There were plenty of things that seemed fun when you only did them once in a while. But when you were forced to repeat them every day, they became tedious. Makeup was the same.
Qin Zhen had been wearing makeup for several months now, covering her face with a thick layer of foundation every day and diligently pretending to be a normal person. She was sick of it.
After appearing barefaced in front of Xu the Second this time, she came up with a new idea.
“Until we see Chen Xiang and the others, I’m not—not wearing makeup anymore,” Qin Zhen declared.
“No way,” Fu Qi said. “You’ll scare people to death without makeup.”
“Was that a double entendre?”
Since he was driving, Qin Zhen couldn’t hit him. She simply pulled out her notebook and neatly added another mark against him. While she was at it, she cleared out some of the plans in the notebook. The one about scheming to become captain could be crossed off.
Getting a taste of being captain was enough. Holding the position long-term would mean dealing with the other squads and the base leaders. That was far too terrifying for a zombie.
Fu Qi said, “What am I supposed to do if you stop wearing makeup? Keep pretending to be a pervert in love with a zombie?”
Qin Zhen lay in the back seat with both feet propped against the rear window. Flipping through her notebook, she said, “That’s called devotion.”
He had refused to play the scumbag who had fallen for his girlfriend’s younger sister, so he could play a devoted pervert instead. In Xu the Second’s eyes, he was probably already something like that anyway.
Thinking of Xu the Second made Qin Zhen anxious. “Why hasn’t he contacted us yet?”
This was the first time a zombie had pretended to be one in front of someone other than Fu Qi. From her ferocious expression to her ravenous emotions, she had studied everything carefully.
She was certain that her performance in the final scene had been even better than the one in which she announced Zombie Sis’s death. She was eagerly waiting for her only audience to give her some feedback.
Several days had already passed. Xu the Second and the others should have recovered and returned to the base by now.
Just as she was growing impatient, the phone on the driver’s seat flashed.
That flash meant she could openly play with the phone. To a zombie, it was no different from a tomb of gold falling from the sky.
“Mine!”
She shouted and tucked her legs in before lunging forward. In the blink of an eye, she had thrown herself between the driver’s and passenger’s seats and snatched up the phone. When she opened it, she found that the person contacting them still wasn’t Xu the Second. It was Chen Xiang.
Chen Xiang was fine too.
To save power, they hadn’t contacted one another for several days. Qin Zhen actually missed this teammate of hers.
“Captain, Captain!” Chen Xiang was calling this time, and his voice was frantic. “You and Jiang Xiaojiang didn’t head toward the base, did you?”
He had been far too enthusiastic toward the zombie before, making Qin Zhen feel awkward about speaking to him. In a soft voice, she said, “No.”
“Oh, it’s Jiang Xiaojiang.” Chen Xiang heaved a sigh of relief. “Jiang Xiaojiang, are you with the captain?”
After receiving confirmation, he spoke rapidly. “Xu the Second just contacted me. Several bases in the north have suffered outbreaks of a new virus. The symptoms are similar to the flu, but it’s highly contagious. He told me to warn you to stay away from crowds!”
Qin Zhen hurriedly handed the phone toward the driver’s seat. Fu Qi stopped the car as well and took the phone.
“What exactly is going on?” he asked.
Chen Xiang said, “From what Xu the Second said, there had already been signs of this virus earlier, but they weren’t obvious then. Only a small number of people were infected, which was why they went to the hospital to look for medicine. When they returned to the base yesterday, they discovered that nearly two-thirds of the people there had been infected. The situation is still getting worse…”
In their era, zombies were everywhere and corpses could be found at every turn, making it extremely easy for all sorts of viruses to spread.
Against the backdrop of scarce medicine, a highly contagious virus like this was incredibly dangerous. Even if the Thunder Squad had just brought back an entire truckload of medicine, it probably wouldn’t last long. And that was without mentioning the fact that several bases had experienced outbreaks at the same time.
“…Every base has sent squads out to search for medicine and provide support. The Thunder Squad is heading out again as well… Captain, stay away from people. If you pass through any towns along the way, collect more medicine while you’re there. Be careful not to get infected.”
