Chapter 56
Yu Shuo had a.s.sumed that Nie Yi might suspect that the ambush was orchestrated by him, and thus had made plans in advance . Even if Nie Yi survived, even if he managed to catch a prisoner, this flame would only lead to someone else after investigation . It would even make others believe that Nie Yi was framing him on purpose .
And in the end, not only did Nie Yi obliterate everyone who had ambushed him, he didn’t even bother looking into the matter…
Because of this, the secure base thought that the matter was very straightforward, but Yu Shuo faintly felt otherwise, yet, he couldn’t put his finger on what was wrong . Right at this time, his subordinate told him that Liu He Ye hadn’t returned yet .
That village was a little far, but it was still possible for them to return by night . The gates to the secure base would close at eight at night; if they didn’t enter before nine, they could only rest outside . Even though there were people on patrol at night outside, remaining outside was nonetheless very dangerous .
However, Yu Shuo didn’t feel that something would happen to Liu He Ye . Liu He Ye had brought along more than a 100 people with him, and at least half of them were ability users . They could still return even if they ran into several level two zombies .
As for other possibilities… The law and order near B City secure base was nevertheless fairly adequate .
Yu Shuo felt rea.s.sured, but someone else in the secure base was worried instead . That person was Yu Xuguang .
Yu Xuguang knew that the relationship between Nie Yi and Yu Shuo wasn’t good, and Nie Yi had even met that darkness ability user because he was framed by Yu Shuo . However, he didn’t expect that someone would actually try to kill Nie Yi near B City secure base during the beginning stage of the apocalypse .
When Yu Xuguang heard the news, he hurriedly rushed outside the secure base outer city wall .
At this time, Nie Yi had just finished distributing the uniforms— He had taken the clothes and boots obtained during the day and given the people under his command two sets each .
Presently, the weather had already turned cold, and wearing short sleeves simply wasn’t viable for them . Therefore, they immediately changed their clothing after receiving the sets .
In the afternoon, Ping Shengchao had gone to kill people with Nie Yi and personally witnessed a totally different side of Qi Jingchen . He was somewhat distracted, and only returned to his senses upon receiving his clothes . Only then did he start removing his clothes to change .
He had just undone a few b.u.t.tons of his shirt when Zhang Zihai stopped him, “Ping Shengchao, come help me change medicine!”
Ping Shengchao took the medicine and instinctively followed Zhang Zihai to a tent at the side— even if Zhang Zihai hadn’t said it, he would have taken care of him . After all, Zhang Zihai had gotten injured because of him .
Though Zhang Zihai was an ability user and his physical attributes were better, it was still possible for him to get a fever at night . He also needed to keep an eye on him at night…
“Where’s Nie Yi?” When Yu Xuguang came over, he just happened to see them and asked them urgently .
“In the car . ” Zhang Zihai pointed at the nearby car, then impatiently entered the tent, planning to enjoy the feeling of being served like Qi Jingchen .
Also, since Ping Shengchao liked him, then he definitely couldn’t casually change outside, it was better if he changed when it was just the two of them .
Thinking of this, Zhang Zihai couldn’t help sighing again . Unfortunately, he wasn’t like Nie shao who had the water ability along with his fire ability . If he did… He could even let Ping Shengchao shower here…
Nie Yi really was in the car with Qi Jingchen .
Qi Jingchen had thought things through and accepted life as it was . Most importantly, his health had improved, and he didn’t lie down lazily anymore . He was sitting on a chair instead, and eating the food before him with a picky expression .
“You really aren’t unwell?” Nie Yi asked . He remembered that in their last life, Qi Jingchen had said that he had a constant splitting headache during the year and a half before he had awakened .
“It’s just a throbbing headache during the day these days, but it’s more painful at night,” Qi Jingchen said . Both his legs were still a little weak, and his hands were powerless compared to before, but he was already much better compared to his previous state . “You can add more salt to my food! Also, you have to practise your cooking skills more . ”
He continued to have no interest in food contaminated with the zombie’s dark energy, but he was beginning to accept condiments like oil and salt . Even so, he didn’t like food additives as a matter of course .
