What?! I Became the Zombie Beauty in the Villain’s Arms – CH3

Chapter 3: Purity and Desire

All of those epic events were meant for the later stages of the plot, and she wouldn’t be around to see them.

Who could blame her for not living long enough? While the male and female protagonists were busy fighting monsters, upgrading their base, and happily ruling the world, she would be just another cannon fodder—drooling and shrieking in a horde of zombies before getting gunned down.

Pei Xiqing let out a heavy sigh.

In the driver’s seat, Ling Lang slammed on the accelerator, plowing through the wreckage on the road and crushing countless zombies under the heavy tires. Despite the carnage, he still found the mood to tease her. “I just flattened a whole bunch of your future companions. Do you want to roll down the window and experience it firsthand?”

Pei Xiqing watched the dark blood and unidentifiable tissue smearing across the windshield again and again. She bit her lip. “No, thank you.”

“You’ll be just like them soon enough.”

“Please, you really don’t need to remind me.”

Ling Lang chuckled, leaning into the joke. “You know, from what I’ve seen, zombies don’t just lose their minds and bite people. They also drool constantly and completely lose control of their bowels and bladders.”

Pei Xiqing was rendered utterly speechless.

Can this guy just shut up? The truth was already hard enough to swallow without him painting a graphic picture.

Ling Lang burst into laughter at her expression. However, before he could fully enjoy his own joke, the man in the passenger seat shot him a single, indifferent glance. Ling Lang immediately snapped his mouth shut.

Pei Xiqing had already mentally prepared herself for the inevitable transformation. The ruined city rolling past the window truly felt like a grim sightseeing tour, and she found her attention drawn to the desolate landscape. Everything about this apocalypse was brand new to her.

Not far off the road, a group of scavengers was brutally digging through a downed zombie’s skull.

“Are they looking for energy cores?” she asked softly.

Ling Lang glanced at her through the rearview mirror. “Did the apocalypse just start yesterday for you? How do you not know this?”

“I’ve just never seen it happen before.”

“…” Ling Lang sighed. “To answer your question, yes. You could call them that. They’re basically energy stones used to power and build the human bases.”

“I understand.”

“It seems that S1 team of yours protected you a little too well,” Ling Lang remarked, eyeing her delicate features. She looked completely out of place, like a sheltered girl who had never stepped foot on a battlefield, let alone slaughtered a zombie.

“That’s definitely not it. Everyone on that team probably hates me to death.” She propped her chin on her hand, a look of genuine helplessness in her eyes. “If they saw me right now, they’d probably beat me up before the virus even killed me.”

“Are you that much of a menace? What exactly did you do?”

“It’s hard to explain.”

“Did you steal something from them?”

“No.”

“Don’t tell me you—”

Ling Lang’s deduction was cut short as he slammed on the brakes, cursing loudly at a group of wandering zombies that had stumbled into the road. The topic was instantly dropped.

Pei Xiqing hastily looked away from the window, only to be caught off guard by a pair of calm, deep eyes watching her in the rearview mirror.

“Your infection is spreading,” Duan Xiaolin stated flatly.

Prompted by his words, Pei Xiqing looked down. The sickly green discoloration had crept up from her arm and was now snaking up her neck. Aside from her face, which still retained its natural pallor, the rest of her visible skin was tainted with the venomous green hue of the virus.

And the itching was unbearable. It felt like ants crawling beneath her skin.

She grit her teeth. “Do you have… gauze? Or just any scrap of cloth?”

Without a word, Duan Xiaolin reached back and tossed her a roll of brand-new medical bandages.

These bandages seemed specifically designed for the post-apocalyptic era to slow the spread of the virus after a bite. They were thick, durable, and exactly what she needed. She immediately began wrapping the bandages tightly around her exposed skin, using the pressure to stop herself from scratching her flesh raw.

She was wearing loose-fitting trousers, and the itching on her legs had become agonizing. Left with no choice, she hiked her pant legs all the way up to her mid-thighs to wrap the bandages around her bare skin.

The movement was conspicuous in the confined space of the car. While Ling Lang was too focused on navigating the treacherous road to notice, Pei Xiqing felt an undeniable, heavy gaze locked onto her. It was an intense scrutiny that made her skin prickle.

