Gao Bai had a dream. In the dream, he was driving a car but suddenly lost his will, unable to control it, and crashed into the guardrail.
Someone was saying something, someone was pulling him out.
He moved his fingers but could do nothing.
In the dream—
A more distant dream—
In the dream, Jiang Yao had separated from him, saying she wanted to check the other side.
Gao Bai agreed.
He was propping his feet up, feeling a bit bored with guard duty, when he suddenly saw a little girl walk out from beside the restroom.
Gao Bai recognized this little girl—one of the survivors from the hospital, the youngest child. Gao Bai also had a little sister of about the same age. Not long ago, she had been clamoring for a doll. His mom hadn’t agreed, thinking she had too many dolls already; even if she played with one a day, it would take half a year to get through them all. His sister cried for a long time, and in the end, it was Gao Bai who paid for it, secretly tucking it onto her little bed.
His sister was overjoyed and was even willing to let her “stinky” brother, who had just returned from a mission, pick her up and plant two kisses on his stubbled face.
Gao Bai: “Are you lost?”
The little girl looked at him timidly, then lowered her head without speaking.
Gao Bai watched her patiently. After a while, she finally spoke, saying in a small voice, “I want to eat chocolate, but Mommy won’t let me.”
She looked very sad. “She even scolded me.”
She was wearing a child’s restraint device, and her voice was muffled.
Gao Bai felt as if he were seeing his own tiny little sister staring longingly at a doll, and his heart melted. He took a chocolate bar from his food bag, intending to place it in her hand, and said magnanimously, “Here, big brother will give you some.”
The little girl didn’t take it. “Mommy said we can’t eat right now.”
“She’s right over there. If she sees—I’ll get scolded again.”
Gao Bai stood up with a smile.
He was too tall; the little girl had to tilt her head back to see his face.
Gao Bai squatted down and said, “Then big brother will take you somewhere else, and we’ll eat it in secret. If your mommy finds out, big brother will cover for you.”
The little girl’s eyes lit up. “Really?”
Gao Bai: “Really.”
The little girl said softly, “Let’s pinky swear.”
“Okay,” Gao Bai said. “Let’s pinky swear.”
After the pinky swear, Gao Bai took her to an office, closed the door, and continued to keep watch through the window. The little girl wasn’t very good at removing the restraint device, so Gao Bai took it off for her and helped her tear open the chocolate wrapper.
The little girl happily took it and began to eat.
She ate very quietly, quickly finishing one. Then she asked, “Is there more?”
She pouted, a little embarrassed, but couldn’t help staring at his bag. “I want more.”
Of course, Gao Bai agreed. He couldn’t give her the whole food bag, so he had to look for more himself.
The little girl was very greedy and tugged at the corner of his clothes.
Gao Bai chuckled. He felt that since they were of the opposite sex, it wasn’t good to be too close to a little girl, so he tried to move away. But the little girl kept clinging to him, craning her neck to look into the food bag, pulling his shirt out of place.
Gao Bai: “There’s some for you, don’t worry—”
Before he could finish his sentence, the little girl suddenly bared her teeth and bit down hard on his side.
A sharp pain shot through him.
Gao Bai tried to pull her away, but her teeth were hooked into his flesh like barbs.
Gao Bai felt dizzy, and his vision went black.
His last image was of the little girl taking out a small glass bottle, drinking the liquid inside to rinse her mouth, and then holding it to his wound to collect his blood.
Gao Bai struggled abruptly and found himself tied to a chair. Shang Ci and Lou Jiu were standing in front of him. Seeing him awake, they both looked over.
Neither of them looked well. Their eyes were bloodshot, as if they hadn’t slept in a long time and were weighed down by heavy thoughts.
Gao Bai: “I—”
He was startled; his voice sounded hoarse and unpleasant.
Gao Bai tried to swallow to moisten his throat but found he had no saliva. “Boss, what happened to me?”
Shang Ci’s eyes lit up. “You still remember me?”
Gao Bai was bewildered. “Why wouldn’t I remember you?”
He then saw the purple bruises on Lou Jiu’s neck and was shocked and angry. “Damn! What happened to you? Who dared to lay a hand on our team’s beauty? Are they asking for a broken leg!”
Shang Ci stared at him fixedly, then suddenly burst out laughing.
