It turns out the useless vase is so incompetent that she even needs help taking off her clothes.
Jiang Yingxiao felt her face grow warm as she shuffled closer to him. Watching him fiddle with the instrument in his hands, she didn’t know how to begin.
Xiao Bating hung the stethoscope around his neck. Hearing no rustle of clothing, he looked up teasingly, a smile playing on his lips. “What’s wrong? Did Chi Yubai take such good care of you that you don’t even know how to undress yourself?”
“Do you need my help?”
The expected scene—where she would blush, call him a pervert, and slap him twice—didn’t happen.
Instead, the girl seemed to have been called out. She relaxed, poked his forearm with her soft, pale fingers, and tilted her head, waiting for him to act.
“Wait,” the man’s breath hitched, his expression stiffening. “What do you mean by that?”
Could that two-faced, flirtatious Chi Yubai really have done something so shameless?
Raising her to be utterly helpless, dressing her with his own hands every day, and undressing her when the time came. He probably even fed her water mouth-to-mouth.
Unaware of the man’s wild imagination, Jiang Yingxiao poked the back of his dark hand twice more, her tone lilting upward. “Didn’t you say you’d help me? Why are you going back on your word?”
He stood there dumbfounded, the cracks on his chapped lips deepening, yet he seemed completely unaware, his eyes fixed intently on her like a dog’s.
Feeling displeased, the girl lowered her head and muttered a quiet rebuke. “You were the one who asked earlier. Why are you questioning me now?”
As her lips parted, her moist, pink tongue hid behind her teeth, visible to anyone watching.
“Fuck.” Xiao Bating snapped back to reality with a low curse, walked around the table to stand before her, and leaned down to meet her gaze.
“Tell me, what do you want me to help you with?”
“Take off… my clothes,” Jiang Yingxiao mumbled, her voice muffled and hesitant.
Hearing those words from someone else and saying them yourself had different effects. Before speaking, you’d think them over in your mind, making it even more embarrassing.
The man’s expression held a strange hint of pity. His two large, heated hands rested on her shoulders, his palms trembling slightly.
“In the past… did you let Chi Yubai do this for you too?”
How odd—it felt as though he was really saying, “What kind of miserable life have you been living?”
“No,” Jiang Yingxiao answered honestly, lifting her eyes to meet his. Her green eyes blinked in confusion, not understanding why he kept dragging a third person into the conversation.
She had only met Chi Yubai once. It was Chi Shangyan who used to help her with her clothes in the past—taking them off and washing them right away.
[Mission Countdown: 2 minutes.]
“Hey, are you going to help or not?” The girl grew impatient, grabbing his hand and placing it on the zipper of her down jacket. “If you’re going to do it, hurry up.”
Her porcelain-white, delicate hand rested on his large, rough palm, her knuckles a full size smaller. The undeniable contrast in skin tone and physique struck Xiao Bating’s eyes, and his hands began to tremble again.
Just helping her with a zipper felt like an immense humiliation.
Jiang Yingxiao frowned and lifted her foot, giving his knee two light taps with her pretty little leather boots.
“Fine, I’ll do it.” He dropped to one knee, pulling the zipper down from top to bottom while muttering under his breath, “You really never let Chi Yubai do this for you?”
“I’ve only ever let you do this, okay?”
“Okay, okay.” Xiao Bating’s voice was muffled with suppressed laughter, his hands so nervous they were sweating, but the high body temperature evaporated it instantly.
Only allowing him to help take off her clothes, as if he were someone more intimate.
The down jacket was gently removed, and 076’s mechanical voice sounded simultaneously.
【Mission complete. Congratulations, Player 23411, you have earned 2000 Points.】
The girl wore a white wool sweater inside, with gray cashmere pants on the bottom, making her look fluffy all over, radiating a warm aura.
Xiao Bating’s large hand took a detour, disobediently slipping under the wool sweater again, only to be stopped by her.
Jiang Yingxiao’s lower back pressed against the edge of the table, the rough palm in front of her radiating heat. Placed on her abdomen, it actually felt somewhat comfortable.
“What are you doing again?”
Her words sounded like a kitten being petted to the point of irritation, meowing as if ready to bite.
The man looked up at her, one hand reaching behind to grip the corner of the table, shaking the stethoscope around his neck. “Of course, I’m going to examine you. Are you hiding an illness and avoiding treatment? Or are you concealing some secret from me?”
The latter half of his nonsense somehow struck a chord in the girl’s heart, as if not letting him examine her truly meant she was hiding something.
“Oh.” Jiang Yingxiao responded briefly, a bit guiltily, releasing her hand and turning her head away.
Her clothes were lifted slightly, revealing soft, pale skin on her belly. The fragrance from within seemed to spill out recklessly, tangling teasingly at the tip of his nose.
The man, feeling dizzy, put on the earpieces and pressed the diaphragm against her chest with practiced ease. The heartbeat thudded unsettlingly, though he couldn’t tell if it was what he heard in his ears or his own.
The girl’s chest felt as if a dove were nestled inside, pressing its soft skin against his palm. It was like a young tree growing toward the sun in a forest, its smooth, tender leaves bursting with vitality.
