Chapter 35

Chapter 35

Xue Ling had turned into a zombie early on.

While others were terrified of the zombies, she was terrified because she had become one herself.

Her skin had turned a sickly blue, red veins standing out against it, and her eyes had gone dark red. She couldn’t feel a pulse or heartbeat at all.

Xue Ling stared at herself in the mirror for what felt like ages, then looked down from the window. In despair, she realized she was no different from the zombies downstairs, chasing people to attack!

She wanted to scream to let out all her emotions, but what came out was a grotesque zombie growl.

She began to feel really hungry, but she didn’t want to eat snacks or rice at home. Hearing the bickering of the young couple next door made her want to go and take a bite out of them.

By then, things had already started getting chaotic outside, but Xue Ling hid inside her home.

People were knocking on doors one by one, warning them to stay home and not go out without a reason, and some were distributing supplies. Xue Ling didn’t dare to open the door.

Realizing that she had become a zombie but was different from the others, Xue Ling was extremely panicked. After a period of fear, her first reaction was to look for her family.

Her uncle, aunt, and cousin should still be at home.

Fortunately, the zombies outside treated her as one of their own. At that time, most people were also hiding fearfully inside their homes, so there weren’t many obstacles, and she successfully made it to her uncle’s house on the other side of the city.

Hesitating downstairs in the building where she had lived for more than a decade, Xue Ling was surprised to find that her mother was actually there too.

Before the chaos began, she had contacted her mother by phone, and her mother was in a neighboring city with her stepfather.

Was she here to pick her up?

Xue Ling was both happy and scared. She hid by the door and only slowly approached when her mother walked out alone.

The moment her mother saw her clearly, she froze, her eyes widening in shock, and tears instantly fell. She stood there muttering her name.

Xue Ling also wanted to cry. She took two steps forward, wanting to call her mother, but what came out was the growl of a zombie.

The strange sound startled her mother. She fearfully stepped back, trembling all over, and let out a hoarse scream.

“Ah!”

The scream alerted her uncle and stepfather inside the house.

Her stepfather had been a truck driver and had a somewhat dark complexion but had a good nature. When he married her mother, he privately gave Xue Ling a big red envelope.

At that moment, he rushed out with a stick in hand, and when he saw Xue Ling, he immediately raised the stick to strike her.

The swinging stick cut through the air with a whoosh, like it could smash someone’s head in. Xue Ling was frightened and dodged, but the stick still hit the back of her head.

Her stepfather wanted to strike again, but her mother reacted, screaming and rushing to hold him back.

“Don’t hit her! Don’t hit her!”

She cried, “It’s Lingling… That’s Lingling, my daughter! Ah…”

Her stepfather’s second swing didn’t land, and Xue Ling stumbled away, hearing a chaotic noise behind her.

Her uncle repeatedly asked in disbelief, her aunt was terrified, and her cousin was crying.

They were sad and scared, urging her mother to go back inside and close the door.

Xue Ling crouched in a corner downstairs, hiding, and could hear the crying from inside the house for a long, long time.

No matter who it was, the first reaction upon seeing a zombie at the door would be to attack. She told herself she understood.

If I were still human and saw such an ugly zombie, I would be scared too. It’s a normal reaction.

On the way there, she had thought about how to make her uncle and the others understand that she still had her rationality and was different from the other zombies.

But when she saw the fear in her mother’s eyes and the strike from her stepfather, she was awakened to the truth.

No matter if she still had human thoughts and rationality, no matter how much she could assure them that she wouldn’t bite anyone, she could never live with her family again.

That night, she crouched downstairs for the entire night, and the next day, her uncle’s family and her mother, along with her stepfather, left Yushi city.

They were heading to a county in a neighboring city. Her stepfather’s son and his family were there as well.

Xue Ling watched their car leave and only got up to chase after it when it was out of sight.

Suddenly, she didn’t know where else she could go.

She thought about going back to the apartment she had rented, where she had lived for over two years.

But when she returned, the building was in chaos. People were hiding in her apartment, so she couldn’t go back and could only wander downstairs.

