Seeing Ling Jiujiu’s eyes redden with grievance, on the verge of tears, Lu Chen’s heart softened instantly.
He gently ruffled Ling Jiujiu’s hair again, his voice softening as well:
“If anyone bullies you like that again, bite them. If you can’t win, run.”
Ling Jiujiu pointed to his own head: “If I bite them, they’ll smash my head.
If I don’t bite, they won’t smash my head and will take me back for research.”
Lu Chen had no idea what kind of ideas had been planted in that little head of his. Speechless, he said:
“Do you know what you’ll go through if they take you back for research?”
Ling Jiujiu widened his round eyes and shook his head blankly.
Lu Chen drew his knife and lightly pressed it against Ling Jiujiu’s chest, his expression serious:
“They’ll cut open your body with a knife, dig out your organs, and in the end, they might leave you with just a head, making it impossible for you to die even if you wanted to.”
Lu Chen wasn’t trying to scare Ling Jiujiu—he had personally witnessed how those lunatics in the laboratory studied zombies.
Since the subjects were mindless walking corpses, he hadn’t seen anything wrong with it at the time.
But the thought of Jiujiu going through something like that was unimaginable to him.
He absolutely couldn’t let anyone else know that Jiujiu was a half-zombie.
Lu Chen composed himself, finished drying Ling Jiujiu’s hair, and stood up to pack his things, preparing to leave this place tomorrow.
Watching him move things around, Ling Jiujiu sensed what he was about to do.
Lu Chen was leaving, returning to his human territory.
Ling Jiujiu watched Lu Chen busying himself without making a sound, his gaze fixed on him wherever he went.
As if sensing the little one’s low spirits on the bed, Lu Chen stopped packing and asked with a smile:
“Did I hit your head? Are you upset?”
Ling Jiujiu paused for a moment, then slowly shook his head.
“Were you bullied? Feeling wronged?”
Ling Jiujiu shook his head again.
“Then… are you hungry?”
Remembering that Ling Jiujiu had been captured outside and likely hadn’t eaten, Lu Chen went to the kitchen, sliced a fish into sashimi, and brought it to him.
This time, Ling Jiujiu didn’t shake his head, but he only took two bites before putting down his chopsticks.
It was unusual—he usually ate two whole fish, but today he only had two bites.
Thinking something might be wrong with his body, Lu Chen quickly laid Ling Jiujiu down on the bed, lifted his clothes, and carefully examined him.
After looking for a while, Lu Chen turned him over and finally found the cause.
There was a fresh wound on Ling Jiujiu’s lower back, quite deep, likely having injured his kidney.
“Does it hurt?” Lu Chen couldn’t help but frown, asking softly.
Ling Jiujiu shook his head, slowly moving Lu Chen’s hand away.
He didn’t feel any pain at all, but Lu Chen’s hand suddenly felt uncomfortably warm against his skin.
Lu Chen didn’t know how to treat a zombie’s wound, so he could only apply ointment and wrap it with gauze as he would for a human.
He then fetched a basin to wash Ling Jiujiu’s muddy little feet. Only after cleaning them did he notice several scratches from tree branches on his feet.
Ling Jiujiu’s skin was naturally pale, making the red marks on his feet particularly noticeable.
After applying ointment to his little feet, Lu Chen lifted the blanket and tucked Ling Jiujiu in:
“Go to sleep early. Your wounds will heal faster that way.”
Ling Jiujiu obediently lay on his side on the bed, not moving around.
Lu Chen continued packing up. There were quite a few things in the wooden cabin, but fortunately, he had upgraded his dimensional space.
A wildflower he had previously placed in the dimensional space remained exactly as it was when picked, without any signs of wilting.
This proved that time either didn’t pass or passed very slowly inside his dimensional space, meaning food stored there wouldn’t spoil.
Lu Chen placed perishable items into the storage space, while the rest could be loaded into the car and taken away.
After finishing packing, Lu Chen turned around and noticed Ling Jiujiu staring at him with wide eyes, clearly not asleep at all.
He sighed, walked over, and gently pinched Ling Jiujiu’s cheek.
“We have to get up early tomorrow. Go to sleep now.”
Ling Jiujiu blinked, let out a small yawn, and indeed felt tired after a long day of running around outside.
After washing up, Lu Chen got under the covers and prepared to sleep.
Once Ling Jiujiu was asleep, Lu Chen carefully took out a specially made muzzle and put it on him.
Becoming an awakened after being bitten didn’t mean the awakened had developed immunity to the Zombie Virus.
If bitten again, there was still a chance of turning into a zombie.
Ever since Ling Jiujiu had sleepily licked his thigh in the middle of the night last time, Lu Chen had made this muzzle and put it on him every night while he slept.
Each morning, Lu Chen would wake up earlier and quietly remove it without Jiujiu noticing.
However, tonight, Lu Chen didn’t expect Ling Jiujiu to wake up after just two hours of sleep.
Ling Jiujiu knew Lu Chen was leaving and felt reluctant to part with him.
Worried that Lu Chen might get hungry on the way back or even faint again, and without him around, Lu Chen could be eaten by other zombies, he decided to catch a few more fish for Lu Chen to eat on the journey.
When Ling Jiujiu woke up, he felt something pressing against his face.
He reached out and touched it—it felt like an iron mesh tied around his mouth with a string.
Tilting his head, Ling Jiujiu was filled with confusion.
What was this thing?
No doubt, Lu Chen must have put it on him.
Ling Jiujiu didn’t understand the purpose of the iron mesh, but since Lu Chen always had his reasons for doing things, he didn’t dwell on it.
Quietly slipping out of bed, he went to the kitchen, grabbed the fishing rod and iron bucket, and left.
Today, he had brought a large iron bucket, planning to catch plenty of fish for Lu Chen to take with him.
The sky was just beginning to brighten, but for Ling Jiujiu, the dim light was similar to a human walking at night.
With limited visibility, he walked slowly.
Even so, he accidentally tripped over a vine on the ground. If not for the iron mesh supporting him, his teeth would have definitely hit the tree.
Ling Jiujiu stood up, patted his chest, and felt a lingering sense of fear.
He adjusted the crooked iron mesh on his mouth and finally understood why Lu Chen had put it on him.
Lu Chen often said he was a bit clumsy, so he must have been worried he’d accidentally bump into something. This iron mesh was meant to protect his teeth.
Lu Chen was truly the best person he had ever met!
Thinking of this, Ling Jiujiu felt even more reluctant to part with Lu Chen.
He secretly wiped away his tears, picked up the iron bucket, and headed to the river.
After casting the fishing line, Ling Jiujiu became completely absorbed by the river, completely unaware that someone was following him.
In fact, Lu Chen had woken up the moment Ling Jiujiu got out of bed.
Living in the apocalypse, where one must always stay alert to their surroundings, he had long developed the habit of sleeping lightly.
At the slightest disturbance, even while asleep, instinct would drive him to react immediately.
Perhaps it was a subconscious sense that Ling Jiujiu posed no real threat to him, so Lu Chen merely woke up instead of directly striking her head.