Chapter Ch150.1 - Raising a Big Cat in the Apocalypse (End)
translator: xiin
Gu Xinzhi felt a warm touch on his arm, and a bit of light flashed in his eyes.
He tried his best, but his hand could only move an inch or two.
He asked quietly, “I can’t see you. Qiuyun, are you there?”
Ding Qiuyun leaned over and looked at him, seeing the young man whom he’d considered a comrade-in-arms a long time ago.
The first time they met was when they were in the recruits’ dormitory.
In the dormitory, Ding Qiuyun had arrived last. When he entered, Gu Xinzhi had been sitting in the only empty bunk, smoking. When he saw someone come in, he stood up with his cigarette and moved to another bunk nearby.
Ding Qiuyun had noticed that he’d left his cigarette box on the bed, so he’d bent over to pick it up.
Gu Xinzhi had noticed as well, but his movements were a bit slower than Ding Qiuyun’s, and his finger had accidentally brushed the back of Ding Qiuyun’s hand.
He frowned, then immediately pulled back.
Ding Qiuyun picked up the cigarette box and looked it over, “Bad cigarettes harm the lungs.”
Gu Xinzhi tilted his head slightly and said nothing.
If it was Ding Qiuyun from the future, he would certainly understand that Gu Xinzhi’s body language was saying, ‘It’s none of your d.a.m.n business’.
However, Ding Qiuyun hadn’t known anything at the time. He tossed the half empty cigarette box back to Gu Xinzhi and said, “In the future, smoke mine.”
Smoking wasn’t allowed in the army. The two recruits secretly bought cigarettes from the captain, but ended up caught by the camp instructor. They were both punished with handstands by the side of the road.
The recruits that came and went all talked about the two of them, who had their heads down and feet up.
Ding Qiuyun wasn’t embarra.s.sed at all. He whispered boldly to Gu Xinzhi, “We didn’t hide it well enough this time.”
Gu Xinzhi: “Mm.”
Ding Qiuyun shifted his foot and prodded Gu Xinzhi with it, “Hey.”
Gu Xinzhi: “Hm?”
Ding Qiuyun continued, “Don’t be sad, when I become the captain, we’ll be able to smoke as many cigarettes as we want.”
Gu Xinzhi tilted his head and looked at him for a long time before nodding slightly, “Mm.”
A long time later, Gu Xinzhi learned that Ding Qiuyun didn’t smoke.
It was also a long time later that Ding Qiuyun learned that Gu Xinzhi had never touched the half packet of bad cigarettes that he’d tossed back. It was put away in his private warehouse, part of his treasured collection, in his own important place.
––It had taken them both that long to learn that they’d fallen for each other at first sight.
Ding Qiuyun’s hand came to a stop at Gu Xinzhi’s left wrist. It was trembling slightly.
Gu Xinzhi’s bloodless right hand was also moving towards the only heat source on his body, his fingertips trembling badly.
He’d had such realistic and terrible dreams for so many years. Gu Xinzhi was afraid, and he didn’t want this time to also be part of his dreams.
A breathy, hopeful sound came from deep inside Gu Xinzhi’s body, and his chest, which contained three broken ribs, fluctuated violently. “Qiuyun……”
When his hand was only three inches away, Ding Qiuyun moved. However, even Chi Xiaochi hadn’t expected this movement––
Ding Qiuyun, who had almost no control over his own body, had found the strength to break out from somewhere. He avoided Gu Xinzhi’s hands and bent down abruptly, hugging his head and using one hand to cover Gu Xinzhi’s eyes!
He also closed his own eyes tightly, raising his head to let out a hoa.r.s.e wail. Tears fell, and two droplets of water landed on Gu Xinzhi’s shoulder.
Chi Xiaochi closed his eyes, then opened them again three seconds later.
The regret value that had been kept controlled at 99 on the display screen jumped up to 100.
… Mission complete.
Gu Xinzhi didn’t know what this hug meant or signified.
But he suddenly felt relieved.
These 12 hours of pain and suffering in exchange for this hug, he felt that it was very worth it.
He lay on his back in Ding Qiuyun’s arms, feeling that warm palm gently close his eyes. He felt like he was trapped in an underground sleeping palace, surrounded by warm soil that wrapped him up and made his restless, uneasy heart finally, slowly calm down.
However, he still refused to die. After that short period of calmness, he felt an even stronger desire to live.
He coughed quietly, then called out hoa.r.s.ely, “Qiuyun. …Qiuyun, I don’t want to die, help me––”
However, Gu Xinzhi didn’t have time to finish saying his wish.
