What?! I Became the Zombie Beauty in the Villain’s Arms – CH148-150

Chapter 148| Chapter 149 | Chapter 150

Chapter 148: I Like It Very Much

After about ten minutes, the sound of the running water gradually faded.

Pei Xiqing kept her eyes closed, listening closely to the movements in the room. She breathed a silent sigh of relief when she heard what sounded like Duan Xiaolin boiling water.

A moment later, approaching footsteps paused beside the bed, and suddenly, something warm pressed against her cheek.

Pei Xiqing squeezed her eyes shut, pretending to be asleep, and rolled over to hide herself under the quilt.

Then, a calm voice drifted down from above her head. “If we don’t do it, you’re going to need to drink a lot of water. Otherwise, the medicine in the totem will completely dry up your blood and energy.”

Pei Xiqing’s eyes snapped open. She whipped around to look at the man standing beside the bed. “What?!”

The man looked down at her calmly. “So you weren’t sleeping.”

“I only woke up because of you!” she retorted.

He held out a cup. “Drink.”

Pei Xiqing took the cup, feeling the warmth radiating through the glass. A wave of unease washed over her. “…Is that true? Will the medicine you gave me really dry up my blood and energy?”

Didn’t that mean she was doomed?

“It’s fake,” he said slowly. “I just said that to wake up someone who was pretending to sleep.”

…

Pei Xiqing let out a long breath of relief.

Still, her body did feel a little too warm, and her mouth was dry, so she took a large sip of the water.

She looked up at him. “Why did you lie to me? I trust you so much.”

Her eyes were clear and completely unaggressive, yet incredibly captivating.

Duan Xiaolin leaned in closer.

Pei Xiqing instinctively leaned back, shoving the cup of water back into his hands.

The man took off his silver-rimmed glasses, taking a sip from the cup himself. As he swallowed, his Adam’s apple bobbed in a way that was undeniably sexy.

Suddenly, Pei Xiqing felt like the totem on her back was on fire.

“I won’t lie to you anymore,” he murmured.

“You’ve already tricked me,” she pointed out.

“Then you can trick me back.”

“Childish,” Pei Xiqing couldn’t help but mutter.

He set the water cup on the nightstand, leaned over her, and grasped her waist, pressing her gently back into the mattress. “Do you want to do it?”

Pei Xiqing’s cheeks burned bright red. She hadn’t expected him to be so straightforward. “If you can endure holding back, then I can endure it too.”

The man chuckled softly. “That’s mutual destruction—hurting the enemy a thousand times, but taking eight hundred points of damage yourself.”

“Well, the prerequisite is that Brother Duan lets me take those eight hundred first…” She smiled like a sly little fox, raising her arms to hook them around his neck. “Are you willing to let me do that?”

Duan Xiaolin hovered his lips just above hers, his voice turning husky. “I couldn’t bear to.”

“Then your logic doesn’t make sense. If you can’t bear to see me suffer, you’ll just have to absorb the full thousand yourself.”

He smiled and leaned in to kiss her, but Pei Xiqing tilted her head back to avoid him.

She dodged him three times in a row.

Every time he tried to capture her lips, she deliberately turned her head away, leaving his kisses to land softly on her cheek or jaw.

A rare hint of frustration flickered across his face. Pei Xiqing smiled even more proudly. “What did you say back at that restaurant?” she teased.

She pushed lightly against his chest. Although she was wearing very conservative pajamas, her soft curves couldn’t be hidden. With that slight movement, the fabric shifted, perfectly outlining her figure.

Duan Xiaolin hummed, a low, dangerous sound. “Hmm?”

Pei Xiqing blinked innocently, saying nothing.

But as she retreated slightly, the loose neckline of her top slipped down, inadvertently exposing a smooth, white shoulder.

Duan Xiaolin’s voice grew even hoarser. “Baby, are you seducing me?”

“Am I?” Her tone wasn’t serious at all, and she stared at him with wide, innocent eyes.

Duan Xiaolin stared at her in silence for five full seconds.

The dark intent in his gaze was self-evident.

This was the most irresistible thing about Pei Xiqing. Even when he knew she had wicked intentions and was deliberately teasing him, he was still so easily captivated by her.

He asked quietly, “Will you only ever do this to me?”

Pei Xiqing thought he was about to say something intense or threatening. She burst out laughing and buried her face in the quilt. “You really are a pure romantic.”

“This phrase, this sentiment… do you have a problem with me?”

The man pulled her out from under the covers, staring intently at her blushing face.

Pei Xiqing covered her mouth, still giggling. “No.”

