Luffy waited for Lin Qiaoni to cry for a good while before he finally patted her on the shoulder.
"Have you cried enough? Are we leaving or not?"
Lin Qiaoni nodded silently. Leave? Of course she had to leave. It was just that the thought of wearing that pile of clothes was terrifying. Even though the blood and filth had dried up a little by now, it still looked damp. She didn’t dare to smell it again.
"I’ll wear more layers underneath. I absolutely can’t let this sticky, disgusting stuff touch my skin!" she thought as she walked into another bedroom.
Standing at the bedroom door, Luffy nodded in satisfaction. At least she had a clear grasp of the situation. But the next moment, his mouth fell open beneath his mask.
He watched as Lin Qiaoni continuously pulled out palm-sized panties from the wardrobe—a total of six pairs, each in a different color and style. Including the one she was currently wearing, she had enough to wear a different pair every day of the week.
Lin Qiaoni glanced at Luffy and realized he was watching her.
"Should I close the door?" she wondered, conflicted. After thinking for a moment, she decided against it. "Never mind. I already offered myself to him earlier. How would he look at me if I close the door now? It would be hypocritical. If I piss him off, things will end badly!"
So she turned her back to him, her cheeks burning too hot to dare look at him again. Taking off her shorts, she left Luffy with the view of her graceful back. Then, she slowly put on all six pairs of panties, even unconsciously wiggling her hips in the process.
"Ah, how frustrating!" Remembering his own condition, Luffy sighed and quietly stepped aside, removing Lin Qiaoni from his line of sight—out of sight, out of mind!
Hearing Luffy’s footsteps, Lin Qiaoni turned her head, only to find that he had already left.
"Wow, Luffy really is a good guy, a true gentleman!" she thought. She was incredibly confident in her figure; walking down the street, she was the kind of presence that made men walk into walls. Since he walked away, what else could he be but a true gentleman? Luffy had no idea that in her heart, he had genuinely been elevated to the status of a good guy and a perfect gentleman.
When he saw Lin Qiaoni again, she was fully armed. She wore several thick layers of clothes and multiple pairs of jeans—the outermost pair was already bursting at the seams in some places. She had three hats on her head, a thick scarf wrapped tightly around her face and neck, and thick winter leather-and-cotton gloves on her hands. Although her getup looked absolutely comical, it completely protected her body. Aside from her eyes, not a single inch of skin was exposed.
Still, Luffy could well imagine the resentful expression she wore beneath that scarf.
She cast a glance at Luffy, then silently picked up the clothes piled in the living room, which were covered in zombie filth, and pulled them on. Finally, she asked softly, filled with uncertainty, "Are you sure I won’t get eaten by zombies if I go out like this?"
"Earlier was about willpower and endurance. Now, it’s time to test your courage. Follow me and weave through the zombie horde. You can’t make a sound, and you can’t even breathe heavily. Can you do that?"
"Can I say no?" Lin Qiaoni said, taking a step back while clutching her chest.
Luffy waved his phone. "Yes. In that case, I’ll be leaving first!"
"Hey, wait!" Lin Qiaoni hurriedly chased after him, sticking close to him at every step, terrified that he would leave her behind. Although she was very curious about why Luffy’s clothes didn’t need to be soaked in zombie filth, it was too late to ask. She had to stay vigilant at all times. Moreover, her heart began to pound violently the moment she saw the zombies outside the door.
These were the bodyguard zombies Luffy had brought upstairs. It had to be said, Lin Qiaoni’s father was quite a capable figure; he had almost completely cleared out the zombies roaming the entire building. Luffy didn’t bother using his Control on these few zombies again. The two of them made it downstairs without a hitch—or more accurately, Lin Qiaoni made it downstairs without a hitch.
Things weren’t quite so peaceful after that. The zombies grew more numerous. From time to time, their gazes swept over the pair, and one zombie even tilted its head to sniff at Lin Qiaoni, scaring her so badly she hurriedly held her breath.
Only when they were a little farther away from the zombies did she let out a sigh of relief. She reached out and grabbed the corner of Luffy’s clothes, finally feeling a bit more at ease. Because she had been starving for a long time, her footsteps were somewhat unsteady, making her look even more like a zombie than Luffy, an actual zombie.
Luffy didn’t dare to be careless either. While he wanted to build up Lin Qiaoni’s courage, he was genuinely afraid that if she got spooked, she would let out a scream and attract the entire horde. It wouldn’t matter to him, but Lin Qiaoni would absolutely be torn to pieces. He couldn’t Control that many zombies all at once, and the range of his Deterrence was also limited. Therefore, whenever any zombies approached them, he would drive them away. As a result, they didn’t encounter any real danger until they reached the door of the villa.
"So you’re that Luffy! No wonder the name sounded so familiar," Lin Qiaoni said, smacking her forehead once they had entered the safety of the villa.
Luffy tilted his head, confused.
"I’ve long heard about Young Master Lu, the playboy of LZ City No. 1 High School! The guy who loves using money to capture girls’ hearts! Your reputation precedes you!" Lin Qiaoni scratched her head, her tone turning doubtful. "It’s so weird. Why did you suddenly change your ways today?"
She was truly puzzled. Given Young Master Lu’s typical behavior, there was no reason for him to treat her with such utmost respect. The reason she knew about Luffy was that when her father bought a house here a year ago, he specifically investigated the area. He explicitly warned her about a few households in the neighborhood she shouldn’t provoke, especially the troublemaking sons of those families. If she wasn’t careful, his daughter could be ruined by the young masters here, and there would be nothing he could do about it.
"Am I really that famous?" Luffy touched his clown nose, then typed on his phone. "Why haven’t I ever seen you at school?"
"Because my family only moved here a year ago, and I didn’t transfer schools. I don’t go to No. 1 High School!"
Luffy nodded. That explained it. He was wondering how he could have missed a girl like her! As for why he had changed his ways, he simply had no other choice right now!
"Go take a shower first! Don’t dirty my house!"
After making Lin Qiaoni take off the zombie-infested clothes, Luffy led her to the bathroom and filled the entire bathtub using large jugs of purified water.
"Wow, Luffy, taking a bath with purified water? This is way too extravagant!" Lin Qiaoni said, her jaw dropping. "Just this morning, if I had even a single mouthful of purified water, I wouldn’t have thought about jumping off the building!"
"That’s just because you’re too useless, okay? Your old man cleared out all the zombies in the entire building for you, and you still didn’t dare go out." After all, even before becoming a zombie, Luffy had gone out and killed zombies himself. Even though he somewhat regretted it later, it at least proved that he was a man with guts.
Luffy pointed at the bathtub, signaling that Lin Qiaoni could start washing up. Then, he backed out of the bathroom, closing the door behind him.
Looking at the tightly closed bathroom door, Lin Qiaoni shook her head and muttered to herself, "What a mysterious man. I just can’t figure him out!"