绝代双骄 林志颖

Ge Xiu opened his eyes.

The driver’s seat was empty. Xie Shili seemed to have left a while ago, as his smell in the compartment had become blurred and hard to discern.

Ge Xiu rested his palms on the seat and straightened up.

He turned to look out the car window.

Right in the front was a straight road, the roadblock outside had been violently destroyed and even the asphalt road on the ground was full of burnt black marks. Small part of the road had been completely changed beyond recognition. In addition, there are some traces of damage caused by other abilities, but incomparable to the destructive power of fire ability. At first glance, it could be seen that the resistance was ineffective and ability users couldn’t use their powers soon after.

On the ground, three unrecognizable corpses fell among the ruins. Their faces were deformed and melted by burning heat, to the point where they were almost unrecognizable.

There were stabbing marks left by the icicles on the ground, where scorched blood was smeared.

Xie Shili stood in the middle of the road, surrounded by a fire that was quietly burning on the ground. The violent crackling of the flames made his voice seem vague and distant.

Two supernatural users who were still alive but had lost the ability to resist fell in front of him.

They were screaming hysterically and begging for mercy stammeringly.

Xie Shili leaned down slowly, as if he was asking something.

An ice shard condensed and formed behind him, pierced the air and stabbed fiercely into the bodies of the two people in front of him.

Trembling with pain and fear, the two men answered his question.

Xie Shili nodded.

He straightened up.

In the next second, blazing flames rose.

Ge Xiu watched what was happening outside the car window.

The glass in front of him was covered in red reflections and the scarlet flickering flames were reflected in his light gray eyes, dyeing his pale face with a faint blush.

He blinked slowly.

Red light dispersed.

The fire glow on the car window was replaced by natural light and shadow and the air was filled with the stench of burnt flesh.

Xie Shili walked towards the car stepping over the ashes.

In the next second, the door of the driver’s seat was opened from the outside and hot air flowed in.

Xie Shili, who was standing by the car door, bent down and met Ge Xiu’s eyes.

He raised his eyebrows:

“Are you awake?”

Ge Xiu nodded.

Xie Shili bent down and with one long step sat back in his seat.

With a “click” sound, the door has closed.

He threw several nuclei of different colours to Ge Xiu: “Want to eat?”

Ge Xiu smelled the taste that belonged to supernatural humans.

He stuffed one into his mouth and chewed it crunchily. Although it had a completely different taste from the zombie crystal nucleus, Ge Xiu could tell easily that they belonged to the superb class.

Ge Xiu looked up at Xie Shili.

Xie Shili’s face sank like water.

His eyes were slightly narrowed, the lines of his profile were sharp and dangerous, a brutal and violent feeling remained in his eyes from after the carnage.

The black and gloomy eyes were covered under a dense shadow, like a dark river flowing in an abyss.

He seemed a little absent-minded.

There was dead silence in the car.

Xie Shili pondered for a while, then turned to look at Ge Xiu:

“I have some things to deal with in the nearby survival Base of the Dawn…”

He paused, and continued to ask: “Do you want to go together?”

All right.

Ge Xiu nodded nonchalantly.

He didn’t care where they were going, Xie Shili was usually driving anyways.

Xie Shili pursed his lips, and the cold and gloomy look on his face dissipated a little unconsciously.

He started the car, bypassed the small portion of jumbled road in front of him and drove forward.

After Ge Xiu ate all the supernatural crystals thrown to him by Xie Shili, he turned around and picked up a bag of crystals from the back seat, and chewed the crystals stuffed them into his mouth one by one while watching the passing scenery outside the window.

The vehicle was running smoothly on the road, the slight bumps caused by the tires rolling over small stones on the ground were mixed with the buzz of the running engine, forming a closed and peaceful space.

After eating, sleepiness struck again.

So, Ge Xiu quickly fell asleep on the co-pilot.

Xie Shili turned his cheek and glanced at him.

The young man curled up subconsciously, holding a half-empty luggage bag in his arms, and was sleeping soundly leaning on the back of the seat. The light and shadow passing through the window reflected on his pale side face, he seemed like a peaceful marble sculpture.

Xie Shili’s eyes softened.

He raised his eyes and glanced casually over the rearview mirror.

The four zombies were huddled in the back row of the seat, pressing their backs tightly in the furthest car corner. Even in such a small space, they instinctively tried to stay away from the co-pilot seat, making the driver’s seat look pitifully overloaded.

Xie Shili looked away, took out a few crystals from the bag that Ge Xiu was holding in his arms, and threw them to the four zombies sitting in the back row.

——During this period when Ge Xiu had been sleeping for longer and longer, Xie Shili was the one responsible for distributing crystals to them.

Four zombies vying for spar were reflected in the rearview mirror.

Although they each tried to get the most, they were all afraid of waking Ge Xiu who was sleeping on the co-pilot, so they moved as little as possible, only making a slight friction sound.

Xie Shili suddenly had a strange illusion.

It felt like he was raising pets.

Although these four pets… were all pale and ugly zombies that could only growl and were constantly eager to eat.

Xie Shili: “…”

This thought did not make him happy.

