Sister…still enduring?

With the death of the Chimera Core Zombie, the zombies massed in A City scattered like a startled herd.

They marched toward other places… wherever humans were, they would appear.

Small streams of the zombie horde broke off and spread out.

Of course, none of this had a major impact on the A City convoy; unless they encountered a horde numbering in the hundreds of thousands, it posed no problem.

The rest of the journey was peaceful; even the few Special Infected they met were annihilated by their immense firepower.

After establishing several supply lines, the convoy returned to the S City base.

From this day forward, the base would likely never worry about food again.

Even if the military provisions expired, the granary still held seeds.

The S City base had already begun establishing an agricultural zone, though land untouched by the corrosive acid rain was scarce…

March twenty-seventh, in the dead of night.

S City Base, inside the villa.

Ping Chengcheng had slept for a full three days.

When she opened her eyes, she was met with the sight of a familiar ceiling.

‘Where am I…’

Her entire body ached, devoid of any strength.

She lay on the soft bed, a thick quilt wrapped snugly around her.

Shifting slightly, Ping Chengcheng felt as if she were being held in someone’s arms, a gentle warmth spreading through her.

Her neck felt a little sore.

She carefully turned her head and saw Song Ning, fast asleep.

The girl was nestled in Song Ning’s embrace as she slept.

‘Hah…’

She took a deep breath, feeling a profound lethargy seeping from her very bones.

‘Is this the effect of the transformation inhibitor?’

It seemed… to have reduced all her physical attributes to the level of an ordinary little girl.

It was different from when she had first been reborn; with that initial dose, she could feel her strength gradually returning over time.

But now…

The girl could only feel an endless weariness emanating from her body.

Outside the window, the night was thick, the dark clouds heavy and oppressive.

The girl rose quietly, moving Song Ning’s embracing arm away with some effort.

She sat on the edge of the bed, unclothed, her bare shoulders pale and lovely, tempting one to take a bite.

The temperature had recently climbed to twenty-eight degrees, and even at night, it remained above seventeen or eighteen.

A light breeze drifted past as Ping Chengcheng stared blankly at her small hands.

She tried to will her tentacles to emerge from her body, but she couldn’t feel their presence at all.

A wave of panic washed over the girl.

Though she had long known this might happen, Ping Chengcheng still felt a pang of regret.

‘If things are like this… I can’t protect my sister at all times.’

That vial of catalyst had to be saved for a critical moment, kept as her ultimate trump card.

Her trump card for protecting her sister.

The apocalypse was far too dangerous…

Based on what she had learned in the laboratory during the A City operation, and the strange behavior of that Chimera Composite…

Ping Chengcheng guessed there was something about her, and about Song Ning, that held an abnormal attraction for those powerful monsters.

The girl’s gaze grew solemn.

‘The remaining eight monsters…’

They were most likely all ranked within the top ten of the Variant sequence, each one a terrifying foe.

But… they probably wouldn’t appear for a while…

According to her speculation, they were surely hiding somewhere, growing rapidly.

Based on the memories of her past life, they wouldn’t emerge for at least another year into the apocalypse.

At this thought, the girl relaxed slightly.

There was still plenty of time…

First, she would use the S City base as a foundation to build her power, making the base stronger.

Even if those monsters did find her in the future, Ping Chengcheng might just be able to stand against them by then.

At the same time, she would collect the corpses of various Variants.

If the day came when she had no choice but to use the X Virus catalyst…

Then she would devour them all in one go!

She would absorb the abilities and power of every Variant, and by then, she would surely not be much weaker than those monsters.

She clenched her fists, her eyes hardening with resolve.

“Chengcheng, you’re awake?”

Suddenly, a cool, clear voice came from behind her.

Ping Chengcheng turned her head to look at the sleepy-eyed Song Ning and blinked adorably.

“Sister~”

Click.

Song Ning sat up and switched on the light in one fluid motion.

Though still drowsy, she knew this was no time for sleeping in.

At this moment, there were so many things she wanted to say to the girl.

