PACFPE Chapter 71

Chen Xu also knew that what he was doing was wrong.

Even if his younger sister still had her self-awareness for now, the fact that she had turned into a zombie could no longer be changed.

But even so, Chen Xu simply could not bring himself to let others hurt her, much less kill her with his own hands. No matter what, this person was still his twin sister.

The only thing he could do now was stop her from harming other humans whenever her zombie instincts took control, so that she would not regret her actions when she was conscious again.

Thinking of this made Chen Xu feel even more sorrowful and guilty. Chen Li, perhaps sensing his sadness, turned to look over at him.

The colour of her pupils had already returned to normal. They were no longer the scarlet red they had been when she had crazily wanted to bite people before, nor were they the all-white pupils common to zombies. Judging by her eyes alone, she looked very much like a normal human.

It was just that the bluish-purple pallor on her face and skin all indicated that she was no longer a living person.

“You should know that doing this is ultimately useless. In the end, she will still completely turn into a zombie,” Gu Yicheng said in a calm tone, stating the facts. “And don’t forget, she’s already a third-tier zombie. Once she completely loses her consciousness, this school will gain one enormous threat. More people here will die then. And you’ll die by her hands too.”

Looking at Chen Li’s current condition, Gu Yicheng figured she probably would not be able to maintain her own consciousness for much longer. Perhaps in just a few days, she would be fully assimilated by the zombie virus and become a true zombie that only acted on instinct.

Chen Xu, who had been with Chen Li day and night, could not possibly have failed to notice what Gu Yicheng was talking about. He simply did not dare admit it to himself.

Chen Xu had already discovered that as time passed, the amount of time Lili retained her self-awareness was growing shorter and shorter. And this time, she had basically lost control completely. If the people in front of them had not been so strong, Lili might already have torn them apart and eaten them.

Precisely because Gu Yicheng’s words had struck at the heart of the matter, Chen Xu became even more silent after hearing them.

Listening nearby to what had happened to this pair of siblings, Ruan Ning also felt rather conflicted.

For some reason, she suddenly thought of her own ability. Since this person still retained her consciousness and had not yet completely become a zombie, and since she had been able to clear the zombie virus from her own body last time, perhaps she might be able to help this person too.

Gu Yicheng had always kept part of his attention on Ruan Ning. Seeing her expression and movements, he vaguely understood what she wanted to do.

He frowned, clearly disapproving. “Ningning, her body has already turned into a zombie. You can’t help her anymore.” If it had been right at the beginning, when she had only just been scratched by a zombie, then perhaps the chances might have been a little greater.

But even so, Gu Yicheng did not want the girl by his side to take a risk for a stranger over something with such little hope.

“Brother, I want to try first. If it doesn’t work, I’ll stop immediately.” Ruan Ning was not stepping forward this time solely to help the siblings. She also wanted to find out exactly what her ability really was capable of, and to what extent it could be used.

This was also an opportunity. What was more, just as Gu Yicheng had said, if Chen Li completely turned into a third-tier zombie, their trouble would only grow.

Gu Yicheng’s tightly furrowed brows did not relax, but after seeing the determination in her eyes, he paused, then silently allowed it and did not stop her again. His tone was helpless as he warned, “Be careful. Don’t let her hurt you.”

Ruan Ning nodded, let out a long breath, then carefully approached the female zombie crouching on the stairs.

Chen Li’s eyes moved with Ruan Ning’s actions for a few moments. But her body did not move.

Ruan Ning had already prepared herself mentally before coming over, so she was not frightened by her reaction. She just had not expected that someone like her, who was so scared of zombies’ appearance, would one day actually take the initiative to approach one.

Fortunately, Chen Li still had her own consciousness for now, so Ruan Ning’s approach did not provoke her.

Gu Yicheng also walked over. Standing nearby with his arms folded, his gaze was sharp and alert. If the zombie showed even the slightest sign of losing control, he would immediately make a move.

