Xue Ling was chased off the vehicle by Wen Yi, and for the entire day she was not allowed to get back on again.
Wen Jiuzhe draped an arm over Xue Ling’s shoulder, pressing his heavy, stiff body down on her shoulder, letting out a string of haha sounds through the tablet, and telling her:
“It’s useless, wanting to get on good terms with Wen Yi is impossible. She’s very hard to please, and she doesn’t like making friends.”
Xue Ling actually wasn’t trying to befriend Wen Yi. She just felt that being around Wen Yi was relatively relaxing.
Although Wen Yi liked to use rhetoric to persuade her to participate in experiments, at the same time she completely treated her as a normal person.
The other people in the camp, when they saw them, wouldn’t scream and run away, but they would subconsciously keep their distance.
Quite a few people, the moment their eyes met theirs, would immediately look away in fear, not daring to look at their faces for long.
If Xue Ling accidentally got too close to them, they would also show startled expressions, their bodies tensing as they avoided her.
Even researchers who were willing to talk to them had a sense of curiosity in their eyes.
Mixed in among the crowd, Xue Ling still felt like she was a monkey or an alien.
Xue Ling wanted to interact and chat with people normally—she could chat with Wen Jiuzhe too, but sometimes she felt he was a bit annoying and didn’t really want to deal with his trouble-seeking over nothing.
And there were some things that were not easy to say to Wen Jiuzhe. Wen Yi was a very good person to confide in.
Xue Ling noticed that as long as Wen Jiuzhe was not present, Wen Yi was still willing, most of the time, to chat with her a bit more.
Holding the newly obtained tablet, Xue Ling typed: “She’s so busy, she only eats one meal a day.”
If she could eat for her instead, that would be great. She wanted to eat.
Wen Jiuzhe held the old tablet and gossiped with her about Wen Yi’s bad points: “Do you believe it? Wen Yi must really envy zombies for not needing to eat. She was extremely picky even before.”
Wen Yi opened the car window, her face appearing above their heads: “If you’re chatting, chat after you go back. Don’t do it by my car window.”
After saying that, she snapped the window shut again.
The experiments here were completed, and they quickly set off to prepare to return to the base.
They began dismantling the tents and packing up the equipment. Everyone had something to do, except Xue Ling and Wen Jiuzhe.
Wen Yi wanted to temporarily arrange for the two of them to be placed in Zeng Yitong’s medical vehicle, but Wen Jiuzhe disagreed. He insisted on driving his own car to follow the convoy.
Wen Yi was very busy and didn’t want to argue with him over such a small matter, so she let him do as he pleased.
The convoy set off. At the front were large vehicles responsible for clearing the way; if they encountered damaged road surfaces, they could quickly get out of the vehicles to deal with them.
Wen Yi’s RV, the medical vehicle, and the vehicles of some other core researchers were positioned in the middle of the convoy, escorted front and back by military-green armed vehicles.
Wen Jiuzhe’s weather-beaten car was also mixed in among them, and everyone who passed by their car when they set off would take an extra look.
This convoy looked extremely official, bristling with force. Traveling on the road, it was even more intimidating than the previous convoy; even ordinary zombie hordes could not form an impact on them and would be dealt with up ahead.
They arrived at the Beizheng Base faster and more smoothly than expected.
Behind the sign that read Beizheng Base were wheat fields divided into countless squares by layers of fencing, endless green waves of wheat rising and falling.
The vehicles drove into this green sea along the wide main road in the middle.
After driving in for a long time, they finally saw the towering city walls and power grid of the Beizheng Base.
The city walls stretched far into the distance. Looking out from the car window, Xue Ling could only see the high-rise buildings rising behind the walls, carrying the air of a former major city.
Just three years, and an entirely new city had been built here.
What was it like inside? She craned her neck to look out, only to see that the convoy did not enter through the base gates, but instead drove left along the long, towering city wall.
They passed the wheat fields, passed a vast expanse of solar installations, passed a complex network of roads leading who knows where, and finally entered a heavily guarded complex of buildings.
The walls here were even higher than those of the large base they had just passed. Inside, however, there were no very tall buildings, most of them no more than five stories high.
Each area was separated by walls, and every checkpoint was guarded.
After the convoy entered, it went through several rounds of verification before slowly driving into the interior.
