Chapter 108: Shancheng: Lin Mu’s Approach

Since the mutation began, they had almost never gotten sick or caught a fever. Fu Jingmo’s heart tightened as he quickly rummaged through his backpack to find some medicine and fed it to the person.

The sleeping person resisted taking the medicine, pressing his thin lips together while his brows furrowed. Tiny beads of sweat formed on his pale forehead.

Fu Jingmo raised an eyebrow, his heart stirring slightly as he softened his voice, “Come on, drink it… It’s strawberry-flavored…”

“…”

The long eyelashes trembled slightly, and the closed eyes slowly opened. Lin Mu’s weak gaze fell on him, looking at him as if he were an idiot.

Could He Ze’s foolishness be contagious?

…

A hint of inexplicable awkwardness filled the air.

Because he was feeding him medicine, the two were extremely close. The tall man sat by the bedside, holding the other entirely in his arms. The slender forearm was held firmly in his palm, and the heat from the contact was so intense it made him want to let go.

“Cough, cough…”

His throat was still a bit hoarse from choking on water. Fu Jingmo handed the water over, and Lin Mu took two sips while holding onto his hand. In the moment he lowered his head, his fair neck was exposed.

“Take the medicine. You’re running a slight fever.” For some reason, Fu Jingmo felt like he had also been infected, because his own voice sounded a bit hoarse too.

Lin Mu obediently took the medicine, drank another sip of water, and shook his head to indicate he didn’t want any more.

“Where are they?”

“They haven’t returned yet.”

…

The sense of narrowly escaping death left his mind somewhat blank, and his reactions were a bit sluggish. Lin Mu sat up a little straighter, but a pulling pain in his chest made him gasp sharply.

“You won’t recover that quickly. Be careful with your movements.”

Thinking about how the injury on Lin Mu’s chest was caused by his own forceful pressure, Fu Jingmo felt it was fortunate he hadn’t broken any ribs.

Lin Mu glanced at him up and down. His lips, freshly moistened from drinking water, looked soft and rosy. At this close distance, his warm breath tickled Fu Jingmo’s cheek. Lin Mu’s eyelashes fluttered lightly before he slowly spoke.

“You… are you okay?”

“I’m fine. You’re the one who’s not.”

The scene of sinking into the river resurfaced in his mind. Lin Mu frowned slightly, hugging his bent knees tighter. What had he been thinking at that moment?

It seemed like he had been thinking that, with the giant python dead, Fu Jingmo would probably be fine. In that case, it didn’t matter if he died.

Since when had he started feeling that Fu Jingmo being alive was something important?

And back in Wushi, why had he been unable to bear being outside of Fu Jingmo’s world?

Everything felt chaotic, yet oddly clear.

As if sensing his thoughts, Fu Jingmo simply watched him in silence.

After a long while, Lin Mu leaned in closer, his head suddenly resting lightly against Fu Jingmo’s neck.

The soft touch of Lin Mu’s hair made Fu Jingmo’s entire body tense up. The faintly sweet scent of grass and wood lingered at his nose, and his heart pounded wildly in his chest. Unconsciously, he swallowed hard.

Because he was still running a fever, Lin Mu’s body temperature was no longer the usual cool sensation. The head resting against Fu Jingmo’s right shoulder felt very warm, like ants crawling across his skin, igniting sparks that turned into a blazing heat.

“What’s wrong…”

The fuzzy head shook slightly, and Lin Mu’s hand gripped Fu Jingmo’s wrist tightly. He truly felt a bit muddled, perhaps due to the fever. All he knew was that he wanted to get closer to the person in front of him.

Just a little closer.

Worried that something might be wrong with him, Fu Jingmo finally couldn’t hold back. He rubbed his chin lightly against Lin Mu’s hair, his voice almost brushing against his ear as he asked, “What’s wrong? Tell Brother.”

Lin Mu’s grip on his wrist tightened further. He neither looked up nor spoke.

