Qin Zhen felt rather insulted.
She was a zombie, after all. Calling a zombie cute was no different from calling some vicious ghost crawled out of the Eighteenth Layer of Hell virtuous and well-suited to be a wife. It was a downright insult to zombies!
Not only had Lin Ye offended her, he had even dared to like her.
Liking her meant he wanted to have an interspecies romance with her.
Everyone knew that in interspecies relationships, it was usually the nonhuman side that got hurt in the end. Now that there were plenty of fragrant, willing people for zombies to enjoy, who would want to follow in the footsteps of their predecessors?
Qin Zhen decided to find an opportunity to make Lin Ye give up.
But that was a problem for later. For now, she was still “weak” and only needed to lie there and secretly play with her phone.
Playing with her phone made the zombie very happy. There was no need to lift the summer blanket and look underneath; Fu Qi knew because the road was boring. Once they had finished discussing the serious business, the people in the car gradually fell silent. In the quiet cabin, Fu Qi lowered his head and saw that, at some point, the zombie’s toes had perked up.
Qin Zhen was half reclining in his arms, the summer blanket pulled up to her calves. A section of her trouser leg and two feet in white socks were exposed. Her feet happened to be stretched behind the front passenger seat, hidden by the backrest.
Who knew what she and Chen Xiang had been chatting about, but she seemed terribly excited. Her little feet kept twitching back and forth like a fish that had just flopped ashore.
Fu Qi watched them for a while, then reached out and caught them.
The zombie in his arms froze for a moment. Then, as if she had found a new toy, she began secretly pushing against his hand with her feet, engaging him in a struggle.
Fu Qi played along for a while. Then, when she wasn’t paying attention, he reached out and tickled the soles of her feet.
The zombie was ticklish. Her leg jerked back, and her knee nearly hit the backrest in front of them, but Fu Qi blocked it just in time.
He pulled Qin Zhen’s foot back and saw that, after their movements, her trouser leg had ridden up, revealing several inches of pale bluish skin on her calf.
Fu Qi tugged her sock higher, then slipped his hand beneath the trouser leg and rubbed her cool calf. Finally, he smoothed the trouser leg back down and covered her properly.
Driving alone was exhausting, and they had many wounded people with them. For safety’s sake, they found a place to rest that night.
Fu Qi continued to play the part of a traditional, old-fashioned man. Using privacy as an excuse, he insisted on sharing a room with Qin Zhen. As soon as he shut the door, he demanded to know why she had bitten him.
“Because you ignored me,” the zombie said, sitting up on the bed with complete justification.
Fu Qi said, “So next time a zombie by the roadside ignores you, you’ll bite that one too?”
“Don’t be ridiculous. I have a cleanliness obsession. I don’t bite just anything!” Qin Zhen said. “I didn’t even mind biting you, and you’re still complaining about me.”
“Should I thank you, then?”
Qin Zhen really wanted to say yes, but she still wanted her cat fix, so she had to maintain a better attitude. She waved her hand and said, “We’re all on the same team. No need to be so polite.”
Fu Qi was amused by her and sat down on the edge of the bed. Lowering his voice, he asked, “What happens when a person is bitten by a zombie?”
“Huh?” Qin Zhen was utterly bewildered. She frowned and thought for a while before answering hesitantly, “They turn into a zombie?”
She had never bitten anyone before, so she had no idea what the result would be… This time with Fu Qi didn’t count. She hadn’t even broken the skin.
Fu Qi had expected as much. Qin Zhen’s zombie brain was filled with all sorts of strange ideas and couldn’t be relied upon.
He made his own guess. “Is it possible they’d turn into one of the infected?”
“Impossible!” Qin Zhen denied it sternly. Her voice came out a little too loud, so after Fu Qi reminded her to keep it down, she lowered her voice but remained just as indignant. “Zombies are zombies, and the infected are the infected. If you insult me—or all of us zombies—again, I’ll get angry!”
