Back to the Apocalypse

Chapter 59

Xiao Sa turned around to look at Wang Hongwei and calmly asked another question. "You mean to say that they robbed the police station and the military base?"

Wang Hongwei nodded quickly. He did not understand the reasoning behind Xiao Sa's words, but after a period of reflection, he had a vague idea in his heart. It would be great if he could stay with these people. Just by looking at their situation, with their weaponry, it was much safer to stay here than to follow their boss no matter how he looked at it. Once the threat of losing his life was removed, his thoughts turned much quicker and he was more open-minded, willing to speak without reservations. Little did he know, his fate had been decided up on early on.

Bai Jing was confused: "Since they robbed the police station, why are they still lusting over our weapons?"

Xiao Sa touched his head and did not speak, although he secretly scolded in his heart: Silly child, the arms that he smuggled were all high-end arms. Could they be compared with what ordinary police and the army could provide?

Everything that Wang Hongwei knew poured out of his mouth. He suppressed the pain in his arms, and his brain was very active as he spoke enough to fill up entire barrels. "What you don't know is that in our small county town, even if we have weapons, there is nothing with a wide range of attack. That woman gave a very exaggerated and colourful description, saying there were even submachine guns and grenades. The boss was really anxious listening to her. Otherwise, he would have killed her a long time ago. Once they discovered what direction you were headed in, the boss immediately ordered people to set up an ambush, and killed more than a dozen people to lure the zombies over."

Bai Jing was speechless. He just knew that women could not be underestimated. In order to live, they had at least a hundred little tricks, and sometimes they could even cause great chaos. However, at the end of the world, greedy people were everywhere. Even he could not help admiring the ambush that had been set up today. The boss was a real talent, but unfortunately his morality was not in the right place.

Xiao Sa was silent for a moment before asking Wang Hongwei about how many of them had abilities, what they were, and how many of them were level one ability users.

Wang Hongwei answered the questions one by one. There were a total of a hundred and nine people, of which seventy-two were ability users, and seven were first level ability users. The boss was a lightning user, and his deputy was an ice user, but he didn't know the rest since he had only joined the team recently, and had not entered the inner circle. The boss was cold-hearted and vicious, his means were cruel, using underhanded ways to kill people, and he was always on guard. Wang Hongwei spoke back and forth, and what had originally been an interrogation turned into a complaint session. He basically just spoke about how he was miserable, how he had been helpless, how he had been forced to join the gang of bandits, how bad the boss was, and how innocent he was…

Nobody paid any attention to his nonsense. They were only surprised to learn that there were seventy-two ability users in such as small group. But thinking about the existence of the Institute, it wasn't so strange. Since the army had been trying to capture people, there must have been more than a few ability users. They must have some strengths and advantages in order to rob the police station and occupy the military base.

"Oh, by the way, the nucleus in animals' brains seems to be able to help ability users advance. Other than weapons, the boss is also looking everywhere for those. When we found two of them two days ago, he took them away before they even had a chance to turn warm in my pocket…"

"How did they find out?" Bai Jing's gaze turned cold. The questions in his heart were cleared away in an instant - no wonder they would have level one ability users. Only, he remembered that in the past life, this kind of method only showed up one month later.

Wang Hongwei was scared by Bai Jing and trembled all over. "It should have been from data found in the research institute. I don't remember very clearly, but I remember that most of the people who were experimented on turned into zombies, and a few people who were bitten by dogs also turned into zombies. If you don't believe me, you can ask Yang Chonghui…"

"It's true." Yang Conghui nodded his head quickly before everyone's gazes had turned to him. Today's incident had had a great impact on him. He had killed zombies before, but killing people… when he thought of Zhang Bo who had been dragged out by people who didn't even bat an eye, he felt a chill in his heart. Only, as he listened to Wang Hongwei's words, he once again thought that they could still be considered benevolent. At least, Yang Chonghui could see that these people had their own moral code, and although they were cruel, they would not attack anyone who had not first offended them.

Bai Jing was silent for a moment as a fierce light flashed across his eyes. He finally asked gloomily, "Where is the base?"

Wang Hongwei opened his mouth to speak: "It… It… It's in Wuli Town, where the 8735 army division used to be…"

"You guys, guard him carefully." Bai Jing spoke coldly. They already knew what they needed to know, and it was pointless to talk more now. Having the courage to attack them, they really didn't want to live.

Xiao Sa thought carefully for a moment before looking around at the crowd that had gathered around them. His gaze swept over them lightly as he ordered, "Continue with your work after eating. Those who haven't eaten yet should hurry up and try to finish everything in two hours."

"Yes, Brother Sa!" The crowd scattered at his command.

Finally, Xiao Sa looked at Bai Jing and said with concern: "Go and rest first. I will help them out, and then come over when it's finished."

"No, come and accompany me." Bai Jing also knew what was important. Although he knew that Xiao Sa was anxious over the bad weather, his effect on the overall workload was negligible. Not to mention, Zhou Ji and Cao Lei had both returned and could help after eating. Being the boss should come with some privileges.

Xiao Sa was somewhat helpless, but even before he could speak, Liu Hua had already laughingly spoken up. "Brother Sa, rest assured. Go and accompany your wife and leave the rest to us."

