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

Chapter 241: My People

Ma Mengjia’s spiteful words did manage to leave an impression on Pei Xiqing.

Technically, she and Duan Xiaolin were not a real, officially wedded couple. Although Ma Mengjia’s sharp, snide delivery had been deeply unpleasant to listen to, she had inadvertently spoken the truth.

Pei Xiqing took hold of Xiaobai’s leather leash and began a slow, thoughtful walk back to the residential block.

Shadow materialized from the perimeter a short while later, falling into step beside her. “The arrangements have been finalized, ma’am. We’ve secured her in one of the lower dormitory blocks and stationed a watch detail outside her door. Additionally, our scouts successfully tracked down the individual named ‘Lin’ she highlighted during your conversation.”

“What’s his status?”

“It aligns precisely with Miss Pei’s hypothesis,” Shadow reported flatly. “The man is currently entertaining a faction of wealthy merchants at an upscale restaurant in the New District. He was the one who explicitly directed the enforcers to track her down and drag her off the streets.”

“Then let his division handle it; we won’t interfere further,” Pei Xiqing decided. “I have already executed the exact extent of my moral obligation.”

“Understood.”

Crossing paths with Ma Mengjia had been a pure accident. However, the girl’s malicious comments had served as an underlying reminder. Even if a structured, institutionalized marriage—like the legal contracts of the old world—was an administrative impossibility in this era, she and Duan Xiaolin still required a private milestone. They deserved a profound sense of ritual that belonged exclusively to them, an unvoiced pact that both of them fully recognized and anchored themselves to.

For the next few days, Pei Xiqing systematically grounded herself at home.

During this stretch, Shadow reported that Ma Mengjia had attempted to breach their perimeter to seek an audience several times. Because the enforcers entirely ignored her presence, she eventually lost her patience, slipped away from the dormitory block, and quietly retreated back to her wealthy handler’s residence.

Pei Xiqing didn’t waste a single shred of her focus on the drama. Instead, she retrieved a raw crystal core from her desk and began meticulously carving it.

The high-tier cores resting in her primary cache were far too valuable to gamble with, so she had explicitly requested Shadow to unearth a handful of low-grade, defective shards that the military factions had discarded to utilize for her experiments. She ruined more than ten pieces before she finally achieved a flawless structural success.

She possessed zero professional lapidary training and had never studied the craft, forcing her to rely entirely on raw intuition and steady hands. But as long as she could engineer a single success, her system could replicate the process.

Time was collapsing rapidly. Beyond their immediate walls, the undead hordes and the parasite swarms were instigating a massive commotion, their vanguard effectively blockading the island’s shores. Shutting out the mounting chaos, she pulled out a pristine, high-level crystal core, anchored her focus, and began to carve the metal with absolute, meditative calm.

Fortunately, she didn’t attempt an overly complex design. She kept the geometry clean, methodically grinding down a fist-sized core that pulsed with a brilliant, green-agate luminescence until it smoothy transformed into the shape of a perfect heart. It required two full days of agonizingly precise execution, but the artifact was finally complete.

Duan Xiaolin had undoubtedly monitored her progress from the shadows, offering only a dry murmur one evening: “Ensure you don’t waste your resources.” Beyond that, he had chosen not to pry into her work.

Pei Xiqing finally secured the finished crystal core into its container just as the atmospheric metrics indicated the capital was on the verge of being completely choked off by the amphibious blockade.

On a heavy, dark evening where a violent storm brewed just beyond the horizon, she slipped into his study and handed him the box as if it were a casual, everyday item.

Duan Xiaolin was buried in map layouts, systematically organizing defense parameters for Fu Yan’s division. It appeared he had officially validated the Marshal’s recent terms. Consequently, the files dominating the man’s desk had shifted from standard political folders to a dense, grim mountain of casualty ledgers and parasite mutation reports.

As she pushed the heavy door open, she leaned her back against the frame, watching him work. She knew with absolute certainty that even if Duan Xiaolin lacked a guaranteed solution to survive the upcoming swarm, his baseline nervous system would remain entirely unshakeable. He would forever confront the crisis with absolute, cold-blooded professionalism. Even if the arrow was already resting against the bowstring, he would never be left defenseless.

Duan Xiaolin signed the final directive on his blotter before pulling a secondary high-command dossier toward him. Without looking up, he asked smoothly, “Is the project finally complete?”

