The First Apocalypse Squad had its first full gathering, with Yellow Helmet, an outsider, joining them as well. Since everyone was far too fond of gossip, they all slept only during the latter half of the night.
They hadn’t gotten enough sleep, but the major concern weighing on their minds had been temporarily resolved. Their surroundings were safe, and they had slept soundly. When they woke the next morning, every one of them was bright-eyed and full of energy.
Early that morning, a staff member from the base came to take them to their new residence.
Their new home was a three-bedroom apartment with a living room in one of the base’s residential buildings. It was located in the heart of the base, with the research institute not far away.
Zhang Xiping was at the research institute. It was both his workplace and his home.
After introducing them to the surrounding area, the staff member still didn’t leave. Her eyes kept drifting toward the skin Qin Zhen had exposed.
Qin Zhen knew exactly what she meant. That morning, after Qin Zhen got up, Chen Xiang had already circled her and examined her from head to toe. If not for the difference in gender, he probably would have reached out and touched her a few times to feel her skin for himself.
The staff member was a woman, so she had no such reservations.
Qin Zhen generously held out her hand and said, “Go ahead. Touch it.”
The staff member was delighted. She asked incredulously, “Really?”
Qin Zhen simply extended her hand toward her. The assistant excitedly took it and carefully stroked it several times, exclaiming in delight, “It’s so cold!”
What a sheltered little thing.
Fu Qi hadn’t reacted so dramatically back then.
Feeling sorry for this inexperienced assistant, Qin Zhen magnanimously rolled up her sleeve as well, revealing even more skin.
By the time Fu Qi finished taking a phone call and came back out, the staff member had already pressed herself against Qin Zhen. Both hands were stroking Qin Zhen’s bare arms, and she was dreamily rubbing her face against Qin Zhen’s cheek like some kind of perverted stalker.
Qin Zhen simply sat there obediently, letting her do whatever she pleased.
Fu Qi’s eyelid twitched. He stepped forward and pulled Qin Zhen away, then asked in a low voice, “Associate Researcher Zhuang hasn’t officially been admitted to the research team yet, has she?”
Associate Researcher Zhuang awkwardly backed away and said, “Soon, soon. I just wanted to get a little preliminary experience. Ha ha…”
After driving the perverted researcher away, Fu Qi turned to the others to demand an explanation, scolding them for standing by while Qin Zhen was taken advantage of by a pervert.
Chen Xiang said, “How was she taking advantage of her? Don’t girls all like hugging and touching each other? Captain, you’re overthinking it!”
Qin Zhen also thought Fu Qi was making too much of it. She said, “Not everyone is as perverted as you!”
Fu Qi finally understood why she had kept calling him a pervert.
But the danger had yet to be resolved, and he had no time to argue over it for now.
Because Beicheng Base had taken in Fu Qi and Qin Zhen, it had already become a thorn in the eyes of foreign powers. If it hadn’t been so close to the central Beicheng Base, it probably would have been surrounded and bombed by now.
Over the next few days, the two sides continued their back-and-forth negotiations.
The foreign powers wanted to use force to seize Beiyue Base, but the central government refused to agree. At one moment, they claimed that the research center housed vital data and couldn’t be destroyed. At another, they said that many underage children lived in the base and couldn’t be harmed.
The foreigners refused to back down, but this was ultimately not their territory. They had no say in the matter, and it was even less possible for them to send everyone they had to attack Beiyue Base by force.
The Central Base also refrained from pushing the relationship too far. After negotiating with them for several days, it relented and said that Qin Zhen would cooperate with Beiyue Base in researching the zombie virus, so they could rest assured.
The foreign forces had no choice. They then demanded to send their own top scientists into Beiyue Base to participate in the research.
That request was rejected as well. The reason given was that the zombie virus had been created by the despicable actions of those foreign powers forty years ago. They had no trust among the people of China and would not be allowed to participate in the research in any way.
After refusing them in no uncertain terms, the Central Base changed its tone and announced that it would transfer all of the country’s scientific and research resources to Beiyue Base and do everything possible to find a solution to the zombie virus.
