The Zombie I Flirted With After Losing My Memory, Who Was Pretending to be an Alpha, Is Actually My Ex - Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Differentiation

The zombie growled low, driven mad by the scent of fresh food before it. Without hesitation, it lunged toward Teng Xi.

“Star? Sister Xi Xi, is Star going to turn into a monster too?” Little Mushroom’s eyes brimmed with tears.

Teng Xi finally realized who “Star” was.

“Little Mushroom, hide!” Teng Xi resisted with all her might, but her arm—newly popped back into its socket—couldn’t exert full strength. Meanwhile, Little Mushroom stood her ground, even showing signs of stepping forward.

“Little Mushroom!” Teng Xi barked, forcing the child to halt. She softened her tone slightly, “Be a good girl, Little Mushroom. Go find Big Mushroom and play.”

At the mention of playing with “Big Mushroom,” the child looked between the two of them with uncertainty. Ultimately unable to resist the lure of the “Big Mushroom,” she turned and ran off.

Watching the child whose emotions were so plainly written on her face, Teng Xi felt a flicker of inexplicable envy. Fear came quickly and left just as fast for the girl; perhaps in her eyes, everything was just a game.

The current situation left no room for sentiment. The zombie flailed its arms, trying to scratch her.

Teng Xi timed her move perfectly, suddenly going limp to drop her center of gravity and ducking beneath the attack. A dull thud echoed as the zombie slammed into the sheet-metal medicine cabinet. She pivoted gracefully and delivered a sharp kick to the zombie’s knee. A crack signaled a broken bone, but the creature acted as if it felt nothing, turning back to continue its assault.

This zombie felt neither pain nor fear of death, which began to give Teng Xi a headache.

Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted the wooden desk used to barricade the door; a scalpel lay quietly upon it. The zombie, its movements slowed by the shattered knee, continued to shadow Teng Xi, determined to consume her.

Teng Xi dodged a snapping bite and bolted for the desk, snatching the scalpel into her hand.

“Roar—”

The low growl was right at her ear. Teng Xi twisted and threw a heavy kick, sending the zombie flying three meters back where it hit the wall with a bang. As Teng Xi closed the distance, the scalpel plunged into the zombie’s skull with a squelch. The innate strength of an Alpha shattered the creature’s cranium, burying the entire blade inside.

The zombie didn’t even twitch; it slumped to the ground like a pile of mud, motionless.

Teng Xi collapsed onto the floor, gasping for air. She stared at her hands with an indecipherable expression; that series of movements had been entirely subconscious. Who exactly was she? Why was her combat style so clean and lethal?

To prevent further surprises, Teng Xi scoured every inch of the pharmacy to ensure no other living—or undead—thing remained. She found a pink backpack left by a duty nurse, complete with a small pink baseball cap hanging from the strap.

Teng Xi looked at the overly-pink bag with disdain but proceeded to stuff it with snacks and useful medications she’d scavenged. Slinging it over her shoulder, she walked toward Little Mushroom. A small hope lingered in her heart: what if they could both make it out…

“Little Mushroom?” Teng Xi stood a meter away.

The child looked up, her eyes somewhat glazed. Confirming that she wasn’t turning into a zombie, Teng Xi sat beside her, a hidden scalpel glinting in her palm just in case.

“Do you feel unwell anywhere?”

“I’m not Little Mushroom! Sister Xi Xi is so silly! I’m Little Fish now.” Seeing a familiar face, the child immediately broke into a smile. There truly were no signs of zombification.

“Little Fish?” Teng Xi’s temple throbbed. They hadn’t seen each other for mere minutes, and the kid had already changed species.

“Little Fish is dying of thirst. Little Fish wants to go back to the sea. Is Star waiting for Little Fish in the sea already?” The child squirmed uncomfortably, her face flushed red. She reached out to tug at her collar.

