Chapter 2

The sun blazed down, and the street was filled with a foul mix of gasoline, dust, and rubber.

Xue Ling lay among a pile of zombies with exploded heads, the unsanitary bodies of her fellow zombies emanating a stench that invaded her nostrils.

Yet she remained completely still, as if she were truly dead.

Rather than feeling the fear of her life being in danger, the emotion that overwhelmed Xue Ling was embarrassment.

In an unexpected time and place, she ran into her ex-boyfriend whom she hadn’t seen in three years… She just wanted to escape!

In that fleeting moment, she didn’t have time to think. Instinctively, she lay down and pretended to be dead, not wanting to face him.

There’s a saying that when you’re at your lowest point, the last person you want to meet is your ex.

When she broke up with that damned guy, she wanted nothing more than to chop him up and dip him in sauce.

She imagined a future where she’d be successful, having become wealthy, while Wen Jiuze would be reduced to a life of shame.

He definitely wouldn’t recognize her.

She never expected that reality would be so different from what she had imagined.

At that moment, she lay in a pile of zombies, looking like trash, while Wen Jiuze was elegantly sitting in a car, killing zombies. He probably didn’t even recognize her.

If she had delayed just a bit before lying down, she might have been shot dead by one of his bullets.

Xue Ling was furious and anxious, praying that Wen Jiuze truly hadn’t recognized her.

She hoped they would leave this street soon so she could quietly escape while the others were busy clearing away the zombies.

She needed to find another place and never return here.

In the chaos of her thoughts, the convoy was approaching. Xue Ling heard someone exclaim in surprise, “Cousin, what are you doing?”

Then came the sound of footsteps coming straight toward her.

Xue Ling: “…”

She really didn’t want to admit that she could recognize those footsteps—those of that damned Wen Jiuze.

The footsteps grew closer and then stopped beside her.

He was silent for a moment, seemingly staring at her.

Why? Did he think she looked familiar? Had he recognized her?

With her face down, Xue Ling felt her whole body stiffen with tension.

Having been a zombie for three years, her breathing and heartbeat had long ceased, but at that moment, she still felt her heart racing wildly.

A hand suddenly touched the back of her head.

Wen Jiuze’s palm was large, with long fingers that could easily cover the back of her head.

His hand ruffled her messy hair, causing Xue Ling’s fingers to twitch uncontrollably as if she had been shocked.

The man squatted next to her, remaining silent for a moment, then murmured to himself with a laugh,”I didn’t hit you, why did you fall down?”

Xue Ling blinked slowly, glad that zombies had no tears.

She didn’t know why hearing this guy’s voice made her want to cry.

Wen Jiuze, Wen Jiuze, you damn dog!

Suddenly, she lunged at him like a mindless zombie, opening her mouth to bite the man next to her.

Any zombie attacking a person is terrifying, and Xue Ling was no exception.

Though she took care of herself and didn’t let herself get dirty like other mindless zombies, occasionally getting caught in the rain or taking a bath only made her look somewhat better—not like those other zombies who looked truly grotesque.

Her skin was slightly blue and hard like other zombies, her eyes shrouded in a misty dark red, and sharp zombie teeth were visible in her mouth.

I must look terrifying, Xue Ling thought.

As she lunged at Wen Jiuze, she thought that being seen like this was worse than just being killed.

“Ah! Cousin!”

“Oh my God, Brother Wen, be careful!”

Seeing the zombie suddenly attack, several people behind them screamed.

Xue Ling felt that she was going to die here today, but before she died, she had to scare Wen Jiuze so much that he would crawl on the ground in fear!

Then she could close her eyes without regrets.

Zombies don’t have very good vision, and she was a bit emotional, so as she lunged forward, everything became a blur. Suddenly, she felt someone grab her wrist.

Then everything spun, and before she knew what was happening, her hands were firmly restrained behind her back.

Wen Jiuze was strong, and his palm felt incredibly warm. Xue Ling couldn’t break free and briefly considered twisting around to bite whoever was behind her but decided against it.

She was too lazy to waste her efforts on something futile.

Once the initial awkwardness passed, she let go of her reservations and embraced the situation.

Now, she was just a zombie—zombies know nothing! If you’re capable, just kill her!

Seeing that Wen Jiuze had subdued the suddenly attacking zombie, Dai Ying rushed over from the car, holding a silenced gun, looking somewhat shaken.

“Cousin, what’s going on?”

Earlier, they had been killing zombies from the car, and suddenly he had jumped down without a word.

He tossed the silenced gun to him from the car window and headed straight for the pile of zombies.

“You scared me just now, Cousin. If you did not react in time…”

As Dai Ying spoke, he realized something, glancing between the zombie Wen Jiuze was holding and his cousin’s expression.

“Cousin, do you know this zombie?”

Normally, when encountering a zombie, Wen Jiuze would have taken action immediately. Why was he only restraining it without any intent to attack?

He had a knife at his waist capable of slicing through a zombie’s neck, but it didn’t look like he was going to draw it.

“Yeah.” Wen Jiuze simply confirmed as he brought Xue Ling back to the convoy.

The others in the convoy were watching them, and the team leader, Brother Mi, seemed hesitant to say anything.

Noticing their gazes, Dai Ying wanted to say something but hesitated, seeing his cousin’s calm demeanor.

