Night fell, and the weather turned cold and gloomy again.
The atmosphere in the house was strange. The three of them ate dinner in silence, noodles that Qi Yue brought from the small kitchen. Even he was tired of eating dumplings by now.
Tonight, they needed to send someone to join the people in the courtyard for the night watch. Han Fei originally planned to take Qi Yue with him; there was no way he could rest easy leaving Qi Yue alone with that kid again.
But after seeing the way Qi Yue walked, clearly uncomfortable, he couldn’t bear it. So he slipped into his space.
Han Fei’s storage space was packed with supplies. His organization was involved in many businesses, and before they set out, he’d basically emptied the entire stock from his own store into the space. Along the way, he also collected plenty of things, miscellaneous, all sorts.
After digging around for a bit, Han Fei came out holding a bottle of medicinal oil.
He handed the oil to Qi Yue and said, “You stay and rest. I’ll go on patrol with him later.”
He then looked at Lin Yuze, silently checking for his opinion. Though he hated this pretty-boy, he still knew how to prioritize.
Lin Yuze nodded.
He and Han Fei had fought, yet Qi Yue somehow ended up looking more battered than the two of them. His nose was swollen red, which looked especially ridiculous; he was also limping, so clearly his injuries weren’t light. What a headache, how could someone be this fragile?
Han Fei rubbed his temples, thought for a moment, and then walked back outside before Qi Yue could react.
There were too many people in the courtyard; he didn’t dare take suspicious items directly from his space, so instead he climbed onto the truck and opened the trunk, where the blanket “just happened” to be, though it actually came from his space.
He brought it back inside and spread it across the bare wooden bed.
“Be good. After you put on the medicine, get some sleep.”
Qi Yue’s mouth fell slightly open with shock. What was Han Fei trying to do? This was terrifying!!
Why was he speaking in such a warm tone???
Was he trying to provoke Lin Yuze? Make him jealous??
Because he and Lin Yuze had been too close earlier, so Han Fei wanted revenge??
Han Fei saw Qi Yue’s dumbfounded expression and frowned. When they first met, Qi Yue had seemed pretty sharp. Why was he acting so dense now? This was the first time Han Fei had ever spoken gently to someone, and Qi Yue didn’t even know how to appreciate it.
Han Fei’s face went cold again. He glanced sideways at Lin Yuze, then walked to the door and stood there.
Lin Yuze lazily got up, pulled out a cigarette, lit it, then reached over to rub Qi Yue’s hair before heading toward the door.
Just as he reached it, Han Fei issued a low warning: “Stay away from Qi Yue. He’s mine.”
Lin Yuze glanced at him and let out a soft, mocking laugh. He didn’t respond, just walked past him and out.
Han Fei’s teeth ached with anger, and he followed after.
Qi Yue was left standing there stunned. What were those two doing? Did they suddenly agree on something? Make up? Why were they exchanging such intense looks again?? Seriously, after fighting so viciously earlier, were they in some twisted love-hate dynamic??
He sat down. Ugh, his nose hurt!! His leg hurt too!! He shouldn’t have tried to break up their fight. Maybe they were bonding through violence!
He opened the medicinal oil, dipped a cotton swab, and gently applied it to his swollen nose.
He didn’t have a mirror but it was definitely swollen. After finishing his nose, he winced while slowly taking off his pants, his thigh was covered in bruises. In the chaos he had no idea who kicked him.
Those two argued, but he was the one who got hurt. What did he do to deserve this!
He gritted his teeth and rubbed medicinal oil over the bruised area, then pulled his pants back up and climbed into bed.
His x-ray ability had disappeared again, the effect now lasted thirty minutes, longer than before. It seemed to follow the same pattern as other abilities: the stronger it got, the longer it lasted.
Wrapped tightly in the blanket, this weather wouldn’t warm up for another month, and the temperature differences between day and night were huge. Qi Yue stared up at the ceiling, thinking of many past things.
Some sadness rose in his heart. Without a strong will, without enough confidence, maybe that was why he had died so many times.
Han Fei’s blanket was warm, and the bed was surprisingly comfortable. Especially on such a cold night… Actually, Han Fei was quite nice…
He drifted off without realizing. He didn’t know how long he slept before his eyelashes fluttered and he woke. The room was pitch-black, night had fully fallen.
