QT: The Rescue Of The Miserable Bigshots

"Ah!"

The brief silence was shattered by a painful cry from a room further down the corridor.

Jiang Jiamian's eyes turned cold. "Xue Fang!"

Xue Fang had been locked inside the room at the end of the hall.

Ling Zhuang slowly drew him closer, voice calm. "Let him be. He can't get out anyway. And even if he does, with Your Respected Zombie King here, he'll end up kneeling and kowtowing. Don't you think so, Your Majesty?"

Jiang Jiamian's lips twitched. "You're right. Then how about explaining why your body is so cold, too?"

Ling Zhuang's embrace stiffened almost imperceptibly, before he offered a gentle smile. "I was afraid of burning you, making you uncomfortable. So I adjusted it."

Jiang Jiamian's mind buzzed. A thought flickered across it, adjustment, temperature regulation…

Ling Zhuang noticed his frown, the restless struggle in his eyes. He leaned close, whispering against his ear. "I am a biology professor. My research delves deeply into living organisms. For example, how cold-blooded animals alter their temperature…"

Jiang Jiamian's eyes widened. "You…"

Ling Zhuang nodded lightly. "This is another of my great achievements, aside from creating you and… well…"

Jiang :Jiamian: "…"

"Spit it out already! What is it, some world-ending secret or something!?"

Ling Zhuang let out a faint snort. "So naive."

But still, temperature regulation? It sounded flashy, but what real use did it have?

Jiang Jiamian pondered, and then asked, "This function is all fancy, but it doesn't seem practical, Professor Ling."

Ling Zhuang adjusted his glasses. "How could it not be? I'm not only speaking of temperature control. I've also researched replicating various supernatural abilities, including temperature control."

Jiang Jiamian: "…"

For a moment, Jiang Jiamian felt a chill run straight from his scalp to his heels.

Replicating supernatural abilities.

Didn't that mean Ling Zhuang, the professor who 'hadn't awakened powers', was in fact the true hidden powerhouse of the apocalypse?

Then what about the original plot?

Jiang Jiamian recalled how, in the story, after his identity was revealed, the protagonists had struggled bitterly but ultimately killed him. Now, he doubted it had ever been so simple.

If Ling Zhuang could replicate powers, then it would be perfectly normal for the protagonists to fail against him, unless the plot itself forced it otherwise.

Jiang Jiamian shifted uneasily in his arms. "Okay… let's talk this through. Or better yet, how about letting me go?"

He imagined it for a moment: Xiao Jinfeng, Xue Fang, Zheng Shuqiu, Shen Hao, all their combined powers, replicated into Ling Zhuang alone.

Holy hell. That was bug-level existence.

No wonder the man had the confidence to treat the apocalypse like casual entertainment.

Ling Zhuang narrowed his eyes, his cold voice curling against Jiang Jiamian's ear. "Trying to run?"

"No, no…" Jiang Jiamian laughed weakly. "I just want to go to the toilet."

Ling Zhuang chuckled. "You are the Zombie King. Your body is no different from a dead man's, you don't need it."

He didn't need food either. Pretending in front of others was the only reason he ate. But the food never truly digested, only decomposed quickly, merging with his zombie flesh.

"Professor Ling, Jiang Jiamian, Chen Ran and I are here to replace you."

The timely voice saved him. Xiao Jinfeng and Chen Ran walked in for the rotation.

Ling Zhuang instantly released Jiang Jiamian, his posture once again refined and gentlemanly.

"Xue Fang has turned into a zombie."

The next morning, several people woke up with a shadow of gloom in their expressions.

No matter the petty grudges or hidden dislikes from before, now only the weight of shared battles remained. Silence hung over them.

"What should we do?"

Zheng Shuqiu's voice trembled. He had been closest to Xue Fang.

"What else can we do?" Xiao Jinfeng sighed deeply. "As we agreed last night, we'll let him out before we leave."

"But…" Shen Hao frowned. "He's a zombie."

Letting him out meant he could bite others. No matter their bond, the fact remained, Xue Fang was no longer human.

Zheng Shuqiu panicked. "But he was our teammate. Do we really have to attack him?"

The choice pressed on them, drowning the room in silence.

"Don't panic." Ling Zhuang's calm voice cut through at the perfect time. "I intend to research a vaccine for the virus. I'll need a zombie. Since we must find one anyway, why not take Xue Fang back?"

"Take him… back?"

Their eyes lit up, then dimmed again.

"But he's already a zombie, ready to attack at any time. How do we keep him with us?"

Chen Ran added, "The journey is already dangerous. We don't have the manpower to guard him."

Carrying a live zombie across wastelands would only burden the team.

"Calm down."

Jiang Jiamian smiled faintly. "Since Professor Ling has chosen his subject, I have a plan."

All eyes turned to him. "What plan?"

From his space, Jiang Jiamian retrieved a slender bottle, its contents swirling ominously. "This medicine will freeze every limb. Human, zombie, no difference. One sip, and you'll be trapped in your own body, like a statue."

"What? That exists?"

The group stared at the bottle as if it were more absurd than the apocalypse itself.

"Of course." Jiang Jiamian's lips curved. "Didn't I say? Before the end, I was heir to a hidden family. I learned swordsmanship, martial arts, alchemy. This medicine, I refined it myself."

Ling Zhuang: "…"

Where the hell did this guy come from?

He was full of nonsense.

And how had he even managed to seize Jiang Jiamian's body, the one that was supposed to be the Zombie King?

So many secrets.

And yet… Last night, when Jiang Jiamian had begun to speak, Ling Zhuang had felt an unexplainable panic, a voice whispering: Don't ask. Don't listen.

It was bizarre.

The others' faces showed the same flicker of doubt, but Jiang Jiamian remained calm, even finding space to flatter.

"I understand Professor Ling's good intentions. He must be hoping that once the vaccine succeeds, Xue Fang can be the first to benefit. After all, it's best to keep things in the team."

Ling Zhuang: "…"

No. He just wanted to bring Xue Fang back openly, so the man could taste again the fate of a test subject.

Ling Zhuang nearly laughed aloud but let the moment pass.

This man was a liar, through and through. Yet in a strange way, the two of them were cut from the same cloth.