The sun was blazing, the street steaming with a strange stench mixed from gasoline, dust, and rubber.
Xue Ling lay prone in a pile of zombies whose heads had been blown apart. These zombie compatriots, with no regard for hygiene, carried a stench that drilled straight into her nose.
But she did not move at all, as if she were really dead.
Compared to the fear of her life being threatened, the emotion Xue Ling felt more strongly right now was embarrassment.
At an unexpected time and place, she had run headlong into the ex-boyfriend she hadn’t seen for three years… she really wanted to escape!
Just now, in a split second, she hadn’t had time to think. She instinctively dropped to the ground and played dead, simply because she didn’t want to face him.
There’s a saying that goes: when you’re at your most down-and-out, the person you least want to run into is your ex-boyfriend.
Back when she broke up with that damned dog of a man, she’d wanted nothing more than to chop him up and dip him in sauce to eat.
She had imagined that one day she would turn things around—she’d become a rich woman, while Wen Jiuzhe would be reduced to working as a gigolo.
She wouldn’t even recognize him.
Who would have thought that reality would differ so drastically from her past imaginings.
Right now, she was disheveled, lying in a heap of zombies like a piece of trash, while Wen Jiuzhe, looking perfectly presentable, sat in the car killing zombies—he probably hadn’t even recognized her.
Maybe if she’d been a second slower in dropping down just now, she’d already have been shot dead by Wen Jiuzhe with a single bullet.
Xue Ling was furious and flustered, restless and miserable, only praying that Wen Jiuzhe truly hadn’t recognized her.
Praying that they would hurry and leave this street, so she could take advantage of the moment when this group cleared away the zombie corpses and quietly slip off.
She would change locations and never come back here again.
In the brief moment of chaos in her mind, the convoy had already drawn close. Xue Ling heard someone shout in a surprised tone, “Cousin, what are you doing?”
Then there was a burst of footsteps, coming straight toward her.
Xue Ling: “……”
She really didn’t want to admit that she could tell these footsteps belonged to that dog Wen Jiuzhe.
The footsteps drew nearer and nearer, stopping right beside her.
He was silent for quite a while, as if staring at her.
Why? Did she look familiar to him? Had he recognized her?
Xue Ling lay face-down there, feeling her whole body grow even stiffer from nervousness.
Dead for so long, a zombie for three years already, her breathing and heartbeat should long since have vanished, yet at this moment Xue Ling still felt as though her heart were violently pounding.
A hand suddenly touched the back of her head.
Wen Jiuzhe’s palm was very broad, his fingers long; with one hand he could cover the back of her head.
That hand fiddled through her messy hair, and Xue Ling’s fingers twitched unnaturally, as if shocked by electricity.
The man squatted beside her and was silent for another moment, then seemed to laugh to himself and say, “I didn’t even hit you. Why did you fall?”
Xue Ling slowly blinked once, thankful that zombies didn’t have tears.
She didn’t know why, but the moment she suddenly heard this guy’s voice, she wanted to cry so badly.
She suddenly burst up, like a truly irrational zombie, opening her mouth to bite the man beside her.
Whenever zombies attack people, they are ferocious and terrifying, and Xue Ling was no exception.
She did take care of herself—unlike other irrational compatriots who let themselves be battered by wind and sun, she usually didn’t squeeze around filthy places, and would occasionally stand in the rain to wash herself—but that only made her look a little better, not as ugly as other zombies when they died.
Her skin, like other zombies’, was faintly bluish and stiff, her eyes veiled in a dim crimson haze, and her mouth held a zombie’s sharp fangs.
I must look terrifying like this, Xue Ling thought.
She lunged at Wen Jiuzhe, thinking that if he saw her like this, it would be better if he just killed her.
“Ah! Cousin!”
“Oh my god, Brother Wen, be careful!”
Seeing the zombie suddenly spring up to attack, several people behind let out shrill screams.
