While everyone else was celebrating, Wen Jiuzhe couldn’t be happy, because Xue Ling’s condition had worsened.
On the day it happened, the two of them went with a small team to a certain farm to look for food.
A group of more than two hundred, nearly three hundred people, consumed a considerable amount of food every day.
They had heard that the farm had a granary with stored grain. As long as it had been preserved properly, rice, wheat, and the like could still be eaten even after being stored for several years, so they specifically drove for an entire day to get there.
They found the granary and discovered that there really was well-preserved grain inside. Just as everyone was happily loading it onto the vehicles, Xue Ling suddenly collapsed.
One moment earlier, she had still been counting out some dry goods that could be stored for a long time, telling Wen Jiuzhe to go with her to look around in other places, her whole body overflowing with the joy of a good harvest.
The next moment, she pitched forward and fell.
Wen Jiuzhe thought she had simply tripped by accident. He lowered his head and fiddled with the tablet, wanting to mock her a bit, but after taking two steps toward her, he discovered that Xue Ling was lying there, completely motionless.
He immediately had a certain ominous premonition, tossed the tablet aside, and rushed forward to pull her up.
Xue Ling’s eyes were open, but her body wouldn’t move.
Wen Jiuzhe supported her and helped her sit to the side, kneading her hands and legs, and the words “What’s wrong” slipped out of his mouth.
Xue Ling only turned her eyes in panic, listening to his hoarse voice as he said, “Can’t move?”
“Move a bit, here, your fingers.”
When she had just realized that she suddenly couldn’t move, Xue Ling had also panicked a little. Following his instructions, she tried hard to move her fingers.
She was thinking of moving her fingers, but her body wouldn’t obey her, and one arm swiped slightly.
The incident happened so suddenly. It was only after a long while that Xue Ling gradually regained sensation in her body and stiffly stood up.
This was her first “malfunction.”
From that day on, this kind of situation occurred several more times in succession.
Wen Yi gave her an examination. It was still the same problem: the special Taisui substance that had broken the balance was fighting with the zombie virus. If this continued, she would probably be drained dry.
“The new drug you’re researching, can’t you give it to her?” Wen Jiuzhe asked. “Didn’t you say the RE virus restrains the zombie virus?”
If it weren’t for Xue Ling’s sake, Wen Yi wouldn’t even bother explaining it to him.
“It’s not that simple, not just a matter of who restrains whom. Xue Ling is a one-of-a-kind special case. She’s not an ordinary zombie. If you use it on her, no one can be sure what kind of result it will produce.”
“If it’s a bad result, can you accept that?”
Wen Jiuzhe couldn’t accept it. He carried Xue Ling and left.
Fortunately, a day later, Xue Ling could walk again, and she deliberately went over to Wen Yi to let her take another look.
“It felt like suddenly having a stroke and becoming paralyzed, only my eyes could move.” When Xue Ling mentioned the malfunction experience, there was a little bit of relief in her tone. “Luckily there was no loss of bladder or bowel control.”
Wen Yi: “Your mentality is actually pretty good.”
Xue Ling: “…My body is already in bad shape. If my mentality gets bad too, that would really be terrible.”
Wen Yi: “Wen Jiuzhe’s mentality isn’t as good as yours.”
Xue Ling: “That’s not exactly it. If I were alone right now, I’d definitely be very panicked, but he’s having a really hard time, so I feel like I can’t panic. Instead, I’m able to calm down.”
Wen Yi: “Got it, emotional conservation. Between the two of you, only one person can have bad emotions.”
Xue Ling rubbed her stiff face and manually arranged a smile by pulling up the corners of her mouth.
“That drug—what do you think, do you want to use it?” Wen Yi brought up the question Wen Jiuzhe had previously avoided.
“If there’s no other way, then we can only try using it.” Xue Ling replied. “Treating a dead person as a living patient.”
After only a few sentences, she suddenly pitched forward and fell into the sofa again.
Wen Yi: “……”
She stood up, lifted Xue Ling’s legs onto the sofa, and laid her flat. “Wait here until Wen Jiuzhe comes to pick you up.”
By the time Wen Jiuzhe came over to look for her, Xue Ling could already sit up by herself.
Wen Jiuzhe tapped on the tablet to ask: “Why have you been here for so long, what are you playing?”
Although he had already exposed that he could speak during the previous emergency, in normal circumstances he still communicated using the tablet.
