Qin Zhen guessed that she must have been asleep for a very long time, because she was unaccustomed to the white light before her. After vaguely making out Fu Qi’s silhouette, a stinging ache and soreness surged through her eye sockets, accompanied by a dizzy spell in her head.
Her brain and body felt like sponges saturated with water—heavy, as if they were dragging her down toward the ground.
But she could overcome it.
She had to overcome it!
She had to face life with courage and optimism!
Now that she had returned from the dead, she needed to find her backpack, her shoulder bag, the safe at Fu Qi’s house, and Fu Qi himself. She had to reclaim everything that belonged to her!
Carrying vast ambitions in her heart, Qin Zhen summoned every ounce of strength in her body and tremulously forced her eyes open a sliver.
First, she saw a hazy yellow light. Then Fu Qi’s blurry face appeared.
“Baby?” Fu Qi called softly.
He had really been waiting for her. How wonderful it was to open her eyes and see him right away.
Qin Zhen was deeply moved. It was probably because she had cried too much earlier, but her eyes were sore and swollen, and no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t open them.
“If your eyes hurt, keep them closed and sleep a little longer.” Fu Qi’s voice sounded beside her ears, as gentle as the rustle of a spring breeze brushing through the branches and leaves, soothing and reassuring.
“It’s all right.” Fu Qi took her hand and rubbed it gently, seeming to kiss it several times as he said, “I’m right here beside you. No matter when you wake up, I’ll be here.”
There was no need to rush.
Qin Zhen gave his hand a small squeeze. Then, as her body relaxed, she allowed herself to sink back into sleep.
When she regained consciousness again, her eyes didn’t hurt as much, but it still took her a long time to finally open them.
At last, she adapted to her surroundings and could see clearly. A concerned face entered her field of vision.
It belonged to a man. There were wrinkles on his face, and he had clearly reached an advanced age—conservatively, he had to be over sixty.
Despite his age, it wasn’t difficult to see that he had a straight nose and high brow bones. A hint of his youthful handsomeness still lingered between his brows.
More importantly, his eyes were the same deep, dark black as Fu Qi’s.
At that moment, the elderly gentleman was looking down at Qin Zhen with tender concern. “You’re awake. You’re finally awake… Do your eyes still hurt?”
His voice was filled with barely contained excitement, yet he tried desperately to keep it gentle, as though afraid of frightening her.
Qin Zhen stared at him. Her eyes slowly widened, and after a long while, she rasped, “I… I…”
Her voice was the exact opposite of his—hoarse and dry, like an old machine that had been shut down for decades and was only just starting up again… exactly as it had been when she first encountered Fu Qi in the tomb.
The old man was very considerate. He watched her intently and said sympathetically, “You’ve been asleep for a very, very long time. The zombie vaccine has been developed by now, and mass vaccinations have already begun… You’re finally awake. Do you have any idea how long I’ve been waiting for you?”
Qin Zhen didn’t know, nor did she want to know.
She looked at the reflection of herself in his pupils, then at the wrinkles on his face. After falling silent for a while longer, she closed her eyes in pain.
“Baby?” The old man seemed nervous and asked worriedly, “What’s wrong?”
Nothing was wrong. She was just a little despairing.
Fu Qi had actually grown this old… How many years had she slept?
Qin Zhen wasn’t repulsed by old people. Everyone grew old someday, and she was willing to grow old together with Fu Qi—but only if they aged at the same rate!
If they became an old husband and young wife, what would other people think of her?!
“Yesterday’s examination clearly said you’d be fine once you woke up…” Seeing that Qin Zhen showed no reaction, the old man began muttering to himself. “…How could this happen? Could there still be some virus left in your system?”
Seeing that he was about to call for the researchers, Qin Zhen hurriedly stopped him.
Deep in her heart, she recalled every moment she had shared with Fu Qi, especially the words, “Forty-five years from now, will you be willing to be with me?”
…He hadn’t minded that she was old, gaunt, bluish-skinned, or even a different species. How could she despise Fu Qi for growing old?
Besides, Fu Qi had waited for her all these years. It couldn’t have been easy!
Qin Zhen finally pulled herself out of the agony of losing Fu Qi’s youthful, handsome face and the young body that had once fascinated her. Reluctantly, she said, “I’m… I’m fine.”