“It required five full days of meticulous labor, but I managed to finish it,” she smiled.

In the grand scheme of his global military strategies, her little craft project was nothing more than a petty distraction. Yet, she harbored zero embarrassment or self-consciousness about bringing it into his office.

He offered a soft smile, setting his pen down to open the box she had slid across the mahogany. Reaching inside, his long fingers wrapped around the heart-shaped crystal core, lifting it into the light. He weighed the brilliant green artifact in his palm, studying its contours before locking his eyes onto her face. “What exactly inspired this sudden offering?”

“I simply desire to extract an unyielding confirmation from Brother Duan.”

“Detail your parameters.”

“The exact millisecond you accept this offering,” she blurted out, her tone dropping into a fierce, absolute register, “you become my personal property.”

Her dark eyes locked onto his face like inescapable hooks, silently informing him that his system was entirely devoid of an escape route.

Duan Xiaolin let out a low, rumbling chuckle, his eyes dancing with intense amusement behind his lenses. “Is that so? The metrics of possession are fundamentally mutual. The exact same rule applies to your baseline.”

“That is an entirely different calculation,” she corrected playfully, stepping closer. “I am stating that your existence belongs completely to me—in this immediate hour, throughout our entire future, and even a century after civilization crumbles into the dust.”

The man’s movements froze for a fraction of a second. The low amusement faded from his features, replaced by a profound, consuming gravity. He closed his fingers into an iron grip around the green core, while simultaneously reaching out to capture her hand, locking her palm securely beneath his own.

The storm howled violently against the double-paned glass, yet inside the study, the absolute quiet served to amplify the intense, heavy ripples vibrating through their connected system.

“Regardless of what transpired in our historical logs or whatever crisis manifests in our future timeline, a century from this hour, I will occupy the exact same burial vault right beside you,” Duan Xiaolin stated, his voice absolute and ringing with an unshakeable, terrifying sincerity. “You will forever remain my solitary, most cherished wife. This is the vow of Duan Xiaolin.”

Pei Xiqing blinked, her throat suddenly tight. “Alright.”

“Alright what?”

“Consider it our official, private ceremony.”

A residual part of her perspective remained anchored to the modern sensibilities of her past life; she had naturally harbored a quiet longing to experience a beautiful, unforgettable milestone reminiscent of the peaceful era. But they were standing at the edge of the world. Survival itself was a fluctuating lottery. Securing a unique, unvoiced pact between themselves was more than enough to anchor her soul.

Pei Xiqing cleared her throat, breaking the heavy atmosphere. “In all honesty, my original blueprint was to grind a matching set of rings for us, but every single attempt failed to clear the structural thresholds. In the end, I was forced to settle for a secondary compromise and engineered this instead. The execution is a bit crude, but consider it a genuine token of my affection. The exact second my lapidary skills clear the next baseline, I will forge something infinitely superior for you.”

“The jade medallion I transferred to your custody last cycle—is it still secure?” he asked quietly.

“Of course it is,” she smiled, tapping her ankle. The ancient artifact had remained tied securely around her ankle from the exact second his fingers had fastened the cord; she had never once permitted it to be removed.

“That specific jade marker actually constituted a historical heirloom within my family lineage prior to the collapse,” he murmured, his eyes softening.

Pei Xiqing’s eyes widened slightly. “Truly?”

“It originally existed as raw material my elders intended to carve into protective talismans. When the initial outbreak initialized, the entire collection vanished during the chaos. My scouts managed to unearth that solitary piece out in the badlands a few months back, but five years of relentless exposure to the wind and torrential rain had severely eroded the matrix, leaving very little of the original mass intact.”

“So you painstakingly carved the remaining fraction into a personal plaque for me.”

“Mhm.”

“That is exceptional,” she beamed. She playfully hoisted her frame onto the edge of his mahogany desk, swinging her leg slightly so the jade token struck the wood, releasing a crisp, melodic click through the quiet room.

Then, a sudden wave of curiosity hit her. “But Brother Duan still hasn’t detailed the parameters of his youth. What exactly did your life look like before the world order collapsed?”

“Those logs belong to a dead timeline,” he replied smoothly, his fingers idly tracing the contours of the heart-shaped core. “The data cannot be re-summoned. It is infinitely more efficient to deploy our current mental energy mapping out our upcoming trajectory together.”