Fu Qi gave a quiet “Mm” and said, “Send my and Little Zombie’s location to Xu the Second. Have him come find us here.”
Chen Xiang agreed, then hung up to contact Xu the Second.
Qin Zhen leaned over and asked, “Are we going to help them find medicine?”
Fu Qi nodded. He ran through the map in his head, then turned at the junction ahead and drove toward the town.
They weren’t going to turn back. All they could do was transport the medicine out of the city and have the Thunder Squad come pick it up.
Qin Zhen had no objections to searching for medicine, but she did have an objection to Fu Qi’s involvement.
“Then I can just go by myself,” she said. “You don’t have to come along and make, make trouble.”
She wasn’t afraid of zombies. She could simply go inside, pack up the medicine, and bring it out. Easy. If Fu Qi came with her, she would have to worry about him being attacked by zombies.
Fu Qi was speechless. “…Why does that sound so strange?”
“Good advice is often hard to hear!”
Fu Qi had to admit that, although the words were unpleasant, it was indeed the most efficient way to transport the medicine.
He drove to the outskirts of the nearest county town, drew Qin Zhen a simple map, marked several hospitals on it, then hung the megaphone they had used before around her waist.
“The city probably doesn’t have any living people left, but we can’t rule out the possibility that someone went inside looking for medicine. After disguising yourself as a zombie and wandering in, go somewhere high up and call out through the megaphone a few times…”
Qin Zhen finished his sentence for him. “If you discover signs of living people, don’t act rashly. First pretend to be a zombie, stagger out, and come find you to dis, discuss how to rescue them. Once you’re sure there are no living people left, then transport the medicine. If you discover any survivors while moving it, pretend you were bitten and turned into a, a zombie on the way here…”
After forcing her way through the choppy sentence, she complained, “How many times are you going to repeat that? You’re so annoy, annoying.”
Fu Qi poked her on the forehead. “You’re not annoyed. You’ve just become more fluent, and now your heart is rebelling along with your tongue?”
“There’s no talking sense into you!”
Qin Zhen slapped his hand away, tucked the map into her pocket, hung the megaphone around her waist, and swaggered toward the county town.
Fu Qi watched her swaying figure with a smile, then turned around to find vehicles for transporting the medicine.
The county town was relatively small. After circling around without spotting any living people, Qin Zhen didn’t want the trip to be for nothing, so she found a scrap collector’s three-wheeled cart nearby and used it to haul out a load of medicine.
By the time she emerged, Fu Qi had already found several trucks and cleared them out.
Things went much more smoothly after that. The zombie drove the trucks straight to the hospital pharmacies, then rumbled back out again. Zombies often followed behind, but without any human scent to attract them, not many came. Fu Qi dispatched them in just a few moves.
After several trips back and forth, they had practically emptied the pharmacies of all three hospitals in the small town.
Fu Qi hadn’t been idle during this time either. He found an empty house on the outskirts of the town and stored some of the medicine there. He also made several large flags. Once Qin Zhen had finished her work, he handed her a can of paint and had her write on the flags.
“Why do I have to write them?” Qin Zhen asked.
“Because your handwriting is pretty.”
He knew he had made a mistake the moment he said it. Not only did the zombie have beautiful handwriting, but she also had plenty of strength in her fists.
Even so, Qin Zhen wrote the words. Afterward, she and Fu Qi planted the flags beside the trucks loaded with medicine and beside the small house. They didn’t continue on until the next day.
When they left, they first drove around the town once more, placing the flags along the outskirts as road signs. Every one of them pointed toward the medicine storage site.
Later, long after the truck had driven off, when they looked back, they could still faintly see the few flags flapping in the wind, and the lopsided, paint-scrawled words "Medicine Is Here" printed across them.
The medicine in the truck was for Xu the Second and his group, and the stashes left hidden in the rooms were reserved for the wandering survivors out on their own.
Qin Zhen thought that if she were human, she would definitely be so moved when she found this place.
