Pei Huaiye massaged his temples in resignation, beginning to wonder if he had just picked up an ancestor to wait on.
“Right, you go to sleep nicely, and the moment you open your eyes tomorrow, you can hug Big Brother…” The moment he said it, Pei Huaiye wanted to slap himself twice. He had sworn not to be soft on women, yet a little dummy had completely broken his resolve.
He hadn’t even had time to exact revenge for the debt of his past life; how could he fall into a bed of comfort once more? Did he want to risk suffering another betrayal?
Ever since his rebirth, he had been entirely focused on preparing for the apocalypse. He had imagined watching with a cold smile as the enemies from his past life crawled miserably at his feet, yet he never expected to pick up such a troublesome burden.
Oddly enough, however, this trouble didn’t annoy him at all.
“Then I’ll listen to Big Brother!” Ning Ran obediently lay down on Pei Huaiye’s bed, pulling the dark gray blanket over herself.
It wasn’t until Pei Huaiye left that she pulled a large apple out from under the covers, crunching down on it happily.
She had swiped it from the living room table during dinner earlier. Now, it was going straight into her belly to keep her company for a long time.
After finishing the apple, she let out a heavy yawn, inhaled the unique scent lingering on the bed, and drifted into a deep sleep.
On the other side, Han Chao had just stepped out of the bathroom after a shower when he opened the door to find his boss sitting right on the edge of his bed. He jumped in fright: “Boss, I sell my art, not my body—don’t even think about forcing me.”
The expression on his face was the picture of a victim.
“Get lost, I’m straight,” Pei Huaiye cursed, lying flat on his back on Han Chao’s bed. A moment later, he sat right back up: “What is this smell on the bed? Why does it smell so foul?”
It didn’t smell as nice as his own bed, and certainly didn’t have the soft, fragrant scent of the little dummy.
“What do you mean, foul? I just changed these sheets this morning!” Han Chao sniffed hard twice before it finally clicked. Pei Huaiye was looking down on him! His face twisted in grievance: “If you think it stinks, go back to your own room. You’ve got a soft, fragrant little beauty in there—you can just take care of everything right now.”
His response was a flying pillow hurled straight at his face.
“I’ll make do in your room for the night. You go bunk with Xu Sui.” Pei Huaiye unceremoniously kicked the man out.
“Boss, this is my room, mine!” Han Chao ranted as he stormed off, cursing a blue streak all the way.
Unfortunately, Pei Huaiye ignored him, pulled the blanket around himself, and closed his eyes to rest. Tossing and turning, his mind was filled with nothing but the softness and fragrance of the little dummy, keeping him awake all night.
As a result, when he woke up the next morning, he felt exceptionally exhausted.
“Boss, are we heading out today?” Han Chao acted as if nothing had happened despite having his room stolen, pushing the door open and walking in.
Pei Huaiye sat in a daze for two minutes before standing up to put on his shirt. “We’re going. I still have unfinished business to take care of.”
He needed to see with his own eyes the people who had caused his tragic death in his past life living lives worse than death.
Perhaps because he hadn’t seen Pei Huaiye look this fierce in a long time, Han Chao was momentarily stunned. In his memory, Pei Huaiye rarely wore such a ruthless expression; whenever it appeared, it meant some poor bastard was about to suffer.
“Brother, hug!” Ning Ran hugged Pei Huaiye’s pillow, sneaked into Han Chao’s room, and before either of the two men could react, threw herself straight into Pei Huaiye’s arms.
The masculine, imposing aura of the man made her feel safe.
“Holy cow… Boss, don’t tell me you and the little dummy were in Han Chao’s room—” Xu Sui stood at the door, his eyes radiating pure gossip.
“Shut up!”
Pei Huaiye and Han Chao’s voices rang out in unison.
“Shut up!” Ning Ran chimed in, mimicking the two of them as she glared at Xu Sui.
“Ha, my fragile little heart can’t take this kind of stimulation…” Xu Sui exaggeratedly clutched his chest and bolted downstairs.
