Clingy Little Zombie

"Bai Shu, how do you always get every bit of news before anyone else?"

Chen Xiaofei was thoroughly impressed.

Wang Weihu climbed into the vehicle and agreed wholeheartedly. "Seriously, Bai Shu knows everything."

Bai Shu returned to the driver's seat and pushed up his glasses at that. "Because I love learning, and learning loves me. Someone among us has to keep an eye on the news."

The world was constantly changing. Without checking the forums regularly, it was easy to fall behind.

Chen Xiaofei and Wang Weihu chuckled sheepishly. They couldn't help it-they all had lopsided interests, severely lopsided ones at that. They only cared about the things they liked. Studying was asking far too much of them.

They really didn't pay nearly as much attention to this stuff as Bai Shu did.

Several hours later.

When Xu Duoduo opened her eyes, she saw two figures swaying in front of her. It still felt as though she were looking through red gauze, and the whole world was blurry.

Only after rubbing her eyes did she realize the people in front of her were actually Liu Chunhui and her daughter???

Little Zombie froze.

She spent a good three or four minutes buffering before she slowly, vaguely remembered something.

Was this a dream?

Hadn't they already parted ways? The survivors had gone ahead, while their squad brought up the rear. Then they'd fought a brutal battle, and everyone had gotten hurt...

!!!

Hurt!

Little Zombie remembered!

She frantically tried to find the others, only to discover she was in an old warehouse. It was spacious, with plenty of survivors resting nearby.

Her gaze swept around before fixing on their backs.

Qin Luo was already awake, standing ramrod straight. Wang Weihu, Chen Xiaofei, and Bai Shu stood beside him, and the four of them were discussing something.

If he hadn't still been wearing those battle-torn clothes, covered in blood and dirt, with the long, bandaged fingers of one hand hanging at his side, Little Zombie would almost have thought she was dreaming.

It took her a little while to sort things out. They must have caught up with the survivors. After all, they'd been less than two hours behind them.

Only then did she notice that her head hurt a little and felt stiff, stiffer than before.

Dull and numb.

She frowned.

Beside her, Liu Chunhui and her daughter still had their backs to her as they murmured over something.

"Mom, but she's covered in blood. Wouldn't it be better to wash her and change her clothes?"

"Sweetheart, you're right. Captain Qin and the other young men probably haven't had time to look after her. How about we split the work and help her wash up? She'd feel more comfortable too, wouldn't she? But we don't know whether she has any wounds."

Liu Chunhui grew conflicted again as she said this. She wanted to help, but she was afraid of hurting the young woman.

Seeing her covered in dried blood was truly heartbreaking.

As soon as Xu Duoduo made out what they were saying, she nearly jumped up. She might have become a little zombie, but she was a little zombie with her dignity.

No way was she getting stripped naked!

She sprang up at once, turned, and stumbled toward Qin Luo. The moment she reached him, she wrapped both hands around his arm and refused to let go.

Seeking a sense of safety.

The little girl jumped in fright. She had only just turned her head when a figure shot past her, leaving her no time to get out her greeting.

Liu Chunhui was startled too. Ever since the apocalypse began, she had remained on high alert, and before she even knew what was happening, she instinctively hugged her little daughter tight. Then she realized it was the young woman who had leaped up, run to Captain Qin, and latched onto his arm like an ostrich burying its head, all while watching the two of them warily.

Mother and daughter felt rather awkward for a moment.

They guessed she had overheard their conversation. Apparently, this girl from the south wasn't used to being quite so uninhibited around others.

Chen Xiaofei called out in delight, "Little Class Monitor? You're awake?"

Bai Shu noticed that there was even blood in her eyes, but she seemed completely unaware of it. An ordinary person probably wouldn't have been able to open their eyes, yet her expression was perfectly calm.

It drove home once again that Little Class Monitor really wasn't human.

Seeing how she clung to Qin Luo and ignored the rest of them, then noticing Chen Xiaofei and Wang Weihu about to say something, Bai Shu steered the two away. "Qin Luo can handle things here. Let's go take care of something else."

No need to be third wheels.

"Huh? Why? I haven't even talked to Little Class Monitor yet." Chen Xiaofei was forcibly dragged away by Bai Shu.

Wang Weihu opened his mouth, but when he noticed Little Class Monitor's silent, blank face and the way she relied so heavily on Qin Luo, he realized something was off with her too.

So he withdrew with Bai Shu.

As for Qin Luo...

Qin Luo was still talking to someone else. "Yes, that works. No problems on my end."

When he noticed the little zombie approaching, he merely glanced at her. Even when her little paws locked firmly around his arm, he said nothing.

"All right, the survivors will head back with you and your team, Captain Zhang. If there's nothing else, we're done here."

Xu Duoduo turned to look at the people opposite them. They turned out to be members of another combat squad. Their captain nodded in agreement and saluted Qin Luo. "Thanks for your hard work, Captain Qin. Leave the rest to us."

Qin Luo nodded.

Xu Duoduo felt as though the other captain had glanced at the collar around her neck. Uneasy, she immediately tucked herself closer to Qin Luo, until practically her entire zombie body was glued to him.

Qin Luo simply hoisted her up with one hand, tucked her under his arm, and carried her away. It was such a blunt, typically guy approach. He really did love carrying her around like a stuffed toy.

Xu Duoduo gave up resisting and dangled limply from his arm.

Qin Luo hadn't washed up yet either. Carrying Xu Duoduo, he headed for the shower rooms. This warehouse was used as living quarters and happened to have a row of them.

He deposited Xu Duoduo in one. "Take a shower and change your clothes first. I'll be right next door. Blow your wooden whistle if you need me. You can wash yourself, right?"

Just as Qin Luo muttered about whether he should ask Liu Chunhui to help bathe her, Xu Duoduo caught on a beat late and hastily shook her head. Absolutely not!

"Hey, no wonder Liu Chunhui and her daughter looked so strange earlier. Were they trying to help you? And you got scared and ran away, giving them both a fright?"

He had noticed Xu Duoduo as soon as she woke up, and had happened to catch the mother and daughter's expressions too.

There was nothing wrong with Qin Luo's reasoning. Once he put the pieces together, how could he not understand?

"You're awfully shy for a little zombie, aren't you?" He lowered his head to tease her. The poor little thing was in a sorry state. Her combat uniform, black hair, and snow-white face were all covered in dried blood. It was painful to look at her.

He felt frustrated that he hadn't managed to protect her, and that she had ended up saving him instead.

Qin Luo could tell that the little one seemed even more dazed. She had regressed to the way she'd been when they first met, reacting a beat late, with an awfully long delay.

He reached up and gently squeezed the back of her neck to help her relax. "All right, stop thinking so hard. You'll burn out that little brain of yours. Wash up properly and get some rest."

Qin Luo pulled a blue water barrel from his own Storage Space Card. It was one they had finished using, and it was just big enough to fit Xu Duoduo inside.

Looking at her tiny figure standing in the blue water barrel, he was quite pleased with his handiwork. "I really am a genius. Go on, wash up."

With that, he shut the door and went into the shower room next door. Soon, the sound of running water came from inside. There was no electricity here, so they could only take cold showers.