The old man visibly relaxed. He moved closer to Qin Zhen and asked softly, “Would you like to sit up and have some water?”
“…N-no.”
Qin Zhen felt that her mouth was terribly dry, but she wasn’t in the mood to drink anything.
She struggled to extend her hand. It trembled weakly, and the old man obligingly reached out to support it. Qin Zhen took the opportunity to give his arm a little stroke.
Ugh. He really had gotten old. The feel of him wasn’t as good as it had been when he was young.
Qin Zhen sighed again.
Although Fu Qi always called her a greedy, lecherous, shameless Zombie Queen, Qin Zhen knew that wasn’t true.
She wasn’t shameless.
No matter what Fu Qi looked like, she could accept him!
But there was one thing she needed to confirm.
Qin Zhen stared fixedly at the handsome old gentleman with his lingering charm and said, “T-take off your shirt. L-let me see.”
“…What?” The old man was extremely astonished. “That doesn’t seem appropriate, does it?”
“Forget being proper!” Qin Zhen ordered sternly. “Take it off!”
He was old now, and that couldn’t be helped. But he still had to maintain his figure for her, didn’t he?
An elderly heartthrob was still a heartthrob, and elderly abs were still abs. He couldn’t be missing anything he was supposed to have!
Seeing that Qin Zhen didn’t look as though she were joking, the old man knitted his brows tightly, his face full of doubt. Yet he didn’t move at all, looking as though he couldn’t understand her behavior in the slightest.
Qin Zhen didn’t care.
This Fu Xiangxiang—now that he was older, his wings had grown hard too. He didn’t listen to her at all anymore.
If he wouldn’t take it off, she would do it herself.
Qin Zhen gathered her strength and laboriously raised one hand to grab the old man’s clothes.
The two of them were close together, and she actually managed to seize his shirt. She was just about to pull it open when a light cough came from the side.
The old man was startled by Qin Zhen’s behavior. He turned toward the sound in surprise, and Qin Zhen also twisted her nearly rusted neck to look over.
Then she saw another Fu Qi.
His skin was taut, his features clear and handsome, his body tall and straight, and his entire person radiated irresistible charm.
It was a young Fu Qi!
Qin Zhen’s eyes widened.
Fu Qi was holding a tray with a small bowl on it, steam rising faintly from its contents. He was leaning against the hospital-room door, his expression difficult to read. No one knew how long he had been watching.
Behind him, three or four people were poking their heads around the doorway, peering inside.
The old man looked as though he had seen a savior. After letting out a long breath, he said, “Fu Qi, come take a look. Your baby seems to be acting a little strange.”
Qin Zhen: “…”
She silently met Fu Qi’s gaze. As Fu Qi took a step toward her, she quietly turned her face away, stared at the ceiling, and closed her eyes in despair.
Just let her pass out again!
“It’s fine. She probably hasn’t fully woken up yet. See? She’s fallen asleep again.” Fu Qi’s voice rang out, still as clear and pleasant as ever, filled with warm amusement. “She’ll be all right once she’s completely awake.”
“I see.” The old man said, “Then you take care of her for now. I’ll come back another day.”
Fu Qi hummed in response.
The old man seemed to leave. Several sets of footsteps approached the hospital bed, and Qin Zhen guessed that Fu Qi and the few people who had been lurking behind him were coming closer.
What had happened just now was far too embarrassing!
Qin Zhen pretended to be asleep. She decided that even if someone wanted to dismember her, she would only open one eye a crack!
Dismemberment was obviously out of the question. She felt someone manipulating her hands and feet. After several beeps, someone said, “Everything’s normal, just like yesterday. All her systems are functioning normally and slowly recovering.”
Fu Qi thanked them and asked them to leave. The people lingered and shuffled around for quite a while before finally going.
Afterward, the edge of the bed sank under someone’s weight as a person sat down.
“Open your eyes,” Fu Qi said.
Qin Zhen didn’t move.
He tried again. “I’m taking my clothes off.”
If she was going to pretend to be asleep, she had to commit to it. She couldn’t give herself away just because he teased her. Qin Zhen remained motionless.
But then came a rustling sound, as if Fu Qi really were lifting his clothes!
