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

Chapter 298: Got Knocked Out

Shadow was barely holding on. Gritting his teeth, the pilot wrestled with the controls, desperately buying them time so the aircraft could use the last of its heavily armored hull to tear itself away from the storm’s epicenter.

But it wouldn’t last long.

The aircraft was trapped by the external magnetic field. Even at maximum thrust, they couldn’t escape the invisible tether violently pulling and tearing at the ship. The severely damaged fuselage shuddered uncontrollably. As the ship tilted erratically, Shadow fought with everything he had to maintain altitude, while the sudden shift in gravity sent Pei Xiqing and Xiao Xiao crashing hard against the far wall of the cabin.

Another Shadow operative rushed over to help her up, but Pei Xiqing immediately raised her hand. “Don’t come over! Just stand where I was a moment ago. The current isn’t as strong there. Protect yourselves first, then worry about me.”

The operative stepped into her previous spot. After a few seconds, he replied through gritted teeth, “The current here is exactly the same as everywhere else, Miss Pei. The safe zone you described doesn’t exist.”

Gripping a nearby console, Pei Xiqing ignored the sharp pain radiating from her waist and pulled herself up. She stared at the spot for a few seconds. “Are you absolutely sure?”

“Yes,” he grunted. “I’m sure.”

As he spoke, the overwhelming electric current coursing through the cabin forced him down onto one knee. Still, he kept his gaze fixed on Pei Xiqing. “The aircraft hasn’t completely crashed yet. Miss Pei, take these parachutes. Grab the child and evacuate immediately.”

He slid two emergency parachute packs across the floor toward her.

Beside her, Xiao Xiao was twitching violently on the metal deck. Unlike the highly trained, super-powered operatives, he lacked a strong physique. He wouldn’t last much longer. Even the hardened Shadow operatives were being shocked so severely they could barely stand; it was a miracle Xiao Xiao was still conscious at all.

Pei Xiqing kicked the parachutes back toward the operative. “Take him and jump first.”

“Impossible,” the operative replied instantly. His body trembled under the relentless electric shocks, but his terrifying mask remained locked on her. “You cannot die.”

The iron-clad discipline of Franlun was as unyielding as a mountain. Faced with life and death, they would prioritize the Chief Judge’s orders above all else. If he failed to protect her, he would have no right to call himself a member of Franlun.

Xiao Xiao slowly forced himself up from the ground, weakly pushing the parachute away. “I want to stay! I promised… the aircraft cannot crash!”

Pei Xiqing had been shocked multiple times by the ambient current as well. Each strike sent a numbing jolt straight to the top of her head, but then she realized something crucial. She fell silent for a moment, analyzing the sensation, before suddenly ordering, “Stop moving.”

Xiao Xiao froze. The two Shadow operatives also looked at her in confusion.

Pei Xiqing lowered her eyes, sensing the intense electrical charge crackling across the soles of her shoes. The aircraft’s hull was made of a specialized alloy; when the current flowed through the metal, it was nearly invisible. But when it made contact with a human body, it manifested as deep, violent arcs of blackish-purple and brilliant blue. She could clearly see the lethal electricity clinging to the operatives, relentlessly attacking both their bodies and their supernatural abilities.

When the anomaly’s current collided with their internal energy, the reaction somehow amplified the damage, directly short-circuiting the ability users’ powers. The stronger the awakened user, the longer they could resist, but over time, they would still be subjected to endless, agonizing torture—just like the struggling Shadows.

“Don’t move,” she instructed calmly. “Try to relax. Remember, do not take a single step. Wait for me to come to you.”

The operative looked puzzled. “Miss Pei, it’s best if you don’t move. Every time you cross these conductive currents, the pain will double. If you stay still, you might be able to cope. But if you walk over here, you’ll inevitably be shocked repeatedly.”

Even as he spoke, Pei Xiqing was already moving.

Step by agonizing step, she closed the distance. The operative instinctively tried to step forward to stop her, but she shouted for him to stay put. Rushing the last few feet, she lunged and grabbed the operative’s bare hand.

