Chapter 25: He Yields to Softness Part 1

“We can’t stay here long,” Jiang Ye said, crunching on an apple he had picked up from who-knows-where. He leaned against the door of the suite and said this to the three others. “We need to change locations.”

“Where to? Another city? Do you have a target in mind?” Bai Chen Zhu packed his backpack and checked their supplies. Aside from the bulk that came from Jiang Ye’s car, he had made a habit of carrying some dry rations on him just in case.

He hadn’t expected them to leave after just a few days.

But the corpses downstairs really weren’t suitable for a prolonged stay. The smell of blood and decay would breed panic and hostility if breathed in too much. And the bloodstains on the walls and floor could easily infect Zhou Zhuo Hua, whose recovery was still recent.

As if reading his mind, Jiang Ye glanced at him with a half-smile. “Relax, we’re just switching hotels. There’s a chain hotel near People’s Park. I scouted it—it’s a standalone building with relatively few zombies.”

“Are there still living people there?” Zhou Zhuo Hua asked worriedly. “If not, how do we get up without a keycard?”

“Where there’s a will, there’s a way.” Jiang Ye rubbed his fingers together like a magician, and two keycards appeared at his fingertips.

“Where’d you get those?” Bai Chen Zhu asked in surprise. Jiang Ye had clearly been with him the whole time.

Jiang Ye shrugged. “I went for a morning run after waking up and did a good deed or two. No more delays—let’s go now.”

“But there’s still a patient here.” Zhou Zhuo Hua turned back to look at the large bed.

Inside the room, Bai Tao, wrapped in a blanket and propped against the headboard, sneezed. Her eyes could barely open. When she got out of bed, she wobbled, missed a step, and fell into a soft embrace.

Zhou Zhuo Hua helped her up and felt her forehead. “Are you okay?”

“Mmm, mmm, I-I’m fine,” Bai Tao said, forcing her eyes open. Her face was flushed, her temperature high, and she looked delirious from the fever.

“Sister, I feel awful,” she said, holding her forehead. Her watery eyes looked helplessly at Zhou Zhuo Hua, instantly reminding her of her own spoiled little sister.

The next moment, Bai Tao collapsed into Zhou Zhuo Hua’s arms and passed out.

Mindful that it was none of his business, Jiang Ye watched it all with a smile and nudged Bai Chen Zhu with his elbow. “See? Just like you before.”

Bai Chen Zhu looked at Bai Tao’s weakened state, worry creasing his brow.

He glanced at Jiang Ye, subtly leaned closer, eyed the dazed Bai Tao, and whispered to Jiang Ye, “Does this happen every time she uses her superpower?”

“Yeah.”

“Will she always be this weak?” Bai Chen Zhu asked.

Jiang Ye chuckled lightly, as if knowing what he wanted to ask. “In theory, no.”

“Then why haven’t I fully recovered?” Bai Chen Zhu’s confusion was thick enough to spill over.

“Oh, my friend.” Jiang Ye grinned at him and draped an arm over his shoulder. “Ever consider that you haven’t learned to pull your mental power back in since awakening?”

Even now, Jiang Ye could sense the faint mental threads drifting in the air—this was already the result of Bai Chen Zhu’s efforts to rein them in.

When mental power exceeded what the body could bear, backlash was inevitable. Bai Chen Zhu’s constant weakness came from his inability to control his immense mental power.

Perhaps only when he fully mastered his power would he move freely.

‘What a weirdo,’ Jiang Ye thought. He had never seen anyone plagued so persistently by having too much mental power.

With that explanation, Bai Chen Zhu finally pieced it together.

That night when he crossed over, he had used his own healthy body—one strong enough to beat Jiang Ye senseless. Unfortunately, he had been too arrogant back then and got infected by a zombie instead.

The persistent, unexplained weakness had come with the high fever. Looking back, he must have awakened his superpower the day he was bitten, which explained the ongoing fatigue.

“Stop chatting!” Zhou Zhuo Hua struggled to help Bai Tao sit on the edge of the bed, full of resentment. “You two have been yapping forever—come help!”

“Men and women shouldn’t be too intimate. We only agreed to bring her to the hotel, not to take her on the road with us,” Jiang Ye said, switching to a cold expression. He gestured for the others to head downstairs and walked off first, twirling his car keys.

“Jiang Ye!” Zhou Zhuo Hua was a bit angry that he had just left like that. She turned to Bai Chen Zhu with a troubled look. “Is that what you think too?”

That was exactly what Bai Chen Zhu thought. He could barely take care of himself, let alone have the kindness to nurse a patient.

