As the newly appointed leader, Song Chengyu not only completely purged the old forces that had been idling and taking pay for doing nothing, establishing a brand-new system, but he also led the ability users in defending against the zombie horde and successfully slaying the Zombie Emperor.
Without a doubt, this victory injected a shot of adrenaline into everyone at the City A base who had felt hopeless about the future.
“Look, I told you so. A leader has to be someone with genuine capability.”
“So true. If that dog Xin Jian were still in charge, we’d be just like the people at the City F base, abandoned without a second thought by the higher-ups and left to die a miserable death.”
“What did you say?” Zhuang Yujiang, who had been flipping through the pages of a book, frowned slightly and interrupted the junior nurses’ conversation. “What happened to the City F base?”
“The higher-ups at the City F base knew the zombie horde was coming, kept it a secret, and fled together. They’ve been completely wiped out.”
Another voice answered him as a tall, black-haired young man pushed the door open and walked in. The junior nurses hanging around and slacking off by the entrance called out in a panic, “Leader!”
“You guys head out first. I have something to discuss with him.”
Upon catching sight of those blood-red eyes that were identical to the Zombie Emperor’s, Zhuang Yujiang’s pupils trembled for a fraction of a second, but he quickly regained his composure.
“I received this news yesterday. They first destroyed the City F base and then marched east to invade the City A base. Judging by the trajectory of the zombie horde, their goal is to wipe out all four bases counterclockwise in one go.”
“It seems they came well-prepared.” Zhuang Yujiang closed his book. “However, since you’ve killed the Zombie Emperor, will they still make a comeback?”
“Not in the short term.”
“Zombies evolve by consuming humans and their own kind. At least until the next Zombie Emperor is born, it’s safe.”
“Your eyes… Is it because you absorbed the Zombie Emperor’s crystal core?”
Song Chengyu raised an eyebrow noncommittally and simply handed him an envelope.
“This is what I promised you. All the information I know related to the apocalypse is written here.”
Sensing that he had no desire to elaborate further, Zhuang Yujiang silently accepted the item that would bring him one step closer to the truth of this world.
Song Chengyu’s long legs were about to step over the threshold.
“Wait.” Zhuang Yujiang called out to him.
“How is You An doing?”
Before the young man could reply, Zhuang Yujiang adjusted his glasses. “No, there’s no need to ask at all. Just looking at you is enough to know he’s doing fine.”
Thinking back to Song Chengyu’s state that day, even an onlooker like him could feel that terrifying fury capable of burning everything to ashes. He had not the slightest doubt that if You An had died, Song Chengyu would have slaughtered everyone in the world to keep him company.
He was also acutely aware that Song Chengyu’s capabilities and ambition would by no means stop at the City A base. As the strongest ability user, he possessed strength that matched those ambitions.
Yet, was it really wise to entrust the fate of this entire country to such a person?
A person like this was unsuited to having a fatal weakness; he needed to be flawless and indestructible.
“What is it?”
The young man turned his head sideways. Half of his face was concealed in the darkness, the interplay of light and shadow outlining sharp, chisel-cut contours.
“It’s nothing.”
Right now, even he couldn’t determine whether his choice was ultimately good or bad.
“Game over!”
Accompanied by a jarring sound effect, large, expanding green text reading “The zombies ate your brain” popped up on the virtual screen before him.
You An mentally clicked “Try again,” only to find that the virtual screen flickered intermittently a few times before going completely black.
“What’s going on?”
Caught right in the middle of his gaming spree, You An tapped the system. The guards outside claimed they were there to protect him, but in reality, they were keeping him under surveillance, so someone followed him wherever he went, leaving him with zero freedom. Moreover, with the apocalypse leaving him practically nowhere else to go and the internet still under reconstruction, a thoroughly bored You An had stumbled across this mini-game called “Plants vs. Zombies” right on the system interface.
[Master, I don’t have enough energy left. It’s only enough for you to play two hours a day.] Tangyuan’s round little avatar popped up with an emoji of two fingers poking together nervously, not forgetting to offer some pie in the sky. [Don’t worry though! Once the missions for this world are completed, the shop will be unlocked!]
“Fine, I guess.”
Bored out of his mind, he rested his chin on both hands and peered out at the stars from the balcony.
Expecting Song Chengyu to be swamped with work after becoming the leader, You An jumped in fright upon hearing the door open behind him, startling like an anxious little cat with all its fur standing on end.
The young man took off his trench coat and casually untied the tie looped around his collar. Though his physical age was only nineteen, the white shirt and smoke-gray vest paired with his broad shoulders, narrow waist, and inverted triangle physique, coupled with an aura far surpassing his peers, made him look the part remarkably well.
You An pretended not to hear him, as he was currently waging a one-sided cold war against Song Chengyu.
He didn’t want to speak, but Song Chengyu had no intention of letting him have his way.
“I heard you had someone look into a few questions today?”
“If you want to know something, just ask me directly.”
He knew about this too? Sure enough, Song Chengyu was keeping tabs on him!
Yet curiosity ultimately won over pride, and You An turned around. “When Xin Jian committed suicide back then, was that your doing?”
The young man gave a slight nod. “I absorbed the Zombie Emperor’s crystal core and awakened a mental-type ability.”
A mental-type ability?
The original work hadn’t mentioned this point at all, and the arrival of the zombie horde was supposed to happen only after Song Chengyu had annexed all four bases. By that stage, humanity was supposed to have already reached a point where they could stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the zombies.
“Want to give it a try?”
Before he could process the meaning of those words, he watched as the black-haired young man’s pair of blood-red pupils narrowed and elongated like those of a serpent.
An ominous premonition suddenly welled up from the bottom of his heart.
“An’an, come here.”
As soon as the words fell, a direct command materialized out of thin air within his mind, instructing him to walk to Song Chengyu.
This command overrode every other thought as the highest priority, as though countless invisible threads had wound themselves around his limbs, tugging him step by step toward Song Chengyu.
You An desperately tried to wrestle back control of his body, but all his efforts were entirely futile. He could only watch helplessly as his legs moved on their own, walking step by step right up in front of Song Chengyu like a soul-deprived puppet.
The corners of the young man’s lips curled upward as his arms wrapped around the youth’s slender waist, pulling him straight into his embrace.
A low chuckle resonated through their closely pressed bodies, vibrating like the strings of a harp.
“Such a good boy.”
Standing exceptionally tall, he could look down and see the neat whorl of hair atop the youth’s head. An uncontrollable, overwhelming urge surged through him like bubbling, molten lava, simply the natural, inevitable culmination of a volcanic eruption, governed by no logic or reason whatsoever.
“Can I kiss you?”
Though phrased as a question, it carried no tone of seeking permission.
You An’s heart sank to the bottom.
He realized that asking questions like this was utterly meaningless; as long as Song Chengyu wished it, he could do absolutely anything to him.
You An was forced to tilt his head back as a well-articulated palm cupped the back of his neck. It was likely Song Chengyu’s first time kissing someone, but just like his abilities, the young man was blessed with natural-born genius in this aspect as well.
In barely a minute, he transitioned from initial clumsiness to naturally guiding, tangling, and wrapping around the youth’s flushed, damp tongue with intuitive mastery.
This kiss was entirely different from the one this morning. Contradicting Song Chengyu’s usual cool self-restraint, this kiss was fierce and tempestuous, resembling a sudden, violent rainstorm.
The kiss left his legs feeling weak, his fingers gripping powerlessly at the fabric over the young man’s sharply defined abdominal muscles.
Meanwhile, the perpetrator stared unblinkingly at his disheveled, intoxicating expression.