Xu Yin has always trusted this man very much, and the other party has never let him down.
This is also the reason why he can be fearless.
This trust is always worth it.
Yuan Yue and Guan Qi thought that as the responsible persons of Base A, Li Nianqin would at least take their feelings into consideration to some extent, but unexpectedly they were rebutted so directly, making them feel a bit embarrassed.
When they saw Li Nianqin blocking in front of Xu Yin, those who had already hidden inside the gate of the base were the first to start clamoring.
“What’s going on?”
“Are they going to let him in?”
“He’s a half-zombie!”
Ren Lan was also hiding in the crowd of Base A at this moment, shrinking back and observing the situation timidly.
Li Nianqin ignored the clamor of those people and said coldly, “Can’t accept a half-zombie?”
Guan Qi and Yuan Yue suddenly had a bad premonition in their hearts and quickly used their eyes to signal those who had hidden far away to shut up.
But those people were indeed too far away to see clearly. The voices urging Xu Yin to leave grew louder and louder, and even the Base B personnel who opened the door for them had increasingly strange expressions.
“But Base B has accepted many half-zombies,” Li Nianqin narrowed his eyes and said, “It’s a pity. If you can’t accept it, then I can only ask you to leave.”
Guan Qi and Yuan Yue were stunned. They didn’t expect Li Nianqin to say such things directly.
Yuan Yue forced a smile and said, “Wait a moment, we can still sit down and discuss this matter—”
“There is no room for discussion on this matter. Even my father and several uncles would not agree. I will have someone contact them. Please take your base’s people and leave.” After saying this, Li Nianqin took Xu Yin’s hand and walked inside.
Yuan Yue and Guan Qi’s faces changed drastically.
They wanted to join Base B because of the shortage of supplies!
Their base had fewer people, and most of the time, Xu Yin organized trips to collect supplies.
Although Xu Yin’s ability was weak, his physical strength was strong, and he could safely return from even the farthest journeys. But since Xu Yin left, two groups from the base had already gone out and had not returned safely.
Yuan Yue could repel zombies, but he felt it was unrealistic to become the person in the base who went on missions the most, like Xu Yin used to. Coincidentally, they repaired the signal tower and contacted Base B, which sparked the idea of wanting to join Base B!
Now that they had come here risking danger, how could they easily turn back!
Guan Qi quickly said, “Wait, Mr. Li! We are fine. Everyone is just not used to living with half-zombies yet, but as long as we are given some time—”
“Hey,” Xu Yin turned around, teasingly, “If I remember correctly, since the establishment of Base A, I have been accepting half-zombies, it’s been a year and a half, right? But you still strongly reject them until now?”
“When it comes to it, it seems that today I haven’t seen any of you bring any half-zombies from the base?” Xu Yin’s question made Guan Qi and Yuan Yue’s eyes avoidant.
In fact, it’s not hard to guess. With these people’s attitude, they wouldn’t be able to tolerate those half-zombies after the original host left.
Xu Yin was very clear about this point. Of course, as he always said, he really didn’t have the energy, nor could he pay attention to the comings and goings, or the life and death, of everyone in this world.
However, the fact that Guan Qi and Yuan Yue had done so was indisputable and could not be explained away.
Xu Yin tilted his head and said, “Is a year and a half not enough time for you to accept half-zombies? How about giving ‘a little more time’, would that be enough?”
Guan Qi and Yuan Yue were hit by the point, and they didn’t expect Xu Yin to be so shameless, exposing them on the spot. Their faces turned red and blue.
Not far away, Yu Dong heard this and said with a stern face, “Half-zombies can slowly return to their original appearance, with people’s consciousness. That means they are human. Are you guys starting to discriminate based on race? Anyway, in our base, we don’t treat half-zombies as enemies. All the half-zombies we have accepted are our partners. If you can’t accept it, then leave quickly!”
The reason Yu Dong was shocked to hear that Xu Yin was a half-zombie was that Xu Yin’s appearance was too intact. There was no way to tell that he was a half-zombie!
