Chapter Ten: Meeting the Father-in-law

Ma Yi was quite pleased with Tiezhu’s approach, though he still made a show of lecturing Tiezhu about treating both zombies and humans kindly, wearing the smug expression of a petty man who’d found his moment. He found some oversized leisurewear and put it on; even the largest sizes clung to his body like a second skin. Carefully, he tucked his prized possession into the pant leg. Glancing over at Tiezhu, who, while not small himself, was still a good deal less impressive in comparison, Ma Yi felt a flush of pride—his mutation had turned out just right.

With Tiezhu as his escort, Ma Yi strolled leisurely through the mall, making a grand circuit. He not only selected a variety of high-end clothes for Liu Wen but also picked out expensive outfits for her entire family. After all, the two families hadn’t formally acknowledged their connection yet, and Ma Yi wanted to make a good impression. He set aside Liu Wen’s new clothes in a safe spot to retrieve later; some of the more provocative lingerie would hardly be appropriate to bring to his future in-laws’ house.

Ma Yi packed the clothes into a travel bag, slung it over his shoulder, and, with Tiezhu trailing behind, continued wandering through the city, now both familiar and strange. He was filled with mixed feelings—if he hadn’t mutated, he might have become one of the mindless zombies shambling around, or, if luckier, someone like Tiezhu, with a glimmer of intelligence.

The lovely girls he’d once admired were now zombies, too. Ma Yi clicked his tongue in regret, wondering how many had met this fate before experiencing much of life. Suddenly, a wicked idea slipped into his mind.

Now, however, he brimmed with hope for the future. Those who had once overshadowed him had all become unthinking zombies, and that gave him confidence to keep on surviving.

Crossing through the bustling downtown, Ma Yi soon spotted the luxury residential complex, Fuli Grand Garden. Concerned that Tiezhu might scare his sister-in-law, Ma Yi had him wait more than a hundred meters from the entrance. Tiezhu obediently found a spot on the steps and sat down.

This neighborhood was densely populated, and the streets were crowded with zombies—fifty or sixty aimlessly wandering down each road. Through the gates, Ma Yi could see almost two hundred zombies milling about the open square, most of them elderly, once regulars of morning exercise routines.

“Building Eight, Unit Six, Apartment 606,” Ma Yi muttered as he made his way through the zombie horde, searching for the right building. The numbers had faded over time, and he recalled Liu Wen once saying her father had paid a hefty premium to snatch up this address full of lucky eights and sixes—twenty thousand yuan, a small fortune over a decade ago.

“There’s Building Seven—that must be Building Eight behind it,” Ma Yi finally confirmed after much searching. No wonder it had cost so much; Building Eight faced a small park, making it far more desirable than the rest.

Outside Unit Six, the iron gate on the ground floor was tightly shut, clearly bound with wire by survivors inside. Ma Yi squeezed past a dozen zombies crowding the entrance and, with a gentle tug, slowly unraveled the wire—wrapped around the bars more than a dozen times—until one strand after another snapped.

Bending low, Ma Yi slipped into the stairwell, taking four or five steps at a time as he climbed. The two apartments on the first floor had been violently forced open, likely by survivors scavenging for supplies. On the second floor, one apartment door stood half ajar, voices murmuring inside, but Ma Yi had no interest in other survivors.

On the third floor, both doors remained intact—either still occupied or not yet looted because the food inside hadn’t run out. On the fourth floor, one door hung open, dried blood staining the floor; the opposite apartment was tightly closed, but Ma Yi’s keen ears picked up the sounds of at least three or four people inside, engaged in adult activities.

Both apartments on the fifth floor were open and quiet; their occupants had probably moved to the second or fourth floors. Reaching the landing, Ma Yi noticed a new iron gate at the top of the stairs leading to the sixth floor—freshly painted and recently installed.

Hurrying forward, he saw a hefty padlock securing the gate from the inside. Double-checking the apartment number—606—he knocked on the door.

“Liu Xue!” he called out Liu Wen’s younger sister’s name.

“Liu Xue, are you there?” he called again.

“Who is it?” The door to 605 opened, and a girl of sixteen or seventeen peeked out.

“Who are you?” she asked. The girl was quite pretty—at least a seventy percent likeness to Liu Wen. Yet, while Liu Wen now radiated poise and mature charm, this girl was all youthful vitality.

