After My Death, the Protagonist Broke Character - Chapter 4

A few days passed. Xie Shoushan kissed Huaisi’s hair as usual, only to be met with the customary lack of response. The hand he held remained terrifyingly cold. There was no reaction not even disgust only that empty gaze fixed upon him. Yet, the instinctual craving for blood still burned in those eyes, a silent reminder that this was not a completely lifeless corpse.

Xie Shoushan couldn’t help but lower his gaze, a hint of loneliness staining his expression. Even though Huaisi was by his side at every moment, he still craved a response of love.

However…

He looked up, meeting Huaisi’s eyes, and smiled. Huaisi lunged to bite him as he always did, but Xie Shoushan stopped him with a single hand, soothing him: “Not today. I have to go out in a while. Don’t you want me to go back and check on things? I’ll go soon and I’ll be back late, so I’ll leave some food for you. Let’s do it differently today.”

Huaisi continued his lunging motion, but restrained by Xie Shoushan’s hand, his strength was negligible. He could only snap at the air near Xie Shoushan’s neck.

Watching the skin and flesh so close to him, Huaisi was consumed by a maddening hunger. He snapped at the air several times to no avail.

He felt a constant, gnawing hunger, like an endless bottomless pit. It was worse whenever Xie Shoushan was near; his presence triggered a starvation that knew no bounds. If not for Xie Shoushan’s formidable strength and the lingering remnants of his own consciousness, Huaisi would have torn him apart and devoured him without a second thought.

It was just… too fragrant.

He stared at Xie Shoushan’s neck, unwilling to look away, nearly drooling. Instinctively, he flicked his tongue out to lick the skin, just to satisfy the craving.

Xie Shoushan felt the dampness on the skin of his neck and laughed happily; Huaisi could even feel the vibration against his tongue.

Then, Xie Shoushan retrieved a large syringe from a box. With practiced ease, he rolled up his sleeve, clenched his fist, and deftly inserted the needle into a vein. He smoothly drew a large syringe-full of dark red blood. The scent instantly captured Huaisi’s focus; he watched every movement with unblinking eyes.

Xie Shoushan portioned the drawn blood into several bags clearly, this was the “meal” left for Huaisi, for him to consume whenever hunger struck.

“All done.” As the blood bag was handed to him, Huaisi immediately took it and began to suck. The rich, mellow blood made him feel lightheaded.

Xie Shoushan stroked his cheek and gave him a few instructions before standing up. But his gait was slightly unsteady; he braced himself against the wall. He frowned, completely oblivious to the fact that his lips were now noticeably paler than before.

By the time the iron door locked again, Huaisi hadn’t really heard a word of what Xie Shoushan had said.

Once the “hunger” was slightly quelled, he was finally able to think. His brain felt too sluggish, and he was so dominated by hunger that he had little time for independent thought. But the contents of the plot remained clear in his mind, even if his own consciousness flickered in and out.

Perhaps a side effect of becoming a zombie.

Regardless, his mission was to let Xie Shoushan kill him. He didn’t know what was going on with Xie Shoushan it was a far cry from the original plot but he just needed to follow the narrative. He was a zombie; eventually, there would be a chance for Xie Shoushan to finish him off. Xie Shoushan’s current attitude toward him was ambiguous, but Huaisi had no mind for that.

He had picked up Xie Shoushan initially because the plot guided him to. Xie Shoushan had suddenly appeared in a desolate place, like a hedgehog, and it had taken Huaisi a great deal of effort to bring him back to the shelter and earn his trust. Viewed in that light, it was understandable that Xie Shoushan couldn’t accept him turning into a zombie, but his current actions were becoming a bit excessive.

Huaisi cradled his own head, pounding it hard with his fists.

Thump, thump. The heavy, dull sound echoed in the empty room, like a watermelon being smashed.

No, now isn’t the time to think about this.

The shelter… Uncle Liao…

That’s right, Uncle Liao is ill… the shelter is in crisis… those familiar faces…

Huaisi looked at the door again and stood up, wanting to walk out, but his mind flashed to the plot.

If I get killed out there and not by the protagonist Xie Shoushan won’t the plot fall apart? Will Xie Shoushan still be able to save the world?

Fragmented memories flashed before his eyes: being taken in by Uncle Liao at age ten, spending his life in the shelter. Uncle Liao, a mere ordinary person, had lived a hard life in the shelter but insisted on raising him, which was why his health was so poor now. There were also the acquaintances in the shelter who looked after him from time to time, allowing him to grow up.

In any case, I should go back and take a look.

He wouldn’t stay away for long. He would just go, and return before Xie Shoushan came back to finish him off.

But when he reached the door, he looked at the doorknob and felt the tug of the chain on his ankle. He lunged forward, but the chain pulled taut, holding him back.

No, just a little bit more… If I were just a little stronger… I’d definitely be able to touch the door…

He looked at the remaining bags of blood on the table, licking his lips. His pupils turned into sharp vertical slits. A craving for blood surged from the depths of his soul, and his usually gentle, polite nature was eclipsed by violent, unbridled emotion. His sharp pupils looked as if they could pierce through anything.

I want human blood! Drink it all! I need more! It’s not enough, not nearly enough!!

Outside! There are more humans outside! Fresh blood!! I have to get out of here!

BANG! A loud noise echoed through the residential building. Smoke filled the room. The iron door remained unscathed, but the water pipe had been ripped out by sheer force, and old, stagnant water sprayed everywhere. The room was transformed into a watery mess, and a massive hole had been punched through the wall next to the pipe.

…

As the sun set, the dark, dilapidated building became even gloomier. Xie Shoushan climbed the stairs as if he were flying. He had been away for a while. If it hadn’t been for a troublesome ability user he’d met on the road he felt a cold, murderous intent flash through his eyes at the thought he would have killed the person. It was just a waste of time. He’d had to retreat, which had delayed him quite a bit.

