No matter how vicious a zombie was, she was no match for four united human brats. The candy in Qin Zhen’s hand was ultimately snatched away and divided among the four girls.
The girls happily ate their hard-won candy, their spirits relaxing as they gradually drifted off to sleep.
Only after they were sound asleep did the frail zombie cautiously escape from beneath them.
With her hair in disarray and looking thoroughly bedraggled, she returned to Fu Qi’s side and delivered a sharp rebuke to the captain who had refused to save her. “I’m going to report you!”
“Report me for what?”
“I’m going to report you for…” Qin Zhen recalled the little book in which she kept track of her grudges and said in a low voice, “not taking missions seriously, sending Lin Ye, a public team member, to handle your private affairs, having no compassion, and refusing to help your teammates…”
Fu Qi smiled. “And who are you going to report me to?”
Obviously, she would have to find a higher-ranking leader. But Fu Qi was the captain of a private team and had no superior.
Qin Zhen thought for a moment. “Lu Xing!”
Lu Xing was from Ankang Base and was the person coordinating with them for this mission. She could more or less count as half a superior, right?
“Sure,” Fu Qi said. “When she arrives tomorrow, go ahead and report me. Whoever doesn’t report me is a puppy.”
The zombie couldn’t stand Fu Xiangxiang’s arrogant attitude. She cracked her knuckles and declared, “Just you wait! I’ll teach you a lesson!”
The spring rain didn’t last long. It stopped the next day, and Lu Xing arrived with a group of people early that morning.
She worked in the department at Ankang Base responsible for underage children. After receiving Fu Qi’s message and learning that there were four children and an old woman here—the youngest only seven or eight years old—she had seriously wondered whether Fu Qi had made a mistake.
Seven or eight years old? They would have been barely two when the apocalypse began, probably unable to walk steadily. How could they possibly have survived five years of wandering through the apocalypse?
Lu Xing hurriedly brought her people to the vicinity of Li County.
After waiting anxiously for several days, she had finally received word that the other side was willing to let the children go. She arrived at the safe point before dawn. To gain the children’s trust as quickly as possible, she had even deliberately put on a police uniform.
It worked wonderfully. The two smaller, thinner girls in particular immediately threw their arms around her neck and leaned against her when she crouched down.
Holding the bony bodies of the little girls in her arms, Lu Xing’s eyes reddened, and she nearly burst into tears.
Qin Zhen witnessed the scene from nearby and nearly burst into tears as well.
Why had nobody told her that Lu Xing was a police officer?
Damn you, Fu Xiangxiang!
While Fu Xiangxiang dealt with the handover to Lu Xing, the zombie, terrified of the radiance of justice, didn’t dare approach. She stood stiffly for a while before tiptoeing into the warehouse to hide.
The old woman had fallen into a deep sleep after washing up the previous day. Early that morning, Fu Qi had redressed her wounds and given her some medicine. Li was looking after her now.
Qin Zhen went over and sat beside them, curling up and making herself look weak and pitiful.
“What’s wrong?” Li asked with concern.
“I-I’m thinking about something.”
“What are you thinking about?”
She was wondering what she should do if Lu Xing saw through her identity with those righteous eyes. Should she surrender, or run?
And if she ran, where could she go?
If she were caught, would her sentence be even worse?
None of these questions could be discussed with anyone else. Qin Zhen let out a heavy sigh and, skirting around the truth, said, “I’m thinking about our next mission… It’s so difficult!”
Li and the others had always avoided contact with people from the base. This was their first time meeting a special team like Fu Qi’s, so they asked curiously, “Are you looking for children again on your next mission?”
“No. We’re looking for old people,” Qin Zhen said listlessly.
There had been no progress on Chen Xiang’s side. Now that their business here was settled, they would have to search together for the old people who had come from Lin Township and ask them about what had happened back then… Oh, and Lin Ye. She had nearly forgotten about Lin Ye!
