After My Crush Came Back from the Dead - Chapter 4

Lu Xin did not know how she had managed to bring Qi Yuan home.

She took off her own black coat and covered Qi Yuan’s face with it, then messed up her hair, disguising her as a guest who had come to attend the funeral. Qi Yuan remained silent behind her the entire time, only quietly watching Lu Xin and obediently letting herself be pulled home.

The whole process went so smoothly that it felt strange. Even when Lu Xin pushed open the door to her home, she still thought she might be dreaming.

She held Qi Yuan’s hand and pulled her over to the sofa.

Qi Yuan was half a head taller than her. At this moment, she lowered her head and silently looked at Lu Xin, her gaze following her movements like a docile sheep.

She said nothing and looked no different from a human being.

Lu Xin looked at her nervously and asked softly, “How do you feel right now?”

Qi Yuan did not speak. She only looked at her.

Lu Xin took a step forward and boldly asked, “Can I touch you?”

With the other girl’s silent permission and lack of resistance, Lu Xin reached out and tested for her breath, then placed her hand over Qi Yuan’s left chest.

No breathing. No heartbeat. Qi Yuan’s skin felt icy cold to the touch, having lost the elasticity human skin should have.

She isn’t human, Lu Xin thought. Or maybe she’s half-human, like a zombie or some non-human creature from a disaster movie…

She could not help saying, “You couldn’t have turned into a jiangshi, could you?”

Qi Yuan’s eyes moved slightly, and she tilted her head to look at her. Along the way, she had shown an unusual curiosity toward human voices, her head always turning with the sound.

Lu Xin pulled her to sit on the sofa and observed her closely.

Although the Qi Yuan before her did not seem to possess human thinking ability, the distance that had existed between them for years collapsed in this moment. Trembling, she reached out and waved her hand in front of Qi Yuan’s eyes.

Qi Yuan gently held her hand. Her black eyes were cold and clear.

Startled by the sudden contact, Lu Xin could not help jumping. At a loss, she watched Qi Yuan open her mouth, intending to put Lu Xin’s hand into it.

Her eyelid twitched, and she quickly pulled her hand back.

Discovering that the food had disappeared, Qi Yuan let out a low growl from her throat. It was extremely similar to the threatening rumble of a beast protecting its food—hoarse and frightening.

Lu Xin shook her head and said seriously, “If I let you eat my hand, I won’t be able to cook.”

She gently patted Qi Yuan’s head, completely unafraid of the latter’s fierce expression at that moment. Qi Yuan frowned. Thinking she had been attacked, she turned around and pounced on Lu Xin, pinning her down on the sofa.

Lu Xin saw the other girl open her mouth wide, revealing sharp fangs inside.

Her canine teeth had grown longer after death. Her nails were also unusually sharp, and her strength was so great that Lu Xin could not move at all.

Qi Yuan looked down from above at the weak human before her and slowly brought the tips of her teeth closer. Suddenly, she hesitated.

Perhaps because the remnants of her humanity were still at work, she ultimately gave up on the idea of treating Lu Xin as prey.

Pressed against the sofa by Qi Yuan’s monstrous strength, Lu Xin could not move. She could only watch as Qi Yuan stopped, her expression freezing, then released her as though she had made some kind of decision.

“You’re not going to eat me?” she asked softly.

Qi Yuan gave no response. She only let go of Lu Xin, sat cross-legged on the sofa, and idly looked around the room. Lu Xin lay on the sofa and calmed herself down. Only after a long while did she climb up and sit properly.

She turned to look at Qi Yuan, just happening to meet her gaze. Suddenly feeling a little embarrassed, she opened her mouth to break the deadlock. “You… do you still remember me? I’m Lu Xin.”

Qi Yuan tilted her head and studied her, as if studying an ordinary piece of furniture.

Seeing the emptiness in Qi Yuan’s eyes, Lu Xin finally belatedly felt sadness. She and Qi Yuan had known each other for two years, yet now they had suddenly returned to the starting point.

She continued asking, “Then do you still remember things from before?”

