Do you like me?

The guy who had secretly taken photos came back with Qin Luo and Wang Weihu draping their arms over his shoulders. Whatever the two had done, they had scared his legs to jelly. He probably wouldn't dare take any more sneaky photos or make snide remarks.

When Qin Luo came back and sat down, the little zombie was holding a mutant core and eating it. Chomp, chomp, chomp. Her cheeks bulged like a hamster's.

He reached out and poked her. "Tch. Just this, and they say we're too intimate?"

He muttered away to himself.

The little zombie glanced at him, her eyes sparkling, and made him feel oddly embarrassed.

Bai Shu gave Qin Luo a speechless look. "You scoop her up and carry her off every day, either over your shoulder or in your arms. One minute you're poking her, the next you're patting her head. What do you think?"

Qin Luo immediately felt a little awkward. Thinking back, that really did seem to be the case. He just couldn't stop teasing her. Seeing her made him feel as though he were back in the old days.

He just wanted to mess with her and make her react.

But he had his pride, so he stubbornly argued, "It just comes naturally, okay?"

Bai Shu humored him. "Sure, sure."

Chen Xiaofei lowered his head to hide a laugh.

Wang Weihu coughed, pretended he hadn't heard anything, and lay down to sleep.

Qin Luo: ...

Fine.

There was no explaining this!!

Long after Xu Duoduo finished chewing her mutant core, she finally remembered that she was supposed to get them something to eat. But by the time she remembered, all four of them had already lain down.

She was bewildered for a second, then wrapped herself in her little blanket and lay down too. Hopefully she would recover soon. This lag in her brain was far too annoying. The disgruntled Little Zombie looked at the neatly trimmed ends of Qin Luo's hair, and his back...

Wrapped in her little blanket, she wriggled over like a caterpillar and fell asleep beside her delicious-smelling emergency rations. Tonight was bound to bring sweet dreams.

At the first light of dawn, everyone in the warehouse began getting up one after another.

Those who had kept watch climbed straight into the vehicles and crashed to catch up on sleep, while everyone else packed up and prepared to leave.

Apart from a few scattered noises during the night as they dealt with lone zombies, everyone had slept well. That was an extremely rare luxury in the apocalypse.

Chen Xiaofei stretched, his hair sticking up like a bird's nest, and sighed contentedly. "Ahh~~ I slept so well last night. We've got to thank Captain Zhang and the others for taking over the night watch and letting us get a good night's sleep."

Bai Shu also sat up, squinting as he searched for his glasses.

As soon as Chen Xiaofei opened his eyes, he spotted four insulated cups neatly lined up in front of him, all in very familiar colors. He turned toward Xu Duoduo and exclaimed delightedly, "Whoa, Little Class Monitor, you're already better?"

The little zombie's eyes had regained their sparkle. She no longer looked as blank as she had yesterday, and even gave him a cool nod before handing him a jar of something to go with their meal: crisp, spicy radish chunks to eat with their porridge.

Chen Xiaofei was so moved he nearly cried. Cradling the jar of spicy radish, he whimpered, "Boohoo, Little Class Monitor, you've given me a whole new lease on life. This is wonderful. We can live the good life with delicious food again, boohoo."

Bai Shu promptly smacked Chen Xiaofei on the head and snapped, "What's with all the fuss first thing in the morning?"

He was fine in every other way, but he was a little cranky when he woke up. Usually, leaving him alone was enough, but Chen Xiaofei just had to make that godawful racket first thing in the morning and get on his nerves.

Chen Xiaofei immediately perked up, holding the jar of radish. "Then don't eat any later, if you've got the guts!"

Bai Shu finally saw what he was holding. A gleam flashed through his eyes, and he calmly got up. "Oh, fine. I won't."

The next second, he snatched Chen Xiaofei's jar of spicy radish at lightning speed. "I'll just confiscate it!!" Then he hid it in his Storage Space Card.

All four of them had storage spaces too, but theirs weren't very large. Besides, the people at Headquarters could see what was inside, so they had no privacy.

Stunned by Bai Shu's shameless tactics, Chen Xiaofei sat frozen on his bedding.

