What?! I Became the Zombie Beauty in the Villain’s Arms – CH6

Chapter 6: Because of a Man

Pei Xiqing gazed up at the man, her delicate, tear-filled eyes wide with delirium. She bit her trembling lower lip. “It hurts… Please…”

She was completely backed into a corner by the virus, her breathing ragged and chaotic.

The man held her effortlessly against his chest. His dark eyes traced the pale, porcelain-like lines of her face before dropping to her self-inflicted wound. With one hand, he easily overpowered her, pinning her bleeding wrist against the car door.

“Stop the bleeding,” he ordered coldly.

Ling Lang took a deep, sharp breath. He let out a dark scoff as he picked up the discarded dagger, staring at the fresh blood coating the blade. Without another word, he yanked the heavy medical kit from the back of the G-Class.

Pei Xiqing continued to writhe in delirium, but her fading strength wasn’t even enough to break Duan Xiaolin’s one-handed grip. She was completely enveloped by his towering shadow. Her free hand weakly slapped against the car window before dropping limply to her side.

Moving with practiced efficiency, Ling Lang disinfected and bandaged the gash in seconds. He paused, his brow furrowing as he wiped away the excess blood. “Why is her blood still crimson? If the virus had fully taken over, it should be completely green by now.”

Duan Xiaolin’s eyes narrowed. “She isn’t fully infected yet.”

Just then, Long Yan and Lu Xudong rushed over from the second vehicle. “What happened? What’s going on?”

“It’s bizarre,” Ling Lang muttered, stepping back. “Sister Long Yan, get over here and look at this. What the hell is happening to her?”

“Did she trigger an ability?” Long Yan quickly stepped forward, placing two fingers firmly against Pei Xiqing’s uninjured arm. She closed her eyes, sensing the latent energy. After a moment, her eyes snapped open in astonishment. “She has awakened a superpower. But this energy… I don’t recognize it. I’ve never felt anything like it. We’d have to take her back to the base for a full biometric scan to identify it.”

Long Yan sighed, looking down at the girl. “It seems the sheer trauma of the zombie bite triggered her awakening. The latent energy of her new ability and the zombie virus are currently locked in a brutal stalemate inside her body. But a bite is still a bite. Even if she hasn’t completely turned, she’s already half a zombie.”

Ling Lang rubbed his jaw, his expression turning grim. “So… do we still execute her?”

In the wasteland, the rule was absolute: once someone was bitten, the infection was an immediate death sentence. Even specialized serums were only effective on high-tier ability users, and only if administered within the golden hour of the bite.

Pei Xiqing was already half a monster. There was no telling if or when she would completely lose her mind and attack them. For most survivor factions, executing the infected—even their own family members—was a tragic but necessary absolute.

And for an organization as merciless as Franlun, total eradication of the infected was their foundational doctrine. They did not make exceptions.

Ling Lang looked to Duan Xiaolin for the final verdict.

Through the thin lenses of his glasses, the man’s gaze was entirely unreadable. Under the pale moonlight, his sharp profile looked impossibly cold and deep, radiating an almost inhuman indifference.

Ling Lang knew better than anyone how genuinely ruthless his boss was. Given his supreme status, Duan Xiaolin never allowed variables to exist, nor did he permit a single zombie to draw breath in his presence. When the apocalyptic outbreak first began years ago, he hadn’t hesitated for a single second to execute his own infected relatives. He had never shown mercy.

Duan Xiaolin lowered his gaze.

Pei Xiqing had completely passed out in his arms, her body soft and boneless against him. She looked incredibly obedient in her unconscious state. A thin trail of crimson blood trickled from where she had frantically scratched her own forehead, tracing down the corner of her eye. Her usually delicate, charming face now carried a fragile, broken beauty that inadvertently stirred a violent, destructive desire in anyone looking at her.

Without a word, the man lifted her and unceremoniously deposited her onto the back seat of the G-Class.

The squad waited in tense silence for his command.

Duan Xiaolin casually pulled a pack of cigarettes from his pocket. He extracted one, lit it slowly, and exhaled a plume of pale smoke. His eyes behind his glasses remained perfectly calm.

“Keep her alive for now,” he ordered. “There is an anomaly with her mutation.”

Long Yan let out a quiet sigh of relief. “I agree. Xiqing’s symptoms are completely unprecedented. Even if she is technically a zombie, she still retains her consciousness. She isn’t an immediate threat. Besides, she’s just a powerless, frail girl. Even if she fully turns, she’ll probably be the weakest zombie out there.”

Ling Lang sneered in disgust. “You’ve been completely blinded by a pretty face.”

“I have not! Look at it logically—if we bring a live, conscious anomaly back to the research division, the biological data could be groundbreaking. Why do you have such a massive problem with her?”

“Think whatever you want,” Ling Lang snapped. He hoisted his heavy assault rifle over his shoulder and turned toward the ruined city. “I’m going to sweep the perimeter for stragglers. I haven’t seen blood in days.”