“Stop dawdling and drive,” Wen Jiuze ordered.

He opened the car door, threw Xue Ling inside, and then got in himself. Dai Ying quickly hopped into the driver’s seat and continued driving.

This car belonged to Wen Jiuze. Usually, Dai Ying drove while he either relaxed in the back or cleared zombies from the roof.

With a zombie in the car, any normal person would be tense. Dai Ying could tell something was off as he frequently glanced back.

Xue Ling hadn’t expected things to develop this way. She remained aware of her identity as a zombie and let out a few half-hearted growls in the car, starting to struggle again, only to be pressed down once more.

Wen Jiuze pinned her arms behind her back with one hand, while the other hand, gloved in leather, covered her mouth, forcing her to sit on his lap.

She found herself trapped in his embrace, her back pressed tightly against his chest. Xue Ling completely forgot about her act of playing the rebellious zombie.

Ah… you? Me? This?

Wen Jiuze always felt so warm. Xue Ling thought his palm covering her face was unbearably hot. She twisted her head, trying to break free, but he tightened his grip and pressed her back down even harder.

Xue Ling felt him lean forward, resting his head against her neck, forming an intimate embrace.

He leaned on her shoulder and let out a long sigh. Was it a sigh of relief?

This hugging position was once common between them, but they seemed to have broken up. Most importantly, she was now a zombie!

A zombie!

Her ex-boyfriend was far more unsettling than a zombie. After not seeing him for years, had he gone crazy?

But then she remembered, Wen Jiuze had always been a bit odd.

The heat radiating from him made her want to move away. Just then, she noticed a dog’s head poking out from the front passenger seat.

The golden retriever sitting in the passenger seat, like its owner, was staring at the two people in the back seat.

Dai Ying, sitting in the driver’s seat, looked utterly shocked, his face a mix of terror and embarrassment, practically mirroring Xue Ling’s expression.

The big dog, however, was different. Its dark, shiny eyes looked at Xue Ling, and its tongue hung out, showing no sign of concern about the bizarre scene before it.

Dai Ying remembered that his dog, Puff, was also in the car. Puff was smart and would bark to alert him when encountering a zombie. Puff had previously protected him from zombie attacks and was known to be a brave dog that wasn’t afraid of zombies.

Dai Ying intended to soothe Puff, telling it not to bark at the zombie in the car.

But Puff stared at the two people in the back for a moment and barked twice. It was not the hostile barking usually reserved for zombies.

Furthermore, its tail wagged enthusiastically on the car seat, resembling a feather duster.

This was a response reserved for familiar faces.

Puff’s behavior reminded Dai Ying of something. He looked closely at the immobile zombie in the back seat, held firmly by his cousin.

Wait, this seemed to be his cousin’s ex-girlfriend!

It was several years ago, he was only fourteen or fifteen years old at that time, and he can’t remember it clearly.

It was during the time his cousin went to university near his house and often helped him walk Puff. His cousin mentioned that his girlfriend loved dogs and wanted to take Puff to play with her.

He had only met his cousin’s girlfriend twice. Was it really her?

He remembered she was from Yu City, just like him. How did she end up so far away in Anxi City?

Meanwhile, Xue Ling in the back didn’t notice the little cousin’s expression. The moment she saw the golden retriever’s head, she instinctively leaned back.

It was a dog! A very familiar dog!

She recognized this dog because it had chased her for half a month, scaring her to death every day and leaving her with some psychological trauma.

That was about four years ago.

Not long after she started dating Wen Jiuze, she couldn’t recall why she wanted to get in shape and invited him to go night running with her.

But exercising proved to be harder to maintain than studying. She barely made it a street before gasping for breath, wanting to give up the next day, hesitating to step outside.

Wen Jiuze had smiled and said he would help her. He coaxed her out of the house.

They hadn’t run for long when suddenly a golden retriever appeared out of nowhere, barking fiercely at her.

Xue Ling hadn’t been particularly afraid of dogs before, but when such a large dog ran up to her barking, her first instinct was to run.

She sprinted ahead, with the dog chasing her. In her panic, she yelled for Wen Jiuze, who was cheerfully running ahead, sometimes even backward, showing no inclination to help her.

He would occasionally remind her, “The dog is going to catch up and bite your backside!”

All she could do was curse at him while desperately running, unleashing her strongest willpower as the dog chased her.

Exhausted, she finally made it home, where Wen Jiuze caught her fist, reassuring her that encountering such an aggressive dog was an accident and that they could take a different route to run slowly tomorrow.

But on another road, they encountered the fierce golden retriever again.

The moment they made eye contact, the golden retriever began chasing her.

…

After being chased by the dog for half a month, Xue Ling discovered that the dog belonged to Wen Jiuze’s little cousin, who took it out every night to chase her.

What impressive acting skills, both the man and the dog, were quite convincing. If she hadn’t caught the man feeding the golden retriever and praising it for its good work, she might have been kept in the dark.

Now, remembering this incident after so long, Xue Ling felt a surge of annoyance and wanted to punch Wen Jiuze’s smiling face.

Are you even human? Huh? Are you human?!

No man with such a smile could be trusted!

Xue Ling’s expression twisted as she tried to scoot back, but Wen Jiuze held her tighter and suddenly chuckled.

“Even if you’ve turned into a zombie, are you still afraid?”