Chapter 656: Two Zhan Lians
The Zhan Lian outside the door said nothing. Frowning, he stepped into the room, glancing quickly at everyone present—and at Doll, who had already woken up on the bed. He reached out and pulled An Ran up from the floor.
“We have to get out. Several wood-type zombies have evolved inside this hotel.”
His grip was firm, almost too strong. An Ran winced slightly and looked at him, wondering why he smelled so heavily of blood. Was he injured? Before she could ask, the other Zhan Lian—the one who had run off earlier, wearing the exact same clothes—came sprinting back down the hall, drenched in sweat.
As he ran, he shouted, “Wife! Wife, we—”
The Zhan Lian standing inside the doorway froze. The one running toward them stopped just as abruptly, staring into the room like he was looking into a mirror.
For a long second, neither spoke.
Both men—one inside, one out—looked exactly the same. Both stared at each other, tense, wary, each gripping their weapons.
“This… this…”
Zhao Ru was completely dumbfounded. Liu Shasha too, her face blank with shock.
Two Zhan Lians. One of them had to be Chen Chaofa.
But even Chen Chaofa probably hadn’t expected the real Zhan Lian to show up so suddenly. So—who was real, and who was fake?
“Wife, come over here. Mint, bring Zhan Anxin to me.” The Zhan Lian outside—the first one, let’s call him Number One—raised a cautious hand toward An Ran.
An Ran didn’t move.
The Zhan Lian beside her—Number Two—held her arm tightly and said in a low voice, “Don’t listen to him. That one’s fake.”
“Fake, my ass!” Number One snapped, nearly leaping in anger. He pointed at Number Two. “You bastard! Let go of my wife and come out here—let’s see who’s real and who’s pretending!”
The reason Number One hadn’t attacked yet was obvious—because Number Two had hold of An Ran.
An Ran, Zhao Ru, and Liu Shasha all turned toward Number Two. His expression was grim, his face pale. He clutched his chest and coughed twice.
Zhao Ru immediately shouted, “An Ran, that one’s fake! Your husband wouldn’t be hurt!”
Number Two shot her an exasperated glare. “Some bastard turned into my wife’s face just now and stabbed me, that’s why!”
That would explain the heavy scent of blood on him—and why his movements had seemed slower when fighting the wood-type zombie earlier. It was a perfect excuse, one that no one could easily argue against.
“Are you okay?”
An Ran reached out, touching his chest gently, genuine worry in her eyes.
Number Two smiled at her, shaking his head. His grin carried that familiar roguish ease that truly belonged to Zhan Lian—exactly the same way he always smiled.
But An Ran’s expression suddenly changed. She couldn’t feel the leaf.
Before Zhan Lian left earlier, she’d given him a small green leaf—a life-linked safeguard. If anything happened, she could activate it instantly to protect him.
Yet now, she couldn’t sense it at all.
Still, her mind was a mess. She had already lost control of most of the surrounding plants; maybe this was just another effect of that interference. With so many wood-type zombies around, her connection was already unstable.
So whether this Number Two Zhan Lian was real or fake—she couldn’t tell. Not just from a missing leaf.