Chapter 96

The conspiracy to harm Xie Xubai in the shadows remained unknown to him.

He calmed his mind and sensed quietly, spreading his spiritual power above the clinic. The spiritual energy fluctuations of all living beings gradually appeared in his mind, colorful and varied, with emotions rising and falling, like notes dancing on a musical score.

It didn't take long for Xie Xubai to find Pei Yuheng's whereabouts, and at the same time, he also found Dr. Li who was with Pei Yuheng.

The fact that both of them were safe and sound immediately relieved Xie Xubai's tense heart.

He hadn't found player A yet, and while he was searching, he caught a glimpse of dust in the distance, and a modified van sped towards him, screeching to a halt at the door.

The van had clearly just been through a fierce battle; the body was dented and battered, the rear was badly dented, and the windshield was shattered, with the bloodstains on it already congealed.

A group of people got off the vehicle covered in dust and dirt, all of them injured to varying degrees, with bright red blood seeping through the white bandages they wore.

A mental energy fluctuation came from among the group, and Xie Xubai focused his attention and quickly locked onto an unremarkable-looking man, recognizing him as Player A in disguise.

The man with the buzz cut and tattooed arms slammed the car door shut with a bang, his brows furrowed, a lingering gloom hanging over him.

The others who remained at the entrance of the clinic rushed forward and asked questions without stopping.

"How's it going? Have you found the exit?"

The tattooed man said, "Why don't you use your brain, which is as big as a walnut, to think about this? If we really found the exit, do you really expect us to come back?"

The reply was extremely impolite and full of sarcasm. The thin man who had asked the question immediately blushed, glaring at him angrily: "You—"

Before he could finish a single word, the tattooed man's menacing gaze swept over him, and he felt as if an invisible hand had grabbed his neck, instantly silencing him with fear.

The tattooed man was even more disdainful, spitting on the ground, and his teammates followed suit with pointed insults.

"A bunch of cowardly good-for-nothings who are afraid of death."

"They would tremble after taking just two steps outside, hoping that others would find them a way out."

"If it weren't for the sudden turn of events, who would want to stay in this dilapidated clinic? They're really treating us like servants!"

The thin man was trembling with anger, and the others also looked grim.

However, upon seeing the burly and robust bodies of these men, they couldn't help but shrink back, holding their breath as they approached the van.

With just one glance, everyone's faces turned even more ashen.

The guard, with a cold expression, dragged the items out of the car. One box contained compressed biscuits, and another box held daily necessities such as towels and toothbrushes.

Besides, the back seat was crammed with all sorts of scrapped electronic devices, circuit boards were broken in half, and it looked like a bunch of shoddy stuff with very little useful material.

Seeing the tattooed men's team walk away without looking back, the guard became furious and couldn't contain his anger, shouting: "Before you set off, you applied to take ten sets of protective suits, enough food and water for seven people for almost a month, and three large boxes of weapons and first-aid medicines. And this is all the junk you brought back?!"

The tattooed man stopped and sneered without any restraint, "If you think we can only bring back junk, then send your own people out to search. It's not like you don't have hands and feet."

The guard's forehead veins bulged, his anger rising rapidly. Just as he was about to retort, a commotion suddenly arose at the door. It turned out that Pei Yuheng had rushed over after hearing the news.

Xie Xubai was taken aback, keenly noticing that Pei Yuheng's demeanor had changed.

His face was still the same, but it was hard to see any trace of his youthful innocence. He walked with a brisk pace, his posture was upright, and his eyes were colder than ever before, like sharp knives tempered with ice. Even the arrogant and domineering tattooed man couldn't help but restrain himself a bit.

The guard loudly complained, "Chief, look at all this junk they brought back! Either they didn't search for supplies properly, or they're keeping it all for themselves!"

The tattooed man turned around and shouted, "Bullshit! What junk is this? We risked our lives for it! Chief, you be the judge!"

Pei Yuheng swept his cold gaze across the crowd, ignoring the chattering complaints and the tattooed man's words, and asked instead, "Three people are missing. What happened to them?"

The concern in his words was genuine. While everyone else was only concerned with exports and supplies, Pei Yuheng was the first to notice the casualties. It was the voice of someone who seemed cold and indifferent that was most touching.

The team froze, even the tattooed man was moved. He murmured, then wiped his face dejectedly after a long while: "Dead. Two had half their bodies bitten off, their intestines spilled all over the ground, and they couldn't be stuffed back in. One was infected with the virus and mutated into a monster on the spot, so we had to deal with it on the spot."

