What?! I Became the Zombie Beauty in the Villain’s Arms – CH130-132

Chapter 130| Chapter 131 | Chapter 132

Chapter 130: I Caught You

Pei Xiqing climbed into the vehicle and instantly realized that Xiao Yue was sitting in the back seat. Right next to her.

She swallowed the urge to throw a punch and simply grunted, “Yeah.”

“Why are you here?” Pei Yanting asked, clearly shocked.

“The zombie wave is coming soon. Why haven’t you left yet?” Pei Xiqing retorted. She glanced in the rearview mirror and saw several other S1 vehicles idling nearby.

“Don’t worry,” Pei Yanting said coolly. “We’re going to scout ahead first.”

“Hurry up,” Pei Xiqing urged.

“Why the rush?”

Pei Xiqing looked at her. “If you don’t hurry, you won’t make it in time for the opening of the black market at Base One. How will you gather your evidence then?”

Pei Yanting stared at her, eyes narrowing. “How do you know about that?”

“I also know how to get there.”

“There’s no point in lying to us.”

“Of course I know the way,” Pei Xiqing said flatly. “I have no reason to lie to you.”

“What do you mean?” Xiao Yue asked, interrupting with a weak cough.

Pei Xiqing glanced at the unhealed, festering wounds on his body. “Just order your team to move out immediately. Once we’re safely away, you can drop me off along the road, and I’ll give you the blueprints.”

“How can I trust you?”

Pei Xiqing pulled out the parchment scroll she had stolen from the restaurant. “This is the map. If you don’t believe me, I’ll get out of this car right now.”

“Wait,” Xiao Yue stopped her. “Cough… I believe you. We haven’t been able to find any concrete intel on Base One yet. I didn’t expect you to know the route. Since you are so confident, I’ll trust you this time.”

Pei Yanting locked eyes with Xiao Yue in the rearview mirror. Neither spoke for a moment.

Within two minutes, the entire convoy set off.

Pei Xiqing watched the endless wilderness roll by in the rearview mirror, finally breathing a sigh of relief.

The power of the protagonists is simply too overwhelming. How can it be shaken? She often thought about this after getting together with Duan Xiaolin. But because it was still early in the plot—and the villain hadn’t yet lost his mind and was still strong enough to act as an invincible shield—she had allowed herself to get swept up in the present, ignoring the inevitable future.

Now, after the recent disaster, she deeply understood the terrifying weight of the protagonist’s plot armor. Brother Duan had been severely injured in his first real clash with them. There would be a second time. In the story, evil could never prevail over good; there was only one ending for a villain like him.

Pei Xiqing cast a sideways glance at Xiao Yue. He wasn’t looking at her.

Catching her gaze, he covered his mouth, coughed, and casually hid the wounds on his face where the flesh was peeling away from the poison.

She withdrew her gaze and met Pei Yanting’s eyes in the mirror again. Pei Yanting was glaring at her intensely, looking at her as if she were a viper harboring malicious intentions.

Pei Xiqing: …

She didn’t have the time or energy to meddle in the protagonists’ messy dynamic.

After the convoy had driven a safe distance, Pei Xiqing kept checking the mirrors to ensure no one was pursuing them. She had stumbled her way through this plot point and felt so on edge that she finally blurted out, “Stop the car.”

“Stop the car now?” Pei Yanting asked.

“Yes.”

After stepping out, Pei Xiqing tossed the parchment scroll through the window. “The route is drawn on the map. If you want to go, study it yourselves.”

Pei Yanting watched her turn away. “We’re in the middle of a desolate wasteland with no settlements in sight. Are you sure you want to get off here?”

“Yeah.” She had already returned the communicator to Tan Yuan. To be safe, she needed to put as much distance between herself and the protagonists as possible.

Xiao Yue couldn’t help but speak up. “It’s too dangerous out here. You’d better get back inside. We have room for one more.”

“No thanks.”

