Yan Ci and Yan San's parents died in a car accident when they were young, but they left their children a considerable amount of property.
Yet it was precisely this inheritance that put them in danger.
After all, they were still young and needed guardians, so all their relatives fought fiercely to become their guardians.
None of them truly cared about the two brothers—they were all after the inheritance. And once they got their hands on the money, the brothers became burdens.
Their relatives were more heartless than they could have imagined. Even after taking the massive fortune, they still sold both boys to a research institute.
At the institute, the brothers endured inhumane treatment and experimentation, eventually being turned into monsters that were neither human nor ghost.
Together with other test subjects, they managed to escape from the institute.
Most of those who escaped had been sold into the institute at a very young age, so naturally they had received little to no education and were completely unable to fit into society.
But they possessed strength that ordinary people could never hope to match—they weren't even afraid of regular firearms.
Some used their power to do manual labor, some turned to a life of crime, and others resorted to swindling and cheating.
Yan Ci was one of the swindlers.
At first, he started down the path of robbery—until he met a young man. The young man saw him injured from a fight and specially brought him medicine.
But Yan Ci's body had long been altered and strengthened by the experiments; how could he be easily wounded? The blood on him was actually someone else's.
He felt nothing from the young man's kindness. Since the boy had come to him willingly, he might as well rob him too.
But before he could even threaten him, the young man looked at him with pity and gave him all his money, even advising him not to break the law.
What an idiot—stupid enough to pity a robber.
Still, he made the perfect target.
Yan Ci had long lost any human emotions. He only cared about maximizing his gains. After learning that the young man wouldn't go to the police, he began robbing him frequently.
But every time, before he could even threaten him, the young man would give him money—and voluntarily at that.
This way, no one would call the police, and he didn't need to move to a new place every so often.
The young man came from a well-off family. Even just his allowance and living expenses amounted to a considerable sum, more than enough for Yan Ci to live on.
Since robbery was still a crime, Yan Ci decided to start pursuing the young man instead—recasting his actions as being "moved" by the young man's kindness and therefore wanting to win his heart.
The young man was extremely kind—kind to the point of foolishness. As long as Yan Ci showed even a hint of how pitiful his life was, the young man would give him money.
His younger brother scoffed at this behavior, but Yan Ci didn't care—as long as it didn't get him into trouble, it didn't matter where the money came from.
Just as Yan Ci thought things would continue on like this, the apocalypse arrived without warning.
Once the apocalypse hit, money became useless—and by extension, so did the boy.
However, when the apocalypse broke out, he happened to be in class with the boy, who ended up following right behind him as they fled the school.
It was the boy's choice to follow, but Yan Ci had no intention of looking out for him.
But after they entered the supermarket, the boy suddenly changed.
He became more beautiful, more radiant, and harder to look away from.
He even began to stir something in Yan Ci's heart.
Yan Ci started to doubt himself, even wondering if something was wrong with him—just half an hour ago, he'd felt nothing for the boy.
But it didn't matter. Since he wanted this person, he would hold on tight.
After all, he'd been pursuing him all along, hadn't he?
Before, his "pursuit" hadn't cared about the boy's response—it didn't matter if he kept getting rejected. But this time was different.
This time, he wouldn't accept refusal. He had never been a good person to begin with; if he liked something, he would stop at nothing to get it.
He used to think the boy's saintly, overly compassionate nature was idiotic, but in this apocalypse, it worked to his advantage.
After all, the boy didn't have the strength to save anyone on his own—the only one he could rely on was Yan Ci.
And Yan Ci had no intention of helping him for free.
And sure enough, even if the boy was unwilling, he would come begging to Yan Ci in order to save others.
Yan Ci would make him gradually understand that he had no one else to depend on—that he could only belong to him.
Given enough time, Yan Ci was confident the boy would come to like him back.
But what Yan Ci never expected was that he would end up bitten by a zombie.
Falling from a broken rope wouldn't kill him, but things happened too fast—he fell and was immediately swarmed by zombies. By the time he realized what was happening, he'd already been bitten.
Even for someone like him, a bite meant there was no resisting the virus. He could clearly feel his body changing.
He was turning into a zombie. The future he'd planned was over before it even began.
He wanted to find the boy—desperately, urgently.
But he was about to turn into a zombie, and he couldn't control himself from hurting him.
Just thinking that after he died, the young man would belong to someone else and would willingly kiss someone else, Yan Ci wanted to drag the young man down to death with him.
He thought it, and he acted on it.
But when he saw those beautiful eyes of the young man as he got into the car, he ultimately gave up.
He couldn't bear to do it.
Yan Ci used every ounce of self-control he had to keep himself from going after him again, sitting alone in a corner waiting for his zombification to complete.
Soon, he lost consciousness, filled with resentment.
The next second, he opened his eyes again.
When Yan Ci opened his eyes once more, he had become a zombie. Even though his body hadn't decayed like other zombies—only his eyes and nails revealing his true nature—he was still a zombie.
And not just any zombie, but an exceptionally powerful one.
Zombies had a strict hierarchy. High-level zombies could command low-level ones, and Yan Ci was a high-level zombie who could command the low-level ones.
The scent of blood made Yan Ci restless, urging him to tear into and devour the living. His body stiffly rose to its feet.
But he didn't go after the living. Instead, he walked in a certain direction.
He didn't know why, but he just felt drawn to go that way.
He walked for a very, very long time, never changing direction, never attacking the living.
It was as if something in that direction was calling out to him.
