Pregnant During An Apocalypse [BL]
Chapter 290 - 291 - Trust or not to trust

Chapter 290: Chapter 291 - Trust or not to trust

Yunfeng was pacing.

Back and forth across the narrow stretch of the room, his steps were light, but his body was tense. His teeth sunk into his bottom lip as he chewed it raw, over and over. His hands wouldn’t stop twitching at his sides. The air in the house was thick, suffocating—every inhale tasted like dust and sweat and the faint metallic tang of fear. The walls seemed to press in closer with every passing second, the ceiling lowering like a slow, inevitable weight.

This... this was the worst possible situation.

They were surrounded. Outside this house, soldiers lurked, eyes watching, waiting. Yunfeng didn’t know when, or even if, they would strike. And that was the problem—not knowing.

He had seen the way they moved—disciplined, silent, like shadows shifting just beyond the tree line. They weren’t here by accident. This wasn’t a routine patrol. They had been sent. And they were waiting for something.

Inside, their strongest people were compromised.

Shao—powerful, quick, deadly—was lost in his rut, unstable and unable to even recognize allies, much less protect anyone. Yunfeng had tried to approach him earlier, only to be met with a snarl, a flash of teeth, a warning growl that sent him stumbling back. Shao wasn’t Shao right now. He was a beast, a weapon without a wielder, and that made him dangerous to everyone—including himself.

And Jai... poor Jai, Yunfeng thought with a flinch... he had slipped into heat. He wouldn’t be able to focus, much less control his powers if things escalated. Jai was curled up in the farthest corner of the house, shivering, sweat-drenched, his breathing ragged. His usual sharp wit and steady hands were gone, replaced by a trembling mess of instincts and desperation.

That left Muchen... and himself.

And Muchen, right now, was pregnant.

The thought made Yunfeng’s stomach turn. He clutched at his gut, as if shielding the small life inside him would somehow make this all feel more manageable. Muchen was strong—stronger than most—but pregnancy had weakened him. His reflexes were slower, his stamina drained. He couldn’t fight like he used to. And if something happened... if the soldiers stormed in...

Yunfeng swallowed hard, forcing the thought away before it could fully form.

They were vulnerable.

So incredibly vulnerable.

He kept pacing, faster now, more frantically. "What if they attack tonight..." he mumbled under his breath, "What if they’ve just been waiting for this exact moment..."

The soldiers hadn’t attacked yet. But they were definitely watching. Yunfeng could feel it. The prickle at the back of his neck, the way the hairs on his arms stood on end whenever he passed a window. They were being studied like bugs under a microscope. Every breath, every stumble, every flare of pheromones was likely being recorded, logged, analyzed.

It was like some twisted game of patience—waiting to see if the ants burned before deciding whether or not to step on them.

Yunfeng gripped the edge of the table hard enough that his knuckles turned white. The wood groaned under the pressure, threatening to splinter.

Test subjects.

The thought rang in his mind with a sickening finality. He wasn’t stupid. He’d seen how the military worked. They didn’t just monitor. They dissected. They broke people down and rebuilt them in labs. He had heard the stories—whispers of experiments, of people disappearing into government facilities, only to return hollow-eyed and changed.

It could happen anytime.

And now with a child growing inside him—

He swallowed hard, panic rising like bile in his throat.

He was being tested.

It felt like a test. All of it. The soldiers waiting just long enough to let them fall apart internally. His people were breaking one by one, their strength dimming, their trust unraveling.

And on top of everything... someone inside might be a traitor.

He had no idea who to trust.

His breath hitched.

A bead of sweat dripped down his temple.

His gaze darted around the dim room, paranoid, calculating.

"Zei..." he whispered under his breath, staring out the window toward where the man had last been. "Can he be trusted?"

Zei was the only one among them who still had full control over his powers. No sign of rut, no sign of heat. No exhaustion. No injuries. Perfectly fine.

Too perfectly fine.

He barely knew him. Zei had just shown up during the chaos... and while he’d helped them, spoken kindly, shared food—Yunfeng couldn’t shake the unease.

He could be the one who poisoned them.

He could be reporting everything back to the soldiers.

And worst of all, if he was the betrayer, he’d be the most dangerous person among them right now.

Yunfeng bit his lip again, this time until he tasted blood. The coppery tang grounded him, just for a second.