Xue Ling felt that she was probably going to die here today, but before dying she absolutely had to scare Wen Jiuzhe into panic, scrambling all over the ground!
That way she could close her eyes without regret.
A zombie’s eyesight wasn’t actually very good. On top of that, her emotions were surging and her vision was blurry. Halfway through baring her fangs and claws, her wrist was suddenly grabbed.
Then the world spun before her eyes. Before she could react to what was happening, her arms were wrenched behind her back and firmly pinned.
Wen Jiuzhe was very strong, and his palm was shockingly warm. Xue Ling couldn’t break free. She considered for a moment whether she should try to twist her head around to bite the person behind her, then gave it up.
Not worth the pointless effort.
After the initial embarrassment passed, she decided to go all in, her state of mind ascending.
She was a zombie now. Zombies knew nothing! If they had the guts, they could just kill her!
Seeing Wen Jiuzhe restrain the zombie that had launched the sudden attack, Dai Ying hugged his silenced gun and jogged over from the car, still shaken as he said, “Cousin, what’s going on?”
They’d been killing zombies just fine from the car earlier, when he suddenly said nothing and jumped down from the roof.
He casually tossed the silenced gun in his hand out the car window to him and headed straight for the zombie pile.
“That just scared me to death. Cousin, did you not react in time…”
As Dai Ying spoke, he suddenly realized something himself, glancing at the zombie his cousin was holding, then at his cousin’s expression.
“Cousin, is this zombie… someone you know?”
Otherwise, whenever they ran into zombies before, his cousin would deal with them without a word. How could he just restrain it like this without making a move?
The short blade at his waist that could slice open a zombie’s neck was still there, yet there wasn’t the slightest sign of it being drawn.
“Mm.” Wen Jiuzhe simply dragged Xue Ling back to the convoy like this.
Everyone else in the convoy was watching them, and the leader, Brother Mi, also looked as though he wanted to speak but stopped.
Dai Ying noticed everyone’s gazes and wanted to say a few words to persuade them, but seeing his cousin’s calm expression, he didn’t dare open his mouth.
“Don’t stand there. Go drive,” Wen Jiuzhe said.
He pulled open the car door and threw Xue Ling inside, then got in himself. Seeing this, Dai Ying hurriedly pulled open the driver’s door and continued driving.
This car belonged to Wen Jiuzhe. Normally, Dai Ying was responsible for driving, while he would sit in the back with his arms folded to rest, or sit on the roof to clear out zombies.
With a zombie in the car, any normal person would be nervous. And his cousin looked normal yet very abnormal at the same time. Dai Ying drove absentmindedly, glancing back frequently.
Xue Ling hadn’t expected things to develop like this. Remembering her zombie identity, she halfheartedly roared twice inside the car. Just as she started struggling, she was pressed down again.
Wen Jiuzhe pinned both her arms behind her back with one hand, and with the other put on a leather glove and covered her open mouth, pressing her down to sit on his lap.
Her entire body sank into his embrace, her back pressed tightly against his chest. Xue Ling instantly forgot even how to act the part of a rebellious zombie.
Ah… you? Me? This?
Wen Jiuzhe was always very warm. Xue Ling felt the palm covering her face was so hot it was unbearable. She twisted her head trying to break free, only to be grabbed more firmly and pressed back.
She felt his head tilt forward with the movement, coming to rest against her neck, forming an intimate, complete embrace.
He leaned against her shoulder and softly let out a long breath—was it a sigh?
This kind of embrace used to be common, but they had already broken up. And more importantly, she was a zombie now!
She. Was. A. Zombie!
Her ex-boyfriend being abnormal was even more terrifying than a zombie. After not seeing him for years, had this guy gone crazy?
But thinking about it carefully, Wen Jiuzhe had never really been that normal to begin with.
She was being steamed by the heat from his body and really wanted to move away, when she suddenly noticed a dog’s head poking out from the passenger seat.
The golden retriever sitting in the passenger seat, just like its owner, was staring at the two people in the back seat.
