“Phew… I am absolutely dead tired.”
The moment she stepped inside the apartment, Mu Li collapsed limp onto the bed, utterly refusing to move another inch.
Today was way too chaotic.
First was her unexpected reunion with Yue Suran, followed immediately by Ye Liangfeng getting wounded by a zombie. Then came their perilous quest to fetch steak for him, which ended in a hair-raising narrow escape back to the apartment.
Yes, in her heart, Mu Li already considered this place her home.
She felt today had been the single most adrenaline-fueled day of her entire life. Now that the tension had finally drained away, all she wanted was to sleep.
Lost in her thoughts, Mu Li drifted off to sleep almost instantaneously.
The absurd speed at which Mu Li fell asleep nearly scared Yue Suran half to death. Thankfully, after double-checking, Yue Suran confirmed her friend was merely fast asleep. Otherwise, she might have actually carried Mu Li straight over to Ye Liangfeng’s room.
Looking at Mu Li sleeping so peacefully, Yue Suran desperately wanted to crash into bed as well. But she still had a steak to cook for Ye Liangfeng.
It had been nearly four or five hours since he was scratched. She had no idea if he could even hold out until tomorrow.
Summoning the last of her energy, Yue Suran unpacked the steak and red wine she had brought back from the restaurant.
Fortunately, the steakhouse had been equipped with a backup generator. Even after the power grid failed, the freezers had continued running for a while, preserving the meat’s freshness.
As a certified max-level homebody, Yue Suran’s culinary skills were undeniably impressive. Armed with her blowtorch, she quickly seared several cuts of steak to a perfect medium-well. After setting aside portions for herself and Mu Li, she gathered the rest along with the wine and headed over to check on Ye Liangfeng with a heavy heart.
Over those same four or five hours, Ye Liangfeng had suffered through sheer agony.
His body felt racked by alternating waves of scorching heat and bone-chilling cold—an excruciatingly uncomfortable sensation.
He had just managed to regain a sliver of composure when a knock sounded at the door. He didn’t need to guess to know who it was. Forcing his weak, unsteady body up, he dragged himself over to unlock the door.
“Why did you take so long? I was starting to think you had passed away!”
Yue Suran was genuinely on the verge of turning around to swap the steak and wine for her trusty baseball bat. But just as she was about to turn back, the door swung open.
“You…”
Looking at the freshly cooked steak and bottle of wine in Yue Suran’s hands, Ye Liangfeng was hit by a tangle of unnamable emotions.
He had only mentioned it offhandedly earlier; he never actually expected her to go out and fetch them. It wasn’t hard to imagine the dangerous ordeal she must have faced just to bring this meal to his doorstep.
“I scavenged these from the steakhouse. But since the power grid is down everywhere, the texture might not be at its absolute best. You’ll have to make do, Boss.”
Yue Suran glanced into the room and noticed that the elderly couple’s bodies—which had previously been lying near the entryway—had been carefully moved to the side by Ye Liangfeng, thoughtfully covered with a bedsheet.
A fresh wave of regret washed over her. Ye Liangfeng was so naturally suited to surviving this apocalypse; if only he hadn’t been infected, how great would that have been? She could have happily carried on leaning on his formidable shoulders.
“Come on in. I haven’t died yet—sorry to disappoint you.”
Hearing that she had made a special trip to the steakhouse just for him, Ye Liangfeng felt a sudden pang in his chest. It was sour, bittersweet, and entirely unfamiliar.
“Boss, I really don’t want to smash your head. Can you please just… not die?”
Yue Suran blinked rapidly, trying her hardest to keep her tears from spilling over. She truly didn’t want Ye Liangfeng to die.
“I’ll try my best.”
Ye Liangfeng’s gaze lingered on her teary-eyed face for a beat before he reached out to take the plate of steak and the wine bottle.
“Want to join me?”
“Can I?”
Yue Suran wanted nothing more than to stay and keep him company, wanting to ensure he wouldn’t feel lonely during what might be the final hours of his life.
“Yeah. I can’t finish all this by myself anyway. Don’t let it go to waste.”