“A pure romantic?” He repeated the words, his lips curling into a faint smirk. The darkness in his eyes grew so deep she couldn’t fathom it. “Is that really what you think?”

He murmured softly, “So that’s the kind of man I am in your heart.”

“I didn’t mean it as an insult…”

“You are the only person in the world who would ever think of me that way.”

“Ah?”

“I like the phrase very much.”

“I just felt that way at that specific moment! I don’t always think that!” Pei Xiqing suddenly realized she was in danger and frantically tried to backtrack. “I never feel that way any other time!”

Duan Xiaolin pursed his lips into a calm line, effortlessly flipping her over and pressing her firmly into the bed.

“But I don’t think it suits me.”

“Wait… ah… yes… I feel the same way… I was wrong…”

What greeted Pei Xiqing next was only endless, surging waves of heat and sweat-dampened hair.

Midway through, Pei Xiqing desperately wanted to see his face. She shamelessly begged him to flip her over, and when he did, she caught sight of the man’s expression, slightly distorted by intense pleasure.

His sharp, handsome features were flushed, and beads of sweat rolled down his neck, sliding over his Adam’s apple before falling onto her skin. It was unbelievably sexy.

But alarm bells were ringing wildly in her mind.

Her waist and legs felt like they were about to break completely.

Pei Xiqing was in such a daze that she knew she had cursed at him, but she couldn’t even remember what she had actually said.

All she knew was that the more she talked, and the more nonsense that spilled from her lips, the more terrifying Duan Xiaolin became.

It was as if he was punishing her for teasing him, intent on proving just how wrong words like “pure” and “innocent” were when applied to him.

This time, she once again deeply experienced the terrifying physical stamina of a supernatural ability user.

Especially when that ability user was an overwhelmingly powerful man who had been patiently holding back for far too long.

Chapter 149: Worried About You

After waking up, Pei Xiqing was already accustomed to her memory blacking out from the sheer overstimulation of the latter half of the night.

Sometimes, it had been so intense that she would actually pass out, only to be woken up by the man again. It had gone on and on all night long. She hadn’t slept well at all, leaving her memories a jumbled, hazy mess.

Rubbing her throbbing temples, she sat up with a sore back and started searching for her phone.

Checking the screen, she saw it was almost noon.

The small bedside lamp was still on in the room. There was no distinction between day and night in the underground black market. Outside the window, it was just as dark as before she went to bed—so pitch black that she couldn’t even see her own hand in front of her face.

The room felt oddly cozy, but it was an absolute mess—especially the windowsill facing the courtyard trees. Everything that had been resting on it was knocked over and scattered across the floor, the best piece of evidence that the man had pinned her against it last night.

Pei Xiqing buried her burning face in her hands.

There were lingering traces of their activities in multiple corners of the room. She couldn’t even bear to look at them.

Turning around, she spotted an insulated food container sitting on the table. She pulled on her coat and walked over slowly. It was still hot to the touch.

But Duan Xiaolin was nowhere to be seen.

A few of his discarded clothes were tossed over the adjacent sofa. Pei Xiqing looked around for her own clothes and realized they had all been washed, neatly folded, and placed in the closet.

She took out a fresh set of clothes, changed quickly, and opened the thermal box. Inside were three dishes and a hot soup. Curling up on the sofa, she began to eat. She was so hungry that she practically wolfed the food down. By the time Duan Xiaolin walked back into the room, she had almost finished.

The man had changed into a fresh, tailored suit. The dark, subtle patterns and the meticulously designed collar made him exude an aura of immaculate, hidden danger. From behind his silver-rimmed glasses, his calm eyes stared at her with a hint of shallow, teasing amusement.

Pei Xiqing wiped the corner of her mouth and asked, “Where have you been?”

The man sat down next to her, effortlessly wrapped an arm around her waist, and pulled her into his lap.

Pei Xiqing subconsciously shuddered, her waist tensing up.

The memory of being utterly controlled by him last night came rushing back. Instinctively, she thought he was going to grip her waist and press her down all over again.

Duan Xiaolin’s lips curled into a smirk. He rested his large palm against her waistline, rubbing it gently. “I’ll give you a massage later.”

“No thanks.” Pei Xiqing decisively rejected his “good intentions,” though she didn’t make any move to push him away as she leaned comfortably against his chest.

“I just met with a few of the bosses,” the man said slowly. “There’s a trade fair today, and we discussed quite a few things. The delivery date is set for two days from now.”

“You’re making a delivery?”

“Mm.”

