Chapter 39: I Want to Be a Little Closer to Lingling
“Shi Changyuan…”
Lin Ling subconsciously called out to the person at the door, not wanting to be separated from him, but when the little zombie met Shi Changyuan’s dark eyes, his cheeks couldn’t help but burn.
He still couldn’t bring himself to say the words to make him stay, and let Shi Changyuan go to the guest room.
The moment Shi Changyuan closed his door, the little zombie let out a whimper and burrowed into his quilt, wrapping himself up tightly.
“Ahhh, so embarrassing!”
Lin Ling was so ashamed that he punched the air in his quilt. After he had calmed down a bit, he began to reflect.
Clearly, Shi Changyuan only said it was a reward. There are so many things that can be a reward. Why did I have to think of…
So embarrassing! I’m really a hooligan now QAQ
This embarrassing incident made Lin Ling toss and turn even after the lights were out, and he couldn’t stop thinking about Shi Changyuan.
He would wonder what Shi Changyuan was doing now, if he was asleep, if he was angry, if he really thought he was being a hooligan…
Finally, the little zombie took a deep breath, lifted the covers, quietly got out of bed, and walked to his bedroom door.
Just a peek at the door.
The little zombie comforted himself. He would just see if there was any light coming from under the guest room door, to see if Shi Changyuan was asleep.
After he had prepared himself mentally, he opened his door with the slowest, most silent movement, and poked his head out, only to be startled by a dark shadow on the side.
“Y-Why are you still standing here?”
Lin Ling was so scared that he took two steps back. He could only tell who it was by his familiarity with Shi Changyuan’s figure.
“Lingling?”
Shi Changyuan seemed to be very surprised as well. “Why aren’t you asleep yet?”
In the time it took to exchange a few words, the little zombie was chilled to the bone by the wind in the corridor. He frowned and looked at the living room.
“Why did you turn off the heat and open the window?”
Shi Changyuan seemed to let out a laugh, ruffled Lin Ling’s head, pushed him into the room, and said, “To get some fresh air and clear my head.”
“Is that so?”
The little zombie followed Shi Changyuan’s force and retreated into the warm room. The moment Shi Changyuan closed the door again, separating the two of them, he pressed on the door and realized, “Wait.”
“What are you clearing your head for in the middle of the night? Aren’t you going to sleep?”
“To clear my love-struck head, otherwise I really can’t sleep.”
Shi Changyuan’s tone was laced with amusement. He closed the door a little more to prevent Lin Ling, who was only wearing pajamas, from being blown by the wind.
“This is the first time Lingling has actively kissed me.” Shi Changyuan brought up the matter again without any reservation. “I’m very happy.”
This sentence instantly made Lin Ling’s ears and cheeks, which had just cooled down, burn again.
“J-Just that happy?”
Lin Ling’s gaze flickered. His entire body was hidden behind the door, with only half his face showing, as if this could give him a little courage to face this matter.
“Of course.”
Shi Changyuan chuckled softly, always responding.
“But just being able to see Lingling every day already makes me very happy.”
The little zombie hadn’t even digested the previous “happy” when he heard Shi Changyuan continue to pursue, throwing out confessions like they were free.
“Even if I’m not in the same room with Lin Ling, I can imagine what Lingling is doing in the room, what his sleeping position is like.”
“I just want to be a little closer to Lingling.”
Hearing these words, Lin Ling couldn’t help but open the door a little more and said hesitantly, “Th-Then do you want to come back…”
“No.”
“Let’s just leave it at that for today. Lingling should go back to bed quickly.”
Before the little zombie could finish, Shi Changyuan refused. He said with a smile, “If I’m in the same bed with Lingling again tonight, I can’t guarantee that something won’t happen again.”
At this, Shi Changyuan paused, deliberately keeping him in suspense. “Unless…”
“Unless?”
Shi Changyuan lowered his head slightly and met Lin Ling’s eyes behind the door.
“Unless Lingling tells me that you’re looking forward to something happening.”
“Bang—”
The moment he finished speaking, the door in front of Shi Changyuan was slammed shut by the embarrassed and angry person.
“Bad guy!!!”
The little zombie cursed at the person at the door, then “swooshed” back into his quilt.
After this commotion, Lin Ling finally made up his mind not to care about the human outside anymore and to go to sleep properly.
**
Lin Ling slept until dawn. The next day, he went to the guest room to find Shi Changyuan.
Last night’s verbal sparring had been won by Shi Changyuan. The little zombie had thought of a comeback all night and was determined to win it back today!
When he knocked on the guest room door, he didn’t see the familiar figure inside.
“Shi Changyuan?”
The little zombie, seeing no one on the second floor, went downstairs to look. There was breakfast on the dining table, but Shi Changyuan was nowhere to be seen.
“Where did he go?”
Not finding him, the little zombie forgot all about his comeback. He didn’t even bother to eat breakfast, grabbed his keys, and went out to the yard.
But the moment he opened the door, he ran right into Shi Changyuan, who was coming back.
