The following night, the green-eyed zombie returned to work. Most of the ship owners at the docks were already waiting for it. Before it could even draw near, someone shouted loudly, "Green Eyes! What took you so long? Get over here and start working!"
It strode forward to help load the ship. However, another merchant waiting nearby grew dissatisfied. "How can you be like this? I was clearly the first one waiting for him! Green Eyes, help me move my goods first!"
The green-eyed zombie had been here for several days now. It already understood the meanings of simple, common phrases like "come here," "over here," "start work," and "take the job." At this moment, it hesitated. It knew the other ship owner was calling, but wasn't it already in the middle of working here?
Seeing its hesitation, the nearby ship owner snapped, "Come over here! I'll pay you double wages, how about that?"
As soon as those words were spoken, the other waiting ship owners grew agitated. "The lad does the work of ten men, and you think double pay is generous? Green Eyes, come to my side! I'll pay you five times the wages!"
The green-eyed zombie looked left and right as a bidding war erupted around it. The prices soared until financial power could no longer settle the matter. Tempers flared among the ship owners, and they descended into a physical brawl.
A chaotic fight broke out on the docks. The green-eyed zombie understood a small portion of the dialogue and gathered that they were fighting over who went first. Yet, it remained perplexed—if they had this much time to waste, why didn't they just line up and finish the loading one by one? What was there to fight about?
It felt that zombies were much simpler. The only things that could make them fight were matters of life and death. They weren't like humans, who would beat each other bloody over something so trivial.
In the end, it still loaded eight ships' worth of cargo, and the pay was far more bountiful than usual. As it prepared to leave, a foreman glared at it. Still harboring resentment over being ambushed with a cloth bag the previous night, the zombie glared back fiercely.
For some reason, the foreman’s bravado instantly withered. He hurriedly turned his head away, not daring to look at it again.
It finished work quite early that night. When a ship owner called out to it as it left, it simply waved its hand—it had learned that waving meant "no."
It clearly enjoyed this human world, and just as Qiao’er did with it, it tried its best to learn their movements, language, and even their habits.
In truth, the mundane world was not a suitable place for a cultivator. The disputes, distractions, and trivialities of human life would consume too much of their time. By immersing oneself in the surging tide of humanity too early, one might find themselves unable to endure the ultimate loneliness and desolation of the path, making it difficult to return to the tranquil cultivation of a mind as still as water.
However, entering the mortal world was the most urgent dream of all spirits, demons, and monsters. Thus, the first thing countless demons did after attaining the Dao was to transform into human form.
The green-eyed zombie was merely one such cultivator, still very ignorant of the future, not knowing whether it would become an immortal or a devil. But it clearly liked this place where humans gathered—even though it was just a remote fishing village, to the zombie, it was already incredibly lively.
It worked hard to adapt to this place, to live like them. But this would clearly take a long time; at the very least, it still could not walk in the sunlight. And during the nights when it could roam freely, most humans had already retired for the evening.
Leaving the docks, the streets were already very quiet. Every household had extinguished their lamps and closed their doors. Occasionally, a few dogs barked; when a stray dog encountered it on the street, the animal didn't even dare to whimper, scurrying away with its tail between its legs.
The night watchman’s clapper sounded seven times. Someone on the street shouted for the "corpse-driving" path to be cleared, warning the living to avoid it. Consequently, the few remaining stallholders hurriedly packed their gear, leaving the long street in pitch darkness.
Before long, heavy, rhythmic footsteps approached, sounding like the beating of a muffled drum. The green-eyed zombie seemed to know who was coming and stepped aside, hiding behind a load-bearing pillar under the eaves of a house.
The newcomer was none other than Fan Shaojing, the eldest disciple of Cuiwei Mountain, leading a line of walking corpses past with his young apprentice. He naturally sensed the green-eyed zombie's presence, but because it lacked the malevolence of a blood-sucking zombie, he did not strike.
The green-eyed zombie, for its part, had no desire to fight him. Although Cuiwei Mountain had destroyed the Old Priest Chong Ling’s temple, it felt that had nothing to do with itself. In the thick darkness of the night, the man and the zombie exchanged a single glance across the street. Fan Shaojing’s young apprentice, carrying a wind lantern in front, noticed nothing.
The green-eyed zombie spent several nights scouting the outskirts of the small village until it finally found a suitable place to build a human "nest." It was very close to the sea but would not be affected by the tides. Once the house was built, it would face south, catching the sunlight humans loved—though the zombie didn't care for it much itself.
That night, it brought Qiao’er to see the spot. Qiao’er wandered around for a long time, not knowing what she was supposed to be looking at. It had to write in her palm: *Build a burial mound here.*
...
