Chapter 34

Chapter 34

A bowl full of tenderly stewed lily and mung bean soup, cooled for a whole day, still carrying the warmth of the day, at the perfect temperature for consumption. The girl stared at the porcelain bowl, her swallowing noises surprisingly loud, echoing in the room as if she had swallowed her tongue.

Xie Linyuan amiably urged again, and the woman and child no longer held back, gobbling down the bowl with spoons clinking against the sides, producing a tinkling sound.

It was at this moment Wu Yin, wearing soft cotton slippers, stepped down the cold, black spiral staircase, stopping midway with a high and mighty air. Woken up in the middle of the night, his expression was naturally not pleasant, and because his vision was blurred and not focused on anything specific, his demeanor seemed somewhat arrogant to others.

The child looked to be only five or six years old, skinny and dark, with a face and hands so dirty they left black fingerprints wherever they touched. She was completely focused on eating, burying her entire face in the bowl to lick the remaining split mung beans.

The mother accompanying her was much shrewder, constantly scanning her surroundings from the moment she entered. Even while eating, her eyes darted about, almost instantly noticing a young man with black hair appearing on the stairs as soon as Wu Yin showed up.

"Jie Linyuan," Wu Yin said with mild displeasure, "Are you too idle, stirring up such trouble in the middle of the night?"

The woman hastily stood up, bowing and apologizing, "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. Please don't kick us out."

"Xiao Yin, sorry, did I wake you?" Jie Linyuan called out gently, his voice filled with remorse.

Xiao... Yin...? Wu Yin's grip on the stair railing suddenly tightened, "What are you—"

Before he could finish, Jie Linyuan interrupted him with frustration, "It's not that I'm too idle. It's just that they, the mother and daughter, are really pitiful. The place they've been living in for nearly half a year was destroyed by a zombie horde, and her husband also lost his life in it. Moreover, it's said that the horde wasn't originally going to pass through their shelter, but it was those people from the Wolf Smoke Shelter who drove them there."

As he spoke, Jie Linyuan walked towards the stairs. By the time his words fell, he was standing a step below Wu Yin, tilting his head up slightly, gazing at the man bathed in the cold blue moonlight.

Jie Linyuan, supporting himself with one hand on the railing, had a gentle gaze like a soft palm, tracing over Wu Yin's lifeless black pupils, settling on the furrowed brow, "They are truly despicable... What do you think, Xiao Yin?"

"What do you want me to say?" Wu Yin retorted with a cold face, "Stop causing trouble and hurry up and drive them out."

Jie Linyuan frowned in difficulty, "Don't be capricious, Xiao Yin. We can't do that. Driving them out now is tantamount to sending them to their deaths. In times of crisis, we should help each other more."

"...” Wu Yin painfully said, "Fine, have it your way... But can you stop calling me Xiao Yin?"

He understood why Jie Linyuan, knowing the dubious intentions of the two downstairs, still insisted on opening the doors to welcome them in. It was nothing more than a suspicion that they had a gang behind them, wanting to lure them all out at once.

But Wu Yin didn't understand why Jie Linyuan was now showing such tender affection towards him. What exactly was he playing at?

He recalled a time when Jie Linyuan spoke to "Palmer" in the same tone, each word as if it could wring out water. And over time, Jie Linyuan had clearly evolved; his skills now were much more formidable than before, causing Wu Yin to almost get goosebumps.

Hearing Wu Yin's words, Jie Linyuan's voice suddenly became even softer, like a melting chocolate bar soaked in thick, golden honey, "Why don't you want me to call you by your nickname anymore? Are you still angry about this afternoon?... Please don't be angry, okay? Xiao Yin, I promise I won't do that again."

"...” Wu Yin, feeling overwhelmed, said with difficulty, "Jie Linyuan, I'm telling you again, stop calling me Xiao Yin."

Jie Linyuan turned a deaf ear, continuing to immerse himself in his role-playing, "Xiao Yin, you're not well and you can't see well, go back to bed. The temperature drops at night, don't catch a cold. Leave them to me to take care of."

Saying this, he leaned forward, considerately adjusting the open collar of Wu Yin's pajamas.

Wu Yin quickly stepped back, almost stumbling over a step.

Unbeknownst to him, the sight of him being so visibly discomforted seemed to give Jie Linyuan some kind of insight, his lips almost stretching to the back of his head in amusement.

Unbeknownst to Wu Yin, when Jie Linyuan revealed key information about their ambiguous relationship, arguing, physical frailty, and blindness, the woman downstairs nearly couldn't contain her greedy and triumphant expression. She looked at Jie Linyuan and Wu Yin as if they were two juicy pieces of fat meat.

The closer two people are, the easier they are to manipulate. Control one, and the other cannot escape, ready to be slaughtered.

It was puzzling how this naive and kind same-sex couple had survived in this cannibalistic apocalyptic world. Could it be sheer dumb luck? Sadly, their luck was about to run out today... The tall one looked meaty and robust, starting with his thighs, turning him into a human pig, all while enjoying his handsome face twisted in tears and regret. The thin one, less appetizing, barely worth boiling for soup, and also a man with ordinary looks, might as well be killed outright after his pleading.

Only the little girl was entirely detached from this calculating game. She put down her now clean porcelain bowl, still hungry as she licked her lips, her eyes fixated on a small apple on the coffee table, but she dared not act rashly, glancing fearfully at the woman before looking away.