Qin Zhen had already accepted that Fu Qi had grown old. In her mind, she had imagined helping him cross the street, taking care of him, and even seeing him through to the end. Now that she knew she had mistaken someone else for him, she felt awkward and didn’t quite dare face him—but at the same time, she was extremely tempted by his youthful, vigorous body.
She held out for a moment, but eventually gave in…
It wasn’t as if this was the first time she’d done something like this in front of Fu Qi!
Qin Zhen secretly opened one eye a sliver.
And immediately met Fu Qi’s gaze.
He wasn’t taking off his clothes at all. He was merely holding a few garments and tidying them beside the bed. When he saw Qin Zhen sneaking a peek, he gave her a mischievous smile.
He hadn’t said a word, but Qin Zhen could tell he was calling her a pervert again.
Her face flushed. She opened both eyes and stammered, “Wh-why did you trick me again…?”
“What else could I do? Really take off my clothes for you to look at and touch, then hold you and coax you?” Fu Qi said. “Unlike you, I’m very conservative. I’d hate for someone to see me.”
As he spoke, he tilted his head toward the camera in the corner, its red indicator light blinking.
The moment Qin Zhen realized what it was, she became self-conscious and fell silent.
Fu Qi chuckled. He placed the clothes at the foot of the bed, then leaned over, took Qin Zhen’s hand, and rubbed it gently. He followed by lightly massaging her arm. “What does it feel like?”
Qin Zhen only felt weak. Her entire body was limp and listless.
“While you were asleep, you were only getting the basic energy you needed through IV fluids…”
All her organs were newly regenerated and healthy. Once the virus had been eliminated, her body had remained in a kind of standby state while she was unconscious. Now that she had woken up, her body was functioning normally again and beginning to consume energy.
She hadn’t eaten or drunk anything, so naturally she had no strength.
After explaining, Fu Qi slipped an arm around Qin Zhen’s waist and half-held her against him, wrapping her in the blanket. He picked up the cup beside the bed and fed her some water.
Qin Zhen took a few sips, smacked her lips, and said, “So… so I’m not the Invincible Zombie King anymore?”
Zombie Queen would have been bad enough, but how had she acquired the word “invincible” after sleeping for more than two years?
Fu Qi would never understand how her mind worked. He simply played along. “That’s right. From now on, you’re human—a normal, healthy human being. You have a sense of taste and can feel pain. You’ll get sick and shed tears. So you need to take good care of yourself from now on, and you absolutely cannot climb out of windows headfirst again.”
Who had ever climbed out of a window headfirst?!
Qin Zhen weakly jabbed him with her elbow. Fu Qi caught her arm and began gently rubbing it. The movement made Qin Zhen notice her own pale skin. She let out a soft “Huh?” and stared at it in wonder.
With her mind occupied by this discovery, she forgot about everything else. When a spoonful of warm porridge was brought to her lips, she opened her mouth and swallowed it without thinking.
Only after it had gone down did she realize there was a sweet, fragrant taste in her mouth. Qin Zhen’s eyes lit up. At last, her gaze shifted away from her arm and turned toward Fu Qi. She moved too suddenly and nearly knocked the bowl from his hand.
Fu Qi quickly lifted it out of the way. Seeing her delighted expression, he smiled, tightened his arms around her, and rubbed his chin against her forehead before feeding her a second spoonful.
After eating a few mouthfuls, Qin Zhen’s thoughts began to work again. “The virus… cure…?”
“It can’t be used to cure anything.” Fu Qi knew what she wanted to ask. As he fed her porridge, he answered softly.
Back then, many of the patients selected by Haiyin Charity Hospital had secretly been used as experimental subjects and given medication. Qin Zhen’s body had integrated relatively well with the experimental drug, but even she had shown no particularly obvious effects.
Later, the authorities shut down the hospital. Qin Zhen’s family was tricked into going abroad, and their plane crashed. Qin Zhen, the experimental subject, and the last remaining sample were hastily hidden in a tomb.
The people from DF received word of this, but they didn’t know the exact location. For all these years, they had believed Qin Zhen was already dead. So when people from Country A traveled over mountains and through valleys to search the tomb, their only target had been the sample. They had never considered that the experimental subject from all those years ago might still be there.
