“No.” Fu Yan shut his mouth tightly after speaking, clenching his teeth.
“I heard it, you know.” Jiang Xinghuai leaned in a little closer. “Do you have a cavity?”
“No.” Fu Yan said.
“Then why are you grinding your teeth?” Jiang Xinghuai thought for a moment, reached out his hand, and pressed it against his forehead. “Or are you feeling unwell?”
Fu Yan let out a sigh, turned over, raised his arm, and pulled the other into his embrace: “Sleep.”
Jiang Xinghuai froze, not daring to move, not daring to pay too much attention to the warm breath brushing past his ear.
That tingling sensation that had spread through his whole body earlier surged up again.
“Good night.” Fu Yan added.
“Mm.” Jiang Xinghuai lay stiff and straight as he slept.
Because Fu Yan had taken medicine, his breathing soon evened out.
In the darkness, Jiang Xinghuai blinked his eyes, quietly turned over, and buried his head into Fu Yan’s chest.
The next morning.
Fu Yan was woken up by being squeezed so tightly, both of his arms were unable to move even a little.
Fu Yan furrowed his brows hard, slightly raised his head, and took in the situation clearly.
Jiang Xinghuai was like an octopus, his head pressed tightly against his chest, both hands and both legs wrapped all around him, holding on with a death grip.
The hand hooked around his neck sensed that he was moving and actually began to tighten, little by little.
Fu Yan was nearly strangled by Jiang Xinghuai to the point of not being able to breathe. He reached out and struggled a bit. But strangely, he couldn’t break free.
Jiang Xinghuai was thin. Fu Yan truly hadn’t expected him to have such strength.
Fu Yan’s eyes started rolling back. He couldn’t endure it anymore: “Jiang! Xing! Huai!”
“…Mm.” Jiang Xinghuai answered drowsily.
“Let go!” Fu Yan roared in anger.
Jiang Xinghuai: “…………”
After washing up and eating breakfast, Jiang Xinghuai sat in the passenger seat, still not daring to look Fu Yan in the eye.
An angry Fu Yan wasn’t frightening in the usual way. He didn’t hit or curse. He just stayed cold, silent, and ignored him.
Jiang Xinghuai was actually very afraid of Fu Yan’s darkened face. It wasn’t that he was afraid of being ignored. He was only scared of that kind of silent emotion.
Biting on his straw, Jiang Xinghuai slowly sipped at his juice, his gaze fixed on the car window outside.
Today, the sky was dim, with a light rain falling. The oppressive black clouds loomed over this once prosperous and flourishing city.
Looking at this scene, Jiang Xinghuai suddenly felt uneasy in his heart. He turned back, forced a smile onto his face, and searched for a topic: “I just knew it was going to rain today, because there were no stars in the sky last night.”
Fu Yan drove without saying a word.
Jiang Xinghuai thought for a moment, then lifted his drink: “This orange juice is actually pretty good. Do you want a sip?”
Fu Yan kept his eyes fixed straight ahead.
Jiang Xinghuai tugged his backpack over to dig out another drink for him, but halfway through rummaging, his hand suddenly stopped.
He held his schoolbag and stopped moving.
Fu Yan tilted his head and glanced at him, then asked, “What’s wrong?”
“This is the last bottle.” Jiang Xinghuai lifted his head, his mood low.
“I’m not drinking.” Fu Yan, after speaking, thought for a moment, then added, “If you want to apologize, you can just say it directly.”
Jiang Xinghuai finally realized he should apologize first: “Uncle, I was wrong. I shouldn’t have choked your neck.”
“Mm, it’s fine.” Fu Yan nodded. “Zip up your schoolbag, we’re about to enter the city.”
“So soon?” Jiang Xinghuai raised his head at those words and looked out the window.
The usually wide, clean, and tidy highway was now almost everywhere smeared with pools of fresh blood and people lying motionless.
Small cars collided together in a heap of thick black smoke, barrels of fuel burning with flames, and infected ones stumbling aimlessly by the buildings on the roadside.
“How… how did it become like this…” Jiang Xinghuai was stunned.
All along their way through the town roads, they occasionally ran into wandering infected, but the scene had never been this tragic.