“Where did you go?”
“Don’t you know it’s dangerous outside!”
The little zombie first looked Shi Changyuan up and down, then leaned in and sniffed for the smell of blood or any other zombie scent. Finally, he looked straight into Shi Changyuan’s eyes to see if there was any guilt or evasion in his expression.
After this set of checks, almost no small wound could escape his eyes.
And Shi Changyuan was very happy to cooperate. He stood at the door as if going through a security check, and following the little zombie’s movements, he fully displayed his front, side, and back.
“You pass.”
Lin Ling said with a straight face, unhappily, “This is City B, not the human base. If I find out you secretly ran out and got hurt, I won’t let you off!”
“I didn’t go out.”
Shi Changyuan comfortingly ruffled the little zombie’s hair.
“I just noticed some movement in the yard.”
“Isn’t it even more reason not to go out if there’s movement in the yard?!” The moment the little zombie heard this, he was like a cat whose territory had been invaded, his fur all on end.
“It’s not the movement of a mutated plant or animal or a zombie. It’s a human.”
With that, Shi Changyuan placed the thing in his hand in front of Lin Ling.
The moment Shi Changyuan appeared, Lin Ling’s entire attention was on the fragile human in front of him, and he didn’t even notice what he was holding.
It was a square, palm-sized little machine with a propeller and a surveillance camera underneath. But the camera lens had been destroyed by a bullet hole.
“This is a drone.”
Afraid that the little zombie hadn’t seen one before, Shi Changyuan explained, “It was flying in the yard, and I shot it down.”
“It should be a nearby human who noticed the lights in our yard. I don’t know how long it was here or how much it filmed.”
Lin Ling took the drone in his hand and looked at it over and over, feeling that it was very familiar.
“I think I’ve seen this before,” the little zombie said.
“It’s from the military. An ordinary person’s drone wouldn’t be like this.”
Shi Changyuan had actually realized where it came from the moment he saw the drone, or rather, whose handiwork it was. He had deliberately installed a silencer and shot down the drone without waking Lin Ling.
“If I’m not mistaken, the person sitting behind the monitor should be your Brother Song Jing.”
Hearing Song Jing’s name, Lin Ling’s head shot up.
“He knows me.”
With that, the corners of Shi Changyuan’s lips slowly curved into an arc.
“He’s probably very curious now why I’m here, how I found this place, and where you are.”
“Unfortunately, no matter how curious he is, it’s useless.”
“He can’t get in.”
Shi Changyuan’s tone was very annoying. The little zombie held back and held back, but in the end, he said nothing.
He didn’t understand before, but now he probably did.
The jealousy pot had been overturned.
“It’s fine to say that in front of me.” The little zombie patted Shi Changyuan’s shoulder. “If Brother Song Jing… heard it, there would be a fight.”
“I won’t help either of you then. I’ll kick you all out.”
Lin Ling said as he inspected the small drone.
If Song Jing had sent it in, it probably wasn’t just to film the yard.
He searched for a long time and finally decided to take it apart! He got so engrossed in taking it apart that he forgot the time. His breakfast was getting cold, and Shi Changyuan had to feed it to him bit by bit.
“There’s something inside after all.”
The little zombie took the drone apart completely and saw numbers carved on the internal board, like some kind of cipher.
“I know this.”
Lin Ling took the iron plate with the numbers carved on it and ran upstairs, pushed open Song Jing’s room at the very end, and rummaged through his bookshelf.
“This password was designed by Brother Song Jing himself. Auntie Man knows how to decipher it. He showed me the decryption notes, but I couldn’t understand them, so he added the answers for some common words at the back of the notes.”
Shi Changyuan understood at once.
“So even if this cipher is discovered, no one can understand it except you and Auntie Man.”
“He’s sending a message to you two.”
Lin Ling nodded, found the notebook in a familiar place, and, following the answers, deciphered the words on it line by line.
“Come to the ‘Sanctuary’ lab.”
“Origin.”
The few lines of numbers translated to these words.
Lin Ling didn’t quite understand. He turned his head to ask Shi Changyuan what it meant when he saw his face suddenly turn cold.
“What’s wrong?”
Lin Ling instinctively felt that something was wrong.
“Nothing.”
Shi Changyuan lowered his gaze, looked at the young man in front of him, and hesitated for a few seconds before he slowly said, “He’s probably asking you to go to a lab called Sanctuary.”
“There might be…”
At this, Shi Changyuan’s voice seemed to suddenly go hoarse. He clearly opened his mouth, but no sound came out.
“What is there?”
“There’s…”
Shi Changyuan’s words were forceful, but his voice was very soft.
“Lingling’s origin.”
Getting such an answer, the little zombie was stunned.
He looked at Shi Changyuan’s not-so-good expression, blinked, then looked at the iron plate with the cipher, and was silent for a few seconds, as if he had made a choice between the two.
He looked at Shi Changyuan and, as he always did when he was undecided, asked, “Then should I, not go?”
***
Author’s Note:
[Bunny ears] Here