Ye Liangfeng was still wrestling with the fluctuating temperature inside his body and had virtually zero appetite. Yet, not wanting to squander Yue Suran’s heartfelt efforts, he forced himself to eat a piece.
Watching the beads of sweat pouring down Ye Liangfeng’s forehead, Yue Suran lost what little appetite she had left.
Xiao-Ou had just informed her that Ye Liangfeng’s body was actively fighting off the zombie virus. At this rate, he would likely succumb and mutate into a zombie in less than twenty-four hours.
Hearing that grim news, how could she possibly swallow another bite?
“Boss, can we make a promise?”
“Name it.”
Ye Liangfeng’s breathing was uneven and strained. He was nearly being driven out of his mind by the agonizing cycles of extreme cold and scorching heat racking his core. To keep Yue Suran from worrying, he forced himself to act completely unbothered. Yet no matter how hard he tried to conceal it, his condition looked far from normal.
“If—and I’m only saying if—you don’t turn into a zombie tomorrow, will you stay here with us?”
Yue Suran’s logic was simple. Ye Liangfeng was so sharp and capable that if he pulled through tomorrow, he would almost certainly awaken a super-powered ability. With him around, she and Mu Li would have an extra layer of safety in this dangerous world.
“Sure.”
Ye Liangfeng had assumed she was going to ask for something far more difficult. If he managed to survive this, he certainly wouldn’t leave in the short term. However, he still had family elsewhere, and if the opportunity ever arose, he intended to head back to check on them and reunite.
“However, my family is located in City Y. In the future, I’ll likely need to travel back to find them.”
“That’s totally fine! I can go with you—assuming I’m still alive by then, that is.”
Yue Suran knew a fair bit about Ye Liangfeng’s background. The Ye family had served in the military for generations, yet Ye Liangfeng had chosen the path of commerce instead. None of his family members supported his choice, which eventually sparked a rift so bitter that he relocated far away from City Y to build his career here.
“As long as I’m breathing, I won’t let anything happen to you.”
Ye Liangfeng was burning up all over, his vision growing increasingly hazy. Saying those few words had sapped every last drop of his remaining energy. If Yue Suran stayed here any longer, he couldn’t guarantee he wouldn’t suddenly mutate right in front of her.
Having been gently shown the door, Yue Suran cast one last reluctant look at Ye Liangfeng, who was already curling into a tight ball from the agony before she even stepped out.
She could only pray silently in her heart, hoping that the person she saw tomorrow would be human Ye Liangfeng, not zombie Ye Liangfeng.
After that intense encounter, Yue Suran returned to her own rental unit with all trace of sleepiness completely gone.
“Host, do you want to check out the system interface first?”
Xiao-Ou had been holding back its excitement for a long time. Now that Yue Suran finally had a moment of peace, it eagerly urged her to initiate the system upgrade.
“Yeah, let’s take a look.”
Had Xiao-Ou not brought it up, she would have forgotten all about it amidst the chaos.
“Does Host want to upgrade the system first, or draw your new super-powered ability first? Friendly reminder: this system upgrade will take twenty-four full hours!”
Xiao-Ou was dying to see what the system would look like once upgraded.
“Let’s upgrade first.”
Lacking the mood to roll for a new ability right now, Yue Suran tapped the upgrade button on the floating interface.
“Is the Host worried about Ye Liangfeng?”
Seeing her listless state, Xiao-Ou couldn’t help feeling a bit curious.
“Who knows… How come you’re a system, yet you’re even more gossip-crazy than a human?”
Yue Suran chatted mindlessly with Xiao-Ou inside her head. Normally, aside from work matters, she and Ye Liangfeng rarely interacted. Strictly speaking, today was the very first day they had actually gotten to know each other.
“Fine then~ Host should get some rest early. Good quality sleep is super important—make sure you don’t stay up late and oversleep again!”
Xiao-Ou still clearly remembered how she had squandered two full days sleeping off an all-nighter. Although she had completed her first objective, this was merely the beginning. The tasks ahead were bound to become increasingly difficult.