Chapter 20: The Savior Part 4

His speed was fast. The palm-sized bread vanished in a few bites, and the mineral water was gulped-gulped down without a drop left.

Jiang Ye did not hear any sound and turned to see the stunned Bai Chen Zhu. “Why aren’t you eating?”

Jiang Ye walked over and, before Bai Chen Zhu could react, bent down and took a bite of his bread, leaving a gap.

Jiang Ye chewed and chewed: “Not hungry? You need to eat to have strength for work. We’d better find Zhou Meng Meng before evening. Hurry up… damn!”

Bai Chen Zhu smirked and moved his foot away, leaving a dusty footprint on the sneak thief’s sneaker. He turned and quickly finished his food.

During the break, Jiang Ye did not idle. He observed the surroundings, ready to grab Bai Chen Zhu and run at any moment.

A faint sound echoed in the corridor. It was very soft, easy to overlook. Jiang Ye’s expression changed instantly, and Bai Chen Zhu, watching him, noticed the sound too.

Something was moving lightly, deliberately slowing its steps.

Jiang Ye looked toward the door and immediately stood, reaching to grab Bai Chen Zhu’s shoulder. But unexpectedly, he felt a firm, warm patch.

Jiang Ye turned his head and met eyes with Bai Chen Zhu, who had propped himself up.

“Jiang Ye!” Bai Chen Zhu, caught off-guard by the chest grab, had a vein throbbing on his forehead. He lowered his voice and called his name.

Jiang Ye abruptly pulled his hand back. Even in the tense atmosphere, he had the mood to joke, “Not bad training. Though you’re still far from me.”

With that, he grabbed Bai Chen Zhu and ran upstairs.

The sound grew closer.

Don’t look, don’t look, don’t turn back… Bai Chen Zhu repeated this in his mind. His back prickled with chill, all his attention on Jiang Ye’s back. He forced himself not to turn and ‘look’ at whatever it was.

A streak of orange flashed past the stair railing, extremely fast, shooting toward their faces.

Then, amid Bai Chen Zhu’s anxiety, Jiang Ye struck the orange blur flying with his bat. It slammed into the wall with a miserable cry, landed snarling viciously, and blocked their path.

“Tsk.” Jiang Ye, having struck the monster away, rubbed his aching right wrist.

Bai Chen Zhu finally saw the monster’s form.

It was an orange cat—if this four-clawed, red-eyed, hedgehog-like creature could still be called a cat.

It arched its bloodstained back, its flared fur sharp as steel needles. It bared densely packed teeth with bits of flesh between them and let out a deafening howl, “Meow-roar—”

Bai Chen Zhu’s ears stung, and he instinctively covered them. Jiang Ye raised a hand to shield Bai Chen Zhu, stepped forward, eyed the mutated orange cat up and down, and said something shocking: “Kinda cute.”

Are his eyes okay? Bai Chen Zhu stared in shock at the back of his head.

Fearlessly, Jiang Ye beckoned the ‘hedgehog’ cat, meowing at it from his mouth while waving the baseball bat like a cat toy.

With the weapon right in front, the mutated orange cat froze. It eyed the two warily, circling half around them with light steps, growling low from its throat as it sought their weak points.

The moment they showed any slack, it would pounce and tear open their fragile throats.

Jiang Ye suddenly barked at it. The mutated orange cat, which bullied the weak and feared the strong, hunched its shoulders and glared, refusing to retreat.

Seeing the cat’s focus off him, Bai Chen Zhu silently backed away to escape. But turning, he abruptly spotted a ‘person’ crouched by the fire door.

Or rather, a zombie with half its arm gnawed off. Bloody trails smeared the corridor.

It had crawled here, its murky eyes fixed on him. It struggled to raise its half-body full of blood holes, claws outstretched, craving living flesh.

No doubt, before they arrived, the cat and corpse had been fiercely tearing into each other.

Now it blocked the stairwell, front and back with the cat, clamping down on them.

Worse, its trail of blood and commotion had drawn other zombies. They smelled the blood, that ‘fragrance’, and were shambling slowly toward them.

The two stood back-to-back. Unlike the cat, the zombie feared no threats. It wobbled to its feet and limped forward.

The distance shrank step by step. Bai Chen Zhu nudged Jiang Ye with his elbow and whispered, “What now?”

A ‘hedgehog cat’ like steel needles ahead, a horde of zombies behind—hurt either way.

“It’s a bit tricky.” Jiang Ye pondered for two seconds.

Two seconds later, he decisively turned, threw an arm around Bai Chen Zhu’s shoulders, and flipped out the stairwell window.

So fast that the two monsters, let alone Bai Chen Zhu himself, had no time to react.

This was the sixth floor! The window had no railing!

