"Pure water doesn't conduct electricity." Yin Mei said, sitting next to the reading zombie emperor. All the zombie emperor really did these days was lounge around and read, or play games with the Ri twins when he was free. Yin Mei really wanted to ask him if he really was the zombie emperor or a godd*mn freeloader?
"You're right, it doesn't. Why are you saying this?" The zombie emperor said, flipping a page in his book and not looking toward the girl. Somehow, these days he always felt irritated when he looked at her, because he always felt like he was on the verge of remembering something, but never could. That made him feel extremely annoyed all the time. In the end, he could only try to not pay attention to her, though there was something in him that demanded he follow her all the d*mn time... just thinking about it was making him feel angry again!
"I found this out recently. When I asked the Dark Saint what abilities would work against a lightning user, to my surprise, he said water abilities were quite suitable, since they can create completely pure water." Yin Mei said. For most water users, they didn't create water out of thin air, but rather gathered up water molecules from the air around them to create water. But, that didn't mean they couldn't create water at all, it was just more energy consuming. And, when they did create water, they could create completely pure water if they so desired.
"Ha, haha, hahaha!" Yin Mei couldn't help but laugh, clutching her stomach as she leaned forward, tears springing up in her eyes. Who would expect that this cannon fodder called Lu Mei had a power that was so powerful against Lei Han's? She never would have realized it by herself!
Her laughter soon died down, and she fell silent, her face cold. She leaned back, looking at the ceiling. The silence stretched between the two for a long time, before Yin Mei finally spoke again. "I'm going to be leaving. I don't know how long I'll be gone, but it shouldn't take more than a few weeks. Take care of the kids for me."
She stood up, grabbing a bag on the kitchen counter before leaving the room.
The zombie emperor looked up only after she was gone, a complex expression on his face. But in the end, he did nothing about this feeling in his chest, and remained in the silent and empty room.
Before leaving, Yin Mei also talked to Ri En and Ri Yi. It wasn't that she didn't trust the zombie emperor, it was just that she clearly understood his personality. He was like the demon king... he didn't like to work! He was an emperor that couldn't do anything without someone else doing it for him. Yin Mei nodded. Actually, this wasn't exactly true. It was because she always did everything for him first that she never experienced him doing anything for himself, and thus misunderstood it as him being unable to do anything rather than him not having the opportunity to do anything.
Ri En and Ri Yi were nervous knowing that Yin Mei would be leaving for such a long time, and even more nervous when they found out she hadn't told Qin Shuang yet - f*ck, when he finds out, won't he end up destroying half the city with his tantrum? They were really worried! But no matter how much they begged Yin Mei to reconsider, she light heartedly laughed as she left them to their own devices.
Godd*mn, they didn't know that she was always this type of irresponsible person!
As for Yin Mei, after equipping herself with all manners of weapons and taking the military vehicle (since she was unwilling to walk), she began her journey to B City.
Well, all she could do was hope that H City wouldn't go to hell without her there. Only after thinking about it a bit did she realize just how much she was responsible for. She was the one who made all the decisions and commanded all the zombies. She even had to act as a teacher, chef, and mother for all the kids!
Man, she should get a Nobel prize for all the sh*t she did for H City and their group.
Driving in the military car, she drove on the empty road. Before, there had been cars abandoned here, but they had all been moved off by their zombies. Many people had also hijacked a few for themselves.
The road wasn't smooth, and had places where it looked like it had been partially destroyed due to various reasons. Even so, it was better than driving off road.
It didn't take long for Yin Mei to catch up with Andrei, maybe forty five minutes, who was walking at the edge of the road. Seeing his figure from far off, Yin Mei came to a stop next to him, and he looked at her in surprise.
"Want a ride?" She asked with a smile.
Andrei wouldn't give up such a sweet opportunity, so he nodded and got into the passenger seat.
"Where are you going?" He asked, curious. He felt that this girl was really mysterious.
"I decided to go see someone I know in B City. Spur of the moment decision." Yin Mei answered. "I'll come with you to go see the doctor," Yin Mei said. Would he kill her the moment he saw her?? Ahahaha, she was looking forward to it a little. Anyways, there was a little something she needed from his lab. She once more felt a little guilty. After stealing from him and running away, she would only be coming back to visit and steal from him again...
Oh well, such was life!
"... How is the kid doing?" Andrei asked after a long time. He didn't know that he had gotten so attached to that kid after such a long time, but he couldn't help but ask him. Even though he was the one who sold him off, he was still worried. He felt like a hypocrite, but in the end, he had to prioritize himself over a random child he picked off of the side of the road.
"The kid? I don't know," Yin Mei answered honestly. "Would you like me to check on him or something? He won't be bullied by the other kids. They've all experienced the same things as he's had, after all."
Andrei shook his head. He guessed she wouldn't know, after all, it had only been a little more than a day since he had been dropped off.
"Don't worry, kids that survive for this long will be tougher than you think. They're smart, adaptable, and talented. Though it may take him some time to warm up to the others, he won't experience any losses going up against them." Yin Mei said to comfort the man.
At those words, they stopped talking for the rest of the ride.
The reason why Yin Mei was so nice to Andrei was due to the fact that he would be pretty famous in the future. Well, maybe infamous was a better word. He was someone like the future Qin Shuang that hated humans. He did a lot of actions that jeopardized humanity, such as raiding cities and baiting zombie hordes over to human bases.
He would often be called the "One-eyed Scourge". Looking at him now, he still had two eyes and didn't seem too much like the type of guy who had it in for the rest of humanity. Clearly something had happened that caused him to seem hell bent on destroying all other humans...
