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

Chapter 244: Seized by Force

His eyes darkened, growing infinitely deeper at her words. He lowered his head, pressing his face into her fragrant hair to take a slow, deliberate breath. “Your uniqueness never needs to be compromised—not for any reason, and certainly not to satisfy the opinions of others.”

Pei Xiqing watched his retreating figure as he left the house, letting out a quiet sigh of relief.

It was natural to want to change for the sake of love, to make choices completely different from those in her past life. But Duan Xiaolin truly understood her. Deep down, she had no desire to become a helpless, “normal” person at the mercy of others. She never wanted to be caged.

After he left, she playfully pinched Xiao Yi’s nose. Seeing the little pup tilt his head with a confused whimper, she smiled softly. “So what if I’m a monster?” she murmured, petting him as he affectionately nuzzled her palm.

Taking the leash, she walked the pup around the balcony a few times before heading to the kitchen to fetch his food. But just as she reached for the pan to heat his meal, the Qiong Snake energy dormant within her system convulsed violently, striking her nerves like a bolt of lightning.

The dog bowl slipped from her hands, shattering against the tiles. The carefully prepared ingredients scattered across the floor.

Pei Xiqing swayed heavily, her knuckles turning white as she gripped the marble counter just to stay on her feet. What was wrong with the horned snake? The sudden, explosive surge of power felt like an urgent warning. Was something terrible about to happen?

She didn’t even have a second to clean up the mess before she was forced to stagger toward the living room. With every step, her limbs grew heavier, her vision blurring into a dizzying haze. Her sight tunneled until all she could perceive was the dark floor and the faint drip-drip of an unrecognizable liquid hitting the wood.

Xiao Yi trotted over, eagerly licking up the droplets. It was only when the pup looked up, his muzzle stained crimson, that Pei Xiqing realized the dark fluid dripping from the corners of her mouth was her own blood.

She collapsed heavily onto the sofa, her trembling hands clamping over her mouth, but the dark blood continued to gush out relentlessly. By the time she registered what was happening, her palms were completely coated in crimson.

A terrifying numbness washed over her. She couldn’t feel her limbs; her senses were rapidly shutting down. If it weren’t for the hot, rough friction of the little pup frantically licking her arm, she would have completely lost all perception of the physical world and her own fading body temperature.

The zombie spots on her arms were fading, and the chronic, agonizing pain that had tormented her for so long was actually disappearing. Under normal circumstances, this would have been a miracle. Over the past few months, the side effects of the zombie virus had subjected her to such excruciating torment that she had resorted to self-harm just to cope. Now that the pain was gone, however, her heart sank like a stone.

The absence of pain brought an absolute void. She was losing her sight, her physical touch, and even her own internal emotions were steadily draining away into nothingness. This hollow, inescapable emptiness was infinitely more terrifying than the physical urge to smash her head against a wall.

Pei Xiqing hadn’t anticipated that the “aftermath” Qiu Chao had warned her about would strike with such devastating severity. For the first time, she felt genuine, paralyzing fear.

A sudden, crushing agony seized her chest. The sickening sound of bones grinding against each other echoed directly in her ears—the auditory hallucination of the zombie virus violently devouring, reshaping, and destroying her cellular structure. The pressure in her skull spiked until her eardrums felt ready to rupture, followed by a wave of violent colic and blinding vertigo. And then, just as rapidly as it crested, the storm subsided, washing away every remaining shred of her senses and emotions.

A faint trace of warmth finally returned to her cheek. It was Xiao Yi, licking her face over and over again. The pup had licked her skin raw, the tiny barbs on his tongue scraping against her cheek. Pei Xiqing realized with sluggish horror that to the little beast, her body temperature must have plummeted from warm to freezing in a matter of seconds, driving him into an anxious frenzy.

At the exact same moment, the Qiong Snake convulsed again, issuing another frantic internal warning.

Pei Xiqing dragged in a desperate, ragged breath. Perhaps she had carried the zombie virus for so long that her body had completely forgotten how to function as a normal human. Her eyes rolled back into a blank stare as she continued to hemorrhage, unable to pull herself out of the sensory void. Thank God the pup was there to ground her; otherwise, the cold would have consumed her before she even had a chance to react.

