Chapter 117 - Chance Encounter
Chapter 117 - Chance Encounter
Edited by Meri
Back when they were being hunted by B City secure base and close to death, what Qi Jingchen regretted the most was that he didn’t get revenge. Since he hadn’t died, of course he had to find a way to get revenge!
After thinking about it, he ended up not bringing Qi An and Xiaomao on this outing. Although they would have another safeguard if they brought Qi An along, in the end, he was still too young. Sometimes, a moment of carelessness would cause him to fall for a trap, to say nothing of how that reborn person most likely already knew their appearances. If they continued taking Qi An and Xiaomao along, perhaps their identity would be exposed.
As such, in the end, in addition to Qi An, they didn’t even bring any of the others, including Zhang Zihai, and Ping Shengchao.
Nie Yi and Qi Jingchen only took a lone monkey.
Because of their low numbers, Nie Yi didn’t drive a truck or RV. He found an off-road vehicle imported from overseas. This was the model Qi Jingchen once liked the most, but now he didn’t feel much upon seeing it.
Every functionality of the off-road car was much better than a truck or RV. It wasn’t as bumpy when driven, but sometimes one would feel a bit sick when running over a blocked road, unable to directly push open a path… Of course, off-road vehicles also had an advantage, which was that they could even be driven through farmland.
After driving for two days, this off-road vehicle was covered in dust and mud and had a very strong post-apocalyptic appearance. Now, they were already nearing S City secure base.
During their journey, they encountered several zombies. Generally, Qi Jingchen would withdraw the light aura on himself and have Nie Yi battle with them. But occasionally when there were too many zombies, he would cover himself with a layer of light energy and become a lightbulb, making the zombies run off because they hated it too much…
Of course, there were also times when he would use his ability to aid in the fight, like today.
On this day, not long after they started driving, a heavy downpour came down. The entire world turned pitch-black. Seeing this, Nie Yi quickly chose a village’s villa to stop by. As a result, they had just gotten out of the car and entered the house when a level four zombie unexpectedly appeared with a zombie dog, and they were surrounded by a group of zombies…
Nie Yi was already level four; if it was only the zombie or a dog, he would be able to easily handle them. But if these two came at him together, with their group of ‘lackeys’ in tow, he would have some trouble.
Seeing how Nie Yi was at a disadvantage because he wouldn’t allow any zombies to enter for his protection, Qi Jingchen used his ability slightly.
The level four zombie and dog turned and ran. The level two and three zombies behind them quickly ran off as well.
Qi Jingchen withdrew his ability again. Once these zombies could no longer sense the thing they disliked, they ran back, wanting to bite Nie Yi again.
Nie Yi continued fighting with them and fell into a disadvantage, so Qi Jingchen released a bit of his ability again….
The zombies ran off.
Qi Jingchen withdrew his ability, and they returned…
Run off, return, run off, return… after going back and forth a few times, the zombies were annihilated by Nie Yi.
Speaking of, if they really were to kill zombies now, Qi Jingchen’s ability was more useful. However, his ability’s drawback was that if he used a large group attack, he might end up leaving behind a patch of purified soil. If other people were to see this, it would be very easy to realise a place was different from others.
Although it wasn’t the end stages of the apocalypse yet, there was already a lot of dark energy on Earth. The plants in areas with human habitat were already a little polluted. If a conspicuous area appeared at this time, it would be weird if everyone didn’t notice it!
If he were to use his ability all the way during their journey, wasn’t it informing people he was coming?
After the battle ended, the zombies were incinerated and Nie Yi was drenched all over. He travelled through the rain, entered through the door and swiftly dried his clothes with his ability. But he was covered in a strong aura of darkness. Qi Jingchen flicked out a small lightball that landed on his chest which allowed him to become spirited again.
“The speed of the apocalypse is at least doubled. If this continues on, perhaps we’ll reach the mid stage in less than a year,” Nie Yi couldn’t help saying.
