Ye Zhizhou followed Liang Ping to the remote little house he lived in. They casually packed up and went down to look for a car that had some gas left. Ye Zhizhou took his newly abducted little comrade on the road back to Annan base. The scent hiding pill was quite useful, the two didn't meet any zombie along the way. Occasionally a few would be attracted by the noise of car but they were all speedily taken care of by Liang Ping and his scalpel.
He watched the other man cut a zombie's head cleanly in half. The tip of that knife plunged and carved out a piece of transparent crystal core. Liang Ping wiped off the remaining brain matter from the core and passed it over, "For you, payback for food."
Ye Zhizhou examined the proffered core, his gaze moved from the core to the scalpel in Liang Ping's hand, the knife seemed made to be extremely sharp.
"You like this?" Liang Ping followed Ye Zhizhou's gaze to the knife he was holding, he shook his head, "This is what I exchanged with a metal user, I can't give it to you." He carefully wiped the scalpel clean and put it back in his coat's pocket.
Ye Zhizhou stayed silent as he looked away, he offered the crystal core back to Liang Ping, "I can't use this thing, take it." He had tried to use the stone but the result was the various forces almost contaminated his spiritual force, the close call really frightened him.
Liang Ping carefully watched him and took back the crystal. He sat in a posture of little boy who got to sit shotgun and talked monotonously, "You're really a good person, a fresh apple is worth one crystal core."
The Zixu space has a mountain filled with wild fruit trees, all of them big and sweet and as free as pebbles. Ye Zhizhou felt uncomfortable with being regarded as a good person. He quietly took out a strawberry and handed it over, speaking in a tone used to coax little children, "Then, you can eat this, it's a little thing so you don’t need to pay."
Liang Ping looked at him as though looking at an idiot, but he took the strawberry and carefully put it in his mouth. He said with a hamster cheek, "Strawberries are even harder to exchange with, they're more valuable than apples, you're really a good person."
Okay fine, he is a "good person".
He took back his hand and rummaged through the provisions he accumulated for several lifetimes. His heart felt very relieved. Okay, he still had lots of food and can provide for many people! Thank you for the space's freshness function, this is truly great in an apocalypse!
One provides the food and the other killed zombies to collect their cores. They went through several cars and spent each one’s gas, they turned the wrong way on their way and spent around five days before finally arriving at Annan base.
The Annan base used to be a middle school. The school was a rectangular l-like block building and it has two walled fences, one tall and one short. These secure wall fences were reinforced by ability users. With Liu Chen's face they got through the first wall directly, Ye Zhizhou stopped their car inside and observed around him.
The first one to come out was father Liu. Ye Zhizhou couldn't adapt right away when the snow haired middle age man held him, until he called out "Xiao Chen", and Ye Zhizhou recalled his identity from the story data. He was moved to hugging the red-eyed older man back, as well as calling him "dad" softly.
"It's good that you've returned, very good.. Are you hungry? Dad will go get you some food." Liu Tao released him, but still held his arms and shoulders, checking if he lost weight or if he had any injuries.
"I'm okay." Although the original Liu Chen had a bad temper and questionable morals he treated his father with respect. In the original plot when the base was infiltrated Liu Tao died saving Liu Chen. Left alone, Liu Chen turned completely black, an irrational man who saw everyone as an enemy who killed his father. Thinking to this point his expression was more grave and he said seriously, "Dad, on the road back I saw some high level zombies slowly gathering. Our base has a dense smell from many human in one place, they could be grouping up to attack us. We have to evacuate, immediately."
Hearing it, Liu Tao face changed, he anxiously asked his son, "Really? Are you hurt anywhere?"
"I always went around those zombies, it's okay." Ye Zhizhou placatingly patted his hand, he looked at Liang Ping on the other side and told a flat out lie, "This person beside me is Liang Ping. He was the one to discover zombies assembling together. Hurry and tell the others to get ready to evacuate, it'll be too late once it's the evening."
Liang Ping was surprised by his lie but his expression was too flat. None of his internal conflict could be made out, people would only feel that he was mysterious person and wouldn't be able to make him out.