Bai Jing gave him a hard look. Liu Hua put oil on the soles of his feet and slipped away as though he was flying. Everyone then hurriedly got back to work.

With no way to vent his annoyance, Bai Jing did not hesitate to give Xiao Sa a hard time, pulling directly into the tent and asking with an icy expression, "How many crystal nuclei have been collected?"

Xiao Sa smiled bitterly as he scolded Liu Hua in his heart for poking at Little Jing's temper despite knowing that he was quick to anger. Finally, the man ran away after lighting the fire, resulting in him getting attacked even though he had been an innocent party lying to the side. Although he very much liked the address of 'wife', it was enough to just use it in his heart. Little Jing's ego was sensitive, but there would eventually come a day where he made the title reality.

Xiao Sa brought out all the crystal nucleus from his pocket and very earnestly handed it all over to Bai Jing just like a husband handing over his salary to his wife. "Thirteen."

"Humph!" Bai Jing glanced at him out of the corner of his eye. He was very dissatisfied that Xiao Sa didn't seem to have considered who he had collected these nuclei for. He pushed them all back towards him, and said, "I can't use them, what are you giving them to me for? Hurry up and use them to upgrade your powers right now, you hear?"

"Yes—" Xiao Sa gave a small smile, really loving the way Bai Jing looked when he acted like the manager of their household. He felt a little warm in his heart as he remembered the kiss from earlier today, reaching out his cold hand and leaning forward to directly capture Bai Jing. Since they were in the tent, he was not concerned about being seen by others.

"Hey! What are you doing?!" Bai Jing's heart was tight, and he looked like he was defending against a wolf, his eyes wide and round.

"Don't be nervous." Xiao Sa's voice was low as he held Bai Jing tightly in his arms, his gaze fixed on his face as he watched his panicked expression, suddenly realizing that it would be necessary for him to take the initiative. Otherwise, he would probably not be able to eat meat for his entire life.

Bai Jing watched him vigilantly, black eyes turning a little wildly. Xiao Sa knew at a glance that the kitten was thinking. If he tried to go any further, the cat's claws would surely come out.

"Give me a kiss." Xiao Sa's voice was deep as he spoke. He did not give Bai Jing a chance to gather his wits as his lips domineeringly covered Bai Jing's, diving straight into his mouth. Their lips parted, tongues fighting and tangling together as gently sucking his saliva as though it was a delicacy just beyond reach. The kiss went on for a long time, until Bai Jing's cheeks were flushed and he was breathless, before Xiao Sa reluctantly let go.

Bai Jing was angry, and his feelings were twisted up into a knot. He was more angry at himself; clearly he had wanted to resist, but why had he gotten pulled into indulgence? Xiao Sa's hot body seemed to light a matching fire in his, and his thundering heartbeat could not deceive anyone. That feeling of suffocation was dizzying, yet intoxicating, and in truth, he liked it.

Bai Jing's head was full of black lines, and his expression was dark. It was exactly because he liked it that he felt particularly cheated. Xiao Sa was too cunning, and he didn't want to casually be eaten in a moment of confusion.

As he turned his head, about to lose his temper, he became even more angry. As one could imagine, Xiao Sa was so smart, how could he not know what Bai Jing's reaction could be? Now, he was holding the crystal nucleus to absorb their energy, and Bai Jing could only stare at him helplessly. As for what would happen after he woke up, Xiao Sa believed that he would have a way to make Little Jing forget what had just occurred.

Bai Jing helplessly sat by and looked at the remaining twelve nuclei, conveniently also bringing out the seven nuclei from his pocket. He counted the number of people in their team, and determined that it would not be a problem to upgrade four ability users to level one, but that was not enough. Yu Yue's was a psychic ability user and did not need to be mentioned, Cao Lei and Qin Yi would definitely have priority. On Xiao Sa's side Xie Minhang, Liang Qi, Liu Wei and Zhou Ji were all pretty good, and since they had all merged into one group, he couldn't only care about himself…

Bai Jing debated with himself for a while and finally decided to wait until Xiao Sa woke up. He knew that as long as he asked, Xiao Sa would agree, but upgrading their ability depended not only on luck, but also on talent. With some people, it would only take three nuclei for them to advance to level one, while others might need ten or twenty nuclei, or maybe even more. Still others could advance depending solely on their own talent; some things were simply incomparable.

But perhaps they could give it a try and chose to give the nuclei to whomever advanced the quickest, Bai Jing thought. In any case, after they had advanced, level one crystal nuclei would no longer be effective for them, and it wouldn't be too late to leave it to others then. Only having one strong person was not enough. They needed to set a standard where everyone was powerful.

