《Dominion's End》 Volume 1, Prologue: Jiang Shuyu

Volume 1, Prologue: Jiang Shuyu

Trantor: Elkin The moment I opened my eyes, I was immediately aware of how weak my body felt, to the point where it was hard to even breathe. Was I badly wounded? That said, I ought be grateful I was still alive in the first ce, since thest thing I had seen before closing my eyes pretty much had me pegged as dead. I never imagined Id still have a chance to open my eyes again. I just hoped I wasnt injured too badly. In times like these, being a cripple was no different from being dead. That said Some might say its better to be dead than alive. At a sudden sound, I tried my hardest to twist my neck to look over. My vision was still very blurry, but I could just about make out a white silhouette walking in, all four limbs present and hale, all moving very naturally. So, it shouldnt be one of those things. That person didnt seem to notice that I was awake. They were bustling around in a world of their own. In the end, I could only speak up, though I didnt expect to hear such a hoarse, low voice. How many days have I been sleeping for? It was a miracle I hadnt been abandoned. Where am I? The white-clothed person before me jumped and gaped at me with bulging eyes. It was only after a long moment that she screamed. Y-youre awake! Yes, a woman for sure. That scream is quite something. I really hoped we were somewhere safe; otherwise, that would draw plenty of unwanted attention. She rushed over to the bed and started looking around frantically. I hadnt a clue what she was doing, but whatever it was, she wasnt helping me up or giving me a ss of water. Although my vision was slowly clearing, I still couldnt see properly. I could only tell that I was lying in a white room, so white it was strange. It looked almost clean. Where am I? I repeated. Your home. The woman in white finally paid attention to me and gently said, Dont worry, Ive already pressed the call button. The doctor and your family will be over in just a moment. My home? Call button? Family? I was a bit lost. The woman in white didnt seem to n on exining further and my throat was screaming at me. At this point, there wasnt a single question that was more pressing than the biological need for liquids. Water! She quickly poured me a ss, but instead left it on the table where I couldnt reach and bent down to do something Is she ying around with me? I kept my face expressionless, unsure of how I was supposed to beg before she would hand over that ss. Suddenly, the bed under me moved. Ah! Could it be, this is The woman straightened and reassured me, Its fine, its fine, I just adjusted the bed so its easier for you to drink. I strained to move my neck and eyeballs, and only when I had confirmed that nothing else had appeared did I rx. Then I realized my posture had changed from fully horizontal to half-sitting up. I was bewildered. Is this a hospital bed? This was a rare thing in itself, and the fact that I had the chance to be lying in one was almost improbable. The woman in white brought the cup to my mouth, and there was even a straw ced inside. She reminded me with worry in her voice, Drink slowly. Be careful of choking. Why is it that I get better treatment only when I am injured so badly? Does that person actually feel guilty because Ive gotten hurt? He can still feel guilt? The moment I started drinking, I stopped caring about anything else. This water is too delicious! I concentrated my entire being on drinking. Am I too thirsty, or is this water simply just that tasty? I hadnt drunk water that was this good in a long while. I carefully sipped at the precious water, until the door crashed open, and I jolted into the air in surprise. It was only because the woman in white quickly held me down that I didnt fall straight onto the floor. G! What? I blinked. Someone rushed in, but I was reluctant to let go of the straw in my mouth, so I just watched them rush to the bedside as I drank. My thoughts were that even if there was something world-shattering, it would have to wait until I was done drinking this ss of water. G, youre finally awake! I tried to focus my eyes, and slowly, the face of a crying girl emerged. With an oval face that still retained its childishness, she looked to be around fifteen to sixteen years old, withrge, round eyes shining brightly from under crescent-shaped eyebrows. Just this pair of eyes was enough to make this girl worth a good deal of supplies. She cried, wiped her tears, looked at me, and started crying again. After finishing the water, I unwillingly let go of the straw in my mouth and asked her suspiciously, Do we know each other? Her eyes widened. It seemed like my question was real shock to her. Maybe we really do know each other? Although Ide to know a lot of people throughout the many years, there was no way Idpletely forget such a pretty and cute girl if Id met her before. Flustered, she eximed, I-Im your little sister! I was just about to say I didnt have any little sisters when even more people rushed in from outside, around five or six of them. I stared at them, squinting as I tried to make out their features. I didnt recognize a single one of them. What is going on? Even if he sold me, no one would want such a wounded invalid! After all, I wasnt even worth a ss of water. Xiao Yu! Xiao Yu, youre awake? Youre really awake? Say something, Xiao Yu! Surrounded by these people, I felt at aplete loss. Having just woken up, my brains were still addled, and now this group of people kept shouting at me, sending waves of pain through my head. I hadnt a clue what they were yelling about, and even if I caught the asional sentence, I didnt understand what it meant. What is going on? Although it was possible it was all a calcted trap, I had to admit I simply wasnt worth the effort for people to put up an act. Dg! That younger sister of mine anxiously called out to one of them, rg just said he doesnt know me! I looked toward that Dg Big Brother was a very handsome man, and, creasing his brow, he asked, Xiao Yu, do you remember me? Dg. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief. My sister got even more agitated, shrieking, Youre teasing me again! Even though you recognized me and Dg! I dont. I shook my head lightly, noticing that my neck felt looser. It seemed like it was more a case of me lying down for too long, rather than being paralyzed. Whew. Only when I felt better did I continue responding to everyone. You were the one who called him Dg. That Big Brothers face darkened and he turned to ask the woman in white. Nurse! Whats going on? So shes a nurse? It was only now that I recognized her uniform, and it certainly matched the nurses uniforms in my memory. But how is it possible that there are still nurses around? The nurse frowned, and asked cautiously, Do you remember your name? I didnt know why, but I had a feeling itd be pretty bad if I told them my name. They were clearly treating me as someone else, which was the only reason why they would take care of someone who was as grievously injured as me. Perhaps it was even because of a case of mistaken identity. But if they discovered that I am not that person, would I still be enjoying the same treatment? But why would they mistake me for that person? Did my face get disfigured? I wanted to touch my face, but I couldnt lift my hands, so I just gave up. I dont remember. This should be a safe enough answer. Everyones expressions darkened, and the nurse said quickly, Ill call over the doctor. Well, no matter what, Xiao Yu waking up is more important than anything else. Big Brother remarked lightly. Its good that youre up. Everything else cane in its own time. With that, everyone perked up, looking at me with eyes of hope. Being on the receiving end of those gazes, a surge of guilt suddenly welled up in my heart. This Xiao Yu must mean a lot to them, and lying to them might mean her losing her chance of survival. Compared to Xiao Yu, so deeply cherished by many, why would I, who had nothing at all, want to bring harm to someone else just for the sake of survival? Im not Xiao Yu. I looked at them calmly and then admitted, Youve got the wrong person. Everyone looked surprised. That younger sister said bewilderedly, How could we possibly not recognize you? rg, what are you talking about? What did you call me? I suddenly realized something was amiss. Id been feeling groggy just now and wasnt hearing properly, so I had thought rg was a name or a nickname, but when put together with Dg, Big Brother, I realized the real meaning of rg second brother. The younger sister blinked, and obediently repeated her words. rg. No way! No matter how badly my looks were ruined, there is no way I could ever be called rg! Ignoring the weakness in my limbs, I strained to touch my face. The skin there was smooth, and although my face felt thinner, there wasnt the bumpy feeling of scars, much less the texture of bandages and what not. Whats my name? A chill crept over me. This situation was already beyond my expectations. What is going on? What is happening to me?! Jiang Shuyu. Big Brother replied, looking troubled. Which three characters? Jiang for jingy, dominion. The shu in shj, book. And the yu in yzhu. universe.'' My breathing picked up, and a machine next to me let out a piercing wail. The nurse eximed, His breathing and heartbeat are too fast! Xiao Yu! Concerned voices around me were calling out, but none of them were calling out to me. Im not Xiao Yu, Im not Xiao Yu. Im called Guan Weijun. He always called me Xiao Jun, not Xiao Yu! Volume 1, 1: The Red Meteor Shower

Volume 1, Chapter 1: The Red Meteor Shower

Trantor: Elkin So I really had died? Sitting on the wheelchair, I looked at theplete stranger in the dressing mirror. This is a fine-looking man, or perhaps I should say, boy? He didnt look old, probably around seventeen or eighteen. Because he had beenatose for too long, he looked worn out and emaciated, but nevertheless retained his good looks. Thick eyebrows,rge eyes, with facial features simr to that Mimei but with the straight, tall nose reminiscent of the Dg. They were unmistakably a trio of siblings. rg, want me to take you on a walk around the house? The younger sister peeked in from behind the door. She was smiling, albeit a somewhat forced smile, as though she was worried that Id reject her. I kept silent, watching her smile grow more and more strained, until I couldnt take it anymore and asked, Dont you need to go to school? Im taking a bit of leave. The younger sister saw that I was silent and quickly added, Dg gave me permission to! Dg said I should stay at home, and that its better if someone youre close to stays with you. So I took two weeks of vacation. And its almost the summer holiday anyway, so its not a big deal. It wont dy my schoolwork! With summer holidays just around the corner, doesnt that mean its almost time for final exams? I smiled, choosing not to poke a hole in her lie. Sure, lets take a walk. The younger sister breathed a sigh of relief and rushed over to push my wheelchair. Once out of the room, we passed through a short corridor on our way to the stairs. It was a mezzanine design, and you could see the dining room below had simple but tasteful furnishings. Only the cluster of ck leather sofas looked somewhat more extravagant. I opened my mouth to ask about things, but didnt know how to address her. It was very difficult to call her Mimei, so I was forced to ask, Whats your name? She looked taken aback, and replied in a hurt tone, Jiang Shujun. I was shocked to hear the word Jun and couldnt help but feel a little closer to this girl. I continued to ask, Whats Dg called? Jiang Shutian. I thought back to yesterday, and asked, Then that older couple that day were our parents? Um, no. Thats Uncle and Auntie. Weve been living with them since we were little. I looked at her uprehendingly. Our parents passed away in a car ident. Shujun lowered her head, and said a little more quietly, They passed away ten years ago. Hearing that, I suddenly remembered something else important, and asked, How old am I? Eighteen. Youve already gotten into university, rg, your first choice even! Eighteen I was a little at a loss for words. I was supposed to be turning thirty-five, so I guess this was the seconding of the springtime of youth for me. Originally, when rg got into university, Dg wanted everyone to go traveling together to celebrate. We even got Uncle and Auntie toe back to go with us, but Shujun sounded incredibly sad, and my heart suddenly squeezed. What happened? I was suddenly curious how did a young kid of eighteen die just like that? A tile that had fallen off the wall of a building hit your head. Pfftt! I wanted to burst intoughter. This was too ridiculous. A tile falls off and a dearly cherished boy is gone, reced by an unwanted somebody who was neither a human nor a ghost. rg, dont cry! Shujun suddenly hugged me. Even though she was telling me not to cry, she sounded like she was about to burst into tears herself, and kept on reassuring me, Dg helped to get you time off university. You can go back once youre better. It shouldnt take long. Im not crying Just as I was about to protest, I realized my cheeks felt cool. A touch told me that they were tears, but were they Xiao Yu or Xiao Juns tears? I buried the twinge of grief and continued to ask about things I was supposed to know. How old are you and Dg? Dgs twenty-seven, and Im fifteen. Shujun seemed to understand that I wanted to know more about this family, so she continued borating without further prompting. After Mom and Dad passed away ten years ago, we moved into Uncles ce. Uncle and Auntie dont have any children. They treat us like we are their own. But they frequently fly ces and are hardly at home. Dg is the same, so usually it is just the two of us at home. I nodded, and suddenly remembered something else that I needed to ask. Another guy and a woman were in the hospital room the other day. Who were they? One is Dgs secretary, called Zheng Xing. The other is Dgs bodyguard, Ceng Yunqian. I blinked. That Dg even has a bodyguard? Is he rich? Wait, those names and upations dont quite match up? I turned to give her a suspicious look. Seeing my expression, Shujun gave augh and exined, Yes, the secretary is a guy and the bodyguard is a woman. Right Were rich? I was a bit curious. The house looked quite nice, and the wheelchair I was sitting in was of good make, since Shujun was actually able to take me down the stairs. So this family is at least fairly well off, right? I guess we are? Shujun replied uncertainly, I heard Dg say that our family was originally very wealthy, but when Mom and Dad passed away, our stock market value plummeted and we had some cash flow problems. Uncle and Auntie are archaeologists, so they werent really familiar with these things. So thepany got stolen away by other executives. Around that time, we seemed to have lost a lot of money, so Uncle still feels very guilty about it even now. I frowned. My gut feeling was that they had been set-up. rg, dont worry, Shujun seemed to have gotten the wrong impression, and she hastily reassured me, We still have money, and Dgs designpany is starting to make profits too. Although its just a smallpany, he said it should be plenty to cover for us, Uncle, and Auntie, so we just have to focus on studying. Looking at Shujun I suddenly felt that Jiang Shutian was a terrific big brother, protecting his younger brother and sister so well that they didnt know anything at all; they just had to focus on their studies. Its a small designpany, yet the boss needs a bodyguard 24/7? I didnt know what kind of business Jiang Shutian was doing to need a bodyguard, but it seemed like although the present wasnt like that era, things still werentpletely peaceful here either. Wait! What era is this anyway? I abruptly grabbed Shujuns hand, asking urgently, What year is this? Shujun started with surprise, and quickly replied, 2015. Its still June. Dont worry rg, you havent been out for that long. Hearing that year, my heart went cold and I almost couldnt speak. I just about managed to force out the words, What day? The neenth. Damn No one would ever forget the 21st of June, 2015. The day when everyones world copsed. And now, was my world going to copse once more? rg? Whats the matter, rg? Ill take you to the doctor! Shujun rushed to wheel me away. Its nothing! I quickly grabbed her hand and reassured her, Im fine. Just a few more questions. Which country are we in? Calm down, I mean, youve already died once. What else is there to be afraid of? Except I really didnt want to experience that world and those things again. If I really had to experience everything all over again, then Id rather just off myself when I got the chance! But this girl in front of me really was quite a nice person, and she even had a big brother protecting her. If possible, I wanted to help them first. Maybe find a rtively safe ce, load up on some resources, and hopefully once that was done, theyd have it easier afterwards. Hm? rg, howd you forget even that? Shujuns eyes went wide. But even though she was astonished, she still obediently replied, Were in Junguo. In what? Ive never heard of it before! Something was really off. We were speaking Chinese, and there wasnt anything strange about the intonation of words. So how can I possibly be in a country Ive never heard of? Shocked and doubtful, I could only continue my line of questioning. How many continents are there in this world? Seven. Shujuns expression grew stranger and stranger, but I couldnt care less about raising her suspicions. Lets just get some things straight first! So thats the right number. Frowning, I asked, Which seven? Meisia, North Continent, South Kaia, Mid Kaia, cia, the Woonds, and Oceania. All the names are wrong! I took a few deep breaths before I could suppress my wildly fluctuating emotions, and continued, Which continent are we on? Meisia. No, I should be in Asia! This isnt even the world Im from! I didnt travel to the past, but rather to apletely different world! In the midst of my panic, I realized that, since I was in a different world anyway, then perhaps that wouldnt happen again? With that thought, I abruptly heaved a huge sigh of relief. No matter where I was, it would still be better than what would happen next! Besides, this ce didnt seem too different from the world Id originally lived in. Even the way they reckoned time was the same, so it should be fairly easy to adjust to life here. Could this be a parallel world? Ive heard people say that the universe consists of a multitude of simr worlds branching out in parallel If that is the case, dont tell me I might encounter another version of myself? That would be so awkward. Whatever, as long as that doesnt happen, forget about seeing another me, even if there are a few hundred of me, it wouldnt matter! Whats rg thinking about? Shujunughed and said, So funny, your expression keeps changing. Im wondering where Dg went. Even though Id figured out that that probably wouldnt happen, I would still feel better if that guy was around. If that really did end up happening, it didnt really matter if a sick, frail guy like me died, but if a beautiful young girl like Shujun didnt have a protector, then she would only meet with a tragic end. Dg is on a business trip. Shujun responded, then hastily exined, It was some work that hed already had scheduled, but because rg got injured, Dg kept postponing the job as much as he could before taking it up. He really regretted it and even said that if hed known that you would wake up right now, hed have kept pushing back the work no matter what. A business trip I frowned, a little worried yet at the same time feeling that I was being a worrywart. I mean, Im already in a different world, so surely something simr wont happen again? Rx, itll be fine! I exhaled a long, long breath and continued asking a variety of different questions. How long was Iatose for? A bit over a month. Hm, not too long. No wonder I can still move. If Id been out for a year and a half, more likely than not Id only be able to continue lying in that bed Footsteps? Who is it? I called out sharply. Shujun jumped with fright. I red dangerously at the person approaching. It was a stranger, a middle-aged man I hadnt seen in the ward yet. rg, thats Lin-b! Shujun hastily reassured me, Hes our chef. Hes been around from when our parents were still here. Hes not a bad guy. We actually have a chef. I was a little speechless. This kind of family was really too different from mine. Young Master, Miss, its time to eat. Although Lin-b was startled by me, he still remained respectful, making me feel extremely ufortable. In my previous life, the only people who were so courteous to me were the salesdies whenever I was swiping my card to buy something. Okay, wereing now. Shujun nodded at Lin-b, her attitude towards him not much different from how youd treat regr elders. Then, she lowered her head to tell me, rg, lets go eat. Although rg can only eat rice porridge, Dg asked Lin-b to make the rice porridge using your favorite chicken soup as the base! Hearing this, I felt a little touched. This little bit of world traveling had even improved my family circumstances. In the past, I was in a single parent family. My mother carried all the financial burdens, and just my university fee was a big enough problem in itself. Fortunately, after I graduated, Id found a great job and life had finally started picking up for the two of us. Originally, the n was to keep gunning at it for a few years, save up enough for the pre-payment, and then buy a small house, so that Mom and I would have a ce to settle. Should I be grateful that I hadnt bought it back then? rg? Lifting my head, I saw Shujun looking at me worriedly. I smiled faintly and replied, Its nothing. Lets go eat, Im starving. Okay! After that, Shujun clung to my side the entire day, refusing to go anywhere. And before the sun had even set, that big brother who was supposed to be on a business trip had called five times asking about how I was. It was obvious how close these three siblings were. What a pity that their Xiao Yu was already dead. I lowered my eyes. I wasnt nning toe clean on this. I had nothing in this world, being a mere student who was still in school. If I lost this familys support, life would be very tough on me, so no matter how unscrupulous I was being, Id keep hiding this from the siblings. Besides, that Jiang Shutian was no simple guy. If he found out that a ghost like me had taken over his younger brothers body, hed probably be the type whod harden his heart to shoot me to death. So I have to keep pretending that I lost my memories! Even if they grow suspicious, as long as I dont confess to the fact that the upant of this body has changed, I dont believe theyd dare to do anything to this brother of theirs! rg, theres going to be a meteor shower tonight. They say that you can see it as long as the light pollution is not too strong, so lets watch the meteor shower in the yard! As I was munching on dinner, Shujun happily chirped away, but the ss in my hand shattered from my grip and I was seized by a chill that made even my teeth chatter. G! Your hand is bleeding. Shujuns scream sounded far in the distance. The 19th of June, the red meteor shower. The 20th of June, the ck fog. The 21st of June, morning screams herald the prologue. Junjun! I shouted. Call Dg back! I dont care how, just tell him toe back here right now! Just say Im dying! Quick! Shujun was so freaked out that she was close to tears, and she eximed, rg, dont scare me! Ill call the nurse right now. You wont die! I pulled on her hand, keeping her there, and demanded, Junjun, do you believe rg? rg is begging you, please tell Dg toe home right away. Shujun only hesitated for a moment before her heart softened, or perhaps she didnt know what else to do, and so she picked up her cell phone to make the call. Dg, this is Shujun. Can youe home? Shujun said in a troubled tone of voice, rg, rg doesnt seem to be doing too well Guess she cant bring herself to say lies like rg is going to die. T-the nurse also says its not looking good. Really! The nurse doesnt have time to answer the phone. Shes checking on rg Yes, the doctor isnt here yet After talking forever on the phone, Shujun flushed red, handed me the cell phone and said in a tiny voice, Dg doesnt believe me. He says he wants to talk directly with you. Thats because with your skill in lying, even if I really were only eighteen I wouldnt believe you! Taking the phone, I called him Dg like any well-behaved little brother should. Given the circumstances, there was nothing to do but go for it. A deep yeah came from the phone, and he admonished me, Shuyu, you scared Shujun. Sorry, I was too impatient. I apologized from the get go then went straight to the heart of the matter. Dg, where are you? Im in cia, just getting off the ne. He flew to another continent? I frowned. Now it was even more difficult to ask him toe back. Shuyu, be honest with me. Whats going on? My mind was nk, and I wasnt in any state toe up with a halfway reasonable lie, but as he was still waiting for my exnation, I only could say through clenched teeth, Dg, I had a dream while in mya. Fingers crossed that he wont spit tea all over the phone and yell at me for sleeping myself silly. Something will happen on the 21st of June, a worldwide disaster! You have toe back to protect Jun to protect us. Jiang Shutian exhaled and said helplessly, Shuyu, thats just a dream. Please, Dg, just believe me this once. Ive never yed pranks on you before, have I? For Junjun, please, pleasee back! I really hoped he hadnt tricked him before. The Shuyu Id learned about so far seemed to be a good kid. There wasplete silence on the other end of the line. I forced myself to continue, Dg, if by midnight of the 20th No, if you cant get home by 6pm that day, then donte back at all. Itll be too dangerous. The closer it got to the twenty-first, the more dangerous it would be. If he came back toote, it was very likely that his ne would crash. So rather than that, itd be better for him to stay alive somewhere else. Having said all this, I had already done all I could. If he still refused toe back, then it was something that couldnt be helped. I could only pray that nothing would happen on the 21st. In the event that something really were to happen C this time I dont want to live through it! Okay, Iming back. You and Shujun sit tight at home. Be good and dont go anywhere. Unexpectedly, Jiang Shutian actually agreed. It seemed like he was the type of big brother to dote on and spoil his younger siblings. Of course, this was assuming he wasnt just doing this to humor me and didnt n toe home at all. If possible, bring back some medical supplies, like antibiotics. Its best if you have some guns as well My voice grew smaller and smaller as I spoke. It was just too strange for words like these to being out of the mouth of an eighteen-year old boy like Jiang Shuyu, and the more I said the more easily hed be suspicious of me. Especially since I had no idea as to whether something would actually happen on the 21st. I didnt want these two siblings to be suspicious of me, but there was no way I could let this go without giving them at least a warning. Since doing something was better than doing nothing at all, in the end, I added, In my dream, I saw that the next few days are going to be very dangerous. There might be injuries, and only guns can provide protection. He was silent for a long time before he made a sound of mm, and only after many repetitions of take care of yourself did he hang up. Breathing a sigh of relief, I realized I was drenched in sweat and my entire body felt very weak, so I immediately drank a bit more chicken soup to hydrate myself. After dinner, I asked Shujun, Junjun, are there any markets and department stores around here? Shujun nodded, replying, Theres a department store nearby with a supermarket in the basement. Then lets go there right now. Do we have a minivan around here? Actually, I really wanted to ask if they had arge truck, but given that they probably didnt, it was better to save the effort of asking. Her eyes widened, and she said in a disapproving voice, G, where are you thinking of going? You cant go out yet! I have to go. I need to buy a lot of things. I blinked innocently, copying what she had said earlier, Dg gave permission. Shujun frowned, but I stubbornly stood my ground, and she ended up agreeing to it. All right, Ill ask Lin-b to drive. Shujun, how much money do you have? I was a little nervous what I was nning to aplish was going to be a true shopping spree! I only have a few thousand. Seeing my troubled expression, Shujunughed and reminded me, Dg always goes abroad, so hes given you ATM and credit cards. All my pocket moneyes from you, rg! Ill go get your wallet. You cant use my pocket money! Shujun seemed to be in a great mood. Even if her rg went nuts, as long as a woman could shop, they would still be over the moon. Being an invalid, it took a lot of effort before we arrived at the supermarket inside the department store. Id found out that we had a basement and there wasnt much in there, and immediately decided that we would spend the entire night shuttling goods from the department store to our house. Lin-b, take all this rice to the cashier and pay for it first. The moment we entered the supermarket, I pointed at a mountain of packaged rice. Lin-b and Shujun were stunned, and Lin-b asked uncertainly, Young Master, are you serious? Absolutely! I said resolutely. Lin-b thought for a moment, and said, If Young Master wishes to purchase in such arge quantity, I will negotiate with the store and have them to deliver the goods back home. But we may need to pay a little extra for transportation costs. Would that be fine, Young Master? I dont care about the money, but they have to deliver it by tonight! Lin-b nodded, and the result of his negotiations was that the store was willing to have someone help move the goods, and there would even be a truck to transport the goods back. This only came to around a thousand. They were probably delighted to see a bulk purchaser like me. So I fearlessly pointed at various things and told them to load them all onto the truck! Instant noodles, meat jerky, canned goods, chocte, sweets, gallons of water, drinks, toilet paper, batteries An endless stream of critical resources were all swept onto the truck, and after a moments thought, even pads were packed onto the truck by the box. Id never need to use it in this lifetime, but Shujun would. r- rg, isnt this too much? Its probably enough tost ten years. Shujun followed after me with wide eyes and a ckened jaw. Any desire to shop had long gone, reced instead by astonishment. There were people pointing at us already, but I couldnt care less. As long as we could survive, a little embarrassment now was nothing. Rather, the supermarket manager was anxiously asking whether we could pay the bill first so it would be more convenient for them to deliver the goods. Frankly, I thought this was just an excuse, that he was afraid that I wouldnt able to pay, and all this effort would be for nothing. I took out my credit card, starting to get a little concerned that the limit wouldnt be enough. But after swiping the card, he carried over the receipt with a thousand watt smile, so my credit limit really did seem sufficient. I nced at the bill, which came to over three hundred odd thousand, so this was probably a card without any upper limit on the credit. There was no way Jiang Shutian was something as simple as the boss of a small designpany. After paying the bill, I said offhandedly, Come, lets continue upstairs. What? Were still buying things? Shujun was shocked to the point where she was a little dizzy. She was at a huge loss as to what to do. We shopped our way up floor by floor, and I picked out durable clothes at ten apiece each time, not forgetting other things like thermal clothing and duvets as well; I bought them like they were disposables. Luckily, we were able to find a store selling military goods and a pharmacy on one of the floors, and I got all sorts of high-quality shlights, helmets, and even military boots. Just knives alone Id bought in the dozens. In the pharmacy, it was vitamins, bandages, anti-inmmatory medicines, and the like. I cleared out all their stock in one go. Shujun said nervously, r- rg, this is too much. Youre always saying that Dg has to work hard to earn money and that we should save more. This made me hesitate. If nothing really happened, then all this would have been a waste of money. Even if we slowly used up the goods, there werent that many people in this family, so there was a limit to how much we could use up. Besides, there were some things that wed never need, like the knives. But putting it another way, even if Jiang Shutian wasnt as wealthy as I thought, it was unlikely that the entire family would go bankrupt just because we had used up a million dors. In contrast, these one million dors-worth of goods would be absolutely critical to survival after the 21st, soparatively speaking, this one million was well spent! With everything cleared up, I continued shopping, and even on the way home I felt like we hadnt gotten quite enough food yet, so we bought up everything from the convenience stores on our way back. It was only when I was so tired I almost couldnt catch my breath and I saw Shujun worried to the point of tears that I was finally willing to go home. This body of mine would really need a fair bit of time to recuperate. G, G, look! Shujun opened the car window and pointed excitedly outside. Lin-b also considerately parked the car to one side to let her safely stick her head out to look. At her repeated requests, I reluctantly lifted my head to look up at the sky. In an age like this where it was almost impossible to see the stars, the entire night sky was actually filled with meteor showers. It was magnificent, beautiful enough to take away ones breath. I still remembered the news the next day describing this event: streaming rose lights so beautiful that once you had seen them, youd die without any regrets afterwards. F*** that dying without any regrets shit. Streaming rose lights. The red meteor shower. Volume 1, 2: The Black Fog Unveils

Volume 1, Chapter 2: The ck Fog Unveils

Trantor: Elkin It was only after all the supplies had been piled into the basement and some of the excess tossed into the kitchen that I felt more at ease. With these supplies, as long as Jiang Shutian could make it back and protect these supplies, this family would be able to survive. When we had gotten back home, the nurse was so angry she was about to explode. But I insisted on making sure all the supplies were taken care of before I was willing to rest, so her face transformed into that of man-eating tigress as she worked with Lin-b to force me into the bathroom to clean up. Then, she ordered me to lie on the bed so she could check my various vital stats. The moment I hit the bed, I was so exhausted that I passed out until the next day. By the time I woke up and looked at the clock, it was already past noon. Getting up, I called the nurse and Lin-b to take me to the bathroom so I could do my business and tidy up. Confronted with an unfamiliar male body, I was still fairly calm for a woman who had turned into a man. After all, what hadnt I seen to date? But the nurse was surprisingly shy, perhaps because she was still young, not even thirty judging from her looks. I, on the other hand, had the body of a fine, youngd. There simply wasnt a woman in this world who hadnt thought of gobbling up a delectable young man! After washing up, I was nning to eat a little something, ideally topped off by some more chicken soup as well. Although its a little toote to start nursing this body back to health Xiao Yu. I lifted my head. It was Uncle and Auntie. Yesterday, Shujun said that they had gone out to meet up with a friend, and by the time we got back, they were already asleep. We had even specially requested the transporters to carry on their business quietly to avoid waking them up. Good afternoon, Uncle, Auntie. I gauged the two of them. They looked only forty-odd or so, and Auntie seemed like she hadnt even hit her forties yet, but maybe they were simply really good at maintaining themselves. There was simply no way they hadnt reached their forties yet. This Uncle and his dead brother might have had a bit of an age gap. The two seemed really bookish, which was really bad news. Id sincerely hoped that this Uncle was a muscle man, and it was best if he had trained in judo, taekwondo and martial arts, and was well versed in sword y and shooting or something. Sadly, while my dream Uncle was quite a hefty man, the reality was that he was a skinny bag of bones. Auntie asked, puzzled, Xiao Yu, why are there so many things in the kitchen? Did you buy all of that? I gave a nod, replying, Yesterday, I went with Junjun to buy some things. Im not sure what came over me to make me buy so much. Thankfully, they hadnt seen the basement. Otherwise, they wouldnt believe me even if I said Id gone stir crazy. Auntie reassured me gently, It doesnt matter if you bought a lot. None of these are perishable, so we can just go through them slowly. Will Uncle and Auntie go out today? If so, Ill immediately faint on the spot and force them to stay to look after me. Of course not, Auntie said a little apologetically, Yesterday was just because a good friend of ours we hadnt seen in a while was leaving, so we just had to say goodbye. Otherwise, Uncle and I will never leave at a time like this. I still need to make sure youre eating right! Her eyes reddened, and she said fretfully, Just look at you, youre nothing but skin and bones. Uncle snapped with a tone of disagreement, Come now, whats there to cry about? Xiao Yus awake and the docs already said that there shouldnt be many aftereffects either. Just give him some time, and hell be back to the same old Xiao Yu. Thats right. Auntie quickly hid her sorrowful expression and grasped my hand, telling me, Quick, go eat! Even Junjun refused to eat without you awake! Iplied with a smile. When we got to the dining room, the entire table was covered with dishes. However, all the food was stewed so soft that it was on the point of disintegration, probably so itd be easier for me to eat. I silently ate the food. Although I wanted to eat more and quickly recover my strength, this body couldnt handle it, taking in far less than what a healthy youngster should be eating. But if I forced anymore down, I was worried Id throw up, so I could only give up and put down my bowl and chopsticks to wait for the others to eat their fill for a bit. Theres something I want to say to everyone. Everyone looked up at me. No one should go out today. And tonight, everyone should sleep in separate rooms. I looked at Uncle and Auntie. Including Uncle and Auntie. Also, everyone needs to lock their door before sleeping. Make sure that you push something to block the door as well. At that, Lin-b, the nurse, and Shujun took it rtively wellthey had already seen me shopping like crazyst night, so these words couldnt shock them. However, Uncle and Auntie looked absolutely astonished. What for? Uncle asked as he set down his bowl and chopsticks, looking a little stern even. That said, he wasnt the head of the family. After all, the most authoritative person in this family had to be Jiang Shutian! I could only use my dream as an excuse, but this only tickled Uncle and Auntie to the point where they didnt know whether tough or cry. Its fine. Shujun immediately took my side, saying, Dg allowed it. Since the twenty-first is tomorrow already, everyone listen to rg! Like I thought, Jiang Shutian held absolute power. Just one line of Dg allowed it was enough to make it the word ofw. Everyone agreed to it without any other questions orments. Judging from their expressions, perhaps even Jiang Shujun didnt believe me, but they were more than willing to amodate the wishes of a grievously injured young man who had just woken up from aa. This family is truly worth putting in extra effort to protect, its just that After the meal, I walked around to check the surroundings and asked Shujun a bunch of questions. This house was much better than I had imagined; it turned out that we were in the suburbs of the capital, where every house was standalone. Each house even had its own courtyard and walls. All the windows in this house were sealed off with iron bars, probably as an anti-theft measure, and there were two sets of doors making up the front entrance of the house. The inner doors were even made of pure stainless-steel. This set-up is just incredible! We even had a fair bit of supplies on hand, so if Jiang Shutian could just make it back, then wed be ready for anything the world could throw at us. Thinking of that imposing Dg, I couldnt resist calling to ask where he was right now, but the call didnt connect. Is he still on the ne? I really hoped he wasnt just deceiving me, and thus refused to answer the phone. G. I turned to see Shujun standing on veranda looking at me, her face a little pale. Whats the matter? My heart sank when she pointed outside of the veranda. Although I knew that all of this would being when I had seen the red meteor shower, I had always carried a thread of hope, thinking that what came next might be different but hope always ends in disappointment. Shujun pushed me out to the veranda. When I looked into the distance, I saw ayer of faint, ck fog clouding the horizon. Normally, no one would be bothered by this. After all, there wasnt anything strange about such changes in this heavily polluted world. Half the time, the cause would probably be man-made. Even sea water could turn mustard yellow. But after I had described the impending disaster of the twenty-first, Shujun had be much more sensitive to the possibility, so she was unable to remain calm in the face of this ck fog. I never imagined that the ck fog would start spreading so soon. Is it because we are in a different area? I remembered that back then it wasnt until six or seven in the evening that I started noticing something was wrong. Thinking back, it was probably because I had been working until six or seven before I finally stepped out of the office building, which was why I had discovered the strangeness sote. It seems the fog had started spreading much earlier. I started getting a bit worried about the flight. It was only 3pm in the afternoon, but I couldnt get through to Jiang Shutians cell phone. Junjun, give Dg a call every half an hour. Hearing that, Shujun paled even more and nodded vigorously. She even ran to make a call immediately, but there was still no answer. Whats this? Auntie came onto the veranda holding a bowl of chicken soup. She looked a little puzzled by the distant ck fog, but she didnt seem too bothered as she remarked, The air pollution has been really bad recently. Come now, Xiao Yu, have a little more broth. Although I wasnt hungry at all, I still obediently drank it all. I needed to regain however much strength I could. At six in the evening, we still couldnt contact Jiang Shutian. At this point, the ck fog was so dense even Uncle and Auntie felt that something was off. They even dialed the emergency number, 110, to ask about what was going on, but they couldnt get through. The lines were all busy. Xiao Yu, whats happening? During dinner, Uncle finally blurted out the question. I calmly said, Listen, everyone sleeps in a separate room tonight. Lock your door and block it. Tomorrow morning, if someone hasnt left their room, the people outside need to first shout and get an answer before opening the door. If no one responds, do NOT open the door! Uncle obviously found this all to be very strange and asked in a tone of iprehension, Why is it that we shouldnt open the door if we dont get a response? Whats wrong with the person inside? Uncle looked at me, rmed, and even the others were focused on my words now. Whatever is inside might not be human anymore, I replied lightly. Everyones expressions took a 180 degree turn. Uncle opened his mouth to ask another question, but I cut in before he could even get a word in, begging them, Look, just listen to what I say, okay? Its just for one day, and if nothing happens tomorrow, Ill make sure to apologize to everyone. But for now, just listen to what I say? Uncle started, but in the end he just nodded without saying anything more. After the twenty-first, lock all the windows and doors, dont go out, absolutely do not let anyone in. Dont switch on the lights at night, dont make any loud noises, and best not let anyone know that there are people in this house. But what next? Looking at this family, I didnt know what more to do. There were only two men here, but while Uncle still looked to be in his prime, Lin-b looked like he was pushing close to his sixties. How muchbat power could they have? Anyway, just dont go out, I concluded helplessly. Uncle chuckled wryly, We cant spend our entire life locked up here, though? The rest can wait until Dg is back. The moment Dg was mentioned, everyone nodded in agreement. Are they just that gullible or does everyone think that, even if the ne dropped from the sky, Jiang Shutian could still sprout a pair of wings and fly back? I was exasperated, but I could see where they wereing from. It hadnt even been three days since I woke up, and while Id only seen Jiang Shutian on the first day, to say nothing about my still-blurry vision then, his air of authority had already made a deep impression on me. So for these people who had been living with Jiang Shutian for at least a dozen or so years, they must be bursting with their confidence in him! Seeing these people with identical looks of lets wait for Dg to get back, I grew increasingly worried. Jiang Shutian might not be able to make it back! I could only continue passing on what knowledge I had. If you see anyone who looks odd and aggressive, immediately strike at their head. You have to be sure that you beat the head to a pulp. Dont just go lightly tapping at it. Everyone stared at me with sheet-white faces. They probably could guess what was going on. After all, this had been in so many movies before. Now that I thought about it, they were almost prophetic, but when reality struck, it was much more brutal and terrifying than fiction. It was hard to say which was the made-up story anymoremovies or reality. After we finished the meal, Junjun, Uncle, Auntie, and I sat in the living room to chat. I learned a fair bit about Jiang Shuyu. It turned out that he was a miniature version of Jiang Shutianthe head honcho in the family was Jiang Shutian, but the second most influential person actually wasnt Uncle, but Jiang Shuyu! Uncle exined with some embarrassment that he and Auntie were always out on archaeological studies for most of the year and were rarely at home, so they had no way of managing the household. However, Aunties and Junjuns expressionspletely betrayed him. This Uncle was a good-for-nothing, carefree guy whose brains were only stuffed with archaeology. He even needed to be taken care of! In the past, his older brother had taken care of him, and when his older brother passed away, his nephew ended up continuing to take care of him. Hearing that, I became even more troubled. We ended up chatting the whole time, and because my condition was very poor, I soon grew so exhausted that I could barely keep my eyes open. Although I knew I should preserve my strength, I couldnt tear myself away from the conversation and just wanted it to keep going. It wasnt until it was past ten pm when I really couldnt take it anymore that I chased everyone back to their rooms. I made sure that each person had a box of drinks, food, first aid kit and the like, just in case. I didnt move away from each persons door until after I heard them lock the doors and move things to block the doorway. When it was Shujuns turn, she bit her lip and refused to lock the door, asking, G, cant I sleep with you? Youre not doing well and need someone to take care of you! No, I said jokingly. If you were to bully me, I wont be able to win with my body like this. Hearing that, Shujuns face paled but she managed to muster a smile and nodded. Thats true. Then Im locking the door! Finally, there were just Lin-b and me left. Lin-b helped me move a study desk to the door, leaving just enough space for him to slip out of the door. For some reason, Lin-b hesitated just before he left, turning his head to look back at me. Young Master, my son and daughter-inw are in the city. If something happens, can we bring them over? I frowned. Honestly, I wasntfortable with doing that. If Jiang Shutian were here, there wouldnt be any problem in taking in those two, but currently, aside from Lin-b, the only other guy was Uncle. If Lin-bs son and daughter-inw came, then they could very well take over this ce like cuckoos hijacking a nest. Lets wait until tomorrow. Maybe my dream wonte true. I sent Lin-b away by dying my decision, even though I knew all too well that if they didnte over tonight, then they never would. Lin-b nodded as he left, not wanting to press the point. Perhaps it was because he still didnt fully believe in my story, which was only natural. After all, life had been fine until now. Most people would not be able to ept being suddenly thrust into a situation like what happens in movies. Next was a grueling battleeven though the desk was right by the door, with only enough space to open the door a crack, I was on a wheelchair. It was no easy task to push this heavy desk flush against the closed door. Finally, after bing drenched in sweat from head-to-toe was I finished dealing with the bedroom door. After a short break, I took a dozen odd belts from the wardrobe. This was really more than enough. In my previous life, Id really never used something like belts more than a few times. After a final surge of effort to climb onto the bed, I was panting so badly that my chest felt like it was going to explode. I had to rest for a long while before I had the energy to continue moving. Then, I bound both my legs securely to the railing of the hospital bed using the belts. After some thought, I also tied my left hand, though there was nothing I could do about my right. I quietlyy on the bed, unsure of when the moment of the final judgment would arrive. I waited but got bored. I grew sleepy but didnt want to go to sleep just like that. So I turned my head left and right, trying to find something interesting to distract me. The moment I looked to my left, I was instantly captivated. There were a few photo frames there, with photos of Jiang Shuyu, Jiang Shujun, the imposing Dg, Jiang Shutian, Uncle, Auntie, and an unknown couple. I didnt even need to guess to know that they were the biological parents of this body. If the entire family were here, then perhaps there really would be some meaning in living. Even if I wasnt Jiang Shuyu, if I stayed around long enough, then Id be Jiang Shuyu, wouldnt I? Such a pity The person least likely to make it past the twenty-first would be me. The moment the judgment descended, weak people had the hardest time surviving. Right now, I didnt even have the strength to stand, so how would it be possible for me to survive? Id originally thought that the Heavens had mercifully given me a second chance in life, letting me live a new life in this peaceful, albeit mundane, world. It wouldnt matter even if it were a boring life. But then I discovered that the Heavens were going to cruelly make me experience this once again The apocalypse. Originally, my n was that Jiang Shutian would be able to make it home in time, then I would resolutely kill myself before midnight of the twenty first and save myself from this torture. Yet, he couldnt make it back in time, or perhaps his promise to me back then was a lie, and he simply hadnt nned oning back. However, it was just as likely that the ne had crashed, and I had doomed him to his death. I strongly felt that it was thest. I had some kind of feeling that if Jiang Shutian had made a promise, then he woulde back. He would never blow off his younger brother, so he was probably dead because of me? So, to repay my debt to him as well as to Shujun, who had been taking care of me for the past few days, I had to try my best to survive no matter what. If I could survive, I might be able to protect Shujun using my past experience, and pray that Jiang Shutian was still alive. It was about time. I looked to the floor-length window and, as expected, the ck fog had started creeping in. Even if you sealed the doors and windows beforehand, it was pointless. Nothing could stop this ck fog. This was the same no matter where you went. I nced at the clock. It read 12:01. Guess its the twenty first already. Lying on the bed, I quietly waited. The ck fog first spread across the entire floor, then slowly climbed up until it was level with the top of the bed, and then it started surging across the surface of the bed. I watched with my eyes wide open. Even after ten times of experiencing this, there was simply no way I could ever get used to it. The first jab of pain came from the soles of my feet, like they were being burned, but I didnt yank my feet back and just let them roast. Next, the ck fog bit into my pinkie, hurting the entire finger like it was being chewed on, but this wasnt the end to the agony. Different types of pain started assaulting all four limbsI was cut, burned, frozen, crushed Pain! There is only pain! I practically tasted every single possible pain in the world, and there was nothing I could do except hurt. My mouth fell open. I moaned, tears pouring uncontrobly from my eyes. The agony made me unable to breathe even though I had strained open my mouth and jaw to their widest, and my chest felt like I was suffocating I wont make it, cant make it I Will turn into an aberrant. G Xiao Yu, Xiao Yu! rg Answer me, G Sob rg rg! My eyes sprang open and I gasped, my chest expanding and contracting so violently I felt like I was nearly about to burst. For a fair bit of time, I could only pant forcefully, listening to the wailing outside the door. Junjun I tried shouting but could only make a whisper so soft that even I myself could barely hear it. My body was weak to the point where I couldnt move, and the sheets under me werepletely soaked with sweat. I had to be dehydrated, and if I didnt quickly replenish the water, I would really die! Jun This time, I couldnt even manage two sybles. Shit, I didnt die during the moment of judgment but instead will die from dehydration. Even I myself found the entire thing deplorable. G, G! I dont care anymore, Im going to open the door now. Im opening it! All right, lets do it! Uncle actually went along with her nonsense,pletely forgetting what I had told them. Didnt I tell you not to open the door without a response? From the door came the sound of the lock being opened, and next came the sound of crashing against the door. Once, twice, and with a big bang on the third, the desk holding the door shut was knocked awry, and the three of them rushed in, looking at me with panic. I looked back, so dehydrated that I couldnt even squeeze out tears, and mouthed silently, Water Auntie rushed forward and held a bowl to my lips. It was chicken soup again. I drank three whole big bowls of chicken soup, to the point where I was almost sick from it, before I could finally manage to ask for a ss of clear water to rinse my mouth. The oiliness clinging to my mouth was unbearable, but after drinking the chicken soup, my body felt much better. Ten minutes ago, Id felt like I was going to die, but now I was pretty sure I could survive. What about Lin-b and the nurse? I could only count three people. I already had a bad feeling about it. The three of them looked at each other, before finally, Uncle spoke for them. The nurse was copsed in the kitchen. We called her but she didnt respond, so I guess she might be dead. We didnt dare to touch her. Dont know about Lin-b, we havent been to his room yet. We went to the kitchen to get the soup beforeing straight to you. Hearing that the nurse had copsed in the kitchen, my expression darkened. Why the hell was she in the kitchen? She must have ignored my instructions to stay in the room and ran off to the kitchen in the middle of the night, and there she encountered the moment of judgment. Whyd you tie up yourself like this? Uncle scolded me as he undid the belt around my hand, Look, your whole wrist is chafed. Because I was worried that you people wouldnt listen to me and would rush in even without getting a response. Why else would I go to such pains to tie myself up? In the end, you guys really did rush in. I had to admire my own powers of prediction, but there wasnt much point inining about this. If they hadnte in, I might really have died in here. I slowly sat up, and although everyone looked like they wanted to ask me to lie back down, this really wasnt the time to be resting. There were a million things we had to deal with, as soon as possible. Uncle, move some stuff to block the kitchen entrance. No matter what, dont touch the nurse, and try not to make any sounds. If she moves,e back immediately! Uncle nodded and instantly moved off to do as told without even a question orment. It seemed like this body of mine really was the second-inmand in this family. Even Uncle, who was my senior in years, leaped to obey without question. Then Ill find Lin-b, Shujun said immediately. Dont bother, I replied tiredly, You guys were shouting so loudly, and you even bashed through the door, yet he still hasnte out. You wont get a response. Youre better off getting one of those baseball bats there. I spoke as I pointed to the three baseball bats by the door, which we had bought from the department store. I had guessed that even if they hadnt gotten any response, Shujun and the other two simply couldnt let their rg be and would definitely barge into the room. I also had no way of guaranteeing that the belts could stop me, so I had left some weapons there for them to defend themselves in case of emergencies. Xiao Yu. Auntie picked up the baseball bat as told, but seeing how ufortable she was handling it, I was suspicious whether she would even be able to use it. Whats going on? That ck fog yesterday Here, she shivered, and even Shujun paled. Will that foge again? Shujun asked in a shaking voice, Youre not telling me that even tonight No, it wonte tonight, I hastily interjected. Just once a year. I didnt say it out loud. After all, I didnt even know if we could survive for one year. There wasnt any need to tell them beforehand to make them feel worse. Shujun and Auntie heaved huge sighs of relief. I was extremely sympathetic. That pain was really worse than death, and many people in the past had chosen tomit suicide after learning that they had to experience that pain once a year. Suddenly, the sound of intense fighting broke out in the distance and a man yelled. It sounds like Uncle My heart sank. So something happened after all? But we had to send Uncle out. If the nurse came over, then that may spell the end for all of us. Darling! Auntie immediately ran out. Shujun stood there for a moment, stunned, then hurried after her. I couldnt stop them and could only yell, Hit the head! You have to destroy the head! Junjun, dont be nice, dont be afraid! You have to protect Uncle and Auntie. Auntie had dashed off far into the distance, but Shujun stopped, her pretty face startling pale, but she still nodded at me and closed the door. If this door was locked, then it would be impossible to open it from the outside without a key. The little missy could still think about protecting me at a time like this I have to do my best as well! Before the moment of judgment, I was pretty sure I wouldnt be able to stand without a few more days of rest. But after the moment of judgment, it was hard to say. I strained to twist my waist, straightened my spine, sat on the bed, set my feet against the floor, and first tried to move my toes. After I was sure I could move, I took a deep breath and stood right up, but I immediately groaned and almost sat back down on the bed. Thankfully, I managed to remain standing upright by just the tiniest of margins. Taking slow, deliberate steps, I shuffled to the door where I picked up the third baseball bat and pulled open the door. Just as I was able to move over to help, I saw Auntie and Shujuning over, with Uncle supported between the two of them. Not far behind them, that nurse headed our way in a strange, contorted way. Fortunately, she wasnt moving too fast as her limbs didnt seem very coordinated. Half of Uncles body was stained blood-red all over. I couldnt tell where his injuries were. He shouted at the two women, Go! Darling, Junjun, run! Ive already been bitten, theres no helping me! Go! The two womens faces were pale, but they refused to let go. In turn, Uncle started struggling, wanting to push them away. Bring him over! I yelled, Uncle, youre fine, trust me! Hearing that, Uncle stilled and stopped struggling. The three of them made a concerted effort to run away, but it seemed Uncle had injured his right leg and could only drag that leg forward, so progress couldnt be anything but slow. I approached them, my faltering pace not much better than Uncles with the injured leg. Seeing my current state, Uncle shouted urgently, Xiao Yu, go back to your room! I ignored him, looking instead at Shujun, and said, Junjujn, dont look back. Keep going. By this time, the nurse was only a few steps behind them. Junjun nodded, obediently keeping her head forward, and focused on hauling Uncle forward. I moved in front of the three of them, who remained oblivious to the fact that the nurse was currently lunging in mid-air at them, her ten fingers double their original length, their joints swollen like small balls. Her mouth was wide open to the point where the edges of her mouth had ripped open, every one of her teeth sharp and pointed and even dripping fresh blood. I leaned to one side to let them past, then swung outward with the baseball bat as hard as I could. The bat connected with the nurses skull, knocking her from mid-air straight to the ground. I looked down coldly at the nurse. She was clinging to her head, keening, but I brought down the bat again in one sweep, thinking to burst her brains, but her skull was harder than I expected, or perhaps I was simply too weak, and the bat could only make a small dent in her head. rg,e back, theres another one! Shujun screamed. What? I lifted my head. There really was another figure there. This fellows movements were even slower, so he was still at the other end of the corridor, plodding his way forward one step at a time. But although he was moving so slowly, I felt he was even scarier than the nurse. What the hell is with that mountain of muscle? Even though his face was swollen with muscles, I could tell that he wasnt Lin-b. Where did hee from? Has the front door been opened already? With no time to care about busting open the nurses head, I immediately turned to leave, but something gripped my ankle, and before I could react, I fell to the ground. The damned nurse is actually holding onto my ankle! I kicked at her wildly, and even used the bat to pummel her face to prevent her from biting my leg. I really was too weak. I couldnt get rid of her no matter how much I kicked. Although the bat had broken a number of her teeth, this damage wasnt enough to make her let go. The muscle man was drawing closer. He was only wearing a pair of pants, with the lower half ripped apart by bulging muscles, transforming them into something closer to boxers. Every muscle on his torso wasrger than a basketball, to the point where he was close to losing even the basic form of a human. The ground shook with every step that he took. He was very slow. If we really wanted to run away, it wouldnt be a problem. But if we didnt want to give up this house, then he would be even harder to deal with than the nurse! Ah! Pain suddenly seized my ankle. The stupid bitch actually tried to crush my ankle! I frantically hit her wrist with the baseball bat, again and again, and she kept giving hair-raising shrieks as her hand became deformed, but still she refused to let go. A throbbing pain started from my ankle. Hyah! A baseball bat mmed down repeatedly against the nurses skull. I started. Within a few blows, even a pinkish white material started flying out, each blow much more powerful than mine by far. Let go! Let go! Let go of my brother Shujun hammered at the nurses skull like a frenzied woman, crying all the while as tears and snot streamed from her eyes and nose. There wasnt a trace of the pretty girl left. As for the nurse, she was beaten to a pulp and not far from deaths door. Finally, I was able to kick away her hand and crawl to my feet, all the while bearing with the pain in my ankle. Then, I grabbed the crazed Shujun and rushed into the room. Quick, block the door! I pushed the study desk against the door again, but this wasnt enough. Cupboards, sofas, the bedeveryone acted like theyd lost their minds as they frantically crammed everything moveable in the room against the door, but I really wasnt sure this would be enough. Judging from that muscle mans appearance, he was obviously the power-type aberrant. Would these things really be enough? What should we do if they arent? Volume 1, 3: Aberrants

Volume 1, Chapter 3: Aberrants

Trantor: Elkin The four of us leaned against the blockade, expecting violent pounding to start at any moment. I looked back at the window with the iron bars, but there were no tools on hand with which we could use to break them C the chainsaw we had bought at the department store had been stored in the basement. We had no way of getting out. G-G, did I kill the nurse? I-is she alive? Shujuns entire body was shaking like a leaf in the wind, and bits of red and white stuff were even stuck to her delicate hands. She hadnt noticed at all. I calmly replied, Dont be silly, did she look alive? Hearing that, Shujun calmed down a little, but continued uneasily, But she can move. Thats not a person! You didnt kill her either C shes still moving out there! I said that you have to beat the brain to a pulp to kill them, but you only broke her skull, you havent pounded it to a pulp. It is just that, with her skull bust open like that, she probably doesnt have much longer to live either. Shujun made an affirmative uhn sound, her expression finally rxing a little. No matter how long we waited, there was a distinctck of pounding on the door. Instead, there came the nurses wail and some bone-chilling cracking sounds, followed by the sound of chewing Everyones faces were pale, but I was inwardly over the moon. If Muscle Man ate the nurse, he would be so full he would need time to digest her, so we were safe for the time being. Here, I slumped to the ground,pletely drained of strength and with a burgeoning headacheing on. Everyone else followed suit and copsed to the floor. Uncle looked particrly bad, his face white from the blood loss. Seeing his sorry state, I forced myself to crawl up, but when I stood, my ankle hurt so much my face twisted into a grimace for a moment. I prayed none of the bones were broken. I found the medicine box and started to help Uncle disinfect and bandage the wound with quick, precise movements. I was very used to doing this in the past C after all, Id been at it for almost ten years, so even if I wasnt a nurse to start with, I was at least half way there by now. Come to think of it, it really was incredible that I had survived in times like these for a good ten years. Auntie had originally wanted to help out, but when she saw how fast and professionally I was handling it, she gave up the notion. Xiao Yu, be honest with your uncle, Uncle asked, his face a ghastly shade of white. Will I be a zombie? I shook my head. Getting bitten is fine. Youll only turn into an aberrant if you die. Uncle evidently didnt believe me as he pressed on, Really? Youre not lying to me? I immediately said without thinking, Ill never risk Junjuns life. Hearing that, Uncle breathed out and Auntie was so relieved that she started crying. I, on the other hand, was astonished. When did I start caring so much about Jiang Shujun? She is Jiang Shuyus little sister, not mine! And there was Jiang Shutian too. Even now, I still couldnt believe that he was dead, and somehow felt that he wouldnt die. What is with this? How can I be so confident in a person Ive known for less than a day? Is it because this is Jiang Shuyus body that his emotions are affecting me? Dropping my gaze, my hands were carefully wrapping up Uncles wounds, but if it was the past me, if there was a heavily injured person trapped in this kind of environment, Id kill him, no hesitation! Although being bitten wouldnt change you into an aberrant, the average person died very easily from the bites. Infection was the biggest problem, and right now we only had some generic anti-inmmatory drugs on hand and no antibiotics or the like. We should at the very least tie up this man in case he suddenly keels over and dies, but when I saw Auntie and Junjun C Auntie, who was giving Uncle water, and Shujun, who had cut out a piece of her clothing, wetted it, and started wiping the blood from Uncles faceC I couldnt say it. I dragged my heavy feet to the door, barely squeezing through to find a spot that wasnt blocked by the barricade, and pressed my ear against the door, listening to the outside. After a long while, there was still no sound, and only then did Ifortably sit on the ground and start bandaging my ankle. Since it was already ten years since the beginning of the previous apocalypse, my memories from back then were a bit fuzzy, but I could still vaguely remember some bigger things. As I recalled, during this period, aberrants still needed a fairly long time to digest their food, especially when they had eaten an entire aberrant, so we should at least have one to two days of buffer time. G, dont bandage it just yet. Ill wash it with some water and rub on some disinfectant. Youve got a lot of scratches on your foot. As Shujun spoke, she tore off a strip of cloth C her clothes were all tattered. Then, she couldnt help but add, G, bear with it, its going to hurt. I nodded. Even though these scratches shouldnt get infected, going by the state of my body at the moment, it was better safe than sorry. Seeing Shujun earnestly wiping away at my feet with tears in her eyes, her face all filthy with grime, my heart suddenly started aching. This alien feeling scared me so much I almost jumped in the air. G? Shujun anxiously looked at me and asked, Whats wrong? Nothing! I hastily assured the three who were starting to get anxious about me, hesitated, then asked, Junjun, Uncle, and Auntie, do you think Ive changed a lot? Shujun blinked. Aside from the fact that you knew this would happen, you havent changed much. Why do you ask? Havent changed much I was silent for a long while before I could squeeze out a smile, speaking with a lightness I didnt feel in my heart, When I was unconscious, I had a very long dream, almost ten years long. And in my dream, I wasnt like this, I had be someone else, so I was thinking whether I had changed into that person. Shujun shook her head. You really havent changed much. Just that youve be more reliable now, rg, more like Dg. Havent changed much No wonder none of them got suspicious of me, but I wasnt the slightest bit happy about it. I closed my eyes in pain. Could it be that Im really not Guan Weijun? Was that life all just a dream, and I am still Jiang Shuyu? G! Shujun asked, concerned, Whats wrong? Do you have a headache? A bit. I forced a smile. Get me a painkiller? Okay. After taking the meds, I shut my eyes to rest, also taking the opportunity tob over my memories. But no matter how hard I tried, I couldnt remember anything rting to Jiang Shuyu. I just remembered that I was Guan Weijun, I remembered those ten years, I remembered him G. I opened my eyes to see Shujun looking at me worriedly. Does your head still hurt? No, I was just resting my eyes. Nows not the time to be thinking about that C survival is more important right now! I stood up. After my ankle was bound tightly by the bandages, it still hurt but no longer hindered my movement. Junjun, Auntie, help me move the stuff a little so we can open the door a bit. I want to check the situation outside. Thats too dangerous! Xiao Yu, your foots still injured! Auntie was immediately opposed to it. I shook my head. We cant stay here forever. There are too few supplies here. We wont make it past a few days. We must think of a way of getting into the basement. Besides, the Muscle Man could havee from outside, so weve got to think of a way of shutting the front doors, otherwise more aberrants will get in. That Muscle Man, Here, Shujun almostughed as she used my description, but immediately became serious again and continued, He shouldnt be from outside. Ive seen him before, hes Miss Nurses boyfriend. He had probably been brought over by Miss Nursetest night. Hearing that, I got so angry I almost threw a fit. We really shouldnt have let the nurse stay. No thanks to her, we had two additional aberrants to deal with, and she didnt stay in her room either. No, she had to run to the kitchen, which had the second-most supplies in the entire house. She really pissed me off! Originally, we should have been able to peacefully live through the beginning of the apocalypse! Seeing me get worked up, Shujun quickly patted my chest, and only after a long while did I recover my breath. Move the stuff. That Muscle Man just ate the nurse, so hell probably rest for a day or two. We need to take this opportunity to move to the basement. Otherwise, when hes digested the meal and gets hungry again, this wooden door wont be able to hold him off. The basement door was stainless steel, and although it wasnt like the double set of doors at the front entrance, there was an enormous amount of supplies inside. Just using the rice bags alone would be enough to block the door. After this exnation, Shujun and Auntie had no choice but to start moving the stuff. Opening the door a crack, I nced outside. The corridor was empty. Terrific! Muscle Man wasnt here anymore. If he really had settled down in the corridor outside, I wouldnt have had a clue on what to do. Im going out a sec. At that, Shujun nced at the open door, fear written on her face, then back at me, but still she steeled her heart and said, G, its best if I go. No! Both Auntie and I eximed at the same time. As for Uncle, he was already so worn out from his injuries and blood loss that he had fallen asleep on the floor. Shujun protested, But rg, your conditions too bad. How can you go out investigating? I shook my head. Junjun, you dont understand the situation, so its no use even if you go out to look. I have to go look myself. Stay here with Auntie and help her take care of Uncle. Taking the house keys from Junjun, I walked to the open door, paused, then turned to say, You turn into aberrants after you die. If things arent looking good for Uncle, you best tie him up. Make sure to tie him tightly. If he really dies I took a deep breath before continuing. You must destroy his brain. Auntie choked a sob, her hand flying up to cover her mouth. Color drained from Shujuns face. I shot a look at her, and even though her eyes were filled with shock and rm, she still gave me a silent nod. She really was a good girl. Although she looked soft and gentle, she had the tenacity to survive. Remember that Uncle would never want to hurt either of you, so dont let the aberrant that swallows him hurt you. With that, I took in a deep breath and stuck my head out the door. The floor and walls of the corridor were red, interspersed with patches of white or meat-colored bits. If Shujun saw this, she wouldve either fainted or vomited. There was no way she could have brought herself to step past this sea of flesh and blood to scout out the situation. But thinking back to the beginning, I used to just scream and couldnt calm down at all, much less take up a baseball bat to bash out someones brains. So Shujun really was doing quite well. Jiang Shuyu must have really loved his sister. I felt a little at a loss. Just what is with this feeling of wanting to protect Shujun even in my thoughts? Sighing, I forged on with heavy steps. My room was on the second floor and, from there, you only had to walk to the end of the corridor and look down to see the living room. The kitchen was also on the ground floor, and to get to the basement, you had to pass through the kitchen, but not necessarily the living room. I moved lightly, only a baseball bat in hand. Every room I passed by had a closed door, and the doors wouldnt budge even if I pushed, so the Muscle Man shouldnt be inside. At the end of the corridor, I peeked downwards. There, the Muscle Many on the living room sofa, both eyes shut as though asleep. His stomach was engorged, so round that if he were pregnant, he would be in his twentieth month. I sucked in a deep breath and lightly tapped the railing of the stairs with the baseball bat. Below, the Muscle Man moved, almost making me bolt back to the room, but he just turned over and stopped moving. I silently waited, and only when hepletely failed to give any further reaction did I walk down the stairs. Then, I quickly turned into the corridor at the back and even stopped to take a look at the kitchen. The kitchen door was piled up with misceneous supplies up to a persons waist. It should be Uncles handiwork, only that he hadnt had time toplete his task. My guess was that if the nurse hadnt made the move, then it would have been Muscle Man charging out. And this waist-high pile of supplies wasnt enough to block the nurse, so we ended up in the situation where we were chased by both the nurse and Muscle Man. I stuck my head into the kitchen for a look inside. It was a mess, but the supplies were more or less intact, perhaps the one fortunate thing amidst all this misfortune. Here, I quickly looked back alertly, only to see the Muscle Mans leg dangling on the upper part of the sofa. The rest of him was blocked by the sofa, but very obviously, he was remaining quite quiet. The entrance to the basement was at the end of the ground floor corridor. I quickly strode over and nced down those stairs leading into the basement. The stainless steel door was closed. I breathed a sigh of relief. As long as the basement was fine, wed be able to live in there for a good year and a half, no problem. I headed back to the room and knocking quietly on the door, murmured, Im Shuyu. Auntie and Shujun immediately pulled open the door. I didnt go in, instead whispering, Carry Uncle out. Were going down to the basement. Their eyes brightened. Uncle woke up immediately when called C this was a good sign. He had probably only fallen asleep from exhaustion just now rather than passing out. Close your eyes when youe out, and move forward slowly. Wait until I say so before opening your eyes. The average person would never so easily ept a scene of carnage, and I had no desire to have them vomit like crazy the moment they stepped foot from the door, so I asked them to close their eyes before moving out. No matter how careful we all were, a group of us would still create moremotion than I just did. But there was nothing to do except slowly inch forward, and it felt like an excruciating half a day before we started going down the stairs. The three of them saw the bulging belly of the Muscle Man, and theirplexions took a turn for the worse. They probably understood why I had wanted them to close their eyes just now. During our journey, the Muscle Man tossed and turned a few times, scaring us into immobility a good number of times, but we still made the safe if scary trip to the ground floor and through the kitchen. When thest person started down the stairs into the basement, I finally felt like I could rx. Junjun, Auntie, carry Uncle inside! After I tossed the keys to Shujun, I gripped the baseball bat and turned back to watch the top of the stairs warily. Seeing as wed already gotten this far, there was nothing to worry about even if the Muscle Man suddenly came chasing us. Given how slowly he moved, I would have enough time to whack him with the bat before making a run for it. The sound of the door opening behind me made me even more relieved. Compared to the previous apocalypse, this time around, I had a family, a ce to live, and even arge amount of supplies, so it really wasnt too bad. Now if Jiang Shutian could justC Ahh! I looked back sharply and saw a dark shadow pounce on Shujun. My heart skipped a beat at the sight and I immediately rushed forward, swinging down the baseball bat. But the bat was caught in one hand and his target switched from Shujun to me. A pair of blood-red eyes fixated on me. His face, with its pointed cheekbones and a long jawbone, was alreadypletely inhuman and closer to being bat-like, and there was even a fair amount of ck hair growing on his face. Lin-b! A chill swept over me. I yanked hard, dragging him from Shujun, and flung him to one side together with the baseball bat. At the same time, I yelled, Junjun, go inside! Quick! With strength I didnt know I had, I gave a terrific shove, and Shujun crashed into Uncle and Auntie, the three of them falling through the doorway. Just as I was about to follow, I caught sight of Shujun opening her mouth in terror. She didnt even have the time to form her words, but I already knew what she wanted to say. Something heavy struck my back and painnced through my shoulder C the agony of ws burrowing into flesh. Shujuns eyes were filled with terror and fear, but overriding those feelings was concern. In the end, she actually crawled up to her feet, wanting to dash over to me. I mmed the door shut on her terrified gaze and immediately bolted the door. This was the only door in the house that could be locked from the outside, and this was also why I had ced the chainsaw in the basement; if someone bolted the door shut from the outside, we could still force our way out with the chainsaw. But even though there was a chainsaw behind that door, the supplies were in such aplete mess that it wasnt something that could be found at a moments notice. The Muscle Man be damned! I shouted at the door, Dont open the door! Junjun, promise me, dont you ever open that door, you hear me?! The pain in my shoulder grew more and more intense. I looked around and was immediately struck by a foul odor. He was opening his mouth to bite down on my neck, and I barely managed to stop him by grabbing his lower jaw. If I really had gotten bitten on the neck by that mouth of teeth, then I really would have ended up being a meal in Lin-bs belly. I struggled to throw him off, hoping that on the off chance Id be able to rush into the basement, but both his ws had a vice-like grip on my shoulder, the sharp nails digging down deep into the flesh. In addition, he had both legs wrapped around my waist, so I couldnt get him off no matter how hard I tried. At this point, the pain was so overwhelming it almost drowned out my ability to think. My breathing had be difficult, and I knew at that very moment that I was on the verge of passing out. Getting a firm grip on his head, I slowly took the stairs up, my consciousness growing fuzzier by the moment. I really had no idea how I found the willpower to keep walking on and on C even in my past life, I wasnt anywhere as resolute as I was now. Once I reached the living room, I kicked the sofa forcefully. Even if I was going to die, there was no way in hell was I going to let things go the way these two bastards wanted. At the very least, I was taking one of them down with me! The Muscle Man let loose a roar, and to my surprise, Lin-b seemed scared of the Muscle Man. Upon hearing the roar, he instantly dropped from my body and squirreled back down the stairs toward the basement. A chill had descended on my body and even my lips were so cold that my teeth couldnt stop chattering. Resigned to my fate, I waited for the Muscle Man to spring up and rip me to shreds, but amazingly, he didnt do so. He just turned over and continued sleeping. Seeing that death wasnting this way, I could only drag my feet toward the corridor behind me, enter the room closest to the basement, and close the door C I didnt even have the strength to shove something over to block the door C then I copsed directly onto the bed. Slowly, everything melded into a blur. Lin-b was guarding the entrance to the basement, so there was no way in for me, and as for my current condition That fucking nurse! And that mother-fucking Lin-b! I must be burning up with a fever? My head felt like it was splitting open, my cheeks were hot but my body felt icy. This body was originally very weak in the first ce, and if not for the ck fog, I probably wouldnt be able to get up. In fact, I was rather surprised I even woke up again C this Jiang Shuyus constitution was quite something. The thirst was too much for me, so even if I was as weak as a kitten, I absolutely had to get up to find something to drink. Levering up my body, I discovered that this room seemed to belong to Lin-b. Fortunately, the supplies from before were still here, otherwise Id be better off bashing out my own brains rather than starving to death and turning into an aberrant, though having said that, there was no baseball bat anywhere to be seen! I practically inhaled three cans of drinks. The fact of the matter was, there werent all that many supplies in the room C just a box of drinks, a gallon-sized bottle of water, a dozen odd cans, as well as a few packs of candy and cookies. Theoretically, I was supposed to ration my supplies, but judging from the current state of my body, it was possible I wouldnt even live to see the sunrise tomorrow, so there was little point in saving up on the supplies. I might as well just replenish a little bit more water to see if I could get better. After king my thirst, I looked down to check the wounds on my shoulder. There were ten puncture holes, but while there wasnt much blood, the wound looked unclean. If it got infected, Id probably die. I dug out the medicine box and sshed on disinfectant like it was free. It stung so badly I almost screamed, and my mind, originally muddled from the fever, cleared instantly. After disinfecting the wound, I carelessly swallowed a bunch of anti-inmmatory pills and painkillers. Then, hauling my leaden body along, I barely managed to move a table to block off the door. As for the rest, I gave up. I really didnt have the strength to move any more heavy things if I had to do it without making a sound. Taskspleted, Iy on the bed, so tired I almost couldnt open my eyes, but the headache kept me from sleeping, so I could only let my thoughts wander. In the previous life, I was ripped to shreds, and in this life, Id die from a fever. Comparatively speaking, this was still a better death, except there was no chance of turning into an aberrant when I was torn to bits, whereas the same did not apply if I died from a fever. If she saw that I had turned into an aberrant, I wonder how sad Shujun would be, and if Jiang Shutian came back, he would definitely be so pissed off hed tear both Muscle Man and Lin-b apart with his own two hands. Now I could only hope that Junjun and Auntie wouldnte out to find me, I hoped that Uncle could make a full recovery, I hoped Jiang Shutian woulde back Shit! Jiang Shuyu, just how much do you love your family? Why is it that, even with another person on the inside, I cant help but love them and worry about them even on the brink of death? Id originally thought to die before the twenty-first, yet, now, I didnt want to die; I really hated the idea of dying. Junjun Dg Tears kept trickling down my cheeks, and for some reason, a lot of images shed through my mind. Most were of Dg and Junjun, the asional shots of him, and also of my mother, who died during the early stages of the apocalypse. Guan Weijun, Jiang Shuyu; the memories of these two people meshed together, and at that moment, I truly had no idea who I was. I lifted my head to look at the photos hanging high above, the only things left of the father and mother I knew so well. Surrounding me were murmurs and whisperings, broken only by the clear sound of my little sisters sobs. Looking around, I saw Dg speaking with the adults, hisplexion awful. Mimei didnt dare to go over to him, so I walked over to give her a hug. As I listened to Mimeis crying, unknowingly, tears started to well up in my eyes, and I began to cry alongside her. Dg finally came over. At seventeen, he was already very tall, and his arms were long enough to wrap around both of us, letting us cry in his embrace. But Dg himself fought to keep a stony expression and refused to let a single tear fall from his eyes. Xiao Yu, you mustnt cry anymore after this. You need to help Dg protect Shujun Xiao Yu? So these are Jiang Shuyus memories? I really couldnt figure it out. Am I really Guan Weijun, a woman who has taken over Jiang Shuyus body? My fever zed on,pletely scrambling my thoughts. Following that, the times when I regained consciousness were few and far between, and perhaps the one good thing out of all this was that there wasnt muchmotion in the house. Even Muscle Man was quiet, his digestion needing much longer than I had anticipated. Day three of the apocalypse. I lifted my head to look at myself in the mirror. Even without much rationing of food and water, although I made an effort to eat more, I was still skeletally thin. My eyes, originally quiterge to begin with, became frighteningly huge against my sunken cheekbones, and I actually started to resemble that bat-like Lin-b. At this rate, I might really turn into that kind of aberrant when I died. Pulling off the bandages around my shoulder, I was immediately assaulted by the smell of rot. My wound was infected I needed antibiotics, but there was none to be found, not even in the basement. You needed a doctors prescription for that kind of stuff. Otherwise, there was no easy way to get a hold of it. Guess I wont have to worry about starving to death. This body of mine definitely wouldntst until the day I ran out of food and starved. I started rooting around for belts. Lin-bs collection of belts was much smaller than Jiang Shuyus; there were only two to be found, just enough for one for each leg. So I tied down each leg like I didst time, only Lin-bs bed didnt have any railings like the hospital bed I could tie them to. I ended up adding a finishing touch by ripping clothes into long strips to tie around the foot of the bed, so I could anchor my belts on them. Another day passed. As I quietlyy on the bed, I had the feeling that, if I closed my eyes this time, I really wouldnt be opening them ever again C or perhaps I should say, whatever opened its eyes wouldnt be me anymore. At least I was able to save Junjun, Uncle, and Auntie. I aplished so much more in these four days following the apocalypse in this life aspared to the ten years in my previous life. Dg,e back. Junjun can only rely on you for the remaining times toe. I stared at the ceiling, thinking about my loved ones down in the basement below. I absolutely refused to die, so I struggled to keep my eyes open until the veryst instant. Just as my eyelids grew so heavy that I almost couldnt keep them open, the moment before they fully closed, I suddenly heard a bunch of noises. No way, Junjun and the others cant being out? I got so agitated that I immediately woke up again, and concentrated hard on listening. Footsteps, sounds of what sounded likebat, and someone calling out names Shuyu! Are Uncle and Auntie calling me? No, hurry up and go back to the basement, hurryC Shujun! I started. It cant be Where are you! Answer me! That shouting voice sounded close to the brink of insanity. I suddenly realized who it was and a tremor ran through my body. Gathering all the strength in my body, I yelled with all my might, DgC The calling stopped, and I started doubting whether I was hearing things right before death. But the next moment, the entire door was smashed in, and even the table I had pushed up against the door was blown away to one side by the incredible force. One person rushed to the bedside, looked down at me, and stiffened. And that face that hadnt even shed a tear at his parents funeral crumbled. Shuyu Jiang Shutian lowered his head, stroking my cheeks with shaking hands, and his voice actually trembled as he spoke, threatening to turn into sobs. Although I couldnt see it, I knew that I must look dreadful. I had already looked like a skeleton yesterday, and now I was on the verge of dying, so who knew what I looked like. Perhaps I was even scarier than an aberrant. I worked my lips and tongue, but I couldnt make any sound. What? He hurriedly leaned in close to listen. I struggled to force out the words, Basement, Junjun. He immediately said, Dont worry, Yunqian is checking it out. I rxed. Everything was alright now. We had Dg, and we had supplies. The apocalypse had nothing on us Shuyu! I snapped out of my reverie and looked at Dg. Strange, he is right by my side, yet his voice sounds like itsing from very far away. Dgs frantic expression made me feel slightly bemused. The Dg who has always been taciturn and stern is freaking out? He bellowed to one side, Bring the antibiotics! Right now! Shuyu, wake up, youve got to stay awake, ShuyuC Volume 1, 4: I am Guan Weijun

Volume 1, Chapter 4: I am Guan Weijun

Trantor: Elkin When I next opened my eyes, there was only one thought in my mind. Jiang Shuyu isnt just a healthy youngd. He has to be an athletic champion. No, maybe he is basically immortal? By the bed, Shujun burst into tears, once again crying so hard that there wasnt a trace of the pretty girl left. Yet the only thought in my mind was, Just how tough is Jiang Shuyu? This is simply unreal! To begin with, even though he had been in aa after being knocked on the head by a tile, he was able tost through the moment of judgment with a wasted body like that. Next, even though he hadnt had time to recover, he fought a life-and-death match with the nurse, the nurses boyfriend, and Lin-b, suffered ten stab wounds to the shoulder, andsted four days with an infected wound before he finally got antibiotics. And he still isnt dead yet? In my previous life, Id seen no small number of people dying within the span of a few days just from an idental cut on their hand getting infected! Before I could even get a chance to speak to Shujun, she dashed out like a lunatic, screaming, rgs awake! rgs awake! What followed was pretty much identical to my first day in this world, in that a heap of people rushed in and stared at me fixedly. Jiang Shutian reached out, as though meaning to pat my shoulder, but halfway through the motion, he pulled his hand back before he actually patted me. My guess was that he was worried that if he even so much as touched me, his younger brothers shoulder would probably shatter. Id also just realized my hand looked like a shriveled stick, and it didnt seem like I could take another beating. I really had to take better care of this body. Shuyu, youve done very well. The first thing Jiang Shutian did was praise me, but his expression immediately darkened as he scolded me, But youre pushing yourself too hard! You almost He stopped there, unwilling to finish the sentence. I smiled a little. There were a thousand things I wanted to say, to the point where I could literally grab my big brother and little sister and burst into tears. But I absolutely had to say something that totally ruined the mood. Dg, I need the bathroom Jiang Shutian started, and then burst intoughter. All right, Dg will take you there. I balked, but just as I was about to protest, I gave up. In any case, there was no way I could do my business by myself in my current condition, and besides, having anyone other than Dg take me to the bathroom didnt seem any better. Dg picked me up in a princess carry, causing a million conflicting feelings to rise in my heart. When I had been a woman, Id never gotten this kind of treatment. Instead, it was only when Id turned into a man that I got my first princess carry. This was bothical and tragic at the same time. When I was set on the toilet, I stared fixedly at Jiang Shutian. He looked back at me and asked in a puzzled manner, Is there something wrong? Didnt you need the toilet? I replied honestly, Dg, please leave. If youre around, I cant go. Jiang Shutianughed. What do you mean, you cant go? Didnt the nurse watch you go before? There, he suddenly stopped, and his tone changedpletely as he demanded with a furious undertone, Dont tell me she was just letting you go by yourself? No, she was very professional. Although I hated the nurses and her boyfriends guts, I wasnt shallow enough to badmouth someone who was so dead that she was chow in someone elses belly. As a nurse, she really had been very professional and stuck to her job. It was just that Dg and the nurse werent the same. Many people would be able to pee in front of a nurse. But would you dare to pee in front of a stern, invincible general wielding a huge sword? I dont know about you, but anyway, I couldnt. I could feel chillsing from down there! Whats more, this general was really hot! I had been a woman until just a few days back, dammit, and even though a woman who survived through the apocalypse for ten years was little different from a man, no way was I peeing in front of a hot guy. There should be a limit on how thick-skinned I had to be! Take your time. Theres no rush. Dg sat on the rim of the bathtub, speaking in an unhappy tone. The way you are now, Im worried youll copse after just one visit to the bathroom! This worry wasnt baseless. At the moment, I was skeletal to the point of being like a withered branch, so dry that even the smallest me would set me alight. So I could only give up the notion of making Dg leave. I tried not to look at himDg, why do you look so imposing even when seated on top of a bathtub, one leg crossed over the other?! And if you have to cross your legs, dont do it like those magazine models! Using the shortest possible time, I openly relieved myself of my biological needs. Thankfully, it was only a pee pee. If it was a poo poo, then I think I simply wouldnt be able to do it, no matter how hard I tried Within five days, I absolutely had to recover to the point where I could go to the bathroom by myself. Otherwise, Id definitely be constipated. I wonder if we bought somexatives when we were buying out the pharmacy? Dg suddenly gave a faint smile and said as he shook his head, What are you thinking about? Youve always thought of the most random things, and even Shujun says your expressions are more interesting than any storybook. I started, once again reminded of how simr I was to Jiang Shuyu. I was carried back to the bed. Unable to fall asleep but unable to do anything else by myself, I could only gaze around at my surroundings. As I did, I discovered that I was in apletely new room, or at least in neither the room Id almost died in nor my own roomalthough that was probably because after three of us had shoved everything against the door, the ce had be aplete mess. All four walls were covered invender wallpaper, so this was probably Shujuns room. But I was still resting on the same hospital bed, so it had probably been moved over from my original room. It was true that it was much more convenient to have someone as badly injured as I was lying on a hospital bed. At least it makes drinking chicken soup much easier but why is there still chicken soup? I racked my brains but couldnt think of an answer. There was no electricity whatsoever, so you couldnt use a freezer. Even if you had bought some chicken beforehand, wouldnt it have rotted by now? Theyre vacuum packed. Junjun held onto a bowl, feeding me as she exined with an innocent expression. When we were buying things at the supermarket, I took lots of ingredient packs for chicken soup and chicken stock. I was thinking that no matter what happened, I could at least continue to feed it to you so you could get better quicker. I have to hand it to you, girl! After ten years of the apocalypse, this is the first time Ive had so much chicken soup that Ive be scared of the stuff! Well done, Shujun, Jiang Shutian ruffled Mimeis hair. Shujun gave a brilliant smileshe probably very rarely got praised by the stern and taciturn Dg. Dg, whyd you only get back now? I was genuinely curious. If hed listened to me from the beginning, he should have been home ages ago. But if he hadnt gotten on a flight back at all, he wouldnt be here either. After the twenty-first, things like nes would still be able to take off for a short period of time, but there was no way any ordinary person could get on one of those, unless Dg was someone even more impressive than I thought Dont stop. Keep eating. Ill tell you what happened. I nodded and frowned, letting Shujun continue to feed me chicken soup porridge. After I promised you Id be back, I immediately booked tickets. But getting ne tickets sost-minute wasnt easy, so the flight I caught would only arrive at around six in the evening of the twentieth. By then, the fog had already started forming, so the ne refused tond. Here, anger seeped into his voice as he continued, The announcement said that theyd have to wait until the fog dissipated beforending. I called over a flight attendant to say that the fog would only get thicker and thicker, but they refused to listen. It was only at eight oclock, when the ne was almost out of fuel, that those idiots were finally forced tond. By then, the fog was so thick you couldnt see the runway, and the ne almost crashed. I see. My heart hammered furiously. Thank god they didnt end up crashing. Dg looked at me, saying, You said you needed antibiotics and guns. We couldnt bring those onto the ne, so I only acquired them after I was back. By then, the fog was so thick that everyone started realizing something was wrong. I couldnt find my usual contacts, so it took quite a while before I got a hold of those things. So it was my fault! But the antibiotics saved my life, so it is really hard to say whether it was a good thing or bad thingwait, if Dg had been home to start with, I wouldnt have needed antibiotics in the first ce! I looked closely at Dg. Previously, he had been in casual wear most of the time he was home, and he would usually wear a suit when heading out. But now, he was dressedpletely differently: he was in camouge fatigues and had guns in holsters strapped to his sides and back. He was wearing military boots and even had a knife inserted in each. A Dg like this could knock the brains out of the nurse using just his fist, and with a baseball bat, hed be able to finish off the nurses boyfriend and Lin-b as well. He wouldnt even need to use a gun! I almost dug my own grave this timeDg is much more critical than any gun or antibiotic out there! Dg handed me a napkin, wanting me to wipe my mouth, but seeing as I was struggling to lift my hand, he simply wiped off the grease at the side of my mouth himself. He looked down at my hand, continuing in a voice heavy with self-criticism, Its all because I was too careless. By the time wepleted the transactions, the fog was so thick we couldnt see the road. And worse, when we touched that fog, our skin would start stinging. At the time, I wasnt sure if the fog was poisonous, and we were still in the city. Normally, it would take a little over an hour to get home by car, but because we couldnt see the road, it would probably have taken over three hours. And if the fog was poisonous, we wouldnt be able tost it out until we got home. I nodded. Before the moment of judgment, the ck fog was quite weakitd just sting a little. So I headed back to think of a way to get some gas masks and oxygen tanks, Dg said calmly, and those two were even harder to get a hold of. Of course. Everyone had realized by that point that the fog was abnormal, so of course everyone would want to keep their gas masks and oxygen tanks to themselves. Therefore, it was only to be expected that no one would be willing to sell them off. When I was in a standoff with the other party, something unexpected happened. Someone wanted to take the goods by force and started shooting, and with that, it broke out into a gunfight. Beside me, Shujun gasped, almost shoving the porridge right up my nose. Shutian frowned, reminding her, Junjun, be careful. Dont make your rg choke. He cant take any more shocks to his system. Sorry! Shujun looked at me apologetically and gently wiped the porridge from my nose with a napkin. I hastily reassured her. No way am I that weak. Chokings not that big of a deal, and besides, that gunfight was enough to scare the wits out of me, let alone Junjun. Jiang Shutian said discontentedly, Theres a limit to how much you should spoil Shujun. Good thing shes a sensible girl. Otherwise, youd have spoiled her rotten. Huh? I spoiled Mimei? Isnt it you whos spoiling your younger siblings rotten? Seeing my expression, Jiang Shutian hesitated, but still asked in the end, Shuyu, you still dont remember anything? Only a few scenes, not many, and nothing to link them together, I replied honestly, but I wasnt sure if those scenes were what I remembered, or simply the memories residing in Jiang Shuyus body. However, Jiang Shutian rxed a little at that, and said in a consoling tone, The fact that you remember something means youre recovering. It shouldnt be long before you remember everything, so dont rush yourself. I remained silent. If I really did remember everything, then who would that make me? And what happened after the gunfight? I really didnt want to think about that question. The more I thought about it, the more confused I became, so I changed the subject. I didnt want to participate in the gunfight. But I absolutely had to get a hold of the gas masks and oxygen tanks, so I spent more time than I wanted there. Jiang Shutian didnt borate on how he had managed to get the gas masks and oxygen tanks in the end, nor did I ask. As for Shujun, she probably didnt even realize. By the time we got back to the car, it was already past midnight. He spoke calmly before pausing there. But everyone knew what followed: after midnight, the moment of judgment descended, so there was no way he was making it back home. The next morning, I was the first to wake up. The others also woke up one by one, but there were two in the team who didnt seem right Jiang Shutian hesitated, then, seeing our expressions, confessed, We killed them. Dg, how many people did you bring? I asked curiously. Including myself, a total of eight. Only two out of eight turned into aberrantsthat was a really low ratio. It really goes to show how strong these people are! Shuyu, in your dreams, how many people turned into monsters? Half. I lifted my head and said with absolute seriousness, Dg, half of humanity turns into aberrants, and animals and nts turn, too. This was the apocalypse not just of humanity, but of all living things on Earth. Unexpectedly, Jiang Shutian didnt look too shocked. Then again, when I thought about it, in the past four days of his journey homeit was only a little more than an hour by car, but after the end of the world, a little more than an hour was more than enough to kill a person a hundred times overthere must have been an unthinkable number of dangers lying in wait along the way. The roads in the city were packed with cars. When the ck fog fell, many people wanted to run away. The roads were crammed, so there was no way we could drive out of the city. We gave up on the car and ended up walking to the edge of the city where we looked for another car to drive. On the way, we encountered quite a lot of aberrants. Dg chose to use the same descriptor as me this time. That dyed us some more, so we came backte. Sorry. He described it like it was nothing, but both Shujun and I were stunned. Three aberrants almost killed us, we who were safely tucked away at home and prepared for every possible contingency, whereas Dg and his lot had been out in the open, walking along roads filled with aberrants! Then again, Dg had guns, whereas I only had a baseball bat. Dg hadpanions who were veterans at fighting, whereas I only had Mimei, Uncle, and AuntieI tried to reassure myself that it wasnt because I was so useless that even though Id traveled across universes, I was still worse off than the original inhabitants of the world. Whatre you thinking about? Dg ruffled my hair, saying, Dont think too much. What you need most right now is rest. Dg will take of everything, so dont worry. Uncle is okay? I suddenly remembered. Uncle was injuredhe couldnt have gotten infected, could he? Dgughed. Hes fine. Aunties taking care of him. Uncles doing much better than you are. Hearing that, I rxed, and chatted peacefully with Mimei until I drifted off at some point in the conversation. During the next few days, I lived like a pig. Eat, sleep, eat, sleepI didnt even take a single step out of Shujuns room. As for Shujun, doting on her was the right course after allshe spent every day taking care of me, attending to my every need. With just one meaningful look from me, she could tell whether I was hungry, thirsty, or needed the bathroom. Junjun, my beautiful, cute, understanding caretaker who doesnt expect anything from me! If I was a man, Id marry you for sure! Wait, I really am a manbut your brother. Disappointment What are you thinking about again? G, what kind of expression is that! Shujun couldnt stopughing. I said pitifully, I was thinking that, because Im your brother, I cant make you my wife. Junjun, tell me, do you think I could actually be adopted? Shujun rolled her eyes, remarking, With your looks, especially your eyes that are almost identical to mine, if were not siblings, then youve got to be my dad! I wailed, No, its hopeless! Whats hopeless? Dg just happened to walk in at this point, and his expression darkened, obviously not amused by those words. I quickly exined, I was saying me and Junjun are real siblings, so its hopeless. I cant marry her. At that, Jiang Shutians expression lightened a little, and he grumbled, Honestly, youve been kicking up a fuss about how you want to marry your sister ever since you were little. Be careful; she may really end up not being able to marry because of your fussing. My expression changed, and Shujun quickly asked, rg, whats the matter? Are you hurting somewhere? I forced a smile and changed the subject. Im fine. Its just, can I leave the room for a stroll? Its been really dull cooped up in this room. Dg wavered for a moment, but under the beseeching gazes of Shujun and me, he ended up agreeing to my request. All right, but you need to sit in the wheelchair. Here, Ill carry you over. I nodded obediently, letting Dg carry me to the wheelchair and push me out of the room. Guan Weijun, Jiang Shuyuthese two people were sharing more and more simrities. As to what the truth was, I didnt dare to think about it. In the living room, four people were loungingzily on the sofas, including one who was reading. That was someone Id seen before, Dgs secretary, Zheng Xing. If he is a secretary, then I am a man Ahem, I forgot again that I am a man. The other three were unfamiliar faces. Also, Ceng Yunqian wasnt anywhere to be seen. But they all had one thing inmon. They were dressed in camougebat gear and armed with guns and knives. I quietly asked, Dg, you dont run a designpany, do you? Jiang Shutian paused for a moment before saying, No, I run a mercenary troop for hire. He stopped, then added, You knew that, originally. That lie was only for Shujun, Uncle, and Auntie. This made Shujun so unhappy she started pouting. Sitting on the armchair is Xiao Sha. The blond guy is Cain. The girls Lily. Jiang Shutian said a little awkwardly, Youve seen them in the past. Of the four, Xiao Sha looked to be the youngest, possibly only in his early twenties. But he couldnt be that young. Those eyes of his were too old for that. He was quite a cold guy. When Dg introduced him, he just twitched the corner of his mouth as a greeting. The blond Cain was a foreigner and seemed much more expressive. When it was his turn for introductions, he didnt just wave but even smiled brightly. Those white teeth of his almost blinded me. He was your stereotypical hot foreigner. The girls Lily This is a little ambiguous! For a moment, I almost doubted Dgs Chinese. The woman was your typical fighter typebronzed skin over toned muscleand she even had pronounced biceps on her arms. She looked much sturdier that I did, who had evolved from a withered twig to a thin stick. Even so, she didnt look excessively muscr, just very fit and sensual. Well, you look like youve finally gotten a little more flesh on those bones of yours. Cain walked over and pinched my arm, saying, But youre still skinny as hell, though better than when I first saw you. You looked like a mummy at the time, and that almost drove Boss nuts. What do you mean, a mummy?! Jiang Shutian snapped, My brothers alive and well! Lily interjected from one side, Thats right, just a few more days, and hell be back to being that handsome boy again. Remember to let Jijie give you a smooch then! I was a little surprised. This Lily was obviously speaking up to smooth things over. I didnt expect someone who looked like a warrior queen to have such an unqueenly character. Then can I choose to give Junjun a few kisses? Cain said with a grin. No! I eximed. Sis-con, harrumphed Xiao Sha to the side. Why does that feel like a stab to my chest? Im no sis-con. I like menwait! Doesnt it seem worse to like men now? Holy shit! The whole sexual orientation thing finally struck me. Previously, I was so preupied with the apocalypse and how to survive, that things like sexual orientation took the back seat. Getting fed and staying warm took priority over lewd thoughts! But now I had Dg, no worries about my health, a whole basement full of supplies, and no need to fret about shelter. So I had leisure for the whole issue about my sexual preferences to hit me. Even though I have a mans body, I have the soul of a woman. Just what kind of partner am I supposed to find? Dont tell me I have to be gay? And with my womanly tendencies, Id probably end up on the bottom No! Absolutely not! Id seen too many women getting raped in my previous life. At the beginning of the apocalypse, women were even begging strong men to sleep with them in exchange for supplies in order to survive. It was so humiliating youd almost rather die. Now that Ive finally gotten a chance to start over, no one is going to top me, be it a guy or a girl! Mind made up, I looked up resolutely, only to see everyone staring at me. The big brother looked dismayed. The little sister was stifling herughter as she said, rg, youre daydreaming again. I flushed red, spinning my wheelchair so my back was to everyone, and blurted the first excuse that came to mind. Ineedabath, bye. Are you nning to bathe or kill yourself? Dg asked, disgruntled. Even standing up is difficult for you, much less bathing. Ill help you wash up, and besides, I need a shower too. I smell too strongly, which isnt suitable for securing more supplies outside. I was just looking for an excuse to escape. I had no choice but to confess, I dont need a bath. And besides, waters very precious now. How can I use it for a bath? Dg said ndly, Dont worry, just dont waste too much. There are quite a few water tanks close by, while there arent many of us. I suddenly remembered that this was the suburbs. Almost all the ces around here were standalone houses, many of which had water tanks on their roofs. However, you just had to have one aberrant in the household, and the likelihood was slim that anyone would survive. Although there was lots of looting and robberies after the apocalypse, most of the households in the suburbs were families, so you only needed one death to wipe out the entire family, which left very few survivors. As for the people in the cities, they were pretty much trapped. There were very few like Dg who could make their way out of the city. Besides, there were many more supplies in the city, so it wasnt likely that anyone would prefer to target the suburbs. I was hesitating, but when I heard Dg remark, Everyone else has washed up, so its just you left, I caved in. No one would want to stink of sweat and blood by choice if they could bathe. Once we were in the bathroom, I remembered once again, with a jolt, that I was still a woman on the inside! Letting a strong, hot hunk help her bathe is a steamy dream that every woman hasif my body was also a womans, then that would be very steamy indeed, but I was currently a man. To say nothing of the fact that I was this mighty mans younger brother, who was as skinny as a stick! Even if I took a page from those fujoshi friends in my old world to reduce my embarrassment at being washed clean by someone else, I only had to see my own body to shatter the daydream of beautiful love between handsome hunks and pretty boys. My body was in an unbearably awful state. I was bony, joints and bones protruding under skin, and my shoulder was heavily bandaged front to back. Countless bruises, scratches, and wounds of all sizes dotted me from head to toe, and Id even lost two fingernails from I-dont-know-which fight. Jiang Shutian gently supported me to the stool and rested my back against the bathtub. Only once he was sure I wouldnt slip off did he start using a towel wet with soapy water to carefully scrub my skin. He first dabbed lightly at my facethis face of mine was all sharp angles and edges, propped up by a neck as thin as a chopstickthen a chest so skinny that my ribcage stuck out During the entire process, Jiang Shutians brows were tightly knit, his expression so dark it was like the end of the world hadeand yet again Id used a bad description. It really is the end of the world now! Im just a bit thin, thats all, I consoled him, After a few more days of eating, Ill put on more weight. Hearing that, he said in a heavy voice, You used to be an athlete, and ever since high school, all sorts of athletic clubs mored for you to join. You even mentioned once that you had a headache over which club to join in university. Bullseye. Just as Id guessed. Last time, when you were knocked out by the tile, I was very sad, but I also knew that there was no way of anticipating that kind of ident. But this time, you had warned me beforehand, yet I still wasnt in time to protect you two! Jiang Shutian ground his teeth, full to the brim with self-directed rage, and said hoarsely, If it werent for you, this entire family would have been wiped out! I said honestly, That might be true for everyone else, but Dg, you would have been able to survive on the other continent for sure. Jiang Shutian flinched, and amazingly, a hint of fear crept into his voice as he said, I was almost trapped on the other continent, never able to return, never able to know what became of the two of you. Unsurprisingly, Dg was able to guess that in this situation, he simply wouldnt have been able to return from cia to Meisia. Actually, I regretted telling you. I was worried that Id gotten you killed because the ne crashed, or you couldnt make it home from the airport, or you were trapped by the aberrants or something. Dont! You did well, Jiang Shutian said sternly. Dont worry about that. The moment theres any danger, just tell Dg. You dont have to worry about my safety. Just like you said, Ill be able to survive, and Ill definitely keep you two alive and well. Even if its the end of the world, nothing will happen to our family. Dg will protect you! Protect Unknowingly, tears welled up in my eyes. In my previous life, I had also had someone Id relied on. In the beginning, wed supported each other, but this gradually turned into a rtionship of charity and exploitation, and in the end, I had been abandoned. In this life, the person I could rely on looked even more reliable, yet the one being protected wasnt truly me. If he ever found out the truth, I would probably still be abandoned. Jiang Shutian reached out to brush away my tears, and asked uprehendingly, Why are you crying? You will get better. Zheng Xing is a field doctor and he says youre still young, so you will recover quickly. You just need to rest for a while and there wont be any aftereffects. I shook my head, but the tears kepting. I really was a womanmy tears were all worthless. Im not Jiang Shuyu. I am Guan Weijun. Dg, when I was dreaming, I was a woman called Guan Weijun. I dreamed a dream that was a full ten years long. I cant remember anything about Jiang Shuyu. I cant figure out who I am. I hesitated, but in the end, I still confessed, II think Im Guan Weijun. Jiang Shutian stilled, and I painfully closed my eyes, not wishing to see his shock and rage, yet the image of him and hisrge hands reaching out to snap my slender, chopstick-like neck kept shing repeatedly in my mind. Suddenly, there came a sensation of my head being rubbed. You are my little brother, Jiang Shuyu. Im absolutely sure, if you were anyone else, Shujun and I would have discovered it. Definitely! I froze and opened my eyes to peek at Jiang Shutian. He had a resolute expression, nothing else. I said in a shaky voice, Then Guan Weijun Must be your past life! Dg said adamantly, Being knocked on the head let you remember memories from your past life! Your past life must have been a woman called Guan Weijun. Um, wait, Dg, isnt there something wrong with your logic? I didnt say anything about parallel worlds, which means my past life was in the future, and there would even be an ovep in my past and present lives right now. Dont you think thats strange? Dg, dont forget that I was the one who predicted the end of the world! Dg rebuked me, Youve always overthought things, even as a kid. And youve really gone too far this time. Just a little thing like remembering your past life after losing your memories and now youre even suspecting that you arent Shuyu. Wait, Dg, dont be so sure that that was a past life! And what do you mean just a little thing like losing my memories and remembering my past life? Are you saying memories of your past life are small trifles like losing or forgetting where you put your keys? I goggled at Dg, but he didnt seem bothered at all. If anything, he looked as though nothing serious or drastic hade out of this conversation. But, but what if I really am not Jiang Shuyu? What will you do, Dg? I still couldnt believe him, still didnt dare to believe him. If they kept treating me like I was Jiang Shuyu, and then someday they discovered that I really wasnt Jiang Shuyu, I was sure this man in front of me would change from a Dg into the Devil! If he is going to snap my neck, he should do it now. I cant bear to give my all and be betrayed again! Jiang Shutian reached out and picked me up in one smooth action, scaring the wits out of me. I thought he had decided not to snap my neck but instead fling me down to my death, but he just gently ced me into the bathtub. Shujun had specially heated up some hot water to let me bathe, and only I was getting this special treatment. The others had just taken cold showers. Youre worried I would hurt you? Jiang Shutian acutely discovered my fears. The hot water was very soothing, but I couldnt help but tremble from Dgs question. I wavered for a moment, but in the end, I nodded forcefully. Jiang Shutians expression clouded over for a moment, and then he knelt down so that he was on eye-level with me. He pledged, Shuyu, I would never hurt you or Shujun. I lifted my head to look at him, saying sharply, What if I really wasnt your younger brother, Jiang Shuyu? Jiang Shutian looked at me. Even though he was expressionless, even though he didnt have to be angry to be imposing, I stared back at him without shrinking back in the slightest. I absolutely needed to get an answer today. I didnt want to keep hiding and dodging the matter. I was growing to love this family, but at the same time, I was increasingly fearful of the day the truth woulde to light, turning this family into my enemy. Since youvee clean and told me everything, I will also promise you, I will treat you as Shuyu no matter what. That should be fine, right? With that, he ruffled my hair again and then started stripping to get washed. I goggled at Dg as his words reyed in my head, dazed. Just how stubborn is he in believing that I am Jiang Shuyu? Or does he absolutely have to have a younger brother called Jiang Shuyu? Or maybe I really am Jiang Shuyu Im so confused! When I finally managed to snap out of my reverie, a freaking stark naked man was standing right in front of me, and was even scrubbing here and there with a bar of soap. From that handsome face, down to those sexy corbones, then the swell of his chest and those powerful, firm biceps, and further down was a six pack AHHHHHHHHHH! Dont look down any further! Remember that he just said he would treat you as his younger brother no matter what! Fantasizing about your Dg while you are the younger brother Could you get any more perverted?! If Shujun knew I was having naughty thoughts about Dg, I really didnt know what shed think of mewait, why am I worried about what my little sister thinks at a time like this? Normally, Im supposed to be more worried about what Dg thinks, right? Dont tell me, Jiang Shuyu, youre a sis-con! Physically a sis-con, mentally a bro-con, I really take perverseness to a whole new level! Right now, if I liked men, Id be gay. If I liked women, Id be a lesbian. Fantasizing about my older brother, dreaming about my little sisteris there still any hope for me? Should I give up on getting therapy? I was drowsily carried back to bed, and I curled up under the nket, pretending I was dead to the world. I actually got a nosebleed while I was watching the hottie step out of the bath, scaring the living daylights out of Dg. He thought I had internal injuries, and my nonsensical exnation didnt get me anywhere, so I ended up pretending that I was in the bath for so long that I was getting a bit dizzy to divert his attention. Thats why I dont want to keep lusting after people! Shujun stared at the dizzy me with wide eyes and an open mouth, and eximed, rg, what happened? Howd you be like this after a bath? Dg beckoned her, saying, Shujun,e over. I want to tell you something. Next, Jiang Shutian actually told Shujun about all my confessions, making me almost leap out of bed to stop him. If Shujun were to look at me strangely, I wouldnt be able to take it. I still want to get along with my cute little sister! But then again, since Id already told Dg everything, I might as well get everything done and over with. It beat having things weighing down on me all the time. I am going crazy from the torture of caring about people but feeling guilty at the same time! I shifted a little and peeked out from between the nkets to spy on Dg and Mimei. Jiang Shutian asked calmly, Shujun, do you think rg has changed? Shujun frowned a little, her exquisite eyebrows knitting together briefly, and immediately retorted, Of course not! Dg, rg was hit on the head by a tile. Dont tell me you were hit as well?! Mimei, youve got guts! You actually dared to speak to Dg in such a tone. As expected from the girl who once busted a head with a bat! Just how is rg any different from before? Not long after waking up, he started calling me Junjun. And in the past few days, now that hes loosened up, hes started moring about how he wants to marry me. Hes the same as ever, so how could he not be rg? I was stunned. Thats right, why did I start calling her Junjun? In the past, I was called Guan Weijun and everyone called me Xiao Jun. So why didnt I call her Xiao Jun as well, instead of Junjun? I was doubtful. Maybe it is because this is Jiang Shuyus body, so its a reflexive action? Dont tell me I can actually start believing the story that I am just remembering things from my past life, rather than being a stray ghost that took over Jiang Shuyus body? Shujun was adamant. Its simple. rg was hit on the head, and he recovered his memories from his past life! She actually came to the same conclusion as Dg. God, the two of you really are siblings! Theres no way I could have a past life from the future that actually oveps with the present, right?! What happened to your logic? Thats what I thought, too, Jiang Shutian nodded, and then actually looked over at me, saying with a smile, Got that? Jiang Shuyu, dont pretend to be sleeping. I froze, before reluctantly peeling away the nket. rg, your crazy thoughts have reached a whole new level! Shujun berated me as she used a towel to rub my hair dry. How can there be such a great little sister in this world? I just I couldnt say it. I was still very doubtful. I could remember Guan Weijuns memories clearly, and not just the ten years after the apocalypse, but the whole thirty-five years of her life! Memories before the apocalyptic days were faint, but that was because the memories of the apocalyptic world were simply too vivid. As for Jiang Shuyu, I only remember bits and pieces, not to mention they were all from a dream, so how could I possibly think of myself as Jiang Shuyu?! Suddenly, Shujun jumped into my arms. She hadnt used a lot of force but the impact still made my chest hurt. But I didnt care in the slightest and hugged her, instantly filled with some sort of peace and satisfaction. With a catch in her voice, Shujun begged me, rg, dont think too much. Just focus on getting better! Youre so, so skinny right now. It hurts when I look at you. All right, Ill stop thinking, I immediately gave my honest response. As expected, we needed Shujun for this, Dg said wryly. Honestly, you just really want to marry Mimei, dont you? Guilty as charged: even though I am her older brother with a womans instincts, if I really have the chance, I really do want to marry my little Mimei, Shujun. This kind of thinking is simply too crazy! Boohoo, Jiang Shuyu, youre an epic pervert whos a sis-con! I made a face, unsure of what to do with my continual thoughts of Dg fantasies and marrying Mimei. Dg nced at the clock and said, Go to sleep. Im going to switch shifts with Yunqian. Shes still on guard duty in the attic. At that, I was suddenly reminded that this wasnt the time to fantasize about your Dg or think about whether to marry your Mimei. It was the end of the world, and what was most important now was to strengthen yourself! And in this apocalyptic world, being a sis- and bro-con was peanutspared to the perverts out there! Wait, Dg, what date is it today? Jiang Shutian paused mid-step to reply, June twenty-ninth. No way, its tomorrow?! I said quickly, G, dont go yet. Sit down and listen. On the thirtieth, something big will happen! Dg pondered for a moment and asked, Are you tired? Do you have energy to go to the living room to tell everyone? I said slowly, Dg, you told them I predicted the apocalypse? Will I be treated as some kind of demon? Jiang Shutian nodded, saying, Dont worry, you know about the apocalypse, so you are the most critical asset. I see. In that case, even though Im currently like a stick and am only useful as firewood, everyones number one goal will still be to protect mehow can that be? Shujun is the most important one! I tugged at Shujun, deciding that I would make her follow wherever I went. Once in the living room, Dg assembled everyone, and even Ceng Yunqian came downstairs from watch duty. Everyone was focused on me. I didnt know how much they believed in what I said, but if anyone had doubts, those doubts were well hidden. I thought things over and decided to start exining from the ck fog. The ck fog of the moment of judgment will turn those people who cant make the cut into aberrants. But its got its perks as well. Although the aberrants are very strong, the people who survive will be strong, too. Looks of surprise crossed peoples faces. Around the tenth day of the apocalypse, everyone will begin to find that their bodies have changed, and you will even begin developing special powers. Jiang Shutian asked for more detail. What kinds of special powers? Its hard to say, I said with a little frustration. There are all sorts of powers and no one really knows where these powerse from. There are some theories that say these are powers we subconsciously want. So tonight, I want everyone to think hard about what kinds of powers you want. Maybe thatll be of some use. Thats great! Cain said delightedly, Then we dont have to be afraid of those things anymore. I shook my head. Actually, no. In the first ten days of the apocalypse, even though the aberrants have killed many people, many people were actually killed only because they didnt react in time. The aberrants arent very strong right now, just a little better than the average human. But after the tenth day, even though we will have grown stronger, so will the aberrants. If this body wasnt so weak from waking up after a month of bed rest, just with my ten years of experience after the apocalypse, I would have been able to use a baseball bat to leisurely deal with the three aberrants Well, that said, I might have needed another way of handling the Muscle Man. But if thats the strongest aberrants ever got, then it wouldnt be the apocalypse. Dg asked heavily, You said that it gets bad after the tenth day of the apocalypse. Are you saying that the aberrants evolve faster than us? I thought about it and replied, Its not that they evolve faster, but that they dont have any morals or principles guiding them. Humans fear aberrants and want to run away in fear. But aberrants arent scared of humans, and only prey thats stronger than them triggers their animalistic instinct to run away. Putting it another way, normal people are scared of wolves, and wolves are scared of death. Aberrants are like wolves that dont fear death. How could they be anything but vicious? And many aberrants will have eaten a lot of food within the first ten days of the apocalypse. So at the beginning, they will be much stronger than us. Dg delved in further, asking, What do you mean by food? People who survived the ck fog. Everyonesplexions changed. You need to eat humans to grow stronger? Dg frowned deeply. Even though he was made of stern stuff, the idea of needing to eat people didnt sit well with him. I shook my head and said, Its aberrants that need to eat flesh and blood. No, let me correct myself. They dont just have to eat humans. They can eat animals or nts, anything that survived the ck fog. They eat absolutely anything thats alive. But we humans are evolving down a different branch from the aberrants, and eating flesh or blood doesnt do anything for us. Non-aberrants have no way of converting flesh and blood into the energy needed for evolution. Everyone rxed with looks of relief mingled with pity. I watched them quietly, keeping quiet on certain things, and just reminded them, So, starting from tomorrow, aberrants wont be the same as before. Dont take them lightly. rg, are you done? Go back to rest! Shujun said as she looked at me anxiously. Perhaps fatigue had crept across my face at some point, worrying her greatly. Then again, having spoken so much, I really did feel a bit tired. Shujun, take your rg back to his room. Dg didnt even wait for me to say Im done talking before directly ordering Shujun to take me back. Then, he turned to the others and said, Everyone will reconvene in the living room tomorrow to see if anyone has the special powers Xiao Yu talked about. Once I was back in my room and lying t on my back in bed, I got a little uneasy. In my previous life, Guan Weijun only had vision that was a little better than most, and together with her decent skills with guns, she made a pretty good sharpshooter, but that was it. That little bit of power really wasnt of much use in this apocalyptic world. I really hoped I could get better powers in this life, but I didnt really have high expectations with a body as frail as this Go to sleep, rg. Dont keep thinking about things. Shujun stroked my hair lightly, like she was soothing a kid into sleepynd. I gazed at Shujuns face, those crescent eyebrows,rge and bright almond-shaped eyes, the distinctive straight nose of the Jiang family, and her lips which, while bare, were pink and luscious, and made one want to kiss her to see what she tasted like. After the past few days experiences in the apocalypse, the girl seemed to have matured a little, bing all the more beautiful. Junjun, you really are so lovely and cute. Sheughed. There wasnt any girl who disliked being praised for her beauty. But in the apocalypse, beauty was only amodity, which was either taken advantage of or used shamelessly in exchange for a few morsels of food. I wholeheartedly prayed that my power in this world would be strong enough so I wouldnt need to live under other peoples protection in this life, strong enough so I could protect this lovely girl before me with my own two hands and ensure that she could live a good life in this apocalyptic world! Please, although the ten years in the apocalypse made me believe that there were no gods in this world, its not toote for me to pick up religion again, right? Please, gods of all faiths and beliefs, grant me the power to protect Mimei and Gge! The fact that I actually thought about protecting that Dg means Im a prime example of a person who overestimates their own capabilities, right? I gave a wryugh, and, under Mimeis using stare, tucked away those runaway thoughts of mine and slowly slipped into thend of dreams. Volume 1, 5: Special Powers

Volume 1, Chapter 5: Special Powers

Trantor: Elkin Mom! I looked down from the rooftop and fired, hitting the aberrant behind him. It was only then that I realized Mom hadnt climbed up yet, and an aberrant had grabbed hold of her foot. I once again aimed and fired, but the gun only made clicking noisesI was out of bullets! Save my mom! He was right above my mom and still had time to pull her up. With his strength, he definitely could pull up my mom. I was hopeful, but then he turned and hauled up another person. And in that instant, my mom was dragged down by the aberrant and mmed heavily back to the ground. An entire streetful of aberrants swarmed toward her like locusts, and she lifted her head to look at me. She only managed a shout of Xiao Jun! Then there was no more. MOMC! Myst memory of my mother was a spray of flesh and blood. I copsed onto the ground, and then I looked up in time to see him helping another woman crawl onto the rooftop. One thing only My mind was filled with just one thing, and it was the impulse to strangle this person to death. Your mom was already so badly injured, he exined somewhat wearily, Even if we saved her, she would have turned into an aberrant. And when that happens, youll need to kill her with your own two hands. Isnt that even worse? Getting injured doesnt mean shed get infected for sure! I wailed tearfully as I pummeled the bastard, screaming, I saved you, so why didnt you save my mom?! He exined patiently with a helpless look on his face, as though his heart was really aching, Weijun, Xiao Qis healing power is very important. We cant lose her! I snarled hatefully through clenched teeth, Cant lose her ability, or cant lose her? So someday, when ites down to it, youll choose to save her over me? How is that even the same thing? Weijun, I love you! Believe me, I just want to protect you Love? Bullshit! Like hell youre gonna protect me! I actually believed him. I was actually stupid enough back then to believe in his lies! WomenChow fucking stupid can you get?! G! rg! Shuyu, wake up! My eyes sprang open. A blurry vision greeted me, and my head was so foggy that I couldnt make head or tail out of what was going on. Someone jumped into my arms, calling out urgently, rg! Junjun? I stroked her hair, which was soft and smooth to the touch, then blinked. Only once I blinked away the excess tears from my eyes could I see Dg looking down at me with a face full of worry. Im fine, really, I said with a wry smile. Just dreamt of something from the past. At the beginning of the apocalypse, my sharpshooting skills really were quite useful, and I had saved him countless times, yet I wasnt able to save my own mother. Fortunately, I had fired to save him before discovering my moms predicament. If I had noticed at the same time that both of them were in danger, and that I only had one bullet left, then the absolute dumbass that I used to be might have really ended up choosing to save him instead of my own mom. And Id never be able to forgive myself! Although, I dont really want to forgive myself at the moment either. Familys most important. I hugged Shujun tightly. Mimei, Gge, Uncle, and AuntieI had to protect them all. I had to protect them with no qualms or doubts, without overestimating myselfan unconditional and absolute protection! Shuyu, did someone hurt you in the future? I mean, you as in Guan Weijun, Dg said, his words as tempting as a devils. If you see him again, tell Dg which person it is, okay? If Dg found out, he would die in such a horrible way that I wouldnt be able to continue hating him, right? Iughed and told Dg and Mimei about my theory on parallel worlds. So I dont think Ill ever see him again, Dg. Dg narrowed his eyes slightly and just said Mmm, looking a little disappointed. I brushed away my cold sweat. No matter how much I hated him, it seemed almost too cruel to hand him over to Dgbut if I really did see him again, I would still sell him out to Dg in a heartbeat! Shujun lifted her head from my embrace, saying anxiously, rg, you dont go easy on yourself even in your dreams. How are you ever going to recover? I gave a bitter smile. Dreams werent things I could control, although, there was something that worried me. Did I sleep talk? In the apocalyptic world, this was a big taboo. Everyone had nightmares when living in those circumstances, but if they were to shout or talk in their dreams, they wouldnt have to wake up anymore. Even before the aberrants came, the people nearby would immediately kill them! Shujun shook her head. No, you just tossed and turned and sweated a lot. I breathed a sigh of relief. Good, my instincts havent gone rusty. In the days toe, those instincts from the previous world would be crucial. rgs all sweaty. Dg, help him wash up. Ill make a nutritious breakfast for rg. Junjun I called out to her and begged with a mixed expression of anxiousness, agony, and misery, Can I not have chicken soup today? Shujun grinned, chuckling with amusement, Sure! In the end, I had medicinal porridge. Shujun, when did you manage to squirrel away so many packs of medicinal herbs? Did I go crazy when I was shopping that time? How did I not notice!? Although I ended up with an overly oily aftertaste in my mouth when I was done, with the nourishment of three meals a day as well aste night snacks, I could feel myself regaining weight quickly?. The branch was finally budding. Strolling into the living room, I found that everyone had already gathered there and was waiting eagerly for my arrival. If not for Dgs mighty presence, I would probably have been dragged here before I even had time to wash up and eat. Dg sat down, sweeping the room with a warning look. At that, everyone quickly retracted their starving gazes and stopped staring at me like I was fresh meat. All right, what powers do you all have? Xiao Sha stated curtly, Im faster. All the others had looks of frustration. Seeing that, I knew that they were suspecting whether or not they had developed any powers at all. However, in theter stages of the apocalypse, it was proven that any human who survived the ck fog would develop different powers. It was just that most of them werent very strong, and it was especially difficult to discover the more exotic powers. I opened my mouth and said, Everyone, bring over a cup of water, a lighter, a rechargeable battery, a rock, another cup with soil in it, and anything else you can think of. At that, everyone brightened and immediately split up to gather those items. Soon, the table was covered with a collection of misceneous items. I thought for a moment, then put the cup of water in the middle of the table. The power to control water was fairlymon, probably because one could not survive without water. One by one, fix your eyes on the water and then touch the water with a finger. Think about wanting to move the water. Do this for a minute or so. Everyones curiosity was piqued. They formed an orderly line to do so, and soon enough, we discovered Ceng Yunqian had power over water. She had almost used up the full minute when, just as she was about to give up and pull out her finger, the water exploded. Zheng Xing had the power of earth. The moment he touched the soil, those soil particles started bouncing around. Lily tried various things but couldnt get anything to happen. Just when she was feeling discouraged, I asked her to stand by the window to see how far she could see. In that instant, she almost fell over, shrieking that her vision had definitely exceeded 5.0. As for Cain, I had my own guesses, so I simply took the lighter to burn him directly. He let me do it with a grin, not resisting in the slightest, but then discovered, to his surprise, that he wasnt burned. As expected, he had power over fire. Powers over water and fire were the mostmon in the apocalypse, but there was a huge disparity between the strong and the weak. The weak could only conjure enough to rinse your mouth or be used as a recement for matches, but the strong were unbelievably powerful. I informed him, Youre notpletely immune to fire. As you be more powerful, your resistance to heat will increase. But dont think that at your current level, you can walk into a big fire just like that. Cain gave a sharp exmation and said gratefully, I was just thinking of setting a bonfire to burn myself. Good thing I didnt make a fool of myself. I turned my gaze to Xiao Sha, who frowned a little and repeated, I said, Im faster. I pointed at the electrical fan. Think about wanting to move the des of that fan, or you can even blow hard at it. Xiao Sha started, his brows creasing with what looked like displeasure. A shock ran through me. Does he already know his ability but wants to hide it? It wasnt strange to hide your true power in the apocalyptic world. If Id realized this earlier, I wouldnt have exposed him and have him resent me for nothing. He blew hard. Before the des of the fan even started moving, everyone immediately knew his powerwith a breath that ruffled even our hair, this was clearly the power of wind. I owe you one, Xiao Sha said grudgingly. I looked at him, not understanding his meaning. Xiao Shas debts are worth a lot, Zheng Xing said amusedly, He was once indebted to me before, and boy, did I get a lot back in return. He hates owing people the most. I see. So he wasnt unhappy that I exposed his power? Next were Uncle and Auntie. Until now, they hadnt been able to move anything. I thought hard about what other abilities there were and how we could figure them out. Auntie finally blurted, Xiao Yu, I feel like I can sense you guys. Its hard to describe, but its like I know roughly where you are without looking. I understood immediately and nodded, exining, Thats search, a psychic power. Its very handy! You can use it to avoid danger, and its quite an umon power. This power could be further developed, but I hadnt been in a position to know the exact details about those people with psychic powers. There were not many of them to begin with, and every single one of them was viewed as an important figure and was well-protected by their group. This was especially the case for those who had managed to develop their powers further. When she heard that she could avoid danger with it, Auntie looked extremely delighted over her power. I felt a little more energized myself. Even though we were such a small group, we were able to have a rare user of psychic abilities. The future was looking bright! And Uncle? I asked, Do you feel anything unusual? None whatsoever, Uncle sighed. Maybe I dont have any powers? Everyone has powers, I said, shaking my head. Some powers are just more difficult to discover. Dont worry, Uncle. Those hard-to-detect abilities are usually very unique and useful abilities. You just need a little more time, so dont be anxious. And anyway, weve got Dg! Uncle nodded. Probably because he was wise with age, he wasnt too concerned about matters like this. In my previous life, those people with no abilities were the first to be kicked out of any group, unless someone powerful was willing to protect them. It was only afterwards that we discovered these abandoned people often had irreceable abilities. Powers over water and fire were the easiest to discover. However, because many people had these powers, they werent anything special. If they didnt train hard to be more powerful, they would be quickly reced by someone else. Rather, it was those people abandoned right at the beginning who had the most precious abilities. But unfortunately, very few survived. Finally, there was just the three of us siblings left. I hadnt tried anything yet, but Dg and Mimei had also participated in the tests with no luck so far. But that was fine. Whether or not Shujun had powers, she was my most precious little sister. As for Dg, no one had the thought that he wouldnt have an ability. The reason we couldnt find it now was probably because his power was moving The Earth or something just as mighty. Shujun pouted,ining, I want a power. Keep trying, you definitely have one, I consoled her, holding absolute confidence in her. Shujun looked at the table littered with things. She had gone through almost everything. Finally, after a little thought, she picked up the battery With a bang, the battery actually exploded. Startled, she threw away the battery, while me and Dg immediately snatched up her hand in fear to inspect it. Thankfully, she had only received a minor burn, and her skin was just a little red. It wasnt serious at all. When I got over the initial shock, I was stunned. The power of lightning! This was top-tier in terms of attack power. Mimei, I didnt know you were so aggressive? Shujun said excitedly, Is it electricity? I nodded, rifying, Lightning. Its very strong. Looking at my cute and gentle Mimei in front of me, I really couldnt bring myself to start raving about its destructive power! Shujun asked delightedly, So can I recharge things? Of course she could use her ability to recharge things, but she needed to learn control. Otherwise, the appliances would explode, just like the battery. I nodded. Shujun swooned. Thats great. Now, even if we dont have any more gas, I can use the electric stove to cook. And since the weathers so hot now, I can keep the air-conditioner on for rg, so you wont wake up all hot and sticky. Fine, cooking and air conditioning and what-have-you are indeed quitepatible with the power of lightning. Xiao Yu, look at this light Ive produced. What power is this? Dg stuck out his hand. There was a ball of light about the size of an egg on his palm, a warm glow that was gentle on the eyes. I stared at that light. Actually, it was something that I was very familiar with. But I had to be wrong. No way it could be that power! Dg, did you think about what power you wanted? I truly believed that for someone as mighty as Dg, who had the words I am the protagonist stered across his forehead, the gods would definitely give him whatever power he wanted, no questions asked! Dg nodded and ced that egg-sized light on my shoulder. That spot instantly felt warm and nice, but my expression darkened. Dg immediately moved his hand away, asking anxiously, Does this light make you feel ufortable? No, it feels very good. It was just that, for a main character as mighty as Dg, only powers as devastating as lightning that could obliterate everything or those that could level mountains and toss the seas could match up to him! So why?! How could it be? No way is it possible! How could Dgs ability behealing! Couldnt it at the very least have been power over fire! This is the ability to heal, right? Dg asked to make sure. I nodded miserably. Dg gave a faint smile and immediately ced his hands on my shoulders. They started glowing, and this time, the light wasnt the size of an egg anymore butrge enough to cover my entire shoulder. This is overkill! Thinking back, that Xiao Qis healing power at the beginning was only asrge as a diamondand just ten carats was precious enough. As for Dg, his was the size of two human heads! One head for each shoulder. Even if it was healing, Dg was still godly! But in the end, healing is still healing Seeing Dg staring closely at my shoulders,pletely focused on releasing the healing light, I suddenly understood. He wanted to heal me, so it was the power to heal? Thats too stupid, Dg. Ill get better after a while, but your power is something thats fixed for life! I really wanted to cry again, but I held it in. Youre a man now. If you cry at the smallest of things, even I wouldnt be able to take it. Dg, Ill be sure to use my ability to protect you! The moment the words left my lips, the entire house directed disdainful looks at me. Sorry, it must be the tile from before. It knocked me silly enough to make me think Dg needs my protection. Everyone nodded. Sob sob Xiao Yu, what about you? You know already, dont you? Dont keep us guessing. Dg gazed at me knowingly as he continued to heal me. I smiled faintly and reached out a finger to touch the cup of water on the table. Is it water, like me? Ceng Yunqian said excitedly, Thats great! Then Xiao Yu can teach me. With a cracking noise, the cup of water turned into ice. With their powers as their new toys, everyone started training very hard, but no one was more serious than Jiang Shutian. He would heal me every day, as regrly as having three meals plus ate night snack. Every time, he kept it up until he was so mentally fatigued he couldnt let out even the faintest glow. And so I ended up in a situation where every day Dg would sit behind me and use his healing powers on my shoulders, while Junjun would sit in front of me and force feed me chicken soup with a spoon. If I insisted on rejecting the chicken soup, then it would be medicinal soup. Ever since Zheng Xing announced that I was able to eat meat, and I needed to replenish my protein, even more foods were stuffed into my mouth. Have you ever seen pigs being fattened up? It was exactly like that! Shujun and Auntie were busy with household chores every day. With so many people in the house, the number of chores to do naturally increased. Shujun didnt look like she was practicing her powers at all. She had also said that, with Dg and rg around, she didnt need to be too strong, so it was more practical for her to help Auntie with the chores. But I felt that she really would turn out to be the most powerful person in this houseexcepting Dg. Have you ever seen someone powering the rice cooker as she cooks? Have you ever seen someone powering the washing machine while putting up theundry to dry? Have you ever seen someone powering the air conditioning while sleeping? She was a walking electrical generator, charging things wherever she went! Even Xiao Sha took his iPad to her for charging, because he wanted to listen to music and y games! In my previous life, I really hadnt seen anyone who was able to master their ability to this extent within just half a month. The average lightning user would most likely have busted all the electrical appliances they touched. I woefully poked at the ss of beer in front of me. As Lily happily walked away with her iced beer, Zheng Xing was standing next in line, holding a cup of Darjeeling, and after that was Cain, with his Coca-C. So we could live out the apocalypse like this too! Thinking back to my previous life of living on the run, it was pretty tragic. So that was why preparations were extremely importantand even more importantly, you had to have a Dg. Although I was describing things as pretty care-free, in reality, Dg and his team were continually searching for supplies nearby. Even though the basement was crammed full of supplies, we would run out at some point, especially in terms of our consumption of food, so Dg had already started searching the neighborhood in preparation. Fortunately, this was the suburbs, so there werent that many humans, animals, or nts. Naturally, there werent that many aberrants either, and Dg would always gloss over it, saying that those aberrants werent hard to handle. My guess was that some of them should still have gotten injured, but either Dg patched them up, or they simply didnt bring up the matter. After all, Dgs healing powers were all used up on me, I didnt know if he could still squeeze out any remnants to heal the others. In just three days, I could feel that my body had improved greatly. I finally had some flesh on my cheeks, and I could stand up and move. It was just that, the moment I stood up, I would be forced back into the wheelchair by Junjun. Aside from the nourishment and Dgs healing ability, the ck fog had contributed to my recovery tooall living organisms that survived the ck fog would be exceptionally robust. Dg, how are you guys dealing with the aberrant corpses? I asked curiously. We buried them all, Dg paused, then asked in return, I forgot to ask you. Burying them should be fine, right? We tried burning them before, but there was too much smoke and the stench of it often attracted other aberrants, so after that we buried them instead. Nothing will happen to those corpses? I smiled as I said, No, burying them is fine. In the middle of the night, I nced to one side to see Shujun sound asleep. Quietly, I snuck into the next room, which was my original room. The mess inside seemed to have been cleaned up by Dg and the others. I silently took down the bars of the windows. During the day, when Shujun was busy cooking, I seized the opportunity to sneak in here. I reced the bars, which were originally stainless steel, with bars of ice. This was currently the only room where no one was sleeping in. Dg said that I would have my own room back when I was a little better. I couldnt keep sleeping in Shujuns room forever. I moved as silently as possible. After all, Jiang Shutianspanions were all mercenaries, so they were very skilled, very alert, and had a terrific sense of teamwork. This was the main reason why a group like us could pass our days leisurely in the apocalypse. Even if we hadnt stocked up on so many supplies, they would still have had their ways of getting hold of sufficient supplies; it would just be that we wouldnt be living so well off. Secretively doing something under the nose of these mercenaries was no simple task, but I was Guan Weijun, a woman who had survived ten whole years in the apocalyptic world with just the measly power of good vision! Speaking of skills, I definitely would not lose to them. It was just that no matter how strong the soul was, I was limited by how weak my body was. I could not pull off too many difficult stunts. But so long as Jiang Shuyu makes a full recovery, with a little training, he would definitely be much stronger than Guan Weijun. Even though I was still quite weak, I could feel I had a fair bit of power. With a fine body such as this together with my ice powers, bing one of the powerhouses wasnt just a pipedream. Once out of the house, using the darkness of night as cover, I lightly flipped over the walls of a number of houses. I chose a house that was some distance from home and climbed over the wall. I easily found the burial site. Dg and the others didnt bother concealing their tracks, probably because they didnt feel the need to. I stretched out both hands and focused my entire being on them. Slowly, a piece of ice formed between my palms, growing longer by the moment. Soon, a piece of ice the shape of a shovel waspleted. The Jiang familys bloodline is unbelievable! Thinking back, in the first half month into the apocalypse, although everyone started discovering the existence of special powers, these powers were weaker than a scalpel. At the time, the most practical power was water, because the water could be drunk, solving one of the basic needs of the human body. As for attacking or fighting, forget ityou were better off picking up a rock and throwing it. I never imagined that Jiang Shuyu could form an ice shovel. Together with Dgs healing powers and Shujun, the walking electricity generator, the Jiang familys powers were very formidable! These geniuses were probably much stronger than him, not to mention Guan Weijun As expected,paring things can really piss you off. With no time to lose, I started digging into the earth with the shovel. Thankfully, they werent buried deep, and it was only a moments work to excavate three aberrants corpses. The three corpses were already rotting, and the stench was quite unbearable. I once again crafted a small ice knife, and when I sliced open one aberrants chest, the stench billowed right into my face. But I couldnt care less and started dissecting the corpses with even more fervor until I saw the aberrants heart. It already didnt look like a normal heart but was abnormallyrge, surrounded by many swollen veins. I stabbed downwards into the center of the heart and broke open a round shell that wasnt originally there with familiar ease. One twist into the shell, and a translucent crystal the size of a finger nail fell into my palm. Aberrants ate flesh and blood to evolve. It was only a long whileter that humans discovered there were evolution crystals in the aberrants hearts and that eating these would speed up their own evolution, just like how eating flesh and blood would speed up the aberrants. In my past life, I discovered these crystals during closebat with one of the aberrants. I was pushed to the ground, and I fired numerous shots directly into his chest, firing until his chest was gaping open. Back then, amidst the intense stench of blood, I caught a whiff of something fragrant, something even more appetizing than food. With courage I didnt know I had, I reached into the broken chest cavity to dig out the crystal. Instinctively, I knew this was something real good. The aberrants must have been the same. They must have always felt that we smelled very good, so they instinctively knew they needed to eat us, which resulted in our relentless ughter of each other. But because of humans fear of aberrants, coupled with the fact that even if we did win the fight, the aberrants corpses would likely end up being a bloody lump of flesh, most people avoided the corpses with revulsion. No one bothered searching the corpses, so humanity simply wasnt aware of the existence of the evolution crystals at the beginning stages of the apocalypse. nts and animals didnt have these inhibitions. Their basic instincts were to eat. So even if, at the start, they might have fought back against the aberrants only when they were attacked, once they devoured the losers flesh and blood as food, they discovered the existence of the evolution crystals. So regardless of whether it was the aberrants, nts, or animals, their speed of evolution was always one step ahead of humanitys, causing countless people to die during the apocalypse. It was only until almost ten years into the apocalypse that the situation took a turn for the better. With the appearance of the most elite powerhouses among humans, humanity finally had room to breathe and was able to buildrgemunities. In this life, Ive started eating crystals right from the very beginning of the apocalypse. Together with Jiang Shuyus superb body, I would definitely be one of those elites! I kept these evolution crystals a secret from the others. I dug out three crystals from the three corpses, though the first was thergestthe other two were just tiny fragments. Looking down at the evolution crystals in my hand, one big and two small, I was reminded of our three siblings. If I gave thergest to Dg, he would definitely be stronger. Although Dgs power was healing, evolution crystals didnt just strengthen our powers but also our body. Of all humanitys powerhouses I knew, there were also those who werent reliant on their powers but were renowned for their excellent physique andbat skills. I gazed at the three crystals rolling around in my palm. In my previous life I had given the first crystal that I had discovered to him, then all the crystals that we subsequently hunted together were also given to him. I only ate the leftovers, because he had said that he would be able to protect me once he became stronger, and he could keep me from staining my hands with blood for survival. And in the end? In the end! In the endC I swallowed thergest evolution crystal in a gulp. The reason why I had ice powers in this life must be because my heart was as cold as ice. No matter how well Jiang Shutian and Jiang Shujun treated me, even though their attitudes hadnt changed the slightest even after they learned about Guan Weijun, I still wanted to keep the power within my own two hands. I would never give the chance of bing stronger to anyone else in this life. Later, I would tell them about the evolution crystals. But until then, I would first eat a certain number of crystals. After swallowing the remaining two crystals, perhaps because my ice powers had strengthened, I felt my heart grow colder. In the next few days, I went out every night to dig up corpses and dissect hearts. I finally felt like I was back in the apocalypse. Ever since Dg came back, the days passed by so leisurely that I was scared, worried that I would be used to such an easy way of living. But this kind of life couldnt continue foreveraberrants, nts, and animals were growing stronger by the day, and there were looters as well. Although we were quite a strong group, there would always be much stronger ones out there. From what I knew, the various military groups were the most frightening factions out there. To the average person, the military was a lifesaver. However, for groups like ours which had plentiful supplies and could take care of ourselves, the military would be the looters taking away our supplies. I had to get stronger as quickly as possible. As I was scrubbing myself in the shower, I nced at the mirror to check the condition of my body. But I couldnt resist being drawn in by that face of mineJiang Shuyu really was very handsome. Although I could tell he had handsome looks when I had recovered to the state of a branch, now that my body had improved further to that of a paper doll, he looked even more handsome. If my body weight was back to normal, I wonder how handsome Id be. This Jiang family really was a bloodline of protagonists: Dg was handsome and almighty, Mimei was beautiful and good-hearted, and Jiang Shuyu, the middle child, was incredibly handsome. When just going by his face and not the overall impression he gave, he was even better looking than his Dg. Only, even if he trained up his body, he would probably lose to Dg by miles. Looking further down, he lost in terms of length by a fair amount as well What the hell am I thinking of? Im evenparing sizes down there now! Guan Weijun, its not like you havent seen men before! Stop staring down below! And youre even recalling what you saw on Dgs lower body in the bathst time and actuallyparing sizes! Youre a total,plete, and utter pervert! I quickly pulled myself together. Getting a nosebleed while looking at Dg was bad enough, but if I got a nosebleed while looking at myself, then I was really a hopeless case. I pulled on some clothes and exited the bathroom to see Shujun standing outside, waiting for me. Whats up? I felt like she had something to say. Shujun hesitated before asking cautiously, G, where were youst night? When I woke up to go to the bathroom, you werent in bed. My heart skipped a beat, but I pretended like it was no big deal as I said, You guys keep making me rest all day. I couldnt sleep much at night after sleeping so much during the day, so I went out for a stroll to look at the stars. Now that theres not much light pollution, the night sky is very pretty. Shujun went Ah and stopped her line of questioning. Instead, todays chicken soup was immediately thrust at me. It felt like I was getting punished. I silently finished the chicken soup and decided to hurry. I still had to go out that night. Shujun had already started getting suspicious. I wasnt sure when she would report this to Dg, which would mean I would have to confess everythingDg would never believe an excuse like going out stargazing. Before confessing the truth, I needed to eat a few more crystals. Late at night, I headed out the same as before and dug up the corpses with the ice shovel that I formed. Recently, it was getting harder and harder to find any burial sites, so I had probably found almost all of them already. That meant I probably didnt need toe out any more after tonight, and I could just stay at home to practice my ice powers. Then, when I got the chance, Id tell them about the crystals. Perhaps using the excuse of seeing a dream again isnt half bad. It would be fine as long as I said it had to be fresh aberrants, then they wouldnte digging up the aberrant corpses. After a good deal of digging, I only ended up with one piece of evolution crystal. But this crystal was the length of a thumb, which meant that this family didnt just have one aberrant, but rather, they were all eaten by this fellow. That was why he had such arge evolution crystal. Just as I was about to swallow it, I heard some sounds and frantically gripped the shovel tighter. I turned, about to swing down the shovel, only to see Dg pushing open the gates to the garden and walking in. My heart pounded furiouslytheyd found out! Shuyu, what are you doing? Behind Dg were the rest of the mercenary troop. Their expressions were quite grim as they looked between me and the pitifully dissected corpses. They stared at me like I was some kind of zombie. If I roared a few times, they might really start shooting at me. I hesitated. If I didnt exin myself properly, I didnt think they would let me off. There was no way I could pass this off as sleepwalking Only aberrants would believe that sort of lie! So I just yed it straight with the whole truth about the evolution crystals. When I was finished, Dgs expression was very stormy. I had never seen him look at me or Shujun with that kind of expression before. So you monopolized them? Ceng Yunqian raged as she used me, Do you know how much effort it took to defeat these aberrants? And now youve stolen all the benefits on the back of our efforts? I I grounded my teeth, trying exin myself, Anyway, youd never have discovered these evolution crystals yourselves. Now that Ive said it, at least you can start eating from now on Dg growled, Shuyu! I stopped. No one else spoke, but their expressions were all very unpleasant: some were furious, some were condemning, and some were even scornful. I suddenly realized I didnt have any ce in this mercenary troop. Even though I had predicted theing of the apocalypse, stocked up on heaps of supplies, and even taught them how to discover their powers, even if this mercenary troop didnt have me, theyd probably be able to survive quite well in cia. Perhaps, they probably had a bigger stock of weapons and bullets there. After all, they had only had a few hours to get hold of weapons and bullets after flying over to Meisia, so their supplies certainly couldntpare to how much they had in cia when they were about to go on their mission. As long as you had adequate weapons and supplies, you had nothing to worry about. And special powers at this stage werent much more useful than a scalpel. With guns and knives in their hands, special powers were probably nothing more than an interesting toy in their eyes. Whats more, this weak body of mine was a massive burden from the very beginning. If this troop had stayed in cia, they wouldnt have had to babysitmoners who couldnt fight like me, Shujun, Uncle, and Auntie. They were all mercenaries, and the whole mercenary troop should have had more people, as not everyone would have followed Jiang Shutian over here. Impressions were hard to change. From now on, this squad would probably think of me as someone who was a burden, and a selfish bastard who also caused them to lose lots of usefulrades and bullets. I lifted my hand and quickly tossed the evolution crystal into my mouth. Shuyu! Dg finally showed his fury, roaring, What are you doing! You werent so selfish in the past. My past self I felt like something shattered in my heart. In the past, I was indeed no way as selfish as I was now. The Guan Weijun at the beginning of the apocalypse was truly na?ve. Nowadays, I couldnt believe that I had survived those times back then. You could say I had been incredibly lucky. But Dg wasnt talking about that past, but the past Jiang Shuyu. Judging from Jiang Shutians and Jiang Shujuns personalities, Jiang Shuyu was likely a fine example of a young man. But I wasnt that perfect Jiang Shuyu, but rather, the Guan Weijun who had survived ten years in the apocalypse. I weathered countless betrayals and, in the end, I was abandoned to the aberrants and ripped to shreds. I was a woman whose heart and body were rotten to the very core. I stopped looking at them and strode past Jiang Shutian. Anyway, I ate it already, so whats he going to do? Cut open his Ddis belly and dig it out? Shuyu, where are you going? From behind me, Dgs shout made my steps falter. I said tly, Home to sleep, then continued to walk away. Volume 1, 6: Turning Ice into a Weapon

Volume 1, Chapter 6: Turning Ice into a Weapon

Trantor: Elkin The first thing I did when I got home was go the basement to take the knives we had previously bought. All ten knives were still there, probably because Dg and his gang werent interested in the crappy kinds purchased from a department store. I also took a medical kit and a big pile of dry goods before heading back to my room. My room was aplete mess, and the hospital bed was still in Shujuns room. Nheless, there was still the single bed that was originally in this room, just that it had been shoved to one side to make room for the hospital bed. I spent the better part of half a day tidying up the room. Even after doing so, I didnt feel very tired. My current body was as expected, bing better. I hadnt eaten so many evolution crystals for nothing. Although I looked only marginally better than a paper doll, I was close to recovering my full strength. Just as I was about to catch up on some sleep after wiping myself down, I heard a knock at the door. Startled, I reflexively snatched up a knife. rg, its Shujun. I froze and asked, Whats up? Im about to sleep. O-oh, then I wont keep you up. Good night. I was suddenly buffeted by waves of intense disappointmentam I hoping Shujun woulde in? I was silent for a moment before remembering that I needed to respond. Night, I called out, but I didnt know if shed already left. I quietly settled on the floor. My activities had been very secretive and shouldnt have alerted anyone. If Dg knew, it was highly likely that Shujun was the one who had told him. I felt conflicted, but then again, I had to admit to thinking too much of myself. Shutian and Shujun were real siblings, whereas I was nothing inparison, nothing more than a body snatcher and a fake. Im lucky enough that I havent been gunned down, so why did I think I was in the position to hold myself up against them? Giving an embarrassedugh at my stupidity, I stood up and put away the medical kit, then hid the knives in various parts of the room. After that, I locked the door. Although someone had the key out there, just the sound of the key turning in the lock would be enough to wake me. If I could just get back half the power and alertness of Guan Weijun, even if I couldnt win, I could still make a clean escape from mercenaries like these. I slipped thest knife under my pillow, and it was only then that I was able tofortably drift asleep. Finally, the sense that the apocalypse had struck was back. Happy days would neverst. This was an immutable fact in every universe out there. The next day, I still headed downstairs to eat. The supplies in the room were just a precaution. After all, I couldnt just hole up all day in the room. That wasnt practical. The moment I stepped into the living room, the chatter died down for a moment. Only Uncle and Auntie remained oblivious, and Auntie even called out to me, Xiao Yu, quick,e eat. I made an assenting noise and sat next to Shujun, who kept her head down as she ate, not daring to look my way. Jiang Shutian didnt have any of the anger on his face from yesterday, and he spoke like nothing was wrong. Xiao Yu, about those evolution crystals. Is there any kind of restriction on eating them we should be aware of? No. I paused, then borated, Generally, no. There might be some special evolution crystals out there, but I dont know anything about them. In the previous world, Guan Weijun had no way of obtaining those special evolution crystals. I couldnt even get my hands on the higher tier crystals. Although he had gotten quite a number of higher tier crystals himself, there was never enough between him eating the crystals and granting awards to his subordinates. So, there was simply no way there would ever be any for me to eat. There were lots of rumors going around back then that were difficult to verify as truthful. For example, it was said that there would be issues if you ate crystals that were too high tieredpared to yourself. But a lot of rumors were fakes. In the case of the high tiered crystals, it was possible that the rumor-mongers wanted to prevent others from eating the high tiered crystals the very moment they got a hold of them. That way, they would have a chance of stealing the crystals. In any case, it was unlikely that there would be overly high tiered crystals in the early days of the apocalypse, so there was no real need to mention these rumors. If they turned out to be false, then it would just cause unnecessary trouble and further distrust. How could there be any restrictions when hes already eaten so many? Ceng Yunqian said drily, Does he not know, or is he keeping something to himself? Yunqian, this fish is really good. Here, try some, Lily took a piece of fish and ced it into Ceng Yunqians bowl, while kicking her under the table. Although this was done very subtly, I still noticed. The others didnt speak, and Jiang Shutian didnt ask further either. At the same time, he didnt say anything to Ceng Yunqian and simply said in a mild manner, Lets eat. Everyone started eating quietly, and it was quite a while before casual conversation resumed. Uncle and Auntie looked a bit bemused, Shujun kept her head down toward to the rice bowl the entire time, and I ate in silence. Evolution crystals can be used to improve your powers, and they also strengthen the body. Finishing my food quickly, I left them with that one sentence and immediately returned to my room, not even bothering to clean up after myself. Back in my room, I picked up a knife and inspected it. This knife really wasnt very good quality. No wonder Jiang Shutian and the others didnt care for them. And in any case, they had their guns. The average person would prefer to shoot at aberrants from a distance when dealing with these unknowns. No one would ever want to approach them. So in the first two years of the apocalypse, everyone fought over guns and ammunition and failed to realize that they were wasting two years of precious time for practicing their special powers. In the third year of the apocalypse, regr guns became scrap metal and failed to prate the shells of the aberrants. Bullets that were not imbued with any fire or water powers, were, at most, helping aberrants scratch their itches. Aberrants would even ask you to fire, like oh hey, two more shots on my left. Its quite itchy thereby then, they really were able to talk. Although Guan Weijuns pathetic abilities were useless, because I hade to know of many powers, I knew how the future would develop and wouldnt repeat those mistakes again. For example, relying on guns and foolishly thinking that powers were only used for at best a mouthful of water or starting a fire. And this knowledge was extremely precious. I twirled the knife. Actually, the knife was just a base, so the quality didnt make much difference. Concentrating my entire being, I squeezed hard with one hand. Crackling sounds came non-stop from the center of the palm. Soon, the knife was covered inyers of ice. But this was not the final result I wanted. This ice crystal was too fragile, not much better than the knife itself. I struggled topress those ice crystals. This was quite difficult, taking up the whole afternoon. I only took a break in between to quickly gobble down some dinner, before returning to experiment into the night. It was only at midnight that I finally seeded. But I never imagined that afterpression, the thickyer of ice would be reduced to a thin membrane of ice, even thinner than stic wrap. It was virtually invisible. This was insane. Just how manyyers of ice would I have to freeze andpress before it bes somewhat more substantial? Knocking off the excess fragments, I had no choice but to continue freezing the knife andpressing it. Although I wanted to do it a number of times,pressing the ice was much harder than creating an ice shovel or an ice dagger. So, the maximum number of times I could do it was just once more, and that was enough to give me a splitting headache. Calling it a day, I slipped the knife under the pillow and slept. The battle would continue tomorrow. Lying on the bed, my head throbbed with pain, and I couldnt get a single wink of sleep. So, I gave up on sleeping and started thinking back to the past, hoping I could remember more useful information. I had once seen the Ice Emperors battle. The Ice Emperor was one of the elites in the apocalypse. He had an ice sword, made of nothing but ice. Yet it was harder than diamondalthough, in the apocalypse, diamond was no longer the hardest substance out there. He suspected that that was perma-ice leftover from repeated practice of his ice powers, and even pointlessly insisted on calling it diamond ice. That ice was something the Ice Emperor created and he had never called it diamond ice, so why on earth did he insist on naming it? Anyway, we had watched the Ice Emperors battle against an aberrant. Even from a long distance away, we could feel the terrifying, earth shattering power of the elite. He had said in a tone that was both wistful and envious that he would one day be even more powerful than the Ice Emperor. Even though his powers were top tier in this district,pared to true elites, it was likeparing a mouse with an elephant. But at the time, I had even consoled him, saying you will be stronger than the Ice Emperor. Its just a matter of time. Thinking back, I really wanted to kill my stupid past self. But that was the one and only time that I had been thankful that my power was enhanced vision. The energies given off by the elite were so strong it was impossible to draw close at all. To ensure our survival, we had no choice but to watch the battlefield from far, far away. But because of my good vision, I could just about make out the details of that battle. That was the most beautiful battle I had ever seen. All sorts of beautiful, translucent ice crystals glittered under the sunlight. Even if the ice encased bits of blood or flesh, they still looked like beautiful and vivid ice sculptures. As for the Ice Emperor, although I couldnt make out his features properly, those agile movements, his incredible speed and power Before drifting off into slumber, I thought back to the Ice Emperors longsword and decided that I needed a long weapon on top of my knife. I could probably get a broom tomorrow and use the handle as a base. Oh Ice Emperor Am I worthy enough in this life to even dare dream of bing you? It was the fifth day of my struggle with making weapons and the twentieth day of the apocalypse. I finally created the knife and the staff. Although the perma-ice wasnt even a centimeter thick, it was incredibly hard. These two weapons were like strands of hair before the Ice Emperors ice sword, but they were more than enough twenty days into the apocalypse. I strapped the knife to my lower leg and stuffed the staff into a backpack. My n was to join the staff together when the need arose. Althoughbining it on the spot would make the joints weaker, it really was too conspicuous to walk around with something that long. Besides, it would be cumbersome to carry. As I had said before, this was plenty enough twenty days into the apocalypse. Even the weakest part, the joint, was at least as hard as steel. It was still broad daylight. Of course, Id be better off sneaking away in the middle of the night. But now, I couldnt sneak around anymore, unless I wanted to risk raising peoples suspicions. So, I just stepped out of the house boldly. At most, when I returned, Id just say I was bored and went to find supplies. In any case, so many days had passed already, so even if there were burial sites I hadnt found earlier, they would have been dug up long ago for the crystals. So, there was no way for them to use me of stealing the loot from others battles! I wandered a little way down the road from the front door. After double checking that I couldnt be seen from the house, I found a car, smashed the window, and started the engine. Hotwiring a car was a basic skill that even five year-olds in the apocalyptic world could pull off with ease. While Jiang Shuyu had just turned eighteen and probably didnt even have a drivers license, Guan Weijun was already thirty-five. In the apocalypse, I had even driven a tank some distance beforenot that there was any choice at the time. The soldier who was originally driving the tank had had his head twisted off by an aberrant, so even if I hadnt known how to drive one, I had to manage somehow! I drove for some thirty minutes, fairly certain that Jiang Shutian and his troop wouldnte so far out. After all, their first priority was clearing out the neighborhood of aberrants, while the search for supplies took a back seat. The moment I stopped the car, I immediately slipped out of the drivers seat and ducked around a corner. Although the sound of the car was not loud, it was very clear in the deathly silence of the apocalypse and could easily attract certain types of aberrants. As expected, several aberrants scrambled out and jumped up and down on the car. From the way they didnt butcher and cannibalize each other, it seemed that they had some other food source and werent so hungry as to eat their own kind, unlike the muscle man who had eaten the nurse. If I had a gun, I could immediately put a bullet in every one of their heads. But I wasnt nning to use one. Rather, I wanted to hone my powers and closebat skills. Currently, I still wasnt very familiar with Jiang Shuyus body. Additionally, this body had only experienced the ck fog once and had just recovered from severe injuries, so I wasnt sure how much of Guan Weijunsbat power it could exhibit. After a little thought, I leapt over a wall into a garden. This was anothermunity that was quite simr to home, each house forming its own little space with the standalone houses and walled-off gardens. I suspected that the aberrants had already grasped the concept of territories by now. So if they werent sure of their victory, they wouldnt recklessly enter another aberrants territory. This presented a great opportunity for me. I pulled out the two halves of the ice staff from my backpack and froze them into one long staff. Then, I did a high jump with the staff, grabbed onto the railing of the second floor terrace with a hand, and pulled hard. With that, I was now safely on the second floor. This body really is quite excellent. Looking down at my arms, I saw that they were somewhat fleshier. Although they were a far cry from being muscr, a little more fighting and evolution crystals would be able to put more meat on those bones within a few days time. Using the staff, I nudged at the floor length window. Being unlocked, it slid open easily, and I climbed in with light feet. Only after I rested my backpack against the floor did I properly begin my search for aberrants. I found them quickly enough. There were only two, and they were lounging on the long sofa in the living room, sleeping snuggled up to each other. This wasnt strange at all. Just now, Id seen a nearby river and a small grove, which probably had a fair amount of animals and nts for eating. As long as food wasnt a concern, it wasnt impossible for aberrants to be at peace with each other. That said, it wasnt unusual for them to suddenly go wild and kill their counterpart either. For now, the aberrants were still not mature, so it was fair topare them to children with their mercurial tempers. Slowly, though, they would begin to assist each other and also formmunities, andrge gathering grounds would start to appear. Ten years into the apocalypse, the world had divided into four factionshumans, animals, nts, and aberrants. Humans no longer dominated the, and they werent even the strongest faction. From the start of the apocalypse right up to Guan Weijuns death, aberrants monopolized the position at the top of the power pyramid. However, this was far off in the future and not something anyone could do anything about. I should just focus on the immediate present. Two aberrants. Will I be able to deal with them? I gripped my staff, feeling a little uncertain. In the past, aside from guns, Guan Weijun wasnt particrly good at any other kind of weapon. At the beginning of the apocalypse, no one had proper weapons and simply used whatever was at hand. One moment, a cleaver would be used to slice meat, and the next, it would be used to cut down all sorts of evolved creatures. Or a bundle of sharpened broomsticks would be carried around for stabbing at aberrants. That was all pretty normal. Back then, everything was in short supply. The mostmon weapons were poles and knives, so I could in fact use staves. I wasnt half bad at it either. After all, in theter stages of the apocalypse, guns were useless, so if I didnt have somepetence, Id have died ten times in a minute. Like the saying goes, peoples potential really doese out in times of crises. Besides, the ice staff in my hand was no ordinary stick; it added frost damage when scoring a hit. Id never had the chance to use such a good staff in the past. Guan Weijun had survived using just the handle of a broomstick, whereas now, Jiang Shuyu was holding onto an ice staff. If I still managed to die on the twentieth day into the apocalypse, then I damn well deserved it. Judging from my own power, even if I couldnt win in a fight against the two aberrants, I would still be able to get away somehow. So I decided to leave my fate to the heavens, picked something off the floor, and flung it over to see how many aberrants there would be Ugh, if possible, please dont let a third onee running out. Obviously, the heavens had decided to go easy on me today. Both aberrants stirred, but one was obviouslyzier and simply shifted a little before settling back down. The other stood up and started heading toward me. I threw something else, drawing him up to the second floor to give myself a bit more time. Hopefully, Id be able to finish one off before startingbat with the second. I wondered what type of aberrant it was, as he still maintained a human shape. Id forgotten exactly when the aberrants started developing all sorts of strange features, but at the current point in time, it was quite clear that most of them retained the shape of their host. The majority of aberrants that settled in houses were originally human. There was a small minority which were pets-turned-aberrants, but most of them were devoured by the humanoid aberrants right from the get go. Newly awakened aberrants were very hungry, and the small pet aberrants were mostly weak. Although size did not always corrte with strength, it was still a fairly good indicator of power. He was very skinny, so he probably wasnt a power type. Likewise, from how he only noticed me when I threw something, he wasnt any of the types with enhanced hearing, smell, or detection. From that, he was probably a speed type. Aberrants abilities were mainly centered on enhancing the body, and powers such as fire or water were much more umon aspared to humans. I had a feeling that this disparity probably had its roots in novels,ics, and movies, which contributed in no small amount to peoples daydreams. Floods drowning the Statue of Liberty, fires engulfing the skyscraper TAIPEI 101, wearing tight spandex over a muscr body and flying off into the sky, and so on. I waited patiently just around the corner of the stairs. The moment the aberrant stepped onto the second floor, I swung down with the staff, but he twisted his head away right at the most critical moment. The ice staff grazed his cheek but still froze off arge chunk of his face, making him howl in agony. I missed the first strike, but I didnt allow myself to stop and immediately spun around and swept out a second blow. This time, I didnt aim for the head; he was too sensitive to attacks directed at his head, making it no easy target. Instead, I bent over and struck out, targeting his knee. With an earsplitting crack, his leg snappedpletely into two at my blow, the knee bending at a wholly unnatural angle with the bone jutting out through the flesh. It looked exceptionally disgusting. With a pained scream, he fell to the floor. Seeing my chance, I followed up with one downward swing of the staff. After a sound like a sttering watermelon, he was left slightly twitching on the ground. I was eighty percent pleased with how the fight had gone. I was stronger than Id imagined, and the evolution crystals I had eaten hadnt gone to waste. But the twenty percent of dissatisfaction came from the fact that I hadnt been able to split his head with the first strike of the staff. Then again, this was the first time I had attacked, and this body had only just recovered from its injuries, so I shouldnt be too hard on myself. From below came the sound of thumping and a roar, signaling the arrival of the second aberrant. And with it came its delectable gift of evolution crystals. A smile tugged at my lips, and right at that moment, I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror of the dressing table opposite me. It was a smile so dashing and handsome that it sent chills down my spine. After speeding through three houses like a whirlwind, I decided to leave. It was about time that the aberrants discovered the abnormality, and it wouldnt be a joke if I got surrounded by a horde of aberrants. Back home, Jiang Shutian and his troop hadnt returned yet. Nothing seemed wrong with the house, so it was like Id never left in the first ce. Even Shujun, Uncle, and Auntie thought I was still in my room. But there had to be someone who was responsible for keeping watch in the attic, and there was no way that person could have missed me leaving the house. So that person either doesnt give a shit about me, or theyre probably hoping that Id die out there, huh? I dont know who is on watch today, but then again, does it really matter who it is? The moment I got back to my room, I immediately wanted to shower. Id gotten sprayed with the aberrants blood during some of the earlier fights and reeked of blood. But just as I opened the door, I heard rapid footstepsing from Shujuns room. Her door opened and I saw her looking over. I immediately closed my door. The metallic smell of blood was too heavy. The moment Shujun came close, she would immediately start questioning what I had been doing out there. If she knew that I was sneaking out to kill aberrants, wouldnt she immediately tattle to Jiang Shutian? If so, that would make my excursions in the future even more difficult. This is a very critical time. I absolutely have to get my evolution crystals. I listened at the door for a little while, wondering why there wasnt any knocking. I hesitated, but at the same time, I couldnt just open the door to check, so I gave up and went for a shower. After the shower, I habitually checked out the mirror to see how my muscture wasing along. Not bad at all. I could no longer be described as a paper doll but instead had now be a grown boy who was just a bit on the skinny side. I smoothed down my wet hair, which reached to my shoulders, and contemted a haircut. Looking for scissors, I opened the door and stopped, stunned. Shujun was standing there, her head hung low Dont tell me she has been standing there all along? I asked urgently, Whats wrong? Youre looking for me? She didnt reply, to my bewilderment, so I could only continue asking, Shujun? rg do you me me? Shujun kept her head down, so I couldnt see her expression, but I could see tears dripping onto the floorboards. I told Dg about you going out, and you two ended up arguing with each other. I was just, just worried that it was very dangerous, and I didnt want you to go out and get injured again. You finally just got better, and you finally dont look so skinny anymore I hastily reassured her, No, I dont me you. Liar, then why have you been avoiding me? Shujun looked up, her eyes red and tears still streaming down her face, and she desperately begged me, rg, I wont tell. I wont tell anything about you anymore. Even if Dg asks, I wont tell him! Just please dont ignore me. I gaped, unable to exin myself. I had indeed been purposefully distancing myself from Shujun, but it wasnt because I med her. I was simply worried that she would be lumped with me by the others and be ostracized for it. My cute and goodhearted Shujun had been taking care of an invalid like me ever since the apocalypse, and she worked hard at doing the housework too. How could I possibly let anyone hate someone like her? I really dont me you. I gave her a light hug as I spoke. Its just that no one trusts me right now, so dont get too close to me. Otherwise, Im worried the others will take out their anger on you. Hearing that, Shujun wiped at her tears, staring at me resolutely. If they want to take it out on me, let them! Youre my rg! Whoever hates you will have to hate me, too! And I wont cook for him or do hisundry! Iughed. This little sister cant get any cuter! I love you, sis! Even if my soul is a womans, I still want to marry you. Wont you give me a chance? Shujun watched my expression warily, then finally, she started smiling, teasing, So rg, youve forgiven me? I never med you. Shujun pouted. Liar, you called me Shujun just now. Whenever youre angry, you stop calling me Junjun. I was speechless. I had, in fact, let slip Shujun just now, but I had no idea where it hade from. rg, you have to explicitly tell me that youre not angry with me; otherwise, I wont believe you. I gave Shujun a look and pulled her into my room. Shujun very naturally gravitated toward my bed and sat there, ncing around the room before saying unhappily, rg, youre being toozy. The floors all dirty, and youre just letting it be. Ille help you sweep the floorter. This Mimei really is I watched Shujun, feeling my heart clench. You really are such a good little sister. Wouldnt it be amazing if I was truly your rg? Junjun, why do you never suspect that Im not your rg? After I spoke about Guan Weijun, has it never crossed your mind that I might be a wandering spirit who has possessed your rgs body? This direct line of questioning was something I dared to do with Shujun, but never with Jiang Shutian. I was scared that, if he really did think this way, other than running away, the only path left to me would be death. But Shujun For some reason, Id always felt that she would never hurt me, no matter what. Shujun stared at me with wide, wondering eyes, asking suspiciously, rg, did you hit your head somewhere again? Hearing that, I couldnt even feel tense anymore, and I said a little helplessly, No. Im being serious. You really havent ever suspected me, not even once? Even I dont know myself how I should view myself or you guys. Shujuns expression immediately went nk, and she quietly looked at me, making me suddenly feel a little guilty. Everything has been going so well, and these two siblings have never once suspected me, so why did I have to tear everything down? Jiang Shuyu has family, power, and looks. He really does excel at everything. Whereas Guan Weijun was just terrible, even at judging people! Why cant I just forget Guan Weijun and happily be Jiang Shuyu? rg. I reflexively looked down at Shujun. She suddenly grinned. The moment I call you, you look at me. How can you say youre not my rg? I forced a smile, Thats true. Never mind, pretend I never said any G, you saved me. Shujun suddenly interrupted me, but I had no idea why she was bringing this up. The world became like this only three days after you woke up. You were so thin and weak, and everyone else was much healthier than you were. But all of us relied on you. I chuckled. Thats because Dg wasnt here. Shujun grumbled quietly, Dgs never around, and Uncle and Auntie arent home much either. Its always been just you and me. You and me, but the me now is no longer that me. rg, back then, when Lin-b came rushing out of the basement, you pushed me in and even told us not toe out. Back then, I really thought you were dead for sure. Shujuns voice started shaking, her eyes reddened, and she said remorsefully, rg, you saved me, but I left you out there to die. Im the one who doesnt deserve to be your sister. Dont be silly! I immediately retorted, You are my good little sister. I was the one who told you not toe out. If you had opened the door, even Uncle and Auntie wouldve died! So no way could you have opened that door! Shujun wiped at the corner of her eyes and smiled. If you werent my brother, then tell me, have you always been risking your life to saveplete strangers? G, you may have lost your memories, but you really are my rg. Shujun added in a quieter voice, You have to be. Hearing thatst line, I understood. Whether or not I really was her rg, she would always treat me as so. I had saved her, Uncle, and Auntie, and nearly lost my life in the process. I had been so pitiful that I had looked like a withered branch, to the point where even the stoic Jiang Shutian had lost hisposure upon seeing me, to say nothing of Shujun. If Im not her rg, and am some lost soul who possessed her rg, what can she do? Why the hell am I putting Shujun in such a difficult position? What on earth am I doing? Im your rg, I immediately apologized. Sorry, I must have been knocked on my head really badly, so I couldnt even remember that. If I wasnt your rg, theres no way I wouldve risked my life to save you guys. After all, theres no such things as saints who go around rescuing others at the expense of their own lives. Yup! Shujun nodded forcefully, looked at me, and suddenly leapt into my embrace and hugged me tightly, not letting go. I have to be Jiang Shuyu. I have to be. Not unexpectedly, someone brought up the fact that I had left the house with Jiang Shutian at dinner. And the person who had been watching the house was not Ceng Yunqian, the person I had previously suspected, but Cain. Jiang Shutian was extremely shocked and roared angrily, Xiao Yu, where did you go? Do you think these are times when you can go running wherever you want? I said tonelessly, Its too boring at home. I went out nearby to look for supplies. Its too dangerous! Even if weve cleared out all the aberrants in the area, theres no guarantee that we didnt miss some. He didnt question whether I was up to some mischief again. I looked down, feeling a little relieved. Youre grounded! Jiang Shutians tone brooked no argument. I didnt reply, and merely ate my own dinner at my own pace. In any case, he would have to take out his troops at some point, and it didnt seem like the person left watching the house would have any intention of stopping me from running off to my death. Jiang Shuyu! Look at me! Jiang Shutian hollered in absolute fury. Dg, dont be so angry! Shujun eximed with rm, rgs been in bed rest for almost two months, and hes been at home all day. He really is bored, so he went out for a walk nearby. He didnt stay out for long. Dg, dont be mad at him, rg still isnt that well. I mean, look at him! Hes still so skinny! Whatll you do if you scare him too much? This unwell person had just gone and killed five aberrants this afternoon, you know. Hearing that, Jiang Shutian looked me up and down, and then he actually started speaking in a gentler tone of voice, If youre bored, join us tomorrow. Just dont go out by yourself. Just as I was about to refuse, I had second thoughts. Perhaps I could instruct them on how to use their powers to attack, so they wouldnt be so reliant on guns. No matter what, it was good that the mercenary troop was quite powerful. Even if they didnt like me, it seemed that they really trusted Dg. Boss, we dont have manpower to spare to watch over a kid. Cain said with a wry smile, Recently, the aberrants have be harder to handle, and its not like weve got an unlimited supply of ammunition. We cant afford to waste any. Ceng Yunqian added in an even more dissatisfied tone of voice, If we take him out, do we have to count him in when splitting the evolution crystals? Count me in I frowned, suddenly realizing that if they hadnt nned on sharing the evolution crystals with me, then wouldnt that mean that Shujun, Uncle, and Auntie, who didnt participate in the fighting, wouldnt get their share as well? I shut my mouth, pretending to be infuriated by the conversation, and left with my bowl in hand. Shuyu! Dg shouted as he sprang to his feet. Hearing him, I immediately raced upstairs, not giving Dg any chance of stopping me and continuing to coax me into joining them on their outings. In the middle of the night, I snuck into Shujuns room to ask. As expected, she hadnt gotten any share of the evolution crystals, and neither had Uncle or Auntie. I frowned. From the looks of it, they only shared withbat participants. This really was unfair. Even though they werent fighting, all the housework was done by the three of them, Uncle included. I could ept it if they received only a small share of the crystals, but not receiving any at all was really unfair. Just as I was simmering with anger, I suddenly remembered the ten years I had previously spent. No one would ever share the evolution crystals with those who did the housework. An organization where the people didnt immediately hide away and eat the crystals would already be considered a well managed one. Actually, Dg didnt get any either, Shujun whispered. What? I was stupefied, and quickly asked, Whys Dg not getting his share? Hes the leader, and hes definitely joined in the fighting, so why isnt he getting any? Dgs power was healing, so it wasnt much use in a fight. And now he wasnt eating evolution crystals. Even if he was a protagonist, he still needed a chance to evolve in order to be invincible! Shujun made an awkward face, saying quietly, Because theyre deducting against the crystals you ate. I was stunned. rg, Dg never med you for eating those things. Your quick recovery should be linked to them, so Dg is actually very happy. But its not just about our family. Dg needs to take other people into consideration as well. So dont me him. Im not qualified to me him, I said as I shook my head. Im not ming him. Then, thats good, Shujun sighed with relief. Im just scared of him. That line, Shuyu, you never used to be like this, scares me. Has he started to feel that Im not Jiang Shuyu? And some day, if hes certain that Im not his younger brother, what would he do to me? Just thinking about that sent chills down my spine. I tried to rid myself of those frightening ideas. Dg was still doing his best by me, so even if I was a piece of ice, Id still have thawed out. I tugged out a chain from around my neck. This was something Id found today. The pendant was a tiny bottle that was only five centimeters long, probably used to hold essential oils and such. I had fortified it with ice crystals. It was perfect for storing evolution crystals. I tipped out one crystal, saying, Junjun, eat this. Shujun stared at the evolution crystal lying in my palm, asking in confusion, rg, howd you get Halfway through the sentence, her eyes widened as she immediately realized its origins. And when she next looked at me, it was with considerable rm. I warned her, Dont tell anyone! Especially Dg. Otherwise, Ill ignore you forever, and Ill even run away and onlye back once or twice a month. Im serious! Her expression turned troubled. Come on, just eat it. Shujun shook her head, waving it away. rg, you should eat it instead. This is good for you. I recovered a long time ago. Its just that my muscle hasnt all grown back yet, I said firmly. If you dont eat this, Ill throw it away right in front of you! Shujun had no choice but to swallow it. Junjun, go make three cups of hot tea. They have to be real hot. Then take them to Uncle, Auntie, and Dg to drink. Shujun started and watched as I tipped out four more evolution crystals. Judging from her expression, she understood. Good. Put two in Dgs. Youve got to make sure they drink it all. If they dont, you have to think of some way of making them finish it, but dont let them be suspicious. Okay. Shujun carefully epted the four evolution crystals, and nodded seriously as she promised, Ill make sure they finish their tea. These are hard toe by. Her eyes had reddened. After watching Shujun leave to make the tea, I returned to my own room, thinking hard as I strengthened the knife and staff with ice crystals. Within the mercenary troop, Ceng Yunqian very obviously detested me, but Id never imagined that that Cain, who was always full of smiles, was even more antagonistic toward me. If I really was an ordinary eighteen year old, my life would have been in danger if I ventured out of the house. But he turned a blind eye to this. This hostility of his was really too deep, to the point where it was starting to get dangerous. As for the others, only Lily could be said to have even tried to smooth things over, but that was for Dgs sake rather than any intention to help me. Every single person in the mercenary troop was eating evolution crystals. If I had continued to remain oblivious to this fact, then the only person in this family to have eaten the crystals would have been me. Thats way too dangerous! I couldnt care less if the troop was reluctant to share the evolution crystals with Shujun, Uncle, and Auntie. Anyhow, once theypletely offset my part, they had to share some at least with Dg. But before that happened, Id be the one taking care of Dg. Id definitely make sure that he wasnt eating any fewer crystals than the other mercenaries, and Id even make sure that Shujun, Uncle, and Auntie had their share as well. Ill be the one to take care of my family! Volume 1, 7: The Coffee鈥檚 Not To Blame, Part One

Volume 1, Chapter 7: The Coffees Not To me, Part One

Trantor: Elkin Kneeling by the terrace on the second floor, I reached out to touch my waist and was immediately greeted with a sharp re of pain. I was missing a chunk of flesh from my waist, and I had lost a fair bit of blood. Such a heavy stench of blood would attract aberrants, so I had no choice but to freeze the wound and blood. I was such an idiot. My prized knowledge of the previous world had let me downI never imagined that tier one aberrants would start appearing so early on. Id thought that they only started appearing half a year in, so I had never imagined that one would make its appearance just one and a half months into the apocalypse. I had really been ignorant in the past. Previously, around this time, Guan Weijun had spent every day fleeing for survival, with no clue about evolution crystals, so there was no way I would have gone hunting by choice. Therefore, I didnt know that tier one aberrants had appeared so quickly. Thinking back on it, it wasnt so strange at all. It seemed that I couldntpletely trust my past experiences. Even though this was a tier one aberrant, as I was now, it was still manageable. Right now, the strength of my current body and the power of my abilities should have reached tier one, going by the standards in the previous world. It was simply because I had underestimated my opponent that Id sustained a serious injury. My wariness really hadnt recovered to the same levels as when I was Guan Weijun. That tier one aberrant was still looking for me down below. Id injured his knee, so he was limping. He looked pissed off, like he wanted to rip me into shreds, deep fry them, and eat them with vengeance. I assessed our injuries. Should I continuebat, or just leave? After freezing the injury at my waist, it no longer hurt as much, but it would still definitely impact my fighting capabilities. So maybe I should just run away after all No! I started, shocked by that No! That sudden thought that had popped out of nowhere wasnt like me at all. I still remembered that Guan Weijun was always thinking about escape, thinking that if I could just find somewhere safe, Id hide there for the rest of my life. But he, on the other hand, was very hot blooded. He always wanted to kill off all those aberrants and always wanted to be stronger, so that he wouldnt ever need to run away again. So many times, I remembered ending up having to tow the defeated him along and escaping in a sorry manner. But he actually started getting stronger and stronger, and soon, I was left far behind. Forget fighting shoulder to shoulder, even running away with him when he lost a fight became impossible. One wanted to flee, and one wanted to fight. Neither person was right or wrong. If there hadnt been a me who wanted to flee, the him who wanted to fight would never have survived for long, even if he had twenty lives. Then again, he ended up bing an ability user far stronger than me. Do we have to fight to be stronger? I looked down between the terrace railings at the aberrant. He was getting closer and closer, so I had to decide whether I wanted to fight or flee. Otherwise, I would miss out on the best opportunityregardless of which option I was considering. Its very rare for a tier one aberrant to appear just a month and a half into the apocalypse, so if we eat his evolution crystal, our abilities would grow a lot, right? If it was him, he would definitely choose to fight. But back then, he had the foolish Guan Weijun waiting to save him, whereas I had no one at my back waiting to save me. If I lost, Id die. I smiled faintly. So, we have to fight to be stronger? If I fight a battle with no escape, would I then be able to surpass him, or even reach the level of the Ice Emperor? I lifted the ice staff and slowly stood up. The aberrant had already reached the spot right below the house. This specimen definitely exceeded two meters in height, which was fairly enormous when going by the size of an average aberrant at the moment. He was also covered in a hard exterior shell, probably an evolution that resulted from someone shooting him. Just now, I had misjudged the shells hardness. My ice staff couldnt get through the shell, while his w had ripped at my side. Fortunately, when Inded on the ground, I retaliated with a strike to his knee, so we were even. Gazing down at the top of the aberrants head, I clenched my teeth and leapt down from the second floor terrace. My staff swung down toward his head, but he blocked it with an arm. This blow still didnt manage to break through the shell, but judging from hisplexion, he wasntpletely fine either. I was very strong now, and a staff was a blunt weapon to boot, so even if he had an external shell, he must have felt the blow after getting hit so hard. He grabbed at the ice staff with one hand, his strength obviously much greater than mine. I couldnt pull it back in time, and using this opportunity, he used his other hand to grab my foot. I was forced to let go of the staff, giving him the chance to fling the ice staff far, far away. A look of glee crossed that face covered by a thickyer of brown shell. But right then, I twisted in mid-air and used my knee to smash apart his delight. In the same move, I also yanked out the knife tied to my leg and stabbed it down right into his abnormallyrge eye socket. He howled in agony. His wildly iling arms caught the injury at my waist again, which hurt so badly that my entire body started trembling. But I didnt stop because of this, and immediately seized the opportunity to grab his fists and freeze them solid! After sealing his movements, I stomped down at the knife stabbed in his eye, stamping and stomping and twisting He fell to the ground with a resounding crash, but still continued thrashing every so often. I immediately thawed my hands, leapt at the knife, and jostled hard at the handle, going up up down down left right left right. Really, the only things that were missing were the A and B buttons toplete the gaming experience. That did the trick andpletely turned his brains into a pile of mush. Only then did the bodys movements reduce to mere twitching. Whew I defeated a tier one aberrant! I felt damned good and couldnt care less about my exhaustion or injuries. Everything was looking rosy. Just one and a half months into the apocalypse, and I was already able to defeat a tier one aberrant. Back in the Guan Weijun days, even three years in, I was still running away at the sight of a tier one aberrant. Next was dissection time. That shell really was ridiculously tough. I smashed and chopped and sawed and kicked, and it was only when I was so worn out that the pain at my waist was starting to get to me that I was able to excavate the evolution crystal. But when I saw that the crystal was asrge as the joint in my pinky, I felt that everything was worth it. This harvest far exceeded my expectations, and together with the ever-growing pain of my waist injury, I decided to call it a day and go straight home. I fired up the car, worrying about the waves of paining from my waist all the while. When I arrived home, the first thing I did was take off my clothes to check out the injury. The injury was much worse than Id thought. Starting from my side, three w marks had gouged their way across two-thirds of my abdomen. The wounds were deep. If I hadnt used ice to freeze them, it was likely that my guts would have started spilling out halfway through that intense battle. That was close. Wiping away the cold sweat, I started bandaging the wound, and then gave myself a constory jab of antibiotics, although they hadrgely lost their effectiveness on a tier one body. After all, if the body itself was unable to fight off the infection, no amount of antibiotics would do any good. Standing in front of the mirror, I treated the other visible, bleeding wounds and left the bruises and small scratches as they were. I stared at the mirror, and a beautiful, young man looked back at me from within. Hisplexion was a little pale, probably a result of the wounds, and his slender body with a slight hint of muscture was covered in scars, but none of this lessened his overall handsomeness. The current Jiang Shuyu hadpletely recovered. Shujun said I was more or less back to the state from before getting hit on the head by a tile, and that I even seemed more toned than before. Every day, when I habitually checked out the mirror to inspect my bodys condition, the handsome man in the mirror made me feel like I was going blind from his beauty. If I revealed a smile, his smiling face gave a sense of mysterious allure What the hell! Im just smiling randomly, so where is the mystery and allureing from?! I didnt dare to look too much at my body during my daily showers. I was really worried that, someday, Id admire myself in the mirror to the point of nosebleeding, like some kind of insane level of narcissism. Even in my current miserable state of injuries, Id still make people go aww at how heartbreakingly pitiful I looked. Really, enough is enough! Yawning widely, I quickly changed my clothes and headed out to find Shujun. I had to quickly finish my tasks for the day and get some rest. I disyed the fruits of todaysbor in front of Mimei. Before getting a hold of the tier one evolution crystal, I had also gotten three pieces of normal evolution crystals, making a total of four pieces. The crystals were all fairly substantial in size, especially that tier one crystal Ahem, all right, I confess to showing off a little. Whys this one so big? Shujun asked with a little surprise, Even the mercenary troop has never brought home such a big one before! This is a tier one aberrants evolution crystal. It beats the normal ones. Eat the small one first Here, a sharp stab of pain at my waist forced me to pause a moment, Then make three cups of tea. Shujun didnt respond and just looked at me. I couldnt tell what she was thinking. Just as I was guessing at the possibilities, she said, All right, Ill go make tea. The small ones are for Uncle and Auntie, and the big one is for Dg, right? Yeah wait! After some hesitation, I decided to take the opportunity to chat a little with Dg. I hadnt seen Dg for quite a while, and I was feeling fantastic after beating a tier one aberrant. Just make tea for Uncle and Auntie. Ill go make a coffee for Dg. When Shujun heard that, her eyes started sparkling, and she quickly said, Yup yup, thats right. rg, you go make some coffee. Im sure Dg will be very happy. Humming a little ditty, I made a cup of coffee for Dg. Lately, Id been busy hunting and Dg had his hands full as well. It seemed they were a bit short on ammunition, so they were preparing to drive out farther afield in search of guns. The residential areas around these parts at most had one or two guns or rifles, which simply wasnt enough for them. Dg was in the middle of cleaning his guns, and he looked a little surprised when he saw mee in. I gave a small smile, saying, Dg, I made you some coffee. Dg looked at the coffee mug in my hand and nodded, continuing to clean his guns all the while. I ced the coffee on the table, and just as I was about to speak to Dg, he gave a helpless sigh. Shuyu, youve been going out every day. Just where have you been? Looking for supplies, I could only repeat the same old excuse again. Really? Dg looked down and continued to polish his guns. I could only use this excuse, and anyway, I was in fact bringing back supplies. Because the farther I went, the deeper into the suburbs I got. The supplies were in more plentiful supply there than these parts, so I always came back each time with a few backpacks of supplies. It was just that I didnt want them to be reliant on guns, so I never brought back any guns. Seeing Dg continuing to clean his guns, I nced at the coffee on the table and couldnt help but remind him, Dg, why dont you drink the coffee? Just leave it there. Ill get around to itter. Hearing that, I became even more flustered. This was a tier one crystal, which was very difficult toe by, so I absolutely had to watch him drink it all before I rx. I could only urge him again, Cant you drink it now? I made it especially for you! Dg looked up and exined, I just drank some water, so Im not thirsty. Ill drink itter. I gaped like a goldfish, unsure of how I could make him drink it right now. Dg looked at me and set aside his work. He asked seriously, Shuyu, is there anything about the apocalypse that you havent told us yet? If there is, its better if you told everyone. Anything I havent said? Does he really expect me to exin every single little detail of my ten years in the apocalypse? And more importantly, even if I exined a lot of the stuff, it wasnt something they would understand. Things like tier one aberrants were, at the end of the day, just stronger aberrants. It was just that humans split them by tiers for easier categorization. If you hadnt encountered them before and really fought with them, there was simply no way of understanding what level of strength that represented. Describing it was aplete waste of time and would just make people worry needlessly. Besides, I was also worried that I would get things wrong. For example, a tier one aberrant had appeared just today, only one and a half months into the apocalypse, whereas based on my understanding, this should happen half a yearter. What if I told them something wrong? In my previous life, Guan Weijun was an ordinary person who fled wherever was safest in the first year of the apocalypse, so many things that she knew may not be wholly urate. Just my past life experiences in the apocalypse, but these arent things that can be exined easily. Dg nodded and didnt question any further. It seemed he wasnt nning on saying anything more to me. He didnt touch the cup of coffee either. Feeling uneasy, I suppressed the idea of just taking away the cup of coffee. I reminded myself that Dgs power was healing and that he was repaying the others for the crystals that I had eaten Taking in a deep breath, I told myself that, no, Dg was always very honest with me. Dg, remember to drink the coffee. Mm. Returning to my room, I spent a little while sitting on the bed, spacing out. The injuries today were really very severe, and I should be getting some rest as soon as possible to help speed up my recovery. This way, Id be able to continue to go out hunting. Besides, my eyes kept drooping and I could barely keep them open. But I still couldnt dispel my worries. After some hesitation, I ended up climbing off my bed after all and, resisting the pain at my waist, walked to the back garden. My strengthened bodys five senses were much more sensitive than before, and very soon, I could detect a whiff of coffee in the air. I walked and searched. By the wall of the house, I lifted my head to find Dgs room window. Then, I looked down at the ground. Where the smell of coffee wasing from. I was wrong. I should have just let Shujun bring the tea, just like before, instead of letting a tier one crystal go toplete waste. Maybe Id also raised his suspicions, so Dg would no longer drink even Shujuns tea. If so, what should I do? I dropped to my knees and dug up the soil that was soaked in coffee, taking it in one gulp after the other. I cant let it go to waste. I ended up with a stomachache that evening and spent the entire night running to the toilet. I barely got a wink of sleep, and after the restless night, the injuries at my side took a turn for the worse. When I opened my eyes the next day, I couldnt even get up. Lying on the bed, I could feel that my face was flushed but my body was icy. If anything, my entire body felt as weak as a kitten. So, I was positive I hade down with a fever, and a pretty bad one at that. In the past three weeks, I had been sneaking out every day in the afternoon, and sometimes I would even go out in the dead of night. As expected, having to harvest five peoples share of evolution crystals was tough work, especially Dgs share, since he needed to eat two peoples portions. Because his healing ability couldnt increase hisbat powers, he needed to rely on the crystals even more to strengthen his body. Every day, I wrung out everyst drop of power, so despite Jiang Shuyus superb health and the wealth of crystals I had eaten, it really ended up being too much of a burden on the body A knock came from outside, and Shujun asked, G , its time to eat. Why arent you down yet? I thought quickly. It was impossible to hide my sickness from Shujun, so the only thing I could say was, Junjun, can you bring it up? Just say I dont feel like going downstairs to eat. If Dg discovered I was ill and did a quick check, then I wouldnt be able to hide my injuries anymore. And if Dg discovered that I had been sneaking out to fight aberrants, I really didnt know how he would react. After a moments silence from outside the door, there came an Okay. Soon after, Shujun brought over the meal. I struggled hard to get up and dragged my heavy feet to the door to let her in. Shujun brought in the food and quietly sat to one side, watching me eat. She didnt speak until I was done eating and had set down the chopsticks and bowl. G , youre sick. Cant I tell Dg about this? Hes got healing power, so he can heal you. I shook my head, refusing outright. Dont. Shujun stopped that line of inquiry but suggested without giving up, Then, Ill make you chicken soup today. You have to promise to finish it all. I faltered for a moment. For a tier one body, chicken soup had long lost its effectiveness. But if it put Shujuns heart at ease, I would nod, say Yes and then down the soup when it came. Having eaten my fill, Iy down and slept for a bit more. When I awoke, I originally nned to continue forging my knife, but the moment I used my ice powers, I was instantly struck by a splitting headache. So I gave up on that and just spent the entire day eating and sleeping and eating, hoping that I would be able to recover just a little bit faster. To my surprise, on the third day, I was still extremely groggy and the dizziness actually worsened. When I opened my eyes to look at the time, even the clock was spinning in my vision, and it was with great difficulty that I could make out what time it was. Oh boy, it was already one thirty in the afternoon. If not for the chattering outside my door, Id likely have continued sleeping. Is he still throwing a tantrum about noting down to eat? This is Dgs voice? No, Dg. rgs just being a sleepyhead. He went to bed quitetest night. Whats there to do sote at night? Dont tell me theres still television to watch in the evening? There are aberrants outside, so we cant even switch on the lights. Aside from sleeping, what else is there to do at night? Shujun, stop helping him make excuses! Dg, no, its not that, rg, he Jiang Shuyu! Open the door right this instant! Open the door But I cant get up anymore In my daze, I watched the room door being kicked right off its hinges. Jiang Shutian stormed in with fury. At the sight, I started panicking, to the point where my entire chest felt tight. Yes, with my knowledge of the apocalypse, I believed I would be able to survive even if I left this ce. But I simply didnt want to go. I didnt want to leave this family behind. But the mercenaries hated me, and now even Dg was starting to dislike me. He even threw away the coffee I purposefully brought over without drinking it. Just how much does he suspect that I am not his younger brother? If I dont leave, am I really intending to wait until Jiang Shutians suspicions exceed the breaking point, and he would juste strangle me to death? But Junjun, Dg, Uncle, and Auntie After being reincarnated, even though it is still the apocalyptic world, I have family and friends. I really dont want to leave, so what should I do? Shuyu? Dg rushed over to my bed and looked down at me, and in that moment, his expression of anger froze. As for myself, I was terrified. Is he going to strangle me? Dg, you idiot! Shujun ran in and started pummeling DgGirl, this is our mighty Dg, you know? You actually dare to hit him however you like? Dg, you stupid idiot! You jerk! I saw it all; you poured away the coffee rg brewed for you. That had an evolution crystal rg fought hard to get. It was the size of a thumb! Junjun, youre exaggerating too much. It was at most the size of the joint of a pinkie. Dg, did you know, rg ate up all the soil where you poured away the coffee?! She saw? My wariness really shouldnt have been that bad. After a moments thought, I abruptly recalled Aunties search powers and realized what had happened. So it seemed Uncle and Auntie also knew about this already. Shujun, really Shujun shoved Dg away forcefully and came to my bedside, looking at me heartbrokenly. Tears trickled down her face, dripping down one by one. Id lost count of the number of times I had made her cry. In the span of just over one month, those almond-shaped eyes had be puffy too many times. I noticed a few days ago that rg was walking strangely. It was even more noticeable than his previous injuries. He hasnt even been able to get up at all these few days. I knew it. His injuries this time are very serious. He had finally just gotten better, and now hes be so weak again. Dg looked at her, asking in astonishment, Hes hurt? Not sick? But how did Shuyu get hurtwait, you said he was fighting? To get evolution crystals? Who went with him? Shujun told him the entire truth, her words barbed with usation and me. The tea I made for Dg always had evolution crystals in it. Even me, Uncle, and Auntie had our share. And rg was the one who got them all! He was out fighting aberrants every day, both day and night. He wouldnt even tell me if he got hurt, but all I had to do was look at the way he was walking to know he had injured himself again! So it turned out Shujun knew after all. I had even prided myself on my acting skills, but as it turned out, her acting skills were way better than mine. Dg wore a hurt expression, and his tone carried an even deeper pain as he slowly said, Shuyu, why did you hide this from me? Do you not believe in me? Is Dg not worth believing in anymore? No! I just dont want to join those mercenaries who hate me, and I would even have to share my evolution crystals with them. I simply dont want to split the crystals evenly with them! They even refuse to give any to Shujun, Uncle, and Auntie, so how could I possibly share the crystals with them! I would rather go crystal hunting myself and bear the risk myself. I was fine as long as I could keep the crystals to share with my own family. But if Dg found out, he would never be willing to let me go hunting by myself, which was why I had kept it to myself. I couldnt tell him anything and had no choice but to keep fighting aberrants over and over again. But no matter what I did, I couldnt get enough crystals. So for the crystals I got today, who should get priority over them? Tier one aberrants had appeared. And if I were to encounter one of the stronger tier one aberrants, would I be able to win? If I couldnt win, would I be able to escape? If I ran into Dg at home today, what kind of expression would he use when looking at me? How much did he suspect me? Junjun, dont be sad, Im not hurt, Im fine, really The unfairness of it all, the pain, the fear and, most of all, the unwillingness to give upall sorts of emotions suddenly welled up inside of me. I knew I must be burning up really badly, otherwise why would I be assaulted by so many and suchplex emotions? Even in the mess of my life in the previous world, I had never encountered suchplicated feelings before. Dg frowned deeply. It was an indescribable expression, but the moment I saw it, my heart ached. He said very quietly, Xiao Yu, dont cry. Its all Dgs fault. You didnt drink my coffee. I mumbled the fact that caused me the greatest pain and fear above all, You poured it away. Dg, were you afraid I would poison it? Did you think I would want to harm you? Sorry. Dg kept wiping away the tears that spilled nonstop from my eyes, and repeated, Sorry. In the future, no matter what you give to me, Dg will drink it all. I cried. I didnt know why, but I kept crying and the tears wouldnt stop falling. Just when can I be a man who sheds blood instead of tears? I was always crying like a woman, wasting Jiang Shuyus good looks. Dg suddenly lowered his head and touched his forehead against mine. Then, he said in a voice heavy with worry, Xiao Yu, youve got a really bad fever. Where did you hurt yourself? I was crying so hard I almost couldnt speak, but I managed to squeeze out one word. Waist. He pulled away the covers and ripped open my shirt, then carefully undid the bandages. To one side, Shujun sucked in a sharp breath, then immediately covered her mouth, not daring to make a sound. Is my injury really that bad? Never mind, Shujuns reaction isnt a good measure. Even if I had a bruise the size of a thumb, she would still look on it with anxiety and worry, and would even insist on helping me gently massage away the bad blood. Dgs face was very ashen as he spoke. The wound is infected. No wonder I had a fever. I already had a tier one strengthened body. For a wound that was treated to still get infected meant that the tier one aberrant wasnt for show either. Even after it died, it was still trying hard to drag me down to hell with it. A sudden warm, soothing sensation came from my waist. That was Dgs healing powers. It had been a very long time since I hadst experienced this feelingId almost forgotten how good it felt to be healed. Shujun, go boil a basinful of hot water to wipe down rg. Okay! After being healed, my body finally felt better. Although I was still feverish, at least the pain at my waist had lessened significantly. Next, Dg and Mimei used hot water to wipe me down, and it felt soforting that I became extremely drowsy. From one ear came Dgs voice, a low but reassuring voice. Xiao Yu, sleep well. When you wake up, Junjun will cook a good meal for you. I made a mmm sound and slipped into deep slumber. Volume 1, 7: The Coffee鈥檚 Not to Blame, Part Two

Volume 1, Chapter 7: The Coffees Not to me, Part Two

Trantor: Elkin The next time I opened my eyes, I was trussed up like a turkey. What the hell? Yo, Mr. Handsomes awake! A sudden voice rang out, and it was only then that I noticed there were other people in the room. I turned my head to look, only to discover that it was a woman I didnt recognize. She was gazing at me up and down in a leisurely manner, with a look in her eyes that pissed me off. He looks even better than those TV stars. God, seriously, he looked good asleep, but now that hes awake, he looks even better. This voice Someone else is in the room, too? I twisted my head around and saw three men and two women in total, all strangers. The other woman was sprawled on one side of the bed. She looked younger, at most twenty-odd years old, and she reached out to stroke my face. Seeing that, the other woman also leaned forward to touch and feel me. I was speechless. As a woman in the previous world, I was worried that I would be raped. Now that I was a man in this world, it seemed I still had to worry about being raped. So that was why I always said, it wasnt good to be born with good looks in the apocalypse! Ignoring the ongoing sexual harassment, I struggled to figure out the situation while beingpletely immobilized. First, I discovered Uncle and Auntie on the floor to one side. Both were bound hand and foot and were looking at me worriedly, but thankfully, neither of them seemed hurt. Uncle and Auntie are both here, so why isnt Shujun around Shit! Shujun is a pretty girl! I panicked. Wait, hold your horses. Uncle and Auntie only look a little rmed and are still rtively calm. Judging from their reactions, Shujun should be fineshe has to be fine! At this point, someone else walked into the room. He was very tall andnky, and he even had a rifle hanging from a shoulder. Facing the tall, broad-built man in the room, he reported, Sir, somethings wrong. The basement is stockpiled with foods and civilian supplies. Theres boxes of the stuff. Its crazy how much stuff there is. It doesnt seem like these were foraged supplies either. Its almost like these people predicted the apocalypse and rounded up some supplies beforehand. Crap, they discovered our supplies. Now, theyre not going to go anywhere any time soon. There were too many of them, and they were armed with guns as well, guns that packed serious firepower. Mr. Broad even had a machine gun slung across his back, and even the women were equipped with handguns. If it were just handguns, I could still try dodging or blocking the bullets with ice. But there was no way I could go up against a machine gun. The only thing I was sure I could pull off was fleeing. But with Uncle and Auntie here, there was no way I could run off just by myself. I checked my bodys condition. First, I created a piece of ice in my mouth to confirm that I was able to use my powers, and it also ked my thirst at the same time. Then, I shifted my waist a bit. It stung a little, so it seemed the wound hadntpletely healed yet. But my head was clear, so the fever was gone. If these people were just slightly more spread out from each other, with a bit of a head start, I might be able to take them down one by one. Youre the only ones having fun! A short man with a pointy head and rat-like eyes said spitefully as he red at the two women, Such a pity that doll ran off. She sure looked damn fine. Shujun got away? Good! A fat man whacked the back of Shortys head, yelling, Dont reveal things so easily! Shorty gingerly rubbed the back of his head, replying Snot like it matters. Two out of the three are old fogies, and the young one looks like hes currently sick. Who gives a shit about them? Hearing that, I frowned. There should be someone from the mercenary troop on guard in the attic. Is that person dead, or did they run away? No matter what, the only thing I could do right now was to quietly wait for the right opportunity. Once they were scattered enough, I should be able to deal with these people without putting Uncle and Auntie in danger. Although they had guns, aside from Mr. Broad and Lanky who seemed just a little dangerous, the others didnt seem like they were people who were familiar with guns. Although I wanted to quietly wait, those two women sure as hell couldnt and just kept stroking here and there all over my body. They even started feeling me up and rolling up my shirt. I was astounded. Seriously? Are you so horny that youre prepared to rape me in front of everyone? Its not even two months into the apocalypse, so how did things degenerate to be this shameless so quickly? Dont you dare touch Shuyu! Uncle was so angry, his entire face was flushed, and he couldnt help shouting, Dont you have any shame, doing things like that to a kid? The younger woman stopped, her face a little red. So it seemed she still had a shred of morality left in her. But the older one just burst intoughter as she said, So what? Its the apocalypse. Whats there to be ashamed about? Do you think that shame will keep you fed? With that, she forcefully and provokingly ripped open the clothes in front of my chest. Fucking hell! If I waited quietly for an opportunity, Id get raped! And Id even sworn beforehand that I would never get topped by anyone as long as I lived! Fury erupted from my heart, and I had the sudden impulse to chop off the womans wandering hands and shove them down her throat! Stop right this instant! Uncle ground his teeth. Xiao Yus just eighteen! You cant do that! Auntie shouted desperately. Hearing Uncles and Aunties voices, the fury in my heart extinguished. Whatever, Im a man after all. Even if a woman does this and that to me, it wouldnt really count as topping me. If I threw all caution to the wind and started fighting, it would be too risky. There were still too many people. There were six of them just in this room, and it was likely that there were still more people outside. On the other hand, Uncle and Auntie were still tied up and unable to move. Bullets would fly around indiscriminately. Hearing Aunties words, the older woman became even more delighted, shrieking, Yo! What a catch! Hes still young and fresh, only eighteen! Then, she lowered herself onto me and started nibbling at my chest. The younger woman was only able to hold herself back for a minute before she swooped in to kiss my face. Thankfully, I was able to twist my face aside quickly, so she wasnt able to kiss me on the lips. Otherwise, this bodys first kiss would have been over, just like that. Dont tell me theyre nning to enact some kind of AV scene in front of everyone?! I really wanted to cry. Although Id seen a lot in my previous life, Id originally thought that I just had to increase mybat abilities in this lifetime to avoid these kinds of shitty situations. But I never imagined that, just a mere month and a half into the apocalypse, I would be the protagonist of such a sorry situation, and that itd be even more tragic than Guan Weijuns as a bystander. Thats why, people living in the apocalypse really cant afford to look too good. That applies to both men and women! No, I really have to at least fight to preserve my chastity somehow. D-dont Tears sprung up in my eyes. I summoned the most pitiful expression I could, imploring weakly, At least, please, dont do it here. I struggled to squeeze out tears. An idle smile was enough to captivate people, so now that Im intentionally looking pitiful, lets see if that isnt enough to bewitch the two of you! Quickly take me to the next room to force yourselves on me, and Ill annihte you immediately! Honestly though, I was weeping on the inside as I yed out the honey trap. I was already at tier one, yet I still ended up being bullied by two ordinary women. How the mighty have fallen! The two women gazed at my face in a daze. Mere moments ago, they had been bold enough to want to rape a man in front of everyone, but now, they were reduced to shy maidens. Jiang Shuyus charm really was invincible. Just this face alone was a kind of power! Thats a nice expression hes got, Shorty actually leapt forward and started groping my chest with outstretched ws, saying gleefully, Even a man like me, whos never been into other guys, wants to eat him up. Now that the dolls gone, this one will do just fine. Fuck off and rot in hell, this woman no, this man will never let you top him! As if feeling their territory getting threatened, the two women snarled and bared their teeth. Hands off! You fucking pervert, dont you dare touch him again! Shorty was clearly undaunted by them, shouting back, Then what, youre allowed to rape someone but were not?! Everyone worked to capture him, so everyone can damn well share! So what, are you sayin other people cant touch him? He looked at the fatty and the tall, skinny man, yelling, I mean, look at this guy, doesnt he make you wanna top him? Top top top get topped by an aberrant, you shithead! I never dreamed that I would attract even more people, and men to boot. I was a little frustrated. It looked like I really couldnt use my allure in the future. It works for other women and men, but the moment Jiang Shuyu uses it, not only would he st away all opposition, hed bring himself to ruin as well. Auntie suddenly spoke up. Come feel me up instead! Im just a bit old, thats all. But look, I still look good, and my boobs are big. No matter what, a womans better than a man, dont you think? Auntie I want to kill all these people. Shut up! Mr. Broad snapped irritably, No one is allowed to touch him. Theres something up with this house. Keep your hands on your guns! Another man walked in from outside and reported to Mr. Broad, Chief Hao, theres a sentry point set up in the attic. It looks very professional and is definitely not an ordinary set up. But theres no one there. Its likely that the person ran off the moment they saw how many of us there were. Dammit. I knew it wasnt just six people. So how many of them are there? And the person who just walked in doesnt look like an ordinary civilian either. He definitely hasbat abilities. I shouldnt make a move carelessly, but if they really doy even a finger on Auntiethen Im going down fighting to the bitter end! Under Mr. Broads orders, Uncle was taken away, and Auntie was left where she was. How many of you are there? Mr. Broad questioned Auntie, but held a knife against my neck. Aunties expression changed. Mr. Broad said tly, I wont kill him in one go. No, Ill avoid the vital parts and carve out dozens of pieces of flesh and still leave him alive. Believe me, I can. So, Ill ask you first, and then Ill ask that man of yours as well. If the stories dont match up between the two of you, then everyone here will have a taste of your boy, and then Ill carve out his flesh, slice by slice. Hearing this threat, Aunties face turned white and she fessed up to everything. When Uncle was switched in next, Mr. Broad repeated the same routine and obtained the exact same answer. This was really bad. They had found out every detail about theposition of our home team, whereas we had no idea whether our people had found out that our house had been taken over. I really hoped that Shujun, after escaping their clutches, or the person who had been on guard duty could quickly find Dg and the others. Lanky said, Chief Hao, it doesnt sound like many people, but the mercenaries are gonna be tricky. Chief HaoI wasnt sure if that was his name or if it stood for chief leader Haostroked his chin as he said boomingly, Kid, whats your full name? I frowned inwardly at this question, but Auntie hadnt been brought back yet. We were screwed if the names didnt match up, so I had no choice but to reply honestly, Jiang Shuyu. Chief Hao, youre thinking of taking him in? The fatty seemed to find this very unusual and asked curiously, I never knew Chief Hao was into guys as well. The hell are you saying? A man like me has zero interest in guys! Chief Hao whacked the back of the guys head, and then responded with a question in kind, JDT. Have you heard of it? Lanky clearly seemed to think that his intellect had been insulted, but because the person who had insulted him was his team leader, he had no choice but to suppress his anger and reply, Of course I have, its the Jiang Dominion Troop. That mercenary troops not big, but its said that the members are pretty good. Theyre quite well known in the industry as well. So you know them, boss? Ive never heard you mention it before. Ive met them before, but I cant say I know them. At the time, I wanted to recruit some of their members, so I asked around. Lanky blurted out, But I heard its really hard to recruit guys from the JDT. They rarely change members, and its hard to lure any of them away. And its even harder to get in. Thats right. After hearing things, I wasnt gonna waste my time or breath to recruit them. Chief Hao stroked his chin again, musing, But at the time, I heard that the JDTs leader lived near Zhongguan City, and that his real name was Jiang Shutian. So, who dya think this Jiang Shuyu is? He actually knows Dg? I frowned, thinking hard, but judging from his tone, he didnt seem like he had a grudge against Dg, nor did he know him well. Theyre just both in the same business. I never imagined that they would be mercenaries as well. Now shit really had hit the fan. An average person and a professional mercenary were simply on different levels in terms ofbative power. If this really is the JDTs territory, then things are gonna get real tricky. Chief Hao pondered for a moment before continuing, Its not worth going up against them in a direct confrontation. But Chief Hao, therere a lot of supplies here, Fatty immediately protested. I didnt say I didnt want the supplies. Chief Hao waved to dispel everyones doubts and exined, I was originally nning to just take over this house directly. This location and the houses construction are both pretty good, and the basement is full of supplies. We didnt encounter any monsters on the way in either, so its likely that the JDT cleared out the nests. But we gotta make sure we wipe out the entire JDT, otherwise theyll get revenge on us for sure. Just firing off a few shots at us every so often is enough to be a pain in the ass to deal with. Then, lets just fight already! Shorty shouted, Weve got more people, so whats there to be scared of?! Do you even know how many bullets are spent in a gun fight, you little fucker? And weve got grenades, and god knows how much firepower the JDT are packing. Thats gonna blow up way big, yknow?! Chief Hao snapped irritably, And even if we exterminated them, wed probably have run out of bullets ourselves. The sounds of gunfire would also attract a whole lot of monsters, and we wont be able to stay in this house much longer. And we probably wont have any choice but to abandon the supplies. And with no guns, whatcha gonna do, have a go at the monsters with a knife? Shorty shrunk back, not daring to speak. How unexpected. This man looked like a brute, but he had a pretty good head on his shoulders. The others also felt that he was making sense, so no one made any more objections. Go find a car nearby and carry away all the supplies. Lanky said, There are a lot of supplies here, so itll take some time. If times the issue, then we can just make use of this kid here. Chief Hao used the nozzle of the gun to lift my chin, and he remarked with a grin, Jiang Shutian is famous for caring about his troops lives. So what do you think will happen if it came down to his own little brother? Such a pity we couldnt capture that sister of his, though. With such a pretty, little sister, Im sure that, as the big brother, he must love her to bits! He ced particr emphasis on the word love. The others started chuckling with the lewdest expressions you could think of. Chief Hao thought for a bit, then beckoned to the two women. The two of you, bite him a few more times and make him look more pathetic. That way, itll hurt Jiang Shutians little heart even more. The two womens faces lit up, while mine darkened. Volume 1, 8: The Sick Cat Retaliates

Volume 1, Chapter 8: The Sick Cat Retaliates

Trantor: Elkin I went from being trussed up on the bed to being dangled in mid-air above the balcony. My situation was worsening by the second. Am I really getting a second life in another reality? Has there ever been a reincarnated protagonist who got hit on the head with a tile, got injured by an aberrant, withered into a stick, ate soil, nearly got raped, and was finally hung up on a balcony? If anyone dared to use me of living a good life in the apocalypse in this life, what with plentiful food and shelter and all, I would tell them oh so pleasantly, Stand here, and Ill go up to the top floor of Taipei 101 and throw a tile at your head! One of the mercenaries in Dgs troop had been discovered lurking nearby, which resulted in me being strung up on the balcony. Personally, I was pretty sure it was Cain intentionally giving himself away. Even if it wasnt him, I was going to me him anyway! The only fortunate thing was that they hadnt found my ice knife and ice staff. Probably because I was still young and looked absolutely dreadful and pathetic with my illness; not to mention the basement was positively bursting with supplies, that they couldnt be bothered to do a search of my room. And good thing they hadnt, otherwise things wouldnt have been as simple as me getting hung up on this balcony. Actually, I wasnt the slightest bit concerned about the rope binding my hands. They had been pretty prudent and had used thick hemp rope to tie me up. This was more than enough to immobilize even the most muscr of mercenaries, much less an ordinary eighteen-year-old kid. It was such a pity that I was their opponent. I could only say, tough luck! No, actually, Im the one with the bad luck. I mean, the person being hung up so pitifully here is me. If not for the fact that they have a machine gun and that Uncle and Auntie are nearby, I would kill them all No wait, they said they also have grenades as well. Whew, good thing I didnt do anything rash. I had no choice but to continue hanging there, waiting for the right time. Actually, the best case scenario would be if Dg and the others were to draw away the people over here with a gunfight, because then I could rescue Uncle and Auntie! Unfortunately, I was also worried about the same thing that Chief Hao was talking about. If both sides started fighting with guns and grenades in earnest, not only would this ce be reduced to rubble, even the supplies could be put in danger. Additionally, Dg and the others were short on ammunition to start with, and they didnt seem to have properly trained their abilities. So, even if they won the fight, it would be tough surviving afterwards without guns. After turning over the possibilities a million times, I still felt that the safest method to get out of the current situation would be to pick them off one by one, so long as I could get them isted. Speaking of which, it was such a pity just now that the two women were stopped by Chief Hao, so they werent able to haul me off to the next room to rape me. Chief Hao walked out onto the balcony, but possibly because he was worried that he would get sniped, he stood behind me and shouted out into the open, Jiang Shutian, Im warning you, you best stay away from this house and give up on this base. Otherwise, this pretty little brother of yours will get ripped to pieces! He pressed a knife against the small of my back, whispering, Shout and cry like you mean it. G, donte, they really will kill me. And theyve got Uncle and Auntie as well. Youre not allowed to say anything else. One extra word, and your Uncle will be cheated on by your infidel Auntie. At that, fury erupted within me, but I had no choice but to follow his instructions to the T. But I really couldnt force myself to cry, so I could only put in more emotion while wailing my words. I hope Dg wont get too worked up The moment I finished, Chief Hao suddenly grabbed at my hair and jerked my head back. Although my scalp was tearing with pain, I was slow in letting out a scream, mainly because I had temporarily forgotten that my image was of a gentle, powerless pretty boy who was a useless university student. As such, I must not be able to put up with this mild pain without screaming. Hopefully, the slight hesitation had not given me away. Fortunately, Chief Hao retreated into the house, so it seemed that I hadnt raised his suspicions. I created a piece of ice in my mouth and melted it slowly to drink. So far, I hadnt felt any energy waves that would indicate the mercenaries having abilities. Unless their abilities were much stronger than mine, it was impossible to hide their use of abilities from me. Besides, Id created ice multiple times, but theyd had no reaction whatsoever. So, I should be able to strike off abilities from the list of variables to consider. Even if they discovered my abilities, they wouldnt pose any risk to me. Now, all I had to do was wait for Dg to act. The longer this dragged out, the more supplies they would carry away. I really hoped Dg would not act toote in the game, otherwise itd be troublesome getting back the supplies. Not knowing how long that would take, I continued to craft pieces of ice to drink. To be honest, I was really very hungry and seriously missed the meals cooked by Shujun. Only being able to drink water to fill my stomach at the moment was torture for me. Hmph, all right, Ill be sure to get revenge on Chief Hao for that Hao Pansi! came Dgs distant roar, filled with so much anger that even I was cowed, Let go of all the hostages right this moment; otherwise youre not getting out of this alive! I almost choked on the piece of ice in my mouth. H-How pansy? Dont tell me this was Chief Haos name. How could such a tall, big man be called Hao Pansi? Where did his pansy-ness go?! Chief Hao walked out again, remarking thoughtfully, Seems that he values you more than Id thought. Dg, you really flipped out! Now the enemy knows everything! That said, I felt a fuzzy warmth in my chest. Hao Pansi called back, Jiang Shutian, as long as you promise to abandon this base, your little brother will be just fine. Dg, dont promise him! I panicked. Although I didnt have any memories, my gut told me that Jiang Shutian was the kind of guy to go through with his promises no matter what. If he ended up making such a promise, then we really might have to give up on this base. Having forbidden me to talk, Hao Pansi mmed the butt of his gun against my head. Thankfully, I remembered to let out a cry this time around. A sudden gunshot rang out, and a bullet hole appeared on the wall behind Hao Pansi, a mere twenty centimeters from him. Fuck! Hao Pansi raised his gun in anger. However, he didnt lose himselfpletely, as expected from someone who was a leader, and aimed at my leg instead of my head. As of the moment, my toes could barely touch the ground. This was to make sure I didnt have any firm foothold so I couldnt put up a proper fight. At the same time, I wasnt danglingpletely in the air; otherwise I wouldnt be able tost long at all. Probably because I really looked extremely harmless, they didnt even tie up my feet. Only my hands were bound with the thick hemp rope. Heh, dont mistake me for a gentle, powerless pretty boy. Im telling you, only the pretty boy part applies to me! Grabbing onto the thick rope, I flexed my waist, using my core strength to twist in a wide arc mid-air so that I was facing Hao Pansi. Then, I rested one foot against the machine gun he was holding and kicked it against the wall so hard that the wall cracked. The other foot kicked at his lower jaw. At the same time, a palm-sized ice de had appeared in my hands. While it wasnt as sturdy as my ice knife, it was still plenty for cutting the hemp rope! The rope gave and Inded on my feet, using the momentum tounch myself forward. My opponent, getting kicked in the face, was falling backwards, so I rushed forward, the palm-sized ice de gliding toward his neck But he was able to react in time, as expected from a mercenary. Hao Pansi arched backward, so the strike narrowly missed his neck, but the ice de still left a deep, red gash across his cheek. If he drank water this very moment, it was highly likely that some would spill from such a deep wound. Next, I did a backward somersault, yanking out the machine gun that had been embedded in the wall, and fired a sweeping barrage as I walked into the room. All these actions were executed in one continuous flow, without even the slightest dy in between. While opening fire, I peeked at Uncle and Auntie out of the corner of my eye. They were sitting in the corner,pletely forgotten. As expected, mercenaries couldnt care less about a middle-aged couple. Ratatatatatatatat The whole room was filled with the stuttering of the machine gun, punctuated by one or two cracks of handguns returning fire. Then,plete silence took over. Although I hadnt used up the ammunition, there werent any more targets to attack. From start to finish, Uncle and Auntie stared at me with wide eyes and hadnt even had the time to react. The sequence of events just now happened in the span of at most ten seconds or so. Without any time to spare, I rushed out of the room without even bothering to pick up my ice staff or ice knife. I mmed the door behind me and flung an arm backward. The lock was sealed off with ice, so no one could get into the room to harm Uncle or Auntie. As for why I dashed off without even bothering to undo Uncle and Aunties ropes was because Hao Pansi had escaped. I never imagined that he would be able to get away even in that situation. After crashing to the ground, he immediately ducked and wove through, not intending to fight back in the slightest. He seized the opportunity to grab Fatty as a shield and raced out of the room. Even though I had fired a dozen odd rounds at him, I couldnt kill him. But I had to finish off all the other guys as well. Otherwise, they would get the chance to grab Uncle and Auntie, so I had no choice but to let him go. But I was not nning on letting Hao Pansi get away. Just like hed said, if you start something, youve got to finish it. If I didnt kill off all the opposition, just having someone remember a grudge would pose a danger to me. Now that I had killed off his mercenaries, it was impossible for him not to hate menot when he had lost his team in this apocalyptic world. The moment I exited the room, I caught a glimpse of Hao Pansis back. He was already at the very end of the corridor, about to jump down. If he got out of the house, then it would be difficult to find him. I froze a dozen odd small ice knives out of the air. Just as I was about to fire them at him, thenky guy came barging out of the room next to me. He stared at me in shock, but didnt hesitate to open fire with the two guns in his hands. As expected, a mercenary would mercilessly shoot without hesitation. I immediately flung myself backward, blocking myself with the ice knives. The bullets either whizzed over head or were deflected by the ice knives. Then, I kicked upwards at my opponents knee. While he was falling, I sprang up, grabbed one of the ice knives hanging in mid-air and drove it right into his jaw from below. Something fell from his hand. He was actually able to pull this off in the instant before he died, so his ability was probably speedshit, its a grenade! Watching that lethal weapon fall onto the floor without its pin, I growled, thrusting both hands out. The air started crackling, and a stream of ice shot out from between my palms straight to the ground, drawing out a river of ice that froze over the grenade. Cold sweat dripped from my forehead It didnt go off, good. Turning away from the grenade, I rushed to the end of the corridor and hopped onto the railing. I looked down in time to see Hao Pansi just about to exit the house. So I leaped down, sprinted forward then jumped, kicking both feet straight at Hao Pansis neck. I wanted to snap it so bad! Hao Pansi was opening the door at that moment, and he was thrown out through the doors by my running kick. I heard the sound of bones cracking, which should have been enough to kill him, but I had acquired a habit from fighting aberrants for too longmaking a killing blow wasnt enough, you had to make sure your target was ripped to shreds like a scene out of a horror movie! Inded and nted one foot on his head. Holding up my right hand with all fingers straight, I formed an ice de with the palm of my hand as the base. Then I severed his neck with one blow and wrung off his head. Just as I was about to smash it into mush from force of habit, I suddenly remembered that this wasnt an aberrant, but a human being. He was pretty much dead the moment his head was cut off. With his head severed, he wouldnt start biting maniacally like an aberrant could. I didnt have to re-enact a horror movie. Breathing a sigh of relief, I looked up to see five or six people standing in front of me, all armed with guns. They were in position, ready to fire at any given moment, but I wasnt too concerned about that. Dg. Holding onto Hao Pansis head with one hand, I looked around for a moment but only saw Dg and the mercenaries. I asked, Did you find Junjun? Shes at the back. I didnt let here. Dg looked back at me, his expression no different from normal. So it really did seem that Shujun was fine. I sighed with relief. Good, Shujun is back without a scratch on her, so this incident didnt result in any major consequences. I flung Hao Pansis head casually to one side before suddenly remembering something important. Oh shoot, I better help Uncle and Auntie undo their restraints. I turned to leave. For some reason, from behind came the sound of someone swallowing hard. Everyone headed inside the house, which was littered with corpses. Originally, Dg wanted to clean up with his troop before letting Shujun in. But I told him, Dg, Junjun is going to have to face the reality of the apocalypse sooner orter, unless you think we are so strong that we can keep herpletely safe from any worry. But neither of us are, so its probably easier for her to start small with dealing with corpses than suddenly jumping straight to killing living people. Although I really wanted to protect Shujun and shield her from such cruel situations, my past experiences in the apocalypse told me loud and clear that it wasnt good to live under someones wing. Even if Dg and I truly cared about her and shielded her from everything, as long as she didnt have the power to protect herself and her loved ones, she could only be protected to the bitter end. That was even crueler! Dg considered this and nodded, saying, Youre right, but He suddenly reached out to ruffle my hair, sighing, Dg really hoped he could protect you all of your lives. Theres nothing wrong with Dg protecting us, but your Dd and Mimei have grown up. Sometimes we want to protect Dg too, so give us a chance, Dg. The corner of Dgs mouth tugged upwards. So, youre not angry at me anymore? I blinked and replied quietly, I was never angry, just sad and scared. Rather than being pissed off, it would be better to say that I respected and feared and loved and was frightened of him. My feelings toward Dg were a jumbled mess, so it was hard to describe it exactly. Scared? Of me? Dg looked stunned, and then said quickly, Shuyu, I really would never hurt you! Its not that! Its just, Im worried, like, youd think Im not I stopped, but realization dawned on Dgs face. Actually, I was beginning to feel that even if I wasntpletely Jiang Shuyu, some part of me was. Otherwise, why would I love Jiang Shuyus family so much? But the more I loved Dg, Xiaomi, Uncle, and Auntie, the more I became scared that I would lose them. I was terrified by the idea of them feeling that I wasnt the Jiang Shuyu they so deeply loved. Sorry, Dg had promised to believe you no matter what, but I broke my promise. Im really sorry. It will never happen again. Dg apologized again and again, almost making me burst into tears again. I could kill people without even batting an eye, no problem. But tears would start springing into my eyes because of just one word, sorry. Youre really something, Jiang Shuyu! I quickly blinked away the tears. There was still the bunch of mercenaries nearby, and we still had to sort out the messed up house. During the battle just now, I hadnt actually killed everyone. The two women had also opened the door of the room they were holed up in, but they were so freaked out that they had immediately mmed the door shut again. I had been busy pursuing Hao Pansi, so I couldnt have cared less about them. Judging from their reactions, those two were probably pathetic beyond hope of redemption. And they did turn out to be utterly pathetic. They didnt take the chance to run away while I was still tied up with killing Hao Pansi. They just hid in the room, shaking all the while. I really didnt know how to best describe these two hopeless cases, and that also made it difficult to know how to deal with these two women. Zheng Xing scowled, remarking, Theyre just women, and theyre not mercs like Yunqian. Theyre probably just the mercenaries family members or some people they picked up along the way. It doesnt seem right to kill them? What the hell? What do you mean by just women? Women are pretty scary in their own rights, okay? And theyre even more vengeful than men! Just look at meI me everything on Cain, and Im quite petty minded, so much so that you couldnt find space for forgiveness in me no matter how you tried. I pointed at the rips in my clothes and the kiss marks that dotted my neck and chest, and reported, They did this to me. Did they really vite you? Dg suddenly asked. W-what do you mean by really vite? I flushed, hastily refuting, No! They just molested me a bit. I thought about suggesting at least beating them up. If not, then Id just have been taken advantage of for nothing! So no way in hell am I And I watched as Dg drew his dagger and slit their throats in one clean stroke, moving coolly like he was just polishing his de. I blinked and swallowed the words beat up right back down. Mm, then well just kill them. Er, if not, what were you nning, Dg? rg! Shujun dashed into the house and immediately leapt at me. When she saw what a mess I looked, her eyes reddened, though not in the sense that she wanted to cry, but rather that she was so angry, she was out for blood. I must be seeing things cause Im too hungry and tired. How could my sweet, good, gentle, little Junjun ever want to kill anyone? With heavy tones of remorse, she said, rg, Im so sorry for what happened. By the time we discovered them, the house was already surrounded, so I could only randomly zap down one guy and run off to find Dg so he could fight them. But I never thought they would Her eyes reddened even further. Um? Shujun was the one who reported to Dg? My expression darkened, and I whipped my head around, asking, Who was on guard duty today? Me, Uncle confessed with a look of shame. Er? Uncle? I was stunned and looked at him in bewilderment. Why on earth was Uncle on guard duty? Dg exined, We discovered a police station and wanted to search it for ammunition, but there were too many aberrants inside. We didnt have enough manpower, so we appointed Uncle for guard duty. Uncle and Auntie have been conducting archaeological digs around the world, so they know how to use guns for self-protection against bandits. But out of all days, we had to encounter invaders today, who were mercenaries to boot. Uncle and Auntie had no way of holding the fort, and I just happened to be in bed, being miserably sick. Worse still, because I had reconciled with Dg the night before, Id slept exceptionally well, to the point where I had only woken up after Id been trussed up like a turkey. Seriously, this rotten luck Are there still any temples I could pray at? This is a really unlucky year! I held my head in my hands. This Jiang family really did have everything except for good luck! I mean, look at themthe Jiang parents both died and Jiang Shuyu was put into aa out of the blue by a falling tile. We were in deep shit. If strength was the number one most important thing in the apocalyptic world, then luck was very solidly in second ce. I never thought you were so strong! Its kind of scary! I turned. Ceng Yunqian shrilled, Its so wrong with your looks! Watching a young, handsomed holding a human headI thought I was dreaming! Cain said with a face full of smiles, Now that weve got Shuyu to help out, it looks like taking down that police station isnt a problem anymore. Seriously, as expected of Bosss little bro, like father like son. Xiao Sha snapped irritably, Idiot foreigner. Dont use idioms randomly. Theyre not father and son. Thats just aparison! A metaphor! Cain retorted. Watching the mercenary troop joke around, without even a hint of hostility toward me, I couldnt help but stare in a daze, unsure of how to react. Theyre my brothers-in-arms whove gone through thick and thin with me. Youll get to know them soon enough. Dg ruffled my hair, the corner of his mouth twitching upwards. Then, he turned his eyes toward Ceng Yunqian and Lily, who were pretending to sulk, and chuckled, Yes, even the women are my brothers, okay? I remained silent. After ten years of the apocalypse, I had be incredibly petty minded, so much so that you couldnt find space for forgiveness in me no matter how you tried. It was far too difficult for me to trust people lightly. G, stop chatting. We need to sort this out quickly. Shujun looked at the bloody room. Although she wasnt freaking out, herplexion was still rather pale. Dg and I agreed. By the time we sorted out the mess that was our house, I was so famished, I could eat a whole elephant. Fortunately, this was when Shujun shouted, Its time for dinner! Junjuns angelic voice was always a pleasure to listen to, especially when she was calling us to eat. During dinner, although I was incredibly hungry, I was so tired that I could barely keep my eyes open. The injury at my waist was hurting again, and I had almost run out of my ability power. This feeling of being on an almost empty gauge was simply unbearable Shuyu. I jolted awake, to see everyone looking at me, and quickly asked, What? Who called me? Just now, I was so out of it, I hadnt even recognized the voice. Shujun giggled. rg, you almost buried your nose into your bowl. I had almost dozed off. I abashedly looked down at my bowl. Thank god someone woke me up, because what was in the bowl was hot soup. Dg asked, frowning, Shuyu, are you okay? Im just sleepy, I replied honestly. Ive just recovered from my illness, and I used up too much of my ability today, so Im a bit tired. Although thebat time was short today, I had let out all my powers in one explosive burst, so it was no way any easier than taking my time in hunting down aberrants. Then, eat and go to bed. Dg paused here, thinking over something, then added, Go wash up in your room. Once Ive healed your wounds, go sleep. I nodded. Actually, I was almost done with my meal. After finishing the remaining few gulps of soup, I informed everyone that I was heading back to my room. Strangely enough, everyone watched after me with yearning expressions. Why? I felt unsettled. Previously, I was practically as invisible as air at the dining table. Because Id felt like I was sticking out like a sore thumb, Id always eaten as fast as I could and left the dining table. When back in my room, I simply wiped myself down and waited for Dg toe heal me. I hadnt gotten too much blood on myself, because one of the specialties of ice abilities was that it would freeze over the enemys wounds and stop them from bleeding too much. Though, actually, this was more of a disadvantage, since I was helping to stop my enemies from bleeding out! I took a peek under the bandages that were wrapped around my waist, and noticed that the wound had already scabbed over. But probably because of the intense action today, parts of the scabs had been ripped open and had started oozing blood again. Dg walked in. The moment he saw my injuries, his brows immediately knitted together. But he didnt say anything, and just walked up to heal me. The warmth felt veryfortable, and I had to keep pinching myself to stop myself from drifting off during the healing process. After healing me, Dg wrapped up my wounds again, then suddenly said, Shuyu, why dont youe sleep with me? This rooms in bad condition. Of course it wasnt in good shapeeverything was riddled with bullet holes and a bunch of people had died here too. But seeing as I was the one who had done this with a machine gun, I couldnt reallyin. Still, sleeping in a honebed room was better than sleeping with Dg! Sleeping with Dg every night simply presented too much temptation to me. I worried that just the nose bleeds from getting turned on would make me anemic! I shook my head hard. Why? Do you still not trust Dg? Seeing Dgs expression be more downhearted, I could only admit honestly, Dg, you remember that I was a woman in my past life, right? Looking a little stunned, he asked, And its affecting you a lot? More than a little. I could only respond this way. I mean, it wasnt just more than a little; I was 100% Guan Weijun! Dg pondered a little and asked, So you dont want to sleep with me because Im a man? You like men? This question hit the bullseye! Id never dreamed in my past life that I would experience such embarrassing things as being the younger brother who was confessing to his older brother that he liked guys. I responded with a grimace, Im not sure. I really had no idea which gender I preferred. Although I was asionally tempted by Dg, whenever Mimei leapt into my arms, that soft, fragrant body of hers also shook me to my very core. I was such a lowlife! Jiang Shuyu, you bastard, stop being such a sis-con! But then again, Jiang Shuyu probably really wanted to rage at Guan Weijun to stop drooling after his older brother. The struggle! Its fine, dont worry too much, Dg said as he ruffled my hair, This kind of stuff isnt a big deal. Yunqian also likes women. Dont suddenly say stuff like this out of the blue! Dg, youve shocked your Dd! Youll be fine as long as you know what you want. I know I want to do my Dg and marry my Xiaomi, so like hell thats fine! If you dont want to share a room with me, why dont you go to Shujuns room to sleep? This room still smells of blood, so you shouldnt sleep here. At least wait until the smells gone beforeing back here. Its really okay. The smell doesnt bother me. I hesitated and then reminded him gently, G, Ive lived ten years in the apocalypse, so Im not a gentle little eighteen year-old. Dg looked at me, and then suddenly snorted. He said in an amused voice, So youre such a bad boy that you would sneak out in the middle of the night to hunt for evolution crystals for your entire family to eat? Which I then poured away? I replied awkwardly, Well, its not the same for family. He smiled as he ruffled my hair. Why does he keep doing that? I was eighteen already and he still kept ruffling it. By now, my hair had reached my shoulders, not to mention my hair was thick and stiff, so the moment he ruffled it, it would poof up into a messy birds nest. If it doesnt bother you, then go sleep. Rest a few days, and once youre better,e with us. Dont go hunting aberrants by yourself anymore. Dg worries about you. Hearing that, I frowned a little. I decided toe clean with Dg and exin about the situation with the mercenaries. Dg, I dont want to go with the mercs. I said calmly, I dont like them. Why not? Dg didnt seem surprised. Then again, I had been pretty obvious about it. They dont like me. This line came out like a kids whining. I flushed a little. I was already thirty-five years old, and I was still whining to Dg. And what was worse was that Dg was only twenty-seven! It was plenty shameful, whining to someone younger than me. Fortunately, Jiang Shuyus appearance was of an eighteen year olds, otherwise it would be really disgusting, right? Dg replied, puzzled, Dont like you? Who said so? Do I really need someone to spell it out for me? Iid out my reasoning, They must be angry and hate me for hiding the stuff about evolution crystals. Of course they would be angry that you took all the loot for yourself, but youre only an eighteen year old kid. Its not like theyd be angry at you forever. And besides, everyone was able to get a fair amount of evolution crystals afterwards, so they wouldnt really hold a grudge against you for that. I snapped back in anger, If they didnt hold a grudge, why would they refuse to share the crystals with you? And they even said that they would deduct your portion against what I took, so what am I supposed to make of that? If Shujun hadnt told me, and Dg had slowed down behind the others in terms of powering up, how could he still lead with strength less than theirs? It was likely that someone would rebel, wanting to take over Dgs ce, and I would never allow that to happen! That was what I proposed, Dg replied, frowning. Shuyu, theyre my brothers. Ever since I ran the JDT, Ive never let my brothers down. That was the loot from battles that they risked their lives in, so it should have gone to them in the first ce. I eximed, And if they became stronger than you in the future? What then? Theyre already stronger than me. Dg responded,pletely stunning me. Dg pped his hands to my shoulders, speaking in utmost seriousness, Shuyu, a mercenary troop is all about teamwork, and not individual strength. Ceng Yunqians marksmanship is better than mine, Xiao Shas subterfuge skills are better than mine, Zheng Xings medical skills I was talking aboutbat strength! I forcefully cut in. If he went on, hed probably keepparing to the point where hed be talking about how Lilys chest was bigger than his. Dg said in equal parts good humor and amusement, So marksmanship isntbat power? Not in the future. Cain could probably win in a fight against me. Dg admitted, I may be better at unarmedbat, but the moment he gets his hands on nunchucks, I might be the one whod lose. Cains so strong? I started to be warier. Shuyu, there are no weaklings in my mercenary troop. Whats the point of gathering people who are weaker than me in everything? Dg dered proudly, My Jiang Dominion Troop will only take in the strongest! Only take in the strongest I gaped nkly at Dg, who didnt seem the slightest bit worried that someone would be more powerful than him. The only thing I could think of was, why hadnt anyone like this appeared in my previous life? Could this be a so-called leaders charisma? In the past, he too was a leader of a group, and over half the evolution crystals the group got went straight into his belly. Especially for us women, almost all the evolution crystals we got went to him. It got to the point where sometimes, I felt like I was a mother raising a child rather than his girlfriend. He would also go through pleasantries like You are my good brothers, and what not, especially when recruiting useful new blood. He acted like he was all for justice and righteousness, like he would really sacrifice himself for others. But I knew all too well that he wasnt the kind of person who would allow anyone in his group to be more powerful than him, the leader. By taking away half of peoples evolution crystals in the name of supporting the group, together with this group of idiot women feeding him, no one would ever be stronger than him. Even though I hated him, I had followed in his footsteps, with my petty-mindedness narrower than a needles eye, as I refused to allow anyone to be stronger than me. Dg continued speaking, Shuyu, the ones who followed me were all those who believed me when I told them that the apocalypse wasing. Belief and trust I remained silent. I too had once trusted people, but the price was giving up my life after ten painful years of living, and this lesson was deeply etched into my heart. Dont stay cooped up in your room forever, and dont leave just like that once youre done eating without even saying a single word. Try getting along with them, okay? Seeing Dgs hopeful and worried expression, I once again thought back to the him in my memories. These two people were really very different. Then, should I also be different too? I nodded. Volume 1, 9: Joining the Mercenary Troop

