Chapter 5 - I Told You, No More Apples!
As the sun dipped below the horizon, the thick veil of twilight began to drape over the mountainside. Inside the shallow cavern, the green-eyed zombie seemed to sense that something was wrong with Qiao’er. It reached out, its cold, stiff fingers nudging her head from side to side. She let out a faint, thready moan, but her eyes remained tightly shut, her body devoid of any other movement.
The creature attempted to pull her upright, but she had slipped into a state of total unconsciousness. It increased its strength, pushing at her shoulder with a clumsy urgency, yet her complexion had already turned a ghastly, deathly gray. Her breath was growing shallower with every passing moment. It could feel her life force—that vibrant, warm "qi" it found so fascinating—flickering like a candle in a gale.
Clearly, the zombie had no inkling of how to maintain its new toy. It scrambled out of the cave and returned moments later, clutching two bright red apples. It pressed the fruit against her lips, waiting for her to react, but she did not open her eyes as she usually did.
After sitting in the coffin for a long while in a state of agitation, the zombie scooped her up and carried her out of the cave. It sought out a patch of ground where the moonlight pooled most intensely, laying her down to "bask" in the lunar essence. However, she was a living girl, not a creature of the night; she could not absorb the silver light to mend her broken form. The zombie stood guard beside her, watching as her life continued to ebb away, feeling a rare sense of helplessness.
Eventually, it picked her up again to examine her more closely. Only then did it notice the two puncture wounds on her neck, bruised a deep, sickly purple. The zombie leaned down, hovering directly over the injury, and began to suck. The taste of blood mingled with the bitter, metallic tang of cadaveric toxin—flavors it usually relished—but its focus was elsewhere.
Under the cold moon, Qiao’er’s face had taken on a strange, translucent pallor. The zombie knew that with just a bit more pressure, it could drain her dry, turning her into a withered husk. It exercised a rare, painstaking restraint, drawing out only the blackened, poisoned blood before slowly pulling away.
Nearby, the red-eyed zombie lay hidden in the tall grass. These creatures were notoriously vengeful; having its cave usurped during the day was a humiliation it could not overlook. It had crept back, intending to launch a sneak attack, but seeing the green-eyed zombie cradling Qiao’er with such heavy, murderous intent, it sensed the tide was turning. It began to retreat.
It hadn't moved more than a few paces before the green-eyed zombie lunged. The two monsters collided, a whirlwind of rotting limbs and snarling fury. The red-eyed zombie was merely a Leaping Zombie, while the green-eyed one had already ascended to the rank of a Flying Zombie. It was no contest. The green-eyed zombie pinned its rival to the dirt, its blackened claws extending as it raked deep furrows into the other’s back, exposing the gray, bloodless bone beneath.
Zombies, much like wild beasts, only submitted to the strong.
Battered and broken, the red-eyed zombie finally relented. Having served the Taoist Priest Chongling for a long time, it had spent years terrorizing villages and was far more acquainted with human customs than its green-eyed counterpart. The two creatures seemed to exchange a series of guttural, low-frequency growls—a private conversation in the tongue of the dead. After a long moment, the green-eyed zombie released its prey, hoisted Qiao’er onto its shoulder, and bounded down the mountain.
That night, the physician of the Huichuntang pharmacy was jolted from a deep sleep by a violent crash. A "ruffian" had kicked his front door clean off its hinges. The doctor was prepared to unleash a torrent of abuse until he saw the woman slumped over the intruder's shoulder. She was clearly on the brink of death.
Driven by professional instinct, the doctor rushed to examine her. He immediately recognized the signs of corpse poison. Panicked, he scrambled to gather glutinous rice and snake-gall medicine, hoping to draw the toxins out. The "man" standing by was visibly agitated, pacing with a predatory grace. When the doctor heated a blade over a candle, intending to excise the blackened flesh from the girl’s neck, the intruder suddenly snarled. A pair of jagged, ivory fangs slid from its gums.
The doctor froze, his brain finally catching up to the horror before him. "A zombie! There’s a zombie!" he shrieked, his voice cracking with terror.
Ignoring the man’s hysterics, the green-eyed zombie scooped Qiao’er up once more. Deciding the snake medicine looked useful, it snatched a few jars of the ointment before leaping out into the night.
The next day, Priest Chongling found himself with yet another commission.
When Qiao’er finally opened her eyes, it was daylight, though the cave remained as dark as a tomb. Her neck itched incessantly. When she reached up to scratch it, she realized the zombie was crouched beside her, gently licking the wound on her throat. She turned her head and met those deep, emerald-green pupils. Seeing her awake, the zombie appeared immensely gratified. It reached out and pressed something against her lips.
Weakly, she reached up to feel the object. It was, once again, an apple.
Qiao’er’s head lolled to the side as she promptly fainted again.
By the time Priest Chongling arrived later that morning, he was accompanied by a young Taoist named Xiao Si. They pried open the coffin lid, and Xiao Si reached in to pull Qiao’er out. Unexpectedly, the green-eyed zombie let out a low, vibrating growl, like a wolf guarding its kill.
The moment Xiao Si’s hand brushed Qiao’er’s arm, the zombie’s claws flashed in a horizontal arc. The young man’s reflexes were no match for the supernatural speed of the undead; blood immediately began to pour from a deep gash on his forearm.
