Translator: Dj2203
Editor: Dj2203
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“What’s this? It smells so good!” Just as Fu Ke finished plating, the skinny guy, drawn by the aroma, pushed open the door and saw Fu Ke carrying a plate of octopus.
“Wow, Xiao Bai, you’re actually cooking for me!” The skinny guy strode over, picked up an octopus, and took a bite. The spicy and delicious flavor was delightful: “Delicious!”
Fu Ke picked up her chopsticks, took a bite, and said, “Skinny, can we talk about something?”
“What is it?” the skinny guy asked, quickly eating his octopus. Seeing this, Fu Ke sped up even more.
“I think the Chaoyang Base should be the same as before. You manage it, and I’ll just eat, eat, eat.” Fu Ke ate the octopus she had made, her eyes crinkling with happiness.
The slight discomfort she had felt earlier had disappeared; it seemed her own cooking was indeed better.
The skinny guy’s hand froze. He then looked at Fu Ke: “I don’t know how to manage the base. Brother Long used to manage it; I was just there to relay messages and run errands.”
A silence fell between them.
“Brother Long didn’t know this before either, but he learnt eventually. Besides, people committed crimes in the last life, but with me here, no one will dare to do anything.” Fu Ke said, “Besides, there aren’t many people in the base.”
The skinny guy smiled and said, “That’s right. How about this, you manage the base, and I’ll run errands for you like I did for Brother Long before, becoming your underling.”
“…” Fu Ke pouted and took the plate back: “I’m not giving you any!”
The skinny guy chuckled: “Anyway, I’m not hungry.”
“You’re not hungry and you’re still fighting with me?” Fu Ke looked at the skinny guy in disbelief: “Skinny guy, you’ve changed too. You’re not the skinny guy you used to be!”
“Well, you used to eat crystal cores, and I couldn’t eat crystal cores!” the skinny guy said matter-of-factly.
“But crystal cores were more important than food back then. You guys used crystal cores to level up.” Fu Ke pouted.
As Fu Ke expected, not long after Lu Xun and the others returned, Wang Zhen’s wife, Liu Yue, woke up and immediately started labor.
Fortunately, Feng Han was prepared under Fu Ke’s instructions.
Seeing that there were doctors at the base, Wang Zhen breathed a sigh of relief.
Feng Han had Qiu Yingying and Chen Meijia come to help, and Song Jing was also called over.
But delivering a baby was a first-time experience for Feng Han, let alone Chen Meijia and the others; she was understandably nervous. However, these days, even those who hadn’t experienced it had seen it happen.
Besides, Feng Han was previously the school doctor.
….
A few days later, at the underground research institute in T City.
“Professor, they…didn’t find…” Gu Ming said with a worried expression, taking out a chip: “They only found this.”
The chip still had black bloodstains on it, but upon closer inspection, the black blood wasn’t actually that black; it was more of a reddish tinge. A dark, dark red.
After putting on gloves, Professor Gu picked up the chip and examined it. “Number Eight’s intelligence is definitely no less than ours. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have removed the chip.”
“Professor, we received news from City B that they’re sending a team of superhumans to pick you up and take you back there. There’s no base here; it’s too dangerous. City B is much safer.”
Gu Ming said to Professor Gu, “Number Eight is definitely nowhere to be found now. Without the chip, we have no idea where he is. And with his intelligence, he might come back for revenge.”
Professor Gu raised his hand, stopping Gu Ming.
“I know. Have everyone stop the experiments, record the data, and we’ll leave once the people from City B arrive.” Professor Gu didn’t know if Number Eight would come back for revenge, but he didn’t dare gamble.
It was a good thing that City B was sending someone to pick him up; with superhumans protecting him, they were much more reliable than the people at the research institute.
If the research institute had had superhumans before, Number Eight wouldn’t have escaped so easily.
More than ten kilometers away from the research institute, a man in a black suit, wearing sunglasses, stood on a building, leaning on the railing and looking towards the underground research institute.
His skin was excessively pale, looking extremely unnatural. Long, slender fingers removed his sunglasses, revealing blood-red eyes.
“Human—” A slight smile played on his lips; they weren’t as deathly pale as his skin, but rather a pale red.
His voice was hoarse and unpleasant: “They all deserve to die!”
He rose and went inside, opening a briefcase. Inside were countless syringes, the liquid inside blood-red. The man pulled one out and injected it into his arm.
Immediately, his veins swelled.
“Roar—” The man’s face contorted in a grotesque roar, his blood-red eyes crackling with purple electricity.
A chunk of flesh was missing from his arm, a thumb-sized dent, as if something had been removed from it. Blood swelled, and dark red blood oozed from the wound.
Yes, this man was Number Eight, who had escaped from the underground research institute.
Meanwhile, at the D City base, which had been on high alert for many days, no zombies had attacked.
Suddenly, everyone began to doubt Liu Guo’an’s words, and Zhang Zhongmin too. He said he’d be back, but he hadn’t shown up for so long. Many suspected Liu Guo’an was just making things up to protect his position.
The base was abuzz with discussion, and Liu Guo’an was restless.
“Qin Long, didn’t you say the number of zombies around here was gradually increasing? But why hasn’t anything happened yet?” Liu Guo’an asked uncertainly.
Qin Long was also puzzled. He had clearly seen many zombies starting to stir, so why hadn’t anything happened for so long?
“I’ll go out and check tonight.”
“Good, remember to be careful, come back immediately if anything seems wrong.” Liu Guo’an sighed.
Qin Long stood upstairs. It was getting late, the sun wasn’t so strong anymore, and everyone was gathered in small groups chatting on the playground.
Hearing the noisy sounds around him, Qin Long closed his eyes, but that silly smile wouldn’t leave him.
