A while ago...
Ziek returned from the toilet, only to find the base seemingly deserted. Curiosity piqued, he ascended the stairs and spotted a figure in black reclining on the platform. With her chin propped on her hand, she was engrossed in drawing on her tablet, unaware of his presence.
Silently, he removed his shoes and tiptoed towards his unsuspecting target, 'The most feared human in the world? What a joke.'
Seeing her silly reaction, he started to grin. Putting back his shoes, he saw how she fell on her butt, his grin turned into full-blown laughter. She didn't run away, shout at him, or launch an attack. Instead, she retreated into herself, hugging her knees in a display of vulnerability and silence.
He awaited her response, expecting a playful retaliation or a spirited reaction. However, to his surprise, she remained quiet and motionless, her inner turmoil concealed behind her composed demeanor.
"Grandma, did I scare you?" Ziek asked provocatively. Sitting at the edge of the wall, he grabbed her tablet. Seeing a man with pink cat ears and super long pink eyelashes, he grinned and added a pig nose.
With a sense of satisfaction, Ziek slid the screen of the tablet to view more of Bing Shi's drawings. However, as his gaze fell upon a series of couple photos, his expression grew somber.
The images depicted a pair who were clearly more than just an ordinary couple. It was evident from their opulent surroundings and extravagant displays of wealth that they belonged to a privileged and affluent world.
Bing Shi wasn't lying about her relationship? Standing next to each other in front of a black hypercar, they emitted a completely different aura. Skipping the irksome man, Ziek's gaze switched to the girl. To Ziek, who had grown accustomed to encountering remarkably attractive individuals, Bing Shi changed from an ugly duckling to a duckling.
Silence...
Met with silence, a slight awkwardness settled upon Ziek. In an attempt to break the silence and gather information, he raised his voice and shouted down to the people below, asking about the current situation.
During the drone's charging period, a quarter of the soldiers cleaned up the main roads cluttered with cars. Half of the group drove to the city to stockpile resources before others could claim them.
With an overwhelming number of zombies to contend with, the remaining soldiers had to devise alternative methods of getting the nuclei beyond simply destroying their skulls.
They set one nucleus on fire and found out that it didn't thaw under a controlled temperature. Pilling a hoard of zombies up, they circled the rotten mountain with rocks and put them on fire.
A sound of approaching footsteps reached Ziek's ears, he instinctively turned his head to investigate the source. His gaze fell upon Bing Shi, who had noticed the tablet in his hands.
Reacting swiftly, she reached into her pocket and retrieved her phone, dialing Yi Zen's number, "Yi Zen, could you bring me a new tablet? Mine broke, thank you."
["Kuro, destroy all the data from my tablet."]
Bing Shi told Kuro to accompany Yi Zen. As a mascot, it would come in handy. Negotiating with the citizens and asking for help would be a lot easier.
[Yes.]
Without seeing her expression, it was apparent that she didn't like what Ziek did. Was he too much? Who cared? Laughing at others' misfortune brought him so much entertainment. Going through the wiped-out tablet, his lips curled up, "Is this considered another gift from my grandma?"
Bing Shi asked without looking at him, "Would you give it back if I asked nicely? If no, consider it as a gift."
'What a great lesson. Living people are far more terrifying than dead ones.'
Ren Han thought it through and decided to change his tactics, "I would."
Bing Shi reached out her hands, "Can I get my tablet back, please?"
Ren Han blinked at her palms. She really did ask for it genuinely. Didn't he just scare the shit out of her? What's wrong with her? Should he go back on his words?
Keeping the tablet would bring him no benefits, so he gave it back to her, "You can call your Yi Zen so that he doesn't have to bring you a new tablet."
It's not like he felt guilty. It'd be a new era if Ziek Leoners felt guilt.
"Thank you," Bing Shi ignored his sweet pretentious tone. Accepting the tablet, she put it inside her backpack, "It was a bluff. I never called Yi Zen."
"..." Ziek just fell for the stupidest prank ever. To find out what was Bing Shi's scheme with him, he taunted her more than once. But, it was like the word 'revenge' didn't exist in her vocabulary. Not able to hold it in, he asked the question which was on his mind for a while, "Why me?"
Bing Shi stood up, "The way you eat lemons is the same as my boyfriend's."
The expression behind his mask showed a sharp smile. Her answer explained lots of things. It was hard to grasp her thinking, so he began to ask her more questions, "Really? How come you don't get angry?"
Bing Shi zipped up her backpack and stood up, "Really... Hm, I do get angry. If you threw me out of the base, I'd get angry, perhaps. But don't touch me, use a crane or something. That way, it'll be more fun."
Ren Han raised his eyebrow in amusement. She would be no different from those corpses. "Then what?"
Bing Shi sprinted down the platform, "I'd run away; there is no way I'm going to get caught by a crane, haha!"
Ren Han stood up and chased after her with laughter; she totally got him, "Come back! I'm so going to throw you out of the base!"
"Grandson. You just wasted a once-in-a-lifetime chance!" She ran through the pipe towards the entrance, climbing up the stairs, she closed the lids right before his face. Sitting on it, she clapped her hands in satisfaction, "Don't hurt yourself, I weigh as much as a whale."
"..." Hearing her words, Ren Han had a silly grin plastered on his face. He knew that with his current strength, he wouldn't be able to lift the lid.
Since it was only two months ago that he was discharged, his body was the weakest among all the men in the base. He was surprised when Bing Shi opened the lid, waved at him cutely, and then closed it again.
Chuckling, he raised his hand in defeat. Bing Shi reflected each of his attacks. She never tried to correct his personality. She went along with it.
An unfamiliar yet familiar warmth engulfed his body.
Unfamiliar with Ziek Leoners.
Because for others, it was a simple sense of comfort.