Bai Shu had already run off to the restroom.

Wang Weihu sighed helplessly. "All right, quit fooling around. We need to hit the road after breakfast."

He rolled over and got up too.

He really was the dad of the group. Everyone else ran off as soon as they got up, but the first thing he did was put away the blankets.

He folded each one into a neat square before putting it into his Storage Space Card.

Xu Duoduo squatted to one side, thoroughly enjoying the show. She found their bickering and antics entertaining. Seeing how pitiful Chen Xiaofei looked, she handed him a can of small sardines.

Chen Xiaofei instantly bounced back! "I'm alive again! I'm off to wash up!"

Seeing the little zombie squatting nearby and looking especially tiny, Wang Weihu greeted her politely. "Morning, Little Class Monitor. Feeling okay today?"

She had saved the three of them, after all. They could now count themselves as friends who had been through life and death together.

Besides, although she had gone blank and even grown fangs last night, the little electronic screen on the collar around her neck had stayed green the entire time.

How kind did someone have to be to have no desire to hurt people even after turning into a zombie?

Wang Weihu didn't know, and he had never seen a zombie like her before. But that didn't stop him from admiring her.

Xu Duoduo didn't like people looking at her collar. As a little zombie who firmly believed she was human, she disliked being treated as something different. So when Wang Weihu greeted her and glanced at her collar, she felt rather uncomfortable and only gave a hasty nod.

Then she turned and left, running off to squat somewhere else and guard the breakfast she had prepared for them: four insulated cups of hot porridge and a container of tea eggs steeping in their liquid. There were probably eight or nine eggs inside.

Qin Luo had gone out early to patrol the surrounding area. He had gotten up before anyone else, mostly because he couldn't sleep. A certain little zombie had used him to grind her teeth last night.

The little thing had edged closer to him in her sleep, then changed positions in the middle of the night. At some point, she had burrowed into his arms and bitten his wrist. The shock had snapped his eyes open, and he had nearly twisted her neck off.

When Qin Luo realized it was her, he froze for a long time. Only after coming to his senses did he realize she was chewing on his wrist to grind her teeth. She probably didn't dare bite down for real and was just gnawing on his wrist for fun.

She had covered his hand in drool.

Qin Luo was dumbfounded. He called her name, but she didn't respond. Her eyes stayed closed as she held his wrist in her mouth and ground her teeth. Growing fangs was probably uncomfortable too. Her brows were drawn tightly together, and her little face was all scrunched up. It was hard to watch.

He felt so conflicted that he barely slept all night. Meanwhile, the little zombie seemed to be sleepwalking. When he woke that morning and felt awkward, she woke too, blinking up at him without the slightest hint of embarrassment.

It left him red-faced, so he simply went outside for some air. But even after making several rounds and killing over a dozen lone zombies and mutant dogs, he still couldn't figure it out.

There are four of us, so why does she cling to me alone? Could it be...

There's only one possible explanation!

Xu Duoduo likes me too! That has to be it! Now it all makes sense!

She had even stared at his pecs while he was bathing last night. A handsome guy like him must have caught the little zombie's eye. Qin Luo rubbed his chin and nodded, thoroughly convinced by his own theory. What could he do? He was just that good-looking!

Once Qin Luo figured that out, he felt completely refreshed. When he returned and saw the little zombie squatting there, guarding breakfast, she couldn't have looked cuter.

Oh.

Who could possibly not like her?

He went over to look at her and squatted beside her. The little zombie turned and saw that he was back. Sure enough, her eyes lit up, and she immediately scooted closer.

She simply had to be right up against him.

Qin Luo was delighted. He turned to her and asked, "Hey, do you like me?"

He was actually rather embarrassed as he said it. Captain Qin had reached twenty-two before romance first stirred in his heart.

Looking at the delicious-smelling Qin Luo in front of her, Xu Duoduo nearly failed to hold back her drool. She immediately nodded, very earnestly. She really did like him so much.

I want to eat him.

Qin Luo turned completely red, from the tips of his ears all the way down to his neck.