“Lin Po?” Yun Zhuan reached out to steady the person who had bumped into him. Once he saw who it was, he was surprised. “Are you feeling better? Why are you out so late at night?”
Lin Po lowered his head slightly, his voice thick with emotion. “I came to find you. I sent you messages, but you didn’t reply.”
Yun Zhuan frowned briefly before remembering something. “My phone died. What’s wrong? Did something happen?”
Lin Po shook his head. “I just wanted to see you.”
Yun Zhuan arched an eyebrow, surprised to hear Lin Po say such a thing.
Lin Po reined in his emotions and said, “Senior, I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I like you. I was afraid to say it before because I didn’t want you to find my feelings disgusting. But today, I really wanted to tell you. Whether you feel revulsion or disgust, at least I’ll have no regrets.”
It felt as if a massive explosion had gone off in Yun Zhuan’s mind, leaving him a bit dazed.
His meeting with Lin Po had been purely accidental. Since they attended different schools, their lives rarely crossed paths; in a city with so many people, it was common to only ever know a small fraction of the population before graduation.
He and Lin Po both liked to study at the same table in a specific study room in the library. This room was tucked away in a remote corner; most students at the school couldn’t even find it. Furthermore, because a plane tree stood outside the window, blocking most of the sunlight, the room was dim without the lights on. Consequently, not many people went there.
However, Yun Zhuan ran into Lin Po frequently. There were plenty of seats, yet Lin Po always sat directly across from him. This continued for a long time until one day, Lin Po brought a book that Yun Zhuan had been searching for but couldn’t find. That was the first time Yun Zhuan spoke to him.
Yun Zhuan still remembered that moment. Lin Po had seemed quite startled by the sudden approach, his eyes wide and round, looking rather adorable.
“Do you like this book too? I asked a friend to carry it back from abroad for me. If you like it, I can lend it to you.”
Just like that, they exchanged contact information. After talking, they discovered they had so much in common: they liked the same sports, shared an interest in ancient cultures, and even had similar tastes in music.
Yun Zhuan was lost in his memories. He indeed liked Lin Po very much, but he wasn’t sure if his “like” was the same as the “like” Lin Po was describing.
“Yun Zhuan, the first time I saw you wasn’t in the library. It was at a museum,” Lin Po said. “You were a guide then, explaining the exhibits to a tour group. Many people in the group were just there for the spectacle, chatting and making noise, but you weren’t the least bit impatient. I followed at the back of the group, and listening to you talk about history was incredibly interesting. Later, when I saw you in the study room, I was so excited and wanted to get to know you, but I didn’t know how to start a conversation. So, I went to that study room every time. Sometimes I’d find you there, and sometimes I wouldn’t.”
Listening to this, Yun Zhuan felt a pang of heartache for the person in front of him. He wanted to say something, but Lin Po interrupted.
“Back then, it wasn’t love yet; it was admiration. I knew you were looking for that book, so I asked a friend to buy it abroad just so I’d have an excuse to talk to you.”
Lin Po suddenly smiled and continued, “And then I fell for you completely. I never thought I’d fall for someone of the same sex, but I think I’m quite happy about it. You’re so outstanding, which proves I have good taste. I’ve been hesitating, afraid to say it because I was terrified of seeing disgust in your eyes. But I suddenly realized that I might die unexpectedly one day, and then I’d have to take my love for you into the ground. So, I decided to say it. Even if you hate me, it doesn’t matter.”
Lin Po finished his long speech in one breath. His heart was pounding like a drum; he hadn’t even been this nervous when he was actually fighting zombies with real weapons.
Despite claiming he wasn’t afraid, while waiting for the person he loved to pass judgment, he couldn’t help but want to retreat.
Let it be, he thought. He would turn around and leave. The confession was out; he shouldn’t worry about the outcome.
Yun Zhuan’s gaze fell upon Lin Po. The moonlight was gentle, and it seemed to soften his heart as well. He couldn’t help but reach out and ruffle Lin Po’s hair.
“Don’t be afraid. I don’t hate you.”
Lin Po felt his heart instantly relax, and even his eyes brightened with joy.
“Go back and get some rest. I’ll come find you tomorrow.”
Lin Po threw out those words and ran off. Yun Zhuan watched his retreating figure and gave a helpless smile.
It was late, and the buses at the school entrance had stopped running. Lin Po took out his phone and hailed a car. While waiting, he couldn’t help but think about what Yun Zhuan had just said. Not hating me… as long as he doesn’t hate me, that’s enough.
The car was nearby and arrived quickly. Lin Po sat directly in the passenger seat. Only after getting in did he notice that the seat cushion was different from the others—it was a soft, delicate pink.
Lin Po stiffened and asked, “Sir, should I not be sitting in this seat?”
The driver, a middle-aged man in his thirties, replied with a smile, “It’s fine, go ahead and sit. It’s not a ‘girlfriend’s seat’ or anything. My daughter insisted on changing the cushion, so I did it to make her happy.”
Only then did Lin Po notice a photo frame on the dashboard with a picture of a cute young girl.
