The protagonist who hates losers is so sweet to me. - Chapter 43

After Yu Qing was found by Wei Zheng, he brought them to the car arranged by Song Xinqi.
Song Xinqi dragged a person who was trying to sneak in out of the car and looked at the pitch-black vehicle parked not far away.

A snow-colored animal, like a cat, slipped into the car. After checking that everyone in the back was seated, Wei Zheng nodded towards them and got into the driver’s seat.
The third batch was fully prepared, and one car after another drove out of the safe zone.

A day later, the last batch also left the safe zone. On the northwestern border, a large horde of zombies was moving in, merging with another wave of zombies to form an even larger zombie army, making one’s scalp tingle just from a distant glance.

Before getting into the car, Song Xinqi took one last look at the empty safe zone and got into the front car of the fourth batch.

The entire safe zone was deserted, the autumn wind slightly cool. A yellow leaf fell from a tall tree, spiraling through the air, brushing past the silent research building, and landing on the window of a tall building next to it.

The blackout curtain was lifted by the wind, revealing a slender figure unconscious on the ground.

It was unclear how much time had passed when Yu Qing struggled to open his eyes and sit up from the ground.

His vision was blurred, and he leaned against the wall for a while before his sight returned to normal.

He stood up, the light around him dim. The blackout fabric on the wall was blown by the wind outside, with light sporadically penetrating through the gaps, illuminating the room slightly.

After staring at the yellow leaves drifting from the window for a while, he ran to open the door, but it was sealed. When he shook it, he could hear the heavy chains clanging outside.

He then walked to the window, climbed onto the table, and lifted the blackout fabric to look outside.

The leaf-covered street was empty. His view was largely obstructed by a large tree, and only from the far corner could he see a part of the research building.

His expression was blank.

This seemed to be the place where crystal nuclei were stored in the building. To prevent anyone from stealing the nuclei, the glass had been replaced with metal grilles with very small gaps, making escape through the window impossible, and the door was also locked.

He remembered walking out of the safe zone with Wei Zheng, then feeling very sleepy in the car and falling asleep. However, when he tried to recall the details, he couldn’t remember anything.

How strange.

He held his slightly confused head. This felt somewhat familiar.

He had been attacked by a hypnotic zombie in the wild before, and the nauseating aftereffect upon waking was exactly the same as now.

“Yu Xiaoxue! Wei Zheng! Is anyone there? I’m trapped inside!”

He shouted a few times, but there was no response. He looked again at the empty and silent surroundings, his own echo seemingly ringing in his ears.

After dazing for a while, he climbed down from the table and leaned back against the wall, taking out the items from his pocket one by one.

It seemed he had been abandoned.

As he unpacked his belongings, he thought aimlessly. Cutting off contact was a deception, making him believe he could live in the new safe zone, preparing joyfully, imagining his future life, only to be hit with the harsh reality at the last moment, showing that it was all an illusion.

He ended up on the same path as the original owner, even experiencing the same emotional rollercoaster.

He had been completely manipulated.

He re-packed his belongings and placed them in front of him.

He had a large bag of crystal nuclei, his entire fortune accumulated till now.

Also, there was fresh produce given by Uncle Wang, meant to be shared with Wei Zheng during the journey.

The journey would take several days, and he could play the Xun he found by the river long ago to pass the time.

Suddenly, he heard rustling from a corner. Turning to look, he saw something moving through the corner and emerging from a dusty blanket.

It was a small white mouse, neither a mutated nor a zombie mouse, but a normal baby mouse, probably born not long ago, with a pink tail tip. It stopped about a meter away from him.

He stared at the baby mouse for a while, then cautiously crawled over. The mouse sniffed around, insensitive to his approach, and was eventually caught.

Holding the tiny mouse gently, Yu Qing petted its head: “Were you abandoned too?”

The mouse squeaked, its tiny whiskers twitching, as if responding.

“Don’t worry, I’ll keep you company.” He said, seemingly to comfort himself.

Maybe because he had a living creature with him, Yu Qing, who was silent just moments ago, started talking to the mouse: “You’re so small. Where are your parents? Didn’t they escape with you?”

“This place will soon be overrun with zombies. A mouse as small as you would be eaten in one bite.”

The mouse squeaked non-stop in his palm, and he broke off a piece of lettuce leaf but withdrew it before offering it to the mouse: “Oh, you’re too young to eat other things.”

He leaned his head against the wall, gazing at the small patch of sky through the iron bars.

