Villainous Zombie King (10)
When Song Xuyi woke up the next morning, Ye Shuiyu was still sleeping beside her.
In the morning light, Ye Shuiyu looked particularly stunning. Her skin was so fair it seemed almost translucent, with sunlight dancing on her eyelashes, making her appear like a flower about to bloom in all its beauty.
However, upon closer inspection, Ye Shuiyu’s skin had a cold jade-like quality, an almost sickly paleness, as if she hadn’t seen sunlight for a long time.
Early morning, just after waking up, is when a person’s willpower is at its weakest. Especially now, with Ye Shuiyu sleeping on a separate pillow and under a different blanket, the distance between them wasn’t enough to put Song Xuyi on alert. With her instinctive defenses lowered, Song Xuyi couldn’t help but observe Ye Shuiyu.
“Before meeting Ye Shuiyu, I never thought a person could so perfectly match my aesthetic preferences,” Song Xuyi whispered to the system, finding Ye Shuiyu more and more attractive the longer she looked.
After a while, the system came online with a soft ‘hmm’, its tone sounding somewhat melancholic: “You’re good in every way, except for your fondness for pretty faces.”
Song Xuyi didn’t take the system’s words to heart. She knew that recently, the system had suffered a great shock for some reason and was busy conducting self-checks, often in a dormant state with occasional moments of clarity. During these times, the system would mutter to itself, “It’s impossible! Why can’t I detect it? She should clearly be the big villain…”
However, when Song Xuyi asked, the system would stammer and refuse to tell her the specific reason.
After the system’s refusal to disclose, Song Xuyi didn’t want to probe into its secrets. After all, no matter what, the system would always be on her side.
Moreover, after so many worlds, Song Xuyi had come to regard the system as a friend. She didn’t want anything to happen to it. In any case, Ye Shuiyu’s abilities were now much more useful than the system’s. It was good for the system to take this time to check for and fix any issues.
Thinking this, Song Xuyi stopped bothering the system’s self-check and let it go offline. Although she knew she should get up, her eyes involuntarily continued to observe Ye Shuiyu. Looking at Ye Shuiyu’s exquisite features and thinking about her experiences, Song Xuyi’s eyes couldn’t help but fill with sympathy…
And just at that moment, Ye Shuiyu opened her eyes.
“Good morning, Xuyi.”
Ye Shuiyu seemed a bit dazed at first, quietly gazing at Song Xuyi without speaking. Seeing the blush slowly spreading on Song Xuyi’s cheeks and her evasive eyes, Ye Shuiyu’s sleepy eyes gradually became clear. Her throat moved, and after a while, she finally spoke in a hoarse voice, softly greeting her.
“Good morning!” Song Xuyi avoided Ye Shuiyu’s gaze, returned her greeting, and tried to act as if nothing had happened as she got out of bed and stretched. “I’ll wash up first, you can come after…”
Song Xuyi entered the bathroom, and as soon as she did, she cupped some water and splashed it on her face, letting out a long sigh—
It was too embarrassing!
Fortunately, Ye Shuiyu only had the memory and cognition of a seven-year-old at this time. She probably… couldn’t see through Song Xuyi’s admiration of her beauty, right?
It took Song Xuyi quite a while to mentally prepare herself. Afterwards, she packed some food and clothes, and once again set out in the car, met by the concerned gazes of the group.
Due to her inner guilt, Song Xuyi didn’t notice the wary and fearful looks the others gave Ye Shuiyu.
The awkwardness in her heart reached its peak when they were alone: throughout the journey, Song Xuyi couldn’t help but secretly observe Ye Shuiyu’s reactions, afraid that Ye Shuiyu would think of her as a weird auntie.
At first glance, Ye Shuiyu seemed normal, but after nearly two hours on the road, Song Xuyi noticed something strange: Ye Shuiyu was unusually quiet.
Previously, Ye Shuiyu had been obedient and sensible, but appeared happy overall. She cared about Song Xuyi, always trying to attract her attention with little antics, and bravely expressing her affection for Song Xuyi, cute and lively. However, the current Ye Shuiyu had lost that vibrant energy. Song Xuyi stole glances at her several times, and each time Ye Shuiyu maintained the same posture, head lowered, seemingly unchanged.
What’s wrong with her?
Song Xuyi bit her lower lip, feeling inexplicably uneasy, and couldn’t help but probe—
“Shuiyu, my memory is a bit poor, how old are you this year?”
“Seven years old,” Ye Shuiyu answered softly.