The people of the base who was attracted by their talk heard all of that and grew anxious and afraid. Some of them were also disdainful, loudly exclaiming, "Can his words even be trusted? Is this something new you made up to get attention, Liu Chen? Hahaha, useless people should just stay put, don’t jump around like a fool."
Liu Tao's expression shifted at these words, he was about to explode but Wei Xu quickly ran over and spoke first.
"Where do you put your eyes, talking badly of Xiao Chen!" Wei Xu strode over wrapped with frost and chill. He stood in front of Ye Zhizhou and leveled a fierce look at the people who talked just now, "Liebao squad, what are you complaining about, you can't even earn your keep! Hasn't uncle Liu always cared for all of you?! Don’t forget who’s keeping you fed here!"
The person who spoke before was intimidated by his glare and shrank back, not speaking anymore.
Wei Xu glared at him again in response. He turned to look at Ye Zhizhou and his worry and anxiety flared into anger, "You still know to come back! Don’t run around next time, quietly stay with me!
He clearly didn't run around at all!
Ye Zhizhou protested in his head and turned away defiantly, he continued to convince Liu Tao, "Dad, we have to evacuate as soon as possible, I awakened a spatial ability so don’t worry about carrying a lot of materials."
Liu Tao was pleasantly surprised and also hesitating, "Xiao Chen, you awakened an ability? That's great… this could be considered a blessing in disguise! But evacuating….." He glanced at the faces around him. His expression turned conflicted, "If we take the base's supplies with us, what about the people here?"
"Those who want to go to B city too we'll bring with us, those who don’t want to, we'll leave behind some supplies here for them." He purposefully raised his voice, comparing the situation seriously, "The weakest in that zombie group is level three, while our base's doesn't have many ability users. We have a bit of ammunition but we can't afford to waste them. We have to evacuate, the sooner the better!"
The lowest level is three?! The complexion of the people hearing their conversation turned completely pale.
The rage Wei Xu felt being ignored by Ye Zhizhou dwindled down, he swept his gaze to the many people with their own thoughts and his brows knitted. He placed himself in front of the Liu father and son pair and lowered his voice, "This is not the place to talk, let's go inside."
Ye Zhizhou glanced at him, patted Liu Tao to calm him and turned to wave at the quiet wallflower Liang Ping. He went in first, disregarding the base's rule of a 24 hour wait period.
Several people gathered in the small classroom where Wei Xu's squad usually had their meetings. Ye Zhizhou took out a map from his space, and circled out several places with a pencil, pointing them out for them to see. "This one was discovered by doctor Liang, we found these other two when we were hurrying back to the base. If you also add in the wave from when I got separated from brother Wei…." Connecting them in a line, he pointed to the Annan base which was situated smack in the middle of the encirclement. "If they complete this circle, our base would be completely surrounded. No one would be able to escape even if they want to."
Liu Tao and Wei Xu had deep serious expressions. Ye Zhizhou looked back and forth between them. "So, will you evacuate?"
"Alright." Liu Tao was the first to agree, "I'll ask Old Li to note the remaining supplies."
Wei Xu hesitated but then nodded, "I also agree, but I need to discuss it with our team first."
Ye Zhizhou raised one brow, "You can slowly discuss since I don’t plan to go with you. That squad of yours is too dangerous, I'm afraid I’ll die at the hand of my comrades instead of zombies."
Liang Ping who was silent since the beginning eyed Wei Xu, his body tensed slightly and he took hold of the scalpel in his pocket.
Liu Tao's face also changed, he asked his son, "Xiao Chen, what do you mean? Didn't you get separated from Xiao Xu and the others because of a sudden zombie attack?"
He didn't reply and instead looked at Wei Xu with a mocking smile. "Brother Wei, this is what you told my dad? That we got separated?"
Wei Xu's expression grew stiff. His jaw tightened and he suddenly lowered his head. "Uncle Liu, I'm sorry I lied to you, and Xiao Chen, I…."
The classroom’s door was suddenly pushed open. Xu Yi stood just outside, expressionlessly yelling out, "It has nothing to do with brother Wei! It was me, I wasn't careful and pushed Liu Chen into a crowd of zombies… It was a very hectic at the time, so….. In short it was all my fault, don’t blame brother Wei!"