Pei Xiqing stepped out under the scorching sun. The glare was so intense she could barely open her eyes.

Suddenly, someone in the convoy screamed.

“Zombies! A horde is chasing us!”

Immediately, a thick black line surged over the horizon at a terrifying speed. Looking closely, it was a massive tide of twisted, sprinting zombies.

Pei Xiqing took two steps back as the S1 operatives frantically scrambled to draw their weapons.

She thought to herself: In a way, this protagonist group really is cursed by the heavens. How did the zombie horde they supposedly shook off manage to track them all the way here?

She definitely didn’t want to be anywhere near them. So, as the zombies rushed forward, she walked straight toward the horde. The thicker the swarm, the deeper she waded in.

From inside the car, Xiao Yue yelled, “Pei Xiqing! Are you crazy?!” He reached out the window to grab her sleeve but missed completely.

“Captain! Leave her!” someone shouted. “She was bitten by a zombie before, she’s already a goner! She chose to walk away, so it’s not our fault for abandoning her this time!”

“Exactly!”

“Here they come! Everyone, combat formations! Quick, quick, quick! Kill them all!”

But the sheer number of zombies far exceeded anyone’s expectations. The relentless waves of attacks over the past few days had completely depleted their ammunition. Many operatives simply hid inside the armored vehicles, lacking the ammo to fight back.

Xiao Yue’s window hastily rolled up. The convoy gunned their engines, trying to smash through the horde and escape. But the windshields were quickly smothered by crawling mutants. A driver jerked the steering wheel blindly, crashing heavily into a boulder. Thick black smoke instantly billowed from several crippled cars.

The zombie tide pressed in with terrifying force, leaving no room to breathe.

Xiao Yue and Pei Yanting were forced out of their vehicle. Their defensive equipment allowed them to hold off the swarm for a short while, but as time dragged on, it became increasingly futile.

Amidst the chaos, Pei Yanting pushed up her glasses and caught a glimpse of movement in the distance. Xiao Yue followed her gaze.

Pei Xiqing was standing completely unharmed in the middle of the ravenous horde.

“What is she doing?” Pei Yanting asked in disbelief.

Xiao Yue coughed violently. “…She… is a zombie.”

“A zombie that looks like her?”

“Cough, cough…” Utterly exhausted, Xiao Yue finally dropped to one knee. His team members rushed to support him. “Just hold them off… let me recover for a minute. Cough, cough…”

The zombie tide relentlessly battered them, constantly whittling down their defensive barriers.

Pei Xiqing watched coldly from afar as their equipment cracked and shattered piece by piece, and fresh blood soaked through Xiao Yue’s clothes. A deep sense of satisfaction washed over her.

I’ve finally gotten some payback for what you did to Brother Duan and the others.

The S1 operatives began to scream, breaking formation and running for their lives.

Pei Xiqing stood motionless, taking it all in. But she was so focused on them that she completely failed to notice what was happening right behind her.

The snarling, ferocious zombies swarming around her suddenly began to vanish, dropping dead to the ground one after another.

A strange, terrifying energy—as dark and suffocating as the abyss—silently descended, enveloping the entire area.

By the time she realized it, her surroundings had grown eerily quiet. In an instant, a frightening, dead silence swallowed the battlefield.

Goosebumps erupted across her skin. The Qiong Snake inside her began to writhe erratically. Breathing suddenly became difficult.

Pei Xiqing froze for a few seconds, swallowing hard. She could clearly hear the sound of her own ragged breathing.

Just as she was about to turn around, it was too late. A powerful arm suddenly wrapped firmly around her waist, pulling her flush against a solid chest.

A calm voice, heavy with intensely restrained desire and dark possession, whispered directly into her ear.

“Got you, baby.”

Chapter 131: I Swear

Pei Xiqing’s body trembled uncontrollably.

The man behind her was wearing black gloves. The material was icy cold, and his large hands easily spanned her waist, pulling her firmly against his chest. His grip was tight, locking her in place so completely that she couldn’t move an inch.

