Yuning slowly walked toward Li Nan, a rasping “heh-heh” sound coming from her throat.
Quan Xiaoyu’s fingers moved slightly. He was still conscious.
He wanted to get up. He was afraid that Yuning would hurt Li Nan. He remembered what Chu Tian had said: this zombie had no intelligence. He could not gamble Li Nan’s life on whatever fragments of Yuning’s memories might remain.
But he failed.
He had already exhausted all his strength. Even pushing himself up with both hands was difficult, let alone standing.
“Xiao Nan! Run!” Quan Xiaoyu called out weakly.
“No! Xiaoyu-ge, I’m not leaving! Yuning-jie remembers me. She remembers you too! She won’t hurt me, and I won’t let her hurt you!”
As he spoke, Li Nan took one of Quan Xiaoyu’s hands. White light flashed as he began healing Quan Xiaoyu.
“Xiao Nan…”
Yuning had already reached Li Nan.
Aside from anxiously calling out that name, Quan Xiaoyu could do nothing.
“Xiao… Nan…”
Who would have thought that the moment Quan Xiaoyu finished speaking, those same two words would emerge haltingly from Yuning’s mouth.
Li Nan’s eyes lit up when he heard it.
“Xiaoyu-ge, look! Yuning-jie remembers me.”
Quan Xiaoyu was equally shocked.
He had died in the third year of the apocalypse. Although, at the time, rumors had been spreading everywhere that as the zombies evolved, signs of intelligence had begun to appear among them, it had always remained just a rumor, impossible to distinguish from truth.
After all, in those three years, he had never seen an intelligent zombie.
He had never seen a zombie that could speak, either.
Yuning’s behavior astonished him.
He had heard it clearly.
She really had called out “Xiao Nan.”
At this point, Quan Xiaoyu no longer tried quite so desperately to stop her. He simply used Li Nan’s healing to slowly recover his strength.
His eyes remained fixed on Yuning. If she made any move to attack, he would immediately throw himself forward to block her.
The situation on their side was incredibly strange, but the others did not dare to act rashly.
The zombie and mutated beast were far too close to Li Nan and Quan Xiaoyu. They were afraid that if they made a move, the mutated beast would swallow the two of them before they could even reach them to help.
Chu Tian was still unconscious.
Bai Mingxi was worried about this and that, yet there was nothing he could do. He was mentally and physically exhausted.
Meanwhile, Yuning slowly raised her right hand.
Her fingers were no longer intact. Those beasts had cut them off while torturing her.
“Xiao… Nan…”
Her hoarse, unpleasant voice still carried that rasping sound.
Yuning slowly placed her right hand on Li Nan’s head.
Tears rolled down once again.
No matter how ugly everyone else thought Yuning-jie looked now, Li Nan could still hear the emotion hidden within that harsh, unpleasant “Xiao Nan.”
Yuning-jie wasn’t a cold, mindless zombie.
She remembered.
She still had human memories!
“Yuning-jie… I’ll help you. I promise I’ll help you…” Li Nan sobbed.
As Yuning’s right hand came down, those painful, dark memories invaded once again.
But this time, the images fell into Quan Xiaoyu’s mind.
Sorrow.
Pain.
Unwillingness.
Anger.
Hatred.
Struggle…
All kinds of complicated emotions and memories filled Quan Xiaoyu’s mind.
Then, in the end, all those emotions and images suddenly disappeared.
What appeared in the minds of Li Nan and Quan Xiaoyu was a scene that Li Nan had not seen for a long time, but which was completely unfamiliar to Quan Xiaoyu.
“Xiao Nan…”
Yuning was smiling.
In the scene inside their minds, Yuning looked as she had before the apocalypse.
Her long hair drifted in the breeze. She was gentle and beautiful, her smile radiating a pure, spotless light. She was innocent and lovely.
“Thank you. Thank you, Uncle Li. I never got the chance to thank him.”
“And I never got the chance to apologize to you. I caused you to lose your father. I’m sorry.”
“No, Yuning-jie. That was Dad’s own decision…” Li Nan cried even harder, his words broken by sobs.
But Yuning said nothing more.
The viewpoint in the scene shifted toward Quan Xiaoyu.
“Thank you for saving me once. I never got the chance to thank you either.”
“Please take care of Xiao Nan. He’s a very good child.”
“But now, one last time, could I ask you to help me with something?”
Quan Xiaoyu nodded unconsciously.
Yuning immediately sensed his emotions.
“Thank you!”
“As repayment, I’ll find a way to make all these zombies disappear.”
“So please, help me end this suffering.”
“Every day, I struggle inside painful memories. I originally thought death would be the end.”
“But the way I am now isn’t an ending at all. It’s the beginning of an endless cycle of suffering.”
“Every day, I’m tormented by fragmented, distorted memories. I turn into a monster that feeds on human flesh and blood. Instinctively, I control and gather these monsters, hate humans, slaughter humans, and devour humans.”
“But sometimes I regain consciousness, and when I do, I’m in unbearable pain.”
“I remember all those sins and all that suffering. When I’m conscious, I feel like I’m still human.”
