What?! I Became the Zombie Beauty in the Villain’s Arms – CH14

Chapter 14: Don’t Bite Me

Zhang Tian froze for half a second. Following the healer’s trembling finger, her eyes landed on the wrist she was currently holding. Faint, venomous green veins were clearly visible beneath Pei Xiqing’s pale skin.

Terrified, Zhang Tian forcefully shook off Pei Xiqing’s hand and stumbled backward. “You… you’re infected?!”

Chaos erupted instantly in the camp.

Scavengers shrieked and scrambled backward in pure horror. Several men immediately drew their firearms, aiming them directly at her head.

“Wait!” Zhang Tian shouted, throwing her arms out to stop them. “Don’t act rashly! If she was bitten recently, the virus wouldn’t have mutated her skin this fast! Have you forgotten our Vice-Captain?! He didn’t show physical symptoms even an hour after infection! Anyone who shoots without the Captain’s order is out of the squad!”

Pei Xiqing immediately yanked her heavy sleeves down to cover her wrists. She could feel the virus surging, turning the veins on her neck a sickly green beneath her otherwise calm, expressionless face. She tried her best to maintain a non-threatening posture. “I’ll leave right now.”

She just needed to find a quiet place to ride out the agonizing mutation in peace.

Zhang Tian’s mouth hung half-open. “When did you get bitten? You were sitting in the car the entire time! You never even stepped out during the horde attack! How could you…”

It made no sense. Since the convoy left the city, no zombie had ever gotten close to the girl.

How was she infected?

Zhang Tian wanted to step forward and stop her from leaving, but the primal fear of the virus kept her paralyzed. What if the girl suddenly lost her mind and bit her?

No one dared to move an inch. Everyone kept a massive, terrifying distance between themselves and the infected girl.

“Hurry up and leave!” one of the men shouted, his gun trembling.

“If she stays, she’ll kill us all!”

“Oh my god, she’s turning into a monster!”

“Sister Tian, make her leave! If she turns, we’re the ones who are going to die!”

The scavengers were practically hysterical. In the apocalypse, there was absolutely no room for mercy when it came to the virus. Every single person in this camp had watched their family members be torn apart by the undead. They hated zombies with every fiber of their being and wanted nothing more than to chop every infected person into pieces.

Zhang Tian’s lips trembled. “Then… where will you go? When Brother Duan gets back… I’ll talk to him. I’ll tell him to find you. You don’t have to panic! You’re still conscious right now, right? Why don’t you just wait for him? We can explain the situation. Maybe he has a solution…”

“Sister Tian! Are you insane?! Get away from her! Do you want to die?!”

“What’s there to explain to a zombie?! If she doesn’t leave this second, I’m blowing her brains out!”

“Yeah! Kill all the zombies!”

Two burly scavengers stepped forward, physically dragging Zhang Tian away from the girl.

Zhang Tian struggled, her eyes full of genuine reluctance. “Xiqing… just wait a minute. Don’t do anything rash…”

“Sister Tian, stop being so dangerously naive! If you keep defending her, I’ll shoot her right now!”

“Don’t! Don’t hurt her! She hasn’t done anything to us!” Zhang Tian cried.

“Then she needs to get the hell out of here! She knew she was a zombie, yet she still infiltrated our camp?! What was she plotting?!”

“I wasn’t plotting anything,” Pei Xiqing replied calmly. “You were the ones who insisted on following us. I actively tried to keep my distance from all of you.”

“Who knows what kind of sick intentions you have?!”

Zhang Tian ripped herself out of the men’s grip and stepped between the guns and Pei Xiqing. “Stop arguing! Just stop! She is still completely conscious. She hasn’t done a single thing wrong!”

The scavengers fell silent, but their weapons remained raised.

They glared at the girl with absolute hatred, leaning in to whisper harshly into Zhang Tian’s ear. “Zombies are worse than animals. It’s exactly because of people like her—people who get infected and try to hide it—that the world collapsed in the first place! The virus turned humanity into this! The golden rule is simple: if you see a zombie, you kill it. That’s the only way to stop the spread.”