The initial stage of the apocalypse in their last life lasted for three years, but this timek2026; who knew whether it would even be a year and a half.
Qi Jingchen fell silent. If it was in his last life, after he awakened to his light ability, perhaps he would unrelentingly purify each secure base. But nowk2026; what he wanted to do most was take revenge.
The rain poured for an entire day. Nie Yi and Qi Jingchen did not leave the house. Probably due to destroying all the high-level zombies nearby, they had a peaceful time, and even had the leisure to tease the little monkey.
Though he had attracted the monkey, Qi Jingchen never had time to properly inspect its condition and now casually tested the strength and limits of the little monkey’s ability.
In the end, the monkey was just a monkey and couldn’t understand Nie Yi and Qi Jingchen’s words; however, it was very intelligent and was able to somewhat comprehend Qi Jingchen’s meaning. Upon realising that Qi Jingchen would give it light energy if it sped the growth of the seeds Qi Jingchen planted in the flower pots, it began to unceasingly grow various plants up until its ability was completely used up and it was exhausted.
Seeing the tired little monkey lying down on the side, Qi Jingchen couldn’t help but be a little speechless. “Actually expending all its energy; how is it this dumb?”
The little monkey stared at Qi Jingchen anxiously and squeaked twice, asking for his light energy, and even rolled towards the side of Qi Jingchen’s feet, appearing as if it would do anything.
“Might as well just call it Benben,” Nie Yi said.
When Nie Yi said this, Qi Jingchen realised he hadn’t given this monkey a name yet… He wasn’t someone talented in naming and felt that Benben wasn’t bad. “Then let’s call it Benben.” After that, he picked up the little monkey by his feet and gave it a bit of light energy.
The little monkey instantly became much more spirited and Qi Jingchen began calling it Benben repeatedly. After calling it several times, he gave it a bit more light energy.
The little monkey instantly perked up, leaping out of Qi Jingchen’s arms and running to sit by the flower pot, indicating to Qi Jingchen that it could continue to speed the growth.
“It’s already enough.” Qi Jingchen patted its head, then gave it a cucumber.
The little monkey swiftly bit down on it. As it nibbled, it also knew to take another cucumber and pass it to Qi Jingchen.
Seeing this, Nie Yi snatched the cucumber from the monkey’s hands and said to Qi Jingchen, “I’ll wash it for you before you eat!” This monkey was too good at kissing ass; why was he suddenly feeling a little annoyed?
After washing the cucumber and even peeling its skin, Nie Yi passed it to Qi Jingchen. Seeing Qi Jingchen’s fair hand reach out to accept the cucumber, he couldn’t help kissing it.
The little monkey immediately grabbed Qi Jingchen’s other hand and kissed it.
Nie Yi: “…”
This monkey definitely was the type of bratty monkeythat was most unlikeable!
Because there was a monkey-edition lightbulb present, Nie Yi was unable to be too intimate with Qi Jingchen after the sky grew dark. After waking up in the middle of the night from holding back, seeing the monkey was sleeping deeply, he then carefully erected a very small ice room, intending to do some things that weren’t suitable for young monkeys.
However, right at this time, there was sudden activity coming from outside, as if there were many people approaching.
Nie Yi instantly sat up and concentratedly listened closely. But unexpectedly, upon shifting his gaze, he realised that the monkey was copying his movements, its eyes bright and glistening in the darkness.
Sure enough, a bratty monkey!
“It seems to be an acquaintance.” Qi Jingchen didn’t even get out of bed, merely speaking with slightly raised brows.
“Acquaintance?” Nie Yi walked to the window and looked down. Sure enough, he did see an acquaintance. Who else could it be but Yu Xuguang?
Though the rain had stopped, the roads were all muddy and several places had puddles, so it was still hard to travel.
Yu Xuguang was walking at the forefront of the troops, removing all the puddles in his path. He then told the people behind him, “There aren’t many zombies here, so let’s rest here for today.”