However, Yu Dong himself was not afraid of half-zombies at all. He even had a half-zombie brother in the base. So, when he saw the condescending attitude of Yuan Yue and Guan Qi towards half-zombies, he felt unhappy. After hearing what Xu Yin said, he disliked them even more.
Dr. Lu smiled and, watching the excitement without finding it troublesome, casually said, “In a year and a half, even if your base doesn’t have a laboratory, doctors, or researchers, if you have had a few encounters with half-zombies, you should already know that they are not aggressive towards humans and are not infectious. Is the only reason for rejecting them because their appearance has not yet recovered? This is truly… a purely laughable reason.”
Guan Qi and Yuan Yue were embarrassed by the sarcasm, feeling as if they had been slapped in the face.
Seeing the four of them ignoring them and heading towards the gate, the two became anxious. They couldn’t just be sent back home when they reached the gate, could they?
Yuan Yue gritted his teeth and ran forward, saying, “I’m sorry, we were rude just now. Regarding the matter of half-zombies, I will talk to the people in our base about it! Since we have come to Base B, we will respect the rules of Base B.”
As they approached, the people from Base A, who overheard their conversation, were not happy.
“Teacher Yuan, what are you talking about!”
“At least you are the responsible person of our base, negotiate with the people of this base!”
“I don’t want to live with half-zombies anymore!”
Yuan Yue was so annoyed by these people who were holding them back that he felt a suffocating sensation, his face turning slightly blue, and his veins pulsating.
These people had no idea that they were facing the possibility of being sent back home!
At that moment, Li Nianqin’s father, Li Qun, one of the responsible persons of this base, walked out.
As soon as Li Qun heard the chatter from the people of Base A, his brow furrowed. The person who opened the door then ran over and whispered the whole incident to him indignantly.
Li Qun remained composed, nodded to Dr. Lu and his own son, then glanced past Xu Yin, who was holding his hand, and landed on Yuan Yue and Guan Qi.
After all, Li Qun was the real person in charge of Base B. Seeing him come out, the two immediately abandoned Li Nianqin and went up to shake hands with him.
Yuan Yue apologized sincerely, “There was a little accident just now. It’s troublesome to have such a thing happen as soon as we arrive here. We’re sorry.”
Yuan Yue quickly and humbly adjusted his posture, bending low. The people from Base A were still dissatisfied, but Guan Qi turned around and whispered, “Stop talking! We are here to seek help from Base B. Do you still want to stay or not?”
The people from Base A immediately fell silent, but they still looked unhappy.
They felt that the people from Base B were really impolite. Moreover, Yuan Yue from their base was so capable, yet the people from Base B didn’t show any careful attitude and were so arrogant.
The people from Base A showed their thoughts plainly on their faces, which puzzled the Base B onlookers who had come out. Base A had come to seek refuge with them, so why were they acting so arrogantly? Did they think they were visiting someone’s home and that the host should cater to them? What kind of people were they!
Ignoring the thoughts of both sides, Li Qun smiled and asked, “What’s wrong? I heard there’s a bit of a problem adapting to the rules here?”
Before Guan Qi and Yuan Yue could speak, Yu Dong interjected, “Just now, Xu Yin said that when he was in charge of Base A, he accepted half-zombies just like us. But Li Uncle, you see, these people haven’t brought a single half-zombie with them. Who knows what they’ve done to them!”
Upon hearing this, the people from Base A looked self-righteous and were about to speak up. Yuan Yue, sweating profusely, raised his voice and interjected, “There’s a misunderstanding! Because many people are still not accustomed to living with half-zombies, after Brother Xu left… I… I and Guan Qi did make decisions on behalf of most people. But we didn’t do anything to those half-zombies. We let them choose for themselves, and they chose to leave.”
Yuan Yue looked apologetically at Xu Yin and said, “Brother Xu, those half-zombies didn’t appreciate your kindness.”