Her face felt completely numb, yet she could still perceive Xiao Yi’s frantic nudging. Mustering the last dregs of her strength, she weakly pushed the little beast away, grasping his snout. “I’m fine… but you absolutely cannot drink my blood.”

Xiao Yi whined, struggling excitedly against her grip. She was too weak to restrain him for long.

As the pup returned to frantically licking her arm, she forced her trembling fingers to move. Summoning her last ounce of willpower, she tapped her communication device, inputting the exact command code Duan Xiaolin had traced onto her palm.

The connection initialized. She parted her blood-stained lips, desperate to speak, but her vocal cords refused to produce a single sound. Her vision went entirely black, and she slumped sideways into unconsciousness.

On the other end of the line, the recipient instantly recognized the anomaly as the call abruptly went dead after just two rings.

Fifteen minutes later.

The bedroom curtains were drawn tight, casting the room in a heavy, oppressive gloom. Qiu Chao, clad in sterile gloves, systematically administered a series of high-dose injections into her arm. Duan Xiaolin sat rigidly by the edge of the bed, carefully tucking the quilt around her. His face was a mask of absolute, terrifying silence.

Pressing his fingertips against her chest, he channeled the fully manifested Qiong Snake to protect her failing heart.

“It’s exactly as I hypothesized,” Qiu Chao reported grimly.

The mysterious Substance X—the anomaly that had successfully suppressed the zombie pathogen—was being rapidly consumed and eradicated from her system. Its destruction was not only preventing Pei Xiqing from transitioning back into a normal human, but it had also entirely unleashed the dormant zombie virus to run rampant.

Vomiting blood was merely a superficial symptom. Her internal organs were currently being crushed and eroded by the viral load. While the serum could temporarily stall the necrosis, the Qiong Snake anchored within her system was the only reason she had survived the initial surge. Without it, she would simply have bled out on the living room floor before anyone could react.

Yet, despite the horned snake’s protection, the life force quietly flowing out of her body was incredibly tricky and entirely beyond medical control.

“How many more does she need?” the man asked, his voice deathly cold.

Qiu Chao rapidly calculated the metrics. “She needs to absorb a massive density of crystal cores to stabilize. The more, the better.”

“Use every single core contained within this headquarters,” Duan Xiaolin ordered, his thumb gently wiping a fresh trail of pale blood from the corner of Pei Xiqing’s mouth.

“The factions will not surrender them all voluntarily,” Qiu Chao warned.

“It is no longer their decision to make,” the man stated flatly. “I will return in twelve hours.”

Duan Xiaolin rose from the mattress, smoothly shrugging into his heavy tactical coat. Seeing him prepare to breach the perimeter, Qiu Chao couldn’t help but turn and voice a final warning. “Brother Duan… the sheer rarity and power of those crystal cores is enough to completely disrupt the order of this apocalypse. Every artifact possesses its own pre-coded destiny and rightful owner. If you attempt to seize them by brute force, the world will exact a terrible price.”

In response, Shadow stepped into the room and tossed a massive, heavy tactical bag directly at the researcher. Duan Xiaolin let out a dark, disdainful sneer.

“Then let the world try.”

Qiu Chao looked down at the bag, the sheer weight of the canvas instantly telling him exactly how many priceless artifacts were packed inside.

Shadow stepped in line behind the Chief Judge. “My apologies for the delay, sir, but my scouts managed to unearth a cache near the old village just in time.”

“Your timing is flawless,” Duan Xiaolin murmured, meticulously buttoning his cuffs. “There are still a few artifacts buried deep within the high command’s private vaults. I will personally extract them.”

Whether the universe had pre-ordained a destiny, or invisible, irresistible forces stood in his way—he was going to violently tear those so-called “destinies” apart to save her.

Chapter 245: Absolute Suppression

Duan Xiaolin strode into the headquarters building as if there were no one else around, barging straight into a high-level strategic meeting. A psychic guarding the door realized what was happening and hurried forward to intercept him. “Chief Judge… the Marshal is holding a critical meeting inside, you cannot—”

The man shot him a single, freezing glance. A cold sweat broke out across the guard’s back, and he immediately snapped his mouth shut.