Qi Jingchen wasn’t really polite when he spoke, but his appearance with narrowed eyes was particularly alluring… Nie Yi couldn’t help swallowing his saliva . “Okay . ”
As long as Qi Jingchen was willing to eat, he would definitely prepare the food well for Qi Jingchen . Although, he wished that Qi Jingchen would only eat the food he made .
“Turn your head over,” Qi Jingchen said . From childhood, he had never really been doted on by anyone . In the past, as long as other people treated him slightly well, he would wish to return it tenfold . Self-righteously making demands was something that he had never done before, but Nie Yi had always obeyed every single word of his, which made him treat Nie Yi somewhat differently .
When Nie Yi turned his head and stopped staring at him, Qi Jingchen slowly ate up the food before him as the dislike on his face disappeared . Halfway into eating, he spoke up, “Yu Xuguang’s here . ”
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It was a pity that his ability hadn’t awakened yet, and his body remained too frail .
The canvas was already hung up around the vehicle . When Yu Xuguang came close, he called out and saw Nie Yi come down . “Something the matter?”
“Nie Yi, I came to tell you… Be careful with Yu Shuo,” Yu Xuguang said . He was aware that some of his methods were a little too blunt, but he truly didn’t know how to do things in a roundabout way .
In any case, he had already done shocking things like providing the ability cultivation method, so he might as well do a bit more… After all, if he revealed a little more, it would increase the chances of survivability for everyone…
“What do you mean?” Nie Yi asked . He had already sussed out Yu Xuguang’s thoughts . Yu Xuguang’s intentions were extremely predictable, and Nie Yi planned to play along with him .
“Sometimes, visions would flash by my eyes and I’ll inexplicably have some premonitions . I think he wants to harm you,” Yu Xuguang said .
“Thanks for the warning, but I’m going to leave tomorrow, so I don’t need to be scared of him,” Nie Yi said .
“Just be more cautious . Right, you’re going to W County secure base tomorrow?” Yu Xuguang asked .
“That’s right . ” Nie Yi nodded .
“There is a very amazing person in W County secure base, Professor Li . If you can find him, can you bring him to B City secure base?” Yu Xuguang asked . He remembered in his last life, it was a Professor Li who had developed that panacea . The panacea he had developed was said to be extracted from a mutated plant, and with this panacea, he made the tiny W County secure base shine during the initial stage of the apocalypse .
Unfortunately, W County secure base was later attacked by the zombies ordered by that dark ability user, and later, Professor Li and his a.s.sistants all lost their lives…
Now, at this time, Professor Li had probably obtained that mutated plant, right?
“Professor Li? Never heard of him,” Nie Yi said, and immediately smiled . “Did something flash by your eyes? Could you tell me?”
After Qi Jingchen was captured, he had no idea about the situation outside . In his last life, he wasn’t interested in any of this and didn’t understand much . Now, he could get information on it from Yu Xuguang .
Yu Xuguang didn’t doubt him and said Professor Li’s name, but couldn’t say any more . After all, he didn’t know much either .
W County secure base had always kept the panacea a tight secret, and didn’t allow anyone to know at all .
Li Xiji? Nie Yi saw Yu Xuguang off and went into the vehicle .
“Li Xiji is the person who cuts my flesh every time . Those people wanted to be able to reuse me, so they found a forensic doctor to cut my flesh and ensure that I could supply even more flesh without dying,” Qi Jingchen said indifferently .
Nie Yi’s eyes looked as if there were flames dancing within .
Early the next morning, Nie Yi took his team and left B City secure base for W County secure base . He would first settle the matters there before heading to Qi Jingchen’s hometown, then Fei Xuelei’s hometown, and finally the southwestern base where his uncle was at . This journey could also give the people in his team opportunities to look for their relatives .
As for his uncle… Even though he couldn’t quite recall his interactions with his uncle because it had been ages ago, he remembered that this uncle had treated him rather well .
While he loathed Nie Boyuan, he still cared about his other relatives…
Of course, these were all things to be done in the future . Prior to all these, he had an extremely important matter to deal with .