"Why are you here?" Wei Xu's complexion darkened, he glared at Xu Yi, "Who let you listen in on us talking? Get out!"
Xu Yi stood stiff being yelled at by Wei Xu before anxiously entering the room to explain, "I didn't mean to eavesdrop, I just heard people outside saying that Liu Chen came back and I wanted to see….."
"See how I am not dead yet?" Ye Zhizhou couldn't be patient with their chattering, he cut in while moving his wrist, "Thanks a lot for that kick. Look, I awakened my ability fighting for my life. It's a spatial ability just like yours," with a shake of his wrist a cluster of grapes appeared on his palms, "and what's even more fortunate is it comes with already grown plants."
Xu Yi looked like a strangled rooster, he didn't speak anymore. From the beginning until now his space hadn't yielded any fruit yet because getting a healthy seed for growing is extremely difficult.
Ye Zhizhou stuffed the grapes into Liang Ping's hands and nodded along with his words, "I also awakened a spiritual ability with it. The level, yes, it can roughly scan a ten-something kilometres radius, very convenient."
He actually awakened the very rare spiritual ability! Such a wide range, too! Xu Yi's expression twisted in an instant and his hands unconsciously clenched.
"Xiao… Xiao Chen." Liu Tao's face grew red in excitement, his hands raised to grasp his son's arm and he carefully stroke Ye Zhizhou's head, appearing as though he had no more regrets for the rest of his life, "This is really great.. really.."
Ye Zhizhou leaned his head sideways and smiled at him. His smile dissipated as he looked at Xu Yi, he said with a cold tone, "So Mr. Xu, thanks for that kick. Who knows whether it was intentional or not; after all, my wrist was completely dislocated and nearly fractured…. But now we need to discuss something important so can I ask you to leave first?"
Liang Ping who was eating grapes lifted his eyes suspiciously, "Almost fractured? From his kick?"
Ye Zhizhou nodded and once more took out a peach and stuffed it into his hand.
Liang Ping's eyes brightened and hurriedly grasped the peach. He expressed his anger monotonously, "Then I hate him."
[Probability of Liang Ping falling in love with the protagonist dropped to 50%, may the host persist in his efforts.]
When he saw the system's prompt Ye Zhizhou's eyes also shone. Male lead number three is so easy to handle, he follows the hands that feed him, truly a sweet little angel!
Wei Xu felt complicated looking on at this harmonious scene of feeding and eating. Xiao Chen who had always stuck close to him was now angry with him and closer with someone else… And the words Xiao Chen said just now……
In front of Wei Xu's face, Liu Chen pushed him out. He was still in his squad's meeting room. Xu Yi seemed to have lost control of his own feelings, his words were a bit thoughtless as the fact that Ye Zhizhou had awakened double abilities bothered him, "I really didn't mean to kick you back then, if you're angry you can demand my apology, as for evacuating.. The Annan base is very secure— Liu Chen, don’t frighten people. Just because you awakened the spiritual ability doesn't mean you can predict the future."
His eyes shifted to Wei Xu, earnestly saying, "Big brother, don’t be led around by the nose because you feel you owed Liu Chen. The squad recently took in new recruits, this time is most crucial to familiarise them, we…."
"New recruits? Who took them in?" A bit of anger seeped into Wei Xu's eyes. "Who’s the squad leader, me or you guys? Enough, don’t say anymore. Go down and tell the men to prepare to leave. We leave with those who want to go, those who don’t can stay. I'll only take the supplies I need and you can do what you want with the rest."
"Brother Wei, you can't.."
"Leave." Wei Xu stepped forward. He felt the naive youth that he wanted to protect before had suddenly become a willful and unreasonable person. His ability unconsciously leaked out making the temperature of the room drop. "Don’t make me say it twice."
Xu Yi was petrified by his expression. He scowled at Ye Zhizhou before turning to leave.
[Probability of Wei Xu falling in love with the protagonist dropped to 60%, may the host persist in his efforts.]
Ye Zhizhou looked at the screen in front of him and whistled inwardly. The love probability actually directly dropped by 20%, he was very satisfied by this unexpected turn of events!
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