No Time for Melancholy

It's good to have people to order around.

In two hours, the food from every household in the village had been mostly collected by the people in the basement.

Qi Xing harvested two large bags of food and four boxes of gasoline.

Besides the bread he'd been craving, there were also several packs of vegetable seeds, which was an unexpected bonus.

This food was enough for him to eat for more than half a month.

Now, Qi Xing no longer had to eat only two packs of compressed biscuits every day, and even had to meticulously calculate his water intake.

With his finances suddenly flush, Qi Xing was in a great mood. He put on a smiling face and immediately became amiable towards these people.

Qi Xing took out a wallet from his pocket, opened it to reveal a photo, and asked if anyone had seen the girl in the picture.

It was a group photo.

As Qi Xing took out the photo, Jiang Zhaosu, standing beside him, quietly tiptoed and caught a glimpse of a man and a woman in it.

The man was, of course, Qi Xing.

The Qi Xing in the photo was younger than he was now, looking like he had just come of age. He was wearing a blue and white school uniform, exuding a hint of youthful immaturity, and holding a little girl in his arms.

The little girl was about seven or eight years old, with long curly hair and a puffy skirt, dressed like a doll. She had delicate features, fair skin, and a pair of beautiful, bright fox eyes that resembled Qi Xing's by about seventy to eighty percent. It was obvious they were siblings.

Both of them were looking at the camera.

Qi Xing was smiling happily, but the little girl had no expression. Her small hand clutched Qi Xing's collar, her eyes vacant.

So Qi Xing's sister was this beautiful and cute.

No wonder Qi Xing, who always seemed cold and ruthless, as if devoid of any human emotion, would involuntarily soften his gaze and tone when mentioning his sister.

Watching Qi Xing approach and ask the people one by one with the photo, Jiang Zhaosu's recently full stomach seemed to grow hungry again, a sourness rising in her stomach.

She felt a little envious.

Although she was long accustomed to being alone and felt that it wasn't so bad, whenever she saw others with family and friends, Jiang Zhaosu, who had always been alone, couldn't help but feel a little jealous.

To lose such a beautiful and cute sister, Qi Xing was truly an irresponsible brother.

Even though Qi Xing seemed like he hadn't given up on finding her, relentlessly searching even in the apocalypse.

Did he think this would make her pity him?

No.

Thinking that Qi Xing would also suffer because of this, Jiang Zhaosu felt a sense of psychological balance.

If you've never had something, you'll never understand how terrible losing it is.

Fortunately, her parents had abandoned her long ago. She didn't even remember what they looked like, so she wasn't sad at all.

Thinking of her unreliable parents now, Jiang Zhaosu only felt resentment.

She cursed them to have a terrible life.

Qi Xing asked everyone but didn't get the answer he wanted.

Turning back, Qi Xing saw Jiang Zhaosu squatting by the pond in the courtyard, poking at something on the ground with a little tree branch.

The little zombie's frail body was curled up, like an undernourished kitten.

Jiang Zhaosu was too thin. Every time Qi Xing held her, he felt like he was carrying a weightless plastic bag.

He didn't know what kind of life the girl had before, or how her parents took care of her.

Even if they had urged her to eat a bit more, they wouldn't have let her become so thin.

Qi Xing closed his wallet, put the photo back in his pocket, and waved for the people to disperse.

He strode towards Jiang Zhaosu.

"Fugui, what are you playing?"

Qi Xing bent down to see what Jiang Zhaosu was drawing on the ground.

After becoming a zombie, Jiang Zhaosu's fingers had become very clumsy. She could only barely hold the little tree branch, and the patterns she drew were crooked.

But even so, it was clear she was drawing two people with distorted faces.

After finishing, Jiang Zhaosu drew a large cross over them.

Those irresponsible scumbags who only knew how to give birth but not raise.

Death penalty!