As the heavy doors to the conference room swung open, Marshal Fu Yan looked up from the table. Seeing who it was, he appeared slightly surprised but quickly masked it with delight. “Xiaolin, you’re here. We are currently drafting strategic countermeasures regarding the recent parasite movements. If you’d like to join the session…”

The other officials in the room, however, reacted as if they were staring at an Asura crawling out from the depths of hell. They collectively lowered their heads, entirely unwilling to meet his eyes.

Duan Xiaolin let his cold gaze sweep across the attendees. He singled out two specific men.

The men whose names were called instantly straightened their backs, their bodies going rigid as uncontrollable tremors wracked their frames. They looked up in disbelief, their voices trembling so badly they could hear their own vocal cords vibrating. “Chief… Chief Judge, is there something we can help you with? We are in the middle of a session…”

“Hand over the crystal cores.”

The color drained from everyone’s faces.

“Crystal cores?”

“Didn’t we already turn in all our crystal cores to the repository?”

“Yes, exactly! Has the Chief Judge made a mistake?”

Duan Xiaolin had zero intention of showing mercy to anyone in this room.

He pulled out a chair, the sharp screech of metal dragging across the floor making everyone flinch. The harsh sound seemed to slice right through their hearts, breeding a thick, suffocating panic.

He sat down leisurely. “You refuse to hand them over? Or have you already smuggled them away in secret?”

The moment the words left his mouth, several men lowered their heads in tacit guilt. But they stubbornly maintained their facades.

“We don’t understand… what exactly is the Chief Judge implying?”

“You don’t understand?” Duan Xiaolin repeated coldly. “You know exactly what you’ve done, yet you dare to play dumb with me. Are you looking to die?”

He tossed a thick stack of photographs onto the mahogany table.

“Do you need my assistance in severing your black market connections? I really don’t mind.” With a flick of his wrist, he threw a sharp dagger.

Thunk.

The blade buried itself deep into the polished wood of the table, penetrating straight through.

The man narrowed his eyes dangerously. “Do you want to hand them over yourselves, or do you want my enforcers to come in here and sever the tendons in your wrists and ankles?”

After catching a glimpse of the photos, the faces of the accused turned ashen. If Franlun’s enforcers were called in, it wouldn’t just be about keeping the cores; it would be about surviving the night.

“Your Honor, we… we truly don’t possess any more crystal cores! If you don’t believe us, you can search our residences. We already surrendered everything to the high command!”

“Yes… aren’t you deliberately making things difficult for us?”

A bolder official tried to seize the moral high ground. “What is the meaning of this, Chief Judge? We’ve handed over our assets, yet you barge in here to interrogate us again. Do you really think we are so easily bullied? Or do you simply have no respect for the Marshal? The Marshal hasn’t even spoken yet, and you—”

The official championing justice found the cold barrel of a gun pressed against his temple in the very next second. Shadow had moved like a ghost.

It seemed that only Duan Xiaolin and Shadow had entered the room, but Franlun’s true power cast a much wider net. This was the central headquarters of the alliance, yet it had quietly become the headquarters of Franlun as well. Their true numbers and operational reach were entirely invisible—even to Marshal Fu Yan.

For all they knew, by the time Duan Xiaolin stepped into this room and openly demanded the cores, Franlun operatives had already entirely surrounded the building. As the most ruthless law enforcement agency in the world, wielding terrifying mystery and absolute authority, they never moved without absolute certainty.

In less than five seconds, the officials who hadn’t been singled out by Duan Xiaolin began to pressure their peers. “Team Leader Chen, Captain Liu, General Huang… The Chief Judge would never joke about military assets. Since you’ve hidden them, bring them out immediately so we don’t delay this strategic meeting. The Chief Judge is a reasonable man. As long as you surrender them now, there is still room for leniency.”

Weighing their options, and stealing terrified glances at the dagger still trembling in the table, several officials broke. One by one, they shuffled over and whispered the exact locations of their hidden caches to Duan Xiaolin.

Finally, only three men remained.

The leader of the holdouts, General Huang, was pale, his thick lips pressed tightly together. After enduring the suffocating tension for as long as he could, he finally snapped and slammed his palm onto the table.

“Marshal!” he roared. “Judge Duan is crossing the line! How can artifacts as precious as the crystal cores be monopolized by a single man? Aren’t you afraid that the Chief Judge will completely overpower your authority and crown himself king?!”

