What?! I Became the Zombie Beauty in the Villain’s Arms – CH81

Chapter 81: Not Even Kissed

Ling Lang had been fully prepared to intercept, his internal core ready to flare.

But in a flash, as the wind crackled with the sharp friction of the rogue lightning energy, Duan Xiaolin simply raised his left hand and blocked the strike with absolute ease.

A deep, translucent green energy chain erupted from his palm, snaking through the air like a lethal python clearing the underbrush, before violently wrapping around the lightning arc in Gu He’s hand.

Gu He only had a fraction of a second to register a sudden, paralyzing drop in his core temperature, followed immediately by a freezing, toxic sensation that shot straight through his heart.

“Ah!”

Gu He collapsed heavily onto the concrete. He clutched his chest, a massive convulsion racking his frame as he violently spat a dark puddle of blood onto the floor.

It operated precisely like a lethal curse—a terrifying, devastating form of energy destruction that the watching ability users had never witnessed in their entire careers.

The Chief Judge’s elemental manipulation isn’t collapsed…

No, how was that mathematically possible? Every archive across global headquarters confirmed his core had permanently shattered a decade ago.

Gu He was hit by such an excruciating wave of internal agony he couldn’t force a single syllable past his lips. Although the mysterious green chains binding his core lacked a massive kinetic volume, their structural integrity was incredibly dense, viciously squeezing his nervous system like iron bonds.

Duan Xiaolin audited the display with absolute indifference.

He watched in silence as the general’s limbs twitched in a desperate, failing struggle, until his vital bars finally hit a temporary blackout and he passed out on the stones. The administrator stood up to full height, stepping off the platform as he adjusted his cuffs. “Drag his frame away. Anchor him inside the deepest vault of the water dungeon.”

Ying crossed the arena floor, his voice dropping into a low, deeply anxious whisper. “Brother Duan, did your system sustain an internal shock? Your core only initialized its preliminary recovery script a few shifts ago, yet you just burned a massive wave of that uncalibrated energy over a useless piece of trash. There’s no data to predict when your core will clear for a secondary discharge.”

Ever since his broken elemental foundation had shown its initial signs of re-awakening, the base medical teams had executed no fewer than ten exhaustive laboratory scans on his system. Even Director Qiu Chao had been extracted from his research grid to monitor the anomaly, yet their processors had failed to map a reliable pathway to stabilize the energy. The fragile mutation was highly volatile, running a continuous risk of hitting a permanent shutdown at any microsecond.

Duan Xiaolin adjusted his collar, his level voice entirely unbothered. “Negative. Deactivate the alarm.”

It took Ling Lang a prolonged interval to reboot his cognitive units. He knew his eyes hadn’t processed a corrupt file.

He strode over in a massive rush. “Brother!” His handsome face was thick with intense excitement. “Brother! Your elemental output! Could it truly mean—”

He cut his own vocal transmission midway through the sentence.

His tracking arrays had just intercepted Pei Xiqing’s windbreaker. She was currently standing near the outer security perimeter of the training field, frantically arguing with the sentries. The heavy rain had finally initialized its descent, and she lacked an umbrella to shield her frame. She had sprinted all the way to this high-density ability user zone without even remembering to adjust her tactical mask, her pale, remarkably delicate features shifting like a brilliant beacon among the crowd of hardened soldiers.

Noticing his lock, Duan Xiaolin and Ying pivoted their torsos toward the main gates.

Pei Xiqing was deploying every persuasive script in her inventory to bypass the line. Since this marked her initial entry into the central combat sector, her navigation units were entirely uncalibrated, leaving her with no choice but to probe the guards for raw data. “Come on, brother! Just release the coordinate parameters for where the absolute highest volume of personnel is clustering right now. My line simply wants to head over and monitor the spectacle. I issue a formal promise: my system won’t generate a single watt of interference for your squad.”

The sentries had all been detailed to this post by Ying, meaning their scanners recognized her registry within a microsecond. Inside the rugged parameters of this fortress, a civilian girl possessing that level of pristine, breathtaking aesthetic geometry was a total anomaly.

None of them possessed the audacity to broadcast a harsh command to her face. They could only shift their boots awkwardly to block her path, their features twisted in deep embarrassment. “Look, little sister, it isn’t that our unit wants to reject your pass, it’s that our orders strictly lock down the directory files. If our vocal receptors release a single coordinate to your station, the Chief Judge will execute a severe disciplinary penalty against our squad. The elite teams are currently processing a high-tier criminal inside the arena. If our shift delays their timeline, the invoice is far too heavy for our cards to carry.”

“What specific criminal?”

“That Major General from headquarters who cleared the lift earlier—”

“Ahem!” The adjacent sentry let out a loud, violent cough, slapping his palm over his partner’s mouth to kill the audio stream. He turned back to her, looking thoroughly stressed. “Your pass is denied for this shift, miss. Please extend some basic operational compliance to our position. Furthermore, the atmospheric parameters indicate a severe downpour is incoming. There is a secure civilian lounge situated just up the avenue; route your boots there to wait out the storm. Our detail will transmit an update to your channel the moment the clearance changes.”

The rain intensified. The light drizzle rapidly escalated into a steady, driving downpour.

She remained anchored on the concrete path, the water quickly matting her long hair against her temples.

Ying immediately executed a hand signal to notify the sentries to stand down.

He turned his torso back around to track his commander. Duan Xiaolin had already retrieved a black umbrella from the rack and was marching calmly toward the outer gate.

Pei Xiqing’s internal meters were spiking with deep frustration. She was actively calculating whether to drop her civilian manners entirely and simply execute a forced, reckless breach past the barricade. Her mind lacked any data regarding what was happening inside the arena. If Brother Duan’s non-ability system had been violently compromised by Gu He’s high-tier elemental core, her own past choices would brand her as the absolute baseline cause of the disaster.