A wave of helplessness and sorrow suddenly washed over Lin Po. He wondered what the fate of this lovely little girl would be a week from now.
“Sir, I heard that the prices of rice and flour are going up soon. You should buy more while you can. A small increase per pound adds up to a lot for a large bag.”
The driver clearly didn’t pay much attention to such things, but hearing this “inside information” made him a bit inclined to believe it.
“I didn’t expect a young man like you to be so domestic. I’ll stop by the supermarket and buy two bags on my way home.”
Lin Po nodded. “Ordinary people have to budget carefully. Don’t forget, sir.”
He couldn’t do much more, but he could provide a few warnings.
When he arrived home, Lin Chuansen and Wang Yurong were sitting in the living room waiting for him. This was clearly out of character for his parents’ usual routine; perhaps they had truly taken his words from earlier that evening to heart.
“I’m back. Are you waiting here to ask me something?”
The two looked at each other before the father spoke up. “If what you said is true, then what should we do?”
It wasn’t that he was looking to his son for a solution out of weakness; it was simply that he knew too little about such matters and felt that every path led to a dead end.
Lin Po sat on the sofa and poured himself a glass of water. “I haven’t fully thought it through yet, but one thing is certain: we can’t stay in the city. We have to go back to the countryside.”
Lin Po’s mother immediately became anxious. “Why go back to the countryside? Can’t we wait for rescue in the city? If we’re in such a remote place, when will they ever get around to rescuing us?”
Lin Po replied, “I told you, turning into a zombie is random. It’s not a matter of the weak being infected first. In the face of disaster, there is no distinction of status. If we stay in the city to wait for rescue, with such a dense population, how many people will turn? Can we fight them off? And if we don’t go out for supplies, what will we eat?”
His mother protested, “We can buy things and stock up at home. Besides, we run a small supermarket ourselves; are you afraid we’ll run out of food?”
Hearing this, Lin Po’s eyes darkened. For a moment, Wang Yurong felt that the person in front of her was so cold and stern that he didn’t seem like her son.
“Mom, do you think people won’t come to rob us when they’re starving? What kind of fighting power does our family have?”
He was right. Lin Chuansen and Wang Yurong were both in their forties; they certainly couldn’t fight off people in their twenties or thirties. Lin Po had a refined, handsome appearance; if they ran into someone tall and strong, they would be nothing more than easy prey.
Lin Chuansen said, “Listen to our son. We’ll buy supplies and go back to the countryside. We only built that house a few years ago; it’ll be convenient to live there.”
The Lin family had made some money running their small supermarket. After paying the down payment for their son’s apartment in Jiang City, they used the remaining money to build a house in the countryside. They didn’t plan on living with their son when they got old; instead, they planned to go to the countryside to grow flowers and go fishing.
They usually went back a few times a year to keep the house from feeling abandoned. It was already furnished and had appliances, so moving back wouldn’t be much of a problem.
“Dad, Mom, go to sleep first. We have things to do tomorrow.”
Lin Chuansen nodded and helped his wife toward their room.
“Oh, and Mom, don’t kill the chicken in the kitchen. I have a use for it.”
He had used “Brother Chicken” to test his poison; naturally, he had to remember to spare its life.
Lin Po took a quick shower in the bathroom. From the moment he discovered he had been reborn until now, too many things had been spinning through his mind. His secrets were out, and his unspoken confession had been made. Lin Po felt a heavy weight on his heart that he couldn’t shake.
His mother’s words earlier had reminded him of the bloodstains he had seen in their shop in his previous life. Although he didn’t know if it had belonged to his parents, until the day the comet arrived, he wouldn’t know if his parents would develop abilities or turn into zombies. And then there was Yun Zhuan. Right—he had to take Yun Zhuan with him. Even if all three of them turned into zombies, he had to see it with his own eyes.
Lin Po fell asleep with a heavy heart. In his dreams, he repeatedly relived every battle from the apocalypse, as if each one were the end of his life.
Back at the dormitory, Yun Zhuan’s roommate glanced at him and shouted, “Holy crap! This is the first time I’ve seen Senior Yun smiling so brightly. Did something good happen? Don’t tell me you happened to pick up a piece of Yuan Dynasty blue-and-white porcelain.”
Yun Zhuan couldn’t be bothered to deal with him. How vulgar. Was he the type of person to be this happy over a piece of porcelain? A young man’s feelings were far more precious.
He lay on his bed, unable to stop thinking about what Lin Po had said to him—so steady and affectionate. He couldn’t help but ask the others in the dorm, “Do you guys have someone you like? What does it feel like?”
His roommate rolled his eyes. “Senior Yun, as long as you’re in this dorm, the girls have no eyes for us. You’re the biggest obstacle on our path to getting a girlfriend.”
“Then have you ever confessed?”
“Of course. I’ve written baskets full of love letters, but not a single one worked. Senior Yun, you’re with Lin Po every day… you don’t like him, do you? Since the feelings are mutual, stop competing with us for the girls’ attention.”