Lin Tan Tan bit Ye Xiao's lips awkwardly. It wasn't like a kiss, but more like a lost puppy that had just returned home. He bit and licked Ye Xiao's lips out of fear and excitement, venting his emotions through this action.
Ye Xiao was so amused by her that he didn't know whether to laugh or cry. He lay quietly on the ground, holding her in one hand and putting the other hand behind her head, stroking her hair to comfort her, and cooperating with her lips appropriately to guide her.
Gradually, the taste of this chaotic and pure kiss changed, becoming soft and lingering. It was unknown who stuck out the tongue first, wanting to get more. Lin Tan Tan tightly grasped his clothes and pressed his broad shoulders. Ye Xiao also slightly increased the strength of the hand behind her head.
After a long time, they separated, each breathing heavily, looking at each other up and down. Lin Tantan's eyes were red and a little dazed, while Ye Xiao's eyes were full of tenderness and love, and he looked at her tolerantly and quietly.
Lin Tantan's mouth suddenly pursed and she started to sob again, burying her face in his chest and rubbing it back and forth, but this crying was completely different from before, like a wronged and unhappy child asking for a hug.
Ye Xiao hugged her silently, stroked her hair comfortingly, and said softly: "It's okay, I'm here, I won't leave you."
Lin Tan hummed for a while, leaving only a small nasal sound, and hummed in a low voice: "What if I leave suddenly?"
"Then I will go find you. No matter where you are, no one can make you leave me."
Ye Xiao's voice was soft but firm. He meant what he said. He was not confident that he could ignore all obstacles, but he would do his best to protect her. If she suddenly disappeared one day, he would risk everything he had, including his life, to find her again.
Lin Tantan felt the weight of his words and felt relieved. She was really scared. She was afraid and doubtful about everything, fearing that everything would disappear like a mirage in the next second.
But Ye Xiao's words gave her a sense of security. She exhaled, leaned on his chest, and listened to his real and strong heartbeat. She felt her eyelids become particularly heavy, and she fell into darkness uncontrollably.
Ye Xiao didn't hear her response. He looked down and saw that she had her eyes closed and was lying on his chest as if she was asleep. Her breathing was steady and her nose was a little stuffy. Her eyes and nose were red from crying, and there were traces of tears on her face. She looked embarrassed and pitiful.
Her hands were still clutching his clothes, as if she was worried that he would disappear if she let go. This dependent look made Ye Xiao feel both pity and love, and he lowered his head and kissed her hairline again.
But at the same time, he didn't know whether to wake her up or let her continue sleeping. He didn't know if she could bear the nightmare like the previous one if it happened a few more times. But she was obviously very tired, and crying in her dreams was a very energy-consuming thing.
After hesitating for a moment, he still did not wake her up. He reached out and pulled the blanket beside him to cover both of them. He just lay on the ground as a mattress, motionless, just looking at her closely.
If she frowned, he would feel distressed.
Fortunately, she slept soundly and peacefully this time. The moon had set completely. The darkness before dawn was bone-chilling. The wind gradually grew stronger, and it was blowing. Ye Xiao created an air barrier around himself to prevent the cold wind from blowing in.
The sky gradually brightened, revealing a grayish-white color like a fish belly, and then a dull and light sky blue. Then the sun gradually rose, and the morning light illuminated the earth. Ye Xiao turned his eyes and saw the light that automatically passed over the wall at the edge of the roof and shone into his eyes. He lowered his head to look at the little girl in his arms, whose sleeping face was still peaceful. He pulled the quilt higher to block the light shining on her face.
At the same time, he carefully pressed a few times on his watch and found the number z891 through the communication records. The owner of this number was downstairs and was one of the dozen people. Ye Xiao did not have the communication number of other people, so he could only find this person.
He edited a message, which basically told them to go back to the base on their own and to disperse as well. They didn't need to look for him or wait for him. He had something else to discuss with Lin.
