Chapter 22.2 – Mu Yanshen

When Dr Du knocked on the door of the ward, his expression had already returned to normal.

On the contrary, Xiao Bai, who was hovering by the bed, looked a bit flustered. Only after seeing that it was Dr. Du, did he breathe out a sigh of relief and sit back on the stool.

Dr. Du kicked the stool leg lightly and handed the bottle of medicine to Xiao Bai. “Change it for him.”

Xiao Bai didn’t dare to resist and nodded obediently.

Dr. Du then took out an old tablet and handed it to Chu Chenli, instructing him on how to turn it on. It was an antique he found in some miscellaneous box, but it still worked adequately.

In the past ten years, technological advancements in this area had almost come to a standstill. In fact, some technologies had regressed to primitive states. It wasn’t until recently that they managed to pick up some of the old technologies with the addition of professionals. The major labs were now able to produce a few new things from time to time.

It couldn’t be helped.

After the natural disaster, the concept of countries had disappeared. Only the central base, which had barely replaced the official position of being in charge, had the strongest foundation. Their labs were well-equipped, and they occasionally produced some new developments.

In addition, there was the Ying Chen base, formerly the Comprehensive Research Institute, which preserved biological and electronic technologies and even further developed them.

These two bases, the former not supporting unincorporated independent bases, and the latter barely communicating with the outside world, let alone providing technical support.

Other grassroots bases had no foundation like theirs, so they reluctantly restarted from the “primitive society.”

Electronic products like tablets and smartphones that could guarantee product quality for more than ten years were rare. Plus, very few people would carry such burdens while fleeing, and most of them were forgotten and buried under ruins, their use gradually eliminated by people busy with survival.

Most people eventually returned to the most basic needs: crude but simple, sturdy, durable, and easy-to-carry communication devices.

The Southern Base was considered to have made good progress in this regard.

Although the signal for external communication was still difficult to maintain for a long time, there were no major issues with internal communication.

Even an old tablet from ten years ago could access the internal network.

When Chu Chenli had asked Dr. Du before, he had said that any electronic product would do as long as it could detect a network or communication signal.

This was the first time he took the initiative to ask for something. Dr. Du happened to still have some old supplies around him, so he agreed without any hassle.

Dr. Du thought Chu Chenli was bored in the ward and wanted to find something to pass the time, so he picked the largest one among the screens, which happened to be an old tablet.

It was an old model that Du’s sister had discarded ten years ago. Unfortunately, his sister didn’t survive the first year of the natural disaster, but the old tablet had been preserved until now.

Dr. Du remembered the old times and became somewhat sentimental. 

However, he wasn’t accustomed to revealing a vulnerable side in front of others. Thus, after giving Chu Chenli some basic instructions on how to use it, he found an excuse to leave in a hurry.

As soon as Xiao Bai finished hanging the IV drip, he inadvertently “saw” the mutilated body of a girl on the school campus— covered in blood and flesh, traces of deep bite marks all over.

He shuddered, staring at the door of the ward stiffly.

Chu Chenli didn’t have the same ability as him and wasn’t omniscient. He thought Xiao Bai had been stimulated again by some image or inner voice.

People who had survived to this era had few pasts that were truly clean and bright. It was difficult to avoid fears and bloodshed.

Chu Chenli lowered his head and tapped on the tablet screen.

It hasn’t been used much in the past ten years, and the screen wasn’t very responsive. Fortunately, he didn’t intend to use it for entertainment.

He slowly typed two words in the notepad: [Ziyue?]

After about ten seconds, the screen flickered strangely, the figure turned into a burst of pure white abruptly, and then exploded with a series of exclamation marks with a visually impactful splash.

[Chenli!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!]

[You okay? Xiao Mu said you’re fine, but Da Hua and I are still worried!]

[Take care of yourself! Wait a moment, we’ll be there soon!!!]

[If you encounter any trouble and can’t fight, just run quickly!!! If you really can’t escape, don’t forget to use that boyfriend of yours as a shield!!!!]

—

The contents on the screen were updated continuously, he was already accustomed to reading at this speed.

Finally, after the uproar on the other side, Chu Chenli also typed two sentences, as slowly as a turtle.

[I’m fine.]

[He’s not my boyfriend anymore.]

When Xiao Bai turned his head, he saw a light smile hanging on Chu Chenli’s lips.

More relaxed and gentle than any time he had seen before. Such a joyful and refreshing smile, it was another kind of brightness that made people involuntarily smile along.

The panic and reluctance that came with the bloody scene were mostly smoothed out in this instant.

Xiao Bai also couldn’t help but calm down.

Were they the people from his memories?

Xiao Bai wanted to ask, but he couldn’t find the words to.

—It seemed like they definitely were.

