“Are you planning to use me as your experimental material?” Wen Jiuzhe tapped on the tablet.
Xue Ling silently nodded at the side; she had guessed the same.
But no matter what, as long as Wen Jiuzhe was still alive, it was fine. Anyway, zombies couldn’t feel pain—whether needles or skin cutting, this dog thing wouldn’t care at all.
If it really didn’t work… there was still her; she could cooperate too.
Unexpectedly, Wen Yi rejected it.
She said, “I need you to go to a laboratory in Donghai City to retrieve some important equipment and materials.”
Donghai City was one of the cities with the largest population before the apocalypse—every inch of land was worth a fortune. It also had renowned research institutes and biotech companies, and the best universities in the country.
Wen Yi’s teacher, Rong Lanjia, had previously taught there.
But after the apocalypse, Donghai City fell at the fastest speed. Of those who escaped alive from Donghai City back then, less than one-twentieth survived.
When the survivors fled, they blew up the cross-sea bridge. The entire Donghai City became an isolated island—there were no living people inside anymore, only countless zombies.
“I’m currently working with my teacher at the Medical Research Institute of Beizheng Base. The area I mainly participate in is the zombie virus vaccine,” Wen Yi briefly explained her situation.
“At present, we’re lacking many important pieces of equipment, which has greatly slowed down our research progress. The base has formed several special action teams, responsible for going deep into high-risk cities to collect what our experiments require, but Donghai City is simply too dangerous. Both operations failed.”
“So, the first task you need to do is to go to a biological research institute in Donghai City and bring back the target items.”
Xue Ling, who had already prepared herself mentally to become an experimental subject, felt greatly relieved upon hearing this.
Zero-cost looting—she was very familiar with that.
Going into a zombie city to grab things, there was no one more suitable than them.
Wen Jiuzhe was only surprised for a moment before he understood.
“Alright.” He agreed just as straightforwardly.
Xue Ling nodded as well.
But the next second, Wen Yi looked at her and said, “For the first operation, you go to Donghai City alone. She has to stay.”
Xue Ling froze for a moment. Wen Jiuzhe immediately sat upright and jabbed at the tablet in front of him.
“No!”
Wen Yi had expected this. “Just in case. What if you take her and disappear, and don’t cooperate to complete the mission?”
Tsk, that concern made sense too. Xue Ling glanced at Wen Jiuzhe, thinking that he really might do that.
Wen Jiuzhe: “You don’t believe I’ll be honest and keep my word?”
Wen Yi: “Of course I don’t believe you.”
Wen Jiuzhe still refused to agree. “No. She has to go with me.”
Wen Yi: “What you’re saying is, then there’s nothing to talk about?”
Seeing the atmosphere tense up, Xue Ling snatched the tablet from in front of Wen Jiuzhe and decisively ended the topic: “Fine, I’ll stay. He’ll go alone.”
Wen Yi: “Very good, you’re the one who understands reason after all. By the way, your name is Xue Ling, right? I’m very glad you’re willing to cooperate. Then it’s settled.”
Wen Jiuzhe slapped the table and reached to take the tablet from Xue Ling’s hands. Xue Ling didn’t give it to him.
Wen Jiuzhe crossed his arms and turned to face Xue Ling, that kind of dissatisfaction of “why did you agree” already written all over his face.
Wen Jiuzhe took the tablet: “Do you believe that the moment I leave, you’ll immediately be tricked by Wen Yi into the laboratory and cooperate with her experiments.”
Xue Ling widened her eyes, her gaze moving back and forth between the two of them. The person was still sitting right here—how could you badmouth her so loudly right in front of her?
“How could that be? She wouldn’t do that, right?” Xue Ling asked Wen Yi for confirmation.
Wen Yi: “Of course not.”
Xue Ling looked at Wen Jiuzhe again, revealing a clear expression of “see, she said she wouldn’t.”
Wen Jiuzhe: “……”
He typed: “Wen Yi is the best liar. Ruthless and unscrupulous, with even fewer bottom lines than me……”
Xue Ling was quick-eyed and quick-handed and turned off the auto-read function, awkwardly covering the screen as she replied, “Don’t badmouth people to their faces!”
Wen Yi stood up and said indifferently, “You can talk about my bad points as you like. I still have things to do, so I’ll be leaving first.”