Seeing the patterns Jiang Zhaosu drew with the tree branch, Qi Xing said in surprise, "Fugui, you can draw?"

As Qi Xing said this, he stood behind her, leaning over and very close to her.

Jiang Zhaosu, engrossed in her one-person trial of her trashy birth parents, hadn't noticed Qi Xing's approach at all.

The clear, magnetic voice suddenly sounded beside her ear.

Startled, Jiang Zhaosu, whose thoughts had long since drifted away, jumped up.

But she squatted for a bit too long, her legs went numb, and she lost her balance, plopping down onto the ground.

Qi Xing, who had merely asked casually, was almost bumped into by Jiang Zhaosu.

He felt something brush against his lips and his beautiful fox eyes widened slightly. He instinctively raised a hand to touch his lips.

After a brief moment of stunned silence, Qi Xing turned his gaze back to Jiang Zhaosu, who was sitting on the ground.

Seeing Jiang Zhaosu still holding a twig in her hand, looking dazed, Qi Xing didn't hesitate to mock her, "A zombie who's still so timid. So silly, Fugui."

Damn it.

Who said zombies couldn't be timid?

Besides, it wasn't like Qi Xing had intentionally scared her into falling.

"Roar, roar!"

Jiang Zhaosu angrily threw the twig in her hand at Qi Xing and let out a resentful howl at him.

She didn't bare her teeth.

She was angry, but not entirely.

Jiang Zhaosu still remembered Qi Xing's vicious words: if she bared her teeth at him again, he would pry out her teeth and stuff them into her eye sockets.

She didn't want to gamble with her own teeth.

"Angry?"

Qi Xing asked her with a smile, lowering himself and reaching out to pick her up from the ground, patting the dirt off her clothes.

Afterward, Qi Xing picked up the little tree branch she had dropped, used his dagger to neatly trim off the split ends, and stuffed the smooth little wooden stick into her hand. Then, he put his arm around her and tilted his head to look at the drawing on the ground.

"Is this Fugui's parents?" Qi Xing asked.

You can tell from this drawing?!

Jiang Zhaosu was shocked.

Back in school, her grades were top-notch in almost every subject.

Only in art class did Jiang Zhaosu's abstract creations give her art teacher a headache, making it impossible to grade.

No one understood Jiang Zhaosu's art.

Now, she had found a kindred spirit in another world. Jiang Zhaosu nodded, her anger towards Qi Xing dissipating.

"Why did you draw crosses on their faces?" Qi Xing, surprisingly sensitive to others' emotions, asked, "Were they not good to Fugui?"

"..."

Jiang Zhaosu thought for a moment, then shook her head.

People who abandoned her at the orphanage doorstep right after she was born – she had no impression of them, so how could she say if they were good or bad?

Qi Xing met Jiang Zhaosu's dark, bright, and clear eyes.

Even though she was a zombie, Jiang Zhaosu's eyes were different from those low-level zombies who only knew how to hunt. They were as bright and lively as a human's, always churning with a multitude of emotions.

And now, Qi Xing only saw bewilderment and emptiness in them.

This familiar gaze made Qi Xing's heart tremble.

He reached out and gently touched Jiang Zhaosu's pale, thin face, softly comforting her, "It's okay, I'll be good to Fugui from now on."

Jiang Zhaosu was also looking at Qi Xing.

When Qi Xing spoke this time, the usual carefree smile was gone from his face, and his beautiful, expressive fox eyes looked at her with great gentleness and seriousness.

But he wasn't seeing her.

Who was Qi Xing seeing in her?

Never mind, it doesn't matter.

Jiang Zhaosu wrapped her arms around Qi Xing's neck and, pretending to be affectionate, buried her face in his chest, greedily absorbing his warm body heat.

As long as Qi Xing was willing to protect her and give her meat to eat, that was enough.

In their current situation, doing everything they could to survive was the most important thing. Living one more day was a gain; they didn't have the energy for sentimentality.