This was the first time in his life that Fu Qi had been called stupid. The worst part was that the evidence was so overwhelming he had no way to defend himself.
He was briefly rendered speechless. Just as Qin Zhen was about to say something else, he lifted his lashes and glanced toward the doorway.
“There seems to be some movement outside.”
Qin Zhen hurried out as quietly as she could to investigate.
Fu Qi was injured and couldn’t move around, so the entire responsibility of defending against the bad guys fell on her shoulders. She peered through the crack in the door, observing the outside under the bright moonlight for quite some time. Then she returned and told Fu Qi, “There’s nothing there.”
“Then I must have heard wrong,” Fu Qi said. “But they won’t give up easily. We’ll have to leave first thing tomorrow morning.”
Qin Zhen nodded, took off her shoes, and climbed back beside him. She patted the bed and comforted him, saying, “Don’t worry. I’ll protect you.”
Fu Qi nodded and closed his eyes to sleep.
The room stayed quiet for only a short while before Qin Zhen’s voice sounded again.
“Sweetie, you really were kind of stu—stupid today, weren’t you?”
Fu Qi: “…”
He slowly opened his eyes and stared at the dim ceiling.
“Whether someone is stupid or not can’t be judged based on a single incident. Take those three people from Country A today, for example. Do you think they were stupid?”
Qin Zhen thought about it for a while and said, “No.”
Especially the last one.
She had only thought that she could hide among the zombies, approach Redhead without making a sound, and take him down. She hadn’t expected him to have a zombie disruptor that allowed him to approach her just as silently—and shoot her.
“So you need to be twice as careful from now on.” Fu Qi frowned. “You should be grateful that, among those three, only the blond one was wearing a watch.”
The blond man had probably let down his guard because he had people watching both inside and outside. He had been focused on contacting his superiors. By the time he realized something was wrong beside him, Fu Qi’s bullet had already struck him between the brows.
But it would be untrue to say that he hadn’t seen Qin Zhen at all.
Fu Qi wasn’t sure what the watch had recorded of the moments before his death.
He sighed. “I told you to leave first and come back for me later, but you didn’t listen.”
The jiangshi glared at him. “You’re blaming me? If I hadn’t come back to save you, you would’ve been cap—captured and interrogated!”
“I would have found a chance to escape. But the moment they saw you, they would have fixated on you as an anomaly,” Fu Qi said. “Do you want to be locked in a cage and experimented on as a zombie with independent consciousness?”
Of course not.
She was a jiangshi, not a zombie!
Qin Zhen liked human technology, but she was also afraid of it being used on her. She said resentfully, “I’ll be more careful from now on.”
“Then are you still going to wear makeup?”
“Makeup isn’t freedom. It’s so lacking in corpse rights!”
“Then go find Zhang Xiping. He believes every species has the right to live freely. He’ll definitely support you.”
It took Qin Zhen a moment to remember who Zhang Xiping was.
“Sweetie, you’re so mean. You actually want to trick me into going to that crazy researcher.”
“Zhang Xiping is definitely crazy, but he’s also a genuine saint. If zombies could make demands, he really would risk everything to fight for their right to equality with humans.”
Fu Qi continued chatting with Qin Zhen half-heartedly, his eyes closed. But when the conversation reached this point, he suddenly opened them and frowned thoughtfully.
“If the day ever comes when we have nowhere else to turn, going to him might not be a bad idea.”
“Why?”
“He’s a genius researcher no less capable than Academician Jiang. He comes from a family of scientists, and his family has considerable influence. On the surface, North Peak Base is his private base, which means he has complete autonomy and doesn’t have to be constrained by outside forces.”
Qin Zhen gave a vague “Oh” and asked, “But what does that have to do with me?”
Fu Qi lowered his head and looked at her. She was lying on her stomach with her arms crossed beneath her, her chin resting on them as she asked the question curiously.
She was always like this, convinced that this was a war between humans and zombies and had nothing to do with her, a jiangshi.
