☆ News, Overdraft
Dealing with four zombies wasn't difficult for Ye Xi and Nikolai. Although Nikolai found it hard to accept when he saw Ye Xi using a syringe to draw blood from the corpses and put it into a plastic bottle, he was relieved when he thought about how Ye Xi planned to use these things to research antibodies. The night that followed was exceptionally peaceful, and the two of them set off early the next morning.
"At this speed, we should be able to reach Las Vegas in about five days." Ye Xi held the reins in one hand and a map she had rummaged through the four men's bags in the other. Although Nikolai had replaced his beat-up motorcycle with a Harley, he had to keep the speed at a minimum to accommodate Ye Xi's horse's walking speed, so it would take longer.
"Can't you make your horse run? Maybe we can get there faster that way," Nikolai complained. He had finally gotten a great vehicle, but it was going to be slower than his nearly broken-down motorcycle. No wonder he was frustrated.
Ye Xi rolled her eyes at him: "This is called conserving energy, you know? What if it gets tired and then encounters a zombie horde? It'll arrive eventually, whether it arrives early or late, so why worry about a day or two?"
Upon hearing Ye Xi's dismissive tone, Nikolai's face immediately turned into a round, puffy grin: "So you should have changed to another vehicle earlier..."
"What if you run out of gas? Where are you going to find some? Maybe you'll have to hitch a ride on my black horse when your cool motorcycle runs out of gas." Ye Xi's words shut Nikolai down again. Having searched for a reason to object for a while, Nikolai could only mutter under his breath, "Tch, even if it were running on the ground, I wouldn't want your horse. I don't want a living thing moving around under me..."
Ye Xi's lips twitched, wisely choosing to ignore the deeply meaningful complaint. Little did she know, a day later, she would begin to regret her decision. If Dust gave her another chance, she would absolutely and without hesitation replace the horse that had been with her for nearly three years with a motorcycle. But rest assured, how could Dust, this self-proclaimed mother, possibly give her another chance?
↑ Dust in my nose...
"Hey, Ye Xi! There's still water here! Why don't you go take a shower first and I'll boil some water for the rest of the trip?" Nikolai said excitedly as he came out of a dilapidated motel.
"Oh..." Ye Xi responded listlessly. If this had happened ten minutes ago, Ye Xi, tormented by the stench of sweat, would have rushed in like a whirlwind. But now, she had no interest in it whatsoever. Well, so this story goes back to ten minutes ago.
The sky was already turning fiery red, and in a few hours it would be completely black. Fortunately, they found a dilapidated motel; if they were lucky, they might find some food and water there. Nikolai prepared his gun and told Ye Xi to stay put. Seeing that he was going to check the motel alone to see if there were any zombies, Ye Xi no longer hid anything and told him that after his body was modified by the virus, he could spot zombies wherever he looked. There were no signs of zombies in the motel, so he didn't need to waste his time looking for them.
Nikolai then put away his gun and, as usual, turned on the radio to see if he could receive a signal, but—
“We are Claire Redfield’s motorcade, location: Desert Ship Motel, looking for other survivors. Can anyone hear us? Looking for other survivors. Can anyone hear us?…” Accompanied by a crackling sound, a somewhat unclear male voice came from the radio in Nikola’s hand. Nikola was stunned for a moment, then looked incredulously at Ye Xi beside him, whose expression had suddenly changed drastically: “You…you heard that?”
Ye Xi nodded with difficulty, inwardly slamming her fist on the table. Holy crap, after running around like this, she still ran into them! It wasn't that Ye Xi didn't want to see Carlos, it's just that besides Carlos, there was also Alice, with whom she used to clash and probably still does! Besides Alice, there was also a whole carload of kids who were just a burden! She should have just run or gotten a motorcycle! That way she could have left this awful hotel, and maybe that radio that never worked before would still be malfunctioning!
