SGT CH117: A Known Deception

◎ Aix had known all along that he was lying, yet he still agreed. ◎

Leave…

Leaving aside the fact that he hadn’t yet restored Aix’s consciousness and his plan wasn’t complete.

Leaving with the Zombie Man now just felt like he’d be caught and torn to shreds by the Zombie King.

When it came to running away, who could outrun a Zombie King with spatial abilities?

Mousse couldn’t leave, but he also knew the Zombie Man’s purpose in seeking him out.

Of course, it wasn’t because of any camaraderie.

They had only known each other for two days, and for most of that time, the other party had been tied up on the ground by him.

The other party had risked coming here only because he needed his mental grooming to maintain consciousness.

After all, this was a karma he had created himself; Mousse couldn’t just ignore him from now on. He thought for a moment and said:

“I don’t plan to leave… I’ll give you one more mental grooming session, and then you leave on your own. Later, if you find your consciousness becoming chaotic again, come back to find me.”

“You’re not leaving?”

The Zombie Man found it hard to understand.

“Why? Do you want to risk trying to control that terrifying zombie? That’s absolutely impossible! Do you know who that zombie is?”

“Um… the Zombie King?”

Mousse pondered and said.

“You know, yet you still dare to take this risk?”

The Zombie Man was even more baffled.

“You wouldn’t be arrogant enough to think that with your mental ability, you can control the Zombie King, right?”

Mousse indeed couldn’t control the Zombie King with his ability.

But he could influence him.

The Zombie King could accept most of his mental commands.

Even if he sometimes acted unwilling, his resistance wasn’t strong.

Such behavior was indeed risky; his life and death hung on a single thought of the Zombie King.

But Mousse had no other choice.

“I need to stay by the Zombie King’s side… this is my own decision.”

Mousse didn’t intend to tell the other party too much.

Raising his eyes to look at the bright sky outside, knowing the Zombie King could return at any moment, Mousse didn’t wish for them to run into each other.

So, he asked with a hint of urgency:

“Do you still want the mental grooming or not?”

“…Yes.”

Mousse walked over to the window, raised his hand to touch the Zombie Man’s forehead, released his spiritual power, groomed his mind, and suppressed the chaos.

The Zombie Man’s eyes darted around.

Mousse’s voice rang in his mind.

【Don’t think about knocking me out and taking me away.】

Zombie Man: “…”

Forget it. Good advice is hard to give to a damned ghost. If he wants to seek death, just let him.

It was just that mental types were too rare. Besides this mental ability user in front of him, he couldn’t find anyone else who could stabilize his consciousness.

The Zombie Man was filled with pessimism, feeling that this was his last period of having consciousness before he would degenerate into a walking corpse.

“Don’t be so pessimistic.”

Mousse withdrew his hand and his spiritual power at the same time, saying:

“I gave you a deep mental grooming. Maintaining stable consciousness for a month won’t be a problem. Come find me again in a month.”

“…Come find you in the Zombie King’s stomach?”

“If it really comes to that…”

If Aix really wanted to eat him, before dying, he would sacrifice his crystal nucleus to Aix, allowing Aix to regain his rationality, just like in the beginning.

It was just that… that would be too cruel to Aix.

Mousse didn’t want it to come to that.

Just as Mousse was thinking this, a strong sense of crisis suddenly surged in his heart.

It was his mental ability giving a warning.

The next moment, spatial fluctuations surged, and a cold, violent aura filled the entire room.

A black figure quickly swept past Mousse. As it passed, it grabbed his shoulder and shoved him backward fiercely.

The immense force almost lifted Mousse’s feet off the ground, sending him flying backward.

Before he hit the wall, countless mutant plants extended out and caught him.

On the other side, Aix kicked the Zombie Man clinging to the outside of the window through the glass.

The glass shattered at the sound, and the Zombie Man fell from the high-rise building of over a hundred floors, his eyes full of terror.

At such a height, a high-level zombie with body enhancement abilities wouldn’t die from the fall.

The Zombie Man adjusted to the best landing posture in mid-air, preparing to flee.

The Zombie King wanted to pursue, half his body already leaning out of the building.

“Aix!”

Mousse hurriedly rushed forward and grabbed him, stopping his action that looked like jumping off a building.

“Roar—”

The Zombie King turned back and roared at him, his scarlet eyes full of rage.

Mousse immediately raised his hands to cup his face and kissed him on the lips.

The Zombie King’s body suddenly froze, eyes wide open, pupils slowly turning as if weighing something.

A moment later, a low, reluctant growl came from his throat. He raised his hands to tightly grip Mousse’s waist, lowering his head to deepen the demand.

Unlike the cherished and eager tasting of last night.

This demand was filled with too many emotions, and intense possessiveness, as if he wanted to tear him apart, eat him, and merge him into one.

For a split second, Mousse really thought he was going to be eaten.

In panic, he raised his hand against the Zombie King’s chest, trying to push him away.

But he couldn’t move him; instead, he angered the Zombie King.

The Zombie King pressed him against the wall, burying his head in his neck with a ferocious expression, and bit down.

Mousse almost thought his neck was going to be bitten through.

But it wasn’t.

The Zombie King bit his neck without letting go, his throat constantly emitting rapid, low growls.

It seemed like anxiety and irritability, yet also like fear and unease.

The trailing sound even carried a hint of imperceptible grievance.

Mousse could clearly perceive the Zombie King’s emotions.

He didn’t understand where these complex emotions came from.

Was he worried about losing his food?

