What?! I Became the Zombie Beauty in the Villain’s Arms – CH41

Chapter 41: Wash and You Can Touch

Pei Xiqing’s back stiffened. She turned around in disbelief, facing a small group of older women whose harsh, critical eyes were already scanning her figure. “You are…?”

“Miss Pei, don’t tell me your memory failed you the second you cleared the checkpoint?!”

The women were balancing heavy utility baskets on their hips, their weathered faces wrinkling into tight, malicious lines as they sized her up. “Miss Pei, what exactly is the point of that tactical mask? We can map your precise silhouette from a mile away. I didn’t calculate you’d play the shy maiden after disappearing from the sector for a few weeks. Before the migration, our family formally extended a marriage proposal for my son, and your system aggressively rejected the alignment. You explicitly stated you were deserting the grid with some low-tier independent captain to pursue an elemental career. And look at the data now—less than a month later, you crawl back into the base corridors in absolute disgrace?”

“If you run the survival metrics, it’s glaringly obvious that clearing the frontline and slaughtering hordes is an operational load meant exclusively for men. Women lack the kinetic energy to sustain a combat tier. Your single duty is to anchor the domestic sector—running the laundry, prepping the rations, and waiting for the men to return with the salvaged bounty. Frankly, I never categorized your Commander Xiao as a viable asset. He lacks the baseline reliability of my son. My son operates within the primary base guard division; his career trajectory is completely optimized!”

Pei Xiqing’s analytical mind instantly decoded the anomaly.

These neighborhood aunts had experienced a severe data corruption—they were mistaking her physical profile for her twin sister, Pei Yanting.

She kept her voice low and dangerous behind her mask. “Your database has experienced a critical error. You have the wrong person.”

“That is structurally impossible,” the lead aunt scoffed, stepping closer. “We have your physical dimensions perfectly logged. Do not simulate ignorance to dodge the dialogue. My son’s clearance level ensures he has zero shortage of female assets. Our family was extending a massive amount of leverage by offering an alliance. Dozens of high-tier girls desperately petitioned to integrate into his timeline, and we systematically blacklisted every single one of them. We only authorized a contract because your initial background metrics appeared optimal.”

Pei Xiqing’s eyes turned dangerously cold. “I stated your data is wrong. If your vocal receptors broadcast another syllable of this garbage, I will personally terminate your lines.”

Ling Lang strode into the corridor, his boots heavy against the floorboards. “What variable is disrupting this grid?”

The second the women locked eyes with the vanguard captain, their posture faltered. “Why… why has her escort captain flipped again? Good god, this Miss Pei is running an incredibly dense rotation. The male assets surrounding her timeline are completely endless, mimicking the shameless tactics of her dead sister…”

“Cease the transmission…” one of the sharper women whispered, violently yanking the speaker’s sleeve as she noted Ling Lang’s lethal expression. “The Miss Pei we logged during the frontier evacuation was significantly more emaciated, wasn’t she? My memory cells recall that the previous girl possessed zero physical definition; she was so severely starved her structural frame looked unrecognizable. Her dimensions bore absolutely zero match to this lady’s elegant, statuesque proportions.”

They traded a sequence of rapid, panicked glances. “Our mistake. The spatial angle of your silhouette tricked our sensors. Apologies for the faulty calculation, Captain.”

Pei Xiqing watched in chilling silence as the group frantically scrambled down the hallway.

A deep, analytical dread settled into her chest. Had the original owner’s twin sister actually established a footprint within this specific stronghold before the migration pass? How had her history tangled with these low-tier civilian assets? Running the pre-written script of the novel through her head, she recalled a brief footnote: five days after the initial global outbreak, Pei Yanting had indeed operated within this coordinate sector, manipulating several mid-tier factions before her memory logs were wiped by the trauma.

It appeared the female protagonist had charted a complex path through the survival strongholds over the past five years before ultimately aligning her timeline with Xiao Yue.

Ling Lang checked his wrist gauntlet. “Are your motor functions locked, or are we clearing this corridor?”

“Moving.”

“Do you maintain a file on those assets?”

“Negative.”

“My sensors indicate their data matched your profile. The ‘sister’ tag they broadcasted targets your identity.”

“It does.”

Ling Lang offered a lazy nod. “My database finalized that deduction a long time ago.”

“Then why did you initiate the inquiry?”

“Simply running a standard compliance check to verify if your system would feed me a corrupted lie.”

