In the apocalypse, orbs were the most straightforward currency and with Qu Yan’s actions, it sparked the feeling of having a sugar daddy in Pei Ran. He flicked away the system that kept trying to block his way and then hugged Qu Yan. Swirling them around, Pei Ran pressed Qu Yan up against the wall.
At the moment however, there was a different problem, one that was way more important than those shiny orbs on the bed.
With a sleepy haziness still in Pei Ran’s low husky voice and his eyebrows raised up in challenge, he stared down at the person who was shorter than him by about half a head,
“Was I too easy on you that you still had the energy to go kill zombies yesterday, hmm?”
This situation infringed a bit on his dignity as a man. Out of the two of them, one went to end zombie lives while the other was snoring away on the bed. If he didn’t know better, he would’ve thought that he was bad at sex.
With these kinds of things, Qu Yan knew more and had more advanced knowledge than his peers of the same age, and he immediately understood the reason why Pei Ran was unhappy. He tilted his head, closed his eyes, and hid away the smile on the corners of his lips. He then stared at Pei Ran with slightly reddened tear ducts, quietly saying in a voice that sounded a bit pitiful,
“I have no strength left, my waist hurts……”
See, that’s right, that’s how a normal person would react.
Pei Ran massaged at Qu Yan’s waist, his actions awkward and a bit unfamiliar, evident signs of never having done anything like this to another human. But this kind of awkward caring hit right at Qu Yan’s heart. He buried his face in the other’s neck, leaning as if he were boneless, full of reliance and trust.
“Go rest your eyes for a bit. I’m going to wash up.”
Pei Ran gathered up the orbs and put them on the sofa, planning to take care of them in a little bit. He went to wash up in the bathroom yet when he twisted the tap, no water came out. The bathroom light was also off and only then did he realize that there was no electricity and water.
Such a big base naturally could not have its power cut and Pei Ran remembered then the water bill he had only briefly glanced at on the front desk and fell into a deep state of contemplation. It was no wonder why so many people could not afford to live in the central district; the monthly water bill for the apartment was more expensive than the rent.
Not even a day and he was back to the life of saving water and using bottled water to wash his face. Pei Ran cleaned his face with a towel and then folded under the weight of reality, getting ready to go hunt zombies.
There was a huge pile of orbs delivered right to his doorstep yet he must go and find some himself. When Pei Ran saw the orbs on the sofa, he felt his heart bleed, desperately wishing to send the system away.
[ As long as you, my host, keep up this excellent attitude to try and improve during this time, continuing to be the epitome of excellence in being self-sufficient and self-reliant, you will be able to pass the testing period and successfully part away from this system here ~ ]
Pei Ran ignored it, feeling that its words were 100% fake, and his gaze locked onto the person silently lying on the bed.
Perhaps Qu Yan had not even realized that he was truly very tired. The dark circles under his eyes were very prominent, and the expression around his eyebrows was full of fatigue. With just one touch to the pillow, he couldn’t help but fall asleep right away.
Pei Ran suddenly felt that it was asking a lot for Qu Yan to follow him; there were no advantages or anything good. When he had tried to court girls in the past, he would at least give flowers, a car, or whatnot, but when it came to Qu Yan, he was only left with this current state of affairs.
Pei Ran had originally planned to go hunt for zombies himself, but then thinking about how Qu Yan was still sleeping, he was afraid that Qu Yan would wake up in a panic and so decided to wait for him to wake up.
The nap Qu Yan took was neither long nor short and he woke up right at noon. Qu Yan didn’t have that brief dazed state that usually followed waking up, and the first thing he did when he opened his eyes was to search for Pei Ran. And what greeted him was that smiling face of his.
In a split second, his cold stern eyes immediately softened and Qu Yan threw himself out of the bed into Pei Ran’s arms, forcing the both of them to fall right onto the floor. Only when their two bodies were tightly embracing did his empty heart slowly fall back into place.
