A Fake Holy Mother in the Zombie Apocalypse

Several people left the lake area and drove the SUV back onto the road, returning to the Yan River and continuing along the riverbank.

After Bei Nuan got back in the car and settled in, she reopened the task interface.

A "Fun Mini-Task" had appeared in the task list. The interface displayed a familiar prize wheel.

This time, the wheel didn't spin automatically, which made Bei Nuan feel a little more positive about this series of tasks.

Bei Nuan used her mind to flick the wheel's handle. The wheel spun rapidly, then gradually slowed down, stopping on the name of a mini-task.

The task was called "The Witch's Prayer."

The task description read: Collect a person's hair, eyelashes, and fingernail clippings. Place them on a piece of paper, light it, and recite the incantation, "Please grant me the ears of a wolf," and you will temporarily gain a special ability.

The ability of a wolf's ears?

So will my ears become super sensitive, able to hear a piglet's snort from a kilometer away?

Whatever it is, it sounds like fun. I'll do it first and see what happens.

The items needed to be collected from one person, so the first step was to choose a target.

With Big Boss Lu around, of course, she would choose him.

Bei Nuan herself wasn't sure why she felt it was "of course" him when she was poked.

Du Ruo leaned forward from the back seat and poked Bei Nuan. "Why aren't you talking? Are you daydreaming? Have you gone silly?"

Bei Nuan looked back at Du Ruo. He had a head of soft hair, and his black and white eyes were moist, like a harmless little animal.

"Spacing out, feeling the vastness of the universe and the insignificance of humanity. Is that allowed?"

Bei Nuan casually responded to him, remembering the last task and shivering inwardly.

I've learned my lesson, Bei Nuan thought. I must remember, I absolutely cannot use him for tasks again. It's too terrifying.

Big Boss Lu is much better.

Big Boss Lu was driving. His hair had a luminous halo in the sunlight, his eyelashes were long and distinct, and his hands on the steering wheel had neatly trimmed, clean fingernails.

Truly ideal.

It was a pity that he was busy driving now. It would be too difficult to try anything while he was behind the wheel. She could only wait until he stopped.

Bei Nuan was lost in thought when a sudden cramp hit her stomach. She hurriedly asked Lu Xingchi to pull over.

She got out of the car and took a while to return. When she did, Lu Xingchi noticed something was wrong.

She had her jacket wrapped tightly around her, huddled in the passenger seat, curled up into a ball like a rabbit lying in the snow in the middle of winter.

"What's wrong? Are you cold?"

Bei Nuan frowned and after a moment replied, "A little."

It was late spring, early summer, and the weather in this area was already like summer. Lu Xingchi was a little warm even in just his shirt.

Lu Xingchi turned to look at her and saw that she was pressing her arm against her stomach. "Does your stomach hurt? Did you eat something bad? Or did you sneak some pickled chicken feet again?"

Bei Nuan always felt unwell after eating pickled things, but she couldn't resist. These days, Lu Xingchi had thoroughly grasped her pattern of self-sabotage.

With the space attached to her, she could sneak food whenever she wanted. It was impossible to keep an eye on her.

Bei Nuan shook her head. "No, it's not that. Don't worry about me."

Jiang Fei reacted much faster than Lu Xingchi. He immediately said, "Lu Xingchi, stop the car for a bit. I'll make her some ginger tea."

Dr. Du also understood and thought for a moment. "Should she take a painkiller? We have some."

Tang Tang chimed in, "Isn't it bad to take painkillers often? Are there side effects?"

Lu Xingchi finally understood what they were talking about and found a place to park.

Bei Nuan was mortified. Now everyone in the car knew.

"I should have known we should have stayed on the island for a couple more days," Lu Xingchi said, slightly regretful. "Bei Nuan, why didn't you say something earlier? We're not in a hurry."

How was I supposed to know this body gets period cramps? Bei Nuan thought. This is the first time since I transmigrated.

Lu Xingchi looked around. "Let's find a suitable place and rest for two days before we continue."

Dr. Du asked Bei Nuan in an objective and serious tone, "Will two days be enough? Or do you need three?"

Bei Nuan pulled her zipper higher, covering half her face, feeling utterly despairing.

Lu Xingchi actually found a place.

Turning off the main road onto a side road, they soon saw houses.

Hidden among a large expanse of green trees were villas, one after another.

One of them was quite large, with open green spaces in front and behind. The building wasn't new, carrying a colonial-era style. What was rare was that the villa was surrounded by a high iron fence, which seemed perfect for keeping out zombies.

