Chapter 62 — Single-Celled Organism
“They were my former teammates, before I joined the base.” Zhang Su tilted his head slightly, as if recalling. “Back outside, we killed plenty of people together. We fought other survivor groups more times than I can count. Every one of them had at least five or six lives on their hands.” He glanced back at Lieutenant Ding, a sharper smile flickering in his eyes. “Unfortunately, I was the only one who awakened an ability.”
He knew perfectly well why only Lieutenant Ding had been sent to “investigate.” First, because he was an ability user. Second, because he was also a doctor—something the base desperately needed. And third… because the people he killed didn’t have any powerful backers.
Right now, the base couldn’t afford to alienate a strong ability user, especially when the ones who died weren’t important. Honestly, if he hadn’t made such a spectacle of it—if he’d just quietly disposed of them without leaving such a gruesome scene—they probably wouldn’t have even bothered to look for the killer.
But what could he do? He’d lost control last night. If he hadn’t slaughtered those people then, he might have lost his mind entirely.
Lieutenant Ding inhaled several times to steady himself before gritting out, “I’m asking why you killed them! Whether they were murderers themselves or not isn’t your justification!” The higher-ups clearly didn’t want to escalate this matter, which was why they’d sent him to ask for a reason—but Zhang Su couldn’t just brush everything off like this! How was he supposed to report back? What if someone higher up lost patience and insisted on arresting Zhang Su? Besides, let’s not forget—Zhang Su himself wasn’t innocent!
This time, Zhang Su looked away. It was clear there were things he didn’t want to say.
“They hurt Brother Zhang before!” Suddenly, Wu Xin—who had been silently listening until now—spoke up.
Li Tie and the others quickly followed, “That’s right! When we first met Brother Zhang outside the base, it was those people who cut his arm open and threw him into a horde of zombies so they could escape!”
“We can all testify! If Brother Zhang hadn’t awakened his ability at that moment, he never would’ve survived until we got there!”
Brother’s wife is your sister-in-law; brother’s lover is, well, family too—after recovering from the shock of Zhang Su’s earlier “flaying” incident, Li Tie and the others immediately rallied behind Wang Duo, determined to stand with them.
Sure, they were terrified—what if one day Zhang Su got in the mood to slice them up for fun? But after living together all this time, they’d never seen him act unhinged. Apart from his newfound hobby of telling them “tragic yet beautiful love stories between men” ever since discovering Luo Xun and Yan Fei’s relationship, he seemed perfectly normal!
And when they thought back to how he’d looked when they first met him outside the base—half-covered in blood, eyes filled with despair—they couldn’t bring themselves to see him as a monster.
After Li Tie and the others learned that the people Zhang Su had killed were actually the same ones who had once abandoned, betrayed, and hurt him, they instantly made their judgment—Zhang Su was the good guy, and those who hurt him were the bad ones! What he did last night might have been a little over the top, but he was just taking revenge! If it were them, and they’d run into the people who’d wronged and abandoned them, they might’ve done the same! Of course, their methods probably wouldn’t have been quite that bloody…
Lieutenant Ding let out a partial sigh of relief after hearing Li Tie and the others say that. He then turned to the most reliable people present—Yan Fei and Luo Xun—for confirmation. Only after getting their quiet nods did he look back at Zhang Su, who was still staring blankly at the corner of the wall, and said in a low voice, “There’s no direct evidence in this case… You’d better control your emotions. You went a bit too far back in the hospital, too. The base is just short on manpower right now. Otherwise, if the higher-ups pursued the matter, we wouldn’t be able to cover for you.”
He stood up and added, “Oh, and your hospital superior asked me to inform you—since you’ve been working non-stop, the stress might’ve built up too much. You’re allowed to take a few extra days off. Go back to work on the third day of the new year. Spend these days at home and enjoy the holiday.”
With that, he turned and walked out.
Killed people—and got extra vacation days for it??
The group stood frozen with wide eyes for several seconds, then hurried after Lieutenant Ding to see him out.
In no time, only Wang Duo and Zhang Su—still staring at the corner in a daze—were left in the room.
Wang Duo’s lips twitched. He snuck a few glances at Zhang Su, then lowered his gaze, not knowing how to start speaking.
Unexpectedly, it was Zhang Su who spoke first.
“The wall you’re leaning against—”
“Huh?” Wang Duo straightened instantly, ready for a scolding.
“—is the one you painted this morning. It’s not dry yet.”
“…Ah! My clothes! I only have two sets!!”
Those at the door sending off Lieutenant Ding froze when they heard the scream, exchanged glances, and silently decided to pretend they hadn’t heard a thing.
Lieutenant Ding ignored the noise as well and smiled at them. “No need to see me off. I’ll go report the situation. You all enjoy the New Year at home.”