After hearing this, Qin Zhen asked, “If everyone is gathered together, will we be attacked? Will e-everyone be blown up?”
“No,” Fu Qi said. “This is both a gesture of goodwill and a warning.”
On the one hand, they were guaranteeing that they would devote every resource they had to finding a cure for the zombie virus. On the other, they were making it clear that Beiyue Base’s security would only become tighter from this point onward. If anyone tried to attack Beiyue Base, it would be tantamount to declaring war. Their side would no longer show mercy.
At this point, the matter was essentially settled. The research was officially placed on the agenda.
After drawing a vial of blood from Qin Zhen, a researcher asked, “Are you scared?”
Ever since Qin Zhen had so readily allowed Associate Researcher Zhuang to touch her that day, word had spread among the researchers that she was easy to deal with. From time to time, people would come to ask about her identity or draw a vial or two of blood to prepare for the research that lay ahead.
Zhang Xiping had also hurriedly met Qin Zhen that afternoon.
He was a complete research fanatic. Aside from conducting research, he cared about nothing else. He had originally wanted to begin the experiments as soon as possible, but after becoming the ambitious leader of a private base that refused to obey the Central Base’s orders, he had been forced to sit in front of a communications device day and night, listening to the government negotiate with foreign powers.
Now that all sides had reached an agreement, the participants had been selected, and the relevant facilities and equipment had been prepared. The experiments were about to begin.
“I’m not scared,” Qin Zhen said. “But I’m a little nervous… Is Academician Jiang participating too?”
The researcher nodded. “Academician Jiang has already arrived. She’s currently analyzing your blood samples from the past few days and your physical condition with Professor Zhang… Would you like to see her?”
“No!” Qin Zhen refused without hesitation. She hunched her shoulders and said, “She’s terrifying!”
Apparently, Academician Jiang and Qin Zhen had once been old friends, but Qin Zhen had no memory of that. Her impression of Academician Jiang was limited to that of an unreliable, crazed old woman.
Letting Academician Jiang conduct research on her?
Even zombies would have nightmares about that.
Qin Zhen couldn’t accept the idea. She asked, “Is there any high-tech device that can… can put me under hypnosis? I could sleep through it, and then wake up after the experiments are over.”
The researcher froze for a moment and looked at Fu Qi.
Fu Qi said, “There is.”
Academician Jiang had mentioned that Beicheng Base possessed a machine capable of inducing deep hypnosis. It worked on brain waves and mental activity, and it should be effective on Qin Zhen. Fu Qi had already contacted Beicheng Base and asked them to send it over.
Qin Zhen was delighted. “You absolutely have to use it on me!”
By then, they could draw her blood, cut off pieces of her flesh—whatever they wanted. It wouldn’t matter if Academician Jiang did whatever she pleased with her.
Qin Zhen wouldn’t know a thing.
The researcher’s gaze shifted between her and Fu Qi. He nodded and asked, “Any other requests?”
Qin Zhen thought for a moment and said, “Don’t turn me into s-some kind of freak.”
The researcher glanced at Fu Qi again and said, “We won’t.”
“Then I have no other requests,” Qin Zhen said.
She was no longer the zombie she had thought herself to be, but the fact that she was immortal hadn’t changed. Since she couldn’t die anyway, they could study her however they wanted.
After completing the basic daily preparations at the research institute, Qin Zhen returned home with Fu Qi.
These days, Yellow Helmet had been searching the entire base for his family. Chen Xiang and Old Mo either went to the security center or accompanied Qin Zhen to the research institute. Fu Qi would accompany Qin Zhen as well, but more often than not, he was busy with something else and was nowhere to be seen.
Qin Zhen would soon officially enter the research institute for a fully enclosed study. Once that happened, they wouldn’t be able to see her anymore.
It was a rare occasion when everyone was gathered together, so they indulged in turning on the lights and cooking hot pot. The ingredients were nowhere near as plentiful as they had been before the apocalypse, but the food was delicious, and the atmosphere was lively.
“Spinach! The spinach is all mine!” Chen Xiang lunged for it with his chopsticks, but unfortunately, he was half a beat too slow, and Old Mo snatched it away.