“Chengcheng, why don’t you… put on some clothes first?” Song Ning’s face flushed red, and she turned her head away, a little embarrassed.

Ping Chengcheng was completely naked, and the temptation was almost too much for her to bear.

But the girl shook her head willfully.

“Hmph~ I don’t want to!”

Song Ning was helpless; she could only try her best not to look.

“Chengcheng, so…”

“It turns out, you really are Ping Yan…”

She spoke hesitantly, though she already knew the truth.

When their minds had connected before, she had learned everything, along with the memories.

There was now nothing about the girl, inside or out, that she did not know.

And then there were the girl’s suffocating emotions…

Even now, Song Ning couldn’t quite accept the girl’s attitude toward “love,” but she had decided to try.

It was dangerous, yet so pure, one couldn’t help but be mesmerized by it.

At this very moment, Song Ning wasn’t sure how to face the girl.

She hesitated, her lips parting and closing, but whatever she had thought of saying remained unspoken.

“Sister, what is it you want to say?” the girl giggled, snuggling into the young woman’s embrace.

Her bare skin was smooth and soft to the touch, like holding a piece of warm jade.

Song Ning inhaled her delicate fragrance, her eyelashes fluttering.

“So, how should we… how should we act around each other now…”

Back when they were childhood friends, they were simply that—friends.

Occasionally, one of them would jokingly use the title “sister.”

But now, Ping Chengcheng was Ping Yan.

The whole thing felt absurd to Song Ning, and yet, it had happened.

The truth was right in front of her, impossible to deny.

It was just that…

Song Ning couldn’t shake the strange feeling of seeing Ping Yan’s image superimposed onto the little sweetheart in her arms…

It sparked an urge, a desire to bully her mercilessly, to tease her relentlessly.

That urge intensified when Song Ning remembered all the things Ping Chengcheng had hidden from her.

Shouldn’t she be punished severely?

But their relationship now…

She hesitated, suppressing the desire welling up inside her.

‘How can a person allow their mind to be controlled by desire?’

Song Ning had always considered herself a relatively calm person.

She shook her head, gently kneading the girl’s small chest.

Wait, when had her hand moved there?

Song Ning blushed.

Looking down, she saw the girl’s small hand guiding her own slightly larger one, placing it on her own chest.

Though they weren’t large, they felt exceptionally good to the touch.

The girl’s skin was delicate and smooth, an irresistible texture… and its milky-white color stirred a strange kind of appetite…

Her eyes held a bewitching charm, and her breath was a warm, moist exhalation that directly tempted the young woman.

“Sister… let me guess~”

“Are you perhaps thinking some indecent thoughts~?”

“What do you mean, how should we act, Sister~ Between us, do we really need to think about such things~?”

“Whatever you want me to be, I’ll be~ A lover, a wife, a little kitten, a little puppy, a little pet~ Or something else?”

Her soft, sweet voice coiled around Song Ning’s mind like a succubus’s spell, and the warm breath on her collarbone made her stir.

Her head felt dizzy, her mind growing hazy.

Why was the girl suddenly saying such things? It sounded… insane.

And yet…

For some reason, Song Ning felt an itch deep inside her, like a craving, an anticipation, a yearning… a strange emotion bloomed in her heart.

In that instant, gazing into those alluring, blood-red eyes was like falling into an abyss.

No, more accurately, it was like she was diving in willingly…

Such a cute girl… just looking at her made one want to bully her mercilessly…

“Chengcheng… in that case.”

Her cool voice trembled, unbeknownst to her…

The young woman’s body shuddered, and she shook her head violently.

‘No… what just happened to me? I nearly fell for her trick, that little rascal…’

Song Ning’s brow furrowed.

Just as she was about to speak, the girl leaned forward, pressed a slender index finger to her chest, and lightly pushed her down onto the bed.

Though she could have easily broken free from the girl’s current grip, for some reason, as their eyes met, the young woman lost all thought of resisting.

The girl’s tender pink tongue licked the corner of her lips, her misty eyes filled with a debauched passion.

“Sister, are you still holding back? Because I can’t…”