TL: Moonlit
A group of people returned to Ling City, and it was getting dark. Two large vehicles drove to the pre-planned breeding area, which used to be a large park. Now, the greenery inside had grown wild, perfect for the mutated livestock and poultry to settle in.
Wen Qingling built a wooden fence around the perimeter to prevent the mutated creatures from running out of the park.
Jiang Lan had already taken a mutated black chicken and went home. She didn’t accompany them and instead went back to stew a black chicken soup with Chinese angelica, a soup she had been longing for, for several days. Finally, she could have it.
The Core City and Inner City had been cleaned and repaired, resembling a base now. It was clean inside, and everything that shouldn’t be there had been removed. The Core City was more severely damaged than the Inner City, with the central area almost flattened. It used to be the gathering place for Evolved and “General.” Wen Qingling planned to clean up that area and rebuild it for future settlement.
Someone suggested that Wen Qingling should ask for the help of Earth-type Evolvers to speed up the construction process. With their assistance, even building a grand palace could be completed in a short time. Doing it manually, brick by brick, would take a considerable amount of time.
Time was the most lacking resource in the apocalypse. The situation was constantly changing, so anything that could be completed quickly should not be delayed.
However, Wen Qingling currently didn’t have a suitable Earth-type ability user candidate, so he had to temporarily postpone that idea.
Xiao Hen and Ji Rong had been following Wen Qingling all this time. Ji Rong might not be aware of the number of people in the civilization base before, but Xiao Hen knew very well. Today, seeing the increased number of people, his heart had some faint guesses, but he couldn’t believe or accept them.
On the way back, Ji Rong couldn’t help but ask, “Dr. Wen, what are the criteria for joining your base?”
Wen Qingling glanced at him. “Do you want to join?”
Ji Rong smirked. “With my qualifications, am I eligible to join?”
Wen Qingling replied, “No.”
Ji Rong: “…”
Ji Rong: “I’m a Fire-type ability user, I can use guns, and I have good skills. Isn’t that enough?”
Wen Qingling shook his head. “Doesn’t meet the requirements.”
Ji Rong: “What are your requirements, then?”
Wen Qingling looked at Xiao Hen, who had remained silent the whole time. Xiao Hen’s silence confirmed his suspicions to some extent.
Xiao Hen said, “Are you planning to turn the entire Ling City into a base?”
Wen Qingling replied, “No, in the future, Ling City will be renamed ‘Civilization City,’ and I want to build a city.”
Ji Rong was shocked. “You want to build a giant city that can accommodate tens of millions of people?”
Wen Qingling nodded. “We don’t have that many people for now, so let’s focus on construction first.”
Ji Rong laughed, “With your strict standards, your Civilization City will probably have only a handful of people.”
Wen Qingling said, “No.”
Ji Rong: “Even without standards, it’s extremely difficult to find tens of millions of survivors in this apocalypse. Building a city might be easy, but it’s hard to gather people.”
Wen Qingling said, “No.”
As they were nearing home, Wen Qingling said, “Your teammates have arrived.”
Xiao Hen and Ji Rong had been waiting at the designated location for two to three days without seeing anyone. They didn’t expect their teammates to come on their own.
When Wen Qingling saw He Lin and Shi Chong, he suddenly had an idea.
Wen Qingling said, “Let’s have dinner together.”
The four of them were surprised. When did Wen Qingling become so enthusiastic?
Dinner was sumptuous, with a pot of black chicken soup with Chinese angelica. Each person only had one bowl, but the remaining half pot and a whole mutated black chicken were given to Xiao Hen by Jiang Lan. Ji Rong, He Lin, and Shi Chong were dumbfounded, and even Xiao Hen was shocked by the amount. He separated the mutated black chicken and shared it with everyone. He couldn’t finish it alone.
As the saying goes, ‘Sharing a meal shortens the distance between people.’ After a hearty dinner, Wen Qingling made his request, “Shi Chong, you are an Earth-type ability user, right?”
Xiao Hen, Ji Rong, and He Lin all looked at Shi Chong at the same time.
Shi Chong was secretly wary and replied, “Yes.”Wen Qingling asked, “Can you build houses?”
