Chapter 33: She Laughed Through Her Tears
Zombies…?
My brain didn’t react for a moment. I frowned and stared blankly at the pale hand emerging from the ground, wondering if this was another one of Ji Lianbing’s traps.
Then, when I turned to look at Ji Lianbing, I saw her face filled with surprised joy and fervent eyes.
I instantly understood everything.
They had truly become zombies!
Ji Lianbing stopped looking at me and leisurely walked deeper into the cemetery, completely ignoring the hands reaching out from the earth.
“Hey! Lianbing!”
I called out to her anxiously, but she completely ignored me, walking forward as if possessed.
“Damn it!”
I had no choice but to hurry after her, thinking I needed to pull her away from this dangerous area.
It was still not too late. As long as we left quickly before these guys fully crawled out of the ground, we could avoid danger! My intuition told me so!
I sped up, ran to her back, and grabbed her wrist. “This place is not safe. Let’s go quickly!”
“…”
However, she continued to walk forward without even looking back. I stumbled a couple of steps, pulled by her, and shouted anxiously, “Hey! If we don’t go now, it’ll be too late!”
I looked back. The first zombie had already revealed half of its body. Although I couldn’t see its face, just looking at its back gave me a sense of danger.
It was a corpse that had lost its name and gained death, but had returned to the earth from the abyss of hell for some reason.
“Go…? Why should we go?”
“Of course, it’s…!”
The words I wanted to say didn’t come out. Ji Lianbing’s expression stunned me.
It was as if she had made a great historical discovery, an archaeologist. Ji Lianbing’s expression could only be described as ecstatic.
“I’ve been investigating for a long time. Although I’ve found many clues, I’ve never truly witnessed it… Today, I finally saw it.”
Her tone was unnaturally calm, but I could hear her barely concealed excitement.
“Cheng-kun, you’re truly my lucky star. Unexpected things always happen when I’m with you. Hehehehe~”
I couldn’t speak because I couldn’t understand her thoughts at all.
It was too twisted.
How could she still laugh? Why was she so happy? Wasn’t she afraid?
She could die!
“Is this a zombie? I finally saw it, a moving corpse…”
Finally, one by one, zombies crawled out of the earth that had trapped them, letting out eerie screams.
There were various stitching marks on their bodies, like a puzzle. Their skin was grayish-white, and their eyes had no pupils, only white, empty, and lifeless.
The scale was too large!
Not just a few, but dozens… perhaps hundreds!
Mass-produced zombies!
Don’t zombies usually need to be buried for a hundred years to form?
And this cemetery wasn’t even suitable for zombies to grow in! This place had lush plants and trees, suitable for organic matter to grow, so there would be many insects and bacteria. When a corpse was buried underground, it would quickly rot, and there should be no corpses left!
So, where did these seemingly newly born, fresh corpses come from?
Don’t ask me why I know so much; everyone goes through a chuunibyo phase… When I first came here to help in junior high, I thought I might encounter ghosts, zombies, or skeletons, so I investigated a lot of useless knowledge. Thinking about it now, it’s a dark past.
I never expected that just when I had completely given up on pursuing the strange and thought this world was truly boring and ordinary, these abnormal events would start visiting my daily life…
At this point, a crazy, bearded old man should suddenly appear and sell me plants that can deal with zombies, right? I’d even trade my integrity for those life-saving plants!
Unfortunately, nothing that good happened…
Soon, the group of zombies surrounded me and Ji Lianbing, reaching out their hands stiffly. Although their movements were slow, there were too many of them!
“Urghhhh…”
“Tsk!”
Speaking of which, why wasn’t there anyone to save us? This public cemetery was behind the funeral home. If such a large number of zombies appeared, the people in the building should have noticed!
But no one came to help us. Had they all run away? Or was it…
“Gah!”
They started attacking us!
One zombie lunged at me to bite me. I quickly dodged, letting it miss, and moved to Ji Lianbing’s side, sweating profusely.
“…I’m sorry, Cheng-kun.”
“Ah? What’s the point of apologizing now! You didn’t come with me when I called you earlier! Now I’m really going to die with you!”
