What?! I Became the Zombie Beauty in the Villain’s Arms – CH133-135

Chapter 133| Chapter 134 | Chapter 135

Chapter 133: Do You Really Like Him?

Pei Yanting watched Xiao Yue get shot right before her eyes. Her brain instantly short-circuited. Her hands and feet turned to ice, and her body began to shake uncontrollably.

As her finger jerked on the trigger, the bullet in her gun tore through the air, hurtling straight toward Duan Xiaolin.

There was only one thought screaming in her head.

—Duan Xiaolin must die.

But the very moment the bullet was fired, a terrifyingly dense supernatural energy surged forward. Pei Yanting watched helplessly as the bullet was stopped dead in its tracks by an invisible force. Then, the man she had just fired at casually raised his palm. In an instant, the bullet suspended in the air and the heavy handgun still clutched in her grip were violently crushed into fine powder.

Pei Yanting gasped, feeling a sudden, agonizing burning sensation in her palms.

When she let go, the metallic ash blew away in the wind, leaving behind an incredibly high temperature and the chilling residue of his supernatural power on her skin.

She staggered back two steps, staring blankly as Xiao Yue’s body crumpled to the ground. Snapping out of her shock, she scrambled wildly toward him, practically crawling on her hands and knees.

She pulled his bleeding, limp body into her arms, hot tears streaming down her cheeks. Shaking with a pain so intense she could barely breathe, she screamed his name.

“Xiao Yue! Xiao Yue!”

She pressed her trembling hands frantically against the gunshot wound on his head, desperate to stop the bleeding.

But the blood just kept flowing.

“Wake up! Xiao Yue! We haven’t fulfilled our dreams yet! How can you die like this?! Xiao Yue!”

In the blink of an eye, Pei Yanting’s clothes were soaked in his blood.

The remaining members of the S1 squad finally reacted, raising their weapons and aiming directly at Duan Xiaolin. Their eyes burned with raw hatred and fury.

“Brothers, fire! Kill this devil! Avenge the Captain!”

The group of men swarmed forward aggressively.

Duan Xiaolin didn’t seem to be in a rush at all. He simply stood there at ease, leisurely admiring their grief and fury with deep satisfaction.

Just as the operatives were about to pull their triggers, Pei Xiqing dashed forward, throwing herself in front of the man and shielding him with her body.

“Who dares to shoot?!” she yelled. “Did his supernatural power just now not teach you a lesson? The example is lying right there in front of you—do you really want to be next?!”

The S1 operatives froze, their eyes subconsciously darting to their Captain, who lay dead in Pei Yanting’s arms.

Recalling the terrifying, god-like power Duan Xiaolin had just displayed, their aggressive momentum rapidly began to waver.

Even their Captain—a heaven-defying dual-ability user—couldn’t put up a fight against this monster. Didn’t that mean that if they shot, they would just be throwing their lives away in vain?

Seeing their hesitation, Pei Xiqing finally breathed a sigh of relief. A few seconds ago, when she saw Pei Yanting pull the trigger, her heart had nearly jumped out of her chest.

Thank god Brother Duan is okay.

If that bullet hadn’t been stopped by his supernatural power, given Pei Yanting’s marksmanship, it really would have blown his head off. Yet this man hadn’t been the slightest bit panicked!

Duan Xiaolin, noticing that the S1 operatives were now pointing their weapons at Pei Xiqing, was just about to slaughter them all when she suddenly whipped around and glared at him. Her eyes were wide with lingering fear and genuine anger.

He was momentarily stunned. He paused, looking down at her fierce expression.

After a moment, he simply shook his head and let out a low chuckle.

Pei Xiqing stepped away from him and hurried over to check on Xiao Yue’s condition.

The bullet had hit him squarely between the eyebrows. Blood pooled thickly beneath his head. It was chillingly obvious how ruthless Duan Xiaolin had been with that single shot; he had left Xiao Yue absolutely no chance to retaliate.

Seeing Pei Xiqing approach, Pei Yanting was about to explode with rage, but she caught sight of Duan Xiaolin standing right behind her. Forced to hold back, she could only glare viciously at Pei Xiqing.