Volume 1, Chapter 9: Joining the Mercenary Troop

Trantor: Elkin After lunch, I strolled over to the living room and sat down. Everyone watched me curiously and Ceng Yunqian couldnt resistmenting, How strange. Youre not going back to your room to be depressed and all today? Youre the one making me really depressed now! Cain stroked his chin, asking, So hes over his rebellious stage now? Like hell Im going through a rebellious stage at the age of thirty-five! All right, dont bully the boy. Zheng Xing said unhappily, What are you guys, kids? Dg looked me up and down and asked with concern, Youre not tired anymore? I nodded. Id already rested for three days and Id long gotten over my exhaustion. If not for the fact that Dg insisted on keeping me indoors, Id have gone out hunting yesterday. Time was very precious in the apocalyptic world. We cant afford to waste a single second! Then, lets go to the police station in the afternoonC I immediately cut in, blurting out in one breath, You need to share the evolution crystals with Junjun, Uncle, and Auntie. Otherwise, Id rather go hunting aberrants by myself! With that, I sat back to watch their responses. This was the lowest I was willing to go. If they werent willing to share, then we would each fight for our own portions, and they could forget about me going hunting with them! Wholl agree and wholl object? I was betting that Cain would be in the objection camp. And anyhow, I was already extremely small-minded, so there was no way I could forgive him so quickly. So, what do you have to offer in exchange for their three portions of crystals? I cant believe it, its Dg! I stared at him in disbelief. Like, what the hell? Dg was sitting on the couch, his chin tilted back a little and his lips curved in a faint smile. His long legs were crossed and his inteced fingers were resting on his knee. If someone took a picture of this, you would have a magazine cover right there, no photo editing needed. But the feeling I got was that I wasnt facing Dg, but instead a sly fox! Even if this fox was extremely handsome, it wasnt enough to shake off the feeling of impending doom, like I was not only being tricked into selling myself, but Id even have to count the cash from my sale. Jiang Shutian chuckled lightly and remarked, If you want cooperation, then we must first agree on a price. This is the fundamental rule of being a mercenary, and I cant make an exception, not even for my dd. Zheng Xing shook his head, saying ,Boss, stop teasing your little bro. Hes only eighteen. Youre being way too hard on him if youre wanting him to negotiate using the mercws. Even as a thirty-five year old Im finding it difficult! Everyone grinned from the sidelines, watching me put on a show. Dammit! Dg, just whose Dg are you? What about you guys? I didnt want to negotiate with Dg. There wasnt any point in trying with him. I might as well just give up in total defeat. Using his handsome looks is a really sly move Wait, what am I thinking about? Dg hasnt used his handsome looks. Howd I even arrive at that conclusion? Xiao Sha said curtly, Boss is in charge of negotiating prices. The others nodded their agreement, watching this farce y out with leisurely expressions. Anger red up in me. I blinked, secretly creating a thin film of ice in my eyes. They immediately smarted from the pain. Although I couldnt see myself, I was pretty sure my eyes had reddened. The film of ice also instantly melted, and though it didnt amount to much water, it was just enough to make my eyes fill up with tears without spilling over. After pretending to hold back my tears with all my might, I red usingly at Dg. Theres no way this wouldnt work on him! A, hes gonna cry now, Lily said, feeling sorry for me. Boss, thats enough already. Zheng Xing gave Dg a hard look and sighed. I owe him one, Xiao Sha said grudgingly. We can share some crystals with him. Ceng Yunqian stared at me with sparkling eyes,ining, Boss, youre so lucky. Why did my mom never give birth to such an adorable pair of siblings for me? These handsome looks really were something. Jiang Shuyu was able to sway the hearts of people of all ages and genders, even of those who were into women. He didnt even need evolution crystals to be invincible! But the most critical person, Dg, just looked at me with a smile that was not quite a smile Excuse me, Dg, shouldnt you be the first one to feel bad about this? Dont make an expression like youve realized something Dont tell me that the Jiang Shuyu of the past also acted like a kicked puppy a lot? I really needed to ask Shujunter about what kind of person Jiang Shuyu was in the past And while I was at it, ask about what kind of person Dg was as well. I suddenly felt like I didnt know him at all. Dgs teasing rg again. Shujun entered the living room, and the moment she saw my eyes brimming with tears, she immediately took my side. Be careful, or hell start ignoring you again. Im not going to help you this time, Dg. Sob sob, Shujun, youre the best! I dont want to lust after Dg anymore. Its best to marry Mimei after all. Its not me this time, Dg said with amusement. Its your rg whos pretending to be sad. And hes doing a pretty good job of it. Look at him, that expression. And its definitely you who started it first, Dg. Since when was it ever rg who started anything? Shujun pouted, speaking unhappily, Youve always liked teasing rg. I dont know how many times youve made him cry when we were little. Why is everyone grinning at me? I wasnt the one who was teased to tears but this wasnt very persuasive at all,ing from someone whose eyes were brimming with tears. I blinked away my tears; otherwise, I would be proving Shujuns words to be true. Cain said admiringly, As expected of Boss. Only you could tease such a cute little bro from a young age! Shut up! You think I wont hold yet another grudge against you? Dg! Shujuns expression darkened and she warned him in a low voice, If you tease rg again, your food will taste especially bad in the future! Dg said helplessly, I havent teased him in a long time. Cant I tease him just a little? No! Shujun pouted. No teasing! rgs been through too muchtely. If you tease him again, youll only get peanuts and in rice. Dg propped up his chin with one hand, looking at Mimei helplessly. So Mimei is Dgs weak spot, even more effective than Dd! I was enlightened. In the future, Im marrying Mimei, no doubts about it! Dg took back his sly, fox-like face, and under Mimeis supervision, started to exin to me seriously. Because there are too few of us, Uncle and Auntie need to start learning to guard the base. So, the two of them can get one portion of crystals. Im the leader, so I can get two portions. The others all saw your ability a few days ago and are willing to let you join. Theyll also assign two portions to you. My eyes lit up. Dgs two portions could be used to make up for Uncle and Aunties portion, and my two portions could be shared with Shujun, so it was just perfect. Wait, so this means Dg was really teasing me just now? I was shocked. Going forward, we still need to go further afield to look for supplies and try to find out if there are other survivors. After a while, people will start establishing colonies, and at that time, we will need to assess whether or not to head over or to continue securing our base. All of this requires manpower. Shuyu, this isnt a world where you can survive just by yourself. I nodded. No matter how strong you are, whats the point of living if youre surrounded only by aberrants? Okay, I replied with a nod, I can even check how everyones powers are developing and maybe give some pointers. The moment I said this, everyones eyes shone. They couldnt sit still anymore and started bombarding me with questions. Ive been wanting to ask since a few days ago. Xiao Yu, your powers are really strong! How on earth do you practice in order to use them like that? Ive eaten a lot of crystals and my physical abilities have gone up, but I really dont know how to train my powers. Ill pay you crystals as the tuition feeplease be my tutor! I pondered for a moment, then replied, I cant teach so many of you. Split yourselves into two groups. Junjun and I will take charge of one group each. I had already told Shujun how to train her powers, and she had also taught Uncle and Auntie. So there was no problem with her teaching. Besides, this way, the mercenaries would owe her a favor, and we were going to call in that favor for sure in the future! Ill join Junjuns group! Cain immediately shouted. Fuck off! I growled, Only Yunqian and Lily can join Junjuns group! Yunqian is more dangerous than meshe likes women! Cain dered triumphantly. Dammit, I totally forgot. I hastily corrected myself, Only Lily and Xiao Sha can join Junjuns group! Cain said incredulously, Wow! So you know Xiao Sha is into guys? Shit! Whats with these people? Who did you say was into guys?! Xiao Sha snarled. You! Cain said in a matter-of-fact tone of voice, Didnt you date a guy before? The others didnt notice, but I saw! That was just once! Xiao Sha snapped hatefully, He was really cute, so much so he wasnt any different from a girl. And anyway, we broke up not even a month in! It counts, even if youve broken up! Cain turned to speak to Jiang Shutian, Boss, watch out and keep a close eye on your little bro. With Shuyus looks, who knows? Maybe Xiao Shas already fallen for him. Honestly, talking about good looks like Ive grown a second head or something, when clearly Im jaw-droppingly good looking, handsome as hell, and adored by everyone having praised myself to this extent, I suddenly felt a little embarrassed. Xiao Sha shot up from where he was sitting, his face flushed red and veins popping at his neck, and he yelled, Cain, take it outside and lets see whos better! Cain shrugged, replying casually, Are you sure you want to fight me head on? Xiao Shas face twisted even more at that. I remembered not long ago hearing about how he was better at stealth, while Cain could be a match for Dg when he was armed. Ill never believe that Cain can defeat Dg. That simply wont happen! Dg is just too humble, definitely! Watch out that you dont get shot while youre sleeping! Although Xiao Sha sat himself back down, the ferocity in his eyes had grown even more. Cain pretended to be scared and eximed shyly, Oh my, what are you nning to do in the dark depths of the night? You just said you only liked the cute ones? Xiao Sha hurled a chopstick at him, and Cain dodged it easily whileughing heartily. Stop messing around, the two of you! Zheng Xing said somewhat angrily, There are kids here too, so what are you two running your mouths for?! Boss, say something too. Dont let them set a bad example for Shuyu and Shujun. Dg nced at Shujun and said, Shujun, help Auntie with cleaning up the table. Dont stay here and listen. Shujun pouted her defiance in the most adorable way, but she still obediently headed over to help Auntie carry the bowls and chopsticks to the kitchen. Then, Dg looked at me for a moment and chuckled lightly, Shuyus already eighteen, so theres nothing he cant listen to. If he likes, he can even get together with Xiao Sha. Everyone immediately spat out whatever food, coke, tea, or beer in their mouths. If only I never confessed my sexual ambiguity to Dgst night. Dg rested both hands on the table and said with immense discontent, You think my sister and Aunt dont have enough to do? Everyone, clean up your own mess! Fortunately, I hadnt spat out anything and looked on as everyone reluctantly wiped down the table and chairs. Then, I gleefully returned to my room to prepare for the expedition to the police station. Boy did that feel good. But strictly speaking, my so-called preparation just involved picking up my two ice weapons and myrge backpack only. Others might need to bring water as well, but with my ice powers, all I had to do was melt the ice to drink. When I headed back down to the living room, I was the first person to arrive. I rested the ice staff on the table. By now, the shaft was already five centimeters in diameter, and I wouldnt be able to hold it if it got any thicker. I no longer had toyer on any more ice. Instead, I was seriously considering whether or not to dismantle the de from a knife, to use as the base for an added spearhead. This way, not only could I whack my enemies, I could stab them too. All right, lets try it when Im back. When I looked up, everyone had already arrived, and their eyes were fixed on the ice weapon lying on the table. The lust in their eyes was like they were eyeing a hot, naked woman on the table. Shuyu, Dg asked, Is it very difficult to make weapons like that? Can you make a few more? Hearing that, I immediately got Dgs meaning. After looking around at everyone, I replied, Yunqian-ji, try touching it. Just use one finger to poke at it. Yunqian rejoiced and quickly prodded it with one finger. But she immediately gave a cry and yanked back her hand. Xiao Yu, you hate me this much? Yunqian showed her finger to everyone, which was a bit red. Just that moment of contact was enough to injure her. She said dejectedly, I just yelled at you a few times. You dont have to take it to heart, you know? Its not that! I immediately flushed and retorted, Its because your water powers make you more resistant to ice powers than anyone else, so thats why I let you touch it. Im really not being vengeful, or I wouldve asked Cain to touch it! Even so, Yunqian looked at me dolefully, like she didnt believe me at all. Suddenly, Dg grabbed the ice stave with one hand. Dg, let go! I yelled, and immediately snatched the ice stave from his hand. Dg opened his hand, revealing that everything up to his wrist had turned purple-blue. It was quite obviously frost-bite, and a much more serious case than Yunqians injury at that. I was exasperated. I know that Dg did it to prove what I said, but he didnt have to use his whole hand and refuse to let go! Dg, like this, howre you supposed to go to the police stationter? Dg smiled, and his palm shone with a gentle light. The purple-blueness receded gradually, until there wasnt even a single trace left. I sighed in admiration. Dg, your healing powers have be stronger. Im better at healing myself than others, Dg exined, then added after a moment, I have pretty good regenerative skills, so even if I left an injury like that, itd be more or less recovered by the evening. As expected of Dg! Surely, its just a matter of time before he bes immortal? Thinking back, Xiao Qi, who also had healing powers, was nowhere as powerful, and because of this, her healing abilities were about as useless as my enhanced vision. But at least I was his girlfriend in name, whereas she was at best his first mistress, so she had been in an even more pitiful situation than I was. Later, I stopped hating her. Wed even help each other pretty often, and she would heal my small injuries. And towards the end, she became even more reliant on me than on him. He might have even forgotten that he had taken in such a woman so long ago. After all, Xiao Qis looks were at most average, and although she was a few years younger than me, she couldntpare to those young girls in their teens or twenties. Lily asked, So, we cant use your ice weapons? Not exactly. I responded honestly, If you use your energy to protect your hands, you can pick it up. But right now, your powers are nowhere as good as mine. Youd end up using all your energy in fending off the chill from the weapons, which is a bit pointless. But by the time your powers are on the same level as mine, you can create your own weapons with your powers, so you wont need my ice weapons either. Looks of realization dawned on everyones faces. Here, Dg unhesitatingly snatched away the ice stave again. Only, this time, he didnt get frostbite. Ayer of gentle light protected his hand and warded off the chill from the ice stave. Xiao Yu, make me one? Dg said ndly, I feel like I dont need much power to hold off the cold. I really have to hand it to you. Dg, do you have to be so godly in using your healing powers? Sure, I agreed obediently, but quickly added, but this will take some time. It isnt normal ice. Its actually been tempered. And one round of tempering doesnt even create a 0.1 centimeter thickyer of tempered ice. Dg nodded. No rush. Although he had said no rush, in my mind, I was already starting to think about what weapon best suited Dg. Knives were definitely a no go. Just imagine someone as mighty as Dg, who could inspire awe in all with just one roar, pulling out a short daggerit would look absolutely ridiculous! Not to mention, Id feel extremely bad for those people who were awestricken by Dg and travelled all the way to be his subordinates just to see that. A longsword like the Ice Emperors seemed just right, but I didnt have anything suitable to work with as a base. If I had to create a solid longsword out of the air, by the time I had finished, Dg might have already evolved to the point where one punch was enough to sink an entire continent, and things like weapons would just be mere ornaments. Heh. Whosughing? I looked up in suspicion, only to see the awe-inspiring man looking at me with mirth dancing in his eyes. What? I havent done anything? Dg? Youre daydreaming again. Dg shook his head, remarking with equal parts amusement and despair, I said we were setting off, and everyones gone out, but youre still standing here. And you even shook your head or made a face every so often. I really have no idea whats going on in that head of yours. I looked toward the door to see everyoneughing so hard, they couldnt even stand straight and had to lean against the door frame. Ill change this habit in the future! I said grouchily, not wanting to make more of a fool out of myself. Dont! Yunqian shrilled, Weve been fighting aberrants day in, day out, and its getting super boring. Entertainment like you is hard toe by, you know? Keep talking, yeah? Then youll be Cains recement as my scapegoat for everything! Having made a fool of myself, I tightened my expression to stop others fromughing at me and followed everyone to the car parked at the back of the house. Originally, Id thought that wed need to split into a few vehicles, but in the end, everyone sat together in a minibus. I didnt know where they had gotten their hands on this vehicle, but it was pretty handy and could seat twenty people. At the same time, it wasnt as massive as those tour buses that were hard to maneuver. Being on the first mission with everyone, I really was a little nervous, especially given how tense our previous rtionship was. I was a little worried I wouldnt fit in. Like now. The others were just casually chatting to each other on the minibus. Most of them were talking about interesting stories the merc troop hade across in the past, but I didnt know a thing about those, so there was no way I could chip in as well. Shuyu, Lily suddenly called out to me. Eh? I immediately responded, to avoid being thought as spacing out again. She gave me a big wink and said flirtatiously, Youve dated before, right? Tell us a little bit about your love life. Love life? The tragic love story of my previous life was indeed an epic tale, but it wasnt something I could talk about with them. As for Jiang Shuyus love life I dont remember. I was very troubled by this. I really hoped I wouldnt have some kind of former girlfriend popping out somewhere down the line. No, hes never dated. Dg rescued me. There were a lot of things he had to take care of at home, especially once I set up the merc troop. Uncle and Auntie werent home much either. Although we still had Lin-b and some cleaners who woulde in periodically, Shujun was very attached to her rg since she was little, so the moment sses ended, she had to be able to see Shuyu. It was only recently, now that Shujuns grown up a little, that Shuyu has had a little time for himself. But then, he had to prep for uni entrance exams, so he didnt have time to think about things like that. Once hed gotten into university, he was immediately smacked on the head by a tile and spent over a month in aa. Then came the apocalypse. Everyone looked at me, their eyes saying, Rest in peace. Goddammit, Im still alive, okay?! With Jiang Shuyus looks, it was guaranteed that hed get a date even in these apocalyptic days. If I really wanted a girlfriend, it wouldnt be hard to have a love life thats as exciting as never ending fireworks! Dg patted me on my back,forting me, Dont worry. Once the time is right, we should start looking around. Youll definitely find someone. Dont talk about these expeditions like theyre just for helping me look for a partner, Dg! Why the hell are we still talking about love in the apocalypse?! Not to mention, my previous love life was such a mess. I had really had enough of it and wasnt the slightest bit interested in this kind of stuff! Cain snickered as he said, Precisely because its the apocalypse. Aside from lovey dovey things, what else is there to do? That was true. That was why the apocalypse was full of all kinds of perverts. Regardless of whether the women, pretty boys, or even twelve or thirteen year olds were interested or not, some folks would still force themselves onto them for some physical loving. I scowled. It best be consensual. Dont force yourself on others! Hah, Cain snorted, then said proudly, Take a look around you. Which one of us would ever even need toe on hard to getid? I reflexively looked around. This merc troops looks really were quite good. Cain. What more needed to be said about him? He was the stereotypical blond haired, blue-eyed handsome foreigner, with teeth so white he could do ads for toothpaste. Lily was probably a foreigner as well, or a mix. Although her pronunciation was no different from the locals, that copper skin and deep features singled her out. Even her body didnt look anything like the locals. Her body was curvaceous, with a big bust, narrow waist, and a round, firm bottom. That S-shaped figure of hers was really quite something! Ceng Yunqian had a prettier face than Lily, especially those refined eyes and eyebrows. Even though she couldnt be called pale, given her work as a mercenary, the healthy skin tone couldnt hide her elegant features. Her eyes in particr were beautiful, withrge, dark irises contrasting sharply against her eye whites and ented with long and lushshes. It was just a pity that she wasnt as well endowed, with barely any curves to speak of. I mean, her biceps were almost bigger than her chest. Xiao Sha looked the youngest. I suspected he wasnt older than twenty-five. His expression was always cold and nd, with single-lidded, narrow eyes and thin lips. Although he couldnt be regarded as handsome or pretty, he was at least very cool looking. Zheng Xing was the oldest out of everyone and was probably in his forties. He wasnt as clean shaven as Cain, but even so, he didnt look bad. He just looked like a mature man. Then there was Dg. If I looked too closely or started describing too much, I was worried Id get so turned on, Id start having a nose bleed and be forever humiliated for the rest of my life! After taking a good, hard look at all of them and thinking about it, I understood why they looked good. They were all mercenaries, so they had pretty good figures after undergoing training. A good figure immediately gave them at least an eight out of ten, so there was no way theyd look bad. Yunqian snapped at Cain, How can you be so proud of your looks with Boss and Shuyu next to you? Go look in the mirrorter, idiot. And try again in your next life when youre part of the Jiang family! Cain immediately protested, Im just a different type from Boss! I dont look any worse than he does. As for Shuyu He looked at me and trailed off. Everyone also turned to stare at my face silently. I could totally understand their reactions. I also frequently made different poses and expressions in front of the mirror in silence. Hes just a kid! Cain said through gnashed teeth. Although Cains justforting himself, Shuyu really is still quite young. Yunqian chuckled, Still need to wait. Wait for what? I thought youre into women? Although my soul was a womans, my body definitely wasnt. Boss, you best take good care of Shuyu and Shujun. Even Zheng Xing, who was driving and hadnt even made a peep the entire way, spoke up in a worried tone of voice, Its the apocalypse now, and there arent any morews. His and Shujuns looks will probably bring trouble. Dg just smiled and said without a care in the world, Xiao Yu will definitely stand up for himself, and hes strong enough to do so. As for Shujun Here, he gave a coldugh, and said boastfully, With me and Xiao Yu around, no one can even dream of harming so much as a hair on Shujun! Thats right! If anyone dares to even touch Shujun, Ill slice them into a thousand pieces and wont let them know the peace of death! Everyone shivered collectively. You really are brothers. Those expressions of yours are identical in how scary they are. What do you mean, identical? I didnt look that much like Dg, but rather, my looks were closer to Shujuns. When Id looked at the full family portrait earlier, I saw that me and Shujun looked like our mother, with only our noses like our fathers, while Dg was almost cast out of the same mould as our father. Were almost there, Zheng Xing cut through theughter and chatter calmly. Prepare to sortie. With that, everyone sobered up and burst into a flurry of action. They checked what they were bringing, inspected their guns, and so on. Their movements were extremely quick and looked very professional. I too picked up the two sections of my ice staff and started freezing them into one long staff. In the past, I would only go through these motions right beforebat, because a long staff was not suited to covert action. But this time, it was a team mission, and the target was to break into the police station that was full of aberrants. I couldnt imagine this mission being stealthy in the slightest, so it was best to prepare my staff and see where things went. Watching everyones busy hands, I suddenly thought of something important. Hey, guys, you best start being less reliant on guns. In two years time, guns will be useless, and powers will be the most important! Everyone was immediately distracted by what I said, but Dg didnt seem surprised and nodded as he spoke, Guns and ammo will run out. Not just that. As the aberrants get hit by more and more bullets, they will start evolving to prevent being hurt by bullets. By the second year, the smaller caliber guns will be useless, and in the third year, guns are really only used to bully the weak and needy. Well, the high caliber guns might still be of some use. At my words, everyones expressions clouded over. I borated further, If you infuse your energy onto the bullets, guns arent entirely useless. But as the apocalypse progresses, guns will be harder and harder to find. Good weapons all need go through a long period of tempering. So for things like bullets that are expendable, its a waste of energy to spend too much time tempering them, but if you dont temper them enough, they wont prate the aberrants shells. At most, you can use them as an auxiliary weapon, but if you use it as your primary weapon, it wont be good enough no matter how much or little energy you use. I frowned. Then again, I seem to remember hearing about people with certain abilities who would specialize in forging sniping bullets. Theyd be able to kill aberrants in one shot and didnt require any gunpowder. But as for the specifics on how its done, I dont know. Was it a special power or just the use of a normal power? For the previous life me, this kind of question was far too deep and untouchable. Although he counted as an elite ability user too, he was so secretive that no one could ever dream of knowing the bounds of his ability. Shuyus prophetic dreams are really amazing, Lily said in disbelief, Arent your dreams too detailed? Howd you even know stuff like that? Prophetic dreams? I guessed this was how Dg had described it to everyone else. I thought for a moment. If I didnt tell them certain facts, it would be very difficult to exin why I knew so many things. Or perhaps they wouldnt ask in deference to Dg, but it would be very difficult for them not to harbor suspicions deep down inside. If these suspicions umted over time, it wouldnt be good for anyone. There was no telling if there was someone else like me who would always think negatively. I decided to give a quick summary of things. Thats because I dreamed a dream that was ten years long. In the dream, I wasnt Jiang Shuyu, but a very ordinary woman. At the beginning of the apocalypse, she just ran around trying to survive, so whatever I say about the first few years of the apocalypse might not be too urate. I also dont know much about the deeper things going on in the background. I just know the general developments in the world over the first ten years of the apocalypse. Contrary to expectations, everyone became very excited on hearing this. Thats more than enough! Xiao Sha made a rare show of expression, the corner of his lips lifting a fraction in what should be a smile. Just knowing about the evolution crystals was enough. I never thought I could be this quick, and even power-wise Im twice as strong as before. When I heard that, I actually became a little worried. Going by how many evolution crystals they had had, doubling ones strength wasnt actually much. When humanity first started eating crystals, the effects were extremely impressive, particrly with respect to power. Even for ordinary ability users, as long as they still had power stored inside their bodies, their strength would swell up to multiples of their original levels. It seemed everyone was still too reliant on guns these days and were still unfamiliar with the use of their powers. Yunqian gave an exaggeratedugh and yelled, Aw yeah, we dont have to worry about anything for ten years! The moment I heard that, I immediately dashed cold water over that notion. I cant let them let their guards down! You cant! Life will be harder and harder in the days toe. Weve been very lucky recently and had things real easy, but the apocalypse isnt a joke! Aberrants will grow stronger at a frightening pace. If we dont eat enough evolution crystals and train our powers, they might even overtake us! Everyone stared fixedly at me at that. But what? Whats with the expression in everyones eyes? The door was suddenly pulled open and just as I raised my staff to guard position, I saw Zheng Xing poke his head in from outside. Without knowing it, the minibus had already stopped. So weve arrived? Zheng Xing gave a faint smile as he said, I told you Shuyus a good boy. Although hes made some mistakes in the past and made a fuss of things, hes still a good kid. Hell get things sooner orter. I mean, look at him now. Hasnt he started to think about the team? I stared. Kids at their rebellious stage are all like that, Yunqian said like it was the most natural thing in the world, When I was his age, Id even beat up my dad over little things! Boss, youre lucky your dd hasnt punched you a few times. Like hell, I still want to live! Punching Dg is a stupid thing to do and should never be done! At most, Id secretly fantasize about tying him up for some S&M who asked him to pour away my coffee? Dg stood up and ruffled my hair, saying, If you want to punch me, youll have to do it using your own strength. Even if I was in the wrong, I wont go easy on you. Dg, if you keep rubbing my head, I really will want to punch you! After a nce at my reflection in the window, I couldnt resist snapping savagely at him when I saw my hair exploding into a birds nest again. Dg burst into heartyughter and actually reached out to ruffle my hair again. I never imagined Dg would do this intentionally, and the birds nest exploded into further messiness. Someday, Ill tie up Dg for some S&M! Volume 1, 10: The Operation at the Police Station

Volume 1, Chapter 10: The Operation at the Police Station

Trantor: Elkin (proofread by EvlNabiki, Trespasserby, C/E edited by Raylight, lucathia) Everyone had gotten off the minibus, so I collected myself too and followed themafter all, I promised myself that I wouldnt make a fool of myself anymore! The minibus had been parked a little distance away from the police station, probably to keep the sounds of the motor from startling the aberrants in the police station. I felt a little uneasy as I gazed at the cluster of buildings not far from the police station, so I asked, Is this close to the city? You can say this is on the outskirts of the city, Xiao Sha replied. I hesitated a bit before nodding and keeping my silence. Urban areas were extremely dangerous because there were simply too many people in cities to begin with. Naturally, this meant that the humans-turned-aberrants were so numerous that they were impossible to defend against. But the wilderness wasnt safe eitheranimals and nts turned aberrants were even more dangerous. So the suburbs, where there were the fewest humans, nts, and animals, were actually the safest ce. Id originally wanted to hole up in the suburbs for a year and a half and only go out hunting nearby. Only after we had eaten a years worth of crystals and were strong enough to protect ourselves would we consider the next steps. However, from the looks of things, this initial n was a joke. The more you ate low-tiered evolution crystals, the smaller their effects became. Since the suburbs were safest, with the fewest people, nts, and animals, it was also the hardest for any strong aberrants to develop. There was no way we could get enough high-tiered crystals. Besides, the most impossible hope in the apocalyptic world was safety. Given my current progress, ordinary crystals had little effect on me. By the time Id had ten or so more of them, they would have no effect on me at all. Which means the only choice is to go hunting in the city for tier one aberrants, or even tier two or three ones Ten years into the apocalypse, many suspected that the Ice Emperor, one of the twelve elites at the time, had already exceeded the eighth tier. Of the twelve elites in the world, only three were human. Looking at the distant cluster of buildings, an indescribable feeling welled up within me. In my previous life, the city was the stuff of my nightmares. Even though the journey out of the city would only take a little over an hour by car, in the apocalyptic world rife with aberrants, it had be a seemingly never-ending path. We only managed to escape after an immeasurable amount of time and countless deaths ofpanions. And now, I was actually deliberately going into the city for a hunt. My emotions were inplete turmoil, and naturally, fear was in the mix. After all, no one knew better than me how terrifying aberrants werebut there was a trace of excitement too. In the past, aberrants would send me scurrying in fear like a rat, to avoid getting swallowed in one gulp. But now, I was going after aberrants like they were the rats. Im going to make them into my evolution chow! Shuyu. I looked over at Dg. He looked like he had something to say, but the words caught in his throat the moment he saw me turn my head, and he swallowed them back. Dg, whats up? I asked in confusion. Dg gave a chuckle as he replied, I originally wanted to tell you to be careful, but seems like theres no need. Why? My confusion deepened. Granted, telling me to be careful was a little pointless, since I was absolutely confident that I wouldnt lose to any person in the merc troopexcept for Dg. Instead of telling me to be careful, such words were probably best directed to the others. But isnt it the most natural thing in the world for a big brother to be worried about his little bro? I felt a little miffed at losing a chance for him to express his worry for me. Ceng Yunqian draped an arm across my shoulder and gave me a meaningful look as she said, Going by your expression just now, it should be the aberrants who should be worried, so why would Boss still need you to be careful? Come again? What expression? The bad habit of showing all my emotions on my face had carried over from my previous life into my current one, and it really was very hard to change. Your killing aura just now wasnt half bad at all. Xiao Sha remarked with a hint of praise, Doesnt lose in the slightest against us mercs. Guan Weijuns already lived through ten years of the apocalypse. If we really had to have apetition on who has more blood on their hands, Id win hands down. Thats enough joking around. Concentrate. Dgs smile vanished and everyone sobered up from the mood of good humor. Even that cheeky Cain now looked every inch the stern, disciplined soldier, so much so that I couldnt resist sneaking a peek at him. In response, he threw me a yful wink. A leopard couldnt change its spotsI really had to keep a close eye on this fe. If he ever dares to bully women in the future, Ill be sure to beat him until he cant get up any more! This mission isnt the same as any weve done before. Based on Xiao Shas estimates, just the first floor alone may have over twenty aberrants. If we let them swarm us, well all die! So in the following operation, if anyone creates even the slightest ofmotions, Ill personally kill them! Here, he gave me a cold re and said severely, Shuyu, the same applies to you! In that instant, the hair at the back of my neck stood up, and I almost raised my ice staff defensively to my chestit was only through sheer willpower that I suppressed this impulse. Id finally managed to smooth things over with Dg. Thest thing I wanted was to make him think that I was still wary of him. Operation start! Under Dgs orders, the mercenary troop assembled into two lines, each raising their guns and aiming alertly to their left or right. Everyone had decided on entering through the back door, which was hanging open from its hinges and thus making it unnecessary to consider whether to bash it down or pick the lock. I quietly followed at the back. This mercenary troops teamwork was very good. Every person had their own position and assigned tasks, so there wasnt much I could help out with. Perhaps it would take working together many, many times before Id finally have my ce in this troop. I observed every move they made. Cain and Zheng Xing were at the forefront, leading the way. They were armed with the heaviest firepowerCain was holding onto a machine gun, the one that the previous mercenaries who attacked us had used, while Zheng Xing was also using a light machine gun, probably a weapon that the JDT had originally brought along with them. Behind them was Jiang Shutian, wielding a Desert Eagle. This type of gun had a very powerful recoil, but in exchange, its firepower was pretty good. After eating so many evolution crystals, Dg should be able to fire one single-handed with no problem whatsoever. Lily and Ceng Yunqian were holding onto one automatic each, with the difference that Ceng Yunqian also had a sniper rifle slung across her back. Xiao Sha and I were at the back of the formation. He also only had a single automatic, and he would periodically check behind him for any unusual activity. Aside from that, everyone had knives at their waists or strapped to their calves. Xiao Sha even had a whole circle of knives wrapped around his waist. I suddenly felt a little depressed and really wanted to get hold of a gun. Everyone had guns but me, and I was even wielding a long staff. Not only did I not fit in, I looked like some person from ancient times who had crossed over into the wrong era. Aberrant, Lily suddenly said in a low voice, at the very end of the corridor. It was only after she pointed it out that everyone else spotted it. The aberrant was still quite far away from where we were and was crouching down in the corner. It was even screened by a potted nt. If not for Lilys tip, we would have probably gone a long way down the corridor before seeing it. By then, the aberrant would have noticed us long since. At the beginning stages of the apocalypse, enhanced vision was quite useful. But in a few years time, humans and aberrants would be able to detect each others presences long beforeing in sight. At that point, guns would have outlived their usefulness, and enhanced vision would also be worthless. I was a bit worried for Lily. But she didnt quite warrant any worry yet. As she walked up to the front, she pulled out a cylindrical item. It was a silencer. She attached it to her handgun and fired without a hint of hesitation. From where we were standing, I could only see arge leaf being blown off the potted nt. It seemed like the aberrant behind it had fallen over as well. Then, Xiao Sha dashed ahead. I caught a glimpse of a shadow flickering down the long, long corridor like a sh of lightning, all the way to the back of the potted nt. There, he whipped out a knife and stabbed down at the aberrants head. Dgs threat to personally kill anyone who made a sound finally made sense. I had been wondering what on earth he had been going on about when everyone was armed with guns. Just one gunshot was more than enough noise. So they had silencers and Xiao Sha. Shuyu, Dg suddenly turned back to look at me, you think you can handle being the lookout at the back to see if there are any aberrants sneaking up on us? That way, Xiao Sha can be up front to quickly eliminate the aberrants ahead. I nodded, promising seriously, Sure, not a problem. Actually, I could dash ahead to quickly eliminate aberrants, too, and Id definitely do it better than Xiao Sha. Firing out ice knives, rushing ahead, freezing shut its mouth, busting its head with the ice staffthis can be done all in a breaths time, and 100% guaranteed death for the aberrant! But seeing as Id just joined the troop, I shouldnt be thinking about aiming for the heavens and bing one of the main fighters. I was better off if I just stayed at the back, umting trust and confidence among the troop. The troop continued to advance, and I followed at the back. Aside from keeping an eye out, there wasnt much to do. Although none of them had practiced their powers much, just the mercenaries quality and weaponry were evidently quite adequate when confronting the existing aberrants that were still quite brainless. Dg seemed intent on clearing out the ce, so we went into every single room. First, we would let Lily use her gun and silencer to kill aberrants that were clustered together, and then everyone would spread out to deal with the remaining scattered aberrants. This was done not with guns, but knives. This surprised me a bit. In my previous life, at times like this, no one dared to engage in closebat with the aberrants. But with a little thought, it became obvious why that was the case. At the time, everyone around me was an ordinary person. At most, they were police officers or soldiers, but they were definitely not as professional as mercenaries. Furthermore, we still hadnt figured out what was going on at the time, and we were all afraid that we would be zombies if we got bitten, so of course we didnt dare get close. But now with my advice, everyone knew that being bitten wouldnt turn you into an aberrant, so naturally they werent as scared. One, two six ten. I silently counted the number of aberrants and breathed a sigh of relief. Judging from how many aberrants were still around, the probability that there was a tier one aberrant around feeding on them was quite low. Even if one really did appear, with me and the mercenary troop, it wasnt something we couldnt handle. I was just worried that before we could react, the tier one aberrant would have already injured someone first. If it was the sneak attack of a speed-type tier one aberrant, even I wouldnt be able to intervene in time. Opening a few doors, putting down ten aberrantsit all went smoothly, without a hitch, and I didnt need to help out in the slightest. The original tension and alertness also started to fade. Perhaps this police station operation was much easier than Id anticipated. Soon, we arrived at a set of double doors. Judging from the size of the doors, the inside would be the main office area. Dg raised a hand to stop everyone. Then, with a single gesture to Xiao Sha, Xiao Sha moved forward to gently ease open one door. A quick look and his face turned a little ashen. He indicated an amount with his handover ten aberrants! Dgs expression darkened, and he turned to ask me, Xiao Yu, how many can you kill? I blinked and replied, As long as there arent any tier one aberrants, I can probably kill twenty before running out of energy. If it was a tier one aberrant, I would only be able to engage one, and there would be no guarantee that Id be the oneing out on top. Everyone gawked at me wordlessly. Even with Dgs strong mental resilience, he also started a little. Then, he actually had the gall to propose, Then go in and deal with those aberrants. The others will observe. Dg, isnt your resilience a little too high?! Are you okay with pushing your little bro into a pile of aberrants just like that? Have you even considered the possibility that I might have blurted out that number on impulse? Youngsters nowadays are ignorant and hate to lose, you know? I red usingly at Dg. This is an absolute vition of theborwshow can he make me go up against twenty of them by myself?! Dg just arched an eyebrow at me and gestured at the door with the Desert Eagle in his hand. He didnt even need to open his mouth for me to know what he was sayinge on, go! Ill definitely tell on Dg once Im home with Junjun. Thats right, and Ill be sure to tell Uncle and Auntie too As I grumbled inwardly at Dg, I stepped forward. Xiao Sha, who was by the door, moved out of the way but didnt go far. He just stood to one side, his eyes boring into me, as though he was afraid hed miss out on any move I made. I gripped the ice staff in my hands. I couldnt help but be a little nervous. Although Id said that I could fight up to twenty, that was under the condition that they werent alling at me at once. I needed a little time between each in order to pull it off. Previously, when I was out hunting aberrants by myself, Id fought no more than five in one go because of my cowardice. Id never had the experience of fighting ten-plus on my own. I shouldve said five! I regretted it so badly. Thats why you should never boast about your abilities, or youll end up in my situation where youll have to fight over ten aberrants! Next time, Ill know better. Whenever Im talking about my own abilities, Ill always divide by five! I pushed lightly on the door and observed the situation inside. On the left, close to the door, were five aberrants. They were crouched in the corner, fighting for food. I couldnt tell if they were eating a human or an aberrant. In the middle of the room, there were six aberrants meandering around the office desks aimlessly. On the right, by the wall some distance away, there were a few sleeping slumped against each other, probably because they were nocturnal aberrants. As they were all piled together, I couldnt tell if it was a group of four or five. The situation was much better than Id expected. These aberrants werergely split into three groups, and each group was a little distance from the others. The nearest group was eating, and the farthest group was even sleeping, so really, the situation was much better than it couldve been. I pulled away from the doors and said softly, Dg, if Im acting alone, its impossible to avoid making any sound, you know? I didnt expect Dg to actually nod and say, Were almost done with the clean-up anyway. Just dont raise too much of a fuss and attract aberrants from outside. Hearing that, I couldnt help but roll my eyes at him. Of course I didnt want to create amotion, but the problem was that I had no way of knowing how the aberrants would react. There were so many aberrants there, and some were quite far away, so it was impossible to wipe them all out from the get go. If they start howling, what can I do?! Looks like Dg is set on wanting me to fight those ten-odd aberrants by myself. And he even wants me to keep the noise levels down! Hmph! As I frowned in thought over how to defeat the aberrants, Dg didnt hurry me, but at the same time, he didnt say things like If you dont think you can do it, then never mind. He really is nning on sending his little brother to his doom Fine, if the condition is not to raise too much of a fuss, then I can still manage somehow. And anyway, too much is a matter of personal judgment! Everyone looked on in iprehension as I took off my shoes and socks, and gently pushed open the doors whilepletely barefooted. Even if the others were just going to watch from the sidelines, I was still going to make them act as a distraction. Although they wouldnt do anything, just having so many people standing at the door would be enough to scare the aberrants and dy their rush at me. The aberrants wandering around in the middle were the first to look over. But because they were some distance away and it didnt immediately click in their heads, they just came to a halt, first looking at me, then at the group of mercenaries standing at the door. As expected, they didnt dare to act carelessly. But I wasnt nning on dealing with them first. They were moving around in twos or threes and were clearly less inclined to forming packs than the groups that were eating or sleeping, so they were the least dangerous of the lot. I first glided toward the aberrant group that was eating in the corner. Yes, glided. Id already created ice des beneath both feet, like those of ice skates. But just those two des of ice alone were not enough for me to glide smoothlyI had to create ayer of ice below the des to act as the gliding path. Thisyer of ice couldnt be too thick, or Id run out of energy very quickly, and it needed to be no more than a few centimeters in front of my feet. Otherwise, the aberrants would be able to guess where I was gliding to by just looking at the path of ice. These details were very finicky, and although Id already practiced this for quite a while, I hadnt used it inbat until today. If I really do fall over, I dont believe that Dg wonte rescue his own dd! Xiao Yu, you rock! Ceng Yunqian threw me a few words of praise from the doorway where she was lounging oh so casually. But it wasnt that I rocked. This was called knowledge equals power. When I first saw the Ice Emperors fight, he had also fought in this gliding manner. The differences were that I was nowhere as fast as he was, and that the Ice Emperor had glided through the air. He hadnt seemed to care how much energy he expended as he wove paths of ice and snow through the skies, paths that glittered likeyers of crystals and rainbowsa truly breathtaking sight. I drew out an ice knife, picked one aberrant that still had hair and flung the knife at it. The knife directly prated the back of its skull, and it slumped down, half a hand still clenched in its teeth. I was right. Aberrants that still had hair were likely not to have very hard skulls. In the eyes of someone whod lived ten years in the apocalypse, that hair was a cover-up that screamed look at me! Of course, the dagger coated in ice powers also helped a lot. I arrived a moment after the dagger hit its mark. Stooping low, I struck out horizontally and stabbed the ice staff at the back of the skull of another aberrant. Pop! While the tip of the staff was blunt, I had built up enough momentum while gliding to prate the back of its skull. Then, I angled the staff upwards and destroyed its brain. At the same time, I reached out to touch the aberrant lying on the floor. It was still twitching slightly, notpletely dead. Actually, if it were the average dagger, the aberrant wouldnt have gone down so easily. Killing an aberrant requiredpletely smashing apart its brains. One knife stab wasnt enough to kill an aberrant, but because this was an ice dagger brimming with freezing energies, just one touch was enough to cause injury, not to mention having the whole thing stuck into your brain. Rather than saying that the aberrant fell to the knife stab, it would be more urate to say that its brains were frozen, and it was directly sent into hibernation. Gripping the ice dagger, I twisted the handle andpletely mashed up its brains. Then, I yanked the dagger out, but instead of stowing it away, I stabbed it toward the aberrant at the side. My other hand moved at the same time, and I jabbed the staff into that aberrants mouth. It was in the middle of opening its mouthful of shark-like teeth, staring at me in astonishment as if it hadnt known how to react. This shark-mouthed aberrants skull looked pretty tough. Although it wasnt impossible to crack it open like a watermelon, doing so would create too much noise. Though it probably wouldnt attract aberrants from outside, it would wake up the sleeping aberrants jumbled up in a pile farthest inside. If those aberrants came at me all at once, Id have no choice but to yell, Dg, help! so I couldnt just break open its head. I attacked the aberrant with both hands. Actually, doing so involved a certain amount of risk, but I had no choice but to attack this way, or Id simply not have enough time to deal with the aberrant. Although Id managed to execute both attacks, I wasnt celebrating. Catching them off guard was the easiest way to winand now that Id killed two aberrants in a row, the rest had had enough time to react. The next one wouldnt go down so easily. Although my dagger had shed out like lightning and the aberrant looked surprised, it managed to roll to one side to dodge the strike. Fortunately, it was still hanging on to the piece of meat in its mouth, so it wasnt able to let out a cry. It seemed intent on keeping the meat gripped in its jaws, but that suited me just fine. The dagger strike failed, but the ice staff seeded in entering that shark mouth. It went right through the roof of its mouth and into its brain. Xiao Yu! I heard Dgs urgent cry and felt a strong gust of winding at me from the side. However, I didnt have any time to evade, and a p directly struck my facebut only seeded in shattering theyer of ice that had frozen over my skin. Aberrants that were quick enough that their blows were unavoidable never had much power. After the p shattered theyer of ice, the remaining force wasnt enough to hurt me. Fortunately for me, Jiang Shuyus ability was ice; and even better was that Guan Weijun had seen the Ice Emperors battle. Come to think of it, perhaps the reason Id had enhanced vision in my previous life was to observe that battle. I let go of the ice staff and grabbed at the hand that had hit my face, giving the dagger that had previously failed a sess in yet another head strike! Then, I leapt at the groups final aberrant and finished it off without much difficulty. Although I had done a lot, due to the speed I was moving at, the whole process didnt even take ten seconds. After dealing with thest aberrant in that group, I immediately glided toward the wandering ones. Although I knew every second was precious, I couldnt help but turn my head and sneak a peek at Dg. He deliberately kept a stony face, despite the chuckling that came from the others around him. I knew it. Dg is still the most anxious one about his little bro. He isnt thorough enough in ying the viin. Once I reached the wandering aberrants, I continued gliding and used my momentum to bust open one of their brains. The more I fought, the more I understood why the Ice Emperor had used gliding in his fights. Aside from the speed by itself, the momentum also increased the power of your attacks. With that added force, my attacks became simpler. It was just that, with the added constraint that I couldnt create too much of amotion, I had to use the daggers for most of my attacks. It was only for aberrants with big enough mouths, and who just happened to be opening their mouths to cry out, that I would shut them up with one blow of the staffor perhaps a more apt description would be making it so they would never be able to shut their mouths again. I came to an abrupt halt mid-glide and leaned forward, whirling my leg around in a roundhouse kick. The ice de under my foot left a bloody line right down the center of the aberrants face and sliced his nose off. Originally, Id wanted to see if I could sh open his head, but that was too na?ve of methe ice des that Id created on the spot for gliding simply werent sharp enough. I had no choice but to glide behind him and add a stab to the back of his head. I even twisted the handle two full turns to make sure his brains were thoroughly mashed. Maybe I really should add a spear head to the staff. If I were holding onto a spear instead of a staff, my movements would have been much smoother. I wouldnt be held back by the loud smack the staff would make on impact with an aberrants head, nor by the fact that I had to close with the enemy in order to attack with a dagger. Six wandering aberrants ended up being too many for me to handle after all. Before I could finish them off, the sounds ofbat had already woken up thest group of aberrants sleeping at the back. They quickly got up, totaling to five. These aberrants all slunk around on their elbows and knees, their movements just like a dogs. However, their appearance was closer to a humans, except that the joints touching the ground had be extremelyrge, and their jaws yawned wide open like a dogs. They looked extremely odd, neither human nor dog. They fanned out as they stalked toward me, nning to trap me in a circle. The situation was starting to look bad. There were still three wandering aberrants, and although I wanted to strike first and deal with the three in front of me, I had the feeling that those five would attack right when I moved to finish off the three No, I must be wrong! Theres no way theyd be so clever? These five shouldnt all be tier one aberrants; otherwise, wed already be dead meat. Before I could decide on my course of action, the three near me had already leapt toward me. They were shaped differently from the dog aberrantsthey were upright. Each aberrant looked somewhat different from the other. The onlymonality between them was that they still retained their human forms; there werent many parts of them that had transmuted. At this stage, I had no choice but to fight. I decided to throw caution to the wind and forget about motion and whatnot. Just as I was about to crack open the brains of the leading aberrant, there was a light put, and a small spurt of blood burst out from between his eyes. Xiao Yu, dont worry about these three. Deal with the five at the back. Thanks, Dgbut Im still going to tell Shujun that you bullied me. At most, Ill leave out Uncle and Auntie. Since Dg had spoken, I wove around the three and rushed toward the five at the back. It was a no-brainer that these five were speed-type aberrants. They looked like dogs, so there was no way they werent quick. Looking at them, I made up my mind. Im going to fight it out with them! I hadnt dared to try difficult maneuvers inbat in the past, because if anything happened while I was by myself, then itd be game over for me. But now that theres a whole bunch of people here, including my own Dg, whos watching over me like Im a baby and who wouldnt just stand by if anything happened, what better time is there to try out those moves that Ive only dared to try during practice? I cradled the tip of the staff, and like I was pulling on dough to make noodles, I crafted a spearhead that was about the length of my palm. Since I couldnt bash in brains like watermelons, I had no choice but to pierce through them. The spearhead that was added onst-minute was definitely not secure, but with my momentum from gliding, it shouldnt be difficult to split open their skulls. Gripping my ice staffno, wait, my ice spearI made my decision. I will never run away, even if I cant be the Ice Emperor, Idno! I will be the Ice Emperor! Volume 1, Extra 1: The Journey Home, Part One

Volume 1, Extra 1: The Journey Home, Part One

Trantor: Elkin (proofread by Arcedemius, Erro, C/E edited by Raylight, lucathia) Sitting in the spacious first-ss cabin on the ne and being served by an obsequious flight attendant, Jiang Shutian was suffering from a headache. He did not usually sit in first ss, even though he could afford it. Being in such a luxurious environment and treated so well didnt sit well with him or any member of his troop, to the point that it felt worse than being in the muck and filth of a battle zone. Unfortunately, he really had no choice this time. He had searched every airline, but because his request was sost-minute, there were simply no other seats avable. Jiang Shutian gazed out of the window at the blue sky and white clouds andpletely failed to see anything out of the ordinary. Shuyu, however, had said on the phone that there was going to be a terrible disaster that would reach every corner of the world. Although he did not use the exact word, Jiang Shutian could guess what it meant. The apocalypse? You believe him? Jiang Shutian turned to see Zheng Xing gazing steadily back at him. Zheng Xing continued to ask, Those things Shuyu talked about. Boss, you really think itll happen? I hope it wont, Jiang Shutian replied calmly. He had put the mission on hold at thest minute and even exined the situation truthfully to his troop. Although he could have made excuses, such as Shuyus condition worsening, he did not want to lie to his brothers-in-arms, who had been with him through thick and thin. More importantly, he did not want his brothers to face the disaster that Shuyu had spoken about with no preparation whatsoever. None of the troop believed in Jiang Shuyus supposed disaster, but Jiang Shutian ordered them to believe anyway. He made everyone go back home to their families and prepare for everything. Only the few troop members who didnt really have any other responsibilities were following him back to Meisia. If nothing happened, his credibility as a leader would be utterly ruined. Nevertheless, Jiang Shutian was more than willing to have his reputation trampled into the ground if it meant Shuyu and Shujun would live on in peace. Zheng Xing said thoughtfully, So Boss, you really believe this will happen? Have you never considered than Shuyu might be a little loony after getting hit in the head? Jiang Shutian fell into silence for a moment, then said simply, I believe him. Zheng Xing gave a wry smile and stopped his line of questioning. There were still a few hours beforending, so Jiang Shutian decided to catch up on some sleep while he had the chance. To make it back to Meisia in time, he had been so busy that he had not had any time to rest. However, he simply could not fall asleep. A bad feeling was welling up inside him. Shuyu had told him that he should not return if he could not get home by six p.m., but the best he could do was grab a flight that wouldnd in Zhongguan City roughly around that time. Something will happen after six? No, the first deadline that Shuyu had blurted out had been midnight, so there should still be some buffer time. But was Shuyu remembering to factor in the time needed to gather medicine and weapons, as well as the car journey from the city to our home? There were too many variables. Jiang Shutian had wanted to call home to verify the situation, but the phone on the aircraft would not connect. The flight attendant was also unable to exin why or resolve the issue, so she resorted to apologies again and again, irritating him so much that he sent her away. He felt a little frustrated. Hed had to deal with a million things in order to push back the mission schedule at the veryst minute and rush back to Meisia, so he had only set foot on the ne at thest possible moment. As a result, he had not had the time to call home before the ne took off. He had originally thought that he would be able to call from the ne, never imagining he would be in his current situation. He headed to the washroom and pulled out his cell phone. Right now, he could not care less about things like breaking rules or interfering with air navigation. The phone still would not connect. There were myriad reasons for not being able to connect a call, especially tens of thousands of feet up in the air. Nevertheless, Jiang Shutian was certainShuyu was right. Jiang Shutian nced at his watch. It was already 1700 hours, and there was still one more hour beforending. He returned to his seat. Zheng Xing was watching him alertly, his expression rather grave. Tell everyone to prepare themselves, Jiang Shutian said calmly. With that, Zheng Xings expression sank. There was no one who would react well to news of the apocalypse, but he still dutifully went around to inform the others, some of whom were seated quite far away because the tickets had been bought sote. When Zheng Xing returned, Jiang Shutian lifted his head to give him a meaningful look and indicated the window. Zheng Xing peered out curiouslyand saw the white clouds slowly turning ck. Have we managed to reach any of our contacts? Jiang Shutians expression was extremely dark. They were originally scheduled to arrive at 1800 hours, but because the fog would not disperse, the flight crew had initially refused tond. They insisted on circling for two hours, until it was past eight p.m. Assuming that Jiang Shutian had to get his troop home before midnight, he had a little more than two hours to work with if he deducted the time needed for the car ride home from Zhongguan Citytwo hours which had to include the driving time to find their contacts. The reception is very bad, Zheng Xing frowned deeply and cut his call as he shook his head. I cant get through to Old Man Lee. Hearing that, Jiang Shutian started weighing whether they should continue trying to reach their contacts or just head straight home without procuring any weaponry. Someone suddenly shouted, I got it, I got it! Ive got Jin-g! Jin Zhan? Jiang Shutian frowned. He knew the man, but while hed had dealings with him in the past, hed never bought weaponry from him before. That was because Jin Zhan was technically not a firearms dealer, but actually the young master of a mafia group. His firearms werergely for his own peoples use. While he did also do sales, the prices were prohibitively expensive. Jiang Shutian did have a single Desert Eagle from Jin Zhan, which had been a gift. The quality of Jin Zhans goods was indeed highjust like his usual price tags. Still, at times like this, beggars could not be choosers, so he nodded and responded, Then, lets find Jin Zhan. Good job, Wu the Ewe! Cain patted hispanions shoulder. My name is Wu Zaiyu! came the heated protest. Time to go, little sheep. Jiang Shutian led the way and reached out to ruffle Zaiyus hair as he passed. Wu Zaiyu screwed up his face. Boss is good in every single way, except for his tendency to tease people and ruffle their hair! With this light-hearted interjection, the atmosphere eased a little. News of the apocalypse had put them on edge and destroyed even the mood for conversation. However, the lighter atmosphere did notst long. As soon as they neared the exit from the airport terminal, they could see lots of travelers crowding around inside the doors. On the other side, the air was heavy with fog that was noticeably ck. It was making everyone a little wary, though not to the point of panic. After all, severe pollution caused all sorts of crazy things. Even if they hadnt experienced it personally, most people would have seen it on television. However, in the eyes of the JDT, the fog held apletely different meaning. Although they were unsure if it really spelled the apocalypse, they were absolutely certain that it wasnt just bad newsit was very, very bad news. Fortunately, most of the troop members Jiang Shutian had brought with him had no worries or responsibilities. Although it was quite difficult for them to ept what was happening, it was not to the point that they would have a nervous breakdown. They had simply gone fromplete disbelief and thinking that their Boss was so doting on his little bro that he had lost his wits, to Well, they still did notpletely believe Shuyus story, but at least they were on the fence. However, the better description was perhaps not that they did not believe it, but that they did not want to believe it. We have no more time. Go! Jiang Shutian marched at the head of the troop as he issued his orders. Zheng Xing, Jenny, go find our contacts at the hospital and get the meds, then regroup with us after. Everyone else,e with me to meet Jin Zhan. Worried, he added to the first two, No matter what happens, even if you dont manage to get the meds, you must rejoin us by 2230! Zheng Xing obediently set off. With Jenny in tow, he leaped into a taxi and left right away. As for Jiang Shutian and the rest of his crew, they had pre-arranged a minibus for transportation. Jiang Shutian was not too concerned about Zheng Xings mission. They had alreadye to an agreement with their contacts on the medicine, so unless there was some kind ofplication, they should be able to get it without a hitch. However, they simply had had no way of securing weapons ahead of time given how tight their time frame was. When people heard that they needed the weapons delivered within two days and the quantities involved, they backed off and refused toe to an agreement ahead of time for fear of being dragged into something. All of them had insisted on meeting face-to-face before entering negotiations. And now, they could not even make calls! Boss, want some water? Lily asked as she held up a ss. Jiang Shutian waved it away, then sat back in contemtion. He remembered that Shuyu had first mentioned weapons before he remembered the medicine, so that meant that weapons were going to be critical. What kind of an apocalypse would make weapons even more valuable than medicine? Perhaps the situation was going to be even worse than he had thought. His only constion was that there was no traffic, so they were able to meet Jin Zhan within half an hour. Jin Zhan frowned as he gazed at the list of weapons in his hand. There was a row of people in ck suits on either side of him, facing off with Jiang Shutian, who was standing in front of his mercenary troop. If there had been witnesses, most would assume they were two mafia gangs deep in negotiations. Finally, Jin Zhan shook the sheet of paper, asking with a raised eyebrow, Jiang Shutian, is this list for real? Jiang Shutian didnt have time to waste in idle talk and tly replied, Yes! When do you need it? Now. Jin Zhan fell speechless. Having been brought up in the underworld, he had seen many things despite his tender age. However, at that very moment, he had no idea what Jiang Shutian was intending. If not for the fact that he knew the man, he would have thought that Jiang Shutian had gone nuts and was nning a revolt. For better or worse, despite their limited interactionsafter all, they had met only a handful of timesboth men were very clear about the others personality. He spoke frankly. Jiang Shutian, even if you searched the whole of Zhongguan City, there wouldnt be a single person who could provide you with this quantity. Anyone else standing here wouldve turned away and left the moment they saw this list. They wouldnt have even stayed long enough to hear you demand it now! Jiang Shutian knew that all too well. He had been refused many times before. Just give me what you can. And if you have anything aside from this listweapons or battle suppliessell me what you can there too. Jiang Shutian added with emphasis, Deliver it now and Ill pay you three times the price! Jin Zhan knitted his brows together, replying, This isnt a question of money. What do you want so many weapons for? You, a firearms dealer, are asking about the reasons for a purchase? That isnt ying by the rules. Jin Zhan said tonelessly, With the quantity youre purchasing, theres no way anyone in this country would dare to sell to you unless you gave a hint about what its all for. This isnt a country at war. Jiang Shutians expression clouded over. The warning about the apocalypse hade from his own little brother. But even as the older sibling, he himself had not been sure what to believe, so he didnt have high hopes for someone he had only met a few times. However, judging from the situation, it seemed that he would not be able to get anything unless he talked. Can I have a word with you? Just you and me. The moment he spoke, the two rows of ck suits immediately took a step forward. Seeing that, the JDT instantly reached for the weapons at their sides. They could not bring guns into the country, but smuggling a few knives in by calling them artistic pieces was a different matter. The subordinates on each side were bristling for action, but the two leaders kept their cool. Jin Zhan could not help but rub his chin at Jiang Shutians strange behavior. It was really beginning to pique his interest. Leave your weapons on the table and follow me. Jin Zhan stood up. Jiang Shutian left the dagger that had been at his waist on the table and let one of the ck suits do a quick frisk. Then, he followed Jin Zhan to a side room. Once inside, Jiang Shutian drove straight to the heart of the matter. You have to promise me, as long as I am not staging an insurrection or nning to harm you, you will sell those weapons to me. If he let slip about the apocalypse, it was unlikely that Jin Zhan would believe him. But in that million-to-one chance that he did, wouldnt he keep the weapons for himself? He wanted to fib his way out of it, but this was Jin Zhan. Within the country, the man had a much better grasp of information than he did, so tricking him was impossible. As for some story about how the firearms would be taken out of the country, Jiang Shutian was not even able to persuade himself to believe such a lie, let alone someone else. With no other choice left to him, he could only hope that Jin Zhan would keep his word. Hearing that, Jin Zhan looked Jiang Shutian up and down with considerable interest. Suddenly, he asked, Is this rted to the ck fog outside? Jiang Shutian hesitated for only a moment. He merely had to think about the ticking clock to decide to find out, right then and there, if he would be getting his firearms. So he nodded. How serious is it? It affects the whole world. So this means an apocalypse? Jin Zhans expression sank. Although he did not want to believe it, he could not find any reason to refute it. If Jiang Shutian dared lie to him, it wasnt something that could be resolved with a simple apology. Even if he managed to escape, he would never be able to set foot inside the country again. If he were an unmarried man with no familial ties, it was possible he might do such a thing. However, rumor had it that he did in fact have family, so it was unlikely he would lose his mind to the point of ignoring the danger that they would be put in. After assessing the situation, Jin Zhan replied crisply, Fine. I promise. Tell me. Before midnight, take the people most important to you somewhere safe. Prepare weapons and medicine, especially antibiotics, and stock up on as much imperishable food as possible. Thats it? Even Jin Zhan could not hide his surprise. Jiang Shutian was a little embarrassed. He should have known better. Gge was now paying dearly for not believing in his ddi. Jin Zhanughed as he shook his head. Isnt that too little information? Jiang Shutian had no choice but to repeat, I will pay you three times the price. If there really were an apocalypse, wouldnt money turn into useless paper? Jin Zhan thought for a moment before making his decision. Sure, Ill sell it to you. But I cant give you that quantity. Ill sell half that amount, five times the price! If he was being tricked, he was still making a massive killing with this transaction. And even if Jiang Shutian did use the weapons to stage a revolt, Jin Zhan had full confidence that he would be able to stay out of it. Furthermore, there wasnt much time left. It would be midnight soon, so if he didnt start preparing now, there wouldnt be enough time to do so. The ck fog was simply too bizarre, even interfering with telmunications. So Jin Zhan chose to believe to be on the safe side. Jiang Shutian rejoiced and quickly added, Give them to me within the hour. Impossible! Jin Zhan immediately refused. At the very minimum, we will need an hour and a half. Otherwise, the most I can do is get my subordinates to sell you the guns they have on them right now. For anything else, even if you paid me ten times the price, I still wouldnt be able to produce it. You do realize that we cant even make calls now? Jiang Shutian looked at his watch. It was currently 2110, and no matter how recklessly they drove, the journey home would still take at least an hour, even without factoring in the ck fog spreading outside. Fine! Jiang Shutian agreed decisively. But you need to stay with me until I get my weapons. Jin Zhan nced at him, not seeming to care at all. Sure. Jiang Shutian rxed. It seemed that Jin Zhans base of operations was nearby. With the clock ticking, Jin Zhan left the side room without further chatter and started ordering his ck-suited underlings about. He did not try to hide anything from Jiang Shutian but issued orders to his various underlings right in front of him. Gather the items on this list immediately. Take half and return here in one and a half hours. Go fetch my mother, Feng, and Xiao Yue, and take them directly to the vi. Get them there within one hour. Thats an order! Go to the hospital right away and gather the medicines we usually use. Get more of the antibiotics too. Then go to the supermarket that we operate and transport all the food there to the vi. Move as much as you can Jiang Shutian could not do anything except wait to one side. He was incredibly worried about the situation at home, but the phone still refused to connect. Boss, Lily murmured, should we prepare some food? Jiang Shutian frowned at the question. He turned to check on the spreading fog before shaking his head, saying, Dont bother. Were short on time. Were leaving the moment we get the weapons. Things arent looking good for us to split up into teams to bulk purchase. Besides, since Shuyu knew this would happen, he should be making all the preparations he can on his end. Weapons and antibiotics were both things Shuyu could noty his hands on. Given that he had only mentioned those two things on the phone, it would seem to indicate that he was preparing everything else. With too little information on hand and no working phone lines, Shutian could only dissect every single word that had been said in that one phone call. He hated himself for not asking for more rification and med himself for being more suspicious than trusting, meaning that he was not prepared for the worst. Jin Zhan was a man of his word. By 2300 exactly, Jiang Shutian received the guns and bullets he had wanted. I owe you one. Jiang Shutian knew that people willing to sell him weapons in such a situation were few and far between, and were to be treasured. The corner of Jin Zhans mouth lifted. If the disaster really happens, Ill owe you one too. Then lets just cancel the debts. The two exchanged smiles, then turned and walked away from each other without another word. Time was running out. Jiang Shutian looked over his troop members. Zheng Xing had already rejoined them with the meds, so all the to-do boxes were checked. The problem was the time left. All aboard! Back outside and in the drivers seat, Zheng Xing had a full view of the spreading ck fog and an expression darkening to match. He switched on the fog lights, but when that did not improve the visibility much, he had no choice but to turn and report, Boss, in this situation Jiang Shutian said ndly, Everyone, fasten your seat belts. Hearing that, Zheng Xings expression darkened even further, all the way to pitch-ck. The others simultaneously flinched and began fumbling for their seat belts. Even Cain, who was the mostid-back about that kind of stuff, was no exception. Jiang Shutian said calmly, Time to burn rubber. You used to be a racecar driver, right? Boss, no one burns rubber when visibility has dropped to ten feet. The only thing thatll be burning is our lives! Everyone will die unless we get home anyway, so pick your cause of death. Zheng Xing feltpletely helpless and could only brace himself for a wild ride. What else could he do? Although the so-called wild ride only involved driving at around fifty to sixty kilometers per hour, in such low visibility conditions, that was really very wild! The normally stoic crowd, who would not even bat an eye when reaching speeds of over a hundred, began to look like they were praying to God despite traveling at merely half that speed. Sadly, they could not maintain it for long. Even though Zheng Xing was once a racecar driver who would throw all caution to the winds in the olden days, he was still powerless in the face of traffic jams. The clock was ticking down to midnight, which should have meant there wouldnt be much traffic. However, due to the ck fog, everyone was panicking and wanted to escape from the city, so in the end, they were all jammed together on the roads. Wu Zaiyu scratched his face as he said, close to tears, Boss, is it really the apocalypse? Jiang Shutians expression was gravethe worst-case scenario had urred. Zaiyu, stop scratching! Xiao Sha turned to ask the others, Are you guys itchy? With that question, everyone discovered that their skin had a kind of tickling sensation, and the moment they noticed it, the itching got worse. Cain couldnt help but give a scratch or two, and it was only after a hard p from Lily that he stopped. Jiang Shutian too felt waves of ticklish pricking on his skin. Is this ck fog poisonous? Dont tell me that the danger Xiao Yu mentioned was the fog? So this ck fog can poison people to death at midnight? But if so, how will returning home help? Or has Shuyu already prepared the house for this? Zheng Xing, speak honestly. Is it possible to get home before 0100? Jiang Shutian felt that, even with the most generous estimate, he couldnt hope that any buffer time would extend past one a.m. Boss, take a look yourself. Forget two hours, Im not sure if we can get out of this mess even with five hours. What about going up on the sidewalk? Zheng Xings jaw dropped a little, and he turned to look at the sidewalk. It was doable. With the spreading ck fog causing a prickling pain, the sidewalks were mostly clear of people. While there was a lot of clutter along the sidewalk, meaning the drive wouldnt be smooth in the slightest, it was still better than not being able to move at all on the roads. 0100 still isnt possible. The roads are too dark, and there are a lot of obstacles along the sidewalk. Id be lucky to reach the forties. That was already taking into ount the fact that the bus had been modified. Its body was reinforced; otherwise, the car would quickly turn into a piece of scrap metal after crashing through just a few obstacles along the sidewalk, and they would have to ditch it. Jiang Shutian took a deep breath, then ordered, Drive on the sidewalk and get us to Odd-Foot. He should have gas masks at his ce. We must be there by 0000! Ceng Yunqian said in bewilderment, But will he still open shop given the situation? Jiang Shutian replied ndly, It doesnt matter if he isnt open. Weve just gotten ourselves some weapons, so we can st down his door. These lines obviously tickled the troops fancy, and they burst into strainedughter. Zheng Xing immediately shifted into reverse and stomped on the elerator. With the traffic jam, the cars at the front and back of the bus were almost bumper to bumper, so when he went into reverse, he immediately crashed against the car behind him. But he simply did not care and just spun the wheel, charging directly onto the sidewalk. The driver in the back car had just gotten out of his car in a rage, wanting an exnation, but the moment he saw that shocking scene, his eyes bulged and his jaw dropped. He was too stunned to care about exnations anymore. They swerved left and right, crashing into everything along the way: street lights, advertisements, electrical boxes, vendor carts He had long lost count of the number of things they had crashed into, but Zheng Xing felt that it was still a much smoother drive. Driving a bashed-up vehicle beat the boredom of being stuck in a traffic jam any day. With lots of jerking and crashing, and plenty of surprises and scares along the way, Zheng Xing finally managed to arrive at the destination. As he got out of the bus, Jiang Shutian nced at his watch. It was already midnight, so he had failed at getting home by the deadline. Getting gas masks was his number one priority. As for back home he could only ce his hopes in Shuyu. The moment he thought that, Jiang Shutians expression turned gloomy. He hated himself for having to pass the responsibility for his whole family to his ddi, who had only just woken up from his grave injuries. This ddi had been in aa for over a month, so it was likely that he could not even stand up, but now he was being forced to protect the family? Yunqian looked back, remarking, Boss, he really isnt open. So now? Jiang Shutian sted open the door with one shot, snapped one line of We go in, and stormed in first. Everyone jumped in fright. Although Jiang Shutian was a very imposing person, he was actually also extremely calm and collected. There were many times when he intentionally put on a show of rage for bystanders, without actually being angry in the slightest. But now Cain snorted, sting open someones door the moment he arrives? Boss isnt nning to buy anything, is he? Hes just going to take it by force. Yunqian shook her head as she said, If he cant get home, doors wont be the only thing Boss will st apart. Thats true. They never imagined that those words would describe their life for the next few days, when they would have no choice but to st away many things for survival and for going home. [To be continued] Volume 1, Extra 2: One Day in the Apocalypse

Volume 1, Extra 2: One Day in the Apocalypse

Trantor: Elkin (proofread by EvlNabiki & Arcedemius, C/E edited by Raylight & lucathia) Dropped Junjun, you have no idea how many women are utterly miserable in the apocalypse. You have to stand up for women and crush all the men in this world under your foot! But rg, you and Dg are men too? Dg is a god, not a man. As for your rg, Im more than willing to be stepped on by you. rg, youve dropped your sense of shame. Here, let me pick it up for you. Flown Away Junjun, do you think Im perverted for lewdly fantasizing about Dg? Boohoohoo No rg, because Dg is far too hot. Even I get dazzled by him sometimes, and I think about doing stuff with him! What?! *stares balefully with a face full of tears* Ugh Dont be like that, rg, I think about stuff like that with you too sometimes! Junjun, as a proactive, strong woman, you dont have to fantasize. Realize your dreams! Come on, rg is ready for you anytime! rg, your sense of shame has grown wings and flown away. Here, let me catch it for you. The Space Age Sigh, my hip hurts. I was too activest night. Man, Im so tired. Thank god I still have plenty of stamina; otherwise Id be beat! rg, was it a man or a womanst night? What do you mean, a man or woman? It was an aberrant. rg! Your sense of shame has fired off into space on a rocket! Junjun cant help you anymore! Whatre you talking about? Last night, all I did was wrestle the aberrant for most of the evening before I wore him out! rg, its fine, you dont have to exin. Junjun wont tell anyone. Boohoohoo W-wait! Junjun, dont run off crying! Please believe me, your rgs sense of shame hasnt gone to outer space! Papaya and Pork Ribs Wont Help rg, rg, you always say youre fantasizing about Dg. A-and you always say you want to marry me, right? H-have you ever thought about me that way? *blush* Uh, Junjun, you need to know, for someone to fantasize about you, you first have to have a bit of a figure. Whereas you Sigh, at most youre a B? Liar, Ive got a million. A million? A million volts. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH Volume 1, Epilogue: Afterword

Volume 1, Epilogue: Afterword

Trantor: Elkin (proofread by Arcedemius; C/E edited by Doza & lucathia) The appearance of Dominions End was as shocking as the end of the world for me. When I first got struck by inspiration, I immediately started tapping away (sound of typing) and wrote feverishly every day until ungodly hours like I was nuts. But I had almost finished writing 70C80% of an entire book after a week, so it was no different from being crazy. Even the various names came up smoothly. In the past, Ive had to open up a Chinese name generator and spend half the day just choosing surnames and given names, but I hardly had to use it this time. Even the title just popped into my mind. Dominions End [Zhong Jiang, K]: zhong/K means end, while jiang/ means territory. In this context, I used it to mean the world, so Dominions End actually just means The End of the World. Using simplistic titles like I Am a Knight would cause the author to be ridiculed for being uneducated, so I end up having to twist the titles around to pretend like Ive got some semnce of sophistication. When I came up with the title, I took the opportunity to look up the meaning of jiang and discovered it could be used as a surname. So thats the story behind the surname of the three Jiang siblings. Come to think of it, the name of the male protagonister, sort-of-male protagonistJiang Shuyu (), sprung to mind just as quickly. With Shuyu as a base, the big brothers and little sisters names were easy as well. The big brother is the familys pir of strength holding up the sky, so naturally he became Shutian [, with tian meaning sky]. For the younger sister, I used jun/ from Guan Weijun [Pޱ] to make Jiang Shuyu reminisce about the past. That is how the Jiang siblings were named. It didnt stop there, either. I had umted bits and pieces of plot, to the point where I had almost finished nning out the entire series, and it was just waiting to be written. This all went so smoothly I was really kind of freaked out, but I had the feeling that I definitely had to write this book, Dominions End, and the Jiang siblings were going to be born no matter what. Rain will fall when the heavens dictate, and your mother will marry when she wants to; some things are just meant to be. There was no helping it, so I let them be born. That was how this baby of mine, Dominions End, appeared. Fortunately, it was a very easy delivery for the author. It had its entire life nned out ahead of it from the moment it was born, so all that was left was for the parents to foot the bill for school fees. My only worry was that there were rather a lot ofbat scenes. Because I write out fights by first thinking out the movements in my head, then describing them, writing those scenes was like having a battle fought out in my brain. This really gave me headaches to no end. But when I was posting the story online, the readers really enjoyed the fight scenes, which was totally unexpected for me. I even gotments like Jiang Shuyu is the coolest protagonist, so I could only keep fighting on. Because this series is in first person, to allow everyone to see the stories of characters besides Shuyu, each volume will have side stories. This volumes side story, The Journey Home, is about Dg. The side stories length or number of parts is all up in the air, and its possible that one volume will have quite a few side stories. Everything will depend on when and where different characters mor for an appearance. Alternatively, if you have a character youre fond of, feel free to leave ament on my website as inspiration for the side stories. Originally, I wanted to have the entire The Journey Home in the first volume, but I realized I couldnt stop writing. So I ended up splitting it into halves. Fingers crossed that there wont be a third part, because while Dg is plenty cool, other characters want their turn in the spotlight too. One Day in the Apocalypse was a bolt out of the blue, but you can more or less guess where the story is going from it (actually, not at all) and the true nature of various characters (this ones more believable). But because this was a spontaneous idea, how many parts therell be or whether therell even be a second part are all unknown. Aside from that, this is a serial story, which means none of the volumes will have its own ending other than the final one. And the overall series will be quite long, at least seven or eight volumes. Sigh, I dont know if Ive missed anything. But if you have any questions, please feel free to ask on my website. Hope everyone enjoys Dominions End! By Yu Wo Website: http://blog.xuite/kim1984429/yuwo Plurk: http://.plurk/pinkcorpse Facebook: https://.facebook/iamYuwo Are [Character Introductions] like these really okay? Jiang Shuyu 18 years old. A beautiful young man. The middle child of the three siblings. Because he was hit on the head by a falling tile, his inside was switched to a female soul. His body is a sis-con, while his soul is a bro-con. He likes both women with hot figures and handsome, muscr men. He is frequently troubled by his own queer tastes andck of shame. Jiang Shujun 15 years old. A pretty girl. The youngest of the three siblings. She is gentle, cute, wise, forgiving, lively, and adorable (to Shuyu). She loves rg the most. She looks gentle and frail on the outside, but she dares to challenge Dg and fights to protect her rg, to prevent him from being teased to tears by Dg. Jiang Shutian 27 years old. The mighty Dg. The eldest of the three siblings. Theres no need to describe all the many ways he is awesome and mighty. Theres no need to describe the various ways he could take over the world. Hes aplete boss-level character. He is extremely biased toward his own people and extremely merciless toward outsiders. His ddi and mimei are his heaven and earth respectively. Not someone you want to mess with. Volume 2, Prologue: Behind the Door

Volume 2, Prologue: Behind the Door

Trantor: Elkin (proofread by EvlNabiki and Arcedemius; C/E edited by lucathia) Aberrants like the five that had transmuted from humans into dog-shaped aberrants were actually quitemonce. Of course, this was referring to my previous life. This was probably because the animal most people were familiar with was the domestic dog, so that was why so many people turned into dog-type aberrants. Later, these aberrants would evolve into a tribe known as the Dog People. They were widely feared, not for their strength, but for their tendency to move in packs. Whenever you encountered them, there was never only one, nor was it just a matter of one or two dozen. There would at least be one or two hundred! But Id only ever heard about the Dog People. If I had encountered them back then, I would probably have be Jiang Shuyu much earlier. Then again, if Jiang Shuyu hadnt been hit on the head by a tile, would he still have woken up as Guan Weijun? In my original world, after Jiang Shuyu had been hit on the head, did he ever wake up? Shuyu! I snapped out of my reverie with Dgs furious shout. Before I had the chance to turn and apologize to him, five shadows had already leapt right at me. I nched and mmed the ice staff to the floor. With a twist and somersault through the air, I dodged past the five streaks pouncing at me. I even managed to kick one of the aberrants, eliciting a yelp that sounded like gau. Just when I was about to counterattack, gunshots suddenly rang out. I only had time to kick down one before the others slumped to the ground by themselves. Upon closer inspection, the aberrants either had busted brains or knives stuck deep in the back of their skulls. Ngh! I turned to look. Lily was embarrassed and still in firing position. She quickly hid the gun behind her, as if this would help hide the fact that she was the shooter. To one side was the silent Xiao Sha. In contrast to Lily, he was extremely calm and had no intention whatsoever to try and cover up. In any case, there werent any excuses he could have madethe knives were already embedded in the aberrants heads, conclusive evidence of the culprit, so there was no point in arguing otherwise. Dg red daggers at the two. All right, Im guilty. Lily raised her hands in surrender helplessly. I thought Shuyu was in danger. I never expected him to dodge so easily. I owe him one, Xiao Sha said simply. After Dg finished ring at the two, he narrowed his eyes dangerously as he turned them on me. I stabbed the ice staff toward the ground, busting open the head of the still quivering aberrant, then mimicked Lily in raising my hands in surrender. I was thinking about the dream, so I spaced out identally. Dg growled, You dare to space out when confronting aberrants? Youre never going out by yourself in the future! If you ever dare sneak out, then you can expect to be chained up for the rest of your life! I lowered my head in apology. Even without Dgs scolding, I felt I was too careless. If Guan Weijun had dared to space out like this back then, forget surviving ten years, shed have died a thousand times in one year! Do you hear me? Yes! I replied quickly. Id nearly forgotten that the Dg right now wouldnt be appeased by ying coy. Dgs expression was dark and stormy and unbearable to look at. My gaze darted around in every direction, and I almost didnt dare to look him in the eye anymore. I had no idea how to apologize to make his expression look less intimidating. Dg, youre scaring your dd to death! Zheng Xing tried to smooth things over as he said, Shuyus not a merc. Hes just eighteen, and hes done well as it is. Boss, dont be too hard on him. With that, Dgs brows twitched together. Although he still looked extremely discontent, at least it wasnt as terrifying as before. Dg then ordered everyone, Pair up and search around. If you see any aberrant by itself, kill it immediately. If there are too many,e back and report to us. Just when I was about to obey and start looking for a partner to pair up with, he said coldly, Whatre you doing? Do you want to be chained up for the rest of your life? Stay here and dig up the evolution crystals. For the sake of the rest of my life, I had no choice but to kneel down and start searching around in the corpses. By now, my autopsy skills were pretty good, and I could dig out the evolution crystals with two or three strokes without getting even a fleck of blood or flesh on me. In ancient times, Chef Pao Ding could butcher a cow easily because he knew its anatomy like the back of his hand. Well, now you had Xiao Yu who could dissect corpses easily too. The problem with being skilled was that, after five minutes, I had nothing to do. I had a moment to think and ended up examining my ice staffno wait, my ice spear No, its an ice staff, all right. The temporary spearhead that I had tagged on had turned into a pile of shattered ice after the fight just now. I knew it. I really shouldve reinforced a dagger. A spears spearhead had to be stronger than its shaft, since spears were often used for piercing attacks. There was no small number of aberrants with skulls as hard as rock, so if the spearhead kept shattering all the time, it was useless. Boss. I looked up to see almost everyone had returned. Zheng Xing was the first to report. Boss, weve swept the entire first floor, but the firearms storage isnt here. We think its in the basement. Dg didnt look surprised in the slightest. He just gave a nod and asked, Any movement in the basement? The door is closed, and we cant open it. With that, Dg and the others exchanged a few looks like they were all in the know. I looked on in utter confusion, with no clue on what was going on, and instantly felt a little down as the outsider. Xiao Sha exined quietly, Yunqian can pick locks. The locks in this kind of police station arent a challenge for her. So if we still cant open the door, its not a problem with the locks. Its likely that there are heavy things being used to block off the door. I see. I nced at Xiao Sha. The feeling of having him owe me a favor was pretty good. In the future, I had to teach him how to use his powers more. I had to make sure that Xiao Sha could never fully repay his favors owed to me! Is there anyone inside? Cain asked with interest. Unlikely. Lily shook her head as she responded, Its now three months into the apocalypse. How many supplies do you think therell be in the basement of a police station? With so many aberrants wandering on the first floor, its obvious that the people shut away inside didnt make it out. So theyve probably starved to death. Starved to death, they would have turned into aberrants. Everyone lifted their guns into position, preparing for the next wave of attack. We moved to the basement, where the entrance door stood. Given that we did not want to create too big amotion, I had no choice but to push as hard as I could. I hadnt realized just how many things might be piled behind the door. The door was really heavy. After pushing at it for what felt like half a day, I only managed to open the door by a crack. God, its so heavy I could die. Yes, that was right, I was the one pushing at the door. Just now, when I had stepped up to help, Cain had given me a look of disdain as he flexed his biceps. That got me majorly pissed off. Dont think Jiang Shuyu is a frail and delicate pretty boy from just his looks. With enough evolution crystals, even a pretty boy can turn into Superman! I had immediately sent Cain, who was showing off his abs, flying with a kick. Then, the task of opening the door fell squarely on my head. Because the door was not wide, we could not squeeze in so many people to help push. So Dg had said, Since youre so strong, you push it open. Dg, actually, your didi really is just a frail and delicate pretty boy. Ill never ruin my image again! Cant push it open? Dg shot me a look. Dont pretend to be weak. This is serious work. I really cant get it to open, I replied with a grimace. Its stuck. Dg marched forward, and with one shove, the door that had refused to budge opened by another five centimeters. Dg, your power is healing, right? Right? He gave me a taunting look, and I decided right then and there that I was definitely a frail, delicate pretty boy. I went to sit in the corner, pretending to be exhausted from pushing at the door. The others could try their luck at it. Cain flexed his biceps some more and got the door to open by two centimeters while Lily easily got it to open by another four centimeters. Zheng Xing got the door to open some more, enough for a person to squeeze through. It was only after Dg confirmed that there was no movement beyond the door that he looked over his shoulder and called out, Lily,e take a look. Lily walked up and reported, Its a fairlyrge ce. There are shelves on the opposite end that might hold ammo. Dg nodded, and immediately ordered the others to go search inside. He headed inside as wellexcept, before stepping through the door, his eyes drifted to Xiao Sha. Xiao Sha immediately came to a stop beside me and stopped following the group. Dg, your eyes sure are expressive. I understood everything! Fine! Ill keep a lookout with Xiao Sha while being a frail, delicate pretty boy. Besides, this current room we were in could use some investigation too. It was too clean and neat, with absolutely no signs of any scuffles. It was as if aberrants had never touched this room for some reason. Or, someone had cleaned the ce up. Xiao Yu! Suddenly, we heard Dgs loud roar from behind the door. Then, the door mmed shut. I immediately dashed forward and kicked hard at the door. But that damned door refused to budge, so it was obvious there was more going on than just the door being shut. I nced at the door. Unbelievably, I couldnt hear anything at all. Dont tell me Dg and the others were neutralized in an instant? Impossible! This was no time to pretend to be a pretty boy any longer. I rammed against the door, this time using my ice powers at the same time. The door burst open. I ran inside, with Xiao Sha following closely behind me. Looking around, I found myself in arge corridor with doors on both sides. The dimness was impairing my vision, making it difficult for me to see too far into the distance. D Just as I was about to yell, I shut my mouth again. I counted five shadows walking my way. I heaved a sigh of relief. The JDT were all present and ounted for. But wait what Cain and Zheng Xing walked to the left while Lily and Ceng Yunqian walked to the right, with Dg in the very middle. They could have all walked out of a magazine with how picturesque they looked, like they owned the ce. Each and every one of them wore an apron. Id already seen him naked before, and damn, I was his little brother, but I could not stop staring. Because Dg was wearing a and nothing else, showing off his perfect abs. Long live aprons! Volume 2, Prologue: Behind the Door 2

Volume 2, Prologue: Behind the Door 2

Trantor: Elkin (proofread by EvlNabiki & Arcedemius; C/E edited by lucathia) Dog-shaped aberrants like those five that had transmuted from humans had actually been quitemon. Of course, that was in reference to my previous life. The reason so many people turned into dog-type aberrants was probably because the animal many people were most familiar with was the domestic dog. Later, those aberrants would evolve into a tribe known as the Dog People. They were widely feared, not for their strength, but for their tendency to move in packs. Whenever you encountered them, there was never just one or two, nor was it even a matter of one or two dozen. There would be at least one or two hundred! But I only knew about the Dog People from hearsay. If Id encountered them back then, I would probably have be Jiang Shuyu much earlier. Then again, if this worlds Jiang Shuyu hadnt been hit on the head by a tile, would he still have woken up one day as Guan Weijun? If there was a Jiang Shuyu in my original world, did he ever wake up from his head injury? Shuyu! I snapped out of my reverie at Dgs furious shout. Before I had the chance to turn and apologize, five shadows had already leapt right at me. I nched and mmed the ice staff to the floor. With a twist and somersault through the air, I dodged past the five streaks pouncing at me. I even managed to kick one of the aberrants, eliciting a sharp yelp. Just when I was about to counterattack, gunshots suddenly rang out. I only had time to kick down one aberrant before the others slumped to the ground by themselves. Upon closer inspection, the aberrants either had spattered brains or knives stuck deep in the back of their skulls. Ngh! I turned around. Lily was looking embarrassed, still in firing position. She quickly hid the gun behind her, as if that would help hide the fact that shed been the shooter. To one side was the silent Xiao Sha. In contrast to Lily, he was extremely calm and had no intention whatsoever to try and cover up. Besides, there werent any excuses he could have madethe knives were already embedded in the aberrants heads, conclusive evidence of the culprit, so there was no point in arguing otherwise. Dg red daggers at the two. All right, Im guilty. Lily raised her hands helplessly in surrender. I thought Shuyu was in danger. I never expected him to dodge so easily. I owe him one, Xiao Sha said simply. After Dg finished ring at those two, he narrowed his eyes even more dangerously as he turned them on me. I stabbed the ice staff downward, busting open the head of the still-quivering aberrant, then mimicked Lily in raising my hands in surrender. I was thinking about the dream, so I spaced out identally. Dg growled, You dare to space out when confronting aberrants? Youre never going out by yourself in the future! If you ever dare sneak out, then you can expect to be chained up for the rest of your life! I lowered my head in apology. Even without Dgs scolding, I felt Id been too careless. If Guan Weijun had dared to space out like that back then, forget surviving ten years, shed have died a thousand times in just one! Do you hear me? Yes! I replied quickly. Id nearly forgotten that the Dg right now wouldnt be appeased by ying coy. Dgs expression was dark and stormy and unbearable to look at. My gaze darted around in every direction, and I almost didnt dare to look him in the eye anymore. I had no idea how to apologize to make his expression look less intimidating. Dg, youre scaring your ddi to death! Zheng Xing tried to smooth things over as he said, Shuyus not a merc. Hes just eighteen, and hes done well as it is. Boss, dont be too hard on him. At that, Dgs expression clouded up. Although he still looked extremely discontent, at least it wasnt as terrifying as before. Although youre not a merc, Xiao Yu, you dont move like a normal civ either. Cain asked in puzzlement, Boss never mentioned you having any training, but I think even within our troop, only Xiao Sha can pull off those kinds of moves. I picked the first piece of bullshit I could think of and said, I lived for ten years in the apocalypse in my dreams, so I have a lot of battle experience. I just have to train up my body again. Before, when I was out hunting by myself, I was already slowly training myself. Didnt you say you were an ordinary woman in your dreams? I snapped back indignantly, An ordinary woman whos lived for ten years in the apocalypse can tten you with one hand tied behind her back. Cain started in surprise and eximed inplete disbelief, No way! Yes way. I nodded as I spoke, Except those who were protected from beginning to end, every single person who survived the apocalypse is stronger than any of us now. Survival of the fittest. That was the onlyw in the apocalyptic world. Cain grinned, showing off his white teeth, then dered, Then, thats easy. Ill survive ten years as well, and by then, Ill be able to beat everyone here with just one hand! Immediately, he was almost knocked to the ground after getting whacked upside the head by Ceng Yunqian. Just when I was about to shoot a few sarcastic barbs at Cain, I found I couldnt think of anything at all. On the advice of a reincarnated person like me, these guys had started eating evolution crystals soon after the apocalypse began. Adding on the fact that they were already mercenaries who excelled atbat, if they really did survive ten years, bing strong was a given! Dont tell me, I identally created a super team? Thats the best thing in the world! In theing few years, the word pitiful wouldnt be enough when describing the situation of us humans. In order to fight against the aberrants and even defend against the originally harmless nts and animals, it was best that everyone be as strong as possible! Speaking of which, should I tell more people about the evolution crystals? If I can make humans stronger earlier on, maybe things wont get so tragic in the next few years. Xiao Yu! Why are you spacing out again? I lifted my head to see Dgs terrifying look of doom and hastily told him everything that had just urred to me to divert his attention. Please dont remember locking me up for a lifetime, please? Dg frowned a little, turned things over in his mind, then said, Dont worry about that right now. When you meet the right people, you can bring it up. For anyone whos not qualified I neednt bother telling them. It was a pretty good way of doing things. As expected of Dg, he was much more decisive than I was. depending on the situation, they might need to be eliminated. Wait, wait, wait! Dg, youre moving too fast. Your ddi cant catch up! I turned to look at the others. Amazingly, no one looked the slightest bit astonished. Now just whos survived ten years in the apocalypse? For the sake of humanitys survival, I had no choice but to try to persuade him, Dg, weve lost half of all humans in one go. And going forward, therell be fewer and fewer of us. Lets try to avoid killing when we can. Even if extinction is inevitable, at least dont make us guilty of that crime! I still want to go to heaven! Dg rified, When I said anyone who was not qualified, I was referring to people like those mercenaries who strung you up. Then Id immediately kill them without a word! With those kinds of people, youd save many lives just by killing one of them. Youd even be praised when facing judgment before Yama, the King of Hell! Stop wasting time. Pair up and search. If you see an aberrant by itself, kill it immediately. If there are too many,e back and report it, Dg ordered everyone. Just when I was about to obey and start looking for someone to pair up with, he said coldly, Whatre you doing? Do you want to be chained up for the rest of your life? Stay here and dig out the evolution crystals. For the sake of my continued freedom, I had no choice but to crouch down and start searching in the corpses. By now, my autopsy skills were pretty good, and I could dig out the evolution crystals with two or three strokes without getting even a fleck of blood or flesh on me. In ancient times, Chef Pao Ding could butcher an ox easily because he knew its anatomy like the back of his hand. Well, now there was Xiao Yu who could dissect corpses easily too. The problem with being skilled was that, after five minutes, I had nothing to do. I had a moment to think and ended up examining my ice staffno wait, my ice spearno, ice staff, after all. The temporary spearhead that I had tacked on had turned into a pile of shattered ice after the fight just then. I knew it. I really shouldve reinforced a dagger. A spears head had to be stronger than its shaft, since spears were often used for piercing attacks. There was no small number of aberrants with skulls as hard as rock, so if the spearhead kept shattering all the time, it was useless. Boss. I looked up to see almost everyone had returned. Zheng Xing was the first to report. Boss, weve swept the entire first floor, but the firearms storage isnt here. We think its in the basement. Dg didnt look surprised in the slightest. He just nodded and asked, Any movement in the basement? The door is closed, and we cant open it. With that, Dg and the others exchanged a few looks like they were all in the know. I looked on in utter confusion, with no clue what was going on, and instantly felt a little down as the outsider. Xiao Sha exined quietly, Yunqian can pick locks. The locks in this kind of police station arent a challenge for her. So if we still cant open the door, its not a problem with the lock. Its likely that there are heavy things being used to block off the door. I see. I nced at Xiao Sha. The feeling of having him owe me a favor was pretty good. In the future, I had to teach him how to use his powers more. I had to make sure that Xiao Sha could never fully repay the favors he owed me! Is there anyone inside? Cain asked with interest. Unlikely. Lily shook her head as she responded, Its now three months into the apocalypse. How many supplies do you think thered be in the basement of a police station? With so many aberrants wandering around on the first floor, its obvious that the people shut away inside didnt make it out. So theyve probably starved to death. Starved to death, they wouldve turned into aberrants. Everyone lifted their guns into position, preparing for the next phase of attack. We moved to the basement, where the door was. Given that we did not want to create too big amotion, I had no choice but to push as hard as I could. I hadnt realized just how many things might be piled behind the door. It was really heavy. After pushing at it for what felt like half a day, I only managed to open the door a crack. God, its so heavy I could die. Yes, that was right, I was the one pushing at the door. Just now, when I had stepped up to help, Cain had given me a look of disdain as he flexed his biceps. That got me majorly pissed off. Dont think Jiang Shuyu is a frail and delicate pretty boy just because he looks like one. With enough evolution crystals, even a pretty boy can turn into Superman! I had immediately sent Cain, who was showing off his abs, flying with a kick. Then, the task of opening the door fell squarely on my shoulders. Because the door was not wide, we could not squeeze in a lot of people to help push. So Dg had said, Since youre so strong, you push it open. Dg, actually, your ddi really is just a frail and delicate pretty boy. Ill never ruin my image again! Cant push it open? Dg shot me a look. Dont pretend to be weak. This is serious work. I really cant get it to open, I replied with a grimace. Its stuck. Dg marched forward, and with one shove, the door that had refused to budge opened by another five centimeters. Dg, your power is healing, right? Right? Dg observed through the crack for a while. It was only after he confirmed that there was no movement beyond the door that he looked over his shoulder and called out, Lily,e take a look. Lily walked up and reported as she peered inside, There are a few metal shelves. Theyve warped and gotten stuck together. Well need to dismantle the door frame if we want to open the door now. Aside from that, the metal shelves are full of boxes blocking the view, so I cant see inside. Dg frowned as he stared at the door frame. It was a door in a police station, and was therefore pretty stern stuff. Dismantling it would be very troublesome, especially since we didnt have the right equipment on hand. Cain said without much hope, Boss, if there were guns inside, nobody would have starved to death in there. No matter what, theyd have rushed out with the guns for a fight. So its likely the guns were gone a long time ago. Even if there are no guns, there will still be ammo. That was true. It was a police station, so they should have no small supply of ammunition. It was unlikely that all the ammunition would have been taken away, and what the troop desperately needed was not guns, but ammunition. Dg had brought a number of guns to begin with, and we had also wiped out a mercenary troop recently as well. We were not short on guns, and we didnt have that many people who could shoot anyway. But every bullet we fired was a bullet that was noting back. If we didnt stock up, it was likely our guns could only be used as metal sticks very soon. Take it apart! Dg made a prompt decision and ordered, Now that weve swept the first floor clean, we have plenty of spare time. This time, I was definitely the frail, delicate pretty boy. I sat in the corner, pretending to be exhausted from pushing at the door and beingpletely useless when it came to dismantling it. In the apocalypse, dismantling things was a skill needed in everyday life. Dismantling doors, windows, and lockers was beginners stuff, dismantling cars and fridges for spare parts was advanced, andbining the various spare parts into all sorts of weaponry was the ultimate skill. But now, I had decided that my job was being a frail, delicate pretty boy. My role was the deadweight ddi in the mercenary troop, so forget about beginners skills, I couldnt even push open the door! Dont take it apart. Wereing out. Everyone immediately raised their guns and pointed them at the door, their expressions like theyd seen ghosts. From behind the door came the eerie question, Are you humans? Were the ones who want to ask if you are humans! Everyone exchanged looks, then turned their gazes to Dg. The troop leader said calmly, Aberrants cant talk. Dg was right. Aberrants couldnt talk. Yet. There was a moment of silence before the same voice from behind the door said submissively, I-if wee out, you wont hurt us, right? Seriously, are you guys idiots?! You think anyone out there will answer, No, were gonna hurt you. Come out quickly to get hurt? Evidently, I wasnt the only one who thought so. Everyone else looked like they didnt know whether they wanted tough or cry, though they didnt look as tense as before. It was better to have idiots than mercenaries inside. As long as you people dont attack us, we wont hurt you. As Dg said you people, he gave the others a meaningful look. True, they did in fact say us just now, so there was more than one of them. There was a moment of silence behind the door, then some hushed chatter, so quiet that we couldnt hear what they were saying. But they spoke very quickly, a sign that someone was very agitated. Soon after came the banging and crashing of moving objects. So it seems theyve decided toe out. I nced at Dg. Is he nning to leave once hes got the ammo, or is he going to take these people in? Soon enough, the door was pulled open slowly. Out came two guys and three girlsthey all looked around the same age, twenty or so, and every one of them looked like they were university students. The moment we saw how young they were and their general appearance, we immediately rxed. Initially, I was still quite alert. After all, ten years into the apocalypse, you couldnt afford to ignore even a young boy standing by the roadside. He might not be human at all! Then again, given that this was still the first year of the apocalypse, forget little boys, even big muscle men werent anything to be afraid of. Aberrants still looked like mutants, and there was still quite some way to go before they would evolve into human forms. So these university students were definitely just university students. What was more, the moment they saw how decked out we were, their faces turned as white as sheets and they looked like they wanted to leg it and hide again. There was just no way anyone could take them seriously as a threat. Eh? Jiang Shuyu? One of the girls suddenly shrieked. Is it just me, or did she sound a little happy? Everyone looked toward me. I stared at the girl. She looked quite pretty, and although the filth and dirt deducted a fair number of points from her appearance, all she needed to do was tidy up a little, and shed turn into a beauty. The girl asked in confusion, W-why are you staring at me like that? I had no choice but to confess, Sorry, I lost my memories after getting hit on the head by a tile. I dont remember who you are. Please please please dont be Jiang Shuyus girlfriend. Dg already said I didnt have one. I trust him more than I trust you. And even if we were a thing, were breaking up right now! The girl started and asked in disbelief, You lost your memories? Im your ssmate from high school! Im Chen Qianru! When everyone found out you got into an ident, we even got together to fold a thousand origami cranes. Ohhhh, so we were high school ssmates? Okay, thats still eptable. So what about the others? I looked at the two guys and the other two girls. Chen Qianru immediately exined, These are some friends who got into the same university as me. They were in different sses from us during high school, so you wouldnt know them. The others looked a little panicked and started stuttering one after the other. I-I know Jiang Shuyu too. Even though we werent in the same ss, we still went to the same school! One of the guys said, No shit, he was the Prince Charming at our high school, and he even got the top grades of our entire year! Everyone knows Jiang Shuyu! Well, with Jiang Shuyus face, being crowned Prince Charming wasnt unusual. But the top grades of the entire year? Jiang Shuyu, could you not be so awesome? I suddenly felt under a lot of pressureI cant take up your mantle! Dg suddenly interjected, Shuyu, do you remember anything? Nothing, I replied honestly. I mean, even memories of my blood siblings were things I only saw in dreams, so there simply wasnt a trace of anything like high school ssmates. I really am your ssmate! Chen Qianru became desperate. Before I could answer, Dg waved to stop her. Ive seen the origami cranes, so you dont need to exin. Is there any ammunition inside? The university students exchanged looks, then they all turned to look at Chen Qianru. The girl had no choice but to speak up. I saw some boxes of what looked like bullets, but there arent any guns. Dg nodded and immediately ordered the others to go search inside. He headed inside as wellexcept, before stepping through the door, his eyes drifted past Xiao Sha. Xiao Sha immediately came to a halt beside me and stopped following the group. Then, Dg nced at me, then at that Chen Qianru, before he finally disappeared inside to join the search. Dg, your eyes sure are expressive. I understood everything! Dont worry, Ill definitely use this high school ssmate of mine to find out how on earth these people managed to survive three months inside. The moment the mercenaries left, the two guys and three girls all dashed at me and started chattering like magpies. Jiang Shuyu, howd you end up with those people? The guy who had spoken beforehand asked in deep suspicion, Dont tell me you got captured by them? I shot him a look and snapped, Do I look like Im captured? What idiots! Even though I dont have as many weapons as the mercenaries, Im still holding onto a staff and wandering around freely. So just how exactly do I look like Im under capture? Besides, shouldnt you guys be asking about what the hell is with this ice staff in my hand? Do you guys even know what the key topics are in an exam? No wonder you couldnt get better grades than Jiang Shuyu! Nah, he replied honestly, then even gave a self-introduction. Oh yeah, Im Lu Renjie, the vice-captain of the basketball team. Have you heard of me before? I lost my memories, idiot! When they heard him introducing himself, the others quickly told me their names as well. The tall girl said, Im called Li Yarong, Ya from youyaeleganceand rong, written like a lotus. Su Ying. The girl was so scared, her voice came out tinny like a mosquitos. If not for the fact that I had eaten a lot of evolution crystals and developed very acute hearing, I wouldnt have been able to catch her name. Thest guy seemed to be a man of few words, simply reporting, I am Ding Jun. Then, as one, the five of them looked at thest fellow who hadnt introduced himselfXiao Sha. Xiao Sha was silent for a moment before he said, Shangguan Chensha. I was bamboozled for a moment, before realizing that this was Xiao Shas real name. How unusual, his surname was made up of two words. It even sounded like something out of a Wuxia novel. Almost every Wuxia novel had some kind of Shangguan character, and more often than not, they were elegant nobles. I looked hard at Xiao Sha to check that he really was a mercenary, and concluded that calling him Xiao Sha was way better. The five seemed very curious about Xiao Sha. Probably because he was closer to them in age, they didnt seem to hold the same fear toward him aspared to the other mercenaries. But now wasnt the time for them to dig up Xiao Shas secrets. Dg had given me a mission, so I couldnte out empty-handed. How did you guys end up here? This should be a pretty good conversation starter. It was really weird that five university students would get locked up in the basement of a police station in the apocalypse. Unexpectedly, the girls seemed reluctant to talk as they nudged at each other to speak. In the end, Lu Renjie spoke up as he rubbed his head in embarrassment. We came here to meet up. We figured, since we got into the same uni and all, we might as welle out and get to know each other better. Meeting up in a police station? Isnt this ce a little too unique? I stared at them dubiously. Chen Qianru sighed. We originally werent just five people, but one of the boys got hit by a car when we were crossing the road. He got sent to the hospital, and we were dragged in for questioning. Originally, we were supposed to be able to go home after the questioning was over, but by then, it was very dark outside. We couldnt go out and the police were so busy, they didnt have time to care about us. So So they ended up passing the apocalypse in a police station. That sounded as tragic as Jiang Shuyus story. So youve been hiding here like this for three months? I asked with deep suspicion, showing my incredulity for the world to see. What was even more unbelievable for me was that not a single one of them had turned into an aberrant. Even in Dgs almighty troop, they had lost two people out of a group of eight. So how could a group of five not have a single person missing? Three months? Chen Qianru looked at me strangely. Its not been that long. Jiang Shuyu, when did you wake up? Did you mix up the dates or something? What? Xiao Sha and I exchanged looks. I could tell from his expression that I definitely hadnt mixed up any dates. There was something deeply wrong with these people. The timing of their appearance, the location they were in, and even their emotions were all wrong! They were far too calm. After being locked up in a ce full of aberrants for three months, these people could still introduce themselves in such a calm fashion. If nothing was wrong with them, then they were even mentally stronger than Dgs mercenary troop, and I didnt believe that any university students in this world were that much stronger than my previous worlds! Xiao Yu! Suddenly, we heard Dgs loud roar from behind the door. Then, the door mmed shut. I immediately dashed forward and kicked hard at the door. But the damned door refused to budge, so it was obvious there was more going on than just the door being shut. I looked behind me, to see Xiao Sha holding onto Chen Qianru and threatening them with a knife at her neck. Chen Qianru screamed, I dont know why it did that! I dont know anything I swung hard with my staff, but my opponent dodged past it. That agility of yours is downright ridiculous; are you sure youre just the vice-captain of the basketball team? Bah! Then is Michael Jordan the captain? Lu Renjie was holding onto the steel frame of a window single-handedly and dangling easily in mid-air. He smiled as he asked, Howd you find out it was me? I could feel the energy wavesing from you just now! If I hadnt left my original position to kick the door, what he would have grabbed was probably not the window frame but me. Is this guy an aberrant? Xiao Sha asked as he pulled Chen Qianru with him, creating some distance from Lu Renjie. No, hes human. Hes a person whos got evolved powers like us. My expression was grim. Times of disaster, like the apocalypse, really did forge men of strong will. Seriously, what the hells with this guy? Just three months into the apocalypse, and he can already use his powers this well? This is still a time when fire powers are used as lighters, you know? Aberrant? Thats a pretty interesting way of calling them. Lu Renjie asked with curiosity, So your power is ice? Looks pretty useful. Why dont you join us? I nced at the door. Unbelievably, I couldnt hear anything at all. Dont tell me Dg and the others were neutralized in an instant? Impossible! I desperately wanted to do something, but I was tied up here, so I had no choice but to grit my teeth and bear with it. I calmly spoke to the enemy to find out more, So whats going on in there? Lu Renjie made a six with his hand. Hes in there. Wasnt he hit by a car? I gave a derisive look at Chen Qianru. Contrary to my expectations, however, her eyes were full of fear. She didnt look like she knew what was going on at all. Dont tell me, she really has nothing to do with this? When he noticed me looking at Chen Qianru, Lu Renjie started chuckling. Actually, strictly speaking, its not wrong to say he was hit by a car. Aw, dont re at them like that. These people are just rations. If they cant catch anyone else, then theyd have to offer up themselves. Rations? My expression grew colder. Three months in and theyve already resorted to cannibalism? But right now, the one thing we have too much of is food, so no one should need to fall to cannibalism. Whats going on with this guy? All right, Ill join you guys, I said simply, then jabbed a thumb at Xiao Sha. His ability is speed, so he should just about make the cut. He can join you guys too. Actually, Xiao Shas ability was wind, but at times like this, the less you revealed about your strength, the better. Xiao Sha nced at me and released Chen Qianru. But she was so terrified that she had no power in her legs. The moment she was let go, she just dropped to the floor, unable to get up. In the end, the scaredy-cat Su Ying dragged her into the corner, and the three girls huddled together. Ding Jun also stood in the corner in utter silence. They didnt seem like they were on the same side as Lu Renjie, so they probably really were just rations. Lu Renjie shrugged and said, Be my guest. You can go in together. I gave Xiao Sha a look, and he gave me a small nod. Actually, it was better to leave someone on guard outside. But we didnt know what the situation was like inside, so one person wouldnt be enough if we got into a situation where we had to fight and rescue people at the same time. I walked up to the door, and this time, the door opened with a twist of the handle and a gentle push. Dont go in! A sudden shout rang out from behindthe first time that voice had ever spoken so loudly. I turned to look at Su Ying. She screamed at the top of her voice like there was no tomorrow, Idiot! If you can win against this guy, then dont go in! Itll be all over once youre inside! Itll be all over? Then DgNo! Never. If my guess is right, the thing behind the door is probably That kind of thing will never win against my dg! Stop! I shouted at Lu Renjie. He was just about to stomp hard on Su Ying, and given the extent of his powers, one stomp and Su Ying would likely bid this apocalyptic world farewell. I nced at Su Ying. She was incredibly agitated, her cheeks flushed red and her eyes brimming with tears, looking much livelier than when she was a scaredy-cat. But more importantly, I could feel energy wavesing from her. I really couldnt leave Xiao Sha outside. Perhaps one Lu Renjie wouldnt pose much danger to himI suspected his power to be an increase in his physical abilitiesbut I had no idea what this Su Yings powers were, or whether she was friend or foe. It was too risky, so I might as well bring Xiao Sha along. Id feel better. I threw Xiao Sha a look, asking him to follow me. Xiao Sha nodded, then suddenly, the corner of his mouth quirked up. I blinked. Whats so funny in this situation? Dont tell me you have anti-social tendencies where you get more excited the more danger youre in? Then again, in the apocalyptic world, those who were more cold-hearted were the craziest. I better have a word with Dg to always keep an eye on Xiao Sha, to prevent him from turning from a cool-faced guy into a pervert. He walked over, and as he passed by me, he murmured, You really are like our boss. Wait! I didnt have time to worry about how on earth the almighty Dg and the pretty Xiaodi were simr in the slightest. Xiao Sha, where the hell do you think youre going, walking ahead of me? We dont even know whats going on behind that door, so stop running around so disobediently! Xiao Sha shrugged off my hand and reached out to grab the door handle, speaking firmly, Im the one in charge of scouting in the troop. I batted away his hand and dashed forward first, tossing behind me, Im the new generation of scouts. Youre old now, so just take it easy in your retirement at the back! Looking for the April Fool 2016 version of the chapter? Volume 2, 1: The way things are for the cool, suave and handsome

Volume 2, Chapter 1: The way things are for the cool, suave and handsome

Trantor: Elkin (proofread by EvlNabiki & Trespasserby; C/E edited by Amgine & lucathia) I finally managed to get out of the office, feeling dead tired. Having done overtime for the past few days, today, I could finally only work two more hours of overtime. Being able to get off work on time was like that LV handbag in the shop windowit was something you couldnt help but drool over, but had no way of affording! But never mind, thepanys overtime pay was pretty decent and was in line withborws. Doing more overtime also meant more money, which was always good. That apartment I sawst time with Mom had looked quite decent, but it was such a pity about the price. After doing some calctions, I had realized that I had no way of affording the down payment, so I had no choice but to give up on it. Its better if I continue working for two more years. By then, Ill be able to afford a house within that price range. Right now, the ones that are within my budget really arent up to scratch Weijun! I looked over, watching in surprise as a boy with a sunny expression jogged up to me. This fellow was always rash and careless like a kid. Every time I put on make up to go out on a date with him, people would always mistake me for his older sister. Damn it! Im younger than him by a year, okay?! I glowered at his vest, beach shorts, and slippers and asked, Zhengu, whyre you here? Xia Zhengu grinned as he replied, To pick up my girlfriend! I purposely asked back, Oh, your girlfriend? Is she pretty? He frowned a little, and shook his head as he clicked his tongue, She looks kind of normal. I unhappily gave him a shove. Xia Zhengu blinked, feigning innocence as he said, Just the normal kind of pretty is all. Really not all that pretty. He really cant sweet talk to save his life! I rolled my eyes at him. Fine, normal kind of pretty is eptable too. In any case, I wasnt any sort of beauty to begin with, so having the word pretty was already quite good for me. Tired? Xia Zhengu slipped his hand into mine. He always habitually held my hand, no matter how many times I tried to train him out of it. I had sweaty hands! It was very embarrassing to have hands as mmy as these, and even though he always insisted that it was fine All right, honestly, I was secretly quite happy about it myself. Exhausted, I replied weakly. He scratched his head as he asked, Why work so hard? Ive already told you that I have a house of my own. So just live at my ceyou dont have to buy one! I rolled my eyes at him again. It wasnt as if I hadnt considered marriage, but I was only twenty-five. Although Id been dating this fellow for three years, it was hard to know what the future would bring. Besides, no matter what, I still had to give Mom a ce of her own. He said unhappily, What, you dont believe me? Too tired to be bothered to argue with him, I just responded carelessly, No, no, no, I believe you. The careless tone of voice obviously pissed him off. He flung aside my hand and walked off ahead by himself. I gazed at his tall, slender silhouette and felt sorry for myself. Not only did I have to exhaust myself with overtime work, I even had to deal with my boyfriends temper tantrum. I jogged to catch up. Whats the matter? Youre angry already? Youre so petty! I am petty! He snapped back huffily as he looked back at me, and he even threw something at me. It was good that it wasnt big and I didnt get hurt; otherwise, I was not letting him off for this. We havent even gotten married yet, and there were already signs of domestic violence! The thing I had caught on my chest was a small boxit actually looked like a gift. I was bewildered. Is it a special day? Its not my birthday, its not our dating anniversary, its not the anniversary of the first day we met, and its not either the Chinese or Western Valentines Day I opened the box. And inside was a diamond ring. Judging from the size of the diamond, and factoring in Xia Zhengus sry, he probably had to save up a years pay without eating or drinking in order to afford this. I tore my eyes away from the ring to see him grinning cheek to cheek. He was still in his vest, beach shorts, and slippers, kneeling down and staring up at me. Even the homeless looked more dignified than he was. He was lucky he was a bit good looking. Otherwise, hed really look like a hobo. Which was to say, good looks were important because you could run around naked and they would still call it art. Weijun, will you marry me? His smile was as bright as the sun. Iughed. I really had been waiting for this question for a very, very long timefor ten whole years! Xia Zhengu never proposed to me, ever! Even though we had weathered the moment of judgment together, even though I had saved his life a hundred times, even though diamond rings had be trash that you could pick up them from the roadside in the apocalypse, he had never once thought of getting one and proposing to me! I crushed the box with my hand. Now, what I was holding was no longer a small diamond ring, but a long staff that emanated an icy chill that was as cold as my current state of mind. Weijun? Xia Zhengu stared at me in a daze, then stammered out a question in a frightened and helpless manner, W-whats going on with you? I swung my staff down at that damned face, snarling, Im Jiang Shuyu! The mans face shattered the moment the ice staff hit. Not just the man, but the entire world shattered like a mirror with that one strike. Awesome! Xia Zhengu, Ive wanted to hit you for a very long time now, hahahabut now wasnt the time to be happy. It wasnt as if I was hitting the actual person. What is there to cheer about when its just smashing apart an illusion? Though that still felt awesome! Aw yes! Calm down, calm down. I still have to find Dg and the others first. Looking around, I found myself in a corridor with doors on both sides. The dimness was impairing my vision, making it difficult for me to see too far into the distance, but werent those people lying on the floor our mercenaries? Cain, Lily, Zheng Xing Strange, wheres Dg? D Just as I was about to yell, I shut my mouth again and spun around quickly. I stared hard at the dark corner and could just about make out a silhouette there. Is it the sixth person? I raised my ice staff, but at this moment, the door behind me opened. Xiao Sha burst in through the door, then instantly slipped into a trance. He even started sleep-talking. No! G, Im not you, I wont follow your footsteps What to do? I kind of want to listen more. With a deep sorrow that I couldnt hear the story to its conclusion, I dashed forward to give Xiao Sha two hard ps to his face. Half-dreaming and half-awake, Xiao Sha turned to look at me and, while still in a daze, gave a forced smile as he said, G, stop hitting me, Ill listen to you. Good boy. He blinked, his expression clearing up. Then, he instantly flushed red and stared straight at me, unable to say a single word. Its an illusion. It activates the moment anyone enters. I exined simply, I got trapped by it too. So stop acting shy about it. Besides, everyone has an ex-boyfriend they dont want to remember. Oh, it could be an ex-girlfriend too. No wait, ex-brotherah, whatever! I pointed at the mercenaries who were lying on the floor all around us, then looked over at the silhouette in the corner. Xiao Sha immediately went on guard, forgetting about whatever ex-girlfriend or ex-brother he had had. As expected of a professional. At that moment, the silhouette stepped forward and we instead rxed immediately. I patted my chest in relief. Dg, whatre you doing simply standing there? Do you want to scare your younger brother to death? Xiao Sha grabbed me, hissing, Somethings wrong with Boss! Like I needed you to point that out. I could see it myself toothose eyes of Dgs were so red, it looked like blood could drip out from them at any moment. And that terrifying aura of his was like a demon kings! That mighty aura was materializing almost to the point where you could see it with the naked eye! I couldnt help but take a step backwards. ncing sideways at Xiao Sha, I saw that he looked frightened as well. When he noticed that I had stepped back, he even immediately retreated two steps. Obviously, my dgs state had also freaked him out. With Dgs every step forward, we retreated one step backwards. Forget that sixth person or whatever; Dg was the number one person we had to worry about! Whats with Boss? Xiao Sha asked in horror. He should be trapped in an illusion. Maybe p him twice like you did just now? Xiao Sha proposed tentatively. Fuck, why dont you go do it yourself? Boss would never kill you, Xiao Sha hastily added. I red savagely at Xiao Sha. Hes trapped in an illusion, so the me he sees might not be me. He might even be seeing the face of his most hated enemy who stole away his woman! Such a person doesnt exist. No one can take anything from Boss. Trueno, wait! The point is, I wouldnt dare to approach Dg the way he is now! By now, Dg had already closed the distance between us to just a few steps. Xiao Sha and I had nowhere to retreat anymore. If we went any further back, we could only open the door and run away. But as it was, with the mercenaries lying around everywhere on the floor, a Dg in an unknown condition, as well as a mysterious sixth person who was hiding somewhere, there was no way we were leaving like this. Give Dgs eyes werepletely red, almost as if blood would starting out of them at any mo no, he really was crying tears of blood. Even though he was so furious that his rage could scorch the very heavens, two streams of red tears were drawn down that Asura-like face, his pain and agony so intense that they even overpowered his burning wrath. It was almost like he had turned into a living reincarnation of pain and agony. We were both shocked by the sight. Give me back my family! Family? I started, instantly realizing what kind of illusion Dg was seeing. To him, his family is probably the most important thing in his life, isnt it? Of course, thats not to say the merc troop isnt important, but its obviously on a different level from family. Family is something to be protected, an irreceable existence. If he let them slip through his hands Mom, just what was it that you wanted to say to me in your veryst moments? Ive kept reying that scene over and over again in my head for ten years, but I still cante to a conclusion. Xiao Sha suddenly yanked me to the side. Bang! I looked up to see Dg aiming a gun right at the two of us, and he had even fired a shot! A wave of anger surged up within me. Dg, youre the leader of the most powerful mercenary troop. Youre Jiang Shutian! Are you telling me that a little thing like an illusion is enough to make you shoot at your own little brother? And you dare call yourself my mighty dg?! Terrible things happen when you shatter a dds image of his gge! I resolutely decided to beat sense into this Dg who had strayed from his path and make him return to the straight and narrow as soon as possible. So I immediatelyshed out with my ice staff. If I dont leave a few penitent marks on his face, Im not Jiang Shuyu! Unexpectedly, Dg grabbed at my ice staff, his strength so great that I couldnt pull it back. A strange, slick feeling came from my hand. Strange, Jiang Shuyu isnt Guan Weijun. This body shouldnt have sweaty hands? I looked down to see a puddle of water on the ground, all of which had trickled down from the ice staff. The ice staff had somehow melted. I almost spat blood when I saw that I was holding onto the shaft of a broomstick. What happened to his healing power? How the hell did he melt away the ice staff that I had gone through sweat, blood, and tears to make, while enduring days of splitting headaches?! Watch out! Xiao Sha rushed forward. I froze and watched helplessly as he was sent flying by a kick that Dg had intended for me. He crashed hard into the wall, dropped to the floor, and even coughed up a mouthful of blood. But he just quickly wiped his mouth and yelled, Jiang Shuyu, run! Run? This woman has sworn to never run away in this lifetime, even if facing off against Dg! I flung the useless broom handle to the ground and crafted ice des under my feet, once again gliding to close in on him. This time, Dg actually dared to fire two more shots at meeven as an unfilial daughter, I never dared to point a gun at my own mother. So you sure have guts to brandish your weapon at your younger brother! I crafted countless ice knives and fired them at Dg, but I wasnt a bastard like him as to raise a hand against my own family. I just targeted the weapons he was carrying, aiming to freeze all those dangerous things he had on him. But as expected of Dg, he still managed to dodge the majority of ice knives despite not having his full wits. Though it was such a pity that the weapons he was holding were knocked away by the continuous stream of ice knives. He made a motion to draw the gun at his waist, but the gun had long been frozen to its holster, so even if he were able to yank the gun out, he wouldnt be able to pull the trigger. By now, I had already charged right in front of Dg. I gave him a ck eye with one furious punch. Then, spinning around, I dodged his kick andshed out with another punch, to finish off the set of ck eyes! Xiao Yu? Dg stared at me in astonishment, seeming to have snapped out of itas if I cared! Using the ice des under my feet, I whirled around to pick up speed and leapt up at him with a flying kick, sending Dg stumbling back a good number of steps. The moment Inded, I dashed forward and used the forward momentum to send him flying in the air. He even crashed against Cain, who was lying on the ground, the two of them skidding on the floor until they crashed to a stop against the wall. Yes, I was taking revenge under the pretext of doing something proper, and I had intentionally picked the direction I had kicked him in. So what, Cain? Bite me. The raging fury and explosivebat made me a little short on breath, and I panted as my eyes swept around the room. Everyone had woken up and was looking at me like I was a ghost. Good, no one is still stuck in an illusion. I looked at the shadows in the corridor, narrowed my eyes threateningly, and glided over. In the blink of an eye, I was already at one of the doors, and I crashed directly into it without stopping. If I were to give my opponent any time to react, then it might be possible I wouldnt be able to open the door again. There, inside, was a person who looked like a person, but wasnt a person. Scenes kept shing before my eyes, but I already knew those were all fake. They were illusions created based on my memories. If my opponent wanted to entrance me, he would have to be of a much higher tier than me in order to seed. I was already tier one. I didnt believe he could be tier two! No matter how unlucky the Jiang family was, there was just no way theyd encounter a tier two aberrant within three months of being thrown into the apocalypse! Then again, this thing in front of me was a rare specimen. Id originally thought it was a psychic-type aberrant, which was already rare enough in itselfmost aberrants had evolved to strengthen their bodies, and it was very unusual for them to develop other types of abilities. No, he was a brainwight, an extremely unique creature. Although they were few in number, every time they made an appearance marked the start of a reign of terror because their illusions were simply too tricky to deal with. He was mostly human-shaped, except his head was exceptionallyrge, with his brain exposed and visible through a thinyer of transparent membrane. His only remaining facial features started below the nose. In my previous life, I luckily never had to encounter something like this. Id only heard rumors. It was said that brainwights were able to talk from the very beginning. There were also some who said that they were actually humans, but their abilities transformed their appearance in such a bizarre way that they were treated as aberrants. But there were also the dissenters who felt that if brainwights were human, then where should the line be drawn between aberrants and humans? The line became even blurrier once aberrants started talking, and some even began developing the ability to morph into a humanoid shape. Even more confusingly, brainwights ate both humans and evolution crystals. At the beginning, they mostly ate humans, probably because it was easier to handle humans than aberrants at that point in time, but this also made them fall definitively into the aberrant category. However, in theter stages of the apocalypse, they actually started to prefer eating evolution crystals. If you let me go, Ill tell you everything you want to know. The brainwight actually started speaking to me. His voice actually sounded quite young, not much different from the voices of the university freshmen outside. So perhaps that story about the meet up and traffic ident was true, except that the sixth person had never gone to the hospital. I gave a snort of contempt and responded, You can only read my memories. You have no way of knowing things that I dont know about! But did this brainwight really manage to sift through so many memories in the short time I was under the spell of the illusion? Isnt he a little too strong? This is just the third month into the apocalypse dont tell me hes tier one as well? A tier one brainwight? The Jiang family really does have bad luck! Memories reside in the brain. Even with your very strange condition, you will still have memories. The brainwight tilted his head to one side, causing the huge brain sac to wobbleit looked like it was going to drop to the ground any second and turn into mashed tofu. No wonder there were so few brainwights. That exposed brain was a super big weakness right there, making it nearly impossible to survive the early stages of the apocalypse. Not to mention their illusion abilities werent very strong in the beginning. It was actually quite difficult to mesmerize people. It was probably because we had walked into the rooms he had prepared in advance that he was able to sessfully enthrall so many people with his illusions. If mesmerizing people was hard enough, then mesmerizing aberrants was simply impossible. Aberrants in these early days were just focused on eating, eating, and eating. Their instincts were simply too strong, not to mention they didnt have many memories to speak of as newborns, so it was very difficult to conjure any kind of illusion to mesmerize them. Jiang Shuyus already dead. Dont you want to know more about this? My entire body stiffened. After that ident, his heart stopped for a while. It only restarted after you came. This memory is far too vivid, so I didnt need to search too deeply to see this memory. If youre willing to let me dive in deeper, I can tell you even more things. I can even search other peoples memories. I dont have to eat humans. Just give me some of the evolution crystals youve talked about and I can help you with things. The brainwight kept talking and talking, with only one purpose in mindto trick me into letting him go or even raising him as a pet, much like that Lu Renjie outside. But the difference was that, while it was hard to say who was the master in the master-pet rtionship he and Lu Renjie had, itd be even trickier to determine the master between him and me after the brainwight really matured. Behind me came the soft crunching of footsteps and Dgs voice, which carried hints of embarrassment and guilt. It was amazing how expressive even Dgs voice was. Xiao Yu I suddenly leapt forward, crafting an ice staff out of thin air and swinging it at that huge brain sac. Even if this ice staff wasnt very sturdy, it was enough for dealing with soft brain tissue. I kept hitting it over and over in a frenzy. Even if that brain did explode after one blow, I couldnt let him go so easily. Even when I beat it to bits, to a pulp, to a puddle of goo, it wasnt enough to make that sentence go away. Jiang Shuyu is dead. Xiao Yu, Xiao Yu, stop. I panted, my heart a frozen lump in my throat, and I almost didnt have the guts to turn around to face Jiang Shutian. But I didnt have any choice in the matter. I looked at himhe had a slight frown creasing his forehead and a hint of worry on his face. It didnt seem like he had heard what the brainwight had just said. Thank god Dg asked with concern, Xiao Yu, are you okay? This thing made me fall into an illusion again. I lied, pretending like I was desperately trying to hide my pain, I saw things that I didnt want to see. Dg fell silent for a moment before asking, Was it about Guan Weijun? I nodded carelessly and snuck him a look. I never imagined that Dg would remember my name. Dont think too much. Dg reached out a hand, as though he were going to ruffle my hair, but reconsidered and pulled back his hand at the veryst moment. I frowned a little and remarked, Everything should be fine now that weve dealt with this. We dont have to bother with digging up the evolution crystal for this aberrant because he doesnt have any. Dg, go look for your ammo. We should head back soon; otherwise Junjun will get worried. Dg nodded and seemed almost eager to turn away and order the troop to split up for their tasks. For some reason, Xiao Sha was still in charge of following me. Dont tell me I still havent proven myself enough with my fighting ability so far, so they still think I need a bodyguard? With nothing to do, I just left the room and regretted it the moment I stepped out through the door. Lu Renjie had grabbed onto Chen Qianru, two hands tightly gripping her head, and he snarled, If you take one step closer, Im gonna snap her neck Bang! I had no expression whatsoever as I held out the gun, then tossed it back to Xiao Sha. This was a gun I had snatched from his waist holster just now. Striding forward, I kicked aside Lu Renjies corpse. Chen Qianru, the idiotic girl that she was, couldnt even break free of a corpse. Dying because you were crushed by a corpse rather than being bitten to death in the apocalypse was just about the most ridiculous andughable death possible. Are you an idiot? The most worthless thing in the apocalypse is human life. So what do you think youre doing, threatening me with a random person? As Guan Weijun, I was a woman who had survived ten years in the apocalypse. In order to survive, just how many lives do you think I had abandoned or taken? Do you think Im Mother Teresa, wanting to rescue every single person Ie across? I looked at the others, and they were just Su Ying, Ding Jun, and Chen Qianru. For some reason, Li Yarong had already turned into a corpse in one corner, and judging from how her brains had turned into mashed tofu, it was likely that she had been killed by Lu Renjie when she tried to escape. What are your special abilities? Dont talk, just show me. With that, I took out Xiao Shas gun and pointed it at them three. To people in these early days, a gun was still much more threatening than special abilities. Ding Jun remained as a grave as usual, though his color was a bit off. He probably wasnt a heartless person, but he was just naturally unable to show much emotion. If he really has no heart to speak of, then I have to take him out as soon as possible! There was a saying that went: if they can live keeping their silence, then their silence damns them to abnormality. These days, such abnormalities were too dangerous, so it might be best to just kill him instead. He grabbed at the remains of a metal shelf nearby, and then opened his palm, revealing a single screw that was flipping and turning in mid-air, floating a few centimeters away from his palm. Can you change its shape? I asked coldly. Ding Jun stared nkly, then shook his head. No. In theory, he should be able to, but it was likely that he was still too weak. I looked at the two girls never mind, I only had to look at Su Ying. Chen Qianru had already fainted, and I couldnt be bothered to wake her up. Su Ying was sitting on the ground, so scared that her face was sheet-white, and she was covered from head to toe in blood. She could be featured in a horror movie looking like this. Terrified, she stammered, I-I cant show you. M-my power isnt t-that kind. I, I can just hear peoples thoughts s-sometimes. Really, only once in a while! I nodded. I had guessed it earlier. With psychic powers, she wasnt mesmerized by the brainwight, and she was even able to give me a warning, unlike Chen Qianru, the walking bait and rations who was so entranced that she couldnt make heads or tails of the time and how the events had yed out. What about Chen Qianru? Su Ying shook her head. I dont know. I nodded, then crouched down and leaned in close to her ear. This move attracted Xiao Shas attention and he looked over. So what? I want to talk to her in secret, so bite me. No matter what thoughts you hear from me, if you ever dare to tell them to anyone, including my Dg, youll end up with the same fate as Lu Renjie. Understood? Her eyes brimming with tears, Su Ying trembled non-stop as she nodded, then joined Chen Qianru in the passed-out party. In the end, we scavenged twelve boxes of all kinds of ammunition at the police station, along with twenty useless bullet-proof vests and all kinds of miscenea that we werent sure we needed, but which we took with us anyway. There were also the three deadweight university students. The secret behind how these people had been able to survive three months in the basement of a police station turned out to be not much of secret after allthere was another exit from the basement that was close to a supermarket. So these brainwights rations had been living pretty well. Only when Lu Renjie had not been able to lure in passersby for some period of time did they need to consider which of them was going to be the next dish for the brainwight to enjoy. The meet up that Chen Qianru had spoken about had actually happened, with its participants being the brainwight, Lu Renjie, Chen Qianru, Li Yarong, and a few others who had turned into aberrants and had gone god knows where. Su Ying and Ding Jun joined in afterwards and werent part of the meet up. This expedition could hardly be said to be fruitful, and if we factored in the loss of my ice staff as well, it was a tragic loss. The moment I remembered my ice staff, I scowled deeply. Just when I was thinking of adding a spearheadwell, great, now even the spear shaft had disappeared. My head hurt just from the idea of having to start from scratch. Back home, Shujun had said that she wanted to make sure her rg who had gone out on his first mission was being fed properly, so she cooked up enough medicinal dishes to cover the table. Of course, she didnt forget to include chicken soup and Chinese medicinal soup, so even my stomach hurt too. During everyones first experience with the brainwight today, they had all recalled painful things from their past, and so were incredibly spiritless. If not for the fact that we had to deal with the three university students, everyone would have probably gone back to their own rooms after the meal. Actually, there were too few of us, so it was better to have some fresh blood to help out as well. But out of these three, Chen Qianru was spaced out, Ding Jun was dead silent, and Su Ying was extremely high-strung Fine, Ill admit thest one is my fault. I went a little overboard when scaring her just now. No matter how you looked at it, the three of them werent fresh blood but deadweight. No one looked particrly pleased with them, but none of the mercenaries were so cruel as to throw them out to fend for themselves, given that we had adequate supplies at the moment. Dg spoke, Shuyu, you will go to sleep with Shujun. Theyll stay in your room. I blinked, agreed with an okay, and wanted to immediately head back to my room to pack my stuff. Besides, I had no lingering attachment to a room that was riddled with bullet holes, not to mention that it was where a bunch of people had died too. To my surprise, Dg added, It wont be for long. Well clean up the house next door and knock down the fence, so that it will be connected to this side. Then everyone will be able to have a room to themselves. Okay. I nced at him. Dg sure was talkative today. Dg seemed to still have more to say so I stood there quietly, waiting for him to speak his mind. But in the end, he just waved a hand dismissively. Youre tired too. Go get some rest soon. I nodded and returned to my room to sort out my stuff. Most importantly, I had to dig up all the weapons I had hidden around the room and hide them all again in Shujuns room. Soon, I was sitting on my hospital bed, figuring out how the heck I was supposed to create a new weapon. Because it was hard to move the bed that was originally in my room, I just moved the hospital bed to Shujuns room instead. Anyhow, I had slept for a fair amount of time on this bed, so I was pretty used to it. Shujun was patting dry her glistening hair as she exited the bathroom. Instead of drying it off with a hair dryer, she came directly to my bed and asked with puzzlement, rg, what happened today? Seems like everyones pretty out of it. Even Dgs strange. He frowns whenever he looks at you. I was silent for a while. Dont tell me he heard those words anyway? My ice staff is gone. Dg broke it, so I beat him up for that. Unexpectedly, Shujun just blinked thoserge eyes of hers without the slightest bit of surprise. Moreover, she even nodded understandingly as she said, No wonder Dgs so strange. He must feel super guilty. Had he broken anything else, he would have found you a recement no matter what, but theres no way he can make an ice staff. Breaking something so valuable and not being able to rece it, well, sigh, I dont know how you will torment Dg this time. She looked at me with her bright eyes and begged, rg, dont bully Dg too much. Its dangerous outside right now, so if you punish him too much, it might affect Dgs actual work when searching for supplies. Did I punish Dg a lot in the past? Thats absolutely ridiculous no matter how I think about it! How can a Jiang Shuyu with no special abilities punish Dg? Tell me, I want to learn! Shujun pondered for a moment and then gave an example. Back then, Dg was always very busy. Hed rarelye home because he was always on business trips. Once, he promised to join my graduation ceremony, but he didnt turn up. I was still very young back then, and I couldnt help but cry during the ceremony. You were so angry that you changed all the locks in the house so Dg couldnt get in. That time, Dg had to stay at a hotel for a whole month. He couldnt enter the house nor could he just leave, because you told him, Dg, if you dare to leave the country, Ill immediately transfer away all your savings, and move with Junjun to a ce where you wont ever be able to find us. The run away with the savings n? Jiang Shuyu, how old were you back then? You really were something, knowing not only to make a clean escape, but to take all the money as well! rg, youre normally very gentle, but youre very vicious when angered. Even Dg gets scared of you! She giggled. Actually, even Uncle and Auntie were punished by you before. They love going around to archaeological digs, and theyll go to the most dangerous of ces, no matter how many times you tell them not to. Once, when they were dragged into a local conflict, Uncle got shot and Auntie fractured her leg. You would go hit Uncle and Aunties wounds every night while they recovered at home, and you even said, Its best if these wounds never healed. Better to stay at home recovering from them than to die out there. And so, I ended up listening to Shujun describe all kinds of things about Jiang Shuyu. It was entirely possible that the actual master of this household was Jiang Shuyu, not Jiang Shutian as I had originally thought. Though that wasnt strictly true either. Jiang Shutian was the oldest brother who took over the fathers role as the breadwinner of the family. Jiang Shuyu was the second brother who took over the mothers role as caretaker of the siblings and his uncle and auntie. What hardworking kids. Can I evenpare in terms of hard work? rg, Shujun pressed her forehead against mine, dont worry, youll definitely remember. I stroked the back of her head, feeling the silky smoothness of the raven ck hair, and instructed her, Go dry your hair. Dont sleep with wet hair, or youll get a headache. Okay. She slipped off the hospital bed and skipped over agilely to pick up the hair dryer. Then, she started drying her hair after holding onto the sockether control over her lightning ability truly a marvel to behold. But Shujun, I cant remember. Ill never remember anything. I repeatedlypressed ice crystals, but after a whole day of work, there still was only a thinyer of ice coating the staff. I really wasnt doing much than just polishing the broom handle. There was at least a whole month of work ahead of me before I could even get anything approaching an ice staff again. But whatever, this time, I would work on it together with the spear head, so the connecting point between the spear shaft and head wouldnt be too fragile. rg, time for dinner! Okay, I replied, then headed over to the dining room. There were only Uncle, Auntie, Junjun, and the three university students sitting at the table. To keep an eye on the three new faces in the house and because my ice staff had been melted, I just conveniently stayed home to work on my weapon, opting not to join the others in their resupply mission. The target this time was the supermarket next to the police station. Although Shujun could zap all three of them dead with a bolt of lightning, there was no way I was letting Shujun get her hands dirty. Frying someone with lightning would make them crispy on the outside but leave tender, sulent meat on the insidebut whatever reason you coulde up with, it was still a no go. Or at least, there wasnt any need for Junjun to take the stage right now. The three university students were originally eyeing the food on the table hungrily, but the moment they saw me, theirplexions changed. This was especially true for the two girls, who looked at me like I was a demon. As if there were any demons as handsome as me. Hmph, my good looks are wasted on you. Shuyu,e eat. Auntie tugged at my hand. She seemed to be in a good mood, and even smiled at the three university students as she said, Eat up, everyone. You dont need to be shy. Youre all Xiao Yus ssmates. Dont hold back. Actually, only Chen Qianru was my ssmate, but I couldnt care less since I didnt know any of them anyway. The three university students immediately dove into the dishes, abandoning all pretenses of manners and going at the food like theyd been starving for three months. Technically, that was likely the caseeven though they had a supermarket nearby, they had no way of cooking up meals when they had no electricity or fire. And even if they did have electricity and fire, they probably could only cook instant noodles. I watched the three closely, Chen Qianru in particr. I still didnt know what her special ability was, so Id better ask her afterwards. Chen Qianru started feeling ufortable under my stare, and she had wanted to run away a few times. At the same time, she didnt dare to move from her seat under my gaze. As she grew more and more anxious, she suddenly threw out a question. Jiang Shuyu, do you still remember Miao Xiangling? I nced at her, suppressing the rumbling volcano inside of me, and decided that the next time she asked another question like do you still remember so-and-so? Id beat the wits out of her so she wouldnt remember anything. Nope. Chen Qianru went oh and still plowed on, She was always feeling very guilty, and she didnt even dare to go visit you at the hospital. Guilty about what? I was totally confused. Did the tile drop from the roof of her house? You were actually going to meet up with her that day. So my ex-girlfriend really has shown up? My expression darkened instantly. Seeing the two girls who were so frightened that they were about to bolt from the dining table, I barked, Sit down! Chen Qianru and Su Ying immediately sat down, backs straight and proper, like they were long-extinct nobledies from the past. Actually, I didnt want to learn about my ex-girlfriend, but seeing as Shujun, Uncle, and Aunties eyes were shining so brightly, it was best that I got it over with. Otherwise, Id end up being the only person in the family who didnt know who my ex-girlfriend was. Miao Xiangling was my girlfriend? Chen Qianru shook her head immediately, then hesitated, before saying, She was the schools Madonna, and she had already told everyone early on that she wanted to get together with you, the schools Prince Charming. This was very famous and the entire school knew about it. What a bold and passionate school Madonna. The schools Prince Charming concedes his defeat. Then did she get my rg in the end? Shujun pushed at me unhappily,ining, rg, you never told me that you had a girlfriend. Youre ming me? Even I didnt know Jiang Shuyu had a girlfriend. No, no! They hadnt started dating yet. Chen Qianru hastily corrected her, Jiang Shuyu said he needed to get into university, so he didnt have time to date a girlfriend. He said hed think about it once he finished his exams, so that was their first time going out. But in the end, Miao Xiangling kept waiting and waiting with no sign of Jiang Shuyu. She thought that he had stood her up and kept cursing him for days! Butter she found out that Jiang Shuyu had gotten into an ident precisely on the day that they had arranged to meet up. Hearing that, Shujun, Uncle, and Aunties expressions darkened. Although that ident had nothing to do with Miao Xiangling, it was difficult not to get upset when it involved your family members life. Chen Qianru realized that this wasnt a good topic to discuss, so she hastily tried to smooth over her mistake, Um, anyway, Jiang Shuyu is fine anyhow. You mean hes dead. What do you mean, fine?! Shujun pouted and grumbled, You only think that because you hadnt seen what rg looked like beforehe was as thin as a stick! He looked so pitiful and sorry, and we had to nurse him for a long time before he looked like this again. None of the three dared to say anything to that. Su Ying even stared daggers at Chen Qianru, her re clearly saying, whyd you have to tick them off? But Chen Qianru was clearly an idiot, and she still continued her line of questioning, Jiang Shuyu, you woke up before the apocalypse, right? But I dont remember hearing about it. I woke up three days before the apocalypse. You managed to survive that night? The normally taciturn Ding Jun opened his mouth and said with full respect, No wonder youre so strong. Shujun immediately puffed up and boasted, My rg didnt just survive the night, he even picked up a baseball bat to fight an aberrant. He saved the whole family! Aberrant? Ding Jun paused. You mean those zombies? Zombie, my ass. Theyre alive and they evolve much faster than humans. If you dont get serious now, youll be overtaken by the zombieswait, I mean the aberrants. Why did I start calling them zombies as well? Although at the beginning of the apocalypse, many people called them zombies or the living dead, they quickly discovered that neither were quite the right terms. Those zombies not only didnt rot, but also evolved to be stronger and stronger. If a corpse could evolve faster than a living person, then humanity might as well all hang themselves and get it done and over with. So then, they switched to the word monster. Later, once those monsters started talking, a new term surfaced C aberrant C and that was how the name stuck. I felt that, in this life, things should be pretty much the same. Or at least, up until now, this world was going down a fairly simr path as the original one. rg, dont worry. Shujun watched me with worry and said consolingly, Maybe your girlfriend is still alive! Im wishing she were dead! Dont be silly, we didnt even go out once, so shes not my girlfriend. Shujun stuck out her tongue, saying, Fine, shes not if rg says shes not. I originally wanted to say at least youve dated before. What do you mean, dated before? Dont make it sound like no one wants me, okay? Ive said it a million times before and Ill say it again, with Jiang Shuyus looks, theres not a single woman out there who wont fall for him. Hes unrivaled the moment he lifts his head! Chen Qianru and Su Ying screamed and fled the table like it was a sinking ship. Thats not the way it should have yed out. Shujun cracked up. Come back here! I growled. I still dont know what Chen Qianrus powers are! The two girls quivered as they returned and quivered as they sat, then quivered as they looked down, not daring to look me in the eye. I decided to give up on healing their mental trauma and got to the point. Chen Qianru, whats your special ability? Dont say it, show me. Chen Qianru said quietly, I dont have any. I remained silent, thinking hard as to whether or not she was lying. As it turned out, the silence seemed to freak her out again and she immediately lifted her head, eximing, Its true! I dont have anything. If you dont believe me, ask Ding Jun and Su Ying. I really dont have any abilities! This was actually consistent with what Su Ying had said before, and from when we had first met, I had never felt any trace of energy waves from her. Perhaps she was the same as Uncle and Auntie in that they all had very hard to detect powers, but if that were the case, it seemed like it wouldnt be a bad idea to keep her around for her potential. I nodded, pondering as to what to do with the three of them. Although they were deadweights, they should be able turn into fresh blood for us with a little training. Now, the question came down to the degree of their loyalty. If we trained them, then them running away was the least of our concerns. It would be a pain if they were nning to take over, but the worst case scenario would be if they stabbed us in the back. I could never let that happen! What about your families? Ding Jun shook his head. Im from an orphanage and became independent when I turned eighteen. Im now twenty and have to take care of myself. Thats why I went to work in the supermarket. I was trapped there for almost one month, then I got caught by Lu Renjie. No ties whatsoever. Good, well take this one! I looked at Su Ying. She was the psychic type, and although I didnt know much about the theory behind our special abilities, I knew that such people were extremely rare and, more often than not, useful. So if there werent any problems with her, lets keep her. Su Ying shivered, then said softly, Dead, one ate the other Her voice became so quiet when she mentioned which parent ate which that I couldnt make out a word she said, but I didnt mind at all. In the apocalyptic world, the biggest wound that people could never bear to talk about was the case where family ate family. Chen Qianrus eyes reddened, and she choked back tears as she said, I dont know. My familys in Zhongguan City and theres no way we can get back there. They all seemed fine. But actually, the reason everything was fine was thanks to Dgs mercenaries. In my previous life well, it didnt really count as a previous life anymore. Anyway, back when I was Guan Weijun, there wasnt much personal space within the group, so even though we spent all day running for our lives, there were always people who wanted to be the leader, people who coveted other peoples things, or even people who wanted to take advantage of womenin a word, it was chaos. Even when sleeping, I would fret about being stabbed by someone and having my strawberry bread taken away from me. But now, Dgs mercenary troop was too overpowered, so these three university students had no way of stirring up any trouble. Want to y leader? If theyre already shaking in their boots when they see me, do they even dare to face Dg? Want to stab us to death? Every person in the troop handles knives better than them, so they would be better off learning how to first chop cabbage with a vegetable knife! Want to steal my strawberry bread? The whole table is covered with tes of fish and meat, so they arent starved in the slightest. Why would they even need to steal bread? Want to take advantage of women? We have Lily, the ambidextrous shooter; Ceng Yunqian, our one-shot-one-kill sniper and Shujun, the expert at manipting lightning. If youre asking to be killed, Im telling you, youd absolutely get ughtered. Dont say I didnt warn you! And who really cared about second lives? The biggest cheat code is having Dg! rg, why dont you go daydream in our room? Shujun gave me a friendly suggestion, With you here, none of them dare to even lift a finger. I feel so sorry for them, sitting there so stiffly and all. I silently stood up, turned, and headed back to our room. From behind came Chen Qianrus terrified voice, saying, Jiang Shuyus became so scary! He used to be so kind in the past, and he had even taught everyone how to do problem sets before exams. Hed never refuse to help if you had questions either! This woman really is an idiot. Is it toote for me to throw her out of here? Shujun said excitedly, Oh, that was before you pissed off my rg. Im telling you, my rg is scarier than my dg! There was once a time when Shujun, youve not only given up on healing their mental trauma, youre sprinkling chili powder over their wounds. What kind of impression would they have of me from now on? Sigh, whatever, its rare that anyone thinks Im mightier than Dg. Since this is such a rare opportunity, Ill let them worship the cool, suave, and handsome me. I returned to my room to continue my handicraft. First, I split open a fissure at the head of the well-polished broomstick handle, then took apart a dagger, keeping only the de. Then, I wedged the de in the fissure and bound it tightly with metal wire, thuspleting the basic shape of a spear. Yup, to call this shape ugly would be quite an understatement. If Id woken up earlier, Id have spent a fortune trying to get hold of a real spear. Unfortunately, Id woken up toote, so I was left with just a broomstick and a worthless dagger. This would have to make do. I started the long, arduous process of repeatedlypressing the ice crystals. The next few days were a continuation of this dry, tedious work. Had I known that going to the police station would turn out like this, I would have resolutely insisted on working solo from the very beginning. The only good thing that came out of this was that Shujun seemed very happy, and she would always be chit-chatting with Chen Qianru and Su Ying. Although these two were older than her by a few years, well, girls will be girls, and could always find shared interests. For example, between Dg and Cain, which of them had C-cup sized pecs; whether rg or Xiao Sha had a slimmer waist; which of them three Yunqian would like the mostno, none of these topics were at all like girl talk. I facepalmed, not knowing where I had gone wrong with her education. Although I wanted to yell at Chen Qianru and Su Ying for being a bad influence on my Junjun, the problem was that the person doing the corrupting was my Junjun. So after a dds image of his gge is destroyed, will a dds image of his mimei meet its apocalyptic end as well? Whatever, isnt it the end of the world already? Volume 2, 2: The Bitterness and Sweetness of Coffee and Chocolate

Volume 2, Chapter 2: The Bitterness and Sweetness of Coffee and Chocte

Trantor: Elkin (proofread by EvlNabiki; C/E edited by Amgine & lucathia) As my hands worked topress the ice crystals, my ears picked up gossip like, rg is so handsome, both men and women fall for him. Dg even said that he isnt sure about his preferences! On the fifth day of my despair over her upbringing, there was finally a little change. After dinner, Dg grimly called me to his room for a chat. Everyone in the mercenary troop looked at Dg, and then at me. Going by the looks of worry on their faces, it was as if the two of us werent going to have a chat, but a death match instead. I nodded and followed after Dg as the sounds of gossip came from behind again, though this time it wasnt the voices of the girls, but of the mercenaries. Do you think the gge or the ddi will win? Before, Id definitely dere that Boss would be the victor, but Shuyu was pretty strongst time! I mean, he sent Boss crashing into the wall with a kick! Dont tell me the person whos boss is gonna change? Fuck! Then gge, do your best! I dont want an eighteen year-old boss. It wasnt just my mimei. Even the mercenaries upbringings were failures. I angrily stormed after Dg to his room. Once in the room, Dg was momentarily stunned when he turned to look at me, then he said helplessly, Shuyu, dont be so angry. Youve been scowling at me for the past few days. I growled, Im very angry! You actually told Junjun that Im not sure about my sexual orientation! Even though thats true, you dont have to tell this kind of stuff to a fifteen year-old girl, okay? Junjuns upbringing is ruined, thanks to you! Dg said awkwardly, Ill pay you back. Theres no point! Junjuns upbringing was already ruined, so what can you pay me back with? You think you can repay me a pure Junjun? Dg frowned, seemingly to have realized something, and then said simply, Then tell me, what can I do? I cant make you an ice staff, so Ill do my best to get you anything else you want. Ice staff? Right, so were onpletely different wavelengths. Im talking about Junjun, and youre talking about the ice staff. Our thought processes arent even operating in the same realm, so no wonder we cant get through to each other! Although the ice staff had melted, forcing me to start anew, honestly speaking, that ice staff had been my first attempt. It looked like a test product, and its quality was mediocre. Although I felt that it could still be used for the next year or so, seeing as it was already destroyed, I might as well create a new one. I could use the opportunity to add on a spearhead, so I actually didnt mind it too much. I never imagined that Dg would be more worked up about it than I was. I shook my head, saying, Forget about the staff. Dg started, then asked in bewilderment, Forget about it? Then what on earth have you been angry about the past few days? Angry about what? I immediately roared, Never talk to Junjun about my sexual orientation ever again! Oh. Dgs eyes drifted evasively off into the distance. What else did you tell Junjun? What. Did. You. Say? I just mentioned that Xiao Sha might be a good partner for you. JIANG SHUTIAN! Youre an absolute criminal to peoples upbringings! No wonder I keep hearing about waist lines and whos topping who. I thought Junjun was talking about naughty stuff, so Ive spent the past few days fretting about whether I should correct her. But being a total mess myself, theres no way Im in any position to tell anyone off. Ive been so stressed about this whole thing the past few days, Ive lost a lot of hair, you know! My anger having settled into a pool of icy calmness, I said coldly, Dg, Ive thought of a way you can repay me. Um, itste now. Lets discuss tomorrow. Stand right here and dont move for the next half an hour. Thats a simple enough punishment for you, right? Ipletely ignored him, flexing my wrists and moving my ankles in circles, as I started doing warm-up exercises earnestly. Dg watched me and said with absolute seriousness, Theres still a scavenging mission tomorrow. Youre a healing type. Youll be fine. I threw a punch. Whew~ I strolled out of the room, and the first thing I saw was the group of mercenaries crouching in the corner, clearly eavesdropping. Whatre you crouching there for? Dont you have actual things to do? The mercenaries responded in unison, No, Boss. My voice cooled and I said in frosty tones, Your boss is in there, healing up. You want to join him? No, Boss. I thought it over. Yup, maybe I should train up this lot a little. I cant just neglect the mercenaries upbringing. So I headed back to my room immediately to pick up my ice staff. Although Id only been working on it for five days, it would be enough to beat up some people. We assembled in the garden at the back of the house. The mercenaries were standing in orderly rows, and even the three deadweights werent forgottenevery one of them stood ramrod straight, fairly deliberately. Every so often, they would let slip the odd guffaw when they couldnt hold back theirughter anymore. I spoke. It has only been a little over three months into the apocalypse. I had originally felt that youd be fine even without knowing how to use your powersafter all, these are still times when machine guns are much more practical than special abilities. But we encountered a brainwight a few days ago, and even that Lu Renjie was better than you lot are at using his own powers. You do realize that theres no way he has eaten more evolution crystals than you have, right? So I feel like things are looking pretty bad. Everyone started to sober up and no longer stood so stiffly. Finally, they were taking things more seriously. Shujuns way better than you at controlling her powers. I watched themthey didnt seem to have much reaction to this news. Seems like I need to make more of an impact. Or perhaps you think Shujuns powers are only good for charging electronics. I turned to look at Shujun, then pointed at a tree in the garden and said, Cut down a branch. Shujun blinked and lifted a hand, looking like nothing more than a gentle girl reaching out for help. But suddenly, a bolt of bright light shot from her forefinger, and there was a loud crack of snapping wood. Everyones eyes widened, and they quickly spun around to look at the tree. A chunk of the trees dense foliage was missing, and there was even white smoke rising from it. Lying on the ground were the charred remains of a single branch. She was able to take down precisely one branchno more and no less. This was why I always said that Shujuns skill with lightning was godlike, and this was by no means an exaggeration. Both Dg and I didnt want Shujun to have to fight, but this didnt mean that Id let her bepletely helpless either. If anyone dared to bully my xiomi, they would definitely end up crispy on the outside, tender on the inside, and smelling of roast. Everyone tore their eyes away from the ckened branch with great difficulty and all stared at me and Shujun, their eyes shining so brightly that you could use them as shlights. Wanna learn? I quirked my lips in a slight smile, intentionally tantalizing them with the question. I was seen as a joke before, but now? Heh, now its my turn to hear you scream! Yes, Boss! Shut up, I dont want to be Boss. Yes, Boss Jr.! I really have to do something about these mercenaries upbringing. I hefted the ice staff. When I was teaching Shujun, I had to be gentle, so there was no way I could do something as brutal as freezing her using ice energy. I had to spend a lot of time and effort in order to make Shujun this amazing at using her abilities. But this lot standing in front of me wasnt my own mimei. Not only were they thick-skinned, burly mercenaries, they were ones with terrible upbringings! Split up into groups of two and try to block my ice staff with your powers; otherwise, youll be frozen into a popsicle! If you cant take the cold and want to hit me, bring it on. For every punch you throw, Ill return the favor ten times over. For every kick you make, Ill break a bone. Besides, weve got Dg here anyway, so I dont have to worry about crippling any of you. Crippling? Everyone turned to look at the person standing behind me, their puzzled expressions asking the unsaid question, Why does Boss still have ck eyes then? Yes, so I specifically aim for the face when I hit people. Bite me. After thinking for a moment, I said, Cain,e over for a demonstration. He grumbled as he walked up to the front, I knew you hated me. Your ability is fire, so in theory, you should be resistant to my ice powers. Seriously, Im not taking revenge in the name of conducting business this time. Even if thats true, the jackass still continued his line ofints, you still hate me. After a moment of silence, I stopped caring anymore and yelled, Yeah, I hate you! You were the one who just watched me leave the house without stopping me previously. You didnt even care if I lived or died! Huh? Why would I stop you from leaving the house? he shot back with a question of his own, confused. Still pretending to be innocent? I raged, Dont you think itd be dangerous if I went out by myself? Im just an eighteen year-old kid! I ignored all the gazes around me that were saying, Yeah, its really dangerous. For the aberrants, that is. We made all the aberrants nearby thest in their family line. You dont use st in the family line that way! Cain continued, saying, And youre eighteen already. Shouldnt you already know where you should and shouldnt go? like it was the most natural thing in the world. I felt like our thought processes were running in different directions again. Cain patted my shoulder, revealing brilliant white teeth as he grinned. Its okay, Yunqian hates me too. So, having one more person doesnt make much difference. Just dont hit my face, okay? Bosss ck eyes give him character, but I dont need it as well. Lets just let the Boss keep it, yeah? Why, how generous of you. I suddenly felt that my mind had narrowed even more in its petty-mindedness. Although Id been bearing a grudge for such a long time against a super soldier whose smile was worthy of toothpastemercials, he had never born any ill intentions toward me. The tips of my ears felt hot. I snapped back in pretend anger, Its the apocalypse now, so all this business of hating or not isnt important. Staying alive is the most important. So Ill make sure to train you well, trying to make up for my petty-mindedness. Then, I forcefully gripped Cains arm and channeled my ice power. A muscr, macho man screamed at the top of his voice, AHHhhhHHHHHhhhits cold, its super cold! Please dont hate me. Please let gooooo! What the hell are you screaming your head off for? Where are your balls? Look at that Yunqian, she didnt even make a sound! Now thats what I call a real man! Then again, she did have the water ability, which is fairly strong at adapting to ice powers. I made every one of the mercenaries scream, working my way from one end of the row to the other and back again. I didnt let the three deadweights off either, and even the normally dead silent Ding Jun yelled a lot in agony. Fortunately, Dg and the others had cleared out the aberrants in the vicinity a while ago, otherwise wed definitely be waist deep in aberrants from the way these guys were screaming bloody murder. It was only when Id wrung out every drop of my ice powers that I finally announced to everyone, Thats the end of todays training session. Everyone acted like I was pronouncing that they had been spared the death sentence. They were so happy that they started crying andughing at the same time, and there wasnt a single shred of a professional mercenary anywhere to be seen. I headed back, picking up the ice staff that I had left to one side on the way, and only then did I remember that I had used up all my powers. This meant I would make zero progress on my ice staff today. If I kept training these mercenaries like this, then I might as well forget about crafting my ice spear. Thinking back, everyone had participated in the training today, even Uncle and Auntie. If I had made Uncle and Auntie scream in such agony before the apocalypse, Id have taken the crown for being the most unfilial, abusive child and reigned supreme for a lifetime. But now, well, hah, Id even get thanked for teaching them. Out of everyone, only Shujun didnt participate. She no longer needed this kind of basic training. Perhaps I could get Shujun to take over half the training and specialize in teaching those who fall behind in progress. In the future, Shujun and I will be your trainers. So split yourselves into two groups The space around me cleared instantly, and everyone clustered over on Shujuns side. I gave a coldugh. Shujun, why dont you give it a try first? I pointed at Yunqian. Just now, she was the one who had had it the easiest, and she hadnt even made a sound, making her the real man of the day. Shujun nodded, gently held Yunqians hand, and even revealed a cute smile. Yunqian-ji, Im starting now! In the end, even thest real man in the mercenary troop disappeared. Very good! Now time to wash up and go to bed. I walked out of the bathroom, and just as I was about to ask Shujun to help me blow dry my hair, I saw Dg. The mighty god of men was sitting on a pink floral bed with a backdrop ofvender colored wallpaper, his eyes still ck with bruises. Dg, do you realize that youvepletely destroyed your own image? Wait, why does the thing Dg is fiddling with look so familiar? Let go of that spear! I yelled quickly. Although this babys only five-days old, five days are still five days! I had even nned on working on it for two more days before using it for a hunt. If it gets melted into a puddle of water again, Ill, Ill I really dont know what to do against a Dg whospletely fine with meeting people with two ck eyes. Dg lifted his head and asked, So, Xiao Yu, you like using long spears? What about swords or knives? It shouldnt be hard to find a decent de. All right, I know that spear is fugly, but please let go of it first? I beg you, spare its life! Dg finally set the long spear on the bed, prompting a sigh of relief from me. Only then did I respond, Back then, the only weapon I had that could be used in the beginning was a vegetable knife tied to a long stick. After using it for a while, I kind of got used to it. I mean, I also know how to use des, but Im better at wielding staves. Everyone wanted to put as much distance as possible between themselves and the aberrants. If not for the fact that bullets were in short supply, no one would duke it out with the aberrants mano a aberranto. So naturally, the longer the weapon, the better. The best weapon was one which lets you stab to death an aberrant from far, far away, so a long stick was the best makeshift weapon out there. Later on, I became very proficient at using long staves, and that had carried over to here. Dg nodded. Then, Ill try to find you a long spear. Its okay, long spears are hard to find. This weapon is temporary anyway. Temporary? Then whats the actual one? A long spear and dagger made from onlypressed ice crystals. I drew out a piece of ice from my breast pocket. It was only half the size of my palm and extremely thin, no more than the thickness of three to four sheets of paper. But this thin piece of ice was strong enough to block a blow from the five day-old long spear, or even the one month-old ice staff from before. However, I was only able to create such a small piece so far, so I always kept it over my heart for protection. In the future, it would be my secondary weapon, the dagger. And once I be more proficient with the technique of creating andpressing ice crystals, I would make my main weapon, the long spear. This process would probably take over five years. It couldnt be rushed. Dg took that shard of ice and flipped it over and over, knocking it every so often. He too realized the exceptional hardness of the ice shard, and he gave a sigh of admiration, Xiao Yu, you really are something. I didnt think I deserved the praise. Had it been Dg who had been reborn, hed probably have conquered half the continent by now. As for me? Im still creating a newbie weapon, so whats there to be proud of? But Dg, what do you want to talk about in the middle of the night? Hurry up, Junjun needs the room back for sleepingstaying upte is the bane of beauty! Dg looked over at me, and I couldnt help but blurt out, Dg, just make those ck eyes go away! What now? Youre the one who gave them to me, and now you cant even stand looking at me? Dg said wryly, but he vanished the ck eyes in a blink of the eye all the same. Dgs powers really were strange. They just didnt match up with the powers of healing. Back then, Xiao Qis healing abilities were nowhere as powerful, not to mention she could never melt my ice staff. But I couldnt figure out what kind of power could both heal wounds and melt an ice staff. Then again, Guan Weijun was a frog in the well. She had never encountered any of the higher-tiered powers. A lot of things she knew were all from rumors and hearsay, so there was no way of knowing how much of them were true. The advantages of being reincarnated would probablyst no more than one or two years. If the Jiang family continued this streak of super bad luck, then Im afraid even the cheat known as reincarnation wouldnt be enough! Tier one aberrants, Lu Renjie, the brainwight none of them were things we were supposed to encounter at this stage of the apocalypse. Cain was born in the slums, and children there grow up fast. To him, an eighteen year-old boy like you is already a full-fledged adult, and therefore should be responsible for your own safety. He didnt have any other intentions. I looked at Dg. So hes here to exin Cains actions back then. I was a little angry myself at him for thatst incident. But after discussing this with the others, we felt that all the aberrants nearby had been wiped out, and we didnt expect you to go too far, based on the duration of your trips and the amount of supplies you brought back. So we decided to let you head out for a breath of fresh air; otherwise, your temper tantrums would worsen the more bored you became. After some thought, I finally got it. Jiang Shuyu didnt know how to drive, so from their point of view, even if I had stolen a car, I had no way of starting the engine without the ignition key. So they used my walking speed to estimate the distance I could cover. But as it turned out, I had in fact driven instead of walked. So the incident mostly boiled down to misunderstandings. At first, I had pissed off the mercenaries when I had hidden the existence of evolution crystals from them, so everyone likewise treated me very antagonistically. Then everything that followed made me think of things in the worst light possible. Dg, am I really that petty-minded? I asked, a little dejected. Was Guan Weijun such a petty-minded and rotten woman that she couldnt forgive any trespasses against her, any more than she could tolerate a grain of sand in her eye? Dg ruffled my hair and said indulgently, Youve lived in the apocalypse for ten years, so dont ask too much of yourself. Just speak out if you have any questions or problems in the future. Keeping it all bottled up inside only makes matters worse. I was silent and continued to keep my silence, until I finally couldnt hold back and demanded usingly, Dg, why did you pour away my coffee back then? Did you really think I would poison you? A look of embarrassment crossed Dgs face, and he exined feebly, There was one time when I teased you a bit too much, so that night, you brought me a cup of coffee. The next day, I had such bad diarrhea that I couldnt make it onto my flight, and I was forced to dy a very important mission. Jiang Shuyu, you really are something! You actually dared to givexatives to Dg. I feel like even my triumph of giving Dg two ck eyes when he was feeling too guilty to fight back pales inparison! You were only twelve that year, Dg admitted with a look like he was suffering from a massive headache, and your expression as you brought in the coffee was exactly the same as back then, so I didnt dare to drink it. As it turns out, I was sold out by the Shuyu of the past. How is it possible to get tripped up this badly by yourself? But I wont say that the thought that you would poison me had never crossed my mind. Dg stopped abruptly, then rified, And Im not talking about the harmless kinds of poison likexatives. I started. Actually, if you hadnt told me about Guan Weijun, Shujun and I would probably have never noticed anything wrong with you. We would have thought that you had just lost your memories. Dg said wryly, So your confession actually nted a seed of suspicion in me that would sprout up from time to time. So back then, when you were kicking up a fuss, I couldnt help but over think the matter. And it was only a cup of coffee, so I didnt think it would be a big deal and poured it away. That was certainly true. If it was just a cup of coffee, tipping it away wasnt much of an issue. But it meant that he had suspicions about me, and now that the seed of suspicion had been nted, would it grow to blossom and bear fruit? Back then, I still had hope, hope that Guan Weijun was Jiang Shuyus previous incarnation, hope that I had just forgotten about Jiang Shuyu, hope that I really was Jiang Shuyu! But Jiang Shuyu was dead, and now my heart was colder and more frigid than my ice powers. Shuyu. Dg looked at me very seriously. Many people were resuscitated after their hearts stopped. Are you saying that they arent who they used to be? I knew it. He heard it. I clenched my fists. You dont have to force yourself to be Jiang Shuyu. So he found that out too. Jiang Shuyu was very easy-going, and you could even say that he was sometimes a goodie-two-shoes. But actually, he wasnt afraid of Dg in the slightest, and once angered, he would even dare to hit his Uncles and Aunties wounds. This was the Jiang Shuyu that Shujun had described. Am I like him? Jiang Shuyu isnt afraid of Dg, but I Dg, Ive always been scared of you. Dg stiffened and his expression sank, but at the same time, he didnt look too surprised. I guessed he had been able to tell, even though my recent beating up of him was pretty much like I was ying around, in order to be the Jiang Shuyu who wasnt afraid of his dg. Why are you scared of me? Ive never hurt you. I remained silent for a long while, but in the end, I still steeled myself to confess, Ever since I woke up, I knew I was Guan Weijun. The nicer you guys were to me, the more scared I became of you guys discovering the truth. Then, I finally couldnt stand the pressure anymore and told you everything. But after confessing everything, I started to worry again. Maybe someday, youll throw aside the idea of past and current lives and no longer think of me as your ddi. And then youll strangle me to death! Never! Dg roared, Shuyu, just how much do you doubt me? Im your dg, and I would never hurt you! Looking at Dgs expression of fury, I really wanted to say, Dg, why dont you just throttle the life out of me right now? Otherwise, when the whole world is telling you that Im not Jiang Shuyu, you will still have to treat me as your ddi, your real ddi! But I couldnt bring myself to say it. It was asking for the impossiblethe current Jiang Shutian would never be able to strangle me to death, right? Right now, I had Jiang Shuyus appearance, and there was no way he could kill his own ddi when he had no way of being sure of just who was inside this body. I gazed at him for several moments, then dered decisively, Dg, you only need to suspect me one more timejust once!and I will leave both you and Shujun. Well never see each other again. Thatll be the best for all of us. When I said that, Dg shuddered, and he said dryly, Im not god. Do you honestly expect your dg to never make mistakes? You made a mistake with the coffee, and I didnt leave, I said stubbornly, so if you make any more mistakes, it means you dont believe me. And since Im such a petty-minded person, Ill never let that go. I dont want to be the brother of someone whos suspicious of me and someone Im afraid of! Well said! Dg nodded in agreement. His eyes softened as he gazed at me, taking a real, good, hard look as though looking at his own ddi for the first time. Taking in a deep breath, he said in a steady voice, You really are Shuyu. Theres no mistake about it. Shujuns always been better than me at judging people, and shes never suspected you. My eyes suddenly flooded with heat. No, this cant do. I hastily blinked a few times, trying to suppress the stinging in my eyes. All right, then Jiang Shuyu is Jiang Shuyu! As long as Dg believes in me and Shujun believes in me, Ill believe that I am Jiang Shuyu! If their belief is misced or the truthes to light, perhaps Ill still be able to run away then. Or perhaps I really would be strangled to death, but anything is better than spending day and night fretting about the trustworthiness of the people beside you. Ive had enough of those days in my previous life. Now that Ive finally gotten a new chance at life and even a family wholl never doubt each other, how can I afford to make the same mistake again?! Dg reached out and ruffled my hair, saying, Dont worry, Dg will protect you all. My eyes got hot again. Dg, stop talking, okay? But even if the waterworks were threatening to burst, I still couldnt resist asking, My personality really hasnt changed? At least Jiang Shuyu couldnt possibly be as much of a cry baby as I am? I was starting to find his personality very peculiar, especially since I was a woman. If I have a simr character as a mans, is it Guan Weijun who was too tomboyish or is it Jiang Shuyu who was too girly? Then again, normally, a thirty-five year old woman in the apocalypse should be more generous and forgiving than an eighteen year-old kid who had livedfortably all his life. Dg said slowly and methodically, Not by much, so you dont have to keep pretending. When youre pretending, it makes me feel like somethings not quite right, like how overly lively youve been the past few days. I see. Zero points for the unnatural acting. There is one thing thats changed from before. What is it? I grew a little curious but also a little anxious at the same time. But I tried to tell myself not to worry too much about it. In any case, Dg and Shujun both believe me, so whats there to be afraid of? Dgs mouth quirked a smile, and he said with amusement, You didnt used to sneak looks at my chest and abs. So hes noticed me sneaking peeks at him long ago! Shit, isnt this too much of a difference? Jiang Shuyu definitely wouldnt be drooling over mens chests, right?! You would always just look at it directly. Fine, you win, Jiang Shuyu. Forget race horses, youre so far ahead of me that I couldnt even catch you on a rocket. Youre just a huge pervert whos both a sis-con and a bro-con! Dg ruffled my hair, exining, You were always very jealous of my muscles, and you had even said that, after your exams, you would buy a bunch of fitness machines to train your body to be as muscr as mine. Now you look much studier than before, so keep up the good work. I see. Sorry, man, I took it the wrong way. But Jiang Shuyu, dont waste your money. Ive been eating the health foods Junjun has been cooking every day, consuming a whole bunch of evolution crystals, and even fighting a few death matches with aberrants. But all Ive managed to get are these measly, flimsy muscles. If you want to train to be like Dg, itd be quicker if you got struck by lightning and got sent to another world! I mournfully looked down at my skinny body. There was indeed a little meat on my arms, and while you couldnt say that there were abs on my stomach, it was at least very toned. But all this was nothing whenpared to the Dg next to me! Fine, us mortals shouldntpare ourselves to the godly Dg, IllIllpare myself with Xiao Sha! Junjun said that his waist might be narrower than mine, so next time, Ill go measure it myself. If he dares to be more buff than me, Ill ask Junjun to starve him until hes thinner than me! I didnt know where I had heard it from, but someone had once said that all special abilities came from the same rootit was just a question of how you used them. The ck fog that came every year actually carried a type of energy that unlocked a switch in human bodies, allowing people to ess this energy. But forget about the end of the ten years, even from the very beginning, Guan Weijun hadgged far behind the others. If she were in a race, she would only have run about three meters past the starting line. The highest tier aberrant she had ever faced was only a third tier, and this only happened eight years into the apocalypse. On the other hand, Jiang Shuyu was able to kill two tier one aberrants within the first three months of the apocalypse. There was a saying, there was no point inparing because there would always be something or someone better. Youd forever be holding trash, and youd forever be trash! Then again, Jiang Shuyu had eaten far more crystals than Guan Weijun. I tried to console myself that my previous self wasnt entirely useless but just very stupid. There was no way she could have be strong if she kept on giving all her evolution crystals to her trash boyfriend. Although I had sworn that I would be the Ice Emperor during this lifetime, that Ice Emperor was probably already leading his mercenary troop to conquer the world by now. The news just hadnt reached us yet simply because we were on wholly different continents Um, or at least I dont think were on the same continent? Although the continents names were different, they could still roughly be mapped to each other. Meisia was probably Asia, and while I didnt remember which continent the Ice Emperor was on, I was absolutely certain that he wasnt here during the early days of the apocalypse. As for the top elite in Asia, who was that again? I forgot. Xia Zhengu had always told me off for not being able to remember the three human elites. But I couldnt have cared less at the timeremembering where there were supplies was far more important back then. Thatzy ass hadnt even known where supermarkets were at the beginning of the apocalypse. Did he think that knowing the names of the three elites would help fill his belly? By the way, Id originally thought that the Oceania here and the one there were one and the same, but I was wrong. The Oceania there corresponded to cia here, which was also the ce where Dg almost got trapped. The Ice Emperor was far away on another continent, so that was that. In Asia well, Meisia, there had in fact been one elite. If we could get them to join the mercenary troop, wouldnt we reign supreme in the apocalypse? But then I couldnt remember his name, only that his surname was very unique. What is it? rg, what are you thinking about? I replied without thinking, Thunder. You want to eat chocte? I looked up and stared at Shujun in confusion. Huh? Shujun gave me an innocent look as she said, We dont have ck Thunder chocte in the basement. Dg says that one is too sweet and he hates it, so I didnt get any back then. Is Godiva okay? There really is noparing people! I nodded with grateful tears in my eyes. In the past, I couldnt afford to eat these choctes, so I was going to make up for it now! In any case, I needed more calories to build up a muscr body. Speaking of muscles, I beckoned to Xiao Sha, who was practicing his knife throws. Xiao Sha walked over, his eyes filled with resignation as he said, Is it my turn to train? Hold up your arms. He obediently did so. Although Dg said that my acting skills were quite terrible, they were still good enough for dealing with the mercenary troop. Right now, they listened to every word I said, so they really were treating me as the Boss Jr. of the mercenary troop That sounds kind of wrong. Anyway, beating up Dg twice has really yielded some benefits. I took out a measuring tape to measure Xiao Shas waist. He was one inch wider. Silence. From today onwards, I will eat Godiva as part of my meals! And Xiao Sha will only eat vegetables! In the end, Shujun said that vegetables were even more precious than Godiva and forbade him from turning vegetarian. I had no choice but to give up on the idea with tears in my eyes and resigned myself to eating more Godiva instead. At the dining table, I spoke seriously, Dg, when youre out looking for supplies and you encounter someone with very strong lightning powers with a very unique surname, can you ask for their name? Get to know that person and leave them a way to contact us, thene back and tell me their name. Already done, Dg replied calmly. I jolted and asked quickly, Really? Whats his name? Jiang Shujun. Shujun has very strong lightning powers and a unique surname, Jiang. Holy shit! The Thunder God is male. Such a pity. So closebut I couldnt bear to have my cute little sister change sex, so I tearfully gave up on the notion. Thunder God? Everyone perked up with interest. You mean the chocte? Yunqian licked her lips, Those are sweet and delicious. Its a person! Is food the only thing thats on their minds?! I raged, Ice Emperor, Thunder God, and me Kingthese are the top three human elites, so remember these names! Our mercenary troop had all three of their abilitiesice, lightning, and fire. But in my previous life, we didnt have a single person who stood out. What a failure! Dont tell me Cain said solemnly, that Im actually No, I dashed cold water over him, the me King isnt on this continent. The person in Meisia is the Thunder God. Cain instantly deted, while the others collectively looked toward Shujun. Ever since that training session, their respect for Shujun had grown in leaps and bounds by the day. They even had a revtion of so just by doing housework, you can train to be so awesome, and so they all started scrambling to do the housework. Ceng Yunqian focused on doing theundry, Lily swept away every single speck of dust in the house, Xiao Sha was responsible for hanging the clothes and drying them while he was at it, Zheng Xing was tilling the fields to grow crops, and with Cain around, we didnt need to worry about fire whenever we ran out of gas. The Jiang Dominion Troop was about to be renamed as the Jiang Housework Troop. In contrast, it was the three deadweights who were the most leisurely, and watching the three freeloaders eating and drinking their fill was starting to tick me off. Su Ying and Chen Qianru werent too bad, because they could keep Shujunpany, and they could also contribute a little to doing the housework. But for that silent as a morgue Ding Junhmph, Im going to make him so busy, hell wish he were dead! Lily stuttered in absolute astonishment, D-dont tell me the Thunder God is Sh-Shujun? I became speechless. Didnt anyone hear what I just said? The Thunder God is male. Everyone breathed sighs of relief, pissing me off so much that I ground my teeth, wanting to scream, Every one of you, out! Were gonna start training! Do they have any idea how much I wish that Shujun is the Thunder God? Then we would rule this apocalyptic world! I want to check out Zhongguan City today, Dg suddenly interjected, so Ill keep an eye out for this Thunder God of yours. But the likelihood of running into him is quite low. I know its unlikely, just saying. Still, Dg suddenly wants to go into the city? I thought about it for a moment. No, its not very unusual. The police station was already on the outskirts of the city, so they had probably run out of things to scavenge in the neighborhood. We werent short on supplieswe had long run out of space in the basement, but we were short on ammunition. Even the police station operation hadnt yielded much, so if they wanted to find more, they had to head into the city. Shuyu, stay here and watch over the house. I blinked, and then said quickly, Dg, I should be going with you. Dg shook his head in reply. Its a long journey to the city, so we will need to stay the night there if were to find something good. And if Im going for more than a day, I can only trust you to watch the house. Ill leave Xiao Sha here to guard with you. Dg, you keep putting Xiao Sha together with me at every opportunity you get. Are you sure youre not up to something? I pondered over the facts. If Dg and I left, neither of us would be able to stop worrying about the house, so we had to leave one of us behind. But we couldnt let Dg stay at homeafter all, the troop could only be led by Dg. I was just a stronger individual fighting unit but was no good atmanding. Why dont you leave Ceng Yunqian here? She can snipe, and thats not something Im good at. Guan Weijun had never been so lucky as to be able to find something as high-spec as a sniping rifle. Sure. I nced over the deadweight trio and said, Dg, why dont you take Ding Jun along? He needs to work for his meals. Ding Jun looked me in the eye, still refusing to speak a single word. I admit to being a chauvinistmaking life difficult only for Ding Jun but going easy on Su Ying and Chen Qianru. I just instinctively felt that girls should stay at home and shouldnt fight whenever possible. So even if Shujuns abilities had plenty of attack power, Dg and I still didnt want to let her go with the mercenary troop. She should be protected as much as possible. Its really not a good thing, but I cant help it. I really cant bear to see Shujun Shutian, Xiao Yu, Auntie suddenly spoke up, Ill go too. I blinked and blurted, No way! Dg frowned. My ability is sensing all living creatures around me, so I can help Shutian and the others avoid danger. You should let me go, if you dont want Uncle and me to worry. Id almost forgotten Aunties powersthey really woulde in handy. I hesitated and looked at Dg. Unexpectedly, Dg only pondered for a heartbeat before he nodded, All right, Auntie,e with us. Also, Su Ying, you muste as well. Su Ying became flustered, and even turned to look at Shujun, but Shujun didnt back her up. As expected of my mimei, she knew that Dg was right and listened to him. Su Ying had no choice but to agree. I understood the reason for taking her alongshe had psychic powers, and she had spent a long time in the presence of a brainwight. If they encountered psyche-type aberrants like the brainwight, she would have better resistance against their powers and could wake up the others. Dg stood up and addressed everyone, saying, The operation will be conducted in Zhongguan City, and the duration will be three days. Prepare your things now, and we will set out in one hour. With that, everyone gave a cheer and scattered. The good progress in their training made me feel a lot morefortable about this extended trip. After all, Dg had been able to break out of the city at the beginning, whereas now he was just going to wander around the outskirts. And everyones abilities had improved a little, so there shouldnt be any problems. Yet after issuing the order, Dg didnt go to pack his things, because Shujun was doing it for him. He turned to look at me. Shuyu, is there anything you want me to bring back? I thought briefly before replying, Godiva. When Shujun came by with the luggage, she brought me another te full of sweets, the majority of which were choctes. rg, dont worry. Back then, I took many boxes of choctes! I remembered you had only gotten a few boxes of stuffdont tell me that they only contained chicken soup, Chinese medicinal herbs, and choctes? Come on, even the sanitary napkins were things that I got for you! Shujun turned to Dg. Dg, bring back a small fridge then. rg loves eating sweets, so we can put the small fridge in his room, and I can stuff it full of choctes. I suddenly felt danger to my waistline in the horizons. I only want to be a little fatter than Xiao Sha, nothing more. No, seriously. We should also get another small electric generator, and the more gas and petrol, the better, I hastily added. Although I was pretty sure Dg knew to get these things, I couldnt help but nag at himif I didnt remind him, I wouldnt feel at ease. Sure. I hesitated, but still spoke up in the end, Dg, dont bring back too many people. Just bring back those who dont look too sly or calcting. Dg gave me a look and said slowly and deliberately, Actually, I wasnt nning on bringing anyone back. I never imagined that Dg would be even more ruthless than me. It was true that keeping the status quo and not epting any neers was saferafter all, the more people you had, the messier it became. Even if Dgs mercenary troop could enforce order, once the neers hit a critical mass, they would always start fighting among each other, and there would even be those plotting their own schemes. By then, they would form their little cliques and circles. But if we didnt take in people now, we would risk running short on manpower in the future. So rather than looking for people in the future, it would be easier to raise a more loyal bunch if we took them now instead. Judging from how things would develop, colonies were guaranteed to spring up. After all, humans weremunal and social creaturesnot to say there werent lone wolves, but even lone wolves ultimately relied on colonies for survival. And for us with our own organized group, there was no way the colony leaders would let us develop and grow. If they didnt kick us out, we would be forcibly annexed into their group and split up from there. I simply couldnt imagine Dg being subordinate to anyone or having to obey orders. I also wasnt willing to let the mercenary troop be dismantled. We need more people. In the future, we will establish our own colony. Dg stared at me. You want to establish a base? Why? I blinked. Why? Because if we dont build one ourselves, then we would have to live under other peoplesmand. Dg is so mighty that its hard to imagine anyone not being daunted or intimidated by him. And Xiomi is so young, pretty, and cute that its hard to imagine anyone not lusting after her. Even I myself have a face that attracts lots of trouble, so I have no idea how on earth we could possibly survive in other peoples territories! I just want everyone to live safely and peacefully together. Shujun immediately jumped over and hugged me tightly. We definitely will! Dg gave a faint smile. All right, then lets establish a base. Ill make the preparations, so dont worry yourself too much. Dg will take care of everything. He reached out with both hands and ruffled Shujuns and my heads. Just how much does Dg like rubbing peoples heads? Shuyu, youre only eighteen, just three years older than Shujun. Youre still a child, so you dont have to worry about so many things. This is the apocalypse, Dg. I rolled my eyes at him and said huffily, Aberrants dont give a damn how old I am when they bite me. With Dg around, no aberrants will be able to bite you. Al right, I admit this line does make me feel awesome. Even if I knew Id never ept being protected by someone in this lifetime, the fact that someone was willing to protect me still made me very happy indeed. If you have nothing to do, go out and find love. Youre already eighteen. Dg, I really havent figured out which gender I like. Please, give me some time to think about this. I shot back with an equally punchy question, Dg, youre twenty-seven already. When will you give me a niece or nephew to y with? Dg thought a little, then said, Yunqian had asked me before, whether or not I could have a child with her. If you want one, Ill tell her yes. Dg! What happened to your morals? Did they get eaten by an aberrant?! How can you ept being a tool for making babies?! No! Shujun eximed in anger, Dg, you can only have children with your future wife. If you dare to have kids with anyone else, Ill throw those children away! Well said, Shujun! Throw them away! Dg gave a low chuckle and spoke as he ruffled his siblings heads, All right, I wont, I wont. Throw them away as you like. Shujun was still pouting, but she snuck me a secretive, meaningful nce. I returned with a look of got it. Siblings minds think alike indeed. We have to keep a close eye on our Dg! Volume 2, 3: Red as Blood, Dazzling as Flowers

Volume 2, Chapter 3: Red as Blood, Dazzling as Flowers

Trantor: Elkin (proofread by EvlNabiki & Arcedemius; C/E edited by lucathia) Today was the third day after Dgs departure. These past few days, I had left Yunqians training to Shujun, wanting to get the ice spear to a somewhat usable state as soon as possible. This new weapon had tost me a good three to five years, so I took it very seriously. Everyyer of ice crystals waspressed into a very fineyer, and that meant that I had to expend even more effort. Thankfully, I was more powerful than before, so I was able topress moreyers each time. Judging from the progress, it would probably take me around a monthoh wait, theres a spearhead as well this time, so that would add another ten days to the count. Dg had wanted to go to Zhongguan City while I stayed behind to mind the house, and since I needed to craft my spear and all, everything worked out just fine. But what about afterwards? I cant keep watching the house every time, right? Even if I keep getting my share of crystals, Ill miss out on actualbat experience, which is a no go. But well need someone to mind the house. What a headache rg, its time for dinner! Shujun poked her head in and looked curiously at the ice spear, giving an admiring sigh. Your long spear is bing prettier and prettier! Yes, no matter how fugly it was, it would still look presentable when wrapped inyers ofpressed ice. And this time, I had made sure topress it extra well, so the clear ice had turned a little milky white, which was perfect for concealing the true nature of the spearthat of a broken knife tied to a broomstick handle. I stood up and followed my sister, carrying the ice spear with me. rg, why are you bringing it to dinner? I looked down at the spear, replying, I kind of got used to carrying it around. And the cold feels pretty nice. It was now September, and the weather was still fairly hot. This was pretty simr to what had happened in my previous life. Global temperatures started fluctuating more dramatically. As time wore on, the temperature differences would only grow more and more extreme, to the point where the four seasons were so clearly delineated that even a visitor from another universe could tell which season it was the moment they stepped into this universe. Thankfully, the temperature differences would stabilize five years into the apocalypse; otherwise, it would get to the stage where even aberrants wouldnt be able to survive, much less humans. In the days toe, spring would herald an explosion of life and all sorts of aberrants would start evolving like crazy, particrly the nts. During this period, it was best not to leave the city; that said, however, the bounty was rich if you did. Summers would be so hot that you could die from dehydration. No small number of people had died in fights over a mouthful of water. Autumn was a good season. You could survive just on the fruits you picked. As for winter, it was fairly obvious that it was the season with the greatest number of deaths each year. Its been pretty hot recently. The two of us headed to the living room together. Shujun seemed to think of something, and she asked worriedly, rg, with your ice powers, does it mean youre afraid of the heat? Maybe I should switch on the air conditioning? The small electric generator wasnt quite enough to supply electricity to the whole house, so we never really switched on the air con in the house. Seeing Shujun worrying about whether or not her rg would melt, I burst intoughter. Youve got it the wrong way around. Im definitely the person whos least afraid of the heat. Im already a walking freezer myself, and once I be stronger, I can act as the air conditioning unit in the house. Shujun went oh with a look of realization, then she asked with interest, rg, are you afraid of the cold? I shook my head. Thats so nice! Then, is Cain unafraid of the heat as well? Yup, actually, once you eat more evolution crystals, youll be increasingly immune to the heat and cold, because your body will grow stronger and adapt better to the environment. Shujun nodded,prehension dawning as she said, No wonder. Its been so hot recently, but its still somewhat bearable. I used to be unable to eat or sleep because of the heat without the AC on. Back in the living room, Uncle, Yunqian, and Chen Qianru had all gathered. The one deadweight left behind had enough self-awareness that she helped Shujun with cooking and housework these past few days, making her less of an eyesore. However, Shujun said that she should only help to cut meat and chop up vegetables. We really couldnt let her do any more than that. When stir-frying meat, she threw in a whole tablespoon of salt as seasoning, and she even managed to burn half the dish, so Shuj?un ended up having to feed the meat to the chickens after washing it yes, that was correct. Chickens that survived the apocalypseyrge, round eggs that were extremely tasty, but we only had two of them, so there werent enough eggs to go around. I hope Dg will be able to find more livestock in the city. I wonder if Dg can find us some seeds to grow, Shujun remarked as she frowned at the table that was covered with tes of meat, with only some canned or frozen vegetables like corn and peas as an apaniment. I really miss eating fresh veggies. I wanted to eat fresh vegetables too, but I didnt dare voice it out loud. In my previous life, hot food was already a luxury I didnt dare to dream of, especially during the first three months of the apocalypse. But now, I was so spoiled that I even wanted to eat fresh vegetables. rg, have an egg. Shujun smiled as she passed me a fried egg that wasrger than my palm. I purposely kept the yolk runny for you. I looked at the egg. The yolk and the egg whites were separate and fried to perfection. Shujuns culinary skills were improving by the day. Although things were going by so well that I was starting to feel a bit guilty, I hoped that these heavenly days would continue forever. Yup, with Dg here, everything will be fine! I cut out a piece of the egg with my chopsticks and started eating it appreciatively. Unexpectedly, just as I took a bite, a frenzied clucking came from outside. No way, the chicken knows Im eating its egg? Yunqian immediately stood up and said, Ill go take a look. I looked at the egg longingly. Only Uncle and I had eggs to eat, and having someone else do the work on top of that made me feel really ufortable, so I quickly stopped her. Ill go. Youre tired from keeping watch all day as well, so sit down and have some more food. Those chickens are probably just fighting each other again. Yunqian didnt protest. She just gave a shrug and sat back down again. I pushed aside the chair, forgetting for a moment that the ice spear was leaning against it, and with a smack! it fell to the ground. I scooped it up casually and headed to the back garden. The chickens were cooped up in a stainless steel cage that was meant forrge dogs. The chickens were now double the sizepared to before, and they wouldnt lose to a dog in strength. Together with thoserge, hard beaks, theyd be able to peck their way through wood any time, so they couldnt be kept in anything but a metal cage. But for some reason, these two chickens hated each other. The slightest thing would set them off, and theyd squabble. Unfortunately, Dg couldnt find another cage asrge as this one; otherwise, wed just split up the two of them. Sigh. Id forgotten to remind Dg to look for some cages as well. I hoped he would remember, because we were going to umte a lot of livestock in the future. As expected, the two chickens were in a frenzy, jumping around, kicking at the cage and pecking at the lock. They were even crazier than usual. I frowned. The two chickens arent having a go at each other. Whats going on? I racked my brain trying to recall whether I had seen simr situations before. I remembered whenever we had found temporary shelter, I had insisted on raising livestock. The days of constantly being hungry and on the run had traumatized me, and Id then be obsessed with stocking up on food. I didnt know how many times I had to stop that idiot, Xia Zhengu, from immediately eating every single animal or aberrant he captured, especially things like chickens and ducks that couldy eggs. If he dared to eat them, I would eat him alive! Of course, this was before he became strong. I seemed to remember that those animals would also start going crazy for no reason at all, especially when Theres danger! I jolted and instinctively spun to look around me. The surrounding residences were as quiet as ever, without a single sound to be heard. But the houses, the walls, and the trees blocked too much. I couldnt make out anything from where I was standing, so I immediately ran into the house and dashed up toward the attic and the roof-top balcony. On the balcony, I looked around. There wasnt any movement to be seen in the neighborhood. Dg and the others had been extremely thorough in their clean up, and you couldnt even find so much as a dog on the streets. Am I being too paranoid? Maybe the chickens are just being crazy and having a hell of a work out wait, the sky in the distance seems I squinted. It was dark, with no polluting lights around. The stars were very pretty and all, but theck of a light source also made it hard to see anything. I just felt like a part of the sky seemed to be especially dark, and it even seemed to be moving? I stared at it for a while, regretting a little that I hadnt made Lily stay back. She had good eyesight. Wait, thats A flock of birds! I started and immediately rushed from the balcony to the attic. I looked through the porthole, observing the direction the flock was taking. If those were normal birds, they would still avoiding into houses by force of habit. But if those were aberrant birds, then all bets were off. The flocks trajectory across the sky wasnt looking good. If they stayed on track, they would definitely pass by this ce. I quickly headed downstairs. I had to tell Shujun and the others. We had to keep absolutely quiet. If it was a flock of aberrant birds, and they discovered that there was food here, then we would really turn into their dinner! When I arrived at the living room, Shujun immediately called out to me, rg. I immediately made a hush sign and quietly exined the situation about the birds attacking and made everyone remain quiet. This wasnt difficult at all. After I motioned them to be silent, the four of them didnt say a word. Thepany I had kept in my past life really couldnt hold a candle to them. Thinking back, whenever we had encountered aberrant attacks, all sorts of chaos had ensued. We had had screaming housewives, kids running around unattended, muscr guys who thought they could make a dash for ityou name it, we had it. It was almost impossible to control the situation back then. I gave a simple exnation, and just as we were nning to quietly wait for the danger to pass, I suddenly heard the unexpected sounds of clucking. Shit, the chickens are still outside! I immediately ran out to the back garden with Yunqian hot on my heels, and we yanked open the metal cage. The two chickens immediately pounced on us. Naturally, it was not to jump into our warm embrace, but to try to run away. Me and Yunqian each grabbed one, but the chickens had gonepletely mad and struggled like crazy, refusing to let us bring them into the house. Actually, the chickens struggles didnt mean much to either of us; we were just worried that if we were too forceful, we would identally kill them. If they turned into aberrant chickens, then it would be even harder to raise them. Although aberrants were edible, there was no guarantee that theyd taste good. A lot of aberrants were even poisonous, so if we had the choice, we would rather eat nts and animals that hadnt mutated. Holding onto the wildly kicking chickens, I looked up at the sky. The birds were already clearly visible, but due to the darkness, I could not make out their appearance. Shuyu, Ceng Yunqian whispered, from this distance, theres something off about the size of those birds. Theyre too big. Their wingspan looks to be at least two meters long, and some might even be three meters. When I heard the cluckinging from one hand, I immediately reached out with my other hand and wrung the chickens neck. Then, I also snapped the one in Yunqians hands, and froze them over; otherwise, itd be troublesome if they turned into aberrants. I passed the dead chickens to Yunqian and said softly, Go back to the living room and arm yourself. Pass guns to Uncle and Shujun as well. Ill go watch from the attic. As for Chen Qianru, I wasnt being biased against her. It was just that shed never shot a gun before, and so was equally likely to identally shoot friend instead of foe when flustered. It was better if she just quietly stayed in the back and out of trouble. Although Shujuns abilities were quite strong and Yunqians werent half bad either, judging from the size and the number of birds in that flock, they probably wouldnt have enough energy tost a fight against a flock. So they would still have to use guns. Back in the attic, I picked up the military binocrs that had originally been left there. This was something Dg had bought, so obviously they were great. With them, even at night with only starlight, I could see the birds appearances clear as day. The birds were as crimson as blood. Ceng Yunqian was right. Their wingspans were at least two meters long, but the leaders definitely looked to be over three meters. Actually, I wouldnt be surprised if it was over four meters long. And their bodies were not covered in feathers; instead, they had thin, membrane-like wings. Just going by the wings, they were more like bats than birds, but at the same time, their heads looked like birds. But neither bats nor birds were covered by ayer of scales. Those birds spell BIG trouble I rediscovered just how terrible the Jiang familys luck was. I kept revising the number upwards, a number preceded by a negative sign! No wonder the Jiang family were so mighty. With this kind of luck, the bloodline would have long died out without super specs. How else could the bloodline have continued until me, Jiang Shuyu? The flock flew closer and closer. My guess was that there was no point hoping that the leader would change the path by even a little. The Jiang familys bad luck was just unbelievable, but if all else went well, the birds wouldnt stay. The neighborhood had been cleaned out very thoroughly, so there was no reason it would attract the attention of the birds Wait, isnt it a problem if its too empty as well? D-dont tell me the birds are that smart?! Frigging hell, theres no guessing that with the Jiang familys luck! I lifted the binocrs, watching the flock gradually approach the house. I focused especially on the leading bird. It was so big that it was a bit ridiculous. Judging from how he looked pretty simr to the other birds around him, they had probably mutated from the same species of birds. Which meant that the reason he was especially big was probably because he was of a higher tier than the others Tier one aberrants were fast bing an everyday urrence in the Jiang family! Id better train myself harder; after all, it wouldnt be strange if I ran into a tier-two aberrant one day while innocently walking to the supermarket to search for a packet of instant noodles. A tier one aberrant leading the flock. My heart pounded especially hard. Suddenly, my oath to never run away sprang to mind, and I couldnt help but give a wry smile. What a lie. As if things are ever that simple. At least for the moment, I didnt even dare to make a squeak. I really was too much of a coward. We were both first tiers, and while he was out there, flying boldly in the skies, I was crouched here, hiding in the house. I didnt even dare breathe too loudly. They say that you cantpare yourself with others. Now, I cant evenpare to a bird! Was I too rxedtely? So many aberrants had already evolved to tier one, so in actual fact, my advantage of being reincarnated wasnt putting me too far ahead of the aberrants. And Id actually thought to just stay home while leisurely crafting my ice spear, and to spend more than a month to do so, to boot. Not long ago, I had been out there fighting aberrants while crafting my ice spear. Just what reason is there for me not to leave the house just because I dont have a weapon? If there are enemies like Dg who could melt my ice staff, then would it mean that Id have to resign myself to being someones meal if I lost my weapon? No, Id be wasting the advantage of reincarnation if I continue the same way as I have. Even if Dg chains me up after this, I have to sneak out asionally for some solo hunting. If I leave a note and disappear for five to ten days in Zhongguan City, I wondered how angry Dg would be? I shivered. The flock was close. With no time to even think or daydream about random things, I watched the lead bird intently with wide eyes. Then, a name shed across my mind. The carrion-bloom bird. Red as blood and as dazzling as flowers, they were covered in scales and had excellent vision. They had a tendency to flock together, as well as some other unique characteristics that Id forgotten. Actually, I hadnt encountered very many types of aberrants. After all, I had been so weak that if I had made the slightest sound, I wouldnt manage to escape with my life. So there was simply no way I was hanging around to observe what the aberrants looked like. But there were rumors aplenty. For some reason, in that small colony of ours, I got along fairly well with people. Aside from being disliked by whichever woman was currently in Xia Zhengus favor, other people didnt have any bones to pick with me. If anything, they loved chatting with me, which I didnt mind in the slightest, since I had nothing much to do. Xia Zhengu never allowed his girlfriend to do any work because he found it utterly humiliating, so I ended up listening to many stories in my free time. And naturally, the majority of stories during the apocalyptic days would be all sorts of tales of how they had escaped from the jaws of aberrants. The flock flew past the roof. I could hear pping wings and the propulsion of air as they asionally flexed their wings while gliding. From the rhythm, they were going to fly right past us. I breathed a sigh of relief. Thank god they didnt stop. Bang! I froze. Is that a gunshot? It sounds like it came from downstairs. Before I even had time to worry about what was going on down there, I heard a change in the pping of wings. It was no longer the soft beat of gliding motions, but a continuous series of frenzied ps, the beating of wings to make an emergency stop. Then, the red birdsnded, covering the entire rooftop balcony. I held my breath, not making a single sound, praying fervently that they wouldnt make any more sounds downstairs. But whats going on down there? Suppressing the anxiety in my heart, I quietly looked down through the porthole. Thankfully, there werent any birds in the back garden. They had allnded either on the balcony or the roof. Just go! There isnt enough meat to even fill your beaks! On the balcony, a huge carrion-bloom bird was stretching out its head and continually peering in through the windows at the inside of the house. I could only keep myself pressed tightly against the wall to avoid being seen. But one bird pecked apart a ss window and stuck its head inside for a look. Its scaly head was right above where I was. Im done for. I gripped my ice spear, trying to swallow back my terror. What I had to do now, and the only thing I could do now, was to stab this bird right through its brain, then make a break for the outside like a madman. This was in the sliver of hope that these birds would all be led away by me, so they wouldnt notice Shujun and the others That bird suddenly yanked back its head, literally an instant before I was about to act. I turned my head at an excruciatingly slow pace to look through the porthole. All the birds on the balcony were looking in the same direction. That light car lights! Dg and the others are back! There was a sudden screeching bird call and the flock of carrion-bloom birds all took to the air. Seeing that, I immediately dashed downstairs, using the railings as a slide and even kicking off against the wall, practically flying my way into the living room. All four people were there, and not a single one of them was missing. Without any time to take in their expressions, I snatched the machine gun from Uncles hands. Ceng Yunqian said in embarrassment, Shuyu, Im sorry. I couldnt control the situation I ignored her, kicked open the front door, and charged out. Then, I started firing like crazy at the sky. Dg and the others were sitting in their car, and with the darkness of night, if such arge flock of birds rushed at them, it was possible that even the car would get turned over. I had to warn them, and hinder the flock while I was at it. Filling the sky, the carrion-bloom birds made arge turn and started circling in the air. They all stared at me, and with the gazes of so many aberrants boring into me, my heart started racing. Terror flooded my mind, alongside just the slightest hint of excitement. That leading bird was the same tier as me: tier one. Depressing wasnt enough to describe the situation just now when he was soaring high in the skies while I was hiding far below, but with so many birds under him, just having each bird spit a mouthful of spittle was enough to drown a person No, in this lifetime, I would probably never die drowning. Although I wasnt a water-type ability user, I was still an ice user. So even if you threw me into an ocean, I could still conjure a small boat of ice. In any case, he had his flock of birds and I had my dg. Lets see who should be afraid now! Tonight, were having an extra serving of bird, to make up for the passing of the two chickens. I ignored the red birds that had filled the skies, turning instead to stare directly at my rooftop. The tier one carrion-bloom bird was perched there, above the attic. It was almost as big as that small attic, making the attic look just like a toy on first nce. The carrion-bloom bird was staring right at me. He had a pair of ck irises, sorge that you almost couldnt see the whites of his eyes, no different from any other bird. But because of his size, his eyes naturally became much bigger as well, and they sent chills running down my spine. But the gaze leveled at me was not one of a birds. If not for his appearance, it felt exactly like being stared at by a person. He had his head held up arrogantly as he judged me, like he was assessing whether or not I was worthy of being his opponent. I hefted the machine gun in my hand. This was an assault rifle, and if my guess was correct, it was a LA85A1. With a gun like this in the first year of the apocalypse, as long as you had bullets, survival wasnt an issue. But to fight that thing on the rooftop with firearms, Id probably need a Barrett M95. In my previous life, Id survived the most dangerous ce, the city, with just a broomstick handle, but in this life, I had to use a Barrett to survive in the suburbs. I really didnt know whether I should envy the Jiang family or not. Dont tell me this is all about how greater power brings greater responsibility, so every hero has to face an endless torrent of misfortune? The pping of birds wings from behind me grew louder and louder, but what followed instead was a string of gunshots. Dg and the others had reacted. In that moment, the carrion-bloom bird lifted his head to give out a long cry. There was a ring of white around his neck. Thats right, this should be a female. Back when I had first heard this story, that person had said that female birds would have patterns on their necks. Behind me, the sound of the flock grew a bit more distant once again. They must have gone to fight against Dg and the others, while my opponent was this white-necked carrion-bloom bird. She stared at me, the look in her eyes as clear as day. It was almost like she was dering, I am your opponent. This bird had real character, and that wasnt good in the slightest. From the looks of things, it seemed like the days when aberrants could speak werent as far away as Id first heard. Rather, it had probably taken some time for this information to disseminate to the general public. Xiao Yu! Ceng Yunqian, Shujun, and Uncle rushed out, each of them holding a gun. Only Chen Qianru was absent, probably because Ceng Yunqian felt that she would only get in the way and banned her froming out. I jabbed a thumb behind me, saying, Go fight against the flock with Dg. They had their backs to the white-necked carrion-bloom bird, so they hadnt noticed her existence. But I wasnt worried that she wouldunch a sneak attack on them. This bird had her pride, like she was a queen sitting on her throne, while that flock were the knights serving under her. It was likely that she would only act if she was challenged by another tier-one being like me. Shujun hesitantly asked, C-can I go too? Yes, go. In contrast, I didnt have any hesitations sending her out to fight. Judging from how even staying at home could attract such a disaster to descend from the heavens, the might of the Jiang familys bad luck couldnt be underestimated. Shujun needed to start getting some actualbat experience as soon as possible, so that she could protect herself some day if the unexpected truly happened. This was also the perfect chance for her to start by fighting non-human aberrants. Although none of the aberrants really counted as human, as long as they had a humans appearance, the psychological pressure from having to kill them was that much greater. I really didnt want Shujun to have to deal with the stress from killing people right from her very first fight, so bird-shaped aberrants could be said to be quite a good beginning. You could just treat them like you were killing chickens or ducks, and the parts that werent charred ck by electricity could even be eaten! Shuyu, what are you looking at Just as Uncle was about to turn in bewilderment to have a look, I shouted, Dont look, run! sending him jumping into the air in fright. Fortunately, Uncle was very obedient, and he froze in mid-turn. Then, Shujun immediately grabbed at him and, together with Yunqian, the three of them hurriedly brushed past me. rg, be careful. Dont get hurt, Shujun reminded me. I raised an eyebrow. Hows it possible not to get hurt? My opponent is a tier one carrion-bloom bird. Ill try. Hearing the footsteps fade into the distance, I gripped my gun in my left hand and my ice spear in my right. This time, I didnt craft ice des under my feet. I wasnt familiar enough with those moves to risk using them in such a critical fight. The slightest mistake was enough to make me kiss the world goodbye. The white-necked carrion-bloom bird spread her wings and gave a long cry, then she dipped her body, with her tail feathers pointing to the sky, ready to rush downwards at any moment. And that was exactly what she did, without a moment of hesitation. She came rushing at me like a bird-shaped missile. If I was struck head-on by that, I would probably turn into a pile of delicious minced meat. I immediately raised my gun and stared firing wildly at her, but as expected, it wasnt much use. This bird had probably encountered more than one attack with guns, so she had evolved in the direction of bing bullet-proof, resulting in the evolution of scales. I tossed aside the gun and stayed stock-still where I was. The moment just before the birds imminent impact, I leaped up, using my ice spear to push against the ground and propel me even higher. At that moment, below me turned into a sea of red feathers, or perhaps I should say, red scales. This carrion-bloom birds aberration wasntplete yet, so there were still feathers on her wings. She hadnt yet entirely changed to scales, but instead, she was covered half in feathers and half in scales. I felt a lot better. If this was how far a tier one carrion-bloom bird had evolved, then those tierless subordinate birds of hers were definitely vulnerable to bullets. Even if Dg and the others werent able to use their abilities very well in a fight, it didnt matter all that much, as they just had to keep firing bullets like crazy. My upward ascent slowed, and I immediately used my downward momentum to stab toward the birds neck. Unfortunately, she was extremely alert, and instantly rolled to one side, making a big turn in mid-air. The tip of my spear only brushed past her neck, slicing off a few feathers. I had no way of knowing if she had gotten hurt from that blow. As Inded, I conjured ten ice knives and fired them at her belly. Although only a blow to the head was lethal, creating multiple wounds had its uses, and animal-shaped aberrants typically were softer around their bellies aspared to other areas. Even before I touched the ground, the knives pinged and panged off of her, littering the ground. As I watched the birds movement, I silently counted the number of sounds my knives made. Exactly ten of them. What a pity. The carrion-bloom bird gave a short squawk of anger. No way, I got her with the blow to her neck? Although you could only truly kill an aberrant by smashing apart its head, if you severed its neck and left only the head, there was nothing to fear, even if the head could spit lightning from its mouth. This bird had quite a scaly head, evidence that she had purposely strengthened this weak spot, so it was probably easier if I just snapped her neck instead. So I decided to focus my attacks on her neck. The biggest problem now was that she was flying around mid-air. Only when she was swooping down tounch her attack did I have the chance to fight back. This gave me no choice but to use the strategy of countering against a persons attacksno wait, a birds attacks. I couldnt help but recall the Ice Emperors battle at that moment. When will I able to reach such a height of ice powers, to be able to create ice paths that span the skies, to the point where theres no difference whether Im fighting onnd or in the air? The carrion-bloom bird came in for another attack. From the short and harsh squawks, I could tell that the bird was furious, reminding me that aberrants now were not the same as the ones ten years into the apocalypse. They were newly born babies who werent even six months old, and they were mainly driven by animal instinct. But tier one aberrants had started to develop consciousness so, like a child, they were mercurial and impatient in temperament. I once again created ten ice knives, the quality worse than the previous ones. Taking the opportunity as the bird swept low, I flung them out in twos and threes. Id originally thought that shed change her trajectory slightly to avoid them, or perhaps knock them down with her wings. But after swooping in a few times, she seemed to have realized that these flying knives simply posed no threat to her. They couldnt even hurt a feather, much less a scale. So she stopped caring about those small ice knives and focused on attacking me. After a few exchanges with the bird, we had both umted injuries. Her beak had sliced past my left arm, while I had hit her wing with the shaft of my ice spear. Neither posed much of an injury to either of us. While they werent exactly small injuries, as long as they didnt hinder our movement, they didnt amount to much. I didnt even feel the pain with the adrenaline from the tense fight pumping in my system. The bird facing off against me obviously didnt think much of the injury to her wing, either. If anything, it simply served to make her even angrier. Then again, that was understandable. As a tier one aberrant leading such arge flock of birds, there probably werent many opponents who could make so much as a scratch on her. The bird circling in mid-air suddenly let out a long cry to the distance, and I quickly spun to take a look. The battle behind me was pretty heated, but the mercenary troop, who had ample ammunition, quite evidently had the upper hand. Unlike the one I was fighting, the other carrion-bloom birds werent unafraid of bullets. With the wild bursts of machine-gun fire sting into the air, the flock didnt even dare to fly too low. The corpses littering the ground warned them all too clearly of the fate that awaited them if they drew too close. However, Dg and the others could do nothing against the flock that was flying too high above them. Thankfully, this white-necked carrion bloom birds long cry broke the stalemate. This impatient baby no older than a few months had probably ordered them to attack. Once again, the flock dropped from a height to rush at them, only to be peppered with shots ande crashing to the ground one by one. Seeing that, the white-necked carrion-bloom bird became outraged. She spread her wings, evidently wanting to switch fights and rush over to deal with Dg and the others. I immediately reacted with another high jump, firing out a dozen-odd ice knives in mid-air. She didnt care in the slightest, until one stabbed right into her neck. She gave a screech of pain and immediately swerved back to face me. What stabbed her was not an ice knife that I had conjured randomly out of the air but my ice dagger. Those useless ice knives just now were merely camouge to make her lose vignce against them, so that she wouldnt be on her guard when I used the ice dagger as a throwing knife. She returned to the attic and perched there, pping her wings frantically and asionally giving a screech of pain. But the ice dagger wasnt something that could be tossed aside that easily. Although ice powers had a disadvantage in that they froze the wounds closed, for the same reason, the ice dagger was frozen in the wound and couldnt be pulled out easily. For birds that had no opposable thumbs, the only way they could get rid of the ice dagger would be to beat it off with their wings, which would only exacerbate the wound. It wouldnt be strange if a chunk of meat was torn off along with the dagger. But the wound was on her neck, so the carrion-bloom bird couldnt use too much force, or else she could possibly rip apart her own throat, which would be a far worse injury. While she was doing that, I rushed up toward the attic. I leaped up to the second floor balcony, then I ran up the wall, creating a thin ice shelf with every step I took. The moment I kicked off a step, it would shatter, but it provided enough time for me to propel myself upwards to the next step. As long as there was somewhere I could step on, no high wall posed an obstacle to me. The moment I arrived at the attic, the white-necked carrion-bloom bird immediately wanted to take to the air when it spotted me. But I immediately fired out a dozen-odd ice knives, and, not daring to be careless anymore, she was forced tond back on the balcony to dodge the knives. Seizing the opportunity, I raised my staff and charged at her, then swung it toward her neck. Although I missed, the next horizontal sweep struck her body. In furious anguish, she twisted her head and bit at the shaft of my ice spear. She didnt let go, even when I shot out more ice knives at her that she had no way of dodging. She just let the knives hit her body. However, it was such a pity I didnt have a second ice dagger, otherwise No, I still have the ice shard! Just when I was about to take the ice shard from my chest pocket, the white-necked carrion-bloom bird started beating her wings. More importantly, she was still biting onto the shaft of my ice spear, refusing to let go. My heart leapt into my throat. I was dead meat if she took me up into the air. I immediately pulled hard, trying to yank my ice spear free, but unexpectedly, the bird fought back. She bit hard, not letting go, while I simply couldnt release my grip. If she snatched away the ice spear, she would be able to fling it far, far away with only a few ps of her wings. If that happened, then our only hope was that Dg had found a Barrett. In desperation, I had no choice but to freeze myself, freezing my hands to the ice spear and my feet to the balcony. And thus began the bizarre tug-of-war with a bird. She frantically beat her wings, asionally striking at my body, causing spasms of fiery pain to re up all over. When the bird discovered that she had injured me, she became so excited that youd think shed won the lottery or something, and she kept sweeping her wings at me non-stop. The scales on those wings were as sharp as knives, and if not for the fact that I had created ayer of ice over my skin to block them, Id have turned into sliced meat, so thin that Id be perfect for hot pot. But even if I could block the sharp scales, this didnt soften the impact in the slightest, and each blow raining down on me made my entire body ache like crazy. Cough, blood was even starting to trickle from my mouth. Damned bird! I channeled my ice powers along the length of the ice spear right to the birds beak. At first, she didnt seem to mind, but as the ice power grew stronger, she became so cold that she gave up on attacking me and immediately released my ice spear. Shivering, she flung her head from one side to the other wildly. Taking advantage of the moment when she was so cold that she had started to be dizzy, I immediately struck at her head with the shaft of my ice spear, sending the entire bird crashing onto the balcony. Losing all rationality in her rage, she no longer cared about her advantage of flight and started running at me, her legs pumping like pistons. Those legs of hers werent the thin, frail legs of birds, but thick and strong instead. If I got kicked, Id probably cough up my liver. I wanted to dodge, but one wing of hers was enough to cover the entire balcony, so there was almost nowhere to run. Id have to leave the balcony to evade her attack, but I couldnt do that, either. I had finally managed to make the bird furious enough to forget about flight, so I had to keep her from remembering. I had to finish her off, now! I once again stole a nce at the battle going on below. Dg and the others already had control over the battle, and at least half of the birds that had been circling in the sky were now lying on the ground. Good, I no longer need to keep anything in reserve. As long as I can deal with this bird in front of me, Dg can handle the rest. I tightened my grip on the ice spear, and ice energy rushed out in an unending torrent until it coated the entire ice spear. The ice spear started emitting a chill from tip to tip, and if anyone aside from me dared to hold it, half of their body would freeze over on contact, unless they had equal or greater power than I did. The white-necked carrion-bloom bird red pure hatred at the ice spear, but she didnt seem all that scared. Given that we were both tier one, she wouldnt get frozen over by my ice powers, but I had confidence that it would at least affect her movement. I jabbed out with the ice spear. This was more than just the outward movement of the spear. The thrust also carried arge amount of freezing energy so that the spear left a trail of frost wherever it passed. Even the carrion-bloom bird, a tier one like me, frosted over when struck. She shivered and countless bits of ice showered from her body, many of her movements hindered by the cold, making her unable tond a direct hit on me. But it only affected many and not all of her actions, so I was still struck by a kick and two blows from her wings. Two attacks in particr were especially bad. The wing that caught my chest made me spit blood and my left calf was kicked hard. Fortunately, I had managed to twist in time to deflect some of the force, so the kick didntnd squarely on my leg. Otherwise, bone would be sticking out of my leg right now. Even so, these injuries impaired my movements dramatically. Fortunately, the birds injuries were even worse than mine. The ice spear had hit her solidly five times, and the blow to her right wing had even ripped apart her wings tendons. Ever since that injury, she had stopped using her right wing when attacking me, and she couldnt take to the air anymore. She probably couldnt even fly properly now. The whole balcony and the small attic had beenpletely devastated by our fight. The railings were long gone, and even the floor was cracking and falling apart, so I was fast running out of sure footing. But the bird was in an even sorrier state than me. Given her huge body mass and the unstable balcony that was on the verge of copse, any step she took would cause the balcony to shudder violently. She wanted to leave, but the injury to her wing made flying difficult. I once again took advantage of that and refused to let her take to the sky. In desperation and rage, she once again rushed at me,pletely forgetting the lessons learned from the past. Id used her momentum against her quite a few times already to seed in stabbing my long spear through her scales. I thrust the long spear at her, but to my dismay, the spearhead snapped off! My pupils shrank in shock. Shit, this long spear wasnt sturdy enough, but I didnt have much in the way of choice. Even without the spearhead, the jagged top of the staff should still be able to hurt her. Enraged, the birdpletely disregarded that the long spear had stabbed into her flesh, and she became even crazier. Another portion of my broken spear snapped off. As expected, the ice became much more fragile the moment there was a crack. I gritted my teeth, ignoring the crack, and jammed in the remaining length of the spear into her. By now, the bird and I were close enough that she could just open her beak and bite at me. And she did just that. I immediately jerked my head to one side, and at the same time, kicked hard at the end of the spear jutting out of her. The spear went in even deeper, but I lost my bnce as a result, and her beak mmed hard against my chest. This blow was so heavy that the wind was knocked out of me. Everything started to go dark, and if not for the fact that I could hear the impact of the beak against the shard of ice protecting my heart, Id have thought I was dead. The long spear had gone right into the birds chest, with only half of it still exposed outside, but still the bird continued attacking me. An aberrants tenacity to life couldnt be underestimated at all. Not daring to kick the spear in any further, I could only attack the birds head while dodging her attacks, wringing out everyst drop of ice energy to use against her. But the bird seemed to have made up her mind in her fury, and charged at me like she was determined to drag me to hell, even if it meant dying herself. As I was forced back to the edge of the balcony, I propped my feet against the stumps of the railings. Both of us were preparing for the final showdown in this fight between caged beasts, and only one of us was going to make it out of this alive! The white-necked carrion-bloom bird gave a sorrowful cry to the sky, then ducked down its head to peck at me, but I had grabbed onto her lower beak, channeling my ice powers with all my might. Even if I wasnt as physically strong as the bird, I made up for it with the help of the freezing cold! The birds beak drew closer and closer, until its tip touched my forehead. With the sound of shattering ice, pain stabbed at my forehead. This was once again another tug-of-war, a war where we were wagering our lives. Either she pecked through my skull, or I turned her brains into frozen tofu! Suddenly, pping wings sounded all around me. Shit, this darned birds sorrowful cry was a cry for help! I was trapped between a rock and a hard ce, and the momentarypse of concentration triggered a wave of pain to my forehead. I hastily focused my mind and ignored everything else. The bird before me was my true enemy, and once I had dealt with her, none of the other birds really posed any threat to me I could see my own reflection in her huge pupils, my face screwed up like a devils and not a trace of any of Jiang Shuyus handsomeness to be seen. In the apocalypse, the only path for survival was to turn yourself into a devil. I didnt reincarnate to die at the wings of a bird! Holding nothing back, I forced out all my ice energy in one explosive st. What followed was an intense headache. For a moment, I couldnt tell if this was the pain from expending all of my power or the pain from my skull bursting open rg, watch out! I was a little disorientated, then there was a sudden explosion of light, a very familiar light, apanied by an equally familiar crackling. I rxed and dropped onto my backside, then looked up to gaze at my first true enemy in this life. She had already turned into a bird-shaped ice sculpture. I couldnt help butugh, and delight welled up in my heart. Crick crackle crackle. The person being squashed by a bird expressed his extreme discontent, especially since this bird had a wingspan of two meters and, furthermore, smelled extremely burnt. G! Shujun rushed over and kicked away the charred bird corpse in a very undylike manner. Then, she helped me up, and as she looked over my wounds, her expression turned both frustrated and furious. If not for where we were and my current condition, I was positive that she would start beating her rg while crying. I told you not to get hurt, so why did you get so many injuries? I could onlyugh dryly. Hows it possible not to get injured? Im lucky to be alive. Howd youe so quickly? I looked away evasively and changed the subject, hoping to divert Shujuns attention to something else. After all, when the white-necked carrion-bloom bird had called over the flock, I hadnt been able to afford to focus on anything except for her. My only hope was that Dg and the others would help shoot them down, but I had never imagined that the first person to arrive would be Shujun. With one st of lightning, she had turned a bunch of birds into charcoal, so charred that they had be inedible. Shujun carefully helped me up into a sitting position and said unhappily, Dg told me to keep an eye on you. He said that youd definitely do something crazy, and that you would only restrain yourself if I was next to you. Dg really is a big brother who knows what makes his ddi tick. I didnt dare give a response to Shujuns words. Shujun stared at my numerous wounds and didnt dare move me too much. After some hesitation, she still ended up speaking. rg, Ill help you off this ce. It looks dangerous, like itll copse at any moment. I nodded. Although every part of me was aching, the balcony was already swaying, and if I really did drop from here, it would hurt even more. I stood up, ncing at the corpse of the white-necked carrion-bloom bird uneasily. Junjun, I can manage going down myself. Call Dg over and get this birds crystal out. Although it was thoroughly frozen, it was hard to say whether or not the bird could revive if we defrosted it. But Id been too traumatized by how terrible the Jiang familys luck was, so I wanted to deal with the problem as soon as possible and not leave anything to chance. Shujun looked very worried, so I quickly took a few steps and ended up aching so much that I almost grimaced. Without any life-threatening danger to distract me, I discovered that every part of me was in agony. I forced a smile, and only then did Shujun reluctantly say, Fine, Ill call Dg over. She turned, and just when I was about to follow, my chest tightened. I instinctively looked up at the sky. A ck shadow was rushing at us. With no time to worry about the pain in my body, I rushed forward to push Shujun to one side, then I felt a powerful force m into me. Splintering sounds came from my chest, and I sprawled onto the floor. The blow was so strong that it knocked out all the air from my lungs, and I couldnt breathe even with my mouth open. I felt like I was suffocating. Just how bad are the wounds to my chest As I slipped into unconsciousness, another memory of the story I had heard before came to mind in the most untimely manner. Maam, yknow, this carrion-bloom bird isnt something you want to mess with. Even if you win in a fight against it, dont engage unless you have to. Those birdse in pairs with their mates, so if theres one, theres bound to be another around. And they will definitely be of the same tier. rg! No! I heard the faint shriek from Shujun, but it seemed to fade into the distance. Am I going to pass out again? No, I cant. If I pass out now, then Im as good as dead. I cant faint, I cant Volume 2, 4: The Jin Family