I kicked away a zombie trying to grab my arm and shouted in exasperation, “No, you don’t have to.”
“Huh? Whoa!”
Just as I was about to ask if she had a plan, Ji Lianbing grabbed my wrists with both hands.
Then I felt my hands being pulled by a powerful force. I lost my balance and was thrown into the air!
“Whoaaaaa!”
Ji Lianbing actually swung me around like a hammer throw!
Damn it, I’m so dizzy!
How could this girl have so much strength? Where did such power come from in her slender body?!
Whoa! My shoulder! My shoulder is dislocating!
“Cheng-kun, thank you for helping me understand the feeling of love.”
This was the last thing I heard before I was thrown.
To be precise, I was thrown out.
The surrounding scenery flashed by rapidly. I flew a long distance, landed on my shoulder, rolled several times on the ground, and stopped after hitting a tombstone.
I felt like my body was falling apart.
But compared to my physical condition, I was more concerned about Ji Lianbing!
She had thrown me out of the zombie horde at the risk of her own life!
No, that woman was a killer, and she was strong. Since she could throw me out of the zombie horde, she could probably escape on her own, right? Maybe if I went in to help her, she’d still find me bothersome.
Yes, it must be like that! Just watch, that’s Ji Lianbing! She’ll escape the zombie horde immediately! Maybe she’ll even go on a rampage, killing seven enemies and emerging seven times!
But she didn’t escape.
The zombies kept crowding in, and soon her pink title was covered by a black one.
I stood there dumbfounded, my mouth half-open, staring in disbelief at the chaotic and frantic scene.
Besides the zombies’ wails, I could also hear uncomfortable tearing, chewing, and swallowing sounds.
A terrible image flashed in my mind.
“No way…”
Run.
Run away.
Run away from here!
For now, I need to get out of here! Right, right, I should find someone to help! I can’t do it alone!
I shakily moved my feet, unconsciously backing away.
I kept looking for reasons to justify myself, putting myself in a cunning position, saying things that were beneficial to me.
The despicable me chose to avoid the situation. For my own safety, leaving here was the safest choice.
This was the correct answer, the reasonable answer, the safe answer…
But it wasn’t the answer I wanted.
“…Tsk!”
Damn it!
“Damn it!”
Why did she stay?
Why didn’t she run away?
Why didn’t she resist?
There was only one answer: because Ji Lianbing was a [Necrophiliac Killer].
With her necrophilia, her obsession with corpses was almost abnormal. And the zombies in front of me were all considered corpses. From her initial fanatic expression, I knew she had probably been looking for zombies all along.
Walking corpses were very important to her, which was why she didn’t resist.
She could ‘kill people’, but she didn’t want to ‘kill corpses,’ did she?
Ah, this girl… is an idiot!
For some reason, I also started laughing.
It was just a bitter smile, but my mood felt much better.
In the end, I still couldn’t make a choice that went against my conscience.
I took a deep breath and adjusted my mood.
My trembling legs had stopped. Although my body ached all over from the fall earlier, a strange sense of excitement made me gradually ignore the pain.
“Hoo… Oooohhhhhh!”
Ahhh!
I’m an idiot too!
I’ve definitely gone mad!
Rushing into the zombie horde is definitely crazy!
All things considered, Ji Lianbing is the one who wants to kill me!
She’s a thorough killer, a pervert with necrophilia and twisted values! Maybe these zombies were killed by Ji Lianbing when they were alive, and that’s why they’ve become zombies out of resentment to seek revenge!
To put it bluntly, it’s all Ji Lianbing’s own doing. I shouldn’t be helping her at all!
I scrambled through the zombie horde on all fours. When a zombie tried to lunge at me, I quickly got up and headbutted its jaw.
I lost one shoe along the way, and I used my suit jacket to wrap around a zombie that almost bit my shoulder.
I was truly a mess.
Fortunately, the zombies didn’t target me, and I crawled shamefully through the horde, finally reaching the center.
Ji Lianbing was holding onto her arm with one hand and using a tombstone to block a group of zombies with the other.
Thank goodness, she’s still alive!