Those people were his true companions.

Not this base, and definitely not Ye Lanzhou.

In the end, it was Chu Chenli who raised his head and, after glancing at Xiao Bai, suddenly asked, “Xiao Bai, do you want to come with me?”

–

In the wilderness among the trees.

Huang Shuyin hid behind a huge rock, tightly covering her mouth, afraid to breathe too loudly.

When those eerie and terrifying gazes finally dispersed, and the sounds similar to feeding resumed, she cautiously peered out from behind the rock, continuing to investigate the gruesome scene not far away.

Several half-human-sized black spiders surrounded a pile of pitch-black rubble, greedily swallowing the stones.

After consuming two or three pieces of rubble, their bodies visibly expanded at an alarming rate.

The thick and oppressive feeling became even more pronounced.

Huang Shuyin, watching this scene, felt her scalp tingling.

In the past, dealing with these spiders would have just been an appetiser, easily cleaned up with a few shots. However, not long ago, their support team encountered another wave of mutant creatures.

Fortunately, they went in the opposite direction, and there weren’t too many of them, but some of them were awakened mutants with special abilities. A sudden attack caused Huang Shuyin to get injured, and her teammates scattered.

With ammunition long gone, and her backup knife lost somewhere, the most convenient weapons were unavailable. Huang Shuyin wasn’t the type to recklessly seek trouble, she knew how to protect herself. Along the way, she did her best to suppress her breathing and presence, aiming to return to the base without disturbing wild animals or mutants and seeking support.

However, by the time she arrived here, she realised that she had gone in the wrong direction.

This was precisely where Ye Lanzhou had found the black stones half a month ago. Huang Shuyin happened to be there during that mission, so she had some impression of the surroundings.

The good news was that she knew which road to take to get back to the base.

The bad news was that she ran into several mutants head-on.

Compared to those spider-like mutants, what made her shudder even more was what they were eating—

It was the black ore that Ye Lanzhou had brought back.

It was said to be a material that could maximise the defence against mutants and was currently being used to manufacture protective shields!

Wasn’t it supposed to defend against these mutants? How did it become their food!

This matter needed to be reported to Professor Huang urgently.

Although she couldn’t figure out the reason, Huang Shuyin immediately understood the importance of this issue.

If it was too late, and the protective shield was already completed…

Huang Shuyin’s face turned pale, and she dared not think further.

The only problem now was how to leave without attracting the mutants’ attention— unnecessary conflict would only waste time.

After a long standoff, and with time ticking away, Huang Shuyin felt that she couldn’t afford to waste any more time. Taking a deep breath, she ran in the completely opposite direction.

Now she could only take a detour.

One of the large spiders heard the movement and stopped its feeding, lifting its head to look in the direction Huang Shuyin was leaving.

After a brief pause, they all turned their heads together, and without hesitation, they chased after Huang Shuyin.

—The worst-case scenario had occurred.

Huang Shuyin’s heart sank.

Direct confrontation was inevitable.

But fighting barehanded was clearly a disadvantage.

After a moment of frustration, Huang Shuyin suddenly remembered something. She took out a dagger from her backpack.

It was black, simple and unadorned.

Originally, it was the one that Xiao Bai was told to discard by Professor Huang in the laboratory. However, Huang Shuyin found this dagger sturdy and sharp. Since she wasn’t used to using short weapons during training, she thought it might be good for Chu Chenli or Xiao Bai to use for self-defence.

However, before she could hand it over to them, she was sent out to provide support.

The dagger stayed with her.

Now, it seemed to have saved her life.

Huang Shuyin thought jokingly to herself while swiftly drawing the dagger.

It was an ordinary-looking dagger, but in this critical moment, it showed its effectiveness. She slashed at the spider’s forehead with all her strength.

Huang Shuyin was also an Awakener, but her ability was the rare venomous type. She didn’t particularly like this attribute and never used it during training. Nevertheless, when it came to dealing with mutants, this ability was exceptionally useful.

The slightly smaller spider fell backward, its limbs twitched and soon stopped moving. However, the larger spider seemed to have developed a certain resistance to the venom. Only the wounded area had stiffened momentarily, and then it used its remaining limbs to charge at her in a strange posture.

Huang Shuyin’s eyes widened in surprise. The poison wasn’t effective.

Seeing the massive hairy claws aiming directly at her forehead, she threw herself to the side with all her strength while swinging the dagger.

With the eruption of the instinct for survival, there was also a flickering light on the dagger.

The dagger’s tip easily cut through the tough outer shell and flesh of the large spider. The deep purple electric light didn’t extinguish, but rather exploded at the wound, rapidly spreading across the monster’s body.

The large spider collapsed to the ground with a thunderous roar, emitting painful and mournful cries from its mouth. Its limbs twitched even more violently than its poisoned companions.