Only, Bai Jing had never thought that his plans would not catch up to the sudden changes…

Xiao Sa was absorbing energy, and would not be finished within the hour. Bai Jing was bored staying in the tent, and had originally intended to go out patrol since everyone was also busy at the moment, and he felt embarrassed being idle. He could not fit all nineteen crystal nuclei into his pocket, so Bai Jing waved his hand and had just tossed the nuclei into his space when his body suddenly turned stiff. He only felt waves of power churning in his brain as energy desperately poured in, rushing through the meridians all over his body and forcibly expanding them. The larger they became, the faster the power flowed, positive and negative energies constantly assaulted his body, and his head felt like it was about to explode, and his body's meridians were also expanding rapidly. Bai Jing did not even have a chance to react when everything turned dark, and he could only remember to try his best and cultivate to circulate the energy within his body before falling into a coma. He was not in his space this time, and did not want to lose his small life because of an explosion from excess energy.

Xiao Sa had just woken up from his meditation and was happy that his powers had been upgraded when he was shocked silly by the scene before him. Bai Jing lay motionless on the ground, his body constantly gushing black blood. His face, body, hands, and even his eyes and mouth were also in the same state. If not for the faint movements of his breathing, he would think that his kitten was dead.

Panicked, terrified, Xiao Sa could not express how he felt at this time. He was attacked by a tremendous wave of fear, and Xiao Sa realized that he had truly fallen miserably in love with the young man in front of him. He had no time to feel angry or reflect. After having cultivated, Xiao Sa understood what state Bai Jing was in right now, and hurried to prop him up and press his hands against the center of his back, constantly pouring his own energy into Bai Jing's body. As soon as he began, he could sense that the energy inside Bai Jing was fierce and chaotic, the powers conflicting and colliding, before finally being absorbed.

Not daring to be even a little bit careless, Xiao Sa slowly rotated his internal force and slowly pushed it into Bai Jing's body bit by bit, sending it along his meridians…

He kept it up for three consecutive hours. The people who had gone out to collect the crystal nuclei had returned, but Bai Jing's state remained unchanged.

Cao Lei was the first to discover that something was wrong. When they returned, even if their young master didn't ask come out to ask about them, how could Xiao Sa's figure also be missing? He directly went to the tent, opened it, and his expression abruptly changed.

Xiao Sa's face was greenish-grey, and the continuous use of internal force had made him weak, but he did not dare to relax. Bai Jing's current state made him very afraid; it was just like how zombies were before they mutated, their bodies cold one moment, and then hot the next. The only difference was that Little Jing's body would discharge dirty blood.

"I'll help." Seeing that Xiao Sa was unable to go on, Cao Lei had no time to ask about what happened, and quickly put his hand against Bai Jing's back.

Xiao Sa let Cao Lei take over and did not resist. At this moment, he only felt that there was a great surge of fury burning in his heart. He could not imagine what would have happened if he had woken up just a little later. In fact, what he didn't know was that nothing would've happened to Bai Jing at all; when the time came, and the dirty blood had all been pushed out, he would be fine. It was just a scary sight to behold.

Xiao Sa was so angry that he didn't even look at the twenty one crystal nuclei that his subordinates had found. He thought bitterly that if it hadn't been for those things, if he hadn't gone to absorb energy, if he had watched over Little Jing, Little Jing would not have become like this. Even more, he blamed the gang of bandits who had tried to rob them.

Brother Sa was angry, and the consequences were serious. Bai Jing was his weakness. Although people kept quiet about this matter later on, everyone was left with a deep impression, and were shocked, scared, terrified, and awed in their hearts. It was not the first time they had seen Brother Sa angry, but this level of inhumane behaviour that lacked a bottom line was not anything they had seen before. He was like a demon that had come out of hell who wanted to drag the whole world with him towards death. People swore that they never wanted to see that kind of rage again in their lives.

Xiao Sa handed Bai Jing to Cao Lei, and ordered Wang Xuebing watch over them. He immediately gathered up his people, brought enough ammunition and weaponry, dragged Wang Hongwei over to lead them, and killed his way directly into the military base.

Everyone only remembered that Brother Sa killed anyone he saw, shooting in all directions and desperately throwing grenades as though he would remain unreconciled as long as this place was still standing. He killed until his eyes were red. Level one ability users counted for nothing before him; before they had made a move, Xiao Sa had already shot them to death. Even if he met one, he still fought them as though he cared nothing for his own life. His body was covered in wounds, but he seemed completely unaware of them as he killed his way from the entrance of the base all the way inside.

There were voices of people crying and begging for mercy as well as innocent bystanders, but Xiao Sa did not differentiate at all, not leaving anyone alive regardless of whether it was an elderly person or a woman, or even innocent cannon fodder that had been caught by the bandits. He didn't even let off children; he only remembered that Xiao Jing would not have been soft-hearted that day if that woman had not said she had a child. He knew his Little Jing - he would not show any emotions to anyone other than people he had acknowledged.

He killed until he was tired, exhausted, completely out of energy, but Xiao Sa still continued his assault on the base.

Until Xue Minhang spoke one sentence: "Young master Jing still has not awoken." Only then did he stop and unhesitatingly rush back.

As for Wang Hongwei, naturally nobody paid any attention to him. Xiao Sa had been so furious that nobody had the time to care about him. It could be considered that they fulfilled their promise and left him alive, but they did not make things easy for him, only leaving him behind and leaving his life or death up to luck.

Belated Happy Chinese New Year! Also, there will be a sponsored chapter coming up next week~

translator: xiin

editor: alamerysl