It was a terrifying, suffocating desire for control.

And it was a feeling she was far too familiar with.

She slowly turned her head. After freezing in disbelief for a long moment, Pei Xiqing finally managed to squeeze out a sound. “…Brother Duan?”

The man’s hands shifted slightly, his touch lingering on the curve of her lower back. There was no need to wait for his answer; her instincts had already confirmed it. It was definitely him.

Feigning ignorance, she stammered, “Why are you here? It’s… it’s really dangerous out here. Shouldn’t you be resting back at headquarters? Let me check on your injuries. Sister Long Yan said you were hurt, and I’ve been so worried about you.”

“Just how worried were you?” his deep voice rumbled.

“Very worried.”

“Is that so? Then why does it feel like someone was actually having the time of her life wandering around out here?”

The surrounding zombies were still shuffling about chaotically. She tried to squirm out of his grasp, but a wandering mutant accidentally bumped into her. Losing her balance, she staggered and fell clumsily right back against his chest.

He was wearing a premium suit, the fine fabric doing nothing to hide the hard, powerful muscles underneath. The impact made the tip of her nose throb with pain.

Her face flushed bright red. Burying her face against his chest, she hesitated for a long time. It was only after the surrounding zombies had finally quieted down that she mumbled, “Wait a minute, Brother Duan… can you just listen to me? I can explain everything later.”

The tall man let out a low chuckle. His large hand clamped around the fragile back of her neck, squeezing it unceremoniously before he bent down and scooped her up into his arms in a princess carry.

Pei Xiqing flailed her arms wildly like a startled cat before finally settling into his strong embrace, her mind spinning in a daze. She covered her face with her hands, genuinely afraid that he was going to scold her.

She never would have expected Duan Xiaolin to just hold her like this in the middle of a battlefield.

“Get in the car first, clean that little face of yours, and change into some fresh clothes.” Duan Xiaolin carried her a few steps and unceremoniously stuffed her into the back seat of an armored SUV parked nearby. As he leaned in over her, a dark, dangerous glint flashed in his eyes. “Don’t be so afraid of me. I’m not going to settle the score with you right now. Instead, I’m going to reward you handsomely.”

He deliberately lowered his voice on the word “reward,” filling it with a husky, threatening undertone.

She hadn’t seen him for almost a month, but he looked exactly the same as before—calm, composed, and effortlessly low-key. His handsome, chiseled face remained unchanged, though his dark eyes seemed to hold a few more layers of calculating intensity.

Pei Xiqing shuddered and subconsciously sneezed twice into her hands. She wasn’t sure if she had actually caught a cold or if he had simply terrified her, but the sudden sneezes brought a few pitiful tears to the corners of her eyes.

Seeing her look so pathetic, Duan Xiaolin couldn’t help but pinch the back of her neck again. He pressed her down against the soft leather seat and threatened her, half-joking and half-serious, “Do exactly as I say.”

Pei Xiqing immediately raised her hands in surrender. “Understood.”

There was no one else in the car, and the tinted windows were rolled up tight.

Wanting to show her obedience, Pei Xiqing pulled out the clean clothes he had brought and took off her black outer jacket right in front of him. But just as she was about to start changing, the car door slammed shut.

She looked at the man, who had squeezed into the back seat with her, in utter confusion.

Before she could even say a word, Duan Xiaolin grabbed the hem of her scavenged shirt and mercilessly tore it right off her body.

Pei Xiqing’s eyes widened in shock. “Brother Duan!”

Duan Xiaolin pinched the torn scraps of fabric and tossed them aside with disgust. He stared at her flustered state, a dark, stormy look flashing in his eyes. “Where did you get these clothes?”

Knowing how dangerously possessive he could be, Pei Xiqing immediately confessed everything about finding the military safe house and meeting Tang Yitong.