“Pei Xiqing, you actually protected this demon!” she spat, her voice dripping with venom. “You let him slaughter people indiscriminately! What’s the difference between you and the cannibalistic bastards running the black market?!”

Pei Xiqing completely ignored the insult. “I think he can still survive.”

Pei Yanting’s eyes widened in shock. “What did you say?”

Pei Xiqing crouched down. Under everyone’s stunned gaze, she reached out and touched Xiao Yue’s bloodied face.

Pei Yanting immediately grabbed her wrist. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?!”

“Let go,” Pei Xiqing demanded.

“Are you not even going to spare his corpse?!”

“I said let go. Unless you want him to stay dead.”

Pei Yanting froze.

The desperate grip on Pei Xiqing’s wrist slowly loosened.

Pei Xiqing grabbed Xiao Yue’s jaw, tilting his head back slightly, and forced his eyelids open to check his pupils. Then, without any hesitation, she ripped open Xiao Yue’s shirt, exposing his bare chest, and stared intently at a specific mark near his heart for two seconds.

“Are you completely insane?!” Pei Yanting shrieked. How could she expose that mark in front of all these people?!

The action shocked the surrounding operatives as well. They all knew the rumors about Pei Xiqing’s previous infatuation with Xiao Yue. Was she seriously so deranged that she was taking advantage of a dead man’s body?

Ignoring their horrified stares and completely indifferent to the gender boundary, Pei Xiqing stated bluntly, “He must have acquired something recently. That high-level crystal core. The green jadeite…”

“You mean the Emerald Eye?” Pei Yanting asked, her breath catching.

“Right.” Pei Xiqing looked at her. “If you don’t take it out now, when exactly do you plan on using it?”

“Are you sure it will work?”

“How will you know if you don’t try? Do you have any other options right now?”

Pei Yanting didn’t hesitate any longer. She frantically dug into Xiao Yue’s tactical pouch and pulled out the crystal core.

As soon as she revealed it, several S1 operatives gasped in surprise. It was clear that none of his subordinates had even known the item existed.

Despite being named the ‘Emerald Eye’, it looked like nothing more than a dull, lusterless black stone.

Pei Yanting held the stone tightly, her hands trembling violently.

Pei Xiqing watched her in silence.

This stone was the male protagonist’s ultimate golden finger. It was an item capable of literally altering destiny. In the original novel, he had relied heavily on this exact stone to defeat the villain in their final, apocalyptic battle. One could never underestimate this seemingly ordinary rock; the power hidden inside was genuinely terrifying.

Pei Yanting looked up, needing reassurance. “He needs this?”

“Yes.”

“How do you even know about it?”

“I’ve seen it before,” Pei Xiqing lied smoothly.

“When?”

“Are you sure you want me to explain that right now?”

Pei Yanting seemed to jump to a conclusion, her face darkening with jealousy. “Did he secretly show it to you?”

“No, I saw it by accident,” Pei Xiqing deflected quickly. “But if you keep worrying about my love life, he’s going to be permanently dead.”

Hearing that, Pei Yanting finally dropped her guard and suspicion for a crucial second. She immediately placed the black crystal flat on her open palm.

The moment the dark stone came into contact with Xiao Yue’s blood, it began to vibrate violently. It floated into the air, spinning rapidly until the dull gray outer shell suddenly shattered, revealing the brilliantly glowing emerald crystal hidden inside.

A massive surge of strange, potent energy began to rapidly flood into Xiao Yue’s lifeless body.

After an agonizing ten seconds, Pei Yanting felt the stiff, cold body in her arms slowly grow warm. Suddenly, Xiao Yue convulsed, spat out another mouthful of dark blood, and passed out again.

“Xiao Yue!” Pei Yanting cried out.

She pressed her fingers to his neck, sensing a faint pulse, and wept with overwhelming joy. “Quick! Get the Captain into the car! We’re heading to the nearest base for emergency treatment! He’s breathing! Hurry!”

The S1 operatives scrambled into action, completely panicked.

As they lifted him away, Pei Yanting only had time to turn her head and cast one last, complicated look at her sister. “Why did you save him? Do you really still like him?”