With the male lead beside her, Ruan Ning felt reassured, and her courage increased a little more. She placed her hand on Chen Li’s shoulder, took out a crystal core, and tried to see whether her ability would work on her.

…

A few minutes later.

Although Ruan Ning’s ability did not return Chen Li’s body to normal, and the exposed skin was still the characteristic colour of a zombie, Chen Li’s own consciousness seemed to have grown a little stronger.

Chen Li’s clear black-and-white eyes shifted slightly, carrying a trace of confusion, as though she had only just emerged from the period when she had been controlled by zombie instincts. She did not understand why so many strangers were suddenly around her.

Turning her stiff neck, Chen Li looked toward Chen Xu in the distance and called out to him in a hoarse, dry voice, “Brother.”

Hearing that familiar yet somewhat unfamiliar voice, Chen Xu froze for a moment. Then, with a face full of excitement, he jogged over to Chen Li’s side. “Lili! You can speak now!!” Ever since Lili had turned into a zombie, she had never called him brother again.

This was the first time in days that he had heard her voice.

Meanwhile, after finishing, Ruan Ning was already so exhausted that she was weak all over, and her body uncontrollably toppled backward.

Gu Yicheng quickly stepped forward and caught her.

This result was even worse than he had expected. Perhaps he should have stopped her just now after all. Gu Yicheng frowned, a trace of irritation appearing between his brows.

Half lying in his arms, Ruan Ning spoke in a tiny voice, so faint it was almost impossible to hear clearly. “…I can’t save her.”

Just as the male lead had said before, Chen Li truly could no longer be saved.

In fact, it would be more accurate to say that the fact she still retained her own consciousness even now was already a miracle. By all logic, she should have been fully assimilated by the zombie virus several days ago.

Ruan Ning had tried every possible method just now, and all she could do was temporarily make Chen Li a little more lucid. That was already the very limit of what she could do. Even so, this act had consumed nearly half of the crystal cores in her space.

“You did your best. That’s enough,” Gu Yicheng comforted her gently.

Ruan Ning lowered her eyes, clearly not in high spirits. Even though she knew that was true, the thought that she had tried her best and still could not save this person made her feel heavy and stifled inside, in a way she could not quite describe.

Seeing her listless expression, Gu Yicheng reached out and rubbed her head, his voice warm and gentle. “At the very least, you gave the two siblings a chance to say a few more words to each other, didn’t you? You’ve already done very well.”

Ruan Ning’s ability was already far more powerful than Gu Yicheng had imagined. At first, he had thought it was merely an ordinary healing-type ability, but now it seemed that its effects were even more useful than the abilities of those high-level healing users in the post-apocalyptic future.

In fact, even two years into the apocalypse, research on the zombie virus still had not produced any results. This virus, which could turn humans into zombies, was far too overbearing. A serum against it had yet to be developed.

So even if Ruan Ning’s ability could only heal infected people who had not yet turned into zombies, it would still be highly sought after in the apocalypse, and would even attract admiration and frenzy from countless people.

But Gu Yicheng did not want to put her in the spotlight.

This so-called reputation would, in the end, bring her more harm than good at her current stage.

If it had been a month ago, Gu Yicheng might have simply watched coldly from the side-lines and not cared what happened to her.

But now, he could not.

On the other side, Chen Xu was still immersed in the joy of his younger sister suddenly being able to speak again.

“Brother, kill… me…” Chen Li spoke this short sentence with great difficulty. The zombie virus damaged a person’s vocal cords, so the fact that Chen Li could speak at all this time was thanks entirely to Ruan Ning’s help just now.

Ever since Chen Li had turned into her current half-human, half-monster state five days ago, her whole mentality had collapsed. At first, she had still been able to retain her self-awareness. But it was precisely because she still had that awareness that she was even less able to ignore her current situation. She had to watch her own body change with her own eyes, watch herself become the kind of zombie everyone avoided in horror. That kind of torment was even worse than if she had completely turned into a zombie that could act only on instinct.

Whenever Chen Li was lucid, she sometimes thought that if she had become a full zombie from the very beginning, perhaps she would not have suffered so much.

