The little zombie was dead.
It couldn’t jump around like a living person, nor could it roam persistently like a zombie for food.
Before long, its flesh would turn to dust, and its hard white bones would eventually blend into the soil after enduring countless wind and rain.
Jiang Miaomiao couldn’t tell whether its death was due to the end of its life or the unbearable torment they put it through for several days.
Regardless, it died while in their captivity.
This fact made her feel like a cruel executioner.
That night, Jiang Miaomiao couldn’t sleep, tossing and turning. The next morning, with dark circles under her eyes, she asked Lu Qiming about something.
“Can we find a place to bury it?”
Its blood provided them safety for many days. It would be a way to repay it to find a place for it to rest instead of leaving its body exposed in the wilderness.
Lu Qiming’s original plan was to continue using its blood for a couple more days until it was completely unusable, then dispose of it. However, seeing Jiang Miaomiao’s troubled expression, he couldn’t refuse and nodded in agreement.
They couldn’t go too far, and burying it on the main road of the city was not possible. So, the best burial place they found was a lawn next to an artificial lake.
Facing south and bathed in sunlight, with flowers and grass, it could be considered a good feng shui spot.
Both of them acted separately. Jiang Miaomiao went to the neighbor’s house next door and found a set of clean children’s clothes to dress the little zombie. She also found a toy car and put it in its hand.
Lu Qiming brought a small basin and squeezed out the last essence from the little zombie, draining all the blood that could be collected, and stored it in the basin.
There wasn’t much blood, and they could use it at most two or three times more. After that, how to go outside would become a problem again.
But at the moment, that was not their priority. Both of them put on protective suits, covered themselves with the blood, and opened the door. They carried the little zombie, wrapped in a new bedsheet, and walked towards the lake.
Lu Qiming had already dug a small pit over a meter long and half a meter wide. They placed the little zombie inside and covered it with soil. They planted a warning sign from the lawn on top of the grave, and the slogan on it had not faded—”Little feet, don’t run around, little grass smiles.”
If they were fortunate enough to survive until the end of the apocalypse and happened to meet its family, she could bring them here to see it.
Of course, the chances of that happening were very slim, but Jiang Miaomiao was willing to keep this thought.
In difficult times, having something to look forward to was like having a piece of candy after taking bitter medicine. Just thinking about it made the bitterness of the medicine easier to bear.
She stood on the grass, gazing at the distant high-rise buildings, once again feeling grateful that she was still alive.
Lu Qiming rested for a while, leaning on the shovel, and said with his eyes down, “We need to capture another zombie.”
They needed to eat, and they needed to go out to search for supplies. Wearing protective suits alone couldn’t guarantee their safety.
Capturing a zombie was the most urgent task at the moment.
Jiang Miaomiao nodded, “Do we use the same method as before?”
“Yes, lure one into the villa and close the door to deal with it separately.”
“I’ll be the bait.”
She volunteered, surprising Lu Qiming with her expression.
“Aren’t you afraid?”
She had refused to agree when he asked her to shout from the stairs before.
“I am afraid,” Jiang Miaomiao said, “but I’m more afraid that you will not be able to handle it alone and get hurt.”
Lu Qiming looked even more surprised at her response.
“You care about me?”
Damn, this was so strange.
Jiang Miaomiao said confidently, “What’s so strange about that? Even if I had a dog that was stolen and eaten by someone, I would still feel heartbroken for half a month.”
Lu Qiming smiled wryly, “Can’t you say a few sweet words to make me happy?”
She shrugged, packed up her things, and went home.
At night, the zombies became active.
A zombie passed by outside the door, wearing high heels with only one shoe remaining, limping as it walked.
Its white dress had become extremely dirty, and the sticky mucus seeping from its eye sockets washed away its eyeliner. Its originally thick and lush long hair had also thinned out significantly due to the scalp falling off.
There were no other zombies around it, and the nearest one was about ten meters away.
It didn’t seem very strong and its speed was slow, making it a good choice for capturing.
Jiang Miaomiao made a gesture to Lu Qiming, opened the door, stood there in just a shirt with a small shoulder bag, waved to the zombie, and called out softly.
“Hey, come in.”
The zombie turned its head slowly, and its eyes, cloudy and lifeless, brightened noticeably when it caught the fresh scent of a living person coming from her. It eagerly rushed towards her.