Pei Xiqing thought for a moment. “But you don’t have any goods.”

Where could he possibly get the merchandise in such a short amount of time? Or had he secretly prepared a shipment before coming here?

Duan Xiaolin stretched lazily and stroked the damp hair resting on her forehead. “No, I don’t.”

“So you’re just planning to scam them empty-handed?”

“You’ll see when the time comes.”

Pei Xiqing leaned back, looking at him with genuine worry. “To be honest, that sounds a bit too risky. You have no stock. What if something unexpected happens? What if they demand to inspect the goods beforehand…”

“Don’t worry about that,” he said casually. “If they want to inspect the goods, let them. We don’t have to bring the actual merchandise ourselves. If someone else has it, isn’t that just as good as cash? As long as we’re in the black market, there is nothing that can’t be circulated.”

If the goods didn’t belong to him today, they might just belong to him tomorrow.

Pei Xiqing stared at the man for several seconds before she couldn’t help but laugh.

The villain’s intelligence hadn’t dropped yet. Instead, he was busy digging a massive grave for his new “partners.” She really had nothing to worry about. This was his home turf; all she needed to do was make sure she didn’t cause any trouble for him.

“What exactly are the black market bosses plotting?” she asked.

“I don’t know.”

“You don’t know?”

“The intelligence is a mixed bag. Perhaps only they truly know what they intend to do.”

Pei Xiqing tugged at his sleeve and tapped her watch. “Tell me your plan in detail. I’m curious. I promise I won’t leak a word.”

The man raised an eyebrow. Following her tug, he leaned his weight against her.

Pei Xiqing almost collapsed under him, poking his solid chest in protest. “You’re so heavy.”

He was so densely muscled that it actually hurt when she bumped against him. Last night, when he had pinned both her wrists with just one hand, he had gripped them so tightly they turned red. Now, leaning against her, he felt like a massive boulder.

Duan Xiaolin easily scooped her up, sitting back on the sofa with her settled comfortably across his lap.

“Hurry up and tell me,” Pei Xiqing urged.

“Come here. Get a little closer, and I’ll tell you everything.”

Pei Xiqing teased maliciously, “So Chief Judge Duan can be bribed after all.”

“Of course,” he said slowly, his voice dropping. “I have desires and cravings too.”

She leaned over and pressed a quick kiss to his cheek. “Now hurry up and tell me.”

The man gently stroked her back and whispered his plan into her ear.

Pei Xiqing was shocked by what she heard. Her mouth hung open for a long moment before she finally asked, “Are you really going to do that?”

“Given the current situation in the black market, this is the only way,” Duan Xiaolin replied calmly.

“It’s too dangerous!”

“Don’t worry about me.”

“If I don’t worry about you, who will?” Pei Xiqing sat up straight, her brow furrowed. “The situation down here is perilous enough. You don’t need to do this. I’m sure there are other, safer ways.”

This man actually wanted to suddenly expose his true identity and use himself as bait to lure out the major players in the black market! The potential returns were high, but the risk was astronomical.

She frowned, deep in thought, completely missing the way the man was looking at her.

His gaze was full of profound meaning, brimming with a deep, quiet affection.

What he had just told Pei Xiqing was merely a superficial, fabricated plan. It wasn’t worth putting himself in actual danger for something like this; he never made deals that harmed himself just to benefit others. However, seeing her get so genuinely worried about him was a delightful bonus. Making her fret over him could certainly be a small part of his plan.

Pei Xiqing propped her chin on her hand, her mind racing through the various plotlines of the novel. From the main storyline to the side quests, there was actually very little written detail about the black market arc. She only knew that the protagonist’s group ultimately eradicated the evil forces here, but she had no idea what specific methods they used to do it.

Xiao Yue and Pei Yanting hadn’t been found yet. Considering Xiao Yue’s failing physical condition, they could only wait and see—though she couldn’t rule out the possibility that he, being the male lead, had already stumbled upon some new golden finger.

Pei Xiqing’s deeply thoughtful expression was taken in entirely by the man.

He lightly pinched her waist, making the girl in his arms so ticklish that she squirmed wildly, almost rolling right off the sofa.

“I promise I won’t do anything rash,” he said with a low laugh.

“I don’t believe you. You have zero credibility with me anymore.” Pei Xiqing deliberately glared at him. “I’m going to change clothes and get ready to head out.”

She wanted to go meet up with Shadow to check on the surveillance situation. Shadow should have been keeping a close eye on their targets by now.

But the man held her back, pulling her close again. “Don’t be in such a hurry.”

“Is there something else?”