Because Qu Yan was sitting on top of him, Pei Ran had to set one hand behind himself to support their balance. He didn’t say that he was in need of orbs and instead only said,
“I want to go hunt zombies. Do you want to come with?”
This question was actually quite useless. The two of them would always be together; never missing the other in a pair.
The young man’s lips were very soft and that slightly wet feeling was a bit like jello. Pei Ran cupped the other’s face, slowly massaging until it was bright red before he was willing to let go,
“Let’s go then. Head out early and come back early.”
As of this time, the base had about thirty official teams of ability holders with ten people in each. When they headed out for missions, the base would treat them generously and provide them with cars and bullets. But to make up for that generosity, if the higher ups of the base had an order, they must respond, so in some sense, they could be considered as part of a department for the country.
When Pei Ran and Qu Yan walked to the base’s front gate, a military truck just passed by them. In the car, there was a candid and unreserved looking girl in a ponytail waving to Pei Ran,
“Hey boys, where are you going? Do you want a ride?”
Pei Ran felt that she looked a bit familiar and faintly recalled that she might be the person at the Ability Hall who tried to recruit them into her team yesterday; the one called Tao Xi Ran? He had been unable to resist the urge to look at her then and Qu Yan had even become jealous.
“Sure, anywhere is fine. After all it’s the same wherever we go, killing zombies. Thanks.”
Pei Ran threw his bag up and grabbed onto the railing to hoist himself up. Then he reached out a hand to Qu Yan, saying,
“It’s a free ride. It would be a waste of an opportunity not to take it.”
Qu Yan didn’t grab onto Pei Ran’s hand and jumped up on the truck by himself instead. His actions were sleek and did not waste a move which was a direct contrast to his skinny and weak outer appearance. Tao Xi Ran’s female teammates couldn’t help but whistle,
Qu Yan ignored them, his eyes scanning over Tao Xi Ran up and down before slowly retracting his gaze and taking a seat beside Pei Ran.
A chill suddenly went down Tao Xi Ran’s spine, but she didn’t mind it. Making a racket as she sat on the floor of the truck, she gave them a few curious looks and asked Pei Ran,
“Hey, what’s the relationship between you two?”
Onee-sans will always be more interested in cute boys than handsome, mature ones.
Pei Ran immediately heard the interest thick in her tone and reached over to rest an arm around Qu Yan’s shoulders in a subtle show of possessiveness. He pointed at Qu Yan and casually said,
Qu Yan narrowed his eyes slightly at this and his entire aura immediately dropped down to icy temperatures. As the majority of his face was hidden under the shadow of his baseball cap, his expression could not be seen very clearly.
It was around noon at the moment and Tao Xi Ran had never seen such a person quite like Qu Yan. The sunlight was spreading wantonly over behind his back, the temperature scorching hot, and yet he was sitting there silently, not making a single peep. The darkening atmosphere around him was spreading like waves during high tide, coloring a corner of the sky with dark and stormy clouds. She wanted to look more carefully at the features of his face, yet somehow subconsciously she furrowed her eyebrows from the scorching sun instead.
Seeing Pei Ran reach out to pat down the cap on Qu Yan’s head, Tao Xi Ran said with a meaningful tone in her voice,
“Only a younger brother?”
Pei Ran brushed his bangs over his forehead, his flirtatious eyes not providing a single sense of confidence or reliability and yet his tone was very serious,
“Yup, my younger brother of love, what?”
Qu Yan lifted his head reflexively at his words and faced right up to his smiling eyes. Pei Ran took off Qu Yan’s hat to fan him and this time, he finally didn’t joke around and introduced Qu Yan to Tao Xi Ran,
These kinds of things were not a rarity before the apocalypse, so during the apocalypse this was even less uncommon.
The expression on Tao Xi Ran’s face immediately cleared up with understanding and she draped herself over another female member, examining Qu Yan’s youthful face before sighing,
“Hoh, ruining the youthful flowers of our country.”
