Yu Yan never denied that Shan Ze was capable of protecting him. According to the plan Shan Ze had formulated, once they returned to the base, he would report the partial serum formula. He intended to use the lure of a new serum research team to flush out those who wanted Shen Mian to disappear.
As for Yu Yan himself, the real Shen Mian, he would only need to adopt a stranger’s name. He would live as a lover Shan Ze had accidentally found in the wasteland, hiding within the detached villa that was a privilege of Shan Ze’s status as a high level ability user. He would be like a pampered canary waiting for the storm outside the cage to subside.
This was a highly feasible plan and the safest option for Shen Mian. However, what if the person who wanted Shen Mian dead was the person Shan Ze was closest to and trusted most?
Li Rui was Shan Ze’s adoptive father after the age of seven and the current leader of the Coastal Base. The underground research institute in H City had been established in secret after the apocalypse began, and very few people knew of its existence. The list of people with the authority to cause its rapid collapse was even smaller. After the institute’s destruction, only one person remained alive.
Even with his knowledge of the original story, Yu Yan could not determine what role this person had played in the fall of the research institute. After all, he was the one who had proposed the zombie serum project, yet he was also the one who suddenly ordered the research to stop.
When people cannot see through the fog ahead, their most common reaction is to test the waters. The Coastal Base had formerly been a naval training base. It was powered by the Twin Sluice Reservoir to the west and supplied with water by water type ability users. Consequently, the arrival of every high level water type user was met with a solemn reception by the base leaders.
The day Li Rui met with Qin Shu would be the moment Yu Yan cast his net. Qin Shu would follow his instructions to leak the news that Shen Mian was still alive. If Li Rui truly wanted Shen Mian dead, he would naturally follow the trail and send someone to kill him. If not, then cooperating with the leader of the base would bring nothing but benefits.
The appearance of the zombie horde forced the team to extend their planned one day return trip to three days. During this time, they inevitably encountered many zombies on the road. On the final night before returning to the base, Yu Yan sat beside Shan Ze, playing absentmindedly with a hexahedral stone in his hand.
Feeling neglected, Shan Ze spoke to him with a hint of hidden grievance in his voice. He asked if Yu Yan really liked the zombie core crystals that much. Yu Yan neither confirmed nor denied this. Instead, he suddenly held the crystal high against the moon.
Under the bright moonlight, the translucent stone seemed to shimmer with flowing light inside. Yu Yan’s voice was cheerful as he asked if Shan Ze thought it was beautiful. He remarked that if he had not known beforehand, no one would believe such a beautiful object grew inside a zombie’s head. He noted that the saying was true: the most beautiful things grow in the most decayed places.
Shan Ze could no longer hear what Yu Yan said after that because the sound of his own heart was too loud. While everyone else was attracted by the radiant stone in Yu Yan’s hand, Shan Ze could not take his eyes off the man’s smiling profile.
Before meeting Shen Mian, Shan Ze always thought he lacked empathy. He had spent twenty one years unable to understand why his father had resolutely chosen to follow his mother in death, leaving behind a seven year old son after her accidental passing. But now, he seemed to understand his father’s final words.
Love makes a person both cowardly and selfish.
It had once made his father choose his mother over him, and now, it made Shan Ze use his position to keep Shen Mian bound to his side. Only Shan Ze and the electric fence surrounding the villa knew how much selfishness was hidden in the act of hiding his beauty.
On their second day back at the base, Yu Yan looked at the thorn net that had appeared overnight outside the window and remained silent. Such a barrier could not stop those who truly wanted to kill him, and those it could stop were people he did not wish to see.
In the same year as the zombie outbreak, the Earth’s magnetic field changed for unknown reasons. The signal base stations used for mobile communication were paralyzed, and walkie talkies relying on satellites became the universal tool for long distance communication.
On the fourth night at the Coastal Base, a biting autumn rain began to fall. Shan Ze was suddenly called away by an urgent radio message. Yu Yan was left alone in the large two story villa, sitting by the second floor window. Looking at the dark night outside, he felt a faint sense of unease.
This was the first time since their return that Shan Ze had left him alone at night. Given how much Shan Ze cared for him, this was highly unusual. So, when a faint rustling sound drifted through the pitter patter of the rain, Yu Yan felt as though the moment had finally arrived. The person coming to kill him was here.
They were in the living room beneath his feet. Almost the instant this thought arose, his hand moved to the pocket at his waist. Inside was the parting gift Qin Shu had given him when they entered the base: a gun recovered from the blond thug, along with the zombie crystals Shan Ze had collected for him.
Hearing footsteps approaching the stairs, Yu Yan held the gun with both hands. His sharp eyes watched the doorway with alert precision. With the creak of the wooden door opening, a medium built man appeared with his face masked in black, silhouetted against the hallway lights.
Yu Yan’s finger tightened on the trigger without hesitation. After the deafening gunshot, a charred mark appeared on the creamy white wooden door where the high speed bullet had struck. Yu Yan’s expression darkened instantly. The intruder was faster than a bullet. He was an ability user.
Confirming this thought, a dark shadow flashed, and the man was suddenly in front of him. A dagger stained with unknown filth lunged toward his heart. The nauseating stench of decay brushed past his nose with the wind of the blade. Yu Yan narrowly dodged the strike, but the arm covered by his light gray sweater was sliced open, leaving a deep gash.
Dark brown blood rapidly stained his sleeve, and droplets of blood splattered onto the polished white floor as he dodged. Facing the man’s lethal assault, Yu Yan knew he could no longer just evade. When the opponent launched another frontal attack, Yu Yan decisively used his abdomen to take the hit of the dagger. At the same moment, his bullet pierced the man’s chest.
The man retreated in pain. To Yu Yan’s confusion, the intruder then resolutely raised his dagger and cleanly slit his own throat. The body, deprived of blood, collapsed to the floor like a puppet with its strings cut.
Yu Yan clutched his bleeding abdomen, his eyes shifting between black and red as he warily watched the slumped corpse. Once he confirmed the man was not faking death, he released his grip on the gun and reached into his pocket with trembling hands.
He needed the crystals. A zombie crystal was essentially the solidified energy of an ability. Since he could gain energy from the bodily fluids of ability users, it stood to reason he could do the same with zombie crystals. Absorbing a massive amount of energy in an instant would allow his body to recover at a visible speed. This was the source of his confidence in placing himself in danger.
As time passed, the crystal in Yu Yan’s hand dissolved until it became a pile of white powder that fell through his blood stained fingers like winter snow. Just as Yu Yan prepared to leave the blood scented room, the corpse on the floor suddenly moved stiffly. The man had turned into a zombie.