Chapter 150: I’m Not That Stupid

“Don’t you want to pick out a weapon?”

“Oh, right, I almost forgot.” Pei Xiqing sat down. “Are you sure I should choose one here?”

Were quality weapons even available in the black market?

The answer was a resounding yes. In fact, the sheer volume and variety of arms available here were even more shocking than what she had seen stockpiled at Base Three.

In the official bases, most high-tier weapons were strictly regulated and required tedious reviews and authorizations to acquire. But the black market was a completely different beast. Whatever was available in the base was also available here, and whatever wasn’t available in the base… could also be found here.

By the time Pei Xiqing was invited to sit, the shop owner had already ordered his men to bring up multiple heavy weapon cases, laying the contents out on velvet-lined trays for their review and selection.

After inspecting five batches—about fifty different weapons in total—Pei Xiqing was quietly shocked. They were all incredibly expensive, and frankly, a bit of a rip-off. She hadn’t seen a single piece that caught her eye.

The shop owner was a middle-aged man with a thick beard, dressed in a traditional long gown. He treated them with the utmost, groveling respect, constantly observing their expressions. Whenever he noticed that Pei Xiqing didn’t show any interest in a batch, he immediately ordered his men to swap the trays for new ones.

Standing quietly beside Duan Xiaolin, the owner murmured softly, “Mr. Duan, these pieces are specifically tailored for women. They are lightweight, compact, and very suitable for your wife to carry.”

Seeing one of his men bring up a gleaming golden revolver, the owner excitedly stepped forward to introduce it. “This piece was custom-designed for female operatives. The handling is absolutely incredible. It’s light, convenient, has very little recoil, and the barrel won’t overheat during sustained fire. It is absolutely a must-have for a lady’s personal defense.”

Duan Xiaolin didn’t express an opinion. He simply tilted his head, silently asking for Pei Xiqing’s input.

Pei Xiqing wasn’t impressed. She shook her head slightly.

Duan Xiaolin raised a hand. “Change it.”

The boss nodded quickly, sweating nervously. “Right away!”

Another batch of weapons was brought out.

Pei Xiqing looked through them for a long time before she finally figured out what the issue was. Most of the weapons were either excessively violent, heavy-duty firearms, or overly bulky tactical gear. She wouldn’t be able to handle or conceal them effectively.

She looked around the shop but still didn’t see anything she liked.

However, just as she was about to give up and leave, a handgun sitting in a dusty, inconspicuous corner of the display caught her attention.

Pei Xiqing stopped and stared at it for a few seconds.

The boss immediately beamed when he saw her interest. But before he could launch into another sales pitch, a subordinate hurried over and whispered urgently in his ear. “Boss, boss, someone’s looking for you. They’re waiting out back…”

“Who?” the boss asked, annoyed.

“I don’t know. They’re wearing masks, so I couldn’t see their faces. I don’t recognize them.” The servant lowered his voice further. “It’s a man and a woman. Looks like they were introduced by a middleman. They came specifically to buy that kind of merchandise from you. They seem like important clients…”

“Important clients?” the boss sneered. “They don’t even dare to show their faces, what kind of ‘important clients’ are they? Tell them to wait! Can’t you see I’m attending to a distinguished VIP right now?!”

Turning back to Pei Xiqing, he plastered a kind, fawning smile on his face. “Did you see that, Madam?”

The servant glanced over at Pei Xiqing and his mouth fell open slightly. “…So beautiful.”

The boss smiled greedily. “As long as that lady takes a liking to anything we have here, there might be a chance to establish a long-term cooperation with Mr. Duan! I must seize this opportunity.”

Seeing that his servant was still staring blankly at Pei Xiqing, the boss angrily slapped the back of the man’s head. “Damn it, do you want me to gouge your eyes out?! No matter how beautiful she is, she’s not for you to look at! Now get out of here!”

“Y-yes, Boss…”

“Go tell those two rats out back that if they want to negotiate a real deal, they need to show some actual sincerity! There are too many nobodies wearing masks in the black market these days. They hide their faces but have no real power or capital. They just like to act tough.”

The servant scrambled away dejectedly.

Meanwhile, Pei Xiqing was still studying the handgun with Duan Xiaolin.

She turned it over in her hands. “It feels good.”

The man inspected the model number engraved on the slide. “It’s an older model, from two years ago.”

In this brutal era of rapid technological development, weaponry was updated at a staggering pace almost weekly. A gun from two years ago was essentially considered obsolete.

But Pei Xiqing didn’t think this gun was bad at all.

