Chapter 42: Insolent
Chi Xiaoxian was woken up by the noises outside. Rubbing his eyes, he sluggishly crawled out of bed.
He had been too hasty falling asleep last night and hadn’t noticed that the bed at Fang Yue’s place was a bit high. When trying to get down just now, he stepped into thin air and tumbled straight off the mattress with a heavy *thud*.
“…” He sat there in a daze from the fall.
Fortunately, Fang Yue’s bedroom was carpeted, so he hadn’t hurt himself.
Supporting himself against the bed, Chi Xiaoxian scrambled up awkwardly. Pushing the door open, he was taken aback by the scene before him.
A red-haired girl around his own age was sitting at the dining table chatting with Fang Yue and Kevin. He caught fragments of words like “laboratory” and “Zhifang Pharmaceutical.”
Hearing footsteps behind her, the girl turned her head and glanced over with curiosity. That glance sealed it: their gazes met in mid-air, and both froze instantly, neither managing to look away for a moment.
Chi Xiaoxian was struck by the girl’s red curls, which were as long and vibrant as flames. A flash of realization hit him: the hair he had found yesterday belonged to this person. Her red hair made her fair, petite face stand out even more, her slender eyes uptilted slightly like a little fox.
The girl was equally startled by Chi Xiaoxian’s silver hair and silver pupils, which made him look as though he had stepped right out of an elven realm, illuminating the dimly lit room with a distinct clarity and brightness.
“Hey, hey, hey, what are you two staring at?” Kevin arched an eyebrow, teasing, “What, love at first sight?”
Embarrassed, the girl averted her gaze and shot Kevin a glare.
Fang Yue took in both of their reactions completely.
Lowering his eyelids, he toyed idly with the handle of his cup without speaking.
“Who is this—” Chi Xiaoxian was completely lost.
Kevin: “A thief, hiding in the basement all along. Fang Yue called me to help catch her last night.”
“A thief?” Chi Xiaoxian was shocked. “When did she get in? I didn’t even notice.”
Before Fang Yue could open his mouth, Kevin rapidly rattled off everything that had happened the previous night.
In truth, ever since the first day he returned, Fang Yue had noticed subtle changes around the house. There was a faint silver scratch on the electronic door lock, the key inserted in the bedroom door had been twisted half a turn further than usual, and the desk, which should have had a thin layer of dust, lacked any dust along its edge…
Moreover, if an uninvited guest truly broke into the house and heard the homeowners returning, they would most likely hide in the basement.
Unsure whether the intruder carried a weapon, Fang Yue decided to test the waters—leaving Kevin’s fake gun in a prominent location. If the intruder took it, it meant they likely carried no weapon more lethal than a gun, and that the firearm was something they needed; if they left it untouched, Fang Yue would choose not to engage them in a hard confrontation.
Yet “he” had hesitated only slightly before taking it without a trace of vigilance.
For reasons unknown, Chi Xiaoxian let out a quiet sigh of relief. It turned out the hair belonged to the thief, who must have slept in his bed while lurking in the house, which was why a strand had fallen into the crevice between the bed and the wall.
It wasn’t some other woman after all.
Kevin tossed a dark, bulky object toward him out of nowhere. Catching it reflexively, Chi Xiaoxian froze.
“A wig for you,” Kevin said cheerfully. “Plundered spoils of war. Wear it sometimes so your hair isn’t too flashy and conspicuous.”
The girl sneered, letting out a “heh,” “Why should someone with such nice hair wear a wig? You’re the one who ought to wear one to cover up that patch of withered grass on your head, lest you scare people looking like a ghost.”
Kevin said in dissatisfaction, “You little girl, judging a book by its cover!”
“Who’s a little girl!” Zhang Yiyi slammed her hand onto the table in a fiery temper. “That sounds so disgusting! My name is Zhang Yiyi, I have a name!”
Rewinding to the early hours of this morning, when Zhang Yiyi was caught, she insisted stubbornly that she had come solely to steal valuables. Fang Yue, however, emptied her backpack, spilling out a pile of tools and a laptop.
“What’s the password?” Fang Yue opened her laptop.
Zhang Yiyi, cornered, hardened her heart: “Don’t know, forgot.”
Fang Yue tapped a few keys on the computer, turned it toward her, and gave a light scan; facial recognition unlocked it instantly.
Zhang Yiyi, who valued convenience above all else: “…”
“First time stealing things?” Kevin couldn’t resist complaining. “You’re way too careless. You can hack open so many electronic door locks, yet you didn’t bother to properly encrypt your own computer?”
“Shut up,” Zhang Yiyi said angrily.
Kevin shrugged: “I see your mouth is the only hard thing on your entire body.”
Zhang Yiyi: “Bullshit, that’s a description meant for you men!”
Kevin: “Damn, what kind of attitude is that!”
The two went back and forth bickering, driving Fang Yue to distraction. Closing the laptop, he stood up and said, “I’ll read in the study. You guys carry on arguing.”
