The fatigue building up from having to guard and protect his sister for days finally hit Changming. Every moment they took a break, he would fall into a deep sleep. However, he could not be as leisurely as when he was Yongliang, there were zombies and his husband was not here to carry him. He tried to stay awake but kept nodding off until he finally just shut his eyes.
Xiao Feng looked at him worriedly and tried to fix him into a comfortable position. She blamed herself for being too short so her gege could not lean on her. Zhong Guang noticed that little action and smiled, the siblings' relationship was very good. He decided to walk to Changming which startled Xiao Feng. He put his index finger before his mask to gesture to her to be quiet. Xiao Feng nodded as she watched Zhong Guang sit on the other side of her gege. Zhong Guang moved Changming's head lightly to his shoulder. A sense of peace that he had never had even before the outbreak formed inside him when he heard the light snoring of the youth. Suddenly, he felt like he was already home.
It would take approximately a day or two to get to the base. Everyone finally regained their vigor, but it soon got doused as a horde of zombies appeared out of nowhere.
"RUN IN THAT DIRECTION! HURRY!" Zhong Guang shouted loudly. Fire appeared fiercely on his palms in an instant as he glared at the massive wave of zombies. There were at least 30 of them before his eyes.
Changming and Yang Huifang hurriedly led people away from the wave. They were all breathless and sweaty but they had no time to feel uncomfortable if they wanted to live. Xiao Feng was clutching tightly to his neck with firmly shut eyes. Her whimpering sound made her so pitiful but she did not dare to worry her gege.
"Stay here with Huifang-jie, ok?" Changming already judged Yang Huifang's credibility and that she was a good person with good morals. He could trust her to protect them.
"No...no! Gege, stay with me!" Xiao Feng's eyes were teary as she grabbed his hand tightly. Yang Huifang's pupils also shook.
"Don't be reckless, just stay here and trust Guang-ge. He will be back." Yang Huifang frowned with a look of worry in her eyes.
"I will be ok. Please don't let Xiao Feng see me." He turned his head to Xiao Feng and kissed her forehead before running back to Zhong Guang despite the objections from the two girls.
"What are you doing here?!? Didn't I tell you to run?!?" Zhong Guang's eyes widened as he saw the skinny figure holding a dagger approaching him. He did not want anyone to get hurt, especially not the youth behind him.
Changming quickly came to his side. He looked at Zhong Guang's ugly expression that was filled with anxiety, despair, and anger. His lips hooked up to one side as he finally felt something that he had been missing.
"I told you I had an ability, right?"
Changming took out the dagger and opened his bandaged hand. Zhong Guang was horrified at the ugly scar on his palm and he became even more stupified when blood splurted from that close wound. Changming had cut his palm open and poured that blood onto the dagger.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! DO YOU WANT TO SACRIFICE YOURSELF?!? I WON'T LET YOU!!" Zhong Guang tried to snatch his dagger as he felt like he was going crazy from seeing that amount of blood pouring out from the feeble appearance.
Changming quickly evaded Zhong Guang's hand and smiled brightly at him.
"This is precisely how my power works."
Zhong Guang, who was mesmerized by that smile, looked dazedly at the flashing shadow before him. Changming started to be soaked in blood as he used his palm to touch zombies that were too close to him. He then swirled around with his daggers and hit multiple zombies at the same time. His nimble actions were as if he was dancing as he dashed forward, stabbed, turned, and slashed. All the zombies that were hit all started to collapse to the ground.
The number had thinned out when Zhong Guang was still wide-eyed at the beautiful bloody figure. Only until he noticed that Changming's face which recently regained some color had paled again and his breath became unstable that Zhong Guang got out of the trance. He used his power and shot at the zombie approaching the youth and started to surround him and the youth with a fire wall.
"I will burn the rest now. Rest." He stepped toward the youth whose eyes began to turn hazy. His heart felt like being torn to pieces at this exhausted appearance. He should never have let him use his power, this was what he meant by his power was dangerous.
Changming looked at Zhong Guang and the surrounding. After the number had already dwindled, he felt relief and immediately fainted, he had lost a lot of blood and overworked his body. This body could not keep up with his skills.
Before he fell to the ground, a sturdy arm reached out and scooped him into an embrace. Zhong Guang lifted him up in a princess carry and walked back to the party. His eyes kept glancing at the bloody palm and felt like he could not breathe. His eyes darkened as he traced the pale lips on the youth's face.
They returned and Yang Huifang took the sister away before checking on their conditions. Taking off Changming's jacket, Zhong Guang and her became horrified at all the scars, wounds, and bite marks on his body.
"Just heal his open wound. Don't tell anyone else. These marks are old and healed already so he won't turn into one." Zhong Guang touched gently at the bites on his body with a scowl. Yang Huifang had a complicated look on her face but eventually agreed.
Their journey was delayed once again because Changming became unconscious. Xiao Feng tried not to cry as she used a wet towel to wipe his face clean. When Xiao Feng finally went away to get some food, the person beside him started to caress the youth's injured hand. Looking at the dry lips, he opened Changming's mouth and tilted his head up. Water was carefully poured into his mouth.
He lay the youth down again and looked at his face. When he thought of the previous action, it felt like it was something he had always naturally done before. Taking care of him earnestly made him feel that peace again. His hand then started to stroke his eyes, his cheeks and lips.
Feeling a familiar warmth, Changming had a slight smile and murmured.
"Jian-ge..."
Hearing him calling out another name affectionately, the doting expression immediately changed. Zhong Guang knitted his brows and started feeling angry at the name that got out of his mouth. He was the one who was caring for him! Why was there another man's name coming from his mouth?! Now that reminded him, he never heard the youth calling his name at all?!