I Have a Mansion in the Post-apocalyptic World

The flashing light outside the window drew the attention of Lin Lin who was working in front of a lab bench.

For some odd reason, watching the light outside made her restless.

“A meteor? Should I make a wish?”

Lin Lin murmured while the test tube in her hand stopped shaking. She gazed into the distance.

The meteor crashed into the ground.

Suddenly, her mechanical heart felt a sharp pain.

“Uhhh! AHH!”

Her pupils contracted. She covered her chest in pain while droplets of sweat rolled down profusely from her forehead.

Splash!

The test tube smashed and shattered and Lin Lin curled up on the ground. Her hands covered her chest as her expression twisted because of the pain.

[Dammit, is it that thing again?]

She heard a noise from outside the door. There were brisk footsteps before the door was knocked.

“Lin Lin? Did something happen?”

It was Sun Jiao.

“Help…Help…”

Sun Jiao immediately realized the situation was odd. She twisted the doorknob. Seeing as it was locked, she backed away before kicking the door forcefully.

The door was kicked open, breaking the doorframe.

Sun Jiao was shocked by the scene of Lin Lin curled up on the ground as she moved to help her up.

“Lin Lin, Lin Lin! Are you okay?”

The menacing light radiating from her pupils gave her the chills.

But quickly after, the menace was replaced by agony.

“No, no! Tingting… Stop!” Lin Lin suddenly jerked her head up as her silvery-white hair became drenched with sweat because of her pain.

Suddenly, Lin Lin’s pupils were completely covered by crimson rays as she turned around, diving towards Sun Jiao. But Sun Jiao was prepared as she snagged both of Lin Lin’s hands and put her on the ground face down.

Sun Xiaorou, who heard the noises in the room, rushed in. When she saw Lin Lin being pinned down by Sun Jiao, she was stunned by the scene.

“Sister, what happened?”

Not long after, Yao Yao appeared at the door. When she saw the two people on the ground, she covered her mouth in shock.

“Sister Sun Jiao, Lin Lin…”

“You two, come help me! This girl…how is she so strong?!” Sun Jiao’s hands were shaking because of the force as her face turned red.

The power of mechanical parts was indeed superior to that of creatures. Her strength of 50 barely managed to contain Lin Lin.

Sun Xiaorou reacted first and rushed forward.

“I’ll help you. Strap her onto the surgery bed first.”

“Yao Yao, get Jiang Chen here. He should be at the launching ground.”

“Mhmm!” The little girl turned around and ran out of the room.

Her eyes teared up as she didn’t know what was going on; it made her extremely worried.

She pushed open the mansion door. Just as she ran to the gate, she crashed into Jiang Chen with a stern expression.

“Ouch—”

With a short yelp, Yao Yao fell backward with clumsiness. But Jiang Chen, with his quick hands, managed to snag her.

“Yao Yao? What’s going on?”

Seeing Yao Yao rushing out, Jiang Chen thought something serious happened as he held her up.

“Lin Lin turned into that again.” Yao Yao was about to cry.

Without needing any more detail, Jiang Chen immediately realized what she was talking about before he ran into the mansion.

…

Pushing open the lab door, Jiang Chen quickly walked to the surgery table in the middle of the room. Yao Yao, running with short steps, immediately followed behind him.

When Sun Jiao saw Jiang Chen, she walked over.

“What happened- wait, are you injured?!” Jiang Chen saw the bandage around Sun Jiao’s arm.

Sun Jiao’s right arm sleeve had been ripped off completely.

“I’m okay. Just got some small scratches while trying to contain her. Lin Lin… is a bit weird right now.” With the concerned expression on Jiang Chen’s face, Sun Jiao felt warm inside. But when she looked back at Lin Lin, her face turned solemn again.

They weren’t small scratches at all.

But with Sun Jiao’s abilities, she should recover easily.

Jiang Chen put aside his concern for Sun Jiao temporarily and focused on Lin Lin strapped down on the bed. With a crimson light flashing in her eyes, her limbs twitched as if she was having a seizure in an attempt to break free from the bed.

“She can’t control herself again?” Jiang Chen asked with a headache.

The bug in her body was like a time bomb – no one knew when it would explode.

“Mhmm, but this time it’s a bit stranger.” Sun Jiao nodded.

“Brother Jiang Chen, Sister Lin Lin… will she get better?” Yao Yao looked at Jiang Chen with a serious expression and pulled on his sleeve.

Although Lin Lin liked to trick people, Yao Yao knew she didn’t have any harmful intentions. It was just that she didn’t know how to express her emotions aside from “badmouthing” people.

From the bottom of her heart, she always treated Lin Lin like a dear friend.

