Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Wu Yin's mood swings were so drastic that Zhao mistakenly thought he was delighted about "Palmer" still not forgetting those sleazy tricks, wanting Z1932 to carry him to take advantage. Thinking of this, Zhao couldn't help but admire this lustful ghost; even in such times, he's thinking of such frivolities, completely disregarding life and death for the sake of yellow pursuits.

Palmer was more than willing to take on this terrifying monster, Xin Rong, which she couldn't be more grateful for. She even thought Palmer was considering their past intimacy, sympathizing with her, hence his selfless act. After all, Z1932's current appearance was truly horrifying, almost indistinguishable from a polluter, who knew when he would go mad and bite someone's neck.

As everyone agreed with Palmer's decision, Xie Linyuan naturally had no objections. He walked up to Wu Yin, turned around, and crouched down again, leaning forward slightly to make it easier for Palmer to get on his back.

He felt the man behind him first extend his left hand, using the back of his hand to tentatively touch his arm before quickly gripping it. Then, a warm right arm slid over his protruding shoulder blades, climbing up his neck.

With his hands bracing behind, he firmly grasped Palmer's thighs, then bent his head to use the straps on his combat uniform to more securely tie Palmer to his back. During the motion, fine strands of gold hair brushed his cheek, and he heard the professor yawn tiredly, the sound light as a feather. If it weren't whispered right into his ear, it would have been inaudible to anyone else.

"Are we set?... Let's move," Wu Yin said listlessly.

He was sleepy.

Amidst the tension and potential dangers of being stranded in the wilderness, he felt sleepy.

Due to his vision issues, Wu Yin maintained a healthy circadian rhythm of rising with the sun and resting at sunset. Having stayed up late at the farm the night before and not rested well throughout the day, he was struggling to stay awake tonight.

Jie Lin Yuan walked steadily, making Wu Yin want to sleep on his back. But just as he was about to drift off, a scream pierced his eardrums, followed by the man carrying him suddenly sprinting, releasing the grip on his right leg, then came the sound of a blade piercing flesh.

Since Wu Yin couldn't see anyway, he simply kept his eyes closed, deducing from the sounds that Jie Lin Yuan must have killed an Infected.

Indeed, when the body of the Infected hit the ground, Zhao Team was somewhat stunned. Anyone would be, encountering a half-rotten Infected face-to-face in the dead of night among corn stalks, leaving their mind buzzing with shock.

Xin Rong, who was walking with Zhao Team, was even more terrified, her scream being the source of the earlier noise. Despite her fright, she managed to suppress any further screams, though she collapsed to the ground, trembling uncontrollably.

Wu Yin lazily shifted on Jie Lin Yuan's back, finding a more comfortable position to rest.

"I'll lead the way," Jie Lin Yuan said after cleaning the blade on the corn tassels, turning his "low beam" left eye into a "high beam," and started walking ahead with Palmer on his back.

The Infected seemed more sluggish at night, posing less of a real threat to the living beyond psychological terror. Jie Lin Yuan, agile and decisive in his movements, made quick work of any attacks, almost on muscle memory, leaving Zhao Team and Xin Rong barely seeing what happened before another grotesque creature lay at their feet.

Wu Yin's memories of the latter part of the journey blurred as he dozed off, only murmuring in realization when Jie Lin Yuan gently set him down.

Zhao Team, seeing Palmer's sleepy demeanor, was incredulous, "You fell asleep?!"

"...No," Wu Yin stubbornly rubbed his temple, "I lost too much blood and passed out."

Zhao Team: "..."

Xin Rong, the patient truly on the verge of fainting, slumped in her chair, head buried in her arms, breathing heavily.

Xie Linyuan let them rest, acting as the sole source of light, moving alone through each room of the small two-story building they decided to temporarily stay in. The light quickly flickered on and off with each door opened and closed, completing his check of all rooms in just three minutes.

Buildings with courtyards like this weren't rare in the vicinity, uniformly dilapidated. Compared to the closely built low-rise buildings, this building stood relatively isolated, separated by a small mud road, surrounded by wasteland and wild grass, possibly left by the pre-apocalyptic owner for gardening. They didn't have the luxury to be picky and kicked the door open to rush in.

They had expected to possibly encounter one or two aggressive original inhabitants, but surprisingly, every room was clean. Xie Linyuan's search turned up two well-preserved cans of fish meat.

However, judging by the cute cartoon on the packaging and the production date, these were two cans of cat food expired by three months. But in these times, no one cared about such details; even if it was just fish scraps meant for cats before the apocalypse, at this moment, it was a precious can of meat.

Zhao tore open the can, and the smell of fish instantly filled the air. The pinkish meat paste topped with white fat and clear aspic was licked clean from the lid before Zhao used the bent metal lid to scoop out half, passing the remaining can to Xin Rong.

