Chapter 141 - Banana Flavored Boss Gong (1)
Translated by Hua Li ^_^
[Master, are you… okay?]
Gou Liang looked lifelessly at the body in the monitor, refusing to answer its question.
*
The year 2122 AD. Alien Beasts invaded, and the apocalypse began.
In the first moments of the disaster, the nation mobilized rescue efforts, but aside from the first three million survivors rescued into the capital’s shelter, everyone else, both rescuers and those being rescued, perished along the way.
In just seven hours, tens of thousands of alien beasts overran the land. The sea, land, and air were all lost, and the rescue operations had to be halted.
Meanwhile, more alien beasts from outer s.p.a.ce continued to arrive on the planet.
With the nation in ruins, facing such an urgent crisis, the capital’s shelter was rapidly established as a base for human survivors, named “Jiuzhou.”
The Jiuzhou base is currently the most fortified place in the world, with high levels of resources and combat power, making it the last line of defense for humanity.
The base remains open to survivors, but because rescue operations cannot be carried out, the leaders continuously broadcast the base’s location and status, hoping that survivors will hear the message and join them.
Although they all knew the beasts were incredibly destructive, with most basic communication facilities destroyed and the hasty evacuation, the number of people who could receive the broadcasts was likely very small. But even with just a one-in-a-million chance, they refused to give up.
The survivors in City A were among that lucky one-in-a-million.
City A was a developed metropolis, but because it was too far from the capital, the rescue team was killed by the beasts before they could arrive.
The people had no choice but to save themselves.
Fortunately, City A had three powerful, wealthy families: the Tang family, leaders in electronics; the Shi family, real estate tyc.o.o.ns; and the Jia family, renowned for pharmaceuticals.
Among them, the Jia family owned a research base in the city.
To test some experimental drugs not yet fit for public release, the research park included an underground facility.
This place was not only hidden but also built entirely with bulletproof materials, making it very secure.
After witnessing the terrifying sight of beasts taller than office buildings, the Jia family immediately realized that a new era was dawning with the arrival of these extraterrestrial beings. This was a life-and-death crisis, but it was also an opportunity for the ambitious!
So, they unhesitatingly opened the secret base to survivors.
While giving the survivors a temporary refuge, the Jia family also became their rulers. Even the Tang and Shi families, who had always been above the Jia family, had to bow to them here.
The Tang family, true to their reputation as electronics giants, also provided the advanced communication equipment that allowed the survivors to learn about the existence of the Jiuzhou base.
The Jiuzhou base was originally a military base, equipped not only with the strongest defenses but also with large-scale weapons and the most authoritative research inst.i.tutions. When the beasts nearly destroyed the world, they managed to hunt down several beasts and began intense enemy research.
They soon released their findings on the beasts to the public.
These beasts were ma.s.sive, with strength and speed beyond imagination—in a satellite recording released by the Jiuzhou base, survivors saw a beast crash down from the sky, crushing a 30-story office building! In one swift movement, the st.u.r.dy commercial buildings built by humans were smashed to pieces like tofu.
In the video, swarms of people on the streets and high-level office workers were seen fleeing in panic through the collapsing structures.
They appeared so small and fragile in the face of the beasts, and the beasts quickly noticed the unfortunate humans.
With sharp claws, a beast lifted the debris, curiously picking up a human like a bug and sending them into its mouth—upon tasting this new delicacy, the beast roared in excitement.
Humans had clearly become the number one delicacy on the beasts’ menu. One after another, beasts descended, opening their bloodthirsty jaws to devour the defenseless humans—
The video abruptly ended.
The mere forty seconds of footage left the survivors in tears, filled with fear and despair.
But fortunately, there was still hope!
The Jiuzhou base’s laboratory soon made a breakthrough: they discovered that consuming the beast’s core and blood could awaken supernatural abilities in humans.
The type of ability awakened depended on the individual’s physique. Currently, the Jiuzhou base had nearly a hundred strength-enhanced individuals, dozens of speedsters, five with heightened senses, three with wind abilities, and one with fire abilities.
Each beast had only one core, with its location unknown, but it had enough blood to feed ten thousand people.
Given its scarcity, awakening abilities through the core or blood had different levels of power.
After consumption, people would fall into a deep sleep. The core had minimal side effects, but the blood caused extreme pain during sleep. More importantly, consuming the core wouldn’t be fatal, but the death rate from consuming the blood was extremely high!