Pei Xiqing puckered her lips into a slight pout, accepting his deflection.

Duan Xiaolin retrieved his pen, looking up at her through his elegant frames. “You’ve been engineering this little surprise for days. Now that the offering has been delivered, does your system harbor any secondary announcements for my office?”

She tilted her head, slipping off the desk. “Nothing further. You may resume your defense layouts.”

Turning on her heel, she prepared to clear the study.

But the low voice of the man behind her halted her steps. “Ensure your gear is ready. I am escorting you to an unmapped coordinate tonight.”

“Where exactly are we going?”

“You will analyze the parameters the exact millisecond we breach the perimeter.”

“Fine,” Pei Xiqing murmured.

Stepping out into the living room, she decided to forge a crude, basic protective tag for Xiaobai as well. While the dog’s token required zero artistic carving, it was critical to hang an identifier around his massive neck. In the event that he became separated from her during the upcoming amphibious siege, whoever unhitched him would at least possess the metrics to re-establish contact with her residence.

She sat down on the foyer rug, firmly commanding the massive pup over to secure the collar. Xiaobai offered a brief, playful struggle initially, but quickly pressed his broad head into her palm, dropping into a disciplined sit as he allowed her to work.

As her bare fingers closed around the core shard to thread the cord, a sudden, inexplicable sensation rippled through her nerves. The strange mineral artifact seemed to radiate a bizarre, terrifyingly predatory energy. It felt as though an invisible siphon had anchored itself to her palm, violently draining a specific current straight out of her bloodstream.

Startled, Pei Xiqing instantly dropped the crystal core onto the rug.

Her palm burned with a fierce, blinding heat, as if her skin had been pressed flush against an open furnace—yet analyzing the surface of her hand, she found zero physical blisters or signs of necrosis.

She remained frozen for several seconds, her heart hammering against her ribs as she stared at the artifact. Steeling her nerves, she cautiously reached down to touch the green shard a second time.

The blinding heat failed to manifest.

Instead, the exact millisecond her fingertips brushed the surface, the solid mineral structure of the crystal core instantly liquefied, melting like dark wax before completely dissolving straight into her skin.

Chapter 242: Bite Again

Pei Xiqing arrived on time for their appointment that evening. As soon as she slid into the passenger seat of his car, she couldn’t wait to ask, “Where exactly are you taking me, Brother Duan? Can’t you give me a little hint in advance?”

The man sat lazily against the leather seat, his long, slender legs slightly parted. His dark tie and exquisitely tailored suit perfectly complemented each other, radiating an aura of understated, effortless luxury.

Outside the window, the streets had completely surrendered to the dominating grip of darkness and danger.

Natural light never reached this place anymore. It was only the sheer will of the people inside the base that forged a fragile beacon of light for humanity in the apocalypse. The distant sky was a suffocating gray, as if a heavy black veil had been draped over the world, blocking out any chance of a sunrise.

In a sudden, jarring flash, a colossal, invisible hand made of black and red energy seemed to materialize in the sky. It waved through the air, clenched into a massive fist, and finally released, sending what felt like a violent hurricane hurtling straight toward them.

“What’s wrong?” Duan Xiaolin asked.

Pei Xiqing violently snapped back to her senses. She looked up at the sky again.

There was absolutely nothing there.

She rubbed her eyes. She had been overthinking things far too much lately; her exhausted mind was starting to conjure up hallucinations.

But the reality outside was just as grim. The surrounding sea levels had risen by at least a hundred meters. Areas that were completely dry the last time she ventured out were now swallowed by bottomless water. It seemed that even though she had stayed indoors recently, the outside world was in a state of constant, catastrophic flux.

If even Central Headquarters was looking this desolate and dilapidated, she couldn’t imagine the horrific state of the other survivor bases.

The car navigated through the deserted streets before finally grinding to a halt at the seaside port.

The sea breeze was howling so violently that Pei Xiqing could barely open her eyes. Her hair and clothes whipped wildly in the gale. Luckily, Duan Xiaolin stepped in front of her, using his broad frame to block the brunt of the wind, otherwise, she felt she might actually be blown away.

She gripped his coat tightly and shouted over the roar, “Why did you bring me all the way out here?”

“Look straight ahead,” he instructed gently.

Following his gaze, she looked out toward the horizon where the dark sea met the sky. Hidden beneath the thick, rolling fog, a faint glimmer of light actually managed to pierce through. Looking closely, a brilliant crimson sunset was burning beneath the gloom.