Volume 2, Chapter 4: The Jin Family

Trantor: Elkin (proofread by Arcedemius & Trespasserby; C/E edited by lucathia) Bang! My eyes flew open and I sucked in a deep, sharp breath. The air surging into my lungs triggered a coughing fit, and I started coughing like I was hacking up my lungs. It was only when I finally caught my breath that I had the energy to look around to figure out what had happened. Every part of me was in absolute agony, proof that I wasnt dead yet. However, the darkness threatening to swallow my vision was a sign that I was injured very, very seriously. The pain had been bad enough before I had passed out, but the dial was now cranked up a few more notches. My chest had even lost all sensation. I blinked quickly, clearing the blood that had trickled into my eye. It didnt help much. I was still looking at a sea of red, but I could just about make out my surroundings. The first things that came into sight were high-rise buildings. I was surrounded by abandoned cars, and the majority of shops lining either side of the road had broken windows. Garbage littered the road. The city was a picture of destion. This is the city? A chill crept into my heart as I realized that I was lying by the roadside, drenched in blood. If I justy out in the open, a tasty tier one morsel in this city where aberrants roamed freely, wasnt I just asking to be eaten? Move! Rolling over took all the energy I could muster. The moment my chest hit the pavement, agony ripped through me, almost sending me back to unconsciousness. Something didnt feel right. Then, the memory of being crushed by the bird and the sound of something shattering rushed back to me. I touched my chest. The ice shard had been smashed to smithereens, leaving behind fragmented bits stuck to my skin. When I also remembered that my new ice spear had snapped, I wanted to cry. Why is making a weapon so hard? But right now, survival was my top priority. Wheres that bird? I looked around. There were a few crimson feathers and scales on the ground, but luckily for me, there was no sign of the bird. No, this isnt lucky. In my current condition, Id probably die even at the ws of normal aberrants, so the presence or absence of the bird hardly makes a difference Whos there?! The voice sent a shock of adrenaline rushing through me. I looked up to see a woman walking out from behind a car, her gaze on me full of astonishment. She had a gun in one hand and the other was on fire. She was way cooler than Cain. We had Lily, Yunqian, Shujun and now, a few months into the apocalypse, a woman so hot that she literally caught fire. Dont tell me that all the people in this world are so powerful? What happened to the tragic fates of women in the apocalypse? A million thoughts shed to my mind that boiled down to one word: Help. The woman watched me in silence, showing no reaction whatsoever. P-please, help me I begged in the most pitiful way possible, thinking back to the various poses and expressions I had made in front of the mirror and trying to adopt the most handsome look that would best garner peoples sympathy. I could only hope that my face wasnt too hopelessly disfigured, and that the waves of pain running through my body werent causing my face to twitch in time. The woman lowered her gun. As she strode over, the me in her other hand extinguished as well. I breathed a sigh of relief. Although I didnt know what kind of person she was, I had to get myself out of my current situation where I could be eaten by an aberrant at any moment. Where are you hurt? The woman knelt down. Everywhere. The moment I said that, she frowned, and I hastily added, The worst is my chest. The rest isnt too bad. Just that I couldnt move my left leg, and my right leg was so leaden that I almost couldnt lift it. Both my hands hurt so much that I felt like they had been yed open by the birds scales. And lets not forgot the periodic stabbing pain in my back. Frankly, it was easier to say where it didnt hurtprobably just my hair. The woman frowned as she said, Dont tell me youre the guy that the bird was holding onto? Yes, the red bird. To dispel her suspicions, I added a little detail. So Ive been carried into the city by the carrion-bloom bird that made histe appearance. T-this should be Zhongguan City, right? Dont tell me he took me even farther away? When she heard my words, she sighed in admiration. You sure cheated death! You arent dead even though you got caught by that bird and dropped from the sky. Believe me, Jiang Shuyu cheats death even more than you think. If it were Guan Weijun in my ce, all my encounters in this life would have killed her at least thirty times over! Feng-ji, whatre you doing over there? The woman turned around and called out, The person the bird was holding onto fell here, and hes still alive. Oh? Theres someone else? I turned to look, but the abandoned cars around me blocked most of my line of sight, not to mention that the numbness in my chest was starting to fade. The pain ballooned, growing more and more agonizing until it became difficult to even breathe. Hey, you okay? asked the woman as she looked back at me, her voice tinged with a hint of worry. Y-yeah. Her question yanked my slipping consciousness back, and I struggled to stay awake. If I fainted now, Id probably get left here. I cant afford to faint! As if. Your face is white as paper. A few silhouettes came over, but I could no longer make out their features. To be honest, I hadnt paid much attention to the womans looks either; my body ached so much that I couldnt concentrate at all. Suddenly, someone lifted me up in an embrace. The huge action made the pain in my chest explode, and I couldnt help but keen in pain. Hey, dont pass out! Stick with us! With injuries like this, this guys a goner for sure. You really want to take him back? Shut your trap! the woman growled. When I heard that, I finally rxed. This woman definitely wont abandon me to my fate. That was why I kept saying that it was good to be born with good looks. Thanks to Jiang Shuyus awesome looks, I could happily pass out. Xiao Yu. Mm? There was a sudden change in scenery. I was in some kind of backyard? I wanted to crane my head to look around, but my body refused to listen, moving toward some destination under its own volition. I panicked, but just as I was about to struggle, the sight of a certain person put my mindpletely at ease. It was Dg, except he looked to be around twenty. I was dreaming about Jiang Shuyus past again, so I was probably unconscious. Dg beamed happily at me. Although he looked young, he had grown quite tall, and he purposely crouched down to speak to me. Xiao Yu, Im thinking of setting up a mercenary troop. What do you think? The Dg before me might have been even younger than Id thought. He didnt possess the same gravity, and the moment he spoke about setting up a mercenary troop, his eyes sparkled with excitement. This was weirding me out a little, but at the same time, this was quite novel. Then, I spoke up in an angry, boyish voice. No! Dg looked like he had had cold water dumped on him, and he said with a frown, Why? Do you think I cant do it? I suddenly started bouncing around crazily, and my pubescent voice forcefully roared like a lion cubs, Last time, you said that you were going to join the mercenaries. And then what happened? In the past three years, have you even spent three months at home? Once you set up a mercenary troop, will you even remember that you have a ddi and mimei? Forget about me, I dont care about you, but Junjun will miss you! Dg exined, a guilty look on his face, The missions arent short, you know. Ive just started my career, so I need to go on more missions and umte more experience. I waved my hand dismissively and eximed, Dg, you joined the mercenaries the moment you graduated from high school. Now that we dont have any more money problems at home, you should go to university! Dg replied in a troubled tone of voice, Im not really interested in studying. Its enough if you do the studying. Knowledge is power! G, if you want to set up a mercenary troop, thats fine by me. But first, get through university! He said helplessly, I need to do mercenary work, so where can I find time to study? I nodded, knowing that there was no way that he would abandon his budding mercenary career to go to university. So Ipromised, You can study at the National Open University. You only have to attend sses every few months. Ive already researched it for you. Dg finally started to frown and made a rare expression of discontent to his ddi. Xiao Yu, this is my life. I can make my own decisions about what I want to do. I ignored him and whipped out an application form. The United Command and Staff College. I managed to sign you up to some intermediary Command and Staff courses through Dads friends. If you score well, Ill think of something. We should be able to get you promoted into the advanced courses. I thought hard, the long list of Dads friends and contacts shing through my mind. Then, I went through Moms friends and contacts as well and concluded that there werent any issues in that respect. So the only question was whether Dgs scores were good enough. After all, I couldnt turn a zero into one hundred through back doors. Mom and Dad had some really good friends, so it wouldnt be hard to get him a score of a hundred if we really needed to. But if some other people purposely wanted to make life hard for us, wed run into a lot of problems, so I couldnt do that. Dg gripped the application information, ring at me. I dered triumphantly, If you want to set up a mercenary troop, youll need tomand it, right? If you want to lead a mercenary troop, its not enough to just rely on individualbat ability! Dg continued scowling at me, and managed through ground teeth, How old are you? Nine years your junior, I replied in a matter-of-fact voice. I seem to be twenty this year. I nodded gravely, saying, So if you dont study now, youll never make it in time. Make it in time for what? I tilted my head to one side, unable to reply to that, so I ended up saying, You can make a lot of useful connections at the Command and Staff College. The earlier you meet them, the earlier theylle in handy. Youre almost scary in how bright you are, Dg said, clutching his head. Mom had hoped that youd be more like an innocent, carefree child. I rolled my eyes at him. If I was innocent and carefree, do you think youd have been able to run around the world as a mercenary three years ago, Dg? Dont be greedy and wish for the world, too. Fair enough. Dg gave a wryugh and said helplessly, All right, if its this kind of college, then Ill go. But this way, Ill spend even less time at home. Is that fine with you? I nodded. We didnt have a choice. He had Jiang blood running through his veins, which meant he was always on the hunt for danger. He took to mercenary work like a fish to water, and if not for me and Shujun, hed probably nevere back home. Id known for some time that hed want his own mercenary troop; otherwise, I wouldnt have picked this subject for him to study. The more powerful Dg and his troop became, the less likelihood of any incidents happening. I had this nagging feeling that something was going to happen, some big trouble. I frowned. Ever since I was little, Id never quite understood why I became frightened whenever I thought about the future. Dg sighed. Then, help me take care of Shujun. Like you need to tell me! Junjuns much more important than you. Ive already picked which middle and high school she will attend. As for university, Ill have to wait to see what her interests are before deciding where she should go. Haha! Dg burst into a bout ofughter, then shook his head helplessly. Shuyu, honestly. You dont have to worry about everything, you know? If you just stayed at home, went to a normal university and became a normal office drone who worked from nine to five, I wouldnt have to worry as much. Then please, worry more. I sighed and said, Fine, its not like I have a choice. Youre my dg, after all! Like hell Im your dg. I jolted. Are you actually awake or are you sleep talking? I slowly turned my head to the speaker. She was sitting next to the bed and leaning over to look down at me. But I couldnt quite make out her face because Miss, your boobs are in the way! She was wearing a sleeveless leather vest and had a belt made out of the same leather wrapped around her waist,plete with gun holsters. She looked to be a very awe-inspiring woman, and in her current get-up, she could star in an action film. A kick-ass heroine with huge boobs is just perfect! Wait a sec, this isnt a movie, right? Its not that farfetched for me to have died again and traveled to another world, or even to a world inside a movie, going by my crazy experiences so far. But please, no! I dont want to leave Dg and Shujun! I tried to get up, wanting to check whether or not I was still Jiang Shuyu. Dont move, youre injured real bad, the woman said with a frown. If we didnt have medical facilities in this house and a family doc who can do surgeries, youd be dead. How can you possibly have such good medical facilities, to the point where your family doctor can perform surgeries? Just who are you? Is this Zhongguan City? I prayed hard. I had to be in my original world. No matter how good a new world could be, it still wouldnt beat Dg and Shujun! Thankfully, the woman gave an affirmative mm. I breathed a huge sigh of relief and immediatelyy back in bed, because my chest was on fire and I didnt have any more energy to prop myself up. The woman snapped angrily, Youve broken eight ribs, and even the ones that arent broken have cracks. And you still wanna move around recklessly? You have a death wish? If you wanna die, just let me know. Ill send you off with a bullet. I froze, not daring to move an inch. The woman sat back down on the edge of the bed, and now I could finally see her face free from the orbstacles. She had long hair, tied back into an extremely neat, high ponytail. The first things that leaped out from her face were her thick, straight eyebrows, making her look handsome, and below her eyes were a long nose and thin, red lips. What a handsome woman! Strange as it was to describe a woman as handsome, no other word was more appropriate. She was both handsome and cool, and if you went by just her face, people would believe it even if you said she was a man with slightly more refined and elegant features! But when coupled with her huge breasts, there was no way she could be a man. That chest of hers was even bigger than Lilys. Is it size G or an even bigger cup? The woman whacked my head hard, growling, Whatre you staring at my chest for? You asking to get shot? Ow, ow! My head was going to explode. This woman had quite the arm strength. My eyes were filling with tears. I hadnt meant to stare. But they were so in my face, and for some reason, my eyes kept drifting there. This had to be Jiang Shuyus fault. Hes a real eighteen year-old guy! Theyre just two lumps of flesh. Whats so special? the woman grumbled a little, but at least she stopped trying to bust my brains and asked in a rtively friendly manner, So, whats your name? Jiang I stopped, then changed what I was going to say, Call me Xiao Yu. Everyone calls me that. Previously, that invading mercenary troop only had to hear the surname Jiang to guess that I was Jiang Shutians ddi, and they even used me as a hostage. Now that I was injured so badly, I had to be extra careful. I couldnt let anyone bring harm to Dg and the others. Im Jin Feng, the woman said simply, then looked me up and down and nodded. Xiao Yu suits you quite well. You look just like a guy whos as soft as a feather. Its the Yu from universe. Jin Feng gave a careless nod and just stared at me. I didnt bother asking her what she was staring at, eithere on, shes looking at Jiang Shuyus face. Does that even need to be asked? With her two eyes boring into me unrelentingly, I thanked her while feeling a little awkward, Um, thanks for saving me. Jin Feng tilted her head as she continued staring at me, then smiled and remarked, Thank your face. Done that already. With your looks, why havent you be a celebrity? She paused, then asked suspiciously, You havent gone down that path yet, right? I dont really know the small-time celebrities. No, I just got into university. I never imagined the world would be like this. I tried my best to look like I was depressed and close to tears. I tried to imagine how an eighteen year-old young man would behave in the face of an apocalypse but drew a nk. Young men from ten yearster were hardlyparable, and I hadnt seen any normal young men since my reincarnation. Yes, there was a Lu Renjie, but too bad, he wasnt normal either. Jin Feng ruffled my hair, reminding me of Dg. They had to be out of their minds with worry about me. I wondered how far this ce was from home. Carrion-bloom birds flew very quickly, so Dg and the others wouldnt have been able to keep up. They were probably frantically looking everywhere for me, but the way things were, I couldnt even get out of bed and had no way of recovering mybat power quickly. Not to mention this was Zhongguan City, the most dangerous area, the urban district A strange feeling struck me, and I looked around hurriedly. This room was massive, even bigger than ours, but the decor was extremely simple. The color scheme was predominantly ck and white, the style quite simr to Dgs room. More importantly, it didnt have the ragged look that a room in the apocalypse should haveit was just an extremely simple, spacious room. Where is this? I was dazed. Just who on earth is this rescuer of mine? My room, Jin Feng replied simply. I was a little surprised. This room is like my dgs, but its actually yours? All right, youre so handsome and cool that it actually isnt that strange for this room to be yours. And what about more generally? The office building my family owns. I could only ask with additional precision and exactness, Where in Zhongguan City are we? North Avenue district. I frowned. North Avenue district? Shit, it doesnt ring any bells. Before, I hadnt nned on venturing that far, so Id only studied the maps around our home area and hadnt started looking through the roads in Zhongguan City. I looked at Jin Feng, to see her gazing at me with a relishing look in her eyes. I started, and quickly spoke in a fearful tone of voice, Is there a map I can look at? I want to see how far the bird carried me. Jin Feng didnt seem to mind as she nodded. Throughout the entire conversation, she had been staring at my face the whole time. But she did so openly and without a trace of ill will, as though she were just admiring a model in a magazine. Besides, since she was only looking without touching, I was much more at ease about the whole thing. Ill grab the map and get you something to eat and drink while Im at it. With that, she once again leaned in close, and murmured by my ear, Youre pretty good at pretending to be a helpless little boy, but you went and spoiled it by asking for a map first instead of food. Tell me, why would a helpless little boy like you want a map more than food after waking from such terrible injuries? Once again, I was reminded that my acting skills were zero. But with injuries all over and being stuck in a strange ce, Im hardly in a position to leap up and be the big Man, so what else can I do aside from pretend to be a helpless little boy? I could only look innocently at Jin Feng. Even if I couldnt act, at least I had this face of mine C at least I can be a pretty face, right? She gave augh and stopped critiquing my acting. She just patted my cheek, then stood up and headed to the door. I almost wanted to touch this overpowered face of mine, in absolute disbelief that this face hadnt gotten all scratched and ripped up from the battle to the point where it was no longer presentable. It had even saved my life, so it seemed the Jiang familys luck really wasnt that bad Ugh, my hand hurt. I had better not touch it after all. I turned to watch Jin Feng. It was only when she was a little distance away that I could see her full body clearly. She really was tall and slender, probably reaching over 170 centimeters in height. She was wearing riding breeches and long, leather boots, which showed off her incredibly long legs. Without noticing, my eyes had drifted to her butt. Her butt wasnt as full as her breasts but rather was quite petite, yet at the same time, firm and perky. And her long pony tail even brushed back and forth across that area with every move she made Jin Feng suddenly spun around, and I froze, quickly averting my eyes. She gave a smile that was not quite a smile as she looked at me. Did she find out that I was peeking at her butt? If someone says youre my man, just go with it. With a face like yours, if you dont have someone to protect you Yeah, I think you get it, too. I nodded, grimacing. Jin Feng walked out of the room, and just as the door was closing, I snuck a look outside. No one was standing watch, so it seemed like I wasnt being kept prisoner Or they simply thought that my injuries were so bad that they didnt need to have someone watching over me. Rather, if they just let me be, I might just snuff it. Seizing the chance, I looked over my injuries and my face darkened. That exined why no one was on guard outside. If an ordinary person had gotten these injuries, theyd be confined to bed rest for at least a month, so how could I possibly run away? That also exined why Jin Feng didnt think of me as a helpless little boy. I should have just moaned in pain three times for every sentence I spoke to match my pitiful image of a helpless little boy. Even for me, Id need at least five days before I could leave the bed. But it wasnt enough to just climb out of it. This was the city, which was much more dangerous than the suburbs, and there was also the fact that I was even a Jiang, which meant the danger levels probably tripled. If I didnt recover to seventy or eighty percent of my full strength, I probably wouldnt make it out of the city. Although I really wanted to rush back to Shujun and Dg, Id just be dooming myself if I left prematurely. If only Dg were here. With his healing abilities, my recovery time would at least be halved, but then again, if Dg were here, all Id need to do is just lie back and rx. As if Id even need to worry about recovery time! Sigh, whatever. They had Dg, Shujun with her godly lightning abilities, a group of superb mercenaries who had progressed pretty well in training their powers, and a whole bunch of weapons, so they should be fine. The problem was more me, so I was better off worrying about my own injuries. Dg and the others would be fine. I thought hard about what to do. Right, if I have evolution crystals, I would be able to recover quicker. I touched my chest. As expected, the ice crystal bottle used to hold the crystals was gone, but I didnt think for a moment that it had been taken away from me. That intense battle had even shattered the ice shard that protected my heart, and the ice crystal bottle was nowhere near as hard as my ice spear, so it would have been strange if it had survived the fight. Gazing at the ceiling, I thought back to what had happened before I had fainted the second time. I had seen Jin Fengs hand ame, and that was in no way an oversized lighter. I could sense that that power was strong enough to kill. Although it wasnt quite first tier, she could trump our mercenaries any time. So, do these people know about evolution crystals? As I was thinking, someone entered the room. It wasnt Jin Feng, but a man. He ced a tray next to the bed, looking over my face with a rather ambiguous look on his face, or perhaps even with a little scorn? I didnt dare to bring out my zero-point acting skills, and so simply watched him with a little wariness. Hmph, boy toy, he muttered to himself then left. I remained silent, then, hearing no soundsing from outside the door, I immediately snatched up the map. The moment I looked at it, my brows knitted tight enough to kill a mosquito. As the name itself indicated, North Avenue district was in the northern part of Zhongguan City, but our home was in the east side, close to the south. It was better than if we were in exact opposite directions. After fully experiencing the luck of the Jiang family, I had been fully prepared for the possibility that Id have to trek from one end of the city to the other to get home. Although things looked to be much better than that, I still needed to travel through a third of Zhongguan City. If I could drive through the city without any traffic, it would probably take an hour, but when this was a city filled with aberrants, it was possible that I wouldnt be able to get home even within a lifetime. Worse still, Dg had said that they had had no way of leaving the city by car back then because the roads were clogged with traffic, so the road conditions had to be even worse by now. The other route was to leave the city and go around from the outside. While that would make the traveling distance a lot longer, it was the safer route by far. I silentlymitted the two routes to memory, then I returned the map and sipped some water using the straw. I didnt touch any of the food, however. Going from my current condition, I shouldnt be able to eat stuff by myself. Although Jin Feng had said I was pretending to be sad and helpless, I was pretty sure she didnt know exactly how strong I was. Then again, I couldnt possibly be strong with these kinds of injuries. Suddenly, loud voices came from outside, though muffled by the door. After all, the door was shut and the sound-proofing wasnt too shabby either, so I had to listen hard to make out what was being said. Although I hadnt chosen the evolution path of strengthening my body, after experiencing the ck fog, humanity no, all living creatures had be better and stronger. The more you experienced the ck fog, the stronger you became. But as you became stronger, so did everyone and everything else, so youd be eliminated by thepetition if you didnt strengthen yourself quickly enough. And this was a true elimination where you wouldnt even leave a corpse behind, because it would be picked clean. Aside from that, as you ate more evolution crystals, not only would you grow taller and more beautiful, youd even be smart enough to score full marksjust kidding. In any case, even if I hadnt chosen to strengthen myself physically with my powers, my body would still improve in all aspects. Otherwise, how could I have developed betterbat moves than mercenaries who had experienced the same ck fog, after just a few months of training? Even if I had the knowledge, my body wouldnt be able to catch up otherwise. Anyway, enough BS. In short, I could hear what was being discussed by the people shouting outside by concentrating on my hearing. No one should have reached the stage of realizing that everyone had be stronger, so the girls probably thought that I couldnt hear a thing from inside the room. If I hadnt eaten so many evolution crystals, I really wouldnt have been able to make out the words. Unfortunately for them, I had been eating evolution crystals like rice since the beginning of the apocalypse. Sis, dont tell me youve really fallen for that boy toy? Boy toy probably means me? Id directly skipped over from a helpless little boy to a boy toy. But that was fine by me. People might not necessarily want a helpless little boy, but a boy toy had its fans. Hes called Xiao Yu. This was probably Jin Feng speaking. Who cares what hes called?! Hes just a useless boy toy! Xiaoyue, youre bing wilder and wilder. Despite the meaning in Jin Fengs words, she didnt sound unhappy. Even someone whos hardly at home like G says youve changed a lot. I-I was just Xiaoyues voice softened, and I almost couldnt catch her words. I focused even more of my energy on eavesdropping. Im just worried about you, Sis. Jin Feng spoke with amusement, I never said that it was a bad thing. Ever since you were little, youve had poor health. Mom treated you preciously, so you grew up like a dainty white flower. I couldnt even be bothered to talk to you. But I didnt think that youd turn so wild after that fog came. Quite the unexpected bonus. I just lost my memories. I dont remember my past, so forget that past me. The me right now is the real me! Since when did losing your memories be somonce? Ive never heard of the ck fog making people amnesic! Cool, Jin Feng said carelessly. Anyway, I prefer this you as well, but remember to put on an act in front of Mom. You know shes not used to your current personality, and she keeps insisting that youre not you. Like it matters! Xiaoyue snapped back impatiently, Sis, throw out that boy toy already! Didnt I tell you, you absolutely have to get together with Jiang Shutian?! It was strange to hear Dgs name unexpectedly pop up in the conversation. Dont tell me this Xiaoyue knows my dg, and is even nning on introducing her sister to my dg? But I have to say, good taste! But Im not that bad either. I suddenly felt a little jealous. Jin Feng said with irritation, How can I get together with that Jiang Shutian if Ive never even met him before? Jin Xiaoyue quickly said, Youll definitely meet him in the future. Brother already said he lives nearby. Sis, you know, thats the Ice Emperor, Jiang Shutian! What? I felt like Id been struck by lightning. Jin Feng sighed and said helplessly, Another one of your dreams? Yes! Xiaoyue eximed excitedly, We already have the Thunder God, Jin Zhan, so once we have the Ice Emperor, Jiang Shutian, we can rule the world! So remember that boy toy of yours is for ying only, okay? Dont think of something stupid like getting together for real with him. That kind of freeloading moochers useless. Thunder God Jin Zhan is it now? Jin was indeed a very rare surname, and although I still couldnt remember the name, it sounded vaguely familiar. So it might be that. Xiao Yu doesnt seem that weak. He doesnt evenin despite all those injurieshes definitely stronger than most people. Jin Feng remarked breezily, And even if hes a moocher, so what? I have the ability to let him mooch off me. If I were a man, Id probably explode with fury after hearing this Xiaoyue continually insult me with moocher and boy toy. Thankfully, I was a woman on the inside. No woman would object to being called pretty. To be a boy toy, Id have to have an attractive face! Sis, Jiang Shutians definitely a hundred times better than him! Since G actually knows the Ice Emperor, you have to seize this chance! When you need him the most, even if you walk until your feet fell off, there wont be any sign of Ice Emperor Jiang Shutian. But then hell pop up in the most unexpected of ces when you arent even looking! But wait, Dg is a healer! I frowned. Whats going on with this Xiaoyue? Dont tell me this is another kind of ability? Abilities had alwayse in all shapes and forms, so it wasnt impossible to have the ability to have prophetic dreams. But Dg is a healer, so just how urate are her predictions? Then again, she was able toe up with the Thunder God and Ice Emperor How am I supposed to seize the chance when I dont even know where he is? Besides, based on what G said, he likes calling all the shots. Ive got zero interest in guys like that. No wonder Im lying on your bed. You dont like a man whos a real man, but meek little guys like me? Of course he calls all the shots, Jin Xiaoyue grated through ground teeth. Hes the Ice Emperor, Jiang Shutian! Speaking of the Ice Emperor, didnt you say that you dreamed he was in cia? But as it turns out, G said hes in Meisia. So maybe your dreams arent that urate. I couldnt help but nod in agreement. Thats right. Dgs a healer, so how can he be the Ice Emperor? Jin Xiaoyue actually growled deeply in a girls voice, Theres no mistake. Ice Emperor Jiang Shutian, Thunder God Jin Zhan, me King Debert. These are the three elites of humanity! She knows about the elites? And she even knows the name of the me King. I wasnt aware that prophetic dreams are soprehensive? And this is just the start of the apocalypse. If she can learn so much through her abilities already, this is more than just talent, she can directly ascend to godhood! This Xiaoyue, the amnesic Xiaoyue. Perhaps shes the same as me? But Jiang Shutian is in Meisia. G already told us that Jiang Shutian personally came to buy firearms from him on the day of the ck fog. Calm down and think. Dg is indeed here, but if not for the fact that the reincarnated me had forced him toe back, hed probably be in cia, like Xiaoyue said. But Dgs ability isnt ice, but healingwait, Dg probably gained healing abilities because he wanted to heal his own ddi too much. If he didnte back to Meisia, he wouldnt need to heal me, so he mightve gained ice powers instead? This was a huge revtion. Yes, this Jin Xiaoyue doesnt have prophetic dreams. She had probably reincarnated, like me, but I didnt know if she was an original resident in this world or a resident of my world. This whole parallel universe thing was tooplex for me. Xiaoyue enunciated every word with firm decisiveness, It doesnt matter which continent Jiang Shutian is on. What matters is that he will be the Ice Emperor in the future, and we have to get hold of him! Hearing her words, my head started hurting even more than my chest. Of the three elites of humanity, one of them has been knocked out by butterfly effect little old me created? Suddenly, I felt a huge pressure crushing me. I had to be strong enough to fill in the shoes left by the missing Ice Emperor; otherwise, Id be the ultimate criminal of all history for making humanity only have two elites leftno, Id be the future ultimate criminal. Jin Feng said coolly, If G and Jiang Shutian are the Thunder God and Ice Emperor respectively, then theyd never be able to ally together. You can only have one leader in a team. That wont be a problem once you be Jiang Shutians woman! I frowned. I felt like there was something off about this, but I couldnt quite put my finger on exactly what it was. There was some silence before Jin Feng finally spoke. Xiaoyue, its good that youve be more unrestrained, but its not nice to be so pushy. Youre treating your own sister like a pawn. Sorry, I-I was just worried about the future. Jin Feng responded with mm, then reminded her anxiously, Remember to act like a good girl in front of Mom, okay? Otherwise shell start crying when she sees you, and G wont be happy. Fine, Xiaoyue said reluctantly. It became quiet outside again, but soon enough, Jin Feng pushed open the door and entered. I thought you were nning to chat all day outside. I gave her puppy eyes, then looked at the food on the table. Im so hungry. Jin Feng chuckled and came by the bed. She picked up the bowl and started spoon-feeding me the rice porridge, which had bits of minced meat inside. After being left in the open for so long, it had cooled down to the perfect temperature for eating. After eating and drinking my fill, I gave a content sigh, then looked at Jin Feng next to me and asked in puzzlement, Why are you so nice to me? Even with this face of mine, theres no need to personally spoon-feed me, you know. Youre the younger sister of Thunder God Jin Zhan! I cant bear such a heavy responsibility! Jin Feng chuckled. Youre my man. Who else should I be taking care of apart from you? Um, dont tell me you have a thing for making moves on the heavily injured? Probably because I was ring at her, Jin Fengughed again and gave me another ruffle of my hair. Seriously, please stop doing that. Youll make me miss Dg and the others. Im very worried, you know! Dont worry, I will woo you the proper way. W-woo me? Okay, with a face like Jiang Shuyus, it wasnt exactly the first time that the girl was chasing after the guy. I mean, Id been chased by the school Madonna! But Madonnapletely had nothing on the Thunder Gods younger sister. Jiang Shuyu, your face is too amazing! Jin Feng methodically picked up the fruit that served as dessert: an apple. Then, she pulled out a palm-sized knife and started peeling it. The peeled skin was so thin that it was translucent, and she peeled it in one go, creating aplete ribbon of unbroken apple skin. Butpared to the skin, I was more concerned about the apple itself. Why do you still have apples? Does your family run an apple orchard or something? Slowly and deliberately, she said, I wont force you to marry me. M-Marry? Shit, Miss, weve known each other for just a day. What kind of shotgun wedding is this? But I did feel better when I heard her say marry. She really had to have very strong morals to still think of marriage in the apocalypse. It seemed I wouldnt have to worry that I would be XXXed, which was good news for me I think? I couldnt help but steal a look at Jin Fengs chest, but she noticed it and immediately whacked me on the head again. I protested, Dont hit my head, Ill be stupid! Fine. Your broken ribs, broken hands, broken legs. Pick what you want me to hit. Okay, go for my head. Jin Fengughed and raised her hand. Just as I was bracing myself for the next hit, she rubbed my head, saying, If you agree to marriage and be my husband, then you can look all you want, anywhere you want. I wont hit you. How about it? Wait, it should be that I agree to date you, right? How did we jump straight to marriage? I looked at Jin Feng. She looked serious, without any hint that she was joking at all, so I had no choice but to reply, This is too fast. Can we discuss this after weve gotten to know each other better? Thankfully, she gave an amiable nod of her head. As I watched, Jin Feng quietly cut the apple into pieces, not the slightest bit angry at all. Only when I saw that she wasnt upset did I dare to ask, Miss Jin Feng, can I ask you a question? Call me Feng. Shoot. Oh, okay. I smoothly changed my way of addressing her. Feng, you saw me being dropped by the bird. Did you see where that red bird went? I was worried that the carrion-bloom bird would circle back to find Dg and the others. Although the bird didnt have the help of his flock, so Dg and the others should be able to manage the lone tier one carrion-bloom bird, I still couldnt help but worry about them. Jin Feng sliced the apple into tiny pieces and fed me one piece before responding, It didnt go anywhere. We took it down. With what? I was astonished. Did the Thunder God already learn how to fly? He cant be that powerful, right? Three Barretts. Theres really no point inparisons. I became a bit depressed. It seemed like the Thunder God was faring better than the Ice Emperor at this stage of the apocalypse. Then, I abruptly became upset. My dg should be the strongest! Wait, if Dg had stayed in cia instead ofing back, hed probably have kept his entire mercenary troop and could use Barretts like they were handguns, so how can he possibly lose to the Thunder God?! But because I called him back, we dont have any Barretts, and we even lost an Ice Emperor. I became even more depressed. What are you thinking about? Youre frowning real hard, Jin Feng reached out to smooth out my brow, but she frowned along with me. I was imagining the scene where I would be scorned by the whole of humanity after the truth came to light. Ten years after the apocalypse, humanity was already struggling so much even with three elites. Now that were down to two, can humanity even survive? Can I really rece Dg and be the Ice Emperor? I couldnt help but touch my chest. My hands hurt, my chest hurt even more, and there was nothing there. The ice shard had long shattered and disappeared. I had failed over and over again in creating a weapon. Feeling like the distance between the Ice Emperor and me was as far as the center of Earth and outer space, I couldnt help but sink into depression. Xiao Yu. I looked at Jin Feng. She rubbed my head, saying, Sleep. Your injuries are too severe. Dont think too much right now. The more you think, the worse itll get. So just go to bed. I looked at her and said seriously, I need a long time to recover. Nowadays, people would be abandoned even if they didnt have a scratch on them, much less someone with severe injuries. Yeah, the doc says you need a month of bed rest, and almost three months before you can make a full recovery. But I dont think youll need that long. Shit! Idpletely forgotten about the doctor. I was screwed. They would definitely find out how quickly I recovered. My original n of lying in for two weeks then running away had gone out of the window. The doctor would definitely realize something was up with just a check up! Open your mouth. More food? Am I a pig being fattened? I looked at Jin Feng with a frown, only to see a single clear crystal in her hand. An evolution crystal. Volume 2, 5: The Phoenix of Good Fortune

Volume 2, Chapter 5: The Phoenix of Good Fortune

Trantor: Elkin (proofread by Arcedemius; C/E edited by lucathia) After eating the evolution crystal, I could finally take it easy, lie back, and rx. Even if I recovered too quickly, it might be because one particr evolution crystal was especially powerful. It has nothing to do with me, okay? Lying there on the bed was extremely dull, and I really wanted to secretly slip out of bed and walk around to exercise. However, a certain somebody kept staring at me relentlessly, so I had no choice but to just lie there like a good boy. I said expressionlessly, Can you please stop staring at me? He replied with a bright smile, Nope. Dji wants me to take good care of you! I looked him over. Ben was a fourteen year old youngster who was fairly short. Fortunately for him, he wasnt too skinny or frailif anything, he looked like he carried a bit of bulk. His somewhat dark skin and sunken eyes marked him a possible mixed blood, but his extremely local ent suggested that he had grown up in this country. Although he called Jin Feng Dji, there was no way he was her little brother. Feng had mentioned that she only had an older brother, Jin Zhan, and a little sister called Jin Xiaoyue, making her the middle child. Her family structure was identical to mine No wait, what am I talking about? Fengs a girl and Im a guy, so how can we be the same? We both just happen to be part of a trio of brothers and sisters. Pretty much everyone here called Feng Dji, and this wasnt in the sense of older sister but rather, big sis, the head of a syndicate or organization. So the Thunder God was part of the triad, while Dg had his own mercenaries to lead. I wondered about the me Kings background. He probably wasnt ordinary either. No wonder they could be rulers in the apocalyptic worldthey already had established footholds in the world, so how could usmoners possiblypare? Actually, that wasnt quite true. There were plenty of people with extraordinary backgrounds, but in the end, only three of them had be humanitys elites. Anyway, all hail dgs! Regardless of whether it was my dg or Jin Fengs, they were both awesome! Besides, your expressions are pretty fun. It would be a waste not to watch! Ben remarked in amazement, No wonder Dji likes you so much. Youre good looking and interesting. If I were a girl, Id also kidnap you to be my trophy husband. I immediately wiped the emotions off my face. I wasnt kidnapped. Ben burst into hystericalughter. He was clearly pulling my leg just now. It was obvious he didnt believe me, but I couldnt care less about that. In any case, people here viewed me as the boy toy that Jin Feng had taken in under her wingand it was true. Jin Feng was giving me food, water, and evolution crystals, and in return, Iy on her bed and rested my body. If that isnt being a boy toy, what is? At night, Jin Feng woulde back to the room and even sleep next to me. If I werent so grievously injured that all she could do was stroke my face and ruffle my hair, wed have to censor what was happening! Xiao Yu, youre almost done recovering from your wounds, right? Ben asked with a grin. Like hell I am! Ive only been resting for six days! Lets see you go fight a tier-one bird and get bashed by another one. I guarantee there wont be anything left of you to bury! But I was indeed much better. My recovery speed was much faster than I had expected, and that was all thanks to the evolution crystals that Jin Feng had fed me. By now, any evolution crystals that were lower than tier one didnt help much in making me stronger, but they were more than up to the task of acting as healing remedies. You should be calling me Xiao Yu-g, I said with dissatisfaction. Ben nced at me and gave a cold sniff. Ill only call Jin G and Feng Ji. I dont give a crap about anyone else! Then, he added with a wide grin, But, if you actually got together with my dji, then I canpromise and call you brother-inw. What about Jin Xiaoyue? I was extremely curious about this girl who seemed to have reincarnated as well. Id originally thought that since she so strongly objected to me, she woulde rushing in to give me a huge scolding, but in the end, I never saw hide nor hair of her. For the past six days, the only people Id seen were Ben and the people delivering the food. Bens smile stiffened and, scratching his head, he remarked, Ive never really spoken to the Missus. I mean, Ive only ever seen her a few times. If not for this situation, a well-educated university student like her wouldve nevere to our gang. Besides, Missus was always weak and sickly, so Jin-g forbade her froming over, because he thought that us gangsters would freak her out. Weak? Sickly? That sure wasnt what she sounded like that day. Although she definitely had the bell-like voice of a girl, she was shouting pretty loudly without a trace of fragility anywhere to be heard Wait, if shes like me and reincarnated once, is she still herself? Thinking back to the conversation that day, I suddenly felt that this Xiaoyue was probably no longer the Xiaoyue theyd known. But while I hade clean to Dg and Shujun, Jin Xiaoyue had chosen to hide it, using amnesia and dreams as cover ups. No wonder Jin Feng had already trained herself to be even stronger than the mercenaries at this stage of the apocalypse. With tips from Jin Xiaoyue and the support of the triad, she probably ate more evolution crystals than our mercenaries. I mean, she even had enough to feed her little boy toy, though she probably hadnt reached tier one yet. I had to wonder how fast Jin Zhan had progressed. Just as I was pondering that question, the door opened. I looked over with a little suspicion. It wasnt meal time just yetcould Jin Feng be back? Even Ben, who was sitting to one side, stood up with a smile, evidently thinking the same thing as me. But instead of a well-endowed, cool woman, we got a big, buff Hulk instead. Hulk was both tall and wide, with huge, bulging muscles. On first nce, youd have mistaken him for a walking mountain. Even I was turned off by how much muscle there was, and this wasing from someone who could drool at the sight of my own dgs biceps. This muscled guy was too eye catching, so it was not until he stepped into the room that I spotted another man standing next to him. He looked much more normal, a bespectacled man with a cold expression. When he stared at me, he made no effort whatsoever to hide his look of disgust. There was even some hatred mixed into his expression. I frowned. Id gotten quite a lot of cold looks this past little while, aside from Jin Feng and Ben. Everyone serving my meals had given me varying looks of disdain, but never to the extent of hatred. I mean, what is there to hate about a boy toy who is so badly injured? It might have been a different story if they knew that I was eating evolution crystals, but Jin Feng had specifically told me not to tell anyone else about it. Shed even banned the doctor froming to check on my injuries, and shed personally helped me change my bandages after she returned each night, all to conceal the fact that I was recovering way too quickly from my injuries. Back then, Jin Feng had said, Its not a big deal if they find out, really. Its just a pain in the ass if some of the guys start kicking up a fuss. Anyway, if you feel like somethings not right with your wounds, let me know and Ill get the doc to look at you. But no doctor visits was exactly what Id wanted, so Id immediately sworn to her that I would never let the cat out of the bag. Jin Feng had ruffled my hair then and just said, Good boy. That had troubled me greatly so I wasnt a boy toy but a pet? Oldman Jun and Hu Zong? Whatre you doing here? Ben asked suspiciously, I dont think Feng-ji asked you guys toe? Hulk said roughly, Jus wanna see what this bastard who dares to sleep in Feng-jis room looks like. Ben snorted and asked mockingly, Oldman Jun, since when did you be interested in guys as well? Hulk immediately exploded with fury, roaring, Who th fuck are ya sayin is into guys?! I suddenly worried that the Hulk known as Oldman Jun would charge in to knock Ben down, but Ben didnt seem at all concerned. He just continued sitting by the bed with a broad grin, clearly unafraid of pissing off these guys. He even continued poking fun at the other guy. Hu Zong, cmon, watcha looking so angry for? Snot like I owe you a million or something. Cmon, gimme a smile. Hu Zongs expression darkened even further, and he said coldly, Ben, so youre on the side of that boy toy? Ben only stands on two peoples sidesJin-gs and Feng-jis. Everyone else, forget about me standing on their side, Id even kick them down to hell if need be! As for this guy, hes under Feng-jis protection, so if you got a problem with that, go say it to Djis face. I mean, guys,ing here to bully a poor little patient we kidnapped from the streets? Really now? I really wasnt kidnapped, okay?! Whats more, Jin Feng is my savior, so I feel bad that everyone is casting her to be some brutish woman who kidnapped an innocent, pretty boy for herself! But namedropping Jin Feng was extremely effective. Hu Zong scowled and even a buff guy like Oldman Jun immediately started to give off nervous vibes and no longer dared to raise his voice. Ben gave a disdainful snort, then said huffily, Guys, I think youve gotten the situation the wrong way around. Since when could anyone eveny a finger on Feng-ji? Its always been Dji getting her hands on whatever she wanted. You think that this fellow lying there on the bed would even have a say in the matter? I continued maintaining my stoic silence. Oldman Jun couldnt rebut that at all, so he changed the subject and grumbled, Whats so good bout this boy toy? The only thing hes got goin is his face! Ben replied boldly, Yup, Dji likes that face of his. So if youve got balls, go get stic surgery. Maybe then youll have a chance of winning Djis heart! Are you trying to scare the crap out of someone, putting my face on top of that mountain-like, muscr body? Oldman Juns face went white, and he immediately retorted, Like hell I wanna win Djis heart! Dont go spoutin that bullshit! Once Jin-g is back, hell definitely gut that boy! I started. He was absolutely right. Anyone would flip out after suddenly discovering that your little sister had randomly picked some guy to be her husband. To top it off, that person was a useless boy toy. If this happened to Shujun, Dg and I would definitely ughter that guy on the spot before anything else, no questions asked. Ben gave Oldman Jun a look that clearly said, You. IDIOT. Jin-g only ever gets involved in matters rting to Madam and Missus. When has he ever butted into Feng-jis affairs? In our gang, the one calling the shots isnt just Jin-g but Dji too! And even if Jin-g suddenly goes crazy and decides to stick his nose in, do you seriously think Dji will throw her boy toy out on the street just because Jin-g objects to him? Whew. I breathed a sigh of relief. It was great that Jin Feng was so awesome. I really didnt want to get beaten to a pulp by the Thunder God when I was still so badly injured. Once Ben had spoken, a clear look of hesitation crept across Oldman Juns face. He really was a simple-minded brute who wore his heart on his sleevehe didnt seem the kind to plot or scheme at all. So if Oldman Jun had been speaking the truth and didnt think of Jin Feng that way, hed probablye charging over because someone else had provoked him. If the provoker wasnt the super sneaky type to hide himself away, then that left only Mr. Spectacles, Hu Zong, as the suspect. Although the guy looked decent enough, he gave off the impression that he was plotting something nefarious. Right from the start, he had been staring at me coldly, so he was probably the provoker. Feng-jis just a woman, so she cant help but fall for a boy toys pretty words, Hu Zong snapped viciously. All we have to do is to put a gash in that face, then lets see who still wants him! Dream on, Hu Zong, Ben said coldly. I can give you and Oldman Jun a pass for barging into Feng-jis room, cause you wanted but failed to win Feng-jis heart. But if you dare to raise a hand against Feng-jis people in Feng-jis room, youre going down, sucker! When he heard that, a look of fear crossed Oldman Juns face, and I was greeted with the highly disturbing sight of a big, muscr guy cowering in fear. A guy like you must really have muscles for brains if you dare to create trouble, when youre all bark but no bite! Ben shouted, in the cracking voice of an adolescent boy, Im giving you onest chance. Get out! Oldman Jun looked like he really wanted to go, but instead, he looked at Hu Zong, as though seeking his permission. I knew it. That guys the mastermind. Hu Zong stared at Ben and frowned, his icy demeanor melting a bit, and then he said coldly, Were leaving! Then, the two were gone. And this was after Id alreadye up with how to take a punch that would result in a pitiful look that wouldnt ruin my handsomeness. Then, when Jin Feng was back, Id start crying to her about how pitiful I was, and how she should give me two more evolution crystals to make up for it. But theyd gone and run away with tails between their legs after being yelled at a few times. Guys, can you be any more pathetic? What happened to punching me in my face? I became extremely despondent. Dont worry! Ben grinned at me as he spoke, Feng-jis really something. Since she said to protect you, I, Ben, will make sure not even a hair on you is harmed. Dont make promises you cant keep, you fourteen year old. That Oldman Juns arm is thicker than your thigh. Probably because he could see the disbelief in my eyes, Ben harrumphed twice, whipped out a knife from the side of his calf, and started peeling an apple, once again creating a ribbon of skin so thin that it was translucent. There had to be an apple tree nearby. The fruit apanying my meals for the past six days were apples and apples, and I resolutely added this fruit to my food ck list, alongside chicken soup and Chinese medicinal porridge! Ben stabbed an apple piece with a fork and held it out, saying, Ive been with Feng-ji for quite a few years. Feng-ji can be so intimidating that she doesnt lose out to Jin-g. Its like shes not a woman at all! And Ive never seen her showing any interest in any guys either, so Ive always thought that Feng-ji was a man through and through, and she might end up having to get together with a woman. But now she actually likes a guy! So yeah, Ill definitely take good care of you. I silently listened to Bens chatter. Id originally expected that Id need two weeks of bed rest, but after being fed evolution crystals a few times, I was making good progress. If not for the fact that I had to hide how fast my body was recovering, Id have taken care of my daily necessities by myself already. But if I had to go intobat, then my wounds might worsen, and it would drag out my recovery time. I made some estimates and concluded that ten days of bed rest would be the best. But I couldnt hold back my worry about things back home any longer. I wanted to set off tomorrow. At the most, I would do my best in avoiding aberrants and keep fighting to a minimum. Feng-ji, youre back? Ben sprang to his feet gleefully. Hearing that, I immediately turned to look, just in time to see Jin Feng entering the room. She was even holding onto a tray, and seeing that I had turned my head to look at her, she asked, Are you hungry? Suddenly, my conscience twanged. Jin Feng had been heading out early and returningte in the evening every day for these past six days. Even an idiot could tell that she was probably out there, hunting for aberrants. And the moment she was back, shed bring food and even the asional crystal to feed her boy toy. But this boy toy was nning to run away in two days time. After getting rescued, eating and drinking my fill, and even swallowing down evolution crystals, I was nning to leave, just like that. Even I felt like I was being a real dick! Im okay, I responded honestly. These few days, all Id done was sip at drinks when offered and open my mouth when fed, so I really hadnt had the chance to be hungry. Jin Feng didnt seem to mind and came over. She set down the tray and said, Eat more. The doc says that you wont have much of an appetite because of the pain from your injuries, but you have to eat. Im not suffering from aching wounds, but an overdose of apples. I nodded. Jin Feng then sat down and started feeding me. Todays meal was curry rice. Mm, delicious. Howd I forget to hoard curry cubes back then? Ben spoke up gravely, Dji, Hu Zong brought Oldman Jun over to stir up some trouble. But all they did was just yap a little. They definitely didnt touch a hair on Xiao Yus body. A look of dismay shed across Jin Fengs face. Then, she spoke as if she were perfectly fine, Okay. You can leave now, well discuss thister. Bens solemn look immediately vaporized, and he said with a grin, Sure, Feng-ji, Ben knows what to do. He wont be a third wheel! He then gave me a meaningful twitch of the eyebrow and sauntered out while whistling a merry tune. He really was too smart and cheeky for his age. Ill deal with those two. Ill send over one more body as well. Jin Feng fed me another spoonful of curry rice as she continued, Bens quite good but hes still young, so he cant intimidate people. I shook my head as I replied, Im fine. Please dont punish them. If Jin Feng punished them for all the world to see, wouldnt she be theughing stock once I ran away? Especially since she was in a triad. After having lived in the apocalypse for so many years, I knew all too well how these organizations operated. The moment the bosss authority was destroyed, things turned bad very quickly. Its nothing to do with you. The fact that they entered the room without my permission is already breaking the rules. If theyd entered my brothers room, they wouldve been gunned down on the spot, no reports needed. Another gloomy look flickered across her face, and she remarked ndly, I guess Im still too soft-hearted. Then, she frowned, asking with a trace of bewilderment, Ive killed no small amount of aberrants recently. And when I burn them with fire, the mess afterwards looks much worse than if I had used a gun. So why do people still think Im not tough enough? Probably because youre too soft on me! After a moments silence, I couldnt help but ask, Why are you so nice to me? She didnt reply immediately. Instead, she mused for a long while before she finally spoke. At the time, I had heard some noise, so I went over to check it out. I thought it was probably an aberrant, but instead I saw a person lying on the ground, surrounded by ice shards and red feathers like pieces of fire. His face was so white that it was almost transparent. Im bad with words, so I dunno how to describe that image. But it was beautiful. When you looked over at me, I almost thought you werent human, but some kind of aberrant that had evolved toward beauty. But thankfully you spoke in the very next moment. From that moment on, I decided Id protect you. Itd be such a pity if someone as beautiful as you became an ugly aberrant once you died. I listened quietly. Her words made her sound like the president of the world-wide superficiality club, but her tone of voice was telling a different story, like she was saying how artwork like the Mona Lisa should be properly preserved, and who cared why? I have family whos still alive. Mhmm. You knew? I was a bit surprised. You wanted a map. Ill leave. Youll die. I pondered for a moment before replying, I dont mind if its for family. For whatever reason, Jin Fengughed at that and said with a nod, For sure. So when are you leaving? I was stunned. I never imagined that Jin Feng would ept the fact so easily. Just now, Id instantly regretted it the moment I mentioned my departure. If Jin Feng was aware of my ns, then thered be many more obstacles when I needed to escape. But at the same time, I couldnt just run away from my savior without saying a thing. It weighed too heavily on my conscience. After struggling for a long while, I gritted my teeth and told her the truth, Tomorrow. Jin Feng made an assenting sound and then asked, Do you know how to shoot? Yes. Oh? Curiosity lit up in Jin Fengs eyes, and she asked, How good are you? Whered you learn? My dg is a mercenary We chatted for a while, and at some point, I fell asleep mid-conversation. When I woke up, I found myself still lying in the same room. I lifted my handsno cuffs. I lifted my legno shackles. Iy there quietly for a while but didnt hear anything. Slowly, I sat up and lowered my feet to the ground, and then I stood. My legs threatened to buckle but I steadied myself. I didnt have any problems moving my hands and feet, so I was more or less there in terms of recovery. Although my chest still hurt, my limbs seemed just fine. I walked to the door, took in a deep breath, and reached out to turn the door knob. The door opened, with an audible click of a lock opening. Evidently, the door had been locked from the inside. I stuck my head out to see a long, deserted corridor outside. I closed the door again, making sure to lock it again. Then, I proceeded to wash up in the bathroom. As I brushed my teeth, I regarded my reflection in the mirror. I had be skinnier than when I had just recovered from the fight with Muscle Man and Lin-b. I looked skinny and frail, but I wasnt too concerned about that. Once I returned to Shujuns side, did I even have to worry about weight? My reflection couldnt help but curl his mouth up in a smile. Whatre you smiling at? All you did was read Jin Feng right! Whats there to be so happy about, when all thats happened is that you havent been locked up, and no ones standing watch over you after you confessed your ns? I ran out of things to do after washing up. Just as I was starting to get hungry, the door opened. Id thought that it was Ben delivering breakfast for today, and dashed back to bed to pretend to be the sickly patient. But to my surprise, the person entering was Jin Feng. She was holding onto a tray in her left hand and arge bundle of stuff in her right. I really had no idea how she had opened the door, but I knew how she closed it, at leastby kicking it shut. Seeing me lying in bed, she raised an eyebrow, remarking, Still pretending? Youre nning to leave today anyway, so theres no way you cant get out of bed. I chuckled and sat up in bed. Jin Feng set down the tray. Breakfast. Great timing. I was famished, so I made puppy eyes at Feng. However, she just rummaged in the stuff she had carried in and showed no intention ofing over to feed me. After a long while, Jin Feng finally noticed my stare of eager anticipation and looked over. She gave me a puzzled look, and asked, Why arent you eating? Then, she started and said with amusement, What, you want me to feed you? No! I immediately replied and quickly picked up the utensils and started eating the breakfast. Id gotten used to being fed, so Id almost forgotten that I had hands I could use to feed myself. It sure is easy to go from rags to riches, but hard to go back. I really couldnt afford being pampered one more day with the spoon-fed food. Jin Feng came by the bed and took away the utensils in my hands. While I was still stunned, she started going through the moves of feeding me. Whys it rice and not porridge? In the past six days, Id mainly been eating porridge. A sick person eats porridge because its easy to digest. But are you sick? Jin Feng spoke slowly and in a matter-of-fact voice, Besides, youre leaving today, so you should eat rice so you wont get hungry so easy. No one out theres gonna feed you, so eat more now. Dont give me any more excuses about not being able to eat. I obediently polished off everything on the tray, not even leaving a scrap of apple behind either. After the meal, Jin Feng piled the dining utensils to one side and ordered, Stand up so I can have a look. I again stood up obediently to let her enjoy the view, and I even did a 360 degree turn and gave Jin Feng a beautiful smile, fulfilling my duties as a boy toy. Jin Feng coughed and chuckled, Youre so skinny. Whats there to see? In the end, I fail at being a boy toy. I protested, exining, I wasnt so skinny, and I even had muscle! I just lost weight after getting injured. Jin Feng quirked a smile, giving me no clue whether she believed me or not, and just shoved a backpack at me, remarking, Ive prepared a fair amount of food for you. Eat more and youll bulk up. Nowe over and change. She tossed over a set of clothing,plete with shoes. I didntin and immediately changed into them. The outfit was quite simple: a T-shirt, jeans, and a vest, pretty much the same style Id worn before. Jin Feng was quite something to be able to guess what those scraps of cloth had originally looked like. Take a look at the supplies. I curiously stepped forward for a look. It was arge hiking backpack, with one Desert Eagle and one knife jutting out from the side pockets. Next to it, a set of belts had beenid out,plete with holsters for a knife and gun. These holsters werent empty, either, as there was a knife and an automatic already in them. Jin Feng had even prepared weapons for me. She said carelessly, Most of the stuff in the bag is food and water. Ive only prepared two guns for you. The ammo is in the bag. Dont use the guns unless you absolutely have to. Gunshots will attract a lot of aberrants, and you wont be able to finish them all off on your own or scare them away. Use the knife as much as possible to deal with them. My eyelid twitched as I suddenly realized a problem. I adopted a puzzled look and asked, Aberrant? You keep using that word. Do you mean those monsters? Jin Feng nodded, speaking lightly, Yeah, everyone here calls them aberrants. Huh. I was growing more and more certain that that Jin Xiaoyue hade from the same world as me, and that person had an even better memory than me. She was even able to remember the names of the three human elites. Has Xiaoyue reached tier one yet? Back when she had been chatting with Jin Feng outside the room door, I hadnt been able to sense the strength of her powers, but that could be because she was too powerful, so I had no way of detecting the true extent of her powers. Jin Feng picked up the set of belts and helped me fasten it, then lifted the backpack onto my back. Then, she looked me over, andughed as she shook her head. You look like a kid wearing adult clothes with those guns. Im a pretty sharp shot! I snapped back. You better be. Jin Feng patted my back, saying, Go, while most of the gang isnt around. Ill take you out to avoid any trouble. Shes letting me go, just like that? I blinked, feeling a little scared. This was too good to be true. I must have saved up all my good luck in those ten years in the apocalypse in order to meet Jin Feng. Not only did she save me, feed me, and give me supplements, Id even learned about a bunch of stuff from that Jin Xiaoyue. Is the Jiang family really supposed to have such good luck? Dont tell me that even the Heavens are making it up to me, because they cant bear seeing my crappy luck thats so bad that Ive even run into two tier-one aberrants at the same time, just four months into the apocalypse? Jin Feng led the way, walking down the long corridor and taking me down many flights of stairs, before bringing me out through the back door. I looked back and finally saw where Id been sleeping the past few days. It was a building that was around fourteen to fifteen-stories high. The first to third floors were retail space, and the levels above those were probably all offices. I frowned, saying, It must be hard to guard such arge ce, right? Wont aberrants and stuff be able to get in? I deliberately skipped over the question of wont people keeping over for help? Since she was part of the triad, I probably wouldnt enjoy hearing how they dealt with people, so I avoided asking the question altogether. We have a lot of munitions, Jin Feng said simply. That one sentence almost made me want to run away in tears. Hows it possible for there to be such a big difference between us?! Weve killed all the aberrants in the surrounding area. Youll probably need to walk at least ten minutes before you start getting into dangerous territory. Be careful and hurry back to your family. And if Jin Feng suddenly stopped. I watched her attentively, waiting for her to finish the sentence. If its not safe where you are, bring your family over. Then, she switched to a more thoughtful tone of voice. ButI dont think youll be back, will you? I gave a faint smile and said confidently, Yeah, my dgs really amazing. The Ice Emperor, Jiang Shutian, is my dg! Except, Ive kind of led him down the wrong path and now hes a healer. Remembering this instantly made me feel a little depressed. But Id already decided that we wouldnt live on anyone elses territory, even if the territory belonged to the Thunder God, Jin Zhan. My dg was the Ice Emperor, and even if his ability in this life wasnt ice, hed still be some other kind of emperor. Havent you heard of the saying, you cant have two kings on the same throne? Besides, at this stage, the Thunder Gods organization was simply too powerful. If Dg came over, he could only end up serving under someone else, and what kind of a joke was that?! Even if Dg was willing, I wasnt! What a pity. I quite like you, Jin Feng remarked lightly. Ive been confessed to. Ive been confessed to by my savior. Ive been confessed to by someone made of money! What should I do? Feng, if we ever meet again I stopped abruptly, not daring to make any big promises, and finished a littlemely, I will feed you instead. Jin Fengs lips curved in a smile, and she replied, Sure. Isnt this the right time for a farewell kiss or something? But I havent figured out which gender I prefer, so is it really all right if I give her hope? As I iled about what to do, Jin Feng stepped up to me, just like that, and I nervously watched her with wide eyes. T-this is fine? Its better if you did it rather than me. Should I close my eyes? No! No way in hell is this where a man closes his eyes earlier than a woman! Jin Feng reached out to pinch my cheeks and chuckled. Your expressions are really funny. Thats what everyone says. Go, Jin Feng said without a trace of reluctance. If your destinations close by, try to get there before it gets dark. Although I probably wouldnt be able to make it there today, I just gave a nod of my head. Aberrants werent any more active at night than they were during the day, but they were usually more of a pain to deal with. They often had night vision, and while humans now had much better vision than before, our sight couldnt hold a candle against theirs. Goodbye, Feng, I said my farewell, gued by feelings of apology and guilt. But then again, she had her Thunder God and I had my Ice Emperor. No matter how dangerous the apocalypse became, with these two protective guardian gods, wed definitely see each other again. So Ill make sure to return the favor then. Bye, Xiao Yu. I steeled myself and turned to leave. Once I was some distance away, I looked back. Jin Feng was still standing there, back straight and head held high, one hand resting on her gun holster. Just her figure alone made her a super cool, hot chick. This woman was pretty much an idol in the making! In my previous life, Id wanted so badly to be a powerful and strong woman like her, to the point where Id even dreamed about it. Unfortunately, Id gone down the wrong path from the very beginning, so I could only put my hopes on my current life. I couldnt help but yell, Jin Feng, remember me. Im called Shuyu, Jiang Shuyu! Did she hear me? Just as I was about to turn away, she tilted her head, raised a hand, and stuck out her thumb, looking so cool that I hated myself for not having a camera with me. I really wanted her autographed picture! Jiang Shuyu, live well. I smiled and gave her the same thumbs-up. Then, without any further dy, I left. As I walked, I gazed at the cluster of tall buildings, the worry and fear in my heart suddenly drifting away. This womans a tier one, so whats she got to be afraid of! Dg, Shujun, wait for me! Volume 2, 6: City of Aberrants

Volume 2, Chapter 6: City of Aberrants

Trantor: Elkin (proofread by Arcedemius & Trespasserby; C/E edited by lucathia) I leaned against the utility pole, tipping the bloodstained evolution crystal in my hand into the hip sk. The palm-sized hip sk looked like it was made of silver, a beautifully wrought piece of art, and there was even the name Feng engraved on the bottom in ancient Chinese. I had no idea what possessed Jin Feng to put a small hip sk in my backpack. Did she want to give me some liquid courage? Anyway, once I drained the alcohol inside in one gulp, the hip sk became the perfect container for holding evolution crystals. By now, the only use I had for these tierless crystals was for healing, so after popping back a few crystals to heal up, I saved up the rest to give the others when I returned. But I really wasnt nning on umting so many. I just wanted to get home ASAP! Technically, if I could directly run home, Id probably reach home after running non-stop for a day and a night. But I couldnt travel in a straight line, and there were so many aberrants in the city that my skin crawled. Although I hadnt yet run into more tier one aberrants, a bunch of tierless aberrants could still mob someone to death! This was the third day after leaving Jin Fengs. I really missed the days when someone would spoon feed me. Jiggling the hip sk caused the contents to rattle softly. It was a rich harvest, with crystals everywhere to be found in this city. This only made me warier of danger. Judging from the looks of things, Id been extremely lucky to rise to tier one so early in the suburbs. There was just noparing the dangers in the city to those found in the suburbs. No, it was the Jiang familys rotten luck that even made the city seem like heaven whenpared to the suburbs. Just how many tier one aberrants have I encountered? I killed one myself. Then, there was the brainwight and the two birds, averaging one a month. What the hell? This isnt some monthly cycle like a period, okay? In my previous life, Guan Weijun had only seen her first tier one aberrant after spending a good six months on the run in the city, and shed turned tail after seeing it in the distance. I really didnt know how to feel about this rotten luck. Although it had let me reach tier one even while living in the suburbs, it had also separated me from Dg and Shujun Sigh, whatever. I just needed to get back to them. Come to think of it, I also need to fill in the shoes of the Ice Emperor, so its not like I can ck off. All right, be as rotten as you want! Tucking away the hip sk, I pulled out the map to check that I was headed in the right direction. Although I was going to make it out of Zhongguan City soon, it was dark and conditions werent great for travel. After assessing the various factors, I had no choice but to put aside my impatience in wanting to see Dg and Xiaomi as soon as possible. All right, Ill hole up for the night, and aim to get home before tomorrow night so I can enjoy dinner with my family. I found myself a residential building. Id already reached the outskirts of the city, and high-rise buildings were now few and far between, unlike the CBD, the central business district. The majority of the residential buildings were less than ten stories tall, but it didnt mean fewer aberrantspared to downtown. Probably because the ck fog had struck at midnight, most people had returned home, so there were actually fewer people in the CBD than in the outskirts of the city. This was also why my progress was slowing down. I had to be extra cautious every time I moved into a new block of buildings. More often than not, Id intrude into some aberrants territory and be forced intobat, and once my special powers dropped past a certain level, Id be forced to find somewhere to hole up to avoid being found by aberrants. Otherwise, Id be at a disadvantage instead. I picked out a shabby-looking residential building that was three stories tall and entered after verifying that it was empty. Then, I selected the master bedroom on the second floor, since two of the walls had windows. This ensured that I had an essible escape route through the windows at any time. Iy down in the closet and closed the closet doors, but left a gap so I could see what was going on outside. Although it was just eight or nine in the evening, after gulping down some dry rations and water, I yanked down some clothes dangling over me, rested my head against them, and prepared to sleep. Id set off for home the moment the sun rose the next day. Dg, Shujun, I miss you guys so much. Ill never be confused anymorethings like past lives and current lives dont matter! It doesnt change the fact that I am Jiang Shuyu. Im your ddi and rg! Just as I was about to doze off, I caught a soft murmur of voices and immediately woke up. It was hardly unusualId already run into people quite a number of times, but Id been stealthily avoiding them as I had no intention of mingling with them. Although the city was very dangerous, people always managed to survive. It seemed like the survival rate was even higher than in the suburbs, probably because most people living in cities either lived alone or had very small families. If anything, the most immediate danger at the beginning was people around you turning into aberrants, so it was very easy for entire families to get wiped out in the suburbs, where people lived with their family. In contrast, more people survived the first day in the city, but this was bnced by an equally high mortality rateter on. After listening for a while, I realized those voices had entered the building. I frowned. Id checked out this house when I had entered just now, and there was definitely no one living here. Did they just happen to pick the same resting spot? What a pain! Honestly speaking, Id already picked this ce and it waste, so I really didnt want to leave on my own volition. But the voices suggested that there were quite a lot of people, so it was probably easier if I just found myself a new ce instead. I opened the closet, and just as I was about to jump out of the window, with one foot even set on the window frame, I heard a yell from below. Did something happen? I hesitated for a moment before deciding to bail out through the window anyway. I could hardly afford to be a saint in this day and age. Mommy! I was holding onto the window frame, and all I had to do was step off. But the owner of the childs voice was probably younger than ten? It was quite something to be able to survive until now, so his mother must have gone through a lot. Mom I gritted my teeth, turned back, and dashed downstairs. I paused outside the stairwell to take in the situation. It was a motley crowd of less than twenty people. There were elderly, young, and women, headed by seven to eight men wielding guns. But the men didnt dare to shoot, probably because they were worried about attracting more aberrants, so they were mming the aberrants with sticks, clubs, and even vegetable knives. It was a familiar sight. Five aberrants had entered the house. They were an unusual shape that was hard to describe, resembling aliens that had the stuffing beat out of them by the main characters in alien movies Id watched before. One was particrlyrge, a person and a half tall. None of the vegetable knives could put a scratch on him, and this was the one that everyone was terrified of. Take the others upstairs! one of the men yelled behind him. We cant. We still havent checked upst Huh? Another man turned to see me standing there. He froze, his eyes wide in shock. Thankfully, he had a lot ofrades next to him to hold off the aberrant. I didnt bother talking and drew out a knife. I wove past the crowds and even past the closer aberrants, gunning straight for thergest aberrant at the back. My opponents hands had mutated into the shape of sickles, and his body was encased by ayer of shell. The shell looked hard to damage, so the aberrant fearlessly swung one scythe at me. But I dodged lightly and slipped the knife into an elbow joint. Freezing energy surged into the knife. The aberrant had obviously never been attacked by special abilities and didnt know how to react. He even tried to swat away the knife with his other arm, but the knife was buried to the hilt in his joint and was even frozen along its entire length. Hitting the knife made him howl in agony, a bizarre sound simr to the static of a broken radio. Seeing as he had so kindly opened his mouth, I quickly drew out another knife. First, I grabbed onto his lower jaw. Then, I stabbed the knife into his mouth, even twirling it a few times before yanking it out. Immediately after, I drove it into his eye. His eyes seemed to be covered by a transparent, hard membrane, as the knife encountered a slight resistance as it stabbed in, apanied by the soft pop of the surface breaking. However, it wasnt enough to block my attack. The knife still managed to journey through the socket and mush up his brain. There were still four left. I turned back to look at the remaining aberrants, debating whether or not I should leave the men to deal with them. This was a good chance for them to gain battle experience, and it gave me a reason not to take the evolution crystals of those four aberrants. But the four aberrants saw the changing tide of battle and fled, giving the men no chance to fight. The aberrants in the city had evolved much faster than their suburban counterparts. They would flee the moment they saw that they were at a disadvantage, unlike those ones in the suburbs with the fearlessness of the ignorant and would keeping at you until they were wiped out. My first reaction at seeing them flee was to freeze in surprise, before I remembered it had been the same in my previous life. I dissected the scythe aberrant with my knife. Although it hadnt reached tier one yet, this aberrant was obviously much stronger than the others, so its crystal should be fairly decent. I couldnt pass up on it. The silence behind me was almost deafening. W-what are you doing? a man asked shakily. Going by his voice, he was still quite young, probably around the same age as me. I ignored him, continuing to disembowel the corpse and extract the crystal. I purposely lifted the crystal to give it a look over before tucking it into my pocket. As a precaution, however, I hadnt put it directly into my hip sk. So, what now? I frowned, finally electing to turn to look at the crowd. They collectively sucked in a breath before rxing the next moment. Hes just a boy? Everyone was bamboozled and just stared at me nkly. I looked over all the people with a t expression, trying to adopt a cold demeanor, and said, Im sleeping upstairs. No one is toe up. I was just watching over these people for one night. That was it. Actually, I should have left after taking the crystal, but there were elderly and young in this crowd. Clearly, this was a collection of a few households which had somehow gotten their hands on guns. None of them really knew how to use the guns, either, so I couldnt bring myself to just abandon them like that. I stalked past them, nning to head upstairs and avoid interacting with these people. Wait, did you use some kind of strange power just now? someone yelled, the voice marking him as the very same person who had been asking me what Id been doing a moment ago. I watched him out of the corner of my eye. As Id suspected, he looked to be around eighteen or neen. He was a bit taller than me and had the tanned skin of an athlete. With his good looks, he looked extremely sunny and easy-going, the type of guy that made a favorable impression on first sight. But I ignored him. When I reached the stairs, a woman suddenly rushed forward to block my way, a child clutched in her arms. She begged, Take my child with you! Please, shes a good girl. She wont disturb you! The girl was around seven or eight years old, and she was looking at her mom in fear and confusion. I narrowed my eyes and said coldly, Only you are willing to protect your own kid. I didnt mind taking a child upstairs with me, if it were just the one. But there were five or six children of all ages, and even a teenager who was around fifteen or sodid he count as a child as well? If I took all of them with me, I might as well sleep on the first floor. But there was no way I was doing that. This woman already wants to p herself for being so stupid as to stay behind. Whyyyyyy are you acting like Mother Teresa?! We couldnt absorb these people into our group. There were almost twenty of them, but only seven young men, and this was counting that eighteen year-old Sunny Boy. The women were all the timid type who froze upthe better ones among them were the mothers who would hug their children, but they were still huddled to one side, motionless. By this stage, even Guan Weijun could wield a stick to bash things, ready to drag away her impulsive boyfriend at any moment. The more pitiful they are, the more reason I cant take them with me! Best snatch some sleep upstairs, then immediately set off the moment theres daylight. I wanted to dash upstairs, but the person in my way wouldnt let me go. Please, the mother sobbed as tears flowed down her face, its too dangerous down here. Please save my daughter, please! I clenched my hand into a fist and ordered coldly, Get lost! How can you be so heartless? Sunny Boy said angrily, Shes just a little girl. Whats the big deal with having her sleep next to you? Because I wont be able to sleep! Because I wont be able to run! Because I gripped my hands into a fist again and whipped out a knife into a backhand grip, shouting, Get lost! The woman was so terrified that she fled to a corner, clinging onto her daughter all the while. I climbed the stairs. Sunny Boy wanted to storm over in rage, but he was grabbed by another woman. The woman looked like she was about to burst into tears, probably his mother going by her age, and for some reason, she looked quite familiar. Have I met her in my past life? Or is she someone Jiang Shuyu knows? Theres so few of us now, and the whole citys full of monsters, but you wont even help out? So what, are you nning to let mankind go extinct and live by yourself with the monsters? The others tried to talk some sense into him. Chen Yishao, enough already! Someone even apologized to me, Young people are impatient by nature, so please dont take it to heart. Just ignore him and go upstairs if you want to. No one will dare to get in your way again! Their words were polite and courteous, but couldnt hide the undercurrents of anxiety and terror. In their eyes, I was probably only slightly better than the aberrants, because at least I wasnt likely to start snacking on them. I headed upstairs with heavy steps and once again settled in the closet, but sleep wouldnte. Those people downstairs were all too familiar. In my previous life, I had probably been in the same situation as them, I guess? Except, I had fared somewhat better than those women. With a boyfriend who kept charging headfirst into death, it was impossible not to be a strong woman. If there had been someone strong whod been willing to help, like one of the powerhouses So what? I had still managed to survive ten years in the apocalypse even without the support of a powerhouse. Even if we had had one to rely on, does that necessarily mean that Xia Zhengu wouldve remained faithful to me? Whats more, that guy always wanted to get stronger. So if we ever got taken under the wing of a powerhouse, hed keeppeting with them with all his might, and if he couldnt beat that person, hed probably do something drastic and probably worsen the situation. After sorting things out in my head, I thought Id be able to sleep, but I still ended up tossing and turning restlessly. I had to admit, I was being soft-hearted. In the past, I hadnt had the ability to even guarantee my own safety, so there was simply no way I couldve helped anyone else back then. That meant that I hadnt had to feel responsible for others. But now, even though I was capable enough, I was choosing to turn my back on them. Just thinking about that mother, pleading and begging for her daughter, made my heart sink. I knew I shouldve just jumped out of the window No, wait, if I didnt go downstairs and just left through the window, I might regret it even more. I felt bad either wayXiao Qi had been right when she said I had saint-like tendencies. Who does this kind of stuff? Not only do you get along with his mistresses, you even help them out? Xiao Qi demanded huffily, Tell me, did you give food to those abandoned mistresses again yesterday? I responded like it was the most natural thing in the world, Its because I stopped caring about Xia Zhengu a long time ago. Besides, hes taken in so many women. Wont I get tired if I have to hate every single one of them? Anyway, that was just some leftover food. Xiao Qi gave me a skeptical look in response. We really had lots of food, but for some reason, Xiao Qis expression made me feel a little guilty and I quickly added, I didnt give anything to those women who made trouble for me. Just the girlstheyre still so young. How can they survive without relying on a powerhouse? Can you really me them? All right already, whatre you getting so worked up for? Im just worried about you, she replied in a defeated tone of voice. I mean, Im an abandoned mistress you helped out, too. Im hardly in the position to tell you not to help others. Dont say that. Youve helped me out a lot, too. If it werent for you, those mistresses would probably have walked all over me many times over Waking from my memories, I realized that Guan Weijun hadnt been utterly uncharitable, either. Back then, once we had found somewhere to settle down, fear of starvation had driven me to start raising this and that, and I had grown all kinds of nts. Because I was able to cultivate lots of edible stuff, Id been able to retain the girlfriend throne. It hadnt amounted to much, though, and I had always been the target of the mistresses attacks, but at least I would never have been kicked out. Back then, Id been Xia Zhengus girlfriend in name only for quite some time, so I empathized with the mistresses as I watched them being abandoned, one after the other. That was the only reason Id send them some food to help them out a little every so often. After spacing out a little in the closet, I made up my mind and headed downstairs. The elderly and the children couldnt stay up anymore and were sleeping together, while the women clung onto their children tightly, watching the windows and doors in terror. Tension made the men as taut as drawn bows, and every little thing sent them jolting in the air. Even if they did manage to sleep, it was shallow. Every one of them had such dark shadows under their eyes, it was like theyd been punched in the face. Chen Yishao was the first to notice me, and he warily growled, What do you want? I tipped out a crystal from the hip sk onto my hand and held it out for them to see, and exined without any prompting, These are evolution crystals. You can dig them out from the aberrants chests. Eating them will strengthen your body and boost your special powers, and they can even heal injuries. I looked around at everyone and walked toward Chen Yishao. I held up the crystal in my palm and told him, Eat it. Chen Yishao took a few steps back, hesitating somewhat, and he didnt dare to reach out his hand. I frowned. Did I pick the wrong person? Id originally thought that this youngster was the impulsive type, not to mention most people his age had read a lot of stories, so they were more willing to ept things like special powers and evolution and stuff. So in theory, he should be the most willing to eat the crystal. As long as there was just one person who took the plunge and didnt die from eating the crystal, most of the others would follow suit. Not to mention Id demonstrated my capabilities. There was no need to drug people like them, and more importantly, these crystals were a beacon of hope in these hopeless apocalyptic days of fleeing and hiding. Chen Yishao continued to waver. I frowned, wondering if I should continue pressuring him or find someone else, but in that moment, a figure dashed forward. I sidestepped, and only when I was sure of who it was did I stop moving. It was a woman, and she was clutching a child. She snatched the crystal with one hand and fed it to her child. As she fed the child, I spotted the redness that had infused the childs cheeks. It was obvious the child was burning with fever, and after eating the crystal, the child didnt show much change. The mother couldnt hold back anymore and burst into tears. A man walked to her side and watched the mother and child mournfullyhe was probably her husband. I stepped forward to check the childs conditionunharmedand consoled her, Dont worry. He should be developing his special abilities. Keep giving him more water and food, and hell recover. Actually, after experiencing the ck fog, the human body had be more resilient, and hardly anyone died from illnesses anymore. If they werent killed, theyd be infected after getting injured and turn into aberrants. This was particrly the case for children like himchildren seemed weak, but in actual fact, their recovery ability was much better than an adults. After a few years time, an adult might not even win against a child in a fightthose will be the days when everything we know will be turned on its head. I took out another crystal and held it to the womans mouth. She hesitated and turned to look at her husband, saying, Give it to my husband. One per person. Hearing that, the woman reached out, wanting to take the crystal. But the look on her face gave her awayshe was probably going to sneak it to her husband for him to have it. I moved my hand to the husbands mouth and said coldly, One per person. Eat it now. But you dont have to eat it if you dont want to. The husband froze but still didnt dare to take it. I moved my hand away after three seconds. It was only because he was the first person that Id waited that longthe others would be lucky if they even got a second to decide. I moved the crystal back to the womans mouth again. Her eyes widened, but just as I was about to move away, she swallowed the crystal in one gulp, drawing her husbands anxious re. But he nced at me and kept his silence. After that, I offered crystals to every single person. Some ate and some didnt, and unexpectedly, Chen Yishao came up to me himself, asking for one. He gave me a smile with his brilliant, white teeth, and evenmented, I believe youre a good person. You think I care? I resisted the urge to roll my eyes, maintaining my cold, haughty expression, but still, I handed him a crystal. After that, some of those who had abstained started toe up to me as well, having seen him ask for a crystal and that the others seemed fine even after eating. But I withdrew my hand and said tonelessly, No more. Of course, I still had crystals, and Id kept the crystal from thergest aberrant just now as well. But I didnt feel like giving out any more. So what? Bite me. Chen Yishao swallowed the crystal, and after a few seconds, he said with suspicion written all over his face, Doesnt seem like anythings changed. One or two crystals wont change much. At most, your body will improve a little. You will need to continue eating them. Chen Yishao nodded, speaking in a tone of dawningprehension, So its like the skills and levels of characters in games, right? Theyre only useful once theyve leveled up? As expected of youngsters, they could even apply games as examples. I nodded and, seeing that he was able to ept this, added, And like in a game, you need to start getting better crystals the more you eat. In the future, the aberrants will grow stronger as well, and their crystals will improve, too. Id intended to give them a tip, but to my surprise, what caught these peoples attention was something else, andmotion rippled through the crowd. Those monsters will be stronger? Oh god, what has this worlde to? People started panicking, the men paled in fright, and the women even started weeping. I watched them, feeling both annoyed and sympathetic. Back when it had all started, I wasnt much better than them. I wanted to just turn and leave them to their fates, but my words had caused themotion and terror. If I left just like that, I wouldnt be able to look myself in the mirror. Just when I was about to exin that humans would also be stronger, Chen Yishao spoke up ahead of me, So well be stronger as well? I gave a small smile. As long as you survive, youll be strong! Chen Yishaos eyes lit uphe was much livelier than the others, and when I looked at him, I was reminded of Xia Zhengu. He too had reacted in a simr way at the beginning of the apocalypse. Although he wasnt immune to the fear at the changes running through the world, he didnt despair. When he discovered he had special powers, he even started obsessing about getting stronger. If he didnt think it was stupid, he wouldve probably yelled out stuff like, I want to be the first person to conquer the world! My mood suddenly took the turn for the worse. What are those special powers you mentioned? Chen Yishao asked excitedly. This guy is Chen Yishao, not Xia Zhengu! I buried those useless memories and held out my hand, palm facing up. An oval, clear marble formed there and started sprouting like it was a seed. The sprouts grew upwards into branches, and finally, formed a transparent, crystal tree that stood about thirty centimeters tall. Beautiful, Chen Yishao breathed in admiration. Everyones eyes were wide open, most of them in awe but without too much surprise. Quite a few of them had probably discovered their own special abilities but hadnt been able to use them much. At most, they could probably only use them for a mouthful of water or lighting fires; or worse, they were even more useless than a lighter. I stressed, Everyone has special powers, and some of them can be all kinds of weird and strange. The harder it is to discover the power, the more useful it is, so dont worry. The guilt weighing down on my mind lightened significantly once I said those words. These people were far luckier than I had been in my past life. Guan Weijun not only had to train in actualbat while trying to figure out how to use her enhanced vision, she had only discovered the existence of evolution crystals after crushing an aberrants chest while fighting for her life. Oh! The woman clinging onto her child suddenly eximed, Hes awake! Hes awake! My boys awake! I looked at the child. The redness had faded from his cheeks, so as expected, he was fine. Developing special powers had probably taken too much out of him, so he immediately recovered once he had the crystal to boost his health. But the fact that this special ability drained much stamina meant that it was probably quite a good one. I was tempted to take the child with me, but both his parents were still present, which meant that Id have to take the family of three. It was hard to say whether the parents would be willing to leave the group and join a lone wolf like me. On top of that, there were so many people here, so there was no way I was dering for all to hear about how I had a mercenary troop, weapons, and a basement full of resources. Its too much of a pain, so forget it! But if the child could be one of the powerhouses, it would be a good thing for humanity. I took out a few pieces of chocte from my backpack, broke off a corner, and shoved it into the childs mouth. The remainder was thrown to the man standing next to him, to dispel any mistaken notions he may have about me favoring his wife too much. Then, I turned on my heel and walked out through the door. Wait, where? Chen Yishaos voice called out from behind me, but I didnt stop. I didnt dare to stop, and even if it was a dangerous time of night, I had to go. If I hung around any longer, Id really turn into Mother Teresa. It wasnt a big deal, being the saint in my previous life. At most, Id been backstabbed by my ex-boyfriend, shoved into a bunch of aberrants and turned into a pile of mince. But now, I had a dg, a xiaomi, an uncle, an auntie, and Dgs mercenaries. With so many people that mattered, there was no way I could afford to be a saint. I suddenly spun around and dodged to one side. Almost simultaneously, a gunshot rang out. I gave that person an icy re. W-why are you shooting? Chen Yishao stared in utter disbelief at one of the men in his group. The man held up the gun in both hands, trembling a little. Although he was a little flustered at first, he gritted his teeth and said, Hes got foodlook at that big backpack of his. Its probably full of stuff to eat! A-and those crystals, hes gotta still got more. Get him to leave the stuff behind. Chen Yishao said incredulously, What are you talking about? He was astonished, but not everyone else reacted the same way. Quite a few of them even started acting suspiciously. When I saw that, I smiled. And when they saw my smile, everyone showed dazed looks of amazement, regardless of gender. Jiang Shuyus face was forever awesome. Even though Id been parading all this time with a haughty, cold expression, it couldnt even hold a candle to the power of a smile. You cant win against an aberrant, but you dare to raise a hand against me. Dont tell me youve already forgotten who killed that aberrant? You guys cant even handle aberrants, but you have the guts to kill your own kind?! As expected, I really cant afford to be a saint. If Id taken these people back, theyd definitely make trouble for the mercenary troop, and Ill never be able to forgive myself! The shooters expression suddenly became ruthless, and his hand stopped shaking. I watched him quietly. He obviously hadnt reached the stage where his morals werepletely gone, and he still wore an expression of guilt and agony. But none of this stopped him from shooting at me. I clenched my right hand, and the originally empty palm was now wrapped around the hilt of a small ice knife. Then, I flung my hand. The knife flew straight and true, stabbing right into his heart. His eyes bulged, and he lowered his head, seeming to want to see what it was, but that motion turned into a full copse. No one knew how to react. If anything, they seemed puzzled as to why this person had suddenly fallen over. Dont scream, I warned them in a nd tone of voice. That guys gunshot was pretty loud. If you guys start screaming on top of it, then youll really draw the aberrants attention, and youll be dead meat. That Chen Yishao knelt down and tapped at the guy. When he realized something was wrong, he flipped him over and was stunned by the sight of the small cylinder of ice protruding from his chest. Although I described these impromptu ice knives as knives, they werent much more than ice shards that were vaguely knife-shaped, with the hilt being thicker than the de so I had somewhere I could hold it. It wasnt like I was nning on disying them at an ice sculpture exhibition. Everyone sucked in sharp breaths when they saw it, but thankfully, no one screamed. We were four months into the apocalypse, so people were no longer strangers to death. Shocked, Chen Yishao looked up at me in confusion and asked in bewilderment, W-whyd you go and kill him? Because he wanted to kill me! Isnt that obvious enough? In the future, youll thank me for killing him. This man was willing to kill me for food, so you think he wont kill others as well? How many he would actually manage to kill was anyones guess, but people like him somehow always managed to survive while stepping on others corpses. The apocalypse is always full of backstabbers like him, so the fewer the better! Never! Chen Yishao red at me. This kid really has the Mother Teresa-like qualities of my previous life. Oh, wait, hes a guy. What should I call him? Father Terence? Unfortunately, the people who died the quickest in the apocalypse were the saints. Guan Weijuns luck had been pretty incredible for her tost out ten years in the apocalypse. I couldnt be bothered to wrangle with him any longer. I was already standing at the door anyway, so I just turned and left. Stop! Chen Yishao was so frantic that he was almost hopping on the spot. Youre nning to just run after killing someone? I looked back and rolled my eyes at him. Then, report me to the police. After that, I left this group of people without a shred of hesitation. Thanks to that one gunshot, my unneeded heart of a saint had been shattered to pieces. I could finally get out of there without feeling a shred of guilt. Id go home and whine about it to my dg and xiaomi, and I might even get aforting pat on my head! Im going home! Volume 2, 7: D脿g膿, D脿g膿

Volume 2, Chapter 7: Dg, Dg

Trantor: Elkin (proofread by Arcedemius & EvlNabiki; C/E edited by lucathia) Traveling at night really was much more taxing than during the day. Along the way, I once again started umting a ton of evolution crystals, to the point where I had almost made up for the crystals that had been spent on that group. I rushed onwards the entire night, and en route, I kept having to pause to fight or zig-zag quickly through streets in order to throw offrge groups of aberrants who were on my tail. It really was dead tiring, but at least I made good progress. Id originally estimated that Id arrive home in the evening, but it wasnt even ten in the morning when I caught sight of the district where our home was located. The exhaustion, however, was nothing inparison to my longing for my family. If anything, my pace picked up when I saw our district. Starving as I was, not having had breakfast, I still didnt bother to stop for a bite. The faster I reached home, the sooner Shujun could prepare breakfast for me. No one likes rations! Even if those rations were prepared by Jin Feng, they cantpete with Shujuns home cooked meals! I passed through a few more streets, so excited that I was practically skipping every step of the way. Then, finally, I spotted some familiar road signs. I just had to go two more steps, look left, and Id be home sweet home! One step, two steps, look left! A cluster of huge ice crystals stood not far away, right where the house had once stood. My mind nked out, while my feet automatically broke out into a frantic sprint. My homes gone! Completely gone! Wheres Dg? Shujun? Uncle and Auntie? I sprinted to the front gates. The outer walls were undamaged, but the only thing left of the house inside those walls was rubble. There was even a huge cluster of ice crystals standing in the middle of the ruins. What the hell? I dont understand. Did these crystals fall from the sky and crush the house? If this was ten years into the apocalypse, Id understand. A very powerful ice user would be able to pull this off, but this was just the fourth month into the apocalypse! Even a tier-one user like me had no way of crafting suchrge crystals, much less smashing the house into smithereens. Just what tier do you have to be to create something of this scale? Dg? I couldnt help but yell at the top of my voice,pletely ignoring any potential enemies lurking around. Shujun! Uncle? Auntie? There was no reply at all. I walked into the walled enclosure, my footsteps dragging this time, and painfully forced myself to look around. I was terrified Id see something I wouldnt be able to ept. But aside from the ruins of the house, I didnt see anything. I breathed a sigh of relief, then steeled myself and advanced toward the crystals. These crystals are so huge that any one of them can brain someone No, no, no! What am I saying?! I circled once around the ice crystals but didnt see anyone. Not even a single speck of blood was to be found. This was beginning to feel a bit strange. It was like the house was empty. So it just happens that no one was at home when the ice crystals came smashing down, and the house became so unlivable that Dg and the others moved out? No, thats impossible. Even if Dg and the others moved, theyd stay nearby. After all, I havent returned home, so theres no way they would abandon me. As I pondered the matter with a frown, I scaled up the ice crystal. Just now, while examining the base of the ice crystals, I could tell there was a fairlyrge space in the middle of the crystals, so I figured I should get up there and see what was inside. The crystals were both freezing and slippery, making it hell to climb. Thankfully, I was an ice ability user, but even so, my hands were so cold that they were fast bing numb. Just how powerful does the ice user have to be in order to do this? Hows it even possible? After an arduous climb to the top, I looked down and Dg? The person lying in the middle of the ice crystals was none other than Dg. He was quietly lying on the ice, eyes shut and showing no reaction whatsoever. Dg, are you okay? Still no reaction! I hastily slid down along the slope of the ice crystals. Ignoring the pain as my kneecaps smacked hard against the ice at the bottom, I turned my momentum into a roll before scrambling toward Dg on my hands and knees. Then, I knelt next to him, not knowing what to do. Dg? Dg? I called out again and again, but I didnt dare to reach out to see if he was still breathing. It was so cold that my entire body was frozen stiff, and even my heart felt like it was turning to ice. Id probably die if I stayed here any longer, and this wasing from an ice user! My eyes stung with heat. What happened? Dg, how can you copse? Hows it possible? Jin Xiaoyue said you were meant to be the Ice Emperor! You wouldve be the Ice Emperor, but because I called you back, your ice ability turned into healing, and now youre lying here The stinging heat never managed to spill down my face, turning into frost instead. I lifted a hand to rub my eyes. I couldnt afford to turn into an ice sculpture. I still hadnt found Shujun, Uncle, and Auntie. After rubbing my eyes, I lowered my hand, nning to check whether Dg was breathing. Instead, I saw him staring at me. My mouth fell open. A surge of relief came over me. Dgs opened his eyes, and hes looking at me! D He suddenly snapped a hand around my neck and squeezed. Instantly, an unbelievable amount of ice energy starting pouring into my neck. Even as an ice ability user, I couldnt hold up against the onught of energy, and even the air in my lungs started freezing over. The agony of suffocation immediately swept over me and, not wanting to be killed by Dgs own hands, I frantically kicked at him. But he caught my leg easily with his other hand, and again, I was assaulted by another wave of ice energy, the biting cold so terrible that I wanted to scream. But my frozen throat could no longer produce any sounds. Dg, do you want to kill me? Why? Do you really want to strangle me to death? Dg gazed at me, his face filled with fury, but slowly the anger receded to be reced by confusion. Suddenly, a look of shock shed across his face and he asked, not quite daring to believe himself, Shuyu? Id long lost any strength to respond. He looked at his own hand and quickly let go of my throat. Warm air rushed into my frozen throat, and for some time, I could do nothing but curl up and cough non-stop. As I did that, Dg patted my back, panicking. Shuyu, is it really you? He paused and asked again, at an utter loss, Is it you? No shit, Sherlock. Who am I, Shujun? Finally, once my throat felt a bit better, I lifted my head. Dg was staring at my face in a daze, looking like he hadnt seen how handsome his ddi was in eight hundred years. Shuyu?! he repeated again in a shout, looking dumbfounded. Dg, what the hell? First, you strangle someone until they lose their voice, then you keep yelling at them for a response. I rolled my eyes, rasping a yeah. Dg reached out, and I scuttled backwards in rm, my hands wrapped protectively around my throat. Donte strangling me again. My throats gonna freeze for real! He froze, not seeming to understand why I was avoiding him. His face even lit up with rage for a moment. But then his gaze shifted to my hands that were protecting my throat, and the rage once again turned into guilt. Dg withdrew his hand and kept his distance. He just frowned, thinking for a moment, then suddenly asked, Shuyu, who am I to you? Did this Dg get so cold his brain stopped working or something? Dg. I was extremely troubled. Dg cant have lost his memories too, right? No way. He called me Shuyu, so he knows who I am. Whats our ddi called? Holy shit, Dgs really lost it? Hes turned Shujun from a girl into a boy! When I didnt respond immediately, Dg growled, Answer me! Sensing the extreme drop in temperature, I had no choice but to respond hoarsely, We only have a mimei, called Jiang Shujun. What do you normally call her? Junjun. Hes asking these questions to check my identity? Did someone pretend to be me? Dg halted his line of questioning and just stared at me. I really didnt know how to describe the expression he was wearing. It was like hed lost his whole world, only to rediscover it again. He rxedpletely, and tears even started brimming in his eyes, shocking me so much that my mind went nk. But before I could snap out of my daze, Dg had leapt forward and hugged me tightly to his chest, so tightly that my injured throat started aching. From above me came the choked words, Thank god, I thought I was toote and I wouldnt make it in time again, and I would fail to save you and Shujun again He suddenly stopped, then pushed me back a little and asked hastily, Wheres Shujun? Isnt Shujun with you? I was bing more and more confused. Whats with Dg? Theres something seriously wrong with him. Dont tell me a psyche-type aberrants messing with him again? Dg mumbled in a daze, Shujuns with me? Dg, wheres Shujun? And the others? I was really bing very worried. After I discovered Dg was still alive, I didnt think I needed to worry about Shujun. With Dgs overprotectiveness, hed definitely die before and not after Shujun would. So as long as Dg was still breathing, Shujun had to be alive and well. But there was something severely wrong with the current situation. Dg frowned, asking, Shuyu, which year of the apocalypse is it? I blinked before replying, Its just four months into the apocalypse. Howd youe up with which year? Dg, whats the matter with you? Four months? he mumbled, baffling mepletely. Then, he said with a frown, So Shuyu, you didnt turn into an aberrant right at the very start? But thats not right, I should still be in Oceania at this point in time. Why are you saying that Shujuns with me? W-who turned into an aberrant? And Oceania? I stared at him speechlessly, suddenly realizing that there were white streaks in his hair. Although he hadnt changed much in terms of looks, his hair had grown much longer. It hadnt even been ten days since I was snatched away by the bird, so it was impossible for Dgs hair to grow this long! It was Dg but not Dg at the same time. He had ice powers, and he had been in Oceaniano way, hes the Ice Emperor, Jiang Shutian?! Holy shit! Is this really possiblewhy not? Id not only changed over worlds but also changed into a whole new body, transforming from Guan Weijun into Jiang Shuyu. In contrast, Ice Emperor Jiang Shutian was the real deal in his original packaging! Hed only crossed over into a different world, a way simpler situation than mine! So far, I had yet to figure out whether Id crossed over into a new universe, reincarnated, or simply had mental issues. As I stood there, my mind blown by the shock, Dg suddenly sat heavily on the ground. The surrounding ice crystals started falling apart and melting, which was good, because I was freezing my butt off. But without the ice cluster, the ruined house showed signs of copsing. I had a very bad feeling when cracking and splintering sounds came from below my feet, but it was toote. The ice groundpletely disintegrated, sending the two of us plummeting into the basement. I was already injured in my throat and foot, and this was now followed by a pummeling from the falling ice pieces. I fell andnded in such a terrible position that the only way I couldve been worse off was if I had face-nted into the floor. As Iy there on the floor, crushed by the weight of countless pieces of ice, I wanted to beat up Dg. Thankfully, the ice melted very quickly, leaving me drenched from head to toe in ice melt. I even took a few gulps of the water to ke my thirst. That said, I wasnt cold. Or rather, what had made me freeze earlier wasnt the ice but the ice energy, and Dg no longer emitted so much ice energy. Hed probably dialed it back because he saw his ddi was about to turn into an icicle? Pushing aside the remaining ice pieces, I croaked, Dg? He was lying on the floor, motionless. I quickly scrambled over and was on the verge of checking whether he was breathing, but thankfully, Dg opened his eyes in time to stop freaking out his ddi. Dg, are you okay? He shook his head, looking at me apologetically as he said, Shuyu, Im sorry. In order to go back to the past, I had to use too much energy and couldnt control it too well. Go back to the past? I see. Even if its the Ice Emperor, he wouldnt have been so powerful at this stage of the apocalypse. He mustve already lived in the apocalypse for quite a few years, so hes not only switched worlds, but also gone back in time. He said ufortably, Shuyu, Im from the world ten years into the future. Im not your current Dg. No, your Majesty, Ice Emperor, youvepletely gone into the wrong world. My Dgs already turned into a healer, so even ten years from now, he wont turn into a master of ice! I found an ability user with power over time, and forced him to send me back. But I never imagined that the process would be so difficult. I had to use up all my energy to avoid being torn to pieces. Here, he looked at me again and asked, Do you believe me, Shuyu? I do. I nodded, saying, Dgs hair wasnt so long. He gave augh and said sorrowfully, Ive already forgotten how long it was back then. Ive even forgotten that you look even better than you did in my memories. I blinked. So this means he hasnt seen Jiang Shuyu for a very long time? Then what on earth happened to the original Jiang Shuyu? Wait, didnt Dg just say something like Shuyu, you didnt turn into an aberrant right at the very start? Could it be the original worlds Jiang Shuyu had turned into an aberrant right at the start of the apocalypse? I was a bit shocked, but the more I thought about it, the more it made sense. If that worlds Jiang Shuyu had been knocked out by the falling tile and hadnt woken up, it wasnt strange if what woke up after the descent of the ck fog was already an aberrant. Dg suddenly grabbed my hand, promising, Shuyu, dont worry. This time, Dg will definitely protect you two! I nodded. Dg had already always been protecting me and Shujun. But Dg, the you in this world isnt in Oceania but in Asia. Oh, wait, I mean Meisia. Habit is hard to change. What do I do with two Dgs Eh? Hang on a sec, isnt it good to have another Dg? And this Dg is even the Ice Emperor from ten years in the future! Holy shit, the Ice Emperor from ten yearster has now appeared in year one of the apocalypse! I was stunned by this revtion. W-we can just go directly conquer the world now! Humanity can flourish in the apocalypse too! I was so moved by this that I snatched up Dgs hand. I had everything figured out now. The more Dgs the merrier. Forget two, Id be even happier if you gave me eight or ten Dgs. I wanted to exin about this worlds Dg, for example, his current location, so Dg could have some mental preparation, but Wait, this Dgs also a Dg too. Im starting to confuse even myself. Anyway, let the Ice Emperor know that well be seeing his other self, then take him to find the others, then well team up and go conquer the world! But talks about the future could wait. The surroundings werent conducive for conversation. The ice melt was filling the entire basement, and the water had already reached my waist. If this continued, the basement was going to turn into a swimming pool. Lets get out of here first. Wait! The basement should be stuffed with resources, so hows it turning into a swimming pool? I finally noticed that the basement was empty. There was no sign of supplies to be seen anywhere, save for a few lonely boxes here and there. I couldnt tell if they had anything in them. On the wall were a few lines of text, but because of the cracks and damage to the wall, many of the words were missing. XXyu, wX XXX XXX looking for you. Xf youe back XX yourself, XXXX east XXXX XX XXX first go to Luoan City. If XX XXXXX find XXX you, XXXX district XXX next stop at towers XXX. Despite the many gaps in the message, I could still guess the overall meaning. Fortunately, the keywords were all there; otherwise, Id really cry in despair. It was impossible to pick up a phone in the current world and call them to ask where they were. I see, so Dg and the others went to find me, and they even abandoned the base in their search for me. Given the circumstances, it was extremely likely that I would have already met my end in that birds stomach. If not for Jin Feng and her gang shooting down that bird, Id be dead by now. In order to find his ddi who in all likelihood had been devoured by the bird, he had abandoned the security of the base and charged in the direction where the bird had gone. He was dragging a whole bunch of people to their collective doom. Mercenaries, you guys shouldnt follow your boss so blindly, okay? Try and dissuade him from this suicide run? I really wanted to yell at them for being a bunch of idiots, but the warm feeling in my chest said otherwise. Even if all the bad luck in the Jiang family was concentrated in me, Id still ept this life. A hand settled on my chest. What now, Ice Emperor? I looked up nervously, but instead of the craziness Id expected, I saw a face that was frighteningly pale. There wasnt a trace of color in his face. Dg? He sent me flying with one push, a gentle motion that didnt hurt. I sailed upwards, out of the hole that was the basement, andnded on the surface on my backside. Before I could figure out what was going on, an astonishing sight unfolded before my eyes. A huge rush of cold air exploded from the sunken pit. It was ice energy, so powerful that the water vapor in the air froze. The surroundings fogged over with white mist, and a film of frost formed over every surface. It was like standing on a snowy mountain. It was so cold I couldnt feel my nose anymore. To avoid losing a nose or an ear the next second, I had no choice but to drag my injured leg and move away from the pit. In any case, this power came from the Ice Emperor himself, so it shouldnt hurt him. As it turned out, moving away was the right decision. I had barely made it to the outer walls when it happened. The surrounding white mist began to spiral into the pit, the vortex slowly transforming into an ice tornado that reached up endlessly into the sky I stared, stupefied. I didnt know what was going on or what to do. What was more, I didnt dare to get any closer. The energies were terrifying. Even standing at the outer walls, my nose felt like it was about to fall off at any moment. But I couldnt bring myself to move further away. If anything happened, I would rush in and help And what, help the Ice Emperor? Ahem, its so cold that my brain has stopped working. After standing for a while, I really was starting to turn into an icicle. Just as I was about to throw in the towel and beat a retreat, the ice tornado drained away into the pit of the basement in the blink of an eye, like it had been sucked up through a straw. Then, a calm settled over everything, as though nothing had ever happened. A calm so great that even the house had disappeared like it had never existed. My heart suddenly squeezed. A good home had vanished, just like that. It was true that wed eventually have had to leave; after all, there wasnt much potential for growth in the suburbs, so we could hardly settle here. But Id never imagined that our departure would be so abrupt, or that we wouldnt even have a single brick left of our house. That terrible tornado of ice energy left only dust in its wake. Thankfully, wed only lost the house. Everyone was still alive, so there was nothing worth mourning. I limped forward. I had to check on the Ice Emperors condition. This happening to him so suddenly was bad news. Battling his way physically across time and space must have taken a lot out of him. I walked to the lip of the pit and first carefully inspected my surroundings. One lone bolt of ice energy from the Ice Emperor was probably enough to turn me into dust. When nothing happened, I braced myself and looked down the pit. A roundish crystal stood there, but the Ice Emperor was nowhere to be seen. Dg? I called out but no one responded, so I jumped down. This thing looks like its an egg? I mustve made some very strange expressions as I stood there. At first, Id thought that I coulde home to happilyin to Dg and then enjoy Shujuns meals. Instead, Id discovered that the house had been ventted by ice crystals, scaring the wits out of me, but as it turned out, no one was home. Then, just when Id thought Id managed to find Dg, he had ended up being a Dg from another world. And as I was luxuriating in the fact that one Dg wasnt enough while two Dg was just perfect, and was happily plotting to conquer the world, something immediately happened to the Ice Emperor. And now, Ice Emperor Dg is an egg. Is it normal for life to be so unpredictable? I poked at the egg experimentally. It was a bit cold but nothing happened. Not knowing what to do, I started to eat my food. I really was famished, and besides, I could watch to see if anything happened while eating. In any case, I didnt know what was going on, so I didnt want to do anything rash. Not to mention, the Ice Emperor was way above my level. He only had to flick a finger to kill someone, so he was definitely not someone I would want to experiment on. If nothing happened, then Id have to find a vehicle to transport the egg. Just the thought of having to travel with an egg that was half as tall as a person was enough to give me a headache! Thankfully, just when I was finishing off my meal, the egg started to rock. I stared nkly as cracks appeared on the surface of the ice egg. Realization started to dawn that maybe I should get out. If another ice tornadoes whipping out Shit! Ive got to get out! Just as I was about to rush out of the pit, the egg exploded. I instantly leapt and scrambled my way up, literally shooting out of the pit. I didnt even dare to pause and grab my backpack that had been by my side. I was terrified that a moments dy would doom me to the same fate as the house, and Id be a pile of dust. Once again, I sprinted for the outer wall, prepared for explosions, tornados or earthquakes to strike at any moment. I spent a good ten minutes there, heart pounding. But when nothing happened and my worries about the Ice Emperor trumped my fears, I couldnt resist running back to check on him. I looked down into the pit. The ice egg was already gone, leaving behind scattered bits of ice. But more importantly, there was someone looking up at me from below. I goggled. He he Mommy? came the high pitched voice of a child. No, its your ddi. I stared at him. He stared back up at me with wide eyes and, suddenly, I felt guilty. Leaving a child in a pit had to be child abuse. But is he really a child? I hopped down into the pit. I didnt dare touch the child and just looked him up and down from around two paces away. The child was covered in clothing too big for him. If anything, he was almost drowning in the pile of clothes and couldnt move. And the clothes were the Ice Emperors. Adding on the fact that his face was a chibi version of Dgs, there was no denying the reality before my eyes. W-what do you remember? I asked cautiously. Even if this childs super adorable, hes still the Ice Emperor. Control your hands! Dont pinch his cheeks or ruffle his hair! The little Ice Emperor stared at me uprehendingly and replied, I remember you, Mommy. Like hell Im your mother! Youve even gotten the genders mixed up! You dont remember anything, do you! My future Dg had turned into an egg, and the egg had turned into a three-year old child. These changes were crazy! And even crazier was the fact that this childs ice energy was even lower than mine. My expression darkened. How did humanitys flourishing future in the apocalypse vanish again? Ice Emperor, whatever happened to protecting me and Shujun? Clinging onto a shred of hope, I asked, But you remember your name, right? The child looked down, pondering. Just as I thought that not all hope was lost for humanity, he lifted his head, asking me in return, Mommy, whats my name? Call me Ddi. No, wait, call me Gge! The idea of a three-year old calling me Ddi was just downright weird, but being called Mommy was even weirder! So inparison, being called Gge was much better. The child tilted his head, not quite understanding, and he just asked insistently, Mommy, my name. Your name is Jiang Shu I frowned. Using Jiang Shutian was a bad idea because it was too easy to mix the two of them up. Once I found my real Dg, how was I going to address them if they both had the same name? So I changed my mind mid-sentence. Youre Jiang Xiaotian! Okay, Im Jiang Xiaotian. Xiaotian nodded with a glowing smile. I really wanted to tweak his tender cheeks! So even someone as mighty as Dg was still an adorable doll when he was three. It was really hard to imagine that he would turn into the mighty, buff, and heroic Dg a few years down the line. Unbelievable. I finally couldnt resist, and I pinched those rosy cheeks of Xiaotians. I really pinched them! Dgs cheeks! Ice Emperor Jiang Shutians cheeks!!!! Mommy, Im hungry. The child looked up at me, and I became awash with guilt. I let my son be hungry. What a terrible mother Iwaaaaaait, I dont have any sons! No wait, wait, wait, Im a guy, and just eighteen! Whys this child calling me Mommy? Dont tell me that hes imprinted on me because he hatched from an egg? Mommy, Im so hungry! Jiang Xiaotian butted his head against my waist with a reproachful look. This also happened to be the only movement he could make since he was trapped by the clothes wrapped around him. Whatever, its just something he calls me. I better get the child out and feed him something first. I fished the child out of the pile of clothes, leaving only the vest for him to wear as a robe. Then, I started preparing food for him. After eating meat and crackers, and having a drink, Xiaotian wiped his mouth and said, Mommy, Im still hungry. I took out some cookies, but Xiaotian shook his head. I dont want those. Dont be picky in this day and age! I said huffily, Im so sorry that I cant find McDonalds so you can eat junk food. Xiaotian pointed at my waist where the hipsk hung, the one that contained evolution crystals. I have a feeling that this childs going to be hard to raise. I silently took out one crystal, and Xiaotian swallowed it in one gulp. Then, he reached out for the hipsk and tipped the whole thing into his mouth. You think these are chocte candies? My heart ached at the sight, and I had the sudden impulse to grab the child and give him a good spanking. But when I saw him swallowing ravenously, I suddenly remembered what the Ice Emperor had said: I used up all my energy to avoid being torn to shreds when I was travelling through space and time, and I kept my silence. He was greedily grabbing for these crystals that werent even tier one, and hed even transformed into an amnesiac child, so there was no way he had gotten stronger. Just how low have the Ice Emperors energy levels fallen to? I quietly watched Xiaotian finish off all the crystals, then asked, Xiaotian, are you full yet? Jiang Xiaotian patted his tummy, looking a little puzzled, then shook his head. No worries, Ill go hunt for some crystals for you to eat. The moment I finished speaking, I frowned. To me, these tierless crystals could only be used for healing, so to the Ice Emperor, they probably really were on the same level as chocte candies. But even tier one crystals probably werent much help either. But no matter what, I had to think of a way of feeding this tiny little Dg. He had thirsted to save his younger siblings, to the point where he had evene up with such an unreliable method as going back to the past. I could only sigh hopelessly at Dgs persistence. I scooped up Jiang Xiaotian into my arms. Even if he couldnt turn back into the Ice Emperor, Id just raise him as my ddi. There was nothing to lose from changing from a trio of siblings to a quartet. Xiaotian happily squirmed in my embrace, shrilling non-stop, Mommy, Mommy! Another headache came on. Its not so bad if you call me Daddy, but whats with this whole Mommy business? Dg, were you really that blind when you were little? Call me Gge! Xiaotian looked at me nkly. Then, Ipromised and pleaded, Or at least call me Daddy. Mommy, are you hungry? Jiang Xiaotian asked me in all seriousness. You look different from Daddy. Xiaotian wouldnt mix you up. You do have it mixed Wait, I think I really do look like Mom? Thinking back to the full family portrait I had seen, Dg and Father looked like they were cast from the same mold, while Shujun and I both resembled Mother, save for the straight nose that was like Dads. No wonder. The three year-old Jiang Xiaotian didnt have any concept of having younger siblings. At that time, Shuyu and Shujun were probably some unborn spirits floating in the ether, so he only had Daddy and Mommy. And I looked like Mommy, so I naturally became the mother. Oh well, whats the point in fighting with a three year-old? At most, once I find Dg and Shujun, Ill pass on the title of Mommy to Shujun. Shes definitely more motherly than me. Hugging onto Jiang Shutian, I thought back to the message that Dg and the others had left. East, Luoan City. Volume 2, 8: The Many Tales of the Town

Volume 2, Chapter 8: The Many Tales of the Town

Trantor: Elkin (proofread by Arcedemius & EvlNabiki; C/E edited by lucathia) As I drove, I kept turning to look at the passenger seat. A three year-old kid was wearing a seat belt, head slumped to one side in slumber and lips in a slight pout. He was super adorable. It was hard to believe that this was Dg, the Dg who had be the Ice Emperor! Enough! Even though on the inside, I was a thirty five year-old woman who had never had kids before, it was no excuse to gawk at the child all the time. I needed to find a map, not y around with children! Jin Feng had given me a map of Zhongguan City and the surrounding suburbs, but what I needed was a map of a wider region. Otherwise, if I could drive to Luoan City just by knowing that it was in the east, Id start suspecting whether I was actually a GPS instead. Originally, Dg had probably left some maps behind. The basement hadnt beenpletely empty. There had been a few boxes left there, with supplies probably meant for me. Unfortunately, the ice tornado had been brutal and had wiped the whole house off the map, to say nothing of what it could do to a few boxes. There wasnt even a speck of dust left of them. So my current mission is to locate a map and food. I nced again at Xiaotian. And hunt for crystals to feed the child, too. Id already reached the edge of the map, so I didnt know which road to take anymore. My only option was to continue heading east. However, this was risky, not to mention the skies were darkening. We were better off looking for somewhere to stay the night. Soon, I saw a sign pointing to a Fuli Town. After a moments thought, I decided to head over for a look. Towns were quite good resting stops because they were safer than cities, but they were also guaranteed to have aberrants that I could hunt for crystals. Further, theyd have some supplies as well as the map that I wanted. Suddenly, a dark silhouette shed by in front of me. I frowned, already realizing that it was a woman holding onto a child. I spun the wheel to one side, bashing aside an abandoned car in the nextne. Then, I drove around it and headed off, throwing a quick nce at the rearview mirror afterwards. The woman behind us was absolutely furious, yelling and swearing so loudly that I could still hear her from a distance. But then a few others rushed out to p her, before ring angrily after me. Hmph, do you think Im an idiot? That distance was perfectly calcted, close enough that I can see its a woman and a kid, but far enough that I can brake in time and not really crash into them. If there arent people lying in ambush, waiting to rob us the moment I stopped the car, my name isnt Jiang Shuyu! Mommy? I looked over at the seat next to me. Jiang Xiaotian was rubbing his eyes, looking confused. My abrupt yanking on the steering wheel had woken him up, but he didnt cry or look scared. Even though he had lost his memory and shrank in size, the Ice Emperor really wasnt your ordinary kid. This was great! After all, bringing a three year-old child along for a ride in the apocalypse really was no joke. The moment a child starts wailing, shit hits the fan, and the apocalypse has nock of things that could scare a child to tears. Well be stopping soon. Are you hungry? Jiang Xiaotian hesitated, looking at the hipsk, and said, Yes. Youve probably been hungry all this time, right? Cold sweat beaded on my forehead. There was no way I could fill this childs belly. This was just the start of the apocalypse, so I had to risk my life to get even a tier one crystal. But even tier one crystals would probably do no more than take the edge off his hunger. Ill get you something to eat soon. After driving a while, I saw a sign dering Wee to Fuli Town. We had arrived. I stopped the car haphazardly by the roadside, leaving the keys in the ignition and the doors unlocked. I shouldered my backpack, scooped up Jiang Xiaotian, then made my hasty exit. This car was one we had randomly taken from the streets. There were plenty of cars to go around, but gas was in short supply, and this cars gas was almost used up, making it worthless. Besides, all the roads in the town were filled with cars, so we couldnt drive in. When it was time to go, wed just drive away in one of the cars parked on the outskirts of town. The towns architecture lent it a sense of antiquity. All the buildings were just a few stories high, the only exceptions being the dozen or so taller buildings in the distance forming what was probably the town center. This ce had probably been a popr tourist spot, judging from the multitude of carts gathered by the roadside. Perhaps it had been a historical street of some sort. In the past, Id loved visiting these sights. I missed it quite a lot, but unfortunately, I hadnt gone back to an earlier time; otherwise, I could relive the times before the apocalypse. Instead, Ide back just three days before the apocalypse and had only realized that the apocalypse wasing on the second day. Id almost run out of time to stock up on supplies, so there was no way I could have found time to enjoy the good old times. Even when I had gone to the supermarket to buy up supplies, my brain was full of thoughts of how the apocalypse wasing once again and whether or not I should just die beforehand and spare myself the pain. Hardly the mood for reminiscing about the days before the apocalypse. As we walked, I searched for any tracks or traces. Dg and the others were heading in the same direction as I was, so if they hade by this town, they must have taken this route as well. Unfortunately, I didnt find anything useful. The road was clogged up with vehicles, and there was no sign of any of them having been moved. A lot of car windows had been smashed open and the luggagepartments pried open, but the carnage looked like itd been done quite some time ago. Suddenly, I heard a soft crunching. I spun on my heel, to see two rats nibbling something by the gutter running along the street. It was narrow, long, and white in colormaybe a bone? Corpses both inside and outside the cars filled the air with the smell of rot and decay. It stank, but thankfully not too strongly. Currently, corpses were very popr and human corpses would be stripped to the bones. In fact, some aberrants would gobble up the bones as well. A hungry aberrant would eat anything, even other aberrants corpses. So what had been left to rot was mostly blood, as well as the scraps of flesh and sinew that were stuck to the skeletons. I nced at Xiaotian who was sitting in my arms. As expected, he wasnt afraid, gazing at the scene like it was the most ordinary thing in the world. For someone whod lived in the apocalypse for over ten years, this was indeed amon sight. Althoughter on, the colonized cities and towns would no longer look like this, there would still remain many deste and empty ces. The problem of overpoption had been terminally resolved, and if anything, the poption density had be so thin that you could take over a few hundred mu of wastnd for farming and no one would care. That was assuming you werent worried about the possibility of being eaten by, rather than eating, the rice you grew. High property prices also stopped being an issue. You could keep changing to whichever building or house you wanted to live in everyday, for 365 days a year. Even so, every era had its expensive neighborhood. Property prices at the center ofrge colonies were dead expensive. You had to swap a huge bunch of crystals for a ce there, and it could be a very deadly affair trying to get one. As I gazed at those two rats, they in turn stopped eating to stare over back at me as well. Although they were about the size of small poodles, they hadnt mutated too much, so they werent aberrants. nts and animals natural instincts meant that they wouldnt really attack humans without being provoked in the first two years of the apocalypse, unless they wererge, wild carnivores. I walked away quietly. Although the rats were edible, I didnt really want to eat things like that yet. As I strolled below the balconies, I could see that many of the windows and doors had been destroyed. I picked a house and entered it. Then, I set Xiaotian down and crafted a small ice knife in my hand as a precaution, before walking a circuit around the first floor. Unfortunately, I didnt find anything, so we moved on to the next one. Come, Xiaotian. I lifted Jiang Xiaotians hand, only to discover that he was staring fixedly at the ice knife, so I handed the knife to him without thinking. Jiang Xiaotian happily took the knife and immediately cut his finger. I gaped at the sight. The Ice Emperor wanted to y with an ice knife and even got cut? Children shouldnt y with knives. I hastily took back the knife, but Jiang Xiaotians face immediately crumpled, looking like he was about to burst into tears. His eyes were still fixed on the knife. Seeing him like that, I wanted to cry myself. O Ice Emperor, youre the idol I most respect and adore, and the one person I want to emte in this life. But how can your fan still worship you when youre like this? I took out a bandage for Xiaotians finger from the backpack, but once I wiped the blood away, the wound was nowhere to be seen. I stared at his finger for a moment before putting away the bandages. When I next looked around, the child had started crying in earnest. He didnt make a single sound, but tears ran down his cheeks and dripped to the floor. My heart ached at the sight. Quickly, I conjured a tiny ice hammer for Jiang Xiaotian. This was a good toy for children, and if an aberrant really came springing out of nowhere, it could even be used to whack their heads. So useful! Jiang Xiaotian immediately brightened up as he clutched the tiny ice hammer. Although he still had streaks of tears on his cheeks, he looked the picture of joy. I rubbed his head, then took his little hand and progressed to the next house. I didnt know whether we were lucky or not. After searching seven or eight houses, wed found a fair amount of food but not a single aberrant. I sunk into deep thought. Situations like this happened at the beginning of the apocalypse mostly because there was a particrly powerful presence nearby, so nothing else dared to approach. Maybe a tier one aberrant? If so, thats perfect. Xiaotian needs a tier one aberrants crystal. After continually defeating a few tier one aberrants over the past few days, I was confident that I should be able to handle that tier. Worste to worst, we could manage to run away. So rather than being afraid of running into aberrants, I was more concerned about the problems that would crop up if Xiaotian continued to starve. After going through another five or six houses, we still hadnt encountered any aberrants. We found even more supplies, so much that I couldnt fit them into my backpack. I had to grab another big bag, and I filled it with bread, cans, and drinks. I even stuffed in a few changes of clothes and shoes for Xiaotian. In the end, I couldnt bring myself to leave behind the cans of food wed found. I resorted to childbor and got Jiang Xiaotian to help me carry some stuff. Of course, his bag was full of instant noodles while mine was full of cans. It might seem like wed managed to find quite some stuff, but this was actually the bounty from over a dozen houses, and we had to dig through less conspicuous ces. These houses had been searched before, but because it was just the start of the apocalypse and supplies werent that hard toe by, the raiders hadnt been thorough in their search. Maybe a powerful group wiped out all the aberrants here, then left after ransacking the ce, so thats why this area is empty? It was certainly a possibility. Thinking back to the area around our home, it had been equally empty of humans and aberrants and stripped clean of all supplies. With that settled, I decided that we should stay the night. The sky was already pitch ck, so we might as well catch some sleep. Once the sun rose, we would go for a wander around the town center. If we really couldnt find any aberrants, then wed move on swiftly to find the next ce to hunt for crystals to feed Xiaotian. I found aparatively clean house, which even had a gas stove. I could heat up whatever food I could manage and finally have a hot meal. Jiang Xiaotian ate, but he kept eyeing the hipsk. Food alone wasnt enough to satisfy him. Xiaotian, can you bear with it? Is it very ufortable? I was worried whether or not the Ice Emperors energy couldst. Would he really starve to death? Jiang Xiaotians eyes started brimming with tears, but he refused to cry. He simply nodded as he replied, Im so hungry. When I heard that, I instantly gave up on my n of sleeping. Anyway, my body was pretty robust and missing a nights sleep wouldnt affect me much. Okay, then we wont sleep. Lets go hunting for crystals. Jiang Xiaotian rubbed his eyes, mumbling, But Xiaotian wants to sleep. That was troublesome. After racking my brain for some time, I took him along my search in the outside area. Fortunately, we managed to locate a motorcycle that was parked in a garage. It came with sturdy leather saddlebags that hung off its back, so I could put away the supplies and secure Xiaotian at my front by wrapping a light nket around us. We really had hit the jackpot. A motorcycle was far more mobile than a car, but no one had taken it. Perhaps the ones who had ransacked this ce were part of a big group, so they didnt think a motorcycle woulde in handy? Furthermore, with aberrants everywhere, most people preferred to drive a car, so at least there would be ayer of metal between themselves and the aberrants. This was perfect for me, however, since I couldnt wait for aberrants to throw themselves at me. My Xiaotian is hungry! Xiaotian, you sleep first. At my bidding, the child closed his eyes and seemed to fall asleep immediately. Is he tired or just hungry? Increasingly worried, I advanced toward the town center on the motorcycle. This town wasnt that big, and soon enough I pulled to a stop near the taller buildings. There were still no aberrants to be found. If this really was the work of arge group, they probably werent far away. I frowned. I still had to catch up with Dg and the others, and I really didnt want to get tangled up with any more people. If not for the fact that Xiaotian was hungry, Id have continued the pursuit after finding some food. After passing through another street, I happened to look up, then had to brake immediately at the sight, astonished at what was in the distance. It was a giant tree. Ten stories tall, it wouldnt have been out of ce deep in the mountains or in an ancient forest, but this was a small town. Trees simply didnt grow to that size in urban areas. If not for the fact that the tree had very few branches and leaves and happened to be hidden by the tall buildings around it, Id have spotted it long ago. No wonder. So the reason why there arent any aberrants here is because they were all eaten by this tree? Seeing as Id made it all the way here without getting attacked, the tree hadnt turned aberrant yet. This also exined why there werent any aberrants or humans to be found in this small town. Aberrants had turned into nourishment, and while humans probably would quite like this small town, theyd be scared away by the sight of the big tree. Oh, a banyan tree! Xiaotian, who was lying against my chest, suddenly cried out, and only then did I realize he was awake and staring at the tree. A banyan tree? I wasnt too familiar with the different types of trees, and this tree had very few leaves, so it was hard to tell. This town probably didnt have any aberrants, so wed have to travel during the night and try our luck at other ces. Just as I was able to leave, Jiang Xiaotian started to be restless. I dont wanna go. I want to sleep! I smiled as I said, Xiaotian can sleep. I dont need Xiaotian to steer the bike. Jiang Xiaotian frantically shook his head while nestled against me, repeating once again, I wanna sleep here. I wanna sleep in a bed. My heart of a thirty-five year old woman melted at the sensation of the little head rubbing against my chest in refusal. How could I possibly say no? So I found a ce to park the motorcycle, and set off like a housewife who hade back from the market, multiple bags in both hands and a child lying against her chest. I found a clean house and kicked open the door Whoa, thats a corpse lying in the living room. Next! By the time Id found a ce and had cleaned up the bed, Xiaotian was already sound asleep. Moving carefully so I wouldnt wake him up, I ced the child on the bed. Then, I settled into a deck chair in the room to take stock of the supplies we had. The food was enough tost a week between Xiaotian and me. As for water, we didnt take much, since I could create ice myself. At most, we had taken some drinks that had calories. The weather was starting to turn cold. In the past, autumn could be so hot that it was as ferocious as a tiger, but the temperatures now were quite cool, particrly in the evenings and mornings. People with weaker constitutions would already need to start wearing jackets. I sized up Xiaotians clothing, feeling like it wasnt enough for him. The Ice Emperor could probably run around buck naked in deep winter with no problems, but now that he was a mini Ice Emperor, I didnt feel confident about his ability to handle the cold. I had to make sure he was wrapped up warmly. I walked over to the childrens room next door. Just now, while checking out the house, Id noticed that this was a family of three generations a couple with two children, and while I wasnt sure if both grandparents had still been around, the photographs covering the wall all had a pair of grandparents, so it was clear the family was very tight-knit. The door to the childrens room had been destroyed, to the point where there was hardly any of it left. Blood covered the floorboards, and a set of tracks outlined in blood extended all the way from the small, race car-shaped bed to the entrance. The other bed had once been a small, white bed with pretty floral engravings, but now it was dyed almostpletely in a deep red. So there had been at least two aberrants of different types, which exined why they hadnt been willing to eat in the same room. One had directly devoured the girl in her bed, while the other had dragged the boy out. Were they the parents or the grandparents? Speaking of which, children almost never turned into aberrants in the ck fog. If they turned aberrant, most of the time it was because they had died. But at the beginning of the apocalypse, every aberrant was very hungry, and whenever they caught hold of a person, they would gobble up every bit of them, even the bones, so very few children had the chance to change into aberrants. It was both a tragedy and a relief. A tragedy, because of what had happened to the children, but a relief because I didnt need to deal with children-turned-aberrants. Just imagining them made me feel sick and sad. I quickly rummaged around for a coat and thick pants in this oppressive childrens room, then returned to the main bedroom. Lying on the bed while hugging Jiang Xiaotian, I once again was reminded of how lucky I was to still have a child I could hug to sleep. Once I found my dg and xiomi, the four siblings would live together in pure bliss! As a result of being too happy, I overslept the next day. After quickly washing up, I dashed to the kitchen to prepare breakfast. I returned to the room with two tes covered in food to see Xiaotian had woken up already. He was sitting on the bed, looking somewhat lost and even a little panicked. Time to eat! The child jolted and his head jerked up, finally noticing my presence. His eyes widened a little, then he stared at me hungrily. As expected of Dg, his eyes were always so expressive. Jiang Xiaotian, whats got you staring with such wide eyes? I strode forward and set the tes on the bedside table, ordering, Go brush your teeth and wash your face, thene back and eat. The corner of the childs mouth lifted, and he said with a smile that was not a smile, Jiang. Xiao. Tian? I had little choice but to verify, Dg, have you recovered your memory? Yes. Jiang Xiaotian arched an eyebrow and stood on the bed, giving off the aura of a king. Unfortunately, he still had the appearance of a three year-old kid, so he couldnt cow people into obedience. Instead, he went from a cute little kid into a bad boy who needed a good spanking. Then I gave it some thought and concluded, Dg, go brush your teeth and wash your face, or the food will get cold. Mini Ice Emperor nodded, the kingly aura vanishing, and he turned into an obedient child who walked into the bathroom. The soft, huggable child was gone, making me a little down. But it was terrific that the Ice Emperor was able to recover his memories, and super terrific for all of humanity! If I wanted a soft, huggable child, I could always have er, but the Ice Emperor was a once in a lifetime opportunity, and you wouldnt get another if you missed him! Um, ahem. Shuyu, I cant reach the sink. What happened to being cool, suave, and handsome? What happened to leading humanity into a prosperous future? Our Ice Emperor cant even reach the sink to brush his teeth. What should I do? Trying to school my expression so that I didnt look like I was about to cry, I found a small stool for the Ice Emperor to stand on. Then, under the watchful gaze from his little face filled with embarrassment, I excused myself from the bathroom. I wasnt going to stay there and watch the almighty Ice Emperor brush his teeth with a childs toothbrush. The mini Ice Emperor exited the bathroom, his eyes locking on me the moment he looked over. It was almost as if just by looking at me, he could fulfill all his desires in life. But he suddenly frowned and panicked, hollering, Shuyu, wheres Shujun? I quickly replied, Shujuns with Dg, along with Uncle, Auntie, and the mercenaries. Everyones still alive! Im the only one separated from the group, so Im trying to catch up with them. Mini Ice Emperor looked stunned its really weird calling him that. Whatever, Im still calling him Jiang Xiaotian. When he reverts back to his original size one day, then Ill call him the Ice Emperor again! Pairing this adorable appearance with the mighty title of the Ice Emperor was the ultimate irony, and every time I called him that, I wanted to cry. Jiang Xiaotian frowned as he said, Shujun isnt with me. Shes with the past you, I hastily exined. Dg, dont forget that youve traveled through space and time. Right now, this world has two Dgs. But at the time, I wasnt by your side, he said in a tone of bewilderment. Then, his expression darkened. The apocalypse came, but Dg wasnt by your side. I I cut him off. Dg, you were in fact with us. Before theing of the apocalypse, I had a prophetic dream, and I warned you. Then I exined that, because of the prophetic dream, I knew the apocalypse wasing, so I made him return home sooner. So now, everything had changed. Jiang Xiaotian was both shocked and confused. Frowning, he said, If the past has changed, how can there still be a me to travel back to the past? It doesnt make sense. Dg, your logic sure is something. Much as Id like to exin about parallel universes, I dont think I can know about parallel universes from a prophetic dream Okay, honestly, I dont dare to tell this Dg about Guan Weijun. Does your neck still hurt? Jiang Xiaotian asked suddenly. I discovered I had unconsciously ced my hand against my neck. He looked guilty, not knowing what to do, and he looked down at his little hands, seeming to want to chop them off. I intentionally wailed in the most tragic way possible, I-it hurts a lot! Dg, you better pay me back for this; otherwise, Ill never forgive you! So, why dont you teach me how to use the ice ability? Jiang Xiaotian nodded solemnly, and responded in absolute seriousness, Of course. I never imagined that Shuyu would also be an ice user. I have a lot of experience I can pass on to you. When I heard that, I exploded with joy. My teachers going to be the Ice Emperor! Can I get any luckier? What should I do? Suddenly, these apocalyptic days seem so happy? Will I get beat up for being so happy? When I meet up with my past self, hell need to train even harder with his ice abilities. You two need to be stronger to protect Shujun, Uncle, and Auntie! Ah. Dg, actually your other self doesnt have ice abilities. Because things have changed, it seems like his ability has been affected as well. Jiang Xiaotian was momentarily stunned. Then, he nodded to indicate his understanding and asked, So what is it now? Healing. When he heard that, Jiang Xiaotians little brow frowned deeply, and it took a long while before he could force out his next words, Shuyu, youre going to have more to do. Nah, Shujuns electricity powers are pretty strong, too. Shes really amazing! Jiang Xiaotian stared at me, stupefied, and asked in disbelief, Electricity? Shujun? A three year-old wearing a dazed, silly expression was super adorable! Unable to resist teasing Jiang Xiaotian, I grabbed his hand, pledging, Dg, dont worry. Shujun and I will always protect you. You just have to keep healing us from behind. Your ddi and mimei will handle everything, so no one will get past us to hurt you! Jiang Xiaotians expression became soplex, it was impossible to describe. Volume 2, 9: Jiang Xiaorong

Volume 2, Chapter 9: Jiang Xiaorong

Trantor: Elkin (proofread by Arcedemius & EvlNabiki; C/E edited by lucathia) I exited the house and dumped the pile of supplies on the motorcycle. When I looked back I saw the little face, which had been stuck in a gloomy expression for the better half of the day, watching me with a grim expression. Shuyu, youre lying to me, arent you? Without waiting for me to respond, he analyzed what I had said, Even with a healing ability, I wouldnt be someone under protection. If you say this is the fourth month into the apocalypse, guns are still useful, and even without guns, Id be able to fight with a knife. I grinned and chuckled, Of course. Dg, you really believed me? Dont worry, even when Dgs ability is healing, its still awesome. There were quite a few times when I wondered whether or not your ability truly is healing. He kept his eyes fixed on me, a faint smile crossing his face, and he remarked, Id forgotten you were this kind of person. I only remembered you were very protective of family. My smile froze. Are you suspecting me or just reminiscing? Make it clear, Dg, Im really nervous now! But even if I was nervous, it wasnt to the same extent as earlier on when Id rather be strangled to death. I want to live together with Dg, Xiaomi, Uncle, and Auntie in the apocalypse. I am Jiang Shuyu! Is Shujun all right? Has she gotten used to the apocalypse? I nodded, replying, Everyones holding up quite well. If not for that little ident, wed probably still be at home, with a basement full of supplies, shooting aberrants with guns, eating crystals, and training our special abilities. Jiang Xiaotian started lecturing me in earnest, Theres nothing wrong with leaving, Shuyu. You must remember to never live toofortably, because that will make you be weak. Since my other selfs ability is healing, then you must be responsible for protecting the family. This struck me as a bit strange. Although I agreed that I needed to be stronger, it felt wrong hearing Dg wanting me to take responsibility for protecting our family. You had to know, even if Dgs ability was healing, he had still taken on the mantle of protecting our family, and had even insisted that I get a love life! And the personage in front of me was the Ice Emperor, okay? With him here, Id be lucky if I wasnt relegated to the role of being a useless boy toy, but now he wanted me to be responsible for protecting our entire family? It didnt sound like what Dg would say unless he was no longer capable of protecting me. Dg, can you still turn back into an adult? Jiang Xiaotian nodded, saying, If I have enough crystals. I fell silent. If I was reading between the lines correctly, that meant he had no way of transforming back without enough crystals. And given that the apocalypse had just started, it was impossible for there to be enough crystals to heal the Ice Emperor! He had been injured so badly that he had even reverted into a child, so just what tier of crystals was needed? What tier crystals do you need? Jiang Xiaotian shook his head, not responding. It was expected, since there was nothing either of us could do about it, so there wasnt much point pursuing this matter. I had better be strong as soon as possible; otherwise, how would I be able to hunt aberrants to rescue the Ice Emperor? Just the thought of me actually being able to save the Ice Emperor made my blood boil in excitement! This feeling of being able to save my idol was simply too incredible. I said enthusiastically, Dg, you must be hungry, right? Once weve left this town, Ill go hunt down some crystals for you. But Jiang Xiaotian shook his head as he said, No, low tiered crystals dont have any effect on me. You eat them. Whats important is that you need to be stronger. I hesitated a moment before nodding. Although tierless crystals were useless for me too, the mercenaries would still benefit from them, so I might as well save it for them instead. You mentioned needing to leave the town before hunting for crystals. Why? Have you cleared out this town already? As if! If I could, Id be starting my world conquest already! Why would I even want to go sightseeing in this town? Not me. I think that tree ate up all the aberrants. I pointed at the giant tree standing between the tall buildings in the distance. Jiang Xiaotian looked over, and his eyes suddenly lit up. That trees going to die soon. It probably evolved down the wrong path and wont be able to survive much longer. Really? I looked at Jiang Xiaotian in iprehension. nts run into these situations very easily. They would evolve in a certain direction but dont know how to moderate themselves. Then, theyll die because they evolved too much in a certain way. That tree was probably blocked from the sunlight by the shadows of the tall buildings in the past, and so it had never been able to grow properly. And after the ck fog came, it started trying to grow as tall as possible. Jiang Xiaotian seemed very interested in that tree, keeping his gaze away from me in a rare show of interest as he appraised the tree. Lets go over for a look. Maybe well find something handy. I didnt object. The Ice Emperor knew much more about the apocalyptic world than I did, so I couldnt go wrong by listening to him. I climbed on board the motorcycle and slowly rode there. There wasnt a problem with the motorcycle, but rather, the closer we got to the town center, the more abandoned cars there were. The pavement was also filled with all kinds of obstacles, so it was impossible to ride quickly. Suddenly, I caught sight of something, and I stopped the motorcycle. What is it? Jiang Xiaotians words were lined with caution. Theres a bookstore here. I need to get a map. Dg said they were going toward Luoan City, but I dont know how to get there. Luoan City? Ive never heard of it. Jiang Xiaotian said with uncertainty, Is it a small city? No clue. Frankly, as an outsider from another world, I really wasnt too familiar with the names of ces here. Jiang Xiaotian nodded. Okay, you go. Ill watch the supplies here. Hearing that, I headed into the bookstore myself. This ce was quite tidy, probably because no one wanted to search a bookstore, and I quickly got my hands on a map. I also took some pens and a notebook. First, I had a quick flip through the map book. Luoan City wasnt a small city; it wasparable to Zhongguan City in size, making it a mid-sized city. The threergest cities in Meisia were quite simr to those of my previous world, except that their locations were slightly off, though you could say that they were in the north, middle, and southern parts of the continent just like the other world. Based on my knowledge from my past life, these three cities werent human territories. They were thergest adventuring areas where it was easy to strike gold and even easier to never make it out alive. But that didnt matter to me at the moment. What was important was Luoan City being around four hundred kilometers from here. It was neither close nor far, and probably also the reason why Dg had picked that city to rest in. I tucked away the map and headed back to Jiang Xiaotian. Is Luoan City far? Having a little person sitting on top of a motorcycle painted a somewhat odd picture, but at the same time, it was an incredible cute sight! I really wanted to kiss him on his cheeks and rub his head, but unfortunately, Xiaotian had regained his memories, so I didnt dare to do so. About four hundred kilometers. Jiang Xiaotian nodded and said, Lets hurry there after checking out the tree. I cant rx until I see Shujun. And Uncle, Auntie, and your mercenary troop, I reminded him. This Dg was too obsessed with me and Shujun. Hed forgotten the existence of everyone else. Uncle and Auntie? His eyes lit up and he asked quickly, Who from the troop are there? I climbed aboard the motorcycle and once again advanced toward the tree. As we rode on, I counted them out. Zheng Xing, Yunqian, Xiao Sha, Lily Two streetster, we could see the roots of the tree. The closer we got, the more shocking the sight. It also proved Jiang Xiaotians words to be true. The tree didnt have many branches or leaves, and there were patches of bark that had dried up. It really was going to die soon. Lily? came the low murmur of a child from behind me. What about Lily? Ive gone through so many names, so why did he focus on Lily? There was a long moment of silence before another sentence came from behind, She was the person who stayed with me to the very end. Damn, whys it sound like I can dig up so much juicy gossip from this one liner? Dont tell me Lilys now my sister-inw? I chortled and asked, Dont tell me Ive got to call Lily sister-inw? Jiang Xiaotian froze, then said, No. Back then, I had only wanted to rush home to find you and Shujun, and I couldnt think about anything else. At the time, there were a lot of the troops who followed me, quite a lot more than the ones you just mentioned, but on the way Hepsed into silence once more. I finally understood what he had meant by stayed to the very end. Perhaps they had left or they had died, but if they had just gone, Jiang Xiaotian probably wouldnt react this way. I knew that my Dg would always respect his mercenaries choices, and wouldnt hold a grudge against them. So most of them had probably died? I didnt dare to continue my line of questioning. It was obvious that there had been a lot of tragedies, so Id step onto andmine no matter what question I asked. I was better off changing the subject. Dg, were at the tree. I parked the motorcycle. Jiang Shutian hopped off the motorcycle himself and made a beeline for the tree. The tree was gigantic, its trunk wide enough that you needed at least ten people holding hands to circle around it. The sight when looking up from its roots was even more stunning. Jiang Xiaotian hopped onto a tree root and made his way up along it. Then, he started touching various parts of the tree. I asked curiously, Dg, what are you doing? nts have a unique characteristic where sometimes, they dont diepletely. Shuyu, take me up. Jiang Xiaotian pointed in one direction with a finger. Climb up that way. Can I use my ice powers? I inspected the tree. It didnt have many branches, and they were all very far apart from each other, so there was nowhere I could step. Yes. Then that was fine. I took off my shoes and socks, scooped up Xiaotian, and formed a thin film of ice on the soles of my feet. Then, I hopped and leapt up the tree. Although I could also do it with my shoes on, just like how I could craft ice knives in mid-air without direct contact, generally speaking, it was much faster and easier creating ice directly from skin contact. Stop here. I did as he said. We were halfway up the tree, but this spot didnt look any different from any of the other branches. Just when I was about to ask, I saw Jiang Xiaotian staring at my feet. Dont wear shoes or sneakers anymore. Theyll only get in the way. If you are ambushed by aberrants, do you think you have the luxury of taking off your shoes and socks? Ugh. Right now, I still dont dare to skate inbat, so this problem hadnt urred to me. Dg, you dont normally wear shoes? Dont tell me the mighty Ice Emperor and General fought bare-footed? The image doesnt look right! Probably because my expression was too strange, Jiang Xiaotian said grumpily, I do, but right now, you mustnt wear any. You need to get used to using your ice ability when walking. I can only skate? This was a tall order. Not only were certain things impossible to do if I could only skate-walk, it was also very energy intensive. Skating, freezing pieces of ice to step on, using a thinyer of ice to reduce the speed of falling and so on. Once your power bes stronger, you can jump off a tall building without getting hurt, and by then, there wont be anywhere in the world you cant reach. I gave a worshipful look to Jiang Xiaotian. It felt good switching from stealing techniques to bing a proper student. I no longer had to rack my brains while trying to figure out how else I could use my ice powers. Shuyu, you have a lot to learn. Jiang Xiaotian looked at me very seriously, and continued, Ill be extremely strict, so you need to be prepared. No matter how tough it is or how tired you get, I wont let you give up. I immediately swore a solemn oath to Dg, Dg, dont worry. No matter how tough or tiring it gets, Ill never give up! I believe you, Jiang Xiaotian nodded as he spoke. Its obvious from your degree of training just four months into the apocalypse that youve put in no small amount of effort. But this isnt enough. If you want to be one of the elite powerhouses, its nowhere near enough. I stared at Jiang Xiaotian. I wasnt patting myself on my back, but Id only reached tier one after quite a number of close brushes with death. So how much did Dg go through back then in order to be the Ice Emperor? And could I pull off the same? Jiang Xiaotian seemed to sense my hesitation. He frowned, and proimed in a majestic tone of voice that one wouldnt expect from a child, Jiang Shuyu, you will be the new Ice Emperor! My heart throbbed, and I immediately responded, Yes, sir! After the brothers deration of their ambitious goals, Jiang Xiaotian reached out with his little hands and said, Carry me. I ignored how messed up the whole situation was, while Jiang Xiaotian was probably ignoring any sense of shame, and the younger brother picked up his little Dg. Jiang Xiaotian pointed at a particr branch, and only then did I discover that there was a little sprout there. It was extremely delicate and cute, with two pale green, tender leaves and a narrow stem that was only a finger long. Jiang Xiaotian stared at the sprout, thinking about something. And I wasnt sure if it was just me, but I felt like the sprout seemed to tremble under the weight of Jiang Xiaotians gaze. Oh, it wasnt just me, it even curled up its two leaves. Oi, are you a mimosa? Xiaotian already said youre a banyan tree, so dont pretend to be a weed! As expected of Dg, even the tree knows it should be scared of you. Jiang Xiaotian gave me an odd look. Hes not afraid of me, but you. Afraid of me? I was bamboozled by the idea that I could make a giant tree so scared that it would start trembling. Youve got a pretty good level of energy for this point in time, so you can probably rule a town, no problem. If this tree hadnt wasted its energy, it wouldnt lose to you, but it picked the wrong evolution route and wasted all the evolution crystals it had eaten. Right now, its not much stronger than a new born aberrant, so its only natural that its scared of you. I see. So this little tree is so young that it hasnt yet discovered how mighty my demon king of a Dg is. It can only sense the depths of power of a little boss like me, so its scared of me but not Dg. He looks but he doesnt see Er, wait, he doesnt have eyes to see. Shuyu, get a pot so we can cultivate him. Although the tree was stupid enough to use all its energy in growing tall, its not easy to get this big in these times, so there might be something special about it. Think of it as cultivating potential. Just feed him some excess crystals you have and hell be good. As expected of my Dg, his way of thinking is identical to mine when I saw Chen Qianru. While extracting the little tree, he clung desperately to his old branch, refusing to let go. If he had a mouth, hed probably scream the skies down, and I was struck with the sudden feeling that I was an evil tyrant kidnapping a peasant woman. With the mischievous feeling of hehe, its useless to struggle, I nted the little tree into the pot and said triumphantly, From now onwards, Im your master. Youll be called called Jiang Xiaorong, the rong from banyan tree! If Xiaorong is obedient, then youll get water, sunlight, and crystals. If youre bad, Ill shower you with acid! Do you hear me? Probably not. Jiang Xiaotian abruptly killed my passion for raising pets, nts right now still cantmunicate with us. I know, but isnt the point of raising a pet in order to enjoy talking to yourself? Equipped with Xiaotian and Xiaorong, I once again continued on my journey to find my family. Since Jiang Xiaotian said that I didnt need to hunt for crystals, I just gunned it in the direction of Dg and Xiaomi. As expected, riding the motorcycle made the journey much smoother, and I had a lot of fun zipping through obstacles. But having Xiaotian around made my journey much more difficult. When I saw a road that was jam-packed with a bunch of cars, just as I was thinking of taking a detour around to the other side, over the grass Use your ice energy to push aside the cars in our way. When I saw a ton of aberrants milling around a town that we were passing by, just as I was thinking to twist hard on the throttle and rush through Get off and deal with those aberrants. Hand over your knife and gun. You can only use your ice powers. When I was nning on picking a house randomly to stay the night Use ice to create an Eskimo igloo and sleep. You need tost the night without it melting. Although I was tempted to suggest that we should be hurrying to catch up with Dg and the others, I saw the look of seriousness on Jiang Xiaotians face that didnt match his child-like appearance and thought that the mighty Ice Emperor had to know what was more important. Even if we reached Luoan City, there was no guarantee that wed be able to find them. It had already been ten-odd days, and if Dg and co. wanted to find me, who had been snatched away by the bird, they would never stay in one ce. So how reasonable was it to abandon all training untilter and chase after them, in hopes that wed be able to catch up? Of course, we had to find them, but we couldnt just ignore training. Jiang Xiaotian had said I should be able to take over a small town, but was that really such an amazing thing? A mere tree had been able to take over a small town. As a human with the added advantage of being reincarnated, I still couldnt do any better. How humiliating was that?! I did everything that Jiang Xiaotian suggested, and not a single objection crossed my lips. But when I heard that I had to maintain the igloo for the entire night, my expression still darkened. I had spent the whole day on the motorcycle, and I had even beat up a bunch of aberrants, so the only thing I wanted to do was sleep. But now that I had to maintain the igloo and stop it from melting, how could I get any sleep? Jiang Xiaotian rested his head against the backpack, hugging Jiang Xiaorong, and he spoke as hey therefortably, Once youre used to it, you can maintain ice energy even when asleep. The problem was that I wasnt the slightest bit used to it, and with my current energy levels, I probably wouldnt be able to keep it up until morning. Energy is like cleavage. If you squeeze hard enough, there will always be more. I really wanted to retort that I was fated to never have cleavage in this life, he was toote, when Jiang Xiaotian spelled out the reason in a matter-of-fact tone of voice, Only by continually surpassing your own limits will you be able to be one of the elite. And so, I had nothing more to say and crafted the igloo. I maintained it as I tried my best to fall asleep, but every time my consciousness was about to slip into slumber, I was kicked awake by Jiang Xiaotian. The igloos melting. I had no choice but to continue staying awake to hold up the igloo, slowly falling asleep and getting kicked awake again. The cycle of sleeping and waking continued through to morning, and when I got out of bed, I felt like I hadnt slept at all. This continued for a full three days, and by the third evening, my eyelids felt like lead while my energy stores remained firmly in the empty state. I felt terrible. Shuyu Jiang Xiaotian gazed at me, keeping silent although something was clearly on his mind. Hm? As I made the igloo, I looked over at him. Some new training again? Jiang Xiaotian just watched me. He was still hugging onto Jiang Xiaorong. The tree had originally tried escaping at every possible opportunity. Our attention just had to slip for a second, then wed be guaranteed to hear the sound of pa as my potted nt jumped off the bike once again. But on the first evening, while I was struggling between sleeping and maintaining the igloo, Jiang Xiaotian must have done something, because the next day, Jiang Xiaorong didnt dare to jump off the bike anymore. He just remained motionless in Jiang Xiaotians arms, like he was an ordinary potted nt that didnt jump off bikes and wouldnt twist his roots like worms in order to get away. Jiang Xiaotian said hesitantly, Shuyu, you must be very tired? Why dont you take a break tonight? Perhaps rushing things will have the opposite effect. Getting enough rest is necessary, too. He was speaking in a very roundabout fashion, and it was clear that although he didnt agree with it, he wanted to let me rest. I couldnt help but burst outughing. Dg really was Dg. Even though he had experienced ten years of the apocalypse and knew all too well that the world worked on a no pain, no gain principle, he still couldnt stand letting his younger siblings suffer. Shuyu, how old are you now? Jiang Xiaotian said with a frown, I remember youre still eighteen, right? Youre still young, so really I interrupted him. Eighteen means Im an adult, Dg. I still remembered the times I had spent fleeing from trouble in the apocalypse. Things had been much worse back then, as Id spend the daytime squirreling around without any n in mind, only knowing that I had to find food or starve, while at night, Id curl up into a tight ball and sleep a light sleep, jumping awake at every little sound and motion. Those days were spent not only physically exhausted, but mentally in despair as I didnt know what the point of living was. At the time, I hadnt eaten any crystals, and I was far weaker than I was now. I had managed back then, so there was no excuse for me to not manage now. These past four months really had been too good to me. If I had gone into Zhongguan City earlier, the area I couldy im to probably wouldnt just be a small town, but a small city. You really couldnt afford to ck off in the apocalyptic world. I ate one crystal and finished off the igloo, then patted the backpack, saying, Come sleep, Dg. Then, after a moments thought, I grinned and corrected myself, No, wait. You cant sleep, you need to kick me awake. Fortunately, Jiang Xiaotian could sleep while I was riding the motorcycle during the day. Otherwise, his condition might even get worse? Jiang Xiaotian looked at me, nodded, and crawled over to sleep. I, too,y down and almost fell asleep there and then. I almost didnt dare to close my eyes. Id pass out the moment I shut them, but I couldnt just keep going like this. Even if I ate evolution crystals for meals, there was bound to be a limit on that, so I had to quickly learn how to keep my special abilities active while sleeping I jolted awake abruptly, and I immediately focused my eyes above me. A sea of white greeted me. The igloo was still standing, but I seemed to have really fallen asleep. Did I drop off for only a moment? I stuck my head out of the igloo to see the bright sky. It had been around ten at night when Isty down, and I had fallen asleep soon after. I stared at the igloo, stunned. Had I really managed to keep the igloo from melting even while sleeping? I was ovee with excitement and wanted to tell Jiang Xiaotian, but he wasnt around. Fortunately, I spotted the small figure sitting on the motorcycle after a quick nce around, but for some reason, there was something off with that little silhouette. My excitement died in an instant, and I called out tentatively, Dg? The small body flinched and quickly hid whatever it was holding and stuffed it back into the backpack. But I already knew what it wasthe map. So he found out its a parallel universe? But I had to pretend to be ignorant, because Id only told Jiang Xiaotian about prophetic dreams, so I had no way of exining how I knew about parallel universes. What a headache. One lie really does make many. I didnt actually intend to keep lying to Jiang Xiaotian my entire life, but I just wanted to avoid unnecessaryplications. Id thought that my confession could wait until after wed found Dg and Shujun. What should I do now? As I struggled with the question, Jiang Xiaotian just cut through my thoughts, saying calmly, Get some water so we can brush our teeth and wash our faces. You slept quite wellst night, so we can head out earlier today. When I saw that, I breathed a sigh of relief. As expected of the Ice Emperor, his ability to ept things and move on was on apletely different level to peasants like me. After washing up, I checked on my energy levels, then made a face as I said, Dg, my energy levels have bottomed out. I can only recover a little even if I eat crystals. If we run into too many aberrants, things might get dangerous. As Jiang Xiaotian brushed his teeth with a childs toothbrush, he darted a look at me. Thats definitely a look of disdain, definitely! He spat out the mouthwash, then asked, So you cant fight if you dont have any energy? I looked at the gun and knife. I had no hopes that Jiang Xiaotian would let me use the gun, so Ipromised, Can I use the knife? It depends. In other words, it was possible that I had to duke it out with aberrants with just my hands and no special abilities. Fine, I did need to train my close quartersbat. Although I did have Guan Weijuns experience as a foundation, and it didnt lose out to the mercenaries, whenparing it to the Ice Emperor, however, I was not much different than a three year old. I climbed onto the motorcycle and listened to Jiang Xiaotians Combat ssroom as we rode. Your skills can be said to be eptable, but its obvious that you dont have a good foundation. Here, Jiang Xiaotian asked in confusion, Shuyu, did you learn all this in these four months? I remember that you were very sporty, but you had never learned techniques like these. To begin with, I didnt have any foundation to speak of. What kind of officedy would have basicbat skills? All my fighting skills had been honed by living in the apocalyptic world. Dg, in my prophetic dreams, I wasnt Jiang Shuyu but someone else. So I learned a lot while watching her fight, and Ive been training these four months. Jiang Xiaotian sunk into deep thought at my response, then suddenly asked, Who were you in your dreams? I was an ordinary woman called Guan Weijun. Shes the woman of a small colony leader and she survived quite long in the apocalyptic world, close to ten years. Ten years? So thats why you dont know Jiang Xiaotians voice became softer and softer until it trailed off. Dont know what? I asked, curious. Nothing. Its enough to know ten years of the apocalypse. I wasnt around over here in the first few years, so I dont know what will happen. Since the me now cant be the Ice Emperor, the deviation of events in theter years will only grow bigger and bigger, so what I know isnt reliable. So its not a big deal if I dont tell you. That was true. Id originally thought that the Ice Emperor should know a lot, but that thinking was too idealistic and reality was always much more brutal. I needed to train up properly. Being reincarnated only put me a few steps ahead of everyone else. I only needed toze around a little and my advantage would vanish into thin air. So you might as well focus your time on training your skills and abilities. As long as you are strong enough, nothing else really matters What is it, Shuyu? I pulled the motorcycle around in a big arc and stopped at the side of the road. Then, I said softly, Dg, theres a group of cars approaching from the road on the left. Jiang Xiaotian was sitting behind me, so at this he stood up on the seat and peered over my shoulder. There were a total of six cars. Four of them were RVs, and the remaining two were minibuses, which meant that there were probably more than twenty or thirty people in the group. I frowned. Just as I was thinking of avoiding them, the light, clear voice of a child came from behind. Shuyu, have you ever killed a person before? Volume 2, 10: Next stop, Luo鈥檃n

Volume 2, Chapter 10: Next stop, Luoan

Trantor: Elkin (proofread by Arcedemius & EvlNabiki; C/E edited by lucathia) Huh? I was stunned by his question. I hadnt a clue why Jiang Xiaotian was asking about this, but I replied honestly nheless, Yeah, Ive killed before. Jiang Xiaotian nced over me with a somewhat conflicted expression, then nodded and said, Then never mind. I was originally thinking to give you some practice. Whoa, suddenly I feel like Ive just saved a bunch of innocent lives. I wiped away my cold sweat. As expected of the Ice Emperor whod lived through ten years of the apocalypse: he no longer put much value on human life. Although I was much the same, I hadnt reached the stage where I could kill a person just to polish my skills. This was probably because Id stayed in the safety of the colonies for too long in theter stages of the apocalypse. But before that, I had killed my fair share of people too, particrly after my mom died and Xia Zhengu started collecting women like they were goods. The me at that time couldnt care less about human lives, either. Lets go? I ventured the question, wanting to get Jiang Xiaotian away from these people as soon as possible and prevent the Jiang family from bing responsible for the extinction of all mankind. Okay Jian Xiaotians tone of voice suddenly changed as he asked, Shuyu, are those Hummers behind the minibuses? What?! I immediately looked. He was right. Theyd been blocked by the minibuses, so I hadnt spotted them until now. More importantly, those Hummers werent the civilian models, but military Humvees in camouge colors! Dg, can I run away? I asked in all seriousness. Jiang Xiaotian gave me a look and said slowly, You leave, you dont run away. If you want to run away, then I wont let you leave. The whole business about running away versus leaving baffled the hell out of me. Whatever it was, we had to go. My energy levels were almost zero, so this wasnt a good time to cross paths with the military or mercenaries. Okay, lets leave. When I saw the cars approaching the intersection we were at, I quickly wheeled around the motorcycle to go. But we hadnt even gone ten meters when we heard a voiceing from a megaphone, Stop the motorcycle right now or we will shoot! Why do you care so much about a motorcycle? Please just let me go? Dont you know Ive got a nuclear missile at my back? Dont be so keen tomit suicide! A sudden, coldugh burst out from behind me, and a voice growled so deeply that it was terrifying, despite being a childs voice, Hmph, doing things the hard way, are you?! Dg, are you okay? Something was very wrong. Jiang Xiaotians mood seemed exceptionally rotten today. I could only think of one thing that had happened between this morning and now, and that was him seeing the map. Did the discovery about parallel universes affect him that much? Jiang Xiaotian patted my shoulder, reminding me, Dont space out. Theyreing. I nced at the rearview mirror. Just as Id feared, they really were soldiers, all dressed in uniform. Still, that was better than mercenaries. Generally speaking, mercenaries were more ruthless than soldiers, and they tended to be the less savory types. Not every mercenary was as sweet as the ones in my invincible troop. Three soldiers made their way over with guns at the ready. But once they got closer, their grim expressions rxed a little, probably because of the sight of Jiang Xiaotian. People tended to be less wary when they encountered someone toting a three year-old around with them. I got off the motorcycle. When I turned to gaze at the three soldiers, they looked a little surprised. Two children? The three soldiers lowered their guns, no longer pointing the muzzles at me. They seemed decent enough people. The soldier with the crew-cut asked, Kid, whyre you wandering around with such a young child? Its dangerous! Shit, man, look at that face! Hehe, even those celebs on TV cantpare. The other guy who looked like the unruly sort stared fixedly at my face with bright eyes. The moment the words left his mouth, the temperature immediately plummeted by quite a few degrees. It definitely isnt my doing! I quickly scooped Jiang Xiaotian into my arms and nted Jiang Xiaorong into his hands. It was better if those two small hands were upied with holding a potted nt than busting peoples heads open. Suddenly, the oldest looking soldier of the three balked and barked out, You there, say something! I blinked, replying, Good morning. The soldier red at me, but he looked less fierce than before, and he even breathed an almost imperceptible sigh of relief. Nice sense of caution, Mister. You even have the sense to suspect whether Im an aberrant. Even though aberrants now were all very ugly, one couldnt discount the possibility that there would be some that looked like humans. So currently, the easiest way of differentiating between aberrants and humans was indeed to get them to speak. Colonel, Crew-cut Soldier said in a troubled tone of voice, Orders, sir? Theyre both children. Take them with us, the colonel replied unhesitatingly. Unruly-looking Guy immediately perked up and looked at me excitedly on hearing that. The surrounding temperature slipped even lower. These autumn days are chilly enough, Jiang Xiaotian. Stop making it colder already. Sorry, Ive got to go. I immediately moved back to the motorcycle. The moment the situation turned sour, Id hop onto the seat, rev hard on the throttle, and whiz away. I didnt think that these soldiers would be nuts enough to shoot people they saw as children. The colonel snarled, Dont be ridiculous. All survivors in the vicinity are to go to Luoan City. Theres a central shelter set up there. I froze. Youre going to Luoan City? Didnt you hear the broadcast? Unruly-looking Guy asked in amazement, Arent you going to Luoan City because of the broadcast? This road leads to Luoan City, so even if you want to go somewhere else, you have to pass through there. Its not that far away. I really hadnt heard the broadcast. My goal was to find Dg and the others, and I couldnt care less about where other survivors were heading. I contemted my options. If Luoan City had be the gathering spot for survivors, then things were going to be tricky. Just getting into that city was hugely problematic. With everyone deathly scared of aberrants, wed have to get past checkpoints in order to get into the city. If I were by myself, being held up was the least of my concerns. I was more worried about people with few scruples. In chaotic times like this, I didnt think being a man would keep me safe when I had Jiang Shuyus face. Even with my ice powers, I couldnt win against numbers or guns. I wasnt so arrogant to think that I could hold my own against a row of guns as I was. I could probably make an escape in such a situation, but I needed to get into Luoan City, so I could hardly just run away in the first ce. I did. Thats why Im going there to find my missing family. I adopted a wary expression as I darted a few nces at Unruly-looking Guy. He rubbed his nose before being dragged back a step by Crew-cut Soldier, who exined, Hes not a bad guy. That was true. Although he sounded like he didnt care much for rules, the only thing hed done so far was just stare at my face. He didnt make a single move on me, and his hands remained firmly gripped on his gun. He just so happened to be the kind of guy who ran his mouth. I frowned at the colonel, asionally throwing a worried look at Unruly-looking Guy, pretending like I wanted to follow them but was worried about my own safety. While I was acting out my role, Jiang Xiaotian had his head up, eyes boring into me. I had to do my best not to break character. Ice Emperor, your Majesty, are you training my acting skills or something? Can you stop staring at me like that? The colonel spun on his heel and strode off, snapping, Enough chit chat. Get him to gather his belongings and get in the car. If he doesnt want to go, force him on board! Crew-cut Soldier looked a bit bbergasted at that and told me, We really dont mean you any harm. Juste with us. Even if you dont care about yourself, think about your ddis safety. Once youre at Luoan City, you can go wherever you want. No one will stop you. Just as I was about to agree and go with the flow, Jiang Xiaotian suddenly wrapped his arms around my neck, crying out, Daddy! Ice Emperor, your Majesty, what on earth are you thinking? A soft warning came from the bundle in my arms, No puppy love. Whats important now for you is to train up your power, not to fall in love. You need to train properly for at least the next two years, so no dating allowed! One dg is asking his ddi to hook up with someone, and the other dg isnt allowing his ddi any puppy love. Dont you know you two are killing me here? Under the startled gazes of Crew-cut Soldier and Unruly-looking Guy, I silently gathered up my supplies, shouldered on my backpack, reluctantly abandoned the handy motorcycle, and followed the two into the cluster of cars. Unruly-looking Guy suggested eagerly, Come sit in our Humvee! If you like motorcycles, youll definitely love our Humvee. I did in fact like Humvees, because these kinds of vehicles could bash aside ordinary obstacles without any worry of breaking down. Unfortunately, it wasnt easy finding a Humvee on the streets. Shut up! Crew-cut Soldier smacked his head and turned to instruct me, Get into the bus at the back of the convoy. I nodded and silently climbed onto the bus. Inside, all eyes swiveled to look at me. At first, there was discontent, probably because I had slowed them downbut then the expressions became more varied. Generally speaking, the women started radiating passion and love while the men looked away and some even started mumbling to themselves. Although the reactions were divided between the two camps, it was just a momentary diversion. Most people still looked unsettled, shutting out me and everyone else around them. They simply huddled in their seats, filled with fear and despair. This behavior was all too familiar, reminding me of the days of bitter despair in my past life. I had no intention of interacting with anyone myself. Only the front half of the bus had upants and the back half was empty, so I sat myself at the veryst row. Then, I looked down at Jiang Xiaotian. Dg. Luoan Citys not far away. Traveling with this group might slow us a little, but itll be easier to avoid notice when traveling with a group if we run into any checkpoints. Is this okay? I had no chance to ask Jiang Xiaotian about this until now, but at the same time, he hadnt given me any hints or signs either, so I had treated it as his agreement to travel with the group. Decide for yourself. Jiang Xiaotian gazed at me and said with mixed feelings, Shuyu, you have a steadier head on your shoulders than I remember. I thought that after the apocalypse, my other self would protect you and Shujun, but actually, thats not the case, is it? I was silent for a moment before responding, Dg, I dreamed a dream that was ten years long, and I even lost my memories. I dont remember what happened in the past. When I first woke up, I didnt even know who I was. When he heard about my amnesia, Jiang Xiaotians eyes widened slightly and he stared at me. But even if he stared at me this way, I would never say I wasnt Jiang Shuyu anymore, because I was Jiang Shuyu! You lost your memories? Jiang Xiaotian asked softly, You dont remember anything? Ill remember bits and pieces every once in a while. No wonder you dont know who you are. Jiang Xiaotian frowned and asked, Do you still wonder about it? No. I gave a small smile. Now, I only want to find everyone in the Jiang family and live on in this apocalyptic world together. Jiang Xiaotian patted my shoulder in silent acknowledgement. Then, he looked down and pondered for a while, before asking, In that ten year dream of yours, did you ever see me? Some of the ways you fight seem very familiar. Yes, once. I saw you fighting with an aberrant. Jiang Xiaotian asked with a hint of curiosity, What kind of aberrant? I described everything I had seen, how he had glided on ice knives, and the snow paths that filled the skies, without disguising how much I worshipped the Ice Emperor. Jiang Xiaotian nodded, remarking, You can pull off thosebat skills once you hit tier four. Theyre not that hard. But it will eat up a lot of your energy, so its not very practical. You can onlypletely disregard the energy expenditure in creating those snow paths once you reach tier five or higher. Tier five. Thats a hard, distant goal. I suddenly remembered something else. Oh yeah, even though I didnt realize that the Ice Emperor was you, Dg, the aberrant you were fighting was quite big, so I could see him quite well. He looked very unique. He was covered in blood-red lines. The two blood lines running straight down from his eyes were especially remarkable, like tears of blood were streaming down his face. Now that I thought about it, they resembled the blood tears that Dg had shed when he was being entranced by the brainwight. Jiang Xiaotians expression immediately crumbled. Shocked, I called out, Dg?! Hearing me call him, he looked over at me, his eyes filled with terror. The sight stunned me for a moment, and I couldnt help but ask him again, Dg, whats wrong? But Jiang Xiaotian had recovered hisposure and replied calmly, He was indeed very strong, and he had a very unique power. At the time, he was already the ruler in the area. If not for me, he probably wouldve grown much more powerful. Shuyu, you must never lose to him! Thest sentence that came out of the blue ced an immense pressure on me. I gave Jiang Xiaotian a once over. Somehow, this Dg didnt seem too right today, so I couldnt help but say, Dg, Ive told you everything. So if you have something on your mind, dont hide it from me either, okay? Jiang Xiaotian gazed at me solemnly, replying, As long as you and Shujun are fine, what does Dg have to worry about? For some reason, I couldnt rx the slightest after hearing him say that. If he had brought up his suspicions or theories about parallel worlds, I mightve felt a little better, but he didnt ask anything at all. So he doesnt really care about it? Or is it weighing on his mind too much? Jiang Xiaotian patted me and said, Shuyu, rest well. Recover some of your energy so were prepared for any situation. Ill keep watch while youre sleeping. Once he said that, there was nothing to do but obediently go to sleep. If all went well, we should be able to reach Luoan City by evening. No matter what the crisis, nothing was as important as finding Dg and the others. Knowing that Jiang Xiaotian would be guarding me, I slept extremely well. I was vaguely aware of the sensation of some clothing being ced over me, then Jiang Xiaotian slipping in under the clothes and sprawling on my chest. My arms naturally wrapped around him in a hug, and I rested my chin on the childs head, sleeping morefortably. I slept soundly for some time, and by the time I woke up, the sky was awash with the reds of the setting sun. It was already evening. Id literally slept from morning to evening. But after catching up on my sleep, I felt fully recharged. Not only had I restored the gging energy levels in my body, I even felt like Id grown stronger. Wait, this feels a bit too good to be true. Whoa, dont tell me Ive risen to tier two? Id heard of tiering up in the middle of a fight, but Id never heard of tiering up in the middle of slumber! I looked down at Jiang Xiaotian. He was munching on a cookie, looking quite normal my ass! His face is white as a sheet! Who does he think hes tricking? Dg, what did you do? I grated. Your energy levels are so low that youve shrunk into a three year-old kid, and you still dare to mess around? Jiang Xiaotian dodged the subject. We can see Luoan City already. The people up front were just saying that we should be there in about ten minutes time, so now weve probably only got five minutes to go. Pack up your stuff quickly and prepare to get off. Pack what stuff? The two backpacks are already sitting there, and I didnt even open them. All we need to do is pick them up and go. I red hard at him. Dont think you can get away so easily! Whats done is done. I cant turn back time, so theres no use looking at me. True. I took in a deep breath and said in a steely tone of voice, Promise that youll never do anything like this, ever again! Jiang Xiaotian nodded. Theres not much I can help with now. I was able to give you a little push because you werent far away from breaking through before. Is he telling the truth? It was hard to tell. Ive never heard of anyone helping others to break through before, so its probably pretty difficult to do so? But then again, Dg is the Ice Emperor. Ive never reached his heights, so who knows whether theres some secret technique? The only thing I could do was plead with him, Dg, whether or not you can turn back to normal, whats important is that we can be together as a family, right? Jiang Xiaotian smiled, replying, Of course. He stood on my thighs to be tall enough to be able to ruffle my hair. No matter what happens to Dg, hell always ruffle my hair! I chuckled and mussed up his hair even more, and I didnt stop until his hair was all poofed up. Hehe, serves you right for always ruffling my hair! When I saw Jiang Xiaotians messy, nest-like hair and his extremely resigned expression, I sniggered like some kind of weird uncle for a good while. Then, when I next looked up, I saw a young girl standing in front of me. Seeing her wide eyes, I started breaking out in cold sweat. Im not a weird uncle, dont misunderstand! Gge, Mommy said to give this to you. I blinked. The girl had already stretched her hands up at me, and in her hands were a pair of flip flops with a pink Hello Kitty design. I was currently barefooted, but it wasnt because I had lost my shoes. Well, technically speaking, my shoes had been thrown away by Dg, but it was mostly to train my special abilities rather than ack of footwear. I epted the flip flops; they really were quite handy. It would be too eye-catching if I wandered around the city with bare feet, so having these flip flops was much better. If I really needed to fight, I could kick off the flip flops without any hassle. Little girl, youve opened my eyes to the wonders of the super useful flip flops! I took out a few pieces of chocte and a can of mixed rice porridge from my backpack and passed it to the little girl. When I next looked up, I saw a woman staring my way anxiously. I smiled at her, and she rxed and nodded in return. There was a man sitting next to her as well. Originally, he hadnt looked at all happy, but when he saw the chocte and mixed rice porridge, a hint of delight shed across his face. Obviously, he felt like hed gotten the better deal out of this. I rubbed the little girls head. She was holding onto her choctes, looking very happy, but she didnt eat them immediately. Instead, she insisted, Gege, wear the sandals! I smiled as I put on the flip flops. The size was about right, slightly on the small side. I couldnt tell if the flip flops were especiallyrge or if Jiang Shuyu had small feet. Pink Hello Kitty flip flops are for girls, right? Theres even a crystal ribbon on it! I suddenly felt like I wasnt much better off wearing the sandalspared to being bare footed. The little girl smiled and waved her hand as she said, Bye, gge. Bye, ddi. I smiled as I waved goodbye too, my mood suddenly lightening. Then, the vehicle came to an abrupt stop. I craned my head to look outside. There werent any skyscrapers to be seen, and it looked like we were in a rural area. A little distance away, there were walls and barbed wire. This is a military zone? Were here! The bus bustled with activity as everyone stood up and stuck their heads out of the windows. I frowned. This doesnt look like the city. Was I tricked? But there were all kinds of survivors here, and they didnt seem like they were part of the same gang. If this ce really wasnt Luoan City, they wouldnt react this way. Surely not everyone came from another world like me and didnt recognize the cities in this world? The shelter wont be in the city. They were probably referring to the suburbs when they said Luoan City. Jiang Xiaotian patted me. Look over there. At his prompting, I immediately turned over to look, and saw the skyscrapers some distance away on the other side. Jiang Xiaotian said, You dont have to rush to get into the city. The me in this world wont ask you to go into the city to look for clues. That would be too dangerous. The tower he mentioned is probably on the outskirts of the city and will definitely be a bigndmark, so you can find it easily. Lets follow the others first, then decide what to do once we know more. I nodded. Although they were Dgs from two different worlds, Dg was still Dg, and his judgment was probably correct. Except, they were two people from two different worlds, but at the same time, they were the same person. If I meet the Guan Weijun of this world, will she still be me? There were quite a few examples of military zones that were converted into shelters. Things were chaotic after the ck fog, but once things settled down a little, government organizations finally started operating again. As it turned out, ces with stationed troops were the best ces to build shelters. Jiang Xiaotian gazed at the barb wire wall, a three year-old with a troubled expression. Just looking at him troubled me greatly as well. But these shelters only existed at the beginning stages of the apocalypse. As food became scarcer, governments copsed, and the military turned into warlords and started carving out their own territories. All of them are like cancer! He turned to look at me. Shuyu, if you are to search for clues in there, you need to be careful. Dont reveal your actual capabilities without good reason. I picked up the backpacks, the child, and the potted nt, and joined at the end of the queue of people waiting to get off the bus. Then, I replied, Dont worry, Dg. Your ddi looks like a delicate and weak pretty boy, an easy target for bullying. Jiang Xiaotian gave me a hard look, then sighed, You really do look even better than you did in my memories. Shuyu, you need to be strong. I nodded gravely. In fact, when I got back, I had to train Shujun properly. She was a real pretty girl and was in far more danger than I was! Once we got off the car, I lifted my head to look at the military zone, and I balked. As expected of signs left by Dg, they were really easy to spot. As long as I traveled in this direction from our house, there was no way I could miss this big, ck tower that was looming over me. It sat in the military zone and was extremely eye-catching, as there was not a single tall building around it. You like the watch tower? I turned to see Unruly-looking Guy, who had wandered over without me noticing, his face full of smiles. Theres a story behind this tower, you I cut in with a question, Can we go in there? There were a fair number of tents and lots of people outside the military zone. I didnt know why they hadnt gone inside. Are there some rules governing who can enter? There are too many people. Unruly-looking Guy exined, All neers need to register and wait for three days outside before they are let in. Its a preventative measure against people hiding infected wounds. I nodded to indicate my understanding. At this stage, people still werent hardy enough and theyd die very quickly if their wounds got infected. And problems kicked in once they died. Youve got to stay outside for three days as well. But dont be scared, Ille check on you. Jiang Xiaotian gripped my hand, evidently disliking this guy. Oh yeah, Im called Chen Yanqing. How about you? Before I could reply, Crew-cut Soldier rushed over in a hurry, yelling, Qing, quit troubling the kid. Chen Yanqing immediately looked back at him and hollered furiously, Guo Hong! Just tell me how am I troubling him? Guo Hong stopped, looking a little surprised. He looked at Chen Yanqing, then at what he was holding, then at me hesitantly. Hes just helping me hold stuff, I replied truthfully. It was obvious that this guy was very interested in me, but he didnt do anything, so he was someone I could befriend first. We were in a military zone and these two were soldiers, so a rapport with them woulde in handy, whether it was to ward off any trouble or even to help locate Dg and the others. Guo Hong frowned, saying, Were supposed to round up the civilians and take them to the gathering point. Everyones busy so you have no excuse not helping out some of the civilians as well. So he doesnt count as a civilian? Chen Yanqing said smugly, Besides, look at his face. If we dont keep an eye on him, I guarantee that something bads gonna happen to him immediately. You havent forgotten about those mercs who came by recently, right? Mercenaries? I became extremely agitatedly and demanded, Where? Where are the mercenaries? The two looked at me in surprise. Right there. Chen Yanqing pointed at the military zone, and I became so excited that I started trembling unconsciously. Dg, Shujun, Uncle, Auntie, the JDT mercenaries Theyre right there! Volume 2, Extra: The Journey Home, Part Two

Volume 2, Extra: The Journey Home, Part Two

Trantor: purplezero (proofread by Arcedemius & Elkin; C/E edited by lucathia) Jiang Shutian was the first to wake up. Reflexively, he touched his chest and confirmed that he was still alive. Then, feeling silly about such an action, he lowered his hand with a bitter smile. That wave of pain had been so terrifying that he thought he was going to die. He turned around, looking at the others, and saw that red-haired Jenny was moving. She was lifting her head up. Up already? Wake up the others. We need to hurry and hit the road Jiang Shutians sentence trailed off. She raised her head and looked straight at him, her face covered with translucent fish scales. Her mouth ripped open, revealing a mouth filled with sharp teeth. Her throat even had lines of openings that fluttered non-stop. They were fish gills! But he could still tell from that face that it was Jenny. Jiang Shutian didnt know how to react. He even began to worry about what he currently looked like. Could it be Jiang Shutian abruptly pulled his gun out and aimed at the half-monster, half-human Jennyshe was pouncing at him. He hesitated for a second but in the end, he could not bring himself to shoot, choosing to duck aside instead. However, something swept at his legs, almost tripping him. He looked down to discover that Jennys legs had morphed into arge fish tail. With the body of a human and the tail of a fish, she was practically a mermaid. But the mermaid in front of him was absolutely nothing like the beautiful ones from fairytales. The fish tail was a wretched shade of green, as if mold were growing on it, and spikes jutted out of it. Jiang Shutian aimed at the fish tail and fired a few shots. She was in so much pain that she leapt non-stop, shrieking like a strangled chicken. By now, the muzzle had already moved to point between Jennys eyes. Jiang Shutian gazed at that face that was both familiar yet foreign, struggling to shoot. Before he could open fire, a throwing knife had stabbed into her head, and she slowly sagged to the floor. Boss! Jiang Shutian turned his head. Xiao Sha was looking at Jenny in rm. Xiao Sha still retained the appearance of a human. Judging from the way he was looking at himself, Jiang Shutian could conclude that he also appeared human. What is that thing? Xiao Sha asked in disbelief. Jiang Shutian opened his mouth and only then realized that from Xiao Shas angle, therge fish tail had blocked more than half of his view. He had probably not realized that this was Jenny and had only seen a monster attacking his boss, thus he was able to act so decisively. He hesitated over what to say. But the next moment, someone grabbed his ankle. Jiang Shutian looked down and saw Jenny yawning her mouth wide open, about to take a bite of his leg. Bang, bang, bang! Jiang Shutian fired three consecutive shots and sted away most of her head. In that moment, hepletely understood what kind of apocalypse this was: it was terrifying beyond expectation. With such a greatmotion, some of the others woke up in a daze. Jiang Shutian surveyed the inside of the car and then pressed the muzzle of his gun to the head of furry monster with a snout. It was Wu Zaiyu, the rookie mercenary, Wu the Ewe. He had always said that once he married a girl, he would then be able to raise a dog with her at home. Cain had always teased him that he was marrying just to get a dog. But before the rookie could realize that future, he had turned into a dog himself. After Jiang Shutian pulled the trigger and lowered the gun, he realized that his steady right hand that had never missed a mark was shaking. Boss, t-theyre Xiao Sha made out the fishs face and realized that the monster he had attacked had actually been hisrade. Dead. Jiang Shutian coldly said, Jenny would never attack me. That thing isnt her. Xiao Sha nodded, silent. He hesitated for a bit but still asked, Will we be like that too? Jiang Shutian firmly answered, No. If everyone would turn into monsters, Shuyu would not have asked him to prepare supplies, so not everyone would turn. He just didnt know what the trigger was. Jenny and Wu Zaiyu did not have anything inmon. How many will turn into monsters at home? Can Shuyu really handle it? The more Jiang Shutian thought about it, the more his heart sank. He alsopletely failed to realize that his siblings could be monsters. Xiao Sha, wake up the others. Were returning immediately! However, this immediately took several days. Jiang Shutian had never thought that there would be so many monsters, or that they would all be different types withpletely different abilities so that there was simply no way of predicting what they could do. Many of them were much tougher to deal with than Jenny, who had been a fish out of water. Although guns were still useful, the moment a shot was fired, it would attract hundreds and thousands of monsters. They had to sneak along the entire way and were forced to only use daggers to fight with those monsters. It only took a momentarypse of concentration for Zheng Xing to get bitten. Everyone had grim looks on their faces. At the start of the apocalypse when they hadnt figured out anything, they had already lost Jenny and Wu Zaiyu. Now, they would even have to lose Zheng Xing too? Kill me. Zheng Xing took a deep breath. Let me die as a human. The groups eyes reddened. Cain lifted his gun, intending to send off hisrade, only to be ordered Stop! by their boss. Give him a shot of antibiotics. Jiang Shutian calmly said, If we die from a single bite, then Shuyu wouldnt have asked me to get hold of so many antibiotics. Hearing that, the mercenaries, who had survived through countless battles, almost cried with relief. The next day, after seeing that Zheng Xing was still human and able to eat, talk, and not bite people, they really did burst into tears. Boss? After many days of risking life and limb to escape, he had finally arrived home. Yet, Jiang Shutian did not dare to get out of the car. Yes, the man who had entered the mercenary world before even turning twenty was, at this very moment, afraid to get out of the car. But his family was waiting for his rescue, and a second could spell the difference between life and death. Jiang Shutian could not permit himself to be weak here. He pulled the door open and was out of the car the next moment, leading the charge into his house. The moment Jiang Shutian opened the front door, he felt all the blood in his body freeze. It was absolute chaos insidethe living room furniture was overturned and many ces had been stained dark red. It was dried blood. He was going crazy. Shuyu! He rushed into the living room and passed through the kitchen. The entrance was blocked off by stacks of stuff, but he did not see anyone. Shujun! The hallway was dyed with blood. Whose blood am I stepping on? Where are you? Answer me! Boss, theres Ceng Yunqian stuck her head out from the second floor. However, after shouting theres, she did not know how to finish that sentence and was at a loss of what to do. Jiang Shutian rushed directly to the second floor. He nkly stood rooted to the spot. The floor in front of Shuyus door waspletely stained a dark red, dotted with specks of yellow-white. An unbearable, rotting stench emanated from it. He was too frightened to take another step, too scared of going into Shuyus room, too afraid to even think The mercenaries stood behind him, not daring to make a sound. Dg The group all started. Although the voice hadnt been loud, they had definitely heard it. Jiang Shutian growled, shoving the suffocating worry out of his mind, and jumped straight from the second floor to the first. He had nced into Shujuns room but had found no one there. He turned around and saw that Lin-bs door was closed. Jiang Shutian couldnt stand the torture anymore and forcefully kicked the door open. There, he saw a figure lying on the bed. He rushed over with long strides and lowered his head to look. He nearly broke down there and then. That face was no longer a humans. But his gaze was. Jiang Shutian took another look. This was his younger brother. It was just that he was skinny to the point that he didnt look human. He stretched his hand out to touch the face of that person lying on the bed, his touch feather-light for fear of breaking him. He couldnt feel any flesh, only skin and bones. Is this really my ddi who has been handsome beyond words since childhood? Shuyu Jiang Shutian was speechless when he saw his brother open his mouth to say something, but he couldnt hear anything. He quickly lowered his head to listen closely. What? Basement. Junjun. Jiang Shutian didnt know how he had responded. His heart both ached and was bursting with pride. Shuyu had really protected the family. He had been the one protecting the family all along. As for him, the elder brother, what had he done? What was he doing?! The person lying in bed heaved sigh of relief, and his eyes slowly closed. Shuyu! Jiang Shutian frantically yelled. Both eyes opened a little, as if shocked open, but his gaze wasnt focusing at all. Bring over the antibiotics! Now! Shuyu, wake up, youve got to stay awake, Shuyu Zheng Xing rushed in and pushed his boss away. Seeing Shuyus condition shocked him too, but he immediately took over the emergency rescue effort. Jiang Shutian could only stand there senselessly. He knew that his sister was in the basement, and that her situation was unknown, but he also knew that as long as Shuyu was breathing, Shujun would be all right. Just as expected, before long, Shujun rushed in. It was only then that Jiang Shutian snapped out of his daze and quickly wrapped his arms around his sister and forcibly took her out of the room. On the way out, he also locked the door to prevent her from getting in again. Jiang Shujun yelled hysterically, What are you doing, Dg? I want to see rg! rg! Nevertheless, Jiang Shutian refused to let her go in. If Shujun were to see Shuyus condition, and how he was currently being resuscitated, she would likely fall apart on the spot. Unable to break free, Jiang Shujun sobbed, turning to pound her fists against Jiang Shutians chest over and over again. Dg, where did you go? Why are you only home now? You dont know how much rg pushed himself. He couldnt even stand up steadily, but he still used a baseball bat to save us, and he even went to check the basement. Lin-b grabbed him and Jiang Shutian hugged his sister and listened to the several days of events his brother had experienced, suddenly feeling like trash. He had plenty of firepower but he had still taken such a long time to return home. Conversely, his ddi, with a dpidated body and a single baseball bat, had saved the entire family! Dg, I Jiang Shujun was filled with dread, and the pace of her breathing quickened. She babbled, I locked rg outside. He told me not to open the door. U-Uncle and Auntie were behind me, so I didnt dare open the door. But rgs dead because of this, right? I killed rg! Jiang Shutians heart ached. Shujun was panicking to the point that she was incoherent. He didnt fully understand the situation, but he did know how heavily Shujun relied on Shuyu. If what she said was true, she had locked Shuyu outside the door. For these past few days, just how much pressure had Shujun had to bear? Now, all that stress was let out in one explosive burst and she waspletely hysterical. He squashed down his guilt and pped his sister. Nonsense. Your rg is doing well. Who do you think youve killed? Shujun stopped and caressed her face without feeling the pain. She could only stare at Dg and asked in a daze, rg is fine? Of course hes fine. Have you forgotten his reputation of being the healthy boy who never gets sick? Shuyus skinny and rugged body kept shing through Jiang Shutians mind. Not only was he trying to persuade his sister, he was also trying to persuade himself. Yeah! Jiang Shujun brushed her tears away and smiled. Im d that rg is fine. Im d that Dg has returned. With both of you here, our family will definitely be all right. Jiang Shutian hugged his sister. He hoped it would be so, begged that it would be so. Shuyu, Ivee home. You also need toe back quickly. [The Journey Home, End] Volume 2, Epilogue: Afterword

Volume 2, Epilogue: Afterword

Trantor: Elkin (proofread by EvlNabiki; C/E edited by lucathia) I didnt progress as far into the plot as I had expected when writing the second volume. Then again, its to be expected. Looking back at my uing ns, its fairly obvious that there was no way I could have finished all that in this volume! I really wonder if my brain was eaten by an aberrant for me to ever dream that this storyline could have been packed within one volume. I ended up discovering that I had only written about half of the storyline in this volume, and I need a whole other volume to finish off the other half. This is also why I couldnt use the original stopping point Ide up with, and even had to exceed my word count a little in order to cut this volume off at a more reasonable cliffhanger. This volume finishes the second half of the extra, The Journey Home. The next extra is Ice-bound Splendor and Majesty, and from the name you can tell its an extra about the Ice Emperor. This is an extra that I really, really wanted to write. Actually, Ive already written quite a few paragraphs secretly. I look forward to seeing everyones reactions to the miracle of the Ice Emperor! I really want to talk about the Ice Emperor here, but Im told that there are readers who read the afterword first before reading the content, and that adding all kinds of warnings are useless. I dont dare to say too much and risk spoiling anything; otherwise, there wont be any more surprises when you read. But I still want to ask: did anyone guess who the Ice Emperor is? Previously, when I was posting online, I saw everyonesments seeming to point at a certain person being the Ice Emperor. At the time, I really wanted to just shout out the right answer, and I had to struggle not to give any hints to everyone. I wonder if this ending was outside of everyones expectations? Ice-Bound Splendor and Majesty will exin what had happened to the Jiang family in the previous life, but there are already plenty of hints in this volume, and people should be able to piece together the general pictureits just the details that are missing. Let me think if Ive missed anything. Ah, yes. This volume doesnt have One Day in the Apocalypse, because I only have two snippets, and one snippet involves a certain Jin Zhan who has only been mentioned but not seen in a certain volume. After some thought, I decided to umte more of these before including them in an extra; otherwise, having only two short snippets is pretty OTL-worthy. I really cant wait for the next volume toe out, because therell be a certain plot point that I super want to write! Not the extraalthough I also really want to write the extrabut the main story! By the way, the scene I really wanted to write in this volume was the moment the Ice Emperor made his appearance. I had written it early on and had been waiting for the plot to develop to this point to weave it in. As for the next plot point I want to write the most, hehe, wait and see in the next volume. To all the readers in all the various parallel worlds, lets see each other in the next volume~ By Yu Wo Are [Character Introductions] like these really okay? tranted by purplezero (proofread by EvlNabiki & Elkin; C/E edited by lucathia) Xiao Sha 25 years old. Stoic mercenary. Called Shangguan Chensha, which sounds like a character name out of a Wuxia novel. Since no other mercenary was able to remember his name, he was nicknamed Xiao Sha (Little Sand). Then, on a certain mission where he was stationed in the swamp for some time, he got so bored that he made a bet with Cain on who can kill the most mosquitoes. In the end, he won with a huge margin of fifty-odd kills, and his nickname then changed to Xiao Sha (Little Killer). Cain 28 years old. A foreigner with shiny, white teeth. Loves to speak Chinese and takes great joy in learning Chinese idioms, but because of his poor memory, keeps misusing the idioms. His favorite thing to do is, after someone has spent half a day struggling to talk to him in broken English, to respond with a long tongue twister of Ch pto b t ptop, b ch pto do t ptoz. Note: this is a tongue twister which means If you eat a grape, spit out the grapes skin. If you dont eat a grape, dont spit out the skin (ѲƤѵ). So this is just Cain being a jerk and showing off his prowess in Chinese. Jin Feng 25 years old. A triad top honcho Dji. Didnt know the difference between her and guys as a child, and even dered that she would marry someone as cute as her little sister. Only realized that she really was different from men when her chest started to grow bigger and bigger. As for the question about getting a wife, well, marrying a guy who is just as cute as her sister will also do. Volume 3, Prologue: Three Days

Volume 3, Prologue: Three Days

Trantor: Elkin (proofread by Arcedemius & Trespasserby; C/E edited by lucathia) Dg and the others are right there! Calm down. You can go in after three days. Jiang Xiaotian patted my shoulder, the picture of absolute serenity. I ground my teeth, gazing at the tall walls that were topped with barbed wire. This is no obstacle to me. I just have to get across, and Dg and the others will be there, waiting for me! I want to go in. I miss Junjun, I miss Dg, I miss Uncle and Auntie, and even the rest of the troop! Jiang Xiaotian shook his head, replying, If the me from here were inside, then you could go ahead and force your way in. Youd be able to break out together in that case. But the mercenaries inside probably arent them. Why not? I red at Jiang Xiaotian. It has to be them! Not a lot of the JDT havee over. I dont think I would tantly dere myself as a mercenary troop. Id probably split them into two teams, each team pretending to be civilians who banded together. I froze. That makes so much sense. How stupid would you have to be to dere yourself to be a mercenary troop in front of an army? Youre just asking to be subordinated! My dg would never do something so stupid. After finally regaining my senses, I pondered for a moment, then said, There wont be two teams. Not all of them woulde over. The JDT is carrying around too many supplies, so if they brought them all here, the supplies would definitely get taken away. So they probably only sent a few people, and the others would be somewhere close by, to protect the supplies but also be ready to jump in at any time. Jiang Xiaotian gave a nod and continued, In terms of personnel, Id definitely be sent over. Yunqian would be on watch on the perimeter of the camp, using her sniper scope. For the remaining people, we can eliminate Uncle, Auntie, and Junjun from the list. Cain is a foreigner and Lily is a mix, so theyre too eye catching. So its probably Zheng Xing and Xiao Sha who are apanying me. Xiao Sha and I could pass off as brothers, while Zheng Xing would probably be an uncle or something. Auntie mighte. I gave the ring Jiang Xiaotian an innocent look and said, Thest time Dg went to salvage supplies in the city, he took Auntie along with him. She has the ability to sense living things in her surroundings, so it should be pretty handy for finding people. And youll be less suspicious if you have a middle-aged housewife in the group! Dg, Zheng Xing, and Xiao Sha is abination thatll definitely get suspected! Jiang Xiaotian frowned and nodded, not raising any objections. So dont be in such a rush to get in. We can look for Yunqian in the surrounding area. Shell probably be hiding in a high vantage point close by. When I heard that, my eyes lit up and I immediately set off to find Yunqian. But the moment I turned around, I saw a group of people with clearly hostile intentions. If their eyes werent fixed on me, they were pinned to my backpack. Thankfully, they were mostly focused on my backpack, so there were at most a few nces at my face. But of course! This is just four months into the apocalypse, so theres no way therell be so many morally bankrupt and desperate people running around, wanting to rape someone in broad daylight. And were talking about raping a guy, okay? Thats too extreme. Yo, looks like you got quite a lot of stuff in that backpack, huh! I quietly examined them. There were five people, all men. Right now, women didnt have the power to rob others and had no choice but to be the victim. Of course, this was talking about women other than those like Lily, Yunqian, and Feng-ji. There were another dozen-odd people standing a few steps away, who looked like they still had some morals intact, so they hadnte up front to rob me directly. But if these five people made the first move, the others probably wouldnt mind dashing in to snatch up whatever fell out of my backpack, like cans and such. Kiddo, why duncha you help out a pal? one of them couldnt resist but blurt out first, his eyes greedily staring at my backpack. I better switch to using a luggage case in the future. At least you cant tell if a box has anything inside, but my backpack is crammed to the max, so its super obvious from just one look that its full of supplies. That is, unless Im some idiot who likes carrying around bricks. Someone else urged them on, Shut your trap. Just take it and go; otherwise, none of us are getting anything if those soldierse around! When everyone heard that, they shut their mouths and closed in on me. Someone even raised his fist, probably nning to knock me down, take my bag, and go. I frowned at them. It wasnt a problem for me to beat up these people, but I didnt want to draw the attention of the military because things would get veryplicated afterwards. The best way to avoid anyplications was to run away. Id better take care to avoid peoples attention in the future; otherwise, robberies like today would keep happening. Besides, who could me them? Jiang Shuyu looked like a frail, pretty boy who was easy to rob. Whats going on! I turned to see the two soldiers, Chen Yanqing and Guo Hong. The former was holding onto a baguette, drawing the bystanders gazes and making them drool. If he hadnt been in a military uniform and wielding a gun, he was even more likely to get robbed than me! Sensing something off about the situation, they rushed over with looks of anger. Chen Yanqing red at me, scolding, Didnt I tell you to wait by the registration counter? What are you doing out here? I looked down, pretending to be apologetic, in time to see Jiang Xiaotian yawning. But the moment he sensed my gaze, he put on a nonchnt look. However, his sheet white face betrayed him. By the time Chen Yanqing had finished telling me off, the five had gone their own ways with bitter looks. Judging from their expressions, if not for the fact that Chen Yanqing had a gun, they probably wouldnt have been so willing to back down. It seemed like food supplies were starting to run low. Only hunger would make people fearless in the face of death. With over half the human poption wiped out in one go, food wasnt too difficult toe by during the first year into the apocalypse. Far more people died at the ws of aberrants rather than due to starvation. But probably because there were too many people gathered here, theyd run out of food in the neighborhood. As for Luoan City that was right next door, only the military dared to venture in there. With limited personnel, of course food was in short supply. People had to starve a bit more before they would dare to pick up weapons and fight it out with the aberrants. I lifted my head. Chen Yanqing was still ring at me in anger. How unusual, he clearly hadnt seemed the caring type before, but he looked like he was pretty concerned today Please dont tell me you fell in love at first sight and are treating it as true love. Youll be diced up by my Dgs for dog feed, and the two of them will do it at the same time! Whatd you run out here for? Guo Hong said with a look of deep disapproval, Times have changed, and youre still carrying around your son with you. Dont you know you should be avoiding danger? Whyd you run out here? To look for people. I gazed at the military zone, not needing to disguise the anxiety I felt. Whyd youe to the more distant camps when youre looking for people? This isnt the main entrance Guo Hong grumbled in confusion. Chen Yanqing asked sharply, Dont tell me you were thinking of climbing the wall? I froze. They had guessed correctly. I was, in fact, looking for a more remote area to see if I could get over the wall. The two soldiers stared at me in disbelief. I forcefully changed the subject, asking, Is that bread for me? But what I need isnt food but a ce to stay. My little Xiaotians falling asleep. We havent slept much the past few days because weve been rushing around I subtly pinched Xiaotian, and he immediately gave a huge yawn, leaning against my thigh with half-closed eyes, looking as if he were about to doze off any moment. It was so realistic that I felt like he wasnt acting at all but that he really was feeling that exhausted. Your son doesnt look well. Is he sick? Guo Hong asked as he ruffled Jiang Xiaotians hair, causing the childs face to look even worse. Hes not sick, just tired. I hastily exined, then added sadly, Its all my fault. Ive been so focused on finding people that Ive tired Xiaotian out. Is he really your son? Chen Yanqing asked softly. This was embarrassing as hell but Jiang Xiaotian gripped my thigh unrelentingly, so I had no choice but to nod. After a moments hesitation, Chen Yanqing asked, Are you looking for your wife? I braced myself and admitted, Yes! If you know a woman called Ceng Yunqian, please let me know. Shes quite a bit older than me, almost in her thirties. She boxes so shes very fit, with toned arm muscles, and she has very short hair After describing every one of Yunqians characteristics in detail, I went on and gave them information about Dg, my rg, Xiao Sha, and Auntie, in hopes that they might be able to help look for them in the military zone. Guo Hong and Chen Yanqings eyes were bulging so widely that I felt really bad. That was to be expected. Xiaotian looked to be all of three, and I was only eighteen, so just how young was I when I was procreating? And I vaguely remembered that under a certain age, it was considered to be sexual assault under thew, no matter whether it was consensual or not As Chen Yanqing continued staring at me in disbelief, Guo Hong patted my shoulder, remarking, Lets go. Well help arrange for you to share a tent with a family with a child. Thatll be safer for you. I bent down to scoop up Jiang Xiaotian, and he reflexively hugged me and sprawled on my shoulder. He looked like he was still pretending to be a sleepy child, but in fact, I could feel the weight of his head pressing against my shoulder, and his entire body was ck, apletely different sensation to all the previous times when he had hugged me back with energy. I better let Xiaotian get some rest soon! I really wanted to yell at myself for dragging Jiang Xiaotian on a wild goose chase around the campsite, so intent on finding Dg and the others that I hadnt realized there was something wrong with mini Dg who was right next to me. Following the two soldiers, I traveled through more than half of the campsite. Just now, Id been too focused on finding a ce to get into the military zone, so I hadpletely ignored the condition of the campsite. Well, now I had a good view. The campsite really was quiterge. As expected of the refugee camp built by the military, there were tightly packed tents everywhere. But there were even more people who were just sleeping in open air, an obvious sign that there werent enough tents to go around. With autumn setting in, the night breezes were quite chilly, so they had covered themselves in a medley of warm things, ranging from coats, nkets, and sleeping bags to even thick skirts. Perhaps I should thank these two soldiers for being able to snag a tent to share No, the thanks should go to Jiang Shuyus face! The two of them brought me to a tent that was quite close to the main gate of the military zone. It seemed like people measured distance by how far ces were from the main gate, which was fair enough. Everyone wanted to get into the military zone, so the closer they were to the main gate, the better. After a moments thought, I realized it was possible that Dg and the others mighte out to find me. Living close to the main gate meant you could see all theings and goings through the gate, so it was also possible that wed run into each other entirely by ident. Guo Hong lifted the tent p, saying, Youll be staying here in this tent. Dont go running around again for the next three days. I obediently nodded as I replied, I understand. But this didnt mean that I was going to listen to him. Chen Yanqing dered loudly, Ill be visiting you over the next few days He paused, then dragged me away from the tent and asked quietly, I still dont know your name? I replied without any hesitation, Jiang Shuyu, the jiang from bianjiang, boundary. My surname is quite unique. Itll be great if you could help check if my family are inside. The two soldiers nodded. Guo Hong said honestly, Its not likely well be able to find out. There are too many people inside. I was well aware of that. Although Dg was very eye-catching, in ces like this, hed try his best to blend in and wouldnt attract peoples attention. Its fine. I said in an understanding tone of voice, In any case, I can go in after three days and search for myself. The two soldiers nodded. Be careful, okay? Chen Yanqing said, unable to rx, If anyone does anything to you, just run and wait by the main gate. Those people wont dare to kick up a fuss there. Ill also be visiting you every day. Ive got your back. I really didnt know what to say to that. This guy was actually serious, dispelling any thoughts I might have had of using him. I cant abuse other peoples sincerity! Guo Hong gave Chen Yanqing the evil eye and quickly exined, He doesnt mean you any harm, seriously. Seriously, he only means love. I said a little awkwardly, I know. Chen Yanqing snapped angrily, Im not gonna do anything, I just dont want to see him getting into trouble. I know I talk, but since when have you ever seen me try and pull something, huh? Never. Guo Hong rubbed his nose before mumbling, But maybe you will this time? I saw Chen Yanqings face start twitching, a sign that he was about to beat up his colleague, so I hastily changed the topic, saying, Ill take my child in so he can sleep. The two nced at Jiang Xiaotian and Guo Hong urged me, Go in. Children are the most precious. I breathed a sigh of relief, pushed aside the tent p, and ducked under it. There were three people in there, two adults and a child D-gge! I blinked. The child crawled over and looked up at me, her little face wreathed in smiles. It was the girl who had given me the pair of flip flops! Hello, we meet again, I replied with a smile. As expected, the other two turned out to be the couple from the bus. The man kept stealing nces at the bread in my hand and my backpack, greed showing on his face, but the mother and daughter next to him looked to be good people. It was like seeing a beautiful flower nted on a piece of cow shit that had even sprouted a little flower bud. It made me speechless. He asked eagerly, Can you really get in after three days? I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. Isnt he giving away the fact that he was eavesdropping by asking the question? I replied with a question of my own in confusion, Cant we get in three days after registration? Dont be an idiot! the man immediately refuted. There are too many people, so they choose who gets to go in. Ive heard that women and children are easier to be selected, and for men, unless they join the army, theres no chance of getting selected at all. And joining the army basically means youre going to be cannon fodder! But Chen Yanqing said that I could go in after three days. Did he say this to make me stay put for a few days, or does he have some pull so he has a way of getting me in for sure? Neither option sounded good. The first meant that I wouldnt get in, while the second made me feel like I was taking advantage of his feelings. I really didnt do anything. I didnt even throw a flirtatious look at him! I me Jiang Shuyus looks for this! Why are you telling him this? the woman said irritably, Cant you see that boys almost fast asleep? Let theme in and get some rest. To his credit, the man didnt object, but he did grumble, Its already so cramped and now we have two more people. Other tents are even more cramped! The woman snapped back, I saw six adults crammed in the tent next to us. I have no idea how theyre all going to fit in. If we didnt have these two children with us, wed definitely get more people staying with us. When he heard that, the man stoppedining. The woman gave Jiang Xiaotian and me a smile, and she remarked, What an adorable pair of children. What are your names? Hes called Xiaotian. You can call me Xiao Yu. She nodded and introduced herself as well. My family name is Chen, so just call me Auntie Chen. This is my daughter. We like to call her Beibei. I immediately greeted her politely as Auntie Chen, never mind that she only looked to be in her early thirties and was probably younger than Guan Weijun had been when she died. It felt pretty odd to call someone Auntie like this. But since Id decided that I was Jiang Shuyu, this meant I was an eighteen year old young man. Id be calling a lot of people Auntie and Uncle in the future, so Id better get used to it! The man twitched his lips and said, Why make us sound so old? Just call me Zhang-g. Your wife is Auntie Chen, so dont you feel ashamed if I called you Zhang-g? I called out, taking care to enunciate every syble extra clearly, Nice to meet you, Great Uncle Zhang! Auntie Chen muffled augh while Zhang-dshs face twisted up in rage. I even saw him clench his fists, but only for a moment, before he rxed his hands again. If I guessed right, he probably didnt dare to upset someone who had been personally escorted here by two soldiers. But he was lucky that he didnt have the guts; otherwise hohoho! With this little interlude, Beibei, whod originally wanted to jump over, no longer dared to anymore. She huddled in her mothers arms, staring at Jiang Xiaotian and me with round eyes. Seeing that, I couldnt be bothered to talk to them anymore. In any case, wed be going our own ways in three days time, so we shouldnt get too attached. Otherwise, my saintplex would kick in and Id be trapped between a rock and hard ce. Iid out some clothes on the floor and let Xiaotian sleep on them. His face was still incredibly pale, and he was so deeply asleep that we hadnt woken him up at all. This was really worrying, but there was nothing I could do about it. Right now, the highest tier crystals out there were just tier one crystals, but even those amounted to peanuts for someone as high tiered as the Ice Emperor. They were of little use to him. I tore off a third of the baguette and passed it to Auntie Chen. She looked a little startled but still epted it with thanks, and then she immediately split it with her husband and daughter. But Uncle Zhang red unhappily at the remaining loaf,ining, Theres just one of you eating such a big piece of bread. Arent you worried youll choke to death? I frowned. If not for the fact that this bread had been a gift, I wouldnt share it with anyone. After all, if Dg and the others werent here, Id continue on my chase after them. More food meant less time needed to fill my belly. But I couldnt be bothered to argue with this piece of shit. Theres only one thing I have to say on this matter: you can go to hell for all I care after the three days are up. After eating and drinking my fill, Iy down. The tent wasnt very big, so I had to curl up to avoid crowding the others. I hugged Jiang Xiaotian to my chest, and when I sensed the chilliness of his little body, I became more worried. But the only thing I could do was secure him in my arms and try to warm him up with my body heat. But probably because Id slept for the whole day, I couldnt fall asleep and all sorts of stuff kept going through my mind. Going forward, I cant just focus on catching up with Dg. I also have to keep an eye on Xiaotians condition. I cant afford to let him help me strengthen my powersits obviously bad for his health! I wonder if Dgs healing powers will work on Xiaotian? If it doesnt work, will Xiaotian slowly grow up? Or will he remain a three year-old until powerful enough crystals make their appearance? As I drifted between sleep and wakefulness, I suddenly felt someone grab onto me. Angrily, I turned over. If Zhang-dsh was making a move on me, Id immediately make his wife a widow! But instead, I saw a little girl hugging my waist from behind, staring at me with herrge, soulful eyes. I rxed. I really was too nervous. The world hadnt gone off the rails to the point where a husband would make a move on a boy when he had his wife and daughter next to him. Most people now were still normal. Whats wrong? You cant sleep? I asked softly, rubbing Beibeis head. Beibei said in a small voice, D-gge, I heard lots of strange sounds. What kinds of sounds? I was a little curious. Perhaps its another peculiar ability. Beibei said with a little difficulty, Lots of sounds. I sank into deep thought. Perhaps shes the same as Suying and has the power to read peoples minds? So shes now hearing the thoughts of people around her? Theres a person. He sounds very scary. Beibei whimpered, Mommy says its not real, b-but Beibei really can hear him. Below! Below? I blinked. Beibeis embrace became even tighter, and she asked anxiously, D-gge, is it those scary monsters we saw that are crying out? I quietly reassured her, You dont need to be scared. Lots of people here will protect you. Gge, protect Beibei! Beibei refused to let me go. I looked between Xiaotian and Beibei, then I cast a hopeful look at the girls mother, but no luck, she was sound asleep and hadnt realized that her daughter had slipped out from her arms to snuggle in someone elses. I had no choice but to hug Xiaotian with my right arm and Beibei with my left. As Iy there in the odd situation of holding two children to sleep, a bad feeling about this blossomed in my heart. Some people say that the saintplex is incurable. Volume 3, 1: The Guard Tower

Volume 3, Chapter 1: The Guard Tower

Trantor: Elkin (proofread by Arcedemius & elisa; C/E edited by lucathia) Xiao Yu. I looked up to see that Chen Yanqing had dropped by again. Is the boy doing okay? he asked with concern. I shook my head, gazing at the slumbering Xiaotian, an unspeakable sadness in my heart. Ever since the child fell asleep that day, he hadnt once woken up and he even burned with a fever. If not for the fact that he didnt look like he was on the verge of death, Id have run away with the child. Although people still hadnt figured out the specific conditions for a human to turn into an aberrant, it wasnt hard to reason that the dead turn into aberrants. Even Auntie Chen, who had originally been quite pleasant, started having her doubts, and she huddled at the other end of the tent with Beibei in her arms. If not for the fact that Chen Yanqing came by three times a day, Id probably have been chased out of the tent No, more like been chased straight out of the camp? These few days, I clutched tightly to Xiaotian and didnt leave the tent except to go to the washroom. But even so, rumors had spread, probably thanks to the piece of shit Zhang-dsh. He detested me and would re at me every day. If Chen Yanqing hadnt warned him, it was likely Id have beaten him to a pulp long ago! This was the fourth day, but I still hadnt managed to get into the military zone. With Xiaotian ill to this extent, there was no way wed be let in. You Chen Yanqing looked at me with an aching heart, but his hands were tied. I said calmly, Im leaving. Chen Yanqings eyes bulged as he stared at me. It wasnt like I had a choice. If this continued, sooner orter, the people nearby would gang up to chase out Xiaotian and me, and this would probably happen within the next two days. Recently, that man had been sneaking out for most of the day, secretively doing something or other. But judging from the look in his eyes every time he looked at me, I was positive this guy was up to no good. Although I wasnt scared of him, right now Xiaotian wasnt well. I didnt want anyplications to arise, so I was better off finding some ce close by to wait. It also meant itd be easier to take care of Xiaotian. With the way things were, even if I wanted to wipe down Xiaotians body with some warm water, I wouldnt even be able to heat up any. It was a pain. Whatre you on about? Chen Yanqing yelled angrily, Where dyou think you can go with a kid? Lots of kids have fallen sick recently, but they recovered after a few days, so its not a big deal. And its the fourth day already, so he should be recovering soon. If you really are worried, Ill go talk to my bosses and stay the night here. The children are falling sick, probably because their abilities are awakening? Children didnt have much stamina, so they often fell sick during the ability awakening process. Itd be great if Xiaotian really was awakening to his powers, but I knew the truth was otherwise. I didnt know how many days Xiaotian would be ill for, and if possible, I still wanted to go hunt for some crystals. Even if it was useless, itd be good to use the crystals as candy for Xiaotian. Right now, I was almost driven crazy by this feeling of helplessness! Really? Okay, then Ill wait. You dont have to stay overnight, I lied blithely. In any case, I had to make sure this guy wouldnt stay and get in the way of my escape. Unexpectedly, Chen Yanqing narrowed his eyes with a look of suspicion, then turned to leave. Ill go speak with my bosses. Sigh, okay. So now Ill have to pack up and run for it before hees back. Pick up your boy ande with me. Shit, are you trying to kill me here? I shouted angrily, What makes you think you can dictate my life? We dont even know each other! Id originally wanted to add things like youre disgusting or like I cant tell youre up to no good to provoke him, but I couldnt bring myself to do so. Perhaps this guy really did like me, but hed never made a move on me. If I really was a man, perhaps I could still dislike him, but the soul inside was a womans, so I was more used to being chased by men than chasing after women myself! Chen Yanqing turned his head and started scolding me, What kind of times do you think were living in? This is for your son, so stop kicking up a fuss! Im far clearer on what kind of times were living in than you are. Although I knew he had good intentions, these good intentions were a pain in the butt. I couldnt ept them but couldnt reject them either. I didnt know what to do. Keep your nose out of my business! I said coldly. Who knows what youre up to? Youve been searching for my family for so many days with no results, so youre probably not even looking for them in the first ce. The dangers out there are nothingpared to you! Chen Yanqings face flushed red. Ah Qings not only helping you look for them, hes also asked a lot of his bros to help out. But there isnt a single person with a surname of Jiang! I didnt expect Guo Hong toe over as well, and that honest-looking face of his was dark with fury. I didnt say a thing as I gave them both a cold look. But on the inside, my conscience was writhing. Id been hurt in my previous life, and in this life, I was hurting others. Is this some kind of karma? But Im not liking this the slightest! Please can we just make everyone happy? Besides, he had said that they hadnt been able to find anyone. So Dg and the others really arent in the military zone? Chen Yanqing proimed, Anyway, youre not going anywhere! Why do you even bother with him? Guo Hong was extremely frustrated. I stood there with a cold expression and a pain twisting in my heart. Thats right, why do you still bother with such an ungrateful bastard like me? Please, just give up and let me fend for myself, okay? Shuyu I blinked then quickly dove back into the tent for a look. Jiang Xiaotian was already sitting up, and he breathed a sigh of relief at the sight of me, his tightly knit brows smoothing over. Then, when he caught sight of Chen Yanqing and Guo Hong poking their heads in for a look, he immediately put on a stupid look and even said, Gge, Im hungry. Hey now, Jiang Xiaotian, did you short-circuit your brain with the fever or something? Its Daddy! Dont call me inconsistent things. I dont even know how to exin it away now! Chen Yanqing and Guo Hong goggled at me, and I had no choice but to say, Since Xiaotians awake, I wont leave for now. Chen Yanqing clearly still didnt believe me. Or you can just sleep here! I said irritably, But youll have to sleep sitting up. Here, Jiang Xiaotian suddenly raged, Who are you saying youre sleeping with? Ive told you that youre not allowed to have puppy love, but you actually dare to not listen to your D-? I hastily covered his mouth, calmly exining to the two no, even Auntie Chen had been startledthree people, Hes probably still a bit muddled by the sickness. I dont know where he learned this kind of stuff. Boy, its so hard to raise kids nowadays, hahaha. Fortunately, Jiang Xiaotian seemed to snap out of it and peacefully rested in my arms, like he didnt have any energy Damn, he probably isnt pretending at all! The two soldiers stared suspiciously at this father-son or sibling pair. Hes probably dreaming. Auntie Chen reassured them, Children are always doing silly things. Beibei also learns a lot of dialogue from cartoons, so its not unusual. Guo Hong clutched at his head, mumbling to himself in confusion, So is he a dad or a gge? Probably a gge, right? Xiao Yus still too young. Suddenly, Chen Yanqings expression changed and he looked at me, then back at Xiaotian. His face drained of color, to the point where he was pale enough topete with the sickly Jiang Xiaotian. What the hell are you thinking of now? Please, dont tell me! Chen Yanqing said helplessly, I-Ill get you some rice porridge for your son to eat. We found some rice in the army. Wait here for me and dont go anywhere. I hesitated for a moment before nodding. It would be good to feed Xiaotian a little porridge. At least, before we left, Id secretly let him know about the crystals as repayment for what he did for us. The two soldiers finally left, Guo Hongs face remaining as dark as it had been at the beginning, while Chen Yanqing kept throwing a few worried looks over his shoulder. Amazingly, he didnt seem to mind how much of an ungrateful bastard I was pretending to be. Even if you really like Jiang Shuyus face, youre still a soldier with the benefits thates with your job, while Im just an eighteen-year-old kid. And this is the apocalypse! But not only do you not bother with threats or bait or violence, you even keeppromising for my sake. You must be born to be a masochist! But you should count yourself lucky for being born this way; otherwise, youd have turned into a corpsicle a long time ago. From the distance came Guo Hongs unhappy voice. Ah Qing, what on earth are you doing? Even if you like him, you dont need to kiss his cold ass to that extent! You shouldnt me him. If it was with his mother wouldnt that make him both a dad and a gge? What?! Guo Hong eximed. I turned around, wiping their conversation from my memory, and focused on Jiang Xiaotians condition. Its great that Xiaotians awake, Auntie Chen said honestly. Since Xiaotian had woken up, she didnt cling onto to Beibei as tight, and herplexion looked much better than before. When she looked at us, there was even a trace of guilt hidden in her expression. I could hardly me her. In times like these, who wouldnt be afraid? I rxed my expression and nodded, then ask softly, Xiaotian, do you want to go to the toilet? Jiang Xiaotian looked up at me, then nodded obediently and said, Yes. Auntie Chen, I need to pop out for a bit. I walked out of the tent, making sure to take my backpack with me. Just because we had reached an understanding didnt mean that I could let my guard down. I stepped out of the tent with Xiaotian in my embrace. I even wandered around the vicinity, originally intending to let the people around us see that my son had recovered from his sickness to ward off trouble. As it turned out, I ran straight into trouble instead. A few men barred my way. This time, no one was paying any attention to my face, and all eyes were fixed on my backpack, a look that I was all-too-familiar with stered on their faces. Hunger. When I saw them, I immediately stepped forward sharply andshed out with a kick, targeting the tallest and burliest looking guy. I kicked hard at his stomachhe hadnt expected me to dive straight into action without saying a wordand he was sent flying in the air. I gazed around me with an icy expression, implicitly asking So whos next? Only after I saw their shocked expressions and their reluctance to step forward did I straighten my clothes and stride away. Well done, Xiaotian murmured a word of praise. Stunning everyone with one decisive attack can put a stop to any brewing conflict. I pretended I hadnt heard him and walked to the side of a road close by. Although there were still a few people a short distance away from us, it didnt matter. I was just looking for somewhere to give my child a good scolding. I tossed the child onto the ground, ced my hands on my hips, and snarled, Jiang Xiaotian, dont you dare do that again! Jiang Xiaotian raised his head, blinked his widened eyes, and called out my name, dumbfounded, Shuyu, what? Oh, so now youre not randomly calling me daddy and gge? I had already epted the fact that I had be a dad at the tender age of eighteen. You just had to go and mix up the two and call me both things. Now people think Ive done stuff with my mom. How could you do this to your mom and mine?! How could you insult two moms at once?! I already told you that whats most important is that the whole family gets together, so why do you still have to be so reckless? I said angrily, Id reach tier two sooner orter anyway, so is it that you dont trust me? To the point where youd make yourself like this to raise my tier?! Its not worth it! Xiaotian looked at me with aplex expression on his face, almost as if he couldnt recognize his own ddi. Actually, its really not your fault. The aftereffects of traveling through space time are more severe than Id imagined. Even if I hadnt helped you raise your tier, as long as I used my abilities, Id run into this problem. Iciness gripped my heart at the words and I hastily shouted, Then, youre forbidden from using any abilities! Xiaotian didnt respond. I wanted to pull my hair in frustration. What am I supposed to do, pick up Jiang Xiaotian and smack his bottom? And even if he promised me now, its likely that hed be just as recklesster on. Dg, dont be so reckless. Youre the only one I have with me right now. If something happened to you, what would I do, all by myself? Jiang Xiaotian patted me, saying, Dont worry. Follow the trail of clues, and well be able to find them very soon. I hesitated for a moment but decided to say it anyway. They might think Im dead and give up on leaving clues. This was a terrifying thought. Thinking back to what had happened, it wouldnt be surprising if everyone thought that I was dead! Even if Dg and Junjun couldnt bring themselves to ept my death, given enough time, they would have no choice but to ept reality. And when they did, they would probably stop leaving me clues. The world was a big ce, and we no longer had an easy way ofmunicating. If I didnt have Dgs clues anymore, how many months or years would it take for us to be reunited? Would I really have to wander the apocalyptic world alone until then? I had to go through so much to get my new family, and I was already determined to be Jiang Shuyu, so why did I have to lose them again? Dont worry. As long as I havent seen your bodies with my own two eyes, Ill never give up on you and Shujun. Jiang Xiaotian said firmly, That was what I had done in the past. Even if I was on apletely different continent, I would stille back to find you! And then what? I didnt dare to ask the question. Dg had sacrificed everything to travel through space and time, and had shrunk to a miniature who couldnt even use his abilities. Just how terrible a fate must the Jiang family have had in that previous world to make him act with such reckless abandon? So its true that the older you get, the more things youll be afraid of. A hint of nostalgia tinged Jiang Xiaotians face, and he sighed, In the past, there wasnt a single thing you were afraid of. Youd evenugh if the sky came crashing down on us. Shujun had always said you were a heartless person. Nonsense. Jiang Xiaotian, youve lost your wits again. Junjuns an absolute protector of her rg, so how could she possibly tell me off for being heartless? Shell say her rg is the strongest and most reliable person in the world! Junjun would never say that. Jiang Xiaotian barked a ha and said, And youre still the same as before. You can say all you want about your mimei, but you wont let anyone say a single bad thing about her. What on earth did I say about Junjun? Isnt Jiang Shuyu a sis-con who cant be saved? I frowned, hoping that I could dream more. The best would be if I could dream back all my memories. Anyway, Jiang Xiaotian, youre not allowed to be so reckless anymore. Ive already reached tier two, so theres not much that can trouble me now. So just sit back and let your ddi handle everything! Jiang Xiaotian spoke in a patient tone of voice, So does tier two make you invincible? In the past, you were indeed fearless, and the only person who could put some sense in you was me. And now youre scared of everything except your dg? How can I not be scared of Dg? Youre the one and only mighty, supreme Ice Emperor. Im so terrified Im shaking! Im terrified youll identally kill yourself! The child shot me a look and asked me innocently, So who are you referring to when youre calling for Jiang Xiaotian? Ah, actually, thats my future son. I just called his name by ident. The Ice Emperor rolled his eyes at me at that, and I even heard him mutter to himself, A child isnt a bad idea. If he has one now, theyll grow up to be nine or ten years old in ten years time, and theyll be ready to fight. But falling in love at a young age would affect his training. Hm He even had the audacity to look very troubled at the two options. Jiang Xiaotian, just what do you take your ddi and your ddis kid for?! Why dont you have one yourself? I snapped irritably. Jiang Xiaotian blinked at me innocently, then spread his hands helplessly as he looked down at his small figure. Dg, dont tell me youve forgotten that the you in this world is already twenty-seven? A look ofprehension dawned on Jiang Xiaotians face. He really forgot. I held my head in my hands. Ever since this Dgs biological age had dropped to a three year olds, it seemed like his intelligence was tending toward that age as well. This Never mind. Anyway, I had originally already steeled myself for one more ddi. Dg, do you need the toilet? If not, then we should go back, or that Chen Yanqing is gonna tell me off again. Jiang Xiaotian instantly transformed from a three year old into a thirty year old. His eyes narrowed and he said in a dangerous tone of voice, He dares to scold you? Ah, that Chen Yanqing must be really unlucky to have met me. He works his ass off only to be rewarded with my sneers and scolding, and now he had even garnered the hatred of the Ice Emperor. Who did he piss off to deserve such a tragic fate? Actually, hes just worried about me. You were passed out with a fever, so when I told him I wanted to take you away from here, he scolded me. Jiang Xiaotian frowned, saying, So the reason you havent entered the military zone is because of me as well? Then we had better quickly go in. The more we dy, the harder itll be to find them. I nodded, but deep down inside, I had epted the fact that wed probably be unable to find them. Dg and the others were looking for me, and I was looking for them. The fact that I hadnt caught wind of anything even with the help of Chen Yanqing, who could freely enter the military zone, meant that they were probably already gone. The reason I was still entering the military zone now was to find more clues. But of course, I still wished that we could find Dg and the others directly. Back in camp, I saw three people standing outside the tent in the distance. Chen Yanqing and Guo Hong were faces I knew all too well, but the third belonged to a much older person dressed in uniform with a stern expression. After a moments thought, I finally recalled that this was the colonel who was in charge of the two during our first meeting. Of the three, one looked furious, one had a sour look, and one was stern. Who did I piss off now? Other guys had flocks of prettydies going after them with their good looks, so why did it feel like I was attracting a crowd of parents and older siblings instead? I was just taking my child to go to the toilet, I immediately exined, lifting the child into view. When he heard that, Chen Yanqings expression became less severe and he said, Pack up your things and follow me in. But this only provoked Guo Hong to rage at him, You sure are getting more and more ballsy. You dare speak first before the Colonel? Chen Yanqings face stiffened for a moment, then he gave the colonel a begging look. The colonel looked me and Xiaotian over for a few moments, then nced at Chen Yanqing and asked again to confirm, You are sure you want to give your family quota to these two people? I stared as Chen Yanqing nodded his head firmly. All right, besides telling him about the secrets about the crystals, Id better give him a few crystals as well. But this was all dependent on him not making any moves on me. If he dares, hmph, forget about crystals, hed just turn into a giant ice crystal himself! I dont have any family anyhow, Chen Yanqing chuckled, and said casually, And I took a shine to these brothers. I shot him a look. Thankfully, he didnt say anything too obvious, like good looking or liking, otherwise Jiang Xiaotian would have definitely gone on a rampage. Guo Hong still looked like he was sucking on a bitter lemon, but the colonel didnt seem to mind. He examined Jiang Xiaotian, then said with a nod, This child is fine. Pack up your things, and well head in together. There wasnt anything to pack since everything I owned was in my backpack. Even my potted nt, Jiang Xiaorong, had been nted in the bigpartment of my bag. With everyone starving, I was really scared that the moment I looked away, Jiang Xiaorong would be turned into a serving of vegetables, so I had no choice but to carry it around. Having said that, my backpack was originally packed to the brim, so there was no way I could shove in something as big as a pot. So my only option was to stuff some earth into the bigpartment, just enough for Jiang Xiaorong to root itself there, and it even had to pitifully curl up into a knot of branches. If you didnt look too closely, it almost looked like a decorative Christmas wreath. The poor thing. This was also one of the reasons why I wanted to leave ASAP. Hearing the rustling noisesing from the backpack every night and constantly worrying about whether the movement in the backpack would attract peoples attention was extraordinarily stressful. I entered the tent and greeted the mother and daughter inside. Auntie Chen, Im leaving. Auntie Chen had probably overheard the conversation just now. She nodded, speaking with a little regret, Its good that you can go in. You should go now. Gge! Beibei rushed up to me and hugged me. Tears glistened in her eyes as she pleaded, Dont go. I tweaked Beibeis cheeks and chuckled, Gge is going to give you some candy. Come on, open your mouth. Seeing that, Auntie Chen didnt mind at all and she even shot me a grateful smile. I smiled back at her, shook out a few crystals from the silver canister at my hip, and stuffed them all into the little girls mouth. I said softly, If you swallow them, you wont have to be scared of the sounds from underground anymore. Beibei blinked and her little face turned red as she worked hard to swallow the crystals. I quickly took out a bottle of those trashy drinks that were high in sugar and calories and had absolutely no nutrition whatsoever. Here, drink something. The little girl took a few sips, then turned to pass the drink to her mommy. She really was an adorably cute and obedient child. When you added in the fact that she seemed to be developing special abilities already, it was so tempting to kidnap her! Struggling to suppress the urge to kidnap the little girl, I said to Auntie Chen, Im headed off. Auntie Chen said with a small smile, Thank you. Im sorry, I havent been able to help you these past few days, but you keep giving us things. Dont be silly, I really like Beibei. I stroked Beibeis head and told her, Beibei, you must protect mommy, okay? Beibei nodded forcefully. I gazed long and hard at Beibei and murmured softly, Im Jiang Shuyu, the jiang from jiangyu, dominion. At this age, the little girl probably didnt know the wordin fact, she probably couldnt read yet, so shed probably forget it in the blink of an eye. However, this was only the case for children before the apocalypse. If Beibei hearing sounds was really a special ability manifesting, then her intellect was beginning to develop. Maybe she could remember, or maybe she couldntafter all, this was just the start of the apocalypse. But in any case, it was a possible connection between us. Im called Beibei. Mommy says its the bei from baobei, precious. I smiled, gave her onest stroke of her hair, then turned on my heel and left. Exiting the tent, I scooped up Jiang Xiaotian and followed the three soldiers to the main gates. Expressions of jealousy and rage followed us every step of the way. Why can he go in? someone finally couldnt resist yelling, They said I could go in after three days, but its already day five! Guo Hong shouted back, Theyre rtives. But this had the opposite effect than intended and the people started getting agitated, yelling and howling in fury. What makes the military so great? If you guys had the balls, youd wipe out all the monsters in the city! What a bunch of cowards, they only know how to hide here and eat all our food! Chen Yanqing and Guo Hong both flushed red, in embarrassment or in furyor perhaps a mix of both. The colonel frowned deeply upon seeing the situation deteriorate. The people were starting to surround us, and a fair number of them were even holding onto things, many of which were long metal objects, such as metal bats. Bang! The colonel immediately raised his gun and fired a shot at the sky. Only then did the surrounding people freeze, looks of fear warring with their reluctance to back down. This was familiar, all too familiar to me. In my previous life, Guan Weijun had frequently experienced these situations, but the difference was that she was one of the angry and discontent. Xia Zhengu had been even more livid, and his face would scrunch up. He would curse these people with special rights and keep muttering about how someday, hed be stronger than the rest. And when that day came, he would make these people who looked down on him meet terrible ends. Stay close. Chen Yanqing worriedly moved to shield me. I kept my head down, hugging Jiang Xiaotian tightly and not daring to look at anyone. We had hardly taken a few more steps when there came the sound of rapid footsteps from the front. I immediately looked up to see soldiers, who first saluted the colonel, then started breaking up the crowd of people. Then, the main gates to the military zone swung open. I was finally able to get in. In the instant I looked inside, I had the illusion that I saw Dg, but on closer inspection, it was just another crowd of lost-looking people, who at most looked to be a little better off than those outside. We almost had a riot! the colonel raged, All of you are not to exit the military zone for the next few days. If you have so much time on your hands, go into the city and scavenge food, or else the people outside are going to say the military are freeloaders! The two of them were so humiliated by his scolding that they couldnt look him in the eye. Chen Yanqing said weakly, All this food is stuff our brothers-in-arms had to risk their lives getting in the city. Why dont those people follow us in and get some themselves? And they say its their food I kept my silence. They didnt have guns, they had guns but no training, they were terrified by the aberrants, they were cowards, they had given upthere were too many reasons that could exin why people normally didnt dare to enter the city, but at the same time, you could also say that none of these were excuses. In the apocalypse, if you dont stand up to live, you can lie down to die! The colonel snapped, Cut the bullshit. Get the kids to a safe ce thene back and find me. It seems like the two of you are bored shitless, so Id better give you some missions, or youll just stir up more trouble. Yessir! While they were being yelled at, I was inspecting my surroundings. The military zone was quite sizable, and if it hadnt been turned into a refugee camp, it would be hard to fill up the space otherwise. The ce was quite clearly split into a few zones. Themon people still lived in tents, the majority of which were on the open ground in the south-eastern areawhich looked like it had originally been some kind of training ground. There were many others who had crammed themselves in whatever space was avable. This camping zone looked like it was packed to the brim with people, and the only spaces left were paths for people to walk on. No wonder no more people coulde in from the outside. There were buildings all around us. Some were residential buildings, while others wererge warehouses, probably ces to store military goods. They wererge enough to even amodate tanks, but the probability of having tanks in a military barracks near a city wasnt high, so it was best I didnt get my hopes up. The camping zone wasnt small in the slightest, but it really was crammed full of people. Although there were many buildings, there were tents set up everywhere. So the entire ce looked pretty messy and cramped. Where would Dg and the others leave the clue? It couldnt be too obvious, or it would make people suspicious, and they might even destroy it. But it wouldnt be hidden too deeply, or there was no way the amnesiac ddi could find his gges clues just relying on the brotherly bond between them. Go look at the iron tower, Jiang Xiaotian whispered. One of the ways Id leave clues might be to carve it on the tower. I blinked and looked at therge iron tower at the center of the camping zone. I vaguely remembered Chen Yanqing calling this the guard tower. Although it wasnt as big as some of the famous nationalndmarks, it wasnt small either. My guess was that it was probably ten stories tall, so it would be no easy task to find a line of writing on this tower. What was more, there were soldiers with guns on guard at the base of the tower. It looked like it was a high security area, so it was probably home to some highly-ranked officials. The lower levels of the tower were all sealed up and looked like a house, so it should be livable. Go climb to the top of the tower to take a look when itste at night, Jiang Xiaotian said like it was the most natural thing in the world. The top of the tower is a very obvious target, yet its also hard for people to discover the clue. And Shuyu, you have the ability to climb up there as well. If it was me, Id definitely carve the clue up there. Hearing that, I breathed a sigh of relief. Thank goodness I have Jiang Xiaotian. Otherwise, who knows how much time Id have to spend to find the clue? Xiao Yu? Xiao Yu?! Suddenly, someone touched my shoulder and I reflexively grabbed his hand and spun him around, ending up with one hand holding onto that persons right hand, and the other pressing down on his shoulder in a lock. Just as I was about to dislocate his arm for safetys sake, Jiang Xiaotian, who had been clinging to my neck the entire time, reminded me in a tone of amusement, Its the two soldiers! I took a closer look and discovered that I was holding onto Guo Hong. I hastily released him and apologized awkwardly, Sorry, I spaced out. To one side, Chen Yanqing was staring at me with wide eyes, with an expression like he had just seen a ghost. Shit, I was so out of it that I forgot that I was a gentle, pretty boy. But oh well, Im in here already. Think you can kick me out? Ill kill you with two fingers if you try! Whered you learn that? Chen Yanqing asked in astonishment, You were even able to knock down Guo Hong? Hes quite strong. Guo Hong was staring at me, startled, as he flexed his shoulder gingerly. I continued ying the role of a cool, pretty boy as I kept my expression t, and said coldly, My dg is a fighting instructor, so hes taught me a few moves. Jiang Xiaotian chuckled, but thankfully, no one would care if a three year old kid started chortling to himself. Suddenly, a huge shadow appeared behind Chen Yanqing and even propped himself against his shoulder. His face split into a huge grin as he said, No wonder you can survive out there on your own. Youve got skills there, boy! Chen Yanqing snapped irritably, Ah Nuo, stop leaning against me. You weigh a ton and you still want people to carry you? Ah Nuo sniggered as he replied, Im helping you work out. Otherwise, you wont even be able to win against a kid, yknow? Chen Yanqing growled, How can I lose against Xiao Yu! Um, you really will. Why not? Ah Nuo asked in disbelief, Its hard to say wholl win when you and Guo Hong get into a scuffle, but thisd can even take down Guo Hong. Guo Hong coughed and exined, I wasnt paying attention just now. Didnt expect him to have a few moves in him, okay? He gazed at me and asked, not wanting to admit his loss, You wanna spar a little? Ill go easyI wont hurt you. The surrounding soldiers started moring in. But I dont know how to go easy on you. Ive killed too many aberrants, so its already be a reflex to bash heads to bits. How am I supposed to search for clues if I identally bust your head? I said firmly, I only know a few defensive moves. I dont know how to spar. If you make any moves on me, Ill scream for help! Might be a bit more useful if you screamed molester. Ah Nuo gazed at my face as he rubbed his chin and eximed in amazement, That face of yours is really dangerous. What a perfect description. I couldnt agree more. Its too dangerous, especially if we let the Jiang Xiaotian next to me drop the temperature lower! Guo Hong said ufortably, Okay, okay, we wont fight. Just dont scream or anything. Here, a few soldiers crowded around us, chuckling among themselves and babbling, So youre the Xiao Yu that Ah Qing keeps talking about! Geez, just look at that face. No wonder Ah Qings lost his wits. Hes been tramping around these few days looking for some Jiang surname. Weve found a bunch of rivers and gingers, but no sign of any territories. That surname of yours sure is special. Do you really want to die? I was feeling very cold. The Jiang Xiaotian in my arms was like a block of ice, so I could only hold onto him tightly to prevent the mighty Ice Emperor from lunging at them to bite them because he couldnt use his abilities. That would be simply too humiliating. Shut up! Chen Yanqing exined as he broke out in cold sweat, I really dont mean anything. I just want to help. All the soldiers gave him a look. Stop scaring Xiao Yu, Chen Yanqing said awkwardly. Im really not nning that kind of stuff. Hes just a kid. You guys are such a load of bull. The one whos normally the most full of shit is you, so who are you to talk! A slightly chubby soldier squeezed in next to me and chuckled, Xiao Yu, call me Fatty-g. You dont hafta be scared, Ah Qing doesnt mean anything. Hes a total looks kind of guy, and only ever helps out when someones a looker. Im Kun-g, a dark-skinned soldier also pushed forward to report his nickname. The others immediately tore him down,ughing, The hell dya mean by Kun-g, ckie is ckie. Come on, g? What a joke! Stop telling me your names. I dont want to get to know you. If I find my clue tonight, Im definitely getting out of here ASAP. I dont care if youre ckie or whitey. Chen Yanqing pulled me over angrily and snapped, Lets go. Ignore these guys. Ill take you to the tent. I shook off his hand, and Chen Yanqing flushed red as he said, I really dont Never mind. Ill take you to the tent. After that, be a good boy and wait there. Dont go running around again. Halfway through his exnation, the soldiers started hooting and jeering. These terrible friends of his made him give up on exining himself. Sigh, I know you mean well. But the thing is, Jiang Xiaotian looks like hes about to rip your right hand off to make red knuckle stew. So for the sake of both your hands, just keep your hands off me, okay? He led the way, threading through all kinds of obstacles, tents, lost citizens, and their belongings, and we arrived in a patch of emptynd. This was much more spacious than the other areas. I lifted the tent pthere was no one inside. I couldnt help but throw a suspicious look at Chen Yanqing. Surely he doesnt have enough authority to let someone take up a tent to themselves? Another batch of people will being in tomorrow. This was prepared for them. Chen Yanqing exined, Ill see if I can arrange for that family who shared a tent with you before to join you again. You guys seem to get along quite well. I nodded. Although the guy in that family was a pain in the ass, he had no balls. If he could get in here and eat his fill, he probably wouldnt kick up a fuss. Stay here. Its much safer in here. If people create any trouble, theyd get chased out. So, no one shoulde looking for trouble with you. You still have food on you, right? Yes. These past few days, Chen Yanqing had been giving me food and drink, so I hadnt consumed very many of my own supplies. He nodded, but said in a worried tone of voice, I better get you two something to eat. If the food youre carrying with you isnt gonna go bad, then its best to save it for now. I continued nodding. When we had been scavenging, we focused on finding food that wasnt easily perishable. My backpack was filled with cans and crackers, all of which were things that could be kept for some time. What the hells with that guy? The moment the soldier left, Jiang Xiaotian exploded, raging, And didnt I tell you, no puppy love? Hes the one with a crush on me, not vice versa. So why are you ming me? I dont have a crush on him. Its just that if I dont use him, itd be tough getting in here, I said ndly. Although I could sneak in, it would make much life easier if I could straight up walk through the door rather than having to sneak around. When he heard that, Jiang Xiaotian froze. Emotions warred across the three year olds face, making me feel bad. Dg, I feel like these barracks are toox. I changed topics, taking the chance to voice the difort I was feeling, and said, Although the people outside are starting to starve, it hasnt reached the stage where they lose all control. The soldiers in here can stillugh as well, so it seems like there havent been too many casualties either. But this doesnt make sense. With so many people here and a whole four months into the apocalypse, some aberrants must have been able to make their way in here. Life shouldnt be this easy for them. Jiang Xiaotian had a think before replying, Really? I suppose my situation was a little unique so I cant reallypare. Back then, I had a whole mercenary troop with me, about to start arge-scale mission. We had a lot of firepower and plentiful supplies, so average aberrants werent our match. I knew it, theres no point inparing lives. I mumbled in dismay, And now that Ive called this worlds you back home, this you has nothing, and you even have to keep searching everywhere for your ddi. Jiang Xiaotian barked augh and said, Believe me, hes much luckier than I am. I gazed at Jiang Xiaotian and asked for the first time, So youre thest of the Jiang family left over there? Jiang Xiaotian froze, then gave a silent nod. I enveloped Jiang Xiaotian in a hug and even pushed my chin down hard on his little head. Then I stuffed him a pack of crackers. As for him, he didnt seem to mind the weight of his ddi, and didnt care about his image. He just let me hug him and sat in my arms, silently munching on his crackers. Dg. Hm? Say, once we find Dg and the others, if I lied to everyone, saying that youre Dgs illegitimate son that I happened to pick up on the way, do you think theyll believe me? Probably. Even you? Yeah. Dg, youre terrible! Men dont need to care about that stuff. Then what about me? Jiang Xiaotian narrowed his eyes as he snapped, No puppy love! Thats totally unreasonable! Iughed so hard that I fell over, still hugging to him all the while. Whereas Jiang Xiaotian, despite knowing that he was unreasonable, maintained a stony expression without any sign of changing his mind, and continued eating his crackers even though he was now lying on his side. Gosh, my dg cant possibly be this cute. Hahaha~ Volume 3, 2: The Sudden Attack

