Eve quickly recovered from her daze, took out a small knife, and began to quickly cut the ropes on him.

"What's wrong with you?" She asked calmly, as if she didn't notice the wounds all over the boy's body. She lowered her head and continued cutting her belt.

The boy lowered his head, and as soon as Eve freed one of his hands, he quickly covered his face, as if he didn't want her to see him.

"It's nothing, don't worry about it." He whispered.

Eve couldn't help but get angry and glared at him.

"What's there to hide? If you don't want me to see it, then I won't," she said angrily, grabbing the boy's wrist. "Stop dawdling, let's go..."

Unexpectedly, the boy suddenly pushed her away. Eve was caught off guard and staggered back several steps.

"you……"

She glared angrily and was about to say something, but she felt something was wrong in her hands. She subconsciously lowered her head and found that her hands were covered with tiny pieces of meat.

Eve reacted immediately and grabbed the boy's arm: "Don't move!"

The boy immediately tried to struggle, but he was more than half a head taller than Eve and couldn't break free. Eve pressed the boy down and turned his arm over.

Under the bright light, the boy's arm appeared a strange bluish-gray color. Eve touched it lightly with her finger, and the skin on the surface fell off like ash.

The boy whispered, "Eve, don't..."

Eve ignored him, her eyes moving from the boy's arm, to his necrotic shoulder, and finally to his face.

She raised her hand and slowly brushed aside his hair.

A face covered with corpse spots was revealed.

The boy's originally fair skin was now covered with large patches of bruises. The skin on his right cheek had almost completely fallen off, revealing a layer of darkened muscle. He subconsciously wanted to raise his hand, but was held down by Eve.

The boy pleaded in a low voice: "Eve..."

If possible, he didn't want Eve to see him in this half-human, half-ghost appearance.

"You are mutating." Eve said to herself.

She didn't need to ask, having dealt with zombies for so long, she could tell the boy's physical condition at a glance.

No wonder those two people were so nervous just now. Eve lowered her eyes. It turned out that this was the reason.

The boy's eyes flashed, and he said in a low, hoarse voice, "Yes."

By that time, he will become a wild beast that cannot understand human language and has only killing in his mind.

The boy held Eve's shoulders and gently pushed her in the opposite direction. "Go away," he whispered. "I'm beyond help, at least..."

At least Eve shouldn't risk her life for someone like him.

Eve didn't move. She stared at the boy's face for a few seconds, then suddenly said, "Don't make that expression. I don't like it."

The boy was laughing, but his expression was no better than crying. Eve pressed his face hard and flattened the corners of his mouth.

"Get up, I'll take you out," she said.

The boy was stunned: "...Eve?"

He thought Eve might not understand the concept of zombies, and said anxiously: "Don't do this! This is very dangerous! In a few minutes, I might not even recognize you. If I attack you then..."

"You won't," Eve said, "and I can protect myself."

Without hesitation, she pulled the boy up and led him to the door, saying, "It doesn't matter if you become a zombie. Let's go to my world. I know some witches who can restore zombies to human intelligence. As long as..."

"Eve!"

The boy suddenly raised his voice. Eve was startled and turned to look at him.

"Don't you understand?" The boy seemed to be trying hard to suppress his emotions, his chest heaving violently, "I... don't want to be like this anymore!"

Eve subconsciously said, "What?"

"Every day and every night," the boy said, "I think about leaving here. I even dream about the outside world, but..." He took a deep breath, his voice suddenly lowering, "I don't want to leave in this body."

He raised his hand, and a nail fell off his thumb with a crisp sound.

The boy whispered, "I'm a human, not a zombie."

Eve was silent for two seconds, then suddenly asked, "Then what about our agreement?"

She took a step forward, almost face to face with the boy, and stared into his dark eyes. "Didn't you promise me that we would always protect each other and never leave each other?"

The boy's breath hitched.

He said with difficulty, "I can still hold on for a few more minutes. Take me outside the corridor. After I turn into a zombie, they will all come after me. You have to take advantage of that time..."

"Bullshit," Eve said bluntly, "I don't want to listen."

"Eve!" the boy said, "Don't be willful!"

Because he was too excited, he seemed to have pulled the wound on his chest, and was forced to bend over, coughing violently in his throat.

Eve lowered her head, her calm green eyes seemed indifferent, but she gently held the boy's arm, allowing him to lean his center of gravity on her.

"Actually, there is another way," she said slowly, "It can turn you into a human."

The boy's coughing stopped, and Eve could feel his arm tighten suddenly.