“So, what did you hear?”
It had been a long time. Why wasn’t it over yet?
“Ah, oh, oh.” Xiao Bating trembled as he withdrew his hand, the rough calluses brushing over the soft belly, causing her abdomen to contract in response.
Jiang Yingxiao unconsciously shed two tears, her curled black lashes sticking together in clumps. She looked pitiful, as if he hadn’t been touching her abdomen but somewhere lower down.
The wool sweater fell back into place, covering the expanse of snow-white skin. Without even thinking, one could guess there were likely a few marks left by him on it.
The man remained half-kneeling until someone urgently knocked twice outside the door, then abruptly opened it.
Daylight poured in, dispersing the intimate atmosphere under the room’s warm orange light.
“Are you finished? I’ll take you to the Dormitory.”
Chi Yubai’s voice sounded from outside, cold and somber, his pace not particularly fast, as if the person who had urgently opened the door wasn’t him.
He wore a tight-fitting black combat suit, with a coat draped over it, a stark contrast to the exposed and wantonly dressed man kneeling on the floor.
His gaze inadvertently fell on Xiao Bating, his expression indifferent and unconcerned, like a husband exposing the vile man who had seduced his wife in the shadows to the sunlight.
The girl first looked up and greeted him, then lowered her eyes to tap Xiao Bating’s dark, stiff hair, her touch as light as a lover’s caress.
“Can I go now?”
“Mmm… mmm, let’s go.” He didn’t dare lift his head or his legs, mumbling a jumbled explanation, “I’ll rest here for a bit first, no rush to get up, don’t worry about me.”
No response.
The man looked up—the girl in front of him had already left long ago. Not far away, Chi Yubai was helping her into a coat, pulling her hand into his pocket.
He turned back, quietly bringing the fingers that had touched her soft, pale skin to his nose to sniff, then, as if possessed, slipped them into his mouth.
There was a milky scent.
The crystal cores that grew in the skulls of Zombies were the Base’s universal currency. All supplies were obtained through crystal cores, including housing allocation.
Chi Yubai took on Missions day and night, accumulating a substantial fortune, and finally bought Jiang Yingxiao a newly built two-story villa.
The keycard and phone were both handed to her. The girl fiddled with them curiously, her lips curving into a smile as she looked at him, her little fangs peeking out.
“The Base is amazing, they even give out houses.”
“Yeah.” Chi Yubai didn’t deny it, smiling along with her. “Do you like it?”
Jiang Yingxiao nodded, pulling his hand to invite him inside for a tour.
Even though she clearly liked the house, in his eyes, it seemed as if she liked him by extension. The man’s heart burned with warmth as he tightened his grip on her delicate hand.
The girl pranced around ahead like a little animal exploring its new home, marking her territory in every room, letting out awed “wow” sounds that softened anyone’s heart.
Someone who picks up a stray cat on the street might earn its trust, or at the very least, become the one who provides it with food.
Chi Yubai stood to the side, watching the girl bounce onto the soft, large bed and roll around. He gritted his teeth and closed his eyes.
His brother was already dead. In this world, he was her closest person.
[Ahhh, my baby, like a little kitten who just found a home 【Donation 10 Points】]
[Damn, the officials are being so generous—what’s the idea of sharing my wife’s bed photos for everyone to see? Aren’t you ashamed of invading our privacy like this?]
[Can you not be so creepy? My baby just hasn’t slept in a long time and needs to rest properly in bed… Never mind, my baby sat down.]
The man didn’t stay long, taking a call before hurriedly leaving, leaving Jiang Yingxiao alone curled up on the bed, tossing her phone around.
Though it was called a phone, the signal was extremely weak—it could only make calls and send messages, with barely any offline Games.
Outside, the sky gradually darkened, overcast with no stars in sight.
Electricity was scarce in the Post-apocalyptic world, with only one hour of unified power supply each night. After seven o’clock, people stopped working, and the entire room fell into darkness, making the chaotic cries of Zombies outside particularly noticeable.
The cries grew louder and louder, rising and falling in waves, as if they were tearing at the electric fence, only to be shocked and fall back down, climbing up again in relentless surges.
Listening to the sounds, Jiang Yingxiao couldn’t help but picture the scene in her mind. She buried her head under the covers, curling into a small ball, and quietly lifted a corner of the blanket to peek outside.
The window, which should have been tightly shut, was wide open. At the edge of the curtain fluttering in the wind, two red dots of light slowly approached her from above.
Like upright-walking beasts, their eyes scanning everywhere for prey.
The girl trembled as she lowered the blanket, holding her breath. Quietly, she reached for her phone and sent a message to her only contact.
The other party said they would arrive soon, but she still couldn’t calm down. The blanket covering her feet was violently thrown aside.
“Heh heh heh—”
The beast grew excited, exhaling cold breaths from its mouth as if preparing to feast.
Jiang Yingxiao gritted her teeth, not daring to make a sound, yet her toes involuntarily curled. Then she felt something cold and hard moving over them, followed by the press of a damp, soft object.
It dripped with a sticky fluid, leaving her bed soaked everywhere.