Chapter 32

“I heard you’re unhappy, and I’m unhappy too. I heard you’ve lost your appetite, and I can’t eat either. I heard you’re ill, and I’m beside myself with worry; even if you only scraped your skin a little, it feels as if the pain is mine…”
The ardent confession went on. There was only a dim little light in the corridor, with 301 at the end, so Ye Xiao's figure wasn’t lit; his face was in shadow, his eyes half-lowered as if lost in thought.
“I still remember, whenever you stole a glance at me, those shy eyes like spring water. I remember, the moment I speak to you, you shyly smile…”
Ye Xiao: “…” The more he listened, the more wrong it sounded, shy eyes, an embarrassed smile, was this describing Lin Tantan?
Thinking back to the fierce move she’d made yesterday, that little fierce “beep,” the corner of his mouth twitched and a faint smile crept out.
Then he cleared his throat, clear in the quiet corridor. Chen Zhihao, who’d been racking his brains for the right words, flinched, turned hastily, and saw a tall, dark figure standing at the neighboring door.
“Who, who's there?” Chen Zhihao cried, terrified.
“What are you doing here?” Ye Xiao asked coldly.
That single sentence filled Chen Zhihao with a sense of danger and pressure. He swallowed and stammered, “Um, I, I’m looking for someone.”
Ye Xiao: “Who are you looking for?”
“M-my girlfriend lives here.”
Ye Xiao raised an eyebrow slightly. “Girlfriend? Are you sure?”
As he straightened up against the wall, the movement made Chen Zhihao’s heart skip a beat. For a moment he couldn’t think what to say, then belatedly it dawned on him that next door was 301, and the people who lived in 301…
His legs went weak and he braced himself against the wall. Chen Qianya, who had been hiding nearby, had to run out and steady him; she plastered on a smile and said to Ye Xiao, “Big brother, we really do know Lin Tantan who lives here. She’s in my class, we’re very close, and besides, my brother and she…”
She spoke ambiguously, with a soft, timid air. “It seems there’s some misunderstanding between her and my brother. Do you know her? Could you call her for us? My brother’s been standing here forever and she still hasn’t come to the door.”
Of course she’d thought about who lived in 301; if she could get on good terms with any of them, food, supplies, and a place to stay wouldn’t be a problem. If necessary, she could even sabotage Lin Tantan’s relationships with them.
But Chen Qianya wanted more than that. She’d done her homework: 301 was full of men, and she was pretty and only twenty, ideally, she’d like to land one of them.
Rather than having her brother ingratiate himself with Lin Tantan, she’d rather do it herself.
In hindsight, she shouldn’t have let her brother handle everything alone.
Chen Qianya felt regretful and knew her image wasn’t great, so she resorted to a classic feminine gambit: play weak and draw pity.
Too bad Ye Xiao didn’t glance at her once. He and Jiang Xiaotian thought the same thing: if Lin Tantan had ever shown any liking for this man, her taste was awful.
He said to the man, “You say you’re Tantan’s boyfriend?”
Chen Zhihao stammered, and suddenly the man opposite raised his hand. Something whooshed past and brushed the top of his head. He cried out and hurriedly felt his scalp, there were three smooth bald patches, astonishingly shiny.
He immediately went weak and collapsed to the floor; Chen Qianya nearly fainted as well.
Meanwhile Ye Xiao kept asking in an eerie, chilling voice, “Answer me.”
Chen Zhihao blurted, panicked, “No, no, I’m not her boyfriend. I, I have nothing to do with her.”
Ye Xiao seemed satisfied. “If I ever hear you tell someone you’re involved with her again, next time it won’t be just your hair that’s shaved off.”
Chen Zhihao's head throbbed, a chilling, hollow pain as if his skull had been sliced open. He scrambled to his feet; Chen Qianya's chaotic thoughts vanished at once. The two helped each other up and ran.
With a click the door beside Ye Xiao opened and a dark head popped out. Lin Tantan saw him and let out a little laugh. "Oh, you're here." When she had turned a moment ago he hadn't been there; stepping outside she realized he'd been waiting.