His hand fell back down and landed by his side. His forehead rested against Ding Qiuyun’s embrace, and there was no more movement or sound.
Chi Xiaochi set him down, raised his hand, and carefully wiped away the tears that Ding Qiuyun had shed. He restrained the great grief that wanted to rise up from the depths of his body, stood up, and just happened to meet Yan Lanlan’s eyes as she stood across from them.
He turned his head away, “Find a spot, we’ll bury him.”
The tears that were threatening in Yan Lanlan’s eyes surged forth. She opened her mouth, moved it, but could only say the word “Gu,” before crouching down and bursting into tears.
Chi Xiaochi stepped outside of the resting area and leaned against the door, looking up at the gray sky.
… Outside, people who’d once died because of Gu Xinzhi were now crying for him.
In their opinion, although Gu Xinzhi had broken into their lives somewhat inexplicably and was cold, solitary, and aloof, he had still been their vice-captain.
… A vice-captain who had been with them for over a year, who never knew what it meant to feel fear or flinch back.
Everyone had regarded him as an invincible G.o.d, so no one had expected that Gu Xinzhi would become the first and only person to die from Ding Qiuyun’s team.
Chi Xiaochi gave himself two minutes to escape from the original owner of his body’s emotional influence, then pulled Sun Bin with him to the front of the main base.
He couldn’t stay here for much longer, so he had to seize every minute, “Position, launch.”
Sun Bin was hiccuping and short on breath from crying. He took off his gla.s.ses and wiped his ears while asking, “Position… launch, what?”
Chi Xiaochi bent over and wrote down coordinates on a sticky note, then slapped it down in front of Sun Bin, “The AI’s main base station.”
Sun Bin’s brain hadn’t quite caught up, “This is…”
Chi Xiaochi said, “Blow it up for me.”
Sun Bin: “……”
The impact that this information had was too strong. Sun Bin, whose mental tolerance was quite poor, was completely dumbfounded, “Captain Ding, how did you get this…”
Chi Xiaochi lied, “This is information from Vice-captain Gu. Cherish it.”
After hearing ‘Vice-captain Gu’, Sun Bin finally recovered his spirits a little. However, he came back fully to his senses as soon as he placed his hands on the console, “No, wait, Captain Ding, we can only start up the internal defense system against external threats from here. Those AI will be able to see any changes made in the data. If it’s linked up to the internet, then they’ll be able to find a gap and invade from the source of the signal. We’ll be completely done for––”
Chi Xiaochi leaned over again and inserted a high-precision hard disk that he’d redeemed from the warehouse into the main computer.
After a series of densely packed data flowed out and wove an airtight protection net, he said decisively, “Don’t worry, I’ve made arrangements.”
What the hard disk was loading up was 061’s achievements over the past three years.
If if hadn’t been for the extreme oppression that the AI felt, then 061 wouldn’t have been labelled as an S-rated threat by the AI who were still active.
But obviously, the AI had still underestimated the threat that 061 posed.
In recent years, after going through many attacks and chases, he hadn’t stopped for a moment. He’d done repeated deductions and repairs and finally completed a perfect security program. He filtered out effective information from the bulk of the tracking feedback and launched an attack at the dormant AI main system’s base.
Everything, all of it, had all been for this moment.
Only by destroying the AI’s main system could Chi Xiaochi leave safely.
The human struggle may continue, but human kind did not need any additional judgement.
……
After realizing that the a.r.s.enal had fallen, the AI also began 24 hour observation of the a.r.s.enal.
But in fact, they weren’t very worried.
In the past, those who guarded the a.r.s.enal hadn’t dared to casually use the weapons because they understood too much about how terrible the AI were. They would rather freeze the weapons than take any more risks.
This group of new humans was likely to be no exception.
Sure enough, three days went by and there continued to be no movement from the a.r.s.enal. The new humans who’d been killed until they fled in disgrace started stirring again. They surrounded the a.r.s.enal like locusts once again, licking their wounds and waiting for the opportunity to launch their next attack.
In their eyes, this group of old humans who’d taken the opportunity to get easy pickings had gotten the treasure trove, but they didn’t have enough strength to do anything else. It was really sad and ridiculous.
The weapons these old humans had on hand may not even be as plentiful as that of their predecessors.
So what if they’d gotten their hands on sophisticated weapons? They were still nothing but another trapped beast.
However, just when the people waiting outside and the AI all settled down, the old humans moved.