“Would you believe me if I said I wouldn’t do it?”
Lu Dongnuan stared wide-eyed at her nearly completely healed arm.
Her expression was exaggerated, but her tone lacked any emotion.
“I believe you.” Xiao Fang answered firmly, making Lu Dongnuan have to reevaluate this cunning, clever junior.
The cold winter wind blew in from outside, piercing through the thick walls and making Lu Dongnuan shiver.
“Heh, I almost got you killed so many times,” her sneer was particularly sharp, “you think I’d believe that?”
Xiao Fang simply shook his head.
“I know you don’t believe it. To me, you’re a very withdrawn person, with no sense of security,” Xiao Fang rubbed his hands, turned back and smiled, “I’ve always been good at reading people.”
Seeing that Lu Dongnuan didn’t reply, he went on talking to himself, “And I believe, the civilization and morals humanity has built over thousands of years won’t just collapse in a few days, and that you, senpai, are definitely a good person.”
“Oh, such a naive college student.” Lu Dongnuan was almost defeated by him.
Looking at his back, she lowered her head tiredly, “I’ve killed someone, you know. People who kill others, in the past, would be punished as bad people. And you’re saying I’m a good person?”
Then, Lu Dongnuan’s voice turned cold and threatening, “I killed Sister Jing. Aren’t you afraid I’ll kill you too?”
“Of course I’m scared. Honestly, I’m scared to death. I’m scared of Zombies, scared of zombies, and I’m scared something will happen to my little sister.”
He stopped walking.
Lu Dongnuan didn’t notice and bumped right into his back.
“Ugh… tch,” Lu Dongnuan covered her forehead in displeasure.
“But, the fact that you’re willing to say something that could get yourself killed so easily, makes me feel you’re actually quite sentimental.”
“You really think I can’t beat you?” Lu Dongnuan was rather annoyed.
Xiao Fang grinned arrogantly, “If you really thought you could beat me, you would’ve done it already.”
Then he waved his fist, “Don’t be fooled by my looks—I beat Zhuo Lei in a fight, you know.”
“Since you already guessed my plan, why did you still fight Zhuo Lei?”
Xiao Fang pondered for a moment at her words then said, “Hmm… probably because that’s what senpai wanted to see.”
“Oh, little junior, don’t tell me you’ve actually fallen for me.”
“Senpai, you’re still not confident enough in your looks,” he gestured at Lu Dongnuan with his hands, then stroked his chin lecherously.
“Who wouldn’t get confused after seeing you?”
“Not necessarily.” Remembering Lin Mo’s look of disdain, her confidence suffered a heavy blow.
“Hey, do you know there’s a hero in the game called LeBlanc? You’re actually a lot like her.”
“How am I like her?”
Xiao Fang didn’t explain.
Instead, he turned around and looked her in the eye and said, “She and a guy named Vladimir controlled a nation called Noxus.”
Lu Dongnuan looked up at him, her gaze lingering for a long time.
“What are you trying to say?”
Xiao Fang reached out his hand to Lu Dongnuan and said, “Senpai, you said your morals have collapsed. But from my experience, someone whose morals have truly collapsed wouldn’t keep bringing up killing someone, wouldn’t hide behind indifference, and certainly wouldn’t, when having the chance to kill me, instead choose to bump into my back.”
“But instead…”
“Instead, what?”
He glanced at her, making Lu Dongnuan shudder slightly.
“Instead, you’re feeling guilty.”
He pointed forward, through the shattered glass window, where Zombies wandered in groups across the square.
“Civilization isn’t dead. It will find a new way to be reborn.”
“You don’t need to speak for me,” Lu Dongnuan brushed his hand away, “I don’t think what I did was wrong.”
“That’s where you’re mistaken, senpai. I’m not speaking for you. I’m telling you—we can become a new Noxus, not that cold empire, but a sanctuary in this apocalypse where humanity never bows its head!”
“A saintly male lead who thinks he’s the savior? You must read too many web novels.” Lu Dongnuan shot back mercilessly.
Xiao Fang chuckled awkwardly, scratching his head.
He gazed at the distant outline of the ruins, his voice growing soft, as if confiding his post-graduation plans to his brothers, boasting, making vows.
“Senpai,” his voice dropped lower, as if afraid of disturbing something, his gaze fixed on the deathly silent ruins outside the window, “I keep wondering… can we build a Base ourselves?”
Before she could mock him, he went on talking, his tone so gentle it was like describing his favorite girl.
“We’ll bring in everyone we can still find, then start clearing land, farming, make the soil grow things we can eat, build a high wall so we won’t be afraid of Zombies chasing us anymore. We’ll figure out how to get the electricity running, at least have a light on at night so it’s not pitch black. Get clean water… bit by bit, we can definitely make it happen, right?”
He turned to look at Lu Dongnuan.
The swagger from before was gone from his eyes, replaced by a clear, almost fragile stubbornness.
“I know this sounds stupid, but if not even someone says these stupid things, if we don’t even try…” He paused, a faint choke in his voice, “then we’ve really lost.”
Lu Dongnuan smiled helplessly, patted his shoulder gently, then put on the air of a worldly master.
“Lost boy.”
“Yes!”
“I appreciate your spirit, but people can’t stay naive forever.”
“Please teach me, Master!”
“Hmm…” She propped her chin up, pretending to be deep in thought, “Let’s talk when you really build that Base. By then, if I’m still alive and you are too, I’ll join you.”
“Alright, it’s a deal!” Xiao Fang was overjoyed, “Oh, and stop calling me Xiao Fang. My name’s Fang Bianmian.”
Lu Dongnuan shot him a suspicious look, unable to hold it in any longer.
“Hahahahaha! Fang Bianmian—’instant noodles’! Didn’t expect your surname is Kang too, Classmate Kang.”
“Oh come on, enough, senpai. What’s your name? You’re definitely not called Lin Mo, that’s a man’s name.”
Lu Dongnuan folded her arms, assuming a haughty pose.
“Since you’re asking so sincerely, I’ll be merciful and tell you.”
“I’m all ears!”
“My name is… Lu…”
“Pfft—”
A massive claw suddenly burst through Lu Dongnuan’s abdomen, piercing right through and skewering Xiao Fang at the same time.
In that instant, time seemed to stop.
The two of them simultaneously saw the shock and pain on each other’s faces.
Lu Dongnuan’s mind was racing wildly.
‘Who, when, first floor, Zombies, monster, Sister Jing,’ a flood of information jumbled in her brain.
Then the claw hooked backward, flinging her away with a vicious toss.
This time, she was finally sure.
The tall, skinny, twisted body was now more muscular than before, with enormous claws and terrifying speed.
“It’s the first floor mutated Monster.” She lay on the ground, blood gushing from her mouth and nose.
“What about the zombie horde? They should be fighting it.”
The monster glanced back at her, a Zombie clamped in its mouth.
In its previously milky-white eyes, a black pupil had suddenly appeared.
She instantly understood—the commotion earlier had lured most of the Zombies away, and this monster had used the chance not only to escape its hiding place but had tracked them all the way up to the fourth floor.
“So good at seizing the opportunity, and evolving in secret?”
“Damn, it’s like Blind Monk secretly jungling to level six and then R-Flash-ganking mid lane…”
Xiao Fang muttered as he clutched his blood-gushing belly, struggling to crawl backward.