Why Are There Still Ghosts in the Apocalypse?

Not until night fell and it grew too dark to see the road clearly did Qi Xing finally slow the car down.

Feeling the wind by her ears ease, Jiang Zhaosu lifted her head from the crook of her arm and looked around blankly.

They had already left the bustling city center and were now on a broad road.

The air in the outskirts was much fresher than in the city, with vast stretches of farmland all around.

After driving for nearly another ten minutes, Jiang Zhaosu saw a Small Town.

Qi Xing stopped the car at that moment as well.

"Get out, Fortune. We're resting here tonight."

Qi Xing spoke to her as he rose from the driver's seat, walked around the car, and reached out to open her door for her.

But before his hand even touched the door, Jiang Zhaosu had already unbuckled her seat belt, kicked off with both feet, and flipped through the air straight out of the passenger seat.

With both hands raised high, she landed perfectly.

After doing all that, Jiang Zhaosu even rolled her dark little eyes at Qi Xing.

Hmph.

He had scared her so enthusiastically earlier, and now he was putting on this fake gentleman act.

Who needed his help?

But Qi Xing was a lunatic with bizarre thought processes.

Sometimes he would suddenly get inexplicably angry and say things terrifying enough to scare a corpse to death. Other times, he was perfectly good-tempered, no matter how much trouble she made for him.

After being looked down on by her, Qi Xing showed neither embarrassment nor anger. Instead, he clasped his hands together and applauded her.

"Wow, Fortune, those moves were good enough to make you a gymnast. Impressive."

His reaction made Jiang Zhaosu feel like she had punched a wad of cotton.

It was enough to make a corpse furious.

Like the city, this Small Town was desolate, with barely a soul in sight.

Only a few zombies were drawn over by the noise of their sports car. They rushed over with snarls, only for Qi Xing to neatly strangle off their heads with vines.

Though the Small Town was small, it had everything one could need.

Besides the residents' self-built homes, there were also a few shops and hotels.

Qi Xing found a hotel and beckoned Jiang Zhaosu inside with him.

The first floor of this hotel was a dining hall, while the rooms for resting were on the second floor.

After entering, Qi Xing headed straight for the kitchen to search for edible food.

Jiang Zhaosu had not seen Qi Xing eat anything all afternoon. She had thought he was some fairy-like pretty boy untouched by worldly food, living on nothing but dew.

Only now, seeing Qi Xing rummage through everything in search of food, did she gain a faint sense that he really was human.

This time, Qi Xing was out of luck.

The dining hall's storage room had long been picked clean. After searching for ages, Qi Xing found only a few moldy cabbages. The rotten stench from the mold was even sharper and more nauseating than Jiang Zhaosu's own smell, making them impossible to eat.

Watching Qi Xing peel at them for a long time before reluctantly tossing them away, Jiang Zhaosu could not help feeling a little fortunate about being a zombie now.

Luckily, she was a zombie now, so she did not need to feel too guilty about eating people.

If it came down to it, Qi Xing could have some too.

Anyway, he did not seem all that interested in being human.

Jiang Zhaosu genuinely thought so. She stretched out one round little hand and pointed at the backpack behind Qi Xing. "Awoo!"

"Hungry again?"

Qi Xing took out some meat for her from the backpack, but instead of leaning over for him to remove the Bite Restrainer from her mouth, Jiang Zhaosu used her two ball-like hands to clamp onto his arm and pushed the meat toward his face.

"Awoo!"

Jiang Zhaosu wanted Qi Xing to open his mouth.

"Huh?" Qi Xing understood what she meant. "You want me to eat it?"

"Awoo!"

Jiang Zhaosu nodded.

"I'm not eating that."

Jiang Zhaosu was a little shocked. She had not expected Qi Xing, who seemed to have no bottom line at all, to be so humane about this.

But Qi Xing immediately added, "This meat's sour. It doesn't taste good."

Jiang Zhaosu: "..."

A man who had not wanted to give up even moldy cabbages had no right to criticize her rations!

In the end, Qi Xing wore an expression of extreme heartbreak as he pulled two compressed biscuits from his magical backpack and washed them down with a bottle of clean water for dinner.

The two of them went upstairs.

Zombies were nocturnal creatures and were far more active at night than during the day.

Although she had traveled all day, Jiang Zhaosu did not feel tired at all. Instead, she felt more energetic than she had during the daytime.

Qi Xing seemed to know this as well. He tied her to the large bed in the room with rope, then went to rest in another room himself.

As the night deepened, Jiang Zhaosu became more and more alert. No matter how she lay on the bed, she could not fall asleep.

Just as Jiang Zhaosu thought she had insomnia and was gradually becoming irritated, she suddenly heard someone crying in the hallway.

"Boohoo... boohoo..."

The window in Jiang Zhaosu's room was open. Cold wind poured in through it with an eerie howl, mingling with the faint, indistinct sobbing from the hallway. In the pitch-black, lightless night, it sounded especially chilling.

At first, Jiang Zhaosu thought she was hearing things. But when she realized the crying was real and seemed to be drawing closer and closer, goosebumps rose all over her body.

Holy crap, wasn't this the apocalypse?

Why were there still ghosts?!

Jiang Zhaosu chickened out and twisted her body, trying to break free from the hemp rope binding her.

At night, zombies became far more aggressive, and their movements grew more flexible and swift.

Jiang Zhaosu held her breath and strained with all her strength, making the bed creak and groan beneath her struggles.

Finally, with a sharp tearing sound, the rope binding her snapped apart completely.

But at the same time, the terrifying, chilling sobbing drew closer and closer, until it had reached her door.

Jiang Zhaosu sensed a very strange presence.

It felt human, yet also like one of her kind.

"Boohoo... boohoo... Mommy..."

A sharp scraping sound came from outside the door. That thing was scratching the hotel's wooden door with its nails.

Jiang Zhaosu's nerves were stretched to their limit. Just when she could no longer bear that cold, suffocating atmosphere and sprang from the bed to see what was at the door, a vine suddenly shot out from beneath the bed and coiled around her ankle.

"Awoo!!"

The vine's surface was cold and slick. Already on edge, Jiang Zhaosu let out a terrified scream at the strange sensation before the vine swiftly dragged her beneath the bed.

Then a warm, large hand replaced the vine around her ankle and pulled her into an embrace.

At some point, Qi Xing had slipped into her room. Kneeling on one knee behind the bed, he wrapped one arm around her shoulders, held his index finger to his lips to signal silence, and whispered to her in a low breath, "Fortune, we've run into trouble."