She played with the safety and smiled. “I like it a lot. I probably won’t have many opportunities to actually fire it anyway, so it’s perfectly fine to keep it around as a beautiful piece of useless art.”

The gun truly was beautiful. It had a heavy, retro aesthetic, and the grip was meticulously carved with vivid, intertwined vines and serpents.

Holding it, she felt like an assassin from an old French noir film.

She raised the gun, leveled it forward, aimed down the sights, and lowered her arm with satisfaction. “I’ll take this one.”

To her, the physical weapons here were just floating clouds. In this apocalyptic world, supernatural abilities were what truly determined victory or defeat.

The boss hurried over, beaming with a salesman’s smile. “Madam, you have exceptional taste! This is truly our shop’s most valuable hidden treasure! It’s been sitting here for a while, and many people have come to ask the price, but I haven’t agreed to sell it to anyone. Since you like it so much, I’ll give you a 20% discount. What do you say?”

Pei Xiqing raised an eyebrow. “So many people have asked for the price? Who else wanted it before me?”

The boss froze, stammering awkwardly, “Just… just…”

He desperately wanted to name-drop a few powerful figures to inflate the gun’s value, but when he looked up, he met Duan Xiaolin’s quiet, dark eyes. The terrifying, unspoken threat in that gaze made the boss choke on his own words, nearly biting his tongue.

Defeated, he had to admit the truth. “Madam… you are the first person to ask about it. This model was discontinued two years ago. With how fast technology is moving, it became obsolete very quickly. Not many people want it.”

“Then I’ll take it.” Pei Xiqing slapped a high-level crystal core onto the table. “No need for a discount.”

With that, she grabbed her new gun and walked right out of the store.

Duan Xiaolin followed her out.

The boss snatched the crystal core off the table, rubbing it greedily like a precious treasure as he watched them leave, sighing heavily.

When will I ever be able to cooperate with Mr. Duan…? There was probably no hope to begin with. I definitely didn’t leave a good impression on him just now.

After leaving the store, Pei Xiqing took the box of ammunition Duan Xiaolin handed her. Imitating the movements she had seen him make in the past, she began loading the bullets into the magazine one by one.

“Do you actually know how to use it?” Duan Xiaolin asked.

“Even if I’ve never eaten pork, I’ve seen a pig run!” she laughed. “Don’t worry, I’m not that stupid.”

The man smiled softly. “I didn’t say you were stupid. I was just afraid you wouldn’t be able to handle the recoil.”

The two walked side by side, navigating the dark, neon-lit streets of the black market. Their presence attracted the attention of many dangerous people, but with Duan Xiaolin’s oppressive aura, no one dared to approach them.

Behind them, however, two figures were following stealthily.

Pei Yanting and Xiao Yue—one crouching on a low rooftop and the other hiding in the shadows of an alleyway—secretly watched the couple walking away.

Xiao Yue covered his mouth, unable to suppress two harsh, rattling coughs. He looked sickly and pale; the back of his hand was as white as paper, completely devoid of life.

His clothes were no different from a common street beggar’s—ragged, dirty, and bearing two large, bloody holes near his waist. If he hadn’t been wearing a mask to hide his face, people would have assumed he was a walking corpse.

In a way, he had been. He had died in the desert, only to be miraculously dragged back to life by a stroke of heaven-defying fortune.

Pei Yanting dropped down from the roof, landing softly beside him. “I just did some checking,” she whispered. “It really is Pei Xiqing and that monster, Duan.”

While waiting for the shop owner in the back alley, she had glanced through the rear window into the storefront. From a distance, she thought their silhouettes looked familiar, but she never expected it to actually be them down here in the black market.

More than discovering their location, Pei Yanting was deeply unnerved by the strange, intimate dynamic between Pei Xiqing and Duan Xiaolin.

Xiao Yue hunched over, squatting down against the wall to catch his breath.

He spoke with noticeable difficulty. “Let’s focus on finding the medicine. Even though we know they’re here, we can’t do anything to them in my current state. As long as we find the medicine and I can recover some of my strength, we’ll be able to dig out the evidence we need from this place and completely destroy it—and him.”

Pei Yanting carefully helped him stand up. “But we don’t even know where to look for this specific medicine.”

“I have a strong hunch,” Xiao Yue wheezed, his eyes fixed on the storefront they had just been turned away from. “It’s inside that shop.”

Supported by Pei Yanting, he slowly limped away into the shadows.

But before turning the corner, he couldn’t help but look back in the direction Pei Xiqing and Duan Xiaolin had gone.

His pale hands quietly clenched into trembling fists.

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