Nie Yi requested 100 trucks of various sizes from the secure base, loaded all his subordinates in them, then rushed to W County secure base .
The few people who had come to B City secure base from W County secure base to request for help were also in their fleet, but he paid no attention to them at all . Instead, he always accompanied Qi Jingchen and Xiaomao .
Of course, he wasn’t exactly thrilled to accompany the latter, but he didn’t want Qi Jingchen to keep hanging around her, so he could only make an extra effort to accompany her himself…
Without the old, the weak, women, or children, and those who couldn’t join the battles to act as burdens, the pace of their team was extremely quick . They had even gathered a lot of food while on the journey .
At the same time, Nie Yi had realised that there was an increasing number of level two zombies .
Probably due to Qi Jingchen’s presence, level two zombies didn’t really attack their leading truck, and targeted those at the back instead… Fortunately, Nie Yi had explained many ways to defend against zombies which allowed those people to support themselves . But even so, they had lost two people .
After they found accommodations at night, Nie Yi had people move out the corpses of the two who had been scratched by zombies and had committed suicide mid-way into zombification .
He used his fire ability to cremate them, and buried them nearby . He had even found some stone tablets, and engraved their last words and origins which they had written down long ago, then erected the stones .
This was an insignificant action, but it increased his team’s cohesiveness even more .
How many people had died outside and became zombies this year? If they could have a resting place after dying, it would help to lessen their fear of death at the very least…
2000 people silently looked at the two graves, and fiercely shouted, “Annihilate the zombies! Annihilate the zombies!”
The afternoon Nie Yi’s team left, the person Yu Shuo had dispatched to look for Liu He Ye brought back news about him .
The sofa factory had been blown up, and there weren’t any skeletons or any other evidence left behind . But if there weren’t any accidents, it was likely that it was a complete wipeout .
When Yu Shuo received this news, he was so angered, his eyes had turned red . Like Nie Yi, he had looked for the secure base and wanted the secure base to help him investigate, but the secure base had given him the exact same statement as they had given Nie Yi— It was probably done by a sociopath, or his personal enemy .
Yesterday, when they responded to Nie Yi like this, they were nevertheless somewhat guilty, but having done it once already, they were now used to it… They were also helpless; after all, they truly couldn’t send out manpower to investigate matters outside the secure base . If they started a precedent, then won’t other people come looking for them wanting the same in the future?
“Could it be Nie Yi?” Yu Shuo asked his own subordinate privately .
“We’ve always had an eye on Nie Yi’s men . In the middle, Nie Yi had only taken a few regular people and left for a while…”
Yu Shuo also knew that it wasn’t likely to be Nie Yi, but for some reason, despite everything, he couldn’t shake off the feeling that it was probably him .
Nie Yi, who was being thought of by Yu Shuo, was currently learning cooking .
In fact, cooking wasn’t difficult to pick up . Generally, those who weren’t good at it were either too lazy and unwilling to cook, or got too creative with their recipes, or had absolutely never seen a recipe or seen someone cook .
Otherwise… even if they didn’t know how to make complicated dishes, it wasn’t impossible to follow online recipes to make salad or steamed fish . Meat like chicken and pork sometimes didn’t even need to be meticulously cooked and could be directly boiled in water .
Even though food made this way wasn’t necessarily delicious, it wasn’t totally inedible .
Nie Yi himself didn’t plan on becoming a great chef, and merely wanted to pick up simple cooking skills . As for his ingredients, it was the chicken they caught on the road .
“I don’t refer to recipes either . Usually when I cook chicken, because Xiao Chao likes eating it simmer-fried, I would dice the chicken, put some oil in the pan and saute it for a while, then add soy sauce, water, and sugar, then cook until it reduces,” Mother Ping taught Nie Yi .
It looked very simple, but it wasn’t easy at all . “Aunty, today, I’ll simply continue to make chicken stew with shiitake mushrooms ba,” Nie Yi decided .
In the end, Qi Jingchen ate chicken stew with shiitake mushrooms with just a little salt, but the flavour was extremely nice .