“Fish balls!” He switched targets, but this time Yellow Helmet proved more skilled and left him empty-handed again.
Unwilling to give up, Chen Xiang rolled up his sleeves and went for the potato slices. Qin Zhen, who had been watching hungrily from beside him for quite some time, finally saw her chance. She hurriedly scooped up the potato slices with a ladle before he could get to them.
“Wow, Little Qin, you’re bullying me too!”
Chen Xiang could accept being beaten to the punch by those two—one subtly mischievous, the other openly devious—but he hadn’t expected Qin Zhen, his good friend, to join in and bully him as well.
Qin Zhen felt not the slightest bit ashamed. She happily picked up the potato slices and was just about to put them in her mouth when a pair of chopsticks reached over and clamped onto hers.
“Chili peppers,” Fu Qi warned.
Qin Zhen had scooped up far too much. Nearly half the bowl was piled with chili peppers and Sichuan peppercorns.
“It’s fine. I can’t taste it anyway.” Qin Zhen didn’t care in the slightest. She wasn’t afraid of spice or numbness, and eating them would at least keep the food from going to waste.
Fu Qi said, “Then go outside and eat garbage.”
Qin Zhen fiercely scratched him, then stopped to pick the chili peppers out.
Seeing this, Chen Xiang had a sudden idea. “Once things return to normal, Little Qin, you could become a mukbang streamer. Live-stream yourself eating chili peppers and canned cod. Your popularity would shoot through the roof—I guarantee you’d become an internet celebrity.”
Qin Zhen hadn’t even said anything yet when Fu Qi rejected the idea. “No. The internet is full of all kinds of voices. She’d cry to me every day.”
Why was he exposing her weakness again?
Couldn’t he help her cultivate a strong and fearsome image?
Qin Zhen glared at Fu Qi reproachfully. He said, “First win an argument with Yellow Helmet. Then think about working online.”
The moment Yellow Helmet heard himself mentioned, he rubbed his fists eagerly. “Come on, let’s have an argument and see who wins!”
There was no way she could win. Yellow Helmet’s self-awareness was terrifyingly accurate. To this day, he had never once called Qin Zhen “Big Sis.” Qin Zhen retreated without a hint of the big-sister aura she was supposed to have.
The group chatted as they ate. The researchers at the base who had gotten to know them over the past few days had heard that they planned to have hot pot and had even sent over some drinks. There weren’t many, but there was a wide variety, including cola and beer.
Qin Zhen still couldn’t taste anything. She smacked her lips after drinking a glass, then suddenly let out a burp, startling herself.
Her startled expression sent everyone else into fits of laughter.
It was rare for them to relax like this. After eating and drinking their fill, they began cleaning up and discovered that someone had slipped a deck of playing cards inside. Chen Xiang and Yellow Helmet, both fond of games, became wildly enthusiastic and called for everyone to play cards through the night.
Qin Zhen had never played before, but she eagerly raised her hand to join in and laughed along with them as they played until well past midnight.
By dawn, the human members of the group were exhausted and yawning as they headed back to their rooms to rest. Only then did Qin Zhen reluctantly stop playing. After washing up, she flopped onto the bed and burrowed into Fu Qi’s arms.
There had been too many people for a single deck of cards to be enough. Fu Qi had happened to have something to take care of when they first started playing, and after returning, he had gone straight to wash up without joining them.
The moment Qin Zhen came over, Fu Qi woke up. He wrapped an arm around her and rubbed her head.
“Did you have fun?”
“Sure did!”
She had had so much fun that she was even considering opening a game room after the zombie virus was eradicated and spending every day playing cards.
Fu Qi said, “Of course you did. If you hadn’t, you would’ve come to complain to me by now… You only think of me when you’ve been wronged.”
Qin Zhen thought he sounded sour, not heroic in the slightest.
“Then I’ll give you something heroic,” Fu Qi said.
With that, he leaned down and kissed her.
