Lin Tantan bit Ye Xiao's lips awkwardly. It wasn't like a kiss, but more like a lost puppy that had just returned home. He bit and licked Ye Xiao's lips out of fear and excitement, venting his emotions through this action.
Ye Xiao was so embarrassed by her that he didn't know whether to laugh or cry. He lay quietly on the ground, holding her in one hand and putting the other hand behind her head, stroking her fur to comfort her, and cooperating with her appropriately with his lips to guide her.
Gradually, the chaotic and pure kiss changed its taste, becoming soft and lingering. It was unknown who stuck out the tongue first, wanting to ask for more. Lin Tan Tan tightly grasped his clothes and pressed his broad shoulders. Ye Xiao also slightly increased the strength of the hand on the back of her head.
After a long time, they separated, each taking a breath, looking at each other up and down. Lin Tan's eyes were red and a little confused, while Ye Xiao's eyes were full of tenderness and love, and he looked at her tolerantly and quietly.
Lin Tantan's mouth suddenly pursed, and she started to sob again, burying her face in his chest and rubbing it, but this crying was completely different from before, like a wronged and unhappy child asking for a hug.
Ye Xiao hugged her silently, touched her hair comfortingly, and said softly: "It's okay, I'm here, I won't leave you."
Lin Tan hummed for a while, leaving only a small nasal sound, and hummed softly: "What if I leave suddenly?"
"Then I will go find you. No matter where you are, no one can make you leave me."
Ye Xiao's voice was soft but firm. He meant what he said. He was not confident that he could ignore all obstacles, but he would do his best to protect her. If one day she suddenly disappeared, he would risk everything he had, including his life, to find her again.
Lin Tantan felt the weight of his words and felt relieved. She was really scared, afraid and suspicious of everything, fearing that everything would disappear like a mirage in the next second.
But Ye Xiao's words gave her a sense of security. She exhaled, leaned on his chest, and listened to his real and strong heartbeat. She felt her eyelids become particularly heavy, and she fell into darkness uncontrollably.
Ye Xiao didn't hear her response. He looked down and saw that she had her eyes closed and was lying on his chest as if she was asleep. Her breathing was steady and her nose was a little stuffy. Her eyes and nose were red from crying, and there were traces of tears on her face. She looked embarrassed and pitiful.
Her hands were still clutching his clothes, as if she was worried that he would disappear if she let go. This dependent look made Ye Xiao feel both pity and love, and he lowered his head and kissed her hairline again.
But at the same time, he didn't know whether to wake her up or let her continue sleeping. He didn't know if she could bear the nightmare like the previous one if it happened a few more times. But she was obviously very tired, and crying in her dreams was a very energy-consuming thing.
After hesitating for a moment, he still didn't wake her up. He reached out and pulled the blanket beside him to cover both of them. He just lay on the ground as a mattress, motionless, just looking at her closely.
If she frowned, he would feel heartbroken.
Fortunately, she slept soundly and peacefully this time. The moon had completely set, and the darkness before dawn was bone-chilling. The wind gradually grew stronger, and it was blowing. Ye Xiao created an air barrier around him to prevent the cold wind from blowing in.
The sky gradually brightened, revealing a grayish-white color like a fish belly, and then a dull and light sky blue. Then the sun gradually rose, and the morning light shone on the earth. Ye Xiao turned his eyes, and the light that automatically emitted passed over the wall at the edge of the rooftop and shone into his eyes. He lowered his head to look at the little girl in his arms, whose sleeping face was still peaceful. He pulled the quilt higher to block the light shining on her face.
At the same time, he carefully pressed a few times on his watch and found the number Z891 through the communication records. The owner of this number was downstairs, one of the dozen people. Ye Xiao didn't have the other people's contact numbers, so naturally he could only find this person.
He edited a message, which basically told them to return to the base on their own and to let the others disperse on their own. They didn't need to look for him or wait for him. He had something else to discuss with Lin.
In the large supermarket two floors downstairs, the shelves were scattered all over the place, filled with all kinds of wrapping paper, torn clothes and the like. As the sky got brighter, the mess became more and more apparent.
More than eighty people have already gotten up, packed up their things, eaten, and prepared to continue fighting or return to base.
The latter were none other than the dozen or so people from the Zhengyang Brigade who had been attacked. They had been trying not to sleep all night and were worried about what would happen in the future. Their faces and expressions were much more haggard than those of the others, especially the one who had a nightmare. He was even more listless, with dark circles under his eyes.
Someone asked, "Where are Captain Ye and Miss Lin?"
"I don't know. Is he outside?"
At this time, the owner of the account Z891 received the message, read it and told everyone the content. No one thought much about it, just thought they left in the middle of the night for something. Someone else said that they heard gunshots from upstairs and zombies shouting on the street outside yesterday. They probably went to fight zombies. Others also said that they heard the same sound, and they couldn't help but sigh that they were really hardworking.
