Ye Ruan couldn't dodge. Yu Jingjing was behind him.
The mutated female zombie, her hair hanging wildly around her face, opened her bloody maw and tried to bite Ye Ruan's arm.
Ye Ruan fell backward, grabbed the zombie's arm, and pulled her with him over the low table laden with food.
The zombie was immensely strong. Her fingers dug into Ye Ruan's shoulder, nearly crushing his bones.
Ye Ruan gritted his teeth against the agony, clamped a hand around the zombie's neck, and bent his leg to brace it against her stomach.
Everything happened too fast, in mere seconds. By the time Fang Ci and the others reacted and stood up, Gu Cheng was already there!
Gu Cheng hooked a powerful arm around the zombie, seized the back of her neck in fury, and gave it a vicious twist!
A chilling crack of breaking bone rang out.
Gu Cheng flung the zombie into the fire.
The searing flames soon swallowed her corpse.
"Are you hurt?"
Even Gu Cheng's voice shook. He lifted Ye Ruan and pulled him into his arms, holding him in a crushing embrace.
"I wasn't bitten, but I think I got burned."
Ye Ruan's back burned with pain, and so did his arm.
"The hot soup in the clay pot on the table... it was scalding..."
A little aggrieved, Ye Ruan lowered his lashes and buried his face in Gu Cheng's chest as he spoke.
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry."
Gu Cheng stroked Ye Ruan's hair over and over, his breathing trembling violently.
"Little Ye Ruan! Get your clothes off, quick!"
Yu Jingjing tugged at Gu Cheng's arm and reached for the hem of Ye Ruan's top.
"That little clay pot had just been served. It was still fucking bubbling! Hurry, take it off! I'll take you to the tap and run water over it for a while."
People surrounded them. Ren Bing, Fang Ci, and the others had all gathered around.
His expression icy, Fang Ci pressed his gun against Ren Bing's forehead.
"What the hell are you playing at?!"
Scared out of his wits, Ren Bing raised his hands shakily and dropped to his knees.
"You've got me wrong, brother! That girl was fine just a moment ago!"
Gu Cheng said grimly, "Fang, give Mr. Ren a thorough 'questioning.'"
Fang Ci's jaw tightened, his face dark. His finger rested on the trigger as though he might squeeze it at any second.
Gu Cheng patted Fang Ci's shoulder, then took Ye Ruan back to the Biohazard Vehicle.
He locked the door from the inside.
The clamor outside grew much quieter.
Gu Cheng looked at the little bunny, who hadn't stopped trembling. Anger had made his voice hoarse.
"I'll help you take your clothes off. Let me see where you got burned."
"Okay..." Ye Ruan wore a thick, fairly loose hoodie, but the fabric absorbed water.
The hot soup had soaked into his clothes. As he rolled across the ground with the zombie, the fabric had stayed pressed against his skin.
Gu Cheng carefully helped Ye Ruan out of the hoodie. A large patch of his once slender, pale arm was now red and swollen.
His arm was the worst; blisters had already formed in places. The skin around his shoulder blades was red, swollen, and peeling.
"This might hurt a little. Can you bear with it?"
Gone was his usual lazy, flippant manner. Gu Cheng was unbearably gentle now.
"It's just a little injury. It's all right."
Ye Ruan's resilience made Gu Cheng belatedly realize that, although the little bunny before him looked soft and prone to tears, appearances were deceiving.
In truth, piercing the blisters and applying medicine hurt terribly. Ye Ruan couldn't stop trembling from the pain, yet he didn't let out a single sound.
Gu Cheng, on the other hand, had reddened eyes from heartache.
Once the bandages were wrapped, Gu Cheng found one of his own loose, soft tops and helped Ye Ruan into it.
Dressed in white, Ye Ruan sat obediently in the chair, his sweat-dampened bangs clinging to his forehead.
Gu Cheng wet a towel to wipe away his sweat and clean the dust from his face.
When everything was done, neither of them spoke.
Gu Cheng had remained kneeling on one knee before Ye Ruan while wiping his face. He took his hand.
