When Huaisi managed to regain some of his sanity, he raised his head from Xie Shouchan’s neck and immediately sensed that something was unusual about him.
Xie Shouchan’s blood flow had accelerated, and Huaisi could feel that aside from the wound on his neck where he had been gnawing, there was another source of blood scent coming from elsewhere on Xie Shouchan’s body a scent that continued to emit a sweet, continuous aroma, indicating that the wound was still bleeding.
Following the scent, Huaisi reached out to pull back the hem of Xie Shouchan’s shirt. However, Xie Shouchan pressed a hand down on his wrist to stop him. Yet, compared to usual, Xie Shouchan’s strength right now was completely negligible; under normal circumstances, Huaisi’s attempt would have been successfully restrained, but this time Huaisi easily flipped up the edge of Xie Shouchan’s dark top. The wet, sticky fabric stuck to the skin for a split second as it was pulled back, carrying a distinct sense of weight. Sure enough, a wound deep enough to expose the bone stretched right across the small of his back along the spine, continuously oozing fresh blood with the flesh rolled outward. It was a terrifying injury; if not for Xie Shouchan’s extraordinary constitution, an ordinary person would have long since succumbed to the trauma and died.
Huaisi froze for a moment, his vertical pupils staring fixedly at the small of Xie Shouchan’s back as an uncontrollable urge to swallow rose within him. Even though he was worried, his physical instincts drove an irrepressible craving.
Looking closer, Xie Shouchan’s complexion was paler than usual. His hand still held Huaisi’s wrist, and knowing that Huaisi had already seen the wound, he said softly, “It’s fine. I’ll be better soon; my regenerative ability is very strong.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Forcing himself to look away, Huaisi focused his gaze on Xie Shouchan’s pale face and noticed for the first time that Xie Shouchan’s lips had also lost all color. With his eyelashes drooping slightly, he carried an air of vulnerability rarely seen before.
“It’s nothing” Xie Shouchan’s voice grew fainter and fainter, his head slowly sinking until he leaned completely against Huaisi.
Huaisi could only feel Xie Shouchan’s lifeblood continuously draining away. At this rate, things would not end well; it seemed that the blue-glowing blade had left some lingering complications that slowed down Xie Shouchan’s healing process.
In truth, Huaisi couldn’t remember much of what happened at the refuge afterward. He only recalled being trapped under the net, grabbed and hauled aside by that man whose eyes looked so much like Xie Shouchan’s. At the time, he had been driven wild by the net’s electric stimulation and unleashed the “Blood Thorn” ability, yet still failed to kill the man. In his daze, he seemed to feel a wave of unusual sensations that pinnacle of near-death ecstasy.
He didn’t care to dwell on it. Almost everything afterward was a blank, save for the memory of Xie Shouchan rushing in, engaging that man in a brutal fight that brought the building crashing down, and snatching him right out of the man’s grasp.
In the end, Xie Shouchan carried him away from the refuge.
Yet when they first emerged, Xie Shouchan had still seemed completely normal, with neither his speed nor his mobility hindered. Once they stopped, he had even pulled open his collar, allowing a nearly delirious Huaisi to bite and suck on his flesh and blood.
Watching Xie Shouchan’s drooping eyelids, Huaisi felt the weight of Xie Shouchan’s body leaning more and more heavily against his shoulder. The thick, dark eyelashes, contrasted against his pale complexion, now looked almost like a bruised crow-feather hue. Normally, Xie Shouchan’s presence was overwhelmingly dark and heavy even his everyday clothes were uniformly black. Combined with his pale face, sharp brows, and dark eyes, he looked as though he had stepped right out of a traditional ink-wash painting. Though he rarely spoke in daily life, his presence was so intense and domineering that it was impossible to ignore.
Yet right now, Xie Shouchan was leaning almost powerlessly against his shoulder. The heavy ink-wash tones of his entire being had faded significantly, and his pale face looked almost translucent, suddenly making Huaisi feel a wave of deep unease, as if Xie Shouchan might turn translucent and vanish in the next second.
His hand instinctively tightened around Xie Shouchan’s fingers. Without retracting his sharp fingernails, he gripped too hard and accidentally lacerated Xie Shouchan’s hand, drawing fresh blood.
Staring blankly at the sight, his saliva secreted automatically as he swallowed. Guided by the scent and the chaotic thoughts in his mind, he acted on a sudden, impulsive urge: he grabbed Xie Shouchan’s bleeding hand and brought it to his lips, licking and sucking at the wound.
Suddenly, feeling the loss of Xie Shouchan’s blood, he snapped out of his trance and stared at the hand resting against his lips. The hand was long-fingered, beautifully articulated, and its owner was slumped against his shoulder. Even in his extreme weakness and powerlessness, the corners of Xie Shouchan’s pale lips curved upward slightly, his eyelashes drooping once more in an expression of quiet, satisfied pleasure at Huaisi’s obsession with his blood.
That meant Huaisi could not resist his blood which meant he could not resist him.
How wonderful.
