Chapter 35: Love-Struck Fools, Even Zombies Won’t Eat Them…
“Lingling.”
Shi Changyuan waited outside for a long time, but there was still no sign of him. He could only go around to the back of the car and open the door, looking at the bundled-up blanket with a smile.
“If you don’t come soon, lunch will be frozen.”
The little zombie felt the cold wind blowing in, lifted a corner of the blanket, and looked at the human in front of him, whose expression and tone were no different from usual. He was a bit puzzled and punched the pillow.
“Why are you only thinking about eating!”
“Do you know what you just said? You still have the mood to eat!”
Shi Changyuan was a bit silent.
He really hadn’t expected to hear such words from a block of wood one day.
Shi Changyuan’s eyes were smiling, but taking advantage of the fact that the little zombie was hiding in the blanket and couldn’t see, he deliberately sighed and said, “I’m used to it.”
“It’s really difficult to wait for Lingling to get it.”
“After being disappointed so many times, I just—”
Before he could finish, Lin Ling climbed up, covered his mouth, and interrupted, “Alright, don’t say anymore! Now that you’re better, get ready to leave. Let’s leave this ominous place.”
“Alright.”
In the end, Lin Ling ate his lunch in the car. He sat in the passenger seat, gnawing on a chicken leg while secretly peeking at Shi Changyuan, who was driving.
“You…”
“Hmm…”
The little zombie was hesitant to speak, then wanted to speak again. After a long while, Shi Changyuan couldn’t stand it anymore and took the initiative to speak.
“What does Lingling want to ask?”
“W-Well, nothing. It’s just, what you just said… does that count as a confession?”
Lin Ling didn’t know why he suddenly felt so constrained. The passenger seat was making him restless. It was all his fault for getting used to sitting in this seat and not even thinking about it when he got in the car.
“Does Lingling want to give me an answer?”
Shi Changyuan didn’t answer directly. “If Lingling wants to give me an answer, no matter what it is, then it counts. If Lingling doesn’t want to for now, or can’t give an answer, then it doesn’t.”
“…An answer?”
The little zombie thought for a moment. The answers to a confession were nothing more than two: reciprocate the feelings, or reject them.
Thinking of these two situations, and having to choose between them, Lin Ling suddenly wanted to hide in the quilt again.
Reciprocate… I don’t think I can.
I don’t know if I also like Shi Changyuan. How can I give an answer? Does the zombie race understand what ‘like’ is, like humans do?
Reject… I can’t do that even more.
He would worry that his rejection would really hurt Shi Changyuan as he had said. He didn’t want to see Shi Changyuan get hurt.
Just as Shi Changyuan never rejected his suggestions, he also didn’t want to say the word “reject” to him.
Lin Ling bit his lower lip, lowered his gaze, and could only answer honestly, “I-I can’t choose.”
“Then it doesn’t count.”
Shi Changyuan smiled. “I’ll confess to Lingling again when you can give an answer.”
“Lingling can pretend not to know for now, or you can test your feelings with me… you can do whatever you want.”
Even though he couldn’t fully understand the meaning behind Shi Changyuan’s words, just the phrase “you can do whatever you want” was enough to make the little zombie’s eyelashes flutter and his heart race.
“Th-Then can I ask another question?” The little zombie held it in for a long time before he finally asked, “When did you start to like me?”
“When?”
The little zombie had thought this was a very simple question, but Shi Changyuan fell silent, as if he had been thinking for a long, long time.
“I don’t know.”
“Perhaps it was the day the lab was about to explode and Lingling didn’t leave, or perhaps it was the first night I tied Lingling’s hair in braids, or perhaps it was the first time I saw you on the day I brought you back to the human base.”
Seeing the timeline getting earlier and earlier, even reaching the first meeting, the little zombie was about to complain that so-called love at first sight was just lust, and that this human Shi Changyuan was being a hooligan again, when he heard the other say with a smile, “But if we’re counting like that, it could also be ten years ago.”
Ten years ago?
The little zombie was stunned for a moment. He did a quick mental calculation. Ten years ago, that was… when he was eight years old, before he was adopted by Auntie Man.
He had no memory of that.
This was the first time he had felt curious about that lost memory, wanting to know what had happened to him before, how he had met Shi Changyuan, and what they had done together.
“But I don’t remember…”
“Lingling was too young then. It’s normal not to remember.”
“Actually, I don’t remember very clearly either. I just know that every day after school, I would see a pretty little kid with a pair of very beautiful eyes.”
Shi Changyuan smiled and looked at the young man in front of him. “Lingling just needs to remember that I came before everyone else, that I like Lingling, and have liked you for a long time. Lingling can’t leave me alone.”
“Besides that, nothing else is important.”
Hearing these words, which were clearly a confession but were said so matter-of-factly, the little zombie felt even his eye sockets burning.
He didn’t know what to say and could only stammer, his voice weak, “…Alright, I know.”
According to Shi Changyuan’s suggestion, the little zombie had originally wanted to pretend, just like him, that nothing had happened, and to interact as they had before.
