Su Lang drove away in the other vehicle, leaving Zhuang Yujiang with no choice but to ride along with them in the off-road vehicle. With the original three-person team reduced to just one, he felt quite helpless about the situation.
Without Ye Tong’s control, the zombies along the road increased, but thanks to it still being the early stages of the apocalypse, most of them remained sluggish and manageable.
Following the road signs along the highway, Zhuang Yujiang drove away from the First Interstate Highway and headed toward the base.
The off-road vehicle cut across vast, boundless fields, and after driving for about ten kilometers, the silhouette of the District A Base finally came into view in the distance.
Song Chengyu gazed at the towering complex built from sturdy blocks of stone, a long-absent ripple stirring deep within his heart.
This was the place where he had spent five years, and it was also where his life had once come to an end.
At that thought, the killing intent in the depths of the boy’s eyes intensified.
You An felt a bit nervous as well. He was about to meet the villainous boss, and since the mission had finally progressed this far, he had to cut all ties with Xin Jian; he absolutely would not allow anyone to stand in his way.
These structures were built far from the suburbs, with heavily disciplined soldiers guarding every entrance. The off-road vehicle was stopped one kilometer away from the base.
Two men in uniform approached, and Zhuang Yujiang rolled down his window to exchange a few words with them. Shortly after, he signaled the others to get out of the car and handed the keys to one of the soldiers.
“We have to walk the remaining kilometer, and we can only go inside after completing the inspection.”
You An stroked his chin, figuring that this Xin Jian fellow still had some tricks up his sleeve.
Without any prior information sources, the other party had already anticipated the possibility of zombies disguising themselves as humans. If a zombie slipped up here, it would probably be riddled with bullets from those guns immediately.
However, what he hadn’t expected was the existence of high-level zombies who were almost indistinguishable from normal people.
Aside from the checkpoint outside, there was another security gate inside. After a female staff member registered their basic personal information, she used a scanner-like device to check Zhuang Yujiang’s wristband.
“Beep. Water-type ability, Level 2.”
You An finally understood; it was used to detect ability levels.
“Beep. Ice-type ability, Level 5.”
Upon hearing this broadcast, the woman looked as though she could hardly believe her ears. She checked the text displayed on the ability detector again, and it still read Level 5.
To put it in perspective, the highest level in the entire base was only Level 4, and that Level 4 ability user was none other than the base leader, Xin Jian.
“Please wait a moment.” She smiled at Song Chengyu and dialed an internal line.
After conversing with the person on the other end for a brief moment, the woman hung up the phone and made a gesture welcoming Song Chengyu. “Our leader wishes to receive you personally. Your friends may accompany you as well.”
Receiving Song Chengyu was fine and all, but why did he have to go too? You An kicked the grout line between the tiles; saying too much led to mistakes, and he truly did not want to interact with Xin Jian.
Led by the staff members, the group took the elevator straight to the top floor.
Looking out through the transparent glass windows, the higher the floors went, the more luxurious they became. From the rudimentary dormitory area to single rooms, then to complete apartments, and finally to the top floor, the retro and ornate Baroque interior design style almost made him doubt whether he was even in the apocalypse at all.
The doors swung open. Sitting at the head of a rectangular dining table capable of accommodating ten people, the man lowered his teacup and gracefully wiped the corners of his mouth with a napkin.
He was just a little over thirty, with brown hair and green eyes, exuding the pampered air of the upper crust in every gesture.
You An instinctively looked at Song Chengyu’s reaction. The boy stood slightly ahead and to his side, blocking his view of Song Chengyu’s expression; he could only see the hands hanging at the other’s sides. The grip was so fierce, presumably out of extreme anger, that veins bulged prominently across the back of his chiseled hand.
Acting as if he had just noticed them, the man stood up leisurely. “How discourteous of me. Welcome, esteemed guests who have traveled from afar.”
“I am Xin Jian. Welcome to my base.”
True to the plot description, this Xin Jian was extravagant, hedonistic, arrogant, and extremely conceited.
The man extended his hand toward Song Chengyu. “I heard you are the bearer of the Level 5 ability? Truly a hero out of youth, possessing such talent at a young age.”
Despite his words, those emerald-green eyes held no hint of appreciation, reflecting a deep, underlying wariness instead.
The meeting with Song Chengyu wasn’t born out of the grandiose excuse of hospitality, but rather to probe whether he harbored any ambitions of usurping power.
Song Chengyu sneered inwardly, failing to understand how he had managed to remain blind to the man’s true nature in his past life. He reached out to shake the hand, speaking meaningfully, “You flatter me. I will continue to work hard.”