Jiang Miaomiao kept counting beats as she backed away, holding the chainsaw tightly in her shoulder bag, ready to activate it if anything went wrong, to protect herself.
In just a few seconds, she had backed up to the coffee table, and the zombie had entered the villa.
Lu Qiming, who was hiding behind the door, immediately closed it and used a large bedsheet that was ready to trap the zombie.
He was skilled and accurate, successfully wrapping the zombie inside the bedsheet.
Jiang Miaomiao didn’t have time to relax. She let go of the chainsaw and grabbed the rope, running over to help him tie it up.
Everything was going smoothly, and both of them even smiled at each other, sensing the joy in each other’s eyes.
However, the next second, the already bound zombie unexpectedly tore through the bedsheet with its broken teeth and struggled to break free.
Jiang Miaomiao was startled and at a loss for what to do.
Lu Qiming was also surprised and said in a low voice, “Don’t be afraid. This rope is a climbing rope with a strong load-bearing capacity. Even a lion might not be able to break it. Let’s quickly tie it up.”
Her heart steadied at his words, and she mustered the courage to continue tying.
The decaying zombie emitted a horrifying scream from its rotten throat and bumped into the ropes like a wild bull. Its mouth came dangerously close to Jiang Miaomiao several times, with a foul stench assaulting her face.
She held her breath, clenched her teeth, telling herself not to be afraid and that finishing the task at hand was important. The zombie couldn’t break the rope.
But suddenly, a loud snap was heard, and the broken rope whipped across her face like a sturdy whip, leaving a bloody mark on her tender cheek.
Immediately after, she heard Lu Qiming urgently shouting, “Run!”
She was completely bewildered and turned around to run.
A sharp claw grabbed her clothes, trying to pull her back.
She turned her head and saw the zombie’s bloody mouth wide open, and she was so terrified that her whole body stiffened. She couldn’t even muster the strength to cry for help.
In the nick of time, Lu Qiming lifted the chainsaw from her waist, pressed the switch, and swung it down on the zombie’s head.
Blood and flesh splattered everywhere.
Only when he nearly split its upper body in half did he stop, gasping for breath.
The zombie collapsed to the ground, twitching, its hands still clawing at the floor, but it could no longer stand up.
Lu Qiming cursed under his breath, threw away the chainsaw, and turned to embrace Jiang Miaomiao.
“Are you okay?”
She stared with frightened eyes, obviously in a daze and unable to respond.
He carried her to the sofa, brought a basin of hot water, and vigorously washed her face, pinching her acupoint.
Then he unbuttoned her shirt and covered her snowy white chest with a hot towel.
After a series of actions, Jiang Miaomiao gradually regained her senses, hearing Jiang Rourou’s anxious cries.
“Help… help…”
She reached out with her cold hand.
Lu Qiming quickly held it, placing it on his own heart, and comforted her in a low voice.
“It’s okay, we are safe now.”
The strong and steady heartbeat from his chest completely put her mind at ease. Still a bit shaken, she sat up and saw the twitching zombie body on the floor.
“Why was it so powerful?”
In terms of physique, it was even inferior to half of Gold Buttocks from the past.
But Gold Buttocks lost all combat ability once it was trapped.
Lu Qiming was also surprised. Holding her hand, he walked to the side of the body, crouched down, and examined it.
Jiang Rou Rou curiously sniffed around, and Jiang Miaomiao quickly kicked it away.
“Go upstairs, don’t stay here.”
In case something else happened, they couldn’t even guarantee their own safety, let alone protect Jiang Rou Rou.
Jiang Rou Rou was sent upstairs, dragging its soft legs. Jiang Miaomiao brought gloves and made both her and Lu Qiming wear them.
The two carefully examined the zombie. At first, they didn’t notice anything unusual, but when Lu Qiming scraped off the rotten flesh from its arm, revealing the joint and tugged it, his face changed.
“It seems… it has become stronger.”
Judging by the degree of decay, its bones couldn’t be as sturdy as they were now.
A chill ran down Jiang Miaomiao’s spine, realizing that their good days were about to come to an end.
In the original text, as time passed, the number of zombies decreased, but their strength increased.
Initially, the government’s army could easily crush them with weapons and retake the initiative at the right opportunity.
However, later on, the damage caused by guns and cannons was minimal, and they were instead slaughtered several times.