"This is all my, Little Qin's, doing! All the credit!"
She had pulled off such a huge feat, but there was no one to show off to, no rewards at all. It was so lonely.
Qin Zhen sighed, glanced at Fu Qi who was driving up front, then leaned back against the seat and moaned, "All these trips back and forth, my back aches, my legs are cramping... This old zombie is past her prime, no good anymore..."
Fu Qi asked, "Then what do we need to do to get this zombie back to full energy?"
Qin Zhen hesitated between saying "eat a human's heart" and "play with a cellphone". Two seconds later, the cellphone won by a landslide. She said, "If I could play with my phone for a bit, I might just... glow, glow with radiance again."
"Heard that cellphones can cure every ailment, never thought they work on zombies too."
"What's with the 'zombie' talk? We all evolved from humans after all! We're all family, no need to keep score. Cellphone magic works the same for everyone!"
After a bit of playful banter, Qin Zhen successfully got the phone. She unlocked it and saw that while she was busy, Fu Qi had already been in touch with Chen Xiang. The earlier messages were all about the medicine supply, and the last line Fu Qi sent was: "Tell her later."
Who this "her" referred to was obvious.
Qin Zhen leaned over the driver's seat, held the phone out to him and said, "Pretending you don't know anything? You already told Chen Xiang you'd let me use the phone."
"If you don't want it, you can give it back."
"In your dreams!"
She curled back into her seat hugging the phone, and typed with a poking motion on the screen: "Chen Xiang Chen Xiang, I'm here!"
Chen Xiang replied: "Jiang Xiaojiang, Jiang Xiaojiang, the captain told me you hauled a whole truckload of medicine out. How are you so amazing!"
"Just average amazing," she replied with fake modesty, then asked, "What did you want to talk to me about?"
Chen Xiang: "Oh right, it's about Xu the Second."
After all these days, she was finally going to hear feedback from the only person who had witnessed her acting skills. Qin Zhen got so excited she sat bolt upright, then leaned over behind Fu Qi, holding the phone next to his ear and said, "Listen to this."
Chen Xiang said: "What did you and the captain do to Xu the Second? He seems to have lost his mind. One minute he's asking me if the captain's brain is okay, the next he's asking who the captain is with now, and he keeps rushing me and Old Mo to meet up with you two as fast as possible, saying I need to comfort the captain properly and talk some sense into him."
"He bought it!" The zombie cheered, "I knew it! My acting is that good!"
Qin Zhen was both thrilled and touched.
Xu the Second used to be reckless and stupid, but now he was a total good guy who kept secrets perfectly. He didn't even spill the details when he asked Chen Xiang to help snoop around.
Qin Zhen wrapped her left arm around Fu Qi's shoulder from behind the seat, held the phone to his ear with her other hand, and leaned in to send a voice message: "I don't know anything about that, I do whatever the captain says."
"Do whatever I say?" Fu Qi sounded amused. "Did I tell you to fake your own death?"
Qin Zhen casually looped her arm around his neck and tugged, saying, "You misled me! This is all your fault in the first place!"
Right as they were chatting, another message popped up from Chen Xiang: "You don't know? Then why did he ask me to say sorry to you? He even calls you Little Qin. When I asked him why it's Little Qin instead of Little Jiang, he told me not to ask so many questions."
The zombie snickered, too embarrassed to tell her teammate about the prank she had pulled, so she made Fu Qi answer.
Fu Qi said: "Little Qin is Jiang Xiaojiang's childhood nickname."
Qin Zhen heard that and pointed at him in mock outrage: "Sweetie, you're being so wicked!"
With that reply to Chen Xiang, it was easy to guess that when the story got back to Xu the Second, he would probably come up with one of two conclusions.
Either Fu Qi had gone crazy and was treating Little Qin as a stand-in for the dead Jiang Xiaojiang.
Or he had finally accepted that his lover was dead, moved on with her younger sister, and now wanted to be seen as a good guy even though he was a scumbag, so he made the sister pretend to be the dead one.
