—

In the city, A man walks into a building, he seems to clearly know where he’s headed, not even stopping to look around Or to check for zombies. He enters a room near the back of the building and turns to the corner. He finally stops and looks down.

“Huh? He is supposed to be here…”

— 

Yan Xing really didn’t want to leave the room. After kissing Jiayi in front of Meihua…. He was pretty sure he’d be found out soon and that'd be a huge problem…but Jiayi still seemed relaxed…

“T-The expedition…do I have to?” Yan Xing asked as he watched Jiayi getting ready, he was hiding in the corner of their bed under the covers.

“A-Xing…she’s going to find out eventually. There’s no point in trying to run from it….and actually, there’s no guarantee she’ll realize it’s you, your hair is different and only your initials will be on the door…” Jiayi said and touched Yan Xing’s cheek. He was really just saying that there were plenty of reasons why Meihua would recognize him.

“…” Yan Xing knew most of this mess was his fault. He made what would’ve already been a messy situation— Meihua realizing it’s him— even messier by kissing Jiayi.

He didn’t even know why that was his first thought. He could’ve just hugged him or pulled him into the room and he could’ve gotten a similar effect.

He wanted to blame it on him being a zombie but he knew that side of him wanted more than just a kiss.  The zombie side of him wanted to devour him.

“A-Xing, don’t worry about it okay?” Jiayi said and gave Yan Xing a new hoodie to wear.

Yan Xing put the hoodie on but he hesitated to get off the bed. 

Jiayi pulled him up and held his hand, dragging him along with him.

—-

“Are you okay? You haven’t come out to eat lately..” Yi Boqin murmured and looked at Yan Xing worriedly as he saw Yan Xing’s hooded figure from behind Jiayi.

“I have food for him in our room. He has a weak stomach.”  Jiayi said and Yan Xing nodded.

“I know his stomach is weak but make sure he gets enough to eat, this doesn’t seem like the best time for him to get anemia.” Yi Boqin murmured.

Yan Xing winced, he’d hate to have to explain that he already had that before he was a zombie.

“It’s okay, I’m eating better now..” Yan Xing murmured. Yi Boqin didn’t really seem to believe it though, Yan Xing looked just as skinny as he always looked, Which was worrying considering the amount of exercise they would be doing.

“Are you ready for this? It’s probably going to be pretty scary for you.” Jiayi asked Yi Boqin.

He had already been on expeditions before so he knew what it was like.

Yi Boqin didn’t even answer and He Guang and Wu Yanyu were very clearly scared.

“Ge! Stop scaring them, we haven’t lost anyone on expeditions for the past few weeks, Y’know.” Su Ling exclaimed and patted Yi Boqin and He Guang’s shoulders, insisting that they don’t worry about it.

Yan Xing was also hesitant but hearing that made him slightly less worried.

He became worried again when he saw Meihua. She was immediately staring at them when she arrived.

His first instinct was to cling to Jiayi, completely forgetting how much worse that would probably make the situation.

Jiayi didn’t really react to Meihua, he just continued talking to Su Ling and Yi Boqin.

—

As the expedition prepared to leave, the military personnel handed out equipment to those who didn’t have any. Meihua volunteered to help out and immediately made a beeline toward Jiayi and company.

“…Here…” She murmured, her heartbroken look was probably real but definitely exaggerated to make Jiayi notice. She was also there to try to get a good look at the girl—actually Yan Xing—-who was holding on to him.

“No need, we have our own weapons and ammo,” Jiayi said and everyone else kind of flashed their guns to prove it.

They were all pretty decked out for the mission. Most people had some clothing that the military had provided. It was mostly just the classic uniform that the officers wore but it was much tougher than regular clothes and covered the whole body. It wouldn’t really stop a zombie bite but it would be less likely to tear and expose skin.

Jiayi’s group on the other hand wore all black. 

Jiayi and Yi boqin both wore black turtlenecks under black jackets while He Guang and Wu Yanyu wore just the black jacket and black T-shirts.

 Yan Xing was constantly cold so he wore a black hoodie layered above a few other long-sleeve shirts.

They stood out a lot which was good because they were notably all ability users so it was good for everyone else to know where they were. Su Ling actually mentioned that to the major.

—

“Ge…” Yan Xing murmured, noting how he could feel Meihua’s gaze on him as they traveled out to the zombie-infested city.

“It’ll all be okay,” Jiayi said and smiled at Yan Xing.

Their group stayed together as everyone else began to spread out. 

“Keep your guns ready and be ready to use your powers,” Jiayi told everyone as he felt something strong in the area. It wasn’t anything he couldn’t handle but it was cause for concern either way.

Yan Xing was concerned by Jiayi’s change in tone.

Jiayi couldn’t tell what it was that he was feeling in the distance but it worried him nonetheless.

—

They were on edge for a while but nothing seemed to appear…until a man appeared from nowhere. He held his hands up as to show he was innocent and approached the military personnel that led everyone.

Jiayi couldn’t recognize him at first but as he approached the memory came back to him.

He wasn’t sure what to do this time though as he met him much earlier on than he was supposed to.

He waited it out though…maybe he wasn’t a zombie yet?

“A-Xing…is that person a zombie?” Jiayi whispered to Yan Xing.

Yan Xing shook his head and whispered back, “He has an ability though.”

Jiayi was relieved, he worried that he’d have a repeat of what happened in their last life.