“It’s so beautiful,” she breathed.

In her past life as an actress, she had seen countless sunsets, often too busy filming to truly appreciate the colors in the sky, so she had never found them particularly breathtaking. But witnessing such vibrant color breaking through the suffocating gloom of the apocalypse stirred a profound sense of awe and melancholic longing in her chest.

He stared at the distant sky and murmured, “This is the first time in over a decade that I’ve seen a sunset like this.”

“Yes.” Although the sun had occasionally peeked through the apocalyptic weather before, there had never been a sunset quite as vivid and beautiful as this one.

The heavy clouds gradually began to dissipate. The crimson glow at the edges of the cloud bank grew increasingly radiant and eye-catching. It burned so brightly it felt as if all the vibrant colors lost to the apocalypse had been gathered and painted across the distant sky.

A wave of nostalgia washed over her. She took a few steps forward, leaning her back against the guardrail with the crashing sea behind her, and looked up at the man. “Brother Duan, it would be wonderful if the world could always look like this.”

“It will,” he replied smoothly. “That day will come.”

Pei Xiqing leaned against his arm, gazing out at the restless, churning ocean. The man stood tall beside her, his suit jacket fluttering in the wind.

Another violent gust of sea breeze swept past them. The man stepped closer, taking her hand in his. Feeling the comforting warmth of his palm, Pei Xiqing was just about to turn back to the sunset when she felt a small, hard object being pressed into her grip.

She opened her hand to find a cold, metallic key resting on her palm. “What is this…?” she asked in confusion.

Duan Xiaolin didn’t answer immediately. He took her hand again, his finger slowly and deliberately tracing a series of characters across her palm, stroke by stroke. “Haven’t you always been curious about my command codes?”

Pei Xiqing’s eyes widened slightly. “So, what you just traced… that’s your personal authorization code?”

“Correct.”

“I remember when we were back at Base Three, you needed specific clearance codes just to navigate the central building and locate people.” In this era, without the proper authorization codes, moving through the military hierarchy was impossible. Command instructions were the absolute lifeblood of anyone operating within the base.

She looked up at him. “You’re giving me your personal command code so I can come find you whenever I need to?”

“Yes,” he explained quietly. “To the regular infantry, these codes are nothing more than a string of meaningless digits.”

“But to you?”

“To me, it is the master key that unlocks every secret I possess. It represents the culmination of everything I have built over the years.”

Pei Xiqing hadn’t expected such a profound weight behind his gesture. This single code held absolute, ultimate significance to his life and authority.

“Giving me something this critical… aren’t you worried I might cause a disaster later? You’ve worked so hard to build all of this.”

“From this moment on, you have the absolute authority to handle and govern everything this code controls.”

The man’s words were spoken softly, easily swept away by the howling wind, yet their weight crashed down onto Pei Xiqing’s heart like a thousand-pound boulder. He didn’t explicitly spell out every detail of what this code represented, but she could easily deduce the magnitude of the power he was surrendering to her.

Her lips parted, and after a long moment, she simply whispered, “Okay.”

“No matter what happens from this day forward, all the power and leverage tied to this command belongs entirely to you.”

He reached out, gently tucking a long strand of hair that was whipping wildly across her forehead behind her ear. This was the true magnitude of the gift he was offering her.

“And now, for one final gift.”

Pei Xiqing felt unusually flustered. “Why do you keep showering me with gifts tonight?”

He offered a faint smile. “How else are we supposed to establish a proper sense of ceremony without exchanging a few tokens?”

As he spoke, he unbuttoned his cuff and raised his bare wrist toward her.

Pei Xiqing blinked in confusion. “What are you doing?”

“Bite me.”

???

Pei Xiqing was utterly bewildered. “Are you looking to torture yourself again? Haven’t you experienced enough pain from my bites already?”

She used to bite him frequently in the past. Especially during those intense moments when his self-control slipped and he was completely driven by raw impulse—she would lose control of herself as well and sink her teeth into his skin.

And every time she took a bite, the resulting viral rush only made him more excited and intense. Afterward, in the final grueling minutes, he would calmly endure the burning agony of the zombie virus before finally, slowly injecting himself with the serum. This man truly prioritized raw sensation and emotion over baseline survival sometimes. To him, physical pain could easily be masked, or even completely ignored, as long as it was accompanied by intense pleasure.