She timidly grabbed his sleeve. “It’s true, I swear.” During this entire period, she hadn’t gone around hooking up with random men like the original host of this body would have done.

Duan Xiaolin smiled faintly and slowly pulled out a fresh set of undergarments from a bag. “What are you so afraid of? I wasn’t worried that you found someone else. I was just worried that those clothes were bad for your health.”

He smoothed the delicate fabric in his hands. “Many clothes scavenged in the wild are heavily contaminated with viruses. Back at the base, there are countless cases of people contracting horrific skin diseases from wearing dead people’s clothes. You need to be more careful about this in the future.”

Pei Xiqing felt incredibly awkward. He was just holding the lace underwear, showing absolutely no intention of handing it over. Even though the car was securely sealed and no one outside could see a thing, sitting there half-naked made her feel extremely vulnerable and restless.

“I understand. Everything I’ve been wearing was unsoiled. And even if it wasn’t brand new, I made sure to wash it before putting it on.” She covered her chest with one arm and carefully reached out with her other hand to snatch the bra from his palm.

His hands were large with long, elegant fingers. Just seeing him hold such an intimate piece of clothing made her face flush and her ears burn. Who would have thought that the same hands that elegantly wielded a pen to sign execution orders would be holding something so suggestive? She couldn’t even fathom how he had acquired it or why he had kept it stored in his vehicle.

It seemed he had come fully prepared this time.

Duan Xiaolin didn’t tease her any further. The moment her fingertips brushed against his, he simply caught her slender wrist. He squeezed it gently, pulling her slightly closer to inspect the bite wound on her shoulder. Once he saw that it was almost completely healed, he finally let her go.

Then, with a deep, suppressed gaze, he sat back and quietly watched her put on her clothes, piece by piece.

Two agonizingly slow minutes later, Pei Xiqing finally swapped her rugged, androgynous wasteland gear for her normal base attire. Duan Xiaolin knew she hated wearing anything too flashy or ostentatious, and that she rarely wore skirts, so he had brought her favorite tailored windbreaker from her closet at the base.

The quality of the fabric was beyond words. After changing into it, the persistent itchiness from the cheap wasteland clothes completely vanished.

A tense silence filled the car.

Pei Xiqing felt like she was sitting on pins and needles. She could sense that something major had just happened outside, but she had no idea what it was. She had been so hyper-focused on dressing as quickly as possible under his intense gaze that she hadn’t paid any attention to her surroundings.

Consequently, when she finally finished dressing and cracked the car window to peek out, she was stunned. The area that had just been swarming with an endless sea of zombies was completely still. Only a carpet of rotting corpses remained on the ground.

Not far away, several masked operatives from Franlun stood silently in the wind, looking like lethal ghosts emerging from the darkness. She tried to spot Shadow among them, but couldn’t tell if he was there or not. She scanned the group several times but didn’t see Ling Lang either.

Just as she was about to ask about him, the car door opened and closed again. Duan Xiaolin had stepped out.

She found a pack of wet wipes in the back seat and quickly scrubbed her face clean. Peering through the glass, she saw Duan Xiaolin walking steadily toward Xiao Yue. The devastating plot points of the novel flashed through her mind. Anxious, she tried to throw the car door open, only to find that it was locked from the outside.

Because of the distance, she couldn’t hear what Duan Xiaolin was saying to Xiao Yue. Through the tinted window, she could only see Xiao Yue half-kneeling on the ground, his combat gear completely shredded. Pei Yanting and the remaining members of the S1 protagonist squad looked just as battered, completely exhausted by their desperate battle with the zombie horde in the harsh desert environment.

Xiao Yue clutched his chest and slowly raised his head. The zombie tide was over. But now, he faced an even more insurmountable problem. A problem that was also his ultimate opponent.

He glared at Duan Xiaolin with bloodshot eyes, gritting his teeth as he forced himself to stand.