Either way, the zombie got that giddy, mischievous rush of having pulled a great prank. She cackled right after calling him out.
"Are you sure I'm the wicked one, not you? You're acting exactly like a villainess in a drama."
"Of course it's you!" Qin Zhen declared firmly, then thought for a second and corrected, "It's you and Jiang Xiaojiang."
Poor Xu the Second was about to be messed with so bad he'd lose his mind!
But what did that have to do with her, a perfect innocent zombie?
Qin Zhen swayed back and forth, sighing dramatically: "The wicked culprit Jiang Xiaojiang has already died a guilty death. All the bad things she did have nothing, nothing at all, to do with me, the pure and flawless Jiang Xiaoqin!"
Fu Qi said, "It's true none of her crimes are your business, but baby, have you thought about one little thing?"
"What?" The zombie didn't take him seriously.
"The one who saved Xu the Second was Jiang Xiaojiang. And now she's gone. So what happens to the credit for saving him..." Fu Qi trailed off deliberately, leaving plenty of space for the zombie's imagination to run wild.
Qin Zhen froze, her expression slowly falling apart.
"And the whole medicine delivery mission..." Fu Qi glanced at her for a second, then continued, "I told you to sign your name on the records, what name did you write?"
...Jiang Xiaojiang.
Why did she sign that name?
Because Qin Zhen knew the Thunderclap team had gotten the news and was heading their way. She had deliberately written that name to show Xu the Second...
"Why didn't you remind me earlier!" Qin Zhen shrieked, tightening her arms around Fu Qi's neck.
"You were having so much fun, you didn't give me a chance..." Fu Qi leaned back in his seat, still holding the steering wheel, and reminded her, "I'm driving, safety first, baby."
"Baby my ass!"
The zombie was about to pass out from anger!
She had worked her ass off for so long, and now all the credit was vanishing into thin air along with the "dead" Jiang Xiaojiang. She had been doing free labor for humans this whole time!
The zombie was hit with such a heavy blow that even when they reached the next city the following day, she was still dragging her feet looking for more medicine for the humans. Even when she marked the new stashes with the name "Jiang Xiaoqin", she couldn't cheer up. Who knew when Jiang Xiaoqin would also have to "die" one day?
But she couldn't put her real name down either. What if her zombie identity was exposed, and those humans with their far-reaching networks dug up her exact birthday and birth details?
Then she'd really be trapped, controlled by some evil human spell, forced to work for them for free forever.
Because of that huge loss, the zombie was in low spirits for a long time. After they had cleared out the hospitals in the seventh county along their route, snow started falling again. Fu Qi brought her to a small village by the highway to settle down, and ran her a big tub of hot bath water.
After her bath, Qin Zhen flopped face down on the bed, still grumpy.
"Want to play on your phone?" Fu Qi had finished washing up too, and came over to coax her.
Qin Zhen turned her face the other way.
The phone was mostly for contacting Chen Xiang, so she could only play with it for a few minutes at a time. It wasn't enough. It didn't make her happy.
Fu Qi reached over, turned her face back to him, and asked, "Then what do you want to do?"
"Everything's... boring." Qin Zhen sighed glumly. "I think I might have depression."
Life feels so meaningless. Everyone can make her suffer, whether on purpose or by accident. Even if a zombie is as domineering as can be, what good does it do? She still has to scrape by at the very bottom of the heap.
Fu Qi said, "Weren't you having a great time when you faked your death to prank Xu the Second before?"
"Don't ever bring that up again!"
Zombies are so fickle. Just a few days ago, she was all excited, waiting eagerly to see what kind of reaction Xu the Second would give. Now she won't even let anyone mention it.
Fine then, he'll bring up something that will make her happy.
Fu Qi thought about the few must-do items she had written down in her little notebook, and said, "What about drawing talismans? If you can't be Little Daoist Zombie, you can still be Little Qin Taoist."
"No way."
Little Qin Taoist sounds way too plain. It can't hold a candle to the imposing title of Little Daoist Zombie, and doesn't spark a single bit of interest in the zombie.
