My Ex-Girlfriend Is a Zombie Queen - Chapter 9

Perhaps because she had spent too much time in the biting wind, coupled with the sheer mental exhaustion of the past few days, Lu Yu felt her head throbbing with a heavy, dull heat shortly after arriving home.

She checked her temperature: 39°C.

Forcing herself to stay awake long enough to swallow some fever medicine, she wrapped herself in a thick blanket and curled into the corner of the sofa, staring blankly at the ink-black night sky. She had hardly stepped foot in the bedroom since Ye Qianli’s accident. Partly, she feared the memories the room held; mostly, she simply couldn’t sleep without the other woman beside her. Her heart felt hollow, as if a vital piece of her soul had been carved out and discarded.

Ten years of habit had settled into her very marrow. Such things could not be changed overnight.

A sudden crack of thunder jolted her. To distract herself from the oppressive silence, she reached for the remote and flicked on the television.

“…Recently, coastal fishermen have captured a new species never before identified. During the process, five fishermen sustained varying degrees of bite wounds and remain in comas. Authorities are conducting a further investigation…”

On the screen, the sight of jagged, glinting teeth made her feel instinctively ill. Lu Yu rubbed her temples, preparing to change the channel, when the television suddenly cut to a black screen with a sharp click. She tried the light switch next. Nothing.

The circuit breaker must have tripped.

Her pulse hammered against her temples, and she felt too drained to get up and check the fuse box. She decided to sit in the dark, waiting for the medicine to take effect. Gradually, the world around her began to blur into a hazy gray.

In her half-conscious state, she thought she heard the faint, metallic jingle of keys in the lock. That’s impossible, she thought. She tried to force her eyes open, but her lids felt as heavy as lead, refusing to obey.

*****

Lu Yu felt as though she had drifted into a dream of unparalleled beauty.

The embrace was as warm and familiar as ever, and she clung to it with desperate longing. The scent surrounding her was a mixture of rain and damp earth, yet beneath that lay a faint, ethereal fragrance that made her nose sting with unshed tears.

It was the perfume she had given Ye Qianli for her birthday a few months ago. She had spent weeks picking it out, exchanging it once before finally settling on the perfect scent.

“Do you like it?” she had asked the moment the gift was opened, clutching the woman’s arm like a nervous kitten while peeking at her expression.

“I love anything you give me, honey,” the woman had replied, gently pinching Lu Yu’s nose before carefully putting the bottle away.

Every day after that, Lu Yu had been greeted by that elegant, calming scent of agarwood. It’s amazing how the mind can simulate even smells when you’re hallucinating, she thought bitterly through her stupor.

In her semi-lucid state, she heard the sound of water boiling, punctuated by the soft rustle of someone tidying the room. It was exactly like those weekend mornings when she would sleep in while Ye Qianli quietly mopped the floors before she woke up. If possible, Lu Yu wished she could stay submerged in this dream forever. She missed Ye Qianli so much it physically ached. Even though she had been hurt so deeply by the woman’s coldness at the hospital, her subconscious still screamed for her presence.

“I’m sorry.”

She heard the woman’s voice—guilt-ridden, soft, and light as a feather brushing against her heart, sending ripples through her soul.

“I thought that as long as I didn’t show my face, those people would at least leave you alone… If you get infected, everything is over.”

Infected?

This was the first time Lu Yu had ever heard fear in Ye Qianli’s voice. But she convinced herself it was part of the dream.

“I didn’t expect them to actually bring you to the institute… to blatantly try and plant surveillance on you.”

“…That ‘gift’ was laced with a source of infection. It’s a relief you didn’t open it. I’m taking it away to dispose of it. Don’t ever accept things from strangers again, okay? Any gift I have for you, I will give to you with my own hands.”

The woman continued to mutter, her words sounding like a frantic internal monologue. She kept her voice extremely low, as if terrified of waking Lu Yu, making some sentences almost impossible to catch.

However, Lu Yu heard the final words with startling clarity:

“I don’t know how much longer I can hold on. Maybe tomorrow I’ll… so, forget me. Go back to the Lu family before everything loses control. They can protect you in my place.”

A restrained, suppressed kiss fell upon the corner of her lips, and she felt a sudden, scalding wetness against her cheek. In that instant, Lu Yu realized with a jolt that this might not be a dream. She fought to reach out and grab the woman, but her body felt weightless and paralyzed. She could only lie there as the warmth beside her began to fade.

“You deserve better… forget me,” the woman whispered. She added another blanket over Lu Yu, carefully tucking in the corners. A sharp, pained gasp escaped her lips, one she could no longer hide.

******

Lu Yu slept until the sun was high.

Her head was still a bit foggy, and she stared at the ceiling for a long time, replaying the vivid details of the “dream.” Ye Qianli had come to take care of her. She had said so much. Just remembering the woman’s tender voice made Lu Yu’s eyes turn red; she felt so wronged she wanted to cry.

If only she could have stayed asleep. Her A-Li had finally come back. If only it hadn’t just been a dream.

Her throat felt parched, and she sat up, intending to boil some water for her medicine. As she looked toward the table, she froze.

What…

She rubbed her eyes, unable to believe what she was seeing. Four or five medicine bottles were lined up neatly, each with a small white sticker detailing exactly how many pills to take and when.

Sunlight streamed through the window, illuminating a floor that was now spotless, reflecting in her widened pupils. Unlike the chaos she had left the house in, the apartment now looked exactly as it did when Ye Qianli lived there.

It hadn’t been a dream.

Lu Yu scrambled to her feet, her head swimming from the sudden surge of adrenaline and emotion. Ignoring the dizziness, she stumbled toward the door, searching everywhere for the “gift box” the woman had mentioned.

She tried to recall the details of what the woman had said about the box being dangerous. Her temples throbbed as she pushed her memory, but it was like trying to remember a blackout. The good news was that the package was gone. Ye Qianli had truly been here.

Even the umbrella she had tossed by the door was now hanging neatly on the rack. Now that she had a moment to look at it, she realized the canopy was a beautiful heart shape—just like the one she had lost years ago but hadn’t repurchased because the price had gone up.

“A-Li…”

Tears blurred her vision, and she covered her face, her slender shoulders trembling under the weight of it all. Her mind was a chaotic mess as she sank into a chair, trying to piece together the reality of the situation. The memories of her sleep were like looking through a thick veil. She sat there for a long time until she finally remembered the words “infection” and the plea for her to “forget.”

How could she possibly forget?

A weak, bitter smile tugged at her lips as she looked away, a dull, aching pain carving through her chest. She wouldn’t be able to forget for the rest of her life.

Buzz, buzz.

Her phone vibrated with a message from Zhao Hui. It was a polite greeting, followed by the usual inquiry: had she heard anything from Ye Qianli?

Lu Yu didn’t hesitate. She typed back a single word: “No.”

After the incident with the “gift,” her guard was fully up. Ever since Ye Qianli’s accident, the research institute’s behavior had been increasingly suspicious. However, there was one place that might help her get to the bottom of this.

She hesitated for a full fifteen minutes before she found the strength to open her contact list. Looking at the string of names beginning with “Lu,” she let out a long, heavy breath, closed her eyes, and threw the phone aside in exhaustion.

On the day she was kicked out, her parents had given her an ultimatum: she was no longer their daughter unless she cut all ties with Ye Qianli. She didn’t want to go back. Not at all.

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