Relieved that he hadn't gone, she was about to slip back inside when Ye Xiao called after her, "Tantan."
"Huh?"
Ye Xiao looked at her with a complicated expression, then said, "Come out, I have something to tell you."
So...this serious?
Lin Tantan drew her neck in, glanced down the dark, empty corridor, and obediently stepped out, following him to one side.
"W-what is it?"
Ye Xiao fell silent for a moment, then chose his words carefully: "You're still young. Matters of the heart aren't something to rush."
Lin Tantan was momentarily stunned, then understood and blushed. "You mean Chen Zhihao? That was just youthful ignorance, messing around. I won't do it again."
How long will she have to keep taking the blame for this!
Using someone else's body came with these hassles; she had no idea how many messes the original owner had left behind.
This time it was a former suitor, easy enough to deal with. But what if next time the original girl's relatives showed up? Could she just kick them away?
The thought made her frown.
He continued, calm yet serious: "There are a lot of people in this world who are different inside than out, sweet words while hiding motives. Be cautious with others; don't trust people easily, understand?"
He was genuinely worried Lin Tantan might be deceived. She was already a likable, pretty girl, and now with dual-system powers, both very strong, it's easy to imagine how many people would be drawn to her. And she...seemed inclined to trust others too readily, never keeping her guard up.
Think that in just a few days since they met, she'd helped them a lot, she'd even severed one of Mei Baisheng's hands, and reportedly taught other ability users without holding back...
He looked at her left arm tucked into the down jacket, his gaze growing distant. He sighed and patted her head. "Never mind. I'll look out for you."
Lin Tantan thought: she felt like she was being treated as if she were simple-minded, but... if being simple-minded comes with head-patting, then fine, she'd be simple-minded.
She spun around happily and followed Ye Xiao back, gleeful, then saw Bai Cheng sober up in an instant. She hurriedly backed away from Ye Xiao, edged up to Bai Cheng and clapped, "Amazing, amazing, amazing."
Bai Cheng, who had been testing whether living things could be placed into the space, he put a little insect in and when he took it out it was dead, "..."
In the days that followed, survivors arrived at Yang City every day. Anyone who hadn't been bitten or clawed by zombies was taken in. The east, west, and north quarters of Tianhe Jiayuan were cleared and people moved in, though later arrivals had worse conditions, usually a dozen or so people squeezed into one room. They ended up living on increasingly higher floors.
Meals remained the standard three a day; lunch wasn't always plain rice, sometimes noodles, sometimes steamed sweet potatoes, that sort of thing.
Ye Xiao and the others selected some survivors to train and instruct; sometimes they'd take people out to fight zombies. Day and night they posted guards and sent watchmen. Yang City was steadily growing into something organized.
On January 8 the water stopped; by the 10th all stored water was gone. Water became a major issue. Water-system users were in high demand. Besides the original two, another water user arrived, but even three could hardly produce any water each day. Ye Xiao led a team to the drinking water company and hauled back several truckloads.
But it was only a drop in the bucket.
Lin Tantan scratched her head. She couldn't stand not having water and decided to be self-sufficient, she began absorbing water-system crystal cores.
At the ring of dug trenches, survivors used the excavated earth and some bricks and cement from a nearby construction site to build a wall on the inner side of the trench. Lin Tantan still supervised, holding a water-system crystal core in her hand. When someone pushed a cart of bricks past and saw her, they hastily looked down and took a detour.
Lin Tantan wasn't surprised anymore. She didn't know why Chen Zhihao reacted to her like he'd seen a ghost, she couldn't help sneaking a couple more glances at his mangy, messed-up head.
Rumor had it he'd offended someone who crept over at night and shaved three stripes into his hair, smearing some potion so the shaved lines would never grow back. He thought it looked ugly and tried to shave all his hair off, but unwilling to pay a barber he messed with it himself, tearing up his scalp and cutting his hair in uneven lengths, the final result was hideously ugly.