“Lianbing!”
The moment she saw me, Ji Lianbing’s expression turned anxious. She frowned and shouted hysterically, “Why… why did you come back?!”
“Shut up!”
I scolded her with an even fiercer expression.
Then, without giving her a chance to speak, I hoisted her onto my shoulder.
I didn’t use a princess carry because it would occupy both hands. Carrying her allowed me to free up one hand to fend off the zombies.
Unlike when I came in, this time all the zombies were staring at us menacingly… Ahhh… I bet they want to drain our blood and gnaw us down to the bone.
These guys aren’t scary! Not scary! Not scary at all!
Right, I should give them a cute nickname. How about… Hoppers!
Yes, Hoppers are not scary at all, they are cute! Everything can be cute!
“Aooohhh…”
“Damn it! They’re not cute at all! Disgusting!”
My cheek was scratched by a claw, and blood flowed down. A piece of flesh was bitten off my arm, and it stung like fire.
“Why aren’t you running away?!”
“There are times when a man should run and times when he cannot. Now is a time when he cannot run, understand?!”
A man can run away from a woman who wants to kill him!
But when he sees a woman about to be killed, he cannot run away!
No matter what grudges there were before, at such a critical moment, I can’t be bothered to haggle over them.
The eternally elementary school student said that it might take a motive for one person to kill another, but theoretically, it takes no reason for one person to help another!
“Damn it, this is the worst possible development!”
Zombies swarmed around me. I was alone and unable to hold them back.
It seems I don’t have the protagonist’s halo… I wanted to save the damsel in distress, but instead of saving her, I got myself into trouble. How embarrassing.
I’m really… not suited for this kind of thing!
“Damn it, I don’t want to die here! Although I don’t have any dreams, I still have hopes! I want to find a leisurely job, marry a kind wife, have two children, and die peacefully in old age with my wife’s hand in mine!”
“Those are the thoughts of a petty citizen…”
“Is it wrong to be a petty citizen?!”
I am a petty citizen from the start! I told you from the beginning, we are not the same kind of people, why do we have to intersect?
Why?!
“So! Killers, demons, zombies, don’t just appear in front of me!”
Especially you zombies! It’s afternoon now! You undead creatures shouldn’t be appearing in broad daylight! At least have the weakness of being afraid of light, like traditional zombies!
It was less of a complaint and more of a grumble, or perhaps a way to bolster my courage.
“This is too much. Ever since I met you, my life has completely fallen apart! And it’s spiraling out of control. What the hell is this?!”
Really, it’s too much!
I poured out all the resentment in my heart, and instantly felt much better.
This way, I can die more peacefully.
“Let me go! Let me throw you out!”
Ji Lianbing also became a bit anxious. She spoke in a hurried tone, wanting to repeat her previous move and throw me out of the zombie horde.
“Seriously! You confessed first, and now you want to break up with me? Are you playing with my feelings!”
“I didn’t mean it like that…!”
“Then what did you mean! In a hero-saves-the-damsel scenario, the lines you, the female lead, should say are ‘Thank you for saving me!’ or ‘I’ll repay you with my body!’, remember that!”
Tsk, it hurts. If only I had a weapon…
More and more wounds appeared on my body, dyeing my white shirt red with blood. My vision began to blur.
“Cheng-kun… Why are you saving me?”
“Yeah, why am I saving you! It’s really stupid! You’re trying your best to kill me, and I’m still thinking of saving you. How stupid can I be!”
In my excitement, my speech sped up considerably. This might be the first time in my life I’ve ever shouted so passionately.
“Why am I saving you? Of course, it’s because I’m a good person! And the kind of pathetic pushover!”
“Cheng-kun, you’re the type who wouldn’t get involved in other people’s business!”
Che, this girl really knows me.
“Alright, truthfully, it’s because you’re too beautiful! It would be too much of a waste to see you die!”
“That’s possible…”
“You’re being self-centered?!”
I said some playful remarks, but the situation was critical.
What should I do? What should I do… If this continues, both Ji Lianbing and I will die under the zombie horde.
