"Zombie... child ? Doesn't ring a bell... well actually, we did revive a child one time... is taht what you mean ?"

"It would probably be easier to just show you the kid."

I grab Xiao's arm and tag him to Bubu Pharmacy to see Qiqi standing at the front desk. I drag Xiao over and make him look over the desk so he can see the child.

"Hmm... it's been a while since we revived that kid so I'm not exactly sure if that's the one but she definitely looks familiar..."

"Qiqi ! Do you remember this man ?"

"... I don't know."

"You've gotta remember something.... right ?" I look over at Xiao.

"Zombies actually have a very bad memory so I'm not surprised she can't remember... but the fact that she doesn't remember is enough proof for me to say she's the one."

"Hm... I see, could you tell me more about her ?"

"Sure but not here... let's go back to our house."

"A-alright."

Right before we leave out the door of the pharmacy I hear Qiqi speak.

"Will you come back again to spend time with Qiqi ?"

I turn around to see Qiqi staring blankly at me from behind the counter. I walk over to her and promise to meet again soon.

For some reason... I felt some sadness behind her words despite her having a rather emotionless expression.

We make it back to the house and quickly run inside. Xiao explains to me what happened to Qiqi and my heart breaks a little with every detail he adds... such a young child going through such a terrible fate....

"Do you know anything about her caretaker, Baizhu ?"

"No, but I get a weird feeling from him. Like he has some ulterior motives to taking care of Qiqi..."

"He definitely has a sinister vibe... like, who has a talking snake as a pet and is also a good person ?"

"That's a bit judgmental but to be honest, I think you're right. I've never met someone with a talking snake as a pet and had pure intentions..."

"This may sound crazy but... what if we adopt Qiqi ?"

I sort of looked down before saying that, scared of how Xiao would react to me a wanting to adopt a kid. Before I even looked up I felt the air in the room change... it was intense.

I looked up to see stars in Xiao's eyes. He grabbed my shoulders and nodded his head vigorously. I was scared his head would fall off to be honest.

This wasn't the reaction I was expecting but it's certainly the one I wanted so I am pleasantly surprised.

"The only thing is, how will we get Baizhu to let us take Qiqi with us..."

"Kidnap her."

"That's illegal !"

"Threaten him ?"

"Also illegal..."

"Blackmail him ?"

"That's also illegal..."

"Murder hi—"

"What if we just talk to him about it when he's free..."

"Yeah that sounds smart."

My head falls back out of exhaustion from trying to deal with Xiao's lack of knowledge on human laws...

I quickly make us some dinner, we have some fun small talk while eating and quickly go to bed. Before we do though, I tell Xiao to let me do the talking... I'm afraid of what he'll say to Baizhu if I don't start the conversation...

We drift off to sleep and wake up bright and early to prepare ourselves...

I try to give Xiao some of my clothes to help him blend in... but I also kinda just wanted to see Xiao in a polo with his chest exposed...

I gave him so rather generic black pants and we were off to Bubu Pharmacy !

We walk inside to see a different person at the counter today and we ask him where Baizhu and Qiqi are.

They say they don't know where they are but are probably just out picking herbs.

With a sigh of defeat, I look down and start walking out the door, head still down. When I suddenly feel my head bump into someone.

"Looking for me ?"

I look up to see Baizhu's signature smile. I quickly back away and apologize for bumping in to him.

"So what do you want from me ?"

"Well I was just thinking... how's Qiqi ?"

"Qiqi... where is she... actually, can you go check around Mt Tianheng from me ? I'm afraid she might've gotten stuck at the bottom of a mountain again..."

"Stuck...?"

"It's hard to explain but just hug her from behind and that should fix her."

"Why don't you do it ?"

"It... doesn't work very well if I do it so maybe you'd have better luck."

It doesn't seem like this has anything to do with luck but I'll still try it out.

I told Xiao to go do some shopping and wrote a very specific note telling him where to look, what to buy, and what to say with detailed instructions so he hopefully doesn't mess up to badly.

I spent the rest of day walking around the foot of Mt Tianheng in search of a small child but couldn't find anything.

On the way back home, I spot a small silhouette ( pls no scaramouche jokes ) of a child and walk closer to see Qiqi, staring silently at the wall in front of her.

I slowly walk over to her and introduce myself with a quiet voice to not scare her.

"Alright Qiqi, Baizhu told me to hug you from behind so bare with me..."

I pick Qiqi up, she's lighter than I expected. I pull her into a hug and internally freak out about how small and cute she is—

I mover her away and after a few seconds, she turns around and looks at me with the happiest expression and emotionless zombie could possibly make and says

"Thank you."

I let her down and she walks back to Bubu Pharmacy.

"Actually, Qiqi, do you wanna stay over at our house for today ?"

"Baizhu says I shouldn't trust strangers."

"I have Coco—"

"Where is your house ?"

That was easier than I thought...

I lead her back to our house to see Xiao waiting by the front door with bags of groceries. I call out his name and he stares at me with an angry glare... he looks to my side to see Qiqi and his fast immediately lights up.

Xiao stands up and runs to me and I close my eyes expecting for him to hug me but I open my eyes after a while to find him knelt down o the floor talking to Qiqi...

Is he... mad at me ?!

"X-Xiao... are you mad at me..?"

"You didn't give me a key to the house. So I've been waiting outside for hours now. So yes I'm kind of mad at you."

"But—"

"Hi Qiqi ! What are you doing here ?"

He's really just gonna ignore me like that...

Oh well, I rush into the house after unlocking the front door and tell Xiao and Qiqi to wait at the table as I cook us food.

This meal has to be amazing ! Maybe with this I can convince Qiqi to stay with us... I must do what ever I can in order to adopt Qiqi... I must...

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