The Zombie I Flirted With After Losing My Memory, Who Was Pretending to be an Alpha, Is Actually My Ex - Chapter 45

Chapter 45: The Trial

The subordinates stood aside, looking at one another in trepidation, frozen under Xi Youjun’s sharp gaze.

“Mi… Miss…”

The explanations they had intended to offer were swallowed back the moment they saw Xi Youjun’s eyes—a look so piercing it felt like it could draw blood. They lowered their heads, trembling. To the outside world, the current head of the Xi family was merely an unremarkable Beta whom anyone could crush with a flick of their fingers. Yet it was these very “powerful” people who had collapsed within a week of the apocalypse, while the Xi family had endured under Xi Youjun’s leadership.

Xi Youjun retracted her gaze, her fingers tapping rhythmically on her forearm. She turned her head, her eyes locking onto Teng Xi in the corner, her expression unreadable.

Teng Xi sat calmly in her chair, ignoring the gazes being hurled at her from all directions. Her mind was still fixed on the bedridden Xie Jinbing. Her face remained utterly composed, showing none of the anxiety expected of someone facing judgment.

“Is she the Alpha?”

“The published data says she’s a staff member from a Red House branch.”

“Huh? Can the branches outside hire Alphas?”

“This… it hasn’t happened before, has it?”

“But do you remember not long ago, quite a few Alphas came to the island for treatment?”

“Aye, aye, I saw many Alphas come, but they left soon after.”

“True, no Alpha in their right mind would choose to stay on this island.”

The fragmented discussions drifted into her ears. Teng Xi closed her eyes to rest, but she didn’t miss a single word. Shi Yun hadn’t explained the trial process to her; all she could do was wait.

Time ticked away. Soon, the hour hand hit two o’clock.

At the front of the hall, a wooden table about five meters long had been set up. Three people took their seats. Qi Yin was in the middle, flanked by two elderly men whom Teng Xi had never met. They were currently scrutinizing her with probing looks. Teng Xi was unfazed, meeting their gaze and scanning them one by one with unhurried indifference.

The two elders wore casual clothes, unlike Qi Yin, who seemed to have rushed straight from the lab without even changing out of her white coat.

“Time is up.”

In the center of the hall, a staff member held a small bell and rang it gently. All eyes converged on her, and the room fell silent.

“The trial begins.”

Hearing the judgment of her fate announced so dispassionately by a total stranger felt somewhat farcical to Teng Xi.

“Now reading the basic profile of the subject.”

As the words fell, a 3D hologram lit up beside the staff member. A face identical to Teng Xi’s appeared, with fluorescent blue light forming text that detailed her records. The islanders were used to such equipment, but Teng Xi was the only one whose mouth hung open in slight surprise. For a remote island, the technology here seemed to equal or even surpass that of the mainland. This forced her to re-evaluate everything on the island.

“Teng Xi, Female, Alpha, born May 1997. Captain of Team Three, Emergency Response Department, Red House Branch Psychiatric Hospital. Joined May 2020. Home Address: No. 28 Chunlin Street, Lantai City…”

The profile was read out word for word, from her birth year down to her specific awards and punishments. To Teng Xi, it felt like she was listening to the life of a stranger, a detachment she quickly attributed to her amnesia.

The data scrolled across the image. The staff member spent nearly twenty minutes reading it all, swallowing hard at the end. Teng Xi’s record wasn’t exactly legendary, but it wasn’t mundane either. According to the data, during her three years at the hospital, she had handled numerous emergencies. Violent patients were almost always dealt with by her, and she had received over ten personal commendations.

The gazes directed at Teng Xi turned eerie, and whispers began to rise again.

“Wait, she’s that good of a fighter?”

“Holy crap, she even helped the police take down an armed suspect who fled into the hospital. Is she from a special forces background?”

“I told you, this girl looks like trouble.”

“Typical Alphas, always violent. Who would agree to let a ‘violence factor’ stay on the island?”

“Exactly, exactly. If she gets annoyed with us, she could kill us with one punch.”

As they spoke, the crowd instinctively backed away, as if a single look from Teng Xi could cripple them. Even the guards standing behind her showed signs of fear.