In those days, there was one advantage: the population density was low and the land was sparsely inhabited. This fishing village was particularly remote, so there was no such thing as land deeds. Once it selected the spot, it began to learn from other humans, digging the foundation.
When Qiao’er discovered it was digging the foundation trenches with its bare hands, she was heartbroken. She hurriedly wrote on its chest, telling it that such things could be done with a hoe, and she bought one for it the next day.
At first, it wasn't used to the hoe; it felt as though the hoe was using it rather than the other way around. Later, once it got the hang of it, it found the tool much more convenient and learned to dig the trenches properly.
It could only dig the foundation after finishing work at night. During the day, if Qiao’er wanted to come, it would simply hold her while they slept, refusing to let her leave.
By nightfall, Qiao’er prepared two hoes and dug the trenches alongside it. It assumed she was just playing, so it no longer stopped her.
Building materials were very limited back then. Most structures were made of mud and stone, as timber was extremely expensive and generally only used in large quantities by wealthy families.
However, building a nest of mud and stone was difficult for the green-eyed zombie—the stones were irregular and very hard to masonry, and the mud needed to be hardened with fire. It disliked fire and could not master the intensity of the flames at all.
By comparison, wood was much simpler for it. Thus, it took time to go into the deep mountains, find many large trees, and carry them back. Qiao’er knew slightly more about this than it did; wet wood warped easily, so she had it cut the timber into boards and lay them out to dry.
To accomplish this, the green-eyed zombie had to secretly visit a carpenter’s house to learn how to cut boards. It was somewhat afraid of the ink fountain line and didn't dare touch it, but it found the axes, planes, drills, and squares very curious. It would sneak them out to use while the carpenter slept. Fearing Qiao’er would scold it again, it always returned them promptly after use.
After sacrificing several logs, the boards it cut finally began to look decent. Then, it took a plane and tried to smooth the boards, mimicking the carpenter’s movements.
At first, it couldn't use it well; the boards it planed were pitted and uneven, looking as if they were covered in pockmarks. Gradually, they became passably smooth. Qiao’er was both amazed and amused by its behavior. Sometimes she would wrap her arms around its neck to praise it, and it would look up at the sky with a smug, arrogant expression.
Once the foundation trenches were dug, some of the boards began to dry. Although it was winter, the coastal winds did not lessen in the slightest. The green-eyed zombie didn't know how to make mortise and tenon joints, so it had to use iron nails to connect and reinforce the boards.
Qiao’er followed behind it. Every night, it only worked two hours at the docks; the rest of its time was spent building this "human nest."
Sometimes the gaps between the boards were quite large, so Qiao’er used glutinous rice water mixed with yellow mud and straw stalks to plaster them. Most ordinary families did this back then; though not very aesthetic, it could block the wind and rain.
Perhaps because it was desperate to settle its "toy" down, its efficiency was greater than that of many humans. A month later, the small wooden hut began to take shape, but Qiao’er found it confusing—it looked strange. It was round at the bottom and pointed at the top, looking just like... just like a burial mound.
The green-eyed zombie didn't understand how to make a ceiling, but fortunately, Qiao’er’s requirements weren't that high. She was already very happy just to have a place to stay. Once the green-eyed zombie finished the roof of the conical wooden hut, Qiao’er went to the mountains with it to gather a large amount of dried thatch to spread over the roof, making the little house look like a giant scarecrow from a distance.
The nest was passably built, but to live in it, many things still needed to be made. First was the bed. In the innermost part of the hut, the green-eyed zombie dug a deep rectangular pit, about the width of two people. It originally intended to lay boards directly at the bottom and sides of the pit, but Qiao’er worried about dampness. It had no choice but to find several bluestone slabs, chisel them flat, and line the three sides of the long pit.
Thus, a double coffin was freshly produced. It was extremely pleased, immediately lying down inside to test it out, looking very satisfied.
Humans, however, are a species born never to be satisfied. Once they had a place to stay, Qiao’er started thinking about how to make the house more beautiful and comfortable.
These goals could be easily achieved with money. But for Qiao’er, that was clearly unrealistic; she gripped every coin in her hand tightly, knowing the green-eyed zombie did not earn money easily.
It was just that this was the first time she had a house of her own, so she was inevitably excited. Although the green-eyed zombie hadn't explicitly said it was built for her, she already viewed it as her own property.
She tried to use the leftover wood to make a cabinet, but after a few attempts, she realized it was far harder than she had imagined. Finally, her hand was pricked by a wood splinter, drawing quite a bit of blood. The green-eyed zombie then forbade her from touching the hammer.
She gestured to tell it her ideas, and by trial and error, it actually managed to build a large built-in wardrobe in the hut. Although the door required a great deal of strength for Qiao’er to pull open, she was already very happy.