Teng Xi immediately realized something was wrong. It wasn’t zombification; rather, a powerful scent of pheromones slammed into her brain. The fragrance of gardenias wafted from the back of the child’s neck, quickly filling the pharmacy. Outside in the hallway, the zombies caught the scent, growling excitedly as they crowded toward the room.

“Little Fish?” Teng Xi bit her tongue, using the pain to stay sharp.

She had actually run into an Omega differentiation!

Teng Xi was at a loss. An Omega during their first differentiation is exceptionally sensitive. To ensure healthy gland development, one cannot use suppressants or perform a marking; usually, the period is spent in an isolation chamber. But in this “save-your-own-skin” apocalypse, where was she supposed to find an isolation chamber?

“D*mn it!” Teng Xi couldn’t help but curse.

Trapped in a room with a lone Omega whose pheromones were peaking due to differentiation, Teng Xi felt a bitter struggle. The zombies, lured by the scent, were going feral. The constant thudding against the glass walls and the door was unnerving.

Teng Xi leaped five meters away, rummaging through a medicine cabinet until she found a pack of suppressants. She grabbed one and jammed it into her own arm.

She couldn’t inject the kid, but she could certainly inject herself.

As the internal heat temporarily subsided, Teng Xi didn’t hesitate to grab a second dose and inject it as well. Beside her, the child groaned in pain. Teng Xi searched her memory for whatever meager physiological knowledge she possessed, only to realize she knew almost nothing about Omegas.

“Sister Xi Xi, Little Fish feels bad. So hot.” The child’s hands clawed at her own skin, making a mess of her hospital gown.

“Wait, wait, wait!” Seeing the kid about to strip, Teng Xi rushed to stop her, muttering to herself, “Little Mush… Little Fish, I’m sorry. Sister is doing this for your own good. Don’t blame me.”

With that, Teng Xi lunged forward, using her palm to strike the back of the child’s neck, carefully avoiding the gland. The child went limp in Teng Xi’s arms and fell into a deep sleep.

“Little Fish, you’d be in pain while awake. Better to sleep through it. Maybe you’ll be fine when you wake up, right?” Teng Xi said the last part with zero confidence. God knows if biology class ever covered this.

Enduring the agitation of the pheromones, Teng Xi found some cushions to lay the child on and applied ice packs to her forehead to lower her temperature. Then, she moved as far away from her as possible.

The gardenia scent still lingered. Outside the glass walls, a never-ending stream of zombies shuffled toward the pharmacy, and the door began to rattle. Teng Xi moved more medicine cabinets to barricade the entrance and then eyed the glass walls. The explosion-proof glass was thick, but she didn’t know if it could withstand the relentless pounding of so many zombies.

For a moment, they were like turtles in a jar, surrounded on all sides by monsters wanting to devour them.

Night fell, and the hallway was pitch black, save for the flickering indoor lights. The electronic clock in the pharmacy pointed to midnight. It had been eight hours since the differentiation began.

Fortunately, the glass hadn’t shattered. Miracorously, the scent of the child’s pheromones began to fade, and the zombies’ assault slowed down. Five hours later, the Omega pheromones stopped intensifying.

Teng Xi, who had been resting with her eyes closed, opened them. She looked silently at the cracks forming in the glass and walked over to the child, who was slowly waking up.

“Little Fish?” Teng Xi helped her up. The bite mark on her forearm had already scabbed over.

The child opened her eyes, looking around in confusion.

“Little Fish? Any discomfort?” Teng Xi propped her against a cushion.

The child blinked, revealing a small tiger tooth. “Sister Xi Xi is so silly. I’m not Little Fish. I’m Little Bird now.”

Teng Xi: ?

“A little bird that can fly.”

Teng Xi: Great. She wakes up and changes species again.

“Sister Xi Xi, I feel bad. I just dreamed that Star came to pick me up.” The child wrinkled her face, unhappy.

“Where does it hurt? Are you still hot?” Teng Xi frowned at the gardenia scent that had nearly stopped dispersing. This contradicted everything she knew—differentiation usually takes five to ten days, yet this kid finished in less than one?