The Shadow shuddered violently, his combat reflexes almost throwing her across the room in defense. Fortunately, he recognized her and forcibly reined in his strength. Otherwise, anyone who dared to grab a Franlun operative so abruptly would have been hurled ten meters away.

There was no hesitation or embarrassment in Pei Xiqing’s eyes—only sheer determination. Gripping his hand tightly, she deliberately channeled her internal energy, transferring the unique power residing within her to him.

The operative was stunned for two seconds as the energy washed over him. “This is…”

“The Horned Snake,” she replied. “You should recognize it.”

“I do.” It was the Chief Judge’s terrifyingly powerful supernatural entity.

As she transferred the power, the erratic electric currents immediately began to bypass the operative, flowing harmlessly around him. Wasting no time, Pei Xiqing hurried over to the pilot’s seat and grabbed the other Shadow operative’s hand, transferring the same protective aura to him. The phantom serpent obediently coiled itself around their wrists, forming an impenetrable barrier against the storm’s electricity.

“Thank you, Miss Pei… I feel much better,” the first operative said, slowly regaining his footing. “But how is this possible?”

Pei Xiqing moved to help Xiao Xiao off the deck. “I made a mistake,” she admitted. “I should have made physical contact with all of you sooner.”

“What do you mean?”

“I was exposed to a massive electrical anomaly back in the Ghost Market,” she explained. “I’m not exactly sure why, but the residual energy from that incident seems to have altered my body permanently. When we got hit by the shockwave just now, I was directly exposed to the current, and I realized it wasn’t actually causing me any damage.”

The key, however, was releasing the Horned Snake. The entity had essentially become one with her; it was now a part of her very being. The life-threatening electrocution she had endured in the Ghost Market had effectively immunized her body, allowing her to withstand high-voltage shocks of this exact frequency.

It might have taken her much longer to figure it out, but her subconscious instinct for self-preservation had forcefully drawn the snake out. If her theory was right—and the practical evidence strongly suggested it was—then the lethal anomaly in the Ghost Market hadn’t just been a hazard. It was a legendary fortuitous encounter meant for the novel’s original protagonist… and she had accidentally stolen it.

Aside from that plotline, there was no other logical reason to explain her sudden immunity. Furthermore, she could acutely feel the latent energy from the numerous high-grade crystal cores Duan Xiaolin had fed her acting as an invisible battery, actively sustaining the snake’s protective shield.

Now confident in her immunity, she quickly pulled Xiao Xiao to his feet and handed him a tissue. “How are you holding up?”

Xiao Xiao tried to pout, but his facial muscles were still twitching, leaving his mouth in a crooked, comical slant. “…I feel much better. You’re amazing, Sister Pei.”

“Then stick close to me and hold my hand tight.”

“Got it.”

Pei Xiqing stood tall and looked at the two operatives. “That goes for you two as well. If you feel like you can’t withstand the electric feedback from the consoles, just come grab my hand.”

The two Shadow operatives exchanged a stiff, silent look.

“…”

Even behind their terrifying masks, the sheer awkwardness and embarrassment in their eyes was palpable. Just a moment ago, they had been intimately holding hands with their terrifying boss’s girlfriend. If the Chief Judge found out, they wouldn’t have to worry about the storm—they would already be dead meat.

Chapter 299: Emergency Landing

Pei Xiqing turned back to check on the two Shadow operatives behind her. The cockpit had grown eerily quiet, and she couldn’t help but look over her shoulder.

Seeing them standing there as stiff as robots, she asked in confusion, “What’s wrong?”

Although she couldn’t see their expressions behind the terrifying masks, their rigid posture made it glaringly obvious how uncomfortable they were.

One of the operatives finally opened his mouth, his voice strained. “…We can still bear it. That brief contact just now was enough.”

“It’s not enough,” Pei Xiqing said firmly. “The electric currents here are terrifying, and our aircraft is slowly being sucked into the thunderstorm’s magnetic field. The chances of us getting out of this completely unscathed are quite low. Until we’re safe, you cannot stray too far from me. If you get electrocuted and feel like you can’t hold on any longer, you must hold my hand.”

“…”

Pei Xiqing suddenly realized what was going on.

