Chapter 99
After a while, Zhou Yun Sheng half sat up and asked, “Who are you? We know each other?”
The man also sat up and pilled two soft pillows behind the doctor’s back, to let him sit more comfortably, then he lowered his eyes and said, “We don’t know each other.”
Following Dr. Bai for 5 or 6 years, he knew the doctor had a photographic memory, he would never forget those who stayed by his side, so he vaguely said, “You helped my family with an operation, it was very successful, we’re grateful to you.”
Zhou Yun Sheng no longer asked. Dr. Bai had a memory as superior as his, even if it was a surgery a decade ago, he’ll still remember any detail, asking more would blow this man’s cover. He knew that this man had nothing to do with Bai Mo Han, and that they should’ve met two years later, this man was the Guard Captain, and it seemed that he had been reborn.
Before he died, this man had held him in his arms and looked very distraught, so Zhou Yun Sheng knew that the man was absolutely loyal to him.
“Doctor, my name is Zhao Ling Feng, if you believe me, please let me follow you around and protect you.” The man bowed slightly and made a respectful gesture of submission. His heart had long been touched by the selfless Dr. Bai, he had not been able to protect him before, so in this life he would never let anyone hurt him.
Zhou Yun Sheng paused for a moment and nodded, “I believe you.”
Zhao Ling Feng didn’t expect to get the doctor’s trust so soon, he looked up in surprise.
Zhou Yun Sheng pointed to his crystal clear pupils and calmly opened, “Your eyes hold no malice. Although it’s the end of the world, and people eating zombies and humans with destitute consciences are everywhere, today you showed me your true feelings, tomorrow you might feel differently. But I prefer to believe that the world still retains a piece of pure land, everyone’s heart has a pure land. Hello, I’m Bai Mo Han, from now on, let’s take care of each other.” He stretched out his hand with a wry smile.
Zhao Ling Feng held his hand and gently shook it a few times, blushing in excitement. This man really was his doctor, seemingly aloof and detached, but in fact, he had a softer heart than anyone else.
“Doctor, your complexion looks very bad, here are a few nuclei, absorb them quickly.” Zhao Ling Feng took a few transparent nuclei out from his pocket.
When a zombie nuclei was transparent, a Warrior of any property could absorb it, although the energy was small, it could quickly add strength when the body was extremely tired. Now, the secret of the nuclei has spread out, every Warrior carried a few for a rainy day.
“How do you know I’m a Warrior?” Zhou Yun Sheng didn’t pick it up, but asked in a low voice.
Zhao Ling Feng was stunned for a moment, he gave a stiff smile, “I guessed. Dr. Bai is such a good person, he shouldn’t be an ordinary man.”
Zhou Yun Sheng was more certain that the man was reborn, so he no longer put him on the spot. He held the nucleus in the palm hand and absorbed it. Unfortunately, due to his damaged soul, as soon as the energy entered his body it didn’t bring comfort, but sent a painful shock through his meridians. He had been injured to the extent that even the A-grade crystal nucleus was difficult to digest.
He returned the nuclei to Zhao Ling Feng and shook his head, “You keep it, I’m afraid these nuclei are unusable.”
“How could that be?” Zhao Ling Feng’s heart squeezed.
“I was forced to use my Psychic energy to force out the bloodvine, my brain’s crystal nucleus is probably shattered.” He explained calmly.
Except for Plant Warriors, most Warriors were helpless against the parasitic bloodvine, some people had tried running power through their blood to force out the bloodvine, but the active energy in the body stimulated the bloodvine’s appetite instead, resulting in Warriors being sucked dry faster. To force out the bloodvine before it sucks you dry, the required energy must be fast, explosive, and the force of impact was no less than a self-destruct.
No one was willing to risk losing their abilities or life, unless forced to.
Zhao Ling Feng simply couldn’t accept this bad news, his face paled, his eyes redden, he shook his head in tears, clenched his teeth and said, “You shouldn’t be like this. Doctor, you should be the most powerful person in the world, stronger than anybody else. You shouldn’t be like this! You’re a good man, why can’t they show mercy to a good man?”