The Jiuzhou base reported a death rate of over 90% for those who consumed the beast’s blood.
This was a terrifying statistic!
But sitting idly in the shelter, slowly depleting resources, wasn’t a long-term solution, so the survivors decided to try it. They sacrificed nearly a thousand lives before finally hunting down a beast.
At that time, the Tang and Shi families contributed significantly, but since the shelter was provided by the Jia family, they claimed the beast’s core.
Although the Tang and Shi families wanted to hunt more beasts, their firearms and ammunition had been exhausted in the previous hunt, leaving them powerless against the beasts. While they still had access to weapons, the blood scent of their fallen comrades had already attracted more beasts. These beasts were now circling above the shelter, making it certain death to venture outside. The only option left was to drink the beast’s blood.
To everyone’s horror, the beast’s blood was even deadlier than the Jiuzhou base had predicted.
Tens of thousands of survivors drank the blood, but when they awoke, the underground shelter was filled with corpses.
—Fewer than a hundred survived! The mortality rate from the beast’s blood was nearly one in a thousand!!
And they had no time to mourn.
The beasts’ roars echoed in their ears, and the ground shook with their stomping. Seeing that the shelter wouldn’t hold much longer, the survivors had to pull themselves together from the grief of losing their loved ones and comrades.
After discussing, they decided to head together to the Jiuzhou base in City B, hoping to find a way to survive.
“Brother Zhu, we’ve lost communication!”
Ji Guangyuan said in panic.
The man referred to as Brother Zhu was the only survivor who had consumed the beast’s core.
He was Jia Nanzhu, the sole heir of the Jia family.
His father hadn’t survived the ordeal with the beast’s blood, nor had the heads of the Tang and Shi families, who had once jointly led the situation. They were all dead.
Jia Nanzhu had awakened an earth-type ability. According to the Jiuzhou base, the probability of awakening elemental abilities was extremely low, and they were much more powerful than other abilities. Indeed, the base was correct. Moreover, unlike those who had awakened through consuming beast blood, Jia Nanzhu’s five senses, speed, and strength had greatly improved. His display of power had immediately established him as the new leader among the survivors.
Upon hearing this, Jia Nanzhu’s expression changed as he hurried to find the Tang family members.
Ji Guangyuan, who had been Jia Nanzhu’s a.s.sistant before the apocalypse, now benefited from his master’s rise. He quickly went to where the Tang family was and exclaimed in surprise, “Brother Zhu, Tang Tang is still alive!”
But Ji Guangyuan soon realized it was a false alarm. Tang Tang was only barely alive; no matter how hard he slapped him or pinched his philtrum, he couldn’t wake him up.
Gou Liang, who had been slapped over a dozen times: …Great, you’ve succeeded in making me remember you.
In his mental sea, the system suddenly shivered, scampering a hundred steps away from Gou Liang on its short little legs.
*
Most beasts were active during the day and rested at night, with only a few slit-pupiled beasts being nocturnal. So, the survivors planned to leave after sunset.
Before they left, Jia Nanzhu’s boyfriend looked sympathetically at the unconscious fat man on the ground and said, “Brother Zhu, what about Tang Tang? Let’s take him with us. How can he survive on his own?”
Ju Bei was full of compa.s.sion, but there was a hint of something else in his eyes.
The others looked over at him, clearly disapproving of the idea.
Ji Guangyuan was the first to speak, “Brother Zhu, it’s been more than the critical 24 hours. He definitely won’t make it. Instead of leaving him to die in the wilderness, we should leave him here.”
The Jiuzhou base’s experience had been validated by their own.
Besides them, everyone who hadn’t woken up after 24 hours had died, let alone awakened any abilities.
Even if this fat guy miraculously survived, no one wanted to drag such a burden along! In these times, survival depended on fists, not brains. Even if this fat guy was smart, it wouldn’t help! Besides, this fat guy was so obese he could barely walk, making him a liability on the road!
Thinking this, he glared at Ju Bei with some displeasure.
He had never liked Jia Nanzhu’s boyfriend, but he hadn’t expected so many people to die, yet Ju Bei had survived.
But if he wanted to play the saint, he couldn’t use their lives to do it!
Ju Bei shrank back, and Jia Nanzhu stepped in to shield him, saying, “Alright, go check if everything is packed, count the people and supplies. We leave at sunset.”
