“It is a zombie crystal core. Based on its color, it is a level-five crystal core.”
“Regarding Ye Tong’s identity, the fact that there were so few zombies around us raised my suspicions. I think she must have been personally converted by the Zombie Emperor, which is why she was able to possess a level-five crystal core on just the third day.”
Zhuang Yujiang furrowed his brow, trying to process the meaning behind Song Chengyu’s words. He guessed, “So high-level zombies have the ability to control other zombies? The Zombie Emperor is that the highest-level one of them all?”
Song Chengyu slipped the crystal core into his pocket. “Mm.”
He was very curious as to why Song Chengyu knew so much information about the apocalypse, but a clever person naturally knew what to ask and what not to ask. Besides, judging by Song Chengyu’s tone, he had known all along that Ye Tong was a zombie and only chose to kill her the night before reaching the base in order to utilize her. Zhuang Yujiang did not press further, instead silently categorizing the young man before him as someone who must never be offended.
As if sensing something, Song Chengyu turned around alertly and saw a hurried Zhao Chen running over, huffing and puffing. Zhao Chen’s gaze swept frantically around the area as if searching for something, and upon finding nothing, his expression grew visibly several shades gloomier.
Noticing something amiss with him, Song Chengyu asked, “What are you looking for?”
“You An…” Zhao Chen wiped his face. “I can’t find You An…”
The young man’s pupils constricted slightly. The perfect mask of calm composure he always wore cracked for the very first time. In the apocalypse, going missing was practically synonymous with death, especially since You An’s spatial ability possessed zero combat capability.
His breathing turned chaotic for a split second as he grabbed Zhao Chen by the collar. “When? When did you notice he was gone?”
Zhao Chen allowed himself to be grabbed, lowering his head to avoid Song Chengyu’s gaze. “Just now. I finished taking a shower and wanted to call for him, but I’ve searched the entire building.”
“Keep looking.” Song Chengyu released Zhao Chen and strode away.
Watching the young man who was uncharacteristically losing his cool, Zhuang Yujiang suddenly spoke up, “Wait, I think I might know where he is.”
You An followed behind Su Lang, feeling rather bewildered as to why Su Lang had sought him out. But figuring that Su Lang liked Song Chengyu, he probably wanted to ask questions about Song Chengyu, making it understandable to seek out his roommate.
Talk about a total love-brain; even in times like this, he’s still thinking about romance, You An muttered inwardly, always believing that falling in love in the apocalypse was the exclusive privilege of protagonists.
“We’re here.”
Su Lang stopped, turned around, and smiled brightly at him. “Actually, the reason I came to find you is that I wanted to ask you about Song Chengyu.”
“I suppose that’s fine, but why here?” You An glanced around at the undeveloped earthen slope where the bushes grew quite lushly. The thought that these might be mutant plants gave him an indescribable sense of unease.
Su Lang’s gaze flickered. “Because the scenery is nice here, and besides, I don’t want our conversation to be overheard.”
Finding Su Lang’s tone a bit hard to bear, You An took a few steps back to put some distance between them. “So what do you want to ask?”
“I want to know why Song Chengyu doesn’t like me…”
He seemed genuinely perplexed, yet his pitch-black pupils harbored a venomous, ink-like darkness.
“…and instead likes a useless piece of trash like you?”
You An widened his eyes abruptly, unable to believe his ears for a moment. At the same time, his sixth sense blared internal alarm bells; intuition told him Su Lang was dangerous, and he instinctively shoved the other person away, wanting to get as far as possible.
Su Lang was pushed stumbling onto the ground, yet a bizarre smile surfaced on his face, revealing tiny, sharp canine teeth. The malice-filled eyes combined with his ever-widening smile looked profoundly incongruous.
His vision was filled solely with Su Lang’s smiling face as his mouth moved up and down.
“Bye-bye.”
He had scouted this slope beforehand; it was only a few meters high. While it wouldn’t kill someone outright, under the crude conditions of the apocalypse, a simple wound infection was more than enough to be fatal, let alone…
Who would bother carrying dead weight?
The next moment, vine tendrils winding and crawling like snakes wrapped around the youth’s ankles. The cold, slippery sensation made his sensitized skin break out in goosebumps as a tremendous force dragged him downward.
Loose gravel slipped from beneath his feet, and the soft soil gave way after shifting a few times. You An lost his balance, his body falling backward uncontrollably as a feeling of weightlessness struck him.
His hands instinctively reached out forward to grab onto anything, but he could only watch as he plummeted.
“You An!”
Standing over a dozen meters away, Song Chengyu knew he was already too late to run over. Gritting his teeth, he slammed his palm against the ground, sending a torrent of ice radiating a terrifying chill shooting toward You An’s direction at an astonishing speed. Upon touching the youth, the ice surged upward, forming a semi-enclosed ice bed that cocooned him within.
You An blinked, feeling no pain, just a bit of cold.
“Did you turn on pain suppression for me?”
[I was just about to… It was the protagonist gong who saved you.]
Tangyuan looked at the dozen-meter-long ice trail on the ground with mixed feelings. On one hand, it was glad that the host was very likely to clear this world; on the other hand, it faintly sensed the protagonist gong’s unusual attitude toward the host.
It shook its head, trying hard to convince itself that it was simply overthinking things.
Damn it! How did they find this place? Hiding behind the bushes and witnessing everything, Su Lang nearly cracked his teeth from clenching them so hard.
A layer of gloom clouded his brow. Glancing at Zhuang Yujiang and Zhao Chen who had followed close behind, an idea struck him, and a ferocious sneer twisted his face.
Jumping down from the ice bed, You An was immediately swarmed by Zhao Chen. “Are you alright? Is anything hurting? Did Su Lang do this?”