Her expression turned dead serious. “What’s the big deal? Survival is the most important thing right now.”

She genuinely didn’t mind the physical contact, but the two elite, hardened operatives were clearly deeply embarrassed.

Are all the Shadow operatives in Franlun like this? she wondered. It seemed her usual Brother Shadow was the exact same way. Even after all these years, he still didn’t have a girlfriend. She briefly wondered what was happening between him and Ma Mengxiang back in the village, or how the village itself was faring.

But there was no time to dwell on that now.

The cockpit warning lights began to flash a violent, urgent red.

The blaring alarms served as a grim reminder that the aircraft was still being dragged uncontrollably backward into the anomaly. The emergency thrust from earlier had only bought them a temporary reprieve, moving them forward just a short distance. Now completely out of fuel, the heavy transport was being sucked right back in.

Xiao Xiao, having recovered a bit of his strength, scrambled over to take the yoke.

After scanning the readouts for a few seconds, he panicked. “Sister Pei! The aircraft can’t hold on! We really are going to be sucked inside. We need to prepare to parachute right now!”

“It’s too late,” Pei Xiqing said softly, staring intently at the shifting images on the radar screen.

In the blink of an eye, they had already been swallowed by the thunderstorm’s magnetic field.

This anomaly wasn’t stationary. It was moving at a slow, creeping pace. They had hovered around the fringes to confirm it was a trap and to buy time for the rest of the fleet to evacuate. But during that brief window, the magnetic field had silently shifted toward them.

And now, they were trapped deep inside its outer perimeter.

The structural integrity alarms screamed as the immense atmospheric pressure threatened to tear the cabin apart.

Shadow immediately retrieved the last two sets of emergency parachuting gear. “We have no choice. We have to jump.”

Pei Xiqing took the heavy equipment. “Get ready.”

“Do you know how to use this?” Shadow asked.

“I think I can manage…”

During her past acting career, she had often done wire-fu stunts. Wearing a parachute harness had to be somewhat similar to wirework… right? As long as she deployed the chute at the critical moment, it should be fine.

Fortunately, the parachuting gear in this apocalyptic world was far more advanced than what she was used to back home. There was no need for extensive training, repeated practice jumps, or precise manual timing. The jumper simply had to press the deployment button when nearing the ground, and the system would automatically calibrate the descent and landing.

Shadow quickly ran her through the essential operating points.

Xiao Xiao, fully dressed in his gear and eager to prove himself, stepped forward. “I know how to do it! I’ll jump first and scout the way for you, Sister!”

“There’s a lethal magnetic field out there!” Pei Xiqing scolded, grabbing his shoulder. “Don’t mess around. You could be blown away from the center of the vortex at any moment. Even if I can absorb and neutralize the electric currents for you now, I won’t be able to save you if we get separated out there.”

She tossed a heavy-duty tether rope across the cabin. “When we jump, everyone must hold onto this rope as tightly as you can. You absolutely cannot let go. Otherwise, the moment we hit the open air, you will be completely sucked into the storm’s core.”

She turned to the two operatives and outlined the plan. “Attach one end of this tether securely to the aircraft. Then, trigger the ship’s final emergency burst of power and set the autopilot to fly directly outward. I just contacted the nearest Franlun transport; they are going to attempt a mid-air docking with our ship. If they can catch the aircraft, they can drag the rope—and us—out of this anomaly so we can land safely.”

Even crash-landing on the violent fringes of this zone was infinitely better than free-falling directly into the heart of the magnetic field. Anything that went into the center would be instantly torn to shreds.

Shadow nodded vigorously, understanding the assignment.

Two minutes later, everything was ready.

They cracked open the external hatch.

The moment the seal broke, a brutal blizzard roared into the cabin, the gale-force winds making it almost impossible to stand. Pei Xiqing gripped Xiao Xiao’s small hand tightly. Raising her free arm to shield her face from the biting frost, she shouted over the storm, “Xiao Xiao! I am going to get you out of here alive! When the time comes, you are going to go meet your idol!”

“Yes!”

“Even if it’s just to see him from afar, to let him know your name, or to grow up and become a great man just like him—you have to hold onto me! Do not let go!”

