The roads outside the city were quiet.
Zixin kept both hands on the steering wheel as the car sped along the empty road, his eyes constantly moving between the road ahead and the surrounding buildings. They had already been driving for some time, and compared to the chaos they had left behind in the city, this part of the journey almost felt peaceful.
Almost.
The road ahead was suddenly blocked by a car. A couple stood beside it, speaking to each other in hurried, hushed voices. The moment they noticed the approaching vehicle, both of them turned toward it. Hope immediately appeared on their faces as they began waving desperately.
"Wait! Please!"
The man stepped onto the road and waved both hands while the woman ran after him. They were clearly asking for help.
"Are we going to stop for them?" Bao asked curiously. His red pupils remained fixed on the pair as they desperately ran toward the front of their car.
"No."
Zixin's answer came without hesitation.
His hands tightened around the steering wheel, and he pressed harder on the accelerator.
The couple froze when they realized the car wasn't slowing down. The man's face changed as he hurriedly grabbed the woman and pulled her toward the side of the road. They stumbled out of the way just as Zixin drove past them.
Bao turned his head to watch them through the window.
The man was shouting something after them, his face twisted with anger and desperation, while the woman had begun crying. Her shoulders shook as she clung to the man's arm, and even from a distance, Bao could see how frightened she was.
Bao's chest tightened.
He slowly turned his head toward Zixin.
The man's expression hadn't changed. He kept his eyes on the road, his jaw clenched, his hands firm around the steering wheel.
But Bao could feel it.
Through their shared bond, the emotions Zixin was trying so hard to bury reached him anyway.
Guilt.
It wasn't faint either. It was sitting heavily inside Zixin, twisting painfully in his chest even though he refused to acknowledge it.
Bao remembered the tunnel.
Zixin had acted as though leaving those survivors behind meant nothing. He had spoken harshly, telling them to save themselves instead of expecting him to carry them. Even now, he had driven past those two people without stopping.
Anyone looking at him would probably think he truly didn't care.
But Bao knew that wasn't true.
He could feel how much it hurt Zixin.
His heart softened.
Zixin was always like this. His mouth was cruel, his words were sharp, and he constantly acted as though other people's lives had nothing to do with him. Yet his heart was so soft that sometimes Bao wondered how he could keep carrying all that guilt without it crushing him.
Bao quietly reached over and rested his hand on Zixin's arm.
Zixin glanced at him for half a second.
"What's that for?"
"Nothing."
Bao simply offered a kind smile.
The world outside had already become a place where helping everyone was impossible. Zixin was only Level 3. Even if that made him stronger than most of the humans still wandering around the ruined city, it wasn't enough.
Not for what was coming.
Bao knew that better than anyone.
The next level would begin soon. If Zixin didn't kill enough zombies and raise his level before that happened, surviving the next stage would become much harder. Whatever came after this would not be kind to someone who had wasted their chance to grow stronger.
That was why Bao wanted him to level up.
Because he wanted him to live.
Bao's eyes once again fell on Zixin.
The man's slightly dirty face came into view, his gruff features covered with a faint layer of stubble and his short hair completely messed up from everything they had been through. His muscular arms stretched from beneath the sleeves of his shirt, his sharp jaw constantly clenched as he concentrated on the road. Even covered in dust and exhaustion, there was something strangely beautiful about him.
To Bao, the man was like the very form of an artist's muse, someone who had unknowingly become more beautiful the longer he looked at him.
"What's with that look, huh?" Zixin suddenly asked, giving him a cold glance.
"You look very handsome, so I'm admiring you, Zixin."
Bao smiled softly at him.
To his amusement, he watched the man's tanned face turn a faint shade of red.
"Fuck. Watch the road for zombies. Admiring my beauty, my ass..."
His words were rough, just as they always were, but Bao could feel the truth hidden beneath them.
Zixin's heart was pounding.
Bao placed a hand over his own chest and quietly felt his heartbeat beneath his palm. It was beating strangely fast, almost as though it had been stirred by something it didn't quite understand.
Then he felt it.
Zixin's heartbeat.
Through their shared bond, the rhythm reached him, steady and warm, and somehow, impossibly, it seemed to fall into the same rhythm as his own.
Bao's lips slowly curved into a smile.
Two hearts, beating together, their rhythms intertwining like two melodies finding each other in the middle of a song.
It was strange.
It was beautiful.
And Bao found himself wishing the journey would last just a little longer.