Chapter 81

Translated by boilpoil Edited by boilpoil

Bai Lianhua collects his thoughts before taking a look around, and then asks the system for directions since Gu Ronghang isn’t in the safe zone then he had no idea where to look for the antagonist. Is he to just to stumble about hoping to stumble into him? That’s clearly a ridiculous notion. He at least needs some guidance.

The system says mysteriously, “no. I believe in the psychic connection between you and the antagonist… The system has already projected you not far from the antagonist’s location, so just walk following your heart, young man! The antagonist awaits!”

Bai Lianhua “…” Ptoo, the heck is a psychic connection between him and the antagonist? Even if there is such a thing he would rather throw it away… The damned system is as unreliable as always; he can only rely on himself.

After a brief rest, he stands up, hesitates before deciding to just walk in a single direction. Then, perhaps dictated by fate, three zombies wobble in his direction.

Bai Lianhua furrows his brows. There seems to be an awful lot of zombies in this whole area… Holding onto his branch, he steels his nerves to be ready for another round of beating. Then, he discovers that he was worried over nothing. The zombies completely ignore him and walk straight past, seemingly uninterested in him at all.

Bai Lianhua “…” Uh, can he have his drained emotions back?

Also, what in the world is going on? Don’t zombies instinctively bite people?

Though the odd activities of the zombies somehow remind Bai Lianhua of the antagonist’s special ability——If it were Gu Ronghang, he certainly had the ability to make the zombies act against their nature… Then, was this his doing?

Bai Lianhua takes a deep breath. A short consideration later he decides to follow discreetly behind these uncanny zombies while holding onto his branch for protection.

Behind a row of zombies with impaired motor functions moving like broken robots is a human bouncing up and down behind covers. It’s actually quite a farcical scene, but Bai Lianhua can’t bring himself to laugh. In fact, his stiff facial expression suggests he’s perhaps more headed towards the execution grounds than anything else, which is understandable given he’s highly likely to meet the antagonist face-to-face… And also, thanks to Bai Lianhua’s stern expression the system also doesn’t dare tease him at all.

A bit short of half an hour later, from a distance away, Bai Lianhua can see a group of zombies that are gathered up haphazardly. The amount of zombies is staggering, and it is obvious that anyone seeing something like this will all invariably want to run for their lives… Though, rather than that, the most important entity on-site is Gu Ronghang, sitting to the side and casually manipulating the zombies into killing each other for his entertainment.

As expected, he is the antagonist of this world, and his special ability to control zombies seems to have levelled up quite a lot too. Before he left, Gu Ronghang could at most control a few zombies, and now…

Bai Lianhua stops, and starts debating inside whether he should approach right now.

The system looks him over, and tries to remind him, “host, throw that branch away, asap, it’s breaking character.”

And also, try to tidy up your appearance, and also put up a suitable expression that would make the antagonist feel pity with just one look.

Bai Lianhua counters, “if I did that, then what if I meet some new danger?” This is the only weapon the stingy system gave him in this world, you know.

The system responds, “but the antagonist is here. He will never let danger get to you.”

Bai Lianhua remains unconvinced, “then what if the antagonist is the danger?” He’s not dumb – he can clearly see that Gu Ronghang seems to have become a lot more broody. It is an appearance very appropriate for an antagonist to have.

While he does think that he has nothing he should be sorry for towards the antagonist, but it can’t be helped, given there’s always the one common quality shared by all antagonist, which is that they are all way too wildly imaginative. Who knows how this antagonist will lose his mind in front of him.

The system lags for a second before trying to convince him sincerely, “host, do you still not believe, after this many worlds, that the antagonist is the one that will never hurt you no matter what? Be a good boy and quickly throw that away.”

Bai Lianhua is still slightly scared, though, but, Gu Ronghang has already seen him during his hesitation. This is when suddenly there’s simultaneously disbelief, surprise and all sorts of expression flashing across his face. It is practically unreadable.

Bai Lianhua goes into a panic. He waves the branch in his hand with an awkward smile, greeting Gu Ronghang in a sense, then he forces a dimple on his cheek, which obviously would seem utterly dry.

System “…” Oh no. It’s a bad start for this world. The host is acting so dumb even it can’t look straight at him.

After standing up quietly for a moment, Gu Ronghang slowly approaches Bai Lianhua. His steps are light, but each and every one of them makes Bai Lianhua’s heart skip a beat and his soul tremble. At last, Gu Ronghang, with a deep, uncompromising stance, gently caresses Bai Lianhua’s face.

Perhaps because Gu Ronghang has become distracted, the zombies that were ignored have had their restraints loosened, and part of the zombies stopped fighting each other and instead starts to follow their instincts and starts approaching them. Noticing that, Gu Ronghang strengthens his control and makes all zombies kill each other promptly without any more delay.

From start to finish, Gu Ronghang paid no attention to the zombies whatsoever. He is completely focused on Bai Lianhua.

His voice is deep as he extends his hands to wrap tightly around Bai Lianhua, saying, “what good news, I can’t control you… You’re not a zombie, you’re still alive and well.”