“Don’t flatter yourself,” Pei Xiqing replied coldly. “I just have my own reasons why I can’t let him die this early.”

It was true; she had her own selfish motives.

Instead of letting Xiao Yue trigger some bizarre, overpowered plot armor to resurrect later and acquire even more golden fingers, it was much safer to force him to use his strongest trump card right now.

She needed him to survive within the boundaries of the plot she actually knew. If he used the Emerald Eye early, it would be wasted sooner. When he inevitably clashed with Duan Xiaolin again in the future, he wouldn’t have this miraculous lifesaver to rely on.

Not all the good luck in this world belongs to the protagonists.

Pei Yanting stared at her deeply. Then, shifting her gaze to the exceptionally gloomy Duan Xiaolin standing behind Pei Xiqing, she let out a cold snort, climbed into the SUV without another word, and sped off with the convoy.

Watching their taillights disappear, leaving only a pool of blood and scattered corpses on the dirt road, Pei Xiqing still felt a lingering knot of fear in her stomach.

The male protagonist simply could not die right now. Even if he had to die, it had to happen at the exact right moment in the narrative. Otherwise, the backlash from the collapsing plot would be unimaginable. She could instinctively feel the terrifying weight behind those narrative rules.

Once the chaotic desert road returned to an eerie calm, Pei Xiqing finally realized her current predicament. She slowly turned around to face the man standing behind her.

“Brother Duan…”

Duan Xiaolin stood there, his dark eyes fixed on her, his expression utterly unfathomable.

Chapter 134: I Know I’m Wrong

Feeling a little embarrassed, Pei Xiqing consciously leaned closer to the man. Lowering her head, she gently tugged at his sleeve. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to let you down, and I didn’t actually want to save him. It’s just… he has so many trump cards hidden on him. He wasn’t going to die here today. The only way we can kill him for good is by forcing him to burn through all his equipment and powerful items first.”

Duan Xiaolin replied calmly, “I knew he couldn’t die. That’s exactly why I killed him.”

“Ah?” She blinked in surprise.

He continued, “The last time we clashed outside Base Three, I noticed he was carrying tens of thousands of crystal cores on him.” Among them was a rare, high-level core with the unique ability to bring a mutant back to life.

“See? Then you know I wasn’t lying to you,” she said.

Duan Xiaolin reached out and lightly pinched her chin. “You took a massive risk just now.”

“If I hadn’t taken the risk, you would have gotten hurt.” Pei Xiqing gently held his hand. “I don’t want to see you get hurt again.”

A deep, unfathomable glint flashed in Duan Xiaolin’s eyes. “If you didn’t want to see me get hurt, why didn’t you come back to see me?”

“You were all the way at the capital headquarters. How was I supposed to get through? Besides, I tried to contact the base earlier, but I couldn’t get a signal.”

The man stared at her, his fingers tightening slightly around hers. “There won’t be a next time.”

She wasn’t sure if he was making a promise about himself or issuing a strict warning to her.

Pei Xiqing pulled his hand away from her face. “So… you’re not angry anymore?”

“I’m not angry.”

“Then why were you acting so fierce just now?”

Duan Xiaolin’s lips curled into a teasing smirk. “You clearly haven’t seen what it looks like when I’m truly fierce.”

Annoyed, Pei Xiqing lightly bit his finger. “Don’t ever do that again,” she scolded. “If you don’t dodge a gun next time, I’m going to hit you.”

It had almost scared her to death. Seeing him held at gunpoint by the protagonists was far more terrifying than watching him get surrounded by a horde of zombies. After all, in the original novel, his ultimate fate was to die at their hands. She didn’t want that scene to become a lingering psychological shadow.

More than anything, she didn’t want Duan Xiaolin’s intelligence to artificially degrade later on just to serve the plot. If that moment ever came, she was determined to stay by his side and guide him through it.

Duan Xiaolin casually tossed his own gun to a Franlun operative waiting outside, then closed the heavy door, sealing them inside the car. He pulled her into his arms. “You glared at me so fiercely just now, I already know I was in the wrong.”