The high-rise towers in this quadrant were structured as isolated, reinforced modules. The residential sector closely resembled a massive, hyper-secure compound, the balconies of every tier choked with civilian density. The moment their boots hit the central courtyard pavement, dozens of gossiping neighborhood faces popped out from the windows, their visual sensors locking onto their coordinates.

“What asset is navigating the quadrant? Is that girl hiding her facial features behind a composite mask because her aesthetics are too degraded to face the grid?”

“Who cares? I run a high probability calculation that some frontline merc picked up a stray asset from the wilderness and smuggled her past the gates. Tsk, tsk… it looks like our residential block is absorbing a fresh liability. Wait—why are their vectors aligning with the primary villa at the end of the lane?”

“That structure is explicitly reserved for supreme high-ranking officials! Jesus Christ, what clearance parameters does that girl possess to anchor a grid of that caliber?”

“Once the shift logs clear, we need to execute a formal greeting protocol to audit this new asset. Let’s verify what precise leverage she holds to secure an infrastructure that advanced. On a separate note, which elite commander commands the registry for that villa?”

“The file is restricted. But my spouse informed me that the supreme administrative authority—the entity the high command strictly references as ‘That Gentleman’—has allocated a massive financial reserve to this sector. He bypassed the luxury sectors of Base One specifically to position his command post in our quadrant. The second my spouse reports back from the shift tonight, I will extract the details and configure a high-end tribute to send to his desk.”

Pei Xiqing followed Ling Lang’s lead until his stride terminated directly in front of a heavily reinforced, seamless metal blast door.

The architecture of the villa was aggressively minimalist, perfectly capturing the cold, functional aesthetic of the high-tier wasteland elite. A colossal, mutated banyan tree anchored the left flank of the foundation, its ancient branches extending upward to brush against the reinforced viewport of the secondary floor. The adjacent structures were packed with high-density personnel, every rogue branch crossing into their perimeters meticulously severed by security lasers.

“The default command sequence to override the structural lock just now was 3A11##,” Ling Lang briefed her, gesturing toward the digital interface. “The configuration was mapped by the primary resident. You are currently cleared to input a fresh personalized security key.”

“I hold the authorization to rewrite the code?”

“You do.”

Pei Xiqing reached out, inputting the simplest mathematical sequence she could think of.

Ling Lang crossed his arms, an amused smirk playing on his lips. “Well, look at that.”

“Is the complexity level satisfactory for your memory cells?”

“Mhm. The civilian demographic in this stronghold currently suffers from severely degraded cognitive function. Running a calculation to breach a sequence like that would probably stall their processors for an hour. But it’s still simple enough to drive a clean transit.”

Pei Xiqing smiled behind her mask. “Then I shall invert the sequence.”

95141.3

Reversing the string, the numbers flawlessly aligned with the mathematical constant of Pi.

“Their primitive hacking algorithms will never account for my decimal placement.”

“Provided your own database doesn’t misplace the key, the logic holds,” Ling Lang noted, letting out a short sigh as he adjusted his weapon sling. “My deployment is finished. I am breaking rank.”

“Hold your coordinates for a second,” Pei Xiqing called out before he could turn.

“What additional data does your system require?”

“If my line requires immediate synchronization with Brother Duan or Sister Long Yan, what precise vector do I target to locate their coordinates?”

Ling Lang’s expression soured slightly. “Why does your calculation systematically exclude my vector?”

“Bury the attitude. Even if I routed an inquiry to your station, your operational load leaves zero time to manage a civilian asset,” she countered, pointing a finger toward the titanic military installation anchoring the center of the inner ring. “See that structural mountain? That is the absolute core of the stronghold. The entire entity is a mobilized aerospace dreadnought, configured for immediate atmospheric combat and intercontinental flight at a millisecond’s notice. Every residential high-rise we passed is merely ancillary infrastructure designed to buffer its perimeter. The interior houses the supreme command bunker of the Vanguard. My manifest requires me to report inside those steel walls.”

“Then my clearance parameters will prevent me from breaching the gates.”

“An asset with basic digital access can bridge the gap.”

“What specific methodology?”

“You don’t deploy a standard comms array to locate my brother,” Ling Lang explained, his tone dropping to a serious murmur. “The administrative overwatch of Franlun ensures his physical coordinates remain completely invisible to ninety-nine percent of the population. If your system requires a line to my position, broadcast the inverted value of Pi you just logged into the local grid interface; the frequency will route straight to my gauntlet. As for Sister Long Yan… hold your position here. She will synchronize her own path to your quarters before the night cycle initializes.”

