What?! I Became the Zombie Beauty in the Villain’s Arms – CH23

Chapter 23: I Want More Than This

With those words, the man’s arm tightened around her waist, pressing her backward. Pei Xiqing fell against the plush leather of the backseat, practically lying down. She placed a trembling hand against his chest, blinking nervously in the dark. “What… what are you doing?”

“You ask as if you don’t already know,” he murmured, his voice a low rumble. “Don’t you know exactly what I want to do?”

Pei Xiqing barely dared to look him in the eye. As he leaned closer, their bodies inevitably pressed together. Beneath the crisp fabric of his shirt, his chest was solid and unyielding, the sheer density of his muscles making her palm ache slightly. “The others are still at the camp,” she whispered, her heart hammering. “They could come over at any second…”

“They won’t be back that fast,” Duan Xiaolin replied smoothly.

“Maybe?”

“Are you afraid of being discovered?”

“I am,” Pei Xiqing admitted nervously.

If they were caught, Ling Lang would probably kick her out of the convoy immediately. Duan Xiaolin was essentially his brother, and here she was—a half-mutant—having a highly ambiguous, dangerous entanglement with him right under the squad’s noses. Given Ling Lang’s volatile temper, he might literally throw her to the zombie hordes or lock her in a laboratory on the spot.

And if the rest of the base found out? If word spread that a High Representative of Franlun was intimately involved with an infected girl, there was no telling how severe the rumors would get, or how brutally Franlun’s High Council would punish him.

“Aren’t you afraid?” she asked breathlessly. “I’m a half-zombie. I can bite. If I accidentally bite you and infect you, the great Representative of Franlun will become a monster too. The entire base will treat you like an anomaly.”

Duan Xiaolin let out a low, dark chuckle. He stared directly into her clear, trembling eyes. “Then try biting me.”

Pei Xiqing’s eyes widened in shock.

To make a request like that to someone infected with the zombie virus was either a death wish or an exhibition of absolute, terrifying arrogance.

Seeing the man genuinely offer himself to her, a horrific, primal instinct flared in her mind. She truly didn’t want to bite him, but as she stared at the exposed skin of his neck and the strong lines of his palm, her mouth watered. She swallowed hard, forcibly wrenching her face away. “No.”

If I bite him, we’re both dead.

“Are you trying to test me?” Pei Xiqing said, trying to sound righteous. “I will absolutely not bite anyone. I won’t make an exception, not even for you.”

Even though the powerful man pinning her down was overwhelmingly tempting in this moment, she had to cling to the absolute last line of her human defense. Once she gave in and bit someone, what made her any different from the mindless beasts roaming the wasteland? It would be the ultimate degradation.

“Are you entirely sure you won’t bite?”

“I won’t.”

“Keeping a little zombie that refuses to bite…” He smiled, a dangerous, unfathomable curve of his lips. “So what if the base treats me like an anomaly? I actually think keeping you around will be quite entertaining.”

Pei Xiqing’s cheeks burned crimson. Flustered, she pushed against his chest and struggled to sit up. But before she could even slide her legs off the seat, the man’s broad hand clamped onto her waist, effortlessly pulling her back into his space.

His grip was like forged steel—possessing the unshakable, terrifying strength of a high-tier ability user.

With one hand firmly gripping her waist, his other hand slid around to the back of her head, gently but forcibly guiding her face back toward his. His fingers threaded into her hair, gripping the fragile nape of her neck, easily subduing her. “Your ‘thank you’ gift wasn’t nearly enough.”

He leaned in, his voice dropping to a seductive whisper. “I want something much deeper than a superficial peck.”

Before Pei Xiqing could even process the words, his scorching breath brushed against her skin, and he captured her lips.

He started at her jawline, pressing open-mouthed kisses against her fragile neck, tracing the curve of her pale cheek before finally, forcefully, claiming her mouth. His movements were slow, deliberate, and entirely consuming, causing the woman in his arms to tremble violently. Pei Xiqing couldn’t dodge him. His kiss was a devastating mixture of overwhelming strength and dark tenderness. His hot breath wrapped around her, invading her senses bit by bit.

What began as a mere taste rapidly escalated into a ravenous, insatiable demand, like a bottomless pit of suppressed desire suddenly breaking open.

Duan Xiaolin’s kiss grew deeply aggressive. He coaxed her lips apart, his tongue sweeping inside to tangle with hers. His towering frame completely blocked the open car door, shielding the interior of the cabin from the outside world. As he kissed her breathless, his hand slipped beneath her heavy coat, his rough palm sliding against the thin fabric of her shirt at her waist.

The sensation sent a violent shudder through Pei Xiqing’s spine. Just as she instinctively tried to pull back, his hand at the nape of her neck tightened. With effortless strength, he lifted her by the waist, pulling her fully into the vehicle and directly onto his lap.

