One Sunday, a week later, the school was on break, but the team didn’t rest. After Jiang Huan left, Shen Shanwu, with his mischievous eyes and sly expression, cautiously opened his eyes and carefully scanned the surroundings. Then, performing a leap that an ordinary person could never accomplish, he jumped from the bed straight to the door three meters away, landing barefoot and soundlessly. He then unlocked the door with a swift motion.
After Jiang Huan canceled his dormitory arrangement, where Shen Shanwu would sleep became a problem. There were still some vacant beds in the Shanhai Unit’s dormitory, but not a single empty room remained.
It was initially decided that Jiang Tong would move into a four-person dorm room in the male dormitory, where a bottom bunk had just become available. However, after Jiang Huan took a walk around the room, he walked out with a dark expression, firmly insisting on bringing Jiang Tong back to his own room.
Lu Jingzhi angrily scolded Jiang Huan for being too indulgent with the child, claiming that this way, Jiang Tong would never grow. He then personally inspected the room, and with a gritted-teeth expression, issued a notice to all the team members to clean up the room, ordering that all the trash in the dormitory be cleaned up by tomorrow, or they would face the consequences on the training field.
Shen Shanwu really wanted to say that it was fine to sleep with Jiang Huan, but could they please fix the bathroom door lock? Continuing with this “sincere encounter” might cause problems down the line.
During his last conversation with Lu Jingzhi, Shen Shanwu learned one of the reasons Jiang Huan had misunderstood that he was already dead. Later, he pressed for more details about where the news of his death had come from. Lu Jingzhi genuinely didn’t know, only saying that one time when he returned from a mission, Jiang Huan was in a daze, looking utterly disheveled. When Lu asked him what had happened, it took a long while before Jiang Huan murmured that Shen Shanwu was dead.
Lu Jingzhi exclaimed in surprise, “It’s impossible! Not long ago, Shen Shanwu came to the coastal base and told me about him and Gong Wei…” At this point, Lu Jingzhi paused. It was only then that he suddenly understood the true meaning behind Shen Shanwu’s words.
“…” Shen Shanwu, with Jiang Tong’s name on his mind, was internally screaming: There’s no deeper meaning! What he meant is exactly what you initially understood!!
The scene shifts back to the present.
After locking the door, Shen Shanwu immediately took the sharp claw of the “Wolf Dog” from his coat’s inner pocket. The old signal—three knocks, then he tossed it onto the floor. The Wolf Dog’s reaction was still lightning-fast. Almost the moment the claw hit the ground, the white bones of his fingers extended, veins, muscles, and skin gradually attaching to them. A man, yawning, slowly appeared before him.
After looking around, the Wolf Dog grinned. “Oh? Has the treatment improved? This time, it’s not the bathroom?”
“Cut the crap.” Shen Shanwu stripped off all the clothes he could, tossing his shoes aside. “Take me to get some clothes first.”
The Wolf Dog chuckled, then placed a new nail on the ground. “Aren’t you going to take off your underwear? Or do you think that ten-year-old you and thirty-year-old you are the same size, so you don’t need to change?”
“…If you make another dirty joke, I’ll take it out and make you do it right here.”
“Hey, hey, hey, I can’t handle that, better save it for little Jiang Huan at your place.” The Wolf Dog grasped Shen Shanwu’s hand. “The Prophet is looking for you. After we get the clothes, come with me to see him first.”
“Mm?”
After a very subtle and hard-to-describe feeling, Shen Shanwu arrived at a high-rise building in a highly radioactive zone. Outside the large, bright floor-to-ceiling windows, the vast blue sea ebbed and flowed, and the golden, dazzling beach sparkled under the sunlight.
Everything was the most beautiful gift of nature—except for those pesky zombies.
“What does the Prophet want with me?” Shen Shanwu couldn’t be bothered to care about whose property this was. He stretched his body, suddenly shifting back into his adult form. His small, thin frame elongated, growing tall and strong. Every line of his body was filled with both fluidity and power. His slender arms and legs were filled with just the right amount of muscle, and the baby fat on his face was replaced by firm, sharp features.