Xiao Xiao squeezed her hand with all his might. “I’ll remember, Sister Pei! I will hold on! For my little sister, for you, and for everyone else, I will definitely survive!”

“Hearing you say that gives me peace of mind.”

Shadow gave her a firm nod. The tether was secured and ready.

Without hesitation, one of the Shadow operatives threw himself out of the hatch.

Pei Xiqing and Xiao Xiao followed closely behind, leaping into the void.

The last operative tied the final knot, slammed his fist onto the last-ditch override button, and jumped out after them.

The abandoned aircraft’s autopilot was instantly overridden. Burning the absolute last dregs of its emergency fuel, it surged forward, flying aggressively toward the outer edge of the storm.

Freefall was an incredibly terrifying, insecure sensation—especially when surrounded by a massive electromagnetic vortex powerful enough to uproot a skyscraper.

Plunging through the sky, they only experienced the sensation of falling for about ten seconds before a colossal suction force hit them from behind. It was like being caught in a violent whirlpool within a raging river, constantly trying to drag them backward into the abyss.

But the tether held.

The thick rope, connected to the fleeing aircraft, miraculously anchored them, pulling them away from the anomaly’s lethal center.

Pei Xiqing was buffeted through the air like a ragdoll on a kite string. While she had been inside the cabin, the temperature had been manageable, but out here in the open sky, the absolute, freezing cold threatened to kill her at any second. The frost was so horrifically severe that survival felt impossible.

In the face of an apocalyptic natural disaster, everything was pushed to the absolute extreme. The sheer drop in temperature instantly crushed any lingering adrenaline or warmth.

Hanging suspended in the violent sky, her body began to go numb. Her consciousness was rapidly slipping away.

Xiao Xiao kept screaming over the howling wind, his voice frantic. “Sister! Sister! Wake up! You can’t go to sleep!”

Thanks to her unique immunity, Pei Xiqing felt absolutely no pain or pressure from the thunderstorm’s lethal electricity. But all she felt was the bone-deep chill that was steadily eroding her mind. Compared to the others, who were being kept wide awake by the agonizing electrical shocks tearing through the air, her immunity had ironically become her greatest disadvantage.

With no pain to anchor her, she had no way to force herself to stay awake.

Gradually, Pei Xiqing’s grip loosened. Her body went completely limp, and her hand slipped from Xiao Xiao’s grasp as she tumbled freely through the air.

At that exact moment, the massive difference in atmospheric pressure finally overwhelmed the fleeing aircraft above them. Before it could rendezvous with the rescue transport, the drone ship exploded, disintegrating into a fireball of shrapnel.

Shadow looked up in horror. “It’s over! The rescue ship hasn’t connected yet!”

Without the drone aircraft pulling them forward, they were going to fall straight back into the magnetic field!

But in the very next second, a massive, heavily armored transport breached the clouds directly above them.

A tall man crouched at the edge of the open hatch. As the severed tether whipped through the air, he lunged outward, catching the heavy rope with his bare hand.

The sheer, violent pulling force of three human bodies freefalling in a storm nearly ripped the man right out of the cabin.

He locked one arm around the aircraft’s internal boarding ladder, his muscles straining to the breaking point, while his other hand gripped the tether with an iron hold.

Looking up through the blizzard, Shadow recognized the figure instantly. “Chief Judge!”

Duan Xiaolin’s palm was torn open by the vicious friction of the rope, thick blood dripping down his wrist, but he did not loosen his grip by even a fraction of an inch.

The transport he had commandeered immediately banked hard, accelerating out of the danger zone.

The man’s sharp eyes immediately zeroed in on Pei Xiqing, whose frozen body was dangling limply in the air. His expression remained terrifyingly calm as he began to haul the heavy rope upward, hand over bloody hand.

As the tether swayed wildly in the gale, his blood soaked into the fibers, mingling with a dark, strange, pulsing energy that began to snake its way down the line.

In a matter of breaths, driven by his overwhelming, raw supernatural power, the residual electric currents paralyzing their bodies were completely neutralized and dissipated.

