Chapter 57: The Mysterious Guest (Part 2)
“Yeah.” Song Yuqing watched him, burning with curiosity. She suspected Zhang Lei had fought with Chen Ke, but seeing how perfectly clean his clothes were, she figured he must have won effortlessly.
Zhang Lei took a slow sip of his wood-flavored cappuccino. “Chen Town is really different,” he said deliberately. “The zombies here are much more advanced than anywhere else.”
“Have you seen that half-human, half-zombie one?” she asked.
“Yes.” Zhang Lei casually took another sip.
Song Yuqing leaned in closer. “Did you beat her?”
Zhang Lei smiled and shook his head. “No.”
“A draw?”
“No.” Zhang Lei remained frustratingly sparse with his words.
His refusal to elaborate only made Song Yuqing more anxious. If he keeps playing dumb, I might just have to slip him a Truth Fruit, she thought. Even if it is a little immoral…
“What half-human, half-zombie creature are you two talking about?” Ruan Fanfan asked, looking back and forth between them in confusion.
“It should be something like this one—a zombie that has retained its own consciousness.” Zhang Lei reached out and pointed directly at Gaha. “Before coming to Chen Town, I had never seen a zombie like this. It’s quite a novelty.”
Gaha immediately bristled, feeling uncomfortable all over. Zhang Lei gave off the intense aura of a hunter, and right now, Gaha felt exactly like the prey caught in his sights.
“Gaha…” He turned his anxious eyes toward Song Yuqing. Seeing the raw fear in the little zombie’s expression, Song Yuqing’s heart skipped a beat. This Zhang Lei might not be a good person after all.
“How did he end up like this?” Zhang Lei drained the last of his cappuccino and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “If possible, could you let me take Gaha away? I want to study him in depth. I might be able to uncover the secret to fighting zombies by examining his body.”
He kept his gaze fixed forward as he made the outrageous request, completely avoiding Song Yuqing’s eyes, as if well aware of how out of line he was.
“Ah?” Ruan Fanfan jumped up from her chair. “Isn’t that a bad idea?”
Zhang Lei looked up, fixing her with a stern, warning gaze. Ruan Fanfan immediately shrank back, awkwardly fidgeting with the hem of her shirt.
Song Yuqing narrowed her eyes. Zhang Lei and Ruan Fanfan clearly knew each other, so why were they pretending otherwise? She decided to suppress her suspicions for now to avoid stirring up unnecessary trouble.
“Are you kidding?” Song Yuqing dropped her polite smile, her expression turning cold and serious.
Gaha pouted and scurried over to plaster himself against Song Yuqing’s side, feeling increasingly unsafe.
“It’s just a joke. I’m not a bad guy. Look how scared you are.” Zhang Lei grinned as if he had just delivered a brilliant punchline, though his facial muscles were incredibly stiff. It was the unnatural, forced expression of someone who rarely ever smiled.
Song Yuqing stared at him in dead silence. Completely unfazed by the heavy atmosphere, Zhang Lei lightly tapped the table. “I want another drink.”
“Five zombies only gets you one drink,” Song Yuqing said firmly, snatching the empty cup away from him. “We’re closing.”
Zhang Lei raised an eyebrow but didn’t argue. He turned and walked away. Seeing this, Ruan Fanfan let out an obvious sigh of relief.
“Time for bed, time for bed, it’s getting late,” Ruan Fanfan said, feigning a relaxed tone as she reached over to affectionately rub Song Yuqing’s cheek.
Song Yuqing: “…”
Song Yuqing followed Zhang Lei downstairs and watched him head into the alley. However, he showed no intention of leaving the area; instead, he confidently strolled into the adjacent building as if he knew the route by heart. At the same time, Ruan Fanfan grabbed her quilt and headed for the door of the God’s Supermarket.
“Are you still going to sleep next door?” Song Yuqing reached out and grabbed her arm.
Ruan Fanfan shrank her neck, avoiding eye contact. She hugged her quilt tightly and turned back toward the inner room. “I’ve been snoring lately,” she muttered. “So don’t kick me when I do.”
After turning off the lights and pulling up their blankets, neither of them could fall asleep.
“Are you asleep?” Ruan Fanfan whispered.
“No.” Song Yuqing rolled over.
