Who Taught You to Use a Curse Doll as a Shared-Sensation Doll? - Chapter 3

That night, Pei Wen climbed into my bed as naturally as ever.

When the apocalypse first began, the temperature had plummeted to sixty degrees below zero.

Many people hadn’t died in the jaws of zombies. Instead, they had closed their eyes forever in that sudden cold snap.

Fortunately, my fire ability let me raise my body temperature with ease.

So I had naturally become Pei Wen’s personal heater, and lately he slept pressed against me every night.

It had seemed perfectly ordinary at the time, but now…

I huddled in the corner by the wall and watched him as though facing a deadly enemy.

Pei Wen was perfectly composed. Fully dressed, he slipped beneath the blankets and gave a long, contented sigh.

His hair had grown a little longer, its soft strands scattered obediently over the pillow. He looked impossibly well-behaved.

This Pei Wen bore no resemblance at all to the sinister creep described by the comments.

Pei Wen and I had grown up as neighbors. He was shy and introverted, while I spent every day rampaging around the neighborhood, so at first we weren’t close.

When we were in elementary school, his parents died in an accident. His uncle’s family took him in, and he began a life of dependence under someone else’s roof.

As a small child, he always wore ill-fitting clothes and was too timid to look anyone in the eye.

My mother and his mother had been good friends. She often slipped Pei Wen food in secret and nagged me every day to look after him.

But although we attended the same school, we weren’t in the same class. How was I supposed to do that?

The best I could manage was to wander past his classroom door from time to time during breaks.

Then one day, I saw him being bullied with my own eyes.

Those little bastards had trapped Pei Wen in a corner. Amid their taunts and shoves, they tore up his homework.

There were four of them. If I charged in, the odds weren’t in my favor.

While I hesitated, Pei Wen saw me standing in the doorway.

A tiny flame of hope trembled cautiously in his eyes.

At that moment, the chivalrous spirit in my chest roared to life.

With a shout, I rushed in and started brawling with all four of them.

Two fists were no match for eight, and I was soon losing badly.

But I had chosen to play the hero, and so many people were watching.

Even on my knees, I couldn’t admit defeat.

Just then, Pei Wen threw himself over me without a thought for his own safety.

Fists rained down on him. His eyes filled with tears from the pain, but the arms shielding me never loosened.

Later, I asked him, “If you had that much courage, how did they bully you so badly?”

Pei Wen thought for a moment. “I just didn’t want them to hit you.”

After that, Pei Wen and I grew close.

For the next ten years, I protected him like a guardian deity.

I lost count of how many fights I fought for him and how many times I stood up on his behalf.

Pei Wen also studied hard and gradually became tougher.

He said he couldn’t spend his life hiding behind me. He had to learn to protect himself and try to protect me too.

And so we grew up slowly and without a care—until we were admitted to university, until the zombie tide erupted.

Remembering the despair and helplessness of that time, I couldn’t help frowning.

Pei Wen reached out and smoothed the crease between my brows.

Then he told me about something he had found that day.

“Qi Chuan, I found an off-road vehicle. Its engine still works.”

My eyes lit up.

With my fire ability, I could move freely through the frozen apocalypse.

But for most ordinary people without abilities, fifty degrees below zero was the limit they could endure.

These days, the temperature rose briefly to minus fifty for only two hours around noon.

Once two in the afternoon passed, it plunged to minus seventy or even minus eighty.

The weather kept us from searching for supplies at the cafeteria, classroom buildings, and infirmary on the far side of campus. We were always afraid we wouldn’t make it back in time.

With a vehicle, scavenging and transporting supplies would become far easier.

“Once I fix it, we can bring back those generators we found but couldn’t haul to the dormitory.”

At that, I couldn’t help asking, “Does that mean we’ll have electricity in the dorm? I want to call my parents. I don’t know if I’ll be able to get through.”

By the second week of the apocalypse, the city had lost both water and power. The internet had collapsed, and there was no phone signal.

I had no idea how my parents were doing.

Pei Wen sensed my mood. He took my hand and gently rubbed his fingers over it.

“Didn’t you say Uncle and Auntie went back to their hometown in the countryside? It’s sparsely populated there, so it’s safer than the city.

“Maybe they’re living even more comfortably than we are.”

I sighed, knowing he was only trying to comfort me.

“Go to sleep, Chuan. Don’t think about it too much.”

I slowly closed my eyes.