“Exactly! And she thinks she can just wait here for her man to save her? Keep dreaming! Did you forget how ruthless that sniper is?! He blew our Vice-Captain’s head off without blinking! Have you forgotten how he died, Sister Tian?!”

Zhang Tian’s face paled. “I haven’t forgotten. I know that if that man finds out she’s infected, he’ll be the first one to pull the trigger. And when Zhao Shunyan gets back, it’ll be even worse.”

With Zhao Shunyan’s lightning, Pei Xiqing would be reduced to a charred husk in seconds.

Although she had only known the girl for a short time, Zhang Tian genuinely liked her. She couldn’t bear to see her murdered in cold blood. She was perfectly capable of being cruel to others in the wasteland, but this… this felt wrong.

A tall, heavily armed scavenger stepped forward, his expression grim. He lowered his voice. “Sister Tian, we know you have a kind heart, but you need to step back. Let us handle this. If we tell the Captain, she dies immediately. We cannot let her stay in this camp for another second. It’s a massive security risk.”

Before Zhang Tian could argue, the burly man leveled his rifle at Pei Xiqing’s chest. “Hey. Walk away. Right now. Don’t drag us down with you.”

Pei Xiqing’s vision began to blur rapidly. The virus was surging again. She shook her head, trying to clear the fog, but her limbs felt impossibly heavy. She couldn’t even formulate a sentence.

I originally planned to just grit my teeth and ride out the mutation in secret… I didn’t expect to be exposed like this.

If Duan Xiaolin comes back and sees this, he will definitely execute me.

Pei Xiqing bit down hard on her lower lip. The sharp pain of her teeth piercing her skin, followed by the metallic taste of blood, forcibly yanked her back to consciousness. The only thought left in her fading mind was: Run.

Zhang Tian tried to run after her, but the scavengers held her back with iron grips. She could only watch in despair as the frail girl disappeared into the desolate, freezing night.

…

Beyond the ruined city limits lay a massive expanse of suburbs that had been utterly flattened by the undead hordes. Beyond that, past a heavily polluted, sludge-filled river, lay a sprawling, dying forest.

The forest was entirely grey-black. Every single tree was diseased, dead, or dying. The woods covered a massive area, and if she wanted to put distance between herself and the camp, she had to cross it.

Pei Xiqing walked for over an hour. Her feet were screaming in agony. She looked back over her shoulder, completely demoralized to realize she had barely covered any ground.

Deep in the woods, she stumbled upon a small, dilapidated hunting cabin. Desperate for rest, she pushed the door open—only to be hit by the putrid stench of several rotting zombies trapped inside.

Gagging, she immediately backed away.

Guess there’s no resting tonight.

Coughing heavily, she forced her aching legs to keep moving, terrified that Zhao Shunyan or the others might decide to hunt her down.

It took her over three agonizing hours to finally clear the tree line. Looking up, she saw the silhouette of another small, ruined city sitting across the riverbed.

Maybe I can find a secure place to hide in there.

Clutching her throbbing, infected arm, she crossed into the city limits and wandered aimlessly through the desolate streets. This settlement wasn’t nearly as developed as the previous cities. It felt more like a forgotten, Tier-18 county town. There were no high-rises—mostly just dilapidated three- or four-story residential blocks.

After wandering for a while, she spotted a relatively large campus complex ahead.

“Zhiya Middle School,” she read the faded sign aloud.

She observed the school courtyard from a distance. Unsurprisingly, it was swarming with dead, rotting corpses.

She bypassed the school and eventually stumbled upon a ruined pharmacy at the next intersection.

The store had been thoroughly looted years ago. Completely exhausted, Pei Xiqing pressed her back against the cracked exterior wall and slowly slid down to the concrete, gasping for air.

As she hit the ground, her boot knocked against something small. A plastic bottle rolled across the pavement.

It was a bottle of generic vitamin C supplements. Shockingly, the expiration date hadn’t passed yet. It must have been dropped by a scavenger during a panicked raid.

With trembling, stiff fingers, she unscrewed the cap and dry-swallowed a pill.

Lemon flavored. Not bad.

Pei Xiqing closed her eyes, her chest heaving as she fought for oxygen. Cold sweat poured down her forehead, soaking the collar of her grey sweater.

