Once this unfathomable idea took root, it began to spread uncontrollably.
Ji Ruxue couldn't help but recall the first time she encountered this zombie.
Unlike other zombies who only knew to crazily bang on doors or scratch at them with their fingers.
Ji Ruxue remembered that when she first saw this zombie, it actually reached for the door handle, meaning the zombie originally knew how to open doors!
Because the bedroom was locked, it used a crowbar to pry open the lock!
Previously, Ji Ruxue had been too hungry and terrified to notice this detail.
Now, looking back, she realized how peculiar it was; since when do zombies use crowbars?
In Ji Ruxue's memory, ordinary first-tier zombies, after being bitten and transformed, were like beasts with only a bloodthirsty instinct, completely lacking the concept of using tools.
Let alone using a crowbar to pry open a door after failing to unlock it.
Moreover, instead of devouring her outright, the zombie actually made formula milk and fed her — this was simply against all logic.
Ji Ruxue had seen that even the warriors with the strongest will, once infected by the virus and turned into zombies, could only become bloodthirsty beasts.
As a former empress of humanity, Ji Ruxue had encountered countless zombies.
But she had never heard of zombies that could pry open doors and feed milk to a baby.
Today, it even changed her diaper; is there anything more outrageous than that?!
These abnormal occurrences made Ji Ruxue more convinced of her hypothesis.
This peculiar zombie before her must have retained its prior human consciousness!
Otherwise, she wouldn't have survived till now and would have been torn to pieces long ago.
At this moment, Ji Ruxue felt extremely excited, as if she had discovered a new world.
In her past life, she had seen it all and encountered numerous powerful zombies and other creatures.
But this was the first time she had encountered something transformed by the zombie virus yet able to retain human consciousness.
Only human will could suppress such bloodthirsty instincts.
But, wait a moment…
The zombie in front of her, no matter how you look at it… doesn't seem like a female…
Was I, the empress, changed by a male?!
Ji Ruxue widened her eyes, finally reacting to the situation.
Realizing that she had been fully exposed just now, her emotions became very agitated.
In her past life, she had never even touched a man's hand.
Even in the apocalypse, Ji Ruxue had never had any intimate contact with the opposite sex.
Who would have thought her lifelong purity would be ruined over a diaper?
For a moment, Ji Ruxue felt like crying but had no tears, lamenting that she seemed to have encountered every misfortune imaginable after being reborn.
But after a moment, Ji Ruxue's expression returned to normal.
Oh well, oh well…
In the battle against the Insect Race queen, I should have perished; to be reborn now is a blessing.
Besides, my life was saved by the other party, and just being alive now is already very fortunate.
After figuring this out, Ji Ruxue no longer fussed over it, especially since she was currently just an infant, not the revered empress of her past life.
Looking at Lu Chuan, who was earnestly changing her diaper, Ji Ruxue felt touched.
In the apocalypse, humanity and morality had already completely collapsed.
The notion of order had long ceased to exist.
Struggling to survive in the apocalypse, Ji Ruxue had long witnessed just how depraved humanity could become?
For those surviving in the apocalypse, staying alive was paramount; to survive, they would do anything.
Betraying friends and family, feeding those around them to zombies.
Theft, prostitution, deceit, and trickery were commonplace in the apocalypse.
In her past life, Ji Ruxue had experienced many losses, and it was only after such experiences that she gradually adapted to the harsh world of the apocalypse.
Yet the zombie so focused on changing her diaper made Ji Ruxue feel a sense of humanity from before the apocalypse.
Could this zombie see her as his daughter?
Thinking of this, Ji Ruxue's heart skipped a beat, and her mind involuntarily concocted a tragic story.
Perhaps this zombie had a beloved daughter before the apocalypse, but in the end times, human lives were as fragile as weeds.
In the face of wave-like bloodthirsty zombies, only one in ten humans survived.
Especially in the initial outbreak, for ordinary urban humans, the hope of survival was almost nonexistent.
Most likely, this zombie's daughter had died following the apocalypse, yet he still longed for his daughter in his mind.
It was this family bond that transcended life and death that made this supposed bloodthirsty zombie treat her as his daughter.
That is why, upon seeing her, it exhibited tenderness different from other zombies.
Everything this zombie did for her was something he had once done for his daughter.
Even after turning into a zombie, he couldn't let go of his daughter…
Watching Lu Chuan, already turned into a zombie, with his extremely rigid limbs, clumsily changing her diaper.
Ji Ruxue felt a mix of empathy and pity for him.
Imagine a human originally with a happy family suddenly faced with the apocalypse.
Everything familiar around him had changed, and he even became a bloodthirsty zombie, losing his beloved family.
The saddest part was that even after losing everything, this zombie still retained human consciousness; though he was dead, he had to painfully continue living.
He continued to live alone in this devastated city long ruined.
Wandering desolately among the zombies without a single true companion.
Because he had human consciousness, he couldn't live a bloodthirsty, muddled life like other zombies every day.
Yet, having become a zombie, he could no longer integrate into human groups.
He could only watch the fellow human beings he once knew all aim their weapons at him, their eyes full of loathing and hatred.
Whether zombie or human, there was no place for him.
It was as if he were the loneliest person, drifting outside this world.
This world was vast and expansive, yet he couldn't have a single companion to walk with him.
The experience of walking alone in this world was a fate worse than death.
Ji Ruxue looked at the zombie in front of her and sighed internally.
Before becoming the human empress, she too was just a pure-hearted and kind girl, with her own soft spots within.
If you take me as your daughter, then I, the empress, declare.
From now on, you are the empress's zombie father.