"Then... how about going to look for gold?"
The zombie's eyes lit up. She sat up to look at Fu Qi, then immediately slumped back down listlessly. "Even if I find it, I can't take it back with me."
She hasn't even found a good tomb for herself yet. How is she supposed to renovate it?
"But if you don't look for it now, once the apocalypse ends and normal order is restored, you'll never get another chance."
Qin Zhen was a little tempted by that. But she had just taken a bath, and she smelled so nice and fresh. Going to look for gold meant heading into the city, and heading into the city meant squeezing through crowds of stinking zombies, which would leave her reeking all over again.
She said, "We'll go tomorrow."
With that, she rolled over to face the other side and zoned out.
Even though she turned down Fu Qi's suggestion to go loot a gold store, the zombie's mind started wandering, and she realized something: all the things Fu Qi had brought up were the plans she had written down in her little notebook before.
She carefully went over all the goals she had listed, and found that except for the ones she had already lost interest in and the ones that were impossible to achieve in the short term, there was only one left that Fu Qi could give her, but hadn't mentioned yet.
Qin Zhen's heart skipped a beat. She laid flat and turned to look at the person beside her.
Outside, snow was falling in big goose-feather flakes, the sky was dark and heavy, and it was even dimmer inside the room. Fu Qi had sat down on the edge of the bed to coax her, and he hadn't left yet. The human and the zombie just stared at each other in the dim light.
Three seconds later, Fu Qi asked, "What's wrong?"
"N-nothing..." Qin Zhen casually looked away, staring up at the ceiling.
The old flat rural house hadn't been taken care of for years, so the ceiling was dusty, and a huge spider web was strung in the corner.
Qin Zhen stared at that spider web for a while, then rolled her eyes and snuck a glance to the side.
The snow piling up outside made traveling and going out difficult. After Fu Qi picked this place as their temporary shelter, he had stocked up on enough food and water. Now that he had some free time, he took off his jacket and was adding firewood to the small stove beside him.
His back was to Qin Zhen. He was strong and built, and moved around a lot, so he didn't wear many clothes. Indoors, he only had on a thin black fleece shirt.
The thin fleece was a little tight, and when he moved his arms, the fabric pulled across his shoulders, showing the outline of the muscles on his back.
This shirt didn't show as much skin as the short-sleeved one he wore before, but it really highlighted his figure, especially his shoulders, back, and waist.
When Qin Zhen's gaze landed on Fu Qi's waist, he seemed to sense it, and suddenly turned his head to look at her. It startled Qin Zhen so bad she jumped.
She quickly looked away, focusing all her attention on the spider web in the corner, pretending she had never been looking anywhere else.
After a while, she heard the sound of him standing up. When Qin Zhen snuck another peek, she saw Fu Qi walk over to the window to check the situation outside. The faint light from outside brushed past his body, outlining a hazy silhouette.
Qin Zhen's eyes lingered on his narrow waist for a moment, then glanced further down. She thought to herself, Academician Jiang might be a little loony, but as someone who has a granddaughter, he really has great taste in men.
She was so lost in looking that the person by the window suddenly turned around again. This time Qin Zhen couldn't dodge in time, and he caught her red-handed.
"What are you looking at?" Fu Qi asked.
Qin Zhen turned her eyes to him and said, "N-nothing... What are you looking at?"
"I'm checking how much the snow has piled up."
Qin Zhen made an "oh" sound. She stared at the spider web for a while, then quickly stole another glance at Fu Qi. Her eyes rolled around a couple times, and she said, "Sweetie, I want to hear a story."
Fu Qi said, "Once upon a time, there was a zombie who kept staring everywhere, and then she went blind."
Qin Zhen: "..."
Just a moment ago he was trying every way to cheer her up, and now, after she looked at him a few more times, he's already making up silly stories to tease her. What a total lack of grace.
But this also made the zombie figure out a truth: in any relationship, if your momentum weakens, the other person's gets stronger. So no matter if you're in the right or not, you have to get your momentum up first.
