A Fake Holy Mother in the Zombie Apocalypse

What could make him so hesitant?

Fang Chen's eyes were full of pleading, but he was a little embarrassed to say it. "Could you… could you help us go to where Mom and Dad work? I really want to… find Mom and Dad."

Fang Ye interrupted Fang Chen. "It's halfway across the city, so far, and full of zombies. It's too dangerous to go there. Don't bother them."

Fang Chen pointed at Lu Xingchi. "Brother, you don't know how amazing this older brother is. He can definitely do it."

Never mind halfway across the city, crossing the entire continent wouldn't be a problem for Lu Xingchi.

Bei Nuan thought, but would this count as her helping Fang Chen fulfill his wish?

As she was thinking, she saw Lu Xingchi bend down towards her and adjust her face. "You're the one who wants to help them. You ask me."

Bei Nuan was a bit speechless.

"How do you want me to ask?"

Bei Nuan thought Lu Xingchi would take advantage of the situation and ask for something like a "strawberry-flavored" something, but unexpectedly, he just smiled. "Say something nice."

That was too easy.

Never mind saying something nice, even performing an entire stage play with nice words wouldn't be a problem.

Bei Nuan immediately changed her expression, her eyes sparkling and watery, grabbing his arm and swaying it as she hummed.

"This particularly handsome, particularly amazing, particularly kind-hearted older brother, would you please help us?"

Her voice was terrifyingly soft, giving people goosebumps.

Jiang Fei raised an eyebrow, Tang Tang turned his head to stifle a laugh, and Du Ruo's eyes almost rolled to the heavens.

Lu Xingchi, however, quite enjoyed this, the corners of his mouth curving into a smile. He nodded. "Okay."

They discussed it for a bit. There was no need for so many people to go. Lu Xingchi could take Fang Chen to his parents' workplace, and the others could stay here and wait for now.

Lu Xingchi, however, insisted on bringing Bei Nuan.

Mother Rabbit had lost her little rabbit once before, and now she would try her best to keep her within sight at all times.

The final result was that Lu Xingchi and Bei Nuan set off together with Fang Chen.

They went downstairs, climbed back onto the main road the same way they came, and while Fang Chen's back was turned as he climbed down from the wall, Bei Nuan took out the SUV and placed it by the roadside.

When Lu Xingchi opened the car door, Fang Chen was still puzzled. "Was this car here just now? I thought the roadside was empty?"

Bei Nuan calmly replied, "Of course it was. Our car has been parked here. Didn't you see it? Right, Lu Xingchi?"

Lu Xingchi started the car and hummed in agreement.

This led young Fang Chen to seriously suspect he had gone blind.

Fang Chen's mother worked at an airline ticket office, on the first floor of an office building.

From afar, Bei Nuan knew the situation wasn't optimistic.

The building had been on fire. The entire first floor storefront looked like it had been smoke-damaged, blackened.

Fang Chen's small face was pale.

"Let's go take a look." Lu Xingchi reached out to open the car door. "If you see your mother in the crowd, tell me."

The "crowd" he was referring to should be the zombies that were coming this way after hearing the commotion.

Fang Chen's face turned even paler.

Inside the ticket office, everything from the floor to the ceiling was black, with only burnt, unrecognizable debris remaining. There were neither zombies nor people.

Fang Chen, on the contrary, breathed a sigh of relief.

No news might be good news.

Fang Chen's father worked at a bank, which required driving across most of the city.

Lu Xingchi sped along the city roads, neatly shaking off wave after wave of zombies.

The bank was on a small street. Lu Xingchi stopped the car and cleared out the zombies before letting Bei Nuan and Fang Chen get out.

Because the zombie outbreak occurred during working hours, someone had probably locked the bank doors in time. However, someone inside had been infected, resulting in a room full of "people."

"Is your father inside?" Lu Xingchi asked Fang Chen.

Fang Chen was about to cry, but he still bravely peered through the glass.

"No!" He looked carefully again and again before coming to a conclusion, a glimmer of hope flashing in his eyes. "Could he be in the back room?"

"Even if he's in the back room, he might have already turned." Lu Xingchi reminded him.

Lu Xingchi opened the door, cleared the area, and walked to the iron gate beside the counter, placing his hand on the handle.

The door opened immediately.

Fang Chen was so shocked he couldn't speak. After a long while, he said, "My dad told me this door was extremely strong, that even a bomb might not be able to open it."

Bei Nuan replied, "Yes, this older brother has been professionally picking locks for a hundred years. He's perfect for robbing banks."

Behind the door was the counter area, and further inside was another door.