In the large supermarket on the two floors downstairs, the shelves were scattered all over the place, filled with all kinds of wrapping paper, torn clothes and the like. As the sky got brighter, the mess became more and more apparent.
More than eighty people have already gotten up, packed up, eaten, and prepared to continue fighting or return to base.
The latter were none other than the dozen or so people from the Zhengyang Brigade who had been hit. They had been trying not to sleep all night and were worried about the future. Their faces and expressions were much more haggard than the others, especially the one who had a nightmare. He was even more listless, with dark circles under his eyes.
Someone asked, "Where are Captain Ye and Miss Lin?"
"I don't know, is he outside?"
At this time, the owner of the account z891 received the message, read it and told everyone the content. No one thought much about it, just thought they left in the middle of the night for something. Someone else said that they heard gunshots from upstairs yesterday, and zombies shouting on the street outside. They probably went to fight zombies. Others also said that they heard the same sound, and couldn't help but sigh that they were really hardworking.
No one expected that they were still upstairs, nor did anyone want to climb two flights of stairs to see if they were still there, so they just dispersed and went their separate ways.
Lin Tan Tan didn't wake up until the sun had risen higher and the shadows on the ground had gradually shortened. Her mind was a little unclear and she looked down to find herself lying on Ye Xiao, with almost her entire body lying on him, the two of them pressed tightly together.
What happened last night flashed through her mind one by one. She stood up immediately. Ye Xiao opened his eyes. They looked at each other for a moment. Lin Tan got up first with hot cheeks: "I, I fell asleep on you like this?"
Ye Xiao smiled and slowly sat up: "Are you feeling better?"
"Ah? Oh, much better. How long have I slept?"
Ye Xiao looked at the time: "From four o'clock to now, it has been more than four hours."
Lin Tantan was a little surprised. This was the first time in so many days that she slept for such a long time at one time. She blinked and found that her eyes were a little dry. This was because she cried too much. Her throat was a little hoarse, which was also due to crying and shouting in her dream.
My face also feels a little dry, which is because the tears have dried and tightened the skin.
She rubbed her face quickly, feeling embarrassed to look at Ye Xiao: "Well, I had a bad dream last night. It was scary, wasn't it?"
Ye Xiao rubbed her head: "It made me very worried, are you still scared now?"
Lin Tantan thought about it and shook her head. She was awake now and felt more energetic after a good sleep, so the dream had less disturbing effect on her mind.
It’s like if a person is afraid of ghosts and the dark, if he lives alone, he may not dare to go to the toilet at night, but he will have no psychological barriers during the day.
She felt that this was almost the case, but when she remembered the vague dream, her heart still sank. That dream was too scary because it was too real and it hit what she was most worried about. Now she couldn't help but doubt, was it really just a dream
Also, if she had that dream again, would she be able to bear it
The answer is basically no.
She felt a little depressed.
"I'm much better now, but it's definitely gotten a lot worse. I used to only have one type of dream, and I knew I was dreaming when I started, and I could wake up on my own. But this time it seemed like I had several dreams. I can't remember clearly, but it was more than one, and I didn't realize I was dreaming at all."
Ye Xiao thought to himself, it’s useless to shout your name or throw water on you, but he didn’t say it out loud now to make her feel more pressured.
He said, "It's good that you're fine now. Don't you say that you should keep a good mood? Now that it's daybreak, don't think about those things for now. Wait until other people with similar symptoms return to the base, and then gather together to see if there is any pattern."
He consoled her, "The first time you fell asleep, you had a nightmare after sleeping for half an hour, but the second time you slept for a full four or five hours and it was fine. This must be a pattern."
Lin Tan thought about it and his dull face brightened up: "That makes sense. There's no point in thinking too much. And even though there was such a commotion, it was a blessing in disguise. I got a long sleep and made up for what I learned earlier. It's enough for me to last for several days."
Ye Xiao twitched his lips: "... That's it."
Lin Tantan stood up and said, "Let's go, what should we do next?" She paused and said, "You didn't sleep all night, did you?"