That was why she tried her best not to get involved in the conflict. She neither killed zombies nor harmed humans. So after accidentally killing that man from Country A, she had been completely terrified.
“I’m talking about myself,” Fu Qi said. “I’ve killed so many people from Country A that I ought to prepare for the worst, shouldn’t I? If they ever put out a global warrant for my arrest, I’ll go ask Zhang Xiping for help. You’re a member of my team. Aren’t you coming with me?”
“Why go to all that trou—trouble?” Qin Zhen raised her upper body and thumped her chest with great bravado. “Just come back underground with me. Sister Qin will support you!”
Fu Qi said, “Thank you, Sister Qin. Sister Qin, I’m tired and want to rest for a while. Is that all right?”
“Go to sleep, go to sleep.” Sister Qin magnanimously granted permission, then considerately tucked the blanket more snugly around her frail little subordinate.
Fu Qi looked at her deeply before closing his eyes.
The winter night was peaceful. The wind and the roars of zombies drifting from somewhere filled his ears. Later, another sound gradually joined them—the soft scrape of a pen against paper. Qin Zhen had picked up her pen and resumed her work.
Listening to those sounds, Fu Qi slowly relaxed. Even the pain in his shoulder became less noticeable.
As sleepiness gradually overtook him, the scratching of Qin Zhen’s pen suddenly stopped. A little while later, a cool breath brushed against Fu Qi’s earlobe and neck. His body went rigid, and he heard Qin Zhen whisper, with utmost seriousness, “Sweetie, you were being an idiot today, weren’t you?”
Fu Qi: “…”
Why was she so determined to get an answer to that question?
Fu Qi really wanted to ask Qin Zhen: Is that what The Three-Minute Guide to High Emotional Intelligence taught you?
In that case, throwing the book away had definitely been the right decision.
Fu Qi kept his breathing steady and pretended to be asleep.
“Sweetie…” Qin Zhen whispered beside his ear.
Sweetie remained silent, continuing to pretend to sleep.
After calling him twice with no response, Qin Zhen began muttering to herself, “He could’ve just shot me in the back. I’d take the bullet and fall down—then you two could fight while I disguised myself as a zombie… He definitely wouldn’t be on guard against a zombie. Then I could help.”
The more she talked, the more convincing the idea seemed to her. “See? It’s so simple!”
When she finished, she sighed. “Leave it to Little Captain Qin to take command… What a pity my ambitions lie elsewhere. Sigh!”
Fu Qi: “…”
No wonder the ancients said that one wrong step could lead to eternal regret. They really weren’t exaggerating.
Just as they had planned, Fu Qi checked his wound at dawn the next morning to make sure it hadn’t worsened. Then the two of them set off immediately.
Qin Zhen drove while Fu Qi contacted Chen Xiang from the passenger seat.
“The message has been reported. The base has sent a team to rendezvous with you,” Chen Xiang said. It sounded as though a torrential rain was falling on his end—the roar of water was so loud that he had to raise his voice. “The two teams closest to you are Changfeng and Fierce Tiger. Just keep moving forward. They’ll be responsible for holding off those people from Country A.”
Fu Qi acknowledged this, then asked him and Old Mo to change course and head to Lin Township ahead of them.
“They already know about the DF lead. It won’t be hard for them to guess our destination, so they’ll obstruct us the whole way.”
The other side had deployed helicopters, giving them a speed far beyond their own. The plan for the teams to regroup was no longer practical. Splitting up was the best option: one group would draw the attention and firepower of the people from Country A while the other went ahead to investigate.
“Understood,” Chen Xiang replied.
After asking a few questions about Fu Qi’s injuries, Chen Xiang expressed his regret that he could only continue being an online friend with his new teammates. Just before hanging up, he added, “Oh, right, Captain. Xu the Second said there’s something wrong with you.”
Fu Qi gave a quiet “Mm” and ended the call.