Her body felt like it was being systematically dismantled and reassembled. Her internal organs violently trembled against her ribs.

She weakly rolled up her sleeves and pant legs to inspect the damage.

Shit.

The sickly green veins had spread significantly, and patches of her skin were now taking on the ghastly, ashen-grey pallor of a corpse.

I’m really turning this time.

Her breathing became erratic, her heart hammering so violently she thought it might shatter her ribs. She desperately tried to force herself to stay calm, dry-swallowing several more vitamins in a manic attempt to ground herself.

She just prayed she wouldn’t lose her mind entirely. She refused to become a mindless cannon-fodder mutant just waiting to be slaughtered by the protagonists. She still wanted to complete her sightseeing tour! Before she died, she at least wanted to see the majestic human base from a distance, mentally snap a picture, and then die in peace!

Please… whatever happens, don’t let me turn into a brainless monster.

Curled into a tight ball in the corner of the looted pharmacy, Pei Xiqing endured the excruciating agony, second by agonizing second. Finally, unable to endure the sensory overload any longer, she violently slammed the back of her head against the metal shelving unit beside her.

The sharp impact split the skin near her temple, sending a warm stream of blood down the side of her face.

The blinding jolt of pain shocked her nervous system, dragging her back to reality. The agonizing itch and burning heat began to rapidly recede.

But before she could even process the relief, a horrifying, wet rustling sound echoed through the pharmacy.

It sounded like something sticky dragging itself across concrete.

She snapped her head up. Clinging upside down to the ceiling directly above her was a grotesque, mutated zombie. Its head was cocked at a broken ninety-degree angle, its jaw unhinged with a black tongue lolling out, and its milky, dead eyes bulging from their sockets.

“AH!”

Pei Xiqing screamed in genuine terror, scrambling backward and slamming her head against the wall again.

She gasped in pain. “Get the hell away from me!”

Running purely on adrenaline, she lashed out with her heavy boot.

She kicked the mutant directly in the face.

The impact dislodged the zombie from the ceiling. It crashed heavily to the floor, letting out a series of shrill, piercing shrieks.

Her heart hammered wildly. She desperately looked around for a weapon, grabbing a broken wooden chair leg.

Just as she raised the makeshift club to smash its skull, the zombie suddenly scrambled backward, cowering against the far wall and letting out a series of low, hoarse whimpers.

Pei Xiqing froze, entirely bewildered. “What is wrong with you?”

As soon as she asked, she realized how utterly absurd it was to try and converse with a flesh-eating monster.

But to her absolute shock, the zombie let out another, softer sound.

She slowly lowered the chair leg. “Are you saying… you don’t want me to hit you?”

The zombie awkwardly, jerkily nodded its ruined head.

Pei Xiqing gripped the wood tightly. “Then you aren’t allowed to bite me either. Deal?”

The zombie let out a bizarre, high-pitched clicking noise that sounded like two knives scraping together. But it didn’t lunge. It didn’t attack.

Pei Xiqing stared at it in disbelief. “Is this a joke?”

The zombie suddenly scrambled to its feet, rapidly circling her while aggressively sniffing the air. It flashed a row of bloodstained, jagged teeth in what almost looked like a grotesque grin, then immediately turned its back to her, scurrying over to a rotting corpse in the corner and resuming its meal.

It ate with terrifying speed and efficiency, tearing chunks of flesh from the bone, sending dark blood and gore splattering across the tiles.

Pei Xiqing wanted to bleach her eyes.

In a single day, she had suffered an unimaginable amount of psychological damage.

Zombies were zombies. Once the virus took over, their only primal instinct was to devour human flesh. The infection turned them into mindless, ravenous beasts. They would happily tear their own families apart if they smelled fresh blood.

Yet, this mutant was bizarrely docile toward her. It even paused its horrific meal, ripping off a chunk of rotting meat and tossing it directly at her feet, as if offering to share.

She nearly vomited.

I am definitely not eating that.

She slowly backed out of the pharmacy, gripping her chair leg. The zombie didn’t follow her.

This was the first time this had happened. Well, the second time, if she counted the mutant that had tapped on her car window during the horde attack earlier that day.