“I’m here to check on you—Liu Wen sent me,” Ma Yi replied, a bit awkwardly. She was his sister-in-law, after all, even if not officially.

“Oh, so it’s you. You’re really ugly,” she blurted, unfiltered.

Ma Yi nearly choked on his own saliva. The girl’s words cut straight through his self-assurance, dropping his confidence to rock bottom.

“Er Ya, who’s at the door?” came a woman’s voice from inside.

“It’s the big guy sister mentioned,” Liu Xue called back.

“That was fast. You little rascal, go get the key—and wake your father, just in case those people downstairs cause trouble,” the woman’s voice grew clearer as she emerged—a woman of about thirty-seven or thirty-eight.

“Hello, Auntie,” Ma Yi greeted her. She was the very image of Liu Wen’s future—no wonder Liu Wen was so beautiful; her mother, nearly fifty, looked barely over thirty.

“Good, good. I was just thinking you’d come in a couple of days, but here you are already after just a mention yesterday,” Liu Wen’s mother said, unlocking the iron gate while keeping a wary eye on the stairs below.

“Auntie, are the people downstairs causing trouble?” Ma Yi asked, ducking through the small doorway, his large frame barely fitting.

“We’ll talk inside,” she replied, relocking the gate and leading Ma Yi into 605.

“Auntie, isn’t this 606?” he asked, puzzled.

“Oh, a month ago, the couple in this apartment sold it at a low price to move into the city. Your uncle had some money, so we bought it and knocked through the wall to join it with our place. We’d just finished renovating our side, so we moved in here for now.”

“I see. That explains the new security door at the landing,” Ma Yi nodded as he entered.

The two apartments had been joined into one, the living rooms merged, and the south-facing wall converted into a huge balcony, complete with a tea table and bookshelves. Liu Xue was sprawled on the balcony sofa reading, while a middle-aged man with metal-rimmed glasses watched Ma Yi enter.

“Hello, Uncle,” Ma Yi greeted him, feeling an inexplicable sense of pressure.

“Have a seat. You’re a sturdy young man!” the man said, gesturing to the living room sofa.

“Ah, thank you,” Ma Yi replied, feeling awkward as he sat down.

“Old Liu, look at you—still putting on airs, even now,” Liu Wen’s mother scolded her husband. “We’re nearly out of food and here you are, as calm as ever.”

“No wonder you have such a presence, Uncle—you’re a government official,” Ma Yi said, trying to break the tension with a smile.

“He’s just a petty bureaucrat—look how smug he is. What does it matter now, anyway? There aren’t even any offices left,” she replied, rolling her eyes and giving her husband a glare before turning a warm, scrutinizing gaze on Ma Yi.

Ma Yi felt like he was sitting on pins and needles—her father-in-law sat behind the tea table watching him, while her mother-in-law looked him up and down with curious interest.

“My dad’s not a small-time official—he’s a department head,” Liu Xue chimed in.

Ma Yi was taken aback. A department head? That meant he was a top-ranked civil servant in P City. It seemed Liu Wen didn’t really know her father’s position; otherwise, how could she not know her father was a city-level leader?

“Auntie, why didn’t you move into the government compound?” Ma Yi asked curiously.

“We weren’t eligible before—he just got promoted. I used to hope every day we’d get to move in, but now, what’s the use? Even if you’re a minister, where can you go that’s safe in this world?” Liu Wen’s mother sighed.

“By the way, Auntie, if you need anything, just tell me—I can get it for you,” Ma Yi said, eager to shift the mood.

“We’re almost out of rice and flour, and the cooking oil and salt are low too,” Liu Xue replied.

“That’s easy. I’ll bring you some soon,” Ma Yi promised, thumping his chest.

“Oh, one more thing—how did you make it through all those creatures downstairs? There must be at least eighty or a hundred,” Liu Wen’s mother asked, eyeing Ma Yi.

“Mom, they’re not creatures—they’re zombies, just like in the movies,” Liu Xue interjected.

“Yes, Xiao Ma, I’m curious too,” Liu Wen’s father added.

“Yes, Uncle, my name is Ma Yi. Actually, I’m a bit special—those zombies don’t attack me,” Ma Yi explained, feeling the strong presence of his father-in-law.

“Oh? In what way are you special?” All three stared at him.

“Well, you could say I’m a mutated human. The zombies think I’m one of them,” Ma Yi answered honestly.