“What can you do if you get angry?”
“I’ll stop talking to you!”
Fu Qi said, “That would be wonderful. I could finally get a good night’s sleep.”
There was obvious disdain in his words, but it wasn’t because he thought zombies were ugly. He simply found her noisy and troublesome. Qin Zhen wasn’t hurt—she was only angry. True to her word, she stopped paying attention to Fu Qi.
It had already been very late when they parked. After a quick wash, there was barely any light left. They still had a long way to go and needed to conserve their resources, so once night fell, they generally went straight to sleep.
Fu Qi closed his eyes, but he didn’t fall asleep. His mind was occupied with figuring out what they should do next.
Just as he was thinking, something nudged his shoulder.
Without turning his head, Fu Qi said, “I thought you were angry.”
“I’m apologizing on your behalf. I forgive you now. Sweetie…” The zombie clung to the shoulder on his uninjured side and said, “Talk to me for a while, okay?”
The phone they had brought was so basic that it could only be used for communication. Chen Xiang also needed to rest at night, so there was no one left to play with Qin Zhen. The long night was unbearably boring for a zombie, and she had come back to pester Fu Qi for conversation.
“I need to rest,” Fu Qi said.
“Then talk to me for a little while,” Qin Zhen said. “I didn’t say a single word during the day. I’m going to die of holding it all in!”
Fu Qi sighed.
Back when their relationship had been poor, Qin Zhen often ignored him. After spending more time together, however, both of their true natures had been exposed. She was, in fact, a zombie who simply couldn’t stand being quiet.
How had she managed to endure all that time alone in the tomb?
Fu Qi pressed his lips together and said, “Only for a little while. And you have to massage me… You used me as a pillow all day. I’m practically paralyzed on one side.”
“No problem!” the zombie readily agreed. She knelt beside him and reached toward his chest.
“…Just massage my arm.”
The zombie reluctantly moved both hands lower. After pressing his arm a few times, she found the texture quite nice and felt cheerful again.
“What do you want to talk about?” Fu Qi asked.
Qin Zhen didn’t know either. After thinking for a moment, she lowered herself and leaned close to Fu Qi’s ear. With a hint of shyness, she asked, “Sweetie, do you… do you think it’s better to be human, or… um… to be… to be…”
“To be what?”
The zombie was extremely embarrassed. In a tiny voice, she said, “…A zombie.”
Fu Qi fell silent for a moment before asking in return, “Why do you ask?”
Qin Zhen mumbled and stammered but couldn’t come up with an answer for a long time.
“Which do you think is better?” Fu Qi asked, changing the question.
“Being a zombie, of course.” Qin Zhen immediately brightened and answered without hesitation. “As a zombie, you don’t have to worry about getting shot. You don’t need to sleep, and you don’t have to worry about being eaten by the infected.”
“For the world as it is now, that’s true,” Fu Qi said. “But what if the zombie virus is eradicated, and humanity returns to the orderly, safe, stable society of the past?”
Qin Zhen paused, then said, “I’d still choose to be a zombie. Zombies don’t get sick, and they’re stronger than humans.”
Fu Qi hummed and lifted his arm. “Keep going.”
Their positions had completely reversed from the daytime. Fu Qi had taken good care of her during the day, so Qin Zhen couldn’t afford to do a poor job at night. She earnestly continued massaging him. As she worked, she asked, “You, Fan Xu, and Tian Li all say that the zombie virus will come to an end. Will it really?”
“It will,” Fu Qi said. “Soon.”
“How can you be so sure?”
Fu Qi said, “Because we’re almost to Lin Township. Once we get there and figure out exactly what those people from Country A want, and what DF stands for, we’ll have a way to solve the zombie virus.”
Qin Zhen understood. It meant that the people from Country A weren’t researching zombies at all. Instead, they were searching everywhere for something that might be connected to the zombie virus. That charity hospital marked with “DF” might even be the source of the zombie virus.