At this moment, he simply hated Lei Chuan and Guo Zerui to the bone. But they had a great advantage over him with their earlier rebirth, he had no way to take them.
Seeing a big man crying like a child in front of him, Zhou Yun Sheng really didn’t know what to do. He hesitated, then he extended his hand to rub the man’s head and sighed, “It’s okay, don’t feel sad for me, because I don’t feel sad for myself. My most important asset is not this crystal nucleus, but my brain and my hands. As long as those two things are still here, even if I lose everything else, I will not regret it. Don’t cry, things will get better. Zombies are not monsters, they are just infected with a virus, as long as we find a vaccine to conquer it, the end of the world will become a thing of the past.”
Zhao Ling Feng thought of the doctor’s tragic death and remembered all the criticism and torture he endured in order to save humanity, so he not only didn’t stop crying, he felt even more grief.
Zhou Yun Sheng was helpless, he had no choice but to drag his body to the bathroom and take a towel to wipe the large faithful dog’s tears.
In the next room, Lei Chuan was covering his face, his dejected posture leaning back in the chair, constantly questioning why he came so late. As long as he was a quarter of an hour earlier, his doctor wouldn’t have suffered such pain. His frail appearance, his vomiting, his pale and thin cheeks were unbearable to look at.
Each glance felt like there was a knife cutting into his heart.
The door suddenly opened, and Guo Zerui that had just left looked in and curiously asked, “Boss, I almost forgot, how did you cross over?”
“It’s none of your business!” Lei Chuan kicked away the desk, stomped over and punched the other man in the stomach. If he did not owe this guy his life, he wouldn’t have easily spared him.
Guo Zerui almost vomited blood from the punch, but he didn’t care about himself, one hand was clutching his stomach and one hand was pointing to his boss’ red eyes and flowing tears, astonished, he asked, “Boss, why are you crying? Who made you sad?”
“I said it’s none of your business, leave!” Lei Chuan flung up the door and raised his hand, only to find himself already in tears. His memory was still stuck in that moment when the doctor died, he was full of grief with no place to vent at that time, but he suddenly found himself once again riddling the doctor’s body with holes, almost killing him.
It felt like he’d personally almost destroyed his own world. He was frightened, fearful, suffocated. He wanted to immediately go to the doctor and tell him that he was wrong, that he would never harm him again in the future. But he also knew that the man was clever and shrewd, he would no longer trust him.
He and Guo Zerui had killed all the people around him, and they never even suppressed their killing intent. The doctor wasn’t naive, when he was infected with the parasitic bloodvine, his first suspects would be them.
This was what it meant to be unable to bear one’s own sins. Lei Chuan covered his face again and let out a beastly growl.
At the same time, Zhao Ling Feng had finally cried enough, he blushed and said, “Doctor, Lei Chuan and Guo Zerui want to kill you. The troops that were supposed to escort you were reported to have fallen to a zombie siege, but in all likelihood, they were behind it. We can’t go with them anymore, we have too quickly think of a way to leave.”
“I know, but I’m very curious. Why am I hated? Why do they deliberately want to murder me?” Zhou Yun Sheng kneaded his aching temples, his oblivious and nerdy image was displayed perfectly.
Zhao Ling Feng felt more pity for him, he whispered, “There are some insane people in the world that specifically kill for pleasure. Doctor, you won’t get to the bottom, so don’t delve into it.” When he took the doctor safely away, he would come back one day and tie Lei Chuan up as an experimental body again.
Zhou Yun Sheng nodded and accepted this argument.
Lei Chuan was furious. I’m a lunatic? I kill for pleasure? Zhao Ling Feng dares discredit me?! Why when they were reborn, although they both accompanied the doctor in his last years, he became a murderer, but Zhao Ling Feng could always protect and be near the doctor?
Lei Chuan’s eyes were red with jealousy, but he didn’t realize that his possessive desire was gradually crossing beyond a dangerous threshold. He wanted to immediately run over and beat Zhao Ling Feng up, but he also knew that he couldn’t currently do anything, otherwise the doctor would misunderstand him even more.
