Faced with such a handsome man, Qin Zhen had been unable to resist the temptation and had almost agreed on the spot.
Fortunately, just then, the old lady behind Fu Qi poked her head up. Qin Zhen’s anger, which had only just settled, flared up again, and her zombie brain cleared.
When she was burning with rage and ready to kill someone, he asked her to touch him, and she instantly cooled down. Wouldn’t that make her look like some kind of pervert?
If she agreed too readily, she’d never be able to shake off the nickname “little lecher” ever again.
She had to put up a token struggle, at least.
Gripping the peachwood sword, Qin Zhen pretended to be resolute. “I’ve made up my mind. Today, I’m definitely going to ex—exterminate this old—”
Before she could finish, the hand holding the peachwood sword was caught and pressed against a broad, solid chest. Even through the clothing, she could feel the scorching warmth of a living body.
Qin Zhen was still frozen in surprise when her fingers were gently pried apart. The peachwood sword fell to the ground, and her palm naturally spread open, pressing firmly against that warm chest.
A heart was beating with a steady thump-thump, its rhythm traveling through the clothes into Qin Zhen’s palm.
Zombies had no heartbeat, but she knew that this thing represented the heart—a precious organ praised by countless people.
Doctors said its beating represented the circulation of blood and was the force that sustained life. Poets said it symbolized passion, loyalty, steadfastness, and love. Even the folk tales about spirits and monsters claimed that eating one could aid in cultivation.
Qin Zhen had pounced on Fu Qi and beaten him countless times before, but this was the first time she had felt his heart beating.
It might have been scorching hot, hot enough to make even a zombie’s face feel warm.
“Baby?” Fu Qi called softly.
Qin Zhen grew embarrassed. She curled her fingers and said in a small voice, “Th-then, fine. I-I’ll let it go this time.”
“Mm.” Fu Qi gently rubbed her hand, then released it and stepped back. Qin Zhen’s hand naturally slipped away from his chest.
Outside, the zombies were still clawing at the car windows and roaring. Some had already climbed onto the roof by stepping on one another. Fu Qi lowered his voice and said tenderly, “Baby, stay in the car and watch over Academician Jiang. I’ll clear a path. All right?”
Qin Zhen could still feel the powerful beat of his heart lingering in her palm. Her mind was a complete muddle, and she nodded instinctively. “All right.”
Fu Qi smiled faintly at her dazed expression. He turned and made some noise on one side of the car. Once the zombies gathered there, he slipped out through the other side.
After that, the car windows were blocked by the surging mass of zombies, and Qin Zhen could no longer see him. She sat in the car for a while before covering her face with both hands.
Strange. Why did her cheeks feel so warm?
At some point, Academician Jiang seemed to say something to her, but Qin Zhen didn’t listen carefully or respond.
After an unknown amount of time, Fu Qi got back into the car. His outer jacket was splattered with filthy blood, so he took it off and set it aside. His upper body was once again clad only in a thin short-sleeved shirt. When he turned to look behind him, the fabric pulled taut, revealing the faint outline of his pectoral muscles.
Only then did Qin Zhen remember that she had been so focused on feeling his heartbeat that she hadn’t properly touched his muscles yet.
But it didn’t matter. Once the old lady fell asleep that night, she would have plenty of time to explore.
Fu Qi had agreed, after all.
“Academician Jiang, what exactly is going on with you?” Fu Qi was now in the driver’s seat, while Qin Zhen and the old lady sat in the back. To prevent another incident, he first needed to get a clear explanation from Academician Jiang.
After so much time had passed, Academician Jiang had also recovered her senses. She said sheepishly, “I’m sorry…”
“You scared our Little Zombie half to death.” As Fu Qi spoke, he reached over and stroked the zombie’s head twice. Then he brought up an old matter as well. “Was it also because of you the last time we rode the motorcycle into that mud pit?”
“It was because of her!” Qin Zhen had also snapped out of her trance over the powerful heartbeat and immediately began to complain. “She’s a Crazy old lady! The moment she touches a car, she goes berserk!”