No one expected them to be still upstairs, nor did anyone want to climb two flights of stairs to see if they were still there, so they just dispersed and left.
Lin Tantan didn't wake up until the sun had risen quite high and the shadows on the ground had gradually shortened. Her mind was a little unclear. She looked down and found herself lying on Ye Xiao, with almost her whole body lying on him, the two of them pressed tightly together.
Everything that happened last night flashed through her mind one by one. She pushed herself up and Ye Xiao opened his eyes. They stared at each other for a moment. Lin Tan got up first, her cheeks flushed. "I, I fell asleep on you like this?"
Ye Xiao smiled and slowly sat up: "Are you feeling better?"
"Huh? Oh, much better. How long have I slept?"
Ye Xiao looked at the time: "From four o'clock to now, it has been more than four hours."
Lin Tantan was a little surprised. This was the first time in so many days that she slept for such a long time at one time. She blinked and found that her eyes were a little dry. This was because she cried too much. Her throat was a little hoarse, which was also due to crying and shouting in her dream.
My face is also a little dry, which is because the tear marks have dried and tightened the skin.
She rubbed her face quickly, feeling embarrassed to look at Ye Xiao: "Well, I had a bad dream last night. It was scary, wasn't it?"
Ye Xiao rubbed her head: "It made me very worried, are you still scared now?"
Lin Tantan thought about it and shook her head. She was awake now, and she felt more energetic after a good sleep, so the dream had less disturbing effect on her mind.
It’s like a person who is afraid of ghosts and the dark. If he lives alone, he may not dare to go to the toilet at night, but he will have no psychological barriers during the day.
She felt that this was almost the case, but when she remembered the vague dream, her heart still sank. The dream was too terrible because it was too real and it hit what she was most worried about. Now she couldn't help but doubt, was it really just a dream?
Also, if she had that dream again, could she bear it?
The answer is basically no.
She felt a little depressed.
"I'm much better now, but it's definitely gotten a lot worse. I used to only have one type of dream, and I knew I was dreaming and could wake up on my own. But this time, it seemed like I had several dreams. I can't quite remember them, but it was more than one, and I didn't even realize I was dreaming."
Ye Xiao thought to himself, it’s useless to call your name or splash water on you, but he didn’t say it out loud now to make her feel more pressured.
He said, "It's good that you're okay now. Isn't it said that we should always maintain a good mood? Now that it's daybreak, let's not dwell on those things for now. Wait until everyone else with similar symptoms returns to base, and then gather them together to see if there's any pattern."
He consoled her, "The first time you fell asleep, you had a nightmare after only half an hour, but the second time you slept for a full four or five hours and that was fine. There must be a pattern."
Lin Tan thought about it and her dull face brightened up. "That makes sense. There's no point in overthinking it. Besides, even though we had such a commotion, I was able to get a good night's sleep. I caught up on all the things I learned earlier, which is enough to last me for several days."
Ye Xiao twitched the corner of his mouth: "...That's it."
Lin Tantan stood up and said, "Let's go, what should we do next?" She paused and said, "You didn't sleep all night, did you?"
"I'm fine. I'm not tired."
Lin Tan Tan: Yes, when it comes to the ability to stay up late, she is far behind him.
I feel energetic even though I haven't slept for a few days.
She looked carefully, making sure he wasn't lying, and asked, "What do we do next?"
Ye Xiao asked: "Do you want to go back?"
Lin Tan Tan shook his head.
"Then go kill some more zombies."
Lin Tan Tan nodded: "That's good."
Then the two began to move. When they encountered zombies, they would kill them directly if there were few of them, and run away if there were too many of them, and then occupy the high ground to continue killing. Both of them were long-range players, and their abilities seemed to be endless, which was a disaster for zombies.
If there is no danger and there are many zombie corpses on the ground, Lin Tantan will start to pry out crystal cores and scavenge.
She used the gold element to split open the zombie's head, then used the long fire tongs that Ye Xiao gave her to pick out the crystal core, washed it with water, and burned it with fire. It was immediately clean and put into the bag.
When she did this, she couldn't help but look at Ye Xiao. If she found that he was still busy within her sight, she would feel anxious and stop to look for him.
Ye Xiao also noticed her uneasiness, and always kept himself very close to her, or had more physical contact with her.
As time went by, Lin Tantan gradually relaxed. The dream had less and less impact on her. She became happy again and was busy having fun. After clearing all the zombies on a whole street, she would ask Ye Xiao to roll up the corpses and pile them aside, and then she would set them on fire.