It was only a guess, with no solid evidence to support it, which was why Fu Qi had never stated it outright.
But Qin Zhen had been with him for so long that even if he didn’t say it, she could figure it out.
There was still one thing she didn’t understand. “How can we be almost there? We’re still so far away.”
They had been traveling south for several months, and had only covered half the distance. There was still another half ahead of them, and the people from Country A would surely increase their efforts to stop them. No matter how she looked at it, they could only get slower, not faster.
“It was slow before. From now on, it’ll be fast,” Fu Qi said.
“Why?”
“Because I gave them the impression that I wasn’t carrying that thing with me, but had entrusted it to someone who took it to Linxiang… If the people from Country A want to find it, they can only go through me. So they have to let me reach my destination safely first.”
Qin Zhen was confused. She and Fu Qi had hardly been apart for all this time, yet she had no idea when or how he had given them that impression.
Besides, Fu Qi had clearly said that he didn’t know where the thing they were looking for was, and didn’t even know what it was. How had he managed to fool them?
“I don’t understand,” the zombie said honestly.
Fu Qi replied, “If you don’t understand, use your brain and think about it. Think more, and you’ll become smarter. Then no one will be able to bully you in the future.”
He was always telling the zombie to use her brain.
Qin Zhen thought she was already pretty smart, and that no one could bully her. But when she thought back over everything that had happened, she realized that, aside from Xu the Second, she had hardly ever gotten the better of anyone. She sullenly shut her mouth.
If only Fu Qi could stay with her forever. His brain was so useful, and he always helped her. Though Fu Qi did bully her from time to time…
Qin Zhen stopped massaging him again, leaned down close to Fu Qi’s ear, and asked cautiously, “Sweetie, are you really sure you don’t want to become a zombie?”
Fu Qi didn’t answer. Perhaps he was watching her hesitantly. In the darkness, the zombie couldn’t make out his expression very clearly.
She continued trying to persuade him. “Just become a zombie. Otherwise, when you die, you’ll turn into one anyway. Zombies don’t have brains, and after enough time passes, you’ll become dirty and smelly. Zombies like me don’t. If you become a zombie, you can come back to the tomb with me. No one will bother us there. We can find some high-tech things to decorate the place, and make it into a really nice home. Then…”
Before she could finish, Fu Qi grabbed her around the waist and pulled. She cried out as she fell onto him.
“Hey!” Qin Zhen yelped.
Fu Qi turned over and pushed her down, sending her rolling onto the ground beside him.
Then he turned onto his side and pressed the zombie’s head against his chest, holding her there.
“What are you doing?” Qin Zhen asked. Her face was buried against Fu Qi’s chest, making her voice sound muffled.
“Going to sleep. How about I hold you while we sleep?”
The zombie’s sense of shame suddenly flared up. “Hey, th-that’s not very appropriate…”
It was indeed not very appropriate, but Fu Qi didn’t let go. Being held in his arms made her feel like some precious treasure he couldn’t bear to release. Warmth spread through the zombie’s heart, and she stopped struggling.
Her hand, however, quietly crept up to Fu Qi’s chest.
After feeling around for a while, Qin Zhen said, “Sweetie, your heart is beating so fast. It feels like it’s making my heart beat too.”
What heartbeat could she possibly have?
Fu Qi had personally removed a bullet from Qin Zhen two days earlier. He knew very clearly that her heart neither beat nor pumped blood.
The hand resting against the back of Qin Zhen’s head gently rubbed her hair.
“Go to sleep.”
Qin Zhen thought that humans were such troublesome creatures. But as she listened to Fu Qi’s heartbeat, with her hand pressed against the pectoral and abdominal muscles she liked best, she put on a show of being modest for a moment before happily snuggling against him and closing her eyes.
She would just humor him and pretend to sleep for a while.
The next day, the sky was somewhat overcast, and it looked as if it might rain.
Rain couldn’t stop them from moving forward, but it did change their priority from hurrying on to finding a new vehicle.