They had been delayed by Ya and the others for so long that Lin Ye had already grown impatient and urged them repeatedly…
Wait.
Qin Zhen suddenly sat up straight, startled. “Could he have been the one behind it?”
“Who? Behind what?” Li asked.
“The fire. I mean, that fire…” Qin Zhen furrowed her brow and fell into thought.
Lin Ye had been waiting for Fu Qi to go to Lin Township. The reason Fu Qi had stopped was because Ya and the others had held her hostage.
A few days ago, Ya and the others had still been adamant, refusing to go to the base. Qin Zhen had thought they would have to waste another half a month or more.
If she and Ya’s group had died together in the cellar, Fu Qi would have had no reason to keep waiting…
Thinking back over what had happened, Qin Zhen couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong. How could it have been such a coincidence that spring thunder struck a tree and set it ablaze, causing that small house to catch fire and burn rapidly even in the rain?
She had never had such an easy time starting a fire to boil water.
But could Lin Ye really be ruthless enough to kill children who were only seven or eight years old?
…If he was working with those A-country people who slaughtered innocents, then perhaps he really could!
The zombie had come to a serious suspicion. Afraid that Fu Qi hadn’t thought of it, she hurried outside to discuss it with her. But as soon as she left the warehouse, she saw Fu Qi standing together with Lu Xing.
The golden police badge pinned to the navy-blue uniform shone dazzlingly in the bright sunlight, sending a blinding ray of light straight toward the zombie.
Qin Zhen’s legs went weak. She felt as if she had nearly been blasted into ash by the light of justice.
In a panic, she ran back into the warehouse and curled up in the corner again.
This was a far cry from the intimidating sight of her wielding a peach-wood sword and beating zombies the previous day.
Curious about what had frightened her, Li walked a few steps outside to look. She saw Lu Xing holding the two little girls while talking with Fu Qi, and Ya confirming the arrangements for returning to the base with another staff member. Nothing seemed strange.
“What’s wrong with you, exactly?” After last night’s four-against-one candy battle, Li had grown much closer to the zombie. She sat down beside Qin Zhen and said, “Why are you trembling like that? Did you see a ghost?”
No. A ghost had seen a police officer.
She was so scared. She wanted to find a coffin and hide in it.
But she couldn’t say any of that.
When Qin Zhen remained silent, Li simply sat beside her and chatted about other things. After a while, she asked gently, “By the way, you said just now that someone might have tampered with that fire. Were you talking about the fire we ran into yesterday?”
That was something she could talk about.
“It’s just a guess,” Qin Zhen said. “I don’t have any evidence.”
“Oh,” Li replied. Then she asked, “Who do you think started the fire?”
Ya was outgoing, bold, and strong-minded. Compared with her, Li was more introverted—a quiet, shy, well-behaved girl.
Qin Zhen trusted her fairly well, so she said, “A spy hiding among us!”
Li continued, “What kind of spy?”
That was far too complicated to explain. Qin Zhen patted her shoulder and said in a stern, old-fashioned tone, “You’re still a child. Don’t ask so many questions. Go home and study properly. You’ll understand when you grow up.”
After fobbing Li off, the zombie glanced outside. The sunlight seemed to be deliberately targeting her, growing fiercer and more poisonous by the moment.
Qin Zhen’s heart pounded. Bracing herself against the bedding, she shuffled farther into the shade.
Li seemed to be lost in thought. She wiped the old woman’s hand with a towel, set it aside, and turned to ask, “Sister Qin, you said your next mission is to look for old people. Where are you going to look?”
Qin Zhen's mind was entirely fixed on the "champion of justice" waiting outside, so she replied absently, "I don't know. Probably somewhere near Linxiang."
"Linxiang?" Li thought their main mission was to rescue elderly people and children, so she reminded, "Hardly any living people are left in that area of Linxiang. You guys might end up making the trip for nothing."
"How do you know that?"
"My grandma told me. She's from Linxiang. She said that small county used to have a huge population, but it fell really fast, and it's been a dead city for ages now."
