The Zombie I Flirted With After Losing My Memory, Who Was Pretending to be an Alpha, Is Actually My Ex - Chapter 40

The two strolled through the tree-shaded alleys, feeling the breeze on their faces. Ignoring the gazes of others, they were uninhibited and at ease, as if this were just an ordinary island, an ordinary morning, and they were just an ordinary couple.

If only everything truly were ordinary, Teng Xi thought.

The medical staff looking after them no longer followed, giving them private space. But they both knew that with the island’s omnipresent surveillance, this space could never truly be private.

As they neared the seaside, Xie Jinbing bought an oil-paper umbrella at a stall. Only a few scattered tourists came to the island once a month, so there weren’t many vendors selling such things, yet Xie Jinbing found one with practiced ease.

Teng Xi took the umbrella and opened it, tilting it gently toward Xie Jinbing to block the stinging sun. “Sister Xie, you seem very familiar with this place.”

Xie Jinbing naturally slipped her arm into Teng Xi’s, hooking her elbow. “I worked here for a year, and the island is so small; it’s hard not to be familiar.”

Back when the two broke up, it happened to be the year Xie Jinbing graduated. It was precisely because her heart had been shattered by Teng Xi that she had unhesitatingly agreed to work at the Red House base—to stay far away from that place and that person.

Back then, she tried to use work to numb herself, but the effect was minimal. During those times, she would wander aimlessly around the island to empty her mind. Aside from the areas beyond her security clearance, she knew every blade of grass and every tree like the back of her hand. Now that the person she loved was by her side, she only wanted to hold her hand, regardless of anything else.

Teng Xi thought about it but felt something was off. Pouting, she asked, “Why did you think of coming to such a remote island? With your grades, you should have been able to enter the best hospitals in the city. Why come to this remote place to deal with someone like Qi Yin? Besides, this island only gets one boat a month—wouldn’t we have been in a long-distance relationship?”

Xie Jinbing glanced at her and said half-truthfully, “We had a fight.” It wasn’t clear if she was answering the first part or the second.

Teng Xi felt her eyelid twitch. She gripped Xie Jinbing’s hand tightly and said pitifully, “Wife, I love you! Whatever ‘Teng Xiao-Xi’ did has absolutely nothing to do with the current Teng Xi!”

Xie Jinbing let out a light laugh, her beautiful peach-blossom eyes narrowing, successfully amused by the other’s rogue-like behavior.

Teng Xi took the opportunity to steal a kiss, but she remained suspicious. She didn’t believe Sister Xie would work under Qi Yin simply because they had a fight; moreover, this place was far less peaceful than it appeared. The fishermen maintained a high level of vigilance regarding the arrival of an Alpha. If it weren’t for Doctor Xie standing beside her, they likely would have charged forward with clubs for a group beating.

Leaving the residential alleys, they reached the road along the coast. The asphalt gathered heat, waiting for someone to step on it before venting it all at once; combined with the salty sea breeze, it felt sticky and stifling against the skin.

“It’s already this hot in April,” Teng Xi commented, adjusting the umbrella to ensure her companion stayed in the shade.

“When midsummer comes, it will only be hotter,” Xie Jinbing leaned closer to her. Her skin temperature was significantly lower than a normal human’s, and a wave of coolness spread through Teng Xi’s arm.

Her greyish-pale skin had been treated before she left the ninth floor, replaced by a porcelain-white complexion that looked even fairer in the sunlight, leaving no room for suspicion. If Teng Xi hadn’t seen Xie Jinbing the night before and known her body was still in a state of zombification, she too would have been fooled by this flawless skin tone. She reached out to touch Xie Jinbing’s forearm; her fingertips felt only the texture of skin, without any stickiness of cosmetics.

“This is specially made by the base to cover the natural color of the skin,” Xie Jinbing caught the “paw” that had begun to wander over her arm.

“I feel like the base has prepared everything for the apocalypse.” Under these circumstances, rather than calling this place a secluded paradise, it was more like a refuge for the end of the world—even such minute details were handled with ease.

Xie Jinbing opened her mouth to speak but ultimately said nothing.

Crossing the road, they reached a harbor where fishing boats were moored. The fishermen had begun shouting to sell their catch early in the morning. Their skin was tanned dark, and they skillfully selected goods for customers while speaking a dialect Teng Xi couldn’t understand.

Near a fishing boat, an elderly woman was briskly cleaning the seafood her son had caught. Her calls were even more energetic than the young girl’s beside her, showing no signs of her age. Her sharp eyes spotted Xie Jinbing in the distance immediately.