She continued, "If I use my Witch's Heart, I should be able to temporarily suppress the corpse poison in your body. Then, by continuously injecting magic power into your body, I can slowly clear out the toxins."

"Your... ahem... witch's heart," the boy said, "isn't that the source of your magical power? Wouldn't this have an effect on you?"

Eve said, "Of course."

She ignored the boy's sudden stiffness and said to herself, "But it's really nothing. You know I came here through the Witch's Heart, right? If I transfer a large amount of magic power to you, I might be forced to temporarily withdraw from this world."

The boy said anxiously: "Then can't you come over?!"

Eve heard the urgency in his tone, and the corners of her mouth curved up before she said, "It's okay, I have plenty of ways."

"I can draw on other people's magic power. Once I have enough, I can reopen the space tunnel."

The boy hesitated. "But...it really won't affect you?"

Eve rolled her eyes at him.

"Don't you know me well enough?" She seemed annoyed by the boy's question. "Why would I do something that would harm myself and benefit others? Even if I wanted to help you, I certainly wouldn't put myself in danger."

The boy seemed to be convinced by her and gently held Eve's hand: "Eve, thank you."

Eve said calmly, "It's okay."

She didn't tell the boy that she had lied.

She would indeed leave this world temporarily due to lack of magic power, but the situation was far from as easy as Eve said - she had just betrayed the Undead Witch Tower, and those witches were looking for her all over the world. If Eve went back again, she would have to deal with them with a body without magic power.

If she couldn't escape the pursuit, she would probably be strung into pieces and fed to zombies, she thought casually.

"Wait for me."

She suddenly pulled her hand away and walked towards the door, one hand on her chest. The boy didn't understand Eve's behavior and looked at her in confusion.

After a moment, there were several loud noises outside the door. It sounded like something was slamming against the cage, followed by people shouting, "Wait? What happened to these zombies?!"

The boy asked, "What did you do?"

"I've controlled some zombies," Eve said, putting her hands down with a nonchalant expression. "Let them help buy some time."

She fiddled with the door for a few times, locked it, and walked back to the boy.

"Now I'm going to infuse you with magic," she helped the boy lie down flat on his back. "It's going to take a while, and it might be painful. Can you handle it?"

The boy nodded.

Eve said, "But don't worry, I'll have a few zombies guard the door, so no one will come to disturb us."

She used a knife to cut through her clothes, exposing her chest. Just as she was about to stab him, the boy suddenly said, "Eve."

Eve paused: "Huh?"

"I haven't forgotten our agreement," the boy raised his head slightly, revealing a pair of eyes as bright as the night sky, "...Even if I become a zombie, I won't forget it."

Eve couldn't help but laugh.

"Okay, then I'll wait for you to fulfill your promise."

"By the way," she said, seemingly unconcerned, "If I come back by then, I might not remember you."

——Memory loss, this is the side effect of forcibly traveling through time and space.

The boy's thick eyelashes drooped slightly when he heard this.

"It doesn't matter," he said gently, "I'll remember it for you."

Remember their first meeting, how Eve raised the knife to him in panic and caution.

Remembering their first handshake, he tried hard to wipe off the blood stains on his hands and carefully held the girl's soft and warm fingers.

Remembering their first promise, the two sat side by side under the small vent, looking up at the palm-sized sky.

"Eve," he raised his arm with difficulty, "...hand."

Eve seemed to understand what he was going to do and took it obediently.

"I swear," she whispered, "I will do everything in my power to get you out of here and never let anyone hurt you again."

"I swear," the boy said, "I will always follow you, protect you, and never betray you."

——Until death.

***

Eve slowly opened her eyes.

During the time she was in the illusion, Dr. Shu seemed to have left first.

Eve tried to shake her arms, but the chains that bound her were still so tight that they hurt her arms. She groaned softly and looked around.

Now, after a closer look, I realized that this was actually the room where Qi was once imprisoned.

Eve's casual eyes swept across the rows of glassware and surgical tools, thinking that it was worthy of the end of the world, and people still paid attention to recycling.

Thinking of Qi, a burning pain surged in her brain again, but she just frowned slightly.

Even though the space travel caused her to lose some of her memory, she didn't care.

Seven is her dependent - just knowing this is enough.

Eve was thinking about how to escape when she suddenly heard some noise at the door.

"Click——" the door opened and two men walked in.

"Awake?" The blond man in the lead praised Eve when he saw her eyes were open. "I never thought someone could actually survive four hours under the doctor's brain extraction machine!"