A national talent and an elegant, intellectual role model for young people, Academician Jiang was so embarrassed that she had nothing to say. Her head drooped almost to the floor beneath the seat.
At this point, assigning blame was meaningless.
Fu Qi soothed Qin Zhen by pulling her hand down and signaling for her to calm down. Then he asked, “Academician, was it like this when you traveled with other teams before?”
It didn’t make sense. If she had a history of doing something as insane as grabbing the steering wheel, the authorities would have issued a special warning.
“We always rode in large vehicles before…”
The area outside the base was too dangerous. Because of her special status, she would have at least one squad escorting her whenever she went out. For convenience and safety, they usually rode in large trucks. Sitting in the cargo compartment meant she couldn’t see outside, so she wouldn’t lose control.
On the rare occasions when she rode in a smaller vehicle, it was either within the base or on a short trip, and she could barely keep herself under control.
This time, Qin Zhen had been driving while dodging zombies, which had made Academician Jiang anxious and triggered her road rage. She had insisted on grabbing the steering wheel.
The zombie’s temper flared at once. “So this was my fault?”
Fu Qi tugged her closer and half-embraced her, patting her head as he asked, “Academician, how did you travel around before the zombie virus outbreak?”
Academician Jiang answered awkwardly, “I always sat in the back seat, behind opaque windows, with a partition in the middle…”
In short, she had always had this problem. The people around her had known about it before the apocalypse and had taken appropriate precautions. After the apocalypse, she rarely went out, and the conditions required to trigger it were difficult to meet.
This time, Academician Jiang had thought she could control herself. Who would have guessed that after only an hour on the road, she would completely lose control?
Fu Qi said, “This won’t do, Academician Jiang. It’s too dangerous. And you were swearing constantly, which is teaching our Little Zombie bad habits.”
The zombie nodded beside him. “Exactly!”
“I’m sorry,” the old lady said sincerely, stretching out both hands. “Why don’t you tie me up?”
“Tie her up!”
Qin Zhen really wanted to, but that would be too disrespectful to Academician Jiang. In the end, Fu Qi suggested blindfolding the old lady instead.
They tried it for a stretch of road and found that it worked, so they continued on their way.
The rest of the journey went smoothly. That evening, they stopped at the edge of a small county town to refuel and spent the night there. The houses were in relatively better condition, but there was no water source, and the zombies were even denser. They surrounded the small building, roaring incessantly and making it impossible to sleep.
Qin Zhen was still thinking about the pectoral muscles she hadn’t properly felt during the day. She waited with all her heart for the old lady to close her eyes.
After waiting for ages, she suddenly heard the old lady say, “That White-Shirted Zombie is quite handsome.”
Qin Zhen nearly choked. “You’re so old, and you’re an academician, but you’re still so im-improper.”
“Academicians are people too…” the old lady said. “Miss Zhang, do you think he might be some male celebrity?”
The house where they were staying was a detached two-story building, with a river on one side and a road on the other. They had already checked the entire upper floor. Someone had died up there, leaving it filthy and chaotic, so the group was staying in a small room on the first floor.
The room had a security window, and the glass was intact, but the curtains were gone. The old lady was sleeping inside, with her head turned directly toward the zombie clawing at the window. The moon was bright that night, making the zombie’s features clearly visible.
Qin Zhen had suffered too many losses at the old lady’s hands and wanted to cut ties with her. But in order to get her to close her eyes and go to sleep, she still reluctantly played along and glanced outside.
“Huh?”
At a closer look, the White-Shirted Zombie really was quite attractive. Its blue-gray skin and ferocious expression couldn’t conceal its handsome features.
“Handsome, right?” the old lady asked.
Qin Zhen nodded. “That’s right, that’s right.”
“He’s a little celebrity, isn’t he?” the old lady said uncertainly. “My little darling—my granddaughter, that is—loved male stars of this type when she was in college. What did she call them… ‘puppy boys’?”
Qin Zhen propped herself up on one arm and craned her upper body to look outside. “I like them too. He’s handsome!”
“Ahem!”
No sooner had she finished speaking than a soft cough came from Fu Qi on the sofa beside them.
