TFRLTOP Chapter 84 Part 1

Chapter 84 – The Captain’s Little Widow 

◎If There’s Danger, Call Me Husband◎

Ming Ming’s legs went weak with fear. No matter where she looked, she kept meeting a pair of crimson, terrifying eyes.

The system screamed in her head, “Run! Run! Don’t make a sound!”

How the hell am I supposed to control that?!

Her feet refused to move.

I was born under the red flag, raised in the sunshine as a good socialist successor—and now I’m going to die here?! This is too scary!

From the ceiling, a zombie dropped like peeling paint. It landed on all fours, its limbs twisted at impossible angles. Its posture was eerily similar to that of a spider—or a praying mantis. Even the way it crawled mimicked one.

The only upright zombie was the one that had been hanging upside down like a bat. It seemed to be their leader, staring straight at them with a chilling gaze. Then, with a rasping roar, it commanded the spider-like creatures to swarm toward them at lightning speed.

And why “spider-like”? Because they could spit silk from their mouths!

A scream tore from Ming Ming’s throat before she could stop it.

“Ah—mmph!”

In a flash, Guan Yi lunged forward, clapping a hand over her mouth and scooping her into his arms as he bolted for the stairs.

“Don’t look. Don’t be afraid.” His calm, steady voice was right by her ear.

It didn’t calm her down one bit.

“Mm-mmph!”

Tears streamed down Ming Ming’s face as Guan Yi’s hand muffled her cries. Even in her panic, she shakily fumbled for a mushroom grenade and threw it behind them—then another, and another, because one just didn’t feel like enough.

Guan Yi’s hardened tendrils lashed out to block the attacking zombies. Ming Ming clung to him like a koala while he fought, his movements sharp and precise. Without even turning, he struck the monsters cleanly, the metal-like tentacles piercing through undead flesh with deadly accuracy.

Zombies didn’t bleed like humans; when his tendrils went through them, they only brought out chunks of rotting meat. Somehow, that made the sight even more revolting.

“T-Tentacles are fine,” Ming Ming stammered, trembling, “but you better not—uh—use them for other things again.”

Guan Yi froze mid-swing for half a second, then yanked his tendrils out of the nearest zombie and changed tactics—smacking the next few away like baseballs instead. He even gave one tendril a shake, as if trying to make it look cleaner.

“Don’t worry, sweetheart,” he said with a grin. “These are self-cleaning, sterilized, and one hundred percent hygienic. Brand new every time I retract them.”

Ming Ming held onto him tightly, her face pressed into his neck. Her teeth grazed his skin in a shaky attempt to ground herself. Her muffled voice came out trembling but fierce:

“I don’t care. If you ever dare stick one of those things in me again, I’ll cut it off.”

A visible flicker of regret crossed Guan Yi’s face. But his strikes didn’t slow down one bit.

He moved with ruthless efficiency, shielding Ming Ming as his tendrils tore through the enemy. The battlefield soon turned into a heap of shredded corpses.

Tall and lean from years in the military, Guan Yi carried Ming Ming effortlessly in one arm. The combat suit he wore—the same one from the day they met—fit him perfectly, emphasizing his sharp, powerful frame. Every movement radiated confidence and strength.

And through it all, he kept her safe in his arms.

Ming Ming couldn’t look away.

Noticing her gaze, Guan Yi smirked, flinging a zombie across the hall like a bowling ball that toppled several others. “Am I handsome, sweetheart?”

Then he remembered something—how Bai He, the first time they met, had been drawn to him because this suit reminded her of her late husband.

Tch.

Were you looking at me… or him just now?

He squinted slightly, suspicion flickering.

Maybe she had a thing for uniforms.

Fine. Let her. Because from now on, the only man she’d see in this uniform—or out of it—would be him.

“I’m telling you,” he said, feigning casualness, “your husband back then couldn’t have been half as handsome as me.”

Ming Ming clung to his neck and muttered softly, “Didn’t have one…”

Before Guan Yi could react, the bat-like zombie screeched furiously, its wings flaring wide as it dove at them.

“He’s coming!” Ming Ming cried.

Guan Yi ducked, dodging the attack with Ming Ming in his arms.

“Damn it, made me miss what my wife just said!” he growled, kicking the zombie away. “What was that, baby?”

Ming Ming blinked, flustered. “N-nothing! I didn’t say anything!”

As they fought their way upward, the others joined them. Ming Ming kept tossing her mushroom grenades—not very explosive, but effective enough. A few crawling zombies slipped on them and toppled, tripping others in the chaos.

Ha! Still useful! I’m a genius, she thought proudly.

“What are these things?” she gasped. “Why are they different from the usual zombies?”

“They were ability users,” Guan Yi said grimly.

“Ability users?!”

“Yeah. When an ability user gets infected, they usually lose their powers and just become ordinary zombies. But these… these seem to have evolved.”

“Great. That’s… not terrifying at all.”

They finally burst onto the rooftop. Guan Yi set Ming Ming down, then wrapped a tendril around her waist and lifted her slightly.

“Wait—what are you doing?”

He smiled. “Didn’t I promise I’d toss you to safety first?”

Before she could protest, he sent her soaring across to the next rooftop, landing her safely.

“Guan Yi!”

“If there’s danger, call me husband!” he shouted back before diving into the fray again to help the others.

Ming Ming gripped the ledge, heart pounding. Then she remembered the mushroom grenades. Pulling out her controller, she checked their positions—scattered across the battlefield now.

She began carefully guiding them into place. The perfect place for a chain reaction.

One by one, the other ability users were tossed over to safety. Everyone made it—except Guan Yi.

Across the gap, Ming Ming saw the bat-like zombie directing its spider-like minions in a coordinated attack. They were surrounding Guan Yi from all sides.

He was breathing hard now, one tendril stabbed into the ground just to keep himself upright.

He kept a wary eye on the zombies surrounding him.

On the rooftop, the other ability users were doing their best to cover him—attacking whenever they found an opening—but every time one zombie fell, another quickly filled its place. Their coordination was disturbingly precise, almost like a trained unit rather than mindless corpses.

Suddenly, the entire horde around Guan Yi surged forward, throwing themselves at him all at once and burying him beneath a wave of bodies.

“Guan Yi!”

He vanished completely beneath the mass of writhing, snapping creatures.

“Guan Yi!!” Ming Ming screamed, panic rising in her throat.

Her voice caught the attention of the bat-like zombie. It turned toward her, its head tilting in a grotesque, almost curious motion before it spread its mouth into a wide, bloody grin and began moving toward the rooftop’s edge.

The survivors immediately realized what it intended and closed ranks around Ming Ming to shield her.

With a few quick steps, the bat zombie spread its black wings and lunged into the air, diving toward them.

“Fall back! Get Miss Bai He to safety!”

“Make sure the supplies get out of here in one piece!”

The group split in two—some staying to hold the line while the others pulled Ming Ming back.