Wen Qingling gestured with his hands, “I mean those big houses. Can you build them?”
Shi Chong: “…”
Shi Chong: “What kind of big houses?”
Wen Qingling said, “Mom, bring the blueprints.”
Wen Zheng and Jiang Lan were already prepared. Their son was going to be the city lord, so the place where the city lord lived had to be grand.
Shi Chong looked at the slowly unfolding blueprints, and his face darkened.
Shi Chong: “Are you asking me to build a Forbidden City?”
The blueprints were printed documents that Wen Zheng and Jiang Lan found at a printing shop. They were just grateful to have blueprints and weren’t picky about it.
Jiang Lan said, “We don’t need to build the entire city, just one palace is enough.”
Shi Chong quickly waved his hand, “That’s too difficult, I can’t build it.”
Wen Qingling said, “Then let’s build something simpler.”
Wen Zheng pulled out another blueprint, “The Forbidden City is too difficult, how about building the White House?”
Shi Chong: “…”
Xiao Hen and the other two: “…”
Faced with the expectant eyes of the family of three, Shi Chong waved his hand again, “Sorry, I’m not capable of that. At best, I can build a city wall.”
Jiang Lan suggested, “How about we find an experienced master to do the construction?”
The master who was found responded, “Even as an experienced master, I don’t have the skills to build the Forbidden City or the White House!”
They all knew Wen Qingling’s habit of not allowing anyone to stay overnight at the civilization base. After discussing the matter of building houses, the four of them bid farewell and left.
Wen Qingling said, “Apart from the civilization base, you can live anywhere.”
Wen Qingling implied that as long as they didn’t live in the civilization base, they could choose any house in Ling City, and there would be no zombies bothering them.
This was already the greatest friendliness Wen Qingling could offer.
In the past, Wen Qingling wouldn’t have cared about their well-being at all.
The four of them left the civilization base and found an abandoned hotel in the southern city to stay in.
He Lin and Shi Chong had delayed their return for so long, there must be something important.
He Lin looked at Xiao Hen and gestured with his eyes, asking if it was safe to talk there. Xiao Hen sighed, even if they were still inside Ling City or even outside, Wen Qingling could still hear if he wanted to.
Xiao Hen: “What’s the matter?”
He Lin hesitated for a moment and then said, “Xiao Jiang wants you to go back.”
Xiao Hen’s expression turned cold, “Did you see him?”
He Lin and Shi Chong glanced at each other, “Yes, Meng Lao was sent back, but the four assistants are missing. It was taken seriously, and we were called in for questioning.”
Xiao Hen asked, “How did you respond?”
He Lin replied, “We mentioned the danger in Ling City and the Level 8 evolved ‘General,’ but we didn’t specifically bring up Dr. Wen’s matter. However, it seems that Meng Lao said something. When Xiao Jiang questioned us, he asked about Dr. Wen and the things that can cure the infected.”
Meng Lao was a researcher, and he wouldn’t be able to keep anything related to research a secret. If Meng Lao returned alive, Wen Qingling and the cure for the infected wouldn’t be a secret anymore. Xiao Hen had already expected this, but he couldn’t just let Meng Lao be.
Xiao Hen asked, “What was your response?”
He Lin said, “We’re not sure. We didn’t see it with our own eyes, we only heard about it.”
Their answer was already evasive, but the fact that Xiao Jiang didn’t chop off their heads meant they were lucky.
Xiao Hen sat on a clean bed and said, “He didn’t ask what he wanted to know from you guys. Should I go back and ask him clearly?”Shi Chong said, “There may be another reason.”
He Lin said, “Yin Cheng went back.”
Xiao Hen sneered, “What did he go back for? Reinforcements?”
Shi Chong nodded, “Yes, Yin Jiang wanted to deploy an armed helicopter for revenge on Yin Cheng, but it was rejected by several other generals. Then Yin Cheng came with an armored convoy.”
Ji Rong chuckled, “That’s their style, but I wonder if he can drive the armored convoy into Ling City.”
He Lin asked, “Boss, are you going back?”
Xiao Hen replied, “No, I want to see how Yin Cheng plans to attack Ling City.”
