Chapter 27: Major Overhaul

In the days that followed, Xie Xishu was consumed by a high fever that left him drifting in and out of consciousness.

He could not quite remember when Qi Wu had dragged him out of the room stained with monster blood, nor did he know what method the other had used to find a "cleaner" and more "convenient" empty house within the sprawling villa complex.

The reason this place was considered "clean" was that the wealthy owner had moved abroad to settle down years ago. In the luxurious villa, all the furniture was draped in neat white sheets, and a contracted cleaning company would periodically visit to dust the place. In the interim, it remained vacant—which meant that after the mutation, there were no lingering monsters in the rooms of this villa, and, naturally, no human remains left behind by the monsters’ gluttony.

The best part, of course, was that in the garage of a luckless neighbor nearby, a fully equipped, brand-new luxury camper was parked.

"Oh, so I figured out a way to drive it back. Don't worry, the vehicle is fine. Only the housing of the right front headlight is a bit cracked, but it doesn't affect its actual use. You have to admit, that piece-of-junk vehicle has a pretty good design. As long as it’s sunny, opening the solar panels on top can charge the car. Although cell phones are just bricks without a network now, a charged brick is still more fun to play with than a dead one. If all else fails, you can at least use it to charge your Switch..."

On the empty streets of the villa complex, Qi Wu walked along at a leisurely pace. His shoe soles made a crisp, loud sound as they stepped on the shards of glass and patches of dried, blackened blood scattered across the pavement.

In the bushes nearby, things would occasionally stir, instinctively creeping closer in an attempt to hunt, drawn by the lack of caution in his movements. Yet, since that night, Qi Wu had not encountered a single monster that dared to ignore the disparity in their hierarchy and attack him.

"...Nothing to worry about. Those monsters have become smarter than before. As soon as they catch a whiff of my scent, they hide far away. It’s making it less convenient for me to scavenge for supplies now, tch."

While recounting the events of the past few days to Xie Xishu, Qi Wu was so talkative he was almost clamorous. The current Qi Wu no longer resembled the silent, cold-auraed boy in Xie Xishu's memory, and this only made him feel more like a stranger.

To be honest, when Xie Xishu finally woke from his fever, he felt a flicker of despair: how he wished he could, like the others, simply degenerate into a monster driven only by instinct! That would at least offer two benefits.

First, he would not have to worry about whether there would come a day when Qi Wu might lose control and swallow him whole.

Second, he would not have to fret over how to handle Qi Wu or what attitude to adopt toward him.

*

In truth, once the initial panic passed, Xie Xishu grew much calmer. Qi Wu had long since mutated into a monster, and this wasn't the first time he had lost control. Xie Xishu should have been mentally prepared for such emergencies; as for the dream he had, it had no basis in reality upon closer reflection.

Even so, after experiencing that night, every time Xie Xishu looked at Qi Wu, his mind would involuntarily conjure images of the monster’s tentacles greedily reaching for him, the texture of the tongue constantly rubbing against his skin, and that endless, bottomless craving...

"Hey... hey, hey, Student Xie? Are you listening?"

"Xie Xishu?"

"Little Xie?"

"Little Xi?"

"...Little Shu?"

The nickname his parents used suddenly echoed in his ears. Dazed, Xie Xishu gave a start and instantly snapped back to reality. He looked up to find Qi Wu standing with his arms crossed, staring directly at him.

"What? Sorry, I didn't hear you just now—"

Xie Xishu felt a prickle of dread under Qi Wu's pitch-black gaze. He quickly composed himself and replied as calmly as he could.

But the next second, he heard Qi Wu mutter pensively.

"Oh, your nickname is 'Little Shu'? It sounds so ill-suited for playing mahjong..."

Xie Xishu: "..."

He stood where he was, his expression slightly stiff, momentarily unsure of what look to wear in response to Qi Wu.

That joke sounded deliberately, almost painfully, stupid. And this was not the first time the boy had acted foolishly. It seemed that ever since that night, not only had Xie Xishu become stiff and flustered whenever he saw Qi Wu, but many of Qi Wu's own behaviors had become... quite, quite, quite strange.

As Qi Wu finished speaking, he suddenly glanced at Xie Xishu’s face again. Whatever he was thinking, his eyes began to dart around, pointedly avoiding Xie Xishu’s direction.

"Tch, just a joke. You didn't respond after I called you so many times. You’re lucky you’re with me, being this distracted in times like these..."

The boy's tone shifted abruptly, suddenly turning from the terrifying tenderness that made Xie Xishu’s skin crawl into something stiff and cold.

He then raised a hand and shoved a box into Xie Xishu’s grasp. Xie Xishu looked down to find it was a carton of orange juice.