"Joe, don't waste your time talking to her," the other man said, turning to Eve. "Well? What do you want to say to us now?"

Eve was quite interested in the brain extraction machine they were talking about. She asked curiously, "Since you have this device, you can easily get the information you want directly from my brain. Why do you have to force a confession?"

"You think we don't want to?" Qiao rolled his eyes. "But this machine is made entirely based on Yu Kui's special ability. It can only extract specific memories, and outsiders can't see the contents of the memories..."

"Oh..." Eve dragged out her voice. "So the Queen Bee is searching for people with special abilities from all over the place, hoping to use their abilities to develop various tools for her own use?"

Joe realized that he had accidentally leaked the information, and his expression suddenly became unhappy: "No, you guessed wrong."

Eve, however, kept to herself, "But judging from the time Dr. Shu developed this helmet... could it be that Yu Kui was also one of the experimental subjects?"

"You...?!" The two men's faces changed drastically after hearing this. "How did you know about the experiment?!"

Eve remained silent, looking at them with a half-smile.

"...Forget it," another man pulled Qiao aside, "She's trying to trick us. Ignore her for now. If we keep her in jail for a few days, she'll eventually beg for mercy."

After saying that, he glared at Eve fiercely.

"Wait," Eve suddenly said when she saw the two of them preparing to leave, "Who said I don't want to tell you?"

The two of them paused as they turned around.

Eve smiled and said, "But I'll only tell one person." Noticing the expressions of the other two, she shrugged awkwardly. "After all, this is the secret of my ability. I can't let too many people know, right?"

She lowered her chin to the blond Jonunu, "It's you, come here."

The other man showed a look of obvious disapproval. Qiao hesitated and said to him, "It's okay. She's tied up so tightly, she shouldn't do anything tricky."

The companion warned: "Dr. Shu said that this woman has many hidden weapons on her body."

"She's already been metal-detected," Joe said lightly. "Don't be so nervous."

The companion couldn't insist, so he warned Eve, "Don't try to escape," and walked out of the room.

After he closed the door, Joe crossed his arms and said, "Can you tell me now?"

Eve was very cooperative: "Of course, but why are you standing so far away? I'm not going to eat you."

A trace of embarrassment crossed Qiao's face. He took a few steps forward and stopped about a meter away from Eve. "Is that enough?"

"Enough." Eve nodded, a strange smile in her eyes.

The next moment, she suddenly raised her head, and a white thing suddenly shot out of her mouth!

Joe was shocked and dodged to the side in a hurry. However, at such a close distance, he had no time to react. As soon as he lifted his foot, the thing had already pierced his neck.

The skin on the human neck is the most delicate, and that thing cut a hole smoothly without any obstruction. Joe made a "hiss" sound and subconsciously covered his hand, feeling a moist touch on his fingertips.

"You..." He was shocked and angry, "What did you do?!"

Eve smiled and said, "Why don't you take a look at what it is first?"

Qiao was stunned and lowered his head reflexively. A broken tooth slipped from the gap in his neck and fell to the ground with a clang.

He stared at the yellowed teeth, his face gradually turning blue.

"This...this is..." he said in a trembling voice.

"Looks like I don't need to explain any more," Eve looked at Joe's terrified expression curiously and said slowly, "Yes—this is a zombie's tooth."

Come to think of it, she picked this up from the power station in Huasha.

"You should have checked it more carefully. After all, weapons are not only made of metal."

"You...you bitch!" Joe roared and rushed forward, pulling out a dagger from his waist, "I'll kill you--!"

But when the tip of the knife was only a few centimeters away from Eve, he suddenly froze as if he was cast under a spell.

Eve smiled at him.

"It seems like you're mutating very quickly as well."

——Joe's hand was slowly falling off his arm, the rotten skin breaking off piece by piece, and with a "bang", the dagger fell to the ground.

"You...I..."

His face was ferocious, and he wanted to move forward, but he could no longer hold on. His body suddenly collapsed like a toppled building block. Joe fell heavily to the ground, breathing heavily, and a sound like a bellows was made in his chest.

Eve watched him quietly.

She knew that it wouldn't be long before he turned into a zombie and became her slave.

Sure enough, Joe struggled for about a few minutes, his eyes gradually became red, he let out a roar, and when he raised his head again, his face became dull.

——He turned into a zombie.

Joe stood up and walked to Eve, looking as meek as a harmless lamb.

Eve smiled slightly.

"Untie the chains," she ordered calmly.

The author has something to say:

The temperature has really dropped!!

Kids, take care of your health.