How can my love for you be just…

The convoy advanced slowly through the urban districts of A City.

So far, there had been no incidents.

Ping Chengcheng sat vigilantly on the front of the vehicle, scanning her surroundings.

Song Ning was seated beside her.

A gentle breeze stirred the air.

The temperature today was around twenty-five degrees Celsius.

Faint light occasionally filtered through the towering skyscrapers, casting beams into the canyon-like street below.

Suddenly, the girl felt a sharp pain pierce her temples.

“Hss…”

Ping Chengcheng let out an involuntary sound, her hand flying up to press hard against her temples.

‘Damn it…’

Song Ning looked at Ping Chengcheng with concern.

“What’s wrong, Chengcheng?”

A strange red glint flashed in the girl’s eyes, which Song Ning keenly caught.

“What’s happening?”

A torrent of chaotic thoughts flooded the girl’s mind.

Ping Chengcheng shook her head at Song Ning and closed her eyes, trying to force the thoughts down.

But ten minutes passed, and nothing changed.

‘Am I… really about to lose control?’

‘No…’

A drop of cold sweat trickled down the forehead of the girl, whose eyes were squeezed shut.

A bloodthirsty impulse was trying to overwhelm her mind.

‘I can’t… I can’t! I have to suppress it…’

Her small body began to tremble.

One little hand reached into her pocket, fumbling for the injector.

‘If I really can’t control it, I’ll have to use this.’

“Chengcheng? Chengcheng? What’s wrong with you?”

Song Ning stood up in alarm, looking at the girl before her.

Ping Chengcheng’s eyes were tightly closed, and beads of sweat glistened on her now pale face.

Ping Chengcheng seemed not to have heard her at all, remaining completely still.

It wasn’t that Ping Chengcheng didn’t hear; it was that voices had once again risen from the depths of her mind…

‘She is no longer Ping Chengcheng.’

They clamored, their temptations relentless…

“Join us…”

“Join us…”

“You’re a monster… A monster should treat humans as food. Why do you refuse?”

“Follow your heart. Look at yourself. You desire it so much, so why do you endure this? Why are you still enduring this now!”

Ping Chengcheng’s eyes snapped open.

A flash of scarlet light startled Song Ning.

At the same time, a spine-chilling sensation washed over her entire body.

Just as panic seized Song Ning, the girl opened her alluring little mouth, but what came out was a low, inhuman roar: “Hiss… Roar…”

‘What… What’s happening!?’

Immediately after, the girl moved with incredible speed, pulling something from her pocket and plunging it into her own arm!

The yellow fluid was injected with extreme haste!

Song Ning stood frozen for a moment before swallowing hard.

“Chengcheng?”

She looked at the girl again, only to find her panting heavily, her body looking as if it might collapse at any moment.

Song Ning rushed forward to support her.

“Chengcheng… what on earth is wrong?”

Song Ning couldn’t help but ask.

“What was that thing?”

She glanced at the syringe the girl had carelessly tossed by her feet.

The Kamaz swayed as it rumbled over the potholed concrete road, the motion making the girl a little dizzy.

She lay in the young woman’s warm embrace, delicately sniffing her scent.

With the exoskeleton armor on, she couldn’t smell anything.

The girl let out a slightly bitter laugh.

A heavy look filled Song Ning’s eyes.

She gazed seriously at the girl in her arms, suddenly recalling that Ping Chengcheng had a similar reaction last night.

“Sister…”

The girl in her arms murmured, her voice as faint as a mosquito’s buzz.

She had now lost most of her strength, her control hanging by a thread.

The girl looked up at Song Ning in her exoskeleton helmet.

She stared at the opaque black lenses, as if trying to see the young woman’s eyes.

Even though they were separated by the visor, Song Ning had the strange feeling of being seen through.

Why… she suddenly felt as if she had seen that gaze somewhere before.

“Sister, if I became a monster, what would you do?”

Ping Chengcheng asked softly.

Song Ning froze for a moment.

‘Why ask this question all of a sudden… Could it be…’

A terrible thought occurred to her.

‘No, that’s impossible. Isn’t Chengcheng able to control those bloodthirsty urges?’

“Chengcheng? Are you serious? But…”

She didn’t know whether to believe her or not.

The girl’s pleasant laughter rang out.

“Sister, I’m asking you, if I were to become a mindless monster soon, what would you do?”

Ping Chengcheng asked with a smile, but her voice held a serious note.

Song Ning could see the girl was earnest, but she couldn’t distinguish truth from pretense.

What was Ping Chengcheng trying to accomplish with these words?

Her mind raced with speculation…

‘Is Chengcheng acting, or is she up to something… No! What if what she’s saying is true? What was that injection for?’

Song Ning didn’t answer the girl’s question directly.

Instead, she looked down, her voice hesitant, “Chengcheng, that injection you used just now, what was it for?”

As if she had expected this, Ping Chengcheng only paused for a moment before the corners of her lips curled up, the smile in her eyes not fading in the slightest.

“That…? Sister, that’s the medicine I use to suppress my own monstrous transformation…”

Hearing the girl’s explanation, Song Ning’s pupils contracted slightly.

But soon after, doubt crept in again, her gaze uncertain.

‘Is that true?’

“Sister, I’m asking you, if I really were to become a monster, what would you do?”

The girl pressed on, seemingly very interested in the question.

Song Ning shook her head, temporarily pushing aside the doubts that had just filled her mind.

‘If Ping Chengcheng really became a monster?’

Song Ning’s brow furrowed.

“Chengcheng, if you became a monster, I…”

She hesitated, her words trailing off.

Becoming a monster means you’re no longer the same person.

It’s like when someone turns into a zombie—is that zombie still the person they once were?

No, it isn’t.

“If you really became a monster, I would be heartbroken. But after turning, you wouldn’t be Chengcheng anymore. I would have to kill you.”

Song Ning said this very seriously, delivering an answer she felt was quite satisfactory.

But the girl looked at her with dissatisfaction.

“Sister, is that really what you think…?”

Song Ning was a little surprised.

“Is there a problem with that?”

She found it a bit strange.

‘Isn’t that what one is supposed to do in this situation?’

But the girl just chuckled and shook her head.

“No problem. Since that’s what you think, Sister, then of course there’s no problem.”

Song Ning swallowed, failing to notice the flicker of emotion the girl concealed deep within her eyes.

“Chengcheng, this is the apocalypse, after all…”

“If it were me, if I turned into a zombie, you would do the same, right, Chengcheng? That’s the correct way to handle it.”

“Of course, I know you would be sad, but…”

As Song Ning was speaking, she suddenly felt the girl in her arms gently pushing her away.

She looked down and saw that the girl’s eyes had, without her noticing, filled with tears.

“Chengcheng?”

But the girl pushed her away, staggering to her feet and walking alone to the back of the vehicle.

Song Ning stood stunned for a moment.

Just as she was about to approach, confused, she heard the girl’s trembling, tear-filled voice.

“Sister…”

“Sister, how could my love for you be only that…”