Lu Xingchi walked in front with his crossbow, letting Bei Nuan and Fang Chen follow behind as they searched little by little.

Unfortunately, Lu Xingchi's words proved true. There were indeed zombies inside, and quite a few.

Lu Xingchi pushed forward, clearing out the zombies, searching room by room until they found a locked room.

He opened the door. Inside were several desks; it seemed to be an office. Several people were lying motionless on the floor, all of them bank employees.

"Dad!"

Fang Chen cried out and lunged forward, only to be pulled back by Bei Nuan.

Lu Xingchi walked over and carefully checked each person before signaling for the two of them to come closer. "They're fine. They're not zombies, they're people."

Fang Chen immediately threw himself onto a middle-aged man, wailing, "Is my dad dead?"

Lu Xingchi checked his pulse and calmly said, "Not yet, but if you keep pressing on him like this, he really will die."

Fang Chen was so scared he quickly let go of his father and squatted obediently beside him, craning his neck to look.

The middle-aged man didn't move or open his eyes, but he still had a faint pulse and breath.

Lu Xingchi glanced around and concluded, "They were trapped here, without food or water."

All the food and drink in the room had disappeared.

All the cups were empty, there were snack wrappers on the floor without a single crumb left, and the tea caddy was open and empty.

Even the small potted plant on the table was just an empty pot, bare, with no sign of what had been planted in it.

With zombies outside, they were trapped inside the room, unable to get out.

It was unknown how long they had been without food and water. If Bei Nuan and the others had arrived any later, they might have been too late.

Without Du Ruo, Bei Nuan wasn't sure what to do. She took out a bottle of water, helped Fang Chen's father up, and dared to give him only a small sip.

The middle-aged man moved slightly but still didn't open his eyes.

Fang Chen clutched his clothes tightly, his whole body trembling, but he still squatted quietly beside him, afraid of doing anything wrong and harming his father.

While they were giving him water, Lu Xingchi had checked everyone else in the room and found another survivor.

It was a young man, who had also survived. Lu Xingchi asked Bei Nuan for a bottle of water and gave him a little as well.

The young man was in much better condition. After drinking the water, he coughed twice and opened his eyes.

Lu Xingchi carried both survivors to the car and drove back to Fang Chen's home.

Seeing that they had really brought his father back, Fang Ye jumped up, forgetting that he was still running a fever, and clumsily helped Lu Xingchi place him on the bed.

With Du Ruo taking over, Bei Nuan didn't have to worry anymore. She opened the task list and glanced at it.

Fang Chen (2/3).

She had fulfilled another of his wishes.

Bei Nuan thought that although Lu Xingchi had helped, he had insisted that Bei Nuan ask him personally, so it actually counted towards her progress.

The group of them bustled around, and Bei Nuan, unable to help, went out for some air.

There was a small balcony in the living room, which had been enclosed and was where they dried their clothes.

Bei Nuan stood by the window, lost in thought as she looked outside.

The view outside was a typical apocalyptic scene, the buildings under the sun silent and still.

"His father is awake." Lu Xingchi came over and stood behind Bei Nuan.

He looked down at her. "What's wrong?"

Bei Nuan whispered, "Lu Xingchi, I really don't think I'm a good person."

Lu Xingchi looked at her face seriously. "Why do you say that?"

"If I were their parents, and there were two children at home during the zombie outbreak, and I didn't know whether they were dead or alive, and they might be starving, waiting for me to come back, I would do everything I could to survive."

Bei Nuan paused for a few seconds before continuing, "In my opinion, in that room, there was indeed no water, there was nothing that could be done, but… there was actually something to eat."

She looked up at him, her expression troubled.

Lu Xingchi understood what she was saying. There were two dead people in that room.

Lu Xingchi said softly, "Don't think too much about it. Water is more important than food. Without water, eating anything is useless."

"But I can't help but think, if there was water in the room, and only food was lacking, what I would do if it were me."

Lu Xingchi felt a pang of heartache and reached out to hug her.

Surprisingly, Bei Nuan didn't dodge, obediently leaning against his chest.

Lu Xingchi smoothed her hair and said, "Do you know why during famines, even if there are dead people everywhere, cannibalism is severely punished?"

Lu Xingchi's voice was objective but gentle.

"Because it's a bottom line. Once that bottom line is broken, things will become even more terrifying."

"If dead people can be eaten, can dying people be eaten? Can children who are not dying but clearly have no chance of survival be eaten?"

"Then can people who have done bad things and deserve to die be eaten? And then, taking it a step further, can people who are simply weaker than you be eaten for no reason?"