He deployed more staff to guard the exits, fearing Zhao Ling Feng might steal the doctor away overnight.
————————
The next morning, the Special Forces roommates got up, ate breakfast and readied to go out and kill zombies and collect supplies. The survivors were in charge of all the housework in order to not to be left behind. They were boiling water, cooking, cleaning, everyone was very busy.
Lei Chuan saved them, but he would not do everything for their sake like in the last life, to eat fully, they needed to go out and kill zombies to find food, killing extra could earn them nuclei to save up and exchange with him for daily necessities. This approach had driven away a lot people who just wanted to eat rice, but it also left many pragmatic people.
Since Lei Chuan was prepared after hoarding a large amount of resources in advance, the Special Forces’ food supply was very good, they not only had rice to eat, but also canned meat and pickles.
The rest of the survivors could only have one packet of instant noodles per person, but that was also regarded as extremely good treatment 6 months after the Apocalypse, so no one felt it unfair.
Zhou Yun Sheng walked out of the door and sat at the table in a daze. His nose was filled with the aroma of food, giving him stomach cramps. Bai Mo Han had been starving for several days, but he was under a tight leash from reborn people who knew too much, so he couldn’t find the person in charge of giving him food. His previous meals were allocated by the government and his personal assistant was in charge of giving it to him, even cooking instant noodles was beyond Bai Mo Han, except for bathing and dressing, his self-care ability was essentially zero.
That personal assistant was killed by Guo Zerui yesterday, so at the moment, no one was bothering with Bai Mo Han’s life and death. If Zhou Yun Sheng was cold or hungry in the future, he could only hope that the faithful dog beside him was attentive enough.
Zhao Ling Feng, after all, had followed him for five or six years, so he did not disappoint him and immediately went to find the food.
“Do you feel better?” A hoarse voice suddenly came from behind him, Zhou Yun Sheng didn’t need to look back to know it was Lei Chuan. He immediately pulled out his pistol and leaned away.
“Don’t be afraid, I won’t hurt you.” Lei Chuan raised his hands and made a surrender gesture, then he slowly and carefully sat down beside him.
Guo Zerui also took a seat and silently looked at Bai Mo Han with odd eyes. During his past lifetime, he had asked people about the situation in the laboratory, those people had described Bai Mo Han as a downright Frankenstein, saying that his experiments were appalling, he could turn a man into a monster, and they also speculated that the zombies were Bai Mo Han’s creations.
He heard this rumor and so much more that Guo Zerui was convinced, how could he foresee that this man would really create an anti-zombie virus vaccine, and be humanity’s savior?
Frankenstein became the savior in an instant, even his boss, who was one of his victims, was now his admirer, Guo Zerui couldn’t accept such a huge gap in such a short time. And last night, he almost killed the savior, that really feels……
He clutched his chest, gasping for breath, thinking about it now still made him feel horrified.
“Have you eaten yet?” Lei Chuan asked softly, then suddenly chuckled lowly. He almost forgot, this man was a clueless idiot when it came to self-help, when he was fascinated by an experiment, his assistant even had to shove rice into his mouth, or else he would starve to death. He remembered one occasion, a rookie researcher gave the doctor a packet of unopened instant noodles, he had picked it up and squeezed it, then curiously asked, “This is instant noodles? Why is it different from what I eat? Isn’t it supposed to be soft?”
At that time, all the people in the lab had laughed, and he had smiled happily. Who would have thought that the intelligent Dr. Bai was so oblivious in his private life?
Now that he thought about it, those days when he’d followed him were some of the few good memories he had since the Apocalypse started.
“Give me a lunch box, add an extra can of meat.” Lei Chuan said to a passing survivor.
The man did not dare neglect, he immediately filled a lunch box, and covered it with two rolls and canned meat. The aroma of food wafted, causing Zhou Yun Sheng to gulp.
But as the old saying goes – one who is mysteriously solicitous is hiding evil intentions. He doesn’t believe that the two men who had been trying to kill him yesterday would want to bury the hatchet today, their good behavior must be to conceal their evil intentions.
