Chapter 31: She is light, she is hope (1)
The Zombie King was exactly the same as she had first seen him. His complexion was blue and white, his lips were red and his neck was strained by the violent cough.
Chi Xin didn’t know how to react for a while and froze in place, watching him finish coughing.
Once he finally calmed down, Lou Chen raised his head to reveal a pair of slender eyes full of tears, and the coldness and hatred in them were instantly diminished.
The Zombie King stared at Chi Xin quietly and she felt she had to say something and break this awkward silence.
She looked away and blurted a friendly greeting: “Hello.”
Zombie King: …
Chi Xin: …
Chi Xin quickly put away her stretched legs and sat on the bed as if she hadn’t said anything weird just now.
The Zombie King looked at her and let out a soft laugh: “Interesting.”
Chi Xin: … oh my god, standard villain lines incoming!
Perhaps her gaze was too strange, the Zombie King’s smiling face stiffened and gradually sank.
“Do you remember what I told you the last time we met?”
“I do.” Chi Xin said, “You showed my companions and I a small movie too.”
The corner of Lou Chen’s eyes twitched and he barely kept his cool. In a mysterious tone, he said: “I told you that when you were done with humans, you could come to me. I waited for you for so long, I didn’t expect you would anymore…” He glanced around, “… to this disgusting place.”
Chi Xin felt he hadn’t finished speaking. She raised her eyebrows but didn’t interrupt his performance.
The Zombie King crossed his arms on his chest and continued with a contemptuous tone: “I have watched you. You once knew how to use the weakness of human nature to do your bidding. This is how it should be, if you have the strength, the world should belong to you.”
He paused for a second: “But then I discovered that you were trying to hide your strength instead of using it.” Lou Chen squinted, “Without any weakness, you still chose to put hope in mankind. This is… foolish.”
Chi Xin listened in silence, frowning and looking thoughtful. The Zombie King was quite satisfied with her expression and his gaze softened. As he was about to talk more, Chi Xin’s slightly confused voice sounded: “Zombie King.”
“Don’t call me that.” He interrupted her, “My name is Lou Chen.”
“Oh. Lou Chen, then, can I ask you a question?”
The young zombie showed a benevolent expression: “Ask.”
Chi Xin tried to sort out her thoughts but found out she had too little information to make any sense of anything and blurted out instead: “What are you talking about?”
Lou Chen’s expression went blank for a few seconds.
Chi Xin moved back quietly and the next second, Lou Chen’s face darkened. He clenched his fists and snarled: “I am talking for so long but you don’t understand at all! Why didn’t you say it earlier? Do you know what I did for…”
He stopped speaking abruptly, his face morphing into a grimace.
Chi Xin wasn’t sure whether the Zombie King would throw up or spit on her and the distance she took made her feel a little safer.
She sincerely said: “Stop fancily beating around the bush, just spit it out.”
A dim light flashed in Lou Chen’s eyes. He looked at Chi Xin and leaned towards her.
“Before I saw you, I believed Jing Xiubai was the perfect choice. But after meeting you, I am sure you are more suitable.”
He was very close but Chi Xin didn’t worry about it. She looked straight at him and said in a very calm voice: “What do you want from me?”
She could take a guess.
The Zombie King in the movie had not had the slightest pity for humans. Wherever he had gone, his zombie army had destroyed.
But now, this… man who was calling himself Lou Chen obviously had emotions and his own objective; once again, the original plot seemed to change.
“Chi Xin, this world is dark.” Lou Chen said, “There has never been so-called light and humans are just insects chasing it in vain.”
“So?”
Chi Xin could feel cold sweat falling down her back.
“You want to destroy mankind.” She observed.
“No, don’t use the word destruction.” Lou Chen said softly, “They don’t want to live either, how can anyone want to? Living is a painful thing but they dare not die. I just want to help.”
Chi Xin looked at his calm yet erratic eyes: “Jing Xiubai was right. If you want revenge, go after the ones you made you that way. You don’t have the right to decide on mankind’s fate.”
“It has nothing to do with revenge!” Lou Chen shouted loudly.
“They do not deserve my revenge. The human race is terrible, there is no reason to save them.” He took a deep breath and extended his hand to Chi Xin, “Join me in this quest.”
Chi Xin looked at his hand and slowly raised hers. Seeing her action, Lou Chen’s gaze lit up and his fingers trembled with excitement.
But as Chi Xin was about to touch him, she slapped his hand away.
Lou Chen’s eyes widened in shock.
Chi Xin stretched out her legs and put her feet back on the floor, before standing up gracefully.
“You can continue to cling to your primary school dreams1 , but as a human being, I will try my best to stop you.”
She then muttered to herself: “Just a few words with you and I’m already starting to talk like a kid too.”
“In short, your recruitment plan has failed.” She said, “Should we start fighting now or should we wait for our next meeting?”
Lou Chen retracted his opened hand with a disbelieving expression.
Little theater:
Lou Chen: Hi.
Chi Xin: The stupid kid’s back.
Translator: The stupid kid’s back!
TL note: If you read the footnotes, now you know why I was too lazy to translate that part yesterday.