He checked his watch by the faint moonlight. Only a little past ten. He lay back down, but now he couldn’t sleep. He got a small steamed bun from the kitchen and ate it.
Looking outside, he saw Han Fei and Lin Yuze: one east, one west, far apart, each with a cigarette between their lips. Qi Yue snorted softly. They still hadn’t made up.
Two others from that team were also helping them with the watch.
Qi Yue continued scanning the compound, looking through walls into the other houses. The room at the far end had several green silhouettes sitting and talking. The next room had people lying down resting. The one after that had people moving around.
Then he froze.
What was that?
In one of the rooms, a person lay on the bed, surrounded by three others. Everyone else appeared as stable green silhouettes to his x-ray vision but the person on the bed flickered between green and red, unstable.
Was he seeing wrong?
He checked again. No mistake.
He sat up, grabbed his coat, and went outside.
Qi Yue walked straight toward Han Fei.
Han Fei was pacing outside, cigarette in hand, scanning the surroundings. They had agreed with the others to watch until midnight, but Han Fei didn’t trust strangers. Even a moment of carelessness could cost lives.
He noticed Qi Yue approaching and was surprised. Seeing Qi Yue walk directly to him, he felt a flash of secret joy, the irritation he’d felt all night suddenly eased.
He waited for Qi Yue to speak.
Qi Yue looked anxious. He approached Han Fei and said, “Come here, I need to tell you something.”
There were outsiders nearby, so he couldn’t say he saw it through eating the steamed bun.
Han Fei nodded and followed him to a quieter spot.
Qi Yue stopped. Han Fei’s expression turned serious. “What happened?”
“That room, someone inside has a problem,” Qi Yue said, pointing toward it.
“How did you find out?” Han Fei asked, already guessing the truth.
“I saw it after I ate the steamed bun.”
Han Fei nodded, he understood the bun’s special effect. He looked toward the room. “Let’s go check.”
“Okay.”
They started walking, but—
“Wait.”
Qi Yue stopped, confused.
Han Fei reached for his face and pressed a finger against his nose. Qi Yue gasped in pain.
“Did you put medicine on it?” His nose was bright red, clearly swollen. Hopefully he learned something from the pain.
“…Yeah.” Qi Yue’s eyes welled instantly, his voice choked with grievance. Even after applying medicine, it still hurt so much.
In the faint moonlight, his scrunched-up face looked pitiful. His nasal voice sounded like he was whining. Han Fei couldn’t help but chuckle.
He leaned in, wrapped an arm around Qi Yue, kissed the tip of his nose, and whispered at his ear, “Come on. Let’s go.”
Qi Yue’s face instantly flushed, heart thumping wildly.
“O-okay…”
As he followed behind Han Fei, Qi Yue despised himself a little.
He glanced toward Lin Yuze. He could only see a hazy green silhouette in the darkness, with the faint glow of a cigarette ember. Through the blur, it seemed Lin Yuze was looking their way, his figure lonely and dim.
Qi Yue blinked rapidly, forcing back moisture. D*mn Han Fei, too cunning. Trying to use him to stab at Lin Yuze. Good thing he didn’t fall for it!
They reached the suspicious room. Inside, they heard a woman murmuring. Han Fei knocked.
Silence. The voices disappeared instantly like they had been an illusion.
Qi Yue tugged his sleeve and whispered in Han Fei’s ear, “There are four people inside. Three are fine. The one lying down, hmm, I think he’s infected.”
Through the door, he could see the scene: three green silhouettes gathered around the bed, where the unstable figure flickered red and green.
Qi Yue had never encountered this situation before, but he could trust his intuition, he was right. The people inside clearly felt guilty and hesitated to open the door.
Han Fei’s expression darkened. Even if someone inside had turned, they could handle it easily. But leaving it alone would endanger more people. Even if he wasn’t a good person, he didn’t want unnecessary outbreaks. More zombies only meant more trouble and nighttime made everything harder.
He knocked harder. “Open the door. I know someone’s inside. If you don’t open, I’ll kick it in.”
Movement came from inside. A woman’s voice said, “What do you want? We’re already asleep.”
Qi Yue could now see clearly: the person on the bed was a man. Red was already replacing green, spreading up his legs.
“Hurry up. Someone inside was bitten,” Han Fei said bluntly.
Panic rose inside. “Impossible! Don’t talk nonsense!”