Lu Xingchi drove the car to the main gate.

The iron gate was half-open. Lu Xingchi raised his hand, and the two gates automatically opened wider.

Bei Nuan felt a little guilty. "Are we trespassing?"

Lu Xingchi curved his lips and drove in. "Isn't this fun? Isn't it exciting?"

It was indeed quite exciting.

The villa was large, luxuriously decorated, with many rooms upstairs and downstairs.

The doors were unlocked, but there was no one inside.

Valuables were still there, but there were obvious signs of a fierce struggle from the stairs down to the first floor. Furniture was overturned, and carpets were askew.

It seemed the owners of this place hadn't survived, but it was unknown where they had gone after turning into zombies.

Remarkably, perhaps because of its remote location, the villa had a complete independent solar power system and its own well water system.

With water and electricity, they lacked nothing.

Tang Tang was delighted. "Actually, we could skip the safe zone and just live here. It's comfortable, and we have everything."

Jiang Fei chuckled. "This house is so conspicuous. Do you want to stay here and wait to be slaughtered like a fat sheep?"

He was right. The only problem with this house was that it was too easily noticed by passersby.

However, Lu Xingchi planned to stay for two days.

Bei Nuan wasn't feeling well, and this place was comfortable and safe, perfect for her.

After drinking the ginger tea Jiang Fei made and taking the painkillers Dr. Du recommended, Bei Nuan felt much better.

After resting in bed for a while, Bei Nuan couldn't help but go downstairs.

Lu Xingchi had already reinforced all the doors and windows with any metal materials he could find, sealing and welding what needed to be done. It looked sturdy and secure.

They were about to play Werewolf, and Bei Nuan, restless, joined in.

The rules were a little different from when Lu Xingchi and the other two played before.

Everyone drew a card. There was one wolf card, one witch card, and three villager cards. The witch only had poison.

Since there was no moderator, the way to "kill" at night was to set an alarm for when the wolf should open their eyes. Pushing a cup, symbolizing death, in front of the chosen person meant they were "dead."

If the villagers correctly identified the wolf, the wolf lost. If two villagers "died," the villagers lost.

Lu Xingchi was incredibly perceptive at this game. He could see through everyone's identity with a single glance, his gaze as if it could penetrate the cards, like he had x-ray vision.

Everyone strongly suspected he often saw through them but didn't say anything, quietly enjoying everyone else's confusion.

Du Ruo, however, discovered that Bei Nuan was also formidable.

Back outside Ning City, when it was just the three of them, they had played Werewolf one night. Bei Nuan had lost so badly her face was covered in paper strips.

That was because, at the time, there was only one wolf, one villager, and one special role. Du Ruo, familiar with Lu Xingchi, could determine Bei Nuan's identity by judging Lu Xingchi's.

Now, with more people, Bei Nuan's terrifying ability was truly revealed.

She looked exactly the same whether she was a villager or a wolf.

Even with Du Ruo's keen observation, he couldn't tell the slightest difference whether she held a villager card or a wolf card.

Then there was Jiang Fei.

Jiang Fei was also amazing. Not only did he look like a wolf when he had the wolf card, but he also occasionally gave off a wolfish vibe even when he had a villager card.

He clearly was a villager, but he played like a wolf.

It was confusing, a unique and disorienting new strategy.

So the most pitiful were Du Ruo and Tang Tang.

These two innocent souls wore their hearts on their sleeves, and against those three cunning and deceitful opponents, they lost miserably.

This time, the losers didn't have to stick paper strips on their faces. Bei Nuan suggested they switch to winning chips.

She cut out a stack of round paper pieces, wrote numbers on them, and studied them for a long time.

Du Ruo leaned over and asked, "What's wrong?"

"The paper is too thin. The texture isn't right. It doesn't feel satisfying to win," Bei Nuan said, pinching a paper chip. "You don't know, casino chips are round and heavy. They feel so good in your hand."

Lu Xingchi was speechless. She had gone to a casino once, broadened her horizons, and was still obsessed with it.

Du Ruo had an idea. "Bei Nuan, didn't you buy a lot of roasted cassava chips? Those are kind of like chips, right?"

Bei Nuan's eyes lit up.

The cassava chips the uncle roasted at the market were cut into four or five-millimeter thick slices, roasted dry and round. They really did resemble chips.

Bei Nuan took out a large pile, wrote numbers on each one with a pen, and distributed them to everyone.