The army had guns, yet it was still so difficult to deal with them.
The most powerful weapon Jiang Miaomiao had was a small chainsaw, which was useless against such formidable monsters.
Not to mention going too far, the food in the villa could only last for half a month at most.
If they didn’t go out to replenish supplies within half a month, they would starve to death.
Both of them realized this and felt heavy-hearted, with no mood for anything else.
Jiang Miaomiao returned to her room, and Lu Qiming threw the immobile zombie into the room where the small zombie had been locked before, locked the door, and then went upstairs.
He washed off the slime and flesh splatters on his body, changed into clean clothes, and passed by Jiang Miaomiao’s room, knocking on the door.
A tired voice came from inside.
“I’m about to sleep.”
“Your face is injured. Did you apply medicine to the wound? The rope is dirty and easy to get infected.”
Hearing his reminder, she absentmindedly touched her cheek and felt the tender flesh exposed from the wound, causing her to gasp in pain.
No wonder this half of her face had been numb all this time.
Jiang Miaomiao opened the door, and Lu Qiming held Yunnan Baiyao (a Chinese herbal medicine) and a cotton ball, sitting on the edge of the bed to apply the medicine to her.
Her curtains were pink, the quilt was pink, and her pajamas were also pink.
On the wall hung a watercolor flower painting, full of girlishness.
Under normal circumstances, Lu Qiming wouldn’t hesitate to tease her about it.
But at this moment, looking at her disfigured face, his heart was filled with nothing but distress.
“If it leaves a scar and ruins your looks, will you scold me to death?”
It was he who had told her that the zombies couldn’t break the climbing rope.
If he hadn’t said that, she might have been fine.
Jiang Miaomiao was still immersed in the grief of not being able to live much longer and enjoy delicious food and beautiful scenery, absent-mindedly.
“If it leaves a scar, then so be it.”
“Don’t you mind?”
She smiled bitterly, “My life is almost over. What’s a scar in comparison?”
Lu Qiming frowned.
“Who said your life is almost over?”
“Do we have any other choices? We can’t even handle a lone female zombie. If they attack in groups in the future, won’t we be helpless and doomed to die?”
She thought of something and regretfully slapped her thigh.
“When we moved, we should have brought the gas mask with us.”
If they were unlucky when knocking on the electricity meter, they might not succeed once and end up getting electrocuted and urinating uncontrollably. That would be so painful.
It’s much more reliable to bring a gas mask.
Hearing her say this, Lu Qiming’s expression became even more grim.
“You have to have confidence in us.”
“Confidence is…”
Jiang Miaomiao wanted to refute for a moment, but she felt it was meaningless and reached out to him.
He looked skeptical, “What’s wrong?”
“Hug me.”
“???”
She took the initiative to hug him, her chest against his chest, and their heartbeats surprisingly synchronized.
“Anyway, I’m very happy to be with you until now. Now I just hope you promise me one thing: if I get bitten by a zombie someday, please don’t save me, just let me have a quick death.”
She didn’t believe she had Lu Qiming’s luck; even if she was bitten, she wouldn’t get infected.
Just thinking about turning into one of those mindless, emotionless zombies, wandering forever in search of human flesh, rotting to the point where her feet would break, made her scalp tingle, and she didn’t want to live for even a second in such a state.
It’s better to die. She had planned to die anyway, just postponed it for a bit.
Lu Qiming couldn’t persuade her. After applying the medicine, he packed up and said, “Get a good sleep.”
Perhaps when her mood improved, she wouldn’t be so pessimistic.
He walked out with the things, and Jiang Miaomiao curled up in the quilt, closing her eyes.
Today’s experience was too terrifying, and it replayed in her mind over and over again, making it impossible for her to sleep. Finally, she shouted at the wall.
“Lu Qiming?”
There was no response from the next room; he probably had fallen asleep.
Alas, he was so carefree that nothing could affect the quality of his sleep.
Really envious.
Jiang Miaomiao tried hard to fall asleep. Suddenly, the door was pushed open, and Lu Qiming came in holding his own pillow, and he climbed onto her bed.
“I’ll only accompany you to sleep for one night.”
“Who asked you to accompany…”
Her reflexive attempt to push him away changed immediately when her fingers touched his warm chest, and she hugged him.
“Fine, thanks.”