As she was picking up the crystal cores, she suddenly laughed: "Do you think we should be like this: you go in front to kill monsters, and I go in the back to pick up equipment?"
Ye Xiao asked, "After you pick up the items, will you clean up the streets?"
"Yes, the city is my home, and sanitation depends on everyone." She chuckled again after uttering this old slogan. Thinking about it, she had only seen sanitation workers sweeping the streets in movies, but never in real life, unlike the robots and fully automatic street sweepers used in later generations.
Now I find it indescribable pleasure to do this job. I feel a sense of accomplishment when I see the streets no longer littered with corpses after being cleaned up.
Ye Xiao: “…” I have no idea what she is happy about, but it’s good to be happy.
Then they met a group of people who were being chased by a group of zombies. They helped them. There were corpses all over the ground waiting for Lin Tan to dig out the crystal cores. She was happier being busy.
The group of people were so envious of them when they saw how happy they were killing a zombie.
By the afternoon, the number of zombies was decreasing. Lin Tan asked if they were almost all killed. Ye Xiao touched his head and said, "The zombies have moved south."
"?"
"That means they are heading towards the base." Although many people are fighting here, the zombies are not so easy to be restrained. After careful calculation, it will take about one or two days for the zombies to reach the base.
Lin Tan Tan said: "The leading zombie is already dead, but they are still heading towards the base."
"Without the biggest leader, there are still many small leaders, and with a base of millions of people right in front of them, how could they possibly stagnate?"
If you look down from the air, you can see groups of zombies infiltrating the city from the northwest corner.
Having lost their greatest leader, some wandered aimlessly, mixing with the existing zombies in the city. Others headed southeast with a clear goal, clearly still targeting the Ning City base. If the zombie leaders were capable or high-ranking, they could even call on the existing zombies in the city to join them.
However, they can no longer form a large-scale zombie group, nor can they be commanded by a certain zombie to rush to the same place. In addition, there are still people secretly ambushing them and consuming them on their way forward. Even if they will eventually reach the base, the threat they bring to the base will not be too great.
The horde of zombies headed southeast, and the people in this area followed, harvesting the tail of the zombies as they went. Then, in the afternoon of that day, they went around the edge of the city and retreated to their base.
They were the first large group of people to return to the base. It was already dark when they came back, and the base gate was specially kept open for them until now. The lights at the gate were on as bright as day. As long as someone came and was checked and there were no problems, they would be allowed in.
Lin Tan and the other two arrived earlier than them because they were picked up by a helicopter and returned in the evening.
At this time, all the people who had been hit by the strange zombie had returned. There were more than 300 people in total, of which more than 200 were in the building last night. It was obviously a severely affected area.
Since the base had promised to provide treatment to the wounded during the zombie outbreak, this situation was considered an injury and should have been the base's responsibility. However, considering Lin Tantan's situation, Ye Xiao had the Zhengyang Brigade take these people in at the compound's clinic and had also invited several doctors and specialists in psychology and psychiatry.
However, because those who stayed would be questioned in detail about the time, place, and distance between them and the zombie, as well as the content of their nightmares and their real experiences related to them, not many people were willing to stay.
In the end, the only people left were nearly twenty people from the Zhengyang Brigade, and some others, a total of more than seventy people.
When the two arrived, someone was telling the patients to go back, eat if they needed to, take a bath if they needed to, and come back in the evening. They would then let them sleep here and observe their reactions after sleeping.
Lin Tantan silently watched these patients who left dejectedly, with haggard expressions, furrowed brows, and the whole body like they were shrouded in dark clouds. He had sympathized with them before, and after having a nightmare in the early morning, he felt even more sympathetic.
Oh, this symptom is really torturous.
Ye Xiao also had a complicated look. He had inevitably thought that it might be too exaggerated before, and that it was nothing to have a nightmare. But after seeing Lin Tantan's reaction, he didn't think so at all. It was a dilemma that was really difficult to save himself and difficult for others to help.
After they had waited for everyone to leave, they walked in. "Captain Ye, team leader." Mingze immediately greeted the two of them when he saw them. He was in charge here now.
Ye Xiao asked: "How much have you figured out?"
Mingze said, "The source of all patients' nightmares is related to their personal experiences and personality traits. Our preliminary estimate is that the zombie's ability is to stimulate the human brain, exposing their most subconscious fears, greatest weaknesses, or the things they are most reluctant to expose, and then replaying them in their minds during sleep."
Mingze said seriously, "We haven't figured out the mechanism of the attacks yet, so we can't formulate a treatment plan. But the biggest problem right now is that they're afraid to fall asleep, and once they do, they'll have nightmares. We had several of them try to fall asleep this afternoon when they were less than five meters away from the zombies. They could barely distinguish between nightmares and reality, and when they were forcibly awakened, they would curse and attack those around them.
