Even after Ruan Qing'an emerged from the alley, Shi Yi remained standing motionless in the depths of the alley, lifeless like a poorly made sculpture.
The ground was a mess, littered with whip marks from mutated plants and severed vines from sharp blades. Shi Yi stood silently amidst the chaos…
037 cautiously began, "I thought he would come after me."
"Actually, even he himself is confused, isn't he?"
Ruan Qing'an chuckled, a hint of mockery in her smile, which seemed more directed at herself than at Shi Yi.
She gripped the hilt of the knife with one hand, her fingertips tracing the patterns on it, but then she couldn't help but lower her head, her leaden eyes filled with intense mockery: "Me too, little system."
For a moment, 037 didn't even dare to answer Ruan Qingan's question.
When Eleven broke down, Ruan Qingan remained calm;
When Shiyi mentioned Zhou Ziqi, Ruan Qingan remained calm.
She gently and earnestly tried to soothe Shiyi's emotions—except when Shiyi mentioned Xie Huainan.
037: [Ancestor, are you...are you really alright? Why don't you go back and rest? You're already exhausted. Anyway, the male lead's affection level has reached 90, so you should rest.]
After leaving the alley, the streets of the central area became increasingly crowded with pedestrians, creating a lively scene everywhere. Such scenes had become more frequent since Zhou Ziqi started taking over the work of the base leader.
As Ruan Qing'an walked amidst the bustling crowd, he felt extremely exhausted, as if he had reached the limit of fatigue. He shuffled back to the black market brokers in the outer area.
The sun slowly sank into the night, until darkness descended, a thick fog rose, and darkness enveloped the entire Third Human Base, as if a giant beast were devouring it, and unease spread through people's dreams.
In the cramped room of the tenement building, on a dark-colored single bed, a petite girl was fast asleep, clutching her long sword.
The delicate vines that had been wrapped around her wrist like a bracelet suddenly shattered and turned to ash, as if they had been freed from some kind of restraint, and disappeared.
When Nguyen Thanh An woke up again, it was because of the loud noise of the shady real estate agent banging on the door.
"Miss Ruan, Miss Ruan!"
"Please wake up! We have something very important to discuss with you. Mr. Zhou has sent someone to pick you up!"
Ruan Qing'an then rubbed his groggy head, sat up, and channeled his spiritual energy into a line at his fingertips, casually flicking it—
The door was opened, and the shady agent was startled, but he didn't dare to think too deeply about what other special abilities the superhuman might have, and just took half a step forward.
After a brief silence, Ruan Qing'an's drowsy state returned to normal, and only a clear look remained in her leaden eyes: "What's wrong?"
The shady agent then said, "Miss Ruan, Mr. Zhou suddenly sent someone to tell me that someone will come to pick you up this afternoon to go to the central area."
As they spoke, the shady brokers couldn't hide their envy. That was the central area, the safest and best place in the entire base, a place that ordinary people like them couldn't access at all.
Upon hearing this, Ruan Qing'an subconsciously frowned: "Did you say why?"
No, no.
The shady agent was taken aback.
Ruan Qing'an couldn't get any information from her, so she simply nodded to indicate that she understood.
Only after the shady agent left the room did Ruan Qing'an stand up and walk out to the corridor. From this vantage point, she could see most of the surrounding area, but her brows remained furrowed.
037: [What's wrong, ancestor?]
"No, it's just a very strong sense of unease."
The sky in the distance was gloomy, exuding an ominous aura. Ruan Qingan answered 037's question softly: "Moreover, it seems like something is floating faintly in the air."
Not only that, Nguyen Thanh An even felt a dull pain in his chest, as if he couldn't breathe.
...
Not long after, even before noon, a team of superhumans was already waiting downstairs in the tenement building, and noisy footsteps came upstairs.
Walking at the very front was Zhou Ziqi, wearing a white lab coat with his hands in his pockets. His face was unusually devoid of a smile, and the dark circles under his eyes were getting worse, as if he had been working all night.
When Ruan Qing'an saw him like this, she was somewhat surprised: "Mr. Zhou, are you... alright?"
"Thank goodness, if I don't die suddenly."
Zhou Ziqi casually said this, then quickly stepped forward, took out an injection from his bag, pulled Ruan Qing'an's hand, and injected the liquid directly into her body.
A slight stinging pain came over her, but Ruan Qing'an endured the discomfort and changed the subject, saying, "Then why is it you, Mr. Zhou, who came to pick me up?"
“If I hadn’t come, you would probably have died here. The antiviral inhibitors can only be injected into your body while I’m watching, otherwise if something goes wrong, I won’t be able to get there in time.”
As Zhou Ziqi spoke, he pinched Ruan Qing'an's chubby cheeks: "How are you feeling now?"
Upon hearing this, Ruan Qingan realized that the pain, which felt like a persistent bone-deep infection, had disappeared from his body.
She immediately realized: "The increased concentration in the air is the zombie virus?!"
"No, what's going on? Has something happened at the Third Human Base?"
Zhou Ziqi then said, "Not yet, but according to the reports from the superhuman action teams outside before they died, more and more zombies are heading to the base, and there are more than just zombies."
"Simply put, this is likely a catastrophe for the Third Human Base. This wave of zombies is extremely difficult to defend against, and the only option now is to relocate people to other bases."
"But the news can't get out, otherwise it will cause a commotion. The first batch has already been sent to the second human base under the guise of exchanging supplies, and it just set off ten minutes ago."
Zhou Ziqi gave a general account of the current situation. Ruan Qing'an hadn't expected that such a big change would happen after he had only slept for one night.
She countered, "Then, Mr. Zhou, why did you pick me up—"
"It's impossible for us to send you away."
Zhou Ziqi's narrow phoenix eyes held a hint of a smile: "I brought you to my side to prevent anything from happening to you. I'm not letting you leave the base because if something really happens, we'll die together."
037: [...6.]
Ruan Qingan: As expected of you, Zhou the Madman.
As Ruan Qing'an followed Zhou Ziqi downstairs, she still held the knife and stayed by his side until she suddenly heard Zhou Ziqi call her name.
"Little Ruan".
"What's wrong, Mr. Zhou?"
She subconsciously raised her head and looked up at Zhou Ziqi's perfectly curved jawline.
The man said in a low, hoarse voice, "Shiyi has disappeared. Guess if it's related to the unexpected events?"
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