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墨書 Inktalez
When Chu Donglin returned home, he saw the girl curled up in the corner of the room, momentarily taken aback.
“Shishi, what’s wrong?”
Chu Donglin walked over and, feeling a bit confused, picked up the girl. “How did you end up here?”
With the light from the flashlight, the girl stared blankly at him.
Then Girl buried her head in Chu Donglin's embrace and wrapped her arms around him. “I’m scared… Daddy, it’s so dark…”
Chu Donglin was completely stunned. Although he felt happy that the girl responded to his question, what did she just call him? Daddy? Was she joking? Had this Girl lost her memory?
He held her tightly and looked seriously into her eyes. “Shishi, do you remember who I am?”
In the beam of the flashlight, the girl continued to stare at him blankly, showing no reaction. They stared at each other for a while until Chu Donglin finally surrendered.
“Alright, alright, let’s not discuss this for now. Let’s get some sleep, okay? It’s late, and you must be tired too, Shishi.”
The girl looked at him blankly, tilted her head in thought, then reached down to touch her stomach, appearing quite pitiful. “Hungry…”
Chu Donglin felt a bead of sweat form on his forehead as he realized that it had been quite some time since the girl last ate.
He was a Zombie, so he didn’t feel hunger and hadn’t thought about food. Otherwise, according to human habits, dinner time had long passed.
“I’m sorry, I completely forgot… my bad…”
With an awkward smile, Chu Donglin placed the girl on the sofa and said, "Shishi, just sit here and wait for me for a moment. I'll go prepare dinner for you... um... how about instant noodles for dinner? Eating only bread and snacks isn't good, right?"
The girl continued to stare at him blankly, showing no reaction.
Chu Donglin shrugged and turned to walk into the kitchen. Under the light of a flashlight, he lit the stove, boiled water, and prepared the instant noodles.
Although instant noodles were not particularly nutritious in normal times, having a hot meal was a luxury for Survivors in this post-apocalyptic world.
For someone like Chu Donglin to enjoy a steaming bowl of instant noodles was an unattainable dream for most Survivors.
Of course, Chu Donglin thought that since he had the ability, he should prepare better food for the girl.
Having just moved in and not being fully prepared, he could only make do with this for now. He couldn't let the girl eat instant noodles all the time.
As he waited for the water to boil, he pondered whether he should plant a few things on the rooftop Vegetable Garden.
After all, this building belonged to him now; no one would care if he planted in his room. If it was just some ordinary vegetables like cabbage or scallions, with his experience working on a farm back home, it wouldn't be much of a problem.
Um... perhaps he should consider raising some chickens or ducks as well?
However, while vegetable seeds could be found at the wholesale market, getting chickens would be more complicated.
The apocalypse had been going on for over ten days now; there probably weren't many chickens left at poultry farms. Most eggs in the city weren't from free-range chickens and wouldn't hatch into chicks... Ah, forget it. Let's focus on getting the Vegetable Garden set up first and think about raising chickens later.
After the water boiled, Chu Donglin skillfully prepared the instant noodles and brought them to the dining table in the living room. He then picked up the girl and sat her down next to the table. "Eat up, Shishi. It's hot."
The bright light from the flashlight was too harsh, and fearing it might hurt the girl's eyes, Chu Donglin only carried a few spare ones with him. For regular lighting, he used an ordinary household flashlight.
In the dim glow of the flashlight, the girl stared blankly at him across the table, seemingly unresponsive.
Just when Chu Donglin thought that Shishi was dissatisfied with the food, she spoke up.
"Daddy, aren't you eating?"
She pointed at Chu Donglin's empty bowl and asked in a daze.
Chu Donglin paused for a moment, a warm feeling rising in his heart.
In the girl's vacant gaze, he smiled and said, "I've already eaten. You just enjoy your meal, Shishi."
Although her way of addressing him felt a bit strange, that warm sensation was enough to overshadow any odd feelings he had.
He gently patted her head and smiled reassuringly. "So don't worry about me; just eat quickly."