He rubbed the areas that were aching and urged the Wolf Dog to hurry up and lead him to get the clothes. The presidential suite in the high-end hotel was as large as a sports field. When the wardrobe opened, it was practically a small men’s clothing store. Shen Shanwu took the new underwear and casually picked out a well-fitting suit. The tailored pants hugged his perfectly proportioned thighs, and the simple white T-shirt concealed his alluring chest and abdominal muscles. A person with a good physique always looks great in anything.
“What do you think the reason is for the Prophet starting to look for the other mutants?” The Wolf Dog left another nail on the ground at the usual spot.
Shen Shanwu zipped up his pants. “…A new mutant has appeared.”
Just like how he once trekked four thousand miles to the Tibetan Plateau, the reason was due to the appearance of a new mutant on the border.
The “Prophet” is also one of the nine mutants in the country, but he is the most special of them all. True to his name, he can sense the general status of all the other mutants, including but not limited to their geographical location, physical health, and abilities. He could be considered the core figure among mutants.
In the beginning, the Prophet kept a low profile, partly because he feared that the other mutants might feel threatened by his abilities. He quietly kept to himself, not disturbing the lives of any other mutants.
As a result of the five-year-long exploitation of mutants by the Saint Harmony Hospital during the apocalypse, and the discovery that a mutant had awakened over two years ago but still didn’t know how to use their abilities, the Prophet finally made up his mind to step forward. He gathered all the mutants he could sense across the country and established a rule: whenever a new mutant appeared, they would all collectively go and guide them.
By the way, the idiot mutant who didn’t know how to use his abilities after more than two years was Shen Shanwu himself.
After tying his shoelaces, the scene in front of him suddenly shifted. The beautiful seaside view was replaced by a grand, magnificent hall. The walls and floor were paved with colorful marble, surrounded by columns of white marble. The ceiling was dome-shaped, seamlessly joining with the curved walls. The combination of gold and ruby red created an atmosphere of nobility and solemnity. Before the apocalypse, this hall was where the national leaders and regional representatives would hold meetings. After the apocalypse, it had been reduced to a place where a few mutants gathered to chat aimlessly. At the front of the hall were four people: three sitting on soft seats, while one was cross-legged, floating in mid-air, idly playing a handheld game.
“Long time no see, Top Student.” The Prophet smiled and waved at them from a distance.
Shen Shanwu quickly scanned the room. Lucky for him, the person he had been thinking about for days was actually one of them. In the next second, he had already moved forward, “Manager! You better explain this to me! I gave you my nameplate, so why the hell is it in Jiang Huan’s hands?”
“Manager,” male, had just graduated from university a year before the apocalypse. He had worked hard to get into a certain bank as a lobby manager, working from five in the morning to nine at night, with the dream of becoming the branch manager of that bank.
Then the apocalypse came, the bank was gone, and his dream of being a branch manager ended up as a codename spoken by mutants.
“Jiang Huan?” The Manager looked at Shen Shanwu in confusion, thinking for a moment before matching the name. “Oh, the boy beside you? The one who got taken in by some marshal from the coastal base, the one who flew up and became a phoenix?”
“My nameplate…”
“What does your nameplate have to do with me?”
“When we were playing cards, you said you were curious, so I lost it to you as a bet.”
The Manager went “Oh” and finally remembered. “Yeah, that did happen. But how many years ago was that? How would I remember clearly…”
“Do I need to beat you up?”
“Ugh… I think I gave that metal piece to Jiang Huan. It wasn’t gold or silver, and after looking at it for so long, it lost its charm. Then one day, I ran into that little brat. He asked me for it, and since you and he were so close, I thought, why not give it to him.”
“So, what did you say when you gave it to him?”
The Manager had no idea that he was about to be in big trouble. With the tone of someone telling a funny story from the past, he said, “What did I say? …I didn’t really say anything. He asked about your situation, saying it’s been almost two years and you still haven’t come to the coastal base to see him. So I jokingly said, hahaha, that you died, completely dead, not even leaving any ashes, hahaha.”
“…”
As he spoke, the Manager laughed loudly. They often joked like this without any restraint, so he didn’t realize there was a problem. “At that time, Jiang Huan seemed to believe it a little. He asked me what happened, and I couldn’t exactly say that I lost seven rounds in a row to you while playing cards, so you had ‘verbally died’ in my place. I couldn’t think of a reason after a while, but then your little friend came up with something himself. He was so shocked and anxious, asking if it had something to do with the illness you always get.”