Having a small animal for company wasn’t so lonely, after all, it wasn’t his first time facing death.

Suddenly, he remembered: “Wait, you’re just a newborn, that would be such a waste.”

The mouse crawled into the gap between his thumb and rested there, lightly biting his finger.

“Hope you get to experience reincarnation or something, it’s actually pretty good.”

After resting for a while, he stood up and emptied the bag full of crystal nuclei in front of him, determined to absorb them all before his imminent death.

The golden sunset turned the clouds fiery red, casting long shadows of the cars moving on the ground.

Several zombie corpses from previous batches lay by the roadside. Song Xinqi sped up, running over them once more.

It was the second day after the last batch left the safe zone. He felt a faint heat rising within him, subtle yet persistent, and the surrounding sounds seemed muffled.

He frowned, immediately recognizing the signs of impending evolution.

But it wasn’t him, it was Yu Qing.

Although Wei Zheng was competent, a strong sense of unease gripped him, as if something was about to happen.

Speeding up again, he gradually left the other cars behind.

“Hmm, why did the boss suddenly speed up?” Someone in the back wondered. “Should we follow?”

“The boss must have his reasons. We need to stay and watch over the others.”

Meanwhile, in the car next to them, someone’s face turned grim upon seeing Song Xinqi’s speeding vehicle: “Follow them.”

The driver glanced in the rearview mirror, momentarily feeling as if his teammate’s figure had changed, but the odd sensation disappeared in a blink.

The driver said, “Old Xu, you’re mistaken. Our current speed is fine.”

With bloodshot eyes, Fan Yibin stared at the driver’s back and said slowly, “I said, move forward.”

The driver’s eyes suddenly glazed over, and he pressed the accelerator to follow the car ahead.

Having used his hypnosis ability one last time, Fan Yibin slumped in his seat as the car gradually became transparent.

Someone in the adjacent car looked out the window in surprise: “Hey, how did the car on our left suddenly disappear?”

For some reason, the feeling of unease grew stronger, the heat from the fever spreading through his body.

When the third batch set out, they would encounter zombies attracted by the second batch, causing delays.

Moreover, the third batch needed to maintain a steady pace, so they wouldn’t move too fast.

Sure enough, within half a day of speeding up, Song Xinqi finally saw the tail end of the third batch of vehicles.

By now, the high fever had spread throughout his body, and Yu Qing would fall into a forced coma in an hour or two.

He involuntarily recalled the time when Yu Qing had a high fever in the wild during his third-level evolution. The little weakling was very delicate; it was a wonder how he had endured it.

Driving, Wei Zheng suddenly saw a fast-moving white SUV flashing its lights at him from behind. Soon, the car was alongside his.

He rolled down the window, seeing Song Xinqi’s sharp profile: “Leader.”

“Where’s Yu Qing?”

“Asleep in the back.” Wei Zheng glanced at the figure lying down, Yu Xiaoxue’s smaller body half covering the person. From Wei Zheng’s angle, only their dangling legs were visible.

He opened the rear window, and Song Xinqi’s heart sank at the sight, his voice turning cold: “Wei Zheng, look carefully at who’s in the back.”

Hearing his words, Wei Zheng turned, slightly puzzled, and froze when he saw clearly.

Yu Xiaoxue was asleep on the seat, and beneath her wasn’t Yu Qing but an unconscious, unfamiliar woman.

“I saw them get in.”

“It’s hypnosis…”

A loud crash interrupted their conversation.

In Wei Zheng’s view, Song Xinqi’s car suddenly fell behind, and an explosion occurred a second later, with thick smoke and flames billowing out.

Wei Zheng slammed on the brakes, leaving black skid marks on the ground, and rushed towards the source of the explosion.

Song Xinqi’s car was engulfed in flames, its rear severely dented, with another car’s front embedded in the dent.

There was only a car’s front, but gradually, the rest of the vehicle became visible, as if adjusting its transparency.

Shattered glass was everywhere, the driver inside unconscious, and Wei Zheng took a glance before refocusing on rescuing Song Xinqi from the burning car.

Before he could act, the passenger door was forcefully opened from inside.

Song Xinqi, with dark mist swirling in his eyes, didn’t glance at the back. He removed the glass shards from his arm and strode towards Wei Zheng’s car.

The front and rear cars had to stop due to the accident: “What happened?”

“No idea.”

Wei Zheng saw Song Xinqi walking past him, his arm bleeding and burned: “Leader, where are you going?”
“Finding someone.” Song Xinqi’s voice was wrapped in endless frost. “Don’t let that person at the back escape. We’ll deal with them later.”