Startled as if struck by lightning, Huaisi quickly pulled Xie Shouchan’s hand away. Traces of bright red blood still lingered on his lips, making them look as vibrant and alluring as rose petals. Forcing himself to maintain a shred of rationality, he immediately shifted his gaze to survey his surroundings.
He realized that he and Xie Shouchan were currently in an open clearing, sheltered only by a few broken, standing walls that offered meager concealment. Moreover, this location was not far from the District 8 Refuge; if that man were to track them down here, Huaisi wasn’t confident he could get Xie Shouchan out safely.
In any case, he needed to find a safe place for Xie Shouchan first, and figure out how to treat the wound on his lower back afterward.
Remembering the injury on the small of Xie Shouchan’s back, he chose to hoist him onto his back. Xie Shouchan was taller than him, and carrying him added a substantial, weighty burden of solid muscle. Fortunately, now possessing a zombie’s physique, the load didn’t feel overly strenuous.
Just as he heaved Xie Shouchan onto his back, Xie Shouchan’s eyelashes fluttered slightly. He seemed to open his eyes to cast a glance at him, a flash of pure crimson bursting forth so intensely that it made Huaisi freeze in place. However, that red light vanished far too quickly; unsure whether Xie Shouchan had actually looked at him or not, Huaisi looked back again only to find Xie Shouchan back to his feeble state, eyes closed beneath those long, slender eyelashes.
Carrying Xie Shouchan on his back, he searched for a safe refuge preferably a dwelling. Yet he could tell that Xie Shouchan’s current condition was genuinely precarious. The abandoned residential building they had used previously was obviously out of the question, but a suitable location couldn’t be easily found on short notice. Huaisi could only trudge onward with Xie Shouchan, trying to steer clear of the refuge in search of a fitting shelter.
To his surprise, as he walked, he encountered an increasing number of zombies. These creatures trailed alongside him, their numbers growing steadily larger until a circle of zombies surrounded him on all sides. Yet none of them made a move; instead, they followed him as though guided by some invisible force, acting like humble, obedient followers.
Huaisi, however, was in a foul mood. He had never liked zombies to begin with, and he didn’t care to ponder why they were gathering around him.
Seeing that the surrounding zombies were starting to impede his walking speed, he lashed out without mercy, sending a zombie’s head flying with a single swipe of his hand. Curiously, the zombies offered no resistance whatsoever to his attacks, not even lifting a finger, allowing themselves to be easily slaughtered.
As Huaisi pressed forward, a pile of rotting zombie corpses accumulated behind him. Gradually, the zombies finally seemed to realize something and dared not crowd too close, hanging back in the rear.
Why are there still so many? Is it endless? Can’t they ever be killed?!
His vertical pupils narrowed, growing increasingly irritated as the murderous intent from his battle-ridden journey began to close in around him.
When he raised his hand again, his sharp claws poised to cleave another zombie’s head off, the creature raised its head to look at him and emitted a low whimper effectively the language of zombies, expressing a plea for mercy. For once, Huaisi lowered his gaze and paused halfway through his swing, his hand freezing in place.
It was a child or more accurately, a zombie child, appearing to be around eight or nine years old. It raised its hands and looked up at Huaisi, its dead-gray face bearing the features of a youngster. Perhaps when children look up, there is an inherent look of grievance to their expressions. The little zombie’s eyes were large, but the skin near the corner of its eye featured a gaping, gnawed-open wound where white, writhing maggots crawled in and out.
Suddenly, Huaisi found that he could no longer bring his hand down.
After staring at the child zombie for a moment, Huaisi withdrew his hand, silently bypassed it, and continued walking forward.
His priority right now was still to find a safe place. Zombies could be killed anytime; besides, why should he take out his frustrations on them?
Perhaps because Huaisi had halted his attacks, the surrounding zombies grew bold enough to close in again. One particular zombie, whose eye had burst, even blocked Huaisi’s path; the moment Huaisi raised his hand, it instantly dropped flat onto the ground in a posture of total submission, before vocalizing a simple message using zombie tones.
It wanted to lead Huaisi to a place.
Huaisi’s hand remained raised as he eyed the zombie skeptically. How does this zombie know what I’m thinking?
Could it be that when I was panicking and cutting my way through earlier, because of my current zombie body, I could hear their thoughts, and unconsciously broadcasted my own thoughts in zombie language without realizing it?
Studying the creature before him, he suddenly found it looking somewhat familiar.
It was a zombie he had encountered before running into the zombie nest and losing consciousness. Because this zombie only had one eye destroyed while the other remaining eye was a stunning, jewel-like sapphire blue, it had left an impression. Just as vivid colors easily stick in one’s memory, seeing it again immediately jogged his recollection.
Was this zombie some sort of minor leader among them?
He stared at the creature. The zombie kept trembling slightly, growing more and more frightened toward the end, cowering like a cornered mouse. Though Huaisi didn’t fully grasp why, he possessed a hazy, intuitive awareness of one fact: the zombie before him dared not defy him.
He stepped forward. Seeing the zombie still sprawled on the ground, he looked back down at it and spoke in human speech: “Move.”