But he had one more consideration than Jiang Ye: he wanted to use Bai Tao as a lab rat to observe how she reined in her mental power.

So he kept a straight face and reached out to Bai Tao. “Sis, I’ll help carry her downstairs.”

Zhou Zhuo Hua pushed up her glasses with one hand, relaxed, and let out a pent-up breath. “You’re the good one.”

Bai Chen Zhu just smiled without replying.

When they drove to the chain hotel Jiang Ye had mentioned, they finally understood what “good deeds” he had done that day.

He had caught the lackeys of the Security Head from yesterday and tied them with rough hemp rope to a tree trunk at the hotel entrance, letting them continue to “fulfill their potential” as security.

In his twisted sense of humor, he had also tied several zombies he had “cleared” from the hotel to the opposite tree with thin rope.

The zombies roared hungrily at the humans across from them, struggling to reach out, their ropes on the verge of snapping. The lackeys screamed in terror, wept and begged for mercy, with a faint smell of urine in the air.

“These bad guys snuck over last night trying to smash my car,” Jiang Ye said casually. Seeing Zhou Zhuo Hua and Bai Chen Zhu half-carrying Bai Tao, he paused.

“What if the zombies break free and bite them?” Zhou Zhuo Hua asked.

“What can we do?” Jiang Ye echoed the security guards’ words. “Once bitten, they’re not people anymore—they’re zombies. Why should we meddle in conflicts between zombies?”

At that, Bai Chen Zhu’s gaze swept over the tied-up men. He silently counted their numbers, getting a rough measure of Jiang Ye’s combat prowess.

Jiang Ye led the three upstairs, giving a keycard to Bai Tao and Zhou Zhuo Hua, while he and Bai Chen Zhu shared a room.

“Sis, Auntie Liang left so suddenly—I know you feel guilty, so you can’t help overcaring for Bai Tao,” Jiang Ye said. He noticed Zhou Zhuo Hua paying too much attention to Bai Tao. Of course, he wouldn’t blame Zhou Zhuo Hua; he just disliked the one manipulating her.

“But Bai Tao isn’t your responsibility. Besides, she’s stronger than you. Isn’t it inappropriate for someone without superpowers to worry about the life and death of an Ability User?”

Bai Chen Zhu absently surveyed the room layout. Jiang Ye must have come ahead to “clean” it—the hotel felt quite quiet.

The arm he was supporting twitched slightly. Bai Chen Zhu keenly looked down at the “unconscious” Bai Tao and raised an eyebrow in interest.

Zhou Zhuo Hua explained earnestly, “Don’t worry, I don’t plan to keep her forever. She’s just passed out now. What if we run into bad guys or monsters? It’s a human life, after all—finding her a safe spot is just convenient.”

“Convenient?” Jiang Ye scoffed, tearing away the facade of harmony. “Why don’t you guess why she’s been ‘passed out’ the whole time?”

What did that mean? Zhou Zhuo Hua froze, then immediately looked down at Bai Tao, who lay still with eyes closed.

Of course, Zhou Zhuo Hua trusted Jiang Ye. Her gaze turned subtle as it lingered on Bai Tao, full of scrutiny, but she couldn’t spot anything.

She glanced at Bai Chen Zhu, who quirked his lips meaningfully.

“Sis, good people get taken advantage of. Even a little girl can wrap you around her finger,” Jiang Ye said leisurely.

Zhou Zhuo Hua, who had just been “eager to help,” changed her expression and abruptly let go with indifference. Bai Tao’s weight fell entirely onto Bai Chen Zhu.

Bai Chen Zhu clicked his tongue. With zero chivalry, he let go just as decisively, allowing Bai Tao to fall to the floor.

But Bai Tao didn’t hit the ground. Her body swayed, catching her fall, and she slowly stood up straight, no longer pretending to be unconscious.

Bai Chen Zhu wasn’t surprised.

“Big Brother Jiang makes me sound scarier than I am.” Bai Tao opened her eyes and stared straight at Jiang Ye. Her body was weak, her lips pale; she coughed after just a few words, but her momentum didn’t waver. “I heard what you said earlier. I’m an Ability User.”

Bai Tao glanced at Zhou Zhuo Hua and Bai Chen Zhu. “You two are hard to protect fully. Let me join you—at least I can protect Sister Zhuo Hua.”

Feeling used for her kindness, Zhou Zhuo Hua felt a pang. She adjusted her glasses and frowned at the frail-looking Bai Tao. “I don’t need your protection. Don’t use me as an excuse.”

Bai Tao covered her mouth and coughed twice. “Don’t be mad, Sister Zhuo Hua. Here, I have to prove my worth, don’t I?”