In Gu Ronghang’s embrace is Bai Lianhua whose body is trembling as he released the branch out of reflex… Whew, the antagonist actually thought he was a zombie back then and tried to control him?

Sc, scary. Is it too late to pick the branch back up and engage in self-defence?

Just an embrace was clearly insufficient, though, and Gu Ronghang also stuffs his head in the space next to Bai Lianhua’s neck, as if trying to confirm his body temperature and beating pulse. Bai Lianhua can suddenly feel the antagonist’s warm breath and so when his heart jumps, he subconsciously pushes slightly onto Gu Ronghang to show his discomfort. Unfortunately for him, Gu Ronghang is completely uninterested in letting him go. Instead, the power of his embrace increases even further.

Thus Bai Lianhua’s body ends up even stiffer, but he really doesn’t move anymore. Not that he doesn’t want to get out of the antagonist’s embrace, but… Even if he pushed all he could, if Gu Ronghang didn’t concede he would not be able to push him away anyhow. While neither of them awakened battle-use abilities, but just in terms of their physique and prowess one Gu Ronghang can probably withstand three of him at once. Just pushing through with raw power won’t work here. If he really tried to pull something like that, he’d be the only one embarrassed.

The system that’s, in a sense, psychically connected with Bai Lianhua is quite dismissive of this thought, however… Is it really that difficult to make the host admit that he really did have a slight feeling of bitterness being sympathetic for the antagonist? Sigh. and that many excuses too, it’s hopeless how dense and dishonest he is towards himself.

Of course, Bai Lianhua is unaware of the system’s laments. What is on his mind though is whether the soft feeling on the side of his neck is the antagonist’s face or… his lips.

——Both are absolutely terrifying, ok? The temperature of their intimate physical contact is almost boiling to the touch now.

Only after a long time has passed does Gu Ronghang finally raise his head and say with a gravelly voice, “before, you… I really thought I would never see you again.”

Bai Lianhua whose forced physical contact was finally terminated goes along with the flow and releases Gu Ronghang while breathing a sigh of relief. Then he wracks his brain cells and constructs a really unconvincing excuse. He said that after he had fortunately avoided the zombie wave back then, he was saved by someone else, but then he had amnesia and only recently recovered his memories. He was preparing to head to the safe zone for Gu Ronghang but didn’t expect to meet him right here.

The system also seems embarrassed, “emm, if this system can say something, host, don’t you think this lie was too unrealistic… Amnesia and stuff, that’s way too cliché, you know!”

Bai Lianhua also understands how unrealistic it sounds, but it can’t be helped, that is the most sensible explanation he can come up with himself. Bai Lianhua knows that given how sharp-witted Gu Ronghang is he will surely discover the unreasonable points in it. He lowers his head and waits for Gu Ronghang to tear his excuse apart dejectedly.

However, while Gu Ronghang did understand how buggy the whole excuse was, like how under that situation nobody could have stayed alive, but he decided to accept it all without question.

Bai Lianhua can’t help but quietly probe him, “do… do you believe what I said?”

“I do,” Gu Ronghang nods without hesitation, then asks, “do you not want me to?”

“… No, of course not.”

Bai Lianhua feels like he and Gu Ronghang are almost playing a game of blind riddles, to cover up a façade everyone knows is there.

The system goes, “tch, tch, host, you’ve been spoilt by the antagonist again.”

Bai Lianhua remains quiet, only going ‘mm’ very lightly after a long time.

Then, going with the flow, he asks Gu Ronghang some questions. like why the antagonist is here and not in the safe zone, like what he was doing just now and how dangerous and odd it looked, like what level his ability reached, looking almost like an invisible King of Zombies… There’s a lot to ask, and those questions are all reasonable to ask on their reunion, but Bai Lianhua just couldn’t bring himself to ask all of a sudden, when Gu Ronghang replied cleanly and decisively, “I do.”

——Ah, whatevs. That can wait. He’ll ask later.

Bai Lianhua has found a good excuse for himself – he’s only just back. So he should act more obedient in front of the antagonist.

So then Bai Lianhua almost gets taken without any objection by Gu Ronghang to where he is living right now. This is a residence that is slightly run-down but not too much. It looks like it has been visited several times at the start of the apocalypse, so there’s not much left. It feels big and empty.

Bai Lianhua’s brows furrow up. In fact, in his memories, Gu Ronghand appeared to be a very demanding person when it comes to living. If possible, he would always try to make convenient little inventions, and likes packing up and tidying stuff up even more than himself, than this unofficial white lotus.

But now…

Gu Ronghang can see Bai Lianhua’s expression change. He smiles, as if he has no care in the world at all, “do you feel the environment is bad, perhaps? But since you’re not here, even if I make the house as comfortable as it could be, what use would it have?”

Bai Lianhua goes quiet… It’s not a sentence he can reply to.

Gu Ronghang doesn’t seem to mind his silence, and continues along, “but now that you are back, the place needs a revamp.”

He plans to look for stuff based on this the next time he heads out. For Gu Ronghang himself, he actually didn’t need all those little things, especially when he had just been through the most dramatic change in his life… But, if it would make Bai Lianhua’s life a bit more convenient, then they were necessary.

It was so, and it will be so.

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