She was completely powerless to resist. Straddling his lap in the confined space, she was now positioned slightly taller than him. He tilted his head up, pulling her down and forcing her to accept the relentless rhythm of his kiss.

The rough calluses on his fingers traced the sensitive skin behind her ear, sending jolts of electricity through her nervous system. Pei Xiqing felt so incredibly hot that a thin sheen of sweat broke out across her skin. Her entire body melted against him, completely drained of strength.

She didn’t even realize when her heavy coat had slipped off her shoulders. Dressed only in the oversized men’s shirt, she was kissed so thoroughly and deeply that her mind went entirely blank, spinning in a dizzying, breathless haze.

She had no idea how long he held her like that. When Duan Xiaolin finally broke the kiss, pulling back slightly, Pei Xiqing was a beautiful, wrecked mess. Her eyes were glazed and watery, and her lips were completely swollen, flushed a deep, bruised red.

She looked as though her soul had been kissed right out of her body, hanging limply and bonelessly against his chest.

Duan Xiaolin caught her wrist, slowly moving it to rest against his waist. He reached up with his free hand, adjusting the gold-rimmed glasses that had been knocked slightly askew. He stared at her heavily through the lenses. “I sincerely hope you can afford the price.”

“…What?” she gasped weakly.

“Everything I want.”

Pei Xiqing finally regained a shred of clarity. Meeting his dark, ravenous gaze, her heart slammed against her ribs. “What… what else do you want?”

“You’ll know when the time comes.” He slowly let her go.

The current environment was far too exposed, and he had no intention of taking this any further in the back of an SUV parked in a wasteland camp.

Pei Xiqing felt a sudden, terrifying chill run down her spine.

On the surface, he seemed like an elegant, aristocratic gentleman—poised, disciplined, entirely devoted to humanity’s survival. But beneath that flawless exterior lay something unfathomably dangerous and borderline evil.

She realized with terrifying clarity that she still knew absolutely nothing about this man. He wasn’t someone who lost control easily. His mind was a labyrinth, and his heart was still wrapped in impenetrable armor.

Duan Xiaolin gently brushed his knuckles against her flushed cheek, tucking a stray strand of damp hair behind her ear. “Good girl. The squad will be back soon. Calm yourself down.”

He treated her like a prized, captive pet.

He was the absolute master of the situation. It was maddening.

Pei Xiqing scrambled off his lap, retreating to the far corner of the backseat and taking deep, shaky breaths to steady her racing heart.

The man calmly straightened the collar of his slightly wrinkled shirt. Without another word, he opened the car door and stepped out into the freezing night.

The heavy armored door clicked shut, sealing her inside.

Outside, Duan Xiaolin leaned against the side of the vehicle. He pulled a thick cigar from his inner pocket, bit the end, and lit it. He took a long, deep drag, the thick, acrid smoke entirely masking the scent of the encounter.

His physical composure was flawless, but he was still a man; the intense provocation had triggered an undeniable, heavy biological reaction. He needed the nicotine to aggressively suppress the fire burning in his blood.

Inside the cabin, Pei Xiqing curled into a tight ball, burying her flushed face in the collar of her heavy coat, wishing the floorboards would just swallow her whole.

A few minutes later, Ling Lang jogged over. Seeing Duan Xiaolin standing outside the vehicle, he peered curiously at the tinted glass. “Where’s Pei Xiqing?”

“She fell asleep.”

Ling Lang blinked, then stared at his brother in genuine shock. “Brother! Why the hell are you smoking so heavily? What’s stressing you out?”

You didn’t realize it until you saw it, but Ling Lang was genuinely dumbfounded.

His brother was usually a very slow, deliberate smoker. The last time Ling Lang had seen him chain-smoke with such heavy, intense drags was back at the central base, after he had captured a massive syndicate of rogue ability users. He had personally interrogated them for three consecutive days and nights without sleep before finally extracting the names of every smuggler and traitor on the roster.

Duan Xiaolin didn’t answer the question. He simply crushed the cigar under his boot. “Gear up. It’s time to move out.”

“Copy that.”

Ling Lang turned toward the camp, barking orders. “Pack your gear! We roll out in thirty minutes!”

Before walking away, Ling Lang tried to peer through the G-Class window again, but Duan Xiaolin subtly shifted his broad shoulders, blocking the majority of the ambient light. “Is she really asleep?” Ling Lang asked skeptically.

Inside, Pei Xiqing pulled the coat over her head, not daring to make a single sound.

“She fell asleep that fast? Are you sure she isn’t having a medical emergency?”

Duan Xiaolin just stared at him, his silence serving as an icy warning to drop it.