After playing for a while, Du Ruo and Tang Tang's chips all ended up in the hands of the other three.

Bei Nuan hugged the pile of "chips" she had won and sighed, "If only these were real, I could buy another ruby."

Du Ruo whispered to Lu Xingchi, "Your wife has a serious gambling problem. Don't ever let her into a casino again."

Bei Nuan overheard and glared at Du Ruo.

Whose wife?

While glaring at Du Ruo, Bei Nuan suddenly heard Little Three's voice in her ear, "Bei Nuan, aren't you going to do your Fun Mini-Task?"

Bei Nuan remembered. She had almost forgotten.

She had to do the "Witch's Prayer," collecting someone's fingernails, hair, and eyelashes.

Lu Xingchi was sitting right next to her. Getting some hair or something from him shouldn't be too difficult, right?

Bei Nuan scanned him up and down.

He was impeccably clean. His white shirt was dazzlingly white, without a single strand of hair on it.

"What are you staring at me for?"

Lu Xingchi noticed her gaze and asked calmly.

Bei Nuan was startled and actually jumped. "Nothing! I was thinking, I should probably drink some more hot water."

Jiang Fei smiled gently at her. "There's boiled ginger tea in the thermos on the table over there. Drink it slowly, be careful not to burn yourself."

Bei Nuan stood up, pretending to get water, and deliberately glanced at Lu Xingchi's back as she passed by.

There was nothing on his back either.

Bei Nuan was very disappointed. She picked up the ginger tea and took a sip, thinking, It seems I have to take the initiative.

After playing Werewolf, Lu Xingchi was about to go upstairs to his room, saying he wanted to read for a while. Bei Nuan quickly threw her pile of chips on the coffee table and followed him upstairs.

As soon as Lu Xingchi entered the room, he noticed a little tail behind him.

The little tail had a clear goal, holding a small pair of nail clippers.

She held up the nail clippers to him. "Lu Xingchi, do you want to trim your nails?"

Lu Xingchi was a little puzzled. "Didn't I ask you for the clippers and trim them yesterday?"

It seemed he had.

"I feel like…" Bei Nuan hesitated, "…I just saw that one nail might not be even?"

Lu Xingchi watched her calmly, his expression the same as when he was playing Werewolf, trying to figure out if she was a villager or a wolf.

Bei Nuan felt incredibly guilty, but she bravely met his gaze, silently encouraging herself: No one can figure me out, no one can figure me out.

Lu Xingchi suddenly gave in. He stopped staring at Bei Nuan, reached over her shoulder to close the door, and then walked to the bed and sat down.

"Which nail?" he asked.

"Uh…it seems like it's on your left hand," Bei Nuan said, "or maybe your right."

It had to be either left or right; there wasn't a third hand.

Lu Xingchi simply held out both hands for her to see. "Which one?"

Bei Nuan thought, Both hands are beautiful.

His hands were clean, his fingers long and slender, his nails neat and shiny. Most importantly, they had all just been trimmed, completely flawless.

"This one? Maybe it needs a little more trimming," Bei Nuan said, randomly pointing.

Lu Xingchi didn't move a muscle, watching Bei Nuan without any intention of trimming it himself.

His unwillingness to do it himself was exactly what Bei Nuan wanted.

She had to be careful when clipping. What if it flew away?

"I'll help you." Bei Nuan took his hand, picked a finger at random, and used the clippers.

He had trimmed his nails himself, each with a very narrow white edge, all identical. Bei Nuan's clip ruined the perfect shape.

Bei Nuan felt a little guilty and glanced up at Lu Xingchi.

She found that Lu Xingchi wasn't looking at his nails at all. His gaze was fixed on Bei Nuan's face, unmoving.

Bei Nuan released his finger. "Done."

The tiny nail clipping had already been safely stored in her space.

"Do any others need trimming?" Lu Xingchi asked calmly.

"No." Bei Nuan gave an awkward smile.

Such beautiful hands, they were getting uglier with each clip.

"But you seem to have a gray hair here!" Bei Nuan pointed to his head.

Lu Xingchi remained calm and asked, "Where?"

Bei Nuan knelt on the bed and turned his head.

His hair had been cut by Jiang Fei, whose skills were surprisingly decent. Jiang Fei's hair was cut by him. They cut each other's hair, each keeping the other in check, so neither of them had to worry about any funny business.

They would rather keep each other in check than let Du Ruo near their hair.