She cautiously raised her eyes as she rolled her pant legs and sleeves back down. “Thank you.”

Her voice was soft but clear in the quiet cabin.

In the rearview mirror, the woman looked startlingly beautiful. Her face carried a fragile, slightly bashful charm. As she adjusted the bandages, her dark hair slipped down her shoulder, exposing a tantalizing glimpse of her snow-white, delicate neck against the stark white gauze.

Purity and desire. Two violently contrasting extremes, rarely ever manifesting so perfectly in one person.

Duan Xiaolin merely gave a faint nod. He looked away, rolled down his window, and lit a cigarette. Blowing a stream of smoke into the rushing wind, he smoothly shifted the conversation with Ling Lang to logistical matters.

Ability users possessed physical energy and vitality that far exceeded ordinary humans. Duan Xiaolin was no exception. However, he viewed lust and base desires as the starting point of humanity’s degeneration—the root of all sin in the wasteland, and a distraction that would only delay his ultimate plans. Only those who were waiting to die, with no true purpose in the apocalypse, indulged in such meaningless vices.

He had zero interest in unrealistic idealism or fleeting pleasures.

The creeping shadows of the night concealed his sharp features, and he didn’t cast another glance toward the backseat. He simply held the cigarette between his lips, taking slow, deliberate drags.

The G-Class tore across the endless Gobi Desert. Pei Xiqing was practically dozing off when the vehicle finally slowed to a halt.

She rubbed her eyes and peered out the window. They had arrived at another ruined city. This one seemed completely devastated by the initial outbreak. The skeletal remains of buildings were scorched black, and massive industrial chimneys in the distance belched thick, toxic smoke into the night sky.

She yawned widely. The agonizing itch had kept her restless for hours, but now that the tight bandages had finally subdued it, the sudden stop of the car jolted her awake.

The heavy doors clicked open, and Ling Lang and Duan Xiaolin stepped out into the desolate street.

They stood waiting in front of an abandoned, decaying factory. A few minutes later, the roar of another engine broke the silence, and a heavily modified off-road vehicle pulled up to meet them.

A man and a woman stepped out of the newly arrived car. They were dressed in the same elite, tactical combat uniforms as Ling Lang, moving with lethal efficiency.

“We’re late, but the operation was a success,” the woman reported immediately. “The supply convoy was delayed, but we managed to intercept them. Those rations will definitely not reach their destination. It won’t be long before the Third Base collapses from the inside out.”

“Also,” the man added, handing over a sealed lockbox and a thick encrypted dossier, “the research institute’s final experimental blueprints have been secured. We’ve already destroyed the original archives.”

Duan Xiaolin took the dossier and the heavy box. He skimmed the documents, his expression as unreadable as ever. “Track down and destroy the remaining fragments. This stays buried. Don’t let a fifth person know about this.”

“Understood.”

In the backseat, Pei Xiqing had only been casually observing the apocalyptic architecture. She had zero intention of eavesdropping on top-secret villainous plots. But their voices carried perfectly in the dead of night, and by the time she registered what they were talking about, it was too late to cover her ears.

Suddenly, four pairs of extremely dangerous eyes snapped toward the G-Class, locking directly onto her.

Pei Xiqing swallowed hard, offering a weak, guilty smile. “Technically, I’m not the fifth person. I’m the first zombie to know.”

“A woman?” The newly arrived man frowned. “Brother Duan, why is there a woman in your car?”

“Who the hell is she?” the female operative demanded, her hand dropping to her holster.

“Wait, she’s infected?” The man’s eyes widened as he spotted the green veins creeping up her neck. “Why are you dragging a zombie around?”

“She hasn’t fully turned yet,” Ling Lang explained casually.

The female operative narrowed her eyes, assessing Pei Xiqing with cold, clinical precision. “Usually, the virus fully consumes the host within twenty-four hours. Judging by the spread on her neck, she’s at the absolute limit. She has maybe an hour of consciousness left.”

Pei Xiqing’s eyes widened in horror.

What?

Ling Lang leaned against the car door, pouring salt on the wound. “Did you hear that? You’re going to die in an hour.”