“Wait!” Zhang Yiyi shouted loudly. “Don’t break my computer!”
Fang Yue had been waiting precisely for those words, stating point-blank: “Whether it breaks depends on whether you tell me the file passwords.”
Though facial recognition could unlock the computer, virtually all files on the desktop were encrypted. Fang Yue knew the most efficient approach was still asking the owner directly.
“Don’t!” Zhang Yiyi said instinctively. “There are some other files of mine in there.”
Fang Yue tapped against the laptop chassis: “What exactly did you come here for?”
Zhang Yiyi fell silent for a moment, then scratched her head and slowly spoke: “This house is registered under your dad’s name; I thought your dad lived here.”
Fang Yue processed this. “You’re looking for him?”
Zhang Yiyi nodded, then shook her head.
Fang Yue tossed the USB drive found in Zhang Yiyi’s backpack right in front of her: “What do you want to know?”
Zhang Yiyi stammered: “Some corporate secrets. I was sent by a rival company.”
Fang Yue stared at her for a moment, puncturing her lie straight away: “You don’t look like it. The only two or three companies capable of rivaling Zhifang across the entire Highlands are immensely wealthy with elite personnel; they wouldn’t dispatch a half-baked amateur like you.”
Called a “half-baked amateur,” Zhang Yiyi pouted in displeasure.
“You came representing yourself, am I right?”
Zhang Yiyi froze. Realizing she couldn’t fool him, she dropped the act and said boldly, “Your family’s medication is defective and easily causes sudden death. I’m here to find evidence. Is there a problem?”
Fang Yue paused, his brain beginning to rapidly scan through medications produced by Zhifang.
“Stop guessing, you’d never guess it—it’s nutritional supplements.”
Fang Yue knit his brows: “Any basis for that?”
“My grandmother has been taking senior nutritional supplements all along, and she suffered a sudden death last year. Quite a few elderly people in our community died inexplicably as well. Hospitals couldn’t diagnose it, writing it off simply as old age. But my grandmother’s health had always been great—no high blood pressure, no history of cerebral infarction or myocardial infarction.”
“I joined a rights-advocacy group and discovered many others in the same boat. They sent nutritional supplements to testing institutions, which all reported them as normal, but everyone still suspects the supplements.”
“I’ve investigated you—you major in biology. Putting aside your identity as his son, tell me with a clear conscience: are your family’s nutritional supplements problematic or not?”
“Regardless of my identity, I always deal in objective facts,” Fang Yue said calmly.
“Hah, figures you’d give that face.”
Fang Yue opened the refrigerator door, retrieved a small row of blue nutritional supplements, and set them before Zhang Yiyi: “I have nutritional supplements too, and I’ve drunk them. If there’s truly a problem, then I’m a patient as well.”
Zhang Yiyi was left speechless at once.
“I’ll do my best to figure it out—both because I’ve drunk them myself, and because I’m a biology major.”
Seeing his calm, composed demeanor and orderly speech, Zhang Yiyi gradually lowered her guard.
The conversational atmosphere finally eased. Zhang Yiyi unlocked the file passwords and displayed the information she had hacked into Zhifang’s internal network to obtain for Fang Yue.
She explained: “I work in IT; hacking in was a breeze. After hacking twice, however, Zhifang hired a professional team to rebuild their firewall, and I couldn’t get back in.”
“Just graduated?” Kevin chimed in.
“I’ve been working for two years.”
“Tsk, amateur hacker,” Kevin evaluated ruthlessly.
“I’m… not a hacker, I’m a legitimate corporate employee.”
“Whether the company is legitimate I don’t know, but you certainly look illegitimate.”
“Bullshit—”
Chi Xiaoxian raised a hand to halt the mutual bickering between the two, asking Kevin directly, “With so many interesting things happening, why didn’t you wake me up earlier?”
He was the type of person who couldn’t resist joining in even if he saw two people fighting on the street…
“Hmph, didn’t someone say to let you sleep a bit longer,” Kevin wobbled his head as he spoke.
Chi Xiaoxian couldn’t resist looking toward Fang Yue, who gave a soft cough and cast a warning gaze at Kevin.
—
Following the dawn capture and interrogation, everyone felt a bit ravenous. Kevin went to cook breakfast for everyone, preparing a portion for Zhang Yiyi as well—two slices of toasted bread plus a cup of milk made from milk powder.
Zhang Yiyi intended to leave as soon as she finished eating, but was persuaded otherwise by Kevin, who pointed out that plenty of zombies were wandering outside, making venturing out alone tantamount to suicide.
Zhang Yiyi hesitated. Checking outside using Fang Yue’s infrared imager, she confirmed that quite a few wandering zombies indeed roamed the area.
She only possessed talent in IT, while her combat prowess was merely that of an ordinary young woman…
“How long can I stay here?” she asked Fang Yue tentatively.