Ji Rong said, “Boss can’t leave Dr. Wen right now. Boss was bitten by a level 8 evolved zombie, and the corpse poison is extremely potent. Even Kui Mu, who suppresses it, can’t control it. It needs treatment every two days, or else Boss will turn into a zombie.”
He Lin and Shi Chong were both surprised. They hadn’t seen their boss for a few days, and he had actually been infected!
Xiao Hen said, “Once Qingling’s mansion is built, you guys can go back and tell him that I have been infected. If I leave Ling City, I will soon turn into a zombie. Ask him if he still wants me to come back.”
He Lin hesitated before saying, “Boss, we don’t want you to get involved in the war between Yin Cheng and Ling City.”
Xiao Hen tightened his grip on his long knife. “Their war, I will definitely participate.”
He Lin and Shi Chong couldn’t persuade Xiao Hen, and there were also problems on Wen Qingling’s side.
Wen Qingling looked at the three corpses on the ground with a paralyzed face and a cold gleam in his eyes.
The three corpses had intact skeletons and heads, but their flesh had been eaten clean, leaving only bloody bones. This indicated that the three civilized zombies were eaten while still conscious.
Wen Qingling looked at the several civilized zombies who had discovered the bodies. “Didn’t anyone see the killer?”
All the civilized zombies shook their heads. “No, but there are signs of a struggle at the scene.”
Wen Qingling said, “Take me to see.”
The several civilized zombies led Wen Qingling to the place where the bodies were found. The scene was chaotic, with bloodstains all over the ground.
Wen Qingling walked around the scene and suddenly let out a roar.
Xiao Hen, who was resting, woke up abruptly, and he had already disappeared from his resting place.
After Wen Qingling’s roar, the sisters and the blood zombie rushed to the scene at the fastest speed, stimulated by the scent of blood.
Wen Qingling pointed at the blood zombie. “Is it you?”
The blood zombie looked puzzled. “I didn’t do anything. Don’t wrongly accuse me, I’m a good corpse!”
Xiao Hen arrived at the scene, and he could clearly feel that Wen Qingling was in a very bad mood.
The blood zombie became angry when he saw Xiao Hen. “There is a human here. Why don’t you suspect him?”
Wen Qingling stared at the blood zombie. “It’s best for you not to be involved in this matter. Otherwise, you will be just like them.”
The blood zombie felt wronged. He had turned over a new leaf! Couldn’t he be given a little basic trust?!
Xiao Hen asked, “What happened?” Wen Qingling replied, “Something took the opportunity while I was away and ate three people in my base.”
Wen Qingling pointed to the three bodies wrapped in bedsheets. The civilized zombies opened the bedsheets for Xiao Hen to see. Xiao Hen frowned as soon as he glanced at them. This manner of consumption was too brutal.
Wen Qingling circled the scene and suddenly crouched down. He smelled a different scent and dabbed a bit of bloodstain from the ground, sniffing it and furrowing his brow.
He smelled the scent of humans, but not entirely humans. The human blood was mixed with a foul odor. It shouldn’t be pure humans. Could there be some new species emerging?
Xiao Hen walked around the scene and made a judgment. “The number of attackers is probably between seven and nine.”
Wen Qingling looked at him. “Do you think they could be humans?”
Xiao Hen shook his head. “They have a humanoid form, but they may not be humans.”
Xiao Hen pointed to the wall nearby, where there were several bloody footprints of different sizes, clearly human footprints. However, the footprints were more than two meters above the ground, a height that normal humans couldn’t reach. Even if it was a wind-type ability user, it would be impossible to have so many wind abilities at once. Therefore, Xiao Hen judged that they were likely humanoid creatures.
Moreover, humans hadn’t gone crazy to the extent of rushing into Ling City to eat other humans.
Xiao Hen said, “This is just one crime scene. There should be two more.”
Wen Qingling’s spiritual power had covered the entire Ling City, but he didn’t find the culprits. These creatures had targeted him when he left Ling City and immediately escaped after succeeding. However, Wen Qingling couldn’t just let it go.
Since those things dared to come once, they would definitely come a second time. Wen Qingling would eventually catch them.