She had been salivating at the fishy smell, uncontrollably secreting saliva when Zhao first cracked open the can. Her nostrils flared with greed, but knowing her place, she didn't dare say much. Realizing Zhao was willing to share half with her, Xin Rong was so excited she thanked him repeatedly, ignoring the pain in her legs to dig into the can.

Her fingers, moving too hastily, got cut by the can, causing her to hiss in pain. She rudely sucked on the wound before continuing to scrape meat from the crevices of the can with her nails.

On the other side, Xie Linyuan sat down properly in front of Palmer, opened the can, and passed it to him, "Professor, have some food."

"Not hungry," Wu Yin leaned back in his chair, pretending to be weak and closing his eyes. He wanted the can too but pretended not to see it, eating was too troublesome and might expose his night blindness, better not to eat.

"You should eat a little," Xie Linyuan urged patiently.

The room presented a bizarre scene: on one side, two hungry tigers devoured their food, while on the other, a butler persuaded a noble young master to eat.

Wu Yin frowned, slightly tilting his head, "You eat it..."

Before the words were fully out, a cool, hard object pressed against his lower lip. Wu Yin hesitated for a moment before daring to stick out his tongue to taste the object presented to him—a thin, hard piece of metal, from which he licked up a bit of fish paste. Since Jie Linyuan had fed it to him, he didn't fuss any further, obediently opening his eyes to consume the cat food.

...But what was Jie Linyuan using to feed him?

As Wu Yin pondered, he suddenly heard Jie Linyuan chuckle, "What’s with that look? It’s not the same knife I used on the contaminators earlier; this dagger hasn’t been used during this mission yet."

"..." Understood, he was fed with the back of the knife.

Wu Yin naturally lifted his eyes, gazing in the direction of the voice: "Are you this kind to everyone?"

"What?" Jie Linyuan's movements, as he used the knife's tip to pick up the cat food, paused slightly. His left eye adjusted to a soft yellow light suitable for eye protection, while his right eye, swollen like a fish's, rolled in its socket with a bizarre absurdity. Black veins bulged beneath it, continuously writhing across his cheek.

But facing such a grotesque visage, Wu Yin's gaze remained calm and fearless, casually shrugging: "To persuade someone to eat by feeding them personally." For Wu Yin, this was an unprecedented experience. In his memory, if they couldn't feed themselves, the solution was a simple and brutal nutrition injection, followed by being thrown into an empty, featureless room.

"Of course not," Jie Linyuan's voice lowered, the fish paste-coated back of the knife touching Wu Yin's lips again. Meanwhile, his warm, moist breath whispered in Wu Yin's ear, a volume reserved for just the two of them, "You're special…"

"Because you're the first person who asked for my name."

As Jie Linyuan straightened up, he noticed the ear he had leaned towards was flushed with heat. He smirked satisfactorily, but his expression changed to confusion as he turned to Palmer. The face showed none of the emotions he expected - no desire, excitement, resistance, or disgust. In fact, Palmer's expression was utterly neutral, quietly chewing his food.

Had he misunderstood? Jie Linyuan subtly created a safe distance from Palmer. All day, the message from everyone was that this blond researcher was a fool driven by desires, and interested in him… But now, it seemed not to be the case. Was Palmer pretending, or had he assumed too much?

Jie Linyuan didn't know that the expressionless Wu Yin was thinking: Liar, this half-mechanical man is a habitual liar, not a single word he says can be trusted.

Wu Yin touched his ear, puzzled by the physiological reaction occurring there. But one thing was certain – it was definitely Jie Linyuan's doing.

"I don't want any more," Wu Yin refused firmly this time. Jie Linyuan didn't insist further, rising to his feet and scraping the meat clinging to the can's walls, quickly finishing the entire can.

Zhao waited until he was done before asking, "Have you managed to contact your action team yet?"

"I'm attempting the third emergency contact," Jie Linyuan replied methodically.

"Hmm…" Zhao leaned on the table with his elbow, tiredly pinching the bridge of his nose.

Silence fell again, leaving the small building quiet and still, with only the sound of everyone's breathing...

Suddenly, Zhao stood up abruptly, striding over to Jie Linyuan, illuminating his own arm with the light in his eyes, "Not good!" he exclaimed in panic, "The dust on these tables and chairs is only a thin layer, not like it’s been uninhabited. This place..."

As if to confirm his words, a flash of light suddenly passed outside the window. Jie Linyuan quickly extinguished the light in his left eye and moved swiftly to the window, looking out sideways.

In the distance, a familiar transport truck approached along the bumpy mud road, bobbing up and down as it neared.