Qi Yuan’s expression remained blank.

Lu Xin began to suspect that she might not understand human language. “Do you know who you are?”

Unexpectedly, this time, Qi Yuan actually nodded.

Afterward, Lu Xin asked her a few more questions and discovered that she could understand short sentences and could also respond with simple sounds and movements.

Qi Yuan only knew her own name and age. Aside from that, she was blank like a sheet of paper.

Lu Xin also discovered that Qi Yuan did not possess complex thinking ability. She did many things purely by instinct. Whatever she wanted, she took; whatever she did not want, she threw away. Her straightforwardness was frightening.

Lu Xin told her her own name. “My name is Lu Xin.”

Qi Yuan tilted her head and said, one word at a time, “Lu… Xin…?”

“No, it’s Lu Xin.”

“Lu—Xing—”

Lu Xin shook her head. “How come you can’t even tell front and back nasal sounds apart anymore…”

She dug out an old children’s encyclopedia that had been stored away for years and began teaching Qi Yuan some simple words and sentences. But Qi Yuan was clearly not interested. After learning only a few words, she completely lost patience and nearly tore the book in half.

Lu Xin understood that she could only teach her step by step and let things take their natural course.

Time passed quickly, and it was almost noon. Lu Xin turned on the television for Qi Yuan to watch, then walked into the kitchen.

Through the glass window, she looked outside. The clouds had cleared after the rain, and sunlight poured down in great handfuls, making the whole world bright and warm.

Lu Xin turned on the faucet, washed her hands briefly, then wiped her face and prepared to start cooking.

It was only then that she suddenly remembered a crucial question—what did zombies eat?

The habit of zombies eating raw flesh and drinking blood had been depicted by humans in a horrifying way. However, Eastern and Western zombies were slightly different. Zombies in Hollywood blockbusters directly tore into human flesh, while Eastern jiangshi hopped around and mostly sucked human blood.

If Qi Yuan was the former, then the little bit of meat on Lu Xin’s body would barely be enough for her to eat. If she was the latter, though, Lu Xin could provide some.

Lu Xin did not notice that, a few minutes later, Qi Yuan had also silently followed her into the kitchen. Before that, she had successfully scared the Brazilian turtle in the fish tank so badly that it no longer dared poke its head out, then bared her fangs threateningly at the birds landing on the balcony. All living creatures kept a respectful distance from her.

Knowing there was nothing left to destroy, she walked into the kitchen and curiously approached this weak human, watching as Lu Xin fiddled with bottles, jars, pots, bowls, ladles, and pans.

Qi Yuan did not destroy anything this time. She only lightly poked Lu Xin’s back with her knuckle.

After becoming a zombie, Qi Yuan walked almost soundlessly. Lu Xin was so startled that goosebumps rose all over her body. She hurriedly turned around and saw Qi Yuan looking at her calmly.

Sensing the human’s gaze, Qi Yuan slowly said, “…Hungry.”

“Speak of the devil…” Lu Xin sighed and asked, “What do you want to eat?”

Their eyes met. After a moment, Qi Yuan slowly shook her head.

Helpless, Lu Xin could only estimate and start cooking. Since it was the first time she was cooking for Qi Yuan, she deliberately made both meat and vegetable dishes flavorful, and she also steamed a lot of rice.

While rolling up her sleeves, she said without looking back, “Go out and play by yourself for a while.” She was afraid Qi Yuan would smash the kitchen.

Qi Yuan did not listen. She obediently followed behind Lu Xin, her eyes moving along with Lu Xin’s busy figure, watching as dishes full of color, aroma, and flavor came out of the pan one by one through her hands.

These foods inexplicably made her feel nostalgic, but they did not stir her appetite. Perhaps she was only nostalgic for this kind of atmosphere and form.

Lu Xin made four dishes and a soup, carefully carrying them to the dining table. Qi Yuan was pressed into a seat in front of the table. She stared without blinking as Lu Xin picked up her chopsticks and put a piece of meat from the plate into her mouth. Qi Yuan suddenly understood and actually reached out to grab a piece too.

