The moment Qinglan returned, my heart tightened. I worried she might still be in her strange state and cause an issue with these humans because the only reason she didn't attack me was due to me being her king...
'She looks different, a little less agitated.'
"Oh, welcome back Qinglan."
I tried to smile, but the adrenaline from fighting remained. And I could feel the edges of my lips twitch, so it might have seemed awkward.
"I'm back, who are these people?"
Her cold, emotionless voice wasn't new to me, so I didn't mind.
But the others seemed a little offended.
Wang Jun watched Qinglan with a lustful and disgusting gaze while Fang Lei merely narrowed his eyes and shook his head, doubting her abilities.
I noticed that Jiang Roulan didn't show any judgment and merely observed Qinglan.
The blonde Shen Yifei pouted, her dress covered in dirt after she fled like a coward, but the fact she avoided death impressed me. Even the most cowardly deserve a chance to survive, right?
'Not that she has anything to do with me.'
"Who is this woman, John?"
There wasn't much connection between the blonde and me. I observed Shen Yifei for a moment earlier and noticed her Tier wasn't bad.
But a B-Tier wasn't something exciting that made me want her.
'Qinglan's eyes are blue, it seems she's back to normal.'
"I see... then let's go back."
Mu Qinglan didn't seem to have any desire to hang around with these people either, so I nodded and stepped towards her. Only to feel a soft hand grasping my wrist. Jiang Roulan asked me to stop—her eyes filled with insecurity.
"Please don't go, can you not help us?"
The others then joined her argument, and honestly, because I wanted to know her more, it was difficult to ignore her.
[Unable to Recruit Jian Roulan: Affection Rating Too Low!]
'Huh? But the message didn't show for Shen Yifei.'
This made me believe Jiang Roulan might be an S-Tier.
This message popped up each time I kept my gaze on Jian Roulan for too long. It made me a little confused. How did saving her life not increase it enough to recruit her when Mu Qinglan, someone who used to hate me, could?
A silly thought echoed in my mind, a hopeful and foolish little dream.
'Maybe... I am wrong about Qinglan?'
"W-Wait, are you just going to leave us?"
Wang Jun directed his voice to me like a little bitch—he clearly just wanted to remain closer to Qinglan. Somehow that pissed me off, and I found myself wanting to hit him. It wasn't like I loved her or anything...
But because of the closeness we shared over the past twenty-four hours made me attached to her strange and terrifying antics.
It was Fang Lei who made me want to help them—he never showed interest, and well, he seemed a bit too old to focus on those desires. The 5ft 4" old man was smaller than Wang Jun who seemed around 5ft 5" in height.
"Sorry to be leeches, uhm, John, I appreciate your help."
Old Lei bowed to me before he continued, his eyes wet and the dark circles under his eyes telling that there weren't any lies in them.
"But could you at least help us find somewhere to rest? We've been running all day and struggled to get any rest even now."
I turned to Qinglan, who looked at me with her glowing azure orbs before she tilted her head and nodded.
"I'm going back to the bedroom. Come upstairs when you're done, John."
The group seemed a little cautious of Mu Qinglan despite her walking with a slight limp, probably because she appeared from nowhere and without a group, covered in blood.
Mu Qinglan hopped onto the garage roof before turning back. Her eyes became sharp as she gazed at someone. It was Jiang Roulan, not me.
'Did she feel some sort of danger from her?'
I couldn't understand my strange, living, dead partner and just shrugged my shoulders.
It was only then that I noticed the deformed metal bat in her hands and realised that I had never asked if she was all alright.
She was my partner—in the future. I needed to be more careful.
Somehow, Qinglan seemed strange from the moment she noticed me with other humans. Does it bother her that she's become a living dead? Maybe there's something I don't realise and have been overlooking.
"I can help you find somewhere to rest, but... you better not bother me and Qinglan, or I'll have to kick you out."
My words sounded colder than usual.
I noticed Wang Jun visibly recoil while Old Lei nodded to himself—Jian Roulan wasn't an issue. She just showed a smile as if relieved to find somewhere to sleep, while Shen Yifei just watched my face, quietly.
'Her gaze makes me skin crawl...'
In the end, I guided them into the building but never told them how to unlock the barrier on the second floor and with a frustrated scowl of Qinglan.
The ice queen ignored the others and lay on the sofa again, drinking a bottle of whiskey. I guided them through my room and opened two of the other empty apartments.
'Thank god... there are basic items in these places.'
"Ugh, they're so dirty and dusty."
"It's better than the floor, Shen Yifei."
"Hmph, you're used to living like a poor police officer, I am not!"
"Well, get used to it."
The four people started to adapt, with Old Lei being the easiest. He dropped onto the bed after dusting the room lightly and fell into a deep sleep.
Wang Jun seemed to peek at my door, which increased my desire to kill him.
Shen Yifei shared a room with Jian Roulan, and the two men slept at the end of the corridor, away from everyone else.
"What's that strange door at the end?"
"It's a broken barricade. The landlord seems to have locked it before they left, and now we cannot access the first floor. So zombies will struggle to get up here."
Jian Roulan seemed interested in the little things as she cleaned her room and asked to borrow some basic food and amenities, which I didn't mind sharing.
Though the evil glare from Quinlan made my spine shudder, I couldn't lose my humanity in a single day. And meeting survivors taught me that I wasn't some murder hobo like in the novels... at least, not yet.
'However... Trust was a completely different beast. I trusted nobody, even Mu Qinglan.'