"Bang!"

A loud crash.

The motorcycle speeding forward went out of control and crashed into the large tree by the roadside.

The tree split into two, the motorcycle flew into the air, and both the rider and the bike crashed heavily to the ground.

Zhang Yiming lay curled up on the ground in pain, his fingers clutching his chest.

There was a thumb-thick branch piercing through his heart.

Black blood trickled out along the branch.

Zhang Yiming’s whole body trembled slightly, overwhelmed by pain.

Perhaps it was physical pain, perhaps it was emotional pain.

Zhang Yiming had never felt such heartache.

Dark sweat slowly seeped out on his face, lying helplessly on the ground.

For a moment, Zhang Yiming regretted it.

If he had known earlier, he wouldn’t have eaten Ganmu.

Becoming like this, not turning into a human, yet having to endure human pain.

His heart hurt terribly.

With slender fingers, he gripped the branch piercing his heart, pulling it out little by little.

Zhang Yiming closed his eyes, carefully feeling the physical pain.

By focusing on the physical pain, he could ignore the emotional pain.

Only then did he feel that his heart was not so painfully twisted.

"Xiao Ming?"

Zhang Yiming was in so much pain that he started hallucinating, hearing Bai Xiqin calling his name.

Instinctively, he covered the spot where the branch pierced his heart with his fingers, stopping the flow of black blood. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

"What are you doing here? Who were you fighting with just now?"

Zhang Yiming had no time to turn around before Bai Xiqin ran up to him.

Bai Xiqin squatted halfway down, green light radiating from her hands.

The light fell on Zhang Yiming, but had no effect.

Zhang Yiming was a zombie; human superpowers couldn’t heal zombies.

Bai Xiqin had to give up and took out a crystal core, handing it to Zhang Yiming.

"Why are you here?"

Zhang Yiming’s eyes lit up for a moment, then, realizing it, he hesitantly covered the branch piercing his heart, lowering his gaze, not daring to look at Bai Xiqin’s face.

His slender fingers rubbed against his clothes, staining them with black blood before accepting the crystal core Bai Xiqin handed to him.

"Leng Yebai and I sensed signs of intense fighting here, so we came over. I didn’t expect it to be you. How did you get hurt so badly?"

Bai Xiqin frowned at the spot on Zhang Yiming’s chest.

A damaged heart wasn’t a fatal wound for a zombie.

During this time together, Bai Xiqin knew Zhang Yiming had become a conscious zombie.

Even if it wasn’t fatal, the injury was too severe.

"I accidentally crashed while riding a motorcycle." Zhang Yiming spoke with his head down, his voice weak.

This was indeed the only wound, caused by accidentally crashing the motorcycle.

Inside, he felt particularly upset. When the motorcycle flew into the air, he saw the branch about to pierce his heart.

But he didn’t dodge; he even crashed into it on purpose.

He just wanted the physical pain to alleviate the pain from his heart.

Whenever he thought about Xiao Niu’s future death, her so-called rebirth merely being a twist of fate merging from the future back to the present, his heartache intensified.

He could endure any pain except this one, which he couldn’t bear.

"I didn’t expect you to have a slip-up too."

Leng Yebai, with a stern expression, crouched next to Bai Xiqin, his face looking a bit stinky.

"Heh, I rarely have slip-ups. The last time I had such a serious injury, I owe it to your help." Zhang Yiming glanced at Leng Yebai, decisively retorting, "Are you a ghost? How did you just appear out of nowhere?"

Leng Yebai: ...

Can we move past this joke?

Also, he’s been standing here a while, the certain Corpse Emperor is blind, not seeing him.

"What are you guys talking about?" Bai Xiqin couldn’t understand their conversation, just glancing again at Zhang Yiming’s wound, "Doesn’t your wound hurt? Why haven’t you absorbed the crystal core yet?"

"It hurts, my heart aches terribly."

Zhang Yiming instinctively nodded, quietly watching those dark eyes.

After watching for a moment, he withdrew the emotion in his eyes, silently looking at the crystal core in his hand.

"I have a lot of crystal cores; hurry up and absorb them!"

Bai Xiqin pulled out a few more crystal cores from her pocket, placing them in Zhang Yiming’s hand.

"Absorbing crystal cores doesn’t help."

Zhang Yiming murmured softly.

"Really? Let me check again."

Bai Xiqin, somewhat surprised, let green light reemerge from her hands.

In theory, as long as there were crystal cores, zombies had more insane healing capabilities than humans.

A zombie of Zhang Yiming’s level should be able to heal quickly.

Bai Xiqin’s fingers almost touched Zhang Yiming’s wound, green vitality bursting forth, pouring into Zhang Yiming’s body.

If it were an ordinary zombie, encountering the green vitality of a human superpower user would be seriously injured.

Zhang Yiming’s physical condition was special; the green vitality couldn’t harm him, but neither could it heal him.

Bai Xiqin could only discern the severity of Zhang Yiming’s wound through the feedback from the green light.

A branch perfectly pierced through his heart, neither left nor right.

Fortunately, Zhang Yiming was a zombie; if he were human, he wouldn’t have lasted.

"It’s still not working; my heart feels worse."

Zhang Yiming held his breath, with Xiao Niu in front of him, his heart felt even more twisted.

Heartache.

"Let me." Leng Yebai grabbed Bai Xiqin’s fingers back, purple lightning emitting from his hands, expressionlessly saying, "A shock might help somewhat."

Only men truly understand each other.

Having been a zombie, Leng Yebai knew being pierced in the heart didn’t affect life; taking it out didn’t either.

Plus, Zhang Yiming was already the Corpse Emperor; could a branch seriously injure his heart?

Suffering intensely but not absorbing crystal cores to heal?

This was just complaining without reason!

This guy was eyeing his Xiao Niu again!

Without hesitation, Leng Yebai, with his lightning-infused hands, reached for the branch.

"First, pull the branch out; otherwise, it’s hard to treat (shock) it."

"Isn’t that not okay?"

Bai Xiqin blocked Leng Yebai’s hand.

"It’s the same principle as a pacemaker."

Leng Yebai spoke calmly.

Bai Xiqin: "... Just control your superpower usage a bit."

Well, it did make some sense.

"Alright, don’t worry."

Leng Yebai nodded calmly, his superpower seemingly intensified.

Zhang Yiming: ...

Crackling sounds filled the air as the purple "Demon Hand" was about to touch Zhang Yiming’s wound.

Leng Yebai intended to directly pull the branch while placing his hand on the wound.

Regardless of whether it could heal a zombie, a shock wave wouldn’t hurt.

"Wait, my heart doesn’t hurt anymore."

Zhang Yiming’s face twitched imperceptibly; he suddenly stood up, dodging Leng Yebai’s purple hand in the process.

"You..."

Bai Xiqin was stunned, looking at the suddenly normal Zhang Yiming, pointing at the branch in his chest.

The branch was still in Zhang Yiming’s chest, looking particularly conspicuous.

Black blood slowly dripped outward from the branch.

"It’s fine, just pull it out."

Zhang Yiming calmly extended two fingers and pulled the branch out, casually tossing it on the ground.

Ignoring the gushing black blood.

"Uh... you’re bleeding."

Bai Xiqin blinked.

"Absorbing the crystal core will take care of that."

Zhang Yiming glanced at the purple lightning in Leng Yebai’s hand, instantly crushing the crystal core into powder in his hand.

The gushing black blood slowly solidified, no longer flowing.

Bai Xiqin: ...