“Doctor Xie! Doctor Xie!” The old woman waved at the two of them, her face beaming with a sincere smile, devoid of any prejudice.

“Grandma Nan,” Xie Jinbing led Teng Xi over, rolled up her sleeves, and naturally began to help.

“No, no, no, little one, don’t do that. Your Big Brother Nan caught your favorite fish this morning. Come to our house for lunch!” Grandma Nan hurriedly blocked Xie Jinbing’s hands and pushed her toward Teng Xi, speaking in somewhat unpracticed standard Mandarin, radiating warmth.

The fish in the baskets were full of life, their tails splashing water onto their trousers and hems, soaking them and bringing a salty, fishy smell of the sea. But neither of them left; they stayed close to the old woman.

Even though the grandmother tried to stop them, they didn’t just stand there. Xie Jinbing pulled the old woman’s hand to lead her up the steps and took the fishing net from her feet, starting to clean it with agile hands. Teng Xi stuffed the umbrella into the grandmother’s hand and followed her wife’s lead to get busy. Though her movements were much clumsier than Xie Jinbing’s, she managed not to get in the way.

Grandma Nan was stunned by their coordination. When she snapped out of it, she made a move to help again.

Teng Xi grinned at her, revealing a canine tooth. “Grandma, since you’re inviting us to eat fish, we have to meet the fish personally and remember its heroic sacrifice.”

Grandma Nan laughed at Teng Xi’s words, muttering “you silly girl” with a tone that gradually filled with affection.

As the sun rose higher, it scattered scorching seeds upon the world, breeding irritability and anxiety. Yet Teng Xi, by the seaside, felt a sense of calm while doing the repetitive work, which unexpectedly smoothed over the unease of the past few days. Perhaps what truly calmed her wasn’t the repetitive task itself, but doing it alongside the person by her side.

She straightened her back and looked at Xie Jinbing. The fiery red tips from their first meeting had faded; the light pink hair was tucked behind her ear, draping over her fair neck and shoulders. That beautiful profile darted into her heart like a clever fish.

Xie Jinbing, half-squatting by the basket, felt her gaze and looked up.

“I met Grandma Nan when I worked here. I performed surgery on her once, and she treats me very well,” Xie Jinbing explained.

That was during her first trip to the island. The boat had an accident at sea, and an exposed steel pipe had pierced Grandma Nan’s chest. Xie Jinbing performed emergency treatment and held her steady until they reached the island. To everyone’s surprise, after they arrived at the hospital, Qi Yin insisted that Xie Jinbing perform the surgery.

The situation was delicate. Under pressure from Qi Yin, none of the hospital’s doctors dared to act. Qi Yin just stood there smiling at Xie Jinbing, making her skin crawl. Helplessly, Xie Jinbing had to be the lead surgeon.

That was her first year out of school. Even though she had interned at hospitals and spent significant time in operating rooms, she had never been the lead. Yet, the moment she stepped onto the operating table, she was unexpectedly calm; the hand holding the scalpel had never been so steady. Afterward, Qi Yin only tossed her one sentence: “Genius must grow in the midst of hardship.”

At the time, Xie Jinbing felt instinctively that Qi Yin was not a good person. She wanted to tear up her resume and head home—after all, the Red House was just a private clinic, and she could easily find a job at a public institution. But subsequent events made her hesitate, and she eventually stayed.

“Sister Xie, give that to me,” Teng Xi’s voice interrupted her memories as she took the items from her hands.

By the time they finished cleaning up, two hours had passed. A man happened to moor his boat. Seeing Xie Jinbing, he froze for a moment, then quickly jumped off the boat and walked to them, taking the fish baskets from their hands without a word. The weight of the baskets surprised him; he hadn’t expected someone who usually held a scalpel to have such strength.

“Doctor Xie, you’re back!”

Teng Xi looked up. The man’s skin was tanned dark, he had a buzz cut, and the muscles on his arms bulged as he lifted the baskets. He was more than a head taller than both of them, wearing a goofy, honest smile.

“Big Brother Nan,” Xie Jinbing nodded slightly.

Looking at the man’s sturdy frame and tall stature, Teng Xi couldn’t help but feel puzzled. It was rare for a Beta to have such a powerful body; anyone would mistake him for an Alpha at first glance.