But with this layer of window paper pierced, Lin Ling belatedly realized how fiery the other’s gaze was, and how much of a block of wood he had been before.
He held his face, which was burning from being stared at, and grumbled unhappily, “Don’t look at me.”
“Put your gaze away. It’s burning people.”
Hearing this unreasonable request, Shi Changyuan just let out a soft laugh. “I don’t think I can. What should I do?”
You can’t? Then I’ll just stay away from Shi Changyuan.
The little zombie had been to school for a few years and knew that it was important to maintain a reasonable distance in this kind of situation. Brother Song Jing had told him that this was called avoiding suspicion.
So after getting out of the car for a break, when the little zombie got back in, he sat directly behind Shi Changyuan.
With the cover of the seat, even the rearview mirror could only see a small part of his face, effectively blocking most of Shi Changyuan’s gaze.
Lin Ling secretly let out a long sigh of relief and felt that it was much more natural to chat with Shi Changyuan again.
But as they chatted, he always wanted to look up at the rearview mirror, to see Shi Changyuan’s eyes, to see what his expression was when he heard him tell a joke, and whether he was laughing or not.
Just a peek, that should be okay, right?
The little zombie gave himself a long pep talk and finally found a way to have the best of both worlds. But when it was time to rest at night, the “little bed” laid out in the car was not big enough for two people to sleep while maintaining a sufficient distance.
“It’s okay, I can set up a tent outside the car.”
As if he knew what the little zombie was thinking, Shi Changyuan took the initiative to speak with great “understanding.”
“Th-That’s too much trouble.”
“It’s not.”
As he spoke, Shi Changyuan took down the tent frame from the roof of the car and skillfully set it up. In less than twenty minutes, a simple tent was ready.
But this time, there was only a single sleeping bag in the tent. It was no longer laid out soft and thick, nor was it covered with a fluffy little blanket, and there was no small night light by the bed.
“Alright, Lingling can go back to the car to sleep. We’ll be at City B tomorrow.”
The little zombie sat in the tent, looking at the bonfire outside, and reluctantly moved his bottom, slowly returning to the car.
Without the familiar body heat in the soft, fluffy blanket, Lin Ling tossed and turned, unable to sleep. He felt as if his hands and feet were frozen, and after sleeping alone for one night, his mood was extremely low.
After breakfast, watching Shi Changyuan pack up the tent, the little zombie squatted beside him and hesitated for a long time before finally pulling on Shi Changyuan’s sleeve.
“…Can I still be like before with you?”
The little zombie asked pitifully.
Shi Changyuan looked at the mushroom squat on the ground, mimicked Lin Ling’s posture, and squatted down in front of him, asking, “Like what?”
“Like before, cuddling, sleeping together.”
Shi Changyuan ruffled the little zombie’s head and retorted, “Not avoiding suspicion anymore?”
The little zombie bit his lip and said something shocking, “Anyway, there’s no one else…”
“No one else, so no need to avoid suspicion?” Shi Changyuan was so angry he almost laughed. “So avoiding suspicion is all for others to see, to prove to others that we have no relationship, but in private, you want to take all the advantages.”
“Who taught you that?”
He reached out and pinched the young man’s face, scolding with a smile, “Scummy Lingling.”
“Lingling is the one being a hooligan.”
The little zombie, who had been accused of being a “scum,” was even more wronged. He looked at Shi Changyuan with pleading eyes.
“But, in a state where I clearly know your feelings, I don’t reject or respond, and act as if nothing has happened, looking, touching, and hugging, then I’m also being a hooligan.”
“It seems that no matter what, I’m being a hooligan.”
The little zombie couldn’t figure it out. He had only retreated to what was said to be a “normal boundary,” but he felt that his relationship with Shi Changyuan had become distant, and they weren’t even fighting.
And their daily interactions before were clearly very normal. How did it suddenly turn into being a hooligan just because he knew his feelings?
Lin Ling had thought about it all night yesterday and couldn’t come to a conclusion.
Could this be what humans often say, that once some things are said out loud, once they’re exposed, you can’t even be friends anymore?
But I don’t hate Shi Changyuan.
“Is this the reason why the zombie genes didn’t mention partners?”
Lin Ling blinked, feeling as if he were getting closer to the truth.
“What?”
Shi Changyuan couldn’t quite follow the young man’s train of thought for a moment.
“Human emotions are so complicated, so difficult.”
“Even a fully evolved Zombie Emperor like me can’t figure out these emotional things. Then those high, middle, and low-tier zombies whose brains haven’t even developed yet, they’ll understand even less.”
Seeing Lin Ling’s face full of confusion and bewilderment, Shi Changyuan couldn’t help but laugh out loud.
“What are you laughing at?”
The little zombie puffed out his cheeks and punched Shi Changyuan’s shoulder. “You’re now a lower-tier brain than a low-tier zombie. You have no right to laugh at zombies.”
“Why?” Shi Changyuan asked cooperatively.
“Because love-struck fools, even zombies won’t eat them.”
