Chapter 15

After becoming a zombie who retained her rationality and realizing her uniqueness, Xue Ling had pondered this question countless times.

However, the question felt as unsolvable to her as why the zombie outbreak occurred or why the apocalypse came.

Lying in the grass by the roadside looking at the stars, Xue Ling wondered if she had been exposed to radiation at some unknown time, causing her mutation.

While hiding from the rain under an abandoned melon shed, she thought about whether she had been bitten by some virus-carrying bug like Spider-Man, turning her into a zombie hero.

Walking along a long, deserted highway, Xue Ling speculated that she might actually be a product of a lab experiment, with her past experiences being artificially implanted. Was everything a fabrication?

While staring at her fellow zombies wandering around in a daze under a tree in the park, Xue Ling’s thoughts wandered to the novels she had read before. Did she actually awaken a superpower? The kind that allows one to retain sanity even after being infected by zombies!

This led her to imagine that she might be the key to ending the zombie virus, capable of producing a special antibody to eradicate it.

One day, researchers in white coats would capture her and bring her into a lab—wasn’t that how it always played out in novels and movies?

As a result, Wen Jiuze now said so casually that he knew the reason.

…You know the reason? How do you know? I don’t even understand how you know.

Xue Ling was overwhelmed with the question: Are you the zombie or am I the zombie?

She looked at Wen Jiuze, and he looked back at her. They stared at each other in silence for a moment.

Just as Xue Ling could no longer resist the urge to shake his shoulders, Wen Jiuze spoke up, saying, “It’s because you ate Tai Sui.”

“What’s ‘Tai Sui’?” Xue Ling wrote the pinyin on the small blackboard.

To be honest, writing in such crooked letters was even harder and uglier than writing in Chinese for a zombie.

Wen Jiuze wrote the characters “太岁” below her pinyin.

Xue Ling looked at those two characters, doubting that Wen Jiuze was messing with her.

The last time she saw the characters for Tai Sui was in a fantasy movie.

The movie mentioned that Tai Sui was one of the ingredients used by Emperor Qin to create the elixir of immortality, capable of bringing the dead back to life—of course, this was just artistic embellishment in a fantasy story.

Xue Ling glanced disdainfully at Wen Jiuze, thinking his explanation was even more absurd than her wild speculations.

She drew a question mark on the blackboard, expressing her confusion and wanting to see how he would continue his story.

Xue Ling guessed Wen Jiuze would throw out a hook like he had countless times before, only to leave her hanging and intentionally anxious.

This bastard had a habit of speaking halfway.

But this time, Wen Jiuze didn’t act up. He looked at the two characters on the blackboard with a calm tone.

“The Wen family took something out of their ancestral tomb three years ago. Old Master Wen identified it as Tai Sui, a very rare and special kind of Tai Sui. I brought some back, and by chance, you ended up eating it.”

This was getting a bit too believable. Xue Ling held the blackboard and drew another question mark, wondering when she had eaten this thing.

She had barely written “what” before Wen Jiuze guessed her question, saying, “I stored it in the fridge, wrapped in gold paper. You ate it, remember?”

Wen Jiuze’s reminder made Xue Ling recall the event.

It was not long before they broke up, around the time of the Qixi Festival.

That weekend, she slept in until nearly noon. She felt dizzy from low blood sugar and opened the fridge looking for something to eat.

At that time, the fridge contained only bottled water and raw leafy greens. Feeling terrible, she suddenly spotted a round ball wrapped in gold paper on the side shelf of the fridge.

The packaging looked just like a brand of chocolate.

She didn’t remember putting this in the fridge; it must have been placed there by Wen Jiuze. They had lived together for several months, and he often stocked the fridge with fruits, drinks, and snacks.

Could this chocolate be a gift for her for the Qixi Festival? Did he really buy just one?

Feeling unwell and not thinking much, she unwrapped the “chocolate.” Inside, it was a dark, round mass, which she popped into her mouth.

At first, she didn’t taste anything, but after chewing and swallowing, an indescribable bitterness suddenly hit her. Xue Ling, who felt like she was going to faint the previous moment, was immediately awakened by the bitterness.

She held her chest, feeling nauseous, gagging but unable to vomit. It took her two glasses of water to suppress the overwhelming bitterness.

Only then did she realize it wasn’t chocolate. Holding the gold wrapping, she wondered if she had just eaten some kind of bruise ointment Wen Jiuze kept in the fridge.

Just then, Wen Jiuze returned and saw the gold wrapping in her hand. His expression changed.

“You ate what was inside?”

Looking at his expression, Xue Ling’s heart raced, “What is this? Is it something I shouldn’t eat?”

Wen Jiuze’s expression was unusually serious, furrowing his brows, which frightened Xue Ling. She nervously asked what it was.

After a moment of silence, Wen Jiuze finally said solemnly, “That was dog poop I picked up on the side of the road.”

Xue Ling: “…”

I see you’re the real dog poop!

Wen Jiuze’s serious expression suddenly relaxed, revealing that infuriating smile again. He walked over, took the gold paper that was still stained with black, and put it away.

“Alright, it’s actually a type of wild mushroom. A friend gave it to me for a prank… but you really ate it.”

“Did you put it in the fridge to prank me?” Xue Ling questioned.

Wen Jiuze simply smiled nonchalantly and didn’t explain further.

Later, he insisted on taking her to the hospital for a very detailed examination, which made Xue Ling feel he was overreacting.