“The dense population turned the city into hell.” Fu Yan frowned, pressed down on the accelerator, and sped up.
“Your friend…” Jiang Xinghuai turned his head to look at him. “Where is he?”
“When he called me, he was at the research institute. He said he’d go home to grab some things first and then drive over to meet me.” Fu Yan’s brows furrowed tightly. “If nothing happened, he should be at home.”
“His house isn’t in the city center, right?” Jiang Xinghuai frowned hard. “The roads leading to the second ring must all be jammed.”
“No.” Fu Yan turned the steering wheel to the right. “It’s in the suburban area. If it were in the city center, I wouldn’t have brought you here.”
“I don’t like the sound of that.” Jiang Xinghuai gave a little snort.
“Are you scared?” Fu Yan asked.
“Scared of what?” Jiang Xinghuai raised an eyebrow.
Fu Yan tilted his head and glanced at him, then smiled.
“Nothing to be scared of.” Jiang Xinghuai also smiled.
“Finish the juice quickly, we’re almost there.” After reminding him, Fu Yan looked through the rearview mirror at the dozens of infected chasing after them, his expression gradually tightening.
“We should deal with the ones behind first.” Jiang Xinghuai spoke as he pulled out the gun and rolled the window down.
Bang, bang, bang—
The infected chasing from the roadside still hopped about cheerfully.
“Missed… missed again…” Jiang Xinghuai frowned. He had never properly learned how to shoot, let alone at moving targets.
“Hold the steering wheel.” Fu Yan suddenly turned and leaned out the window.
Jiang Xinghuai hurriedly grabbed the wheel.
Bang, bang, bang—
From the start of the gunfire to the last shot, it ended quickly.
Fu Yan soon turned back and took hold of the steering wheel again.
Jiang Xinghuai glanced behind them. The infected chasing the car had already disappeared.
Jiang Xinghuai was stunned. He had always thought Fu Yan’s shooting skills were about the same as his own—played around with it, but not very practiced. Back at the warehouse, when everyone was shooting together, you couldn’t really tell anyone’s level.
But now, sitting in the car, Fu Yan’s headshots were almost one hundred percent.
“You run a pharmaceutical company, so why are you this good at shooting?” Jiang Xinghuai asked in shock. “The company you run isn’t illegal, right?”
“Don’t overthink.” Fu Yan slowly pressed down on the brakes and stopped by the greenbelt. “I got into it overseas for a while, just as a hobby.”
“Why do I feel like you can do everything?” Jiang Xinghuai looked at him with admiration.
Fu Yan clearly enjoyed it, too. A faint smile started to appear on his face.
“Could this be what they call—” Jiang Xinghuai clapped his hands, “An elder at home is like a treasure!”
Fu Yan’s smile slowly froze.
The raindrops grew heavier, beating against the car window with a sharp pattering sound.
Jiang Xinghuai realized afterward that he had said something wrong and quickly tried to fix it: “I didn’t mean you’re old, what I meant was… that you’re a treasure.”
Fu Yan, not looking very pleased: “…Get out of the car.”
“It’s pouring.” Jiang Xinghuai turned to look anxiously out the window, then pushed the door, ready to get out. “Won’t there be thunder later?”
“Don’t move.” Fu Yan suddenly shouted.
“Huh?” Jiang Xinghuai froze for a moment, but obediently stopped moving.
He was wearing a hoodie, the hood half-rolled down against his neck.
Fu Yan let out a sigh and reached out to pull up his hood. But when his eyes caught sight of the back of Jiang Xinghuai’s neck, his hand froze.
Jiang Xinghuai’s skin was pale. The skin at the back of his neck was even paler, which made that small indented mark especially noticeable.
That was—
Fu Yan’s hand was cool when it pressed against him. Jiang Xinghuai didn’t react right away, only shrank his neck and asked, “What is it?”
“Why is there a bite mark on the back of your neck?” Fu Yan frowned.
“Bite mark?” Jiang Xinghuai didn’t think much of it. After a moment’s thought, he said, “Maybe Chen Zhou bit me when he was drunk.”
“Chen Zhou?” Fu Yan narrowed his eyes.