“And yet I’m devouring human flesh.”
“I feel disgusted, but my body craves the deliciousness of flesh and blood…”
“I’m trapped in this suffering, over and over again…”
There was an indescribable pain and torment in her words.
The most terrifying part was those brief moments of consciousness.
“I don’t have much time left.”
Yuning continued speaking within the scene.
“I’ll drive these zombies away. Then, after that, please… end my suffering.”
Before Quan Xiaoyu could even answer, Yuning’s hand lifted away from Li Nan’s head, and the scene immediately vanished.
Yuning swayed as she turned around.
Dahua stepped forward, bit down on her clothes, and with a powerful jerk, tossed her onto its back.
Then Dahua made several leaps and disappeared into the zombie horde.
The zombies erupted into a commotion.
But after the commotion, they began to retreat.
Just as quickly as they had come, they left.
Only then did the others dare rush forward.
The first to arrive was Xiao Ziran. The moment he reached them, he helped Quan Xiaoyu to his feet.
Ouyang Jing also came over and picked Li Nan up.
Chu Tian was still unconscious. Bai Mingxi was carrying him and couldn’t get over for the time being.
Seeing from a distance that both of them were safe, Bai Mingxi finally let out a long breath of relief.
Although Chu Tian was unconscious in his arms, his breathing was even. He should not have suffered any serious injury.
“Are you two okay? What happened just now?” Xiao Ziran asked Quan Xiaoyu.
But Quan Xiaoyu did not answer.
Instead, he asked, “What about Chu Tian? How is he?”
“He’s only unconscious. He doesn’t seem to have any major problems,” Xiao Ziran answered.
But he didn’t dare guarantee it.
After all, a battle between mental abilities was invisible to everyone else. There was simply no way to know exactly what had happened.
After hearing the doctor’s answer, Quan Xiaoyu wasn’t overly worried.
Since Yuning had not hurt him or Li Nan, she probably wouldn’t hurt Chu Tian either.
The moment the zombies stopped attacking should have been the moment Yuning regained consciousness.
When Yuning was in a state of confusion, she had been controlled by her memories and hatred.
Through instinct, she had gathered zombies of her own kind, killing humans, venting her hatred, and satisfying her need for food.
But when she regained consciousness, she suffered even more because of what she had done.
She did not want to become a monster.
She did not want to be controlled by those ugly memories anymore.
She did not want to swallow warm human blood and flesh anymore.
Never again!
Quan Xiaoyu understood her feelings.
He also understood what kind of release she was asking for.
He had decided to help her.
But he had to explain this decision to Li Nan, who was still confused and didn’t fully understand what had happened.
So he still did not answer the doctor.
Instead, he took Li Nan from Ouyang Jing’s arms and set him down.
Li Nan stood there blankly.
He was still thinking about what Yuning-jie had just said.
He hadn’t understood everything.
He didn’t really understand how he could help her “find release.”
But he still had a very ominous feeling.
Quan Xiaoyu knelt on one knee in front of Li Nan, lowering himself as much as possible so that their eyes were level.
“Xiao Nan, your Yuning-jie is in a lot of pain.”
“So let’s help her end this suffering, okay?”
“How do we help her?”
Although it was phrased as a question, there was a trace of panic in Li Nan’s voice.
The grief in Quan Xiaoyu’s eyes made him realize something.
Quan Xiaoyu remained silent.
He turned his head and looked at the samurai sword lying nearby.
“No!”
Li Nan screamed.
In that instant, he understood what Quan Xiaoyu meant.
“Don’t kill her!”
“Xiaoyu-ge, she’s not bad! Bad people hurt her! We have to help her. We can’t kill her!”
He was extremely agitated.
It was the first time he had ever shouted at Quan Xiaoyu like that.
It was also the first time he had displayed such intense emotion.
Even when Li Shunwei had left, he had never reacted like this.
“We are helping her!”
“Xiao Nan!”
Quan Xiaoyu reached out and firmly gripped Li Nan’s shoulders.
“You saw her suffering.”
“She needs to be freed from it!”
“She doesn’t want to be a monster that eats people!”
“That disgusts her. It disgusts her just as much as those beasts disgust her!”
“But she can’t control herself!”
“She can’t suppress her instinct to feed!”
“Do you understand?”
“She doesn’t want this!”
“She doesn’t want this!”
Quan Xiaoyu was rarely this emotional himself.
Those memories and emotions had not only affected Li Nan.
They had affected Quan Xiaoyu as well.
He understood.
Deep down, he really did understand.
Li Nan’s tears poured down his face.
“Isn’t there another way?”
“Isn’t there really another way?”
“Chu Tian-ge is so smart. There has to be a way…”
“I’m sorry, Xiao Nan. I don’t have a better way.”
The person who answered Li Nan was Chu Tian.
He had just regained consciousness and was walking over with Bai Mingxi supporting him.
In the final moment before he lost consciousness, he had also seen the complete set of memories.
Looking at the scene before him, he could roughly guess what had happened.
Author’s Note: I cried while writing this… But I don’t know how the little angels reading this feel.