“Bite me again,” he urged smoothly.

Pei Xiqing looked at him, half-believing and half-doubting his sanity. But under his intense, encouraging gaze, she finally took hold of his arm and bit down tentatively.

She deliberately held back, not wanting to use any real force.

He immediately instructed, “Bite harder.”

“Don’t regret this,” Pei Xiqing warned, looking up at him. “Did you even bring the serum with you?”

“There will be plenty of time to administer an injection later.”

Resolving herself, Pei Xiqing bit down hard. Her sharp teeth punctured the skin of his wrist, leaving two deep marks. Dark blood slowly began to well up from the wounds.

However, Duan Xiaolin’s physiological reaction wasn’t nearly as violent as it had been in the past. Even the visible spread of the zombie infection through his veins had slowed down by a factor of five or six.

Still, after about five or six minutes, the effects finally began to surface. Seeing the veins on his forehead begin to pulse and throb, Pei Xiqing quickly asked, “Are you okay?”

Duan Xiaolin shook his head slightly. Right before her eyes, the puncture wounds where she had bitten him rapidly began to close and return to normal.

Pei Xiqing stared in astonishment. “What does this have to do with the gift you mentioned?”

He slowly clenched his fist, his dark eyes fixed intently on the fading veins across the back of his hand. After a few seconds of silence, he murmured, “It seems to have taken effect. Give it a try.”

“Try what?” Pei Xiqing was completely confused.

Chapter 243: Your Relationship with Me

Pei Xiqing felt it immediately. Strange sensations began rippling continuously through her limbs, and the abnormalities in her body grew rapidly more pronounced under the sudden shift.

A cold, damp, and dark touch, accompanied by a wave of powerful and uncontrollable energy, systematically invaded her bloodstream and soaked into every inch of her skin. Before her nervous system could fully process the intrusion, leaving her biology only a few seconds to adapt, her entire body felt as though it had been violently plunged into an icy cavern, causing her to shiver uncontrollably.

She hoisted her hand, staring blankly down at her palm, then slowly clenched her fingers into a tight fist. After a tense silence, she whispered, “The Qiong Snake?”

This specific energy matrix was intimately familiar. Of all the high-tier genetic abilities she had ever interfaced with across the sectors, only Duan Xiaolin’s Qiong Snake could broadcast this exact frequency. Yet, the presence of the horned serpent she was recording right now felt infinitely more intimidating and terrifying than before.

Previously, the trace elements of the Qiong Snake dormant within her system had functioned merely as a localized copy or a minor fraction of his power. But this time, the entity anchoring itself to her cells felt more absolute, seamless, and dominant than any version she had ever encountered.

The exact millisecond the realization settled into her mind, Pei Xiqing lunged forward, her fingers tightly locking onto the fabric of his suit. Her lips trembled slightly, and she couldn’t suppress the urgent panic in her voice as she held him. “What on earth have you done?”

The complete architecture of the Qiong Snake had successfully manifested within her own system. That implied… did he even retain a shred of the anomaly within his own biology? The Qiong Snake constituted the absolute crucible of his genetic output—the core foundation of his supernatural power.

“Detail the metrics to me first,” he murmured, his voice completely level. “What exactly does your system record?”

“I can feel the horned snake… its raw energy is fluctuating wildly, sweeping through my veins at a trajectory I cannot accurately govern,” she whispered, her heart hammering. “It feels entirely beyond my cognitive control…”

It was completely beyond her mastery, yet it was securely anchored within the boundaries of her own flesh, systematically integrating until it became an undeniable extension of her being. She had never experienced a biological shift of this magnitude before. As a consequence, her equilibrium remained entirely fractured; she felt as though her physical frame no longer belonged to her command.

A low, amused chuckle vibrated against his chest.

Pei Xiqing shot a sharp look up through the dark. “What do you find so amusing?”

“Your capabilities are undergoing a significant progression,” he commented flatly, his dark eyes fixed onto hers.

“What…?”

“The acceleration won’t terminate tonight. Throughout our upcoming timeline, your internal metrics will grow exponentially more dominant, systematically delivering every single variable your heart desires.”

Before Pei Xiqing could challenge his calculations, the man gently enveloped her hand within his palm. When he spoke again, his cadence dropped into an almost reverent, unyielding register. “Both it and I will forever exist as your personal property.”