In normal times, such things were common, but in the current state of societal collapse, this was a luxury item.

"Huh? When did you..."

"Why do you care so much? Someone of your build could lose half his life from a high fever. Drink some orange juice, get some Vitamin C, and recover properly."

Before Xie Xishu could react, Qi Wu had already stepped forward and snatched the camping cart Xie Xishu had been pulling—it had been brought along specifically to carry scavenged supplies. There was very little inside: a few boxes of instant noodles, several bottles of water that once sold for exorbitant prices at high-end supermarkets, and some puffed snacks with foreign labels he couldn't recognize.

With so few items, it was naturally light. Even in his current weakened state, dragging these things shouldn't have been a struggle for Xie Xishu.

However, Qi Wu wouldn't even let him touch the cart.

Xie Xishu stood empty-handed, staring at Qi Wu’s back. In a trance, he caught a flicker of something amidst the hair at the back of Qi Wu’s head.

Ah, it was an eye.

Xie Xishu recognized it instantly.

*

Qi Wu was always watching him.

Ever since he woke from the fever, Xie Xishu had noticed this. This, of course, was not the first time he had been subjected to Qi Wu’s endless surveillance. Before the mutation, he had nearly been driven mad by the boy's actions, but after huddling together for survival in the apocalypse, Xie Xishu had thought he would no longer be hypersensitive to Qi Wu’s gaze.

As it turned out, he was wrong.

Compared to before, there was something indefinable in Qi Wu’s current stare. Every time their eyes met, Xie Xishu felt his hair stand on end and his chest tighten.

Occasionally... occasionally, on nights when he was startled awake by nightmares, he would sense a figure standing motionless by his bedside.

Qi Wu’s scorching gaze would linger on his face and body, refusing to leave.

*

Xie Xishu felt that something about Qi Wu had changed.

That change made him feel unable to fathom the other’s thoughts, leaving his nerves increasingly frayed.

...

...

Over the next few hours, Qi Wu took Xie Xishu to "raid" three more villas.

Although Qi Wu didn't say it, Xie Xishu could sense that these three villas had likely been thoroughly cleared out by the boy beforehand.

There was still a faint, unpleasant stench in the air—the unavoidable smell of blood decomposing in the heat. But in these three villas, Xie Xishu did not encounter a single monster. Only the deep crimson stains on the marble floors and the blood splatters and claw marks on the exquisite wallpaper hinted at the battles that had once taken place here.

If he didn't know for a fact that Qi Wu wasn't the type to have the leisure for such things, Xie Xishu would have almost thought this scavenging trip was an outing specifically arranged by the boy just to help him clear his head.

But regardless, even if it truly was an "outing," it wasn't exactly easy for Xie Xishu.

On one hand, he was genuinely too weak; on the other, there wasn't much useful to be found here.

That was right—the villas were luxuriously decorated with exquisite furnishings, but what Xie Xishu truly needed now were not the bizarre art pieces auctioned at high prices, nor the designer bags and shoes lining the walls of a walk-in closet.

He needed water, food, and, if possible... weapons.

Xie Xishu didn't dare mention the last item to Qi Wu and had been searching for it secretly with a racing heart, but after searching three villas, he had come up empty-handed.

In one spacious, bright kitchen, he saw the abundant ingredients the owner had once stocked. Yet, those organic vegetables, fruits, and poultry had long since turned into foul-smelling, dark brown sludge, dripping out from the double-door refrigerator that had lost power long ago.

Xie Xishu stood in front of the kitchen for only a moment.

The air was filled with a suffocating stench, but he stared at the exquisite packaging floating in the rotting liquid on the floor and drifted off into a daze.

These foods had once been carefully selected and put into the fridge by someone.

Now, they had rotted into juice.

And the person who had bought them was most likely already a deformed monster, wandering mindlessly in the outside world, or had been killed by Qi Wu and become his sustenance...

Xie Xishu suddenly remembered that on the way here, Qi Wu had killed a monster with casual indifference.

When he saw that monster, it had been gnawing on a wild cat that hadn't quite drawn its last breath. Its form still retained most of its human characteristics, though it had already begun to move on all fours with strange, awkward motions.

Of course, Xie Xishu had seen plenty of such monsters since the mutation began...

The difference was that this particular monster was still wearing a full suit. Despite the fabric becoming sticky and faded from the mucus secreted by its body, and the cuffs and trouser legs being torn into ragged, frayed edges, the suit clearly proclaimed the fact that this pathetic, deformed creature had once been human.

*

And then, Qi Wu had shredded the monster’s body.

Perhaps hindered by Xie Xishu’s presence, Qi Wu hadn't "eaten" the monster right then and there. However, as a fellow mutated creature, he could not conceal the bloodshed and brutality of his actions.