“Lieutenant Ding,” Li Tie asked worriedly, “Brother Zhang won’t be… arrested, right?”
Lieutenant Ding smiled helplessly. “If he were going to be arrested, I wouldn’t have come here alone. You guys should try to talk to him, though. Revenge aside, he needs to watch that temper of his. Taking someone’s head off with wind blades every time he’s in a bad mood isn’t a great habit. There are plenty of ability users in the base now.”
If he really pissed off the wrong person, no matter how strong he was, a bunch of them working together could still wear him down!
Li Tie and the others nodded quickly. “Don’t worry! We’ll talk to him!”
—Yeah, better talk to him. It’s one thing if he cuts down outsiders or enemies, but if Wang Duo annoys him and loses a few chunks of flesh… haha.
Once Lieutenant Ding was out of sight, Yan Fei went to lock the door, and Luo Xun said, “Let’s make dumplings today.”
It was New Year’s Eve—what else would they eat?
Li Tie and the others’ eyes lit up immediately. “Good idea!”
He Qiankun pointed at the door of unit 1601. “We exchanged some of our base points yesterday before coming back and got a bag of flour!”
Luo Xun smiled. “I’ve got some vegetables and a bit of meat at home. Let’s all cook together.”
“Nice! What kind of veggies did you grow, Brother Luo? Our green onions just started sprouting—not even enough for one meal.”
“Spinach and bok choy—not a lot, but enough for today.”
After a quick discussion, they decided to use unit 1601 as their workspace, while Luo Xun and his wife went home to get ingredients.
As for the two people in 1602… everyone tacitly agreed not to bother them.
The hallway gradually fell silent. Wang Duo touched his back—sure enough, his shirt had caught some wet paint. Fortunately, it wasn’t too bad. He peeked at Zhang Su again. Seeing that he wasn’t being thrown out, Wang Duo gathered his courage and asked softly, “Um… Brother Zhang… should I keep painting?”
Zhang Su was silent for a long time, still not looking at him. Then, after a while, he slowly stood and walked toward the bedroom.
Wang Duo’s already fragile little heart sank again and again. Was that a no? Was he about to get kicked out?
“Be gentle,” Zhang Su said before disappearing into the bedroom.
Be gentle?
Wang Duo suddenly felt as if his whole body had turned light—like he was floating on clouds. Just like last night when he’d been in Zhang Su’s arms—it felt unreal, dreamlike.
He wasn’t kicking him out?
He was letting him help with painting?!
Did that mean he accepted him?!
He remembered what Yan Fei had told him that morning—“clean the house, wash the clothes, cook, massage his shoulders.”
Helping him paint the house counted, didn’t it? Didn’t that mean he was being accepted?!
If he was allowed to paint the walls alone, that meant he was allowed inside Zhang Su’s home—
Which meant Zhang Su accepted his pursuit—
Which meant that what happened last night could happen again…
And next time, they’d both be fully conscious and willing!
The pure, single-celled organism that was Wang Duo instantly regained his energy. His earlier gloom vanished completely as he hummed dreamily and began painting with renewed enthusiasm and a silly grin.
Meanwhile, Zhang Su leaned against the futon on the bedroom floor. His mind was still blank—
He’d killed them.
So what now?
The base hadn’t punished him. But… what came next?
Was he just supposed to keep working at the hospital every day, earning money, eating, surviving… and then what?
Outside the base was a world full of zombies. Inside were people numbed by despair, living only for their next meal. Zhang Su couldn’t see a future, couldn’t see hope.
It felt as though he’d lost the only thing keeping him alive. No direction, no purpose.
Until now, he’d lived only to see those scum dead by his own hands.
Now they were dead—easily, completely.
And after that… what?
A hollow emptiness spread through him. He felt like he could just sit there, motionless, until he withered and turned to dust—and it wouldn’t matter. He didn’t even have the will to walk out of the room anymore.
Then, faintly, from beyond the bedroom door, came a tune—someone humming an old pre-apocalypse pop song. Off-key. And sometimes it shifted halfway into another similar tune.
Zhang Su’s once-dull eyes moved slightly. His drifting mind slowly came back into focus. His pale lips pressed together, curving downward in disdain as he muttered, “Terrible singing.”
He had never heard anyone sing so badly—and be so blissfully unaware of it.
But then, that downward curve of his mouth slowly lifted again— becoming the familiar crooked smirk Luo Xun and the others knew so well, that sarcastic, mischievous smile unique to Zhang Su.
“Brother Luo… th-this, could this be the legendary quail eggs?!”
“Brother Luo, you actually have quail eggs at home?!!”