—

Half a year into the apocalypse, the surviving humans had made some advances by now. Jiayi and the military group had managed to take back a subway station and now it was a sort of beacon for survivors who hadn’t joined them to join. A lot of people didn’t want to be on the side of the military but as zombies evolved it wasn’t much of a choice.

“Yan!” Jiayi was in high spirits to find Yan around here.

“Jiayi,” Yan said and smiled as he walked over to him. Meihua was there too but Jiayi had long since told her that he didn’t find Yan suspicious at all. And she knew Jiayi would be able to decipher her lying if she tried to spin her tale of Yan’s “true self”. Plus she’d have to reveal that she was Yan’s fiancée if she wanted the full effect.

Yan didn’t show up often but he often made a point to show up when Meihua was around, well aware that he was a thorn in Meihua’s side.

“Are you still with our group?” Jiayi asked, he hadn’t seen him in a while.

“Yeah, but you know me…I wander at times.” Yan chuckled.

“…Be careful,” Jiayi said and touched Yan’s shoulder. He always worried for Yan but Yan never let it show if he was struggling. Yan also refused to stay close where he could see him.

“I’m fine.” Yan smiled.

The station suddenly became very noisy as some militaries came from the train tracks with a man standing with them.

Jiayi turned to them quickly.

“Is he clear?” 

He was always on edge for the newcomers, there were a few zombies that could slip by.

“Yep! He’s an ability user.”

It wasn’t well known that zombies could also use abilities. And everyone just assumed that if they could that they didn’t have ability marks.

The man was walked over to Jiayi. Jiayi was in charge of ability users.

They introduced themselves and then they turned to Meihua and Yan. Meihua introduced herself but Yan stayed silently staring at the man for a while before extending his hand for a handshake.

“I’m Yan.” He smiled.

The man suddenly looked like he was sweating profusely. He still extended his hand though and shook hands with Yan. But he didn’t let go…

Yan was practically staring into his soul for a bit and Jiayi was getting the impression that the man was doing something to Yan instead and got worried.

“Are you okay?” He asked the man, reaching over to grab the man’s hand to remove it from Yan’s.

“Ah… fuck this,”  Yan whispered.

The man jumped, choosing to expose himself and bite Jiayi while he could to create enough of a distraction for Yan to not touch him and for him to be able to quickly fly away.

The second he had grabbed Yan’s hand he was overwhelmed with the sense that Yan was an incredibly strong zombie, one that wasn’t going to let an inferior zombie like himself steal his prey.

Yan pushed Jiayi away, getting in the way so that he would get bitten instead.

Jiayi was mortified as he realized. The other people didn’t realize until it was too late.

Jiayi was going to rip the man away from Yan, it was only Yan’s shoulder, he could cut off the skin fast enough to stop him from turning.

The man unlatched himself soon enough though.

Muffled screams could be heard from the man’s blood-filled mouth.

If a zombie ate a stronger zombie without absorbing their core first… The stronger Zombie’s flesh would act like acid and melt away at their skin and teeth. This man wasn’t a very strong Zombie, he could probably eat an ordinary zombie but… not Yan.

Yan on the other hand… Yan was strong enough to eat all the zombies he wanted. And there was no doubt that he had.

“Yan!”

Yan didn’t falter at all. He paid no mind to the bite and simply released the presence he was hiding within himself. Jiayi couldn’t move, Meihua couldn’t move, no one could. Especially not the zombie whose mouth was melting away.

“Did they not teach you…? Not to bite a zombie stronger than you?” Yan chuckled.

The zombie looked like he was begging for mercy with his eyes.

“Sorry, I’m not merciful, even to fledgling kids,” Yan said and crushed the man’s skull completely. Afterward, he grabbed the man’s core and one of his fingers as well.

He swallowed the finger whole and it immediately healed his bleeding shoulder.

He turned to Jiayi after eating the finger.

“Well, there goes my little act,” Yan murmured.

“You gotta get stronger Jiayi, you wouldn’t be fun to eat right now,” Yan said and slipped the core between Jiayi’s lips, making him absorb it before disappearing. 

That was when humans first learned that you could eat zombie cores to get stronger. It created an entire economy in the survivor’s world based on the selling and buying of zombie cores. Jiayi always wondered why Yan would just expose that secret to everyone.

-

Jiayi didn’t want Yan Xing to be found out, especially not now when no one knows about sentient zombies. 

In Jiayi’s 1st life, a few sentient zombies joined the military side under strict conditions but that was after the incident with Yan, before that they didn’t know sentient zombies existed.

Jiayi didn’t know how Sentient zombies were created but those that were on Yan’s side were all completely loyal to his every whim and killed humans like they had forgotten that they were ever human. Other sentient zombies were completely suicidal. They hated every part of their existence and even they didn’t know how they became zombies.

“My name is Xia Hao Yang, my group is on the south side and we are all willing to prove we’re not zombies!” 

Jiayi left the whole situation to the militaries, he trusted Yan Xing’s judgment but he still didn’t want to get too involved. It all reminded him too much of the last run.

“A-Xing? You okay?”  Jiayi asked, watching Yan Xing’s expression.

“…Yeah..” Yan Xing murmured. He was feeling anxious for some reason but it was in a small way that he couldn’t quite place. He thought it was probably okay in the end.

“Let’s go,” Jiayi said and pulled Yan Xing along.

—