A couple of days ago, Du Ruo had tried to cut Tang Tang's hair. If Jiang Fei hadn't stopped him in time, Tang Tang's head would have ended up with a mohawk.

Bei Nuan picked the longest hair and pulled it out.

"Oh, I was wrong."

Bei Nuan showed him the hair. "I thought it was gray, but maybe the sunlight is too bright, and it's just reflecting the light."

After showing him, Bei Nuan patted his head as if brushing the hair away, but in reality, the hair went into her space.

"It's okay," Lu Xingchi said calmly.

Victory was in sight. Only an eyelash remained.

This one was a bit more challenging. She couldn't just say, Don't move, I noticed you have a white eyelash.

Bei Nuan stared at his fan-like eyelashes, lost in thought.

Lu Xingchi didn't say anything either, quietly waiting for her to snap out of it.

Bei Nuan began, "Lu Xingchi, I noticed your eyelashes…"

"You can do whatever you want," Lu Xingchi interrupted her excuse.

Bei Nuan was startled. He was so perceptive, could he have figured something out?

Lu Xingchi lowered his long eyelashes and repeated, "You can do whatever you want. Anything."

Well, since he said so, and those two thick, long eyelashes were right there, it would be a waste not to take one.

Bei Nuan reached out to steady his head and plucked one with her other hand.

It seemed like she might have pulled out more than one.

Anyway, he had so many thick eyelashes, he wouldn't miss one or two. It probably just hurt a little.

Feeling slightly guilty, Bei Nuan rubbed his eyelid with her fingertip. "There was an eyelash that looked…a bit off, like it was knotted?"

Even Bei Nuan herself thought that sounded ridiculous.

Lu Xingchi finally lifted his eyelids.

He gazed at her with his light-colored eyes, as if he could see through her eyes and into the depths of her soul.

Bei Nuan appeared calm and composed on the surface, but she felt more guilty than ever.

She knew how terrifying Lu Xingchi's gaze could be. He was cooperating so readily, could he really have guessed something?

Bei Nuan's heart pounded like a drum, beating wildly.

Lu Xingchi stared at her for a moment, then suddenly, like ice melting, the corners of his lips curved into a smile.

He looked away from her eyes.

Bei Nuan suddenly felt a hand on her waist.

He gently pulled her forward and into his arms, holding her tightly.

"Bei Nuan, I haven't been doing this right," he whispered in her ear, his voice gentle.

Bei Nuan: ?

"When you're not feeling well, you're more vulnerable, especially you, a girl. At a time like this, in a place like this, you probably need comfort, like holding hands, a hug, or something."

He buried his head in Bei Nuan's hair, his voice full of self-reproach.

"But I've been pressuring you, asking you to be my girlfriend. Even when you want to be close to me, you have to find all sorts of strange excuses."

Bei Nuan listened blankly, then suddenly felt happy, her heart relaxing completely.

He could tell she was lying, but he hadn't figured out why she was lying.

He thought she was just looking for excuses to be close to him. He was completely wrong, his thinking entirely off track.

Fooling Lu Xingchi was more exciting than anything.

Nestled in his arms, Bei Nuan happily clutched the fabric of his shirt and let out a soft, pitiful "Mmm."

Hearing the sound, Lu Xingchi held her even tighter.

"From now on, if you want to hold my hand, hold it. If you want to hug me, hug me. I absolutely won't pressure you to do anything you don't want to do because of this. You don't have to be my girlfriend. You can treat me as a good friend, whatever you want."

His embrace was warm and comfortable, making her reluctant to leave.

Unable to resist the temptation, Bei Nuan stayed nestled against his chest.

She didn't move, and neither did Lu Xingchi. He made no attempt to take advantage of the moment for any intimate gestures.

Bei Nuan quietly let him hold her while she busied herself in her space.

She placed a plate on the ground in her space, spread out a piece of paper, then placed the witchcraft items she had just collected on the paper and lit it.

The flames of the burning paper leaped up. Buried in Lu Xingchi's embrace, Bei Nuan whispered, "Please grant me the ears of a wolf."

"What did you say?" Lu Xingchi didn't hear clearly.

"Nothing," Bei Nuan replied.

She definitely said something.

Bei Nuan suddenly heard Lu Xingchi's voice.

This voice was different from his usual voice. It was a little fuzzy, a little distant, as if separated by a wall, easily ignored if she wasn't paying attention.

But there was no doubt, it was Lu Xingchi's voice.

ʕ•́ᴥ•̀ʔっ

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