My Good Life - Chapter 5.1
I think I like a person, but no, not Li Weiwei.
Here’s the thing.
On that rainy night, after Li Weiwei gave me an umbrella on my way home, I didn’t take his words to heart. I thought he’s just being rude as usual, that’s all.
So, the following day, while I spent the night drawing, images of baked rice cakes, roasted brain flowers,[1] roasted leeks and kebabs, appeared in my mind. I was hesitant at first, but in the end, I convinced myself that it’s alright to give myself a treat.
I put my pen down and took my keys. After donning my coral fleece pajamas, I left to buy a barbecue.
That’s one of the perks of living alone. You can do whatever you want, go wherever you want, whenever you want.
The location of Li Weiwei’s building was really inconvenient. You couldn’t order food delivery and it would take about half an hour’s walk to reach the nearest barbeque restaurant. The building was located uphill, and the steps were also steep.
I still haven’t finished the manuscript so I couldn’t help thinking about the plot as I went down the steps.
Suddenly, I heard a squeaking sound coming from the corner. I took a look, and it turned out to be an old streetlamp that needed a major repair with its wires hanging. The swaying light it casted drew a clear boundary between light and darkness on the ground.
Then I saw a child facing the wall, his shadow moving like an ancient pendulum along with the dangling lamp.
I may be a comic book author with little imagination, but I’m an author, nonetheless. The moment I saw the child, my brain automatically made up ten thousand ghost stories that frightened myself into a cold sweat.
The creaking sound of the streetlamp echoed in the quiet street. After some internal struggles, I finally calmed down when I saw the elementary school emblem reflected on his school uniform. The child was a student of a nearby elementary school.
Something that belonged to my perception of reality stopped the imaginary train of thoughts that’s driving further away.
I’ve been living among non-humans for a while now, but I’ve never heard them mention ghosts or anything like that.
I was thinking too much.
“Hello little friend. What are you doing here? It’s already late. Why aren’t you home yet?”
I took a step closer and reached out to pat him, but before I could touch his shoulder, he turned his head.
Bruised face, closed eyes, and a very dark, nearly black, undereye—no different from the spooky kid in the ghost film.
I gasped and stepped back, but there’s something behind me! I stumbled, spraining my ankle along the way, and fell to the side. Before I could stand, the lights flickered and the corner of my eye caught the figure behind me.
And met the protruding eyes of a woman!
Her skin was shriveled and nearly black, blood trailing down her temples to her jutting eyeballs.
“????!” I was shocked and frightened, but after getting along with some non-humans and dealing with Li Weiwei, my first reaction was not to run, but to scold her. “You scared me to death!”
I sighed then scanned her appearance.
Well, ????. This lady was definitely not human, but she’s also different from the non-humans I know. She… She smelled of a rotten corpse.
A zombie?
Xiangxi chased away several zombies.
Li Peipei’s words came to mind. I could feel the staring, the creaking of the streetlamp, and the whooshing of wind build the suspense in the air. I tightened my hold on the twenty yuan note in my hand…and stuck it to her forehead and ran.
If you ask me why I did that, it’s because the twenty yuan note kind of looked like a talisman.
But before I could take more than two steps, the zombie pounced on me!
I was pushed on the shoulders, my toes hitting a bump on the ground. I fell hard and the additional weight of the woman knocked the breath out of me.
Warm blood trickled from my nose, but this wasn’t the time to think about the pain from broken knees and nose. I roughly wiped the blood and supported my body into crawling forward. But the zombie behind me didn’t let go. She held on tightly and climbed up my legs.
With her clinging to my waist, I could hardly move. I turned around and desperately pushed her head away. No doubt she would aim for my neck, make me bleed until I lose my breath, then tear my meat and eat.
I tried kicked my legs hoping that it would throw her off me, but other than wasting physical strength, my struggling didn’t do anything else. I was on my back, my elbow propped on the ground, my palm pushing her chin. The rain last night made the pavements muddy, and the cold, muddy water soaked my clothes. My muscles and joints were already stiff, and if I didn’t do anything else now, I’ll be a zombie’s meal.
“Alright zombie sister, let’s talk this through.”
Maybe talking will work.
“Every day I stay up late, my liver is not good, my body is full of toxins, I swear you would regret eating me. But if you’re really hungry, I’ll show you a place. Follow this road up and you’ll find a tall building. I promise there’s a lot of food there!”
It didn’t.
It’s like she didn’t understand the words at all. The only thing I could do now was call for help.
And that’s when it happened.
The zombie moved her head and bit my palm. The force of her teeth broke the skin and flesh making blood dripped from her mouth. I cried out in pain.
“Help! Somebody, help! Please!”
I kept screaming even though I know that in an area that’s about to be demolished, not even a dog would come even if I spent the day screaming for help.
Living alone was not good after all… No one would know if something happened to you until it’s too late…
Translator Note:
1. Does anybody know what this tastes like? I’ve tried pig’s lungs, heart and intestines before, but not brains. This is a Chinese street food so I can only drool over the pictures I can find. ?