"For a practical person, the bottom line of not eating human flesh doesn't seem so absolute, but the reason people set a bottom line is because no matter where the bottom line is set, there must be one, and holding onto it prevents you from sliding down step by step."

He said a lot, and Bei Nuan, muffled against his chest, summarized in a muffled voice, "So I'm a bad person, right?"

"You're not."

Lu Xingchi's pleasant voice came from above.

"Don't overthink it anymore. I'm here."

Lu Xingchi lowered his head, looked into her eyes, and said with a firm and serious tone, "With me here, I will never let you fall into a situation where you have to struggle with this kind of problem."

Bei Nuan looked up at him, deeply moved.

Lu Xingchi paused, then seriously asked, "Do you think I'm good? Do you want to be my girlfriend?"

Bei Nuan: "…"

Fang Chen's father and the young man were both fine, just weak.

The young man's name was Xiao Ji, and he was Fang Chen's father's colleague. He recovered even faster than Fang Chen's father.

Jiang Fei helped them make congee and cooked a few dishes.

Du Ruo brought the dining table in and placed it by the bed in the bedroom. Everyone sat in a circle and ate with the people lying in bed.

It had been a long time since Bei Nuan had sat in a place like home and eaten at a table like this.

When she was little, she always ate with her father, chatting and telling him all the fun things that happened at school.

Later, after her father was gone, she was alone.

Every meal, she would bring her food to the computer, facing the screen, eating absentmindedly until she was finished.

Today, however, the table was full of people.

The table was too small, and there were too many people.

Bei Nuan's arm bumped into Lu Xingchi's arms on her left.

Lu Xingchi simply turned sideways, letting her block him, switching his chopsticks to his left hand, turning himself into a left-hander.

On her right was Du Ruo, a natural left-hander. His chopsticks kept clashing with Bei Nuan's, and they always reached for the same dish, making eating a meal like a sparring match.

But Bei Nuan still felt happy.

Crowded and happy.

Lu Xingchi asked Fang Chen's family, "Do you want to come with us? We can find a safe place up ahead and drop you off. It might be easier to survive as a family than alone in the city."

Bei Nuan thought that Lu Xingchi seemed to like taking people away and then dropping them off in a safe place, as if he was running a courier service.

If they really sent them away, would that count as fulfilling Fang Chen's third wish?

Du Ruo pondered, "Our car can't fit so many people, can it?"

Bei Nuan, with a piece of garlic-flavored pork in her mouth, volunteered, "Did you forget about the little yellow car? I can drive them."

Du Ruo shuddered, the meat on his chopsticks falling off. He sincerely advised Bei Nuan, "Don't. This family has barely survived."

Unexpectedly, Fang Chen and Fang Ye both shook their heads at the same time.

"We're not leaving," Fang Chen said. "Grandma is still on the first floor. We can't leave Grandma behind."

Fang Ye agreed. "Dad is back. Maybe one day, Mom will come back too. Our family needs to be together. If we leave, how will Mom find us?"

Bei Nuan turned to look at Fang Chen's father.

Fang Chen's father leaned against the pillow and weakly nodded. "Yes, we're not leaving. We'll stay here and wait for her."

Bei Nuan thought that staying in a zombie-infested city where they couldn't be self-sufficient wasn't the best choice from a practical standpoint.

If it were her, she definitely wouldn't do it.

Bei Nuan looked at the Fang Chen brothers.

They were eating, happily glancing back at their father.

Bei Nuan suddenly understood their thoughts.

If her father were still alive in her original world, and he hadn't come home during the zombie outbreak, Bei Nuan wouldn't leave either.

If she left, what if her father came back and couldn't find her?

Lu Xingchi nodded. "Okay, then I'll help you prepare to stay here for a while."

He was true to his word.

At night, everyone was sleeping on the floor in the living room. Bei Nuan slept alone in the small bedroom where the brothers lived. She heard Lu Xingchi constantly going in and out, unsure what he was busy with.

After a while, he suddenly gently opened Bei Nuan's door.

Bei Nuan closed her eyes. "A girl's room, you just come in as you please. What do you want to do?"

Lu Xingchi closed the door behind him, his voice laced with a smile. "Guess."

"Whatever you want to do, just don't be too loud."

Bei Nuan turned over and pulled the covers over her head to continue sleeping.

Lu Xingchi walked around her bed to the window and put down what he was holding.

He welded steel bars onto the window one by one, his movements very light, truly making no sound.

There wasn't even the slightest clink of metal. Bei Nuan quickly fell asleep.

In her dream, it seemed someone came over and pulled down the covers that were covering her head.