The child shook her head and pointed to her arm: “It hurts here.”

Teng Xi’s pupils shrank. She wasn’t sure if this was a sign of zombification. Searching her mind for zombie traits, she used her flashlight to peel back the child’s eyelids.

Sure enough, the once-clear eyes were now cloudy, and the irises were beginning to bleed outward.

“Sister Xi Xi, I’m going to find Star to play. You should go find Doctor Shi Yun too.” The child seemed to sense something, but there was no sadness on her face—only innocence.

Teng Xi snapped her head up. “Shi Yun? Who is Shi Yun?”

The child seemed surprised by the question and pouted. “Don’t try to trick Little Bird. Little Bird heard what you said to Star. Doctor Shi Yun has what you need.”

The Star that turned into a zombie? Teng Xi wanted to scream.

The child clutched her forearm in agony. “Sister Xi Xi, Little Bird hurts. It hurts so much.”

Teng Xi smelled the pheromones, which had now stopped completely. Her sense of dread reached its peak. The child was crying in her arms as the cloudiness spread to fill her entire eyes.

A bitter feeling welled up in Teng Xi’s heart. Clutching a painkiller, she no longer hesitated and injected it into the child. The clear liquid flowed in, and the effect was immediate; the child’s furrowed brows relaxed, her face stained with tears.

“Sleep for a bit, Little Bird. When you wake up, you’ll find Star.” Teng Xi’s voice was a whisper.

Soon, the sedative in the painkiller took effect. The child’s body relaxed. In the end, Teng Xi didn’t know if she heard the words, but the slight curve of her lips suggested she wasn’t in pain.

As the body in her arms grew cold, Teng Xi felt dazed. For a moment, she wasn’t sure if yesterday was real or just a fantasy. She placed her hand over the child’s wide-open eyes and was surprised to find that the dark, cloudy eyes had returned to human clarity.

If her sense of smell were sharper, she would have noticed that the recovery of the eyes and the cessation of pheromones happened at the exact same time.

The air was still thick with the sweet scent. Outside, the zombies continued to batter the glass. The cracks multiplied, and the door groaned. Teng Xi looked at them with indifference, a sense of detachment washing over her.

She was the only living person left in the room. She smirked ironically. Was she really going to die here for no reason?

The slump lasted only three seconds. Teng Xi’s gaze turned fierce. Why should she die like this?

Searching the room, she found a ventilation duct in the ceiling. It was pitch black inside, and she didn’t know where it led. Looking at the horde outside and then at the child beside her, she made an immediate decision.

With a series of thuds, Teng Xi knocked over several medicine cabinets to create a makeshift staircase, leaving one standing upright. If she climbed it, she could reach the duct. She propped herself up and easily flipped into the vent. It was dark.

The sound of heavy pounding was deafening, mixed with the sound of cracking glass. It would collapse any second. Teng Xi looked down at the child on the cushions. If the zombies broke in, there would be nothing left of her.

The image of the “cannibalism” she saw upon waking flashed in her mind. Teng Xi cursed under her breath. She tossed her backpack into the duct, stepped out onto the cabinet, and jumped back down. “Hell! If I die, I die!”

She moved at lightning speed, using her scalpel to slice through the window curtains. The zombies were inches away; the foul stench of rot filled her nose. The broken glass made her heart race, though she couldn’t tell if it was excitement or fear. The blackout curtains were heavy and strong. Teng Xi quickly tied the child to her back.

Even with the extra weight, Teng Xi felt no strain. The muscles in her arms bulged as she propped herself back up onto the cabinet. With a shout, she leaped back up toward the vent.

At the exact moment her feet touched the top of the cabinet, the glass wall shattered. A sea of zombies pushed inward—a sight that made her skin crawl. What started as a small breach became a massive opening as they crushed themselves forward, glass shards flying everywhere.

Teng Xi looked back toward the duct opening and realized a problem.

The opening was too small. Both of them couldn’t fit through at the same time.

And right then, the zombies reached the cabinet beneath their feet.