There was no other choice. The windows of the car that had accompanied Qin Zhen and Fu Qi for so long had been shattered the last time they encountered people from Country A. It could still be driven like a convertible on sunny days, but it wasn’t convenient in the rain.
Fortunately, their luck was good. They hadn’t driven far before finding an off-road vehicle abandoned by the roadside. The exterior was badly scraped up, but all its functions were still intact. The lack of a key wasn’t a problem either. In the post-apocalyptic world, everyone was an expert car thief. They simply popped the hood and banged away at the engine for a while. Soon, the vehicle started without a key.
A minor disagreement arose while they were changing vehicles, and it originated with Qin Zhen.
“Brother Fu, aren’t you worried about Little Qin suffocating under all those blankets?” Lin Ye asked.
To anyone who didn’t know better, it looked as though he were carrying a quilt.
“She’s cold,” Fu Qi said.
“Oh, I see.” Lin Ye was very concerned about Qin Zhen. “Why don’t we turn on the air-conditioning?”
Fuel was precious, and after the apocalypse, almost no one used air-conditioning in order to conserve resources. It was quite considerate of him to offer.
“No need,” Fu Qi said. “Let’s get moving.”
Lin Ye answered with an “Oh,” and went to carry the supplies. As the only fully healthy person in the group, he handled nearly all the heavy labor.
The entire conversation revolved around the zombie and had nothing to do with Tian Li, who had been standing aside enjoying the show. Yet he still had to stick his nose in and sigh dramatically.
“First, we have Big Brother and his zombie wife relying on each other. Then we have two rivals in love: one who ignores the injury on his own shoulder to care for his beloved, carrying her around and tending to her personally, and another who’s willing to throw away all his common sense just to make the person he likes comfortable… Ah, love really is a terrifying thing.”
That still wasn’t enough for him. He went on, “Take Little Qin, for example. She’s skinny as a telephone pole, and she smears such a thick layer of foundation on her face every day that she looks pretty frightening… Little Lin simply wants to fall in love. But you, Fu Laoqi—what do you like about her?”
The zombie clan’s number one beauty, bundled up and being carried into the car, heard that and nearly leaped out of Fu Qi’s arms. Fu Qi pressed her firmly back down.
Fu Qi said, “I like that she’s kind.”
Tian Li continued courting death. “She is pretty kind. She doesn’t even kill zombies. But if we’re talking about kindness, Zhang Xiping is kind too, and he doesn’t kill zombies either. Why don’t you like him?”
Fu Qi said, “I prefer someone with fairer skin.”
Tian Li thought that was certainly true. With all the foundation on her face, you could scrape it off and use it to paint a wall. Still, he said aloud, “Isn’t it because of gender?”
“Even after several years of the apocalypse, you still care that much about gender? No wonder you’re still single.”
Tian Li: “…”
Being single was the norm in the apocalypse, all right?!
Lin Ye had just returned from moving the supplies when he caught the tail end of the conversation. “What about being single?”
“Nothing, nothing,” Tian Li said. “I was just saying that Fu Laoqi’s shoulder is already strong enough to carry Little Qin, so it must be almost healed. If driving tires you out, let him take over for a while.”
Lin Ye hurriedly said, “It’s fine. You two should focus on recovering from your injuries. I can drive. It’s the only thing I know how to do, anyway.”
After changing cars, they continued south.
Qin Zhen couldn’t stay buried under the quilt playing with her phone all the time. For one thing, the phone needed to be charged. For another, she was always craving someone to talk to, and one day was already the limit. If Fu Qi made her stay buried under there for another whole day, he wouldn’t get any sleep that night.
The next time the car hit a zombie, she pretended to wake up and let out a few soft groans.
“Qin Qin?” Fu Qi called her name cooperatively. Tian Li and Lin Ye heard him and stopped the vehicle, rushing over to check on her.