They politely embraced each other, and Lu Qiming sniffed the pleasant scent of shampoo in her hair. Suddenly, he said, “You should wear a bra more often.”
“Huh?”
“Otherwise, when I unbutton your clothes, it’s awkward.”
“…”
Jiang Miaomiao’s fingers made a cracking sound as she pinched them. “Didn’t you say that there’s no difference between the front and the back? Why do you care?”
“There’s no difference when you’re wearing clothes, but there is when you’re not.”
Unable to bear it any longer, she punched his chest.
“Get out!”
Lu Qiming burst into laughter, ruffled her disheveled hair, and pulled her into his embrace.
“No more jokes, sleep!”
Jiang Miaomiao was so angry that she couldn’t sleep. How could she with him snoring beside her?
However, when his snoring started, she felt strangely relaxed, as if she had taken a sleeping pill, and she quickly fell asleep.
The next morning, as usual, Lu Qiming got up to wash rice and cook porridge.
Surprisingly, Jiang Miaomiao also got up early. When changing her clothes, she deliberately put on a bra and stood by the window doing nothing.
She saw Lu Qiming putting rice into the rice cooker and hurriedly said, “Put less!”
Lu Qiming couldn’t understand, “We always put this much, won’t you be full if I put less?”
“If we can’t eat enough, we’ll just endure it for a while. If each of us eats a little less, we can save enough for another meal in a few days. We don’t know when we can go out, so we have to plan for the future.”
He chuckled, “Oh, now you’re thinking about the future, making progress! Okay, I’ll put two fewer scoops of rice.”
The direct consequence of reducing the rice was that after finishing breakfast, the three of them were licking their empty bowls, not feeling full at all.
To divert their attention, Jiang Miaomiao stretched and walked to the window, saying, “We need to observe them, to know ourselves and the enemy, to be victorious in every battle.”
Due to the inability to go outside, the number of utensils they had was decreasing, and they couldn’t afford to keep using a new set for each meal, so they had to reuse them.
Lu Qiming stacked the dishes into the basin and took out his phone from her pocket, sitting on the sofa, and said, “You observe, I’ll play for a while.”
“You can play, but you’ll wash the dishes.”
She made a demand.
“Sure, but you’ll cook lunch.”
“Okay.”
They reached an agreement and each did their own thing.
Jiang RouRou lay on its special mat, gnawing on a slipper.
Jiang Miaomiao focused on observing the zombies outside the window. She felt that their walking speed seemed to have increased a lot and quickly called Lu Qiming to see.
Lu Qiming was holding his phone, playing a game, and didn’t even raise his head. “Are you sure it’s not just your imagination?”
She looked carefully and couldn’t be sure.
However, after a while, she shouted in a low voice, “Damn! Come and see!”
Lu Qiming paused the game and walked behind her. “What did you see that made you so excited? Are the zombies having a party?”
She was so anxious that she grabbed his face and made him look at the zombie she noticed.
“Just look!”
It was a middle-aged male zombie, bloated in size, with nothing particularly special except for its rotten belly dragging its intestines on the ground.
Due to the hot weather, its body attracted quite a few flies, buzzing around it.
They had noticed this situation a month ago and had specially pasted gauze on the windows to prevent the flies from coming in.
This wasn’t anything new, so Lu Qiming asked, “What do you want me to see…”
Before he finished speaking, the zombie suddenly stuck out its tongue, quickly sucked in the fly that was hovering near its mouth, and swallowed it without even chewing.
Jiang Miaomiao said, “See that? It’s so disgusting!”
Lu Qiming fell silent.
In the past, zombies only ate humans and animals, not insects, because insects had a weak presence and were hard to notice. Maggots crawling on them didn’t matter.
Now that they even ate flies, it meant…
He didn’t want to delve deeper into that thought, not wanting to add more worries to himself.
Feeling disgusted, Jiang Miaomiao went to sit on the sofa, muttering, “Even if we manage to get zombie blood in the future, it’s probably still going to be difficult to go out smoothly.”
Lu Qiming sat opposite her, stretching his legs and said, “Don’t overthink it, let’s play a game of Ludo.”
“At a time like this, you still have the mood to play Ludo…”
Jiang Miaomiao was about to ridicule, but changed her mind halfway through and clapped her hands, saying, “Fine, if I lose, I’ll cook lunch.”