“Everyone, please be quiet,” the staff member rang the bell as the situation threatened to spiral. “Now for the second part of the trial: the Judge will declare the subject’s professional development potential upon entering the island.”

Qi Yin stood up, glanced at the script in her hand, and then put the paper down with a look of displeasure, not looking at another word.

“First, as the founder of the Red House, I am personally reluctant to hold this trial. However, Teng Xi has worked hard for the company for three years and has the right to choose to come to the island, so this trial must proceed,” Qi Yin looked exhausted, her makeup failing to hide the dark circles under her eyes, but her voice was strong. “Given the nature of her previous work, the position assigned to her upon entry would be in security. However, since there are no Alphas on the island, her work location will be far from residential areas.”

As soon as Qi Yin finished, the islanders began whispering again.

“I disagree!” The elder beside her suddenly slapped the wooden table. “What kind of ‘security’ can this girl do here? We have a police station in the town center, and as for the security on the mountain—how could a person with only three years of experience interfere with that?”

The elder spoke aggressively, looking at the other elder for support, but the other man kept his eyes fixed on the center of the hall, refusing to engage, clearly wanting no part in this.

The hall ignited with opposition. In their eyes, Alphas were symbols of violence and stupidity. Letting such a person live on the island brought nothing but harm. For decades, there had been no violent thefts here; the police mainly picked up trash on the beach or helped find lost pets. There was absolutely no need for someone like her.

Qi Yin was annoyed by the noise. She shot a look at the elder beside her, radiating an aura that brooked no argument. The elder flinched at her gaze, but as a staunch Alpha-hater, he couldn’t bring himself to let one onto the island. He steeled his nerves and huffed at Qi Yin.

Qi Yin leaned in, her voice low enough only for the elder to hear: “Old Wu, I told you already, Teng Xi is the key to cooperation with Xie Jinbing.”

“Even so, we can’t let an Alpha live on the island. Otherwise, what was the point of everything we’ve done?!” The elder realized he had said too much and looked around frantically to see if anyone had heard.

“If you had a better method, wouldn’t these past few days have been enough to implement it? I haven’t seen Xie Jinbing cooperating much,” Qi Yin glared at him, her tone mocking. “You’re good at inciting the masses, I’ll give you that. I told you all you needed to do was show up—you didn’t even have to speak—and this trial would be over. But you’ve disappointed me.”

The last sentence hit the elder hard. In Qi Yin’s voice, he heard only a chilling calm, the kind of calm used when speaking to the dead. He panicked and turned toward her, but her gaze never returned to him. Cold sweat drenched his back.

“Yes, our island doesn’t need someone to curb violence, because there is no violence here,” Qi Yin spoke again, her voice cutting through the noise and miraculously silencing the room. “But decades have passed. As times change, we face a problem. When our children turn eighteen and leave the island, they will inevitably encounter Alphas. For the island to develop, we must interact with the outside world. Imagine if our children have never met an Alpha—how could they possibly see through an Alpha’s lies?”

The hall grew quiet as the people pondered her words. This was indeed an unavoidable issue. The island’s technology didn’t develop in a vacuum; communication was a prerequisite. Children raised here had no experience with Alphas, which had led to several disappearances of youths who left the island in recent years. This Alpha before them could indeed serve as a “training tool.”

Seeing the crowd wavering, Qi Yin continued: “I can guarantee that Teng Xi’s presence will not affect you. If she steps out of line once, I will personally see her off the island.”

Teng Xi looked at Qi Yin. She had to admit, Qi Yin was a master orator, spinning one persuasive argument after another. No wonder the islanders worshipped her name.

“No! Who says we have to interact with Alphas? My kid went off the island and came back just fine without being tricked! This won’t do!” Someone shouted in opposition, and others followed suit with similar logic.

However, Qi Yin didn’t expect everyone to agree. She only needed to establish a stance. She slowly looked toward a spot on the ceiling where a faint red light blinked. To anyone unfamiliar with the villa, it looked like a smoke detector. No one would guess it was a pinhole camera.

On the other end of the feed, Xie Jinbing sat on her hospital bed holding a tablet. The screen showed the surveillance from the villa, and her expression darkened as she watched the events unfold.