As Xiao Si cried out, Chongling yanked him back. Qiao’er blinked her eyes open just as they lit a torch, casting a flickering orange glow over the scene. The zombie continued to snarl, its fangs protruding an inch from its lips. Even Chongling felt a surge of trepidation.
"Fine, fine! She’s yours, she’s yours!" the priest muttered, trying to placate the beast. He signaled for his disciple to retreat and slammed the coffin lid shut. The torch was extinguished, and the cave plunged back into silence.
The green-eyed zombie settled back down beside her, returning to its task of licking the wound on her neck. The numbing effect had worn off, and the pain finally began to register. She tried to push it away, but it simply offered her the apple again. Qiao’er clutched the round fruit, tears streaming down her face. "I’ve already eaten so many apples!" she sobbed.
That evening, Qiao’er remained lethargic. The zombie allowed her to rest in the coffin while it stood at the cave entrance, performing its breathing exercises to absorb the lunar essence. Under its relentless "encouragement," Qiao’er had managed to gnaw through two more apples. Her teeth were sore from the acidity and her stomach was bloated, but without the creature’s heavy weight pressing down on her, she felt quite comfortable and drifted back to sleep.
The zombie checked on her several times throughout the night. Whenever it saw her eyes closed, it would poke and prod her until she woke. Qiao’er would blearily open her eyes, asking what it wanted in a sleep-deprived haze, and only then would it feel satisfied enough to return to its moonlight cultivation.
After a night of such agitation, the zombie returned to the coffin just as the first light of dawn approached. Qiao’er shifted to the side to make room for it. It seemed to understand that she was still unwell, for it moved with surprising gentleness. It lifted her onto its chest, letting her sprawl across its body. It simply found her soft, warm presence comforting, and this position allowed it to hold her without crushing her. Thus, Qiao’er was finally spared the ordeal of being flattened like a pancake.
A few days later, Qiao’er faced a deeply embarrassing predicament: her "Guishui" had arrived. The zombie, being hyper-sensitive to the scent of blood, spent the entire day sniffing around her with intense curiosity.
She was forced to tear strips from her spare clothing to use as padding, but she couldn't stop the creature's inquisitive nature. It constantly tried to investigate the source of the scent, leaving her red-faced and shouting in frustration as she fought to maintain her privacy. She roared at it several times, but the zombie’s intelligence had clearly evolved. Since her last escape attempt, it had learned the art of distraction. It would pretend to play with her hand or her earlobe, only to make a sudden, curious grab for the forbidden area the moment she let her guard down.
Qiao’er’s reactions were naturally slow, and after being caught off guard several times, she was driven to a state of thunderous rage. The zombie, however, didn't seem to mind her futile punches and kicks, looking quite pleased with itself.
As her strength returned, she began to accompany the zombie on its nightly excursions. While it absorbed the moonlight, she would wash her clothes in a nearby stream or play with the water. After nearly a fortnight of living together, her terror had faded into a wary familiarity. However, the zombie had learned its lesson from her previous flight; it was constantly on guard, never giving her a single opening to run away.
But the thing Qiao’er resented most wasn't the lack of freedom. It was the apples.
After several days of a fruit-only diet, she flatly refused to eat another one. The zombie was perplexed. When it tried to force-feed her, she burst into tears. It eventually realized she genuinely disliked them. For a few days, it looked at the apples with confusion, even leaving two deep fang marks in one as if trying to taste it, but since it had no sense of flavor, it couldn't understand the problem and eventually gave up.
Then there was the red-eyed zombie. Whenever the green-eyed one was away causing trouble, the red-eyed one would sneak over to terrorize Qiao’er. It would rip the coffin lid open, bulge its eyes, extend its fangs, and thrust its face within an inch of her nose, occasionally adding a vocal accompaniment: "RAAAGH!!"
Qiao’er’s delayed reactions meant that by the time she actually felt the fear, the creature had already slammed the lid and fled. She would be left sobbing alone in the dark. The red-eyed zombie was malicious; it couldn't beat the green-eyed one, so it took its frustrations out on the girl its rival seemed to cherish.
After a few such scares, Qiao’er refused to stay in the coffin alone. Every time the green-eyed zombie prepared to leave, she would cling to it.
The zombie seemed conflicted, but one night it finally made a decision. It hoisted the struggling girl out of the coffin and perched her right on its shoulders. Qiao’er didn't even have time to scream before she was riding high above the ground.
They emerged from the cave into the full glory of the moonlight. Because the zombie was so tall, Qiao’er gripped its head in a panic. It patted her calf reassuringly, signaling for her to hold on tight.
In an era without rapid transport, Qiao’er had never even ridden a horse, let alone anything else. She didn't have the words to describe the sensation. But as the zombie leaped onto the treetops, moving through the air with the speed of the wind, she felt that even the legendary immortals riding their clouds could not feel more exhilarated.
The green-eyed zombie descended the mountain, covering a hundred miles in the blink of an eye. It stopped at a small town and, after a quick survey, broke into the estate of a wealthy family. With practiced ease, it began smashing furniture and causing a ruckus until the guards were lured out. Then, it snatched one of the men, bulged its eyes, extended its fangs, and thrust its face forward with a loud: "RAAAGH!!!"
Qiao’er sighed. A zombie was a zombie, after all; even their scares lacked variety.
Once the household was in a state of total panic, the zombie leaped over the compound wall and carried Qiao’er away.
Three days later, Priest Chongling received a new request for his services. The client claimed a powerful "female demon" was on the loose—one so formidable that she rode upon the back of a flying zombie!
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