While You An was staring blankly ahead, a ring-adorned hand suddenly extended right in front of him.
Who do you think you are, some big shot? Thinking everyone wants to shake your hand.
You An felt a trace of annoyance, but he couldn’t easily reject the other person either, so he forced himself to endure Song Chengyu’s gaze while preparing to muddle through it.
To his surprise, just as he tried to pull his hand away, the man’s other palm pressed down over it as well.
The moment the door opened, Xin Jian had immediately noticed the pale-skinned, dark-haired youth in the crowd. With raven-black hair, porcelain skin, rosy lips, and misty blue eyes, his coloring was extraordinarily vivid, instantly bringing the ink-wash portrait of a beauty to life.
The occasional glint of disdain in his demeanor amused him while also leaving him somewhat itching with desire.
After all, the more aloof someone was, the greater the urge to break them down; from head to toe, he was completely his type.
You An frowned, opening his mouth to rebuke the action, when a rectangular card was pressed directly into his palm.
He cast a suspicious glance at Xin Jian, failing to understand what games the man was playing, though the card in his hand felt like a hot potato.
He glanced sideways at Song Chengyu, relieved to see the boy wasn’t looking at him, and driven by curiosity, he quietly lifted his hand and opened his palm.
It was a room keycard.
You An was instantly hit by a wave of nausea, as if he had swallowed a fly.
What a damned old man!
The sense of humiliation made him want to storm out the door right then and there, yet he couldn’t do anything to Xin Jian and was forced to stay put.
Consumed by his anger, he failed to notice Song Chengyu’s gloomy gaze.
“I heard some new arrivals came in?” Xin Zhou stripped off his suit jacket as he walked through the door, and a servant immediately stepped forward to take the garment from his hands.
“Mhm.” Xin Jian gave him an indifferent glance.
Prompted by the question, he recalled the beautiful youth and couldn’t help but run his tongue along his back molars. That the other hadn’t come over was within his expectations; it only seemed to stoke his carnal desires into a fiercer blaze.
He narrowed his eyes with a sense of inevitable victory; there was plenty of time ahead, and he would eventually find a way to get his hands on him.
Xin Zhou read his expression and, knowing he wouldn’t say more, walked straight ahead.
“How is the research progress going?”
The young man paused in his tracks. “We can no longer extract anything more from dead zombies. Right now, we need live ones.”
Xin Jian stroked his chin. “You don’t need to worry about that. We’ll have some very soon.”
Descending from the top floor, even the usually optimistic Zhao Chen wore a drooping expression. Though carefree, he had keenly sensed Xin Jian’s arrogance.
“Who does he think he is? How could they let someone like that be the leader?”
Zhuang Yujiang pointed at the security camera inside the elevator to signal that walls had ears, and Zhao Chen immediately mimicked the motion of zipping his mouth shut.
“Still, I didn’t expect the so-called District A Base to be like this.” Zhuang Yujiang pushed up his glasses. “I suppose wherever there are people, there are class divisions, and not even the apocalypse is an exception. I was just too naive.”
He was referring to the rules for room allocation in this building. The structure stood ninety-nine floors high; the higher one’s ability level, the higher the floor they were assigned to, while alternative rankings could be raised through contribution points.
As a Level 5 ability user, Song Chengyu was assigned to the ninetieth floor, meaning those living even higher up must have been on par with Xin Jian.
You An remained silent the entire way, mechanically following the footsteps of the person ahead.
“Ding dong.”
The elevator doors opened, and Zhuang Yujiang and Zhao Chen looked at You An trailing behind Song Chengyu.
“An’an’s ability level is one, right? Did he take the wrong floor? Shouldn’t we call him back?” Zhao Chen glanced at Zhuang Yujiang.
“No need.”
The elevator doors had already closed, the floor numbers ticking downward continuously.
Song Chengyu watched the back of the person’s head and called out to him.
“Ah? What is it?” He snapped out of his trance, blinking as he looked at the floor indicator. The ninetieth floor was a full eighty-one floors away from his ninth-floor assignment.
Moreover, he still had to squeeze into a dorm with several other people, which made You An feel that his life was truly wretched.
Seeing the hopeless expression on the youth’s face, the boy suddenly spoke up, “Want to crash at my place for the night?”
You An bit his lip, hesitating slightly.
“I’m heading up first then.” A flash of amusement crossed the depths of Song Chengyu’s eyes.
“Wait… don’t go yet!”
The scale in his heart tilted to the other side without a moment’s hesitation. Screw it! Why be prudish? It wasn’t like they hadn’t slept in the same room before.