The exact millisecond she twisted her torso to scan the lane, she ran head-on into a broad, rock-solid chest.

“Hiss…” She clutched the bridge of her nose, her boots stumbling back several paces before a large, steady hand firmly locked around her forearm to stabilize her frame.

Pei Xiqing raised her eyes, her pupils expanding in pure shock. “Brother Duan!”

She completely ignored the throbbing pain in her nose. Reaching out with both hands, she grabbed his palms, her eyes frantically driving a head-to-toe visual diagnostic across his suit jacket. She spun his broad torso around to audit his back, only letting out a massive, ragged sigh of relief once her sensors verified he lacked a single trace of physical trauma or fluid loss.

“You completely short-circuited my anxiety meters.”

The administrator raised an arched brow. “What variable triggered the panic?”

“My system was terrified for your safety! The laboratory intelligence indicated you had organized a physical spar against a capital general, and my mind was paralyzed that your body would absorb a critical injury…”

“Who authorized the transmission that my line went searching for a fight?”

“The source is irrelevant. Listen to me, Brother Duan—where is that general currently located? Did his vocal receptors dump a sequence of manipulative lies onto your desk? My line isn’t trying to intentionally withhold data from your board. I need your intellect to comprehend the ground truth: he and my past identity were nothing more than standard, superficial associates. The data is absolute—he never even secured a single kiss from my lips. Back during that calendar block, my system was operating in total desperation, entirely devoid of basic rations or secure garments. My internal controls were paralyzed by survival panic, and my boots accidentally intersected with his compound. Then my line simply simulated compliance—it was pure simulation—just to extract shelter from his vault.”

Terrified that his database would reject the explanation as a fabrication, Pei Xiqing hoisted two slender fingers into the air.

“My internal psychology never hosted an ounce of genuine affection for his file. Every single historical registry on my ledger was strictly forced upon my station by the environment.”

The original host had never loved him, and her current consciousness certainly wouldn’t either.

She had expected Duan Xiaolin to launch a severe interrogation protocol or display an intense emotional grudge, but after she released that massive, unbroken stream of data, the man simply continued to hold the black umbrella over her head, a faint, highly amused smile touching his thin lips. She blinked, her lashes wet with rain. “Does your desk even comprehend which specific asset I am detailing?”

“I do.”

“Where is his current coordinate sheet?”

“The water prison.”

“What specific crime did his division commit?”

“Violating the absolute laws of heaven and earth.”

Pei Xiqing executed a secondary verification check. “To be completely precise—his name is Gu He.”

“Correct.”

“Your board isn’t harboring an immense wave of rage?”

“My system is remarkably satisfied.”

Pei Xiqing’s analytical units stalled. “Why?”

“Your line chose to initialize a sovereign data transfer, mapping out the unvarnished details of your past alignment on your own accord.”

Pei Xiqing’s lips parted slightly.

Staring up into the man’s surprisingly gentle features, an uncomfortable twinge of guilt rippled through her chest.

He is entirely too simple to satisfy, she calculated. She had marched into this sector fully expecting to absorb a severe administrative lashing, having pre-compiled a massive apology script in her head to survive the fallout.

The unexpected leniency left her deeply moved.

Pei Xiqing cleared her throat, her voice dropping into an awkward mumble. “Though… if we are running a complete diagnostic… the ledger might contain more than a singular asset…”

Duan Xiaolin’s eyes narrowed slightly, a highly deliberate flash of amusement behind his lenses. “Quantify the remaining demographic.”

“That parameter is… mathematically complex to isolate, haha.” She lightly touched the tip of her nose, letting out a thoroughly dry laugh to buffer the tension.

Duan Xiaolin let out a quiet, internal huff. Bending his long fingers, his knuckles gently wiped a stream of cold raindrops from her flushing cheek.

His voice dropped into a soft, level murmur. “Your visual execution is exceptionally refined today.”

Pei Xiqing’s shoulders shivered under the intensity of his gaze. She bit her lower lip, murmuring, “Your office is strictly locked out from activating its anger parameters… I mean, if your system chooses to harbor irritation, the logic is entirely understandable, but your board must preserve absolute trust in my compliance keys.”

“My trust is firmly anchored,” he murmured, his eyes dropping to her lips. “But my office intends to monitor your ongoing performance metrics closely.” He leaned down a fraction, his voice a low vibration beneath the umbrella. “Did your past column intersect with his scouts on a heavily fogged rotation? Did the weather matrix register a heavy downpour that shift?”

Pei Xiqing’s memory banks held zero authentic files regarding the atmospheric metrics of the host’s past meeting with Gu He, so she simply nodded subconsciously to clear the prompt. “Ah… the data suggests a heavy fog was pooling, but the rain system withheld its impact.”

The exact microsecond the words cleared her lips, she noted a sudden, dangerous shift in the depth of his green eyes.

Pei Xiqing frantically waved her hands to overwrite the input. “Negative, negative! My memory units just threw a corruption error! The timeline completely lacks a weather marker. I genuinely forgot what parameters the sky was driving. My database returns a flat total blank!”

The administrator simply stared down at her face, the profound, unreadable calculus swirling behind his eyes completely impossible for her system to decode.

Pei Xiqing rapidly pre-programmed a diversion protocol, pretending to be intensely occupied as her eyes scanned the perimeter before she stood on her tiptoes to peer over his broad shoulder.

Spotting Ling Lang and Ying standing motionless out in the driving downpour a dozen paces away, she whispered quickly, “My windbreaker has an extra umbrella tucked inside the sleeve pocket. Please route the logistics to their coordinates. The atmospheric sensors indicate a massive rainstorm is about to drop.”