“I’m fine.”
With that, he looked at Song Chengyu and offered a solemn expression of gratitude. Counting this time, the other man had saved him twice; he couldn’t help but feel a bit embarrassed for maliciously second-guessing him just a short while ago.
Song Chengyu nodded without saying much.
“Thank you both for saving me. By the way, how did you guys find this place?”
Zhao Chen patted Zhuang Yujiang’s shoulder. “We owe this entirely to Brother Zhuang’s meticulous observation.”
Zhuang Yujiang smiled faintly and nodded at You An. “As long as you’re safe.”
The roaring ignition of an engine sounded, followed immediately by the screeching sound of tires tearing across the ground as they echoed in the ears of the four people present.
Zhuang Yujiang’s expression shifted slightly. “The keys were with Su Lang. He must have driven the car away. He’s probably heading to the City A base. What do we do now?”
The dark-haired, dark-eyed young man methodically wiped his palms clean, his voice carrying a biting, bone-chilling coldness. “I will deal with him personally.”
The group returned to the residential area, where Zhuang Yujiang briefly recounted the details of how he and Song Chengyu had killed Ye Tong, cleverly omitting certain details to avoid arousing suspicion.
So Ye Tong really was a zombie. You An recalled those expressionless, blood-red eyes, always feeling like they strongly resembled someone else’s…
…that man he had met in the unfinished building! His fingers suddenly tightened their grip on the sofa armrest. Since Ye Tong possessed a bracelet, that man might very well be a zombie too.
Hearing this, Zhao Chen muttered to himself, “So it really is just like the novels, high-level zombies and all.” He clutched his head and wailed aloud, “We can barely handle low-level zombies as it is! If all zombies evolve into high-level ones, is there any way out for humanity?”
“This certainly cannot be considered good news, but to defeat an enemy, you must at least understand it first.” Zhuang Yujiang’s tightly knitted brow relaxed slightly. “Regardless, this information is extremely useful to us. At least it can provide some value to others, preventing them from losing hope entirely out of sheer ignorance.”
Mulling over his words, You An walked back to his room. “Suddenly, I feel like this world is quite interesting.”
Tangyuan didn’t quite understand. [Interesting in what aspect?]
“I originally thought the apocalypse would be a place where everyone uses any means necessary to survive, backstabbing each other until original relationships crumble and completely disintegrate through repeated betrayals. But to my surprise, there are still people like Zhuang Yujiang.”
Who would have thought someone who looked so cold and scheming could possess a side like this?
[Mm-hm.] Tangyuan nodded vaguely, then asked hesitantly, [Master… what kind of feelings do you hold for the protagonist gong?]
As a silicon-based lifeform, it couldn’t accurately analyze the implications behind those behaviors.
“Aside from gratitude, nothing else. Why do you ask?”
Tangyuan breathed a sigh of relief. [Because there have been precedents of hosts falling in love with characters within worlds, so I was a bit worried.]
“There’s actually such a thing?” You An widened his eyes in surprise, his round eyes looking somewhat naive and endearing. “Then you don’t need to worry.”
“I could never fall in love with him.”
Because the ending cannot be changed; doing it all over again would simply mean repeating the same tragic path.
Cough, cough.
The intentionally lowered voice remained clearly audible in the quiet room. Zhuang Yujiang was keeping watch outside the door while Zhao Chen slept soundly nearby. Awakened by the noise, You An rolled over and opened his drowsy eyes.
Song Chengyu had sat up. The young man’s shirt was slightly parted, revealing explosive muscles neatly arrayed across his waist and abdomen. He clearly belonged to the type who looked lean in clothes but possessed a solid physique underneath; every single muscle was proportioned just right, neither looking frail nor exaggeratedly bulky.
You An shifted his gaze upward, wanting to see what Song Chengyu was doing wide awake in the middle of the night, only to spot blood spilling from the other’s lips. Under the moonlight, that streak of bright crimson looked somewhat eerie.
His pupils constricted. Song Chengyu was a genius blessed with a natural tier-five ability, and his physical fitness was exceptionally formidable. Even Ye Tong, who held a tier-five crystal core, had been killed by him. Aside from the Zombie Emperor, who on earth could possibly injure Song Chengyu?
Song Chengyu raised a hand to wipe away the blood, his expression calm to the point of utter indifference.
[It’s probably overdraft from overusing his ability,] Tangyuan reminded him.
Recalling Zhuang Yujiang’s words, You An remembered that killing a tier-five core zombie consumed a significant amount of ability power, not to mention the fact that the other had rushed to save him practically without resting. Creating a dozen-meter-long ice trail must have completely drained his reserves.
Come to think of it, he had noticed earlier that Song Chengyu’s complexion was a bit pale; so it hadn’t just been his imagination.
Curling himself up into the quilt like a little quail, he closed his eyes, trying to let sleep take him, while an intrusive memory of the words Su Lang had said to him during the day surfaced in his mind.
His heart felt as though it had been submerged in warm water; the sour, bloated sensation left him somewhat flustered and at a loss.
The next day, You An, sporting dark circles under his eyes, left Zhao Chen utterly dumbfounded. Zhao Chen pointed at himself and asked, “I didn’t start snoring, did I?”
Perhaps because they were nearing the base, everyone’s expression relaxed a little. You An felt a mischievous urge to tease him. “Not only did you snore, you kept it up the entire night.”
Zhao Chen instantly transformed into a wronged, pitiful puppy begging for mercy. “I’m sorry! Next time it happens, just wake me up!”
During breakfast, You An distinctly felt Song Chengyu’s gaze linger on him for a moment. Lowering his eyes, he deliberately avoided the other’s line of sight.