Pei Xiqing’s lips parted slightly, a soft sound finally escaping her throat. “I understand.”

To her mind, their private ceremony was meant to function as a quiet, unvoiced pact—a sacred promise safely guarded within the deep recesses of her soul. She had never anticipated that his system would cooperate with such flawless, overwhelming devotion, callously pushing his absolute highest chips across the table to secure her position.

He had never once dropped a hint regarding this hidden blueprint during their past conversations. Throughout her journey, she had only ever gathered fragmented data about his internal mechanics from the leaked complaints of Ling Lang and Long Yan. She hadn’t calculated that such a vast web of lethal secrets lay buried behind his polished mask.

Pei Xiqing tightened her fingers, holding fast to the hand that contained his ultimate weaknesses and political bargaining chips, refusing to let go.

In her initial calculations, she had assumed that no matter how aggressively he pursued the extraction of the crystal cores, he would permanently embed the unrefined minerals into his own system. But the following afternoon, upon returning to the study, she spotted the exact heart-shaped green agate core sitting perfectly restored inside its reinforced containment vault.

She rubbed the bridge of her nose, letting out a helpless sigh. This man truly refused to let a single shred of high-tier mineral resources go to waste. Even the private love token she had painstakingly ground down to gift him had been systematically cleared of its defects and returned to his desk unsealed.

Yet, when she met him at the dining table for dinner, she watched him smoothly slide a small, brilliant object straight into his chest pocket. She recognized it instantly.

“How exactly did you execute that?” she asked, leaning across the table. That specific green core had already been formally transferred to his repository; how on earth did his person currently command a secondary duplicate that looked completely identical down to the millimeter?

Duan Xiaolin adjusted his cuffs, a faint, wicked smirk playing at the corners of his lips. “My wife engineered a custom masterpiece explicitly for my office. Naturally, my system couldn’t bear the logistical cost of utilizing the original mass during a field restoration. I simply directed my enforcers to unearth a fresh high-tier core to absorb the structural modifications.”

“Where exactly did your units harvest a specimen of that caliber?”

At this point in the crisis, every single crystal core secured within the headquarters repositories had been brought under his direct administrative control. The fractured military factions headed by the Commander-in-Chief had initially raised an uproar over the extraction, but ever since Duan Xiaolin had leveled his silent, lethal ultimatum inside the tribunal, a massive wave of compromised officials had broken format. They were actively surrendering their private hoards to demonstrate their absolute loyalty to his office.

Those cowards only possessed the audacity to foment rebellion when sheltered behind Fu Yan’s desk. The exact second the Marshal rejected their petitions, their political confidence dissolved into static, leaving them no choice but to crawl across the sector to curry favor with Franlun.

Throughout this quarter-cycle, Pei Xiqing had systematically avoided interfacing with the high command, yet her perception trait had continuously tracked the personnel approaching the man’s vehicle with absolute, trembling reverence. They were the exact same commanders and officials who had previously screamed with righteous, furious indignation inside the conference hall.

With every loose core locked within his vaults, the domestic market was entirely drained; no new variables or mineral resources could naturally manifest inside the capital. Under those exact parameters, where on earth had he unhitched another high-tier core?

Duan Xiaolin offered no direct data to resolve her query. Instead, his gaze softened with a profound, heavy warmth as he lifted the crudely crafted love core to his lips, pressing a slow, deliberate kiss against the green mineral.

He had just returned from an extended deployment in the outer sectors, and every single inch of his uniform had been subjected to a rigorous decontamination protocol before he crossed her threshold.

Pei Xiqing possessed a clear mathematical map of the horrific conditions deteriorating just beyond their windows. A few weeks ago, the marine hatchlings had initiated their first migration up through the storm-drainage lines, and since that initial breach, the capital had endured a relentless barrage of amphibious assaults. The pristine, immaculate asphalt of the commercial avenues was now completely choked with sheets of stagnant, sticky slime, rotting cell tissues, and pools of mutated, black-and-green biological fluid. Walking through the lower sectors meant tracking straight through a sickening, metallic stench of decay.

Xiaobai was permanently grounded indoors to protect his health. Whenever Pei Xiqing was forced to clear the perimeter, she had to endure a multi-stage chemical disinfection upon her return, which quickly conditioned her to remain lazy and stay inside the house. Yet, despite her isolation, she wasn’t completely blind to the external decay.