Xue Ling didn’t bring it up either, and fully made use of the art of language as she answered, “Playing one-two-three wooden man.”
According to Wen Yi’s prediction, at this stage, Xue Ling would suddenly and briefly “malfunction” without any warning.
When it became more severe, she would gradually lose consciousness.
Zombies do lose consciousness, like Wen Yi’s boyfriend Zeng Yitong, that unlucky guy.
His situation was different from Xue Ling’s. Because he had undergone too many experiments by Wen Yi, once his consumption became excessive, he would lose consciousness.
This time they came to the northwest because the mission was urgent. The personnel had all been streamlined, and they hadn’t brought along Zeng Yitong, that outdated experimental subject who wasn’t urgently needed.
Otherwise, they could have used him to run an experiment first.
Even though Xue Ling’s emotions and vital signs were “stable,” her condition was still worsening.
Finally, after collapsing once more, she completely lost consciousness.
Wen Jiuzhe pinched her face and hands, shook her, pried open her eyelids, but still got no response.
She lay there quietly, her skin icy cold and bluish, having long since lost her breath.
After keeping vigil for a day and a night, Wen Jiuzhe still hadn’t waited for her to wake up.
Every moment, he felt that she might have already died completely.
“Use that drug on her, no matter what the result is, I won’t make trouble,” Wen Jiuzhe said.
During this period, Wen Yi had also been modifying the new drug they had developed, specifically in response to Xue Ling’s condition.
Even so, she still wasn’t confident.
A tiny dose of medicine, the injection took less than three seconds, yet the waiting afterward was enough to be tormenting.
She should be fine. Hadn’t he himself, back then, successfully become a zombie who retained his rationality because of the Taisui extract Wen Yi had prepared?
Wen Jiuzhe half lay beside Xue Ling, one leg pressed over her, telling himself this.
Wen Yi had researched Zeng Yitong for so long; she had experience. Xue Ling would also wake up very soon, and her condition would get better.
Xue Ling wasn’t as unlucky as he was. Her luck was actually quite good. Back when she drew prizes at the supermarket, others would only win tissues, while she could win small appliances.
About an hour after the injection, changes appeared in Xue Ling’s body.
Her fingernails fell off, and new nails grew in—sharp, hard nails.
Wen Jiuzhe held her hand up to examine it, guessing that this was a good change.
Next, beneath her bluish-white skin, very obvious dark red fine lines appeared, crisscrossing each other, as if the veins inside her body had been imprinted onto her skin.
Wen Yi came over to check. She fell silent for a moment, then, like the coldest doctor, delivered the bad news: “This is not a very good change. You need to be prepared.”
Prepared for what?
“Simply put, the Re virus that entered her body didn’t counteract the original zombie virus. Instead, it strengthened the zombie virus, and together they began fighting against the Taisui… This is a situation I hadn’t anticipated.”
Then what would she become?
Wen Yi didn’t say, but suggested that he restrain Xue Ling first.
Wen Jiuzhe didn’t listen.
He didn’t look at the time, but felt that he had waited for a very long while, before finally seeing Xue Ling move.
Wen Jiuzhe immediately got up and leaned over her head.
“Xue… Ling.”
She opened her eyes, revealing a pair of red eyes. The former dark red had become a somewhat translucent color, and at first glance, they looked a bit like the ruby necklace around her neck.
She looked at him a little sluggishly, as if she couldn’t figure out what had happened.
Seeing her so docile, Wen Jiuzhe first touched her face, then picked up the tablet placed to the side and handed it to her.
Xue Ling didn’t take it.
She suddenly turned her head toward the doorway and, at the same moment the door was pushed open, let out the roar zombies make when attacking humans.
Standing at the doorway, Wen Yi clearly saw Wen Jiuzhe’s tall body being slammed aside by Xue Ling.
He crashed into the wall beside him, immediately came back to his senses, and chased after her, yanking Xue Ling back and firmly trapping her in his arms.
The room was left with only Xue Ling’s roaring, no different from other zombies. She didn’t recognize Wen Jiuzhe; she only wanted to attack the humans she saw.
“It failed. She’s completely turned into a zombie.” Wen Yi said, loosening her grip on the doorknob.
Wen Jiuzhe covered Xue Ling’s mouth.
The old teeth in her mouth fell out at the slightest touch, and two rows of new, shark-like sharp teeth grew in.