Her family had left. She had a few friends, but they weren’t that close. At least after turning into a zombie, they probably wouldn’t want to see her.

As for a lover… she had broken up not long ago.

At first, she hadn’t thought about looking for Wen Jiuzhe, but she really had nowhere else to go.

When the building she lived in was set on fire by crazed people, Xue Ling finally decided to leave Yushi city.

Leaving required a destination, after all.

She thought of Wen Jiuzhe’s hometown, Anxi city, where both he and Wen Xuan had returned to recently.

Xue Ling decided to go to Anxi City to find Wen Jiuzhe. It wasn’t for any other reason—she was still angry about their hasty breakup and had suffered grievances from her relatives.

So, she decided to take out all her anger on Wen Jiuzhe, travel to Anxi City to bite him, and turn him into a zombie too!

With a vengeful heart, she angrily set off.

But the trip was way too long and tough. By the time she finally reached Anxi City, she didn’t want to look for Wen Jiuzhe anymore, so she just lay down in a park.

When she didn’t want to see Wen Jiuzhe, he suddenly appeared in front of her.

Right then, she was truly annoyed and wished Wen Jiuzhe would disappear… She didn’t want to see the fear and disgust in the eyes of people who were once close to her anymore.

From the start, Xue Ling had no hope for Wen Jiuzhe’s attitude. Even her closest relatives were afraid of her, much less a former boyfriend who had actively broken up with her.

As she collapsed amid a group of zombies, Xue Ling thought, I’m not afraid. If you’ve got the guts, just kill me, shoot me.

But Wen Jiuzhe didn’t. He was as casual as ever, as if he hadn’t noticed her zombie appearance, and said with a laugh, “I didn’t even hit you, why did you fall?”

The small boat drifting on the sea reached the shore, though it crashed into reefs.

After being a zombie for over three years and reuniting with Wen Jiuzhe for more than two months, meeting her relatives again stirred too many complicated emotions in Xue Ling’s heart.

After crying through a whole bottle of water, Wen Jiuzhe wiped her face with a towel, cleaned the damp seat, and held her lying on the flattened seat, deliberately saying some annoying words.

Xue Ling grabbed several holes in his clothes, clenched them in her hand, and gradually calmed down.

“Because you’ve finished being sad, right? If you have, can you answer a question for me?”

Wen Jiuzhe’s thoughtfulness was like a rainbow after a storm, brief and making her wonder if it was real.

“I thought you came to Anxi City before you turned into a zombie and became one there by accident, but your mother said you were already like this in Yu City three years ago. So, you came to Anxi City after becoming a zombie just to find me, right?”

Xue Ling: “……”

It’s already confirmed, so why ask?

She stayed quiet, and Wen Jiuzhe didn’t press further, changing the subject, “How long did it take you to get here? A year? A year and a half?”

He guessed a few times but was wrong. Xue Ling reluctantly told him it was over two years, and she couldn’t remember the exact time.

This time, their journey from Anxi City to Yu City took over two months by car, getting lost without navigation, taking many detours due to collapsed roads or human blockades, needing to bypass large groups of zombies and vehicles, resting at night, constantly finding ways to get gasoline, and dealing with various emergencies.

Walking would be even more troublesome.

Xue Ling almost got lost on the way to the grasslands, trying to find direction along the railroad tracks, only to discover a large section of the tracks was buried by landslides on both sides. Heaven knows how she made it through.

Making it to Anxi City in over two years, she was already very impressive!

“Impressive that you managed to find Anxi City.” Wen Jiuzhe also praised her.

Xue Ling: “……”

His praise made her unable to feel happy.

Wen Jiuzhe: “Did you come to find me to get back together?”

Xue Ling completely lost the desire to cry and wanted to sneer.

Nice dream, getting back together! Keep dreaming!

Wen Jiuzhe: “You went through so much to find me, and when you saw me, you didn’t bite me. You really care about me.”

Xue Ling: “……”

This guy’s memory shouldn’t be that bad, right?

When they first met, did she not want to bite him? She tried but couldn’t bite him. He was too quick, too strong, and tied her up so tight she couldn’t break free. He didn’t mention any of it at all.