Duan Xiaolin narrowed his dark green eyes. His freezing gaze radiated a sharp, physical sting. It lacked any trace of warmth, feeling like a highly toxic venom being slowly injected directly into their veins, carrying an overwhelming sense of dread and the unknown.

Tonight, he was in absolutely no mood to humor their political nonsense.

The sheer terror flooding the conference room refused to dissipate. Before anyone could even process what was happening, General Huang had collapsed heavily onto the floor. His pupils were blown wide with absolute horror, and dark blood was slowly leaking from all seven of his orifices. He threw his hands up, blindly covering his face, though he didn’t even know when his vision had gone dark.

For the first time… he intuitively felt the crushing weight of an absolute, overwhelming superpower.

In stark contrast to Duan Xiaolin’s usual gentle and elegant facade, the aura he unleashed in that moment was composed of endless gloom, profound cruelty, and a suffocatingly intense murderous intent.

This was Duan Xiaolin’s true power—a force where his mere will dictated an inescapable reality.

In the catastrophic battle five years ago, it was this exact formidable power that had shielded the survivors. But after years of baptism in blood, this ability—which had once been a pure, unyielding force of destruction—had evolved. It now radiated an even more terrifying aura of absolute plunder and consumption.

Over the past five years, he had endured the agonizing cycle of gaining and losing his abilities, single-handedly building the Franlun empire from the ashes. Under such extreme pressure, Duan Xiaolin’s state of mind had undergone an earth-shattering transformation. No ordinary man could suddenly awaken to world-breaking power, lose it in the blink of an eye, and still possess the ruthless mental fortitude to rule Franlun.

General Huang sat slumped on the floor, gasping for air.

Duan Xiaolin had merely twitched his fingers, yet the General had been crushed to the point of bleeding from his orifices, stripped of any capacity to resist.

If his very soul had been terrified out of his body, what right did he have to cling to a few glowing rocks?

With trembling hands, General Huang reached into his uniform and pulled out two crystal cores he had kept hidden against his chest. Even through the careful, tight wrapping, the artifacts emitted a brilliant, faint blue luminescence.

Duan Xiaolin crouched down in front of the broken man. “Give them to me.”

It was an absolute command. An order that hung heavy over every soul in the room.

General Huang raised his shaking hand, his spirit completely broken, and reluctantly surrendered the items.

But suddenly, Duan Xiaolin’s palm shifted. Something else was pressed firmly into General Huang’s open hand.

The General looked down in a daze.

Resting in his palm were several other crystal cores of an equally high tier. However, these were distinctly different from the refined ones they had hoarded. These were raw and visceral—freshly extracted from the corpses of high-level zombies or advanced parasites.

General Huang stared up at Duan Xiaolin in absolute disbelief.

“Chief Judge… what are you doing…?”

“I don’t deal in the banditry of burning, killing, and looting,” Duan Xiaolin murmured smoothly. He cradled the two specific blue crystal cores in his hands with immense care, as if they were his most cherished treasures. “I simply prefer forced transactions.”

Having secured exactly what he came for, the man stood up. Before leaving, he cast a very specific, deliberate look at Fu Yan sitting at the head of the table.

Fu Yan stroked his newly grown white beard, a dark, gloomy shadow pooling in his eyes.

Chapter 246: Sit Tight

Duan Xiaolin cut straight to the point. “The Marshal stands to gain absolutely nothing from cooperating with a parasite.”

Fu Yan’s expression shifted—a flicker so faint it was nearly imperceptible. Without a word, he raised a hand, signaling the remaining officials to evacuate the room. A tense silence settled over the massive conference hall until only the two men remained.

Fu Yan rested his forearm against the mahogany table, the cuff of his uniform pulling back to reveal an expensive, old-world watch. He frowned slightly. “When exactly did you figure this out?”

“It started with the sudden appearance of that isolated village just outside the ghost market,” Duan Xiaolin replied smoothly.

Fu Yan’s gaze sharpened, a flash of genuine irritation breaking through his calm facade. “I engineered an absolute paradise explicitly for you and your woman, yet even that wasn’t enough to satisfy your appetite?”