"I lost my mind back there. I actually believed what Sixth Brother told me."
Ye Ruan didn't quite understand what any of this had to do with Lu Jiayi.
Gu Cheng gave a self-mocking smile. "He told me those two women might provoke you and make you jealous."
Gu Cheng had suspected there was a catch to Sixth Brother's suggestion; if it went wrong, it could easily backfire.
Had Ye Ruan come out a little later, he would have found an excuse to make himself scarce. He hadn't expected the little bunny to stumble upon them right then.
Ye Ruan blinked slowly, looking bewildered.
"But the moment I saw you taking that zombie away from us, my heart sank."
Gu Cheng said hoarsely:
"I was terrified. Terrified that I hadn't said anything, that I hadn't explained the misunderstanding... What would I do if you got infected?"
"I'm sorry. I was too impatient."
Ye Ruan asked in confusion, "What? I don't understand."
Gu Cheng sighed inwardly and said no more. He stood up and hugged Ye Ruan.
After they had held each other for a while, Ye Ruan spoke:
"Gu Cheng... since I protected you today, could you promise me something?"
Ye Ruan fluttered his eyes.
Gu Cheng pinched his cheek. "Never mind one thing. I'd promise you thousands."
Ye Ruan rubbed his soft hair against Gu Cheng's stomach, almost as though he were coaxing him.
"If someday-I mean, hypothetically-if I do something bad someday, could you not get angry, and forgive me?"
Gu Cheng answered without hesitation, "Yes. Even if you stabbed me twice, I wouldn't get angry. Even if you lied to me, I wouldn't get angry."
"Then... pinky promise."
Ye Ruan held out his little finger.
Gu Cheng chuckled and obliged, hooking his pinky around Ye Ruan's.
Ye Ruan childishly swung their hands from side to side.
"Pinky swear, a hundred years, no changing your mind!"
"All right! Seal it!"
The two childish fools pressed their thumbs together to seal the promise. Gu Cheng complained that Ye Ruan hadn't pressed hard enough to leave a mark.
Ye Ruan puffed out his cheeks and pressed hard against the pad of Gu Cheng's thumb.
When they went outside again, only a few people remained in the courtyard.
The zombie's appearance had frightened everyone.
The survivors they had brought along would rather sleep sitting in the bus seats than pitch tents in the courtyard.
Fang Ci walked over, his expression much softer.
"Is it serious? I've got more medicine, both burn ointment and painkillers."
Ye Ruan smiled. "It's not serious. Don't worry."
"Good." Fang Ci gently ruffled Ye Ruan's hair.
"I questioned him. Ren Bing kept insisting he was innocent and had no idea why that girl had become infected."
"And this place is just as shady as we suspected."
Gu Cheng asked, "How so?"
Fang Ci lowered his voice. "Ren Bing and his men have locked all the women here in a large room in the back courtyard. They call it..."
"The red-light district." Fang Ci frowned and continued, "The women here have to sell their... to get food."
"And most of them were just passing through, fleeing for their lives. They keep the women. If the men refuse to work for them, they kill them to keep them quiet."
Ye Ruan's face went pale. He murmured, "They had no choice. They were forced into it."
These people were utterly depraved.
Yu Jingjing had felt a chill of revulsion when she heard about it too. She said angrily, "Captain, I've tied up Ren Bing and his gang. Do we kill them?"
"We don't need to do it ourselves."
Gu Cheng said grimly, "Those women hate him more than we do."
Yu Jingjing asked, "Let them out?"
"Take them the food here, and give them a couple of daggers too."
Gu Cheng clenched his fingers until his knuckles cracked, his gaze dark.
"Dislocate their arms. Don't give them any chance to fight back."
Yu Jingjing personally led several girls to the room they called the "red-light district."
She found clean clothes for the dozen or so women and girls inside-even... little girls-to change into.
When Ye Ruan saw those women, abused until they were nothing but skin and bones, his stomach churned and his small face instantly turned deathly pale.
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