“Why are there so few zombies here?” Someone looked around in confusion. The population here was very concentrated and it was a flat area. Even if it was a village, they could see several houses at a glance and it was the type of place that rarely had only a few zombies.
“Perhaps someone came to clear it up…” Yu Xuguang said, then brought his people into a house next to Nie Yi and Qi Jingchen’s. “Let’s rest for a night here.”
“Zhizhi!” The little monkey stood on the window sill, looking down with the same posture as Nie Yi. However, it unexpectedly slipped and immediately cried out.
“Who’s there?” Yu Xuguang sharply turned his head and switched on the flashlight in his hands.
He first saw a monkey and was wondering why there would be a monkey here when he noticed Nie Yi, standing behind it.
“Nie Yi?” Yu Xuguang was internally startled and the beam of light in his hand shook.
“Nie Yi?” Yu Xuguang’s subordinates also could not describe their feelings. They had all participated in the previous endeavour to capture Nie Yi and Qi Jingchen. At the beginning when they came out to investigate the matters of S City secure base, they had thought Yu Xuguang was very unpleasant to the eyes for a while. But these days, Yu Xuguang had always protected and mentored them, so they accepted him.
Precisely because they accepted him, they felt all the more uneasy upon seeing Nie Yi now.
“It’s me,” Nie Yi said. The next second, the flashlight in Yu Xuguang’s hand was struck down by an ice blade, and his hand was cut open by the blade and began to bleed profusely.
Someone cried out in alarm, wanting to check Yu Xuguang’s wound, but also didn’t quite dare to— Among them, someone had gotten injured from a fight with an ability user during the day, and later, probably due to accidental contamination, they turned half-zombified. This made them cautious towards injuries.
“Nie Yi, I’m sorry.” Yu Xuguang cleaned off his wound with his water ability, then froze it with an ice block before saying, “I have some things to say to you; it’s related to the shadow guards.”
Nie Yi was already prepared to have a bout with these people, yet unexpectedly Yu Xuguang apologised upon seeing him… He raised his eyebrow and spoke while looking down at Yu Xuguang and the others from above. “Speak.”
“Back in B City secure base, it was Yao Mengzhi who told me you were reborn, which was why I ordered men to ambush you.” Yu Xuguang explained very briefly and then continued, “If my guess isn’t wrong, Yao Mengzhi should be the origin of the shadow guards, and there may be more to it.”
“Yao Mengzhi?” Nie Yi was surprised. He wasn’t unfamiliar with this name. Before the apocalypse, he once met Yao Mengzhi in S City before, and also heard several people talk about her at the start of the apocalypse. But after he betrayed B City secure base, he no longer heard about her and assumed she was dead.
“Yao Mengzhi?” Qi Jingchen also walked to the window. He also wasn’t unfamiliar with this name.
Of course, this wasn’t because of Yao Mengzhi’s reputation at the start of the apocalypse, but he had once seen this woman when he was locked up by people of W County secure base.
Su Haisheng leaked out news of the panacea to attract ability users to W County secure base, then was noticed by several large scale secure bases and constantly pressured to hand it over. He felt he might not be able to protect the secret of the panacea and so he later found a collaborator.
That collaborator was a woman surnamed Yao.
Su Haisheng basically only knew to cut off flesh from his body, but this woman had many more ideas… Unfortunately, his state at that time was already pretty bad and he didn’t have much meat left, so this woman ended up unable to create many useful things. Moreover… not long after, he awakened.
He even thought that this woman probably ate his flesh before and had long died, yet as a result… she unexpectedly lived to the end?
Qi Jingchen previously felt that revenge was meaningless because his enemies had all been killed by him once already. Unexpectedly, there was someone who was still alive and even reborn continuing to give him trouble.
“It’s Yao Mengzhi. She’s now the leader of S City secure base and also established a Hei’anshen Jiao. I feel like she probably will continue to oppose you,” Yu Xuguang said.