I don’t know if Huaisi is hungry. I have to get back.

He arrived at the iron door, exhaling to steady his emotions, putting on a gentle smile before opening it. He was met with a scene of utter chaos: the broken water pipe, the drenched room. The fact that the water had stopped spraying meant the pipe had been broken for quite some time.

His smile vanished instantly. Looking at the half-severed chain and the strips of flesh torn from Huaisi’s ankle, his black eyes gradually bled into a deep scarlet.

Huaisi, where are you going?

…

Huaisi walked slowly down the street. The desolate street was empty, the ground littered with dark red, unidentifiable objects. He kept walking on instinct, not knowing where he was headed. At the end of the street, he saw a zombie with a shredded face. Before he could process it, the zombie lunged at him. He subconsciously slashed at the zombie’s neck, and its head was instantly severed from its body.

Then, more zombies were drawn to him. With a wave of his hand, he dispatched them all.

Standing amidst a pile of rotting zombie flesh, with black zombie blood splattered on the ground, he felt no appetite only a deeper sense of hunger. He had drunk all the blood Xie Shoushan left before he came out, but after aimlessly wandering and fighting zombies, he was hungry again.

So hungry…

Seeing the similar blood, even without an appetite, he crouched down to examine what was going on with zombie blood. As he did, a few drops of his own blood fell, merging into the black zombie gore. His own blood was a bit lighter than black more of a dark red.

He stared blankly at the blood from his own wounded hand, stood up, and tried to find food elsewhere. But as he walked, for some reason, more and more zombies began to surround him.

So annoying… and it stinks…

He didn’t like zombies. Before he became one, he had spent his life killing them, and now he naturally showed them no mercy. These zombies were no match for him; they were merely following their instincts. As the zombies fell, no more blocked his path, and he continued walking forward.

He didn’t notice the blood dripping from his left hand, leaving a trail along his path. Barefoot on the barren street, his right ankle still bore the shackle that had ground away a circle of skin and flesh a mix of pale and inflamed tissue, like a pink sock, exposing raw flesh that was no longer bright red. With every step, he left a shallow bloody footprint. A few zombies lagged far behind, and when he had moved far enough away, they scrambled to the ground to lick the blood, looking intoxicated.

Huaisi smelled the scent of humans and immediately headed toward the fragrance. Although it wasn’t as rich as Xie Shoushan’s blood, it was enough to trigger his hunger. Turning a street corner, he saw several people standing by a rusted bus. The figures were familiar.

“The investigation team has arrived. We obviously haven’t shown anything in the last two days, and they haven’t moved either. What are we going to do?” Chen Yao said with concern.

“This is just an investigation for the shelter to join the base, not an assessment for whether we can become ability users. Since we have abilities, we’ll definitely be able to get in,” Lu Zhiyuan said with indifference. They were ability users; they could always find a place to survive.

“Yeah, we’ve done our best. Chen Yao, don’t take it all on yourself. With the shelter’s resources, it’s a miracle we’ve survived this long. If it weren’t for Huaisi holding things together, the shelter probably wouldn’t have existed at all,” Chen Chenggang added.

“Sigh… alright…” Chen Yao didn’t say anything more. Aside from these three, the hunting squad had added a few new faces, but they didn’t seem very strong. They watched their surroundings vigilantly, urging Chen Yao and the others to hurry away, saying the zombies appearing nearby were becoming faster and harder to deal with, and if they stayed too long, they might run into them.

Watching the “food” about to leave, Huaisi prepared to follow. But as he turned the corner, his reflection in the reflective glass of a former clothing store caught his eye.

Messy brown hair, a yellowing shirt stained with blood, pale and horrifying skin, a skeletal frame, clearly non-human vertical pupils, and handsome features. But his pale lips were stained with blood the remnants of what he had drunk, leaking from his mouth and flowing down his neck and collarbone, drying into scabs that, combined with the deep knife wound on his throat, made for a terrifying sight.

Who… is that?

He tilted his head; the figure in the glass tilted its head, the knife wound on the neck pulling apart. Terrified, he stepped back twice, and the figure in the glass did the same.

It’s… me?!!!

This is me!!

This doesn’t look human at all; it’s clearly just a zombie with a human shape!

Huaisi clutched his head, pounding his fists against his skull, thump-thump, trying to force himself to wake up.

No, this isn’t him! He shouldn’t be like this! He loved to be clean; he wore white shirts; he always kept his nails trimmed. Who is this?!

He should be human! He’s supposed to be human!

“Is someone there?” Chen Yao and the others alerted.

“The two of us will go check.”

Chen Chenggang and the others walked over but found nothing out of the ordinary.

“Strange, there’s nothing here. Where did that noise come from?” They turned to leave, while a figure crouched behind the counter behind the reflective glass.

Huaisi watched them leave and exhaled in relief.

Just now, I almost followed them to devour those former friends.

Huaisi looked down, lost in thought, staring at his eerie, sharp nails.

After waking up, he had been influenced by the plot, having a vague concept of himself becoming a zombie. But that was just a concept; he had always been with Xie Shoushan and hadn’t realized what he had become, what being a zombie truly meant. He had simply followed his instincts and wandered out in a daze.

But now, he finally knew. He was finally awake.

It meant that at any moment, he could devour his former friends, and he could be hunted by them as well.

AHHH!!!!!! Several screams rang out.

Huaisi looked toward the sound. It was the people from the shelter. They had encountered a line of zombies that were moving with agility. Within moments, two or three had been injured, and the others were in a panic. The naive hunting squad was instantly plunged into a predicament.