Chapter 57: Cousin and Cousin?

Chen Yusheng has lived two lifetimes and has never touched the stuff of romance, let alone been loved so wholeheartedly by someone.

But now, the woman before his eyes is actually willing to die for him.

This sudden, heavy weight of affection crashing down left him completely stunned; his heart was in such a mess that he didn't even know what expression to wear or what to say.

"Alright, alright, I wasn't blaming you."

Sensing the increasingly stifled sorrow of the person in his arms, Chen Yusheng hesitated for a few seconds before reaching out to gently embrace her, his right hand patting her back tenderly, one stroke after another.

"Wuu wuu wuu... Chen Hai, I missed you so much..."

Li Ruixi buried herself in his arms, crying until her shoulders shook.

"I know, can you stop crying?" Chen Yusheng was a bit at a loss.

"I, I'm not crying..."

Li Ruixi reluctantly let go of him and raised her sleeve to wipe her tears messily; the tip of her nose was red, and her eyes were swollen like walnuts.

Just then, a crisp voice filled with a hint of curiosity suddenly cut in:

"Brother, who is she?"

Chen Yusheng and Li Ruixi were both startled and turned their heads in unison.

They saw Xiao Jiu standing not far away, staring at them without blinking with those signature blood-red eyes, her little face filled with innocent confusion.

Only at this moment did Li Ruixi truly notice this little girl who had suddenly appeared.

Her gaze landed on Xiao Jiu; she was stunned at first, then her pupils shrank violently, and she gasped in shock:

"Lin Muyao?!"

"Huh?"

Chen Yusheng was instantly confused, his face full of question marks, not understanding at all what she was shouting about.

"So... so the Zombie King was actually transformed from Lin Muyao..."

Li Ruixi looked at Xiao Jiu, her face full of shock, her tone even drifting.

Before coming here, several high-level officials at the Base had repeatedly instructed her, saying that Chen Hai was followed by a Zombie King with unfathomable strength.

Her mission this time was, first, to confirm whether Chen Hai was being controlled by the Zombie King, and second, to try to communicate with the Zombie King to see if the other party could interact with humans like a normal person.

But she never imagined that the moment she saw the Zombie King with her own eyes, she would recognize this face.

This was someone she actually knew!

"You know her?" Chen Yusheng sensed something was wrong and immediately asked.

"I do, she is Lin Muyao, my cousin!" Li Ruixi's voice was still a bit dazed, as if she hadn't recovered from the shock.

"Your cousin?"

Now it was Chen Yusheng's turn to be completely stunned, feeling incredibly surprised.

He had spent so long with Xiao Jiu and had never heard her mention any relatives, let alone a cousin suddenly appearing.

"She really is my cousin, I even have photos of her on my phone."

Li Ruixi took a deep breath and reached directly into her pants pocket to pull out a phone that was still functional.

There aren't many phones that have been well-preserved in the apocalypse, and she had kept this one on her person the whole time.

Her fingers unlocked it quickly and tapped on the photo album.

There were thousands of photos and videos in the album, enough to dazzle anyone.

She flipped through the people category for a good while before finally stopping on a few old photos.

"Look, these are photos of me and my cousin Lin Muyao when we were little."

Li Ruixi handed the phone to Chen Yusheng.

Chen Yusheng leaned in to look, and his heart skipped a beat.

In the photo were two seven or eight-year-old girls standing shoulder to shoulder, smiling very happily.

One of them looked exactly like the loli Zombie King Xiao Jiu before his eyes, even the eyebrows, face shape, and that little stubborn expression matched; in the photo, she was even wearing a little pink dress.

Except for the eyes not being blood-red and the lack of that small horn on her head, she was practically the same person.

The other little girl had features very similar to the current Li Ruixi, clearly her as a child.

Chen Yusheng took the phone and flipped through a few more; they were all photos of the two of them together, some in the park, some at home, and Xiao Jiu's shadow was in every single one.

"It really is..."

Chen Yusheng sighed in a low voice, truly astonished.

He never expected that Xiao Jiu, who followed him around every day, was actually Li Ruixi's own cousin.

"I want to see too!"

Xiao Jiu curiously leaned over, her little head squeezing next to Chen Yusheng's arm.

Chen Yusheng handed the phone to her.

Xiao Jiu held the phone, her little fingers sliding gently across the screen.

Chen Yusheng watched her quietly and soon discovered that Xiao Jiu's eyes were widening bit by bit, from initial curiosity slowly turning into shock, and then into a kind of bewilderment she couldn't even describe herself.

Her fingers quickly flipped through all the remaining photos, and finally, her gaze locked firmly onto one of them.

In that photo, a little girl was holding the hand of an adult woman, and both of them were smiling gently and happily.

As soon as Li Ruixi saw this one, her eyes turned a bit red, and she hurriedly explained in a low voice: "This is my aunt, which is Lin Muyao's mother."