Lu Qiming lost to her in several rounds. She threw her worries aside, happily ordered a few dishes, and sat at the table waiting to eat.
During the day, having someone to keep her company helped pass the time. But when she slept alone at night, fear involuntarily surfaced.
She had nightmares all night, running and being chased by zombies in her dreams. She ran to the rooftop of a tall building, but there was nowhere else to run, and the countless zombies swarmed and devoured her.
She felt even more exhausted after sleeping through such a nightmarish dream. However, when she woke up and opened her eyes, she saw Lu Qiming lying next to her, hugging her tightly, sleeping soundly.
Jiang RouRou also sneaked in and lay on the carpet, soundly asleep.
It was already morning, and the sunlight gently poured through the glass and thin curtains, shining on them.
They had a house, a bed, food, and water.
They had a dog, a man.
If only things could stay like this forever.
Jiang Miaomiao broke free from the dark and despairing dream and lay on the soft bed, happily observing Lu Qiming’s face.
He looked much more adorable when he was sleeping compared to when he was awake, at least he wouldn’t get angry easily.
The line from his brow to his nose was very pleasing, and his skin looked good. Despite never seeing him use any skincare products, it still remained firm and elastic, although rough.
His eyelashes were long, making Jiang Miaomiao feel jealous, and she thought about plucking some out to stick them on her own eyes.
She extended her finger and gently brushed over his thick, black eyebrows, unable to resist a smile.
“If you want to see, just look openly. Why sneak a peek while I’m asleep?”
Lu Qiming opened his eyes, a teasing smile on his face.
Jiang Miaomiao retracted her finger and rolled her eyes at him.
“Don’t be so presumptuous. I saw you had eye boogers.”
“…You’re just pretending.”
Lu Qiming got up and went to the bathroom to wash his face and brush his teeth. Jiang Miaomiao walked to the window to look at the scenery and saw something that made her cover her mouth and scream.
“What’s wrong?”
With a mouth full of foam from brushing his teeth, he came out and asked.
“Look!”
Jiang Miaomiao pointed over there, and he followed the direction of her finger. Outside the villa’s courtyard, there lay a mutilated zombie.
It was common for zombies to be missing limbs due to the length of decay.
But this one had its entire abdominal cavity emptied, and only a few remnants of flesh remained on its limbs. The bones were almost completely exposed, as if something had voraciously gnawed at it.
Lu Qiming’s expression became serious, and Jiang Miaomiao felt particularly uneasy.
“Do you think it could be…”
Before she finished her sentence, a group of zombies staggered over.
One of them passed by the corpse, squatted down to sniff it, and then picked up an arm to gnaw on the few remaining bits of flesh.
After a few bites, it suddenly collapsed to the ground and stopped moving.
The other zombies pounced on it.
After a creepy howl, another skeleton was added to the ground.
The two of them hid behind the glass, witnessing the whole process, unable to utter a word in astonishment.
The zombies were about to leave, but one of them stopped in its tracks, suddenly raised its head, and stared at them with blood-red eyes.
Jiang Miaomiao gasped, quickly backing away.
Lu Qiming swiftly closed the curtains.
The zombie lunged at the villa but was blocked by the sturdy wall. Its companions left, and after lingering for a while, it also left.
Lu Qiming stood by the window, slightly parting the curtains to look outside, then turned back and said, “It’s okay now.”
Recalling the bloody scene, Jiang Miaomiao almost collapsed to the ground.
“Why… why do they eat their own kind?”
Could this be the reason they’re getting stronger?
Lu Qiming closed the window and patted her shoulder.
“Let’s go wash up and have breakfast first.”
She helped him stand up, but suddenly thought of something and ran upstairs to look outside.
The grave they buried a few days ago had been dug open, and a small skeleton was discarded by the lake.
Lu Qiming walked up behind her and whispered, “The days ahead might be difficult.”
After a hasty meal, the two of them found any paper, bags, clothes, or anything else they could use and stuck them on the windows to prevent the zombies from seeing them.
The windows were no longer opened, and trash was not thrown outside casually, trying not to let the zombies smell their scent.
However, despite their efforts, something unexpected happened.
That night, as darkness fell, Jiang Miaomiao was preparing to cook and turned on the lights as usual.
Before long, the door and windows were hit fiercely.
Leave a Reply