Chapter 19: I Saw You a Long Time Ago.…
“…?”
Lin Ling’s long eyelashes fluttered, his gaze a bit vacant. “What did you say? I don’t think I heard you clearly.”
“You didn’t hear clearly?”
Shi Changyuan chuckled, a hint of mischief in his voice. “Was Lingling being intentional or was it an accident?”
“Of course not!”
The little zombie was a bit annoyed, his cheeks burning. He averted his gaze. “Your questions are too improper! What is all this nonsense!”
“Lingling, don’t worry about what I ask.”
Shi Changyuan suddenly moved closer, leaning in, and stared at the young man. “Just tell me the answer.”
With that, he added with a half-smile, “Do I need to repeat the question?”
“No need!”
Before he could finish, the little zombie cut him off. He glared with his beautiful almond-shaped eyes, but under the “rules of the game,” he still obediently answered Shi Changyuan’s question.
“I don’t know when my favorite human will become you.”
“A-Anyway, it hasn’t happened yet.”
Getting the expected answer, Shi Changyuan didn’t show any disappointment or any other emotion. He just nodded lightly.
Then he made a grand pronouncement.
“It’s okay. It’s only a matter of time.”
“Alright, stop talking!”
The great Zombie Emperor seemed unaccustomed to such direct words. He couldn’t cover the other’s mouth, so he could only cover his own ears tightly.
It was as if these words were scarier than the sound effects of a suspenseful horror movie.
“I don’t want to play this game with you anymore!”
The little zombie covered his ears, his cheeks puffed out in anger, the tips of his ears red. But Shi Changyuan didn’t let him off the hook.
“Then Lingling loses.”
Shi Changyuan’s eyebrow twitched. He deliberately enunciated each word, slowing down his speech.
“You’ll have to agree to one condition of mine.”
Lin Ling: ?!!!
“No way!”
“It’s my turn.” The little zombie immediately dropped his hands, deciding to continue the game. He realized their questions were completely different, so he thought for a moment and decided to imitate the other’s question to turn the tables.
“Then I’m asking.”
Lin Ling prepared himself mentally, trying to fight fire with fire. “What I want to ask is… is…”
But a bunch of questions flashed through the little zombie’s mind, yet his mouth couldn’t form any of them.
“What I want to ask is… why did you capture me?”
In the end, the little zombie couldn’t imitate the human’s question. He looked dejected, his eyes drooping.
“Besides the reason of keeping me as a pet.”
Lin Ling looked at Shi Changyuan, finally choosing the very first question among all his doubts.
His eyes were full of seriousness. “I’ve thought about it for a long time, and I don’t think that reason is sufficient.”
Based on Lin Ling’s later observations, Shi Changyuan didn’t seem like a human who truly needed a pet for comfort.
Even though all his actions and public claims said that he was keeping a pet, Lin Ling’s intuition still told him something was wrong.
And the human in front of him always liked to tease zombies, was glib-tongued, and never spoke seriously. The earlier excuses of “stray zombie” and “cute zombie” must have been fake too!
It was all to coax a zombie!
His suspicion was perfectly reasonable!
Lin Ling crossed his arms, looked at the human in front of him, full of confidence, as if everything was under his control.
“Answer me.”
Hearing this question, the corners of Shi Changyuan’s lips immediately curved up. He asked with a grin, “So Lingling has figured it out?”
“Of course! I am the Zombie Emperor.”
“Then congratulations to Lingling for winning.” Shi Changyuan’s words came without a pause, his tone carrying a hint of finality, as if he had just finished telling a bedtime story.
“It’s time to sleep.”
“Huh?” The little zombie was ready to hear the final answer, but before he could react, Shi Changyuan had already put away the small bed table in front of him and pulled the quilt over again.
“You admit defeat?”
Lin Ling felt a bit incredulous. He stared blankly for a while before realizing the game was over. He could finally break free from the atmosphere of “mutual scheming” and “extracting information” from each other.
He watched Shi Changyuan’s movements, which were natural and intimate, as if nothing had happened, even if Lin Ling had held a knife to his throat a second ago.
In the face of this attitude, the little zombie was a bit at a loss. He hesitated for a moment before remembering what he was here for and crawled back under the covers.
But with this interruption, the shadow the horror movie had cast on Lin Ling instantly vanished without a trace.
“It’s not admitting defeat.”
“I can’t answer that question for Lingling for now. Lingling wins.”
“As for the condition, we’ll talk about it tomorrow morning.”
Shi Changyuan answered the little zombie while turning off all the lights in the room, leaving only a small night light.
“But for Lingling’s question just now, I can give you a little hint.”
“What?”
The little zombie lay in his quilt, only his eyes showing. In the light of the night light, they were dark and bright.
“I saw you a long time ago.”
Shi Changyuan turned his head and looked into Lin Ling’s eyes. Those eyes were as beautiful and clean as ever, no matter when.
The moment his words fell, the night light was also turned off, and the room was plunged into darkness.
The little zombie’s pupils dilated abruptly.
“When did you see me? How come I don’t know?”
Lin Ling was a bit excited. He seemed to want to get up and turn the lights back on to get to the bottom of this, but he was held down by Shi Changyuan.
“It’s very late.”
“Lingling should be sleeping.”
Unlike the excited little zombie, Shi Changyuan’s tone was completely calm, as if he had already guessed that Lin Ling had no memory of it and therefore held no expectations.
“Did you really see me? Was it in City B? When was it? Why didn’t you tell me before? Do you have a grudge against me, so you captured me?”
One stone stirred up a thousand waves. The little zombie’s questions were not solved at all; instead, there were more. He kept guessing in the dark.
“No grudge.”
Shi Changyuan selectively answered the little zombie’s question, promptly correcting the direction of his diverging thoughts.
Getting another answer, the little zombie felt he was very close to the truth. If he could just eliminate a few more wrong answers…
The little zombie blinked, about to ask again, when he heard Shi Changyuan’s voice first.
“If Lingling doesn’t want to sleep, why don’t you answer one of my questions first?”
The human is asking a question again?
Lin Ling had a bad feeling and wanted to cover his ears again, but he was a step too slow.
“Then why did Lingling want to find me a new pet?”
The faint voice seemed distant in the darkness, but it fell on Lin Ling’s ears, exceptionally close.
Lin Ling: “.”
Does he dare to say it’s because he wants to run away? He doesn’t.
So the little zombie could only quiet down. Not long after, he fell asleep with a stomach full of questions.
Listening to the breathing that was steadier and slower than a human’s, Shi Changyuan turned over. In the faint light filtering through the curtains, he looked at the young man before him and couldn’t help but reach out to touch those closed eyes.
But the moment he reached out, the friction between his clothes and the quilt made a soft rustling sound, causing the little zombie’s long, curved eyelashes to tremble and his brow to furrow subconsciously.
Shi Changyuan’s outstretched hand paused in mid-air and finally retracted.
Actually, he didn’t need to ask those questions. The moment he saw that “chestnut-colored” kitten, Shi Changyuan had his answer.
The young man’s thoughts were always so pure, so easy to guess.
But there was only one person here who was afraid of being lonely.
A fool who judged others by his own standards.
***
Author’s Note:
Here! [Bunny ears]