"Should I trust him?" he muttered. "Should I place my trust in him?"

He didn’t have an answer.

Not yet.

But he knew one thing with certainty—if Zei was the betrayer, and they didn’t figure it out in time... everything would come crashing down.

And this time, no one would be able to stop it.

Yunfeng stood still in the middle of the room, his breathing shallow. His hands clenched at his sides. He didn’t have the luxury of time anymore.

He had to decide.

To trust... or not to trust.

Everything in him screamed caution. But he couldn’t afford caution right now. If they were going to survive whatever came next, he needed someone else to stand with him—someone who could still fight. Someone who wasn’t compromised. And whether he liked it or not... that someone was Zei.

He took a deep breath, pressed his palms flat against the wall for balance, and stepped out of the room.

His fingertips skimmed along the walls as he moved. The texture helped him stay steady.

His eyesight had improved—but only just.

It felt like he was a person with bad prescription glasses seeing the world without lenses. Everything was blurry. Shapes, colors, outlines—he could make them out now, but nothing was clear. Faces were still just smudges, and anything far away melted into a mess of light and shadow. Still, it was better than darkness. That small bit of sight made him feel... almost human again.

He walked quickly down the hall, taking a sharp breath before turning into the next room.

Zei’s room.

Inside, Zei was sitting cross-legged on the floor with Lu Zhi. They were playing some simple card game, laughing under their breath.

Both of them stopped the moment Yunfeng entered.

"Why are you here?" Zei stood up, alarm flashing in his eyes. "Are you okay?"

Yunfeng walked up to him slowly, lips pressed into a thin line—then let his body slump forward without warning.

"Whoa—what happened to you?!" Zei caught him just in time, steadying him with both arms. "Are you okay? What’s wrong?"

Yunfeng’s grip tightened on the fabric of Zei’s shirt. He pulled the man down slightly and whispered in a hurried breath, "We’re being watched. We’re in danger. I need your help. Just do as I ask."

Zei blinked, caught off guard. But to Yunfeng’s relief, he didn’t ask questions. He simply nodded, even if the confusion hadn’t left his face.

"Alright..." he said softly.

He helped Yunfeng sit on the edge of the bed, propped a pillow behind his back, and handed him a bottle of water. Yunfeng accepted it with a small nod, fingers trembling slightly.

As Zei opened his mouth to speak, Yunfeng quickly gave him a subtle shake of the head. A warning.

Don’t talk.

Zei’s mouth clamped shut instantly.

Good. He was taking it seriously.

Silently, Yunfeng pulled a small, folded note from his sleeve and passed it into Zei’s hand.

Zei didn’t open it immediately.

Instead, he looked around the room—then smiled and said loudly, "I’ll go get something from the kitchen. He needs sugar. Probably just low blood pressure."

He walked out casually, letting the door click shut behind him.

As soon as he reached the kitchen, he crouched down in front of the lower cabinets. His hands moved swiftly, pretending to search through cans and supplies. Then, in a single motion, he unfolded the note.

The words were small but precise. Clear instructions. A plan. A warning.

As he read, Zei’s fingers curled tighter around the paper.

His chest tightened.

He hadn’t realized... not until now... just how much danger they were in.

Yunfeng’s handwriting was sharp and hurried, but the message was unmistakable. The military was watching them. Studying them. Waiting for the moment they’d break. The moment they could be taken—easily, cleanly. It wasn’t just surveillance. It was a setup.

And their strongest people—Shao, Jai—were compromised.

Zei’s hands trembled as he folded the note back down.

It was risky. Dangerous. Yunfeng’s plan... it would require them to act fast. Take pre-emptive steps. There’d be no room for mistakes.

But more than that... it meant Yunfeng trusted him.

He wasn’t sure why, or if he deserved it, but Yunfeng had chosen him.

Zei shoved the note deep into the back of the cabinet behind a row of dusty jars and shut the door.

He stood up, grabbed a candy bar from the shelf, and walked back down the hallway.

When he returned to the room, his expression was calm, almost cheerful.

"Here," he said casually, handing Yunfeng the bar. "That should help. Classic sugar rush."

Yunfeng took it with a weak smile, his hands steady now.

No words passed between them.

They didn’t need any.

And now... the real game had begun.