Duan Xiaolin let out a low laugh. “What a pity…” A fleeting trace of cold regret flashed in his dark eyes. “But I do appreciate the hospitality.”

“It appears she took the initiative to step out of bounds first,” Fu Yan muttered. Otherwise, Duan Xiaolin would have never returned to the capital. The Marshal had explicitly customized that safe house beyond the Ghost Market—a pristine, uncontaminated sector intentionally preserved by the high command during the zombie eradication sweeps. It was meant to be his ultimate bargaining chip to keep Duan Xiaolin pacified and out of headquarters.

Now, his daughter’s life remained firmly in this man’s grip. And by extension, the entire future of the base was under his control.

“It’s just a shame her true identity as a zombie cannot be exposed to the public. I suspect even she couldn’t foresee the catastrophic consequences of walking back into this grid.” Fu Yan lowered his head, letting out a harsh, sarcastic chuckle. “Jingyu fell into your hands solely because she discovered what your woman really is.”

“You can rest assured she won’t die anytime soon,” Duan Xiaolin stated calmly. “I will not disclose her coordinates until my objectives are fully resolved.”

She won’t die… To Fu Yan, that phrasing hinted at the worst possible reality. He couldn’t stop himself from rubbing his bloodshot eyes. He understood Franlun’s interrogation methods better than anyone. Even if Jingyu was kept breathing, she was undoubtedly paying a horrific, agonizing price.

He still didn’t know the exact metrics of how his daughter had uncovered Pei Xiqing’s zombie nature, nor how she had blundered so deeply into Duan Xiaolin’s trap. Paralyzed by a profound sense of powerlessness, Fu Yan had been forced to negotiate with Duan Xiaolin while simultaneously attempting to reach a grim consensus with the parasite network.

“Are you truly so confident that I won’t leak the reality of her infection to the entire base?” Fu Yan threatened. When backed into a corner, wasn’t mutual destruction a valid tactical maneuver?

The corners of Duan Xiaolin’s lips twitched upward into a chilling smirk. “You are welcome to try.”

He tapped a device on his wrist, initializing a holographic projector. A crisp light screen flickered to life above the table.

The footage displayed Xia Jingyu trapped deep within a massive, filthy pit of mangled corpses. She was covered in gore, desperately trying to scale the slippery walls of the mass grave. Yet, every time she painstakingly crawled a few meters up, a fresh corpse would be callously hurled down from the rim, striking her and sending her tumbling right back down into the endless sea of rotting bodies.

Fu Yan violently slammed his fist against the mahogany. “Duan Xiaolin!”

His white hair and beard practically bristled with raw fury. The truth was, the Marshal was no longer a young man, and his accelerated aging wasn’t entirely the result of bureaucratic stress—it was the physical toll of his own dark, genetic compromises.

“The Marshal should find those specific corpses quite familiar,” Duan Xiaolin pointed out, offering absolutely no quarter. “Compared to your administration actively feeding the parasites and slaughtering mutants to condition your personal assassins, my methods are still remarkably tame.”

Fu Yan clenched his trembling fists. “I suspect you are infinitely worse than that.”

Duan Xiaolin merely chuckled, declining to validate the accusation.

A heavy, suffocating silence dragged on for several seconds before Fu Yan’s features stiffened, his aura turning profoundly gloomy. “Instead of conspiring with those beasts in the shadows, why don’t you just surrender the crystal cores to me? I can personally guarantee your absolute authority in this capital for the next ten years.”

Fu Yan paused, then let out a hollow laugh. “Actually, ten years? That severely underestimates your capabilities. With the alliance’s recent technological breakthroughs and the genetic integration of parasitic strains, the baseline human lifespan has been drastically extended. I suspect you will rule for far longer than a decade.”

As he spoke, he reached into his vault and slowly slid the final five high-tier crystal cores across the table, stopping right in front of Duan Xiaolin.

Duan Xiaolin smoothly collected the artifacts, fully understanding the transaction. “Then I shall allow you to sit on this throne for as long as you desire.”

Fu Yan’s laughter grew louder, echoing through the empty hall. Yet the sound was utterly devoid of joy, brimming only with profound bitterness and absolute helplessness.

