I had just woken up. The bright white light on the ceiling stabbed my eyes, and I immediately closed them again.
Immediately afterwards, a large shadow loomed over me.
"Grandma Bai said you have a human heart," came the voice of that guy, Si Jiangchen. "Then stay by my side. Let me see whether you're human or ghost."
"Ugh..."
My stomach ached badly, but my fingers desperately clutched at the corner of his clothes, and my lips mumbled.
"What do you want to say?"
Si Jiangchen's voice sounded beside my ear. I could smell the faint fragrance of tobacco on him.
"Let me... stay with you. That's okay..."
I spoke weakly. Every breath I took tugged at the sharp pain in my stomach wound.
"Do you still have conditions?"
Si Jiangchen didn't expect that in my current state, I still thought I had the ability to bargain with him. There was a hint of mockery in his voice. "Speak..."
"Uh..."
I took another small breath, gathered a bit of strength, and then said, "Kill that... Shu Ya! Then I'll stay with you!"
"What?!" Si Jiangchen was stunned for a moment. He reached out and pinched my chin. "What did you say?"
"I said!"
I suddenly shouted into his ear with all my strength, "I want that 'Shu Ya' to die. Let her get shot just like me. Then I'll stay with you!"
That bastard 'Shu Ya' tricked me into getting shot. If she had just killed me directly, it would have been fine. But now I'm in such half - dead pain. How can I swallow this anger?
"No," Si Jiangchen refused me without hesitation as expected. "She's my savior. I owe her my life."
"Then... I won't stay! Sooner or later, she'll frame me again!"
After saying these two sentences, I gasped in pain again. Not only did my stomach hurt, but it also felt like there were countless hands churning in my stomach. A hunger so intense that I wanted to bite something was growing crazily in my heart.
"Du Xinghe, do you think you can still walk?"
Si Jiangchen suddenly trapped me in his arms. His huge shadow loomed over me, blocking the blinding light. When I opened my eyes, I saw his extremely good - looking face less than half an inch away from mine.
"If I hadn't bitten Lin Shuya, I would have killed everyone in Du Yang Town just like you. She saved my life, which also saved the lives of everyone in that town..."
There were glimmers of dark red charcoal in the depths of Si Jiangchen's eyes. "Du Xinghe, all of this is thanks to you. How dare you bargain with me?!"
"Nonsense! I didn't kill anyone. The people in Du Yang Town were all killed by your Si family!"
I endured the impulse to bite his neck and tried my best to defend myself.
A Wen said that the Si family brought an army and wiped out our Du family, turning Du Yang Town into a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood!
"Why would our Si family kill people? We were killing zombies, Du Xinghe!"
The cold smile on Si Jiangchen's face made my heart shrink involuntarily. Si Jiangchen practiced Taoism, and his Si family was the orthodox of the Taoist sect. Saying that they massacred ordinary people... it seemed, really impossible!
But if they weren't massacring the town but killing zombies, then... where did those zombies come from?!
I felt dazed.
"A Wen, where is A Wen?!"
I suddenly grabbed Si Jiangchen's hand. "A Wen knows everything. Let him tell me. I don't believe you!!"
"… Miss, I'm here!"
A small voice came from the end of the bed. I pushed Si Jiangchen away forcefully. "A Wen, tell me. What on earth happened?!"
A Wen's small bald head came closer. "Miss, don't believe this bastard's words. You're a good person! You were harmed by the master and the others, but... but you're a good person. You didn't even have the heart to eat me in the end... I, I didn't see anything. I only saw him!!"
A Wen pointed at Si Jiangchen. "He brought a lot of soldiers. He shot people's heads one by one!"
I looked up at Si Jiangchen. He just stood there with his arms folded, coldly staring at A Wen and me, not even bothering to explain.
Grandma Bai beside us shook her head. "Those are all things of the past. Don't try to dig into the bottom of it anymore... Live a good life in the future. Xiao He, with Grandma Bai here, you can rest assured. You and Mr. Si will both live like normal people."
"Grandma Bai, do you mean... I'm not a normal person?"
I actually already knew the answer in my heart. The uncontrollable hunger after being injured made me have a strong desire for fresh flesh and blood in my heart!
I had to bite my own arm desperately.
Grandma Bai sighed. Suddenly, a long and thin silver needle appeared in her hand. Like lightning, it pierced into the acupoint between my eyebrows.
"Xiao He, don't be afraid. Grandma Bai will treat you well. After you wake up, you'll forget everything and start a new life."
Grandma Bai's voice was very kind. The restlessness in my heart was soothed. It was as if a clear ice lake had suddenly washed through my mind, flushing away all the messy thoughts and leaving my mind clear...
After that, I heard Si Jiangchen's voice again.
"I don't believe you monsters. I have my own talismans."
"Mr. Si, you're from the orthodox Taoist sect, but there's corpse poison in your body. Since ancient times, good and evil can't coexist. You should pay more attention to your soul... Even if the talismans can suppress it, you'll still have the desire to suck blood. If you don't want there to be a second or third Lin Shuya, then treat Xiao He well. Her blood can quell your desires..."
Grandma Bai murmured, stabbing needles into my forehead, neck, and chest one after another.
I felt as if my heart was covered with a thick layer of frosted glass. I could no longer see the ashes at the end of the abyss. Those dark red flames were only left with some faint light spots, gradually disappearing into my consciousness...
The morning sunlight shone in through the half - opened curtains, splitting a ray of light on the dark red floor and climbing up my face along the edge of the bed.
I had been awake for a while, lying in bed thinking about where I was.
There was a soft sound of the door opening. I looked back and saw an elderly woman walking in with a small tray in her hand.
"Xiao He, are you feeling better?"
As she spoke, she placed a small white porcelain bowl with floral patterns on the table beside my bed.
"Grandma... Grandma Bai, where are we?"
I recognized the old woman. She was my savior.
"We're at your fiancé's house," Grandma Bai said. She took two pillows and placed them under me so that I could sit up with difficulty. Then she handed the porcelain bowl to me. The bowl was filled with meat porridge, with green scallions and smooth slices of meat in it. "Try it quickly. This porridge was made by your fiancé himself."
"..."
My mind was a bit muddled. I seemed to think that I had been engaged, but I also felt that I didn't like that man.
However, the hunger in my stomach soon interrupted my wandering thoughts. I scooped up a small mouthful of the porridge and took a bite.
"… Delicious."
I didn't know how long I had been hungry. After tasting this delicious porridge that made my taste buds tingle, I ate it up in a few mouthfuls like a starving ghost, completely disregarding my image.
"Slow down, slow down."
Grandma Bai looked at me and couldn't help laughing. "Your fiancé is really nice. I've never seen a man cook for his woman in the kitchen..."