Qi Jingchen ate the chicken soup and meat, and finished off two bowls of rice in one go .
“Ge, have you gotten better?” This was the first time Qi Yaoyao had seen Qi Jingchen eat so well and looked at him, pleasantly surprised .
“I’ve gotten better . ” Qi Jingchen scooped out a chicken wing that had the tips and gave it to Qi Yaoyao . “Try it . ”
The past few days, Qi Yaoyao had been given the cold shoulder by Qi Jingchen, and couldn’t even talk to him . Now, she suddenly got a chicken wing and her eyes immediately brimmed with tears . “Ge, thank you . ”
Qi Yaoyao was very moved, and Xiaomao, who had gotten a bowl of chicken soup and drumstick from Qi Jingchen, was also extremely happy, but Nie Yi wasn’t .
“The rest is for you . ” Qi Jingchen pushed the rest towards Nie Yi .
All of these should be his in the first place . In the past, every time Qi Jingchen couldn’t finish it, it was all for him to eat! Nie Yi suddenly felt that the previous Qi Jingchen was actually pretty good too . At the very least, he wouldn’t care about anyone and anything else .
However, he liked this Qi Jingchen as well…
The fragrance of the chicken stew with shiitake mushroom wafted around . The surrounding people could smell it; Zhang Zihai and the others were used to it and didn’t think much of it, but those people from W County secure base felt indignant .
Nie Yi previously didn’t even bother meeting them, and it was fine if he was deliberately ignoring them, but now he himself was eating and drinking well and didn’t care about them at all…
These people were well-known figures in W County secure base, and because they were from another secure base, B City secure base was very deferential to them . They were unable to stand this sudden disparity in treatment .
Even if they closed an eye to this poor treatment, they couldn’t ignore Nie Yi suddenly changing their route the next day .
“That isn’t heading to W County secure base . ” These people immediately went to Nie Yi .
“We really aren’t going to W County secure base now,” Nie Yi said .
“What do you mean? B City secure base clearly agreed to help W County secure base!” The faces of these people had distorted . W County secure base’s situation was very bad, and there were more zombies appearing in the vicinity . Compared to the strange things happening in the base, this was what made them most anxious, but because they were worried that B City secure base wouldn’t care about them, they had exaggerated the mysterious matters in the secure base to arouse B City secure base’s interest .
Originally, they were overjoyed when they saw Nie Yi bring so many people, but now… Could Nie Yi be like what Yu Shuo said, someone who simply didn’t care about the lives of other people?
“The ones asking for help are you, not me . ” Nie Yi suddenly gave them a smile . “What do you think of me killing you guys off, then claiming that you died on the road?”
These people trembled from head to toe and didn’t dare speak .
After Nie Yi changed lanes, they arrived near a large reservoir .
In his last life, he had once come around this reservoir to look for supplies, but was forced up the mountains by a group of zombies, then found a mutated plant on a mountain next to the reservoir .
At that time, he didn’t know why that plant attracted him so much and made him gobble it up in a single mouthful…
“Tonight, we’ll be sleeping here! There aren’t many people here, nor are there zombies; fewer men can be arranged on patrol . If you know how to catch fish, you can go into the water and catch it,” Nie Yi said, then thought of something . “Right, zombies can also move in water . ”
A few people who had wanted to take a dip in the water immediately stopped taking off their clothes .
After briefing them, Nie Yi then reached out to pick Qi Jingchen up . “Let’s go take a stroll up the mountain . ”
Qi Jingchen was holding a book to read . When Nie Yi’s hand reached out, he directly smacked it with the book . “I’ll walk myself . ”
Nie Yi immediately showed a regretful expression…
“When I can’t walk anymore, you carry me,” Qi Jingchen said .
He wanted to live his days more comfortably, and naturally wouldn’t allow himself to be taken advantage of…
Getting off the car and stepping onto the soft meadow, the sights before his eyes were green mountains and forests, and a dark green reservoir; Qi Jingchen suddenly felt a little moved .
This scenery, how long had it been since he had seen it, since he had touched it?
Before facing death, he truly should look around this world a little more .