Chapter 75

Xue Ling learned from the researchers that Wen Jiuze was likely engaged in a secret mission, so she didn’t rush to find him.

She was still trying to process this new world. After undergoing one revival treatment, she could speak and move, but her body was still as thin as a dried corpse. They said the next treatment would start repairing her appearance.

While a group of overly excited people left the room, she stood up and decided to explore the outside world.

She wandered around the quiet building and eventually stood on an elevated walkway, feeling the breeze.

More than three hundred years had passed. The people she once knew were gone, and everything familiar had disappeared.

But the world hadn’t gotten worse. Humanity was still struggling to survive.

They had defeated the zombie virus, but were still fighting mutated infected animals.

Humans had built new habitable zones, reconstructed cities within them, restored communication, and advanced in technology, especially in medicine, where they had made tremendous progress.

The zombie virus had nearly destroyed human society, but now it had caused the average human lifespan to increase to a hundred years, nearly thirty years more than the peaceful era of three hundred years ago.

When Xue Ling finally started thinking again, her mind was a bit chaotic. So much information had flooded in, and she kept thinking about Wen Jiuze, then about other people she knew.

The past and present intertwined, and the old world and the new one tugged at her thoughts. She felt like a trash bag caught in a typhoon, floating aimlessly through the air.

It felt like she thought a lot, but also nothing at all.

The sky in the distance was a deep blue, and the clouds were white… when suddenly, an aircraft flew overhead.

It looked a bit like a helicopter from the past, but it was much quieter. Could this be the new standard for travel these days? Xue Ling wondered.

She watched the aircraft hover nearby before a figure jumped out and walked toward the building she was in. As the person got closer, their gait and appearance felt familiar to Xue Ling.

When she saw their face clearly, her first instinct was to hide.

It was just like when she turned into a zombie and reunited with Wen Jiuze—upon seeing him, her first instinct had been to hide.

After crouching for a few seconds, she realized something wasn’t right.

What was she hiding from? She slowly stood up and quietly peeked over.

Logically, she shouldn’t be scared. At times like this, she should have shouted Wen Jiuze’s name and rushed to him for a long-awaited, heartfelt hug, like in those classic romance dramas.

But she did feel an inexplicable panic.

While going through the motions of crouching and standing up, she noticed Wen Jiuze was no longer downstairs.

Her heart skipped a beat. She let go of the railing and walked toward her room.

After just a few steps, a gust of wind blew from behind her. Xue Ling’s head tilted forward—someone grabbed the back of her head.

The hand was large, gripping her tightly. It roughly stroked the back of her head, as if confirming something, before he forcibly turned her head around.

Xue Ling instinctively followed his movement and turned her body. She heard him say, “Xue Ling.”

In that moment, Xue Ling thought: Damn, what made you recognize me? Was it the feel of my head when you touched it just now?

Did you recognize me by the shape of the back of my head?!

She was shouting in her mind, but her mouth was too dry to speak. She managed to say, “Ah, Wen… Jiuze.”

Unlike the zombie Wen Jiuze she last saw, he now appeared closer to his original human form.

Apart from his eyes, which were still red, his skin had lost its bluish tint and was now the pale white color typical of a human. There were no strange veins showing through his skin.

His hair was jet black, and his lips were still red.

Under his eyes, there was a small “red mole.” It was the little hole she had accidentally poked with her finger long ago, and it had remained on his skin, turning into a small tear mole.

Wen Jiuze’s palm was still pressed against the back of her head as he bent down to gaze at her.

He looked at her in the empty hospital gown and the panic in her eyes, as if she were encountering the world for the first time.

“Where did you run off to?” he asked. “I’ve been looking for you for a long time.”

“Why is it always so hard to find you?” he added.

“I…” Xue Ling was about to speak but suddenly noticed he was leaning in toward her face.

Xue Ling: “?”

Xue Ling: “!”

He was about to kiss her right away. Was he out of his mind? His eyes were fine, but was he serious about kissing her like this? How could he even do that with her looking like this? He definitely had a strange taste.

Panicked, she slipped down, grabbing onto the nearby railing to escape his intense kiss.

She would not accept kissing a corpse, even if the corpse was her own.

“Calm down! Wen Jiuze, calm down!” she suddenly yelled, but in her panic, she ended up getting her head stuck in the railing.

Xue Ling: “…”

Wen Jiuze: “…”

Her behavior did make Wen Jiuze calm down a little.

He stood there, speechless, and with a sigh, he bent down, forcefully pried the railing open, and pulled the silent Xue Ling into his arms, walking toward the exit.

Xue Ling thought he was taking her back to the hospital room, but when she realized he was heading out, she uneasily moved: “Where are you going?”

“Taking you back.”

“Calm down! Calm down!” she pleaded.

“I’m calm,” Wen Jiuze replied.

“Look at me like this, I still have to undergo revival treatment here. I can’t even be discharged yet,” Xue Ling protested.

Wen Jiuze abruptly stopped and finally remembered the issue.

He held her tightly to him, massaging his forehead.

“You have a heartbeat now,” Xue Ling murmured, feeling the warm pulse against her ear.

The temperature coming from Wen Jiuze was slightly lower than a normal person’s, but warmer than a zombie’s. His heartbeat thudded clearly in her ears, which made Xue Ling marvel at it.

Revived people, or thawed ones, usually regain their heartbeat, but it’s typically very slow and hard to notice. This rapid beating was an anomaly.

If his heart continued to beat so fast for more than half an hour, the newly grown heart could explode.

