A cute, timid mushroom mistakenly takes the zombie king for her boyfriend and sticks close to him.

What makes a zombie advance in rank?

Of course it's zombie crystal cores. Meng Xiaoyou had seen little zombies eat them before, and she used to be very craving them, wanting to try what they tasted like.

However, she still couldn't bring herself to eat the zombie crystal core.

Just thinking about pulling this thing out of a zombie's head, still covered in brain matter of various colors...

She shook her head repeatedly: "I won't eat."

"You can't advance if you don't eat them." Pei Sinian had never eaten crystal cores. He was nourished by Bubble, and he improved on his own in other aspects. Besides, his germaphobia did not allow him to eat such things.

He didn't want Meng Xiaoyou to eat it either, but after Meng Xiaoyou turned into a zombie, would there still be bubbles?

Even if it were possible, upgrading with bubbles would be too slow.

He unbuckled their seatbelts, put his hand on Meng Xiaoyou's shoulder, and let her lean against him. "You don't want your skin to rot and get infested with maggots, do you?"

Infested with insects?

The body in his arms jolted violently, and Pei Sinian knew he had Mushroom in his grasp.

He lowered his eyelids slightly, his thick, straight eyelashes casting a faint shadow on his eyelids, making him look gloomy. Combined with his otherworldly face, it was like the calm before a storm, a kind of understated madness...

What are mushrooms most afraid of?

Aside from having her brain eaten, there were insects, which are the natural enemies of plants. She was terrified and hid in his arms, trembling. "I don't want to."

The thought of those tiny insects crawling all over her body, gnawing at her skin, made her itch all over; it was terrifying.

Her eyes were red and her voice trembled with tears: "Pei Sinian, I feel itchy all over. Am I about to turn into a zombie?"

"not yet."

He cupped her face in his hands, wiped away her tears with his thumb, and kissed her gently. "So, will you listen to my plan?"

He was trying to discuss it with her, but he clearly wasn't giving her any room for negotiation.

Meng Xiaoyou shook her head again, "The crystal core is hard, I definitely can't bite it."

"I grind it into powder, mix it with water, and drink it."

"..." Oh no, Mushroom is shamefully tempted. Is that stuff ground into powder as good as soy milk?

But reason told Meng Xiaoyou that she couldn't.

"The city is full of zombies... If my previous guess was correct, the higher their level, the higher their rationality, then they become another kind of human. Am I just eating people?" How many lives are there in a city?

There are countless examples of them. It's understandable that they eat based on instinct when they're not consciously aware of it, but one-sided slaughter is something mushrooms still don't want to see.

Instead of answering, Pei Sinian asked, "You think it's cruel? Then isn't it cruel when these zombies eat people?"

Meng Xiaoyou fell silent. Indeed, zombies eat people, and people kill zombies. In this apocalypse, everything is determined by strength, and since the two sides have different positions, there is no solution.

Just like the animal world that the original owner watched, where wild animals are prey to the strong. If a ferocious beast catches a small herbivore, is that beast cruel?

No, because it needs to survive.

But from the perspective of herbivores, it is cruel.

What if humans, as bystanders, chose to save the herbivores?

Then the wild animals will starve to death.

No solution.

The world will not change because of anyone's choices; as insignificant individuals, we can only adapt to it.

Before coming to this world, Little Mushroom's mind was very simple. All she did was follow her older brother and sister around and blow bubbles. When she saw a zombie, she would shoot it. When a zombie got close, she would hide and let Uncle Nut and Brother Nut take its place. She never thought about these messy and complicated questions.

She frantically racked her brains for a moment, then timidly lowered her head: "Zombies eat people, and if humans are weak, they will be eaten. Humans fight zombies, and if the zombies are weak, they will get their heads blown off. These are the laws of the apocalypse. But if there is an external force, it will disrupt the balance... I have become a zombie, so I should compete fairly with them. It's not fair for you to get involved."

Pei Sinian frowned. "You blockhead."

Oh dear, I was trying to reason with them, why are they cursing mushrooms?

Mushroom instantly teared up, "You're being unreasonable."

After being scratched by the zombie, she had used up all her superpowers in just one hour. Her eyes and nose were red, and she looked like a pitiful little girl who had been bullied. In the past, Pei Sinian would have given in to her every whim.

But this time, it won't work.

He said expressionlessly, "Your opinion doesn't count. You'll have to eat it whether you like it or not when you turn into a zombie."

Meng Xiaoyou couldn't believe it: "You're going to strangle me and force-feed me crystal core powder?"

Even the May sky couldn't bring warmth to the car. The man seemed to have reverted to his original self, with sharp, well-defined features and a stern, unapproachable expression. It was as if he were about to take advantage of Mushroom's loss of reason after turning into a zombie and force-feeding it...

"Ouch, the scene is too terrifying," Meng Xiaoyou tried to explain, "Even if I turn into a zombie and have to eat crystal cores, let me do it myself. I can get the crystal cores by my own ability, and they'll taste better that way."

Based on ability?

Mr. Zombie found it laughable. Everyone says that it's better to rely on yourself than on others, but some humans are born rich and noble, and some humans work hard to change their fate and become stronger, but what's the point of climbing up?

After working hard for most of your life, the end you reach is just someone else's starting point.

Pei Sinian couldn't bear to watch Meng Xiaoyou, like any other zombie, lose limbs and barely manage to obtain a crystal core.

Even if his starting point was higher than other zombies, how could he have reached his current status?

Moreover, Meng Xiaoyou didn't rely entirely on him; she was simply retracing the path she had walked with him in the past.

No matter what Meng Xiaoyou said, she couldn't change the man's mind. In the end, she refused to let him hug her and sat sulking in the passenger seat.

Suddenly, her expression changed: "Pei Sinian... I... my legs are numb, am I going to turn into a zombie?"

Pei Sinian sensed the energy core in her head and didn't detect any zombie aura, so he felt a little relieved. "It's okay, your legs just went numb from sitting. A couple of pats will do the trick."

As he spoke, he leaned over and gently tapped Meng Xiaoyou's slender calves twice.

Mushroom instantly wore a pained expression, saying, "Don't knock on me."

It's even more...numb.

Like the static on an old-fashioned black and white TV screen due to poor signal, half of her calf went numb, her toes curled up, and she glared angrily at Pei Sinian: "You're definitely bullying me on purpose, why don't we just turn into zombies together?"

Pei Sinian remained silent, only pounding her legs, making the numb legs even more painful. She leaned against the car door, looking weak, pitiful, and helpless.

"Pei Sinian, I...I want to bite you, am I going to turn into a zombie?"

Pei Sinian glanced at her unmoving human energy core, pulled her back, pressed her head against his neck, and said succinctly, "Bite."