Despite his obvious frustration, Qin Long’s lips curled slightly at the sight of that silly smile. After a long while, he finally opened his eyes.
Looking down at the group of people below, his gaze sharpened.
‘Tap, tap, tap,’ unhurried footsteps sounded. Qin Long turned and saw Xie Changyi approaching.
“Brother Long,” Xie Changyi grinned, “The base is short of supplies, and the zombies are nowhere to be seen. If this continues, the people in the base will eventually start rioting. Oh, right, and why hasn’t Squad Leader Zhang returned yet?”
Qin Long leaned against the railing, looking at the playground, giving Xie Changyi only a glimpse of his scarred profile.
“You really can’t wait.”
Xie Changyi had been the most restless lately, especially with the zombie horde taking so long to arrive, the base’s supplies dwindling, and Zhang Zhongmin still not back.
“Brother Long.” Xie Changyi stood side by side with Qin Long, also facing the direction of the playground. He rested his hand on the railing and tilted his head to look at Qin Long. “Actually, you don’t need to be like this. Even if I take over the base in the future, you can still be the same as you are now.”
Qin Long chuckled but didn’t speak.
“You should know that Liu Guo’an is simply incapable of managing this base, otherwise the base wouldn’t have become like this. Isn’t that right?” Xie Changyi spoke calmly to Qin Long.
“He is indeed not suitable.” Qin Long smiled and looked at Xie Changyi. “But you are not suitable either.”
Xie Changyi’s expression changed. “I’m not suitable? Is there anyone in the base more suitable than me?”
“Of course.” Qin Long straightened up, put his hands in his pockets, and his face returned to its cold expression, a sharp glint in his eyes. “Look at me, what do you think?”
Xie Changyi was stunned by Qin Long’s words and didn’t utter a word for a long time. But his expression changed drastically.
“Qin Long! Don’t refuse a toast only to drink a forfeit[1]!” Xie Changyi shouted angrily.
“Sorry, I’ve quit drinking.” Qin Long said indifferently, turning to leave.
Xie Changyi gritted his teeth, his eyes fixed on Qin Long’s retreating figure with a sinister glint.
“Actually, I also think Qin Long is more suitable for this position than you.” Suddenly, Liu Guo’an’s voice, tinged with a half-smile, reached his ears: “If I really have to step down, it should be to Qin Long.”
Xie Changyi glared angrily at Liu Guo’an, then he turned and left, his fists clenched.
He had originally wanted to win over Qin Long, but who knew that instead of being won over, he might become his biggest competitor in the future.
It wasn’t that he didn’t take Zhou Xu and Xie Bajin seriously, but anyone with eyes could see that even if those two joined forces, they might not be an obstacle to him.
“Qin Long, if you’re ruthless, don’t blame me for being ruthless too!” Xie Changyi said through gritted teeth in a low voice.
A meeting was being held at the Blue Light Base in City B.
The huge conference room was packed with people, much more than when they were in City D.
“The soil we’re growing now is all poisonous, making it impossible to eat. Food is dwindling, and the Yonghui Base is constantly competing with us for supplies.” Chief Chen looked at everyone. “Although we’ve sent people to other places to find supplies and food, it’s too little, too late.”
“More importantly, a large truckload of supplies would be quickly wiped out by our large numbers at the base.”
The further they went from the base to find supplies, the more dangerous it became. Every time they went out, someone was injured or killed.
Researchers at the base were constantly working on how to cultivate edible plants, but progress was slow, and so far there had been no significant advancements.
Therefore, when Chief Chen learned that Professor Gu was still alive, he immediately sent people to bring him back.
With Professor Gu present, progress might be accelerated. However, things were different now; there might be many unforeseen circumstances on the road. Bringing Professor Gu back wouldn’t be quick.
But Chief Chen had given a strict order: Professor Gu must be safely protected and brought back.
Zhang Zhongmin sat thoughtfully to one side. The shortage of supplies… he immediately thought of Fu Ke, but the Blue Light Base had many times the number of people at the D City base. Zhang Zhongmin wasn’t sure if Fu Ke could produce that much supplies.
Moreover, even if Fu Ke could, Zhang Zhongmin didn’t dare tell the leader.
Leader Chen was selfless; even with the current shortage of supplies, he himself was enduring hunger to ensure everyone in the base received food, even if it meant everyone might go hungry soon.
If Leader Chen knew, he would definitely have Zhang Zhongmin bring Fu Ke over, but Zhang Zhongmin knew that Leader Chen and Fu Ke were not the same kind of people, even though Fu Ke seemed easy to talk to.
Obtaining Fu Ke’s supplies would be both easy and difficult.
“Leader, I request permission to go out and find supplies.” Zhang Zhongmin still wanted to try going back to D City, but this time, he didn’t know how many crystal cores would be needed for so many people.
He didn’t know if he could produce that much.
The leader’s intention in the meeting was to send people on expeditions to find supplies. They had searched all the possible places in B City, but they were gradually running out of money.
And now fewer and fewer people returned from their expeditions, and some didn’t return at all.
Communications remained unrestored after the apocalypse, and no one knew whether those people had escaped or died.
Those inside the base were also unwilling to leave.
Zhang Zhongmin volunteered, and while Chief Chen hesitated, after considering both sides, he agreed. Because now, the most important thing was no longer defense, but supplies.
Without food, even if the base was fortified with iron walls, they would starve to death.
Chief Chen feared that if the food truly ran out, some in the base would resort to cannibalism.
“Chief, if you ask me, they, the people of Yonghui Base, are shameless! Why should we bother searching for supplies so far away? Let’s just go to war with Yonghui Base!” someone suddenly shouted.
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[1] To refuse a polite offer of a drink (toast) only to be forced to drink a penalty or punishment (forfeit).