But the very second he got to his feet—before he could even steady himself—a crushing force suddenly slammed down on his back. It felt as if countless invisible hands were violently pressing him into the dirt. He resisted the pressure with all his might, the remnants of his tactical equipment shattering under the strain as a burst of golden energy erupted from his body.

His golden energy clashed invisibly against the crushing supernatural weight bearing down on his shoulders.

Xiao Yue looked up in absolute shock.

This power… it was something he had never felt before. It was utterly terrifying. If supernatural energy could have a physical manifestation, then the oppressive force currently crushing him into the earth could only be described as an evil spirit crawling straight out of hell.

Chapter 132: Evil Ghost

Like evil spirits, the oppressive energy constantly gnawed at his consciousness and ruthlessly devoured his supernatural powers.

Xiao Yue could clearly feel his special abilities rapidly draining away—or, to be more precise, they were being frantically plundered.

Two seconds later.

Xiao Yue’s knees hit the earth with a heavy thud. He heard the sickening crack of his own bones fracturing under the pressure. His body was enveloped in excruciating pain, feeling as though every single bone had been shattered.

When he finally forced his head up to look at the man standing before him, he realized Duan Xiaolin hadn’t even raised a hand.

Xiao Yue spat out a mouthful of blood. “Chief Judge, are you here to take revenge for last time?”

The man’s gaze remained utterly indifferent. He stood at a calculated distance—neither too close nor too far—his posture straight and flawlessly elegant. “Yes, and no.”

“Your ability seems different from before,” Xiao Yue wheezed.

“I think so too.”

“What exactly is your special ability?”

“Didn’t you just experience it for yourself? Are you satisfied?”

Xiao Yue’s face turned deathly pale as he murmured in despair, “This kind of ability shouldn’t exist in this world.”

It was the incarnation of a demonic ghost, the very source of all evil. With that kind of power, there was absolutely nothing its wielder couldn’t do. Absolute power and wealth were all within effortless reach. What was he supposed to use to fight back against this?

Nothing could be done.

He knelt in the dirt with his head bowed, feeling the chaotic, uncontrolled flow of whatever supernatural energy he had left. He let out a helpless, bitter laugh; his proud, heaven-defying dual abilities were completely vulnerable and useless before this man.

He forced the question out: “Why aren’t you killing me? I’ve lost, completely. Why don’t you just kill me?”

There was silence for a few seconds. Then, another thought drifted into Xiao Yue’s mind. “Where’s Pei Xiqing? What did you do to her?”

He continued to mutter, almost to himself, “She didn’t have any malicious intentions; she just liked to fool around with guys. Back in S1, she hinted at me many times, but the person I liked was Yan Ting, so I couldn’t accept her.”

He swallowed hard. “She hasn’t done anything wrong. I hope you give her a quick death when you’re done experimenting on her.”

Looking back now, if he had the chance to do it all over again, he still wouldn’t know how to deal with her.

He was still lost in his thoughts when he violently snapped back to reality—the cold steel of a gun barrel was suddenly pressed hard against his forehead.

The man in the black gloves stared down at him. His eyes were entirely sinister, overflowing with a direct, chilling murderous intent.

Suddenly, Pei Yanting dragged herself out of the sand. Her eyes were wide with panic as she aimed her gun shakily at Duan Xiaolin.

“Let him go!” she screamed. “If you don’t let him go, I’ll shoot you!”

The man remained entirely unmoved and slowly cocked the hammer of his gun.

“Duan Xiaolin! You’re crazy!” Pei Yanting shrieked. “Do you have any idea who you’re about to kill? He’s the only one who can save humanity! If you truly care about the good of the base and the survival of the human race, stop right now! There’s still a chance to turn back!”

Fearing Duan Xiaolin wouldn’t believe her, Pei Yanting immediately pulled out a glowing crystal core. “This kind of high-level crystal core has never appeared before, right? But he can absorb it! His abilities, and his capacity to continuously fuse various high-level cores, are crucial for advancing the power of all ability users! He is an extremely rare dual-element user, and in the future, he might even become the first person to wield three different powers!”

