Amitabha

Having left the RV team, there was finally no one to stomp her awake in the early morning.

However, she still woke up very early today, though not of her own volition.

Ren Anhua’s face flushed red as she took a moment to compose herself in the nest of suits before she could sit up.

She straightened her body, wanting to see if she could stand.

But both her legs were numb and tingling.

Combined with the state of her ankles, she found it surprisingly difficult to stand straight for a moment.

Ren Anhua had no choice but to sit back down in her hundred-thousand-yuan nest.

Her expression was conflicted.

She pressed her hands between her legs as if wanting to do something, but ultimately gave up.

“Forget it. Waking up early is a good thing, I suppose.”

As if having convinced herself, the young girl closed her eyes and waited for a short while.

Her body gradually grew lighter.

The Level Four energy flowing within her reduced the effect of gravity on her body to nearly zero.

Although she had only advanced to Level Four yesterday, Ren Anhua was confident she could quickly integrate this little trick into her life.

With long-term practice and fine control over her energy flow, the energy consumption of a technique like anti-gravity would gradually decrease.

Given Ren Anhua’s talent and the frequency with which she would need this ability, she believed that day would not be too far off.

Relying on what was still a rather extravagant expenditure of energy, the girl regained her mobility.

The faint morning light revealed the store’s interior.

A few, still-slender sunbeams pierced through the room, creating beautiful paths of light in the quiet space.

Ren Anhua half-floated, half-walked to the full-length mirror in the suit shop, wanting to check her current state.

“Isn’t this completely obvious?! Ke Xingmei, that bastard!”

Looking at her reflection, the young girl covered her face and let out a helpless cry.

This was, in fact, the first time she had ever seen her own shy expression.

Although she knew from the reactions of others that the expression was quite awful, it was only when she saw it for herself that she truly understood its sky-piercing level of awfulness.

This was practically an invitation.

So thought Ren Anhua.

The thought that this expression was appearing on her own face made her desperately wish for an ability called “Invisibility.”

The most crucial part was that this expression was not under her control.

It would appear whenever she felt shy.

This could easily lead to misunderstandings.

She was merely feeling shy, but if someone else saw it, they would probably think she was in heat.

For the sake of her own reputation, Ren Anhua felt she needed to manage her emotions properly.

In short, an emotion like shyness was absolutely unacceptable.

After calming herself down upstairs for a while and seeing her pupils return to their star shape, Ren Anhua finally dared to go downstairs.

Ren Anhua put the oversized hoodie back on.

On her small frame, the hoodie was large enough to cover half of her thighs.

This conveniently hid the shut-off valve attached to her white stockings, preventing any awkward misunderstandings.

Ren Anhua had actually wanted to find a pair of pants, but after rummaging for a long time, she found that not a single pair here would fit her, so she had to give up.

The tingling numbness in her legs gradually subsided, and Ren Anhua tried to walk on her own two feet again.

Although she had no shoes, walking was not a problem.

The padded soles of her stockings felt soft and were quite comfortable to walk on.

However, if possible, Ren Anhua still hoped to find a pair of shoes to wear.

While she had no trouble walking, from others’ perspective, living and walking around day after day wearing only a pair of white stockings was surely still very strange.

Besides, without shoes, standing still was very difficult.

She generally had to rely on anti-gravity levitation to do it.

For some reason, Ren Anhua found that since becoming a girl, she had started to care about what others thought.

In the past, when her high-temperature ability was active, she wouldn’t have felt the slightest bit of awkwardness even when walking around without any clothes.

Could this be a sign that her mind was beginning to feminize?

Ren Anhua grew a little worried.

She felt this was a very dangerous signal.

Fortunately, she eventually figured it out.

If, in the past, she had been wearing an unremovable sukumizu and a pair of equally unremovable white stockings, she would have become just as concerned with others’ opinions.

After all, such an outfit was even more shameful than being naked, especially when worn by a man.

Luckily, the hoodie provided decent coverage.

At least, no one could see the sukumizu she was wearing.

Wearing a sukumizu as everyday attire would be considered strange by anyone.

Ren Anhua had no desire to let others know she was constantly wearing such a subtly suggestive piece of clothing underneath.

However, while the hoodie concealed most of the sukumizu, it couldn’t hide the two small white straps on her shoulders.

One side of her round, fair shoulder would always peek out.

If she pulled up the left side, the right side would pop out; if she pulled up the right side, the left would emerge.

She could never cover them both completely.

Not to mention her soft, white shoulders, the swimsuit underneath was also faintly visible, carrying an inexplicable allure.

“Why would Lu Shanshui buy an off-the-shoulder hoodie? The man is a total pervert,” Ren Anhua thought.

As for why a hoodie had turned into an off-the-shoulder minidress on her, Ren Anhua had absolutely no self-awareness.

Ren Anhua checked herself in the mirror several times.

