The two exchanged a glance at this point and stopped talking. Together, they went to the window to observe what was happening outside.
The zombies outside had begun retreating in an orderly manner, but they were moving slowly. After retreating about three hundred meters, they all stopped moving and stood motionless where they were, neither attacking nor retreating.
“What are they trying to do?” Quan Xiaoyu frowned. Why did he feel like they were trying to surround them? If they were only surrounding them, he wasn’t afraid. There was food and water in his space. But what if they were merely taking a temporary break, only to launch another attack afterward?
“It’s not what they are trying to do. It’s what ‘it’ is trying to do. Obviously, all these zombies are being controlled by that psychic-type zombie. Its mental power is truly terrifying!” Chu Tian gave a bitter laugh. “Maybe I injured it just now, and it couldn’t figure out our strength for the moment, so it temporarily withdrew to recover. Perhaps once it recovers, it could launch another attack at any time.”
Quan Xiaoyu looked at the building, which had already been surrounded so tightly by the zombies that it was practically an iron barrel, and sighed. The possibility of escaping was simply too small.
“Let’s go.” Chu Tian walked over and naturally took Quan Xiaoyu’s hand. “Let’s go meet up with the others and see if they have any ideas. After all, there’s strength in numbers.”
Quan Xiaoyu was somewhat flustered by his sudden intimacy and tried to pull his hand free twice, but neither time could he get his hand out of Chu Tian’s grasp.
“We’ve already held hands plenty of times, and we almost kissed. What are you being awkward about now?” Chu Tian glared at Quan Xiaoyu, looking completely justified, with a hint of reproach. He was referring to the two of them running into the building hand in hand.
But that had only been necessary because they were running for their lives! Quan Xiaoyu retorted inwardly. But for some reason, he didn’t dare argue with him to his face.
He always felt that even if he did, Chu Tian would be able to come up with something even more reasonable to throw back at him.
So he could only remain silent, letting Chu Tian hold his hand as they opened the door and walked out.
Yet where Quan Xiaoyu couldn’t see, the corners of Chu Tian’s lips lifted slightly, revealing a triumphant smile.
The fifth floor of the building, the rooftop terrace.
The ten people who had come together—in more precise terms, the ten people who had been forced to travel together after encountering zombies on the way—had already gathered on the rooftop terrace ahead of them.
The terrace was a flat rooftop surrounded by waist-high concrete walls, ensuring the safety of the people there.
Ten minutes had already passed since the zombies retreated. Everyone had automatically come to the fifth floor to assemble. Apart from Chu Tian and Quan Xiaoyu, all ten people were there, not a single one missing.
It was just that the atmosphere was somewhat subtle.
So when Chu Tian and Quan Xiaoyu stepped onto the terrace hand in hand, everyone’s eyes immediately focused on them.
The people looked at the two of them differently, each gaze carrying its own meaning and thoughts.
Only Jia Lunxu’s eyes seemed to spit fire when he saw Chu Tian and Quan Xiaoyu holding hands tightly.
In the past, he had actually never cared much about Quan Xiaoyu. It wasn’t until the day he saw him in the church that, at first, he had even been afraid to acknowledge him.
The Quan Xiaoyu he saw again was completely different. He had somehow become younger and more beautiful. The gloominess and awkwardness he used to carry seemed to have faded away.
His originally rather ordinary appearance had suddenly become beautiful. But upon closer inspection, those were still Quan Xiaoyu’s features. Somehow, though, they appeared softer and more eye-catching than before. He even seemed several years younger, becoming the kind of handsome young man Jia Lunxu liked.
That was why Jia Lunxu had approached him at the church, initially with the purpose of probing him. He wanted to find out whether Quan Xiaoyu knew about the things he had done; what Quan Xiaoyu had gone through to survive until now; and whether Quan Xiaoyu still had feelings for him.
But when Chu Tian appeared in the role of Quan Xiaoyu’s protector, Jia Lunxu felt that he understood the whole truth, and he filled in an entire story in his own head.
In his version of the story, the missing Quan Xiaoyu had been seduced away by Chu Tian. Then the apocalypse came, and the two of them had stayed together through the apocalypse until they met again at the church.
Chu Tian was probably an ability user, which was why he had been able to protect Quan Xiaoyu all the way until now. Judging by how intimate they were now, they had definitely already done that sort of thing!
This was what made Jia Lunxu the angriest!
He felt that he had spent so long serving Quan Xiaoyu hand and foot in the past, yet before he could get him into bed, someone else had ended up benefiting from all his efforts!
Just thinking about it made him burn with rage!
However, the actual truth was—
Jia Lunxu had approached Quan Xiaoyu purely for money. At the time, Quan Xiaoyu’s appearance had been somewhat above average. Perhaps girls might have liked him, but for Jia Lunxu, who had always liked beautiful young men, Quan Xiaoyu’s appearance had been far too plain and unremarkable.
Besides, there had always been Wen Tong around for comparison back then. When facing Quan Xiaoyu, Jia Lunxu had also carried a sense of humiliation, so naturally, he had very little interest in him.
And with Quan Xiaoyu’s withdrawn and introverted personality, how would he have known to take the initiative and express anything?
So even though the two of them had shared a bed for such a long time, nothing had actually happened between them.
Moreover, in his previous life, before experiencing the apocalypse, naive Quan Xiaoyu had always thought that all couples were like that.
