Otherworldly Merchant

I took a deep breath, pretty sure that she was trying to seduce me. As soon as I lower my guard, she’ll bite my neck, drink my blood, and turn me into a fellow undead. 

Could I fall into her trap? No way!

I calmed down and answered, “If you have blisters on your feet, you’d better not prick them. The wounds might get infected, so it’s better if I give you some ointment to apply on them.”

Since I knew that rural villages had a lot of poisonous bugs, I’d brought along several basic medicines. I took out a bottle from my pocket and handed it to Jing Jing. 

Jing Jing stooped her head shyly. “They really hurt, and I can’t stand it anymore. It doesn’t matter if they get infected, I’ll leave tomorrow and go to a hospital to get treatment.”

Then, she sat on the grass, proactively taking her shoes off. Shortly after, she slipped her socks off her feet, revealing a pair of petite and fair-skinned feet which were glowing mesmerizingly under the moonlight.

I was still young, and it was difficult for me to resist such temptation.

However, I remembered clearly what the man wearing the Kumamon t-shirt had told me. I mustn’t lose this battle.

I took a deep breath, suppressed my emotions, and gave her a forced smile. “I’m really sorry, but a man shouldn’t touch a woman that way. You should call your friends for help!”

Then, I didn’t even give her another glance before I walked directly into the Honorarium Hall and laid down by the man in the Kumamon t-shirt.

The moment I’d turned around, I clearly heard her disappointed sigh.

Not long after I’d laid down, Jing Jing approached. She shot me a sad but resentful glance, then unwillingly returned to her tent.

Even in my sleep, I still had the image of Jing Jing’s charming feet in my head. Those little, beautiful feet made me blush. I shifted on the spot in frustration.

I didn’t feel any better though. How had a beautiful girl like her become a zombie?

The Heavens had wasted a treasure. Why wasn’t Li Mazi turned into a zombie instead of her?

Struggling hard to sleep until dawn, my entire body felt uncomfortable, and my mind resembled a tangled web. I had to get up and stretch my body to release the tension from my back.

The man wearing the Kumamon t-shirt also got up, then turned to me and smiled. “Did you sleep well?”

I nodded reluctantly. “More or less.”

Li Mazi was still fast asleep, so I walked forward and gave him a good kick. When he opened his eyes, clearly still sleepy, he asked me why I’d woken him up as he was in the middle of a nice dream.

I said to him, “No more dreaming, get up. It’s time for breakfast.”

He got up unwillingly.

The girls in the tents also got up. Jing Jing walked out from her tent, giving me an awkward and embarrassed smile. It seemed like she was shy and reluctant because of last night’s event.

I was a bit doubtful. Could a zombie really feel embarrassed?

The man wearing the Kumamon t-shirt said, “If you have free time, go out and collect some wood! We’ll cook breakfast together!”

The girls became excited and went out. Then, the man wearing the Kumamon t-shirt sneaked into their tents.

Shortly after, he came out with a paper crane in his hands. It was one of the cranes he’d given the girls yesterday.

The man gave the crane to me, asking, “Can you tell what’s wrong with it?”

I turned the crane around in my hands to examine it. Eventually, I found a few red tints in the crane’s eyes. They looked like a pair of blood-red eyes gazing at me!

I took a deep breath and told the man wearing the Kumamon t-shirt my findings.contemporary romance

The man wearing the Kumamon t-shirt nodded, telling me that I was correct. His paper cranes weren’t folded from any normal paper. They were made of Chenzhou Paper from Chenzhou Province. Chenzhou Paper had a very special characteristic: It would turn red as soon as it touched corpse energy. That was why the ancient Daoist priests often used Chenzhou Paper to make lamps to search for zombies when they went out at midnight.

And, this paper crane with red spots was the one he’d given to Jing Jing yesterday.

I felt lucky that I hadn’t done anything to Jing Jing last night.

I hurriedly asked him, “What should we do now?”

He answered, “She wouldn’t turn into a zombie without a reason. I’m sure she ate something like the grass or leaves that grow from a zombie’s body. If we know where this grass is, we can find the zombie. So, we must start investigating Jing Jing!”