"I'm fine. I'm not tired."
Lin Tantan: Yes, when it comes to the ability to stay up late, she is far behind him.
I feel energetic even though I haven't slept for a few days.
She looked at him carefully, making sure he wasn't lying, and asked, "What do we do next?"
Ye Xiao asked: "Do you want to go back?"
Lin Tan Tan shook his head.
"Then go kill some more zombies."
Lin Tan nodded: "This is good."
Then the two began to act. When they encountered zombies, they would kill them directly if there were few of them, and run away if there were too many of them, and then occupy the high ground to continue killing. Both of them were long-range players, and their abilities seemed to be endless, which was a disaster for zombies.
If there is no danger and there are many zombie corpses on the ground, Lin Tan Tan will start prying crystal cores and scavenging.
She used the gold element to split open the zombie's head, then used the long fire tongs that Ye Xiao had given her to pick out the crystal core, washed it with water, and burned it with fire. It was immediately clean and put into the bag.
When she did this, she couldn't help but look at Ye Xiao. If she found that he was still busy within her sight, she would feel distressed and stop what she was doing to look for him.
Ye Xiao also noticed her uneasiness, and always kept himself very close to her, or had more physical contact with her.
As time went by, Lin Tan Tan gradually relaxed. The dream had less and less impact on her. She became happy again and was busy having fun. After clearing out the zombies on an entire street, she would ask Ye Xiao to roll up the corpses and pile them aside, and then she would set them on fire.
As she was picking up the crystal cores, she suddenly laughed: "Do you think we should be like this, with you killing monsters in the front and me picking up equipment in the back?"
Ye Xiao asked: "After picking up the items, will you clean up the streets?"
"Yes, the city is my home, and sanitation depends on everyone." She laughed again after saying this old slogan. Thinking carefully, she had only seen sanitation workers cleaning the streets in movies, but had never seen robots and fully automatic street sweepers used in real life.
Now I find it indescribable pleasure to do this job. I feel a sense of accomplishment when I see the streets no longer littered with corpses after being cleaned up.
Ye Xiao: “…” I have no idea what she is so happy about, but it’s good to be happy.
Then they met a group of people who were being chased by a swarm of zombies. They helped them. There were corpses all over the ground waiting for Lin Tan to dig out the crystal cores, and she was happier being busy.
The group of people were so envious of them when they saw how happily they were killing a zombie.
In the afternoon, there were fewer and fewer zombies. Lin Tan asked if they were almost all killed. Ye Xiao touched his head and said, "The zombies moved south."
"?"
"That means they are heading towards the base." Although many people are fighting here, the zombies are not so easy to be restrained. After careful calculation, it will take about one or two days for the zombies to reach the base.
Lin Tan Tan said: "The leading zombie is already dead, but they are still heading towards the base."
"Without the biggest leader, there are still many small leaders, and with a base of millions of people right in front of them, how can they stand still?"
If you look down from the air, you can see groups of zombies infiltrating the city from the northwest corner.
Because they lost their greatest leader, some of them wandered around without any sense, mixing with the existing zombies in the city. Others headed southeast with a clear goal, and it was obvious that their goal was still the Ning City base. If the zombie group leader was capable or of a higher level, he could call on the existing zombies in the city to join them.
However, they can no longer form a large-scale zombie group, nor can they be commanded by a certain zombie to move to the same place. In addition, there are still people secretly ambushing them and waiting for them to be consumed on their way forward. Even if they will eventually arrive at the base, the threat they bring to the base will not be too great.
The horde of zombies went to the southeast, and the people in this area followed it, reaping the tail of the zombies as they went. Then in the afternoon of that day, they went around the edge of the city and retreated to their base.
They were the first large group of people to return to the base. It was already dark when they came back, and the gate of the base was specially kept open for them until now. The lights at the gate were on and it was as bright as day. Anyone who came would be allowed in as long as they were checked and there were no problems.
