“Bang, bang bang bang—”
The violent pounding came from outside the door.
Shi Zuo An struggled to open his eyes, taking in the wreckage of the hotel room.
A tie hung over the back of the sofa chair, a pristine white shirt lay on the entrance carpet, and a pair of underwear at the foot of the bed had been ripped in two… not to mention the unfamiliar man sprawled next to him like a dead log.
Even the curtains were hastily drawn, tightly overlapped at the top, but gaping widely at the bottom, letting sunlight pour in unabashedly.
Where was he? Shi Zuo An slowly turned his head toward the intrusive light source that had disturbed his sleep.
A hotel…
Last night at the bar… he had spent the night in a hotel room with this stranger?!!!
Shi Zuo An quickly threw off the blanket and climbed out of bed, nearly tripping over the crumpled cover as he jumped down.
Last night, his mood had been rock-bottom after resigning, so he went to the bar to drink away his frustration.
He had chatted a little more than intended with a similarly downcast young man, and somehow it had led to… the bed?
So now, what should he do? Wake the man up, put on a stern face, and act as if nothing happened, saying, “We’re adults, let’s part amicably”? Or sneakily get dressed and escape before the man wakes up?
God, he had no experience in this area—
He screamed in his mind, but before he could come up with a proper plan, another crash sounded outside the door.
This time, it seemed much closer.
He could even hear the neighboring door being broken open, followed by the piercing, agonized screams of a woman inside.
What the hell was going on?
Startled, he ignored the aches and pains all over his body and shakily moved toward the door.
“Who’s there?”
But the moment his hand touched the doorknob, the door violently shook.
Something, or some things, kept ramming against it.
Shi Zuo An was dumbfounded, but instinctively pressed his body against the door, countering the force from outside.
At over 1.8 meters tall and with years of physical training, even with a weak waist and trembling legs, he barely held his ground.
But being pressed against the door made the sounds outside even clearer.
The woman’s screams from next door had ceased.
Piercing his eardrums now were the wild, beast-like howls of whatever was outside, accompanied by the unmistakable sound of chewing.
It sounded like teeth tearing through flesh, chewing on raw meat.
A cold sweat slid down his forehead, and goosebumps broke out all over his body.
Shi Zuo An was frightened and wanted to wake the man in bed, but after shouting twice at the top of his lungs, the man still showed no sign of waking.
Meanwhile, the noise behind him was only growing louder.
It had clearly been him down there last night!
So why did this guy act like he had fainted instead?!!!
Shi Zuo An endured five minutes of the relentless, fascia-gun-like pounding from behind before the stranger in bed finally stirred awake.
He had to admit, the man’s face naturally inspired trust.
Although his face wasn’t chubby, the lines were smooth and free of any harsh angles. Deep-set eyes, a high nose bridge, healthy pale skin framed by thick, well-shaped eyebrows.
His eyes were narrow and sharp, but when he put on the glasses from the bedside table, that edge was softened.
No wonder Shi Zuo An had blindly followed him last night after getting dizzy from drinking.
Shi Zuo An was about to make excuses for his own lack of control last night, but the commotion behind him left no room!
He hurriedly urged the man, but the stranger leisurely picked up his clothes and got dressed.
The calm, unhurried manner infuriated Shi Zuo An.
“Hey! Over here!” He didn’t know the man’s name, so that was all he could shout.
The man finally noticed someone pressed against the door.
He looked up, meeting Shi Zuo An’s gaze.
After a brief silence, his first words almost made Shi Zuo An lose it.
“Not going to put clothes on and dance against the door?”
?
“Are you kidding me!” Noticing the man’s downward gaze, Shi Zuo An shouted, ignoring the increasing force pressing from behind. “I’m not dancing! Come over here! Come see if I’m dancing!!!”
“…What’s going on?” The man, now fully awake from the scolding, picked up his clothes and pants, putting them on without avoiding Shi Zuo An.
“Who knows? I woke up to someone screaming next door, and then this thing outside kept ramming the door.”
The man walked over, using his height advantage to push Shi Zuo An’s head aside and peered through the peephole.
The strong smell of incense and alcohol hit Shi Zuo An’s nose, faintly mixed with the lingering scent from last night.
A couple of flashbacks ran through his mind, making his face flush and loosening the force pressing against the door.
In an instant, with a “click,” the door was pushed open.
The sounds from the hallway poured in, screams that felt like hell on earth.
“Don’t let go!” Fortunately, the other guy in the room was stronger, the moment Shi Zuo An relaxed, he pressed back against the door.
“Hold on, I’ll go find something!”
With that, Shi Zuo An dashed off, and a few seconds later returned, huffing and puffing, dragging a small hotel sofa behind him.
Together, they shoved the sofa against the door and used a clothes hanger to brace the lock again, preventing the door from shaking enough to be forced open.
Only then did Shi Zuo An let out a slight breath, bending down to pick up his clothes from the floor.
“The thing outside looks like a zombie,” the glasses-wearing man remarked as he glanced at the moment the door had been pushed open.
The thing blocking the door had sallow skin, a chunk of its left cheek missing, the flesh hanging by just a small strip of skin from the jaw.
Its pupils were dilated, showing no signs of being alive, moving only with the mechanical motion of ramming the door.
Its jacket was soaked in blood, with patches of an unknown pale yellow liquid.
“Zombie?” Shi Zuo An squinted at him, clearly skeptical. “Uh… little brother? Maybe you’ve been watching too many movies—”
“I’m Xia Ao,” Xia Ao said, pushing up his glasses and yanking the curtains open.