Caught off-guard, Bai Chen Zhu was dragged into the fall. Amid the spinning world, the high-rise wind slapped his face. The plummeting weightlessness nearly recalled his pre-transmigration fall from a building.

Am I really dying this time?!

Blue sky and white clouds turned to concrete ground. Dizzy, Jiang Ye rolled with him onto a protruding outer wall platform. Dust flew up. Bai Chen Zhu coughed twice, opened his eyes to the sky above and the void below.

The platform was barely a meter wide—a roll and he’d plummet. He instantly froze, not daring to move.

Jiang Ye knelt up, dusted off, and pulled Bai Chen Zhu to his feet.

Eyeing Bai Chen Zhu’s nearly translucent pale face, afraid he’d fall in a daze, Jiang Ye loosely held him.

Jiang Ye blinked, glanced at his own arm, and his thoughts inevitably drifted.

Such a slim waist.

Above them came scratching sounds. The mutant cat clawed at the window edge, shrieking shrilly. The zombie wailed, leaning out, its spindly arms flailing at them.

One lunged too hard, tumbled out, and fell from the sixth-floor window, thudding dully on the concrete below.

Bai Chen Zhu reflexively looked down. Black-red meat mush filled his view. His eyesight was sharp enough to see every blood blister in the rotting flesh.

By the time he realized what he was seeing, it was too late.

Bai Chen Zhu’s pupils shrank. He whipped his head away, throat convulsing. He dry-heaved against the outer wall, the recently eaten bread churning in his throat.

“Mommy, there’s Spider-Man!”

A child’s tender voice rang out. They followed the sound and saw several households in the building opening windows at the zombie’s fall, peeking out.

When Bai Chen Zhu’s gaze met the innocent child’s eyes, a man quickly yanked the kid back inside, slamming the window and drawing the curtains.

Then, the households hurriedly shut their windows under their gaze, faces guarded, as if seeing monsters no better than zombies.

Fair enough—normal people didn’t stand on AC outer units. Bai Chen Zhu closed his eyes and clenched his fists.

“You okay?” Jiang Ye raised a brow. “Adapting?”

“I’m fine. Next time, can you warn me ahead?” Bai Chen Zhu gritted his teeth, heart pounding wildly in his chest—more thrilling than a roller coaster.

He glanced at Jiang Ye, endured his discomfort, and said, “I’m still young. I don’t want to die in a love-suicide with you.”

One misstep and they’d both be meat paste.

Jiang Ye stared at his pale face. No more quips now. He shrugged. “I’ll try.”

The small platform fit only one AC outer unit. They stood pressed together, with a user’s balcony two meters away.

An uncrossable gap for ordinary people.

High-rise wind whistled past, lifting their hair and clothes. A stronger gust could blow them off—very dangerous.

Jiang Ye positioned himself to block the wind for him and nodded toward the balcony. “Jump over.”

“Buddy, do you know what nonsense you’re spouting?” Bai Chen Zhu gripped his arm tight, their heartbeats nearly syncing.

Considering Bai Chen Zhu’s fragility, Jiang Ye fell silent, then compromised. “Fine. Wait here. I’ll find something to pull you over.”

He moved to jump, but Bai Chen Zhu grabbed his arm.

Bai Chen Zhu looked at Jiang Ye, who meant to leave him behind. His face was ashen, back slick with cold sweat. Even now, he dared not glance down.

A height to faint from, no gear at all.

Don’t go. Bai Chen Zhu wanted to say. Monsters above, abyss below—if Jiang Ye ditched him, he couldn’t escape alone.

He never easily trusted others, let alone with his life.

Bai Chen Zhu’s thoughts churned. His grip on Jiang Ye’s arm tightened, nearly crushing the wrist bone. Jiang Ye just watched him quietly, probing.

Logically, this was the best escape. Bai Chen Zhu stared at Jiang Ye’s profound face, took a deep breath to suppress his fear.

“Okay.” Bai Chen Zhu finally loosened his grip. His phoenix eyes averted, voice trembling. “Hurry. I’m afraid of heights.”

Jiang Ye pulled a lollipop from some pocket, unwrapped it, and popped it in his mouth. “Won’t leave you behind.” Then he leaped cleanly. In Bai Chen Zhu’s shocked gaze, he landed on the balcony, flickered, and vanished.

Bai Chen Zhu couldn’t stop grim imaginings. Panic lasted moments before the strawberry lollipop distracted him.

Damn Jiang Ye! He didn’t really run, did he? Bai Chen Zhu forced stray thoughts to forget the heights below.

Why the hell did he follow this guy out full-bellied! Bai Chen Zhu started regretting.

Seconds ticked by. He closed his eyes, maliciously guessing that Jiang Ye’s ‘adapt’ talk was a ruse, maybe to kill him on purpose.