Chapter 2177: Mr. Zombie (36)

Chapter 2177: Chapter 2177: Mr. Zombie (36)

Bei Chi drooped his head, looking completely lifeless.

Chuzheng reached out and hugged him. "What’s wrong?"

Bei Chi lifted his hand and pointed at a bunch of flowers. "It... died..."

"Of course it would. It was dead the moment it was picked."

Bei Chi half understood, half didn’t. His head dropped even lower. "Don’t... want it... to die."

"Why?"

"Just... don’t want to."

"..." It’s already dead, what can anyone do?

Chuzheng didn’t say that out loud. She stayed with Bei Chi by the windowsill.

Ever since that flower withered, Bei Chi’s mood had been pretty bad. Chuzheng went outside to look for the same kind of flowers Bei Chi had brought back, but after searching for ages she couldn’t find any.

"Where did Bei Chi get that flower that day?" Chuzheng grabbed Zhi Kai and asked.

"...I don’t know." Zhi Kai was totally at a loss. Wasn’t he with the big boss that day? How would he know where Bei Chi got the flowers from?

"Go ask around."

"..."

Ask who?

Zhi Kai was breaking down inside. He couldn’t even understand what the zombies were saying.

But since the boss wanted to know, Zhi Kai could only bite the bullet and go.

He never thought a zombie would actually know and even pointed him the way.

The flowers were growing in a dark spot on the back side of a building, a small patch of them. Most were still in bud.

-

Bei Chi sat in the chair spacing out, not noticing someone enter the room.

"Bei Chi."

Bei Chi’s pupils shifted twice, and his focus fell on the person in front of him.

He held out his arms. "Hug."

Chuzheng stepped forward and wrapped him in her arms. "Got you a present."

"Mm?"

Bei Chi tilted his head up to look at her. Now that his skin tone had returned to normal, his features were even more stunning, like a face you’d only see in dreams.

The gray haze in his eyes had faded, leaving behind a clear, pure cluelessness.

Earlier, Chuzheng had taken a small sample and sent it to the lab. Their conclusion was that the virus was still present, but seemed able to coexist with him and was continuously repairing his body.

This situation had the lab people extremely excited. They tried to find out where Chuzheng had gotten the sample.

Chuzheng had no intention of sending Bei Chi to the lab for them to experiment on, so she naturally didn’t say a thing.

Chuzheng ruffled Mr. Zombie’s head, then took a flowerpot from behind her and set it in front of him.

Bei Chi blinked. "It... it’s alive!"

The next second, his mouth drooped again and he muttered sulkily, "No, this... isn’t... mine." His wasn’t like this.

"It’s the same as your flower." Chuzheng bent down so their eyes were level. "You don’t like it?"

"I... want... mine." Bei Chi bit down on the word "mine." He only wanted that bouquet of his, nothing else.

"..."

I went through all this trouble to get it for you and you don’t even want it?

Chuzheng braced a hand on the table and threatened coldly, "This flower is yours to take care of. If you let it die, I’ll kill you."

Bei Chi’s eyes widened slightly. He looked at Chuzheng in disbelief.

After she finished threatening him, Chuzheng crouched down again and took Bei Chi’s hands in hers.

"Bei Chi, I’m yours." Her voice was very soft. "So this flower is yours too, right?"

Bei Chi hesitated. "You... mine?"

"Mm."

After a long moment, Bei Chi nodded. "Mine. Mine..."

"So, do you like it?"

Bei Chi looked over at the pot of flowers, a bit conflicted. In the end he said, all aggrieved, "Like."

Bei Chi had a short memory. With something new, his attention quickly shifted, and he spent all day circling around that flowerpot.

Chuzheng discovered that after being transplanted, the flowers’ growth cycle wasn’t long. She could only swap out a new pot for Bei Chi every so often—and she couldn’t let him find out.

Luckily, Bei Chi’s current IQ was like a child’s. Even if he sensed something off, Chuzheng could still talk him around.

But as time went on, Bei Chi’s intelligence was clearly growing too.

His vocabulary was expanding, and sometimes, even without Chuzheng teaching him, he could find the corresponding words from his memory.

"Did you switch my flowers?" Bei Chi held the pot and ran to find Chuzheng. He set the pot down in front of her with a "thump," startling everyone in the room.

After he spoke, he realized there were several unfamiliar faces. His expression shifted and he hid behind Chuzheng.

One of them pointed at him in shock. "He..."

That person was none other than the man who had previously come to Chuzheng asking her to help find his daughter.

He had run into Bei Chi in the elevator before, and at that time he had clearly been... So why was he normal now?

"Miss Ji, the sample you sent last time was from this gentleman, wasn’t it?" The man stood up excitedly. "He’s recovered? That means those zombies can still be saved, right?"

Once he said that, everyone present changed expression.

The lab hadn’t made any progress for so long, until the sample Chuzheng brought in.

But Chuzheng refused to budge, so they had no idea where that sample had come from.

Chuzheng had a headache. She turned and glanced at Bei Chi.

The latter, maybe realizing he’d caused trouble, actually gave her a guilty little smile, then crouched down entirely behind her, hiding himself.

Chuzheng: "..."

Still just a kid.

Chuzheng pulled him up and had someone bring over another chair for him.

Bei Chi spent most of his time with zombies and didn’t like dealing with people. Seeing so many people made him uncomfortable. He didn’t want to sit in the chair; instead he got up and sat in Chuzheng’s lap, burying his face in her hair.

Everyone: "..."

Chuzheng: "..."

"Sit properly." Chuzheng tried to move him off.

Bei Chi clung to her tightly. "I don’t want to. They... looking at me makes me uncomfortable."

"But if you sit like this, they’ll stare at you even more."

"I can’t see them." Bei Chi said it with perfect confidence.

"..."

Fine.

Chuzheng looked at the people present. "The sample was indeed his. But you’d better not get any funny ideas. I will not hand him over to you for any kind of research."

"Miss Ji, this is—"

"I’m providing you a lab," Chuzheng cut him off, "that doesn’t mean I’m on your side. We’re just taking what we each need. You have no right to demand anything of me."

"..."

The lab people hadn’t interacted with Chuzheng much. They only knew this little girl always had a cold face. Some of them had never even spoken a single word to her.

And now she’d put it that bluntly.

If they still tried to press her, they’d be making an enemy of her.

The zombies she led could tear them to pieces in minutes.

A group of people slunk off, and after they went out they glanced back. Someone, unwilling to let it go, said, "If we could run some experiments, maybe we’d find a solution. You all know those zombies aren’t actually dead. They still have heartbeats, they’re still alive. If we could make a vaccine, they’d be saved. That would be a blessing for everyone!"

Someone rolled their eyes. "Then go snatch him."

"..."

Chuzheng had Bei Chi under tight protection. Who could possibly snatch him?

And this was still her turf.

In the end someone said, "Report it to the base chief and let the base chief talk to her." They weren’t good at negotiations; this kind of thing should be handled by someone who was.

*

Last day for monthly votes, babies~ really not going to vote~~