“He is the key to saving this world, and everything will be fine! Just put the gun down!”

Duan Xiaolin tilted his head slightly to look at her. “Are you quite done?”

Pei Yanting was stunned.

“You… you don’t care at all? You’re the Chief Judge of the capital!”

The man chuckled darkly. “Who gave you the illusion that I care about the life or death of humanity in this apocalypse?”

“You—!”

“Whether the base is destroyed or not, what does it have to do with me?” Duan Xiaolin’s lips curled into a sarcastic, chilling smile. “I only care about one thing. And the only thing I care about was almost destroyed by you.”

Pei Yanting couldn’t fully comprehend his words, but an unprecedented chill ran down her spine.

This man—who had never claimed to be a savior but was revered as the omnipotent protector of the base by everyone—actually wanted the world to be destroyed more than anyone else.

She subconsciously tightened her trembling grip on her gun. “If you dare to shoot him, we both die! No one will walk away from this!”

Xiao Yue felt the cold steel of the gun barrel press terrifyingly hard against his skull. The force was so immense that the muzzle was leaving a deep, painful indentation in his skin.

Duan Xiaolin slowly dropped his smile. He looked down at Xiao Yue, his mind flashing back to the bloody siege at Base Three. When everyone else had abandoned him to the zombie tide, only Pei Xiqing had run toward him without hesitation, refusing to leave him alone.

Maintaining his grip on the gun, Duan Xiaolin’s tone dropped to absolute zero.

“You are even less qualified to mention her.”

Xiao Yue was shocked. His heart pounded violently against his ribs. This was the first time he had ever faced such a pure, unadulterated murderous intent. Duan Xiaolin had never been someone to trifle with.

He was going to die.

Far away in the armored SUV, Pei Xiqing watched the standoff unfold, the memory of the novel’s original plot rapidly scrolling through her mind.

This isn’t right. The villain was about to execute the male lead and destroy the protagonist’s squad, but according to the plot, the story was still only in its early-to-mid stages. Could the plot really advance this fast?

This specific encounter in the book was supposed to end in a lose-lose situation where both factions suffered devastating casualties. Yet right now, the protagonist’s squad was being unilaterally crushed.

Was the protagonist group really going to be wiped out before even a third of their main storyline was finished?

This was definitely a cause for celebration for the villain faction, but as far as the overarching narrative was concerned, it was tantamount to the collapse of the entire world.

Pei Xiqing frantically yanked the car door handle again, but it stubbornly refused to open. She desperately wanted to know what they were saying to each other. Yes, she wanted the protagonist to die, but she definitely didn’t want the world to collapse along with him!

She banged on the tinted car window anxiously. Then, she saw the raised gun trembling in Pei Yanting’s hands. If the plot truly ended right here, would she still be able to see Duan Xiaolin tomorrow?

“Brother Duan! Be careful!” she screamed, pounding on the glass.

It was too late to stop it.

Two deafening gunshots echoed through the wasteland.

Xiao Yue smelled the acrid stench of gunpowder and fresh blood before slowly closing his eyes.

—It’s all over.

Pei Xiqing finally managed to force her way out of the car window, dropping to the ground and sprinting toward the men. From a distance, she saw the horrific impact—a bullet pierced straight through Xiao Yue’s head. Blood splattered violently as brain matter sprayed across the dirt.

Simultaneously, a bullet was discharged from Pei Yanting’s gun, flying straight toward Duan Xiaolin.

Pei Xiqing was in such a blind panic that she twisted her ankle upon landing, falling hard onto the rocky ground. The excruciating pain made her want to curl up and die, but she ignored it, scrambling back up the very next second and sprinting desperately toward Duan Xiaolin.

No! Don’t kill Brother Duan!

She didn’t care about the original plot demanding both sides suffer anymore. She just wanted Duan Xiaolin to live well.

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