As the words fell, Chen Yusheng subconsciously looked at Xiao Jiu.

At this look, his heart gave a slight tug.

He didn't know when, but Xiao Jiu's eye sockets had already turned completely red, tears swirling inside, about to fall.

"Xiao Jiu, what's wrong?" Chen Yusheng asked hurriedly.

Xiao Jiu looked up, gazing at Chen Yusheng with teary eyes, her voice soft, filled with grievance and sadness:

"Big brother, I don't know why... every time I look at this photo, my heart feels so painful, so painful, I can't help but want to cry..."

Hearing these words, Chen Yusheng understood instantly in his heart.

Xiao Jiu must be Lin Muyao.

Even though she had become a Zombie King and lost most of her memories, the family affection carved into her bones remained.

The moment she saw what her mother looked like, those emotions buried deep within her soul still surged up uncontrollably.

"Cousin..."

Li Ruixi could no longer hold back; she stepped forward, crouched down gently, and carefully pulled Xiao Jiu into her embrace.

The moment Xiao Jiu was hugged by her, her small body stiffened for a second, as if instinctively alert and resistant.

But after less than two seconds, her body slowly softened, and she hesitantly raised her small hand to gently hug Li Ruixi's neck as well.

"Yao Yao, this is great... I've finally found you..." Li Ruixi held her, her voice choked with sobs.

Xiao Jiu looked at Chen Yusheng with red eyes and asked him quietly using Spiritual Power:

【Big brother, who is she?】

"You should call her cousin," Chen Yusheng answered softly.

Xiao Jiu turned her head, looking as if she understood but didn't quite, looked at Li Ruixi, and called out in a small voice:

"Cousin."

"Yes!" Li Ruixi answered immediately, tears almost falling again.

Only then did she earnestly examine Xiao Jiu's current appearance.

She looked to be about eleven or twelve years old, completely overlapping with the cousin Lin Muyao in her memory.

Her skin was as white as porcelain, her features were exquisitely unreal, but those blood-red pupils exuded an eerie quality that did not belong to a human.

And that small, pinkish horn on her forehead was not scary at all; instead, it looked exceptionally cute.

Li Ruixi looked at Xiao Jiu, and Xiao Jiu also looked at her quietly.

"Yao Yao, are you really a Zombie King?" Li Ruixi asked softly.

"Mm," Xiao Jiu nodded obediently, "Big brother says I am a Zombie King, and I can also control Sangshi."

"Then... will you hurt humans?" Li Ruixi still felt a bit uneasy and asked cautiously.

Xiao Jiu immediately turned her head to look at Chen Yusheng and answered earnestly:

"Big brother doesn't let me hurt humans, so I won't hurt them."

Hearing this, a heavy stone in Li Ruixi's heart finally landed.

She immediately turned to look at Chen Yusheng, her eyes filled with urgency and anticipation:

"Chen Hai, how did you end up with my cousin back then?"

Chen Yusheng organized his thoughts slightly and explained truthfully: "I awakened an ability that allows me to control Sangshi. I ran into her in Funancheng before, and she was already a Zombie King at that time, so I controlled her."

"So... is my cousin being controlled by you right now?" Li Ruixi asked further.

"Yes," Chen Yusheng did not hide it, "If I don't control her, she would lead a large group of Sangshi to kill me."

"I understand."

Li Ruixi nodded, her eyes lighting up immediately, and her tone became excited:

"Chen Hai, can you take Yao Yao home with me? If my mother knew Yao Yao was still alive, she would be crazy with joy! My mother and Yao Yao's mother were sisters."

Chen Yusheng was silent for a moment and subconsciously looked at Xiao Jiu.

Xiao Jiu sensed his gaze, immediately raised her small face, and said without hesitation: "I listen to big brother."

Looking at Xiao Jiu's clean and dependent eyes, Chen Yusheng nodded gently: "Then let's go."

To be honest, he still felt a bit awkward facing Li Ruixi right now.

Having never been in a relationship in two lifetimes, being liked so much by a woman willing to die for him, his first reaction was actually to want to escape.

However, Xiao Jiu was Li Ruixi's cousin, and Li Ruixi's mother was still alive, which meant she was Xiao Jiu's aunt.

For Xiao Jiu's sake, he could not let her miss out on this only remaining relative in the world.

"That's great! Then let's leave now, let's go to my home right now!" Li Ruixi was incredibly excited and wished they could set off immediately.

"Walking is too slow, we will fly you there, you just point out the direction," Chen Yusheng said.

Li Ruixi nodded hurriedly and quickly stated the location of her Base.

One minute later, Chen Yusheng and Xiao Jiu took off into the air together, carrying Li Ruixi.

The wind whistled past their ears as the three of them flew rapidly in the direction of the Base.