Fresh air came in. Bei Nuan was drowsy, as if waiting for something.

After a long wait, nothing happened.

Bei Nuan opened her eyes. There was no one in the room.

Through the thin curtains, she could see several horizontal and vertical iron bars added to the window.

Outside the bars, a crescent moon hung in the sky.

The next morning, the Fang family discovered that all the doors and windows, except for the master bedroom where they slept, had been reinforced.

Fang Ye was shocked, but Fang Chen wasn't surprised at all.

Ever since Lu Xingchi had rescued his father yesterday, his little eyes were filled with adoration when he looked at Lu Xingchi.

Bei Nuan felt that even if Lu Xingchi suddenly ripped off his shirt with a rip, clenched his fists, and flew into the sky like Superman, Fang Chen would probably find it perfectly normal.

Lu Xingchi and the others moved Fang Chen's father to the second bedroom, went in alone and tinkered for a while, finished the windows in the master bedroom, and then took Bei Nuan out.

The two of them ran around outside all day, collecting a lot of supplies and bringing them back, enough to last for a long time.

After Lu Xingchi arranged everything, he was definitely planning to leave.

However, Fang Chen's name was still followed by (2/3). There was still one last wish that hadn't been fulfilled.

Fang Chen now had his father and was happily bouncing around the house, looking completely content.

Bei Nuan couldn't find an opportunity, so she simply pulled him to the empty balcony and laid her cards on the table.

"Fang Chen, when I met you a few days ago, I told myself that I must fulfill your three wishes."

Bei Nuan's tone was gentle, and she felt a bit like a helpful little fairy.

"Now two have been fulfilled. What do you want for your last wish?"

Fang Chen looked at her silently for a while, not saying a word.

After a long time, he suddenly said, "Sister, have you been reading too many fairy tales?"

Fang Chen looked at Bei Nuan with worry, his eyes full of sincere concern.

"Lu-ge said that with zombies everywhere outside, people are under a lot of mental pressure, and it's easy to have psychological problems. Sister, are you fantasizing about yourself as a little fairy with wings to escape reality? Lu-ge understands psychology very well, he's really amazing. You should talk to him more when you have time."

Bei Nuan: "…"

This child was clearly expressing in a roundabout way – you seem a bit crazy.

Bei Nuan was desperate. "Yes, for the sake of my mental health, just tell me any wish, like something delicious you want, and we'll call it even, okay?"

Fang Chen shook his head. "I don't want food. I only have one wish now, and that is for my mom to come back."

Bei Nuan couldn't do that.

"Make another wish, anything but that," Bei Nuan said.

"I really don't want anything else. Lu-ge has prepared everything for us."

Fang Chen thought for a moment, his eyes suddenly lighting up.

"Oh, right, my last wish is for you to help send Xiao Ji-ge home. His parents are at home, and he really wants to go back, but he's too embarrassed to ask you."

The Xiao Ji-ge he was talking about was the young man they rescued from the bank – Fang Chen's father's colleague, Xiao Ji.

Fang Chen's last wish was actually to fulfill someone else's wish.

In any case, there was finally a clue for the last wish.

Bei Nuan cheered up. "I'll go ask your 'particularly amazing Lu-ge' if it's okay."

Lu Xingchi had been very accommodating to Bei Nuan lately.

"If you're asking me, of course it's no problem. Take him with us when we leave tomorrow morning and drop him off at home," Lu Xingchi said.

There was hope for fulfilling the last wish, and Bei Nuan was elated. "Why are you so good?"

Lu Xingchi replied indifferently, "Because I want to use my kindness to you to highlight how cold and heartless you are to me."

Bei Nuan: "…"

So the next morning, the team bid farewell to the Fang family. This time, when they set off again, Xiao Ji was in the car.

Lu Xingchi drove, all the way out of Huicheng.

Bei Nuan was a little puzzled and asked Lu Xingchi, "Aren't you going to take Xiao Ji home? Why are we leaving the city?"

Xiao Ji and Tang Tang were sitting in the back row, a little embarrassed. "I told Lu-ge, my home isn't in Huicheng. I stayed in Huicheng to work after graduating from university."

"Then where is your home?" Bei Nuan asked.

"My home isn't too far from here, about five or six hours by car. It's a small place, many people don't know it," Xiao Ji replied shyly. "It's called Yaozhen."

Yaozhen??

Bei Nuan thought, I actually know this place.

It was the Yaozhen where Bei Nuan was seriously injured in the book.

It seemed that what was meant to be would be. After going around in circles, she still couldn't escape it.

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