Wu You didn’t take Le Huan’s earlier words seriously. He simply thought she was being childish. Seeing that she seemed a little better, he leaned closer to chat with her.
“Le Huan, can your body still hold up? We’ll be able to get off the car and rest soon. The map shows there’s a village not far ahead. We’ll search for supplies there—maybe we can even find some seeds!”
Le Huan looked at him, not understanding what was so exciting about some lousy seeds. “Did we shake off those things? I don’t want to see those disgusting creatures again.”
“What? Oh, you mean those zombies? We already lost them. They’re not hard to deal with—just too many of them. That’s why we drove away instead,” Wu You said, having already forgotten about the horde.
After hearing that, Le Huan closed her eyes and leaned against Zhao Yan. Her small face was pale, her body trembling slightly.
Only then did Zhao Yan realize—she was afraid of zombies.
Seeing her red eyes and slight trembling, Zhao Yan draped his wide coat over her and awkwardly patted her body.
1066 watched speechlessly as Le Huan pretended to be weak. In truth, once she had woken up and realized she was safe and the zombies were gone, she was no longer afraid. But seeing how much Zhao Yan was indulging her, she felt she could keep pretending.
That damned Zhao Yan—his terrible driving had made her so uncomfortable she fainted. The young lady silently marked it down in her mind. She decided she would make him serve her even more in the future to vent her frustration.
1066 felt she was beyond saving.
…
After a mostly uneventful journey, they finally arrived at the small village. The village didn’t even have a name on the map—just a marker indicating that people had once lived there.
The place was in ruins. Many houses had lost their roofs, looking dilapidated and broken. From a glance, they could see a few skeletal zombies wandering sluggishly.
They entered the village and found a house with a courtyard gate. Although it was still in poor condition, at least it could shield them from wind and rain. The sky was gloomy—it looked like it might rain at any moment.
When they pushed open the door, they saw two zombies inside. The zombies reacted slowly. Xiong Gang went in first, and it took the zombies a while to even turn their heads toward him.
Zhao Yan raised his hand and covered Le Huan’s eyes. “If you’re scared, don’t look.”
Le Huan pulled his hand down and stood beside him, shaking her head. “I’m not that scared anymore.”
Zhao Yan looked at her upon hearing this, feeling relieved that she was becoming stronger. He also hoped her heart would grow stronger—there would be many more zombies along the way, and she would have to get used to it.
Xiong Gang twisted off the zombies’ heads with his bare hands. Seeing that, Le Huan’s face turned pale. “Zhao Yan, you cook for me from now on. I never want to eat food made by Xiong Gang again.”
The egg she had eaten in the car that morning had been cooked by Xiong Gang.
Zhao Yan didn’t mention that he had also twisted off zombie heads before. He simply agreed.
As evening fell, only one room in the house was still usable. The other rooms had cracked walls, and the wind could be felt blowing through even when standing inside. They all gathered in the main hall to light a fire and cook, planning to sleep around it.
The others could sleep like that—but not Le Huan. There was no way she would sit on the ground and lean against a wall to sleep.
She looked at Zhao Yan.
The moment he saw her expression, he knew she was dissatisfied. He got up and went to the inner room to look for bedding, but everything there was unusable—covered in layers of mold.
In a corner, Zhao Yan found a dusty rattan lounge chair. He carried it into the courtyard and carefully wiped it clean with cloth. Once it was no longer dirty, he brought it inside and spread a thick coat over it.
Le Huan lay down comfortably. The chair was a bit narrow, so she couldn’t turn over easily, and it wasn’t as comfortable as a bed. But after sitting in the car all day, her body was stiff, and she was tired. Soon, she drifted into a hazy sleep.
Seeing that she had fallen asleep, the others quieted down and gradually went to sleep as well.
Le Huan woke up from the cold.
It was late summer, and the second half of the night was already chilly. The fire had gone out, making it even colder. She was both sleepy and freezing. Opening her eyes, she scanned her surroundings and saw that Zhao Yan was on night watch.
Zhao Yan noticed her stirring awake, making soft, whining sounds. She looked around before fixing her gaze on him, then stretched out her arms toward him—as if asking for a hug.
Zhao Yan stood up and walked over.
Le Huan wrapped her arms around his neck and burrowed into his chest, mumbling, “…It’s so cold… I woke up from the cold… your body is so warm… I want to sleep with you…”
At her last sentence, Zhao Yan’s temples twitched. “Don’t talk nonsense!” He thought she was delirious from the cold. Glancing around, he saw that his teammates were still asleep.
“Let go. I’ll get you some clothes from the car,” he said softly.
But Le Huan, already drowsy, had no intention of letting go after finding such a warm “heater.” “No, I don’t want to… I’m so sleepy—can you stop talking?”
Her voice grew louder as she spoke.
Zhao Yan almost wanted to cover her mouth. He didn’t want his teammates waking up and giving him meaningful looks.
He knew he had developed some unusual feelings toward Le Huan. But he also knew how unpopular he was with women. Before the apocalypse, people would show disgust at the sight of his scar. Coupled with his taciturn nature and gloomy expression, no one had wanted to approach him.
Le Huan was beautiful and adorable. Even if she had a bit of a temper, there were plenty of people in the apocalypse with strange personalities—someone like her would always be indulged.
He felt he wasn’t worthy of her. He didn’t want her to know about his feelings. If she got angry and her heart acted up again, it would only make things worse for both of them.
So he sat down against the wall, holding her.
Curled up in his arms, Le Huan quickly fell into a deep sleep as soon as she felt the warmth of his chest. He didn’t push her away. After all, she was asleep—no one would see.
He allowed himself to feel her warmth. She was like a fragrant little heater.
He took the coat from the lounge chair and draped it over her. The oversized coat wrapped around her entirely, leaving only her relaxed little face exposed. Leaning against the wall, he closed his eyes and rested.
Wu You opened his eyes—and met three pairs of bright, wide-open eyes.
Wu You: “……”
Wang Ni, Chen Youyu, Xiong Gang: “……”
Wu You exchanged exaggerated glances with them for a long while before grinning mischievously and going back to sleep.
Only Wang Ni remained awake, unable to fall asleep again, his mind sinking into deep thought.