The once vibrant carpet of flesh now looked like blackened charcoal, devoid of life.
Stepping out of the room, Chu Muge glanced at Gu Yao with a strange expression before shutting the door behind her. She then smiled and joked, "Senior, was that your idea of a fun house?"
Gu Yao: … Fun house, my foot.
The room's carpet of flesh clung stubbornly to every surface, making it impossible to clean up quickly, so they decided to leave it as it was. The zombies, having served their purpose, were destroyed by Gu Yao in a daze, much like workers exploited to the end by their capitalist overlords, left with nothing after playing a no-win game in a pitch-black room.
Chu Muge didn't seem particularly interested in this outcome. She took Gu Yao's hand and led her to wash up without a second thought.
While brushing her teeth, Chu Muge noticed Gu Yao's slightly sharp teeth and frowned. "Senior, should I grind your teeth down a bit? Otherwise, you'll end up looking like a vampire."
The virus gradually transforms the host's body, with sharp teeth being one of the key adaptations for feeding. Every zombie eventually evolves, though the timeline varies.
Unfortunately, while other zombies grow sharp teeth to tear flesh, Gu Yao seemed more like a vampire—she hadn't even tasted fresh meat yet, just a few sips of blood here and there.
True to her word, Chu Muge rummaged through the house until she found an electric tooth grinder. She pressed the button, and to her surprise, it still had power.
"Ah—open wide."
Gu Yao sat on the toilet lid, her face expressionless, as Chu Muge aimed the grinder at her. She kept her mouth tightly shut, refusing to move.
Gu Yao: … Not interested in grinding.
It's just too humiliating, like admitting she's really a zombie who needs her teeth ground down.
Seeing Gu Yao's unyielding stance, Chu Muge pouted and then casually shook her left arm. The bandage covering the bite wound stood out starkly.
"Senior, it really hurt when you bit me…" Chu Muge blinked, trying to muster some tears.
When she put on that act, her beautiful eyes turned all teary, tinged with a bit of grievance. "Please…?"
Gu Yao: (°ー°〃)
Fine, fine, resisting any longer would just make her the bad guy.
With a sigh, Gu Yao opened her mouth, feeling the vibrations of the grinder on her teeth. The sensation traveled through her bones, leaving a strange numbness.
Once the sharpness of her teeth was dulled, she looked pitifully weak and helpless as Chu Muge stood before her, satisfied with her work.
She hadn't even had the chance to taste fresh meat, and now it seemed she'd never get to.
Unlike Gu Yao's frustration, Chu Muge was visibly pleased, her eyes narrowing contentedly like a cat basking in the warm sun. Stretching lazily, she said, "All done. Now back to serious business."
What serious business?
It wasn't until Chu Muge led her into the living room that Gu Yao realized what she meant.
On the coffee table was a half-drawn map of Area B, sketched by Chu Muge using the offline map on her phone. The place had power, so she had taken the opportunity to charge her phone, ensuring it wouldn't die on them.
Gu Yao sat beside her, watching as Chu Muge meticulously marked the map with a black and red pen, mumbling to herself all the while. Eventually, Gu Yao's gaze drifted as she zoned out.
Chu Muge really loved talking to herself. After spending so many days together, Gu Yao understood that this habit of Chu Muge's was a sign of loneliness. Like when she stood alone on the rooftop at sunset, leaning against the railing, silently watching the twilight sky. It was as if she naturally blended into the scene, as if she belonged there.
It was clear her world had no one else in it—at least until now, when Gu Yao had entered the picture.
Gu Yao wondered if Chu Muge had been unpopular before the apocalypse. It was strange, given that Chu Muge was actually very kind, not to mention extremely beautiful. Why would that be?
There was no answer to this question, not even in the novel, where Chu Muge's past was barely mentioned. At most, there was that one time when she told Lu Boyuan, with a smile, "In all my life, you're the first person to show me genuine kindness and stick with it."
That's why she and Lu Boyuan had become such good friends.
Time passed.
At some point, the already gloomy sky grew darker. Chu Muge put down her pen, carefully examined the finished map, and smiled. "All done."
-
They had spent several days holed up in this place, their supplies dwindling but still holding enough food—compressed biscuits and instant noodles. During this time, Chu Muge focused on recovering from her injury. One morning, she carefully unwrapped the bandage on her arm, revealing a faint scar in the shape of a bite mark. With a light smile, she turned to Gu Yao and said, "Senior, doesn’t this look like a mark?"
She didn't mind the scar at all, in fact, she seemed almost proud of it.
Gu Yao sat silently on the bed, watching her like a statue.
Chu Muge squinted, trying to guess what Gu Yao was thinking. "Are you worried about me?"
Gu Yao wasn't really worried. Rather, she felt a little embarrassed.
Chu Muge was a complex character. Gu Yao had once seen her standing in the bathroom, lifting her shirt to inspect a scar on her abdomen with a frown. Yet now, she smiled happily at the bite mark, treating it with a completely different attitude.
Chu Muge sighed softly, "In times like these, with danger everywhere, who could really stay unscathed?"
She seemed to have made peace with it.
-
Today, Chu Muge was acting strangely. Gu Yao noticed it first in the way Chu Muge's body trembled slightly as she held her. There was a dark mist in Chu Muge's eyes, and she pressed her lips together, clearly trying to endure something.
Her grip might have been too tight, though Gu Yao couldn't feel pain. She reached out and patted Chu Muge's back.
Chu Muge exhaled deeply, her pupils contracting and then dilating. After a few coughs, she quickly got out of bed and headed to the bathroom.
She was having an episode.
Darkness constantly brewed in the world, and Chu Muge struggled to suppress the violent and sorrowful emotions within her. She rushed to the bathroom, frantically searching for her medication.
She grabbed a plain white bottle with no label, opened it, and poured the last two capsules into her hand, swallowing them quickly.
Not enough…
Her heart still pounded erratically, and chaotic emotions clashed inside her like mixed chemicals spilling onto the ground.
She had been careless, assuming that the two capsules would last at least another week. But today, the episode hit harder than ever, leaving her with nothing.
Clenching her fists, cold sweat trickled down her back. She slowly raised her head to look at her reflection in the mirror, her teeth gritted.
The dark mist swirled as she punched the mirror. The force of the blow cracked the glass, spreading like a spiderweb.
Her reflection shattered into pieces, each fragment slightly distorted, as if mocking her.
Startled, Gu Yao peeked into the bathroom, cautiously observing.
Chu Muge turned to her with a smile. "It's okay, Senior."
She released her clenched fist, letting it drop limply to her side, and exhaled deeply. Then she left the bathroom, glancing at Gu Yao standing by the door. "Senior, we're leaving today."
Gu Yao followed her as she moved to the living room and picked up the map.
Chu Muge coughed, trying to push away the lingering discomfort, and looked at the map.
When she said they were leaving, she didn't mean they were heading straight to Xinjialuo, instead, she planned to search for a replacement for her medication.
Her medicine was custom-made, but some of the ingredients could be found in common medications.
There weren't many places marked on the map: a supermarket, a hospital, an auto shop, and the exit out of Area B.
But without a car, the hospital was too far.
Chu Muge's gaze shifted to another place where psychiatric medications were most likely to be found.
A psychiatric hospital.
"Let's go."
She went to the kitchen and grabbed a suitable kitchen knife.
"To kill zombies…"
The knife was sharp, its blade gleaming.
Chu Muge looked at the reflection of her own eyes on the blade and coughed lightly, her voice calm and indifferent.
"Or to kill people."