The Zombie I Flirted With After Losing My Memory, Who Was Pretending to be an Alpha, Is Actually My Ex - Chapter 30

Chapter 30: Confrontation

“It’s no use. The hard drive was physically destroyed; no data can be retrieved,” Si Qinghan reminded her.

Xie Jinbing frowned, her fingers continuing to tap rhythmically on the keyboard. Teng Xi, on the other hand, voiced a question: “Oh? Aren’t you all here to rescue someone? One would think you were here to steal classified data instead.”

Si Qinghan was choked by the remark and decided it was best to remain silent.

A lingering, awkward silence instantly filled the room. The reason they had given Teng Xi previously was a rescue mission, yet now they were openly discussing checking computer data in front of her. It was a blatant contradiction.

Teng Xi laughed and patted Si Qinghan on the shoulder. As she walked past her, her fingertips twitched subtly before she moved toward the bookshelf.

She raised her Miaodao, letting the scabbard slide over the tilted spines of books. Files and documents were scattered everywhere; occasionally, she picked one up to inspect it. “This room is quite a mess. One would think a thief broke in.”

She didn’t explicitly state who the “thief” was, but everyone present was sharp enough to understand the sarcasm.

“Master, stop being so passive-aggressive. I’m getting the chills,” Feng Sisi said, rubbing the goosebumps on her arms. She was frightened by this side of Teng Xi, unable to understand why the atmosphere had suddenly turned heavy when they were laughing just moments ago.

Teng Xi spread her hands. “How am I being passive-aggressive? Is your conscience bothering you, or are you just projecting, my good apprentice?”

Hearing this, Feng Sisi tugged at Yao Zhi’s sleeve in fear. This version of Teng Xi felt like a “smiling tiger”—dangerous beneath the charm.

Xie Jinbing, seemingly accustomed to this, appeared indifferent to the group’s mental sparring. Her eyes swept over the surveillance camera in the room, which was blinking with a red light. Without overthinking it, she continued rummaging through the filing cabinets.

Teng Xi maintained her smile, pacing the room and picking up various novelties to examine, adhering to the principle of “not moving unless the enemy moves.”

Yao Zhi sighed. Her hand inside her pocket tightened around several pieces of paper. She quietly signaled her two companions to take a step back, creating distance from Teng Xi. “Is your friend Shi Yun?”

If they were close with Shi Yun, things were going to get complicated.

Friend? Teng Xi didn’t even know who Shi Yun was, but based on what she had done to Xie Jinbing, Teng Xi was ready to skin her alive. However, she didn’t plan to speak first. If their mission was to save Shi Yun, they might not even be able to remain “friends.”

For a moment, a weird silence fell over the room, broken only by the rustling of papers as Xie Jinbing searched.

Both sides were calculating their next moves, watching one another with cautious, hypocritical gazes—a far cry from the rapport and friendliness they shared a week ago.

“Dammit! Can we stop this? We aren’t enemies! There’s no need to act like this over a dead person!” Feng Sisi finally snapped, unable to stand the suffocating atmosphere. She slammed her blade into the floor.

Xie Jinbing, startled by the outburst, jerked her hand, causing files to scatter like snowflakes across the floor. She glared at Teng Xi, silently telling her to tone down the oppressive aura she was radiating.

“Shi Yun is dead?” Teng Xi looked at them in disbelief, then muttered with annoyance, “And she didn’t even die by my blade.”

Hearing this, the clouds on Feng Sisi’s face cleared instantly. The tension snapped. She cursed under her breath, walked over to Teng Xi, stood on her tiptoes, and threw an arm around her shoulder. “You scared me to death! Master, you should have said you had a grudge against her sooner. I wouldn’t have pushed her out the window just now; I would’ve left her for you.”

“Pushed her out the window?”

“Yeah. You didn’t see it—her face was mutilated by zombies. For the sake of my eye health, my hand just… slipped,” Feng Sisi pulled a card from her pocket and handed it to Teng Xi. “Ripped it off her lab coat.”

It was Shi Yun’s ID card. It showed a very youthful face with signature wavy hair, looking almost like a minor.

“So you just killed your mission objective? What about the money?” Teng Xi flipped the ID card in her hand, asking casually.

Feng Sisi, as expected, let it slip: “Tch, we weren’t here to save her. We were here for—”

“Sisi!” Yao Zhi shouted with a frown, cutting her off.

Si Qinghan rubbed her forehead in exasperation. “Young lady, please wake up. Don’t let her sell you and then help her count the cash.”

Realizing her blunder, Feng Sisi covered her mouth and tried to retreat to Yao Zhi’s side, but Teng Xi grabbed her by the back of the collar, looking at her sinisterly. “My master’s good apprentice, what exactly were you here for?”

Feng Sisi covered her mouth with both hands and shook her head violently.

“For this, probably,” Xie Jinbing interrupted, tossing a file onto the desk. Paper scraps fluttered into the air.

At the sight of the four large characters on the cover, Yao Zhi’s heart skipped a beat. They hadn’t finished searching the office before Teng Xi and Xie Jinbing entered, so she couldn’t be sure if there was only one copy of that data. Seeing Xie Jinbing throw it out made her anxious.

She truly did not want Teng Xi and Xie Jinbing entangled in this.

“What is this?” Teng Xi walked toward the desk. Her eyes flicked toward Yao Zhi, who remained unnervingly calm, showing no emotion.

“You should ask them,” Xie Jinbing said, crossing her arms and eyeing Yao Zhi.

Just as Teng Xi reached for the file, two hands slammed down on it simultaneously to stop her: Xie Jinbing and Yao Zhi.

