TFRLTOP Chapter 84 Part 2

“No…” Ming Ming’s voice trembled as she turned to look at the writhing pile of corpses. The man buried underneath was surely gone by now.

Her shaking hands gripped the control console. Her thumb hovered over the Enter key.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” she muttered under her breath. “He’s the main character.”

Above, the bat zombie launched itself into the air.

“Guan Yi—!” Ming Ming’s desperate cry pierced the chaos.

At that moment, something shifted beneath the zombie horde.

The pile bulged and convulsed, unable to contain what was surging inside it.

A massive tentacle tore free, flinging corpses in every direction.

At the same instant, Ming Ming slammed her finger down on the Enter key.

The explosion shook the air.

From the flames, Guan Yi burst upward, springing to the edge of the rooftop. He leapt, his tendrils lashing out—one wrapping around the airborne bat zombie to propel himself higher, the other anchoring onto the opposite rooftop. Midair, he twisted and flung the bat zombie back into the inferno.

Then he landed lightly beside them, not even winded.

It was as if he hadn’t just clawed his way out of death itself. Dusting his hands off casually, he looked at Ming Ming and teased, “Told you—if there’s danger, call me husband.”

Before he could finish, Ming Ming threw herself into his arms.

He froze, momentarily at a loss.

“Whoa, sweetheart,” he said, grinning, “what’s this sudden affection? I’m flattered…”

He still had half an arm from the bat zombie tangled around one tendril—he’d meant to give it to Dr. An for research later—but that thought evaporated the moment he looked down at her trembling in his arms.

His heart softened completely.

“Baby, you’re ruthless,” he said, half-laughing. “Your poor husband almost got blown to pieces.” His hand rested gently on her back, feeling the faint shiver that ran through her.

Wait.

“Hey… are you crying?”

“Why are you crying? I’m the one who almost got blown up—and I didn’t even yell at you. Don’t cry, don’t—damn it, if you keep crying I’m gonna—uh, that’s not helping! Okay, okay, it’s my fault! Don’t cry, sweetheart, seriously, this is getting awkward!”

Ming Ming kept crying, hitting him weakly with her fists.

Guan Yi caught her hands and kissed her knuckles. “Soft hands like these shouldn’t be punching people. Are they sore?”

“It’s all right, baby. I scared you, huh? It’s over now. You’re safe.”

The group made their way back out of the military base to rejoin An Ning and the others.

An Ning gingerly held the still-twitching zombie arm with a grimace. “Bai He…” she started hesitantly.

“No way,” Guan Yi cut in sharply. “Don’t you dare shove that filthy thing into my wife’s storage space.”

The last thing he wanted was for a zombie limb to drop out of her inventory someday while she was shaking it clean.

Just thinking about it killed the mood.

Ming Ming sniffled, still recovering from the panic.

People say that when two people spend a long time together—sharing kisses, sharing beds—they start to sync up in thought and emotion, even to resemble each other a little.

What frightened her now was that she could practically feel what Guan Yi was thinking.

This is terrible! He’s corrupted me! He’s the one with the dirty mind, not me!

“Should we leave right away?” someone asked.

Guan Yi looked back at the military base, silent for a couple of seconds. “We’ll finish this first.”

He told Ming Ming to take out a few large mushroom grenades, which the team’s archer tied to arrows and shot into the ruins.

“Everyone back up—farther.”

They drove a distance away. “What’s the control range on your grenades?” he asked.

“About two kilometers, maybe.”

“Good. Stop at fifteen hundred meters.”

From that distance, the outline of the base was still visible. Ming Ming sat on the hood of the vehicle, checking the signal.

“Still in range.”

“…Do it,” Guan Yi said quietly.

The blast roared across the landscape. The shockwave swept over them, forcing everyone to turn away from the heat.

Guan Yi and An Ning both raised their hands in a crisp salute toward the smoking ruins.

Thick smoke curled into the sky. The base was gone—reduced to rubble and silence.

Guan Yi wrapped an arm around Ming Ming and kissed her forehead. “All right. Let’s head home.”

As they were about to climb into the vehicles, Guan Yi suddenly paused and tugged her back.

She blinked up at him. “What’s wrong?”

He cleared his throat, looking a little awkward, then turned to the others. “You all go on ahead. Leave us a motorcycle and a tank of fuel—we’ll catch up later.”

The team exchanged glances, smirking knowingly. A chorus of not-so-subtle coughs followed.

“We’ll be off then, Captain—don’t stay out too late…”

“Have a good time!”

“Take it easy, all right? Find a safe spot, you know…”

Guan Yi barked a laugh and punched each of them in the shoulder. “Get lost!”

Ming Ming had been listening without much thought—until she caught the teasing looks on everyone’s faces. Then it hit her.

“Wait—we?” she said uncertainly.

Guan Yi just smiled, giving her a look full of unspoken meaning.

Five minutes later, the convoy disappeared into the distance. Guan Yi stood with Ming Ming, one arm around her, beside a lone motorcycle and a single barrel of fuel.

She turned to him slowly, suspicion written all over her face.

The uneasy feeling in her chest spiked.

Alert mode: on.

• ··

Beneath the ruins of the destroyed base, something shifted.

A slab of concrete cracked and fell aside—then a pale, clawed hand broke through the debris.

Moments later, the rubble began to move again.