The four walked back to the cottage. Big Brother Nan drove a tricycle carrying the catch, following them unhurriedly. He had noticed Teng Xi’s new face early on, and combined with last night’s announcement, he quickly linked the Alpha to Teng Xi. But even knowing her identity, he didn’t say much and continued to smile sheepishly. To be more accurate, he simply didn’t care whether Teng Xi was an Alpha or not.

The Nan family’s home was in a somewhat remote area on the east side of the island. It took them forty minutes to walk there. When Teng Xi saw the somewhat dilapidated house, she frowned imperceptibly. The houses in the center of the island weren’t as luxurious as palaces, but none were as run-down as this. Even the courtyard walls were made of stacked wood and bamboo.

Xie Jinbing didn’t seem to be visiting for the first time; seeing this scene, she said nothing and helped carry the catch into the yard. Entering the courtyard, Teng Xi’s mind was even more full of questions. Their house was very small—a central hall with a bedroom on either side, a tiny kitchen, and a toilet built from wooden planks and old clothes. Everything outside seemed like a facade of prosperity, while this was the reality beneath the paradise.

Logically, such an independent small island shouldn’t have such a severe wealth gap, yet the truth was right before her eyes.

“Good girl, come and sit. Don’t look down on this old woman’s home,” Grandma Nan’s Mandarin was mixed with dialect, making it sound a bit irregular, but it didn’t stop Teng Xi from guessing the meaning. She quickly arranged the seafood in her hands and reached out to take the low stool the grandmother handed her.

“Grandma, you should rest too. You’ve worked so hard all morning.” Teng Xi acted like a filial junior, taking the old woman’s hand and pressing her onto the stool.

The grandmother was clearly pleased, her eyes crinkling into slits as she beamed. She held Teng Xi’s hand affectionately, calling her “good girl” repeatedly. She then turned to her son, who had just finished tidying the tricycle, and with a look of exasperation, her voice rose several levels: “You coward of a boy, why are you just standing there? Go cook, now!”

Big Brother Nan wasn’t bothered. He scratched his buzzed hair, smiled, and turned into the kitchen. “I’m going!”

The three women moved the stools to sit under the eaves, enjoying the shade and the breeze.

“Doctor Xie, is she Xi-Xi?” Grandma Nan swayed a cattail leaf fan in her left hand, took some dried fruit from a bowl on the windowsill, gave a piece to each of the “children,” and looked at Teng Xi with a smile.

Hearing this, Teng Xi raised an eyebrow at her wife. She hadn’t expected Grandma Nan to know of her.

Xie Jinbing nodded with feigned composure and took a bite of the dried fruit. It was sweet and familiar. She chewed slowly, as if the question hadn’t affected her at all. But Teng Xi clearly saw the slight redness at the tips of her ears.

“Grandma knows me?” Teng Xi asked curiously, noticing the slight tremble in Xie Jinbing’s fingertips again. She was now certain that Xie Jinbing had spoken about her to the grandmother.

“I know you! This girl often mentions you…”

“Grandma, this is delicious. Are there other flavors?” Xie Jinbing interrupted, blinking at the two of them in a clear attempt to cover something up.

Grandma Nan loved this treatment; she hurriedly said there were and got up to search inside the house.

“Sister Xie, what did you say about me?” Teng Xi nudged her shoulder, her tone teasing. “Do you often brag to others about how good your wife is?”

It was meant as a joke, but for some reason, it struck a nerve with Xie Jinbing. Her face darkened instantly, her body stiffened, and she stood up, struggling to suppress a surge of hidden resentment. Dropping a quick “I’ll go help Grandma find them,” she walked away quickly.

Teng Xi sat dazed as she watched Xie Jinbing leave in a sudden bad mood, wondering what she had said to make her angry. She took a big bite of the dried fruit in her hand and chewed hard, only to be met with an intense sourness that made her grimace. It felt like the roots of her teeth were about to dissolve. Her whole face wrinkled up, her mouth opened in a silent scream, and her mouth began to salivate wildly.

Grandma Nan seemed to sense that she had tasted the fruit and asked eagerly, “Xi-Xi, how does it taste? Is it delicious?”

Teng Xi looked pained. Recalling her wife’s expression after eating the fruit—which clearly wasn’t this sour—and hearing the grandmother’s enthusiastic question, the scales in her mind tipped. Between “the fruit is sour” and “my sense of taste is broken,” she decisively chose the latter.

“It’s… delicious…” Teng Xi squeezed out the words with difficulty. The next second, she couldn’t take it anymore and rushed into the kitchen to find water.