“And how much does Dr. Xie know?” Yao Zhi’s hand was on Teng Xi’s, but her eyes were fixed on Xie Jinbing. “You work in Section A, Dr. Xie. How much do you know about this?”

What’s going on?

Teng Xi’s gaze bounced between the two, frustrated by the riddles.

“Would you believe me if I said I knew absolutely nothing?” Xie Jinbing said with a half-smile, already having a rough guess about Yao Zhi’s goals.

Yao Zhi simply smiled without speaking—a look that clearly said she didn’t believe a word.

“Hey!” Teng Xi slapped Yao Zhi’s hand away and pulled Xie Jinbing’s hand back as well. “Do any of you respect my opinion? I hate people who talk in riddles the most.”

Picking up the file, Teng Xi was about to open it when Xie Jinbing snatched it away. Her strength was considerable, and since Teng Xi wasn’t on guard against her, she actually succeeded.

“Xi Xi.”

Teng Xi narrowed her eyes at her. It was clear—neither of them wanted her to know what was in that file. However: “Since my ‘wife’ has spoken, what choice do I have?”

Fortunately, she wasn’t overly curious. She winked at Xie Jinbing, her face practically begging for a compliment.

Xie Jinbing’s face turned bright red at the word “wife.” Si Qinghan looked like she had expected this, while Yao Zhi had a much stronger reaction, staring at them in genuine shock.

The atmosphere was once again lightened by Teng Xi in her own strange way.

“So, can we still play together happily?” Teng Xi asked the ultimate question. She moved to Xie Jinbing’s side, her grip tightening on her Miaodao. If Xie Jinbing said “no,” she would strike without hesitation.

Yao Zhi opened her mouth, but before she could speak, a strange noise caught everyone’s attention.

“What’s that sound?” Feng Sisi frowned and moved to the window. The sound was familiar.

“Helicopters,” Teng Xi stated, looking out the window. Several black dots were approaching rapidly from the distance, the roar growing louder.

“Did you activate a beacon?” Xie Jinbing asked with a hint of anger, but all three people in front of her shook their heads blankly.

Sensing something, she suddenly looked up at the red light on the surveillance camera. Alarm bells went off in her head.

“It… it’s the Red House’s helicopters!” At the window, Feng Sisi pointed into the distance, her brows knit tight.

On the helicopters, a red sticker showed a simple line drawing of a house, with “RH” in English at the bottom right.

Upon seeing this, Xie Jinbing grabbed Teng Xi’s wrist. She threw the file on the floor like trash and tried to pull Teng Xi out of the room.

A voice in her head was screaming—Leave! Get out now!

Inside one of the helicopters, a woman in a lab coat adjusted her glasses. Her eyes were fixed on a tablet in her hands. Wearing earphones, she tapped a few buttons and ordered the pilot to speed up.

She gazed toward the Section A building, her eyes landing precisely on that one window. The tablet on her lap showed the surveillance feed of all five people.

Xie Jinbing pulled at the door handle with one hand while holding Teng Xi with the other, but no matter how hard she pulled, it wouldn’t open. The release button was unresponsive.

“Remote lockout,” Si Qinghan frowned. The enemy’s goal was clearly to trap them in the room. She dropped her backpack and pulled out a device, heading for the electronic lock.

“How long?” Yao Zhi asked, her heart pounding as the helicopters drew closer.

“A few minutes.” Si Qinghan held a handheld computer in one hand, her right hand flying across the keys. Feng Sisi stood at the window with a grim expression, tracking the helicopters.

Teng Xi watched the group scramble and arched an eyebrow. “I say, does anyone want to give me a cue on the next part of the plan? I’m feeling a bit lost here.”

Before Teng Xi could finish, Feng Sisi suddenly cut her off, screaming: “Watch out! Si Qinghan!”

With that warning, the glass shattered. Feng Sisi ducked to avoid the flying shards. At the door, a bullet hole appeared, making Teng Xi’s pupils shrink—the handheld computer in Si Qinghan’s hand had been pierced through.

“Sh*t!” Si Qinghan cursed, dropping the ruined computer and rolling away from the door. Teng Xi pulled Xie Jinbing into cover as well.

Now she knew why they needed to run.

Teng Xi crouched with Xie Jinbing behind the wall next to the window. “For the data?”

The file Xie Jinbing had tossed like trash was scattered in front of the desk, but Xie Jinbing shook her head. “I don’t know.”

Teng Xi shifted her gaze to Yao Zhi’s group.

“This time we really don’t know. We did come for the data, but who knew they would show up so suddenly?” Yao Zhi finally spoke their true purpose, hoping to regain Teng Xi’s trust.

In this situation, if they didn’t trust each other, things would only get worse.

Teng Xi frowned and observed quickly. The computer screen on the desk reflected the scene outside—a helicopter was hovering nearby, a sniper perched motionless, aiming into the room.

The roar of the engines filled their ears as more helicopters flew toward the roof.

Teng Xi made several hand signals to Feng Sisi, who nodded, took off her jacket, and used her blade to prop it up in front of the surveillance camera. In the helicopter, the woman’s screen went black, but she didn’t panic.

Immediately, Teng Xi took off her own trench coat and slowly extended it toward the window with her hilt. Even when the entire coat was exposed to the sniper, no shot came. She frowned; the sniper’s goal wasn’t to kill them.

The wind howled through the broken window, lifting the coat on the hilt. Suddenly, the coat was flung away. Teng Xi’s body darted past the window—she raised her hand and fired. The faint sound of a suppressed pistol was swallowed by the roar of the helicopters.

Another bullet immediately slammed into the window frame, but the stray trajectory told Teng Xi she had hit her mark.

Seeing Teng Xi pull out a handgun from nowhere, Si Qinghan felt her own waist and her face changed instantly: “You stole my gun!?”