If they accidentally grazed Wen Jiuzhe’s hand, they could leave streaks of scratches on it.
Because of her frenzied, attacking demeanor, she looked much more unfamiliar, completely unlike the harmless, skinny zombie she had been before.
“Get out.” Wen Jiuzhe said.
After Wen Yi left, Xue Ling was no longer as frenzied, but she was still restless, sensing the human presence around her.
There were too many people around. She was very excited.
Wen Jiuzhe held onto her tightly, observing her expressions and movements, and asked, “Are you… deliberately scaring me again?”
Xue Ling gave him no response.
༚༅༚˳ . . ˳༚༅༚
“I heard that your Xue Ling lost her rationality and completely turned into a zombie?” Yang Luo carried his tray over to Wen Yi’s side, sighing hypocritically. “I really didn’t expect that the new drug you specially applied for would end up having this kind of effect.”
“Not that I’m saying anything, but although she did help a lot before, now she’s a dangerous zombie. She should be dealt with sooner rather than later, right? Otherwise, keeping her here is a threat to all of us.”
“Dangerous zombies should all be dealt with. She herself did the same before, killing zombies so smoothly. Now shouldn’t she lead by example and—”
As Yang Luo was expressing his lofty opinion, someone suddenly slammed into him hard from behind, sending both the tray and the person flying.
He scrambled up in a sorry state and found that the one who had rammed into him was a soldier.
“Sorry, didn’t mean to bump into you.” The soldier said without the slightest apology, his eyes full of disdain and disgust—it was clearly intentional.
Yang Luo wanted to curse, but then noticed that the expressions on several nearby soldiers’ faces were exactly the same, some even glaring at him fiercely.
The entire small cafeteria was very quiet. Almost everyone was looking this way. Under the many dissatisfied gazes, Yang Luo finally realized that he seemed to have angered the crowd, and swallowed back the curse on his lips.
At that moment, he felt a pain in the palm he was using to support himself on the ground—Wen Yi had stepped on it as she walked past.
She carried her tray straight ahead, stepping on him without even offering an apology.
In the end, Yang Luo had no choice but to slink out of the cafeteria.
“Is there… any way… to remedy it?” Wen Jiuzhe went to find Wen Yi alone.
“Taisui. It might be worth a try.” Wen Yi said.
“Extract it… from my body.”
Wen Yi: “If you want to die for love, you can just say it.”
“Zeng Yitong.” Wen Jiuzhe said only this one name.
Wen Yi understood what he meant. “Zeng Yitong is at the Beizheng Base, but with Xue Ling’s current condition, the longer it drags on, the smaller the chance of recovery. Maybe by the time you get back, you’ll find she can’t be saved anymore.”
Wen Jiuzhe stared at her.
Wen Yi took out paper and pen and wrote something. After a moment, she folded the letter and handed it to him. “Give this letter to my junior sister, Xu Zhihua. She knows how to extract it. Take Xue Ling back.”
Hearing that Wen Jiuzhe was about to take Xue Ling back to the Beizheng Base, quite a few soldiers in the team voluntarily offered to escort them together.
All of them were refused by Wen Jiuzhe.
He wrapped Xue Ling up tightly, not letting anyone in the squad see what she looked like now. She definitely wouldn’t want others to see her like this.
If the people she had helped were afraid of her, she would feel awful if she knew.
That very day, Wen Jiuzhe set off alone with her.
After leaving the place where people were gathered, Xue Ling was no longer so restless. She began to grow quiet, even quieter than when she still had her rationality.
She didn’t turn her head to look at the scenery outside the window, didn’t poke and tap at the tablet, didn’t touch this or look at that out of boredom, and didn’t frequently pay attention to Wen Jiuzhe in the driver’s seat.
Now she was easily restrained by a single seat belt.
Wen Jiuzhe turned his head to look at her, as if he had returned to the very beginning, when he had just reunited with Xue Ling.
Back then, he didn’t yet know that she possessed rationality. He had also carried her along like this, driving on the road.
In a moment of distraction, Wen Jiuzhe would suddenly think—was all of this real?
During this past year or so since reuniting with Xue Ling, that rational zombie Xue Ling might have only been his delusion.
Was it possible that, from beginning to end, he had merely been taking a real zombie everywhere with him?
Wen Jiuzhe took out the Polaroid photos he had taken with Xue Ling, as well as the photo she had taken earlier holding up the “Not Angry” sign, and stuck them all onto the car window.