Is it possible… that the zombies are ignoring me because they register me as one of their own?

…

The moonless night was suffocatingly dark.

The temperature plummeted to below freezing.

In a desolate alleyway, a massive pack of red-eyed mutants was swarming a fresh corpse, viciously tearing at the meat and fighting each other for the scraps.

Zombies didn’t just bite to infect; they devoured. It was a horrific, gruesome reality. These creatures were completely devoid of humanity, driven only by primal hunger.

The sheer number of infected in this city was staggering. A few minutes later, another massive horde dragged their feet down the main street.

Pei Xiqing clamped a hand over her nose and mouth, carefully tiptoeing past the horde.

The smell is unbearable.

It was ten times worse than a rotting carcass baking in the sun. If she hadn’t been actively testing her theory, she would have collapsed from the stench alone.

A crippled mutant dragging itself across the pavement bumped its head against her boot, its rotting fingers weakly grasping her ankle. Startled, she reflexively kicked it away.

Oh god, I’m dead…

She froze, staring at the horde, fully prepared to sprint for her life. But the crippled mutant merely let out a low groan and continued crawling past her feet.

Having finished their “dinner,” the rest of the horde began shuffling past her. Occasionally, a few mutants would stagger over, sniffing her aggressively—almost like dogs greeting a member of their pack. They would pause to sniff the fresh blood on her forehead, but after a few seconds, they lost interest and shuffled away.

Pei Xiqing let out a massive, shuddering sigh of relief.

It was horrifying, but it was true: the zombies refused to attack her.

She dusted off her pant legs, a faint smirk forming on her lips. I basically have a VIP pass to wander the wasteland.

But right now, she was running on fumes.

No longer terrified of ambushes, she casually strolled through the infested county town until she found a relatively intact, reinforced hotel building.

She was utterly exhausted.

The hotel was in surprisingly good condition. She found clean clothes and fresh towels in a suite, but the tap water ran brown and sludgy. Digging through the cabinets, she found a high-grade military water filter and chemical purifiers left behind by previous scavengers. She meticulously filtered and boiled the water before finally taking a hot, grueling shower.

Dressed in an oversized pair of silk pajamas, Pei Xiqing sat cross-legged on the plush bed, carefully inspecting the virus in her arms.

The symptoms were erratic. Sometimes the infection would rapidly recede, making her look entirely human, and other times—like earlier tonight—it would violently surge, nearly tearing her mind apart. She had absolutely no idea what was happening on a cellular level.

Just a few hours ago, she was convinced she was going to fully mutate. The pain and itch had been apocalyptic; she had genuinely wanted to rip the world apart with her bare teeth. But now, after a hot shower and two hours of rest, the physical symptoms were fading back into her bloodstream.

Is my immune system actually fighting off the zombie virus?

It was too early to tell. But the fact that she still retained full human consciousness was the most massive piece of evidence in her favor.

She flopped backward onto the mattress, staring at the ceiling.

Her insane theory had been confirmed today. She was immune to zombie attacks.

In an instant, she felt a massive wave of confidence.

Should I go back and try to find Duan Xiaolin?

She rolled around on the bed, pulling out her phone. She tapped the screen a few times before sighing in defeat. She didn’t have his contact information, and there was no cell service anyway.

I guess all the advanced post-apocalyptic tech rendered standard cell phones obsolete.

Thinking about it, running away was probably for the best. Duan Xiaolin was terrifyingly cold and indifferent; leaving him meant avoiding a mountain of dangerous complications. Furthermore, he was an operative for Franlun. Even though that organization was controlled by the ultimate villain, its members were notoriously ruthless and rigidly principled. They absolutely would not show mercy just because she was a “friendly” zombie.

If she went back, he’d probably just execute her anyway.

God, I’m so tired. She had walked for hours on end, and every muscle in her body was screaming in protest.

Whatever. I’ll figure it out tomorrow.

She was a zombie now, and zombies had their own way of surviving in the wasteland.

Pei Xiqing closed her eyes and fell asleep almost instantly, completely unaware that at that exact moment, in another city miles away, the scavenger’s newly established camp was ablaze with frantic, blinding light.

Like this novel? Read Advance Chapters (PDF & EPUB Format)