Hei’anshen Jiao? Qi Jingchen himself had read fantasy novels and couldn’t help becoming stunned. Wasn’t this name a little dazzling? However, Yu Xuguang and his people seem to know a lot?
Qi Jingchen glanced at them below and said, “Come up ba.”
“Why let them up?” Nie Yi couldn’t help frowning.
“They’re all injured, and there’s even one that’s half-zombified. You definitely can beat them.” Qi Jingchen smiled at Nie Yi.
Although Yu Xuguang once self-detonated before him in his last life and blew away the plants he grew, Qi Jingchen never hated him in the past. After all, they had different standpoints.
But because Yu Xuguang nearly caused Nie Yi’s death and Liu Sao even died, Qi Jingchen had some loathing. However, while he disliked him, it wasn’t to the degree where Yu Xuguang must die, because Yu Xuguang had no malice towards them.
Because he also realised this, Nie Yi didn’t go for the kill right at the start… If it were someone else who had ill will towards them that had appeared now, Nie Yi definitely would kill first since making the first move was more advantageous.
Yu Xuguang and his men totaled five people and they were all very haggard. Among them, there was one tied up by his comrades whose face was already turning black.
He was half-zombified… Probably since he wasn’t directly bitten by a high-level zombie and had been an ability user himself, he was able to hold on for a little longer, but his limits were approaching.
When Qi Jingchen’s gaze paused on this person, Yu Xuguang had already knelt down. “Qi Jingchen, I’m sorry.”
“Why are you apologising?” Qi Jingchen asked.
“Previously, I shouldn’t have failed to distinguish between right and wrong and immediately think you guys should die. I’m sorry,” Yu Xuguang said. Perhaps the people of B City secure base merely felt that Qi Jingchen’s ability was very important, but he knew that Qi Jingchen’s ability might be their last hope.
When he was first reborn, he once thought of wanting to save mankind. Yet, no matter how much effort he put in, he was unable to guarantee that he could prevent humanity’s extinction. After all, everyone was completely helpless when it came to the environment in their last life.
But what if an ability user that had the light ability appeared? It had to be known that the shrubbery of the district where Qi Jingchen had awakened was now the place where plants grew the best in B City secure base!
“I know you guys definitely hate me. I am willing to accept that you want to beat and kill me. This is definitely my mistake,” Yu Xuguang said. The expressions of the people behind him changed slightly, but they did not stop him, nor show dissatisfaction towards Qi Jingchen and Nie Yi.
“If you feel remorse, then say everything you know and go kill Yao Mengzhi.” Qi Jingchen looked at the kneeling Yu Xuguang and his lips curled.
Yu Xuguang paused slightly, then quickly spoke about everything he knew of Yao Mengzhi.
After Yao Mengzhi’s lover died in their last life, she became silent and even faked her death before beginning to research wholeheartedly. Everything she researched was about how to isolate the dark energy outside.
At that time, her research truly had progressed and even resulted in the growth of food for the secure base, so everyone was very respectful towards her; he was the same. So much that although he despised Qi Jingchen at the time, he hadn’t gone to seek revenge because he was protecting Yao Mengzhi and providing her research with sufficient water.
Back then, he always thought that he was protecting humanity’s hope, and even naively believed Yao Mengzhi might be able to discover something that could resist dark energy, but… Yao Mengzhi died.
At that time, he was dejected and then, extremely excited after learning she too was reborn. Unexpectedly, the reborn Yao Mengzhi had started researching dark energy and even obtained power with this!
When Yu Xuguang thought of the situation he’d seen at the small secure base, his expression turned extremely ugly.
He kept kneeling on the ground and unexpectedly couldn’t quite bring himself to continue.
Suddenly, the half-zombified person behind Yu Xuguang that had been tied up began to struggle. His face was filled with malevolence and he even wanted to bite people around him, yet his words pleaded, “Kill me! Quickly kill me!”
The people holding him back all had reddened eyes; among them one even took out a gun. Right then, Qi Jingchen suddenly reached out and a warm glow emerged from his hand.