Fu Jingmo reached out, gently pinching Lin Mu’s chin to lift his face. The pale, delicate face revealed only a hint of redness at the corners of his eyes, as if he had been bullied.

“Hmm? Does it hurt somewhere?”

The voice that came out was softer than ever before.

Lin Mu seemed to snap back to reality, his fingertips trembling slightly. Then, he gently let go.

“Mumu!! Mumu!”

The living room door was flung open with force, and He Ze’s voice echoed from outside, followed by the sound of hurried footsteps.

Fu Jingmo ruffled Lin Mu’s hair. “Alright, the annoying brat is here.”

The bedroom door was shoved open, and He Ze rushed to the bedside, throwing himself forward in a massive bear hug.

Fu Jingmo grabbed Lin Mu’s wrist and pulled him to the side, effortlessly dodging He Ze’s reckless pounce.

He stood up and placed the water cup on the bedside table. “Don’t touch him. He’s not feeling well.”

“Ah,” He Ze, who had missed his mark, lifted his head. “Mumu, what’s wrong? Where are you feeling unwell?”

“It’s nothing, just a slight fever. A bit of rest will do.”

“Wuuu, I thought you were dead! You don’t know, when Brother Fu carried you up, wuuu, your face was completely pale!”

“…”

“If Brother Fu hadn’t kept giving you mouth-to-mouth and CPR, you’d be gone by now. It was way too dangerous, Mumu! Next time, stay far away, okay? Don’t go charging toward those mutated zombies or whatever anymore!!!”

He Ze rambled on, clearly determined to keep talking until he got a promise.

Out of the long-winded speech, Lin Mu only caught four words: mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.

Mouth-to-mouth…

His lips suddenly felt strange, and without thinking, he ran his tongue over them, glancing at the person who had just turned to leave.

“Hey, hey! Are you even listening to me?”

He Ze, dissatisfied with Lin Mu’s distraction, continued his earnest chatter, nagging endlessly.

The tall figure returned, grabbed He Ze by the collar, and started dragging him out.

“Whoa, wait! Brother Fu, I wasn’t done lecturing yet! Also, that was Mumu’s first kiss! His first kiss!!…”

The 186cm tall man was carried out like a little chick, and the one dragging him didn’t bother replying, shutting the door behind him.

“Wuuu, Chenchen, this guy is so mean! He tore me and Mumu apart again.”

Outside the wooden door, He Ze’s pitiful complaints could still be heard, but they suddenly stopped.

The surroundings suddenly quieted down. Lin Mu lay back on the bed, pulled the blanket over himself, and closed his eyes.

First kiss, huh…

With the taste of a zombie…

—

The giant python in the river had been dealt with.

Shao Yingjie began organizing people to gradually eliminate the zombies on the south bank. Every day, a team would take a yacht across, avoiding the rocky shore, clear out a wave of zombies, and then return.

With the yacht fuel running low, efforts were underway to have people build wooden boats. Mutated individuals with ranged abilities also joined in.

Although it was impossible to quickly kill off the million zombies in Shancheng, doing something was better than doing nothing, every zombie killed counted.

Lin Mu’s injuries were healed by Xiao Yuan that same night. Apart from the unexplained fever, which took two days to subside, he recovered well.

The energy orb in the spatial dimension filled up a little more.

Compared to the mutated zombies in Wushi last time, this time it increased slightly, perhaps because the energy core of the giant python was larger.

Xiao Yuan tilted its little branch, clearly in a very good mood.

In the space, Lin Mu planted another batch of vegetation. Colorful and lush, Xiao Yuan expressed its approval, circling around the plants. Its posture resembled that of an emperor surrounded by a harem of doting concubines.

With the new energy core, Xiao Yuan finally solved a problem that had troubled Lin Mu for a long time regarding the energy storage orb.

However, the news left Lin Mu momentarily unable to adapt. He thought he would need a lot of time to process and even accept it.

After a few days of rest, just as they had yet to discuss their next steps, an unexpected visitor arrived.

It was Ye Xing and Chen Yu.