Raising a Dog Would Be Better Than Raising a Zombie

"..."

With his back pressed against a chest as warm as a furnace, Jiang Nian blinked in the darkness and said tactfully:

"Brother Jing, it's late... I'm a little tired..."

Wait, everyone had gotten about the same amount of exercise today, and they'd all been busy until now. Wasn't this man tired?

"Can't keep up already?"

Cheng Jing chuckled, rubbing the tip of his nose against Jiang Nian's cheek.

"I..."

Jiang Nian was at a loss for words, but he couldn't say he couldn't keep up. He could; he was just a little tired!

"It's okay to admit you're not up to it once in a while. I won't laugh at you."

Cheng Jing teased him mercilessly, but made no further move. He simply lay on his side and held him, a little clingy.

Jiang Nian ground his teeth and retorted:

"It doesn't matter if I'm not up to it. I'm more worried you won't be! It's not like I'm the one doing most of the work anyway!"

How infuriating! His Brother Jing hadn't been like this before. He'd really changed!

"Heh..."

Cheng Jing laughed again, his chest trembling.

Just as Jiang Nian prepared himself to be thoroughly worked over, Cheng Jing said something out of nowhere:

"If it were me, I'd probably have done the same thing..."

"Huh?"

The abrupt change of direction caught Jiang Nian off guard, though he was relieved to see Cheng Jing didn't intend to go any further. Even if he didn't have to do the work, enjoying himself could be tiring sometimes.

Cheng Jing didn't answer. He tightened his arms and added dryly:

"I might even have gone further than she did..."

"?"

"...Huh?"

Jiang Nian thought back and finally understood what he meant. He reached behind himself and patted Cheng Jing's head:

"Calm down, Brother Jing. Raising a dog would be better than raising a zombie. If I really ended up like that, all I'd want would be to die quickly. Don't stand in the way of my reincarnation."

When it was time to die, one should die. A corpse forcibly kept around was neither fragrant nor sweet, and it bit people too. Better to be unrestrained and end it once and for all.

"Jiang Nian!"

For some reason, Cheng Jing felt awful and couldn't help grinding his teeth.

Jiang Nian turned around to face him:

"Brother Jing, no matter how many reasons or difficulties Xiao Ya's mother had, none of them change the fact that what she did harmed others and herself. Let me put it this way: death was too good for her! I'll just say this... even if she hadn't been infected, I would have killed her!"

No matter who did something like that, there was no whitewashing it. His Brother Jing's way of thinking was dangerous!

"..."

Cheng Jing seemed surprised. He met Jiang Nian's eyes through the darkness and was silent for a while before asking:

"Then why did you let Xiao Ya stay?"

"Actually, if Sister Qian hadn't been there at the time, she might already be dead..."

Jiang Nian's tone was calm in the darkness. After recounting what had happened when he and Huang Qian were in the living room of apartment 1805, he said:

"I wanted to strangle her and burn her to ashes, so their family of three could atone for those innocent people who died. That would have been the cleanest way."

He didn't know whether Huang Qian had noticed what he was thinking at the time, but he knew that none of his teammates besides him intended to kill Xiao Ya, so he had hesitated.

"You shouldn't be the one to do something like that."

Cheng Jing's voice was dry.

Jiang Nian took the opportunity to ask him in return:

"Then, Brother Jing, would you burn a child to death on the spot just because I said so? Would you throw her out like a dog and watch her die horribly? If she cried and begged you, would you be unmoved?"

His boyfriend and teammates were all highly trained security professionals. On that basis alone, they wouldn't kill a child.

"..."

Cheng Jing fell silent. If Xiao Ya had posed a threat to Jiang Nian, he would have burned her to ashes without hesitation. But she hadn't, and she had even shown Jiang Nian goodwill.

So even if Xiao Ya was guilty, it wasn't his place to judge her. Otherwise, there would be far too many people to kill. As for the victims' families, it was even less their place to judge on their behalf.

Of course, if Jiang Nian really couldn't get past it, he would do it. After thinking for a moment, he asked:

"Then what do you think now?"

