The inky blackness of night had long descended by the time Xiang Renxi rushed into the hospital ward.
This late, most of the ward’s lights had been extinguished, but Chu Chenli’s awakening was unprecedented news—and a hot topic of discussion for long-term patients who were bored out of their minds, hungering for gossip. Even after the medical staff had finished their work and left, stragglers still lingered, grouping together in the hallways.
“Commander Ye’s sincerity moved the heavens, huh? It’s truly a miracle…Wow, a whole ten years, I thought he’d never wake up again.”
“Sincerity? What in the world are you going on about? It’s just proof of Commander Ye’s loyalty! He’s been repaying a single debt for ten years – a burden like this would have been tossed away by any other person. Either that or he’s gotten really lucky.”
“I heard rumours about their relationship…they must have been really close. No normal person would wait so long for another.”
“That’s possible too. Have you seen his face? Damn, if we weren’t going through war right now, he could easily mooch off someone. When Old Xu helped deliver some things to his room, he came back changed, I swear. Seeing his face is an unforgettable experience in itself.”
“Even if there was an old flame or something, so what? It’s been ten years.”
Disbelief coloured their tone. They didn’t believe it for a second.
A decade was enough time for their reality to be completely turned on its head. Both the monsters and the awakened had undergone countless evolutions, their destructive power easily overshadowing their predecessors.
Ye Lanzhou’s reputation was earned through his slaughter of monsters, his strength spelling salvation for innocents. And yet, before the shelters’ protection, everyone had their own experiences with fighting the monsters. No one, not even the elderly, weak, women, and children, spared any semblance of mercy. They all picked up knives, guns, and clubs to battle against the mutated monsters.
They had been wounded. They had bled. They had lost loved ones, and struggled together in the face of staggering hardship. Struggling for survival.
Chu Chenli was supposed to die ten years ago. He never had to struggle desperately for survival as they had. He had saved a life, and peacefully slept through the most tumultuous period in the apocalypse.
But for him, time had stopped ten years ago.
Back then, both Chu Chenli and Ye Lanzhou’s names were relatively unknown. Ye Lanzhou had a few friends from the same hometown, but Chu Chenli’s past was a huge blank. He was a complete mystery, his relationship with Ye Lanzhou unknown to anyone. Onlookers could only speculate, relying on Ye Lanzhou’s attitude and the context of that period to hazard a guess.
“I think he’s nothing but a handsome face. Look at him! He’s so weak and fragile. A chicken would have killed him! How could he have survived without others?”
“Hey, Commander Ye was still young back then…can’t really blame him for succumbing to his charms.”
“It’s okay if Commander Ye really likes him, but I’m just afraid that he’ll be a burden. Even if he’s awake now, he’s still nothing but useless baggage. If he minds his own business, that’s fine. But he might not be sensible…what if he took advantage of his circumstances and decided to cause trouble?”
A person chuckled, “Come on, think about this for a second. Surviving the apocalypse with a body like his and no special abilities? Do you really expect him to be morally upright?”
Others couldn’t help but frown.
Xiang Renxi passed through the lively crowd. The few people who noticed him tacitly fell silent, calling out greetings, their gaze trailing his ascent up the stairs.
They only dared to resume their conversation when he walked out of earshot.”Why is Lieutenant Xiang here too?”
“Probably to see Commander Ye. Heard there’s a mission tomorrow.” The speaker gestured upstairs, his face unreadable.
“Commander Ye’s been in that person’s ward for the whole night…his taste in men is a bit questionable, lusting after a man who’s as good as dead. He should consider Lieutenant Xiang instead. Lieutenant Xiang’s handsome too! And his abilities are much stronger than that vegetable…”
—
Xiang Renxi had just reached the top floor when he was stopped by a doctor.
The doctor had worked overtime to compile Chu Chenli’s medical examination report. Initially hesitant about how to convey the information to Ye Lanzhou, he saw a solution in the form of Xiang Renxi stepping into the staircase entrance.
He breathed a sigh of relief. These trivial matters were supposed to be Xiang Renxi’s responsibility. He gratefully handed over Chu Chenli’s medical examination report to Xiang Renxi, briefly explaining the situation to him, while stealing glances at the room at the end of the corridor.
Physically, there was nothing major — at least, according to the standard of being “alive.”
“All his physical abilities are below average, he can’t even compare to ordinary people. There also seems to be some damage to the brain; there were signs of memory disorder in the recent examination, and it’s unclear whether it’s a consequence of sleeping for too long. And…” the doctor paused, “the value of his awakening factor is zero.”
Xiang Renxi was stunned. “Could the test be wrong?”
The awakening factor is directly correlated with the possibility of awakening. The higher the value, the higher the likelihood of awakening, and the stronger the power after awakening. For example, Ye Lanzhou had a value of 98, approaching the full score of 100, thus he was recognized as a strong individual. Even for non-awakened ordinary people, the test results would usually maintain a relatively low value.
A zero value for the awakening factor was unprecedented at their Base 8. Logically, lower values meant weaker abilities, and zero should imply a complete lack of talent. However, in extreme cases, there was another possibility.
They had never seen the result of a full score before.
Xiang Renxi had hoped it was just a problem with the test, but the doctor shook his head, saying, “We used three different instruments and conducted the test three times. The results were consistent.”