Han Fei grew irritated. Why did these people never understand how dangerous hiding a bite was? They could doom everyone.
“Open the door.” If it were his own people, he wouldn’t waste words, he’d have already kicked it open.
“What do you want?! We’re all sleeping! Are you trying to come in and take advantage of us?!”
Her shrill voice pierced the night, drawing attention from everyone else.
The red had already reached the man’s waist.
More people came over, including Officer Wu.
“What’s going on?” Wu asked.
“Someone inside is infected,” Han Fei said.
Everyone turned anxious.
“Open the door!”
After a moment of hesitation, the door cracked open. A middle-aged woman nervously said, “Officer Wu, my husband just has a fever. Don’t listen to him, he’s trying to take advantage of my daughter!”
The more she spoke, the louder she became. “He touched my daughter earlier! And now my husband is sick, he’s trying to sneak in! Kick him out!”
Officer Wu didn’t believe her. Han Fei looked extraordinary, as did the two young men with him especially the boy beside him, who was strikingly handsome. The woman’s daughters… were average at best.
“Let us see your husband, just so everyone can feel at ease,” Officer Wu said.
“No! My daughter is sleeping, she’s not dressed!”
A man beside him said, “Then wake her up to put something on. Sister, if your husband was bitten, you can’t hide it. We just want to check and if he’s only sick, we’ll bring medicine.”
After hearing this, the middle-aged woman became even more emotional. “So that’s it, with so many of you, you think you can bully us now? Boo-hoo-hoo, is there still any justice in this world? Even the police are helping thugs bully innocent people!”
The woman sat down directly on the ground, crying and making a scene.
This woman’s family had stayed with Officer Wu’s team for several days. Her husband was a wind-type ability user. And since she claimed her daughter wasn’t dressed, it wasn’t easy to just break in, so they could only try to persuade her.
Han Fei watched coldly from the side.
Qi Yue stared without blinking toward the rice fields. Red points of light were scattered at intervals, and the group was constantly expanding. Slowly, they gathered into lines and gradually came into his view. Those red dots, in groups of three or two, were moving in their direction.
He shifted his gaze to other directions and was horrified to discover red lights gradually appearing along the horizon, flickering and making one’s skin crawl. Although they were still far away, it was clear, they were surrounded!
The woman’s sharp, shrill voice rang in his ears. Qi Yue tilted his head, frowned, and impatiently glanced at the woman sitting on the ground, then looked into the house. The red infection on the naked man had already spread to his upper body.
He spoke coldly: “Shut up. If you really care about your daughter, you should let us in. If your husband turns into a zombie, the first person he’ll bite will be your daughter.”
Hearing this, the woman immediately lunged at Qi Yue. “It’s you people! What did we ever do to offend you? Do you really need to meddle in our business? You’re bullying us, a widow and orphan! We were doing just fine before!”
Han Fei grabbed the woman’s hand as she reached for Qi Yue and shoved it away forcefully. The middle-aged woman staggered back and fell to the ground, crying even louder.
“They’re beating people! Help! I thought you were good people, but seeing that my husband is sick, you came to bully us!”
Officer Wu saw that the woman refused to be reasoned with and was getting more and more hysterical. He motioned to the people beside him. “You go in and take a look.”
Before the woman could stop them, the two people pushed the door wide open and went inside.
Inside the room were also the woman’s two daughters, both sitting around the bed.
Before the people who entered could reach the bedside, the naked man suddenly sprang upright. He stretched out his hands, grabbed one of the girls nearby, and bit down hard. His teeth sank into the girl’s neck.
The poor girl didn’t even have time to make a sound before being bitten by her own father. A large chunk of flesh was torn away. The girl fell to the ground, silently twitching.
The other girl by the bed opened her mouth and screamed continuously, drawing the zombie’s attention. The zombie immediately changed targets and lunged toward her.
Seeing this, the others immediately attacked the zombie. This newly mutated zombie had been a abilities user before, so his movements were extremely agile. He dodged the attacks and opened his mouth to bite the screaming girl, tearing a chunk of flesh from her arm.
At the doorway, the middle-aged woman, who had been making a scene just moments before, saw both of her daughters being bitten by their husband and let out a piercing scream before fainting.
No one had time to care about her. Everyone focused on dealing with the zombie inside the house.
After seeing everyone engage, Qi Yue quietly pulled Han Fei aside and, while looking at him.
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