Song Xuyi felt relieved. So far, Ye Shuiyu’s condition seemed okay, at least she hadn’t refused to communicate.
“What was Shuiyu doing at seven years old?” Song Xuyi couldn’t help but continue probing: “To be honest, I’ve forgotten my memories from when I was seven. I really envy you at this age…”
After saying this, Song Xuyi paused.
After so many worlds, Song Xuyi hadn’t thought about her memories from her original world for a long time. On one hand, it was because Song Xuyi had gradually realized her self-worth through her travels, and on the other hand…
Song Xuyi was actually a bit confused herself. It seemed that as she traveled through world after world, she lost the initial feeling of bewilderment. In each world, her heart felt fulfilled and determined, as if she had found an anchor. But Song Xuyi couldn’t quite understand the reason for this change in her state of mind…
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Song Xuyi bit her lip, something suddenly flashing through her mind. At this moment, the silent Ye Shuiyu suddenly spoke: “Xuyi, you’re so good, your seven-year-old self must have been very happy…”
“Does Shuiyu feel unhappy then?” Song Xuyi pulled back her scattered thoughts, stopped the car, and turned her head to look at Ye Shuiyu.
Ye Shuiyu lowered her head, avoiding Song Xuyi’s gaze.
“It’s not that I’m unhappy. I know that grandfather and grandmother are good to me, but… but I want to go back to my father more.” After a while, Ye Shuiyu answered softly, frowning slightly: “After mom left, dad cried so heartbrokenly. If I’m not with dad, he won’t be able to bear it…”
Song Xuyi understood the reason for Ye Shuiyu’s low spirits: when she had just lost her mother, Ye Shuiyu’s grandparents, for some unknown reason, had kept Ye Shuiyu away from her father.
Song Xuyi didn’t know the story in between, nor did she know how to comfort Ye Shuiyu, who was feeling low and missing her father. Although these things had become past events, the current Ye Shuiyu was still genuinely sad about being separated from her father.
Song Xuyi sighed. She couldn’t empathize, nor did she know how to console. For now, she could only try to distract Ye Shuiyu as much as possible, to make her feel happier.
Thinking this, Song Xuyi began to actively ask Ye Shuiyu questions during the journey, asking if there were any powerful zombies or mutated animals around, if anyone needed help… And sure enough, Ye Shuiyu’s attention was diverted, focusing on the questions Song Xuyi asked.
It was also at this time that Song Xuyi realized the formidable nature of Ye Shuiyu’s ability: Ye Shuiyu’s mental power had formed into a huge net covering everything within a radius of about half a kilometer, and she could sense any changes in any living being within this net.
Those newly mutated zombies and animals that were gradually becoming more powerful were detected and eliminated by Ye Shuiyu as soon as they were sensed. Before long, Ye Shuiyu had collected another large handful of crystal cores.
Song Xuyi saw Ye Shuiyu fighting against zombies and mutated animals.
Unlike the cute and harmless appearance she showed in front of Song Xuyi, when fighting zombies, Ye Shuiyu’s eyes were cold, and her whole being seemed to exude a chilling aura from her bones, like an emotionless god of death, reaping the lives of all enemies.
This was a Ye Shuiyu that Song Xuyi wasn’t familiar with.
Seeing Ye Shuiyu like this, Song Xuyi felt an inexplicable sense of dissonance in her heart, instinctively feeling fear and trembling, even wanting to escape…
But this was Ye Shuiyu.
The interaction over the past few days made it impossible for Song Xuyi to be wary of Ye Shuiyu. After overcoming her instinctive fear, Song Xuyi even thought this side of Ye Shuiyu was good: in the process of eliminating zombies, Ye Shuiyu could dilute her sadness, venting all her sorrows on the zombies and mutated beasts.
After all, if these zombies and mutated beasts continued to develop, they would definitely become a major threat to humanity in the future. Ye Shuiyu’s actions could be considered as nipping the problem in the bud.
And as Song Xuyi had predicted, after killing the mutated beasts and zombies, being praised by Song Xuyi with shining eyes saying things like “Shuiyu is so amazing” and “How can Shuiyu be so beautiful and so capable”, Ye Shuiyu, although looking a bit shy with reddened ears, clearly had brighter eyes and slightly upturned corners of her mouth…
Under Song Xuyi’s deliberate encouragement, Ye Shuiyu’s mood finally improved a bit. Time passed quickly, and soon two days had gone by. Ye Shuiyu’s memories had reached nine years old, and according to her description, at nine she had returned to her father’s side, but her father didn’t have much time to spend with Ye Shuiyu because he seemed to be engaged in a very important research project.