The system silently watched as Ji Guangyuan, who had kicked the fat man lying on the ground, pa.s.sed by, and Gou Liang: Heh.
Yes, the fat man lying there like a corpse… was Gou Liang.
The original host’s name was Tang Tang, standing 150 cm tall and weighing 150 kg.
Fate had been fair enough to give him an IQ of 150, but… it wasn’t much use.
He was not only fat but a fat man with the surname Tang!!
Gou Liang looked wistfully at the big blind spot—was it too late to hypnotize them all now?!
Clearly, that wasn’t possible.
Gou Liang pulled out the target’s information again and read it over with deep emotion.
Name: Shi Buyu
Gender: Male
Age: 31
Height: 196 cm
Appearance Rating: ★★★★★
Intelligence Rating: ★★★★★
Physical Rating: ★★★★★
Health Rating: ★★★★★
Potential: S-Cla.s.s
Ability: Lightning
Current Affection Level: 0.
Although the original host and the target were not well-acquainted, their families had long-standing ties, so there was some understanding between them.
Just as the original host had heard of the notorious third son of the Shi family, Shi Buyu was also well aware of Tang Tang, the secret weapon of the Tang family.
The top three spots on City A’s rich list had long been occupied by the Shi, Tang, and Jia families. But when the apocalypse struck, those admired a.s.sets turned to dust.
Because of his high intelligence, the original host had become an engineer developing electronic products for the Tang family from a young age. His brain was very useful, but he was utterly powerless in combat. If not for the Tang family valuing him as their most important a.s.set, going all out to save him even at the cost of their lives, the original host, who was so fat he struggled to stand, wouldn’t have survived to reach the shelter.
While the original host’s life of dedication to his family was honorable, Shi Buyu was the complete opposite.
Everyone knew he was the black sheep of the Shi family. As the youngest son, he had two very accomplished older brothers. But he was notoriously unruly, refusing to change his ways. His father was so fed up that when he was ten, he publicly stripped him of his inheritance rights and sent him abroad to fend for himself, only returning to City A a year ago.
This was the Shi Buyu that Gou Liang had seen in the original host’s memories.
But few knew that this was just a smokescreen thrown by the Shi family. Shi Buyu’s true status in the family far surpa.s.sed even his two prominent brothers, let alone his father.
Shi Buyu’s IQ was at least as high as the original host’s, but the Shi family’s business wasn’t enough for him, and he wasn’t interested in commerce.
At less than ten years old, Shi Buyu was recruited by the state, becoming the youngest special agent in history, which was why his father sent him abroad.
For nearly twenty years, he served as a special forces soldier, earning countless honors for the country. By the age of twenty-eight, he had been awarded the rank of major general.
At twenty-nine, Shi Buyu received orders to partic.i.p.ate in an experiment and became the only successful test subject.
His lightning ability came from that experiment.
The experiment lasted two years, and after emerging from the lab, Shi Buyu was set to leave behind his ill.u.s.trious past and take on even more secretive missions, making him unfit for the public eye.
He was about to completely sever his ties with the Shi family, so the state granted him a vacation to say goodbye to his family.
But the apocalypse struck, trapping him in City A.
The beast’s blood was a level below what Shi Buyu had been through, so it had no effect on him. So, after everyone fell asleep, he woke up and watched quietly as they struggled in their sleep, or… died.
Including his closest kin.
No matter how hard he tried, his parents and brothers still drew their last breaths.
Just like he had watched those “failures,” his former comrades, die before… even with unmatched power in this world, he could only watch helplessly…
Apart from Shi Buyu, three of his bodyguards and two personal protectors also survived.
The Tang family was even worse off.
Except for Gou Liang, the Tang family was wiped out.
—So, with so many people dying at the same time, why did I have to become this fat guy?
Gou Liang stared expressionlessly at the system.
[Master… I’m innocent ┬ v ┬.]
The last rays of sunlight disappeared from the horizon. Everyone was ready to leave. Jia Nanzhu watched as they orderly boarded the escape vehicles, then looked at Shi Buyu, who was sitting on the other side of the bas.e.m.e.nt, silently smoking.
All the other survivors had decided to follow him, except for Shi Buyu, who hadn’t agreed yet. But the five Shi family members still obeyed Shi Buyu, completely disregarding Jia Nanzhu.