Hearing this, the blue-eyed zombie scrambled up in a hurried panic and scurried ahead to lead the way. Huaisi followed behind it for a short distance until they arrived at a massive abandoned factory likely an old chemical plant in the past. The structure featured an open roof directly facing the sky, enclosed on all four sides by towering, loop-shaped industrial buildings. Standing in the center and looking straight up felt immensely high, making Huaisi feel as though he were trapped at the bottom of a deep well.
He had arrived at the “safe place” the blue-eyed zombie spoke of. The creature even led him toward a group of humans huddled in the corner. Those ragged, withered human figures were piled against the wall still breathing, but trembling violently, paralyzed by the hopeless conviction that their only remaining fate was to be devoured, their eyes glazed over with a death-like despair.
Huaisi looked at them in silence. The blue-eyed zombie stepped forward, communicating that these humans could help him recover. But the next second, the zombie was batted away, crashing hard against a pillar before sliding limply to the ground.
“Get out,” Huaisi told the humans.
Yet the humans had already been reduced to a state of numbed shock. At first, they didn’t move; it wasn’t until Huaisi repeated himself that disbelief finally broke through. Tentatively taking a step forward and realizing no zombies pounced upon them, they didn’t dare ask what was happening. Consumed entirely by the adrenaline-fueled shock of surviving a narrow escape, the few of them immediately stumbled, scrambling and crawling away from the place in a panicked rush.
I must have lost my mind. Perhaps because he had truly become a zombie, he had actually believed a ghost story told by zombies.
Huaisi reached out, intending to deal another blow to that zombie, when he sensed something wrong with Xie Shouchan on his back.
He quickly lowered Xie Shouchan to the ground, only to find his blood circulating at an abnormal speed and temperature, while the paleness of his face was now tinged with an unnatural flush. Pressing his palm against Xie Shouchan’s forehead, Huaisi felt a searing heat.
Xie Shouchan had a fever.
This was the first time Huaisi had ever seen Xie Shouchan fall ill. Ever since he took Xie Shouchan in, he had never seen him sick not even a hint of discomfort. Believing in protagonist halo logic, he had assumed Xie Shouchan was made of iron.
Xie Shouchan running a fever meant his wound was likely infected.
A wave of guilt welled up inside Huaisi. He felt that all of this was entirely his fault. Pressing his hand against Xie Shouchan’s forehead and looking at his flushed face, he muttered in helpless, bewildered self-reproach: “It’s because of me that you ended up like this. I’m such a fool, I thought there was something I could do, but in the end…”
If the infection was real, he needed medicine. Did that mean he had to find a human settlement? Should he return to the refuge? Or look for another base? But time was running out, wasn’t it?
[You can heal yourself]
At some point, the blue-eyed zombie had crawled back to his side, flattening its entire body against the ground in a posture of complete surrender.
Huaisi didn’t understand what it meant.
The blue-eyed zombie continued to convey its message using zombie language: [Grow flesh and blood back just like us.]
Grow it back?
A scene flashed through Huaisi’s mind the half-face of the woman he had held in his hands rapidly regenerating that day and his eyes lit up.
As long as he consumed Xie Shouchan’s flesh and blood, he should be able to sense the other’s cells just like before, and use his own blood to stimulate the proliferation of more cells to reconstruct the tissue!
Determined to put this idea into practice, Huaisi didn’t need to consume Xie Shouchan’s flesh since he had already done so previously. However, just to be safe, he bit down on his own finger, causing blood to instantly gush out, and shoved it into Xie Shouchan’s mouth, attempting to make him swallow his blood to achieve the objective. Straining his senses, he tried to locate and perceive Xie Shouchan’s flesh and blood, using his own blood and cells as a medium to bridge the gap. Moments later, a wave of blinding agony wracked him; he collapsed onto the ground, clutching his head as blood streamed from his facial orifices while he gritted his teeth in agony.
Yet, visibly, the wound on the small of Xie Shouchan’s back stopped bleeding, and granulation tissue began crawling out along the edges of the laceration. Finally, the wound which had been deep enough to expose bone shallowly knitted together. Even the feverish flush on Xie Shouchan’s face faded back to a normal complexion, his rapid breathing calmed, and his eyes slowly fluttered open revealing a pair of completely crimson eyes.
Huaisi was still clutching his head, the pain coming in lingering waves, but sensing that Xie Shouchan’s condition had improved significantly, he crawled over intending to check on him. Instead, he watched Xie Shouchan rise smoothly from the ground with agile coordination, standing tall to look down at him from above.
He collided with a pair of crimson eyes.
Redder than blood a bottomless, terrifying crimson born of an abyss where no light could reach.
Huaisi froze. He was more familiar with Xie Shouchan than anyone else; Xie Shouchan’s eyes should undeniably be pure black. Why were they red?
Moreover, he felt an overwhelming sense of unfamiliarity toward the person standing before him.
A trace of disgust flashed across those crimson eyes. Xie Shouchan raised his foot and kicked him aside, saying coldly, “Get lost.”