Volume 3, Chapter 2: The Sudden Attack

Trantor: Elkin (proofread by Arcedemius & EvlNabiki; C/E edited by lucathia) After that, Chen Yanqing stoppeding by. But I didnt mind this at all. I had already gotten inside, so I had no further use for that guy. Who cares about him? Hehe, abandoning people after using them, Ive finally corrupted my Mother Teresaplex! While I sat at the entrance of the tent, I gazed up at the guard tower, appearing as lost as the nearby crowds. But in reality, I was scrutinizing the defense around the base of the tower. The guards stationed there seemed a bit like overkill. Although at first nce it looked like they only had one or two squadrons extrapared to other ces, I had spotted hidden alcoves in quite a number of ces. I asked with worry, Dg, theres such heavy security around that tower. Are you really sure youd have been able to leave a clue there? Jiang Xiaotian frowned, thought for a little, then replied, Xiao Sha can. He is very good at subterfuge, so he should be able to avoid notice. But for your safetys sake, he really should have picked somewhere else. Hm, its hard to say. Then thats fine. I said with a nod, Dg knows my capabilities. Hell definitely leave a message there. Jiang Xiaotian frowned as he nodded and remarked, But the security here is too strong. Something feels off. I felt the same way. Luoan City was a secondary city. In my previous life, Guan Weijun had also been to a refugee camp that had been at a simr scale to this. Back then, things were much worse. Bodies piled up in just a fight for resources, and after many rounds of snatching and stealing, the aberrants would round it off by gathering into a herd and put a final end to the humans internal massacres. Maybe theres someone important here, I hypothesized. Jiang Xiaotian pondered for a while, then suddenly climbed around to my back and pulled something out of my backpack. Then, he stuffed it under my clothes down my chest. I looked down, to see a little sapling curled up against my chest and shivering almost imperceptibly, its leaves on the verge of being shaken off. It looked pretty pitiful Its not much use at the moment, but it can help take a few bullets. After his cruel deration, Jiang Xiaotian grabbed onto Jiang Xiaorongs branch and said coldly, Stay there obediently. If you dare to escape, Ill make you wish you had never lived! Jiang Xiaotian keeps giving me the feeling that he likes making life hard for Xiaorong, but why? Its just a tree. Dg, didnt you say that the nts right now dont understand human speech? He nodded as he replied, They dont, but they have very powerful instincts and can sense threats. If I scare him and you take care of him, hell grow loyal to you. Good cop, bad cop? Man, we have to use psychological tactics even on a tree nowadays. I lightly patted Jiang Xiaorong. He looked pitiful, quivering to that extent. It was great that I was the good cop, so I quicklyforted it to ease the difort in my heart from seeing it being so pitiful. I dont know if it was a result of myforting or Dgs threats, but Jiang Xiaorong sprawled t against my chest, and his thin branches reached around my chest to the back, almost like he was hugging me and would never let go. Is Xiaorong really ok without any soil? I was a bit worried. He doesnt need much soil. Jiang Xiaotian advised, Create ayer of ice against your chest. Then, you can put some soil there. Isnt that like wearing a bra? Although Jiang Shuyu was very good looking, he was obviously a guy. If his chest suddenly stuck out, then the handsome boy would turn into a she-male! So what, cant it be chest armor? It has to be a bra? Jiang Xiaotian rolled his eyes at me and said impatiently, Even if youve lost your memories, you should still know what armor looks like, right? If someone asks, just say youre wearing a bulletproof vest under your clothes. Got it! I created a thinyer of ice over my chest. I was originally a bit worried as to whether Jiang Xiaorong would get frozen, but he didnt resist the slightest and in fact stopped shaking Shit, Jiang Xiaorong stopped movingpletely! Dg ? Hes hibernating. Rx. I blinked and went oh. Jiang Xiaotian shook his head with a sigh. Why does it feel like your personality isnt the Shuyu I remember, but rather more like Shujun? Amnesia really has had a big impact on you. Sigh. Thats probably because of Guan Weijun. Shes also female, and things like the Mother Teresaplex and the urge to protect small animals aremon illnesses for girls. But Jiang Xiaotians words made me a bit anxious, and I couldnt help but blurt out, Really? But Dg and the others said I havent changed much!? Jiang Xiaotian pondered for a moment before replying. It could be a problem with my memories. Its been ten years since Ive seen you, and after theing of the apocalypse, lots of people changed as well. Or maybe theyre just reassuring you. Dg, thats not helpful at all! I grew frustrated. Dont tell me I really cant possibly be Jiang Shuyu? Dont worry. Peoples characters change with age, or in response to dramatic events. Its just that your reason for change is a little unique. Jiang Xiaotian patted my shoulder and said lightly, Like me, I too have changed over those ten years. I gazed at Jiang Xiaotian, thinking it over. That was true. He did seem a bit different. Dg disyed his cockiness for all to see, so people would immediately mark him as someone not to be messed with the moment theyid eyes on him. But Jiang Xiaotians arrogance was hidden, and he would only show it if and when he wanted to. Aside from that, he also seemed much more serious than Dg. Even as a three year-old, this gravitas hadnt been reduced in the slightest. But no matter what, Dg would always be Dg. Whereas I might not be Jiang Shuyu Ah! Nope, Im thinking random things again. Ive already said that Ill be Jiang Shuyu no matter what, so thats that! Shuyu. Jiang Xiaotian tapped me. I lifted my head and saw him staring at the gates, so I naturally followed his gaze. The gates to the military zone were opening, and a few vehicles were entering. On either side of the gates were soldiers with guns at the ready, to stop people from forcing their way in. Those cars look really odd. I was a bit suspicious. Aside from the two Humvees that were respectively guarding the front and back of the line, the vehicles in the middle were all boxy-looking vehicles that were mostly white. It looked like a bunch of ambnces. Dont tell me theyre using these to transport resources? Why not just drive a truck instead?! Its them? The three year-old child scowled, and said doubtfully, The MORC already controlled the military this early on? I blinked. The MORC was something Id heard of, but they were just like the Twelve Elites. Things that youd pick up here and there, stories and stuff of legends that were passed around. The MORC was an organization that suddenly sprung up in the middle stages of the apocalypse, and just like their name suggested, it was a research-orientated organization. Its full name was the Molecr Organic Research Center, but it shouldnt be underestimated just because it was a research center. Id heard that that organizations firepower was truly astonishing, and what distinguished them from the rest was that they had invented all kinds of powerful and strange items. While the majority of them were weapons, some were also everyday items that were invented to cope with the apocalypse. A lot of the things theyd invented were extremely handy, and everyone had to buy these from them. If this kind of organization didnt have enough fighting power, itd have been taken over by others long ago, but this research organization not only avoided the fate of being taken over, they had be one of the fewrge-scale organizations out there. But that was the extent of my knowledge. In those times, it wasnt strange for there to be all kinds of organizations, and you could say that the world was made up of organizations, bothrge and small, and the MORC was only one of them. Shuyu, remember that logo. Jiang Xiaotian pointed at the logo on the white vehicleit was made up of three red trapezoids surrounding a yellow triangle, a simple but eye-catching logo. In the middle stages of the apocalypse, one needed to exchange a lot of crystals for an item with this logo on it. If you get the chance, shut down the MORC. I gaped at Jiang Xiaotian. Why did he suddenly instruct his ddi to destroy an organization? And an organization with quite a good reputation to boot. They never proactively picked fights, and as long as you left them alone, then the MORC wouldnt pose a threat to you. They also invented a lot of powerful weapons and useful tools, and these were vital to humanitys survival! If theyre not as spotless as they seem, do you want me to try to sneak into the Guard Tower for a look? Jiang Xiaotian held his silence for a long while before replying, No, get the clue from the tower, then go. I stared at Jiang Xiaotian. It was clear that he actually very much wanted to go in to check things out, but he didnt want his ddi to get into danger. But I couldnt bring myself to say that we should take a look after allthe only thing on my mind was to get the clue ASAP and go back to my family. Best to leave stuff like saving the world to others. Im better off curing my Mother Teresaplex. As we continued waiting for the early hours of morning, Chen Yanqing ran over hurriedly, stuffed two cans into my hands and said simply, Sorry, Ive got an urgent mission, so I dont have time to watch over you. Take care. With that, he turned and left. Wait! I shouted at him. Chen Yanqing stopped haltingly, and said, Xiao Yu, I really gotta go. I walked up to him, grabbed his lower jaw, and tossed in two crystals that I had palmed into my hands earlier, shoved his mouth shut, then threw a quick jab at his abdomen, making him swallow reflexively. Chen Yanqing gaped at me, coughing hard a few times, but nothing came out. Hysterically, he shrilled, W-what the hell did you make me eat? Candy, I lied without batting an eye. Chen Yanqing shot me a hard look that clearly said, Who do you think youre fooling? Id originally wanted to tell him about the crystals to return the many favors he had done for me, but I now had concerns about the MORC involvement, so it was safer to keep mum after all. Besides, Jiang Xiaotian wanted to overturn the MORC, and I really didnt wanted to risk strengthening the enemy force when repaying my debts, so I could only give him a few crystals to give his body a little boost. As for the rest, Ill leave it to you, owner of the body. Chen Yanqing stammered in shock, Xiao Yu, these moves of yours, what I pointed behind him and reminded him, I think your mates are calling you over. He looked over his shoulder to see a few soldiers ring at him, forcing him to go. But before he left, he added, Dont go anywhere. Ille find you when I get the chance. Jiang Xiaotian gazed at Chen Yanqings back, his eyes screaming bloody murder, and warned me, No puppy love. Dg, why dont you try something else? Im bored of hearing that line. He pondered, then said, Have a kid ASAP. Dg, dont you find those two sentences just a little bit contradictory? I stared at Jiang Xiaotian helplessly. This Dg from ten yearster really is a handful. I miss this worlds Dg so much! Jiang Xiaotian seemed to have noticed the contradiction too, and he added with a stony expression, For the next two years, youre not allowed puppy love and you should focus on bing stronger. Once youve reached a certain level, only then can you start having kids. I face palmed. Sure, sure, sure, train, find a wife, and have a kid. I have to hit all the milestones in life in two years. Sure thing! Good. Jiang Xiaotian even had the audacity to nod. I rolled my eyes at him, and decided that once I was home, Id throw Jiang Xiaotian to Junjun. No way Dg will ask his mimei to have children ASAP! I looked up at the sky. The moon was hanging high in the sky, and even though it wasnt quite a full moon yet, it was almost there, filling the night with its radiance and making itpletely unsuitable for a stealth mission to scale the tower. This was a bit frustrating. I passed the tbread on me to Jiang Xiaotian. Although it was past its expiration date, it didnt smell spoilt. The box said No preservatives added, but that had to be for show only. We couldnt go wrong with eating it anyway. And besides, among all the ways of dying, it was extremely unlikely that you would die of an illness in this apocalyptic world. Jiang Xiaotian munched on the tbread and remarked, Todays not a good day for climbing. I know that already. Dont say the cruel truth out loud. Even Ms. Moon is happily shining brightly in the sky, a mockery of the Jiang familys bad luck. I can create amotion for you I interrupted him, growling, Finish your tbread. Youre not creating anything! Jiang Xiaotian turned to look at me, and went Mm. I rxed. Thankfully, he seemed willing to listen to what I had said. We still had some time after finishing the tbread, so I decided to lie down and rest for a bit, to make sure I would be sharp and alert for the tower climbte at night. Dg, Im going to bed. Come join me? No, I slept too long, so Im not sleepy. Just as I was about to reply, oh, then wake me upter, I suddenly felt something off. There was no guessing if this Dg would secretly run off and get up to no good, like sneaking into the Guard Tower to check out what the MORC was up to, or other dangerous acts like that! I grabbed the child, entered the tent, andy on the floor. If you dont want to sleep, then be my pillow. I want to study the map. Youll have plenty of time once we set off tomorrow morning. Right, Im sleeping now. Good night. Not giving Jiang Xiaotian any chance to dissent, I hugged the child and drifted off to sleep. Fortunately, he didnt put up a fight and just quietly let me use him as a hugging pillow. But really, it felt quitefy to be hugging a kid. So maybe Jiang Xiaotian really was onto something when he said to have kids earlier. And in my previous life, I would have had to give birth to one, whereas in this life, I would just have to put in the seed and then Id have a kid to hug. It was such an easy peasy way to happiness that I would be doing myself a disservice if I didnt have a kid rg, rg! I rubbed my eyes and looked down to see Junjuns expression of terror. Startled out of my drowsiness, I quickly got up and asked, Whats wrong? Did you have a nightmare again? A few days ago, Junjun had had a nightmare which scared her so badly that she refused to sleep by herself, and every night she would stand by my bed, hugging her pillow and looking so pitiful that there was no way I could turn her away. Junjun stammered, rg, t-theres a sound. Some footsteps from downstairs! I perked up my ears and listened for a moment. There were indeed footsteps, but there was no one else in the house. Even Lin-b had gone back to his sons ce for a few days. I made a shushing gesture at Junjun, and the little girl immediately covered her mouth. I got off the bed, pulled out a baseball bat from under my bed, and said softly, Junjun, hide in the wardrobe and donte out. With that, I quietly opened the door and scanned my surroundings as I walked down the stairs. There was a silhouette moving around in the kitchen. It looked quite tall and bulky, which was bad news for me. If I couldnt knock down my opponent with the first blow, then Id probably end up being the person on the floor. Suddenly, I heard a small sound from behind me. I immediately spun around, baseball bat held at the ready. Shujun was standing behind me, her little face as white as a sheet in the dark, and she was gripping a letter opener that Dg had given to me as a birthday presenta butterfly knife that was being used to open letters. Okay, fine, I admit that this is the right time to use the knife. I plucked it from Junjuns hand and slipped it into my pocket, ncing meaningfully toward her room to get her to go back there. But the pale-faced girl stubbornly refused to leave. I frowned. If we continued our disagreement, it would only alert the intruder, so I had no choice but to push back my mimeis punishment untilter. Holding up the baseball bat, I walked to the kitchen door, pressed myself against the wall, and waited. Im going to break his leg with the first strike. Theres no way I can possibly let Shujun get hurt! The silhouette walked out, and I swung the bat with all my might. To my surprise, my opponents reflexes were extremely fast, and he managed to dodge the swing. I immediately dashed forward and brought the bat down Stop, stop! Its me, Shuyu, dont hit me! I froze, and in that moment, he dashed over to the light switch. The lights turned on, revealing none other than Dg. The three siblings stared at each other. Dg chuckled drily. Shuyu, you really put a lot of power behind that swing. Dg will teach you a few moves some other day. With you at home, Ill feel even more at ease. So youll have less of a reason toe back, is that right? I arched my eyebrows, and was about to start scolding him, when Junjun unexpectedly went waaaaa and started crying. Dg and I immediately put everything to one side and focused onforting our mimei. Finally, Junjun cried herself to exhaustion and fell asleep on myp, so I had no choice but to sit on the sofa, acting as my mimeis pillow. Dg, whyd youe back all of a sudden? I asked softly, terrified of waking up my mimei. Dg gently patted Junjuns back as he responded, I got Lin-bs call. He said his son is getting married, and he needs to take a few days off. I was worried about having just the two of you in the house, so I came back to check things out. I rolled my eyes at him, saying, Im in middle school already, so whats there to worry about me staying at home? And I spend most of my time at school anyway, and because Junjun has been going to art sses after school, I wait nearby to pick her up to go to dinner. Its usually almost eight by the time we get home, and then its homework, shower, and bed. Theres not much difference whether or not Lin-b is around. On hearing that, Dg frowned and said, Eight? Sote? How do you two get home without Lin-b driving you home? Weve got a regr taxi guy to do that. In the past, when we got out of sses earlier, Lin-b would be busy cooking dinner, so he couldnte pick us up, and hed always get that taxi guy to take us home. Dgs frown deepened, and he said unhappily, Ill hire a driver for you guys as well. Lin-b is getting old, and he wont be of much help if anything happens. I pondered for a moment, then said, Nah, theres no way of knowing how reliable someone is if we find them at short notice. They might even pose a greater danger to us. And anyway, you know me, Dg. I dont like having outsiders at home. Even having Lin-b is too much. I frowned. When Im eighteen, Ill let Lin-b retire. In any case, household duties like cooking and cleaning can be handled between Shujun and myself. Dg gazed at me, clearly hesitating about something, but ended up asking anyway, Shuyu, do you me me? For running around all the time, leaving you two at home, or, or even the fact that Im so focused on being a mercenary I looked back at Dg, puzzled, and asked, me you for what? Its good that youre a mercenary. Just dont line up too many missions that you cante back home at all. A few days ago, when Junjun saw the news talking about a worker at a technology nt worked to literal death, she asked me worriedly, Will Dg work himself to death too?, and even started having nightmares. Dg looked me over very carefully, and I let him, even though I hadnt a clue what he was thinking. He exhaled a long breath and said, Shuyu, you put me at ease to a point where its a little worrying. I replied with absolute seriousness, Dg, even though you arent great at academics, you should at least learn your Chinese properly. I dont even know whatnguage youre speaking right now. Dg burst intoughter and ruffled my hair roughly. My expression darkened as I said, Well, since youll be here for the next few days, you should take Junjun to the kids amusement park, buy some clothes and shoes at the kids section of department storesoh! Yeah, she told mest time that her friend went to a Snow White themed restaurant, which sounds pretty nice, so we should go as well. Doesnt Junjun have school? We can take a few days off. Dg said painfully, Do you think someone like me can even fit in at a Snow White themed restaurant without looking like an idiot? Thats the point, to make you look like an idiot, I said serenely as I smoothed down my puffed up hair. Shuyu, whod you learn to be so vengeful from? Learned it by myself. Seeing Dg grimacing like he had a bad tooth, I suddenly remembered something important and said, Thats right, Dg, since youre here, remember to do your annual dental check. His grimace of pain worsened. Feels awesome to see your look of pain, hehehe. Who asked you to ruffle my hair! Shuyu! Shuyu! I chuckled as I replied, Theres no use crying to me. You have to get your teeth checked A sudden bang rang out. My heart skipped a beat, and my eyes flew open, and I saw in front of me a child, although it was not Junjun. Jiang Xiaotian raged, How can you sleep so well? I kept calling you, but you refused to wake up. Dont tell me all that trainings gone to waste?! I blinked, confused about the situation. This child looks really familiar Bang! A heavy blownded on my forehead, knocking me so hard that tears almost spurted out of my eyes. This childs quite strong, as expected of the Ice Emperor Ice Emperor! I sprang up, snapping out of my stupor. The surrounding sounds rushed in like a wavescreams and the sounds of stampeding feet. The canvas of the tent flickered with a multitude of shadows of fleeing people. How could I have been sound asleep?! I looked at Jiang Xiaotian in shock. He nodded as he said, Somethings happened. Go climb the tower now for the clue. He was rightthat was the most critical thing right now. I snatched up the backpack, while Jiang Xiaotian climbed onto my back without me saying anything. Then, I touched my chest. Good, Xiaorong is here as well. Time to go! Yanking aside the tent p, I could see that the previous calmness outside had dissolved into gunshots, zing fires, screams, civilians fleeing everywhere, and soldiers firing shots in all directions. The military zone had turned into a war zone. I asked in disbelief, Dg, how long have I been sleeping? Three hours. Only three hours for this ce to fall from heaven to hell. Thats faster than an express train. What on earth happened? Jiang Xiaotian poked out his head next to my neck and asked with concern, But its only been ten-odd minutes since this happened. I couldnt wake you up. Shuyu, are you ok? Im fine. I was just dreaming about my old memories. I narrowed my eyes. Some of the running and leaping figures didnt look right. They were faster than normal, and some parts of their bodies also looked off. It just simply wasnt very noticeable among the crowds at the moment, due to the chaos and the darkness. Jiang Xiaotian asked quickly, So you remember everything now, Shuyu? No, I only dreamed of some small things. Its not the first time its happened, and every time it does, Ive always been in deep sleep. This was actually very dangerous for me, so I was torn between wanting and hating for this to happen. I wanted to remember my memories through my dreams, but at the same time, if I slept too soundly and something happened, Id never wake up again. Hm, well, it doesnt matter. You can dream whatever you want, however you want, once you find the other me. Thats right, finding Dg and the others is the key! I spoke to Dg while surveying the different routes. The Guard Tower didnt look approachable. All the soldiers were clustered there, but what was strange was that they were not protecting the Guard Tower. Their gun muzzles were pointed toward the tower, and they were firing like crazy, as if they were trying to stop things inside from getting out. I was starting to get suspicious. Id originally thought that this was an aberrant invasion, but it didnt seem right. This didnt look like something invading from the outside, but like things from the inside wanting to escape. What did you dream of? Jiang Xiaotian tapped my shoulder and pointed into the distance. There were four sides to the Guard Tower. Currently, the soldiers were clustered around the main side, but Jiang Xiaotian was pointing to its back. There werent many people there, and although I might be spotted by people on the ground as I was climbing, who would give a damn at a time like this? I crafted ice des below my feet and silently glided toward the side that had rtively less light. Once, Lin-bs son got married and he went home, leaving just Junjun and me behind. You were so worried that you came back to check on us and got back home in the middle of the night. Junjun and I thought you were a thief, and I almost got you with a baseball bat. Jiang Xiaotian asked in confusion, I dont remember this. And even if Lin-b isnt home, dont we have a maid as well? What maid? I zipped past a few fleeing soldiers. They looked terrified and couldnt even hold their guns steady. The moment they saw me, they looked shocked but ignored me, scrambling and stumbling to get away. Hmph! This lot doesnt have the balls to be soldiers. They dont hold a candle to the bunch at the entrance to the tower. I quietly circled to the back of the tower and ttened the ice des below my feet, keeping them in a half melted state. The ices stickiness was of great help when doing things like scaling a wall or climbing towers. Halfway up, there was a sudden explosion. The towers violent shuddering forced me to a halt, and I glued myself to the face of the tower. Once the tremors died down, I looked down. The soldiers were firing like mad, and with the gates to the tower sted open, many people were now pouring out, only to be mowed down by the bullets Wait, those arent people! They didnt immediately copse after getting shot, and only copsed to the ground after being aerated into a beehive. Humans havent evolved to this stage yet. Are those aberrants? Theyre experiments, Jiang Xiaotian said in an icy tone. Look, most of them look human, and a lot of their transformations make no sense. Some of them even have rotting parts. Theyre not aberrants. Thats right. Aberrants were still living organisms, and while they might die if they grew and evolved in the wrong direction, they wouldnt rot as long as they were alive. They werent the living dead from zombie movies. Judging from the situation, the soldiers with their strong firepower still had the upper hand. Although some slipped through the cracks, most of them were injured and just wanted to escape and were unlikely to stay behind for mass scale ughter. So they didnt pose much of a threat to the refugee camp. With that worry out of the way, I resumed climbing the tower, when from behind came hesitant words from Jiang Xiaotian, Shuyu, after the battle below settles down a little, see if you can sneak into theboratory. I blinked, resisting the urge to look back and roll my eyes at Jiang Xiaotian, and asked as I continued upwards, Why? Whats there to see? Its just been four months into the apocalypse. No matter how powerful the MORC is, theres no way they can create so many specimens that are powerful enough to escape their control within such a short period of time. In order to pull off something like this, youd need to already have had some basic research done I jolted and said, So they might be rted to the apocalypse? Jiang Xiaotian frowned, hypothesizing, Theyre probably not involved in creating the apocalypse. The ck fog engulfs the whole world once a year, and this kind of power is too strong for it to be from the hands of a human. But I think they probably knew something before the apocalypse. So thats why he wants me to check it out. The MORC didnt look like an easy opponent, judging from the way they were able to control the military zone. If we didnt take the chance to investigate during this one rare slip up of theirs, we probably wouldnt be so lucky again in the future. Why are all these unraveling of mysteries and saving of the world things happening to a teen like me, who only just wants to go home?! Jiang Xiaotian said hesitantly, If you really dont want to I cut in, Ill get hold of the clue to home first, then well see if theres a chance of infiltrating the ce. In my previous life, Dg was able to be the Ice Emperor. In this life, even if he had changed upations to be a healer, he couldnt be underestimated. It was only a matter of time before the JDT would step onto the world stage. Which meant that I really did need to scout out the MORC beforehand. So theres no choice but to fight in the present for the sake of the future. Suddenly, I had a weird feeling, like I was working hard to save up to buy a house. I finally made it to the top of the tower. A quick scan of the surroundings was enough for me to spot words carved into a globe at the base of the top of the tower. The globe, which was as tall as a person, waspletely covered in words that wereid out like a letter. And the first word was enough to let me know that I had found the right spot. Shuyu Volume 3, 3: MORC

Volume 3, Chapter 3: MORC

Trantor: Elkin (proofread by EvlNabiki & Arcedemius; C/E edited by lucathia) Shuyu, I dont know where you are. Weve searched everywhere, but we couldnt find anything to go on Of course, itd be weird if people chasing a person who had been snatched away by a bird had something to go on. The snatched person might have been sttered into goo in a fall or eaten clean by the aberrantso youd have to travel from thends of the living to the dead to find that person! I hope that the fact that the guard tower has be a refugee site wouldnt create too many variables. Theres something fishy going on here. Every time people are let into the military zone, some number will disappear. But whoever is doing this is being very subtle. Given the state of the world and the harsh reality that no one looks out for others anymore, if not for the fact that we were thoroughly investigating the ce to look for you, we probably wouldnt have noticed the disappearances either. If you are here, you must be careful. Leave ASAP and find us. We will now head eastwards toward Old Town, which is next to Lan City. Theres a famous clock tower there, and unless we find some hard evidence on the way or if something goes wrong, it will be the base for our search for you for some time. We will change our scouting pattern to expand radially outward from that spot. Shuyu,e back as fast as you can. Recently, Shujun refuses to stop practicing her special abilities and has fainted a few times. She keeps ming herself for not being strong enough, for allowing you to get snatched away because you had to protect her, she In any case,e back soon. From your g, Shutian Junjun! My silly mimei, what if you hurt your health! I was so worried that I wanted to tear down a wall to vent my frustration, but unfortunately for me, there wasnt a single wall around me, so I could only grab the tip of the tower and shake it furiously. I really wanted to rip the tower apart. Lan City? Jiang Xiaotian frowned. Lan City sounded very familiarit was one of Meisias threergest cities, but I didnt remember anything about Old Town. In any case, Id find out where it was soon enough once I checked the map. I scanned the words carved on the ball a few more times before reluctantly climbing down the tower. When I looked down to survey the situation, my expression sank. The situation was worsening. As more and more aberrants slipped through the blockadeevidence that the militarys firepower was slowly losing its effectthe experiments would sneak an asional attack from behind them, making it impossible for the soldiers to focus on just one side. They had to be constantly vignt about their surroundings, because the moment they slipped up, theyd be jumped on by the experiments and end up resting in pieces. A chill gripped my heart as I watched. Are Chen Yanqing and Guo Hong down there? And that group of soldiers who joked around with meAh Nuo, Fatty, ckie, the Lieutenant But given the situation, I wasnt quite sure I dared to go help them. Although a lot of the aberrants looked like they had evolved erratically, they were remarkably powerful and hard to take downthey were probably even on par with tier one aberrants. And not to mention their astounding numbers, with yet more pouring from the door. There was no way of knowing how many of them there were. I murmured in astonishment, Those things are a bit too OP. I wonder if they have crystals? Then I can use them to feed Xiaotian. I was suddenly struck by the impulse to snatch a few of them. Dont even think about fighting those things. Jiang Xiaotian red at me as he warned me, Even if they have crystals, you dont know what the MORC have done to them. Do you even dare to eat those crystals? We had adulterated food before the apocalypse, and now after the apocalypse, we dont dare to eat adulterated crystals. Okay, fair enough. The former would make you die a slow death, but it was hard to say what thetter would do to you. Worst case scenario, youd drop dead after popping it into your mouth. It really isnt something worth risking my life over. Jiang Xiaotian said with a frown, Shuyu, its best that you leave. Dont go inside to investigate. There are too many experiments down there, and theres no way you can handle so many. I was thinking the same thing. With a nod, I started my climb down the tower. Suddenly, a huge explosion went off, making me cling tightly to the steel tower. I nced down to see the soldiers starting to use the heavy duty firepowereven grenades and RPGs made their appearances. Seriously, why didnt they do this earlier instead of waiting until now to show their true colors? They lost a bunch of people for nothing But the soldier standing next to the firer shoved down the RPG, roaring, The hell are you doing? Weve still got our men and a bunch of researchers down there. If you copse the door, they wont be able to make it out! Im saving your ass! The soldier holding onto the RPG growled, Dont tell me you fucking believe theyre still alive?! A soldier scowled and bellowed, I dont fucking care whose ass youre saving. Stop the sting! Lieutenant, Ah Nuo, Ah Qing, and Old Guo Theyre all still inside! It was actually ckie. I quickly climbed lower to better catch what they were saying. We cant let them get out no matter what. Theyre all civvies outside! Someone else cut in. We cant st them down. The brass say theres some Professor Wu we have to rescue. Fuck that professor. Theyre the crazies messing around inside and making these works of art. And you still wanna save them? At that moment, a series of explosions sounded out from within theb. All the soldiers faces darkened at that. Jiang Xiaotian tapped me, reminding me, Shuyu, if you dont leave now, itll be harder to get away once their defensespletely copse. Dg, I said quietly, tell me, if I ran away every time I encountered danger and think I couldnt win, will I really be able to be the Ice Emperor in the end? Jiang Xiaotian jolted and fell silent. I grimaced as I spoke, I really want to run away. Just seeing whats going on down there scares me. I just want to go home, to escape all the dangers. All I need is to stay with my family, for everyone to be alive. In my previous life, Guan Weijun had done exactly that. You could say that I survived ten years of the apocalypse precisely because I did that, but in the end, I still died. The only difference was that it made no difference whether I lived or died thenin any case, I was already a dead person walking, because there was no future to speak of. But this life is different, dying in this life ispletely different! If I was stronger and didnt get beaten to a pulp by the flock of birds, would Shujun me herself and train her abilities to the point of fainting? It wasnt the end of the world that I got snatched away this time. At least I was able to protect Shujun. But next time, if I fall, will the people behind me really make it? Truth be told, Im terrified. Terrified that Ill end up ripped to shreds like those soldiers, guts spilling everywhere. Thatll hurt like helland this isnt me speaking hypothetically. Id died exactly in that manner in my previous life! And whats more, what terrifies me much more than the pain is never seeing Dg and Shujun again! But Im even more scared that, some day, I wont be able to protect my family. If the person who got shredded wasnt me, but Shujun my heart aches just imagining that scene. I sucked in a deep breath. I swore that I wont run and I wont hide, that Ill be the Ice Emperor. Dont forget your oath. I cant run away. Jiang Xiaotians expression wasplicated. If I had to describe it, itd be like that of a mother bird watching her fledging leave the nest. That expression of mixed dismay and pride on a three year olds face, it was distressing this fledging. Please, Dg, can you act like a proper three year old? In the past, you didnt fear anything. But now, youre scared of everything. That said, Id rather trust my back to this you. I immediately puffed up my chest, my heart feeling like it was about to burst with happiness. Being entrusted with the Ice Emperors back was the most incredible honor! I mean in spirit. In practice, youve still got some ways to go in terms of ability. Cant you just skip the rifications?! But no matter how brave you are, even you, Shuyu, cant take down so many experiments. This is a fact. I tilted my head as I watched the soldiers down below, firing non-stop but still getting jumped on periodically. They looked like they were on the verge of defeat. And I asked, What if I got those soldiers to cooperate? Jiang Xiaotian said in a ponderous voice, They have heavy firepower, but theyve lost their nerve. If no one steadies their nerves, theyll scatter. What you want isnt to seek their cooperation, but to deliver them a huge shock! And make them obey yourmands within the shortest period of time. I was bamboozled by his words. An eighteen year-old pretty boy needing to astound a bunch of veteran soldiers sounded like mission impossible. Whats next will depend on what you do, whether its fortifying the defense perimeter, or pushing forward toward the tower. Thetter will be much more difficultthese soldiers have lost their nerve and probably wont be willing to go inside. But whatever it is you want to do, if you dont do it now, you can forget about getting off this tower. He was right. There were originally only a few soldiers slipping away here and there in the confusion, but as the battle became more and more intense, a fair number of soldiers were now retreating as they fired their guns. Those specimens only needed to make one big push, and the whole line would copse. Just as I was thinking that, I watched a specimen that stood over three meters tall dash over. Although it still looked humanoid, its skin and flesh were as gray as stone. If he had been crouched by the side of a road, he would look exactly like a big rock. The soldiers gaped with bulging eyes, but stuff like this could hardly faze me. After all, at the start of the apocalypse, when I was crippled and without any special abilities, Muscle Man had appeared in our house. While this thing in front of me was indeed stronger than Muscle Man, I wasnt a cripple anymore. The specimen suddenly chose this moment to let out a huge roar. Everyone finally snapped out of their shock and started firing like crazy. Unfortunately, his skin was crazily hard, to the point where ordinary bullets didnt seem to do much to him within a short space of time. What was worse, the other specimens werent just dallying around as spectators; they even had the sense to follow behind this big rock and surge forward in a wave. This meant that the soldiers could no longer just fire at the rockthey had to divert their attention to attack other specimens. This in turn reduced the pressure on the rock, and he immediately rushed up in front of the soldiers, and with a wave of his hand, grabbed onto a soldier in each hand and held them up in front of himself as a shield. Hold fire! The soldiers were horrified and had no choice but to shoot the other specimens, letting the big rock rush straight out of the blockade of gunfire. How can he be so smart? It isnt possible for aberrants to be so powerful at this stage. Given the size of this guys head, its obvious that he isnt an aberrant that solely focuses on developing his intellect. Something seems very off with these specimens. Jiang Xiaotians right, I do need to check it out. I wont get such a good opportunity as this in the future. Just as I was hesitating about what to do, whether it was to let Big Rock rush out and never see him again, or to make a move and attack him to shock the soldiers, Big Rock made my decision for me. He broke through the blockade yet disyed no intent of leaving. If anything, he started stirring up trouble among the military. When soldiers retreated while firing, Big Rock would rush forward. The closer soldiers would freak and start running, while the soldiers further away wouldnt dare to shoot for fear of friendly fire. I put Jiang Xiaotian and the backpack onto the tower and drew my spear from the bottompartment of the backpack, and then I was jumping down. I glided over some distance, catching up to Big Rock, then two des of icy wind shot out from below and froze his feet., sending him crashing to the ground and causing the ground to tremble a little. The ice de slid up his back but was unable to even so much as scratch him. But I had anticipated this. At this moment, he roared and swung a hand behind him. I leapt to one side in the nick of time. Without even bothering to stand up, he lunged over at me in the next breath, probably with the intent to crush me to death in his embrace. I dodged his arms with a glide backwards, and he once again sprawled on the floor, but only to his knees this timehe didnt fall t against the ground. But this was enough to send him into a rage. He let out a furious roar, and he looked up with a re, only to widen his eyesthe double muzzle of my gun was pointing right at his eyes. Bang bang bang After being fired at like crazy, he was still able to let out a howl of pain. He first pressed his hands against his face, then started running around crazily, wanting to try his luck and see if he could hit me. As for me, I was gliding in front of him and examining his face. His sockets had turned into a paste of blood and white goo. His eyeballs should be smushed. In theory, bullets entering his eyes should have been able to prate his brain, but he must have closed his eyes in time. This guys eyelids were also incredibly tough. At this moment, a few other specimens leapt at me. I spun around and held the gun to one specimens forehead. One shot blew out half his brain. Jin Fengs guns really had quite the firepower. Just as I was about to deal with the other two, they were ventted into beehives. I nced to one side to see ckie holding up a light assault rifle, its muzzle still smoking, a look of disbelief on his face as he stared back at me. In that moment, heavy footfalls sounded. I looked to see Big Rock get up and start sprintinghe looked like he wanted to get away. I glided after him, casually icing the spear to my waist. Then, I crafted two long and narrow ice des and threw out a patch of ice in front of Big Rock. He shattered the ice with one stomp, tilting off bnce, but he didnt fall over. But this momentary pause was enough. I stepped on his calf, then leapt to his back, leap frogged over his head, andnded in front of him. My ice des were left deep in his eye sockets. After swaying for a bit, Big Rock copsed onto the ground, motionless. I walked up, and when there was no response after kicking him twice, lifted his big head and twisted the two ice des. Only then did I rx and drop his head back to the ground. In this day and age, everyones vitality was very strong, and there was no way I could rx unless I had turned my opponents brains intoplete mush. I frowned as I gazed at Big Rock. There was something off about him. He was hard, sure, but he was also very slow. As long as you knew what his weakness was, it wasnt hard to deal with him. Even if he posed a greater threat than a tier one aberrant, his true strength wasnt up to par. It was almost like he had evolved just to act as a shield for gunfire, and he had sacrificed everything else for this one purpose, creating the end result of being very strong but also very easy to defeat. It was very easy to go wrong with this kind of extreme evolution model. Jiang Xiaorong was a perfect and pitiful example of this,pletely wasting the evolution crystals that he had swallowed, changing from a tree that had touched the heavens into a bonsai nt. So did this Big Rock also pick the wrong evolutionary model, or did the MORC do something? Whatever, Ill find out once I go in. I turned around to see that the soldiers battle was alsoing to an end. Although corpses of the specimens littered the ground, a fair number of them must have gotten away; otherwise, there was no way the soldiers could end the fight so quickly. But it wasnt a big deal if they got away. The world was full of man-eating aberrants, so the addition of these specimens wasnt going to make much of a difference. There were too many to begin with, anyway. I picked up the light assault rifle from a dead soldier in an offhand manner and walked up to the soldiers, scaring them to the point where they all pointed their guns at me. ckie! I yelled, and all the soldiers turned to re at ckie. Ah Qing and the others are trapped inside? ckie nodded, dazed. Wanna save em? I asked in a taunting manner. Although I wanted to shock these soldiers, I was too young, I had a ridiculously pretty face, and I had appeared out of nowhere. So even if I was very strong, it was probably hard for them to agree to follow me, so I could only use the idea of saving their brothers-in-arms to rally them to my cause. If the person who leapt down from the tower was the Ice Emperor, he probably wont have it so hard. Hed just have to wave an arm and call out, and everyone will follow him there and then! Damn it, I- I- can only wait until I grow up. What else can I do? ckies eyes lit up, and together with his darkplexion, it gave the impression of two search lights being switched on at night. Damn right we do! I nodded and said, Anyone who wants to go in with me should re-equip themselves, and follow me in to save your brothers-in-arms in thirty seconds. We cant wait any longer than that. Without waiting for their response, I turned to climb back up the tower to find Jiang Xiaotian. Just as I was about to put him and the backpack on my back, he shook his head and said, I can carry the bag. You need to fight, and you mustnt get dragged down by this. Can you carry it? I stared at Jiang Xiaotian dubiously. The bag was almost as tall as he was. Yes. Jiang Xiaotian gave me an odd look and asked, Surely you arent thinking Im really a kid, are you? I rubbed my nose as I replied, Youre the one who said you cant use your abilities. Jiang Xiaotian chuckled. I cant, but I can still freeze and shatter a few hearts. Sigh. Fine. This is the gap in our abilities. To the Ice Emperor, freezing a few people to death doesnt count as using his special abilities. Its probably the same as sneezing a few times for him. Carrying the child, I leapt down the tower. The soldiers really were all at the ready. There were about thirty of themthey werent that many in quantity, but they made up for it in quality. Probably because of their military training and the fact that they were living fairly decently even after the apocalypse, they hadnt fallen to the level of bing evil warlords yet. Although a lot of specimens had gotten out, there were probably still quite a few left down there. As insurance, it was better to bring along some helpers. Some of them might even know their way inside, which would be of a great help to me. ckie walked up to me, sucked in a deep breath, and said, Well go in first. The others need to check how the civilians outside are doing. I nodded and replied, Then lets go. Then, I stared at them, and they stared back at me. Neither of us moved. Lead the way! I gave them a strange look. Dont tell me you want me and my three year old son to lead the charge? The soldiers flushed red and quickly looked away, and in the end, the highest ranked person, a second lieutenant, took charge and ordered the group to stand in a few rows to enter the tower. The ones at the very front were the scouts, the ones in the middle formed the bulk of the group, while the ones standing at the back were responsible for guarding the rear. Seeing how organized and well-trained they were, I felt much better about the whole thing. From the looks of things, as long as they could maintain their state of mind, these soldiers had a fair bit ofbat power. Their poor performance just now was purely down to the chaos right from the start and Big Rocks charge without any fear of bullets that had thrown them into disarray. Everyone gazed at the entrance to the Guard Tower that was in ruins, grim looks on all their faces, but they still stepped forward without any hesitation. ckie had been assigned to stand next to me, probably because he was the only person in the group who knew me. He nced at Jiang Xiaotian and frowned. Some soldiers had suggested that I leave the kid behind, but I had refused. Xiao Yu, do you want me to find a pair of boots for you? ckie couldnt resist making this offer as he gazed down at me feet, The inside has been sted to pieces, so if you go in barefoot, youre gonna be in big trouble the moment you step on something sharp. I widened theyer of ice that was under my feet and showed him. The soldiers around me gawked at the ice, and ckie stammered, Xiao Yu, h-how did you make that? Its nothing unusual. Most people have special abilities. Someone mumbled, But no one can use it like that. ckie couldnt help but blurt out another question, Can you teach us to be as strong as you? Lets focus on rescuing the guys first. Then Ill be gone like the wind. Everyones faces lit up with hopes when they heard that, making me break out in cold sweat. T-this fine, if they do well, Ill consider telling them about the evolution crystals. Anyway, the MORC should have discovered the existence of these crystals long ago. Given that they have locked up so many aberrants for experimentation, I find it hard to believe that they havent dissected a few already. Even though they know about it, they have chosen to keep it to themselves. If humanity had found out about the use of these crystals earlier on, will humans be in a better situation in the future? Before long, we arrived in front of the elevator. This was probably a cargo liftit was sorge that it wasnt a problem fitting thirty people inside. I said calmly, Its not too smart to take the elevators in times like this. ckie said softly, We dont know other paths, and weve only ever watched people go in. Weve never gone down ourselves. The research guys only ever let us guard the outside and maintain order in the refugee camp. Then why are Ah Qing and the others down there? We received an SOS from theb, so the Lieutenant took some guys down there. Then those monsters started swarming out of there. So its a secret undergroundb? I mournfully hoped that it wasnt too big of aboratory; otherwise, those specimens that had gotten out would just be the tip of the iceberg. The scouting soldiers pressed the elevator button, and everyone immediately shifted into guard formation. The elevator doors opened, revealing a few white-robed doctors lying on the floor, none of the corpses intact. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief. The second lieutenant gestured everyone in, but he barred my way with an arm and asked with a hint of tension, Why did youe inside? You want the research? Come on, look at the world were in now. Why dont you just say it straight, that I want to go in to steal the goods? I just owe Chen Yanqing a debt, I replied calmly, and I never let my debts go unpaid. But I will lie. The second lieutenant hesitated, ncing at Jiang Xiaotian, before lowering his arm and getting out of my way. Come to think of it, no one would take a three-year old with them to steal research information. Jiang Xiaotian really is a good cover! Using the white-robed doctors identification and eyeball, the elevator started operating smoothly. I nced at the disy on the elevator. In actual fact, all the buttons were fake. All you needed was the identification card and eyeball, and the elevator would start moving by itself. To one side, ckie chuckled, Ah Qings really lucky. We originally kept joking that he liked bringing trouble onto himself, but we never thought hed help someone powerful like you. But seriously, Xiao Yu, who the hell are you? Those moves of yours aint normal. I doubt anyone in our troop can win against you in a fist fight. My family is a long line of martial arts practitioners, I continued my web of lies, ignoring Jiang Xiaotiansughter. Keeping my cool, I continued adding to it, I mean, I should be asking what on earth you guys are doing here? Why are you keeping those ab monsters here? Those things were mostly focused on getting away, but Im sure there are still a lot of deaths among the civilians out there. Hell if we know! ckie paused, ncing at the second lieutenant. When he saw that he too had a look of apprehension on his face but made no move to stop him, he continued, We only know that theres a researchb down here, and those people were researching these monsters, to find out their weaknesses and why they turned into monsters. But we really had no clue that there were so many of them down here. We thought they only had a few to research on. Someone else raised their voice in anger, If wed have known, you think wed still be guarding this shit hole? Wed have tossed in a few grenades to st those fuckers to death! I asked suspiciously, Youre official military, right? If youre not a privately hired army, why do you need to protect aboratory? ckie replied perfectly naturally, Of course were the proper army. And since our superiors assigned us here, this researchb is probably connected to the government. At the very least, the government probably owns some part of thisb. I went whoa and cast a quick look downwards at Jiang Xiaotian. Even the governments involved now, Dg! Do you really want your ddi to make enemies with this research center? Jiang Xiaotian shot me a look and said utterly fearlessly, The me King is part of the governments military, and Ive never been scared of him. Everyone looked down to stare at Jiang Xiaotian. As for me, I was sweating bucket-loads. The Ice Emperor was indeed mighty. He didnt care the slightest that these people would hear what he said Whats the me King? ckie asked in confusion. I replied seriously, The Mighty King of mes, or me King for short, was a very popr cartoon long ago. My Xiaotian loves it! Jiang Xiaotian froze, but fortunately, he didnt open his mouth to rip me a new one. The surrounding soldiers looked like they couldnt decide whether they wanted tough or cry, but when the elevator jolted to a stop, everyones expressions reverted to a solemn grimness. Under the second lieutenants orders, we grouped into a defensive formation and all muzzles were pointed at the elevator door. I lifted up both guns and squeezed past Jiang Xiaotian to stand in front of him. Then, the elevator doors opened. Volume 3, 4: The Laboratory, Part One

Volume 3, Chapter 4: The Laboratory, Part One

Trantor: Elkin (proofread by Arcedemius; C/E edited by lucathia) As the door opened, the soft metallic sounds of guns being gripped tightly surrounded me. It was dim outside the elevator, and the lights above shed erratically. The damage here was not as bad as in the room above us. The explosion we had heard just now was probably some distance from here, but that was a good thing; otherwise, the elevator might have stopped working. The scouts split into two parties as they scanned the surroundings. When they were certain that it was safe, they signaled clear to the back, and only then did the group follow them. I was at the center of the group. Judging from the surroundings, this was a huge hall. This was a bad sign. If just the hall was this size, then this whole ce must be enormous. Not only did this mean that we would have to expend more effort in our search, there were probably more experiments than wed originally thought. After checking out the hall without any incident, the soldiers started allocating tasks. Some were put on guard duty, and someone was sent to find the main switch. ckie was even sent to take a look at theputers to try and repair them and see if they had any useful information. So? Can you pull up a map of this ce? the second lieutenant asked anxiously. Give me a minute. It takes time. ckie didnt even bother turning his head and focused his attention on the monitor. The monitor was huge, like arge TV screen. I was standing to one side, a bit curious. I didnt expect ckie to be in charge of this. The second lieutenant growled in frustration, Goddammit, why the hell is it so quiet here? How the hell are we supposed to find them? Quiet! I hissed, and the second lieutenant immediately glowered at me, Silence means only one of two things, and one of them is that everyone here is dead. Everyones expressions sank. The alternative is that something is forcing them to be quiet. I red at everyone coldly. Does anyone want to draw out that something? Is there anyone here stronger than Ah Qing and his crew? The second lieutenants face turned white and he shook his head as he said, No, and they took the top troops with them. So youre telling me that youre the leftovers? I suddenly felt the future prospects dim. One of the soldiers said uneasily, If the Lieutenant and the others cant deal with it, w-whatre we supposed to do? Shit, I mustnt scare them away. I said coolly, A lot of the experiments have gotten away, so the situation probably isnt as bad as it seems. Maybe theyve got too many injured people with them. But no matter what, just keep quiet! The second lieutenant nodded. I had no way of telling if he really did buy what I was saying, or if he was still disgruntled at being told off by me, but it didnt matter either way. As long as he was listening to me, all was good. Throughout this exchange, Jiang Xiaotian was sipping on his long life milk. Just the thought that he was the revered Ice Emperor and one of the twelve world elites made my face twitch. Dg, please stop training my acting skills. Do you know how hard it is to maintain the facade of an arrogant and cool pro? Actually, maybe he doesnt really know. My Dg was born with an intimidating aura but, based on my observations to date, he had his fair share of acting like an idiot despite hispetencies. This might also exin how he formed an idiotic team ofpetent soldiers. I suddenly felt as if my mental image of the Ice Emperor had been dashed to pieces. No wonder people said that distance creates beauty. When you could hug the Ice Emperor to sleep, my only impression left of him was how adorable he was. Ive got the map! ckie suddenly shouted. I face palmed. A few soldiers immediately rushed up to cover ckies mouth. Not understanding what was going on, he struggled a few times but couldnt get free, and he looked around uprehendingly at everyone around him. I walked up to gaze at therge screen, the bad feeling in my heart turning into reality. This ce was truly humongous, and there was no way this could have been built after the apocalypse. This was probably a secret researchb even prior to the apocalypse. Jiang Xiaotian tugged at my pants. I picked him up to give him a better view. He pointed at a part of the monitor, and I nodded to indicate my understanding. Im going to take a look at the corridor where theb is. The second lieutenant immediately retorted, The monsters probably came from there. Theres no way the Lieutenant and the others would stay there. Regardless of whether anyone is there, at least we can figure out whats going on with those things. Ive killed a fair number of monsters out there and none of them were as smart as these. I turned to look at the soldiers and asked in confusion, Since youve been inside the city to look for food, havent you noticed that the monsters here arepletely different? No one answered. The second lieutenant said uneasily, The research center gave us a vehicle. We dont know whats in there, but as long as we drive that vehicle into the city, very few monsters woulde close. And the few that do are small fry. We finish them off using silenced guns, load up the supplies, ande back. Weve never actually seen much of the monsters before. No wonder. With something like that, it exined why the refugee camp held so many people but no aberrants ever attacked. But for the MORC to actually have something as amazing as this? Id never heard of this before. I looked down at Jiang Xiaotian. He was frowning but kept silent. I couldnt tell if he hadnt heard of it before either, or if he simply didnt want to talk in front of these people. I intentionally mumbled out loud, Its only been four months into the apocalypse. Theres no way this ce could have been built in that time. So what were they researching originally? Theb is buried so deep underground, and theyout doesnt look like its for weapons research. The soldiers expressions changed, and now suspicion colored their faces. Someone muttered, Dont tell me the ck fog is because of the MORC? Bro, you have amazing deductive abilities. It must be thanks to Ah Qing! I gave him a like in my heart but kept quiet and left things to their imagination. It was best to turn the MORC into the ultimate final boss, so in the future I might not even need to be the one to take down this research center. Im going to check that ce out. Come or donte, I dont really care. I memorized the route. Along the way, you had to pass through arge part of the research center. If I encountered Chen Yanqing and the others, then Id save whoever I could. If not there probably wasnt anyone left alive. After all, the exit was this way. If they were forced to flee in the opposite direction, then they must have been in an awful spot. The second lieutenant said irritably, You really dont have the slightest bit of discipline. The most important thing in a group mission is to obey orders. You cant just go wherever you want! I never was one of your people, so why do I have to obey? I asked coldly, I made it out of a city all by myself and have survived up to now with a child in tow. Hmph,pared to the likes of you, Id rather trust myself! With that, I turned and left. I couldnt be bothered to debate this any further with them. I was better off finding out the MORCs secret and then legging it out of here! A research center of this size being reduced to this state by its experiments? It was probably close to impossible for the experiments that had gotten out to pull off something like this, so there had to be something even more dangerous inside. But I had no way of knowing if it had gotten away or if it had stayed behind. But in any case, I shouldnt stay too long. I wielded a gun in one hand and crafted an ice dagger in the other, then looked back at Jiang Xiaotian. He had been following quietly behind me all this time. The soldiers were so far behind him in quality that you could fit eight whole cities between them! Time to set off Wait! I took in a deep breath to calm myself. These were the leftovers, so I mustnt have overly high expectations. I turned around and said expressionlessly, You have ten seconds to talk. Im starting the countdown now. Ten, nine The second lieutenants face stiffened. Six five ckie immediately shouted, Were going with you! I shrugged, and waggled my gun toward the front and said, Then, lead the way. ckie grated between ground teeth, Do you have to be so fucking harsh and use us to clear the path for you? I didnt answer his question and asked instead, Do you know how old I am? ckie stared at my face and hazarded, Twenty three? Four? I almost gave an angry snort ofughter. You sure are good at lying to yourself to think that a face like Jiang Shuyus is over twenty! Eighteen. Silence. Not a single person raised any more objections to leading the way and the soldiers shuffled themselves into formation. Just as the second lieutenant shouted, Move out! gunfire rang out in the distance. Dammit, ns alwaysg behind changes! I shouted, Go toward the sounds of gunfire, quick! The whole group started running, and I quickly reminded them, Watch your surroundings. Its too dark in here. Dont go exploring by yourself. You have to move in groups of four. If there arent enough people, the others should make up for the short fall! Everyone, remember the two people on either side of you and dont lose anybody. Our advancement immediately slowed down, but this couldnt be avoided. The lights here were damaged much worse than in the hall, throwing our surroundings into even deeper shadows. The area that could be lit up by a torch was simply too small, and the moment someone slipped up, well, forget not being able to save people, the whole group might even pay the price for that mistake. After all, the people who were trapped here were the top troops, while we were the leftovers! Along the way, I nced back to check on Jiang Xiaotian. I only rxed when I saw that he was able to keep pace, but his expression was strange. It was almost like he couldnt recognize me, and this made me a little anxious. Jiang Shuyu certainly had no way of ordering around troops from the get go, but Guan Weijun was different. At the start of the apocalypse, I had probably acted as a leader more often than Xia Zhengu. That brainless dolt always got hurt partway through missions and was rarely able to pull off a sessful retreat. As his girlfriend, carrying her heavily wounded boyfriend on her back, there wasnt anything I could contribute except to issue orders. And as time went on, some of myrades became used to themanders changing partway through missions, and some even started agreeing with my ns at the start and objecting to Xia Zhengus suicidal ns. Come to think of it, it was probably because me saving his butt and my leadership experience at the beginning of the apocalypse that stayed Xia Zhengus hand from actually killing me. Doing so would risk alienating ourrades and scaring the wits out of the women he had as well. I had so many people standing on my side, from our oldrades to the women he had had. If I hadnt given up on myself because of my boyfriend cheating left, right, and center; if I hadnt given up on training because my special ability was useless enhanced vision and worked to raise my actualbat prowess; if I had put up a fight, I might have been the one to kill off Xia Zhengu. What a pity! Ill never do anything that Ill regret in this life! Ill bust my ass to get money to buy a house Oh wait, I mean, train myself, protect my family, and have kids! There was a sudden tug at my pants. I turned to look at Jiang Xiaotian. He said just one word: Listen. I froze and pricked up my ears. There was a very soft sound, and it was growing louder and louder. The others seemed to have noticed it as well. Is that a cat? some of the soldiers looked bewildered, but not one of them looked scared. Its the sound of a baby crying, I said calmly, Its probably bait. Just ignore it. Keep going forward. One soldier growled, They were experimenting on babies? That was a female soldier, but she looked even buffer and darker than Yunqian. I hadnt even noticed her gender until just now. I hurried them, Keep going! The female soldier had a sour look on her face, visibly reluctant to leave. The second lieutenant too frowned and said, We have a duty to protect civilians. Right, that sure is a good duty. Then, why is it that soon enough the military will be a terrifying cancer among humans? Were you guys driven to insanity by the apocalypse, or is there something going on behind the scenes, something that ordinary people like Guan Weijun had no way of knowing? But that wouldeter. The soldiers in front of me were pretty gung ho, and they even knew to protect ordinary citizens. They were a true rarity. I sucked in a deep breath and said, Lets first meet up with Ah Qing. Every extra body we have is more power to us, and theyre the ones who know what were facing. We need them, whether its to retreat or to rescue people. Hearing that, everyone calmed down. Amidst the sound of a babys crying, we forged on. With every step we took, peoples expressions darkened. This was because the sound of the babys crying wasnt growing fainter with distance, but bing increasingly clearer, like it was crying right next to your ear. The crystal clear and pervasive sound was giving everyone the chills. Although I didnt know what was going on, I was positive that no one would ever mention needing to rescue any babies again. I stopped and looked around. Amidst the bone-chilling cries of the baby, there was a soft yell. I knew what I had heard, but because it was too dark and I didnt know the soldiers very well, I couldnt tell who was doing the yelling. So I could only call out, Look around you, is anyone missing? Everyone immediately checked, and then the soldier at the very back gasped, The guy on my rights gone! H-he was just there a moment ago! I snatched a torch from a soldier next to me and shone the light around. There werent any open doors on either side of the room, so I reflexively flicked the light at the ceiling. Without any warning, a huge shadow appeared before my eyes. Not caring to figure out what that was, the soldiers opened fire while roaring angrily. Shuyu, blood! Jiang Xiaotian screamed. I threw my hands in the air, crafting a huge piece of transparent ice, and shouted at the same time, Get to a wall! Blood showered down. Most of it struck the ice and started making corrosive sounds. I hastily followed my own orders and ttened myself against the wall, then flung aside theyer of ice. The blood, mixed in with the ice melt, showered onto the ground, and continued to make the sounds of acid eating into the ground. Thank god we had Jiang Xiaotians warning; otherwise, this shower of blood from above would have cut our numbers by a third. In that instant, something ck dropped to the ground with a plonk. If not for the fact that everyones torches lit up the silhouette of a soldier, everyone would probably have started firing like crazy once more. I shone the light at the ceiling once more. That ck shadow was gone. The attack just now wasnt enough to finish it off, but it might be a good thing that it got away. Things with blood that could damage people were very tricky, and if we didnt do a proper job when attacking it, we might hurt ourselves as well. We were better off not fighting it. I crouched down and flipped the soldier to face up. Half his face was missing, and his head down to his shoulder had been corroded to the point where his bones and some reddish-white stuff underneath were showing. Worse, the corrosion was continuing to eat into him. He gurgled and his body twitched. Seeing his injuries, I drew an ice de out of the air and stabbed it into his brain. When I stood up, I looked up just in time to meet the incredulous gaze the second lieutenant had leveled at me. You killed one of our men! Just because he was injured? We could have taken him to the medics. All we needed to do was just take a lift! The second lieutenant rushed up to grab my cor. I gripped his hand, and the chilly rush of energy forced him to let go. Still, he glowered hard at me. Fuck the medics! I hollered, You think he can still live?! Look at him, Im telling you to take a good look at his face and neck! And those bullet wounds on his body! Who was the one who fucking killed him, huh?! The second lieutenant jolted and fell silent when he looked down. The soldiers face was corroded right to his skull, and half his neck was gone, revealing his trachea. Quite a few bullet holes dotted his body, the result of the soldiers firing at the ceiling just now. No matter what, he wouldntst more than a few minutes, so he was better off being put to rest than experiencing another few agonizing minutes where he wanted to die. I looked around and growled, If anyone wants to be an idiot again, Im ditching your asses hard. Otherwise, I dont know whos going to be the one to kill me! When they saw what had happened to theirrade, the soldiers were all shocked, and looks of shame shed across their faces. It was only when I saw that that I breathed a sigh of relief. Honestly, given that they havent had much experience fighting aberrants, there was no way they would know much about how messed up things could be. But I had no choice but to whip them into shape, or else I really might end up dying at their hands. After all, I hadnt trained to the point where I was impervious to guns and knives! Gunfire sounded off in the distance again, a few shots followed by silence. I frowned. Something was off. A few bullets simply werent enough when you were going against an aberrant or an experiment, and would instead only serve to draw more of them to you. Xiao Yu, we better hurry! ckie said anxiously, The Lieutenant and the others could be in danger! Volume 3, 4: The Laboratory, Part Two

Volume 3, Chapter 4: The Laboratory, Part Two

Trantor: Elkin (proofread by Arcedemius & EvlNabiki; C/E edited by lucathia) However, I just stayed right where I was and said, That sounds like a trap. When you guys saw that monster just now, you fired off so many rounds and still werent able to take it down. So what are those few shots gonna achieve? I cant think of any reason for doing that other than to bait us over there. When he heard that, the second lieutenants face darkened and he asked, Then what now? How should I know?! Guan Weijun had at most snuck into a marketce or a warehouse. Shed never broken into somewhere as high security as this ce. This was a freaking secretboratory full of aberrant experiments. If this had happened in my previous life, Id have rather put a bullet in my own head than toe to a ce like this. There were a million ways to die here. I looked down at Jiang Xiaotian. The Ice Emperor was definitely the person with the most experience in breaking into ces like this. Jiang Xiaotian chuckled. I wanted to see how far you could get. Are you throwing in the towel so quickly? Im still new at this. I didnt mind asking him. There was nothing shameful about asking the Ice Emperor for help. In my previous life, forget about hugging the Ice Emperors leg to beg for help, I had never seen hide nor hair of him except from afar, so since I had the opportunity to hug the entire person, I had to make the most of it. Judging from the situation, theputer system isntpletely down. Send most of the troop ahead to scout, while we sneak into the control center. From there, we should have ess to most of the security feeds in theb. Then, Jiang Xiaotian pointed at ckie and said, Take this guy along with you. He should be an information technology specialist, so you can let him handle any repairs. Everyone stared at Jiang Xiaotian like they had seen a ghost. I couldnt be bothered to help cover up for him anymore, so I just said, So thats that. My Xiaotian knows best. You guys keep going ahead, but dont move too quickly, or else I wont be able to inform you guys in time if we discover something. I beckoned at ckie and said, Come on, ckie. Stunned, the second lieutenant eximed, Wait a sec, how can you just go? If theres danger ahead If theres danger ahead, you seriously need me to protect you guys? I red and snapped, What the fuck, guys?! Thirty soldiers arent as good as a kid, a university student, and one soldier? Calm down and dont fucking panic. None of the existing aberrants can just brush off shots from thirty guns. The only thing you need to know to deal with them is thisst their brains apart from far away. Thats all you need to do! Finished with my tirade, I ignored them, turned my back on them, and left. Even if ckie didnte with me, it didnt matter. Id save who I could, and if I couldnt, abandoning them wouldnt make me feel a shred of guilt! A-aberrant? came the mumble from the second lieutenant, and only then did I realize I had identally let slip the term. Whatever, even if they found out, it wasnt a big deal. Soon enough, this word would bemonce. ckie ended uping along. He asked, Xiao Yu, can you really take me to the control center all by yourself? The first thing the Lieutenant would have done is to order some IT specialists to head over there first. Of course, hed send a couple of good men as well, to prevent the IT specialists from being killed off. Here, he threw Jiang Xiaotian a look of rm and suspicion. I said irritably, Well, your second lieutenant wanted me to protect thirty soldiers. So what do you think? ckie looked back to his far awayrades and said with embarrassment, Yeah, were really not up to scratch. Everyones scared shitless by the attack just now, and without someone tomand us, we dont know what to do. If the Lieutenant or Ah Nuo were here, or even, or even Ah Qing would do, we wouldnt be like this. Believe me! That second lieutenants just a boot, fresh out of military school, so his heads crammed full of textbooks, and hes hopeless in actualbat. I gave him a look, then shook my head and sighed, You guys can even follow Ah Qing? You really have no standards. ckie bit the bullet and tried to exin, Dont get fooled by Ah Qings character. Hes really strong when hes serious. Have you ever seen semi-automatic firing with machine guns? He can bust a head with every bullet he fires. He doesnt fuck around! Now you make me want to take him with me again Maybe that Ah Qing is really quite the good souvenir? I can definitely try when its time for me to leave. The control room is this way. I was keeping an eye out for it. ckie pointed at one of the corridors, and then added awkwardly, I shouldve suggested to go there right at the start. I just didnt get around to saying it cause Im used to listening to the Lieutenants orders. I nced ckie over. This one isnt half bad either. What to do? I want to take everyone with me. Is it really okay for me to be so happily picking from the Lieutenants men? Jiang Xiaotian spoke up. Shuyu, we need to find another escape route in the control room. From the looks of things, those experiments probably intentionally kept the elevator running, to draw people down here to their deaths. I looked down at Jiang Xiaotian. Those gun shots did feel like they were fired to draw attention, but I still found it hard to believe. Are these things humans or aberrants? Humans havent evolved to be that strong, while aberrants arent that smart yet. He continued, The experiments that got out shouldnt have the ability to decimate thisb. There has to be a leader, and hes probably quite powerful. Seeing as how the top troops have been trapped here, that guy is probably still around and didnt escape with the other experiments. So I have no chance of victory? I was a bit despondent. Dont tell me that ascending to tier two this quickly still isnt enough? Jiang Xiaotian looked up at me and said, I dont know if you can win, but its only five months or so into the apocalypse. He cant be strong enough to overturn this research center by himself, so there must be some other experiments under him obeying hismands. As for you, you only have disobedient soldiers with zerobat experience against aberrants. So what do you think? Hold it there! ckie said quickly, Were listening to you already. I mean, arent Iing along with you? Jiang Xiaotian nced at him and asked, If I told you to take a gun and lead the charge against a group of aberrants, would you? ckie stared at the three year old, his dark face growing darker by the moment. You couldnt really me him, though. If an average person was told to obey a three year old, it was hardly unusual to be very hesitant to do so. Of course, if this was toward theter stages of the apocalypse, then themander could take the form of anything. Jiang Xiaotian ignored ckie and said directly to me, Go to the control room, find the Lieutenant or the Ah Nuo hes talking about. If you can get them to listen to you, then they can contribute in a fight. If we cant locate them, then were looking for an escape route and leaving immediately. ckie can go find his own crew to let them know that they should leave, too. So it isnt enough to find Ah Qing? I was pretty sure I had a way of making Ah Qing listen to me, but as for the Lieutenant and Ah Nuo, I really wasnt that close with them. It wouldnt be easy getting them to entrust the lives of a whole troop to a teenage boy they barely knew. A guy whos rated as even Ah Qing would do probably has the same leadership abilities as you do, so hes no use even if we do locate him. I secretly shed a tear of sympathy. Poor Ah Qing, being rated as useless so quickly. I suddenly stepped on something soft. This sensation I shone the light down and lifted my foot, revealing a hand in military green clothing. Although it was soaked in blood, I could still make out that it was a military uniform. I heard a short sharp breath being sucked in to one side. ckie was staring at the hand in rm, but then he rxed and said, No, thats not one of ours. I asked in confusion, Not one of yours? Is the shock so much that you cant think of him as one of your own? ckie nodded and gestured toward the upper part of the severed hand, remarking, Look. Even though they look alike, the sleeve and buttons are different. This isnt an official soldier, so its probably the private army. Like mercenaries? Jiang Xiaotian asked in a thoughtful tone of voice, Even if you are only responsible for guarding the outside, you still need people on the inside. This is even more the case if we take into ount the missing people mentioned in the letter. You cant possibly keep asking researchers to be the ones to abduct people, so if this wasnt done by the military, then it has to be done by the private army owned by the MORC. Letter? ckie stared at Jiang Xiaotian nkly. He was right. The letter left behind by Dg did mention the mysterious disappearances among the people entering the refugee zone. Did they turn into the experiments? Just seeing the news about Junjun was a huge shock, and the only thing on my mind at the time was my worry about my Xiomi. So the fact that other people had gone missing hadpletely gone over my head. Shuyu, we should hurry. Prepare yourself forbat. Jiang Xiaotian frowned and said, It might not be safe in the control center. I nodded and armed myself with the samebination of a handgun in one hand and an ice dagger in the other. But what I really wanted was my ice stave, even if it didnt have a spear head. Perhaps Xiaotians worries were correct. I didnt even have a convenient weapon at hand, so perhaps I was being a bit unrealistic in thinking that I could go toe-to-toe with arge group of experiments. The three of us picked up our pace. We didnt see any irregrities along the way, and finally our footsteps brought us to arge, transparent corridor with ss walls on either side. Of course, most of the corridor was missing the sheets of ss, and the only things left of them were the shattered shards littering the floor. This was theb. Id wanted toe here from the very beginning but gave up on it after hearing the gunshots. But as it turned out, we needed to pass through this ce on the way to the control center anyway. Even though we needed to leave ASAP, we unconsciously slowed our steps. The sight before us was just too shocking. Although wed seen countless scenes of human experiments in movies, it was apletely different experience when you were actually stepping into a ce like this. The most unbearable thing wasnt the sight, but the smell. The intense smell of disinfectant made me want to rip off my nose, but it still wasnt enough to mask the metallic tang of blood. The smells of fresh and rotting blood had mixed together, and the putrid mix of all these stenches was just absolutely indescribable. Next was the sound. As we stepped on the ss and jumble of liquids, the crunching reverberated through the silentboratory. It felt like we were going to draw the attention of something at any moment, and as much as we wanted to stop, we had no choice but to forge on. Last but not least was the sight. This ce was brighter than the corridor just now. It was originally probably as bright as day, but with half the lights smashed and some of the remainder shing on and off, the flickering between light and dark was enough to drive one crazy with the fear that the next time the lights came back on, something would appear where there was nothing before. Corpses were everywhere. Most of them could only count as pieces of corpses, scattered everywhere across the table, the floor, and even draped on various pieces of equipment. We had everything from severed limbs, to skeletons, to organs. Large quantities of blood had been sprayed against the wall as well, turning the originally pristine, snow white surface into a bloody mess of graffiti. ckie couldnt help but p a hand to his mouth at the surrounding scene. He didnt dare to say a word. Then again, if he breathed in the air in here while opening his mouth to say something, the soldier just might dash off to find a corner to vomit into. But Guan Weijun had lived for over a decade in the apocalypse. No amount of corpses in any shape or form could scare me. Except for those in the ss cylinders. All the surrounding individual testbs had lots of transparent ss cylinders. Each cylinder held a corpse, or at least what I thought was a corpse. Although they had lots of tubes connected to them, given that they hadnte crawling out already, they were probably dead. The corpses came in all shapes and sizes. Some had transparent skin and muscle, with veins and organs clearly visible underneath. Another corpse hadpletely turned into a mass of tentacles from head to toe, enough to outnumber the number of tentacles that any jellyfish or squid had any right to have. But the most disgusting corpse was one of a girl. She waspletely naked, with beautiful facial features and a fine body. Unfortunately, she had a few too many faces, with as many as thirty faces covering her body. ckie trembled as he said softly, W-what the fuck did they do? Sigh, they made the spectacle that you are seeing in front of you. I lowered my head and asked, Dg, are these aberrants? Although they looked disgusting, and they didnt look like they had evolved properly, you could link just about every one of them to a simr aberrant. For example, the transparent guy would eventually bepletely transparent, and could even change shapes, and would specialize in engulfing its prey to dissolve and digest. Furthermore, it wasnt a picky eater and wouldnt turn its nose up at eating even car tires. An originally terrifying species, but perhaps because their brains became transparent, whatever wits they had also vanished. And when you tagged on the fact that they ate anything they came across, they simply wouldnt starve and didnt have to try hard to scavenge for food. So whether it was a human or an aberrant that got engulfed by one, you only had to struggle very hard to break free. Later on, some bored folks even started treating it like a pet. In any case, it ate whatever you fed it, making it easy to raise, and some people even started calling it sster. Jiang Xiaotian said tly, Dead humans be aberrants, so does it really matter whether theyre humans or aberrants? True. If you want an aberrant, all you have to do is kill a human. What do they want to achieve? I didnt understand. Arent there enough weird and strange aberrants already? Whats the point of creating even more weird and strange things? Jiang Xiaotian said frigidly, What I want to know is whether they made these before or after the 21st of June. A chill ran down my spine. This was very critical. Ab wasnt something you could just build off the cuff. If they werent originally doing experiments like this, where would they even find facilities like this, once the apocalypse arrived? Were those ss cylinders originally used for storing specimens? What about those tubes? Were they for making glow sticks? What are you talking about? ckie asked pitifully, I dont get what youre saying at all. D-do we still need to go to the control center? Just as I was about to reply, Of course, Jiang Xiaotian suddenly sprinted off, charging into one of the testbs. He then red at one of the ss cylinders. Or to be more precise, he red at the monitor above the cylinder. The cylinder had been broken and whatever had been in it was long gone. Dg, whats wrong? I ignored the startled ckie and walked in to join him. This testb wasrger than the others, and the equipment looked more sophisticated andplicated. It was probably the main testb. I was about to resume my questioning as I walked up to Jiang Xiaotians side, but instead, my heart leapt to my throat. That little face of his was twisted into a demonic mask of fury! Its him! he raged through grated teeth, Thirteen! I froze, instantly understanding who Jiang Xiaotian was talking about. Even if my memory for names was terrible, this name was one that struck fear in the heart of every Asian. The only Asian elite aberrant, he had a name that was not a nameThirteen. Thirteen hadmitted countless massacres in Asia, and he only ever targeted humans,pletely disregarding nts and animals. It was to the point where it was almost like he killed humans on sight. Even if his subordinates were so full that they couldnt fit in another mouthful, they still faithfully ughtered humans. No one knew why Thirteen hated humans so much All right, I think I might have found the answer today. If I had been caught and stuck in a ss cylinder to be an experiment, I probably would kill humans on sight once I got out as well. Jiang Xiaotian gazed at the monitor that was currently disying information about the experiment in the ss cylinder. The top left serial number was 013. So Thirteen was his experiment number? On the monitor was a long humanoid form, looking no different from an ordinary human being. He looked like a man of around thirty years old, but he had a tail that was as thick and scaly as a dinosaurs. It probably packed a punch and could be used as a weapon. Jiang Xiaotian gripped my arm and said, Shuyu, lets go! We have to find him! My face drained as white as a corpse on hearing that. Hey, hey, hey, Dg, thats the guy that made humanity skip the number thirteen when counting. Hes even scarier than the four of death or the 666 of Satan, and youre asking me to find him? Why? You can at least give an exnation of why youre sending someone off to his death, right? He killed my men! Jiang Xiaotian roared, Xiao Sha ran into him when he was taking the troop out with him, and all of them died! More than twenty good men eaten clean. We didnt even have enough parts to piece together one whole corpse. My mind nked. Xiao Sha died? The Xiao Sha here is still well and alive, Dg. My Xiao Shas dead! So he does know that this is a different world? I kept quiet. If Xiao Sha is already dead to Jiang Xiaotian, then what about Jiang Shuyu? No, rather, what about the entire Jiang family? Jiang Xiaotian was so outraged that he didnt notice his verbal slip. He stared at me, his eyes zing with anger, and said, Shuyu, all the twenty-odd crew of mine were eaten. Only Xiao Sha was left whole. He turned into an aberrant, and was shut in a cage by Thirteen as a pet. He wasnt even a subordinate, but a pet! No wonder Jiang Xiaotian went crazy when he saw Thirteen. Dg cared a great deal about his godly troop, and he was already being very rational by not charging into the aberrant camp to fight Thirteen to the death, having seen Xiao Sha reduced to a pet. Okay, kill Thirteen. I gave a simple nod of the head. I was already nning to duke it out, if not for Jiang Xiaotian stopping me earlier. And since he absolutely wanted me to fight now, then Id fight! Furthermore, far too many Asians had died at the hands of Thirteen in the apocalyptic world. If not for Thirteen and the aberrants he led, another hundred thousand people would still be living in Asia. And this number was a conservative estimate! In the other world, Thirteen had established the aberrant camp, and was so powerful that even though the Ice Emperor hated his guts, he had no way of getting revenge for Xiao Sha. The current Thirteen here wasnt an elite. Now that we had the opportunity, we had to kill him! Volume 3, 5: Those Numbers

Volume 3, Chapter 5: Those Numbers

Trantor: Elkin (proofread by EvlNabiki; C/E edited by lucathia) A-are you two crazy or something? What the hell are you talking about? ckie was so shaken that he could barely stammer out his words, and he stared at Jiang Xiaotian like he was staring at an aberrant. Pissed off by his expression, I said in icy tones, The worlds gone crazy anyway, so two more crazies dont make much difference. Off you go. You should count yourselves luckynot only will I actually do something to help you guys, Ill even take on the boss of the experiments. You guys only have to take care of his subordinates. Lucky you! ckies face didnt look like he felt lucky at all. Come to think about it, hes right. Maybe this entire troop is part of the Jiang family as well, with such misfortune that they have to confront the future elite of the aberrants? As I continued down the corridor, Ipressed a fewyers of ice onto a dagger. Although the iceyers were very thin, the dagger given by Jin Feng was way better than those wed picked up randomly at a weapons store. It seemed decently durable, and in any case, a dagger wasnt a blunt instrument and I wasnt stronger than an aberrant. Ultimately, my fighting style was to focus on attacking weaknesses. Jiang Xiaotian quickly scanned the monitors above all the ss cylinders. Lets see which subordinates came from here as well Ah, Asura, Thirteens most trusted war general. So he started following him from here. Hmph! This time, Ill make Thirteen have a taste of what its like, having one of your own men made into a pet! Dg, I have exactly zero interest in taking an aberrant in as a pet. Youre on your own if you get him! Fortunately, we reached the end of the long corridor of theboratory, and Jiang Xiaotian didnt say any other names. So only Asura? Jiang Xiaotian sunk into deep thought, then suddenly blurted, Shit, the crying baby sounds we heard at the start are probably from the Maternibaby. The aberrants really have seized control of the entire research center and are luring people in for the kill. What are these three aberrants unique characteristics? I asked calmly and was rewarded with an appreciative look from Jiang Xiaotian. In that instant, my self-confidence exploded and my chest swelled to the point of bing an A-cup. Asura is simply a war general. He wields dual swords and he can grow swords from all parts of his body. Thats pretty much a porcupine, not at all a simple war general, okay?! Thirteen is also a fighter. Its said that he doesnt have any weapons, and just uses his ws and tail. He even has hellfire and psychic abilities, but I dont know the details, since Ive never actually faced off with him before. As expected of an elitehis abilities varied across the different types to this extent. Are you sure hes not cheating?! As for the Maternibaby Jiang Xiaotian frowned as he said, Ive never heard anything about what her abilities were. I only know that she once went nuts and didnt differentiate between friend and foe, and demolished an entire city Shuyu. Hm? I was paying close attention to his words, and at the unexpected calling of my name, I almost couldnt quite catch up with the change in topic. Jiang Xiaotian ndly said, Go grab that person from behind that table. He pointed at one of therge tables in theboratory. There were arge number of carcassesid out on it and bones were scattered all over it as well. That table had probably transformed into a dining table at some point. Well, since Jiang Xiaotian said there was someone behind the table, there had to be someone! Just as I was able to go over to grab them, he had already shot to his feet by himself. He was covered in blood and flesh all over, but his movements were quick and werent ones that could be made by the heavily injured. It was probably someone elses blood he used to disguise himself to survive. He raised his hands high in surrender and said, H-how do you know about 013 and 042? And Maternibaby is probably 005? Thats made of two aberrantsafter a woman who was seven months pregnant died, both the mother and child turned into aberrants. Theyre simr to conjoined twins and are very unique. Damn, you sure remember your numbers! Probably because my expression betrayed my thoughts, the man exined without any prompting, 005 and 042 are very special and are the focus of our research, so everyone here knows about them. But 013 isnt? It felt off. After all, Thirteen was the one who was the most feared. The man exined patiently, Hes nothing special. At least before he started this whole incident, he was extremely calm, and the only evolution he underwent was body strengthening, that is, growing scales on some parts and a tail. There are lots of specimens like him in thisb. And as for whatever hellfire or psychic abilities, he doesnt have any of those. Here, he paused then chuckled wryly, Well, at least, he didnt demonstrate any of those abilities. The three of us stared at him, and he said embarrassedly, Im Wu Yaojin. A-are you the reinforcements here to rescue me? So you must be Professor Wu? ckie frowned as he looked him up and down, the look of disgust as clear as day on his face. Orders from above say that we absolutely must rescue a Professor Wu, but you look too young to be a professor. Are you really him? If youre asking it like that, of course hell say hes Professor Wu! Thats my g, but he was probably one of the first people killed by 013. He had always felt that something was off about this specimen, but no one listened. So he moved this experiment to his ownb. You guys must have passed by it on the wayits the one with the mostplete range of equipment. Wu Yaojin asked dejectedly, T-thebs not far from here, but I dont dare to go close. Did you guys see my g? Fine, Im vilifying good hearted people by assuming theyll do the same things as me. I held my head in my hands, wondering whether I was just assuming the worst about them, or whether these scientists had done so much research that they no longer had anymon sense? Id originally thought that this research centers scientists were all cruel and cold blooded, but now they seemed a bit stupid instead! I couldnt tell if he was so shocked that he hadnt recovered his wits, or if he really didck them to begin with. We only saw a pile of body parts, ckie said coolly. Evidently, he didnt have a shred of sympathy for the professor of thisb. Wu Yaojins face went ashen, and just as I was able to grow a seed of sympathy for him, he sighed, G had so much important research that wasing to fruition. I cant believe its all gone, just like that. These scientists probably have zero sense of familial love Sorry, did I say something odd again? Wu Yaojin saw that our expressions looked off, and exined, I have Aspergers syndrome, so I dont see a lot of things the same way as normal people do. Please understand. My face twitched. Shit, a what syndrome again? I dont understand Jiang Xiaotian asked impatiently, What exactly happened here? Wu Yaojin shook his head as he replied, I have no idea. There was a sudden howl, the rms went off, and the lights suddenly went out. They only came back on after a few minutes, and by then, the whole ce was going crazy. I crouched behind the table once I saw that things didnt look right, and I didnt dare to make a peep. My assistant was torn into pieces and thrown over to where I was, so I covered myself with his blood and flesh andy on the floor. I even kept a scalpel in my handif any experiment dared to eat me, Id immediately stab it into its heart. He gave a wryugh and said, Thats all I know. I dont know what actually happened, so I had to eavesdrop on you guys to find out that its the work of 005, 013, and 042. Honestly though, you guys might have gotten it wrong. 013 isnt that scaryif youve seen him before, youd understand. 013 is really quiet andpletely different from other experiments. Probably did that to lower your guard. Jiang Xiaotian didnt agree, and challenged him, Aberrants are like kids. Unless theyre nt-types, theres not a single one thats quiet. Thirteens silence is the real sign that somethings wrong. Body strengthening, and fire and psychic abilities. He already possessed such high intellect at the early stages of the apocalypse, and in the middle stages, he wiped out an entire continent and established himself in the aberrant metropolis. In theter stages of the apocalypse, he became an aberrant elite. Doesnt this sound like Thirteen is the main character of the story?! Are small potatoes like us really challenging the main character to a death match?! Aberrant? Wu Yaojin asked in confusion. Although it wasnt me who made the slip, Jiang Xiaotian had no desire to respond to his question. So I had no choice but to exin, Its the name of those monsters. Wu Yaojin nodded and said sorrowfully, Can you apany me to my gsb? I have his password, so as long as theputers still working, we can get hold of the full set of data of 005, 013, and 042. The three of them are really very unique. Itll be a real shame to lose that data. Jiang Xiaotian narrowed his eyes dangerously. I couldnt tell if he wanted to go back to take a look, or if he wanted to slice and dice the bastard who created something as dangerous as Thirteen and feed him to aberrants. In the end, he just grated one word: Go. Originally, Id wanted to say that further dys would put the lives of the soldiers in danger, but on second thought, if we didnt deal with those numbered aberrants, everyones lives would still be in jeopardy. So we were better off figuring out their abilities, which would greatly help with the uing battle. We headed back to thatrge researchboratory. Wu Yaojin looked around but didnt see any signs of his brotheror perhaps he couldnt tell which pile was his brother. His face was pale and twisted in pain, so it did seem like there were some familial feelings left, and he hadnt turnedpletely unfeeling due to that whatever syndrome thing. Get that information out now! Jiang Xiaotian snapped irritably, his temper as ck as ckies. Both the adult and the kid red at Wu Yaojin, and it was a miracle that they hadnt started threatening him with guns. Wu Yaojin stared at Jiang Xiaotian and asked curiously, So the potential you uncovered was intelligence? Potential he uncovered? I stilled. Could he mean ability? Jiang Xiaotian said with narrowed eyes, Yeah, and you? Wu Yaojin smiled as he waved a hand. Although he didnt touch anything, all the litter on the table was swept off. Then, he dropped his hands and said, Thats all I can do. My record is moving only one kilogram, and I can only do that if I concentrate my entire mind on it. And after moving it, I feel more tired than if I had run five kilometers. This power of mine is nothingpared to those experiments. I hesitated and ended up not asking if he knew about the crystals. The fact that he had appeared here of all ces was still a bit strange, and he was reacting far too calmly. I need to keep my eye on him for a bit longer. Wu Yaojin started operating theputer and really was able to generate the files on the three aberrants, and the information was now disyed in all its glory before our eyes. 005, the Maternibaby that Jiang Xiaotian had been talking about, looked horrific. Even after living for ten years into the apocalypse, I still got the chills looking at her. Her expression was one of sorrow and tearsthe corners of her eyes and mouth turned exaggeratedly downwards, the snapshot of the moment a mother lost her child. Except that it was frozen into permanence on her face. Her stomach was frighteninglyrge, to the point where her limbs looked spindly inparison. If I had to describe it, it was like seeing a meatball with four toothpicks sticking out of it. What was most terrifying, however, was the jagged, saw-like line that ran between the meatball. It looked like it could open up. To the side, there was even a picture of a scan, showing that inside the stomach was a cluster of baby hands and legs. But because the meatball had never opened up, no one knew how they moved. 042, Asura looked like a tall, slender man, but a quick glimpse at the height data said otherwise. Yup, he was 2.9 meters tall. He wasnt skinny at all; his entire body was covered with ayer of muscle, except his height made him look like a stretched paper man. But this was all a lie! 013, Thirteen,pared to the previous two, seemed perfectly normal. He looked like a man of around thirty, and he looked very gentle and elegant. However, his face was sheet white and there was exhaustion etched deep between his browshe was the perfect picture of an office worker who had worked way too many hours of overtime, except for the fact that his finger tips ended in ws, he had a tail, and he had some scales on his body. No wonder Wu Yaojin said he was very ordinary and wasnt the focus of their research. So this is the guy wholl butcher all of Asia Oh wait, in this life, its Meisia. This overworked office guy will one day decimate the whole of Meisia and be the man-ughtering aberrant elite? Even if you cant judge someone by their looks, surely you dont have to take it to this extreme? This data was frankly useless. Frowning, I said, Pull out info on their abilities, particrly their fighting capabilities. But Wu Yaojins response was, We only have this type of information for Asura. Hisbat skills are just like this child said. He can grow spikes all over his body, which are the swords you were talking about. Maternibaby is as immature as a baby and doesnt understand speech, not to mention she throws fits every so often. So theres no way to get her to obey something asplex as fight. As for Thirteen, he wasnt even meant to be in our research center. He was only transferred here because another city had fallen, and the research center there was abandoned. How did you transfer him? I found this all unbelievable. It must take considerable effort transferring between research centers, and there was no way you could sneak around the same way as if you were traveling by yourself. Just how many people did they have to mobilize to enable this transfer? Suddenly, I remembered that the soldiers had mentioned that they only had to drive the vehicles provided by the research center and aberrants would keep away. I asked quickly, How do you keep the aberrants from approaching? With Maternibaby. Most experiments refuse to be anywhere close to her, and even the smell she leaves behind has this effect for a short period of time. Before sending the army into the city, we would make Maternibaby sit on the vehicle for a day, then let the army drive the vehicle away. When did this research start? Jiang Xiaotian asked in icy tones. Wu Yaojin responded with surprise, Of course after June twenty first. Where on earth would we even get these experiments beforehand? I hmphed coldly, So what, are you going to tell me those ss cylinders were used for making pickles? We were originally conducting human experiments, but they Wu Yaojin stopped abruptly, before resuming somewhat bashfully, They were illegal human cloning experiments, but they had been unsessful. After the ck fog, we lost quite a few research centers. Our superiors spent a few months rescuing what they could and patching things together, and we were only able to resume research recently. Our research focus has also switched from human cloning to experimenting on the mutations. A lot of these experiments were originally employees of our research centers. I immediately retorted, Bullshit. A lot of peopleing into the military zone vanishisnt that the work of you guys? Who else could it be? Wu Yaojin frowned as he said, Really? I never heard about this. Of course you know. Jiang Xiaotian said coldly, Or has the thought never urred to you brilliant researchers about how the research center feeds so many experiments? My mind went nk. I finally realized that the reason they were catching people from outside wasnt for research, but to be used as food! Aberrants were able to evolve by eating any flesh of the non-mutated. In order to trigger their evolution, the research center absolutely needed to feed them this food. Butpared to the increasingly dangerous nts and animals out there, therge crowd of humans outside presented themselves as the most convenient food source. This time, Wu Yaojin neither affirmed nor refuted his words. ckie rushed forward to grab Wu Yaojins cor and raged, So many have died already, and you bastards are still feeding people to monsters? Are you fucking mental?! Wu Yaojin sighed and said, If we dont do this, how can we obtain a better understanding about these experiments? Dont you want to know why people will turn into these monsters? Or whether we can reawaken the minds of the people who were transformed into monsters by the ck fog? If we know this, wont we have solved this apocalypse? ckie froze. I was equally surprised. Can we really reawaken the human consciousness of those man-eating aberrants? Weve already made progress. A lot of them are slowly developing intelligence, and some even have memories of the past. If we continue experimenting, they might even regain their senses! ckie opened and shut his mouth over and over, but didnt make any sounds as he vacited. Ipletely understood his feelingsperhaps from an emotional standpoint, feeding humans to aberrants was very cruel, but from a rational point of view, we knew all too well that there was no humane way of finding out how to end this apocalypse. Theyre not who they used to be! Jiang Xiaotian suddenly burst in with an angry growl, Absolutely not! The memories you are talking about are just impressions left in the brain. Yes, some aberrants will be able to recall those memories, but theyre no longer the humans they used to be! Humans only turn into aberrants after they die, so since they died, how can they possibly be the same person?! Wu Yaojin retorted uprehendingly, If they have the memories, why arent they the same person? An ego is formed by experiences. This guy really must have that ass-whatever syndrome. How else do you have the balls to continue speaking like that when someones holding onto your cor? There was something wrong with this guy, but the same could be said about Jiang Xiaotian. He was too agitatedit was painful seeing that little face twisted by rage and the two little fists gripped until the knuckles turned white. It was like if Wu Yaojin continued insisting that aberrants could turn back into humans, he would turn him into an aberrant with his own two hands, to see if he could then turn back human again. The potential you have expressed doesnt seem like its intelligence. Wu Yaojin stared at Jiang Xiaotian with an expression of interest of all things. And as usual, he continued to pay attention to the wrong thing. I hugged Jiang Xiaotian. His body was as stiff as a rock. Hey, lets cut the chatter already. Do you have the data or not? I spoke in a cajoling manner, ckie, let go of this guy. We need to get going. Otherwise, were gonna be helping you pack your buddies into body bags. ckie immediately released him. Wu Yaojin breathed a sigh of relief, quickly worked theputer, pulled out a sh drive, then dered, Done. Lets go. I lifted Jiang Xiaotian to my chest and walked out of the researchboratory. This time, I walked much faster, disregarding whether the two were able to catch up to me. Yup, I wanted to put some distance between us. I said quietly, Dg, dont believe him. Theres no fucking way aberrants can recover their minds! The little body in my embrace finally rxed a little, but he mumbled unhappily, But some aberrants do remember fragmented memories from when they were human. So what? Theyre just using human brains and human bodies, like a thief invading someone elses house. Just because they can describe whats in the house doesnt mean the house is theirs! Here, I came to a stop. Yes, even if I dreamed back all my memories, am I really Jiang Shuyu? No, I cant afford to get confused! But Shuyu? Jiang Xiaotian lifted his small face to look at me, and asked, Whats wrong? I looked down at Jiang Xiaotian and strained a smile. Nothing. You know me. I lost my memories and lived ten years in the apocalypse as another person, so I get a bit confused every so often. Jiang Xiaotian stared at me silently, making me bemused, then scared. I remembered that he often mentioned that I didnt act like Shuyu In the end, he patted my shoulder and said, Dont dwell on it. Whats most important now is to deal with Thirteen, once and for all. Put me down, or you might not be able to react in time if something sudden happens. I quickly went okay and put him down. The two behind us caught up, panting and wheezing. ckie even said irritably, You wanna ditch us? I replied in annoyance, If I wanted to ditch you guys, you wouldnt be standing here and talking to me now. ckie looked a bit stung by my words. Everyone remained in a bad mood for the rest of the journey andpsed into a heavy silence as we progressed forward. The closer we got to the control center, the more corpses littered the floor. Aside from soldiers from the research centers private army, ckie recognized some of his own. Although they had all been gnawed on, he was able to identify them just from the clothing and equipment. His eyes turned red, and he had long disregarded the fact that Jiang Xiaotian and I were crazy or something, since he was almost halfway there himself. ckie gave a soft ah, then murmured in a choked voice, Fatty, why you too I looked over. A corpse was lying against the wallit was that rotund and smiley guy who had told me to call him Fatty-gexcept hed already been devoured to the bone and was no longer fat anymore. But for some reason, half his face was left, making it easy to identify who he was. ckie started crying at the sight of his brother-in-arms remains. He didnt start wailing, but released a few very suppressed sobs, which at the same time made the scene all the more heart-breaking. I didnt know what to do. Should I say a few words offort? At this moment, the childs voice of Jiang Xiaotian rang out. Hurry up. You still have many more brothers waiting for your rescue. The Lieutenant, Ah Nuo, Old Guo, and Ah Qingtheyre still waiting for us. We dont have time to cry now. ckie wiped his face and his tears were no more, but his eyes became even redder. Youre right. Lets go. Rather than consoling him, why not give him an even more important goal? I gazed at Jiang Xiaotian with admiration. As expected of the boss of a mercenary troop. There was much for me to learn, but I wasnt too worried about it. With two Dgs, wasnt there plenty to learn from? ckies memory proved to be quite impressive. Just a few nces at the map just now were enough for him to confidently guide us to the control center. He never once hesitated about the route. He was a talent for sure, but unfortunately he seemed quite content to follow the Lieutenant. It might be hard to take him with me Okay, how on earth did I turn into a pervert uncle who wants to kidnap people on sight? Shaking my head, I split my concentration between walking, keeping an eye on the surroundings, and continuing topress ice onto the dagger. After rising to tier two, I didnt feel much in the way of change, but it was certainly easier topress the ice crystals now. My body felt lighter and stronger too. As I recalled, after Guan Weijun rose to tier two, she wasnt particrly happy or excited. At the time, tiers and the like hadnt been established, so she only felt that her vision and her physical capabilities had improved a bit, and was grateful that she could now spot aberrants from far away and make a speedy escape. Thinking back to my cowardice in my previous life, where I only got stronger so I could run away fasterthis was all just five months ago. I think Ive changed a lot now? Come to think of it, I really have changed a lot. In a short span of time, Ive turned from the hunted to the hunter. Is it really okay to undergo such a dramatic change? Is it my death thatpletely transformed my thinking, or am I being influenced by the echoes left by Jiang Shuyu? As I dreamed back more and more memories, I was bing increasingly confused about who I was. Although I hoped more than anything that I was Jiang Shuyu, returning to the early stages of the apocalypse with my memories of my previous life reying one after another, only now did I realize that Guan Weijun, who had always prioritized fleeing, who I had thought to be weak, had actually done a lot of things. There had been many people behind hereven that boyfriend and that crowd of mistresses had stood behind me. That was definitely a sort of aplishment! Your ice dagger is going to turn into an ice stick soon if you dont start topress it into diamond ice? I snapped out of my reverie and discovered that Jiang Xiaotian was frowning at my hand. I looked downokay, he was being polite when he said its an ice stick. Its practically a lump of ice frozen to my hand Wait a sec, did Xiaotian just say diamond ice? So the name ofpressed ice really is diamond ice! Fine, Xia Zhengu does get things spot on every once in a while, or maybe I just dont get guy speak? Id thought that only women love diamonds, but it seems men are just the same! As Ipressed the ice crystals, flicking aside excessyers of ice, I listened to Jiang Xiaotian start lecturing the ss on how to make a weapon. You arentpressing it enough. You need to do it at least another three times. If you are able to, five times more is even better. I almost wanted to burst into tears on hearing that. Seems like I really have to keep working on making a weapon until ten years into the apocalypse. Dg, how long did you have to work on your ice long sword for? Actually, Im pretty sure the one time I saw you using that weapon, you had only just finished making it, right?! In the future, you need to make a divine weapon out of pure diamond ice. You cant freeze a regr weapon. Itll just make the weapon brittle. Dont I know it? Even a bird was able to bust it. I said a little dejectedly, I know. I wanted to make a spear and a dagger, and Id originally made some basic ice weapons using a stick and a dagger as a base. Id originally thought theydst me a year or two so Id have time to slowly craft my weapon, but both of them were destroyed when I was fighting against the carrion-bloom birds. A spear and a dagger? Jiang Xiaotian nodded as he said, Good choice. You are fast and nimble. Those weapons suit you. So these ckie hesitated before asking tentatively, Abilities of yours? Do you use that word like that? Yup. Whats your special ability? I felt it was probably good to ask him. Even though he hasnt undergone training or eaten any crystals, so his ability is probably useless, theres always a chance that its a unique power? ckie hesitated again before replying, If I concentrate, I can see through some things. Um, I dont really see through them. Its more like I somehow get a sense of whats going on inside stuff. Its pretty handy for finding my way and fixing machinery. So I can tell where the problem is without opening up the machine. Thing is, I cant use it all the time. At most, I canst ten seconds or so. Take him with us! I became extremely excited. No wonder he was able to fix theputer so quickly when we were in the hall just now, and he was able to find his way around so quickly. If he had trained this ability, he could probably cover the whole of the research facility. And if we paired him up with Aunties ability to sense living thingsdamn, things like having to storm fortified facilities are things of the past. All we have to do is walk right in and walk straight out again. We wouldnt get attacked by any enemies! Jiang Xiaotian also looked ckie up and down a fair bit, giving him the creeps. I got it. Wu Yaojin suddenly spoke up, This child knows whats going to happen in the future, right? So this is a kind of a special ability as well? So there are powers like these as well. They really are much more useful than mine. Oops, did we get a bit too over-excited? Wed been bbering non-stop in front of these two. Id originally thought to hide the crystals from them to avoid exposing too much information, but now they even knew what weapons I used. I nced at Jiang Xiaotian. He didnt seem to care the slightest. As expected of the Ice Emperor, he couldnt care less about small fry like them. Just as I thought that, Jiang Xiaotian flicked a gaze up at Wu Yaojin, his expression cool and his eyes even colderhe didnt have any intention of replying to him. Oh, is he nning to kill one and take the other? This is a perfect n! Im blown away! Wu Yaojin, on the other hand, wasnt fazed by Jiang Xiaotians coldness. He examined the child closely, almost as if he was an excellent specimen. The way he looked at him ticked me off. We were probably better off killing folks who didnt think of people as people. What was more, these scientists had created the aberrant elite, Thirteen, resulting in hundreds of thousands of deaths. Even if we revived them and killed them a thousand times over, it wouldnt be enough to repay their crimes to humanity. I rubbed Jiang Xiaotians head, as a reminder to keep the fact that he wanted to murder the guy a secret! Dg, youre too used to showing off your might. If the Ice Emperor wanted to kill someone, that person would probablymit suicide first. And even if he didntmit suicide, there would be a whole crowd of people falling over themselves to help kill him, which meant the Ice Emperor pretty much never needed to take matters into his own hands. So it was only natural for him to never hide his intentions. Ugh Suddenly, we heard a voiceing from the corner. I immediately raised my gun and dagger, whereas ckie dashed over and pulled up a person from the pile of minced meat and bloodhe actually looked whole. Ah Qing! ckie yelled, Wake up, Ah Qing! I took a closer look. That blood-drenched guy really was Chen Yanqing. I quickly put away my weapons and moved in to check his injuries, only to be astounded. His injuries werent too bad. Of course, it was hard to avoid bruises and scratches all over, and he might even have a fracture or two. Still, he was way more fortunate than the poor piles of flesh to the side. So enviable! He had been sprawled against the wall, covered in bits of flesh and blood. He had probably been hit and had passed out after smacking into the wall, where he was then camouged by the following shower of blood and flesh by hisrades. He had pretty much survived the same way as Wu Yaojin had, except that one had actively chosen this survival method, while the other had had it bestowed upon him by the will of the heavens. Chen Yanqing lifted his head, and just as I was able to ask where he was hurting, a savage look suddenly entered his eyes, and he let out a blood curdling roar, like a dying beast mustering thest of its strength to rage in anger AHHHHHHH He lifted his gun and pointed the pitch-ck muzzle at my forehead. Volume 3, 6: The Control Room

Volume 3, Chapter 6: The Control Room

Trantor: Elkin (proofread by Trespasserby; C/E edited by lucathia) Bang bang bang! I pushed the muzzle away with a hand. My devoted servant really did fire on meif I had been just the slightest bit slower, the bullets would have lodged themselves in my brain, not even giving me the chance to turn into an aberrant! Almost dying in the most random manner pissed me off to no end. I threw a punch at him, then started pping his face non-stop! ckie originally moved to stop me, but when he saw that I was just pping him, he fell into an awkward silence. After a dozen consecutive ps, I finally stopped when Id pped the wits out of him. I raged, Wake up, Chen Yanqing! You bastard! How the hell are you gonna make it up to me if you damage this precious face of mine?! In that moment, everyone turned their eyes onto the precious face. Chen Yanqing was also staring at the precious face in a daze. Suddenly, he snapped out of it and shouted, Xiao Yu? Why are you here? Did you get caught? I immediately grabbed his head in one hand, hauled him up, and even started radiating icy energies. I growled, Caught, my ass! Is this cold enough to wake you up?! Then, I threw Chen Yanqing onto the floor. He spat out one mouthful of ice, then another, wiped his face, and said, I feel like Im still dreaming. That was what he was saying, but he looked fully awake. What about the others? Quick, tell me everything thats happened since you guys came in here, or yourrades are all gonna die! Chen Yanqing nced at ckie, but he didnt ask any questions and just told us outright, We split into two groups for the rescue. Ah Nuo was the leader taking us to the control center, while the Lieutenant and Guo Hong went the other way. But we kept meeting monsters along the way and a lot of us got injured or died. We wanted to turn back, but they cut off our retreat route, so we had no choice but to press forward. By the time we got here, we were down to half our men. Before I passed out, Ah Nuo was still alive, but I dont know what happened after that. He had exined it quite clearly. No wonder ckie said even Ah Qing will dohe was able to stay calm despite being covered in hisrades blood and flesh, and being afflicted with red eyes, shaking hands, and even frozen ends of his hair. Id underestimated him. From the sounds of it, Thirteen has probably taken over the control center. Jiang Xiaotian frowned as he said, We didnt encounter any aberrants along the way, so they probably want us to walk straight into their jaws. Theyre that intelligent? This was surprising. How could aberrants in this era be so smart? What the hell did the MORC do?! I asked quickly, Ah Qing, did you encounter any aberrants who could speak? Ah Qing shook his head. Nope, they didnt look too different from the monsters outside. They jump at us the moment they see us like were food, unless we use heavy firepower to force them back. But there must be some monster at the topmanding them. When theyunched a coordinated attack, Ah Nuo sensed that there was something wrong and wanted to retreat and regroup with the Lieutenant. But by then, it was toote. All our routes of retreat had been blocked off. Theres no way this would have happened without a leader. I had an idea of what was going on. The experiments had probably evolved a bit faster than regr aberrants and had not recovered their minds. What kind of human mind would gobble up other humans as food?! But Thirteen was an exceptionleadership didnt just require intelligence but also experience. So perhaps he really did possess a humans mind, but the research center hadnt treated him as anything special. He was probably a unique case rather than the MORC having found a way to let the aberrants regain their minds. ckie asked uneasily, Ah Qing, should we go find Ah Nuo or go back for the Lieutenant? Chen Yanqing asked, How long has it been since we came in as reinforcements? ckie nced at his watch and immediately reported, Forty minutes. Just forty minutes A look of pain shed across Chen Yanqings face, but he shook his head and calmed himself down before speaking anxiously, We arrived here at approximately the twenty-five minute mark. At the time, Ah Nuo was leading the team at full speed to break through. I was watching the back, and I was sent flying and knocked out before I even noticed the attack. Not much time has passed since, so we still have a chance of catching up to the team! Hearing that, I looked down at Jiang Xiaotian. He had just been moring to go to the control center to kill Thirteen, so if Ah Qing was proposing to go after Ah Nuos team, Jiang Xiaotian might object. Jiang Xiaotian spoke coolly, If Thirteen was in the control center and he couldmand the aberrants, do you think we have a choice in where to go? Everyones expressions drained. I shook my head, saying, Maybe we do, since Thirteen might not care where were heading. There are just a handful of us here, so were too fewpared to the other teams. If you had the choice to dig into prime rib, would you even care about a little bit of spaghetti mince? This wasnt yet the time when the elites could take on ten thousand enemies by themselves. Right now, fights were still determined by numbers and firepower, so Thirteens human mind probably wouldnt consider us to be strong. Sigh, though I probably really wasnt as strong as the toon led by the Lieutenant, so he wasnt exactly wrong. Jiang Xiaotian pondered for a moment then nodded and said, Youre probably right. At the early stages of the apocalypse, if I spotted arge group of aberrants, I probably would ignore the few that were scattered around. Numbers are more important than individual ability right now. Dg, please dontpare humans and aberrants! You? Chen Yanqing stared at Jiang Xiaotian and me in bewilderment. Lead the way. I said calmly, Lets catch up to Ah Nuos team. He seemed to find the situation highly suspect, but he still swallowed back his suspicions and gestured in a direction with his gun, saying, This way. Then, he quickly walked to the front and ordered without turning his head, ckie, you take the rear guard. You must pay close attention. Ill take the back, I immediately cut in. If ckie were at the very back, not only would he fail to give us any warning, we might lose him without noticing. At that, Chen Yanqing stopped abruptly and turned to look at me. ckie hastily exined, Xiao Yus very strong. Hes got good marksmanship, good moves, and a weird ice ability. He was the one who saved us out there. Chen Yanqing hesitated before nodding and continuing to lead the way. His EQ really was quite extraordinaryelite troops really were apletely different animal from the leftover soldiers. We quick marched some distanceChen Yanqing was going very fast, probably due to his concern for the safety of his brothers. The exception was when we encountered the asional turn in the path or a half ruined room, which forced him to stop to do a quick check for any dangers before continuing. That Wu Yaojin probably wouldnt be able to catch up with us at this pace. On the way, we spotted quite a number of corpses that were missing parts again. Although Ah Nuos team looked to be in an exceedingly bad situation, making the two soldiersplexions grow worse and worse, we thankfully didnt see Ah Nuo at all. If not, these two would probably fall into pieces and not be able to push on anymore. ckies expression suddenly changed, and he shouted, Ah Qing, if we go any further, then well pass through the control center. Why would you guys pick this route? We didnt have a choice! Chen Yanqing raged, They were chasing us from behind, so we had to press on even if it was a trap! I nced at Jiang Xiaotian. No wonder he hadnt objected to following Ah Nuohe had probably known this from the start. Turning the corner, we would be about to arrive at the control center. Chen Yanqing came to an abrupt halt, his expression a mixture of anger and anxiety. Then, after taking in a deep breath, he looked at ckie and asked, Are you ready? Instead, ckie looked at me. It was only when I nodded at him that he responded, Yes. Chen Yanqing looked at Jiang Xiaotian. His face twitched and he gave in, saying, Then prepare yourselves for all possibilities. He lifted his gun and turned sharply, but in the next moment, he recoiled and fell back a huge distance, smacking face first into the ground. I rushed forward, pushing aside the shocked ckie, to see on Chen Yanqings face arge spider? On first nce, it looked like a spider, but on closer inspection, I noticed that the round body was glistening and full of fluids. It looked more like a marine creature,rge enough to cover his face, and two long, slender tentacles were firmly locked around the back of his head. No matter how much Chen Yangqing wed at it, he couldnt get it off. I quickly knelt down, wanting to help, but the moment I touched Chen Yanqing, he started, sat up, and scrambled backwards desperately. Dont move, its me. He seemed like he was still able to hear, and he no longer moved back. Although he was twitching like crazy, he tried his best to keep still. I grabbed at the thing with my hand, but I couldnt get a grip on the slick, slimy surface. Its many legs made it look like a spider, but its skin was like a marine creatures. Fire was probably a pretty good choice against it, but the slightest slip up and Chen Yanqing would never be able to show his face to the public again. Hang on, it might be a bit cold. I cautiously froze that monstrous thing and knocked off those long tentacles first. Just as I was about to take a closer look at the gap between the thing and Chen Yanqings face to avoid ripping off his skin along with it, he couldnt wait any longer. He tore the thing off, spat out something long and soft, took a deep breath, and then started throwing up. It really is a spider. I inspected the thing. It was probably a spider-based aberrant, except its skin seemed closer to a marine animals like a sea cucumber. If an average person got tangled up with this thing on their faces, they were probably a goner. Judging from Chen Yanqings expression, I could tell he was being suffocated just now. The time frame for saving someone like that was just a few minutes, but this thing was wrapped very tightly around his head and the tentacles were pretty tough as well. So if you had to get it off within a few minutes, you had to already be lying down on a surgery table, or happen to have a tier two ice user next to you. Damn, Chen Yanqing, youre a helluva lucky guy! S-save them, quick Chen Yanqing was coughing so hard that his face had turned red, but he still forced himself to gesture at the bend in the corridor. I balked and quickly turned the corner. Before my eyes was a scene of whitenessthe entire corridor was covered in wet and slippery spider webs. Many soldiers were trapped by the white threads, strung up in mid-air and immobilized. Every single one of them had a mollusk spider on their face. Give up on those who arent moving anymore, those whose limbs are still twitching take second priority, and target those who struggle the most first. I reached out to grab a spider, froze it, then yanked the whole thing off. I quickly pulled them off one after the other, and I ended up plucking off the ones even from the guys who werent moving at all, in hopes that they could still be revived ckie, Ah Qing, help After plucking the eighth one, I looked back to see the blue and purple faces of the soldiers. The ones who had been twitching had probably moved as a result of the spiders on their faces rather than their own volition. But I remembered there was one that had been struggling hard Looking over them, I didnt see a single living person, and I doubted my memory for a moment. ckie and Chen Yanqings faces had turned sheet white as they gazed at theirrades who had met an unnatural end to life hanging in mid-air. This was obviously too much for them and they stood there in a daze, staring at theirrades who had died tragically. I scanned over the bodies but didnt see Ah Nuo. Obviously not everyone was here, which was a good thing. As long as there were people to save, Chen Yanqing and ckie would be able to get a grip on themselves. Before I could speak, Chen Yanqing suddenly rushed up and said anxiously, Xiao Yu, help me take him down. He just movedI saw! Oh? The one who struggled the most? I looked over and nched. Ah Qing, run! The body behind him exploded, and sticky, smooth tentacles stretched out, about to wrap Chen Yangqing from head to toe. I hastily threw out two ice knives, using the freezing energy to stop that things movements for a moment, then gliding right to Chen Yanqing and dragging him to the ground. Having saved him, I swung upwards with all my strength and cut off one tentacle of the spider. This was rather surprisingId originally thought Id be able to cut through three with that force, but I ended up only cutting one. There was a slight sense of recoil as well, and if I hadnt frozen that bit of its flesh, I might even have failed to cut anything at all. Come to think of it, this thing wasnt just hard, it was toughmuch tougher than the spider that had covered peoples faces. In terms of height, this things body didnt reach a persons waist, but it was as long as a person was tall. The entire thing looked enormous, and I had no idea how on earth it had fit into a persons body just now. No wonder the body had twitched so violently. Shuyu, deal with it ASAP! Jiang Xiaotian hollered, Theres more iing! My heart chilled and I immediately stabbed a knife at the spiders head. At the same time, this fellows tentacle stabbed at my face, the slimy, soft tentacle moving so quickly that it whipped up a gustit was clearly not as harmless as it looked. Unfortunately for it, I grabbed onto the tentacle and foiled its attack. If it were someone else, they probably wouldnt have been able to stop it because it was too slippery, but freezing would turn even the slipperiest of things into a popsicle Wait, isnt the diameter and length just perfect? After stabbing the knife into the spiders brains, I leaped back, drawing on the tentacle in my hand until it was taut. Then, I turned my ice ability to the max, freezing it from the tentacle tip right to the body. Then, I moved forward and chopped it, creating one fine ice staff. One end was even sharp, so I could just about use it as an ice spear! Although I didnt have time to strengthen it with diamond ice, the spiders tentacle was originally hard and tough, and my ice powers helped to hold it in a staff shape, so it was passable as a weapon. The moment the ice spear was created, Jiang Xiaotians words came true. A huge bunch of spiders rained down from above, bothrge and small. I just barely caught sight of them before I heard the crack of gunfire. Chen Yanqing was shooting, firstly sweeping a hail of bullets across the ceiling, then once ckie snapped out of it and followed suit, he switched to targeted shooting, bullet by bullet. Amazingly, every bullet hit a spiders headat most, only two bullets were needed to burst apart a small spider. The big spiders, however, were much trickier to handle. Their tough head carapace served them well, making it hard for the bullets to prate. Most bullets were deflected, but toughness was easier for me to deal with than hardness. Right now, my ice spear and ice knives werent hard enough, so I couldnt go toe-to-toe with them on hardness. But if these bouncing spiders were frozen, they wouldnt be able to bounce now, would they? Just as I was able to start a massacre from the one closest to me, Jiang Xiaotians clear voice of a child said, Shuyu, freeze them all and let those two clean them up with their guns. Will it really work? Freezing a wide area wasnt a problem, but these werent pieces of sashimi, rather really robust aberrants. Freezing them right to the core wasnt easy. After a moments hesitation, I remembered that I had leveled up to tier two and I immediately wanted to try it out. Onerge spider leaped right before my eyes. I swung my staff at it, using plenty of force, and smashed it to one side. But it immediately got back up, not showing any signs of heavy damageit was evident that these types of attack were useless against it. I batted the big spider far away, retreated behind Chen Yanqing and ckie, and said, Keep shooting. I need a few seconds. Chen Yanqing replied, We cant hold them back for long. We dont have enough ammo. Most of the time he was point shooting, but when there were too many spiders swarming over at once, he would switch back to strafe fire. He was going through his ammo a bit slower than ckie, but still at a very quick rate. I passed the two guns from Jin Feng to Jiang Xiaotian to prevent him from being forced to use his abilities and getting himself sick again. As the sound of gunfire thundered around me, I gathered up my ice abilities. The air around me crackled. asionally, ice would crystallize out of nowhere and hang in the air, floating and trembling. At my feet, thinyers of ice started forming on the ground. There wasnt enough moisture here I froze suddenly. Moisture? Thats right, if theres no water, how can I create ice? If I can crystallize the water in the air, doesnt this mean I can control water? Shuyu, concentrate! Jiang Xiaotian shouted, firing at the same time. The sight of a small child wielding arge gun made one want to frown and pluck the gun from his hands. Not allowing my mind to wander, I tucked this thought at the back of my mind and focused on the extreme. This was much easier than I had expected, and if I hadnt spaced out, I would have gathered enough already. If I were more practiced, I wouldnt need to specially umte the power, but just use it directly. I-its cold ckie was shaking so badly that he couldnt speak properly. Xiao Yu, are you done? Chen Yanqings legs were quaking as he said, My hands are so cold that I wont be able to shoot soon. I took in a deep breath then said, Out of my way! The two of them immediately backed away on either side of me, breathing sighs of relief. But before they had finished exhaling, a st of icy air shot out from between them. Their breaths turned into puffs of whiteness, and they looked like they were somewhere in the middle of deep winter. Then again, this wasnt wrong. The entire corridor was freezing over. From the floor, it extended up the walls. The spiders didnt care about it at first, but as the icy air coiled around their tentacles, they started realizing that something was off. But by then, a few of them were already stuck fast to the ground and couldnt move, and for those that were able to jump into the air in time, the cold didnt let them go and followed after. At the end of this, the entire corridor had turned into an ice tunnel, frozen solid with many spiders. They almost looked like ice sculptures. I didnt think Id be able to pull it off so easilyor perhaps I really was stronger that Id thought I was? The two soldiers gaped at the scene in front of them and turned back to look at me, a hint of fear in their eyes. I said irritably, Why are you still looking at me? If you dont hurry up, well be in deep shit once they defrost. I cant pull this off again! This wasnt exactly trueI could probably do it at least one more time, but right now I needed to get rid of their fear of me first. As expected, the moment I said that, their terror of me subsided significantly. ckie in particr started staring at me with worshipful eyes, making me struggle to suppress the glee in my heart. I had to remember that Thirteen in this time period was already able to overturn a whole research center, so I had nothing to be proud of! Deal with therge ones first. Hit their headsdont waste your bullets doing strafing shots, use point shooting! ckie put on a mournful face as he said, Im not Ah Qing. Ill handle it. Chen Yanqing started point shooting without the slightest bit of hesitation, and every bullet of his hit its mark. His marksmanship really was quite something, so even if his special ability was terrible, I wouldnt miss out on taking him with me. I took back the guns from Jiang Xiaotians hands. Seeing how quickly Chen Yanqing was dealing with the spiders and how none of the spiders showed any sign of regaining their mobility any time soon, I didnt fire alongside him. The two guns from Jin Feng packed a punch and I didnt want to waste them. There was also a limited number of bullets in my backpackanyone would guess that these bullets had a trick or two added to them, so if we switched to normal bullets, the guns wouldnt be that powerful. In the worst case scenario, the guns wouldnt work once we changed bullets. Theyre all dead. Chen Yanqing turned to look at me. For some reason, he had a grim expression stretched across his face as he said, Can we go? Just as I was about to ask why he was making that face, I heard ckie yell, I-its fucking freezing! He hugged himself with both arms and chattered, Lets go to the control center, go find Ah Nuo, go find the Lieutenant, just go somewhere. Lets go. I-its too fucking cold here. So Chen Yanqings face wasnt grim, but just frozen. Lets go now. I nodded with some embarrassment. This was one of the weaknesses of ice abilitiesbefore everyone evolved to be tough enough, these low temperatures affected even my allies standing next to me. If it were just freezing a small area, it wasnt a big deal, but when I seal off arge area with ice like this, Chen Yanqing and ckie would probably get so cold that their trigger fingers would fall off. Lets go to the control center. It should be close by. Jiang Xiaotian looked over his shoulder and said, This guy should know. Go ask him. It was only then that I realized Wu Yaojin was behind us. He was staring at me with his eyes wide open and on the verge of sparkling. If he had the choice, I had no doubt that he would stick me in a ss cylinder and thoroughly research me. Seeing his expression pissed me off, and just as I was about to throw out a question in an icy tone and scare him while I was at it, his eyes widened even further, and he let out a scream. Gun shots and a loud roar rang out almost simultaneously. I looked back to see that the world had changedpletely. A single silhouette stood, proud and aloneit looked normal, and it was only after taking a closer look that youd notice that thick tail that trailed onto the floor, sweeping from one side to another every so often. It was standing on a person, and because that person was being pressed full-bodied against the icy floor, he was starting to freeze over. Even if he hadnt been crushed to death under that foot, just lying on this arctic coldness was enough to half-kill him. But the man didnt show the slightest sign of a struggle, so in all likelihood, he was already I swayed, not quite able to react to the scene before methen the memories of the apocalypse chose this moment toe rushing at me. Yes, this was how it was during the apocalypse. Human life waspletely worthlessa person who was talking and walking next to me one second would easily turn into a bloody corpse in the next, and their deaths would take all sorts of terrifying forms. So even if we were on the same team and relied on each other for survival, we didnt have much interest in each other and didnt even bother chatting much. Who knew whether theyd still be around after a nights rest? Not talking to them at all would at least spare me that little bit of pain. As the body count mounted, I had bepletely numb. Aside from the people close to me, the lives and deaths of other people didnt trigger much feeling in me anymore. Even if the people dearest to me died, Id often have to flee in a panic without even having the time to shed tears. By the time the fleeing was over, I didnt have the slightest bit of energy left in me to mourn. After all, I was already lucky to be alive. Yes, this was the apocalypse, where even grief was a luxury most couldnt afford. ckie! Chen Yanqing gave a heartbroken wail and sprayed bullets from his gun like they were free. But the opponent was ready for this and yanked down the frozen spider corpses stuck to the ceiling to block the bullets. In the next moment, arge number of aberrants dashed out from both sides of the opponentit was obvious that they were bullet-proof just by looking at their exteriors. To one side was the door to the control room. It had beenpletely covered by the spider webs, so we hadpletely failed to notice it, and that was probably intentional on the enemys part. Jiang Xiaotian yanked at Chen Yanqing as he retreated behind me. Although he looked like a three-year old kid, his strength was a different matter. Chen Yanqing was dragged effortlessly away by him as he went a little nuts. Being dragged like this, he fell onto his butt at my feet, causing the muzzle to arc upwards, all the while spitting out bullets. Chen Yanqing struggled to get back up but I held him down by pressing down on his shoulder. He lifted his eyes to re at me, his gaze as crazed as a beasts. I stared back at him steadily, not shying away from the eye contact. Then, I gripped his shoulder hard before giving him a pat. Chen Yanqings face copsed, his head dropped, and he choked softly. Thirteen, Jiang Xiaotian grated through ground teeth. Hearing this name, I couldnt help but give a sigh of admiration. This was a monumental moment in history where the human elite was going up against an aberrant elite. That said, one had reverted to childhood and looked like a three year-old, while the other had only just started evolving and currently looked like an overworked office worker. Honestly, neither of them felt awe-inspiring or intimidatingeven the big spiders looked scarier than them. The guy in front of us looked even more dubious than he had looked in the filed photo. Seriously, this is the aberrant elite that decimated an entire continent? Are you fucking kidding me? So it really was Thirteen? Wu Yaojin murmured, somewhat in disbelief. Right now, Ipletely understood where he wasing from. Thirteens appearance was simply too deceiving. You are Thirteen didnt move to attack and looked at the ice around us in confusion, then at me. He asked uprehendingly, Them? Us? He possessed an extremely high intellect, to the point of being able to speakalbeit he was notpletely normal. It was obvious that my ice abilities had befuddled him about whether I was friend or foe, but on this point, even humans would have their doubts. After all, we had a talking aberrant right in front of us, so it wouldnt be strange if people thought I was an aberrant as well. Right now, humans didnt know much about special abilities. Pretending to be one of these aberrants then attacking when they were unsuspecting was certainly a good way of going about things. Unfortunately, I had Chen Yanqing and Wu Yaojin next to me. I couldnt care less about thetter, but I was determined to keep the former! Looking away for a moment lost me ckie, so how could I possibly bear to lose Ah Qing as well? Right now, I wasnt the Guan Weijun who was used to death. Jiang Shuyu wouldnt ever want to get used to losing people close to him! Get off ckies body! I raged, Or else Im going to send you meet to your spider friends! Chen Yanqing stood up. The craziness had passed, reced by the searing fires of wrath. Thirteens expression darkened and he said coolly, Youre them. The moment he said that, two aberrants that looked like bears in armor opened their jaws, but instead let out sounds that did not sound the slightest bit bear-like. They sounded like a leaking balloon, except much louder, hurting my ears. Watch out, those two have very tough skins. Wu Yaojin whispered from behind, Even their eyelids are tough. They have nictitating membranes, which means their inner eyelid is translucent and they can keep them shut even inbat. Although theyre not as hard as the outer eyelid, they can block a bullet or two, no problem. The hell, is it possible to make something even more dangerous than them? Although these two looked like bears, on closer inspection, they had a human form. Their legs were too long and they spent more time standing on their feet than on all fours. They were probably aberrants transformed from humans rather than aberrants transformed from animals. If theyre weaponized down to their eyelids, how on earth am I supposed to defeat them?! Within this small window of opportunity, Id only had the time to secretlypress twoyers of diamond ice onto the spear. Trying to brute force my way through their defenses was impossible. If we dragged out the conversation, I might be able toyer on more diamond ice, but I simply couldnt take it when I saw him stepping on ckie! You goddamn motherfucker, how dare you continue to stand on him?! Im gonna cut off all two all three! of your legs and tail. Suddenly, I felt energy pulse next to me. I was so terrified that I whipped my head around, worried that Id lost Ah Qing without noticing. But I saw Chen Yanqings faceit was obvious that he had be so cold that hed turned blue. I pushed at him and said, Go to the back. Dont get so cold that you cant shoot. Chen Yanqing looked extremely unwilling, but when he heard cant shoot, he obediently retreated to Wu Yaojins side. That little rascal had backed away at least a dozen steps long ago. Having dealt with Chen Yanqing, I then shot a hard look at Jiang Xiaotian and told him sternly in a soft voice, Dont use your abilities! Layers of ice drifted around Jiang Xiaotians body as he emitted at least the same amount of energy as I was. This was what made Chen Yanqing so cold that he turned blue. Ill kill him! No wonder Jiang Xiaotian never even considered whether his younger brother could deal with Thirteen or whether it would be dangerous. Hed been nning to do it himself all along, to avenge Xiao Sha from the other world. It was clear that the Ice Emperor didnt care about his own bodys condition. I took in a deep breath. Let me do it. Volume 3, 7: Thirteen, Part One

Volume 3, Chapter 7: Thirteen, Part One

Trantor: Michimochi (proofread by EvlNabiki; C/E edited by lucathia; additional edits by Elkin) Jiang Xiaotian frowned and turned to look at me. With that expression on that little face, he was definitely going to say no. Give your little brother a chance to practice. I spoke first, If I fail, then you could pitch in. Wouldnt that be fine? Jiang Xiaotian hesitated for a moment at my proposal before nodding. Thirteen was watching us this entire time. Although the two armored bears were poised to fight, they didnt seem like they were about to attack. I think that Thirteen is interested in us and isnt in a hurry to make his move. This wasnt a good sign. Thirteen might have the leisure of observing his enemy precisely because it was a childs y to deal with us. Ah Nuo and the Lieutenants men probably werent in a good ce- or at least they didnt pose any threat to Thirteen. I only hope that they havent been wiped out. If the elite troops who had gone in first were annihted, then the reinforcements would probably follow them in death. Even if there were still soldiers outside, they were neither elite nor bold enough to enter as reinforcements. So whats there to expect from them? This shelters probably a goner. In the worst case scenario, it could even be the hunting ground for Thirteens aberrant underlings. I raised my ice spear, only having time to add oneyer of diamond ice. The outer eyelid might be imprable, but the inner eyelid was not. However, the opponent definitely knew this too. Itd be difficult to urately strike at this weakness. Directly freezing the two armored bears wasnt going to be as easy as sealing spiders with ice either. The two bears didnt seem fazed by the fact that they were currently standing on ice Wait a second, did Thirteen step on ckie because he cant handle the icy coldness from the floor? This was a real possibility. Although Thirteen couldnt possibly be weaker than the armored bears- in the world of aberrants, strength was respected, while intellect was as worthless as dirt. This was even truer in the beginning stages of the apocalypse. As such, intelligent aberrants that stayed alive were few and far between, and only the mightiest of aberrants couldy their hands on them Yes, even in theter stages, intelligent types were unable to rule and could only depend on fighters. One could only conquer through brute force. However, not all aberrants could resist the cold. What if I ignored the armored bears and directly attacked Thirteen? In any case, the opponent probably wouldnt sit back and watch the armored bears get killed. If I had to face all three opponents anyway, wouldnt it be better if I picked the target at the start and got rid of this bastard who was susceptible to the cold? Then, dealing with the armored bears wouldnt be a big deal anymore. As I was evaluating Thirteen and mulling over his possible weakness, waves of a womans mournful shrieks rang out. While the shrieks didnt sound close, they were actually able to prate through the walls of this research center, transmitting all the way here. They were closely followed by the sound of a babys thin, sharp cry. The two mixed together, making my hair stand on end. Could this be the crying baby that we heard in the beginning? Is it Maternibaby? I listenedit didnt sound normal, like it was a bit desperate. Maybe the other troops were in a better situation than I thought. Hopefully theyd finish off Maternibaby just like this. In theter stages of the apocalypse, killing one of Thirteens generals would make someone world famous! Thirteens face suddenly changed, his brows heavily scrunching together so much that even his brow ridge popped out. His expression had turned as merciless as a devils. What happened to being an office worker about to burst his liver doing overtime? His whole aura changed- it shot fear into a persons heart with just one look and no one would dare to look down on him. Despite the changes, he actually didnt pay any attention to me. He instead turned and walked in the other direction, and even the armored bears turned to follow. Thats fucking rude, yo! I didnt even have time to get angry before Jiang Xiaotian erupted in fury next to me. His little body shot forward, and he roared, FREEZE! Thirteen turned back, his ring eyes as big as tes. My mind suddenly went nk, and I could do nothing but stare into those pure ck spheres as deep as caves. Then, a sudden bolt of pain shot through my head that took the strength from my knees. I could do nothing but curl up, hugging my head to endure it. rg! Junjun? I turned to look at her. My tiny little sister is so cuteWrong! Im dreaming now, right? Did I just pass out again? Shit, whats happening out there? I need to hurry and wake up! rgs head is burning! Junjuns little hand covered my forehead, and she anxiously asked, Are you too hot? Do I have a fever? Stay away from me, or else youll get infected, I opened my mouth to say. My voice came out super hoarse. I seem pretty sick. No! Junjun stubbornly said, I want to stay by rgs side. Junjun, behave. rg is sick. What would we do if you got sick too? Junjun still didnt leave, instead pulling the mug on the bedside cab, and said, rg, do you want some water? I sighed and asked, What time is it right now? Ten oclock. Howe you havent gone to school? I frowned. Although my feverish head pounded like a drum, I could still recall that today wasnt the weekend. Not going! Junjun pouted, Usually, rg wakes me up. Today, I woke up on my own, and you still werent up. Lin-b said that youre sick. He wanted to take me to school and get the doctor on the way back. He said that he worries about leaving you at home by yourself, but he also didnt dare have me take a taxi to school alone. I just said I wont go to school so I could take care of rg. I had Lin-b call the school. There really werent enough people at home. To have Lin-b always busily running in and out was not going to work either. We should hire a maid paid by the hour, as long as shemutes instead of staying in our house. Then again, I didnt want to add another person to our household. I pondered over it for a while. But my head started pounding again and I decided not to think about it for now and leave it for when I got better, since there wasnt any rush. Taking the water that Junjun handed over, I drank a few sips that soothed my throat and filled me with pride. My little sister is so cute and considerate, how can I not love her?! Wheres Lin-b? He went to get the doctor. I gave a wry smile. You couldve just taken me to the doctors once I was awake. Why go through so much trouble? Previously, when Mom and Dad were still around, we were arge household. All in all, our retinue of servants, gardeners, and chefs and so on tallied up to almost ten people. Actually, there was even a family physician, who came with just one call. Lin-b always recounted the glorious days, but right now we were just a small, barely rich household. Dg was pretty proficient at making money, but had equally big expenditures. A mercenary group was not that easy to support, plus the scale of their territory was growingrger andrger. We must economize! In the future, we got to nag Lin-b more. You havent told Dg, right? Its only a fever. I really dont want him executing a mission while worrying. If Dg slipped up during a mission, that could cost lives! In his head, Dd and Mimei must be healthy and never get sick! No. Junjun pouted and grumbled, Since theres no use telling him anyway. I looked at Shujun. Is that aint? Dgs responsibility of supporting the family is very hard. Junjun drooped her little head and said, I know. Sorry Its ok. I also think that since Dg neveres home, it wouldnt be strange if he forgets where his home is one day. Junjun immediately nodded heavily. If Dg were to ever see that little look of resentment, he would surely immediately apologize and repent his misdeeds while ming himself. But he still wouldnt change, so theres no need for him to see this. I reached out to pet her head. In my prone position, this turned out a bit awkward to do. Before I knew it, the little girl had grown this tall already. I really hope that she continues growing up like this into a sessful adult. Shell definitely be gifted in both looks and wisdom, a super wonderful woman! One day, a lucky fucker will marry my angelic xiomi. Then, they will give birth to some lovable kids. Thinking of a bunch of mini-Junjuns circling around and call me Uncle made my heart melt. Everything would be perfect like this. But things never go as nned What the hell am I thinking! How is it possible that things wont go as nned! Nuh-uh, its not a jinx if a kid says these things! My Junjun will definitely be a blessed and happy little princess. Its my sick brain thats making me think nonsense. rg, Im going to steam some buns and heat the milk for you. Lin-b said to at least eat something. Shujun advised me with theposure of an adult, rg, if you need anything, just use the internal line and call me. Ille immediately. I couldnt help butugh and said, Okay. Be careful when youre using the stove. Junjun nodded in reply before bouncing away. Only when the door closed did I finally breathe a sigh of relief. My head ached like someone was tumbling around in there, and my eyes were so heavy that I could hardly open them. Ill nap a bit while waiting for the food. That should be fine Weijun-ji, do you know that Xia Zhengu brought another woman back again? I was still half-asleep, but as soon as I heard that sentence I jolted awake, turning around to look. It was a woman, looking to be around twenty-something years old? I couldnt tell. She looked delicate and pretty, and was very familiar, but I obviously didnt recognize her. But I chuckled while replying, Tell me if he everes back without a woman instead. Thatll be a lot rarer. Whats this? Why am I saying this? And my voice is a womans? Whats going on? This is different! The woman bit her lips and angrily said, He brought back a mother and daughter. That girl doesnt even look like shes fifteen yet. Shed still be in middle school before all this! Okay, this really is too over the top. And from what I know about Xia Zhengu, this situation might be even more absurd. Is the mother pretty? The woman blinked, then nodded. If the child is that old, she should be thirty something already. But nowadays, people dont look as old, so she only looks twenty something, and shes quite busty. Shes his type. My face sank. Does Xia Zhengu n to do both the mother and daughter? Screw this, he better not do what Im thinking of and want a threesome with the mother and daughter. Fucking bastard! Ill go find him right now. See if I can bring the girl over. The woman nodded her head heavily and started following me. Xiao Qi, donte with me. I was worried that the conflict would affect her. Recently, Xia Zhengu had be even more heartless. Earlier, I had already scavenged several kinds of edibles, so there was nock of food at the moment, but this also meant that I was not that useful anymore. Although I had experience in finding edible nts and farming, Xia Zhengu wasnt going to care about that, since there were plenty of women who helped him farm. He simply didnt appreciate how much food can be grown on an acre. Either way, it wouldnt leave him hungry. If only Xia Zhengu thought things through, just even by a little bit, ourmune would thrive so much more! That woman, Xiao Qi, still stubbornly followed closely behind me. I could only sigh. Nowadays, a mistress holds more love and loyalty than a boyfriend. When I found Xia Zhengu, he wasnt willing to surrender the girl, as expected. I tried to settle for the next best thing and said, Then, give me the mother. I need more hands for farming. He impatiently said, I brought back quite a few people this time. Take your pick, but the mother and daughter are mine. Unwilling to surrender both, huh. My guess was right. Fucking sonnova bitch wants to be the husband of a mother and her daughter. You scumbag! Xia Zhengu, fucking the mother isnt enough? You cant even keep your hands off someones middle school daughter? You motherfucker, are you still even human? Keep my hands off? They cozied up to me. If I dont ept them, they wont be able to survive, yknow? Come on, dont you even have a bit of sympathy? You only know how to be jealous! Jealous? I was so angry that I couldnt help butugh. What woman would still feel jealous when her man has collected dozens, no, hundreds of mistresses? I will pay my respects to her. If you hadnt shown your interest, no mother would be in a hurry to give her daughter away! Give me the daughter and clearly exin to the mom that Im taking her to nt crops! That therell be food and drink. Then see if that mom would still let her daughter go to your room! Or do you really think youre so irresistible, Xia Zhengu, that you thought just one look would make women want to crawl into your bed?! Xia Zhengus face hardened. He coldly retorted, Guan Weijun, youre bing more and more vulgar. Go and hide in the greenhouse and dont let others catch sight of you. Youre a disgrace! Fuck your family sideways and backwards. Is that crude enough? I snapped, My words are much more civilizedpared to what youre doing! You specialize in doing things that no decent human would do, and you still dare to call me vulgar? You! Xia Zhengu was outraged. His face distorted even further, and any trace of the gentleman on his high horse telling me off for vulgarity was gone. I stepped back but still wasnt quick enough. Xia Zhengu had already grabbed my neck. The difference in our strengths was still way too great, and even escaping wasnt a choice. Dammit. If only I hadnt given up back then. If only I could have be a bit stronger My neck pulsed with intense pain. Cant breathe, but I cant beg for mercy. Xia Zhengu, if this bastard manages to make me beg even once, then he definitely wont take me seriously in the future. Even if he beats me to death, I wont give in! Let go of Weijun-ji! Xiao Qi desperately pulled at Xia Zhengu, but how could she, the medic, have the power to shake a man? In the end, she went crashing into the wall with one push, and was barely able to crawl back up after. She wasnt going to repeat the same, futile motions. Instead, she started to scream and wail, desperately shrieking, Weijun-ji will get killed, help! Her voice was so sharp that even I, the person being strangled to death, could not stand it! When my consciousness started to blur, people started to rush in. After seeing who they were, I rxed. It was good that they were not members from Xia Zhenguster collection of bastards. This was an older generation ofrades. While they were fewer than before, each and every one of them was pretty powerful, and they didntpletely side with Xia Zhengu. Good, theyre here. I have a chance to survive. All I need to do is tell them about Xia Zhengus craziness. Maybe theyll be willing to take the girl away Although, Xiao Qi, people already came. Please stop crying. My head hurts rg, rg! Sob, sob Once I opened my eyes, I saw a little girl drowning in tears. I almost blurted out, Who are you? Fortunately, these words got stuck at the tip of my tongue and what was blurted became Shujun instead. Whats wrong with me? Why cant I recognize even my own little sister?! rg! Does it hurt too much? Junjun wept, Just a moment ago, you looked very ufortable. I keep trying wake you, but you wouldnt wake up. I was so scared I strained a smile and was going to say Dont be scared, Im fine when a sudden, sharp painnced through my head. It hurt so much that I couldnt help but squeeze my eyes shut and bite my lips, and braced myself against the pain until it passed. I cant make any sounds. Itll scare Junjun! When I finally squashed the pain down, I rxed and opened my eyes. I was just about to console Mimei, but what was before me was not her little weeping face but another even younger little face. Whats going on? I was at a loss. A dream within a dream. A waking upon waking. Was I truly awake? Shuyu, Shuyu. Are you okay? The little kid panicked, Shuyu, say something! I looked at him and finally snapped out of it. I opened my mouth and spoke. My voice was so hoarse that even I was surprised. Volume 3, 7: Thirteen, Part Two

Volume 3, Chapter 7: Thirteen, Part Two

Trantor: Michimochi (proofread by EvlNabiki & elisa; C/E edited by lucathia) My head hurts real bad. His psychic ability is really strong. The Thirteen in this time period might not specialize in physicalbat, Dg. I probably wasnt too far off the mark, seeing how he couldnt stand the cold yet was able to instruct other aberrants. Jiang Xiaotian, however, didnt care about Thirteen and only frowned. Are you okay? How can I be okay? Waves of pain kept piercing my head, butpared to just now when I couldnt even talk due to the pain, this wasnt a big deal. Rather than the headache, my main concern was that dream just now, which was more confusing. As I gained more and more past memories, I almost had the answer in my hand, but I didnt dare to think too much about it. Id love it if Im but on the other hand, thats also I didnt dare continue that line of thought. I forced myself not to turn my head away, not to avoid meeting Jiang Xiaotians gaze. Chen Yanqing anxiously said, Xiao Yu, your eyes are bloodshot and your face is still kinda pale. No wonder Jiang Xiaotian was so worried and seemed to have given up on chasing Thirteen. I shook my head and said, Im fine. Lets go. Somethings up with Maternibaby, probably the work of your fellow soldiers. Theyre going to be in trouble, what with Thirteen hurrying on over. Chen Yanqing became even more worried at my words and hurriedly urged, Then lets go. I picked up my ice spear and stood up. When I walked over to that ice corridor, ckie was stillying face down on the ground, his body practically frozen. I silently crouched down, pointing the spearhead against ckies head. Then, I raised my head and looked toward Chen Yanqing. He stiffened then said, Let me do it. I nodded in agreement. Unexpectedly, Chen Yanqing did not hesitate and fired a shot, then managed to say, Lets go. Other than his slightly trembling hands, there wasnt any other sign indicating his difort. Dont worry about him. Jiang Xiaotians voice carried a hint of admiration, As long as hes gotrades waiting for him, he will be alright. This guy isnt half bad. I nodded in agreement. See? Thats why you cant me me for always wanting to take him with me. When theres a capable guy, everyone wants to snatch him up. Its just a shame that ckieugh! But you are not allowed to fall in love before youre ready, no matter how good the partner! Dg, even if its ten years into the apocalypse, when women are like buff men while men are like monsters, when people dont bother to maintain appearances, when basically a persons gender doesnt matter anymore, you still cant keep thinking day in and day out that your dd will be swindled away just because you saw some human! I havent even decided what gender I like, so I definitely wont fall in love! Wu Yaojin hastily said, Dont settle with a guy. With your strength, having kids will be a huge contribution to the world. Gics still y a huge factor! Yeah, having children is good. Jiang Xiaotian approved wholeheartedly, then, in the next breath, he snarled, But the children of my family are not to be used as contributions to the world. You better believe that Id immediately make you die a heroic death! Ahead of me, Ah Qing seemed to be walking a bit rigidly. One had lived ten years into the apocalypse and seen countless tragedies. One had an asparagus syndrome. Even with so many people dead, these two were still talking about whether it was love or puppy love, and whether to pick a guy or girl. My head ached even more. Please, leave Ah Qing with a better impression. I still want steal this person back to the Jiang territory! At this moment, numerous gunshots sounded off in the distance. They were muffled by the walls but could still be clearly heard. They must be close by. Chen Yanqing immediately ran toward the sound, and I quickly followed after. I looked backthe kid was keeping up pretty well. Wu Yaojin if you cant keep up, thats even better. Saves me the trouble of deciding whether or not to off you to vent my anger. When we arrived at the origin of the gunshots, it was so quiet that it was like no one was around. Theyre not all dead, are they? I hastily looked around and was deeply shaken by the scene. The soldiers had been forced to retreat into the corner and had formed a circle around a round creature. A closer look made no difference to the sight of a spherical lump of meat. Only after another look did I finally notice her head and legs. Maternibaby wasrger than Id imagined her to be, especially her huge belly. Two men probably couldnt even wrap their arms around her. Her belly yawned wide open, the inside of her abdomen stuffed with baby arms and legs bathed in blood. Some limbs were so long that they drooped down to the ground. She looked as if she had been hurt to the point that she couldnt move and had no choice but to allow herself to be surrounded by the soldiers. There were less than twenty soldiers remaining. The second lieutenant who hade to their aid was also among them, and he looked much more respectable than earlier. He and the others stood at the very front, holding heavy firearms, their eyes bloodshot, their bodies both red and pale. They looked like gods of death, but ones whose times were up, struggling in their final hour. But most shocking were the wounded soldiers sitting next to Maternibaby. They were not holding any assault weapons but instead held grenades and simr objects. Their hands were ready to pull the pins at anytime, their expressions iparably hardened. I had no doubt that they were more than willing to perform a suicide mission. Across from the soldiers was a pack of aberrantsnot too many, probably about the same number as the remaining troop. If I wasnt mistaken, the aberrant at the very front was Asura. He looked to be about the same as the picture in the data, but only seeing him in person could you truly appreciate how he towered over you. Only currently, hed been beaten ck and blue, and a whole leg was distorted to the point of being unrecognizable. But the soldiers had also paid a huge price. The entire floor between the two sides was covered in broken body parts, and while there were aberrant corpses, the majority of casualties were the soldiers. Since they were going down anyway, the soldiers were resolved to go down together. Grenades were held up, and although they probably wouldnt be enough to kill Thirteen or Asura, they would at least take Maternibaby down with them. Otherwise, Thirteens expression wouldnt have been as dark as it was now. He was even holding back the attackevery one of the ten-odd aberrants looked strong, and it would probably be a walk in a park for them to finish off the remaining soldiers. Ah Nuo! Chen Yanqing shouted, What happened to the Lieutenant and Guo Hong? Ah Nuo red and yelled back angrily, Whyd youe? Leave! Chen Yanqing flinched. Then, he looked over at me with pleading eyes. I too wished that I was strong enough to defeat Thirteen, whod brought ten-odd aberrants. However, things never went the way you wanted them to. Id be lucky to even defeat Thirteen, never mind the other aberrants. Jiang Xiaotian remarked, I really underestimated them. I didnt expect them to be able to cripple Asura and Maternibaby. With this, you really can defeat Thirteen now. Have the soldiers hold back the other aberrants. You just need to focus on defeating Thirteen. If I did that, youd be able to count on a hand the soldiers wholl be left once this is done. They already looked wiped out and had barely any strength left. You could practically see the grim reaper standing over them. Thirteen seemed to be concerned about Maternibabys safety. If I used Maternibaby as a hostage to force him to leave, then it was possible to protect the safety of these soldiers. I had to say I truly admired their tenacity to struggle and fight so long. Even when faced with death, they remained selfless. So there actually were soldiers who werent corrupted at the beginning of the apocalypse. But most probably lost their lives and simply didnt survive to see theter days. Good people dont live long; bastards live forever. Thisw of life is fucking terrible. I just want to save a few more good people. Come on! Dg, I dont want to sacrifice them. The moment I said that, Chen Yanqing stared at me. I know what youre thinking. You cant stand letting me participate or sacrificing these people in front of you. There are too many things you cant stand. Jiang Xiaotian said coldly, You should know that once Thirteen escapes, in the days ahead, even more people will die at his hands. Your current actions will not save people. Youre exchanging the lives of dozens for tens of thousands! I know. I do understand! Thirteens body count is far above tens of thousands of lives. Forget the soldierseven if you included the civilians in the refugee camp, even if we can sacrifice the lives of these people to kill Thirteen, thatll be a great victory My ass! Human lives cant be measured like this! Seriously, my Junjun is worth more than tens of millions of lives! Im beyond biased, but so what? I dont know those tens of thousands wholl die, but these soldiers before me, who are struggling with all theyve got, they are admirable! I wheedled quietly, Still, Dg, I want them to live. Give me a hand. Jiang Xiaotian actually broke out into a grin at that and said, Shuyu, Ive always felt that you are too mature, to the point that you dont feel like someone who has just stepped into the apocalyptic world, let alone like an eighteen-year-old. But now, now you finally feel like one. Its because Im a thirty-five year-old woman who has fully lived out ten years of the apocalypse. Id probably even experienced roughly the same length of the apocalypse as Jiang Xiaotian. It was just that I had grown discouraged. Leading those mistresses who had likewise been resigned to their fate, we had only focused on hiding away in our own world, working on the fields. The fight had gone out of us. Go. Do what you want. He said indifferently, Even if you let Thirteen go now, we can chase him downter. So I just gotta kill Thirteen no matter what. I took a deep breath. Fine, otherwise Im going to feel guilty every time I hear news of Thirteens brutality. Thirteen, let them go. I yelled. Thirteen turned his head and looked at us. His countenance became even fiercer, hinting that he wouldnt hesitate to have this end in mutual destruction. My expression sank. I tried to look menacing and thundered, Take your underlings and leave right now. But if you insist on fighting to the bitter end, Ill do the same! Thirteen narrowed his eyes at me. In the next second, his line of sight shifted to Jiang Xiaotian, and a hint of fear crept into his eyes. Good call! He could actually tell that Xiaotian is the true threat here. No wonder you are the future king of aberrants! Even her? Thirteen looked toward Maternibaby. Although he gave little away, it was obvious just from watching him rush over the moment he had heard Maternibabys cries and the way his hands were tied that this aberrant was genuinely important to him. Not to mention, Jiang Xiaotian had already mentioned that ten years into the apocalypse, Asura and Maternibaby were Thirteens generals. Perhaps Thirteen could abandon all of the aberrants from this research center, as long as Asura and Maternibaby remained. No! Ah Nuo roared, The moment this aberrant is free, theyll definitely join forces and annihte us all! Jiang Xiaotian ignored himpletely and looked directly at Thirteen. He said, Only if you promise to leave immediately without touching these soldiers. Then, you can take Maternibaby and leave. One soldier after another turned to look toward the child, disbelief on their faces. I looked down at Jiang Xiaotian. Ah Nuos doubts werent without reason. Once he had nothing to worry about, who knew if Thirteen would be willing to obediently leave or not. Jiang Xiaotian said tly, Thirteen was well-known for keeping his promises. Once, for the sake of keeping his promise, he gave up on a battle he had been about to win. He abandoned the lives of tens of thousands of aberrants and had nothing to show for it. Even people dont have such strength of character. I cant even hold my head high now! Maternibaby? Better than 005. Thirteen nodded, not even looking conflicted. He just replied straightforwardly, Okay. Give Maternibaby to me. We will then leave without hurting these people. Hearing this, the soldiers were stunned, their expressions incredulous. Chen Yanqing shouted, Ah Nuo, listen to Xiao Yu. He and this kiddo arent ordinary folks. Ah Nuo did not respond. His face was stiff, not at all carefree like when we had first met. Ah Nuo, you gotta trust me, man! Chen Yanqing anxiously exined, Enough of our brothers have died. Leave the others out of this. There are still many people out there who still need us. This research center is already destroyed. The monsters out there might charge in. We cant just die here! Ah Nuo shouted, Of course I want to live! But if we let this monster go, we cant even think about surviving. You think a monster will keep its word? Are you fucking joking with me! I coldly said, If he breaks his promise, I will put my life on the line to protect you. You? Ah Nuoughed hysterically. Not waiting for him to spit out any more rude remarks, I raised my ice spear and mmed the ground hard. Arge expanse of ice spread across the floor. Immediately afterwards, I froze ice des to my feet. After giving it some thought, it still wasnt impressive enough. I might as well freeze the soles to my knees and directly create a pair of ice boots. Of course, I didnt forget to attach sharp des. That should appear even more intimidating. Yeah, me! Everyone stared at me. I raised my ice spear and pointed at Asura. Using amanding tone, I said, Asura, youe and support Maternibaby. Asura looked over and bared his teeth. He didnt seem to understand the humannguage. Asura? Thirteen murmured and nodded. Not bad. Dont tell me they dont have names yet? Come to think of it, Wu Yaojin called them 005, 013, and 042. I mean, while they were confined in the tubes, they probably didnt have any interest in giving themselves names. They just escaped, so why would they have names? I actually helped name these three aberrants without meaning to. Thiswont change things too much, will it? Ever since awakening, I seemed to have caused a bunch of changes, even though currently the biggest change should be calling Dg back from cia. But with someone as important as the Ice Emperor, the scope of his influence must be huge. In the future, Ill have to think things through more carefully. I cant solely rely on Guan Weijuns memory to make decisions. Thirteen shot Asura a nce, and the other aberrant seemed to understand immediately. He really was a psychic type. He cautiously walked toward the soldiers. At this moment, Thirteen spoke again. Go and support Maternibaby. Asura nced back at Thirteen, as if questioning why he had spoken out loud. However, he still acted ordingly. But once Asura advanced a few steps, all the soldiers pointed their guns at him. Unable to get any closer, he bared his teeth at them to scare them. Then, he turned to re at Thirteen. His expression was a real sight. He wasnt really angry. In fact, it was like he wasining, See, theyre not gonna let me take Maternibaby away. Thirteen looked at me. I could only re at my sides soldiers for their disappointing behavior, and stalked toward them. As I passed the group of aberrants on the way, looks of concern shed over the soldiers faces, reassuring me that the rescue attempt was not in vain. Some aberrants acted like they wanted to pounce on me. I coldly red at thema truly cold re. Freezing air mercilessly swept over, forcing a few aberrants to retreat several steps, their arrogant swagger gone without a trace. Aberrants would forever fear the strong. Just like that, I walked over and faced Ah Nuo. I pushed down the muzzle of his gun and said, Everyone move to the side. The soldiers, however, turned and looked at Ah Nuo as one. My previous guess really was correctit was too hard for me to convince the masses. Even if I disyed a mastery of ice, making them fear and respect me, that didnt necessarily mean they were willing to obey my words. Ah Nuo looked at me and growled, If those monsters break their promise, youre standing at the front and guarding us, even if it kills you. You think you can do that? If they break their promise I smirked, Ill make them die in front of you. That I could definitely do. Ah Nuo was taken aback and cracked up. He turned and waved everyone to the side. You hear that? Make way for our Xiao Yu. Later, if he ughters those monsters all by himself, we really wont have even a smidgen of pride left! The soldiers also began to chuckle even though their expressions were still pained. Some went back and carried the wounded soldiers, withdrawing to the side and immediately rushing to bandage the wounds. This was really necessary. Once those wounded soldiers rxed, their faces drained of color. They really seemed to be at deaths door. Asura picked up Maternibaby, making for a unique scene. It was like sticking four toothpicks into a pork ball, and then sticking it on top of chopsticks and pouring a bunch of ketchup over it. They walked past me and even gave me a wide berth. Clearly, they didnt like the chilly air around me. Once Asura retreated to Thirteens side, they truly didnt hesitate to turn and leave. At this moment, Jiang Xiaotian and Chen Yanqing were still standing at the entrance. Xiaotian had deliberately refrained froming over, while Chen Yanqing probably hadnt realized what had happened until it was toote to move. And that Wu Yaojin had actually disappeared. Hmph, do I even have to say it? He definitely saw that the situation wasnt in his favor and immediately fled. I looked at Jiang Xiaotian, a bit worried that he would not allow the other side to leave. He only mentioned that Thirteen kept his promises, but he never mentioned whether he kept his promises. But, Dg should still be someone who keeps his promises? If an aberrant kept its promise but a human broke his, that would be extremely ironic. I really didnt want to see this happen. Itd make me feel that humans are inferior to aberrants. Besides, Jiang Xiaotian is absolutely not allowed to use his ability! Luckily, that didnt happen. Jiang Xiaotian nced at me indifferently, seemingly aware of what I was thinking. He pulled at Chen Yanqing and the two of them backed up next to the wall together. Ah Nuo didnt dare to believe it and murmured, Theyre really keeping their word? Wait. At this moment, Thirteen suddenly turned back and spoke, scaring the rest to the point of raising their guns again. He only looked at me and asked, You know us? Theres Maternibaby and Asura. What am I called? I dont know you. Youre just called Thirteen. I said truthfully. Guan Weijun wasnt that unlucky that she got to know you, but between you and Jiang Xiaotian, theres an inconceivable grudge. He really wants to chop you up, then have your aberrants captured and turned into pets. Anyway, Asura could just about be kept outdoors as a giant sculpture to admire, but Maternibaby simply looked too horrendous. Even if Jiang Xiaotian had no care for the dignity of the Ice Emperor and rolled about on the ground, throwing a tantrum, I definitely wouldnt agree to it! What if it scares my Junjun?! Thirteen? Thirteen seemed dissatisfied with his own name. If I knew that earlier, I would have named him Tru Villin or something. All he had to do was say his name and hed lose half of his intimidating aura. Too bad I had missed the opportunity. Is it toote to say something now? Even though he wasnt satisfied, Thirteen appeared to ept this name. He looked at me and asked, Your name? Announcing my name before the future aberrant king? That sounds so dangerousyet so satisfying! I am Jiang Shuyu. I almost wanted to add a giarized statement, I am the man who will be the Ice Emperor. Luckily, I still retained some semnce of humility and didnt say that out loud. Jiang Shuyu. Thirteen repeated my name. Then, true to his word, he turned and departed, leading the group of aberrants away. Only when those oddly formed aberrants disappeared from view did the soldiers break the silencethere was murmuring, shouting, crying, andughing As if they couldnt believe they really had survived. The soldiers wept andughed. They looked so happy that they even hugged the smelly men next to them, looking like they wanted to kiss them. We really didnt die! Volume 3, 8: The Three-Forked Road, Part One

Volume 3, Chapter 8: The Three-Forked Road, Part One

Trantor: Elkin & Raylight (proofread by Arcedemius & Trespasserby; C/E edited by lucathia) Weary and wounded, we made our way back up to the refugee camp in single file. Along the way, we even encountered Wu Yaojin. The moment we ran into him, every soldier rushed at him, thirsting for blood and vengeance. As for me, I didnt feel it necessary to stop them. Everyone had dark expressions on their faces after we did a count just now. The number of survivors after all the deaths and injuries had been whittled down to just under a third. The greatest shock was the deaths of the Lieutenant and Guo Hong. Their lives were lost in the aberrant ambush led by Asura and not even their corpses were spared. Given the circumstances, could you really me the soldiers for wanting to rip apart the researchers? If you kill me, youre going to run into trouble two days down the line, Wu Yaojin analyzed the situation extremely calmly despite the fact that his life was in danger. In the past, we relied on Maternibaby to keep the aberrants from the refugee camp. But now that its not around anymore He had actually adopted the term aberrant. With that, this new vocabry might bemonce even faster. Ah Nuos face immediately darkened and he asked gravely, So those monsters are gonnae? Wu Yaojin nodded. The soldiers expressions became grimmer, with what seemed to be a tinge of resignation mixed in. I quickly asked, So since youre saying killing you will bring trouble, youre saying that you have some way to fix this, right? Yup. Wu Yaojin gazed evenly at everyone but didnt tell us the solution. It was obvious that he was going to use it as a bargaining chip to protect his own life. He was keeping his lips tightly sealed. I looked down at Jiang Xiaotian, wondering if he had any ideas. But he didnt seem to care and instead said, Lets head up. Thirteen is probably heading east, since his main camp was established there. Then again, theres no guarantee that he went over to that city directly, or there might be some dy in between. Eastwards? I nched. Dgs route was also eastwards, and I vaguely remembered the aberrants main camp being in arge metropolis. Dont tell me its Lan City?! Seeing my abrupt change in expression, Jiang Xiaotian shot me a look of bewilderment, but before I even needed to exin myself, he quickly figured it out himself, and his expression also changed to one of rm. He blurted out, Shujuns in danger! Technically speaking, it didnt pose an immediate danger to them. Dg and the others were nning to set up camp in the old town near Lan City rather than in Lan City itself. Furthermore, the world was a big ce, so what was the probability of running intoWait a second, with the Jiang familys rotten luck, its hard to say! I mean, I bumped into Thirteen myself! Wed better go soon. I started worrying. At this moment, Chen Yanqing suddenly took a few steps toward me, with a look of unease on his face. It was almost like a man who was deeply terrified of being abandoned by his wife No wait, I mean, just like, just likeI really dont know a better way to describe it! But I could understand his unease. In my previous life, there were many who wanted to stay with the strong. Even a small-fry like Xia Zhengu had quite a few followers. Everyone had simply run out of options, and survival in the face of aberrants, hunger, and drastic climate changes had be incredibly difficult. Walking in the shadow of someone strong gave that little bit of security in life, and people were willing to sell themselves and even their children to get that security. From the way Jiang Xiaotian and I acted, it was like we were masters who knew everything, so who would want to give up the chance to tag along with such people? Although Chen Yanqing was already very clingy to begin with But Wu Yaojin dodged behind me and gripped my shoulder tightly before saying, Promise that you wont kill me, and then Ill fix this situation for you. The soldiers thirst for blood became even stronger, and even I didnt have any inclination of saving him. What kind of idiot thinks that hiding behind me will help? I tore his hand off me and sidestepped to let him face the fury of the soldiers. Wu Yaojin sighed and remarked, Killing me will be nothing but a loss to you. Although it seems like the current world favors those with physical power, you will still need to rely on truth seekers like me to figure out problems. Surely you dont want to be forever living in fear of aberrants? The soldiers were dead silent. I could sympathize with them. Although some people became obsessed with power and the apocalyptic world was probably more exciting than the days of the past, the vast majority of people just wanted to return to the old times, when even the weak could survive, rather than this kind of exciting life where slipping up even a little bit could mean death. But why did the world suddenly be like this? Was the red meteor shower a coincidence or one of the causes? What on earth was the ck fog that would visit every year without fail? What on earth happened in the tenth year of the apocalypse, the very year I died? I recalled there was a bigmotion and there were great booms and explosions that filled the world What was with that? My memory of that time was a bit foggyI only remembered everyone fleeing for their lives, and the thing that was hot on their heels seemed intent on annihting everyone. I had chosen a direction and led a few people I was close to along the paths with no enemies, but in the end, the bastard Xia Zhengu caught up with us. Not only did he draw the danger to us, he even attacked us just to slow down the enemy. He shoved at me and sent me flying back a fair bit, and when I looked up, there was a swarm of insect-like aberrants Ugh! Shuyu, whats wrong? Gripping my head, I looked up to see Xiaotian gazing at me with worry. Just a headache, probably thanks to whatever Thirteen did to me. I probably needed to question Jiang Xiaotian about the apocalyptic world ten years in the future once we were free from these soldiers. He probably knew about themotion, unless his time travel happened earlier than Guan Weijuns death. But that probably isnt the case? At least I hadnt heard of any of the elite dying back then. While the soldiers were still being indecisive, Ah Nuo spoke, We wont touch you. But you better do what you need to do fast. We dont know what the situation is like up there. If the refugee camps gone, youll be useless, and you sure wont have any say in how you die then! I nodded. He was right. Without the refugee camp, all Ah Nuo and the others needed to do was just leave this ce, and there wouldnt be any more worrying about whether the aberrants would invade. Then again, if he really had a way to keep the aberrants away, everyone would want to get their hands on it! I wanted it too. It would be such a waste to destroy it! Its the blood extracted from Maternibaby. With it,sting several weeks wouldnt be an issue. As for whates after that, well have to wait and see how to deal with it. Hopefully the research center will send help within this time frame. Ah Nuo impatiently butted in, Then hurry up and get it! Wu Yaojin shook his head and dered, I already took some beforehand. We can go. All the soldiers and I felt an impulse to viciously beat him to death. When we returned to the military zone once more, the scene was a chaotic mess. The few surviving soldiers werepletely unable to control the situation. I heard from them that when Thirteen hade out, the aberrants had easily captured a few people, probably as rations to eat on the way. Even the desperate gunfire from the military was not enough to stop them because the two armored bears had managed to block all of the bullets, terrifying the soldiers to the point they thought they were goners. However, the aberrants had left without a second thought, all while clutchingrge quantities of food. Youre saying that the group of aberrants just left toward the south? Youre certain of this? I questioned the soldier in front of me in detail, afraid he had made a mistake. I mean, wouldnt Thirteen head east to go man his main camp? What would he want to go south for? The soldier nodded his head vigorously and pointed in that direction as he said, If you dont believe me, go take a look. The footprints and mucus are still there. Nobody has even dared to touch them. Jiang Xiaotian actually did run over to take a look. I was nning to join him, until the other soldiers started reporting to Ah Nuo, and I decided I would rather listen in. Moreover, Chen YanqingNo, not just him, several others besides him were also looking at me with worship. If I were to run over now, I might be bringing an entire group with me, mobilizing way too many troops. Its best if Jiang Xiaotian goes there on his own. Speaking of which, is this a g to start my own harem? I dont want to be the second Xia Zhengu, thanks. All of you should just scram! The soldier reported, Many people have escaped, but I believe they should still be around the premises. After all, they dont have anywhere to go to. Once the military zone settles down, they shoulde back. They might as well note back! First of all, it increased food consumption. Second, since thered been arge decrease in the number of soldiers, if they had to spare a few people to go scavenge for resources in the city, the rest of them probably couldnt control the masses of civilians. At that point, it wouldnt be odd if people started fighting over food and firearms, and even started murdering others. Dont ever underestimate civilians. When your hunger reaches the limit, your humanity would also be eaten away to nothing. Ah Nuo obviously knew that too. His brows were knitted tightly. He was deep in thought. However, in the next second when he looked up and saw me, his brows rxed, as though I could fix it all. Is this the start of taking an army under my wing? Shuyu! I raised my head and looked over. The cute little Jiang Xiaotian dashed over, gleefully informing me, Shuyu, lets hurry! Thirteen doesnt have any more strength to control those aberrants. Thats why he left so simply. Seeing the way the footprints are scattered around, he must have let those aberrants go free. At most, he will only have Asura and Maternibaby with him, but both are heavily injured, especially Maternibaby. Theyll only hold him back. Also, Maternibaby left a scent trail and tons of body fluid, so tracking them wont be an issue. This is really a one in a thousand chance, even better than when we were in the research center! If we could do away with Thirteen here, wouldnt the plight of humans improve for the better? Okay. I nodded and spoke, Lets go. Chen Yanqings expression immediately changed as he shouted, Wait I snapped back my head and asserted, I have to go after him! The leader of the aberrants just now is really something. If we leave him alive, its going to spell a catastrophe for mankind! Before Chen Yanqing could say anything, Ah Nuo interjected, Since just now, I have been hearing this kid and you talk about something I dont get. But it looks like you two do know something. If thats so, we cant neglect a bigger problem for the sake of fixing smaller ones. Ah Qing, dont try to stop them anymore. Bigger problems are at hand, so we should let them go. Chen Yanqing turned red in the face, as he stammered, I-I just wanted to say, that professor from the research center is gone. Ah Nuos face changed and he instantly nced around, but there was no trace of Wu Yaojin to be found. He raged, Damn it! Didnt we already agree not to kill him? Why did he still make a run for it? I was deeply shocked at this. All of us knew that it was not a good time to be running away right now. With this many aberrants outside, running around on your own was like asking to be food for the aberrants. Thats why the thought that Wu Yaojin might run away had never even crossed my mind. Everyone, go look for him! ordered Ah Nuo. Afterwards, he paced around furiously, as he roared, That guy must have nothing on him that can stop the aberrantsing. He was just fooling us! He probably does have something, or his escape would just mean hes marching to his death. Jiang Xiaotian thought for a moment and said, Most likely he is unable to use it on the entire camp, or he would have chosen to stay. Moreover, the MORC might have an emergency shelter, since they were working on such dangerous experiments. After all, idents do ur easily. They can overlook the research center getting destroyed, but even losing one researcher would hurt them, especially if they were one of the few leading the experiment. They cant afford to lose them, so the MORC must have left them an escape route. Ah Nuo seemed to have suddenly recalled something and said, There were orders from the higher-ups before, that if anything were to happen, we must protect Professor Wu as well as follow his instructions. I nodded and added on, Wu Yaojin said that Professor Wu was his brother. So it wouldnt be odd at all if he also knew where the escape route is. Chances are that he headed over by himself. Chen Yanqing spoke in confusion, Then, why didnt he tell us? We could have escorted him over. Its still miles safer than running over on his own. Jiang Xiaotian indifferently stated, First, he would be worried that you all still hold a grudge against him, and would attempt to kill him once weve reached a safe and secure ce. The second reason is just my spection, but that escape route probably cant hold too many people. Putting aside the issue whether you all can fit in, it definitely would not be able to contain all of those civilians outside. Probably, he didnt want to wait around while you all struggled to decide matters, so he simply made a run for it. That freaking bastard! Ah Nuo roared. We should have just killed him! No use crying over spilled milk! Hurry and think of what to do, because theres a few thousand people gathered here practically screaming to be a food haven for the aberrants! Sooner orter well be wiped clean. Jiang Xiaotian grabbed my hand and said, Lets quickly head out and catch up to Thirteen. After we deal with him, then you can go home. Im a little worried that Thirteen will know how to hide his trail. At the very least, he wouldnt let Maternibaby drip blood the entire way to form a blood trail. By then, it will be difficult to locate them. Hearing that, I took a deep breath, and did my best to suppress the urge to go home. In my heart, I chanted repeatedly, As long as I finish this, I will be able to see Dg and Xiomi. Yes, there is no need to hurry. Im just giving chase and busting in three heads. Itll take no time at all. What Jiang Xiaotian said was right. The longer I dyed now, the more time I would have to spendter looking for Thirteen. Probably double, or even several dozen times, the amount of time? I should have given chase immediately. Who knows, I might have already busted Thirteens brains out by now. What a mistake! Thinking of that, I instantly turned to leave. Xiao Yu! Chen Yanqing shouted anxiously. Turning back, all of the military soldiers were looking at me, as though in disbelief that I could just up and go like that. I gave a sigh. Its not easy to be a master Since theres no way to prevent the aberrants from attacking, its best if you all evacuate the civilians and then run away. Its definitely not a good thing to have so many people gathered in one ce. Ah Nuo growled in disbelief, Evacuate to where? All of them will die! That was true. Ah Nuo and the others at least had some military strength. However, the civilians outside had nothing to protect themselves with, and therge city beside them wasnt somewhere that they could enter. Having no resources was pretty much equivalent to death. Moreover, even if they headed toward the smaller cities, there would be few who could survive the trip. Are you going to just watch as several thousand die in front of you? Several thousand? I felt so angry to the point it wasughable. The number of people that I have watched die in front of me in my life is a hell of a lot more than this! The aberrant that Im about to give chase to is called Thirteen. Yearster, he will be a very strong aberrant. The human deaths that hes directly or indirectly involved in will be well above ten thousand, and thats just a minimum estimate! All who were present at the scene had their eyes wide open in shock. They were probably shocked by the sheer numbers. However, it seemed like doubt filled their minds. Ah Nuo hesitated for a short moment, before he questioned, How would you know about something that happens yearster? Didnt you mention just now that I know some stuff that you all dont? Impatiently, I continued, Our Xiaotian can foresee many things. Volume 3, 8: The Three-Forked Road, Part Two

Volume 3, Chapter 8: The Three-Forked Road, Part Two

Trantor: Elkin, Ever, & lucathia (proofread by EvlNabiki & L Su; C/E edited by lucathia & Elkin) Yeah, I can just push it all onto Jiang Xiaotian. In any case, there was something off about him, so it would be wrong if he didnt have some awe-inspiring ability. All the soldiers looked at the little kid, while the kid himself was glowering, with torrents of icy air pouring off his body. If we didnt pursue Thirteen right this moment, the little kid would probably chase after him himself. You can help us first, then well help you kill that aberrantter. Ah Nuo seemed pretty desperate. It was clear that if he had the choice, he definitely wouldnt beg an eighteen-year-old and a three-year-old kid for help. I was certain I could just turn and leave, despite the soldiers unwillingness to let us go. I highly doubted that they would pull anything on us, but I didnt want to treat them that way. They were acting for the good of the refugees; otherwise, they could just pack up their firearms and food and simply leave, instead of fretting over the problem of whether the refugees would die or not. I said slowly and clearly, Actually, my familys in the east. My dg leads a troop of mercenaries and weve got firepower and supplies. My mimei is tormenting herself like shes gone mad, because she thinks Im dead. So honestly? I really want to go eastwards. I really fucking do. Jiang Xiaotian lifted his little head to gaze at me, clearly biting back the words he wanted to say. But Ipletely ignored him. It was obvious that hed just tell me to go home, and hed run off to face Thirteen himself. He didnt care the slightest about what would happen to him afterwards, and even if it spelled his death, he would just think of it as the opportunity of joining his siblings from the other world. My heart clenched. Everything fell in ce. Dont tell me the reason why Jiang Xiaotian never brought up the possibility of parallel worlds is because I looked up sharply to see the soldiers in gloom, making it impossible for me to just immediately turn and go. Dammit, I probably cant ever get over this Mother Teresaplex! I sucked in a deep breath and continued my exnation, Im just eighteen. Im not as strong as you think me to be. And Im definitely not an expert fighter or anything. I only know some stuff thanks to Xiaotian. And right now, I know that Thirteen bastard will kill many people in the future. If I let him go now andter hear that he has caused a massacre, I wont be able to live with myself! All the soldiers listened in silence. They were really well trained. If people like this were willing toe with me, Id take as many of them as I could. But if they were the types of soldiers who could just abandon helpless refugees, I wouldnt want them toe after all. Such a dilemma! Do you understand me? Im not running away, and Im not so cold-blooded as to be uncaring about the lives of thousands of people. But I absolutely must kill Thirteen, the future aberrant elite who would fucking trample over the corpses of countless humans! Right after I finished yelling, Ah Nuo suddenly gave a crisp salute, scaring the wits out of me. I didnt know how to react. Ah Nuo said solemnly, Please kill that monster. I, Ah Nuo, thank you on behalf of all who are present here. All the soldiers followed him and saluted when they heard that. If I hadnt been here, these people wouldve probably all died? When I had found them, they were about tomit double suicide with Maternibaby, but the future Thirteen still had Maternibaby by his side Oh yeah, in my previous life, the lieutenant probably hadnt brought anyone with him into theb, and without them, Ah Nuo and the others probably couldnt have even gotten to the point where they could take down Maternibaby with them. I really hope they will live on for much longer! I couldnt help but blurt, The monsters you keep talking about, I call them aberrants. If you want to kill them, you must destroy their headsbut you probably know that already. They exchanged looks and nodded. After killing the aberrants, dig into their chest cavity. There will be a hard shell inside. Break that open and youll see this. I took the silver sk from my waist and tipped out a few evolution crystals. All the soldiers eyes fixated on the crystals as they swallowed reflexively. Eat this and it will improve your body, and also increase the strength of your abilities. It doesnt matter what kind of special ability you havedont waste it. Although these abilities seem fairly useless right now, they definitely wont let you down if you train them up! The soldiers eyes sparkled and they quickly mored to ask, Can we be as strong as you? For sure, I replied without hesitation. You have good base qualities, so its not hard to achieve my tier. I had only reached tier two, and toward the middle of the apocalypse, a tier two was no big dealI mean, even dogs were tier two! The dogman aberrants then were all around tiers two or three, and often appeared in packs, so people avoided them on sight. I felt better when I saw looks of hope surface on the soldiers faces. As long as you had hope, you would have the drive to live. I really was worried that these soldiers who had embraced death wouldnt be able to think things through and would stay here stubbornly to the very end, then end up being wiped clean by hungry aberrants. Disperse the refugees, and if you feel thats not doing enough for them, give them most of the stuff as well. You are all very strong, and you definitely will have no problem scavenging for supplies. Aberrants out there arent so strongwell, at least the vast majority of them will be way weaker than the ones you encountered in theb. Youve already duked it out with lions, so dont tell me you cant beat down some dogs? The soldiers cracked up. I chuckled myself too. It was good that they were able tough. Then, I sobered and said seriously, When necessary, make sure to protect yourselves. I know abandoning civilians isnt what soldiers should be doing, but in these apocalyptic days, humanity is in dire need of strong people. Especially strong people with good hearts. As for those bastards who are rotten both inside and out, please, go dig a hole and bury yourselves for the benefit of humanity. Have you remembered this properly? I asked anxiously. I really hoped I was able to keep more capable and good-hearted people alive. Everyone nodded. Stick out your hands. Ah Nuo stared at me in confusion, but Chen Yanqing had already stretched out his hand. I tipped the silver sk and emptied all the crystals into the palm of his hand. There actually werent that many left, and there might not even be enough for every soldier to get one each. I suggest that you split this between two or three people. Pick those whose abilities are most useful, or those who are best at fighting, because the effect of a single crystal is too small. I suggest that you dont share it so everyone gets one, or the effects might not be enough. Ah Nuos brow furrowed at my words. Jiang Xiaotian pointed at Ah Nuo and Chen Yanqing and dered, The two of you should just split it in half and eat them. A leaderless toon is not much better than headless chickens. The others can only survive if you two are alive. The two balked and revealed looks of hesitation. They even nced a few times at their fellowrades. But Jiang Xiaotian shouted, Eat it! If you dont eat it within five seconds, were taking them all back. Five, four Chen Yanqing stiffened, quickly poured half to Ah Nuo and swallowed the remainder. By the time Ah Nuo got the crystals, Jiang Xiaotian had counted down to one and had dashed forward to grab his hand, but Ah Nuo immediately threw the crystals into his mouth. I gave Jiang Xiaotian an impressed look. This was a fantastic way of dealing with the situation. After we had left, Ah Nuo could have distributed the crystals evenly across all the people. Or worse, even if he had split them between Ah Qing and himself, the others might resent that. But this was absolutely the best way of distributing the crystals. Since Jiang Xiaotian forced them to swallow the crystals by saying, the two of you swallow them or no one gets any, this extreme method meant that, even if the other soldiers didnt like it, they couldnt me it on Ah Nuo and Ah Qing. Shuyu, lets go, Jiang Xiaotian said briskly, theter we set out, the harder itll be to catch them. I nodded and followed after the little guy, but after a few steps, I gritted my teeth and dashed back, giving Chen Yanqing a big hug. I gave him a few pats on the back as I tried to recall in my previous life how men hugged each other goodbye Hey, you guys to the side. Dont make weird faces. This is friendship between men! I red at the others angrily as they stared at the sky, at the ground, and at imaginary ants, pretending that they saw nothing. You fucking idiots! How can still you act like morons even though its the apocalypse? Ignoring that bunch, I whispered beside Chen Yanqings ear, Ill be staying at Old Town next to Lan City. Dont tell anyone else besides Ah Nuo. Only you two can take people there, understand? Chen Yanqing had frozen. He stuttered, Okay, um, your, your kid I turned around hurriedly. Oh shit, Jiang Xiaotian looked so angry that he could spout fire. Please, youre the Ice Emperor, not the me King! I hurriedly scooped Jiang Xiaotian up and dashed away to keep Chen Yanqing from dying by the Ice Emperors hands before he got killed by an aberrant. Even though that would count as a kind of aplishment, staying alive was still more important. I dashed out of the camp, with Jiang Xiaotians one line of no puppy love still ringing in my ears, and the scenery that greeted me the moment I stepped outside triggered memories of the past. The refugee camp was in shambles and everyone was hiding under things, wanting to flee but too afraid to do so. An eerie silence hung over the camp. Anyone who dared to make any loud sounds would be beaten to death with no remorse. Rather than having someone draw the attention of aberrants by wailing and causing many casualties, people would rather send them to hell so they could cry all they wanted. Xiao Yu! Just as I thought that, someone actually cried out. She ran up to me, stumbling as she did and received a lot of angry res from the others. I immediately covered her mouth and gave the people around us a warning look. I said quietly, Auntie Chen, dont cry. I need to leave now. If you keep wailing like this, the others will bully you. Though tears were still rolling from Auntie Chens eyes, she didnt look like shed wail anymore, so I let go of her mouth and heard her sob, Who cares about being bullied? Beibeis gone anyway, so I might as well be dead! Shocked, I asked, Hows that possible? As soon as I asked the question, my face immediately darkened with anger. Was she also taken to be aberrant food? But no, Beibeis so little. Theres so many people in the refugee camp. Why would they take Beibei instead? Shes not even enough for a meal. I thought that he was human! A bunch of monsters suddenly rushed out, and my husband had gone off somewhere. I had no idea where he was. I couldnt run fast while holding Beibei. A whole bunch of people were caught and monsters were running just next to us! Is Auntie Chen talking about the first batch of aberrants that broke free, or was it Thirteens crowd? The man just stood there looking at Beibei. I thought he wanted to help, so I handed Beibei to him, pleading for him to flee, but those monsters surrounded us. I thought we were goners, but that man actually spoke with the monsters. That was when I saw he had a tail. Auntie Chen spoke until she choked up with sobs. She said remorsefully, I wanted to beg him to return Beibei to me, but I couldnt say a single word. W-Why couldnt I say anything then?! She was scared shitless. I could understand. He took Beibei? Auntie Chen nodded while crying. Thirteen actually took Beibei with him? This is really a bit strange. Can it be that with his slim stature, his appetite is also small, so snatching a girl is enough? I frowned and informed Auntie Chen, Im going to track him down right now. Auntie Chen, take care of yourself. Do not go around crying. Joy came back to her face. She wiped her eyes, looked at Jiang Xiaotian, and asked with good intentions, How about I help you look after him? I shook my head and said, Im leaving now. Auntie Chen, be careful. Go with the soldiers if you can, even if your husband doesnt. Understand? But Auntie Chen immediately said, Ill wait for you to return with Beibei. I frowned and said, Ill meet up with the troops. Just follow them. Only then did Auntie Chen nod. I carried Jiang Xiaotian and left quickly. I didnt know if it was my ice spear or something else, but no one dared to stop me. I left the refugee camp just like that. Jiang Xiaotian sprawled on my back and berated me unhappily, Shuyu, youre as wishy washy as a woman. You have to change that. Be more decisive. Who knows how long itll take to track him down now after wasting time like this? If we give him time to recover his ability to control the aberrants, killing him wont be easy. Dont I know it? If not for the apocalypse, Guan Weijun would probably have been destined to be a mother before a wife, and the partner would probably still have been Xia Zhengu. I might even have yed the game of wife versus mistress, haha. Dg, why the hell did Thirteen grab Beibei? Who cares? That girl is likely done for. My face fell. Thinking of cute Beibei, a wave of pain stabbed my heart. If you want to save her, focus. The faster we catch up, the likelier it is we can save her. True. I immediately got a hold of myself, following the tracks left by Thirteen. However, the tracks were very scattered. The horde of aberrants that had run off in all directions had left behind a sea of footprints, and it was difficult to determine which direction Thirteen had gone. Fortunately, as Jiang Xiaotian had said, Maternibaby had a distinct smell. On top of that, she had left a trail of blood, and it even had the smell of milk. After following the trail for a while, I actually made a huge discovery. Isnt this my motorcycle?! I was super moved. I didnt think Id be able to see this baby here. I was so sad when I took the bus and had to leave this behind! Jiang Xiaotian gave it a nce and said, If you can steal other peoples vehicles, of course other people can also steal yours. Besides, you left it on the street, so its not strange that someone wouldve grabbed it and rode it over. But its probably out of fuel. Get some fuel from some car. Need me to teach you? Are you kidding me?! Amoner like me, who does everything myself, is definitely better at this than the Ice Emperor who had countless underlings! Hm, this motorcycle uses 95 unleaded petrol. Dont get it wrong. Dg, who cares about 95, 98, 99, or 100 during the apocalypse! When you need fuel, even sewer oil will do! I cried on the inside as I watched Jiang Xiaotian seriously looking for a car with 95 unleaded petrol. The Ice Emperor wouldnt even relent on his choice of fuel. No doubt he had nock of resources in his previous life. Its hellparing with him! Volume 3, 9: Truth

Volume 3, Chapter 9: Truth

Trantor: Elkin (proofread by EvlNabiki & Arcedemius; C/E edited by Lucathia) Its much easier to chase them on my motorcycle. Jiang Xiaotian thinks Ive wasted time, but Thirteen hasnt gone all that quickly. Its probably because Asura and Maternibaby are both injured. I searched for hours. The track was now faint, since there was no more blood. Night fell and I had to slow down. I spotted a light in the forest. I hesitated and stopped my bike. Aberrants shouldnt know how to start a fire yet. Theyre not afraid of fire, but they dont need it either. It should still be humans. Theyre afraid of the cold. Is it them? I turned to ask Jiang Xiaotian. Hard to say. Thirteen has a habit of keeping humans. Weird. Its not surprising if he has people who know how to start a fire with him. I put my bike to the side and went over, grabbed Xiaotian, and entered the forest. You think you can negotiate with me?! A sneer. I think there is something wrong. If he canplete the thirteen with such ease, he will finish it in theb. Do not tell me that this kind of power will hurt, so he did not use it before? Jiang Xiaotian, stop. Im going to kill thirteen now. (Shu Yu has a ponytail, right?) You stand up and stumble. Do you hear me? Very good. He nodded. Thirteen asked in confusion, I dont understand. Why did you kill me? You are so unique. To reduce the number of people who will die in the future, you must now die. I have absolutely no confidence that he will not kill anyone outside of mealtime. The easiest way is to kill him and send him to the next world! RIP thirteen! But you do not worry. I will return to her mother Babe. I hope PR! There are more trantors, so they will speak as quickly as possible. *cry* No, leave her with you. It sounded like a request. I hesitated. He is too human! Abnormal people can rethink science! No, this is impossible. Thirteen is only unique. Protecting babe! ???!!! Why? Do you know her? She is our only CE editor who has survived the Dark Mist! Art thanks to Arcedemius, Raylight, AkaiiRia, Elisa, Evlnabiki, nimue, L Su, & Trespasserby! ETA: Happy April Fools! We hope you enjoyed the sneak peek of this months chapter. The actual chapter will be releasedter this month. Volume 3, 9: Truth, Part One

Volume 3, Chapter 9: Truth, Part One

Trantor: Michimochi (proofread by L Su; C/E edited by lucathia) With the motorcycle, tracking them down was a lot easier. Even though Jiang Xiaotian felt I was wishy washy, Thirteen didnt seem to be a decisive guy either. His footprints revealed that his speed going forward was not that quick. This could also be because he was being dragged down by Asura and Maternibaby, who were both wounded. I searched for hours. The beginning went pretty smoothly, but theter tracks were faint. Maternibaby had also stopped bleeding, bing harder to track. It was going to be night soon. I had no choice but to slow down my motorcycle, in order to avoid skipping over any key clues. Luckily, because of this, I discovered a glow in the woods. I hesitated before stopping the motorcycle. The aberrants of today shouldnt be able to start a fire. Although they arent afraid of fire, they wouldnt need to start a fire. Most of the time, a human would still be the one starting a fire, especially since its getting colder and colder. Even if its dangerous, they still have to have some fire, or else they are so cold that they cant even sleep. It shouldnt be them, right? I turned to look at Jiang Xiaotian, who was sitting behind me. Hard to say. Thirteen seems to possess quite a few human characteristics still. Its quite strange. So even if he is able to start a fire, it wouldnt be that shocking. Hearing this, I decided to take a look after all. I parked the motorcycle on the side, grabbed Jiang Xiaotian, and entered the woods. Jiang Xiaotian nced at the motorcycle and said, Your regard for your motorcycle only came this far, despite how much you loved it. Dont tell me that I should send it off reluctantly? I rolled my eyes at Jiang Xiaotian. As I walked in the woods, I was extra careful, though I questioned if this kind of action was useful or not. Psychic-type aberrants were always hell, especially the king of aberrants having a psychic ability. This was practically evil. Who knows if he has whatever kind of eye or not. Arent all mangas drawn like this? Big brothers watchful eyes, zed over eyes, and Sharingans, etc. Im obviously thinking too much. I havent spotted any abnormalities so far. From far away, in the gaps between the tree trunks, I could see Pork Ball and Bamboo SticksI meant to say, Maternibaby and Asura. Turning a bit, I saw an office worker about to burst his liver. Ah, its Thirteen. I couldnt resist wiping off cold sweat. How can these aberrants, who will be as horrifying as hell in the future, look so funny right now? There were some people lying on the ground. I hid in the shadows, carefully observing those people. There were only six of them, entangled by the baby arms and legs extending from Maternibabys belly. With them on the ground like that, I couldnt tell if they were sleeping or just passed out. I couldnt help but feel there was something wrong. Wait, theyre all men! Is the meat of men more delicious? I never heard of aberrants preferring to eat men, but the main point is: wheres Beibei? It cant be that she has already At this moment, Maternibaby suddenly dragged one of them to her side. She raised the others leg and was about to chomp down on it. Suddenly, there was a soft cry. This clear and tender sound absolutely couldnt possibly be Maternibabys normal voice; or else, I would regurgitate all that chicken soup that I had been eating in the apocalypse. Go eat over there, said Thirteen tly. Maternibaby looked at Thirteen. Her face paled even more. Dont know if Im hallucinating. She looks like an aggrieved mistress. Its just that this mistress is dragging sixrge men into the forest to the side. Then, Asura stood up and followed her. It was exactly a family of three: Moms table manners were horrible, so she was kicked out by Dad. The son rushed to console the mom Hold it! My imagination is too wild. Asura probably just wants a leg all to himself! Dont be afraid. Alone, Thirteen suddenly spoke. I looked over doubtfully. Only then did I discover a tiny silhouette. Beibei! My eyes opened wide. She was actually sitting in Thirteens arms. Since Thirteen was wearing a whiteb coat from thebs doctors, and it was also night with shadows from the campfire, I hadpletely missed her presence. Beibeipletely shrank within Thirteens embrace. She asionally stole nces with a panicked face in the direction Asura and Maternibaby had left in. I pushed down the impulse of wanting to save the little girl right away. The first target should not be Thirteen, but Asura and Maternibaby. Although both aberrants were injured, aberrants were tough beings.If they went all out, they could cause great damage. I cant risk it. On top of that, I could rescue six others. Cant dy any longer, or else someone is going to miss a leg. I dont want to be Mother Teresa, but I cant just stand by and do nothing if I can save someone just by taking action earlier. I immediately sneaked up to the two aberrants. They had crouched down, and each was pulling on a leg, about to tear that person apart. I clenched the ice spear. After a period of rest, Ive pretty much recovered my power. Although I cant say Im at 100%, Im at least at 90%. Lets take care of Asura first, this battle oriented aberrant! Just before Asura went ahead to bite at that persons femoral artery, I glided over, charging out from the shadows. I stabbed right into the side of his body. This is usually the least protected area. Sure enough, despite the fact that the ice spear was not tough enough, it could still puncture it, and I did just that. If the other one had not butt in, piercing right through Asura would not have been impossible. The body of the ice spear was entangled with many hands: teeny hands and skinny, long arms, a stretched version of small, baby hands, which looked soft and weak, but in reality they were quite powerful, plus they were numerous. Even I could not pierce through them. Immediately, I shed out horizontally and wounded him as much as I could. Asura let out a cry of pain. A slit spread down a third of his chest. Blood spurted freely. He red hatefully at me but couldnt get up. Maternibaby let out piercing cry. The babies hands, feet, and head, which were entangled in the belly, all shot out. The arms iled in the air. If you got caught by those, youd be torn into pieces at the very least. As for the feet, they all extended to the ground and supported Maternibaby. She advanced forward just like caterpir, yet she was quite fast. So this was how Maternibaby moved about. I had doubted that those two toothpicks could support that meatball figure. No matter how I saw it, I didnt feel she could move easily. In the apocalyptic world, how could she survive ten years into the apocalypse if she couldnt even walk properly? Apparently, the gal had plenty of legs. There was no need to worry at all. I shed away the tiny herd of arms pouncing at me. Those long, skinny arms were weird though, as if they simply did not have any bones. They felt more like tentacles. Its gonna be annoying now. My ice spear is not suitable for chopping, and my dagger is too short. If I get too close, these densely packed hands are going to be hard to defend against. I sessively retreated a few steps, dodging the attacking herd of hands. I circled around, whimsically wanting to see if the opponents hands would get tangled, and shed finish herself off, tying herself into a dead knot! But I was obviously too foolish. How stupid would someone have to be to get their hands tangled up? Who has seen people knot their own hands and feet together? Pain suddenly shot through my head. I swung my head to look over. Thirteen had arrived. A sudden st of pain through my head almost scared the heck out of me. If he uses psychic powers, how am I supposed to defend against that? Shuyu, go and deal with Thirteen. Calm down. Even if he has psychic powers, as long as youre on guard, he cant easily get the better of you! Yeah. Dont panic. If psychic types really were this powerful, then the future top-tier elites should all have been psychic types. I just never had a chance to face rare, psychic type aberrants in battle in my previous life. The unfamiliarity would inevitably cause panic. But if Im fighting Thirteen, what about Maternibaby? Thirteen didnt give me any time to think. He shouted Asura, leave. Asuras long arms snatched a person, and he left hastily, half running, half crawling. He even dripped an entire floor of blood and yowled several times in pain. I felt bad about the person getting dragged away, but this was no time for my saintplex to kick in. Out of the three aberrants, I had only taken care of one. I myself was sandwiched by two of them. I didnt have the spare energy to save anyone. The biggest problem now is, can I defeat Thirteen and Maternibaby at the same time? Shuyu, go block Thirteen. At this moment, I finally understood what Jiang Xiaotian meant. He wants to deal with Maternibaby himself! No! You cant use your powers. When you helped me level up, you burned yourself out like that. If you take part in this battle, what will happen now? Over my dead body! Jiang Xiaotian said in a stern voice, Dont be arrogant. If you can defeat Thirteen, thats already a win, but dont gamble for more. If you lose, I still have to take over and would end up facing two aberrants! I froze. Damn it! Im still not strong enough. If I could take care of two aberrants myself, Dg wouldnt need to do anything! Blitzkrieg strategy! Gotta finish Thirteen before Jiang Xiaotian has any time to make a move! I raised my ice spear and formed ice boots. The ice spear wasnt useful against Maternibaby, but now that my opponent was Thirteen, there should be no problem. Since the opponent had a human form and didnt have specially reinforced skin, I only needed to pay extra heed to that thick, sturdy tail. It looked a lot stronger than those legs of his. My bones would break if I got caught by that. Thirteen roared. His face transformed again, his brow bones lifting higher. His entire person went from a liver bursting office worker to a spitfire evil boss. I froze the whole ground to ice, but not too thick ayer to avoid using too much energy, just enough for easier gliding. In the meantime, I hoped it would also affect Thirteens movement, since the ice was cold and slippery. An aberrant that was not resistant to the cold really would be affected. Thirteen bared his teeth, looking pissed. He stretched his hands up, and crackling noises from popping bones sounded. The transformation started from the joints. Sphere after sphere popped out, like small balls; from the arms to the fingers, all had exploded in length, extending his arms by a fold. This transformation was not limited to his two arms. His two legs were transforming in the same way. Seeing as the opponent would soon to have four big ws, I plunged straight ahead, stabbing forward with my spear. Waiting for you to finish transforming, do you take me for a fool? Of course Ill stab you while you dont have any hands! Too bad, it was not as if he really didnt have any hands. Although those two humongous ws hadnt finished morphing, that did not hinder his attack. He struck with a w, almost sending my ice spear flying. He even has more power than I do. This really pisses me off. Hes a psychic-type, yet he has this much strength. This is as illogical as mages swinging their staffs to knock out warriors! No wonder Thirteen was a top-tier elite. He was so powerful that he could count as an otherworldly creature. Luckily, Im more or less also an otherworldly creature. I wielded the ice spear with vigor: piercing, stabbing, striking, swinging, and, asionally, feinting. I also mixed in some kicking. Ice des were attached to the bottom of my feet. Although they werent strong, Thirteen did not seem that durable either. At least, they could nick him with no problem. Attack after attack left him dazed, unable to distinguish between actual attacks and feints. At times, when I was actually attacking, he would be unable to block the attack. The tip of the spear touched his body before he frantically attacked the body of the spear, and only then did he prevent it from piercing through him. Sometimes, they were feints, yet he thought they were real attacks. I would immediately retreat after tapping him, letting his strength propel him forward. Plus, the floor was an ice rink, almost causing him to fall t on his face. The injuries on Thirteens body increased by many folds after just a few exchanges between us. He hastily retreated, wanting to pull away. This guy waspletely unable to block moves that were feints or ambushes; moreover, he didnt have a strong enough exterior that he could disregard them. Im in luck. The Thirteen of this time really wasnt a battle oriented aberrant. At most, his strength is just a bit higher. No wonder he had kept two armored bears by his side at theb. He needed them to block the bullets for him! At this moment, a sudden stinging pain hit my head. He couldnt win physically, so he was attacking with his psychic powers now. I immediately glided across, not giving him any more chances to strike. I then executed another string of attacks, only these were far sharper. Those a moment ago were just a test. Now that I pretty much got a sense of the others capability, I dont need to continue probing. Finishing this lightning fast is what I really need. I still have to take over the fight with Maternibaby! Thirteen had no other choice but to take on these strikes. Although piercing pain seized my head in waves, it was not as if I couldnt tolerate them. Not giving Thirteen any opportunities to be distracted, he seemed unable to hurt me to the point of fainting like before, or it could be that I was prepared for it. Therefore, I wasnt as affected by this as I was before. As this moment, thanks to a feint, Thirteen all of a sudden lost his bnce and fell. I hastily rushed forward to put him out of his misery. But in the end, I was too impatient. He abruptly pped his hand on the ground and kicked upwards with his head down to knock the spear astray. Then, he seized the opportunity to kick downwards from the upper-left side of my head. If that huge wed foot hit me, my face would probably crack into fours. I retreated a step but was a little toote, my thigh getting caught by that wed foot. A shock of acute pain seized me. Luckily, that kick had not hit me full on. My bones should still be fine; it was just that the sharp w had left several deep gashes across my thigh. Blood immediately stained my pants. After all this fighting, the opponent has a pile of minor injuries, which dont look pleasant. On the other hand, Ive only gotten hit a few times, with the most serious wound on my thigh, yet it hurts a fucking ton. When I go home, Im going to do strength training! I dont hope to knock-out enemies with a single move, but three moves should do the job. Not all battles would let me slowly wear down the opponent. To the side, a piercing cry suddenly soundeda womans shriek plus a toddlers wail. It gave me goose bumps. If the pre-apocalyptic world had been able to produce this kind of sound in horror movies, then there wouldnt have been any need of visuals. Let the audience sit in the dark and listen to this soundtrack that would scare the heck out of them. Thirteens expression changed, and he suddenly ran to the side. I saw this golden opportunity and immediately chased after him, wanting to stab him in the back. Only then did I see where the dreadful noise wasing from. Maternibaby was about to be frozen into an ice sculpture. The herd of baby hands that reached out from the stomach was already frozen in ice. Only half of the mothers body remained unfrozen, but it wouldnt be long now. Thirteen really wanted to aid Maternibaby, but a small silhouette waved his hand and an ice spear emerged in front of Maternibabys feeble face. If this was thrust forward, her whole head would be gone. Dont kill her! Thirteen hollered, You want to kill me. Let her go. Hearing this, Jiang Xiaotian creased his brows. I wasnt sure if he was thinking of whether or not to keep Thirteens aberrants as pets, as he actually stopped making the ice sculptureAnyhow, cant you raise Asura instead? Does it have to be Maternibaby? Do you think that its fine just because its going to be Halloween? Jiang Xiaotian nced at me and said, Kill him, then. I didnt expect Thirteens current fighting ability to be so poor. He is not going to be much of a help to you. Although you should practice how to defend against psychic attacks, you have lost your memories and often dream. Your mental state is not stable to begin with. This isnt a good time to train your capability to resist psychic attacks. I nodded, raised my ice spear, and walked over. Thirteen raised both ws, refusing to submit. He threatened, Let her go. Jiang Xiaotian raised his eyebrows. In each tiny hand, he released a ball of cold air. Thirteens knees instantly froze into two round balls, and he was forced to kneel down, as he desperately tried to knock away the ice on his knees. His face was so pained that it had lost all color, though I could understand that. The ice power from the Ice Emperor was so cold that even someone with the ice ability like me was gonna freeze to death, not to mention an aberrant that dreaded the cold. You think you can still talk about conditions with me? Jiang Xiaotian sneered. I think somethings not right here. If Thirteen could be this easily dealt with, then Jiang Xiaotian would have already made his move at theb. Dont tell me theres a serious repercussion to his power, so he didnt fight earlier? Myplexion changed at the thought. I shouted, Jiang Xiaotian. You are not allowed to continue. I will kill Thirteen right now. You be good now. You hear me! Jiang Xiaotian pursed his lips but, nevertheless, nodded his head. Thirteen couldnt help but ask, I dont understand. Why do you have to kill me? Why? Because the current you can actually ask me why! Which aberrants as of now can speak? Even if the Thirteen before us didnt seem as ruthless and domineering as the one from rumors, once he encountered any people, even if he didnt eat them, hed still kill them. I didnt know if some event in the future caused him to turn out like that, but I also couldnt guarantee that I could prevent that event from happening. Even more, I didnt have the confidence to persuade Thirteen not to kill people outside of mealtime. I could only choose the simplest solutionsend him to the next world! Youre too unique. For the sake of less people dying in the future, I coldly said, I can only trouble you to die now. Thirteen said no more, suddenly turning his head and looking under the tree. I then noticed Beibei was actually sitting there. She had been shocked frozen, to the point that even her eyes were zed and unmoving. Before the aberrant hade over, he had not forgotten to leave Beibei in a safe ce. As for me, this human, I had forgotten all about her. Guilt stabbed me. This is absurd. I couldnt help exining, I will bring her to her mothers side. Keep her by your side, Thirteen said seriously. It seemed more like a request. I was silent. It was not that I didnt want to bring Beibei with me, but his actions baffled me. Hes like a human, too much like a human! I couldnt help but recall Wu Yaojins words. Aberrants can recover their minds No, its impossible no matter how you think about it. Thirteen should be a special case. Protect Beibei! Thirteen pleaded once again. Why? Unless you know Beibei? Thirteen shook his head and said, perplexed, When I was asleep, I saw two people: a tiny one, very much like Beibei, and the other is bigger. She is, she Unable to figure it out, his eyes unexpectedly reddened. I only felt panic at the sight. In the past, killing aberrants simply didnt cause me any mental stress. Killing aberrants that eat people, who would feel any moral dilemmas! But if there are also human-like existences like Thirteen among them, then before I go for the kill, is it necessary to investigate their background beforehand and determine whether theyre human or not? No, I shouldnt listen any further. My saintplex is already untreatable. If I throw in this moral dilemma over their humanity, Ill be dead before I know it! Okay, Ill protect Beibei. Thirteen unexpectedly rxed a bit. He slowly closed his eyes, waiting for death as a manner of relief. The sight almost made me stay my hand, but only nearly. Thinking of the soldiers who had died at theb, and then of those future tens of thousands of human beings The ice spear pierced straight toward his chest. Bang, bang, bang! I swayed, lowering my head to stare at my chest. Blood blossomed, seeping through my clothes, bit by bit, an ugly sight. That wasnt even the end of the gunshots. Volume 3, 9: Truth, Part Two

Volume 3, Chapter 9: Truth, Part Two

Trantor: Michimochi (proofread by Arcedemius; C/E edited by lucathia) Another burst of gunshots followed closely after, making me stumble. Finally, unable to hold myself up any longer, I toppled to the ground. My chest hurt so much that I was unable to breathe, and my leg throbbed in pain. Thirteeny to the side, like he had gotten shot as well. Just a moment ago, we were enemies. Now, we were fellow sufferers. He looked at me, shocked. Dying next to a king of aberrants seemed pretty worth it. Its just that I really wanted to return to Dg and Junjuns side. There is little Dg here, but but they really arent the same Shuyu! Jiang Xiaotians voice sounded terribly, awfully pained Jiang Shuyu! I snapped out of my reverie and raised my head. In front of me stood a girl, a very pretty oneOf course, she cant at allpare to my familys Junjun. Whats her name again Ah right, Miao Xiangling. Do you need something? Um Miao Xiangling blushed, then took a deep breath and continued, You previously mentioned that you would consider going out with me after the exams. Did you mean it? I couldnt help but chuckle. Usually, girls would take that as a rejection, but I really had meant it. Preparing for exams while dating would have been so tiring. Why go through so much trouble? I meant it. Are you free this weekend? Wanna eat lunch and watch a movie together? Lets meet at the lobby of Movie City. How does that sound? I promptly invited her first. Otherwise, always letting the girls invite me out is so not okay. Since were giving it a try first, its not like we need to immediately start dating. Perfect! Miao Xiangling said as if a weight off her chest had been lifted, but she still said in worry, Then, Ill see you there! I nodded. See you there. With the words still echoing in my ears, I realized I probably couldnt keep that promise. There had never been a problem walking this way to Movie City, where I had often brought Junjun. But, this time was different. As I was walking along, a st of pain suddenly hit my head. The pain passed, and my consciousness soon faded with it. Before sinking intoplete darkness, scenes shed before my eyes one after another. It was a split second, but it felt super long, as if I had experienced a lifetime. Beginning from a babbling age, to starting junior high, then high school, and finally studying at college. Getting a job and a boyfriend, working hard to be able to get a mortgage and buy a houseall of thatpletely dissolved into sea foam within the ck Fog. The apocalypse suddenly descended. There were scary monsters everywhere, yet they were nothing in the face of the bitterness of a mothers passing and a boyfriends betrayal. In the end, my heart was torn into pieces, like ashes in the wind I am Guan Weijun. Shuyu! I opened my eyes. kes of snow and ice crystals appeared in front of me. There was nothing more beautiful than this that could be imagined. For a moment, I didnt know where I was. Has everything finally ended? Is this heaven? Shuyu? A dashing, domineering face appeared in front of my eyes. It couldnt be any more familiar. His expression transformed from grief to ecstasy, and he rushed closer. He wanted to examine me everywhere, yet he didnt dare to touch me anywhere. Dg? Wait a sec, his hair is longer than his shoulders, and its totally white. This is the Ice Emperor. Right then, my heart brimmed with guilt. The Ice Emperors worries and concern should never be wasted on me. It was simply wrong from the start. Ice Emperor, you got this all wrong. You, youre not my dg! The Ice Emperor caressed my cheek with concern and asked, Shuyu, are you okay? I shook my head minutely. I couldnt say it. For the sake of his younger siblings, the Ice Emperor had leapt through time and space. How could I tell him this cruel reality? I cant ever do it! Plus, at least theres still Shujun. Shes his true little sis! Do you feel like vomiting? The Ice Emperor reached out, like he wanted to support me but didnt dare to, and apanied with that imposing look Fine, actually, it currently wasnt all that imposing. Any man who wore ragged, skinny shorts would have his imposing demeanor damaged, no matter how imposing he was. No. I thought it was weird, too. I had obviously gotten shot in the chest. Even if I didnt die, it shouldnt be like this; I was just in pain. I reached out my hands to touch my chest, yet I couldnt feel it. Instead, I felt a hardyer of armor. It was just thatpared with theplete outline of a chest it had before, it was now in pieces. Its Jiang Xiaorong. He helped me block the bullets. I smiled helplessly. Who knew. The bulletproof vest thing had just been an excuse, yet it had actually served as a bulletproof vest. If it werent for this little tree, I would probably be dead. But, is Jiang Xiaorong still alive? Since I now knew my injuries were not that serious, I struggled to sit up. But the moment I did so, I was stupefied. I was actually in a snowy field. Whiteness spread as far as the eye could see. W-Whats up with this? How did I jump straight from an autumn day to a snowy one? Suddenly remembering something, my expression distorted. I twisted my head and red at the Ice Emperor, yelling with a burst of anger, What the hell did you do? I told you not to use your ability. You still acted recklessly. No wonder your hair is all white! It wasnt like this thest time I saw you I immediately fell silent. I had spoken so agitatedly that the injury on my chest tore. I was in so much pain that I couldnt even say a single word. Although Jiang Xiaorong had shielded me, he wasnt sturdy enough. Therefore, I had still suffered a heavy blow. When I hurt so much that I began curling in pain, I suddenly felt a wiggle of a twig from my chest. Jiang Xiaorong, good boy! Live well, and I guarantee you plenty of crystals to eat from now on! At this moment, a gust of icy cold wind rushed over. Instantly, my chest felt a lot better, but it wasnt healed. The coldness had numbed the pain. Its so not worth it! I red at the disobedient Ice Emperor and grit my teeth against the pain. Dont randomly use your ability, you Yet, the Ice Emperor covered my mouth and shook his head as he said, Dont talk. Just listen to what I have to say, Shuyu. I dont have any more time. No more time? I was stunned. My eyes just so happened to fall on his pale white hair. Soon after came a cracking sound from the area above my lips. It was his finger Voice hoarse, I said, Dg, you havent seen Shujun yet. Its been ten years. Dont you miss her? I could only hope the incentive of his mimei was enough to make the Ice Emperor want to live no matter what. He is this powerful. There must be a way! Even if he lost all his ability, it doesnt matter. We would all protect him! The Ice Emperorughed out loud and said, After traveling with you, its taken a load off of my mind knowing you are here. Home over here will rely on you to protect it. The Jiang Shutian in this world definitely cant be stronger than you. No, even if it were me at this time, I might not be stronger than you. I snapped, Me wanting to be stronger was not to take a load off of your mind, but for our family to continue to survive together. You dont understand at all! Your family will definitely live on together. What does that mean? Its true that there are two Dgs now, and the Ice Emperor, indeed, isnt my dg, b-but My family is no longer alive. Hearing this, I could feel anger bubbling up, and I roared, Am I not Yet, the Ice Emperor interrupted me and inquired instead, Shuyu, this isnt the same world, right? I havent returned to the past at all. Rather, I arrived in a different space and time. Even though it was an inquiry, his tone was filled with certainty. Listening to this, my face darkened. As I had thought, he had long figured it out and had even kept quiet about it. Dont tell me was he searching for a chance to sacrifice himself? You bastard There was another cracking sound. I shot a look toward the source of the sound, horrified to the point that my face paled. A crack had appeared on the Ice Emperors hand, from the tip of his pinky all the way to his arm. It was like a piece of ice cracking, and some shards were even dropping. I didnt dare to look at the chipped areas. Shuyu, I really dont have any more time. Just quietly listen to me. No more time. Just how long do you have left? Is it enough to start running toward Old Town? It was the MORC who shot you just now. Wu Yaojin led a group of people over, and some even had powers. That fucking bastard was simply a wolf in sheeps clothing. Wu Yaojin! Ah Nuo was right! I should have killed him from the start! To be able to find us within this short amount of time, he must have imnted a tracking device on you. When was this? I scrunched my brows and remembered that he had once hid behind me and patted my shoulders. That son of a bitch dared to use me! Remember, Shuyu. You need to destroy the MORC. Behind the scenes, they are even more corrupt than I thought. Those ability users were pretty much on your level. Its simply unbelievable. If those people were trained until theter stages of the apocalypse, there would be a bunch of elites in the hands of the MORC. Some of them might even rival the top twelve elites. Its just that they are too deeply hidden away, so the world ispletely unaware of their existence. We dont even know what they are up to either. Its a pity that Wu Yaojin escaped. He is very suspicious. If you ever meet him again, you have to watch out. I dont care about the MORC right now! Killing them will have to be put off untilter anyway. They dont fucking matter right now! Dg, is there really no other way? I was flustered to the point of begging. Think harder. You can transform into a kid again. You could definitely live on, right? We can protect you. Definitely! Think about Shujun. You havent seen her for so long. Dont tell me you dont want to see her? Shujun I really do want to see her. Too bad, there wont be a chance anymore. The Ice Emperor revealed a nostalgic expression, yet there wasnt the least bit of hesitation in it. His mind hasnt been changed at all. Why? If he wants to see her, then just continue to live on! Dg, no matter what, staying alive is the most important. Dont you think so? Toward the end, I had to clench my teeth in order to prevent my voice from cracking. The Ice Emperor smiled and shook his head. Shuyu, do you know what thest scene I saw was before I came here? I couldnt even think of it, but he didnt really want an answer from me. It was Lily. She was kneeling on the ground, crying and begging me not to believe that aberrants words, not to abandon her, not to abandon the rest of humanity. They needed me more than ever, but I still chose to turn my back and leave, abandoning everything. I opened my mouth, yet I couldnt say a word of constion. To someone from that world, to the Lily of that world, the Ice Emperor had indeed forsaken them. In theter period, elites were akin to gods. Their existence was of grave importance, the key to changing the tide of the battlefield. Even the loss of one was a huge loss. If I really did return to the past, then I would have been able to change the future. Shuyu and Shujun wouldnt have died. Those of the mercenary troop would not have died. I could have even helped the human poption. There would have been fewer hardships! Yet, in the end, this isnt my world. Not only was I unable to rescue Shuyu and Shujun, I even abandoned Lily and deserted all of humanity. I deserve to die the most. Shuyu, tell me how should I live on? I bluntly said, You dont have the responsibility to save the world in the first ce. Lily will understand. She knew how much you wanted to rescue your family. She wouldnt me you! Hehe, Shuyu. No wonder you always said how important it is for family to stick together. The Ice Emperor chuckled. Your next step is to find your dg and Shujun while I will also reunite with my brother and sister. My heart sank. I hastily cried out, Dg, Im also your ddi! The Ice Emperor scanned my face. His face was filled with a doting smile, yet he didnt reply. Seeing this, my heart was even more anguished, and I was also a bit scared. He cant have realized it, right? I was Guan Weijun. I was, ever since my mothers womb. It was just that I hadnt remembered my previous life. After getting hit by the tile, I had forgotten the memories of this life, yet I started remembering the memories from my previous life. Now that I think about it, I dont even know what I was so worried about! In the end, the truth was just as Dg and Shujun had resolutely said. Indeed, after I was hit on the head by the tile, I remembered my past life. I was their Jiang Shuyu, who had lived with them for eighteen years. That was the absolute truth! But to the Ice Emperor in front of my eyes, I was not his ddi; therefore, he would constantly feel that I was not like the Shuyu in his memory because I really wasnt! But it doesnt mattertheres still Shujun! I will persistently work hard to sway him. At least, he did not spit out that it was hopeless, so there must still be a way to save him. It was just that the Ice Emperor was unwilling to live any longer. Now that I thought about it, if we hadnt encountered this situation, he had probably nned to apany me back to my familys side, take a look at Shujun, then walk toward his death in the same manner. Dg, please. If Shujun knew about your situation, she would definitely be devastated. You wouldnt want to make her cry, right?! Hearing this, the Ice Emperor sighed instead. Make her cry? Theres still a mimei that I could make cry. Thats just wonderful. I widened my eyes. That crack, it had already reached his neck and was crawling toward his face. Shuyu, finally, I want to give you a gift I immediately said, Okay, I want Dg to keep living! The Ice Emperor smiled, but that smile was split in half by the crack. In that moment, I felt that my heart had split as well. D, Dg My eyes widened, watching the person in front of my eyes crystallize into ice from the bottom of his feet. My chest started to burn until I couldnt even breathe. Shuyu, help me protect the family. If you have any energy left, look after humanity. Protect this world. What I couldnt manage, I know you can definitely do it better than I could. I can see that crystal clear. You will be stronger than I ever was! The Ice Emperor seized my shoulders. At this moment, the crystallization had reached his top half. The icy, cold air emitted from his two hands was so frigid that I couldnt feel my arms, though this pain actually made me feel a bit better. At least, I was distracted from the torment that was about to break my heart. Jiang Xiaotian, you bastard. If you had already decided to die as atonement, why on earth did you joke with me, mentor me, criticize my mistakes, and even be a role model for me to follow all this time? Do you know that I had already envisioned us four siblings living together in a beautiful, happy future? Dont you know that I will be sad? Dont cry. Men only drip blood, not tears. Fuck that, Im a woman! Dg, please I cried so hard that I couldnt even speak. The ice had already crawled up his neck. Dg was about to turn into a cracked ice sculpture, and you still forbid me to cry? The Ice Emperor solemnly spoke. No. Shuyu, its me who wants to beg you. Please dont let the Jiang family of this world experience any loss. Please do what I couldnt. Take me with you. Let me see a different future. Take You? I didnt even have time to form a question; the person in front of me had alreadypletely crystallized into an ice sculpture. I didnt dare to move. My arms were firmly held by the Ice Emperor. If I moved, I could cause him to shatter. I clearly hadnt moved, yet thatrge crack spread in all directions. Things happened within seconds. The ice sculpturepletely broke into pieces, scattering across the ground. I reached out, yet was only able to catch a few ice crystals. At that moment, I could only stare at the ice crystals in my palms, stunned. Suddenly, the ice crystals that covered the ground floated upwards. My sight was filled with crystals. It was a breathtaking sight, but it was created with Dgs life. I dont even want to look at it! All of a sudden, all those floating ice crystals gathered together, condensing a bit. Then, they transformed again. They looked as if they were going to burst into pieces, and even vanish into thin air. I hastily reached out, wanting to grab those ice crystals. Even one would be alright. My fingers closed in, yet I grabbed something sturdy. Whats this? I blinked. The ice crystals started to condense along the area where I held onto the shape of a baton. Then, it extended both ways. In the end, it was about the height of a persona tall spear. The shaft of the spear to the point of the head was all a translucent, glowing, silver blue, like ice but not. The end of the shaft was sharpened to a point, while the spear head was the shape of a knife. It was a type that could not only sh but also stab. The entirety of the ice spear was beautiful yet deadly. At this moment, a smear of silver blue extended upward from my right hand, which I was gripping the spear with, starting at the pinky. Simple and neat lines meandered up to my upper arm. If it werent for the glow, it would have looked like a tattoo. However, the luminescence slowly dimmed. Now, the designs on my arm really became tattoos, silvery blue tattoos. I stared nkly at the tiny clump of crystals that was still in front of my eyes. While I was still at a loss, it actually transformed into a dagger, a clear, silvery blue one. Abruptly, the whole dagger transformed into light and shot toward my left hand. Silvery blue lines once again bloomed on my skin. The only difference was that the lines on this side were very short, looping once around my wrist like a bracelet. An ice spear and an ice dagger. They were the two weapons that I was best at wielding. Ice Emperor, could you be any more thoughtful than this? I came to a sudden realization. The Ice Emperor could have definitely hung on, but he had chosen to use thest of his strength to transform into weapons for me. Maybe, this is exactly what he originally had in mind? Apany me home, take a look at Shujun, then use thest of his strength to transform into weapons as atonement. But who knew the MORC would suddenly ambush me. He had probably thought I was deadafter all, I had received several shots to the chest. Therefore, he had exploded in power, resulting in this icyndscape. Finally unable to continue on, he could only move up his ns of transforming into weapons. Unable to ever set eyes on Shujun, how much must he have regretted that? MORC, I will destroy you if its thest thing I do! Volume 3, 10: Returning Home, Part One

Volume 3, Chapter 10: Returning Home, Part One

Trantor: Michimochi (proofread by Arcedemius & Trespasserby; C/E edited by lucathia) Standing amidst a world of ice and snow, I suddenly felt that this world might no longer have anyone left in it. I panicked, but then I heard a crunching noise. I whipped my head around, searching for the origin of the sound, and found it with a single nce. There was someone else on the snowy field. Such a huge tail was so eye-catching, he simply couldnt hide. Thirteen had his back to me, as if nning to escape. Even though Im heavily injured, theres no way he isnt more severely wounded than me, plus hes afraid of the cold! I gave a coldugh. Ignoring how injured I was, I raised my ice spear and dagger, formed ice des below my feet, and glided over stubbornly. Thirteen noticed me as well and doggedly continued to run, but how could he run faster than me? In just a blink of an eye, I caught up to him and went to kick him. Although he dodged it, his feet slipped out from under him, and he fell to the ground. His fall was a serious one. His whole body had mmed into the ground. For some reason, he hadnt used his hands to catch himself. He looked quite miserable, with his face held just off the ground. Sneering, I wielded the ice spear. Right when I went to thrust the spear into his back, to finish this fellow off once and for all, his bizarre posture caught my attention. Looking closely, it was as if he was hugging some sort of object. Is he trying to trick me? I hesitated for a moment. The anxiety I felt was probably unwarranted. Thirteens actions up until now showed how much smarter he was than other aberrants, but it wasnt to the point of scheming. I even had the feeling that this guy looked down on scheming. Turn around, I demanded. Thirteen did exactly asmanded. To be this obedient, he must really be injured pretty badly. He didnt even have any energy left in him to resist. Once he turned around, a tiny body held within his arms appearedit was actually Beibei. I was stunned. I stretched out my hand, wanting to take the little girl, but Beibei actually tightened her hold around Thirteens neck. She seemed very attached to him. On the other hand, she used an expression filled with horror to look at me. The little girl trembled. I originally thought it was because she was afraid, but Thirteen pulled his white robe over her, struggling to cover her. Then, I finally understood. Our surroundings were a field of ice and snow. If it wasnt for Thirteen holding her, Beibei would probably have frozen to death by now. The Ice Emperor and I had almost killed Beibei, while Thirteen was actually protecting Beibei the entire time. What kind of bizarre situation is this? Why do I feel like Im actually the viin? This is so ridiculous that I want tough. You want to kill me? Thirteen cautiously peered at the ice spear, terrified of it. What a good question. I really should kill him and snatch away the little girl. Then, I should head east right away and find Dg and Xiomi. After that, I should continuously strengthen the Jiang territory, be a top-tier elite with the most powerful troop backing me up, and kill every single MORC member. I would be unchallenged in this apocalyptic world Howe this sounds so much like Xia Zhengus ambition? Jiang Shuyu? I looked at Thirteen. He had actually remembered my name well. Thirteen, do you hate humans? Thirteen looked at me. At first, he seemed as if he wanted to say yes, but then Beibei suddenly raised her head and looked up at him. He then stayed silent and just tightened his hold on the little girl. That action was as if he were reassuring her. If you ignore Thirteens aberrations, they look just like a father and daughter. Do you hate the MORC? As I finished saying this, I saw Thirteens puzzlement and then immediately shouted, Do you hate those people who stuffed you in that ss cylinder? Thirteens face immediately twisted into hatred. Very good, his hatred for the MORC is deeply rooted, but he just didnt know the MORCs name. Thats not a problem. I just told him, so he will remember. Swear! Swear to me that if you see any of the MORC, you will kill each and every one of them! I will then let you go! Thirteen shook his head and said, You can ask me something else. I already nned to kill them. I dont have anything else to ask you. Dont tell me I should ask him not to eat humans? Try asking someone to never eat food! Even if they swear it, could those words even be trusted? Thirteen said in a serious manner, I swear. If Ie across any of the MORC, I will kill them all. I closed my eyes and, with great effort, suppressed what my rational side was trying to tell me. Go! Before I change my mind, scram! Thirteen did not hesitate. Holding Beibei tightly, he turned and limped away. I stood in ce. If the little girl called out, or even gave me one look, I would grab her back. However, not once did I receive any SOS signals from the little girl. Once they were no longer in sight, only then did I squat down, hold my head, and allow reason to return. Tens of thousands of lives, Xiao Sha of the other world The Ice Emperor really wanted to avenge Xiao Sha Yet I just let Thirteen go! How could I? I even let him take Beibei away. What about Auntie Chen? But Thirteens behavior is just off. He doesnt hate humans at all right now. I can tell. Besides, with his strength, plus the fact that he also has Asura and Maternibaby with him, humans arent a threat at all. He simply doesnt have any reason to hate human beings. Who would hate a te of veggies for no reason? Plus, with Wu Yaojin bringing the MORC over, I could broadly deduce that if it werent for the Ice Emperors and my involvement, Thirteen would probably have been caught by the MORC. And this time, he would have definitely be the MORCs main research experiment. Following that, he would have escaped again. At that time, Thirteen would definitely hate humans to the very bottom of his soul. On top of that, there was no hope that he would bother to distinguish between the MORC and other humans. He would indiscriminately ughter everyone. But now the situation had changed, and Thirteen had not been caught. He even had with him a human, Beibei, and he treasured the little girl. Like this, he shouldnt hate humans as much. Even better is that he still hates the MORC, and hes even vowed to kill them on sight! There cant be a better result than this, right? What if Im wrong? Then, I just released an aberrant that will kill tens of thousands of human beings in the future! And it doesnt matter if my reasoning is correct or not, Thirteen will end up killing Xiao Sha No, thats the Thirteen of the other world. The Xiao Sha here is still alive and well. This damned parallel world is really messing my brain up! Chest full of pain, head full of conflict between logic and madness, I didnt even know what the right thing to do was. Howe knowing the future still makes it hard to judge right and wrong? Howe even with knowing the future and reaching tier two ahead of time, Im still suffering endless losses? This time, it was the Ice Emperor, but wholl be next? Will it be Dg? Will it be Shujun? No Two broken figures shed across my mind. Grief inundated me. I couldnt help but hold my head as shrieks split the air without stopping. It continued, until suddenly there was a gentle touch on my face. Dg? I hastily twisted my head to look over but instead saw a green leaf, which was particrly eye-catching against the snowy backdrop. A small sapling was perched on my shoulder, familiar yet foreign. The shape of the small sapling with two leaves was, without a doubt, Jiang Xiaorong, but the originally brown branches had be a half-transparent, silvery white, just like ice. Is this the Ice Emperors way of thanking Jiang Xiaorong for rescuing me? No, in the end, he must have done this to give me support. Jiang Xiaorong shifted his two skinny branches. He seemed smaller than he was before. Helping me block the bullets must still have injured him severely. The little sapling, just like how a person would, sat on my shoulder, and used the two skinny branches to lightly rub my face. Suddenly, I understood. Let me go and find you some soil for your pot. When I finished speaking, Jiang Xiaorong stopped rubbing. It cant be that he really understood my words? Iughed, but theughter was choked. I hastily wiped my face, then stood up to start digging. At this moment, I felt something was wrong, like I was missing something Wheres the ice spear and the dagger? The Ice Emperor gave me those! I looked around anxiously, but then I saw the silvery blue ice pattern on my arms shing brightly. Realization washed over me, like I had been given a clue. The spear and dagger had been put away. I was dazed for a good while. Then, I started digging and put Jiang Xiaorong in the pot. Next, I would head eastwards and not detour anywhere else. If I hadnt taken any detours in the first ce, maybe Maybe what? Wasnt the one pulling me on the detours Jiang Xiaotian himself? He already had death in mind. Even if Xiaotian had followed me to Lan City, it wouldve been just to take a look at Shujun, right? This ice spear and dagger couldnt possibly have been devised so rapidlyhe had to have nned this a long time ago! I carried Jiang Xiaorong and started heading east. Who knew if it was the Ice Emperor who left his mark, but not a single aberrant dared to appear. First, I collected my motorcycle, and then I drove east the whole way. I drove until the motorcycle couldnt move anymore. Then, I left it behind and started walking on foot. When I came back to my senses, I was not that conscious of where I was. I just gazed straight ahead. The building looked like a clock tower. I recall Dgs letter mentioned something about a clock tower Xiao Yu! Whos calling me? I stared nkly at the person rushing toward me and blurted out, Xiao Sha? How are you still alive? Didnt Xiao Sha get killed by Thirteen? He was taken aback, but ran up to me, his joy turning into puzzlement as he asked, What? Of course Im alive. Are you hurt? I shook my head but Xiao Sha grabbed me and carried me in his arms anyway. I wanted to struggle but found that I didnt have a single bit of energy left. Oh well. I let him carry me the entire way, and he even yelled as he ran, Boss! Shuyu is back! He came back by himself! Everyone,e and look! Getting carried like this, I felt lethargic all of a sudden. A bit drowsy, I found that I couldnt even remember how many days I had walked for. When was thest time I actually slept Shuyu? I was instantly sober and looked over to see a familiar face Ice Emperor? Jiang Xiaotian? The other person looked at me with utter joy at regaining what had been lost. Ice Emperor, so you are alive and well! I struggled to stand, wanting to pounce on him, but my feet turned to jelly, and I fell, but luckily someone caught me in time, so I didnt crash to the ground. Lifting my head, I gazed at him and saw tears in his eyes. To hell with men only drip blood, not tears. Youre about to cry He hugged me jubntly. His voice was like he was half chuckling, half crying as he said, Shuyu! You came back. I knew you would be all right. Shujun thought the same. Shujun even imed, rg is the strongest. Even if we all died, hed be all right, and she was right! How wonderful, she was right! I opened my mouthI had a mountain of questions that I wanted to askbut I ended up only calling out, Dg This person isnt the Ice Emperor, hes Dg. The Ice Emperor is already dead! To hell with bringing him to witness a different future, as if he isnt dead and has merely taken the form of a spear. Thats all BS! Find me if that ice spear ever opens its mouth and calls me Ddi! Youre dead beyond dead! Dg, you big idiot! Just because the Ice Emperor is the parallel world version of you, he is still youthe idiot who isnt willing to live on! Dg acknowledged it all, and guiltily said, Yeah, Dg is a big idiot, who even searched in the wrong direction, causing you to suffer. Thats right, you got the directionpletely wrong. If you can live on, then you should live on. Using your death to absolve you of your guiltthats what morons do! rg! A girls voice was so high pitched that it could even shatter ss. There wasnt any trace of a pretty girls demeanorit was simply a voice on the level of a harpy. Shujun rushed forward. First, she embraced her rg, using enough force that I felt that she wanted to choke her own brother to death. Then, she raised her head, and with reddened eyes, earnestly said, rg, you came back. Hearing these words, I jolted awake. I looked around. Dg and Xiomi were both embracing me, unwilling to let go. Uncle and Auntie were running over. Even the other mercenaries were crowding around us. They all had happy and grateful looks This is home. Im home! Yeah, Im back. As I finished saying this, tears blurred my sight. I tried wiping them away, but I couldnt wipe them dry. And seeing Mimei burst into tears, crying so fiercely, my own tears followed relentlessly. Let it flow. Nestled in Dg and Mimeis embrace, my heart filled with sorrow. I couldnt stop myself and cried with wracking sobs, until I was out of breath, until my sight began to spin and fade into darkness. Even if I really fainted, Im not afraidIm already home. Volume 3, 10: Returning Home, Part Two