But Pei Xiqing still didn’t react at all. The extreme, apocalyptic cold had already dragged her into complete unconsciousness.

Chapter 300: A Direct Touch

The thunderstorm’s magnetic field was constantly expanding outward, bringing the violent electromagnetic explosions closer and closer.

The sky and earth were pitched in total darkness. An incredibly fierce blizzard raged, as if trying to swallow the entire world into a dead, frozen silence.

Remaining anywhere near the anomaly’s radius was extremely dangerous; one careless move, and a person would be sucked into the magnetic field, their body instantly destroyed.

Yet, right at the edge of this lethal vortex, an aircraft hovered mid-air. Dangling from a thick rope beneath it, Shadow was struggling to climb up. Gritting his teeth, he finally grabbed the edge of the open hatch and hauled himself inside, pulling up the heavy tether along with the person attached below.

Shadow’s body was covered in countless lacerations, his tactical uniform shredded by the magnetic field’s violent currents. The second operative in the cabin immediately took the controls to steady the aircraft, while the first reached down and hauled up Xiao Xiao, who had been dangling unconscious in the freezing air.

The temperature outside was horrifyingly low, and Xiao Xiao’s condition was critical. Shadow immediately rushed the boy into the aircraft’s thermal recovery chamber.

The external hatch remained open. Shadow stood by the edge, waiting to pull Brother Duan and Miss Pei up with the rest of the rope.

The heavy tether continued to swing wildly in the gale. Shadow gave it a hard tug and shouted into the pitch-black abyss below, “Brother Duan! Hold on tight! I’m pulling you and Miss Pei up right now!”

But as he threw all his weight into pulling the rope up, the line suddenly went slack. The severed end whipped into the cabin—it had been completely charred through by the electric current.

He stared down into the endless darkness beneath his feet, his fingers trembling around the frayed fibers.

Suddenly, a voice called out from above. Shadow looked up to see another aircraft hovering just overhead.

Ling Lang stood at the edge of his open hatch. “Where are they?”

Shadow held up the charred rope. “Brother Duan should still be with Miss Pei, but the tether broke. We need to determine their exact location.”

Ling Lang swung down via a boarding ladder, landing heavily onto their aircraft’s deck. He carefully examined the burned rope, his expression grim. “The destructive power of this thunderstorm zone is truly terrifying.”

To think it had actually burned straight through a specialized, military-grade tether—a top-tier synthetic material designed to be entirely fireproof, waterproof, and electrically insulated.

He looked up at the raging magnetic field behind them. Tossing the ladder aside, he spoke without looking back. “I’m going down there to look for them. You pilot this aircraft out of here immediately. Keep your distance from this sector—the further, the better!”

Shadow quickly grabbed his arm to stop him. “Major General, wait! We can’t determine their location right now, but when Brother Duan caught the rope earlier, he gave us an order. He said that if he and Miss Pei were sucked into the vortex, we should wait for them at the magnetic field’s exit coordinates. He guaranteed they would find a way out.”

“Exit? What exit?!” Ling Lang snapped. He had been fighting on the front lines for years, and every single time they encountered this kind of magnetic field, standard protocol was to detour immediately. Plunging directly into the core? Even if they miraculously survived the initial impact, how long would it take to find a way out?

Every extra second spent inside was a dance with death.

“That was the Chief Judge’s explicit order,” Shadow insisted firmly. “He also commanded that if any backup rescue forces arrived, they were strictly forbidden from entering the anomaly and must evacuate the area immediately.”

“Did he really say that?”

“Yes. When he caught our line, Miss Pei was already unconscious from the cold. He ordered us to pull ourselves up first and explicitly told us not to worry about them.”

Ling Lang frowned. “Where is Qiu Chao?”

“Captain Qiu is currently executing another mission.”

“Where’s San She?”

“Captain San She is currently managing the wounded.”

Ling Lang gritted his teeth. “No, it’s too dangerous in there. I have to go in and find my brother and Pei Xiqing. Even if he’s confident… I can’t gamble with their lives.”

“Major General!” Shadow struggled to hold him back.

