Chapter 65

"Huh?" Lin Tantan looked herself over, neatly dressed. Living with a group of men, even though she trusted their character, she still kept herself tidy; it was, after all, a matter of manners.
Meeting her puzzled look, Ye Xiao said bluntly, "Wearing pajamas isn't appropriate."
"But usually..." She worked with patients, patients with poor hygiene. Every day when she returned she changed clothes first; sometimes into loungewear, but most often straight into pajamas, comfort was important. And she didn't want to have to change again to go to bed. She only had one hand, changing clothes wasn't easy; if she could skip one change, she'd take it.
Halfway through her sentence she realized: "I get it. Zhou Li's a guest, so wearing pajamas would be impolite."
"It's not only that..." Ye Xiao paused, then gave up. "Right, that's what I mean."
Lin Tantan obediently went into the room to look for clothes, then said, "Why should I change? I'll just stay here. He didn't bring the patient in, right? If he was only asking in words, I can tell you over here." She bargained with Ye Xiao: "You pass the message along, or tell him to go line up at the clinic tomorrow."
She was simply too annoyed at having to change. After all, she was a hotshot "miracle doctor" now; anyone who wanted to see her had to line up at the clinic. She'd gone back to working at the clinic, but only two hours each morning, so getting a slot was difficult. Nobody could cut in line, why should she make an exception for Zhou Li?
Besides, it was night, and someone showing up unannounced for treatment was rude; she could ignore him entirely.
Having decided, Lin Tantan waved her hand. "Exactly, I'm not going downstairs. I'm exhausted; I'm going to sleep."
Ye Xiao was stepping out to close the door for her. Hearing that he nodded. "Alright. Get some rest."
Lin Tantan hurriedly called after him, "Can you take a look at my phone?"
The phone was frozen on a game screen: a strange map, a winding path, and at the end a bright red carrot that had been nibbled at several times by little monsters, pitiful to look at.
Ye Xiao glanced at her meaningfully: "Weren't you going to sleep?"
Lin Tantan gave a little laugh.
Ye Xiao simply turned the phone off and on again; it worked. "Have Xiaotian fix it tomorrow. Don't stay up too late."
"Mm." Lin Tantan took the phone. "Bye." After the door closed, the sound of her flopping onto the bed came through. Ye Xiao pictured her in her soft, fluffy clothes sinking into the mattress, it must be especially plush. Her bed was soft too; he'd noticed it last time he sat on it, ahem.
Lin Tantan's room couldn't be seen from the first floor, so people only saw them go up the stairs and then disappear. It was a while before Ye Xiao came back down, and Lin Tantan was nowhere behind him. No one else thought anything of it, but Zhou Li's expression grew odd.
"Where is Miss Lin?"
Ye Xiao said, "She's tired from a long day and needs to rest. Mr. Zhou, tell me whatever you need."
Zhou Li hurriedly said, "Sorry for dropping by unannounced. I was rude." But in his mind he thought that Ye Xiao's control over Lin Tantan was even tighter than he'd imagined.
Zhou Li went on to describe his friend's condition, then apologized for nearly seizing the supply truck last time, saying it was all orders from Li Qun and he had no choice but to obey.
Ye Xiao didn't care much and simply said differences in stance were understandable, keeping his tone cool. Seeing this, Zhou Li quickly took his leave.
Ye Xiao didn't stand to see him out; he was much colder than before. Zhou Li knew it was because he'd abruptly called after Lin Tantan earlier that Ye Xiao was annoyed. He glanced back at the villa in the night and smiled wryly, he and Ye Xiao really couldn't get along, and he shelved any thoughts of aligning with him. But if he could win Lin Tantan over, having her as a living signboard would make it much easier to set up on his own.
But it was hardly easy for Zhou Li to contact Lin Tantan privately. She revolved between the clinic, the shantytown, and the villa, maybe sometimes the eastern construction site, and was always surrounded by people. She never had a moment alone.
He'd hoped to approach her while his friend saw a doctor, but since the friend's condition wasn't serious, he hadn't even managed to get a slot to see Lin Tantan.
Xu Tianjin’s earlier helplessness was playing out again, this time with Zhou Li.
But as if fate were on his side, a serious mishap occurred that day in the shantytown where Lin Tantan was working.
Lin Tantan was on the job when she suddenly heard a commotion in the distance, chaos breaking out.
She rose to ask what was happening; her bodyguards rushed to see, and a fight erupted. Terrified cries of "He's turned into a zombie!" and "Zombies!" rang out. Lin Tantan cursed under her breath and hurried over.