Volume 3, Chapter 10: Returning Home, Part Two

Trantor: Michimochi (proofread by Arcedemius & L Su; C/E edited by lucathia) When I regained consciousness, it was because I was starving. My stomach growled a whole symphony. I struggled to sit up. The entire room spun. I touched my chest; it didnt hurt. My injuries should be healed. This dizziness ispletely caused by hunger. Sitting up, my feet brushed against a sapling. Jiang Xiaorong had been ced beside the bed. He didnt react at all. I bet hes sleeping? Is there such a thing as nts needing sleep? I really dont know. However, Xiaorong can walk, shiver, and eat aberrants. Sleeping wouldnt be abnormal at all. Slowly, I got out of bed, wanting to call Shujun over to make something for her almost-starved-to-death rg. Just when I gripped the doorknob, I heard voices outside and stopped immediately. Hows your rg doing? Has, has he been This was Dgs voice, hurried and miserable. He didnt even finish. Have I been what? I checked while I helped wipe rg down. Shujun said quietly, There was no visible trace. But if its been too long, it can also be undetectable. Wait a minute, when you helped wipe me down, you did what to me? Why do I have a very bad feeling about this?! Is that so? Dg said in a calm voice. It was only a few short words, but they carried deep grief and remorse. This manner of speaking was too much like the Ice Emperor. My chest suddenly felt tight. Not wanting to continue listening to them speaking in such a way anymore, I pulled open the door. The two of them even jumped in surprise. This kind of remorseful and unsettling appearance made me both angry and amused. Shujun, when you wiped me down, what did you do? And why are you the one who helped wipe me down? I looked at Dg, shooting merciless stares filled with dissatisfaction. You let a girl wipe down a man? Siblings or not, one is eighteen and the other is fifteen. Do you think this is proper? Dg awkwardly said, Shujun insisted on it. She said she cant rx if I do it, saying that she was afraid my actions would be too rough and hurt you. Im already tier two. How rough can you be to injure me when wiping me down? Do you think youre the Ice Emperor? Ugh, I cant make that kind ofparison. My chest hurts. I peered at Junjun, carrying a disapproving look. Junjun, on the other hand, had red eyes and was even crying. Before the apocalypse, she didnt cry this much. After the apocalypse, people clearly became stronger, yet how did she be such a crybaby? She cried, rg, you dont remember how terrible you looked when you came back. The clothes on your body were all tattered and ragged. Your upper body was only left with a bit of tattered cloth. Sigh, damaging clothes is unavoidable on the battlefield. Its not like those clothes were made of aberrant skin. Theyre easily damaged. Plus, Thirteen and I had fought, then I got shot several times by the MORC. To have these clothes still hanging on after that, these materials must actually have been pretty good. And you were barefoot. You werent even wearing any shoes! In order to practice my ice ability, to be ready to fight at anytime, the Ice Emperor forbade me from wearing any shoes, so what could I do? And you were carrying a potted nt on your back. Your whole image lookedpletely wrong! Thats Jiang Xiaorong. Junjuns tears poured forth again. I followed her line of sight and found out that she was looking at my arms. Your arms are even branded with tattoos rg, you, were you caught by someone? I couldnt help but be depressed. Looking at the ice pattern just reminded me of the Ice Emperors shattered disappearance. My eyelids felt hot. My chest tightened. I couldnt even grate out one word. Im so scared that it woulde out as sobs, rather than words. rg! Junjun cried on my chest. I put my arms around her, even more afraid to speak, afraid that I may follow her lead and cry. Men dripped blood, not tears. I already shed too many tears. Junjuns bing a puddle of tears could be attributed to how its said that women are made of water. The me in this life is a guy made of mud, a crybaby! Dg raged furiously, Who dared to do this to, to youwho dared to injure you? And even forcibly tattoo your body. I will absolutely not let them get away with this! Sigh, the one who injured me was the MORC, and the one who tattooed me was the Ice Emperor Wait, this isnt even tattoo, hey! I was about to exin clearly. Who knew that raising my head up and looking at Dgs face would remind me of the Ice Emperor, and my tears are on the verge of escaping once more? I hastily lowered my head, not daring to look at him again. Dg mournfully said, Its Dg who didnt protect you. Everything is all my fault Thats not the case! I interrupted him. I cant continue like this. Dg and Xiomi are feeling guilty already, I cant continue this crying but not crying. They will feel even more remorseful. I hastily blinked, blinking back all my tears, then decisively said, Junjun, make me something to eat. Your rg is almost dying of starvation. Hearing this, Junjun nodded her head at once, saying, Okay. Ill go make your favorite dishes. Make something watery. I hesitated for a moment, then confessed, I think I havent eaten for several days. Im a bit muddled with time. Junjun pouted, Okay, Ill go make you some porridge. Seeing Junjun immediately turn and leave, I wanted to follow her down the stairs. Dg said in a strained manner, Where are you going? Im gonna get some water to drink. Dg immediately said, Ill go get it for you instead! I looked at him strangely and said, My wounds are pretty much healed. Dg, youre the one who healed me, werent you? Isnt it perfectly clear? I can go myself. Dg oh-ed, scratched his nose, and said not a word, even though he still closely followed me. Im toozy to care about him. If either Dg or Xiomi went missing and didnte back for a long time, Im pretty sure that I would also nervously follow along closely behind. Stepping down the stairs, I found that this building was actually enormousa rectangr structure spreading horizontally. On the two sides, there were numerous rooms. In the back, there was a spacious courtyard. This wasnt even a residential building. No, I should say this was a residential house a long time ago, and it was even a house for the rich. But now, it was a historical site. It had the feel of a vintage vi. The house looked Western, but the back courtyard had a small bridge, a murmuring brook, and a pavilion that were Chinese in style. What made me speechless was that there was a clock tower on one side. A mishmash of Western and Chinesenow thats strange. I was pretty sure that it was a foreigner who had lived here. I took a bottle of mineral water, drank a little, and meandered. On the way, I met Uncle and Auntie. They seemed as if they had alsoe to see how I was doing. It was probably Junjun who told them the news that I was awake. Xiao Yu! Auntie rushed over. Her eyes reddened, the same reaction as Junjun. This made my heart feel warm. To have family is really a nice thing. Uncle, on the other hand, kept repeating, Its good that you are back. Howe youre not wearing more clothing? Just wearing a t-shirt, when the weather is this cold. What if you get sick? She red at Dg who was behind me and nagged, Do you know how to take care of your younger brother? You are his dg. Cant you be more considerate? Ill go get a jacket immediately. Dg once again revealed a remorseful look. I chuckled and said, No need. Its not cold. I have the ice ability. Even if Im frozen, I wouldnt be cold. Im not affected by the cold weather. Of course, I was only tier-two. A very intense chilly gust could still hurt me. For example, the Ice Emperors chilly ice ability could still easily freeze me into a popsicle, but this trivial weather condition couldnt do anything to me. Unless I was mental and stood outside when its negative twenty or thirty degrees for many days, there was still a higher probability of me copsing than getting frostbite. Is that so? Auntie finally rxed, then examined me. She kept asking concerned questions along the lines of does it hurt, did you get injured, are you hungry? Uncle, who was next to her, didnt say anything, but he listened very closely. I repeatedly replied Im all right and didnt feel annoyed. I only felt warm and cozy, itching for Auntie to ask me everything again. Not long after, Junjun rushed over to say, rg, foods ready. Come and eat. Once I heard of food, I almost salivated. I followed her to the dining table at once. There was a huge bowl of porridge ced on the table. It didnt seem like it was merely in porridge. There were a ton of ingredients, but they were all chopped into pieces so small I couldnt really tell what they were. Junjun hastily said, rg, you can just eat porridge. You shouldnt be eating anything else. In the porridge, there are a ton of tiny fish pieces. Its not in porridge. If you dont like it, at least have some. Im brewing soup right now. in porridge or fish porridge, as long as it can fill the stomach all are good porridge. Just dont add chicken soup and Chinese medicine and its all good! Already unbearably hungry, I picked up the soup spoon and began to dig in. It was a bit hot, so I chilled it with a bit of cool air. I ate spoonful by spoonful, not daring to eat too quickly to avoid a stomachache. Watching me eat, Junjun rxed and murmured, Fortunately, rg didnt be anorexic. Now, Im stumped. Why would I get anorexic out of nowhere? Are all the other ways of dying in the apocalypse not enough? Are the others not eating? I wondered. Going by the clock on the wall, its almost noon. It should be around lunchtime. Junjun nodded her head. Im almost done. Ill go serve the dishes. Dg, help me call everyone to lunch. Dg hesitated for a moment and even nced at me. I was unable to make heads or tails of it, and returned a bewildered look back at him. What do you want? Youre being so odd. Dg, did you also get hit on the head by a tile? Okay, Ill go. Then, while I ate my porridge, I watched as the mercenaries walked in. One by one, I counted until not a single familiar face was missing. Then, I released a breath but also discovered that there wasnt a single person more. Dg actually didnt take in any new people! You know, when I was wandering around by myself out there, I had my eye on several people that I wanted to bring back Wait, howe I dont see any of those college students? Forget it, Ill ask after Im done eating. After all, those guys arent important. Xiao Yu. Lily smiled. You lost so much weight. Eat some more. I nodded my head. After that, Dg said in a deep voice, Everyone, dig in. Its so quiet at the table. How is this like the silly mercenaries from before? Its nothing less than a group ofdies and gents. When did our group start to be particr about being silent while eating? I bewilderedly watched this silent group. Everyone had their heads ducked and were digging into their food. No one dares to say anything. Whats going on? After I was caught by the bird, did anything happen in the group? I asked uneasily. Dg calmly said, Nothing. We were searching for you. Oh, I was also searching for you guys. Although I wanted toe back earlier, I encountered many things I stopped saying anything, not sure how to continue so I couldpletely skip over mentioning anything about the Ice Emperor. Cain, who was sitting to the side, suddenly said, Those things dont matter at all. You can just think of it like being bitten by a dog. Huh? Right now, which kind of dog can actually bite me? Cerberus? I waspletely baffled and looked around at everyone. In my heart lurked a bad feeling. Did everyone misunderstand something? Cain patted my back and consoled, You are a guy anyway. We dont need to care about that chastity stuff. Dont mind this kind of thing. Before I could react, Ceng Yunqian suddenly blew up. She jumped up and punched Cain fiercely. Once she knocked the other down, she even followed that up by rushing forward and kicking him. She roared, Keep your trap shut! What nonsense are you saying! Can you be even more stupid? Everyone, help me beat him to death! All the gang rushed over to trample over Cain, and even Dg put on a frosty face and turned a blind eye. He seemed as if he also wanted to join in kicking the person. Chastity stuff? And matching that with Dg and Junjuns conversation outside the room, I finally thoroughly understood and was also stumped. Did everyone actually think I was raped? Holy crap. Considering how Shujun described the condition I was in when I came back, it really did sound like the condition of a mentally imbnceddy who had suffered from violence. My expression turned dark. Shuyu! Dg anxiously said, Dont mind him. Cain always spouts nonsense! We all know that youre O.K. He looked at Cain. How rare. He used a very dangerous re to face his own mercenary gang, making Cain panic. Dgs face showed that he couldnt wait for everyone to trample Cain even harder, and it was best if they beat him close to death. Let the big boss appease his anger. I hastened to rify, Really, Im O.K.! They all worked hard to show a yeah, youre really O.K. kind of expression. Even jumping into bleach cant clear this up. I cant really talk about the Ice Emperor in front of the troop, but there is something else that I can at least exin clearly. I rushed back to my room, almost got lost, then came back carrying a pot. I raised the pot high and said, This is Jiang Xiaorong. Everyone looked at me with pity in their eyes. Junjun and Auntie stood at the side carrying dishes, sobbing until they couldnt catch their breaths. Dg looked as if he was going to go insane. I released a bit of cold air, freezing Jiang Xiaorong ruthlessly. He got so cold that he jumped out of the pot. Hended on the ground then coiled into a ball. He was just as pitiful as he appeared. Shujuns tears stopped. They stared stupidly at the little sapling that was shivering on the ground. Dg narrowed his eyes at Jiang Xiaorong. His face seemed even more dangerous! Dg, how can we make you drop that dangerous attitude? Feel free to say it, Dd will carry it all out! Hes a banyan tree that I picked up on the way. He originally grew really big, then he withered. Only this tiny bit was left, so I brought him back with me. Xiaorong is very obedient and isnt an aberrant. He is a banyan tree that has experienced the ck fog. I picked up Jiang Xiaorong from the ground, then raised one of his branches and waved it. Xiaorong, here. Come and say hi to the big brothers and big sisters. He wiggled a bit. Once he had struggled free, he shrank beneath my clothes, not wanting toe out and meet anyone. As for this I looked at the ice pattern on my hands, gave a wry smile, and said, This isnt a tattoo. It can be said to be a type of power. I concentrated a bit. The silvery blue ice pattern emitted a glow, and I delightfully looked at everyones stupefied expressions. So that means, you for sure didnt get raped, right? Cain blurted, then quickly covered his own mouth. But he still received everyones simultaneous res. He was so scared that I didnt even want to say anything anymore. Cain better level up his fire ability, or else one day hell definitely die from that mouth of his. Heck no! I rolled my eyes, purposely using especially crude words to shout, In this life, only I can fuck others! No one can top me! If anyone wants to try, take off your own pants first! Peopleughed at the crude, vulgar words. They finally believed that nothing had happened to me. They even squinted at Cains lower half, scaring him to the point of quickly holding onto his pants and fleeing. Afterwards, Cain poked his head back in and looked around, only for his leader to roll his eyes at him. But Dg was now obviously in a cheerful mood, and had no intention of giving him a hard time anymore. I huffed, What you looking at? Come over and eat. Only then did Caine in and sit down to eat. From then on, the dining table finally became noisy. Ceng Yunqian mocked Cain non-stop, calling him big chested and brainless. Yeah, big chested and brainless. His chest muscles were so big that he lost only to Lily. How noisy. My lips curled. Finally, I can eat with no worries. rg, so you want to be a seme, huh? After knowing it was a misunderstanding, Junjun happily, even ecstatically, said, Then, how about Xiao Sha? His figure is more suitable! Xiao Sha almost spit out the food in his mouth. Under the teasing eyes of the group, he grabbed his bowl and fled. Cain howled in amusement. I said in a cool voice, No, I like muscr men better. The number of people grabbing their bowl and fleeing went up by one. Is that so? Junjun pondered for a moment and said, But Cain looks unfaithful to me. rg, you should find one outside the group in the future. I twisted my head to look at Junjun. How did my gentle and cute Junjun be like this in a mere five months of the apocalypse? As expected, since people change fast after the apocalypse, my cute and gentle little sister has be this unrestrained fujoshi. Sob! To the side, Dg had on a Youre the one who led her astray kind of expression, wanting to bepletely left out of this. Forget it. In any case, Junjun had even inspected me while wiping me down. Now, I understood where she had inspected. Just thinking about it makes me want to spit a mouthful of clotted blood. Howe I feel a faint sadness like my chastity is gone? After clearing up the misunderstanding during mealtime, Dg and Junjun no longer carried any grief or reddened eyes. Junjun even joyously said that she and Auntie were making cake to celebrate my safe return. Even during the apocalypse, I can eat handmade cake. No happiness can beat this! Dg, take me for a look around. I want to look at the surrounding environment. I came back, had my share of pain, and could no longer keep drowning in my mourning. Because I still have this whole family to protect. The most important thing right now is to inspect the surroundings. I cant let whatever bird flocke again and risk losing another member. Dg nodded his head, and led me around the outside of the house, exining one detail after another. This Western house actually had stone walls. It really is a pretty good ce to reside in. In the end, we sat in the clock tower in the courtyard. Ipletely understood why Dg had chosen this western house. Just the view from this tower is already worth it. Old Town is pretty nice. Lan City, which is nearby, is even bigger than Zhongguan City. In the daytime, we can go there to search for supplies, thene back at night. The residence is located on top of a hill, in a high topographical location. As long as we add a monitoring station here in the clock tower, we can see pretty far in every direction. This location is even better than our house. I nodded in agreement and said, You must have spent a ton of effort to conquer this kind of mansion. Dg indifferently said, It was only some aberrants and some bullets. If there were people living here, then that would have been a problem. But since its so close to Lan City, theres probably no one who would dare to live here. At least up until now, we still havent found anyone. At the foot of the mountainsy a forest of urban skyscrapers, like a ferocious monster ready to bite people at any time. If the average person could escape from there, then they would indeed try to get as far away as possible. They would definitely not want to stay in this town that was so close. From here on, we will stay in Old Town. Dg said calmly, We will fortify our defense. We should not just rely on the outer walls for defense. To the aberrants, theres not much a difference between those walls and paper paste. I looked at Dg. He and the Ice Emperor really are different. Although the formers domineering attribute is more obvious than thetters, its not the kind that would make people feel oppressed. On the other hand, when the Ice Emperor reveals his true power, its like youre on pins and needles, and youd feel a cold sweat all over. One had a little brother, a little sister, an uncle, an aunt, and a mercenary troop, while the other had lost everything. The discrepancy just got bigger and bigger. Although I could make out many simrities between the two, it was kind of like aparison between brothers rather than the exact same person. But I still liked Dg the most. Even though it was the Ice Emperor who had helped me level up to tier two, taught me how to use my ability, and even used up his remaining power to turn into weapons for me, in the end he wasnt my dg and I wasnt his ddi. Now that I thought about it, the Ice Emperor knew this point clearly, too. As a result, he had not been willing to live any longer. Throughout his life, he had lost too many, far too many people. In the very end, he had lost his entire world, so how could he continue living freely? Even if he wasnt Dg, the Ice Emperor was still a very important family member. It could be said he was another older brother and it wouldnt have been wrong. He had said that he wanted to see how I would bring about a different future. I silently looked at Lan City below. Will this be Thirteens base of operations in the future? Dg, will a small town be enough to satisfy you? Dg turned his head to nce over and said not a single word in reply, yet he had a look of anticipation for his younger brothers next sentence. I narrowed my eyes at the enormous city that devoured peopleThirteens aberrant base, huh? Hmph! The Jiang territory will conquer Lan City! This time, Lan City is the Jiangs base, not Thirteens! Dg curled his lips into a smile and didnt at all look like the weathered Ice Emperor. As you wish. Volume 3, Extra: Frozen Heart

Volume 3, Extra: Frozen Heart

Trantor: Michimochi (proofread by elisa & Arcedemius; C/E edited by lucathia) Boss, just a bit further and well arrive. Lily turned her head, revealing an ugly, centipede-like scar across her face, a sigh-worthy sight. Jiang Shutian indifferently said, You guys station yourselves here. Ill go in by myself. Upon hearing his words, Lily felt a bit uneasy. For these past years, Jiang Shutian had risked everything just to return to the Jiang family. It was not long ago that they had lost Xiao Sha. The mercenary troop didnt have that many people leftthose that were left werent even senior-ranked members. It could be said that the whole mercenary troop had almost been annihted just for the sake ofing back to this ce. If they had chosen to remain stationed where they had started, they definitely wouldnt have been like this today. Under these circumstances, how could Jiang Shutian bear to greet failure? But in reality, they all knew that failure was just around the corner. It was just that he himself, from the very beginning, had been unwilling to face it. Let mee with you. I have to go by myself. Jiang Shutian coldly said, No objections allowed! Lily shut her mouth, knowing full well that any further attempts would not work. The Jiang family had be a sore point for the boss. No one else was allowed to touch it. She was only worried that once her boss saw the truth, this sore point would get out of hand all at once. What kind of consequences would that result in? The troop was nearly out of people. If they lost the boss, Lily really didnt know where she could go. Of course, with her ability, going anywhere would not be a problem, but no ce would hold any meaning for her. She had nothing keeping her anchored, only the JDT. If there was nothing left of the troop, she felt that she would not have the courage to continue on. In this kind of world, your destination didnt matter. What mattered the most was whether or not there was someone to apany you. Boss. Lily, in distress, begged, I only want you to remember. Weve apanied you all the way here, even using our lives to escort you home! Please remember that Im still here. Jiang Shutian looked at her. He moved his lips, but in the end, he spoke not a single promise. Lily turned her back on him. Tears rolled down her face, yet her tone was cold as she said, Xiao Sha hasnt been avenged yet. As the leader of this troop, you have the responsibility to avenge him. Even if you die by Thirteens hand, this vengeance must be dealt! A response finally came from behind her. Yeah. Lily felt relieved. She wiped her face. At least, she was certain that the boss woulde back. As for whether he would purposely seek to die with Thirteen, that was a problem for the future. When she turned back around, her boss was already far off in the distance. Under the setting sun, a path of ice crystals reflected the crimson color of the sunset. It was a gorgeous sight, yet Lily only felt it to be ominous, the color of blood. No matter how beautiful, it could only be a sign of bad luck. Jiang Shutian took his time advancing forward. With his current ability, his top speed was something that outsiders could not even imagine. It was rare that he revealed his true strength since there wasnt ever a need to do so. There was now some sort of Top Twelve Elites in the World kind of title due tomunications being restored. Otherwise, how could anyone know what was going on with the other continents? Dont even mention having a ranking of those elites. On the side of the humans, they had Ice Emperor Jiang Shutian, Thunder God Jin Zhan, and me King Debert. Among them, Thunder God Jin Zhan lived nearby. Jiang Shutian knew Jin Zhan. Although he didnt know him well, and he hadnt seen him for so long, he had no intention to visit him. Most importantly, home was not far off. All other affairs and social interactions would have to be postponed. Humans had sort of hoped that the Big Three would unite. After all, aberrants were by far the stronger ones, and it so happened that human beings were their number one menu option. Jiang Shutian, however, knew this unification would never happen. Jin Zhan was, after all, the mafias young master. He wouldnt obediently listen to others. Debert was, on the other hand, a military and a government official figure. The government over there relied on Debert and his military subordinates, struggling to get by. The fact that Debert was still willing to obediently listen to the orders from his higher-ups was already difficult to believe. On top of that, would the government and the military listen to someone elses orders? Equally unlikely. The power of Jiang Shutians troop was the weakest of the three groups. Jiang Shutian hadnt even established a base, but he wasnt afraid of them. Jin Zhan and Debert hadnt even broken through tier seven, while he had reached tier eight a long time ago. Killing his entire way here really was the best way to train. Jiang Shutian couldnt help butugh bitterly. He had no choice but to admit that suffering was indeed greatly beneficial toward enhancing strength. No matter how slowly he walked, hed have to face it eventually. From a distance, Jiang Shutian recognized the residential area where his own house was located. No matter how thoroughly it had been destroyed, he could still recognize it instantly. Descending from his ice path, he walked over one foot at a time. Even though he wanted to walk slower, he couldnt help but increase his pace. Stepping into familiar yet unfamiliar streets, one after another, Jiang Shutian discovered that his memories had somewhat faded. He finally found a familiar street sign. He rememberedwalk forward two steps, face the left, and he would see his home A humongous ck aberrant was standing not far away. No matter how Jiang Shutian wanted to lie to himself, he couldnt. That really was his house. Jiang Shutian slowly made his way over. He could not copse, not yet. It had been so many years that the odds that Shuyu and Shujun would be waiting where they had originally been was not high. They could have moved elsewhere a long time ago. He had juste to search for clues. But he had been subconsciously ignoring a fact all this time. Ice Emperor Jiang Shutian. This name had resounded throughout the world long ago. If they were still alive, why wouldnt theye to look for their dg? Jiang Shutian stepped forward to get a good look at this aberrant. As a tier eight, he could approach anything without being discovered. This aberrant was unexpectedly very human-like. The top half was a human body, except the strands of his long ck hair were snake-likelike Medusas. There were red-veined patterns on his body. In particr, there were two red patterns under the eyes as if stained from tears. The lower half, however, was a huge lump of mud. The entire aberrant was entrenched on top of the half-dpidated house. It was staring at the setting sun as if it was fond of that crimson thing. Jiang Shutian stood there, unmoving for a long time. He did not want to move. He was unwilling to move If only it didnt look so simr. If only there was arger difference, to the point of being unrecognizable. At least, he would be able to keep a sliver of hope. He would still be able to search for the impossible. But the Heavens wouldnt even give him that bit of pity! Shuyu? The aberrant jumped and whipped his body around. Once the aberrant saw that it was a puny thing behind him, he rxed. He thought this thing was too small and weak, and that was why he hadnt noticed it. Shuyu. Im Im your dg. Do you still remember? Jiang Shutian had once heard that some aberrants retained their original human consciousness. He had scoffed at it before, but nowanything would do. He was willing to believe anything at this point. Aye-ya-ya. There is still someone who doesnt get it, huh? The aberrant chuckled. Im not your guy. You should clearly know this. Didnt you humans get this figured out already? Wetch onto human carcasses. We absorb all the nutrients and grow into aberrants after that. Humans are just soil and fertilizers in which we could nt our roots in. We can even eat you guys afterwards in order to evolve. Thank you for your great sacrifice. The illusion crumbled cruelly. Jiang Shutian felt he was on the verge of going mad. He knew it all too well. Shuyu had long since kicked the bucket, had died in the midst of the ck fogno, maybe even earlier, during the fallen-tile incident. He might have already died then. This aberrant had seized Shuyus corpse and had even kept his face. Yet, he was definitely not his ddi, Jiang Shuyu! His family was long gone. All of his mercenaries had known this very clearly. Jiang Shutian had been the only one unwilling to believe it, sacrificing everything toe back home. How he had hoped that Shuyu had not died. Even in a deepa, he might have survived the moment of judgment. He might have even woken up after that. Shuyu was that strong and optimistic of a kid. He only needed to wake up, and he would be able to protect Shujun, Uncle, and Auntie. Shuyu would be able to protect them all, until he came back. But all that was a mere pipe dream. There was no such thing as a miracle. Ddi, Mimei, Uncle, and Auntie had been long dead since the beginning of the apocalypse. He had spent all these years toe back and search for his family and had even lost members of the mercenary troop again and again: Cain, Zheng Xing, Yunqian, Xiao Sha Only Lily was left. And what was all this for? Jiang Shutian looked up at the sky and sighed deeply. In one blink, icy cold aura burst out. You, you The aberrant shrieked, Dont tell me youre the Ice Emperor Jiang Shutian? Impossible! Even if you are the Ice Emperor, you cant be this strong. Ive almost reached tier seven. Im so close. Jiang Shutian coldly dered, You will only be close forever. The Ice Emperor struck. This aberrant really wasnt weak. It was just as he had saidhe was close to tier seven. Who would have known that there was an aberrant this powerful near Thunder God Jin Zhans neighborhood that had gone undetected? Over time, it might even be another Thirteen. As expected of an aberrant that had formed from Shuyu. It really was stronger than most. Jiang Shutian felt that his way of thinking was a little twisted. He didnt want to kill this aberrant. He didnt want to stop nursing this sore point he had for so many years this easily. He was afraid he wouldnt be able to go onnot even Xiao Shas vengeance could make him go on. How long they had fought, Jiang Shutian simply couldnt tell. Even if he could continue battling on, the aberrant wasnt able to do so. Countless times, the aberrant had wanted to escape, yet how could he? The muddy lump that was his lower-half had already been frozen into ice by the Ice Emperor, firmly binding him to the spot. Jiang Shutian walked in front of him. Their figures were as different as night and day. The aberrant was so big it was like a house. Jiang Shutian could only stand on the aberrants leg and raise his head to look at that familiar yet unfamiliar face. Dont kill me! the aberrant implored. An idea suddenly shed through his mind, and he quickly shouted, Gge. Youre my gge, right? I remember now. Gge, dont kill me! Call me Dg. You and Shujun both like to call me Dg. Dg! He immediately eximed, readily epting this great advice. Jiang Shutian smiled faintly as he climbed his stairs of ice to the aberrants face. He then, caressed that extremely handsome face. His ddi had always been so beautiful that even Shujun had said that after looking at rg for so long, she really didnt know what kind of handsome guy shed need as a husband to be pleasing enough to her eye. Even transformed into an aberrant, he isnt bad looking, sheesh. In response to this, the aberrant inwardly rxed. It seemed he could still continue to live on, and maybe he had even gained an ally? Considering this, he got excited. Although he had gotten beaten to shit and needed a lengthy time for full recovery, if he could get this ally in exchange, then that was a victory! Shuyu, just tell Dg one thing. Sure! The aberrant did his best to pretend to be harmless and innocent, yet he wasnt aware just how sly his outward appearance was, making him appear strange and ridiculous. Jiang Shutian smiled faintly and asked in a light tone, Did you eat Shujun? The aberrant froze. He had eaten humans for so many years, how would he know who he had eaten, much less the names of his food? Jiang Shutian suddenly pped himself hard and mumbled, What am I saying! Shuyu would never hurt Shujun. Although he loves to tease his mimei, he would never lift a finger against Shujun! Aberrant, you arent Shuyu at all! The aberrant sensed that things had gone south and decided to sacrifice his mud-like lower-half and escape. However, he was already an arrow at the end of its flighthow could he possibly escape the hands of the Ice Emperor? st that beautiful face apartthis aberrant does not have the right to wear Shuyus face. st that chest apartan aberrant should not have Shuyus heart. st everything here apart since home no longer exists, this ce should turn into a cemetery to apany the dead. His heart was as cold as ice. Jiang Shutian discovered that his power had be stronger. He had already been a tier eight elite who was able to turn his nose up at the world. Am I tier nine now? Probably no one can be sure, since no one has been able to reach this level. But whats the point? His whole world had been destroyed a long time ago. He himself had only just discovered it. Just like an ice sculpture frozen in ce, he stood there for a long time until Lily came over to find him. He then kneeled and cried for a whole night. He followed her back and formed a base, expanding the JDT. Just the title of Ice Emperor was enough for crowds of people to join in one heap after another. Until that day, when an insect-like guy mentioned the possibility of returning to the past, Jiang Shutian suddenly felt that he hade back to life [Frozen Heart, end] Volume 3, Epilogue: Afterword

Volume 3, Epilogue: Afterword

Trantor: Elkin (proofread by Arcedemius; C/E edited by lucathia) The afterword has spoilers, so please dont read the afterword first! I really want to discuss the plot, so please, everyone, dont read the afterword before reading the book. The story wont be as interesting if you know the spoilers, so please make sure to keep the book interesting. After all, the afterword isnt going to run away if you read itter! All right, lets start. The Ice Emperor hase solidly in first ce as the most pitiful person in Dominions End, winning over even Guan Weijun. This is a real feat as the characters who are usually the most abused in my books are all the ones who are referred to as the main characters, so this is a rare instance where a side character takes the crown. In this volume, I was most worried that I didnt properly portray the Ice Emperors desire to die. At the start, when the apocalypse descended onto the world, the Ice Emperor had the advantage of having firepower and his mercenary troop at hand, so life wasnt very difficult for him. As such, he underestimated the power of the apocalypse. By the time he made up his mind to go home, by the time hed discovered that things didnt seem right, it was toote. Going home squeezed the Ice Emperors heart like a vice. Havinge to this point, whether it was the question of whether his younger siblings were still alive, or the sacrifice of hisrades for this purpose, all these hounded him to the point where he had no choice but to go home. In the end, he got home and discovered that his family was long wiped out. His heart shattered into pieces. Then, after thinking that he had found the right solution, which was to go back to the past, start afresh and change everything, he regained the impetus in life for his heart to start beating again. And to this end, he even abandoned hisst survivingrade, Lily, and even turned his back on his responsibility as a leader. When the Ice Emperor traveled through time and space, Thirteen was still alive, and he hadnt gotten his revenge for Xiao Sha. For even someone as strong as Jiang Shutian, after mentally getting beaten over and over throughout the apocalypse, his spirit had bepletely crushed. He couldnt protect his younger siblings. He had dragged each member of his mercenary troop to their deaths. He couldnt avenge his troops deaths. He abandoned hisstrade. And he even abandoned his whole world. Remember, the extra chapter mentioned that the Ice Emperor was one tier stronger than the Thunder God and the me King (well, technically not one whole tier as the other two were close to breaking into his tier by just a little bit), and he gained another tier after killing the Shuyu aberrant. So the Ice Emperor could be said to be the strongest in the world, and the extra story was set less than ten years into the apocalypse! With the Ice Emperors might, it was possible that he could lead humanity out of its dire straits, but it wasnt bad enough that he didnt contribute anything to humanitys future, he even dumped humanity to one side without a thought. The culmination of all this meant that he could no longer live with who he had be. The sense of guilt and me had reached terrifying levels, to the point where even the Ice Emperor couldnt live with it. If not for the fact that he wanted to send Shuyu home and see Shujun, he probably would havepletely broken down after looking at the world map and seeing that something was wrong. So yeah, that just about sums it up. But this is not to say that the Ice Emperor was weaker than Shuyu (Weijun). Rather, he was the ssic type who was so strong that he became brittle. Rather, its guys whore like weeds who can sway with the winds and storms and adapt to all sorts of environments who thrive best and take over the entire ecosystem. So let us mourn the Ice Emperor in silence for three seconds, then, look forward to watching the growth of our weed-like protagonist! By Yu Wo Are [Character Introductions] like these really ok? Ceng Yunqian 28 years old, the kind of sniper where the person and the rifle are equally lethal. Ever since she was little, she discovered that she liked sweet, tender girls, so from the age of three, she had already proposed to take her childhood friends hand in marriage. She couldnte out of the closet any younger. Her dream is to marry a gentle wife and have a cute daughter who would ideally be as cute as Shujun. Boss, my room doors always unlocked. Come have a kid with me. You can have the boys, and Ill keep all the girls. Lily 30 years old, the older sister type whose bark is louder than her bite. Because shes gentle at heart, she intentionally dresses up like shes the fiery and fiercely independent kind of woman. She will never admit to falling for telephone scams, and will never admit that when she was little, she had met Ceng Yunqian and was proposed to with a foxtail Ahem! Nope! It really never happened! Ice Emperor, Jiang Shutian 37 years old, the upgraded version of the mighty Dg. Hes the Jiang Shutian of another world, the famous human elite with ice powers. He is known as the Ice Emperor and is the person that Jiang Shuyu deeply worshiped. But right now, his mental image of this mighty personage is beingpletely ruined. Volume 4, Prologue: Disintegrate and Reconstruct

Volume 4, Prologue: Disintegrate and Reconstruct

Trantor: Michimochi (proofread by Arcedemius; C/E edited by lucathia) Chen Qianru died. I was stumped for a moment. Its not that big of a deal, but then again, how did she even get endangered? Chen Qianru couldnt fight, and she hadnt even discovered her power. Logically speaking, she should have been in the safest ce, where she was unlikely to meet any kind of danger. Though now that I thought about it, wasnt I the one who had stayed home back then, and yet still got kidnapped by the bird? In the apocalypse anything could happen. An abnormal mouse might have bitten her life away. Junjun exined what happened to those college students in further detail. I told Su Ying to hide in her room and avoiding out, so as to prevent Dg killing her as well. The same with Ding Jun. Everyone told him to try staying out of Dgs sight. What? Dont tell me that this means that Chen Qianru died under Dgs hands? What the hell happened here? I really dont understand. Although Dg is not the type that would be lenient toward a pretty girl, he is definitely not the type that would kill for no reason, let alone a woman who didnt even have the strength to truss up a chicken. He still tolerated woman just a bit more than men. Why would Dg want to obliterate those college students? I couldnt understand even after pondering over this for the nth time. Asking would be much faster. Yet Junjun asked in response, rg, do you still remember the day that big red bird appeared, that there was a gunshot that attracted them to us? I nodded. At the time, I had Yunqian arm everyone while I had hidden myself in the attic to monitor the situation. Originally, the flock of carrion-bloom birds would have flown straight over us, but a gunshot from downstairs had attracted them down, which led to all that trouble afterwards. Back then, Yunqian-ji handed out guns to everyone but was unwilling to give one to Chen Qianru. When none of us were looking, she stole one and even carelessly fired a shot. So thats how the gunshot that made those carrion-bloom birds stop in their tracks happened! I was speechless. Chen Qianru, could you have had even more of a death wish? If you dont know how to use a gun, dont take one. Did you truly think reality was like that of a movie where you could just take a gun and immediately be a sharpshooter? rg, when you got taken by that bird, Dg almost went mad. He had already driven so far, yet he wasnt able to catch up. The bird was already out of sight. He had no choice but to turn the car back. After hearing from Yunqian-ji about this, he killed Chen Qianru on the spot. At this point, Junjun couldnt help but take a deep breath. She had probably found that scene quite horrifying. You didnt try to persuade Dg to be more lenient? I rubbed my nose. Even though I was the victim, since I was able to return alive, the reproach and anger I felt was not that deep. No way! Junjun rebutted, I was mad as well! rg, you were injured all over and even got kidnapped by the bird. She caused all of this! She didnt even know how to use a gun but still stole one. You suffered the consequences. Dont tell me I even had to persuade Dg not to kill her? I just wanted to zap her to death! rg, think about it. If her actions caused me to be the one taken away, would you have tried to persuade Dg to spare her? If the one who had been taken by the bird was ShujunGod, world destruction was possible! I immediately admitted, Yeah, youre right. I was wrong. Sorry. Junjun nodded to ept my apology and continued on. All of us were distressed. Dg took Xiao Sha, and the two of them went in the direction that the birds flew to continue the chase. Dg had the rest of us pack our supplies to follow them. Since everything happened so suddenly, everyone was so busy and distressed. No ones happy at seeing Su Ying and Ding Jun around, so I told them to try and avoid showing their faces in front of everyone, and that I would bring them food. Speaking of this, herposure broke down. She murmured, Actually, I didnt want to talk to them either. I was thinking that if we hadnt brought them back, then rg wouldnt have gotten endangered. On the other hand, I thought they were pitiful as well. I mean, they werent the ones who caused all this. Junjun was troubled. I patted her head and said, You did the right thing. Whoever caused it, they should pay. Theres no need to take it out on the innocent. If the one who had been taken away was Junjun, I most likely would have taken it out on the whole world. However, when educating this kind and lovable little sister, of course I couldnt say that. Although I hoped to nurture Junjun into a woman strong enough to be able to protect herself, I didnt n to raise her into a witch who tosses all morals away! Junjun suddenly remembered something and said, Oh yeah, rg. When you have time, you should go take a look at Dgs power. The way he killed Chen Qianru was very weird She stopped and gestured with her hands in the air for a long time. In the end, she dejectedly said, Its hard to describe. I dont know how to say it. She just disappearedpletely. She disappearedpletely? I was baffled for a bit, but more than that, my curiosity rose. I immediately said, Ill go look for him right now. On the way to find him, I met Ding Jun. He sat on a stone stool under a tree in the courtyard, with a screw nut hovering ten centimeters above each hand. This did not match what Shujun had said about him and Su Ying staying out of sight, yet this was not that strange, either. He was getting med when it wasnt his fault. Young people always liked to rebel, such as deliberately sitting in a bustling ce like the courtyard to show off ones ability. This was not that unusual. Ding Jun looked at me, his expression begrudging. Although he worked hard to keep up a poker face, he couldnt avoid it slipping. His effort in concealing his expression was not enough to win him any hands. Come to the dining table for dinner today. I told him, Youve done well. There wont be any more problems from here on out. Ding Jun was taciturn for a while before nodding his head. This guy really was a man of few words, though Xiao Sha was like this in the beginning as well. As we became more familiar, I didnt feel Xiao Sha was indifferent. On the contrary, I felt he shied away easily. Cain would always tease him into anger. Xiao Sha probably used indifference to disguise his true self. Dont know if its the same with Ding Jun. Hopefully when he warms up to us, he wont be this standoffish or, if anything, Ill just toss him to Cain to look after. After pondering for a bit, I didnt go find Dg yet. Rather, I walked up to the hallway on the right-hand side of the second floor. The rooms there had been assigned to the women for residency. Men were quartered on the other side. The only exception was that the whole Jiang family resided on right side of the third floor. Our rooms were three adjacent rooms. Junjun was ced in between Dg and me, for the sake of protection. Dg said he had the right to half the floor as the mercenaries boss. As for the rest of the floor, he nned to modify it into a conference room, a ce for core members to hold meetings. Mr. Privilege had not caused dissatisfaction among the members, only smothered giggles. It was a rare chance for everyone to be able to ridicule this normally imposing captain, so they could not let this opportunity escape. Their amusement almost led to tears in their eyes. It was a pity that Dgsposure and thick skin were both boss level. He was able to resolutely maintain the dignity of the mercenary troops boss, as if he wasnt an older brother who was adamant on keeping his little brother and sister by his side. Coming up to the second floor, I tentatively knocked on a few doors before finding the right one. Su Ying timidly opened the door. Once she saw me, she was so rmed that she nearly mmed the door reflexively. Come to the dining table to eat dinner tonight. I maintained a smile, not wanting to scare her too badly. In the past, she was very scared of me. Now that she got frightened this much by Dg, she probably wanted to flee. It was just that going outside by herself was courting death, so she didnt dare to leave. Once Su Ying heard this, she finally lifted her head to look at me. As she saw that I was serious, she cracked and broke into sobs, a pitiful sight. Fortunately, you came back alive, or else She didnt dare to finish that sentence. I patted her on her shoulder and calmly said, Dont worry anymore. The thing with Chen Qianru has nothing to do with you guys. No one will me you two anymore. Its all right. To this, she cried even more miserably. Her face was drenched in tears to the point that she could give Maternibabys sad-looking face a run for its money. It seemed like the plight this time had really scared her to the bottom of her soul. I didnt bother talking to her any longer. I patted her back and let her finish crying. Once she finished crying, she should be okay. She cried for a good amount of time before stopping. Then, feeling embarrassed, she wiped her face and said, Then then Ill go to the kitchen right now and help Shujun with the cooking. I nodded my head, quite satisfied. This girl was able to get a hold of the situation very nicely. Out of the three people that we had brought back, I liked Su Ying the most. That time at the basement, she was also the one who had warned me about the danger. On top of that, she had a rare psychic ability. I should just assuage her fears and let her stay at ease among the mercenary group. In the future, she could be a true member. Then, Ill go to the kitchen right now. I smiled as I nodded my head. She closed the door, carefully went around me, and broke into a run at once. She ran as if there were aberrants chasing after her! Su Ying, how bad can your eyes be? Are there any aberrants as handsome as I am? Disgruntled, I stopped smiling and scrunched my brows. Why are first impressions so hard to overwrite? Is even this face not enough to change her impression? Then, Su Ying suddenly turned her head. She was so spooked that her legs almost gave away into kneeling. She bent her waist into a 90-degree angle and shouted, Sorry. I forgot to say Excuse me, Ill be taking my leave. Excuse my ass! Am I an emperor or something?! To be this scared of me Su Ying, are your eyes just for show? Could this be a retreat to advance? There were quite a number of women who would purposely give me a cold shoulder. Since childhood, I had encountered all sorts that tried to attract my attention. It was all this faces fault, looking so sinful. This truly was a society ruled by appearances An Ai-yah! could be heard from the stairs, then the thump-thump-thump sound of falling, and finally a shout of, Im fine! Most likely not. I couldnt help butugh out loud. This Su Ying might really suit this Jiang territory. Shes basically an invincible airhead, so it doesnt make sense for her not to join this troop of invincible soldiers! What are youughing about? Hearing that familiar voice, I turned around as I gleefully called out, Dg, howe youre here? Was about to head down. Dg stood at the staircase. As he finished speaking, he saw how I was waiting merrily for him to continue. He then awkwardly continued, I wanted to see where you were. I nodded. Totally understandable. If Shujun had been taken away by a bird and went missing for so long beforeing back, I would just directly live at her right hand side for months. Perfect. I was looking for you as well. Oh? What do you need? Dg smiled, looking pretty happy. As long as he saw that I was normal, not clinging onto some pot, he would be happy. This was really a bit troublesome, but I didnt have a solution. I could only let Xiaorong hide in my room or underneath my clothes and let him not to meet Dg as much. Junjun, on the other hand, wasnt as bothered about Xiaorong. However, she really couldnt stand seeing me bare-footed. Even though I clearly exined to her that it was for the sake of practicing my ice powers, her eyes would redden every time she saw me bare-footed. I could only obediently put on my shoes properly. It was a pity that I couldnt find any mens flip-flops. Those things were easy to put on and take off. Junjun had a couple of flip-flops, but her feet were so small. I couldnt even fit into any of them. I searched and searched. I finally found a bag of blue and white slippersbut I hadnt bought any? The supermarket had probably snuck a few unmarketable items in while I was paying for my shopping spree. Tch, okay, props to you! However, the moment I put them on, Junjun looked over with disdain in her eyes. She said these types of shoes and my face were never meant for each other. It had made her eyes sting, and I was not allowed to wear them ever again. Sigh. How could I forget to buy some flip-flops! Even though I never really wore them in the past, so of course I wouldnt go out of my way to buy them. Tsk, for future reference, no matter what it is, bringing everything along would be the right thing to do, since who knows what might be useful someday. Shuyu, snap it out. Dg fondly tried to get my attention. Oh. I snapped out of it and asked, Junjun said the way you killed Chen Qianru was strange. I wanted to see whats up with that? Dg nodded his head. He started walking down the stairs and tossed out a line, To the courtyard. I followed right behind him. Of course, its to the courtyard. Dgs so strong! He was even the Ice Emperor in another world! What if the house gets torn down? Although this house was one where the West meets the East, the style itself strange, not to my taste, at least it was our current ce to rest our feet, and conquering Lan City was still far down the line. We would probably be living in this house for quite a while. Even if we really did n to move to Lan City, this ce was a perfectndmark. You could see the whole city from here. We definitely would have people stationed here; therefore, we needed to cherish this house. In the courtyard, Ding Jun was still there. Once he saw Dg, his eyes lit up. He stood up instantly. In the next second, his eyes met mine. His face turned dejected immediately. Then, he used an indifferent expression to cover it up. If it werent for Ding Juns expression appearing more like reverence than adoration, I might have thought he fell in love with my Dg and was treating me as if I was an unwanted third-wheelerBruh, this way of thinking is too horrifying. Just forget it! Its not like everyone is the same as I am, having this excessive bro-con and sis-con of a brain. Ding Jun wore an anxious expression and said, Hello Boss. Dg didnt react much when he saw Ding Jun. There was only his solemn leaders demeanor present. He said indifferently, Im going to use this ce. Go find a different spot. Afterying down the order, he turned his head, smiling as he said, Shuyu, wait for a bit. Ill go find something to demonstrate on for you. Your face changed, Dg! I rubbed my nose. Seems like Dg this time feels guilty to the extreme. In the past, every time he came home after a long period of time, he would always behave like this. Giving his brother and sister a big smile, solemnity and dignity already packed away. Even Yunqian and Zheng-sh found this sight unbearable to watch and would always gaze outside the window at how magnificent the sun was. To be honest, even Auntie and Uncle were like this. If they excavated for too long or if they identally injured themselves, then they would definitelye back with those radiant smiles as if sunflowers were blooming. Just by looking at their expressions, I would know what had happened and had no need to investigate if they had gotten injured. Sure, go ahead. Dg looked left and right, then frowned as if he wasnt able to find anything suitable. He then walked further ahead toward the grove. He was probably thinking of breaking some branches off. Ugh, hope these trees are not as strong as Xiaorong. Ding Jun stood where he was, as if he didnt want to leave. That made me frown. Although I didnt mind him staying, Dg had already given his order, yet he wasnt following it. That would not do. Did you not hear what the boss said? I said coldly, Well, what are you waiting for? Ding Juns face stiffened, though he didnt show any anger, even though the mere act of stiffening hinted at his displeasure. He nodded, saying, Sorry, Ill go now. Watching him walk out of the courtyard, I felt annoyed. We only took in three people, yet the result was Chen Qianru who got killed for causing me harm, Ding Jun who had enmity against me, which left us with just Su Ying, who was rather normal but was scared of me. Are we just meant to be at odds with each other? I hoped that the next batch we took in wouldnt be this problematic. But given my experience in my past life, no matter which group, big or small, there would always be never-ending disputes. And Dgs Jiang territory would definitely grow bigger and stronger than the past lifes group. By then, we would have all sorts of people among us. Chen Qianru and Ding Jun were both inconsequential. Chen Qianru was just a dumb girl who had made a deadly mistake, which took her life as a matter of course. Ding Jun, inparison, had self-control, but he was still full of openings. It was because Dg had never taken a notice of him that he hadnt discovered Ding Juns enmity toward me. If he had found out, with the current Dgs level of feeling sorry for me, a death g awaited Ding Jun. I shouldnt interact with him much in the future. I wouldnt want my Dg to go on killing some dumb flies. Its beneath him! Shuyu, snap out of it. Dg dragged along a piece of tree trunk, his face filled with disapproval, condemning me for always letting my mind wander. His resignation was very clear. Its just that I was thinking too much, being easily entranced when Im so focused. Its a habit from childhood, which is really hard to change. Being lost in my thoughts at home should be fine, right? As long as youre here, Dg, would I meet any idents? Dg paled and angrily rebuked, What nonsense are you talking about! Dont even mention any idents in the future! You and Shujun are both going to be all right! After stepping on andmine, I immediately adopted an apologetic stance and obediently said, Of course, we will both be all right. Dg dont mind my nonsense. Theyre just the ramblings of a kid. Although Im eighteen on the outside yet thirty-five on the inside, when I say the wrong thing, of course Im going to pretend to be a three-year old! Dgs expression gentled, and he then rubbed his brothers head. He couldnt help it and nagged, When Im here, you can let your attention wander at ease, but you cant do that anywhere else. You need to remember this. Dont make this into a habit and be distracted just anywhere and everywhere. Right now, this world is not a ce you can afford to do that I lowered my head as I listened to Dgs nagging. I also thought I was too rxed recently. If I had this attitude in thest life, no matter how I died, it wouldnt have been strange. After nagging for a long while, Dg finally stopped. He sighed. Although I really want to carefully protect you guys, so that you dont have to worry about these things I lifted my head and interrupted, Dg, even while growing up, since when have I ever needed anyones protection? Youre not wrong, but its just Dg froze after those words and stared at me. He asked, Growing up? I beamed and dered, Dg, I remembered everything. Dgs eyes practically lit up. I didnt keep him in suspense any longer and immediately exined, I have been Guan Weijuns reincarnation since birth. Its just that after getting hit by the tile, I remembered everything about my past life but forgot Jiang Shuyus eighteen years of life. Dg smiled and nodded. I was right about that. Now you dont have to worry about it anymore. I shot him a nce and said, Yeah, now the person who needs to worry is you. Dgs smile stiffened. I smirked. Jiang Shuyu was never afraid of Dg, and I was Jiang Shuyu. I really didnt know what I was afraid of in the past. Dg was formidable and domineering all right, but that was only to outsiders. To Shujun and me, this was not so. Because Dg was never home for long, he had always felt guilty toward us. That was why he always pampered his little brother and sister as much as he could. On top of that, I had kept some of Guan Weijuns awareness and was never really a true kid. Since childhood, Mom had always said that I had so much wisdom that I might as well have been a demon. There was never a need for Dg to worry about us, which made his pampering even more outrageous. After all, he wasnt afraid of us being spoiled arrogant and let me have my say. On top of that, I was the one who raised Junjun, so of course whatever her rg said, she followed. If it werent for Dg and Xiomi being so obedient and letting me be the person with the most say in the family, I wouldnt have been able to spend a million bucks on gathering up supplies in a day so easily that day before the apocalypse. Even Lin-b would probably have stopped me, as he would have had to at least ask Auntie and Uncles permission first. However, he was so used to having the second son giving out orders that he had even forgotten to report that to Auntie and Uncle. Educating Dg, Xiomi, Auntie, and Uncle since childhood had definitely been the right thing to do. Remembering Lin-b, a sh of grief seized my heart. Lin-b had been home much more than Dg, Auntie, and Uncle. It would be a lie to say that I felt no closeness with him. Who would have thought that once the apocalypse came upon us, he would be gone just like that? Recalling how my loss of memory had guarded me against him, I was at once filled with guilt. Lin-bs son was called Lin Mingjie. I even called him Jie-g. He was not a stranger either. Although he was not as close as Lin-b was, he was still closer to us than most. If he was still alive, he should definitely be weed into our mercenary group. Shuyu, are you all right? What are you thinking about? Youre frowning again. Is it confusing? Dg asked with concern, Are there any problems with having two different sets of memories? I thought for a bit before shaking my head. I didnt think there were any problems. I felt like Guan Weijun who had lived halfway, then went cross-dressing as a guy to be Jiang Shuyu. It was just that the disguise was utterly thorough, as I had be an infant and started all over again, but in the end, it had been me the entire time. At most, it is just that the me who recovered my memories will be more like a guy Probably, maybe? Are you sure? Dgs voice was curious and he asked, So, do you like men or women more? Thats a good question. I opened my mouth, yet I couldnt give an answer. When I was purely Jiang Shuyu, I had definitely liked women, or else I wouldnt have agreed to meet with Miao Xiangling, resulting in my getting hit by a tile, but now I looked at Dgs chest and abs. Although the weather had be a lot colder, he didnt have that much on. For the top half, he was just wearing a ck T-shirt that was on the tight end, which sat really well with his figure and showed off his bulk. The outline of his muscles was very clear. Wide shoulders, thick chest, narrow waist, long legsah, the temperature feels like summer. As for women, all of a sudden, Jin Fengs massive chest shed across my mind. Her thin waist had not an ounce of excess fat, yet she was definitely not paper thin. If you peeled away her clothes, I bet youd see v-line abs! And her hair that was pulled back into a high ponytail swept left and right across herpact and strong shouldersWait a minute, this is no longer a question about orientation. Ive simply became a huge pervert! And a pervert that makes no distinction between men and women. Fuck. This is way too horrifying! I was so scared that I hurriedly dragged my perverted thoughts back from their wild prancing. From today onwards, I promise that I will be an upright gentleman! I dont know. I stiffened my face and turned away from Dgs musclesIm not looking, Im not!I said in a rough voice, The most important thing right now is to practice and be more powerful so we can live peacefully in this apocalypse. Thats why, Im definitely not going to get in a rtionship with a girl within the next two years And definitely not with a guy either! Dg gave augh, smiling as he said, Dont worry. Dg will protect you guys. Getting into a rtionship is no big deal. This Dg wants me to get into a rtionship. That Dg doesnt want me to get into a rtionship too early. Are you guys even the same person? I paused for a moment. I hadnt said anything about the Ice Emperor yet. I really didnt know how much I should say. Letting Dg know that there existed another him from a parallel world who had dragged the whole JDTdying one after another, until only Lily was left in order to return home. In the end, he abandoned her as well and even abandoned all of humanity. Can I even talk about this? Even though the Dg before me hadnt done any of that, if I hadnt recovered Guan Weijuns memories, hadnt called Dg back before the apocalypse, then he might have been another Ice Emperor. After all, they were the same person. If they lived through the same situation, then I was afraid he would have made the same choice. Letting Dg know that he could have done something like that doesnt feel right. He probably cant avoid feeling guilt toward the JDT then. That would definitely affect his judgment. Shuyu? Dg looked at me in iprehension. He then anxiously asked, What are you thinking about? Why do you look so serious? This bad habit of wearing my feelings on my face hasnt changed even after two lifetimes, so its probably hopeless. I felt a bit saddened that I would never be a movie star. I changed the topic and prodded, Im all right. I identally thought of Lin-b. Sigh. Forget it. The dead have already departed. Dg, let me take a look at your power. Shujun had only said the way Dg had killed Chen Qianru was weird. To use weird to describe the way of killing someone, it could be none other than an ability. Dg smiled a bit. He picked up the tree trunk that he had tossed aside and flung it into the air. Then, with a wave of his hand, the whole trunk disintegrated into particles. My eyes popped. I looked down, yet there wasnt a single speck on the ground What the hell! Im not done. Dgzily lifted both hands. Some dust-like matter gradually whirled together, forming some unknown entity at first. Then, as it got bigger, I could see that it was a piece of bark, then a twig, then a branch Finally, the piece of trunk appeared once more. What the hell Volume 4, 1: The King, Jiang Shutian, is Born, Part One

Volume 4, Chapter 1: The King, Jiang Shutian, is Born, Part One

Trantor: Kiki (proofread by Arcedemius; C/E edited by lucathia) Disintegration is a lot simpler than reconstruction. I can make a tree trunk disappear with a wave of my hand, but reconstructing it on the other hand takes a long time and is a lot more difficult. Reconstructing this tree trunk is pretty much my daily limit, and I can only do it because the treesposition is fairly simple. The moreplicated something is, the harder it is to reconstruct. At that point, Dg sighed with some dissatisfaction, I still need to train more. You might as well train to destroy the world with a wave of your hand, then! As expected of someone who would have originally be the Ice Emperor. Your natural talent is enough to make us little mortals want to just bash our heads against a brick of ice and kill ourselves! I hovered between life and death, almost dying several times just to get to tier two. Faced with Dgs power, I really want to kneel down and shout, Long live the Emperor. Long live His Majesty! But its not that there are no limits to disintegration. I tested it on an aberrant and found that dead things are easier to disintegrate than living things. The disparity is still pretty big, and Im not sure of why. I thought a bit and said, Its most likely because the energy inside the aberrant is blocking your disintegration. I once heard a theory about how all special abilities are just a way of using energy, just that every individual uses it differently to create different powers. Thats why it doesnt matter what kind of ability it isa tier one being will never be able to beat a tier five being. The difference of one tier is already very difficult to contend against, but there was still a chance among the lower tiers. After all, the beginning two tiers were able to be killed by guns, and it was nothing more than a matter of firepower. By tier three, bullets were no longer all that dangerousartillery shells were much more useful Unless the opponent had conveniently exhausted their powerpletely, then they could possibly be killed using a Barrett. Tier ones crawled everywhere, tier twos werent much better than dogs, tier threes were considered human, and tier fours were fledging elites. Most were the leaders of small groups or the elite subordinates of arge organizations boss. A tier five would already be as powerful as arge strongholds boss, a tier six would be equivalent to a regions overlord, and reaching tier seven was enough to enter the worlds strongest. Reportedly, it was said that the Ice Emperor had already taken a step into the eighth tier. But I thought that the truth wasnt so. Since Xia Zhengu was always concealing his strength whenever there were others watching him, the elites probably had also hid their actual strength, lowering their true power by a tier for the public. It was a very probable situation. Perhaps there were even more elites that had entered the higher tiers but were hidden and hadnt revealed themselves. It wouldnt be odd even if tier nines or tier tens had existed. Thinking of the present, I had already reached tier two just six months into the apocalypse. Even with my past lifes memories and the Ice Emperors help when I most needed it, I only had a bit more resources than other people. In the whole world, there were plenty of people like Thunder God Jin Zhan who had money, power, and subordinates. Could there really be no one stronger than me? That was something I didnt dare im. Given the current progression, having only twelve elites seemed too few. The Ice Emperor had also said that the MORC definitely had many strong people among them, so numerous that they could even rival the existence of the twelve elites Shuyu. I heard Dgs helpless voice call out. I raised my head and asked, concerned, Dg, how are the others doing with their special ability training? Dg thought for a moment before speaking. Not bad, but they arent used to using their special abilities in a fight, and it doesnt really raise their strength much. Even though they usually train on using purely their special abilities in a fight, when ites to the real thing, they forget all about them and just instinctively use their guns and martial arts to fight. Its nothing like how you blend in your ice ability when you fight. Hearing that, my face turned somber. We have too many bullets! Dg, we cant continue like this. Then, what do you think we should do? I fell silent for a bit before announcing, Advance into Lan City without guns. Dg asked calmly, Can we bring hand weapons? You can. I myself still carried a spear and dagger, after all. Then, lets do it. Dg was actually quite brisk, not hesitating in the slightest when he replied. Instead, it was me who was worried and asked, What happens if there are casualties? I can ask them in advance. Whoever doesnt want to go doesnt have to go. Dgs voice was tranquil. The practices of a mercenary group have always been that if your strength cant keep up, youd be dropped to the second squad, and the inferior ones would just continue to fall. I was startled for a moment before recalling that the rules of a mercenary group really were like that. Dgs mercenary group could be regarded as a medium sized organization and was separated into five squads. Zheng-sh was only in the fourth squad. After all, age was one factor, but he was also considered to be the mercenaries doctor, so his fighting ability wasnt everything. Even the first and second squads liked to have him join them on their missions. Lily was part of the second squad. Xiao Shas talent was quite good, but he was green with little experience, and was therefore ced in the third squad. But I recall that Dg had once said that he wanted to promote him to the second squad. In the first squad, there was Ceng Yunqian. Although Ceng Yunqians talent was about the same as Lilys, her sniping ability was truly excellent. Cain was also in the first squad. All aspects of his strength were well above average. He could be considered a well-rounded expert. I thought for a bit and smiled as I said, If their strength can keep up, then we can designate them as squad leaders in the future. The groups thateter will all berge assemblies that will number in the thousands. Dg, you absolutely cannot manage them as if they were a mere mercenary group. At the very least, you must lead like its a small city. Is that so? Then, it really will be a bit troublesome. Dg frowned, seeming as if his head hurt somewhat. It was understandable. He could deal with a medium sized mercenary group thanks to me forcing him early on to go to abat and staff college. Otherwise, when faced with missions that only somerger groups could undertake, he definitely wouldnt have been able toplete them so smoothly. However, I dont remember ever forcing him to study how to be a mayor. We can have Uncle and Auntie help you govern. Theyre both leaders of archaeology teams, so they shouldnt be any worse than you with any economic or political work. Theyd probably be even better than you with logistics. After all, archaeology teams frequently stayed at one ce for several months and could even stay up to a year at a time. If the logistics and goods management wasnt up to par, they would only be able to pack up and return home to bathe and sleep. Dgs frown finally loosened, and he even deliberately released a sigh. I spoke seriously, Dg, you must be even more imposing than now, so when other people join the teamter, theyll think of you as a deep and unfathomable man. So long as youre here, no one would dare to create the slightest trouble! Hearing that, Dg firstughed before immediately restraining his smile and forcing his face to turn solemn. He swept his eyes toward me and spoke with an apathetic voice, Could it be that you still believe Im not already imposing enough? Already imposing, but still not enough. Just now, who was it that had a huge grin on his face because of his ddi? I darkened the expression on my face and released an icy chill. The temperature in the room immediately dropped as some faint ice crystals began to solidify, hovering in the air. Dg immediately became guarded, his whole body turning taut as his pupils shrank. Revealing enough, I slowly withdrew my ability. Dg also rxed as he nodded. Your acting was pretty good. Itd be better for you to act as the deep and immeasurable one. I forced a smile and pointed at my face. Dg, I just turned eighteen and furthermore, I have this kind of face. Really, I would have to constantly release energy, or else others will definitely treat me like a powerless, delicate pretty boy. Dg paid no attention as he replied, Youll look aged after two years. After two years, Ill only be twenty! What do you mean, aged! Telling a woman You look old is a surefire way to make her hate you, and it wont be forgiven for an entire lifetime! Seeing the expression on my face, Dgughed and changed his words. Youll eventually grow up. Thats fine, right? His words made me suddenly remember something that I had yet to exin. I opened my mouth. Dg, if you eat crystals in excess, your body will be preserved in peak state. Thats why people in the apocalypse dont seem very old. Usually, the stronger one is, the younger they look. Dg was surprised. Theres even such an effect? Then, could it be that its impossible to die from old age? I shook my head. Im not sure. I only lived for around ten years and although I didnt eat too many crystals, I could still feel myself bing a bit older. Although there werent many changes, a woman is very sensitive to these things! Consider the Ice Emperor again, all right? He was obviously older than Dg by ten years, but rather than saying his face aged, itd be far more appropriate to say that his whole person had undergone a great change. His facial features had no change. Dg frowned and said, Dont tell me that youll look like youre eighteen forever? Junjun is only fifteen. What should we do? That would just be too terrifying! Wouldnt that mean all the children who ate crystals wouldnt grow up?! I immediately exined, My body still shouldnt have reached its peak state yet, so I will at least grow until Ive reached the best possible state. I believe it should be around twenty-five years old. At least, Xia Zhengu had looked around twenty-five, with absolutely no change at all. I hoped I had not guessed wrong. If I always retained my appearance of an eighteen year old, Id have to wait for my next life to gain any authority. Dg didnt understand. Twenty-five is a pretty good age, but dont tell me that people that were already over twenty-five years old would start aging in reverse? I nodded. Some of the older people really could be younger. I remembered that there was an oldrade that was already thirty-seven or thirty-eight when the apocalypse had started. But after ten years in the apocalypse, not only did he not age, he had even turned younger. Although he didnt exactly turn back into a twenty-five year old, he seemed as if he was only a bit past thirty and absolutely couldnt be past thirty-five. If he had eaten even more crystals, maybe he mightve actually been able to revert back to a twenty-five-year-olds appearance. Even if the crystals could allow people to return back to their strongest period, the apocalypse still had many people who looked old. This was because the circumstances were simply too harsh, and many people were often struggling between life and death. Both thin and shriveled with skin as dry as tree bark, it made those people look as if they were incredibly old. Dg suddenlyughed and said, Just wait for Uncle to eat a lot of crystals and look young again. At that time, Dg might have to be his title instead. Thats actually true! The Jiang familys traits are all so distinct, so in the future, maybe we really would look like four siblings but that isnt important! I nagged, Dg, your smile is way too happy. Your imposing demeanor ispletely gone! You must remember to keep a dignified air at all times. As long as there are people around, you absolutely cannot reveal such a cajoling, ttering smile. Itd also be better if you always released a little bit of energy. In any case, you can consider it training your special ability. Also, pay more attention to your clothes. When we enter the city, we have to find some good clothes to alter them. I can do a bit of needlework, so in the future, I can help you make an outfit fit for a leader. As the proverb says, fine clothes make the man Fortunately I had lived ten years in the apocalypse in my previous life. It was out of the question to not pick up needlework. What kind of things didnt need to be altered by my own hands? All in all, I had acquired countless survival skillsGuan Weijun, the level ny-nine daily life assistant! Dg helplessly touched his face and said, I never even knew I had such a ttering smile. When we enter the city, Ill go find a Proid camera and take a picture for you to see. Leave it, Ill just trust what you said. Dg frowned and said, I cant ever smile in the future? This is actually pretty troublesome. Of course you can smile, but you must smile with the manner of an elite! I looked at the surroundings but saw that the open courtyard wasnt a good ce for instruction and could only say, Lets practice again once we go to the third floor. We have to practice until you have a noble and icily arrogant aura. Itll be very convenient once we enter the city to recruit people. Training special abilities isnt enough, I even have to train my acting skills, huh? Dgughed but didnt oppose it. Entering the city shouldnt be done hastily. First, we should fortify this ce so we can feel at ease when we enter the city. Thats right. Otherwise, it would be terrible if we were attacked. Our base is right next to a metropolis. We cant be careless. But when I thought about how we would be separating into two groups, I immediately felt a headache. Right now, there were too few of us in the Jiang Dominion, so few that we couldnt even be divided into two groups and still preserve enough firepower in both groups. Zheng Xings earth ability is pretty useful. I n to have the perimeter wall heightened and thickened before cing ayer of wireting over it. I immediately said, I want to set up an electricity grid. Dg thought for a bit and replied, Then, we need to find even more electricity generators. This small town does have electricity generators, and the number isnt negligible, but we need them in several ces, so it still might not be enough. Later in Lan City, lets look for more. I pondered before forcing up the courage to make a suggestion, Dg, if I want to take turns bringing one person with me to Lan City, would you agree? The more I spoke, the more my heart trembled. Dgs face haspletely changed! Dg was silent for a long time, his expression so unpleasant that I couldnt bear to say any more. Never mind, I was just making a suggestion Okay. Dg tly agreed but still couldnt help but add on, However, you must promise me that nothing will go wrong. I opened my mouth. However, I couldnt bear to lie to my own dg and could only honestly say, Dg, you have to know that nothing can be guaranteed in this kind of world. I dont want to lie to you. Hearing that, Dg stiffened before mocking himself, Ah, right. You even managed to be taken when you had clearly been home, so maybe going into a big city wont even be as dangerous. Thats purely because of the Jiang familys terrible luck. Generally speaking, encountering a situation at home was far rarer than encountering one in a big city. Who would have imagined that I could walk halfway around Zhongguan City with nothing happening, but while staying at home Id be snatched up by a bird? Apart from bad luck, what else can you call it?! Besides, as it was, you were able to find us and return all by yourself. Dg sighed, Dg hadnt thought that his resolve wouldnt be enough. Im being such a sissy, not at all like a man. I couldnt help but mollify him. Dg, Im someone who has lived two lifetimes, which adds up to around fifty total years. In my past life, I even lived ten years in the apocalypse, while youre only twenty-seven right now! Hearing that, Dgughed. Then, do you want to switch our roles, and Ill call you Dg? No way! Even if you dared to call me that, I wouldnt dare to answer to it. Dgughed in a deep voice, appearing to be very happy, his grin sorge that it seemed as if his face would split. That I had safely returned and even recovered my memories made him seem happier than he had ever been even before the apocalypse. But, this is no good! You arent allowed to smile this much outside. Where did the imposing dignity we just talked about earlier go? Dg immediately restrained his rising lips, leaving his face expressionless. He shot a nce indifferently, a domineering air filling the room. It could make a persons legs turn into jelly, leaving them only able to kneel in worship! Fortunately I had already been exposed to it for eighteen years, so my legs were very solid as I simply nodded, saying, Thats right, keep it just like this. The helplessness in Dgs voice was rather obvious as he said, Always keeping this kind of manner up is also pretty tiring. Well in any case, Dg, youll be the future king. You wont have to see people too often, and you dont need to always be so solemn in private. If you were to always just see the Ice Emperor taking a walk by the roadside, his status would definitely be cheapened. Its only natural for a god to be deeply hidden. In short, no outsiders can be allowed to witness my dgs invincible airheaded side! Dg seemed even more helpless as he replied, What king? Were not in the Middle Ages. I spoke seriously, No, itll precisely be that kind of era in the future, and Dg, youll definitely be the king. Dg raised his eyebrows. First it was a base, and now this talk about kings. Shuyu, do you wish for me to be a sovereign? Its not about what I wish, but rather that you were originally a ruler, and I only want to prepare thoroughly so the roadter will be smooth. I hesitated for a bit before finally deciding toy the matter out clearly. Dg, do you still remember what I said about the twelve elites? I recalled some more details and want to tell you. Volume 4, 1: The King, Jiang Shutian, is Born, Part Two

Volume 4, Chapter 1: The King, Jiang Shutian, is Born, Part Two

Trantor: Kiki (proofread by Arcedemius, L Su, & Trespasserby; C/E edited by lucathia) Dge didnt seem to really care as he asked, Can I tell other people? Yeah, you can. I also thought it was the right thing to do. Telling everybody at once was better than saying it here and repeatedly saying itter. Ill go and gather everyone. Having a small amount of people had its advantages. I didnt have to search for long to gather them all. It was just a pity that the third floors conference room wasntpleted yet. We could only gather in the dining room on the first floor, making it feel like it was meal time. At times, people even reached their hands out to take peanuts and melon seeds from the table to chew on. Wheres the serious atmosphere? Getting the conference room built is definitely top priority! Why hold a meeting today? Everybody asked curiously, as they simultaneously cracked the melon seeds between their teeth. Seeing this, I truly wanted to just take all the melon seeds along with the tray and just stuff their mouths with it. Dg waved his hand toward me and everyone looked at me as if it were only natural. A group of highly experienced mercenaries automatically staring at an eighteen-year-old youth, just waiting for him to open his mouth it was a very incongruous scene. Their expressions pleased me. Although losing my memory led me to making a lot of wrong choices, it was fortunate that I was still able to make things right. They looked like they still had faith in me. I remembered who the three elites of mankind were. Although it was Jin Xiaoyue who reminded me, just thinking about how to exin how Jin Xiaoyue would know gave me a huge headache, so Id better just skip over that. Their eyes were all shining, clearly showing their interest. As expected of people living the mercenary lifepowerful elites were a very attractive topic for them. Nobody was like the past life me who just scraped by and couldnt even remember the names of the most powerful elites. First is the me King Debert. I looked at everyone and asked, Have you guys heard of this Debert? Hes a foreigner, and he seems to be in the military. Cain immediately widened his eyes, shouting loudly, Does that still need to be said?! Its definitely Eands Soldier King, Debert! What a joke of a parallel world! Whats the meaning of only having the names changed?! I held my head with my hand, feeling my head hurting, but when I gave it some more thought, I realized it didnt matter. Anyways, no matter what country was involved, now there was only one nation known as Mankind. I asked in detail, Debert is his family name? Lily nodded and said, Foreigners always address others by their family name and only address others by first name if theyre close with each other. I pondered over it. Although it was his surname and not his actual name, foreigners have very unusualst names, while they shared a bunch of the same first names. Besides, it sounded very logical for the Soldier King Debert to be the me King Debert, so it should be that person. As expected of the Soldier King. Everybody eximed in admiration as if they all already knew Debert, even believing that the Soldier King bing the me King wasnt anything too surprising. It seemed like this Mr. Debert really was crazy powerful, so bing a ruler and building his own domain wasnt a strange thing for him to do. Since the me King Debert is in the faraway Eand, we dont need to care about him for now. In any case, we cant even get in touch with him. Although everyone nodded, they couldnt help but whisper to each other all kinds of exaggerated tales about the Soldier Kings exploits. They sounded no different from myths. The only thing missing was a punch to blow away the Earth. I couldnt help but give them a big eye roll. If this Mister Soldier me King was really that strong, would mankind have actually been almost driven to extinction? All right, lets stop worshiping the me King and return to the even more important matterthe strongest elites in Meisia. Are you guys listening or not? Everyone immediately and simultaneously stared at me, eyes shining and ears pricked. I didnt leave them in suspense. In any case, there was something far more shockingter on, so there was no need to astonish them now. Thunder God Jin Zhan. Everybody was startled, too shocked to respond. Finally, Yunqian spoke strangely, The Jin Zhan youre talking about shouldnt be the one that Im thinking of, right? I nodded. Its him. Cain was dumbstruck as he said, Truly a wolf in sheeps clothing, huh! I shot back angrily, Thats not how you use that idiom! Right now, the correct idiom you should be saying is you cant judge a book by its cover. But the idiom you cant judge a book by its cover isnt very fitting either. Lilyughed. Jin Zhans looks are really impressive. After all, he isnt very old and is actually the same age as Boss. If he didnt have any imposing bearing, he wouldnt be able to preside over others. Oh, so its like that? Thats not surprising. Jin Feng looked really mighty, so her dg shouldnt be any worse. Jin Zhan, huh? Dg muttered. Weve had some dealings, but theyre all the way in Zhongguan City, which is a bit far. Besides, I dont think that you have any interest in piggybacking off of him? Of course not! Now, Im going to announce the final elite, the Ice Emperor I looked at everyone. None of them seemed to care very much and were even still talking about the Soldier King and Jin Zhan. My heart suddenly swelled with evil delight as I purposely stretched out the words. Jiang Shutian. Everybody was startled before each and every one of them widened their eyes, turning their heads to look at theirmanding officer. Their eyes were several times bigger than normal, filled with disbelief. But I dont have an ice ability, Dg spoke calmly. I admitted awkwardly, In my dream, I saw that you probably stayed in cia, but since I called you back to Meisia, your power was influenced by that. Dg nodded. Probably because he saw the guilt on my face, he said, Fortunately, you have the ice ability now, so were not losing out. Although I knew Dg wasforting me, his words were like a sharp sword stabbing directly into my heart. It felt as if I had stolen Dgs ability. Itd be better if he didnt console me. Fortunately, Dgs ability didnt seem to just be healing. Or maybe the truth behind the healing ability had never been anything simple. I didnt understand it myself, but I just felt like we should use a broader mindset to view something like powers in the future. Or maybe its like what I heard in my past life, that all abilities were just different routes leading to the same destination, and they were all simply different ways of using energy. Could this theory possibly actually hold some truth to it? Shuyu. I returned to myself as I looked at Dg. The fact that my thoughts had wandered off again didnt need to be mentioned. In any case, everybody was already used to it by now. So the reason you wanted to establish a territory isnt about you wanting me to be king, but because you know that I will be a king? Dg said seriously, But Shuyu, you have to consider. I dont have the ice ability anymore, so theres no way I can be the Ice Emperor, and I might not even be one of the twelve elites. Then how about you dont disintegrate a tree trunk and reconstruct it again for me to see! iming to be weak while possessing such murderous power, even Shujun wont be deceived by you! What does everyone else think? I looked at the others calmly and asked, Do you guys think that just because your boss got a different ability, he would be just another face in the crowd? Everybody shook their heads simultaneously with great force. I nced at Dg who simply raised an eyebrow, no longer able to retort. All right, so how about you just properly prepare for bing a king by first establishing this base before slowly advancing on Lan City? I looked at everyone. The small number of people was truly distressing, not even enough to fill the seats at a long table. We really needed to bring in more people, or else how would we advance on Lan City? We practically had no people! We couldnt even form a small toon, not to mention an army. Even if we all had the power of the Ice Emperor and conquered Lan City, were we supposed to each watch over fifty streets and a thousand skyscrapers? However, I dont want to waste any time. I want to take turns taking people with me to Lan City for training. Everyone was startled before reflexively looking at Dg. Thetter nodded, and they all looked at me excitedly, seeming very eager. I only have one request, and thats to not bring any firearms. You may only bring knives at most. I said calmly, Furthermore, theres one more condition that Ill exin clearly before we go. When we enter the city, youre responsible for your own life and death. I wont take any responsibility. Everyones brows rose. No one seemed to have the least bit of fear. It seemed as if none of them ever had any ns of giving up. This kind of attitude had both pros and cons. The good thing was that everyone in the Jiang domain was worthy to be called mercenaries and werent likemon folk, who would be scared out of their wits. It was only natural that they were more useful and resilient than normal civilians. The bad thing was that ever since the apocalypse, our party had too easy of a time. What happened to putting our lives on the line to escape, having food and water shortages, or sleeping in the open without shelter? Our group had gone through none of that. Truthfully speaking, I might be the only one in our group who understood the true terror of the apocalypse. However, this wasnt all that serious. After I took them to Lan City to face danger, it was guaranteed that they would understand everything. Itd be a lot more useful than verbally intimidating them. I saw that nobody had any thoughts of giving up, and I also didnt try to scare them anymore. In any case, the first order of business was bringing them in with me. For this first trip, I can only bring one person. Therefore, well be drawing lots to decide the order. I took out the bamboo sticks I had prepared ahead of time and ced them inside a pen holder before looking at everyone. Everybody including Uncle and Auntie were here. The only ones missing were Ding Jun and Su Ying. Junjun suddenly asked, Can I also draw for it? I nodded my head. Yeah. Junjuns eyes shone. I waspletely satisfied about my little sisters fighting spirit, but Dgs expression darkened, making Junjun a little frightened and worried. She hesitated for a little while, but still stubbornly refused to say that she wouldnt go. Lets start. I changed the topic. Dg had already given his permission after all. He just couldnt help worrying, which was why his expression was so ugly. Each of them took a stick. Cain evenpared his number with Xiao Sha. Whichever of them leftter would have to go to the kitchen to wash dishes tonight. However, apart from them, no one else showed great excitement or disappointment when they saw their number. In any case, it was just an order. Theyd all eventually have the chance to go. At this moment, Shujun suddenly gasped, attracting everyones attention. She raised her head, shyly ncing at Dg. Junjun? I asked, not understanding, What happened? Could she have pulled a terrible fortune? Wait, but thats not right. Theres obviously only one, two, three on the sticks. Junjun showed us her stick. Astonishingly, the number on the stick was one. This was even scarier than drawing a super duper bad fortune. Dgs expression immediately changed, turning so ugly that it made everybody fall absolutely silent, nobody daring to let out a single breath. I was somewhat at a loss on what to do. If ddi and mimei paired up to go to Lan City as the leadoff hitters, it would be a wonder if Dg could remain calm, but if he didnt let Shujun go A hand snatched Junjuns stick and shoved over another one. Junjun blinked, unable to react right away. When she looked down, she saw that the one stick that was in her hand had been reced with thest stick. Theres no rule that you cant change lots, right? Xiao Sha casually tossed that number one stick up and down. Seeing this, Dgs face finally eased a little, but his brows were still creased. Even if we dyed the order, it would inevitably one day be Junjuns turn. However, it would still be better than ddi and mimei going into the city together right off the bat. Wait a minute! Cain got up and hooted, This doesnt count Dg nced sharply at Cain who immediately withered as he muttered, saying, I, Im saying I didnt lose to Xiao Sha. I dont want to wash dishes You will wash the dishes! Dg ordered, not allowing him to disagree. Cain looked at the number two on his stick, looking like he wanted to cry but couldnt. Volume 4, 2: A Call Without a Response

Volume 4, Chapter 2: A Call Without a Response

Trantor: Michimochi (proofread by elisa & Arcedemius; C/E edited by lucathia) The trip for Lan City was now scheduled for three days from now. It would have been better if we set off earlier, but I had just returned. I wanted to stay with my big brother and little sister for a bit longer. Plus, it wasnt as if I had figured out what was going on with the tattoos on both of my arms. I had to figure it out before going into the city, or else there wouldnt even be any weapons for me to use. My head started hurting when I thought about that time I had just returned home. Dg had mistakenly thought that I had these tattoos forced on me. I should stick with calling these ice patterns for now. After all, Ive never seen anyone with silvery blue tattoos before. The color really is beautiful, but if anyone used such a color in a tattoo, that person would probably be poisoned by metal toxicity or something simr. In order to thoroughly investigate this ice pattern in the full-length mirror in the room, I had cut off the sleeves of my shirt, turning it sleeveless. But with the weather getting colder, I would stick out like a sore thumb if I wore this into the city. I would need to add a jacket as a disguise, but I wasnt sure if covering the ice pattern would affect the summoning of the spear and the dagger. I had to get this sorted out. The ice pattern on my right sprawled along almost my entire arm, from the tip of my pinky all the way to my upper arm. Luckily, the lines of the pattern werent too clustered. There were just a few, and the icy blue color was very faint. It was nothing too outrageous; or else this delicate face of mine coupled with manyplex tattoos would most definitely give an immeasurably odd impression. The ice pattern on my left, on the other hand, was quite a bit smaller. The lines were thinner, wrapping once around the wrist. If this had been a real tattoo, I think I would be able to ept such a design. It was quite nice to look at. My guess was that the right one represented the long spear and the left one represented the dagger. Since the gap between the size of the two weapons was quiterge, naturally the gap between the size of the two ice patterns would be just as big. In order to prove this point, I immediately shouted, Come out, Ice Spear! Even after waiting several seconds, nothing appeared. I looked at my right arm speechlessly. Did I get it wrong? Is the spear on the left instead? But I recall it should be on my right I eyed my left arm skeptically, then called out again. Not a single response. Whats going on? If the spear is no good, then what about the dagger? I hastily called out to summon the ice dagger. The silvery blue ice pattern on my left wrist glowed faintly. Suddenly, there was a chilling feeling in my hands as if I was touching a piece of ice. A sliver of ice had condensed in my hand, its shape somewhat like a dagger. Sess! As the moment of bliss went by, I immediately gripped the misshapen ice dagger, yet it shattered just as I closed my fingers around it. Its fragments scattered all over the floor, melting instantly, leaving not a single trace behind. Even the glow of the ice pattern had disappeared without a trace. My mind nked. I thought I had crushed the dagger into smithereens just by holding it. Several moments passed before I finally snapped out of it. If I could crush a dagger transformed from the Ice Emperor just like this, was there even a need for me to have a dagger in the first ce? I gathered energy once again, but this time I didnt shout ice dagger. After all, it had suddenly urred to me how stupid it was to call out for a weapon. This was not some magic spell that needed an incantation. Why did I even think I needed to call out earlier? If you shout Come out, my XX00 weapon before battling with aberrants, isnt this hinting to the opponent to just hurry and finish you off before that? As I had thought, even without shouting out loud, the ice pattern glowed and gradually condensed into the form of a dagger. This time, I waited for a moment. Once its shape was a bit sturdier, I made my move and gently wrapped my fingers around it. It didnt shatter this time. The ice dagger was hard, but still as thin as a cicadas wing. I almost couldnt feel its presence. It was like that shard of ice that had protected my heart back then. Wait a minute, this still isnt right. Thest time I saw the ice dagger, it was a sturdy dagger, not just a piece of ice. What exactly went wrong? Am I not qualified enough to wield apletely intact dagger? Is that the reason the ice spear isnt even willing to appear? What should I do now? Theres only three days left until we enter Lan City. This amount of time isnt enough to create a weapon I can use. Dont tell me I have to battle with a piece of ice? Still, the sharpness and sturdiness were both present in this one. My shard of ice that had protected my heart had been thin, yet it had been stronger than the spear I had created. Even if the Ice Emperors dagger was just a piece of ice, it would definitely be more powerful than the protective shard that I had created. But there would always be that what if in times like these, like what if I shatter it this time, and then I can never put it back together again? This was a weapon that the Ice Emperor left behind! This was all that was left of his existence Lets just try again. I cant use it when its like this! Shuyu. A knock sounded, followed by Dgs voice from outside. I hastily withdrew the piece of ice before opening the door. Dg said unhappily, What are you doing locking yourself up in your room all day long? Come with me to look at the ns of the base. I also want to discuss Uncles power with you. My eyes immediately shone. We know what Uncles power is now? Dg smiled as he nodded. Awesome! All the abilities of the Jiang family are now known. I wonder what kind of power it is? Even with me as the ultra cheat, it still took until now to discover Uncles ability. It must be a very unique ability? I shot a nce at Dg, yet he just smiled, not saying a single word. I couldnt believe he was still keeping up the suspense. Lets go find Uncle then. I was toozy to care about this big brother of mine who was bing more and more childishtely. I turned and walked right out of the room. Dg shook his head and said, Im starting to miss the time when you were still amnesic. What. Miss the time I was still scared of you? I unhappily red back at Dg. What nonsense are you talking about? I miss the time when I still had some influence over you. At the very least, you would be apprehensive before you ran off. Even if I were apprehensive, Id still run off anyway. Even if I wasnt kidnapped by a bird, I was thinking about leaving home for tens days to half a month for Zhongguan City. Even if my mind only contained Guan Weijuns memories and not Jiang Shuyus, my mind would still be focused on wanting to enter the city for training. My heart had feared Dg, yet my actions hadnt been the least bit more obedient. Jiang Shuyu at least announces his leave before actually leaving! Guan Weijun will leave without saying anything. Though I imed to fear him, my conduct was quite audacious. Dg stared speechlessly at me with his eyebrows scrunched deeply enough to kill a fly, but I was not going to give up because of that. Entering the city to train was a must. Jiang Shuyu had been raising his little sister and taking care of the household since young. He was never the kind that needed protection. Coupled with Guan Weijuns past lifes regrets and this lifes grief, this time I will be so strong, so powerful, and so tyrannical that everyone will obey me! Uh okay, thatst one is up for negotiation. I suddenly realized that my thinking was seriously skewed. If this continues, I will end up turning into a tyrant. Oh no, I have to obediently dial that back and pretend to be a weak pretty boy. Dg is more suited to be the tyrant. However, presently, Dgs eyebrows were deeply locked. Even if he were a tyrant, he would be a sullen tyrant. I could only try consoling him again, Dg, Im only going to scout the outer area of Lan City. You dont have to worry too much. Ive already lived ten years in the apocalypse. I know exactly how to continue to live on. Dg stared at me, then earnestly asked, Promise me. Survivales first, okay? I nodded. That goes without saying. Everything is over once youre dead Well, assuming that reincarnation isnt an option. But with a miraculous reincarnation happening once already, with my previous life being Guan Weijun, and this life being Jiang Shuyu, then whats next? Even if I can reincarnate into the me King or the Thunder God, Im not going to switch to either! I will cling on to the Jiang family forever, even to my dying breath! After receiving the desired response, Dg finally stopped being a sullen tyrant. He patted my shoulder and said, Lets go and take a look at the bases n. Your experience is broad. If there are any changes that need to be made, just put them forward. I nodded and followed Dg to the dining room. All of a sudden, I felt like it was time to eat. I couldnt help but say, Dg, we should get the conference room done soon. With both meals and meetings held here, the serious atmosphere for a meeting isnt present. Dg raised an eyebrow. Which is more important, the conference room or the defensive fortification of the surroundings? Defensive fortification. All right, we can just merrily eat our meals as we hold our meetings for now. There arent any outsiders right now anyway. We dont need to worry about our image. In the dining room, Zheng Xing, Uncle, Ceng Yunqian, and Lily were already waiting. The architectural n wasid out on the long table. Shuyu,e over and take a look. Uncle waved at me in high spirits. Although Uncle was not an architect, he was an archaeologist, who specialized in excavating buildings. Therefore, he had some familiarity with buildings. As for Zheng Xing, he had the earth ability. When he just started, he could only loosen soil for nting. I wonder how much he has improved? So what do Yunqian and Lily specialize in again? After pondering for a while, I recalled that Yunqian specialized in locks, traps, and the like. Whenever Dg recruited personnel, he would tell me about what they specialized in. However, after he recruited too many, it was too much effort to remember them all, so now I only had vague impressions. Ceng Yunqian specialized in sniping, locks, and traps. Xiao Sha was amazing at stealth. Zheng Xing was a military doctor. Cain was good at fighting. Lily was After thinking for a while, I still couldnt remember what Lily specialized in. Lily seemed to notice my pondering. She smiled as she said, Ive been in charge of the logistics for a while. Although Im not the main manager, you guys dont seem to have any other choices, so the boss made me in charge of supplies. I remarked, Even if we had other choices, we would still choose you! Lily smiled charmingly. You sure know how to phrase it. This was the truth. The people who followed Dg might not be the strongest, but they were the type who would never go right if Dg ordered them to go left. In the apocalypse, there were no betterrades than them. Were not going to swap them out for anyone! I looked down at the blueprint. It was so huge that it covered a good half of the table. Thisyout practically detailed half of Old Town, with the mansion as the focal point. This mansion already had stone walls surrounding it. The blueprint detailed thicker and taller walls,pletely transforming them into the walls of a castle. People could even stand on them. Electric wires would be added to the outside of the walls like I had requested. There were also a myriad ofrge spikes in addition to densely packed ss thorns. In summary, if we ever wanted to kill someone, we just had to m them into the wall, and the person would end up with a lot of holes. The clock tower that had originally been there would be kept, but it would receive all sorts of upgrades, converting itpletely into a watch tower, and it would be the type that couldnt be destroyed or taken down. Even more excessively, there would be a moat outside the walls! Of course, the moat itself wouldnt do much against aberrants. However, I had ice powers, and Ceng Yunqian had water powers. To us, this canal would be a huge help. Next was the outer residential area inside the walls. The traps all over the ground and the barbed-wired wall were really nothingno, there was something. I could actually see several bunkers, big and small, along the way. I quickly took a closer look and found out that the n was divided into top and bottomyers. The bottomyer was actually an underground passage! This blueprint didnt just have bunkersit was practically bonkers! So, how is it? Is it okay? Zheng Xing and Uncle looked at me anxiously. Of course, its okay! But, can we really manage to do this? No matter how you looked at it, this was a massive construction project. This was basically on the scale of a base belonging to thete-stage apocalypse, and those were all built gradually after everyones powers had grown stronger. Right now, unless we have construction groups and heavy machinery from before the apocalypse, we wouldnt be able build all of this, right? Dg exined, We need time and personnel. We can take it a step at a time. We need to mainly rely on Zheng Xing and Uncle; others abilities will also be of some help, like Cains fire and Yunqians water. Uncle? I twisted my head to look at Uncle, curious about what kind of ability could help with building this base. Feeling a bit embarrassed, Uncle chuckled as he said, Shutian had me recall my excavations and what I remembered about theyouts of the castles Ive seen. After reflecting upon it, I discovered something wasnt right. I could actually remember all the details very clearly. Even those contemporary military structures that Ive only glimpsed, I could drawpletely. So I figure, my ability should be memory, right? Memory? Hard to say. If this was the previous life, then hed definitely be the first to get left behind. However, this ability along with Uncles being an archeologist, plus his and Aunties love for reading and how well read they wereeven The Encyclopedia of Moss and The Suicide Handbook were possibly the type to appear on their shelveswould definitely be a huge help for the bases long term development. In my previous life, I didnt have any agricultural knowledge, so I could only rely on rudimentary books that I found. Even books about gardening were precious in my studies. I dont know how many missteps we took before we were finally able to nt edible and stable staples sessfully. Even more importantly, it had to result in something that wouldnt eat us in return. Throughout this process, Xia Zhengu was extremely impatient, always believing that looting was faster than farming. If it wasnt for the older members painstakingly arguing that our food supply was emptying out, that the canned food and cookies had long passed their expiration dates, and that looting wasnt a long term solution, he wouldnt have even let me build a greenhouse. After returning to my senses, Uncle looked at me nervously. I hastily replied, Uncle, continue to think about every field of knowledge. Other than architecture, think about agriculture and cultivation too. When you have time, write it down. We should also think of a way to nt some stuff next. Uncles spirits immediately lifted, and he repeatedly imed it was no problem, his expression quite happy. On the surface, it had seemed that Uncle hadnt cared much about not having an ability, but he nheless had hoped to figure it out and to be of some use. This reminded me. For the uing scouting, instead of searching for food, I should bring more books and seeds back instead. In the beginning of the apocalypse, food was not hard to find. Instead, it was those kinds of things that would be gone forever once they were gone. Oh right, also add a library room Pausing mid-sentence, I looked down at the blueprint of our base and instead said, add a library floor. Uncles eyes glistened, and he eximed, Yeah, lets add one! Shutian, Shuyu, with the whole world bing like this, tons of knowledge will definitely vanish. Since we have the power and the ability, just think of this as our responsibility to preserve the knowledge and culture of humanity to then pass on to future generations! Passing on to future generations, is it? That phrase sounded really grand, but I was just thinking about how unexpectedly useful knowing all this stuff had been. Back when I was nting and farming, I couldnt even remember just how many times I regretted that I hadnt taken lots of books from those bookstores I had passed by. Later on, many ces got destroyed, and things like books were great materials for fires in the winter, so extremely few of them had remained. I thought it over and said, Then, lets just find a room to store the books for now. Lan City is a huge metropolis. Theres got to be federal library. Later, we can take over that ce. A bit of fixing up, and well be able to use it. Hearing this, Uncle beamed. Right, right. The books of a library would be more thorough andplete than a bookstores. Seeing how happy Uncle was, I could only shut my mouth and not clue him in. Once winter arrived, who knew how many books would be left in the library? So, we should still head to the bookstores first to grab some books. After all,ter on, the library might end up being just an empty building with no books in it. Dg suddenly said sternly, Shuyu, I will not permit you to go to that federal library! Startled, I helplessly said, Dg, do you really think Im that reckless? Ever since I was a kid, the ones who loved running straight toward danger were always you, Uncle, and Auntie, right? Junjun and I were always the good kids obediently staying at home. Uncle lifted his head to look toward the sky, only to discover there was only the ceiling above his head. He then dipped his head to pretend to study the blueprint again. Zheng Xingughed out loud. Lily let her boss keep a bit more dignity by covering her mouth to giggle. but youve been reckless recently. Dg was embarrassed yet unwilling to give up on that fact. I thought for a moment and said, Its probably because I wasnt the least bit daring in myst life that I regretted it to my dying breath. After saying that, everyone stared straight at me. Dg had known all the details, but the others hadnt gotten the full picture. Previously, Guan Weijun was afraid of letting people know about this situation, but now I am a hundred percent Jiang Shuyu. So what if people know about the reincarnation business? Hmph, if anyone dares to provoke me, the whole Jiang family wille and crush you! Dg, more than worrying about me, you should be worrying about yourself. Of all the members in the Jiang Dominion, the one who has the most potential to survive until the end is definitely me! This line might have been over the top, but I really couldnt stand looking at Dgs current worrywart self. Before I got kidnapped by the bird, at least he would still let me face tens of aberrants all by myself. Yet now, he was like an overly protective mother bear who couldnt bear letting her cub get a single scratch. What about our agreement on being domineering, Dg! Hearing this, Dg was instead relieved and nodded. Remember to have Shujun with you. Then, I will have no worries. I confidently said, Well, of course! If I havent fallen, then Junjun wont get a single scratch! Actually. I dont have the right to criticize other people. Im also a protective mother bear. If the one who got kidnapped by the bird was JunjunI cant even imagine it! Just thinking about it makes me crazy. Okay. I kinda understand Dgs recent neurotic behavior. Guess I should let it slide. What falling! Dg furiously shouted, Before I fall, nothings going to happen to you guys! Is this a domino effect where everyones going to fall one after another? Dg, actually you guys need to be more careful since you guys are going to stay here. With so many people working on the construction, plus our objectives and actions being so grand, no matter if its aberrants or survivors, they might all seek us out. So promise me, youll protect Junjun. Actually, these words were unnecessary. How could Dg not protect Junjun? Only by stepping over his dead body could one hurt Junjun. Yet, I had to divert his focus here, so that he wouldnt constantly worry about my safety and overlook the bases. When I returned, I didnt want to discover that something had happened at home. Dg agreed briskly, Ill protect Junjun. You better protect yourself. Deal! Volume 4, 2: A Call Without a Response, Part Two

Volume 4, Chapter 2: A Call Without a Response, Part Two

Trantor: Michimochi (proofread by Arcedemius; C/E edited by lucathia) Although I really wanted to find out how everyones ability had progressed, I only had three days. It wasnt enough. Plus, I was going to take them into the city one by one, so I didnt need to rush it. As a result, I hid in my room almost the entire time to continue figuring out the spear and dagger. After trying for three whole days, the ice dagger in my hand had taken itsplete shape. Although it still didnt look as impressive as before, it at least looked more like a knife and not just a piece of ice. Its thickness was about two millimeters I think? Forget it. I shouldnt lie to myself. One point five millimeters was decent enough. The hilt of the dagger was too narrow to gripfortably. I could only add to its width by using my ice ability. Afterwards, I anxiously tested it on all sorts of things. The de was very sharp. Practically, nothing in the room or outside of it could win against it. It only got harder to cut when the energy of an ability was involved. However, once I covered the dagger with my own ability, the problem was easily solved, like bamboo splitting on a knifes edge. But by then, this would be apetition between whose ability was superior, so although the sharpness of the dagger had some influence, it was not the crucial point in the fight. In the process, the dagger didnt break or shatter. I even hardened my heart and tried to cut a stone with the dagger. There was some resistance, but the dagger was still able to slice through it. It was just that the deeper it went, the harder it was to move. In the end, it was stuck. I had to spend a huge amount of energy to free it. I was so scared in the process that I almost wanted to get a chainsaw and saw apart the stone to avoid damaging the ice dagger. But then again, using a chainsaw to rescue a dagger would be too ridiculous. On top of that, Dg would ask me about what was going on. If I had to start exining this, then I could kiss going to Lan City goodbye. If Dg knew I wasnt able to form the spear yet still wanted to enter the city nevertheless, he would definitely lock me up until the day all aberrants have been annihted. So, I could only steel my heart and forcefully pull it out. The ice dagger remained undamaged with not even a single scratch on it. I finally let out a breath. It seemed like I would be able to use the dagger, but there was still no response from the ice spear. Sigh, what else can I do? Although Ive already made a spear to take its ce, after having seen the Ice Emperor Spear, the weapons Ive created practically tarnish the image of a spear! I looked at the spear ced to the side. Because Id reached tier two, creating this recement was nothing. This time, I didnt use the handle of a broomstick either but an iron railing as the base, and it was the decorative, vintage type. The entire appearance of the spear had leveled up more than once, but of course, it was still ny-nine levels away from the Ice Emperor Spear. One mere level was nothing. Even though I had only spent three days of effort on it, this ice spear had seventy to eighty percent of the strength of my original spear. It should be enough for the beginnings of the apocalypse Eh, I forgot to consider the Jiang familys luck. But Im definitely going to enter Lan City no matter what today! I put away the dagger and grabbed the spear. Next, I pulled Jiang Xiaorong, who had been nted in the corner, and stuffed him inside my shirt. Then, I grabbed the hiking backpack and the silver hip sk that Jin Feng had prepared for me. All ready. Okay, lets set off! I pulled the door open. Are we leaving now? Xiao Sha raised his head. His eyes were bright, and he held a broom in his hand. We are, but did you have to be so anxious as to stand in my doorway? He was fully equipped, yet he was holding a broom and sweeping the floor. He didnt even have a dustpan ready. Where do you think youre sweeping the dust to? You gonna swallow it? Are you ready? You didnt bring a gun, right? I was a bit worried about this group of mercenaries. I had heard from Dg that when they were searching for me, they hadnte across any big obstacles either. They hadnt stumbled upon any aberrants that were too powerful for them. I really worried that they didnt have enough awareness of the danger of the apocalypse. They didnt understand it enough. This led me to reconsider if the entire Jiang family was unlucky, or if it was just me It hurts too much to consider. I decided to let go of that thought. Rather than suffering misery alone, sharing the misery was much better. Since the whole family was facing life and death together, then the bad luck should be shared as well! Xiao Sha directly shed open his jacket like an exhibitionist. Fastened tightly around his tight T-shirt and skinny jeans were tons of leather stuff: belts, braces, suspenders, all kinds of straps, and they were all lined with daggers, knives, shurikens, and even a bunch of metal stuff I wasnt familiar with, but they all looked to be deadly. He definitely understood it well. I really shouldnt have worried about these mercenaries. Their whole beings are humanoid weapons. Guns were just one of their weapons. Going with or without made no difference. Isnt that heavy? I was a bit speechless and reminded him, Dont let it affect your speed. The majority of the time, well want to avoid aberrants instead of confronting them. Xiao Sha shook his head and said, Its not that heavy. The guns that we had to bring for missions in the past were much heavier, plus after eating the crystals, my strength has increased immensely. This bit of weight is nothing. That was true. Guns were much bulkier than concealed weapons, after all. The weight of one or two guns was no lighter than a full collection of knives. Besides, the Jiang Dominion was a mercenary troop. Their physique and experience are definitely way above an ordinary persons. They wouldnt make a critical judgment error like this. Lets go. Well report to Dg first. I took a deep breath. Dgs expression was definitely not gonna be pretty. For these two days, he was even clingier than Shujun. He was barely like that Dg who never came home. It seemed like the incident where I got kidnapped by the bird had really scared the hell out of him. Xiao Sha hesitated as he said, Boss is in the living room. Hes been sitting there since he finished breakfast this morning Lets go. I forced myself to lead Xiao Sha to the living room. Yet, Dg wasnt the only one there. Junjun was also there. There were all sorts of food on the table too: beef jerky, cookies, drinks, chocte, etc. The table waspletely piled with food. Although I had asked Shujun to prepare some food and drinks, in case we werent able to find any food in the beginning, whats with this mountain of food? Am I going to enter the city to open a food stall or something? Dg, Junjun Youre about to leave? Its not even noon yet. Before I even finished saying anything, Dg frowned and cut me off. Eat dinner before you leave. Wait. Shouldnt it be lunch instead? Whats up with dinner? Dg, night is not a good time to confront aberrants. Once I enter the city, I have to find a safe ce to camp before the sun sets. I want to avoid traveling after dark, so I cant enter the city toote. Although aberrants werent necessarily stronger at night, humans are diurnal beings. All in all, our vision and alertness at night cant beat that of an aberrants. Unless one was strong enough to ovee all sorts of weaknesses, it was better to avoid moving around during the dark. Dg wore an unwilling expression and agreed, Youre right. Junjun pouted as she asked, Cant you leave after lunch? Im almost done cooking. Originally, I wanted to reply with no need, but Junjun had a face full of anticipation, plus Dgs face had darkened. I could only say, Okay. Ill just pack some of this food first. Go bring the dishes out. Well eat whatever there is. You dont need to prepare more. Junjun immediately nodded. Her skipping was so excited that I felt that I was going to end up so full that I could only take a leisurely stroll into the city. Well, its all right to stroll. If it could let Dg and Xiomi feel relief, then wasting a day was worth it. I started scooping up the pile of food on the table. The preparation may be a bit much, but what was chosen had gone through careful consideration. They were all high calorie items and conveniently small to carry, plus they were not the type to expire quickly. I packed some into the bag, not about to bring too much. After all, we were about to enter a city. Food in the first year of the apocalypse wasnt hard to find. It was just a question of whether or not we had the capability to go searching. If a tier two was unable to find any food, then starving to death was deserved. During lunch, the table was basically an encyclopedia of dietary supplements: the Complete Herbal Soup of Ten Ingredients, Herbal porridge, Angelica Duck, and Ginger-basil Egg. I think I even smelled the Soup of Four Ingredients. If these were eaten before the apocalypse, then it would definitely lead to an immediate overdose to the point of a nosebleed. Most importantly, whats with this Soup of Four? Am I going to experience menstrual pain in this life still? rg, you need enough supplements before entering the city! Junjun timidly said, That Soup of Four is mine. Auntie made the Angelica Duck. Uncle cooked the Ginger-basil Egg. And what about this Complete Herbal Soup of Ten and Herbal Porridge? Junjuns head dropped. By her two sides were the doting Uncle and Auntie. W-What else can I do? Lets just sit down and start eating then. After all, Id never heard of anyone dying in the apocalypse from taking in too many supplements. This table was full of love. I could only take a bite of each dish. As I had predicted, I was so full that I had to hug my belly out the door. Even Xiao Sha, who was next to me, was not left out. His originally slim waistline was now a jutting one. His icy expression had turned even more freezing, like he was constipated. Caressing a belly full of love, the two of us were finally able to take off. The whole Jiang Dominion lined up at the main entrance to see us off, either wearing a worried expression or a strained smile. Fortunately, there was the invincible airheaded soldier Cain, who waved with all his might with no understanding of the atmosphere. How did this turn out to be like were going on some life threatening dragon-ying quest or something I wiped off a handful of sweat. I just wanted to enter the city to fight some battles and level up. I didnt really intend to challenge some demon king! Xiao Sha said with a grim face, Ate too much. I want to puke. The start of this big dragon-ying adventure doesnt seem to be that rosy, huh? I stared at everyone, who was all concerned. Feeling the need to just hurry and escape, I got into the car and twisted my head to ask Xiao Sha, Ill drive? Although I havent been acting like an eighteen-year-old, my appearance is still that of a weak, beautiful boy. So I shouldnt be going at it alone until Im at least twenty! Xiao Sha had no opinion about it. He grimly folded his two arms and looked to be anxious and unhappy. However, I believed he was in a bad mood because his stomach was in a bad mood. This car was just a domestic one and wasnt modified much. After all, once we get there, I would have to leave it by the roadside. If it was modified too well, the survivors would just hijack it sooner. When its time to head back, we should just find a better one to drive. It would be more practical that way. I started the engine, thought for a bit, then rolled down the window. Toward the troubled audience, I shed an ultra-brilliant smile. They were taken aback but soon smiled as well. They finally let go of all of their worries and unwillingness, rxing their shoulders. Bring back some films for me, Cain brashly said. The best romantic action ones, ya got that? I get what you mean but Im gonna pretend that I dont! Bring a dumbbell back, the heavier the better. Yunqian caressed her own biceps with an unsatisfied frown. Do you feel that building an entire base with less than ten people isnt enough of a work out? I want lipstick, the crimson kind. This was Lily. Thats a doable one. I decided to also bring some lip balm and other skin care products for Junjun and Auntie. Books! Uncle and Auntie shouted in unison. I nodded and then looked at Dg. You got anything you want? He thought about it and said, Bring a girlfriend or boyfriend back. I immediately floored the gas pedal, speeding away with a screech. Volume 4, 3: Foray into Lan City, Part One

Volume 4, Chapter 3: Foray into Lan City, Part One

Trantor: Miaka_Mei (proofread by Arcedemius & L Su; C/E edited by lucathia) We abandoned the car at the outskirts of the city. It was actually still a ten minute drive to Lan City from here, but along the way, wed noticed a lot of suspicious activity, so it seemed like a bad idea to continue traveling by car. Although a car was fast, the target it created was toorge and would easily attract the attention of aberrants. The enemies would be hidden while we were out in the open. It was too disadvantageous for us. I nced at Xiao Sha and asked, Can you produce wind des with sufficient destructive power yet? Before I got kidnapped by the bird, I had previously taught everyone in the JDT. At that time, their results were hardly anywhere near satisfactory. Although their ability had rapidly improved, they werent able to use much of it during actualbat. Contrarily, they were more efficient at using it for housework. This was both funny and extremely embarrassing. Xiao Sha shot me a nce and made a casual flinging motion. I could faintly sense a sudden gust of wind. A squeaking noise sounded nearby. I walked right over and lowered my gaze to see a mouse-like thing on the ground. It was just that its tail had sharp thorns growing all over it, and the head was hairless and seemed to have a hard, outeryer. Its four ws were ck and shiny, and there was even a horn protruding from its forehead. This thing was called a horned mouse. They werent very strong but were very difficult to guard against. Theyd often charge out of the dark, tear off a piece of your flesh with its horn, and then scamper away. This mouse was split into two halves across the middle. Its limbs were still twitching, but there was no trace of the lethal weapon which had injured it. The wound was so clean that it seemed as if it had been caused by a single slice from a sword. So clean and precise. It seems that Xiao Sha has really made a lot of improvement. Not bad. Your ability has improved a lot. Xiao Sha replied with a faint smirk, We encountered a few aberrants along the way, so everyone got better. I asked a bit confusedly, Dg said you guys hadnte across any powerful aberrants. After a brief silence, he finally answered, Back then, anything that blocked Bosss path, no matter if it was strong or weak, hed only say a single word, kill. If we didnt get rid of whatever was blocking the way in five minutes, he would lose his patience and start firing bullets like they were free of charge. If guns were ineffective, he and Shujun would step in. The number of times that Shujun passed out was too many to count, while Boss ended up fainting two times. So we had to do everything we could, in hopes of finishing off the opponent within five minutes. I felt my eyes stinging with tears, but I resisted with great difficulty. This was the apocalypse, so there was no safe and sure way of getting stronger. Im not even sure how many times Ive copsed. However, this was the only method to strengthen oneself. Only by forcing oneself to their limits, even to the edge of life and death, would one be able to attain new heights. Looks like I was right to take turns in bringing people out. I lightly remarked, Training at home is basically useless, so getting straight intobat is the right thing to do. You should prepare yourself. If you cant keep up with my pace, Ill have you stay and wait for me on the outskirts of Lan City to avoid dragging me down. Xiao Sha grew stern and quickly nodded. Then, he hesitantly asked, But didnt you tell Boss that youd only be strolling outside the city? I rolled my eyes at him. If I hadnt said that, would Dg have let me go? We might as well just lock the door and set Junjun on me, okay! Xiao Sha seemed to tacitly understand. Nodding his head, he no longer spoke. As we headed toward Lan City, I didnt stay out of sight deliberately, but I also wasnt stupidly walking in the middle of the road. I simply walked casually along the side of the road. But even that was brazen enough. From time to time, we could hear some activitying from the buildings to either side, and several times, those sounds resembled voices. They were clearly humans and not aberrants. As expected of a first world mega-city. Although the mortality rate was high, the amount of people who survived wasnt small either. After walking for about half an hour, I could urately pinpoint three locations with human activity. I suddenly thought of something and hastily asked, Xiao Sha, you guys must have encountered some people while traveling toward Old Town, right? Xiao Sha nodded. Quite a few. As expected, the JDT members appearances hinted at their strength. There would definitely have been a lot of people who wanted to join our troop in the hopes of gaining protection. Then, why werent any new people taken in? Did you guys only run into scum? Is our luck really that bad? I guess Im not the only one with bad luck within the Jiang family. When we came across somebody, we didnt check whether they were bad or good, because Boss would only say a single sentence: Step aside or die. Were left with no option but ghosts. I was speechless. Should we take in some new people to join the Jiang Dominion on the way? In any case, it was quite delusional for the members of Jiang Dominion to build a base of operations with our current numbers. Plus, we didnt have a need for it at all. Were building such a huge territory, yet we werecking in personnel, so much that even guarding it was a problem. Dg should also be considering taking people in. Looking at those three spots, I hesitated for a moment but still ended up giving up. Xiao Sha and I both looked to be two youngsters around twenty years of age. Our figures didnt look strong or robust, and we were even heading toward Lan City. And yet, those people didnt make a sound to stop us, so the chance that they werent good people was high. However, the probability of an error of judgment was there as well. After all, Xiao Sha and I were acting oddly. In this kind of situation, everyone was escaping out of the city, while we were doing the opposite by heading inside. It was suspicious no matter how you looked at it. It was also possible that the other party didnt dare to call out to us. The harder I thought about it, the more my head hurt. I should just stop thinking. It was only day one, and I still wanted to explore the ins and outs of Lan City. Honestly, it was too bothersome to take some strangers along the way, and the other party was unlikely to be willing to enter Lan City, nor wait for me at their original spot. Xiao Sha suddenly stumbled and grabbed the corner of my shirt to prevent his fall. I was a bit stupefied. Stumbling isnt anything unusual, but how could Xiao Sha act so clumsily? He spoke with a low voice, Someones following us. I knitted my brows. I wasnt able to detect anyone. Xiao Sha quietly said, The enemy is very skilled at tailing. Impletely unable to see his figure. If it wasnt because of my wind ability letting me asionally sense faint breathing behind us, I might have been unable to detect him. I pretended to help him up and quietly asked, Mercenary? Not necessarily. It could be a soldier, policeman, or even a detective. I pondered for a while, then purposely asked with worry, Chensha, are you all right? Did you sprain your leg? Xiao Shas mouth twitched briefly, and he spoke with a frown, My ankle hurts a bit. Putting on a distressed look, I said, You should have been more careful! Come take a break over here. Xiao Sha awkwardly said, Sorry. I supported him as we limped toward the side of the road and sat down. Then, I took out water and crackers and passed them over to him. Xiao Sha took them without batting an eyelid. Ignoring his slightly bulging waistline, he worked hard on gobbling up the water and crackers. The guy whod just said he was so full that he felt like vomiting ate and drank one mouthful after another. His expression was filled with craving and satisfaction, looking exactly like a guy whod gone hungry his whole lifetime. He was quite the aplished actor. While staring at the food in his hand, I intentionally gulped, acted like I was holding myself back from eating, and only drank a few sips of water. Its been getting so coldtely. I think theres something strange going on. Its only almost November, and it hasnt been this cold around this time of year in the past. I anxiously said, Im afraid that this winter might be colder than before. If we dont look for more food, life might get harderter. Hearing this, Xiao Sha stopped eating. He lowered his head and looked at the crackers. A look of hunger was on his face, but he still passed the crackers over to let me put them away. He said, Theres probably food inside Lan City. I know the location of a supermarkets warehouse. Ive previously worked part-time there. That warehouse isnt eye-catching on the outside, so it might not have been discovered. I nodded my head and sighed. I hope so. The stuff outside is pretty much all gone, while the ces that havent been looted all seemed rather fishy. Itd be really bad if there were monsters inside. Yeah. We shouldnt take risks just for the sake of a few bites. Do you still remember that Chen Qianru? She died in such a miserable way. I know, right? Her whole person was sigh! Why had that girl been so stupid? I couldnt help but regret it for real. I said self-deprecatingly, But arent we exposing ourselves to danger by entering the city? The warehouse is located just on the outskirts of the city. Xiao Sha said with a frown, Well move around the outskirts and avoid going too far in. Well, thats our only option. After sitting at the side of the road for a little while, there was still no movement. Is the opposite party being too cautious, or do they truly not have any ill intentions? Xiao Sha shot me a questioning nce. I calmly asked, Does your leg feel a little better? If its fine, then we should move on. He shifted his leg, stood up, and said, No problem. Its probably just a little sprained. Im so d youre okay! I also stood up, then threw myself into his embrace, and softly said, Lets role y as a gay couple. Its easier to speak closely. Xiao Sha agreed. He hugged me without even a hint of awkwardness. Professionals were naturally skilled at adapting to the situation. Thinking back to my past life, at my side, I only had office workers who would rush out and attract monsters randomly, shrieking children, and weeping elderly women. There were so many foolish teammates that I wanted to ditch but couldnt even finish washing my hands of them. Now that I have such a godly teammate, this is pretty much a cheat! Is that person still there? I asked softly. Lowering his head, Xiao Sha moved closer to the side of my ear. An indifferent look was on his face, but his eyes were filled with gentleness. Truly a spitting image of a devoted, cool guy. This acting skill was so excellent that I couldnt help sighing as Ipared myself to him. He whispered, Still there. The instant I sense them, I can determine their general location, but theres a chance that Im wrong. Should we kill him? My godly partner is just too godly. Wanting to take someone down just from catching sight of them is quite the dilemma, too! Try to avoid lowering the poption of humans on Earth even more. If he doesnt make a move, we can ignore him for now. If he really does follow us for too long, then it wont be toote to take actionter. If the enemy has a gun and strikes when were off-guard, we could possibly die. Wasting precious ammunition to shoot dead two passersby is quite the meaningless thing to do. I coldly uttered, Besides, its hard to say whether a single gunshot is enough to kill me. But if he dared to strike at us, as long as he isnt able to kill me in a single hit, then hed be the one to die! Xiao Sha briefly contemted this and said with a nod, Hed probably not kill you since youre good-looking. Hed likely kill me to take you away. Fuck! This is actually possible. But I thought about it. Xiao Shas waistline was only thicker than mine by an inch. He was slender and had long legs, while his facial features werent very coarse. Probably not. Isnt it more useful to keep you? Usef Xiao Shas face distorted for a moment. Then, he skillfully resumed his indifference and passionate boyfriend look. He faintly said, Its time to go. We need to find a lodging ce before night falls. Okay. I straightened from his embrace and obediently nodded. We spoke a lot just now to draw the person out, but he still refused toe out. He probably wasnt going to show his face for now. Who knows how long that person would continue following us? I suddenly had a wicked idea. Lets head straight into the city and see if he still dares to follow us. We hit the road for a while. An enormous road sign with Wee to Lan City was hung lopsidedly, giving the impression that it could fall off at any moment. Even a part of the lower right of the signboard had scratch marks on its surface. I stared at the sign with my head tilted and felt slightly unhappy. Lan City was going to be my familys territory in the future! The sign was crooked and had even been scratched. How unsightly! We have to get this sign changed in the future! Plus, we also have to rename it, since Lan City sounded too girly. It was totally discordant with my familys ferocious, invincible troop! Mm, what should we name itIm such a fool. It has to be Jiang Dominion! This is my familys territory. Even the pun is marvelous. A hundred times more imposing than OO city or XX metropolis! Shuyu. Xiao Sha called out to me, warily looking at the underbrush beside the road sign. I mumbled Mm. I had noticed ages ago. With such poor hiding skills, there wasnt any need for Xiao Sha to step in, since even my knees could sense where they were hiding. Compared to that guy secretly stalking us, these guys camouge skills basically earned them a big fat zero. Xiao Sha nced at me, while I was also looking at him shyly, perfectly acting out the powerless, clueless, and useless pretty boy. Xiao Shas face briefly twisted. Tsk, your acting skills are pretty good but stillcking in consistency. The leader was pretending to be weak, so Xiao Sha could only volunteer himself and yelled, Whos there! The people over there seemed to have given up on hiding. While Xiao Sha was shouting, they had already stood up from the bushes. They were all tall and bulky men, each carrying a knife or staff in their hands. The one leading them was wearing a puffer coat and was even holding a gun. They looked like they were getting by pretty well. They were staring straight at my backpack, with hunger on their faces. Only the man with the puffer coat was showing suspicion on his face. He asked doubtfully, You guys actually want to go into the city? You crazy? At this moment, the rest of them showed realization on their faces. After taking a look at the city behind them, a look of fear clouded their faces. Someone muttered, No wonder something seemed off. The direction is all wrong. We always rob others while facing Lan City. But strangely this time, we cant see the city because it turns out that our backs are to it. I see. So this bunch of people specialized in robbing civilians who were fleeing from the city. Theyre quite smart people. Most of the people escaping from the city would be carrying a lot of supplies. Although those citizens may be armed and would be alert to danger,pared to starving, freezing to death, or getting killed by aberrants in the city, those people would likely be less of a threat to them. If the ones doing the looting werent killing everyone off and taking away everything, then those civilians who had just escaped from the city might just wish not to fight them over it. The man in the puffer coat frowned and pondered for a while. Then, he said, Whether you want to enter or leave, you need to pay the toll. Youre free to go wherever you want. The toll that Im referring to aint paper money. You guys get that, right? Xiao Shas face darkened with a deep frown. Since his outward appearance wasnt imposing enough, he actually didnt appear all that fierce. He just looked like someone with a bad temper, cold-hearted and hard to approach. Chensha, just give it to them. I timidly hid behind Xiao Sha, thinking that we should treasure all life. Were all one human race. Giving away some food didnt really matter, so lets just give them a chance. As long as they leave after taking the stuff, I can treat this as a contribution to humankinds survival. In any case, its not like Imcking in food and drink. Fine. With great reluctance, Xiao Sha took out choctes and some canned beverages from the backpack. I also took out several crackers, letting him throw them all to the opposite party. Those people probably hadnt expected us to cooperate so readily. They were somewhat confused when receiving the food, but soon after, quickly began a tug-of-war. They only stopped when the man in the puffer coat shouted at them. The man in the puffer coat gazed at me. I shrank back and hid behind Xiao Sha, praying that theyd leave quickly. Please dont get seduced by this face of mine! Since ancient times, a pretty, red face was often the flood of disaster. A blue face was all the more of a severe flood, and even resulted in freezing. You better run away if you wanna live! However, he only shot me a nce and shifted his focus to Xiao Sha. And take off the jacket youre wearing. Xiao Shas face turned even uglier, and even I couldnt help sighing. Its not that we were reluctant about a single jacket, but Xiao Sha would turn into a lethal human weapon once he took off the jacket. With a whole body covered in knives, can we still part amiably? Take it off already! Xiao Sha turned his head and nced over. I shrugged. Take it off if you want. Its not so often that someone else tells you to do that instead of me. You gonna do it? I feel thattely, your words have been particrly infuriating. After recovering my memory, I becamepletely unrestrained. To put it in a nutshell, Ive got the Jiang family. I aint afraid of nobody! Still chatting!? The man in the puffer coat roared furiously. Xiao Sha nced indifferently at him. As the man wished, with one pull, off came his jacket, and just as expected, everyones eyes widened while the man in the puffer coat stared nkly. Soon after, his facial expression quickly changed, and he swiftly lifted his gun up. But he obviously couldnt beat Xiao Shas speed. At this moment, Xiao Sha was already flinging his arm, throwing out a knife, which pierced into the back of the mans hand with peerless uracy. While the man in the puffer coat shrieked in agony, Xiao Sha leaped ahead and easily picked up the gun. When he stood back up, the muzzle of the gun was already aimed straight at the enemys head. The man in the puffer coat immediately snapped his mouth shut. Although the blood on his hand was spurting out like tap water, a sight that made you wince just from looking at it, that mouth of his was rather tight lipped. But, what happened to not using guns? I red at Xiao Sha with discontent. Seemingly having realized it, he turned and quickly tossed the gun over. I briefly inspected it after grabbing it. This was a modified gun, and its craftsmanship was just so-so. Trying to kill me with this? You might as well just aim straight at my head and fire three shots Er, people must never be overconfident. Lets go with two shots. Xiao Sha pulled out his daggers and faced the other ten people with them, looking every bit like he was going to beat up all ten by himself. On the other hand, the entire bunch stared nkly at him. Then, they looked at the gun in my hand, and an expression of joy came across their face, as if the gun in my hand was just a stick for tending fires. Tsk tsk. My appearance is just too deceptiveI wonder if I should make full use of this Dg would arrogantly proim himself as king, and even Junjun could act bossy and domineering to avoid being taken lightly and bullied. As for me, I would justy low and hide my real strength. Just like how the MORC did it, so no one knows the true depth of their waters! So that when the time came to take action, I would suddenly transform from a delicate pretty boy into an unrivaled little Supermanjust this little bit was enough to mislead the enemy into thinking that the other members of Jiang Dominion might also be hiding their true powers. The more I thought about it, the more I felt that it was a pretty good idea I abruptly turned and looked behind us, but there was only the main street and the city. There was no movement whatsoever, though I could somewhat make out human shapes in the windows. They were paying close attention to us. Are they the family members of these robbers, or just unrted people? But right now, none of that was my main focus. Even if the enemy behind us started a fight, they still wouldnt be able to divert my attention. Far away, there was something there, and it was approaching closer. My heart thumped with rm. This wasnt a panic that arose without rhyme or reason. As your tier rose, so did your sensitivity to danger. A tier two would just feel a hunch, but even with just that, I was still able to detect danger. Just how terrifying is this thing, to be able to make me, a tier two, feel a sense of dread? Xiao Sha! I decided not to risk it. I turned and shouted, Get inside the next house, quick! Somethingsing! Volume 4, 3: Foray into Lan City, Part Two

Volume 4, Chapter 3: Foray into Lan City, Part Two

Trantor: Miaka_Mei (proofread by Arcedemius; C/E edited by Taffygirl13 & lucathia) Xiao Sha sent his opponents kitchen knife flying with a strike from his dagger. At the same time, he delivered a single kick, knocking the other person a few steps back. The opponent clutched his stomach as he keeled over, groaning in pain. Xiao Sha turned to look at me, then ran straight back without a word or question. He nced around before saying, That one. I looked over. There was a row of townhouses, and all of them looked exactly the same. The external wall was made of stone and appeared fairly high-grade. The door was even sturdier, just like the gates of a city. Good choice! After nodding with approval, the two of us quickly started to run toward the building, with Xiao Sha easily taking the lead. As expected of a user of the wind ability. He turned to look back and suddenly paused in his steps, seemingly wanting to run back to the rear. I rolled my eyes at him. Keep running! Think of a method to get inside first. Xiao Sha continued to charge toward the house again, jumping up and down to look for an entrance. I gained a moment of reprieve and so turned to look back. Three or four of the looters were copsed on the ground, while the man in the puffer coat was still standing, his left hand tightly clutching his right. Needless to say, this method of applying pressure to staunch the bleeding was rather effective, as his hand was no longer spurting blood. He was observing our movements with suspicion clouding his face. But this doubt didntst for long. Faint tremors ran through the ground, causing the both of us to simultaneously look in the same direction. Billowing smoke and dust emerged from the horizon, immediately followed by a distinct soundthe sound of footsteps. Or perhaps it would be more urate to say the sound of hoofbeats? The clip-clop sounds did not seem as strong and powerful as a horses. They were more likely to be from creatures of a smaller size. But this also indicated howrge in number they must be, to be able to cause such strong vibrations. Shuyu! Hurry up and get inside! When I looked back, Xiao Sha had already opened the door. Such astonishingly high efficiency. My dear friend, were you by any chance a thief before joining the JDT? I remembered Dg saying that Xiao Sha had been picked up. However, he wasnt an orphan, so I wasnt sure what exactly picked up meant in this case. Back then, Dg hadnt returned home for so long, and in the midst of a cold war, both Dd and Mimei had refused to respond to his words. Afterwards, I had forgotten to ask further. As the sound of powerful hoofbeats approached closer and closer with increasing intensity, I quickly ran inside the building. Hearing the sounds of footsteps from behind, I looked back and saw the man in the puffer coat running over, while also shouting to the others, Lets go! Hurry up and follow themhide inside the houses. Well, hes pretty smart. But what a pity, who said you guys coulde in? The man in the puffer coat shot Xiao Sha a nce. He then went around him cautiously and rushed toward the neighboring home. Ok, I guess hes very smart. The moment he noticed something was amiss, he pushed all other matters aside to go straight into hiding first. He had even chosen the same kind of building as us, simply jumping next door. Moreover, under tight time constraints, wed most likely not confront each other again. What a perfect example of killing two birds with one stone. Upon entering the house, I dragged Xiao Sha up to the third floor, which was right below the rooftop. If things didnt work out, we could try jumping off the building to flee for our lives. After looking around inside, we ended up going straight into the wardrobe. In any case, the wardrobe was plentyrge enough, with enough space to even fit two men lying side by side on the floor. Shuyu, what exactly are those? Xiao Sha asked in confusion. I raised a finger to my lips. Listen. The clip-clop sounds were getting clearer and clearer. Although they werent as overpowering as those of a horse stampede, the lighter pitter-patter was more agitating, an extremely unsettling sound. It cant be a swarm of cockroaches, right? I frowned. I would be okay with that. For now, they wouldnt attack any prey over a certain size. It was just a pity that a cockroachs footsteps didnt exactly sound like this. The hoofbeats were almost within reach, as the tremors also reached their peak. This situation continued for about ten seconds, before the sounds gradually began to fade. I stepped out of the closet, feeling fairly certain about what was out there. After all, there was another clue aside from the footsteps: the cries. I pushed the wardrobe door open and walked over to the window to look outside. I was right! It was a horned mouse tide. They were very high in number, and looked pretty much like a ck tidal wave that was advancing to engulf Lan City. At this moment, Xiao Sha also walked over to the window, only to be shocked at the sight of the swarm outside. Fortunately, he had used a wind de to kill off the horned mouse from before. If he had gotten stained by its blood, we might not have been able to escape so easily. But in the end, a horned mouse was really as timid as a mouse. Intimidating them would be enough to send them fleeing in eight or nine cases out of ten. Although gathering in such arge group might give them more courage, I had a tier two ice ability. I could simply make some impressive looking but useless sounds and light effects to scare away the mice without much of a problem. Contrarily, the cockroaches that I had just thought about were much more terrifying. But nothingpared to an ant tide or a bee tide Actually, best not to think about those any further. In any case, those are matters for the future. At the current stage, umting en masse to prevail was the mostmon practice. Such swarms were not yet likely to attack humans, since these species werent aggressive originally. But I hadnt expected that horned mice would gather to form groups so soon. Moreover, they had such overwhelming numbers. No wonder they were heading toward the major city; they had most likely gnawed through everything in the vicinity of the town already. Shuyu, are we still entering the city? Xiao Sha asked worriedly. Why, are you scared? Such a reaction was only natural. Seeing as a group of horned mice thisrge could simply crush people to death, it was obvious that nobody would want to try to face them head-on. Xiao Shas expression turned cold, and he said, I still cant find the guy on our tail, and now this massive group of horned mice is entering the city. Going to Lan City at this time would not be a good choice. The person tailing us was indeed quite troublesome, and made me feel a bit on edge. I had the sudden urge to start something to force him out of hiding, but this would be too unwise. Since we didnt have any knowledge of the other persons strength, we were already at a disadvantage. I can guarantee you that there are definitely other things inside of Lan City that are more terrifying than the colony of mice just now. Xiao Sha was stunned for a moment. But he nodded and did not have any further objections. Just thinking about the aberrants that would emerge in theter stages of the apocalypse was enough for me to imagine how horrifying the situation in a first ss city would be. Even though Asia eventually had the Ice Emperor and the Thunder God, first ss cities remained in a state of unexplored wilderness. The Thunder God had started in Zhongguan City. That was a second ss city, but that was already enough to keep him busy. Meanwhile, the Ice Emperor had put his life on the line to return home. If they had upied a first ss city from the very beginning, would they have been able to secure arge stronghold for humanity? But then again, maybe I wasnt being cautious enough. Perhaps the reason they had been able to live long enough to be the twelve top elites was because they hadnt gone to first ss cities to court death. I took a deep breath. Courting death and bing stronger, why is there such a small difference between them? Dont be too afraid of that guy tailing us. He most likely developed a perception and concealment-rted ability. We need to be more alert. If we get the chance At this time, I looked around at the room behind me. No matter how powerful this person was, he couldnt possibly hide inside the room. Only then did I whisper, Immediately kill him on sight! Xiao Sha nodded, and his eyes shed fiercely. As soon as I exited the house, I sensed somebodys gaze. When I raised my head, I saw that the man in the puffer coat was currently standing on the balcony next door. He was staring at us with an expression mixed with both surprise and suspicion. Hes got quite the nerve. Xiao Sha had single-handedly beaten the shit out of ten people, yet this guy still dared to stand within our line of sight. Is this courageousness? Stupidity? Or is he just too fond of Xiao Shas jacket? The opposite party was solely focused on Xiao Sha, an evident expression of reverence on his face. There was no ce for a guy like me in his eyes. Fine then, Ill just obediently stay as the weak and beautiful youth beside the strong one. And now Im even moonlighting as the little boyfriend. The longer I live, the younger I get. You still wanna go? Xiao Sha coldly spoke. The expression of the man in the puffer coat immediately changed, and he strongly shook his head. After some hesitation, he then shouted, Why are you going into the city? Everyone is leaving from there. No one is going in! Besides, didnt you see those mice? Xiao Sha held his tongue and simply threw me a sidelong nce. I leaned on my boyfriend with a frightened expression, and said with trembling lips, Just tell him to fuck off coolly with the air of a pro, and then lets hurry to the city before it gets dark. Unless, of course, you feel like sleeping in the open right in front of the aberrants noses? Xiao Sha indifferently nced at the man in the puffer coat, and dropped the words, None of your business, before swaggering off with his little boyfriend. After walking a good distance, Xiao Sha asked with uncertainty, Was that what you meant by air of a pro? I thought it over. He was still a bitcking in grandeur, coolness, and arrogance. But taking into consideration the fact that Xiao Sha was, in fact, the cold type of pro, being taciturn andcking inmunication skills might actually be fitting. Besides, having Dg alone was enough to fill the role of a domineering and mighty Boss. Not bad, I praised. Xiao Sha released a big sigh of relief. Which part of him looks like a highly skilled pro? Hes clearly more like a student whos just submitted his exam paper and is terrified of getting a zero I was a bit speechless. The moment I got my memory back, the almighty Dg became an invincible airhead, and the cool guy transformed into a young school-boy. Its no wonder that people say memories are the most beautiful pictures, while losing ones memory elevates everyone even more to the cool and proud. We slowed down as we walked further. Tall buildings were gradually emerging in our surroundings. The road was packed full of vehicles, and the ground was ck and red. It was clear that we had officially entered Lan Citys turf. I no longer dared to tantly go on. Advancing stealthily was the most logical action. Along the way, I continued to question Xiao Sha. Sometimes he couldnt detect the stalker at all, while at other times, he could sense the enemys aura again. The most recent time that he felt it was just a few minutes ago. He actually has the cheek to follow us into the city? I frowned. Just what is this guy trying to do? Hes just sneaking around without doing anything. Are Xiao Sha and I actually conspicuous enough to the point where someone would be that drawn to us? We each only have one backpack and dont have that many supplies. Unless they fell for our lies at the beginning about that fabricated warehouse store? No. The terror of Lan City definitely far exceeds the allure of a warehouse or market, especially when we havent yet entered the phase of food shortages. Entering a dangerous zone like Lan City while having a person stealthily following us, was really an unwise action Just as my killing intent emerged, Xiao Sha suddenly rushed out, fully releasing his murderous aura. I nkly watched as his throwing knives flew out even faster than he shot out. However, the knives pierced into the shadows by the side of the road, which appeared empty. Although I didnt know what was going on, I had to at least follow my partners lead now that he had already made a move. I swiftly twisted my arm back to draw the ice spear on my back and hurriedly followed. Xiao Sha charged forward and swung his daggers toward the shadows. I knitted my brows. Xiao Sha hadnt used wind des from start to finish. As expected, when ced in a critical situation, he had instantly forgotten about his ability. Although I wanted to remind him of this, I suddenly remembered that Xiao Shas opponent was probably the concealed person. In that case, its better to just let Xiao Sha finish off that kind of dangerous guy as quickly as possible. But I still couldnt see anything within the shadows ng! I was stunned. The dagger in Xiao Shas hand was stopped in midair at a deadlock. Although faint, a silhouette slowly came into view. Thats a hand! The hand, which was as dark as the shadows, was also holding onto a dagger. Only now could I gradually start to see the enemy. He was a murky figure, which made it extremely difficult to detect him in the shadows. Without looking closely, he was undetectable, which was how he had followed us all this way. The two daggers rebounded off each other, but Xiao Sha clearly had more remaining energy than the enemy did. He had probably been the one to break off first, ending the stalemate before charging in again. The shing sounds of daggers continuously reverberated, practically song-like. Tilting my head, I assessed the enemy. He was quite strong, and even knew how to use the surrounding shadows to conceal himself. There were quite a few times when I was suddenly unable to sense any trace of him, and could only pinpoint his location afterwards. His movements were not bad at all. Matched together with his weird shadow-like body, he was truly the ideal candidate for tailing. However, our familys Xiao Sha was much stronger. No wonder Dg had called Xiao Sha a hidden elite. Even when facing up against this shadow-like person, he could still pretty much follow the opponents footsteps, and even stay one step ahead by predicting their movements. Several attacks had probablynded on the enemy, but I was uncertain because he was just too dark. That ability to transform ones whole body into a shadow was just too strange. If the enemys ability was this strong, and could be maintained for a long time, he would definitely not be at a disadvantage in a fight. Although there were some ability types more suited for battle and some less suited for battle, the power of an ability also reflected the strength of ones body. However, this guys strength and speed really didnt seem to be greater than Xiao Shas. Unless I frowned and loudly shouted, Xiao Sha, use your ability! There was no sluggishness in Xiao Shas movements at all as energy waves started to fluctuate around his body. Gusts of wind condensed to form numerous wind des one after another, hovering in midair. Wind was colorless and formless, which actually made it quite hard to detect. Had I not ascended to tier two, I probably wouldnt have been able to see it so clearly. Rather than see, it was more urate to say that I could sense the energy waves. If Xiao Sha was truly able to integrate wind des into his fights, he would surely number among the JDTs finest battle experts. After shooting out the wind des to block off all escape routes, Xiao Sha lunged forward with his daggers. The opponent stiffened, seemingly at aplete loss. Looks like this strike will undoubtedly be sessful Tngg! The ck figure screamed with a shrill voice. Xiao Sha froze in shock. His hand twisted a little, causing the wind des to scatter outwards and turn the roadside cars into honebs. I shouted sternly, Hes bluffing! Xiao Sha turned cold. As he raised his daggers with caution, he once again gathered up wind des. His speed at gathering those is quite impressive. The ck figure hurriedly jumped out of the shadows, but only a humanoid silhouette could be seen. A ng was heard as something dropped to the ground, probably the dagger, which was also wreathed in darkness. Such an odd ability. Tngg, I-Im Chenyang! Shangguan Chenyang! Volume 4, 4: Shangguan Family, Part One

Volume 4, Chapter 4: Shangguan Family, Part One

Trantor: Chizuru (proofread by Arcedemius; C/E edited by Miaka_Mei, Taffygirl13, lucathia, & Elkin) Shangguan? I looked at Xiao Sha. He still had his guard raised, but from his expression, it seemed that he really did recognize the name Shangguan Chenyang. Since the word Shangguan was mentioned, the other party probably knew Xiao Sha. Xiao Sha shouted, Show your face! I cant! I dont know how I became like this. I, I cant get back to how I originally looked. Thats why I got driven out. They think Im a monster! The shadows shoulders sagged as he muttered, I havent turned into a monster. Its not like I eat people. I just, just He didnt seem to know just what he was, though I knew very well. This change was simr to that of the brainwight that we had encountered before. It was a physical evolution, and a significant one at that. He didnt even have a human form any more. Looking pretty much like an aberrant, it would be hard for him to be epted by humans. Xiao Sha hesitated a bit. Then, he turned to look at me. I grabbed Xiao Shas arm and timidly hid behind him as I asked, Chensha, is this person really someone you know? Xiao Sha nodded. Yes, the voice sounds like him. Its really me! Shangguan Chenyang hurriedly said, Tngg, dont you recognize your younger brother? Your cousin? I frowned, trying hard to y the role of a little boyfriend. I pushed him in discontent andined, Why havent I heard you mention him before? You never tell me anything! Xiao Sha indifferently said, I have more than twenty younger cousins. Im not very close with any of them, so there is nothing to talk about. Thats a really big family. Props to you that you can still recognize this voice that belongs to some unfamiliar cousin. Shangguan Chenyang retorted, At least youre more familiar with me than the others! We worked at the samepany before, and I helped cover up for you when you skipped work several times. Have youpletely forgotten me? There was a sour look on Xiao Shas face. He had no desire to reply, whether or not he remembered. Skipped work? I nced at Xiao Sha. This guy was an office worker? Which boss was as broad-minded as the sea, to have actually recruited such a cold and taciturn person? Why are you following me? Xiao Sha frowned. I, I was just wandering around and saw you by chance, so I tailed you. Xiao Sha coldly snorted. Sneaking around without showing your face? Are you trying to rob me? The shadow was silent for so long that Xiao Sha even started to grow wary. Finally, the shadow replied, I didnt dare to show myself. Everyone has been afraid of me, and I got driven out from the family. This time, it was Xiao Shas turn to fall silent. Who knew if he believed these words or not? Shangguan Chenyang bitterlyughed and said, Tngg, when Im in this form, I could pretty much rob anyone sessfully, so why would I specifically try to rob you? Its not like weve never fought before. When have I ever beaten you? Xiao Shas face eased a little, and he asked, You got driven out despite having this kind of ability? He stilled for a moment and seemed to cast a sidelong nce at me. He then said, At least, Shangguan Chenhao should consider you to be useful. The current Shangguan family is no longer the same. Several elders have died or otherwise turned into aberrants. You also know that most of the elders were supporting your big brother. Their deaths, along with the world falling to this kind of state, have allowed the military-oriented Chenhong to grow dominant. Your brother is barely able to keep standing alongside him. And theres Chenyu, who isnt simple either I couldnt understand what I was hearing. Is this the legendary power struggle among rich and powerful families? Xiao Sha coldly snorted in disdain. The Shangguan family has yet to disperse? Shangguan Chenyang wryly chuckled and said, You really do hate the family, dont you? Thanks to your big brothers quick response, not only have they not dispersed, theyve upied a military base. As soon as he realized the situation, he contacted the base and even dispatched people to bring back the outlying family members. Who knows how he reacted so quickly? But upon arriving at the base, Chenhong immediately used his military background to seize half of the power. Is that base in Lan City? I cut in and asked. However, the shadow ignored me, and I couldnt read the facial expression of the silhouette. He simply looked like a very dark and opaque shadow. Xiao Sha asked, Where is the base? Shangguan Chenyang finally said, In the south, not far from Lan City. Are you going to find your big brother? In that case, I wont follow you Okay, even if I cant see his expression, I can tell that this guy doesnt want to answer me at all. Should I be thankful that my appearance really isnt the least bit menacing? Even though Im clearly carrying an ice spear behind my back?! Although it looks like an iron railing rolled up in stic wrap, it should at least be more impressive than a broomstick, right? Sigh I really miss the Ice Emperors spear! Xiao Sha coldly said, Im not interested in the Shangguan family. Shangguan Chenyang immediately asked, Then, can I follow you? Follow you? He haspletely disregarded my existence. In any case, Ive at least got a super attractive face! Xiao Sha frowned. He wanted to look at me yet didnt dare to look. I immediately turned into a little troublemaker boyfriend. In a dissatisfied manner, I pinched Xiao Sha hard and then dragged him away. I even shouted to the shadow, If you dare toe closer to eavesdrop, Ill order Xiao Sha to beat you up! There was a hint of helplessness on Xiao Shas cold face. But as soon as we walked far enough from that shadow, his expression instantly changed to an obedient one, ready to listen to orders. In fact, I was slightly hesitant. Shangguan Chenyangs shadow ability was quite terrifying. Xiao Sha didnt seem intent on keeping him either. But I decided that, no matter what, we had to bring him in first before further discussion. Based on Shangguan Chenyangs words, it sounded like their military base was not far from Lan City, and they had quite a few people, many of whom were soldiers. The moment they ran out of food, they would definitely go out in search for supplies. At that time, they could possibly run into the Jiang Dominion. Thus, it was necessary to find out the exact situation their base was in. Shangguan Chenyang could be the key. Xiao Sha, is your rtionship with your big brother bad? Xiao Shas face sank. I said, slightly awkwardly, Eh, its not that I want to hear about your personal matters. But if theyre not far from here, we might inadvertently encounter Xiao Sha interrupted, My father had three wives. Hes the eldest son of the first wife. Im from the third wifes household. Big families are really chaotic. Its no wonder there are more than twenty younger cousins. Turns out its not each person having multiple kids, but that there were many giving birth! I originally had three older brothers. Xiao Sha sneered, But there were two idiots who wanted topete for power against Shangguan Chenhao. In the end, one of them died while the other was admitted to an asylum. So, Im only left with one. This big brother is really dangerous! My familys big brother is still the best. Even though our familys deposit book, property deed, andnd deed are all in my hands, Dg wouldnt ever think of killing his ddi! I suddenly thought of the time when Xiao Sha had once gotten entranced by a brainwight. Back then, he had said something about his brother, and wasnt it something along the lines of, Dg, stop hitting me, Ill listen to you? It didnt sound like an estranged or hostile rtionship. Ohhhhh, my curiosity is quickly breaking through the horizon! Xiao Sha pledged, I left the Shangguan family ages ago, and have no interest in the base to the south. Even if there ends up being conflict between the Jiang Dominion and the Shangguan family, or even Shangguan Chenhao, I would still be Bosss man! He nced at me and corrected himself, What I mean is, Bosss subordinate. Eh, its not like I misunderstood. We cant bring that shadow along into Lan City. Tell him to wait here for five days. If hes still there after five days, well bring him back. By all means, dont mention anything about Old Town or any other matter regarding Jiang Dominion. Xiao Sha nodded, and went back to talk with Shangguan Chenyang. Youre taking this boy into the city? Shangguan Chenyang said in surprise, Tngg, you wouldnt do such a stupid thing, right? Its fine to spoil this kind of ything normally, but Lan City is not currently a ce to be fooling around in. Can I take back what I said and not bring him home? Shut up! Xiao Sha sternly said, Youre not allowed to speak about him that way! It wasnt until Xiao Sha nced at me that I finally realized what I had to do. I angrily shouted, Who are you calling a ything? Xiao Sha, Im warning you! If you let hime with us, Ill ignore you from now on! After that, I immediately turned my head snootily and left. I only sighed in relief after hearing Shangguan Chenyang snort in disdain. Pretending to be a brainless pretty boy wasnt easy. If I didnt pay attention, I could let my IQ slip in. I hadnt even bothered to retort to that provocation. Before Id walked for too long, the sounds of footsteps came from behind. As Xiao Sha caught up with me, he said, He agreed to wait there. I made a sound of mm and said, Itste. Lets look for a ce to stay first. This ce should be within Lan Citys boundaries, right? Yes, but only on the outskirts. Lan City is veryrge. Its divided into more than ten districts. This area is closer to the mountain, so it isnt as prosperous as the other areas. No wonder I couldnt sense any danger. There was no way a grand metropolis could be so safe. It seemed like it was due to there being fewer people here. This district had caused the previous generation of the Shangguan family to suffer a huge financial loss. No one bought out their developed district, and it became a dead zone. Xiao Sha said curtly, At that time, Shangguan Chenhao was the one that recovered the financial situation, and then rose to power as a result and became the head. Im more curious about why you arent willing to call him your big brother even once. You just keep saying, Shangguan Chenhao. I only shout Jiang Shutian when I get really enraged, so Dg is most afraid of hearing me call his name. If the JDT wants to fight against the Shangguan family, we dont have enough people. Xiao Sha seriously said, Nowhere near enough. Yeah, but were not in a rush to gather so many people. I said with a faint smile, A base which houses numerous powerhouses would never be short of manpower. Xiao Sha hesitated, but still couldnt resist asking, Just how strong can humans be? I thought about it and summarized by saying, Toppling mountains and overturning seas. Xiao Shas eyes stretched wide. I truthfully said, Of course, only a small number of people can reach that level. The majority of people are not so powerful. Ill never be in the majority! I smiled, casually reached out my hand, and said, Hand them over. Xiao Sha stilled, looking at me in confusion. All of your knives. I thought about it and spared him, saying, Except for that dagger on your waist. Xiao Sha stared nkly before asking, All of them? Why are you hesitating? I impatiently said. Thus, Xiao Sha began taking out the knives. He first took off his coat, which fell with a ng on the ground. It was basically like a metal coat. It was followed by the straps below his torso and on his thigh, and a small knife hidden in his boots. Four square pieces of metal with extremely sharp edges came out from the buckle of his belt, a tiny de simr to a hair clip was pulled out behind his ear, and a fingernail-sized de was spit out from under his tongue. Finally, his hand reached into the crotch of his pants and pulled out a thick needle. Actually, just keep that thing in your pants. I had absolutely no desire to take the needle that was being offered to me. After I ordered Xiao Sha to put the needle back in the crotch of his pants, I gathered the rest of the knives and tied them to my body. If I had not eaten quite a few crystals, I might not have had the strength to carry these things. Xiao Sha, even if you were popping crystals like candy, did you really need to turn yourself into a walking knife drawer? From now on, you have to figure out how to use your abilities in actualbat. You have to train until you can use them like actual throwing knives. Xiao Sha hummed in agreement. Afterwards, we found a house to stay in. There was only a small group of cockroaches in it, the kind that was covered in scales. However, they didnt actually take the initiative to attack. Upon seeing us, they first vibrated their wings in attempt to intimidate us. Then, they scampered away after I sent over a breath of cold air. If you run into insect-type aberrants, scaring them away takes precedence. At the current phase, they wouldnt attack prey of a muchrger size. If you really want to kill them, dont get their blood on you; otherwise, the consequences will be very troublesome. Xiao Sha nodded his head in understanding. We picked the third floor of the house that was neither too high nor too low as our temporary ce to stay. The room with a window was set up as a small living room, which happened to be the perfect area for eating. We were starving after walking for so long, so as soon as the food was brought out, we both devoured the food without a word. Lan City had looked so close. It was just at the foot of Old Town, but it had turned out to be lot further than Id expected. However, this was also a good thing, as being too close was actually worrying. Having eaten and drunk to our fill, I nced outside to see that it waspletely dark. From time to time, there were different cries and howling, a lot of which sounded very familiar. In my previous life, I had spent countless nights drifting in and out of sleep in constant terror of these sounds. One day had already passed. Taking into ount the travel time, we didnt have much time to continue exploring. Before we left, I had promised Dg to return home within a weeks time. At that time, the look on his face had been extremely unsightly, and he had only been willing to give me three days. After a lot of wheeling and dealing, I had finally gotten a five-day limit. I asked, How much longer do we need to walk before reaching a more prosperous area? Xiao Sha contemted for a moment, then said, An hour at the most. There are not many prosperous ces in Lan City. The ce where we came from was close to the mountains. In the daytime, there would be quite a few people here. Most of them would have been travelers, as theres a pathway here. However it waste at night when the apocalypse urred, so there may not have been many people here. Are you very familiar with Lan City? I used to live here for a while, Xiao Sha admitted. The Shangguan residence is here. Things were a lot easier with someone local around. I thought about it and asked, Do you know where the nearest shopping mall is? Xiao Sha looked at me strangely and said, I do know, but the shopping mall is big, so it might have already been looted. No worries. The things I want are definitely still there. Volume 4, 4: Shangguan Family, Part Two

Volume 4, Chapter 4: Shangguan Family, Part Two

Trantor: Miaka_Mei (proofread by Arcedemius; C/E edited by Taffygirl13, lucathia & Elkin) Xiao Sha thought about it and said, There may be mini department stores nearby, but Im not sure about it. Based on my memory, the nearest shopping mall is still a slight distance away, and we may have to walk for a day. As expected from a manhe didnt even know where the closest shopping mall was. If it was a woman, she could probably circle all the various big and small shops nearby on a map, and would even be able to tell me which was best for buying clothes, or which was best for shoes. As for the things that I wanted, she would have screamed out Ill take you there with shining eyes! Sadly, I only had a man with me. Beggars couldnt be choosers, so we probably had to walk around a bit more. We still have two days to spare, so lets head in that direction. On the way back, we can grab a vehicle on the outskirts of Lan City to save time. Xiao Sha reminded me, Its a small shopping center. Although there wouldnt be as many people there as inrge shopping centers, it would be no small number either. The apocalypse urred in the middle of the night, and it was also the same day that the ck fog spread. There wouldnt have been crowds in the shopping centers. That area would usually have been noisy too, so there probably werent many residents living around there either. The realization struck Xiao Sha, and he nodded. Lets hurry to bed and set out early tomorrow. If we hurried, we could possibly make it home within five days. Then Dg wouldnt get mad at us. Do you want to keep watch the first half or the second half of the night? Im not sleepy, so the first half of the night. With this response, Iy downfortably on the bed. Xiao Sha was sitting on a floral-patterned single sofa by the window. It was even pink in color, making him look funny from every angle. Xiao Sha frowned, and said, Shuyu, has the temperature inside dropped? Its the energy Im releasing. It has a warning effect. When I saw Xiao Sha nod, I finally rxed and fell asleep. However, I was jolted awake by a fluctuation of energy. Before I even reacted, I realized If you want to learn how to keep your guard up by releasing energy, I can teach you during the daytime as we travel. Dont y around now, or else Ill have to give up on sleeping. It was silent for a while before an awkward sorry could be heard. Come to think of it, teaching Xiao Sha this skill was the right thing to do. The wind ability could be better than the ice ability for keeping watch. Although an average person wouldnt notice the slight temperature drop, this mercenary, Xiao Sha, had still detected it. After all, it was too unlikely for the temperature inside the house to be lower than the outside. But if the house had a slight breeze, it would be far less noticeable. But no matter how easy or not it was to be noticed, I could at least guard against people who were approaching in my sleep. So everyone in the Jiang Dominion should learn this skill. Nevertheless, it was a very difficult skill to master. Back then, I had learned how to sleep while maintaining energy under the torturous training of the Ice Emperor. Now, what method should I use to torture others? Shuyu, its gotten a bit cold. There was a slight tremble in Xiao Shas voice. The fault doesnt lie with the temperature being low. This level of temperature is not enough to make you feel very cold. Eating all those crystals wasnt for nothing. We were entering winter of the first year of the apocalypse. The average person would have already started to wear a coat, but the members of JDT wouldnt even have to put on extrayers yet. Xiao Sha and I were wearing coats just because we didnt want other people to notice anything strange. I also had to hide the ice patterns, as they were too eye-catching. Its my power that makes you feel ufortable. You can cope with it by releasing your energy. But didnt you say you wouldnt be able to sleep? I was momentarily speechless. I had only been thinking of training others, but had forgotten that the one that needed the most training was me. On the way here, Xiao Sha had detected that shadow, Shangguan Chenyang, while I hadnt. If the Ice Emperor knew of this matter, he would definitely suppress his reluctance to severely reprimand me, giving me a hard training session while scolding me. I was wrong. If I cant sleep because of this small thing, I might as well not sleep. I simply got up and carefully guided Xiao Sha on how to use energy. Not like that. Youre using too much energy. You wont be able maintain it until morning. Youre not preparing an attack, so theres no need to condense so much energy. Only a little bit is necessary, and its best if its even lighter than the breeze. That way, the enemy wont be able to detect any difference. But even I havent mastered this part yet, which was why you could easily detect the temperature change. Xiao Sha shook his head and said, I noticed because I was sitting still, and was close to you. I simply thought that some window hadnt been closed. I ced the pillow behind my waist and saidfortably, Be sure to practice until you can sleep while maintaining the output of energy. The farther you can project it, the better. That way, you can instantly detect when someone approaches you. Xiao Sha nodded and immediately began to work on it, trying hard to reduce the release of energy. Though quite unstable, this was the typical case for beginners. I had only been slightly better in the beginning, since Id had experience from my past life. On the other hand, Xiao Sha was aplete novice starting from the very beginning. Youre not sleeping? Xiao Sha nced at me curiously. I will. But my task is to identify your energy so that it doesnt disturb me. That way, I can continue to sleep. Xiao Shas eyes shone, and he said, Ill also practice this in the second half of the night. I smiled. Still gonna practice, huh? Being able to hold out for the first half of the night and not faint will already be worth apuding. Damn, I suddenly dont feel like sleeping. I want to wait and see him faint. Its a shame that I havent found a Proid. Otherwise, I would definitely snap a photo and tease him over it in the future. Wait a minute! The person wholl be going out with me next time should be Cain. Ive decided! A Proid will now be considered the second most important item in our search of goods. It doesnt matter if I cant take a photo of Xiao Sha. But I must get a photo of Cain fainting! As for the most important item, cough, without a doubt, its the Kings garment of my familys Dg. As I let my imagination run wild, I found myself truly unable to fall asleep. If Xiao Sha practiced his ability until he fainted, itd be bad if there was no one to take watch. During my training back then, the Ice Emperor would instantly kick me with his little foot when I was about to fall asleep. During that time, was he ever able to sleep? Taking a deep breath, I then said to Xiao Sha, Im not sleeping tonight. Ill watch you practice your ability and sleep tomorrow night. Itll be the same in the future. Youll practice for a day and not practice for the next, until youve learned to steadily use the ability to keep your guard up. Xiao Sha nced over. Wont it affect our operations during the day? I can practice after we go back. Safety is important. Its nothing. I shook my head. We cant y it safe like that. When I was being trained up by the Ice Emperor, I hadnt slept for who knew how many days. Inparison, being able to practice safely, even going to sleep when tired felt too easy andfortable without any imminent danger. The only good way of training was under the pressure of kicking the bucket if you didnt get your power down pat. As the saying went, mans potential always appeared in times of stress! Hearing my reply, Xiao Sha no longer opposed the idea. He only said, I will master it as soon as possible. I rolled my eyes at him. You havent practiced yet, so you have no idea. Once you faint from practicing, try saying I will master it as soon as possible again. However, Xiao Shas current energy seemed stuck around tier one. It wasnt quite stable. Hopefully, he would be able to raise his tier while we were in the city. Theres too much energy. Its blowing like a hurricane! I threw the pillow over. Xiao Sha didnt even dare to dodge it and got hit straight in the face. He casually put the pillow away while trying his utmost to suppress the escaping energy. Such a good kid. Which alley was he picked up from, Dg? Hurry up and tell me. I wanna pick one up too! I stood up, nonchntly pulled out a sheet of toilet paper, and put it on top of his head. Once my hand let go, it instantly floated up and circled through the room before getting blown to the side of the door. It stuck fast against the door, unable to fall to the ground. There are a few stages that you should train. The first stage is getting that toilet paper to hover in the air with a constant and stable orbit. Xiao Sha frowned, but he didnt say anything. The second stage is being able to settle that toilet paper on top of your head. At most, it can only have a slight tremble. The third stage is being able to stop it wherever you want it to. And Im talking about stopping it in mid-air. You got that? Understood. Your difficulty level is higher than mine. Wind is formless, so its much harder to control than ice. Patting his shoulder, I said, No rush. These three stages of training arent so easy to master. If you really could seed in mastering it all, you would have to at least be tier three already. Tier three? Xiao Sha asked in bafflement. Just then, it came to me that I had never exined to everyone about the tiers in detail. Id have to find the time to exin it after getting home I abruptly turned to the window. Xiao Sha started as well, before quickly jumping up from the sofa. In an instant, I stretched out my hand to start condensing a thickyer of ice. Right as the ice wall took shape, there was a sh of light, and the ss window suddenly shatteredpletely. The deafening explosion was so huge that the whole house shook violently. Xiao Sha was about to push me away from the shards of broken ss, his hands already outstretched. However, when he realized that the ss shards were all stuck in the ice wall, he retracted his hands. The sounds of explosion continued, but they were all small ones, nothingpared to the explosion just now. I walked to the window and looked out. Fires were zing everywhere. Approximately three or four streets away, raging mes were releasing ck smoke into the air. Even from here, it was possible to detect the heat, not to mention the heavy smell of smoke. The gas station exploded. Xiao Sha looked over and said in discontent, Such a waste. What did those aberrants blow up the gas station for? I cautioned him, Listen carefully. Xiao Sha pricked up his ears. Human voices? I nodded. Although it was far away and obscured by explosions, we could still vaguely hear human voices. In a city filled with aberrants, sounds that could travel this far had to be screams. It didnt sound like a small number of people. Lets go and take a look. I looked at Xiao Sha and carefully stated, But that doesnt necessarily mean well save anyone. If necessary, well have to just watch with our arms folded to avoid getting ourselves into trouble. Xiao Sha nodded, lookingpletely heartless. It almost sounds like Im berating him. Anyways, professionals know how to weigh the pros and cons. There is no need to exin such things again; these mercenaries dont need to be reminded. Clutching my ice spear, I put on the jacket packed with knives, and we jumped straight down from the balcony. This little bit of height wasnt much of a problem to us. The only difference was that Inded noiselessly, while Xiao Sha still made a sound. He gazed at me with a mixture of admiration and envy. Dont be jealous of me. You have the wind ability, so your mastery in mobility will only surpass mine in the future. Lets go. If we dont hurry, we might not even manage to catch a glimpse of themotion. I sped up but didnt form ice des for gliding. For one, Xiao Sha wouldnt be able to keep up with me. Second, as long as it wasnt necessary to use my full strength, it was best to hide it. Although I hated the MORCs very existence, their style of operations was worth learning. We had only run two streets over, but we could already feel the rise in temperature. The mes were burning more and more intensely. Without firefighters to put out the fire, this ze would at minimum burn down the entire street. I felt a sharp pang in my heart, as this would be my future home. When we were still one street away, I stretched out my hand to stop Xiao Sha from getting any closer. Instead, I pointed at a building nearby and climbed up, even turning midway to check on how Xiao Sha was doing. Although he wasnt able to use his ability for assistance, and his climbing speed wasnt very fast, there was no sign of him stumbling. He continued to heft himself up step by step, his movements extremely smooth and agile. Having eaten a lot of crystals, our strengths would also increase. Just two fingertips would be enough to lift ones body weight. Even without the help of an ability, climbing up a building was merely childs y. After climbing to something like the sixth floor, I emerged on the balcony. Xiao Sha hopped up after me, close on my heels. He looked toward the gas station and pointed to a road not too far away, remarking, Theyre over there. I see eleven people, with something chasing after them. Theyre not moving that quickly. I was, however, looking in another direction. Patting his shoulder, I said, Look over there. In the other direction, arge group of people was quietly hurrying across the road. The people werent fast, and they werent moving in any kind of formation. Most likely, those were civilians, not some specialized organization. There were at least fifty or sixty of them, but it was hard to see clearly from this distance. Xiao Sha balked and asked in confusion, Dont tell me these people intentionally blew up the gas station to draw away the aberrants attention so the others would have a better chance of getting away? Are they soldiers? They could very well be. Right now, none of the civilians were capable of pulling this off, and at most had only improved to the stage of being able to flee without screaming or crying. But these people didnt quite look like soldiers, as they were wearing all sorts of random stuff. Or maybe they grabbed whatever was at hand because of the cold weather? They were fleeing with aberrants chasing at their heels. There were fewer aberrants than Id expected, only twenty at most. Although the raging ze would attract the aberrants attention, they wouldnt approach the scene of a fire. Blowing up the gas station is actually a pretty good idea. If it werent because a first ss city had too many aberrants, their chances of escaping unscathed would have been very high. The closer they approached us, the farther away they were from the other group, their directions exact opposites. The more attention those people drew, the safer the other group became; however, the price of being the bait was their own lives. Not three minutes had passed since Id started observing when someone got knocked down by a pouncing aberrant. He let out a pitiful wail before he got shredded and devoured by the aberrants that caught up. Even though it was a bit cruel, his death allowed hispanions to take a breather. Just who is the leader of this group? Even with theirpanion screaming so horribly, it wasnt enough for any of them to look back, or to wildly take a shot. Perhaps Xiao Sha had guessed right, and they could be soldiers. Shuyu, should we hide? Xiao Sha asked. Theyre too close to us and theres more and more aberrants following them now. We might get discovered. He paused, and then changed his line of questioning, Or do you want to save them? We might lose, though. That was true. Even if I could beat the current number of aberrants, there were plenty hidden away that were observing the scene. Fighting would create amotion that would also attract even more aberrants, leading to a never-ending battle. While I was still hesitating, those ten people dashed toward the crossroads and scattered in all directions at the same time. Turning left or right was nothing surprising, but someone even pulled a manhole open and jumped down it, while another one was climbing up a house alone. Those skills werent bad at all, belonging to someone wearing what looked to be protective goggles, but it seemed rather high-tech, so I wasnt really sure what it was. Well done! Xiao Sha praised, Indeed, splitting up is the only way to survive. Indeed. Although it was unavoidable that someone would get caught and killed, it was way better than everyone getting wiped out together. Splitting up to flee could possibly result in someone fortunate enough to survive and live another day. The only person who had scrambled up a house was throwing stuff down to draw the aberrants attention, obviously to give the others the opportunity to escape. Seeing this scene, I called out to Xiao Sha. Come, time to save someone! This fellow is brave, clever, and willing to sacrifice oneself for othersexactly the kind of person I want to recruit into the JDT! Volume 4, 5: An Unexpected Encounter, Part One

Volume 4, Chapter 5: An Unexpected Encounter, Part One

Trantor: Trantor Well split up for the rescue. Gather them up here, but only bring the quiet ones. Abandon them if theres the slightest resistance. Xiao Sha nodded. The key point is dont push yourself too hard. If theres something amiss, prioritize your own safety first. If you really cant get away, then call out my name, and Ill figure something out. I mean it. I couldnt resist giving out the order three times. I was worried that Xiao Sha didnt want to implicate me, so much so that he wouldnt even ask for help and end up sacrificing himself. If the sacrifice was worth it, then so be it. But I really didnt want him to die in vain when I could have saved him, simply because of some pointless misgivings. Xiao Sha readily agreed, without any sign of struggle or hesitation. He didnt look like he would insist on not calling for help and taking on the burden alone. Running out of time, I quickly instructed, Youll save the ones who were running to the left and right, lead them here and dont go anywhere else. Ill save the others. Only two people were running straight, the aberrants chasing after them were far greater in number, but a portion of the aberrants got distracted because the person climbing the house was unceasingly throwing stuff to lure away the aberrants, so that group of people hadnt been captured yet. However, they were unlikely tost much longer. The house-climbing guy seemed to be in the most danger. The aberrants who had chosen to climb up after him had quite the skills, but that guy was surprisingly strong. He could actually climb up one building after another, pulling himself up, then jumping up and over. He didnt look particrly robust, and yet he had so much strength. He probably possessed a strengthened body rted ability, or had already eaten evolution crystals Someone is really gonna die if I keep wasting time thinking! Xiao Sha had already jumped down, making a beeline for the two closest people. Seeing this, I followed him in jumping down, deciding to first save the two people who were running straight ahead. Their position was only about five meters away from death. If we dont go now, then we wont need to go at all. Forming ice des on the soles of my feet Trantor: Ugh! Another fight scene. What a pain. Dialogue, descriptions, Sun speech Anythings better than a fight scene! Except maybe tranting puns But puns dont go on for pages and pages! Hm I have a simple way out of this Time skip machine set to five minutes! That should be enough for Shuyu to finish fighting so I dont have to trante it. Time for a quick second breakfast! I suddenly felt the scene before me dissolve into darkness Trantor: Weird, I dont think the story goes like that. Shuyus supposed to win this fight. Did I not calibrate the time machine right? The moment I opened my eyes, I was immediately aware of how weak my body felt, to the point where it was hard to even breathe. Was I badly wounded? That said, I ought be grateful I was still alive in the first ce, since thest thing I had seen before closing my eyes pretty much had me pegged as dead. I never imagined Id still have a chance to open my eyes again. I just hoped I wasnt injured too badly. In times like these, being a cripple was no different from being dead. That said Some might say its better to be dead than alive. At a sudden sound, I tried my hardest to twist my neck to look over. My vision was still very blurry, but I could just about make out the top of a womans head behind a stack of crates. She walked around the crates, holding a steaming bowl, and I could now see her clearly. She looked delicate and pretty, and was very familiar, but I obviously didnt recognize her. She stared at me with joyful tears in her eyes while saying, You actually woke up! Where am I? I didnt expect to hear such a hoarse, high voice. My voice is a womans? Whats going on? Despite her pretty looks, the woman in front of me clearly looked exhausted but also a little proud. She said, Xia Zhengu left you for dead after those insect-like aberrants attacked you, but I could tell you were still barely alive. I convinced some of our older friends to bring you back, and together with the other women from the garden, we tried to nurse you back to health. At this point, she leaned over to support me and slowly began tipping the bowl toward my mouth. The warm liquid was very green and smelled strongly of medicinal herbs. We hid you in the greenhouse where we knew Xia Zhengu would never visit. Its also easier to sneak herbs and food to you without anyone noticing. The more she spoke, the more I remembered. This woman is Xiao Qi, Xia Zhengus first mistress. But that means Im Guan Weijun? No, Im Jiang Shuyu! But why am I here, then? But regardless, I wasnt in a position where I could move around freely. I should lie low for now while I tried to figure out what to do. I have to return to my world! Dg, Shujun, wait for me! Xiao Qi smiled as she saw me enthusiastically gulping the bitter medicinal drink. Ill get you some food and then try to use some healing ability on you. She gently set me back down onto Bags of leaves? Then she turned around to leave. I heard the greenhouse door close. But right after that I know youre hiding Guan Weijun! Wasting valuable resources on a piece of trash like her! Xia Zhengus furious roar came from outside the greenhouse. As if you actually cared about having enough resources to take care of everyone! I heard the greenhouse door fling open again and Xiao Qis scream. I pressed my face up against a gap between two of the crates and saw her desperately try to keep the door closed against his violent pounding. But as the medic, how could she have the strength to hold it closed for long? With a loud crash, both the door and Xiao Qi spilled onto the floor. Xia Zhengu stepped in, his hand angrily raised against her. As he swung down, I struggled to stand and shouted hoarsely, Stop! The one you want is me! Come finish off an invalid, you pathetic excuse of a human being! He turned to re in my direction I suddenly felt the scene before me dissolve into darkness And I was standing in a city street with several people around me. I quickly looked down at my hands. The familiar silvery markings were on my arms. Im Jiang Shuyu again? And I seem to be perfectly fine now This still didnt seem to be Lan City. I saw no sign of Xiao Sha or the civilians from earlier. This city also seemed to not have been touched by the ck Fog. It was filled with neon lights and the distant noise of thousands of humans bustling about. However I cant tell if these are aberrants or humans! It looked like a team of four against one. But three of the four looked like they could be very human-like aberrants or humans with very strange special abilities, while one tall and skinny middle-aged man looked normal. What the f*** is with those bone-like spikes and te armor the tattooeddy hasing out of her skin? The one person encircled by the four others was clearly human, with unusual silver hair and a red shirt. He looked badly injured, with ck blood dripping out of his left arm. But both sides were all looking at me! They seemed to be warily watching my movements as they also eyed each other. The human with the silver hair charged at the tall and skinny middle-aged man and threw a sluggish punch once he was close enough. That is the most pathetic punch Ive ever seen. Even the middle-aged man didnt bother dodging it, although he didnt need to. The human with the silver hairpletely froze in ce inches before the punch was about tond. The tall and skinny middle-aged man looked back and snapped at me, Did the boss send you as reinforcement? If your ability is to teleport, then go deal with Solitary Butterfly over there! I already have my hands full here! He gestured at a purple figure several meters away and then red at the human with the silver hair as he said that. What teleportation ability! Im gonna be the next Ice Emperor! And with Dg as the future king, theres no room for your bosss orders! Suddenly, the bone armordy and two of the other weird-looking people went from looking at me warily to ring at me with hostility. Aw, sh*t. Dont tell me my expression gave me away He must be one of the heroes reinforcements! We dont need to capture small fry like him! Kill him! the bone armordy yelled. The smooth te armor transformed into long, deadly spikes. Im ttered you think Im a hero, but if youre fighting heroes, then that must mean youre the bad guys! I pulled out the ice dagger and was about to begin forming the ice des on my feet again when a deafening roar came from nearby. Sh*t! For a tier two like me to have their heartbeat racing like this, they must be pretty strong! I immediately began backing away from the direction of the sound. The roaring got louder as a huge mountain of muscle came bursting onto the scene. I dont think most aberrants still bother with wearing pants? Is he a human evolved for strength? But he scooped up the figure wearing purple, burst through the circle of four people, snatched up the silver-haired human, and ran off. As the bad guys began to give chase, a shadowy figure darted out and created a red, misty-looking shield that blocked off all their attacks and covered the mountain of muscles escape. As soon as the mountain of muscle was out of sight, the shadowy figure fled the scene as well. He was extremely fast, with an odd way of moving, as though he were gliding across the ground. Another grouppeting with the bad guys? Or a rescue mission? Either way, I dont think its worth risking a fight with those two! I should leave while everyones distracted. As I started to make my exit, one of the four weirdoes noticed and snarled, If we cant bring back a hero, well have to settle for you! He lunged at me, and as I was about to stab into his chest I suddenly felt the scene before me dissolve into darkness Blub blub blub Im drowning! Wheres the surface? Its brighter that way Argh, the salt is getting in my eyes! My lungs hurt Ugh! What did I just m into? Its going up! I still grabbed onto it. Cough! Cough! Breathing never felt so good. As soon as I broke the surface, I greedily gulped in air. But only a few momentster, the object I was holding onto sunk beneath the waves again and I swallowed a load of sea water instead. As soon as it came back up again, I created a thin tform of ice to crawl onto, like a pr bear desperately clinging to its only hope of survival. The ice tform tilted back and forth crazily in the huge waves, but it didnt capsize. Oh Was that what mmed into me earlier? I was staring right at a giant sea serpent. Not only that, it was charging up a lightning attack on a screaming boatload of people! While the lives lost would be tragic, thats also probably my only ticket out of here! I dont want to be a castaway! I started making my ice tform into an ice path to get over to the sea serpent. But I couldnt get over fast enough. It let loose its lightning but luckily just nced off the side of the boat. There were already two figures in midair above, probably about to fight the beast. Tragically, the lightning bolt seemed to have hit one of its targets. One of the people in midair seemed to be charred ck. A spear of earth element suddenly shot toward the sea serpent, driving it back, and as the sea serpent tried to move closer, it would be blocked by walls of earth one after another. What a powerful earth ability! I was close enough to grab onto the sea serpent again. I gathered up my ice ability around the ice dagger and stabbed down I suddenly felt the scene before me dissolve into darkness Oh,e on. As soon as Im about to do anything useful, I get warped away? Trantor: Damn you! That was practically already half a fight scene you made me trante just now! I was now standing in the middle of someones conference table, but it looked like it was being used for breakfast instead. Bowls of egg flower soup, meat floss, and white rice porridge were set out. Of course, I was still dripping wet and making a puddle on the table. While everyone stopped talking and eating to stare at me, they then immediately turned their heads to look at one guy sitting at the head of the table. He seemed to bepletely oblivious, with his face obscured by the bowl of food he was shoveling into his mouth. Prince? A busty and beautiful pink-haired woman addressed the guy at the head of the table. Is this one of your friends? Everyone elses expressions showed they seemed to be thinking the exact same question. The guy stopped shoveling food into his mouth, rapidly chewed, and swallowed. Then he set the bowl down. We definitely havent met before. I dont recognize that face at all. And I wouldnt forget if Id ever seen him! He could give my face a run for its money! The prince the bustydy was speaking to had silky white hair, ruby eyes, and refined features. He also had pointed ears. An elf? What kind of world is this? I could have sworn his eyes briefly turned into hearts when he looked at me, but they instantly disappeared as nced at an unearthly, beautiful demon and a cool-looking dark elf also sitting around the conference table. Whats with all the super beautiful people around here? A face like Jiang Shuyus almost seemed normal. The prince then regally sat back in his chair, as though I hadnt already seen him stuffing his face. No, weve never met before, the prince said to the bustydy. He looked at me and directly asked, Did you want to join Infinite City? Thats So what are the terms for joining Infinite City? Of course I wont join! My loyalty is with the Jiang family and the Jiang Dominion Troop. But if I say no outright, isnt that just an excuse for them to kill me on sight? A wolf-like man with thick gray fur suddenly stood up and pped me on the shoulder. Even though Im standing on the table, Im not much taller than him! He looked a lot shorter sitting down. He kindly said, Before you two get into negotiations, we really should get you changed out of those clothes before you catch a cold. Im sure my clothes wont fit you, but you look close to Princes size. He has all those old outfits from photo shoots and the band tour, so there should be plenty to lend to you. Instead of a wolf in sheeps clothing, is this guy actually a sheep in wolves clothing? He really seemed like a nice guy. If I didnt have a higher tolerance for cold as an ice ability user, I would have probably been chilled to the bone wearing these wet clothes. The bustydys eyes suddenly shone as she said, Wolf-dg is right! It would be inconsiderate of us to keep you in such difort. We even have a whole bath house just around the corner that you can soak in and soothe all those aching muscles.~ Several of the guys around the table nched when they heard that. Why does it feel like its more likely that Ill be eaten by the bustydy than the scary-looking Wolf-dg? Wolf-dg personally escorted me to the bath house and even said he would stand guard outside the bath house door while I was bathing just in case. The prince also said he would personallye by to drop off something for me to change intoter. I didnt know if they wanted to recruit me that badly or showed this hospitality to everyone. Alone in the bath house, I finally had a moment to think. What is going on? How do I get back to Shujun and Dg? So much for going into Lan City just for training. As soon Xiao Sha tells Dg Im missing again, Dgs going to storm into Lan City with the entire troop to search for me! Its a pity that Dg wont be in a generous mood if thats the case. Some of those people looked like promising recruits Assuming they havent already died at the hands of the aberrants chasing them before I disappeared. Although the warm water and steam were very soothing, I couldnt help but feel tense. It was one thing to be separated from Shujun and Dg, but this time it didnt seem like we were even in the same universe! It was this moment that the bath house door opened, and I eyed it warily in case someone had gotten past Wolf-dg after all. But it was just the prince bringing his spare clothes as he had promised. Surprisingly, he came in with only a towel wrapped around his waist and slid into the water too, carefully positioning himself so that I wouldnt be able to see anything. Are you some sort of shy maiden? What would I want to peek at you for? Theres no way you canpare to Dg! But thinking about the heart eyes the prince had shown earlier I subconsciously also shifted to cover myself up more. Jiang Shuyus looks can probably stillpete with all the super beautiful people here. Its hard to say that my face wont bring me trouble. What if he asks me to join his harem of beautiful guys? Dont worry. I chained Lolidragon up to a pir beforeing in here, so you can rx, the prince said matter-of-factly. Um Thank you, Your Highness. The white-haired elf looked a little ufortable at being addressed as Your Highness and said, Just call me Prince. So his name is just Prince? Its not a title? Prince looked at me carefully, Did you actuallye to join Infinite City? Its pretty strange to find someone who hasnt heard of the Blood Elf, Prince, or Odd Squad and Infinite City. Busted As I was scrambling to think of a reply, Princeughed and said, Or if youre lost from another continent, we can send Sunshine with his magic carpet to send you back! Its a much morefortable ride than in a giant m or even that super expensive five-thousand-crystal-coin boat ride. Even with all the steam in the bath house, I could see aicallyrge sweatdrop on his forehead. Yu Lian-ds?o even forbid any merchants from selling me alcohol in the future just to prevent me from drunkenly ending up on another continent again Can you send me to Lan City on the continent of Meisia? I asked, but didnt hold any hope. Im pretty sure magic carpets dont exist in my universe. So unless this carpet is so magical it can tear a hole in the fabric of time and space, it wont be able to take me home. As expected, Prince frowned. I thought there were just five continents: Central, Eastern, Southern, Western, and Northern. Im going to PM Lolidragon. Following that, he scrunched up his forehead and looked like he was deep in thought. I forgot she was tied up to a pir. She was swearing a lot, but I think she said there are only these five continents. It was just as I thought. I sighed. Thanks for the offer. Ill try to figure out another way home. You warped into our diningAhem! Conference room. Why cant you warp back out? By the way, White Bird and Nan Gong Zui want to know how you got in. Something about security concerns and how if you were an assassin, you could have cast an AoE in the middle of our conference. I shook my head. I have no idea either. Ive been warped to several ces now but I disappear just as Im about to help someone or fighting off someone whos attacking me. Im not even sure why this is happening. Trantor: *nervously chuckles while fiddling with the time skip machine to get it to work properly* Honestly, its probably just another example of the Jiang familys unbelievably bad luck. Prince scratched his face. If thats the case, I guess White Bird and Nan Gong Zui dont need to worry about security breaches. Sounds like a simple ident. He then looked at me earnestly, his blood red eyes locked on mine. He actually looked like a leadera real princenow that he was being serious. How badly do you want to go back to your Meisia? You dont appear to be weak and Im sure everyone would wee you if you joined Infinite City. If not, well do what we can to help you get back. I immediately responded, Mimei and Dg are everything to me! I have to see them again. Prince nodded regally. With the air of a monarch issuing a decree, he dered, Then its settled! Well have a duel! Eh? Dont tell me rejecting Infinite City offended him so badly he wants a death match? If you said getting into a fight is what makes you warp, then youll just have to keep getting into fights until you get back home! It sounds really simple when you say it that way. Who knows how many universes there are out there? But what Prince was saying felt true. No matter how long it would take, I would fight my way across the universe to see Shujun and Dg again! Prince! I challenge you to a duel! As I said that, I felt such a surge of hope that some of thezily coiling steam crystallized in the air and despite the warmth in the bath house, a thinyer of frost suddenly coated the floor. Princes eyes gleamed and his handsome face broke out into a grin in anticipation of a fight. It looked like this pretty boy had truly earned the title Blood Elf. I ept your challenge! Despite itching to fight to get back home sooner, I waited for my sea-soaked clothes to get properlyundered. Prince really knows how to y up his sex appeal Each of the outfits he brought for me to change into was skimpier than thest! Id never hear the end of it if I showed up in front of the JDT wearing one of those. Trantor: Youre depriving the fanbase of a valuable source of artistic inspiration! I nodded respectfully to Prince across the conference room table. Youre right. Meat floss scrambled egg porridge really doesnt taste too bad. Adding guazi also gives it a nice crunch. Right, right? Here, try some of Meatbuns barbecued meat with it too. This is so good I can feel the pieces of meat melting in my mouth Its so much better than the nearly inedible, sometimes toxic, aberrant flesh. The smelling off the meat is sometimes so bad that Id want to puke instead. Too bad you arent staying longer. Some really nice restaurants have opened up around Infinite City. Your waist definitely wont be so small after eating a few bowls of ramen with extra chashu and toppings, baked potatoes covered with hickory-smoked bacon bits, curry mee with lots of fried tofu, beef Wellington, or briyani rice and yogurt. Hahaha. Its a wonder that you manage to keep in shape with so many delicious foods around here. Its amazing what thirty minutes of running away from hordes of fangirls every day will do for your physique. As I was waiting for my clothes to beundered, I decided to take advantage of my hosts hospitality a bit more and asked for a decent meal before we fought. It was all he coulde up with on short notice, but as someone who survived the apocalypse, I wasnt a picky eater. Mama! Fiery finished drying the clothes! A small round lump bounced up to Prince with my clothes neatly stacked on top of its head. After I took the clothes from the lump, I could clearly see It was a meat bun? A meat bun with eyes? Prince tenderly rubbed the meat bun on its head. Thanks, Meatbun. Well go out to buy some bunster, O.K.? Bun buns! The meat bun happily shouted as it ran off. Once I changed back into my actual clothes, Prince and I headed to a ce where he said we could fight without destroying things and incurring the wrath of the Construction and Finance departments. It was an arena with a simple sandy pit with empty seats circling around it. We took our stances on opposite sides. Ready for me to send you back to where you came from? Prince cheerfully called out. I rolled my eyes. Can you not make it sound like this is a duel to the death? But I positioned my feet in a battle-ready stance and shouted back, Ill be moving first! I formed ice des beneath my feet to glide quickly across the floor, and Prince charged forward to meet me as well. In an instant, we were right before each other. I swung out with my dagger I suddenly felt resistance against my dagger as it was parried by Princes ck Dao. Prince immediately counterattacked, making use of his daos longer reach to force me to retreat. I wish I could summon the ice spear! Then I ducked low, trying to aim for his knee instead. Before the blow was about tond, he twisted slightly out of the way and shouted, Buddha Mountains Phantom Leg! Already so low to the ground, I had to lean sharply backward to avoid Princes kick, his foot sweeping inches above my face, and twisted to the side as the ck Dao mmed down beside me. Prince noticed me keeping an eye behind him just in time for him to look back and side step most of the des of ice I had positioned behind his back. One still managed to nick the side of his face, crimson blood dripping down his previously wless skin. His tongue reached out to catch a drop and then heunched himself forward. Dragon Whirlwind Strike! I felt the energy gathering around him and dodged while throwing up a barrier of ice. He didnt make a direct hit, but I heard parts of the shield crack from the tearing whirlwind that surrounded him. While Prince was regaining his footing after that dizzying attack, I dove in, aiming for his neck. He reflexively managed to deflect it with the hilt of the ck Dao but as he moved to counterattack again, I retreated behind the remains of the ice shield and used the time to ce more ice des in the air. With a st of icy air emanating from my body, I created a path of ice from me to Prince and trapped his feet in the ice. In the moments he was pulling his feet free, I dashed in. He still managed to reflexively parry this head on attack, but his fate was sealed as the ice des flew toward him from all directions I dont actually have to kill him to go home, do I? But in that moment of hesitation, I heard Prince cry out, Pure White Inferno Rhapsody! A white sh of searing heat emanated from the ck Dao, causing the ice des headed toward him to evaporate into steam. My hand holding the dagger was forced aside and as the ck Dao swung down at me I finally felt the scene before me dissolve into darkness Thank you, Prince. I was tumbling down past the side of a building. A clock tower chimed midnight in the distance. I could see the insides of darkened ssrooms as I fell past and my hands scrabbled for purchase on the windowsills. My hands caught on the ledge of thergest window, and I used my momentum to crash through the window and swing inside y! Eliminate! No! Lu Yang, thats not a! I suddenly felt the scene before me dissolve into darkness I was suddenly in an antique-looking pub filled with bustling people. I need to find someone whos probably strong enough to probably beat me up and send me home! My eyes scanned across the bar for someone strong looking. That guy in the eye-catching, ck and silver scale armor with tights looks imposing, but I bet hes a poser. He doesnt have the physique of a fighter at all. In contrast, the brown-almost-blond guy drinking alone next to him is probably a pro! There was no time better than the present. I ran up to punch the guy while shouting, Fight me! to get the message across as directly as possible. He easily caught the fist. Looks like I made a good choice! He looked puzzled. I have no quarrel with you but You wish to duel? Yes! Honestly, I was kind of hoping the punch would be enough to get me to warp. This is kind of embarrassing. The whole bar is staring and the bartender looks like hes really not looking forward to a bar fight. Alright. Lets step outside to fight an honorable match. Theres no need to let bystanders get caught up in this mess. The ck and silver guy seemed to roll his eyes at the brown-haired mans words. He said matter-of-factly to the brown-haired man, There isnt anywhere to keep money on this outfit. Youll pay before you leave right? The brown-haired man wordlessly passed several coins over to the bartender. Once we were outside in a cobblestone street, he solemnly stated, Draw your sword. I pulled out my ice dagger as he pulled out a gleaming longsword. He hesitated when he saw the dagger. You brought a dagger to a swordfight? He re-sheathed his weapon. It wouldnt be fair to fight you. Ah, no! I need this fight! Seeing the brown-haired swordsman was truly very reluctant to fight someone he perceived as at a disadvantage and running out of options, I recklessly charged him so that he would be forced to fight me off. As expected, he frowned and dodged out of the way. With a look of pity in his eyes, he swung the pommel of his sword in a well-practiced motion toward my temple I suddenly felt the scene before me dissolve into darkness I internally heaved a sigh of relief. It was a snowy yard, with a building in front of me that looked vaguely familiar although I couldnt remember where I had seen it before. Behind me was a well-fortified wall. The entire area was quiet and empty Except for a single child standing in the snow. My heart stopped when he turned around and I saw his face. Jiang Xiaotian. Dg! I screamed and ran over to hug him. His small body stiffened in shock as I wrapped my arms around him. At first I was afraid to hold him too tightly, scared that he would shatter in my arms. But he was warm and soft and Does this mean this isnt my world? After all, the Jiang Xiaotian of my world He should already be It doesnt matter! This is a second chance! All that matters is taking him home to see Mimei! Jiang Xiaotian began trying to wriggle out of my grasp, no doubt fed up from his Ddi hugging him for so long. Before he could leave again, I grabbed on to his wrist. I wont let go of you until we see Shujun again! Well truly be a happy family! Jiang Xiaotian stared back at me with wide eyes. He didnt seem to recognize me. Mister, you know Gg? Gg? Even if Jiang Xiaotian had lost his memories again, at the very least, he should be calling Junjun jijie or even y But Gg I looked at the kid more carefully again and my heart sank. While the kid was the spitting image of Dg, there were still some differences between him and Jiang Xiaotian. My grip on his wrist loosened as I limply sank to the ground. Youre Youre Jiang Shutians kid, arent you? The kid nodded shyly, and my hope of a second chance was extinguished as soon as it came. Still, I couldnt believe Dg had a kid that Shujun hadnt immediately thrown out. And this kid was so big already Did that mean Dg got married while I was away? I swiftly looked back at my nephew. I couldnt help asking in curiosity. Whos your mom? Suddenly, I felt a powerful wave of energy behind me and a cold female voice saying, Get away from my son! I suddenly felt the scene before me dissolve into darkness No, no, no! I desperately twisted my head to look back. But it was toote and everything was enveloped by the dark. I didnt dare to immediately open my eyes. I was afraid I had found my world, even if it was several years in the future, only to lose it again. But I heard what sounded like things being smashed against the ground and the taunts of someone from high up, with the roars of aberrants from below. Now isnt the time to be standing around like a sitting duck! I opened my eyes and found I was just back where I started, with Xiao Sha running off to the side to save another group of civilians and my group in danger of perishing. Someone is really gonna die if I dont do anything! I set aside my lingering confusion and sadness and moved forward. Volume 4, 5: An Unexpected Encounter, Part Two

Volume 4, Chapter 5: An Unexpected Encounter, Part Two

Trantor: Miaka_Mei (proofread by Arcedemius, Minthe & EvlNabiki; C/E edited by lucathia) All the others were staring at her, their expressions so twisted that I didnt even have the heart to look at them. I reckoned that among these sixty people, young and old, men and women, any of them were more fitting of the title weak and delicatedy than her. Xiao Sha spoke with a hardened look, More than half of you are men. In the presence of a great hero such as you, each and every one of us is merely a woman! Hey hey, those thirty men or so behind you almost burst into tears. Watching this familiar face in front of meughing so brightly, I felt deeply disturbed. Had I really looked like this in the past? No, no, absolutely not. At the initial stage of the apocalypse, although Xia Zhengu hadnt started getting into casual rtionships with other women, sticking to flirting at most, I still couldntugh at all. Back then, I only remembered being terrified and panic-stricken regrly. Laughing was practically impossible, since I had to control the urge to cry almost all the time. Now, Guan Weijun was here, and even Mom was here, but there was no sign of Xia Zhengu. I couldnt figure out what was going on with this Guan Weijun. And the opposite side had a total of sixty people, far exceeding the amount of members of the Jiang Dominion. This was too dangerous, but Mom was among them I tightened my fists. Shuyu,e over here. Xiao Sha dragged me away. I obediently followed him to the side, and this obedience swiftly applied to someone else instead. As if consulting his superior on what he was supposed to do next, Xiao Sha asked, Youre really interested in bringing them back just like that? I frowned and shook my head. I want to look into their background first. Do you think theres something wrong with that Guan Weijun? That woman is rather fishy, Xiao Sha agreed. Shes an ordinary woman at first nce, but her bearing and the thin calluses on her hands show that she has undergone training. But I dont know what kind of training she has done. Her profession probably doesnt rely on her fighting skills though. She doesnt have our kind of vignce where were constantly alert for people lurking in the corners. Shes just an amateur. Hearing what was said, I felt that it was far from good. This Guan Weijun had even received some training! What had I ever trained in during the past life? Id probably only practiced my typing speed! Xiao Sha walked a step closer, as if he were saying words of endearment, and quietly reminded me, Shuyu, theyre watching us. You need to decide quickly. Knitting my eyebrows, I said, Well follow the original n to go to the shopping mall. They live in Lan City and even have women, so theyll surely be clearer than you about its location. Let that Guan Weijun take the lead, and the others can help us carry the stuff. They have too many people, so they wont be able to move together. I thought about it and felt the same way. Sixty people painted too big of a target, even if the nearby aberrants were oddly few in number. Coordinating a smooth operation would be difficult with so many people. Otherwise, there was no need for Guan Weijun to go and blow up a gas station. Let the elderly, children, and wounded ones hide in a nearby safe ce. The others wille with us. Contrarily, I wasnt worried about not being able to find shelter. Since that Guan Weijun was able to lead a group of people into fleeing to this ce, finding a safe haven wouldnt difficult for her. Xiao Sha asked full of confusion, Is there something you need from a shopping mall? Yes, theres LV, Chanel, BURBERRY, and other things. Seriously? Of course. I pondered for a bit, and said, Oh right, we still need sewing machines and needlework rted stuff. With everything needed avable in the shopping center, if we dont go there, then where else are we supposed to go? Originally, I was thinking that we wouldnt be able to carry much with just two people and four hands, but now that it turned into sixty people, even clearing out an entire floor was possible! Despite his whole face and heart a storm of confusion, Xiao Sha stillplied. He walked up to the group of people and asked, Where can we find a shopping mall? Guan Weijun curiously asked, Shopping mall? What for? Supplies, Xiao Sha answered briefly. You should look for them somewhere else after leaving the city. Guan Weijun said with disapproval, Lan City is just too dangerous. We should escape from here ASAP. I shook my head and said, Other kinds of supplies are a different matter, but there isnt much food left outside. Its already been looted. Guan Weijun was stumped. Theres nothing left? Small quantities can be found, but if you want to fill your belly for a long time, then Im afraid that its not possible. I intentionally looked at the group of people behind her. Worry and anxiety filled my eyes, my concern genuine, as the amount of food that they would consume was truly not small in number. Even though the Jiang territory had arge amount of supplies, we shouldnt be sitting around at home, eating away our resources. It seemed that, apart from organizing manpower to search for supplies in the city, we ought to start farming as soon as possible. Even though most of the nts that I was looking for hadnt fully undergone evolution yet, nts at the current stage were still not strong enough, so they could be nted and would be edible as long as we were careful not to let the slightly stronger nts continue to grow, along with harvesting them all before the arrival of the ck fog. Guan Weijun frowned deeply and spoke with slight unwillingness, Fine then. Lets make a trip to the supermarket. Ordinary supermarkets are easily ransacked, while shopping malls have underground floors for the most part. I think that arge majority of people wouldnt dare go down there. Stunned in realization, Guan Weijun muttered, That kinda makes sense. Hey guys, do any of you know where the closest shopping mall is? She actually turned her head around to inquire from the others. A woman not even knowing where the nearest shopping mall is, are you sure this is okay? What happened to your annual celebratory shopping frenzy? When the other women heard the words shopping mall, they became unusually excited and bantered back and forth, chatting among themselves. Nearby? How about Huanzhou Department Store? Huanzhou is already outdated. Weve gotta go to Dizhi. Thats thetest shopping mall for upper-ss women! Another woman passionately said, In the past, I only shopped at the gourmet food street at the lowest floors. I didnt dare to stroll around the upper levels exclusive stores. But Dizhi is farther than Huanzhou! Two streets away. I remember that Dizhi has a very big supermarket! Xiao Sha promptly decided, Then, Dizhi it is! The elders, children, and injured will stay. The rest will follow. As he finished speaking, he shot me a nce. I gave a slight nod, but at the same time, caught sight of Guan Weijun curiously looking at us. I hastily shifted my expression, to appear docile and wary of strangers while hiding myself behind Xiao Sha. I was starting to feel frustrated at myself for easily breaking character. Fortunately, my appearance was good enough to pose as a delicate and pretty boy, or else my guise would have long since been exposed. Can we leave behind some youngsters? Guan Weijun calmly requested, Im just worried that these elders, weak women, and children might not be able to cope with emergency situations. Upon hearing this, Xiao Sha nced over everyone, chose five people among those that had blown up the gas station, and spoke in amanding manner, You guys will remain here. The five were stunned. They actually turned toward Guan Weijun to seek her opinion. They agreed to stay behind only after she nodded Among women surviving the apocalypse, was the me in my past life the only one who was such a terrible failure? After thinking for a while, I was still worried about leaving Mom behind. So I simply took out a pile of short knives, daggers, darts, and such from the jacket, then tossed all of them to the five people. Although I still had the gun that I had picked up, it would be hard to predict what would happen from shooting a gun in the middle of Lan City. Before getting a clear understanding of their capability, it would be best not to hand it over to them for now, so as to not let them overreach. You can use these. Everyone stared at me with their faces saying, What the hell. I pointed at Xiao Sha with an innocent look. Im only helping him carry them. They were so heavy! A look of realization dawned upon their faces. No wonder you were carrying such a long rail but werent even using it. It wasnt actually yours. This I just didnt have the chance to use it. Cant you see that the style of this rail doesnt exactly match the other weapons made of excellent quality? Guan Weijun picked up those weapons for a closer look, and actually smilingly said, My god, are you actually filming a movie? This isnt some ything that you could randomly find. Theyre all the real deal. Are you some kind of hit-man or something? Xiao Jun! What nonsense are you saying! He must be a martial art expert! Panicking, Mom turned to look at Xiao Sha as she exined, Im so sorry. My daughter has no filter and is always babbling whateveres to her mind. Please dont take offense. Moms brilliant skill in lying through her teeth hadnt changed. What kind of great martial art expert would carry a whole bunch of murderous weapons while running about all over the ce? What martial art? Guan Weijun was still brightly smiling as she said, Our great benefactor wouldnt mind the words of a nobody like me. Youre just being paranoid, Mom! Xiao Sha only nced at her indifferently, not inclined to say anything, thoroughly acting out the role of a cool expert. Seeing that Xiao Sha really didnt show any sign of caring, Mom let out a sigh of relief and wearily spoke to her daughter, Xiao Jun, at times like these, how are you still so merry like this? You grew up so carefree, but I really have no idea where this personality came from. She really is thoughtless. I inwardly nodded in agreement. Its already the end of the world, yet shes still so happy. If she isnt putting on an act, then shes just a silly and naive person! Just what kind of person is this Guan Weijun? I was still unable to figure it out. She didnt appear to be a simple fool. She could evenmand a full operation, yet she wasnt someone with deep and profound thoughts. Actually, shes probably just an overly-optimistic person. However, I still had my doubts. Can she really be a good leader with such traits? Xia Zhengu had also had a passionate and excitable temperament. Among a group of fugitives surrounded by a spiritless atmosphere, he appeared unusually eye-catching. Even though he often had rotten ideas, among a crowd of people who didnt even have the guts to speak their minds, his action of repeatedly saying phrases like Believe me, Im definitely right, forcefully and with conviction always easily lured others into following him. I looked at Guan Weijun, a hint of killing intent rising within me. If this fellow was Xia Zhengu No, it cant be. Xia Zhengu didnt have this kind of personality. Theyre different. I dont even feel the slightest familiarity from her. After this, Guan Weijun arranged everything, while Xiao Sha only suggested a few ideas. Sure enough, that woman wasnt any sort of pushover. She took out a map and led everyone to the nearest warehouse. It was the headquarters of a mini storage. A single aberrant was at its doorway, seemingly guarding it, and looked very weak. Xiao Sha busted its head with the strike of a single dagger, easily earning the veneration of everyone. Apart from this, not even a single mouse could be found; however, there were numerous locks. This group of people seemed to be ustomed to this type of thing, as the old and weak ones hid themselves, while the youngsters hid in the outermost area, looking very alert. Guan Weijun spoke with one of the young men who was staying behind. Tai Wen, my mom will be in your hands. As we agreed, Ill help everyone out of the city, and you guys will take good care of my mom. If she loses even a single hair, Ill beat you to death. Mom was standing to the side, looking somewhat apologetic, and advised, Everybody has been very good. Xiao Jun, you shouldnt be bullying these youngsters all the time. What youngsters? The one called Tai Wen even looks older than Guan Weijun by a few years! Dont worry, Weijun. Pushing his eyesses, Tai Wen said, Unless I die, nothing will happen to Auntie. But if I really do die, dont forget to take care of my wife. Guan Weijun responded very naturally with of course, then smiled at the woman behind Mom. In any case, your wife and my mom will be together. Hearing this, Tai Wen finally nodded in relief. Lets go. Guan Weijun spoke to Xiao Sha, Well quickly leave after getting the supplies. I cant handle Lan City anymore. If it wasnt for the right opportunity, we wouldnt have been able to leave at all. Although youre quite strong, you still shouldnt look down on this ce. Xiao Sha nodded indifferently and said, Lead the way. Guan Weijun didnt say anything further. She led the twenty young people, hermanding aura not losing to Xiao Shas, not to mention the past lifes Xia Zhengu. My mind was in great turmoil. Seeing my own face on someone who was doing all kinds of things that were unlike me, yet was even a lot stronger than my past self Wait a second, if this Guan Weijun is someone who is able to lead and convince others, then shed most likely think nothing of Xia Zhengu, right? If she didnt take a liking to him, then that means they hadnt dated at all, so Xia Zhengu obviously wouldnt be here! Sure enough, Im the only one who was blind! What do I do, my mood just got even worse Why do you keep on staring at me? Stunned, I lifted my head. Guan Weijun had somehow ended up in the middle of the group and was walking beside me. She tilted her head andughingly said, Although youre very good-looking, and Im also fond of your looks, I dont like the young ones. Plus, youre also the great heros little boyfriend. I dont want to be sent to hell so soon, so its no use even if you like me! What the fuck are you talking about? She actually thought I would want to hook up with myself? Just from looking at my face, I couldnt even bring myself to drop a kiss, not to mention the many more explicit things after that The mere thought caused my face to instantly darken. This situation is too horrifying. It must never be allowed to happen! Weijun-ji, quit messing around before someone gets angry. A young man worriedly looked at Xiao Sha, who was at the front. I nced at him and noticed that he was the one who had run into the sewer. Guan Weijun seemed to have called him Zhang Jing? He didnt look very old. He was probably a university student who hadnt entered the workforce yet. Guan Weijun smilingly said, Its fine. Shuyu wont mind. She nced over and curiously asked, Youre Shuyu, right? I heard our benefactor call you that several times. Youre truly the most beautiful boy Ive ever seen. Guan Weijuns smile was exceptionally manly. I nkly stared at her, a familiar feeling suddenly shing through my mind, but I simply couldnt grasp it You sure get easily distracted when you look at me! She said while frowning, Im begging you, please dont cause our great benefactor to get jealous and ughter me. Once she said that, even Zhang Jing who was still beside us started to get nervous. I quickly said, Chensha wouldnt do that. He trusts me. Guan Weijun confusedly asked, Ive been hearing you call him Chensha, but it couldnt mean dirt, right? Its the chn from xngchn, stars. She oh-ed, and said, I had wondered why the parents would name their kid dust and mud. But even if it just sounds like it, it still doesnt sound nice. This naming skill is just toocking. Chnsh (ɳ), chnsh (mɳ)? Compared to Xiao Shas eldest brothers ho (brilliance), or that shadow guys yng (vast), the word sh (sand) was truly inferior.1 It seemed that, despite being born from arge n, Xiao Shas life was so miserable that hed been picked up by Dg from a dark alley. He had probably been despised ever since birth. Shuyu! Xiao Sha suddenly shouted, his hand waving me over. Noticing that his expression seemed amiss, I frowned and quickly walked to the front. Not needing to hear his next words, I had already lifted my head to look toward a certain spot. In the distance, there were tenrge buildings grouped together to form an arc. All of them had beenpletely and tightly wrapped by white string-like substances. Those string-like things had numerous ck dots moving around them, but the distance was too great, so I couldnt determine their actual form. In the middle of the arc, there was a white cocoon, but it was located too far away and was between the buildings, making it appear very small. However, its actual length and width should at least exceed three meters. We noticed this thing a long time ago. Guan Weijun stepped forward and advised us, Dont get too close. There are too many monsters over there, probably a colony of spiders. We just need to maintain a certain distance. There are actually a lot fewer monsters in this area than in other territories, which was why we managed to break out from here. Just a little bit more, and we could have seeded. There was a little bit of dissatisfaction in her tone as she reached the end of her sentence. She didnt sound happy to go to the shopping mall, but Ipletely ignored herment, as I was very clear about what was currently happening in front of our eyes. That thing was progressing to the next tier. This was a colonization which wouldter give rise to the ruler of a colony of aberrants. The possibility for it to be a colony of spiders wasnt low. Although other aberrants such as humans, mice, or dog-like aberrants were the mostmon in cities, the mutation of other body forms asionally urred. I had even heard of crabs upying the ind cities and towns. Those were most probably seafood from restaurants that hadnt been ughtered in time. Shuyu, Xiao Sha called out. Hm? I absentmindedly answered, my eyes still looking at the big cocoon hanging in the air. The quantity is a bit too much. Other people were still around, so Xiao Sha could only speak vaguely, yet his eyes were filled with worry, as if afraid that Id instantly rush over. I dropped my eyes. I did feel the sudden, undeniable urge to just rush ahead and ambush that aberrant by myself. It was in the midst of leveling up and had quite the powerful might, with numerous aberrants protecting it. So who would believe that it was just a tier two? It was highly likely to be tier three. With such a high-leveled aberrant, would I be able to raise my tier if I ate its evolution crystal? Dg had already reached tier one, but he was still quite a distance away from reaching tier two. But if he had this evolution crystal, he might even leap to tier two Shuyu. Xiao Sha pulled on my arm, worry clouding his face. I stared at Xiao Sha, my heart thinking of Mom who was still waiting at the mini storage. I could only sigh inwardly and indirectly reply, Im not afraid. You dont need to worry. Hearing this dont worry, Xiao Sha finally heaved a sigh of relief. Nodding his head, he still didnt let go of my hand. It seemed that Id had too many precedents of sneakily running off, so no one would believe me even when I promised to be sensible and not act impulsively. You guys are so close. Guan Weijun said with admiration, So much that the mere sight of it causes me, this single dog,2 to want to look for a boyfriend. Great benefactor, if you ever change your sexual orientation and start to like women, remember to look for me first! Xiao Sha and I looked at her. Does this mean that she wishes for our break up? Can this woman be any more airheaded than this? Even herpanions have a look of Im done with this, having resigned themselves to their fate. It seems that she often does this sort of airheaded thing. Guan Weijun seemed to realize that she had said the wrong thing and burst intoughter. It wasnt an awkwardugh, but more of a my words were too funny kind ofugh. This womans scatterbrained nature seemed to be a special ability of its own. Chensha, wheres the shopping mall? We should quickly grab stuff and leave. I pretended to be afraid as I urged him on. I was worried that if we stayed here any longer, I wouldnt be able to resist rushing in and cutting down that big cocoon. An aberrant that was quickly rising to tier three was just too attractive. My eyes would unconsciously drift away, and my mouth would unintentionally start watering. It was better for us to quickly leave. Xiao Sha stared at Guan Weijun, and thetter answered, Were almost there, and quickly led the way. There were no aberrants along the way. I started to feel suspicious, but upon seeing the big cocoon, I finally understood. She purposely chose to walk near the big cocoon but far enough not to alert those ck dot territorial protectors, which was why nothing happened along the way. No wonder she could lead sixty people out of the city, and all the others ced their faith in her. She possesses quite the high ability. But this kind of capability requires time to nurture. If everyone refused to listen to her instructions at the beginning, then her capability would have been useless, since she would have been unable to utilize it to the best of her abilities. For a woman bringing along her mother, how did she make so many people obey her? I looked at Guan Weijun who was leading at the front. She better have a good reason to convince me. Otherwise, Id still take her back, but I wouldnt mind locking her up for a lifetime! Alert, Guan Weijun suddenly turned around. Her eyes were unusually sharp, making her appear unlike a woman. Feigning ignorance, I tilted my head with a smile, stunning everyone present. Why do I feel like somethings off Volume 4, 6: Brute Strength is Life

Volume 4, Chapter 6: Brute Strength is Life

Trantor Miaka_Mei (proofread by EvlNabiki; C/E edited by lucathia) The shopping mall entrance seemed empty, but the ss panes of the disy windows to both sides were shattered all over the floor, and even the items on disy inside the windows had fallen every which way. Obviously, something had broken in. Upon seeing this, Guan Weijun turned to look at Xiao Sha and asked, How many monsters can you kill? Naturally, Xiao Sha wouldnt expose his hand right at the start. He prudently said, You speak first. Guan Weijun took a deep breath and quickly exined, Three if theyre not fast. One or two if theyre a bit faster. But some are particrly strong. Im not very sure about those. She then pointed at Zhang Jing and said, Hes the opposite of me. He could deal with two of the fast monsters. But for those with thick skin and high strength, he wouldnt even be able to kill off a single one. As for the rest, two people could probably cope with one. Not getting killed right away, and being able to finish off a monster would have to depend on their luck. In normal circumstances, that is. If theres a disparity in strength with the monsters, just a single one of them could make us break into a run. That happens a lot, too. Theyre pretty strong. I was slightly taken aback. This Guan Weijun can actually deal with three aberrants? At this phase of the previous life, I was still at the sidelines, using a kitchen knife tied to a broom stick like some small fry! Xiao Sha nodded and said indifferently, I can handle six normal monsters, four or five if theyre slightly stronger. But its hard to say for even stronger ones. The moment those words were spoken, everyones face changedas one, they all wore an expression of revering a great expert. They were just short of calling their wives toe out and get a glimpse of god.1 Actually, Xiao Sha was still hiding his real strength. My guess was that he should be able tofortably handle eight. If he wasnt expected to be unharmed, he could probably even handle a dozen or more. Although he hadnt reached tier one, he was pretty close already. The formless and colorless wind ability was truly too suited forbat. Xiao Sha maintained a cold expression as he faced everyone. Were heading in. Ill join the fight, but only under one condition. Ten of your people must carry the things I want. And no matter what it is, there can be no objection. This was a very good move. After all, the things that I wanted werent actually everyday living necessities. In the event that these people refused to cooperate, we would waste a lot of time if they started making a fuss inside. Guan Weijun instantly nodded in agreement, without even a hint of hesitation. This was very understandable. Without Xiao Sha, forget searching for supplies, a lot more of them would have died. It wouldnt have been strange either if they had all perished. They should be content that they were all still alive and even had stuff to grab. Lets go! Xiao Shamanded in a low voice and took the lead to charge through the shattered disy window. Guan Weijun and the others followed closely behind him. I chose the end, so as to avoid carelessly losing any members. Although I was somewhat on guard against this group of people and Guan Weijun, so far, my impression of them was fairly good. For an average person to have this kind of discipline was truly exceptional. I did feel uneasy about Guan Weijun because of it, but in the end, it was merely a suspicion. A person of talent warranted careful protection. Even if we didnt have her join the JDT, at the very least, the human race would have another bargaining chip. A faint noise caught my attention. It actually sounded like a fist smashing onto flesh. I was a bit mystified. Xiao Sha wouldnt be using his fists, since his strength wasnt very high. I hastily climbed over the disy window. Inside, they had already started fighting. The pouncing aberrants looked rather familiar. Each and every one of them looked like rotting corpses. At first nce, it looked just like a zombie apocalypse! However, with a careful look, youd noticed that they werent actually rotting. They just had reddened and wrinkled flesh oozing with fluids, crooked limbs, and also a rotting stench. But the eyes were exceptionally clear, evidently not the eyes of a dead being. This kind of aberrant was tantly named zombieamon aberrant. By the time they evolved to the next tier, their limbs would no longer be this crooked, and their wrinkled flesh would form a thick and hardyer of outer shell. The fluid all over their body would evolve into mucus, making them slippery and difficult to strike at, and they were quick to scamper away, too. Along with their overwhelming stench, they were considered quite the unwee aberrant. Even humans who hunted for evolution crystals wouldnt be very pleased to see this kind of aberrant. But for humans at the initial phase of the apocalypse, it was evident that this kind of aberrant wasnt amon sight. Their faces turned pale out of fright, and the women and several young men seemed to be on the verge of vomiting. Xiao Sha had rushed to the forefront, blocking five aberrants by himself. However, the aberrants werent flocking around him. Six of them were charging toward the others. Even with Xiao Sha shooting out formless wind, he only managed to attract one of them to himself. He threw a nce at me, and I blinked in response, but who knew what kind of information I had transmitted, as he went back to finish off the six aberrants on his side, no longer caring about the five aberrants rushing over. Actually, I was merely ying innocent, and hadnt agreed to help out. Seriously, there wasnt even the least bit of mutual understanding between us. I grudgingly formed ice knives inside my grasp, dallying as I nned to send them flying when these people were dealing with the aberrants, letting them think that they had killed it themselves. s, they were just nkly standing there, unable to even move. I had overestimated this group of people. Even that Zhang Jing had turned pale from fright. What happened to being able to handle two? Xiao Sha underyed his abilities, but you guys actually overyed yours? As death was just around the corner, I couldnt keep concealing my abilities. Right when I was about to take action, a figure suddenly rushed out. Cut the daydreaming! Guan Weijun angrily shouted and harshly hauled away a woman who was nearly pounced on. Following that, her right hand smashed into the zombie, sending it flying. After it fell to the ground, it kept rolling around with a miserable shriek. I fell silent after taking a closer look. That things eyes had popped out from the punch and were hanging from its face, nearly about to fall. Turning my head, I saw Guan Weijun extending her hand to grab onto another zombies head, not expecting that the secretions would be too sticky and cause her hand to slip. The aberrant leaped onto her and opened its mouth, intending to bite down. Upon seeing this, I formed knives into needles, shooting out all five at once, separately striking at the aberrants elbow and abdomen. The thin and small ice needles didnt have much ability to injure, only able to hinder the aberrants movement, allowing Guan Weijun enough time to react. Once again, she reached out and grabbed onto the enemys head. But this time, she directly thrust her fingers into the eye socket, so any secretions were useless. Then, her fist smashed into its faceone punch, two punches, three punchesultimately smashing the head into pulp. White brain matter mixed with flesh and blood spurted all over the ground. Now, I finally understood how she had convinced the masses. It was probablyUnconvinced? Then,e fight me! Another zombie pounced over. She turned around and grasped onto its head with one hand, while punching with her other hand, only needing a few punches to burst open the head. Unfortunately, the remaining zombies no longer voluntarily delivered themselves, very carefully attempting to attack from a distance, or simply switching targets. This seemed to be quite the difficult problem for Guan Weijun, as she could easily burst the enemys head open, but the problem was that she could no longer grab onto any heads. No wonder she had said she could only handle one or two of the fast aberrants. In truth, she had plenty of unused strength but not thebat ability to back it up. Capturing was much harder than smashing. To be able to smash open an aberrants head while unarmed was impossible even for Xiao Sha, okay? This was undoubtedly the power of strength, not the power of far-sight. Even her ability isnt the same! This Guan Weijun really isnt me. Then, just who is she? Xiao Sha was shing heads at the front, while Guan Weijun was smashing heads at the rear. This horrifying scene finally woke everyone up. Zhang Jing bent both of his legs and forcefully leaped over, like a kangaroo hopping all over the ce. The zombies at this stage couldnt move very fast, so they couldnt catch him at all. Sometimes, Zhang Jing would spring over to the side of a zombie, making a slice before it could react. However, it wasnt very effective. Although current zombies hadnt evolved to form actual outer shells yet, simple cuts werent enough to finish them off. Compared to Xiao Sha who ended a life with each slice, Zhang Jing was simply treating the zombies with gua sha.2 The cuts only produced red marks, but yielded no blood. Nevertheless, he was at least able to stall for time. When someone else was in danger, hed pass by and attract the zombies attention, then arduously attempt to finish off the enemy. But, he was mostly waiting for Guan Weijun to sort out her own target and thene over to bust heads open. Over twenty people were stalling for time with their monsters, waiting for Guan Weijun toe take their heads. I cant help but be impressed! Seeing that they were fine, I turned toward Xiao Sha. However, I was only in time to see him knock a zombie down with a kick and stab down with a dagger. Then, without even turning his head, he sent out a de of wind, striking thest zombie directly in the face, slicing the right half of the head off. As the head wasntpletely destroyed, the zombie didnt instantly die, but instead fell to the ground on his butt, twisted and crooked while struggling to climb back up. But soon after, he was crushed by Xiao Shas wind de. He had been about to stab him with his dagger, and had only changed to striking with his wind de after I red at him. It seems that in order to change these mercenaries fighting habits, you cant even leave them with a utility knife. After settling the six zombies, Xiao Sha charged over and finished off the two leftovers. This time, he obediently used wind des to deal with the zombies. Two wind des shot out and cut into each aberrants face at the same time. His control was pretty good, but shooting out two des at the same time seemed to have weakened their might. Those two zombies didnt instantly get killed, but simply lost half of their head. They twitched on the ground, waiting for Xiao Sha to cut them down. Aberrants covered the ground. Even though there were no tier ones, it would still be too wasteful to simply leave the crystals behind. However, I didnt want to dig out the crystals right in front of this group of people. I still wanted to find out whether they knew about the existence of the crystals or not. Youre so strong! Guan Weijuns eyes shone, her face filled with worship while she gazed at Xiao Sha. Xiao Sha reflexively shook his head and said, Not strong enough at all. The one whos stronger is He paused, stiffly resisted not looking at me, and said, Theres a lot. Everyone was in disbelief but didnt dare to refute Xiao Shas words. Only Guan Weijun spoke with a foolish smile, Great benefactor is really too modest, although your appearance doesnt suggest that youre a humble guy! Is this apliment? Look to your side. Yourpanions are about to burst into tears! Xiao Sha didnt bother to argue over her words. He merely looked at Guan Weijuns hands. White brain matter, red blood, and a foul stenchit was like the pair of hands of a homicidal devil. I dont know whats up with this either. I just ended up with a lot of strength. Guan Weijun swung her arms while frankly exining, Zhang Jing is very good at jumping. The others have a lot of small abilities, but theyre all useless. The useless others silently shed tears. What about that Tai Wens ability? I stared at Guan Weijun. This fe actually had a bit of a brain to her and didnt turn out to be the silly big sis that she appeared to be. Xiao Sha simply said, I can use wind to cut objects. Guan Weijun had most likely guessed it. Nodding her head, she asked while feeling puzzled, But your power is clearly much stronger than ours. Is there a way to strengthen ones power? My face twitched. Wait a second, you actually havent eaten any crystals? You have so much strength without eating any crystals? I would rather believe that youre lying! Xiao Sha indifferently shot her a nce. He didnt say anything, nor did he go to dig out the crystals. Guan Weijun rubbed her nose and said, Lets go to the supermarket and grab some stuff! Xiao Sha, I want to go to the second floor. I tugged at Xiao Shas sleeve. Guan Weijun asked in doubt, Is there anything on the second floor to take? Isnt the supermarket on the basement level? You dont even know whats on the second floor? As a woman, even if you couldnt go from the stores of the underground floor, all the way to the top floor of the shopping mall, you should at least know that the first floor sells cosmetics products, the second floor sells premium and quality goods, and the third floor and up sells clothes! I naturally said, Its the quality goods departments. There are clothes that I like which I couldnt afford buying in the past, but now that it can be taken for free, obviously taking it is a must. Everyone looked at me in bafflement. Even the easy-going Guan Weijun seemed taken aback. But for some unknown reason, she looked at me suspiciously after shaking herself out of her shock. Just what are you suspicious about? Has she seen through my frail and pretty boy act? Hurry up! I have a lot of things I want to take. I want jackets, clothes, and pants! I hid behind Xiao Sha, and thoroughly acted willful, arrogant, and unreasonable. Evidently, this time, my acting passed inspection. No ones expression looked pleasant, but no one dared to speak up because of their consideration of Xiao Sha. Xiao Sha coldly said, You can choose toe with me first, then go to the supermarket downstairs. Or ten people can follow me, while the rest can go to the supermarket by themselves. Everyones face darkened. Guan Weijun looked at Xiao Sha, then looked at me. She immediately and resolutely said, No matter where our great benefactor wishes to go, we will definitely follow! Brash, scatterbrained, willing to rescuepanions and protect the old and weak, and even unexpectedly good at adapting to circumstances. If this person wasnt Guan Weijun, but merely an irrelevant person, I would have long ago decided to bring her back to the Jiang Dominion without further deliberation. We headed up to the second floor. There were no aberrants. It was vacant and deste, with little damage. Upon thinking about it, it was quite logical, since the first and second floors were too close to each other. You could nearly see the whole first floor from the second floor. Even the most brainless aberrants wouldnt let other groups of aberrants linger on the ground above its head. After all, feeling extreme hunger yet not being able to find any unevolved flesh, the food of an aberrant would naturally be another aberrant. They would eat up the different ones first. With no other option, then eating their own kind was quite feasible. After briefly looking around the second floor, I soon found my main objective. In the past, I had nearly clenched my teeth and bought a jacket for Xia Zhengu with two months of my sry. It was a good thing that I hadnt bought it. Otherwise, I would have given myself a big p in the face to the point that my teeth wouldve fallen out. Rushing into the luxurious store, I waved my hand like a nouveau riche and said, Ill take it all! Everyones face darkened further. It was an entire row of long, military-styled windbreakers. The price marked on them had a bunch of zeros. At the initial stage of the apocalypse, these windbreakers were free for the taking; however, they were items that no one wanted. The winters in the apocalypse were too cold. So the thicker the coat, the higher its demand. Windbreakers, this kind of autumn apparel, was something that no one cared about. Only after two years would people start searching for these clothes. Having discovered the function of crystals, people who ate a lot of crystals would gradually be fearless of the cold. At that time, there would be no small amount of people wearing windbreakers. Some were experts, while some were pretending to be experts. It was just the right time for the members of JDT to wear this. The military-style jacket looked cool and handsome. As long as we modified it a bit and added a matching emblem of the JDT forces, then our invincible troop would have matching uniforms! They might be clowns on the inside, but at least on the outside, they would look imposing enough to scare people to death! Are you sure you really want this? Guan Weijuns face was clouded with doubt again. Dont you feel cold wearing this? Nowadays, wanting to appear beautiful wont just end with getting a running nose. It could really mean freezing to death! I stilled, then unreasonably argued, It can be worn when it gets warm! Why are you so sure that the weather will turn warm? She asked with increased doubt. The winter this year has gotten too cold. Tai Wen kept on bbering about how somethings fishy. He was really worried that the weather will keep on getting colder and wont be warming any time soon. Its probably because of some mini ice age. I dont really understand it much, but it really is strange that its gotten so cold. I cant keep up my act if you keep seeing through me! I feigned shock and disbelief, and snapped, How could it keep getting colder? It will surely get warmer! Dont talk nonsense. The others vehemently repressed the dissatisfaction in their eyes. But they were all merely youngsters, whose acting skills were subpar, so unhappiness could more or less be seen. Only Guan Weijun was different. She just gazed at me, as if scrutinizing the quality of amodity. She suddenly smiled, and said, I humbly ept your blessed words and hope it wille true. It will get warmer! I really cant understand this womans way of thinking All right. All right. Lets take the clothes. Seeing that everyone was very slow and unwilling, Guan Weijun rolled her eyes at them and urged, We already promised that ten people would carry his things. Its up to him to take whatever he wanted. It wont even be ours. Move quickly, or are you asking for a beating? Wanna fly and get stuck to the wall? Everybody finally set in motion. Windbreakers, pants, dress shirts, and such were all cleanly swept away. Even the sizes were unchecked. In any case, as long as everything was taken away, itd surely be useful in the future. I thought about the female members within the troop. My familys cute Junjun would naturally wear pleated skirts; Auntie will have graceful, long dresses; the sexy and hot Lily must have a miniskirt; as for Ceng Yunqian, er, shorts, I guess. Eh, they actually have flip-flops! Silvery white, simple yet nice lookingthis is the one. Junjun would surely let me wear this. Im taking this! Take, take, take until my shoulder was patted. I turned to look. Xiao Sha was holding a towering mountain of clothes. I looked beyond him. Everyone had a suitcase ced beside them and their hands were also carrying a mountain of clothes. Their number seemed to exceed ten There are twelve now. Xiao Sha calmly said. I agreed to see them out of the city, in exchange for two more people to carry things. But we cant take anymore, or we wont be able to walk. Realization dawned upon me. Losing myself from a moment of carelessness, I had gotten overjoyed since I could just take things without needing to pay money and what not. Lastly, I grabbed a pair of long boots, and hugged them in my arms. Xiao Sha nced over and cautioned me, The size is too big. Its for Dg. Hearing this, Xiao Sha took a particrly close look at the boots, and nodded. It suits Boss. Of course. These kinds of powerful military boots which could kill someone with just a single kick would best suit Dg! Guan Weijun stuck her head in, looking at us with shining eyesa look of I wanna listen to gossip, too. Xiao Sha turned his head away. Downstairs to the supermarket. Guan Weijun oh-ed while looking a little disappointed. While passing through the hallway, I snuck a look at the floor directory. The sewing workshop was on the ninth floorthis was rather troublesome. Bringing so many people up to the ninth floor, just for the sake of a few sewing machines would be tooborious. It wasnt quite worth it. After thinking it through, I decided to give up for now. We might find several sewing machines after searching around Old Town. After all, it was a town, so it was bound to have had some good wives and loving mothers that were good at tailoring, right? If we really couldnt find any, then when it was Cains turn toe next time, Id have him bring some home. Lets go to the supermarket. I turned around and smiled. Restock some choctes. Everyone wore an expression of looking at a patient who was suffering from prince syndrome. Even looking at this face of mine didnt help them keep a pleasant expression on their faces. Only Guan Weijun looked at me with a grin, without the slightest hint of scorn. I dont eat choctes very often. Ill look forward to getting some rmendations from you. I smiled and agreed with an all right. Its really hard to hate this kind of woman. Following that, going to the supermarket was contrarily neither rming nor dangerous. There were just a lot of armored cockroaches. However, current herds of cockroaches werent anything terrifying. Xiao Sha flipped over a bunch of them with just his wind de. And with Guan Weijuns fist smashing, the whole floor was filled with cockroach paste. After that, everyone just happily took things without paying up. Most of them took food which could be preserved for long periods. Even those twelve people carrying the clothes couldnt resist putting some food into their pockets, looking like they were itching to throw away all the clothes on their hands. Guan Weijun rolled her eyes several times at them, and tilted her head toward Xiao Sha as if asking You sure you wanna throw them? The twelve depressed people were forced to look on helplessly as theirpanions wantonly plundered. I threw a few choctes to the top of the piles of clothes that they were carrying and advised them, You can use the clothes to wrap small food items. Look for high calorie foodstuffs. Chocte candies are the best. High calorie food could save ones life in this cold weather. Everyone stared at me with a relieved look, as if I hadnt reached the final phase of prince syndrome and had a chance for recovery. After snatching all the choctes, I took a few bags of milk candy. Shujun loved them. Although we had already heaped up a bunch of them from back then, it was always good to acquire more. No one would be able to make these kinds of milk candy in the future. After all, minotaurs were not to be trifled with. You want cows milk? Puh-lease, trade for it with your life! It was just that I hadnt thought that the danger of entering Lan City this time would be so low, far lower than my expectations. Granted that it was due to my advantage in reincarnation, allowing me to be able to cope with most situations, but a first ss city should still be a ce where danger lurked on every side. It should be because of that huge cocoon, which must have thoroughly wiped out all the nearby aberrants. Otherwise, that almost-tier-three aberrant wouldnt have felt secure enough to wrap itself into a cocoon, and only depend on its subordinates for protection. Arriving at the first floor, I asked, Chen Sha, do we take the crystals now? Xiao Sha nced over, and I blinked at him. He then said, Yeah. Come help me scoop them out. I frowned and reluctantly said, Its disgusting, but okay. Guan Weijun seemed curious, but she didnt ask, only staring intently as Xiao Sha walked up to a zombie. He squatted down and stabbed downwards into the center of the heart with a dagger, skillfully excavating the chest. That skill was so practiced that it didnt lose out to mine. It seemed like the journey that the JDT had undertaken to get here really wasnt like the understatement that Dg had imed. I stepped forward, holding a throwing knife to dig into the chest, but intentionally acted slightly clumsy. Everyone stared in stupefaction, but no one took the lead to start talking. At this moment, Guan Weijun moved one step forward, staring with wide-opened eyes as Xiao Sha dug out a crystal from the zombies chest. Xiao Sha simply tossed the crystal into her hand and said, You smashed three dead, so you get three pieces. That Zhang Jing gets one piece. Come and dig it out yourself. Guan Weijun quickly held the crystal up for inspection, and smilingly said, Is this what makes you so strong? How do you use it? Is it edible? It smells nice. I feel like eating it. Yes. Xiao Sha said while scooping out crystals, A few pieces of them are of little use. It takes about five or more to make a difference. I secretly paid attention to Guan Weijun, very interested to know what shed do. Her three pieces with one from Zhang Jing only came to four pieces. So how would she distribute them? Great benefactor, could you give us another piece? Guan Weijun said, smiling, See here, my hand can carry some more. Ill quickly go upstairs and help you get more stuff. Your little boyfriend seemed very fond of those military boots. I have a lot of strength, so carrying ten or even twenty pairs wouldnt be a problem. Xiao Sha looked at me and asked, Shuyu, you wanna take some more? I looked toward the second floor, a thought hitting me. Ten pairs of boots are enough. I want sewing machines. Xiao Sha, can you jump up to the ninth floor and help me grab some? Everyones face darkened. There was a look of your prince syndrome has reached the critical stage. Its beyond help on everyones face. This is called the good wife and loving motherplex, okay? What prince would wish for sewing machines? Xiao Sha stood up and lifted his head. The center of the shopping mall was the empty interior between floors. By looking up, you could see to the ceiling of the topmost part. He ran to the side of an esctor, hopped onto the handrail, and reached the second floor after a step and a leap. Flipping out into the open area in the middle, he grabbed onto the railing of a balcony with one hand, and climbed all the way up. Although his wind powers hadnt reached tier one yet, and was thus insufficient for Xiao Sha to learn how to fly, he was more agile, so leaping higher was of no problem. That smooth and easy climbing was like the qinggong in martial arts films. Everyone watched with their mouth agape, looking up at Xiao Shas figure which was leaping higher and higher Seriously, we should have called Tai Wen over toe and see god. Guan Weijun eximed in admiration. Note: 1 calling their wives toe out and get a glimpse of god: This expression of marveling at something extraordinary originated from the Hong Kongedy film, A Chinese Odyssey, which is based on Journey to the West. In the film, the time-traveling reincarnation of Monkey gets seen by Pigsy, who tells his wife and the Bull King toe out from the cave and get a glimpse of god. 2 gua sha: A popr treatment done by scraping the skin with a massage tool to allow for better cirction. Volume 4, 7: Tier Two Duel, Part One

