Xu Duoduo was only teasing him. She casually pulled an orange-red insulated flask from her storage space and handed it to him, just like the ones Chen Xiaofei and Bai Shu had.
They all contained pork and century egg congee.
Only then did Qin Luo accept it with satisfaction. Honestly, it had been almost a month since the apocalypse began, and he hadn't had a proper meal since.
They had either gnawed on dry rations or taken a few bites of energy bars. At best, those kept them from going hungry.
Taste didn't come into it.
Now, as the three of them cradled their hot congee and drank, they all felt alive again.
Chen Xiaofei had started eating first, pouring some into the lid and blowing on it before taking a sip. With something in his stomach, the discomfort eased, too.
"Whew, that hit the spot. God, this is pure bliss! Little Class Monitor, are you some kind of goddess? You even have piping-hot congee!"
To fully live up to the title of goddess, Xu Duoduo swiftly produced another flask of hot congee for Wang Weihu, four wooden spoons, four tea eggs, four large meat buns, and a box of cherry tomatoes.
Good lord.
Meat, eggs, and fruit-they had everything. Nutritious and delicious!
After swallowing a mouthful of congee, Bai Shu looked at Xu Duoduo with admiration in his eyes. "How long did it take you to prepare all this, Little Class Monitor? I bet you were the only one who took that warning from our headquarters this seriously."
Otherwise, she wouldn't have stocked up on so much food in advance, only for them to reap the benefits.
Chen Xiaofei had just peeled a tea egg and popped the whole thing into his mouth. After chewing away happily, he mumbled, "Mm, which brings us to the big question: what does Little Class Monitor eat? She can't photosynthesize like a plant, can she? We don't even know whether we'll have sunlight in the future. Just look at those thick clouds overhead."
Qin Luo also looked down at Xu Duoduo and found her crouching there with her arms around her knees, one lone person-no, one lone zombie-staring into space.
"Poor little thing."
That was Qin Luo's verdict, and Chen Xiaofei and Bai Shu nodded along. She really was pitiful. She had prepared so much food, only to become a zombie.
Their looks made Xu Duoduo feel even more helpless. Seriously? She already had it bad enough, and these three still had to rub salt in the wound. Boohoo!
The little zombie's face streamed with tears.
Oh, not really. She had no tears; she just looked utterly grief-stricken and indignant.
In the end, Qin Luo polished off dinner in no time, removed his glove, and stroked her head. "Look how upset you are. Tell me, what do you want to eat? Let's rule out meat. All that blood would look awful. Girls like you shouldn't do anything so inelegant. If you want blood, though, we'll put our lives on the line for you and let you drink ours?"
Bai Shu had just bitten into a bun. At that, he chuckled. "We've come full circle, buddy. Little Class Monitor feeds us, then we feed her. Hey, does that count as her getting to eat the food she prepared?"
Chen Xiaofei ducked his head and laughed, his shoulders shaking.
Xu Duoduo looked utterly speechless. She raised a hand and pushed Qin Luo's hand away in polite refusal. She wasn't hungry right now and had no craving for flesh or blood.
Qin Luo, meanwhile, was genuinely looking through the information. He found that ordinary zombies craved blood and raw meat, but there was nothing about special cases like Xu Duoduo. A zombie with an ability was extremely strange.
Even the different types of evolved humans in the later stages, no matter how grotesquely they mutated, still had heartbeats. There really were no documented cases like Xu Duoduo's.
Bai Shu later joined the search for information, and so did Chen Xiaofei.
Unfortunately, they found nothing reliable.
Xu Duoduo was very curious about their tablets, as well as their watches.
After calming the survivors down, Wang Weihu came over to them. "What are you guys eating? I smelled it as soon as I came over."
It smelled ridiculously good.
As he spoke, he glanced back. Fortunately, the survivors were somewhat afraid of them and hadn't settled nearby. Otherwise, they could easily have been found out.
Chen Xiaofei immediately offered him the food Xu Duoduo had saved for him. "Hurry up, eat, and keep quiet. Little Class Monitor gave us this. I'm telling you, it smells amazing!"
Wang Weihu was shocked to hear that and glanced guiltily toward the survivors. They were all over there eating instant noodles, which had a stronger smell. Combined with the distance, there really wasn't much chance of them noticing, but these three sure had some nerve.
"Aren't you afraid they'll kick up a fuss? What if they accuse us of giving people different treatment?"
That was what he said, anyway.
But Wang Weihu couldn't resist a flask of piping-hot pork and century egg congee, either. He accepted it and bent his head, eating one mouthful after another.
His stomach felt much better afterward. It tasted far better than dry rations and sickly-sweet energy bars!
After poring over the information for ages, Qin Luo and Bai Shu still couldn't find any guidelines on how to feed a zombie. They could only take things one step at a time and see how it went.
Wang Weihu looked at Xu Duoduo. He always thought a little further ahead than the other three. "Are we just going to keep taking Little Class Monitor with us like this? What will other people think?"
Before Qin Luo could speak, Chen Xiaofei reacted.
He blew up first. "What's that supposed to mean? I'm telling you, Wang, that's Little Class Monitor's congee you're holding! You can't bite the hand that feeds you!"
Bai Shu glanced at them, too.
Qin Luo, on the other hand, seemed very fond of her and didn't mind at all that Xu Duoduo was a zombie. He defended her immediately. "What? What's the problem? Isn't Xu Duoduo perfectly fine? She's not rotting, and she doesn't stink. How could you turn your nose up at her?"
As he spoke, he scooped Xu Duoduo up again and held her in his arms like a big doll.
Wang Weihu almost lost his appetite. "I'm not rejecting Little Class Monitor," he said helplessly. "What kind of person do you take me for? Apart from her eyes, you wouldn't notice anything wrong unless you looked closely. Aren't there things like colored contacts? Let her wear a pair so we don't invite unnecessary trouble."
He really lived up to his role as the dad of the group. Bai Shu and Chen Xiaofei regarded him with newfound respect. "That makes perfect sense!" "Yeah, yeah, that would solve it."
Qin Luo immediately started thinking about where to get some colored contacts, then looked down and asked Xu Duoduo whether she had any.
Xu Duoduo actually did... She hesitantly pulled out a box of colored contacts, but she couldn't manage such delicate work right now, so she looked at the three of them.
Bai Shu immediately said, "Whoever's first love she is can help her put them in. The two of us are staying out of it."
Chen Xiaofei nodded emphatically.
There was no helping it.
Qin Luo couldn't be bothered to explain again. He actually took the contacts and began studying them. "Wait, how do you put these in?"
In the end, Bai Shu and Chen Xiaofei came over anyway, and the three clueless guys worked out how to put colored contacts on the little zombie.
Watching the three of them act so heedlessly, Wang Weihu knew they only dared to bring Xu Duoduo along for two reasons. First, they were strong enough to restrain her if she lost her reason and keep her from hurting the other survivors. Second, zombies with lingering awareness were genuinely rare. They tried to bring special cases like hers back to headquarters' research institute whenever possible, to see whether anything could be done to save them.
So they might as well take her along. That was part of their mission, too.
Qin Luo finally managed to clumsily put the contacts on Xu Duoduo. They were amber and looked much better than her cloudy gray eyes. All three of them went "Wow!" and kept telling her how pretty she looked. They certainly were an enthusiastic audience.
All right, then.
What a day.
Before you continue