Looking at the worried expression on Yao Yao’s face, Jiang Chen rubbed her soft hair attempting to comfort her. “Definitely.”

“Mhmm!”

Yao Yao nodded with a slightly relieved smile on her face.

Although she was still concerned about Lin Lin’s condition, she trusted Brother Jiang Chen’s words.

With a deep breath, Jiang Chen walked toward Lin Lin. Just as he approached her, he noticed Lin Lin’s gaze was locked onto his face.

No, precisely speaking, it wasn’t Lin Lin but Tingting in her body – the brain of that bug.

Being stared down by her crimson pupils gave Jiang Chen chills down the back of his spine. The feeling was similar to being watched by a higher level creature in the middle of a forest.

Tingting stopped trying to break free while she silently gazed at him without speaking a word.

Then Jiang Chen noticed that she opened her mouth.

[She opened her mouth?]

[What’s going on? Is she hungry?]

“Yao Yao, bring me mango pudding from the fridge.”

“Mhmm!” Yao Yao nodded and ran out.

A moment later, the little lolita ran back with mango pudding.

Jiang Chen took the pudding and kneeled down beside Lin Lin.

Jiang Chen took a plastic spoon to scoop out the orange pudding and put it beside the opened mouth.

But Lin Lin didn’t eat the pudding. She didn’t even look at it; her crimson eyes still gazed at Jiang Chen.

This time it made Jiang Chen completely confused, unsure what she wanted.

Just then, she – or it – spoke.

“The antenna is broken.”

[The antenna?]

“Sorry, I don’t know what you’re talking about?” Jiang Chen raised his eyebrows.

It learned how to speak, which was an improvement. But for some reason, Jiang Chen didn’t feel happy about it. He had almost forgotten everything related to this creature and he didn’t think he had an obligation to save a fictitious character.

Yes, Yao Tingting died already in the fall of 2172. And the person he encountered in virtual reality was just a character created by PAC researchers based on the memory of a captive.

When he escaped the digital prison, almost all his memories related to that girl disappeared. The person in front of him was just another player in the virtual reality.

Jiang Chen looked at her, not understanding what she wanted to express.

Tingting then said, “The path to evolution is broken.”

“Evolution?” Jiang Chen looked down as he began to understand.

Lin Chaoen used the God’s Cane to destroy something in the city center, and that thing was what she referred to as the antenna. And the antenna was related to evolution. If he understood correctly, evolution had something to do with the zombies and mutants.

“Do you want to know?”

Tingting looked quietly into Jiang Chen’s eyes. Perhaps she was getting used to mechanical vocal cords as her voice was a lot more clear now.

Jiang Chen looked straight at the red pupils, attempting to read her thoughts, but he failed.

“I want to.”

There was nothing wrong with listening.

“Then kiss me.” Tingting shocked everyone.

Jiang Chen was shocked. He didn’t know what she meant.

Tingting opened her mouth slightly wider without saying anymore.

“Kiss?” Sun Jiao’s face turned red and she rejected Tingting’s request on behalf of Jiang Chen: “No no, that’s too weird! What does it have to do with kissing? This is too weird. And she’s so aggressive now – what if she bites?”

Yao Yao blushed too. Although she didn’t say anything, her expression indicated she shared the same opinion as Sun Jiao.

“I agree with sister. Although my instinct tells me she won’t hurt you, if something does happen…” Sun Xiaorou hesitantly stopped midway.

[Kiss?]

[What’s the point?]

Staring at Tingting – or Lin Lin’s – face, even if he wanted to kiss her, he didn’t have the heart to do so.

He gulped and his heartbeat began to accelerate.

He didn’t know what kind of expression he should have, nor did he know if he should try kissing her.

After a moment of hesitation, Jiang Chen let out a sigh and stared into the crimson eyes.

“…Okay, I’ll trust you for now.”

The red eyes blinked and seemed to respond to his trust.

“Wait, but…” Sun Jiao wanted to add something more but was one second too slow.

Jiang Chen resisted the odd feeling in his mind as he took a deep breath and slowly kissed the thin lips.

[I’ll just pretend this is CPR …]

Just as Sun Xiaorou guessed, although Lin Lin was aggressive, she didn’t bite Jiang Chen.

A cold tongue pried open Jiang Chen’s teeth.

Just as Jiang Chen felt shocked by Lin Lin’s kissing technique, something unexpected happened.

It felt soft and gentle.

A tentacle-like string slipped down her tongue and touched Jiang Chen’s tongue before twirling up, then continuing…

It felt good…

But Jiang Chen was suddenly alerted to something.

[Fu*k! Something is wrong!]

Just as he tried to break off the kiss, his consciousness fell into an abyss and his field of vision turned dark.