Chapter 26: Silly Lingling
“I don’t believe you.”
Although the little zombie said this, he still lowered his hand.
By this time, the tents and bonfire were all set up. The little zombie turned and sat by the bonfire, warming his hands.
“What, fighting again?”
Miao Xue was making soup with two other teammates. Seeing Lin Ling alone, she came over with a grin, enjoying the drama.
“No.”
The little zombie subconsciously denied it. After realizing this, he carefully considered what counted as a fight, then shook his head again and gave a definite answer.
“We’re not fighting.”
“Not fighting? Then why aren’t you sitting together?”
Lin Ling was puzzled. “Do we have to sit together?”
Hearing this, the fire-type ability user who was tending the fire also came over and said with a grin, “It’s not that you have to sit together, but if someone else sits next to you, Professor Shi will definitely not be happy.”
“Don’t look for trouble.”
Before Lin Ling could react, the fire-type ability user boy was pulled away by a girl who looked exactly like him.
“They’re twin siblings.”
Wu Zhou explained from the side.
“Alright, stop messing around. Save your energy.”
When the pot on the bonfire began to smell fragrant, the group of people obediently sat back down, holding their bowls and waiting in line for the first hot sip of soup.
The little zombie sat where he was, huddled up with his hands in his pockets, watching the group of people laughing and playing in front of him. Just as he was getting lost in thought, he felt something cold touch his cheek.
“Lingling.”
Shi Changyuan handed over a bag of nutritional supplement, then sat down next to the little zombie.
The little zombie observed that after he had run to the bonfire, Shi Changyuan had first gone to the car to get something. After getting out of the car, he had walked straight towards him and, as everyone had said, sat down next to him.
Everyone had already assumed they were best friends.
Lin Ling lowered his gaze and came to a conclusion.
“I don’t want this.”
Lin Ling stuffed the nutritional supplement back into Shi Changyuan’s pocket. “Sister Miao Xue just told me that they made hot bone soup and asked me to wait a while.”
The little zombie spoke very seriously. It was impossible to tell if he genuinely wanted to eat with everyone, or if he just didn’t want to play with Shi Changyuan because of the “accident” just now.
“Alright.”
Shi Changyuan, who had been rejected by Lin Ling, didn’t even change his expression. He just watched as others called the little zombie over and gave him a bowl.
When the soup was being served, the innocent little zombie was still looking on with eager anticipation.
But when he really took a small sip, he was at a loss for words, hesitant to speak. In the end, he came back with the bowl of soup that he was unwilling to drink another sip of.
“Is it good?”
The smile on Shi Changyuan’s lips was hard to suppress.
Lin Ling was a little zombie with very high personal standards. When evaluating people other than Shi Changyuan, he always left some room for leeway.
His brow was furrowed, but he only weakly said, “It’s strange,” then stuffed the bowl into Shi Changyuan’s hand, as if asking him to help clean up the mess.
“It feels different from what I’ve had before.”
Lin Ling sat down next to Shi Changyuan again, his restless hand reaching back into Shi Changyuan’s pocket and taking out the bag of nutritional supplement again.
This time, the nutritional supplement was no longer a strange green color, but a milky white. It tasted like milk mixed with a floral scent, and it was much better.
“It’s soup made from concentrated bone broth powder and canned meat. Lingling might not be used to it.”
Shi Changyuan revealed the secret in one sentence.
Some humans were not very sensitive to synthetic meat itself, and with the cover of various seasonings, they couldn’t taste the difference. But for a zombie, synthetic meat was like eating plastic. Getting a “it’s strange” was already a euphemism.
Especially the little zombie in front of him, who had been carefully raised by someone for so long.
“Do you all eat like this?”
The little zombie’s tone was filled with pity.
Shi Changyuan smiled. “Conditions are a bit tougher outside.”
“Sometimes, when we encounter uninfected animals, we’ll also catch them to improve our meals.”
“But recently, a large number of plants and animals have been infected. We need to first determine the situation. This was a previous commission from the military.”
Hearing Shi Changyuan’s words, the little zombie suddenly asked, “I still don’t know what your field mission is this time. Can’t you tell me?”
“No.”
Shi Changyuan ruffled Lin Ling’s hair, then took out a piece of beef jerky from another pocket and handed it to Lin Ling, giving the little zombie an extra snack.
“First is the commission from the military. The infection rate of plants and animals in the C24 area has suddenly increased. They want to know the exact reason.”
“This was originally Old Duan’s job. The military sent back some samples, but there was no progress. The front line suffered heavy losses, and the higher-ups couldn’t wait and wanted the research institute to conduct a field investigation, but no one was willing to go.”
“Because it’s very dangerous.”
Without needing Shi Changyuan to explain, Lin Ling could figure it out himself.
For humans, they originally only needed to be wary of zombie attacks, but now that plants and animals were also infected, the danger index had instantly increased several times over.
Not to mention that most researchers didn’t have abilities, and their physical fitness was not as good as that of ordinary people who were always on the move.
“No one was willing to go, so why did you go?”
The little zombie looked at the human in front of him, not understanding.
“For some personal reasons.”
Shi Changyuan didn’t seem to want to say. He gave a vague “personal reasons” and changed the subject. “Next is the B02 area, which is a suburb of City B. There’s an abandoned laboratory there that has been abandoned for many years. I want to go and take another look inside.”
“Finally, I’ll take Lingling home on the way.”
“Understood.”
The little zombie gnawed on the beef jerky and looked at the five-person team drinking soup together by the bonfire. No wonder they were all from the military. They must be mainly for the mission in the C24 area.
“Professor Shi.”
While the two were eating, a person from the neighboring convoy came over, trying to discuss something with Shi Changyuan.
“Professor Shi, since we’re traveling together, for the night watch, can we have one person from each side take turns to reduce consumption later on?”