It wasn’t until he experienced three years of the apocalypse, encountering all kinds of people and witnessing all kinds of things, that he gradually came to understand human nature, desire, and need.
Of course, the Quan Xiaoyu of this moment had no idea about the sordid drama Jia Lunxu had invented inside his own head.
Having been involved with numerous beautiful young men, Jia Lunxu had always believed that a young man was at his most beautiful after experiencing intimacy.
Perhaps it was because of love, or perhaps for some other reason, but they always seemed to become more and more beautiful in front of their lovers.
Therefore, at this moment, he stubbornly believed that this was the reason Quan Xiaoyu had become so good-looking.
If only he had known earlier that Quan Xiaoyu would turn into the way he was now, he would have—
The more he thought about it, the angrier and more regretful he became.
Wen Tong naturally knew Quan Xiaoyu. It was just that in this life, the two of them had not formally met yet.
At this moment, when he looked at Quan Xiaoyu, his eyes were filled with anger and jealousy.
The things that had happened in the past could all be left aside. But on the very first day Quan Xiaoyu arrived at the church, Jia Lunxu had already seemed somewhat distracted.
Wen Tong could also choose not to care about that, because he shared Jia Lunxu’s view—Quan Xiaoyu belonged to Chu Tian. The protection Chu Tian had shown him in the church, as well as the various intimate behaviors afterward, all seemed to confirm his guess.
So he could temporarily ignore Quan Xiaoyu’s existence and focus instead on dealing with the “fox spirit” Lu Zhongxia who had dared to seduce Jia Lunxu.
He had been so close to succeeding. Under circumstances that had looked perfectly reasonable, he had almost managed to push Lu Zhongxia into the zombie horde.
And then!
He had been just a little short!
Just that little bit!
Quan Xiaoyu had suddenly appeared out of nowhere and actually rescued Lu Zhongxia!
It was simply unforgivable!
Originally, Wen Tong had thought that the Quan Xiaoyu Jia Lunxu described as completely useless must have survived the apocalypse by attaching himself to some faction, just like the situation he and Jia Lunxu had encountered with that perverted big shot.
When he had seen Quan Xiaoyu at the church, he had also been crouching alone in a corner, saying nothing and having no say whatsoever.
Wen Tong had already disdainfully confirmed this guess in his mind. That was why he had never taken Quan Xiaoyu seriously and had never believed that Quan Xiaoyu could pose any threat to him.
However, he had never expected that Quan Xiaoyu was actually a speed-type ability user, and his level wasn’t even low.
Not only that, he had actually dared to charge into the zombie horde and rescue the stumbling block Wen Tong had painstakingly schemed against and finally found an opportunity to eliminate!
And at this moment, Jia Lunxu’s gaze was still unconsciously drawn toward him, unable to move away for a long time!
Wen Tong instantly hated Quan Xiaoyu to the bone.
As for Quan Xiaoyu himself, how could he know that someone had automatically invented an entire romantic drama in their head?
He simply disliked becoming the center of everyone’s attention, so he maintained his usual cold expression and silence.
Only the young man who had been rescued, Lu Zhongxia, stepped forward and thanked Quan Xiaoyu.
Quan Xiaoyu merely nodded lightly, showing no intention of having a deeper conversation with him. Seeing this, Lu Zhongxia tactfully walked away.
Seeing that Quan Xiaoyu seemed difficult to get along with, everyone else who didn’t know about the tangled emotional history between him and Jia Lunxu gradually shifted their attention to Chu Tian.
“You two brothers are both ability users, right? Your abilities seem to be much higher than ours.” The first to speak was one of the mercenaries, apparently the leader of the other four people.
Chu Tian gave him a refined, friendly smile and nodded. “Yes, we’re both ability users. But where does this idea that our abilities are higher than yours come from?”
He deliberately sounded surprised as he asked.
In reality, Quan Xiaoyu had already explained to him the different ability levels and the strength represented by each level. Chu Tian could tell that the strongest among those people were only hovering around the middle stage of level two, while most of them were still level-one ability users.
The ability levels of the two of them were indeed much higher than everyone else’s.
But—
Chu Tian’s psychic-type ability was not something other people could easily see.
They had never seen Chu Tian use his ability, yet they were still quite certain that he was an ability user. They even believed that both of their abilities were higher-level than theirs.
After thinking it over, there was only one explanation—
“Brother, you’re a fire-type ability user, right? I’m fire-type too, but the speed and power of the fireballs I release are far inferior to yours!” Another one of the mercenaries patted his chest and said to Chu Tian.
He looked like a straightforward, hearty man.
Sure enough, a trace of amusement flashed through Chu Tian’s eyes.
Earlier, when Quan Xiaoyu had jumped out of the window to rescue someone, everyone had seen it, so they naturally assumed Quan Xiaoyu was a speed-type ability user.
And when the two of them had locked themselves inside the third floor to deal with the zombies, the only thing the others could see was the fireball attacks.
Everyone had seen nothing but groups of fireballs flying across the third floor and smashing into the zombie horde, making quite a commotion. Naturally, they assumed that the person launching the fireballs was Chu Tian!
After all, they had been completely unable to see or perceive Chu Tian’s battle with the psychic-type zombie.
Hearing this, a trace of surprise flashed through Quan Xiaoyu’s eyes. But immediately afterward, he also understood the cause and effect, so he continued to remain silent.