Duan Xiaolin had spent hours commanding the frontline defenses amidst that meat grinder, yet the aura radiating from his person remained completely refreshing, pristine, and elegant. It was transparent that he had meticulously purged every trace of the battlefield from his skin before entering her presence.

Furthermore, he had discarded the heavy, neat suits he typically equipped to enforce compliance during military briefings, opting instead for a loose, comfortable set of civilian home garments that made his posture appear remarkably approachable and warm.

As he raised the heart-shaped artifact to his lips, the slight movement pulled his collar flush against his skin, exposing the sharp, aesthetic architecture of his collarbone and the heavy, impossible-to-ignore silhouette of his Adam’s apple just above it.

She had sunk her teeth into that exact skin multiple times in the past. Every single time, she had been driven by a desperate, uncontrollable physical impulse that forced her to bite down despite the visceral knowledge of the pain it inflicted upon his system. Yet, whenever he exerted his control over her during those intense moments, his reactions had always been uniquely complex, his dark smiles lingering in her thoughts long after the virus stabilized.

Pei Xiqing let out a soft cough, deliberately averting her eyes toward the floorboards. She recognized that if she allowed her focus to dwell on his features any longer, the psychological tension in the room would inevitably detonate a series of disastrous consequences.

Searching for a neutral data track to reset the atmosphere, she squatted down beside the low coffee table as Xiaobai trotted over. She buried her fingers in the dog’s thick white fur, her voice dropping into a casual register. “Marshal Fu Yan’s daughter—Xia Jingyu. Do you still maintain her files in your active memory?”

Duan Xiaolin leaned back against the cushions, his posture relaxed. “I recall your office reviewing her background metrics during your recent audience at the executive building.”

“Is it truly possible that your enforcers have unrecovered zero tracking logs regarding her frequency? By all historical metrics, a total disappearance of this duration doesn’t align with her behavior…” She scratched Xiaobai behind the ears, her brow knitting into a thoughtful line. “Do you suspect her unit has collided with a high-threat entity?”

The man tilted his head slightly, his eyes drifting toward the window. Out on the distant perimeter track, several heavily stained, frantic silhouettes were sprinting past the security barriers, a faint, metallic odor of ozone and blood bleeding through the thick glass. A minor, controlled twitch marred his brow for a fraction of a second, but his elegant features instantly smoothed back into absolute calm.

“She commands an exceptionally high ability user rating,” he noted smoothly. “The exact second her unit encounters a lethal bottleneck, her hard-wired response would be to broadcast a standard high-priority distress beacon. Yet, up to this current hour, not a single auxiliary outpost or monitoring grid across the alliance has recorded her frequency.”

“I see…” Pei Xiqing murmured, failing to register the structural escalation manifesting out on the streets as she remained buried in her own deductions.

Xia Jingyu had provided critical tactical leverage to her unit back at the previous base. Although the woman wasn’t a designated supporting character within the novel’s original manuscript and her underlying motives had been far from pure, her total erasure from the tracking boards still generated a distinct wave of anxiety. The biological daughter of the Commander-in-Chief had vanished from the capital without leaving a single data point behind. If the looming horror of the amphibious parasite siege wasn’t currently paralyzing the directorate’s mental energy, this disappearance would have triggered a massive political coup across the sectors.

The man stayed anchored to her side for a few more minutes until his personal comms array pulsed with a encrypted transmission. He rose smoothly from the sofa. “I must clear the residential block for a brief interval.”

“Understood.” She offered a quiet nod.

Duan Xiaolin stepped into her space, his long fingers gently cupping the back of her neck as he leaned down to press a deep, lingering kiss against her lips. “This campaign will reach its final parameters very soon.”

Pei Xiqing’s lips burned a vibrant, flushed crimson as he pulled away. She looked up at him, her voice tight with a sudden, unvoiced emotion. “In all honesty… systematically reverting to a baseline human body isn’t necessarily a negative destination, is it? Once the viral spots dissolve completely, your office will no longer be forced to burn through the serum supply, and the people anchored to my perimeter can finally cease living in perpetual terror that my system will suffer a sudden, catastrophic break and harm them. By crossing back into a normal human metric, I will no longer look out of place beneath the world’s gaze, and I can openly, legally acknowledge our alliance before the bases. I will be a normal person.”

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