“I’m right here.”

Mousse stroked the Zombie King’s head, speaking with difficulty under the restriction of the other’s teeth:

“I am yours, I will never leave you.”

The Zombie King didn’t believe him.

The emotions surrounding him revealed deep suspicion and unease.

But in the end, he let go of his neck.

The Zombie King looked up at the broken window, his gaze alert and cold.

Many metal fragments appeared out of thin air. They condensed and combined, forming a solid metal wall that sealed the broken window.

And at the side where the floor-to-ceiling window was still relatively intact, thick metal bars appeared, completely sealing the window shut.

The Zombie King turned back, his gaze moving from Mousse’s wrists to his ankles, seemingly considering whether to put shackles on him.

Mousse sensed danger.

He was willing to stay by Aix’s side, but that didn’t mean he was willing to live wearing heavy shackles.

He hurriedly raised his arms to wrap around the Zombie King’s neck, continuing to kiss him, offering himself to be eaten. He lifted his ankle, hooking it around the Zombie King’s calf, gently rubbing against it.

The Zombie King entangled with him, and those overflowing violent emotions subsided significantly.

Mousse tried hard to soothe the Zombie King’s emotions. Even when his empty stomach protested, he had no energy to pay attention to it.

However, the Zombie King stopped, looked down at Mousse’s flat stomach, activated his ability, and released the supplies he had just collected into the space.

Piles of supplies appeared in the room.

Mousse recognized that most of them were things from his RV.

But there were also many new items that the Zombie King had newly found.

The Zombie King actually planned to “raise” him.

Seeing Mousse not moving, the Zombie King pulled him in front of the mountain of piled supplies, growling low to urge him to eat.

Mousse actually wanted to eat rice, hot steaming rice.

But looking at the Zombie King who wouldn’t let go of his waist and hung on his back like an accessory, he decided to eat something simple to make do for now.

He casually ate some compressed biscuits and fruits from mutant plants to fill his stomach.

Seeing he stopped eating, the Zombie King raised a hand to touch his stomach, confirming he was full, then picked him up, placed him on the bed, and straddled him.

“Wait.”

Mousse quickly stopped him, “I just ate my fill.”

Strenuous exercise is not suitable after a meal.

“Roar-wu.”

The Zombie King indicated he wasn’t full yet.

“Anyway, not now.”

Mousse scooted to the side, trying to get farther away from him.

The Zombie King’s eyes dimmed slightly, revealing a bit of sadness. His brows furrowed, anxious and uneasy.

Thinking of the scene where Mousse patted that zombie’s head, he lowered his head, presenting it under Mousse’s hand.

Mousse stroked his hair naturally and asked in confusion:

“What’s wrong?”

The Zombie King rubbed his head lightly against his palm, his compliance revealing some urgency.

“What do you mean?”

Mousse thought of something and asked in surprise: “You’re willing to accept my mental grooming?”

“Roar-wu.”

The Zombie King rested his head on his lap, staring at him unblinkingly, a hint of stubbornness in his eyes.

Mousse tentatively released a little spiritual power, sending it into the Zombie King’s brain domain.

The Zombie King’s brows knitted together, and he gripped the hem of Mousse’s clothes uneasily, but he didn’t resist.

Mousse was astonished.

Before, he had tried every method but couldn’t make the Zombie King drop his guard.

Now, what stimulus had the Zombie King received? He was actually willing to accept his spiritual power.

Regardless, this was a good thing.

Mousse seized the opportunity, mobilizing his spiritual power to the best of his ability to complete the mental grooming before the Zombie King changed his mind.

More than a month had passed since Aix took out his crystal nucleus.

But the degree of chaos in his consciousness was actually lighter than that of the Zombie Man, who had mutated into a zombie less than a week ago.

This was enough to show the tenacity of Aix’s will.

Mousse patiently performed mental grooming for him. Within Aix’s consciousness, he saw many versions of himself.

There was him sleeping soundly on the RV bed, him saying “I like you” to Aix, him whispering “regret,” him shaking off Aix’s hand…

And him from a long, long time ago, at the class reunion.

In the memory image, he was sitting on the sofa, looking bored to death.

Beside him was a group of students playing a card game, everyone goading him to join.

He drew a card casually, looked down at the content, and showed surprise.

Then he looked around, his gaze landing in Aix’s direction.

Immediately after, he picked up his wine glass, walked toward Aix.

And gave him a smile.

“I like you. Let’s date.”

…

Mousse was suddenly dazed.

He had always thought Aix knew nothing and had naively believed his confession.

But the memory images he saw told him that Aix had seen his every move.

Even detailed down to the impatience and boredom in his eyes, and the series of changes in his expression after picking up the card.

Aix had known all along that he was lying.

Yet he still agreed.

Mousse slowly withdrew his hand, his expression in a trance.

Aix lay on Mousse’s lap, watching him quietly.

Seeing Mousse withdraw his hand with unfocused eyes, seeming unwilling to communicate with him.

He lowered his eyes in silence, slowly got up, and left Mousse’s body.

Mousse came back to his senses, looking at Aix, who was sitting on the edge of the bed, silently facing him sideways.

Aix’s eyelashes were half-lowered, casting a shadow under his eyes, emotions within hard to discern.

But clearly, he had regained his human consciousness.

“You…”

“You…”

Both spoke at the same time.

Mousse paused and said, “You first.”

“That zombie… is… the new one… you found…”

Aix’s heart spasmed with pain. He couldn’t continue speaking and pressed his lips together in agony.

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