“Let me see! Even if they’re rotten, I’d still be willing—ahhhh…”
Li Tie and the others crowded reverently around a small handful of quail eggs. The four of them formed a semicircle around the table, hips sticking out and upper bodies leaning forward, eyes locked intensely on the little eggs in the center like devout worshippers.
Luo Xun laughed as he took out several kinds of vegetables from a bag and placed them into a basin. “I raised them myself. They’ve just started laying. Some might even be hatchable—if any chicks do hatch, I’ll give you guys a few.”
“Really?!!” Li Tie’s eyes sparkled. He lunged forward and threw his arms around Luo Xun’s leg. “Brother—dear brother!!”
“Alright, alright, we don’t even know if they’ll hatch yet.” Luo Xun was actually being a bit impulsive today. He wasn’t sure why, but when he’d seen how Li Tie and the others had stood up for Zhang Su earlier—pleading with Lieutenant Ding to let him off—he’d felt strangely moved. After Lieutenant Ding finally said the matter wouldn’t be pursued, and after they’d deliberately left Wang Duo behind, Luo Xun suddenly had the urge to do something, too.
If the quails at home hatched successfully, they would keep producing more eggs and chicks anyway. Sharing a few with Li Tie and the others wouldn’t matter much.
But what they’d get in return was shared joy, and a renewed sense of hope for the future. To Luo Xun, that was worth it.
After their initial excitement, Li Tie and the others didn’t say much more, but they all felt deeply grateful. They knew how much Luo Xun and Yan Fei had done for them—looked after them, helped them survive. Maybe it didn’t mean much to Luo Xun and Yan Fei, but to them, these were precious gifts. After all, they were just ordinary people. Even with work now, who knew if it would last?
What Luo Xun had given them could become a source of security in the future—maybe even the reason they could keep living when food ran out someday.
They weren’t stupid; they knew this was kindness given in their hardest time. And though they couldn’t repay it now, they promised themselves that someday, when they had the power to help, they would.
Luo Xun, experienced in cooking, took charge of directing, organizing, and supervising. Under his command, Li Tie and the others bustled around like busy bees, grinning from ear to ear— They were making dumplings! With their own hands!
Before coming over, Luo Xun had taken some frozen meat filling and a bit of dried shrimp from his freezer. Now, he was directing He Qiankun and Han Li to chop vegetables, Li Tie to season the meat, and Wu Xin to prepare seasonings and clean up. He was teaching Yan Fei how to knead the dough.
The room buzzed with cheerful noise and laughter as they cooked together. Once all the ingredients were ready, Luo Xun guided the others in rolling out dumpling wrappers while he himself did the wrapping— His speed alone easily kept up with the five of them combined, no pressure at all.
He Qiankun felt an itch on his nose and rubbed it with the back of his hand—leaving a smudge of flour. Then, noticing the room felt a bit emptier, he pointed toward the next-door unit. “Uh… should we call Wang Duo and Brother Zhang over?”
Li Tie and the others exchanged glances, then peeked at the “couple unit”—Yan Fei and Luo Xun, standing side by side and affectionately learning how to wrap dumplings together, practically blinding them with domestic bliss.
“Forget it. Let’s just call them when it’s time to eat…”
The two next door finally had some time alone together—maybe they’d even make up today. No one wanted to go over and play the third wheel.
Besides, there was already one lovey-dovey couple here; if another pair came… haha, how were a bunch of single guys supposed to survive that level of PDA?!
Han Li snuck a glance at his companions— He Qiankun… too chubby; his facial features were nearly swallowed up by his cheeks. Pass. Wu Xin… face full of youthful acne, not exactly appetizing. Pass.
Li Tie—tall and skinny as a stick. If they stood together, it’d be like Mount Everest next to the Mariana Trench. Totally incompatible…
Sigh. Even finding a decent best buddy was hard these days—let alone someone who fit the hardware requirements for… well, other thoughts.
By the time all the dumplings were wrapped, the two next door still hadn’t shown up. When Luo Xun started directing everyone to boil water and prepare to cook, they finally had to send someone over to fetch them—after all, the group had skipped lunch, saving their appetites for this meal. It was still early, but none of them could wait any longer.
After drawing lots, He Qiankun reluctantly trudged next door and knocked on the door. After a while, Wang Duo came to open it — his entire face was ghostly white.
“What happened to you?! Why’s your face so white?!” He Qiankun jumped, his chubby body giving a visible shudder at the sight.
Wang Duo stared back in shock. “And why’s your face covered in powder?”
The two stood there staring at each other, wide-eyed, in the doorway. Then a voice floated lazily from behind Wang Duo: “What are you two blocking the door for?”
He Qiankun quickly remembered why he’d come. “Brother Zhang, we’ve finished wrapping the dumplings. I came to call you both over for dinner!”