Now that they had a room of their own, they no longer had to worry about exposing their private moments. Fu Qi often kissed Qin Zhen—sometimes on the forehead, sometimes on the top of her head. This time, however, he kissed her on the mouth.
Fu Qi rolled over and pinned Qin Zhen beneath him. One hand rested above her head, stroking her hair, while the other cupped her face, leaving her no room to resist.
The position looked fierce and domineering enough. Qin Zhen thought he would kiss her passionately, like he had the last time they parted, and she tensed from head to toe, lying there stiff as a corpse.
In reality, Fu Qi kissed her very gently. His soft lips rested against hers, brushing and lightly nibbling at them. Qin Zhen’s head grew hazy and her heart burned hot. Before she knew it, she had wrapped her arms around Fu Qi’s neck.
Qin Zhen thought she might have drunk too much cola. She felt a little drunk.
She was drifting in that drunken haze when her eyes suddenly flew open. She shoved Fu Qi away with all her strength and covered her mouth in horror, too shocked to speak.
“You—you—you…”
In the dim light before dawn, a sliver of brightness filtered through the curtains that had not been fully drawn. By that faint glow, Qin Zhen saw Fu Qi’s expression remain calm, his gaze dark and unreadable.
He asked in a low voice, “What did I do?”
“You… How could you…”
She couldn’t say it!
Under his gaze, Qin Zhen stammered for a while before changing her wording. “Do you remember that I—I’m not human?”
Fu Qi said, “So what if you’re not human?”
His unconcerned attitude infuriated Qin Zhen. She pointed at her own face and said loudly, “If I’m not human, then we can only have a Platonic relationship! Or just kiss! There can’t be any exchange of bodily fluids!”
Fu Qi looked at her solemn, blue-black face. He lowered his head—
Qin Zhen hurriedly covered her mouth—
—but Fu Qi only kissed the back of her hand. Then he moved upward, kissing her eyelashes and forehead as he said, “I don’t mind. I have unusual tastes. I’m a pervert.”
He had finally admitted that he was a pervert!
However, zombies could trigger the virus in a human body ahead of time through an exchange of bodily fluids. The researchers had concluded that this mainly referred to blood; that was the result of their tests.
If Qin Zhen wasn’t a zombie, she might be a mutated zombie. The theories that applied to zombies might apply to her as well… What if she infected Fu Qi and turned him into a zombie?
The problem was far too serious. She absolutely could not compromise!
Qin Zhen covered her mouth and shook her head vigorously.
“What if I insist on kissing you?” Fu Qi asked. Then, remembering another phrase, he stroked Qin Zhen’s hair and added, “What if I take you by force?”
“I don’t consent!” Qin Zhen’s voice was loud, and her tone was firm.
“But, Sweetie,” Fu Qi said, “taking someone by force doesn’t require their consent. If both parties consent, then it isn’t taking someone by force—it’s mutual love.”
“…”
That actually sounded right!
Had she misunderstood the phrase all this time?
Seeing the confusion and shock in Qin Zhen’s eyes, Fu Qi chuckled softly a few times. He took hold of her wrist and said, “You can stop covering your mouth. I won’t kiss you anymore.”
Qin Zhen came back to herself. She didn’t believe him, and kept her hand clamped firmly over her mouth.
Fu Qi could only prove it through his actions. He rolled onto his side and hugged Qin Zhen.
“I really won’t kiss you anymore.”
This position was much safer. Qin Zhen slowly lowered her hand. When she saw that he truly wasn’t going to make another move, she lay down beside him.
After lying there for a while, she muttered, “I read a novel once. It was about a human and a cockroach… Sweetie, how do you think they were intimate? Isn’t that disgusting?”
“…”
That comparison was way too bizarre, and Fu Qi didn’t feel like responding.
Qin Zhen continued imagining it for a while before saying, “There’s another one about a human and a mouse…”
She had read all those abstract stories during the period when she was addicted to novels. Back then, there had been no one to share them with, and she had eventually forgotten them. Now that she remembered them again, her urge to share was overwhelming.
Qin Zhen turned over to face Fu Qi and said, “Sweetie, do you think… um… after they, you know… finish… can they still… do it?”