"Get over here!" she commanded loudly, slapping the bed beside her hard enough that the mattress thumped. "Come over here and tell me a proper story!"
Fu Qi leaned against the window and looked at her for a moment, then walked over. "I'll tell you a story, but no random staring and no random touching."
Qin Zhen said, "As if I'd want to."
"Little dog wants to."
"..." Qin Zhen held back her temper and reminded him, "I'm in a very bad mood right now. Watch what you say!"
"Fine, I'll be careful." Fu Qi said as he sat down by Qin Zhen, leaning against the head of the bed.
He and Qin Zhen often shared the same bed. Probably to be ready for any sudden situation, or to avoid any inappropriate misunderstandings, he never took off his pants, and it was the same this time.
Qin Zhen was lying flat, and her peripheral vision was full of his long, stretched-out legs. Before she could even look for a few more seconds, a blanket was draped over her, blocking her view.
"I'm also being careful to keep warm." Fu Qi said, "And even more careful to protect myself."
Qin Zhen: "..."
So annoying!
After taking his protective measures, Fu Qi asked, "What kind of story do you want to hear?"
Qin Zhen didn't know. She thought for a while and said, "Tell me a story about me and my husband."
Fu Qi looked confused. "Do I know your husband?"
"Make it up! Use your brain!"
"I'm not a fiction author."
"Then go find a fiction author for me."
"Can't do that." Fu Qi said, "Fiction authors generally don't get enough exercise. Their health is terrible, so they were the first batch of people to die when the apocalypse hit."
Qin Zhen: "..."
Qin Zhen sat up and started punching him. "All the authors are dead, and you still threw away my novels? I'll beat you to death!"
After hitting him a few times, she lay back down, huffing angrily. "If you can't tell that story, then tell me about your own past... tell me about the romantic relationships you had before."
Contrary to his usual self, Fu Qi didn't refuse right away. The zombie felt there was hope. She flipped over onto her stomach, propped her face up with both hands, and waited eagerly for Fu Qi to speak.
Fu Qi seemed to think deeply for a long time, then spoke slowly. "I met her in the autumn. Back then, I couldn't walk around easily because of an accident. She came up to me, and held out her hand."
Qin Zhen's eyes went wide. "You really had a romantic relationship before? You told me before you n-never had one!"
Fu Qi went quiet for a little while, then said, "That relationship wasn't something to be proud of..."
"What was wrong with it?" The zombie was fully engrossed now.
"I was the other man in her marriage."
Qin Zhen gasped sharply. She propped herself up on her elbow, pointing at him with a trembling finger. "You you you... You are so unethical! That's so exciting! Keep going!"
Fu Qi continued, "At that time, I was still a student. She already had a family, she was very rich, and she was a few years older than me..."
"Back when you were still a student, you went around seducing rich married women and breaking up other people's marriages?!" The zombie was shocked again, shaking his head in disbelief. "Little Qi, Little Qi, you really are the definition of 'never judge a book by its cover'!"
"Guilty as charged," Fu Qi said. "But I have to clarify one thing. She set her sights on me first... She was a total flirt, took one look at my good looks the first time we met, dragged me straight back to her place, and started pawing at me..."
"And you didn't even fight back?"
"I did struggle at first, but for some reasons, I caved in later."
Qin Zhen still found it hard to believe. "Then how did you two break up? Her husband found out and beat you up?"
Fu Qi said, "No, she and her husband had a really good relationship, and I got along great with him too. The three of us lived together pretty harmoniously. That little 'fling' of ours ended... because she died."
"Huh?" The plot had taken such a bizarre turn that the zombie couldn't even think of any other questions, and blurted out the most important one first. "How did she die?"
A sad look crossed Fu Qi's face, and he let out a sorrowful sigh. "She committed suicide out of fear of punishment after doing something truly unforgivable and morally bankrupt."
"..."
Qin Zhen went silent for a few seconds, then propped himself up on the bed, leaped onto Fu Qi, and started pummeling him. "You're the one who's morally bankrupt! You're the one who's a total flirt! You're the shameless one!"