Gao Bai looked at him, baffled, but then saw their team doctor curve her lips and smile as well.
The smile was faint and fleeting.
After laughing, Shang Ci roughly ruffled Gao Bai’s hair, making Gao Bai want to kick him. But his legs were tied, so he could only protest angrily, “You can’t just touch a man’s head!”
Shang Ci: “Hey, I’m touching it. What can you do about it?”
“Get angry—” Shang Ci said, “You might as well get angry enough to die.”
“Saves us from being scared to death by you.”
Gao Bai felt that his laugh was off, and the way he spoke was off too. He turned to look at Lou Jiu.
But Lou Jiu said nothing.
She just raised a hand to her forehead, paused for a moment, and said, “I’m going out first.”
Shang Ci nodded. “Okay.”
Lou Jiu turned sideways and left the room.
There was a row of benches outside the door, where Wen Qianshu and Jiang Yao were sitting. Wen Qianshu had a bandage wrapped around her hand and looked up at her.
Lou Jiu: “He’s awake and conscious.”
Jiang Yao’s face was still very pale. She sat ramrod straight, as if a single bone were propping up her back, unable to move. “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry, I should have known sooner—”
Her voice was so small it was squeezed out from her throat.
Lou Jiu didn’t speak, just raised her hand in a gesture to stop.
Her back was covered in injuries, and she hadn’t had a decent night’s sleep since the rescue mission in D District. She had almost fallen asleep while her wounds were being dressed just now.
“Captain Jiang,” Lou Jiu looked at her, “we’ll talk about this later, or you can talk to our captain.”
She glanced at the clock on the wall and asked Wen Qianshu, “Is the quarantine over?”
Wen Qianshu: “Yes.”
The transmission speed of the zombie virus varied from person to person, but it never exceeded twenty-four hours. They had now arrived at the base’s A District. After twenty-four hours of quarantine, they would be free to leave.
Lou Jiu: “Come with me.”
Wen Qianshu: “Huh?”
Lou Jiu suddenly realized that Qin Shu still didn’t know her parents were gone.
While they were in the room waiting for Gao Bai to wake up, Shang Ci had used his authority to look into Qin Shu’s background. Her parents had moved from A District to D District when she was born and had stayed there ever since. So Qin Shu was a native of D District, and the Qin family had no relatives in A District. Qin Shu’s record was clean; she had gone through school and grown up in a perfectly ordinary way. Moreover, her parents had saved Jiang Yao, and she herself had risked her life to save Lou Jiu in the car. The possibility of her being a problem was extremely small.
Lou Jiu closed her eyes and said to her, “My place is nearby. Go there and rest for a bit.”
Wen Qianshu glanced at Jiang Yao, only to see Shang Ci push the door open. “Everyone, go get some sleep.”
“What’s done is done. There’s no use regretting it. Instead, we should think about how to report this to the higher-ups and get them to approve a project to treat Gao Bai. Captain Jiang, you still have to be questioned later. Go sleep in another room.”
After all, Jiang Yao was the sole survivor of her team. She wouldn’t be able to leave the quarantine point until after her debriefing.
While Lou Jiu and Shang Ci were inside waiting for Gao Bai to wake up, Wen Qianshu had described what she had seen on the road to Jiang Yao. Jiang Yao was silent for a moment, then found a photo to show Wen Qianshu. Wen Qianshu recognized the zombie as the communications officer from Jiang Yao’s team.
The person behind this was incredibly arrogant, not only displaying Jiang Yao’s teammate but also using it to foreshadow Gao Bai’s fate.
If Jiang Yao had understood and attacked Gao Bai, Team 5 would have surely broken ties with her.
If she hadn’t, the incident with Gao Bai still happened while he was with her, and she would still be unable to escape blame.
Jiang Yao: “How ruthless.”
Wen Qianshu: “Indeed.”
In the original world, it only said that Jiang Yao had been tracking the culprit alone and eventually perished with the mastermind. Wen Qianshu didn’t know who this person was specifically.
“You guys deserve to fail at the repairs,” Wen Qianshu said to 2333. “Could the world line be any more vague?”
2333 sneered, “Otherwise, why do you think repairing world lines is so difficult?”
Wen Qianshu followed Lou Jiu home.