As for how that sample had taken effect inside Qin Zhen’s body…
Perhaps it had been a bodily reaction triggered by her instinct to survive while on the brink of death. Perhaps it had been caused by the microbes in the tomb.
In any case, after extracting the virus from her, the researchers proposed using it as a starting point for developing a cure for terminal illnesses. Some patients with terminal diseases even volunteered to be inoculated and tested, but just as the virus could not be transmitted through blood, it consistently produced no results.
No one knew what the truth really was.
Now that the zombie virus was under preliminary control, everything was waiting to be rebuilt. Humanity’s homes needed reconstruction, and the government did not want people to suffer another devastating blow. The virus extracted from Qin Zhen’s body had therefore been sealed away as the highest-level state secret.
Humanity was constantly researching and advancing. Perhaps one day, when medicine and technology had reached a sufficiently glorious level and humankind possessed the necessary capabilities, people would truly be able to develop methods for healthy life extension and organ regeneration.
After explaining everything, Fu Qi asked, “What about you? Do you want to become a hero who saves all of humanity, or would you rather stay hidden?”
Qin Zhen had only just woken up, and her head was still groggy. She sat there with a blank expression, unable to decide.
Fu Qi laughed. After feeding her the last mouthful of porridge, he wiped her mouth and ruffled her hair. “It’s fine. You can take your time deciding. The official in charge of this matter is recuperating at the research institute. You can tell him whatever you need.”
Qin Zhen’s understanding of the world, formed over several decades, could not be changed so easily. The moment she heard the word “official,” she tensed up and asked in a hushed, guilty voice, “Where… where is he? Is he easy… easy to talk to?”
Fu Qi paused briefly. He answered only the second question. “He’s easy to talk to.”
That was all Qin Zhen needed to hear.
She relaxed and held up both hands, staring at them with fascination. After examining her own hands, she grabbed Fu Qi’s and inspected those too. A moment later, she began thinking about the youthful, beautiful body she had gotten back. Taking advantage of the blanket wrapped around her, she stealthily wriggled backward.
After a few little shuffles, her hand secretly made its way onto Fu Qi.
She still had enough self-awareness to feel guilty. She glanced at the camera, then looked at Fu Qi’s expression. When she did, she found him looking grave, his face filled with a complicated, unspeakable emotion—as if there were something he couldn’t bear to tell her.
Qin Zhen knew him very well. Fu Qi had worn a similar expression back when she had ruthlessly bullied the people of the Thunder Squad.
She carefully recalled their conversation just now.
She had been awake for less than half an hour, and every detail was still fresh in her mind. Qin Zhen went over the conversation once more, and her expression slowly stiffened.
There was one question Fu Qi had not answered directly!
Qin Zhen asked cautiously, “Don’t… don’t tell me that old… old grandpa is…?”
Fu Qi looked at her and nodded heavily, his expression filled with sympathy.
Qin Zhen’s expression nearly cracked. After a moment of silence, she pushed aside the blanket wrapped around her, then slowly and laboriously turned her weak, limp body around until she was facing Fu Qi. With utmost seriousness, she asked, “Why—why is he here?”
“Because you woke up once yesterday, I notified the members of the research team to come examine you. He found out and came especially to see you.”
Qin Zhen fell silent again. Then she asked, “Why—why did he call me ‘baby’?”
Fu Qi replied, “He learned it from me. Now everyone in the research institute calls you ‘baby.’”
“…”
Images of herself ordering the old man to take off his clothes, along with the old man’s astonished expression, flashed through Qin Zhen’s mind. She stared blankly for a while before asking, “What—what is his official position?”
Fu Qi’s answer was very simple. “Just call him Chief.”
Qin Zhen was completely stunned.
This time, she sat there in a daze for a very, very long while, as if her soul had left her body. Then, like a mushroom, she slowly turned around and silently began tugging at her pillow.
Fu Qi was sitting on it, pinning it down. Qin Zhen was too weak to pull it free.
Fu Qi helped hand it to her and lowered his head to ask, “Baby, are you ready to rest?”
Qin Zhen said, “N—not resting. I—I just want to b-beat you to death, you—y-you bastard!”
With that, she grabbed the pillow and began swinging it at Fu Qi.
Wake up and see you first thing?
See your head!
You’re the culprit behind all this! You absolute liar!