Song Xuyi looked at the constantly growing number of crystal cores in her car and felt numb.
She had originally been worried that Ye Shuiyu might get hurt, but Song Xuyi realized her concern was unnecessary: even after killing so many zombies and mutated beasts, Ye Shuiyu’s complexion still showed no change…
It was only then that Song Xuyi began to believe Ye Shuiyu’s words: on that first day they met, her discomfort might indeed have been due to eating the chocolate Song Xuyi had given her.
Although being allergic to chocolate sounded a bit strange, it wasn’t impossible. Song Xuyi had been a doctor and knew there were all sorts of allergies in this world.
By the evening of the third day, besides eliminating zombies and mutated beasts, Ye Shuiyu made another discovery: in a locked house, Ye Shuiyu found a four-year-old girl who was starving to death.
The little girl was already so hungry she was barely breathing, covered in filth. When Ye Shuiyu brought her to the car, she almost wolfed down the food Song Xuyi handed her, then looked up at Song Xuyi with tear-filled eyes and grabbed Song Xuyi’s sleeve.
Song Xuyi looked at the little girl’s familiar dependent gaze and felt a sense of foreboding. In the next moment, Song Xuyi’s premonition came true as the little girl looked at her and called out in a crisp voice, “Mama!”
At this point, Song Xuyi had to admit that perhaps her awakened ability was related to healing, so it came with a strong affinity. Not just this little girl, but among the children who had been held hostage by Wang Xi’s group earlier, some of the younger ones had also called Song Xuyi “mama”.
The child before her was a real four-year-old girl. She was dirty all over and extremely dependent on Song Xuyi, crying uncontrollably if she moved away from Song Xuyi even a little bit.
Using Ye Shuiyu’s ability, Song Xuyi found a lake to bathe the little girl and change her clothes. Although the little girl was thin from hunger, she was still very cute.
Song Xuyi wanted the little girl to change to calling her “auntie”, but the little girl refused no matter what. Whenever Song Xuyi brought it up, the little girl would cry and make a fuss. Song Xuyi had no choice but to temporarily agree.
By now it was evening, and driving all day was really tiring. When Ye Shuiyu said there were clean houses ahead, Song Xuyi drove the car to the location Ye Shuiyu indicated.
Over the past two days, Song Xuyi had also discovered that Ye Shuiyu’s living requirements were relatively high. In Song Xuyi’s mind, a place to spend the night only needed a bed, but Ye Shuiyu didn’t think so. The houses she found were all of good architectural style, luxurious and comfortable inside.
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This night, like the previous two nights, Song Xuyi arrived at the destination Ye Shuiyu pointed out, which turned out to be a row of nice villas.
Song Xuyi parked the car in front of the first villa.
With Ye Shuiyu’s metal-based ability, all door locks and security systems were like nothing. Song Xuyi carried the little girl named Zhao Miaomiao into the room.
This villa was probably used by some rich person for vacations. The security was excellent, and although there was some dust inside, supplies were plentiful, and there were no other zombies present.
Once in the room, Zhao Miaomiao started crying again, saying she was afraid this was all just a dream and that she wouldn’t see Song Xuyi when she woke up. Song Xuyi felt pity in her heart and comforted her for a long time before finally calming Zhao Miaomiao down. Fearing Zhao Miaomiao might feel scared, Song Xuyi thought for a moment, then dragged a sofa from another room and placed it next to the bed to block the edge, letting Zhao Miaomiao sleep on the bed.
Only then did Zhao Miaomiao fall asleep peacefully, holding Song Xuyi’s right hand.
For the past two nights, Song Xuyi had practiced her ability before sleeping. After Ye Shuiyu brought back a large number of crystal cores and watched Song Xuyi use them a few times, Song Xuyi stopped being frugal and began using the crystal cores to enhance her ability.
But this day, Song Xuyi was really too tired: taking care of a little child was more exhausting than fighting a battle.
Song Xuyi just wanted to go to sleep early.
Song Xuyi hastily went into the bathroom to take a shower, feeling grateful while washing: thankfully, Ye Shuiyu wasn’t a real child — Ye Shuiyu had never made Song Xuyi feel as tired as Zhao Miaomiao did.
However, what you fear often comes to pass. When Song Xuyi came out of the bathroom after her shower, she saw Ye Shuiyu sitting at the head of the bed with her pillow and blanket, pouting and looking unhappy.
For the past two nights, Ye Shuiyu had slept alone in the next room. Song Xuyi hadn’t expected Ye Shuiyu to suddenly visit again.
