20 – Dark System Abilities
Ye Jin drove along the trail and finally found Gu Jingzheng about five kilometers from the steel factory.
The ground was littered with wooden spikes thrown by the monster, making the scene eerily bizarre.
There was another large black hole in the ground, several meters deep, containing only one monster’s corpse—the other was missing. This monster’s body was severed at the waist, the wound blackened and festering, with a large pierced hole in the center of its brain where the Nucleus Crystal should have been.
Gu Jingzheng lay unconscious on the ground. Ye Jin hurriedly checked his condition and saw that the skin on his left hand had turned black, his palm corroded—identical to the monster’s injuries. The wound on his abdomen had reopened, and his body was covered in various injuries from the wooden spikes.
Ye Jin immediately helped him up, fed him a little Spirit Spring Water, and poured the remaining drops onto the corroded skin on Gu Jingzheng’s hand.
She looked up and noticed a few scattered Zombies already drawn by the scent of blood. She had no choice but to take him back first.
In the car, Gu Jingzheng gradually regained consciousness, his eyes fluttering open weakly. “Ye Jin, take me here first,” he murmured faintly.
He then picked up the map she had placed on the passenger seat dashboard and pointed to a location.
Ye Jin glanced at the map—it was a construction site that had been shut down for a long time, located precisely between the steel factory and the villa area. It seemed this was the secret Base he had chosen earlier.
She turned the steering wheel and drove toward the construction site.
…
Inside the site were several sheet-metal houses where workers had lived. Gu Jingzheng asked Ye Jin to help him to a red sheet-metal workshop.
The place was cramped and chaotic, but it had the advantages of being sparsely populated and hidden—most people wouldn’t think to look here.
As they reached the entrance of the red sheet-metal workshop, movement immediately came from inside.
Cheng Hao, sensing activity at the door, rushed over with his gun drawn, while Li Mo quickly stood up.
“Cheng Hao, it’s me.”
Hearing the familiar voice, Cheng Hao immediately opened the door. “Captain!”
Shocked to see Gu Jingzheng covered in wounds, Cheng Hao stepped forward to help support him inside and laid him on the simple iron bed in the makeshift factory room.
Li Mo, frowning deeply, promptly approached to examine the injuries. In just a short while, Gu Jingzheng’s wounds had already begun to spread and fester.
Li Mo retrieved a first aid kit from nearby, quickly took out an antidote, and administered it to Gu Jingzheng.
“Captain, what happened?” Li Mo sensed that the captain’s energy was chaotic and his Special Ability turbulent.
“Ah!”
Gu Jingzheng let out a loud cry, the veins on his face bulging. He felt a surge of violent energy erupting within him, on the verge of losing control.
He pushed away Li Mo, who was closest to him, and shouted, “Get out! All of you, get out!”
The air was thick with malevolent energy. Sensing danger, Ye Jin immediately pulled Li Mo and Cheng Hao back, retreating outside.
Cheng Hao tried to rush back in, but Ye Jin stopped him coldly, her voice sharp: “He said not to go in. If you want to die, be my guest.”
Only then did he notice Ye Jin—the girl who had brought the captain back. Her features were exquisitely beautiful, though her demeanor was quite cold.
Anxiously, Cheng Hao ran his hand through his hair and turned to Li Mo. “Ah Mo, what do we do now? The captain is badly injured—should we really leave him alone in there?”
“Listen to the captain. We can’t go in yet,” Li Mo replied gravely.This was the first time he had seen the captain like this. Even when the captain’s ability had upgraded before, it hadn’t been as terrifying as this instance.
Li Mo looked at Ye Jin sincerely and said, “Thank you for bringing our captain back. May I ask what happened to him earlier?”
“We went to the steel factory.”
After hearing Ye Jin’s words, both Li Mo and Cheng Hao fell silent. They had no idea how powerful that thing really was.
“Boom.”