He stretched out his left hand to push the lunch box far away, his right hand steadily holding the gun.
“I don’t dare eat your food.”
The simple statement made Lei Chuan’s gentle expression winced in dull pain, he glared fiercely at Guo Zerui. Guo Zerui immediately raised his hands and said innocently, “Not me. Dr. Bai you’re mistaken, we really didn’t mean to hurt you. If you don’t believe me, I’ll take two bites of these.” After talking he tried to take a bite of rice, but Lei Chuan grabbed the lunchbox, took two bites of rice and meat, then firmly pushed the food to Dr. Bai.
Zhou Yun Sheng was still holding the pistol, he didn’t even glance at the tasty food.
Lei Chuan really had no way to persuade Dr. Bai. He was too clear on how stubborn this man’s character was, whenever he decided on a path, he would indomitable go down that route, no matter how much it costs, he would not change his mind. Because of this stubborn nature, he didn’t care about spending his own life, because of this stubbornness, he used up his King level nuclei to buy his justice, because of this stubbornness, he was gunned down in the laboratory.
He hated his stubbornness, but he cherished him for his stubbornness, he picked up the lunch box and tried to feed him like the past assistant used to, but Zhao Ling Feng, who had just hurried back, forcefully grabbed his wrist and snapped, “What do you want to do? What did you add to the food this time?”
You’re so fucking finished! Lei Chuan wanted to use the lunch box to pummel the man’s face, but he was afraid the doctor would hate him even more.
“Where did you go? Why did you leave the doctor waiting for you on an empty stomach?” Lei Chuan knew that this man was reborn and loyal to the doctor, so he could temporarily tolerate his presence.
“I don’t know who, but someone told the people that they were not allowed to distribute food to the doctor, I could only go back and get my own stuff.” Zhao Ling Feng sneered. Since he had blown his cover yesterday, he didn’t need to play nice with these snake people anymore. There were other bases in the compound, he just had to let them see that Dr. Bai wasn’t voluntarily following Lei Chuan.
So, it’s possible to find a few helpers to rescue the doctor.
Lei Chuan’s face immediately darkened at the words, Guo Zerui covered his face and groaned. Yesterday, he’d thought that Dr. Bai would certainly die, so he’d commanded the men not to give him food, to avoid waste.
“Hey, what bold little guys, they dare corrupt military supplies in private, I’ll go teach them a lesson!” Before the boss could get mad at him, he ran away like his butt was on fire.
“Sorry, this team has just been formed, we’re missing some competent people. I assure you, these circumstances will never happen again. Dr. Bai, you’re the country’s most outstanding scientist, the hope of a brighter future for humanity is in your hands. My protection is still not enough to show my gratitude, how can I hurt you? Please believe me and give me another chance.” Lei Chuan bitterly opened.
Zhou Yun Sheng inwardly sneered, this dark Lei Chuan was really a terrible man, these high-sounding words wouldn’t sound inferior to those B Base idiots. If the events had followed the original track, Bai Mo Han would’ve died a very miserable death last night. The Lei Chuan in the past life never killed civilians, but he was murderous in this world, whenever anyone impeded his progress, he would ruthlessly eradicate them.
But Zhou Yun Sheng could understand his transformation. If he was in his place, his darkness would be even deeper that Lei Chuan’s.
But understanding was one thing, trust was another matter, he wouldn’t be fooled by this man’s words, so he pretended to turn a deaf ear.
Zhao Ling Feng was very rushed on the road, he didn’t have time to collect much materials, and when he’d entered the community, he’d given a lot of his goods and foods in exchange for news, so now he could only bring a packet of crackers and a bottle of mineral water, he didn’t even know where the next meal would come from.
Zhou Yun Sheng saw his distress, put the pistol away, ate half the package then pushed the remaining half to him and said, “Here, you’re a Warrior, you need to save more energy.”
“I’m not hungry doctor. You have poor health, eat more.” Zhao Ling Feng took out a biscuit and shoved it into the doctor’s mouth. In the last life, while the doctor was doing consecutive days of experiments and refused to stop, he and a few assistants took turns to feed him. This man can do anything but take care of himself.