Volume 4, Chapter 7: Tier Two Duel, Part One

Trantor: Michimochi (proofread by EvlNabiki & L Su; C/E edited by lucathia) By the time we returned to the mini storage, it was already veryte. There was no need for discussion. Everyone automatically understood that we were going to stay here for the night. The dark was definitely not the best time for the living to be active. Upon returning, Guan Weijun ascertained everyones well-being. She then went to the side with Zhang Jing and Tai Wen for a private discussion. The topic was probably the distribution of crystals. Those two seemed to be her right- and left-hand. I didnt know how she was going to distribute them; there were five crystals, so it was best to give them all to one person. One person could hardly feel any effect with partial consumption. But at the end of the day, the distribution itself was always the difficult part. One wrong move, and just a few crystals could shatter the teams harmony. I scrunched my brows and watched Guan Weijun. She ced the crystals in Tai Wens hands. I couldnt really tell from my angle, but it seemed to be all of the crystals Please dont be afraid of my Xiao Jun. Startled, I looked back and saw Mom looking at me with uneasiness. She even anxiously exined, You probably saw Xiao Juns strength, right? Shes actually a good girl. Shes just just a bit tomboyish and learned a bit of boxing. I dont know how her strength became so powerful I looked back on how Guan Weijun could use her bare fists to smash brains into pulp all over the floor. And this much power was before she even ate any crystals! But to me, that scene wasnt gruesome. I just found it regrettable. If I had been that strong in myst life, maybe Mom wouldnt have passed away so early on in the beginning stages of the apocalypse. I couldntpare to her. No matter who this Guan Weijun was, she was stronger than me. I didnt know why, but I kept thinking about the fact that she was stronger than me. A feeling that made my heart pound erupted toward the surface without anything holding it back. I just had this violent surge of What is it? I couldnt put my finger on this type of feeling Guilt? Shame? Xiao Jun has saved many people along the way. She is a very good kid. She is definitely not a bad person. She would never hurt anyone, only monsters. Dont be afraid of her. A-And dont hurt her. She was so nervous that she was about to tear up. All of a sudden, there was a sour feeling in my heart. The Mom before my eyes was still Mom. She hadnt changed, from appearance down to personality. It was just that the child she loved so dearly wasnt me anymore. I knew that I shouldnt beining. I had lost a mom but, hey, I had gained Dg, Xiomi, Uncle, Auntie, and even the whole Jiang Dominion. I pretty much hit it big, right? But how can I use quantity topare something like this? Y-You believe me, right? Xiao Jun really isnt a bad person. Mom looked anxiously at me. If I said a word of disbelief, she might really burst into tears while pleading. I smiled and said, I think shes great. You have to be stronger in order to survive in this kind of world. After hearing this reply, Mom was finally relieved. She murmured, Exactly. Being stronger is a good thing She looked at Guan Weijun, her gaze an odd mixture of relief and reluctance. This attitude was all too familiar. I instantly recalled Dgs face, despite the difference in gender and appearance. He often used that expression to look at me, too. Guan Weijun was arguing with Tai Wen at the moment. As I thought, she really did want to give all of the crystals to Tai Wen. Just as Mom said, she was a good person, who was strong and had good leadership skills. Moreover, she hadnt blindly let Xia Zhengu catch her eye. Mom worriedly watched as Guan Weijun and Tai Wen quarreled. We could vaguely make out what they were saying, like how the crystals could make people stronger, how Tai Wen thought that it should be given to Guan Weijun, and how thetter insisted on having Tai Wen eat them. I didnt know the exact reason, but this probably had something to do with their abilities. Tai Wens ability might be really useful. Mom grumbled, Whats this Tai Wen insisting on not eating them for? Dont tell me, he actually wants to make Xiao Jun stronger and have her protect everyone? She is just a girl After listening to them for a while, she changed her mind. Then again, Tai Wen is right. Xiao Jun always likes to rush out in the front. How would she be okay if shes not stronger? Seeing how conflicted and worried she was, I couldnt help but say, Once you get out of the city, it wont be as dangerous anymore. You could alle back with me. Our people are very powerful and can protect you. Mom looked at me. She neither confirmed nor turned down going. She just smiled warmly and said, Its great that there are people protecting you. With this one sentence, my tears almost gushed out. Ill protect you. This time, I wont ever fail again. Mom didnt seem to hear me clearly. She asked in puzzlement, What did you say? Nothing. I held back my tears. Finally, I made up my mind to bring these people back. I didnt believe that this ordinary, sweet-tempered mom filled with motherly love would raise some kind of evil, sinister kid. Even if that soul inside of her was that bastard Xia Zhengu, he would be nurtured into a sweetheart! At this moment, Guan Weijun huffed, If you wont eat them, then Ill just throw them away! Whoever wants to eat them will eat them! With no other choice, Tai Wen could only obediently take the crystals and swallow them. Watching this scene, I could only smile bitterly. Powerful and righteous, how much more can she knock me down? I picked up the silver sk and grabbed my mothers hand. She was shocked and looked at me bemusedly. I poured out all of the crystals into her hand. There werent that many. Five to be exact. Mom blinked, somewhat overwhelmed. I smiled at her and said, For you. I dont need these. She opened her mouth and seemed too embarrassed to take them. But when she turned to look at her daughter, she couldnt bear not taking them. Finally, she said shyly, Thank you. I smiled and nodded my head. I watched as Mom rushed over and gave Guan Weijun the crystals. The three people on that side were shocked as they listened to her exnation. Then, they turned to look at me. Guan Weijun revealed a brilliant smile. Thanks! I knew you just like to act haughty but youre actually a big softie. Youre a good kid. Is it toote to take those crystals back? I turned away, my face expressionless. Xiao Sha sat leaning at the outermost part of the warehouse. It was a good spot for keeping watch. We had no intentions of giving the lookout to a civilian. We might as well just skip organizing who would keep watch. Xiao Sha and I were enough. The others just needed to worry about eating and sleeping. Xiao Sha tossed me a nce. Made your decision to bring them back? I sat down and asked without answering, What are your thoughts on them? There may be sixty people, many times the number of the JDT, but they are just ordinary people. We are mercenaries. Weve got both guns and abilities. They are not our opponents at all, so if you want to bring them back, it isnt that much of a problem. Yeah. Bringing them back isnt the problem. How to support them is the big question. Can you bring them back by yourself? Xiao Sha looked over with a frown on his face. I exined, I wanna take a look at the giant cocoon. Hes in the midst of advancing to tier three. This should be his territory, so there arent that many aberrants roaming around here. Before getting into his transitional stage, he would have either driven away or eaten all of the fairly powerful aberrants in the area. We must either take the opportunity to finish him now, or well have no choice but to take a detour around him to enter Lan City in the future. We cant afford to take on a tier three aberrant. Six months into the apocalypse and he was already bing a tier three aberrant. Even if this thing didnt survive into theter days of the apocalypse, he would definitely be dominant for a long time. If we let him sessfully rise to tier three and dominate this area, he would be the most terrifying hurdle stopping us from conquering Lan City. Xiao Sha opened his mouth, but I cut him off to say, Even if I cant win, I can always find ways to escape. But if I have to look after someone, then its hard to say if I can escape. If you want toe with me, you have to at least reach tier one, but you havent gotten past that threshold yet. He bit his lips, his face showing his reluctance. He asked, How do I train to be as strong as you? I thought back to the Ice Emperors training. I couldnt shake off the frustration I felt, like I was overlooking something, but I couldnt put my finger on what it was. Shuyu? I had an Ice Emperor who had bullied me and helped me raise my tier, but I couldnt say this out loud. I could only answer helplessly, I experienced the apocalypse for ten years in my dream. I knew how to use my powers since the beginning. Ever since the apocalypse started, Ive almost died several times and also found my way from Zhongguan City. All these are unreasonable, hellish training. Its natural to be a bit stronger. Xiao Sha was silent for a bit before he said, Then, I will venture into the city alone in the future. I nked, but Xiao Shas expression was very calm. There was no changing his mind. In all honesty, I didnt have the right to make this decision for him: to survivefortably or to struggle between life and death in order to be stronger. I took a deep breath and said, You decide on your ownter. If I havente back before dawn, help me take them back first. Ill catch up. Just remember this. It doesnt matter if anyone dies, including Guan Weijun. Only, Guan Weijuns mother cannot die! All right. Xiao Sha said lightly, But if I arrive at the base, and you still havent caught up by then, the boss will definitely enter the city to find you. I know. Junjun will follow right behind him, too. I will definitely catch up. But before I do, dont meet that Shangguan Chenyang. I dont trust that guy. His change was too great. His psychology might have changed too. Like that brainwight, who went as far as eating people. But then again, this person was rted to Xiao Sha after all. Xiao Sha might want to bring him home. Unexpectedly, Xiao Sha agreed with an mmhm and said, He might have been driven out of the Shangguan family because of some other reason. It wouldnt just be because his appearance has changed too much. His transformation is unique, which would make the Shangguan family want to confine him rather than allow him to run off. He frowned. The Shangguan family is in the southern part of Lan City. Theyre another potential danger to us. When I go back, Ill tell the boss everything about the Shangguan family so that hell be prepared. Your rtionship with your family sure is horrible. That wouldnt-it-be-better-to-just-kill-the-whole-family type of expression is way too X-rated! Xiao Sha nced over and asked, How am I supposed to exin to Guan Weijun why youre missing? Say whatever, like I got so scared that I ran back home or something. It was a very unconvincing excuse. Although I wanted to hide my real strength, faced with the problem of a tier three aberrant, something like hiding my real strength wasnt as important anymore. I got up and dusted my butt off, getting ready to leave. If I could resolve this before dawn and return, I wouldnt need to find any excuses. Im leaving. Xiao Sha hummed in acknowledgment, then asked unwillingly, Shuyu, just how strong are you right now? I chuckled, then took off my flip-flops, stuffed them into his hands, and materialized ice des below my feet. I didnt answer. Taking on ten of you is as simple as eating crystals. This kind of thing that will topple other peoples motivation is best kept to myself, or else if everyone in the Jiang Dominion ganged up on me, should I beat them all up? Freeze them? Or beat them up, then freeze them? With a burst of force below my feet, I no longer masked my strength. I zoomed out in a sh. Dark streets swiftly passed by. With every push, I glided for at least thirty meters. Next, I twisted my body and skated onto the side of a wall. Relying on the momentum to rise upwards, I began climbing the building. Sliding, jumping, sticking close, flippingwith merely a few moves, I had climbed to the top of a twelve-story building. However, I still felt crappy. If the Ice Emperor were here, he would be even more disappointed. He always said that gliding would be enough to let me travel to every corner of the world. With the adhesiveness of the ice and the power behind the legs, what ce would be out of reach? At most, add a little jump The Ice Emperor had painstakingly taught me a long list of things. But this littledy Ah, no, this youngd still cant manage it! Previously, the best result had been losing all my energy after skating up to the fifth floor, almost falling on the ground with a bang. Fortunately, my hand grabbed the awning in time. The next day, my thighs were even as sore as hell! There were a few aberrants at the top of the building. When they saw this fresh lump of meat, they excitedly threw themselves over one-by-one until I smashed the head of the first. They widened their eyes that were akin to beacons, then immediately fled every which way, but unfortunately it was toote. Ice des shot out explosively I had just epted sixty people, so crystal umtion needed to be taken seriously. Even if I didnt need these crystals myself, these tierless crystals would still be beneficial for other people. The silver sk constantly jingled with each crystal ced inside, a symphony to the ears. I really loved this sk that Jin Feng had given me. The size was perfect. It was practically made for storing crystals! After this, I definitely had to use ice to strengthen the sk, or else Id be devastated if it broke. Standing on the high-rise, I looked in the direction I wanted to go in and jumped off. The target was the building over. Naturally, it was not a jumpable distance. I couldnt even touch the wall of the building. I made a b of ice in midair and stepped on it. The b fell instantly. I relied on that rebounding force and took another hop, but the distance was still not enough. I had to make another piece; yet again, almost there. One more time In the end, when I was five stories away from the height I wanted to reach, I mmed into a ss window of the building with my face stered against the ss. I silently vowedthat before I perfected this move, I wasnt going to use it in front of anyone. Ice Emperor, wheres the promised hop, step, and jump to the clear blue sky? Howe I just fall right down? How do I ignore gravitys force? Time was short. I had no choice but to advance upward through the normal way of gliding, jumping, and climbing. Not long afterwards, I arrived at a street not far from the giant cocoon. I suppressed the freezing air around me and slowly headed over. The ck dotted guards on the ground became clearer and clearer, but they were not the spiders I had envisioned. Guan Weijun had thought that they were spiders probably because she had been too far away, and these white silk threads would have given anyone the impression of a spiders webbing. But in reality, these ck dots were caterpirs. They came in all sizes, from as big as a humans head to as long as two meters. Fur grew on the side of their rough, fat fleshor were they thorns? Those thorns came in many colors. Caterpirs of various colors crawled everywhere. Some rolled themselves into a ball, then rolled swiftly on the white silk. So, rolling should be its main way of movement. In addition, some areas of the silk had eggs spread all over them. It was just that they werent very big, and they were white too, so they were hard to see from afar. Looking at this, I could feel my scalp tingling. If this giant cocoon leveled up to tier three and these eggs hatched, this neighborhood would fall in as ghastly a situation as having swarming locusts passing through it. It was just that this time, the ones swarming the area would be caterpirs. Ice was disadvantageous against these kinds of aberrants. Fire users would be able to deal with these bugs with ease. But no matter what, I had made up my mind to defeat the aberrant in that giant cocoon. This was no longer a matter of a detour. With so many aberrants roaming about, they would expand outward wildly. They would need so much more food, and Old Town was the nearestrge town nearby! So instead of waiting for this tier three aberrant to bring his huge army, why not take his life when hes still a tier two! I fixed the ice spear on my back and from among the curved buildings, I picked the closest building to the giant cocoon and climbed up from the far side of it. I slid down to a window entangled with white silk. I transformed a piece of ice and threw it on top of the white silk, but these white threads were not sticky like spider webbing. They were more like silkworm threads. Therefore, these silky threads were not sticking on the walls of the building but were secured by breaking the windows and wrapping around the pirs of the building. Trying to cut them with just an ordinary ice knife did not work. Adding more force into the action only broke a few strands. They were not any thicker than strands of hair, but they were tougher than expected. I thought for a moment but still didnt materialize the ice dagger to test it. The ice daggers energy was very high, so it would catch the cocoons attention. Now, the question was: should I go directly up to the cocoon or eliminate his minions first? If I couldnt defeat the giant cocoon fast enough, I would be surrounded by the giant cocoon and the caterpirs, but I could possibly deal a heavy blow to the cocoon first. If I took care of the caterpirs first, I would have to spend a lot of time to deal with such arge number. During this period, wouldnt the giant cocoon detect me? If he discovered this danger, would hee out straight from the cocoon, or would he find some way to speed up his advancement to tier three and then emerge? There were too many uncertainties. I couldnt decide which of these assumptions was the correct one, so I picked the most favorable option. After thinking it over, I took off my jacket and dress shirt, leaving only the white tank top. Ayer of strange, half-translucent chest armor protected my chest. I patted my chest and whispered, Xiaorong, can you help me? The armor wiggled. Thin, long branches spread out, gently caressing the ice patterns on my arms. Ever since the Ice Emperor transformed into weapons, Xiaorong had be semi-transparent and was able to perform simplemunications with me. Well, it was more me talking to him one-sidedly. He couldnt use any words to reply, but I could feel his changes in emotion. Xiaorong, I cant fly, and the Ice Emperors way of moving around is too hard. I can only rely on you. Forming ice paths everywhere would consume too much energy. I couldnt afford that right now. It was too difficult to hop to the skies, too. I hadnt mastered it, so it was impossible to use it in actualbat. In contrast, the other side had his white silk. Even if he couldnt fly, he could still move in midair. That would not be in my favor. I had to think of a different solution. Fortunately, while the other party could shoot silks, my side had branches! As the branches stretched longer, they began to wrap around my arms and legs. I moved around and discovered that they wouldnt affect my movement. Xiaorong is so capable! When we get back, Ill definitely get Dg to ept you. Looking at the giant cocoon, I made my decision. No matter what, this thing was a real threat. I had to deal a critical strike as my first order of business. Volume 4, 7: Tier Two Duel, Part Two

Volume 4, Chapter 7: Tier Two Duel, Part Two

Trantor: Michimochi (proofread by Minthe & Trespasserby; C/E edited by lucathia) Aftermunicating with Xiaorong and confirming that he knew what he needed to do, I jumped straight out of the window and formed my ice dagger in midair. Semi-transparent branches shot out. I was pushed right at the cocoon. Since I hadnt mastered this move yet, my face almost crashed into it. Fortunately, I pulled the ice spear out in time and used the force from the push to pierce right into the top of the cocoon. I drove the spear head in and felt satisfied but immediately met resistance. I tightened my right hand around the handle, then grabbed the ice dagger on my thigh with my left hand and stabbed it right in the same area as the spear head. With this stab, the de sunk directly into the cocoon, but that was as far as it went. If only I could summon the spear, I would have been able to jab directly into the aberrants skull. But I couldnt, which sucked, and no matter where I stabbed the ice dagger, it wasnt like I could hope that the aberrant had stered his face against the edge of the cocoon. That kind of posture would be way too ufortable. I pulled the ice dagger out and jumped upward immediately. Afternding on a branch, I jumped again, this time even higher. I formed a thick b of ice above me and flipped around in a circle, my feet pointing up, head pointing down. I kicked the thick ice heavily. Using the rebounding force, I flew downward like a cannon. Halfway down, I twisted my body up again, thennded right on the spear. The whole shaft sank in, piercing into the cocoon. However, it couldnt withstand the force. First, it bent. Then, the entire shaft splintered. The giant cocoon vibrated violently. Looks like I got a direct hit. Nice. I was really getting worried that the aberrant inside might not be all that big, so the spear wouldnt be able to reach the target. Since there was such a huge reaction, I must have sessfully pierced it, and it wasnt some insignificant, small wound either. I immediately grabbed the remaining ten centimeters of the shaft. In one breath, I released a great amount of ice energy, so much that I didnt even have the energy to spare to deal with the caterpirs that were rolling over to me. Fortunately, I had Xiaorong with me. A great number of icy branches shot outwards all at once. One by one, the branches sent the thorny caterpirs flying. I could even feel Xiaorongs grievance and pain, but there was no way tofort my friend. I could already feel something obstructing the ice power that I had just forced into the cocoon. I had to focus on increasing the ice energy I was sending into the giant cocoon. By now, the vibration from the giant cocoon was so violent that I could have been shaken right off, but it wasnt much of a problem to me since I had my ice ability and Xiaorongs branches. Unless I were mortally injured and had no choice but to let go, if I wanted to stay on top of something, no one would be able to move me, not even half a step. At the same time, I didnt want to be injured heavily just for the sake of staying right where I was. So when I felt the cocoons inner energy about to erupt, I hastily retreated away from the giant cocoon. At the same moment, icy branches shot out and entangled with the white silk not far away, pulling me over at the same time. However, the force was too great, and I flew past where I wanted to be. I grabbed both the ice and silk to pull myself back in ce. I needed to practice this move more, or Id eventually end up tragically smacking into a window. I was positioned on top of the giant cocoon. All below me were those colorful caterpir balls. They all came rolling toward me wildly. Even those who didnt have ustrophobia would feel ustrophobic from this. The icy branches shot out continuously at those caterpirs, but they didnt have enough offensive power. The strikes hardly killed any of them. Some of therge caterpirs just flinched for a moment before rushing forward again. I jumped to a different spot, still keeping my eyes locked on the giant cocoon. I had no time to deal with these caterpirs. Xiaorong, bear with me. Help me take care of those bugs. I sent over more of my ice energy to Xiaorong. He was unafraid of my ice energy and could even use it within a certain limit. I didnt really understand what was going on with us. Xiaorong was a bit like a parasite Oh wait, this way of describing him isnt quite right. After all, he spent most of his time in his pot in the room, not on me. So if I really had to put it into words, he was more like a summoned beast? The icy branches grew more and more dense. I let Xiaorong off of me before he extended further to avoid having a bunch of branches wrapped around me, hindering me in my fight. Ill let Xiaorong deal with those caterpirs. I stared at the giant cocoon. That giant cocoon was twisting madly. Something inside wanted out. It wasnt the right time, so it had a very hard timeing out. I clenched the ice dagger, staring fixedly without letting my eyes wander. Suddenly, a caterpir broke away from Xiaorongs barrage. It threw itself at me but was slowly freezing in midair. Although it was notpletely iced over, it could hardly move. With the added mass of the ice, the caterpirs original momentum from its jump was no longer enough, and it dropped downwards before it could reach us. In the end, it barely managed to hook onto a bit of white silk, but it wasnt enough to hold its weight. It slid for a distance before falling the rest of the way. The white cocoon stretched into an oblong shape. The topmost portion became thinner and thinner. I could vaguely make out the shape of the aberrant. It actually had a human face, but a much bigger one, about three times the size of my face. The eyes were startlingly huge. It didnt seem like it had a nose. Just as the cocoon stretched until it was about to break, I jumped straight down, aiming the ice dagger directly at the right eye of that face. Riiipthe cocoon broke and a face emerged. The facial shape was round at the top and pointy at the bottom. It still had a nose, just that it was only a tiny protrusion with two skinny lines for nostrils. The sides of the eyes glittered with different colors of the rainbow, and seemed to be made up of small, fine scales. The eyes opened, revealing pitch ck pupils. The mouth cracked open, exposing fine sharp fangs, and let out a piercing cry. The ice dagger only managed to stab him between the eyebrows. While the aberrant hadnt even opened his eyes yet, I had caught him off guard and the ice dagger had already pierced him. He had nevertheless felt endangered and had instantly twisted his head, causing the dagger to sink in between the eyebrows. It went in about five centimeters deep. If this were just an ordinary aberrant, just this depth and some ice energy would have been enough for his brain to be frozen tofu. However, this aberrant was gigantic, with a protruding forehead. Five centimeters was like a bargain sale for this big guy. I sent in ice energy without stopping. However, it didnt even take a second for an rm to go off in my head. I jumped back right that instant. A light, colorful fog came shooting out from his mouth. If I had stayed where I was, it would have directly hit my face. Taking advantage of my retreat, the aberrant shot out from the top of the giant cocoon. His body was thin and long from the tight fit, but once he left the cocoon and stretched out his gigantic wings, his body appeared iparably gigantic. Yet, I was ecstatic. There was a tear in one of his wings, extremely close to the thorax. That would definitely affect his flight mobility, or he might even be unable to fly at all. Although this fellow was currently hovering in the air, he was swaying very badly. This aberrant must have formed from a human. Even though the figure was gigantic, he was at least three or four meters tall. Those four pieces of butterfly wings were even more humongous. Even the insect-like abdomen was huge. Instead of a thorax, the middle portion was actually a human torso, with all four limbs present. Without the wings, the whole body was slim and long, and the arms and the legs even more so. The soles of the feet were slender and sharp, definitely not suitable for long walks. From the upper torso, you could tell it was female. The bust was so disproportionatelyrge, plus that elongated abdomen and the whole nest of caterpirs protecting her while she advanced to the next tier meant she was definitely the queen, responsible for productionOff with her head! So long as she was dead, even if I couldntpletely annihte the rest of the caterpirs and another butterfly queen emerged among them, they would lose this advantage. As the humans and other aberrants advanced their tiers in theter stages, it would not be so easy for them to spread their influence. The queen fluttered and quivered. She was furious and distressed. The rainbow fog gradually dispersed as she pped her wings. Even if I didnt know what effect the fog had, I couldnt let her have the upper hand. I held my breath and charged forward. I stepped onto the white silk and drew out ayer of ice under the soles of my feet as I glided downhill. The white silk transformed into an ice slope. Next, I added ice spikes below my feet to ascend. It was a simrly easy feat. These white threads were a strength and a weakness at the same time. She probably didnt have enough time toplete her transformation, or the silk should have the effect of obstructing foes. But as of today, I benefitted from this opportunity. As I jumped, the butterfly tried pping farther to dodge out of the way, but with one p, she bared her fangs in pain and instead dropped down a bit. I cant miss this chance. I leaped forward. The moment my skin brushed the rainbow-colored fog, it stung intermittently. Oh,e on! I cant even let it touch my skin? I immediately wrapped my skin with ayer of ice. It was a thinyer at first, but I didnt expect the ice to be melted in an instant. By this time, I had already jumped right in front of the opponent. I reached out to grab the others arm. The pain unexpectedly returned. This time, it was no longer a sting, but a freakin burn! Theyer of ice was not enough to block the fog. I had no choice but to release ice energy constantly to protect my whole body. However, by now, I had lost the opportunity to seize the aberrant, and the butterfly flew away from me. She perched on the white silk and used those slender feet and hindwings to hook onto the thread, supporting her gigantic body. Her blood dripped, and even that had a multicolored sheen. As itnded on the white silk, a wisp of smoke rose from the stain. It looks like I couldnt let that blood touch me either. It might even be more dangerous than that multi-colored fog. ncing at my arm, where I had felt a burning sensation earlier, I saw that the affected skin was red and discolored. At present, my biggest weakness was that my physique was not tough enough. For humans, unless one had a body-strengthening ability or the like, it would be hard for ones physique to surpass an aberrants. This was one of the reasons human beings were crushed by aberrants in the apocalypse. In the first phases, abilities were practically worthless, but physical-strengthening abilities had their obvious advantages. Once the aberrants seized the advantage by devouring human flesh and blood, the speed of their evolution far surpassed the humans. How could humans not be crushed by them? In the future, Ive got to think of a way to ovee this weakness. But for now, Ill just spend some ice energy to cover my body. Even if I wasted some energy, the aberrants energy capacity was far greater than mine, so I could only ept this loss. Otherwise, the multi-colored fog would continue to burn my skin, and I wouldntst long. I didnt have a way to take care of the aberrant instantly either. Fortunately, I hadnded the first two critical hits. Those wounds on the wing and the forehead were not trifles, or else I would only have been able to run with my tail between my legs. As of now, I still have a chance! I tightened my grip on the ice dagger. Actually, the butterflys blood had gotten on it, but there was no damage to the ice dagger. Even if the ice dagger looked just like a piece of ice, it was a weapon formed out of the Ice Emperors body! I enveloped my whole body with cold air. As I carefully observed the aberrant, the butterfly was not in a hurry either. She fluttered her wings. The multi-colored fog became thicker and denser. Luckily, it was far from Xiaorong, or he would have turned from semi-transparent to rainbow-colored. The butterflys eyes may have been huge, but after she experienced almost getting blinded as she came out of the cocoon, she was on guard. It wouldnt be easy for me to use the ice dagger to stab her eyes to reach the brain. If I missed, considering how much her forehead protruded, she would attack me before I could even stick it into her brain. She didnt need to hit me in the head either. All she needed was to pierce the softest stomach area and dig out my innards, and I would be dead. The temples, the lower jaw, or the cerebellum The butterfly suddenly twisted her head to look to the side. A bunch of caterpirs came crashing at her. She dodged one, but another came flying at her. The banyan tree was going wild. His branches were shrouded in ayer of ice, so he was no longer afraid of the thorns on the caterpirs. The branches exploded into action, whipping and whacking here, there and everywhere. Now thats what I call having fun! Although the mid-sized torge caterpirs would not die from this, they wouldnt be able to get close to him either. The two sides were in a deadlock. But Xiaorong knew that I didnt care if the caterpirs died or not. As long as they didnt hinder my battle, a deadlock was fine. Now that he saw that I was in a tough spot, he even had the insight to throw the caterpirs over to disrupt the fight. This tree is now the baby brother of my family. Anyone who bullies him dies! The butterfly was furious because of her own caterpirs. There were hundreds of caterpirs. It was a spectacr show as they came flying over one by one. The thorns of the caterpirs plus the throwing speed meant that the butterfly wasnt unscathed. She screamed and the caterpirs stopped, no longer rushing toward Xiaorong. Idiot! I rushed forward and shouted, Xiaorong! The banyan tree transformed entirely back into branches and wrapped around my body. I borrowed the branches, formed ice des, used the white silk, and even formed ice bs in midair. I glided and climbed and was pulled, my movements extremely quick. I wrapped Xiaorongs body in ice energy once again. Thin and long branches shot out. Just as we were about to catch the butterfly, she blew out a wave of multi-colored fog. Simultaneously, I let out a burst of ice energy. Xiaorong couldnt bear such a strong wave of ice energy, but that was okay. It would still work if it surrounded him without touching him. As long as this could block that rainbow fog from burning him, all was well. The butterfly leaped and dodged most of the branches. However, a few still hit her body. She repeatedly used her hands to grab the branches and sprayed colored fog with her mouth. Under mymand, Xiaorong didnt continue wrestling with her. He retreated when he was grabbed. However, another branch coiled around her without her noticing. The more she wanted to get rid of those branches, the tighter the branches got. In the end, she flew upwards, ignoring the pain in her wings, wanting to fly upward at all costs. Stupidity was truly a disease. One could not expect much from a butterflys IQ. Xiaorong took the chance to bind her with even more branches. She had already had one wing damaged before this. Now, with the addition of the branches, she immediately plummeted. Why is she trying so hard to fly? As the branches tried to pull her down, the butterfly continued to p, regardless of the piercing pain. She hissed sharply as her blood spurted. Xiaorong was in a bad shape as well, his branches twitching. The corrosiveness of that blood was too powerful. Even my ice energy couldnt block it. I slid along the branches and jumped on the butterfly. I ordered Xiaorong to retreat at the same time. We werent too high up. If he dropped straight down, the white silk below us would guarantee his safety. To ensure I wouldnt be shaken off, I could only use both hands and feet to climb on the butterflys damaged wing. She tried to scratch me over and over, and she even spewed the multi-colored fog again. This time, the fog was so thick that it had be gooey. Making use of my agility, I climbed around her, never letting that multi-colored fog hit me. If that fog were to hit me directly, this life would be over. Even though the fog didnt hit me directly, the thick fog still made me feel pain all over. I used the ice energy to forcefully block it while I held the dagger in my hand and stabbed at the butterfly. I could feel resistance, as if I had stuck my hand into a sponge. I could feel the burn, as if a thousand needles had been pierced to my bone marrow, but I couldnt let go even with the pain that made me want to cry out. If I let go, she would fly right off and maybe even abandon these caterpirs. Everything would be ruined! This aberrant was truly at the top of tier two. She was able to waste this much energy, filling the sky with colorful fog. It was like a watercolor palette had spilled across the sky, and even this hadnt made her hit her limit. With such endless energy, I must have her crystal! We were locked in a stalemate in midair. Ignoring the burning sensation, I shed left and right. I could hardly injure her with the fog gathered so densely around her head. Thus, I started stabbing elsewhere. As her resistance evidently weakened, I chose to slice into her other wing, the unharmed one. Dropping from midair, we crashed onto the white silk, bouncing away from each other. I wanted to find my bnce, but a strand of white silk had caught my left foot. I was careless. I had to twist all around before I could find my bnce. A surge of pain seized my whole left thigh. I ced my hand over my leg andyered ice over the entire leg. The ice would work as a temporary cast for now. I looked down. The butterflys fall was more severe than mine. She was way too big and was also surrounded by colored fog. The white silk couldnt catch her. She fell straight to the lowest parts of the white silk and even squashed many of her own caterpirs on her way down. Finally, shey on the ground shrieking. The caterpirs rushed toward her to protect her, not wanting to give up at all. I staggered for a bit but forced myself to ignore my injured left leg. Facing the swarm of caterpirs, I summoned Xiaorong and once again charged over using various moves. I slew all the way up to the butterfly. Although there were still many caterpirs behind me, that no longer mattered. I breathed heavily and dropped my head to look at that butterfly. She looked up. The fog had weakened a lot. I could see her inky ck eyes staring right at me, and I could even read the despair in them. In the next life, ask to be smarter. The ice dagger pierced downwardstier two crystal obtained! Yet, this was not the finale. I twisted back. The crowd of caterpirs did not scatter despite their queen being dead. They transformed their anger into high speed rolling, surging from all sorts of directions. I gave a cry of Xiaorong! I could feel my eyes burning as I faced the never-ending caterpirs.There was no end to killing these caterpirs. My body had long been numbed by pain. Finally, I stabbed onest time, yet I didnt hit anything. My consciousness came back to me. I was standing among countless caterpir corpses. Not even one was left alive. I let go of a deep breath, my body so heavy that it was like I was carrying a mountain. I opened my mouth, wanting to let Xiaorong down, but I spat out a mouthful of blood. I wiped away the blood and saw my arm covered in a rainbow of colors. The colors were even darkening, almost ckening. No, I had to gather some crystals and gobble them first; otherwise, I would die. These tier zero crystals barely had any effect, but fortunately they were all over the ground. All I needed was to gobble up more I squatted to dig up the crystals when suddenly a pair of gigantic feetnded in front of me. I looked up. A lizard-like aberrant opened its mouth, dripping a stream of saliva, as if it was in front of a piece of beef steak. While the butterfly fought with me, a sneak was actually trying to get one over us both. Unfortunately, it was just a creature who had barely reached tier one. It was totally looking down on me. I was so angry Iughed. Cold air exploded from me. Xiaorongs branches shot out in every direction, spreading out like a dra over the entire ce. I roared, A tiger that leaves the mountain can be bullied by a dog, but you shithead of a mouse think you could make a move on me? Volume 4, 8: Misplaced

Volume 4, Chapter 8: Misced

Tranted by Miaka_Mei (proofread by EvlNabiki & Minthe; C/E edited by lucathia) When I came round, a blood-red and yellow sunset was reflected on the snowy leaves of the icy tree that had filled the sky, strikingly colorful like tears of blood, appearing as beautiful as a rose Jiang Xiaorong, why the heck did you grow and fill the sky for no reason? I crawled up and even had to push aside the branches all over my body, as I had beenpletely buried by tree roots. Frowning, I asked, Xiaorong, are you protecting me? The banyan tree excitedly shook his tree trunk, even curling up his roots and tightening around me, as if asking for credit for how well he had protected me. Well done. I nodded, then asked with a slight smile, Now then, tell me, how many caterpir crystals did you eat while I was asleep? The banyan tree suddenly froze, as if he was just a tree that was incapable of moving. That shaking just now must have been caused by the wind. Rolling my eyes, I said, Still ying dumb? Dont tell me theres nothing left? Besides, arent you afraid of exploding from overeating? Now, hand over the rest of the crystals. Ripping away the tree roots as I stood up, I looked down to check on my injuriesthe tank top had vanished without any trace, and all that remained of the pants were several strips of rags hanging around the crotch area. This actually made it easier to see the condition of my injuries at a nce. The situation was slightly better than Id thought. All of the wounds had closed, so I was unlikely to have had much blood loss. Fortunately, I had eaten that tier one crystal before passing out. I really had no choice since my injuries were too serious. I had been a bit worried that I wasnt fainting, but was actually dying, so I had to eat it. Otherwise, I really wanted to save it for Junjun to eat; her strength must surpass her beauty! I frowned while looking at the surrounding sunset scene, hoping that I had only fainted from early morning to evening. It better not be several eveningster now. If Xiao Sha had returned to the base for quite some time, then Id be in huge trouble. A tree branch carefully outstretched to the front, and a leaf spread open. Fine, tiny crystals upied half of the leafs surface. I looked down. It was not a small amount, so Xiaorong had only eaten one third at most. I put away the crystals and said, In the future, unless youre wounded and in immediate need of crystals, wait until I wake up to make distributions. Rest assured, you wont be losing out. As long as you follow me well, Ill ensure that youll have no end of crystals to eat. Xiaorong was so happy that the whole tree rubbed against me; however, he was just too big. Although not as excessive as the previous tree that stretched across the sky, he was still a banyan tree of ordinary size. Dont mention rubbing, just having a few branches shoot over instantly buried me. Foiled, Xiaorong seemed quite displeased. He started to retract the branches and turn from a big tree into a bonsai. I havent got the faintest idea of how he can grow and shrink like this. I really have no words in response to his flexibility of suddenly growing into a huge tree and suddenly shrinking into a small bonsai. Wait! Dont turn small just yet. Help me take some white silk. I didnt want to walk in the city practically naked. Worse still would be returning to the base in the nude with injuries all over my body. My big brothers fury and little sisters tears were even scarier than the end of the world. Although the white silk was made of fine threads, it was rtive to the huge cocoon. In fact, each and every piece was wider than my hands. After Xiaorong grabbed arge section, I trimmed and cut holes and strips into it with the ice dagger, wrapping the strips like bandages as my shirt and pants. I really hadnt lost any of my past lifes tailoring skills. After fixing everything, the result was not bad at allboth tough and flexible. If I had worn this material during the fight earlier, it would not have left me running naked. Look at all that white silk. How can we let it go to waste? Of course, just straight away let Xiaorong go at it! Finally, I dragged arge bundle of white silk back home in a woven from tree branches. My speed was a bit slow as the injury to my left thigh was pretty serious. I really couldnt walk very fast. Back at the mini warehouse, no one was around. I continued to walk. There was no trace of fighting along the way. I was really dit seemed that Xiao Sha hadnt encountered any great danger while retreating. When the familiar bell tower came into view, and I found nothing unusual, I sighed in relief. The bad luck of the Jiang family was terrifying enough. I always felt like something was going to happen at any time. I dont care if it happens to me. Please dont let it happen to the other Jiang family members. As I approached the town, there were many people therethat was, far exceeding the total people in the JDT. They appeared rather calm, some sitting or standing. They should be the group of people with Guan Weijun. It seemed that they had just arrived and were still sorting things out. Awesome! I made a quick detour to avoid the crowd and headed straight for the main building that was higher up. Shuyu! As I approached the main building, a head protruded from the sentry point above the door. Ceng Yunqian quietly called out, Hurry up and get inside. Xiao Sha just arrived with arge group of people. Bosss face instantly turned dark when he didnt see you. Even Shujun was shouting about wanting to go to the city to find you. Hearing that, I threw the huge lump of Xiaorong directly across the gate and then jumped over immediately. I first told Xiaorong to toss the white silk into the backyard and directly return to the room to be a bonsai. Following this, I rushed to find my big brother and little sister. When I rushed into the hall, Xiao Sha was standing in front of Dg and Shujunhead bowed as he received double the bombardment. Im back! I promptly shouted and quickly stepped in front of them, ignoring the pain in my leg. Even if it gets brokenter, right now, I must walk steadily in front of Dg and Xiomi! Dg looked at me with a very dark face and Xiao Sha was obviously relieved, while Junjun directly pounced on me, almost knocking me down. I feel like my left thigh broke. I hope Im just imagining it It hurt so much that I couldnt think for several seconds. When I raised my head, Dg and Xiomi were standing in front of me with equally stormy faces. Youre wounded? Dg coldly said. Yeah. I braced myself to answer, My left thigh hurts pretty badly. Everything else is trivial. Really! Familiar rays of light shone again. Junjun circled around me for inspection, and I quickly cooperated by posing in various ways to show her. She made three rounds before finally stopping and speaking with relief, The injuries this time arent serious. See! I hurriedly nodded. Of course, I made no mention of the contribution of a certain tier one crystal. It didnt take long for the light that covered my whole body to shrink to the thigh. It felt like Dg was even trying topletely heal the broken bones. Although Dgs expression didnt change, I could clearly feel that his energy was depleting. I hastily took out the tier two crystal and said, Dg, eat this crystal before you go on. If I didnt have Dg eat it quickly, I would keep feeling uneasy. Right now, its not easy to get tier two crystals. Besides, its the crystal of an aberrant that was almost tier three. I was a little excited since Dg might directly rise to tier two if he ate it. Dg didnt stop. He simply nced over and actually said, Eat it yourself. I was stunned, and was about to persuade him, but he interrupted me. In the next few days, youll keep watch over the town base. In exchange, Ill be going into the city. I will hunt for my own crystals to eat. I looked at Dg in shock. He actually wants to enter Lan City? He spoke in a matter-of-fact way, If I dont train, how can I be stronger? Indeed, that was true. It was not enough to just eat crystals. Actualbat experience was extremely important. Sometimes, I even felt that fighting a battle didnt lose to the effects of eating crystals. After thinking it through, I no longer tried to stop him, but simply continued to advise, Dg, just treat this as thest crystal that Ddi hunts for you. In the future, you can hunt for them yourself. This was a tier two crystal. As long as he ate it, Dg could hunt for tier two crystals by himselfter on. But I dare not voice this, for fear that Dg would not eat it. Upon hearing this, Dg finally took the crystal and said, This is thest time. When you hunt for crystals in the future, I wont eat even a single one. Watching him eat the crystal, I finally dared toin, Dg, do you need to be so stubborn? Anyway, Dg, when you be stronger, youll protect your ddi, right? Its the same no matter who eats it! Dg retorted, So when you get stronger, you wont protect your gge? Whats the difference then with having you eating it? I was speechless. Junjunughed, and the next second, a huge rush of energy exploded from Dg all at once, scaring her so much that her rosy face lost all color. My leg which was being treated was jolted by this energy, and I almost fell. Fortunately, Junjun held me just in time, while Xiao Sha hurriedly pulled the two of us to a safe distance. Junjun turned to look at me. After confirming that I was okay, she actually dashed directly toward Dg. Even Xiao Sha was toote to hold her back. His face changed, and he rushed to catch up to her. Knowing that there was nothing wrong, I wasnt worried. I first touched my legit doesnt hurt at all. Pulling aside the white silk shirt, I saw that not even a single bruise remained on my whole body. Dgs outbreak was just too powerful. I hoped he could control it well, so he wouldnt end up healing all of the enemys wounds with this explosive power rg! What happened to Dg? Junjun stood near Dg, but she didnt dare to move any closer. She was confused about this, not understanding why she didnt dare to step forward. Move a bit closer. Nothing is gonna happen. I calmly walked over. This movement clearly pacified Junjun. She did as she was told. Even Xiao Sha moved over. Both of them walked toward Dg step by step. Their faces changed but they could only crease their foreheads in a frown and bitterly endure it. Although it was such a cold day, their foreheads were drenched in sweat. How is it? Tier two isnt for show. I went over but didnt enter Dgs range of oppression. Junjun and Xiao Sha were not Dgs opponents, as their gap was too big, so getting closer was fine. But if I were to get closer to Dg, hed be somewhat on alert. He was currently on the cusp of leveling up. I didnt wish for any unforeseen events to ur. But for Junjun and Xiao Sha, it was a good opportunity, especially Junjun. Her chance of fighting an aberrant alone was almost zero. It was a rare opportunity for her to feel the oppressiveness of a difference in tieralthough I actually didnt want her to experience this. Have a good feel of this oppressiveness. You cane out if you really cant handle it. With sweat running down like raindrops, the two were unable to respond. Pursing their lips, neither of them moved their feet. I stood at the sidelines, sensing that the surrounding energy was gradually being tucked away by Dg. Originally, his energy level had already almost reached the peak of tier one but was stuck at a bottleneck. Triggered by this tier two crystal, his energy instantly burst out. In fact, the impact of breaking through tier one usually wasnt so big. Dg had caused such a big deal likely due to the crystal being too overwhelming. For a moment, he wasnt able topletely absorb it. I carefully felt the energy around Dg to prevent things from going wrong. At this time, Dg threw me a nce. Seeing that I smiled back at him, he didnt return a single word and concentrated on absorbing the energy. It took several minutes before Dg finally finished reeling in the energy. I immediately rushed over to hold Junjun. The moment the oppressiveness let up, she went limp and fell into my arms. Seeing that my little sister really didnt have any strength to stand up, I simply carried her princess style. As for Xiao Sha at the sideSorry, since youre not my familys little princess, youll just have a lie on the floor by yourself. Dg slowly opened his eyes, looked down at his body, and then looked up and asked, Shujun, Xiao Sha. You all okay? Junjun nodded and said, Just a little tired. Xiao Sha propped himself up. He shook his head, sweat dripping down his facehe was too tired to speak. Dg finally felt at ease. He walked over and touched Junjuns forehead. Lifting his eyes, he asked, Shuyu, whats the matter with this crystal? I felt especially good right now. I honestly confessed, Tier two crystal. In any case, his tier had already gone up. Even if he cut his stomach open, Dg wouldnt be able to dig out the crystal. Dg red furiously at me. I shrank back and pitifully sought support, Junjun, look at Dg. Hes bullying me. I fed him food, but hes scowling at me. Junjun said in a sour mood, Cant me Dg. Lately, Ive been wanting to re at you, too! I felt aggrieved. Wheres my gentle and soft Mimei, whom I personally raised since childhood? Sob sob sob After growing up, Mimei no longer loves rg. Junjun exaggeratedly rolled her eyes. Patting her unloved rg, she urged, I want to take a bath. I need to bathe too. Lets I shut my mouth, having almost said bathe together, momentarily forgetting that Mimei was already fifteen, almost sixteen! I almost turned into a pervert! Lets take you back to your room. Then Ill wash up, too. Junjun nced over and snorted, seemingly knowing that her rg had secretly changed his previous remark. I held Junjun in my arms, while Dg supported Xiao Sha. Just as we were about to take them back to their rooms, Lily came in. Boss, the people Xiao Sha brought back want to see you. Dg looked at me and lifted one eyebrow, handing over the work to me just like that. Xiao Sha said you wanted to bring these people back. You should handle this yourself. Whether they leave or stay, you decide. Dg, this wont do. I looked at Xiao Sha with a frustrated face. Why didnt you clearly exin the whole story? Xiao Sha sullenly said, You didnte back, and when I exined that you went off by yourself to fight a huge cocoon and arge group of spiders, Bosss face had instantly darkened. He wanted me to exin in detail about what kind of aberrant it was, the situation surrounding it, and why you wanted to go by yourself. Besides that, he didnt want to hear about anything else at all. Why were you so honest!? Cant you just say that I went to y some bugs? See how truthful an answer it would have been? It cant even be considered a lie! People that rg wanted to bring home? Junjun curiously asked, Are they really strong? Nothing amazing. Xiao Sha shook his head before he added, Theres a woman. Shes quite decent. Hearing woman, Junjuns eyes shone. She looked at me with a wide grin and even gave me a wink. Dg even hurriedly asked, Is that woman beautiful? Xiao Sha thought about it and said, Ordinary. Not as attractive as Shuyu. Dont make aparison with me. This face of mine has long since defied all natural order. Lily interrupted, Shes not breathtaking, but she is rather pleasing to the eye. Shes quite the cheerful and livelydy. Believe me, her liveliness far exceeds your imagination. Dg nodded and inquired, How old is she? Twenty-five. I answered. Dg frowned. A bit old. Say Im old again, and Ill never speak with you again Wait, thats not right. Im not Guan Weijun. Im Jiang Shuyu, an eighteen years old youngster in his prime. Was she the one who took the initiative? Take what initiative? I was at a loss. Xiao Sha shook his head and said, No, Shuyu started it. Dg nodded and casually said, Then, theres no need to say more. As long as Shuyu likes her. Hey hey hey, your thought processes havepletely derailed! I only took the initiative to save her, okay? Whats this about liking her?! Im going to see what kind of woman Shuyu likes. After saying this, Dg immediately walked to the door, and Lily followed him with brightly shining eyes. Xiao Sha was stunned. He gazed at me in puzzlement. Who do you like? I fiercely red at him and was about to shout at Dg when Junjun suddenly patted me. She anxiously said, rg, put me down. I could only carefully set her down, making sure that my familys princess could stand up stably. By the time I lifted my head, Dgs figure was already far away. Shit! Wait a minute, Dg, let me exin! I was about to catch up rg, I want to go, too. Help me out. I cant walk properly. With a grimace, I turned around to support the unusually powerless princess as we slowly moved to the door. Soon after, someone tapped my shoulder againit was Xiao Sha, taking the opportunity for a lift. Ohe on! Im the injured person who needs help, okay? Although my wounds had been healed, the energy Id used up and my blood loss hadnt been replenished. Why are you making me into your walking tools one after another? By the time our pale-faced trio rushed outside of the gate, Dg and Guan Weijun were already standing face-to-face. At first nce, they seemed to be confronting each other. The members of the JDT were all gathered together and standing behind Dg, while Tai Wen and Zhang Jing were standing behind Guan Weijun. These troop members, who always appeared like invincible airheads, were currently standing in an orderly fashion, their hands at their guns. Although their postures were all different, you could tell they were pros at a nce, tigers and wolves whose strength could not be underestimated. Does Guan Weijun really like you? Xiao Sha seriously said, I think she likes someone else. Indeed. Guan Weijuns eyes were glued on Dg, and she was even asionally gulping while sneaking a nce at his chest and abs. Look at my past self with such a thirsty look, as if she hasnt seen a man for eight hundred yearsdont mention my image, even my integrity has been fed to the dogs. Youre called Guan. Wei. Jun? Dg softly uttered this name. Guan Weijun gasped and murmured, Oh my god, my ears are going to get pregnant. Lets see you try giving birth? rg Yeah? I looked at Junjun. Junjunforted me in sympathy, People say that first love is always fruitless. Losing to Dg is nothing unusual. rg, youre very handsome and also a good guy. Youll certainly find a better girl! Question: I was relegated to a good guy by my beloved mimei. Should I cry my heart out? Wait here, Dgmanded. Okay, Ill wait for you! Guan Weijun answered like she was willing to wait forever for him. Dg walked over. From his movement, it seemed like he wanted to drag me to the side to interrogate me. However, I was supporting Shujun and couldnt leave, so I simply shrugged my shoulders. Dg paused his footsteps and gave me a nce, indicating that the interrogation was dyed, but would ur. He turned to Guan Weijun and the other two and said, Out of consideration for my ddi Shuyu, you can stay in Old Towntemporarily. After that, he picked up Junjun in a princess carry, turned around, and lefthis manner so handsome that it could be called arrogant, suave, cool, and overbearing. Yourplexion doesnt look good. Get some rest as soon as you finish talking to them. I nodded obediently and watched Dg carry Junjun away. Thetter shouted, rg, Ill ask Auntie to stew chicken soup for you. I should just go straight to my roomter, lie down, and sleep for three days and three nights. I refuse to believe that the chicken soup wont spoil after that! Guan Weijun came over and said with admiration, I did feel like the great benefactor was too submissive to you. Even as the boyfriend of a guy, he wouldnt be so obedient, right? Then, it turned out that you have the backing of a super strong gge. The support of brotherhood truly cant be underestimated! Mom would never raise an evil, sinister kid, but it seems to be no problem for her to raise an idiotic and scatterbrained girl. Can that mouth of yours ask for any more trouble? Tai Wen and Zhang Jing are crying behind you! Oh right, Xiao Yu. Your clothes, shoes, and sewing machines are all outside. Wanna bring them in? I instantly said, Of course. Guan Weijun shrugged and said, Then, youll have to find someone to carry them. Your people wouldnt let us into this house. I nodded. Looking at her, I was reminded of my mother whose condition was unknown. But it wouldnt do to fix my attention on someone elses mother all day long, so I could only take the indirect approach. So, what are you going to do next? Guan Weijuns eyes suddenly turned sharp. She spoke with some difficulty, Well, its a bit hard to say, but it seems Ill have to trouble you. Indeed. Among them, the ones withbat strength arent very strong, while the ones with nobat capabilities upy almost two-thirds of them. Asking for the Jiang Dominion to take them in is simply an impossible task. Itd be hard for anyone to start talking about the matter. Please, let me be your sister-inw! Guan Weijun excitedly shouted. Then seemingly having recalled something, she asked, Oh, by the way! Is your brother married? Could you be anymore frank than this!? Youve frightened my familys invincible troop! Do you have any idea how difficult it is for them to maintain their image? Cain was enduring so much that even his face twisted! Getting stared at by my past lifes face, with her eyes almost sparkling, my face twitched as I replied, My dg isnt married yet. Girlfriend? No. Boyfriend? No! Guan Weijun was flooded with euphoria. She extended her hand, and said, Then from now on, Im your brothers pursuer. Ddi, kindly give me more advice, please! I was a bit sluggish while forced to shake hands. What the hell is going on? Guan Weijun wants to be my familys sister-inw? Thinking about the scene of Dg and Guan Weijun togetherwhy do I feel like Dg and I are having a taboo, incestuous rtionship? Fuck! This is just too creepy! W-Weijun. Tai Wen helplessly said, Right now, our first priority is to have them willingly ept us. Its not to scare them away, right? Of course not. If I scare away my dream lover, who am I going to marry? Guan Weijun twirled in delightshe was literally spinning around in a circle! sping her heart, she said, Ive never seen such an amazing man in my whole life. That intimidating presence of his is just like a savage lions. If I piss him off, I could instantly die anytime. How thrilling! That sounds nothing like the characteristics that a good husband should have I wanna go back and tell Mom that Ive finally found a real man! Shes getting a son-inw! This ultimate move sure is powerful, roasting all the guys here in a single strike. Guan Weijun skipped to the door with joy. She only then remembered her twopanions. She turned around and called out, Come on, we have to arrange for everyone to settle down. Then, she happily hummed with small bouncing steps. Zhang Jing hurriedly followed her. Tai Wen pushed his sses as he sighed, and apologized to all the members of the JDT, Weijun is just a little simple-minded. She is actually a good person. Shes quite clever when shes not being foolish and is also pretty strong. Im sorry for the inconvenience. Please consider taking us in. As an older member, Zheng Xing stepped forward and answered, That depends on Boss. But you should prepare yourselves. If Boss isnt willing, you have to immediately leave this town. Its best that you dont mess around or have any crooked thoughts. Otherwise Cain smiled like a ruffian while saying this. His eyes gleamed coldlythe very picture of a man with a big smile and evil intentions. Of course not. Were just a group of normal people. Tai Wen looked at us, seemingly a bit unwilling to leave. He continued asking, Excuse me, is there anything that could make you more willing to let us stay? I cut in, Sort out your abilities and present them. My big brother likespetent people. Tai Wen shot me a nce, dropped his eyes, and humbly said, All right, understood. Then, Ill go back and ask everyone. He finally turned to keep up with Guan Weijun, walking behind her to the left, like a genuine subordinate. If I hadnt known he had a wife, I might have thought that he was fond of Guan Weijun, but it wasnt so. Tsk. I like that woman. Ceng Yunqian was the first to start talking. But the words that she said horrified me. Make it clear, is it themon like, or that other kind of like? With no outsiders, Cain immediately dropped his frivolous expert image and shouted, Come on, guys, lets make a bet! Will that woman be able to pursue Boss? Its definitely possible, Lily calmly said. Boss doesnt take the initiative, but he doesnt refuse anyone who offers themselves as long as theyre pleasing to the eye. Yes, my familys dg has little regard for integrity. The discipline since childhood turned out to be useless. Despite having arduously disciplined him since I was young, I still couldnt restrain him. However, Dg had never brought a woman home, or perhaps, he had never thought of those people as his girlfriends. But there was one woman who had personally made a visit. She was an ultra-sexy, gorgeous beauty with a figure like roaring waves. She came up and instantly hugged me tightly, and kept on saying Ddi looks so cute, Im your dgs girlfriend Yunyun. Then, she stayed in the house and refused to leave. Lin-b, who wanted to call the police, was locked outside by her. This situation frightened Junjun so much that she burst into tears. I had given Dg a call, and we never saw the woman ever again. Afterwards, there were no longer any women who came for a visit. I even privately asked Yunqian, did Dg cut off allmunication with that woman after breaking up? She only replied, Very scary, dont ask. But I was really curious, so I secretly investigated. Because Dg hadnt guarded himself against me at all, I was able to easily check from his own sources. The woman turned out to be an assassin, and she did have some mysterious and unclear rtionship with Dg. Reportedly, she was killed by Dg for unknown reasons in the end, and he even took her head to receive her bounty. This little affair had turned out quite famous within the underground. There were all sorts of conjectures: loving and killing each other, the untold story between a hit man and a mercenary, the sh between love and mission. The whole plot of the story was more dramatic than a primetime show. However, the truth was that she had scared Junjun into tears, while I had given Dg the ultimatum to hurry up and get the fucking woman out of here, and to never have here back again. Thereupon, the killerdy got sent to hell and was guaranteed to never return. Im not talking about a bed warmer. Im betting on the position of sister-inw! Cains loud voice drew my attention. Thats a bit hard. Lily thought for a long time, then turned to ask me, Shuyu, do you have a good impression of this woman? Ah? I was still out of sorts. I didnt even know why Guan Weijun would fall in love with Dg Then again, women were super attracted to my familys Dg. He was basically a hormone manufacturing machine. Her liking Dg only proved that her eyes werent blind. Lily analyzed in all seriousness, I think Boss is okay as long he likes how she looks. Theres no problem with having her as a bedmate or even a girlfriend, but if shes actually to be your sister-inw, then Shujuns and your opinions might be ny-nine percent of the factor. Boss would never take a wife who the two of you dislike. Everyone nced over. Cain immediately cried out, Shuyu cant join the gambling party! Youre definitely going to cheat! Cheat? I felt a bit helpless. I dont know if I should cheat to have Guan Weijun win over Dg, so I can smoothly ept and look after Mom as my mother-inw; or have Guan Weijun stay far away from Dg, so that I dont have the illusion that Im marrying Dg. Stuck between two dilemmas, I abruptly smacked my head hard. I have no right to meddle in Dgs marriage! Im his ddi, not his parents! Besides, even parents cant control who their son wants to marry these days. It rains when Heaven deems fit; mother remarries when she wants to; even if Dg wishes to marry a violent woman, its all the will of Heaven. Im better off washing up before bed. After I finished taking a bath, Dg and Xiomi came to visit me. Whats with that Guan Weijun? Dg got straight to the point and asked. I was momentarily silent, then said, No idea. But she shouldnt be me. The disparity in our personality is too big. In the past, I didnt have that kind of personality, but I dont know who she really is either. Hearing that, Dg hurriedly said, Maybe shes just a stranger. This matter is too bizarre, so no one can say for sure. You dont need to worry about it. Junjun also firmly nodded, expressing her agreement. I fell silent. In the end, the Ice Emperor was still Dg. Although a different fate had brought about a slight discrepancy in personality, I could discern that they were the same person. Moms existence further confirmed this pointshe was undoubtedly my mom. Her character was exactly the same. Then it could only be me and Guan Weijun who were different. Only me and her Startled, I was finally able to grab hold of a flicker of an idea that hade to me In the past lifetime, it was me and him. I was Guan Weijun; in this lifetime, its me and her. I am Jiang Shuyu Jiang Shuyu What? Dg and Junjun looked at me, puzzled. Shes Jiang Shuyu! The Ice Emperors real ddi, the Jiang Shuyu who was often scolded by Mimei as optimistic and thoughtless. I was trembling all over. The ice covering my arms was so cold that the coldness was seeping right into my heart. Shuyu. rg! Dg and Xiomi each grabbed one of my shoulders, with an expression of utmost worry, not knowing that their own brother had been wrong ever since birth. I opened my mouth but suddenly felt a stabbing pain in my heart, as if warning me not to say anything. But looking at the face of Dg and xiomithey totally didnt care who Guan Weijun was. They were only worried about my condition. With this kind of brother and sister, I didnt want to hide anything at all from them. With a trembling heart, I confessed, She, she is Jiang Shuyu! That Guan Weijun is the real Jiang Shuyu! Dg was stunned, but unlike me who was too close to the situation, he was apparently more clear-headed, and instantly understood. The two of you have been swapped. At this time, Junjun suddenly screamed and let go of my shoulders, while Dg didnt let go of his hold. He was even emitting healing light. But Im not hurt, so why is he suddenly helping me heal? Flustered, I simply focused on the most important matter, and asked, Junjun, are you all right? I grabbed her hand. Her palm was already reddening, but Junjun seemed to bepletely unconcerned about her hand. She cried out, rg, your arms are so cold. Will you be all right? Are you cold? Werent my arms cold due to psychological factors? I quickly lifted my arms and looked. It felt like the ice patterns had turned faint I immediately took off my jacket. There were numerous veined patterns on my arms, but at this moment, only faint marks were left. The originally silvery blue ice pattern was so faint that only a smear of watery color remained, so light that it was almost invisible. The weapons that the Ice Emperor left behind I tried to call out the dagger. Ice ability condensed, but no weapon formed even after a long while. I kept at it until I started getting a headache from overusing my ice ability. I had to stop. Im sorry Ice Emperor, Im sorry for having misced your love. Im sorry for snatching away the weapon that you wanted to give to your ddi. Im sorry for causing your ddi to lose such a good Gge and Mimei. rg! Junjun desperately hugged me, as if refusing to let go, as if not letting her rg go anywhere. I sucked in a deep breath and held Mimeis warm and small figure. I might have been guilt-ridden, but I would never regret bing Jiang Shuyu. rg, youre my rg! I wont recognize anyone else! Okay. If you dont want to, then so be it. I patted my sister on the back tofort her as she kept trembling. She must have been really scared. Junjun, dont be afraid. Nobody can rece me, your rg. The figure in my embrace finally stopped trembling. She lifted her head, staring straight at me with big and watery eyes. Really? You wont leave our home? You wont say youre not my rg? You wont get seriously injured? Um I braced myself and said, I absolutely wont leave you again. Im definitely your rg. Ill do my best not to get seriously hurt. Junjun was slightly dissatisfied with thest sentence but nodded reluctantly. Stroking Mimeis ck hair, I looked up and asked, Dg, can you take in Guan Weijun and the rest? Although the number of people is a little much Dg readily responded, All right. As long as you stop worrying over insignificant problems, Im fine with even marrying her! Shes your past lifes ddi. Dg, dont you have any qualms about it? Cant you at least have a bit integrity! In this lifetime, youre my ddi. Volume 4, 9: In This Life, We Both Are Doing Swell

Volume 4, Chapter 9: In This Life, We Both Are Doing Swell

Tranted by Michimochi (proofread by EvlNabiki & L Su; C/E edited by lucathia) After sleeping in for two whole days, I couldnt escape my chicken soup fate. Actually, the soup left no aftertaste in my mouth, so it wasnt particrly hard to finish. Well, it was about time to face the problem regarding Guan Weijun. Ignoring her wasnt the way to go. I didnt know if the solution I had thought of would work though, and I was hesitant about carrying it out, but this was also the only way I could make it up to Guan Weijun. With feelings of guilt, I looked down at the ice pattern on my left wrist Hm? Has the color turned darker? Although it hadnt returned to its original shade, it wasnt as faint as it had been yesterday, like it was on the verge of fading. This ever-changing shade is making me so nervous! Forget it. This wasnt supposed to be mine in the first ce. I forced myself to stop thinking about the ice pattern and walked out the door to find Guan Weijun, but Junjun blocked me right outside the door. rge, where are you going? I want to go, too. I frowned. If Junjunes along, things might be a bit Suddenly, I was hit with Junjuns ultimate puppy-eye attack. I immediately surrendered. I could face my big brother sternly, but once I was in front of my little sister, my body would turn into putty. In this life, Im a siscon through and through. Left with no other choice, I said, Fine, but you have to promise me that no matter what I do, you wont voice any disagreements. Junjun pulled her brows together and unhappily said, rge, what are you nning to do now? Eh, did I give it away again? Am I truly so helpless against the power of my little sister? A-anyway, if you dont promise me, I wont bring you along! I put on my best stern face. Junjun held up two fingers and said, First, dont ever think of leaving home. Second, dont ever harm yourself. I dont care what else you do. Let me think: does this count as harming myself? rge? Junjuns expression changed from a super cute girl to a fanged dragondy. I hastily said, All right, all right. rge will promise you anything! Lets go right now. Im gonna find Guan Weijun and the others with her. Dge told me to hurry up and decide whether to take them in or to have them leave quickly so they can search for food. Otherwise, chasing them away after all the food is already gone would be too cruel. Junjun was extremely doubtful, yet she didnt say anything. She followed quietly behind me and murmured, If you get hurt again, Im going to make you drink chicken soup all three meals every single day. Wait a minute. So you actually know that chicken soup is nothing but torture? I speechlessly led the little sister who had gradually grown devious since the apocalypse We descended down the stairs to find the living room upied with a few sewing machines. Shoes covered the floor. Mountains of clothes were piled on the sofas and the tables. Obviously, the mercenaries didnt know what to do with this kind of stuff. Junjun, alter the clothes with meter. I want to make some uniforms for everyone. Junjun asked curiously, Arent these the clothes you brought back? These clothes are already pretty, and everyone likes them. Zheng-sh even took a couple of coats to wear. Do we need to alter them? Of course, I earnestly said, Weve got to customize the clothes to the Jiang Dominion style in uniform. After all, we couldnt go out and let the enemy exim, So theyre the LV team! Those high-end brands would steal all the grandeur. Junjun nodded and grinned as she said, Sure, then, I want one with a pleated skirt. I already knew that. I nodded and reminded her, Remember to wear boy shorts under it. Junjun blushed and said, I know. Ive been scolded for identally exposing my underwear before. Who called her out? Who took a peek? Im going to silence him! Dge was the one who called me out to be more careful. rge, please, dont put on such an ugly look. Fine. If Dge was the one who peeked, no harm was done. You could say that he had seen it since we were growing up. Not just underwear, but even bare bottoms during bath time. He had seen it all, even though it was when we were little. I grabbed a jacket from the pile on the table and put it on, getting ready to leave. Junjun saw it and frowned. rge, are you cold? I shook my head. As I walked, I exined, Im concealing my strength right now. I cant exactly show that I dont feel cold. Junjun immediately said, Then, Ill go get a coat on, too. I stopped her immediately. You dont need to conceal your strength. In the apocalypse, the stronger the better it is for girls; otherwise, if theres a lecher and you didnt have any power, youre going to be bullied by him. It suddenly dawned on her. Yet, shortly after, she felt something was not right and protested, But rge, youre so pretty. If you hide your strength, it wont do you any good either. People are going to bully you, too! I shook my head and said, That wont happen. As long as Dge is powerful enough, there wont be anyone who dares to touch us. It would just be verbal abuse at most. Plus, Im not a girl, so just let them talk. But its different for you. If anyone dares to lift a single finger or whisper a single word, Dge and I will destroy that imbecile! Junjun, for the sake of the human poption, you better not conceal your strength. Its best if youre so strong that everyone idolizes you as their goddess. Junjun giggled. All right, Ill definitely be super powerful! I was satisfied. The war goddess of our family is just around the corner. I walked through the main gate and said hello to Yunqian and Cain, who were watching the gate. Yunqian was already wearing some shorts she had taken. With how cold and freezing it was, wearing these shorts made her appear particrly powerful. Beside her, although Cain hadnt gotten any new clothes for himself, the short-sleeved t-shirt he was wearing made him appear pretty powerful, too. I liked what I saw. Mental note to self, dont make the clothes too thick when we start tailoring themter. The more revealing, the better. Of course, my sister is the exception. The pleated skirt is already too short. Nothing else is allowed! Shuyu, Yunqian called out to us. Where are you and Junjun heading? Were looking for that group of people out there, I shouted back. Will be back in a moment. Yunqian nodded and said, Now I can exin to that bro-sis-con boss where his pair of siblings have gone. Cain howled, Boss is such a love the house, love its fowl kind of man. Shuyu is so powerful. What does he even need to worry about? How did youe up with love the house, love its fowl? I didnt understand what he was trying to say, but Cains words made me frown. Later, I needed to tell everyone about how I was concealing my strength. I couldnt have them expose me so casually, or else my earlier efforts in pretense would all be in vain. Stepping out of the mansion, we passed through a street and immediately began seeing signs of life. The scene was moreforting now, unlike the ghost town from before. The ce they had chosen was quite close to the mansion though. If it wasnt for Yunqian holding a sniper rifle at the sentry point, these people would probably have chosen to squeeze their way into a house right next door to the mansion. Well, this was also understandable. After all, it was a world filled with monsters. Who wouldnt want to live next to the strong, unless the strong one was scarier than the man-eating aberrants? Actually, that kind of situation happened quite often. If one wanted to know what type of moral conduct the elite who upied the area held, just take a look at the expressions of the local residents. All the people on the streets who saw Junjun and me had simr reactions. First, they were nervous. However, once they had a better look at our faces, they would rx. It waspletely different from their nervousness in response to the others in the JDT. I pondered for a moment, then asked a woman who was drying herundry, Excuse me, wheres Guan Weijun? The woman apparently recognized me. She pointed at a house and said, Guan Weijun lives over there. I thanked her and walked over to where she had pointed. I even heard her sigh in admiration, What a pair of beautiful siblings! However, hermentation far outweighed her admiration. In the apocalypse, being too beautiful wasnt a good thing. I knocked on the door. The person inside immediately opened it, without an ounce of caution. Then again, with such a gap in strength, there was no use in being wary, so she might as well be weing instead. Guan Weijun had opened the door herself. Seeing that familiar face, I felt even more conflicted. This person in front of me was the original Jiang Shuyu. Even though the soul was trapped in the body of Guan Weijun, whose innate talent far paled inparison to Jiang Shuyu, she was still so remarkable. I couldnt even start to imagine what heights she would have reached if she could have had the body of Jiang Shuyu. As for me, can I really hope topare with her? Whats wrong? Guan Weijun asked, not knowing what was going on. Why are you looking at me like that? I want to talk with you privately, I looked at Zhang Jing and Tai Wen, who were behind her. There was also a woman. She looked very familiar. She was probably Tai Wens wife. I wasnt sure where Mom had gone, but she was most likely doing the housework. I didnt have to worry about her, since there was Guan Weijun to protect her. Junjun harrumphed behind me. My sister and I want to talk with you privately. Guan Weijun didnt even give it a thought and said sure. Tai Wen in the back didnt agree and shouted, Weijun, take me with you at least. Its just the little brother and sister. What am I bringing you with me for? Guan Weijun turned him down and said, If I were to go and see my husband, then Id bring you and Zhang Jing with me. Your husband I sweated. I wasnt sure if the next thing would go smoothly. Tai Wen hesitated, then looked at Junjun and me. The two of us looked back at him. As one, brother and sister both yed innocent, instantly winning him over. He rxed, obviously feeling that he had been too wary. See, being young is such a natural disguise. After we dealt with Tai Wen, Guan Weijun asked me, So, where are we going? Are you fine going up to the attic to have the conversation there? I guarantee Tai Wen and Zhang Jing arent going to eavesdrop. If they dare, Ill bash them until theyre stered against the wall. Tai Wen immediately retreated behind his wife. Thetter was holding herughter. She was a petite woman with an egg-shaped face and was very pleasing to the eye. I said, Lets go up then. Following Guan Weijun up the stairs, Junjun whispered, rge, are you going to have Dge propose to her? Sister, you make it sound like an outdated arranged marriage. Im just the second brother, not the tyrannical head of the Jiang family! Heck no, its not like that. Dge will marry whoever he wants to marry. In front of us, Guan Weijuns footsteps faltered, but then she continued climbing up the stairs. With such a close distance, it would be impossible for her not to have heard us. She pushed open the door to the attic. I watched Guan Weijun turn her body to face us. My heartbeat suddenly picked up. It was the first time I was doing such a thing in both my lives, and I was unsure if this was going to work. With both women staring straight at me, I grew even more nervous. I knew I shouldnt have let Junjune with me. Fuck it! Lets just do this! I hollered, Guan Weijun. C-Can I ask for your hand in marriage? Then, you can stay here. From now on, Ill protect you well! Volume 4, 9: In This Life, We Both Are Doing Swell, Part Two

Volume 4, Chapter 9: In This Life, We Both Are Doing Swell, Part Two

Tranted by Michimochi (proofread by EvlNabiki & Trespasserby; C/E edited by lucathia) I couldnt return the body. Even if I could, I couldnt bear to leave Dg and Xiomi. So I could only make up for it in a different way. I could marry her, protecting the Ice Emperors little brother, and naturally take Mom in as my mother-inw. Then I could call her Mom. This was the best solution I coulde up with. Guan Weijun was stunned. Junjun as well. Both of their eyes were wide open, as if they had suddenly seen me go crazy. Well, I admit that this sudden marriage proposal was a bit crazy. But hey, yesterday, Guan Weijun had only taken one look and had wanted to marry Dg. I, at least, had been looking at her for several days already. There isnt a need for this level of surprise, right? Guan Weijun rolled her eyes exaggeratedly and huffed, Im not interested in little boys. Scram, let your big brothere! I was in an awkward position. Dg did say he could marry her, but that was absolutely not okay. This was my own problem. I couldnt just let Dg sacrifice himself and marry a woman he didnt even like! As for Dg ever bing fond of Guan Weijun, chances were and this was not me putting myself down or anything, but in myst life, I really wasnt some great beauty. This Guan Weijun in front of me was even worse at prettying herself up than me, and would barely pass for an athletic cutie. Compared to that deceased, gorgeous assassin who had knocked on our door, they were fundamentally two different species. Whats with that look on your face! I think your big brother is a bit interested in me! I looked at Guan Weijun skeptically. Guan Weijun huffed coldly, Not convinced? Go back and ask your brother. You, on the other hand, are not even the least bit interested in me, yet you dared to open your mouth to propose. If it wasnt for you being my future little brother-inw, Id have beaten you up until youre stuck on the wall! I helplessly said, My big brother only saw you once. How can he be interested in you? He might not even remember your hair color. ucous green hair hade into fashion for a time, but that was my natural hair color in myst life. It wasnt dyed, and I wasnt sure which generation had brought in the genes of this kind of hair color. Even Mom didnt know. So what if he doesnt remember my hair color? Guan Weijun confidently said, My legs definitely left an impression. He peeped at least twice! In myst life, I had indeed had a pair of long legs, but they werent all that special I dipped my head and stared at her legs. They were sturdy and slender. Her thighs were tightly closed, and the calves had a nice silhouette. These were definitely legs that had gone through intense training. If I remembered correctly, that deceased morous assassin seemed to have had a pair of strong athletic legs as well. Dont tell me, Dg is into these kinds of legs? In my previous life, I had only developed such legs after the apocalypse happened. Madly fleeing for ones life was something everyone knew how to do. If hes as uninterested in me as you are, then I wouldnt be targeting him! Guan Weijun huffed, Did you think I was that shameless? No matter how I look at it, you are that shameless! I held my forehead, and had no choice but to say, Fine. Go chase after my big brother. If you catch his eyes, be my sister-inw. If you cant, then Ill marry you. Guan Weijun put on a disgusted expression, as if to say who wants to marry you and replied, If I were to marry you, why not force Zhang Jing to marry me instead? At the very least, hes taller and more obedient, and can maybe put on some muscles at least. Youre not my type at all. Youre fine as eye candy, but being my husband is a no go. You look prettier than me and have no masculinity to speak of. You look like you cant even put on any muscles and have no potential in development. Have you ever heard of not kicking someone while theyre down? I ate, drank and trained with my life on the line, yet I couldnt get shredded. I was already sad enough, and yet you went ahead and kicked me where it hurts. Do you even want to be my sister-inw? My rg is a really good person! Junjun protested. Guan Weijun chuckled. Of course, hes a good person. Im the one whos unworthy of him. He deserves better. Despite having a face like this in this lifetime, who knew that Id still have the chance to hear such a ssic rejection line Junjun blinked. She seemed to feel that those words made sense, yet they were also not quite right. She didnt know how to respond. I looked at Guan Weijun. I didnt even know what to do with her anymore. I originally thought this was the best solution, but the other party didnt want to marry me. However, would Dg really take an interest in her? Even if he did, could he stay faithful to her? Monogamy was not popr in the apocalypse. If Dg ever cheats on her Why do you always look at me as if youre at a loss? Guan Weijun asked in puzzlement, Have I ever met you before? I took a deep breath and said, Just consider me crazy, okay? Guan Weijun, have you been well in this life? She looked at me, baffled. Yet seeing my serious expression, her expression gradually returned to normal. Ive always been well. Even with the apocalypse, Im doing as swell as ever. I dont know what youre thinking about, but with my personality, Id be fine wherever I go. Life is so short. If its a choice between being gloomy or happy for a lifetime, then of course, Id rather live happily for the rest of my life! But in thest life, you had Jiang Shuyus body and identity but got hit on the head right before the apocalypse and never woke again. I suddenly realized something. When the Ice Emperor returned home, he hadnt been able to find anyone from his family. All of his family had been gone, yet in this life, I called Dg toe back home from the very beginning. Even though he lost the Ice Emperors power, he obtained a different power. And most importantly, everyone was alive and well. On the other hand, Guan Weijuns mother was still alive. There was no Xia Zhengu. They could even join our group. No matter what, this life was better than thest. Youre doing well. Im doing well. With our lives swapped, were both doing swell. I smiled, relieved. Yeah, lets both live happily for the rest of our lives! Guan Weijun grinned and ruffled my hair. She said in approval, Thats the smile I was looking for. Youre young and beautiful. Dont look so gloomy. Smile more. Its a feast for the eyes for everyone. Did you forget that this is the apocalypse? But I think shes got a good point. What am I supposed to say to that? Guan Weijun turned her head and told Junjun, Xiomi, even your rg has epted me. Wait a minute, I epted what? Can Dso ask you a question? That big brother of yours, what exactly is his name? My word. You dont even know his name, yet you keep calling yourself Dso, my sister-inw, and wanting to marry Dg. This your taste of men is not bad. At least, so much better than mine. Jiang Shutian, Junjun obediently replied. Guan Weijun deductively said, Your rg is Shuyu. Then, you must be Shujun, right? I keep hearing them call you Junjun. Junjun nodded. Guan Weijun started speaking with great familiarity, Junjun is such a beautiful girl. Dont worry. In the future, Dso will help you filter through partners. Rotten guys shouldnt even think about getting close. Im not all talk. Your dsos eye for people is superb. In the past, a few besties asked me to take a look at their boyfriends. Either they got rid of rotten men or they got married to good husbands! You have besties with that kind of personality? Are you sure theyre girls? After hearing this, Junjun looked at me with sympathy. She rified without giving up, My rg is a good person. Hes not a rotten man. Its the truth! Junjun, you dont say. You think I need a reminder of the rejection from just few minutes ago? Of course, he is not rotten. Hes just a bit delicate, a bit beautiful, and a bit weak. He doesnt meet my requirements of husband material. The girls or uh, men, who like this flowery type of boy are pretty numerous. Wasnt it that Chensha who was all smitten on him? Haha, lets not say anything about todays proposal, okay? If that icy cold Chensha were to hear about this, its not like I can beat him. I immediately rified, We were just pretending to be a couple. Its easier to stay closer to talk that way. Were not lovers. Guan Weijun stared nkly for a moment, then nodded her head. Junjun curiously asked, Then, what are the requirements to be Weijun-jis husband? Already on to the -ji suffix, huh! I knew it. Considering Guan Weijuns personality, its really hard to hate her. Junjun was already ustomed to Dgsck of principles, too. She really didnt have much objection to Guan Weijuns brash im of bing her dso. I mean she couldnt be any worse than that dead temptress. Guan Weijuns eyes lit up. She eximed, Of course, he has to have unparalleled strength, a first-ss physique, a gaze that can make people freeze, and domineering might. Now thats a real man! Junjun nodded her head vigorously. Then, my dg really matches every requirement. He really is super strong. I could tell from a nce. Your brother doesnt have an ordinary upation, right? Hes the boss of the mercenary troop. Ho ho. That kind of super cool job fits him so perfectly! Mimei, you gotta help me chase your big brother. Im begging you! In the future, Ill definitely treat you very, very well. And treat my rg well, too, okay? Of course! Then, Ill help you! I was powerless. I was shot down when I proposed for the first time ever, and it was even with a machine gun. Now, even my little sister had betrayed me so quickly, selling Dg in the blink of an eye. What happened to the girls of the apocalyptic age? My manly heart has be so tired. I want to go home and y with Xiaorong. Shuyu! Guan Weijun suddenly called my name. I turned to look over and saw both girls looking at me with a face full of surprise. Your left sleeve is glowing. Are you all right? Bewildered, I immediately raised my hand and pulled up the sleeve to look at my wrist. The ice pattern was glowing faintly. The silvery blue patterns were crystal clear. The color wasnt the least bit fadedpared to its original color. Trying to suppress the excitement in my heart, I summoned the dagger once again. My left hand held the ice dagger in the very next moment. It was even thicker than that ice dagger I had formed right before we entered Lan City, and its shape was moreplete now. It glistened faintly with its original splendor. The ice dagger in my hand emitted a powerful chill, yet it wasnt freezing to the touch anymore. Instead, my arm felt warm. Although I couldnt see the other areas that were covered by my jacket, I could feel that the rest of the ice pattern should have returned to its original silvery blue color, too, no longer faded to the point of nearly vanishing. Wow, this de is so beautiful, Guan Weijun praised. I was better off doing some exining. I can summon a dagger. Guan Weijun stared at the dagger and smiled. See, I was telling Tai Wen. To enter Lan City at a time like this, and to even dare to split up and rescue people, you couldnt be some useless guy no matter how you looked at it. Yet, he said that with your appearance, you definitely must have been dearly protected ever since you were small. It wouldnt have been strange for you to be a good-for-nothing wimp. Chensha is super strong anyway. He would be able to protect you. My rg Junjun stopped mid-sentence, recalling that I was hiding my strength. She blushed and corrected, took care of our family since he was a kid. Hes great at housework and even taught me how to make dolls and bake cakes. He also took me to eat apple pie at a Snow White themed restaurant. Hes not a good-for-nothing! The gaze Guan Weijun shot at me clearly expressed, Youre really not my type. My heart is so tired. I should just go home and y with Xiaorong. I turned to climb down the stairs. Tai Wen and Zhang Jing were sitting in the living room with heavy faces. When they saw me, they immediately stood up and kept their gazes on me. They didnt speak a single word, but since they didnt see Guan Weijun, they didnt have any intention of letting me go either. Even if I didnt take into ount Guan Weijuns identity, she really was talented. A woman able to have such authority really couldnt be underestimated. If Dg really ended up liking her, I must help her control Dg and his principles. This time, there would be no failure in his education! I jerked my thumb backward, and soon we could hear footsteps and chattering between the two women. Tai Wen and Zhang Jing loosened up then. I shouted at the stairs, Junjun, Im heading out first. Do you want to go back as well? Junjun shouted back, rg, go back first. I want to talk with Weijun-ji about what Dg likes. Sure. I answered helplessly. I received sympathetic expressions from Tai Wen and Zhang Jing. There was a sense of camaraderie between us. Has she always been like this? Tai Wen pushed up his sses and said, Always. My wife has been her bestie since middle school. Gee, so youre that man who has been verified as a good husband? I looked at the sweet, round-faced girl on the sofa. So thats Guan Weijuns bestie? The gap between their personalities was so huge. Saying shes taking care of a pet would have been more urateWait, did I just figure out the truth? Shit. No wonder Guan Weijun immediately roped in my little sister. This was basically the result of raising a bestie for so many years! Im going first then. You guys I took a deep breath, and decided, can rx and stay. Later, people wille and make arrangements with you. But you have to remember, staying means working. Nothing is free in this world. Tai Wen immediately followed that up with a question. What exactly are our main jobs? At this moment, it should just be constructing the base and training. Those who are able to fight will enter Lan City in search for supplies. After hearing this, the two of them rxed. Then, that wont be a problem, Tai Wen solemnly replied. Many thanks. I know were the ones freeloading. Even if there is no way to repay you in the short term, at least we wont drag you down. We definitely wont loaf around in constructing the base. I nodded. That was actually a good thing. The bases blueprints that Dg had pulled outst time were ambitious. If we only relied on the mercenaries to build the Jiang territory, it would be a pipe dream. Plus, this was only a temporary base, not our final destination. It wasnt like we would keep expanding it for five or ten years. It was not worth spending more than a year of construction on it. Wed be better off hunting for crystals instead! Suddenly, the door was kicked open, startling everyone. Zhang Jing even jumped backwards. I calmly looked at the person rushing over from the door. Ceng Yunqian panted and shouted, Shuyu! Come quickly. Shujun,e downstairs. Were leaving. I called out, not even looking backward. I could hear footsteps rushing down the stairs. I immediately followed after Ceng Yunqian. Tai Wen called out anxiously, Wait. What happened? Wait here. Ceng Yunqian barked, This is an order! Tai Wen stiffened. Junjun and Guan Weijun arrived. Thetter asked, Can Ie along? Ceng Yunqian turned to look at me. Guan Weijun and the three others were taken aback and looked at me as well. They looked a bit bewildered. Wait here. I left with this sentence. It seemed hiding my powers would be too hard to do with people in our inner circle. Afterwards, Id have to have a talk with Guan Weijun and her left and right hand men. They didnt need to know the depths of my strength, but they should at least know that I didnt need to be protected. That part didnt have to be kept from them. Ceng Yunqian immediately led the way. As soon as we left the house, I asked, What happened? Theres arge number of people advancing toward this town. I frowned and asked, Are they passing through? Ceng Yunqian shook her head. Theyre charging straight for us! Volume 4, 10: The Ice Spears

Volume 4, Chapter 10: The Ice Spears

Tranted by Miaka_Mei (proofread by EvlNabiki & Trespasserby; C/E edited by lucathia) I climbed up the bell tower that had been transformed into a sentry and looked into the distance. There really was a crowd of peopleing toward Old Town, and there were at least one or two hundred of them. Plus, their direction was very clear. Its definitely Old Town! But how is this possible? Lan City is right behind Old Town. In our current phase, everyone wants to escape from the city, so why would arge group of people head over here? Is this a mere coincidence, or are they aiming for us? But how did they find out that there are people here Startled, I suddenly thought of something. Could it be that By this time, Yunqian and Shujun had climbed up after me. Once beside me, Yunqian handed over a pair of binocrs and exined, Cain has already gone to inform Boss. The situation is very bad. The enemy has weapons, and some are dressed in military uniforms. Although we dont know if they are real soldiers or not, those weapons are definitely genuine. I held the binocrs up and looked through them. It wasnt hard to locate my target within the crowda tall and unusually conspicuous guy. Theyre real soldiers. Ceng Yunqian was stunned, and doubtfully asked, How do you know that? They do look like it, but it wouldnt be hard for us, the mercs, to dress like soldiers, too. Theres basically not much of a difference. Putting the binocrs down, I was so furious that I could kill someone. Because I know the two morons among them! I roared, then jumped straight down from the bell tower, running toward the outside of the town. Once I ran to an empty street, I formed ice des for gliding and reached the outskirts of the town in less than ten minutes. Id be able to catch sight of the crowd right after the next turn. Putting away the ice des, I walked, step by step, toward the crowd of people. The opposite side seemed to have noticed me, but they didnt appear very agitated since I was alone. While walking over, I couldnt help but think of how to settle things afterward. The more I thought about it, the angrier I got. All I feel like doing is freezing to death a certain duo among them. A guy rushed out from the crowd, excitedly running toward me, and had the gall to shout, Xiao Yu! I tightly clenched my fists, suppressing the strong urge to give him a good beating on the spot. I furiously roared, You. And that guy at the backGet over here! Another guy from the rear slowly walked over. Unlike the happy one at the front, he was fairly calm and sterner than when we had first met. Still, he wore a smile on his face. He was greatly resisting bing emotional, as if finally getting rescued after countless days of suffering. Calm down, calm down. I still need to hide my strength. If I beat these two up in front of hundreds of people, then I can kiss hiding my strength goodbye The fuck, most of these soldiers might already know about my strength! I could feel my blood pressure rising. I brought both of them to the side, then turned to face them. One of them had a joyful look on his face, making me want to thrash him with a kick, just like how Guan Weijun saidstick him to the wall! Chen Yanqing! He jumped in fright, then stood straight in reply, Yes! I bellowed, So just because I let you bring a few people over, you think its fucking okay to bring a few hundred? Flustered, Chen Yanqing stammered, T-They are just civilians. Most of them are from the previous shelter, and some were rescued along the way. Some were even rescued along the way? I want to freeze this idiot to death. Have you thought of how youre going to support these people? Chen Yanqings face flushed red, and he shook his head, seemingly discouraged. The other tall guy, Ah Nuo remarked, We are soldiers. We cant abandon the civilians. Im almost going crazy from frustration. I want to take them in exactly because theyre the type of good soldier who wouldnt abandon civilians. Yet because of this great conduct of theirs, theyve gone and brought over several hundred civilians. What kind of joke is this!? Guan Weijun is my moms daughter and the Ice Emperors little brother. I had to think long and hard before epting the sixty civilians that they brought along, much less the several hundred people who were a mix of civilians and soldiersnow thats what I call chaos. Why should I take in all of them? Ah Nuo exined, We have quite a few soldiers and weapons. We can go to the city to find supplies and support the civilians. All we need is a safe ce to stay. I raged, Do you really think every soldier is good at heart and believes in self-sacrifice? Someone as smart as you should know why you could order them around and even get them to support four or five civilians! Its so they could reach the safety that you spoke of! Ah Nuo was silent for a while, then said, Theyre my oldrades-in-arms. They wont mess around. I coldly said, The apocalypse is best at screwing people up. Forget about your oldrades. Do you really think that I trust you? Ah Nuo lifted his head and looked over, his smile fading awaypletely. So you wont take us in? How do I take you in? I said through gritted teeth, I really cant take in this many people. Even if I will, the other troop members wont! Chen Yanqing appeared depressed. Unexpectedly, Ah Nuo didnt get angry. This slightly improved my impression of him. He contemted momentarily with a deep frown, then said, Our people are too many. We wont make things difficult for you. Just let us station at the outskirts of the town. Right over here, just one street is good enough. I tightly clenched my fists, and tly refused, Not possible. This time, Ah Nuo said, clearly getting a little angry, We came all the way over here, running for our lives. Do you have any idea how many people died along the way? Now that we finally made it and theres a light at the end of the tunnel, you wont even let us settle down at the edge of town? I know. I understand all too well. In my previous life, were my days of fleeing any less? It was a dead world without any hope, where death was just a matter of time. I thought of killing myself every day. It might have been better than being eaten up alive, but I had always been afraid to die That sort of nightmare would remain vivid in ones memories even after a long time had passed, so vivid that it would make people tremble. Thats why Im so obsessed with getting stronger. I will never, ever let anyone in the Jiang Dominion fall into such a predicament! Seeing that I didnt waver, Ah Nuo furiously said, This is the countrys territory. You cant upy it! I snapped, Who doesnt upy territories nowadays?! Cut that crap about the countrys territory. The whole world has be the aberrants nation, and theres only oneweat or be eaten! Ah Nuos face sank and appeared very unsightly. If he wasnt wary of my strength, he would have long since turned hostile. Chen Yanqing looked at Ah Nuo, then at me. In a quiet voice, he pleaded, Shuyu, we really are exhausted. Throughout the whole journey, we needed to protect these civilians while sneaking around. We couldnt travel far each day, so it wasnt easy getting here. Our ammunition and food are also low. At least let us stay a few days before making a decision. Having heard what was said, the look on Ah Nuos face changed, and he red severely at him. I cant be soft-hearted, cant be soft Im a man now, so I have to harden my heart! But, to not even give them a few days Fuck, Im probably gonna be a wimp this entire life! You have three days to rest and reorganize. Clenching my teeth, I said, Once the three days are up, get lost! In response, Chen Yanqing let out a big sigh of relief, while Ah Nuos expression lightened. He even shot a nce toward Chen Yanqing, hinting that he did well. Exchanging flirty looks right in front of me, what do you take me for? You think I cant tell that your expressions mean lets decide three dayster? The two turned around and called out to their group. Looking at the huge crowd of peopleing into the town, I struggled to keep myposure and tried counting the number of soldiers. One, two eight fifteen The more I counted, the more worried I became. Is it toote to change my mind and tell them to get lost? Shuyu. Stunned, I turned and saw that Dg and the others hade over. I was suddenly struck with guilt. We had taken in sixty people when I identally ran into Guan Weijun, and now there were another several hundreds of people. I really dont know how to face Dg. Im just like a ma for trouble, and a fucking big one at that! Dg was leading all the members of the JDT, with his oppressive aura released in full force. The members of the JDT didnt even number ten, but they were so intimidating that the several hundred people fellpletely silent; whereas Chen Yanqing, Wen Jianuo, and the other soldiers had raised their weapons as if confronted by a formidable enemy. Put your weapons down! Thats my big brother! I furiously snarled. When the two lowered their muzzles, the other soldiers then followed their example, gradually lowering their weapons. However, their hands were still clutching onto them, giving me the urge to beat them all up into a pulp. Daring to point a gun at Dg? Careful, or Ill make shaved ice out of you all! Dg came over to my side, his eyes slowly sweeping across the crowd. The crowd of people at the opposite side had already been so overwhelmed that they didnt dare to let out a single breath, and now seeing Dgs calm yet intimidating look, the crowd trembled even harder. He asked me, Who are these guys? I pointed at Wen Jianuo and Chen Yanqing and said, I was on the way home when I got to know these two. We teamed up at the guard tower. As for the others, just ignore them! Dg coolly nced at Ah Nuo and Chen Yanqing. Soldiers? As if facing a senior officer, both of them respectfully replied, Yes. Youre the leader? Dg decisively judged Ah Nuo as the person in charge. Ah Nuo hesitated for a moment, and said, Yes. Dg looked at the crowd and asked, Estimate the number of people. Ah Nuo paused momentarily, but he quickly got hold of the current situation, and dutifully reported, Forty-two soldiers, and approximately two hundred civilians. Upon hearing this amount, my expression darkened. Forty-two soldiers, more than four times the total number of the JDT. Dg indifferently said, Hand your weapons and supplies over, then you may stay. If you dont wish to hand them over, then leave. Ah Nuo forced himself to stay calm and attempted to negotiate, This is a bit too demanding. There are too many aberrants. We need weapons to Or defy me, and Dg raised his hand at a nearby building and sent out a st of energythe sidewalk bench, the ss window disy, the goods inside, and even the entire first floor of the buildingeverything that his powers touched waspletely demolished. Specks of fragments wafted through the air, but were ultimately obliteratedpletely, until there wasnt even a smidgen of dust left. Die! The expression on all their faces suddenly changed to one of horror, and they tightly grasped their guns, but none of them dared to point their gun at Dg. You can stay anywhere beyond this point. Dg pointed at the wrecked house and said, Anyone who wants to enter must hand over their weapons and supplies. You have three days to consider it. If you wont hand them over, then beat it. After three days, the only people left here will be dead people. Hearing this, the look on every soldiers face didnt seem to be very pleasant, and many civilians at the back were clutching their bags tightly. At this time, a guy suddenly walked toward me. He casually handed a gun over to me and even pulled out a knife from his military boots, intending to hand it over. I rolled my eyes at him. Who would want that knife from his stinky boots? Keep it to yourself. Chen Yanqing Oh-ed, and happily put the knife away, looking extremely grateful for being able to still keep it. This guy really has no ambitions in life. Ah Nuo lookedpletely helpless, but he didnt say anything in the end. Chen Yanqing said with slight awkwardness, We were gonna stay anyway. Its not a big deal whether or not we have guns. Ah Nuo sighed. The Heaven wishes it to rain, my mate wants to remarry, what else am I supposed to do? Upon hearing this, Dg shot a nce at Chen Yanqing. Luckily, he didnt say anything that would damage his image. No, you guys got the wrong idea! Chen Yanqing anxiously said, Ah Nuo, you guys shoulde over, too. What do a few guns even matter? Have you forgotten? At the guard tower, Xiao Yu, he I gave his head a vicious p. It caught himpletely off guard, and he was almost thrown into the ground to eat dirt. Chen Yanqing touched the back of his head and looked at me with pure confusion. You should stay here and help Ah Nuo out. I couldnt bear it any longer.At the other side, the look on their faces upon seeing Ah Qings quick betrayaleach and every one of them wasnt surprised, yet they looked exceedingly gloomy. But the truth was, Chen Yanqing wasnt putting hoes before bros. He had been with me longer, so he was much clearer about my abilities than the others. He didnt resist at all in regards to giving his weapons up because he knew that those guns were obviously nothingpared to staying here and properly training his abilities. Moreover, they were quickly running out of ammunition. These soldiers were just too ustomed to using their guns, so they hadnt changed their way of thinking and werent as flexible as Ah Qing. That is to say, since those guys have already misunderstood, and because of me leaving him behind, would he get ganged up and beaten up by everyone? Chen Yanqing didnt seem worried about it. He excitedly said, Thanks, Xiao Yu. Youre a really good person. Then, he turned around and went back. Damn it! Lately, Ive been getting so many brownie points for being such a great person that I could be a millionaire. Shuyu,e with me. Dg said in discontent, Youre young and soft-hearted. Others could easily take advantage of you. Okay, Dg. I obediently followed behind Dg, making use of his domineering influence to hide my true strength and pretend to be weak. So far, it seemed to be quite effective. I got a bit overshadowed by Dgs presence the instant he appeared. I had finally found a way to sessfully hide my true strengthWhen standing beside Dg, all living things are weeds beneath his feet! Dg then led us away. After walking some distance away, everyone started to chatter among themselves. Cain gave a sigh of praise. Shuyu, youre taking in little brothers and sisters as fast as riding a ne. You got yourself hundreds of people in the blink of an eye. Absolutely incredible! I think Im incredible, too. How did I bring back a few hundred people with a single sentence? I feel like crying right now. Dg, how are we supposed to take all of those people in? This is just too much! You dont have to worry about me. If you want to kick them out, then just do it. Im okay with just having Chen Yanqing. If Ah Nuo were willing to stay, then I wanted him, too. He seemed to be a talented guy even more capable than Ah Qing. But it was precisely because of his capabilities that he became the leader of this group, so just getting him to stay might be an impossible task. There arent that many people. Contrarily, Dg said, Xiao Sha has already told me about the Shangguan family. If we want to conquer Lan City, then we would need a lot of manpower to defend this territory and stop others from piging it. These hundreds dont amount to much. I was startled. Thats right. Compared to the military district in the south, our numbers were so small that they could be overlooked. Dg and I might be able to block a few dozens, but that was only under the condition that we werent getting raked by bullets from dozens of guns. Plus, the other troop members werent as strong. Even if we were lucky enough to defeat hundreds of soldiers, the military district might not amount to only that much. You could say its good timing that these people turned up on our doorstep. At the start of the apocalypse, they were thrown from a peaceful life to bing homeless vagabonds chased by aberrants. Providing shelter to these people living in fear of being devoured will easily foster a sense of belonging. In order to keep the JDTs protection, theyll be very obedient and wont rebel easily. I contemted for a while and realized it was true. If I had found a reliable troop and safe haven at the early stage of the apocalypse in my previous life, forget about a gun, I could have even thrown my boyfriend away, no doubt! Anyway, by that time, he had already more or less started to have affairs with other women. His reliability had slipped down as fast as going down a slide. I said with a bitter smile, I wascking foresight and too hasty. Looking far ahead, taking people in at this time was the right thing to do. I had started to panic when I saw the horde of people, and to make things worse, they hade because of me. After talking with Dg, it finally came to me that these soldiers at least gave me the sense that theyre good-hearted people. Later on, finding even forty soldiers with personal integrity would be a harder task than finding a diamond on the street. No, you were just anxious because there are too few of us. Dg patted my shoulder. If it was in the past, I too would never have taken in so many people. But now, the might of our abilities is so overwhelming. If we wanted to obliterate those two hundred people, would it be that hard? Shuyu, youre not actually that weak, right? Everyone in the JDT was stunned upon hearing Dgs words. They were looking at me in utter disbelief. I fell silent. I thought about the butterfly and caterpir colony that I had wiped out. A soldier with a gun might be able to block two caterpirs, but not necessarily turn out victorious. An ordinary person without guns only had the fate of getting beaten up by the caterpirs, let alone the more powerful butterfly. Actually, these two hundred people only had forty soldiers, so theirbat capabilities were inferior to the butterfly and caterpirs. I even had Dg and the JDT at my back. This fear seems to be a bit unreasonable. Im not weak, just a little timid. My past lifes experiences had scared the wits out of me, so much that I didnt even consider myself an elite. I still remembered the strength of those aberrants and elites in thetter half of the apocalypse. I had almost been scared to death. I would always feel that I wasnt strong enough, that I could never catch up to those elites. But I had actually forgotten that it had only been half a year since the apocalypse, where most people hadnt even seen an evolution crystal while I was already at the peak of tier two, and had even finished off an aberrant who had almost risen to tier three. Encountering an almost tier three butterfly so early on, I wasnt sure if this was the Jiang familys bad luck, or whether the butterfly was more unlucky. If Ah Nuo and his crowd of two hundred had encountered the butterfly and the caterpir colony, theyd have quickly taken a detour, while I had obliterated the butterfly and the caterpir colony with just Xiaorong and the shard-like ice dagger. Just what was I afraid of? Im justcking an elites self-confidence. Dg said unhappily, When youre all alone, youre extremely gutsy. Im afraid that youd rush over no matter what kind of aberrants you met. But if matters were to involve the people around you, you wouldnt even have any guts left! You need to fix that part. It should be the other way around. Dont go messing around all alone and have the troop miss out on training opportunities. Theyre starting to feel dissatisfied. Xiao Sha said that he didnt feel any danger entering the city with you and has decided to enter alone. I shot a nce at Xiao Sha, and exined, Im just worried that there will be casualties. We cant afford any loss since our numbers are so small. Dg chuckled, and ndly said, If theyre going to keep missing training, then losing them wouldnt hurt us much. After all, they would just be leeching off of us, and my JDT doesnt take in parasites. Such cruel words! I stared at Dg in shock. These guys are yourrade-in-arms that have faced life and death together with you. You actually said these words right in front of them. Is this really okay?! Shuyu. The scariest thing to my troop members isnt dying. Its bing someone useless. Zheng-sh sighed. Boss is right. Ive never been skilled, and Im also getting old. I cantpare to you youngsters. Thankfully, my ability is somewhat useful. You can leave it to this old man to build the base. Dont think that I cant do it. Thats right. In the apocalypse, dying was such an easy matter. Being useless and struggling on at deaths door was actually the scariest torture. Hadnt I experienced enough of that in the past life? After figuring things out, Iforted Zheng-sh, Dont worry. People will get younger as they eat more evolution crystals. Zheng-sh will soon be Zheng-g. Seriously? Everyone had a what the heck?! look on their face. I nodded. Its true. Everyones expression turned slightly odd. So, we may live long and never grow old? I dont know. I truthfully replied, I only know about things up to ten years. Thats still far from living a long life. Besides, the mortality rate in the apocalypse is too high. Dont mention a long life, not dying early is already very difficult. Even the Ice Emperor, one of the top twelve elites, had not personally experienced immortality because of all kinds of reasons, let alone anyone else. And ten yearster, it seems like something big is gonna happen At that time, what will happen to the world Shuyu. Ah? I lifted my head, confusedly looking at Dg. Go back to your room to think. Dont stop in the middle of the road. Oh. I silently went back to my room to y with Xiaorong. Still feeling apprehensive, I decided to train with Xiaorong on getting better coordinated. In the case that a problem arose from the two hundred people, I would be able to instantly seize control over them. Returning to my room, I quickly took off my jacket and shirt to investigate the ice pattern on my bare torso in the mirror. Sure enough, the ice patterns on both of my arms had beenpletely restored to their silvery blue color, looking pretty much the same as in the past. Raising my left hand, I called out for the ice dagger, and ice power immediately condensed into the form of a dagger. If I was not mistaken, it was much thicker than thest time, and the shape was more solid. I carefully called out to the Ice Emperors spear. But this time, nothing happened. There was not even the slightest hint of the spear. These two weapons dont just depend on strength, but also on mood? However, I had noints. After all, they were things that shouldnt have been mine in the first ce. Right now, I ought to kneel down and give my thanks to the Ice Emperor for the opportunity to use the shard-like ice dagger. If it wasnt for how sharp this dagger was, and for how the Ice Emperor had somehow transformed Xiaorong into something like my summoned beast, I would never have been able to single-handedly get rid of the butterfly and caterpir colony. I beckoned my hand. Xiaorong pulled two roots out from the pot in the corner, then strode over with his short, plump, and leg-like roots. This tree could actually mimic a human walk. He was swaying and wobbling like a toddler just learning to take his first steps. I picked Xiaorong up. He appeared very beautiful, like an ornament due to his semi-transparency, although he didnt resemble an actual nt. Xiaorong. Be good, and your rg will let you have your fill of crystals! Can you try this I had shut myself up in my room, ying with Xiaorong. Three dayster, Chen Yanqing, Ah Nuo, and the two hundred people that they had brought along had chosen to stay behind, as expected. Based on the words that had slipped out of Chen Yanqings mouth while he was earnestly pleading, I had guessed that they would most likely stay behind. They werecking in food supplies and ammunition. A gun with no bullets was not much different from a piece of metal, so it hadnt really been such a pity to hand it over. They just hadnt been able to wrap their minds around it in such a short time. By taking the two groups of people in, the Jiang Dominion had taken in three hundred fatties at once. Our supplies would sustain us for a while, but with so many people, I was afraid wed have a critical shortage of food if we didnt start looking for supplies soon. In terms of farming, there were many seeds and nts in our supplies. They were safe to eat if nted now, but two yearster, the nts might eat us instead. Furthermore, the third year of the apocalypse had been named as the year of the death because of the famine and a winter with a new record in low temperatures. You could freeze to death even while you were bundled up in a quilt inside a house. Back then, everyone was going crazy from starvation and ate anything in sight, to the point that even cannibalism was no longer an umon urrence. In the end, hunger had won over the fear of death, and humans had started to arm themselves against aberrants. During those dire times, we had managed to seize many edible aberrants; nts, animals, and even other unidentified things If I could search out those aberrants at an earlier time, and also sow nts or raise livestock in pens, we would have no problem with food supplies when we took more people in. But searching for a particr aberrant was no easy matter. This wasnt something that I could do all alone. It was also impractical to have everyone look for it, since others could easily notice that something was fishy. As the Jiang Dominion took in more and more people, thered surely be a lot of untrustworthy people among them. If the news of us looking for a particr aberrant were to reach the ears of some powerful person, such as the MORC, we would definitely arouse suspicion. And by the time the usefulness of those aberrants was discovered, these prophetic acts would cause the Jiang Dominion to be pushed to the very forefront of scrutiny. If outsiders were to find out about my reincarnation, would I also get stuffed into a ss cylinder for experiments, like Thirteen was? Upon thinking of this, I was struck by fear. If I were to get stuffed into a ss cylinder, Im afraid that such a protective and doting Dg and Mimei would have already Veins started throbbing in my forehead; I should stop envisioning these kinds of situations, or I might end up killing somebody. I wanted to take advantage of my rebirth to do stuff, yet I had misgivings one after another. If I had enough strength to triumph over the MORC, would there be a need to be so apprehensive? I roared, Jiang Xiaorong! Come on, lets try one more time! The transparent branches were like an overarching web, swooping down upon me. W-We did it Hahaha The experiment was a sess, and I couldnt help bursting intoughter. My body rxedpletely and copsed onto the bed. The next time Ie across the butterfly again, I wont end up getting beaten ck and blue! Lying on the bed left me feeling groggy. Exhaustion swept over me in waves, and I closed my eyes and sank into a deep sleep Who would have thought that the next time my eyes opened again, it would be due to nearly getting suffocated. Ripping away the tree on my face and tossing it to the ground, I snapped, Jiang Xiaorong, what are you doing, clinging onto my face? Sticking so tightly too. Are you trying to murder your rg!? Hungry! I must be really hungry. I was actually hearing voices, as if I heard the tree say hungry. Not out loud, but directly in my head. That was really strange. Jiang Xiaorong curled up his branches while lying on the ground. That pitiful look of his really did make him appear like he had passed out from hunger. I picked up the silver sk from the desk and poured a crystal out. A lump of tree instantly leaped over, moving so fast it was as if that tree at deaths door from earlier was apletely different tree. After feeding him an entire handful of crystals, I suddenly felt slightly guilty. I hadnt given these crystals to a human, but a tree instead. However, I dont think there are many humans who are as useful as my familys Xiaorong. In the apocalypse, humans cant evenpare to trees. They might even be inferior to ants in the future! Xiaorong clung to my body after eating his fill. He obediently wrapped around me in a tank top shape, just like a semitransparent vest. After thinking it through, I stretched my hand out and put on a coat, heading out to check on how the arrangements were going for the three hundred plus people. The door of the meeting room on the third floor wasnt closed. Everyone wasing and going, looking awfully busy. Upon seeing this, I suddenly felt a little embarrassed. Uponing up with some ideas, I had gone straight to hiding inside my room to y with Xiaorong. Even my meals had been delivered by Junjun. I hadpletely disregarded the matter of handling this huge group. Whats more, I was the one who had attracted them! Everyone lifted their heads and nced at me, then resumed busying themselves. The desk was piled high with blueprints. Uncle and Zheng Xing were holding the blueprints, having a heated discussion. Ding Jun was upied with jotting down the details of their discussion and asionally drawing designs for them to see. Upon seeing me, his face stiffened up, then he lowered his head to draw designs. Lily seemed to be the person in charge of organizing the manpower, with Junjun, Su Ying, and Auntie assisting her. From time to time, the three people would rush off their feet with work after receiving orders. Yunqian, Xiao Sha, and Cain werent here. They had probably gone to stand guard at the sentry point and main gateway. There were three hundred strangers outside, but the JDT had only dispatched three people to stand guard at the door. This was not because of arrogance, but because we were greatly understaffed. The whole meeting room was filled with a sense of busyness. Seated at the head of the table was Dg, the only person who wasnt working. He was tapping on the desk surface with his index finger at almost regr intervals, while staring at a box of crystals and thinking about something. They were the crystals from defeating the caterpirs, although Id had to brace myself when I handed them over. Back then, Xiao Shas expression had turned dark upon seeing therge amount of crystals. His re seemed to use me of leaving him out, of sneaking out alone to have a great meal. Dg nced over, and smilingly said, So youre finally willing toe out? Its been more than ten days. I was thinking that we would have to at least drag you out for dinner on Christmas. Eh? More than ten days have already passed? I figured that its been seven to eight days at most. It seems that Ive been training so much that I lost all sense of time. Who knows how many days I fell asleep for at the end, causing Xiaorong to be so hungry that he had to beg for food. Dg asked with raised eyebrows, So, what made youe out? Oh, yeah, I want to form my own squad. I need some of your men. Who do you need? Xiao Sha? Yunqian? I shook my head, and said, The JDT has too few people. All of them should be leading their own team. They cant be squad members. At most I looked around, and easily skipped over Ding Jun; I had zero interest in having a sour-faced guy beside me. Su Ying! Thats right, she has psychic powers. Compared tobat abilities, this ability would be more useful for me to carry out my ns! It will be Su Ying. She jumped up in fright, and her rosy face turned pale. Her gaze was filled with intense fear, as if she had just been chosen to be the devils wife. Am I really that terrifying? You better take a closer look at this face! Tilting my head slightly, I cast a smile in her direction. After showing a stunned expression, Su Ying became even more panicked. I could even see the thought its the devils charm from her face. Dg looked at me, then at Su Ying, and said, Shuyu, if you have to pick so many, then leave Xiao Sha out. That would prevent awkwardness after a break-up. Break up, my ass! Whos dating Xiao Sha!? On hearing your im, Su Ying has gone hiding behind Lily while covering her chest, like Im some sex fiend who goes after everyone! I red furiously at Dg. I have higher moral standards than you, Dg! I wont go picking so many! Dg calmly asked in reply, Werent you going to pick Chen Yanqing? No, I All right, I was going to pick him, but Im picking him to be my squad member! Dg shook his head. Its up to you. If it is Xiao Shas choice, then its not my ce to say anything about you guys. Just remember to separate your work from your love life. W-wait a minute! Dg, Xiao Sha hasnt decided on any of this, dont just marry him off like this. Its a good thing for you to pick Su Ying, too. Dg said approvingly, Theres hope for a nephew or niece. Should I beat up Dg? Or beat up Dg? Lets just beat up Dg! Dg suddenly changed the topic, and sternly said, Lily is arranging everyones living quarters. Its best that you make an early pick of your members, and remember to report back after youre done choosing. That would help facilitate her work. If youre free, help me find Guan Weijun and her right-hand men. Why are you looking for her? My gossipy heart was instantly lit ame. Only ten days have passed, but Guan Weijun has already gotten her hands on Dg? Based on Dgsck of shame, this might even be possible! We have too few people. Its really not enough. Lets take her in and make her a troop member. I was stunned. I hadnt expected that Dg would trust her so quickly. Truly deserving to be his past lifetimes biological ddi. I suddenly felt a bit sick at heart, but soon after, felt like pping myself. I snatched away the body, yet I wont even let Dg treat the other person slightly better? Is there a need to be so petty?! Dg stroked his chin and said, There shouldnt be any issues regarding faithfulness after I take her into my bed in a few days. Maybe Ill feed her some crystals too, to make sure she can put people in their ces. Dg, cant you have a few morals?! Dg, are you selling your body? I said through gritted teeth, Its still eptable for other women to climb into your bed, but shes not the same. If you dont like the person, then dont go messing around! Dg looked at me, and asked, somewhat helplessly, You even like Guan Weijun as well? This is seriously out of sync. Rather than talking to Dg, whose brain was currently not functioning, it was more useful for me to go and sort out my squad. I turned around and left, not forgetting to take Su Ying from behind Lily. Youre actually angry? Boss is just teasing you. Dg, y-youre bullying rg again Heh! Junjun, when youre giving me support, could you hold back yourughter? HahahaAiyo, so funny. Its such a pity that Xiao Sha isnt here. Im definitely gonna tell him! Sounds ofughter came from behind, and even Dg was chuckling quietly. These guys Its already the end of the world. Cant you take it more seriously? Shuyu, have you thought of a name for your squad? Lily, the only serious person, asked, If you have, Ill help you note it down. Pausing in my footsteps, I was about to say that I hadnt, but when I turned around, the name automatically popped into my head. My squad will be called the Ice Spears. Volume 4, Extra 1: Ominous Number

Volume 4, Extra 1: Ominous Number

Tranted by Miaka_Mei (proofread by EvlNabiki & Trespasserby; C/E edited by lucathia) Ah Yan! Run! Take Xiao Ya and run! There was a crying woman in front of him with tears streaming down her face and a little child held in her embrace. Upon hearing his words, she was about to turn around and run, but her eyes suddenly widened. Throwing the child to the side, she rushed over and knocked him away. A mournful, shrill scream sounded, until her body suddenly shook violentlya hand pierced out of her body through her heart, and the scream stopped. Ah Yan Daddy Turning around, he saw his daughter running toward him. But a monster was pouncing on her from behind, and she ran up to him as fast as possible. Barely in time, he moved her under him to protect her, but it was a waste of effort, as his body was also pierced. Pressed to the floor, unable to move, he helplessly watched as the girl was dragged away by another monster and torn into, never to cry again. His heart was already dead. After that, there was only numbing unconsciousness. Looks like everybody here is dead Huh? It seems like this one is still breathing. Oh, so it wasnt a fatal wound. Take these two back. Perfect, see if there are any differences between the fatally and non-fatally wounded transforming into monsters. Register the dead one as 012. The one thats still alive is 013. There was nothing sadder than a withered heart. Upon waking up, 013 passed his days in a muddled-headed daze. In the beginning, there were all kinds of experiments, which were unbearable even for aberrants. His body was cut over and over again, and getting burnt and frozen weremon urrences. But no matter how much it hurt, no pain hurt more than the numbness of his heart. So, he simply bore them. Moreover, hispleteck of response caused him to lose experimental value. He spent most of his time in a deep slumber inside the circr cylinder. 013 looked coldly upon the researchers who wereing and going. They were opening their mouths and making all kinds ofplicated sounds. After listening for a long time, he suddenly came to a realization that this was talking and gradually understood more of what they were saying. But he kept quiet, instinctively knowing that he shouldnt attract too much attention. That was until a strange voice transmitted into his mind. He looked at the other partya very tall guy. 013 felt that this guy was very resentful, and was on the verge of going on a rampage. He could even feel the guys killing intent toward the person in front of him. Dont attack. Things will get worse. The guy suddenly stiffened, lowered his head, and looked everywhere for the source of the voice. Why is 042 suddenly not moving? Puzzled, the researcher in front circled around 042 to examine him. Dont get too close to him! The other one hurriedly pulled him back, all the way to a great distance before finally breathing a sigh of relief. This guys strength is very high, and he evolves every day, so you cant take it easy. Keep going. Dont stop there. 013 remained indifferent, as the tall guy walked further and further away. Through this experience, 013 exhibited abilities which were neither too great nor too small and no longer went back to slumber inside the cylinder. Rather, he waited for the daily inspection in a small room. He heard more and more voices, and attempted talking to these voices several times. He often seeded, but each response was different. Some were just furious and irritable, seemingly not understanding what he meant, while some could somewhat respond. The tall guy from that first time was the best at receiving his thoughts, although he was originally a little confused. But 013 was idle and had nothing to do, so he talked to the tall guy. He told him the best way to survive, so that he wouldnt frequently get cut and sliced up. Gradually, the tall guy could mostly understand what he meant, and he was very obedient. 013 gradually controlled all of the experimental subjects in this ce. Some were obedient, while some could be forced to obey. A few werepletely unresponsive, and he used them to do a variety of trials, but all of this was just to pass the time. 013 didnt have any goals. Until the day that he was taken to a routine examination and saw that thingan aberrant with a very grotesque body. Thin limbs and a disproportionatelyrge stomach, which totally vited the definition of strength. Even walking should be difficult. Yet, 013 was mesmerized. Staring at that stomach, he felt that something shoulde out of there, and that thing He wanted to see it. However, he didnt see anything breaking out of the stomach. 013 first watched her get taken to theboratory. Then, a miserable shriek could be heard, making him feel extremely irritated. Ever since waking up, he had never felt this kind of emotion. After listening for a while, 013 decided to take her away from here. Just stop screaming already Theres Asura and Maternibaby. As for you, youre just called Thirteen. Thirteen opened his eyes and his whole body sprang awake. He looked around and heard a whimper. He looked down. A little girl had fallen to the ground, sobbing and crying. Thirteen picked her up from the ground and took her back into his arms. The little girl couldnt stand the cold weather, and it wasnt warm enough even with a bonfire. Fortunately, Thirteens body was very warm. Although he was afraid of the cold, he was much stronger than the little girl. The girl was still crying. Beibei, dont cry. Thirteen clumsily coaxed the girl, Wont drop you again. But, Beibei cried even louder. I want Mommy, Mommy Thirteen frowned and blurted out, Mommy is dead. Beibei finally stopped crying, shocked to the point of stupefaction. The girl was still young. She was, in fact still ignorant of the meaning of the word dead, but she also knew that it was a terrifying pronouncement. And now that it was ced on her most important mommy, the little girl was dumbfounded. But after that moment of sluggishness, she burst into an even louder wailing. Thirteen could do nothing but watch the little girl cry. Fortunately, his injuries had mostly healed, since countless things would be drawn over to them with the way she was crying. Right now, there werent many aberrants or humans who could so much touch a hair on Thirteen. A tall figure slowly came out of the shadows, dragging a carcass which seemed like some kind of an animal. He looked at the crying little girl. The look in his eyes was ill-natured, but he did not strike. Asura, can Maternibaby still move? Asura shook his head, then threw the meat in front of Thirteen. Thirteen furrowed his eyebrows. Before, he would have hated that Jiang Shuyu and would probably have tried every possible means to kill him. But after getting Beibei, he seemed to be a little less concerned about Maternibaby. Maternibaby and Asura were different. Thirteen had chosen Asura as an importantpanion, but only put up with Maternibaby. Although he didnt know why he needed to tolerate her, he had still done so, even if the thing breaking out of Maternibabys belly didnt match with what he wished for. But now that he had Beibei, Thirteen knew that he didnt necessarily need Maternibaby. So, there was not much resentment toward Jiang Shuyu, especially after the other party had let him go. Thirteen felt that he didnt really want to kill him. Roast it well. Asura did so with a sour look on his face. He didnt like to be near fire, but Thirteen often ordered him to make a fire and even roast the food before feeding the little girl. Plus, it couldnt be human flesh. It was burdensome work, one after another. But he had to admit that the noisy little girl was at least slightly better than Maternibaby. When thetter went crazy, evenrades werent spared from getting killed. Her food intake was also too much. It had been troublesome just to get her food. Upon thinking of this, Asura looked at the little girl. She ate so little, so was actually quite easy to raise. Thus, he would generously ept the other party recing Maternibaby. Eat. Thirteen pushed the cooked meat to the side of the girls mouth. Beibei was crying so much that she was almost out of breath. There was no way for her to eat. Mommy! Dad, Daddy Thirteen stiffened. Find Mommy, I wanna find Mommy Thirteen looked at Beibei. He too felt that something was missing. Maybe the little girl was right. They might really becking mommy. He nodded in agreement. All right, find Mommy. Beibei no longer cried. She looked up at Thirteen. He had a tail, and the little girl knew that humans didnt have tails, but owing to the fact that Thirteen still maintained a mostly human form, she was not too afraid of him. If he were swapped with Asura or Maternibaby, the little girl would definitely cry herself to death. She bit into the meat he held, ate and drank her fill, then nestled in Thirteens arms to sleep, feeling very warm. Walking back along the road, Thirteen held the little girl and observed the shelter from afar. It was already a purgatory on Earth. Humans who were unwilling to evacuate had taken the armys food and weapons. Thinking that they had gotten lucky, they had intended to continue staying in the military area. They were just like fish raised in a pond, waiting for aberrants toe and fish them. The aberrants of the present were very hungry. It hadnt taken them long before they hade searching to harvest this delicious food. Beibei was shocked silly. Mommy is dead, Thirteen said indifferently. The hellish scene caused Beibei to tightly hug Thirteen, just like a drowning person grabbing hold of a floating piece of wood, as she urged, So many monsterse on, Daddy, lets go! Thirteen moved as he was told, and said, Im Thirteen, not Daddy. Daddy, Daddy The little girl was so frightened that she could only repeat this word, no longer calling out for her mommy. It was as if she was trying to hypnotize herselfDaddy was this person in front of her. Thirteen turned silent. He patted Beibei on the back, then looked at his own hand in doubt, unsure of why he had done such a thing. Following this, the little girl had a fever for several days. The cold weather and frozen ground, along with having received frights again and again, made it so that the illness almost took her life. Thirteen felt very irritated, even more irritated than when he heard Maternibabys scream. But he was helpless, so he ordered Asura to catch a few humansliving ones. The humans, trembling and kneeling at the feet of Asura, suddenly saw Thirteen walk out and did not fear him as they feared Asura. Help! Please save us Their cries for help instantly stopped when Thirteen raised therge tail behind him. Thirteen nced around and picked the person who appeared the most passable and posed the least threat. He wrapped his tail around her and walked away while she shrieked. Be quiet. The scene immediately turned silent. The monster was actually speaking? The others, can I eat them? Asura felt a little hungry. He had eaten just a while ago, but he was always hungry. Thirteen nonchntly nodded. Leave behind the part that I want to eat. Asuraplied. Thirteen liked to eat the thing in the middle of the trunk. He called it the heart. Unless he waspelled with no other choice, he wouldnt eat the other parts at all. He was extremely picky about food. Fortunately, Thirteen didnt eat much. Generally speaking, one or two a day would be enough, except if he had just finished fighting or was seriously injured. The people all over the ground began to scream, Asuras w swept over them, and the world turned quiet againTime to eat. With the human wrapped up in his tail, Thirteen came to the tree cave where the little girl was staying. Wake her up. If she doesnt move anymore, Ill eat you up. The woman trembled all over, never expecting that such a thing could happen. Monsters can actually talk? Is this little girl a monster, too? Her mind filled with fear as she began to take care of the sick girl. But in a situation where nothing was avable, she could not do much. On the contrary, she was only thinking of escaping. Fortunately, it was the end of the world, where people died from all sorts of reasons, but seldom of illness. In the end, the little girl slowly got better. Once, the woman seized the opportunity when Thirteen left to eat something, leaving her to take care of the little girl. The woman looked down at the little girl, feeling somewhat distressed. At this time, she had already determined that the girl was human. But it was hard to even protect herself, so she couldnt go out of her way for this girl. Thirteen turned his head in the direction of the tree cave. He was only afraid that Beibei would see him eating humans and be scared to tears again. So he stayed away while eating, but still kept a tight control of the situation there. If that woman were to do anything harmful to Beibei, Thirteen could incapacitate her even at such a distance. Asura, eat that one. Anyway, she was of no use. He had originally wanted to wait for Beibei to wake up, and ask if she was Mommy, but since the other party didnt want to stay with Beibei, then so be it. Thirteen went back to the tree cave just in time to see the little girl open her eyes. He felt like his heart was exploding, but it was not painful at all. On the contrary, it was a veryfortable feeling. Thirteen liked it very much. The little girl was fed water and meat while in a muddled state. She said in a spoiled manner, Daddy, I want candy. Thirteen tilted his head. Whats candy? Daddy is so silly! Beibei grinned, as if she didnt see the big tail behind Thirteen. She told him in detail, Its something transparent, sweet, and also very tasty! Thirteen was a little distressed. He went out to ask if Asura had seen anything simr. Asura contemted, then took out a transparent object. Thirteen frowned and asked, Whats this? He understood that Asura wouldnt carry something useless on him. Dont know. Maternibaby dropped it. Asura hadnt given much thought to it. Back then, he had picked it up and forgotten about it soon after. Only until Thirteen asked about it did he finally remember there was such a thing. Maternibaby? Thirteen didnt mind much. He brought the candy over to Beibei. This candy smells really nice! Beibei was instinctively drawn to it, and instantly ate it. She seemed to be in high spirits. Seeing that Beibei was happy, Thirteen felt happy as well. He decided to get hold of more candy for Beibei. Since Maternibaby dropped it, then the others might drop it, too? Two aberrants and a little child began to wipe out everything, with no distinction between human and aberrant, no matter where they went. Im Jiang Shuyu, the jiang from jingy, dominion. Beibei opened her eyes and rubbed them. Looking up, she saw that Thirteen wasnt sleeping. He was staring nkly at the fire. It was now Asuras turn to sleep. Even though the two rarely encountered enemies, they took turns sleeping, lest something make a surprise attack. Unless the numbers were too many, then they would make a detourpletely, as he did not want to sh head on. Thirteen didnt want to endanger Beibei. Noticing that Beibei had woken up, Thirteen looked down at her. Beibei yed with the tip of his tail, while asking, Daddy, who is Jiang Shuyu? Beibei always hears this name in her sleep. After the fever, Beibei couldnt remember a lot of things. She was always asking questions, but Thirteen couldnt answer most of them. Having not heard the name for a long time, Thirteen pondered for a while and answered, Hes the same as you. Beibei was surprised and hurriedly asked, Just like me, he is also Daddys child? Hes my big brother? Mm. Thirteen didnt understand very well. But for matters that he didnt understand, he would directly give a firm response. Because if he gave a negative answer, Beibei would keep asking more questions, and most of the time, he couldnt give an answer. She would likely not ask again if he gave a definite answer. Then, where did Gge go? Thirteen was a little depressed. This time, the definite answer turned out to be useless. I dont know. Hes gone. Beibei was in utter disbelief and cried out, Daddy! Youre too careless! I cant believe you lost Gge! Mm. You have to find Gge. Do you remember what he looks like? Mm. Thirteen remembered the chilly air around him. It had been even colder than the winter, and it felt very ufortable to be near him. Then, lets go find Gge and bring him back. In response to the little girls request, Thirteen frowned a rare frown and did not readily agree. Jiang Shuyu was very strong, and he was not very good at dealing with that kind of icy energy. Thirteen was unsure of his chances at winning. Daddy? Beibei was angry. If you want to be a good daddy, you cant lose track of your children. You have to find him! Thirteen was silent for a long time, before he finally answered, Mm. Beibei was satisfied. Although it was only a word of Mm, this was just how her familys daddy was like. If he agreed to do something, then hed really fulfill it. So there was no need to worry about not being able to find her gge. I wonder what Gge looks like? Beibei was so happy that she rolled around in her daddys arms. She was really lonely. Although she wasnt alone, whether it was Daddy or Asura, she had always felt that she was very different from them, while Daddy said that Gge was the same as her! I cant wait! Thirteen called Asura over. The other party was even taller than before. But their disparity was not toorge, only about a meter. He had also learned to speak a little. Asura, find morepanions who are capable of following orders. The more the better. Beibei wanted Jiang Shuyu. Thirteen predicted that he may not be able to win. Then, well just have to get some help. Asura left to carry out the order. Since Thirteen had said the more the better, then ording to his understanding, this meant he had to look without stopping. After all, the more the better! A certain aberrant army, under sessive misunderstandings, was gradually established. The trajectory had twisted but now returned to the path of the previous life. But this time, there was no Maternibaby, and Thirteen was not renowned for his brutality of killing humans on sight. On the contrary, the aberrants under his rule needed to ascertain that it wasnt Jiang Shuyu before killing. Everyone around the world knew that Thirteen of the twelve elites had Knife de Asura, his strongest war general, by his side. While his Achilles heel was Beibei, the enchantress. Volume 4, Extra 2: One Day in the Apocalypse

Volume 4, Extra 2: One Day in the Apocalypse

Tranted by Miaka_Mei (proofread by EvlNabiki & Trespasserby; C/E edited by lucathia) [The Jiang Family Is Shameless] Dg, I feel ashamed to face the Jiang familys ancestors and descendants. I swing both ways. Im so depraved that Ill sleep with men and women, sob sob Which two? Ill bring them back for you. Sob sob Im a disgrace to the Jiang family. My IQ is actually so low that I tried to discuss integrity with Dg, sob sob [Comparing brothers, whos afraid of you?] Feng, my surname is Jing (), while yours is Jn (). Ourmon point is that it takes too many strokes to write those characters in Chinese, while both of our brothers arent very good at studying. I wonder, if a teacher punishes my brother and your brother to write their family name, who would write the fastest? Your bro. No, its your brother. My brother would turn in a nk paper and look at the teacher while crossing his legs. Then the teacher would take the initiative and surrender. My bro would order his men to dump the teacher in an oil drum, and pour cement into it to submerge into the bay. Okay, you win. Afterword A new storyline begins to unfold in this volume. Whether it be the image of Dg, or the construction of the base, its gradually beginning. Our familys Shuyu has also started to form his own squadthe Ice Spears. This volume gives the feel of setting the scene. I am also slowly beginning to tell the story of everyone in the Jiang Dominion. Although its a first-person narrative, we cant ignore the charming and lovely supporting characters! Speaking of the supporting roles, I wonder if you guessed the introduction of Guan Weijun? Despite appearingte, she is in fact, a very important character. When I first came up with the idea of soul exchange, one of my ponderings was this: if a person could live again, but did so in a different body and grew up in a different environment, would that person grow up to be different or still remain the same? In the case of Jiang Shuyu, he was a bit different. But the cause of his difference was the regret of his past life, which made him work harder in this lifetime than in thest life. After regaining his memory, he gained even more factors that affected him. Cough, the problem of sexual orientation wasnt the only one. There are also a lot of other problems depicted in the book. Lets just have everyone read and discover them by themselves. Guan Weijun can be considered a control variable. She hasnt changed much. It is almost as if her whole person had been plucked and ced here from the past life. Of course, because she has no memory of the past life, she has a clear sexual identity, hah. And besides Guan Weijun, there was also Dgs true face, or should we say another face? Lets slowly unravel this. Strong and domineering, attracting everyones attention the moment he appears, an individual that you absolutely cannot underestimatethis image was just too vague for me. Just like a king, as soon as hees out, others are naturallypelled to kneel and worship him. But what kind of personality does this king have? Its hard to say. Its too vague. I want you to see a more vivid and life-like Jiang Shutian, not a paragon, with some immoral conduct that would make women both love and hate him. He doesnt always appear to be imposing; his happy moments are as numerous as his imperious ones. He likes to tease and watch his precocious younger brother bristle from anger, which makes himself feel like an older brother. At first nce, hes an individual who makes arbitrary decisions and acts like a dictator. However, as he knows that his own knowledge is inadequate, he in fact does listen to other peoples opinions quite well. He developed this traitrgely due to his little brother who had been mature since childhood. If he couldply with themands of a ten-year-old child, it wasnt much of a problem to listen to the opinions of other adults. In other words, because the Ice Emperor didnt have the mature little Jiang Shuyu as his ddi, his personality was actually more autocratic and solitary than that of this worlds. And the change in Junjun was even more obvious. Although the version of her in the past life liked her brothers, she wasnt so much of an rg-con like she is in this world. The influence the family members have on each other is also very fascinating. In fact, it wasnt just Dg, every character is the same. I want them to be more vivid and life-like in the eyes of every reader, and not someone who can simply be encapsted by a single adjective. I hope that you will like these imperfect characters with many shorings, whose integrity are also still in need of discussion. By Yu Wo. Are [Character Introductions] like these really okay? Jiang Lingqing 45 years old. The uncle of the three siblings in the Jiang family and an archaeologist. He became the guardian of the three children because of the early death of his older brother. However, because he was a through-and-through schr, his older brother had always been taking care of him. After his older brother passed away, his nephew ended up taking over. So, he became a guardian under guardianship. Chen Yanqing 26 years old. A professional soldier, a man with a flowery mouth. The whole team knows that he swings both ways, and he has the heart but not the guts to pursue his sexual urges. Regardless of men and women, he hasnt managed to fool around with any. He was publicly known as thest pure and innocent little soldier of the century by the whole army. Guan Weijun 25 years old. An easy-going and tomboyish woman, who has studied self-defense, karate, and many more arts. Without even taking those into ount, her violent tendencies were already off the charts. Another hobby was ying online games. Her gaming names were all the samedoubt me fight me. Her wildest dream in this life is to find a husband who could exchange blows with her every day, but no man dares to date her so far. Volume 5, Prologue: Captain of the Ice Spears

Volume 5, Prologue: Captain of the Ice Spears

Tranted by Miaka_Mei (proofread by EvlNabiki; C/E edited by lucathia) Join my squad! I simply got straight to the point. Things had already reached this stage; it was meaningless to continue beating around the bush. Chen Yanqings face brightened, and he almost gave a quick nod. But Wen Jianuo, also known as Ah Nuo, grabbed and pulled the former backward, then stepped forward himself. On what terms? Thank god hes not demanding a dowry I harrumphed and said, Discussing terms with me? Do you have holes in your brain? My familys big brother is the boss of this troop. Consider yourself lucky that you get to join my squad. Youd actually dare haggle over terms with me? Ah Nuo spread his palms out, and helplessly said, Even so, do you think were gonna agree to be the cannon fodder of the squad? I rolled my eyes, and snapped, Wasting so much effort to save two cannon fodders, you think I have so much free time? Ah Qing, youll be the vice-captain of the squad. Chen Yanqing stilled, nced at Wen Jianuo, then honestly said, Ah Nuo is better than me at this kind of thing. You should pick him. But youre more obedient. Wen Jianuo folded both arms across his chest, with a look of Ive already expected this. Chen Yanqing scratched his nose, and continued to try and persuade me. Dont judge him for always disagreeing with you. Hes actually extremely protective of his people. Once hes part of your squad, youll be considered one of his people and he wont butt heads with you all the time anymore. There is nothing you need to worry about making him your vice-captain. Wen Jianuo almost choked in rage. He roared, Chen Yanqing, which side are you on!? Im helping us discuss some terms, but youre rushing to expose our inside information. Do you really think youve been married off? Chen Yanqing said in a low, grating voice, Im rmending you to Xiao Yu to be the vice-captain. Which side do you think Im on? You keep going on and on about marriage. Marriage, my ass! Xiao Yu was right, your brain must be rotting. Wen Jianuo, if the man standing in front of you right now was Xiao Yus big brother, lets see if youd still dare to discuss freakin terms with him! Wen Jianuos face twitched, but he didnt retort immediately. Dgs ultimate move really did prove to be valuable. It scared them so much that they didnt even dare to discuss any terms. Just because of Xiao Yus young age, youre not taking him seriously. Let me tell you: those aberrants that got us running with nowhere to go and almost annihted us all, Xiao Yu could freeze each and every one of them into a popsicle with just a single attack! Like hell you can negotiate with him! Wen Jianuo abruptly turned to look at me, dumb with disbelief. Like I said, Chen Yanqing had seen a lot, so he knew a lot too, and this had nothing to do with him wanting to get married off or not. No, wait! Why am I going on about this marrying or not marrying thing, too? Even if he dared to marry me, I wouldnt dare to marry him! Chen Yanqing turned to look over, and remarked, Xiao Yu. Ah Nuo might be nitpicky and fussy, but hes really quite capable. Its better to choose him as the vice-captain. Wen Jianuo hesitated, but ultimately chose not to talk about any terms. It was evident that he did have some faith in Chen Yanqing. You want to discuss terms with me, too? I coldly said, I want you to be the vice-captain. You got anyints? None! Chen Yanqing promptly replied, then shot a helpless nce at Wen Jianuo. Contrarily, Wen Jianuo appeared nonchnt. That expression really did look like he didnt care even one bit. If this wasnt an act, then his tolerance truly deserved admiration. And I chuckled, and said in a low voice, Ah Nuo will be the captain. Stunned, both turned their heads and stared at me in unison, as if trying to find the implication Im just joking on my face. But sadly, they only found Im serious. Wen Jianuo was barely able to squeeze out the words, Then, what are you gonna be? I was about to say squad member, but it might seem a little strange that the younger brother of the Big Boss was merely a member of a small squad. Therefore, I changed my mind at thest moment, and said, Ill be the same as Ah Qinga vice-captain. Wen Jianuo asked in doubt, Youre worried that you wont be able to put people in their ces because of your young age? I shook my head and said, I dont want too many people to know about my real strength. Itll be more convenient to do stuff that way. You guys will also be covering up for me. Its best that I appear to be just a pretty face andpletelycking in any threat. Although most of the soldiers had already seen me in action, Dg had shown such a powerful move on his first appearance that I didnt appear so conspicuous anymore. Except for someone like Chen Yanqing who had seen everything from start to end, the others shouldnt be able to fullyprehend my strength with how chaotic the situation had been. Wen Jianuo nodded. Thats easy. You look just like a pretty face. Theres no need for deception. If you wanna die early, just let me know. Ill send you on your way. Wen Jianuo stood straight and gave a military salute, Reporting to the vice-captain, I do not! I rolled my eyes, and said, Pick some soldiers to join the squad. I want men who are very tight-lipped and who would never disobey. There is no room for even the slightest doubt! Wen Jianuo looked displeased and was about to speak, but I interrupted him. The only thing you need to know is that if news of what I n to do gets out, a great disaster will befall the whole troop! He scratched his head in confusion, and said, Youre entrusting me to manage such a serious matter? I shot him an askance look. Its not whether or not I trust you, but rather that the great disaster is called the Molecr Organic Research Center. Hearing these words, both of their faces darkened. Their eyes brimmed with hatred to the point that they nearly overflowed. Their deep hatred toward the MORC wasnt any less than mine. To be safe, I deliberately reminded them of what had happened in the past. The MORC caused your entire division to be lost. All of your oldrades were strewn all over the ground, with not even a single one of their bodies in one piece. You guys are probably the most unlikely people to be bought off by them. Its absolutely impossible! The two of them agreed with bloodshot eyes. I had fully anticipated this. You can tell how deep the camaraderie those soldiers had just by looking at ckie. Despite the circumstances, he had still stopped the others from bombing the MORC entrance and hadnt hesitated at all to go down to save people. Its almost impossible for the MORC to buy off these two. In order to exact vengeance on the MORC, subduing these soldiers is of vital importance! Wen Jianuo doubtfully asked, Its undeniable that we hate the MORC, but why do you hate them so much? Xiaotian is no more, I quietly said. They gawked at first. Then, a distressed look spread across their faces. Chen Yanqing muttered in disbelief, How? How could they bring themselves to hurt such a small child? Wen Jianuo asked in a bewildered tone, Is it really rted to the MORC? Why would they kill a child? He was coteral. Their main goal was to recapture Thirteen while I wanted to kill him, so there was a confrontation. I dont want to talk about the rest of it. Youre also forbidden to talk about Xiaotian. Just remember that the MORC and I are irreconcble enemies. I will never forgive them! Hearing this, Wen Jianuo was clearly a bit moved. They would have a ce to stay, and even vengeance; they couldnt possibly have dreamed of a better option. Chen Yanqing tried to persuade him again, Come on, Ah Nuo, agree to join. If you keep on hesitating, Xiao Yu might not want us anymore! Wen Jianuo rolled his eyes at him, then turned around and said to me, OK, I got it. I only have one request and that is, you cant treat our people as cannon fodder. Just how many times do I have to emphasize this? I rolled my eyes at him and said, Dont worry. Youre more precious than diamonds. If you guys got carelessly sacrificed as cannon fodder, then where am I supposed to find a bunch of MORC-hating people to be my subordinates? Currently, nobody knows the MORC yet. But in the future, everyone would be fighting over their products. They would gnash their teeth in anger and curse them as blood-sucking vermin for profiting from others misfortune and charging exorbitant prices. But no one had ever thought of destroying them. When all was said and done, those items were just too useful. Plus, there were many people with insubstantial abilities that depended on their weapons for survival. If someone wanted to exterminate the MORC, a lot of people would rise in opposition. Wen Jianuo probed, So youre forming the squad in order to annihte the MORC? If thats the case, then you can take us all in. I guarantee that everyone will put their back into it! No. If annihting the MORC was so easy, I would have sought Dg out to do that long ago. Why would I ask you guys, a bunch of passersby? In terms of strength, the MORC had ability users, enhanced and powerful aberrants, and even army troops. Meanwhile, Dgs troop wasnt strong enough yet. At first nce, we seemed to have three hundred people; however, the amount of strong and capable ones might not even reach thirteen. Confronting the MORC was basically a road to ruin. There was no way Id trade my whole family to avenge the Ice Emperor, and the Ice Emperor himself would absolutely not wish for me to do so either. Then, what are you forming a squad for? Wen Jianuo became even more puzzled. Farming. Animal breeding. I thought for a bit, and added, We will start with finding seeds and catching livestock. Sowing and breeding will begin at ater time. The two soldiers faces were so dark, it was as if they had been farming for a whole lifetime. Wen Jianuo said through gritted teeth, So were actually not cannon fodderwere peasants! Volume 5, 1: The Ice Spears, in the Making

Volume 5, Chapter 1: The Ice Spears, in the Making

Tranted by Miaka_Mei (proofread by Arcedemius; C/E edited by lucathia) Wen Jianuo was a very meticulous guy and kept asking after the severity of leaking information. But being a decisive guy as well, once he understood the severity, he immediately set off to find his fellowrades and finally only brought along nine people. With Ah Nuo, Ah Qing, Su Ying, and me, our total number was thirteen. What a coincidence, it just so happens to be Thirteens name. Thirteen would be a future aberrant elite, so its a lucky number, I guess? Things like luck were a real headache for me. I had no idea how I could change the Jiang familys bad luck. Wen Jianuo said to the nine people, This is the vice-captain of our squad, Jiang Shuyu. I say vice-captain, but everyone knows who to listen to, right? These soldiers had already been instructed, so there wasnt the least bit of surprise on their face, not to mention anyone disying a look of disapproval. As expected of seasoned and disciplined troops. I guess this is one of my rare good luck moments that I was able to pick up this group of men. As if trying to break the tension, Chen Yanqing hurriedly called out, Come,e,e. Come report your name to our vice-captain. Peng-g, why dont you start first? I added, And tell us your power while youre at it. The soldiers reported their names one by one with practiced discipline. A soldier who seemed to be middle-aged took the lead and reported, Im Peng Weijie. My power is vibrating things by touching them. I nced at him. He seemed to be getting on in years. His stubble made him appear slightly older, but he probably hadnt reached his forties yet and should be younger than Zheng-sh. But this didnt really matter since once one eats a lot of crystals, theyll just keep getting younger. Age is really just for reference. This Peng Weijies ability sure was something. Vibrate? It was way too weak still. It was just like the power over fire at the beginning of the apocalypse. If you hadnt eaten any crystals yet, at most you would only be able to light a cigarette. Yang Xi. Just call me Watermelon. This watermelon guy looked nothing like a watermelon. In fact, he was quite handsome. He looked rather bright and cheerful when smiling, very much likeXia Zhengu. Ive decided. From this day on, Im going to hate him! Hmph hmph. This Yang Xi must have infuriated everyone because of his good looks, making them itch to vent their anger by devouring his flesh Thats why hes called Watermelon, right? Afterward, Chen Yanqing told me that it wasnt like that at all. It was simply because Yang Xi loved eating watermelon so much, that he had sneakily polished off an entire table of watermelons before dinner, causing everyone in the army to get angry at him. Since then, everyone started to call him Watermelon. But the person himself actually liked this nickname, since people would give him melon to eat every so often. Yang Xi said with some doubt, I probably have the power to lighten things. I used to think that my strength had increased, but there was once when I made a bullet so light that it floated up. I was shocked. Hes even got the same ability as Xia Zhengu? Power over gravity wasnt very rare, but it also wasnt as ordinary as fire and water. At the very least, I had never met anyone except Xia Zhengu who had this ability. I suddenly have the urge to freeze this person into a popsicle, then smash him into pieces Xiao Yu, whats wrong? Upon noticing Chen Yanqing looking at me with worry, and Wen Jianuo standing in front of Yang Xi as if shielding him with his whole body, I finally recovered my senses, and remembered that all of these men were soldiers; Yang Xi had even earned Ah Nuos trust. He isnt like that Xia Zhengu at all. Besides, Xia Zhengu with his changeable temperament wouldnt have been able tost in the military. It cant be him! Its nothing. I shook my head and said, Its just that he looks a lot like my ex-boyfriend. Just the mere sight of him makes my blood boil! Shit, the words slipped out before I could stop them. I coughed and corrected myself, I mean, a lot like my ex-girlfriend. Everyone turned to look at Yang Xi. Thetters face briefly twitched, and he stiffly drew out a smile, batting his eyes and pouting his mouth to unt his face that transcended gender. Fine. Lets stop hating this sensible watermelon for now. After going through this brief interlude of ex-boy-girlfriend, these several soldiers no longer stood so stiffly. Although not going as far as happilyughing, at the very least, most of them had an amused twinkle in their eyes. It looks like my image as the vice-captain is gone. Well, whatever. Considering my life-long habit of daydreaming and wearing my emotions on my face, it was simply too difficult for me to create my deep and profound image. I pursed my lips and said in an unhappy tone, Continue reporting your names. Quit daydreaming. Hearing this, everyone hid their smiling expressions, but their standing posture remained more rxed. The atmosphere of the whole team was no longer as tense as just before. Im Diao Ming. The first person who reported his name almost made me burst intoughter right thenwhat a good diomn. He looked just like an honest and kind person, so how did his parentse up with his name, down with the tyrant? Was it because hes too honest, so they picked a not-so-honest name to bnce it?1 Diao Ming was also aware that he had a weird name. He shyly smiled with his hand on his head, and said, My power is moving things like flowers and grass Thats all it is. I dont even know whats the use I abruptly rushed over and grabbed both of his hands, my heart overwhelmed with excitement. These days, Ive been having so much good luck that Im getting nervous. Diao Ming was frozen with shock. To be exact, everyone was in a state of shock. Wen Jianuo looked speechless as he asked, Vice-captain, is there something wrong again? After getting too excited for a moment, I withdrew my hands and showered Diao Ming with praise, Youre very suited for farming. Sorry, it got me so happy that I got carried away. Er, thank you. It-its okay. That honest face of Diao Ming was a bit dazed. He seemed unable toprehend whether suited for farming was apliment or not. The next several men didnt know what their ability was. But there was nothing strange about it. All of these men were armed with guns, so theyd instinctively use their guns when endangered. Furthermore, with their profession as soldiers, theycked a certain exposure to all kinds of addictive games and movies, so it was quite normal for them not to have noticed the existence of their powers. Gao Yun, Huang Guanlun, Li Qiao, Lin Zuojun, Xue Xi, Xue Huan. Thest voice was actually a womans. I stared at her openly. She was very tanned. Her skin was more tanned than Yunqian and Lilys, and she was slightly taller than Yunqian, though not as tall as Lily. Dressed in a full military uniform, you wouldnt be able to tell that there was a female among these nine people unless you looked closely. As if noticing that I was watching her, her face stretched taut and she maintained the grim, stern face of a soldier. Unlike those men beside her, whose tense and serious looks from earlier had disappeared, her face remained still and stern. Her back was straight, and she looked exactly like a statue of a soldier, like those erected in front of military bases as a military symbol. Although she and the man beside her didnt look much alike, these two had the name of Xue Huan and Xue Xi respectively, so they were definitely a pair of siblings. Chen Yanqing hurriedly took one step forward, and said, Xue Huan is very strong. She and Xue Xi are fraternal twins, and she has excellentbat skills and marksmanship. Their partnership makes them a force to be reckoned with. Their coordination is top notch! When they were introduced, Xue Huans face was still stretched taut, while Xue Xi wore a smile on his face. I nodded and said, Xue Huan, Ill have to trouble you to take care of the other female member of our squad. Shes timid and easily frightened of men. Ill need your help. Xue Huan stared nkly, then responded with a military salute, Yes sir! What type of military role model is this? I looked at Xue Xi to the side. Despite also standing up straight, he was smiling and didnt look so extreme. Huanhuan has always been like this. Wen Jianuo smilingly said, Shes well-known as the military model among our troop. Even her picture can be directly printed in textbooks. The nickname Huanhuan feels very mismatched with the person herself. Then, is Huanhuans big brother called Xixi?2 Just call me Boots. Xixi, the person himself said this, instead. I nodded. Sure, Xixi. After everyone was done with their introduction, it was then my sides turn. I shouted toward the doorway, Su Ying, you cane in now. Su Ying pushed the door open and walked inside. At first, everyone tried to suppress the look of realization on their faces. Some were even winking at me. Their cheeky looks were just like Chen Yanqings when I first got to know himespecially Yang Xi, that big watermelon. That smile of his was so dazzling that I once again felt like freezing and smashing him into smithereens. They most likely thought she was my girlfriend. But when she stopped and stood at least two meters away from me, everyone seemed to be at a loss. They looked at me, then at her, unable to make sense of the current situation. As I nced at Su Ying, thetter trembled and shifted one more meter away. Xiao Yu, you she Chen Yanqing stuttered with difiture, as if I had done something unspeakable to her. I said with annoyance, Shes timid. After seeing me kill people several times, she became like this. Chen Yanqing Oh-ed and nodded with understanding. She does seem very timid. Dont you just freeze people? That doesnt seem very scary. You gotta know that when we fire a headshot the head bursts open and brains would spurt out everywhere Su Ying shrieked and cut him off, No! He didnt freeze them! He likes busting peoples head the most! He chops their heads off and minces their brains! Just him alone could kill a lot of monsters! Upon reaching this point, she seemed to have suddenly realized that I myself was around. She jumped with shock, almost stering herself against the wall, and covered her face with both hands, repeatedly mumbling, Im sorry Im sorry Im sorry. Im very sorry, too. After many years of killing aberrants, I had gotten used to smashing heads into a pulp. My thought process couldnt keep up with my reflexes. Its toote for me to change Wen Jianuo noticed something amiss. Hold on. Xiao Yu, you said you killed people? I coolly exined, Dont get the wrong idea. It was something that happened after the ck fog. At the time, I was the one who was home, and a mercenary troop attempted to rob our stuff. Bloodshed was unavoidable. As for why I smashed their heads to a pulp, it was to prevent them from turning into aberrants. You guys have to do the same thing in the future, too. Even if the enemy is a human, you still gotta do it. Otherwise, theyll return in a much more terrifying form next time. After hearing that, all of the soldiers looked at me, their gazes containing a whole new level of respect. It was worth the effort of using an indifferent tone to teach this smashing heads after killing people sort of thing, as Id finally earned back a bit of their respect. Su Ying seemed even more aggrieved, as if she was the only person on Earth who knew the truthJiang Shuyu is actually the demon king! I too wish to be the supreme demon king. As of now, Im still working on it. After recalling the names introduced by everyone, I realized that I could only remember Peng Weijie, Yang Xi, Diao Ming, and the siblings Xue Xi and Xue Huan. I could remember the first three because of their powers and because of my ex-boyfriend. Then again, it wasnt much of a big problem. If you dont have powers in this squad, Im treating you as a nobody! I looked at the two nobodies who hadnt reported their powers yetthe captain and vice-captain of the squad, Ah Nuo and Ah Qing. Your powers? If you dont have any, then just resign and be a squad memberrelegated right to the bottom! Wen Jianuo grabbed his crew-cut hair and lifted one finger. His fingertips turned silver, slowly spreading downward, and finally that whole finger became silvery gray in color. I reached out my hand to him and tapped on his finger. It was very hard and even resounded. Power over metalthe same as Ding Juns, but a different form of manifestation. Ding Jun could manipte metal, while Wen Jianuo could transform himself into metal. It was hard to say which one was better, so Id just have to see which one of them would level up more. If he dares to lose to Ding Jun, then Ill demote him from his position as the captain to the lowest! Power over metal. Its destructive power is pretty decent. Do your best to transform your whole body into metal. Hearing this, Wen Jianuo breathed an audible sigh of relief. There was a dazed look on his face the moment he heard thest sentence, before it was quickly reced with excitement. Yes! And finally, I nced over at Chen Yanqing. He had a look of embarrassment on his face. Wen Jianuo, who was next to him, patted his back in an attempt tofort him. Dont tell me he hasnt even found out what his power is? You dont know your power? I frowned, then looked at the other soldiers, and was once more convinced that it wasnt much of a big problem. These guys were all on the same side. There wouldnt be problems with anyone unwilling to obey a leader who didnt have any powers. At the very least, with Ah Nuos backing, it wouldnt ur for now. I do! Chen Yanqing anxiously replied, then fumbled for words, Its just that my powers is, is a bit weird. Its like useless. I wasted so many crystals for nothing. I lifted one eyebrow, not showing the slightest disappointment. I was quite intrigued. Just how useless is it, for Chen Yanqing to be so depressed about it? At the current phase, even far-sight wasnt considered a useless power. Chen Yanqing looked crestfallen as he squatted down to pick up a small stone, cing it on his palm. But the very next second, the stone vanished into thin air, leaving behind only his empty hand. Thats pretty much itmaking things disappear. Plus, it doesnt work unless I touch it. The bigger the thing is, the longer I have to touch it. Ah Nuo said that if I trained hard enough, I might even be able to make a whole aberrant disappear. But I need to touch the aberrant, and I even need to touch it for several minutes. Thats so stupid! I felt a bit regretful. If I had known this earlier When Ah Nuo joked about Ah Qing wanting to marry me, I would have definitely agreed! Is it toote now? I said, Bring it out. Chen Yanqing looked at me with bewilderment. Bring out that stone. I struggled to contain the excitement in my eyes. The other soldiers turned to look at Chen Yanqing. Wen Jianuo even had a look of realization on his face. Chen Yanqing hesitated for a while. His head turned, staring intently at his palm for a good few second, before a small stone quietly appeared on top of his palm. His eyes turned wide as saucers, before he swiftly turned to look at me. Spatial abilities. I patted him, my mouth pulling into a smile I couldnt hold back. In the future, well be counting on you for store keeping. Chen Yanqing looked absent-minded as he said, Is that a good thing? Of course it is! Do you have any idea how big a jackpot you just hit? I gave a p to the back of his head, and furiously said, Just one touch after a stroll, and all supplies would be put away into storage, and we wont even need to worry about logistics. You would be the only one who could retrieve the stuff, too. So tell me, is this powerful or not?! Chen Yanqing grumbled, But store-keeping has nobat power. Who says there isnt? Its called spatial deyou can sandwich and cut people in half with the storehouse door, you got that? I can picture it vividly enough with the way you described it, Wen Jianuo said while suppressing a smile. Chen Yanqing still had a bitter look on his face. He seemed to think that it wasnt powerful at all. What an idiot! Spatial ability users were very famous and few in number. At the beginning of the apocalypse, everyone wanted one in their troop. After all, they were very useful while searching for supplies. However, supplies gradually dwindled during the middle stages of the apocalypse. As everyone started to formrgermunities, logistics expanded, and the value of spatial ability users started to decline. However, by that time, someone discovered how to fight with it. Furthermore, that method of attack was very hard to defend against. Rumor had it that it could even kill people above their tier. However, very few spatial ability users were able to learn this spatial skill. I couldnt remember if it was three or four users. Back then, it had merely been an entertaining story for me. I hadnt paid close attention to it and didnt remember the details to the story. Should I properly write down the details of my ten years in the apocalypse? I thought about the pros and cons. Obviously, the advantage was that I could give a book of Things to Take Note of in the Apocalypse to every member of the JDT so that they could have more of an understanding of the apocalypse. As for its disadvantage Xiao Yu? Why did you suddenly stop talking? I nced at Chen Yanqing. I was very sure that this guy didnt exist among those spatial ability users. He should have long died beneath the guard tower. Even Wen Jianuo shouldnt be standing here alive. These nine in front of me might have all died, and some of them might have even turned into a powerful aberrant. I recalled that butterfly aberrant. If it wasnt for me, that aberrant might have broken out of her cocoon and be a tier-three aberrant which ruled over Lan City. But I hadnt heard of this kind of aberrant in theter stages of the apocalypse, so I couldnt say for sure if she had been annihted by a stronger aberrant colony, or perhaps the seeding king of Lan City, Thirteen, had personally annihted her? Thirteen, the future aberrant king hadnt been recaptured by the MORC. He even had with him a human, Beibei, and didnt particrly seem to hate humans. Not to mention the Ice Emperor, his whole being had beenpletely axed by me. I might have even affected the Thunder God. ording to Dg, hed had dealings with him, exchanging information about the apocalypse to obtain firearms and ammunition. That action might have already impacted the Thunder Gods development. Moreover, had Jin Xiaoyue also existed in my past life and assisted Jin Zhan in bing the Thunder God, or was she someone who had only appeared in this life? I seemed to have inadvertently brought about many changes in events, and these changes werent small at all. Maybe I shouldnt be recording anything. History had changed so much that my record might lead to confusion instead. Xiao Yu? Wen Jianuo nced at me with an indescribable look. I took a deep breath. Lets leave these records aside for now, and get right to business. Im looking for some stuff. Ill write it downter so that you guys can help me find it. But you must bear in mind that these things must not be leaked to outsiders! Wen Jianuo pressed for details. So the reason you formed a small squad was to look for something? What are you looking for? In short, its to find food. I nced over everyone, and simply said, Currently, looting supplies everywhere is the simplest method. After all, with a lot of humans gone, we wouldnt becking in food in the short term. Its just a matter of having enough ability to loot supplies. I paused, making sure that everyone was focused on listening before mentioning the main point. But what about the future? Even if there are cans, instant noodlesthese things with a long expiry date, how many years can we keep eating them? Everyone nced at each other in dismay, seemingly not having thought of matters several yearster. But I knew it all too well. Humans thought that they were currently living in hell but didnt know that the real hell was going to start three years into the apocalypse: food shortage, declining temperatures, powerful aberrants Dao Ming blurted, If theres not many humans, a lot of food can still be found in the wild. At least, we wont starve to death. I smiled. What food? Stumped for words, he then somewhat nervously gave several examples, Wild food, fish, fruits, and many more. I grew up in a vige. Theres a lot of things in the mountains, wild forests and natural rivers that can be eaten after cleaning. I saw arge group of mice outside of Lan City, so many that they were like a tidal wave engulfing everything in its path. Even aberrants fled from them. After entering the city, I then saw a butterfly over four meters in height, leading arge group of caterpirseach and every one of them as big as a human. A whole district had been upied by them. And previously, in a small town, I saw arge tree with the height of a ten storey building. The whole town was eaten so clean that only a few living things remained. As for the beach, I havent really been there, but I guess its safe to say that the things inside the sea are in no way gentler than butterflies, mice, and trees.I calmly continued, So let me ask you again, what food? The expression on everyones face turned gloomy. It seemed that even soldiers felt a deep sense of dread toward the apocalypse. Wen Jianuo said, We did see a mountain pig from afar along the way. It was very big. If all aberrants out there are like that, then we would probably be the food instead. I nced at him. A mountain pig wasnt necessarily an aberrant. Such arge wild animal could already attack humans in the early stages of the apocalypse. Besides turning bigger, did that mountain pig have any other major changes? Wen Jianuo stared nkly for a moment, then spoke after careful thought, It had arge body, long tusks, and was covered with glossy fur. Stabbing it would probably be pretty hard. It shouldnt be an aberrant, but an animal that has gone through evolution. Its edible. Edible? Everyones face was as dark as the ck fog. Chen Yanqing curiously asked, Youre nning to breed pigs? I shook my head, and exined, I wont be breeding mountain pigs. Those kinds cant be bred. If you dared to eat its offspring, then itd dare to evolve until it could eat you instead. Im nning to breed some other things. And one more thing, rice is very strong, so it cant be nted. Rice is really, really strong. And once the ck fog arrived, all kinds of changes could easily happen. A whole paddy field of evolved rice is basically the scariest existence in a vige. Its fortunate that they generally have a strong attachment to their habitat, and wouldnt wander too far away from it. Eventually, everyone would avoid them. As a result, these rice werent able to eat enough food, so their tier usually wasnt very high. Otherwise, itd be really hard to tell what kind of things would be ruling over this world Wen Jianuo mumbled, Farming and breeding. I see Well, those are all matters for the future.I looked at these men with a frown, and said, All of you are too weak. Forget finding what I want, without guns, you guys wont even be able to enter the city. Right now, the most important thing is to have everyone figure out their powers, and then train properly. The moment they heard too weak, everyone had a distorted look on their face, but none of them dared to refute. Not bad, theyre quite disciplined Wait a second! Whats up with you guys suddenly staring with bulging eyes? Shuyu. Startled, I turned around and saw Dg walking in, with only Cain following behind him. Thetter was carrying a rifle. Although he looked somewhat flippant, he was imposing enough to inspire awe. Each and every one of the soldiers was pressured into a state of battle-readiness, their gazes firmly locked on him. As for my familys Dg, these soldiers had already given up all resistance toward him. I hurriedly stepped forward, and spoke in confusion, Dg? Whats the matter? Dg gave an mm and asked, Shuyu, do you n on entering the city anytime soon? After giving it some thought, I nced at the soldiers, before saying with distress, I was going to enter the city, but some of these soldiers dont even know their power, so they might end up getting wiped out if I bring them into the city. Its better to stay behind and train properly first. In that case, youll stay behind to take care of the base. Im going to search for some supplies in the city, and train myself while Im at it. After thinking for a while, I gritted my teeth, and said, You can bring Junjun along and let her get some training. Dg definitely wouldnt stop worrying if both his little brother and little sister were to enter the city together, so I had no choice but to let Shujun go with him. I was also worried about the safety of Dg and Xiomi, butI gotta bear with it! Dg lifted his eyebrow. Sure. Were going into the city in a few days. If theres anything you need, just tell meter. I nodded and watched as Dg turned to leave. Actually, he didnt need to personallye find me for this kind of thing. In any case, Id also being over to the main building for dinner, so wouldnt it be fine to just ask at that time? Dg hade here to give me support. I turned around and saw that these soldiers no longer looked dissatisfied. Some of them couldnt hide their surprise as they gazed at me. Seems like it wasnt until now that they finally believed Im truly capable. It was simply too hard for me to convince others with this face of mine. In any case, I had plenty of time for thatter. Just like Chen Yanqing, they would surely be convinced once they see more. Go pack your luggage. Ill show you guys to your new living quarters. Wen Jianuo said as he shook his head, No need. We dont have any luggage. Is it that you dont have any luggage, or youve given everything to the other soldiers? And in any case, its not like Id let you guys starve. I rolled my eyes at him, but decided not to say anything in the end. After all, a group of soldiers who cared for each other was always a good thing. I had picked a building which wasnt too far from the main building. The building was a siheyuan,3 courtyard house with a courtyard enclosed by walls. Although I called it a building, it was pretty much a smallmunity. The walls were like slender, single-storey houses. Although they all only had one floor, except for the primary residence at the rear which had two floors, there were enough rooms for triple our numbers in the Ice Spears to have a room per person. After all, our squad wasnt big. I led the soldiers into the courtyard that was in the middle. Despite squeezing in all these people, the courtyard remained extremely spacious. I was quite satisfied with the size of this courtyard house. It even had a great geographical location. It was situated diagonally behind the main building, and wasnt too far away from there, so it would be convenient for me toe here from the main building. It was also far from Old Town. We wouldnt attract anyones attention with whatever we did here. There was only one problemthe house was a bit old and needed repairs. But there was no need to rush it. After all, the thing that the JDT had the most right now was people. From now on, you guys will be staying here. Youll only be following my orders. Ignore all others, unless its the current members of the JDT asking for you. Last but not least, outsiders are forbidden to enter! Wen Jianuo nodded in response. In the future, our squad will be called Ice Spears. Ill protect my squad members, but bear in mind that if you dare to use my name to abuse your power My lips pulled into a faint smile, I stretched out one hand, and sent out a huge st of icy air, enveloping the entire courtyard with biting cold air. And with a clench of my fist, the freezing air gathered to form a horizontal bar, high altitude climb, bnce beam, and other fitness training equipment. Subduing my squad members and the construction of the basethese two things couldnt be dyed. Im still in need of an ice sculpture, to be erected in front of the courtyard as a warning sign! I walked back to the main building as I said to Wen Jianuo, First, well make the walls taller and add barbed wire to it, too. Ill be hiding my strength and identity, so I cant be seen by others while Im training you guys. The courtyard house was located in a very remote area, and youd also need to pass the main building to get there, but some people would inevitably try to sneak over, so it was best to have taller walls. At the very least, it could prevent the risk of being seen. Wen Jianuo nodded. Ill bring you to see Lilyter. Shes our logistics head. Go talk to her if you need anything. When I got to this point, I stopped, stood still, and warned Wen Jianuo with a re, I will protect every member of the Ice Spears. But if you guys dare to swindle the JDT or make off with our supplies, I wont show the slightest mercy! We absolutely wont! Wen Jianuo hastily replied. He had be much more obedientafter I had turned the courtyard into an ice paradise, that is. You wont be taking things to help out your previousrades? Wen Jianuo stiffened. This time, he couldnt give the same response. I said in an unhappy tone, My big brother is currently in need of personnel, whereas all of your fellowrades havebat capabilities. If they do their job properly, they definitely wont be treated unfairly. You dont even need to go help them. As for people who refuse to work, if youre still thinking of helping them, how about I freeze that head of yours? Maybe then youll see things more clearly? Wen Jianuo said while shaking his head, Its just that, I dont really know your big brother well. Xiao Yu, youre a good person, but Im not sure about what kind of person your brother is. Dg? Well, the term good person doesnt exactly fit him. I pondered for a bit, and said, My big brother is a very powerful person. Wen Jianuo smiled, before saying in a somewhat awkward manner, Were not allowed to share with fellowrades, but is it possible to share with the civilians? Just things like food and clothes. We absolutely wont give away weapons or materials for wall fortification. Im at least clear enough about that. I threw him a nce. Just dont starve yourself or get sick from the cold. I dont want a sickly squad member. As for the extra stuff that you manage to earn, who cares if youre going to give them to your girlfriend or boyfriend. Wen Jianuo said with a wry smile, Its a pair of brother and sister that Ive met along the way. They got separated from their parents. I nodded, and said no more. My mind was only thinking of asking Lily about how she was going to deal with over a hundred civilians. While we passed through the second floor, I picked an empty room for Wen Jianuo. Although hed mostly be in the courtyard house, having a room in the main building would show that he was an important, trustworthy figure in the Jiang Dominion. Itd also make it easier for me to operate. After all, I didnt n on showing myself. rg, rg! I turned and saw Shujun racing downstairs. She even gave a swirl while asking, Does it look pretty? She was wearing a uniform that could literally take peoples breath away. The design was quite simr to a military uniform. The upper half was a jacket, fully ck with silver edging and two rows of buttons, while the lower half was a blue pleated skirt. I had brought this outfit back from Lan City. It was just that there was a little bit of modification, like the addition of silver trim and most importantlythe JDTs crest. Although I was a bit dissatisfied with how short the skirt was, at least the socks extended past her knees, so only a small portion of her thigh was exposed. It was barely passable. Have you been working on the uniform? Not bad. Use the same style as this one for everyone elses. I nodded with approval. As expected of my familys diligent and hardworking little sister. It hadnt been that long ago when I said I wanted uniforms, and she had already started working on it. Mm. Im making them together with Yutian-ji. Whos that? Weijun-jis best friend. I thought for a bit. It was probably that round-faced and sweet womanTai Wens wife. Her being able to sew clothes was quite expected since she really matched the image of a good wife and loving mother. Dg will be entering the city soon, so try getting his clothes done first. Upon hearing this, Shujun firmly nodded. Okay. rg, what kind of special design do you think Dgs clothes should have? After giving it some thought, I said, Long windbreaker, long boots, all ck with gold trim. The others can only use silver trim. Okay! Ill make Dgs clothes appear dazzling and majestic! As expected of Junjun, she knows her rg inside out like a tapeworm inside his bellyno, wait! My Junjun isnt a worm. If she had to be in my belly, shed be a precious baby! Uh, this doesnt sound quite right And what about you, rg? What kind of clothes do you want? After thinking for a bit, I had a rough idea in my mind. However, it was quiteplicated. Shujun might not be able to make it. Its fine, Ill do it myself. You can help me make the uniforms for the members of the Ice Spears. There are several of them, so itll take some time. You can continue making them after returning home. Returning? Blinking her eyes, Shujun asked with confusion, Am I going somewhere? Dg will be taking you into the city. Shujun stared nkly for a moment, then beamed with joy. Wen Jianuo who was behind me, said disapprovingly, Why bring a girl into the city? Even if your big brother is very strong, theres no guarantee that idents wont happen. I furiously said, You jinx! Wanna see me turn you into an ice sculpture?! The Jiang familys luck is already terrible. I dont need you to add an additional ident to terrible! Shujun was also very upset. With a wave of her hand, she whipped out a lightning whip. The blinding blue and white lightning whip swished past Wen Jianuo, but didnt hit anything, not even the floor. After that, she simply pulled it back before it disappeared without a trace. Never mind Wen Jianuo, even I was dumbstruck. Junjun, when did you learn this Blinking her big, watery eyes, Shujun said, I learned this when you went missing. Hah, its as if Ive gone missing for a year. It was only one month! I held my forehead with my hand. No wonder Dg easily agreed to bring her into the city. With such a lethal and readily avable weapon, not just Dg, even all of the JDT members would want her to go with them, too. rg, Im going to get started on the clothes now, okay? I nodded, and said, You can go look for some women to help you with the work. Give them food and warm clothing as a reward. With people assisting in the work, we could provide them with food, and even prevent them from forming bad habits like freeloading. This is basically killing multiple birds with one stone! Junjun cheerfully said, Okay! Ill ask Yutian-ji for help with recruiting people! After saying that, she then rushed upstairs. It seemed that she was working on the clothes in her room. I hurriedly reminded her, Shujun! Remember to work on the first floor. Dont take people up to the third floor. Okay! I wanted to tell Shujun to bring my mom over, but it came to me that Guan Weijun was looking after her. I probably didnt need to worry about her going hungry or feeling cold. Although I was relieved, there was a touch of bitterness in my heart. My mom has be someone elses mom. If I want to help her, I have to consider a bunch of other stuff first. What is up with you siblings Wen Jianuo had yet to recover from his shock. The lingering shock he got from a beautiful girl with a lightning whip was quite longsting. I patted the soldiers shoulder. Well, simply put, my little sister who just started high school could burn you to a crisp in a split second. Whats up with that, huh? Notes: 1. Diao Ming: Diao Mings name sounds like diomn fromt (diomnfzu), which means punishing the tyrant to console the people. 2. Huanhuan and Xixi: Their names came from hunx (gϲ), which means happy. 3. shyun: A shyun (ĺԺ) is a courtyard house with a fully enclosed courtyard. The residence at the very back is the main residence. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siheyuan Volume 5, 2: D脿g膿 and Xiaom猫i Leave the House

Volume 5, Chapter 2: Dg and Xiaomi Leave the House

Tranted by Michimochi (proofread by Faren; C/E edited by lucathia) For the next couple of days, if I wasnt in the courtyard house abusing I mean, training the Ice Spears, then I was in my room doing my own things. That was until the third day, when Shujun knocked on my door saying that she and Dg were heading out. I hastily stepped out of the room. I was in the middle of trying on a recently finished uniform. Shujun looked at my uniform. She wrinkled her brow. rg, your uniform doesnt look that nice. For the top, I wore a sleeve-less jacket and oversized longline shirt. It looked as if there were twoyers, but it was actually fake. And of course, I wore a pair of pants. Arguably, leggings would have looked better with this outfit, but I wore a simple pair of pants. Dont even mention shoes. I t out wore a pair of silver white flip-flops. Not bothering to exin myself much, I said, Being too stylish is troublesome. My clothes are not important. Is Dgs uniform finished? Shujun nodded. Dg already put it on and is getting ready to leave. He told me to let you know and to drag you out of your room. I rubbed my nose. I would go take a look at the courtyard house every day. Im not that much of a shut in, okay? I mean, I would go out to give a lecture on each days training before returning to my room. Obediently, I followed Shujun out. People were already waiting in the hall. My eyes lit up just at the sight of Dg. A newly-made solid ck trench coat with golden trim hung from his body. The golden trim of the cor even formed the shape of the character, like a bow from the left side of our name Jiang (). A leather holster rested on his waist. The long army boots that I had brought home were fastened on his feet. He was as fierce as a lion, impossible to overlook. One look could make every single strand of your hair stand straight. Standing next to Dg were Xiao Sha, Yunqian, and Guan Weijun. All three were wearing their uniforms as well. I had really put Shujun in a tight spot. Within two days, she had quickly managed to finish making so many sets of clothes. The three wore ck uniforms with silver trim. Xiao Sha wore a sleeveless top and mens leggings, perfect for mobility. Yunqian wore a short-sleeved top and a pair of shorts. Guan Weijun wore a top with elbow length sleeves and crop pants. No matter if it was golden trim or silver trim, there was a streak of blue somewhere on all the clothing. I nced back at Junjun. The same shade of blue was on her pleated skirt as well. Does Junjun like blue now? But she used to like pink more. My little sister has grown up now Well, this is fine. If there was a streak of pink on every uniform and Dg had to wear it, I would probably want to gouge my eyes out. Besides those four people, Ding Jun also stood right behind Dg. Although he wasnt wearing a uniform, Ding Jun carried a backpack on his back, so he was probably going with them. I didnt recognize any of the others. They were all wearing military uniforms. They were probably from the group of soldiers that Ah Nuo had brought with him. There are actually more than fifteen of them. Looking at that crowd, I couldnt help but ask, Dg, where are you going with this many people? Their abilities are not that strong, right? Youre going to attract a ton of aberrants if you start firing guns in Lan City. Dg indifferently said, They are in charge of moving supplies. No wonder. I looked at the soldiers in front of me. Despite being forced to be baggage carriers, they didnt seem to show any resentment. More like the opposite; each and every single one of them were looking at Dg with conviction. I wondered whether it was because they had be entranced by Dgs dominance or by whatever they had been forced to do in these past few days. Whatever. In any case, they were a group of well-trained soldiers. As long as they were convinced, it shouldnt be a problem. I looked at Xiao Sha. Out of curiosity, I asked, Why not Cain? Didnt Xiao Sha enter Lan City not too long ago? Xiao Sha looked at me. He exined solemnly, Im going to look for Chenyang and see if he is still there. Oh yeah. I totally forgot about that cousin of his. I really dont know how powerful the Shangguan family is, but I hope Shangguan Chenyang can shed some light on this. Last but not least, I looked toward Guan Weijun. Dg was already willing to take her with him. That was unexpected. Im a bit jelly, just a tiny bit! She smiled and said, Im a local. Im in charge of leading the way! I rolled my eyes and said, You dont even know where the department store is. Ugh, thats a ce I dont usually go. Im familiar with everywhere else. I know where the supermarket and the hospital are. Shutian said thats good enough! She already calls him Shutian so smoothly, huh? I looked at Dg suspiciously. Dont tell me they already Dg said coldly, Call me Leader or Boss. How about I use Patriarch? Guan Weijun attempted to negotiate. Ice Emperor, did you know that the skin on your little brothers face is as thick as an aberrants hide? After receiving Leaders icy stare, Guan Weijun chuckled and said, Okay, okay. Leader it is. Your word isw. Dg no longer cared about her presence. He ruffled my head and said, Cain and Zheng Xing will stay here at the base. If anyone bullies you, go find them. Okay? Sure. If I want to bully anyone, I will remember to find them. Even after Dg finished talking, he wouldnt leave my hair alone and continued to rub and rub and rub. I was so annoyed that I almost wanted to ice him in front of the crowd. Too bad I was disguising myself as fragile, pretty boy. Turning the leader into a popsicle was definitely a no-go Wait a second. Dont tell me that Dg took advantage of this fact to ruffle my hair continuously? I secretly red at Dg, but I could only let him continue as he pleased. That angle was just right to catch a glimpse of Ding Juns ugly stare at me. Once our eyes met, he immediately put away his ugly expression and returned to his poker face. He opened his mouth. Leader, it is about time. Dg made a nomittal sound. Without even turning his head back, hemanded, Go make arrangements for people to get in the car and get ready to depart. Yes, sir. Ding Jun tossed a look my way. Although it was still a frigid face, I could tell that he was gloating. Dont tell me that this brat is trying topete with me for Dgs favor? Is there a hole in his brain? Even if I was truly a jerk, I am my brothers dear brother. You really think he would cast me away? Not to mention Im not even rotten at all! Dg led everyone out of the mansion. Beyond the mansions gates, Cain led a group of people and was assigning tasks to them. Those people were all wearing military clothes. They were silently listening to instructions. Such discipline was worthy to be praised. Looking at the current scene, I really felt stupid. Back then, I hadnt wanted to take in these soldiers and had even almost driven them away. Such a reckless waste of good resources; it seemed the hole in my brain was no smaller than Ding Juns. It was better to leave all the future iing human resources for Dg to handle. I, myself, should just obediently be the secret weapon. Besides Cain and the soldiers, there were even more people around them,mon people. As they watched my brother walk out, their eyes sparkled as if they had seen the messiah. They were utterly moved,pletely captivated by his presence. I felt the scene was odd. Not long ago, didnt Dg terrify a bunch of people with a single move? How did he be their messiah in just a few days? Did I miss something? Can we rey it? I swear I wont be a shut-in ever again! Dg scanned the crowd, mainly looking at Cain and the soldiers on duty. The general public that was watching on the side wasnt of any importance to him. Dg said to Cain, If anyone doesnt listen to you during the time that Im away, show them no mercy. Yes, Boss. Cain smiled stupidly as he answered. Even if my heart holds back, my hand wont. Dg tossed a nce my way, then reached out to ruffle my hair again. I had no choice but to swallow down my annoyance. I put on a smile like a child who couldnt live without his big brother. Dg, you have toe back home as soon as possible. Dont let Junjun stay out for too long. Yeah. The most important thing is to have Junjune home as soon as possible. To be honest, I didnt need to worry about Dg at all. Within half a year into the apocalypse, he could already use ultimate techniques. Plus, he had Shujun, Xiao Sha, and Yunqian with him. They wouldnt need to retreat even if they encountered a tier three aberrant. If they really couldnt beat it, they could always find ways to escape. The one that made me worry the most was Shujun. Even though I knew that Dg would protect Shujun with his life and that Shujun was skilled herself, I couldnt help but worry about Mimei for life. Even if she leveled up to Thunder Goddess, I wouldnt stop worrying. Its not like I can help it! I had raised my little sister since I was a kid, and I hadnt been a simple kid either. I had also somewhat carried the memories of a thirty-something-year-old woman. Watching over Junjun was like watching over my own daughter, so Shujun was a little sister and a daughter at the same time. So, if anyone dares to hurt her, then that someone is dead meat! I looked at my mimei-like-daughter. Junjun blinked and said, rg, I will definitely follow Dg as closely as possible. A little sister always knows her big brother best. My heart rxed just a teeny tiny bit. Dg reached his hand out. The target was Dds head. I shot him a nce. He retracted his hand, then said, I will take care of Shujun. Dont run around. Behave yourself and look after the house. Okay. I will stay here in the garrison. The garrison would almost be emptied of Jiang members. How would I dare to leave too? Finally, Dg was satisfied. He led a team of twenty or so out the door. A Hummer and a medium-sized bus rolled out the gate. Where did the Hummere from? I let out a breath. If there was a list of the best cars during the apocalypse, this car easily ranked first! A tank would have been sturdier and better, but this type of vehicle was too rare. Plus, if one simply relied entirely on a tank for transportation, it would not be practical. Speed, fuel consumption, and a narrowpartment were all issues one would have to face. Cain exined, That car belongs to the soldiers. A couple of them showed us the way to the car so we could drive it back. They hadnt left it far from here. They were actually willing to leave it there? I was shocked. In this age, people would rather discard the living over a Hummer. This monster may consume a ton of gasoline, but at the beginning of the apocalypse, this kind of vehicle could run over any bumps or obstacles on the road, even squashing most types of aberrants. Overall, the advantages far outweighed the disadvantages. They encountered a group of aberrants. One of them drove the Hummer to lure those aberrants away, and that person never came back. I fell silent. Once again, I was vexed because I had almost cast away these people myself. Depart! Suddenly, Guan Weijuns voice rang crisp and clear. I raised my head to look. She was actually the one responsible for driving the Hummer! Dg, Shujun, Yunqian, and Ding Jun sat in that Hummer. Xiao Sha and everyone else were on the bus. Cain clicked his tongue. Xiao Guan, that brat, is really good. Shes polished her skills very well. Yunqian even gave her a passing score. Its really amazing for her to praise an amateur. Unfortunately, she is not my type. Its useless even if she was your type. Guan Weijuns eyes are stuck on Dg. She probably couldnt even tell you apart from Yunqian! After watching the Hummer and the bus drive away, Cain and I went back into the mansion. The gate closed behind us. I asked immediately, Why did Dg decide to bring Ding Jun? What happened when I was gone? Cain scoffed. That brat loves to hang around Boss, especially when you were away. Hes just short of calling him Big Brother. He has probably been calling him big brother in his heart already! I snorted. When I returned, he must not have been very happy. He had been giving me a cold look like a stepmom all day. Really? Cain hesitated. He hid it well. We couldnt tell. Although he is a bit obsessed with Boss, he has been pretty obedient. Boss often asks him to do some trivial things. I didnt expect him to act so boldly. He even dared to mess with you? Lets wait until Boss gets back and kick him out of the mansion! Would that actually be okay? I didnt feel that would be quite right. He had already settled down here. If we deliberately kicked him out now, wouldnt Ding Jun feel aggrieved? Cain brashly said, Whats so bad about that? What rights does he really have to be able to stay here? I thought about it for a while. He really didnt have any strong reason to be allowed to stay here. He was just someone we had picked up and wasnt part of the main team. Based on that reasoning, he shouldnt be allowed to live here in the mansion, but then Su Ying also lived here. I didnt want to kick her out, so Ding Jun stayed as well. A good idea suddenly came to me. My courtyard house is almost ready. Lets have Su Ying move in with my team and kick Ding Jun out of the mansion. Cain looked at me in the eye. Youre Bosss little brother, the best fighter in the JDT. You could chase out whomever you want, and no one would question it. You dont need to conceal it by chasing out Su Ying, too. Your courtyard is filled with soldiers. Having a girl living there is too dangerous! Dangerous? Who dares to touch her when Im here? Do they want their shaft to be a popsicle? Cains lower half twitched. His face paled. Are you interested in Su Ying? He smiled with his glistening white teeth and said, With how shes scared all the time, dont you feel shes like a trembling puppy? Isnt that fascinating? Youre actually interested in puppy-like women. Now this fact is more fascinating, indeed Cain was a tall, robust foreigner. I really didnt feel that timid Su Ying would choose such a man. She would be scared to death! For the sake of peace and harmony within the Ice Spears, I decided to give Su Ying a helping hand. Let me remind you, theyre under my protection. Su Ying is a member of my team. If you want to pursue her, I dont care. But if you force her at all, youre dead. I hate cheating and faithless shits even more. If you dare to treat Su Ying this way, youre dead. After hearing so many youre dead, Cains smile froze. He then carefully asked, Can I try going out with her? If it really doesnt work, and we break up, can you just punch me? Please dont use your ice power! Please dont freeze me down there! I looked Cain in the eye. I hadnt expected to hear him mention going out. He still looked as airheaded as usual, and I couldnt tell how serious he was being. I shrugged. You should confess first and see if she even agrees. Cain wilted andined, I want her to agree, but she runs as soon as she sees me. Last time, when I tried to pull her back, she actually screamed so loud that even Boss came out to look. Because of that, Lily and Yunqian ganged up on me. Two versus one, okay! Haha! So Im the demon king in her eyes, and even Cain is a mini boss. So? Cain revealed his glistening white teeth again and said, Lets not kick Su Ying out of the mansion? I nodded. I wasnt really worried about Su Ying. Whatever was said, Cain was one of the main members of the JDT. His personality wasnt bad, and he looked all right. Although he was a bit frivolous, didnt he have me to keep an eye on him? For women in the apocalyptic era, Cain was definitely one of the few good men. I bet there would be plenty of women who will target him in the future. Based on the principle that fertilizer and water must not be left in a strangers fields, lets try to leave him in Su Yings yard. Though going back to the main topic, could I still kick Ding Jun out like this? If he was the only one who was driven out, his hatred for me would surely grow. Knowingly increasing the number of enemies in the shadows by one left a bad aftertaste. Could we silence him directly No, we cant. I wasnt some demon king. I couldnt silence him just because he hated me. Once I open this door, wouldnt there be no shortage of people to kill in the future? I just want to live peacefully with my family in the days of the apocalypse and not to be a bad guy who ruthlessly kills people. I really dont want to turn into the demon king that Su Ying thinks I am! Cain spoke suddenly, Didnt you want to hide your strength? Once you kick Ding Jun out, he will help you a lot. Hah? Im confused. How will he be able to help? More like the opposite, right? Cain spoke matter-of-factly, He will remember his hatred for you, but he knows that he cant beat you. He cant seriously cause you trouble. In that case, all he can do is spread rumors behind your back, but youre still young, and you havent done anything bad. At most, he can only talk smack about you having a pretty face and nothing else. Stuff like how you have an overbearing personality like the boy who cried wolf. Isnt that what you want? What the hell do you mean by boy who cried wolf? Dont you mean to say a dog biting his masters hand instead? I thought it over but didnt feel like overthinking it. Lets just do it. In the end, there would be plenty to worry about in the future. I didnt need to spend so much effort worrying over Ding Jun. Well, okay then. Lets not worry about him anymore. Cain, when Dg asked you to stay behind, did he tell you what to do in the meantime? Cain spoke slowly, Boss said that Zheng Xing, your aunt, and your uncle are in charge of building the base. Lily is in charge of deploying manpower. Im in charge of beating up any dissenters until theyre not dissenting anymore. What about me? Am I supposed to just sit there and look pretty? Cain shrugged. Boss said you were busy. If theres nothing, we shouldnt bother you and should let you do your own thing. Unless theres someone qualified enough to endanger the entire garrison and we cant handle it, then we should seek you out. I nodded. Dg really understands his little brother. This kind of idle status suits me perfectly. Be honest, what are you really working on? Cain asked curiously. It doesnt look like youre busy training your troop. You only go over there at most two hours a day, then lock yourself in your room for the rest of the day. Dont tell me, youre training behind our backs? Xiao Yu, thats not right. If you are going to train, you have to help us train as well! I said honestly, These days, Ive been working on making clothes in my room. Cain froze. He nced at the clothes I was wearing. Then, he questioned, It took you that long to alter just one set of clothes? Couldnt you get Junjun to help you with that? Shes in charge of all thosedies. She would have made the clothes much nicer and faster. I shook my head. Its too difficult. I had to take a ton of clothes apart in order to piece this set together. It would have taken Junjun even longer. Plus, Ive made a second set. Other than the JDTs uniform, I also needed apletely different set of clothes made from the silk of the butterfly aberrant. This set had to be made from scratch. It also had to fit snuggly. Therefore, this had been much harder to do than simple alterations. Junjun wouldnt have been able to make it, so I had to make it myself. Cain had no interest in making clothes, whatsoever. He shook his head and sighed as he walked away. Young folks these days just love to dress up. Do you even need to dress up in anything with that face of yours I know that I have such a pretty face that even if I go naked, I would be a work of art. Which is why when I was working on the clothing, I didnt really care too much about its outward appearance. The silk thread was white. I would have left it alone if it were not for the fact that wearing all white would make me look like a ghost and scare other people. Otherwise, I would have been toozy to even stitch a cor or add a couple ice fragments as decoration. I wore that set of white garments under the uniform. Afterall, the butterfly silk was very thin, so it could be worn as undergarments as well. Besides, it was almost January. The weather was already very chilly. Unlike the previous winters, the temperature had dropped a couple more degrees. Although it wasnt dreadfully cold, most people had already put on a thick puffer jacket. The mercenaries of the JDT just wore a coupleyers. In the eyes of others, that was way powerful. Since I, on the other hand, was pretending to be weak, it made sense if I put on a couple moreyers. As I had finally finished making my clothes, it was about time to turn my focus on training my troop. We would need to rely on them to gather food supplies in the future, so I got to train them up as soon as possible. I walked toward the courtyard house. Just as I stepped up to the entrance, I heard an explosion. Too bad, the sound was not that loud. I pulled the doors open. A shadow of a person suddenly appeared in front of me. Reflexively, I karate kicked, and he flew a couple yards away. He stayed on the ground, moaning. In the courtyard, there were those that ran, those that lifted weights, those that trained their power, and those that attempted to use all kinds of weird ways to discover the type of ability the soldiers had. Everyone looked over, yet not a single one dared to stop what they were working on. They just took a peek as they trained. I walked over to the person on the floor, thought for a bit, and asked, Youre Lin Zuojun, right? That person clenched his teeth as he got up. He achingly nodded. Abruptly, he lifted his head. As if he wasnt able to believe what he heard, he asked, How did you suddenly remember my name? If you have an ability, then you have a name. If you have no ability, then youre nobody. However, powers that were difficult to uncover tended to be particrly unique. But then again, if I didnt treat them differently, they wouldnt work hard to discover their power! The atmosphere within the crowd grew heavy. Each and every one of the soldiers trained even harder, all longing for the day to shed their just-a-nobody titles and earn back on their own names. I asked, When did you discover your power? Before Lin Zuojun was able to muster a reply, Ah Nuo rushed over from the mansion and beamed. Xiao Shu,st night, two people discovered their powers! I nodded. Lin Zuojun, teleportation. I know. Whos the other? Ah Nuo was amazed. When he saw Lin Zuojun right next to him, it finally clicked for him. So this is called teleportation? That so fits you, man! These soldiers were truly so serious. Apparently, training and missions kept them so busy that they had no time to breathe. Although they had umted a lot of vacation days, it wasnt like they could ever use them. This of course meant that they rarely ever yed video games or read novels, Therefore, they had very little clue of what kind of powers could show up. They wouldnt even have a single idea of where to start. That was why the chances of them discovering their power was so low. These past few days, I mainly taught them how to discover their power. In the meantime, I brought Uncle over to help me finish the courtyard houses blueprint. Then, I had them look for Lily for the materials to get the base for the Ice Spears ready. The other one is Boots. Ah Nuo motioned for Xue Xi toe over. Thetter sped over right away. He couldnt prevent the corners of his mouth from curling up. Without even waiting for Ah Nuo to finish, he raised a finger. A tiny me popped up at the tip of his finger, just enough to light a cigarette. Not bad. I nodded my head. Water and fire were the mostmon power, all right. They were everywhere. It was just that these two types of powers were easily discoverable. I didnt think there would be any water or fire powers among these soldiers, since they had not been able to figure it out until today. They really were a group of stubborn, muscle-brained soldiers. Xue Xi beamed. Well be able to have nice hot meals when we go hunting. I patted Xue Xis back. If you dont want to be a gas stove, you better train your butt off. Xue Xi answered with a Yes, sir. He then hesitantly looked behind him, meeting the eyes of his little broI mean, little sister. Even though this little sister isnt any different from a little brother, I have to say that my Junjun is a hundred times cuter. That not-so-cute little sister Xue Huan was currently running the obstacle course. She was very talented and agile. Lily and Yunqian might not be able to overtake her. Of course, I was referring to the time before Lily and Yunqian ate their portions of crystals. The current Lily and Yunqian could beat all the members of the Ice Spears without ever using their powers. Of course, this didnt include me. After all, the more crystals one ate, the more advanced the quality of ones body got. Your little sister is a muscle-brained soldier, right? The type that never ys video games or reads a novel, the type that trains their body whether or not they have the time, right? Xue Xi looked exasperated. Yeah. Ive yed Contra before, but Huanhuan has never yed any video games before. Contra I fell silent. Luckily, this brain of mine has the thirty-something-year-old Guan Weijun in it. Even if she had never yed any video games herself, she had heard guys chatting about video games. Or else, who would know what the heck Contra is! Im eighteen this year, and I only know how to y LOL! Mister, will you give me the date and time of your birth? I looked at Xue Xi. He didnt seem to be that old, right? Xue Xi solemnly replied, I was born two score and eight years ago. Dumbfounded, I said, So does two score and eight years ago mean that you are forty-eight years old, old man? Im turning twenty-eight this year. After saying that, Xue Xi was hit on the head. Wen Jianuo scolded, I told you to study more and train more. Look at Huanhuan. She trains so diligently. No wonder you have so many shorings. Then, Xue Xi joined his sister at running, after which Wen Jianuo immediately brought up in discussion, Xiao Yu, we usually train like this. Even if we follow your advice, increasing the amount of drills by five or ten times, Im afraid there wont be any significant growth. I also understood this point. There was actually not much to criticize about their skills. These drills were merely for them to familiarize themselves even more with their speed and power; after all, they did survive through the ck fog and were fed a couple days worth of crystals. Their physique had long changed. This is just basic training. Wait until were able to enter the city, then we wont need to spend that much time on doing the basics. Even if it was me, I only have an hour in the morning to train my body; then I spend another hour of training on refining my ice power. For example, I would make an ice sculpture of Junjun wearing a princess gown or condense a multiyered ice crystal bouquet for Junjuns room. And the rest was an umtion of actualbat experience. Wen Jianuos eyes lit up. He asked, When can we enter the city? My big brother just entered the city. Im staying behind and take care of the garrison. Lets talk after my brotheres back. Wen Jianuo nodded, Im afraid that the public will be restless and troubled since the leader is not here. Should we head out to help maintain public safety? Dont worry. It wont affect our training. My eyebrows furrowed. Public safety is Cains responsibility. You should help Lily, instead. She mostly has civilians on her te and would need your help more. These soldiers would definitely be more suitable for maintaining public security rather than providing public relief. However, if they were sent to help Cain, would the soldiers under Cain end up responding to Cain or to Wen Jianuo? All right. Wen Jianuo, on the other hand, had not shown much of a reaction. It didnt seem as if he was unsatisfied, which saved me a lot of worry. It looked like Ah Nuo understood his ce. He didnt seem to have the intention of seizing power for himself, at least not right now. After all, the difference in our strength wasid right before his eyes, a difference he couldnt ovee at all. As for the future, lets wait until he bes a true member of the Jiang Dominion. If he wants to have his voice heard, hell have to earn it himself. Wen Jianuo looked toward the gate. He murmured, Ah Qing has been gone for too long. Confused, I asked, Where did he go? I was wondering about not seeing him. Then again, there were multiple sections of this courtyard house that were under construction. He might just be inside painting the walls or something. Not much of a problem. He took Watermelon and Diao Ming to get some winter clothes and some food. Speaking of this, Wen Jianuo reluctantly said, Xiao Yu, can you find a kitchendy for us? Were not that good at cooking. Grilling in the wild is fine, but homecooked meals are just impossible. Especially now with so many missing ingredients, we dont even know what we can put together to make something we can put in our mouths without wanting to spit it back out. I nced at Xue Huan. She was kicking her twin brother into a half-kneeling position. Fine, the only thing that this woman and a kitchendy have inmon is that both are good at using a knife. It was only that one chops humans, and the other chops livestock. The only thing that Xue Huan could make was probably sashimi. What about the other woman on the team, Su Ying? Er, she was also an expert at burning the kitchen down. With Junjun present, Su Ying could help with washing and peeling the vegetables. Without Junjun, all she could do was burn the kitchen down. Although there were many men who were adept at cooking too, such as myself, these soldiers obviously hadnt had time to polish their cooking skills. Do you have anyone in mind? I looked at Wen Jianuo. Since this guy had proposed the idea, maybe he already had someone in mind, or maybe he took fancy to a girl. If there was nothing wrong with the girls identity, I wouldnt want to get between two lovebirds. At most, I would just keep on eye on Wen Jianuo and make sure he wasnt taking advantage of her. This point must be made clear to all the members. If you dared to toy with any girls, I will freeze you into a popsicle down there. Wen Jianuo nodded. I knew it. I rolled my eyes. Bring her overter so I can take a look at her. However, outsiders are not allowed to live within the courtyard house. At most, they cane to cook every day, to avoid them discovering what we are actually doing, as well as my true abilities. Wen Jianuo, remember that you are the captain with the strongest abilities, and I am just a vice-captain who loafs around. I rely on my brothers rank to boss you around. You are the captain of the Ice Spears, who is furious but cant voice it since you are being oppressed by the weak prince. Got it? Wen Jianuo said jokingly, But its a fact. Arent I being oppressed by you? I shot him a nce. So youre actually angry but dont dare to say anything, huh? What, no. Wen Jianuo rubbed his nose and said, Whats to be angry about? Compared to the days on the road, theres food, clothes, and even a ce to live. Its like Im living in paradise. True. Good and bad were rtive. But what happens after you get used to these good days? Dont tell me that youre going to end up wanting even better days? I nced at Wen Jianuo. It wasnt so much as not believing in him but more that I didnt have faith in myself. If it was with someone like Dg, maybe people would be even more convinced after a lot of time has passed. But with me? I tilted my head and thought for a moment. Guan Weijuns way of thinking prevailed as I began to believe that I was not a very domineering or persuasive guy. But then I felt that was wrong. Since when have I, Jiang Shuyu, feared anyone? I was not even afraid of a person like Dg, so who else is there a need to be afraid of? Even if there was dissatisfaction, what of it? It was just Wen Jianuo. If he dared to not ept reality, Ill just exterminate him! I held my forehead. I suddenly felt that my personality was a bit divided. The personalities between my two lives may have been very simr, but there was a difference in my ways of dealing with interpersonal rtions or more like, I couldnt help the difference. Guan Weijun did not have any true powers. Even if she wanted to be stronger, there was no way to do it, but even so, she still stood up against Xia Zhengu. If I had my current abilities in myst life, I would have long exterminated that scum of a boyfriend! So, there actually arent any differences between the two personalities? Guan Weijun really had the potential of being a demon king OL. Xiao Yu I looked up. Wen Jianuo said with an embarrassed tone, Actually, the kitchendy is currently right outside the door. Would you like to meet her? I rolled my eyes. I didnt bother to say anything and nodded my head to let the person in. I couldnt help guessing what type of person Ah Nuo liked. Is it the gentle, little daisy type or the spicy hot chick type? Dont tell me, he has the same tastes as Cain and likes those unique types? On the contrary, the one who came in was an auntie, and she was even dragging two kids with her. Shes a bit too old for him. She could be Wen Jianuos mother. Is this the so-called Oedipusplex? Wen Jianuo looked over. He didnt put on a goofy smile like before but held his face looking like a dignified captain. He made introductions, Xiao Yu, this is Ms. Wang. Ms. Wang, this is Xiao Yu, the leaders little brother. That auntie looked at me as most of her nervousness subsided. She said gently, Xiao Yu is so young. Just call me Auntie Wang. Auntie Wang. I called out casually then asked, Are these your children? They appeared too young to be hers. The girl looked around ten years old and was clenching her little brothers hand nervously. The boy looked around five years old at most and incapable of keeping up with them on the road. How have they been able to survive until now? I nced at Wen Jianuo. If I remembered correctly, this guy had once mentioned sending supplies to a pair of siblings. Auntie Wang quickly shook her head and said, How is that even possible! Im over sixty this year. How would I have such little kids? These little ones are the children that Captain Wen asked me to help take care of. The girl is eleven years old. The boy is four years old. Both are very obedient and very sensible. I looked at Wen Jianuo in the eye. The other quickly rified, The children couldnt tell me where their parents went. It just so happens that Ms. Wang is by herself, too. I asked them to stay together. Dont know where their parents went? They had probably ended up in someones stomach. I couldnt help but feel pity. It was just so difficult for children so young to stay alive in this world! Wen Jianuo probably thought the same way as me and must have helped take care of them on their way here: As long as he has the leisure to do so, he probably feels he might as well look after them. I say. In the future, Auntie Wang and the kids can stay after cooking to eat with us before they leave. This way, they wont have to worry about others robbing their portions. Wen Jianuo immediately responded while nodding his head. Thats a good idea. Auntie Wang was ted. She kept bowing and expressing her gratitude, and even told the kids to say, Thank you big brother and uncle. The two kids really were very obedient. Immediately, they used their cute voices to say their thanks. The younger one even bowed. Even though they were dirty all over so their visage was unclear, seeing a small child bow so seriously was still so cute! I looked at these two children who were so dirty that you couldnt even see their faces. I simply grabbed them and rushed them to the bathroom. Im taking them to bathe! Auntie Wang was stunned. Finally, she rxed and smiled. Hes still just a child. If it was before, I wouldnt have guessed he had gone to college. Wen Jianuo smiled bitterly but had to respond, Probably a college freshman. Auntie Wangughed. Beforeing over, I heard he was the leaders little brother. I was so nervous. I didnt expect him to be such a polite child, just that his personality is a bit soft. In such a world like this, having such a gentle personality is not a good thing. Uh Wen Jianuo didnt know how to respond. Straining my neck to tune in, I came to a realization. Maybe acting as a feeble second master would be more suitable than an arrogant second master? After all, arrogance would attract peoples attention. Say if I was weak, then often hiding in my room would be because I was afraid of meeting people! I walked into the bathroom and let the water flow into the bath. This was one of the advantages this courtyard house had. Even if the water system broke, there was a different system that was used to pump well water in. Although that system was not as clean as tap water, Id heard of people these days dying from not having any water to drink, from being attacked by water powers,, or from being ambushed by water aberrants. However, I had never heard of anyone dying from drinking water! Take your clothes off. As I was testing the water temperature without turning my head, I heard scrambling footsteps. I turned my head to look at what was going on. The little girl nervously hugged her brother and backed away. Her whole back was pressed against the wall of the bathroom. Looking at this situation, I was bbergasted. Lightning struck inside of my head. An eleven-year-old girl meant she had already begun puberty. I was an eighteen-year-old male stranger who actually told her to take off her clothes. What a pervert! I, Ill help you two look for clothes. You help your little brother bathe. Pay attention to the water temperature and be careful not to burn yourselves! With my forehead drenched in sweat, I fled. Volume 5, 3: Leader鈥檚 Little Brother Is In Charge of Looking Pretty

Volume 5, Chapter 3: Leaders Little Brother Is In Charge of Looking Pretty

Tranted by Michimochi (proofread by Trespasserby & elisa; C/E edited by lucathia) Wiping away sweat from my forehead, I discovered the shoring of having both a guy and a girl residing in my head. No matter if I looked at guys or girls, I was either not thinking of them as the same sex as me, such as when I was perving on Dg and Jin Feng, or I wasnt considering them as the opposite sex, with a take off your clothes slipping out to a little girl just like that. I needed to pay more attention in the future. Im a man now! With the corresponding appendage! I cant just go into the girls bathroom! Important things have to be stressed three times! Afterwards, I found two thick, longbat coats and knocked on the bathroom door. I said, There are two coats hanging on the door. Once youre done bathing, put them on for now and stay put in the courtyard house. Dont run off. Ill head out and find you some clothes. A high pitched okay came through the door from the girl. I could finally rx and flee. On my way out, I told Wen Jianuo that I was going to the mansion. He asked if I could help figure out where Ah Qing had gone. He might have seen a beauty along the way and went off to flirt. I thought about Ah Qings personality and how he cared little for gender as long as they were pretty. It was actually highly possible that he had been seduced away. Wen Jianuo shook his head and said, When doing business, Ah Qing is more serious than anyone. After hearing this, I started to feel that something was wrong as well. The courtyard house was not that far from the mansion. To be gone for such a long time, if he wasnt neglecting his duties, then something really must have happened. After considering this, I said, Then lets all go together, with you leading the squad. If nothing has happened, the troop can stay there and support Lily. Wen Jianuo also thought that this was for the best. He called for the others at oncewhich just made for eight. Ah Qing had already taken two people with him, and Su Ying was helping out at the mansion. Before leaving, Wen Jianuo specifically reminded the troop members that in front of outsiders, Jiang Shuyu was supposedly just a vice-captain that the leader had shoved at them. They were not allowed to slip up and reveal anything about Jiang Shuyu being the true captain of this troop. If there was danger, everyone even had to protect the frail young vice-captain. Once this was said, while everyones posture remained serious, their expressions became a bit distorted. Along the way, I didnt speak a single word. Silently, I stood in between the pair of siblings Xue Xi and Xue Huan. I intended to properly conceal myself from this point on. In the meantime, I could observe whether Wen Jianuo could assume the role as the Captain of the Ice Spears. Once we reached the mansion, we finally found Chen Yanqing and the two others. Holding huge piles of things in their hands, the trio stood right in front of the gate. Their faces were pale. They looked restless and seemed like they wanted to leave, but they were surrounded by a group of civilians. The people kept their eyes locked on the supplies in Chen Yanqings hands. They didnt have to say anything. The greed glowing in their eyes exposed what they wanted to do. Those are the civilians that came with us. Xue Xi gritted his teeth and said, That fucking prick, its him again! Who are you talking about? I asked in a low voice. That guy in the sses. Xue Huan said in aposed manner as she observed the man in front of Chen Yanqing. His surname is Wang. He ims to be a member of parliament. When we were fleeing from the aberrants, he was the most talkative one. Most talkative one? Although being talkative was normal for a member of parliament, that wasnt a good characteristic to have when fleeing on the road with aberrants at their heels. Does he want tomand the team? Id met plenty of people like him in my past life. Back then, we didnt have any soldiers among us. Most of us were just ordinary people. That was what we called chaotic, where no one wanted to listen to anyone else. If someone with a good head on them managed to take control, that was good news; however, these types of people were often unable to seize control. Or I should say, they would never waste their energy on a power struggle. When things went awry, they would immediately bail. Lets consider the present. If the current me were in the midst of strangers, and these strangers had all sorts of conflicts, I would vanish in a sh. There wasnt enough time for ditching these brainless teammates, much less fighting for power. Xue Xi was somewhat perplexed and said, Not that he wants tomand the team, more like he always intervenes in dividing up the supplies or assigning people where to sleep. Some people were unhappy with poor assignments from him. They quarrel all day long. It suddenly dawned on me. A soldiersbat ability was too high. This senator Wang obviously couldnt openlymand this group of soldiers. He himself probably didnt dare to go after themanders power; after all, a single mistake would be equivalent to losing his neck. Commanding the troops obviously fell within a soldiers expertise a whole lot more. Then, that meant that the only remaining power that was up for grabs would be the distribution of supplies. It would have been all right if he just had strong opinions, but whats more was that he hadnt wanted toe here at all. Saying something like Lan City cant amount to Zhi Bei, the glorious capital. Rather thaning to Lan City, why not head toward Zhi Bei? Hah. Zhi Bei, is it? That ce was an abyss. From the very beginning, everyone wanted to go to Zhi Bei, thinking that the capital would never fall. They had forgotten the fact that they had just escaped from a big city themselves and always skirted around cities while they fled, never having the guts to go near them. Moreover, which city was more of a giant city than Zhi Bei? Poption density in Zhi Bei ranked the highest in the country. With half of that bing aberrants and the other half bing food for their evolution, could it ever be the best ce to go? I was lost in my thoughts. Once we take over Lan City, we should find some time to go to Zhi BeiNo, no. We should head to Yu City in the south first. Zhi Bei was just not a good ce to go. Didnt we see that even Thirteen, the aberrant king of Meisia, only upied Lan City and not Zhi Bei? Who knows? The things in Zhi Bei may be even scarier than the twelve elites. It was possible that it was just that no one had the means to tell us anything about what was going on inside. In fact, if someone else could use this opportunity to head over and upy Yu City, that would be amazing. This way, by conquering both major cities, human beings wouldnt end up bing an endangered species, right? As for Zhi Bei, lets not waste our energy. Letting others toss their lives into an abyss that even I myself dont dare to step into isnt something I could ever do. Ah Qing, what you are saying isnt right! Senator Wang disapproved then nagged, You are soldiers. How could you not care about us ordinary people? Us, ordinary people, do not have enough to eat or wear. You dont let us have anything even when we ask for some food and clothes. Do you want to watch us starve to death? Does this not needle your conscience? Chen Yanqings face darkened. But beside Senator Wang, it was all old people and weak children surrounding him, looking at him with anticipation. He was hardly able to spit any harsh words. He could only dryly say, These supplies are for the Ice Spears. The Jiang Dominion is the one responsible in overseeing your supplies. They will not starve you to death. Theyre just a group of bandits who robbed us of all of our supplies. Why would they bother with looking after our lives Senator Wang had only said a few things when he suddenly seemed to remember something, and his face paled. He didnt dare to continue his appeal. Swiftly switching the topic, he continued to earnestly beg for the supplies. Oh, Ah Qing. Youre helping them fight the monsters. They would be embarrassed not to give you any supplies. Couldnt you just leak some from between your fingers so that the elderly and the children have something to eat? Dont tell me that youre unwilling to do even this much? Chen Yanqing reddened with anger. But beside Senator Wang, there were just the old and the young. He didnt dare blow a gasket. Then at this moment, he looked up and saw us. He was thrilled. He wanted to squeeze through but was blocked. If his wall was made of men, it would have been fine. But it was made of the elderly, so he couldnt just push them aside. I rolled my eyes at him. This Ah Qing didnt even know how to speak back to them. There was no way that these invincible, airheaded troops of mine would mistreat these people. Feeding them until they were stuffed was impossible, but feeding them until they werent hungry wasnt a problem. Wen Jianuos expression became frosty. As he strode over, his steps were very heavy, gradually attracting the attention of the crowd. Atst, that Senator Wang finally noticed something was wrong. When he turned around and saw Wen Jianuo, half of his overbearing attitude disappeared. The aggressiveness he had toward Chen Yanqing was immediately gone. Senator Wang, are you dissatisfied with my soldiers again? As soon as Wen Jianuo opened his mouth, that Senator Wangsplexion stiffened but he had no choice but to put on a smile. No wonder Ah Qing had pushed Ah Nuo to be the vice-captain. They really were not on the same level! How can that be! Youre wrongly using me! Senator Wang cried with an aggrieved face. I felt goose bumps all over my body from the sight. If I hadnt seen this Senator Wang assembling a group of elderly to stir up trouble, I would not have believed this creep was here to pick a quarrel with us. Wen Jianuo crossed his arms across his chest and asked, So exin yourself, why have you surrounded my men? Senator Wang responded immediately, Im just here to see if you soldiers have enough food and clothes. I whispered to Xue Xi, What did Ah Nuo do to him for him to be this terrified? Xue Xiughed. He would always keep the good things to himself. The others would protest, which created a lot of trouble. On the spot, Ah Nuo ordered not to give him any supplies for three days. This guy didnt dare to follow those who were scavenging for food either. He always hid in the midst of the elderly and weak, relying on the supplies we gave. Three days with no supplies from us meant starving for three days. Of course, he felt wronged and cursed to no end. Right then and there, Ah Nuo didnt utter a single word and shot right next to his ear. He nearly went deaf. From then on, whenever he sees Ah Nuo, he bes a mouse whos seen a cat, terrified to death. I nodded my head to show my understanding. Although Ah Nuo was more ruthless than Ah Qing, they were soldiers after all. If it was my dg, that shot would not have been near the ear but right through the head. This is a bandits den! Senator Wangined, You take our things upon arrival, then send over a tiny bit of stuff. You cant even fill the gaps between our teeth with this amount! The days have be this cold, and they havent sent any nkets over. Robbing our supplies is the same as freezing us to death! This fucker. How many mercenaries do you think are in the troop? Since when was transporting 300 quilts necessary? Just go to the town and look for some yourselves! This buffoon most likely hasnt taken a single step outside of a 100 meter radius from the mansion. Wen Jianuo indifferently said, We didnt have much left to begin with. At most there were only two or three days worth left. It has long passed that time period. If you had more than that, then let me ask you this. Did you secretly stash some away? Senator Wangs face immediately changed. He hastily said, Of of course not! Wen Jianuo ignored him and looked around at the elderly, women, and children. Those people lowered their heads, not daring to meet his gaze. When we joined the Jiang Dominion, we pledged to obey all orders from the leader. If he wants to kick people out, we will have no say. You can continue making trouble, though you probably wont get kicked out. Wen Jianuo said it in such an illogical way. The first part didnt match up with thetter. Many people were puzzled and snuck nces at him. The leader will not let anyone to leave with hatred in their hearts. Its simple to kill people in this world. If the leader were as soft-hearted as we are, I would never have brought my people to join in the first ce. Wont allow anyone with hatred in their hearts to leave? The crowd seemed to be stupidly confused. Then, at this moment, Chen Yanqing muttered, Justst time, the leader kicked a guy who wanted to rob other people of their supplies. That guy is still confined to his bed to this day, unable to get up. If it wasnt for his mother looking after him, he probably would have rotted in bed! It was so terrifying! How can you still dare to stir trouble again? Are you betting on your elderly age? I never saw the leader ever show an ounce of respect to the elders or the weak. The crowd turned pale. Finally, they regretted listening to Senator Wangs provocation. Each red at him and pleaded with Chen Yanqing. Sir, you dont have to fuss over us. We are old, and our brains have be muddled. We let some person say a couple words and make a fool out of us. We are so stupid! We deserve to be beaten! An old man began to p himself, and those two ps were even pretty loud. I wonder if Im seeing things or something. Did he just nce at me? Chen Yanqing impatiently said, Elder Li, theres no need to hit so hard. I ought to do this, I really should. Who told me to be this stupid? The old man bent his hunched back as he bemoaned this. Seeing that he was so amendable and flexible, he didnt seem like he could be easily fooled. Wen Jianuo sneered, You are not a fool. Its just that your family consists of a pair of shitheads. If you continue to coddle them, something is bound to happen sooner orter. Nowadays, a single incident can lead to death. Your crying and pleading will be useless then. After listening to this, Elder Lis face fell. He could barely pull a smile together and said, Right. Right. Ill make sure to whip them in shape right when I go back! Xue Xi whispered in my ears, His son and daughter are both thirty something, and there is even a five-year-old grandson. Both children arezier than pigs. They would even cry about how heavy and tiringing over to get their food is. Outside of times when were distributing food, I hardly ever see them. They make Elder Lie to get the supplies by himself, and he would do it so his son and daughter would have supplies. Its preposterous! If I had given birth to this pair of jackasses, Id send them out and leave them to be eaten by aberrants! However, Elder Li is not entirely faultless. He had his childrente and developed a habit of babying his children to no end. Hes reaping what he sowed. I watched Elder Li, who indeed fit the word elder to the tee. Each strand of his hair had turned gray. He looked at least seventy years old. Seeing such an old mane over to help, just so he could receive an extra portion of supplies, meant that the soldiers likely wouldnt have given him hardbor. It was no wonder he had attracted so much attention, when it was impossible for the soldiers to remember everyone. After all, the soldiers had brought at least two hundred civilians with them, and they had been busy escaping for their lives. Only people like Senator Wang who kept stirring up trouble were more memorable. Also, sir, could you get me to a different house? Elder Li sighed, The house that I was assigned to is so far. Ie here to collect supplies every day. My legs cant stand it anymore! I almostughed out loud. Just a moment ago, didnt he say he would get his children off theirzy asses? Why not have theme and get the supplies on their own? For the Jiang Dominion to assign them to a faraway house, it must mean that they have capable people in their household. Yet in the end, this family sent the elderly to transport their supplies. Whats more, assigning residences to three hundred people meant at most using up two or three roads. How far could that be? That distance did not amount to any difference. How could you be exhausted just by moving a days worth of food? Probably, the real reason was insecurity from being too far from the mansion. Everyone wanted to be as close to the mansion as possible to feel secure. They would love to be able to turn and run into the mansion if an aberrant were to show up. The others rushed in to join, The house that I was assigned is too far as well. I saw that there are clearly empty houses that are closer. Why dont you give them to us? Really? I thought for a bit and understood. Those were for future personnel. If all the closer ones were upied and some capable person were to join in the future but wasnt qualified enough to live in the mansion, it wasnt like we could have them live on the outskirts. Dont tell me they would have to drive here whenever we had a meeting? I maintained my silence. Up until now, there were quite a few stealing looks at my way. There was amazement in their eyes, but their gaze was mostly focused on the uniform that I was wearing, especially the Jiang Dominions emblem. Sir, just do me this favor, please? Elder Li expectantly looked at Wen Jianuo. This Elder Lis method was a bit smarter than Senator Wangs. Despite his old age, he still openly used sir with deference, which constantly reminded the soldiers of their positions. Compared to Senator Wangs straightforward way of saying you are all soldiers, his way was a lot more subtle. Even Ah Nuo couldnt curse him out. Sure enough, this old man had his tricks. Wen Jianuo retorted, Im not responsible for this matter. If you have any issues, bring it up with the people in charge of making assignments. Then, what are you responsible for? Elder Li asked curiously. Wen Jianuo indifferently said, As you mentioned, we are soldiers. What else can we be responsible for? We either stay behind to protect or we enter the city to search for supplies. Otherwise, how could there still be security and supplies for hundreds of people? Wen Jianuo refused to y into Elder Lis hands. Elder Li had no cards left. He then looked at me and started piling on the praise. This young man has such a handsome profile! You dont have to mention it. I know Im handsome. Plus, for an old man of seventy, I bet my Jiang Dominion uniform is more attractive than my face. Howe I have never seen you before? How have youe to be following Sir Wen? I looked at Elder Li innocently, without uttering a single word. Lets see how he makes use of this situation! It was a pity that I miscalcted how utterly thick the skin on his face was. He actually forced his way forward and seemed like he wanted to touch my head. This child. You are so pleasing to the eye Immediately, I hid behind Xue Huan. Although she was a tough gal with a frozen face, she was still a girl after all. Elder Li couldnt easily force his way past her to touch me. By now, most of the crowd had noticed me, especially Senator Wang. Their eyes lit up. One by one, they tried to edge closer. This was like returning home during Chinese New Year and being surrounded by a group of elders. The next second would most likely have Are you married yet? Where are you working? How much is your sry? Do you have a car? Have you bought a house yet? rushing my way. So scary! I rather go up against an aberrant. Thats a lot simpler to deal with than this. Contrary to the indifferent tone earlier, Wen Jianuo sternly said, Dont touch him or you will face consequences! Elder Li startled. He hesitantly took a few steps back. He said, Whawhats wrong? I was just concerned about this young man. He looked at me. The eyes of this old man were filled with panic. He shivered. If this was all an act, I should cherish the opportunity to study from him. Why are you scaring this old man? He didnt even do anything. He just asked a couple of questions. This young man didnt even say a word in response, yet youre yelling at the old guy. What has this world be? Sigh The old people and women around us murmured in disapproval, or maybe they were thinking of their own situation. Their faces were gloomy as they empathized with theirrade in distress. I suddenly felt a huge headache. Normally, respecting elders was not a big deal, but I knew that the elderly party was trying to climbdders upon seeing my uniform. I didnt want any trouble. The other party was, after all, too old to fight. I couldnt beat him up or chase him away either. Gettingtched onto like this was troublesome. At this time, someone mocked, Is that person royalty or something? Just asking after him warrants a scolding? Wen Jianuo scrunched his brows. He couldnt answer to that. Right this moment, my eyes lit up. I waved my hands and shouted, Cain-g! Not far away, Cain stopped. The corners of his mouth twitched. Then the next second, he recovered his arrogant manner. He was full of confidence, and it was probably because of his utmost confidence as he led the soldiers behind him over that he appeared even more imposing than Wen Jianuo. As he led the group over, he shouted, What are you doing? Surrounding my bosss baby brother, do each and every one of you not want to live any longer? Shit! You just exposed my identity right off the bat! I can practically see my fate of getting surrounded by elders like its New Year. Still, even though I kind of want to beat him up, its not like I can hide my identity for long anyway. Ill let Cain off this time. Cain surveyed the crowd of old and young. He didnt have any intent to show respect for the elderly. Instead, he sneered at them, then walked right in front of me and asked, Xiao Yu, are these people bullying you? Pondering, I showed a timid expression. Neither nodding nor shaking my head, I hid further behind Xue Huan. To be honest, Huanhuan, your back is so straight and stiff. Are you sure your vertebrae arent fused together? Cain snorted vehemently. He may have been chuckling, but you could see his burning rage. He turned around. His smile vanishedpletely. He looked on as if the old and the weak were corpses in his eyes. That pair of eyes drowned in murderous intent, making me feel that this Cain was a stranger. He didnt need to put on an act to pull off such a terrifying face! Now youve done it. Our leaders precious treasures are his younger brother and sister. You touch them, you die! Imend your guts. You just arrived not too long ago, and you dared to provoke Shuyu already. Bloody hell! Dont you guys know that Im the one who stayed behind this time? If the boss finds out that his little brother was wronged, do you think Id be left off the hook? Dead silence fell upon the scene. No one dared to speak. Cain red at Wen Jianuo and yelled, What are you doing? The leader told you to protect Shuyu so nothing can touch a single hair on his body! Is this the way youre gonna protect him? Letting him get surrounded by so many people? Shuyu is timid. Dont you know that? Probably, the entire Ice Spears didnt know that. And Cain, you finally learned how to use the a single hair idiom! Wen Jianuosplexion changed. His lips tightened and he bowed his head. He admitted, It is my mistake. Cain sneered. He raised both hands. Two pirs of fire rose from the ground as high as a whole story, one to Wen Jianuos left and one to his right, no more than fifty centimeters away from him. Even I could feel the sudden rise in temperature although I stood this far away. Fortunately, the mes only existed for an instant. If theysted any longer, they could have roasted my captain without even touching him. Cain pointed right at Wen Jianuos nose and warned, If this happens again, you can just go and die! You cant even handle a group of old fogeys. How can I expect you to protect Shuyu from aberrants? Useless things shouldnt be kept alive and waste supplies! His face burned from the heat. Wen Jianuo gritted his teeth and said, Yes, sir! Although Cain only threatened Wen Jianuo, it was obvious that he was making this into an example. Everyone else was so frightened that they were deathly pale. The way Cain threatened Wen Jianuo had its benefits. In the future, even if Wen Jianuo turned a blind eye to his closest rtives, he would have an excuse. If he didnt protect me well, he would be dead meat. Who cared if the person in front of him was ny or a hundred years old? No matter who he trampled into the ground, no one would me him for disrespecting the elderly anymore. I bet no elders will surround me in the future. Though now, Im worried that Wen Jianuo will misinterpret Cains good intentions, taking this threat seriously and will stay upset with Cain. Then again, Id been watching Wen Jianuos reaction since the beginning, and he wasnt behaving like usual. He seemed to be ying along. It seemed like there were Oscar-winning actors all around me. The pressure was on. Inparison, I was just some extra. Can I even fulfill the role of a weak and cowardly pretty boy? Cain looked at the group of seniors again. Then, he put his hands on his waist and berated, Each and every one of you did not go to get work but came here to surround the leaders little brother. Are you dissatisfied with the Jiang Dominion or what? Bearing the brunt, Elder Li immediately responded, Were here to receive work. We saw how beautiful this young man looks and just wanted to say hello. Cain sneered, In this world, curiosity kills people. Elder Li repeatedly answered Yessir. He didnt dare to say any more than that. In this age, nice people sure get taken advantage of. Senator Wang dared to provoke Chen Yanqing but did not dare to face Wen Jianuo. Elder Li puts on a soft front, and even Wen Jianuo could not beat him, but he couldnt do anything to Cain. Then again, Cain was my brothers subordinate. In short, Dg is the peak! With such a mighty Dg, what more could a ddi ask for? I was so giddy that I couldnt stop the corners of my mouth from curling up. Fortunately, Xue Huans back was blocking me, and it was a good thing that this girls back was so wide. The gate of the mansion suddenly opened. A group of people walked out. Among them, there was a familiar face, Tai Wen. He saw the people crowding in front of the gate. At first, he stood there, taken aback. Then, he surveyed the group of elders. His expression rxed. I guessed it was because none of his people were among them. He saluted Cain and said, Lily had mee look for you and ask you toe with us to the central region of the town. She said that Im responsible for collecting supplies and that you should do a sweep in the area again to avoid anything slipping through the. Cain rolled his eyes at him. He impatiently responded, Sweeping over and over again. Even ants would have been swept away! Tai Wen chuckled. Its better to be careful. Nowadays, even ants could injure people. Cain said in a strange tone, If were even afraid of confronting ants, I think I should go meet God as soon as possible. This earth is way too dangerous! The elders did not dare to even squeak. One by one, they dispersed as quickly as a young person. Tai Wen watched the departing figures of the group of elderly. He frowned and said, This new group of civilians is terrible. Some of the younger ones just stay in the house all day long. The old ones actuallye out to work more, but most of them dont do much and theyin a whole lot more. I heard that they too had to run for their lives to make it here, right? Its really hard to believe they were able to make it this far with that kind of attitude. I looked at Wen Jianuo. Sure enough, he was a bit flustered. The people that he had brought with him were different from Tai Wens group who could support themselves. Wen Jianuos group had been protected by soldiers with guns while Tai Wens group were just civilians with no guns yet had escaped from the city on top of that, despite the old, young, and injured they had with them. How could their temperament be the same? Cain shrugged and said, Boss said to observe them for a while, something about how you have to wait for the waves to recede before you can figure out who isnt wearing pants. The meaning suddenly dawned on Tai Wen. He nodded and smiled. Thats true. But what are we supposed to do with those who arent wearing pants? Cain shrugged. How would I know? Wait for the boss to get back. It didnt matter whether Cain knew or not. Tai Wen and the others stood in the midst of this sea, too, awaiting observation. How we were going to deal with them wasnt something we should tell them beforehand. Cain looked foolish, but he didnt mess up the important things. Lets go! Cain turned his head at me and shouted, Shuyu, are you using these people? If not, we might as well have theme with me to sweep the town. The faster we can finish, the faster we cane back for dinner. Xiao Yu, youre here as well? Only then did Tai Wen realize I was present. He sighed. You still like to hide behind others, just a different person this time. Then again, your boyfriend did head into the city. Dont tell me that this time its your bestie? Bestie my ass! Has Guan Weijun not told you yet? Xiao Sha isnt my boyfriend! You made Xue Huans stiff posture even worse! I walked out from behind Xue Huan. I scrunched my face and said, Xiao Sha isnt my boyfriend. That was pretend so that we could talk in close proximity more easily! Tai Wen just said, Really? He totally didnt believe me. Fuck, dont tell me even Guan Weijun is actually not convinced? I held my forehead. I dont know why the whole world wants to shove Xiao Sha at me. Did you guys even ask Xiao Sha himself? He currently looks at me with the same gaze he uses on my big brother: full of admiration. Tai Wen asked curiously, Shuyu, you brought so many people over here. Is there something going on here? As I was about to open my mouth, Wen Jianuo took a big step forward and said, A couple of my men hadnte back aftering here for supplies. I spected that something must have been up and came over to look at the situation. Tai Wens attention was immediately pulled away by Wen Jianuo. And you are? Wen Jianuo introduced himself, Im Wen Jianuo, the captain of the newly formed Ice Spears. Tai Wen also greeted him very warmly, My name is Tai Wen. I arrived not long ago, so please give me your guidance. Wen Jianuo nodded, then said chivalrously, I dont have anything to teach you, but if you need help with anything, just say it. Were a group of soldiers. We dont have anything but strength. Hearing this, Tai Wens eyes flickered. He smiled. No wonder you have such an intimidating presence. We are all just civilians and dont have much strength. Really? Just who blew up the gas station then? But we can do some small things. If you have any clothes that need mending, water pipes or electric cables that need fixing, or just cleaning,e find us. Upon hearing this, Wen Jianuo nodded. These things are just as vital. Rest assured, we wont let you people work for nothing. How about using food supplies as barter? Of course, theres no problem. Tai Wen smiled warmly and amiably, but the way I see it, he was a fox through and through. Luckily, Wen Jianuo looked like a rough dude, but on the inside, he was just as much of a fox as Tai Wen! The two had such a strong presence of mind. They definitely wont be weak in the future. I was actually a bit worried about that, but then I recalled Dgs wordshe didnt want stupid people, only talented ones. The two in front of me definitely fit that requirement well. Cain interrupted impatiently, Enough, enough. Stop with the chitchat already. If Lily sees you guys being so idle, shell rush out and stab you. Dont me me for not warning you. Come on, lets go patrol! Patrol, huh. I didnt feel like going. I was trying to think of an excuse to head back to my room and y with Xiaorong when suddenly, lightning shed before my eyes. I blinked. I thought I was seeing things, but another sh came, as if we were surrounded by spotlights. Over there. Theres lightning! Someone cried out. I turned my head to look. Lan City was in that direction. Between the buildings, bolts of lightning struck one after another. The lightning bolts shot up from the ground as opposed to the lightning that usually came down from the sky. This shocked everyone. My mind nked from shock. Shujun? Volume 5, 4: The Clash of Ice and Lightning