Yan Ci was conscious—high-level zombies all retained a degree of awareness—but they lost their human memories.
Zombies and humans were now two entirely different species, like predator and prey.
Yet Yan Ci still remembered that he was looking for something.
He couldn't remember what he was looking for, or why he was looking for it, but he stubbornly kept walking in that direction.
He had to find it.
Yan Ci walked along the road with vacant eyes, when suddenly his nose seemed to catch a faint scent, making him stop in his tracks.
He changed direction and made his way toward a clothing store.
Yan Ci pressed himself against the store window, gazing at the delicate young man inside. His restless heart suddenly grew calm, then seemed to pound violently, as if it were racing. Even the blood that had long since congealed in his veins felt as though it was flowing once more.
He had found him.
He found him.
He wanted that boy—desperately, madly wanted him.
Yan Ci directly ordered the zombies to surround the clothing store, forcing the boy down from the wall, and then he took the boy away.
Yan Ci was like a dragon that had obtained a treasure—happily, he hid the boy away, tucking him in a place he deemed safe.
The boy was his.
But the boy was dirty, and carried other scents on him, which Yan Ci greatly disliked.
Suppressing his excitement, he reached out and touched the boy's face, making a decision in his heart.
He would raise the boy until he was plump and healthy, and make him his wife.
Making food his wife—this almost defied the very genes and instincts of a zombie. But Yan Ci didn't see anything wrong with himself. Rather, he was disgusted by how stiff and clumsy his own hands and body were.
They weren't soft enough either.
He looked at the sleeping boy, curled his fingers to make the knuckles protrude, and then, with the lightest possible touch, tried to brush the boy's face.
The next second, the boy's cheek turned red, and his delicate brows furrowed—clearly in pain.
Startled, Yan Ci immediately withdrew his hand, not daring to touch the boy again.
He looked at his own hands with frustration, at a loss for what to do. He thought for a long time but couldn't come up with an answer.
Time passed little by little. Whether zombie or human, both needed to eat. He ordered the zombies to bring food back.
But what they brought back were either severed limbs, torn-off arms, or even half a corpse.
Although Yan Ci had no memories, he still knew that humans and zombies ate different things. So he had to go find food for the boy himself.
Before leaving, he gave an order: no zombie was allowed to touch the boy.
Yan Ci found food and hurried back happily—he didn't want to be away from the boy for even a second.
The boy had woken up while he was gone, and Yan Ci was overjoyed.
But the boy seemed afraid of him, and also recoiled from his approach.
Yan Ci felt utterly lost, as if he had done something wrong. He didn't know what to do. His tongue had stiffened long ago, making speech extremely difficult.
He wanted to tell the boy not to be afraid, but the words just wouldn't come out.
So he could only show him through his actions that he meant no harm. He tore off a piece of bread and brought it to the boy's lips.
The boy seemed to understand his intention and began to eat in small bites. As he ate, his lips accidentally brushed against the other man's hand.
Yan Ci's eyes widened almost instantly, and for the first time, human-like emotions surfaced in his gaze.
So soft.
The boy had touched him of his own accord, and it hadn't hurt him at all.
It was as if Yan Ci had discovered a whole new world. Excited, he offered more bread to the boy, this time holding his hand much closer.
Watching the boy obediently take a bite, Yan Ci's pale, hollow eyes gleamed with excitement.
He was too excited—so excited that he could barely contain himself.
But he had to stay in control. If he made the first move, he would end up hurting his wife.
Yet his wife didn't seem to like taking the initiative either.
Still, Yan Ci was a fast learner. Somewhere deep down, he sensed that if he helped his wife, he would be rewarded.
And then his wife would come to him on his own.
Yan Ci racked his brain, doing everything he could to help the boy, desperate for that reward.
But just as he was helping him, a thief broke in—someone trying to take his boy away.
Yan Ci flew into a rage, a mad, violent urge surging through him to kill the intruder.
He wouldn't allow it.
He wouldn't allow anyone to take his wife from him again.
His wife was his—his alone.
And yet, his wife was taken anyway.
A bloodthirsty impulse surged wildly through him, burning away what little reason he had left, driving Yan Ci to destroy everything in his path. He went searching for the boy like a man possessed.
He searched for a long, long time, nearly covering the entire island—from south to north, from east to west.
He knew there was something called a "car" that could move faster, but his limbs were too stiff and uncoordinated to operate one. He couldn't use that kind of machine—he could only rely on his own two feet.
Yan Ci walked for what felt like an eternity, and he never once gave up.
He followed the traces and scent of his wife and finally found him at some research institute.
But he wasn't moving—he seemed to be dead.
Yan Ci's pale eyes were empty and dull, and even a hint of helplessness flickered across them. He didn't know what to do.
He didn't like a wife who couldn't move. He wanted him to move again.
That's it.
He could turn him into a zombie like him, and then he would be able to move.
Yan Ci took his wife's hand and carefully bit down on his fingertip, just gently enough to make a tiny wound—he couldn't bear to hurt him.
Then he began to wait. He had seen before that it took a little while for a human to turn into a zombie.
Yan Ci waited for several hours. During that time, other people came, but he ignored them—though he wouldn't allow anyone to take his wife away. His eyes were filled with murderous intent and warning as he stared at the others.
Finally, the person in his arms stirred.
He looked down at him with joy, but the next second, that joy vanished from his eyes, replaced by something terrifying and dreadful.
This wasn't his wife.
The person in his arms wasn't his wife.
His wife was gone.