Jiang Nian sighed softly:

"The authorities have already spoken, and we've accepted the assignment. Let's keep her under supervision for now, like Zhou Li said."

Perhaps being ruthless and disowning even his own kin would have been a more fitting attitude toward the evil in human nature after his tragic death and rebirth.

But his teammates were different from him, and they looked at things from different positions and perspectives. Otherwise, when Sister Huang Qian had made her move, she wouldn't have merely knocked Xiao Ya out; she would have killed her outright.

During a mission, his teammates' actions embodied Cheng Jing's will. From beginning to end, his Brother Jing had never considered killing Xiao Ya.

If he had faced the apocalypse alone after his rebirth, he would have shown no mercy. But he had been healed, so there was no need to go mad.

"Sigh..."

Thoughts raced through Jiang Nian's mind. He couldn't help giving a self-mocking laugh before murmuring to himself:

"...If I'd really killed her back then, I'd probably have regretted it too... A child who had no control over her situation and desperately wanted to save her father-what could she do when her mother begged and deceived her? Besides, how much could she resist her mother?"

Cheng Jing patted him:

"Then we'll keep her under supervision for now and take her to the base ourselves to register her. With our strength, we can handle any sudden developments. Of course, if she runs away on her own, that has nothing to do with us."

A mother's selfishness had created a tragedy. Xiao Ya wasn't entirely innocent, but she too had been powerless to resist and unable to control her circumstances.

It was a murky dilemma of human nature.

"Mm."

Jiang Nian nodded and hugged him tightly of his own accord, narrowing his eyes in contentment. A moment later, he remembered the topic Cheng Jing had brought up and said firmly once more:

"But speaking of that, Brother Jing, I meant everything I said just now. If I really get bitten and there's no antitoxin serum, then give me a quick death while you can. I love you so much, I definitely wouldn't want to drag you down..."

After saying that, he thought for a moment and changed his mind:

"Ah... forget it. You wouldn't be able to do it. I'd better use my ability to hang on for a while and make my final arrangements clear, then end it myself before I lose my mind."

He didn't want to remain conscious as he watched himself slowly turn from a human into a "humanoid beast" and bare his claws and fangs at the person he loved most.

Cheng Jing's breathing grew heavier. He buried his face in the crook of Jiang Nian's neck and bit him:

"Don't talk nonsense! We're going to live until the apocalypse ends, then get married and raise dogs!"

He had only put himself in Xiao Ya's mother's place and made a remark about what she had done. How had Jiang Nian gone so far as to bring up his final arrangements?

"Mmph... you're being unreasonable. You were the one who started talking nonsense..."

Jiang Nian grumbled in displeasure, but still snuggled against him and coaxed:

"All right, all right~ We can get married and raise dogs. We'll raise a few more."

Tsk, that was the one bad thing about having a dad-type boyfriend: you never knew when he'd start cooking up some baffling little mood of his own.

The thing was, if he went around saying, "Macho Brother Jing gets twisted, brooding, and clingy in the middle of the night, acting coquettish and sulking," people would definitely accuse him of spreading rumors.

Although the incident at Jiahe Court was over, another shadow hung over everyone's hearts:

Many people had family, friends, and loved ones. With the world in chaos and order on the brink of collapse, who knew who would be the next to do something like that?

And who could guarantee they wouldn't act like the woman from 1805?

After all, it was truly too hard to stay rational when it came to the people closest and dearest to them.

A few days after the incident, Jiang Nian and Cheng Jing went to Huang Qian's safe house.

They saw Xiao Ya, who had accepted that both her parents had turned into zombies and died. The little girl was neatly dressed, delicate and pretty, but her eyes were vacant, like those of a soulless doll.

Huang Qian had messaged them earlier, saying that after Xiao Ya broke free of the mental control and recovered, she often woke up screaming in the middle of the night, then dropped to her knees, kowtowing and apologizing desperately.

The mental control, fright, and grief had caused her to have several emotional breakdowns, and she had even shown suicidal tendencies.

So, on the advice of the command room's medical staff, Huang Qian had added some calming sedatives to Xiao Ya's drinking water. She had improved considerably over the past two days, though she was still occasionally jumpy.