Lin Tan and his companion arrived a little earlier than them because they were picked up by a helicopter and returned in the evening.
At this time, all the people who had been hit by the strange zombie had returned, a total of more than 300 people, of which more than 200 were in the building last night. It was obviously a severely affected area.
The base had promised to provide treatment for those injured in the fight against the zombies, and this situation was considered an injury that the base was supposed to be responsible for. However, considering Lin Tantan's situation, Ye Xiao asked the Zhengyang Brigade to receive these people at the clinic in the compound, and also invited some doctors and experts related to psychology and mental health.
However, because those who stay will be questioned in detail about the time, place, and distance when they looked at the zombie, as well as the content of their nightmares and their real experiences related to it, not many people are willing to stay.
In the end, the ones left behind were nearly twenty people from the Zhengyang Brigade, plus some others, a total of more than seventy people.
When the two arrived, someone was telling the patients to go back, eat if necessary, take a bath if necessary, and come back in the evening. They would then let them sleep here and observe their reactions after sleeping.
Lin Tantan silently watched these patients who left dejectedly, with haggard expressions, furrowed brows, and the whole body seemed to be shrouded in a dark cloud. He had sympathized with them before, and after having a nightmare in the early morning, he felt even more sympathetic.
Oh, this symptom is really torturous.
Ye Xiao also had a complicated look. He couldn't help but think that it was too exaggerated before, and it was nothing to have a nightmare. But after seeing Lin Tan's reaction, he didn't think so at all. It was a dilemma that was really difficult to save himself and it was difficult for others to help.
After they had waited for everyone to leave, they walked in. "Captain Ye, team leader." Mingze immediately greeted the two of them when he saw them. He was in charge here now.
Ye Xiao asked: "How much have you figured out?"
Mingze said: "The source of all patients' nightmares is related to their personal experiences and personality traits. Our preliminary estimate is that the zombie's ability is to stimulate the human brain, so that the most feared thing, the biggest weakness, or the thing that they are most reluctant to let happen hidden in their subconscious mind is exposed, and it will continue to play in their mind when they fall asleep."
Mingze said seriously, "We haven't figured out the mechanism of the attack yet, so we can't formulate a treatment plan. But the biggest problem now is that they are afraid to fall asleep, and they will have nightmares once they fall asleep. For several of the patients whose eye contact with the zombies was less than five meters away, we asked them to try to fall asleep in the afternoon. They could hardly distinguish between nightmares and reality, and they cursed and attacked people around them after being forcibly awakened.
"One of them couldn't be woken up yet. He lost his heartbeat in the nightmare. Fortunately, he was saved by emergency treatment in time. He said he fainted because of the monster in the dream. So we judged that if he couldn't be woken up, his life would be in danger."
Ye Xiao broke out in a cold sweat when he heard this, and Tan Tan almost died.
Lin Tantan was also shocked. Could someone die from this? She vaguely remembered that she almost fainted in her dream.
Only then did she truly realize the horror of this symptom, as well as the horror of the strange zombie.
If it had not been discovered, or if everyone was scattered all over the place and no one was sharing their nightmares, and no one was contacting the zombie head, giving it more time, what would it grow into
It was simply unimaginable. She thought carefully about whether there was any record of such zombies in history books? However, at this time in history, Ye Xiao was in the capital, so she naturally would not pay attention to the information of the distant Ning City.
She looked at Ye Xiao, fortunately the zombie was dead.
Ye Xiao held her hand, looked at her comfortingly, and asked, "Anything else?"
Mingze continued, "Also, even those whose symptoms are not so severe still have problems. Most people have put in a lot of effort to kill zombies and are physically exhausted, but they dare not rest or sleep because of this. If they continue like this, the fear of nightmares and lack of sleep will make them continue to be in a bad mood, and they may even do things that hurt others and themselves.
Ye Xiao nodded: "You did a good job."
At this time, a car drove over, and a man in military uniform got out and saluted Ye Xiao: "Captain Ye, I heard that you are back. Our leader wants you to come over to discuss something."
