The secret joy in my heart was transformed into a twisted sense of satisfaction.

Even though the petite girl's gaze was cold and disappointed, Shi Yi still smiled contentedly, her dark green eyes narrowing.

—As long as she has him in her eyes, that's enough.

Shi Yi paused, then carefully opened his mechanical arm: "Are you angry, Qing An?"

"Just hold me, Qing'an, and I'll do anything—"

Before Shiyi could finish speaking, Ruan Qingan quickly stepped forward, and with a flash of light, she drew the scabbard from Shiyi's hand, leaving obvious red marks on the simulated skin.

He paused for a moment, his outstretched hand freezing, before slowly retracting it: "Yeah, you're angry."

"Have you made enough of a scene, Eleven?"

Ruan Qing'an pursed her lips and said coldly, "This is a matter between us, between you, me, and Zhou Ziqi. Don't involve others. The Third Human Base is innocent."

"Eleven, I'm not that good. These innocent people don't deserve to pay with their lives for my trivial matter!"

Sensing the reason for Ruan Qing'an's anger, Shi Yi suppressed her smile and asked, word by word, "But... what do they have to do with me? Even if everyone in this world dies, it won't affect me at all."

"But they always try to get your attention. It's like you can never see me, even though we have a past together."

Eleven spoke in a disordered manner.

Ruan Qing'an heard it clearly, and she closed her eyes: "Shiyi, since you have memories of the past..."

"Then you should know me. I'm not a good person, so I don't dream of saving the world, but I'm not willful either, so as not to involve all the innocent people because of my own petty problems."

As he spoke in a low voice, Ruan Qing'an tightened his grip on the hilt of his knife: "You want to kill me? Fine, but if you keep causing trouble—"

"I have no choice but to kill you with my own hands."

Meeting Ruan Qing'an's leaden eyes, Shi Yi fell silent for a moment: "If you kill me, you will be with Zhou Ziqi, and you will leave, you will leave me again..."

"Qing'an, you will always be the reason that binds me."

Eleven gave a bitter laugh. The inhuman machine truly experienced the most bitter emotions that belong to humankind.

The towering vines and roots all receded, and the tall man stood on the edge of the top floor of the research institute. His simulated skin was covered with fine, dense wounds, which could obviously be easily treated, but Shi Yi paid no attention to them.

He fell backward, plummeting from the high-rise building into layers of vines, where he was enveloped and seemed to fall into a deep sleep.

...

Without Eleven's control and the support of the virus's source, the remaining zombies were routed and lost their endless supply of zombies. They were quickly wiped out by the remaining ability users under Zhou Ziqi's command.

The damaged bases began to be rebuilt one after another, and the ordinary people who had been transported away from the refuge gradually returned to the Third Human Base and immediately devoted themselves to the reconstruction of the base.

However, Zhou Ziqi had already passed this part of the matter on to the poor leader of the superhuman team, euphemistically calling it "training".

On the contrary, Ruan Qing'an went along to do infrastructure construction. After all, this zombie horde attack, which seemed like a farce, was somewhat related to her and was a responsibility she could not shirk.

Meanwhile, in the underground research room of the institute.

Zhou Ziqi stood in front of the observation window of the containment room, calmly looking at the scene inside, and said in a deep voice, "Eleven."

"..."

The person inside did not answer.

Although it was supposed to be an observation window, the glass was now covered with mutated plants, their branches and leaves intertwined, making it impossible to see what was happening inside the containment room. Even human voices and breathing sounds had disappeared.

If it weren't for the roots slowly moving in the corner of the observation window, Zhou Ziqi might have thought that Eleven inside was already dead.

After Eleven fell from the high-rise building, it was protected by the remaining mutated plant core and seemed to have entered a dormant state. The rest of the root system seemed to have given all the nutrients to the core and withered up, leaving only the huge sphere that was wrapped up.

Because it was not aggressive and difficult to handle, Zhou Ziqi sent people to move it into the containment room of his research institute.

Unexpectedly, in just a short period of time, the entire containment chamber had become a paradise of mutated plants, with every white wall covered with plants, making it as beautiful as a mysterious forest.

Seeing that Shiyi remained silent in the containment room, Zhou Ziqi sneered: "Don't you want to resolve our issues?"

"...What do you want to say?"

Finally, the mutated plants parted, and Eleven emerged from the seepage of the emerald forest, all her wounds healed.

Zhou Ziqi chuckled softly, twirling the scalpel between his slender fingers.

At Shiyi's feet, tiny vines coiled around him like snakes.

Two men with similar faces faced each other through the observation window, as if looking in a mirror. Zhou Ziqi spoke first: "We've both found a way to kill each other, haven't we?"

"It's obvious that I want to kill you, and you want to kill me."

“Xiao Ruan is very soft-hearted. This matter only involves the two of us. If it involves others, she will be angry.”

Upon hearing this, Shiyi lowered her eyes: "So?"

Zhou Ziqi grinned wildly: "So, let's have a final showdown. Stop with all that nonsense. Either you kill me, or I kill you."

"I will release you, Eleven. This love cannot be shared, so only one of us will survive."

The non-human creature, which had been keeping its head down, finally raised its eyes and stared at Zhou Ziqi with an almost bloodthirsty killing intent in its eyes: "Is that so? I've wanted to kill you for a long time."

"What a coincidence, me too."

As Zhou Ziqi spoke casually, he pressed the control center next to him. The door of the containment room opened little by little, and a large number of mutated plants swarmed out, almost instantly covering the walls of the research institute's corridor and creating an absolute domain.

Immediately afterwards, Shiyi strode out, her face cold.

The two stood there, the tense atmosphere filled with a strong killing intent, but at this moment the control center suddenly received a message from the research institute on the ground.

"Mr. Zhou, Miss is here to see you."

Zhou Ziqi had just glanced at it when Shi Yi suddenly looked up as well. The excessively superior mechanical structure allowed him to clearly hear the sound of the elevator running. Then he slightly raised his hand.

The mutated plants that had covered almost the entire corridor all shrank back, leaving no trace.

Zhou Ziqi shut down the control center and chuckled, "It seems that Xiao Ruan has indeed come. Remember to make the most of this opportunity. Shiyi—this is the last time you will see her."

"The same words apply to you."

Just as they were talking, the elevator arrived, and from the far end of the corridor came a girl's voice: "Mr. Zhou, I heard that Eleven turned into a ball and was locked up by you. I want to see her—"

Ruan Qing'an said casually, but as soon as she stepped into the corridor, all the lights above her head suddenly went out!

She was slightly taken aback. What was going on?

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