The zombie carefully observed the situation outside and said, "We still have to go. It's what the mission requires. Mission comes first!"
She spoke a little too loudly on purpose, hoping the justice envoy outside would hear her and see how devoted she was to humanity, and take pity on her to let her off the hook.
Li was jolted by her loud voice and said, "You guys work so hard."
"Working for the people, no hard feelings at all!"
Li was shaken a second time by that resounding slogan.
Perhaps Qin Zhen's voice had grown too loud, because the old grandma who had been in a coma let out a hoarse cough and slowly opened her eyes.
Li hurried over to her side and asked, "Grandma, is something hurting you?"
The grandma panted for a bit and said in a raspy voice, "Just a little dizzy. It's nothing, don't worry."
Li rushed to get a glass of water, helped the grandma sit up, and fed her water while telling her about their plan to head for the Ankang Base, and the group of people who had arrived outside.
The zombie standing off to the side had a psychological fear of the old lady, so for safety's sake, she carefully inched herself further away little by little.
As she was moving, a flash of light went off in her head, and she suddenly realized a crucial detail she had completely overlooked.
Qin Zhen let out a surprised "Ah!" and lunged forward like a tiger, pouncing right in front of the grandma, panicking so much that she stammered, "You—you—you, are you from Linxiang?"
The grandma was mid-sip of water, got such a fright that she nearly choked.
Li patted her on the back to soothe her, then said, "Yes, Grandma is from Linxiang."
Maybe this is what people call fate. Chen Xiang and his team had searched for ages without finding anything, but Qin Zhen and her group just picked up a random mission and ran right into the person they needed.
Qin Zhen was so excited, she asked, "How old are you?"
"......" The grandma remembered that this girl had carried her out of the horde of zombies the day before, so she answered warmly and politely, "I'm sixty-five, turning sixty-six."
Qin Zhen was over the moon with joy, and followed up quickly, "Then do you know the Haiyin Charity Hospital in Linxiang? Do you know where all the police station files are—are stored?"
The grandma had just woken up and was still low on energy. She leaned back against the support behind her, and said slowly as she tried to recall, "Haiyin... Haiyin... Oh right, there was a hospital by that name..."
The zombie got so excited that she almost stuck her whole face right up to the grandma's, before Li held her back. "Calm down, let Grandma take her time to think."
The grandma was forced to boot up her still groggy brain, searching through the vast, foggy sea of her old memories.
After a long while, the wrinkles on her aged face softened a little, and she said, "You mean the one near the old campus of No. 1 Middle School, that Haiyin Hospital, right?"
"Yes, exactly that one!" Qin Zhen nodded her head nonstop.
"That was decades ago. I remember back when I was still young, that hospital got shut down..."
"That's right, that's exactly it!" Qin Zhen was so thrilled she completely forgot about the terrifying threat outside, and rambled on hurriedly, "The hospital was closed down, and then what? Where did they move all the documents inside?"
"The police station..."
"No, not the main police station." Qin Zhen cut her off quickly. "Apart from the old and new police station buildings, where did Linxiang store all those decades-old, outdated files? Did the police station have any other off-site file storage spots? Use that clever head of yours, think carefully."
The grandma looked haggard and exhausted, but she cooperated and tried her best to remember, before starting to cough again. The sight made Qin Zhen very worried.
After another long stretch of thinking, she said, "Wait, I think there really was one..."
The zombie waited with bated breath, full of anticipation.
"My cousin was a police officer. Once, he wanted to set my daughter up with a job, and he mentioned... cough cough..." The grandma had developed severe systemic inflammation from her injuries, and had to pause to catch her breath after every few words, "...he said something about an externally hired file administrator for the police station..."
"Where was that file room located?"
The grandma strained every nerve to dig up the memory, "My daughter turned the job down back then, because the place had terrible working conditions. It was in... in..."
Right as she was speaking, she lost her breath and started coughing violently.
Li immediately patted her on the back to help her.