Fu Qi: “…”
See? He really couldn’t let her read novels. They were going to rot her brain.
He didn’t say anything. Who knew what scenes had appeared in Qin Zhen’s mind? She let out an “Ew” first, then clicked her tongue twice.
Fu Qi decided he couldn’t let her keep imagining things. He suddenly said, “My family is fairly wealthy. The things in the safe are worth quite a lot. The password is 528…”
After giving her the password, Fu Qi also told her the address and the safe’s exact location.
“Besides the safe, there’s the bank… Never mind that. There should also be some jewelry in the walk-in closet and dressing room upstairs. It’s been a long time, so I don’t know whether it’s still there. If order is restored someday, you can go look for it.”
Fu Qi spoke very smoothly, and Qin Zhen’s attention was instantly captured. As soon as he finished, she hurriedly asked, “What’s the password? Say it again—I-I didn’t remember!”
Fu Qi smiled and pinched her cheek, then carefully repeated the password and address.
Afraid she might forget, Qin Zhen repeated them like a parrot.
After repeating them several times, she still wasn’t confident in her memory. She climbed out of bed, found her grudge notebook and a pen, and wrote it down stroke by stroke. Then she tore out the page and cautiously hid it in the notebook’s inner compartment.
Once she had finished, she sighed in relief, placed her precious shoulder bag beside her pillow, and lay back down. Moved, she said, “Sweetie, you’re so good to me!”
Fu Qi said, “Since I’m so good, how about another kiss?”
He leaned toward her, but Qin Zhen mercilessly pushed him away.
Her mind was filled with thoughts of his family’s safe. So excited that she had completely forgotten those bizarre stories, she tossed and turned a few times before saying to Fu Qi, “Sweetie, do you really think Professor Zhang and the others can find a way to cure the zombie virus?”
“If people from Country B were able to create it, our people will definitely be able to solve it.”
Yes, that made sense.
Qin Zhen felt reassured. After a while, however, she said worriedly, “What about me? What am I going to turn into?”
She wouldn’t become a monster, would she?
If she became even uglier, then even if Fu Qi didn’t mind, she would be too embarrassed to appear in front of him.
“You’ll become human,” Fu Qi said.
Qin Zhen was not very willing to accept that. She repeated what she had said before. “What’s so good about becoming human? You get sick, you get hurt… It’s awful.”
Fu Qi said, “As a human, you can fall in love and kiss without having to worry about bodily fluids coming into contact.”
Qin Zhen: “…”
She had been the one to bring it up first, so why was she the one feeling embarrassed when Fu Qi repeated it?
Feeling shy, she scratched her cheek and said, “Fine. If I can become human, then I’ll be human… Go to sleep.”
Fu Qi hummed in acknowledgment and closed his eyes.
Qin Zhen didn’t need to sleep. Lying beside Fu Qi, she thought about becoming human.
Forty years ago, all the relevant materials from Haiyin Charity Hospital had been transferred to the Beiyue Base. The researchers had carefully studied them, and Fu Qi had also relayed every unusual aspect of her condition to Zhang Xiping.
After analyzing the information, Zhang Xiping’s team concluded that Haiyin Hospital’s research had been focused on immortality. That matched both the zombies and Qin Zhen’s condition.
The difference was that the zombies were complete failures, while Qin Zhen was a half-finished product. This was reflected specifically in her wounds’ ability to heal and in the fact that her heart had once beaten.
They said her body possessed regenerative abilities. After her heart regenerated, however, it had somehow stopped beating again. This was because, after separating from Fu Qi, she had gone for a long time without eating or resting, and her heart had been unable to bear it. It had silently died once more.
Qin Zhen thought the conclusion was absurd.
But Fu Qi believed it was possible, and he kept insisting that she would become human.
How was she supposed to become human?
The last time her heart had started beating again, it had been because she was blasted through. If she wanted to completely return to a human form, did that mean her entire body would have to be destroyed and regrow from scratch?
So in the end, she still couldn’t escape the fate of being chopped into pieces!
Qin Zhen sighed inwardly and scratched Fu Qi a few times where her hand rested on his waist.