Due to his overly serious attitude, Xue Ling began to worry that the thing she had eaten might be toxic. Just as her anxiety peaked, Wen Jiuze said the extensive check was to see if her frequent anger had caused any health issues, like breast cancer.

In the end, all the test results came back normal, and the matter was quickly forgotten.

It was only now that Xue Ling understood Wen Jiuze’s reaction back then.

For three years as a zombie, she had even questioned whether the meteorite she had seen at the astronomy museum as a child had exposed her to radiation, but she never doubted Wen Jiuze.

Holding the chalk, Xue Ling found herself at a loss for words.

Wen Jiuze said: “It was only after I went back this time that I realized that there was something wrong with the Tai Sui you had eaten. This is basically the reason.”

His expression seemed calm, but he was nervously playing with a piece of chalk, rubbing his fingers white.

If Xue Ling wasn’t mistaken, he might actually be feeling uneasy.

Did he think she would blame him?

Of course, Xue Ling had suffered because of her transformation.

But she knew that if she hadn’t become this unique being and instead had turned into an ordinary zombie, she might be wandering around familiar places, unknowingly eating her family, friends, or even acquaintances.

Compared to that, her current situation was much better.

In fact, she should be grateful to Wen Jiuze.

However, she didn’t need to reason with him!

So, Xue Ling angrily hit Wen Jiuze a few times, leaving his arm red.

After venting her anger, she wrote “xie xie” on the small blackboard. The Chinese characters for “thank you” were too complicated, and she didn’t want to write them out.

Wen Jiuze, receiving the thank you, wore a very complex expression. He finally put down the chalk, smiling as if he didn’t want to smile, making it look a bit awkward.

“You actually thanked me.”

Xue Ling felt that as long as she was alive, it was better than being dead. Even if her body had died, her soul hadn’t, and that was better than being completely gone.

To be honest, Xue Ling felt a special sense of relief now.

It was like finally solving a mystery she had pondered for a long time. She felt satisfied that she didn’t have to worry about it anymore.

There was also a tiny bit of disappointment—it turned out she hadn’t awakened some superpower or been a result of an alien experiment!

Instead, her mutation was caused by accidentally consuming the legendary Tai Sui taken from a grave, which felt too down-to-earth. Now she didn’t want to call herself a zombie. She preferred to think of herself as a “jiangshi,” a Chinese hopping vampire.

Suddenly, Xue Ling had a bright idea and quickly wrote on the blackboard: “Are there others like me?”

Wen Jiuze must have seen it, otherwise, how could he be so sure?

“Who is it?” Before Xue Ling could finish writing the complex character for “who,” Wen Jiuze turned his head, arms crossed.

He didn’t want to say anything and didn’t want to bring up the name “Wen Xuan” in front of Xue Ling.

Seeing her so eager to ask made him even less inclined to mention it.

She wouldn’t think that Wen Xuan was in a similar situation to hers, right?

Wen Jiuze snorted in disdain.

Seeing him lazily holding his arms and not speaking, Xue Ling nudged him. Wen Jiuze wiped the small blackboard clean.

Xue Ling: “?”

She carefully observed Wen Jiuze’s expression and suddenly realized.

Whenever she mentioned Wen Xuan before, he would get annoyed and put on a displeased face because he really disliked Wen Xuan and didn’t like anyone bringing him up. So could it be that coincidentally?

Xue Ling tried writing the character “Xuan” on the blackboard.

Before she could finish, Wen Jiuze wiped it away, saying with a faint smile, “Just writing “Xuan” alone seems a bit too intimate.”

Xue Ling was speechless. Writing was so difficult for a zombie. It was enough to know who it referred to. Why did he insist she write it completely?

She hit Wen Jiuze with the chalk in her hand, and he tilted his head to dodge, saying, “That’s right. It’s him, but he’s already dead, so no need to look.”

Xue Ling had no intention of searching for him. She just wanted to confirm that there was indeed someone else like her. Could there be more people like her?

Xue Ling’s mood improved with this news, but Wen Jiuze felt less than cheerful.

As they drove away, Wen Jiuze often looked ahead with a thoughtful expression, while Xue Ling, sitting in the passenger seat, felt her two seatbelts merge into one.

With the window open, the hot wind blew in, and Xue Ling saw both familiar and unfamiliar scenery. She realized they were leaving Anxi City.

In her arms, she held a plastic children’s magnetic drawing board that Wen Jiuze had found somewhere. It was lighter and cleaner than the small blackboard.

She pulled out the pen stuck in the side groove and wrote “Where to?” holding it up to Wen Jiuze.

Wen Jiuze glanced at it and responded with a question, “Why are you so silent now?”

Previously, she would often let out zombie-like growls, but after the truth was revealed, she became less vocal.

Xue Ling: “……”

Was he asking on purpose? Did he want her to lose face? He already knew she still had her rationality, and if she made those awful sounds, she would feel embarrassed!

Wen Jiuze said, “Don’t feel burdened. If you want to yell, just do it. Your voice sounds deep now, quite impressive, like a fierce tiger descending the mountain.”

The black modified car, driving on the national highway of Anxi City, suddenly swerved and zigzagged down the road.

**

Translator’s Note: Don’t forget to get your role at 🎭-get-roles-🎭 on Discord 🛎️ to stay updated on new chapter releases and chapters unlocked! 📚✨