The girl stared at his smile for a long time before finally nodding. She lowered her head and picked up the noodles, starting to eat eagerly.
Once she finished her noodles, Chu Donglin wiped her mouth clean and carried her toward her bedroom to help her get ready for bed. However, a new situation arose.
"Daddy, let's sleep together."
The girl lay in the blankets, reaching out to grasp Chu Donglin's hand, her voice timid as she said, "Shishi is scared..."
Chu Donglin looked at the girl's vacant gaze, sighed, and crawled into the bed beside her. "Alright, we'll sleep together."
Although the bed was a bit small and couldn't comfortably fit two people at once, Chu Donglin found himself hanging half his body off the edge to avoid crushing Shishi. It was quite uncomfortable.
However, seeing the girl's dazed expression and thinking about the hardships she had endured, he simply couldn't refuse her request.
Once he settled under the covers, the girl hugged him tightly and nestled her head into his embrace. "Daddy, good night."
Chu Donglin couldn't help but chuckle. As a young man who had just turned twenty-one and had never even had a girlfriend, being called "Daddy" felt rather strange.
He reached out to pat the girl's head, realizing he needed to change this odd way of addressing him. "Shishi, why do you always call me Daddy?"
The girl remained unresponsive.
"Alright then, let's try something else... Hmm, Shishi, do you remember me? You used to call me Big Brother. Why has it changed to Daddy this time?"
Still no response from her.
"Do you remember Uncle Li? He's your real dad. I don't even have a girlfriend yet; how could I possibly have such a big daughter... Uh... although if I did have a daughter as cute as you, I'd be quite happy! But I'm really not your daddy."
There was no response.
"Please don't call me Dad anymore, okay? Just like before, you can call me Big Brother... uh... Shishi? Shishi?"
A faint snore broke the silence. Chu Donglin paused, realizing that the girl had fallen asleep in his arms without him noticing.
Looking at her peaceful sleeping face, he couldn't help but smile wryly. "Well, you fell asleep pretty quickly..."
After all, the girl had been mistreated and beaten for a long time. Now that she had finally escaped from danger, it was only natural that her tightly wound nerves would relax and fatigue would wash over her, leading her to sleep so swiftly.
He stayed in the darkness for more than half an hour, and once he confirmed that she was sound asleep, Chu Donglin carefully got off the bed, trying not to make any noise as he made his way back to the bedroom next door.
The bed in that room was still too soft; lying on it made him feel uncomfortable all over.
Moreover, even a Zombie needed to rest.
Generally speaking, Zombies didn't require several hours of sleep like humans did.
However, entering a dormant state when not active helped reduce energy consumption and sped up the healing process.
Previously, when Chu Donglin hunted that Mutated Zombie, he had sustained a large wound on his chest that still hadn't fully healed.
As a Zombie with human consciousness, maintaining the habit of sleeping at night—something unique to humans—provided Chu Donglin with some psychological comfort. At least he hadn't completely turned into a Zombie; he was still different from those flesh-eating monsters.
Lying on the bed, Chu Donglin closed his eyes, relaxing the flow of energy throughout his body, and soon entered a semi-dormant state.
In the dark bedroom, silence gradually enveloped the space, with only a faint beam of moonlight silently streaming in.
However, it wasn't long before Chu Donglin woke up again—he sensed the bedroom door being pushed open.
Sitting up in bed, Chu Donglin saw a girl named Shishi standing at the doorway in her pajamas, looking dazed.
In the darkness, her bright eyes met his gaze for a long moment.
Then Shishi walked over and naturally crawled into his blankets, wrapping her arms around one of Chu Donglin's. "Daddy, let's sleep together."
Looking at the girl's profile with a wry smile, Chu Donglin shook his head and gave up struggling. "Alright, if we're sleeping together, then let's do it."
With that, Chu Donglin lay back down.
This time, the bedroom finally fell completely silent, with only the occasional distant growls of zombies echoing from the dark city outside, sounding incredibly far away.
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