The other spiders that were about to pounce stopped in their tracks, staring at the large spider for a few seconds. In fear, they scattered in all directions. In the blink of an eye, there were only two corpses of large spiders in front of her.

They didn’t turn to ashes, but their claws were still twitching, perhaps not truly dead.

However, they had indeed lost the ability to regenerate and move.

Huang Shuyin’s mouth dropped open, staring in amazement at the dagger in her hand—

After the large spider fell, the electric light on the dagger disappeared again. At a glance, it was still a plain ordinary dagger.

It even looked like a counterfeit sold on the roadside.

Huang Shuyin was certain that she had no lightning or similar attributes— Ye Lanzhou did, but she could feel that the sudden burst of energy came from the knife itself.

An artefact!

Huang Shuyin couldn’t understand the principle of this knife, so she planned to take it back to ask her father.

But at this moment, she didn’t have the time to delve into the details of the knife.

She had to get back to the base urgently!

Huang Shuyin didn’t put the knife back, opting to gripped it in her hand tightly to counter any unexpected situations.

It’s always good to be prepared, after walking a few steps, she encountered another “unexpected situation.”

Fortunately, this time, it wasn’t a mutated species.

It was a person.

A young man lay on the ground on her way back.

There were traces of mutant footprints, but they had already left.

The man’s clothes were a tad dirty, but it was evident that he had been running through the woods for a while, staining his clothes. The sleeves of his shirt revealed a messy bandage, and blood could be faintly seen seeping through.

It seems as if he had messed up the bandage from running around.

He held a bottle of medicine in his hand.

Huang Shuyin recognised it, it seemed to be a drug for treating asthma and similar conditions.

After hesitating for a moment, Huang Shuyin stopped and reached out to check his pulse.

He was still alive.

Huang Shuyin quickly turned him over and sprayed some medicine on him.

When she saw the man’s face, she couldn’t help but be stunned.

His face wasn’t familiar, but he was drop dead gorgeous. Judging by his appearance, he was at most twenty years old, several years younger than her.

Surviving humans were scarce now, and the mainstream ideology was cooperation for mutual benefit. There were fewer conspiracies, and when people saw strangers injured on the road, they tried to help within their capabilities.

It was just that this man, being ill and encountering mutated species, managed to survive. If no one had found him, he would have died here.

A pretty pitiable situation.

As Huang Shuyin thought to herself, couldn’t help sighing. However, her hands were not gentle at all as she slapped him, trying to wake him up.

She was in a hurry.

The comatose man seemed to hear her inner thoughts and slowly opened his eyes before Huang Shuyin’s patience was exhausted.

When Huang Shuyin lowered her head, she met a pair of shallow amber eyes.

Beautiful and clear, like a clear sky without any fog.

He blinked in confusion, looking from the sky to Huang Shuyin’s face, showing a trace of doubt and anxiety. “Is it you who saved me?”

His voice was also very soft.

It sounded like an originally lively and cheerful tone, but at the moment, it seemed a bit dry due to nervousness and panic.

Huang Shuyin was anxious because she was in a rush, but she couldn’t help but feel sorry for him.

Especially when he mentioned that he had just escaped from the mutant wave. His parents had recently passed away and he lost contact with his friends, then he got lost, and then accidentally strayed into the forest and attracted the attention of the big spider while watching it eat stones, and was chased here, and he didn’t know what happened but the big spider suddenly fled…

Huang Shuyin listened to his story, when she heard he had lost his way, she also remembered her own urgency.

“You should come with me for now.” Huang Shuyin suggested, “It’s dangerous for you to be alone outside. As for your friends, we’ll help you find them after we finish our tasks.”

The man expressed his gratitude with a grateful tone, and asked if he would disturb them a little nervously.

Huang Shuyin couldn’t help but cast an impatient look at him, and he was immediately frightened into silence, obediently following behind her, heading towards the direction of the base.

Seeing him behaving so “obediently,” Huang Shuyin couldn’t help feeling a bit awkward, touching her nose. She felt as if she was bullying a child.

But she would never apologise for such a trivial matter, and could only look around, changing the subject.

Huang Shuyin asked, “What’s your name?”

The man revealed a shy and awkward smile, answering, “Mu Yanshen.”

Author’s notes:

Mu Yanshen: Not weak, not helpless, but super good at acting.jpg

Mu Yanshen came to avenge his Li-ge. It’s too cheap to just go like this, haha. But rest assured, the plot ahead is mostly about face-slapping, and thus you won’t feel aggrieved~ Also, look forward to face-slapping not only by Mu Yanshen, there’s another one already arranged on the way.

(When writing the outline, I was so happy when I thought about the subsequent plot development, hahahaha.)