Once the house was built, a door needed to be installed. If it had been up to the green-eyed zombie’s habits, it would have just dug a zigzagging tunnel from inside the nest, perhaps opening it far away to avoid notice.
Fortunately, this nest wasn't for it to live in, so it had to follow human customs and make a door that actually protected against nothing.
The door was a sliding one and looked quite nice. Qiao’er installed three latches inside—top, middle, and bottom—and two locks on the outside.
She gathered a lot of dried grass to pad the coffin and spread a bedsheet over it to make the coffin warmer and softer.
During that period, the green-eyed zombie practically became a carpenter, constantly pondering what else it could make to make things more convenient for Qiao’er.
Once the essential items were mostly ready, the green-eyed zombie finally, excitedly, moved Qiao’er from the inn to the small wooden hut.
After moving in, they realized their preparations were far from enough. For food, they could catch fish and shrimp from the sea—something the green-eyed zombie was good at—but fresh water was a major problem.
At first, it didn't know that humans couldn't drink seawater. After Qiao’er repeatedly indicated that the water was undrinkable, it even tasted the salty, bitter seawater several times in confusion. But having no sense of taste, it naturally couldn't tell the difference.
Fortunately, it was fast. Every night, it would travel a long distance to find a large jar of fresh water for her. Qiao’er used seawater for bathing, washing clothes, and washing vegetables.
As a result, there were two things the green-eyed zombie had to do every night: one was to fetch fresh water for her, and the other was to store food for the next day.
It stayed with Qiao’er in the little hut for two days, holding her as they slept in the coffin during the day and going to work at the docks at night. It wasn't very comfortable with the new residence, so it took Qiao’er with it every time, letting her play nearby while it took on jobs. After finishing work, it would take her to familiarize her with the surroundings of the hut. The place was nestled against the mountains and faced the sea, with beautiful scenery and no large wild beasts, so it felt relatively at ease.
But such a lifestyle was not a long-term solution. Finally, after finishing work this night, it brought Qiao’er back to the hut but did not lie down in the coffin to sleep.
Qiao’er watched it for a while. It stroked her head with a gesture that could be considered gentle. Qiao’er didn't understand its intention. Finally, it stood up and walked outside. Qiao’er tried to follow, but it shooed her back into the house.
Qiao’er watched it from the doorway. It walked a few steps, then turned back to look at her, gesturing for her to close the door and sleep. Qiao’er didn't know where it was going. It looked back for a while, and seeing that she had no intention of closing the door, it returned, hoisted her onto its neck again, and walked forward.
The winter sea breeze didn't feel cold during the day, but at night, it was bone-chilling. Carrying Qiao’er, it stepped across the sand and slowly walked into the shallow water.
When the water reached its waist, Qiao’er shivered. It finally stopped again and carried her back to the beach.
Qiao’er then understood that it wanted to go into the water. She didn't know why it had to go in, but if it was going, there must be a reason.
Qiao’er wrote on its chest, telling it that she would stay put. It then carried her back to the wooden hut.
This time, Qiao’er was more obedient and quickly lay down in the coffin with her clothes on. It stood by her side for a while before finally heading out. It stood outside the door for another moment, and only after hearing that there was indeed no movement inside did it quietly depart.
But how could Qiao’er sleep? Hearing it leave, she climbed out and felt her way to secure all the door latches. There was no oil lamp in the house yet, but fortunately, having stayed in the mountain cave for so long, she seemed to have adapted to the darkness just like it had.
The eastern sky began to turn the color of a fish's belly; dawn was about to break.
This was, in fact, the first true separation for this human and zombie. Humans often spoke of being together day and night and growing old together, but words merely beautified life. In reality, men farmed and women wove during the day, and at night, each fell into their own sweet dreams. Even if humans wished to grow old together, they were always apart more than they were together.
| Chinese | English | Notes/Explanation |
| :--- | :--- | :--- |
| 墨斗线 | ink fountain line | A traditional carpenter's tool used for marking long straight lines. |
| 刨子 | plane | A tool for smoothing wood. |
| 钻子 | drill | A tool for making holes. |
| 曲尺 | square | A carpenter's square for measuring right angles. |
| 楔合槽 | mortise | The hole/groove in a mortise and tenon joint. |
| 楔合头 | tenon | The projection in a mortise and tenon joint. |
| 盗洞 | robber's tunnel | A tunnel dug by grave robbers to enter a tomb. |
| 门栓 | door latch/bolt | A sliding bar used to lock a door from the inside. |
| 鱼肚白 | fish-belly white | A traditional Chinese term for the pale light of dawn. |