The zombie also hovered around her nervously, asking anxiously, "Y—you aren't going to die now, are you?"
The grandma got the shock of her life, and nearly passed out from choking on her breath.
"Why would you say something like that?" Li chided her.
"Supporting characters who hold key information always die halfway through their sentences before they can spill the whole secret..." The zombie said, sounding both worried and wronged. "That's how it goes in every TV show."
Li was completely speechless.
The grandma, determined to prove she was not one of those short-lived side characters, pulled through strongly. She panted heavily as she caught her breath, and blurted out, "In the east of the city! The underground air-raid shelter at the Taohua Bay bus stop!"
Air-raid shelters are built underground, so they are way too damp to be suitable for storing paper documents. But decades ago, that small county's rules and regulations were far from perfect. Those old, useless files were just taking up precious space, so no one knows who came up with the idea to renovate the empty, unused air-raid shelter and use it to stockpile all the old outdated documents.
Who on earth would have thought to look there?
Qin Zhen got the exact information she had been searching for, and let out a huge sigh of relief. She pressed a hand to her chest and nodded, saying, "Great, great. You can go rest now."
"......" The grandma gave her an unamused eye roll, then lay back down to get some rest.
Death was a terrifying curse for humans, but for zombies it was just a normal part of the natural life cycle transition. Still, getting that annoyed eye roll from the old lady for no reason made the zombie feel really glum.
After holding it in for a while, she decided she was too aggrieved to let it go. She walked over and gave the grandma's quilt a light swat.
The slap made a crisp "pop" sound, and she immediately turned tail and ran!
The grandma heard the noise and opened her eyes just in time to catch the zombie sneaking away with a guilty look on her face. She asked, "What was Little Qin doing just now?"
Li had no idea, so she said, "Probably... swatting a mosquito?"
Then she called out to Qin Zhen, "Sis Qin, can you go call Ya over for me?"
The zombie's brain was old and outdated, it couldn't hold too many things at once. She had run out right after swatting the grandma's blanket, and when she saw Lu Xing standing under the sun, her uniform glinting brightly in the daylight, she suddenly remembered there was a being of absolute justice outside who could easily punish her. She got so scared her legs turned to jelly, and she tried to turn right back inside.
But Lu Xing had already spotted her. He called out, "Miss Jiang, Little Qin, come over here for a second."
The zombie's scalp tingled with fear. She glanced all around looking for Fu Qi, but couldn't find him anywhere. She forced herself to walk over to him, her movements stiff as a board.
Lu Xing was holding a little girl by each hand. One of them was the gap-toothed girl who was closest to Qin Zhen. She let go of Lu Xing's hand, ran right up to Qin Zhen, and hugged her leg, saying, "Little Qin, are you coming with us to the base too?"
Qin Zhen tried to act calm and composed, saying, "I— I can't. I still have... things I need to take care of."
The gap-toothed girl tilted her head and said, "We were apart for just a little while, how come you stutter even more now?"
"......"
The zombie was so embarrassed she felt like she'd lost all her dignity!
She tried her hardest to steady herself, and said, "Grandma woke up. Li is asking you guys, and Ya, to come over right now."
The two little girls heard that, one of them ran straight into the warehouse first, and the other went off to find Ya. Soon, only Lu Xing and Qin Zhen were left outside.
Lu Xing watched the two lively little kids run off, then turned back to Qin Zhen and said, "You and Captain Fu have worked really hard."
The zombie kept her head bowed, too scared to look at the police uniform Lu Xing was wearing. She mumbled meekly, "No no no no, it's no trouble at all."
Lu Xing gave her a couple of curious, confused glances.
This was a staff member with great professional integrity and courtesy, who was extremely accommodating to others' physical differences.
Lu Xing didn't so much as hint at Qin Zhen's stutter, saying, "Back when Captain Fu took on this mission, he mentioned there was a female team member with such a gentle disposition that people would easily let their guard down around her. I was a bit skeptical at the time, but it turns out he was right. Those kids were willing to come back to the base with us entirely because of you. I'll make sure to note that down and report it truthfully."
