’s barrage of praise made her nervous, and she said, “Like him all you want, but you can’t have him. He’s the property of our team.”
With that, she sat up, tugged the blanket over Fu Qi until he was completely covered, then lay back down beside him, guarding the bed like a miser protecting his treasure.
Fu Qi laughed again. He reached one hand out from under the blanket and began kneading the top of her head.
It felt so good. The zombie tossed her advanced calculus textbook aside and obediently flattened herself beneath his hand, relaxing so thoroughly she nearly started purring.
“Being in love is wonderful,” the old lady sighed when she saw them. Then she remembered something and asked, “So, are you still going to beat him up? He still owes you two beatings.”
The reminder jolted Qin Zhen awake. She turned her head toward Fu Qi.
“Beat me up?” Fu Qi’s hand stopped massaging her scalp. He raised an eyebrow. “Two beatings?”
Qin Zhen hesitated.
She really had forgotten about it. Even after being reminded, she no longer felt much like hitting him. But if she let him off, she felt she would be betraying the version of herself who had been angry earlier.
On the other hand, if she beat him, she might lose her chance to keep enjoying his massage.
While she weighed her options, Fu Qi’s eyes slowly narrowed, as if he were about to get angry.
But when she thought about it, she could understand his side. He had handled so many dangerous situations alone, finally found her, pulled her out of a mud pit, helped her wash up, put on her makeup, and massaged her. And now she wanted to beat him?
When viewed that way, wasn’t she being a little unreasonable?
The zombie’s brain wasn’t quite sharp enough to remember why she had wanted to hit Fu Qi in the first place. After hesitating for a moment, she decided to enjoy the benefits in front of her before worrying about anything else.
She abruptly sat up, grabbed a pillow, and threw it at the old lady on the bed.
“You crazy old lady! How dare you try to drive a wedge between me and my team! I’ll beat you to death!”
The old lady: “…”
Academician Jiang was getting on in years, and ever since she had achieved success in academia, no one had treated her so rudely. Combined with her experiences over the past two days—climbing trees, speeding, crashing, being talked back to, and being yelled at—she suddenly felt as if she had returned to her youth, fooling around with her friends.
The feeling was incredibly nostalgic. It also made this feel even more like a late-night girls’ dormitory chat.
In a cheerful mood, the old lady grabbed the pillow and threw it back at Qin Zhen.
Fu Qi’s massage service had resumed after Qin Zhen’s performance had pleased him, and she was thoroughly enjoying herself. When the pillow hit her, she got annoyed, scooped it up, and threw it back.
She threw it a little too forcefully, accidentally sending the advanced calculus textbook flying along with it.
The old lady on the bed saw a book come sailing over. She casually flipped through it and said, “Oh, Miss Zhang is quite the diligent student. Most people read novels for entertainment, but you read advanced mathematics. So ambitious.”
A light suddenly flashed through Qin Zhen’s mind. She sensed that something was wrong and was just beginning to think it through when the pillow came flying back again, this time striking her squarely on the nose.
She lost her temper. “Crazy old lady! If you throw that again—”
“You can’t be so rude.” Fu Qi intervened at exactly the right moment. “Sweetie, I’ve been meaning to tell you this for a while. You have to respect your elders and care for the young. You should call her Academician Jiang.”
“I’ll call your grandfather!”
The zombie shouted, flipped over, straddled Fu Qi, grabbed the pillow, and began beating him furiously.
Fu Qi took several blows before managing to catch her by the wrist.
“Weren’t you cursing at the crazy old lady? Why did you suddenly start hitting me?”
Hadn’t those two beatings been canceled?
Fu Qi couldn’t understand it at all. Surely it wasn’t because his massage had been uncomfortable?
Impossible. He was a highly skilled professional masseur who had served the zombie several times before.
Qin Zhen forcefully pried his hand away and continued hitting him.
“Liar! Advanced calculus, huh? You used advanced calculus to fool me? Give me back my babies!”
It was only after the old lady’s comment that Qin Zhen realized the books in her backpack were clearly all novels and guides to improving emotional intelligence. She had never packed any proper study materials. The book was obviously something Fu Qi had found somewhere to trick her with!
No wonder she had always felt that something was off!
The book wasn’t hers, and the phone definitely wasn’t hers either!
How dare Fu Laoqi pretend to be pitiful and play the sympathy card with her!
“You took advantage of my kindness!”
The moment she said that, Fu Qi understood why he was being beaten. She was absolutely right. He really did deserve it.
“Sweetie, that was a quick catch. I thought it would take you several days to figure it out.”
“I’ll beat you to death!” The zombie was furious. She broke free of his grip and smacked him hard with the pillow.
She was having a grand time beating him, and Fu Qi was enjoying every blow. The old lady beside them, however, was suffering. She covered her eyes and said, “This is why you can’t go out with a couple, and you definitely shouldn’t stay in the same room… Look at this mess. You’re making an old lady blush.”
It took a great deal of effort before they finally stopped. The zombie was angry now. She refused to continue their girls’ night and no longer wanted the services of her masseur, either.
He had deceived her feelings. This time, she was truly, genuinely angry!
She stayed silent for a long time. So long, in fact, that the old lady eventually fell asleep first. Even then, Qin Zhen still refused to acknowledge Fu Qi.
“Looking at that kind of stuff too much isn’t good for your brain…”
“I brought you some candy.”
“How about I take you to a base tomorrow so you can get online?”
“Are you really not going to talk to me?”
Fu Qi tried coaxing her for quite a while, but to no avail. Finally, he lowered his voice and said, “How about I beat up that crazy old lady for you tomorrow?”
Qin Zhen imagined the scene and almost failed to hold back a laugh.
She was still angry after beating Fu Qi, but maintaining a state of total silence and ignoring everyone was exhausting in its own way. Her stomach was beginning to hurt from lying there.
Taking advantage of the opportunity, the zombie gave him a way out while pretending to remain angry.
“Not interested!”
“Then what will it take to make you stop being angry?”
Qin Zhen had originally planned to make him continue massaging her. Then she reconsidered. That was something he ought to be doing anyway. She should demand some other benefit.
Unfortunately, Fu Qi had neither the internet nor a phone to give her.
The zombie thought and thought. Then, hearing the old lady’s faint snores from the bed, she suddenly had an idea.
“Young flesh… zombies like that too,” she whispered sneakily. “Let me feel how good your physique is, and I’ll forgive you.”
In the darkness, Fu Qi remained silent for a long, long time.
When he said nothing, Qin Zhen assumed she had put him in a difficult position. She was thrilled, but still pretended to be casual.
“Oh, don’t be shy. At my age, I might even be older than that crazy old lady. You can just think of me as your grandma…”
Fu Qi still said nothing.
He was reflecting.
What had happened?
When Little Zombie had first emerged from her tomb, she had clearly been a polite, civilized good zombie. How had she learned all this in just a few months—fighting, bribery, swearing, taking multiple wives and concubines, speeding, and beating up a woman in her sixties?
Now she was even becoming lecherous…
Would she start learning to smoke, drink, and gamble next?
