After My Death, the Protagonist Broke Character - Chapter 3

Hearing the woman’s voice, Xie Shoushan frowned. He turned his head first to look at Huaisi behind him, but Huaisi showed no reaction, appearing to be in a daze, as if suffering from a post-feeding stupor.

That’s good, he thought. Huaisi shouldn’t be able to recognize these people, right?

“Shoushan, you’re inside, aren’t you? Can’t you just talk to us? We fought side-by-side for a long time, after all. If there’s something bothering you, you can discuss it with me. You just… suddenly…” Her voice trailed off. “…It’s been so many days… everyone in the shelter is very worried about you… especially Uncle Liao… we don’t even know how to tell him about this yet…”

“The shelter is in chaos now. The zombies seem to have developed a sense of pack mentality, and their movements are becoming more agile; they’re getting harder and harder to hunt. In short, the shelter’s energy is almost gone, and with so many elderly people and children, we really are…”

“Chen Yao, enough. Don’t say any more,” a male voice from outside interrupted her.

Chen Yao paused for a moment before continuing, “Sigh… in any case, the situation in the shelter is dire. Uncle Liao’s health was already poor, and with you missing for so many days… and Huai… anyway, he’s extremely worried about you. We really don’t know how to explain this to him; he’s been so anxious he’s practically fallen ill, constantly telling us to keep an eye out for any news about you.”

When Uncle Liao was mentioned, Xie Shoushan deliberately turned to check Huaisi’s reaction. Seeing him still in that vacant, zombie-like state, he couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief.

The shelter was where people gathered in the age of zombies, and the one Chen Yao referred to was Shelter 8. It was originally a prison, but later converted into a shelter; its walls and facilities were perfectly suited for resisting zombie attacks.

Chen Yao was an ability user in the shelter. She, Huaisi, Xie Shoushan, and a few others had formed the shelter’s hunting squad. Since most of the people in the shelter were either powerless, elderly, or frail, those with abilities or special talents had to form these squads to hunt zombies for crystals and scavenge for supplies. Sometimes, if they were lucky, they would find leftovers in residential houses or supermarkets that hadn’t been picked clean.

It was during their last hunting trip that they encountered a zombie horde resulting in Huaisi’s death and Xie Shoushan’s disappearance.

Their shelter’s strength was already weak because of the large number of civilians, and Xie Shoushan, with his superior physical prowess and overall capability, was their best fighter. His disappearance had plunged the shelter into a desperate predicament.

But sitting around waiting for news wasn’t an option if they wanted to survive. Forced by necessity, the remaining members of the hunting squad went out again to scavenge and kill lone zombies. They had encountered several unusually fast zombies and were nearly wiped out when they spotted a man in a black hood hunting zombies nearby. They instinctively cried out for help; the man seemed to hesitate for a moment, then struck wiping out the zombies in a single move!

Even though the hooded man left immediately after saving them without saying a word, Chen Yao recognized him instantly as Xie Shoushan!

But Xie Shoushan had moved fast, wanting no contact with them.

Xie Shoushan frowned, regretting his actions. If they hadn’t cried out for help, and if he hadn’t remembered their past connection, he wouldn’t have bothered to intervene. He didn’t want to create complications.

As for how they found this place that must have been Chen Yao’s ability.

Her ability seemed to be an extremely acute intuition. Every time they went out hunting, they followed the routes she chose, and her instincts were always dead accurate. Finding this place using her ability wasn’t difficult at all.

Originally, he didn’t want to deal with these people, but they mentioned Uncle Liao…

Xie Shoushan couldn’t help but look at Huaisi again. Huaisi was still in that dazed state, but his gaze slowly drifted toward Xie Shoushan, empty and devoid of any real focus.

“Alright, alright… I know…” Xie Shoushan stroked Huaisi’s hair. Even though he knew Huaisi had no consciousness left, he thought of what Uncle Liao meant to him he was Huaisi’s adoptive father. However, since Huaisi was now a zombie, he certainly couldn’t leave him, which meant they could never return to the shelter.

Xie Shoushan stood up and found a clean set of clothes in the corner. His previous outburst had stained his pants and shirt with strange odors. He changed clothes right in front of Huaisi, his body revealing powerful, muscular lines broad, sturdy lats filled with strength. He moved his right shoulder and waved his arm, feeling a bit uncomfortable. He touched the wound on his upper arm the bite from Huaisi yesterday which had already scabbed over, leaving only a shallow mark. Even the bite wound on his collarbone had stopped bleeding on its own, leaving only a blurred, bloody crust.

His healing ability was beyond that of a normal person, reaching a terrifying degree. He had always tried to hide it, fearing that others might harbor ill intentions if they knew. But when Huaisi found out, he had simply helped him cover it up, never making a big deal of it. Xie Shoushan only realized later that Huaisi was always like that treating everyone a bit too well. Sometimes, seeing Huaisi treat others with the same kindness he showed him would spark an inexplicable anger in Xie Shoushan though he never knew what he was truly angry at.

But none of that mattered now. Huaisi would be by his side forever.