From the window, Xue Ling’s gaze met a row of soldiers on guard duty. They held their guns, staring straight ahead without shifting their eyes.
Xue Ling thought to herself, they really are well trained.
Only one relatively young soldier couldn’t quite hold it in. When he saw her, his eyes widened slightly and his mouth parted a little, before a comrade beside him quietly jabbed him with an elbow, making him hurriedly close his mouth.
But Xue Ling had already seen the look of shock in his eyes—about a “zombie driving.”
The solemn, serious atmosphere inside the base made Xue Ling unconsciously tense as well.
The vehicle stopped in the parking lot of a cluster of small white buildings. Wen Yi came over and said, “You two go wait in the medical vehicle for now. I’ll come over later to make arrangements.”
She needed to go see her teacher first, to settle their status before anything else.
Inside the medical vehicle, Zeng Yitong was still tied to the restraint bed, and Wen Yi’s junior sister, Xu Zhihua, sat beside him organizing data.
She was a quiet girl, and somewhat awkwardly invited the two of them to sit off to one side.
Wen Jiuzhe tapped on the tablet: “They even arranged someone to keep watch over us. They’re afraid we’ll run around.”
Xue Ling immediately reached out and turned off his automatic reading function, then quickly typed a sentence: “It can also be seen as a form of protection.”
Xu Zhihua awkwardly interjected into the conversation: “Senior Sister Wen is also thinking about your safety.”
“This is an affiliated base of Beizheng Base. Everyone inside is an important researcher. The level of confidentiality is very high, and the security level is also high.”
“Senior Sister Wen’s teacher, Academician Rong Lanjia, is the director of the Medical Research Institute, but there are also several vice directors under her. Everyone belongs to different factions, and there is actually competition among them.”
“Your situation is too special. Senior Sister Wen needs to report to Academician Rong first and complete the formal procedures before she can ensure your safety in this base.”
Otherwise, there would be too much room for maneuver, and they might be forcibly required to cooperate with experiments.
Wen Yi went to her teacher’s office at the first opportunity and told her about Xue Ling and Wen Jiuzhe.
“My suggestion is to not treat them as experimental subjects for now. Their zombie identities are of great help to us for deep-city search missions.”
“I know Wen Jiuzhe’s abilities. With him around, we can restart several tasks that were previously impossible to complete.”
Rong Lanjia was already quite old, with a head of gray-white short hair and glasses. Behind the lenses, her eyes always appeared wise and gentle.
She listened carefully to her student’s account and set down the application form in her hand.
“I understand everything you’ve said. It does sound very helpful to us. But are they really controllable? Most importantly, can you guarantee this? As their guarantor, if anything goes wrong with them, you will also have to bear joint responsibility.”
“Teacher, if it were only Wen Jiuzhe, I wouldn’t choose to cooperate with him, and I wouldn’t feel at ease entrusting important tasks to him. But after observation, I believe that with Xue Ling present, he is controllable.”
“I trust my own judgment, and I can also take responsibility for my decision.”
༚༅༚˳ . . ˳༚༅༚
When Wen Yi came to the medical vehicle again, she brought Xue Ling and Wen Jiuzhe their identity badges, along with new clothes.
Wen Jiuzhe’s was military-green clothing similar to what the soldiers wore, while Xue Ling’s looked more like what researchers such as Wen Yi wore.
Wen Jiuzhe didn’t feel much about it, but Xue Ling was very excited. She held the uniform and identity badge she had been assigned and examined them back and forth.
“Being issued work clothes means you’re about to start working, and you’re still this happy—aren’t you stupid?” Wen Jiuzhe’s electronic female voice enunciated clearly.
What Xue Ling was happy about was: “We successfully joined the organization, and there was no exam!”
You had to know, on the way here, she had even secretly crammed some civil service exam materials in an emergency.
No interview, no exam—pure delight.
Wen Yi led them to the rooms assigned for them to rest in, a quiet small white building. Wen Yi herself also lived there.
The rooms were small single rooms, not very spacious. Xue Ling’s room and Wen Jiuzhe’s room were adjacent.
“We’re living separately?” Wen Jiuzhe was dissatisfied.
Xue Ling felt that living separately was fine—after all, it was just next door.