Xiang Renxi’s expression shifted slightly.
The doctor had also considered the same possibility, but saw no point in believing such speculation. “Even non-awakened individuals have seen an improvement in their physical abilities over the past ten years due to natural evolution. His values are still close to what they were ten years ago, suggesting he completely missed out on this evolutionary wave. My apologies, but his body is simply too weak.”
In other words, the most logical conclusion—a useless remnant of the past, flung into the future.
“I recommend arranging for him to be in the safe zone,” the doctor suggested in a low voice.
The safe zone primarily housed non-combatant ordinary people, mostly the elderly, weak, women, and children, as well as those injured and disabled. Due to limited resources, tens of thousands of people were crowded into a small town, responsible for menial tasks like farming and weaving.
It would be embarrassing for a youth like Chu Chenli to be amongst them, and chances to meet Ye Lanzhou would be few and far between, but safety would at least be somewhat guaranteed.
Regardless of how many people wished for this living corpse to die sooner, now that he was awake, they had to consider his future in the base.
No matter how much they disliked him, the people at the base wouldn’t actually throw a living person out to feed the mutants. Xiang Renxi flipped through the examination report, internally noting the dismal values. He didn’t say anything more, and just nodded in silence.
“I’ll find an opportunity to tell Lanzhou about it.”
After seeing the doctor off, Xiang Renxi put away the report and walked to the end of the corridor, knocking on the door of the ward.
After a moment, faint footsteps sounded from inside the ward. Ye Lanzhou cracked open the door the slightest sliver. When he saw Xiang Renxi outside, he seemed taken aback. “Xiao Xi? Why are you here?”
Xiang Renxi’s gaze swept past him, landing on the bed where Chu Chenli lay quietly, strongly reminiscent of the comatose state he had been in before.
“Tomorrow morning, we’ll be going out to collect stones,” Xiang Renxi’s gaze slid back onto Ye Lanzhou, continuing in a gentle tone. “I thought that amidst all the excitement of the day, you might have forgotten about it.”
Ye Lanzhou said, “That wouldn’t happen.” But his expression was still a bit awkward. He had just remembered that he had agreed to discuss the matter of the protective shield with Xiang Renxi tonight.
Chu Chenli’s sudden awakening disrupted all their plans, and Ye Lanzhou naturally forgot about the discussion. Fortunately, Xiang Renxi understood his momentary negligence and didn’t say anything reproachful. He came specifically to inform Ye Lanzhou about something important.
Xiang Renxi looked inside again, seeing that Chu Chenli remained motionless, and then lowered his voice to continue, “That knife…is completely unresponsive now. So, I think we’d better find a replacement as soon as possible.”
Ye Lanzhou also adjusted his expression. There was no urgent need for this at the moment, as the protective shield outside the base didn’t rely on the energy supply from that knife. The knife losing functionality wouldn’t cause any problems with the protective shield.
However, the unexpected changes in the knife completely caught them off guard. After so many years of the cataclysm, they had ingrained a sense of crisis. But now, Chu Chenli had just awakened, was clearly weak, had an IV drip, and had fallen asleep again under the influence of medication. It was evident that Chu Chenli had felt unfamiliar and uneasy about the surrounding environment, and hence being the only familiar presence, Ye Lanzhou stayed by his side.
It was between the overall safety of the base, and the lover who had been asleep for many years. Ye Lanzhou hesitated for a moment, then said, “I’ll go back before dawn.”
He still wanted to spend as much time as possible with Chu Chenli.
The smile slipped from Xiang Renxi’s face.
In the past, Ye Lanzhou wouldn’t have moments of hesitation like this. He always prioritised the interests of the entire base. Under normal circumstances, he would have already gone to the laboratory to wake up Professor Huang and discuss countermeasures.
Could Chu Chenli’s influence really be that significant?
The lighting at the door was dim, and with his distracted state, Ye Lanzhou didn’t notice the change in Xiang Renxi’s expression.
Yet, the person sleeping in the ward felt a strange chill, even though the atmosphere around was calm and quiet.
It was just barely dawn when Ye Lanzhou woke up. “It’s time to go out and find stones.”
Ye Lanzhou stood up, gazing solemnly at the still-sleeping Chu Chenli for a moment. Then, quietly turning around, he walked towards the door.
The ward door opened and closed, after half a minute it opened again. A slender figure entered silently.
Chu Chenli, deeply immersed in a nightmare, reached out towards the empty air, forehead covered in cold sweat.
The newcomer walked to the bedside and saw him suddenly open his eyes.
His footsteps involuntarily paused.
However, Chu Chenli hadn’t actually awakened; his consciousness was still in a state of confusion. His gaze was unfocused, staring into the void without a focal point.
At some moment, he seemed to sense something or perhaps remained immersed in the dream, and he uttered a name, “…Xiao Mu.”
He shouldn’t have received any response, but it sounded as if a soft “En” came from somewhere.
The person entering the room slowly sat down beside the bed, letting Chu Chenli grip their hand tightly.
Chu Chenli’s strength was substantial, and in just a moment, a bruise appeared on the wrist that was held tightly.
The person by the bedside seemed oblivious, like a puppet sitting there.
Chu Chenli’s breathing gradually stabilised, surrounded by a familiar presence.
He drifted back into a deep slumber.
This time, he didn’t have nightmares again.
