The Zombie I Flirted With After Losing My Memory, Who Was Pretending to be an Alpha, Is Actually My Ex - Chapter 35

Teng Xi experienced Shi Yun’s “man of her word” personality once again. The IQ test arranged for her was scheduled for the very next day. By this time, she was already able to get out of bed and walk, though she couldn’t engage in strenuous exercise. Even the young nurses were amazed at how well she was recovering.

After answering a series of tedious and boring questions, the entire morning had passed.

Teng Xi yawned out of boredom, her eyes carefully scanning everything around her. She only wanted to finish as quickly as possible so she could go do what she actually wanted to do.

The doctor sitting opposite her held the test results in one hand and adjusted his glasses with the other. His gaze shifted back and forth between the results and Teng Xi’s face with an unreadable expression.

“What, am I so smart that you want to eat my brain?” Teng Xi leaned lazily in her chair like a boneless cat. The sunlight from the window spilled over half of her body, highlighting her lethargic posture. She looked extremely comfortable.

The doctor ignored her joke, put down the report, and spoke: “Your IQ is normal, at 120, but…”

“But?” Teng Xi arched an eyebrow.

The doctor suddenly smiled and shrugged, keeping his suspicion that she was holding back to himself. People who come here for IQ tests usually can’t wait to prove how brilliant they are, except for this woman. She appeared to do her best on every question, yet the results across every testing category were controlled at the exact same level—like a top student deliberately controlling their score on an exam.

But what did that have to do with him?

“But I don’t eat brains,” the doctor mimicked her posture, sinking into his chair. He pointed to the landline on the desk. “Do you want me to call a nurse to escort you out?”

Seeing the doctor starting to dismiss her was exactly what Teng Xi wanted. She waved her hand dismissively, rose slowly, and pushed her wheelchair forward. “No need. If you’ve got nothing better to do, you should try solving more puzzles yourself.”

Teng Xi walked very slowly, like a patient who had just finished rehabilitation. She leaned half of her body weight onto the wheelchair but insisted on moving forward using her own two legs.

Leaving the clinic, she headed toward the elevator. The crowd around her grew thicker, and many people cast inquisitive glances her way. This island was only about 300 hectares in size; one could walk across the whole place in a single afternoon. The island had little contact with the outside world, so they could tell at a glance who was a stranger.

Teng Xi was that stranger. Fortunately, their gazes weren’t hostile, only curious, so she simply let them stare at her like a monkey in a zoo.

Exiting the outpatient building and arriving at the fountain, Teng Xi stretched. A warm breeze blew against her, tossing her long hair and revealing a smooth forehead and exquisite features. Some people nearby stood dazed; Teng Xi was fair-skinned, and her phoenix-like eyes were the kind that people could easily lose themselves in. She was also tall, making her stand out remarkably in a crowd.

“He—hello.” A young girl nearby, unable to resist her friends’ prodding and possessing the natural boldness of a fishing family child, plucked up her courage and stepped forward.

Teng Xi looked over. It was a girl with two small braids, looking to be only thirteen or fourteen years old, with an innocent face and a sweet voice.

Teng Xi: “Hello.”

“Are you new to the island?” The girl held her friend’s hand, her face flushing redder under Teng Xi’s gaze.

“Mhm. Does your island rarely see visitors?” Teng Xi had noticed yesterday that everyone around her wore cotton and linen fishing attire, had wheat-colored skin, and spoke a dialect she couldn’t understand.

The girl nodded. “Are you a doctor from the Red House?”

Teng Xi tilted her head, propping her chin up and feigning confusion. “Why can’t I be here for tourism?”

“Huh?” The girl’s heart practically screamed at Teng Xi’s sudden cute expression. “But doesn’t the Red House Medical Center on the island refuse to treat outsiders? Also, the boat that connects the island to the outside world only comes once a month. The next one isn’t for over a week. It’s impossible for tourists to be here right now.”

“Refuse to treat outsiders?”

“Yeah, the Red House here only provides free treatment for locals or doctors from the branch offices. You don’t look like a local, and a few days ago we heard the sound of a helicopter near the lighthouse. So it’s obvious—you must be a doctor from the outside, right?”