No matter how firmly Fu Qi insisted that she was fine, it was still less reassuring than hearing her wake up and say a few words herself.
“Little Qin? Can you hear me?” Tian Li squeezed his way in front of his lifesaver.
The zombie was already a seasoned actor. Her eyelashes fluttered a few times before she laboriously lifted them and looked at the enormous face in front of her. Weakly, she closed her eyes again and slightly parted her pale-painted lips.
Her lips moved several times before she finally made a feeble sound.
“…Monster…”
The petty zombie remembered that he had called her scrawny and said her makeup was frightening, so she immediately took her revenge.
“You scared our Qin Qin.” Fu Qi raised a hand and shoved Tian Li aside.
Although Tian Li had been pushed away, the heavy weight in his heart had finally lifted. He was still overjoyed. Once he was out of Qin Zhen’s line of sight, he asked whether there was anything she wanted to eat or play with and said he would go find it for her.
Fu Qi pointed out that Tian Li’s legs were barely working anymore—where did he plan to go looking?
Tian Li said he would have his teammates bring something over.
That would do.
Fu Qi handed him his phone so he could contact his teammates.
Lin Ye also wanted to come over and say something, but the zombie had realized that he was interested in her and was strongly resistant to him. The moment he opened his mouth, Qin Zhen started coughing. When she finished, she said, “Sweetie… cold…”
Fu Qi hugged her tighter and wrapped her in a blanket. “She just woke up. Talk to her when she’s feeling better.”
Lin Ye went back to continue driving.
Qin Zhen was getting into her role and added, “Cough, cough… Sweetie, it hurts… cough, cough!”
No one knew where she had learned it, but she seemed to think that feeling unwell always required coughing. She coughed when the Taoist priest frightened her, coughed when pretending to have a stomachache, and even coughed after being shot.
A smile glimmered in Fu Qi’s eyes as he said gently, “It’s all right. Take some medicine, and you’ll feel better after.”
Qin Zhen had no intention of taking medicine. She was pretending to be miserable because she wanted Fu Qi to hold her and rock her back and forth, just as he had when she said she was going to abstain from sex last time. The feeling had been gentle and comfortable.
Unfortunately, Tian Li, who had no sense of timing whatsoever, had already hurriedly brought over medicine and water.
There were painkillers, anti-inflammatory medication, and all sorts of other pills—a whole large bag of them. Even the zombie regretted going to the hospital to collect medicine back then!
But there was nothing to be done. She had to keep up appearances.
Fu Qi picked out a few pills and initially planned to pretend to feed them to Qin Zhen. But when she saw that several of them were wrapped in brightly colored sugar coatings, she opened her mouth and swallowed them.
Crack!
She bit the pills open before Fu Qi could even fish them out.
Qin Zhen chewed a few times and found that she actually liked them. She opened her mouth, asking for more.
Medicine was not candy, and it certainly was not meant to be eaten that way. Fu Qi refused to give her any more. After putting the medicine away, he found the last piece of candy she had and unwrapped it before slipping it into her mouth.
The zombie was reluctant to give it up. She glared at him several times before finally swallowing it with deep resentment.
“Did you get through?” Fu Qi asked Tian Li at the front of the vehicle after feeding her the candy. “If you did, have your teammates bring some more candy over. Our Qin Qin likes sweets.”
Tian Li replied, “Sure. Forget candy—even if Little Qin wanted to eat people, I’d find some for her!”
Who wanted to eat people?!
Qin Zhen was a zombie, not a ghoul!
Annoyed by him, she secretly shot Tian Li a vicious glare. Fu Qi caught the whole thing.
He laughed again.
Qin Zhen was chewing on the candy. When she saw him smile, she used the same trick as before and coughed a few times before saying weakly, “Sweetie… you, hold me… rock me…”
The corners of Fu Qi’s mouth curved upward. He gently drew her into his arms and began rocking her softly.
Tian Li finished contacting his teammates and turned around to return the phone. He nearly went blind from the sight before him.