Working in a search team was a high-risk job, so the base provided good benefits. Lou Jiu had been allocated a two-bedroom apartment. If she got married, she could even exchange it for a larger one.
Lou Jiu: “I have a father who occupies one room. Is it okay if you sleep with me?”
Wen Qianshu almost wanted to say, “Yes, yes, of course,” but she quickly calmed down—they weren’t that familiar with each other yet.
So Wen Qianshu asked, “How about I sleep in the living room?”
“No need.” Lou Jiu pressed her fingerprint on the lock. “After being away for so long, the living room is probably not fit for sleeping.”
The door opened.
The room was filled with the thick smell of alcohol, which rushed out to meet them.
It was dark inside. Lou Jiu tried to turn on the light, but she had barely taken a step before she nearly tripped. It was Wen Qianshu who reached out and steadied her.
Lou Jiu switched on the light and saw the “thing” that had tripped her in the entryway.
Lou Jiu stared blankly at the “thing” for two seconds before introducing it to Wen Qianshu: “My dad.”
Wen Qianshu: “…”
Lou Jiu bent down and dragged the man on the floor up.
The floor was littered with empty wine bottles, empty cans, and all sorts of takeout containers and broken disposable chopsticks, leaving almost no place to step. The sofa was stained with mottled colors, from who knows what had been spilled on it.
The man smacked his lips. “Jiu, jiu—”
Lou Jiu: “Yeah.”
She thought for a moment and felt he probably wasn’t calling her name.
Wen Qianshu found a broom and helped her sweep away the things in front of them. Lou Jiu, still in her boots, dragged her dad all the way to his room, tossed him onto the bed, and turned him onto his side. Then she turned on the air conditioner and set it to a comfortable temperature.
The man was still muttering in his sleep, “Jiu—”
Lou Jiu had intended to leave right away, but she paused at the door. “Yeah, I’m home.”
She left the room, closed the door properly, and led Wen Qianshu to her room.
Wen Qianshu was actually a little curious.
Because she had never seen her home before.
In the first world, Jiang Mingyue had a falling out with her family when she went to college. After she got together with Wen Qianshu, her family transferred their hatred, despising Wen Qianshu so much that she couldn’t even get through the door.
In the second world, after Yun Cai got together with Wen Qianshu, she stopped returning to Five Spirits Mountain to avoid suspicion. Her father was very disappointed in her for “not attending to her proper duties” and was even less pleased with Yan Chengshuang.
As for after they got together, they picked out everything together and decorated their rooms together. Wen Qianshu really had no idea what Little Moonlight’s original room looked like.
Lou Jiu turned on the light, and Wen Qianshu froze.
This room—it was exactly the same as in their first life.
The same layout, the same bed, the same color bedsheets.
Actually, the living room was similar too, it was just hard to tell under the pile of trash.
Lou Jiu was far less particular than Jiang Mingyue. Without even taking off her boots, she reached for the air conditioner remote on the bedside table, set the temperature, and then flopped onto the bed, looking like she was about to fall asleep.
Wen Qianshu didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
Wen Qianshu didn’t know that, in fact, Jiang Mingyue wasn’t that particular either.
Or rather, she was no longer as particular as she had been in her student days.
Jiang Mingyue was famous and had many surgeries. She was usually busy with work, often skipping meals, and when she was exhausted, she would also just collapse onto the bed and sleep. It was only when Wen Qianshu said she was coming home that she would adjust her schedule, tidy up the room properly, and wait for her to return.
Wen Qianshu was tired too, but with Yan Chengshuang’s experience of “staying up all night,” and having slept a little at the quarantine point, she could still hold on.
Wen Qianshu locked the door and raised her hands to remove her restraint device.
She went to the living room to find a pair of slippers and quickly washed her hands and feet.
The layout of Lou Jiu’s bathroom was also the same as Jiang Mingyue’s. Wen Qianshu easily found her face cloth, helped her remove her restraint device, and wet the cloth to wipe her face. Lou Jiu’s cheeks were already red from the straps of the restraint device, which looked quite painful.
Wen Qianshu then took off her boots, jacket, and pants, and tucked her into the quilt.
She was just pondering whether to unfasten Lou Jiu’s bra—after all, sleeping with a bra on is really painful, and the search teams used sports bras, which were surely even tighter.