Qin Zhen nodded frantically, "Uh-huh, uh-huh."
Lu Xing asked, "Is there anything you'd like to have?"
"No!" The zombie shook her head stiffly and quickly, denying it without a second thought, not daring to say a single extra word.
"Miss Jiang is truly generous and noble-minded," Lu Xing praised.
In the time the two of them had been talking, the little girl with the missing tooth had led Ya back from the staff member, and the two of them headed to the warehouse to find Li and the old grandma.
Lu Xing planned to let the girls break the news gently to the old woman first, before she went in herself.
Watching their figures disappear from sight, she sighed again and said, "It's been almost four years since I last saw kids that young."
They were far too little to be easy to keep safe. When scared, they would cry, and the sound would draw hordes of zombies. They had no strength, couldn't run fast, and would only be a burden.
Hardly anyone was willing to take on such a burden, let alone two of them.
Lu Xing didn't know how to describe Ya, Li, the old grandma, and all the other women who had once lived alongside them, and her tone turned deeply bitter.
Unfortunately, the zombie was so caught up in her panic that she had no mind to comfort her.
"When we first set up the school, people at the base kept saying that in this world, we should be glad just to stay alive, so what's the point of going to school..." she went on. "A couple of times I almost let them talk me into it, but after chatting with those two little kids just now, I realized we absolutely must keep the school running."
"You know what?" Lu Xing turned to Qin Zhen, her tone disbelieving. "I knew kids in the apocalypse had it rough, but just now, they actually said a swear word to my face!"
Qin Zhen: "..."
She had a pretty good idea what the girl with the missing tooth had said. It was definitely a swear word, but not exactly the kind you'd expect.
"I told them that wasn't allowed, and they got so scared they cried and promised me they'd study their characters properly, begging me not to shoot them."
"..." The zombie's legs trembled, and she hunched over, too terrified to move a muscle.
"I can put up with them saying swear words or misusing idioms, but what I can't get over is that they even asked me if there was a Taoist priest school at the base!" Lu Xing said. "When I asked them why they'd want to go there, they said the Taoist priests in stories are super powerful, and they want to learn magic from them... They even said they'd draw me an invisibility talisman later, so I'd never have to be scared of zombies ever again."
The zombie was so guilty her head was almost hanging down in the dirt. She trembled all over, trying to defend herself, "Th-those are... a-at least p-promoting Taoist c-culture..."
Lu Xing shook her head. "Cultural promotion is not the same thing as feudal superstition. Back in the old days, behavior that corrupts young children like that would have landed you in jail... Miss Jiang, are you alright?"
Shivering all over, the zombie said, "I-I m-miss our C-Captain..."
"You want to find Captain Fu? He's over there contacting the other base, he'll be here soon."
Lu Xing took children's education very seriously. After saying all that, she added, "This is the first time I've met them, and I don't want to make them too scared to answer my questions. You get along so well with them, could you help me find out who's been deliberately leading them astray?"
Qin Zhen: "..."
"Miss Jiang?"
Noticing that Qin Zhen had been acting skittish this whole time, her body trembling slightly, Lu Xing stepped forward out of concern and put a hand on her arm.
When that hand reached her, and the dark blue police uniform came into Qin Zhen's sight, the zombie's heart nearly jumped out of her chest. She instinctively held out both her wrists, waiting for handcuffs, and burst into tears, "I'm guilty! I confess! Waaaaaah! I'm sorry!"
Lu Xing: "..."
She froze for a second, then asked hesitantly, "What crime did you commit?"
"I c-corrupted the kids, b-beat up an old grandma, s-said swear words, p-practiced feudal s-superstition..."
Lu Xing looked at the young girl in front of her, her face caked with foundation and full of remorse, then thought back to what Fu Qi had said about her and the rumors she'd heard elsewhere about her wits. After a long moment of silence, she said, "Comrade, your conduct... does need some improvement, but it's not serious enough to be a crime that gets you locked up."