Volume 5, Chapter 4: The sh of Ice and Lightning

Tranted by Miaka_Mei (proofread by Arcedemius; C/E edited by Elkin & lucathia) Shuyu, where you goin? Cain faintly called out from behind me, but I simply couldnt pay attention to anyone else. I was rushing at full speed, my mind filled with only thoughts of Shujun getting in all kinds of crises. She might be wounded, bleeding, or even I sprinted, ignoring the small voice at the back of my mind warning me that I should remain because there were hardly any JDT members left at the base, and that Dg was with Shujunbut then, why was she throwing so many lightning bolts? Although Id always said that Shujuns ability was frighteningly powerful, her strength was in her fine maniption of her power. If I had to honestly gauge her power, she wasnt weak but she wasnt that much stronger than the other JDT members either, particrly after their pace of improvement skyrocketed after they truly understood the strength and importance of special powers. Shujun would have to go all-out to produce such arge cluster of lightning. She wouldnt have done such a thing if she hadnt truly been in danger, because I had warned her over and over again to exert the barest minimum amount of energy to defeat the enemy. Youll never know what kind of aberrant youll meet around the corner of the next street.One must never exhaust ones energy unless absolutely necessary. Nevertheless, regardless of how many excuses there were, there was actually only one underlying reasonthe person that I care about the most is still Shujun. Even Dg is ced at the back, not to mention the others in Jiang Dominion. I came across many civilians while I ran madly; each and every one of them looked at me in astonishment. If this went on, my pretense would soon vanish into thin air. Using my remaining rationality to force myself to rush to an unupied area, I spent a few seconds to kick away my shoes and fling off my outer-shirt. The outfit was custom-made. Its lining was made of ck and shiny fabric; as long as it was crumbled into a ball from the inner side, it would look just like a trash bag. If I were to throw it away at the roadside, no one would want to pick it up. I was currently dressed in pure white clothes made from butterfly silk. Only the neckline and the side of my body had some decorations. My right hand lightly touched my cheek, forming an ice mask. Fiveyers werepressed instantly to reduce the level of transparency in order to conceal my face. I then formed ice des on the soles of my feet, and swiftly glided far away. After gliding out of the town, I was lucky to find a sports car immediately. I frantically drove at full throttle to the outskirts of Lan City. The number of abandoned cars had started to increase in this area, so it wasnt a good ce for entry. With the loud noise of the car, I could attract and get surrounded by aberrants, which would further dy the journey. There were lightning bolts shing from time to time in the far distance. The shes of lightning were no longer as frightening as the ones at the beginning, but this made me feel even more panicked. Does this mean that Shujun is no longer able to release suchrge energy bursts? I got out of the car, formed ice des again, and rapidly glided while disregarding all obstacles in front of me, stepping on the surfaces of various high buildings using the stickiness of the ice. Consuming crystals had drastically increased my bodys jumping power, allowing me to jump straight from one building to another. Luckily, Lan City was a megacity with high-rise buildings. However, there were times when I couldnt get to the next building. Gazing at the ce with lightning shing asionally in the distance, I hardened my heart, and ignored the height of approximately ten storeys beneath my feet. I swiftly ran, jumped out, and formed a thinyer of silk-like ice pieces in midair. They shattered upon being stamped, but they had at least served as a lever for me. Piece by piece, I made my way over, but I was still gradually falling, and would very soon be unable to reach the next building. How much longer would I be dyed after this fall? Even if I have expended a lot of time and risked my life to rush into the city, theres no guarantee that Shujun could hold on for so long! She might have already I steeled myself, and furtherpressed the ice pieces that I was stomping on. I didnt do this in the past because the duration was too short. Standing for longer than even a split second on a piece of ice in midair would lead to a fall, but during that time, I had to also use the force from stomping on it to propel myself further. There was literally only a split second of time for me topress the ice. It could also be said that I had toplete thepression from the very moment the ice piece was formed. The doubleyeredpressed ice piece still broke when I stamped on it, but it was enough for me to maintain the height. Even if I couldnt move up, I was at least able to sustain the height. Only now did I realize that the ice piece needed to be sufficientlypressed to serve as a lever. No wonder I hadnt been able to advance higher on the ice pieces no matter how hard Id tried. I was only now able to barely sustain the height. If I couldpress a few moreyers, moving up would no longer be difficult. But, back then, the Ice Emperor had never mentioned this little trick Ah! Could it be that he had already regardedpressed ice as normal ice, so he didnt even think of passing on this little reminder? After finally getting a hold of this little trick, I became even quicker in moving across and over the high buildings. But I was still not satisfied. If I was a bit stronger, I could directly make a path of ice all over the sky, and would have already found Shujun A lightning bolt surged from the ground and sparked electricity, right in front of my eyes. There was no longer anything blocking the way. I hurriedly looked down to find any trace of my little sister, only to find an unfamiliar man standing at the edge of a huge pit. There was actually a person lying at the bottom of the pit. I wasnt sure if the person was alive or dead. Fortunately, that body shape and hair color was nothing like Shujuns. Thats a man It cant be Dg, right? The man at the edge of the pit lifted his right hand over his head. His palm was actually releasing blue-white lightning that was gradually gettingpressed into a ball. As the ball of lightning would very soon be flung down into the pit, my heart lurched. I hastily shouted, Stop! and rushed over, but I was still toote to stop him. I could only look on helplessly as the lightning ball dropped into the bottom of the pit, and the body of the unknown person was charred ck. Could it be Dg? I charged into the pit. My heart was already half frozen, but the other half still had some rationality. Dg is so strong. He was even the Ice Emperor, one of the strongest elites in the other world. How could he just die like this? Its absolutely impossible! Even if the hair color of the person lying at the bottom of the pit is somewhat simr to Dgs, i-its not like I see Shujun anywhere! Or maybe she has already The mere thought that Dg and Xiomi might have suffered something made my heart hurt so much that I was almost unable to breathe. Although I felt that something seemed off, and I was unable to rid myself of that nagging suspicion, I had to first turn this c-corpse over turn this person over for a better look I suddenly saw a sh of lightning in front of my eyes. I was actually unable to react at all, and had only avoided it by relying on my bodys instincts that took me out of the pit with a leap. The pit was once more bombarded by countless strikes of lightning. I lowered my head in a daze. The bottom of the pit was left with only scattered charred remains of the body. You couldnt tell it was a human unless you looked closely. This time, it was no longer possible to recognize the true identity of that charred corpse. Contrarily, this actually calmed me down. He couldnt possibly be Dg. Theres no way that my familys dg would die in such a way! After calming myself down, I realized that I might have misunderstood something. Shujun wasnt the one who had emitted the lightning; it was this man. I didnt expect that there would be another person beside Shujun who could emit such powerful lightning in the present time. It was precisely because it was nearly impossible that I had instantly thought of Shujun when I saw the cluster of lightning. Despite knowing that this was the truth, I still felt lingering fear inside my heart. After all, my arrival had brought about too many changes. Originally, Dg should have been the one to support his whole mercenary troop. Consequently, he would have acquired many experiences, and gone through numerous life and death crises. But everything changed after I recovered my previous lifes memories. Although it had led to Dg eating crystals ahead of time, this could have also caused him tock too many experiences in facing danger. While Shujun would have already ceased to exist, right? I was just afraid of God wanting to take away such a nice little sister, so even though there was very little possibility of this happening, I still felt extremely angry. Lifting my head, I glowered at the man who had impatiently flung around his lightning. He even shot a sudden lightning bolt at me for no reason. I dodged, while not forgetting to strike back with arge ice knife. This is ice? The man used lightning to split the throwing knife into two. He looked at the pieces of ice on the ground with slight astonishment. Shortly afterwards, his mouth slightly quirked up in a smirk, and he mockingly said, Its just ice. What a good person. Just three words, and I already felt like making an ice sculpture out of him. Thenlets see if he can still say Its just ice! Why did you stop me? The man confusedly asked, but he didnt really sound like he cared about the reason. I pointed at the pit, and angrily demanded, Why did you attack him? The man raised his eyebrows. You know each other? Of course I dont! Suppressing my rage with great difficulty, I carefully inquired, Is he an over twenty year-old man, dressed in a long, ck trench coat with a golden pattern, and a gun hanging on his waist? The man said in a nonchnt manner, More or less. More or less, my ass! My heart almost jumped out of my chest. If I hadnt realized that the man was answering with utter carelessness, I would have really been scared to death! Answer the question seriously! The man smiled instead of getting angered. Then lets see if you have enough qualifications to make me serious! Sensing his hostility, I immediately crafted ice des on the soles of my feet and froze ice up to my knees to form a pair of ice boots. There was a mimei with lightning attribute at home for testing experiments, so my understanding of the lightning ability wasnt shallow. Ice isnt actually a good electrical conductor. As long as Im covered with ayer of ice, the injury inflicted by lightning will be lowered by twenty percent. It doesnt sound like a lot, but sometimes that tiny bit of injury could decide ones life or death. In the short moment when I was forming the boots, the man didnt idly wait for me to equip myself for battle. His first attack was throwing three fist-sized lightning balls at me. The balls didnt move fast, but gave me a bad feeling. I immediately glided back, far away from those three balls. From afar, the three balls exploded in an instant, forming arge cluster of lightning. If I hadnt avoided it, I would have suffered numbness all over my whole body by now. Obviously, there would only be numbness since I had my special ability to protect my body. If it was an average person, they would have at least suffered third-degree burns. I didnt expect that lightning could be used in such a way; it was basically a hand grenade. Although its speed wasnt very fast, it was more useful than Shujuns lightning whip in dealing with arge quantity of enemies. Just one of those could wipe out a bunch of people. Its high efficiency was simply beyond question. This man was truly a cut above the rest. His ability in utilizing lightning should be above Shujuns. But I was obviously referring tobat ability. In terms of housework, Im positive that he wouldnt be able to power the air conditioner while sleeping. I called out the ice dagger, which was miserably short. You needed to be extremely close up to the enemy in order to inflict damage with a weapon like a dagger. However, it was extremely difficult to get close to a lightning user. Putting aside other uses of lightning, he only needed to spread a web of electricity as a defense to limit my moves, leaving me with only a single option: forcefully breaking through in a head-on match of power against power. The enemy evidently understood this point. The corner of his mouth quirked up and he released two balls of lightning and let them hover in mid-air, one in front and one behind him. If I dared to approach him, hed likely instantly blow them up. Even if it couldnt injure me, it would hinder my movement. I immediately glided to his side, shooting out knives like they were free of charge. He couldnt actually keep up with my speed, but could somewhat perceive the fluctuation of energies, instantly emitting lightning and knocking down the ice knives. Still, I didnt actually throw out ice knives every time. Sometimes, I charged up Xiaorong instead, who was hiding under my clothes, and sometimes I was just bluffing. Before I arrived, my opponent had already been fighting for a long time. The ground was littered with charred corpses that werent just limited to the one at the bottom of the pit. No matter how strong he was, there was a limit to his strength. Hed topple over sooner orter if he continued burning up energy like this. I was kind of exploiting my enemys weakness. However, I too had used up quite an astonishing amount of energy for the sake of time, making my way over as if my life depended on it. Plus, this was Lan City. I wasnt even clear about which area I was in, so I shouldnt exhaust all of my strength in this battle. In fact, I was slightly hesitant. If this was merely a misunderstanding, it seemed unnecessary to fight The enemy suddenly flung up his hand. A bloody scratch appeared on my cheek. If I hadnt reflexively evaded, my head would probably have exploded! He actually pulled out his gun, using bullets to supplement his special abilitys weaknesses. Fine, I was currently still afraid of bullets. An instantly formed ice wall wasnt enough to fully block the bullets. Even if it could reduce the force, Id still get injured, although it wouldnt be a fatal wound. But I was referring to average guns. The gun that the man was holding on to seemed anything but ordinary! Its outward appearance was clearly that of a pistol, but it was bigger than the average gun by one-and-a-half times. Even the silencer attached to its gun barrel seemed very unusual. Was this gun modified after the apocalypse? If it was used before the apocalypse, just how many strong guys actually existed who could handle the recoil force from this kind of gun? I dodged the gun, and the bullet pierced through the cement wall, creating a small hole. This is practically a mini bazooka! Hes a gun expert, the same as my familys mercenary troop. This kind of guy is more skilled in shooting than in martial arts. He might have a powerful special ability, but unless he practices martial arts often, its unlikely that he could effectivelybine both skill and ability right upon awakening. I had met a few of those kinds of people, but they didnt end up very strong in the end. After all, there were not many true martial arts experts in the modern-day era. Granted that a champion of an athleticpetition could fight two or three enemies at once, they could still get defeated and killed when they encountered a crook whose hands had been stained with blood. Practicing martial arts and killing someone were still essentially two different things. It was only in theter stage of the apocalypse that there were some renowned experts in martial arts forms. The apocalypse truly did toughen up humans. After countless life and death experiences in the apocalypse, even an officedy could beat the crap out of five grown men without eating crystals if she were to return to pre-apocalyptic times. Like seriously, Im not bullshitting! This man was obviously not a martial arts expert, but a gun expert, which was why he hade up with the trick of using lightning as a hand grenade. It was just like my familys little housework expert, Junjun, who started using the lightning ability for electrical powering. It was the same logic; you could tell someones innate character from how they applied their ability. The guy in front of me had most likely already gotten his hands dirty before. Assassin? Mafia? His marksmanship was extremely urate, but his agility was just so-so and wasnt to the point of being very strong. He was most likely from the mafia. I had ice walls to hinder the bullets and an iparably sturdy body from eating crystals, but I still chose to dodge when confronted with a gun with powerful firepower. Even I wouldve ended up coughing blood and breaking bones in the face of such strong firepower. Thest time when I had gotten myself seriously injured in Lan City, I was lucky that Xiaorong was clever and had buried me with tree roots before I woke up. Otherwise, I might not even have had the chance to wake up, to say the least. Compared with his lightning, this mans marksmanship was far more urate. Im not even sure how he took aim. He was clearly unable to keep up with my speed, but all of his shots were very urate. If it wasnt for my strong instincts helping me dodge in time, who knows how many holes my body would have. The uracy of a gun experts instincts was truly frightening. Fortunately, its effects were drastically lowered when it came to lightning. He was probably still not experienced enough with it, and his speed of shooting a gun far exceeded that of emitting his ability. To improve, he would need to undergo long term training. Even Shujun was a lot faster than this man in emitting lightning. She was only losing out in terms of energy output, agility, and battle instinct, but there was no need to rush that. She could only slowly umte energy and battle experiences. I darted past two bullets, but after he added a web of lightning, I couldnt get any closer than three meters to him. He knew hed be badly disadvantaged if I were to close the distance, so he repeatedly stepped backward while firing bullets nonstop. Still, he wasnt recklessly firing and every shot was urately aimed. The reason the bullets failed to hit their targets, though, was entirely down to me and not him. I flung out an ice knife while dodging at the same instant, the bullet and ice knife striking together and sparking a dazzling light. Taking advantage of the dazzling light, I instantly pressed closer toward the man, certain that he wasnt able to see me at all. But his reflexes were too strong; he lifted his gun and aimed precisely at my forehead, even releasing arge amount of lightning. His battle sense was too powerful, and he couldpletely read my next steps. Fortunately, I wasnt half bad either. I tilted my head to dodge the muzzle and instantly covered my whole body inyers of ice. Although I couldnt escape unscathed and the lightning both stung and numbed my skin, it was still tolerable. I jabbed the ice dagger at his chest, but to my surprise, he evaded in the blink of the eye. That speed was on a whole different level to what he had shown up until now. I couldnt help wonder if he had two abilities, with the other one being speed. Or perhaps, his lightning ability could be used to help him speed up? Shujun hadnt shown this trait so far, but it was also possible that I didnt understand how it could be applied. From the middle toter stages of the apocalypse, people developed entirely different fighting styles even with the exact same special ability. But in the next heartbeat, he fell back to his original speed. If he hadnt and had continued using that kind of speed to fire at my head at close proximity, even if it didnt kill me, itd still deal a serious blow to me. He didnt seem able to maintain that speed for long and could only use it for a short burst. Otherwise, he wouldnt have let go of such a good opportunity. Even if he didnt have such fast speed, my distance was too close. Plus, I had thought that this one strike was bound to seed and had slightly let my guard down. He easily sent out a bullet after dodging, while I only managed to evade by a hairs breadth. The bullet grazed my shoulder. Blood oozed and spurted out. Luckily, I had theyers of ice for protection, so my shoulder de shouldnt have cracked. He had hidden his secret, explosive speed. Fortunately, I too had my own hidden trick. After striking with the dagger, two long twigs shot out from my chest. He hadnt anticipated this at all. He dodged and fired off shot after shot; however, even if he had an extraordinarily strong battle sense and relied on his reflexes, he was only able to move a few steps away, barely avoiding harm to his vital parts. The twigs had still managed to pierce through his arm but were then snapped by a bullet. It hurts! I inwardly snickered. A tree being able to talk wasnt really much of a big deal in the apocalypse. If Xiaorong were to give birth one day, I might even be able to calmly deliver the baby. Right now, the man with a hole in his arm could still retreat backwards while casting a huge of lightning. The deadly immediately burst open, giving me no time to retreat, and I could only manage to instantly freeze ice against my skin for cover. Fuck. Me. Even with ice as protection, I still felt like I had been cooked medium rare. Lightning really lived up to its reputation, a perfect demonstration of the saying that the best defense is a good offense. Enduring the numbing pain all over my body, I speedily closed some of the distance between us. But here, the lightning was so powerful that it could zap an ordinary person to death immediately, and even I wouldnt be able to shake it off if I advanced any further. So I simply went down on one knee, and sent a carpet of ice rushing straight toward him from my hands touching the ground. With the earth grounding it, his lightning couldntpletely shatter my ice. I waited until the ice carpet was right before him before shooting out dozens of icicles that were as dense as a thicket. Startled, he hurriedly drew the lightning back to him and increased its strength. Even then, he couldnt smash all of the ice thorns, and two of them cut past his thigh and calf. Unfortunately, it was his calf that was more seriously injured, so there wasnt much bleeding. By then, Id already reached him. Ignoring the extreme numbing pain, I stabbed at his chest with my dagger. He parried my dagger with his gun, instantly holding the two of us in a deadlock. This guy was in no way weaker than me, but unfortunately for him, I had no intention of fighting him head on and kicked sideways at his calf. Got him! But in my intense focus, Idpletely forgotten about something else. He forcefully twisted his gun, breaking the stalemate, and pointed the muzzle of the gun at me. A bullet shot out I forcefully twisted my body at an impossible angle to dodge the shot, then bent at the waist and somersaulted backwards. In an instant, I put some distance between us. Luckily, I never abandoned training my flexibility and nimbleness. Back when I was Guan Weijun, I hadnt eaten many crystals so my strength wascking, and Id evaded countless sure-death situations by relying on my agility. In this life, even if I no longer lost out on strength, I was still unwilling to give up my past battle experiences and continued using flexibility and nimbleness to develop mybat style. Even the Ice Emperor had given his guarantee and said that I was well honed in my skills. Keep up the good work and there would be great prospects for the future! When I heard that, I was so overwhelmed with pride! But, the Ice Emperor had added another exnation: the other side of the coin was that I was not very good at fighting with enemies at closebat, and would subconsciously choose to dodge. Even if I was stronger than the enemy, I still wouldnt choose a direct confrontation. Too cowardly. Must be changed! Thinking back to just now, I had at least resolutely braced myself and rushed toward the lightning webs, even shing with the enemys gun using the dagger, forcing a deadlock. It can be considered as having improved, right? The result of the direct confrontation wasnt so bad, though the bullet had grazed my left arm in the end. As one could expect from a heavy firearm, a mere graze had caused me to lose a piece of flesh. If this was before the apocalypse, there would probably be a permanent scar on my arm as big as the rim of a cup. But after the apocalypse, and having eaten a lot of crystals, it was possible topletely recover until there wasnt even a scar left. If theres anything good about the apocalypse, then it would be the evolution crystals, far better than steroids or antibiotics. There were people who had some misgivings about what would happen to humans after eating so many evolution crystals, but it was very clear what would happen to us if we didnt eat crystals. We would get eaten alive by aberrants. Thus, no one would choose not to eat them. After surviving up to ten years of the apocalypse, I was actually somewhat clear about the aftermath of eating many crystals. In the end, the humans were no longer human, and the aberrants were no longer aberrant. Youre pretty strong. He put away his previous ridicule. His expression looked a lot more serious now. I sized up the injuries on both sides. My shoulder and arm were grazed by bullets, and my whole body had been electrocuted, stinging with pain and numbness everywhere. Meanwhile, his major injury was his lower leg with two cuts oozing with blood. And there was another one when we were fighting at close quarters; that kick had clearlynded on him. His lower leg bone should have at least cracked, and could possibly even be broken. He slightly dropped the muzzle of his gun. Upon seeing this, I hesitated a bit before putting away my battle stance, but obviously, Id only made myself seem like it. If he really wanted to fight again, then I would be ready anytime! Awesome fight! He raised his eyebrows, and said, I just dont know why we started fighting. I frostily said, With the way the world is, do you honestly think it matters why we started fighting? He doesnt want to fight anymore. Although I looked like I had heavier injuries, my wounds didnt hinder my movement, and Id be able to move normally as long as I ignored the pain. But his leg didnt get off lightly either, and damage was done to his bones, so there was no way he could move like he had. His skill and speed were basically inferior to mine in the first ce, and his leg was even injured. The next time I sneak up on him, that would most likely be the death of him! He is already an arrow at the end of its flight. I was finally able to get a clear view of the state of our surroundings. He hadnt only dealt with just one or two, but probably a bunch of people. It was just that he had originally roasted the surrounding area into a mess, so I hadnt immediately noticed the several scattered, charred remains of bodies. Granted, I had used my powers to madly rush here, but the opposite side had evidently used up a lot more. Its not important. He coolly said, But you look like you didnt want to continue fighting. I was speechless. Although the other side purposely twisted the story, as it was obvious that he was the one who really didnt want to continue fighting, it was true that I didnt want to continue the fight. This battle was simply meaningless. Just as I was about to say that I was the one in the wrong I He suddenly held his gun up, and I hurriedly adopted a battle stance. He then hollered, Over there! Confused, I hesitated for a moment. Although I suspected that it was a trap, I had definitely noticed some movement out of the corner of my eye. I instinctively stepped backward and immediately, two holes erupted in the ground where I had just been standing. If I hadnt retreated in time, my feet would have been shot. A long-distance firearm with such formidable powera sniper rifle? All kinds of firearms had appeared today. Based on the Jiang familys bad luck, it wouldnt even be strange to see a tank opening fire. I better get the hell out of here ASAP. I ducked behind a pir and looked over my shoulder. That man was also hiding behind another pir. We looked at each other, and it was immediately obvious to both parties that neither wanted to fight. I hesitated for a bit, and spoke to him before getting out of here, Sorry about today. He raised an eyebrow at me. You owe me one. Yeah. I had no choice but to nod. I only had myself to me for getting the wrong idea about him. Although I didnt know who his opponents were, it really was none of my business and I was the one who had barged in on him. That said, his rudeness in speech and sudden attack were also one of the reasons for my misunderstanding. After reaching an understanding, both of us ran in opposite directions. This way, the hidden enemies would have to split up to chase after either side, or well have to try our luck on which side the enemy would choose to pursuewell fuck, I really hate having to rely on luck! I sprung up along the wall, and climbed up to the fifth or sixth floor, breaking and entering through the window. The man obviously didnt have the ability to climb up the walls as I did, so he charged into another building. If the enemies in hiding still choose to chase after me, then, then the Jiang family is so formidable and powerful, we just have to have a weakness, right? After convincing myself like that, I finally felt a lot better. When Id dashed into the building, the bullets had smacked into the wall, narrowly missing me. Fortunately, I had been fast enough. No civilian picking up a hunting rifle could pull off this kind of marksmanship, and not even the mafia could. Youd have to be a professional killer at the very least to have this kind of marksmanship; otherwise, youd have to be A soldier? I knitted my eyebrows, instantly remembering Wen Jianuo and the others. Have the soldiers already degenerated to the level of randomly opening fire at other humans? Probably not yet? As I was mulling over the question, an indistinct sound came from behind and I abruptly turned around. A few human shadows were at the doorway, but before I could tell who they were, they had opened fire. Their guns werent as good as the other guys, but they were using selective fire guns and there were a lot of them. Even if one or two guns couldnt put a hole in me, dozens of guns could still turn me into a beehive! I had no choice but to jump out of the window, taking several bullets in my back. When Inded, I became a target for snipers again. I didnt know how many people were hiding inside therge building behind me, and could only brave through the rain of bullets, escaping into the streets and dashing into anotherrge building. I had actually jumped straight into the enemys hideout. This luckits simply illogical! It defies all logic! Being shot at for no reason pissed me off big time. I ducked into another building and scoped it out to make sure that no enemies were hiding within before I had the peace of mind to finally hunker down and observe the outside situation. After lying in wait for a while, someone finally appeared. These guys were really cautious and didnt seem like assassins from their numbers. They might actually be soldiers? I stopped my racing thoughts. No matter who they were, these guys looked anything but ordinary. I might get discovered if I wasnt careful enough. Their number was many and they even had heavy firepower, while I was in a dangerous zone like Lan City and had injuries all over my body. There was no need for me to go head-to-head with them. With peace of mind, I quietly waited for them to disperse, but ultimately discoveredthey really are soldiers! I mean, fair enough, neither me nor the guy just now seemed like normal civilians, but that doesnt mean you have to hide and snipe at us? Dont tell me they mistook us for aberrants? Hm, its actually quite possible. Me and that guy just now didnt seem very human-like as our progression was indeed a bit too advanced. I scrunched up my eyebrows while watching their movement. There were approximately twenty people. Every one of them was dressed in aplete military outfit, and they seemed to be better equipped than that group of people with Wen Jianuo. Five of them were carrying a long case, probably loaded with a sniper rifle, while about ten others had hand-held repeater firearms with one or two pistols hanging on their waist. They had pockets all over their body,pletely loaded with magazines. Their strong firepower was truly over the top. It was no wonder that aberrants didnt dare toe to them. Aberrants at the current stage have very strong innate intuition, and with no shortage of weak humans, it wouldnt be hard to get their stomachs filled. There was really no reason for them to face off against this bunch of humans. Aberrants hadnte to find us when that guy and I were fighting. It was most likely because of this same reason. But if we had fought until we were heavily injured, would a fisherman1 swoop in to catch both of us? I was really reckless this time. Even if it was because of my worry about Shujuns safety, for me toe over without covering up my tracks at all might unexpectedly bring about danger Werent these soldiers a living example of it? If not for my fight with that man, we wouldnt have drawn such hostility from them. No way would they open fire if they encountered regr civilians! Among these soldiers, there was one person who was always standing in front of everyone, looking pretty much like the leader. He had dark bronze skin but didnt seem particrly special. His full set of equipment didnt seem much different from the others, at most only having an extra gun. He was quite tall, but still couldnt bepared to Wen Jianuo who was as tall as a mountain Suddenly, he turned around and looked straight toward my position with a frown. Just when I started to feel nervous, he actually shifted his line of sight, as if not having noticed my existence. That person had several red scars, some dark and some light, stretching from his left forehead to under his eyes. They seemed to be burn scars from an explosion. The wounds werent mild, so he was probably lucky that he had been able to keep his left eye. He had deep wrinkles in his forehead and crows feet around his eyes; you could tell from his face that he wasnt a young man. He was probably around forty. But he might not even be that old. His scars, dark skin color, and wrinkles might have made him look a lot older than his real age. The man spoke to the two people next to him. But they were too far away and had their voices lowered, so I could only make out the words intermittently whenever they spoke passionately and raised their voices. Were those really humans? Well, of course. Genuine and authentic! One even looks very handsome! The scarred guy started swearing the moment he opened his mouth, Motherfucker! The hells that shit! The next time we see that shit, fuck, get the two of em and cut them in half to see what the hell theyre made of! Insulting someones mom right from the get-go and swearing furiously in every sentence was probably a force of a habit for him. That said, his blustering and fearless attitude was quite effective on the othersthe dozen-odd soldiers rxed visibly after hearing theirmanders explosion of expletives. Those were basically monsters If they were human, how is it possible for them to be so strong? Its a pity that we let them get away Upon listening, I couldnt find any useful information from their conversation, other than their fear toward me and that guy. I had actually scared the soldiers! I once more regretted my impulsive actions. Fortunately, I had remembered to put on a mask; otherwise, Id have to get reincarnated again to sessfully act as a frail and delicate pretty boy. The scarred guy frowned deeper, as he continued to listen to the person talking beside him. That person had a calm expression on his face and had spoken a lot. The scarred guy even seemed very serious when that person was talking. Unfortunately, he was talking in such a low voice that I couldnt even hear a single word. Upon listening, the scarred guys eyebrows formed a wrinkly trench, while the person beside him excitedly agreed, He Jiu, youre right. We need to keep this a secret! If those old Shangguan bastards found out about those two monsters, who knows what kind of fucking orders theyre gonna give us? They might order us to sacrifice our life and limb while not allowing us to touch even a hair of those monsters! The moment these words were spoken, the look on everyones face turned very unsightly Wait a second, Shangguan? My face changed. Could these guys be from Xiao Shas family? They actually had such powerful firepower. Xiao Sha had mentioned that someone in the Shangguan family had military ties, but he had also mentioned there was an intense internal power struggle. He said something like, Chenhong, whos pro-military, is getting the upper hand. Oh, thats it. Could that scarred guy actually be Shangguan Chenhong? I looked at the scarred guy and felt like that wasnt the case. From the use of the word pro-military, even if he was a ranking soldier, he didnt sound like someone who would lead troops running around in the dangerous apocalypse. Nheless, it was clear to me that the guy before my eyes was a seasoned soldier, whether it was due to him leading a group of soldiers into Lan City, or the scars on his face. All of the soldiers looked at the scarred guy. But he seemed to be thinking so much that he got lost in thought,pletely ignoring them. That He Jiu shouted a few times and even raised his voice to the point that I could hear him. Commander Tang Liang! The scarred guy whose great name did not match his appearance at all finally reacted. He started with a fuck before saying, Tell theds to get the hell outta here. I knew something was fishy. Lets bail before we get majorly fucked! Hearing that, He Jiu immediately obeyed without question, even though the surroundings were serene. I frowned. Have I been found out? Does this Tang Liang have a very strong innate intuition, or does he have some sort of ability in that area? For example, he could have a psychic ability like my familys Auntie who could sense living things. If she hadnt eaten a lot of crystals, shed simply seem like someone with a slightly stronger intuition. But this world must really be something if a big hulking guy who swears like a sailor has psychic abilities In the few seconds that I was engrossed in deep thought, these soldiers had already started to retreat. I weighed up on whether I should give them a hard time to get revenge for just now, and kill two birds with one stone by cutting down some of the Shangguan familys men and even out the numbers a bit. If they really wanted to fight us, they could give us a hard time just using a battle of attrition with their numbers. But before I could act, all the manhole covers on both sides of the road suddenly sted into the sky. A ck tidal wave gushed out, and I had to take a closer look before realizing that these were the horned mice that I had encountered when first entering Lan City! These soldiers didnt know what the ck tide was. They frantically fired to try and stop the ck tidal wave, but it had no impact. To be more precise, they killed a lot of them but there were so many more that were still alive. The horned mice rushed past the soldiers who were firing like crazy, their eyes bloodshot. They fired as if the bullets were free and unlimited. But something was wrong. The current horned mice were easily frightened, so loud shooting sounds should be enough to scare them away. To be more exact, these mice shouldnt have appeared in the first ce. The battle between me and the lightning guy, or theter loud shooting sounds were both enough to make them go into hiding. Somethings super screwy! When the horned mice swarmed past the soldiers, they didnt even bother to tear off morsels of flesh, as if they were in such a hurry that they didnt have any time to eat The most urgent situation in the apocalypse isrunning for ones life! Right as I realized what was going on, the scene of those soldiers running for their lives while not forgetting to fire back unfolded before my eyes. They would asionally pull at theirrades to prevent them from falling into the horned mice tide and getting gnawed full of holes. I suddenly remembered the basement of the MORC, and those soldiers lying all over the ground, especially ckie. I had originally thought of taking him with me. Who would have imagined that, no sooner had I turned around and the person was already dead Run! Something bigger ising! When I heard this, I realized I had shouted before my brain had even kicked into gear. Those people were stunned. However, regardless of whether they believed me or not, they werepletely stuck in ce and couldnt step anywhere, as horned mice were everywhere beside their legs. If their feet were to stamp on the ground, they would likely hit a horned mouse and get their skin torn off, and after taking a few steps, they might not even be able to walk any longer. My saintplex had already kicked in, so I might as wellplete the act. I rushed straight out and froze over arge path of ice. Run! Hurry up and run! Everyone looked at me in shock. The scarred guy, Tang Liang reacted a lot better than the others. He fiercely fired at the ground filled with horned mice, attracting the soldiers attention, then furiously roared, Still not running? You wanna wait to get fucked?! The soldiers snapped out of it and immediately jumped onto the ice path. One person even almost stumbled, but quickly regained his feet then started sprinting madly. I suddenly felt a bit regretful. They were soldiers with such a good foundation. If the Shangguan family really had ill intentions toward the Jiang Dominion, then this action of mine was the same as letting the tiger return to the mountain. While these guys were on top of the ice path, Id only need to use a trick or two to throw them straight into the swarm of horned mice But in the end, I still couldnt bring myself to attack. After all, no matter how much we fought among ourselves, wasnt there only one human nation that survived to the end? Even if I killed all of my enemies and became an existence like the Ice Emperor, humanity would only have three of the strongest elites and we would still be living in a difficult world after ten years of the apocalypse. Most importantly, there was an unknown crisis after ten years Maybe if I saved more people, a few elites might emerge from them? While I was hesitating for a moment, those soldiers had already run quite a distance away. They were pretty fast at running away. If I didnt attack now, then I wouldnt need to attack at all then so be it! I took a deep breath. If the Shangguan family really wants to fight us in the future, then bring it on! Sending someone to be food for aberrants, even helping to increase the aberrants strength, is something I really cant do! That Tang Liang suddenlygged behind the other soldiers. He didnt speed up to escape, but paused his footsteps and turned to look at me with a fierce-looking face. If I hadnt known that it was impossible, Id have really thought that he wanted to turn back to kill me. Behind you! In an instant, rm bells started ringing wildly in my head. Without even turning, I forcefully leaped to the side as a huge, long, linear, ck shadow brushed past me, grazing my arm. After evading it, I looked at my arm. There were red and swollen streaksit was evidently poisonous. I then lifted my head. This is a nine headed I nearly blurted out dragon, but I really wasnt unlucky to the extent that even a legendary creature had appeared. This is probably an earthworm? It looked like a multi-headed earthworm, at least. Half of the earthworm had rushed out of the sewage hole. Its body was a bit bigger than the manhole. Its plump skin was dripping with transparent mucus, each and every one of its segments folded. Its anterior diverged into several more tails which was slightly thinner than the body part. Its posterior had no heads and was simply one round end, but it was actually wiggling around just like a headless neck moving on its own. The fuck, even a snake looks cuter than that! But there was no limit to how disgusting the apocalypse could get. This thing yawed open its jaws, which were bigger than its body, and the mere sight of its two rows of densely packed teeth gave me goosebumps. It didnt matter whether this thing was a snake, an earthworm, or a great white sharkthe most important part was that one of the heads had suddenly stretched out about seven to eight times in length until its skin was stretched taut and smooth. It took arge bite of the horned mice then instantly shrank back. There were the sounds of crunching and chewing, as blood spurted out of the corners of its mouth. At this moment, another head suddenly shot out, astonishingly fast and nimble like a snake. I twisted my body, but to my surprise, it followed with a twist of its neck at a ny-degree angle. The densely packed, sharp teeth were quickly closing in on me. Unable to evade again, I could only stretch out a hand to p its face away, and used the force to propel myself the other way. A stab of pain came from my hand. I looked to see that it was red, swollen, and disgustingly covered in mucus. I quickly froze ice over my hand. As the cold numbed the pain, I flicked my wrist, throwing off the mucus and the iceyer. My p to its face seemed to have ignited its anger as all of the heads turned to look toward me, even though I couldnt really make out whether or not it had eyes. The heads pounced over all at once. There was no way I could dodge the attack so I simply formed arge ice wall. The heads smashed apart the wall. The first few heads that had rammed into the wall seemed dented and writhed on the floor, seemingly in pain. Taking advantage of the window when the heads had knocked themselves silly, I rushed over and directly chopped off those few indented heads with my ice dagger. They werent hard to cutits outer shell didnt seem very hard and while it was tough, I could still cut through with my ice knives. Should I leave, or take this things crystal? While I was still hesitating, the earthworm abruptly shot into the air. It squeezed its whole body out of the sewer, even splitting open the manholes to make a huge hole. Its body gushed endlessly from below, and its proportions were nothing like the exposed upper part So the part connected at the base of those heads isnt the body but is still a part of its neck. Its full form was like a huge tree branching out endlessly from the bottom to the top. It had only exposed the very tips of its branch, while its real body waspletely buried inside the sewer, and it only exposed its true self after I had thoroughly pissed it off. Calling it a nine-headed earthworm was an insult. There were at least ny-nine heads standing straight up like snakes, as if Yggdrasil were standing before my eyes. No wonder the horde of horned mice had been running so fast that they couldnt even bother with a meal! All of the ny-nine heads looked toward me and grinned, exposing its sharp and dense teeth Shit! I formed ice des on the soles of my feet, broke into a run, and glided away. Behind me, countless giant jaws lined with sharp teeth were in mad pursuit, and an enormous body steamrolled over everything in the streets 1 fisherman: This is from the idiom ࠎO̵. A sandpiper and a m get into a fight, while a fishermanes and catches both. It tells of two parties fighting each other, while a third party benefits. Volume 5, 5: Danger Lurks Around Every Corner of Lan City

Volume 5, Chapter 5: Danger Lurks Around Every Corner of Lan City

Tranted by Miaka_Mei (proofread by Faren & Arcedemius; C/E edited by lucathia) I was squatting in a triangr shadow beneath the esctor. My whole body was covered with smelly blood. This was the result from just now when Id dashed into arge hall that was covered with fresh blood and rotting flesh. The hellish ce was actually heaven to me as I had immediately rolled around on the floor. And just like that, the Yggdrasil Earthworm slithered back and forth on the streets for a while before reluctantly leaving. Having been relentlessly pursued, I had attempted to strike back from time to time, but there were just too many factorsthe heads were dreadfully fast, and they numbered too many. They were pretty much unavoidable. If the heads hadnt been slowed down by its enormous body, I would have already been swallowed into its stomach. However, that Yggdrasil Earthworm was still very fast despite being slowed down. It moved much like a snake would, though I really had no idea what it had transmuted from. I had never heard stories of this kind of thing in my past life either. I never imagined that Lan City already had such a horrifying aberrant. As expected of one of the three most dreaded cities in theter stages of the apocalypse. My reincarnation had allowed me to learn so much in advance, like knowing about the evolution crystals, but which of the aberrants in Lan City hadnt been devouring humans tirelessly uponing to life? I couldnt counterattack and had almost failed to escape. If I hadnt been relentlessly running into buildings to hinder its movement, on top of the rotting flesh masking the smell of my body, my corpse would have been torn into ny-nine pieces! Upon hearing the rattling sounds of the Yggdrasil Earthworm growing fainter, my body rxedpletely. I felt pain and numbness all over my body. The leg that originally hadnt received much injury had been bitten twice. If Xiaorong hadnt brandished his twigs to scare the enemy from time to time, the injuries on my thigh would not have been limited to only these two. However, it had resulted in a lot of Xiaorongs twigs getting snapped, leaving him clinging for life. I cut off the ends of my pants to bind up my thighs injury. Wrapping unclean fabric around it actually caused stabs of pain, but I had no other option. Moving around in arge city while dripping blood wasnt a good option either. Even after wrapping up the wound, noises could still be heard outsideit was the sound of low, threatening growls. I had a rough idea inside my mind. Resigned, I could only form a knife with my hand and step out of the shadows with no other choice. Ten dogmen had surrounded me. You really cant fool a dogs nose. You wouldnt be able to hide from them even with rotten flesh covering your entire body. They hadnt shown themselves until now, probably due to their fear of the Yggdrasil Earthworm. As long as it was around, other aberrants wouldnt dare to move at all. As expected of aberrants in a first ss city, these dogmen were one and a half times the height of a human. They had a dogs head and legs with a slender, human body. Only its thighs were especially thick and solid. If you got kicked by that, a broken rib was entirely possible. Compared with this bunch, the previous dogmen at the outskirts of Zhongguan City were simply Chihuahuas. When I stepped forward, these dogmen seemed to sense that their current prey was a bit of a challenge. However, no sooner had they retreated than it was my turn to retreat. Those ten had merely served as the tip of the iceberg, as there were more dogmen stepping out of the shadows. A single nce already revealed fifty to sixty, and some of them might still be hiding in the dark. The Jiang familys luck! I was so angry that I startedughing. Even if I finish off these dogmen, who knows how many more are covetously eyeing me out there? I had really underestimated Lan City. I had imed that I was going to take down Lan City and had even deluded myself about Yu City. Yet who would have thought that I might unexpectedly die here for no reason? I might as well turn back and duke it out with that Yggdrasil Earthworm. At least dying by the mouth of a terrifying aberrant would be better than being chased to death by a bunch of small fry! But I didnt want to die. In my past life, I had lived for ten years without knowing what I was living for. Dying wasnt much of a pity. In this life, I didnt want to die no matter what! I stomped my foot down and a path of ice sped toward the ten dogmen. Icicles then immediately shot out from the ground, impaling two dogmen who failed to dodge in time straight through the chest. Their limbs twitched, indicating that they were still alive but were no longer a threat. However, the remaining ones only suffered minor injuries. That attack wasnt enough to intimidate them, though. I was in such a bad situation that even dogs could see it. This was literally if the tigeres down the mountain, he would be insulted by dogs! Forming the ice dagger, I readied myself for a fight. Forget dozens of dogmen, even hundreds of them wouldnt be able to make me surrender without a fight! In the following battle, I did not strike often and was practically only using stabs, each stab hitting its target. The pain in my body and the exhaustion of my power only allowed me to use the barest of strength to kill my enemies. I grew smoother with every kill, as if the ice dagger had be a part of me, while my body only acted as an extension of the de. If only the weapon in my hand was a long spear Suddenly, I felt a burst of coldness in my right arm. I got distracted, and a dogman managed to bite my shoulder. Fortunately, Xiaorong was quick to support me by stabbing into the guys eyes, not letting him bite into me too hard. The Ice Emperor Spear! Piercingly cold air gathered around my arm, but there was still no trace of the long spear. Nevertheless, the cold aura was enough to make the dogmen pause in their footsteps, and some of them even slowly retreated This time, I might really be able to call out the long spear A long howl suddenly echoed through the surroundings. As soon as they heard the sound, the dogmen charged at me as if theyd gone crazy. No longer having any time to check whether the Ice Emperor Spear was appearing or not, I could only use the ice dagger to meet the enemies head-on. Despite heavy casualties, the dogmen still wouldnt fall back. Somethings wrong! But no matter how loud the rm in my mind was, I didnt have enough physical and mental energy to bother with anything else. Just these endless dogmen are enough to wear me down to my death. Just how many are there? Why do they still refuse to withdraw? Those dogmen nearby are so troublesome. They wont actively attack when theres a lot of humans, but they would definitely surround a lone human. Why wont Xia Zhengu exterminate them? He said something about them being our natural barricade, but what kind of a barricade eats people? Thats just an excuse. Your boyfriend just doesnt dare to kill them, but he doesnt want to tell the truth, either. Doesnt dare to kill them? That bunch of dogmen has a leader. We saw him from afar, and he was awfully tall Leaning against the wall, my vision went ck for a few seconds, but I lucked out with quickly stabbing my thigh with the ice dagger, instantly recovering my senses. A huge shadow appeared in front of me. His appearance was pretty much the same as the dogmen at his side. He was just much taller and sturdier and was at least three meters in height. That head looked more like a wolfs than a dogs. All of us call that guyWolfman. The Wolfman grinned, exposing his long canine teeth. If I got bitten by that, Id definitely ended up getting punctured. Patting my chest, I muttered, Xiaorong. Sorry, can you still go on? I need you An affirmative yet weak reply sounded in my mind. I was very distressed and almost told him to make a quick escape. But with dogmen surrounding us, Xiaorong would be unable to escape, so I ultimately didnt blurt it out. The Wolfman strode over like a king. I straightened my body and tightly gripped the ice dagger, determined to fight to the death. It was just a pity that I still couldnt call out the Ice Emperor Spear However, the Wolfman suddenly halted his steps, abruptly looked toward therge doorway, and snarled in a low growl. I was startled and followed his line of sight. Only then did I notice that there were several silhouettes there. But with their backs against the source of light, I couldnt see them clearly. A mantis stalks a cicada, unaware of the finch behind it. I had always been perfectly fine previously, and hadnt encountered much danger, causing me to lower my guard. This time, only after getting injured, did I realize that there were dangers lurking around every corner, awaiting me. It seemed that the aberrants all knew better than me. Getting injured in Lan City was something far from good. No one wanted to be the first to provoke me. They were all waiting for me to get injured on my own and be a delicious morsel of meat. Dg, Im sorry. I really was too reckless this time. You have to take good care of Shujun Bang! Bang, bang! Bang, bang, bang! My eyes widened. The numerous loud gunshots made it almost impossible to hear anything. Only the sounds of dogmen yelping could be heard asionally, as the heavy firepower filled the sky with smoke and dust. A figure then slowly approached me. Thats definitely a human! Could it be the soldiers from the Shangguan family just now? Is this considered a good deed always pays? Why do you always get hurt so badly? I was stunned. Its actually a womans voice? No, no, this is this is I was almost in utter disbelief. My whole body unconsciously rxed, and I fell to the ground on my butt. I didnt even have the strength to maintain the ice dagger, letting it return to the tattoo on my wrist. I couldnt resist smiling and asked in reply, Why are you always there to save me when I get hurt? A familiar, slim figureJin Fengwalked forward and squatted down in front of me. Her mouth quirked a smile that was not quite a smile. You can still crack jokes? Looks like you arent hurt as badly asst time. I couldnt help stealing a nce. The weather was so cold, but there were actually two unfastened cor buttons. I can see cleavage! Immediately afterwards, I was given a whack on the head. Such familiar pain. I have the feeling that Ill soon get used to getting smacked on the head. She raised her eyebrows. If you can check me out, then your injuries must be pretty light. My injuries arent as bad as thest time, but Ive used up all my strength and feel even more tired, I bitterly said, after which I was dizzy and felt throbbing pain in my head. My vision cked out intermittently. Actually, Im about to pass out. Can I faint? Ah, ah, ah, Im really gonna faint A brief then just faint reached my ears. Although the voice belonged to a woman, her voice was somewhat deep with a hint of maism, making people feel particrly at ease. I was about to lie down on the floor, hoping to avoid the tragic fate of hitting the ground face-first after fainting. But instead, I got swept up bridal-style by someone. On one hand, I inwardly felt embarrassed, like this is wrong. On the other hand, I felt safe, and it was also veryfortable, especially with how big and soft the thing squashing my left cheek was. I also seemed to smell a nice scent. Surely, this isnt an illusion made up by my dirty mind! Not fainting yet? Jin Feng said icily, Neither fainting nor marrying, yet you dare to bury your face into my chest? You wanna die? Fainting, Ill faint this instant! Obediently following her orders, Ipletely rxed, my vision went dark, and I passed out immediately. Upon waking up, I was confused for two seconds before instantly recalling what had happened. I quickly looked around. Jin Feng was nowhere to be seen, but there was a very familiar-looking thin, dark-skinned youngster on the sofa. It took me a while to remember him. Ben? The dark-skinned youngster put down his magazine, walked over, and said with a raised eyebrow, Heh, didnt expect to see you again. You actually didnt die out there. What a pity. Eh? Did I do something to offend you? Ben said with a cold smile, You got free food, free drinks, and even slept with Feng-ji for free but still ran away at the end? To put it briefly, that was kind of right. But there were four words that I could not admit to! I quickly rified, I didnt sleep with Jin Feng. I really didnt! Ben raged, I mean sleeping next to her! If you actually dared to sleep with her and then run away, youd be thrown into an oil drum, have it filled with cement, and get submerged into the ocean! You think youd still be lying here?! I swear I wont sleep with her! I hurriedly vowed. This wasnt so hard. Even though the me in my current life was a bit horny, I had at least been a woman in my past life. Surely, Ill be able to restrain myself and wont get seduced by female charms right? Eh, screw that, you think you cant sleep with her? Ben pped my shoulder hard enough that I grimaced in pain. He then said with a meaningful tone, You can sleep with her, once youre married. Then not only will you be safe from the ocean, Ill even call you jifu. Watcha think, not bad huh? I lowered my head, not daring to speak. If I simply let myself be married off like this Wait, thats not it, it should be simply taking a wife like this. If Dg and Xiomi didnt go crazy from this, it would beEh, remembering Dg who has been urging me to get a love life in the apocalypse and Xiomi who had instantly sold out her Dg, they might very well be happy that Im getting myself married off at eighteen Bleh! I mean taking a wife at eighteen! Ben said with discontent, Tsk. Feng-jis so nice to you, so watcha hesitating for? Its different if you arent interested, but youre clearly very into her. The moment Feng-ji appears, your eyes are glued to her body! I said with a wry smile, But Im only eighteen! Ben instantly red up and snapped, So you think Feng-ji is too old for you? I quickly exined, No, Im just saying Im still too little. Ben went oh and said with sympathy, Little isnt great, but anyway, Feng-ji doesnt have any expectations about that! Why are you looking down there? I meant Im little in age, you bastard! Stop staring! Ben said with a wide grin, Dont worry, I didnt look. Both times, it was Feng-ji who personally gave you a bath and changed your pajamas. Dammit, ncing at her chest a few times is nothing. She has already seen me in all my glory! Firstly, my younger sister inspected me for that thing, then Jin Feng even scrubbed my body I took a deep breath. Im a guy. Who cares about chastity? Getting seen naked by a woman should be to my advantage! Calm down, calm down. After justifying myself with these few sentences, I then requested Ben to pour me a ss of water, and he acted ordingly. This left me feeling very relieved. It looked like my previous escape hadnt caused too much trouble. Ben handed over the ss of water, snorted twice, and said, You slept for a day, so you must be starving, right? But even if you are hungry, you still gotta keep on waiting. Feng-ji said to wait for her to bring food. So just wait here, and no sneaking food! I obedientlyplied, but the next second my stomach failed to live up to my expectations and started growling. Watching in delight over my misfortune, Ben said, Feng-ji just left with Jin-g to meet with their underlings. So you can just sit here and be hungry. Its your fault youre not big siss husband. Im not letting some nobody like you sneak a few bites. Left with Jin-g for a meeting Hold it! Jin Fengs big brother isnt he the Thunder God, Jin Zhan?! Greatly rmed, I quickly asked, What are you guys doing here? What happened to the Thunder God staying in Zhongguan City? What did you guyse to Lan City for? Ben nonchntly exined, Jin-g is leading us to conquer territory. Just Zhongguan City doesnt count for anything. If were going to conquer, then we have to conquer the biggest one! The corner of my mouth twitched. I was amused. So everyone just happened to take a fancy to Lan City unanimously? Aside from the Shangguan family, we now had a Thunder God too. Im ny-nine percent certain that it was Jin Xiaoyues idea. The northern Zhi City was so terrifying that no one dared to go there, so were only left with Lan City and Yu City. Among these, Lan City is slightly closer to Zhongguan City, and its also farther away from the water than Yu City. Uponparison, its truly the best option out of the threerge cities. In my previous life, I had sometimes heard about marine creatures climbing ashore to attack coastal cities. Even though I hadnt heard news of the threerge cities getting invaded, any person who had experienced the apocalypse would choose to stay away from the seaside. I didnt know how strong marine creatures and aberrants were, but they were pretty alien to me. I had exactly zero idea about their form or abilities. Compared to terrestrial life forms, where you could at least guess what they were like, no one had any desire to encounter marine life forms. Among the twelve strongest elites, one of them was a marine creature who even had a very beautiful nickname, The Mermaid. However, the only thing I knew about it was the nickname. I had paid attention to this elite simply because I specifically asked the others whether or not there was a female among the twelve strongest elites. They told me that there was a mermaid, but the gender was unknown as it was merely a title. Suddenly, a noise came from Ben. He took out a wireless transceiver from his waist and walked to the window to talk. He spoke a few words, then turned around, and asked, Xiao Yu, Feng-ji is asking if you cane to the dining hall to have a meal? Come to the dining hall? I blinked and quickly agreed to it. I had basically used up too much of my ability, and my whole body felt weak. Although my injuries werent light, they didnt reach my bones. They were all painful, superficial wounds. While it was painful, it was still bearable. Walking around shouldnt be a problem. Besides, if theres a chance to see how strong the Thunder Gods current men and base are, Id drag myself over even if my legs were broken! Everyone is aiming for Lan City now, so werepetitors? I hesitated for a bit and remembered that I had first been hunted down by the Yggdrasil Earthworm, then dogmen had continuously swarmed me, with the Wolfman showing up at the end to wrap things upthese were the results of me greatly underestimating Lan City. If Jin Feng hadnt saved me, I might have really lost my life for some inexplicable reason. Now that would drive both Dg and Xiomi crazy for sure. There was also the Shangguan family that was eyeing therge city covetously. I was not even sure about their stance. Although I had saved a bunch of their soldiers, just this reason alone wasnt enough for me to expect goodwill from them. After all, the Shangguan family that Xiao Sha had mentioned was anything but good. Or perhaps, the Thunder God and us arent actuallypetitors but allies? Go wash up. Ben patted my shoulder and said, Ill get you a change of clothes. Its your first time meeting with your inws, so make sure to groom yourself nicely! Well, thats Wait a sec! Meet what? Seeing my frightened look, Ben consoled me, No need to be afraid. Although Jin-gs got a scary reputation and is pretty scary himself, you have Feng-ji, right? She wont allow Jin-g to touch you. At the very least, he wont beat you to death. So dont worry. Goddamnit, dont say such scary words with that sympathetic face! Who is this Jin-g? Thats the Thunder God, okay! He might leak electricity and zap me to death in a fit of anger! Go wash up. Watching with a quiver of delightful schadenfreude, Ben said, That face of yours is the greatest trump card. Quick, make it look a bit more handsome. Jin-g himself likes beautiful women, so its not surprising that Feng-ji also likes handsome boys. I was truly having mixed feelings about getting called a handsome boy by a fourteen year old youngster. Considering that I could only rely on my face, I simply got off the bed and obediently entered the bathroom to make myself presentable. I took off the pajamas. The thinlyyered, half-transparent Xiaorong was still underneath it. I quietly called out to him through my mind for a moment, but there was no response. He seemed to have sunk into a deep sleep. It was impossible for Jin Feng to not have noticed Xiaorong, since she had already changed me out of my clothes. Although Xiaorong was a bit strangely shaped, he shouldnt be very conspicuous in the apocalypse. If someone were to ask, then I would just say that he was armor which I had made by skinning the shell of a certain aberrant. That would likely pass as a good exnation. I took a good wash, even conscientiouslybing my hair until it was smooth and slick. My hair had already grown past my shoulder des. Afterbing my hair straight back, the long, soft, and shiny hair fell past my shouldersFuck, watching this makes even me unsure whether Im a man or a woman. I simply tied it up in a ponytail, barely making up some manliness. When I came out of the bathroom, Ben handed some clothes over and said, Feng-ji says that your clothes were dirty, torn, and even stinky! It couldnt even pass as a cleaning rag. So she simply threw them away. Here, wear this. My clothes made from butterfly silk were simply thrown away Well, it was already covered in rotten flesh and blood. I would feel haunted if I had to wear them again. Fine, just throw it away. I was lucky to have made many sets of it all at once. At that time, I knew Id surely waste a lotwasting one in every battleit was basically a disposable battle outfit. Fortunately, I had previously brought home enough fabric. After putting on the clothes, I finally realized that it looked very simr to the previous t-shirt, vest, and jeans I had worn. The only difference was that the pants were thicker, the top was a long-sleeved shirt, and the vest was insted with soft and warm down feathers. Jin Fengs thoughtfulness made me feel like I was a horrible man for not giving her my hand in marriagethis wont do. I already promised the Ice Emperor, no puppy love within the next two years! Ben was mending his knife at the side. Feng-ji knows that you like wearing these. Every time we go searching for supplies, she would first pick out this kind of clothing and take them. My face clouded over. In order to avoid identally marrying myself off out of sheer guilt, I could only change the topic. Wheres the dining hall? Ben grumbled, Heartless guy. Then he said, Its this way. Walking out of the room, I instantly understood where I was. This is definitely a five-star hotel! Red carpet spread along the long, wide hallway. Paintings that I didnt understand but thought were incredible hung on the walls. The decorative mirrors on both sides had been polished until they shone, except there were a few irksome bloodstains on the surfaces. I followed Ben and stepped into the elevator, saying, This is a hotel? Ben gave an affirmative mm, and said, Jin-g always stayed in this hotel whenever he came here. You stayed here before the apocalypse, and you still want to stay here after the apocalypse. Those with men, firepower, and supplies had the means to be willful! This isnt the downtown area, right? My face grew serious. In that case, I had better bundle Jin Feng up and run away with her. Its not. Ben exined, Our business is the type that cant be shown in public. Staying in the city center would take us too far from the suburbs. How are we supposed to handle business deals then? Hearing that, I finally calmed down. The Thunder God was truly not a fool. Ben seemed to despise my timidity. He snorted and said, Theres no need to be afraid of anything. Feng-ji will protect you. I nodded. Thats true, she has saved me twice already. Its not a lie to call her my Lady Luck. Ben stared at me, and I looked back at him, eyes blinking. He asked, Youre not unhappy? Stumped, I answered the question with a question, Unhappy about what? Unhappy about having to depend on Feng-ji to save you! I have someone to save me. Why would I be unhappy? I shook my head and said, Im happy. If Feng didnt save me, I would have died twice already. How can I not be happy? Ben nodded with satisfaction, and even remarked, Feng-ji has a really good eye. The little man that she fancied is clever and clearly understands his role. Well shit, Im at least older than you! Going down to the second floor, the elevator opened and noises could instantly be heard. There were quite a few people around with more than half of them being men. Each and every one of them seemed very fierce and imposing. Although my familys mercenaries didnt look any less intimidating than these people, they definitely lost in numbers. Additionally, the soldiers that joined afterward had been running for their lives for a long time like stray dogs and had had little time to settle down. Their spirit was somewhatcking, and their strength was a cut below these peoples. However, their profession had been a fighting one since the start. With their foundation, theyd be able to catch up in no time and would definitely be even more disciplined than these people before me! We may have lost in numbers, but we werent going to lose in discipline. When I get back, Im gonna stop being a shut-in and drill my familys mercenaries and soldiers to death even if its freezing cold! Dont worry! Ben said while walking confidently, We are all people of the Jin family. If they dont obey Jin-g, then they listen to Feng-ji. Even the top two guys under Jin-g wouldnt dare to show disrespect to Feng-ji. Once Ben uttered the names of Jin-g and Feng-ji, the surroundings instantly fell into a strange silence. Everyone turned to look at us and almost started drooling when they looked at my face. It had been a long time since Ist saw such undisguised, lecherous gazes. As expected of the mafia, they werent even bothering to cover it up. The hell you looking at?! Bens face turned dark. Irritated, he shouted, This is Feng-jis man. If anyone dares to ogle him, Ill dig out your eyeballs! With that shout of his, the number of people watching had increased even more. Originally, there were only a couple of them drooling, but now, even those that seemed strong had turned to size me up. This the guy Feng-ji fancies? A man with a knife-wound scar walked over. The scar stretched across the mans face from the left side of his forehead down to the right side of his chin. The marks werent the kind of thin and fine strokes like the work of a red pen, but were instead lumpy and uneven, a deep, dark red. I bet you werent able to get a job with that face before the apocalypse. One can tell at a nce that its a knife-wound. What normal person would dare to hire this big shot? This is Feng-jis subordinatethemander! Ben assisted me with an introduction. His name is Lin Qi. You can just call him Scar. Hi, Scar-g. Im Xiao Yu. Unsure of what to say, I simply gave a brief introduction. Although I didnt know how old the other person was, it was correct as long as I used g for the men and ji for the women! Scar barked augh and said with a smile, This kids got manners. Ben nodded. Xiao Yu has quite a good character. I was a bit speechless. Ben, dont you think its very weird for a junior high school kid like you to be talking like this? Scar eyed me up and down, asking with slight disbelief, Heard you traveled alone to look for your famly? What kinda power you got? Ben actually helped me out while I was struggling to answer. He gave Scar a meaningful look and said in a low voice, Dont be so nosy. Feng-ji doesnt want the others to know his background to prevent him dying for no reason. Scar nodded with understanding. Tell Feng-ji to keep an eye on him. With looks like that, just one careless moment and he might get taken and locked away to be toyed with. Ben patted his chest and dered, Feng-ji ordered me not to take even one step away from him. Then wherere you taking him? Scar asked with a frown. Dont take him out if its not important. We just got some new recruits, so things are still messy. Ben shook his head, replying, Feng-ji said that too. But Jin-g and the others want to see him, so Im taking him there. Scar was very surprised. Jin-g actually wants to see him? Ben honestly replied, Seems like the Madam and Missus want to see him. Shit, so Im really going to meet the inws? Im okay with Jin Zhan, but this is clearly leading up to meeting the mother-inw! Several beads of cold sweat dripped down, but I didnt n on going back upstairs. This is my chance to check on that Jin Xiaoyue. As for mother-inw cough cough! I mean, the mother of the Jin family, Ill just have to take things as theye. Since I was young, Ive always been an irresistible people ma. Believe me, I might even win over the in the senior generation! Scar roared, Then hurry up! The hell you hanging around for!? You gonna let Madam and Missus wait? Jin-gs gonna skin ya! Chill man. Feng-ji said just now to meet up in half an hour. We still have five minutes. Despite saying that, Ben hurriedly took me to the dining hall. There were even more people here, but it was contrarily quieter. It wasntpletely silent, butpared to the hall just now, the sounds of speaking were nothing more than murmurs, as if no one dared to speak too loudly. The dining tables were small and square, except for the severalrge round tables at the back which were almost fully upied. Everyone was dressed in pitch-ck, making the scene look exactly like that of a funeral. Uponparison, our JDTs uniform was definitely more than a hundred times better than theirs! While I was inwardly rejoicing we won, the sounds of Ben gulping could be heard from the side. I turned to look at him. Ben quietly said, Its all the way at the end, and guided me over. There was a round table in the middle of the very far end. The table wasrge but wasnt fully upied. Only four people were seated there. The woman with a high ponytail in the middle was particrly eye-catching. That was Jin Feng. We hadnt even gotten close to the round table when Jin Feng had already stood up and walked straight toward me. The dining hall instantly quieted down, so much so that even the sound of a pin dropping could be heard in such a scene. But she didnt seem to mind at all as she held my hand and said in a natural manner, Lets go see my family. I stiffly nodded, somewhat feeling as if I was the ugly daughter-inw meeting her inws. I was led to the side of the round table. Upon seeing the Thunder God Jin Zhan for the first time, I waspletely bbergasted. This, this isnt this the guy that I just fought with?! Oh, thats right! This guys ability is lightning. I had thought that the Thunder God would be in Zhongguan City, so I hadnt connected the two of them together. Now that I thought about it, other than the Jiang family that had me as the cheat weapon with my past lifes memories and could acquire strong abilities within half a year of the apocalypse, didnt the Jin family also have Jin Xiaoyue? I should have guessed this guys true identity from the moment I saw Jin Feng! Hehe. Its our first time meeting, but I have already broken the leg of this brother-inw. Can this get any worse?! Thunder God-dg, by all means, please dont recognize me! Volume 5, 6: Everything鈥檚 Great

Volume 5, Chapter 6: Everythings Great

Tranted by Miaka_Mei (proofread by Arcedemius, Xuan & Trespasserby; CE edited by Simone & lucathia) Facing the brother-inw whose leg I had personally broken, I was so nervous that my hands were fidgeting. Fortunately, Jin Zhan only shot me a nce, seemingly not interested at all, and continued eating. On the other hand, the two women at the side were filled with enthusiasm and kept on staring at me. Is this Xiao Yu? One of the women, who seemed older in age, said warmly. Come, have a seat. Theres no need to be shy, were all family after all. And just like that we became family! I inwardly chuckled. The Thunder God and Ice Emperor are one family? The whole human race is going to celebrate! Jin Feng pulled me down to sit, and right away ordered someone to serve me a bowl of rice. I held the bowl of rice with shaking hands. I had just broken the Thunder Gods leg, and now with all these ck-clothed men in the dining hall staring at me, all of my hairs were standing on end. I feel like Im gonna get hacked apart with knives from every direction at any moment! Jin Feng gestured at the woman seated at the round-table and introduced her. This is my lil mom. You can just call her Lil Mom. Lil Mom? Her form of address sounds a bit odd. I looked at the person called Lil Mom. She was a woman who didnt look like a mother at all. She was wearing a light green blouse and white long skirt. She had a slim figure and a refined and beautiful appearance, looking very much like a girl from a wealthy family. I couldnt exactly tell how old she was, but she couldnt possibly be Jin Fengs mom. Considering her Lil Mom nickname, she was obviously the stepmother! Jin Feng smiled. Lil Mom is very young, but you still gotta call her Lil Mom. Hi, Lil Mom. Im Xiao Yu. I couldnt help but to speak in a soft voice to prevent Jin Zhan from recognizing me, but I also couldnt exaggerate it too much or Jin Feng would wonder why I had changed my voice for no reason. This wasnt easy to handle at all! Lil Mom instantly broke into a smile and shoved something over. I looked down to see that it was actually a red envelope. What the heck? Nowadays, paper money isnt even used for wiping ones ass Wait a sec, the thing inside of here isnt t. I didnt dare open it to take a look, and could only sneakily rub it as I put it inside my pocket. Its size and irregr shape an evolution crystal? Its a wedding gift. Jin Feng exined. Say what? I was at a loss. Jin Feng continued introductions. Thats my bro. His name is Jin Zhan. Jin Zhan nced over. This time, I readily and instantly shouted, Hi, Jin-g! Jin Zhan gave an indifferent nod. He shot a meaningful nce at the person standing behind him and they immediately handed over a red envelope to me. This is? I didnt understand what was going on, but considering that I was staying in someone elses domain, I should just obediently ept anything that was being offered to me. Andstly, my lil sisterJin Xiaoyue. Jin Xiaoyue seemed to be made from the same mold as Lil Mom, appearing very simr to her. Theyre most likely biological mother and daughter, though they look more like sisters. Jin Xiaoyue had a gloomy look on her face, so she didnt seem as nice as the smiling Lil Mom. Feng-r has a good eye. Lil Mom said with a smile, Xiao Yu looks like a good kid. Whats so great about being a good kid Jin Xiaoyue hadnt even finished talking before Jin Zhan cut her off with a fierce re. Lil Moms smile faded a little. She seemed a bit afraid of looking at her daughter, but still continued to talk to me. Come, lets eat. I heard that Xiao Yu slept for a whole day. You must be hungry. The atmosphere around the dining table suddenly turned a bit odd. Jin Zhans expression darkened. Jin Xiaoyue had a look of fear and stubbornness. Jin Feng was frowning, but she didnt say anything. I was indeed very hungry, but how was I supposed to eat in this kind of atmosphere? I could only take the initiative to ease things up. Mm. Im really hungry. Is dinner about to start? Lil Mom, can you tell me which dishes are tasty? Just those few sentences were enough to instantly make Lil Mom happy. She picked several unknown meats while saying, You should eat a bit more meat. Look at how thin you are. Now eat up! I ducked my head, eagerly digging into my food. Lil Mom smiled even more happily. Despite her young age, this stepmother was a mother after all. She felt happy just seeing a kid gobbling down his dinner. Jin Zhans face softened, and Jin Fengs mouth curled into a smile. Only Jin Xiaoyues face was still gloomy. Who knows what she is so unhappy about? Dont tell me she still wants to foist Jin Feng on Dg? Ohe on, Jin Feng is totally not DgsI peeked at the strong, long legs under the table. Shit! Jin Feng might actually be Dgs type. I suddenly felt a bit depressed Whats with the frowning face? Jin Feng nced over. You dont like the dishes? Ill have someone change them. I quickly shook my head. No, the food is great. I just, just thought of Dg and the others. They might be worried about me. Jin Feng coolly said, You havent even finished eating, and youre already thinking of running away? Believe me, Ill break your legs to make sure that you dont go anywhere. Thatll spare me the trouble of having to save you all the time. Besides, theres no guarantee that I can save you again. No way. You spoil me so much, you definitely couldnt bear to hurt me! Even if I do believe it, I still have to say I dont! Please dont break my legs! Jin Fengs lips quirked up in a smile. Hearing this, Lil Mom softly smiled, while Jin Xiaoyue exaggeratedly rolled her eyes. As for Jin Zhan, he was toozy to pay any attention to me. This took a great weight off my mind. As long as Jin Zhan doesnt recognize me, it doesnt matter what attitude he has! Jin Feng probed again, Does your family live nearby? I nodded with hesitation. I took a moment to gather my thoughts before saying in a low voice, My big brother seems to know yours. Ive heard him mentioning the name Jin Zhan. Jin Zhan nced over. This time, he seemed to be looking straight at me. My heart lurched and I hurriedly ducked my head, pretending to be afraid. I inwardly muttered, Great Thunder God, please dont recognize me. Jin Zhans annoyed voice came from above, Hes such a wimp. Feng, you better watch him closely. Otherwise, hell be gone before you even notice, and thatll be hard on you. Jin Feng nodded and said, Ive told Ben to follow him. Dont let him run off again either. Hes lucky he hasnt died yet. I was taken by surprise and hurriedly lifted my head, afraid that Jin Feng really wouldnt let me leave. But it just so happened that my eyes met with Jin Zhans. Whos your brother? He asked, though it didnt seem like he really believed it was someone he knew. I said while faking timidity, My brothers name is Jiang Shutian. Jin Zhan was stunned. Jin Xiaoyue was the first to respond, eximing excitedly, Your brother is Jiang Shutian?! The Ice Emperor, Jiang Shutian? My big brother is indeed Jiang Shutian. But whats an ice emperor? I hadnt expected her to shout Ice Emperor in such a frank manner. I could only pretend to be confused. Hopefully, Jin Zhans eyes arent too sharp. I havent trained myself to be a top actor yet. Jin Xiaoyue hurriedly probed, Is your brother a mercenary leader? Mhm. I frowned. I was even more convinced that Jin Xiaoyue knew about the future developments of the apocalypse, and that she even knew a lot more details than I did. His special powers At that moment, Jin Zhan gave her a cold look and she immediately quieted down, not daring to speak further. Beside her, Lil Mom was quietly eating, but her hand was trembling slightly. After Jin Xiaoyue turned silent, Jin Zhan questioned, Whats the name of Jiang Shutians mercenary troop? Do you know any of the members? Its Jiang Dominion. I know the members who have been in the group for quite a while, like Cain and Ceng Yunqian. I mentioned the two members whom Jin Zhan was most likely to know. Cain was a well-rounded expert, and although he was a bit of an idiot, he was actually very strong. Considering how long he had been with Dg, he should be quite well-known. Meanwhile, Yunqian had the title of the strongest sniper. The two of them were talented people whom many had sought after, offering huge amounts of money. However, they were also the least likely to jump ship. Although its hard to find loyalty nowadays, theres only two words that could describe their attitude toward my big brother, and that istrue loyalty! Jin Zhan was now peering at my face closely. I just let him stare at me. Dg and I didnt look much alike except for the bridge of our noses, but there was no way that people who were unfamiliar with us could tell. You dont resemble Jiang Shutianboth in appearance and in character. The two of you are too different. I honestly exined, My little sister and I look more like our mother, while Dg looks more like our father. Jin Feng suddenly said, The name Jiang Shuyu that you mentioned before, so its actually this jing (). I thought it was the jiang () from jingh, river andke. I looked at Jin Feng with gratitude. She had said that in order to prove that I wasnt lying! Jiang Shutians little brother Jin Zhan fell into deep contemtion. Who knows what hes thinking about? Hopefully, its not anything bad. I mentioned those things because I was betting on an opportunity to form an alliance. But if he really did have ill intentions, Id escape from here ASAP! Escaping wouldnt be hard for me since he was unlikely to suspect that I had the ability to break his legs. After all, this face of mine was just too deceptive! Jin Xiaoyue was looking at Jin Zhan with a hopeful gaze, even asionally ncing at me with shining eyes. Hmph hmph! So you finally know how valuable I am. Jin Zhan frowned and said, Lan City is a tough nut to crack. Its gonna be really hard to conquer it. If Jiang Shutian is here, we can consider forming an alliance. He seemed to know about the apocalypse in advance and was prepared for it. His current level of strength is likely to be quite high. Jin Feng nodded. Didnt Xiaoyue say that an aberrant king called Thirteen wille here in the future? Hehe. Sorry about that. Thirteen has already been redirected by me, and this butterfly effect took him who knows where to be the nanny of a little girl. As to whether or not hell reappear in the future, who knows? But even without Thirteen, theres still a bunch of scary things like the Yggdrasil Earthworm around. However, with the Thunder God here, we may be able to easily kill it. After all, the lightning ability is known for being the strongest in offense. Its not something that you can easily defend against. The aberrants are a problem. Jin Zhan frowned and said, The humans are another problem. Therere soldiers here randomly opening fire. They didnt seem to be here to help. Theyre probably here to fight over territory, too. Shooting at random people even? I frowned. Did I save the wrong people? Has the Shangguan soldiers devolved to the point of senselessly killing humans? Or maybe its simply because the Thunder God didnt seem human at all Jin Feng said indifferently, The military arent to be trifled with. Theyve gotmanders, military equipment, and likely also arge number of people. Fighting head-to-head with them isnt worth it. I blurted out, For now, its already good enough to be able defend against them. If theyre numbered in the thousands or even up to tens of thousands of people, sooner orter theyll end up attractingrge hordes of aberrants, and theyll be surrounded and ughtered. If they dont quickly disperse, the oue is going to be horribly gruesome. Although most of the military would be cancerous, and eventually copse at the end, there was actually one main cause. In the beginning stages of the apocalypse, they had turned into warlords. Even aberrants wouldnt actively provoke them. However, once survivors went into hiding and the aberrants started getting hungry, they wouldnt care about how many people there were and would just swarm them. Even if they died, they would at least do so on a full stomach! On top of that, this was Lan City, one of the most terrifying aberrant cities. There were things like butterflies, wolfmen, and Yggdrasil earthworms that had resulted after evolution. Im afraid that the speed at which these aberrants would swarm the military would be a lot faster than I could imagine. Jin Zhan and Jin Feng turned to look over at me. I hastily shrunk back, weakly ducking my head down. You seem to know quite a bit. Despite saying this, it didnt seem like Jin Zhan really believed me. I was silent for a moment, then quietly exined, I previously stayed in a military zone which was converted into a shelter. The oue was horrible, and there werent many who managed to escape. Jin Zhan shot a nce at me. You actually managed to stay alive. Looks like you arent such a wimp after all. Jiang Shutians little brother shouldnt be a good-for-nothing. Youre the one whos a good-for-nothing, your whole family isyou and Jin Xiaoyue are good-for-nothings! Except for Feng and Lil Mom. Theyre good people, not good-for-nothings. Hes got a resentful look in his eyes. Jin Zhan smirked and told Jin Feng, Youve always liked weird guys. That year when Scar cut his own face and almost split it into two, you insisted on having him saved. Now this little guy that youve found is also quite an oddball. He looks like a wimp, but still dares to run around everywhere. Jin Feng didnt deny the weird part, and simply pointed out, Xiao Yu isnt a wimp. Hes just afraid of strangers. Jin Zhan scoffed, then said to me, Next time, bring your brother toe see me. Just tell him that Im nning to ally with him to take over Lan City. Fury erupted within me. Just as I was about to retort with, Why arent YOU the oneing to see my brother, I suddenly changed my mind. Why on earth should I expose our base of operations? I nodded, and obediently said, After Ive recuperated, Ill leave the day after tomorrow and inform Dg about it once I get home. It would actually be fine for me to return tomorrow since I was still able to move. After taking the red envelopes I had just received, eating my fill, and getting some sleep, I should recover my powers somewhat. It shouldnt be a problem to get home unseen. However, Dg was still in Lan City. If I returned too early, I wouldnt be able find him anyway. Since I was already here, it would be better to stay and explore the Thunder Gods base for an extra day. When the time came, Dg would be able to better negotiate terms with the Thunder God. The garrison will be fine for just a couple of days, right? Despite my doubts, I decided to stay for another day and take a look around. The day after tomorrow? Jin Zhan indifferently said, So you really did enter the city alone. Guess theres no need to watch you too closely. Ive no idea how much strength youve got, but your talent in staying alive should be pretty decent. Nowadays, its really hard to pretend to be a weak and delicate pretty boy. So whats your power? Jin Xiaoyue excitedly asked, The Ice Emperor was so strong, Im sure hes given you a lot of crystals to eat. Youve trained up your powers, right? My heart jolted when I received this question. Initially, there would be no problem with revealing my ice powers, as it would be fine if I just made it seem weak and not too powerful. Unfortunately, I had just fought a battle with the Thunder God, and had even revealed the ice dagger. If I were to say that I had an ice ability, wouldnt that be sending myself to my death? Just what exactly is an ice emperor? I doubtfully looked at Jin Xiaoyue, and replied to her with a question, buying some time to think of another special power. Jin Xiaoyue said, a bit indecisively, Uhh doesnt your big brother have ice powers? Hes so powerful too, so dont you think hes suited to be called the Ice Emperor? The problem was that I hadnt even said that my familys dg had ice powers, so where did she get this information from? Considering how dumb she is, how did she get into college? Does she have an IQ of 87? I silently stared at her, feigning a look of doubt. Jin Xiaoyue seemed to have finally realized her slip of the tongue. Her cheeks were flushed as she fumbled for an exnation. In the end, she shifted the topic, and stubbornly said, You still havent told us your powers! Are you trying to hide something? After buying some time, I had actually thought of a power, but just as I was about say it, Jin Feng interjected. If he doesnt wanna say it, then so be it. My man doesnt need to justify himself to others! God, now I feel like my heart might burst with happiness. What should I do now? Sis! Jin Xiaoyue anxiously said, You trust this pretty boy way too much! What if hes got bad intentions? Dont you realize how weird it is that he can run around everywhere even though he looks just like a weakling? Xiao Yu isnt weak. Jin Feng looked at her and said confusedly, Ive already told you he isnt weak, so why do you still think that hes weak? Well, never mind Jin Xiaoyue, even Ben thought that the only thing that I had going for me was my face. Although my acting skills were bad, luckily, I had this face paired with a slim body which couldnt grow muscle Just thinking of this makes me feel like crying. Im not asking for too much. Cant I at least have biceps bigger than Yunqians? Jin Zhan let out augh. Every part of him looks weak. Jin Feng lifted an eyebrow and actually challenged the Thunder God, You might even lose to him in a fight. No, no, no, we only fought to a draw. I suddenly felt a bit excited. Ive actually fought the Thunder God to a draw! Jin Zhan lifted an eyebrow. If you could bear to let him fight, sure, lets see who would win. Jin Feng nced at me, and I hurriedly lowered my head, pretending to be a meek and dainty daughter-inw, I mean weak, pretty boy! She withdrew her nce, and said magnanimously, Nope, not happening. Nobodys allowed toy even a finger on Xiao Yu, not even you. Jin Zhan coldly snorted but didnt actually say anything further. If my familys little sister had stood up against me for another guy, and even challenged me for his sakeOh hell no. I could already feel my heart breaking from just thinking about it. That guy must be killed and shredded into pieces. His fate has been sealed! Sis! Jin Xiaoyue bitterly said, Youre treating him even better than us. Is he more important to you than us? Lil Moms expression changed, and she berated her, Xiaoyue, what nonsense are you talking about! Although Feng-r has always been spoiling you, youd actually get jealous of your brother-inw over something trivial? Even going as far as to say such ridiculous things, what have I taught you?! I protested weakly inside of my heart, But were not even married yet Jin Xiaoyue didnt seem afraid of Lil Mom at all. Instead, she was extremely afraid of her big brother. Just a re from Jin Zhan was enough for her to shut her mouth. Her eyes swam with tears as she lowered her head. She was young, pretty, and born with Lil Moms elegant and refined features. When she wasnt hopping mad and instead wore an aggrieved look on her face, she looked pure and innocent to the point of being endearing. Then again, if there was one thing that nobody could beat me at, it would be my invincible face! I quickly tugged at Jin Fengs sleeve and anxiously said, Feng, its okay. Ill just say it. Please dont trouble yourself. Jin Feng turned and stared at me. Instead of a distressed look in her eyes, she looked as if she were enjoying a beautiful scenery. Her gaze was so frank that I felt goosebumps all over my body. Theres something off about this... She flicked my forehead and said, People are gonna keep thinking of you as weak if you continue pretending to be so pitiful. I might not lose when ites to my face, but when ites to my acting skills, Id lose to the point that my pants get pulled down. Anyway, its all up to you whether to say it or not, she nonchntly said. I knit my brows into a frown, pretending to be vexed, then reluctantly held my hand out. Everyone turned to look toward my opened palm; however, there was nothing in the palm of my hand. Just as Jin Xiaoyue started getting impatient, a thin branch began to slowly extend out of my sleeve. Then, it became a somewhat chubby tree trunk, and finally two round leaves were revealed. Under everyones watchful gaze, the small and translucent sapling clung himself to my hand. Hisrge and round eyes had turned t, and he even hugged tightly onto my thumb, seemingly aggrieved and afraid of strangers. I told you to turn small, but you actually changed yourself into Thumbelina. With your attack and defense power looking pretty much non-existent, how am I supposed to convince everyone that I depend on you to crawl around the city? I gritted my teeth and exined, Id previously gotten injured and plopped myself on a tree. My blood spilled all over his body, and he suddenly came to life. Hes also very obedient to me. Dont judge him by his appearance. Xiaorong is actually very useful! Oh, by the way, I named him Jiang Xiaorong because hes a banyan tree. Xiaorong was really, really useful. Although his intelligence was a bitcking, expecting a tree to have high IQ was a bit over the top. Such a cute thing. Lil Momughed softly and said, Can I touch it? Yes, of course you can. I silently gave my instructions. Id noticed it a while agoas long as Lil Mom was happy, Jin Zhan would also be happier. Who would have expected that the high and mighty young master of a mafia group was actually someone who respected his stepmother? Xiaorong, behave. Us brothers are living under someone elses roof, so weve gotta go with the flow. Im counting on you to win Lil Mom over. The tree sapling was still a little afraid of strangers, so when Lil Mom reached out a hand, he went straight to hiding behind my thumb. But after some encouragement, he soon jumped out and rubbed against Lil Moms forefinger. The sight of him acting like a dog wagging its tail made it really unbearable for me to look at him. Lil Mom was very happy. If I hadnt said that Xiaorong had no way of leaving me, Xiaorong might have even changed masters. Jin Zhan looked pretty much like a bandit. He wont even allow any protests after robbing you! Fortunately, Lil Mom seemed to have noticed this. She returned Xiaorong after ying with him a bit, then said that she was tired and wanted to get some rest. I was relieved that I didnt need to go through the drama of fighting over Xiaorong. Seeing that I had eaten my fill, Jin Feng exchanged some parting words with Jin Zhan before leading me away. During this time, everyone in the dining hall was still idly eating. The bowls and tes on their tables had long been emptied, but they were still eating, taking five minutes just to finish a melon seed! We were about to leave the dining hall when several young men approached us. One of them said with a grin, Feng-ji, would you mind giving us some introductions? Jin Feng carelessly nodded, then pointed her thumb at me and said, This is my man. Watch yourself. Dont go over your head and bully him. If anyone dares to touch him, thats the same as touching me. All of them turned to look at me. They initially had a look of envy, but upon seeing my face, their expressions immediately showed a look ofplete understanding. I even saw two familiar faces among them. If I recall correctly, theyre the two men who tried to stir up trouble beforeBig Hulk and Mr. Spectacles. What were their names again? While I was struggling to remember, the bespectacled man stepped forward. He gloomily smiled and said, Feng-ji, since Xiao Yu has returned, does that mean you no longer want the new guy that just got picked up? Hu Zong. I finally remembered. As for the Big Hulk, hes Oldman Jun. Thetter was just a muscle head, while the former had his eye on Jin Feng. They hade looking for trouble with me, but Jin Feng was so intimidating that they didnt dare to cause too much trouble Fine, I admit that I do care a little about who this new guy that just got picked up is. Jin Feng fixated her eyes on Hu Zong. Under her gaze, he restrained his smile. He stiffly stood with his head lowered, and said in a loud voice, Im sorry, Feng-ji. I went too far. Despite this, Jin Feng didnt let him off the hook. With a wave of her hand, a long de of fire appeared out of thin air. Chopping into Hu Zong shouldnt be possible from this distance, but with a backhand wave, the de swung out, and he let out a blood-curdling screech. The disgusting odor of burned human flesh could be smelled from his arm. Everyone around us looked shocked and their faces turned pale. Surrounded by the smell of charred human flesh, with melon seeds in their mouths, they werent sure whether they should spit them out or swallow them down. Even standing at the back I could sense the density of energy contained within that fire de. It seemed so much more powerful than Cains. Damn that was so cool! Could the me King actually be this person over here? For such a fierce woman to actually exist in the apocalypse, this is a big honor for all women! Jin Feng abruptly looked toward me. She opened her mouth, but then closed it again. Blinking, I said with confusion, Do you have something to say? She gave a smirk. I was gonna ask if you were scared. But it turns out that your eyes are even brighter than my de, so theres no need for me to ask. Oops. Id forgotten to act timid again. Should I just quit the weak, pretty boy act Jin Zhan walked over and coldly said, Your subordinates are getting more and more out of hand. Its time to put a leash on them. Upon hearing this, Jin Fengs face darkened even further, and her red lips tightly pressed together. Everyone else no longer dared to even chew a single melon seed. Each and every one of them stood up with lowered heads, appearing very disciplined, pretty much like a group of cultured mafiadies. They remained like this even after Jin Zhan left the dining hall, so as it turned out, the person they really feared was Jin Feng. Hu Zongs whole hand appeared ck and red in color, appearing extremely painful. Despite his hand burned to a crisp, he simply gritted his teeth, not daring to let out another scream. Youre only allowed a crystal to take care of your injury after three days. Jin Feng frostily said, If theres a next time, you wont be needing any more crystals. When Jin Feng led me out the dining hall, it waspletely silent behind us. Jin Feng said with a frown, Should I just burn him to death? Maybe thatll be enough as a warning. Uh As expected of the mafia. Going straight from burning bridges to burning people to death in one sentence! I softly persuaded, Lets not burn people in the dining hall. Were still gonna eat there afterwards. A smile broke out on Jin Fengs face. Instead of a smirk, it was a genuine smile. I really do like you. Hearing this, I felt awkward instead of getting overwhelmed with delight, and grumbled, You just really like beautiful men, right? Everyone seems to think its a given when they see my face. Jin Feng tilted her head and nced at me. She didnt even deny it. I felt a little angry. Dont tell me youre okay with any handsome man? What would happen if there were a guy more handsome than me? And the one that Hu Zong just mentionedthe guy who just got picked uphe must be quite good-looking Following behind Jin Feng, Id already lost the mood to enjoy looking at her perky butt and long legs. I only felt gloom tugging at my heart. Its not like the only thing I have is my face. Im pretty strong myself! And my body my body will tone up one day! She turned around, looking at me with a searching nce, and asked, Are you unhappy? No, I bluffed, saying the opposite of what my heart said. Jin Feng lifted her eyebrows, obviously not believing my words. I couldnt help asking, You just really like my face? She frankly nodded. I like it. Having personally experienced what it felt like for ancient imperial concubines to be judged by their beauty, the feeling was both bitter and sweet. But right now, I was feeling far more bitter than sweet. Its not okay to judge someone just by appearance! After saying this, I almost drowned in bitterness by hearing my own tone of speech. I felt somewhat off about it. I was originally just a pretty boy, counting on my face to live and mooch off food and drinks, so what am I feeling bitter for Jin Feng replied with a question, Dont you like my boobs, too? What a good reply. Her response left me speechless. Actually, it wasnt just her chest. Jin Fengs thin waistline adorned with V-line abs and her firm little butt made my mouth water from time to time. Then again, mentioning these two parts didnt seem to be any better than her chest? Wait, theres one! I said in a confident manner, Compared to your chest, I like how badass you are even more! As soon as the words left my mouth, Jin Feng suddenly turned around to face me with a fierce expression on her face. If I didnt know that I hadnt done anything wrong, Id have really thought that she was gonna strike with a fire de! What, whats wrong? I immediately turned into a meek pretty boy. I didnt even need to fake it. Although I knew that Jin Feng wouldnt really shoot me with a fire de, her slightly frowning brows and tightly pursing lips had caused her queenly aura to be released in full force, making my heart so nervous! Jin Feng seemed to have realized that she had frightened me and adjusted her expression. She gravely asked, What you said just now, was it for real? Huh? I wasnt able to respond immediately. Which sentence are you talking about? Jin Feng stepped closer, and pressed me for an answer, You said that you like how badass I am the most. Did you mean it? I was stunned. But after seeing how serious her expression was, I stopped bluffing, hurriedly nodded, and said, I mean it. I really like your badassery. Theres plenty of girls with big boobs, but I didnt fall for any of them, only you. Youre the only one that I like! After saying this, I was suddenly hit with realization. In regards to big boobs and a good figure, Lily didnt actually lose out to Jin Feng Maybe she was a bitcking. Lily had a pear-shaped figure with a plump and ample butt while Jin Feng had a firm and tightAHHHHHH! The hell am I thinking,paring these things? Could I get any more perverted?! Anyway, although my eyes had never glued onto Lilys chest and butt, my mouth would drool anytime I saw Jin Fengs body. Shit, is this actually my first awakening of love? So it turns out that my type isnt only big boobs. She also has to be a domineering big sis, and most importantly, has to have the capability to burn people to a frazzle! My preferences are a bit too much, arent they? In the past, there was Miao Xiangling, the person that I did have some favorable impressions of, but my preference hadnt been this hardcore. That said, I wouldnt have been able to find someone like Jin Feng among the students. Among the students of my high school, Miao Xiangling was actually the bold and passionate type of woman. In fact, she was so bold that she had incited dislike from many people. But no matter how bold she was, once youpared her to Jin Feng, she was a lot milder! At most, Miao Xiangling was the bold type who would actively pursue a boyfriend, while Jin Feng was actually the attacking type, directly taking the person home and making him her husband. Are they evenparable? This must be a side effect from regaining my previous lifes memories. Jiang Shuyu likes beautiful women with big boobs, while Guan Weijun likes strong men with long legs. When the preferences were mixed together, it became strong women with big boobs and long legs! I like you, too. Not just your face, I like everything about you. I said with dissatisfaction, That answer is almost the same as not answering. I already said that I really like your badassery, but you didnt say which part of me you like the most! Jin Feng didnt say anything even after we returned to her room. I was feeling a bit vexed, though I wasnt sure what I was getting angry about. In any case, I was just someone who relied on his face to get rescued! I forcefully jumped onto the bed, deciding to sleep and recover more quickly. I covered myself with the nket and buried my face in the pillow. I must be tired from exhausting my powers, which is why my mood is so gloomy. Anyway, Im just a pretty boy freeloading on food and drinks, so isnt it fine for me to go to sleep after Ive eaten my fill? I really like the way you look at me. I started, and lifted my head from the pillow. Jin Feng was sitting at the bedside, ying with a strand of my hair. Her fingers were long and slender, but werent thin and delicate like a girls hands. Her fingers looked strong withrge joints and neat and short fingernails. You could easily tell that she was someone who worked her fingers to the bone. Jin Feng noticed that I was staring at her hand, and casually exined, My hands look a lot better now after Ive started eating crystals. Some of the scars have even disappeared. But theyre still not pretty though, not as much as yours. Upon hearing this, I sat up and held Jin Fengs hand with both of mine. Although Jin Feng was a strong woman, I was a man, so my hands were still a lot bigger than hers. I was able topletely wrap my hands around hers. Jin Feng said with amusement, What are you doing? Even I dont know what Im doing I could feel my heart slightly fluttering. If Jin Feng wasnt so serious, I might have decided to test out the waters by dating her, just like how Id told Miao Xiangling about giving it a try. But it was not possible to only give it a try with Jin Feng. I held Jin Fengs hand. It was very warm. She didnt have themonly cold hands and feet that girls usually had, which was probably rted to her fire powers. She appeared to be outwardly cold and unapproachable, but internally, she was like a ball of fire. So warm that she could melt people even in the winter. Seriously, I like everything about her. Can you wait two years for me? Ive promised someone that I wouldnt date within two years. Jin Fengs face immediately darkened. She said unhappily, Was it your ex-girlfriend? Imagining the Ice Emperor as my ex-girlfriendits simply too much for me to bear! I hastily shouted in denial, No! Ive never had a girlfriend! My past life boyfriend doesnt count! Jin Feng stared at my face with some disbelief, With a face like this, you havent dated yet? Your bro didnt let you? No, thats not it. I shook my head and said, That guy has gone messing around who knows where, so hes got no right to decide that for me. If it werent for me and my little sister at home, who knows what kind of mess hed turn out to be? Even I dont wanna think about it! Jin Feng chuckled. Hes a lot like my bro. Hes got some restraint cuz he likes Lil Mom. Otherwise, hed probably be a lot looser, too. I looked at her with utter disbelief and eximed, Your brother? With Lil Mom? That shouldnt be possible, right? Jin Feng nonchntly said, Its no big deal. In any case, Dad died long ago. G never told Lil Mom before, since she would get scared half to death. So hes just gonna stay quiet about it and remain chaste? My heart began to pound in my chest, excited for some juicy gossip. Who would have thought that the Thunder God was actually a lovestruck fool? Jin Feng looked at me, and said, You think he can restrain himself? I was stunned. But you just said that he likes Lil Mom? He does like her, but that wont stop him from finding relief with other women. He just wont bring them home. What the fuck. Id decided to hate the Thunder God. Hed made me remember that fucker, Xia Zhengu. Back when he started cheating on me, hed also talk his way out like this. Even though he loved me, those pitiful women liked him so much that he couldnt bear to reject them, so he had no choice but to ept all of them. However despite all that, I was still the woman that he loved the most. But now just remembering those words sets my heart ame. Guan Weijun hadnt died from excessive anger in the past, probably only because of my strong body which had been tempered by the apocalypse! When I came to my senses, Jin Feng was engrossed in staring at me, though I couldnt guess what she was thinking about. Feeling anger rising up in me, I furiously said, So youre like that, too? You like me, but you also wouldnt mind finding relief with some other guy? Jin Feng stared nkly for a moment, then replied with a smile, No. Ive never looked for anyone. Is this the confession of a virgin, or did I just misunderstand? You never had a girlfriend before, then did you ever get yourself a woman? I nkly shook my head. Hows that even possible? Where would a normal high school student have even gotten himself a woman So youre a virgin? Jin Feng seemed to be in a great mood. She was looking very pleased. I refuse to answer! Dont worry. Jin Feng ruffled my hair and made a promise, If you dont go looking for a woman, then I wont go seeking a man either. Then, what would happen if I looked for one? Of course I didnt n on cheating, nor would I be the second Xia Zhengu. I was just interested to know what a woman like Jin Feng would do to deal with a cheating partner. Jin Feng stopped ruffling my hair and moved her hands to my neck, grabbing my neck with both hands. I was filled with fascination and great admiration. Why hadnt I seized the opportunity when Xia Zhengu hadnt be stronger yet, and just strangled him to death?! It would have been the greatest satisfaction in my life! Ah, Feng, everything about you is so, so great. Even your method of sorting out a cheating man pleases me! Jin Feng moved her hands off my neck, gave a very faint smile, and proceeded to touch my lips Volume 5, 7: Meeting Saint Again

Volume 5, Chapter 7: Meeting Saint Again

Tranted by Michimochi (proofread by Xuan & L Su; C/E edited by Simone & lucathia) I walked out of the room. Just as I was finishing wolfing down the crystals from the red envelope, Feng had handed me a few more. Lying in bed could speed up my recovery even more, but my decision to stay for one more day wasnt so that I could sleep. ncing toward the elevator, I happened to meet Bens dead-fish eyes. His arms were crossed over his chest as he leaned against the wall, and he had a face that said Im not surprised to see you again. Being caught in the act, I scrambled for an exnation. I got tired of lying in bed, so Im going out for a walk, not to run off! Bens dead-fish eyes became even more lifeless. Entirely unconvinced, he said, You were only in bed for two hours. The doc said that youre seriously injured and need to rest for at least five to six days. I exined, Im fine after eating the crystals. This isnt like before the apocalypse! Our doc has looked after a whole bunch of people these past six months. He factored in the effects of the crystals. Ugh. I bit the bullet and continued, The crystals in the red envelopes were humongous. After eating them and sleeping for two hours, I feel much better. Is that so? Ben grumbled in disbelief, But then again, Madam doesnt know anything about crystals, and shes both principled and generous. Maybe she really did get you the best ones. What were they called again: tier one crystals? I was stunned. Then again, it was that Jin Xiaoyue who had said it. However, from yesterdays conversation, I didnt really believe that Jin Xiaoyue was a threat, just a bit impulsive and absent-minded. She was even a well-protected little princess, without much room for advanced development in power. The only issue was that I didnt know what kind of power she had. Maybe I should have responded with the same question when she pried about my powers yesterday. It was just that, at the time, I was too preupied with my fear of offending Jin Zhan. Now that I thought about it again, I was only eighteen this year. I should have impulsively asked her something like, What about your power? Ill tell you mine if you tell me yours. Maybe that would have been more suitable for an eighteen-year-old. But in the end, the reason Id suddenly dare to act like that obviously is Cough, cough, I have Feng to cover for me! As I remembered that I had just turned eighteen this year, I immediately put on a naive persona and deliberately yelled, Just let me go out for a walk! Its so boring being cooped up in the room! Bens expression remained dubious. He didnt even loosen up one bit. No use, huh? I pondered. Changing my tone, I said in an awkward manner, Please man, I just want to know more about the Jin family. This is, after all Fengs, home Before I finished my sentence, I suddenly found myself feeling depraved. I had just asked Jin Feng to wait two years, yet I had still used her name behind her back. To use a womans feelings this way, I couldnt help but feel that my past self would despise me After I changed my tone, Ben loosened his brows. With an air of arrogance, he grudgingly said, Since you let Feng-ji have her way, Ill take you to meet Feng-jis underlings. They probably also want to see what her husband looks like. Wait! I thought with rm, Feng had her way with what? With you, of course! It wasnt until Ben responded that I realized I had actually hollered the question out loud. Feng-ji seemed pretty happy just now. Ben looked joyful. He even patted my shoulder satisfactorily. Although I wanted to shout, She didnt have her way at all and that Jin Feng was not shameless enough to make a move on the wounded, this hollering might cost me the golden opportunity to investigate the Jin family in great depth. I could only grit my teeth, neither confirming nor denying his statement as I followed Ben toward the elevator. But then again, that was way too short! Ben said disapprovingly, Even though Feng-ji might not mind, you have to make up for it. If you cant make Feng-ji happy, when she finds someone else, you wont even have enough time to cry! Too short? We havent even done anything yetjust, just kissed. How much time can that take? Plus, Feng promised that she would not look for anybody else, so dont go dragging her down! Walking into the elevator, Ben leaned closer and said in a quiet voice, Since youre determined to be with Feng-ji, you should be careful. Last time Feng-ji saved a man and brought him back. The guy isnt as good-looking as you are, but his looks arent that bad either. Plus, hes taller and has more muscles than you. He even likes to pester Feng-ji! Ben clicked his tongue. He must be the one that Hu Zong was talking about! And you said you wouldnt find anyone else! You even promised to wait for two years. Now who would believe that? I grinded my teeth and asked, And Feng just lets him pester her? Ben scratched his head and said, He didnt really do much, just asked a couple questions about abilities. His ability isnt too bad. Feng-ji is probably observing him. As long as he performs well, shell let him join the crew. After hearing this, my mood dropped even further. I asked, Whats his power? Ben evaded my question and switched topics instead, If you ever get assigned a mission to go out in the future, you have to help drop a few nice words about me in front of Feng-ji. That way I can go out on missions with you without having to wait until Im sixteen. I think you should wait until youre eighteen! If you dont answer my question, Ill tell Feng that sixteen is too young and she should change it to eighteen! Lets all wait for two more years, hurray! As if he had stepped on an aberrant, Ben snarled, Arent you afraid that Ill help the other guy? Go ahead! I sneered, Lets see if Feng likes me or the other guy! Ben examined my face and became discouraged. I think that face of yours is bound to win. No kidding! This face has met nopetition. He exined dejectedly, That guys ability is strange and quite a sight. He can emit a very bright light, but its pretty useless, since the light might only be able to scare some people. The light has one use though, as many aberrants will get scared. Most will just run without looking back. Granted, using it on people works just as well. The light is so bright that it can temporarily blind people for a few seconds. Light emission? I frowned, unable to recall any particr power that had this characteristic. Or more like, there were just too many powers that could emit light that it was just treated as some side effect. Many people would even try to get rid of that light. When unleashing ones power, the subtler and quieter one was, the more powerful one could be. No one would shout Pegasus Meteor Fist before making their move. The elevator arrived at the floor with a ding. The door opened. Ben said nervously, You have to follow right behind me. Dont go running around by yourself. If you get bullied by someone, Feng-ji is going to skin me! I gave him a nk stare, then scoffed, Feng wouldnt skin you for such trivial matters. Says who? Ben retorted, Just look at Hu Zong. That guy was cooked medium well! Last time he trespassed into Fengs room. This time he tried provoking a division in public, so Jin Feng taught him a serious lesson. Otherwise, if she were to let anyone act that presumptuous to her face, how could she lead? Bens eyes widened, his face full of disbelief. Hmph. Did you finally realize that I dont only rely on this face of mine? I may not be entirely familiar with how the underworld works, but in the apocalypse, the number of mobs that formed was as many as the hairs on an ox. Ive already had my fill of experiences! You sure know our dji really well. Right outside the elevator door, Scar Lin Qi looked at me with satisfaction. Ben said cheerfully, Dji isnt just ours anymore. Shes also Xiaoyus wife! Hmm? Scar nodded, then said admiringly, Thats Feng-ji, all right. She works really fast. Ill tell the underlings to call you Jif. I suddenly feel that Bens age is great. His calling me Brother-inw rings so nicely in my ears! But since Scar looks so much older than Jin Feng, his calling me Brother-inw would really render me speechless. Just call me Xiao Yu, I couldnt help but say. Scar raised his brow. If you were only going to be Djis ything, then you could be called whatever Yu you like. But since Feng-ji intends to have you as her inamorata, that means that we cant y around. You cant just be called whatever. Inamorata I really dont understand the mobsters of this era. Using such a retro terminology, would that be considered cultured or uncivilized? Is it really okay to call someone of the male sex an inamorata? I said in a low voice, Then just call me Jif. With that, Bens nervous expression finally rxed a bit. With Scar here, surely no one would even dare to bully Xiao Yuno, Jif! After the Jif confirmation, Scar appeared to be a lot more enthusiastic. His scarred face pulled into a smile, but since the smile pulled at his scars, his whole face became crooked. It was horrendous. You havent eaten that many crystals, right? I asked a bit puzzled, After consuming some crystals, the scars from my childhood disappeared. Although his scars may have been old and alsorge, so they might be more difficult to eliminate, Jin Feng would not mistreat her people. Once a person ate a bunch of crystals, not only would scars disappear, even lost teeth would have a chance to grow again. Regrowing a severed limb was not an impossibility either. But then again, I had only heard about that from rumors. In the apocalypse, if a person were to break an arm or a leg, he or she would die very quickly. Either they would be eaten or infected and transform into an aberrant. No one I knew of had the opportunity to eat enough crystals to grow a limb back. Ben curled his lips and said, Who says he didnt have many? Feng-ji gave him so many crystals, even tier one crystals, so its not like Scar hasnt eaten them. Its why his face is barely passable. If you were to take a sudden look at him in the past, I swear you would vomit all of yesterdays breakfast. So, this is passable? The corners of my mouth twitched. It seemed that it was not an exaggeration when Jin Zhan mentioned that Scar had almost chopped his own head in half. Ben looked at Scar with discontent. He said, Wasnt it just for a woman? Because her face was disfigured, you followed suit and also cut your face? Why hack at your brain when you clearly already have holes in it?! Scar red at Ben. He said coldly, A brat who has barely grown any hair shouldnt dare to talk about women. Wait until Feng-ji hears about this. Shell beat you up for sure! Feng-ji doesnt care about such trivial things. Ben didnt seem to care at all. He turned around and said to me, Scar liked a girl who lived next door when he was a kid. But because she was a gifted student with good grades, she wouldnt even spare him a nce. Scar snapped, Yirou didnt look down on me! She even bailed me out before! Ben rolled his eyes. He added, Sure, she didnt look down on you. You were just a coward. You didnt even dare to speak out when you watched your beloved marry someone else. He turned his head and continued, That Rourou married off into a foreign country. This Scar of ours didnt even dare to go and visit her. It wasnt untilter, when he went back to his hometown to give some money to his mother that he unexpectedly discovered her return. After asking around, he found out that her husbands house was burnt to the ground. She risked her life trying to get her mother-inw out of the house, but half of her face got burned. In the end, her husband was a shithead. At first, he said he wouldnt turn his back on her, but soon after, he had an affair with another woman and divorced her. Then Rourou got together with Scar-g? My interest peaked. This story was even more dramatic than TV dramas. Since there was no television to watch during the apocalypse, listening to stories was the best way to pass time. I had listened to stories like this to live through ten years in my previous life! No. She refused. She said that because her face was ruined, no one would like her, and that she would never marry again in this life. So, Scar used a knife to hack up his face, almost killing himself. He allowed her to take care of him for more than six months before he was able to get out of bed. Once he was able to walk, he rushed to her house to ask for her hand. His ugly face was so menacing, he almost scared his father-inw and mother-inw to death! Apparently, he is the romantic idiot type, huh? My impression of Scar immediately soared sky high. Ben smirked. After eating crystals and discovering the scars on his face had faded, Scar became quite the eager beaver. He harvested more crystals than anyone else just to give them to his wife. If it werent for his fear of being unable to win against aberrants if he wasnt strong enough, this guy would have given all of his crystals to his wife. After listening to the end of the story, I took a better look at Scar. This mans handsomeness meets nopetition. Those scars on his face are so cool! During the story, Scar had put on a cold expression and did not speak a single word. But I could tell that he was not in a bad mood. He was simply being shy! This fierce hunk actually became abashed. Such a gap! I wanted to say that this was gap moe, but Scar and moe could only ever go together if someone stabbed themselves in the eyes first. Scar-g is such a good man! I gave him a thumbs up. This type of high-ss romantic idiot of a good man must be showered in praise! Scar was no longer able to keep up a poker face. His mouth pulled into a crooked grin. Thats right, thats right. Ben nodded. You need to learn from Scar. You should not look at other prettydies. Even though men like to look at beauties, you already belong to Feng-ji. If you dare to let your eyes wander, be careful. She will have your eyeballs dug out! I harrumphed. Dig out my eyeballs ? Feng will chop off your hands before that! Ben sneered. He stared at me, his teeth bared like a little ck dog ready to bite. Youre being too nosy, Ben. Feng-ji has it all under control. Scar pulled me away and simply said, Come, lets take you to meet Feng-jis underlings. Get to know them and let them get to know you to prevent infighting. I nodded. Though I was more interested in Jin Zhans underlings, I knew that my current persona was that of a good-for-nothing pretty boy. Even if I were Jin Fengs lover, Jin Zhans people might not take an interest in me. As we walked through the grand hall, gunshots could be heard from outside, yet the people here did not even bat an eye. It sounded like it was some distance away. I frowned as I looked out the window. Beside me, Ben exined, Theres all kinds of noises outside around here. There are explosions from time to time. A while back, there was a big snake running rampant on the streets. When we looked out from the top of the building, we were terrified. These gunshots are nothing. Hm? That snake wouldnt have been the Yggdrasil Earthworm, would it? I gazed into the distance. I was never going to admit that I was the culprit. Finally, we arrived at a small hall. The namete hanging at the entrance of the hall was a bit interesting. So this ce was called Imperial Phoenix Hall. It was no wonder Jin Fengs team would be ced here. As soon as we walked in, Scar shouted, Come and get to know Feng-jis man. This is Jif. You all better watch your mouth Its you! Before Scar even finished speaking, a young man standing next to the door nearly jumped from excitement, his face full of disbelief. I looked at the young man. He seemed a bit familiar, but I couldnt put my finger on where I had seen this guy. His clothes were quite bold and he didnt seem to fit in with the others. He looked less like a mobster and more like a normal college student, the sporty, sunny kind on some basketball team. Howe youre here? He asked, astounded. Beside us, Scar frowned. He looked a bit unhappy, but he didnt attempt to interrupt the man. I said calmly, I got rescued. Rescued? He looked even more bewildered. Even you need to be saved by someone? This guys reaction was very abnormal. When most people saw me, their first impression of me would be that of a pretty boy, and many would evenbel me as a weak chicken. Who told my body to be unable to grow any big muscles? I do have some finely chiseled body lines, but they are all covered by my clothes. So beingbeled as a weak chicken isnt exactly wrong. Could it be that he had once hid himself and watched me fight? What a miscalction. I should have brought this persona out a lot sooner. Of course I do. I decided to continue the pretense of being stupid. I needed to work out his identity and said, Its so dangerous out there. Dont you know? The man hesitated, then he nodded, True, you may be strong, but the monsters out there are indeed terrible. This prat must have seen me in battle! Damn it! Beside us, both Scar and Ben looked over at me with suspicion. Would it still be possible to continue this meek persona? Someone chuckled. Chen Yishao, are you sure you have the right person? That name sounded oddly familiar, but I couldnt seem to remember where I had heard it. He cant be some ssmate from elementary or middle school, right? Chen Yishao immediately dismissed that, Impossible! How could I not recognize that face! Everyone stared at my face in silence, then nodded in agreement. He looked at me and in an awkward tone said, You dont remember me? I examined his face more closely trying to find any familiar traces. I took a wild guess, Were you a ssmate from elementary school? Or junior high? Sorry, my memory isnt that great. As a diligent student who had been admitted to his first choice college, my memory was of course very good. However, after the merging of Guan Weijuns memory, some trivial matters had gotten mixed together, making it difficult to tell which memories came from which life. Other things just werent worth remembering and only left a sliver of impression. Chen Yishao shook his head. Its normal that you dont remember me. We only met in passing on the road. You saved us that time. When did I save strangersAh! I remember! It was after I got kidnapped by the carrion-bloom bird and was brought to Zhongguan City. Jin Feng rescued me, then let me return home. On my way back, I yed Mother Teresa but was still shot at, shattering my saint heart! That saintplex needs to vanish or else endless troubles will follow! I gritted my teeth, but then remembered the mother and son pair. Could I really turn a blind eye on them when they were right there? I remember now. What happened to those kids from back then? I couldnt help but ask. Chen Yishao was at a loss. I dont know. Later, we were trapped on the roof of a building. There were hundreds of monsters out there and we were running out of food. Everyone was getting so hungry that someone had even thought about killing a child to eat. I, I stopped them a few times, but it was impossible to keep on stopping them. In the end, I volunteered to draw the monsters away to create an opportunity for the rest of the group to run. What a holy friggin saint, Im impressed! Just as I was about to be torn apart by the monsters, my body suddenly glowed. The monsters became scared and scattered. I took the opportunity to run and was able to buy some time, but in the end, I was surrounded again. I thought I was really going to be eaten then, but Jin Feng came to rescue me Before he even got to finish speaking, he was hit on the back of his head by Ben. Ben snapped, Its Feng-ji! You think youre good enough to call Feng-ji by her name? Chen Yishao rubbed his head and apologized without any sincerity, Oh, sorry. He looked very ufortable, obviously unustomed to the ways of the underworld. Then again, that was not too surprising. Normal college students definitely would not fit in among the mafia. Ben nudged me, his face full of suspicion. I pondered for a moment, then briefly exined, I saved his group before, but one of them opened fire at me. He wanted to rob me of my stuff, so I stabbed him and ran. To be 100% truthful, that was just a rough description of how it had gone down. I didnt say how I rescued the group nor how I killed the man. This way it sounded as if I had saved them on the way without much trouble. Moreover, Chen Yishao shouldnt have a problem with my story; after all, that was indeed what had happened. Ben suddenly had an epiphany. He immediately told Chen Yishao, Since Jif is your lifesaver, you cantpete with him over Feng-ji! Chen Yishao gawked, and even started blushing. He stuttered, I, I never thought about At this point, he stopped and hesitantly turned his head toward me. He asked, Jif? Is he talking about you? Are you really Jin Fengs husband? You look so young. Were you even in college? The f*ck. To hell with my saintplex, I ended up rescuing a mistress! His mouth was so full of Jin Feng this, Jin Feng that. Call her Feng-ji, you prat! Im almost neen and a college student! I insisted on pushing this point. If I hadnt gotten hit by a tile, I would have been admitted to college. Chen Yishao frowned. Youre still so young. Why are you killing people at such a young age? Young my *ss. My past life plus this life is more than enough to make me your dad! He shot at me! I barked, Can you even tell right from wrong? I saved you guys, yet he wanted to kill me and take my stuff. I only fought back but you still keep ming me for killing him! He retorted, Youre so strong that you obviously didnt need to kill him when you fought back. Killing him doesnt count as self-defense at all! Killing as self-defense? I was so angry I was at the point ofughing. He dared to open fire at me, so he shouldve been prepared to ept the consequences! Beside us, Scar nodded, obviously agreeing with this statement. Ben was even more direct, openly ring at Chen Yishao with contempt. Chen Yishao also seemed to understand that his ideology would not be epted in a ce like this. He didnt have the guts to continue, quite fearful of the reaction of the onlookers. And yet even though I had killed in front of him, he was still not afraid of me. Scar and the others looked like they definitely had blood on their hands too, while inparison, I looked young, thin, and weak. This appearance just could not give anyone a scare. He asked with uncertainty, But you shouldnt be a gangstugh, no, youre not part of their group, are you? I shook my head He was puzzled. Then, how were you able to defeat those monsters so easily? My big brother is a mercenary and taught me a few tricks, I said firmly. After all, it was all because Dg taught me well. Even if I had killed someone, that was because Dg taught me bad! It suddenly clicked for him, though he probably only understood half of it. A normal college student wouldnt understand anything about the ways of a mercenary unless he had read countless novels. In general, mercenaries were hired as armed forces. They would do whatever their employer ordered them to do. Of course, Dg still had scruples when choosing assignments, at least way more than his frivolous ways with women. He didnt ept every assignment that came his way or randomly take on some unreasonable tasks. I looked at the people around me. They were all curious but not too surprised, even though mercenaries and mafia werent exactly the same trade. My brother even mostly took on missions abroad, rarely taking on domestic missions for the sake of his siblings safety. Taking on tasks domestically too often would be inevitably dangerous. Even though that was how Dg had put it, I knew that another reason he chose tasks that were abroad was because they were much more exhrating. Even if there was a task avable within the country, most of the missions that would grab my brothers attention were from abroad. He could go out of the country for missions, plus it would likely cause less trouble for his younger siblings. Chen Yishao looked like he wanted to continue his inquiries, but Scar interrupted him impatiently, Brat, who gave you permission to butt in? If you dont get out of the way, there will be consequences! If Hu Zongs two provocative sentences got him burned medium well, then Chen Yishaos casual bbering and interruption should have gotten him burnt to charcoal. If Scar and Ben had not been curious about my situation, they probably would have kicked him within an inch of his life right from the start. Even after hearing that, Chen Yishao still wanted to continue his questioning. But as Scar pulled a serious face, he didnt dare to say anything and obediently stepped aside. Scar turned toward me and praised, Feng-ji said you werent weak, but who knew you had a few tricks up your sleeve! Youve actually seen blood before. Heh, I cant even count how many people and aberrants Ive hacked to death. Crystals became my meals. Why stop at simply seeing blood? Blood is something to be showered in! I lowered my head and sighed helplessly, My big brother forced me to. He said that in this era, if I continued to be naive, it wouldnt be long before I met the grim reaper. I could just me Dg for everything. I was just a pretty weakling who had no choice but to take out a knife. Chen Yishao eximed, Whats the matter with that big brother of yours? He actually forced you to kill? Scar was furious. His hideous expression looked as if he wanted to exterminate Chen Yishao. However, instead of drawing out his gun, he stretched out his hand and grabbed at the empty air. Chen Yishao was dragged a couple steps forward, as if someone had pulled him by his cor. Then, Scar turned his palm up and pushed upwards. Chen Yishao actually floated upwards, suspended in mid-air. When he initially left the ground, he tried to break free. But after he was lifted higher than a persons height, he didnt even dare to twitch. In the end, the big boy floated until he was a mere one meter away from the ceiling. Remember, this was a five-star hotel. You could tell with your eyes that this lobbys ceiling was at least three stories higher than that of an average building. Ben chuckled and took two steps forward. He bent his legs and jumped, shooting up right in front of Chen Yishao. For him to achieve that height with such ease, this must not have been his limit. Such a jump was already amazing, but that was not all. He whipped out a kick at Chen Yishao so fast that you could only see the shadow of his leg. Chen Yishaos whole body smacked against the rear wall. After kicking him, Ben flipped his body and jumped off of the ceiling. Borrowing the force of gravity, he immediatelynded on the ground and kicked a sofa underneath Chen Yishao before thetter had even hit the ground. Although he had a sofa to cushion him, Chen Yishaosnding was a fall, not a proper sitting position. After crashing on the sofa, he dropped to the floor,y on the ground holding his stomach, and groaned. Although he couldnt get up, he didnt seem to have broken any arms or legs. I was breathless. The abilities of these two were so good. I wanted to snatch the two of them away. Wanting to steal people with good abilities was definitely an illness. How do I treat it? I almost drooled. Fortunately, I stopped myself and thought about my subordinates back home. Ah Nuo and Ah Qing had metal and spatial abilities respectively, Watermelon had power over gravity, Lin Zuojun could teleport, and Diao Ming had a fantastic farming ability. Plus, there was also Peng Weijie who thought his ability was merely vibration. Heh, their ability type is trivial. The most important thing is that my subordinates arebat professionals who obey orders and have good moral conduct! The Ice Spears were truly overly amazing. They might not beparable to Dgs mercenary troops, but they could definitely throw Xia Zhengus team more than ten streets away. I should be content with that. As I came back to my senses, Bens expression was full of So, hows that? Despite trying to hide his pride, he couldnt suppress the corners of his mouth. His face expressed his desire to be praised, befitting his age of fourteen. I rubbed his head and praised him, That was incredible! His hair beneath my hand felt pretty good, just a bit stiff. Of course, it could neverpete with the silkiness of Junjuns hair. Dont touch my head! Ben snapped. He flushed. His expression might have looked angry, but in my opinion, it was more annoyance than actual anger. It seemed like this kid did not hate getting patted, but he couldnt bring himself to show it. Youre a real tsundere, little ck dog. I puffed out my chest. With confidence, I said, Im your brother-inw, but I cant even touch your head, huh? Ben gaped. He scrunched his eyebrows in distress. As he stood there unable to figure out how to react, someone rushed in from the entrance. He got straight to the point and said, Scar, gather the men. Feng-ji is in trouble! With this, everyone in the Imperial Phoenix Hall pricked up their ears to listen in. With a swish, they all stood up, each individual expression fiercer than the next. Scar frowned. Whats the situation? Howe youre here to report? Did Feng-ji say how many she needs? The person shook their head, Jin-g sent me upstairs to keep watch. I saw in the distance that Feng-ji shed with a group of people. Both groups are now hidden in a building. At the moment, there are no direct confrontations. Their location is about three kilometers east. The building where Feng-ji is hiding is green. The other group is hiding in the white building right across from them with Chen Familys Ocean Freight written on it. Are you sure its humans, not aberrants? Scar asked carefully. The person refuted, Its definitely humans. Theyre carrying guns! Their fire power should not be underestimated. Who knows where they came from? I looked over to the person. Visual ability? Scar became enraged. Are they from the same gang as the one who ambushed Jin-g? The person was startled, but then his face changed drastically. Its possible! I have to go and tell Jin-g. Go then. Ill bring some people over to help Feng-ji first. Scar turned his head and shouted at the people in the hall, Go fetch your weapons. Be at the entrance in one minute. Everyone rushed out of the hall immediately, almost busting the door. Scar turned to leave as well, but Ben put on an ugly face, probably because he knew he wasnt allowed to follow. Im going as well! Chen Yishao hurriedly walked over to us. He was still holding his belly at first, but when Scar nced over, he straightened up immediately. As expected, he didnt suffer from too much damage. Ben had still gone easy on him. Scar scrunched his brows. ording to the rules, youre not allowed to bring a gun. I wont take one. I dont even know how to use it anyway! Chen Yishao blurted, Ill just emit light. After eating some crystals, my light shines brighter. I can definitely help Jin Feng. Scar didnt take long to consider and nodded, letting him go straight to the entrance. I squinted and raised my voice, I want to go as well! Scar looked at me bbergasted. He cursed, Dont be ridiculous! We dont know who those guys are. I dont have the time to babysit you. I raised my chin and said, I dont need you to take care of me. Im a man that can roam around Zhongguan City and Lan City by himself! Ben chaffed, Sure, and have Feng-ji save you every time. Seeing their expressions of Just donte and mess things up, I feared that if I didnt reveal a couple cards, I really wouldnt be able to follow. I thought about my previous fight against Jin Zhan, how Xiaorong had struck out with his branches. The icy thorns had been among walls of ice, so he should not have been very conspicuous. Summoning Xiaorong, I became aware of his sleepy eyes and drowsy spirit. I was reluctant to burden him, so I let him continue his rest. As long as he stretched out the branch on the right for me to use, all would be well. A translucent whip protruded from the cuff of my sleeves, long enough to circle around me at my feet. I cracked the whip, shing some dining chairs in the distance into a pile of broken wooden ts. Although this move was a bit inconsistent with my weak pretty boy persona, it wasnt too strong. If I didnt at least have this level of fighting skill, even if I imed I could walk through the city by myself, no one would believe me! Scar glowed with admiration. He asked, Do you know how to use a gun? Yes! My brother is a mercenary. Other than a sniper rifle, I can use any gun. Though I cant say I could hit a hundred targets in a hundred shots, eighty out of a hundred is absolutely not a problem! I continued using Dg as an excuse. Scar nodded in satisfaction. He said, Lets go. Well grab you a gun. Booyah! I red at Chen Yishao. I had never gotten particrly annoyed at any of Xia Zhenggus mistresses in my previous life. There had been way too many. Forget hating them, I couldnt even remember them all! But in this life, rivals in love, dont even think about showing your face! Volume 5, 8: Whose Powerful Troop Is This

Volume 5, Chapter 8: Whose Powerful Troop Is This

Tranted by Miaka_Mei (proofread by Arcedemius & EvlNabiki; C/E edited by Elkin, Simone & lucathia) I was obediently tagging along with Scar and his troops, moving at a quick pace. Three kilometers didnt sound like a huge distance, butpared to moving alone, it was a lot more difficult for a group of humans to be traveling in Lan City. After all, the bigger the target, the harder it was to hide. A whole b would always be more appetizing than a morsel of meat. Just like how the humans worked together to go to hypermarkets and warehouses, the aberrants would also team up to attack the humans base. But the vast diversity of aberrants and their mercurial temperaments meant it was hard for them to keep working together for long. It was amon urrence for them to devour their own group or each other after they had polished off the humans. It was probably because of this that humans were able to persevere until theter stages of the apocalypse. Otherwise, considering how tenacious aberrants were, how many humans would have been able to survive the initial stages of the apocalypse? No matter how powerful Thunder God Jin Zhan or Ice Emperor Jiang Shutian was, without knowledge from their past lives, one of them would have ended up holing himself up in Zhongguan City, while the other would have lost his whole troop just for the sake of returning home. Faster! As the leader of the group, Scar, continuously urged us on, I hurriedly increased my pace. These guys were moving pretty fast. Although their skills couldnt bepared to the members of JDT, they had far surpassed an average person. Leaving that aside, we hadnt encountered many aberrants along the way. Could it be that the Jin family has already cleared the perimeters up to three kilometers? How long have you guys been staying in Lan City? I asked the person beside me in a low voice. Scar had ordered him to join us. Still feeling a bit worried about me, he had especially appointed a big, strong, and taciturn guy to look after me. Bing the brother-inw was truly a good thing. With Tough Guy by my side, I probably didnt need to personally take action and could just be the obedient, pretty boy. I cast a nce behind the troop, ncing at the manstressI mean, Chen Yishao. He hadnt gotten this kind of treatment. When Tough Guy had just been appointed, he had quite the cold look on his face. But after we started moving and Scar ordered us to pick up the pace, Tough Guys expression had lightened quite a bit upon noticing that I wasnt falling behind, and was able to steadily maintain my position in the middle of the troop. Compared to the hindering Chen Yishao, I was doing a whole lot better. Even several nearby men looked at me with a newfound respectWell, not really, their expression was actually How is this possible?! It seemed that my weak and delicate pretty boy impression had already been set in stone for everyone. No matter how many times Jin Feng said Xiao Yu isnt weak, it was obvious that nobody actually believed it. I felt very conflicted. Could it be that when I reveal my true strength in the future, no one will believe me, and they might even think that Ive been reced by an aberrant? Tough Guy replied, More than ten days. You guys already cleared out the nearby aberrants? Tough Guy nodded in response. Feng-ji is in charge of clearing the perimeters, while Jin-g goes out to expand the territory. This came as a real surprise to me. Although my familys Old Town had been thoroughly cleared out so that not even a single ant remained, it was a small town after all. It couldntpare to the horrifying Lan City. Despite this ce being somewhat of a semi-suburb, its vicinity seemed quite spacious and empty. Even the hotel was particrly high-ss. Who knows if its owned by the Jin family, an underworld organization It seemed that there were many advantages in having a lot of personnel. Although things would get a lot moreplicated with more people, it was helpful in getting things done faster. Considering therge amount of people employed by the Jin family, the matter of our alliance seemed a bit questionable. Maybe we can make up for therge disparity in the number of people with our individual strengths? Although both Jin Zhan and Jin Feng were very strong, I was able to fight to a draw with Jin Zhan. After fighting that one battle, I dare say that if we fought with our lives on the line, Id have at least a 60% chance of winning! Even though both sides had prior information, and their side had the powerful and famous Thunder God, I had ten years experience of living in the apocalypse. Although most of those years had been spent on farming, arge part contained life-or-death situations. It was the kind of experience that you couldnt possibly understand without experiencing it yourself. The current Jin Zhan had gotten information beforehand from Dg, and then there was also Jin Xiaoyue, who supported him with information. With so many subordinates and formidable firepower, who knows if he has had any chance of experiencing life-threatening situations? At least my dg had the life and death experience traveling home from Zhongguan City at the start. As for Jin Zhan, he probably wouldnt go as far as to put his own life on the line, right? Getting his leg broken by me might have been the most shocking experience so far. There shouldnt be anything wrong going on with the Thunder Gods rebirth, right? I suddenly broke out in a cold sweat. It remained unknown whether there would be a new Ice Emperor or not, so hopefully there wouldnt be a problem with the Thunder God. Otherwise, even if I did be the Ice Emperor, it still wouldnt be enough topensate for the loss. I can see itChen familys Ocean Freight. At the front, Scar said in a low voice, Everyone, move faster. No talking. He specifically red at Chen Yishao, obviously regarding the guy as a loudmouth. Chen Yisao looked very embarrassed. He simply mped his mouth tightly shut to show that he wouldnt shoot his mouth off again. I lifted my head and looked around. The tall, white building seemed quite familiar. Hm? Isnt this the ce where I almost got bitten to death by the Wolfman? Jin Feng had probablye here specifically to exterminate those dogmen. Thatd be great. Their leader, the Wolfman, better be ughtered quickly. Otherwise, the next time he evolved, he might need to be called Wolf King. And at that time, there would be wolfmen and dogmen among his underlings. Rumor had it that their numbers could even reach the thousands. Colonies of aberrants with a leader were extremely terrifying. They were the most daring type of aberrants when assaulting human colonies. Furthermore, their leaders usually had intelligence that wouldnt lose to a humans. They were strong and intelligent, and even internal strife rarely urred. It was basically impossible for humans topete against them! I wonder who had gone head to head with Jin Feng. Instead of fighting the Wolfman, they had gone and fought against their own humankind. Plus, their firepower seemed to be quite powerful. As expected of Lan Cityalthough its a terrible forest of aberrants, there are extraordinary humans who remain hidden inside, too. Its just that at theter stages of the apocalypse in my previous life, the aberrants ended up winning, and Thirteen became the most terrifying aberrant king of this ce. Now that I thought about it, maybe Thirteen wasnt the only aberrant king. There was at least some news about the situation inside Lan City, but what about Zhi City in the north? Even after ten years of the apocalypse, there was only a little news about that ce. Most humans only lived in its outermost areas, so no one truly knew about the situation inside of it. Before we even managed to reach the green and white buildings, both sides had already shown signs of movement. First, mes ignited on the ground floor of the white building. Although there was a bunch of misceneous objects around there, those were clearly non-mmable. The fire erupted several times before it finally seeded in burning several objects. If I was right, that was most likely Jin Fengs handiwork. Being able to set fire from such a distance meant she had definitely reached tier one. If the ones facing her didnt have enough strength to defend themselves, it was quite possible that they would end up getting burned to a crisp the moment she caught them. If her enemy was an average person, her action of setting fires would be quite effective. It would at least be able to force them toe out. Even if the enemy refused toe out, they would choke to death because of the plume of ck smoke rising over the building. However, a huge ball of water suddenly appeared and extinguished the fire. Stunned, I hadnt expected that there would be an ability user among the enemy. Moreover, they had power over water. That water ball had only been used to extinguish the fire, so I couldnt tell if they were weak or strong. Furthermore, we were in Lan City, a most dangerous first ss city. For someone to be able to control a water ball at this current phase isnt such a strange thing, right? Its already January Uh, or is it February already? It cant already be almost March? I was starting to lose track of the days. Not to mention thattely Id often been shutting myself in my room to y with Xiaorong. With just a bit of carelessness, many days had quickly passed. Time in the apocalypse wasnt so important though. And considering that I had always been making wrong estimations of the urrence of certain events, that made time even more irrelevant. Still, it wasnt right to paint everything with the same brush. Ten years was an important length of time. Furthermore, humans who survived the apocalypse would continue to pay close attention to the 20th of June. Just for that one single day, no humans could be seen, and the same went for aberrants. Everyone would take cover in special hiding ces they located, quietly waiting for the moment of judgment that woulde in the middle of the night. I didnt know when everyone started calling the arrival of ck fog the moment of judgment. No one knew for sure what basis was used for the judgment. Although it was widely known that weak and helpless humans are usually unable to survive it, there was also an exception to this rule. There were several cases where humans with decent strength had turned into aberrants after the judgment. Despite those exceptions being few, it was more than enough to cause panic. After struggling to survive for so long and avoiding being devoured by aberrants, no one would want to end up dying a mysterious death during the moment of judgment. Id just pondered for a few moments when conflict broke out between the two buildings. Sounds of gunfire could be heard everywhere. Speaking of which, it was quite a coincidence that both sides had chosen to hide on the third floor. As the office buildings both hadrge windows, the gunshots were apanied by the sounds of shattering ss. This was really bad. Even if nearby aberrants were afraid of powerful firepower and wouldnt dare to approach us for now, the sounds were loud enough that they could travel several kilometers from here. Scar was anxious. The whole troop was advancing at lightning speed, so it didnt take long before we arrived near the two buildings. Suddenly, the gunfire died down and a few balls of fire shot from the green building toward the white building. Those three fireballs could each swallow a human whole! But the fireballs speeding into the building smacked into a wall of water that had appeared out of nowhere. Surprisingly, the enemys water ability user was quite strong. But whenparing the strength of their ability, the sheet of water wasnt able to fully block the fireballs. Instead, it was only enough to weaken the power of the fireballs such that they could only do limited damage to the ability user. In the next heartbeat, a counter-attack wasunched from the white building. The movements were initially so small that they were almost unnoticeable. It was only when a loud sound came from the green building that Scar and his crew realized that something was amiss. Despite not knowing what was going on, their expressions clouded over after realizing that Jin Feng had been attacked. But I was able to see everything clearly. That was a wind dethey actually had a wind user! Although the power of wind wasnt very rare, it wasnt asmon as water and fire. Unlike the kind of soft wind blown from a fan, they were actually able to use wind des at the current phase. With both wind and water abilities avable, their troop could defend and attack. They truly seemed to be quite powerful. Fortunately, that wind de shouldnt be able to heavily injure Jin Feng. Shed already reached tier one and should be able to vaguely sense energy waves, so she wouldnt bepletely oblivious to the invisible, formless wind des unlike the others. Theres wind as well as fire. So it turns out that troops like these already formed in the first year of the apocalypse? My past self really was a frog at the bottom of a well. I had thought that the first year of the apocalypse was the year when everyone was running for their lives, where our only priority was trying not to get ourselves eaten. But it turned out that people had already started teaming up and entering the city to fight against aberrants. Their progress was so advanced that it left others in the dust! At this moment, Tough Guy abruptly grabbed me with one arm and wrapped me into a hug. I froze, and was about to jab into his rib then throw him over my shoulder, but stopped in time when I realized that his actions werent malicious but actually protective. I lifted my head, looking around in disbelief. The battle was certainly very intense. With fire and wind flying from both sides, the wind fanned the meswhen these two abilities shed, even terrifying things like a ming tornado could be created in an instant. asionally, the water ability also appeared to join in the fun. But the water attacks werent very strong and even interrupted the wind attacks several times. Eventually, they stopped appearing to create trouble. I was watching with great interest, along with feeling relieved that the wind and fire abilities werentparable to my power. It seemed that my progress in this life was still super advanced. Good, good. If I still lost to others despite having the two cheats of reincarnation and the Jiang familys bloodline, then I really should hit myself with an ice brick as an apology. I started feeling awkward after being hugged like this, so I struggled for a bit. But he pressed me tighter against him, and even scolded, Quit moving around! Fine, Ill just quietly stay put. In any case, this guy was simply taking his duties very seriously, carefully protecting me, the brother-inw. He didnt have any other intentions. Despite feeling anxious, Scar wasnt so reckless that he would jump right into the scene. He led us closer to the side of the road, seemingly intending on approaching the enemys side, the white building, and not Jin Fengs side. Suddenly, the enemys gales of wind slowed and were instantly engulfed by the fire counterattack. Just as the mes were about to st into the windows, a wall of water appeared in the nick of time and blocked the fire from entering. This water user sure had great reaction speeds, and they were more orientated toward defense than offense, very much resembling Yunqian. I used to think that the muscledy Yunqian would definitely prefer ying offense, but she turned out to be the defensive type. It shocked me so much that I had dropped Xiaorong from my hand. However, Dg said that as a sniper, the most important things are patience and calmness, not offensive prowess. For her to prefer a more defensive approach wasnt really a shocking thing. I was then struck with realizationjudging someone based on their muscle is just as unreliable as judging someone by their appearance! The raging mes gradually died down. Even if Jin Feng was a tier one, she didnt have an endless amount of energy. She might becking strength or had decided to change her battle tactics, but I couldnt easily figure it out since I hadnt seen the whole fight from the very beginning. Once the firepletely died out, the water wall instantly fell to form a t puddle. Suddenly, a giant whirlwind many times stronger than the previous one flew out. Considering the strength of this wind attack, it was in no way weaker than Xiao Shas. They might have already reached tier one! I suddenly realized something was amiss. Dont tell me that even this troop has someone who has been reincarnated? Its only the first year of the apocalypse. Even if this is a first ss megacity, with no prior knowledge, could so many strong humans actually exist? A shaft of fire swiftly shot from the green building. Its me was no longer red, but rather a yellowish orange. Even I could feel the rising temperature from here. The fire sted toward the enemys side with the ferocity of a dragon. Jin Feng was no easy opponent. She wasnt someone who would easily shrink back, but instead fought against the towering whirlwind with her massive, raging mes. As wind and fire shed between the two buildings, the cars below were blown away one after another, and all the surrounding ss windows were shattered by the giant, ming whirl. There were sharp fragments of ss flying around everywhere. At this time, even Scar stopped edging closer. If they approached too closely, they might end up getting roasted or sliced into pieces from just a trail of the ming wind that flew by. Ahem, thats right! Its them who would get roasted, not me. Luckily for me, my progress was so advanced that I could freeze people into a popsicle, while nobody could roast or slice me into pieces. Abruptly, I jerked my head up. It looks like I was too full of myself just now. I hadnt expected that troop to have someone so strong A person descended from the sky, kicking through the wind and mes with earth-splitting force. His energy level was so high it rivaled Jin Zhans, but he wasnt aiming at Jin Fengs building. He was rushing straight at our team! My heart was beating really fast, and I instantly realizedthis person was charging toward me! I immediately formed an ice whip. This was not Xiaorongs branch that I had used when tricking Jin Zhan. Xiaorong was too heavily wounded, so I couldnt bear to make him fight the enemy. Jin Zhan wasnt here anyway, so he had no way of finding out that I was the one who had broken his leg. Hey, send out some lightChen Yishao, you idiot! He was actually scared shitless. What the hell did youe here for?! I shoved away Tough Guy. Ignoring the shocked expression on his face, I thenshed the whip at the enemy in midair Jiang Shuyu! The whip twisted, hitting a wall to the side. The personnded. Although his back was against the sun, I could clearly see half of his face, while the other half was cast in shadow. Er, he already looked cold and merciless enough, but with the dramatic lighting and shadows, it was really, really scary! Even Tough Guy beside me was rmed, immediately lifting his gun and firing three rapid shots. Fortunately, that person turned the bullets into dust just by lifting his hand. This move was so shocking that Scar and his crew were taken aback, pointing their weapons at him but not daring to open fire. That person was staring straight at me,pletely ignoring everyone else. Scar and the others noticed that something was off. Amid their intense vignce, they suspiciously nced at me. Jiang. Shu. Yu. The other party spat the words out. I gulped, loudly replied, Yes! He was sizing me up from head to toe, practically shooting X-ray from his eyes. Inspecting every inch of me, he looked like he would have included my insides if it was possible. I hastily stood straight, letting him have his fill of scanning me. Im definitely not woundedno wait, I did get wounded. I stood up even straighter. He opened his mouth to speak, and I tensed, awaiting my judgment. But before he could speak, a ze of fire suddenly lit up behind him. He turned on his heels, and the huge fireball that was flying straight toward him disappeared at a wave of his hand. But that fireball was just the beginning. Once the fire was extinguished, a figure as fierce as fire appearedJin Feng. She had used the fireball as a shield, while she herself was the killer move. The moment she appeared, she fired both of her guns in rapid session. Despite being tier two, he was still wary of bullets. Even more so for the kind of guns used by Jin Feng that had been modified in some way. Their firepower was frighteningly powerful. They would have been defective guns if used before the apocalypse because no one would have been able to withstand their powerful recoil during actual battle. But now, they had be the best kind of firearm. A moment ago, if Scar hadnt been shocked by his move of turning bullets into dust with a wave of one hand and had continued to open fire, he would have realized that that person wasnt able to disintegrate that many bullets with just his bare hands. Three bullets posed no problem, five was barely manageable, seven would depend on luck, but hed get shot if it was ten. It wasnt actually difficult to disintegrate small things like bullets, but the problem was that he couldnt deal with them fast enough. The two fighters were both gun experts. Their shooting skills were in no way weaker than their powers. They might depend on their powers when fighting against normal people; however, when facing off against gun experts in closebat, these two were obviously more familiar with guns and fighting moves. Their powers were merely used for support. Jin Fengs whole body was enveloped by a circle of mes, used as a protective shield. But from how I saw it, this me shield would only be effective against people below tier one. Against her current opponent, it would only provide light and sound effects, and at most burn his coat. As for that persons bullet disintegration with his bare hands, Id said that it was easy for him to deal with three bullets, but this was on the condition that he was prepared. He wasnt familiar enough with using his ability to disintegrate the bullets while dealing with fast closebat at the same time. He was able to react much faster when dodging and opening fire to counter-attack. It seemed that we had no choice but to slowly umte experience. After thinking for a bit, I realized that I had been expecting too much. It had only been a little more than half a year since the apocalypse. Nobody would be able to master their powers so quickly, as they were things that had never existed before. Even the Ice Emperor wouldnt have been able to. Suddenly, another person descended from the sky. By the time I managed to see her face clearly, she was already wordlessly kicking at Jin Fengs head, fast enough that you could hear the sound of air ripping. If that kick were tond, her head would definitely be smashed like a watermelon! Fortunately, Jin Feng sidestepped it. But her original opponent used this opportunity to deliver a strike to her knee. Although she could have evaded it, Jin Feng had to take it because the real threat was the gun in his hand. That knee strike was merely used to drive her into a corner. Seeing this, I hastily rushed over. Just as Jin Feng took the blow to her knee but was still unable to avoid having the muzzle of the gun pointed at her, I managed to get in front of her. Ipletely ignored the dark muzzle of the gun; rather, it was the terrifying look in the eyes of the person behind the muzzle that was making my blood run cold. That look in his eyesit was zing with outrage! That scared the shit out of me. Ill never run in front of his gun ever again. I stammered, D, Dg. She saved me. Dont kill her. This person, in other words, my dg, moved the muzzle away from my forehead but still pointed it at the person behind me without dropping his guard. Then, with an icy expression, he said in an extremely dangerous and belligerent tone, Saved you? Er, it looks like Ive shot myself in my foot again. Left with no choice, I simply steeled myself and nodded. At this time, Scar and his men rushed over. They pointed their guns, separating into two groups. They were mostly pointing at Dg. A few of them were pointing at the other person who had jumped down, Guan Weijun. She wasnt holding a gun, and was merely clenching her fists. With that fierce appearance of hers, she seemed ready to face bullets with just her brute strength. Just as I was about to roar put your weapons down, more people dropped down behind Dg Xiao Sha, Yunqian, Ding Jun, and a bunch of soldiers. Walls of water instantly rose up around us, and winds started gusting so hard that people had to squint their eyes. Of course, we couldnt forget the mountain of guns being pointed in all directionsas those soldiers could only use their guns for now. Dg coldly said, That woman attacked me first. I was stunned. I turned to nce back, but my shoulder was suddenly pulled by Jin Feng. I was about to be dragged behind her, but Dg immediately grabbed me. The current situation was, Dg grabbing my right hand, while Jin Feng was pulling my left hand. Dgs gun was in front of me, pointed at Jin Feng, while Jin Fengs gun was behind my head, pointed at Dg. Hehe. Even I could read the expression in everyones eyes of what the fuck is going on here? Lets all just calm down for a moment. I was at a loss for words, and helplessly persuaded, One side is my dg, while the other side is my savior. Lets discuss this like civilized men. As a result, both sides rolled their eyes at me. Okay, fine. With the mafia and mercenary troop holding several dozen powerful guns, it was obvious that they looked nothing like civilized men. I turned and said, Feng, this is my dg, Jiang Shutian. Then I turned my head again. Dg, this is Jin Feng. Shes Jin Zhans younger sister, and also my savior. Dg narrowed his eyes, staying silent. But I could clearly read his mind. It was probably along the lines of, Why the hell did you run into Lan City for no reason and end up needing to get saved? I tugged both of my hands, but neither side would let go. No one else seemed inclined to put their weapons down either. However, I was focusing on something more important. Dg, wheres Junjun? Is she okay? I didnt see any lightning just now. Dont tell me something actually happened to Junjun? If Dg is perfectly fine, nothing bad should have happened to Xiomi! Dg gave a short reply, Shes okay. Youre not okay! Just as my heart settled down, it started racing again. I turned to face Jin Feng once more, and persuaded, Feng, this is my dg. Is there some kind of misunderstanding between the two of you? Jin Feng briefly exined, He stole my wolfman. Dg arched an eyebrow. As far as I remember, Im the one who attacked that wolfman first. I attacked him first but he got away. I was in pursuit. Hes got an injury on his right thigh. Hearing this, Dg frowned, and I hastily adopted a pitiful look. Although his expression was still extremely cold, looking like he couldnt wait to tear into his ddi, he put down his gun in the end. In response, Jin Feng readily put her gun away. Despite not really understanding the situation, everyone else was very obedient, as they put away their weapons, one after another. The moment I breathed a sigh of relief, a soft and fragrant body immediately jumped into my arms. rg! My heart settled back into my chest when I heard Junjuns clear, melodious voice as she shouted rg, but it was at that moment that I was hauled backward and forcibly pressed into a hug. The hug was so tight that I felt like I was suffocating. I didnt even need to turn around to see who was hugging me, as I could feel the familiar big and soft sensation on my back. Thats my little sister, my biological little sister! Look at that face, she looks just like me! I eximed, strongly stressing the words. Shes blood-rted, not the kind of sister that I can marry. And definitely not an adopted sister! I had to emphasize that part, because I could already feel that the temperature was rising as high as an oven. There was even a burning stic smelling from my down vest. Junjun was still holding out her hands and maintaining a hugging posture. She wasnt able to respond for a moment. Upon seeing Jin Feng tightly hugging me, she blinked her eyes and curiously asked, rg, why are you letting her forcibly hug you? Should I start anguage ss for everyone in the Jiang Dominion? Pfft! As the sounds of stifledughter resounded, the tense and hostile atmosphere instantly vaporized. Everyone had turned a deaf ear to my numerous pleas, but once Mimei appeared,ughter instantly spread everywhere! Feng, can you let me go? I said somewhat helplessly, Im feeling a bit hot. Jin Feng immediately let me go. I turned to nce at her. Her cold and stony face was slightly flushed, making me extremely curious. So even a fiercedy like her can get embarrassed? Its red from embarrassment, not red from anger, right? Junjun stepped forward. She was staring at me and Jin Feng with wide eyes, looking like she was dying from curiosity. In order to prevent my powerful and fierce little sister from trying to convince someone to be my wife, I hurriedly introduced, This is Jin Feng. Shes Jin Zhans younger sister, and my savior that has saved my life twice! Jin Feng nced over, obviously dissatisfied with the introduction. But I simply nced back at her with innocent eyes. We agreed to wait two years. Dont tell me its already void after just a few hours? Even if a day drags past like a year, it shouldnt be that fast! For now, both sides seemed to understand that we were no longer enemies. Jin Feng secured her gun back in her holster and ordered her subordinates to put away their weapons. Seeing that everyone was crowding around with excitement, she coldly gave an order, Whatre you guys staring at? Hurry up and dig out those crystals that we just hunted and clear out the remaining aberrants. Dont let me see even a single dog nearby after this! Yes, Dji! The crowd of mafia, who were by no means good and honest people, all wore a distraught expression. They dispersed one after another to go beat up some dogs, even shooting desperate nces at Scar, the only person who stayed behind. If it werent for them holding various kinds of weapons, Id have really thought that they were a bunch of housewives looking for gossip. Chen Yishao wanted to stay behind as well, but obediently left with the others after earning a severe re from Scar. Then, it was Jin Fengs turn to re at Scar. Thetter hurriedly adopted a bodyguards posture, looking very loyal and devoted, as if hed rather die than leave his masters side. If he hadnt been constantly sneaking nces at the people from my family, I might have really believed that he had stayed behind to protect Jin Feng. Jin Feng was toozy to bother with him. She then called out to my dg and xiomi, Jiang-g, Mimei. Sorry for being rude just now. Upon hearing this form of address, Dgs mouth twitched while Mimeis eyes lit up. I instantly realized that my familys fierce little sister had been defeated. There was an even fiercer opponent right here, who just went straight to calling someone g! Dg shot a nce at me. I neither acknowledged nor denied it. I simply lowered my head, pretending to be dead. When he didnt get any response, Dg simply ignored the form of address, and changed the topic. That wolfman was injured. His crystal is yours. But Jin Feng shook her head, and exined, I only chased after the wolfman because he almost killed Xiao Yu, not for the crystal. I did injure him, but if it wasnt for Jiang-g and your troop stopping him, he might have gotten away. I was taken aback. So she was trying to avenge me? Dg stared daggers at me, and growled, Didnt I tell you to watch over the house? Why did you go into the city, and even managed to get wounded? I could only honestly confess, I saw lots of lightning shing over the city. I thought you guys were in danger, so I rushed into the city without a second thought and ended up running into aberrant after aberrant. Jin Feng saved me in the end. Despite what was said, Dg was fully aware of my exceptional strength. Even if the aberrant that I encountered was too strong, Id at least should have been able to escape. For me to need saving, it must have been an exceptional situation. But he no longer continued his line of questioning and just gave me a nd look, obviously nning to resume his interrogation at home. The person that you saw must have been Jin Zhan. Jin Feng exined, Hes got lightning powers. You got someone in your troop with this power, too? Thats me! Junjun fervently answered as she stepped up to Jin Feng. Even Guan Weijun followed as well. Although she had just mounted a sneak attack on the other party, this tiny grudge wasnt enough to stop herself from listening to gossip. Transfixed, Jin Feng couldnt take her eyes off Junjun once she saw her, and her frosty expression gentled. She couldnt resist reaching her hand out to twiddle with Junjuns hair, which was tied in long twin ponytails. She nodded and said, Mimei, you look really cute. You can just call me Feng-ji. Feng-ji! Junjun quickly jumped at the opportunity. Just call me Junjun. Thats what my rg calls me. Feng-ji. Guan Weijun grinned as she followed in saying the same thing. Who do you think you are? Following along in calling someone jiyou think I dont know that youre exactly the same age as Jin Feng? So Feng-ji has power over fire? Junjun said with a look of adoration, Wow, youre so strong! Dg says that youre even stronger than Xiao Sha! Jin Feng stroked the ponytail again. She seemed to really like Junjuns long, ck hair. Im not bragging or anything, but I spent ten long years taking care of Junjuns hair before I finally managed to get the hair so smooth and silky. Everyone just loves touching it because of the softness! I had tied up Junjuns hair into twin ponytails to prevent some weird uncles and aunties from touching her hair all day long. Junjun didnt have a particr dislike toward her hair getting touched by others, but I, this rg wasnt happy about it! My familys darling shouldnt be touched by some random stranger! Jin Feng directly held the ponytail in her hand and yed with it. She showered her with praise, Its good that you have lightning powers. Train up a lil bit, and youll be able to protect yourself in the future. Junjun cheerily said, rg said the same thing, too. He told me to train myself to be the Thunder Goddess, and trample under my foot all the men of the world! Oh? Jin Feng gave me a thoughtful nce, Xiao Yu really is different from others. With a younger sister as adorable as Junjun, of course Gg would have to ughter all men that tried to make advances! Thats right! rg is the best! Hes even greater than Dg! Junjun wore an expression of having discovered someone with the same mindset as her. The only thing missing was her holding both of Jin Fengs hands, and passionately dering her as her best friend. For some reason, it feels like Xiomis speed at selling her rg is a lot faster than selling Dg Laden with grief, I simply stopped watching the ongoing sales and looked away. I turned my gaze toward Dg who was busying himself with work. He was giving orders to Yunqian and Xiao Sha to lead people in clearing out the aberrants and look for some supplies while they were at it. Even ordinary stuff like toilet paper couldnt be excluded. Toilet paper was the type of supply you needed inrge quantities. That said, in my previous life, toilet paper was definitely not something Id have taken. I couldnt eat or drink it, and it was bulky as hell. A clean butt doesnt meant shit for survival! In any case, everyone smelled like a rotten corpse when they were running for their lives. The only use our noses had was for breathing. Our noses wouldnt even have been able to make out any smells. It was good enough to just grab anything to wipe our butt clean. Plus, most of the time, we were so hungry that nothing woulde out from down there! Upon noticing that I was looking at him, Dg beckoned me. I suspiciously walked over. Dg said, Shuyu, we havent found Shangguan Chenyang, but Xiao Sha suspects that hes close by. He sensed someones probing gaze several times, but still hasnt managed to find anyone. Xiao Sha thinks that someone with this kind of power would most likely be him. When Jin Feng attacked us just now, we thought that the Shangguan family had finally made their move. I frowned. I encountered soldiers from the Shangguan family, too. They must have sent a lot of troops into Lan City. At the current phase, it was impossible to take over Lan City. Nevertheless, searching for supplies was still a necessity, even more so for populous military districts. The rate of depletion of their supply stocks would be a lot faster than Jiang Dominions. At worst, they might not even be able to sustain themselves for a week. Dg narrowed his eyes, and said in a dangerous tone, Was it the men from Shangguan family that put you in danger? They did attack me, but its not a big deal. A few bullets arent enough to injure me. I avoided the important parts and continued, I only got a bit wounded afterwards. I got away from a huge aberrant that I encountered and got surrounded by dogmen. It was because the attacks came in session. Dg said mercilessly, If something like this happens again, youre forbidden from leaving the base ever again! Locked up until aberrants be extinctI get it. But then again, theres no one capable of stopping me in the base, and that includes Dg. We searched the police station along the way. Nothing much was left, but there were plenty of handcuffs. The next time you get reckless, Ill have you handcuffed with Shujun twenty-four seven! Fine, I lost! I lowered my head and admitted my wrongs, Im sorry, Dg. Ill never be reckless again. Dg looked at me coldly. I wasnt sure if he believed me or not, but he finally stopped dwelling on the topic. He nced at Junjun, and saw that she was chattering continuously with Guan Weijun. Meanwhile, Jin Feng was listening attentively, asionally nodding her head or answering with a no. For example, Junjun asked, What does Feng-ji like about my rg? Is it his face? Guan Weijun promptly said, Of course its the face. With a face as captivating as that, what else could it be? Jin Feng nodded her head, and added, Actually, hes got a pretty nice body, too. Hes just a bit thin. The two girls eyes were shining so bright thatser beams were about to shoot out from their eyes. Dg walked two steps away, and beckoned me over with his finger. After I obediently walked over, he got straight to the point and asked, Whats up with you and that Jin Feng Boss! Xiao Sha anxiously shouted. He sped over like a gust of wind, with a dark expression on his face. Weve been surrounded! Volume 5, 9: Whose Violent Wife is This

Volume 5, Chapter 9: Whose Violent Wife is This

Tranted by Simone (proofread by Arcedemius & Trespasserby; C/E edited by lucathia) Dg arched his eyebrows, his expression calm. That cool-headed demeanor seemed to affect Xiao Sha. After taking two deep breaths, Xiao Sha regained hisposure and calmly gave a full report of the situation. When we were collecting supplies, Yunqian said we made too much noise earlier. She was scared aberrants would gather and went to keep watch on the balcony. She didnt see any aberrants. Instead, she discovered arge number of people hiding outside, expertly hidden too. They cant be ordinary people, and there are a lot of them, surrounding us on all sides. Dg immediately looked at Jin Feng, who frowned and shook her head. I felt nervous and was about to tell Dg that Jin Feng wouldnt do something like that, but Dg already said, Lets form an alliance for now, and call all the troops back. Surprisingly enough, Jin Feng had noints against a temporary alliance and nodded. At her side, Scar immediately took out a walkie-talkie and ordered everyone to return right away. My eyes lit up. These walkie-talkies looked pretty useful. Unfortunately, I never had the chance to use them in my past life, and I didnt think of them at all when buying supplies. As for Dg, he had only had a rough understanding of the situation and had been pressed for time, which was why he hadnt brought back any such toys either. As soon as we had the chance, we should retrieve some, as they would be very helpful for any futurerge-scale operations. You want these? Jin Feng noticed my expression. I nodded. I have a lot. Ill send a few to Jiang-g and Xiomi as a giftter on. This I still nodded. Even though nothing was for free, I already owed her my life twice over. Since my debt was already that great, Id just better slowly settle the scoreter. As Jin Fengs troops returned, the soldier Yunqian had sent out arrived back as well. Straight away, he said, They seemed interested in talking. They sent two of their people to the front of the building, unarmed. Hearing this, Dg looked at Jin Feng. Courteously, he asked, What are you going to do? Jin Feng, however, nced at me and just said, Ill let you decide. This ce is too close to our base. I have already sent someone back to inform Jin Zhan. We need to dy a bit so he can call his men back to the base. Whether we negotiate or fight, both are fine. So, you already have a base. You are worthy of the Jin name, taking such quick action. The Jiang family is not bad either, Jin Feng said lightly. I heard that your base is quiterge. Dg stared at me, his expression full of grief that his dd had fallen under her spell. But I havent revealed anything, Dg, you just spilled the beans yourself! Jin Feng is only testing us. I vigorously shook my head. This has nothing to do with me. Youre the fool here! After a pause, it seemed Dg understood. He looked a little embarrassed, and immediately changed the topic, pretending nothing had happened. Since we need to stall, lets talk to them first. They sent two people, so well each send one. That should be an agreeable n? Jin Feng nodded toward Scar. He stepped forward, an incredibly ugly smile on his face. No problem, Ill represent our side. Were family anyway. It would be my pleasure. Have the aberrants swallowed the promised two years or what? How are we already family? I turned an aggrieved look on Jin Feng, but she merely said, Scar, dont talk nonsense. Call him Jiang-g. With exaggeration, Scar stood at attention and yelled, Yes sir, Jiang-g! Fuck, what difference does that make? Well send Dg pondered. Leader, Ill go. Xiao Sha stepped forward. This was no easy assignment. The other side had guns, and one wrong word could lead to a shooting. Even if you survived it, youd be half dead, which was why Jin Feng wasnt going herself. Dg definitely wasnt nning on going himself either. But he shot a nce at Xiao Sha and said, No, Guan Weijun, you go. I was stunned. Guan Weijun also blinked in surprise, but before she could respond, Dg exined, Dy them a bit, and figure out their situation. Can you do that? Dg, what is the meaning of this? I frowned. I had a bad feeling about this. Wont Guan Weijun think were deliberately pushing her into a dangerous situation? But she already shouted cheerfully, No problem, leader, Ill make sure to dy them until even you want me to shut up. Ceng Yunqian chuckled and said, Im sure you can do it! On our way here, he told you to shut up at least five times. Guan Weijunughed as well and said, You were all so quiet, I had to make up for five people on my own! Why is the Ice Emperors ddi such a chatterbox? Is this how he was originally, or did his personality fall apart after changing bodies? Go on, Dg said. If we take too long, they might give up on talking. Hearing that, I wanted to pull Junjun close to me, but when I reached out, there was only empty space. Mimei had leapt to Jin Fengs side, following her closely. She quizzed her without pause and revealed all kinds of information about me as well. She even asked how big Jin Fengs breasts were, and before Jin Feng could respond, Mimei told her that I loved women with big breasts. Ceng Yunqian even interrupted them to add, He really is the leaders little brother. Their preferences are so alike! Ah, Junjun said, a bit worried. But Weijun-jis chest isnt big! As urate as the stab of a knife! Guan Weijun was walking at the front, listening to Dgs instructions, but she couldnt help looking down at her chest and casting a sorrowful nce at him. If anything they say makes you think it wille to a fight, retreat immediately. Dont worry about breaking off the negotiations. Dg continued to give directions, his expression unchanged. Oh! Guan Weijuns eyes lit up, her grievances swept away. Blissfully, she said, I knew you cared about my safety. Dg cast a helpless nce in my direction, the corner of his mouth twitching. I instantly realized what he meant, which most likely came down to I really had this kind of ddi in my past life? Really, the Ice Emperor proved it himself. It seemed that Guan Weijun was still a few light years away from winning over Dg. I no longer paid attention to them and walked over to Xiao Sha, whispering, Why is Dg sending Guan Weijun? Xiao Sha didnt think it was strange and exined, Guan Weijun asked before how to be a core member. Leader said that loyalty and merit are indispensable. Later, while on the road, she rushed into action, and even fought with Ding Jun over the aberrants. Ding Jun and Guan Weijun fighting? Dang, you wronged both Dgs previous and current ddi. Ding Jun, could you have a bigger death wish than this? Ding Jun can fight? I was surprised, as he was thoroughly a normal person. Even if his power over metal was a very good ability, he couldnt fight, and his power couldnt be used from a distance. How was he able to kill aberrants? Xiao Sha nodded. Ding Jun can handlerge groups of aberrants that are individually weak. He shoots metal fragments, which are not as effective as a gun, but much quieter. He can shoot a bunch at a time, which is very useful when dealing with small aberrants. I see. Ding Juns ability type was not bad after all. Although Ah Nuo had the same metal ability, he couldnt metalize that many body parts at the current stage. When it came to practicality, Ding Juns ability was actually more useful. How their abilities would develop, that would depend on their own efforts. If only Ding Jun wouldnt see me as an enemy. The more elites we had in the Jiang Dominion, the better. Unfortunately, when that bird forced me to leave home for a bit, he got the illusion that he could rece me, until I returned and casually re-assumed the throne of ddi. To me, this was only natural, but for Ding Jun, it probably meant I shattered his dreams after he just got a taste. His hatred simmered within him. Although he wouldnt dare to fight with me, he was young and full of energy, so he couldnt help but give me dirty looks. He probably thought that since his face was stiff anyway, a dirty look wouldnt make much difference, but s, the difference was huge! In any case, I wasnt having it. Trying to steal my gg? No way! As soon as we get back, Im kicking Ding Jun out of the mansion! We arrived outside the building. Although we were sending Guan Weijun to talk, we all stood behind her. As Dg was too conspicuous, he stood at the far back, allowing us to shield him. Jin Feng did not have such concerns, casually standing at the front. In these post-apocalyptic times, women were never even considered. No matter how majestic Jin Feng was, she would still be seen as someones subordinate. At a nce, the other side had also brought back-up like we had, though even more were most likely hidden. Their equipment looked a bit varied. Although they made an effort to conceal it, that would only deceive regr folk. Besides the equipment, their bearing was definitely different from each others. Some were probably professionals, perhaps soldiers or mercenaries. The others were probably simple bodyguards, the kind that were doormen or bouncers. Of the two representatives, one was frowning, but he definitely had more bark than bite. The other looked handsome and just a tad more interesting than the first. One look at his stance and you could guess he was a professional. Oh, but wait, his face seemed a bit familiar. Its not that I had a bad memory, but he was wearing a helmet and his equipment was simr to that of others. That I even recognized him a bit was pretty good. Hello, I am He Jiu, he politely greeted Scar and Guan Weijun. Hes that Shangguan soldier I saved because of my saintplex! I hurriedly searched the crowd at the back and discovered Tang Liangs figure as I thought I would. He was surrounded by a group of bodyguards. He had a scar on his face, which could have made him stand out, but next to a guy with mountains of muscle, he didnt look conspicuous at all. Hello there, Guan Weijun said with a smile. You can call me Xiao Jun, and this here is Scar-g. In just the time it took to walk up to them, she had already learned Scars name. Perhaps sending her really was by the book and had nothing to do with Dgs personal interests. Guan Weijun turned to look at Scar. He stood slumped, with no intention to speak, so she took the initiative. What do you want from us, Mr. He? Before He Jiu could speak, the bodyguard next to him snapped, This is our ns building. Leave the supplies and get lost. You must realize you are robbers here! Hearing this, I was speechless for a moment. If you defined it like that, then the only people who didnt steal were dead ones. After all, if you wanted to eat, you had no choice but to steal food. Even if you wanted to hunt, it was just not possible for the average person to sh with the wild nts and animals out there. Guan Weijun spread her hands and helplessly said, Bro, in this kind of world, robbing means directly snatching something from someone else. We are just gathering supplies. How can this be called robbing? This is indeed the Chen ns building. He Jius expression was somewhat tense. It seemed he also thought therade at his side was a bit unreasonable. Its possible they are two groups, Dg whispered to me. One of them said This is our ns building, while the other said the Chen ns building. You hear the difference? I nodded. Dg proved himself once again, able to deduce the truth from only a few words. He Jiu is from the Shangguan family. Ive seen them before. I didnt say I had even saved these people. If Dg knew that I had risked my life to save them, I would definitely be sent off in handcuffs with Junjun. That would be unbearable. Next to us, Xiao Shas expression changed and he coldly said, The Shangguan family? I knew Chenyang would cause trouble. Wait, just because there are people from the Shangguan family here, you conclude that its your cousins fault? Your prejudice against your own family is really through the roof! Ceng Yunqian agreed, Its possible. This Chen n showed up right on time, right after we cleaned out all the aberrants in the building. Xiao Sha had the feeling someone was following us from the start, so it could have been that Chenyang. So thats how it is! I suddenly realized something. While Dg was hunting the Wolfman, first Jin Feng and then the Chen n showed up. Lan City was huge. Was there a need to have three factions fight over a single building? If humans could fight over the aberrants so seriously, then would it be that farfetched for us to conquer Lan City? Unfortunately, this was just a case of a mantis stalking a cicada, with a finch following closely behind. Why dont you hunt your own aberrants?! In front of us, Guan Weijun spread her hands and said, So, what do you want? Lets be honest with each other. Just let us know and we can consider it. The bodyguard arrogantly said, Leave all the supplies, get out, and we will spare your lives! He Jiu pursed his lips, but said nothing. Guan Weijunughed. Bro, your scheme is really too clever. You have us fight the monsters, while you only jump out when its time to collect the spoils. The world is full of monsters, yet you specialize in bullying people. Since you wont fight the monsters, why dont you hand over your weapons and let us fight some more for you? We promise not to let you starve to death. The bodyguards face flushed red. Apparently, he still had some sense of morality and knew that he was in the wrong. Unfortunately, knowing it didnt mean he would ept it. Women shouldnt speak out of turn! With nothing reasonable to say, he started discriminating against her. Guan Weijuns expression didnt change much. I reckoned that during her time on the run, she was discriminated against so often that she was able to keep herself from reacting. However, Jin Feng snorted, Junjun pouted, and Ceng Yunqian tossed a small sphere of water up and down. Hehe, never underestimate women in this world. You never know which one can burn you, electrocute you, or drown you. As for the grinning woman in front of you, she likes to cave in heads with her fists. Though its usually the heads of aberrants that are destroyed, a normal persons head would probably be easy inparison. Why are there so many fierce women in this parallel world? This should have nothing to do with my rebirthBut wait, I had a big influence on Junjun, and Guan Weijun seems to be somewhat affected as well. The incredibly fierce Jin Feng, though, she has nothing to do with me, right? If you want to live, get lost now! The bodyguard raised his gun. Not another word, or we wont waste any time before we shoot! He Jiu sighed, pushed down hispanions gun, and said, Dont be like that. They put in effort. Its not like we can let them return empty-handed. The bodyguard still wasnt convinced and snarled, These supplies obviously belong to our boss. Why should we let them take them? Though they disagreed with each other, their conflict didnt seem that serious. This wouldnt be one of those legendary good cop bad cop things, would it? You cant put it that way They happily continued their act. However, they were surrounded by world-ss actors, so their level of acting was definitely not enjoyable enough. I felt around in my pocket, but I didnt have any snacks. When Junjun noticed, she took a chocte bar from her backpack and handed it to me. Jin Feng looked at me and frowned, but when I stepped forward to give it to her, she refused it and whispered, Ill remember to have snacks ready in the future. Uh, Im actually not a big eater, really, but since its a good habit to keep some high-calorie food with you, I wont clear up the misunderstanding. The good cop bad cop performance was wonderful, going as far as discussing if it would be fair to give us 10% or 20%. Guan Weijun walked off and shoved an abandoned vehicle. Of course, she didnt shove it so it would roll along by itselfshe shoved it sideways! Good cop and bad cop were silent at once. She looked back and said with a smile, I was just making sure you had enough room for your performance. Dont pay attention to me, you can continue. In the silence that fell, Scar roared withughter and taunted, We shouldnt be calling her a chatterbox. That name better fits you two, going on and on for ages without even knowing what youre doing. This time, not only the bodyguard flushed red, but even He Jiu was embarrassed. Lets do it like this. Since we have limited manpower, we wont be picking this ce clean. You can sweep up what remains. We dont care. If you still have any objections, we dont have any fewer guns than you all, and we have this strong woman here. If you want our things,e and snatch them! Scar shouted at Tang Liang standing at the rear, What do you say, brother? He Jiu nched. His gaze drifted in that direction, but he forced himself not to turn his head. His acting skills might deceive ordinary people, but it was to no avail against my family full of top actors. Tang Liang frowned and walked forward through the crowd, beckoning another person as well. The other wore the same clothes as the bodyguard, but his bearing waspletely different. He wasnt tall or short, and though he didnt seem as sturdy as a hill, he wasnt a delicate flower either. When the two stepped forward, they had a different vibe altogether. Dg also stepped out and went to stand next to Jin Feng. Jin Feng had already been standing at the front, unmoving, her stance casual with one hand in her pocket. She looked so cool! Junjun suddenly leaned over and whispered, rge, you should hold on tight to Feng-ji. Look at her and Dg standing together. They really are a great match. Though Dg wont fight over her with you, he didnt do that with Guan Weijun either, yet she followed him on her own ord. You shouldnt me him. Hearing this, I looked at the both of them, the mighty Dg and the fierce woman standing together. They really looked like a pair, a strong match, able to conquer the world. Seeing them, I felt so conflicted But before I could speak, Junjun already answered her own question, But Feng-ji really seems to like you, rg. This time, she wont be snatched away. What do you mean, this time? There wasnt even ast time! Theres no need to fight over a woman like Guan Weijun! Id beg to have her taken away! Meanwhile, Tang Liang and the other person studied Dg and Jin Feng for a bit. It seemed as if they already knew Dg and Jin Feng were actually the leaders, no further pretense needed. That, or they thought that Dg was the leader and Jin Feng was just his woman. Junjun whispered, rg, dont make such a face. Feng-ji wont be standing beside Dg for long. You dont need to be so jealous. Stop talking nonsense and pay attention! Its not nonsense. Junjun mumbled, but she turned toward the situation unfolding in front of us. Fuck was the only thing Tang Liang said. Dg raised his eyebrows. Tang Liang scratched his head impatiently and apologized right away, Im foulmouthed like that. Just ignore me. Lets talk business. Dg slowly said, If it was just me, it wouldnt matter, but my mimei is here, so you better watch your mouth. Tang Liang nced at Jin Feng, apparently thinking she was Dgs mimei. Although Dg noticed, he said nothing to correct it, nor did Jin Feng. Neither of them was nning on giving a detailed introduction. The others didnt need to know that we came from two different groups. Tang Liang nodded absent-mindedly, and came straight to the point, I With our firepower, there is no need for us to steal your spoils. We came to recapture this building ourselves, but we were just one step behind you. We didnt intentionally wait until you finished off all the monsters inside. Seeing his open and honest attitude, Dg said frankly, Even if I believe you, were in a firste first serve world. You must have invaded other peoples territories to loot as well. You cant appeal to us with that kind of excuse. Tang Liang looked at the person next to him and said, Im doing all the talking. Why dont you say something, show-off! Hello, I am Chen Ruxian, may I know your names? the other said. This opening line made him lookpletely ipatible with Tang Liang. Dg was neither pretentious nor nning to hide his identity as he said, Jiang Shutian. Chen Ruxian nodded and said, This is our Chen ns building. Everything here belongs to us. No matter what world we are in now, I believe you wouldnt let others enter your house and relocate your things either? Dg just said lightly, Since I have already left, rather than letting people take whats left behind so they can survive, do you think Id be happy to see them rot away instead? He was right, even though our home waspletely destroyed by the Ice Emperor. After his finishing move, everything in the basement was turned to dust. It was impossible for people to take anything even if they wanted to. But the owner has returned Dg impatiently said, Since you left, you are no longer the owner! Were taking some supplies and leaving the rest to you. This is not our bottom line, since this is not a negotiation. Im just doing you a favor and telling you that Lan City is sufficiently big. Were not going to hold this against you, but if you want to take from us whats already ours, forget it! Chen Ruxian was obviously not quite able to deal with such a non-negotiable negotiation style, as he frowned and looked at Tang Liang. Tang Liang honestly said, This guy is quite reasonable. No matter whose building it is, it mustve been difficult to get rid of the monsters inside. Just thinking of all the precious ammunition needed makes my fucking heart hurt. They mightve suffered some injuries or casualties too, yet you only want to give them a share of ten or twenty percent. I wouldnt agree with such a loss either! Hearing this, Chen Ruxians frown deepened, and he awkwardly asked, How much do you n to take? This is not a warehouse. Its just a building. Though there is a restaurant and also some stored items, I am afraid its not much. If you take too much, I have no way to exin it to the family. Dg nced at Jin Feng, who finally spoke, Since you have firepower, you can go storm another building and take as much loot as you want. The way you wont stop bothering us here makes me feel we are just easier to bully than aberrants. Youre just a bunch of cowards too afraid to fight aberrants, or in other words, youck balls. Chen Ruxian reddened. Tang Liang grimaced and said, Fuck you, with this kind of sister, you still need me to watch my mouth, while she can say whatever the hell she wants? Jin Feng frankly said, Youre wrong. Im his sister-inw, not his sister. Skipping dating, skipping the wedding ceremony, two years gone just like that, she just went straight to being my wife! I could only chuckle dryly. Someone caught my sleeve and I turned to look, meeting Mimeis anger head-on as she said, rg, how could you get married in secret? We agreed I would be your maid of honor! No, no, no, I certainly didnt agree to that. What eighteen-year-old already has a maid of honor ready? Whats more, the maid of honor should be from the brides side, or do you want your rg to be the bride? This mention of sister-inw was too sudden, and right away the atmosphere changed somewhat. Fortunately, the others were quite reliable, and soon enough it was back to the tense atmosphere of a confrontation between two armed groups. Chen Ruxian had been somewhat nervous from the start. As we refused to leave the supplies, Guan Weijun put up a great show, and Dg stepped forward, he grew more and more nervous. He tried hard not to clench his fists so as not to betray himself, yet didnt notice how his hands trembled. Tang Liang didnt want to say anything, but under Chen Ruxians gaze, he said, The only task I received was to help you retrieve the supplies in the Chen ns building. Anything else doesnt concern me. Its not that I dont have balls. Its just not my responsibility! As he finished, he turned his gaze specifically to Jin Feng. Chen Ruxian pursed his lips and said with a sigh, We can make do with leftovers for everything else, but you must leave salt, sugar, and medicine to us. I mulled it over. Salt should not be one of the most important goods at the moment. When we plundered the supermarket before the apocalypse, we collected a mountain of it. It wasnt like we could eat foods with high sodium every day. As long as we could get the amount our bodies needed, it was enough. Sugar and medicine were even less important. Though sugar was high in calories and great for replenishing energy, we still had chocte! As for medicine, the number of fighters in the Jiang Dominion was so small, while themoners werent even able to fight. Since they couldnt be sent out, how would they get injured? The few significant people that could get hurt also had Dg! This time, Dg nodded and agreed without even looking at Jin Feng. She gave him a strange look, her expression slightly annoyed. No problem, right, sister-inw? Dg only then added. Jin Fengs annoyance waspletely gone and she readily agreed, Not at all, Dg, you decide. She even left out the Jiang from his name! I feel like Dg is selling me off now Youre in luck this time, Dg lightly said to the others. Were about done with our gathering. Except for the supplies in the main hall, you can go in and take everything else. Get in and get out quickly. If you wait for the aberrants to gather again, you wont be able to leave at all. Tang Liang frowned and said, Wait a moment, you keep mentioning aberrants. Those monsters are called aberrants? Just what do you know? This apocalypse A sudden gunshot interrupted him. Even as I was running over, I saw Dg had already moved, turning sideways and covering his head with one hand. Clearly the gunshot just now had been aimed at his head! I knew that Dg was already second tier and an ordinary gunshot wouldnt kill him even if it him in the head. Still, I couldnt help it that my heart was racing faster and faster, and my blood was surging until my head seemed about to burst! Obviously, I wasnt the only one who was angry. Every member of the Jiang Dominion immediately aimed their guns at the enemy. Even those soldiers were no exception. The speed at which they drew their guns was definitely at a professional level. Jin Fengs people responded more slowly, but onlypared to professional soldiers. Compared to regr people, the cool-headedness and reaction speed of these underworld figures were already at a god-like level. Tang Liangs face had paled. He didnt look like he had known about the attack, but it didnt slow him down in drawing his own gun. On his side, everyone had pulled out their guns as well. It wasnt us! Tang Liang said right away, but he still aimed his gun at Dg. Dg lowered his hand. A trickle of blood ran from his temple to his neck, and the sight of it made me see red from anger. He hadnt dodged itpletely and hadnt been able to disintegrate the bullet in time. If Dgs reaction had been a tad slower, the bullet wouldnt have grazed himit would have been lodged in his head! rg, its so cold, Shujun cautioned me quietly. I did my best to restrain myself. Fortunately, it was winter. However, the sound of another gunshot undid all of my efforts. This time, Dg was prepared. He disintegrated the bullet in time, suffering no further injuries, but I still felt like freezing all our opponents to death! Shujun grabbed my hand, the cold making her gasp. In a reflex, she let go, but she grabbed it again regardless. I had no choice but to calm down to avoid hurting my foolish mimei. Instead, Xiao Sha rushed forward. With the wind under his control, he was too quick for anyone to react in time. Though I didnt know why he had charged forward, I wanted to catch up to him. But right at that moment, there was a sh of bright light. It wasnt any kind of ability I recognized. The re seared my eyes, leaving nothing but a white haze. I couldnt see anything Dg! Xiao Sha! Volume 5, 10: Zhanjiang Garrison

Volume 5, Chapter 10: Zhanjiang Garrison

Tranted by Simone (proofread by Arcedemius & L Su; C/E edited by lucathia) The light should have faded, but my eyes still hadnt adapted and I couldnt see clearly. I saw only silhouettes of people standing in a white haze. I was beside myself with panic. If Junjun hadnt been by my side, I would have rushed forward right away, but now, even calling out was out of the question. Everyone was blinded and any small movement could incite an attack. No one move! Dg yelled, releasing his power at the same time. His power felt very different from mine. While my power froze people to the bone, Dgs power made people too scared to move, as if a single movement would turn them to dust. It was very useful, especially in times like this. As long as nobody moved or opened fire, it should prevent a chain reaction. If one were to happen, we wouldnt be able to figure out how the fight was started even by the time both sides gotpletely wiped out. Who the hell fired? Tang Liang snarled. If your hand slipped, just say so, and I wont kill you. But if I have to find out whos missing a bullet, I will personally shoot you! Two shots were fired in session, yet you still dare to say it was a slip of the hand. Not only is Tang Liangs appearance oafish, hes quite capable of making shit up as well. My surroundings gradually became visible again, and I was able to slowly take in the situation around me. Others still seemed to be blinded, their eyes darting around without really seeing. This ability was actually not just a sh of lightit was also capable of temporarily blinding people. However, the person using the power was not skilled enough yet. Even with the element of surprise, they were only able to blind me for a few seconds. Unexpectedly, Xiao Sha had already run to the other side, even overtaking Tang Liang, but now he didnt dare to continue. No matter who his original target was, several people were blocking his way. To make a careless move when everyone was blinded could lead to one big free for all. But who was his target? I looked in the direction Xiao Sha was facing. There were a lot of people there, and everyone seemed a bit flustered by their blindness, which didnt make it easy to judge who the problem was. Their hand slipped? Thats ame excuse. Dg snorted, walking toward Xiao Sha as he spoke. Apparently, his vision had recovered as well. Even though Dgs footsteps were very light, making almost no sound, Tang Liang still noticed. Perhaps he actually had psychic powers. He called out a warning, Hey! Hey! Control your men. Dont let them move. Or do you want yourrades to be riddled with bullets? Dg halted and looked back at me. I blinked at him to indicate that I could see. Relieved, he turned back to Tang Liang and said, One of your people opened fired. Obviously, you cant control them at all. Why should I control my own? Fuck, you cant be sure it was one of mine, Tang Liang swore. It could just be someone after you! It was such a loud shot, and my people arent deaf. Howe no one heard who the fuck it was?! Dg words were slow and deliberate as he said, Maybe everyone is in on it. Fuck While Dg and Tang Liang argued, Xiao Sha hesitated for a moment, and then slowly started to back away, moving toward Dg. His movements were very light. Dg kept talking to Tang Liang, and deliberately took a step or two now and then. This time, Tang Liang didnt notice anything amiss. Only then, I understood why Dg had stepped forward; it had all been to help Xiao Sha. However, what Tang Liang had said was quite reasonable. The shot had been so loud. If it really had been done by one of his troops, someone must have noticed. That meant there were only two possibilities. Tang Liang was actually pretending, or it really wasnt one of his men who opened fire. But Xiao Sha had been running toward Tang Liangs team just nowwait! I narrowed my eyes. At the far end of Tang Liangs team, someone was gradually turning dark? He was quite a young man, who seemed even tenser than the others. He was clearly already trailing behind the team, but he was still slowly receding. There were obviously no objects around that could cover him, so it couldnt be a shadow that was darkening himno, no, he wasnt just darkening, he was turningpletely ck! Within a few seconds, his entire chest turned ck. This could not be the result of shadeit was as if he had been soaked in ink! The shadow guy, Shangguan Chenyang! No wonder Xiao Sha had suddenly rushed forward. When he noticed that the person who had fired was his cousin, he wanted to catch him right away. Unfortunately, the sudden burst of light stopped him in his tracks. I didnt know whether this light was an ability of Shangguan Chenyangs, or whether someone else had helped him. And whether Tang Liang really did not know Im-Im sorry! Hearing the apology, I nced over, but only saw a furious Scar, his face so twisted he looked like a demon from hell. His vision was clearly restored as he grabbed Chen Yishao by the neck with one hand, with the clear intention of strangling himwait, doesnt Chen Yishao have light abilities? An idiot of a teammate caused this disaster! His intentions might have been good, using his light ability in a moment of desperation as he saw Dg being attacked, but he couldnt have done it at a worse time. If the leaders on both sides hadnt been so cool-headed and the teams well trained, both parties might have gunned each other down as soon as they lost their eyesight. It was hard to say how many would still be alive now! Whether Chen Yishao would be strangled or not, I no longer paid attention to him. He caused too much trouble. It would serve him right. At this point, Shangguan Chenyang was the one to focus on. He hadpletely turned ck, but he wasnt as darkly shadowed asst time, as I could still faintly make out his facial features. He didnt seem to notice he wasnt as dark anymore though, and just casually hid in the shadows as before. But even I could see where he was, not to mention Xiao Sha. Scar, dont choke Chen Yishao. I quickly stopped Scar frompleting his murderous mission. The guy who shot the gun seems to have been illuminated by him. Look at the dark figure over there. Scar frowned. When he looked in the direction I pointed at, he didnt see anything at first. After all, Shangguan Chenyang was entirely dark, and it was not easy to spot him. Fortunately, Scar was not an ordinary person. After careful observation, he rxed his hand, startled. Chen Yishao coughed, his face flushed red, and still panicked he touched his neck. But Scar must have held back. If he had used his full strength, snapping his neck would have been a piece of cake. He hadnt needed to squeeze so slowly, unless it was some kink of his At that moment, Tang Liang noticed there was something fishy going on. Looking at Dg, he said dissatisfied, I told you already. Control your fucking people. Theyre as noisy as a food market, yet youre doing fuck all about it. Are you here to sell veggies? Dg looked back at Scar and asked coldly, What are you doing? While I was still hesitant about how to point out Shangguan Chenyang, Scar jumped at the chance, pointing directly at him. The shooter is there! Everyone turned to look in the direction Scar had indicated. Shangguan Chenyang was caught off guard and had no time to hide. He was only able to strengthen his shadow cover. Shangguan Chenhongs devil! Tang Liang roared. Eh? His tone and words sound wrong. Could it be Tang Liang isnt one of Shangguan Chenhongs underlings? I thought Chenhong is the military-focused one in the Shangguan family. This rich and powerful family really made my head swim. Right after his angry roar, Tang Liang actually immediately fired a shot. Everyone, surround him! If you let him run away, I will make you do drills until youre in hell! Tang Liangs furious roar shook the sky, and I felt that he was even angrier with Shangguan Chenyang than with us. They surrounded him so quickly, at least three times more diligently than when they had wanted to make us hand over the goods during our negotiations. But the one who was just as angry was Xiao Sha, who yelled, That guy was lying like I thought, saying he was driven out. I shouldnt have listened to his bullshit! He was always this glib guy, but it turns out hes even relying on Shangguan Chenhong, when hes obviously the half-brother of Shangguan Chenyu. Hot damn, I really dont understand the world of you local tyrants. I give up on sorting out the rtionships in this drama of the local rich and powerful. Anyway, we need to catch the shadow guy first! Give us some light. I gave Chen Yishao a pat. Shine light at that person, but dont make it too bright. You can bundle the light, like a shlight, and shine it just at him. I-I cant, Chen Yishao said, bewildered. I grabbed both of his hands, cupping them so they formed a tube-like shape and said, Gather the light in the palm of your hand and shoot it straight out. Its not difficult at all. Dont think you cant do it. Since you have learned to walk, you can definitely run! Of course, using your abilities was not such a simple matter, but I figured that in the case of someone like Chen Yishao, if you give him a bit more encouragement, perhaps he can bring about a miracle. His previous burst of light was definitely not some ordinary light, as it was enough to even blind me for a few seconds. This level of threat was certainly not inferior to a tier-one aberrant. Chen Yishaos palms gradually started glowing. It looked like a ball of light, flickering unsteadily, as if it could explode at any moment. Make it straight, not round, I said quickly. As I finished speaking, a straight line of light actually shot out but the angle was crooked, almost blinding Tang Liangs men. I moved Chen Yishaos hands until they were in the right position, shining directly at Shangguan Chenyangs chest. His entire body began to whiten, starting from his chest. All his efforts to be a shadow went down the drain as he changed back to a normal person. Shangguan Chenyang didnt seem to panic though. He just looked down at his hands, as if he couldnt care less about being surrounded. Tang Liang rushed toward him, pointing his gun directly at his head, and demanded, What the hell do you think youre doing? And think well before you answer. If youre not careful, Ill blow your brains out! However, Shangguan Chenyang ignored him. He lowered his hands, lifted his head, and shouted, Tngg, Ive decided to follow you from now on. As long as you can keep me human, I will never betray you for as long as I live! Hearing that, Xiao Sha pulled a face like he smelled something foul. Clearly, he did not want to ept this troublemaker, but he could not reasonably refuse right away, so he took the opportunity to ask, Why did you shoot at mymander? Shangguan Chenyang said calmly, Tang Liang was sent to work together with the Chen family. Chenhong didnt want to see him sessfully bring back the materials as agreed with the Chen family, so he sent me to follow Tang Liangs team and make them lose a few members if there was an opportunity. If I could eliminate them all, even better, because they are the only armed team of your brothers. Without them, Chenhongs prestige at the base would be even higher, because without soldiers youre useless. Hearing that, Tang Liang would have gone raging mad, if Shangguan Chenyangsst words hadnt stunned him. He turned to look at Xiao Sha and blurted, Fuck, isnt that kid Shangguan Chensha? Xiao Sha looked at him indifferently, without even responding. Tang Liang scratched his head. You look a bit different from your picture. The boss has been looking for you. One of my tasks was to inquire about your whereabouts. I didnt expect He gave a hollowugh. He probably hadnt regarded this task as a priority at all, which is why he hadnt even noticed Xiao Shas presence. Xiao Sha said coldly, I have left the Shangguan family, and I have nothing to do with Shangguan Chenhao! Tang Liang seemed like he wanted to speak, but couldnt because there were too many people around them. Fortunately, he moved the conversation back to Dg. With augh, he said, Its really like a flood rushing the dragon kings temple, kin fighting their own kin. Since our bosss younger brother is with you, we are definitely not enemies. Everything is that devils fault! Think you can set me up? Fucking impossible! As everyone looked at the devil, Shangguan Chenyang looked down at his hands. His body was already starting to darken again. What a weird ability. Although it would make survival easier, I think no one would choose to have this kind of ability. When Shangguan Chenyang lifted his head, his expression was a little gloomy, but he immediately covered it with a smile. Tngg, I have some very important news you most definitely want to hear. How about we make a deal? Xiao Sha snarled, I dont believe a word you say! Shangguan Chenyang took a deep breath and said, Look at me, when Im like this, is there anything more important than staying human? I will swear to anything, as long as you keep me human. I promise you from now on Ill do anything you say! Hearing that, Xiao Sha froze, and then looked at me. What are you looking at me for? I cant make him human. Chen Yishao might be able to, but he isnt one of my men, not even one of Jiang Dominions. Unless, I simply recruit him as one of my men? That way I can also conveniently keep him away from Feng Eh, I mean, this guys failures far exceed his sesses, so he better stay away from Jin Feng, so as not to drag her down. Its not every time we have such good luck and can avoid a big disaster. Its really like striking two birds with one stone. Following up on my idea, I immediately turned my head and asked, Feng, can you give me Chen Yishao? Chen Yishao looked startled, but he didnt protest. Scar must have really scared him just now. Hes yours, Jin Feng said simply. It really didnt take any effort. I was really afraid that I would be spoiled too much by Jin Feng, and I would one day be a pampered pretty boy, but it seemed that was already the case. I nodded at Xiao Sha. No matter what, we should first get the so-called news out, and what wed do then depended on the others behavior. Well, whats the news? Xiao Sha asked coldly. Shangguan Chenyang red at Chen Yishao, who automatically understood. He shot a beam of light at Shangguan Chenyang, to keep him from darkening. Satisfied, Shangguan Chenyang went straight to the point and said, Shangguan Chenhong is leading a group of soldiers to Old Town. If Im correct, thats your base? I wont hide it from you. I was the one who told him. Thest time you entered Lan City, only Old Town is in the direction you came from. At first, I wanted to follow you back to see what the situation was like. If it was a good location, I could tell Chenhong to seize it, but you didnte back. I could only give up on the investigation and go straight back to report. Damnit, Xiao Shas prejudice against the Shangguan family was correct. We should have dispatched this guy from the beginning. Chenhong discovered that the location of Old Town is very good. The terrain is high, allowing for a wide view of the surroundings. Although its very close to Lan City, its easy to defend and difficult to attack, so he decided to conquer it as When did he set out? Dg interrupted him. Facing Dg, Shangguan Chenyang didnt dare to take him lightly, and he answered carefully, I dont know. When Tang Liang set out, I was sent to cause him trouble. Dg narrowed his eyes, which carried a clear implication: youre absolutely useless. Why should we keep you? Shangguan Chenyang quickly said, He set out at most two days ago. Cant be earlier than that. There is a lot of disorder in the Shangguan family. Shangguan Chenhong isnt able to send out troops whenever he wants, unless hes willing to only send his own private soldiers, but hes really not someone to make a big effort all on his own. Even though he wanted to dispatch Tang Liang, he just sent me over. Two days! If they marched even a bit fast, they would have already arrived at our doorstep! Hearing this, Dg turned toward his men and said, Everyone, put down any unnecessary things, including supplies, and only bring the necessities. In ten minutes, well meet up and set out. After that, he said to Jin Feng, Well leave these supplies for you. Jin Feng nodded, but she didnt intend to take advantage of it and said straight away, Ill trade them for arms and ammunition. I saw that Dg wanted to speak, like he didnt n to ept it, but then he saw the weapons that Scar brought. There were only a few, but they were a rare type of machine gun. In this battle where two factions would sh, they would prove quite helpful, so in the end Dg did not object. How many people did the Shangguan family bring? Xiao Sha asked Shangguan Chenyang. Shangguan Chenyang looked at our team and said helplessly, I dont know the exact number, but when attacking a base, even if they look down on you, there are always at least three to four hundred. If the few of you have to deal with the Shangguan family, its not enough by far. I hope your No, our base has even more people. Im in the same boat as you are now. Hearing this number, Dgs face dropped. Three or four hundred people might not sound like a lot. Previously, Wen Jianuo and Chen Yanqing had brought over two hundred people. They hadnt been a threat to our territory, since those with weapons numbered only forty people, and they didnt have many bullets left. However, the people from the Shangguan family came from the military district, and for sure they would all have weapons. If three to four hundred people fire at the same time, even a tier three or higher will be swept away by the sea of bullets. Jin Feng said, Jin Zhan ising. If you wait a while longer, you can talk to him about working together. If this Shangguan family takes your base now, theyll most likelye to rob our suppliester on. Its only a matter of time til we face off with them. Shangguan Chenyang gestured at Tang Liang. In an attempt to save his own life and maintain his human appearance, he vigorously said, You can still negotiate with him. Shangguan Chenhong is not the only one in charge of the Shangguan family. Theres also Shangguan Chenhao. He was opposed to robbing others territory and food in the first ce, and doesnt agree with Chenhong at all. He definitely wants to see bad luck befall him! I had my doubts about that. It might be all right to give Shangguan Chenhong some trouble, but after all, those three or four hundred people are still the people of the Shangguan family. Will Xiao Shas brother really help us? It was hard to say, as I didnt understand the world of the rich. Maybe in order to gain power, the lives of three or four hundred people are small fry, swallowed whole with ease. Tang Liang hurriedly said, I cant make that call. Ill have to contact the boss at the very least. He added, Even if he cant help you openly, sneaking some weapons to you shouldnt be an issue. Shangguan Chenhong already holds most of the troops. If we let him get your base too, we also have no way to survive. I saw Dg frown. If he wanted the help of the Jin family and the Shangguan family, he couldnt return right away. I whispered, Dg, help heal me. Ill hurry back with Xiao Sha and Yunqian first. Dg retorted, The Shangguan family has so many people. What can you do, bringing only two people back? I was silent for a moment, then pointed out, Dg, the weather is very cold now. The absolute majority of the people havent eaten enough crystals, and for them its even colder. Together with Xiao Sha and Yunqian, if its just to defend the base, I can do a lot. And me, take me with you! Junjun said. I have lightning powers! This lightning power. would be really useful! People nowadays cant withstand electricity. Junjun plus Yunqian, and also Xiao Sha Damn, I have never seen a water tornado charged with electricity before, but despite that, I have a feeling it will be a masterstroke! Use it and well definitely turn the tide for us! However, seeing his younger brother and sister returning home to face an army of three or four hundred people, itd be a miracle if Dg was able to feel at ease. Putting myself in his shoes, thinking about having to watch Dg and my little sister face an army without me being there, it would be enough to make me cry two frozen rivers of tears. Dg pursed his lips and said, Okay, you go back with your rg. Wait, is this our dg or not? Surely its the Ice Emperor? I will go back too! Guan Weijun hurriedly said, echoing Junjuns words. This is rare. She doesnt want to stay with Dg? I shook my head and said, The battlefield will be filled with guns and hails of bullets. You need to wait until your ability is strong enough to withstand bullets. You dont have to go back this time. Youll be Dgs bodyguard. Panicking, she said, Butbut my mom is still there! When I heard this, I suddenly realized why Guan Weijun wanted to go back. Seeing her so flustered, I felt a tension finally release. In this life, my mother has a lively, cheerful, and filial daughter. For me, she is no longer my most important person. I hadnt even thought about her just now, and only thought of Dg and my little sister. Even Uncle and Auntie are just as important as my mother from my previous life. Even if I still have memories of Guan Weijun, I am not her anymore. Dont worry! I pointed to Shujun and said, Mimei will go back with me. Do you think I will let anyone enter the base? Even if Old Town is only a temporary base, we definitely wont let anyone so much as touch it! Guan Weijun was a little surprised. I suddenly remembered that she didnt know about my strength at all, but that didnt matter. She would be a core member sooner orter. I just knew it. It should be said that if she did not have such potential, Dg would not have brought her with him at all. He is praised by all for his foresight and luck in choosing group members, after he once took a shortcut through an alley and came back with Xiao Sha! Damn, it cant be that Im really the only one of the Jiang family with rotten luck Guan Weijun responded, All right, then you protect my mother, as I protect your brother! That moment, Dg stuffed something in my hand. It was a bunch of evolutionary crystals, and there was actually a tier two crystal in it. This must be the crystal of that Wolfman? He handed two more machine guns and arge batch of bullets to Xiao Sha and Yunqian, and only then said, I will return home as soon as possible. Until then, the base is yours. As he said this, everyone around us looked amazed. Scar and Shangguan Chenyang looked like Dg had handed over the base to a ten-year-old. I carefully promised, Rx, Dg, I will definitely protect our temporary base. Guan Weijunughed and said, The temporary Jiang base? Lets tell that to the people from the Shangguan family! It doesnt sound imposing at all! I looked at her helplessly. What could I say? The JDT? Thats also not right. Only ten of the three hundred people are members of the mercenary group. Or should I directly say that we are the base of the Jiang Dominionno, the words Jiang Dominion should be reserved for arger ce. Our Jiang Dominion cannot be based in such a small ce like Old Town! The term Jiang Dominion should be reserved for arger area, such as Lan City, or an even more expansive one Since it is a temporary base, lets call it Jiang Provisional: Zhanjiang, Dg decided. This naming ability is impressiveimpressive in how unoriginal it is. However, Dg is always right, and I as his little brother cannot oppose him. At best I can secretly change it around a tiny bit. Jiang Professional, Zhanjiang Garrison. This sounds like a normal name for a base. Well, no matter whether it is Shangguan, or any other family or group, no one can take Zhanjiang Garrison! After I finished this courageous deration, I noticed that the people around me all wore the same expression. They looked like grownups smiling at a little kid that said his dream was to be president. I just want to be the Ice Emperor, not the president, really. Jin Feng stroked my head and said, Wait for me. After I exin to Jin Zhan, I will quicklye to save you. Wait, was it not enough to save me twice? I already cant pay you back! While the others sniggered, she grabbed my hand and gave me something. A crystal, second tier. I was silent, thinking about my fight with the butterfly and how I only got a second-tier crystal after suffering heavy injuries. And now I got two crystals just like that. What did I do to deserve this? I couldnt help but sp both hands around Jin Fengs holding the crystal. What are you doing? Jin Feng asked, but I had already let go of her hand again. She didnt ask again, clenching her fist, holding the ice crystal in the hollow of her palm where no one could see it. Shujun, Xiao Sha, Yunqian, lets go! Although we were only dyed by around ten minutes, that was already too much. We could only pick up our speed, return to Zhanjiang Garrison, and hope we were not toote. No harm cane to anyone of the Jiang Dominion! Luckily, we found two oil-filled motorcycles on the way, and advanced much faster. While the wind rushed in my ears, I also heard Junjun, who sat behind me, asking curiously, rg, did you give some ice to Feng-ji just now? I felt the energy! Did you make a flower? Or was it an ice sculpture of Feng-ji wearing a princess gown? Feng dressed like a princess, I cant imagine it. Dressed like a queen would be far more suitable, but also with that kind of incredibly sharp crown that she could use to stab people to death. Neither. I coughed and said, It was just a chunk of ice. Having said that, I could feel her fingers poking my sides the rest of the way, until we reached Lan City and picked up the car. During the bumpy ride, Junjun sat in the passenger seat, pouting and muttering to herself. I really want to know what the ice crystal was. rg is secretly in a rtionship and didnt even tell me. Weijun-ji said she would never be the kind of sister-inw that would make Dg forget his little sister, and now my most beloved rg has found a wife and forgot all about his sister I surrender! This Mimei I raised myself, raised to be so devious I have to tearfully keep spoiling her! It was a heart. To be continued Volume 5, Extra 1: Lonely Thunder

Volume 5, Extra 1: Lonely Thunder

Tranted by Simone (proofread by Arcedemius; C/E edited by lucathia) Jin Zhan was sitting in arge ck office chair, listening to his underlings report on Debert. That man known as the me King had sent a message, hoping to discussbining their strengths to reim human territories. Reim? A smile almost tugged at his lips, which might have been his first smile in years. Thats enough. His interest had gradually died down. Jin-g, maybe we really could cooperate? his underlings said carefully. There are too many aberrants and they are too strong. I heard that the Aberrant King in Lan City kills people on sight. Maybe one day itlle after us. Where would we start this reiming? From Deberts side? Do you want me to leave this ce? Or lets say we start from our location. Do you believe Debert woulde here? Seeing the embarrassed faces of his underlings, Jin Zhan felt regret over the loss of his truly capable generals, the twin brothers L. They had always done well. The elder brother was courageous, the younger brother wise. One would craft the n and the other would carry it out, without much need of Jin Zhans orders, evening up with more and better ns than he could. Even Fengs underling Scar would be better than this useless lot in front of him. What a pity If only the twins were still here, perhaps there would have been one more top tier elite. L Mengren, as his name implied, was a fierce general. There would be no need for Jin Zhan to be stuck in a besieged city, unable to leave his post. Jin Zhans lips curled into a sneer, causing each of his underlings who saw to tremble in fear and wonder whether they were the one who had angered this godthe Thunder God! Where did all these if onlyse from? If I really wanted to dwell on the past, then if only Feng The sound of knees hitting the ground one after the other interrupted Jin Zhans short-lived musings. He looked coldly at the group of underlings kneeling on the ground, begging for forgiveness in all kinds of fearful tones. If it wasnt for the Jin-g they shouted, Jin Zhan would have thought they must have been worshipping and kneeling for an ancient emperor standing by his side. Since when had his underlings stopped valuing even their knees? Ah, yes, it was after Ah Zhi had left on his own without permission to avenge his brothers death. In the end, he followed in his brothers footsteps and never returned. Both brothers died by the hands of the same aberrant. When the news reached Jin Zhan, he wasnt able to control his rage and despair. Anyone standing close to him was half electrocuted to death, and some of them almost didnt recover. Asura! One day A few threads of lightning crackled between Jin Zhans fingers. The underlings on the ground were so frightened that they even started kowtowing. Though their movements sounded like they were ying ping pong with their foreheads, Jin Zhan didnt pay attention to them at all. He gazed into the distance. Out there were two powerful energies, one of which even shocked him Jin Zhan rose to his feet. He could only think of one personno, one aberrant. Thirteen. Although there was no certainty of victory, he still nned on going. With the other party so close, what room was there for fleeing? Unless he nned to escape by himself and abandon all the people who were at the base, he would have to face his opponent head-on. Jin-g, where are you going? Jin Zhan nced at his panic-stricken men. He wouldnt take anyone with him. In the kind of world they lived in now, there was already no big advantage in numbers. To take anyone with him would be a death sentence for them. But when Jin Zhan arrived at the scene, the situation was not like he had expected at all. One of the two energies had already been wiped out. The one that remained was the one that had intimidated even him. A figure stood in front of the body of a huge aberrantno, a mutted corpse. A steady energy radiated from the figures hands. He must have found the aberrants crystal yet seemed to have no intention of leaving. He just stood there quietly. This person Even after so many years, Jin Zhan still remembered this persons face, but his memory was a bit vague. What is his name again? Jiang Shutian? Frost covered everything, the cold so intense that anyone nearby would feel the chill even in their hearts. This man is the Ice Emperor. Jin Zhan thought it over, and finally remembered that before the end of the world, Jiang Shutian had indeed lived nearby. The memory of those first days of the apocalypse were too intense, dripping with blood, red as far as the eye could see. The final days before the end had be like ck and white pictures. Even if anyone remembered, they were like a distant memory. When had the Ice Emperor returned? To travel across the world in these times was anything but simple. The overwhelming power of the aberrants in the sky was too great. Each and every one of them sustained itself with fresh meat, evolving quickly and often even banding together. Since the sky belonged to the aberrants, no one dared to fly. Did he travel by boat? The ocean was not a good ce either, and no one even dared to live close to the shore. No wonder the Ice Emperor is so fearless. Jin Zhan couldnt fully assess his strength. It seemed that there was some disparity in strength He didnt move. He didnt need to say anything. The Ice Emperor had already noticed him for sure. He even had a feeling that the Ice Emperor was waiting for him to speak, to say even one word he shouldnt so the Ice Emperor could happily give him a beating. However, Jin Zhan had no intention to take a beating. He had thought that he would fight Thirteen to the death, kill him or be killed. He knew he couldnt have won. But though he hade knowing it would have been hisst battle, that didnt mean that he was in need of a beating. After watching for a while, Jin Zhan wanted to leave, but he couldnt. His sixth sense told him not to move if he wanted to avoid a fight. While he stood helpless like that, a woman rushed toward them. Leader! She shouted Leader again and again without a response. The woman fell to her knees and started crying, without a sound and without end. There were so many tears. Jin Zhan hadnt seen a woman cry like this for a long time. All women who were brought before him would adapt to the situation, flirting and unting themselves, and even when they had to cry, there would be no endless flow of tears and snot. Thest time he had seen a woman cry like this was when, shortly after the apocalypse, the woman he cherished the most lost her daughter *** Jin-g, many people were seriously injured. Its not looking good. The doctor said that our medicine might not be enough. Wh-what should we do? Jin Zhans lips were pressed tight as he listened to his underlings report on how many people they had lost. Half of them had turned into monsters, and many of the remaining half had been eaten by the monsters. Thest surviving people all suffered injuries to some extent. The fortunate thing was that, though the number of people Jin Zhan could rely upon was few, many of those he depended upon the most were still alive. It was unavoidable that some had turned into aberrants and others were caught unaware and were eaten, butpared to losing half, the number he lost was simply not worth mentioning. However, the most important people were still outside. Jin Zhan frowned, hearing frantic cries. Xiaoyue, where is my Xiaoyue? Someone rushed past in a flurry of white. Before, Jin Zhan had always felt she brightened the room. She was a most rare sight, always able to bring a sense of serenity to all around her. He remembered meeting Lin Yixue for the first time. The girl had been standing in the hall, slender and delicate, like a doe who had lost her way, not matching the surroundings at all. Even though she was several years older than him, Jin Zhan had still thought the girl was younger. Therefore, when hearing this girl was his stepmother, Jin Zhan had felt it to be utterly ridiculous. Even more absurd was that in the days toe, his stepmother became the person he cherished the most. Today marked the first day that Jin Zhan didnt want to see her. Seeing that the situation was going south, Jin Zhan had sent someone to find Jin Feng, asking her to pick up Jin Xiaoyue on the way and return together. He never expected something to happen in the middle of the night. Now no one knew where the two were, and it was impossible for him to go and save them! The city was crawling with monsters, and all Jin Zhan had left were wounded men. Even firearms could not be used lightly, as any loud noise would attract monsters. There was simply no way for them to ovee their situation. Lin Yixue grabbed her stepsons hand, like a drowning woman grabbing thest piece of driftwood. Ah Zhan, what about my Xiaoyue? Why isnt Xiaoyue here? Didnt you send someone to pick her up? Facing this woman, Jin Zhan simply couldnt make a foul expression. I sent Feng to her. Why havent theye back yet? Lin Yixue was beside herself with worry. Xiaoyue is so easily scared. She must be frightened. There are so many monsters. Ah Zhan, cant you send more people to pick her up? In the end, she was still biased toward her biological daughter. Jin Zhan thought about how this girl had be a stepmother at a very young age and had treated him and Jin Feng pretty well, especially Jin Feng. Even though Yixue often failed to understand them and always saw her own ordinary, girlish tastes as the standard, which actually gave Jin Feng a lot of trouble, in the end her intentions were good. Jin Feng had taken it in stride. Her rtionship with her stepmother and Xiaoyue had always been good. Even though they had nothing at all inmon to talk about, Feng would listen quietly. Jin Zhan remained silent. The expressions of the people around him were filled with anger, but the one whose gaze held the most hatred was Scar, Jin Fengs right-hand man. On that day at headquarters, he had been bitten by arade who had turned into an aberrant. His leg was so swollen it resembled a big sausage. He couldnt walk without crutches and even had a fever. Even so, he forced himself toe over to deal with the situation, hoping to free up more manpower to rescue Jin Feng. If it hadnt been for Jin Zhan telling him, You will only be a burden to Feng if you went, Scar really would have dragged himself out on his injured leg to save her. L Zhi grabbed Scars shoulder and said, Ha, dont be so nervous, Scar. Feng-ji is not someone whos so easily snuffed out. If even she cant survive this world, we might as well shoot ourselves in the head before its toote. Scar knew that Feng-ji was powerful, but the kind of world they were in now, they simply couldnt afford to rx. They waited for two more days. Even though Jin Zhan was exhausted, and many casualties unexpectedly revived as monsters, causing a second wave of injuries and deaths, he still led his people out in search of Jin Feng. Somehow, in a street not far off from their location, they stumbled upon Ben. Wheres Feng? When Jin Zhan saw Ben was covered in blood, his heart sank. Ben was young, and although Jin Feng made him train a lot, she never allowed him to be in danger in any way. Ben had copsed to the ground and said angrily, It was all to save that damn girl. She was already a hindrance, yet she refused to leave just like that. She just had to go and save those university ssmates Where is Feng? Jin Zhan interrupted him. Bens lips trembled. With a bowed head and choking on sobs, he said, There were too many monsters in the university. We were trapped, and waiting around would only lead to death. The only thing we could do was break out. Feng-ji told us to go first, and she would follow. I didnt think shed run in the opposite direction and fire a gunshot. In the end, all the monsters swarmed her Jin Zhan was silent for a long time before remembering to ask one more question. Xiaoyue is also dead? Ben gritted his teeth in anger and said, She isnt dead. She and her ssmates were running ahead of me. I was hurt and couldnt run as fast. They ran incredibly fast, and were gone in the blink of an eye! Having heard that, Jin Zhan didnt say anymore, but lifted Ben up himself, and led his people back to the base. When Lin Yixue didnt see her daughter among them, her tears kept falling, like pearls from a broken string. She begged Jin Zhan to save Jin Xiaoyue. Standing aside, Scars eyes shed red in anger and he yelled, Because of that girl, Feng-ji is dead! Jin Feng, your own sister! You still want to save that girl? But Xiaoyue is also Ah Zhans sister! Lin Yixue sobbed. Scar just sneered in disdain. Jin Zhan was silent. They were both his sisters, but Jin Feng and Jin Xiaoyue were different. Rather than saying Jin Xiaoyue was his sister, one might say she was the daughter of the woman he cherished the most. Because Lin Yixue cared, he cared. Jin Feng had been his sister by blood and his equal. He had always trusted her to have his back. No one could see the depths of the regret Jin Zhan felt in that moment. He might think of Lin Yixue like that, but her daughter was like a pet at best. How could a petpare to the life of a rtive? What a joke! However, Jin Zhan still answered Lin Yixues plea and sent people to find Jin Xiaoyue. She and her ssmates had fallen into the hands of a group of men. Of course, it hadnt ended well. Her fingers had been trampled until they were all crooked. Her nose was broken and even her vision was affected. One leg had even been crippled, and she had to drag it when she walked. The inhumanities shed suffered had even muddled her mind. From a good university student, she had turned into an incontinent madwoman. Scar still refused to let her off the hook. As soon as he got the chance, he finished her off with one stroke of his knife. After that, he took Ben and ran away. In truth, the reason to retrieve Jin Xiaoyue had been to avenge Jin Fengs death. But when Jin Zhan saw the condition she was in, he understood that death might actually be a relief for her, so he didnt do anything. That was the first time Jin Zhan saw Lin Yixue cry in such an ugly manner. The following days she became even uglier. Another woman gone mad. The only woman able to cope in this crazy world must have been Jin Feng, Jin Zhan thought to himself. Why is Lin Yixue, a woman so weak she cant even kill a cockroach, still alive, while Jin Feng is dead? Simple. Her own brother had killed her. *** Leader, you still havent avenged Xiao Sha! The Ice Emperor finally moved. He turned and only said, Go back. He nced at Jin Zhans hiding ce. His gaze was as dark as an abyss, not a single thing reflected in his eyes, not even the mighty Thunder God. The woman wiped her tears and struggled to her feet. She had been kneeling for a long time. Even though in these times people were quite fit, her knees were numb. When she turned, a stranger stood in front of her. She gasped, but could not attack him. Their difference in strength was toorge. Under the immense power pressing down on her, even moving was difficult. Yet she wasnt nervous. She was with the leader. There was no way he would stand by doing nothing while she was in danger! Jin Zhan said to this woman with eyes puffy from crying, There is a man called Scar who is not far from here in the southern suburbs. He has some power. Ask the Ice Emperor to take him in. The woman froze. Make sure not to let Scar die. I, Jin Zhan, will owe you one. Thunder God Jin Zhan? The woman stared at him. Though she was astonished, she looked forward and saw that the Ice Emperor had ignored their conversation and was leaving without a word. The woman panicked, afraid that she would be abandoned if she didnt keep up with him. Quickly, she said, I will do my best. She hurried after him. Jin Zhan looked at the departing figures of the two people, yet he knew that the man was all alone. I wonder if the me King Debert, who is in the top twelve as well, is also just as lonely? Jin Zhan felt he actually might have some interest in meeting him now. Lonely Thunder ? End Volume 5, Extra 2: One Day in the Apocalypse

Volume 5, Extra 2: One Day in the Apocalypse

Tranted by Simone (proofread by Arcedemius; C/E edited by lucathia) Vice-Captain of the Ice Spears and Jiang Dominions secret big boss gives an announcement on the day of the typhoon: Hello, members of the JDT. The typhoon has arrived, meaning therell be heavy wind and rain, and many aberrants will be blown into the sky. Please watch out for any falling objects that can bite people. Metal and earth users, please report to Lily. The bases signboards need to be fixed, and we must be on our guard for mudslides on the rear hillside. Those with thunder and lightning powers, please stay inside and do your chores. Dont go out, to avoid idental electrical discharges that might harm others. Those with wind powers, dont mess around. Gusts are already at level 17. Please dont take advantage of them to practice your powers. If the gusts be greater than 18, I will soak you in the rain and let the thunder and lightning troops practice their abilities. Yes, Im talking to you, Xiao Sha! Dg, please take advantage of the weather to rest for a while. Just stand on the balcony, with your jacket rippling in the wind, your expression that of someone who is sure of victory, master of his own fate, and youll ease the peoples minds and attract some more talented people. Ordinary members must keep in mind the ck uniform of the Jiang Dominion with silver trim and a patch of blue. If you are blown away by the wind, please find a patrolman wearing the uniform to help you. If you ask the wrong person for aid, you may either be taken and experimented on, used as cannon fodder, or eaten, and the result will be unimaginable. ck with silver trim and a patch of blue. Remember the uniform to save your life. The JDT cares about your safety. One Day in the Apocalypse ? End Volume 5, Afterword

Volume 5, Afterword

Tranted by Simone (proofread by Arcedemius; C/E edited by lucathia) The Dominions End series has been one of the greatest challenges in my writing career, probably because of the broad setting and therge number of characters. I have to keep close track of all the powers, characters, rtionships, and the developments of each of those. On top of that, I have to make the whole situation clear to all readers within the constraints of first-person narration. This is really a big challenge. The way the characters influence each other is another challenge. The rebirth of Jiang Shuyu ispletely like the idiom, pull one hair and move the entire body, or like the Western expression of the butterfly effect. The changes he made to the situation are so great that even Jiang Shuyu himself cannot fullyprehend them. He can guess he changed the fate of the Jiang family, the fate of the Jiang Dominion, but he couldnt have guessed he would influence even the Jin family. What the protagonist knows and doesnt know, what the reader knows and doesnt know, in stories with first-person narration this is usually the same. But my protagonists are constantly so stupid, they always know less than the reader. Theyd almost be embarrassed to say that they are the protagonist! Especially Jiang Shuyu, a healthy guy with a simple mind. Yes, this is how you can describe him. Although these words might not do his appearance justice, thats just the kind of guy he is. As the first-person narrator and protagonist, Shuyu is too stupid to even guess what good he has done. The author has to resort to using extra chapters to tell everyone about the Jin family and how theyve been affected by the p of the butterflies wings. *** The following contains spoilers for this volume. If you havent read the book yet, please dont peek at the epilogue below this line *** The rebirth of Jiang Shuyu caused Jiang Shutian to return from cia to the Meisian continent, where he went to Jin Zhan to ask for weapons. Doing so, he also warned Jin Zhan about the apocalypse. It was only a matter of a few hours, but this time, Jin Feng and Jin Xiaoyue were able to return home in time. This caused the current appearance of a fierce, fiery woman, and Scar and Ben stay at the Jin family obediently and dont jump ship. Jin Zhan also continues his unrequited love toward his stepmother, and there is no falling out between them. Whats interesting is that this time, Jin Xiaoyues situation is also very strange. If Jiang Shuyu hadnt been reborn, who knows what kind of situation Jin Xiaoyue, who only got reborn after the apocalypse, would have brought about? Would they have been able to get to the Jins house in time? This is yet another developing story. Its like mapping a treechoosing different branches can make a big difference in the characters lives. I try to write Dominions End using this tree-like scenario. Different choices and circumstances lead to different lives. First, there is the difference of the Ice Emperor and Jiang Shutian, and also the different oues of the Jin family. Of course, there will be more and more differences in the future. The Ice Emperor and Thunder God led lonely lives in the past life. Can they find fulfillment in this life? And what of the me King? Its all still unknown, so please continue to follow Dominions End and see what kind of stories we wille across this time! By Yu Wo *** Are [Character Introductions] like these really okay? Zheng Xing The military doctor of the Jiang Dominion Troop. Following the apocalypse, he came into possession of earth powers useful for erecting buildings and growing nts. Recently, he has begun to advance on the path of providing essential assistancethat is, if you consider spiking walls with sharp thorns, littering the grounds with booby traps, and raising an impregnable fortress within the realm of essential activities. Su Ying She was naturally timid by nature. However, after Jiang Shuyu scared the shit out of her, she thought of him as the ultimate demon king (maybe she hit the nail on the head). She was forced to join the Ice Spearster on, but at the very least she doesnt see Jiang Shuyu that often because he usually shuts himself in his room or suddenly vanishes without a trace. He isnt around much at all. That is, until some guy ranked no more than an underling of a certain demon king started to asionally loiter around the squad with pick-up linesthereafter, she became increasingly timid. Wen Jianuo The real captain of the Ice Spears. ording to the protagonists n, his subordinate and vice-captain in name onlyJiang Shuyuwas incapable of doing great things, yet disdained doing minor tasks. Besides drilling soldiers and farming, he didnt bother with anything else. Plus, he would often go missing without a word. Thus, Wen Jianuo ended up bing the captain of the Ice Spears both in name and in fact. When Jiang Shuyu asionally appeared to toss them an order, he would lead the squad through hell or high water. Basically, he was way too capable! Volume 6, The Unknown Elite, Prologue: Murder your way forward

Volume 6, The Unknown Elite, Prologue: Murder your way forward

Tranted by Simone (proofread by Arcedemius & Trespasserby; C/E edited by lucathia) Just as night fell, a white fog spread. Visibility was less than three meters, but fortunately the ground was a smooth asphalt road. Otherwise these conditions would cause most people difficulty even with walking. Footsteps could be heard not far away. I hid in the grass beside the road without a sound. Although the trees on both sides of the road were scarce, after the end of the world, nts grew wildly, and weeds like this were found everywhere. Although they did not grow into a vast grasnd, they turned the whole world into a ruin overgrown with weeds. With such bad visibility, spotting anyone in the underbrush was not easy at all. However, even though my movements were absolutely silent, I still attracted the attention of my opponents. They were a total of five people in ck camouge clothes, armed to the teeth. They held guns and carried at least two or three pockets worth of ammunition. Suddenly, one of them halted and turned his head to look in my direction. I bided my time, not worried in the least. What? the person next to him asked. What is it? The man frowned and said, Just thought something moved over there. You didnt sense anything? The other four shook their heads. Its not that I dont sense anything. Theres just too much going on, one of them admitted. I can sense something fishy in all directions. As he said so, the rest of the people immediately looked at one of the roadside trees. From freely swaying in the wind, it turnedpletely still, as the entire tree became rigid. At first nce, nothing seemed amiss, butpared to the swaying trees and grasses on either side of it, there was definitely something wrong. The five pretended they had not seen anything, their mouths twitching. After the end of world, it wasnt strange to see all kinds of things move. Even if you paid attention to everything, it wouldnt be enough to take note of it all. Then again, why did Xiaorong actively attack aberrants and upy a small town back then? This was really puzzling, but I feared that Id have to wait until he had evolved to be able to speak before that riddle could be solved. The five men were still scanning their surroundings for a bit, but unfortunately for them the mist was too thick. Combined with the dense grass, they couldnt see much, and on top of that, the disorder around them became more and more intense, until it was apparent the presence around them was getting impatient. The five were too scared to stop again and hurried away. I followed. Even though my movements were light, the others vignce was at a professional level. They looked back several times along the way. It was only because of these post-apocalyptic times that any sounds or activity along the way could be more than just me. They could keep looking, but there was too much that was wrong, too much for them to do anything about it. They could only see if there werent any big obstacles and leave. When they were far enough away from the main troops and were turning back, I saw my opportunity. The person walking behind the others had fallen a few steps behind because he was looking in the direction of some noises. At that moment, I had already created ice skates under my feet. They were no longer like ordinary ice skates: the des were 1.5 times longer than the soles of my feet, and they were as sharp as knives. If I shed someones neck with these ice knives, it was sure their head would roll. I had not only created ice knives; the ice also covered my legs up to my knees, forming a pair of ice boots. The smooth surface would easily cause various attacks to slide off, and it couldnt be broken through. On the sides of my knees, ice horns extended outwards. These horns did not only function as weapons, but also shielded my knees, and because they extended outwards, they didnt hinder my movements. Finally, these boots were made of no less than threepressedyers of ice, so that they could even resist ordinary bullets. I had made ice boots before, but only for gliding, and the focus had been on the ice des under my feet. The boots had just been decorations made to deter the enemy. But now, I needed strong armor able to withstand bullets, so I had perfected the boots until they became warrior boots with true defensive power! Of course, I hadnt studied boots so thoroughly myself before. I had specifically asked Uncle to design them. Fortunately, Uncle gave me a lot of details, as I learned from him that a smooth surface actually works even better for blocking attacks. Apart from the ice boots, I also changed my mask, expanding it to cover as much as 80% of my face. I made the number ofpressed iceyers even higher than the boots. After all, my head is very important. If there had been more time, I would have extended the mask to cover the back of my head, changing it into a helmet. The more I cover, the better! After all, this time the n really was a bit daring. If Dg had known in advance that I would dare to do such a thing, he wouldnt have let his ddi go home to hold off the attackers for a while. He probably would have broken his ddis legs before he could take a step out the door. I took a breath and glided quietly over to my opponent. Though I still rmed him when I reached him, the noises from before had perhaps been too much and he was already numb. He turned around to check, but was too slow. When he suddenly saw me, he was shocked and opened his mouth to warn hispanions, but it was toote. I grabbed his throat and froze it in an instant. It took only a second to freeze his brain as well, my ice powers meeting no resistance whatsoever. This person didnt understand powers at all. This fact was reassuring. I let go and, in the instant before the body hit the ground, glided forward,ing up behind the next two men walking side by side. I was about to grab the back of their necks, but they were on guard and suddenly turned around. I didnt cower, but instead took another step forward. If I could grab their throats, that would be even better than the back of their necks. This time it didnt go so smoothly. After all, I wasnt dealing with civilians withoutbat ability. One of them froze to death right away, but the other immediately took a step back, causing me to grab a fistful of air. He lifted his gun, pressed the muzzle against my chest and froze! I didnt need to touch anything to make it freeze. Contact just made freezing easier and faster, without any dy. Even if I couldnt touch anything, it would only be just a fraction slower. I shifted sideways to avoid the muzzle, reaching forward with my free hand again, moving swiftly like I was spearing a fish that had escaped the. I was very close, so the dy was negligible. My opponent didnt even have enough time to lift his gun again, as his upper body had already be an ice sculpture. To be on the safe side, I used a lot of energy. Obviously, it was too much. The previous battle with Jin Zhan made me overestimate the resistance of ordinary people against powers. But I didnt have time for remorse, so I went straight to the two people in front of me. I had just killed three people in the blink of an eye, and the final two only reacted when I created the half human ice sculpture, turning around with a sweep of their guns. I shot my ice knives forward, forcing them to throw themselves out of way. I rushed to one of them. After only a sh of faint blue light, I already held an ice dagger in my left hand. The dagger the Ice Emperor had gifted me was no longer like a piece of ice. It was almost aplete dagger, though slightly thinner, and the frozen emblem now stretched from the handle to halfway down the de. When I had tried it out in front of everyone, Guan Weijun had watched with bright eyes and shouted, What a beautiful hoarfrost dagger! It was a pretty good name, so I unapologetically started to use it, regardless of whether it was more suitable for the Ice Emperors ddi to name his dagger. With a swipe of the hoarfrost dagger, I cut off half of the gun barrel, and the other half froze. If he dared to shoot, the gun would explode, taking him with it. Seeing the frozen barrel, my opponents eyes widened in rm, and he immediately dropped it. He tried to draw a pistol from his pocket, but before he could touch the holster, his whole body went rigid. Not a secondter, his head fell to the ground with a heavy thunk. It didnt even roll, as the entire head had already be a ball of ice. After cutting the gun, I had seized the chance tond a kick, and the ice knives under my feet had streaked across my opponents throat. My current strength was enough to cut off any body part. As for thest person While I had moved quickly a moment ago, killing four people with the speed of a lightning strike, I now looked back with what could be called leisure. Transparent branches were wrapping around the remaining person, creating a grotesque posture. At first nce, it looked a bit vulgar, but if you took a closer look, your mind would go numb. His face had turned blue and his tongue was hanging out, but within such a short amount of time, the cause of death couldnt have been suffocation, but merely a broken neck. He hadnt even dropped his gun, but waspletely entangled by the translucent branches. Most crucially was the branch disabling the guns trigger. I remember exining that, even specifically getting a gun to demonstrate it?trees were really hard to teach. Xiaorong,e back. I said. The transparent branches withdrew all at once, and finally a chubby little thing ran out. At first nce, it looked like a ball, but it turned out to be a tree. Jiang Xiaorong, why did you develop into the shape of a cactus? Youre obviously a banyan tree! With his short tree-root legs thumping the ground, Xiaorong ran to my side, slow but full of energy. I picked him up, gave him a crystal as a reward, and tried to ignore the corpses on the ground. When I was Guan Weijun in my past life, it wasnt that I hadnt killed anyone, but rather it hadnt even taken long before I had been forced to kill someone. I vaguely remembered that it hadnt even taken a year *** Dont eat me I abruptly opened my eyes, gasping, and my pulse quickened like my heart was about to explode in my chest. I looked around in panic, but there were no ugly, twisted monsters in sight, just darkness. When my eyes adapted to the dark, I finally remembered where I was. I was hiding in a closet to sleep, although I couldnt be sure I was able to avoid those monsters. It was not seldom that monsters dragged people out of various nooks and corners. However, when concealed, you could be a little more at ease. Even if in such a small space you can only sleep curled up and sleeping like that makes your back sore every day, most would still not choose to sleep on a soft bed. After all, lying on a bed is definitely more conspicuous than curling up in the wardrobe. In this darkness, there was only me. What about Xia Zhengu? Where did mom go I felt my eyes suddenly throb as I recalled the heartbreaking events of two days ago. I used myst bullet to save Xia Zhengu, but the bastard ran to save Xiao Qi, and my mother was stormed by the monsters My heart ached. As it turns out, such intense sorrow actually physically hurts! I wiped my tears, and I had to work hard not to cry too much. If I couldnt hold back the sounds of my own sobs, it would be terrible. Our current world couldnt even tolerate a little cry! I also couldntment my own stupidity. Mom couldnt be by my side anymore. Only my boyfriend Xia Zhengu was left. In the past, he was good to me, even though I found him a bit childish. He would often ask how I was doing, and sometimes he was too clingy. Though he was still clingy nowadays, most of the time he was clingy with Xiao Qi! I wiped my tears. Even when I refused to stay in the same room with Xia Zhengu, the guy still did as he pleased, offering an offhanded exnation and apology. When he saw I refused to forgive him, he actually really left, taking Xiao Qi with him! Could even half of his apology be sincere? Only shortly after the world had changed, Xia Zhengus patience had dropped down to almost zero, while his self-confidence grew close to bursting. Just because he was decently impressive among this small group of ten people that had been randomly thrown together, his ego had swollen until it couldnt be contained. The apocalypse really does put ones character to the test My thoughts came to a sudden halt as I heard a soft noise from outside. It sounded like footsteps. It seemed there were multiple people there, but they were being very quiet. Nowadays, no matter how coarse or blunt people were, they had all be quiet with their movements. I held my breath, not daring to make a sound, but as if guided by fate, they unlocked the door and came in. The sounds of the footsteps definitely sounded like those of someone wearing shoes. They were people, not aberrants. I breathed a sigh of relief. Without warning, the closet door was pulled open. My eyes widened. The man in front of me almost jumped with fright. While I was still figuring out how to react, the man already showed a sardonic smile. Yo! Come look! Theres a chick here! My face nched. The tone of the man made me think of the cries for help of women I had heard while on the road, the cruel scenes that I asionally glimpsed It was toote to be scared. He had already pulled me out of the closet and covered my mouth with his big hand, threatening, Dont make a sound. If you attract monsters, I will feed you to them with a push. Have you ever seen someone being eaten? They will eat your flesh while youre still alive. They wont bite you to death. Youll perish from the pain. Hearing this, my heart trembled. Is it true? Is this how mom felt in her final moments? Had she perished from the pain? Hey, so be quiet and obedient and let me have a good time. Then, I might give you a few cookies to eat. Suddenly, he threw himself upon me. Caught off guard, I was thrown to the ground, and while still at a loss, I felt a stinging pain in my back. In a sh, I was wide awake. Only when I recovered my senses did I smell the stench. I looked down and saw that the other person had buried his face in my chest, gnawing and biting. Since it was so cold nowadays, I wore a lot of clothes and it took him a while to tear them open. I really couldnt say how long this guy had gone without washing his hair or what had sprayed onto him, but the smelling from his hair wasnt any better than that of a rotting corpse. It was enough to clear my head in an instant! Even when facing those monsters, I hadnt sat quietly and waited for defeat. How could such stinky scum scare me? How could I let him do what he wanted? Whats more, the stinging pain in my back just now was a knife. Drawing the knife from behind my back, I reflexively thrust it into the other persons back, not forgetting to pull it out again. I had gone to great lengths to acquire this knife. It wasnt just a fruit knife from any retail store. In this small group, formed ad hoc, some turned out to already have a hobby of collecting weapons. They even took us to a well-known weapons store to have a look. Unfortunately, the store had obviously been searched several times already, and only a few knives remained. I grabbed this one as soon as I saw it. Because it was a small knife, only slightly bigger than a fruit knife, the others turned up their noses at it and didnt try to snatch it away from me. Though it was small, after sharpening it, its edge and durability were better than those of the others, which really surprised me. I didnt tell anyone of this fact, but silently stashed it behind my waist. A fountain of blood spurted from the back of my opponent, turning my whole field of vision red. Terrified, I pushed him aside. I even had to wipe my eyes to see clearly again. The man was twitching in pain, reaching out like he wanted to touch his back, but he was in such pain he couldnt reach it. The sea of blood on the ground expanded with an astonishing speed, reaching my feet in an instant. I was so scared that I retreated until my back pressed against the closet, and I couldnt move back any further. There was still no escaping the sea of blood, creeping closer, spreading further and further I didnt dare to move. I didnt dare to watch at all, but my eyes widened even more. I watched the man struggle for a few seconds and then gradually fall still, until only his body twitched involuntarily. His eyes were wide, staring up like it was not the ceiling he was seeing, but some ce far, far away Hey, there seem to be others here. Dont overdo it A person walked in, saw hispanion lying on the ground, stopped talking, and looked at me in disbelief. It was probably because I was petrified that he seemed to decide that the murderer could not be me. He pulled out his gun, first checking the door to confirm there was no one behind it, then searching every corner of the room, his gun raised. He has a gun I clenched the knife in my hand. Fortunately, because we couldnt turn on the lights, the room was very dark, and he didnt see the knife in my hand. He probably thought that hispanion was killed by someone else. My state of fright must have made me seem too stupid, and I was a woman as well He turned his back to me, his whole body tense. The hand with which he was holding the gun even trembled. It seemed that the dead man on the ground not only scared me, but also him. The room was very dark, and he obviously couldnt see clearly; otherwise he wouldnt have taken so long to realize that there wasnt anyone else in the room. But I could see clearly. I didnt know why, but recently my eyesight seemed to be getting better and better. Even if darkness still made things more difficult, I could see better than others. I suddenly calmed down and stood up, holding the de tightly. He had a gun. I only had a knife. I only had one chance. If I lost, the price might be my life Weijun! I held my knife and looked down at the blood on the ground, with only the sound of my heartbeat in my ears. Only when I heard Xia Zhengus voice did Ie back to my senses, looking over at him and Xiao Qi, who followed along behind him. The two both took a step back. I didnt fully understand. Are you all right? It was Xiao Qi who asked. She looked at me differently than before. Previously, she stayed close to Xia Zhengu, always hiding her shame, but as life got harder and harder, her shame gradually disappeared. Instead, she wore an expression that said shed fight me to the end. Until now. Her expression had changed again, but she hadnt changed back to being ashamed, and she wasnt trying to fight me. She looked at me with wide eyes, her expression actually a bit excited, just like when she was looking at Xia Zhengu. *** I raised the hoarfrost dagger. The translucent de had turned slightly red, but was very pale. It was unlike that time when my knife had been covered with blood, bing so slippery it was almost impossible to hold on to it. Not long after I killed that person, I learned to wrap my hands and knives tightly with strips of cloth, so that I wouldnt lose my grip on the knife. This was not necessary anymore, as the ice dagger could be firmly frozen to the palm of my hand. Even if in my previous life I didnt have the advantage of being reborn, it wasnt long until I killed an aberrant for the first time, or even a person. Although I may not have been the first out of that group of people, in the midst of other citizens I was definitely not thest. From the start, I havent actually been that weak, have I? It was just that during that life, Mom died too early, Xia Zhengus behavior worsened day by day, and as the days passed life became more and more meaningless. What point was there even if I strove to survive and even be stronger? However, even during that hopeless apocalypse, I still lived as many as ten years. As for this life, with my family, an established base, and even team members that I could trust, this time Together with my family, we will all live a hundred years! Volume 6, 1: On the Eve of War