My brain raced, thinking of a brilliant escape plan.
Just then, I suddenly noticed that in the center of the cemetery, a person was sitting cross-legged under a giant cypress tree.
…No! That’s not a person!
[Zombie (Awakened)]
[Gou Xiawen]
It has a name!
It’s a named zombie!
A joke Li Nai made casually suddenly came to mind.
—But being able to see true names is the nemesis of demons. Perhaps you, Cheng-kun, are the legendary King of Demons!
I never expected that this casual remark would come to mind at such a critical moment.
True name, huh…
Although there are still many questions, like whether this method against demons works against zombies?
But at this point, I have to try everything!
As long as I say the true name, it should work, right?
Ah! Never mind! I’m going all in! It’s just waiting to die if I do nothing, so I’ll struggle my best!
I took a deep breath and, as if afraid it wouldn’t hear, loudly shouted the zombie’s name.
“Gou Xiawen!”
The zombie sitting under the tree suddenly trembled and opened its eyes.
Unlike the other zombies, it had blue pupils, and there were no visible wounds on its surface. It looked no different from an ordinary person.
My heart was filled with unease. Regardless of whether it worked, I directly gave it an order.
“Block these zombies!”
Then that zombie jumped in front of us and swept away the zombies surrounding us with a kick.
So strong!
Could this zombie be the leader? How lucky I am!
Suddenly seeing a glimmer of hope, I took to my heels and ran towards the cemetery entrance with my last ounce of strength. Zombies that tried to grab me on the way were blocked by the blue-eyed zombie.
Finally, I successfully reached the cemetery entrance. As I ran out, it felt like passing through a membrane, a sense of being separated from the world.
When I looked back, the cemetery was calm. The terrifying zombies had all disappeared, not even a trace of them digging out of the ground.
I escaped!
Wow! Thank goodness! I’m actually alive!
“Ha, Hahahahaha… hiss…”
Only after relaxing did I feel the pain.
My wounds, some deep and some shallow, were all bleeding. I suddenly felt dizzy and collapsed from exhaustion.
“Cheng-kun!”
“Ahhh…”
A bit tired… My body feels so heavy…
My head rested on something soft. Is she giving me a lap pillow?
“Thank you, for saving me.”
What’s with the politeness? You’re my girlfriend…
“Also, I’ll repay you with my body.”
Just kidding… I don’t want to marry you…
Unless you turn into Ruansui mode… and swear not to kill me…
“Cheng-kun!”
I managed to open my eyes amidst her cry.
The last thing I saw was her trembling, biting her lower lip, her hazy eyes gradually misting over. Tears welled up in her eyes, and the tear drop that seemed like it would fall any second never did, as if clinging to her fair face.
I couldn’t help but say, “Don’t cry… you idiot.”
She froze for a moment, then reacted, trying hard to frown and force a radiant smile. However, this only made tears stream down her face.
Heh, what an ugly smile…
But perhaps this was the most genuine smile she’d ever had…
My eyelids met, all sensation faded, and I could no longer think of anything.
My consciousness was interrupted.
…
“Sorry! Sorry! I’m late…”
“You’re too late, Li Nai!”
“Ahaha… I went out to eat cheese ribs with friends and completely lost track of time. Sorry~”
“Honestly, choosing you as the zombie wrangler was a terrible decision!”
“I didn’t want to do it either. The Lord City specifically appointed me… Huh? You’re injured?”
“Ah, it’s nothing, this minor injury will heal soon. It’s just a bargain for those white zombies who gnawed off my flesh.”
“Did something happen?”
“Two humans wandered into the barrier.”
“Eh?! Ordinary people?”
“One of them actually used me as a shield. Their spiritual power is so strong, they shouldn’t be ordinary people.”
“Wow~ Could it be some Taoist priest? This is bad!”
“I took photos of both of them with my phone.”
“Let me see… Huh?!”
“What is it?”
“Isn’t that Ji Lianbing-san and the transparent guy!”
“You know them?”
“Yeah… But… how could…”
“Anyway, let’s report this to the Lord City when we get back. Be careful, these two are not simple…”
“Mm…”