“My buddy, the really good kind.” Jiang Xinghuai perked up when he mentioned him. “Probably got drunk and gnawed at me randomly. When he’s drunk, he’s basically like a zombie, loves biting people. Last time he almost bit through the skin on my ear.”
Fu Yan’s expression was hard to read as his gaze slowly shifted to the edge of his ear.
“You remember my nickname, right? Little Flying Man. It was he who gave it to me.” Jiang Xinghuai turned his head, smiling as he recalled, “Back then, I’d just started practicing parkour. There was this wall I had to climb, but it was too high. I couldn’t make it up, no matter how many times I tried. My elbows were covered in bruises. Suddenly, he shouted, ‘Little Flying Man, go!’ It sounded kinda silly, but somehow my heart got fired up at that moment, and I just leapt right over it.”
“I wonder how he’s doing now.” Jiang Xinghuai’s smile gradually faded, and in the end, he sighed. “His parents work here in Beijing, but he lives alone back home. I miss him. I want to hear him call me Little Flying Man again…”
Fu Yan’s face darkened bit by bit. “Get out of the car.”
Jiang Xinghuai pulled his hood snug, slung his backpack over his shoulder, and jumped down. Water splashed up, soaking one of his pant legs.
“Be careful.” Fu Yan walked over, wiped the rain from his eyes, and tugged at his hood. “Head into the building. You watch the front, I’ll watch the back.”
Jiang Xinghuai nodded and took his first step toward the residential complex ahead.
The two of them walked through the rain for a short while, but the expressions on their faces grew increasingly puzzled and astonished.
This area was mostly residential buildings, tall and short structures packed densely together.
Aside from the gnawed corpses lying everywhere as proof of the disaster that had taken place here, there wasn’t a single living infected person visible on the streets.
Fu Yan also noticed this abnormal situation, his expression tightening.
“Why are there no infected monsters around?” Jiang Xinghuai gripped his gun nervously, his steps slowing more and more.
This was far too strange.
Fu Yan also frowned as he scanned the surroundings, when suddenly an image flashed through his mind. Earlier, the infected chasing them down the main road had all been standing under the eaves before spotting them. Not a single one had been standing out in the open street.
“Because of the rain,” Fu Yan suddenly said.
“You mean they went to hide from the rain?” Jiang Xinghuai froze, but quickly realized, “Which means right now they’re all inside the buildings waiting for us.”
He glanced up at the building in front of them, studied it for a couple of seconds, then swallowed hard. “Shouldn’t we first confirm whether your friend is even at home?”
“How do we confirm?” Fu Yan asked.
“Which floor does he live on? I should be able to climb up.” Jiang Xinghuai replied.
“Top floor,” Fu Yan said.
“Only the seventh floor… I’ll give it a try.” Jiang Xinghuai tucked the gun into his waistband.
“Not this building.” Fu Yan pointed to the one next to it. “It’s that one.”
Jiang Xinghuai turned to look. It was a standard modern-style apartment building, floor upon floor, with clouds practically drifting near the highest level.
“Think you can try?” Fu Yan asked.
Jiang Xinghuai: “………………”
“Little Flying Man,” Fu Yan called again.
Jiang Xinghuai: “………………”
“Let’s go.” Fu Yan took his hand. “We’re going inside.”
“How many floors does this building have in total?” Jiang Xinghuai asked.
“About thirty-something.” Fu Yan judged by looking up at its height.
“Can we take the elevator?” Jiang Xinghuai pulled a bitter face.
“Ask him.” Fu Yan raised his gun.
“Who?” Jiang Xinghuai froze, then looked over.
The residential security guard, still wearing his security cap, was walking stiffly toward them from the guard booth, holding a blood-stained baton.
“Uncle Security Guard, is the elevator still working?” Jiang Xinghuai asked politely.
Bang!
A gunshot rang out.
The security guard uncle twitched as he collapsed to the ground.
“He said no.” Fu Yan once again took Jiang Xinghuai’s hand. “Let’s go.”
“Let’s find another security guard and ask.” Jiang Xinghuai still wanted to take the elevator.
“Alright.” Fu Yan nodded.
Author’s note:
Security guard: I don’t know anything, don’t ask me.