"Wait... the Desert Ship Motel... it's not far from here!" Nikolai pulled out a map and looked around, then excitedly discovered that the team was actually very close. "Ye Xi, let's go find out what else is in this motel, then get some rest and set off to find them first thing tomorrow morning!" Although he was happy to have encountered living people, Nikolai still retained his rationality. He knew, of course, that it was impossible to run outside in the pitch black at night without any lights.
"I understand..." Ye Xi said softly, and dismounted.
So you can imagine how conflicted Ye Xi's face is right now; you can vaguely see it in the hazy mirror in the bathroom. 'Our only goal is survival; there's no need to be with someone who will only hold us back.' For some reason, the O virus, which used to only appear at crucial moments, has been showing up unusually frequently lately. Now, it's appeared again, and just when Ye Xi unconsciously glanced at the numbers on her face.
Hearing this, Ye Xi didn't know what was wrong with her, and her tone became somewhat unfriendly: "So you mean I only need to be with you and ignore everyone else?"
'You're angry,' the O virus stated mechanically, almost like a programmed script, with the cold indifference unique to viruses, 'because of my words. In fact, it's completely unnecessary, and you know yourself that you have to restrain yourself around them—humans fear and loathe beings stronger than themselves and incomprehensible. Being a burden is inevitable.'
"You're talking nonsense!" Ye Xi raised her voice unconsciously. "Don't think I don't know what you're up to. You love killing, you crave the T-virus to evolve you, you crave power! As long as I'm alone, you can make me walk into a horde of zombies without any hesitation!"
The O virus was silent for a moment, then slowly said: 'First, I need to correct your mistake. You can never be alone, because I am always there. Second…'
"Don't try to reason with me!"
"Secondly!" O Virus raised his voice emotionally for the first time, "Most importantly, you still want to get close to Claire's team, stop being so stubborn. You humans have an explanation for this kind of behavior called hypocrisy."
Ye Xi was stunned for a moment. The O virus had said many hurtful truths, but this time it left her speechless for a full five minutes. It wasn't until Nikolai knocked on the door that she snapped out of her daze, immediately turned off the tap, dried herself off, put on her clothes, and ran out in a disheveled state. Undeniably, although the O virus always left her feeling utterly devastated, in retrospect, perhaps it was truly the case.
Perhaps affected by the O virus, Ye Xi became very quiet and crawled into her sleeping bag early. The next day, as the first rays of dawn enveloped the deep blue sky, Nikolai, as if struck by a clock, quickly crawled out of his sleeping bag and nudged Ye Xi beside him with his foot: "Hey, get up, get up!"
"Hmm..." Ye Xi hummed, then turned around and shrank back.
Nikolai chuckled as he looked at Ye Xi, who had turned into a worm, and then slowly said, "Sleeping Beauty, do you need a prince's kiss to wake up? Too bad, too bad, I'm just a lowly coachman, not a prince. I wonder if a coachman's kiss will do?" As he spoke, he pretended to lean closer.
What's with that "meh" sound?!
Ye Xi shuddered, goosebumps rising on her skin. She quickly reached out and slapped Nikolai across the face, forcefully pushing him to the ground. Then, reluctantly, she crawled out of her sleeping bag, crossed her arms, and looked down at Nikolai, who was lying on the ground with an innocent smile. She snorted and pointed at the two sleeping bags on the ground: "Put them away quickly."
"Yes, sir!" Nikolai sprang to his feet and then obediently packed his sleeping bag.
The so-called Desert Ship Motel was only about an hour's drive from where Ye Xi and Nikolai were. As dawn broke, Ye Xi and Nikolai finally spotted a black mass circling in the distance. "That's...crows?" Nikolai held his hand to his forehead as binoculars, squinting for a while before realizing it was a large flock of crows.
"Why do you think these crows are circling in one place without moving? It's said that the T-virus, that tormenting little devil, doesn't even spare animals. I wonder what kind of luck the little deer you hunted before had that it didn't get infected with the virus," Ye Xi joked from the side, while also reminding Nikolai to be vigilant.