Lin Tantan looked at this man. The headquarters for fighting against the zombie tide was at Lv Jianping's place. Bai Cheng was currently staying there every day, so it was normal for Lv Jianping to ask Ye Xiao to go there instead of him coming alone.
Ye Xiao said to her: "Let's go."
Lin Tan Tan: "? Why should I go? You go by yourself, I will stay here."
Ye Xiao frowned slightly: "Xu Limeimei and the others are out killing zombies, you should come with me."
"Oh, what could happen in our own compound? And there are so many guards. Hurry up and leave. Business is more important." Ye Xiao stood there in silence. Lin Tan was surprised: "Anything else?"
Ye Xiao: Who was the one who cried loudly because he couldn't find him in the dream before, and who was the one who became nervous and uneasy when he couldn't see him, but now he is fine and just waves him away.
He sighed and whispered something that only she could hear: "I'll be back in the evening."
Lin Tantan coughed and said, "Well, I won't sleep tonight, you don't have to worry."
Ye Xiao didn't say anything else. He just told her to be careful and got in the car and left.
Lin Tantan and Mingze entered the clinic together and looked through the patients' medical records. Anyone who had made eye contact with the zombies at a distance of less than ten meters was her special focus. Looking at it this way, there were quite a lot of them, about twenty or so. Among them, several had fallen asleep last night and had particularly strong reactions. Either they could not be woken up or they became so crazy after waking up that several people could not control them.
Lin Tan Tan touched his face, sighed, and felt very sympathetic.
But she felt embarrassed when she saw the contents of some people's nightmares.
The first part was relatively normal. Some people witnessed the death of their relatives, some had their children abducted, some were buried in the rubble after an earthquake and were waiting for rescue, and some had done something wrong and dreamed of the people they hurt coming to take revenge.
If you flip back to the previous pages, you'll find a lot of weird content, such as encountering a ghost, being chased by a monster, being thrown into a frying pan, becoming a 500-pound fat man, winning 50 million but suddenly finding out that you can't find the lottery ticket and can't cash the prize, etc.
Lin Tantan thought, no wonder these people are willing to speak out about their dreams openly, there is nothing to be ashamed of!
They had dinner here, a nutritionally balanced working meal. Ye Xiao called her to ask if she had eaten. She replied in a relaxed manner that she had eaten very well, with vegetables, meat, and smashed cucumber, which was fresh, crispy, refreshing and especially appetizing. The chef knew that she also had a working meal, so he prepared a special dish for her, including a beef in sour soup. He didn't know how it was made, but it tasted really good, blah blah.
Ye Xiao was silent for a moment, then told her that he couldn't come back for the time being.
Lin Tantan’s answer was: “Oh, no problem, you are busy, I won’t bother you anymore.”
Ye Xiao looked at the hung up communicator with an inexplicable expression, but his tone sounded really relaxed and cheerful, and it seemed that he was not at all uncomfortable after being separated for half an hour.
He felt distressed when his girlfriend was fragile and clingy, but as someone who had been clingy to him, he couldn't feel happy when she stopped being clingy at all.
He pursed his lips, looking a little depressed. Seeing his expression, Lu Jianping felt a little depressed: "Is the zombie tide still very serious? Is it difficult to pass this level?"
The author has something to say: Thank you to the little angels who voted for me or irrigated me with nutrient solution~
Thanks to the little angel who threw the [grenade]: 1 good favor;
Thanks to the little angels who cast [mines]: Luo Kewan 1;
Thanks to the little angel who irrigated [nutrient solution]:
30 bottles of Shanlai; 20 bottles of Jiemie; 10 bottles of Fuji & Zhouzhu; 5 bottles of Xinyue Pisces and The Place Where Dreams Begin; 1 bottle of Jiuwei Yaomiao, Liulang Zhazha, and Miaoxianer;
Thank you very much for your support, I will continue to work hard!