Looking at Ye Shuiyu’s expression, Song Xuyi’s tired brain belatedly recalled: it seemed that ever since she had bathed Zhao Miaomiao, Ye Shuiyu had started to look a bit unhappy…
Was it the scene of her interacting with Zhao Miaomiao that had touched Ye Shuiyu, causing her to think of her mother again?
Remembering the scene from last time when Ye Shuiyu wanted to sleep with her because she missed her mother, Song Xuyi felt a headache coming on: Ye Shuiyu’s face was really too beautiful, and Song Xuyi was afraid she wouldn’t be able to control herself looking at that face, but for the moment she didn’t know how to explain her sexual orientation to Ye Shuiyu…
At this moment, the sleeping Zhao Miaomiao started crying again, and Song Xuyi, without thinking, ran over to comfort her.
Zhao Miaomiao didn’t wake up. Hearing Song Xuyi’s familiar voice, the sleeping Zhao Miaomiao grabbed Song Xuyi’s right hand and wouldn’t let go.
Song Xuyi had no choice. Afraid that forcefully pulling away would wake Zhao Miaomiao, she could only sit at the head of the bed, one hand held by Zhao Miaomiao, while turning her head to look at Ye Shuiyu: “Shuiyu, did you come to find me for something?”
But Ye Shuiyu’s gaze fell on Song Xuyi’s arm that was being held by Zhao Miaomiao, and tears slowly welled up in her eyes…
Why is she crying again?
Song Xuyi was completely flustered. Having comforted the little child Zhao Miaomiao, she could only rack her brains to comfort the big child Ye Shuiyu—
“Shuiyu, what’s wrong? If you don’t want to tell me, but you’re really sad, then go ahead and cry…”
Song Xuyi’s original intention was that it’s not good to suppress sadness, one should learn to self-soothe. Maybe after Ye Shuiyu cried enough and her emotions weren’t so intense, she might not feel so sad.
However, these words had a miraculous effect, and Ye Shuiyu instead held back her tears.
?
Song Xuyi stared wide-eyed at Ye Shuiyu, and saw Ye Shuiyu puffing up her cheeks angrily and looking back at her—
“Xuyi, you’re playing favorites!”
“How am I playing favorites?” Song Xuyi frowned, not understanding Ye Shuiyu’s sudden accusation.
“You still deny it!” Ye Shuiyu wiped her tears messily with one hand while glaring at Song Xuyi angrily—
“When I called you mama, you wouldn’t agree no matter what! But when Zhao Miaomiao cried, you agreed to her right away!”
“You fed Zhao Miaomiao so much food, but you always use the excuse that I’ve grown up to brush me off, and you won’t feed me at all!”
“You’ve been paying attention to Zhao Miaomiao the whole way, not even looking at me once…”
Song Xuyi had never imagined that Ye Shuiyu would care about these things.
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However, thinking carefully, it wasn’t strange that Ye Shuiyu would care about these things, after all, Ye Shuiyu currently believed she was only nine years old.
But Ye Shuiyu wasn’t just nine years old…
Song Xuyi suddenly felt the dilemma of a mother with two children, feeling extremely confused and not knowing how to respond…
And on the other side, Ye Shuiyu continued: “Also, Xuyi, you’ve never bathed me! And you’ve never helped me with the wind when I pee…”
Ye Shuiyu was about to say more, but Song Xuyi couldn’t bear to hear any more. She quickly leaned over and covered Ye Shuiyu’s lips.
“Ancestor, I beg you, please stop talking.” Song Xuyi only wanted to crawl into a crack in the ground at this point: “If you keep talking, I’m sure that in half a month, you’ll want to move to another planet to live…”
Seeing Ye Shuiyu frowning, looking unconvinced and seeming to want to continue, Song Xuyi covered her face in pain and humbly opened her mouth: “Shuiyu, tell me! How do you want me to make it up to you…”
“Actually, no matter how you compensate, it can’t change the fact that you’ve hurt me.”
Ye Shuiyu finally changed the subject. She frowned tightly and emphasized: “If you ignore me tomorrow like you did today, I’ll cry for you to see tomorrow just like today, and it’ll be the kind that can’t be comforted…”
“But you’re Xuyi, so I’m willing to forgive you once.” Ye Shuiyu wiped away her tears, looked at the remaining half of Song Xuyi’s bed space, and said in a very firm tone: “I want to sleep with you too, just like Zhao Miaomiao!”
“The hand-holding kind!”
LP: Re-translated on November 10, 2024