The moment her voice echoed through the handset, the sharp and emotive voice revealed this wasn't the usual ice queen but Zombie Qinglan. I wanted to explain myself to the calm and sensible Mu Qinglan, but that couldn't happen right now.
"Qinglan, did you miss me?"
"Eh? Why would you ask that when you abandoned me here!" Her voice sounded flustered and a little shaky—thanks to this. I became confident that she wasn't so angry she couldn't forgive me.
Jiang Qinglan looked much better compared to her earlier embarrassment after she stepped out of the bathroom. Now wearing a cute pair of pyjama pants that suited her nightgown. Her eyes shifted to my phone with a smirk.
Then tilted her head and asked. "Who?"
"I didn't abandon you—"
"You did! And you left with her too!"
"Her?" I sighed, knowing that the zombie Qinglan found Jiang Roulan a threat in some fashion. On the other side of the phone, I could hear Qinglan's heavy breathing while she paced around and then smashed something with a low grunt. "Why did you leave me?"
"Mu Qinglan, shut your mouth for a damn second."
"Aah—!"
I didn't know where it came from, but my voice echoed through the room with a deep cadence, causing poor Roulan to jump with a slight squeak. Even though I knew this side of her wasn't the Mu Qinglan that I knew.
However, it still made me feel a pit in my stomach shouting at her, but I needed to take control of this behaviour now. To teach her and help guide the Zombie side of her into a more productive path.
"Are you listening to me, Qinglan?"
"—I am" Her voice came in after a moment of pause, but the tone and energy of her voice became dull and more like the regular Mu Qinglan.
But I knew better—from the slight habits that didn't suit the normal Qinglan, this was still Zombie Qinglan.
This tantrum wasn't over, not even close.
"You're not a child," I said in a low and controlled voice, lacking my usual softness.
"But—"
"No. You don't get to throw a tantrum and get angry or jealous just because I left you to work on our future survival. I left Shen Yifei, who must have told you where I went and why I left you!"
The moment I scolded her, I heard a sharp intake of breath from the other side, but she didn't answer back or interrupt me this time.
"You think I left you behind? Fine. Be angry. But what you're doing right now—smashing shit, throwing your voice around like a rabid stray—it's pathetic."
A sudden hiss echoed from her end.
The sound of nails dragging across something metal, maybe a fridge door or table.
"You want me to see you as someone I can rely on?" I asked, letting the silence hang for a beat. "Then act like it. Because this... clingy, needy, feral version of you? That's not Mu Qinglan."
"I'm not her," she snarled back in a sharp voice before she continued in a softer, more vulnerable tone. "You don't understand—"
"You're both her. The one who hides everything behind that ice-cold face and the one who's finally letting it out like a leaking pressure valve. And I'm telling you now, you don't get to choose when to snap just because you don't know how to deal with your damn feelings."
"You're being cruel…"
"Maybe," I muttered. "But you're being stupid. You're smart, Qinglan. You're terrifying when you're focused. So use that. Stop chasing me like a kicked puppy. You want my attention? Earn it."
I couldn't believe my own words, but maybe it was the improvement to my spirit. But these were my feelings! And I didn't deny she could become something beyond my imagination, immune to the virus and immensely powerful!
The line remained silent.
Even the static seemed to mask her breathing as Jiang Roulan watched me with an excited and fiery gaze.
"...You'll come back to me, right?" This time, she spoke with a small voice, like a soft kitten meowing after attacking a bigger cat and coiling up.
"I will never abandon you," I said. "But only for someone who doesn't waste their potential and gets angry over foolish things."
She didn't reply for several seconds, and I could hear her chewing her lips.
"...Alright," she finally whispered. It was quieter than her usual voice—even the usual Qinglan didn't speak so softly. She sounded obedient but not quite submissive. However, the sweet hum made me feel she hid something else beneath that response, something a little twisted and dark.
Then she hung up without another word.
Once the call ended, I gazed at the system interface and my phone for a while, able to see my reflection in the dark glass. Then turned towards Jiang Roulan, who stood with her arms crossed and a bitter smile.
"You're really good at breaking hearts," she said.
I slid the phone into my pocket, pretending to have used it.
"I'm not trying to break them," I replied. "I'm trying to make them stronger."
I couldn't help but feel a little tired, rubbing my face before speaking to the system, hoping for a complete fix in the future.
A living dead wasn't easy to tame.
'System will the two sides ever synchronise?' I didn't want to be dealing with this forever.
[System Hint: Once she has stabilised and come to terms with her issues.]
The system didn't speak about them as two different people. This hint made me more confident about my words to her earlier. I used how well I knew the usual Mu Qinglan to infer that Zombie Qinglan was the same woman, just revealing her hidden emotions and suppressed desires.
"Well, you didn't do the best but it was a passing grade." Jiang Roulan pushed off the wall and climbed onto the bed, sitting beside me as we both looked out at the destroyed landscape.
It hardly felt like three days had passed.
"I cannot believe the world has fallen apart in just a few days... It was only three days ago I was being fired from my job."
"Huh?" Jiang Roulan turned to me with a strange sound, her brows raised before she inspected my face and spoke again. "What do you mean? it's been almost two weeks since the zombies first appeared!"
This time, it was my turn to be confused...
"What? That's impossible, I saved Mu Qinglan on the first day... it's only been two days since then! I met you on the second night."
However, she didn't look convinced, and her face scrunched up, a look of confusion as she grabbed her phone from the table, tapped it a few times and then showed me the calendar app with a news widget.
My eyes scanned the various dates and cute notes... before I saw the day I was sacked, on the 1st of April 2025. But now the calendar marked it was Thursday the 17th!
'Is this some kind of bad April Fools...?'
'System why does her phone say that it's the 17th!? You have been with me all along!'
A moment of silence passed before the feminine voice sounded in my mind.
[System Message]
To fight the infection from her initial bite.
The host was in a 14-day coma after saving Mu Qinglan.
During this time, Mu Qinglan spent 13 days alone caring for you in her zombie form...
And only returned to normal after you woke up.