Xu Yin raised an eyebrow, remaining noncommittal.
“Wasn’t it because you were ostracized by them that you couldn’t stand it and left?” Yu Dong looked skeptical.
Yuan Yue’s face was getting hard to keep up, and Li Qun waved his hand, signalling Yu Dong to say less.
As an elder, his demeanour was much more stable. He smiled and said, “Here, we treat half-zombies equally. There are currently thirty-two half-zombies in the base. If your people are afraid of half-zombies, it may take some time for them to adapt.”
He didn’t say it as bluntly as Li Nianqin, but the meaning was clear— if they couldn’t adapt to living with half-zombies, they should leave.
In any case, Base B showed no intention of changing its rules to accommodate Base A.
Without waiting for the people from Base A to drag their feet again, Yuan Yue gritted his teeth and said firmly, “Please rest assured, we will adapt to the local customs!”
The people from Base A were dumbfounded. Were they really going to live with half-zombies again?
Li Qun said meaningfully, “I hope so. Also, I wonder… How did Mr. Xu arrange the half-zombies in your base before? In our base, half-zombies live together with everyone else, without being separated into two areas. I hope you are prepared for this as well.”
The people from Base A were even more dumbfounded.
Before, they couldn’t tolerate Xu Yin placing the half-zombies in a corner of the base, and now they were expected to mingle with them!?
“No, I can’t accept this!”
“How can this be arranged? It’s too dangerous…”
Li Qun ignored what the residents of Base A were saying and politely said, “You can think it over. In any case, we will arrange your accommodation for tonight.”
“Tonight?”
The complaints from the people of Base A stopped abruptly, and they stood there in a daze.
Their accommodation for tonight was arranged, but what about after that?
Even the most foolish person could tell by now that many people from Base A had changed their expressions.
Yuan Yue was really infuriated by the people behind him!
The same people who used to praise him so much now made him feel so helpless.
He took a deep breath and said firmly, “No matter what, we will adapt. If the people at your base can live peacefully with the half-zombies, then we can too. Please rest assured, Mr. Li!”
Li Qun still had a smile on his face. “That would be best.”
With that said, as reluctant as they were, it seemed that the facts were undeniable.
In Base A, many people even superstitiously believed that they might be infected if they got too close to the half-zombies. However, at this moment, in order to seek refuge, they had to endure one by one with constipated faces.
But there were still some who felt unwilling to accept this.
One of them was a seventeen or eighteen-year-old boy, who had always admired strength. In the past, he admired Xu Yin, but now he admired Yuan Yue.
Living with the half-zombies had become a fact, but he still harbored hostility towards Xu Yin.
He spoke up, “We can live with the other half-zombies, but not Xu Yin!”
Yuan Yue froze for a moment, realizing something, and whispered, “Xiao Yuan!”
The boy named Xiao Yuan ignored Yuan Yue’s attempt to stop him, pointed at Xu Yin, and said loudly, “He is not a good person!”
With a single sentence, everyone’s gaze once again focused on Xu Yin.
Li Nianqin’s face darkened once more.
Xu Yin squeezed his hand, signaling for him to stay calm, and said with interest, “And why is that?”
“You’re still laughing, what’s so funny!” Xiao Yuan said angrily, “Don’t you realize that you’ve become a half-zombie? It’s your own fault! That day at the supermarket, you woke up the zombies yourself. You tried to feed Yuan ge to the zombies and escape, but your plan failed. Otherwise, Yuan ge would be the one dead now!”
Upon hearing this, Yu Dong and the others were stunned again.
What kind of twist was this?
Reminded by Xiao Yuan, the people from Base A also recalled the incident and began to speak up, each one filled with righteousness.
“Yeah, Xu Yin is not a good person!”
“We can try to get along with the half-zombies, but not Xu Yin. He is a villain!”
“If his plan had succeeded, we would have lost such a powerful pillar as Yuan laoshi!”
Xu Yin said slowly, “You weren’t at the scene, did you see it happen?”