Completely unaware that every nasty thing he had ever said about the zombie had been overheard by her, he had long since landed on the zombie’s blacklist. He muttered under his breath, “Terrifying. People in love are terrifying…”
All in all, thanks to the zombie’s dedicated performance and Fu Qi’s cooperation, she successfully woke up. And thanks to the accident last time, Tian Li’s two teammates had been worried about him and traveled day and night to catch up.
On the fourth day, the two groups finally met up. They also brought two bags of candy and several packets of snacks like sunflower seeds and pine nuts, which the zombie was very fond of.
Since they were about to part ways, Fu Qi and Tian Li went off to the side to have a private conversation.
Qin Zhen was not familiar with Tian Li’s teammates. And because she was “recovering from serious injuries,” she could only lie in the vehicle. Without Sweetie to lean against, she was still perfectly happy clutching her snacks.
Lin Ye did not know Tian Li’s teammates either, so there was nothing for him to say to them. He waited in the vehicle with Qin Zhen instead.
Perhaps he was bored. After looking outside for a while, he turned back and asked, “Little Qin, haven’t you and Brother Fu known each other for a long time? How come you don’t know any of his friends?”
Because Lin Ye was interested in her, Qin Zhen felt a little resistant toward him, along with the slightest hint of pity. After thinking for a moment, she said, “Maybe it’s because I’m rather aloof. I probably look difficult to approach.”
A cold and ruthless zombie was not someone mere mortals could get close to!
Lin Ye was amused by her answer. “You? Aloof? You even took a bullet for Brother Tian.”
Qin Zhen replied bluntly, “That’s because he was too weak!”
Lin Ye seemed to have a low threshold for humor. He chuckled and said, “You’re joking again, Little Qin. There are plenty of people weaker than Brother Tian. If every one of them ran into danger, would you take a bullet for each of them? That would cost you your life.”
What could Qin Zhen say?
She certainly could not tell him that she could not die.
All she could do was continue cultivating her selfless-saint persona. She pretended to be weak and coughed a few times before saying, “I’d take them all. I’m kind. I can’t stand seeing someone get hurt right in front of me.”
“What about me?” Lin Ye grew interested. Leaning over the driver’s seat, he turned around and asked, “If I were the one in danger, Little Qin, would you take a bullet for me too?”
The question instantly sent the zombie’s alertness through the roof. She had not forgotten that Lin Ye wanted to pursue a cross-species romance with her.
Still, this was also a good opportunity to put an end to his feelings.
The zombie knew very little about love and romantic entanglements. After racking her brains, she came up with what she considered the perfect way to cut off this unwanted romance:
Claim that she already loved someone else.
“No.” Qin Zhen’s answer was decisive. “I’m just kind. I’m not some holy savior. How could I casually take a bullet for someone?”
“But you took one for Brother Tian…”
“That was because…” Qin Zhen drew on all her strength, her eyes shining with determination as she declared, “Because I like him!”
“…”
Lin Ye’s expression twisted for an instant. It took him several seconds to regain control of it.
“Th-then what about you and Brother Fu…”
That was easy to explain.
In order to make Lin Ye give up completely, Qin Zhen loudly reiterated, “Fu Qi and I are just fooling around. It’s fake. The person I really like is Tian, Tian Li! I’m willing to die for him!”
Her resounding declaration had barely landed when staggering footsteps came from outside the vehicle.
The two people chatting inside turned their heads at the same time. Through the lowered window, they saw Tian Li standing there with a flushed face, on the verge of falling over; Fu Qi beside him, wearing an indescribable expression; and behind them, Tian Li’s teammates, all looking delighted to have stumbled upon some gossip.
…
The zombie froze.
After staring blankly for a while, she covered her chest in agony and began coughing violently. Between coughs, she said in broken phrases, “I-I feel terrible. I might f-faint…”
With that, heedless of the shock and speechlessness of those around her, she leaned back and “fainted.”
