Chapter 368: Going On A Zombie Hunt
They took the back road out of the mansion grounds almost three hours after Rouxi announced that she was going out hunting and Lingyun dropped the Black Market bomb like it was the most reasonable thing ever.
Their exit was perfect. The road was easy to access close to the pool house, and it curved behind the neighboring properties before joining a narrow service road hidden from the front gate. No one saw them leave, which should’ve made Chenghai feel better.
It didn’t.
The secrecy wasn’t the problem.
The singing was.
"Going on a zombie hunt," Rouxi sang from the back seat, nodding her head like she had discovered the catchiest song ever written.
"Going on a zombie hunt," Lingyun repeated, slapping one hand against his thigh to provide the beat.
Chenghai tightened his grip on the steering wheel, his teeth clenched so tight together that he was worried for all of a moment, he might chip one of his molars. But the pain would have been worth it if he didn’t have to listen to the impromptu karaoke.
"Gonna catch a green one," Rouxi continued, tilting her chin up just enough to make sure that the lyrics to the children’s song could echo all that much better in the small space.
"Gonna catch a green one," Lingyun repeated, playing the back up singer to someone that should never, ever be singing in the first place.
"I’m not scared." Chenghai had to snort at that one. Of course Rouxi wasn’t scared. Since the moment he landed in this fucked up alternative timeline or world or whatever it was, he had never seen Rouxi scared.
And that was saying something.
"I’m not scared," bellowed out Lingyun. Chenghai wondered for a brief moment if it was possible for Lingyun to swallow his own tongue and put them all out of their misery. Ah, such a sweet dream.
"What a beautiful day," finished Rouxi, her head still going as her shoulders swung back and forth, bumping into first Yuche and Lingyun who were seated on either side of her in the back seat.
Lingyun added a sound that might’ve been an attempt at trumpets, but Chenghai couldn’t be sure. He was too busy staring at the empty road ahead and reconsidering every decision that had put him in the driver’s seat.
Zhenlan sat beside him with one elbow braced against the door, staring out the window like he had already separated his mind from his body and left the rest of them behind.
Chenghai was in awe of Zhenlan’s ability to do that. He, himself, had listened to the song six times, and couldn’t be that Zen about it.
He thought for a moment... maybe he had heard it seven times?
He’d lost count after Lingyun added percussion.
"Do you even know where we’re going?" Chenghai demanded, keeping his eyes on the road because looking into the mirror would only encourage them. "It’s not like we’re going to randomly find a group of zombies standing on the side of the road waiting for you."
The singing stopped, and for one beautiful second, the SUV was silent.
Then Rouxi leaned forward between the front seats and looked at him like he was the one who had said something stupid.
Chenghai caught the expression in his peripheral vision and regretted speaking. Seeing the look on his face, she snorted and sat back against the seat, turning toward Lingyun. "How good are you at taking commands?"
Yuche snorted in a way that Chenghai felt explained everything, but Lingyun nodded so quickly that his hair bounced around his forehead. "Very good. Your wish is my every command."
Chenghai’s hands tightened around the wheel again.
Rouxi nodded like that was the answer she’d expected. "I need you to look deep inside yourself."
"I don’t think Lingyun’s all that deep," Chenghai muttered. "If you know what I mean."
Rouxi’s head snapped toward the rearview mirror, and Chenghai met her glare for half a second before returning his attention to the road.
"Then you’re more than invited to join this little exercise," she said. Her voice had gone sweet enough to be dangerous. "You all are."
Lingyun shot Chenghai a glare through the mirror. It disappeared when Rouxi turned back to him, replaced by complete concentration.
"Looking deep inside," he prompted, dragging her attention back to him.
Chenghai almost laughed. Almost.
Then curiosity got the better of him.
He kept one hand steady on the wheel and let part of his attention turn inward. At first, there was nothing except the hum of the engine beneath his feet and the scrape of tires against the road. Then something shifted.
A well appeared inside him.
It was broad, round, and made of pale stone that vanished into darkness below. White liquid filled the bottom, glowing softly where it rested several meters beneath the top.
White.... The color he had always associated with his fighting powers.
The surface was perfectly still, like it was just waiting for him to do something with it. A soldier at perfect attention.
"I see a well of bright red," Lingyun announced excitedly. "It looks like fire."
Yuche gave a quiet grunt from the back corner while Zhenlan did the same beside Chenghai without opening his eyes.
Apparently, Chenghai wasn’t the only one following Rouxi’s instructions. He had no idea what she was trying to do, but one thing he had learned was that Rouxi was smarter than any one gave her credit for.
"Good job," Rouxi praised.
Heat crept into Chenghai’s cheeks before he could stop it. The praise that had come out of her mouth hadn’t even been for him, which made it worse.
"Now, see how well-behaved it is?" Rouxi continued, her attention fixed entirely on Lingyun.
Chenghai glanced at the mirror. Lingyun’s face had gone strangely serious as he looked inward, his eyebrows pulled together.
"Yeah," he muttered. "Isn’t that a good thing? I mean, it looks like liquid fire. Inside a car, I’m pretty sure we want the fire to stay calm."
Rouxi hummed and slowly nodded. "Okay. Now think about the worst memory you have."
Every man in the SUV looked at her.
Chenghai’s attention snapped back to the road as the white surface inside him trembled.
Beside him, Zhenlan’s hand tightened against his knee. Yuche went completely still. Lingyun’s face lost all color, but he clenched his jaw and gave a rough sound that might’ve been agreement.
Rouxi watched him carefully. "Did the well ripple?"
Lingyun swallowed before letting out another rough grunt. Whatever he was picturing was too much for him... he couldn’t even form words right now.
"Perfect," she purred.
There was nothing perfect about the way the air inside the SUV had changed. Chenghai could feel the tension pressing against his skin, thick enough that even the engine seemed quieter beneath it.
Rouxi leaned closer to Lingyun, her voice calm as if she hadn’t just reached into every man in the vehicle and grabbed the ugliest thing she could find.
"Now think about a time when you were at rock bottom," she said. "Completely desperate. You couldn’t hold on to your control no matter how hard you tried. Remember fighting like your life depended on it, because it had. Picture that moment... feel that desperation."
Chenghai didn’t want to, but his mind followed her command before he could stop himself.
The memory hit hard enough to tear the road away for half a second. The white liquid inside the well surged upward, slamming against the stone walls as if something below it had kicked.
At the same moment, the air inside the SUV vanished.
Chenghai’s ears popped. The windows rattled in their frames, and the entire vehicle shuddered hard enough for the steering wheel to jerk beneath his hands.
He corrected automatically, forcing the SUV back into the center of the road while power pressed against him from every direction.
Heat rolled from Lingyun.
Metal groaned somewhere behind Chenghai.
Static crawled over his forearms.
The suspension dipped as his own strength flared through his body.
"Control it," Chenghai barked, though he had no idea which one of them he was talking to. Not like saying it would help. He had no control at the moment, and that terrified him.
The pressure broke a second later, rushing out so quickly that everyone dragged in the same sharp breath.
Zhenlan turned in his seat, his face tight as he looked back at Rouxi. It took him another moment to unlock his jaw enough to speak. "And just what is the point of that exercise?"
Rouxi leaned back into the seat and crossed her arms over her chest. The smirk spreading across her face made Chenghai’s stomach sink.
"Easy," she replied. "We’re ringing the dinner bell."