"That looks like the location of the Desert Ship Motel..." Nikolai's expression changed, and he said anxiously to Ye Xi, "Let's go help them quickly and get your BMW running!" With that, one of them rushed over first.
"Hey, hey, rushing over there like that will only give those zombie birds more food!" Ye Xi spat, raised her whip, and slammed it down hard, chasing after Nikola, who was bursting with heroic spirit. But the Harley was no pushover either; under Nikola's full power, it disappeared from Ye Xi's sight in an instant. No matter how hard she chased, she could only see a faint black dot in the distance.
When Ye Xi finally arrived at the hotel, Nikolai had already abandoned his Harley and joined the rescue effort. However, unlike Nikolai, she didn't rush in recklessly; instead, she observed the situation from the sidelines. The crows infected with the T-virus were extremely difficult to deal with—not only were they numerous, but they were also incredibly agile in the air, and many children had already been attacked by them. The dark mass of crows blocked Ye Xi's view, making it difficult for her to spot Nikolai or Carlos.
A musket mounted on the roof of a vehicle, unmanned, began firing indiscriminately. Threatened, the crows immediately took to the air. Only then did Ye Xi spot two figures on the open ground—Carlos and a little girl! Seeing the musket about to strike them, and Alice still not appearing, Ye Xi had no time to think. Gritting her teeth, she used her fingers to pull out all eight syringes and injected them into her body. A fiery, restless sensation instantly spread throughout her body, followed by a chilling sensation, and Ye Xi's world seemed to quiet down.
The ability that finally erupted in Raccoon City three years ago was not without precedent. Through three years of effort and guidance from the O virus, Ye Xi could barely force herself into that state when she ingested at least eight syringes of T virus. However, Ye Xi dared not use more syringes. After all, she could barely maintain a vague consciousness and rationality with eight syringes. If she used more... the consequences would be unimaginable.
Ye Xi frowned and stretched out her hand, waving it in the air. Trees appeared almost instantly, blocking Carlos and the girl's path and successfully diverting the flames. Then, two vines wrapped around Carlos and the girl's waists, pulling them to Claire's team's car not far away.
The situation unfolded in a way that surprised everyone. To their astonishment, the muskets inexplicably stopped firing, the burning trees vanished in an instant, and the flock of crows in the sky seemed to have spotted a new target and swooped down in another direction, only to gradually turn to dust and disappear from sight, starting with the first one…
Ye Xi knelt on the ground, struggling to keep herself from collapsing. The moment she blocked the flames, she felt she was about to give up. The excruciating pain coursing through her body nearly made her faint, but the pain jolted her back from her semi-conscious state. Her head throbbed with pain, Ye Xi couldn't hear anything, let alone the repeated warnings from the O virus. But she still managed to use the elements in the air to create vines to rescue Carlos and the girl, and with her last breath, she dealt with the crow.
It could be said that Ye Xi had not only erupted this time, but had also completely exhausted herself; she felt that even breathing was becoming a problem. However, she absolutely refused to collapse, not even to the point of unconsciousness. A metallic taste welled up in her mouth, but Ye Xi forced it down. She used her Miao sword to support her frail body, which was about to collapse at the slightest breeze. Her vision was blurred, and she was almost blind, but she still kept her eyes wide open, stubbornly watching the people getting off the car.
Ye Xi didn't want to be looked down upon, nor did she want others to see her vulnerable side. Driven by a strong will, she instinctively stood tall, facing the wind, standing firmly in everyone's hearts...
Author's Note: Ye Xi can't possibly be so powerful as to defy the heavens. The stronger the ability, the greater the limitations and backlash. (picking nose) As for the other male leads and supporting characters, you know what's going on, and it's fine if you don't. (picking nose) Please don't believe in the integrity, shame, and bottom line of these author's writing. You bastards, enough already! (throws up) After reading so many chapters, you should at least say something! Aren't you afraid of suffocating?! Authors all hope that their 3500+ words will be rewarded with a few dozen, a few hundred, or even 1000+ words! OJZ (pounding the ground) So I'm rolling around begging for comments QAQ
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