Not long afterward, the girls came back carrying some dry wood. The man wearing the Kumamon t-shirt and I dug a small hole to make a stove. Then, we placed a pot over it to boil some water. After adding dry beef and a food bar, we began to cook breakfast.

The girls were sitting nearby, talking to the man wearing the Kumamon t-shirt while they waited.

His handsome face remained cold, and he didn’t talk as he listened to the girls chat about random things.

Not long afterward, the water boiled, and the man wearing the Kumamon t-shirt walked over to stir the soup.

I clearly saw him sprinkle some white power into the soup while stirring it. I wondered why he’d done that.

He then served the soup for the girls, and Li Mazi and I also had a bowl. However, as I was worried about the powder he’d added into the soup, I didn’t drink it immediately.

Once I saw the man in the Kumamon t-shirt take a sip, I followed him and started drinking mine.

After that, we sat down to rest for a bit, and the girls suggested that we walk around and explore the village. However, the man wearing the Kumamon t-shirt disagreed.

I looked at him, discovering that he seemed to be waiting for something to happen!

Soon, I noticed that something was wrong with Jing Jing. She looked irritated and sweat was starting to bead on her forehead. And, it seemed that she had a horrible itch as she started to scratch her body.

As she scratched her neck, I saw a dense red rash appearing. It covered her exposed skin and filled me with so much fear that my scalp went numb.

I glanced at the man wearing the Kumamon t-shirt and he gave me a nod, indicating that he’d also noticed the situation.

The girls felt that the situation was strange and asked Jing Jing what was wrong.

No one expected to see Jing Jing abruptly bolt toward the girl wearing heavy makeup, trying to bite her neck!

The girl wearing heavy makeup shrieked in fear. Fortunately, I was prepared. I grabbed Jing Jing’s arm and pushed her to the floor. The man in the Kumamon t-shirt swiftly took out a small porcelain bottle and placed it under Jing Jing’s nostrils so that she’d inhale the substance inside.

Then, something happened.

Slowly, Jing Jing stopped struggling before fainting shortly after…

The girls couldn’t grasp what had just occurred. Shaking in fear, they asked, “What happened to Jing Jing?”

The man wearing the Kumamon t-shirt said coldly, “At the moment, she’s half human, half zombie. If we don’t save her, she’ll turn into a complete zombie.”

The girl wearing heavy makeup jolted upright, shrieking, “What the heck are you talking about? What did you make Jing Jing inhale? If something happens to Jing Jing, I’ll call the police!”

The man snorted coldly. “Are you stupid? Did you forget that she just attacked you?”

The girl blushed upon hearing his reminder. Eventually, she stammered, “What if you guys did something…?”

The man in the Kumamon t-shirt said, “If you don’t believe me, you can take her and leave now. I’m sure that she’ll turn into a zombie in around three hours. At that time, I have no doubt that you’ll all die.”

Then, he turned to me and Li Mazi. “Let’s go.”

Li Mazi didn’t react, so I came forward and grabbed his hand. He turned to look at me fearfully. “What’s going on? What happened?”

I shot Li Mazi a glance to stop him from talking.

The girl wearing heavy makeup was finally scared. She spread her arms, standing in front of the man in the Kumamon t-shirt. “Tell us. What happened to Jing Jing? Why has she become a zombie?”

“Think about it carefully. Did she eat something that she shouldn’t have? For example, it could’ve been a strange plant or bug,” asked the man in the Kumamon t-shirt.

The girl wearing heavy makeup pondered for a while before blurting, “I remember! She ate a weird fruit! It was small, red, and looked really strange. We didn’t dare to eat it, but she did.”

“Red? Did it look like a human eyeball?” the man in the Kumamon t-shirt asked with a frown.

The girl wearing heavy makeup nodded. “Yes, exactly. It looked like a human eye.”

The man in the Kumamon t-shirt sighed. “You need to show us the way to the Fruit of Life and Death, right now. If we can find it, perhaps she can be saved.”

“So it’s called the Fruit of Life and Death?” asked the girl with heavy makeup.

The man wearing the Kumamon t-shirt nodded. “Now, hurry up!”

Then, he turned to look at me.

done.co