With business concluded, he noticed Qin Zhen repeatedly glancing at him as she drove. Fu Qi waited calmly. Just as she was about to call him “Sweetie,” he struck first.
“Baby, which two teams did Chen Xiang say would intercept them for us?”
“Fufeng and Fierce Tiger,” Qin Zhen answered, then complained, “What lame names.”
Fu Qi frowned. “What?”
Qin Zhen shouted, “Fufeng! Fierce Tiger!”
“Oh,” Fu Qi said. Then he continued, “Which team is Fierce Rat? I’ve never heard of them.”
“Fierce Tiger!” Qin Zhen repeated for the third time, yelling the words before complaining, “If you deliberately change their name and they hear about it, our team’s going to be hated again!”
“What did you say?” Fu Qi turned his head and said with a perfectly serious expression, “Baby, you’re speaking so softly today. I can’t hear you.”
Qin Zhen was concentrating on driving and muttered, “I’m not. I’m speaking normally.”
Then she shot Fu Qi an aggrieved glance. She looked back at the road, swerved around a zombie, and glanced at him again. The next moment, her expression changed dramatically.
“Sweetie, is something wrong with your ears?”
“What?” Fu Qi pretended not to understand.
Qin Zhen shouted the question again. Only then did he say, “It does seem like there might be a problem… But it shouldn’t be from the gunshot. Maybe some bug crawled into my ear during the night.”
Qin Zhen had been worried enough already. Fu Xiangxiang was injured and could barely move. If he was hard of hearing on top of that, how was he any different from an old man?
She quickly denied it. “No! I didn’t see any bugs!”
She had stared at him all night, afraid that Fu Qi might die. There was no way she could have missed a bug crawling over him.
“Really?” Fu Qi asked, looking puzzled. “When I was sleeping last night, I vaguely felt something crawling over my face and ears. When I woke up this morning, I couldn’t hear very well.”
Qin Zhen had still been worried a moment ago, but now she suddenly felt guilty.
She had been bored the night before and had idly drawn a few lines in her notebook. Then she had wanted to talk to Fu Qi, but he was already asleep, and she didn’t want to wake him.
So, out of boredom, she had touched his forehead and cheek every five minutes to check whether he had a fever. After that, she had leaned close to his ear and muttered to herself for quite a while.
“It wasn’t a bug, then. Maybe it was because you were dreaming,” Fu Qi said slowly, watching Qin Zhen stare straight ahead with the air of someone utterly focused on driving. “Last night, I dreamed that a female ghost blew into my ear… When I was little, I heard that if a female ghost blew into your ear, it could make you deaf. Baby, have you ever heard that?”
The guilty female ghost didn’t dare look at him. She blinked a few times, then loudly proclaimed in a transparent attempt to cover up her guilt, “What era are we living in? Can’t you be a little more scientific? If you keep spreading feudal superstition, I’ll have you arrested and thrown in jail!”
“What?” Fu Qi pretended not to hear. He turned sideways and put his ear toward her. “What did you say, Sweetie?”
“……” Qin Zhen shouted, “Nothing!”
Humans had terrible hearing. You had to repeat yourself three times before they could hear you. Whenever the zombie tried to talk to him, she felt exhausted after barely two sentences. Eventually, she simply drove while muttering quietly to herself.
“Zombies are zombies, and female ghosts are female ghosts. How could they possibly have the s-same effect?”
“Could it be a side effect of the anti-inflammatory medicine?”
“...If only there were a doctor here!”
She muttered and grumbled, but even after the car had driven a long way, they still couldn’t figure it out.
Half the day passed just like that. Fu Qi was pondering whether it was time to “return” to normal when he suddenly heard the zombie mutter, “You must have turned stupid yesterday!”
Fu Qi: “……”
She still remembered that?
But it didn’t matter. A female ghost had blown into his ear, and now he couldn’t hear a thing, so there was no way for them to communicate.