Although Jia Nanzhu didn’t show it, he was very displeased.
However, there was someone with Shi Buyu who had awakened a rare wood-type ability, making them worth recruiting.
After a moment’s thought, Jia Nanzhu walked up and said, “Third Young Master, have you reconsidered?”
Shi Buyu removed the unlit cigarette and smiled at Jia Nanzhu, “Jia, you’re really filial, remembering to bring along your old man’s corpse while escaping. Maybe I should follow your example and collect my old man’s remains, so I won’t be joining you.”
Jia Nanzhu’s expression stiffened.
How could he not understand Shi Buyu’s implication: Do you think I’m your dad? Why are you being so nice to me?
Unwilling to give up, he glanced at the wood-type ability user, but seeing that they only had eyes for Shi Buyu, Jia Nanzhu knew that without Shi Buyu’s consent, they wouldn’t agree to follow him.
Although it was a pity, Jia Nanzhu didn’t push it. After all, someone who wouldn’t be loyal to him would eventually become a threat if kept around.
He said, “My condolences, Third Young Master. With such filial piety, I’m sure your father—”
Before he could finish, Ju Bei interrupted, “Mr. Shi, you should come with us. There are too many beasts outside, and no matter how strong you are, you’re still outnumbered. It’s too dangerous.”
As Ju Bei spoke, there was a trace of sympathy in his eyes, mixed with a hint of urgency.
He clearly hoped Shi Buyu would come with him.
He knew his ability wasn’t a strength-based one, but he hadn’t revealed this to Jia Nanzhu.
Confirming these two points, Shi Buyu smiled.
“I didn’t expect Mr. Ju to think so highly of me.” He said, “What’s this? Afraid your sugar daddy isn’t reliable, so you want to keep me as a backup? Too bad…”
He gave Ju Bei a meaningful look, “Your a.s.s is too small, not a good fit for my big gun.”
“You!”
Ju Bei’s face turned bright red.
Angrily, he dragged Jia Nanzhu away, leaving behind a parting shot: “If you want to die, don’t blame us for not warning you!”
As the escape vehicles departed, only the room full of corpses and Shi Buyu’s group of six remained… oh, and a fat corpse among them.
Shi Buyu chuckled again, “Who would’ve thought Jia Nanzhu’s lover would be so enthusiastic.”
The five men around him, all seasoned special forces soldiers who had served under Shi Buyu for over a decade, immediately sensed something was off.
The wood-type ability user, Yu Sen, asked, “Captain, is there something wrong with Ju Bei?”
“Whether there’s something wrong, I don’t know. But, out of everyone here, only he and… well, this fat guy…” Shi Buyu’s voice suddenly paused as he glanced at Gou Liang, then he asked, puzzled, “Did I ever have a grudge against a fat guy named Tang?”
The others didn’t know why he asked this question and, after careful consideration, shook their heads.
Shi Buyu flicked the cigarette, his tone still carrying a playful lightness, “That’s odd. I never felt this way before, but now, just hearing the name ‘Tang Tang’ makes me want to turn all fat guys named Tang into memorial photos. Isn’t that strange?”
Everyone: …
Gou Liang: …
Gou Liang burst into tears.
Yu Sen dutifully redirected the conversation, “Captain, now’s not the time to discuss the surname of a fat guy.”
Shi Buyu lit the cigarette, took a drag, and slowly exhaled, as if processing something.
Then, holding the cigarette, he pressed his thumb against his forehead, his tone still carrying the playful arrogance of a young master, “Out of the tens of thousands of people here, dead or alive, I’ve been watching.”
“But only this fat guy and Jia Nanzhu’s little lover stopped breathing and then came back to life. This fat guy was only out for a few seconds, but Jia Nanzhu’s little lover… What’s his name again? Never mind, Jia Nanzhu’s lover didn’t breathe for a full ten minutes, yet he still came back. So, tell me, is there something fishy, or isn’t there?”
Under normal circ.u.mstances, Shi Buyu wouldn’t ask so many questions.
Yu Sen and the others knew that his emotions hadn’t fully recovered from the death of the Shi family members, so they tactfully didn’t point it out.
[Gou Liang choked up and said: Extract the soul image of that, uh, Jia’s lover.]
[The system, floating weakly on a sea of tears, replied: Yes, my dear master…]
Any guesses regarding Ju Bei?