Xie Shoushan quickly changed into clean clothes, looked back at Huaisi, thought for a moment, stroked his head, kissed him a few times, and said, “I’ll clean you up in a minute. Let me deal with these people first. It seems we can’t stay here anymore; we’ll have to move.” He smiled at Huaisi, wrapped him completely in a black coat to hide him, checked him over one last time, and then went to open the door.

During this time, Chen Yao had been waiting outside. Feeling uneasy, she wondered: Did I guess wrong? That shouldn’t be right; my intuition led me all the way to this residential building and guided me to the fourth floor.

“Could he not be here? Should we break down the door and check?” asked Lu Zhiyuan, one of the other teammates.

Just as they were deciding whether to break in, the door opened, but only a tiny crack. A pair of pitch-black eyes peered through, staring at them. Inside, the room was shrouded in darkness, like eyes peering out from an abyss yet the pupils were extraordinarily pure, black enough to contain everything, pure and seemingly harmless.

“Stop messing around. Go back,” Xie Shoushan said.

Chen Yao had initially recoiled in fear, nearly hiding behind Lu Zhiyuan, but upon hearing the familiar voice, she said happily, “Shoushan! You really are here! Come back with us! We really need you right now; the shelter is in chaos, and Uncle Liao really wants you to come back.”

“I’m not going back. You all should leave.” Xie Shoushan’s refusal was blunt.

“But… but…” Chen Yao was unwilling to give up, fueled by her own selfish motives. “What will happen to the shelter without you?” They knew deeply that Xie Shoushan was the shelter’s greatest combat asset. If even he left, the shelter’s future…

Xie Shoushan remained unmoved. “You can try seeking protection from the base. Didn’t the shelter apply to join the base previously? They should protect the people in the shelter when that happens.”

“But what about when the base’s investigation team comes for the assessment…”

“Enough, Chen Yao, stop begging him!” Chen Chenggang, who had been silent, suddenly interrupted. He pulled Chen Yao away and glared furiously at Xie Shoushan. “If he can leave at a time like this, don’t expect him to come back! It’s just an assessment team from the base; we have abilities too. As long as we work hard to demonstrate the shelter’s value, we can get the base’s protection just the same. There’s no need to demean ourselves begging here!”

“But…”

“Enough with the ‘buts’! I can’t stand begging someone who doesn’t care!” Chen Chenggang started to pull Chen Yao away, and Lu Zhiyuan naturally stepped in to protect her, leading to an argument between the two men.

Xie Shoushan’s gaze turned cold. They were making such a racket right outside his door what if they scared Huaisi? He didn’t want these people anywhere near him.

“Get out!” Xie Shoushan growled impatiently. “Saving you earlier was just a matter of convenience; I would have done the same for anyone.” With that, he slammed the door shut, and the room returned to darkness.

Xie Shoushan’s eyes locked onto Huaisi in the corner. His gaze was deeper than the darkness itself.

Seeing Xie Shoushan shut the door so heartlessly, Chen Yao felt aggrieved. She felt betrayed she had worked so hard to find him and said so much. When he had saved them earlier, she truly believed he hadn’t forgotten them. Before Huaisi died, he had just been a quiet person; he had never said anything so cruel.

Her temper flared. She shook off Chen Chenggang and the others, and the words tumbled out: “Huaisi is already dead! That wasn’t our fault; we did our best! I know you and Huaisi were close, but Huaisi is dead! We all saw it, didn’t we? After he was bitten, he slit his own throat before he could fully turn into a zombie! We were devastated too! But don’t we all have to move forward? It’s been three months, it’s time you let go…”

“Look out!” Suddenly, Lu Zhiyuan pulled Chen Yao into his arms to shield her, but it was inevitable they were blasted down the stairs!

They slammed hard against the wall and tumbled down. From behind the tightly shut door, a terrifying, murderous intent poured out.

“GET OUT!”

In that moment, they felt real terror, the danger of their throats being crushed. They couldn’t make a sound. Without another word, they scrambled down the stairs and fled.

Long after they left the residential building, their faces remained pale, still trembling. In that moment, they had truly felt the threat of death.

“…Shoushan… was he always like this?” Chen Yao couldn’t help but ask. In her memory, since Huaisi had brought him back, Shoushan had been a handsome but quiet person who always followed Huaisi out to hunt and helped people in the shelter.

“Perhaps the man we saw today is the real him,” Lu Zhiyuan said.

The others fell silent. The shock of that murderous intent was greater than anything they had felt even when the zombie horde attacked.

…

Xie Shoushan carefully wiped Huaisi down and changed him into clean clothes. Noticing Huaisi’s gaze he was staring intently at him Xie Shoushan thought of what had just been said. He kissed Huaisi’s hair and soothed him: “Mhm… did you hear what they said? Don’t worry, I’ll go visit Uncle Liao when I have time. But you have to be good, okay?”

He knew, of course, that Huaisi was still unconscious. He had observed him for a long time and concluded that Huaisi was merely operating on zombie instinct. But he knew that Huaisi’s greatest concerns were Uncle Liao and the shelter. Whatever Huaisi wanted, he would go back to check on it for him.

However, what he didn’t know was that Huaisi’s brain was still processing Chen Yao’s words. He had clearly extracted the information: Uncle Liao… is ill?

Then I want to… Huaisi’s eyeballs moved, struggling to formulate a thought.