Was he a carnivorous plant?
Pei Ran reflexively looked over at Qu Yan but only saw him hugging his knees, obediently resting beside him. His pale white ears were slightly tinted red and his entire body was revealing some information —–
When the two of them were together, most of the time it was Qu Yan pressuring Pei Ran for kisses, it was Qu Yan making Pei Ran hold him; actions that made Pei Ran feel like Qu Yan would never have feelings of embarrassment. This side of him was quite interesting and curious……
So surprised and incredulous, Pei Ran reached over to flick the brim of Qu Yan’s cap,
Qu Yan looked up at him, his black eyes sparking with more light. He seemed to be very happy from Pei Ran’s words just now, even his eyebrows tilted up slightly in a smile.
Pei Ran could not stand these kinds of expressions, filled with that kind of pure, untainted like; it was something he had never seen nor experienced in his previous life. His once calm heart suddenly roared into a high drum beat, and the blood in his veins started to flow backwards. In the midst of his brain getting overwhelmed by the signals of his body, he barely maintained his calmness and shook his head,
In the last half of their journey, there was a slightly interesting atmosphere, with neither of them talking to the other, neither of them even glancing in the direction of the other, but their shoulders stuck by each other, being very very close.
With whatever captain, you would have the same kind of team members. Tao Xi Ran’s personality was direct and upfront, and her team was the same, filled with extroverted chatterboxes and creating unending laughter on the road. Seeing Pei Ran and Qu Yan so silent the entire time, Tao Xi Ran thought the two of them got into a fight. With her back against the railing of the truck and hands blocking the sun, she stared out at the desolation surrounding them and said with a sigh,
“In this kind of world, each second should be used to embrace the one you like hmm.”
In this kind of world, even living was a difficult challenge to overcome. With one’s life on the line, feelings and emotions had fallen down a few degrees in importance. Their time was limited and should not be spent wasted on useless things like testing the waters and hesitating, with each second worthy to be treasured.
Because there would always be a bigger and more difficult obstacle ahead, always dangling above their heads.
It was a matter of the life and death of the entire world, the survival of every human walking on this earth.
Every fight in the past seemed to be like sand at their feet, so very small and undetectable.
She said these words for Pei Ran, but to the ears of her team, there was a different flavor to them. A short haired girl said,
“Captain, do you want to be in a relationship? The captain from team one, I think, is an option. Every time the base distributes provisions, he lets us go first.”
“Too buff. I like those that are a bit more gentlemanly. Best if they could be pushed down with just one finger.”
Her group mates almost couldn’t breathe from their laughter,
“Then you should head over to the medical team to take a look around. Dr. Bai’s assistants are all students from a medical school, and they all look very “gentlemanly” with their glasses on.”
“Fuck off, Dr. Bai is researching for a cure. There are soldiers guarding him everywhere — the entry ways, up, down and sideways through the entire three-floor building. I’ll be eating shit before I go throw myself in there.”
In the midst of their conversation, the truck stopped right before a shopping center and Tao Xi Ran remembered something then, hitting herself in the head in frustration. She said to Pei Ran,
“Ah, take a look at my dumb pig brain! I forgot to ask where you guys were going. Uh, this, uh…… what to do, hmm, why don’t you guys come with us.”
Team 7’s mission was to find and collect provisions in the building and clear out any high level zombies around the area. Then they would bring the orbs back to the base to be studied. It couldn’t be described as hard, but it could not be written off as easy as T4s or T5s could appear. So, having two more high leveled ability holders would only be making it safer.
Pei Ran didn’t really mind nor care so he said,
After all, no matter where you kill zombies, you’re still killing zombies.
Qu Yan was not as mindless as Pei Ran and immediately saw through Tao Xi Ran’s little scheme. His eyes scanned over her, making cold sweat drip down her back, before grabbing Pei Ran’s hand and pulling him out of the truck.
