Chapter 514 - 508: Humanity’s New Hope

"If I hadn’t been kind enough to gather them in the lab, these young children would have met their deaths all the same. The luckier ones would have been traded as food for the starving. The worst-off might have died in the wilderness, devoured by wild dogs until not even bones remained!"

Xie Ning’s gaze chilled as she stared at the man’s sanctimonious expression, and she let out a cold sneer.

"What a load of bullshit!" Ji Xiuming suddenly cut Chen Zhaowei off.

"Cut the crap. More than half the kids in this lab were stolen, snatched, and seized by you all through trickery and force. Who do you think you’re fooling?"

"Sure, there are plenty of heartless parents in this world, but there are just as many people struggling desperately to survive with their children since the apocalypse began."

"You snatched those children from their families. Before you started this bullshit ’grand undertaking for humanity,’ did you bother to consult their parents? Did they agree?"

"Stop trying to make yourself sound so noble! You’re nothing but selfish to the core!"

"That’s not true! I didn’t do that!" Chen Zhaowei loudly refuted Ji Xiuming, then turned to Xie Ning and raked his fingers through his hair in frustration. "Xie Ning, believe it or not, my original reason for doing all this was for the good of everyone."

"Just think—if we do nothing, these kids won’t survive the apocalypse for long anyway."

"But now, with our human intervention! Perhaps one day in the future, they’ll be able to perfectly integrate with this apocalyptic world."

"The world is full of so many mutated creatures, constantly encroaching on what little territory humanity has left. If we don’t find a way to save ourselves, to adapt, will there even be a place for us to survive in the future?"

"Xie Ning, I actually care more about the children’s development than any of you." Chen Zhaowei sighed. "Children are the future of our Starfire legacy. They are humanity’s new hope."

"I’m doing this entirely for their sake! The experiments might fail, but as long as it allows more children to survive, what’s a small failure like this?"

"Just imagine what they’ll gain if the experiment succeeds! An unending life, a lifespan to rival the heavens! They’ll obtain the innate powers of the mutated creatures themselves! They’ll no longer have to face this dangerous world feeling lost and helpless."

Xiao Huzi cut in angrily, "Boss Xie, don’t listen to his bewitching lies! He’s using his spiritual power to influence you! Stop listening to him, now! This man’s spiritual power is incredibly strong, and his Mind Control is also..."

Xie Ning watched Chen Zhaowei finish his impassioned speech with a blank expression, then raised an eyebrow.

Before Xiao Huzi could finish, a sharp Metal Spike erupted from Chen Zhaowei’s left chest. His endlessly chattering mouth froze, gaping wide.

’Xiao Huzi blinked. He hadn’t expected Boss Xie to deal with the wretched base commander so quickly.’

’This is great! Boss Xie took care of Chen Zhaowei!’

’Boss Xie hadn’t been swayed by Chen Zhaowei’s heart-stirring speech. As expected of the Boss he so admired.’

The fair-skinned young man next to Chen Zhaowei was so scared he began to tremble uncontrollably, his whole body shaking back and forth like a pendulum.

When Xie Ning took a step closer, he trembled even more violently.

As Xie Ning walked up to Chen Zhaowei, the fair-skinned young man, Fan Yusen, was so frightened he fell to his knees with a thud.

Xie Ning swept her spiritual power over the two men before her, her gaze landing on Chen Zhaowei’s twisted and peculiar face.

She raised her hand and waved, and thin metal fragments scraped across Chen Zhaowei’s face.

Everyone present saw something fly into the air and land on the ground with a soft PAT.

Xiao Huzi scrambled up from the ground, staring in utter disbelief at "Chen Zhaowei’s" face for a long moment. "Old He?"

This wasn’t Chen Zhaowei at all; it was clearly one of Chen Zhaowei’s thugs, Old He.

Xiao Huzi trembled, his eyes widening in disbelief. "Chen Zhaowei? Chen Zhaowei didn’t come back with us."

Xie Ning raised an eyebrow at the utterly shocked Xiao Huzi and gestured with the silver case in her hand. "You deliberately left behind Subject Zero and all this important data to lure him back."

"Chen Zhaowei is probably not an idiot. He must have seen through you."

"Then who is this person?" Xiao Huzi pointed at the fair-skinned young man, trembling with anger.

Xie Ning flicked off the human-skin mask, revealing a sallow, gaunt face.

"Xiao Wei?" Ji Xiuming, furious, bent down to pick up the human-skin mask from the floor and squeezed it.

"It’s silicone!"

Xie Ning nodded slightly.

’Looks like Chen Zhaowei really did run off with his little lover.’

’He must have had these silicone masks made a long time ago, and probably more than one set.’

Ji Xiuming stomped on the mask several times, fuming. "Damn it! They just got away like that."

Just then, Xiao Wei’s face twisted slightly. He suddenly pulled a switchblade from his pocket and lunged directly at Ji Xiuming.

Xie Ning was already on guard. Seeing him lunge, she sent him flying with a single kick.

The switchblade in Xiao Wei’s hand followed its momentum and plunged into his own stomach.

His eyes flew wide as he fell stiffly to the ground, having stabbed himself to death.

Terrified, Ji Xiuming scrambled behind Xie Ning, peeking out with half his head and stammering, "B-Boss Xie, is... is he...?"

"He’s dead."

"It must be Chen Zhaowei!" Ji Xiuming roared in anger. "It was that bastard Chen Zhaowei! He used Mind Control on Xiao Wei to kill me!"

"Chen Zhaowei is a Spiritual Ability User?"

"Y-yes, Boss Xie. And his Rank is quite high! As far as I know, whenever there were children or parents they couldn’t handle, Chen Zhaowei would deal with them personally. Before long, the parents would just dazedly let go, allowing their children to be taken away by the lab."

’Utterly deranged. The man is simply deranged,’ Xiao Huzi thought, gritting his teeth.

Xie Ning nodded. "Are you willing to return to the Capital with us to explain the situation and testify in person?"

"Of course." Ji Xiuming nodded repeatedly. "I discovered something was fishy with the lab half a year ago. I’ve been trying to figure out a plan ever since."

"I knew I couldn’t do it alone, so I had to get the news to the nearest base, Jingji Base."

Xie Ning nodded.

’In the apocalypse, some are content to become monsters, living out their days as something neither human nor ghost.’

’But there are also people like Xiao Huzi, who still have a light, a fire, burning fiercely in their hearts.’

’Though Xie Ning didn’t say it out loud, she truly admired Xiao Huzi’s courage.’

’He was just a simple, ordinary person in the apocalypse, with no superpower or combat ability, yet he relied on his own intelligence to do what he believed was right.’

"Chen Zhaowei’s Mind Control doesn’t seem simple. You should stay by my side for the time being."

’The man could remotely control a stand-in to deliver his entire monologue. Xie Ning had to admit, he was formidable.’

"Okay, okay! Thank you, Boss Xie! I’ll be sure to stick close to you and won’t cause you any trouble." Xiao Huzi was ecstatic, nodding his head in agreement again and again.