Chapter 20: Liu Qingye

She frowned; this sensation did not feel like a monster.

"Is there something you need, sir? I can give you all the supplies." She had devised what she thought was a perfect plan. She knew she couldn't defeat this dark figure, so she would have to look for an opportunity to launch a sneak attack later. There was no way she would let so many supplies fall into someone else's hands.

Unexpectedly, the person buried his head into the nape of her neck, his breathing heavy. "Big sister..." His voice was crisp and pleasant.

Xiaojun?

But she quickly dismissed the thought. She had watched Xiaojun being buried; there was no way he could appear here.

She tried to turn her head to get a clear look at his face, but he held her tightly in his arms, refusing to let go.

He said, "It seems Big Sister doesn't recognize me."

"You are not Xiaojun. Who are you?" Li Luyan asked, unable to move while being held so firmly. "And I am not your sister."

"I was raised by Big Sister; how could you not be my sister?" His voice was low. He rubbed his face against the back of Li Luyan’s neck like a large, furry dog.

Li Luyan tried to soften her tone. "Then will you tell Big Sister who you are?"

The person seemed to ponder this for a moment. He said, "Hmm... Big Sister hasn't given me a name yet. Why don't you give me one?"

"What is your surname?"

"Surname? Then let's go with..." He thought for a moment, as if something had occurred to him. "Ah, then let's go with Liu."

"The wild fields are vast in the clear sunlight, with no dust to dim the distant view," Li Luyan heard herself say, her voice clean and melodious. "Liu Qingye."

"Liu Qingye..." the person behind her murmured, seemingly very satisfied with the name. The grip he had on her loosened slightly.

She could not delay any longer. She had to find a way to escape and kill this pervert. Her hand slowly reached for her dagger.

"Qingye, let Big Sister have a look at you," she said, her voice soft, as if coaxing a child.

Liu Qingye paused noticeably, then let out two soft chuckles. "Big Sister, lying is not a good habit, you know."

Li Luyan’s eyes narrowed. Since she had been exposed, she stopped pretending and lunged backward with the dagger. But he seemed to have anticipated it, catching her wrist. The force was much greater than before, and Li Luyan gasped in pain as the dagger clattered to the floor.

"Does Big Sister want to see me that much?"

As he spoke, he turned Li Luyan’s face toward him. "Big Sister... am I good-looking?"

Li Luyan’s pupils constricted. She finally saw the face of the person before her. He looked exactly like Xiaojun, but she knew clearly that he could not be Xiaojun.

Liu Qingye seemed to see through all of Li Luyan’s thoughts. He said, "I can become whoever Big Sister wants me to be... Are you satisfied with this face?" His voice was like that of a siren bewitching a human heart.

Li Luyan’s eyes turned red. She broke free and grabbed him by the throat, roaring like an angry lion, "Who the hell are you!?"

He used his gloved hand to gently stroke the hand Li Luyan had clamped around his throat, as if comforting a wounded little beast.

"Big Sister, don't worry. I mean no harm..."

Liu Qingye did not dodge or retreat, his white-gloved hand resting gently on the back of hers. When his little finger brushed against the webbing of her hand, Li Luyan suddenly noticed...

The little finger area of that glove was completely empty. He had no little finger.

An unrealistic thought suddenly surged into her mind.

"Are you the faceless man from behind the old school building?" she asked expressionlessly. It was a statement, not a question. It had only been a few days, and this faceless entity was already able to speak and mimic Xiaojun's appearance.

"Mm-hmm."

...

The woman leaned against the gas station. Due to the long hours of exposure to the sun, her T-shirt was soaked with sweat. She frowned involuntarily. "Li Luyan has been inside for half an hour, hasn't she?"

After resting, Zhang Min’s abilities had recovered slightly, and her face was no longer as pale as it had been at the start; a hint of color had returned to her cheeks. Because of the prolonged sun exposure, her red hair was matted against her forehead and neck with sweat.

"Can someone lend me a hair tie?"

"Sister Zhang Min, I have one."

She gathered her troublesome red hair and tied it up. "I'll go check. What if there's danger?"

Pei Siying stood up and brushed the dust off her overalls. "I'll go. Your ability has no offensive power."

"Alright."

That was true. While Zhang Min could handle low-level monsters on her own, her ability was support-oriented; if she encountered a high-level monster, it would be no different from delivering a meal.

In the storage room, Li Luyan sat on the floor, observing Liu Qingye, who was wearing Li Lujun's face. He stood before her obediently, just like a younger brother listening to his sister.

"Tell me, why did you turn into Xiaojun?" Li Luyan looked up and down at the well-behaved boy standing before her. If Xiaojun had grown up, he would probably look like this.

"Big Sister, don't you like me like this?"

The boy before her seemed not to understand Li Luyan’s mood, so he tilted his head and pointed at his own face. His features instantly twisted and changed, transforming into the face of a popular male celebrity from before the apocalypse.

"Then does Big Sister like me like this?" Although Li Luyan did not follow celebrities, she knew how famous this face was. Ye Zhouzhou was a fanatical fan of his and had once spent two thousand yuan to see his concert. Even though his singing wasn't very good—not even as good as Ye Zhouzhou’s—many female fans paid for him simply because of this face.

Li Luyan rubbed her forehead, her mouth twitching.

"Change back to your own face..."

"Hmm... my own face..." The handsome face before her frowned, appearing to fall into great confusion. "I... I don't have my own face." The face of the stranger twisted into a knot.

He seemed afraid that Li Luyan would abandon him. In an apparent attempt to show his maximum value, his features immediately shifted again into a face Li Luyan did not recognize. His face changed constantly. "But whatever face Big Sister wants me to have, that is the face I will have."

Finally, he changed back to the male celebrity's face, seemingly very satisfied with it, and even pinched his own cheek. "I think this face is the best. I used to see many big sisters staring at this face in little boxes and screaming."

Little boxes? ...Cell phones?

So, did this kind of monster—this magical creature—exist before the apocalypse?

Li Luyan’s expression was strange. If she let him go out wearing this face, it would definitely cause a riot. Thinking of those fanatical fans, even her usually stoic expression developed a crack.

"No, change your face. Change it back to Xiaojun’s."

Seeing that Li Luyan was willing to command him to do something, the expression on the handsome face was joyful. "Alright, whatever Big Sister says, goes."

As soon as he finished speaking, his features shifted again, becoming Li Lujun's face.

Pei Siying walked upstairs and saw this scene. A woman was sitting on the floor with her back to her, and the boy in front of the woman stood with his head lowered, like a quail that had done something wrong.

"Li Luyan, why haven't you come down yet?"

Li Luyan was expressionless. She said briefly, "This is my younger brother."

She brushed past her and headed straight downstairs. The strange boy followed closely behind Li Luyan, not even glancing at Pei Siying.