The target was him, but Song Xinqi didn’t care about anything now. He only knew that Yu Qing was very likely still in the safe zone.

Dragging the unconscious Yu Xiaoxue and the girl from the back seat, he sat alone in the driver’s seat. The blood on his palm stained the steering wheel red. Shifting into reverse, the black car roared back like an enraged beast.

The glaring sunlight woke Yu Qing. When he got up, his head was dizzy, his whole body felt like it was on fire, his throat was dry, and his forehead and hands were burning. He pressed himself against the cold wall.

It seemed he had a fever.

His ability was finally about to evolve, but the timing was quite off.

Looking up, he saw a wall that seemed to reach the sky. When he looked around, everything was incredibly large. The baby mouse, originally the size of his thumb, was now almost as tall as he was.

He immediately felt dizzy and fell to the ground, his high fever making him delirious.

He felt like there was a sound by his ear, vaguely hearing something unclear. He lay motionless, feeling as if someone was calling his name.

“Who is it?” His voice was exceptionally hoarse.

After countless calls, he finally received a response. The tension in Song Xinqi’s heart loosened for a moment but quickly tightened again. “Yu Qing, can you hear me? How is the situation in the safe zone? Has the zombie tide arrived?”

The black car sped through the wilderness at maximum speed. The fever caused Song Xinqi’s vision to blur. He used his mental power to attack his own brain, forcing himself to stay awake.

He extended his mental web to the limit, but the distance was too great for him to sense the situation in the safe zone.

His whole body was tense, but he forced himself to stay calm.

It seemed like he heard Song Xinqi’s voice. Was he delirious from the fever?

Yu Qing’s brain was in chaos, only catching a few scattered words and Song Xinqi’s urgent breathing.

What was he saying? He couldn’t hear clearly.

But how could he hear his voice? Weren’t they supposed to have severed their connection? As he thought about this, he realized that the connection, which should have disappeared, was still present in his mind.

His breathing became shaky. His fevered forehead pressed against the wall, and his fingers unconsciously scratched at the gray-white wall: “You lied to me.”

There was a moment of silence on the other end, followed by urgent words: “Yu…I…where, hold…on, I’ll…come.”

A shadow flashed past the window. Yu Qing stared for a while before laboriously climbing onto the table to look outside. Zombies were wandering the streets, too numerous to count at a glance.

Several zombies suddenly turned and locked eyes with him. His body stiffened, and his legs gave out, causing him to fall off the table.

“Roar!!” The zombies’ howls echoed through the sky.

Hearing the commotion from the other side, Song Xinqi’s heart stopped for a moment, his voice filled with panic: “Yu Qing, what’s wrong?”

With a dry throat, Yu Qing’s pained voice turned into a muffled sound. The zombies’ broken vocal cords produced piercing screams. Yu Qing covered his ears, lying on the ground in a daze.

“Did the zombies enter the city? Where are you now? Find a place to hide. Is your ability still working? Don’t be afraid, I’ll be there soon.”

The fragmented voice of Song Xinqi mixed with the zombies’ roars, making Yu Qing’s head feel like mush.

Instead of being comforted by him, he felt increasingly despondent.

When the original owner was locked here, Song Xinqi said the same thing.

“Are you still lying to me? You’re the one who left me here.”

Hearing his weak and aggrieved voice, Song Xinqi’s heart felt like it was being stabbed. He said hoarsely, “I didn’t.”

After he finished speaking, Yu Qing’s pained sobbing came from the other end.

The zombies’ voices were close, his whole body was weak, and he couldn’t stand up. The baby mouse ran around him anxiously, seemingly sensing the danger.

He tried to avoid being annoying. He thought they had broken up peacefully, but it was all Song Xinqi’s deception from beginning to end.

The defenseless safe zone was quickly overrun by the massive zombie tide. The zombies’ roars outside the window were incessant. They soon sensed the presence of living humans inside. Shadows covered the light coming through the top of the window. Hands were banging on the iron bars.

It was unclear how they climbed up, but the small piece of fence was crowded with zombies’ eyes, all staring unblinkingly at the figure lying on the ground.

Yu Qing shuddered and pulled the baby mouse into his arms: “They’re watching me. There are so many eyes. I’m very scared… Will you be happy to hear me say this?”

Song Xinqi’s eyes were bloodshot. He gritted his teeth, his voice low and almost inaudible: “Let’s not talk about this now. Where are you? I’m almost at the safe zone.”