“For the next few days you can rest first. Once we return to Beizheng Base, the Donghai City operation will be arranged. You two will both be assigned to a special action team then. Get yourselves ready.”
Wen Yi looked very busy, coming and going in a hurry.
Wen Jiuzhe thought of the Beizheng Base special action team he had heard about a few days ago. He had refused to participate in the assessment back then; he hadn’t expected that now he would join it in another way.
As soon as she left, Xue Ling continued typing on the tablet: “There are many soldiers and weapons outside. Even if we don’t agree, it won’t work, and Wen Yi still wants our help, she won’t hurt me.”
And more importantly, that medicine of Wen Jiuzhe’s—there was no telling whether it would have any aftereffects. It looked fine for now, but if something went wrong, Wen Yi might be needed to deal with it.
Arguing with a “doctor” was the most unwise thing to do.
After Wen Jiuzhe couldn’t speak, for some reason that expression felt even more sarcastic. He didn’t say a word, yet it made people feel like his face was cursing.
He took Xue Ling’s pen and poked and tapped: “You don’t understand Wen Yi. She won’t force you to do anything, but she’s skilled with rhetoric. You might be coaxed by her a bit and then take the initiative to agree to cooperate with her research.”
After so many years in the Wen family, Wen Jiuzhe hated everyone in that household, but the only ones who had ever truly made the young him feel fear—aside from Old Master Wen—was Wen Yi.
Although this half-sister a few years older than him had actually never bullied him the way Wen Xuan and Wen Xiang did, toward him she mostly showed indifference.
A few years ago, when Old Master Wen was gravely ill, while Wen Xuan and Wen Xiang were still worried and anxious about their grandfather’s health and concerned about the division of the family property, only Wen Yi and he, alike, wanted Old Master Wen to die, because she wanted the Taisui in his hands.
They had even cooperated once back then, which made Wen Jiuzhe even more wary of her.
Xue Ling had long grown used to Wen Jiuzhe’s particularly strong protectiveness toward her after their reunion, and she very earnestly promised:
“If you’re worried about this, then I promise I won’t cooperate with any of her research.”
She believed Wen Jiuzhe also understood their situation. If he were asked to cooperate with experiments, Xue Ling knew he would agree, but if it were her, he would absolutely refuse.
Both sides had their concerns, and it was destined that one side had to take a step back. They were currently at a disadvantage; there was no need to force it.
For the first cooperation, the most important thing was to first lay the foundation of trust, before talking about what came after.
Actually, Xue Ling felt that Wen Yi and Wen Jiuzhe were a bit alike—both of them had personalities that absolutely refused to compromise.
Wen Jiuzhe was afraid she would suffer a loss, but Xue Ling thought she was actually quite good at getting along with people with this kind of personality.
Wen Jiuzhe was still very unhappy. Xue Ling didn’t bring this up with him again, instead changing the topic and saying, “Is Wen Yi an official?”
The ones protecting the convoy outside were all soldiers. Xue Ling was a little excited: “Then does that mean we’ve joined a special action team? Does this count as being public servants?”
Wen Jiuzhe: “……”
Now he understood why Xue Ling was so at ease with Wen Yi—after all, she had even thought about taking the civil service exam to secure a position.
Seeing Xue Ling so happy, Wen Jiuzhe didn’t say anything more.
Even though Wen Jiuzhe believed that zombies staying away from humans was safer, he also knew very clearly that Xue Ling yearned to live among people.
Before, when the topic of all zombies dying came up, her first reaction had been: great, once zombies disappear the apocalypse will end.
She always thought from a human perspective, because deep down she saw herself as human.
Xue Ling, after becoming a zombie, was very lonely. She was afraid of becoming an outcast. Back then, when she heard that there were others like her, she would feel happy, even if that “kind” was Wen Xuan, whom she disliked.
But now, the two of them were the real kindred.
At this moment, Wen Jiuzhe truly abandoned the thought of taking Xue Ling away from the crowd.
Wen Yi’s suspicion hadn’t been wrong—just now, he hadn’t planned to honestly go do the mission at all.
Xue Ling pondered for a moment whether she now counted as a public servant, then remembered something else.