Song Chengyu unlocked the door, and the lights snapped on, illuminating the indoor facilities.
This is way too big.
You An stared in wide-eyed astonishment; the sofa, television, refrigerator, and kitchen were fully equipped, offering amenities comparable to a presidential suite. Even the water running from the bathroom faucet had been purified and was safe for direct use. Things that were once mundane to him made You An’s eyes shine with excitement in the apocalypse.
Was this the kind of resource a top-tier powerhouse could access?
“Tangyuan! In the next world, I refuse to be a mere minion; I want to experience what being in power feels like!”
Tangyuan jolted awake. After a few seconds of processing, the sound of rapid typing rang out, and it declared with utter confidence, [No problem, I’ll guarantee you a position of supreme status!]
Still, couldn’t a luxurious room like this have an extra bedroom?
You An glanced at the double bed in the bedroom and started agonizing over the situation again.
The sofa was technically sleepable, but ever since childhood, Aunt Qin had teased him about having the constitution of a pampered princess. Sleeping against the wall for one night had already tested his limits, and with a bed available, he really didn’t want to sleep on the sofa.
Song Chengzu clearly hadn’t thought that deeply into it as he pushed back his damp bangs. “Done washing up?”
You An nodded.
“Go to sleep.”
The boy turned off the lights, plunging the bedroom into darkness.
This was his first time sleeping in the same bed as Song Chengyu. You An curled up as close to the edge as possible; after all, given the other guy’s height and long limbs, he, as a guest, shouldn’t make the host uncomfortable.
Unexpectedly, Song Chengyu wasn’t asleep either. The boy’s slightly hoarse voice pierced into his ears, sounding a bit tingly, but the words that followed made his heart run cold.
“Do you know Xin Jian?”
You An’s Adam’s apple bobbed up and down, making him feel as though this was a fatal trap. He suspected Song Chengyu might have witnessed something, but he couldn’t explain it, and out of a strange sense of pride, he didn’t want to mention the room keycard.
“No, why do you ask?”
He had seen it earlier—the scene where that man unconscionably stroked You An’s hand. It seemed he had handed him something, and the youth’s neck and cheeks had flushed with a thin, humiliated blush.
That flirtatious vignette had filled him with a blazing jealousy, an irrepressible envy eating away at his sanity like dense, microscopic toxic insects.
Staring up at the ceiling suspended above his head, his gaze grew dark and inscrutable. “Nothing.”
Due to his biological clock, You An woke up by seven the next morning. Here, every ability user was assigned different tasks to keep the base running. The two of them went to the first-floor lobby first to collect their respective assignments.
The paper You An received read: “Conduct indoor crop cultivation experiments,” which simply meant farming indoors.
He glanced at Song Chengyu’s sheet: “Capture a live zombie and deliver it to the research institute.”
The research institute was supposedly where professionals related to scientific research studied zombies; as long as they could figure out the cause of the zombies, they might find a corresponding solution, such as a serum or something similar.
Well, fine, that was definitely something he couldn’t do.
However, right below his own sheet of paper was a line of small print: “Please proceed to the armory to collect your assigned firearm.”
“This ensures that non-combat ability users have a certain level of self-defense capability.” The receptionist at the front desk was amused by his look of earnest contemplation and explained with a smile.
“But I don’t know how to shoot.”
He didn’t even realize that the softened tone he used when speaking to girls, coupled with a slightly downward-curving trailing cadence, carried a hint of coquettish spoiledness.
He was practically acting spoiled.
His Adam’s apple bobbed imperceptibly, and Song Chengyu lowered his gaze. “I’ll teach you.”
They issued a small, exquisite Glock-style pistol, and right next to the armory was a small shooting range. You An watched as Song Chengyu expertly inserted the magazine into the magazine well, flipped the slide stop release, and with a crisp click, a bullet was chambered. The boy lowered his brow and gaze, aimed at the target’s center, and pulled the trigger.
Bang.
The bullet pierced the target board, leaving a single bullet hole—a nine-ring shot.
Song Chengyu removed the magazine and handed the gun to him. “Give it a try.”
Recalling the other’s movements just a moment ago, You An loaded and chambered a round in sequence. Closing one eye to focus on the red dot on the target board, he felt he could manage it.
Bang.
Six rings.
Whether it was his imagination or not, he thought he heard an extremely faint sigh.
The warm, athletic, youthful male frame wrapped around him from behind, causing You An to stiffen for a split second. The next moment, the boy’s large, powerful palm enclosed his hand.