Yan Xing was glad to have avoided Meihua throughout the expedition. He was relieved too that it all went by without any issues. There weren’t very many zombies in the end so everything was okay.

Yan Xing and Jiayi went back to their room quickly, trying to avoid Meihua again.

Jiayi threw himself on the bed, expeditions hadn’t gotten difficult yet but he still had a lot of worries. Yan Xing slipped onto the bed next to him, after a bit of awkward dawdling.

Jiayi sighed and wrapped his arm around Yan Xing, pulling him up close.

“The expedition wasn’t too bad don’t you think?” Jiayi asked, just an inch away from Yan Xing’s face at this point.

“Yeah…it was okay.” Yan Xing murmured.

“Other ones might be a little different. There will be stronger zombies next time I bet.” Jiayi said and stroked Yan Xing’s hair.

“…oh.” Yan Xing murmured, rubbing his head into Jiayi’s hand a little unconsciously.

“Don’t worry, we’ll be able to handle it,” Jiayi said and pulled Yan Xing into a kiss.

Yan Xing was getting used to little pecks like this, they seemed normal compared to the kisses Jiayi used to feed him. They were way less overwhelming. He still got embarrassed about little pecks and wondered about their true meaning.

He just couldn’t work up the courage to ask though.

—-

Yan Xing woke up in Jiayi’s arms, he was resting his head on his chest and part of his body was curled up on him too. Jiayi seemed unbothered as he slept with his arms around him. Yan Xing was embarrassed but he really couldn’t go back to sleep now that he had woken up. He felt hungry but he really didn’t want to be.

It hadn’t been very long since Jiayi last fed him and it was worrying him that he might be taking too much from Jiayi and causing him trouble. He didn’t know if Jiayi could run out of the energy he fed him but he figured that it caused some strain if he was taking so much at a rate of pretty much every other day. 

He decided to just hold in his hunger but it was really hard when he was so close to him.

He tried flipping over, turning so he was facing away but that just made Jiayi wake up to catch him as he was right at the edge of the bed.

“Be careful,” Jiayi said and sat up, bringing Yan Xing with him to sit on his lap.

“What do you need?” Jiayi figured that Yan Xing wanted something since he was very clearly awake and it wasn’t that he rolled over in his sleep.

Yan Xing really couldn’t think of a lie. He didn’t know what to say at all so he just stayed silent.

“Are you hungry?” Jiayi asked, noting Yan Xing’s hesitance and tilting Yan Xing’s head back so he would face him.

Yan Xing nodded reluctantly.

“You can just wake me up and tell me that Y’know? You don’t have to hold back, I’ll always feed you.” Jiayi said and turned Yan Xing so he was facing him.

“D-Do you get side effects from me eating?” Yan Xing couldn’t help but ask at that moment.

“No, not at all,” Jiayi replied truthfully, the amount of energy Yan Xing ate at the moment wasn’t too much. Especially now that he was feeding him through kissing. Human bodily fluids were enough to feed a zombie properly and that was mostly what was feeding Yan Xing when they kissed. It was half that and half energy.

Other fluids would work better than saliva but Jiayi didn’t think Yan Xing was ready for that yet.

Jiayi kissed Yan Xing, holding him by his waist to keep him from moving off his lap. Yan Xing was hungry but not hungry enough to lose his cool and bite Jiayi’s tongue off so Jiayi didn’t bother restraining his jaw or anything. Yan Xing was as embarrassed as he always was but his zombie side pretty much took over and caused him to just go into a bit of a trance now that he was “finally”--it had barely been a few days– being fed.

Yan Xing kind of remembered that he was on Jiayi’s lap after a while but only when he felt Jiayi’s waist move in a way that sent a bit of spark through him suddenly. Jiayi seemed to feel it a bit too and paused for a second before continuing. Yan Xing had been subconsciously returning the kiss as he tried to get more of his ‘sustenance’ but after he felt that, he kind of started to shy away a bit and turn red.

“Full?” Jiayi asked as he watched Yan Xing try to calm his breathing after pulling away from the kiss.

“Y-Yeah.” Yan Xing murmured, his cheeks were as red as his eyes now that he had eaten.

Yan Xing gulped, he didn’t know how to get off Jiayi’s lap without getting that spark kind of feeling again. 

Jiayi didn’t seem to want him to get off him though. He looked at Yan Xing’s expression and smiled, keeping his hands on his waist and moving him so they were laying down together as they had been before.

“It’s still early. You can sleep for a while longer.” Jiayi said and giggled.

Yan Xing reluctantly agreed, this position was a little better.

—

Yan Xing didn’t like being grouped with the other ability users. He could always feel Meihua’s gaze on him and it made him anxious.