Ignoring the warning, Ling Lang rapped his knuckles loudly against the glass. “Hey! Are you awake in there? Let me look at that burn on your hand. If it scars over, don’t come crying to me!”

Pei Xiqing endured the knocking for several seconds. Realizing the stubborn idiot wasn’t going to leave, she finally poked her head out from under the coat and cracked the window an inch. “I don’t need you to look at it. I’m fine.”

“Oh, so you are awake. Stop arguing and let me see it.”

“No, really, it’s fine,” she said stiffly, acutely aware that Duan Xiaolin was standing right next to him, listening to every word.

Ling Lang frowned. “Why are you getting so defensive? Look at me, I didn’t even do anything to you!”

“Just leave it.”

“Stop wasting time. I hate people who dilly-dally.” Ling Lang reached through the cracked window, forcibly grabbed her wrist, and pulled her hand out into the light to inspect the burn on her fingertips. After a few seconds, he scoffed. “Next time you decide to grab raw elemental energy with your bare hands, I’m just going to let your skin burn off.”

Pei Xiqing immediately snatched her hand back, blushing furiously and remaining entirely silent.

As a few operatives jogged past them with supply crates, Ling Lang couldn’t help but stare at her face.

He was genuinely baffled.

Why does her face get so incredibly red every time I talk to her? I literally haven’t done anything inappropriate. Why is she acting so shy?

The moment Ling Lang finally walked away to check the vehicles, Pei Xiqing scrambled to roll the window up.

She buried her face in her hands, groaning softly.

A few seconds later, another sharp knock hit the glass.

She snapped her head up. “Ling Lang, I swear to god, you are really—”

She froze. It wasn’t Ling Lang.

Duan Xiaolin was standing there, staring at her through the glass.

He made a subtle gesture with his fingers, ordering her to roll the window down.

Pei Xiqing was confused, but she obediently pressed the button.

The absolute second the glass lowered enough, a strong hand shot into the cabin, gripping the back of her neck. Duan Xiaolin leaned down and kissed her hard, his lips crushing against hers in a sudden, possessive surge of dominance.

Ling Lang and the rest of the squad were actively loading gear less than ten meters away! They could look over at any second!

Pei Xiqing’s eyes widened in sheer panic. When he finally pulled back, she gasped, “You… they’re going to see!”

The man released her neck, his dark eyes brimming with a dangerous, territorial satisfaction. “No, they won’t.”

“Why did you just do that again?!” she hissed.

Sitting in the dim cabin, her eyes were wide and watery, looking incredibly pitiful. She covered her swollen mouth with her hands, looking up at him as if she had been deeply wronged.

It had been so sudden and forceful.

“I felt like it,” Duan Xiaolin replied, his tone entirely casual, as if he hadn’t just risked their exposure. His gaze drifted to her bruised, swollen lips, and a low chuckle escaped him. “Close the window.”

With that, he turned on his heel and walked away to discuss the route with Long Yan, his posture as immaculate and terrifyingly professional as ever.

Pei Xiqing’s brain completely short-circuited.

She rubbed her throbbing temples.

That dark, ravenous look in Duan Xiaolin’s eyes… she really didn’t want to think about what that meant.

She had no idea if provoking him tonight had been a trivial mistake, or a catastrophically wrong decision.

Shortly after, the squad finished packing the camp. To Pei Xiqing’s surprise, Long Yan opened the rear door of the G-Class and slid into the backseat next to her. Long Yan was smiling and chatting animatedly. Pei Xiqing tried her best to feign exhaustion and pretend to sleep, but her ears perked up the moment Long Yan mentioned the radar.

“Wait, what? Sister Long Yan, what team did the radar pick up?” Pei Xiqing asked, suddenly sitting up.

“The biometric scanners just picked up a highly concentrated squad of ability users moving ahead of us,” Long Yan explained. “They’re keeping a decent pace. The radar indicates their overall combat power is extremely high, and the thermal signatures suggest they have a dual-ability user leading them. Given our current route, we’ll intercept them by tomorrow.”

Long Yan smiled. “If they’re genuinely strong, it’ll be a great opportunity to run some combat exchanges. Plus, their formation suggests they’re an official military squad from the central base, not a group of rogue scavengers like the last ones. Meeting a sanctioned squad means we can finally trade for fresh intel and top-tier supplies.”

A dual-ability user?

There were only a handful of dual-ability users in the entire apocalyptic world. Could it be the male protagonist, Xiao Yue, and Team S1?

A deep sense of dread washed over Pei Xiqing. Just as she was about to desperately ask if they could detour around them, Long Yan suddenly turned her head, staring intently at Pei Xiqing’s face.

Long Yan burst into laughter, her eyes lighting up like she had just discovered a new continent. “Xiqing! Why is the corner of your mouth completely bruised and bitten? Hahahaha, what the hell happened to you?!”

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