?
Liu Yang went upstairs, opened a window, and studied the zombies outside.
They wandered aimlessly around the villa grounds, waiting for their next meal to present itself.
"They clearly saw me and Tang Mengting head inside, but they didn't keep attacking the house once we vanished. Their intelligence must be incredibly low. As long as we keep quiet and stay out of sight, they won't trigger..."
That low intelligence was great news for them.
As Liu Yang observed the horde, a flash of movement in the opposite villa caught his eye. He shifted his focus across the gap.
Standing at a window on the upper floor was a remarkably beautiful girl, frantically waving her arms at him.
"A gorgeous survivor?" Liu Yang squinted to get a better look.
Distance blurred the finer details, but even from here, he could see her striking facial structure and pale skin. She was an absolute stunner.
Seeing that she had captured his attention, the girl's face lit up with relief. She turned away from the glass for a moment, reappearing shortly after with a large sketchbook in hand.
"Oh, an art student? What's she planning? To sketch me?" Liu Yang stroked his chin, intrigued.
Seconds later, she flipped the board toward him.
In giant, bold strokes, three words read: I'm so hungry!
"Pfft." Liu Yang couldn't help but laugh aloud. "I thought she was setting up something serious. All that effort just to say that?"
He exaggerated his lip movements and mouthed back, "I'm hungry too!"
The girl immediately scribbled away on the board before flashing it again:
I saw you bring back food earlier. Can you spare some?
Huh, so she saw me hit the convenience store, Liu Yang thought. Smiling, he shook his head and mouthed a firm reply: "No!"
She quickly flipped to a fresh page, showing a dramatically drawn, pitiful crying face emoji.
"Haha, she's actually pretty funny." Liu Yang found the custom drawing genuinely entertaining.
He pointed at her, pointed back toward his own floor, and mouthed, "If you can get over here, I'll feed you."
That offer instantly galvanized the girl. She leaned slightly out her window to survey the courtyard, noticing the zombies crammed near Liu Yang's front gate.
Coming through the front entrance was out of the question.
However, the windows were another story.
This was an upscale estate. Since security was generally tight, no one had installed ugly security bars over their lower-level glass-they would ruin the architecture.
That meant she could climb right through a side window on the ground floor into Liu Yang's house.
Provided he unlatched it first.
Crucially, the gap between their two homes was completely clear of zombies.
If she moved quietly, she could reach his window unnoticed.
The girl spotted the route immediately and began scribbling on her board again.
"Unlock a first-floor window. I'm coming over."
Liu Yang leaned out his window to double-check her line of sight.
Sure enough, both ground floors featured side windows directly facing each other across a 50-meter gap.
Not a single zombie blocked the path.
As long as she kept her footsteps light, she wouldn't alert the cluster at the front gate.
She's smart and decisive, Liu Yang thought. Deciding on a plan that fast takes real composure for a girl in her position.
That level of initiative in an emergency was rare.
Liu Yang descended to the ground floor, stood beside the side window, and waved to her through the glass.
Seeing that he was ready, the girl hurried down to her own ground floor.
Tang Mengting saw Liu Yang waiting by the window and asked in confusion, "Liu Yang, what are you doing?"
"Waiting to welcome a stray lamb," he replied with a grin, not looking back.
Honestly, the art student's bravery had caught his interest.
Making a bold run for survival during an outbreak instead of cowering indoors waiting to starve deserved respect.
Tang Mengting, for instance, would never have dared to do such a thing.
Curious, Tang Mengting stepped over to peek outside-just in time to see a slender figure sprint out into the yard.
The girl covered the 50-meter gap between the villas in mere seconds. The instant she reached the glass, Liu Yang slid the window open, helped her climb through, and snapped it shut behind her.
Now that she was inside, Liu Yang finally got a clear look at her face.
Her features were stunningly refined.
She was even more attractive than Tang Mengting. Her large eyes were clear and lively, framed by a high, straight nose bridge that gave her a delicate, mixed-race allure. Tall and remarkably curvaceous, she possessed an angelic face paired with a dangerous body-a true top-tier beauty.
Tang Mengting gasped, her eyes widening in disbelief. "You... aren't you the goddess from Class 2? One of the Four Great Campus Belles, the art belle He Yushi?"
He Yushi was an art major and one of the most famous beauties on campus.
Back at the university, she was pursued by an endless parade of male students. The number of love letters and confessions she received easily breached four digits.
If Tang Mengting had dozens of simps, He Yushi had hundreds.
"Thank you both! Yes, I'm He Yushi. I'm glad you recognize me." He Yushi clutched her ample chest, gasping for air.
Though it had only been a few dozen meters, fear and adrenaline had driven her to sprint with everything she had, pushing her body past its limits.
That short distance had drained her completely, leaving her thoroughly winded.
After taking a moment to catch her breath, she wheezed, "So tired... so thirsty... I need water."
Without waiting for an invitation, she headed straight to the kitchen, leaned over the sink, and drank directly from the tap, completely throwing her polished goddess image out the window.
Liu Yang watched her with an amused smile.
He had heard plenty about He Yushi and the other campus belles back in school.
Of course, back then he was poor, insecure, and kept to himself, never daring to dream about girls like her. The campus belles hadn't really mattered to him beyond an occasional glance from afar.
Rumor had it that He Yushi was notoriously cold, distant, and possessed impossibly high standards. No one had managed to win her over-not even the wealthy second-generation trust-fund heirs.
The guys at school had practically elevated her to mythical status: a heavenly goddess to be admired from afar, never touched. Getting to exchange even a single sentence with her was considered a blessing from above.
Looking at her now, Liu Yang realized those rumors were nonsense.
He Yushi was straightforward, unconcerned with appearances, and remarkably quick to act-nothing like the timid, overly cautious girls he usually saw. Her demeanor was approachable and completely down-to-earth.
She wasn't nearly as sacred and untouchable as the legends claimed.
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