In the afternoon, as Wen Jiuzhe was packing things by the car, preparing to leave, he saw Ms. Xue Pingying again.

She was carrying the same little girl from the day before and came over to talk to him.

“I haven’t asked your name yet; are you planning to stay at Xiuan Base?”

Hearing the rustling inside the car, Wen Jiuzhe smiled and replied, “My name is Wen Jiuzhe; I plan to leave this afternoon.”

He glanced at the little girl in her arms, “Who is this child?”

Xue Pingying patted the somewhat shy little girl, “She’s my stepdaughter’s daughter. Her dad’s gone, and her mom’s working all the time, so I’m looking after her.”

So many people have died, and every family has lost loved ones. Earlier in the morning, Xue Pingying’s eyes had turned red when she heard her dead daughter’s name, but now she no longer looked grief-stricken, as it had been a long time for her.

But no one had mentioned her daughter in a long while, and Xue Pingying suddenly felt the desire to talk and confide in someone.

“Her name is Tiantian, and she’s an obedient and sensible child, just like my Lingling was. When Lingling was young, she was also like this. She rarely cried and didn’t like to make trouble. When I held her, she was very well-behaved.”

“She was very sensible at a young age and even brought me an umbrella.”

Wen Jiuzhe leaned on the car window and listened as Xue Ling, leaning behind him, also listened quietly.

She still remembered that incident. At that time, she had been living at her uncle’s house for a year, and during the summer vacation, she couldn’t hold back anymore and cried over the phone, telling her mother how much she missed her and wanted to live with her.

Her mother also wept upon hearing her cry and said she missed her daughter too.

So, she took time off and took a train overnight to bring her daughter to live with her, planning to return to her uncle’s house after the summer vacation.

At that time, her mother was working alone outside, earning a low wage and living in poor conditions, in a small single room on the top floor. It was very hot during the day, and she couldn’t afford to put in an air conditioner, just used a fan.

It was only after Xue Ling came that she installed an air conditioner.

During the day, when Mom went to work, Xue Ling would stay alone in that room. Every day before Mom left for work, she’d give her lots of warnings: not to touch knives, electrical outlets, or hot water.

She’d always head to work worrying about her daughter and would rush back at noon just to check on her before heading back to work.

One time, it was past her usual work hours, and there was a downpour. Xue Ling waited for a long time for her mom to come back, but when she didn’t come back, she grabbed her umbrella and went downstairs. But once downstairs, she didn’t know where to go, so she sat at the bottom of the building and waited.

“I waited for the rain to let up before heading back, and I saw Lingling waiting for me downstairs with an umbrella. The moment she saw me, she burst into tears and said, ‘Mom, a dog bit me.’ I looked and saw a puppy, about the size of a hand, tugging at her pant leg.”

Xue Pingying smiled as she remembered it.

Years later, she still smiles when she thinks about it, but back then, being young, she was just scared. She scolded her daughter sternly and told her not to go downstairs by herself.

She often heard stories about kids getting lost and was terrified. She was afraid that if she didn’t watch closely, her child might get kidnapped.

Wen Jiuzhe then asked, “Was Xue Ling afraid of dogs when she was little?”

Xue Pingying was taken aback. “No, she liked puppies. That day, the little dog startled her when it bit her pants. She even told me the puppy didn’t mean to bite, it was just hungry. Later, whenever I took her downstairs to play, she would always look for the puppy and want to play with it.”

She had been holding the little girl, Tiantian, and talking to her but, feeling a bit tired, put her down after a while.

Tiantian’s feet touched the ground, and she wasn’t paying attention to the adults. Seeing a bug on the ground, she suddenly reached out to grab it.

Xue Pingying quickly stopped her. “Tiantian, don’t touch the bug. It might bite you.”

She sighed and picked the child up again, casually saying, “Kids just love playing with these little bugs and aren’t afraid at all. Even my Lingling was like that. When she was little, she even grabbed a frog and kissed it.”

Wen Jiuzhe looked at her with a strange expression. “She grabbed a frog… and kissed it?”