Duan Xiaolin strode purposefully out of the executive building. Shadow, waiting silently by the perimeter, immediately handed him a tactical datapad. A holographic topographical map projected outward, tracking his stride until he slid into the armored vehicle. Across the glowing grid, several red targeting dots continued to shift rapidly.

He tapped a red dot with his slender finger, and an encrypted comms channel instantly opened.

“Brother Duan!” The voice on the other end belonged to Yu Zhan. He was wheezing slightly, clearly catching his breath after a violent skirmish, his tone gruff and adrenaline-fueled. “Point A has been entirely cleared. The strike teams in the other sectors should be wrapping up soon. What’s your status?”

“Secured without issue,” Duan Xiaolin replied.

“Excellent.” On the other side of the comms, Yu Zhan violently kicked aside the mangled corpse of a parasite he had just slaughtered for its crystal core. His towering physical frame was actually more imposing than the mutated beast itself.

“Have the assets transferred to headquarters within the hour,” Duan Xiaolin ordered.

“Understood. Thanks for your hard work, Brother Duan.”

“The labor is necessary.” Yu Zhan adjusted his headset. “Old Three and his vanguard are still sweeping their grid for hidden cores. I’m going to rendezvous with their unit to assess the situation. If they extract any, I’ll have them couriered to you immediately.”

“Good.”

“But Brother Duan, there are still a handful of high-tier cores circulating through the black market syndicates. I’m afraid extracting those won’t be a simple transaction…”

“I will personally handle the black market,” Duan Xiaolin stated flatly.

“Understood. Leave the remaining domestic sectors to us.”

Once the primary channel closed, Yu Zhan pressed his earpiece, switching to the tactical squad frequency. “Status report across all grids?”

“Sector cleared smoothly.”

“Give me ten more minutes.”

“Target liquidated. Core secured.”

Yu Zhan let out a booming laugh, taunting the operative who requested more time. “Old Three, you are genuinely slacking! Since when did Franlun’s execution efficiency drop this low?”

“Piss off,” came the static-laced reply.

“Brother Duan requires these assets immediately, so pick up the pace,” Yu Zhan commanded, his tone turning serious. “It’s time for Franlun to finally step out of the shadows and show this capital who really runs the board.”

Pei Xiqing regained consciousness three hours later.

She sat propped up against the headboard, her face a sickly, deathly pale. Xiao Yi crouched silently on the rug beside the bed, watching her without blinking.

Even after waking, her system failed to register any sensory data from her environment. Everything in front of her eyes remained pitch black. She hadn’t just lost the visual spectrum; she had been entirely stripped of her physical strength, her internal emotions, and her very capacity to communicate.

Qiu Chao stepped into the bedroom, a clinical tablet in hand. He tapped the screen, and several high-frequency biometric scanning beams swept methodically across Pei Xiqing’s frame. He stared intensely at the fluctuating data streams logging into his system. Once the diagnostic sweep concluded, he asked gently, “How are you feeling?”

He was wearing a sterile medical mask, though Pei Xiqing couldn’t have seen his expression regardless of her blindness. She parted her lips, attempting to force a response, but only a silent breath escaped.

A deep worry fractured Qiu Chao’s professional gaze. “It’s alright. Just prioritize your rest for now. Don’t overthink the metrics.”

Realizing her vocal cords were completely paralyzed, Pei Xiqing simply offered a weak nod.

She reached out blindly, gesturing for his notepad and a pen. With trembling fingers, she managed to scrawl a single, jagged line across the paper.

Qiu Chao didn’t even need to read the text to know exactly who she was asking for. “He will be here very soon,” he promised softly.

Pei Xiqing nodded again.

She slowly raised her hands, resting her palms flat against her chest. Beneath her ribs, she could vividly feel the immense, pulsing energy of the Qiong Snake, relentlessly shielding her failing heart. In return, she gently stroked her own chest, attempting to soothe the frantic entity.

Ever since it had triggered its initial warning, the horned serpent had been incredibly restless. It was actively fighting to anchor the fading life force within her biology while simultaneously launching brutal counter-attacks against the surging zombie necrosis. Unfortunately, its defensive efforts were yielding diminishing returns. At this rate, the ultimate irony would soon be realized: she would finally be stripped down into the fragile, “normal” human being that every survivor in the apocalypse dreamed of becoming—just in time to die.

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