With more than half of his teammates killed or wounded, it would be hard for anyone to accept such a blow, so the tattooed man didn't look happy at all from beginning to end.

Pei Yuheng patted the tattooed man on the shoulder: "Take your men to rest. The rest of you move the stuff inside and see if there's anything usable in the technical department."

The tattooed man had deliberately brought back some scrap metal to spite those people who only knew how to hide in the clinic. Seeing Pei Yuheng's serious expression, a rare hint of apology flashed in his eyes.

The tattooed man had already walked out, but after a few seconds of hesitation, he came back and said, "Chief, are you free later? There's something I'd like to discuss with you privately."

Pei Yuheng nodded.

But soon enough, Player A, who was disguised and lurking in the team, secretly told Pei Yuheng everything the tattooed man wanted to talk to him about.

“They did indeed steal things. Half a warehouse of food and the inventory of two pharmacies were moved to the basement of a shopping mall. These people were very skilled at hiding things, and I suspect they have embezzled supplies more than once.”

Pei Yuheng's expression remained unchanged: "It was just a temporary cooperation relationship, and they were the ones who found the items, so let them take them."

Player A's lips twitched: "How generous of you to say that. We not only funded them, but also provided them with shelter."

Pei Yuheng gave a faint "hmm": "So when you go back, tell the other temporary team where they hid the supplies by secret, and have them bring the supplies back. If they also keep more than 50% of the supplies, find some distinctive items among them and deliberately let people see them to spread the word."

Player A quickly realized that this was a setup to frame them and make them fight like dogs. He instantly developed a deep respect for Pei Yuheng: "You're becoming more and more like Pei Yu..." that fox.

Before he could finish speaking, Pei Yuheng's icy face suddenly changed, making Player A realize that he had mentioned a name he shouldn't have, and he quickly shut his mouth.

He had witnessed Pei Yuheng nearly going mad when Pei Yu had not returned for a long time.

The NPC remained calm for the first two days, but on the third day, he insisted on going out with the search and rescue team to look for people no matter what.

The people at the health quarantine center treated Pei Yuheng like a treasure. The man who initially tried to lure them into joining the volunteers even treated him as a hostage who could hold Xie Xubai hostage. They pretended to protect him but actually kept him under house arrest, forcibly keeping Pei Yuheng in the center.

The NPC is extremely fragile; going outside would only lead to certain death. Player A, not wanting any more accidents to happen, hoped Pei Yuheng could stay safely in the center and wait for Xie Xubai's return, turning a blind eye and offering no help.

Even Dr. Li underestimated the inherent flaws of his former colleague when faced with a life-or-death situation.

When he tried to bring Pei Yuheng out, the man blocked the exit with his men, and they argued passionately, even resorting to fists and kicks.

In this alternate dimension, all of people's negative emotions seem to be amplified infinitely, making them more timid, irritable, and even insane.

It was also during this period that the patient's condition suddenly flared up without warning.

The virus spread extremely quickly, and everyone who didn't have time to put on protective clothing was infected, turning into ferocious and brutal monsters that attacked and bit others, splattering blood everywhere.

The entire health and epidemic prevention center was instantly transformed into a living hell.

At that time, Pei Yuheng had the opportunity to leave directly. He had countless defensive items stacked on his body, which would be triggered when he was attacked.

The people at the epidemic prevention center carefully avoided this point when they forcibly detained him; the monster, whose mind was only focused on eating people, did not have such a high level of intelligence, at least not at that time.

But seeing innocent staff members like Dr. Li, Pei Yuheng, who was about to run out the gate, gradually stopped.

He stood there, listening to the shrill screams behind him, clenched his fists and took a few deep breaths. He ran back and forth again and again, using the defensive items on his body to save many people and put them in the underground laboratory of the clinic. He then dragged out Player A, who could help, to search for people all over the world.

This time, Player A could no longer resist Pei Yuheng.

He didn't know if he was out of his mind or what, but he actually watched Pei Yuheng being placed under house arrest. He was terrified afterward. If Xie Xubai hadn't taken several extra precautions, Pei Yuheng might have really been in trouble.

Pei Yuheng said that his only request was to go out and look for people, but they went to all the places they could go and still couldn't find their mentors Zhou Chaosheng and Xie Xubai.