The old lady said, “Oh dear, Captain Fu is jealous… He’s a zombie, and Miss Zhang is only looking. It’s not like she can do anything. Men shouldn’t be so petty.”
Qin Zhen really had only been looking at first. But after hearing the old lady say that, she suddenly remembered that she could bring this Puppy Zombie back to the tomb. She wouldn’t do anything to him—she’d just use him as decoration and add a little more of a dead-person vibe to the place.
Provided he had never eaten anyone.
“I’m not being petty. I was just wondering how many people he’s eaten,” Fu Qi said blandly. “Is that human flesh stuck in his mouth?”
His words made both women turn their eyes toward the zombie’s mouth, which was smeared with blackish-red slime. After two simultaneous sounds of retching, the old lady closed her eyes and went back to sleep. Qin Zhen turned over, facing Fu Qi on the inside.
It was dark on Fu Qi’s side, so she couldn’t tell whether his eyes were open or closed. Afraid that the zombie hunter might fall asleep, she waited for the right moment to quietly call out to him.
After a while, thinking the old lady must have fallen into a sound sleep, she was just about to speak when a tremendous crash suddenly came from upstairs.
Qin Zhen jumped, and the old lady, who had only just begun to feel drowsy, woke with a start.
“I’ll go take a look,” Fu Qi said.
They had already searched the second floor and found neither zombies nor living people. If something had suddenly made a noise now, then something must have gotten in by another route.
If it was a living person, that would be fine. But if it was a zombie, it meant there was a good chance they would be surrounded by a horde of zombies when dawn came.
They had to find out what was going on as soon as possible.
“I’m coming with you,” Qin Zhen said.
The room was sealed off and absolutely safe, so Academician Jiang would have no trouble staying there alone. And since Qin Zhen was a zombie, other zombies wouldn’t attack her, making her the ideal person to investigate in the dead of night.
There was no need to hesitate. Fu Qi nodded in agreement.
Qin Zhen had her eye on his body, so she was exceptionally enthusiastic, taking the lead as they went upstairs.
After searching around, they discovered that the situation was much simpler than they had imagined. A rope ladder had been hung outside the second-floor window, probably something the family had used to escape and never taken down. One zombie had blindly climbed up it.
On closer inspection, it was a familiar corpse—the somewhat handsome White-Shirted Zombie who had been pawing at the window just now.
Fu Qi swiftly snapped its neck, granting it eternal rest.
After removing the rope ladder and checking everything once more to make sure they hadn’t missed anything, they were about to go downstairs when Qin Zhen grabbed him.
“What is it?” Fu Qi asked.
If they went back down, the old lady downstairs certainly wouldn’t be asleep yet. They would have to wait a long time before they could be alone again, and Fu Qi needed to rest too. When would the zombie get another chance to feel him up?
They might as well make the most of this opportunity.
The zombie felt a little shy and said softly in the darkness, “You promised I could touch you…”
“Didn’t I already let you touch me?”
Qin Zhen was shocked. “When did you?!”
“In the car.” Fu Qi patted himself over the heart and reminded her, “Think carefully. Didn’t I?”
Qin Zhen thought back, then stared at him in disbelief. “That was only for a second!”
She hadn’t felt anything except his heartbeat!
Besides, what she wanted to touch was his muscles! His physique!
“Do you want to touch me for the rest of your life?” Fu Qi shook his head and sighed. “Baby, I’m a captain, not a male model. I don’t sell my body.”
“You—you—you—you…”
“Why have you started stammering again?”
“You bastard! You liar!”
The zombie, having been tricked yet again, flared up in fury. She grabbed her peachwood sword and went after the captain, intending to beat him with it. Unfortunately, it was too dark upstairs for her to see clearly. During the chase, she suddenly cried, “Ow!” and fell.
By sheer coincidence, she landed squarely on top of the Puppy Zombie.
“I knew you were a scumbag zombie,” Fu Qi said as he went over to help her up. “You say you want to touch me, but your hands are already all over another male corpse.”
“Having your cake while eyeing the one in the pot. Good thing I stayed alert and wasn’t fooled by your sweet talk.”
