The autumn of the ancient town appeared desolate and sorrowful under the baptism of wind and sand. Broken branches littered the streets, and along the roadside, skeletal remains lay covered in yellow mud and fallen leaves.
These were the ones who hadn’t managed to escape, or perhaps those unwilling to leave their homes.
After driving all day, Lu Chen said, “The zombie horde shouldn’t find us for a while. Let’s rest here tonight.”
Xu Jie nodded and got out of the car, waking Ling Jiujiu beside him in the process.
Ling Jiujiu had slept unusually long today, dozing off almost as soon as he got in the car.
Lu Chen had tried to wake him several times, but each time, Jiujiu only lifted his eyelids briefly before drifting back into a hazy slumber.
Seeing him in this state, Lu Chen couldn’t help but feel uneasy.
He worried that if this continued, Jiujiu might regress into a true zombie.
Lu Chen checked the map, planning to head to areas with more zombies tomorrow to gather more Crystal Cores.
In the apocalypse, only by becoming stronger oneself could one hope for others to speak with them calmly.
Not only did Ling Jiujiu need Crystal Cores to maintain his consciousness, but Lu Chen also needed them to enhance his own abilities.
In the middle of the night, Ling Jiujiu woke up.
Opening his eyes, he found himself surrounded by pitch darkness. He rubbed his eyes, but still couldn’t see anything.
Had he gone blind from sleeping?
Normally, he woke up on time during the day and slept on time at night, his biological clock quite regular.
Suddenly unable to see, he instinctively thought something was wrong with his eyes.
Remembering that Lu Chen had placed something on his eyes, Jiujiu assumed that thing had blinded him.
Unable to see, he grew a bit panicked and softly called out Lu Chen’s name.
“Lu Chen, are you there?”
After a while, there was no response.
Ling Jiujiu felt his way to a wall he could lean against and curled up in a corner.
In the silence, Jiujiu faintly heard the sound of soft breathing.
The rhythm was steady, unlike that of a zombie—it was human.
So Lu Chen was asleep.
Following the sound of breathing, he made his way toward Lu Chen. Only when he touched the warm body did he feel reassured.
Ling Jiujiu had only unpleasant impressions of the outside world. If not for Lu Chen being by his side, he wouldn’t have dared to venture out.
If Lu Chen wasn’t nearby at night, he’d grow so anxious he couldn’t sleep.
“Lu Chen, my eyes are blind. What should I do?”
Ling Jiujiu gently shook Lu Chen’s arm as he whispered.
Lu Chen didn’t make a sound or respond.
Growing more anxious, Jiujiu shook him harder a couple of times.
“Is there something wrong with what you put on my eyes? I can’t see. Can you take it off for me?”
Finally, the person sleeping on the couch reacted.
Xu Jie, who had just fallen asleep after a tiring day, was somewhat irritable upon being woken up.
To his surprise, the moment he opened his eyes, he saw a pair of crimson eyes staring back at him. Startled, he sprang up like a carp and pinned the person to the bed.
Ling Jiujiu was caught off guard and landed heavily on the bed.
He had no idea why Lu Chen had suddenly acted this way. He tried to speak, but his throat was tightly gripped, rendering him unable to make a sound.
The moment Xu Jie pressed down on Ling Jiujiu’s neck, he realized something was off.
As his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he also recognized Ling Jiujiu.
This adorable little guy wasn’t sleeping in the middle of the night and had instead come to climb into his bed. How was he supposed to sleep like this?
Ling Jiujiu, struggling to breathe from the pressure, patted Xu Jie’s hand, signaling him to let go.
But the moment he touched the hand of the person pinning him down, Jiujiu’s mind went blank.
This wasn’t Lu Chen!
He was utterly terrified, and in this critical moment, his mind raced at lightning speed.
“I-I’m human, I won’t bite you, don’t hit my head.”
Xu Jie (´･ω･): “…”
How could there be such an adorable little creature in this world!
Xu Jie was utterly charmed. He released Ling Jiujiu’s neck and instead pinned down his hands.
He deliberately lowered his voice and said, “How can you prove you’re human?”
Ling Jiujiu was dazed for a moment, his not-so-agile little brain working hard.
Xu Jie felt he could almost hear the gears turning in his head.
“I-I haven’t been bitten, and I eat cooked meat. I really am human.”
Xu Jie secretly smiled, and after he’d had his fill of amusement, continued:
“Not good enough. I need to check your body, see if you really have any bite marks.”
Ling Jiujiu lay there obediently and nodded. “Go ahead and check. I really haven’t been bitten.”
Lu Chen had checked his body before too.
If you couldn’t tell at first glance, humans seemed to distinguish zombies from humans by whether they had bite wounds or not.
Xu Jie pretended to start undoing Ling Jiujiu’s clothes. The little guy was so compliant it actually made him a bit flustered.
He had absolutely no sense of caution. Xu Jie couldn’t shake the feeling he was bullying a child.
Better stop teasing him. If Brother Lu found out, he might tie him up and let the little guy beat him.
Just as Xu Jie was about to let Ling Jiujiu go, he heard a sinister voice from behind.
“Xu Jie, what are you doing?”
Lu Chen had returned from his night patrol and found Ling Jiujiu wasn’t sleeping on the sofa. He came to ask Xu Jie about it.
Instead, he saw Ling Jiujiu pinned to the bed by Xu Jie, with Xu Jie’s hands undoing the buttons on Ling Jiujiu’s clothes.
Xu Jie panicked completely now and hurriedly explained:
“Boss Lu, listen to me, it’s really not what it looks like—”
Before Xu Jie could finish, Lu Chen kicked him out of the room.
Ling Jiujiu lay on the bed, only realizing belatedly that Xu Jie had just been scaring him.
What a mean guy! ╭(╯^╰)╮
Lu Chen lit a candle, instantly filling the room with light.
Ling Jiujiu looked at his own hands, found he wasn’t blind, and immediately felt less panicked.
“Did he bully you?”
Lu Chen’s gaze fell on Ling Jiujiu’s neck, where there was a faint handprint.
Ling Jiujiu huffed, glaring angrily at Xu Jie who was peeking in from the doorway.
“I was startled awake, just wanted to tease him a bit, really.”
Lu Chen stood up, went over, closed the door, shutting Xu Jie out.
“Why did you come to this room?” Lu Chen asked.
Ling Jiujiu: “I thought you were sleeping. I couldn’t see anything, I was a bit scared.”
Lu Chen ruffled his hair and took out a plate of sashimi from his storage space:
“You’ve slept all day. Eat something.”
Now that his worries were gone, Ling Jiujiu finally felt a bit hungry.
While eating the meat, Ling Jiujiu curiously asked Lu Chen, “Do I still look different from humans now?”
Lu Chen looked at his red eyes. “You are human. Zombies were originally human too; they’re just sick.”
Ling Jiujiu didn’t have much concept of these things, but Lu Chen was very smart, so what he said must be right.
“Then am I sick too?” Ling Jiujiu pointed at his own head.
Lu Chen smiled. “Your illness is milder than theirs. If you take more medicine, you might get better.”
The usually stern-faced Lu Chen rarely smiled. The warm yellow candlelight illuminated his handsome face, making him look even more exceptionally beautiful, with an indescribable gentleness.
Ling Jiujiu stared for a long time.
“Lu Chen… you’re really handsome.”