She looked innocent, and Wen Jiuzhe turned to Wen Yi again: “You arranged for us to live separately?”
“You can discuss the accommodation yourselves. I don’t care.”
Because she was speechless, Wen Yi’s expression was particularly cold: “I’ll just remind you of one thing—don’t attack people inside the base. Otherwise, if you’re caught and dragged into the lab to forcibly cooperate with experiments, don’t blame me for not being able to save you.”
“And also, I’m going to rest. Whether you argue or fight outside the door, keep it down. The walls here aren’t soundproof.”
She went into her own room.
Wen Jiuzhe grabbed Xue Ling’s door and stood off against her.
Xue Ling held up the tablet to indicate: “I’m going to shower. Get out.”
Wen Jiuzhe: “It’s not like I haven’t seen it. I even helped you bathe before.”
Xue Ling: “You go shower in your own room too.”
Wen Jiuzhe: “We’re both zombies, we don’t even sweat, and you still need to shower?”
Xue Ling: “If you don’t shower, you can’t lie down with me.”
She forcibly shoved him out and closed the door, then carried her bag as she walked around the room once before entering the bathroom.
After locking the door, she first examined her face in the mirror from left to right, then took off her clothes and carefully checked her body.
Next, she took a soft measuring tape out of her bag, measured the data of her hands, legs, waist, and other parts, and recorded them.
The figure reflected in the mirror was a bit thinner than it had been in winter.
Over the course of this year, her changes were even greater than those of the previous two or three years.
She had noticed it but hadn’t found the reason. It wasn’t until she heard what Wen Yi had told her privately last time that she understood why.
Before this, she hadn’t bitten any living people. Taisui had been stabilizing her condition, making her look a little better than ordinary zombies.
After reuniting with Wen Jiuzhe, she had bitten people several times. The virus inside her body multiplied and strengthened, the balance was broken, and Taisui’s medicinal effect conflicted with the virus, beginning to consume her violently.
Wen Yi said that in the future, she would atrophy.
Atrophy into what? Turn into a shriveled mushroom?
Xue Ling imagined it as she stepped under the shower to bathe.
Actually, no matter how a zombie washed, it was about the same, but she still carefully washed her hair with shampoo, used conditioner, then used body wash to clean every part of her body.
She changed into the new uniform, making sure every corner of the clothing was worn neatly. Finally, she dried her hair and tied it up tidily with a hair tie.
She took out the tablet Wen Jiuzhe had found for her, took a photo of herself as a keepsake, and didn’t forget to make a V sign.
After tidying up, she opened the door and looked outside, and as expected, saw Wen Jiuzhe leaning against her door.
His hair was still wet, and he had changed into the military-green uniform. He was a bit too handsome. If there were a zombie beauty pageant, he could take the crown.
The moment the door opened, he walked in and sat down on the only chair in the room.
“You took too long showering. Was it inconvenient?” he asked.
Xue Ling shook her head. She sat in front of Wen Jiuzhe and tapped on the tablet, from which came a sentence: “Wen Jiuzhe, you can’t bite people, understand?”
Wen Jiuzhe’s first reaction was: “Why are you listening to Wen Yi so much, even repeating it for her?”
Xue Ling put on a straight face and said seriously, “You promise me—absolutely no biting people.”
“Got it,” Wen Jiuzhe agreed casually. “Don’t worry, I won’t cause trouble in this base.”
Xue Ling: “You can’t bite people outside either.”
Wen Jiuzhe: “Do I really look like I like biting people that much? Which of the two of us is the one who actually bites people?”
Xue Ling: “…I’ve decided to cultivate self-restraint and never bite people again.”
Wen Jiuzhe gave her a thumbs-up.
Xue Ling raised her hand and punched him once.
Wen Jiuzhe was baffled: “Why did you hit me again?”
Xue Ling: “You’re mocking me.”
Wen Jiuzhe: “I was encouraging you.”
Xue Ling: “Then I feel uncomfortable and want to hit you.”
Wen Jiuzhe: “I don’t mind, but I’m already hard—doesn’t it hurt when you hit me?”
Xue Ling proved with action that it didn’t hurt either, and thumped him three more times.
From next door came Wen Yi’s cold voice: “Turn the automatic reading volume down a bit. And if you’re going to hit someone, go to the playground downstairs and hit hard.”