“Um, Boss, I’m heading down first too.” Han Chao shuddered and sprinted to catch up with Xu Sui.
“Little dummy, stand properly!” Pei Huaiye pulled her away by the scruff, taking his time to pull up his pants.
When he looked up, the little dummy was staring intently right at him. Following her line of sight, Pei Huaiye painfully realized that his “little brother” was acting a bit disobedient.
“You are not allowed to stare at a man like that, do you hear me?” His back molars ached.
This little dummy had no concept of anything, completely lacking any awareness of boundaries between men and women. He felt a profound sense of helplessness, like an exhausted father.
Buckling his belt and putting on his jacket, Pei Huaiye took a step forward, only for Ning Ran to launch herself at him again: “Brother, hug!”
“Didn’t you just hug me a minute ago?” He lowered his head to look at the creature clinging to him like a koala, a throbbing pain building at his temples.
He tried to pry her off, only to find that the little dummy possessed an unexpectedly monstrous amount of strength.
Ning Ran buried her face in his chest, her muffled voice coming through: “Just now was just now, now is now. They’re different.”
What kind of twisted logic was that? Pei Huaiye laughed in exasperation, grabbing the back of her neck to pull her back slightly. “Who taught you these things?”
“Brother smells nice, good smell. Other people stink…” Ning Ran blinked her large eyes righteously. All the people she saw on the streets stank terribly and were ugly, too. None of them looked as good as the person in front of her.
Pei Huaiye was temporarily left speechless.
In his past life, he had spent six or seven years scraping by in the apocalypse, granting his girlfriend Shen Shuhe every single wish, never expecting that she would still cruelly set a trap for him and cause him to die a miserable death at the jaws of zombies.
Now that he had been reborn, he needed to track down the enemies of his past life one by one and pay them back in full.
Yet, the little dummy was an unexpected anomaly. This little freeloader was currently clinging to him like a piece of stubborn plaster, impossible to shake off.
“Boss, the car is ready—” Han Chao returned, only to walk in and see the scene in the room. He immediately spun around: “I didn’t see anything!”
“Get back here!” Pei Huaiye barked, stopping him. “Take her away!”
Hearing that, Ning Ran immediately lunged back into his arms, tightening her grip: “No go, no go—”
Pei Huaiye narrowed his eyes, his surrounding aura suddenly turning icy cold: “Let go!”
The tone made even Han Chao shiver, but Ning Ran acted as if she hadn’t heard a thing, wrapping her arms around him even tighter: “Big Brother, take me with you, I’ll be very good!”
Just as Pei Huaiye was about to blow his top, the phone in his pocket vibrated. Order had not yet completely collapsed, so mobile phones could still receive messages and calls.
He pulled it out to take a look; it was a call from Shen Shuhe.
Thinking of everything from his past life, he swiped to answer, and her voice immediately poured through the speaker:
“Huaiye, where are you? I finally got in touch with you. Sob, sob…”
She was crying uncontrollably.
Sniffling, she choked out, “There are monsters everywhere outside, and I didn’t dare go out. There’s no food left at home, what should I do?”
“Isn’t that good buddy of yours, Zhou Xu, with you? What are you afraid of with him around?” Pei Huaiye didn’t even notice that his voice had grown colder.
In their past life, Shen Shuhe and Zhou Xu had gotten together long before the apocalypse. He only had himself to blame for being blind, keeping himself in the dark while treating her with total devotion.
“Zhou Xu? How do you know Zhou Xu is with me? Ah, no, I mean…” Before she could finish, Pei Huaiye hung up the phone, plunging the room back into silence.
He slipped the phone back into his pocket and looked down to see the little dummy staring blankly at him with her mouth half-open.
Han Chao, standing nearby, wore the exact same expression.
“Brother Ye, don’t you usually care about Shen Shuhe no matter what?” Han Chao felt like Pei Huaiye had changed drastically.
Back then, he and the other brothers had warned him that Shen Shuhe wasn’t a stable or decent woman and didn’t deserve him. Now that the boss had finally woken up, Han Chao somehow felt like something still wasn’t right.