Blackened fingernails, as if soaked in venom, brushed against the skin. The two zombies in front of him collapsed to the ground in a split second, and Zhao Chen, bracing his hands on the front passenger seat, panted heavily.
He lifted his chin to look at his savior, feeling as though the other man had descended like a deity.
“Are you unhurt?”
You An did not know whether Song Chengyu had ever studied the sequence of building a relationship, or perhaps the protagonist simply figured it out naturally. That combination punch of first displaying strength and then conveying goodwill almost moved Zhao Chen to tears.
He softened his legs and pushed open the rickety car door, his face still lingering with the fear of having survived a disaster.
“The car ran out of gas and stalled on the road. I thought I was going to die here today. Buddy, you were so cool just now. Thank you!”
Before he could even stand steady, he patted Song Chengyu on the shoulder like a close buddy.
“What are you planning to do next?”
Song Chengyu kept a straight face, leading into the next topic.
Zhao Chen instantly wilted. “My family is all in City A, and I came here to find them.”
Even if the hope was slim, he still wanted to confirm it in person.
Song Chengyu raised an eyebrow. “Coincidentally, You An and I are also heading to the evacuation base in City A. Why don’t we go together?”
“Can we?” Hearing this, Zhao Chen was so excited he didn’t know what to say, looking ready to go through fire and water for Song Chengyu without hesitation.
Is the innocent sweetheart really this easy to trick? You An inwardly scoffed.
“Of course. But you have a bracelet; are you also an ability user?”
Finally getting to the main point, Zhao Chen looked at his arm.
“Yes. It says my ability is imprinting, which can copy the abilities of other ability users. But so far I’ve only met you and…”
His gaze lingered on You An. Seeing this, You An rolled up his cuffs to reveal a slender, snow-white wrist encircled by the bracelet, and smiled sweetly at him. “Hello, just call me You An. My ability is spatial.”
The young man’s light, dynamic black hair was ruffled by the wind, making one think of a ragdoll cat with bright blue eyes smiling warmly as it looked at someone.
Zhao Chen’s gaze brushed against the other’s cherry-pink lips, and his expression suddenly became unfocused. He had never seen such a pretty boy before.
“…and You An, two ability users.”
“I see.”
Song Chengyu took in all of his reactions and suddenly let out a chuckle. “Then you might as well copy my ability; it can increase our combat power.”
You An looked at Song Chengyu in surprise, finding it genuinely difficult to read the other man’s thoughts.
Could it be that he plans to wait until the service area to kill me?
Ten minutes later, the ability replication ended. Zhao Chen excitedly looked at the ice element swirling and rising in his palm, and said solemnly, “I definitely won’t drag our team down!”
Zhao Chen kept his hair in a short crop, and the muscles developed in the gym were quite solid, yet he happened to have a pair of bright, puppy-like eyes. Coupled with his gullible nature, he looked remarkably like a large golden retriever.
You An was amused by his own internal musing, but unexpectedly, this smile was misinterpreted by the other party. Zhao Chen hurriedly turned his face away and explained incoherently, “I’m serious, I’ll protect you too! Of course, I don’t mean that you’re weak…”
The young man paused slightly, then broke into a small, fleeting smile.
“Then I’ll thank you in advance for protecting me.”
Song Chengyu, who was driving, glanced in the rearview mirror and frowned imperceptibly.
“Lord Yu.”
The blonde man lowered his gaze to turn the pages of the book in his hands, and upon hearing the voice, he stretched lazily with an air of nonchalance.
“It’s Tong. Any news?”
Kneeling on one knee beside his lap, the white-haired woman raised her head. Those expressionless red eyes held not a trace of emotion, and in her outstretched palm hovered a palm-sized black rectangular object.
After a burst of crackling static, the radio transmitted a slightly distorted female voice.
“According to current reports, due to an unknown disaster, the globe has declared a state of emergency evacuation for the apocalypse. Four bases have been established within our national territory: the City A base in the southeast, the City L base in the northeast, the City F base in the southwest, and the City X base in the northwest. Residents are requested to carry sufficient food and water and proceed to the nearest base for evacuation.”
“Moving pretty fast, aren’t they?”
Yu closed the book and stroked his chin playfully.
“Does my Lord have any further instructions?”
“Yes.”
The abruptly elongated fingernails sliced open the pad of his index finger, and the blood dripping from the tip was licked into Tong’s mouth by her outstretched tongue.
Yu’s hand gently caressed the girl’s snow-white hair, a flash of determination crossing his scarlet pupils.
“Take my memories and find that blue-eyed boy.”
“Oh, right, don’t hurt him.” Yu narrowed his eyes with amusement, his voice carrying a certain frantic undertone. “I want to turn him into my personal doll myself.”
He was already looking forward to the expression on his face the next time they met.
Three hours later, the driving task fell to Zhao Chen. When the off-road vehicle was a mere dozen kilometers away from the nearest service area, the situation began to grow tricky.
Up ahead, they had to cross a three-kilometer-long cross-river bridge. You An held up a pair of binoculars to survey the situation and witnessed a bizarre scene.
All the remaining zombies on the highway seemed to be drawn by something as they marched toward the bridge entrance.
You An’s heart gave a sudden lurch. Could there still be people on the bridge?
Though their numbers were not particularly large, because the bridge deck was much narrower than the wide highway, the visual impact was truly astonishing.
Song Chengyu immediately made a judgment: “Zhao Chen, there’s no need to fight these zombies. Don’t stop midway; use our speed to shake them off.”
Sweat beaded on the hands gripping the steering wheel. Zhao Chen was relatively lucky; when the apocalypse descended, he hadn’t been in a densely populated school, making this his first time seeing so many zombies.