Suddenly, the red tin house in front of them exploded with a loud noise.
Ye Jin stared at the scene in disbelief—the tin room had been completely corroded, with dark energy swirling all around.
At this point, even Li Mo couldn’t hold back anymore. He rushed forward, shouting, “Captain!”
Inside, Gu Jingzheng lay on the ground. Everything around him had been corroded, leaving a large black pit on the floor.
Ye Jin’s eyes widened in shock—it was actually the Dark Element Power!
Dark, Blood, and Light Element Powers were exceptionally rare, one in ten thousand. Although she had known about these three special superpowers in her previous life, there hadn’t been a single person with a special superpower in the entire Southern Base back then.
The only Dark Element Power user she had ever seen in her previous life had died from their own uncontrollable, violent ability.
Both Dark and Blood Element Powers were the hardest to control. Anyone who possessed one was undoubtedly a renowned expert. Given Gu Jingzheng’s immense strength, why hadn’t she heard his name among the famous ability users in her previous life?
Gu Jingzheng’s condition had been unstable, fluctuating repeatedly. His Dark Element Power had never fully awakened, making it extremely difficult to control and particularly violent. Every time it flared up, he felt as if his energy was about to explode, with his blood flowing backward.
During the fight with that monster earlier, faced with danger, his Dark Element Power erupted again. It pierced through the monster’s Nucleus Crystal and was then absorbed back into him.
Gu Jingzheng felt his Dark Element Power was on the verge of bursting out of his body. However, after Ye Jin gave him a sip of water, it strangely calmed down for a while.
Later, Li Mo injected him with an antidote—a serum developed by Professor Li for times when he couldn’t control the toxins in his body. He had always relied on injections to suppress his Dark Element Power.
But just now, he felt his Dark Element Power had fully erupted. Although it wasn’t as effortless to control as space superpower, he could now manage it.
“Li Mo, I feel my other ability has awakened,” he said hoarsely. “One of the things from the lab died, and the other escaped. The dead one had a bead in its head that can be absorbed.”
Ye Jin thought to herself, no wonder she had seen the Nucleus Crystal in that monster’s head emptied earlier. She could sense that Gu Jingzheng’s ability had already reached the fourth level—it seemed he had absorbed that monster’s Nucleus Crystal. However, Nucleus Crystals didn’t have the effect of awakening abilities. Could it be because of her spring water?
Ye Jin couldn’t help feeling a bit envious. For others, leveling up was so difficult. A third-level ability user might not even advance directly after absorbing a fourth-level Nucleus Crystal—at least, that had been her experience in her previous life. The higher the level, the harder it was to advance, which was why humans later formed teams to deal with high-level zombies.
Zombies advanced much faster than humans. Not only could they feed on people, but they could also absorb their companions’ Crystals. How could this man jump two levels just by absorbing one fourth-level monster’s Nucleus Crystal? Leveling up as if he had hitched a ride on a rocket launcher?
Li Mo supported Gu Jingzheng and said, “Captain, let me clean your wounds first.”Ye Jin took out the ring and handed it to Gu Jingzheng: “I’ve already blown up that place. Everything is inside.”
Cheng Hao glanced at the ring in her hand. This was the ring their captain always carried with him. He spent every day with the captain—how come he didn’t know when the captain had gotten to know this girl?
Gu Jingzheng said to Li Mo and the others: “You two, step outside first.”
Li Mo looked at Ye Jin but said nothing, then left with Cheng Hao.
After they had gone some distance, Gu Jingzheng said: “I’d like to ask you to keep this for now.”
Gu Jingzheng glanced at Ye Jin, his eyes somewhat dim: “I have to leave soon. The place where you live will soon be established as a Base. With the current uncertain situation, I can only ask you to safeguard these items.”
“Do you know how much risk I’m taking by keeping these?”
Xu Tian had spent so much effort trying to obtain these weapons and would certainly investigate privately. Zhang Zhang was the only one who came out alive.