Xiao Yuan was taken aback by the question, and angrily said, “It was Yuan ge who told us!”
Yuan Yue’s expression turned completely ugly.
Xu Yin’s gaze turned to him, with a smile that was not quite a smile. “Oh, so it was Yuan ge who told you?”
Guan Qi frowned, “Xu Yin, was it you who cut Yuan Yue on the shoulder that day?”
The more Xu Yin listened, the more amused he felt.
A knife wound?
He clearly remembered that Yuan Yue was unharmed when he escaped from the zombies that had turned to attack him. Where did this knife wound come from?
Yuan Yue bit his lip, looking somewhat flustered.
Xu Yin chuckled lightly, “Yuan Yue, what’s the deal with your ability to disperse zombies?”
“Why should I tell you!” Yuan Yue retorted.
“Yeah, it’s none of your business!”
Unperturbed, Xu Yin continued, “Did you just use a mental attack on the zombies?”
Xu Yin’s two questions made Yuan Yue’s face turn pale.
Yuan Yue’s ability was also the reason why Li Qun and the others ultimately decided to accept Base A.
Base B also had some psychic ability users, but most of the psychic abilities there were relatively weak.
Whether the target of the ability was human or zombie, the effect was essentially just an “attack,” and the attack power was quite weak, at most causing the zombie’s movements to pause for a moment.
So when they learned that Yuan Yue could directly disperse zombies, Li Qun and the others were very surprised.
However, after Li Qun and the others watched the whole process of Yuan Yue “dispersing” zombies through the cameras outside the base, they felt that his ability was not like a mental attack on the zombies.
The reason was simple: the zombies affected by a mental attack shouldn’t react like that.
So at this moment, they were still very curious about Yuan Yue’s ability. When they heard Xu Yin’s question, they looked inquisitively at Yuan Yue.
Yuan Yue himself looked shaky at the moment.
Under Xu Yin’s gaze, cold sweat quietly streamed down his back.
He hadn’t expected Xu Yin to survive, so he hadn’t anticipated this scenario.
But he couldn’t expose himself, he couldn’t…
He calmed himself, clenched his fists, and said, “I also awakened my ability not long ago. I’m not very clear on what this ability is specifically called, but I think I attacked the zombies, and that’s why they left.”
Xu Yin smiled and said, “Is that all?”
“What are you trying to say?!” Xiao Yuan burst out, “Don’t play tricks out of jealousy for Yuan ge’s ability. Yuan ge’s ability is a divine gift, no matter how jealous you are, it’s useless!”
The people from Base A treated Yuan Yue like a god, praising him one by one.
Zombies filled the world, spreading the virus, yet wherever Yuan Yue went, the zombies dispersed. If this wasn’t a god, what was it? Could anyone else achieve such a feat?
Under their praise and admiration, Yuan Yue gradually regained his color.
He seemed to regain his confidence, took a deep breath, straightened his back, and once again adopted that compassionate look, gazing at Xu Yin and shaking his head with a sigh, “I don’t know what you’re talking about, Xu ge.”
In the fiery sunset, he stood there gently and quietly, more like a god descending to earth.
The people from Base A looked at him with fervent admiration.
Unfortunately, Xu Yin did not believe in gods.
Li Nianqin did not believe in gods.
Li Qun did not believe in gods.
No one in Base B believed in the existence of gods.
Some of them seemed pensive, while others had a meaningful look in their eyes.
Some people were observing Yuan Yue with their arms crossed, while others were quietly analyzing with those around them.
At that moment, 018 suddenly interrupted: “Oh, there’s a random mission.”
Xu Yin was slightly surprised and opened the mission panel to take a look.
[Please go to the city wall to assist the ability users in repelling the zombie tide. Reward: 100 points.]
Xu Yin’s eyes narrowed, and the next moment, in the distance, there was a rumbling sound like distant thunder, rolling and echoing.
The sound came from outside the base, to the west.