A little while later, just as Song Yuqing was finally starting to feel drowsy, Ruan Fanfan’s soft voice drifted over again. “Are you asleep?”
“No.” Song Yuqing rolled over once more.
Normally, the two of them would have spent half the night whispering and gossiping, but tonight, Song Yuqing didn’t dare say much. The trust between them was actively crumbling.
Ruan Fanfan clearly felt the same way, no longer daring to share her own secrets.
“Are you asleep?” Ruan Fanfan tried a third time.
Song Yuqing kept her eyes closed and didn’t answer. She couldn’t sleep anyway; her mind was racing with too many questions.
The girl lying next to her fell silent. A while later, Ruan Fanfan began to sleep-talk.
“No, we’re not breaking up.”
“Give me half of it when you’re done.”
“No way, she’s my friend.”
…
Song Yuqing propped herself up on her elbows and leaned in close to her ear. “Who are you talking to?” she whispered.
She had hoped to trick Ruan Fanfan into revealing some juicy secrets, but the girl jolted awake instantly.
“What are you doing?! You scared me to death!”
“No way,” Song Yuqing said smoothly. She tucked Ruan Fanfan back in, rolled over, and pretended to settle down. “You’re the one who woke me up, and now you’re blaming me.”
Ruan Fanfan turned on her side, facing Song Yuqing’s back with her face half-buried in her pillow.
After a long time, she asked once more, “Are you asleep?”
Song Yuqing didn’t reply, deliberately letting out a soft, rhythmic snore.
Ruan Fanfan: “…”
Ruan Fanfan lay completely still for about ten minutes. Once she was thoroughly convinced Song Yuqing was out cold, she quietly lifted the covers and slipped out of bed.
The second Ruan Fanfan left the room, Song Yuqing’s eyes snapped open.
“Master Fu, do me a favor,” she whispered to the empty air. “Go see what Ruan Fanfan is doing.”
“Do you think I don’t need to sleep?” Master Fu’s voice grumbled in her mind.
“You aren’t asleep yet anyway. Besides, why would you even need sleep? You don’t even have a physical body in this world.”
“You’re just bullying an old man,” he muttered.
Despite his complaining, Master Fu considerately acted as her eyes, relaying Ruan Fanfan’s movements through the God’s Supermarket.
“She’s looking at the items on the shelves.”
“She’s messing with that computer.”
“She just opened the door. She looks nervous.”
“She’s touching the tallow tree.”
“She went next door.”
Next door?
Song Yuqing realized she had to face this friendship crisis head-on.
Since Master Fu’s vision couldn’t penetrate the adjacent building, Song Yuqing threw off her covers and sneaked out to investigate for herself. She didn’t wake the others; if too many people tagged along, they were bound to blow their cover.
But the moment she tiptoed into the neighboring house, she nearly tripped over three figures huddled in the corner. Gaha, Little Meat Bun, and Liu Xiaona were already squatting there in the dark.
“Shh!” The three of them instantly raised their index fingers to their lips in unison.
The outer room was pitch black. If it hadn’t been for the faint flicker of firelight spilling from the inner room, Song Yuqing and her sneaky employees probably would have crashed into each other and alerted their targets.
Song Yuqing quietly peeked into the inner room. A small fire crackled in a pot in the center of the floor. Ruan Fanfan and Zhang Lei stood by the flames. Ruan Fanfan had her arms wrapped tightly around Zhang Lei from behind, looking exactly like the star of a tragic romance drama.
Song Yuqing slapped both hands over her mouth, terrified she might scream out of sheer excitement. Oh my god! Ruan Fanfan is secretly dating behind my back! Sneaky, sneaky, sneaky! What on earth is she playing at?
Tomorrow, she vowed internally. Tomorrow I’m having Liu Xiaona cook up a Red Truth Fruit. I will force the truth out of these two!
“Fanfan, will you leave with me tomorrow?” Zhang Lei turned around, wrapping his arms around her and gently stroking her hair.
“Let me think about it.” Ruan Fanfan’s expression lacked the usual sweetness of a girl in love. “Did you really come here just for me, or…”
“What do you think?”
“Fine, I get it. Just… promise me you aren’t planning to take over the God’s Supermarket.”