"One of them couldn't be woken up yet. He lost his heartbeat in a nightmare. Fortunately, emergency treatment brought him back to life. He said he fainted from being frightened by the monster in his dream. So we determined that if he couldn't be woken up, his life would be in danger."
Ye Xiao broke out in a cold sweat when he heard this. Tan Tan almost died.
Lin Tantan was also shocked. How could someone die? She vaguely remembered that she almost fainted in her dream.
Only then did she truly realize the horror of this symptom and the horror of the strange zombie.
If it had not been discovered, or if everyone was scattered everywhere, without sharing their nightmares, and without contacting the zombie head, what would it have grown into if it had been given more time?
It was simply unimaginable. She thought carefully about whether there was any record of such zombies in history books. However, at this time in history, Ye Xiao was in the capital, so she naturally would not pay attention to the information from the distant Ning City.
She looked at Ye Xiao, fortunately the zombie was dead.
Ye Xiao held her hand, looked at her soothingly, and asked, "Anything else?"
Mingze continued, "Also, even those whose symptoms aren't as severe still have significant problems. Most people have put in a lot of effort killing zombies and are physically exhausted, but because of this, they're afraid to rest or sleep. If this continues, the fear of nightmares and lack of sleep will cause them to continue to have a bad mood, and they might even do things that hurt themselves and others."
Ye Xiao nodded: "You did a good job."
At this time, a car drove over and a man in military uniform got out. He saluted Ye Xiao and said, "Captain Ye, I heard you're back. Our leader wants you to come over to discuss something."
Lin Tantan looked at this person. The command headquarters against the zombie tide was at Lv Jianping's. Bai Cheng was currently staying there every day, so it was normal for Lv Jianping to ask Ye Xiao to go there instead of him coming alone.
Ye Xiao said to her, "Let's go."
Lin Tan Tan: "? Why should I go? You go by yourself, I'll stay here."
Ye Xiao frowned slightly: "Xu Limeimei and the others are out killing zombies, you should come with me."
"Aiya, what could happen in our own compound? There are so many guards here. Let's go, business is more important." Ye Xiao stood there in silence. Lin Tan was surprised: "Is there anything else?"
Ye Xiao: Who was it that cried loudly because he couldn't find him in his dreams, and who was it that got nervous when he couldn't see him, but now he's fine and just waves people away.
He sighed and whispered something that only she could hear: "I'll be back in the evening."
Lin Tantan coughed and said, "Well, I won't sleep tonight, you don't have to worry."
Ye Xiao didn't say anything else. He told her to be careful and got into the car and left.
Lin Tantan and Mingze entered the clinic together and looked through the patients' medical records. Anyone who had a distance of less than ten meters between them and the zombies was her special focus. Looking at it this way, there were quite a lot of them, about twenty or so. Some of them had fallen asleep last night and had particularly strong reactions. Either they could not be woken up or they became so crazy after waking up that several people could not control them.
Lin Tan Tan touched his face, sighed, and felt very sympathetic.
But she felt embarrassed when she saw the contents of some people's nightmares.
The first part was relatively normal. Some people witnessed the death of their relatives, some had their children abducted, some were buried in the rubble after an earthquake and were waiting for rescue, and some had done something wrong and dreamed of the people they hurt coming to take revenge.
If you flip through the pages further, you will find a lot of weird content, such as encountering a ghost, being chased by monsters, being thrown into a frying pan, turning into a 500-pound fat man, winning 50 million but suddenly finding that the lottery ticket cannot be found and cannot be redeemed, etc.
Lin Tan Tan thought, no wonder these people are willing to speak out about their dreams frankly, there is nothing to be ashamed of!
They had dinner here, a nutritionally balanced work meal. Ye Xiao called her back to ask if she had eaten. She replied calmly that she had eaten very well. There were vegetables, meat, and a smashed cucumber, which was fresh, crispy, refreshing and especially appetizing. The chef knew that she also had a work meal, so he prepared a special dish for her, including a beef in sour soup. He didn't know how it was made, but it tasted especially good.
Ye Xiao was silent for a moment, then told her that he couldn't come back for the time being.
Lin Tantan’s answer was: “Oh, no problem, you’re busy, I won’t bother you anymore.”
Ye Xiao looked at the hung up communicator with an inexplicable expression, but his tone sounded really relaxed and cheerful. It seemed that he was not at all uncomfortable after being separated for half an hour.
He felt distressed when his girlfriend was fragile and clingy, but as someone who had been clingy to him, he couldn't feel happy when she stopped being clingy at all.
He pursed his lips, looking somewhat gloomy. Seeing his expression, Lu Jianping felt a sinking feeling in his heart: "Is the zombie tide still very serious? Is this level difficult to pass?"
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