When Bitterness Lingers

[The next book will be The Apple of Eros. Its blurb is below.]

🔵 Bright-and-cheerful vampire seme vs. self-destructive zombie uke with a devoted-spouse streak

👉 Mutual healing + PTSD + ensemble road-survival story

When the apocalypse came, a vampire who had slept for three hundred years was woken up by the noise.

Starving, he broke into an abandoned villa to look for food, only to unexpectedly save a zombie.

The zombie was gloomy, looking as if he didn't want to live.

The vampire inexplicably felt sorry for him, so he became a caring big brother and tried to cheer him up.

But as he kept taking care of him, the little zombie invited him to sleep together.

What a deal! The vampire happily accepted.

The innocent little zombie had no idea how wicked the vampire was. Today he was a big brother, but tomorrow he could be a husband.

The little zombie was kissed until his eyes grew hazy, and one day he somehow stumbled into a happy ending.

--"When you held me in your arms in the storage room, for a moment, I wished you were part of me, because you were so warm. You were so warm that I felt an urge to use every means possible to keep you with me."

🔹

The vampire had a lover. They had promised to get married, live well, and spend their days happily together, but his lover broke that promise.

Living alone was so painful, but everyone kept telling him that his Bright was still alive.

But if he was alive, why wouldn't he wake up?

The doctor suggested that perhaps if he entered his lover's consciousness and tried to wake him, there might be a chance he'd come around.

So he entered his lover's memories again and again, reliving how they met, got to know each other, and fell in love.

He prayed that the person who was always telling him he loved him, that he would forgive him unconditionally, and that he would give him unlimited freedom, would come back to his side.

Even though the odds were slim, he wanted to keep trying a little longer.

--"I felt like I was looking at myself, another version of me living in hell. So I thought I had to save you and hold you. When those thoughts came to me, did that mean I was already ready to fall in love with you?"

-

[Bonus Scene → Ridiculous Age Gap]

One morning.

Lu Zhengjian held the still-sleepy Mingliang. "If we were more than fifty years apart, even if we overcame every obstacle to be together, society wouldn't accept us, and we'd face endless criticism. But if we're more than five hundred years apart, it would be different. Everyone would just think it was crazy."

"Mm, crazy."

"Mingliang, listen to me." Lu Zhengjian buried his face in his chest, his voice taking on a coaxing tone.

Lu Mingliang glanced down at the little squirrel by the window. The small creature was watching them curiously. He smiled. "I'm listening. What's wrong with being more than five hundred years apart? Are you worried?"

"No. I just think it's amazing. We're so far apart in age, and yet we're together. It's just... unbelievable."

🔹

The story is roughly like this ⬇️

Who am I? Am I still alive today? It's heartbreaking when you have to ask yourself that.

The apocalypse came, and humanity's homes were utterly destroyed. The survivors endured long years of upheaval, carrying their trauma with them.

Becoming a conscious zombie is both painful and fortunate. Their confused sense of identity leaves them lost, but being truly alive is so beautiful.

Vampires who lived in the shadows stepped out into the sun. Immortality had made them stop cherishing themselves, but a few still felt compassion for life.

Reading Guide ✔️

①: The leads are mutually devoted, one-on-one in body and heart.

②: Lots of original worldbuilding, an ensemble cast, with a 60/40 split between plot and romance.

③: Not suitable for extreme ship purists. Friendly discussion is welcome.

🔸

Coming Soon: The Apple of Eros

Arrogant, old-fashioned patriarch seme VS ruthless, taciturn, stuttering assassin uke

Qishan Group released a full-immersion virtual game called Finding My Lover. It replicates the real world on a one-to-one basis and can generate a virtual partner according to each player's preferences.

As soon as the game launched, Dian Cong'en, an employee of the company, registered to show his support.

He got his first boyfriend.

Although he was virtual, the guy was exactly his type: six-foot-three, broad-shouldered and narrow-waisted, straight-backed as a pine tree, and strong and muscular.

The virtual boyfriend said his name was Wei Wentai.

What a nice name.

?

Wait! Wasn't that the chairman's name?

But the chairman had never appeared in public, and no one knew what he looked like.

Dian Cong'en advised his boyfriend not to use that name. In a sense, the chairman was sort of his father, too.

But his boyfriend refused, insisting that he really was Wei Wentai.

Fine.

Whatever.

A month later, Dian Cong'en delivered some documents for a colleague and accidentally walked into the chairman's office on the top floor. There, he unexpectedly saw a photo of his boyfriend.

That was when Dian Cong'en fell for him.

Wei Wentai said he was unconscious in the real world and that the company was about to be taken over. He wanted Dian Cong'en to help him.

For the sake of future wealth and glory, Dian Cong'en decided to help.

While gathering evidence, Dian Cong'en unexpectedly discovered that Wei Wentai was already married, to his supervisor, and that they even had a child.

He was nothing but a pawn in Wei Wentai's takeover bid.

Disillusioned, Dian Cong'en handed the evidence to his supervisor, kept up the pretense with Wei Wentai for a month, then resigned and deleted his account.

He walked through the drizzle with his luggage, ready to take an impromptu trip.

But on the way to the airport, he was kidnapped and thrown into a prison on a deserted island.

There, he ran into Wei Wentai again.

The man latched onto him and asked him to help with a prison break so they could go find someone.

Something wasn't right...

When had his workaday life switched over to a secret-agent-on-a-mission channel?

Dian Cong'en began spending his days and nights staring at the tattoo stretching across his lower abdomen, deep in thought.

Wei Wentai was always fixated on that spot.

But Dian Cong'en had no memory of getting the tattoo.

Wei Wentai said he had to remember. Only then could they find that person.

Who?

Wei Wentai said it was his wife.

But what did that have to do with Dian Cong'en?

🔹

Theme: May we all welcome a new life worth celebrating