Gu Yuan saw the group off, telling them to be careful.
"Teacher Gu, you need to be careful too. We've already put all the food we can scavenge inside the cabin, so don't go out unless absolutely necessary. There's no telling when the zombies will come back," Song Jia told him.
"I know, Miss Ye." Gu Yuan nodded his head and felt another wave of embarrassment wash over him, his eyes dodging her gaze.
He knew he was useless, so he wasn't surprised that Ye Jia didn't pick him to go with them. If Gu Yuan was being honest, he also felt a sense of relief. Being with the Ye siblings had made his existence become redundant, even though he was supposed to be an adult and the authority figure among them. Now that he was staying back along with most of his students who were depending on him, he felt that he recovered his dignity as a highly qualified teacher of an elite school.
Ye Minzhe grabbed Song Jia's hand. He gave Gu Yuan the stink eye.
"Jia, let's go."
Song Jia looked at Gu Yuan, and felt a bit of sympathy in her heart. After all, he was just a normal man. Comparing himself to Ye Minzhe, a male god, and to her, who had went through several transmigrations, their starting point were not equal at all. Looking at the situation, Gu Yuan was already coping very well.
The six of them made their way up to Deck 12. Ding Xiuxiu, Ouyang Che, and Gong Qiye all fought to walk side by side with Ye Minzhe, so without meaning to, Song Jia lagged behind with Long Aotian.
"Ye Jia, you've changed."
Hearing Long Aotian's low but firm statement, Song Jia paused.
"Well...you might be right." Song Jia lifted her shoulder in a careless shrug. "After all, going through something like this, who wouldn't?"
Song Jia actually felt slightly embarrassed. It was not her first time to OOC. She knew that every time she transmigrated, she couldn't help but let some of her true personality leak through. However, she often got away with it because when a person undergoes a personality change, who would think of body possession first?
People around the original host would only think vaguely that the person had changed, got a new resolution, or went through something traumatic. In fact, if one said, "You've been possessed!", people would even think that you were the one who became crazy or suffered a brain injury.
Besides, her OOC often got unnoticed because...
Long Aotian looked at Ye Minzhe and murmured, "Although I think Ye Minzhe's the one who changed the most."
...the male god would behave even more abnormally than her.
As if he had eyes on the back of his head, Ye Minzhe turned around and immediately saw Song Jia walking at the rear. He blew out his cheeks in exasperation and walked towards her.
"Jia, didn't I tell you to walk beside me?"
He glared at Long Aotian and grabbed her shoulders to push her forward as they walked to the front of the group. Song Jia noticed that his clothes had already dried, and his thick dark hair were just starting to curl up at the ends.
"Brother Minzhe, you're so close with Ye Jia, ah," Ouyang Che commented.
In Ouyang Che's memories, Ye Minzhe had always been indifferent and cool, like his favorite hero Yang Jian [1]. Since when did his indifferent and cool Brother Minzhe transform into a little puppy [2] that he almost didn't recognize?
"We've always been close, you were just blind," Ye Minzhe told him, and the bragging tone in his voice wasn't hidden at all.
Ouyang Che, "..."
Forget it, it was good for Brother Minzhe to have thick skin, that way he would have less injuries later on.
Their modus operandi stayed the same, with Ye Minzhe at the very front fighting the zombies while the rest of them cracked melon seeds by the sidelines.
Ouyang Che sometimes cheered him on.
"Brother Minzhe, that was a good kick! Very cool!"
Song Jia shook her head. "He shouldn't have used kickboxing, isn't it a difficult move to pull when avoiding a zombie's mouth?"
"Ye Jia, can't you see that Brother Minzhe aimed for the zombie's temples? After stunning him with that kick, he quickly decapitated the zombie's head with the axe!"
Song Jia tapped her chin with her finger.
"Hm, I guess you're right. He initiated in ending the fight quickly. Using the blunt end of the axe to stun one of the zombies while decapitating another, not bad!"
"Brother Minzhe used judo to throw another zombie on his back! And the zombie is being thrown!"
"No, it looks like that zombie is strangling him. If he can't get out of this, it's game over. Oof, that was a nasty shot!"
"And Brother Minzhe escapes! What technique was that?! The zombie looks very confused...and Brother Minzhe goes for a takedown! Ahhh, it's all over!"
Ouyang Che and Song Jia's voices weren't lowered at all. Hearing them talk about his fight like a pair of sports commentators, a muscle in Ye Minzhe's jaw ticked. A vein also pulsed visibly at his temple.
Ye Minzhe finally kicked the decapitated head of the last zombie and roared at them.
"The two of you, shut up!"
...
Song Jia's guess was correct. The more they went up the ship, the more zombies they encountered.
Right now, none of them no longer had any time to be a bystander and crack melon seeds. Even Ding Xiuxiu tried her best to fight, by crying loudly and making a zombie chase her.
This made it easy to distract other zombies and lessen the pressure that was on the five of them, giving them precious time to breathe.
"Sister Xiuxiu, good job!" Ouyang Che gave her a thumbs up.
Three zombies nearly ganged up on him, but because Ding Xiuxiu passed by while crying, it caught one of the three zombies' attention. The zombie decided to join the small horde that was chasing Ding Xiuxiu.
She didn't know how to fight, but she could run like a gazelle. Song Jia also looked approvingly at Ding Xiuxiu.
"Ding Xiuxiu, fighting!"
Ding Xiuxiu: "..."
Wuwuwu, someone hold me back, I want to kill these two people!
[1] Yang Jian is the nephew of the Jade Emperor, ruler of the Gods in Heaven, being the offspring of the Jade Emperor's sister and a mortal. He is also the greatest and most powerful Warrior God in Heaven, as well as one of the most popular Chinese Gods, being second to the Goddess of Mercy in terms of popularity.
[2] xiǎo nǎigǒu or little puppy, a Ch. nickname for a guy who is good-looking, loyal, and clingy. Usually used for younger males.