Fu Qi pretended to be deaf, and the zombie was forced to play mute, allowing the man to save face.
After that, they continued south.
They had already been delayed for a long time on the road because of various circumstances—the rescue of the Thunder Team, helping the base search for medicine, the rain and snow, and so on. Now that the people from Country A were right beside them, they had no choice but to speed up.
They had lost the leisure they’d once enjoyed. Besides, the freezing weather was bad for wound healing, so Qin Zhen simply stopped taking breaks even at night and kept driving south without pause.
In any case, they had zombie-disruption agents scavenged from the people of Country A. Even if they couldn’t see well at night and drove straight into a nest of zombies, there was nothing to fear.
After driving day and night for two or three days, they gradually left the bitter cold of the north behind. The climate grew warmer, and one day, beneath brilliant sunshine, Qin Zhen spotted a cluster of pale-yellow flowers by the roadside.
She asked Fu Qi and learned that it was already late February. By the calendar used in the central region, spring was just around the corner.
To celebrate this wonderful news, they found a place to stop and took the opportunity to wash up and get some proper rest.
“Want me to help you take a shower?” As the team’s current backbone, Qin Zhen took the initiative to show concern for her captain.
The captain said, “I wouldn’t dare ask for the same treatment as your husband.”
Qin Zhen: “...You wouldn’t get it even if you wanted it!”
After Qin Zhen stopped demanding that Fu Qi personally admit he had become stupid, his deafness quickly recovered. He refused Qin Zhen’s offer to help him bathe, but he couldn’t escape being disinfected and bandaged.
As he took off his clothes, Fu Qi reminded her as usual, “No touching.”
The zombie felt terribly offended after hearing similar words so many times. “We’re different species, okay? To me, you’re like a kitty. A few touches won’t make you shed—why are you being so stingy?”
“Still not allowed.” Fu Qi’s refusal was absolute.
People were naturally rebellious, and zombies were no different. The more he forbade her from touching him, the more Qin Zhen’s fingers itched.
Especially after several days had passed and the wound on Fu Qi’s shoulder had healed considerably. Once the injury was no longer the main focus, the zombie’s attention unconsciously shifted elsewhere—such as the distinct groove running down the middle of Fu Qi’s back.
Qin Zhen hadn’t done it on purpose. She simply hadn’t noticed when a drop of iodine landed on the vertebra at the base of Fu Qi’s neck while she was disinfecting him.
Fu Qi was bare-chested. To make it easier for Qin Zhen to apply the medicine, he had lowered his head slightly, causing his spine to curve forward in a smooth arc.
After the iodine landed there, it trickled down along his spine and slipped into the clearly defined groove of his back.
On either side of the groove were taut, solid layers of muscle, their healthy wheat-colored skin glowing beneath the light.
The flashlight was shining from the side. Under its beam, the slightly raised muscles and sunken groove across Fu Qi’s back formed sharply contrasting bands of light and shadow.
Qin Zhen watched the brown drop of disinfectant slide down the shadowed groove, like a stream following a graceful curve to his waist, where it disappeared beneath the tightly fastened black tactical pants.
She stared at the spot where the drop vanished for a while, then glanced at his lean waist.
Before she knew it, she recalled the time she had chased Fu Qi around and beaten him, only to end up straddling his waist.
Fu Qi’s waist was narrow but powerful. Sometimes, when she hit him too hard, he would seize her wrist and twist his body, effortlessly flipping her over.
When he was the one restraining her, he usually relied on the strength of all four limbs, keeping his torso hovering just above her.
Once, when Qin Zhen had gotten into a fight with him, she had seen their shadows on the wall. The figure on top was agile and long-limbed, arching his body like a wolf pouncing on its prey. She hadn’t thought much of it at the time, but now, looking back, she vaguely felt that the scene had possessed a wild sort of beauty.
Qin Zhen imagined it and felt her face grow hot.
At first, she had been embarrassed. But then she thought: Right, Fu Qi was a kitty in her eyes. Humans could pet cats. Why couldn’t a zombie pet a human?
Sucking on a human looked too perverted—even a zombie couldn’t bring herself to do that—but touching him a few times couldn’t be considered excessive, right?
Humans often enthusiastically manhandled their cats, after all.
Qin Zhen glanced at the unsuspecting Fu Qi. She spread her right hand and slowly moved it toward the hollow of his back. When she was only an inch away, she quietly inhaled, then boldly reached out with two fingers and touched him.
The instant her fingertips made contact, the cool temperature caused the muscles lying quietly before her to contract sharply.
Fu Qi turned around abruptly. His face was tense, and his voice was several shades deeper than usual as he asked, “What are you doing?”
Qin Zhen felt her face grow warm, but she knew it was only a psychological reaction. Thus, she wasn’t afraid in the slightest. Pretending to be calm, she raised her index finger and said, “I-I was helping you wipe off the disinfectant.”
There really was a bit of brown liquid on her blue-gray fingertip.
Fu Qi pressed the corners of his mouth downward, then turned his face away. “Hurry up.”
“Oh,” Qin Zhen replied. She rubbed the damp disinfectant between her fingertips, then quickly wrapped the bandage around Fu Qi’s shoulder and tied it off.
Once she had finished, she looked at his strong muscles, brimming with vitality, then held up her own thin, shriveled arm for comparison. The zombie’s fingers began to itch again. She secretly extended her index finger and brushed upward once more.
This time, she happened to touch the uninjured shoulder. The instant her finger made contact, Qin Zhen felt the warmth and elasticity beneath her fingertip, and her face began to heat again.
Fu Qi stood up abruptly. Turning around, he pressed his thin lips tightly together and stared down at Qin Zhen with a deep, unreadable gaze.
“What are you doing this time?”