The zombie confessed miserably, "I-I also killed someone..."
Anyone who's survived this long in the apocalypse has killed a few people, right?
Lu Xing let out a confused "uh", glanced at her, rolled her eyes a little, then suddenly her expression hardened and she exclaimed, "You killed someone? You actually dare to kill someone!"
The zombie was so frightened her hands and feet went numb, and she almost collapsed right onto the floor.
"Who did you kill? When? Where? Spit it all out!"
"It w-was a f-foreigner, in the h-hospital. He was t-trying to kill S-Sweetie..." Qin Zhen stammered, spilling everything out incoherently.
"A foreigner too!" Lu Xing gasped, her expression stern as she kept pressing her. "What other things have you done? Confess fully and you'll be dealt with leniently, resist and you'll be punished severely!"
"I-I-I..." The zombie stuttered, on the verge of tears, admitting, "I p-prank people, I'm g-greedy for money and l-lust, I h-hid a g-gold bracelet, I'm a-also c-coveting good looks, I've been t-toying with S-Sweetie..."
Listing all these offenses out loud, the zombie felt like she was such a terrible criminal she really deserved to be dragged off to jail.
"Who's Sweetie?"
"F-Fu Qi."
Lu Xing's eyes lit up the second she heard that. She leaned in closer and whispered, "You toyed with Captain Fu? How did you toy with him?"
"I-I... I..."
The zombie, whose very existence was technically against the law, had a natural instinctive fear of the righteous police. Under this "interrogation", she answered every question truthfully, and was just about to describe all the improper things she'd done to Fu Qi, when someone behind them cleared their throat.
Lu Xing looked up, and the gossiping look on her face vanished instantly. She said in a perfectly serious tone, "Alright, I've heard enough. All that stuff about killing people can be overlooked, but no more feudal superstition from now on. And that last part you didn't finish... ahem, come find me later so we can talk about it in detail."
Fu Qi walked over and took the zombie's hand.
His presence gave her a huge sense of safety. Qin Zhen quickly clung to his arm, huddling up against him like a tiny, frightened chick.
Fu Qi said, "Sorry, there's no later. We're leaving right now."
Lu Xing: "So soon?"
Fu Qi: "If we don't hurry, my whole reputation is going to be ruined."
Lu Xing looked a little embarrassed, but Qin Zhen didn't feel awkward at all. She was just too scared and nervous, convinced she was a poor little zombie about to be struck down by the light of justice.
They didn't waste any time leaving. Fu Qi didn't even take Qin Zhen to say goodbye to Ya and the others.
Qin Zhen didn't want to say goodbye either. She just wanted to run as far away as fast as she could.
All their things were already in the car. Two minutes later, they were driving down the highway. After they'd gone a good distance, Fu Qi glanced over at the tiny zombie huddled in the passenger seat and said, "You really ratted on yourself, spilling every single little thing without holding anything back."
Turned out the person getting "reported" was the zombie herself.
Qin Zhen curled up her neck and said nothing.
Fu Qi glanced at her again and smiled. "Her top priority is to get the kids and the elderly back to the base safe and sound. She's not going to chase after us."
Only then did Qin Zhen crane her neck carefully and sneak a peek backward.
When she confirmed there was no sign of anyone chasing them, her shoulders slumped, and she flopped limply against the seat, saying weakly, "Sweetie, you, you come comfort me."
"You need comforting?"
He was the one who deserved to be comforted, wasn't he? He hadn't done a single wrong thing, and his good, innocent reputation was gone just like that.
"I almost got, got sent to the great beyond by the police, I barely escaped death, and you don't even feel sorry for me," the zombie complained pitifully.
Fu Qi had no idea where she'd picked up the phrase "feel sorry for". He chuckled and said, "Fine, I feel sorry for you."
With that, he pulled the car over and held out a hand to Qin Zhen.