“Ling Lang,” San She’s voice suddenly crackled sharply over the comms channel. “Since Brother Duan has willingly chosen to go in, it means he has already calculated an escape route for himself and Miss Pei. He knows exactly what the situation is like inside that anomaly. Even if he acts impulsively sometimes, Brother Duan would never gamble with Miss Pei’s life. Stand down.”

Ling Lang gripped the metal ladder tightly, his eyes blazing with worry and frustration. “But what if something happens to him?”

“Qiu Chao analyzed the data,” San She replied. “He concluded that the ones in the most danger were us and the refugees in the fleet. Ironically, Brother Duan and Miss Pei are currently the safest people out here.”

“How is that possible?”

“Have you forgotten how Miss Pei recovered her health?” San She asked quietly.

Ling Lang took a sharp breath, the realization hitting him like a physical blow. In the chaos, he had almost forgotten. Pei Xiqing had nearly died not long ago. She had only been saved after Duan Xiaolin systematically fed her hundreds of high-grade crystal cores, fundamentally altering her body. His brother must have made sufficient preparations and calculations before deliberately taking her into that magnetic field.

Blind panic would only lead to fatal mistakes. Forcing himself to calm down, Ling Lang stepped back from the open hatch. “Alright. We’ll rendezvous with the main fleet first, find a safe sector to rest, do a headcount, and repair the damaged aircraft. We will wait for them at the exit coordinates.”

“Understood!” Shadow replied.

Ling Lang walked further into the cabin and noticed the unconscious boy in the thermal chamber. “Who is this?”

“A kid who was traveling with Miss Pei. He’s one of the refugees,” Shadow explained. “He actually knows how to pilot these transports, so she had him co-pilot to help secure the safe route. He suffered severe electric shocks and frostbite.”

“Transfer him to the medical team for immediate treatment.”

“Yes, sir.”

Meanwhile, deep within the thunderstorm’s magnetic field, the environment was terrifyingly dark and freezing cold.

Not a single ray of light could penetrate the dense storm clouds. Layers of violent electric currents formed a massive, suffocating net—an airtight cage with no weak points to break through. It was an absolute death trap. Anyone locked inside would have to constantly endure waves of tornado-like winds and a colossal, invisible gravity constantly threatening to tear their bodies apart.

After Pei Xiqing passed out, her body had been subjected to the extreme apocalyptic cold. It felt as though she had been tightly entombed in solid ice, her limbs entirely numb and devoid of feeling. The initial, piercing agony of the frost had frozen her to the core; she felt so brittle that a single touch might shatter her into a million pieces.

The agonizing cold lasted for an indeterminate amount of time before her body miraculously began to warm up.

Slowly, her consciousness began to piece itself back together. Drawn by that comforting, enveloping warmth, Pei Xiqing struggled to open her eyes.

Her eyelids felt incredibly heavy, as if weighed down by a thousand pounds. The external environment still exerted a crushing pressure, tempting her to slip back into a deep, eternal sleep. A fierce battle raged within her mind. A seductive voice whispered in her head, urging her to just let go and rest, but a primal survival instinct screamed that if she fell asleep now, she would never wake up.

After several agonizing attempts, Pei Xiqing’s eyelashes fluttered, and she finally forced her eyes open.

She was greeted by an endless expanse of darkness.

It was pitch black, devoid of any color or light. The only distinct sensory input was the constant, deafening crackle of electricity sparking all around them.

Pei Xiqing instinctively tried to sit up and move away from the noise, but the moment she shifted, a firm hand gently pushed her back down.

The tip of her nose bumped against a broad, hard chest. She instantly recognized his faint, familiar scent, though it was now heavily mixed with the sharp, metallic tang of fresh blood.

Raising her head, she couldn’t see a single thing in the oppressive darkness, so she reached out, navigating blindly by touch.

Her fingers brushed over the solid planes of his chest, sliding downwards to trace the hard, defined ridges of his abdomen beneath his ruined shirt.

Before she could explore further, a large hand abruptly clamped around her wrist.

With a slight, effortless tug, he pulled her securely against his chest. The man deliberately lowered his voice, a husky, dangerous amusement coloring his tone. “Miss Pei, exactly what are your intentions?”

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