As time passed, her consciousness gradually became more and more blurred. When she saw a person, the first thought that flashed through her mind was actually—she wanted to eat them.

Only in front of her twin brother, with whom she shared a kind of twin bond, could she briefly recover a trace of reason.

But no one understood her body better than she did.

She was almost at her limit.

Once she could no longer hold on, once she could no longer resist the instinct rising up from within her body, then forget other people—she would even cruelly devour her own twin brother.

She did not want to become that kind of inhuman monster. She had long since prepared herself to end her own life before it came to that.

But in the end, she still had not been able to bring herself to do it. It was not that she feared death. Rather, if she died, her brother, who had no abilities, probably would not survive in this place filled with zombies. So she hesitated.

When Chen Xu heard Chen Li’s words, he froze completely. Only after a long moment did he say in disbelief, “Lili, what are you saying? How could I possibly kill you?!”

“Brother, I… can’t hold on anymore,” she said weakly.

Seeing her like this, Chen Xu’s eyes grew wet. He gripped her hand tightly, as though afraid she would really disappear from before his eyes just like that, his voice choked with emotion. “Lili, it’s all my fault. I didn’t take good care of you. If you die, how am I supposed to face our parents? They’re still waiting at home for us to come back.”

Chen Li’s body grew weaker and weaker. Her consciousness had only just recovered, and now it was already beginning to blur again. She had a premonition that after this, the consciousness that belonged to her would never again awaken in this body.

Thinking this, Chen Li looked at the man standing not far away, holding the girl who had just helped her regain her senses. Among all these people, this man stirred the strongest urge in her to devour him. He was also the strongest ability user among them.

“Thank you…” Chen Li said this to Ruan Ning. Without her, she would not even have had this final chance to speak with her brother.

“After I die, you can take the crystal core in my head. I only hope that you can take my brother away from this school too, and bring him somewhere a little safer, so that he can live well there.” Chen Li’s hoarse, dry voice carried a trace of pleading and hope. She believed these people had the ability to settle her brother somewhere safe.

Gu Yicheng supported Ruan Ning beside him without saying a word. Even when Chen Li mentioned the crystal core of a third-tier zombie, there was not much reaction in his dark eyes. It was only when the girl in his arms lifted her head to look at him that Gu Yicheng finally spoke. “I can agree to your request.”

Ruan Ning had probably overused her ability. Right now, she was weak all over and did not want to move at all. It seemed she really had pushed herself too hard this time. Faced with a case like Chen Li’s, where the zombie virus had already completely invaded the body, she was utterly helpless.

At this moment, Xue Chen and the others, who had gone to search the first floor, also hurried over to the stairwell.

But this time, they had found nothing. Not only was there not a single living person in the dining hall on the first floor, there were not even any zombies in sight.

“Young Master Gu, there isn’t a single zombie in the dining hall on the first floor. We also didn’t find any other survivors,” Xue Chen said. At the same time, he noticed Chen Li, who was obviously in the appearance of a zombie, as well as Chen Xu holding her, and could not help feeling puzzled.

He instinctively reached for the gun at his waist, but seeing that no one else present was making a move, he stopped and chose not to act either.

Gu Yicheng was not surprised by what Xue Chen reported. “I know.” At this stage, a third-tier zombie could already be considered an extremely formidable existence. It was precisely because Chen Li, a third-tier zombie, was here that the other low-tier zombies did not dare approach the cafeteria. That was also how Chen Xu, despite having no abilities, had managed to remain in the cafeteria unharmed for five whole days.

**Nomad: Hey! You might have noticed that I’ve started posting again. Updates will be slower than usual while I get back into the swing of things. My laptop is on its last legs, and I usually save my chapter drafts and proofread versions on an external drive because I’ve run out of storage. But it’s been so long that I have no idea where I put it. Until I find it, I’ll have to translate everything again. Once I do, though, I’ll bulk upload the chapters. Thank you all so much for being so patient!**