Since the sick had a higher chance of "awakening" than ordinary people, they also had a nonzero chance of becoming zombies. The base had dealt with more than one such case before, but they were handled quickly and hadn’t caused serious consequences. This was the first time it had happened right under Lin Tantan’s nose.
Before she could reach the scene, a bolt of purple lightning struck from the sky with a thunderous crack, hitting the heart of the disturbance. Pushing through, she saw a pale, rotting corpse collapsed on the ground; the skull had been split and blackened, utterly dead. It was clearly recently zombified and likely the source of the trouble.
Nearby, several people clutched their throats, stunned and dazed. When they came to, their first instinct would be to slip into the crowd and flee. Quick-eyed and swift-handed, Lin Tantan shot out a few straps to bind them and told her bodyguards to seize them: "Careful, don't let them bite you."
Her warning made it clear: these people had been bitten and infected, there was little hope they would survive.
They wailed and begged as they struggled. The bystanders felt pity, but no one was willing to let them go. Infected people had to be destroyed, or everyone would die.
After the bindings were secured, another team entered from the edge of the crowd. They wore red armbands, clearly the slum patrol, and to Lin Tantan's surprise she saw Zhou Li among them.
"Hah, another one turned. I told you this trash should be thrown out of the base," the squad leader sneered, ordering his men to take the bound people away. He turned to Lin Tantan: "Listen, miracle doctor, don't waste your time here. Even if you cure thousands, if just one of these patients becomes a zombie it's total annihilation. This time it was caught early, what about next time?"
He kept chewing on something as he spoke, giving him a sleazy air.
Lin Tantan said coolly, "So you think we should drive all the patients out of the base?"
He faltered.
She continued, "If you have the nerve, go convince the base leadership. Otherwise, get on with your duties. The flu is under control; the patients are gradually improving and will soon recover. As for the risk of zombies, that's what you people are here for, isn't it?"
Supervision in the shantytowns hadn't been this strict before; after the zombie incidents the patrols had suddenly increased. These weren't soldiers but personnel sent in rotation by the various factions after a meeting where all forces participated. Each faction had to guarantee they'd respond immediately to any incident in the area they were assigned that day.
It sounded leisurely, but if someone did zombify it became extremely dangerous, and it was unpaid duty; the base didn't hand out extra wages.
Wandering constantly through crowded, squalid slums was miserable and carried the risk of infection, so complaints were natural.
He snorted, "Fine, we're just the muscle." "You lot line up, let me check for bites or scratches." As he organized them he muttered in annoyance, "Some people, to soothe their saintly conscience, drag everyone down with them."
The man beside him tugged his sleeve: "Say less, want to live forever?" Who didn't know you couldn't offend Dr. Lin? Beyond her own skill, someone of godlike power stood behind her. Once, someone had arrogantly called himself "the boss" in her presence and he and his men were knocked flat on the spot; rumor had it the guy still felt a dull ache in his shoulder.
The squad leader snorted and fell silent, brusquely beginning to check people.
Lin Tantan paid him no mind; many at the base advocated exiling or even killing flu patients, and her actions had offended those people. The squad leader was clearly one of them.
As she was about to leave, Zhou Li suddenly stepped out from the rear of the group. "Miss Lin."
This time Lin Tantan didn't ignore him. She said, "That lightning bolt, was that you?"
"It was me. The situation was urgent, luckily no innocents were hurt," Zhou Li said with a smile, carrying an air of gallantry.
Lin Tantan thought to herself that from so far away he had struck the zombified person's head dead center amid the fighting without a single stray casualty, Zhou Li did have some skill.
She offered a few polite words, thanking him for acting quickly or the number of bitten would have been higher, and then, as a courtesy, asked what he was doing here.
Although Zhou Li had taken a post under Li Qun, at his caliber he shouldn't be doing grim, dead-end patrol duty in the slums.
Zhou Li said, "I know one of the guys here. I came to check on him, didn't expect to find you here, Miss Lin."
Lin Tantan sized him up, suspecting he had come on purpose. As if to confirm her suspicion, Zhou Li continued, "Miss Lin, could I speak with you for a moment?"
"No thanks. I'm busy, and anyway, we have nothing to talk about, do we?"
"Miss Lin, are you really just going to heed Ye Xiao? He controls you, keeps you from seeing me, and you let yourself avoid me that easily?" Zhou Li stepped closer, lowering his voice.
Lin Tantan raised her brows slightly. "When did he start controlling me?" It was plainly her own choice to avoid him, who liked someone constantly scheming to poach you?