“No!” Lu Xin stopped her hand and said, “You have to learn how to use chopsticks.”

Qi Yuan possessed immense strength, yet Lu Xin managed to hold her down. She did not say anything. She only lowered her eyes and used her index finger and thumb to pinch the two long, thin wooden sticks on the table, imitating humans in a convincing manner as she slowly picked up a piece of pork rib.

The good times did not last long. Under her showy but unsteady technique, the piece of pork rib failed to stay in place and slipped onto the table.

Qi Yuan furrowed her brows as if facing a bitter enemy.

Lu Xin held back her laughter and comforted her softly. “Take it slow.”

Qi Yuan was indeed good at practice. With her uninterrupted effort, about five minutes later, she could finally smoothly pick up food and place it into her bowl.

Lu Xin patiently corrected her posture. Qi Yuan’s learning ability was very strong, probably because of habits she had formed while alive. She had a kind of momentum that said once she decided to do something, she had to do it. After the two of them worked at it for a while, her manner of eating finally looked no different from a normal person’s.

But although she tried her best to imitate, she was fundamentally worlds apart from humans and still could not use her strength properly. Because of this, three or four pairs of wooden chopsticks in the house were broken and ruined.

Qi Yuan looked at the wooden pieces scattered all over the floor and reached out, wanting to pick them up. Lu Xin stopped her. “I’ll do it. You eat.”

“I’m not eating,” Qi Yuan said.

Lu Xin was bending down to sweep the broken pieces into the dustpan. Hearing this, she paused. “It doesn’t taste good?”

“Weird,” Qi Yuan shook her head. “Fishy!”

Lu Xin dared guarantee that, by human taste, there was not the slightest fishy flavor at all. She looked at the table full of dishes, sighed, then wrapped them one by one in plastic wrap and put them into the refrigerator.

She had originally used several kinds of livestock meat to make three separate dishes, but Qi Yuan had only tasted them briefly and stopped, to say nothing of the rice and vegetables.

Lu Xin could not help thinking, “Next time, I’ll try lamb and beef…”

After the meal, she went to wash the dishes. Qi Yuan followed behind her again like a tail. The kitchen was very small, and with two people standing there, there was almost no room to stretch.

Lu Xin had no choice but to turn around and say to Qi Yuan, “It’s too narrow here. Go out and play.”

Qi Yuan did not move. Lu Xin asked, “What’s wrong?”

Qi Yuan stood with her back to the sunlight, her entire face covered in shadow. She licked the corner of her mouth and looked down at Lu Xin from above. Deep within her black pupils, a faint red seemed to glow. Perhaps because she was looking down from a higher position, this expression was so cold that it almost carried a sense of aggression.

“Hungry.”

Lu Xin trembled under her gaze and lowered her head, extremely embarrassed. “I’m sorry. I really don’t know what you want to eat…” She had nothing to her name, no power and no influence. After finally bringing the person she loved home, she had not expected that she would be unable to offer Qi Yuan the best things at all. Suddenly, she felt deeply powerless.

Seeing Lu Xin look away, Qi Yuan seemed to realize something.

In the cramped kitchen, Lu Xin was the only source of warmth. Tempted by the human’s warmth and breathing, Qi Yuan took a step forward. Instinctively, she trapped this frail human in the corner, feeling as though she were surrounding a tiny flame—bright, shining, full of life. This vitality made her heart begin to reminisce about those blurry old days again.

She knew very well that she could no longer possess them, but she also had nothing left to lose.

Qi Yuan lowered her head and gently flared her nostrils, sniffing the pleasant scent on the human. It was the scent of blankets dried in the sun, and also the scent of clothes washed with soap. She felt her hunger surge even more violently.

Just as Lu Xin was at a loss, inspiration suddenly struck her. She turned her head, unbuttoned her collar, revealing her pale neck and one side of her shoulder.

In a small voice, she suggested, “Why don’t you try… drinking my blood?”

Author’s Note:

Wow, someone actually bookmarked this!

Can I get a comment too?
/getting greedy/