The ringing in his ears drowned out Song Xinqi’s voice, but it didn’t matter whether he heard it or not. It would either be Song Xinqi’s admission or denial, but he wouldn’t believe him anyway.

This was the last voice he would hear before he died. Yu Qing pressed his lips together and said softly, “You didn’t have to go to such lengths. I’m very weak. If you wanted me to die badly, there were easier ways. Leaving me in the safe zone for so long was actually quite kind of you.”

Song Xinqi felt like his heart was bleeding. He wanted to explain, but any words seemed pale at this moment.

It was only now that he realized what kind of existence he was in Yu Qing’s heart. He had never said a kind word to him, always keeping a cold face and a tough attitude, forcing him to cut ties with others.

What kind of feelings did Yu Qing have when facing him?

“It hurts,” Yu Qing said unconsciously, curling up.

“I know, I know.” Song Xinqi’s mind was buzzing, his controlled voice trembling. “Yu Qing, don’t sleep. Hold on, find a secure room and lock yourself in. I’ll get you out.”

Yu Qing’s gradually foggy mind transmitted Song Xinqi’s words a beat late. He suddenly laughed. This unexpected laugh filled Song Xinqi with a deep sense of panic.

His voice was so weak it seemed it would disappear with a breath: “I know your plan. I won’t be fooled again.”

The original owner believed Song Xinqi would come to save him, struggling in the zombie city for two days, only to have Song Xinqi sever the connection at his most desperate moment.

Rather than let him give him the final despair, it was better to end it himself. At least he wouldn’t be played with until death.

“Yu Qing, don’t do anything rash, Yu…” Song Xinqi’s pupils suddenly contracted, his words abruptly cut off.

The mental link was severed.

A pitch-black car appeared at the gate of the safe zone, surrounded tightly by zombies.

Countless sounds assaulted Song Xinqi’s eardrums and mental power. He expressionlessly stepped on the accelerator, crashing into the zombie horde.

A torrent of mental power exploded among the zombies, causing countless zombies to collapse, only to be trampled by their companions.

“Roar!”

Terrifying faces pressed against the web-cracked car windows. Blood and flesh smeared the black car green.

The car, like a fragile leaf in a raging sea, was dented at the front and sides.

The pitch-black wind cast an unbreakable shadow over the zombie city, a hell on earth where any living being entering would be reduced to bones.

What had he done? He had actually left Yu Qing alone here.

Black mist swirled in his eyes. He grabbed a handful of crystal nuclei and quickly absorbed them all, releasing his replenished power self-destructively.

Not knowing Yu Qing’s exact location, he searched building by building.

Zombies’ bodies piled up into small mountains, green fluid soaking the ground, drenching his pants. Song Xinqi, like a tireless machine, cleared all visible zombies.

Suddenly, his body stiffened. He covered his mouth with his hand.

“Ugh!” Blood soaked his palm, seeping through his fingers. Song Xinqi’s expression remained blank, his spine straight as he unleashed his mental power among the zombies.

The tall figure, exuding a repressive aura, burst into the building, his sharp brows filled with hostility. Walking hastily, his coat hem left splashes of red on the gray walls.

Song Xinqi sped through the hallway, erasing the zombies’ consciousness with a touch of his mental power.

Suddenly, he kicked something that made a tinkling sound. Looking down, his grim face showed a slight change upon seeing the chains on the ground.

He quickly scanned several rooms, stopping at the one originally used to store crystal nuclei.

The door had been violently broken open from the outside, lying flat on the ground. Dozens of zombies wandered inside. Seeing Song Xinqi, they roared and rushed over.

“Bang!” The zombies’ hard heads thudded against the door panel. Song Xinqi kicked the zombie away and walked inside.

The clutter in the corner was scattered all over the floor. He moved the overturned furniture, blankets, and boxes, searching every nook and cranny, finding crushed vegetable leaves under a fallen cabinet.

He walked to the table leaning against the wall. Clear footprints were visible on the dusty surface.

“Yu Qing.”

He called softly, his voice hoarse and inhuman.

“I’m here to take you out, Yu Qing. Where are you?”

Deathly silence filled the storeroom. His Adam’s apple bobbed, taking heavy steps toward the dead zombies.

Not him, not him, not him. He wasn’t…

After checking the last zombie’s face, his tense shoulders relaxed, closing his dry eyes.

After a few seconds of brief relief, he opened his bloodshot eyes and silently continued searching for the person lost in the zombie city.
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