Ye Jin wasn’t alone—she had Xiao Chen and Yi Yi. She couldn’t let her family share this risk with her.
“I know the risks are great, but we don’t even know what’s happening in the capital right now. These weapons can’t fall into anyone’s hands, or the southern region will truly descend into chaos!”
Ye Jin remained silent.
Gu Jingzheng continued: “Ye Jin, I promise you as a soldier—once I go to the capital and clarify the situation, I will definitely return to retrieve them. I’ll find a way for you to contact the Ye family.”
Mention of the Ye family stirred something in her heart. After pondering for a moment, she looked up and asked Gu Jingzheng: “Can you guarantee I’ll be able to contact them?”
“Soon, satellite phones will be operational. You’ll be able to contact the capital once a month. Go find Xu Jiaguo—he’ll arrange the call for you.”
Xu Jiaguo was with the military, the only one who could contend with Xu Tian for power, though he would eventually be overthrown by the combined efforts of the male and female protagonists along with Xu Tian.
Gu Jingzheng said: “I just can’t confirm right now whether he has defected, but he should have no problem letting you contact the Ye family.”
“Alright!” Ye Jin agreed. It had been too long since she had news of her Maternal Uncle and the others. As long as Xu Tian didn’t know the weapons were with her, it should be fine.
Seeing Ye Jin agree, Gu Jingzheng also breathed a sigh of relief. The situation was tense now, with traitors unidentified.
He looked at Ye Jin: “If it becomes truly dangerous, abandon the items and leave. I won’t blame you. But if the Base is in danger before I return, you can decide whether to use these weapons.”
He believed Ye Jin wouldn’t stand by idly, but he also wanted her to remain safe.
Ye Jin’s eyelashes fluttered slightly—was he giving her full authority over their use too?
Gu Jingzheng had judged correctly. This was where Ye Jin had grown up, her home. As long as she had the capability, she would never let the Base fall apart—at the very least, not to Xu Tian!
“Hey, Mozi, what do you think the relationship is between that girl and our boss?”
Outside, Cheng Hao watched the two talking through a half-corroded building and wanted to discuss it with Li Mo, but Li Mo wouldn’t engage.
“If the boss wants us to know, he’ll tell us,” Li Mo responded indifferently.
“Come on, when have you ever seen a girl around the boss? If we wait for him to introduce her, she’ll be long gone.”
Cheng Hao wanted to say more when he saw Ye Jin come out.
She got directly into her car and drove away.”Oh no, did our boss just ruin the mood and drive her away?” Cheng Hao muttered before quickly heading inside.
Gu Jingzheng glanced at the two at the door and spoke gravely before Cheng Hao could utter a word: “Yi Jun has betrayed us. He shot me. Xu Tian must have someone backing her.”
Cheng Hao exploded on the spot: “That bastard has the nerve to betray us and hurt our boss?!”
Li Mo was also stunned. He had noticed something off before, but thankfully Yi Jun didn’t know about this safe house.
“The situation is critical. Pack your things—we leave immediately. We must return to the capital at once.” Gu Jingzheng’s expression was stern. There would be time to deal with the traitor later, but the capital couldn’t wait any longer.
Cheng Hao frowned: “Captain, what about your injury?”
“I’ll recover gradually on the road.”
Cheng Hao glanced at Li Mo, hoping he would persuade their captain otherwise, but Li Mo simply responded: “Understood. I’ll make arrangements immediately.”
Cheng Hao was speechless. This was the first time he’d seen their captain so severely injured. With the apocalyptic roads being treacherous, what if this led to chronic health issues?
Still, Cheng Hao knew no one could change their captain’s decisions. Thick-skinned and loyal ever since being rescued by Gu Jingzheng during his first Dark Reform operation, he recognized only one leader. That traitor Yi Jun better hope their paths never crossed again—or Cheng Hao would personally break his legs.