Resting her head against him, Pei Xiqing symbolically patted his shoulder. “It hurts me to see you get injured. If you put yourself in my shoes, you’d understand how I felt.”

“Alright. I promise I won’t do it again.”

“Will your guarantee actually be effective?” she asked skeptically.

“What do you want, then?” Duan Xiaolin turned to her, an amused glint in his eye. “Do you want me to write you a formal letter of guarantee and sign it?”

“Sure.”

He smiled. “Then you’ll just have to wait.”

“You said it yourself,” she playfully warned.

Through the tinted window, Pei Xiqing watched the other operatives climb into their respective vehicles. As the convoy rumbled to life, she asked, “Where are we going?”

“If you don’t want to go back to headquarters, we’ll head back to your place first,” he replied.

“My place?”

The man said nothing else.

When the armored SUV finally rolled to a stop, Pei Xiqing realized the surroundings were incredibly familiar. They were parked right outside the small, two-story house she had just been living in.

Pei Xiqing was a little surprised to see Franlun operatives standing guard downstairs. But when she turned her head and caught Duan Xiaolin staring intensely at her, she let out a dry, awkward laugh.

“How did… all of you find this place?”

Duan Xiaolin looked at her with deep amusement. “Why wouldn’t I be able to find you?”

It was the same every single time. Pei Xiqing just couldn’t figure out how he managed to track her so flawlessly.

As she stepped out of the car, Ling Lang, who had been leaning against the railing on the second floor, looked down. With a casual vault, he pushed off the iron fence and landed smoothly on the ground floor.

Seeing Pei Xiqing, he gave her a quick once-over, then lifted his chin critically. “You’re dressing like that in the middle of the apocalypse? Are you afraid people won’t realize you’re a woman?”

Pei Xiqing initially thought he was mocking her for looking like a ragged scavenger, but then she remembered she had already changed into her clean, tailored clothes in the car. She shot back, “I actually did change clothes. If you had seen the outfit I was wearing before this, you would have definitely admitted I hid myself perfectly.”

Ling Lang snorted with laughter. “Oh, really? Were you dressing up like a beggar? You probably looked so pathetic no one would have even recognized you. Just how many days did you go without a shower?”

“Do you see my little base up there?” she pointed at the second floor. “There’s running water inside. I took a shower every two days.”

“No wonder you don’t reek,” Ling Lang smirked. “I’ll give you credit for that. At least you aren’t suffocating people to death.”

Pei Xiqing couldn’t help but roll her eyes at him. Changing the subject, she asked, “How are your injuries?”

Ling Lang shrugged nonchalantly. “Who told you I was injured?”

“You aren’t hurt? Didn’t you get badly wounded?”

“Do you really think a few minor scratches require special attention?”

Pei Xiqing gave him a sarcastic thumbs-up. “Wow, you really are amazing then.”

“No, you’re amazing,” Ling Lang retorted. “I’m definitely not as awesome as you. I ran all the way out here and got scared half to death trying to track you down.”

“I was just taking a stroll in the wild,” she defended herself.

Ling Lang sneered, leaning in slightly. “Did you go to that restaurant?”

“…Are you talking about the cannibal restaurant?”

“Did you eat the meat?”

“No, I didn’t touch any of it. I only ate the vegetarian dishes.”

“I didn’t expect you to be that smart.” He crossed his arms, raising a handsome eyebrow. “Idiot. Knowing you, I figured you would’ve acted like a reincarnated starving ghost. I assumed the moment you walked into that place, you would have ordered a whole table full of fish and meat, and eaten yourself to death.”

Pei Xiqing fired back, “What? Did you get drunk on the atmosphere there too?”

“Nonsense.”

“It seems our great Captain Ling Lang couldn’t resist the temptation of food either. You actually walked right into that place knowing it was a trap. If it had been fully staffed by black market enforcers, even you wouldn’t have been able to escape so easily.”

“You’re the one who can’t resist the temptation of food,” Ling Lang scoffed. “I was just doing standard reconnaissance. What do you know?”

“Yes, yes, I admit defeat,” Pei Xiqing laughed, sticking her tongue out at him. “I’ll head upstairs to pack my things first!”

She quickly jogged up the iron stairs.