But Xue Ling, still newly awake, wasn’t aware of this and was simply delighted by the sound of his heartbeat.

Wen Jiuze held her, and they faced each other. “You’ll recover soon,” he said.

Xue Ling hesitated as she looked at his face, then said, “Could you smile? I’m a bit scared. Your expression is unsettling.”

She had never seen Wen Jiuze look so cold. He had always either smiled or seemed carefree.

Wen Jiuze didn’t know what expression he had. He hadn’t looked in a mirror for a long time.

“Fool,” he said. “You’re not afraid of me, you’re afraid of this unfamiliar world.”

Everything had changed, even he wasn’t the same as before, which made her scared.

“Don’t be afraid. I’m still here,” Wen Jiuze reassured her.

A plastic bag drifted down from the sky and landed lightly on the ground.

Xue Ling suddenly heard her own heartbeat thud. It was like she had just come to her senses, and she instinctively wrapped her arms around Wen Jiuze’s neck.

“Don’t be afraid,” she whispered, repeating it. “I’m still here, too.”

After saying that, she was kissed roughly on her forehead.

Xue Ling’s heart thumped again: “…”

Did he really have to kiss her now? He could’ve kissed the nearby railing, that would have been smoother.

Wen Jiuze took a deep breath and slowly smiled at her.

Xue Ling: “…Your smile looks weird.”

Wen Jiuze: “No, you’re the weird one.”

“?” Xue Ling realized she had been insulted. Her hand moved on its own and grabbed his arm.

Wen Jiuze: “Right, squeeze harder.”

Xue Ling immediately loosened her grip, not wanting to give him the satisfaction.

“What about the researchers in the building? Why haven’t I seen any of them?” Wen Jiuze asked as he carried Xue Ling through the building.

They finally found them in the cafeteria on the third floor.

The group of researchers had drunk themselves into a stupor, celebrating the end of their hard days, and none of them remembered to send a message to Wen Jiuze.

“Did they forget by accident, or did they intentionally forget?” Wen Jiuze observed as he looked at the crazed familiar faces around the table.

“They’re probably celebrating our reunion,” Xue Ling said.

Wen Jiuze sneered and sharply asked, “Did they say anything bad about me?”

“Don’t trust them. When I was sent here to be thawed, they wanted to study me, make me a test subject. But when they discovered my identity, they reluctantly abandoned their original plans. For a long time, they still tried to get me to cooperate for experiments.”

“It took me years to get them to behave.”

Wen Jiuze had no mercy for them. He directly woke up the two closest people.

His face, as grim as the king of hell, was enough to sober them up.

“Wake everyone up. I want to see the revival treatment plan you made for Xue Ling,” he ordered.

He gave them time to sober up, then he and Xue Ling returned to her hospital room.

After a quick glance inside, Wen Jiuze said, “Move to the room I was in before.”

Xue Ling had no objection. After all, any room would do.

Wen Jiuze was more familiar with this place. Perhaps his old room was more comfortable than this one.

“Has your hospital room been kept all this time?”

Xue Ling didn’t have much to pack. She only took a book provided by a researcher.

“I sometimes stay here, so there’s a room reserved for me.”

Wen Jiuze noticed the book in Xue Ling’s hand.

“Did you see the part about Wen Yi in this book?”

“Yeah, they said there’s a section about her life, so I flipped through it.”

“Did they also tell you that the current Beifeng District is a large area rebuilt after the dissolution of the former Beizheng Base? The First Research Institute now was also once led by Professor Wen Yi?”

Wen Jiuze took the book from her hand.

“Don’t let a little bit of clever wording make you too fond of them.”

“Three out of the seven districts have connections to the old Beizheng Base. Wen Yi, being the director of a research institute, is a matter from centuries ago. These people are not her disciples. They say this only to try to get close to you.”

Xue Ling watched his expression, but in her heart, she wondered: Did you once feel close to them because of these words, only to end up disappointed? Is that why you’re warning me like this?

Wen Jiuze’s former hospital room was at the far end of the floor. He walked ahead and opened the door with a push.

Xue Ling took one look and was stunned by the state of the room.

“You… you used to live in this kind of unfinished room?”

A researcher, who had just woken up, rushed over and couldn’t help explaining, “He tore it apart himself!”

They had never seen someone so paranoid and distrustful of others. He had turned a furnished room into an unfinished space.

Wen Jiuze replied, “There might be surveillance cameras in the corners of the other rooms. It’s better to tear everything down.”

“That’s for monitoring the patients in real-time. It’s necessary for treatment. Every room has it! And you tore down our monitoring equipment as well!” The researcher was upset.

Wen Jiuze interrupted, “You think I don’t know? Revival treatment doesn’t need so much data.”

He directly exposed their unspoken rules, showing his tough and assertive side. “Give me the revival treatment plan for Xue Ling.”

Now, he seemed like a seasoned doctor, flipping through the plan and pointing out, “Seven days is too late. We’ll do it tomorrow.”

The researcher, who had brought the plan, argued, “It’s to adjust her condition. These seven days will let her gradually adapt…”

Wen Jiuze cut him off, “Don’t try to fool me. I’m familiar with this process too. One day is enough. I know you want to drag this out to collect more data on her body. Are you hoping to take advantage of her since you can’t find any loopholes with me?”

The researcher was embarrassed. “…It’s just a bit of data. Your situation is too special.”

“Do it my way. If you do anything unnecessary, I’ll have your building demolished.” Wen Jiuze said calmly.

As a member of the abnormal team, he could do it, and he wasn’t afraid of the consequences.