“Thank you, Ling Lang.”

“If your timeline hits a structural crisis, route the alert to my station. If you attempt to process a critical issue through the standard base terminals without my clearance, the automated systems will simply flags your data and unleash a regulatory reprimand on your head.”

“Understood.”

The blast door clicked open, and the vanguard captain vanished back down the paved lane. Pei Xiqing stepped through the threshold, the heavy alloy door sliding shut behind her boots to seal out the noise of the base. The exact second her heels cleared the foyer, a massive, dark silhouette violently lunged straight at her chest.

Pei Xiqing let out a sharp gasp of panic. But before her combat reflexes could deploy, the massive, skeletal Husky was frantically trying to press its wet snout against her face mask. She rapidly raised her forearms, blocking the impact. “Xiaobai! Down!”

How on earth did this idiotic animal manage to infiltrate a hyper-secure military villa?!

She had recovered the creature from the logistics ditch along the trail the previous night, fully intending to supply it with a baseline allocation of meat before turning it loose into the wild. She had never calculated encountering its skeletal frame inside the inner ring.

Xiaobai executed a tight, clicking circle around her boots. The canine was meticulously dressed in a heavy-duty, custom-tailored K9 ballistic vest that entirely masked its exposed bone structure; a casual observer would simply categorize the mutant as a highly disciplined, heavily armored military tracking hound.

Pei Xiqing brushed her palms against its armored skull. “Did Brother Duan arrange your transit logistics?”

The Husky let out a rigid, cheerful bark, turning another circle.

The probability of that calculation hit a ninety-nine percent match.

She guided the animal deeper into the infrastructure.

The interior design was immaculately clean, structured as a massive single-bedroom executive suite with an expansive, minimalist living sector. Every piece of high-tier tactical furniture was arranged with clinical precision. However, the internal sensors indicated the space had been vacant of human occupancy for months; a microscopic, uniform layer of ashen dust coated the polished surface of the main table.

Pei Xiqing unlatched the bedroom threshold, rapidly organizing the high-density military linens across the mattress. Once the primary sector was configured, she and Xiaobai engaged in a thorough, high-speed cleaning sweep of the main living space until her physical stamina bars hit absolute zero. Exhausted, she collapsed backward onto the plush leather sofa, her fingers idly trailing through the matted fur of the canine’s neck. “Your current coat density is saturated with wasteland filth. We need to execute a full decontamination cycle in the wash bay. Besides… your fur texture yields a remarkably high comfort index once the grime is cleared.”

The reanimated Husky let out a low, pathetic whimper as she dragged its heavy, armored frame straight into the automated decontamination wash bay.

After a grueling, chaotic half-hour of manual labor, Pei Xiqing successfully completed the dog’s hygiene protocol. Running her fingers through the clean, damp fur, she noted a massive optimization in its softness. “The structural texture is fully restored. Since your cognitive wiring refuses to deploy predatory aggression against my cells, we are officially classified under the same anomalous demographic. Let’s ensure our alignment remains stable.”

Her own clothing and skin had been heavily soaked during the canine’s wash cycle. Stripping out of her soiled windbreaker, she initiated her own rapid decontamination shower. The villa remained completely desolate of human presence when she stepped back into the living room. Dressed in nothing but a loose, oversized linen shirt she had scavenged from the master wardrobe, she stretched out across the expanse of the leather sofa, idly throwing a toy for the hound as she closed her eyes to rest her strained nervous system. Within minutes, her consciousness drifted into a deep, unburdened sleep.

When her visual receptors finally snapped back online, the harsh glare of the afternoon sun had entirely vanished, replaced by the warm, pale amber glow of the villa’s automated ambient lighting system.

Sitting perfectly upright in the heavy leather armchair directly adjacent to her sofa was Duan Xiaolin.

He was dressed in a pristine, custom-tailored three-piece bureaucratic suit, his fingers methodically turning the pages of an encrypted data tablet. As she instinctively shifted her weight to sit up, the heavy wool blanket draped over her torso smoothly slid down her skin, completely exposing the elegant, unvarnished curve of her bare shoulders beneath the loose collar of the shirt.

The man’s sharp brow twitched by a single, microscopic fraction. He slowly raised his eyes from the data stream, his piercing green gaze locking directly onto the raw, exposed skin of her shoulder.

“Has your consciousness fully reset?” he asked, his low voice cutting through the quiet room like a blade.

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