He gritted his teeth and said loudly, “Got it!”
With that, he veered the wheel to the right to dodge one in front, simultaneously slamming his foot down on the accelerator to push the speed up to a hundred miles per hour.
Right as they reached the halfway point, the piercing cries of a child gradually drifted into the ears of the three people in the car.
You An suddenly clenched his hands. He remembered… he remembered this plot sequence.
Zhao Chen slammed on the brakes, and the off-road vehicle jerked violently several times from the emergency braking before coming to a halt.
“What are you doing? I told you not to stop.”
Sitting in the back row, Song Chengyu’s pitch-black, icy pupils stared at Zhao Chen through the rearview mirror.
“लेकिन, but there… there’s a child over there…” Wait, correcting translation slip: “But, but there… there’s a child over there…”
“Wuwuah!”
Through the already shattered car door, You An saw a sight he would never forget in this lifetime.
The stiff corpse of a woman with half her face bitten off still maintained a hugging posture, shielding the infant in her arms with her life. Splattered with warm blood all over its face, the child seemed to sense its mother’s death and cried even more fiercely.
Zhao Chen turned pale as paper. “That child hasn’t been bitten by zombies yet. At least we can save him.”
“Right!” As if validating his own words, he fumbled frantically with his seatbelt while saying, “Song Chengyu, let’s save him! The two of us can definitely do it!”
“Sorry, I disagree.”
“What did you say?” Seemingly finding Song Chengyu’s indifference hard to believe, Zhao Chen’s expression went blank for a fraction of a second.
“He is merely a child with no power to truss a chicken. Even if he survives today, he will still die shortly after due to a lack of shelter.”
“But, but how can I stand by and do nothing when a child is about to die? This is too cruel.”
The corners of Song Chengyu’s lips hooked up into a sneer of derision.
“Still don’t get it?”
“With just who you are right now, exactly who can you protect?”
You An watched the scene unfold before him, gaining a deeper appreciation for the shift in Song Chengyu’s character as depicted in the original story.
In his past life, Song Chengyu had indeed been kind to the point of losing his principles.
Yet ever since the apocalypse began, everything Song Chengyu did had a purpose, especially when it came to Zhao Chen, his companion from the previous life.
Zhao Chen let out a painful roar, resembling the desperate cry of a trapped beast.
His hands were twitching violently. The concepts of good and evil built over a dozen years of normal life and education were being smashed and reshaped bit by bit by the bloody reality before him. His sanity was like a string pulled to its absolute limit, ready to snap at the slightest application of external force.
The atmosphere inside the car reached a suffocating extreme, and Song Chengyu’s calm, chilling voice sounded.
“If you can beat me, go ahead and try to save him. By the same token, I won’t let you join the team if you’re dragging a child along.”
“If you can’t, obey my orders.”
An icy, scrutinizing gaze landed on him. Zhao Chen widened his eyes abruptly, his palms tightening around the seatbelt.
Behind them, attracted by the scent of blood and cries, the zombies grew more numerous and drew closer by the second.
It left no doubt that in a few minutes, they would surround this off-road vehicle, and once that happened, the chance of survival would approach zero, and they would all die.
“Drive.”
Song Chengyu commanded once more.
Veins bulged on his forehead, looking somewhat fierce. Zhao Chen lowered his head, a layer of gloom shrouding his eyes.
“I understand.”
The off-road vehicle started back up. The boy’s wails grew increasingly tragic, and everyone knew that before long, he would be torn apart and devoured by dozens of zombies.
You An stared into the empty air ahead, wishing he could shut out the weeping that seemed to echo in his ears, but it was all in vain. His eyelashes fluttered a few times, and he closed his eyes in fatigue, suddenly overcome by a deep sense of powerlessness.
Watching the young man’s expression in the rearview mirror, a sudden, intrusive thought gripped Song Chengyu’s mind.
In a flash of insight, he finally managed to catch that lingering trace of dissonance.
By the time they reached the service area, the atmosphere inside the car was exceptionally oppressive. Once they stepped out, Zhao Chen vented his frustration by hacking down nearly ten zombies with an ice sword. He looked like he had killing on the brain, his sharp blade thrusting and stabbing at skulls with flying gore.
Not until You An called out to him did he seem to notice his own blood-stained hands. With a heavy clatter, the sword slipped from his grip, and he stumbled backward a few paces before collapsing onto the steps.
You An picked up a loaf of bread and a sausage from the convenience store and sat down beside him.
“Are you alright?”
A long silence followed. Just when You An thought he wouldn’t speak, a slightly hoarse voice broke the quiet.
“Song Chengyu was right.”
Zhao Chen stared at the tier-one ability rank displayed on his bracelet, offering a self-deprecating smile.
When he copied Song Chengyu’s ability earlier, the screen on the other’s bracelet had lit up for a fraction of a second, revealing his ability level to be tier five.
Upon discovering he was an ability user, he had briefly rejoiced over being one of the few chosen ones, assuming back then that everyone’s starting level was one.
“Someone as weak as me can’t protect him, nor can I protect you.”
At this, his gaze gradually grew resolute. “Only the strong have the qualification to protect others.”
“I am going to become strong too.”
You An felt a mild surprise internally; he hadn’t expected Zhao Chen to come to this conclusion.
“I believe in you!” He handed over the bread and sausage. “Still, you need to take care of your body. Hurry up and eat; it’s rare that we actually get to eat meat today.”
“Thanks.”
Zhao Chen reached out to take them, the youth’s soft fingertips brushing against his skin and unexpectedly sparking a burning heat.
I must strive to become strong and protect him well.
He told himself in the depths of his heart.