Many people were discussing the spectacle before them, and when they heard this sudden sound, they were all stunned, looking around in confusion. The sky was not dark, and there was no thunder, but this strange sound was continuous, and it even seemed to be… getting closer!
Having experienced all sorts of trials in the apocalypse, most people had become very sensitive.
They quickly became nervous—something was wrong! What was this sound?
They had never heard anything like it before!
Li Nianqin had already tensed his body, and Li Qun had also become serious. They no longer had time to pay attention to Yuan Yue and the others, instead, they listened carefully to this eerie sound.
A communication suddenly connected to Li Qun’s phone—after repairing the signal tower, their phones had regained functionality, but the system had all changed to an emergency signal tower version, only usable for communication.
The call was from the control room.
Li Qun’s expression changed, he answered the phone, and the person on the other end exclaimed in fear, “Li Laoshi, there are a lot of zombies to the west! So many zombies are coming towards our base! There are really a lot—dense and packed, all of them!”
Li Qun’s heart sank.
They had never encountered such a situation before, but that didn’t stop him from immediately calming down. After hanging up the phone, he shouted, “Zombie attack, prepare for defense! All team leaders, bring the ability users from your teams—all of them to the west city wall!”
People in the base square were stunned.
Zombie attack?
They had been staying in the base, how could they have attracted the zombies?
And, the thunderous sound outside was the sound of the zombies’ footsteps!?
What kind of scale was this? Hundreds? Thousands? Tens of thousands?!
Many people’s faces changed.
They had just heard that Li Nianqin and the others encountered strange zombies when approaching the base, and now this wave of bizarre zombie tide. What on earth was going on!?
However, there was no time for them to think more. Several team leaders began to shout commands, and the people from Base B quickly composed themselves and followed orders. Even though they were anxious, they were not in chaos, moving in an orderly manner.
Several people escorted Dr. Lu away from the square, while other ability users followed the team to the wall from several directions!
In contrast, the people from Base A screamed, clutching their heads and scattering, almost disrupting the queue of Base B’s ability users.
Ren Lan had no mood to watch Xu Yin and Yuan Yue’s drama anymore and fled into the base in panic!
Fortunately, the situation was urgent now, and many of the Base B ability users who were bumped into by them only cursed and didn’t bother with them.
Xu Yin and Li Nianqin glanced at each other, no longer paying attention to Yuan Yue, and ran towards the city wall with Yu Dong and the others.
There were several stairs built by earth ability users on the city wall. After climbing up, they had a panoramic view of the outside of the base.
The wind blew, not as hot as usual, and even faintly cold.
The afterglow was about to completely withdraw from the earth.
In the distance, there was rolling sand and dust, like a storm.
And within the storm were countless layers of dark shadows.
Some were leaping, some were running on all fours on the ground, their figures swaying, their movements eerie and strange, like a group of monsters, advancing towards them in waves.
This was a zombie tide that everyone had never faced before.
The captains from Base B tensely said, “Prepare to attack!”
Xu Yin and Li Nianqin stood side by side, watching the group of zombies with strange movements, furrowing their brows. Several sharp blades condensed beside them.
Seeing Xu Yin condense ice blades, Guan Qi and Yuan Yue, who had followed up to the city wall, had a slight change in their eyes.
Xu Yin used to be able to forcefully repel zombies with just his physical body. Now, after becoming a half-zombie, his previous water-based ability had transformed into a highly offensive ice-based ability. His combat power was probably several times stronger now.
A hint of jealousy flashed in Yuan Yue’s eyes, but he quickly suppressed it.
Guan Qi whispered to him, “Seize this opportunity to let the people from Base B see your abilities.”
They had already completely fallen out with Xu Yin. If they wanted to establish themselves in Base B, Yuan Yue had to demonstrate his proper role.
Yuan Yue raised his chin and nodded calmly, “Hmm.”
He was no longer the weak person he used to be.
Now, he could make everyone willingly submit to him!