He shook away his distracting thoughts and continued to drive forward with full concentration.

The vehicle stopped twice during the day.

One time was to refuel the car in an abandoned gas station, and the other time was to refill the bag of crystals that had been eaten up by Ge Xiu again.

In addition, the car has been running non-stop on the road.

Ten hours later.

Xie Shili parked the car in a hidden corner.

He looked out through the car window with a slightly distracted expression.

From this angle, the steel exterior wall of the Survivor Base of the Dawn could be seen from a distance.

Ge Xiu seemed to have felt the vehicle stop moving.

He opened his eyes.

The bag in his arms was already full again, so he happily grabbed a handful of crystals and stuffed them into his mouth.

Ge Xiu sat up, turned his head and looked around where he was now.

Is this already here?

He blinked and swallowed the nuclei in his mouth.

After the car stopped, Xie Shili opened the child lock on the back seat, letting out for a run in the wind four zombies, who had been shivering for more than ten hours under the pressure from Ge Xiu —Xie Shili was not worried that they would follow the smell of humans and walk towards the human base, these zombies were too afraid of Ge Xiu, so even if he didn’t take the initiative to order them, they dared not leave him for more than a hundred meters.

Xie Shili raised his head and fixed his eyes on the city wall shimmering in the morning sun.

——The place that he established with his own hands, devoted countless efforts to, which taken away from him by the betrayal of his closest relatives.

He lowered his eyes to hide the complex emotions in his eyes.

Xie Shili stretched out his hand to open the lock in front of the car, and took out a dusty half a pack of cigarettes left there by the previous owner of the car.

He took one out and held it to his lips.

A cluster of flames sprang up from the fingertips, instantly igniting the end of the cigarette, a dim flame flickered, and the grayish smoke mixed with the bitter smell of nicotine slowly drifted around.

Ge Xiu tilted his head, his gray eyes reflecting the other’s preoccupied expression.

He stuffed another nucleus into his mouth and his eyes fell on the cigarette held between the fingers of the other party, a trace of doubt flashed in his eyes.

……what was this?

Something to eat?

Xie Shili rolled down the window to let the smoke in the car drift outside.

He put his wrist on the window sill, his slender fingertips trembled lightly, with that a little bit of residual soot fluttered down.

In the lingering smoke that had not dissipated in the carriage, Xie Shili’s eyes moved slightly, and he looked at Ge Xiu who was sitting in the co-pilot seat.

He noticed the other person’s gaze fixed on the cigarette.

Xie Shili moved his fingertips slightly, picked up the half-burned cigarette, and asked,

“Want to try?”

Although Ge Xiu was a little puzzled, he still nodded expectantly.

Xie Shili frowned, looked at him doubtfully for two seconds, and asked,

“Do you know how?”

Ge Xiu nodded again —wasn’t it just eating?

So, Xie Shili handed over the cigarette, and Ge Xiu opened his mouth, ready to bite down on the burning cigarette.

Fortunately, Xie Shili had keen eyes and quick hands, if he had taken away the cigarette a millisecond later, it would have most likely been stuffed into the other’s mouth and devoured.

With a clang, Ge Xiu’s upper and lower teeth collided as he took a bite of nothing.

He turned his head to look at Xie Shili expressionlessly, his gray eyes were full of dissatisfaction——

Didn’t he agree to let him eat? Why did he suddenly take it away at the last moment?

Xie Shili shook his head helplessly:

“This is not for eating…”

Ge Xiu frowned, obviously not believing what Xie Shili said at all.

——I clearly saw you put it in your mouth.

Xie Shili sighed.

Not knowing when and how, although the other’s lack of expression had not changed, but as they spend more time together, he found himself more and more accustomed to detecting the meaning the other party wanted to express from the subtle changes in the youth’s expression.

He put the cigarette between his lips and took a light puff.

Then he leaned over, kissed the other’s cold and soft lips, and passed the smoke in his mouth.

Ge Xiu was frozen in place, his eyes widened slightly as he stared blankly at the close-up face of the other party.

There was a strange moist and warm touch on the lips.

The smell of ash, blood, fire, and tobacco lingered around the other party’s nose. The already alluring smell changed into something more complex and multi-layered at this moment— but, overall, it seemed to taste twice as delicious.

Zombies had no sense of taste for human food.

Although Ge Xiu had tried eating human food before, the result was the same every time. After putting those beautifully coloured foods into his mouth, they were as dry as chewing firewood, and he couldn’t swallow them at all.

This time, though, it felt a little different.

Perhaps it was because it had contact with Xie Shili’s mouth before, but now…he seemed to have tasted a little…flavour.

Bitterness, sourness, remembrance, hatred, sorrow.

Xie Shili stepped back slightly, letting go of the young man’s pale and cold lips.

Ge Xiu stared at him blankly.

A bit of gray-white smoke escaped from between his half-open lips.

Faint wisps of smoke floated up along the lines of his face, wrapped around his dark eyelashes, and have dissipated with the blinking of his eyelashes, dispersing into the air.

Xie Shili lowered his eyes, his dark eyes reflected the other’s blank expression:

“How was it?”