Fu Qi opened his eyes. “Weren’t you the one who told me to sleep?”
Qin Zhen shamelessly moved closer, climbed onto him, and lay on his chest. Tilting her head up to look at him, she whispered, “Sweetie… c-could you not come see me at the research institute? Please?”
In the faint light, Fu Qi pressed his lips together. He raised one arm to cover his eyes but did not answer.
“Sweetie…” Qin Zhen truly didn’t want him to see her in such a miserable state, so she urged him to agree.
Fu Qi was silent for a while before saying, “Give me another kiss, and I’ll agree.”
His arm was still covering his eyes. His exposed lips opened and closed as he spoke, glistening softly in the faint light before dawn. Qin Zhen felt as if her heart were about to come alive again.
Bracing herself against Fu Qi’s chest, she leaned up and kissed him on the lips.
Fu Qi felt it and lowered his arm. He saw Qin Zhen grinning sheepishly at him.
She looked so adorably foolish.
He could no longer hold himself back. Wrapping his arms around Qin Zhen, he rolled over and pinned her beneath him, then kissed her hard.
This time, it was much more intense, and his purpose was far clearer than before. His hands deliberately began to move, kneading her with unmistakable sensual intent. Overcome with pleasure, Qin Zhen instinctively made a sound and opened her mouth.
After that, Qin Zhen pushed him with all her strength, but he refused to yield in the slightest—until he tasted blood in his mouth.
“Y-you’re crazy!” Qin Zhen’s voice trembled with fright.
“Nothing’s changed.” Fu Qi’s Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed the strong metallic taste in his mouth. Speaking indistinctly, he said, “If I were going to change, it would have happened just now.”
Qin Zhen didn’t believe him. She didn’t dare let Fu Qi sleep at all, staring at him without blinking in case she looked away for even a second and found that he had turned into a zombie.
Fu Qi, in contrast, was perfectly at ease. He even asked her, “What did it feel like?”
Qin Zhen wanted to hit him.
But the fact that Fu Qi could still speak to her normally meant that he was fine for now.
She relaxed a little. After pressing the tip of her tongue against the roof of her mouth to examine the sensation, she eventually buried her face in his arms and said shyly, “Tingly…”
Fu Qi asked again, “Where is it tingly?”
…He knew perfectly well what he was asking!
Qin Zhen slapped him hard. He pulled her into his arms, and the two of them lay there snuggled together.
About twenty minutes later, the sky had grown brighter. Fu Qi still hadn’t turned into a zombie, and his skin tone and body temperature were both normal.
He glanced at the time and suddenly said that he had arranged to discuss matters here with the leaders of the Beicheng Base. He needed to go to the conference center and told Qin Zhen to wait there. He would come back later and take her to the research institute.
Qin Zhen didn’t want him to go. Fu Qi repeatedly emphasized that it was something important, and only then did she nod. Worried that he might undergo some sudden change outside, she told him to come back soon.
Fu Qi agreed and quickly left.
But he didn’t go to the conference center at all. Instead, he hurried straight to the research institute.
When Zhang Xiping saw him, he shook his head and said, “Captain Fu, you’ve already tried many times. It hasn’t worked. Her blood sample is different from a zombie’s—it can’t assimilate you.”
“Test it one more time.” Fu Qi held out his arm, which was covered in countless needle marks that had yet to heal. His tone was calm but insistent. “Half an hour ago, I exchanged blood with her. Fresh blood may have a different effect from a collected sample.”
Zhang Xiping frowned. “You’ve already wasted a lot of time…”
Fu Qi said, “One last time.”
Zhang Xiping sighed helplessly and nodded, allowing the staff to test him again.
Fu Qi lay down and let the technicians do their work. In his mind, Qin Zhen’s silly, clueless expression surfaced.
She couldn’t feel pain. Even after being bitten until she bled, she hadn’t noticed, only shyly saying that the tip of her tongue felt numb.
She was terrified, yet pretended it was nothing… Even a simple burp could scare her half to death.
So, if possible, he would rather be the one to do it.