Volume 6, Chapter 1: On the Eve of War

Tranted by Simone & lucathia (proofread by Minthe & Trespasserby; C/E edited by lucathia & Simone) Stop. I was the first to stop my motorcycle, indicating for the other two to stop as well. Yunqian was driving a cool, ck motorcycle, while Xiao Shas was a cream-colored scooter. We hadnt been able to find a lot of motorcycles with fuel left. The two had held a game of rock-paper-scissors, resulting in a crushing defeat for Xiao Sha. Shujun sat behind me and craned her neck to ask curiously, rg, whats wrong? There might be some of those Shangguan troops ahead. I faintly sensed danger. It wasnt piercing, the kind that was rming enough to make you want to run and escape. It couldnt be some dangerous aberrant. This path had been used for many of the Zhanjiang Garrisonsings and goings, so it had been swept clean. Nothing left should register as a threat to me, which made it very likely to be the Shangguans army. Were not far from the base. I could see from Yunqians expression that she was also concentrating. I looked at Xiao Sha and asked, Youre an expert at investigating. It shouldnt be a problem to get close to those troops and have a look at the enemys situation, right? No problem, Ill go. Without hesitation, Xiao Sha abandoned the delicate, cream-colored scooter. I blocked him and demanded, Take me with you. Xiao Sha frowned. You dont have the relevant training. Our opponents are professional soldiers. Theres a very high chance theyll discover us. Thats why Ill rely on you! I confidently said, I need to see if there are any people with powerful abilities, so I have to go. In any case, Ive been able to stay hidden for ten years during the apocalypse. I might not be a master of stealth, but my hiding skills should count for something! Xiao Sha still shook his head and said, If were discovered, we wont be able to escape. Their numbers are too high, and theyre armed. Iughed and said with even more confidence, It might be difficult to defeat them, but escaping is definitely not a problem. Hearing this, Xiao Sha gave in. rg, be careful. Shujun pulled on my sleeve and warned, Youre not allowed to get injured again. I petted her head and said, Dont worry, Im not nning on doing anything. Well leave after weve had a look. I did my best to ignore the suspicious look in Mimeis eyes, and said to Yunqian, Hide somewhere with Shujun to wait for Xiao Sha and me to return. No matter what you notice approaching you while you wait, run immediately! If youre really not able to escape, shoot some lightning into the sky and think of a way to stall for time. Ill being as fast as I can. Pouting, Xiaomi muttered, I can also fight. I helped Dg a lot before. If she only needed to stand there and release lightning, while many powerful protectors stood in front of her, Shujuns powers were definitely formidable, but if she had to confront armed and specializedbat professionals with only Yunqian beside her, that was apletely different matter! Listen to rg. I briefly exined, They have a lot of weapons. You have no way of dealing with them for now. Shujun nodded, looking scared as soon as I mentioned weapons. Yunqian patted her own chest and pledged, Dont worry. Ill hide well with Shujun. No one will notice us. Xiao Sha added, Yunqian is a sniper. Theres no one better at finding a hideout than she is. Hearing these words, I could finally feel assured. It was great to have professional teammates. Even during the apocalypse, I could go outside with my treasured mimei without the need to worry thered be no one to protect her. Time was running out, and I didnt want to dy us any longer. After shouting Lets go!, I led Xiao Sha in the direction of the ce I had sensed something. On the way, Xiao Sha couldnt help but ask in a low voice, I didnt expect it to be this far. How do you know where the army is? I only have a rough idea. Its like intuition, but I can be sure that my intuition is right. Is that your ability as well? Xiao Sha looked quite envious. For a scout, that ability would be extremely useful. I shook my head and said, After improving your ability, everyone will more or less have the capability to sense danger. A strong person can even detect danger from far away, or clearly detect the number of enemies. People weaker than that person cannot hope to cover up their whereabouts, or even how strong or weak they are. Of course, this was all hearsay. In my previous life, I had only just touched the threshold of tier three before I died, even though I had little training and study of my ability. It seemed that ones ability leveled up the longer you lived, but I hadnte across many people able to survive the apocalypse for ten years without eating a lot of crystals, so I had no way to verify my theory. If the previous lifes Guan Weijun were to fight the current me, she couldnt possibly hope to win. How could she possibly understand just how strong an elite was? All she could know was that every elite was scarily strong, and you really shouldnt mess with any of themexcept she had no choice but to face Xia Zhengu. The fact I hadnt been strangled by Xia Zhengu in my previous life was really because of the protection of a few oldrades, especially Wei Xiaog. Even though it started with me pulling him out of a pile of corpses and patching him up, thus pulling him back from the brink of death, he paid back this kindness afterwards at least twentyfold! He did so much to repay me that Xiao Qi thought he was secretly in love with me, but that was impossible. Wei Xiaog was a smart, handsomed, and he was several years younger than me. He kept calling me Ji, and our otherrades jokingly called him Shui Xiaog at the beginning, which meant handsome little big bro. Only when he became stronger and stronger, everyone switched up his nickname to include hisst name and called him Wei Xiaog. Im so used to that name that I actually cant remember his full name. If we have the chance, we should really recruit this kind and grateful guy again. Hold on I froze for a while. Comparing the geography of the previous world and this one, the city I was trapped in during my previous life was more or less in the same spot as Lan City. Moreover, this worlds Guan Weijun had actually been somewhere around here as well. Looking at it like that, maybe Wei Xiaog and some other oldrades are also here! Could it be that even Xia Zhengu is here, too? Shuyu, are there any enemies? Xiao Sha asked. I suppressed my blood-thirsty expression, shook my head, and said, No, I was thinking of something else. Xiao Sha said a little helplessly, Dont get distracted again. We need to focus to hide our tracks. You might be strong, but you cant win against an entire army. I nodded. Right now, winning was impossible. Even at the height of tier two, I was still too weak. If only I could get a bit stronger Dont think about such unrealistic things right now. Our goal is to find out the number of enemies, and whether there are any powerful ability users. Although we had been able to ask Shuangguan Chenyang about it before, I didnt trust him at all. It was better to see it with my own eyes. Dont talk from now on. I warned, I can sense were very close. Dont worry about me. Whatever you do, Ill follow your lead. Xiao Sha wanted to say something, but stopped himself. Seeing he still felt uneasy, I added, Dont worry, Ill be able to keep up. I can sense your general position. Just keeping pace with you wont be a problem. Youll also want to be more careful yourself. This world is ruled by abilities now. We cantpletely rely on our past experiences. If the Shuangguans have an ability user on the same level as me, no matter how strong you are at hiding your tracks, youll still be noticed. Xiao Sha looked a bit apprehensive and gave a careful nod. I indicated the direction. Lets go, were out of time. You go ahead for five hundred meters in that direction. Hearing this, Xiao Sha immediately set out. His movements made only a very faint sound. Its important to know that we were in a forested area next to the road. Before, this had probably just been a row of trees lining the road, but it had be a forest overflowing with trees and bushes. The ground was covered with weeds and dead leaves as well. It was impossible not to make any noise, but the trees themselves made sound as well. Just a gust of wind blowing by made a constant rustling sound. The noise Xiao Sha made wouldnt attract attention at all. That hiding ability is amazing. If I didnt have the capability of sensing his power, maybe I really wouldnt have been able to keep up. It didnt take him long to cover the distance of five hundred meters, but Xiao Sha didnt look back to ask which direction he should take next. If he got that far and still wasnt able to discover the tracks of the enemy troops, he might as well go back to the base to wash up and go to sleep. The outside world would be far too dangerous! We slowed down our movement. Whenever we saw the asional silhouette of a person, Xiao Sha stopped moving for at least five minutes, refusing to budge even when there was no one to be seen. Moving so slowly, it took some time before we saw the ce where most of the army was stationed. Softly and quietly, I moved to Xiao Shas side, and saw that he was staring at the army almost without blinking. I wondered for a moment. He must be counting the number of enemies, right? Without disturbing him, I carefully observed the enemy troops. There was a smallke in the dense forest, with a clearing next to it. Though it wasntrge, with the army all crammed together, it wasrge enough for them to be stationed there. The tents were practically on top of each other, with hardly any open space left, and only a few passages were left open to pass through. All around the camp were people standing guard. If Xiao Sha hadnt found this excellent spot, it would have been impossible for us to observe the enemy troops so casually. The soldiers on patrol were fully armed, either carrying onerge and one small gun or two small ones. Therger guns were AK-47 assault rifles, and I even thought I saw a few additional grenadeunchers, like the M4 carbine rifle. Hehe, Id seen Wei Xiaog carry that type of carbine rifle before, and hed told me about it in full detail. If he hadnt, I never would have been able to recognize it! ording to Wei Xiaog, usually only specialized forces were equipped with that type of weapon. There was also an explosive-proof shield just lying outside a tent The more I saw, the more anxious I became. With these numbers, weapons, and provisions, if we really have to face them directly, how are we supposed to defeat them? Xiao Sha briefly touched my shoulder, then used his hand to indicate, Four. It couldnt be forty, of course. It was definitely four hundred. I sucked in a deep breath. An army of four hundred, practically all of them armed to the teethhow were we supposed to fight that? Xiao Shas expression didnt bode well either. As he looked at me, there was an obvious question in his eyes. What should we do now? I nced at the people on patrol not far off. Though it wasnt entirely impossible to cause some trouble, the enemy had so many people on patrol that we couldnt do any major damage. If we acted too rashly and alerted them, theyd realize we already knew of their attack. Lets go! I gestured in the direction from which wede, indicating we should leave. Xiao Sha nodded right away. He seemed relieved, itching to leave. I rolled my eyes. What kind of maniac do you think I am, insisting to confront four hundred heavily armed soldiers? Wed already be dead by now! Xiao Sha still had a suspicious look in his eyes. He put his hands together and waved them like two fans, then with his fingers together, he moved his whole hand like a worm. Miraculously, I understood this signnguage. It had to mean, Dont tell me there werent four hundred of those caterpir aberrants with the butterfly aberrant? I dont think there were? I think With a doubtful expression, Xiao Sha turned and left. I had no choice but to follow obediently, to show him I wasnt the least bit reckless and was definitely a well-behaved little kid. But before I could even take two steps, I suddenly heard shouting, and automatically turned to look. In the small space between two tents, two groups of people were arguing. One person was wearing a heavy cashmere coat. He seemed different from the rest of the troops, but several soldiers were standing behind him, dressed exactly like the rest of the army. They were obviously people of the Shangguan family. Another person was wearing a long white coat, and had just a few people standing behind him. Even though they were simrly equipped for battle, they seemed different from the other soldiers. Could it be they didnt belong to the Shangguan family, or were they just a different faction of the Shuangguans? Neither of the two were dressed for battle, and they were shouting loudly. All of the surrounding soldiers kept a straight face. The guy in the white coat seemed especially familiar to me, but he stood facing away from me, so I could only see a tiny part of his profile. While I puzzled over who this person was, he seemed unsatisfied with something the man in the cashmere coat had said. He shook his head and for a moment, I could clearly see his face Its actually Wu Yaojin! That guy from the Molecr Organic Research Center! I stopped walking. Id never expected to see Wu Yaojin here. Are the MORC and the Shuangguan family actually connected?! Could it be that the attack on Zhanjiang Garrison is in fact nned by the MORC? Does this have anything to do with what happenedst time? Could they have discovered me Suddenly, someone touched my shoulder. I grabbed him and reached out with my other hand to seize his throat. Only just in time did I notice my opponents face Xiao Shas eyes were wide with surprise. Id caught himpletely unaware, and with my hand around his throat, Id released cold air to freeze his lips and keep him from making any sound even in his final moments. I quickly let go. With force, Xiao Sha pressed his hands over his mouth, and suppressed the pain in his throat, stubbornly not making the slightest sound. Then his expression suddenly changed, and he immediately pushed me into the underbrush beneath a tree. He held me down with a death-like grip, making it almost impossible to breathe. If I hadnt known Xiao Shas personality, I would have thought this was revenge! It didnt take long before a small team appeared nearby. Through the gaps in the underbrush, I could see the military boots they were wearing. The sound of their footsteps resonated in my ears, and the two of us even held our breath for a moment. Fortunately, the squad just walked past and didnt notice us. As soon as the danger had passed, Xiao Sha pulled me along, but I refused to move, looking straight in the direction of Wu Yaojin. If this guy hadnt brought his people over during my duel with Thirteen and started shooting at me without warning, the Ice Emperor wouldnt have died for my sake. If he hadnt used thest of his power to strike back at the enemy, then he would have been able to hold on and meet Shujun, right? No, maybe the Ice Emperor would still be alive now! Its all because of that guy, Wu Yaojin! Xiao Sha grabbed my shoulders. Ignoring the need to stay quiet, he whispered close to my ear, Shuyu, we have to go. I said coldly, You go first, Ill catch upter. His expression changed, but instead of gripping my shoulders more tightly, he quickly said, Shujun is still waiting for you. I stiffened. Shujun was nearby. If we caused amotion, these people would probablyb the whole surrounding area. In that case, Shujun and Yunqian might not be able to stay hidden. No matter how formidable Yunqian was, she still had a regr girl in tow, who wasnt even good at ying hide-and-seek. It was difficult to say whether theyd be able to stay hidden and avoid a thorough search from the army. Taking a deep breath, I nced at Wu Yaojin. That guy wasnt much stronger than before. He was a scientist through and through. It wasnt likely hed be strong enough to make it impossible for me to defeat him in the future. Lets go! The day Ill make Wu Yaojin pay for the Ice Emperor with his life wille, and it wille soon! When we returned to our original location, Xiao Sha cupped his mouth with his hands and made a strange animal cry. It didnt take long for Yunqian to return with Junjun. Seeing this, I felt really ashamed. Just now, I hadnt even thought about how to contact them. Luckily, Xiao Sha and Yunqian were professional mercenaries, and clearly on another level than the kind of amateur I was. It was better that I remained a secret weapon on the side and left everything else to the professionals. The two professionals led us with a detour around the army. Despite this, we didnt lose much time and quickly reached Zhanjiang Garrison. They had probably memorized the terrain surrounding the base. Just when we reached the gates, a bullet struck in front of my feet. Xiao Sha and Yunqian both startled. They instantly drew their guns and aimed at the balcony on the third floor. Unexpectedly, there was a sh of blond hair. Doubt shed across their faces, but they didnt rx one bit, no matter the fact that the person on the balcony was someone familiar. I scratched my head. Id already figured out what was going on, and quickly pushed down Xiao Shas and Yunqians guns. At that moment, Cain jumped down directly from the balcony. I was sure that before the apocalypse, he wouldnt have dared to jump down so carelessly from that height. He walked over, ring at me with gritted teeth, like I was his archnemesis who had killed his father. So youre finally back. I thought this time Leader would really baptize me with fire! I actually didnt know whether he was using that idiom correctly or not. If Id gone missing while he was in charge, perhaps Dg really would make Cain reincarnate. That was also a kind of baptism. I immediately apologized, Im sorry, I was too impulsive. I wont be next time. Cain dramatically rolled his eyes and angrily said, I dont believe you! Next time, youll still run off! That I thought back to the reason Id run off this time. It was because I thought something had happened to Junjun. I truly couldnt guarantee I wouldnt act rashly next time something simr happened. Junjun is too important. Theres no way I can hold myself back! Why is it only you guys? Cains gaze swept over us. Puzzled, he asked, What about Leader? Did you split up? He didnt look too worried, which had to be because we looked quite calm, but was even more likely because Dg was just too powerful. His people just didnt think anything could happen to him. Lets talk inside. As Yunqian shot him a nce, Cain took the hint, feigned augh, and said, You came back just in time, breakfast will be ready soon! Lets go and eat together. We can talk about the aberrants you killed out there while we eat. He yelled at the balcony, You guys up there, make sure to keep a close eye on the situation. When Ie back, itll be your turn to eat. A few heads stuck out from the balcony and shouted, Yessir! These were all soldiers that Wen Jianuo and Chen Yanqing had brought with them. They were super useful and could already take up their post without any training required. I had once wanted to chase them away. What in the world was I thinking? Even I dont get it! Cain led us on a meandering detour before we entered the base. The road waspletely filled with cars and was even messier than before. There were even two or three cars piled on top of each other, which wasnt normal at all. However, Cain wasnt showing an odd expression. Clearly, our own people were responsible for this. I gave it some thought. Were probably using this as a temporary wall? Do we have power type ability users now? I wasnt too surprised. Power types were asmon as water and fire types. They could be considered one of the most useful ability types in the beginning of the apocalypse. It wasnt until the middle stages of the apocalypse that power types began tog behind the others due to aberrants learning to group up. Power types were powerless againstrge groups of aberrants and could not live up to other, more formidable abilities. For example, the rare lightning ability could electrocute a wide expanse ofnd. But power types onlygged behind by a little. Strong power types had still been very useful. Even if they couldnt be leader of a base, they were still capable subordinates. Cain nodded and said, Quite a lot. Xiao Guan has five just in her party alone. The soldiers have four. We found four among the ordinary citizens too. They were pretty helpful. But this is all thanks to you for bringing back all those crystalsst time. Otherwise, their strength would only be a bit higher than most peoples and wouldnt be this useful. Right after he finished speaking, Xiao Sha looked over furtively, as if asking: You sure there really werent four hundred caterpirs? I was sweating and changed the topic. How many can use guns? Cain stared at me strangely. Guns? Dont you always say that only powers are useful and that we shouldnt use guns? I helplessly replied, If you can release a sea of fire right now, then I wont have you use guns either. Cain was confused at first, but after Yunqian told him that the enemy was only five kilometers away from our base, his expressionpletely changed. A horde of aberrants? People. Xiao Sha coldly said, An army of four hundred, here to fight over territory. Cains face also lost all warmth at that. He was so angry that he smiled and said, They have an army of four hundred, yet theyre here to steal other peoples territory? Theyre shit against aberrants, but theyre sure full of it when ites to fighting people. He wasnt wrong about that. In my previous life, there had been tons of people who were afraid to fight against aberrants and stole solely from other people. They all looked tough on the outside, but if they were truly as tough as their appearance suggested, then why the fuck did they rob others? There were entire cities full of supplies waiting for them! Xiao Sha continued to say, That army is from the Shangguan family. Cain was stunned momentarily and said, Your family? Thats such a coincidence. Xiao Sha immediately refuted, Theyre not my family! Fine, fine, fine, your bros people? Xiao Sha was silent for a moment before he said, Not his. Its Shangguan Chenhong. Cains face looked foolish as he said, Isnt that your bros name? My brothers name is Shangguan Chenhao! Cain gazed into the distance, with an expression that said I give up on your Shangguan family. Cant you easternerse up with names that are more distinct from each other? Are you trying to trip up all the foreigners out there? I firmly agreed with him. We were also Shutian, Shuyu, and Shujun in our family, so I wasnt qualified toin about other people, but it was just us three siblings, and only Uncle and Auntie called my brother by his actual name. As for my little sister and me, we were usually called Junjun and Xiao Yu. There were generally no problems telling our names apart. As for the Shangguan familys big shots, it wasnt like we could call them Xiao Hao or Honghong! Anyways, its not your brother, so its fine if we cripple or kill them, right? Cain shed a smile while saying this, but his smiling face didnt make him appear like an invincible airhead like usual. Instead, his smile was a shiver-inducing one. Those white teeth of his looked like they could directly bite someones flesh off. I saw him in a new light. A normal person who heard there were four hundred troops would at least nch, even if they didnt n on fleeing. Cain, however, didnt show the least bit of fear. Xiao Sha coldly said, Even if it were Shangguan Chenhao, anyone who dares to attack Zhanjiang Garrison deserves to be killed or crippled! Cain wasnt surprised by Xiao Shas attitude toward his own brother. He must have already known that Xiao Sha had a poor rtionship with the Shangguan family. He merely rubbed his chin and said, Zhanjiang Garrison? A temporary Jiang Dominion base? I can tell just from hearing it that the boss mustvee up with this name! Its direct and easy to remember. As expected of the boss! I was speechless. I reminded him, If we cant win against the army of four hundred, this ce will probably be Shangguan Garrison. Hearing that, Cain stopped smiling and said in all seriousness, The soldiers plus Xiao Guans people and a small bunch of citizens will give us about a hundred people who know how to use guns. But if were talking about who can actually fight, thates out to be around seventy. This is factoring in the people in Xiao Guans party. Theyre not professionals, but they were capable of escaping from the city, so they can be considered amateurs at least. Its not looking good. He honestly admitted, If the people attacking us were ordinary citizens, then five hundred doesnt mean a thing. If it were less than two hundred soldiers, then we have nothing to fear either. But once we hit a certain number of soldiers, things be troublesome. I nodded to indicate my understanding. In the first ce, armies specialized in cooperative tactics. They had equipment and numbers, making them way scarier than even hordes of aberrants. In my previous life, armies were able to go wherever they wanted in the beginning stages of the apocalypse. So, how are we to fight this battle? We got closer to the mansion. Mounds of stuff encircled the mansion, messy without order, as if a bunch of garbage had been strewn around the ce. I was a bit puzzled. As I got closer, my eyes nearly fell out. That pile of stuff was actually obstacles made out of spikes, traps that had been handmade. That was why it looked like such a mess, but the appearance had no effect on its destructive power. Instead, the disorder made it even scarier. I felt like passing by could easily result in numerous idental holes gouged into ones body, spurting with blood. The walls around the mansion had been made a lot taller. It seemed that Zheng Xing had prioritized strengthening the defense of the mansion. The walls were as tall as city walls, and spikes had been spread across the top of the wall. What had originally been an antiquated bronze door with bars had been reinforced with steel tes. Iron caltrops had been spread across it too, which looked painful. Cain brought us to the gates. He lifted his head and simply whistled at the people on the wall. As he shouted open the door, a head stuck out and nced at us. Then, the door was pushed open. Of course, behind the door were another two soldiers, and these two soldiers even had people readied with guns behind them. Haha, when I originally said I didnt want these people, my head mustve been stuffed full of shit. Aberrant shit to boot! After walking into the mansion, I came across Zheng Xing in the great hall. He was looking down at a blueprintid across the long table. He drew on it from time to time. When he heard voices, he lifted his head and saw us. After a slight pause, he immediately made his way over. Zheng Xing looked around and asked, Is the boss outside? Yunqian shook her head and sinctly exined the matter of the Shangguan family attacking us. She even briefly exined what Xiao Sha and I had found out about the armys status. Xiao Sha added, Leader stayed back in Lan City to negotiate with Jin Zhan and Shangguan Chenhao about cooperating to beat back the Shangguan family. We have to hold on until Leaderes back. Zheng Xing frowned and said, Were not even thirty percent done with constructing the base. We dont have enough defensive power. Come look at this. He walked beside the table and gestured at the blueprint. Then, he pped his hand down in the center of it, which was our current location. Only the mansions defenses are eptable. The walls have been built higher and thicker, with spikes spread across the surface and wireting on top of the walls. Unless the opponents can fly or have cannons, there is no way for them to easily break through our defenses. We are already doneying traps in the streets nearby. However, if the foe consists of professional soldiers, the advantage these traps provide will be limited. Taking in the structures drawn in blue and red ink on the blueprint, I felt myself rxing a little. This is already much better than I thought. I had originally thought that Id have no other choice but to use an ice wall to strengthen our defenses. If I had to do that, I wouldnt be able to do anything else and would only be able to stay in the house as a wall constructing little helper. The defensive constructs everywhere else are still temporary. We used whatever was on hand there such as cars and piled them up. We wrapped wire on the fences and such to slow down the enemys approach. If you gave me one more monthno, two more weeksthe garrison definitely wouldnt be in such a state! After saying that, Zheng Xing looked at the blueprint and sighed. How long do you think we need to stall for? Hard to say. Yunqian frowned and said, The four of us came back very quickly, but Boss is there to negotiate, and hes going to bring sufficient reinforcements back. Id say we need to stall for three days to be safe. Cain lifted and eyebrow and said, If you said three hours, Id be confident about that, but three days? Maggots would be crawling out of my corpse by then! Hearing such ominous words, Yunqian shot back, The boss even dared to let Shuyu and Junjune back. If maggots swarm you, you can only me yourself for not showering for too long! Cain immediately swiveled to look at me with shining eyes as he said, Youre right. If the boss is willing to let Xiao Yue back, does that mean youve already developed some sort of ultimate move that can annihte the enemy? Then why would my dg even need to negotiate? Just shut the door and let Ddi out! Cain came to a sudden realization and said, Then were in deep shit! They have no less than four hundred people. Even if we put our lives on the line, we dont even have enough ammunition to kill all of them. Although he was saying shit, there was no fear on his face at all. He sure was an invincible airhead Dg had found. Even while caught up in a predicament, he was just as much of a ruffian as always. Hearing that we didnt have enough ammunition, I frowned and asked, If we have enough ammunition, and also use arge-scale electrified water tornado to help, whats our chance of sess in defending for three days? What the hell is an electrified water tornado? Cain asked in confusion. I gestured at Junjun, Yunqian, and Xiao Sha and said, An ultimatebo move from these three. The three people who had been tossed into the bo were all stupefied. They hadnt known at all that they had an ultimate move like this. I calmly looked at them and said, You three will only have one day to develop this ultimate move. As long as you master it, dont even mention defending for three days. Winning might even be possible. Their stupefaction immediately vanished, ferocity taking its ce. They were all eager to give it a try Xiaome, even your re is so cute. You look just like a wide-eyed hamster that has spotted a hazelnut. Youre not intimidating at all. Thunder Goddess seems hopeless, but Lightning Princess may still be possible. Shuyu! Shujun! I looked up. Uncle and Auntie rushed down from upstairs. Auntie even grabbed me frantically and said, Youre finally back. When Cain said you ran out, I didnt know what to do! W-wheres Shutian? Uncles face paled. Dont tell me I quickly exined, Dg stayed out to find partnerships. Itll take him two extra days to return. Uncle and Auntie finally rxed. Aunties eyes were red-rimmed as she said, Cant you three kids take pity on my heart? You keep running outside so much. The world nowadays is one that can eat you. I-If anything happened to any of you, how can I face your parents in the future In order to stop Aunties tears, I immediately changed the topic. Uncle, I need your help with something, right now! Uncle was taken aback. He quickly nodded and said, Tell me. I need your help to design a set of armor! At first, I had only wanted to make my ice armor more practical, strengthening it so it could block some attacks without affecting my movement, but who knew that Uncle really was a great help! I had partially just wanted to change the topic to stop Auntie from crying further. After listening to my requests about the armor, Uncle lowered his head in thought. Let me think about it. When do you need it by? Before dark. Uncle froze, but he still nodded in agreement. Ill make it happen! After he promised that, he pulled Auntie to the side and began drawing the design. He hurriedly spread the paper out and told Auntie who was standing beside him, Ill draw up a sketch for now. Jingting, help me add in the details in an understandable way for Shuyu. Auntie agreed, wiped away the moisture from her eyes, and immediately delved into her work. Aunties maiden name was Lin Jingting, while Uncles name was Jiang Lingqing. If I hadnt regained my memories, I really wouldnt have remembered their names, and would probably have just kept referring to them as Uncle and Auntie. Gather everyone together! We need everyones power! Volume 6, 2: The Strong Don鈥檛 Walk Alone

Volume 6, Chapter 2: The Strong Dont Walk Alone

Tranted by Simone (proofread by Arcedemius; C/E edited by lucathia) I dug a pit to bury the bodies of the five soldiers, deliberately burying them next to the roots of arge tree. Expressionless, I watched as the tree roots reached out and trapped the corpses. Only then did I finally cover them with dirt. Although non-aberrant trees didnt eat people, they did rely on nutrients from decaying organisms. I intentionally buried these corpses beneath the tree in the hope it would seize them and prevent aberrants from digging them up and eating them, which would increase their strength. If these soldiers hadnt died, would any of them have be strong ability users? Dont think about it! I took a deep breath. Compared to these soldiers, I was much more convinced that strong ability users would turn up in the Jiang Dominion! We absolutely cant allow the Shangguan family to snatch away our base, and more importantly, we have to keep the number of casualties as low as possible. As long as we have the Zhanjiang Garrison, with its ideal location that is both easily defendable and hard to attack, and slowly advance on Lan City, kill aberrants, eat crystals, and expand our territories, the Jiang Dominion will be the strongest for sure! Xiaorong, help me tie these guns together. I had gathered all of the firearms of the five soldiers. Our luck wasnt bad, as there were two AK-47s. There were no M4 carbine rifles, butpared to our previous luck, I was satisfied with two AK-47s. With Xiaorong serving as rope, I dashed back through the forest, running for quite some distance before halting. I lifted my right hand to the corner of my mouth and made a strange animal sound. Xiao Sha had told me that this was an owls hoot, often heard in the forest. Eight people silently rose from the underbrush. I calmly untied Xiaorongs rope, then threw the guns over, except for the two AKs, which I gave to a single person, the captain of the Ice Spears, Wen Jianuo. Awareness struck Wen Jianuo. He looked at the number of firearms and asked, impressed, Five soldiers? I nodded and said, Keep two guns and send someone to take the rest back to the base. Were demoted to delivery service? Chen Yanqing grumbled, Xiao Yu, youre powerful, but you also have to give others a chance to show off! Its not yet your turn to take the field. I shook my head and said, Your powers arent suitable, and though youre experts with a gun, the sound of gunshots will draw the attention of most of the troops. Our only option would be to flee, unless youre able to wipe out the enemy in a sneak attack without using guns, to the point that theyre unable to even open fire or call for help. Wen Jianuo frowned and said, If the only goal was to annihte, we can be sure that the eight of us can seed with a sneak attack against five soldiers on patrol, but topletely prevent them from opening fire or calling out, that we cant guarantee. Our opponents are also soldiers, so theyre quite skilled. I had figured the same, which was why I had gone alone. With my ice ability and the right timing, I was able to achieve a perfectly soundless execution! Everything is going ording to n. You only need to lie in wait here. Ill go on my own first to kill those patrols, until the enemy senses theres something wrong or I dont manage to keep them from making noise. At that moment, Ill draw thest wave of people here. You will gun them all down from afar and then run. Dont mind me, and dont get caught up in a fight! Hearing this, Wen Jianuo looked somewhat conflicted. Beside us, Xue Xi interrupted, Should we really not mind you? Even if we make it back to the base, Leader will still ughter us! Sliding on my feet, I moved to Xue Xis side seemingly in an instant, and leaned toward his ear to say, Even if I give you a minute head start over me, I wont be at a disadvantage. Who says youll be the first person to make it back to the base? Xue Xi was almost dripping with cold sweat, but the weather was cold and there was an ice ability user standing beside him as well. His sweat didnt drip down but instead froze against the side of his face. He desperately nodded, and in the end simply hid behind Xue Huan, looking pitiful and too afraid to speak. I was unsure whether he was acting or not. Maybe he always goofed around like this. Going by Xue Huans cold expression, shes ustomed to it. I believe theres a 99% chance that he doesnt take things seriously! Chen Yanqing couldnt help but say, If youre in danger, we really cant consider the situation and turn back to help you? Hearing this, I nced at Wen Jianuo, who was frowning and probably wondering the same. This really warmed my heart. These soldiers truly didnt have the intention to leave me behind. Before leaving the garrison, I actually still had a lot of doubts about Wen Jianuo and the other soldiers. They were soldiers, and the troops of the Shangguan family were as well. Who knew whether or not Wen Jianuo would think the Shangguan family had better prospects, which would allow him tomand more soldiers? Before we left, I had questioned everyone, to avoid having them betraying us halfway. That would really be a fatal blow to the Jiang Dominion! At that time, it was Wen Jianuos answer that truly convinced me to trust him this one time *** Tai Wen only brought Zhang Jing with him to the meeting, but Wen Jianuo brought the whole Ice Spears. As soon as he saw me, Wen Jianuo couldnt help but say, You finally returned. If you hadnt, Cain would have gotten a lot more tanned. Chen Yanqing stepped closer and said, However, he said that with your personality, the day youre willing to obediently stay at home must mean youve been reced by someone from an alternate universe! Hasnt that already happened? I shot a nce at Cain, telling him get to the point, as we had no time to waste. We have a big problem. Cain exined the situation in full detail, not even trying to conceal the military might of the Shangguan family, as he didnt have the slightest intention of lying to those about to go into battle. During this time, I carefully observed Tai Wen and Wen Jianuo. So far, they seemed trustworthy. Under normal circumstances, I would have chosen to slowly break them in. Whether it was trusting each other or working well together on the battlefield, both took time to build up. Once these people were with the Jiang Dominion for a good period of time, they would be senior members, which would greatly decrease the chances of them betraying us. After all, if they left and joined another faction, not only would they have to start from scratch to build up trust, they also definitely wouldnt be treated as well as in the Jiang Dominion. But now were already running out of time! Tai Wens expression looked quite ugly as he frowned, deep in thought. When he didnt respond for a while, Zhang Jing became restless, but as he nced at Tai Wen from time to time, it was clear only Tai Wen could take the lead. This battle cant be won. Wen Jianuo calmly said, The difference in strength is too great. Perhaps we should let this ce go and build a base somewhere else. We cant surrender! Cain snorted coldly and said, Retreat once and well be doing it again. The Shangguan family isying siege to our base, and their mind is set on the entire city. If we yield once or twice, we might as well leave the city, find some vige, and be chief there. Wen Jianuo scratched his head and said, If we dont have to surrender, then I dont want to either. The location of the base is very good; its easy to defend and difficult to attack. Such a ce is hard toe by, but this is a battle we really cant win. Xiao Sha shook his head and said, We dont need to win. It would be enough to hang on until Leader returns, so we just need to dy them for three days. Wen Jianuo nodded to indicate he understood. Though his expression was subtle, he seemed to think it was impossible, but he didnt want to say anything that called our might into question again. Cain looked at the othersTai Wen and Zhang Jing. Calmly, Tai Wen said, As long as theres a chance to hold on, we will help. Our side is all ordinary people, while the Shangguan family has so many professional soldiers. They would look down on us. To us, staying with the Jiang Dominion is much betterpared to staying with them. After stating this, he changed course and said earnestly, But if its as Captain Wen said, impossible to defend, we hope you wont force it. Weve exhausted all our efforts and sacrificed many people along the way to get out of Lan City. We dont want to die in a fight thats destined to be lost! Cain rubbed his nose. Even though he knew we couldnt afford to lose, it seemed like he didnt know how we could win either. He even nced at me out of the corner of his eyes. I nodded at him. He understood, no longer stealing nces in my direction but staring openly right at me. This move caught the attention of the others. One by one they looked over, each of them with an expression of confusion, not understanding why Cain was looking at me. We wont lose! I calmly said, Tonight, I will take the first step and go to buy us time. But before I leave the base, I want to be sure you are ready to stand and fight with the Jiang Dominion. Tai Wen stared at me and doubtfully asked, Youll go and buy us time? What can you do to buy us time? I calmly looked at Tai Wen and Zhang Jing, slowly walking toward them. Step by step, I gradually gathered the energy within my body. Tai Wens expression clearly changed, while Zhang Jing looked a bit uneasy, his reaction not as obvious as Tai Wens. Sure enough, Id guessed right. Tai Wens ability was stronger than Zhang Jings, which meant he could feel the power I was gathering, while Zhang Jing merely felt uneasy. At that time, Guan Weijun gave all the crystals to this guy, so this Tai Wen cant have a useless ability, right?! Perhaps its more helpful than any of us is expecting! As the cold air gathered, the surrounding temperatures dropped below freezing. Tai Wens face lost its color, and Zhang Jing started shivering from cold all over. The two wanted to flee, but didnt dare to move due to the pressure of my ice power. Seeing that Id intimidated them well enough, I took the final step and released the ice cold air in one st. The whole hall turned into a pce of frost as ice crystals covered the floor, the walls, and even the windows. Sharp thorns even spread along the outer walls. If someone actually attempted to break through the wall, the hall itself would be able to withstand it like a castle. This trick exhausted all the energy in my body, but that didnt matter, since my pockets were filled with crystals from Dg and Jin Feng. Tai Wen and Zhang Jing didnt dare to move at all. Arge number of ice thorns had erupted from the ground close to them,pletely surrounding them. Countless sharp thorns pointed in their direction. They only had to make the tiniest movement, and theyd be stabbed full of holes. The both of them looked at me with panicked expressions. Wen Jianuo and the others had already seen and experienced this ice prison scenario, but they still looked a bit pale, watching me in awe and with even more caution than before. They had probably eaten more crystals and had be even better able to assess the strength of my ability than before. Cain raised his hand and ignited a fire, which was the sole spot of warmth in the room. Yunqian tactfully pulled my Junjun closer beside it. A table a little further off, where Auntie and Uncle were busy drawing up maps, was also warmed by a fire. While Cain was outwardly brash, he was actually quite a thoughtful guy. With a wave of my hand, I demolished the ice thorns separating me from Tai Wen and took a step forward to face him. Can you tell me now what your ability is? Tai Wen stared at me. His eyes were full of uncertainty and he opened his mouth, but didnt know what to say. Ha, hes so scared of you hes too afraid to say anything! Cain grinned, exposing his white teeth. He raised his thumb and said, Now you finally know, Shuyu is our Jiang Dominions number one! Even Leader cannot defeat his own little brother! Zhang Jing eximed, How is that possible? Not even that Leader can defeat him? We havent even fought before! How could you know I would win? I snorted coldly and didnt say anything, holding up the air of an expert. I dont know whether I can defeat Dg or not. For now, I just have to pretend Ive already defeated him! Tai Wen let out a long sigh and said, Its really hard to imagine that its actually you whos the head of the Jiang Dominion. Eh, ssmate Tai Wen, arent you misunderstanding something? The Jiang Dominion really is my dgs mercenary troop. I never said anything about being the head. Before the apocalypse, I wasnt even a member. Im just a family member, thats it! Cain, Yunqian, and Zheng Xing all looked a bit bewildered, but they didnt say anything to refute it. I was forced to exin myself, Dg is actually the leader of the mercenary group. With a slight smile, Tai Wen said, The leader and the head can co-exist. The corners of my mouth twitched. I didnt feel like paying attention to this guy and the drama he was spinning in his mind. Will you finally tell us what your ability is or not? Tai Wen nodded and confessed honestly, My power is As I listened, my eyes widened. This ability was like getting a pillow when youre falling asleepamazing! Who said the Jiang family has bad luck? It definitely wasnt me! After hearing about Tai Wens power, I really became a lot more confident about defending the Zhanjiang Garrison. This way, that guy would actually be easy to defeat. From the corner of my eyes, I nced at Wen Jianuo and tossed a single question in his direction. Now, will you fight or not? Unexpectedly, Wen Jianuo immediately made a military salute. I, Captain of the Ice Spears Wen Jianuo, will go into battle with the vice-captain tonight! I stared at him. Chen Yanqing quickly added, Ill go too! Even the other members of the squad said, Well go, well go! Yang Xis eyes gleamed as he straightforwardly said, I must go and witness the might of the vice-captain! Xue Xi even shouted, Follow the vice-captain and kill everyone! His not so cute sister Xue Han looked at her twin brother with a caring yet mocking expression. I got the faint feeling that the members of my Ice Spears might be the most invincibly airheaded of the Jiang Dominion. *** As I came back to my senses, the Ice Spears in front of me didnt look like airheads. Each of them had such an imposing manner, they totally were professional soldiers. These stern expressions also carried a hint of concern for me. I really couldnt be more satisfied. Unless I look like Im about to keel over, dont mind me and just run. I didnt dare to talk about dying. What if at that time I really need help? Perhaps a few bullets could be enough to allow me to escape, but if they didnt dare to turn back and help me because of my orders, then wouldnt my death be in vain? Ugh! Why am I saying these ominous words? Im the one who will be the Ice Emperor in this life! After I spoke, I wasnt sure whether I misunderstood, since Wen Jianuo smiled even more pleasantly. Dont worry. Wen Jianuo promised, We wont get in your way, and when the timees, we wont abandon you. Trust in my judgment! I nodded and actually believed him. Despite the differences in numbers and weapons, this group had been willing to follow me out on a night raid, so I knew they wouldnt abandon me no matter what. Especially since Wen Jianuo often looked at me, always with an unbearably guilty expression. He looked like he was watching a child brutally forced tobor day and night! After getting through this crisis, I really should get to know the members of my squad better. They were capable and loyal. If I didnt do my all to make them mine, I would definitely be promoted in rank from an invincible airhead to an eternal airhead! Wen Jianuo selected some weapons, and exined as he did so, Well keep these guns. Well wait for you to bring back a couple more and let Ah Qing take them all back at once. He has the capacity, and moreover, our current strength is high. He can carry all the guns back by himself. This way well have seven people left and still enough firepower for a final attack. Before we departed, Wen Jianuo had listened to my n with a conflicted expression, like he was witnessing childbor. However, he still arranged everything perfectly, not even demanding they take therger guns with them. He only had the squad members restock their bullets, and then they set out, carrying a few pitifully small pistols. As he said, just steal an enemys gun! I nodded, checked the time, and immediately left to go on another hunt. Even if the number of people one person can kill is limited, just the disappearance of one patrol after the other might make them worry about this forest, slow down their march and, I hoped, even cause panic. What followed were three hunting trips in a row. During the first and second one, I encountered patrol squads of five people. I used practically the same trick as before to wipe them out, bury the corpses, and take their weapons. After that were two teams of six people each. The first time, I was unsure of sess and didnt act, hoping I would meet another five-man team. By the second encounter, I realized I didnt have the luxury of choice, and set out decisively As I sat down, leaning my whole body against a tree, I was only apanied by corpses scattered on the groundno, there was also Xiaorong. One of his main branches had broken. If Ipared him to a human, it would probably be his right hand. Miserably, he held his snapped off right hand and gently stroked it. Hah! I smiled and tossed a few crystals over. The little tree immediately didnt even want his right hand anymore, and pounced on the crystals. He hurriedly threw them in the hole in the center of his body, like he was throwing the crystals in his mouth to eat them. This little tree was bing more and more human, with four limbs and even three holes in the center of his body, like a persons eyes and mouth. In the beginning, Xiaorong had chosen the wrong evolution path, growing as tall as a skyscraper. When all the aberrants in his small territory had been eaten or had fled, he had been too big to move. He could only let his whole trunk dry up and die, and form a tiny sapling looking for survival. Right now, perhaps he had seen that my figure was pretty good, so he was imitating a human body in his growth? This way wasnt bad. At the very least, he had a lot more freedom of movement. After hepletely evolved, perhaps thered be a race of tree people? Xiaorong would give birth to a bunch of little Xiaorongs, and wed be rolling in little trees. Just thinking about it made me happy. Whether the tree people would be a threat to humans Hehe, the world is filled with new races, how many belong to that branch? As I let my imagination run wild, my time almost ran out. Just after I had defeated the six-person team, Id eaten a few crystals and sat down to digest them and replenish my strength and power. It was mostly my power that was restored, as the effect of the crystals with regards to stamina wasnt that good at all. I quickly checked. It wouldnt be long until the moment Wen Jianuo had calcted. In a while, the main troops would discover that some patrols hadnt returned to report on time. ording to Wen Jianuos understanding of the army, since the enemy had sufficient soldiers, they wouldnt sit around and do nothing in response to the disappearance of their patrol teams. Instead, they would send out even more people tob the area and prevent any threat from getting near the camp. Though they wouldnt send as many as a hundred, around forty or fifty would be likely, which was a high enough number of armed soldiers to deal with the majority of aberrants. Fifty people would be just right. Just a bit more and it would be too difficult for me to escape. Just a bit fewer, and it wouldnt help in the battle to defend the base even if we wiped them all out. Id already taken out around twenty soldiers. If we could dispatch these fifty people all at once too, it would be like taking arge bite out of the four hundred man army. Not only would it hurt, it would be a great blow to their morale. I buried the six corpses, feeling a bit disturbed. It seemed that I would never get used to killing people. Plus, since I had also been reborn into this body, I feared that each wrong move might kill someone in the early stage of the apocalypse who was supposed to be strongerter, making the plight of humankind even worse. I pursed my lips. After this, the first task was to build up the base, so when people saw it, they wouldnt dare to attack it so easily. We wouldnt be forced to kill people to defend ourselves and make ourselves miserable again. Xiaorong, take the weapons and then go with Chen Yanqing to transport the guns back to the base. Theres no need for you to return. I watched as Xiaorong dragged the pile of guns in the right directionit actually looked more like the pile of weapons had grown legs and run away. Only then did I turn toward my goal, the enemys camp. Even though the n was only to wipe out the search party of fifty people, this didnt stop me from infiltrating the camp first to see if there was a chance to take out that guyWu Yaojin! I ran quickly. I actually wasnt far from the camp and was unafraid of revealing my whereabouts. After only a few seconds, I reached the camp of the Shangguan family and hid in the ce Xiao Sha had pickedst time, quietly observing the situation in the camp. The densely packed tents all looked the same and were standing very close together as well, making it really difficult for someone to hide. I frowned. Just now I figured Id use an enemys uniform to infiltrate, but I immediately thought of my own face. I was too young and too good-looking. I would stand out instantly. I wouldnt fool anyone! It seemed like I had to return empty-handed. Though avenging the Ice Emperor was important, the most important thing now was to save the base and protect all of our people. The Ice Emperor would surely agree with my choice. Just when I wanted to turn and leave, I saw from the corner of my eye a white-cloaked figure step out of one of the tents. I immediately stopped on the spot, drawing my gun to aim at that person. That moment, though, another person exited the tent, wearing a long-sleeved,ke-blue shirt with a high cor. His clothes were very stiff, in line with his tall, straight figure, but the thin material wasnt suited to the bitterly cold weather at all. On the left side of his chest, he wore the symbol of the Molecr Organic Research Center, and he actually wore a mask as well! The mask looked a bit familiar, and it was actually somewhat simr to the one I was wearing. But though his mask was also emitting a blue glow, his had a metal-like quality and wasnt made from ice. As soon as I noticed the blue-cored man, I didnt even see Wu Yaojin anymore. The entire world had be gray and unremarkable, except for the ringke-blue color of that person. That man is very dangerous! As if to prove my suspicions, the blue-cored man turned, facing precisely in my direction. I didnt dare to think it was just a fluke. That person noticed someone hiding over here. It really wasnt a coincidence! I felt bursts of pain in my temples, and a strong sense of danger hit me. I wanted to flee, but since I didnt know what the ability of my opponent was, turning my back to that person wouldnt be a wise move. He looked at me, the corners of his mouth curling, but then he turned toward thepletely unaware Wu Yaojin and said, Time to go. Our transaction has alreadye to an end. The affairs here no longer concern us. Even though he spoke to Wu Yaojin, there was no doubt that he said it so I could hear him. What he said was quite believable. In my previous life, the MORC only sold things and never got involved in any major power struggles. So, the MORC had been selling goods this early? Sure enough, it was as the Ice Emperor had said, there was something extremely fishy about them. It had only been half a year since the apocalypse. The world was aplete mess. After the ck fog, almost all long distancemunications had failed, and even national machinations had inevitablye to a halt. By contrast, the MORC had not only set up aboratory to study aberrants, but had also started doing business within half a year? Even until ten years into the apocalypse, I hadnt heard of the MORC doing anything apart from selling things. Clearly, theyd been doing research on aberrants ever since the beginning of the apocalypse. Was there really any chance they hadnt done anything? Could they be responsible for the great mutation ten years in the futurewait, the great mutation? I frowned. Where had this phrasee from? I had died because Xia Zhengu had pushed me into that mass of aberrants. At that time, invasions of aberrants weremon, and we didnt call them great mutations. There was only that one time, when it was on an unusuallyrge scale and apanied by a tremendous noise never heard before, so deafening it seemed like the whole world was sting an air-raid siren. The world had been overrun by a group of never before seen insect-like aberrants. Everyone fled. No one thought of resisting but why was that? That time, people should have already gotten used to fighting aberrants. It was unlikely there was no one to rise up and fight. Could it be because of the overwhelming numbers? There was a sudden wave of energy close by. I startled as if a bullet had been fired, only narrowly grabbing a tree so I didnt fall down. I immediately nced at where the man with the blue cor was standing. His mouth twitched as he turned and walked away with Wu Yaojin. Seeing that he didnt have the intention of attacking again, I let out a sigh of relief. I nced in the direction of the energy wave. There was a hole in the center of a tree, and there was something very odd about it. I couldnt resist getting a bit closer to have a look. It was a three-dimensional circle, like there had been a sphere inside of the tree that had now disappeared, leaving a ball-shaped hole in the heart of the tree. How is that possible? What kind of ability can create these kinds of ball-shaped holes? It wouldve been impossible to cause such damage from the outside I reached out my hand to touch the sphere-like hole, and felt the remnant of the others energy. The stabbing pain in my temples became even more intense. That person really was stronger than me. I could only be d I wasnt in time just now to open fire on Wu Yaojin. Whether or not he wouldve died, I would be dead for sure. Even though the MORC didnt get involved in power struggles, if anyone dared to steal their things or kill their people, they would all die an ugly death. If the MORC didnt have the power to look down on other people, and instead only created weapons able to harness the crystals energy, they might be overtaken in one swipe. I had actually thought that my rebirth would give me an advantage over them, and that I could eliminate them before they were able to get stronger, but I really had been too naive! After understanding that my hands were tied, I had no choice but to leave, frantically gliding back to where that first patrol team had been. I couldnt control the intense waves of energy radiating from my body. Along the way, the trees recoiled, withdrawing their trunks and branches. If they were strong enough to pull up their roots and flee, this would be a clearing instead of a forest. Seeing this, I tried my best to suppress my emotions and settle the fluctuations; otherwise, these intense energy waves would alert even a regr person, let alone soldiers who were even more astute. After calming my mind, I hid in a tree, in a spot where its foliage was the densest. Almost at the same time, the patrol appeared. Their number was high. Even if there werent fifty, there were at least forty. Wen Jianuos estimation had been quite urate. I initially wanted to quietly wait for them to pass and mount a surprise attack from behind to kill a few of them, but they were on high alert. The rearguard was practically walking backwards. Attacking from the front or the back wouldnt make a big difference. In this case, of course, I should fire some shots from afar and then quickly flee to let them chase me. The first few shots would have a high chance of killing someone. I didnt choose the soldiers at the front, but targeted the ones in the middle. If I guessed right, one of them had to be the leader. The bullets whizzed out, and two people fell to the ground. One went down without a sound, but the other was hit in his shoulder. After he fell backward, he was dragged bodily by his fellow soldiers. After aiming these few shots, I began to carelessly fire at the front line, and when Id emptied the entire magazine, I turned and ran. That moment, the enemy responded and started frantically firing their guns. Just now it was only because they were unable to figure out their enemys exact position and couldnt aim that I was able to empty my magazine and gun down their front line. However, it didnt take them long to discover where I was and to start shooting all their bullets at me. Discarding the empty gun, Id turned and fled, gliding at lightning speed. Despite my high speed, I couldnt glide as fast as a bullet, so I had no choice but to create an ice shield behind me to ward them off. The surface of the shield was rounded, which easily let the bullets slide off. This way, it was very unlikely the ice shield would break easily. I still had to give Uncle credit for this useful knowledge. I had initially only asked him and Auntie to design a practical armor that would make it easier to increase my defenses without affecting my movements. I hadnt expected them toe up with one useful bit of advice after the other. Knowledge really is power! But with my current strength, a hastily created ice shield still couldnt withstand heavy gunfire no matter how much knowledge I possessed. Fortunately, one broken shield still meant I had countless shields left. I covered my back with threeyers of shields total. As soon as one broke, I immediately added another. Though my energy was draining like running water, at least my back wouldnt be shot full of holes like a honeb. As soon as I managed to gain some distance, I immediately turned and shot an ice de. I could only shoot one each time, because it was a de ofpressed ice, very thin and iparably sharp. Not only would it be unlikely that the troops armor could block them, as soon as it pierced a human body, it would freeze the surrounding area. If it hit someones head or chest, they were practically already dead. After all, no one could survive with a frozen brain, heart, or lungs. None of the enemy soldiers were able to ward off the ice des. Regardless of where I shot at, they were rendered immobile. The Shangguan family clearly hadnt developed their powers at all, and their energy level was extremely low. It seemed their involvement with the MORC really didnt go very deep; otherwise, they would have had some powers at least. I turned again to shoot an ice de. A soldier fell down, exposing the person behind him, who was holding a huge, silvery metal gun. Its model and ammunition seemed very futuristic, like an advanced weapon from a science-fiction movie. It had neither a magazine nor a hammer, but instead a metal energy tube and several thin conveyor tubes. My eyes widened and in an instant, I ducked. An energy beam hurtled toward me,pletely shattering my three ice shields to bits. If I hadnt dodged, I would have been seriously injured, after which Id be surrounded by a heap of soldiers, shooting me full of bullets until even Shujun wouldnt be able to recognize me! The MORCs crystal energy gun! . Fuck, there must be someone in the MORC who knew the apocalypse wasing! Were only half a year into the apocalypse. Even a powerful family with a military background like the Shangguan family hasnt acquired strong ability users through eating cyrstals, but the MORC has actually produced crystal energy guns already? If they didnt have foreknowledge, Ill swallow that crystal energy gun whole! I cut a sorry figure as I straightened back up. I didnt dare to be careless again. I took my flight seriously now, using my power solely for defense, setting up no less than five ice shields. However, the enemy seemed to know I was afraid of that gun and kept shooting. Unfortunately for them, though the power of this energy type firearm is high, its shooting speed cannot bepared to a bullet. On top of that, I was able to feel the iing energy beam. It was actually not likely I would get hit, just that if I wasnt careful, my five shields would be destroyed in one hit. If I wasnt able to get new shields up in time and got hit by bullets as wellluckily, I still wore ayer of ice armor! asionally, bullets grazed some unprotected spots, but these were only small wounds that wouldnt be a hindrance and wouldnt impact my movements. Again, thanks to Uncles power of knowledge! That moment, I suddenly felt two waves of energying my way at the same time. Right away, my face became pale. Could it be a second crystal energy gun? At this point, I had no choice but to flee into the woods. Initially, in order to get the best effect out of the gunfire of Wen Jianuo and the others, I had specifically run along the main road, where there were no trees, so the soldiers chasing after me would also have to follow the main road. Because of this, there wasnt anything shielding me or anything to hide behind, and I could only rely on dodging, my ice shields, and my ice armor to carry me through. But now that a second crystal energy gun had appeared, I really couldnt carry on like this. I had no choice but to duck into the woods. What a shame about the whole nights arrangement. The effectiveness of the final gunfire will probably be cut down to at least half of the original. I must be fated enemies with the MORC in this life! In the shelter of the trees, the pressure on me was reduced a lot. As the enemy kept using the crystal energy guns to shoot up the trees, they eventually angered the forest. When a bullet hits a tree, it can still look at therge number of opponents and endure it. In any case, it can deal with a few more holes in its body. As long as theres no frantic gunfire, a tree can take it! However, they cannot take a hit from a crystal energy gun, as theyll be smithereens after just one hit. To still tolerate that means turning into a mushy log of wood! As they were attacked by the trees, my opponents had to divert some of their attention to defend themselves. Fortunately, they had the crystal energy guns, and they were still professionals, or else these soldiers might have retreated because of this, and my set-up for this night would really have been in vain. I saw that I had almost reached the spot Wen Jianuo and I had agreed on. Right when a wave of energy hit, I turned and shot down a soldier with an ice de. The energy wave instantly broke the five ice shields, and a few bullets slipped through the cracks and grazed my leg. Arge part of my pants was immediately dyed red with blood. Dragging my injured leg, I leaned weakly against a tree and created an ice shield to hold them off, but it was broken once more, after which this process was repeated again and again They slowly came closer to surround me, firing with all their might as if I was simply a huge, frightening monsterperhaps they really thought I was an aberrant and not a person from the start. What kind of person could take so many hits and still not die? I half knelt on the ground, creating an ice shield again to stop the endless stream of bullets. The enemy came close and closer. They didnt dare to be careless, and the bullets didnt stop for even one second. In the end, the soldiers were no further than ten meters away from me. The two crystal energy guns were at the very front. From such a short distance, perhaps theyd really break right through my five shields and directly kill me Volume 6, 3: Tier Three

Volume 6, Chapter 3: Tier Three

Tranted by Simone (proofread by Minthe & elisa; C/E edited by lucathia) I hadnt expected that the Ice Spears would be willing to follow me and mount a sneak attack on the enemy. At first, I didnt even dare to think about it, scared that these soldiers would think the Jiang Dominion was just using them as cannon fodder. Id already been afraid that the moment they heard of the 400 enemies that they would want to flee. If I still ordered them to go out on a raid, most likely we wouldnt need to wait until the enemy arrived, thered be civil war here. But Wen Jianuo suggested himself toe with me, and the other squad members agreed toe too. These are the kinds ofpanions who live and die together. If we get through this crisis safely, Ill definitely regard them as my own people, equal to the people of the Jiang Dominionno, they will be a part of the Jiang Dominion themselves! Now that I had secured more troops, it seemed I coulde up with even bigger ns, rather than just going on my own to lie in wait and mount an ambush, counting just on my luck to see if I could kill a few enemies at nightespecially when I usually dont have any luck. Even if the Ice Spears are prepared for it, I dont want to lose even one of them. Such disciplined and determined soldiers are hard toe by; losing even one would be such a loss! For the majority of the time, Id still only rely on myself, because I could be sure to retreat safely. At the very end, Id use Wen Jianuo and the others to cause a bit of major trouble, like ambushing the enemy and gunning them down. That seemed like a pretty good choice. I left it up to Wen Jianuo to work out the details of my simple n, and spent an hour observing Tai Wens ability. Hed perfected it quite well. That he was able to master his skills like this, without the help of crystals, could only be the result of hard work. He must have contributed a lot to Guan Weijun sessfully escaping from Lan City with all of them in tow. I took out a crystal and said, This is a tier two crystal. Tai Wen stared at the crystal with a longing look, but he lifted his eyes immediately to look at me and did not fixate on the crystal. I was quite satisfied with this reaction. Because your ability happens to be useful, Im nning to give this crystal to you. But this doesnt mean you can take it and run. I paused for a moment, ncing at the others from the corner of my eye. Very good, most of them were watching curiously to see what a tier two crystal looked like. None of them were actually bothered by the fact they couldnt eat it. Up till now, a tier three crystal would even be regarded as unique. I said sternly, Either you leave the Zhanjiang Garrison now, or you eat this crystal. If you eat it, the only way you leave the Jiang Dominion is by dying! Even if you flee to the other side of the world, dont doubt that I will catch up with you. Though saying this made me feel like I was forcing him, I actually had no other choice. There was no time to build up trust or mutual understanding; I could only use the lure of benefits on top of threats. Hearing this, Tai Wen frowned at first, but it wasnt long before he rxed and calmly said, I dont have a choice anyway. Weijun has fallen for Leader and wont leave. If I dare to tell her Ill leave her behind and flee, not even considering how my wife would react, I probably wouldnt live it down myself. Weijun has saved us several times. If it wasnt for her, we would never have escaped Lan City. My mouth twitched. I can give you crystals, but I cant give Dg to Guan Weijun. If she wants to get married, shell have to chase him herself! With a careful and respectful manner, Tai Wen took the crystal from the palm of my hand. Thank you, I know this is very valuable. Dont worry, I wont leave the Jiang Dominion. Im very happy we were able to find a shelter that treats ordinary people so well. I will definitely give my all to protect it! Im d you know it! It was true that not all troops were as decent as the Jiang Dominion. Many were corrupted forces that would use the men as cannon fodder and the women as ves. Having lived through ten years of the apocalypse, I was experienced enough to say this. If I had found an excellent group like the Jiang Dominion in my previous life, I would rather have fought to the death than leave! I turned to Cain and said, Cain, I understand abilities, but not the rest. What I can do is use tonight to train everyones ability a bit. Then, you can take a look at arranging their positions. Cain nodded repeatedly and replied, No problem, youve done enough, Xiao Yu. At first, I thought it wouldnt be possible to hold on for three days, but after what you said about these abilities, I almost think we can win. I watched the bustling group of people, some designing armor and some trying out their abilities, while others were eating crystals and absorbing them right away I gripped the remaining tier two crystal in my pocket. My original n was to use both of the tier two crystals myself, but I hadnt thought Tai Wens ability would turn out to be that useful. In order to protect the base, I had no choice but to let one of the crystals go. With the single remaining tier two crystal, would I be able to move up to tier three? *** The final answer isyes! I was looking down the barrels of over forty guns. If I hadnt managed to break through to tier three, it would have been impossible to keep up my ice shield. The difference in power between tier two and three was extremely high, even more so than tier one and two. In my previous life, people hadpared moving from tier two to three to a blockage being removed, allowing their blood to flow more easily. Their whole body changedpletely. At tier two, bullets were still deadly, but after leveling up to tier three Ive already been shot four times, so the answer to that is obvious enough. If I could have anticipated the existence of these two crystal energy guns, I wouldnt have wasted so much power. Right now, my energy was much lower than I had nned for when we moved out, and I wasnt sure if we could go on as nned. This mess would of course be counted against the MORC as always! I half knelt on the ground, appearing as if I was too exhausted to escape, barely able to support myself, and about to be shot up like a honeb. But in reality, I was touching the ground with my hand, taking the chance to gather energy. As I lifted my head, the soldier closest to me sensed something was wrong right away. He opened his mouth to shout, but it was already toote. A huge amount of frost surged forward like an ice wave, spreading rapidly across the soldiers feet. Unfortunately, the number of soldiers was high, and they stood spread out over arge area, making it impossible for me to directly freeze them all to death. Originally, I had wanted to freeze the first row to death and only freeze the legs of the ones behind them so they couldnt even run away, handing them over to Wen Jianuo and the others to gun down. But now my energy was nearly gone. If I froze those in the front to death, even freezing just the feet of the others might be difficult, so I had no other choice but to freeze the feet of all of them, leaving the rest to Wen Jianuo. The frozen ground was the signal. I waited for Wen Jianuo and the others to rise from the underbrush not too far off and to start firing their guns like crazy, but instead, the enemy reacted first. They began a new round of gunfire, not slowing down to wait for Wen Jianuo and the others to make their move. rmed, I thought, did Wen Jianuo and the others betray us? There are so many soldiers at the base now, and Dg isnt there; if these people are really starting a rebellion The faces of Wen Jianuo and Chen Yanqing shed through my mind, as well as the other members of the Ice Spears impatiently yelling about how they wanted to follow me to see the might of the vice-captain. Are these soldiers treacherous enough to put up an act while nning their betrayal behind my back? They dont seem like that sort at all! The real world isnt like a novel full of scheming court officials. Where would all these elite actorse from? The attack on the base happened so suddenly. Wen Jianuo never even had the chance to conspire with others. It cant be a rebellion; something must have happened! I flung my ice shield away, smashing it into a few people standing at the front. My energy would soon be depleted. If I couldnt run, I really would be turned into a honeb. Those on tier three were able to resist bullets, but they couldnt ward off shot after shot, with the attacks of the crystal energy guns on top of that! Were still made of flesh and blood; we havent evolved into tanks, all right?! I went straight for the spot where Wen Jianuo and the others should be hiding in the underbrush. Just as I was about to burst through the thicket, I suddenly sensed something unpleasant. There was an unfamiliar kind of energy there, much stronger than Wen Jianuo and the others. The way it was distributed was quite strange, as most of it was close to the ground. I took another step and sent out an ice wave. Because my energy level was so low, I couldnt keep up my ice shield while freezing the ground. I had no choice but to use my ice armor to take on the next ten bullets. With a lot of effort, I created another ice shield before another round of attacks from the crystal energy guns charged my way. Although I could sense the oing energy of the crystal energy gun, getting out of the way wasnt an option, because at longst, Wen Jianuo and the others stood up. They were all covered in dirt, grass, and leaves, looking like they had just crawled out of the groundwhich they might actually have done. The ice shield was too weak to ward off the attack. I was hit directly in the back. Blood sprayed from my mouth onto Wen Jianuos face, making him look even more like something that had crawled out of the depths. His eyes widened, but he acted fast. He rushed forward to get a few steps past me and started frantically firing his gun. Next, to my delight, I was dragged into a protective circle. The two troops stood opposite each other. The other side had forty people, while our side had seven plus one, and that one was injured and had barely any energy left. It was a pitiful disy, to be honest, but our sessy in the fact that more than half of the enemy troops were frozen to the ground and stuck for a while. They could only take the bullets of Wen Jianuo and the others head on, while our troops could use the trees as shelter as they advanced. Although the forest wasnt happy about it, it wasnt as strong as a person. The trees actually didnt dare to move too much. Like any young soldier stuck in such a mess, they could only pray the artillery shells wouldnt hit them straight in the head. I nced at the ground. Several roots and leaves were struggling to break through the ice covering the ground. One root had even sessfully dug a small hole, trying hard to escape I thought for a bit. Judging by the shape of this leaf, it has to be a sweet potato? I stamped down with my foot, letting cold air freeze its way down the little hole, finally using the tip of my foot to vent my anger and smash the frozen sweet potato nt. The luck of the Jiang family really isnt good, if we can even get attacked by a sweet potato during an ambush! It had probably waited for me to leave, and after Xiaorong and Chen Yanqing had taken the guns back to the base, this sweet potato then had the guts to attack Wen Jianuo and the others. If I or Xiaorong had been present, this sweet potato wouldnt have dared to act so rashly. Wen Jianuo led the other six soldiers as they opened fire, but the key moment had already passed. They only swept down the first few soldiers at the front, while the ones behind them had time to deal with the ice on their feet. With bullets flying everywhere, they freed their legs and one by one ducked behind trees to shoot back. Seeing that our situation wasnt good, our troops had no choice but to hide behind the trees as well. This hadnt been part of the n. Wed only brought seven squad members to fight against dozens of enemies, while the other side even had crystal energy guns. We couldnt afford to waste soldiers like this, throwing them into this hail of bullets. I swallowed thest handful of crystals, and before I had enough time to digest them fully, I roared at everyone, Run! After my shout, I shot out countless little frozen knives. They werent intended as an attack, as the des exploded while still in mid-air, the countless fragments hurtling in all directions. They forced all of the enemy soldiers to draw back behind the trees. The ice dust would also block their line of sight, simr to the effect of a smoke bomb. Seeing this, everyone immediately stopped fighting, turned, and ran, without any need for further instructions. One person quickly grabbed me, carrying me over his shoulder with one hand. He still ran ahead of the other squad members, like I was as light as a feather, my weight something to bepletely ignored. After the apocalypse, though, everyone improved their physique and even gained weight. However, many people didnt even notice the change in weight at first, since their strength had increased at the same time. It wasnt until some women who cared about beauty had found a scale, and their terrible screams made everyone realize the truth. The person holding me was incredibly strong. I struggled a bit at first, wanting to get down and run myself. I would be a burden to the person carrying me and slow him down for sure. But to my surprise, I couldnt struggle free. This persons ability had to be strength. I remembered his name was something like Gao Yun. His name was Gao Yun, go from tall, and yn from cloud. He wasnt tall, but he was so lean that he was like a cloud about to float away. For a soldier, he really was a bit too thin, even frailer than Chen Yanqing, and hisck of height was a huge setback. Standing among the squad, he would look particrly tiny. It couldnt be that this was why hed wanted to be strong? Strength was a verymon ability, but it was also indispensable. Having a team member with this ability was a good thing. Everyone was running like crazy. From time to time, I shot out more exploding ice des to obstruct our pursuers. Even so, they were in hot pursuit, and we had to use the trees as cover against the bullets to avoid getting hit. The enemy didnt have to worry about that, though, and they simply chased and shot at us at the same time. Through the sounds of gunfire, I suddenly sensed something was wrong. Immediately, I shouted, Everyone, roll to the side! Two energy beams came toward us. After smashing through two trees, they hit the spot where the Ice Spears wereif we had all still been in our original spots. The Ice Spears were well trained, and as soon as I shouted, all of them had rolled aside. No one was hit. We got up and continued to run away frantically, escaping from the forest with difficulty. On the way, we couldnt avoid getting hit. Id noticed a big shock going through Gao Yuns body, which was probably because he had been hit or grazed by bullets. Fortunately, everyone was in peak physical condition. As long as the bullets didnt hit any crucial spots or affect their movements, they were most likely able to continue running. It did hurt, but these soldiers were clearly not afraid of pain. After rushing out of the forest, Wen Jianuo took a big step forward and tore arge cluster of thorny bushes away, revealing an impressive Hummer. There had been two cars, but Chen Yanqing had taken the other. The apocalypse meantfort was ourst priority. Through the open roof we crammed ourselves onto the back seat. Stuffing in seven big men wasnt a problem! That moment, Lin Zuojun suddenly appeared in the drivers seat and immediately started the car. I hadnt thought he was able to teleport so urately. However, as he sat down, his whole body bent over, and he vomited all over the steering wheel. It hadnt been long since he had discovered his powers; to be able to control them to this extent within such a short time was definitely not easy. To think that during the special training the night before we set out, he hadnt been able to at all! As expected, actualbat is the real training. If not doing it means youll die, you can do anything! After everyone had jumped in through the open roof, Gao Yun wanted to stuff me into the passenger seat, but when I saw our situation wasnt looking good, I flung myself off of him. Using the bar on the side of the car as a foothold, I jumped toward the backside of the car and instantly created an ice shield. There wasnt enough time. I couldnt evenpress fiveyers, but only had time to create two. When the beam of the crystal energy gun hit the shield, it took all of my efforts to create anotheryer in time. Threeyers werent enough to block a hit at all, but this attack had to be stopped! We were already out of the cover of the trees. If the car was blown up, wed have no choice but to turn back and fight. The difference in numbers was too much. Even if we were lucky enough to escape, I was afraid thered still be heavy losses. Though the Ice Spears had quite some members, we couldnt afford to lose even one! The shield didnt hold, and I had to use my ice armor to take on the st of the energy gun. A fewrge cracks appeared in the armor. The force of the impact was so big I was blown backwards. I fell directly through the open roof on the back seat, without knowing who I was lying on. I heard a stifled hum in my ears. My consciousness began to fade a bit, which wasnt good. I immediately created ayer of ice in the air and let it fall in small chunks directly on my face. The ice-cold fragments cleared my head in a sh, but right away my face distorted from the pain shooting through my entire body. It would have been better to faint after all. I couldnt do anything because of the pain anyway! You, you! I finally regained my senses through the pain and immediately saw that Wen Jianuo was gnashing his teeth, so angry he couldnt speak. His expression was grim like hed seen a huge invasion of aberrants. My ears were ringing with the bangs of gunshots, but I could still clearly hear him roar, Do you think life is a joke? You child! Even though I wasnt a child, I couldnt help but smile wryly. If you dont risk your life in this world, you die, so what else can I do? Wen Jianuo obviously understood this as well. He didnt scold me again. He directly stuffed me into the seat closest to the front of the car, then crouched down like the others, the muzzle of his gun pointed behind the car. Fortunately, the enemy clearly didnt expect us to have a car, and they had no way to keep chasing us. Once they went back to get their cars and continued the chase, wed be long gone. We had pretty much cleared the stage. Who brought bandages? Wen Jianuo put his gun away and turned around, lowering his head to look at my injuries. His frown was so tense that he could have pinched a mosquito to death between his brows, the post-apocalypse kind that was as big as a fist. No need for bandages Before I could finish, Wen Jianuo frowned in a way that could have killed a mosquito the size of a pot. I hurriedly exined, Whenever Im injured, I automatically freeze my wounds. As long as its not fatal and I still have a bit of energy left, you dont need to bandage them. As I spoke, Wen Jianuos frown finally rxed a bit. The guy was already as big as a mountain; with a frown that seemed chiseled into stone on top of that, anyone would be scared to death! With the danger behind us, I rxed, and my entire body immediately felt terrible; perhaps the only thing that didnt hurt was my hair. Everywhere else, the pain was enough to make me see stars. I could only keep breathing deeply to ease the pain. Out of breath, I said, Im going to take a nap. Wake me when were back at the base. Wait Shuyu? Hey, hey! Thats not napping, thats fainting! No no no, Im really just sleeping off the exhaustion. If I was fainting, I would have immediately lost consciousness, but I could still hear the squad members talk to each other. The sounds seemed toe from very far away. Does anyone have crystals? Didnt we turn them all in before? Did you secretly hide any? Would I admit it if I did? I, I actually kept two. You think I can get away with it if I hand them over now? Fuck, bro, you dared to hide them, and now you dare to take them out? Two sweet-tasting things were suddenly stuffed in my mouth, and I reflexively chewed and swallowed them. We let this young kid protect us soldiers. If I keep hiding these crystals, how can I still consider myself human? Youre human If we leave like this, how can we still consider ourselves human? I opened my eyes, lowered my head, and looked down. Before the apocalypse, the sight of a mutted body with dark, stinking bloodstains would have been terrifying enough to make people run and throw up in a corner. But how long has it been since the apocalypse began? Has it been a year? The days we spent on the run all muddled together. I actually didnt know how long it had been. It just felt like every day was endless. Without realizing it, such terrible sights had already be the norm and didnt scare anyone anymore. As we maneuvered between the bodies, I tried to find some useful things, but we were already toote. Those who were bold enough to go first had already swept everything clean. Weapons and food were the first things that were taken. I wasnt hopeful wed find anything much. There were only some scattered supplies left, but it was better than nothing, much better than going into the city to look for supplies. Wed finally managed to escape from the city. I didnt want to go back, not even for a mouthful of food, since Id probably die before I was lucky enough to eat my fill. But this ce really was picked clean. There werent even any bulletproof vests left. I had no choice but to crouch down and turn over a corpse. Luckily, it hadnt been dead for long. The body didnt stink of decay yet. Oh, this corpse still had its hands and feet. It was rare to see one that still had all of its limbs Uh The corpse made a sound, startling me. I immediately drew my knife to stab it in the head, but at thest moment, he turned his head. The knife drew a long line of blood on his cheek. He nced at me, his eyes dull and hopeless. This guy is still alive! As realization struck me, I had no idea what to do next. After ncing at me, he actually didnt move much anymore. He didnt beg for mercy, he didnt even look at me, just quietly lowered his gaze and looked at the ground, as if he was waiting for something. Are you badly hurt? I asked calmly, Bad enough youll die? He looked at me somewhat surprised. When the apocalypse had just started, a lot of people died from small wounds because of infections. This was happening less and less, and I guessed this change had something to do with people gradually getting stronger. I thought back to the time before the apocalypse, when I had to make an effort to even turn the cap of a water bottle. Right now I wasnt just able to turn the cap, I could twist the whole bottle in half. While on the run, I couldnt avoid getting injured, but I didnt die of infection. This guy in front of me was a soldier. He was definitely more fit than me. If he wasnt hurt that badly, perhaps he could survive. Besides, just now he looked like someone waiting for death. He wouldnt lie about his injuries just to survive a bit longer, right? Come on, where are you hurt? I urgently asked, wiping the blood off his face at the same time. If his face was clean, Id be able see from a nce how he was doing. When someone had lost too much blood or was close to dying, they couldnt keep it from their expression. A lot of ces As I wiped his face, I didnt expect to actually uncover a young, flustered kid. He was twenty years old at most? If it hadnt been for his uniform, I would have guessed that he wasnt even eighteen. Such a young soldier must have been dug up from the military academy. Weijun, lets go. I looked up and saw Xia Zhengu and Xiao Qi. Thetter wasnt sticking as close to Xia Zhengu as she used to, instead acting like shed done at the very beginning when she had kept some distance between herself and someone elses boyfriend to avoid suspicion. Unexpectedly, Xiao Qi now liked to stick to me and had also properly re-introduced herself. Her full name was Lai Yueqi, and her hobby was to write stories. She had been somewhat of a celebrity online for it, and shed been a screenwriter for a TV series. On the day of the apocalypse, shed beenpletely focused on her manuscript. When shed finally finished and looked up to see the ck fog outside her window, she had thought it was a fire. She had wanted to warn her family right away, until she remembered her mother was working a night shift at the hospital and hadnte back yet. She was just about to go and find the only other person at home, her father, who always went to bed early, but before she could leave the room, her feet came into contact with the ck fog. After that, she couldnt get back up, of course. After sharing that much, she kept berating herself with reddened eyes for herck of courage. She had never dared to go to the hospital to look for her mother. I could actually understand that. There were a lot of people at the hospital, and the chances of survival were almost non-existent. To go and look for her mother would lead to almost a 100% chance of dying. How brave would you need to be before you dared to go looking? If it was my mother at the hospital, even I wasnt sure whether I had the guts to go and search for her. As for her father, he turned into an aberrant that night. Luckily, she had the habit of locking her door at night, and in the end, her father jumped out of the window to run away and chase some noises outside, which gave her a glimmer of hope for survival. I truly wasnt interested in the whole life story of Miss Lai Yueqi. She was trying to steal my boyfriend and now shes acting like were best friends. What the hell is going on? At first, Id listened impatiently, but after reaching the military shelter, and we were finally no longer in immediate danger, there wasnt actually anything to do. There was a lot of free time, and she willingly told me and stayed away from my boyfriend. It felt like listening to some kind of broadcast show. Weijun, whats wrong, did you find something? Xia Zhengu worriedly asked. If not, just leave it, dont take any risks. Although these corpses are all mostly eaten and shouldnt turn into monsters, we dont know if theres one that escaped. I dont want you to get injured. I looked up at him. He looked worried. During this period of time, he had returned to behaving like he had before the apocalypse, always smiling, a bit carefree and foolish, even keeping his distance from Yueqi, not sticking close to her like before. The only thing missing was confessing they were having an affair. As for what happened with my mother, he apologized over and over again. He simply said it wasnt intentional. He had just automatically saved Xiao Qi whod been beside him. When I rebuked himter, he imed that he had made up random excuses because he had a hard time admitting he was wrong. If he was able to change, I didnt want to keep up my cold demeanor. Being on the run was already exhausting, but if I also had to fight with a mistress and act coldly toward my boyfriend every day, that would really be too tiring. I couldnt help but drop the spiteful, ice-cold tone and say softly, Zhengu, this guy is still alive. Hearing this, Xia Zhengu looked over in surprise. He probably noticed my change in attitude and smiled, but then he pulled me to my feet and said somewhat anxiously, He wont survive long. We should go now. If we wait until he dies and turns into a monster, wed be in trouble. As soon as the young soldier heard Xia Zhengus words, his expression darkened. He lowered his head and didnt even utter so much as a word to ask for help. I suddenly realized that this ce had beenpletely stripped of supplies. It was likely that a lot of people had been here already, so perhaps this soldier had asked for help before. Maybe everyone ignored him, or maybe worse, they took his stuff yet abandoned him. He was probably about to give up all hope as a result. I quickly said, All these people who sacrificed themselves were soldiers, and this one even looks younger than us. We cant just leave. So what if theyre soldiers Xia Zhengu started to say impatiently, but he suddenly stopped. It seemed hed realized his tone was wrong, so he quickly changed tune and said earnestly, Weijun, I dont want to get mad at you, but have you already forgotten how these bastards treated us? Those high officials of the Shuangguan family live in luxury while we have to eat garbage. We never have enough food or enough clothes to keep warm! Xia Zhengu had been bad-tempered and foulmouthed our entire stay, but I didnt feel the same resentment. After all,pared to our life on the run, life at the shelter wasnt so bad. Perhaps we didnt have as much food as we had while on the run, but at least we could sleep well. If we had to go through days like that again, in which we couldnt lie down to sleep, I wasnt sure if I wouldnt simply choose to go to sleep and never wake up. I said quietly, At least we have a safe ce to sleep, and something to eat. Were relying on these soldiers to guard the shelter. Their bosses living in luxury has nothing to do with them. In truth, I really wasnt goodhearted enough to think that even a seriously injured stranger had to be saved. Such good intentions had alreadypletely vanished shortly after the apocalypse started. But this young soldier in front of me was different. He and the mutted, mangled soldiers that littered the ground were the soldiers of this district. When the army of aberrants attacked, many high officials and soldiers fled. But these soldiers lying on the ground hadnt run. Theyd still formed the front line of defense, giving us ordinary people a chance to survive and escape using another exit. But Xia Zhengu snapped, They dont live in luxury? Which of these soldiers didnt eat better than us? So youre just going to ignore that these people gave their lives to defend the entrance of the shelter? I took a deep breath. I didnt want to get caught up again discussing the issues of rank with Xia Zhengu. I just wanted to try and see if we could save the life of this young soldier. Zhengu, look at his face, how old can he be? He still stood at the front line to guard the entrance. If we just abandon him and leave, how can we still consider ourselves human? Perhaps I had be more determined, or Xia Zhengu had recently softened a bit, because he couldnt persuade me. Helplessly, he said, If you want to bring him, bring him. Remember to tie his hands. If that guy dies Ill blow his head off myself! I interrupted him. I watched as he unhappily turned away and went to look for more supplies. I crouched down and patted the young soldiers head. I tried to help him up, but I heard him stifle a few groans after even the slightest of movements. It seemed he was in a lot of pain, so I quickly started talking to him to distract him a bit. I say, why dont youe with us? The young soldiers body went rigid, and he lifted his head to cast a quick nce at me. He didnt respond, though, and his eyes were still very dull. He really didnt look like he had been saved. I patted his head and said with a smile, Dont be afraid, Jijie will look after you. If you really cant walk, I can carry you. Anyhow, Im not going to leave you here alone. He lowered his head and still didnt reply, but I noticed his body was slightly trembling. He was crying. Even though he was a soldier, he was still so young. How could he have really been waiting quietly for death? He must have been so scared. It was almost impossible to see, but he nodded. Little brother, whats your name? The young soldier startled. He lifted his head to answer, and I took the chance to lift him to his feet. He just cried out, and any other sounds stuck in his throat. His entire face turned white from pain. Luckily, he was able to stand, though just barely. He was a bit weak, and his right foot was injured, so he could only drag his leg and needed someone to support him on his right side to be able to walk. But he was able to walk. I let out a sigh of relief. If the young soldier really hadnt been able to even walk, I was afraid the only thing I could do was to send him to his next life. Thank you With his head drooping down, the tiniest whisper of thanks could be heard from his direction. My name is Wei Mingyun. Volume 6, 4: Failed Negotiations

Volume 6, Chapter 4: Failed Negotiations

Wei Mingyun Wei Xiaog! I popped up from the bed, in disbelief that I had slept so soundly in the apocalypse. If an aberrant were nearby, I wouldnt even have known how Id diedwait, this is my room. Jiang Shuyus room. After looking around and finding not even the slightest hint of danger, I sat sluggishly on the side of the bed and used both hands to hit my cheeks. With a loud p, my chaotic feelings gradually began to calm down. Immediately afterwards, I began to carefully recall the past I had dreamed of. It turned out that Wei Xiaog had given his full name from the start. Only, everyone had called him Wei Xiaog, and I had also followed suit. Sometimes, for the sake of teasing him, I would switch to calling him baby bro WeiWei Xiaod. However, Xia Zhengu had disliked Wei Xiaog from the start. It was just that Wei Xiaog was powerful, had joined the team for a long time, and hadntmitted any big mistakes. If Xia Zhengu were to want to chase him away, who knows how many of the team would want to leave with Wei Xiaog! Several times, when I spoke with Wei Xiaog, Xia Zhengu would use that as an excuse to blow up. Later on, in order to avoid bringing trouble to Wei Xiaog, I no longer spoke with him in private. And so, I forgot his full name, Wei Mingyun. Even so, Wei Xiaog didnt skimp on helping me out. He repaid the debt of saving his life over and over again. It was as if to him, he was never ever going to be able to repay the debt in full. When I recalled the life debt, I felt uneasy. If I dont go and save him this time around, will Wei Xiaog actually die in that shelter? The door was suddenly opened. I looked over. Xiao Sha came in with a kettle. When he saw that I was awake, he froze, then rxed and said, So, youre already up. Ill get some food for you. Eat up, and then youll have to hurry and I stared nkly at Xiao Sha. Xia Zhengus face suddenly appeared in my mind. In that moment, he was yelling. Those high officials of the Shangguan family live in luxury, eating and drinking their fill Ah! I yelled. Xiao Sha startled so hard that the kettle fell on the ground. He immediately drew his dagger and looked around, thinking there was an enemy. I finally figured it out! In my previous life, I learned from broadcasts that there was a shelter nearby outside of the city. We fled the city with our lives on the line to seek shelter. The shelter used to be a military campthe Shangguan familys military camp! I didnt know how many times Xia Zhengu had yelled in front of me, Shangguan trash, or zy Shangguan asses. The surname was so unique. How could I have taken this long to remember! Probably because there were too many people and things Xia Zhengu alwaysined about. They were just like those mistresses, so numerous that I couldnt even remember their faces, let alone their names. Thinking it over carefully, this lifes Guan Weijun lived in Lan City, while in the previous life, I had also lived in the city. I grew up, went to school, and got a job all in the same city because my mom wasnt willing to leave the city where she and herte husband had so many memories. I wanted to keep Mompany, so I had stayed in the same city the entire time. Even though the name of the city wasnt the same, and this lifes Guan Weijun wasnt me, my mom was still the same. Just like in the previous life, she definitely didnt want to leave. Also, Guan Weijun looked rather dutiful. Like me, she had probably also chosen to keep her motherpany. Going by that, Lan City should be the big city that trapped me for so long in my previous life! If history doesnt change, then Lan Citys aberrants will join forces and attack the Shangguan familys military camp. The shelter will get breached. Last time, many people died When exactly did it happen? I really couldnt remember. There were too many experiences like this in the apocalypse. We would find shelter and live in peace for a few days, and then we would be forced by aberrants to flee again. This had happened not too long after the apocalypse had started too. Afterwards, I went through ten years as Guan Weijun, then eighteen years as Jiang Shuyu. All in all, that was nearly thirty years, so my memories were all fuzzy and mixed up. I couldnt tell them apart, waitthat was definitely something that happened at the start of the apocalypse, and it happened before the second ck fog too. It definitely happened before a year was up! Xiao Yu? Xiao Sha looked at me in confusion. My face was pale as I looked back at him and asked, Xiao Sha, what month is it right now? Xiao Sha frowned, but he still gave it serious thought and answered, Around mid-February to early March. I dont remember the exact date, but it should be around then. There are only three months left until a full year of the apocalypse will be up Will the aberrants join forces and attack the Shangguans military camp again? Even during a life-or-death situation, the Shangguan family was still sending some of their troops to attack our Zhanjiang Garrison. I was certain that this hadnt happened in my past life. Could their loss of military power result in speeding up the breach of the shelter this time? After all, theyd be short four hundred soldiersOh no, sh*t! Dont tell me I killed off Wei Xiog during the night raid?! As the terrifying thought crossed my mind, I hastily asked, Xiao Sha, have you heard about someone named Wei Mingyun? Xiao Sha shook his head in bewilderment. Now that I thought about it, at that time, Wei Xiaog was still very young. He probably hadnt even graduated from military school. There was simply no way for him to aplish any big achievements that could make Xiao Sha take notice of him. Still, Wei Xiaog had be a whole lot stronger afterwards. Although Xia Zhengu had robbed him of a huge amount of evolution crystals, he had still managed to be one of our strongest elites. Thats the reason Xia Zhengu grew to hate Wei Xiaog. Xia Zhengu was intimidated by him, yet he didnt dare to kick him out because he was afraid that many people would leave with him. Killing him wasnt a good idea either. Wei Xiaog wasnt an easy target to kill. Everyone already knew how much Xia Zhengu hated Wei Xiaog anyway. If anything were to happen to Wei Xiaog, he would be the first person to be suspected! Wei Xiaog had privately rescued quite a lot of people, yet he had never demanded them to return the favor. He was young, good-looking, and carried himself with a boyish charm he had yet to grow out of. Women were attracted to him or treated him with motherly care, while men werent too hostile toward a big kid like him. Wei Xiaog could basically attract both men and women. Considering his overwhelming poprity with all, who knew how many people had been secretly eyeing him. Xiao Sha suddenly said, Xiao Yu, now isnt the time for you to be daydreaming. The Shangguan troops have already reached the outskirts of Old Town. Upon hearing this, I immediately returned to my senses. Xiao Sha picked up the kettle from the ground. He checked to see that it was still half full before handing it over to me. I drank the sweet honey water as I listened to his report about the current situation. Youve slept for a day. During that time, weve been force-feeding you with some evolution crystals. No wonder my wounds have healed so quickly, though theres still some pain and aches here and there. Anyhow, youre considered healthy as long as you still can move around during the apocalypse. Shangguan Chenhong arrivedter than expected. They have been staying at the outskirts since they arrived here. Its likely a result of your raidtheyre hesitant about attacking because they dont have enough information on us. I quietly nodded my head. Although the desired oue had been achieved, I wholeheartedly prayed that this raid hadnt killed a person who shouldnt be killed. Despite my two lifetimes, this was the first time that I had mercilessly killed so many people. But as a result of that, fear engulfed my conscience, and my stomach churned with tense cramps. I was horrified at the thought that I had possibly caused my past lifes savior to die at the young age of eighteen. They want to negotiate first, so Cain told me toe over and check if youre awake. Wheres Shujun? I couldnt help asking about my little sisters whereabouts. Her rg has passed out, yet Shujun isnt by my side. This is just too strange. My heart wouldnt feel at ease until I got to the bottom of it. Shes outside. Cain is having her on standby because her powers are very useful for both defense and attack. Almost no one can defend against it. Xiao Sha then added, Shes ced at a very safe location. Its easily guarded and hard to attack. Yunqian is also with her. Theyll attack only when its dire. I nodded and said, Ill go after I change my clothes. When it came to negotiations, I definitely wasnt as well versed at it as Cain and the others. But I was useful for other things like being a readily avable, dangerous weapon of murder. And because of that, I couldnt keep up the pretense of a delicate pretty boy. Xiao Sha nodded and left the room first. I took out of the wardrobe a brand-new white shirt made from butterfly silk. The shirt I had worn during the raid had most likely been reduced to a tattered, bloody garment. Besides, I still had a mountain of butterfly silk fromst time. Even if I used it like disposable clothing, I could still use it for a long period of time. Just as I was about to put on my clothes, something plump and round suddenly pounced on me, sprawling t against my chest, stretching longer and finally turning into a transparent vest. The whole process only took a few seconds. This was the result of practicing again and again. Jiang Xiaorong. I silently pondered for a while, and carefully said, There might be a great battle after this. If we really cant win it, then you may flee. Regardless of what the Ice Emperor did to make you faithfully obey my wordsbasically, you dont need to sacrifice your life because of this. Im giving you the permission to flee. Do you understand what Im saying? Understand? I vaguely felt that Jiang Xiaorong was a little confused and did not fully understand me, but I simply had no time to slowly exin it to him. If it came down to it, I would simply take him off and toss him aside. In the midst of the chaotic fighting, I believe no one would be so free as to bother an ice crystal vest. I took a deep breath, and ice crystals started to spread upwards from the bottom of my feet, forming a pair of ice boots. Then, I put on an ice mask to cover my overly youthful and pretty face, tightly pursed my lips, and put on a face of indifference. Once again, I took on the cool appearance from therge-scale night raid two days prior. The moment I stepped out of the room, I saw Xiao Sha standing outside the door. He handed over the items in both hands together, which were jerky and evolution crystals. As expected, these were the two things I needed the most right now. Ill reject the jerky for now, since it wont be filling, and instead will make me crave more food. Now isnt the time to be eating, so Ill put it aside. I swallowed the evolution crystals in one shot, and then summoned my hoarfrost dagger. I couldnt resist trying to summon the Ice Emperors spear again, but the ice spear still refused toe. However, therge ice pattern on my right hand still continued to radiate cold air, which was vastly different from before, when it had been still. I wasnt too surprised by that. It looked like things were definitely different once you hit tier three, though I still couldnt summon the Ice Emperors spear. Perhaps it was because tier three was just the threshold to the realm of the elites, and it was far from enough. I wonder how many more tiers I have to go before I can see the Ice Emperors spear again. Tier five or six? Regardless, there will definitely be a day I can materialize the Ice Emperors spear again! Stand back. I warned Xiao Sha. Xiao Sha opened his mouth, but before he could speak, white vapor hade out from his mouth. His expression changed, and he instantly moved back several steps. Noticing that something was off, he instead jumped onto the ceiling and held onto the wall light. It was a close shave, for the ice on the ground had nearly frozen his leg. With my icy aura, I decided it was time to be a killer weapon. Xiao Sha personally led the way, but his whole body was tense, and goosebumps emerged on his skin. Most likely, this was the first time he had felt cold since the winter began. Many tents were set outside the mansion, and the civilians were all gathered within the walls of the mansion. Most of them were whispering to each other in unease, but a small portion of them looked calmer and were even helping to maintain order. Thinking about it, I believed those should be Guan Weijuns people. Everyones reaction upon seeing me was the samethey stopped all movements and speech, and stared at me with widened eyes. The kids looked extremely excited, but their mothers grabbed and held onto them tight, not allowing them to run off. Fine, I get that I look like a magical warrior who has walked into the wrong dimension. But the style of this ice armor is just like that, half-translucent. I dont want to focus too much on my appearance just for the sake of looking a little more high-tech. One must know that every moment counts in a battle, and every bit of power is precious. It is necessary to be able to forge the most useful armor in an instant, so as long as it wasnt too hideous for the world, that was fine with me. When I walked past, the crowd all shivered, evidently feeling the cold. I quickly picked up my pace and walked faster, so that the kids wouldnt suffer side effects from freezing. I did a sweep of the area, and then realized that the civilians would sneak a look at the mansion from time to time, their eyes full of desire to go in. I immediately asked Xiao Sha with a lowered voice, Whos guarding the mansion? On my side, theres me, Zheng Xing and Lily. Most of the people in your troop stayed. Chen Yanqing, Su Ying, Gao Yun, and such. On Guan Weijuns end, theres Tai Wen and Zhang Jing. After saying that, Xiao Sha gestured for the military men standing at both sides of the door to open it. They turned, and I then noticed that there were two members of the Ice Spears among the people guarding the doorPeng Weijie and Huang Guanlun. The former had thought that his ability was vibrating objects, and as for thetter If he still cant find his ability, Im going to st him awayand I mean it literally! Its easiest for ones ability to manifest when they are on the edge of life and death. The two of them recognized me from the icy aura, but seeing that I was wearing a mask, they understood that I did not intend to reveal my identity, so they were trying hard to pretend that they did not know me. Tell Tai Wen that Im going to the outer walls. Also, have him be ready to use his power at any time. Xiao Sha ryed it to Huang Guanlun, who immediately nodded and answered, Yes. While we walked out of the mansion, Xiao Sha exined more about the current situation. He seemed perplexed as he said, Shangguan Chenhong came over personally. In the past, he wouldnte out to battle with the troops. I dont know if this means his power is really strong, and thats why he dared toe along. I thought about it for a bit, and then said, He probably thinks that the mission to attack our base this time will be an easy one and wanted to get the credit for it. After all, they have more than four hundred fully equipped military troops. At present, even the aberrants would choose to avoid them. Xiao Sha gave a hmph with a dirty look. I sounded out the idea, If I can seize a chance to kill off Shangguan Chenhong, would that help the current battle? After all, they were still rtives, so I was worried that Xiao Sha might still mind. If I killed him, would it cause a rift between us? As for Xiao Shas elder brother, Shangguan Chenhao, I absolutely wouldnt kill him unless I had no other choice. Even if Xiao Sha kept iming that he didnt care about him, that didnt seem to be the case in reality. Xiao Sha pondered and said with uncertainty, Im not very close with Shangguan Chenhong. I just know that he is rather bold and would openly oppose Shangguan Chenhao. But hes not the type to lead his troops into battle, so hes probably pretty useless on the battlefield. He might have some use if we capture him as a hostage though. Capturing him alive was harder than killing him. Id first need to hide to see whether he would carelessly walk up to the front of his troops, or should I charge out and directlymence with the killing? Ill leave it to Cain to decide! After washing my hands of the hot potato, I temporarily retracted the icy air to let Xiao Sha set up a hidden passageway. An area with the mansion at its center and extending outwards by two streets width on all sides had bepletely surrounded to be like a circle, not unlike a small cityke. Buildings had beenpletely sealed up and abandoned cars were piled up on the streets. If I could get an earth power user to fill them out with earth, it would be an extremely basic city wall. As long as the enemies didnt have rule breaking things like missiles, it should be more than enough. Sadly, I already knew that our opponents had a weapon that was just a hair below a missile. In fact, if a metal user and an earth user worked together, it would be even easier to build. A powerful metal user might even be able to twist the cars into metal pieces, which was the perfect construction material! Unfortunately, we didnt have any metal users in the JDT. Although our newer members, Ding Jun and Wen Jianuo, were metal users, Ding Jun had eaten very few crystals and also had only trained for a short period of time, so his abilities were too weak to be of much use. Wen Jianuos ability was to transform parts of himself into metal. Although I wasnt sure if he could control metal in the future, it was definitely a no go for him right now. Just now, Xiao Sha had described how the Shangguan family was only stationed outside the small town. However, when we arrived at the temporary city wall, we could hear movement outside of the gate. We exchanged nces, then used our own ways to scale the city wall without alerting anyone, and silently surveyed the situation outside the wall. Once on the wall, I immediately looked all around us. Xiao Sha seemed to know what I was looking for and exined, Theyre not here. Shujun and Yunqian are hidden at the sniping point at the building behind us. I rxed. I was only able to observe the situation once I had confirmed my mimeis safety. Outside the gate, Wen Jianuo was facing off with a man in a woolen coat. Neither of them seemed to have any weapons on them and had only brought a person each. Lin Zuojun, a guy with teleportation powers, was standing behind Wen Jianuo. We also had others hidden on the walls on our side, every one of them aiming guns toward the enemy. The enemy was even more extreme. There were close to a hundred men standing in four rows behind the man in the woolen coat, and I counted thirty to forty AK-47s and M4 carbines among them. If this negotiation fell apart and a shootout started, my Ice Spears captain would turn from man to mincemeat in an instant, without any hope of finding any piece of him, not even a palm-sized piece! Wen Jianuo heading out to negotiate must have been arranged by a certain someone. I scanned the surroundings and soon located Cain, who was standing beside the gate. He wasnt far from Wen Jianuo, and could immediately reenter the gate if he just turned around. At the same time, it was a good spot where he was close enough to hear the negotiations. Seeing as Cain had it all nned out, I could only remain hidden and focus my entire attention on the negotiations. The moment I saw something even the slightest bit off, I would be able to jump in to save my captain. As for Lin Zuojunheh, guys who can teleport can damn well save their own lives. Xiao Yu, Xiao Sha whispered, The man wearing the woolen coat is Shangguan Chenhong. He has some balls to stand out here, I said dryly. This wasnt courage but the fearlessness that came with real power. Anyone could tell that there was a gulf between us in terms of firepower and equipment. Xiao Sha seemed very confused and theorized, Maybe his ability is blocking or dodging bullets. Otherwise, theres no way he would be standing at the front. Any who get to positions like his are very careful with their lives. This was possible. It was a pity that I didnt have enough time to train Wen Jianuo; otherwise, a guy who was able to transform his body to metal was an anti-bullet shield perfect for blocking bullets for us. In fact, you might be unlucky enough to get hit by bullets rebounding from his body. May I ask why you havee to our Zhanjiang Garrison? Wen Jianuos tone was extremely harsh andpletely expressed his dissatisfaction. He really was very ballsy for a man facing countless AK-47s and M4 carbines head on. Shangguan Chenhong didnt immediately reply. He looked Wen Jianuo up and down and drawled, Your posture is not bad. You must be a soldier? Its one thing to desert the army, but youre even nning to take over and rule the territory? My expression darkened. This bastard immediately started trash talking the military the moment he opened his mouth. It wasnt even a year into the apocalypse. For guys like Wen Jianuo who had proven to be good soldiers, he might still consider himself as part of the army. I would cry if my captain really returned to the army. Wen Jianuos expression froze for a moment before a cheeky grin spread over his face once again. He said, I do indeed live here, but I wouldnt call myself the ruler of this territory. Just like everyone else, Im only doing what I need to survive. After all, what squad is there for me to return to now? Everyones doing their own thing. Shangguan Chenhong rebuked, Who says you dont have any squad to return to? I am Major General Shangguan. State your military rank, soldier! My rank is cannon fodder. I just got careless and failed to die. The corners of Wen Jianuos mouth turned upward as he talked, but that obviously fake smile sent shivers down my spine. If I hadnt happened to be in the right ce at the right time, with Dg at my side, it would probably have been impossible for me to tame this fellow. Er, actually, have I truly tamed this guy? Shangguan Chenhongs face darkened as he chided, It seems that youre set on betraying us! You were the one who ambushed us, werent you? Laying your hands on arade, can you even call yourself human? Wen Jianuo scoffed, And who exactly did I betray? The guys in Zhi Bei cant be contacted at all. Who died and made a monkey like you king, anyway? Shangguan Chenhong was furious at beingpared to a monkey. Wen Jianuo angrily refuted, Youre even ming me for taking the initiative? Dont tell me, a group of fully armed soldiers just happened to pass by? Territory is obtained on a firste-first-served basis. It took us a lot of effort to take over this ce and constantly defend it from frequent monster attacksing from nearby Lan City. We finally managed to construct some semnce of fortification after so long, yet you want to take everything away from us with a single order? Comrades? Bah! You people are even worse than the monsters! Hmph! Shangguan Chenhongs pride didnt allow him to attempt defending himself, so another person stepped forward instead. This person wore a military uniform with many badges on it, and he appeared to be older than Shangguan Chenhong. He was probably in his fifties, but his attitude was far less overbearing. He exined, We never nned on fighting you guys. We just wanted to incorporate you into our army. We have many arms and soldiers, but we havent got a good military base. Our military camp is being used to house civilian refugees as well, but the few houses we have are far from enough for all the refugees. Theyre forced to live in tents, but now that the weather has gotten colder, more and more people are freezing to death. The old soldier sighed. Wen Jianuo sneered, Spoken like a true hero, but I used to be a soldier, you know? If we hadnt ambushed you and killed off a few dozen of your men, would you even have considered talking to us in a civilized manner like you are now? Im afraid that your so-called incorporation involved massacring all of us if we refused to surrender, without giving us a chance to discuss terms! And even if we surrendered, several of my closest brothers and I would have been executed. You wouldnt even have had toe up with a n on how to kill us quietly. All youd have to do is send us to fight the monsters. Even if we survived a few attacks, wed probably be severely wounded and out ofmission! The old soldier immediately replied, We wouldnt do that sort of thing! We are in great need of talent and would never sacrifice our soldiers for no reason. You might not be able to trust others, but can you not even trust yourrades? Wen Jianuo raised an eyebrow and loudly said, Of course I trust in the brothers andrades I have here. Right now, we dont have any officers who have never seen battle giving us silly orders either. As for you people? When a superior officer says Even if the monsters are eating people everywhere, we shouldnt kill them, and should instead kill other people to steal their territory, youre still here following orders. Tsk tsk. Having been suddenly coldly mocked, the old soldier felt so awkward that he couldnt respond right away. Shangguan Chenhong finally lost his patience and angrily yelled, We gave you an easy way out, but it looks like youd rather do things the hard way! Wen Jianuo sensed the hostility in his voice and immediately swung into action, his body turning into a metallic silver-gray color. At the same time, there were the sounds of a gunshot followed by a bullet hitting metal. The old soldier cried out in pain and grabbed his left arm, having been unfortunate enough to be hit by the reflected bullet. Holding a gun, Shangguan Chenhong roared, Fire! Kill this man and we no longer have to negotiate with him! Stop! shouted the old soldier. He gritted his teeth in pain and growled, He is not their leader. We cant kill him! Before the soldiers could decide which order to follow, a wall of me leapt up in between the three men and the soldiers. I immediately leapt off the city wall and glided toward Shangguan Chenhong. This was the golden opportunity to capture him. Before Shangguan Chenhong could react, I was already right in front of him. He had only just begun to raise his gun. I raised a hand and fired off an ice de, nning on freezing the gun, but Shangguan Chenhong exploded when it hit! A man had just exploded, but instead of blood and flesh sttering all over the ce, there was only a mass ofpaper? I reached out to grab the white stuff floating in mid-air, which turned out to be confetti. A guny in the middle of a pile of confetti on the ground. Just what is going on? The old soldier groaned and fell to the ground, unmoving. He had fallen unconscious. My head tightened and my danger instinct made me throw out a hand to build an ice wall within the wall of fire. Almost simultaneously, the guns roared. Everyone retreat behind the walls! After shouting that at Wen Jianuo and the others, I grabbed the old soldier on the floor and started my retreat behind the wall as I built ice wall after ice wall to block the never-ending bullets. It wasnt just the enemy shooting at us, our side was firing back at them as well. The space between us became a storm of bullets as both sides exchanged fire. Although we had fewer people, we had the advantage of the city wall. Even if the metal and bricks couldnt block all the bullets, it provided cover from their line of sight. Furthermore, they reduced the impact of the bullets, so for our side that had strengthened our bodies after eating crystals, as long as a bullet didnt hit a fatal spot, it wouldnt be fatal. Then, I spotted them taking out familiar looking guns with my keen vision. Crystal energy guns! I roared, Cain, burn that way! Cain didnt question me in the slightest and shouted, Its too far. Xiao Sha, give me a hand with some wind! Then, he pped his hands together and spread them outwards. A ball of rolling mes emerged in between his palms, and as he pulled his hands further apart, the fireball becamerger andrger, to the point where even I could feel the heat from how far away I was standing. When the fireball was half the height of a person, Cain lifted his hands. The ball extended upward continuously to form a fire dragon in the sky, and with the help of a wild gust of wind, the fire dragon leapt at the enemy. A few energy guns fired our way, but I had expected that and had already built multiple ice walls to block them. With the help of the gale winds, the zing inferno of the fire dragon directly charged at the two rows of soldiers. What was scarier than the intense heat was that if they couldnt hide in time, this dragon would twist and turn like a living creature and keep chasing after those people. They were forced to split up and hide to avoid getting annihted in one fell swoop. I spotted Shangguan Chenhong at the very back of those people. He seemedpletely unscathed. I really had no idea what this ability was that could let him suddenly switch from the very front to the very back of his troops, leaving behind some paper and a gun. It was quite unique and I had never heard of something like this in my previous life. I looked down at the old soldier on the ground. The timing of him fainting was just too coincidental. Maybe turning a person into paper confetti had nothing to do with Shangguan Chenhong but was instead the old soldiers power. Xiao Sha also noticed Shangguan Chenhong and said coldly, As expected, Shangguan Chenhong really isnt the type to step forward to negotiate. Hes a coward. Can we use this old soldier guy to threaten him? I asked. With such a unique power and so many badges pinned in front of his chest, this old soldier looked like he was someone pretty important. Xiao Sha shook his head and said, No idea, Im not that familiar with the people of the Shangguan family. You dont know this one or that one. Dont act like youre not a Shangguan person and pretend that youre from the Xiao family because youre called Xiao Sha! I bundled the old soldier with ice chains like he was a dumpling and had Xiao Sha keep an eye on him. This guy probably had a very unique power. If he turned into a bunch of confetti and disappeared as well, then we would havepletely failed at capturing anyone. But killing him, well it felt like such a waste. A unique power like this might only be found in this guy and no one else. Where are you going now?! Cain bellowed, gritting his teeth as he controlled the fire dragon. Im gonna grab a few of those crystal energy guns. I pointed at the people holding onto the crystal energy guns. Knowing his observation skills, he should have long discovered the existence of those guns. Dont bother. Wen Jianuo immediately vetoed that when he heard me, Theres only a hundred or so people there. The others might be advancing from another direction. Simple walls made from cars and earth arent enough to block them. When Cains fire dragon is almost used up, we should start retreating and use the traps on the way to fight our retreat back to the mansion. Only the reinforced walls of the mansion are enough to block their attacks. When theyve reached the mansion walls, we can ask your little sister and Yunqian to unleash their ultimate skills on them. So the reason Shujun and Yunqian have been holding back is because theyre our secret weapon? Fine, then I wont go. Cain and Wen Jianuo had everything sorted out, so I didnt want to create trouble. Ill help with the retreat, and at most after they released their ultimate skills, Id go out and scavenge the leftovers. Crystal energy guns just needed some evolution crystals to be used, so in the apocalyptic world, they were much more practicalpared to other weapons. It would be such a pity if we couldnt get our hands on some. The fire dragon stopped attacking. Sweat had beaded on Cains foreheadit seemed to have consumed a lot of his powers, but this wasnt any surprise. Releasing your powers a distance away from yourself wasnt simple, and if not for Xiao Shas supporting winds, his fire wouldnt have burned for so long. The moment the fire dragon vanished, the enemyunched a vicious attack. The crystal energy guns packed a real punch, and each shot would st through the walls constructed of cars and dirt and reach the people hiding behind the walls. Those who were sted either died or were incapacitated. My ice wall was able to block the shots, so I went on full defense to save people a few times. As for the shots that would miss people, I ignored them all. There were quite a few crystal energy guns. It was too tiring to block all their attacks. Cain, we should retreat. Its not worth wasting my energy to keep building ice walls. I wanted to save more than half my energy in case of an emergency. Even if I had evolution crystals to replenish my energy, I wouldnt have time to slowly absorb them while fighting. Retreat! At Cains order, we started our retreat while still fighting. We didnt have many casualties on our side, mostly just injuries, and I didnt notice anyone whod actually died. But the enemys soldiers had been dying and getting injured since the beginning. I didnt like seeing that, but I wasnt sure how Wen Jianuo felt about it. From his expression, he looked very resolute and not at all swayed by the situation. However, this made me even more uneasy. Is he really okay with everything? He had clearly been the kind of guy who cared a lot about hisrades. Equipped with knowledge of the terrain, we were able to smoothly retreat back to the mansion. Once we entered the walls, I immediately spotted Shujun and Yunqian inside. I didnt have to worry about my xiaomi as much now. Yunqian clearly knew how important Shujun was and so she would never put her in harms way. Shujun immediately rushed over to touch and grab her rg, and it was only when she was sure that I was uninjured that she could rx and go back to Yunqians side. It seemed she had been ordered to stick closely to Yunqian, which was perfect and reassuring. Tai Wen walked over, followed by Zhang Jing and my squad members, Diao Ming and the siblings, Xue Xi and Xue Huan. They were probably acting as bodyguards. After all, Tai Wen had just been an ordinary civilian when all this had started, working in a job that hadnt required any high fighting power. Together with his very unique skill, it meant he needed good protection. Tai Wen nced at me. He was one of the people who had seen my ability and probably recognized who I was, but he didnt say a single word and walked straight up to Cain. The civilians are all safe, but some people want to leave. Cain coldly harrumphed then said, We already told them before. If you want to run, do it earlier. If you choose to enter the mansion, then dont think about running. And now theyre making a fuss? Kill them! Tai Wen bit his lip. It seemed he couldnt bring himself to do it. Rather, it was Xue Xi who snickered, No problem, sir, we were waiting for your word. They were not talking softly, and all the civilians hiding in the mansion walls could hear the dialogue clear as day. Everyone immediately lowered their heads, fearful of being noticed by Cain. They were terrified of the JDT and didnt dare to protest. Cain barked out a string of orders, and I finally understood what was meant by an all-rounder mercenary. No wonder Dg thought so highly of him. Even though he looked like an idiot, he was really reliable at critical times. Xiao Sha, wake up that old guy and find out his identity and powers. If he doesnt talk, start slicing off parts of him! If we get sieged for too long, we can use his meat to eat hot pot! Cains words were hair raising, but I was pretty sure he just wanted to scare those restless citizens right?! Anyway, Ill eat any meat, just not human flesh! Wen Jianuo, keep watch from the wall. Ill join you soon. If the gate gets breached, turn yourself into metal and be a steel gate! Wen Jianuo acknowledged the order and immediately turned to climb the wall without wasting a moment. Finally, Cain started closely questioning Tai Wen, How long can your powersst if the enemy is at our gates? Come to think of it, I wasnt of much use standing here. I checked in on xiaomi, making sure that she was sticking as close to Yunqian as possible. She was just shy of actually stering against her. My little sister is such a good girl! Then, I followed Wen Jianuo to the wall. Almost all the soldiers were gathered here. As professionals, they were holding onto guns and camouge. The mansion wouldnt go down quickly, but the problem was that we didnt have enough ammunition. Wen Jianuo first inspected outside the wall, ensuring that the enemy wasnt daring enough yet to charge at us, before looking at me and saying, If you want to conceal your identity, thene up with a codename. Otherwise, I dont know what to call you. I almost blurted out Call me the Ice Emperor, but I didnt have such thick skin. So I just said, Let me think. Wen Jianuo nodded, then spoke to the soldiers manning the stations, Shoot to kill anyone who approaches. Dont get all soft hearted just because theyre wearing a uniform. They wont do you the same favor. The military is now in anarchy and there is no more hierarchy! Theres so few of us who have managed to survive until now, so dont get all soft and get killed. The soldiers nodded seriously. After his speech, I couldnt help but ask, Youre really firm in your views. Are you really all okay with what that old soldier said? Honestly, the old soldier was very persuasive. No matter whether it was pulling rank, sympathizing with the civilians, or his promise to take Wen Jianuo in and not kill him, Wen Jianuo didnt seem the slightest bit swayed by his words even until the end. What is there to think about? Wen Jianuo scolded, Weve been saved by a kid like you so many times, and even showered in your blood countless times. If I cant even pick a side like this, then what does that make me? I smiled. It makes you my squads captain! Volume 6, 5: The Captain that Got Slapped Too Hard

Volume 6, Chapter 5: The Captain that Got pped Too Hard

I tossed out an entire wall as an ice shield, protecting Chen Yanqing from the front. In the very next second, the shield was in shattered pieces all across the ground. Chen Yanqing was knocked onto his back. Wen Jianuos expression changed. He quickly rushed over to check on hisrades condition, only to see him breathing heavily with his face full of pain. However, with Wen Jianuos support, he was still able to sit up. Wen Jianuo dug out a bullet from the chest area of Chen Yanqings bulletproof vest. Still, the bullet had blood on it. This gun had strong firepower. The bulletproof vest hadnt been able to block the attack, and the bullet had managed to meet its mark. If not for the ice shield obstructing it, I had a strong feeling that this bullet would have directly sted Chen Yanqings head into pieces. The ice shield I had tossed up had been slightly angled. Even though the ice shield I had formed on the spot wasnt sturdy enough, the angle would make sure the bullet would ricochet or be deflected. I was once again grateful for Uncles guidance. Who says that a memory ability isnt useful? The key is the person with the ability! Also, Uncle had spected that his power shouldnt just be having an improved memory. Even his thoughts had be clearer and faster. It probably wasnt just memory. It could be that his brains full capabilities had been unlocked, and that it had simply best manifested in his improved memory. Even though the power wasnt offensively oriented, Uncle could help the entire Jiang Dominion think of various ways to use and develop their powers. Just this already made me feel like this power was practically godly! Of course, the key was that Uncle, this knowledgeable person who excelled at thinking, had been matched with this power. Otherwise, this power wouldnt be this useful. At this time, Chen Yanqing finally recovered and caught his breath. His injuries didnt seem serious. He looked at me gratefully and even exaggeratedly saluted me. Go into the mansion and get your injuries checked out. Chen Yanqing nodded. Seeing that he could stand on his own and leave, he was probably fine. Wen Jianuo held the bullet and said, Sniper rifle. I nodded and asked, puzzled, Why didnt Yunqian retaliate? Maybe the opponent didnt stick their head out again after shooting, or their position is too hard to hit. Wen Jianuo exined, Even though the mansion is on high terrain, the building isnt high. If the opponent is hiding in a building, shell have a hard time retaliating A gunshot rang out. At the same time, ss from a nearby building suddenly shattered. She retaliated. I gazed into the distance. So it wasnt that shes not returning the favor. The timing just wasnt right! Was it a hit? Wen Jianuo asked curiously. It was. Blood had sprayed onto the other half of the ss window, the part that hadnt broken. There was quite a lot, too. Other than that, there was no sign of any movement. The person was most likely dead. Beautiful marksmanship! Wen Jianuo praised, but then questioned, Why isnt she the one with enhanced vision? If a sniper had that power, theyd be like a tiger with wings. No one would be able to escape from her sniping. That goes without saying. Id even gone out of my way to request that Uncle study Lilys sight power to see how she could develop it. When I made the request, my feelings were very conflicted. If her sight power really couldnt be improved on much, then what should Lily do? Or maybe, the power of sight had a lot of room to improve. Then, why had I given up on myself in myst life because of my sight power? Wouldnt I have been stupid beyond words? However, in thest life, I had found a boyfriend like Xia Zhengu, so I had already been stupid beyond words. This lifes Lily was much more important. Sight can definitely be a useful power! I warned Wen Jianuo, Firearms will be less and less useful soon. Theyre fine for killing regr people, but against someone like me who has reached tier three, well, youve already witnessed how useful a gun is against me. Wen Jianuoughed. But there arent many people like you. I coldly said, You just have to survive for ten years. Even those who havent eaten a single crystal will all be people like me. Even so, surviving for ten years itself was a huge barrier. Around ten years into the apocalypse, someone in the group estimated the poption of the world with the number of people we had in the area. The conclusion was that there were approximately 100 million to around 150 million people in the world. He even stressed that this was likely to be a great overestimation. There had originally been a poption of more than seven billion. After ten years, there were only around 100 million left. Out of seventy people, only one and a half could survive. With such a low survival rate, anyone would be tier three or higher. It seemed like a matter of course. I had just hoped that this time, without Thirteen wreaking havoc in Meisia, and with the base we constructed as the Jiang Dominion, we could ensure that more people would survive on thisndyet now, we were going to fight with other humans. This is just so stupid! Cant you have it good and I have it good, so we all have it good? Soldiers and civilians inside the wall, listen to us. We are the troops that the higher-ups have sent over to help. However, we have met a private troop that blocked our assistance. They want to upy thend. Do not help someone who will abuse you. Do not get tricked into bing their ves An endless broadcast came spewing all this nonsense from outside the wall, clearly for the sake of inciting a rebellion inside the mansion. Wen Jianuo and I were greatly rmed. Then suddenly, a loud mor could be heard behind us, prompting us to turn around at the same time. The civilians near the tents were rising to their feet and yelling in excitement. Although I couldnt hear what they were yelling, it was clear from one nce that the broadcast had a huge impact on them. Now that things had reached this stage, it was pointless to be angry. I coolly said, Wen Jianuo. If youre allowed to call the shots, what would you do? In my opinion, Cain and Wen Jianuo more or less handled things simrly. Still, when it came to ruthlessness, Wen Jianuo wasnt exactly on the same level as Cain . After all, one is a soldier, while the other is a mercenary. A mere difference in title makes a huge difference in actuality. Wen Jianuo coldly said, Just shoot two or three people dead. Theyll quiet down. I immediately turned silent. Whats the point of making them quiet anyway? Theyve already had a change of heart. If we forced them to stay, wed even have to keep our guards up. If Cain were inmand, what would he do? He obviously wouldnt show any more mercy than Wen Jianuos method of forcing obedience by sacrificing a few, right? I quietly contemted, then said, Ill go look for Cain and have him let them leave from the back entrance. Those who want to leave can leave. Theres no need to keep them. Upon hearing this, Wen Jianuos expression changed, and the hard lines around his face softened. It seemed that he hadnt really wanted to use brute forcekilling people, demonstrating power and whatnot. Hes all bark and no bite. Wen Jianuo then said, But the civilians know who we have. Im afraid its too risky to release them. They barely know anything. Dg and Cain scared the sh*t out of them several times before, so theyll definitely mislead others about our powers. Releasing them might even cause others to overestimate us. I rolled my eyes at him. Despite his tall and intimidating outward appearance, his bark was really worse than his bite. Whenpared to Chen Yanqing, he was just slightly more decisive. Once Ive gone down from the city walls, tell everyone to take cover and avoid the snipers shot. Were already few in number, so each and every one of us must be protected. In an exaggerated manner, Wen Jianuo lifted his right foot and set it down again with his legs straight. He performed a military salute and barked back, Yes, vicecough, sir! We will absolutely stay alive and await your return. The surrounding soldiers standing nearby shot sideways nces at us. There was a hint of helplessness on their faces. I jumped down from the wall and strode toward the civilians, enshrouded by an intimidating icy aura. Silence spread through the crowd without my having to say a word. Before some troublemakers managed to speak up, I quickly walked over to them and stomped my right foot. Countless ice thorns erupted from the ground,pletely surrounding them like an ice prison. These ice thorns were at least three meters tall and dense as a thicket. W-Whats happening!? The great majority of them were panicking, while some were reaching out their hand or stomping their feet in an attempt to break the ice fence. However, the moment they touched the ice, all of them would scream out in pain from the inevitable frostbite. He wants to kill us! Help! I sent the noisy ones flying with several ice pirs. Although theyy on the ground screaming in pain, none of them were seriously hurt. I didnt want to injure them so badly that they couldnt run away. Its not like I wanted to keep them around for the moment of judgment. I coldly said, Shut your traps, and maybe Ill let you live. But keep annoying me, and Ill fucking kill you right now! At this moment, Cain was rushing over and happened to hear this sentence. He walked over, and intentionally asked, Let them live? Dont tell me you want to let them go? I didnt say a word and merely nodded my head, adopting an aloof stance. Cain scratched his head, seemingly vexed and said, So you wont kill unarmed civiliansTsk tsk. I guess even someone as cold as you can act human once in a while. You know what? I think they know way too much. If they want to leave, we can just kill them and save ourselves the trouble! Hearing that, the civilians faces went ashen with fear, but no one dared to cry out. In response to Cains statement, I remained indifferent and simply answered, Get them out of here! As for how to put that into practice, lets just leave it to Cain! After all, hes more experienced than me. Cain turned around to face the civilians, and cursed loudly, Goddamn, youre lucky! Except for our Leader, only this person can let you out of here alive! Were more than happy to kick out some freeloaders anyway. Just remember this: If anyone dares to expose anything about our side, you can look forward to bing an ice sculpture! Well, its pretty much an idle threat. Once they leave, we wont be able to control their actions. At this moment, Tai Wen and Zhang Jing hade running out of the mansion. They were heading straight toward their group of people. Among the civilians, this group had stayed calm from the very beginning. Although everyone panicked when the ice fences started surrounding them, they didnt cause too much of a ruckus. They didnt even try to touch the ice thorns. I saw some familiar faces among the group. One of them was my mom from my past life, while the other one was Tai Wens wife. She was a round-faced, sweetdy, and her name was even Yu Tian, tranquil jade. After noticing the two men, the group immediately fixed their eyes on them. They gradually rxed after Tai Wen made some unknown gestures at them. He was clearly trying to calm them down. Someone had even sat straight down on the ground, evidently with no ns on leaving. With a wave of my hand, I cut holes in several of the ice fences. Then, small ice thorns gathered around the hole to form a continuous road which led toward the back entrance. However, nobody dared to move. Cain roared, Get lost! Youve only got ten minutes. If you dont leave now, youll never get the chance to leave again! The civilians were still paralyzed with fear. Less than a minute after, however, another broadcast came from outside the wall, rying all kinds of tempting information, like that their location was safe and under military safeguards, etc, etc. Someone gave in on the spot. Some middle-aged men were the first ones to make a break for it. Since our men had turned a blind eye to those leaving, the civilians grew courageous and finally got moving. You have seven more minutes. After Cain delivered this warning, they ran away even faster. Setting a time limit of ten minutes was a good idea. I wouldnt want the Shangguan family to take advantage of the situation ande running in here through the back door. Is it possible for us to stay behind? An old man came over and asked nervously, leading a child by the hand. Slightly stunned, I recognized the old man as Elder Li. Before, he had been pestering us for a talk with me Thest I heard, he had a pair of good-for-nothing children, a son and a daughter, in his family Dad! What are you talking about?! A woman protested in a shrill voice, We dont want to stay here! Theyre cold-blooded demons She suddenly paused, noticing that everyone was watching her with a horrified expression. It suddenly dawned on her that she had called us cold-blooded demons right in our faces. She looked at me and Cain with terrified eyes, and all she could stammer was I for a long time, but she didnt finish and went straight to hiding behind her fathers back. Elder Li ignored his daughter. He tightly held onto his grandchilds hand and asked again, Sir, we would like to stay behind. Is that possible? Is there no other choice but to go? Cain shot me a nce. This Elder Li seems quite interesting. I nodded my head and said, You can stay. Cain wore a helpless expression, looking like he really didnt want these two to stay behind. He cooperated and said, As stated by him, the ones who want to stay can stay. Just remember this: If you dont leave now, youll be heading to the afterlife if you try to leave after this! Got that?! Yes, yes. Well never ask to leave again. Elder Li tightened his grip on his five year-old grandsons hand. Determined not to leave, he was unmoved by his childrens outburst. In the end, the son-daughter pair abandoned their elderly father and young child. Following the crowd, they left without even looking back. Eventually, only a few more than sixty people stayed behind. If I wasnt mistaken, most of them were from Guan Weijuns group. However, they were fewer in number than before, so it wasnt like no one from their group had left. It was just that Tai Wen seemed fairly calm about the situation. The ones who had run away probably hadnt been out of his expectations. Among those who had stayed behind, the ones whom Wen Jianuo had brought included Elder Li with his grandson, Auntie Wang with the brother and sister, and a few more who I didnt recognize, numbering about ten people. Heh, from two hundred to only ten people left. These guys have given my squad leader a really hard p in the face. Why didnt you leave? Despite my cold and indifferent demeanor, I couldnt refrain from asking Elder Li for his reasoning. I didnt have a good impression of him at first, so I was very surprised when he chose to stay behind. If he was alone, then it would be understandable for him to give up on living and wait for his death. But it was a different story when he had a child with him. Elder Li lowered his eyes and said, Sir, we are grandparent and grandsonthe old one is getting on in years, while the young one is under age. No matter how much we run, how far can we go? As for which ce is good and which people are good, Ive seen enough in my old age to be able to tell. At this point, he couldnt help turning to look in the direction his son and daughter had coldly left in. Immediately, tears coursed down the old mans cheeks. He might have been trying to put on an act, but that look of soul-deep sorrow couldnt be feigned. Ive grown too old. I no longer have the energy to take care of so many immature children. But this grandson of mine is a really, really good kid! Im willing to do anything for him. I beg of you, sir, please help me protect him. His name is Li Yu. Hes been very obedient since he was young. Hes nothing like his father and aunt who I spoiled rottenI know its my fault, I did this to myself! The grandson huddled in his grandpas arms. It was a stark contrast to when his own father lefthe didnt even react much. It probably didnt make much difference to him whether that father was present or not. The child clumsilyforted, Grandpa, dont cry. Xiao Yu will behave. I looked at the kid. Contrary to that slightly chubby man and woman, he was very skinny. No wonder Elder Li couldnt help choosing him. Otherwise, this grandchild wouldnt have been able to grow any further. Elder Li was deeply moved after seeing how caring the child was toward him. He pleaded again, Sir, he has always been a good kid. Hell definitely be loyal toward you Children must be prioritized. I suddenly cut him off. This carefully nurtured into obedience kind of thingthese werent the ancient times where we needed to raise imperial bodyguards and expendable soldiers. A modern person like me has no interest in something so tyrannical and rigid! Elder Li stared nkly for a while before beaming with joy. His tone became more sincere. Sir, you are absolutely right. Children are the future. All of a sudden, the sound of gunshots could be heard from the walls. Our soldiers had opened fire. Wen Jianuo then loudly shouted at us, exining: Theres enemiesing from the back entrance. We have forced them back. We had clearly secured an old soldier with a chest decorated full of badges with us, yet those guys didnt show the slightest qualms. They didnt even try to negotiate about getting him back! This Shangguan Chenhong was truly cold-hearted. We absolutely cant let the base fall into the hands of this kind of guy! I turned around and said to the other person, Tai Wen, bring the people who stayed into the mansion to get them out of the crossfire. Tai Wen and Zhang Jing seemed more than eager to lead them into the mansion. After all, the people who stayed behind had mostly been brought here by them. They immediately gathered everyone up to take cover in the mansion. Hearing that they could enter the mansion, their faces lit up with joy, clearly happy with the decisions they made to stay. Cain finally dropped his act after all of the outsiders left. He bluntly said, Thank god those civilians left. Theyrezy, disobedient, and even turned out to be a bunch of immature ingrates. Compared to Xiao Guans group, theyre a whole lot worse. Wen Jianuo would probably be in an awkward position if he were to hear this, right? It wont take long for those people to wallow in self-pity. Cain gleefully said, How many rations could those soldiers even bring around? Theres no way they can distribute them among two hundred people. Weve also searched the town so many times already. Not a lot of supplies are left at all, especially food. Its more appropriate to say you reap what you sow, but its true that theyll wallow in self-pity. If those ungrateful bastardse back to beg, dont let them back in. Cain rolled his eyes at me and couldnt help saying, Im really in awe of your soft-heartedness, O Great Saint. When the timees, why dont you hide and look away, so you dont let women and children right in when you see them? How about that? Sure! I nodded in agreement. Inwardly, I felt deeply wronged and misunderstood. I wasnt some saint. I just knew how small the poption would be in ten years and how poor humanitys situation would be. Women and children didnt have it easy surviving in the apocalypse in the first ce, but the former could bear children, and thetter would grow. If we didnt protect them well, wed end up with a bunch of guys. Dont tell me that after this generation, mankind would simply go extinct? Forget it, I better hurry and finish constructing the base. After acquiring both strength and supplies and eliminating all other concerns, who will be able to stop me then from taking in all the women and children I want? In order to take in lots of women and children, I had to steel myself, kill the invading enemies, and force them to retreat. Ancestors above, please look after me. Seeing as Im contributing to the continuation of mankind, please bless me so I dont end up killing Wei Xiaog Cain suddenly patted me on the shoulder to point me in a certain direction, only for me to see Xiao Sha walking over. He was even pulling along an old soldier bound by an ice chain. After handing the guy over to the soldier guarding the mansion gates, Xiao Sha strode over to report to me. This veteran is a subordinate of Shangguan Chenhongs father when he served in the army. Because he has made several great contributions, he has stayed in the army this entire time and was promoted to major general. Hes the Shangguan familys military veteran. Later on, Shangguan Chenhong was also sent to his army for him to look after. After saying all that, Xiao Sha honestly said, It wont be easy to get him to betray the Shangguan family. His entire family lives at the Shangguans base. Ah, Ive guessed that already. Can you guys please stop assuming that Ill take in everyone I see? Im not obsessed with collecting people! So far, Ive only taken in Guan Weijuns group and Wen Jianuos group. It seems that I was the one who took in everyone besides the JDT. I was immediately speechless. Who instantly ps themselves in the face like this? Only after exining that the other person wouldnt surrender did Xiao Sha dare to divulge the old soldiers power. His power is body double. He can use anything as a substitute for the real person. The two can switch onmand, or they can passively switch the moment contact happens. Its a life-saving skill! The drawback is the limited number of attempts and the short distance. At present, the body double has to be within a radius of ten meters, andsts only a short duration of time. It has to be set up again after ten minutes. Also, no matter how many crystals he eats, hes still unable to lengthen the duration. Only the distance gradually increased. In the beginning, he could only do one meter. Cain sighed, The limit of ten minutes and ten meters is a pity. If only the duration and distance could be increased, this power would be incredible! I shook my head and said, It might be possible to increase the duration. He may just need to surpass a certain threshold, such as by advancing in tier. Not only could this power save lives, it would also be quite the crafty power on the battlefield. However, with the old soldier as this powers user, it was hard to say if it would be useful. He was old, and had a bunch of subordinates protecting him. He probably wouldnt personally take part on the battlefield. Otherwise, if this power were strengthened, he could set up body double after body double. He would practically be an undying cockroach that could teleport. Who would want to fight him? He actually exined it so thoroughly? I was a bit puzzled. Xiao Sha honestly exined, We had Su Ying read his mind first to find some of it out. With my understanding of the Shangguan family on top of that, we were finally able to trick him into revealing it all. I see. Before the apocalypse, Su Yings power would be rule defying, but in the apocalypse, it was difficult to assess it. At the present time, it wasnt very useful against aberrants. Current aberrants only had thoughts of eating and more eating. The power would be much more useful against people, but not only would other people be afraid of it, you would also need to depend on others protection. Without meeting decent people, the oue would be disastrous. Xiao Sha nced at the nearby old soldier and said, Im afraid he may still have abilities he didnt tell us about, so I had to bring him over to prevent him from running away Guys,e look at this! Wen Jianuo suddenly shouted anxiously from on top of the wall, Somethings wrong! I immediately shouted, Front or back entrance? Juste here! I exchanged nces with Cain and Xiao Sha and then rushed up the wall. Wen Jianuo didnt say a single word. He only gestured for us to look in a certain direction. Looking as far as I could see, nothing seemed to be wrong. There was just some smoke and dust on the ground far off in the distance. However, we all knew that Wen Jianuo wouldnt speak without thinking, so we stared fixedly at the dust. As time passed, the dust didnt dissipate. Instead, it continued to balloon in size. This has to be a huge number of things surging our way! Cain blurted, Maybe its the boss bringing people back to help us out? Impossible. Xiao Sha refuted, Theres way too many people. If he really could find that many reinforcements, Leader wouldnt be returning to the base so quickly. The more people there are, the slower the troops advance. Wen Jianuo solemnly asked, Could it be the Shangguan familys reinforcements? All three peoples faces fell. This scenario was really familiar. An rm went off in my heart. I squinted, wanting to see a bit farther A few rays of sunlight pierced through the dust, illuminating the entities below it. There were all kinds of gigantic bodies! Aberrant tide! I blurted out in shock. These were the things that destroyed the shelter that year, the source of dread for all bases for several years toe! Everyone looked over and confusedly asked, Aberrant tide? Whats that? I anxiously exined, Sometimes, aberrants will team up to look for food. They appear just like a tidal wave. Theres usually a powerful, high-tier aberrant leader among them, or even more than one! A moment ago, I was worried that the Shangguans shelter would be destroyed by the aberrant tide and that nobody would go to save Wei Xiaog. But who would have thought that we would end up facing an aberrant tide too? Or could it be this was the aberrant tide my past lifes Guan Weijun first encountered at the shelter? The Shangguan familys advance attracted too much attention, causing the aberrant tide to change its course from the Shangguans shelter to our Zhanjiang Garrison! This was very possible! Cain scratched his head and asked, What should we do now? Should we keep defending? Or actually flee for our lives? If the destroyed shelter in my past life was originally the Shangguan familys basedespite their military forces, soldiers and firearms, they still end up getting breached I shook my head and said, Considering our small number of men, Im afraid we wont be able to maintain our defense. Cain tsk-ed, clicking his tongue with frustration. He then said, Even with the bestid ns, were still ending up fleeing. Change really is the only constant in the apocalypse. Isnt that obvious? Id initially nned to hide away in the suburbs and slowly level up, but I got carried into the city by the carrion-bloom bird. If that hadnt happenedwhen the Ice Emperor came, we would still be at our house, awaiting the arrival of a second Dg. Sigh. Just the thought of it makes me feel like coughing up blood. Dg was right to kill Chen Qianru. This is a blood feud! Suddenly, amotion sounded from outside. The Shangguan family also seemed to notice something was amiss. As the approaching noise of the colony of aberrants grew louder, the silhouettes enshrouded in the smoke grew clearer, creeping closer to the outskirts of Old Town. Its moving way too fast. Wen Jianuos face darkened, and he said, Considering how fast it is, it doesnt seem possible for us to run away from it, not to mention the civilians. Thats true. We wont be able to outmatch that speed even with a car. Besides, the roads arent maintained and theres a lot of on-road obstacles, so cars cant move very fast. We might even end up getting stuck on the road. If its just the few of us, then we may have a chance of escaping. But the average civilian will definitely end up dead. We couldnt maintain a stout defense and couldnt run fast enough to escape either. The three of us had a gloomy expression across our faces. I said through gritted teeth, Until Dg returns, we defend to the death! The two nodded in agreement. It was our only option anyway. Open the gates! Hurry up and let us in! You cant just leave us to die like this! The voice of a panicked broadcast announcer could be heard from outside. It was Shangguan Chenhong. I gritted my teeth. Now is not the time to be acting like a saint. Even if there are children among the civilians that just left, I still cant Please let them in. Wen Jianuo suddenly said, Werecking in manpower and firepower. We have to work together. Cain made a sound of mm and helplessly said, Goddamnit! We just became sworn enemies, but now we gotta make them our allies. I wanna see those bastards suffer, but now everyone has to suffer together! Xiao Sha, you move fast. Go get the loudspeaker for me. Ive gotta dere that well be temporary allies. After receiving the order, Xiao Sha jumped straight down from the wall. Utilizing his wind power to slow down his descent, hended in a roll, neutralizing the rest of the impacts force. Then, he bolted straight toward the mansion. I asked with some hesitation, But they will try to take over this ce after we let them in, right? The two looked at each other, reaching a tacit agreement before turning to look at me. Of course they will. When that happens, well be counting on you. Cain replied in a matter-of-fact voice. Huh? Bewildered, I then asked, You want me to kill Shangguan Chenhong? Wen Jianuo helplessly said, No. If you kill him, well end up fighting each other. At that time, both sides will get eaten by the aberrants outside. So what do you want me to do? Spit it out already. Those aberrants are almost at our doorstep! Wen Jianuo exined in detail, The moment Shangguan Chenhong makes a move, you have to instantly stun them with your powers. Hearing this, I easily agreed, No problem. Wen Jianuo didnt appear relieved, and added, You have to appear dangerous to them, so terrifying that no one dares to be defiant. Act like someone who ys by his own rules; you dont obey our orders, either. So, Im the bad cop, and youre the good cops? I asked after I understood. Wen Jianuo nodded his head, looking satisfied with his lecture. So! Cain grinned, and said with a smile, Lets pick a code name. We cant go around calling you Shuyu, or else all that effort of wearing a mask would go to waste. Call me the Ice Emperor! But Im not shameless enough to call myself by this name I replied coldly, No idea. So, you better think of a code name for me. Wen Jianuo and Cain exchanged nces again. Since when did you guys get along so well? Quit sneaking nces like you can read each others minds! Ill ship the two of you together! And what happened to liking Su Ying? They even gave me the same code name, at the same time, in two different voices! I couldnt help but agree. Volume 6, 6: Ice Spear鈥檚 Power Flares

Volume 6, Chapter 6: Ice Spears Power res

I had expected the people outside to charge right in as soon as the front gates opened, like locusts swarming over a country uncontrobly. After all, that mass of people had always been of that kind of character. However, they were actually being held off by the soldiers gun barrels, and could only obediently follow behind the soldiers. Seeing this, I was really left speechless. My older brother and Cain could also ruthlessly use guns to push people away, but they really werent too interested in managing the people. Although theyd use martialw to quell any disturbances, they wouldnt be bothered to manage them afterward. That said, not having enough time to manage people was probably also a factor. After all, the Jiang Dominions manpower was truly too pitiful. After this, Ill have to advise Dg to find some people to specially handle things like thiswait, isnt Tai Wen a nicely fitting candidate for this? The people their group had been leading were just so good. It couldnt have been just because of Guan Weijuns mighty fists, and looking back on the past few days, Tai Wens contributions couldnt have been insignificant. This was the talent of managing people. In addition, he had a unique and useful ability. Letting go of such a talented person absolutely couldnt happen; as soon as I went back, Id have to raise the issue with Dg. That is, assuming we survive this Compared to the Shangguan family, I was even less certain Id be able tost through the aberrant tide outside. If this aberrant tide was really the same one that had broken through the shelter that year, I was afraid that even if Dgs reinforcements arrived, they still might not be of any use. But of course I dont n to just give up on life! As soon as the soldiers outside came in, they immediately rushed to a spot a few steps away from Cain. My level of wariness shot up to the max at once. If I hadnt spoken with Cain and agreed to only start demonstrating our might after a certain signal, I almost wouldnt have been able to stop myself from leaping down there and building up a strong, unbreakable wall of ice. Shangguan Chenhong was surrounded by the protection of an elite team of soldiers. He walked up in front of Cain with a clearly hostile expression, and the muzzle of the gun he hadnt yet put down demonstrated his intent to start a war. Tsk, Cain made a sound of mocking, then sneered as he said, Really? You only just came in here, and youre already nning to eat your promises of facing the aberrants together that you swore werent just lies? If you dont go up the city walls right now, well, you wont need to go upter. Shangguan Chenhongs expression was dark. It was clear he didnt intend to do as Cain said. Seeing this, I had my own intentions. I got ready to construct a giant de of ice, waiting for the moment Cain gave the signal so I could show my hand and intimidate them immediately afterward. However, at this moment, someone spoke up, one step ahead of me. Strike teams two, three, and four, go up the walls immediately! Follow themands of those at the top. The old soldiers stern voice gavemands from diagonally behind Cain. I had already released him; after all, right now our rtionship was one of coboration against an enemy. If we still kept the other sides leaders tied up, this coboration would really be too insincere. Anyway, just looking at how the people in front of us hadnt even tried to negotiate for the old soldiers release earlier, a tactic that included threatening the hostage would probably be useless. When the old soldier finished giving hismand, several groups of soldiers turned around and began climbing the wall. They didnt even cast a single nce at Shangguan Chenhong. This made Shangguan Chenhongs expression grow even darker, but he ultimately didnt say a word. This was truly out of my expectations. It was hard to say whether the soldiers truemander was the old soldier we had caught earlier. No wonder Shangguan Chenhong hadnt wanted toe rescue him from the start. Isnt he just taking this chance to get rid of him? Lets make it through the crisis together. The old soldier gave Shangguan Chenhong a few words as exnation, Outside, the aberrants eat people. To preserve life, we cannot cause strife within. Shangguan Chenhong indignantly rebutted, To the point that we have to listen to their orders? The old soldier was about to continue giving his advice, but the sounds of a huge number of guns firing could already be heard from the top of the city wall. Everyonesplexions changed, and nothing more needed to be said. The old soldier bellowed, Ascend the walls immediately, and those soldiers who hadnt yet climbed the walls seemed to take two steps in one, practically leaping up to the top. Cain turned to me and shot me a look, then looked toward the city walls. This probably meant he wanted me to go up the walls and see the situation for myself. Seeing that the old soldier was in his element and that his men were also sincerely coborating, my misgivings dissipated. I walked up the walls directly, relying on only momentum and the adherence of ice to get me to the top. As I did this, I could hear exmations of things like What kind of person is that?ing from behind me. This relieved me even more. Although the Shangguan family was linked to the MORC and had someone like the shadow man, it was clear that their understanding of different ability applicationsgged far behind our groups. I walked over to Wen Jiannuos side and looked out. The cloud of dust stirred up by the aberrants was only two blocks away from the wall surrounding the main building, but they had stopped moving and didnt advance any further. The aberrants stopped before we opened fire and havent continued their advance, Wen Jiannuo said, feeling strange. I dont know why they suddenly stopped. In addition, they even all stopped at once, so we shot at them to feel them out. They dodged quite quickly. We didnt hear too many of their screams. I squinted my eyes and peered through the dissipating smoke in order to get a closer look at the aberrants. There was arge group of dogmen, and from the countless shadows I could see moving within the smoke, they likely numbered around five hundred. If I included the other bizarre aberrants, the total number might be two thousand. These definitely arent the same aberrants that raided the Shangguan military camp! That might have happened quite a while ago, but I sure as hell wont easily forget running into an aberrant group with this many dogmen. During the initial waves of aberrant attacks, all kinds of aberrants would attack together. Only when we got past the initial chaos and humans began to huddle together in immense garrisons, did the aberrants evolve enough intelligence to form settlements made up of members of the same, or simr races. I might have been ignorant and ill-informed in my previous life, but this is something that I definitely wouldnt get wrong. Compared to legendary beings like the Twelve Strongest Elites, aberrant attacks were amon thing. They happened so often, we were basically living out a survival manual titled, How to Survive an Aberrant Wave. Isnt this weird? Wen Jianuo, who had also sensed that something was off, said, Ive never seen so many aberrants of the same kind gathered together before. Also, their movements are too organized. They might have a leader among them. I frowned and asked, Did you hear the sound of a wolf howling, or something like that? Wen Jianuo shook his head. Normally, dogmen would be led by wolfmen, who were higher up in the aberrant hierarchy than them. However, in order to lead the dogmen, the wolfmen would have to howl loudly enough for hundreds of dogmen to hear them. There was no way Wen Jianuo wouldnt have heard anything if that was the case. Although I thought that it was impossible, once I started recalling the Jiang familys bad luck No, technically, its just me, I shouldnt try to avoid the truth! After all, whenever I get in trouble, Dg and Xiaomi arent always around. Now that I think of it, Dg always lucks out when choosing mercenary group members I took a deep breath. Id probably used up my luck just transmigrating into a nice family consisting of my amazing siblings, Uncle, and Auntie. I cant always be reaping all the benefits, so from now on, I should treat my misfortune as training. My guess is that theres at least one higher-ranking wolfman hidden somewhere among these dogmen. In addition, we might also be facing several psychic-type aberrants. Wolfman? Psychic-type aberrants? It was Wen Jianuos first time hearing those terms, but he instinctively understood that they were bad news. I exined, Wolfmen are the evolved forms of dogmen, hunt in packs like wolves, and canmand the dogmen. Psychic-type aberrants are highly-intelligent aberrants possessing psychic abilities such as telepathy. Thebination of wolfmen packs and intelligent aberrants was one of the worst ones possible, although it was amon urrence toward theter end of the apocalypse. For example, the brainwright that we metst time is one of the strongest among the psychic-type aberrants. Well, Im not really sure if the brainwright actually is an aberrant or not, but the fact is, they ended up siding with the aberrants. That was probably because brainwrights looked too freaky, which made it hard for humans to ept them wholeheartedly. On the other hand, there were all kinds of aberrants, so they never cared about appearances, only strength. However, for this exact same reason, the aberrants in the early stages of the apocalypse would not be aware of the true value of the psychic-types. If they were the ones that had run into the brainwright, they would probably have treated it as tofu brains, just like soybean pudding, and devoured it. There was no way they would actually work with it! Even if I included the butterfly effect consequences of my transmigration, I didnt think that one person was enough to affect the evolutionary rate of the aberrants regardless of how many I kill! Thats too much! Wen Jianuo furrowed his brow and asked, If we kill the wolfman leader, will these guys retreat? Going straight for the jugr, huh? I frowned and replied, Im not sure. I dont think one wolfman canmand this many dogmen, so there might be more than one of them. Additionally, dogmen have very good senses of smell, and itd be difficult for us to avoid being noticed by them during an assassination attempt. Most importantly, there were plenty of other aberrants besides the dogmen. We couldnt be sure if there was another leader besides the wolfmen. In that case, exterminating the wolfmen wouldnt do us much good. Wen Jianuo nodded in understanding. Then, with a hint of suspicion in his voice, he said, You have an unexpectedly deep understanding of these monsters, dont you? Youre even the one who coined the term, aberrant. Looking back at it now, that name is really fitting. Calling creatures that are intelligent enough to assemble an army monsters is really selling them short. My heart suddenly skipped a beat, but thankfully, I still had someposure left in me. I calmly said, Of course I understand them well. How do you think I got as strong as I am today? It was only possible because I fought my way through hordes of aberrants! Wen Jianuo seemed skeptical of my answer, but before he could say anything, we heard a wolfs howl far in the distance. Our faces immediately paled, and we turned to confirm the situation along the two streets. Dogmen poured through the streets toward the mansion, quick as lightning. In the blink of an eye, they had already advanced a great distance. I shouted an order, Open fire! Dont let them get close to the barricades! Although our barricades were built like castle walls, with a height of two floors and riddled with sharp spikes to prevent climbing or stepping, the dogmen could still ovee it with their incredible jumping capability. All they needed was some kind of foothold, and they could easily leap right over the barricades. Theyll use the dead bodies of their ownrades as the easiest footholds for jumping over the barricade. We have to prevent them from dying too close to the barricade at all cost! The first wave of gunfire rang out, and the dogmen in the frontlines fell to the ground, unmoving. Then, suddenly, we heard the howl of a wolfman, and the dogmen scattered in every direction, entering buildings and searching for cover rather than charging forward blindly. F*ck! Wen Jiannuo suddenly cursed quietly. I looked in the direction of where he was looking, and realized that his attention was not on the battlefield, but rather to the right. Only then did I notice that there were aberrants heading toward the house, nking us! These aberrants came in very different varieties, unlike the dogmen which looked more or less simr. Many looked very disfigured, making one unable to tell what kind of aberrant they were. Perhaps they had not been able to evolve sessfully yet, or perhaps they became extinctter. The apocalypse was a time when many new species flourished, but extinction was something even moremonly seen and happened daily. The species that I could remember that survived to theter stages of the apocalypse were all those that were more famous. This wave of aberrants had the dogmen attack from the front as their main fighting force and the rest of them stealthily attacked from the sides. What a frightening formation. Could we have run into another brainwright? Other than this kind of half-human half-aberrant, what other aberrant could possibly have this kind ofmanding power in this time period? Could this be a problem due to me being too ignorant in my previous life? Everyone, move to the side as you shoot! After shouting that, Wen Jiannuo rushed back again and shouted to the people below, Cain, get people to go defend the city wall from behind! Without even asking for an exnation, Cains answer of Okay transmitted back to us. Indeed, as expected of a professional. I stood on the city wall without moving, for the distance between me and the dogmen was too far and not currently ideal for me tounch an attack. Though my ice energy was able to reach that distance, it was so energy-draining that I would be better off using a gun! I didnt bring a gun I looked around with furrowed brows. At that moment, I saw Wen Jiannuo walking briskly along the city walls, going around scouting and observing the current situation with the aberrant wave. He was so busy that he could only fire a few shots during his down time. Seeing that, I simply snatched his gun away as he passed by me. While he was still frozen in ce, I turned around and fired three rounds straight into a dogman hiding behind a car, into its brain, right shoulder, and knee respectively. Even if his skull was too hard for the bullet to pass through, it would be no threat to us with its missing limbs. Though I did not have visionary abilities, I could still shoot further than anyone with my enhanced eyesight and danger senses from being tier three, and my aim wasnt too shabby either. I was still far from a legendary marksman who hit the target all the time, but with my good vision and ability to keep my hand still, my hit rate was definitely pretty high. Seeing that, Wen Jianuo immediately said, Try and see if you can locate the wolfmen. I did not answer, but nodded my head. At the same time, I fired a few shots which all hit an aberrant. It had long arms and legs and looked like it would be good at climbing, so of course I prioritized taking it out. Under the heavy bullet rain, the dogmen ran to the point they did not dare to even stick their heads out, and instead hid away and refused toe out. At the moment, it looked like with our city walls and the heavy firepower, four hundred defeating two thousand might actually be possibleNo, wait! I dashed to the side of the wall and looked down. I did not see anything unusual, but my instinct told me that it was going to be toote! I leaped directly off the city wall with my hand supporting me, without even sparing the time to materialize ice to step onto. Right now, the faster Inded, the better! There was no need for a cushion! The surrounding soldiers all turned wide-eyed, and one person even yelled, Someone has fallen down! Wen Jiannuo sprinted to the side of the wall and looked downwards, his face a picture of shock as he shouted. Shu- Ice Spear! As Inded, I immediately put both hands on the ground, letting the frost spread. Most of it went straight downwards, and only a little spread onto the ground surface, but even that little bit of it was enough to form ayer of white frost on the ground. As the ground emitted cold air, the aberrants hid into shelters one after another. Even the gunfire sounds from the city wall had abruptly stopped, making the ce so quiet, it didnt seem like a battlefield. Wen Jianuo broke the silence, as he anxiously said, Ice Spear, hurry ande up Before he could finish his words, ck oil started gushing out from the ground, apanied with squeaking sounds. Arge number of horned mice started emerging from the ground, so much so that it resembled a fountain of ck oil spewing on the ground. They spread out wave by wave like ripples, and it was so gross that it gave people goose bumps all over. If I had not frozen the ground below in time and blocked off the horned mices path, the ce where this ck oil would have spawned would not have been outside the city walls, but inside of it! At this moment, the soldiers on the city wall seemed to return to their senses, and the sounds of gunfire were heard all over, the gunfire even more intense than when we had been dealing with the dogmen just now. Cease fire! I shouted loudly. It was hard to shoot the horned mice due to their small size, and even if we had lots of bullets, we shouldnt waste them like this. No one knew how many more aberrants were heading over. However, it wasnt like we could ignore them either. Once the horned mice got close to the city walls, they would be able to form adder scaling the city wall instantly, regardless of whether they were dead or alive. Even so, we could not use explosives on them, for if we were to deplete all our explosives, it would make it easier for the aberrants after this to attack us. The sound of gunfire was too loud, and my shout was unable to draw the soldiers attention. Even if someone happened to be closer to me and heard it, perhaps they would ignore me. After all, the ck wave of horned mice was simply too appalling, and I didnt have credibility From above, I suddenly heard Wen Jianuo roaring so loudly that he almost matched the volume of a gunshot! Cease fire! Have you all gone deaf? Didnt you hear what Ice Spear said? Everyone, I said cease fire! The sound of gunfire all stopped, for the most part, but there were still the sounds of a few gunshots. Wen Jianuo continued to bellow, but it seemed like he couldnt do much about them. I thought for a moment. Those must be Shangguan Chenhongs soldiers, right? No wonder they arent listening to him at all. Ah Nuo, have Cain and Xiao Shae up the walls! I shouted loudly without turning my head to look. This whole time, neither of my hands had left the ground, but I also hadnt continued releasing ice energy. Horned mice were a very cowardly species of aberrants and would hardly ever challenge an opponent head-on, not to mention that I was already tier three. However, the horned mice in front of me were clearly beingmanded by someone, and it was hard to say whether they could be forced back through intimidation. So first, I would keep both my hands at ready, threatening them where I stood, and acting as a much-needed obstacle for the moment. Id just have to wait for Cain and Xiao Sha to climb to the top of the wall. With a st of fire and a gust of wind, all that small aberrants like horned mice could do was get blown back or burnt to a crisp. Dont you even dare think about bing footholds for scaling the walls! The frost on the ground really did slow the horned mice down a few steps. They werent charging ahead as wildly as before, but this onlysted a few seconds before they gathered their courage and began to advance once more. It looked like a tsunami about to burst over, but closer inspection would reveal that this ck tsunami was formed of masses of small bodies densely packed together. It was enough to make ones hair stand on end, even if they werent ustrophobic. The frost only dyed them a moment. I still didnt hear Cain and Xiao Sha, and now I really had no ideas left. I had very much wanted to conserve my energy to use on something more important, whether it was getting rid of the ringleader to put a stop to the aberrants, showing off my power to intimidate the Shangguan familys soldiers, orif worse came to worstfleeing with the people of the Jiang family, I needed my ability for everything! However, if I continued refusing to show my hand even in this situation and let all these horned mice inside the walls, then Id only have the third option of escaping with everyone left. But even then, although I was ahead of most people and aberrants at tier three, how many people would I be able to bring along and escape with? There were only a few people in the Jiang family. Even though Uncle and Auntie werent people who could fight, if I were there, with the addition of Shujuns superior firepower, we shouldnt have a problem. The Jiang Dominion mercenaries had been impressively strong from the start, and would perhaps be able to match my pace, while the other people Well, Im afraid theyd all end up as food for the aberrants? Though, to tell the truth, aside from the Jiang family and people of the Jiang Dominion, I hadnt known the others for very long. Are they really that important? Important enough for me to stake my life on Shu Ice Spear, hurry up ande up! Wen Jianuo shouted,pletely flustered. What are you staring nkly at down there? Havent you seen how many horned mice are rushing over? Even if youre tired of life, dont pick the kind of death where youre eaten alive by rats! If you donte up, Ill go down and grab you personally! Ha, I let out a shortugh. Being eaten alive by rats, perhaps this kind of death was really more miserable than the one fromst time. Strangely enough, though, I dont feel too bad about this kind of deathPfft, death my a**! This time around, this olddy wants to live forever as the Ice Emperor! I pushed down hard with both my hands, which were touching the ground. A horizontal sheet of icy frost froze across the earths surface like a scar. Then, I slowly picked myself up, and the icy scar followed, growing upward as I stood. Long icicles began to form, one by one. When I stood fully upright, I looked at that abhorrent ck wave and began to smile. Using both hands, I motioned toward the icicles as though I were smacking them down, one by one. Each one broke into a thousand pieces, turning into splinters of ice that filled the sky as they sprayed outward. Each of which was no less powerful than a bullet. They pierced the horned mice in the front row and burst into thickets of ice thorns as they hit the ground, skewering the horned mice that were unable to stop in time and threw themselves onto the thorns. There was now a whole row of semi-transparent horned mouse ice skewers, stained withrge patches of spilled blood, like some kind of grotesque shrubbery. At this moment, the sound of gunshots finally ceased, and the sound of peoples voices had also correspondingly vanished. In an instant, I felt like the whole world had been put on mute. Ice thorn thicket was a defensive maneuver the Ice Emperor had taught me. Oh, yes, I really did mean defensivefirst they would shoot out to stab the enemies, then they would be a thicket of ice after they hit the ground, killing anyone who dared to touch them. This is what a defensive maneuver is for the Ice Emperor! If the Ice Emperor had been the one using the technique, the ice shards would have beenrge enough to burst apart a whole pile of horned mice and would have directly turned into an ice wall upon hitting the ground. However, right now, it was just me, and the clusters of ice on the ground were only tall enough to be considered underbrush. It would have been too shameless to call this technique by its original nameice thorn rampartso all I could do was change the name to ice thorn thicket instead. Originally, I had wanted to set up another ice thorn thicket and deal with many more horned mice while seeing if I could scare them into breakingmand and fleeing, but I unexpectedly heard a familiar voice float down from above. What on earth! What kind of situation is this? As soon as I heard Cains voice, I immediately shattered all the remaining icicles into a spray of shards, which then became a few scattered ice thorn thickets that blocked some of the major holes in our defenses. When I was certain theyd be able to at least slow down the speed of the horned mices attack, I resolutely turned and climbed back up to the top of the wall. All the soldiers on the city wall were staring at me in shock, even including that old soldier; it seemed that he had finally ascended the city wall as well. No wonder Wen Jiannuo had been unable to control the Shangguan familys soldiers just now. I had originally wanted to maintain my cold, ruthless expression, but suddenly remembered that my upgraded ice mask covered it all. No matter how ruthless my expression was, it would be impossible to see. I could only give off a pressuring wave of energy and say frigidly to Cain and Xiao Sha, Wait for the horned mice to draw near, then incinerate them to a crisp. You two work together well. Let the wind stoke the fire, and dont squander your energy; there are far more enemies than just the horned mice. Seeing the ice thorn thickets blocking the ck wave not too far away, Cain and Xiao Sha immediately understood. With one person sending out a zing fire and the other releasing gusts of wind, the two would only have to wait for the horned mice to advance a little closer before they could start roasting the mice. Opening fire on the hordes of mice, do you think we have too many bullets?! I deliberately provoked the old soldier in a cold voice, expressing my disapproval of his idioticmands. Unexpectedly, the old soldier roared with furious rage, You were the one who ambushed our camp and killed dozens of our soldiers! Dozens of soldiers I remained silent, unable to keep my heart from sinking. Id killed more people that night than I had altogether in the ten years of my previous life. I just hadnt had time to think much about it since waking up, not with how much was going on. I could only pay attention to Wei Xiaog. I shook my head. When two armies shed, it was either them or us. Theres no room for feeling guilty! Fat chance theyd have been willing to negotiate with us if not for the ambush confusing them about our strength. They had heavy firepower and even killer weapons like crystal energy guns. Anyway, I used my ice ability so much that night. It wasnt strange that I got recognized. In any case, I was wearing an ice mask. As long as they couldnt recognize the person underneath as Jiang Shuyu, all was well. The moment the old soldier said that, the surrounding Shangguan soldiers eyes sharpened. Several people immediately turned their guns, from the aberrants to me. The ck muzzles immediately made me lose all feelings of guilt. Hmph, if you were all at least a bit farther away, Id still be scared of getting swept by bullets from a distance. But youre all so close, and its so cold too. If you want to be ice cubes, then continue ring at me! I red right back and coldly said, You dared to invade our territory, and now youreining about losing lives in an ambush? If those things outside hadnt suddenly attacked, Id have ughtered you all! Whether I can or not is a different matter. The first to talk tough is the first to win! The old soldier angrily replied, Youre not human at all! What difference is there between you and those things out there? I coldly smiled at him. If I were those things outside, would you have been able to stand here shouting so energetically? Havent you seen enough of our Ice Spears prowess? After Cain roasted a wave of horned mice, he cut in to say, Dont rub him the wrong way, or else youll know how youll die right this moment! He gazed out at the ice thorns outside the walls and even gave strange hehe chuckles. The old soldier had a very ugly expression, but the horned mice shish kebabs on the ice thorns were too frightening. He didnt open his mouth to continue provoking me. Wen Jianuo calmly reminded me, Ice Spear, those things seem to have retreated Ice Spear! Ah, hes calling me! I returned to my senses and almost called out here, but luckily, I remembered in time that my character setting was a cold person who doesnt follow orders. Instead, I red at Wen Jianuo as my response and walked beside the wall to look outside. The ck tide really was retreating. Even the other aberrants had begun to retreat. Seeing that, the me on Cains hand gradually shrank. He even jokingly said, Ice Spear, you really overdid it just now with that move. You even scared off the aberrants! I frowned and said, Horned mice are timid, so its possible they were scared away, but such arge number of dogmen cant have been so easily scared off. The other side must have given the order to retreat. Given an order? The old soldiers expression was ugly as he said, How could aberrants possibly give an order to retreat? Aberrants? I nced at the old soldier but then remembered on the spot that the MORC had provided them weapons. It was possible that the MORC had told them about the name aberrants. Now that I think about it, the bullets that had rained down upon the horned mice had all been normal bullets. There had not been a single killer weapon such as the crystal energy gun. It seemed that unless they had no other choice, they did not n to fight seriously. No matter, our side hadnt shown our winning cards either. We all had our secret weapons. Lets see who could keep it hidden better! Wen Jianuo coldly said, The dogmen attacked us head-on to divert our attention. Other aberrants nked them, and horned mice dug tunnels below us. Why is an order to retreat surprising when they already used a three-pronged attack on us? The old soldier didnt say anything else. Hisplexion just looked really terrible. I didnt know if it was because of Wen Jianuo, or if he had been scared by the aberrants. Maybe it was a bit of both. Honestly speaking, even I was surprised. Are psychic-type aberrants already this smart by now? Can it reallymand so many aberrants? In my past life, I must have used all of my bad luck to meet my rotten boyfriend. I was a lot luckier in other areas than in this life. At least, in the previous life, Guan Weijun had only ever heard about something like psychic-type aberrants and had never ever met one before. On the other hand, Jiang Shuyu was running into them one after another! Arent the brainwright and Thirteen enough? Just what is over there right now? My knowledge base on psychic-type aberrants is running dry! Wen Jianuo worriedly said, If theyre retreating, there might be another wave of attacks. Its not just a possibility. Its definitely going to happen! I shouted in a bad mood, Stay here and keep guard. If anyone refuses to listen to orders or contribute, then head back to the mansion with our people. Ill freeze the mansion into one big freezer. Remember, only our people! Cain exaggeratedly shouted, Can we go and sleep in the ice freezer right now? I deliberately remained silent for a while. I gazed at the Shangguan soldiers who had red at me earlier before I pretended to force myself to say, Keep guard first. The moment these words were spoken, the soldiers were stunned and conflicted. I can at least earn the Best New Actor Award, right? Or maybe it wasnt an act at all. Thinking back on it, I had just been hesitating about whether or not to grab my people and escape, yet now I was instead Sigh, even if just for the sake of the dozen lives in my hands, I should try my best tost until the end. Before going down the wall, I made sure to deliberately warn the old soldier first. Dont even think about messing with our people in this chaos. If theres any strangeness among the casualties, Ill immediately leave with them. Even if you have crystal energy guns, it doesnt mean youd know where to aim it to hit an aberrant! Upon hearing the words crystal energy guns, the old soldier froze and suspiciously asked, Youve alsoe into contact with them? Contact? The only thing that the MORC cane into contact with is my Ice Spear! I smirked without responding, putting on a profound air. Then I turned to jump down the wall, but the moment I spotted the scene at the mansion entrance, I instantly blew up in rage! Move it! Lily was standing in front of the mansion entrance to block off the path, fearlessly facing a bunch of guns. Shangguan Chenyang wore an impatient expression, not even looking Lily straight-on. Instead, he had his troops soldiers use their guns to force her aside. This guy was quite lucky that Lilys power could not be used to attack at the moment. If it had been Yunqian or Junjun Hah, if he dared to point a gun at my Junjun, hed already be dead by now! Technically, Zheng Xing was standing next to Lily, and could use an earth wall. Even if it could not block all the bullets, any bullets that did pass through would not be able to kill those two. But if the opposing party immediately opened fire, Zheng Xing might not be able to use the earth wall in time. Plus, I refused to believe that a guy like Shangguan Chenyang who cherished his life wouldnt keep a few crystal energy guns on him. Your life wouldnt even be enough topensate for hurting my Lily or Zheng-sh! What are you trying to do? Sliding down on skates, Inded in front of Lily and Zheng Xing. Since it happened so quickly, Shangguan Chengyang froze for a moment at my sudden appearance before snapping out of it. Ice? He frowned at the ice path on the ground, then raised his head to re furiously at me. Youre from the group that did the night attack? Shangguan Chenyang raised his gun. I immediately whipped out an ice de to knock the gun away, but the soldiers by his side swiftly aimed all their guns at me. If you want to die, go ahead and try firing! I shouted in fury while simultaneously shooting out an entire row of ice des. However, I did not injure anyone; they merely stabbed into the ground in front of the soldiers feet to form a pile of icy thorns. Shangguan Chenyang had not gone up the wall at all earlier. If he had, he wouldve seen the horned mice shish kebabs. Then maybe he wouldve been well-behaved enough to not have the nerve to bully my Lily and Zheng Xing. I had the urge to directly freeze this guy to death. The one in charge of the troops was that old soldier, and I had already ruthlessly showed my strength just now anyways. Even if I really did freeze this guy to death, these Shangguan soldiers might not dare to act hostilely anyway. Just thinking about it makes my heart flutter! Unfortunately, the old soldier had already dashed down to block Shangguan Chenyang. He dered, We will not enter the mansion. Shangguan Chenyangs expression turned foul when he heard this, and he opened his mouth tosh out. I did not have the patience to hear his high-pitched arguments, so I immediately materialized a bone-chilling aura. Everyone instantly sensed something was wrong, their gazes fearful as the temperature dropped so sharply that their gun-holding hands began to shiver. After oppressing the crowd, I frostily stated to the old soldier, Watch your people. Or if you think your men are as invaluable as the horned mice outside, I dont mind disposing of them either. Cain leisurely strode out and threw his arm around my shoulders. As if to make peace, he said, Since theyve already said they wont enter the mansion, you should cool down a bit, Ice Spear. Youre always so impulsive, trying to turn people into ice cubes at any disagreement. I snorted and threw Cains arm off. Seeing how calm he was, I shot a look at Lily and Zheng Xing to let the others follow as we led the first advance into the mansion. Time was tight; we had to quickly reinforce the doors and windows while Zheng Xing secretly dug up a tunnel. If things really looked bad, we could escape from the tunnel! Cains helpless exnation sounded out from behind. Sigh, Ice Spear only listens to our leader. He doesnt show respect to anyone else but the leader. Youd better not provoke him under any circumstance. Oh right, Im Cain, but I still dont know how I should address you. After experiencing the oppression, the old soldier could no longer afford to be careless. He straightforwardly answered, Zhu Yuanzhou. Oh, so its Old Zhu! You tter me Volume 6, 7: This Time, Seize Control! Part One

Volume 6, Chapter 7: This Time, Seize Control! Part One

Originally, I had wanted to immediately discuss the tunnel-digging speed with Zheng Xing as soon as we stepped inside the mansion. But it was filled with people and instantly all their gazes pointed toward us. Their eyes were filled with earnest hope, as though I would dere something like Ive knocked out all the aberrants hahaha with the air of an overlord. As I was feeling awkward, Tai Wen strode up and asked, Is the situation outside all right? Under everyones expectant looks, I could only steel myself and maintain a cool, nk face while replying in amanding tone, All of Jiang Dominions people, follow me upstairs. Tai Wen, you too. Tai Wen nodded and turned to tell Zhang Jing, Keep everything here in order. Make sure not to let anyone irrelevant enter through the front. If you really cannot hold them back, give a warning shout. Zhang Jing nodded furiously. I led Yunqian, Shujun, Lily, Zheng Xing, and Tai Wen up to the second floor, then swiftly removed my ice mask and turned to inform them, The aberrants have retreated for the time being, but the situation is still far from good. Zheng-sh, do you have any way of digging a tunnel from the mansion courtyard to the forest in the back mountain? Distance-wise, it just needs to go from the mansion to my courtyard house, but dont create entryways yet. Those aberrants might circle around to the back mountain. If they find the entrance beforehand, well be in trouble. Zheng Xing furrowed his brows at first, but he seemed to think of something as he nodded and replied, Im not familiar with tunnel architecture, but we can ask your uncle for some thoughts. This would need some time, as well as arge amount of crystals to supply energy. But as long as there arent any issues with the architecture and I work through the night, I should be able to dig one to the forest by tomorrow morning. At this, I bluntly stated, Then go find my uncle to start on it now. Bring my aunt along with you; she can sense the aberrants location. You can rely on her directions to build the tunnel along the areas with fewer aberrants. Dont forget to keep the locations of the entrance and exit hidden. Zheng Xing left per themand. I continued on to the rest, Once Zheng-shs tunnel is deep enough, Lily and Zhang Jing will lead the citizens in the mansion to hide inside the tunnel. Keep everything under control, and make sure there is no noise. Tai Wens people were quite disciplined and would likely be able to stay quiet and still. However, the two hundred citizens outside the mansion were a mess, and if they were allowed inside the tunnel prematurely, the situation would be uncontroble. If anyone caused amotion inside the tunnel and drew the aberrants attention, we would be doomed. That was why we could not let them in yet. Lily replied with an all right and did not appear to be dissatisfied in any way. This reassured me significantly. While Lilys individualbat capabilities were excellent as always, and giving her a gun would ensure she would be in no way inferior to the soldiers on the city wall, it was ultimately just an extra gun, and she would at most be someone more urate than the others. It would be better to let her lead an escape. After all, Zhang Jing was young; having him lead an escape on his lonesome and making critical decisions on the spot was truly too much of a burden on him. I turned to look at Tai Wen while stating, You wille up to the city wall with me. How long are you able to maintain your ability right now? Tai Wen considered the question and answered, If its just oneyer and I have replenishing crystals, sustaining it until tomorrow wont be a problem. If its twoyers, Im afraid it will onlyst fourno, six hours. If its threeyers, ten minutesthirty minutes! I nodded,pletely understanding why the timesing from Tai Wens mouth were so different. Ten minutes was per usual activation; thirty minutes would be betting on his life. If I think about it, Dg should be arriving by the day after tomorrowtest, and theres a higher chance that hell be here by tomorrow evening. And the people here that can guard the wall are me, Cain, Xiao Sha, Yunqian, and-and Shujun I nced at my younger sister. Thetters eyes had been sparkling ever since hearing that she was not included among the people entering the tunnel. As her brother, I could only grit my teeth at this and fight back my worries. Shujuns ability was too useful; I could not have her retreat into the tunnel first simply because I was afraid of her getting hurt. Dont be afraid, dont be afraid. I, her rg, will be on the city wall too. If we really cant hold our defense, Ill guard her as she retreats, even if I die! Shujun, you need to follow Yunqian closely. Both of you will wait for my orders before making a move. I looked over at Yunqian. Her water ability was verypatible with Shujuns lightning. With theirbination, one plus one was definitely greater than two. It was a hard toe by support for defending the city. Upon noticing my gaze, Ceng Yunqian immediately replied, Dont worry, anyone that wants to harm Shujun will have to step over my dead body first! I nodded as I pondered over any usable resources that I might have missed. In addition to abilities, the firepower of the troops could not be looked down on either. Based onbat power alone, we might actually be able to deal with over two thousand aberrants. Unfortunately, the two thousand figure was just an estimated number from what I could see. Based on the style ofmands on the other side, it was likely there were many aberrants hiding that had yet to appear. Moreover, the minute there was anyrge disturbance, the surrounding aberrants would be drawn over. That had been the case in my previous life. Every time we had thought wed finally fought the aberrants back and survived once more, wed weakly copse onto the ground. But before we could even cry over our survival, an even deeper despair would follow Shuyu? Are we heading up to the city wall now? Tai Wen shot me a puzzled look. I took a deep breath. Calm down, calm down. If we really cant hold up, Tai Wens ability can buy time and we can fully retreat to escape through the tunnel. Worst case, we can still engage in gueri fights in the forest while fleeing. No matter what, we can drag things out, and Dg will definitely make it back in time! In my past life, I had been so weak yet had still managed to stay alive for a decade. There was no reason that in this life, I wouldnt even survive up to the second ck fog after rising to third tier! Remember to call me Ice Spear outside. I put on the ice mask and shouted, Everyone else, follow me. Well show the aberrants outside just how formidable humans are! The moment we stepped out, my face mask nearly split from my anger. Dad, Dad, its me, hurry up and open the door or else Ill be eaten by monsters! Xiao Yu, my precious son, its Daddy. Come open the door and let Daddy in! A woman was sobbing Daddy, save me, while the man beside her was sobbing Son, save me. Although they were calling for different people, their crying faces were identical. There was no mistakethey were definitely blood-rted siblings! I touched my face and found that the ice mask had not split. With a flick of my hand, I cast an ice pir out at each person, sting them ten meters away to instantly silence them. This was nothing like how inics, people could just brush off the dirt on their butts and stand back up perfectly fine after being sent flying countless times. A force that could st someone out ten meters would definitely break several bones, and it wouldnt be strange if it directly killed them. Anyone else that dares to make any noise will be killed without exception! The area was dead silent. I swept a fierce re around, causing everyone to lower their heads in fear of meeting my eyes. Their bodies trembled in fear, and they no longer carried an air of defiance to keep speaking out. Being a merciless person is really useful! From now on, Ill maintain this persona even if Im dying. Even though its a bit regretful that I, the great Ice Spear master, didnt receive the name of Ice Emperor, I think its actually a good thing now that I think about it. No matter how much I madly race down the path I make from mercilessly stirring up trouble, I wont be sullying the Ice Emperors name. This Emperor title can just be left for Dg to use in the future. I peeked inside the gate. It waspletely still inside. Elder Li seemed truly ruthless this time and didnt cave to his son and daughters tears. To my side, Yunqian sighed quietly with admiration. After wearing that mask, youve be a lot more brutal in your ways, and even your voice sounds different, all icy and cold. Itspletely different from your real self. Are you sure you dont have a split personality or something? If its this drastic, you might really be able to pull off this trick. Id originally thought that you wouldntst even three days in for this masked man game before you slipped up. On my other side, Tai Wen couldnt help but nod in agreement, though I wasnt sure if he was agreeing to the fact that I had split personalities or that I wouldntst three days in the masked man game. Junjun retorted with indignation, No way my rgs got split personalities. Hes always been this brutal. Its just that Yunqian-ji has never seen how awesome my rg is. Even Dg is scared of him! Yunqian had a look of utter disbelief on hearing those words. Junjun immediately embarked on telling the legend of her rg. Yknow, there was once when rg was super duper mad at Dg. He smacked the table, scaring Dg so much he fumbled his rice bowl. It dropped and shattered everywhere! Yunqian asked curiously, What on earth did Boss do? Howd Shuyu get so mad that he smacked the table? Dg got shot in his right hand but he insisted on doing missions abroad even though he hadnt healed up. He even said he was just in charge ofmands so it didnt matter that he couldnt move his right hand. So rg got so mad he smacked the table and yelled, You wanna try not being able to move your whole body?! Yunqian suddenly remembered. Oh, that time. Boss could only eat by holding chopsticks with his left hand and would frequently drop veggies and rice everywhere. So he even dropped his rice bowl. But back then, Shuyu wouldnt have been able to make Leaderpletely unable to move, right? But now he can do it easily. No no no, its not that easy now either. Why am I being made out to be some super elite fighter? Herment made Shujun very unhappy, and she snapped back, If rg says something, he can do it! Back then, Dg had left quite a few a tranquilizer guns at home and only rg knew where they were hidden. Fair enough, thats pretty ruthless! No wonder Leader passedmand to Cain for that mission. Id thought hed finally felt confident in Cains abilities back then. The corner of my mouth twitched. Were surrounded by an aberrant swarm, and our fate is hanging in the bnce, but you two are still happily gossiping about Dgs rice bowl and rgs ruthlessness. Is this okay? Junjun, ever since the apocalypse, youve be corrupted No, my Junjuns asid back as before the apocalypse. Shes always been very happy-go-lucky and saying that even if the skies fell, as long as Dg and rg were there, there was nothing to worry about. Its just that your rg never imagined that his own sister would be chilled to this extent. This really ispretty good? Even the apocalypse cant stop my mimei from living her days in joy andughter. I fought to suppress the smile that was tugging at my lips and said coldly, Lets go. What do you think youre doing, gossiping about Leader behind his back! Even though I was overjoyed, I still had to tell them off and maintain Dgs dignity, so that his first title would be some kind of emperor. He definitely couldnt be like me, where the Ice part was there but the Emperor part was missing. We had returned to the top of the city wall, to be greeted with a peaceful scene. The enemies still hadnt attacked. Chen Yanqing even had time to greet me, but to maintain my persona, I had no choice but to re at him while looking him up and down. Seems like his injuries arent too bad anymore. Looking back over the wall, I frowned. Why is there still no movement? Do the aberrants have something else up their sleeve? I circled around the city walls quite a few times but couldnt spot anything out of the ordinary. Wen Jianuo asked quietly, Ice Spear, do you think that they got scared off by you? I frowned as I replied, No, with so many aberrants, theres no way they can just leave like that. Id never heard of any aberrant swarms in my past life that would just retreat after one wave of attack. Even if they couldnt win, these aberrants would throw down countless corpses and only leave when their numbers were so low that they could no longer sustain attacks on the city. Furthermore, this was the first year into the apocalypse. The aberrants mostly had no intelligence at this stage and werepletely ruled by their instinct to feed. There was lots of food in the base, so much that they wouldnt be willing to leave. Unless the lead aberrantmanding the aberrant swarm was more powerful than expected and was able to order the aberrants to listen to its orders, or even override their primal instincts to feed I toyed with the idea but ultimately eliminated it from the list of possibilities. If there really was such a powerful aberrant, it would have done something when I was showing my powers. Wen Jianuo nodded his agreement and suggested, Why dont you go sleep a bit? Its going to be wild afterwards, and even if the aberrants back off, some people will start acting. So well need to rely on you to seize hold of Shangguan Chenhong in order to have a chance of victory, True. If the aberrant swarm really backed off just like that, we would have another problem on our hands instead. Its fine. Ive slept for an entire day and Im not tired at all. I pondered, but still uneasy about it all, I said, Ill go patrol at the back of the mountains. You guys should watch out, and if theres anything- The thought struck me, and I didnt finish the sentence. If there were issues, they would shoot, and Id be able to hear the gunshots clear as day even from the back of the mountain. There wasnt any need for them to contact me some other way. I looked at Junjun. Without me here, its too dangerous to just leave Mimei here on the city wall Junjun immediately said, Im staying. If anything happens, Ill shoot lightning at the sky. Youll definitely be able to see it, Ice Spear. I opened my mouth to speak, but lost to the firm look in my sisters eyes. Your mimei is bing independent, rg, you must stay strong! Be careful. I couldnt help but shoot a meaningful look at Ceng Yunqian. Of course, she already knew that she had to protect Junjun and didnt need my constant reminders. If you continue like this, youll be the naggy and overprotective rg. Stay strong, self! You be careful! Junjun pouted and said softly, If its not losing your memory, then youre injured or missing somewhere. Ive been waiting at home like a good girl, not making people worry like rg. Youve even lost your memories? Man, your life sure is interesting. This exins a lot. Wen Jianuo shook his head as he remarked, If you were any weaker, grass would have grown over your grave by now. I totally agree! Hismentpletely resonated with me. With a life like Jiang Shuyus, can I even survive if Im not strong? However, this was the worst thing to say in front of Junjun, who in a fit of rage shot out a bolt of electricity the width of a finger. Even if Wen Jianuos reactions werent slow and he immediately reacted, changing into his metallic body to receive the blow of electricity, it didnt help him. He still got shocked until he was practically vibrating across the ground. The lightning princess howled, My rg will never have grass growing over him, never! All the people in the city looked over, gawking at Shujun with surprise. None of them could believe that such a gentle looking girl could zap the tall, burly Wen Jianuo until he was shaking all over. I really wanted to cry. I thought my acting was passable, but my sisterpletely revealed my identity in a second. Volume 6, 7: This Time, Seize Control! Part Two

Volume 6, Chapter 7: This Time, Seize Control! Part Two

Ceng Yunqian suddenly eximed in a strangled voice, Captain Wen, youre wrong. Shuyu is Leaders precious little brother. If he wishes to stay in the mansion, the JDT can protect the mansion, so we dont need you to stand up for us! Wen Jianuos lips twitched but he didnt speak. The electric current had shocked him speechlessit seemed like Shujuns lightning really was a nemesis to the metal ability. Chen Yanqing jumped up and continued the story, Even the youngest sister hade over to help out. How could a grown man just stay inside the mansion? Plus, Captain Wen only said something like stay inside and grow some grass. Arent you guys overreacting too much? He actually made it make sense! Ive really gotta hand it to these guys. Its a shame that their budding careers in acting and screenwriting got cut short by the apocalypse. Junjun gasped, finally noticing that something was amiss. She nervously nced at me a few times, looking so embarrassed that I, this rg, immediately forgave my mimei. Pretending like shed lost her patience, Ceng Yunqian said, You can say whatever you want. Just dont provoke Leaders little brother and sister! Wen Jianuo gradually recovered. He let go of his metal skin and firmly said, I shouldnt have said Junjun cut him off and apologized, Im sorry, Wen-g. I shouldnt have zapped you! Wen Jianuo rxed a lot more after getting an apology, allowing him a way out. He said while waving his hand, Its fine. I was sticking my nose into other peoples business, and I did say something that I shouldnt have. Thats enough! Be quiet! I coldly interrupted their conversation andmanded, Guard the mansion. If even a single fly gets in, all of you will have a taste of the freezing winter! Yes sir! I didnt dare to look at Junjun, fearing that my worry for her would surge up inside me again. I firmly walked toward the back mountain, even forming ice skates to speed up the pace. Theres no time to waste. I kept feeling that this aberrant tide was very unusual. Its best to check out the back mountain. Who knows if arge gathering of aberrants has taken a detour to encroach on us or not? Before Zheng-sh could finish the tunnel-digging, we had to make sure that the coast was clear. As long as there was the slightest chance, I really wanted to sessfully protect Zhanjiang Garrison from the aberrant tide. The base was situated in such a good location that even the Shangguan family wanted to fight over it. Located right next to Lan City, we could search for supplies and evolution crystals in the city during the initial stage of the apocalypse. Its high terrain made it easy to guard yet hard to attack. There was even a mountain right behind it. It wasnt a tall deadly mountain yet not a useless small hill either. Before the apocalypse arrived, this ce was located right beside a megacity, so there couldnt be dangerous animals around here. Even if the small animals had turned into aberrants, it should be within the limit of what the JDT could handle. I really needed that mountain area. In the future, we could search for edible evolved nts in the forests. After finding them, we could nt seeds and even breed animals that had gone through evolution in those areas. If this aberrant tide wasnt the one that had breached the shelter; if we persevered a bit more, maybe we could keep Zhanjiang Garrison I hurriedly skated to the side to dodge. Almost at the same time, an energy wave swept past my side. I slid to the side, spun around, and saw that it was a group of Shangguan soldiers. Their attire and equipment were uniform, making them easily recognizable. The one leading themShangguan Chenhongcould clearly be seen standing at the middle in the back. I was so angry that I startedughing. I then said, Even at times like this, youre still trying to revolt? I originally thought that this Shangguan Chenhong just liked to do things arbitrarily. Harboring selfish motives, he wasnt even willing to save Zhu Yuanzhou, that old soldier. However, he at least had the appearance of an upright soldier. But it turned out that hed nned to kill me first while aberrants encroached on us. Could it be that hes actually a pig with the appearance of a human? These soldiers following him have gotta be pigs too, right! Maybe the look in my eyes was too obvious, as one of the soldiers furiously roared, Youve killed so many of our brothers! If we didnt kill you, wouldnt we be letting them down?! I remained silent, unable to retort. To begin with, we were engaged in a life-or-death conflict. But the opposite side had people who had died, so it was natural for them to seek revenge. Shangguan Chenhong bellowed, If you handed this ce to us, we could establish arge base. Do you have any idea how many people could be saved? Yet you only care about your own selfish interest! What a nice, holier-than-thou pig! Just hearing that one sentence of his makes my blood boil. Not to mention that he was heavily protected by the surrounding soldiers, safely spouting hypocritical talk on his moral high horse! Give me all of your crystals. Ill be able to protect you once I be stronger. After surviving ten years of the apocalypse, Id heard these kinds of words countless times. I was so stupid in my past life. In the beginning, I had trusted Xia Zhengus words and handed over all of my crystals to him. In the end, the disparity in our abilities was so big, I couldnt even leave. No matter how many times I felt so disheartened that I wanted to leave, Xiao Qi would grab onto me, refusing to let me go. Shed cried, saying that we couldnt survive without amunity. If we hand over the crystals to the base, construct and fortify the base, it will be our strongest shield! Having gone to all kinds of bases, everyone said that it was extremely difficult to defend their base. So if you wanted to stay inside, you had to hand over a certain amount of supplies and crystals every day. That amount was so excessive that even their members thought it was exhausting. Otherwise, you could only be aborer, working a ton but eating little, which also ate away at everyones lives. They all got thinner and thinner day by day, hopelessly awaiting the day they could no longer work. Those who could neither hand over the fees nor dobor had no other option but to live outside in tents. They were children, women, the weak, and the elderly. Later on, when we discovered that a bigger crowd of humans would attract a bigger aberrant tide, even staying outside in tents was no longer allowed. They would be driven off or killed if they refused to leave. The weakest ones would fall one by one. If the ability users that were cultivated from expending the life force of these people could actually defend the bases, then it could be worth it. However, the end result was often a hard p in the face. At therge base that Ist stayed in, besides going out to hunt crystals, I grew crops in the house. Xiao Qi would help me out, and Wei-xiog would bring back strange seeds from time to time. FYI, during those times, you had to engage in an all-out brawl with nts to bring back seeds! We managed to obtain some good results after much difficulty. A bunch of nts were soon to be harvestable, and seeing the results of several nts made me happy. They might even be long term crops. But in the end, arge aberrant tide had attacked, breaching the base. There had been constant rumors about how powerful the top-tier ability users were. When that aberrant tide first attacked, they had gone out to help a few times, bombarding the aberrants under the walls. However, as the situation became worse, those people showed up less and less until not a single person showed up anymore. It was only when the aberrant tide had breached the walls that the people below finally realizedthe people above had already escaped. Having escaped death by a hairs breadth, Xia Zhengu suggested establishing his own small base again, and this time, nobody was opposed to it anymore, even though we could hardly defend the base. We always had to hide away when the situation called for it, or simply fled and looked for another ce. The base provided absolutely no protection. But every time we decided to seek protection from arge base, we were cheated out of a bunch of crystals and supplies, fattening up the bases top-tier. In the end, we still had to rely on ourselves and our luck when fleeing for our lives. Just like this pig in front of me. I bet hes eaten quite a lot of crystals. He definitely wont be low tier in the future. But he was always being protected by others, so his battle experience was pretty much zero. The only thing he did was stand far away in the distance while giving his orders. You think youre some kind of ranged mage? When things took a turn for the worse, they would be the first to run away. Such a huge waste of crystals, raising a bunch of useless bastards whose tier was only for show! In this lifetime, I will never again trust anyones wordsfoolishly handing over my own crystals and territory! They all pointed their guns at me. There are probably over fifty guns? I wore a calm expression, but actually I was stealing nces at my surroundings. Although I hadnt gotten to the dense part of the forest, there were quite a few trees around here. I could probably take advantage of this cover to retreat into the denser growth. If these soldiers dared to concentrate their fire and st down too many trees, then I would no longer be their only enemy. There were only around fifty people before me. This Shangguan Chenhong guy had most likely brought all of his bodyguards and cronies to ambush me. The old soldier Zhu Yuanzhou was probably in the dark about this. If so, I didnt have to worry about anyone elses safety for now. I had to first contemte whether I could survive this dilemma. Even though I had killed more than fifty people before, that had been in batches with surprise on my side, an important element. Shangguan Chenhong shouted, Without your suppression, the other people will naturally follow orders from above. They are soldiers who protect their country. Without you leading them astray, why wouldnt they follow orders to return to their station? Dont you mean to say that youre gonna first get rid of me, the person who seems the strongest, so that everyone else has no choice but to listen under the threat of your strong firepower? Besides, you dumb pig, are you under some sort of misunderstanding? Im just family of the Jiang Dominions leader. At most, Im also a secret weapon. My dg is almost here, but that aside, even Cain and Wen Jianuo are leadership material. When ites to leading the people to battle, they can leave me in the dust much more than three streets back! Fortunately, Shangguan Chenhong seemed to only consider me the pest. Otherwise, while I was protecting everyone, the members of the Jiang Dominion might get shot from behind. Who knows how many would be left after that? I coldly said, I should have never suggested for you toe in. Your good faith has been fed to the dogs. Even though I had put it that way, if we hadnt let theme in, they would probably have used their full firepower, including energy guns, to take down our walls under the threat of the aberrants leaving them no way to retreat. After both sides fought to the bitter end, and the aberrants also came to attack us, our situation would likely be even worse than now. Our side would only have crumbling walls left and a bunch of enemies who had just fought us. When faced with two bad choices in the apocalypse, what choice was there? I could only me myself for being too naive. I had only been thinking of how to escape the problem of the aberrant tide. I had forgotten that the natural disaster that was humanity required even more caution. However, I really hadnt thought that Shangguan Chenhong would be in such a hurry to turn on me not even two hours after the aberrants attack halted. Isnt he afraid that the aberrants will attack again? Oh right, this guy hadnt gone up the walls and seen me use ice to force an overwhelming amount of horned mice out from below. Otherwise, he would definitely have second thoughts about whether or not he could prevent the horned mice fromunching an underground attack. Shangguan Chenhong snorted but said without an ounce of shame, What good faith is there to speak of when youre someone who ambushed and killed so many of my men? Hey hey, youve brought four hundred fully equipped soldiers to rob me, yet you wont allow the side with fewer numbers to raid you? I sneered at him and purposely said, Did you think that I woulde to such a remote location without any preparation? Youre a mantis wanting to capture a cicada, but luckily Ive prepared a finch. Do you want to see how many people are hidden in the underbrush behind you? Shangguan Chenhongs face paled. He abruptly looked behind him. The soldiers behind him also followed suit and turned. Unfortunately, the opponents were soldiers with excellent training. The front row still had their guns trained on me. However, without being ordered to, they didnt open fire right away. Thats why its best to cut the crap when killing people! In a single breath, I tossed out dozens of exploding ice des. The ice exploded between us, filling the air with fragments of ice like dust. Before the opponents could open fire, I lowered my body and glided into the shrubbery to the side. The current shrubbery was dense, with long, sharp thorns. Falling into it unaware could cause someone to die. Fortunately, I wore ayer of ice armor, so the shrubbery was so cold that it didnt dare to move. Even the thorns had withdrawn. I ced both hands on the ground. Ice energy spread along it, rushing toward the soldiers. The people in the current time werent yet wary of attacks from the ground. The moment the ice energy reached my target destination, it froze over, capturing the soldiers calves. Many of them cried out in pain from the freezing cold. These soldiers probably hadnt eaten a lot of crystals yet. They wouldnt be able to resist the freezing temperatures of the ice energy. Only Shangguan Chenhong and the dozen or so soldiers around him were faring better. They had definitely eaten a good amount of crystals, yet they werent the sort to take the frontline themselves! Fire! Shangguan Chenhong screamed, Kill him directly! Not far from where I hid, an ice statue had taken shape but was immediately shattered into smithereens by a great amount of bullets and energy guns. I slid out of the shrubbery in the window that had opened, locking onto my target. I rushed to the side of that group of soldiers in an instant. Then, I grabbed the gun of the closest person, freezing the gun and sending the soldier flying with a kick, all in one go. By now, I had already charged into their group. If they were to open fire, who knows if I would die? But their people would definitely fall. They could only me themselves for wanting to kill me too much. The firepower that they had brought with them was all powerful. Even full body armor wouldnt protect them from that. Their hands were tied from being afraid of friendly fire. They wanted to back up so they could shoot, but they still werent able to break free of the ice trapping their calves. Someone even took out a bay, but countless des of ice floated around me. A moment of carelessness meant frozen and even chopped off hands. While they were still stuck on whether or not to shoot, I had kicked another person down, precisely the target I had my eyes on earlier. I snatched the energy gun from his hands and exploded the des of ice surrounding me in one breath. Then, I charged into the forest without lingering on the fight. The moment I broke away from the enemys midst, a huge amount of bullets rained down upon me. I had prepared my ice shield in advance, and I skated left and right at a high speed. I also made use of the sparse, sporadic trees to hinder the enemys hail of bullets. Suddenly, the gunshots stopped momentarily. Something didnt feel right. I spun on my feet and saw something being thrown my waya bomb! I immediately sted ice energy, pushing the bomb a small distance away from me. Borrowing the push back from the ice energy, I retreated behind arge tree. A loud boom apanied bursting winds. The poor trees were sted into pieces. However, the roots of the trees stubbornly held on, wanting to survive, and helped me absorb most of the impact from the st. Since I had been prepared, other than making my blood boil in anger, my ears ring, and my head hurt, the explosion didnt give me too much trouble. They actually directly went for bombs! They really are afraid I wont die! However, since I had pushed back just in time, the explosion had been disced. Even though it had still been closer to me, I had cover as well as a tier three body and energy to protect me. I didnt believe that the opponents would be much better off than me. When I stood back up, the smoke and dust had yet to settle. Even though there was a gunshot here and there, it didnt hinder me from continuing to flee. After running several dozen meters, I had the ice path continue to spread. This would leave behind a trail for the enemy to pursue while I boldly climbed up to the top of a tall tree and hid. I didnt follow the ice path at all. Trees nowadays werent the best hiding spots. Brother Tree might not be willing to let you hide on his head. Such arge tree wasnt one that any regr person could climb either, but it wasnt a big problem for me. Tier three was enough to scare the tree to the point of immobility. From far away, I could hear Shangguan Chenhong growl, Frontline, hurry and chase him. Everyone else,e back with me to guard the town. We definitely cant allow him to return alive! I was speechless. You really should have gone up the walls and experienced it yourself. If you had seen those horned mice get turned into a forest of ice shish kebabs, you definitely wouldnt dare to split your forces. Do you have a death wish? Or maybe you want to be dead shish kebabs? Shangguan Chenhong wasmanding them blindly without understanding the situation. He hadnt shown his power either. At first, I had thought that he might be concealing his true power. After all, his energy level was abundant. To my senses, he seemed to have already reached tier one. But just earlier I had recalled the high tier mages from my past life. I abruptly understood the true reason this guy wasnt fighting. Theyve split their forces. With a steep decline in their numbers and an energy gun Ive just gotten in my possession, I seem to have the advantage now? Originally, my n had been to use my knowledge of thend to escape their chase and reach the town before them to grab Zhu Yuanzhou. Then, I would reason with him that some aberrants were out there and the people inside needed to join forces and such, allowing him off the hook. I would be half reasonable, half threatening to get him to cooperate with me to make Shangguan Chenhong into a mere figurehead. That would allow us to resist the aberrants together. But now, should I switch to an even safer n and capture Shangguan Chenhong first as a hostage before I return to reason with Zhu Yuanzhou? I had only just fled their attempts to kill me. I was even still in hiding, yet I was already considering abduction. I was a little speechless at myself. After I regained Jiang Shuyus memories, I seem to be getting bolder and bolder But this shouldnt be a bad thing? In this life, I had to depend on myself to live on. I had to protect my family. I had to assist Dg in establishing our base. I had so many things I needed to do. More than what was left of Guan Weijuns caution and tenacity, I needed Jiang Shuyus audacity and drive! Lifting the energy gun, I gazed at Shangguan Chenhong, who was heading back, and smiled. Volume 6, Chapter 8: Sudden Death From Above

Volume 6, Chapter 8: Sudden Death From Above

I made sure to be as quiet as possible, silently making my way toward Shangguan Chenhongs group. Fortunately, there was a mountain forest behind the base. I wouldnt be easily detected when moving through the forest. The enemy stopped in front of the back entrance before splitting into two groups. Shangguan Chenhong had four people standing by his side, while the rest spread out in a clear search for me. Just how much do they underestimate my strength? Even if they didnt go up the walls and see the frozen horned mice shish kebabs, shouldnt they at least take me seriously for ambushing and killing fifty of their men? Shangguan Chenhong probably thinks that I wasnt alone in that nights ambush. He even has a dozen fully armed elite soldiers under hismand. Maybe thats why hes acting so carelessly Hmm. If he didnt encounter a tier three like me, perhaps it wouldnt be careless of him. Having powerful firepower and energy guns, and a body strengthened from eating crystals, its more than enough to let him do whatever he wants in the early stages of the apocalypse. At least, its sufficient enough until the arrival of the second Moment of Judgment. After the second Judgments arrival, the aberrants strength increased. Although humans grew stronger, the aberrants gained a bigger leap in strength. The disparity between the strong and the weak became evenrger. It was even more difficult for humans to survive. After waking from a night of torture and agony, humans had to deal with even stronger aberrants. Supplies were getting scarce, and the winter was growing colder. Suicide rates peaked during the first few months after the third Moment of Judgment. The good-hearted ones would blow their head off whilemitting suicide, so as to avoid harming others after waking up and turning into an aberrant. They killed themselves because all hope was gone, right? Despite how harsh the apocalypse was, if there was some hope in staying alive, most humans would want to keep living. Not to mention my people, were definitely tough enough! If people were given a little bit of hope I took a deep breath, not wanting to think about things so far into the future. Lets deal with whats right in front of us first. I tapped my chest with a finger, and let Xiaorongs branches creep along the ground in that direction. The enemy had more than ten people, and they were moving separately. If I wanted to fight it out, it wasnt impossible to win as long as I yed some tricks, but my aim was to take Shangguan Chenhong hostage and then reason with Zhu Yuanzhou. Killing more people would only deepen their grudge. That wouldnt be good for anybody. We might as well use them to fight off the aberrants. Lets just have Xiaorong drag Shangguan Chenhong over. Once Ive got him in my hands, the enemy would have no choice but to listen to us. To avoid attracting attention, Xiaorong stuck close to the ground as he slowly made his way over. However, the longer he extended his branches, the thinner my chest armor became. Looks like Xiaorong isnt strong enough. Ill have to feed him more crystals after this. I cant lose my armor every time Xiaorong extends his branches. Thatll be too disadvantageous in battle. The branches finally reached Shangguan Chenhongs feet. I lifted my crystal energy gun, nning on setting off a series of loud noises as a diversion so I could drag him over in one go. Translucent branches gently wrapped around Shangguan Chenhongs ankle. He was wearing army boots, so his ankles were covered. As long as we dont grab him too tightly, he shouldnt notice But Shangguan Chenhong suddenly dropped his head to look at his feet. Damn! He must have eaten plenty of crystals. Even if he didnt have battle experience and didnt know how to use his ability, his constitution must have gotten a boost, allowing his intuition to be sharper. As someone who possessed an army, Shangguan Chenhong had definitely eaten more crystals than Xiaorong. I, rg, was too useless. Id have to try even harder after this to feed Ddi and Mimei. As for Dg, he should fight for his own crystals. After all, he was already tier two and even imed he wouldnt eat crystals won by his ddi. So he should try his best on his own. Shangguan Chenhongs face paled. I could only order Xiaorong to drag him down right away. Then, I lifted my gun, about to shoot to divert everyones attention, when a huge ck shadow suddenly appeared. It stepped right on Shangguan Chenhong, who had been dragged to the ground. Two long arms swung in a crisscross. The soldiers on both sides screamed and copsed. I stared at them in shock. The four soldiers were either missing limbs or their entire head. Even if they hadnt died from losing an arm, they had no way to fight back after losing so much blood. This huge entity that had appeared out of nowhere didnt have wings and clearly couldnt fly, yet he had descended from the sky Could he have leaped here? But how far had he jumped to reach here? I hadnt even detected his presence before now. The aberrants of the current time shouldnt know how to conceal themselves yet. I couldnt help but feel chilled. What if this thing is aiming to kill me? No, no, I shouldnt fall into my bad habit of underestimating myself again. This thing was weaker than me. He wouldnt dare to make me his target. Rather, he had thrown himself at Shangguan Chenhong and his underlings. These people had eaten a bunch of crystals for nothing. They hadnt developed their abilities much. Without enough firepower, to powerful aberrants, they were practically walking supplements. These four people had heavy firepower, enough for them to bulldoze their way through the beginning stages of the apocalypse. However, this aberrant in front of me was definitely already tier two and wouldnt lose to my dg in capability. His speed and jumping power were shocking. Coupled with the surprise attack, he was able to exterminate all four people upon their first meeting. As for Shangguan Chenhong who was pressed below the aberrants foot, I couldnt tell if he was dead or not from my angle. However, this aberrant was huge. From my estimation, he had to be over three meters tall. Even though he looked slender overall,pared to the soldiers near him, his arms alone were thicker than the soldiers thighs. Getting stepped on by something sorge didnt bode well for Shangguan Chenhong. The aberrant had caused too much of amotion. The people searching for me in the vicinity all rushed back. Seeing such a huge fellow, they immediately fired a bunch of bullets, but the aberrant leaped with his long, skinny legs right into the sky, dodging all of the bullets. As he dodged, he also sprayed thorn like objects below. Fortunately, his aim wasnt great, so only two people got hit, and it wasnt even fatal. The soldiers fired to force the aberrant back while they rushed to Shangguan Chenhongs side. He wasnt moving at all. It was clear that things werent well. Shangguan Chenhongy on the ground. His chest wasplete paste. I couldnt even tell if his upper and bottom halves were still connected or not. He was clearly already dead. The soldiers all had poorplexions. At this time, the aberrantnded on the ground and shot a bunch of thorns over. The soldiers lifted their guns to fire back. Someone shouted, Lets go. They fired as they retreated toward the base, leaving behind the people whose arms had been severed at the start. However, those two peoples blood was all over the ground. They didnt have more than a few minutes left. Hey hey, you dared toe assassinate me, a tier three, yet youre fleeing so briskly after meeting a tier two aberrant. An aberrants appearance was still more imposing after all. Even though I had hidden my face and worn a full body of ice armor, my thin figure still wasnt imposing enough. They had run off, but I couldnt. This huge aberrant could easily leap over the bases walls. I had no choice but to get rid of him. In fact, it would have been easier to get rid of him if I had stepped out and stopped those soldiers so they could support me with their firepower. However, I didnt trust those people. Who knew whether or not they would fire indiscriminately? I would worry a lot less if they scrammed. After that aberrantnded, he turned to flee and did not seem like he nned on entering the base. He didnt even want the flesh of the soldiers around him. All he held was something scarlet in his right hand. I recalled Shangguan Chenhongs chest Heart? He was definitely, thoroughly dead. Xiaorong! Earlier, Xiaorong had switched to the aberrants ankles when the aberrantnded on Shangguan Chenhong. But then the aberrant jumped right into the sky. Xiaorong almost wasnt long enough. My ice armor hadpletely vanished, leaving behind a branch no wider than my pinky hooked to my waist. I grabbed onto Xiaorongs branch, tugging on the huge figure, preventing him from fleeing. Hold on for a bit. Dont let him escape. After giving themands, I was still a little uneasy. I added on, If you really cant hold on, you can let go. Dont let yourself snap. Xiaorong can do it I could hear Xiaorongs dissatisfaction. My little brother was such a stubborn tree. Iughed. Fine, my Xiaorong can definitely do it. In order to avoid my little brother bing a naked tree without any branches, rg had to quickly finish the battle. Earlier, against the ten or so soldiers with heavy firepower, I acted cautiously. But when it came to aberrants, for some reason, I was a lot more confident. After all, the current aberrants wouldnt y any mind games with you. They fought you right away. How can a tier three possibly lose against a tier two? Especially me, who had gone through the Ice Emperors training. If I really were to lose, I wouldnt have to imagine how the Ice Emperor would scold me if he were still alive. I would hang myself from Xiaorongs body! With the addition of Xiaorongs power, I could fight against the aberrant. He couldnt even get away and actually swung his sword back, clearly trying to sever Xiaorong. I quickly threw out three ice des, barely managing to knock his sword astraywait a moment, since when did aberrants have swords? No wait, it was actually a thorn, and the shape wasnt exactly the same as a sword. However, the way the aberrant held the thorn was so simr to how swords were held that I thought it was a sword. The sight was very familiar, and that tall, slim figure Asura? The moment recognition struck, I was only stunned for a second before I immediately dashed toward Asura. I still couldnt summon the ice spear, but the hoarfrost dagger was getting more and more presentable. Even though Asura was tall, he still wasnt sturdy. From some angles, ayer of his skin was reflective. It could be a shell or scales and could probably block some attacks. Currently, there were few aberrants sturdier than the hoarfrost dagger. One strike might not cut him, but I can follow that up with a second. I dont care that youre tough, only that theyers are too thick. After all, with the length of the hoarfrost dagger stuck inside, it would be an injury that couldnt be immediately healed. I have to get rid of Asura before Thirteen also jumps out! I rushed forward and yelled at the same time, Xiaorong, bind him! The branches that had only been wrapped around Asuras calves suddenly became a wide, firmly wrapping up Asuras entire lower body. Asura was really too big. If Xiaorong tried to wrap his whole body, his branches would be too thin and wouldnt be strong enough. Wrapping up half was just right. Xiaorong could restrict his motions while not bing too thin and brittle. My Xiaorong-ddi was truly bing more and more dependable. I didnt even have to tell him what to do. Asura wanted to use the sword to cut Xiaorong, but my Xiaorong was really smart. He immediately tightened his grip, his branches sinking into skin. If Asura wanted to cut him, he would be slicing up his own skin, while my Xiaorong could move. Whether or not he could cut the branches was up for debate, but he would definitely injure himself. And yet, there was no way he could easily break Xiaorong off with his bare hands. Even though Xiaorong couldnt give Asura any more trouble either, this was enough. Leave the rest to rg! I rushed over following Xiaorongs branches. I nned to get rid of this guy in one go, however, with only three steps left, a sudden pain seized my head, causing my sight to turn ck. I could only retreat immediately and shout at the same time, Xiaorong,e back! I was still toote. As expected, Asura was never far from Thirteen. I clenched my teeth and endured the headache, trying my best not to show that anything was off. Face ashen, I turned toward the forest. A person stood there. At first nce, he looked like a normal person, but a long, thick tail dragged behind him. The shape of his hands and feet were odd as well. He didnt have nails either. Instead, what took their ce were sharp ws. He didnt wear shoes. The ws on his feet were evenrger than before and resembled animal ws even more. No wonder the Ice Emperor said that Thirteen didnt have weapons. If these ws on his hands and feet continue to develop, why would he need other weapons? A single w could dig someones heart and guts out. Asura walked over to Thirteen, a heart held between two long fingers. He passed the heart to thetter. The small heart wasnt all that small once in Thirteens hands. It was just that Asura was too big, so a regr humans heart appeared small. Thirteen was in no hurry to eat the heart. His eyes fixated on me. Without even turning his head to speak to Asura, he said, Drag the two bodies of food on the ground over. Those are good. I really didnt want Asura to eat good food. However, it didnt seem like I could deal with the current Thirteen and Asura on my own. Asura alone might be okay, but I hadnt even sensed Thirteens presence. He was standing right in front of me, but if I were to close my eyes, I still might not be able to detect his presence. Is it because hes far more powerful than me, or is this an ability of psychic type aberrants? No matter what the reason was, Thirteen was indeed worthy of being known as the king of aberrants in thest life. The speed at which he was improving was no joke. If he hadnt shown himself and instead struck me from the shadows, he might have seeded. I really shouldnt have let him go back then. No matter how despicable the MORC were, I should have taken revenge by my own hands and not let such an extremely dangerous aberrant go, hoping that he would kill any MORC members on sight. It was my fault. I had just regained all my memories, and my head had been muddled when I saw the Ice Emperor shatter into pieces of ice. With such a huge shock, I had actually chosen to let Thirteen go to cause trouble for the MORC It seems that today Ill have to pay for the mistake I made back then. The Jiang Dominion and all my familiar people are right beside me. The cost cant include them! Besides, I had guessed that the aberrant tide must have had a psychic type aberrant controlling them. Could it be I narrowed my eyes dangerously and asked, You Gge! I flinched, almost thinking it was Shujun. My heart had nearly been about to jump out. Fortunately, I realized this voice was very young. It couldnt be my little sister. A girl poked her head out from Thirteens trench coat and stared at me with wide eyes. I was stunned. I recognized her right away and tried calling out, Beibei? Beibeis eyes shone and she shouted, Gge recognizes Beibei? It really is Gge! I hadnt thought that Thirteen still had Beibei with him, and she looked like she was being taken care of. Thirteen clearly didnt care much about his own clothes and was wearing a random red trench coat, while the legs of his pants were even ripped! Beibei, on the other hand, was wearing a ck cloak, a fluffy jacket, along with ankle boots. Even though she wasnt as clean as the girls before the apocalypseher sleeves and pant legs were a bit dirtyshe was still a lot cleaner than 99% of the kids out there in the world now. It seems like Beibei is doing well. I let out a sigh of relief. At least my decision back then hadnt harmed her. An aberrant was actually able to raise Beibei so well. He must have spent a lot of effort. I hesitated. Maybe I could trymunicating with Thirteen? If the aberrant tide really does have to do with him, then we might be able to get through this crisis withoutplications. Bute to think of it, why did Thirteen kill Shangguan Chenhong? Does he have a grudge against him, or is it simply because the other person is a great supplement, so he wants to eat him? Thetter sounded quite possible. I really had noment on how Shangguan Chenhong had made himself into a walking supplement. Beibei beamed brightly and looked up at Thirteen, saying Daddy, we finally found Gge so we can go home. Ive saved up so much candy for Gge to eat! They even have a home? I was stunned. But before I could figure out how exactly aberrants could have a home, I heard a hubbubing from within the base. Evidently the hugemotion here had alerted the others. Thirteen nced at the base, obviously having noticed the hubbub as well, and said, Jiang Shuyu,e with me. Come? I almost lost myposure. An aberrant asking me to go with him? Is he grabbing me as takeaway to eat at home? Even if Thirteen had be much more powerful, I wasnt a pushover either. Dont even dream about using me as takeaway for the family! I let Xiaorong materialize full body armor once again, and tightly gripped the hoarfrost dagger in my hand, raging, You wanna eat me? Lets see you try! Thirteen just shook his head, replying, Come with me, wont eat you. Wanting to take me away without eating me? My frown was as deep as Thirteens. I waspletely at a loss of what this future aberrant king wanted to do. To resolve the biggest question at hand, I asked, Were you the one who brought over that aberrant tide? Thirteen nodded. Holy fuck, my luck as Jiang Shuyu really was absolute sh*t. Just one brain fart was enough to trigger divine retribution. Id only let Thirteen go for a few months and he was here knocking on the door with an army. What happened to killing the MORC people? Beibei wanted to run over to me but was firmly held back by Thirteen. She didnt mind though, and just happily shouted at me, Dont be scared, Gge, ande with us. Daddy has a lot of servants who can protect Beibei and Gge! And we have a lot of yummy candy to eat too! I looked at Beibei. So shespletely epted Thirteen as her dad? Even though she was little, she should be able to recognize people. Dont tell me shes forgotten her real parents in just a few months? Though that dad who vanished when danger struck isnt worth remembering anyway. Besides, even though Thirteen still looked human, the other aberrants definitely did not. As for servants, they were in no way human! Asura was a three meter tall giant, and there were a lot more aberrants that looked so horrific that they would freak out a hundred little girls. How could she even dare to look at such servants! Theres something distinctly off about Beibei, but lets put that aside for now. No matter how strange the behavior of a little girl who had been raised by aberrants for a few months was, it wasnt entirely unusual. What was truly weird was Thirteens behavior He doesnt seem hostile? I asked tentatively, Thirteen, can you not attack the base? Thirteen replied simply, Yes,e with us. Is your goal killing me for revenge? I asked uprehendingly. Why on earth is he so insistent on taking me away? But it doesnt seem like he wants revenge fromst time. Beibei quickly said, Gge, Daddy wont eat you. Even though he carelessly lost you, I scolded him already. Dont be scared of Daddy! Huh? I waspletely lost. Did Beibei go stupid under Thirteens care? Yet Thirteen nodded in agreement. I really couldnt figure out what Thirteen wanted, but the situation seemed like it could still be turned around. Thirteen led this aberrant tide. I wasnt confident I could win. If there was some other way to resolve it, that would be amazing. The noiseing from the base was growing louder, and the running footsteps seemed like they had almost reached the gate. Jiang Shuyu,e now! Thirteen insisted stubbornly. No! I was firmer than him. Go wait in the mountains. Ille tonight. There must only be you and Beibei there. If there any other aberrants, I wonte. Thirteen blinked and said, Asura is here too. If you donte, Ille to get you. I tried to negotiate, No Asura Halfway through my sentence, I heard Cain call out anxiously. The heavy gates of the base were slowly being opened. Thirteens expression changed and his feet wed marks into the ground. He looked at me, his original easygoing stance tightening up in an instant, ready to spring into action any time. Seeing that, I really didnt want the negotiations to fall through. An aberrant tide was hard enough to handle as it was, and what was worse was that Thirteen was leading them. I reluctantly promised, Ill definitelye tonight. Make the aberrants back away from the base, or else how can you guarantee they wont eat anyone with how much food there is here? Thirteen said uncaringly, Theres lots of food. Theyll eat somewhere else. My mouth twitched. Certainly, the apocalypse had just started and there were plenty of humans and nts to eat. An aberrant by itself might get hungry, but an aberrant tide would eat wherever it went, as nothing could stop it! You wille? Thirteen asked to re-confirm. Yes! I promised. Thirteen nodded and picked up Beibei. She thrashed around anxiously, screaming Wait, bring Gge! But Thirteen didnt nod anymore and just left with Asura without even looking back. Once again, I was looking at an empty forest, with a frown so deep it could squash an apocalyptic mosquito! Ice Spear! The moment the bases gate opened, Cain rushed over, looking me over to make sure that I was unharmed. Only then did he rx and immediately roll his eyes with a helpless expression. Im the victim, okay?! Shangguan Chenhong was the one who came to kill me, and Thirteens the one who came to capture me. You dared to kill him! An anxious, furious roar sounded from the entrance, alongside footsteps of arge group and the clinking of metallic weapons. It was obvious these visitors did not have good intentions. I turned to face the neers, replying coolly, I didnt kill anyone. I have zero interest in digging out peoples hearts, okay! Go ask the soldiers who ran away, why they left the base and what just happened here. Dont even try to pin this on me. The aberrants have surrounded the mountains behind us, so if we start infighting, were just asking to be eaten! Zhu Yuanzhou was absolutely furious, but when he heard my words, he did turn to look at the soldiers who had escaped. When he realized that they did not dispute what I had said, his expression sank. What on earth happened? Cain anxiously leaned over, his eyes flicking back and forth, almost like he couldnt believe that I was unscathed. I gave a cold hmph and exined, That guy wanted to kill me, but failed at a sneak attack. And when he was taking his troops back to the base, he was stupid enough to split up his crew to find me. I was still debating whether to punch him or leave him be and use some other entrance to the base, but then he got stomped to death by an aberrant that appeared out of nowhere. It even dug out his heart for a snack. Every word was truth and there was no need to lie. I just needed to conceal the fact that I knew that aberrant. One of the soldiers heatedly shouted, So you just hid and watched the aberrant kill someone? You intentionally let him die! I almost erupted in angryughter at his words, and had to fight hard to maintain my cool facade. Cain raged, You wanted to kill Ice Spear, and still use him of not saving you guys! These soldiers couldnt even protect Shangguan Chenhong even though they were standing right next to him, so what do you expect Ice Spear to do? Hearing that, Zhu Yuanzhou silently stared at the corpses strewn on the ground that were still warm. None of the surrounding soldiers could retort either. But that person who had used me just now protested again, If youre so great, how could you not have noticed the aberrants around us?! Cain justughed. So what if he noticed them? Wouldnt it be easier for Ice Spear to get into the city if he just let the aberrants eat you? You! Enough! I snapped, Are you all really nning to be aberrant food? You seriously want to kill me? Without me, how were you nning to deal with those horned mice that can burrow through the ground? Zhu Yuanzhou frowned as he responded, I didnt send anyone to kill you. I said in frustration, I dont care whether or not you gave the order, the ones who made a move on me were your people! Anyway, lets talk once we survive the night! What we need to do now is get into the city ASAP. The aberrant that killed Shangguan Chenhong is pretty powerful, and who knows how many more are hiding nearby. Even if you want to die, I still want to live! With that, I snapped lets go to Cain and quickly rushed back to the base to avoid getting stopped by anyone else. Cain immediately followed without a word. Soon after we arrived at the base, Zhu Yuanzhou and his crew returned as well. They ended up dragging Shangguan Chenhongs corpse along too. The corpse waspletely ripped into two pieces, and even his heart had been dug out by Asura. Even if these soldiers lost their minds and let the corpse be an aberrant, it wouldnt matter too much, so I let them bring the corpse in. Everyones expressions were dark. This wasnt a surprise. Shangguan Chenhong was dead, and no matter how he died, they would definitely suffer the consequences when they got back. Zhu Yuanzhou came over and said cautiously, We can listen to your orders, but I will still lead my people. Once weve survived this disaster, were leaving. I chuckled coolly and said, What, let you go so you can gather more people to trying after me again? Zhu Yuanzhou said frankly, I will definitely exaggerate how powerful you are so that the higher-ups will hesitate. I cant guarantee that we wonte again, but at least they should hold off in the short term. This was rather trustworthy. I wouldnt trust him if he had guaranteed that he would nevere back. Cain took over the conversation and said suspiciously, Shangguan must have more than four hundred soldiers, right? It shouldnt be hard to gather another group, so how can you guarantee that your higher-ups wont want to try again? Zhu Yuanzhou sighed and said honestly, The Shangguan family is also in disarray. The world is in a mess, and everyone is still fighting for power. Dont think too badly of Chenhong. He was a self-centered person with a bad temper, but he was the only one who took action. None of the others even want to send any soldiers, and are all just sitting around waiting to benefit without any effort. Ha, I cantment on the rest but the taking action part really was spot on. Before Shangguan Chenhong came to attack the JDT base, he even sent the shadow man to mess with Xiao Shas brothers only fight troops. With the aberrants still circling outside like sharks, he even came to attack me. These actions were an absolute FAIL! I couldnt be bothered to listen to him trying to exin Shangguan Chenhongs actions or respond, so I just ignored him and said to Cain, Has the night shift been taken care of? We need enough people at hand and cant ck off. Its fine to let people who have nobat ability keep watch as well. Ah Nuo handled it. Hes good at this stuff. I nodded and turned to walk away, leaving Zhu Yuanzhou standing where he was awkwardly. But Cain chased after me and asked quietly, Do we keep digging the tunnel? I made an assenting sound. Yes, but the exit cant be at the back of the mountain. It needs to be even further away. Cain said with apprehension, We wont have enough time if we need to dig that far though? In order not to catch attention with the noise, Zheng Xing listened to your uncle and dug quite deeply, so the progress is slower than expected. Do your best. I need to head out at night, as Ive seen the aberrant that killed Shangguan Chenhong before. Cain balked and said through clenched teeth, So what if youve seen it before? What can you even do out there? Youre not nning to assassinate it, right? Dont be an idiot, theres a ton of aberrants out there. Dont go out to your death! We cant hold them off. I said directly, The leader of the aberrants is Thirteen, one of the future Elite Twelve. I met him before when I was carried away by the bird. Thirteen is different from other aberrants and still retains a bit of his humanity. I can talk to him, so maybe I can still turn this around. Cain was astonished by what Id said, but he frowned and vetoed my decision. Still no! If anything happens to you, and I knew about it, Boss is going to grind me down to bits even finer than sand. Id rather fight to the death with the aberrants. Even if I get eaten by them in the end, Id at least have my bones left! The horned mice outside arent picky eaters. Forget bones, they wont even leave a single hair behind, okay?! I continued to try to persuade him, Ive had some dealings with that aberrant. He wont kill me. What dealings can you even have with an aberrant? To be food in its stomach? Cains expression screamed dont try to trick me. I said helplessly, Its a long story, but its true he doesnt want to kill me. Ill go talk to him, and maybe we can get out of this alive. Cain immediately said, Then Ill go with you. I rolled my eyes at him and said irritably, Dont be a deadweight. If anything happens, I can probably still get away as long as youre not there. Cain knew that was true, but he still pleaded, Xiao Yu, nothing must happen to you, or Boss will kill me using death by a thousand horses! You mean death by a thousand cuts. I sighed deeply and said, Ill pretend to go rest in my room and sneak out. Dont let Zhu Yuanzhou find out that Im not around. If Im not back by sunrise Cains bronzed face waspletely sheet white. I quickly changed mid-sentence, That means Im probably drawing Thirteen somewhere else. Take stock of the situation and be on guard against Zhu Yuanzhou. But dont get into an argument with him. If things really dont work out, immediately apprehend him as a hostage. I nagged at him endlessly in my anxiety. Suddenly, there came the long howls of the wolfmen from outside, but I didnt hear or see any responding gunfire. The aberrants werent attacking, so were the wolf howls a signal from Thirteen for me to hurry up? My gut feeling was that that was the case, and I was a little speechless at his behavior. Hearing the endless howling, Cain tried again to dissuade me, wheedling, Shuyu, dont do it. Maybe Boss will be here soon. If he finds out that you went out by yourself for a meeting, Im going to turn into sand in the wind So annoying! I exploded, Im already tier three, one full tier stronger than Dg. Anything that can kill me will definitely devour you without leaving a trace, so you dont even have to wait for my dg to grind you into pieces! Cain eximed emotionally, Shuyu, you really are stronger than Boss! Normally you refuse to admit that, but Boss has always said that you are stronger than him. But Yunqian said special abilities didnt count and Leader was stronger in a straight up fight, because he has been a mercenary for so many years, so he is much more experienced at fighting. Ive had ten years of experience in the apocalypse fighting aberrants No, wait, ten years of getting beaten up by aberrants. A momentary slip up would end in death, so it was much more harrowing than winning against mercenaries. Cain was still absolutely over the moon, and I said a little embarrassedly, Are you happy that Im stronger than Dg? Totally! Cain almost cheered. I won the bet. I finally dont have to do the dishes, and Yunqian has to deal with them! The next time we go into a city, we should really grab a dishwasher. The Novel will be updated first on this website. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone!