Chapter 125 Extra 1·04
Although Kato City's overall land area is not small, the human settlement is not large, mostly concentrated in the middle and rear areas of Kato City. Transportation basically relies on walking. In order to meet the needs of some people to go to marginal areas, two self-driving energy-powered vehicles depart from the center of Kato City every day, circle the city and return to their original position. This is the maximum free public transportation that Kato City, which is short of energy, can provide.
Therefore, Clara did not use any interstellar technology to lead the way, but walked out of the apartment with Ji Wang.
Ji Wang had never had a very good sense of direction. After looking around, he found that he had no way to remember the way among the identical houses. He simply gave up struggling and followed Clara obediently.
When they reached the entrance of the base hospital, Ji Wang saw a frail boy sitting in a wheelchair, being pushed out by his elders. Clara explained, "This is one of the three soldiers you rescued. When we selected the experimental subjects, we chose the three youngest people infected with the Level 3 zombie virus. They have all recovered now and will probably be discharged in two days."
Ji Wang looked at the young man who smiled at him, and suddenly felt touched.
"I suddenly feel that it's good to be a useful person." Ji Wang sighed to the system.
He is such an adult but he just understood this truth. The Doomsday Survival System doesn’t really want to talk to him.
The two of them quickly reached the core area in the heart of Cato City. Only when they got here did Ji Wang get a glimpse of what the stereotypical interstellar era should look like.
Compared to the mixed style outside, this place looks more like an impregnable city. The "guardians" that look like flying saucers are patrolling the outside of the black metal walls with high-intensity infrared rays, ready to snipe malicious invaders at any time. Two soldiers, fully armed with particle guns, stand at the door and inspect everyone entering from the main gate.
Clara took Ji Wang through three tests before they could actually enter the interior of this city within a city.
"This is Cato City's military base. The Lord Mayor chose to meet you here, demonstrating his sincerity and respect. It also hints that you will become one of Cato City's important military strategic assets," Clara explained to Ji Wang. "Next, I will escort you to the entrance of the wartime conference room. The Lord Mayor will be waiting for you inside."
After the two of them ascended the internal elevator, Clara directed Ji to the direction of the conference room and then turned and left.
Ji Wang tried to push the door open and found that the seemingly heavy door opened easily. He pushed too hard and almost fell in.
When he stood up awkwardly and looked up, he was stunned.
Shi Ting was standing by the window smoking, with a leather windbreaker draped over his shoulders. The wind blew in from the window, blowing the hem and sleeves of his coat back like a wild sail in the sea. Although he heard Ji Wang pushing the door, he only tilted his head slightly back and did not turn around completely.
"Psychological warfare," the Doomsday Survival System said. "He knew you saved Clara's sister, but he still sent Clara to pick you up. This demonstrates his trust, understanding, and control over his subordinates. He knew you were coming, but he showed his back to you and Clara, demonstrating his immense strength and confidence... It's a pity you, a fool, don't understand anything."
Ji Wang: "...To be frank, that's true."
He just thought Shi Ting was quite handsome like this, but he had no idea that he was playing so many tricks behind his back.
Shi Ting continued to smoke slowly, and Ji Wang continued to stand there at a loss. Only after Shi Ting finished his cigarette did he turn around, glanced at him nonchalantly, and raised his chin slightly: "Sit down."
"Leaving you hanging and pretending to be completely indifferent to you is also a form of psychological warfare," said the Doomsday Survival System. "This man is quite a character."
Ji Wang certainly knew that Shi Ting was an important figure, and he didn't want to compete with him. He just hoped that he would let him go. Therefore, even though Shi Ting had already sat down, he didn't dare to sit down directly. Instead, he recalled the salute Clara had given him before, and saluted Shi Ting awkwardly according to his memory.
Shi Ting was slightly startled, but quickly regained his normal composure. He simply returned the greeting and gestured, indicating that Ji Wang didn't need to be polite anymore and should sit down quickly.
Ji Wang was stunned. He carefully sat down while asking the system in his mind: "Why does it seem that the greeting I am giving is different from the one I am giving?"
"The kind of courtesy you performed is typically what subordinates do to their superiors, children to their parents, and students to their teachers. It primarily expresses submission and gratitude," the Doomsday Survival System said. "The courtesy he returned was the exact opposite, a response from a superior to an inferior. It was a lucky coincidence, Shi Ting is very pleased with your timely response."
Ji Wang mustered up the courage to look Shi Ting in the eye, and sure enough, he saw that Shi Ting's eyes were no longer as sharp, but instead contained a hint of recognition and admiration.
"...Of course, this also has something to do with the fact that you're still wearing a robe, and your chest is barely visible in front of him." The Doomsday Survival System added, "He seems to be quite fond of your type."
Ji Wang, anxious to save his life, suddenly had a light in his eyes. He immediately reached out his hand and quickly pulled his collar down with the enthusiasm of a peacock spreading its tail tail.
Shi Ting, who was pretending to glance at Ji Wang's chest casually, said: "..."
"Ahem," Shi Ting turned his face away uncomfortably, coughed lightly, and quickly regained his seriousness. "I heard that the medical cabin has cured your voice loss. You can speak now, right?"
Ji Wang nodded habitually, and only after the system's reminder did he add, "But I have the right to remain silent on questions I don't want to answer."
His voice was hoarse and strange, and it was definitely not something a normal person could fake. This proved to a certain extent that he was not pretending to be mute before, but was really mute. After all, no one knew that this was a short-term sequelae of the drugs from the world of cultivation.
"You have the right to remain silent." Shi Ting smiled, not seeming surprised. "Can you tell me your name?"
"Ji Wang." This is an answerable question.
Shi Ting raised an eyebrow: "Nice name. My name is Shi Ting, nice to meet you."
...You are the only one who thinks so, Ji Wang secretly complained, but on the surface he was still very polite and nodded repeatedly, shaking hands with Shi Ting.
"Ji is a very, very ancient surname. It's said to be the origin of all later Chinese surnames. It's no surprise that someone with such a surname has such authentic Chinese blood." Shi Ting withdrew his hand, looking very calm, as if everything was under control. "Clara must have told you, in order to repay her kindness, that we tried to extract an active ingredient from your blood to treat corpse poison, but failed. But what she didn't know, and therefore couldn't tell you, was that we also conducted a DNA test on your blood, and the results showed that you are almost completely Chinese, which is almost impossible in this day and age."
Ji Wang was still sitting there obediently, but cold sweat had already appeared on his back.
He was very worried that Shi Ting would come to the conclusion that he did not belong to this era. It would be fine in other eras, but in the interstellar era with extremely advanced technology, if a time traveler suddenly appeared, they would never think that it was the quick travel system at work. Instead, they might think that a certain federation had invented a time machine and that he was the product of a time machine error. If he misunderstood like this, he would be in big trouble.
Shi Ting leaned forward, his fingers folded on the table, his eyes inquiring and extremely aggressive. "You don't want to tell me where you come from, nor do you want to tell me why you're here. This already gives me enough reason to kill you. Add to that your ancient bloodline that is extremely suitable for mutation... You must know that there is no room for two tigers in one mountain."
The more nervous Ji Wang became, the more nonsense he would talk. Even though he was extremely scared at this moment, he still couldn't control his mouth and continued: "...Unless it's a male and a female."
"...You're right, but that's not the point I want to make." Shi Ting was stunned for two seconds before he waved his hand with a helpless smile and continued, "What I want to say is that although your blood can detoxify and you are a rare and important strategic personnel, in fact, we are also developing an antidote. Even without you, the latest antidote will be put into production at the latest two years later. As long as the wound area is not too large and the infection time is short, this antidote can successfully detoxify. We don't lack a living donor like you. But-"
Shi Ting lightly pointed his finger in the air, and a curtain of light rose from mid-air. Ji Wang raised his head and saw the picture book he saw on the bookshelf appear in front of him.
"I placed this book on your bookshelf, and you've already read it. I'm sure you already understand the contents of the prophecy," Shi Ting said. "Although prophecies can't be fully trusted, it still gives me a reason to keep you. So, you need to give me a reason not to kill you, not a reason to keep you."
Ji Wang raised his head suddenly: "Are you monitoring me?"
Shi Ting leaned back in his chair calmly, clearly saying "what else?"
The Doomsday Survival System was a little surprised: "Why did you suddenly become so courageous?"
"Then you also saw me coming out of the medical cabin without wearing any clothes?" Ji Wang asked in shock, ignoring the system.
Shi Ting's expression was subtle for a moment, and then he continued calmly: "I saw it, so what?"
Ji Wang thought about it.
Ji Wang fell into deep thought.
Under Shi Ting's gaze, Ji Wang became timid: "I just watched it, why are you so fierce?"
Shi Ting raised his eyebrows in surprise but said nothing.
"...I knew you were still a waste." The Doomsday Survival System said indifferently.
Ji Wang suddenly had an idea and imitated Shi Ting, leaning back confidently and saying, "That's right, you don't have to kill me because I'm a waste."
Shi Ting: “…”
The doomsday survival system that had been watching: "..."
Why can some people say that they are useless so confidently!
"I'm really a piece of crap." Ji Wang said earnestly, "I can't carry anything on my shoulders or lift anything with my hands. Logically, the Chinese bloodline is very suitable for mutation, but I haven't mutated. So compared to you, I'm like a great-grandfather compared to a great-grandfather, always a little less..."
The Doomsday Survival System coughed in Ji Wang's mind, and he stopped his nervous nonsense. "There's no harm in keeping me. First of all, the corpse poison mutates very quickly, and no one knows what new toxins will be produced in this radiation environment. The federations of other planets may also continue to poison us like they did with the zombie virus. If you keep me, it's like keeping a universal antidote that will always be useful. If you kill me, you'll suffer a great loss..."
Ji Wang's voice became shakier and softer as he spoke, while Shi Ting kept looking at him with a half-smile, as if wanting to know what other nonsense he could say.
Ji Wang heard the system in his mind sigh heavily like a human being, and knew that his nonsense did not play any crucial persuasive role, so he whimpered in pain.
"If you keep me alive, I can still... Forget it, please be gentle when you hit me." Ji Wang buried his face in his arms and said in a muffled voice, "Leave me an intact body, thank you."
"Are you giving up struggling now?!"
"Did I say I was going to kill you?"
The system and Shi Ting spoke at the same time. Ji Wang looked up blankly and found that Shi Ting was actually smiling.
Damn, why didn’t he smile earlier? He looks much better when he smiles than with a stern face. Ji Wang was shocked and couldn’t help staring at Shi Ting for several times.
"Forget it. If I rush to kill you, it will only make me look guilty and fearful, and prone to change." Shi Ting had laughed enough and stopped smiling. His eyes were filled with confidence. Ji Wang stared at this man blankly, feeling that he seemed to be glowing. "So what can you do? I'll arrange a position for you."
"You...you're not going to chase me away?" Ji Wang asked in a low voice.
"Kato City doesn't need you to make a living." Shi Ting said lightly.
Ji Wang realized that the matter was settled and quickly sat up straight.
He really wanted to answer the question seriously, but after thinking it over in his mind twice, he still couldn't think of what he would say. He opened his mouth several times in vain. Shi Ting sat opposite him, waiting patiently for his answer.
The Doomsday Survival System sighed heavily, as if a fuse would blow in the next second, and reminded him, "You speak Chinese, and you know a lot of history that is ancient to them."
Ji Wang immediately said shamelessly: "I am a Chinese linguist and historian."
Doomsday Survival System: "...Can you be a little more shameless?"
Shi Ting seemed to want to laugh, but for some reason he held it back: "Very good, Sinolinguist, this only makes me feel that your identity is even more confusing... and more threatening."
Ji Wangsheng was afraid that Shi Ting would change his mind again, so he immediately said anxiously, "What should I do then? If that doesn't work, I can just keep yelling..."
He heard the sound of banging against the wall in his mind and immediately fell silent. Shi Ting's face also flashed with an indescribable meaning, and he said decisively: "No need."
"Since you haven't mutated and you have a good understanding of the Chinese language and history, why not go work at the Museum of Literature and History in the west of the city?" Shi Ting, perhaps worried that he might say something shocking or stupid, lowered his head and lightly tapped the personal smart device on his wrist. A digital contract quickly appeared for him. Ji Wang didn't even glance at it, signing it in one go, pressing his fingerprint and scanning his iris. His quickness surprised Shi Ting. "The salary is the same as for other regular employees at the Museum of Literature and History. Room and board are provided. Your primary responsibility is to organize and proofread documents related to the Chinese language and history."
Ji Wang nodded hurriedly. In the past, this was the treatment for civil servants, with good benefits and a dormitory provided. What could he be dissatisfied with?
Seeing that he was well-behaved, Shi Ting felt relieved. He waved his hand and threw him a metal token, asking him to take the token to find a guard downstairs and take him to the west of the city.
This time, Ji Wang squeezed onto the public rail transit. On the way, the Doomsday Survival System was very quiet, so quiet that Ji Wang was a little scared: "Brother Tong?"
"Don't call me, I have a headache." The Doomsday Survival System said in a weak voice.
"Aren't you a system? Why do you have a headache?" Ji Wang asked curiously, "I always thought systems were brainless, but you actually have one?"
"Who knows? After all, I used to think that every human being has a brain, but you don't." The Doomsday Survival System smiled.
If Ji Wang doesn't understand that the Doomsday Survival System is deliberately making indirect accusations, then he really has an IQ problem.
"Brother Tong, you have changed. You actually scolded me in a roundabout way." Ji Wang said aggrievedly.
"What? I used to just scold you directly?" The Doomsday Survival System asked innocently.
...These days AIs are all as clever as ghosts. Ji Wang couldn't scold it, so he decided to shut up.
But after a while, he felt angry again, knocked on the system, and shouted: "I don't want to listen to it, you bastard."
Then he quickly covered his ears to cut off the connection and blocked all subsequent messages from the system. After five minutes, thinking that the other party might have finished scolding him, he carefully released the system from his mind.
"I just contacted my superior system. After review, the difficulty level of this mission has been raised from B1 to A3." The Doomsday Survival System, which was watching everything coldly, said indifferently when it saw that it was released.
"Why?" Ji Wang asked curiously.
"Because they listened to my description and sympathetically told me that fucking an idiot is illegal," the Doomsday Survival System said kindly. "When a designated mission involves illegal behavior, the mission's difficulty rating increases by one level."
“…”
——————
Fortunately, the work at the West City Museum of Literature and History was not complicated, and the people involved were few. Ji Wang only needed to familiarize himself with the working mode of this era and quickly grasped the key points of the job. No crisis of exposure occurred during this period, and the Doomsday Survival System did not worry too much.
At the same time, what hit Ji's heart was that, apart from taking blood from him regularly every month, Shi Ting seemed to have completely forgotten that there was such a person as him in Kato City. Since the last time he assigned him a job, he had never met Shi Ting again.
On weekdays, he goes to work at nine in the morning and gets off work at five in the evening. He has two and a half days of paid leave every week, and can ask for leave if he has something to do. Although the salary is not very high, he can basically afford anything he wants. His life is leisurely and comfortable. Ji Wang never imagined that he could live such a good life in the apocalypse. The unlucky apocalypse survival system encountered such an unmotivated host. Seeing that he was getting further and further away from completing his goals, he could only be autistic online every day.
Besides work, Ji Wang also had another way to pass the time: petting cats. The closest facility to the Museum of Literature and History was the Mutated Animal Research Institute, where the giant cat Amanda, whom Ji Wang had seen that day, was also located. According to the staff, it was Shi Ting's pet. Before its mutation, it was just a kitten. It had caught a severe cold during a sudden midnight rainstorm, and Shi Ting, who was passing by, had wrapped it in his clothes and brought it back.
After Amanda accidentally mutated, Shi Ting thought of many ways to save her life. The cat was lucky enough to survive in the end. Her body became bigger, her lifespan was prolonged, and she became very smart. She could hunt on her own and distinguish between zombies and humans. She has now been incorporated into the city-state guard.
Ji Wang was discovered by Amanda when she was patrolling near the city gate that day. The Chinese blood in him was exactly the same as Shi Ting's. Amanda might have felt familiar and close to this aura, so she took the initiative to bring him back to the city and placed him in the cleanest altar water to cleanse the dust.
The dark-skinned boy who was hugging Amanda that Ji Wang met that day was called Xi Lun. He was one of the majority of non-mutated animals in this era. Because he was very hardworking and loved cleanliness, he was chosen to be Amanda's keeper and cleaner. He would also participate in taking care of other experimental animals and mutant animals.
However, because animals are less resistant to radiation than humans, and lack the weapons and means that humans have when facing zombies, there are fewer and fewer living animals in the current doomsday. The remaining animals are often unable to produce the next generation due to their different body sizes and species isolation. If it weren't for the widespread use of nutrient solutions and artificial proteins in the doomsday, the scarcity of meat resources could even indirectly lead to iron deficiency anemia and even extinction in the human population.
It is also because of this that Xi Lun is always extremely careful when taking care of Amanda, for fear that if something happens to Amanda, and the number of other animals decreases, he will lose his job.
Most of the people in the institute are serious old scholars, and the remaining young people have no time to chat with a little boy who takes care of animals. Instead, Ji Wang is an idle person. Even though he is a mute and cannot speak at all, Xi Lun always brings Amanda to him and chats with him persistently.
From Xi Lun's words, Ji Wang learned that his family was very poor. Apart from a father who was injured and had his limbs amputated while fighting zombies, he also had a mother who was not a mutant, and a younger sister. Xi Lun's family almost relied on him to take care of Amanda. This job was specially arranged at the instruction of Shi Ting. Therefore, Xi Lun admired Shi Ting very much and thought he was a true hero.
Every day when Xi Lun came to see Ji Wang, he would basically give a large-scale personal presentation to praise Shi Ting. Ji Wang really liked Amanda's thick and soft fur, so he just listened silently. Lying on the clean cat fur, he listened to Xi Lun narrating Shi Ting's legendary life. He felt like he was lying on a cloud listening to a storytelling.
Gradually, Shi Ting's image took on a more three-dimensional form in his eyes. It turned out that Shi Ting wasn't a native of Kato City either. During a battle where Kato City was nearly decimated by zombies, Shi Ting led his men to help Kato City repel the zombie attack, demonstrating the formidable strength of the mutant race. Afterward, the zombie hordes attempted to invade several times, but were each counterattacked by the human army led by Shi Ting. Soon, Kato City stood out among the nearby city-states, and humans from all directions flocked there for refuge. After several expansions, the prototype of Kato City was finally formed.
Shi Ting, who was brave, courageous and resourceful in battle, was chosen as the city lord in the first city lord election. To this day, no one has raised any objection to this.
Shi Ting was a man of swift action, a master of both kindness and severity. He was quite resourceful. The man Ji Wang had met at the altar, who had been respectful to Shi Ting but rude to him, was actually the leader of the original mutant group in Cato City. He was quite arrogant, but before Shi Ting, he had to bow down. Clara, whom Ji Wang knew well, was the eldest daughter of the previous high priest and a powerful figure. While she couldn't be said to be obedient to Shi Ting, she respected him greatly, using honorifics for him in public and private, and acknowledging his status and actions as the city lord. Under his command were nearly all the most powerful mutants on the planet. Facing an enemy with technological prowess a thousand times greater than his own and a horde of vicious zombies, he remained unshakable, a force that anchored them all.
Ji Wang listened to Xi Lun telling him about Shi Ting's heroic deeds every day. Finally, one day, he realized something was wrong and asked the system in his mind: "Why do I feel that Shi Ting's image in my mind is becoming more and more majestic? Is this brainwashing?"
"I told you that you think too much, do you believe it?" The Doomsday Survival System said lazily.
"Then why didn't you remind me!" Ji Wang almost jumped up from the cat's back. Amanda slowly looked back at him and scratched the place where he jumped with her hind paw.
"Why should I remind you? Isn't it a good thing to make you realize how good your capture target is?" The Doomsday Survival System said confidently, "Systems need to make a living too. Please understand and cooperate with us."
Ji Wang was just about to say something else when he suddenly felt Amanda stand up.
Xi Lun was using a pair of giant welding shears to trim Amanda's nails when Amanda's sudden movement knocked him to the ground. He quickly got up and looked up at the giant cat in confusion: "Amanda?"
Amanda suddenly exerted force on her back foot and jumped out in an instant.
"Shit!" Ji Wang screamed as he was thrown from behind. He instantly reached out and barely grabbed a tuft of hair from the giant cat's tail, thus avoiding a concussion. "What's going on?"
"Wow!" Ji turned around and saw that Xi Lun, who had been diligently taking care of the cat, had also grabbed the cat's tail and followed him. He was now hanging on the swing next to him, "You can talk!"
Ji Wang didn't even think about it and immediately denied it: "Nonsense, I can't do it!"
Then the two looked at each other.
Ji Wang felt very embarrassed.
"Brother Tong," Ji Wang coughed lightly to ease the awkwardness and proactively tapped the system that was chattering in his brain, "What are you thinking about?"
"I'm chanting the mantra for you," the Doomsday Survival System said kindly. "Now that you're gone, I can replace you with a host with normal intelligence."
“…”
After a suffocating and awkward silence, Ji Wang took the initiative to speak: "Actually, I have been able to speak for a long time, I just don't like to talk..."
But Xi Lun widened his eyes in horror and hugged the fur on the cat's tail tightly. After a while, he stretched out his trembling hand and pointed forward.
The author has something to say: Thank you to the little angels who voted for me or irrigated nutrient solution during 2020-04-11182020-04-1218
Thanks to the little angels who provided 6 bottles of nutrient solution: Xizi and Alan;
Thank you very much for your support. I will continue to work hard!
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