“We are hoping to try and expand the settlement. Xiao Hao Yang and his group have explained that there are large swarms of zombies attacking nearby, but that they seem to sense groups of ability users as threats and stay away from them. We’re quickly running out of space for people so we’re thinking of just starting with nearby buildings outside of our area and then hopefully the city water supply so we can cleanse it so Zhang Zimo doesn’t burn himself out from giving everyone water.” A major in the military explained.

Jiayi kind of made a face as he heard that statement about the zombies hiding, it was a smart assumption, one that seemed a little too advanced for the age of the apocalypse so far. Of course, it wasn’t true, they were actually just staying away because of Yan Xing. No other zombies had eaten other zombie cores yet so he was probably the strongest one out there at the moment. He was also receiving his energy constantly so he was steadily becoming a lot stronger even though he wasn’t really aware of it yet.

“Zombies will definitely be in the surrounding buildings, even if they’re hiding they will definitely stay close to try and catch loose people” Jiayi explained.

Xiao Hao Yang turned to him, they hadn’t formally spoken so he knew nothing about Jiayi. He could sense a sort of frightening aura from him.

“Yes, it’s best if we clear them out thoroughly before we add them in.” Su Ling agreed.

The meeting came to an end after they discussed which buildings they would focus on but before Jiayi and Yan Xing could leave, Su Ling and Zimo insisted on introducing Jiayi to Hao Yang.

“Hao Yang, meet—the man, the myth, legend—Zhao Jiayi.” Zimo exaggerated and patted Jiayi’s back.

“Former military golden boy turned university Professor turned expert zombie killer.” Su Ling added. Their humor lightened up the mood for everyone but Jiayi and Hao Yang. They both seemed wary of each other.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you,” Jiayi said, shaking Hao Yang’s hand. He had decided to be cordial even though he didn’t trust Hao Yang.

He studied Hao Yang for a few seconds and Hao Yang did the same to him as he replied, “Nice to meet you too…”

Hao Yang stopped observing Jiayi after he noticed Yan Xing’s eyes peeking out from behind Jiayi. 

“And who is this?” Hao Yang asked.

Yan Xing didn’t even get the chance to panic. Their words didn’t have the time to register at all, not before his name was already out of their mouths.

“That’s Yan Xing, he’s a little shy but he’s good with a gun and is an ability user.” Su Ling introduced Yan Xing before even Jiayi could.

Yan Xing immediately grabbed onto Jiayi’s shirt and hid his face, he could sense that Meihua was still there and he could almost hear the wheels turning in her head from across the room. Jiayi just sighed quietly, he could’ve stopped this from happening but he had purposely decided not to. It was the right thing to do, Yan Xing couldn’t just live in fear of Xu Meihua for the rest of their time in the military base. He was doing it for Yan Xing’s sake but feeling how Yan Xing seemed on the verge of a breakdown only made him begin to regret it.

“Yan…Xing?” 

Jiayi couldn’t really move to shield him from Meihua because of how he was gripping him from behind.

There couldn’t be two people named Yan Xing. Two Yan Xings who were weirdly close to Jiayi. Two Yan Xings who seemed to be consistently avoiding Xu Meihua… thats what led Xu Meihua to drop her mask in public. The immediate realization that the person who kissed Jiayi…is Yan Xing of all people.

Xu Meihua Grabbed Yan Xing’s arm and actually managed to pull Yan Xing and force him to turn around as she pulled off his hood. Jiayi was a little surprised by her strength but then he realized how Yan Xing looked like he was going to die from panic. It was like he forgot he was a zombie. Like he forgot he was half a foot taller and significantly stronger.

“Why You—!”

Jiayi pulled Yan Xing so he was hiding his face in his chest when It seemed like she was going to raise her hand and strike Yan Xing or something.

“Miss Xu. Whatever relationship you and A-Xing had before the apocalypse doesn’t matter anymore.” Jiayi was specifically disarming the argument he knew Meihua would want to use to turn everyone against Yan Xing. Everyone around them though was just focused on how unnecessarily violent Meihua’s language and tone of voice were.

“That’s right Miss Xu, we are all coworkers in a sense now, all just trying to survive, there’s no point in trying to antagonize and hurt others’ feelings.” Yi Boqin scolded, he didn’t even really know the context but he felt these kinds of actions between people who were on the same side were unacceptable.

Xu Meihua looked around confused suddenly…why was no one on her side right now?! She looked toward Wu Yanyu who she thought would have her back on this since she seemed weirded out by Yan Xing as well…But she was looking at her like she was crazy too!

Xu Meihua gritted her teeth, “None of you know the full story!” She exclaimed and quickly left.

“…What was that about…” Hao Yang asked, very confused.

“…She was tired of playing nice,” Jiayi murmured under his breath, Hao Yang heard it though, and looked at him. Jiayi didn’t look back at him though, he just stroked Yan Xing’s hair and smiled.

“It’s all okay now.” He whispered and checked on Yan Xing.

Yan Xing pulled his hood up and whispered to Jiayi, “l-let’s go back... please…”

—-