Chapter 125: Your Doom Has Arrived (8)
Leaving the city was not so easy; Ling Qiong tried several routes, only to find them all blocked. With the delay, dusk had already fallen. The car’s fuel was running dangerously low. It felt like a heap of troubles all at once—when it rains, it pours.
[Sweetie, you can fix this by drawing a card~] Shanshan sent Ling Qiong a playful sticker that said “Come on, let’s have fun.”
Fun my foot!
Ling Qiong glanced at Jiang Xunchu, whose complexion was growing paler by the minute, yet he sat as upright as a model student. She carefully parked the car in a safe spot.
“It’s going to get dark soon; we need to find a place to rest.”
Zombies typically avoided moving at night; most of the time, they gathered to hold meetings, plotting their conquests. Survivors figured it would be easier to avoid zombies by staying put after dark.
But at night, zombies’ hearing was sharper. Any slight noise could alert them, and once stirred, they loved to move around. The darkness concealed lurking zombies in every shadow, making the night especially perilous.
Therefore, survivors usually refrained from moving after nightfall.
“Can you still walk?”
Ling Qiong opened the car door on Jiang Xunchu’s side.
“Yeah,” he replied.
She helped him out, and as his foot hit the ground, his knee buckled slightly. He staggered and leaned against Ling Qiong for support. The girl smelled sweet and fresh, without any unpleasant odor.
Jiang Xunchu felt embarrassed first and steadied himself by leaning against the car door.
“That building over there looks safer,” Ling Qiong said, scanning the surroundings and pointing toward a block of apartments. “Let’s go there.”
“I don’t know when I might mutate. You really don’t have to come with me,” Jiang Xunchu urged, wanting her to leave him behind.
“I’m not scared. What are you afraid of?” Ling Qiong hooked his arm over her shoulder. “If you get bitten, it’s on me, not you. Deal?”
Jiang Xunchu was speechless.
“I’m not going to abandon you,” Ling Qiong said firmly, patting her chest. “You’re so good-looking, Dad’s got your back!”
Protecting your own!
Jiang Xunchu blinked, puzzled. Good-looking? Just because of that?
The young girl looked delicate but was surprisingly strong. Jiang Xunchu had no strength to argue with her.
The building she pointed to was a modest residential block. The front gate was made of iron, stained with blood and grime. The ground around it was similarly dirty.
After seeing so much of this, it no longer felt unsettling—habit had made it natural.
---
Inside the stairwell, there was mostly dirt but few obstacles. Each apartment door stood wide open, likely looted already. They hadn’t encountered any zombies on the way up.
Jiang Xunchu’s injury was in his leg, making climbing difficult. Cold sweat trickled down his face, but he clenched his teeth without a sound.
“Keep going, we’re almost there,” Ling Qiong encouraged him.
“...” Jiang Xunchu gripped the railing at a cleaner spot and caught his breath. “We still have to go higher.”
“Yes, to the top floor.”
Jiang Xunchu wanted to say that if zombies did appear, the top floor wasn’t ideal for escape. The second floor seemed safer; he had seen a way to exit directly from there. But Ling Qiong insisted on the top.
Despite her cheerful and agreeable demeanor, she was surprisingly stubborn, as if once she made up her mind, it was set.
Jiang Xunchu couldn’t argue, especially as the injured party. He couldn’t win by force or words.
Only one apartment on the top floor was occupied; its door stood open, and it was spacious inside.
Ling Qiong made sure there were no zombies and helped Jiang Xunchu inside.
She set him down and wandered through the rooms, returning with two bottles of water.
“Drink some water.”
“You found this inside?”
Ling Qiong casually replied with a hum.
Jiang Xunchu was puzzled as to how there could still be water in this building, but he was thirsty and accepted the bottle.
“Thank you.”
He hadn’t had a drink in quite some time. The cool water slid down his throat, refreshing him, bringing a wave of relief.
Ling Qiong took only a few sips, then glanced sideways at the young man drinking with his head tilted back.
Despite his discomfort, he sat upright, not slumping.
His neck was pale, the Adam’s apple moving with each swallow. A droplet escaped the corner of his mouth, tracing down his slender neck and disappearing beneath his collar.
Ling Qiong admired the sight for a few seconds, a smile slowly spreading as her eyes seemed to sparkle with little stars.
Jiang Xunchu drained half the bottle in one go, exhaled, and looked toward Ling Qiong.
She had already turned away, rummaging through a cabinet.
After a while, she dragged a chair back and sat opposite him. “Let me check your injury.”
Jiang Xunchu pulled his leg back. “No need. Regular medicine won’t work.”
Ling Qiong blinked. “Don’t give up on treatment. Maybe you can still be saved.”
Jiang Xunchu was silent.
She continued, “Others mutate within hours, but you’ve held out this long; that means you’re different.”
Jiang Xunchu’s hand tightened around the water bottle, slightly deforming its shape.
“Are you not afraid?” he asked.
Ling Qiong looked puzzled. “Afraid of what?”
“I might suddenly mutate…”
The girl blinked, then beamed with confidence, standing tall. “It’s okay. I’m an expert at fighting zombies!”
“...”
---
Ling Qiong studied Jiang Xunchu’s wound, her feelings mixed.
She couldn’t help but ask softly, “How did the zombie bite you here?”
The wound was about ten centimeters above the knee on the inner thigh.
That was... awkward.
Jiang Xunchu pursed his lips. “I fell on the ground.”
“...Oh.” What kind of fall was that?
The wound looked severe, with dark veins spreading around it. They hadn’t yet reached the wound but were creeping closer.
These veins would continue to spread, and when they reached the heart, mutation would begin.
The speed varied—some mutated in ten minutes, others took hours.
But for one day to have spread so little... that was unusual, almost miraculous.
Ordinary medicine couldn’t halt the mutation, but cleaning the wound was necessary to prevent infection and decay.
Ling Qiong searched the entire apartment and found a first aid kit.
Sitting on a chair was inconvenient, so she spread a blanket on the floor and sat down.
Jiang Xunchu had felt okay until now, but with Ling Qiong so close, he could even sense her breathing on his thigh.
An uncomfortable feeling rose steadily.
This situation... was too strange.
He swallowed and said, “I’ll do it myself.”
“Why?”
“I can handle it.”
The girl’s eyes widened; she spoke softly, “I won’t hurt you.”
“...”
That sounded suspicious.
“Are you afraid of pain?” Ling Qiong raised her chin, holding a cotton swab dipped in alcohol. “I’ll be gentle, don’t worry. I’m totally professional.”
Jiang Xunchu was speechless.
——— End of segment ———
Jiang Xunchu: Am I imagining things?
Ling Qiong: Nope, hee hee hee.
Fairy: Hee hee, you can only hee hee if there’s a vote.