The more the girl spoke, the more excited she became, and the more she felt her logic was sound. Thinking she was quite clever, she blinked her large eyes at Teng Xi, looking like a student waiting for praise after answering a teacher’s question.

Teng Xi smiled, not stingy with her praise while doing her best to hide her internal shock.

Teng Xi: “What a clever girl.”

“My name is Wu Xin’er, and this is my friend, Chen Linlin. Sister, what’s your name?”

“Teng Xi.”

“Sister Teng, is it fun outside? Are there really tigers as big as that stone statue?” The girl excitedly pointed to the statue in the fountain, finally revealing her purpose for stopping Teng Xi.

“Huh?”

She scratched her head sheepishly. “We’ve never been off the island; we’ve never seen the outside world. But Mom says once we get into university, we’ll leave the island for school. But once we’ve learned enough, we’ll still come back.”

Teng Xi was surprised. “You’ve never left the island? Then how do you live?” Thinking for a moment, she added, “Is the infrastructure and education on the island sufficient?”

The girl nodded. “Doctor Qi gave us the best resources and even specifically hired teachers from the outside to come back. Even though we are on an island, we don’t lack anything. Mom always tells us to be grateful. Without Doctor Qi, we wouldn’t even be able to go to school or afford to get sick. So when we grow up, we want to do something for the island too!”

The girl’s eyes shone with light, a flame called “faith” burning brightly. She loved her island and she loved Doctor Qi who built it. There wasn’t a single vow in her words, but every sentence was inseparable from her faith.

This feeling made Teng Xi feel strange in a way she couldn’t quite place. She maintained her polite smile and patted the little girl, who only reached her shoulder. “Doctor Qi will be proud of you.”

“So, is life outside good? Do tigers appear everywhere?”

“I heard Mom say there are all kinds of beautiful dresses outside, and everyone lives in such tall buildings, is that true?”

“Right, right, Mom said there are many Alphas outside and told us to be careful at all times.”

“And we have to watch out for the big tigers too.”

“…”

The two girls chattered away enthusiastically. Teng Xi patiently answered their questions, quickly picking up on a key point.

Teng Xi: “Are there not many Alphas here?”

“We never have those annoying Alphas here,” speaking of Alphas, the two girls looked disgusted. “But Sister is so pretty, you definitely aren’t one of those hard and ugly Alphas. I heard an older sister at school say that the Alphas who came before were so scary-looking they made her little brother cry.”

The two girls had no idea that the “gorgeous sister” standing in front of them was exactly one of those “annoying Alphas.”

Teng Xi’s frown deepened as she listened. No Alphas? That was completely inconsistent with social laws. Even if two Betas mated, there was a certain probability of producing an Alpha. Could it be that because the island was so small, only Betas lived here?

The girls’ mood didn’t dampen from talking about Alphas; the topic quickly shifted back to the “outside world.”

Teng Xi’s eyes dimmed slightly, even as she continued to describe to them how wonderful the outside world was.

But what about the real world?

It had become a paradise for zombies. The streets were likely filled with countless severed limbs, organs, and flesh, swallowed by a stinging red. The scent of spring flowers had been replaced by a nauseating rot. There were no people laughing or seeking pleasure, only monsters devouring and slaughtering one another.

She didn’t know how many living people were left in that world they yearned for.

Compared to that, this secluded island truly felt like a paradise on earth.

By the end, Teng Xi felt a bit tired—not physically, but psychologically. Even for someone like her, who could usually spin lies effortlessly, she couldn’t face these innocent girls head-on.

“Sister, why are you here? What’s your illness? Can it not be cured outside?” The girl glanced carefully at the wheelchair in front of her.

Teng Xi smiled, pushed the wheelchair over, and sat down. “No, I’m here to find someone.”

“Finding someone? Who?”

“I’m looking for my fair-skinned, beautiful, long-legged, dear wife, so she can protect me from being eaten by the big tigers outside.” Teng Xi curved her hands into claws and held them by her face, making a tiger-growl gesture to tease the girls, speaking a sentence that was half-truth and half-jest.

The girls’ faces flushed red at her words, and they watched as Teng Xi’s wheelchair rolled toward another building.