Well, Yin Mei wouldn't mind bringing him over to their side. His ability was actually the highly coveted "copy" ability, and he had quite some capabilities to evade capture for so long and wreck havoc like that. Plus, for being so old, his ability was really rare and powerful, depending on how it was used. It was only that copy abilities like his tended to have a lot of activation restrictions.
The drive was uneventful, and they soon arrived on the outskirts of B City. The refugee camp was practically like its own bustling city, as more and more people had gathered, while less and less people were being let in. In fact, at this point in time, barely anyone was allowed in unless they were already a citizen or had a special city pass.
Yin Mei went to the back of the car to grab some things, and took out a knife sheathed to her thigh, sawing off her long and beautiful black hair so that it only reached just above her shoulders, the edges slightly rough and jagged. She wrapped a dirty scarf around her neck and put on a pair of goggles to hide her eyes, while slinging a sniper rifle across her back. She actually looked kind of similar to Andrei in the way she was dressed, matching up nicely in an apocalyptic war veteran kind of style.
For good measure, she also smeared her face with some dust and dirt, and felt exceedingly uncomfortable. Well, she had to have some sort of disguise to get through the front gate, right?
She threw the keys into the inside of the car, shutting the door without locking it.
"You aren't gonna put it into storage? They charge five rank 2 energy stones for it." Andrei said, worried that someone would steal the car by the time they came back.
"Don't worry. It's almost outta gas anyways, so it's useless." Yin Mei replied.
The two of them walked up to the front gates. Because Andrei was delivering the red card, and Yin Mei was his companion, the two were let in after a brief injury check.
"Wow, they let me in so easily." Yin Mei said, as pulled down the goggles so they hung around her neck. "Didn't even tell me to take of the goggles."
"Why wouldn't they let you in?" Andrei asked, as the two of them walked toward the center of the city, where the lab was.
"Well, I did some bad things in B City like two and a half years ago." She said, looking around at how much B City had changed. There was new construction going around seemingly everywhere, and perhaps it looked a little more crowded. But there didn't seem to be too much difference from when she was last here. Or perhaps she just couldn't remember anymore.
"Some bad things?" Andrei tried thinking, but he didn't seem to remember B City releasing any news like that. "Well, it must not be bad enough for them to put out a warrant."
"Well, you have to do some real bad things to get a warrant these days. Real bad things. Mass terrorism level bad, yeah?" Yin Mei looked around, glancing in the direction of her former apartments. She couldn't see it past the mass of high rise buildings blocking her sight.
She shook her head, and they soon arrived at the lab.
From what she could see, the security looked like it had increased since she was last there. Maybe it was because of her?
They were at first only going to grab the red card, but Andrei glanced at Yin Mei for a moment before speaking, "I have a message from the girl I exchanged the information with. Said it was to a 'Ming Wei' or something." Andrei said.
"You can't tell us here?" The security guard said in an annoyed tone of voice, and Andrei shook his head.
"I think it's better to deliver the message personally." He said.
"... Fine, I'll ask the head researcher." The man said reluctantly. He placed a couple guards on them first before sending a messenger. They did have communications devices, but those were for emergencies only. Unlike H City, which seemed like it didn't lack any water or power, B City had to continuously conserve their resources to manage the large amount of people in the city.
In the end, The two of them were let in and sent to a separate waiting room... which seemed more like an interrogation room. There was a surveillance camera, and two guards stood behind them at opposite sides.
Yin Mei appeared pretty relaxed, though she was a little worried over the abilities of the two guards.
Oh boy did she hope Ming Wei didn't hold a grudge against her.
"You said you had a message from Lu Mei?" Ming Wei immediately said as he entered, his face dark, clearly upset about something.
Yin Mei slowly put on her goggles, turning her head away slightly. Oh sh*t, he's reallyyyyyyy angry with me isn't he? She thought he woulda forgiven her after two years, but doesn't it look like he still hasn't forgiven her at all?
Andrei glanced discreetly at Yin Mei several times, but still faithfully relayed her message. He also handed over the red card, which Ming Wei read with an expression that grew darker with each word. He gripped the red card so hard that it cut into his hand, drawing blood before it disappeared, flowing down like blood and turning into red particles that scattered to the ground.
"Did she say anything else?" Ming Wei said, his voice as cold as ice.
Andrei didn't dare look the man in the eye, his eyes more obviously darting back and forth between him and Yin Mei. "Uh..."
Because it was so obvious, Ming Wei clearly noticed Andrei's reaction and finally turned his attention to the other person in the room. They looked like a small girl with short and choppy bobbed hair, goggles covering her eyes, and a scarf partially covering the rest of her face. He couldn't help but think who the hell let such a suspicious looking person in?
Yin Mei cleared her throat, standing up a little. "Yes, she did have something else to say. She wanted to say that she was extremely, super duper, uber, amazingly sorry and that she kinda wants to borrow some ability enhancing medicines..." Yin Mei trailed off, her face twitching a little and sweating as Ming Wei looked closer until she had to put her hands up and glance away. "Aren't you a little too close??"
His eyes were cold and piercing, as he continued to stare right at her.
"..." Cold sweat poured down Yin Mei's back and forehead. Only until Ming Wei leaned back did she breath a small sigh of relief, thinking that she hadn't been caught.
But then, an iron grip grasped at her wrist, and she looked up to a pair of icy eyes behind slender silver-framed glasses.
"You owe me exactly 2863 meals. And I will make sure that you repay me for each, and, every, one of them." He said, and Yin Mei gulped loudly.
Momma, please save me!