Chapter 146

Song Haoxuan was an ambitious person with outstanding abilities, otherwise, he wouldn't have stood out from his other brothers and become the leader of the Song family at a young age. After the outbreak of the apocalyptic days, the Song family died one by one, but he triggered his dual-system thunder and fire ability, soaring to the top and becoming a lord.

A man with strong ambitions and strong strength would inevitably have some pride, and Song Haoxuan's pride was particularly important to him. It's not exaggerating to say that he was quite arrogant. He thought he was the top presence among the ability users in Country C, but found someone similar to him and this person's strength was only slightly inferior to his won and would soon possibly catch up to him. He was irritated, to say the least.

He nodded lightly at Lin Wenbo and others as he greeted them. He then looked at Dou Heng and asked, "You're a thunder system ability user. There are no other thunder system zombies, so no corresponding crystal nucleus. How did you train to fourth-level low-grade?"

Hidden behind everyone, Gong Xiangyi's eyes flashed. The way the thunder ability users could increase their strength was by absorbing nature's thunder and it was Song Haoxuan himself who told his people that in her previous life. He had said that he once encountered a thunderstorm when he was on a mission. He didn't know whether it was because he was a thunder ability user, but he was chased and hit by several huge lightning strikes in succession. Finally, after the storm ended, his thunder ability instantly rose to third-level mid-grade. Since then, he always chose to go out to train during thunderstorms and his level increased rapidly like that. At that time, there was only one thunder ability user in Country C. He naturally didn't care to let others know this secret. Today though, Dou Heng wasn't dead and his strength was almost the same as him, enough to be Song Haoxuan's opponent. This certainly would make the other nervous.

Dou Heng stood behind Gong Lixin expressionlessly and didn't lift his eyes to look at Song Haoxuan. He answered calmly, "The same way you train, I train." The indifferent tone showed that he didn't even look at the other person even though the opponent was a strong, dual-system ability user.

Song Haoxuan's gentle and polite smile didn't change, only a cold light flicked across his eyes. This man, this base would be a stumbling block on his way to hegemony. Although he wants to remove all these people in front of him, he wasn't stupid enough to do it immediately. Isn't the Gong family going to Pu'an County? Pu'an County was not far from Liaocheng. He would try to figure out afterwards what was the situation with the Gong family's base. Knowing yourself and knowing your opponent is the first step to win a fight.

Thinking of that, his slightly cold eyes softened again, showing a kind face to everyone present. He paid too much attention to Dou Heng and naturally ignored the handsome young man standing beside Gong Yuanhang, so he naturally didn't see this young man making eye contact with He Jin.

As soon as he got out of the car, Gong Lixin searched for He Jin's figure among the crowd and saw He Jin walking slowly behind Song Haoxuan. As soon as he saw the other, his eyes lit up and he wanted to rush to He Jin's side and take a good look at him.

He Jin's deep, three-dimensional facial features were as cold as usual, but the careless arc usually at the corner of his mouth had disappeared. There was no unrestrained joy in his dark-turquoise eyes, only an ice-cold look enough to freeze people. At first glance, He Jin had already spotted the figure of the teenager among the crowd. The thick frost in his eyes slightly dissolved and the arc at the corner of his mouth was small, but could not be seen unless one looked closely.

Seeing the young man running in his direction, He Jin shook his head invisibly, the refusal in his turquoise eyes was so obvious that Gong Lixin stopped immediately and stood there, stunned.

"If he doesn't want to be acquainted with us, then so be it. We haven't seen each other for a few years, even best friends would become rusty. This is normal." Lin Wenbo patted the young man's shoulder to appease him. He was happy to see He Jin's detached attitude. After all, he still couldn't forget the aggressive way the man looked at Xiaoxin a year ago.