The two of them vanished as if they had disappeared into thin air.

During that period, Pei Yuheng's mental state was constantly on the verge of collapse. He blamed himself for wasting time and failing to find the two people, which caused him great pain.

Therefore, Xie Xubai could see Pei Yuheng's change at a glance. How could a pure and flawless snow lotus suddenly grow sharp and thorny thorns not be conspicuous?

At this moment, Pei Yuheng clearly had no intention of skipping over the topic of "Pei Yu." He appeared nonchalant, but in reality, he emphasized every word: "Haven't you found him yet?"

"Who were you found?"

The sudden voice from behind startled Pei Yuheng and the other man.

When the former turned around with trembling lips, her eyes instantly turned completely red when she was caught off guard and saw Xie Xubai's familiar face.

Before Xie Xubai could speak again, Pei Yuheng rushed up and hugged him tightly. Even with his excellent self-control, he couldn't help but yell, "You brat, it's been almost a month! Where have you been?!"

A month, much longer than he had imagined.

Xie Xubai's body was in pain from Pei Yuheng's tight grip, and he could vaguely hear the faint cracking of bones, but he didn't cry out. Instead, he patted Pei Yuheng's thin back with his other hand.

A powerful surge of mental energy emanated from the other party, silently conveying the joy and relief of regaining what was lost. This intense emotion was overwhelming, more surging than a tidal wave, and almost drowned Xie Xubai.

It was at this moment that Xie Xubai suddenly realized a very serious problem.

— Pei Yuheng seemed to care about him more deeply than he had imagined, but he would eventually leave Pei Yuheng's side and return to his own era. What would Pei Yuheng do then?

Such anxieties and uncertainties, along with Pei Yuheng's fluctuating breathing, tugged at Xie Xubai's heart.

He painfully suppressed his longing for Pei Yuheng's care, forcing himself to sever his emotions and stand on the side of reason and calm, without showing the slightest hint of it.

After an unknown amount of time, Xie Xubai finally spoke in a hoarse voice, his first words full of apology: "I'm sorry for making you worry."

The second sentence: "There are some things I haven't figured out yet, and I may have to leave soon."

Pei Yuheng froze, released his grip, his eyes bloodshot, and glared coldly at Xie Xubai: "What is it that you haven't figured out?"

Xie Xubai shook his head: "I can't say."

In the past, Xie Xubai would have answered that he could not say, and Pei Yuheng, considering that he came from the future and naturally had many concerns, would not continue to ask.

But now Pei Yuheng was both shocked and angry. The child had been missing for so long, yet he spoke of it so casually, without offering a single decent explanation.

And how can they be so eager to say goodbye right after reuniting?

The atmosphere suddenly became very tense.

Player A, before he could even rejoice that Xie Xubai was still alive, felt a chill run down his spine and quickly changed the subject: "There's one more thing! The Alliance's political situation seems to have discovered the existence of the alternate dimension and is planning to send in a rescue force to save people!"

Xie Xubai's eyes flashed: "Where did you find out about this news?"

Player A: "There are still live radio operators in the Alliance's political situation, but they refuse to come with us. We had to ask them repeatedly before they finally told us why. Not long ago, a phone call came into their office landline from the real world, and they briefly made contact with the Alliance, explained the situation, and successfully made a few more calls."

"Logically speaking, once you enter this kind of hidden map that resembles an alternate world, there's no way you can get out unless you find a way to break free. But those radio operators seem very certain that someone will come to rescue us, and we don't know if that's true or not."

Xie Xubai knew it was true.

He also knew that this meant the First Hospital was about to reach its first major milestone.

Most people were rescued, but the elderly, weak, sick, and disabled who were abandoned could only wait to die. Pei Yuheng couldn't bear to see those who were abandoned die, so he voluntarily stayed behind.

But the key point is not only that Pei Yuheng chose to stay, but also that not long after, the political situation of the alliance, seeing the situation spiraling out of control, finally realized that this disease was not simple. It had surpassed humanity's inherent understanding and power system, and that letting it develop unchecked would only cause more serious disasters.

Therefore, an emergency meeting was held in conjunction with the above-mentioned petition, and it was decided to carry out fire bombing and physical elimination.

Author's Note:

I'm late! I'll send out 100 small red envelopes as compensation QAQ First come, first served

Happy Mid-Autumn Festival! I'm doing a giveaway for the little ones to thank you for your continued support! (づ￣ ￣)づ