‘Is this strange?’
The clothes were scavenged, or perhaps they were worn when she was thinner (a claim no one would believe), or maybe she had a penchant for collecting clothing. All these possibilities seemed plausible.
Yet, a subtle unease gnawed at Ling Yechen. Du Lan’s emotional stability over the past few hours, even her slight vivacity, had made the traumatized Ling Yechen feel welcome in the small room. However, the sudden transformation of her own body and the bewildered sensation of having died and been resurrected had imbued her with an almost neurotic keenness.
Leaving the bathroom and returning to Du Lan’s room, Ling Yechen decided against beating around the bush. She asked directly, “Sis, I’m a little curious. You probably can’t wear this outfit you gave me, can you? Is it part of your collection?”
Ling Yechen adopted a façade of innocent curiosity, blinking her blue eyes, but her gaze remained fixed on the subtle movements of Du Lan’s brows, eyes, lips, and teeth.
This was a skill children from high-pressure households learned from a young age: reading expressions and observing nuances.
“No. Those belonged to Li Zilin from next door… she’s already passed away.”
“I see.”
Her response was more candid than anticipated. Or at least, it appeared to be.
“Was she bitten by a zombie?”
Du Lan’s gaze flickered away for a moment, but then she pulled it back.
“She was murdered. Someone took advantage of the zombie outbreak to come to her door and kill her. Her boyfriend. Her boyfriend killed her. I was scared, so I hid in my room and didn’t dare to go out.”
Du Lan’s expression suddenly soured, but she tried her best to regain her composure. “She was my best friend. This year, she would likely have gotten into her dream university, but now… well, just staying alive is a blessing these days, with hundreds of thousands dead nationwide. Still, to die at the hands of a scumbag like that feels incredibly unjust.”
“Where is her body?”
Ling Yechen’s question was delivered with a chilling directness—though, in truth, she hadn’t intended to sound cold. It was the unfamiliarity of this young girl’s body that made her words and actions temporarily ‘energy-efficient,’ lacking embellishment and subtle gestures, thus giving her an air of detached coolness.
Du Lan seemed a little nervous. “I threw her body downstairs because there were still some supplies in her room, and I was afraid to see her corpse…”
“What about her boyfriend?”
“He left then. I hope he got bitten by a zombie, ah hahaha.”
Ling Yechen sensed that Du Lan didn’t want to continue discussing the topic.
‘Perhaps seeing her friend suffer such a terrible fate had left a shadow in her heart.’ Thinking this, Ling Yechen pressed no further. She didn’t notice Du Lan casually retrieve a fruit knife from the pen holder and place it on the corner of the table.
****
That evening, the two girls continued playing games. Du Lan mentioned that the electricity supply would likely be interrupted soon. There was still power now, perhaps because the power station was still operational, but fuel transportation was bound to cease. As for hydroelectric power stations, they required regular desilting and maintenance, so they couldn’t last forever. A blackout was inevitable.
Hearing this, Ling Yechen had an idea. “Let’s check BiliBili. I think there might be something useful there.”
If someone was still maintaining BiliBili, they should post something useful before the power went out.
Her prediction proved true. The interface of the video website, bilabila, had turned grayscale, and the homepage featured a live stream recording from the site owner, Cheng Rui. He was in a confined room, his eyes red. “I just lost my mother. But I know there are many others who have lost even more…”
After his emotions stabilized slightly, Cheng Rui continued to ramble in a faint, reedy voice, explaining that his company had contacted the government and military. Since the bilabila website was forced to shut down recently, he was recording one last video to inform everyone of the situation he knew.
“This is a list of less affected cities nationwide, provided to me by the military. I will read it to you now. If you have the means, you can try to move to these areas. If not…”
Cheng Rui’s lips pressed together, his emotions clearly fluctuating again.
“I probably don’t have the right to offer advice to those of you in distress anymore! I’m safe for now! I’m sorry, everyone! I truly can’t do anything!”
The entrepreneur, usually a target of netizens’ jokes, now had tears welling in his eyes and his Adam’s apple bobbing. The live chat was flooded with comments: [“Read the list first!”] Others were typing: [“Still playing the victim at a time like this! Serves you right for losing your mom!”]
Some even sent donations. Gaudy virtual gift effects danced across the screen, creating a bizarre contrast with the somber live broadcast.
After taking a deep breath, Cheng Rui began to read the list. It comprised over fifty cities, reportedly towns with mild infection rates according to military statistics. For their province, he mentioned two: Jianning and Shanchong.
Ling Yechen recalled that Jianning was where Jing Lan had lived his entire life, located 500 kilometers north of their current position. Shanchong, on the other hand, was 600 kilometers to the northwest.
‘This spawn point was really unlucky, wasn’t it?’
Cheng Rui’s video then devolved into platitudes, with him repeating, “Everyone must believe… believe… that this disaster will surely pass!” The two girls had little interest in watching further and began browsing other content.
A thought suddenly struck Ling Yechen. The other members of the Four Colors Conjecture band also had BiliBili accounts. She said, “Sis, didn’t you just mention Keke? Let’s check her account. She should be in this county.”
“Oh, right!” Du Lan immediately searched for the username “Guerrilla Keke.” It was an account with 300,000 followers, featuring Ryougi Shiki, the protagonist of *The Garden of Sinners*, as its profile picture. Normally, Keke posted bass, singing, and combat tutorials. However, her latest update was from half a month ago.
“No new updates. Hey, but her brother seems to have updated this morning!”
Ling Yechen froze, then quickly leaned closer. Her gaze immediately fell upon a post from an account named “haylan.” It was a photograph of a boy lying in the photographer’s arms, eyes closed, his face tinged with blue.
Ling Yechen felt her blood run cold. She never imagined she would see her former face again.
The post read:
“My best friend sacrificed himself to protect me yesterday morning. He always said he was useless, but I knew he was the bravest. He would step up again and again in critical moments. It’s been like that since the day he met the other members of Four Colors Conjecture.
“Old fans might remember that amazing performance two years ago, with the temporary drummer who joined wearing a Homura Akemi cosplay. Unfortunately, reality doesn’t have the time-reversal abilities of Homura Akemi. Goodbye, IzayoiLing, current drummer of Four Colors Conjecture. I love you.”
As the now-girl Ling Yechen, her eye twitched intermittently. She focused intently on her breathing, allowing the bitter ache behind her eyes to slowly subside.
‘It’s wonderful. He’s still alive. Perhaps he’d be happy to know that Ling Yechen is also alive?’
“I need to contact him immediately!”
“I know haylan’s phone number! I’ll call him right now!” Ling Yechen declared, picking up Du Lan’s phone.
“Wow! You really are a super fan! That’s good, too; maybe we can get some information out of him.”
As she picked up Du Lan’s phone, her gaze unconsciously flickered back to the photo on the computer screen: Jing Lan holding her own corpse.
Suddenly, she noticed something unsettling.
The photo, taken with a phone, recorded the time: 8:00 AM, January 18, 2025.
This morning.
It seemed he had carried Ling Yechen’s body for a whole day, likely intending to find a suitable burial spot.
However, if that were the case, when Ling Yechen, now a girl, awoke this morning, it was still dark. Yet, Jing Lan had posted the update while still holding Ling Yechen’s corpse.
This implied that the girl’s body Ling Yechen currently inhabited was not a transformation of her previous body.
Because both bodies must have existed simultaneously at the same time.