Carrying Zhuang Cheng inside the space with him, Ling Qingyun increasingly felt this was a good solution. After all, if Zhuang Cheng stayed here, he might be killed by humans. Moreover, Ling Qingyun didn’t want to see Zhuang Cheng eating people.
Zhuang Cheng was already a zombie, and zombies feed on humans. But Ling Qingyun intended to save Zhuang Cheng… If Zhuang Cheng returned to being human and learned that he had eaten people, he definitely wouldn’t be able to bear it. Not just Zhuang Cheng—Ling Qingyun himself couldn’t bear it either! After all, he was still human.
Right now, Zhuang Cheng probably hadn’t left this construction site, and no one else had been there either. But if Ling Qingyun didn’t watch over him, Zhuang Cheng would eventually encounter humans…
Either he would eat humans, or be killed by humans… No! Zhuang Cheng absolutely must not die!
Ling Qingyun thought his idea was good, but when the little dog returned and heard about it, it became angry:
“How can you keep such an evil thing inside the Merit Jade? If you pollute the Merit Jade like this, you can forget about saving him for the rest of your life!”
Ling Qingyun frowned: “I can’t let others hurt him!” He was living for Zhuang Cheng now—how could he allow anyone to harm him?
The little dog looked at Ling Qingyun’s expression and paced around a few times: “You actually don’t need to worry about others hurting him. He’s quite strong now… It seems that when he was infected with the demonic energy, it happened just right… I estimate there aren’t more than a hundred zombies this strong on the entire planet.”
“Zombies don’t harm zombies, humans are the real threat! If there’s a bomb…” Ling Qingyun sensed the dog was hiding something, but since the dog refused to say more after many questions, he gave up asking.
Also, a hundred? The strongest zombies publicly announced in the safe zone were only mutated zombies, yet Zhuang Cheng was far stronger than those mutated ones. Ling Qingyun had thought Zhuang Cheng was unique—turns out there are quite a few powerful zombies like him?
“Who says zombies don’t harm zombies? For a zombie to evolve, it must gain energy from its kind!”
“Energy?” Ling Qingyun immediately thought of the crystals inside the mutated zombies’ heads—the very ones he was carrying.
“That’s the thing. It contains energy! If you want to make your space bigger, find more of these crystals…”
“Zombies can evolve by obtaining these crystals from their own kind?” Ling Qingyun didn’t really care about the size of the space, he only hoped Zhuang Cheng could live on forever. If Zhuang Cheng could become a bit stronger…
“Yes! The crystals in your hand come from zombies that have undergone their first evolution. That person outside didn’t go through the first evolution—when he turned into a zombie, he directly became like one that had already undergone the second evolution… Quite lucky, actually. Based on my estimation, he probably still retains some memories from when he was alive.”
“He still remembers things from before he died?” Ling Qingyun asked excitedly. As long as Zhuang Cheng remembered him—as long as he remembered—his heart began to race uncontrollably!
“When he lunged at you, didn’t he pause for a moment? But even if he has some memories of his past life, his instinct to feed will still likely take over. Right now, he’s sitting right at the spot where you came into this space, so for the time being, don’t even think about going back out. If he stays there the whole time…” The little dog scratched the ground with its paw, suddenly remembering something. “If he keeps staying there, you won’t be able to leave!”
“If he remembers me, he definitely wouldn’t eat me… I have quite a few crystal cores here—if I give them to him, would that help him evolve?” Ling Qingyun looked at Zhuang Cheng, who was sitting quietly on the roof of the off-road vehicle outside. The sun was about to set, and Zhuang Cheng had been sitting there for a long time without moving.
“If you make him stronger, won’t it be even harder to escape from him? Then again, if his level increases, he should be able to recall more of his past.” The little dog lay down on the ground and spoke helplessly. This time, the master he ended up with—why was his whole heart fixated on a demon?
“Then what should I do? I really can’t put him into the space? At worst, I just won’t use the space for safety anymore.” Ling Qingyun felt extremely helpless. He couldn’t let Zhuang Cheng die, couldn’t let him run off either, and still had to worry about his own survival…
“You’ll starve to death if you don’t eat,” the little dog said seriously. The current situation really was quite a dilemma.
“He moved.” Ling Qingyun spoke—Zhuang Cheng, who had been sitting on the roof of the vehicle, suddenly jumped down and walked a short distance away before nimbly climbing through the window of a building. That was the place where he and Zhuang Cheng had hidden together those few days.
So, Zhuang Cheng had stayed here for an entire month? Ling Qingyun clenched his fists, a wave of bitterness washing over him. He wanted to rush out and find Zhuang Cheng—just now, Zhuang Cheng had behaved as if he were still alive…
“Can you start the car and escape now? Come back when you’re stronger and capture him, then keep him with you… Oh right! I went to get you some cultivation techniques!” the little dog said suddenly, spitting out a piece of jade from its mouth.
More jade? Ling Qingyun took the jade, and the moment he touched it, a flood of knowledge surged into his mind, along with that familiar, piercing headache from a few days ago!
To become a saint through merit… Cultivating merit is also a form of cultivating immortality, so naturally, one can practice immortal arts. However, for those who cultivate merit, their bodies must naturally transform into a Golden Body of Merit—this part cannot be cultivated manually, but they can train their spiritual power.