Aside from the shoe and shoulder issues, there was nothing else particularly strange.

Come to think of it, she was actually quite cute.

No wonder Bai Rui always liked to hug her.

A strange sense of pride welled up in the girl’s heart, yet she felt it wasn’t something she should be proud of.

She went downstairs and found the monk still sitting quietly against the wall, though he probably wasn’t as quiet as he appeared on the surface.

Because there were now more zombie corpses outside the store.

Although Ren Anhua’s memory wasn’t her strong suit, she could still tell the difference between a dozen and several dozen.

“Monk, thanks.”

Come to think of it, this monk had helped her out quite a bit.

Wobu Zai was just small fry, that was one thing, but without this monk, she really wouldn’t have known how to deal with the trouble that was Cui Jian.

“It was a small effort, no thanks are necessary. It would not take much effort for Patron Ren to deal with these as well.”

Although the monk’s eyes were closed, he was not asleep.

As a lone wanderer in the apocalypse, he was exceptionally competent, completely unlike a certain someone who disappeared from sight the moment she burrowed into a pile of suits.

But this couldn’t be helped.

It had been a long time since Ren Anhua had survived alone in the apocalypse like this.

Or rather, she had never really had the experience of surviving alone in the apocalypse.

In the early days, she had led a team of three.

Later, the number of people who joined only ever increased.

She really had no experience with things like standing watch at night.

“By the way, I still don’t know your name, Master.”

The monk had been very polite the entire time, which made Ren Anhua feel that it was a bit rude to keep calling him “Monk.”

“This humble monk’s dharma name is Shi Mu. Patron Ren may simply call me Shi Mu.”

“Oh, Shi Mu. Nice name. It means… what was it… ‘to look down on everyone,’ right?”

“The eye (mu) is the direction of human intent. Shi Mu means to release worldly desires and worship the Buddha with a pure heart.”

“Uh… close enough. Master Shi Mu, you were in the Red Blade Team, and you call me Patron Ren. You must know very well who I am.”

“This humble monk is naturally aware. Patron Ren is a great hero of our time, but it is a pity your inner fire burns too fiercely, making you prone to an early demise. A blessing in disguise, as they say. Patron Ren’s current situation may, perhaps, be a blessing.”

The monk seemed to have seen through Ren Anhua’s thoughts, directly answering a question she had not yet asked.

“….In any case, since you know who I am, I’d appreciate it if you didn’t treat me like a woman. It makes me uncomfortable.”

“Amitabha. The Buddha offers salvation to all living beings; there is no distinction between man and woman.”

Ren Anhua felt that this monk, Shi Mu, was a bit of a charlatan.

Just yesterday, he had chased Cui Jian across great distances to deliver him to the afterlife, yet now he could speak in a way that gave one a sense of great compassion.

“Anyway, do you have any plans on where to go next?”

Ren Anhua finally asked the question she most wanted to ask.

After yesterday’s events, she felt a desperate need for a combat-capable teammate.

This monk, Shi Mu, had the ability to hunt down Cui Jian, so his combat power was likely not low.

Most importantly, he gave off a sense of being without desire or attachments, yet he was not lacking in decisiveness when it came to killing.

He was an excellent teammate in this apocalypse, especially for the current Ren Anhua.

Having just looked in the mirror, Ren Anhua had a pretty good idea of what she looked like now.

Shi Mu’s pursuit of Cui Jian should make him an enemy of the Red Blade Team.

Coincidentally, Ren Anhua was also an absolute enemy of the Red Blade Team.

Based on the rule that the enemy of my enemy is my friend, having him as a teammate shouldn’t provoke any resistance from him.

“Life is a trial everywhere. To this humble monk, it makes no difference where I am.”

“That’s perfect, then. You can follow me. The apocalypse is harsh; an extra person means extra strength. I’ve been a boss for two months, I understand that much. In this world, it’s very difficult for one person to survive alone. If our numbers grow in the future, you’ll be my second-in-command. I won’t treat you poorly.”

“Patron Ren, if you require this humble monk’s assistance, you need only speak plainly. Goodness is the foundation of the Buddhist path; this humble monk will not refuse.”

Shi Mu’s words made Ren Anhua blush a little.

After all, she was the one asking for help now; putting on such a high-and-mighty posture was indeed a problem.

“Um… can you partner up with me? I have no problem dealing with zombies, but I’m worried I won’t be able to handle humans.”

Ren Anhua finally stated her true intentions, though it made her feel as if her authority as a boss was being diminished.

“Amitabha.”

(TL note: Amitābha (阿弥陀佛 – Āmítuófó in Chinese) is the name of a celestial Buddha. In many forms of East Asian Buddhism, chanting his name is a central practice.)

(TL note: PS. The Buddhist and Taoism content in the book is purely fictional by the author. Please don’t take it too seriously. Don’t try to debate with me about Buddhist scriptures because I haven’t read them.)