But Wen Qianshu couldn’t just take off someone’s bra for no reason. She thought, maybe I can help her wipe her body. It’s normal to take off clothes to wipe someone’s body, right?
But just as Wen Qianshu stood up to get a bath towel, her wrist was grabbed. Lou Jiu turned her face, pressing it into the pillow, her five fingers closing around Wen Qianshu’s wrist without opening her eyes. “Stop messing around, let’s sleep.”
Her body temperature wasn’t high, but her five fingers exerted a slight pressure, and the ring they formed around Wen Qianshu’s wrist felt inexplicably hot.
Her voice was low and raspy, with a nasal tone, and the last word was drawn out.
It was just like her satisfied and languid voice after their countless lovemaking sessions.
Their lovemaking—
The sweat that flowed, the hot, humid panting and kisses, the low laughter and licks against her ear, the dazed, shimmering light in those pale pupils—
Wen Qianshu felt inexplicably hot and coughed. “I’m not messing around.”
She tried to get to the point. “I took off your restraint device so your face won’t hurt when you wake up tomorrow morning.”
Then, Wen Qianshu tried to persuade her further. “Let me take off your bra too. That’s uncomfortable to wear, and you have injuries on your back.”
Lou Jiu sighed, helpless. “Fine.”
With that, before Wen Qianshu could move, she raised her arms, pulled her short-sleeved shirt over her head, and tossed it on the floor. Then, in a few quick movements, she took off her bra and threw it on top of the shirt.
Wen Qianshu: “…”
She first stared at the clothes on the floor, then slowly moved her gaze back to Lou Jiu’s slender neck and the bruise on it; then to Lou Jiu’s snow-white back, which was wrapped in bandages, with only a moon on her shoulder visible.
Lou Jiu was lying on her stomach, concealing the fine scenery in front, but a beautiful curve could still be glimpsed from the side.
Wen Qianshu: “Hiss—”
Wen Qianshu was even more awake now.
Wen Qianshu tried to rescue her sleep from the beautiful sight. “It’s cold, let me get you a pajama top.”
Lou Jiu really couldn’t take it anymore. She had no idea what Wen Qianshu was trying to do.
Lou Jiu sat up directly, facing Wen Qianshu. Under Wen Qianshu’s suddenly transfixed gaze, she reached out, pulled her down onto the bed, and threw the quilt over her.
Wen Qianshu instantly touched her smooth, sweaty skin. They were a little too close, and Lou Jiu’s sleepy breaths brushed against Wen Qianshu’s neck and shoulder.
Wen Qianshu: “!”
She was about to go crazy, even wanting to shake Lou Jiu awake and shout at her, “Sis, don’t go to sleep, sleep with me!”
But that was impossible.
Wen Qianshu tried to crawl away, but Lou Jiu thought she was still messing around and reached out an arm, dragging her back by the waist.
“Sleep,” Lou Jiu said in a hoarse voice. “Be good.”
Wen Qianshu: “…”
For the first time, she felt that life was so hard.
As if to prevent her from making any more trouble, Lou Jiu didn’t move her hand, leaving it pressed on her waist, making that patch of skin feel like it was on fire. Wen Qianshu couldn’t help but try to push it away, only to be pressed back down more forcefully.
Lou Jiu commanded, “Sleep.”
Wen Qianshu lay down obediently and stopped moving.
2333 was thrilled to see Wen Qianshu in a tight spot for once. It had just started mocking her when it saw Lou Jiu quickly fall into a deep sleep. Wen Qianshu opened her eyes, swiftly took off her own clothes, snuggled into Lou Jiu’s embrace, hugged her back, and then, with a cold smile, closed her eyes as well.
If she couldn’t sleep, she couldn’t sleep.
Wen Qianshu’s speed of giving up was faster than anyone’s.
She thought to herself, since I can’t sleep anyway, I might as well hold her all night. How great is that.
She didn’t forget to tell 2333, “I already resisted, but I failed.”
“A true warrior must dare to enj—accept failure.”
2333: “…”
Wen Qianshu, that’s so you.
Author’s Notes:
ooc short theater:
#Wen Qianshu is addicted to beauty#
I haven’t used common terms for some clothing items, please just get the gist. I’m a bit afraid of being locked if I write them directly.
Get instant access to all the chapters now.