Mental attacks, mental control…
“Can I control zombies?” If he could control Zhuang Cheng, he could bring him along to hunt zombies. That way, he could accumulate merit while also helping Zhuang Cheng level up and grow stronger.
Bringing Zhuang Cheng along might mean he could never return to human settlements… but that was fine—he wouldn’t starve out here anyway!
“You can, but by the time you train enough to control him, you’ll have starved to death.” The little dog scratched helplessly at the ground, having already torn out all the grass on the small patch of lawn. It looked utterly exasperated.
These things truly weren’t something you could learn in a day or two! Ling Qingyun had already been hungry all day, and after being reminded twice, he finally remembered there was food in the car.
Whatever happens, Zhuang Cheng wasn’t on top of the car anymore, so first things first—get some food!
“I’ll go out and grab something to eat. There’s food in the car.”
“Alright! Just think about going out and you’ll be able to leave.” The little dog stood up, finally showing a bit of enthusiasm.
“By the way, what should I call you? I can’t just keep calling you ‘little dog,’ right?”
“You, you, you… You’re calling me ‘little dog’? I’m the artifact spirit of the Merit Jade! I’m not a little dog!” The dog suddenly bared its teeth, trying its best to show how angry it was.
But now it could stand on all fours in the palm of Ling Qingyun’s hand—it was so tiny that no matter what it did, it still looked adorable. If he had run into a young girl instead of Ling Qingyun, she’d probably have cuddled it to her chest and rubbed it hundreds of times by now!
“So what’s your name?” Ling Qingyun didn’t really care what it was called—he was fine with whatever.
“My previous master used to call me Xiao Gong!”
“Alright! I’ll call you Xiao Gong from now on,” Ling Qingyun agreed immediately, thinking nothing of it—until someone asked him later: “Then where’s Xiao Shou?” (Note: Xiao Gong and Xiao Shou are playful slang in Chinese BL culture, meaning “top” and “bottom” respectively.)
Following the method the little dog had mentioned for entering and exiting the space, Ling Qingyun focused on wanting to leave—and sure enough, he immediately landed with a thud on the roof of the SUV. Not daring to waste time, he quickly climbed back in through the sunroof, stuffed the pack he had prepared earlier into the spatial storage, and then saw Zhuang Cheng leaping out of the window and running straight toward him.
Ling Qingyun had originally planned to take the supplies and return to the space, but now, he suddenly didn’t want to move.
He shut the sunroof and simply watched as Zhuang Cheng sprinted toward him, leaped onto the hood of the SUV, and crouched there.
Their eyes met. Zhuang Cheng bared his teeth at him—it was still that same row of white teeth, though his skin was now a pale bluish-white…
Zhuang Cheng stared intently at Ling Qingyun from the hood for a long moment, then suddenly began pounding his fists against the front windshield. His strength was clearly greater than that of other zombies—each hit shook the whole vehicle.
“Chengcheng, do you still remember me?” Ling Qingyun gazed into those emotionless eyes. He wondered if he had gone insane—probably ever since the moment Zhuang Cheng pushed him away. Why else would he be trying to talk to a zombie?
Zhuang Cheng’s movements suddenly paused.
Ling Qingyun opened the sunroof once more, leaned halfway out, and placed a handful of zombie crystals he had collected onto the roof.
Gripping the car tightly, not sure if the artifact spirit would pull him back into the space again at a critical moment, he watched as Zhuang Cheng moved—he stood upright on the hood, reached out to grab all the crystals, shoved them into his mouth, and after glancing at Ling Qingyun again, climbed up to the roof and sat down beside the sunroof.
This was probably the closest Ling Qingyun had ever been to a zombie. But this zombie wasn’t just any zombie—this was Zhuang Cheng…
The scent of a living person had attracted nearby zombies, who began to gather around the SUV. But then Zhuang Cheng let out a low growl from his throat, and the other zombies immediately backed away again, wandering aimlessly around the perimeter.
Ling Qingyun suddenly felt at ease. He climbed up onto the roof of the SUV as well, then took out some food from the space and ate. Once he finished eating, he simply sat there quietly.
Zhuang Cheng couldn’t enter the space, but it was clear he still remembered some things from the past—he wasn’t harming him…
Maybe, he could go find those things inside the heads of mutant zombies and feed them to Zhuang Cheng, raise him, and when he had accumulated enough merit, turn him back into a human!
He sat on the car roof, calmly watching the other zombies wander nearby, making sure they didn’t come too close. They were supposed to be his kind, but he hated them and didn’t want to be near them!
He didn’t understand why the food suddenly disappeared, nor did he understand why his food emitted such a familiar scent. But because of that scent, he had sat on the roof for a long time.
He sat for a long while. When that familiar scent faded, he returned to his favorite room. But not long after, he smelled the scent of food again.
He jumped out and saw the food sitting inside that special box. He could see it, but couldn’t feel it. There was something in between them, and it annoyed him.
He wanted to break through that barrier, but then the food suddenly popped out from the top—again, that familiar scent. Also… he was so hungry. Really, really hungry!
The food suddenly placed something in front of him—those things gave off a delicious smell. When he got closer, he realized they were even more tempting than the food itself.
He ate them and felt a warm current settle in his stomach. He was still hungry, but it wasn’t so urgent anymore. And he really liked the scent of this food—he was reluctant to eat him now!
Maybe he should keep him around, let him go find more of those shiny things to eat, and stay with him for a while? And when he was truly starving… then eat him!