Lin Ling looked at the man in front of him, his nose suddenly twitching. He seemed to smell a bitter plant scent from the other person.
Shi Changyuan thought for a moment and nodded.
“We can, but the night watch personnel must be agreed upon in advance.”
“Of course.”
His gaze shifted back and forth between the two humans. He didn’t understand, but the little zombie had obtained another important piece of information—
Plant-type abilities would marinate the entire person, making them not tasty.
He had to tell his little zombie subordinates this too.
Lin Ling felt that he was being a very responsible Zombie Emperor. They would definitely not find a better boss than him.
“What are you talking about?”
The great Zombie Emperor asked when he didn’t understand, trying to learn all sorts of schemes and plots from the humans.
After all, when he was sent to school in human society, he had learned a phrase called “fighting fire with fire,” which the little zombie thought made a lot of sense at the time.
“We’re just discussing the night watch.”
When it came to Lin Ling, Shi Changyuan could always show great patience, or rather, he was very happy to teach Lin Ling something.
No one could resist the young man’s sparkling, adoring eyes.
“Two people will take turns on watch, one for the first half of the night, and one for the second. If there are more people and the rotation cycle is longer, it’s beneficial for preserving stamina.”
“They have more people, so we’re not at a loss.”
“But their convoy only has two non-attack-type ability users. The rest should be some hired squad members. There are many people, and they’re not that familiar with each other.”
“All the members of our convoy are from the military or are ability users. The reliability and trustworthiness of the watch are relatively high.”
Shi Changyuan saw the little zombie blink, not saying if he understood or not. He smiled and explained in more detail.
“Lingling, imagine this. Everyone is resting after a long day, but the person on watch is unreliable. They only sound the alarm when danger is imminent, and they run away first, causing the entire team to suffer heavy losses.”
“That would be so annoying.”
The little zombie put himself in that situation and was already grinding his teeth in anger.
“When you’re out, remember to judge people correctly.”
“Oh.”
Lin Ling nodded. He had learned something new.
“Then who are you sending on watch tonight?”
“Me.”
“Yourself?”
The little zombie seemed completely surprised and his eyes widened.
“The situation will be more dangerous later on. They are ability users. There’s no need to waste their energy at the beginning.”
“Besides, I drove today. I can catch up on sleep in the car tomorrow after the rotation. The others can still maintain their best condition.”
Faced with Shi Changyuan’s analysis, the little zombie couldn’t quite figure out the pros and cons. He only knew that Shi Changyuan probably couldn’t sleep tonight.
“But your tent is already set up.”
The little zombie said pitifully.
Shi Changyuan smiled. “Mm, Lingling can have it all to yourself.”
After everyone finished dinner and chatted by the bonfire for a while, they began to pack up and prepare to go back to sleep. They would continue on their journey as soon as the sun rose.
Not long after, the wasteland fell silent. Besides the sound of the burning firewood, nothing could be heard. It was terrifyingly quiet.
“Lingling, go back to sleep.”
Shi Changyuan reached out and patted the little zombie’s bottom, which made Lin Ling jump up in annoyance.
He crawled into the tent, and the cold wind was instantly blocked out, making him feel as safe as if he were back in a house.
It wasn’t dark in the tent. There was a small night light that Shi Changyuan had prepared for him in advance. It was the size of a fist and shaped like a rabbit. In the large sleeping bag that took up half the tent, there was also a fluffy blanket.
Lin Ling crawled out of the tent again and ran to Shi Changyuan’s side, whispering, “It’s so comfortable inside. Are you sure you’re not coming to sleep?”
“With me here, no zombie dares to come over. There’s no need for a watch at all.”
“I know.”
Shi Changyuan ruffled the little zombie’s head. “But they don’t know.”
“People trust what they see with their own eyes more.”
“Alright.”
Seeing that he couldn’t persuade Shi Changyuan, the little zombie went back to the tent, fiddled around for a while, and then came out again with the fluffy blanket.
“It’s so cold outside.”
Lin Ling threw the fluffy blanket onto Shi Changyuan, then added some more firewood to make the bonfire burn brighter.
Finally, he sat down next to Shi Changyuan and pulled half of the fluffy blanket over himself.
“Seeing as you’re all alone, I’ll keep you company for a while.”
The great Zombie Emperor’s tone was one of bestowing a favor.
The winter after the apocalypse was particularly cold. Now that they were in the wild, even with a bonfire in front of them, a puff of mist would still come out of their mouths when they spoke.
Shi Changyuan felt Lin Ling, whose body temperature was already low and whose breath was even smaller than others’, and for a moment, he didn’t know what to say.
“Alright.”
Shi Changyuan smiled. “Thank you, great Zombie Emperor.”
The little zombie huffed and snuggled closer to Shi Changyuan. Feeling the familiar body heat, he felt that this warmth brought more security than the windproof tent. Not long after, he became sleepy and fell asleep without realizing it.
“Hey, you sent two people?”
When it was time for the shift change in the second half of the night, the person who came from the other side seemed a bit surprised.
“Mm.”
Shi Changyuan didn’t explain. He picked up Lin Ling and returned to the tent.
In the apocalypse, very few people would do such a thankless, foolish thing, because at all times, one’s own condition and safety were the most important.
It was only this little zombie, relying on his special identity and his lack of understanding of the current human situation, who could act completely according to his own will.
Lin Ling seemed to have been woken up. He opened his eyes groggily and saw that he had been moved, but the person beside him was still Shi Changyuan.
“Go to sleep, silly Lingling,” Shi Changyuan said with a smile.
The little zombie hummed in dissatisfaction, then snuggled closer to the warm heat source and fell asleep again.
***
Author’s Note:
Here! [Bunny ears]