She was extremely cautious and didn’t use the tablet, instead taking out her own writing board and writing: “The trouble Wen Yi mentioned happening to the Wen family, does it have anything to do with you?”
Wen Jiuzhe was amused by her guilty, sneaky look. He was the one who did bad things, yet Xue Ling was the one feeling guilty on his behalf.
“Of course it has nothing to do with me.” He replied on the tablet, completely without guilt.
No matter who in the Wen family died, he wasn’t the one who did it, so how could it be related to him?
“You’re so easily guilty, have you never done bad things?” Wen Jiuzhe asked.
Xue Ling felt underestimated: “Of course I’ve done bad things. How could there possibly be someone in this world who’s never done bad things.”
“You’ve actually done bad things? Tell me about it,” Wen Jiuzhe leaned back in his chair and waited.
Xue Ling hesitated for a moment before telling him: “I used to make a wish every year on my birthday that my dad would get cancer sooner.”
Wen Jiuzhe was still waiting. In the end, he realized she had no follow-up and asked doubtfully, “That’s it?”
Seeing he had no reaction, Xue Ling said another one: “Before, someone asked me to help him do his homework. I deliberately scribbled all over it, so he got scolded.”
Wen Jiuzhe stopped her from racking her brains any further: “…That’s enough, you don’t need to say anymore. I feel sorry for you.”
That pitying look and the open arms made Xue Ling feel a wave of mockery.
Xue Ling: “……” Why did she have to be looked down on just for obeying the law and not doing bad things!
She pushed away this body that was no longer as warm as before but still tall and solid, and conveniently unlocked the handcuffs on her own hands.
Wen Jiuzhe moved the handcuffs on his hands and let out a sigh on the tablet: “People only know to cherish after losing. Now that you won’t lose me, your attitude changes completely.”
Xue Ling: “…Why don’t you look for the reasons in yourself?”
When Wen Jiuzhe was about to die, she had truly felt miserable. Wanting to stay with him forever was real—but once he was lively and bouncing around again, he became a bit annoying!
Wen Yi worked and rested in an extended white RV. Generally, if there was nothing important, no one in the convoy would come to disturb her.
But some people simply had no manners. Without invitation, they arrived unannounced, pushing the door open with a slap and swaggering straight into the vehicle.
Wen Yi turned her head to take a look and found that it was Wen Jiuzhe. He had come alone.
“What is it?” Wen Yi turned back and continued reading her materials, asking casually.
Wen Jiuzhe didn’t take the tablet. He opened his mouth and produced a somewhat hoarse voice: “After I leave, don’t touch her. If you want to do research, wait until I come back, then you can, research.”
Wen Yi turned around to look him over, incomprehension in her eyes: “You’ve really changed a lot. Now you’re so obedient, compliant, and willing to sacrifice and contribute—I almost think you’re not the Wen Jiuzhe I knew.”
The Wen Jiuzhe in her memory was like a wolf.
On the first day he was brought to the Wen family, Wen Xiang, egged on by Wen Xuan, pushed him down from upstairs.
He smashed down with his head bleeding, but immediately climbed back up with a vicious expression, wiped the blood from his face and head, and pounced upstairs, pressing his blood-soaked hands onto Wen Xiang’s face, frightening her into screaming.
If not for the servants stopping him quickly, Wen Xiang would almost have been thrown downstairs by him as well.
For the next several years, he maintained that kind of vigilance and coldness, and “never corrected himself”—no matter how many times he was disciplined, he never became obedient.
“Do you know? You look like a dog now,” Wen Yi said.
Wen Jiuzhe tugged at the stiff muscles on his face and “smiled,” baring the ferocious teeth belonging to a zombie: “Dogs bite too.”
The two faced off for a moment before Wen Yi said, “Understood.”
After Wen Jiuzhe left, Wen Yi continued working, but before long, the door was knocked.
“Come in.” There was a trace of impatient coldness in her expression, but when she turned her head, she saw someone unexpected.
Poking her head in from outside the door was Xue Ling.
Compared to Wen Jiuzhe, she was particularly polite. The tablet in her hand emitted a query: “I have some things I’d like to ask. May I ask if you have time right now to talk with me?”
Wen Yi put aside the work that had no clear direction, used her foot to swivel the rolling chair to face her, and said, “Come in.”