Long Yan merely shrugged. Given Ling Lang’s terrifying combat prowess, she didn’t need to worry about him wandering off alone. She and Lu Xudong quietly returned to their own vehicle to stand guard.

Duan Xiaolin leaned against the reinforced door of the G-Class, quietly smoking his cigarette.

A few minutes later, a weak, tentative knock tapped against the interior glass.

Pei Xiqing had woken up.

She leaned heavily against the window, cracking it open just enough to whisper, “Did I… did I bite anyone just now?”

“No.”

“That’s good…” Pei Xiqing’s voice was hoarse, laced with a quiet, exhausted panting. She could physically feel the two opposing forces warring inside her bloodstream, violently tearing her apart before stitching her back together.

Through the cracked window, she couldn’t quite make out his expression in the shadows. Stripped of all her energy, she finally murmured, “Thank you.”

She rested her forehead against the cool glass. “I guess it’s fine if I become a zombie. I can’t guarantee what I’ll look like tomorrow, but I swear… as long as I have my mind, I won’t bite anyone.”

His eyes shifted slightly. “Are you planning to run away?”

Pei Xiqing coughed awkwardly, her heart skipping a beat at being instantly read. “I wasn’t.”

He cast a lazy, piercing glance at her. “In the apocalypse, you aren’t the first person to have that bright idea. Every single one of them died miserably.”

Pei Xiqing touched her heavily bandaged wrist, which now looked like a swollen dumpling. “I don’t have a choice. I’m already bitten.”

“Team S1 is one of the top ten elite squads in the allied base,” he noted coolly. “Given your lack of abilities, how did you manage to join them?”

“Ah… that’s a long story.”

“Keep it short.”

“Because my older sister is the core of that team.”

“And?” He clearly didn’t believe that her sister would just casually abandon her to die without a reason. His gaze sharpened, turning cold. “Why did the two of you have a falling out?”

“Just… some petty arguments.” Pei Xiqing lied through her teeth. She could hardly admit that the original owner of this body had been flirting with every man in the squad and actively trying to seduce her sister’s overpowered boyfriend.

“What exactly?”

“…” Pei Xiqing subconsciously bit her lip, trying to formulate a believable lie. But the man’s oppressive aura was too suffocating. Under his unwavering stare, her defenses crumbled. She admitted defeat. “Because of… a man.”

He didn’t sneer, nor did he express any disdain, confusion, or doubt. Instead, his voice remained glacial and devoid of emotion, exactly like a judge interrogating a guilty prisoner. “Next time, just tell the truth.”

Pei Xiqing’s eyelashes fluttered nervously.

These Franlun operatives are terrifyingly good at interrogations. But I guess that makes sense for the highest echelon of power in the apocalypse.

Gathering her courage, she tentatively asked, “Um… Brother Duan…”

He glanced at her.

Pei Xiqing quickly backpedaled. “I just heard the others calling you that, so I figured I should probably call you that too.”

“Whatever.”

“Mr. Franlun… there’s a supremely powerful leader in your organization, right? The Supreme Commander? Have you ever met him?”

Ignorance was truly a deadly shield. She had no idea she was staring directly at the target. She simply wanted to know what the novel’s ultimate villain was plotting at this stage of the timeline, and ideally, figure out how he had nearly tortured the male protagonist to death.

The man fell utterly silent for a long moment. His dark eyes remained completely indifferent. “Why are you asking about him?”

Pei Xiqing’s eyes sparkled with a pure, unadulterated curiosity that made it incredibly difficult for anyone to look away from her. “I just heard that he’s incredibly powerful.”

“I know him,” Duan Xiaolin replied evenly.

“He must be insanely busy. How often does the Franlun High Council hold meetings?”

If she managed to survive this virus, she really wanted to meet this legendary villain. The enemy of her enemy (the male and female leads who left her to die) was her friend.

Before she could ask anything else, the violent pain flared in her veins again. Exhausted by the internal battle, Pei Xiqing succumbed to the exhaustion and fell back asleep.

Duan Xiaolin stood alone, gazing indifferently into the desolate wasteland. High above the ruined city, the atmospheric pollution caused vibrant, unnatural auroras to flicker violently across the night sky, bleeding day into night.

Inside the car, the sound of the girl’s soft, rhythmic breathing continued. The phantom sensation of her soft, bloodied wrist pressing against his skin lingered in his mind.

Over the years since the apocalypse began, countless humans had awakened to superpowers. Being the apex ability user himself, Duan Xiaolin understood the biological mechanisms of evolution better than anyone. It was an undeniable, biological fact: terrifyingly strong abilities directly correlated to overwhelming, primal physical desires. The stronger the power, the greater the ravenous demands of the flesh.

He finished his cigarette, flicked the butt into the dirt, and immediately lit a second one.

A dark, intense surge of desire flashed violently across his eyes—only to be instantly, ruthlessly crushed by absolute, freezing indifference.

He stood as straight and unyielding as a solitary pine tree. Entirely composed. A terrifying monolith of absolute restraint.