Ling Lang knew she wasn’t actually conceding, but he watched her run upstairs with a half-smile. When he turned around, however, his smile faded.

Duan Xiaolin was leaning against the SUV, casually smoking a cigarette. His indifferent gaze was locked onto Ling Lang, and there was no telling how long he had been watching them banter.

Suppressing any lingering amusement, Ling Lang stepped forward, his expression turning serious. “Brother, is Xiao Yue dead?”

He had received the preliminary field report ten minutes ago.

Duan Xiaolin calmly flicked the ash off his cigarette. “He’s not dead. He was saved.”

“Who the hell dared to save him?”

The man didn’t bother explaining the details of the Emerald Eye. Instead, he smoothly changed the subject. “What did you find out?”

“There is definitely a lot of covert activity happening within the black market. I suspect they’re planning something massive… I’ll give you the detailed briefing later.” Ling Lang couldn’t let it go, his voice tinged with anxious anger. “But Brother, who saved him? Just give me a name, and I’ll go kill them myself!”

“There is no rush.”

Duan Xiaolin looked up toward the second floor, his dark eyes narrowing dangerously. His tone was deceptively calm, like the eerily still surface of the sea just before a catastrophic storm. “If I can kill him once, I can kill him a second time. By using that trump card today, the other party has already paid a massive price. For now, we just need to wait and see what happens next.”

Chapter 135: More Interesting

Pei Xiqing pushed open the door, finding everything inside exactly as she had left it when she fled in a hurry. She had expected them to find this place—her phone call had likely been tracked, and giving away her location was practically the same as self-destruction. Still, she hadn’t anticipated them finding her quite this fast.

She had originally planned to lure the protagonist’s squad and find a way to make them suffer losses within the black market. After being “rescued,” Xiao Yue would inevitably make a comeback, but now he was stripped of the golden finger that made him so formidable. As long as she kept a tight leash on the situation and ensured he was neutralized at the right moment, the world wouldn’t collapse, and she could dismantle his advantages piece by piece. Going against the protagonist meant being mentally prepared for all sorts of unexpected chaos. Whether Xiao Yue could obtain other legendary treasures was uncertain, but for now, his primary advantages had been worn down to nothing.

She just had to wait for a specific plot point where he could die naturally. To play it safe, Xiao Yue couldn’t die right now. If he did, she wasn’t certain if the world would remain intact, and she wasn’t about to gamble on that.

Pei Xiqing sighed. She had originally wanted to be nothing more than a passerby, living a carefree life in the apocalypse. She never expected to get so deeply involved in the plot, worrying about these heavy burdens. It’s true what they say: people really shouldn’t have emotions. Once you form these ties, it becomes impossible to let go.

Still, regarding the protagonist group, she felt a glimmer of hope. She turned her head and glanced at the two men talking downstairs. Although Brother Duan hadn’t said it explicitly, she could feel that his supernatural powers had largely recovered. The Qiong Snake’s behavior just now had been incredibly abnormal—it was so excited it had almost tried to leap out of her body, seemingly desperate to reach him.

Pei Xiqing raised her hand, staring at the faint trace of supernatural energy flickering in her palm. She squeezed her fingers slowly. She didn’t actually need the snake herself, but once the serpent left her body, its connection to her unique power might be extinguished forever, like a flame losing its fuel. Her own special abilities remained something of a mystery; she only knew the vague outlines. She decided it wouldn’t be too late to test it on Brother Duan when she had the time.

That night, she had been in such a rush to pack that she had been careless. Besides, she hadn’t had many belongings to begin with, so now that she was back, she finally had the time to tidy up the room properly. After Tang Yitong left, she had abandoned a lot of things here. Her gloves and hat were still sitting on the table where she’d left them. As Pei Xiqing packed, she unexpectedly spotted the communication card Tang Yitong had left behind.

She was stunned. She had assumed Tang Yitong had taken the card when they left with their companions, but clearly, the girl had saved it for her. Was this because she was worried Pei Xiqing wouldn’t be able to reach her friends and would need to call them again? Pei Xiqing smiled and finished packing. Noticing her body was covered in dried blood and grime, she got up to take a shower.

