Chapter 64: Passionate
Hearing the THUMP THUMP of something heavy hitting the wall in the hallway, Su Qing hurried to the door and peered through the peephole.
The vast majority of the zombies that had swarmed in through the building entrance this morning had been drawn into the clinic by the sound of the door being pried open.
But the first two that came in and saw Su Qing had chased her straight upstairs.
Luckily, zombies were clumsy when climbing stairs. Su Qing had managed to wedge the curtain rod Lin Fan gave her in the stairwell corner, tripping the two zombies. That was how she made it back to 301 safely.
But those two zombies had been wandering the hallway outside ever since. When she heard the thumps just now, she knew—Lin Fan must be coming upstairs!
She kept watching through the peephole, and before long, she saw that familiar figure slowly making his way up.
As Lin Fan walked upstairs, he felt his pockets, only to remember his keys were in his backpack, which he had left in the van.
’Oh, right, Su Qing’s home...’
He had lived alone for so long that he’d forgotten someone else was home to open the door, even though he had just seen her downstairs. The moment he set foot on the familiar stairs, the thought slipped his mind.
Before he even reached the third floor, he heard the CLACK-CLACK of the security door being unlocked, followed by a CLICK. The metal door swung open, and a slender, fragrant figure crashed into his arms.
The force of the impact was so great that even he, the "Xingfu Li Superman" with nearly six hundred HP, couldn’t help but take half a step back.
Su Qing’s arms clamped around his waist like iron bands. Her body pressed tightly against his, unwilling to let go for even a second.
With a CLANG CLANG, Lin Fan tossed the short spear aside, wiped his hands on his pants, and wrapped his arms around Su Qing’s back, patting and stroking it gently.
Seeing Su Qing’s [92] HP, he figured she must have been more than a little terrified these past two days.
Before long, he could feel the collar of his shirt growing damp, and he heard the faint sound of her long-suppressed sobs.
"Little brother, I missed you so much..."
Su Qing’s voice in his ear suddenly gave Lin Fan a strange feeling of home.
After the constant fighting since yesterday, even with his [590] HP and having recovered quite a bit of health, he still felt exhausted.
The moment he heard Su Qing’s voice, it was as if the exhaustion seeped out from every bone and muscle fiber in his body, making him desperately want to just hold her like this, go back to the sofa, and sleep soundly...
"...How much did you miss me?"
He pressed his face into Su Qing’s hair, greedily inhaling her familiar, unique scent, and couldn’t resist teasing her.
The soft body in his arms froze. Lin Fan felt a faint breeze brush his neck, a cool sensation on his skin, then a warm, soft, delicate touch pressed against his throat. A moment later, two rows of hard teeth bit down.
[-1]!
"Ow, ow, ow!"
But her jaw only clenched for a moment before relaxing. The tip of her pliant tongue, soft as a fingertip, swept over the fresh teeth marks, sending a tingle through him.
"Salty..."
"Hmph..."
Su Qing was like a giant leech, refusing to let go, only snorting softly through her nose.
Feeling the beauty in his arms’ dependence on him, Lin Fan loosened his embrace slightly, letting his hands rest on the small of her back. They stayed pressed together, neither wanting to separate.
After a long time, both of their clothes were damp with sweat. Su Qing finally lifted her head and looked into Lin Fan’s eyes.
"Who’s that in the van..."
"Someone I picked up at the gas station..."
Gazing at the glistening corners of her mouth, their eyes met, and he could clearly see the hazy, mesmerized look in her eyes.
Lin Fan no longer hesitated. After that initial test, he kissed her deeply...
Su Qing could barely breathe, able to manage only intermittent whimpers, but her hands clutched him even tighter, as if trying to merge her body with his.
Only when they were both breathless did they slowly loosen their tight embrace and gradually pull apart.
Faced with Lin Fan’s predatory gaze, Su Qing’s face was flushed red. She turned her head away shyly.
"They’re still waiting for you downstairs, aren’t they... You stink. Take a good bath tonight..."
With that, she went back into the room.
Just as Lin Fan’s imagination was running wild, Su Qing came back out. Her hair was tied up, and she had changed into a canvas jacket.
She had also found a clean set of clothes for Lin Fan.
"Little brother, what happened to your clothes? Why are they so torn..."
She said, picking up the clean clothes to help him change.
"It’s nothing. I just tore them by accident while exercising..."
Lin Fan’s injuries had mostly healed, so Su Qing didn’t notice anything wrong. Not wanting to worry her, he brushed it off.
"Are you going too? I won’t change yet, then. I still have to move things."
Seeing that Su Qing wanted to go downstairs with him, Lin Fan hesitated.
As their relationship deepened, the ghost of old-world responsibilities still clung to him. This was precisely why Lin Fan hadn’t wanted to get involved with her in the first place.
He was worried that once they crossed that line, he would no longer be able to see her as a partner and would subconsciously try to keep her away from danger.
’But is that really protection?’
’Turning her into a dependent who’s coddled in the rear, just because of an emotional or physical connection... that’s less like protection and more like exploitation.’
Since Su Qing was actively asking to go down and help, it clearly meant she wanted to be involved. This swept away the last trace of hesitation in Lin Fan’s heart. He looked into her eyes, nodded, and didn’t try to stop her.
"Wait here for a minute, Sis. I’m going to check the floors above us, I’ll be right down."
Worried there might be zombies hiding in the hallways upstairs, Lin Fan picked up his short spear and went all the way up to the sixth floor.
He checked the entire area, including two unlocked apartments on the sixth floor, and confirmed there were no stray zombies before heading back down. Then he led Su Qing back to the clinic together.
By now, the clinic’s main room was a complete mess, wrecked by the dozen or so zombies that had swarmed in. Pet supplies were scattered all over the floor from the shelves. ’But wait, I didn’t even notice when I came in earlier... where did that whole cart of supplies I brought back go?’
"I moved it all upstairs. Some of it is in 301, and the rest is in 302..."
Seeing Lin Fan looking around with a puzzled expression, Su Qing spoke up.
"Right after you left yesterday afternoon, things got chaotic downstairs. I was worried someone might try to pry the door open in the confusion, so I came down to check..."
"I happened to see all the stuff in here and figured you must have left it, so I moved it all upstairs. That way, it would be safer if someone broke in..."
"Who knew they’d still try to force the door open anyway. If they had gotten in, the door to 302 wouldn’t have held them back either. That’s why I..."
After Su Qing finished explaining, Lin Fan reached out and stroked her back.
"Moving all that stuff upstairs... you must be exhausted..."
"Oh, stop it. Let’s go..." Su Qing grumbled affectionately, pushing Lin Fan toward the door.
The others had been waiting in the cars at the clinic entrance for a while now. When they saw Lin Fan and Su Qing emerge, Chu Zhaozhao quickly got out of the driver’s seat and ran up to Lin Fan.
"Boss, were there zombies in the building? It took you so long..."
She said, looking Lin Fan up and down. Seeing that he was unharmed, she breathed a sigh of relief.
After all, in her memory, it hadn’t even taken him this long to kill a dozen zombies earlier...
Noticing Su Qing’s face turning visibly red beside him, Lin Fan quickly changed the subject.
"Ah, yeah, there was a really tough zombie. It held me up for a bit..."
He then quickly switched topics again, shouting to the two cars behind them:
"Get out and get to work! Let’s move a few cases of water upstairs first..."