"Hmm." Gong Lixin agreed with his brows in a frown. Seeing He Jin only slightly nod in response to the call of Wang Tao and the others, Gong Lixin's eyes darkened. In the past three years, he and He Jin hadn’t seen each other often. In the last year, the phone calls had become less and less. It was inevitable that the relationship between them became indifferent. Although he knew it in his heart, Gong Lixin still felt very lost. Putting aside the relationships of the previous owner of his body, He Jin was the first friend he made after coming to this different world, which had a very special meaning for him. Bit by bit, the time spent with He Jin had never been forgotten, always remembered. But obviously, this fresh memory was only cherished by him but had faded from He Jin's heart.

His heart twanged with pain and Gong Lixin looked down, no longer looking at He Jin as he snuggled into Lin Wenbo's arms, trying to find a trace of comfort. Lin Wenbo's lips hooked up and he took the other's shoulder, gently comforting the other, like swaddling a baby. His movement was gentle and unreasonably reassuring that Gong Lixin quickly got rid of his dour emotions and raised his head to smile at Lin Wenbo.

Amid their intimate interaction, neither saw the flash of pain in He Jin's eyes.

After a simple chat between Song Haoxuan and Father Gong and Song Haoran, the toll of two thousand kilograms of grain was taken away. Song Haoxuan then ordered the guards to open the gate of their base and let them come in for a rest. The other two thousand kilograms of grain would be delivered after the Gong family's base's people left Liaocheng safely. The Song family's base had several checkpoints on the national highways to keep track of those who entered and left Liaocheng. Without the consent of Song Haoxuan, the Gong family's base's people cannot pass the checkpoints. Although it was possible to force one's way through the checkpoint, in this world, no one would use their base's power for such needless conflicts.

Of course, because Song Haoxuan didn't know the true destination of Gong family's base's trip, he had agreed without any hesitation thinking that they were just going to Pu'an county. Pu'an county was small in scale, poor in materials and very close to the city of death, Ningcheng, so even if there were no hordes of zombies, there would be no bases willing to settle there. In Song Haoxuan's view, the Gong family's base's move was a last-ditch effort after being forced to do the impossible and there was no doubt in his mind about that.

The convoy slowly entered the gate. The brother and sister of the Jin family hid inside the truck, wearing heavy black hoodies and covering their heads and faces. Jin Shanghui sat on the seat obediently, his cheeks bulging with a crystal nucleus in his mouth and his handsome face carrying a hint of childishness. If not for his beast-like vertical pupil and the sharp nails hidden in his sleeves, he would be no different than an ordinary person. As a result, the guards of the Song family's base only hurriedly glanced at him before letting the vehicle in. Raising a zombie was such a crazy thing to do that only Jin Shangyu and Gong Lixin can think of it.

Jin Shangyu was lying beside the guardrail of the truck, peeking out into Song family's base from the gap between the green curtains. The Song family's base was large, the houses were very new and there were many people coming and going. Some people got together and chatted, some were discussing in the open space, and some people were washing a basin of clothes in front of their house. This cosy scene gave a glimpse of an illusion of the time before the apocalyptic days.

But clear-minded people knew at a glance that the seemingly peaceful Song family base truly reflected the cruel interpretation of the apocalyptic days. There were no old men with white hair, no innocent and lively children, only strong and arrogant people with abilities and women with dull and numb expressions and even some weak civilian men. Here, ordinary, healthy bodies lived as a slave on this base.

They had heard that the blood left by those civilians that were killed dyed the golden desert of Xiangcui Bay deep red a year ago and that dazzling red sand took half a month to fade under the onslaught of heavy rain. Song Haoxuan did what Bao Long and Kang Zhengyuan wanted to do but failed. It also allowed the Song family's base to retain all its strength during the famine. This deterred survivors of the whole Country C by brutal means.

If it were before, Jin Shangyu would definitely appreciate such characters as Song Haoxuan and maybe she would be willing to give up her life of isolation to live in this base because the other party would tolerate the existence of her brother and would also agree to feed him. But now, looking at the two ability user's who were fighting for life or death in the open space and a group of onlookers applauding at the spectacle and showing an indifferent crowd, she shook her head and sneered at Song family's base.