You're really infuriating, you know that? Haven't you any sense of your own standing? With such gall you set your sights on her, and when she doesn't pander to you, you act pleased with yourself. Before you were busy ingratiating yourself, now you've started slandering Ye Xiao.
"Miss Lin may be in the middle of it and not notice, but an onlooker sees it all clearly," Zhou Li said with a smile, making a "please" gesture.
Even if Zhou Li turned to leave now, Lin Tantan wouldn't let him go easily; she wanted to see what tricks he'd come up with. She told the bodyguards not to follow and walked off to one side with him. "Go on," she said. "How exactly am I 'in the midst' and unable to see clearly?"
Zhou Li knew he'd taken the first step successfully. He smiled faintly, a touch of regret and imagined indignation for Lin Tantan, and sighed, "Miss Lin, don't you think Ye Xiao is controlling you too much?"
"You have no personal connections of your own; everyone around you is arranged by him, right? With your skills you should have better prospects and a brighter future, yet you toil like this every day. Do you know what people say? The patients you treated don't remember you with gratitude; they only praise Ye Xiao and Bai Cheng for their kindness and virtue."
He said it as Lin Tantan shot rebuttals through her mind: no personal ties? What personal ties? This is an end‑times base, not some carefree school for making friends. People around her? Those weren't arranged by Ye Xiao, Bai Cheng introduced them, but she pays their wages; they're her hires.
As for others not remembering her kindness, that's nonsense. She gets gratitude every day. And people thanking Ye Xiao is justified; didn't he persuade Lu Jianping to get the medical department to back the free clinics? If it were only her efforts, the flu would have spread long ago.
So if you count it up properly, Ye Xiao's contribution was greater than hers.
She neither agreed nor objected; her face showed no grievance. "Anything else?" she asked.
Under Lin Tantan's "let's see what else you can say" look, Zhou Li felt like a petty gossipmonger, but he didn't want to miss the chance and continued with his prepared lines.
"And yesterday, you had already gone downstairs but were forcibly taken back upstairs by Ye Xiao, in front of so many people. Let me be frank: he was really disrespectful to you. Would he treat his male companions that way? If you were a man, would he do this to you?"
It was because I didn't want to waste my precious game time on you, idiot!
Lin Tantan said, "Oh?" "So my biggest problem is men?"
"This isn't your problem," Zhou Li said earnestly. "Let me speak plainly as a man: I understand how men think. Toward other men of comparable ability they either feel camaraderie or view them as rivals, but they regard them as equals. Toward women, however, they generally look down on them. When they find a woman who's exceptionally capable, their curiosity turns possessive, the first impulse is to make her theirs, to turn her into property rather than an equal partner. That's an ugly, basic flaw."
Zhou Li sighed: "He hides you away so tightly that even when I drop by you have to avoid me. It's nothing more than treating you as property, afraid others will covet you, his possessiveness is plain to see, and his mind is narrow. Is someone like that really worth following? Miss Lin, with your talent you shouldn't have to suffer this kind of grievance."
Though Zhou Li's remarks were colored by his own bias, he had deftly tapped into the mindset of contemporary women.
Times have changed: strength rules, gender should mean nothing. The stronger a woman is, the more she resents being a man's subordinate. Yet so many men, feeling they have some ability or power, still approach accomplished women with a conquering attitude, they can't stand women being stronger than themselves. How ridiculous. As far as Zhou Li knew, many relationships had fallen apart over this very issue.
He thought this was Lin Tantan's Achilles' heel.
He was mostly right. The era Lin Tantan lived in still upheld the end‑times tradition of valuing strength. Apart from suffering because of having so many abilities, she hadn't really been disadvantaged by her gender. Her achievements were beyond what most men could reach, and she was used to being treated politely and respectfully by the big players.
She didn't deny that, in general, women might lag behind men and need more help. But if anyone belittled her because she was a woman, she would make them regret it.
Just like now.
Lin Tantan looked up at Zhou Li and said earnestly, "Zhou Li, you win full marks for understanding." If she could clap, she would have applauded him in approval.
After praising him she said: "Since you yourself say men have that flaw, are you somehow exempt from it just because you're a man?"
Zhou Li said, "Of course I'm different."
"No, you have it too; you're looking down on women." Lin Tantan smiled slightly, then suddenly a fist wrapped in golden light slammed hard into Zhou Li's stomach. Caught off guard, he doubled over and staggered back two steps, looking up in disbelief. "You, "
Lin Tantan said coldly, "You're belittling me." At the same time she punched him in the head.