The expression on Dai Ying’s face in the driver’s seat looked like the sky was falling apart, terror mixed with awkwardness, as if he were acting out Xue Ling herself.
The big dog was different. Its dark, moist eyes looked at Xue Ling, tongue slightly sticking out, completely unfazed by the scene before it.
Only then did Dai Ying remember that his dog was also in the car. Puff was very smart—when encountering zombies, it would give a warning bark. It had protected him during zombie attacks before, a brave big dog that wasn’t afraid of zombies.
Dai Ying was just about to speak to soothe Puff, to stop it from barking at the zombie in the car.
But Puff stared at the two people in the back seat for a while, then only barked twice. This wasn’t the hostile barking it usually made when seeing zombies.
And its big tail was still sweeping back and forth over the seat like a feather duster.
This was the kind of reaction it had when seeing someone familiar.
Puff’s behavior reminded Dai Ying. Dai Ying suddenly remembered something and looked more closely at the zombie in the back seat who was being held immobile by his cousin.
This one seemed to be his cousin’s former girlfriend!
It had been many years ago. He had only been fourteen or fifteen back then and didn’t remember very clearly.
It was during the time when his cousin was attending university near his home and often came by to help him walk the dog. His cousin had said his girlfriend really liked dogs and wanted to bring Puff along to play with her.
That girlfriend of his cousin’s—he had only seen her twice… it was her, wasn’t it!
He remembered that this older sister seemed to be a local from Yu City like him. How had she ended up coming all the way to Anxi City?
Xue Ling in the back seat didn’t notice her little cousin’s expression. The moment she saw that golden retriever head appear, she instinctively leaned back.
It’s a dog! A very familiar dog!
She remembered this dog, because it had chased her for half a month, scaring her into running for her life every day and leaving her with some psychological trauma.
That was probably four years ago.
Not long after she and Wen Jiuzhe confirmed their relationship, she didn’t remember what had made her want to exercise, but one night she invited Wen Jiuzhe to go night running.
But exercise was even harder to stick with than studying. She hadn’t even run a full street before she was panting and saying she couldn’t go on. The next day she wanted to give up, dawdling and refusing to go out.
Wen Jiuzhe had smiled then and said he’d think of a way, coaxing her out the door.
They hadn’t run for long on the street when a golden retriever suddenly ran out from who knew where, barking fiercely at her.
Xue Ling hadn’t really been afraid of dogs before, but with such a big dog charging at her and barking nonstop, her first reaction was to run.
She ran in front, the dog chased behind. She screamed for Wen Jiuzhe in fright. Wen Jiuzhe smiled and ran ahead of her, sometimes even running backward, with no intention of helping her at all.
He only occasionally reminded her, “The dog’s about to catch up—it’s going to bite your butt!”
She could only curse at him while running for her life, bursting out with astonishing willpower under the dog’s pursuit.
When they got home exhausted and half-dead, Wen Jiuzhe caught her fist and comforted her, saying that running into such a fierce big dog had been an accident, and that they’d change routes and jog slowly tomorrow.
Then, on another road, they once again ran into the fierce golden retriever.
The moment it made eye contact with her, the big golden retriever started chasing her.
After half a month of days spent being chased by a dog from time to time, Xue Ling finally discovered that the big dog belonged to Wen Jiuzhe’s cousin. Every night, he’d bring the dog out to chase her.
The acting had been really good—both the man and the dog. They’d played it quite convincingly. If she hadn’t run into the guy leading the golden retriever and feeding it, praising it for doing a good job, Xue Ling would still have been kept in the dark.
After so much time had passed, thinking back on it still made Xue Ling’s teeth itch and her hands itch, wanting to throw a punch at Wen Jiuzhe’s smiling face.
Are you even human? Huh? Are you human?!
No smiling man is a good thing!
Xue Ling squeezed backward with a twisted expression. Wen Jiuzhe, holding her, suddenly laughed softly.
“Now that you’ve turned into a zombie, are you still afraid?”