Qin Zhen felt guilty. “...Ahem. There was a bug!”
Fu Qi: “...”
That was the excuse he had used before.
Had Qin Zhen really learned this bad habit from him? He had never tried to take liberties with her.
He couldn’t allow this behavior to continue.
Fu Qi asked, “What kind of bug?”
Qin Zhen didn’t dare look at him. Lowering her head, she stammered, “A black one. Y-yes... a centipede!”
Fu Qi asked again, “Where did it go?”
The zombie had rarely summoned the courage to be so bold, and now that he was questioning her, she panicked. She wanted to point casually at some corner, but when she raised her eyes, she saw his sharply defined wheat-colored abs. Her heart gave a violent lurch. Covering her face, she turned and ran.
That was obviously the behavior of someone caught red-handed!
Fu Qi took one long stride and grabbed her by the arm, eliciting a shriek and a furious struggle from the zombie.
“What are you yelling for?” Fu Qi asked helplessly. “I’m the one who was taken advantage of.”
Qin Zhen ignored him and tried to cover her face in shame.
But Fu Qi refused to let go. As they wrestled, they accidentally knocked into the table beside them. The table rocked, and the flashlight fell to the floor with a sharp smack. After rolling several times, it came to a stop in the corner, pointing directly at the wall. The room fell dim.
“You had the nerve to do it, but not to admit it?” Fu Qi restrained Qin Zhen’s arm, bent down, and pressed his face close to the tip of her nose as he interrogated her.
The darkness gave the zombie a little sense of security. On the verge of tears, she said, “Sniff sniff, I’m sorry. I was wrong.”
Fu Qi: “What’s with the ‘sniff sniff’? Where did you learn to fake-cry?”
Qin Zhen immediately corrected herself. “Boo-hoo, I was wrong!”
“What were you wrong about?”
Qin Zhen said, “I was wrong to do something bad and get caught—no! I was wrong to touch you in secret.”
“Will you dare do it again?”
“Boo-hoo-hoo, I won’t dare.”
“If you do it again, what happens then?”
The caught-in-the-act zombie was mortified. Closing her eyes, she shouted, “If I-I do it again, I’ll let you touch me back!”
When he finished speaking, the room fell silent. After a while, Fu Qi said in a strange tone, “No. My family has strict principles. I can’t lay hands on a girl I have no relationship with.”
Qin Zhen said, “Huh?”
She vaguely sensed that there was another meaning behind his words, but before she could figure it out, Fu Qi continued sternly, “You’re a girl. Don’t ever say things like that again.”
With that, Fu Qi let go of her. After the rustling sounds of him getting dressed, he picked up the flashlight, dimmed it, and lay down on the bed without another word.
Qin Zhen was a little dazed by his sudden reprimand. She lingered where she was for a while, then followed him over, intending to lie down beside him.
But when she saw Fu Qi occupying more than half the bed, a strange feeling suddenly rose in her heart. Her body tingled and grew warm, and for some reason, she felt that this might not be a good idea.
After awkwardly hesitating for a while, she finally overcame that strange feeling and sat down. Fu Qi suddenly got up and moved to the sofa.
Qin Zhen froze.
After a while, she said in a wounded voice, “Fine, I won’t touch you! But why did you run so far away? You make it look like I’m some kind of ferocious beast!”
Fu Qi said, “Men and women are different. From now on, you can’t sleep next to me at night.”
At first, they had shared a room but slept separately. Later, Qin Zhen had once spent the entire night lying beside Fu Qi and reading a novel. After that, it had naturally become customary for them to sleep next to each other all night.
They were simply sleeping side by side like a human and a kitty—one sleeping while the other played. What was there to avoid?
Now that he suddenly wanted to put distance between them, it felt as though he disliked her.
“If you don’t want me next to you, then I won’t sleep next to you.” Qin Zhen said this gloomily before lying down on the bed by herself.
After lying there for a while, she grew indignant and called out loudly, “My complexion may not be as good-looking as yours, and my skin may not be as elastic, but that’s just what our zombies find attractive! Among zombies, I’m a great beauty. You’re the one who has no right to dislike me!”
Fu Qi: “...Who said I disliked you?”
Qin Zhen was angry and refused to answer him.
After a while, Fu Qi asked again, “You don’t know any other zombies. How do you know what your species finds attractive?”
Qin Zhen still ignored him.
The room fell silent for a moment. Fu Qi let out a heavy sigh, got up, and returned to the bed. He lay flat and said, “Go ahead and touch me. Touch me wherever you want.”
The zombie curled up at the edge of the bed stiffened. She craned her neck to glance behind her, then turned back again, unmoved.
Fu Qi said, “You’re already tempted, so don’t force yourself to hold back just to save face. Otherwise, you’ll regret it later when you realize you missed your chance to take advantage of me.”
The zombie was indeed tempted, but she had her dignity too. She said, “Forget it. You dislike me, and I dislike you too. From now on, I won’t touch you—not even with a single finger!”
This time, Qin Zhen’s pride was genuinely hurt.
Her words sounded tough, but she was actually very upset inside. Especially when she touched her own slender arm, it felt just like touching a piece of wood—dry and bony, without the slightest bit of flesh.
Just as she was feeling miserable, she heard movement behind her.
Fu Laoqi was so annoying. No matter what he did, the zombie would never pay attention to him again.
She had just finished making that vow to herself when her back suddenly grew warm. A heat-radiating body pressed against her.
Qin Zhen was startled and instinctively tried to move forward, but an arm wrapped around her from behind. The heavy limb settled across her waist and pulled her backward.
Qin Zhen’s back collided with a broad, warm chest. She curled up like a shrimp, bending her body, and heard Fu Qi’s voice beside her ear.
“I don’t dislike you.”
There was a hint of helplessness in his voice as he said it.