Qin Zhen grabbed his hand, pushed off the seat with her foot, and the whole zombie curled up right in Fu Qi's arms.
She leaned against his chest, closed her eyes, and listened to his heartbeat. Still shaken, she said mournfully, "I almost got my soul scattered today, that's so miserable of me!"
Fu Qi looked at the top of her round head, the corners of his mouth curving up, and patted her back gently in a comforting way. "There's no such thing as soul scattering," he said. "Lu Xing already said no more promoting feudal superstition from now on."
The zombie froze for a second. "But I really, really feel like I'm getting weaker," she stammered.
She paused for a moment longer, then said sadly, "I, I'm st-stuttering again!"
"You're just noticing that now?" Fu Qi teased her. "Didn't I warn you not to teach the kids nonsense? And you even tried to report me, huh? Look who's the one getting a taste of their own medicine now?"
Qin Zhen lifted her head to glare at him. His jaw tightened a little, and he said, "Dare to glare at me? No more sympathy for you. Get out."
Qin Zhen immediately hugged him tighter, huffing and grunting, not daring to cause any more trouble.
Seeing her like that, Fu Qi found it funny and unbearably cute at the same time. He rubbed the top of her head with his chin, then leaned down and kissed her on impulse.
Only after the kiss did he realize what he'd just done. He looked down and saw the zombie, who had just been "brutally attacked by justice", lying weakly in his arms with her eyes closed to recharge her energy. She hadn't noticed his little action at all.
Fu Qi pressed his lips together, stared at Qin Zhen for a long moment, then wrapped one arm around her while his other hand reached over and gave her cheek a firm pinch.
"Eek—" The zombie yelped, grabbed his hand, and dragged it into her arms.
After about half an hour of "coddling" the zombie this way, Fu Qi nudged her. "Have you recovered yet? We still have important things to take care of."
The zombie suddenly remembered the important matter she had on her mind. She sat up straight, sensing the power in her body, then patted Fu Qi's arm to signal him to let go.
"I'm good now," Qin Zhen said. "But don't, don't drive yet. Wait a, a little longer."
"Wait for what?"
Qin Zhen didn't answer. She held onto Fu Qi's leg to climb back to the passenger seat, stretched her arms out, and rolled up her sleeves very seriously.
When she had both sleeves pushed all the way up to her elbows, revealing her slender but sturdy grayish-blue forearms, she clenched her fists and pulled her little grudge notebook out of her bag.
After flipping through it carefully for a few pages, she looked up at Fu Qi, curled her finger at him, and said, "Come here."
Fu Qi: "......?"
His gut told him he should not go over.
Since he wouldn't come to her, the zombie went to him instead.
Qin Zhen pounced on him with her fists raised, yelling angrily, "For pinching me! For not telling, telling me Lu Xing is, is a cop! For laughing, laughing at me! For leaving me hanging out there to die! For not protecting, protecting my candy! For not trusting me!"
"......" Fu Qi was completely dazed by her pummeling.
This little zombie's mood swings were way too fast.
In the cramped car space, the human and the zombie ended up tangled on top of each other.
Back in the day, the zombie wouldn't care less and just throw punches, but this time she was different. While hitting him, she would grope him here and there casually, making Fu Qi's whole body go taut, not daring to move an inch.
Then Qin Zhen's knee pressed down hard on his thigh, and as she struggled, she slipped and tilted downward. Fu Qi let out a low groan and nearly flipped her right off the seat onto the floor.
He couldn't take it anymore. He held Qin Zhen tight and blurted out, "Lu Xing! Lu Xing's calling!"
Those two words had become the very symbol of justice in the zombie's mind. Her face changed instantly, and she transformed from a roaring, ferocious lion into a tiny, pitiful little cat. She whimpered and went limp, curling up in Fu Qi's arms.
Fu Qi: "......"
This greedy, lusty, ungrateful, bullies-the-weak-and-fears-the-strong little zombie!