A girl in the team, Xiao Mi, couldn’t resist the urge to lightly poke fun at Tao Xi Ran,
“Captain, why are you bringing them along? There are so many zombies in there. If we get into danger, we will have to protect them. How troublesome.”
At this, Tao Xi Ran used a pinky to scratch her ear and gave her a look,
“You’re thinking too much. One of them is a level 3 electric type and the other is a level 4 psychic type. If not, why would I be wasting so much effort to trick them into coming with us.”
Xiao Mi’s eyes widened from her shock,
There were a few electric type ability holders that the higher ups in the base had in their repertoire and their leader could only dream of having another pair of eyes on them to make sure they were all safe and sound. The highest level right now was already level 4, and without any interference, he could immediately one shot two level 4 zombies. Not to speak of the ability that was the hardest to level up, the psychic ability, so it was no wonder why Xiao Mi was so shocked.
Tao Xi Ran didn’t have it in her to explain any further and unsheathed her Tang Dao sword and rushed directly into the building.2
The electric ability had more of an AOE attack so within a few minutes, Pei Ran had already taken care of the zombies on the first floor with his electric net. He was just crouched on the ground, digging for orbs, with Qu Yan protecting him from the back and using his psychic ability to investigate every inch of this building, when Qu Yan bent down, using his fingernails to lightly scratch at Pei Ran’s shoulders. Qu Yan quietly whispered,
“I’m just going to head up for a bit. Be right back.”
Pei Ran thought that there was a high probability that a high level zombie was up top, so he nodded his head and said,
The corners of Qu Yan’s lips hooked up and he lightly pecked at Pei Ran’s lips before going up the escalator to the upper floors. When Tao Xi Ran and her team came running in, they only saw Pei Ran digging for orbs by himself in the wide open atrium.
Xiao Mi looked all around to see the fried zombies and stuck her tongue out before hiding behind Tao Xi Ran, only revealing her head as she observed Pei Ran. She could see that this man really hated the task of digging out brain matter, his face a show of total disgust.
“Hey, where’s your partner? Did he dump you?”
Pei Ran’s head didn’t even move and he didn’t say much,
“Still a kid with a desire to play. Who knows where he ran off to.”
Just as he finished grabbing all the orbs from the zombies on the first floor, Pei Ran dusted off his pants and headed towards the second floor. Tao Xi Ran signaled for her team to follow along and grabbed her sword tightly in a familiar stance, preparing for any sudden zombie ambushes.
Just as they reached the corner with the elevator, a sudden roar rang out as a black shadow rushed towards them. Pei Ran was just preparing to defend them when an icy glimmer flashed before his eyes, and Tao Xi Ran decapitated the zombie.
Pei Ran quietly looked down at the brain matter splattered on him, thinking that these women were truly so strong.
The members of the seventh squad were used to this scene and all gave a thumbs up,
“Captain, you’re amazing!”
Tao Xi Ran’s fire ability was at the peak of level 2, but she liked using her sword more. With smooth and experienced movements, she chopped the heads off the zombies and suddenly exclaimed in surprise,
“What, they’re tier 2 zombies!”
To avoid trying to kill the same zombies, Pei Ran had especially avoided their direction so he had not noticed at first, but something sparked in his brain then and his expression changed as the zombies he was killing were all T2, and he quickly ran back towards Tao Xi Ran.
“Hey, handsome fellow, how many zombies have you killed?”
Pei Ran’s eyebrows were tightly furrowed,
“Do you find that something’s not quite right? The zombies I killed on the first floor were all T1, then the zombies on the second floor were all T2, and the third floor……”
Tao Xi Ran paused and realized the issue. Team 7 all reflexively lifted their heads to look up, but they were not sure,
“So according to what you’re saying, it wouldn’t all be T3s on the third level right……”
Zombies were not humans, so how could they be split by their levels like this. But even so, the group couldn’t help but back up, preparing to leave.