Bright sunlight flooded the room, revealing everything clearly.
“Wait, what are you doing? Just say it, why pull the curtains!” Shi Zuo An shivered in fright, hurriedly covering himself with his clothes. But after the intense struggle last night, his shirt had been ripped into shredded pieces.
He tugged at his pants and realized they were in no better shape.
On one side, Shi Zuo An scrambled around like an ant on a hot pan, barely covered, while Xia Ao calmly analyzed the situation outside the window.
“If you don’t believe me, come see for yourself. The hotel’s probably full of these things now, and the streets are chaos.”
Xia Ao looked down at the zombies staggering back and forth below. After waiting for a long time without Shi Zuo An moving, he turned and found the man had burrowed back into the blanket, covering himself completely, even over his head.
“What are you doing?” he asked.
A muffled voice came from under the blanket: “I’d rather starve in this room than go outside wandering around like a half-naked zombie.”
“……”
Xia Ao fell silent. Thinking of his behavior last night, he realized the other person genuinely had nothing left to wear.
“Alright, [1]we’re both grasshoppers on the same string now, It means their fates are now tied together, and whatever danger or outcome comes next, they’ll have to face it as a team whether they like it … Continue reading jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_1361070_1_1').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_1361070_1_1', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });we’re both grasshoppers on the same string now. I’ll find a way to get you a set of clothes, stay here and wait for me.”
The noise outside stopped. Xia Ao thought it was safe to step out, after all, staying trapped in the room meant certain death.
Just as he prepared to leave, the blanket was suddenly yanked off.
The person inside jumped up, grabbed Xia Ao’s arm, and blocked him from moving.
“No, you can’t go. Who knows if you’ll come back once you leave? What am I supposed to do if you leave?”
“I’m just going to get clothes.”
“And why should I trust you? What if you put on clothes and the moment you step out, you just walk away, leaving me trapped here alone?”
Xia Ao sighed. Shi Zuo An was holding onto his arm with full force, there was no way he could break free.
“…Then what do you suggest we do?”
Five minutes later, Xia Ao stood bare-chested, his toned muscles visible.
His work pants below remained perfectly in place.
The hoodie he had been wearing was now draped over Shi Zuo An.
Fortunately, it was trendy and oversized, long enough to cover Shi Zuo An down to his thighs.
The only drawback: he couldn’t move freely.
“Is this okay now?”
Shi Zuo An tugged at the hem of the hoodie, glanced around the room, then grabbed a bath towel to wrap around his waist. “Barely.”
“Alright. Can we sit down and figure out how to deal with the current situation now?”
With the immediate crisis handled, Shi Zuo An felt a lot calmer. He sank onto the bed, letting the soft mattress support him.
He lifted his chin slightly, signaling Xia Ao to continue.
Xia Ao paused, then said, “You’ve seen the situation outside. My advice is still that we have to go out. There’s nothing to eat or drink here, we’d just be trapped to die.”
“Just open the door and run straight out? We wouldn’t get eaten by zombies?” Shi Zuo An couldn’t believe it.
Xia Ao turned his head and shot him a glance. “From what I can guess, that zombie at the door was attracted for two main reasons: one, the noise we made, and two, the human scent.”
“Human scent?”
“Yes. By ‘human scent,’ I mean the natural odor produced by our sebaceous glands.”
“Our glands are distributed all over the body, secreting sebum, sweat, and other fluids. These secretions themselves have little to no odor, but when broken down by bacteria on the skin, they produce volatile smells.”
“Other animals can also detect humans through different odors, for example, mosquitoes,” Xia Ao gave an example. “Mosquitoes can precisely locate humans using compounds like lactic acid and octenol in sweat, which allows them to feed on our blood.”
Shi Zuo An made a face as if he had learned something: “So in summer, humans are like sweet little cakes to mosquitoes. And some people attract more mosquitoes because their scent is stronger, making it easier for them to locate them, right?”
“…That’s not the point. What I mean is, the zombie outside was attracted to you… because of the way you were pressed against the door. If you cover up your body scent, you shouldn’t be so tempting to the zombies.”
Xia Ao explained clearly, but when he mentioned Shi Zuo An’s messy, embarrassing posture, he paused for a second, deliberately or not, which made Shi Zuo An clench his fists in protest.
“Explaining is fine, but leave my dignity alone.”
“Alright,” Xia Ao said with a slight grin. “Then please try to find a way to mask your scent.”
“Tsk, even if a zombie comes close and takes a bite, there’s an eighty percent chance it’ll chase after you instead.”
Shi Zuo An rolled his eyes at him and swaggered into the bathroom.
He quickly figured out what he could use to mask his body scent.
The hotel’s shower gel and shampoo, though not his favorite fragrances, would have to do, this was not the time to be picky.
He squeezed the silky liquids into his palm and, without caring at all, rubbed it into his hair and over his exposed skin.
After a while, a sticky, drenched figure stood at the door. The zombies outside were no longer drawn to them.
“…Is this your look?”
It wasn’t Xia Ao’s fault, it really was too bizarre.
Even more shocking than the zombies Shi Zuo An had glimpsed earlier.
“What’s there to worry about in a critical moment! Just get in and smear some on. Here, I left the shampoo on the sink for you.”
“…”
Xia Ao ignored him, pulling a bottle of perfume from his bag on the coffee table and spraying it from head to toe.
!
“You did that on purpose, didn’t you?!”
“You didn’t ask me not to.”
References[+]