Wu Yin disliked moving around at night, his brain somewhat sluggish due to impaired vision. After a few seconds of silence, he reluctantly pursed his lips, "Fine, do as you please."

Turning back towards the stairs, he advised without looking back, "Keep the noise down. And tell the Black Knight to keep quiet too if it wants to join."

Hearing this, Jie Linyuan glanced sideways and saw a massive shadow squatting in the balcony doorway, its four wolf-like eyes glowing green in the night, burning silently like ghostly fires.

"Okay," Jie Linyuan responded, watching Wu Yin's retreating figure, his lips curling into an excited smile, "Goodnight, Xiao Yin. See you at dawn."

"...” Wu Yin, too tired to correct him again, returned to his bedroom, locked the door, and slept restlessly for three hours.

Of course, he didn't sleep well for those three hours.

Anyone would struggle to sleep if, on the second floor, a large construction team was working downstairs.

Several times, Wu Yin felt the ground vibrating, bullets from downstairs seemingly piercing the roof, hitting his bed. Irritated, he turned in his bed, pressing a pillow over his ears.

The Black Knight was quiet, but the people it bit screamed like slaughtered pigs. Later, either the Black Knight learned to bite the throat first or something else happened, as suddenly there was silence below.

Fortunately, after a while, Jie Linyuan changed his battlefield, or perhaps the enemies, unable to withstand his terrifying force, fled in panic. Jie Linyuan and the Black Knight mercilessly pursued them, and the surroundings fell deadly silent for a while, allowing Wu Yin to catch another hour of light sleep, until the first rays of sunlight entered the bedroom. He got up with a dark face, unwittingly stepping out of his room.

The first-floor café was no longer the same as it had been three hours ago—

Five dismembered male corpses lay haphazardly on the Bohemian-style carpet, their blood seeping into the fabric, changing its color. Besides, a woman with unseeing eyes lay collapsed on the sofa. Half of her palm was missing next to a broken lady's handgun, heavily worn from use, evidently old and judging by the break, bitten off by the Black Knight along with her hand and gun.

From the scene before him, Wu Yin easily reconstructed last night's events—The woman, seeing an opportunity, tried to ambush Jie Linyuan but was killed by the Black Knight lurking in the shadows. Her accomplices outside, hearing the commotion, rushed in, screaming, only to be fodder for the mechanical war god.

It's a shame about the carpet; he quite liked its pattern... Wu Yin kicked aside a corpse missing a leg, wondering if having Jie Linyuan wash it might salvage it...

Just then, a deafening gunshot rang from outside, followed by a scream.

"Aren't you done yet?" Wu Yin strode in, pushing the door open wide. Inside the courtyard, he saw several people kneeling scattered about, and a freshly killed male body on the ground, still bleeding. The body clutched a small crossbow in its limp hand, a classic case of an assassin killed in a counterattack.

A short-haired woman knelt beside the dead body, cursing hysterically, "You demon! Murderer, ah! May you die a horrible death!" Next to her, a boy about fourteen or fifteen glared at Jie Lin Yuan with eyes full of hatred and loathing.

Jie Lin Yuan, in contrast, sat leisurely on an afternoon tea chair in the courtyard. His legs were crossed, his silver hair neatly tied back. He looked down, wiping a smoking handgun in his hands, resembling an elegant gentleman savoring his tea, skillfully maintaining his treasured jewel.

Apart from the short-haired woman and her son, everyone else knelt on the ground, trembling, heads bowed, not daring to make a sound.

The Black Knight stood under the eaves, enjoying the shade, lifting its two heads to look at Wu Yin as he emerged.

"You're awake?" Jie Lin Yuan turned to him, his voice much normal now, knowing that Wu Yin was not as easy to bully during the day. To avoid dredging up past grievances, he quickly changed the subject, "I got a new car, half a tank of gas left, and there's alcohol in it. Have you ever drunk alcohol?"

The transport truck they had driven from the Langyan Shelter was bulletproof in glass and tires, but after a gunfight, it was badly damaged. Plus, the cabin was splattered with the brain matter of their leader, Bilal, which both Wu Yin and Jie Lin Yuan found distasteful.

They had stayed in this small mountain house for a week, partly because Wu Yin needed rest, and also because they hadn't found a suitable vehicle yet.

Fortunately, as luck would have it, a group of fools had driven a vehicle up the mountain in the middle of the night, unwittingly delivering resources right to their doorstep.

"Never had it," yawned Wu Yin. "Since we've got a new car, let's leave today. You guys don't hold back in a fight; the hall is all bloodstained, stinks to high heaven. Can't stay here anymore."

Hearing they were about to set off, the Black Knight immediately wagged its tail joyfully, rubbing its dog-like heads against Wu Yin's thigh.

Jie Lin Yuan, too, was ready to leave, getting up to reply, "Alright, I'll pack up the luggage."

"First, deal with these people," Wu Yin said impatiently. "They kept me up all night."

Xie Linyuan transformed his gun into a long knife, trying to minimize noise to avoid attracting the attention of the Infected—a common sense in the apocalypse. "Did you kill them all?"

"All killed," Wu Yin replied without hesitation. But in a split second, his thoughts changed. A meaningful smile curled at the corner of his lips as his gaze swept over the people kneeling on the ground. "No, leave one, just one to drive for us."