Illness? Shen Shanwu thought for a moment and quickly understood. The bone pain caused by the awakening of his abilities—it was so excruciating that it felt like life and death. He had rolled on the ground several times in agony, but since his third year, with the Prophet’s help in controlling his powers, he hadn’t had an episode again.
“I didn’t know what illness you kept getting, so I just nodded and agreed with everything. Later on, Jiang Huan kept rambling about how it hurt so badly he would howl in the middle of the night, but he’d hide it and put on a forced smile. I swear, it sounded like showing off a relationship, so annoying and exhausting to listen to. Then he asked me if you left anything behind. That’s when I remembered your nameplate. Well, when I took it out, that kid’s face turned pale instantly, hahaha. Kids are really fun, the more you tease them, the more amusing they get. No wonder you wanted to keep one around. They sure bring a lot of joy to people.”
“Fun, huh?” Shen Shanwu took a deep breath, laughing through his anger. “…I’ll show you what fun is!”
With that, he threw a punch, sending the Manager flying across the room. The Manager tumbled over five rows of seats, crashing to the ground, face down, legs up in the air.
The mutants who had been talking around them all turned their heads. The mutant floating in the air slowly descended to the ground, grabbing Shen Shanwu’s hand. “What are you doing?”
The Manager, who had just leapt up from the floor, covered his face and angrily yelled, “Top Student, what the hell is wrong with you?!”
“What kind of joke are you making? And you didn’t even bother to clarify afterward. Jiang Huan really thought I was dead!” Shen Shanwu was furious. “His personality has changed completely. He doesn’t even know how to smile anymore, always walking around with a straight face. You have to go apologize to him in person, understand?!”
The Manager’s anger faded as he rubbed the red mark on his face, feeling a little guilty. After thinking for a moment, he said, “Is that true? No way, Jiang Huan’s at least 17 or 18 by now. He’s not that easy to fool, right? I never thought he’d actually believe it. Besides, didn’t you always go to the coastal base? With how lively and energetic you are, how could anyone think you were dead? …And haven’t you seen him since that day?”
“Of course, it’s not just your misunderstanding.” Shen Shanwu waved his hand, signaling that he had calmed down enough to release him. “A series of miscommunications led to the rumor of my death being believed.”
“So what should we do?” The Manager was quite embarrassed, and Shen Shanwu gave him a cold look. “Give me a radiation-proof transparent case for an immortal flower, and I might just barely forgive you one-tenth.”
“You’re asking for too much! That kind of thing is a hassle to make.”
“Mm—?”
“…Fine, fine, fine, I’ll give it to you. What’s the big deal? Damn it, after you beat me up, I still have to pay you!” The Manager pouted, then pushed off the ground with his toes and jumped back to his seat. “Come on, tell me the truth—did you learn this from the CEO? Of all things, giving flowers? Are you trying to win over some girl?”
“Stop talking nonsense.”
The Prophet, who had been ignored for a while, wore a smile that carried a hint of wanting to punch someone. Seeing that Shen Shanwu’s issue was finally resolved, he immediately clapped his hands and said, “Can I speak now?”
The remaining five mutants all turned to look at him: Genius Shen Shanwu, Wolf Dog, the Branch Manager, the “Executioner” floating in the air, and Hugo, who had been quietly sitting in the corner, maintaining his silence.
The Executioner was the main perpetrator of the Saint Hospital Hospital 109 massacre. Over 80% of the 109 victims died at his hands. He didn’t enjoy killing, but since he had decided to use a ruthless reputation to strike fear into all the humans who coveted the mutants, someone had to carry out the slaughter. After that day, he voluntarily requested to change his code name to “Executioner,” and in recent years, he had been involved in violent tasks related to killing.
Hugo, on the other hand, was a victim of the Saint Harmony Hospital 109 massacre. His limbs, head, and torso were all reconstructed, and even now, faint seams of the body’s assembly could still be seen. To this day, he refused to see any humans, wouldn’t leave the high-radiation zones, and didn’t like to speak. Hugo was the author Shen Shanwu loved most before the apocalypse, and it was the Prophet who gave him the nickname.