"Brother, fortunately, we met Gong Lixin. Look at you, almost like a human man. You live a more fulfilling life than me." Touching the head of her brother, Jin Shangyu sighed. Jin Shanghui glanced at her, stretched out his claws and flicked her hand away. When he heard the young man's name, he became restless, sniffing the young man's residual smell in the air. He stood up to get out of the car and look for the young man.

"Hey, don't mess around, or else Gong Lixin will be angry." Jin Shangyu hurriedly pressed her brother's shoulder, made a 'stay quiet' gesture like Gong Lixin with an exaggerated expression.

Miraculously, Jin Shanghui actually understood her meaning and sat back down, took out the python bag that the teenager had given him and put it under his nose to sniff. As if smelling the sweet fragrance from the teenager's body, Jin Shanghui squinted in pleasure. Both his golden, vertical eyes squinted and a shallow smile appeared at the corner of his lips, indicating his intoxication at the moment.

Jin Shangyu turned her head as she couldn't bear to directly look at such an elder brother and lamented, "Aiya~ How is it that I think elder brother has become more and more troublesome since following Gong Lixin?"

Beside the slowly moving convoy, Gong Xiangyi followed behind Gong Lixin and walked towards the base. She lowered her head, letting her silky hair cover her delicate face. Suddenly, Gong Lixin's black military boots disappeared from her sight. She was shocked and quickly accelerated her pace.

"Miss, you have to look where you walk." A good-looking young man with a look of contempt embraced Gong Xiangyi after she bumped into his arm.

"Let me go." Gong Xiangyi froze after hearing this familiar male voice before she started struggling violently.

"Oh, a feisty one! I like it!" The man's stomach was hit hard by the woman's elbow, giving him a sense of pleasure from the pain. The gentlemanly demeanour maintained by the man dissipated instantly. He grabbed Gong Xiangyi's chin, lifted her face to meet his eyes filled with rage and violence.

"Let go, I'm Gong Yuanhang's daughter." Gong Xiangyi looked pale as she stared at the man's cold, deep blue eyes in horror. She had used all the strength in her body to simply throw out those words. It was Ma Zhihong in front of her! Ma Zhihong who tortured her in her previous life to death! His lustful nature hadn't changed at all! What should I do? Right then, Gong Xiangyi wanted to scream for help, but her voice was clogged up and she couldn't make a sound.

"Let her go." Gong Lixin hadn't gone far and noticed the strong sense of fear in Gong Xiangyi's voice. He moved and looked back.

"Who are you?" The man asked when he saw the handsome young man who was slowly walking his way. Once the other stepped into the sunlight, the man's throat slid up and down. The youth's fair skin was almost transparent under the sunlight, like a flawless pearl. It tempted him so much, he wanted to eat the other whole!

The teenager didn't answer and turned the man's wrist to rescue Gong Xiangyi. The youth glanced at the man before going to catch up with Lin Wenbo and Song Haoran in front.

The man squinted and licked his lips. A dark shadow passed in his eyes as he eyed the prey he was bound to get. Such a dazzling and beautiful young man. Don't mention during these apocalyptic days, even before that, he had never met nor tasted someone so absolutely extraordinary.

Following closely behind Gong Lixin, Gong Xiangyi gradually broke free from her inner fear and said with a trembling voice, "Thank you." Finally, she felt at ease.

"Do you know that person? Are you afraid of him?" Gong Lixin asked in a low voice.

"No, I don't know him." Gong Xiangyi denounced. Just survive today and she would be safe when they left tomorrow. She also wanted to take revenge, but the horror from the past came into her heart like a tide and choked her on the spot. She could do nothing but escape. Perhaps, she could use Gong Lixin to kill the other. She dismissed the idea as soon as it came to her mind because she knew that Gong Lixin now was beyond her control.

Seeing Gong Xiangyi's calculations flickering in her eyes, Gong Lixin's curiosity dissipated in an instant. He glanced at her once but no longer asked anything. If Gong Xiangyi was willing to open up, he may have honestly been willing to help. But since the other party doesn't trust him and still had a mind to scheme, he would not bother with her.

CrazedCookies: Thank you Hiyuki for the Ko-Fi!