After My Death, the Protagonist Broke Character - Chapter 10

Huaisi walked the streets once more, aimless, like a lonely ghost draped in human skin. He wore a thin white shirt and a pair of suit trousers; the shirt hung loosely on his thin frame, appearing hollow, while the trousers were slightly too short, exposing his pale, protruding ankle bones. Walking barefoot on the empty street, his soles were pierced by countless shards of glass. Countless tiny wounds covered his feet, with one sharp, triangular glass splinter piercing clear through his entire sole.

As he walked, his bare feet rubbed against the ground, leaving a trail of crimson blood smeared into the rough surface of gravel and dust. The pale, inflamed wound around his ankle remained unhealed. His left shoulder was dislocated at a bizarre, unnatural angle, the shoulder joint protruding like a hidden coat hanger. The pain, sharp as an ant’s drill, gnawed at his brain, but he continued forward. He didn’t know his destination; he simply followed his instinct, as if by walking, he could escape the inescapable predicament.

He couldn’t break free from the plot where he had to be killed by the protagonist, Xie Shoushan. Staying in that residential building was a way to move the plot forward, but the story had remained stagnant. Gazing out the window, he had been struck by a sudden impulse and shattered the glass, plummeting from the heights. The wind whistled in his ears; when he came to, he was lying on the pavement, three stories down. The pain radiated from his bones and organs; he vomited blood and stood up, the waves of agony so intense he could no longer tell where the pain was centered.

It didn’t matter. The pain did nothing to clear his mind. He only knew, in a daze, that he had to keep walking.

Waiting for the plot to progress in that room had made him desperate to do something to change his fate.

Anywhere will do, as long as I leave this place. His vertical pupils fixed on the road ahead.

Occasionally, a few stray zombies appeared on the road, but they didn’t dare to get too close, trailing him only from a distance.

The street was empty. Passing through an alley, he saw the desolate pavement littered with bones and rotting meat. A swarm of flies circled the blackened, putrid flesh, buzzing like beasts devouring prey. The air was thick with the nauseating stench of decay.

Huaisi passed by these alleyways without reaction. Once, he would have felt miserable from even a faint whiff of such rot, needing time to steel himself just to walk past these dirty corners. Back then, it was always Xie Shoushan who would volunteer to scout the path alone. Once Xie Shoushan cleared the way, everything was resolved, and there was no need for Huaisi, who lacked abilities, to force himself to do anything beyond his capacity.

But one day, I have to face these things alone. Xie Shoushan is the protagonist, but I cannot rely entirely on his strength.

I can trust him, but I cannot be dependent.

Stepping over the alleyway filled with filth and rot, Huaisi turned a corner and stopped.

“…Wuu-wuu…” Small whimpers, suppressed fear. Seven or eight ragged people were huddled together in the alley, shivering uncontrollably as they watched him, as if they were looking at the Grim Reaper himself.

These humans looked utterly defenseless, thin to the bone, their malnutrition making them look as if they would snap in the wind. A thin, middle-aged woman shielded a boy, blocking him with her body despite her own trembling, tear-filled fear.

They were discarded humans, escapees from a shelter judged “valueless” by the investigation team. Since their shelter hadn’t been approved for the base’s protection, they were unorganized. They relied on hunting zombie crystals and foraging for food, but those who went hunting were usually ability users and ability users had better places to be. Once the ability users left, a shelter without protection became unsustainable. They were rejected by the base, with no other shelters willing to accept refugees.

Driven to a dead end, these people had to venture out to fight for a sliver of hope, searching for a branch of the base that might take them in.

Huaisi’s gaze was involuntarily drawn to the child. Compared to the exhausted humans, the child’s blood flowed faster, emitting a heat that smelled far more delicious than the emaciated adults.

At the sight of Huaisi, the refugees reacted with primal fear, turning to flee. Only the thin woman and the seven-year-old boy couldn’t move fast enough. The woman was too weak, and carrying the child made it impossible to run. She stumbled and fell in her panic, but she still protected the child in her arms.

“Mommy!” the boy cried out.

The woman trembled even harder, terrified to the point of fainting. With her small body, she turned to face Huaisi, shielding the child with her back and exposing her thin, frail neck. She offered a final smile to her son, pushed the boy away, and screamed, “Run!” She turned to block Huaisi, her blue lips trembling as she pulled out a rusty knife she had scavenged from the trash, closing her eyes and charging at him!

It was no threat at all. Huaisi instinctively grabbed her hand, but because her hand was restrained, she struggled wildly in her terror, waving the knife and slashing her own arm. Blood seeped through her worn clothes. The scent of blood teased Huaisi’s senses. He couldn’t help but tighten his grip on her wrist, swallowing hard as he smelled the blood.

Although it didn’t compare to an ability user’s blood, the proximity of the scent made Huaisi’s hunger unbearable.

“Wuu-wuu… save me… save me…” The woman gave up struggling, tears streaming down her face. Staring at the zombie before her, she had already resigned herself to being eaten. She knew no one would come to save her. She curled into a ball, weeping in fear.

“Let go of my mom!” The boy suddenly lunged, pummeling Huaisi’s leg with his fists. His strength was negligible, and Huaisi flicked him away, sending him crashing into the ground.

“Xiao Yuan!” The woman began to struggle desperately. As the wound on her arm bled more, Huaisi, enticed by the constant flow, leaned toward the injury, his sharp fangs unconsciously baring.

So hungry. I want to eat. Human flesh is so fragrant. His hand touched the woman’s carotid artery, feeling the fresh blood pulsing beneath. It’s so fragile; one bite and it would tear right open.

But as he lifted his head, he met the woman’s eyes, her gaze widened by her gaunt features. Her terror-filled pupils reflected his own golden, vertical slits the pale, gaunt face showing its sharp fangs. He wasn’t a human; he was just a zombie maintaining a human shape.

This… is me?

So I have… completely turned into a zombie? And even now, I’m reduced to doing zombie-like things, eating humans?

I… am not human anymore… do I no longer deserve the dignity of being human?

Suddenly, Huaisi stared at the woman in his hand, knowing that once he bit down, something would be lost forever.

His self-respect. His pride. Everything he possessed as a human.

He released his grip. The woman fell to the ground, bewildered for a moment, before crawling over to hug her child tightly. She kept her eyes shut, still trembling with fear. But as seconds ticked by, she felt no pain. Opening her eyes, she realized the male zombie was gone.

Huaisi arrived at an underground supermarket. Perhaps because it was underground, there was still some food left after all this time. A few zombies with shreds of hanging flesh wandered the aisles, but the current Huaisi didn’t even put them in his eyes, dispatching them easily. He took some items from the shelves, turned around, and discovered a pool of maggot-ridden flesh under the counter, beside a rusty kitchen knife.

Returning to the vicinity of the alley, just as Huaisi expected, the frail mother and son couldn’t have gone far. Seeing him again, they huddled together, shivering in fear, but Huaisi threw the food he had scavenged at their feet.

He opened his mouth, his voice hoarse, obscure, and barely a whisper:

“…Sor… r… y…”

He didn’t wait for their reaction and turned to leave.

He ran to a dark corner, beside a sewage ditch teeming with rotting flesh. He crouched in the shadows of the building, pulling out the rusty kitchen knife it was covered in spots of rust and stained with old, dried blood.

He stared at the rusty blade for a long time before resolutely slicing his throat, just as he had in his human life. Since the old wound on his neck was still open, he simply drove the blade deeper into the existing gash.