Once cleaned, she felt a sudden hunger. She put on fresh clothes, opened the door, and leaned over the railing, shouting down to the two men talking in the car nearby: “Hey! It’s almost dawn, aren’t you going to sleep or eat?”

She didn’t know what they had been discussing, but they had managed to chat for hours. She scanned the city streets. She wanted to ask about Tan Yuan, Tang Yitong’s brother. The captain had warned that a large number of zombies would pass through last night, but the streets below were empty. It didn’t look like a massive horde had come through at all.

She wasn’t sleepy; in fact, she felt a little restless. Seeing the sky was cloudy, she found herself lost in thought about the struggle against the protagonist’s group. The two men in the car seemed to be deep in conversation, one in the passenger seat and the other in the back. After hearing her voice, Duan Xiaolin rolled down the window, put out his cigarette, and waved at her.

Pei Xiqing went downstairs. The man looked at her and said, “Get in the car and sit for a while. We’ll be eating soon.”

Pei Xiqing rubbed her palms. It was still chilly at this hour, and the temperatures had been surprisingly low lately. She opened the car door and climbed into the back seat. The man immediately reached out, and she instinctively tucked her hand into his warm palm.

A moment later, she heard Duan Xiaolin say to Ling Lang in the front seat, “I’m going to the black market tomorrow. You need to take the team and investigate.”

Ling Lang protested, “Brother! If you’re going to that kind of place again, I’m going with you.”

“I’m the only one who can handle it. If you go, you’ll just become an easy target.”

“No,” Ling Lang refused to back down. “Even though the black market isn’t Franlun’s direct responsibility, I’m still half a Franlun agent myself. I can’t let you go in there alone.”

Duan Xiaolin held Pei Xiqing’s hand, interlocking their fingers and transferring his warmth to her. He smiled faintly. “You’ve grown up. It’s time you started thinking about your own plans for the next ten years.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“There’s a position at headquarters that’s perfect for you.”

Ling Lang turned around, his expression stubborn. “I’m not a desk jockey. I’d rather lead a team and follow you. Besides, I have my own squad and my own missions. I don’t want to be some messy official.”

He seemed very satisfied with his life as it was. He could assist Franlun with cases at any time and had his own teammates.

Duan Xiaolin insisted, “You are better suited for that position.”

“Brother!”

“When this busy period is over, report back to headquarters.”

Ling Lang said angrily, “I won’t leave. I’m only staying by your side.” With that, he climbed out of the car and slammed the door shut loudly.

Pei Xiqing watched the scene, feeling a bit lost. This was the first time she had seen Ling Lang talk back to Duan Xiaolin like that, and surprisingly, Duan Xiaolin didn’t seem angry at all.

She poked the man’s arm and asked softly, “Brother Duan, why do you want Ling Lang to take that position? If it’s like the other base roles, full of intrigue and office politics, I don’t think it’s really suitable for him.”

“He’s taking over Gu He’s position,” Duan Xiaolin explained. “I believe he can lead the squad, command the psychics, and organize the missions. He’s adaptable and more than capable of handling it.”

“Is that so? I suppose you’re right.” Ling Lang was a dual-ability user who led squads brilliantly against zombie hordes. His command and execution skills were absolute. The position did suit him well.

“So, I’m the only one who can handle the black market mission.”

The morning light began to filter through the windshield, leaving the man’s face half-shadowed. His tone dropped, sounding slightly weary.

In the next second, Pei Xiqing squeezed his hand back.

No one is born to be in the dark, and no one has to bear these burdens alone.

“No one is forced to be anywhere,” she said. “He wants to help you and understand what you’re going through. Don’t overthink his motives. I believe he grew up a long time ago and doesn’t need your protection anymore.”

Duan Xiaolin raised his eyebrows, a faint smile touching his lips. He leaned back in his chair, pulled her onto his lap, and let her straddle him.

“Would it be more interesting if you talked to him like that instead?”

“???”

Pei Xiqing’s eyes went wide.

What is he talking about?

“I don’t understand,” she stammered.

The smile on the man’s lips faded slightly as he replied lightly, “That boy has much more energy than I do.”

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