Zhou Yun Sheng couldn’t ignore him, he chewed the biscuit, then removed a pile and shoved them into Zhao Ling Feng’s mouth. He was not cold-blooded, those who were good to him, he would return their kindness in spades.
“Doctor, you’re a good man.” Zhao Ling Feng felt touched as he chewed the biscuits, while looking at Lei Chuan with murderous eyes.
How could he know that Lei Chuan also wanted to kill him.
Was it not enough for that man to accompany the doctor for 5 years? Why did he also have to grab him after they were reborn? Before rebirth, when he saw that the man could touch the doctor any time he wanted, while he could only hold a mass of air, the seed of jealousy had quietly been planted.
He was delusional enough to think he can steal the doctor away from him, how recklessly naive!
Lei Chuan hid away his intention to kill and said, “You’re a Metal Warrior, wait a minute, when we go out to gather supplies, you can come together with my troops. My army offers only protection, no food, you have to eat up to have energy.”
Zhao Ling Feng was about to answer when Zhou Yun Sheng shook his head in rejection first, “No, he will not go out with you.”
“Why?” When speaking to the doctor, Lei Chuan’s tone was infinitely gentler.
“As long as my people go out with you, they won’t come back. Guards, researchers, personal assistants, nobody came back.” Zhou Yun Sheng calmly said.
Lei Chuan was stunned, then his cheeks burned, like he was fiercely slapped. If he had come back earlier, he and the doctor’s relationship would not have become so bad. He’d killed good guards, researchers and personal assistants he could never make up for. He knew that these people were talents the doctor had carefully cultivated, and they had provided great support for his research. Now that he recalled them, some of the people he killed seemed to have extremely familiar faces, they must’ve accompanied the doctor to the end in the last life.
Why did I have to be reborn at such a late time, God must be playing with me! Lei Chuan anxiously wanted to meet his past self and split him in half. He stiffly opened, “I didn’t kill those people, they were surrounded by zombies. I’d brought too few people, I couldn’t save them. Doctor, I ……”
Before Lei Chuan could finish, Zhou Yun Sheng got up and walked into his room, Zhao Ling Feng quickly locked the door to prevent unauthorized persons.
Fuck, what the hell is this?! Lei Chuan irritability pushed back his hair and paced in front of the door like a mad beast, his brothers urged him several times before he reluctantly left. He was forced to follow the doctor in the past, but now he could suddenly move freely, he was very unaccustomed to it. He really wanted to always be within touching distance of the doctor.
Of course, before he left, he didn’t forget to send more staff to guard the door, afraid that Zhao Ling Feng might run away with the doctor.
Zhou Yun Sheng confirmed that there was no personnel by the door before whispering to the Guard Captain, “We have to flee, but we can’t move if we don’t know our circumstances, and we can’t count on others. We’ll act alone, I’ll think up an escape plan, don’t contact anyone before we leave. You can go out with a team of Warriors, avoid taking Lei Chuan’s people, and collect a few pieces of broken motherboards and chips for me. I want to assemble something.”
Zhao Ling Feng’s devotion to the doctor had reached a blind extent, even if the doctor was now an ordinary man, he would believe in him without reservation.
“Doctor don’t worry, I’ll bring back anything you want. If Lei Chuan’s people give you any food, don’t take it, I still have a can of ham sausage and a piece of chocolate in my bag. When you’re hungry, just eat, don’t leave any for me. Lock the door, don’t open it for anyone but me ……”
Zhao Ling Feng repeated a lot of safety instructions, then left to look for other Warriors.
================================================
T/N:
Showed me your true feelings, tomorrow you might feel differently – I’m not sure about this translation, it’s like the sentence is repeated twice. Someone take a crack at it.
今天對你掏心挖肺的人，明天就能掏你的心挖你的肺.
Pure land –淨土- Jìngtǔ (Buddhism) Pure Land, usually refers to Amitabha Buddha’s Western Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss (Sukhavati in Sanskrit)