“You can stay these few days,” Fang Yue said flatly. “Though you can only stay on the second floor.”
Allowing Zhang Yiyi to lodge temporarily wasn’t an issue, but she had to stay upstairs to mutually torment Kevin, and wasn’t allowed down to plague his ears.
After breakfast, a wave of sleepiness washed over Chi Xiaoxian again. Coupled with the low indoor temperature, sitting in the living room felt somewhat chilly. He simply retreated to his room, collapsed onto the bed, and buried his head under the covers to catch up on sleep.
Before he could warm up the mattress, however, Fang Yue hauled him out.
“Rehabilitation.” Sporting a handsome face, Fang Yue spoke the most unfeeling words.
Chi Xiaoxian pretended not to hear, lingering in bed with his eyes closed and refusing to move.
“Playing dead won’t work either. Get up,” Fang Yue said mercilessly.
Chi Xiaoxian’s eyelashes fluttered.
“Don’t you want me to accompany you to District Ten?” Fang Yue shifted tactics. “If you do, get up and do your rehabilitation properly so you don’t stumble when walking and get recognized as a zombie at a single glance.”
Chi Xiaoxian’s body stiffened for two seconds, letting out a silent internal sigh before forcing his eyes open.
“Something you need?” He rubbed his eyes. “Sorry, just fell asleep.”
“…”
Fang Yue held a clipboard containing Chi Xiaoxian’s rehabilitation schedule and observation data tracking columns. He handed the schedule to Chi Xiaoxian, and a single glance was all it took for Chi Xiaoxian’s brain to crash.
Two hours a day! A full two hours of scheduled exercise!
When he was human, his daily exercise volume never exceeded half an hour!
How was this any different from murdering him???
He pitched forward flat onto the bed, only for Fang Yue to press down on his shoulder, halting him forcibly.
“If you love this bed so much, I can swap it for sit-ups.” Fang Yue’s voice dropped near his ear—a low, magnetic tone that currently sounded like a demonic whisper—”Or push-ups, or failing that, planks.”
“…” Chi Xiaoxian’s mindset collapsed completely. “What difference does that make to me?!!”
“Sit-ups train your core abdominal muscles; push-ups and planks incorporate arm and chest strength. Planks are easier than push-ups, requiring less arm strength,” Fang Yue continued his demonic whispering.
“You’re a terrifying person,” Chi Xiaoxian shivered. “Zombies aren’t even as scary as you.”
“Is this your first day knowing me?”
“I don’t know you starting today.” Chi Xiaoxian closed his eyes, hardened his heart, and tumbled face down onto the bed. “I’m going to play dead. Zombies are meant for playing dead; playing dead is my best exercise, and the bed is my best companion.”
“…”
Fang Yue set the clipboard down on the bedside table, letting out a gentle sigh laden with a trace of helplessness, “Do you hate exercising that much?”
“Yes,” Chi Xiaoxian declared shamelessly. “I have no strength.”
Pondering for a moment, Fang Yue said earnestly, “Looks like I need to draw some blood to replenish your stamina.”
Hearing those words, white fireworks exploded inside Chi Xiaoxian’s brain, leaving him dizzy and disoriented.
Fang Yue fished a silver, slender pocket knife from his pocket, resting it gently against the web of his thumb—the faint scar left from when he had bitten his hand open to draw blood for Chi Xiaoxian still lingered there.
Chi Xiaoxian grabbed the blanket to cover his lower half, scooting backward in tension, retreating in horror into the corner of the room in an attempt to distance himself from Fang Yue.
“You can’t just do that casually!” Flushing red with his breathing growing rapid, he protested, “You clearly know I’ll—”
Fang Yue reached out to grab the blanket, dragging him closer inch by inch along with the cover, the corner of his lips curling upward slightly as his tone carried mockery, “Will what?”
Chi Xiaoxian couldn’t overpower him at all, forcing him to glare with almond-shaped eyes, attempting to transform his flushed face into a fierce expression as he threatened harshly, “If you bully me again, see if I don’t—”
Fang Yue raised an eyebrow, “Eat me?”
Having his lines accidentally stolen, Chi Xiaoxian froze for two seconds, hardened his heart entirely, threw off the blanket, and lunged in counter-attack toward Fang Yue.
“If you dare draw blood casually, I’ll sleep with you right now!” he shouted exaggeratedly, attempting to reverse the combat situation.
Yet Fang Yue extended a single hand to give a gentle push, sending Chi Xiaoxian tumbling straight back onto the soft mattress with a heavy *thud*.
Leaning forward unceremoniously, he pressed down over him, pinning his hips with his knee, catching both his hands in reverse to hold them above his head, before looking straight into his eyes.
Gazing eye to eye, Chi Xiaoxian had nowhere to hide, panic flickering within his gray-silver pupils.
“Sorry, didn’t catch that just now,” Fang Yue raised an eyebrow slightly. “Who’s sleeping with who?”