“Dumplings?! Great! What kind?” Wang Duo’s eyes practically lit up green — he’d spent the whole morning scraping paint off the walls in room 1601, and in the afternoon, he’d volunteered to go to Zhang Su’s place to keep scraping. By now, he was starving half to death. If it weren’t for the excuse to stay at Zhang Su’s place longer, he would’ve gone home to eat already!
“Spinach and pork, and napa cabbage with shrimp and vermicelli! Brother Luo and his wife brought the meat and vegetables.”
Wang Duo turned eagerly to look at Zhang Su, who was leaning against the kitchen doorway, arms crossed. “Let’s go eat?”
Zhang Su raised an eyebrow but didn’t reply — he simply started walking toward the door.
When Wang Duo’s brightly painted face appeared in the living room, Li Tie and the others nearly jumped out of their skins.
“What happened to your face?”
“I was painting walls!” Wang Duo said proudly, nose tilted to the sky.
Looking at his smug expression, then at the calm and composed Zhang Su entering beside He Qiankun, Li Tie and the others ground their teeth silently. Seriously? Just painting walls for someone and acting like it’s some grand achievement!
Wu Xin, being more good-natured, asked kindly, “How much have you done? Want us to come help after dinner?”
“No, no need!” Wang Duo instantly shot him a suspicious glare. “I’ll be done soon!”
He had to defend his “territory.” He’d spent the whole afternoon there and had only just managed to get Zhang Su to say two sentences to him — no way he was letting this bunch of walking lightbulbs go over and ruin things! Over his dead body!
Han Li twisted his face away in disgust, jealousy bubbling in his chest. Look at you, guarding your ‘food bowl’ like a dog. Where’s your dignity as a man? Honestly, you’re pathetic…
Luo Xun lowered his head with a muffled chuckle, while Yan Fei gave Zhang Su a long, knowing look. This time, Zhang Su ignored the unspoken teasing entirely.
Before long, the dumplings were cooked. Everyone sat around the table, eating and chatting while the next batch boiled. The radio nearby was broadcasting a base announcement.
It was New Year’s Eve. To keep morale up — and to mark the first Lunar New Year since the apocalypse — the base had made special preparations. It was said that at eight o’clock that night, they’d broadcast a pre-recorded Spring Festival Gala.
Word about the gala had spread through the army days ago. There weren’t many celebrities who’d made it to the Southwest Base, but a few minor performers who’d been nobodies before the apocalypse had survived, along with some of the army’s cultural troupe members. So, putting together a simple gala wasn’t a problem.
The main themes were clear: defeating zombies, reclaiming humanity’s home, spreading positivity, and strengthening unity. With that direction, producing a show was easy. Of course, it couldn’t be live — they had to record in advance. After all, in the apocalypse, art didn’t fill stomachs, and everyone’s schedule was unpredictable. Whoever was available would show up to record their segment, then go back to their duties — some even went on missions right after recording, and a few… never came back alive.
The dumplings were delicious — far better than anything from the base canteen. Maybe it was because everyone had made them together, but the taste of home lingered in every bite.
After the meal, it was around three in the afternoon. There were plenty of dumplings left — enough for dinner. Seeing that everyone had eaten their “reunion meal,” Wang Duo, the perpetually single one, cautiously suggested, “So… maybe tonight everyone should celebrate separately? You know, Brother Yan and Brother Luo probably want some alone time…” He kept sneaking glances at Zhang Su as he spoke.
Zhang Su’s face held that faint, unreadable smile of his, as if he hadn’t heard anything.
Han Li slung an arm around Wang Duo’s neck and drawled mockingly, “Yeah, everyone go their own way. You should come back and spend New Year’s with us~”
“Exactly! Go home for New Year’s!” Li Tie and the others joined in the teasing.
Zhang Su didn’t move. His expression was serene, his smile unchanged.
Wang Duo scowled and shoved Han Li’s arm off. “I still need to finish painting for Brother Zhang! Don’t wait up for me.”
The others burst out laughing, whistling and jeering, but Wang Duo endured it all for the sake of his “future happiness.” He filled a big lunchbox full of dumplings — enough for two — and clutched it as he shuffled over to Zhang Su, looking up pitifully.
Luo Xun couldn’t hold back his laughter anymore and said to Yan Fei, “We’ve got things to do at home — let’s head back.”
As soon as he said that, Wang Duo’s eyes sparkled even brighter as he continued sending hopeful looks toward Zhang Su.
Zhang Su dusted off his clothes, stood gracefully, and with his chin slightly raised — just like a proud queen leading her goofy little dog — walked out with Wang Duo trailing eagerly behind him.
Behind them, Li Tie and the others were laughing so hard they could barely straighten up.
Thank you for reading 🙂 I hope you all liked my translations. If you enjoyed my work, please consider buying me a Ko-Fi 😉