“I’ll get straight to the point. About a month ago, I had a vague feeling that a new mutant had appeared, but it’s only recently that I’ve been able to sense their general location,” the Prophet said, pulling a piece of paper out of his pocket. “The location of this companion is quite special and tricky. This is also why I had Wolf Dog call you here. Top Student, if we want to make contact with them, it has to be you.”
Shen Shanwu was caught off guard by being singled out. He asked in confusion, “It has to be me? Where? They’re not in the radiation zone? Have they already entered a human shelter? Do you need me to transform and infiltrate? But I have an identity at the coastal base. I can’t disappear for too long.”
“Just look at this first,” the Prophet said, handing him the paper with the front side facing up. Shen Shanwu frowned as he glanced at it, and cursed— it was a floor plan of the coastal base.
Shen Shanwu didn’t bother questioning where the Prophet had gotten the map from; he just wanted to ask, “Are you sure the new mutant will appear at the coastal base? That’s the most strictly managed of the five major bases. I just went through their city entry inspection, and a mutant absolutely can’t get in… Unless they, like me, can change their eye color and hide their nails and teeth?”
“They’ve only just mutated, and I’m not even sure of their exact abilities, but I don’t think that’s the case,” the Prophet said, pointing to a circle he had drawn on the map. “Their range of movement is very limited. They hardly move at all. I can’t enter the coastal base, so I can only roughly sense that they are somewhere in this area.”
“I’m trying to negotiate with the chairman of the coastal base, hoping he can help us get in touch with this mutant. But this plan carries risks. Top Student, since you’ve already successfully infiltrated the coastal base, then privately handling the contact with this new companion is up to you and Wolf Dog.”
“…” Shen Shanwu sighed and nodded. “But there’s still an important matter I need to take care of on my end. I need to get that sorted first before I can deal with this new friend.”
The Prophet smiled gently. “Of course. So, if there are no further issues… shall we call it a day?”
The Everlasting Flower only grows in the areas with the strongest radiation. While other plants absorb radiation, this one not only doesn’t absorb it but actively emits radiation—its only purpose, apart from its beauty, is to serve as a radiation source.
After leaving the grand hall, Shen Shanwu saw that it was still early. He quickly ran three miles to find his favorite meteor fruit tree, picked two meteor fruits, washed them by the riverside, and casually stuffed them into his mouth.
The “Meteor Fruit” is a name given by the mutants. This fruit is large, juicy, and sweet, with a flavor between watermelon and apple—its unique taste is indescribable.
Wolf Dog, who eats this stuff every day, couldn’t understand Shen Shanwu’s joy of being free after years of imprisonment. After Shen Shanwu went up the mountain, caught a rabbit, two fish, dug a basket of snails, and plucked a sunflower, Wolf Dog couldn’t help but interrupt and ask, “What exactly are you out here for? Didn’t you say you were going to pick the Everlasting Flower to take back as a gift for Jiang Huan?”
“Yeah, but picking flowers is a quick task, it won’t affect my eating,” Shen Shanwu set up the barbecue grill. “By the way, have you ever eaten the compressed rations from their team?”
“I’ve eaten,” Wolf Dog made a vomiting expression. “It’s not something a human can eat.”
“I ate it for a week.”
“…Oh my god.” Wolf Dog suddenly became very sympathetic and helped him catch three frogs and a grass snake.
After a while, the Manager, wearing a radiation shield, also heard about Shen Shanwu’s tragic experience. Reluctantly, he parted with his freshly made chili sauce and cumin powder, and somehow managed to get some cucumbers, potatoes, and eggplants. Everyone ate comfortably and to their heart’s content.
After eating and drinking, Shen Shanwu didn’t want to go back to the coastal base. He almost wished that after delivering the flowers, both “Jiang Tong” and “Shen Shanwu” would just vanish from the world.
The author has something to say:
Huan Cub: No chance to appear, just trying to find some presence in the author’s notes…
35: The next chapter is your big scene, are you ready?
Huan Cub: …Brother Shanwu, I’m a bit nervous.
35: Let me say a few words, and you won’t be nervous anymore.
Huan Cub: The author keeps driving the plot forward, but the main story just stalls?
