Pei Ning was still wearing a smug smile.
As expected of her sister. She looked busy enough to work herself to the bone every day, and whatever little free time she had was spent on some pretty boy, yet she knew everything going on in the base like the back of her hand.
She had known from the start that Guan Qian had ulterior motives, which was why she’d told Pei Ning to contact her the moment anything happened.
Pei Ning hadn’t understood the connection at first, but after following her sister around and learning from her for so long, her mind was at least a little sharper than it had been in her previous life.
The moment Guan Qian came to her and spoke those first few words, Pei Ning knew she’d been bought off.
Pei Ning couldn’t understand Guan Qian’s behavior. If the man she’d placed all her hopes in had turned into a pretty boy, it was only natural for her to feel disappointed. After all, Chu Yebai’s being abducted for sex had left Pei Ning feeling much the same way at the time.
But Gong Ran had only escaped from a maximum-security prison after the apocalypse began. When he was captured, Guan Qian had known him for no more than seven or eight days, at most.
And judging by how indifferent Gong Ran was toward her—after joining the base’s research organization, he hadn’t even asked about her once—it was obvious that their earlier interactions had never given Guan Qian any reason to fantasize.
How much feeling could there possibly be between them? It was nothing more than the halo cast by the other man’s achievements and dominance in the memories of her past life—in other words, a textbook case of admiration for the strong.
Pei Ning was no different. She had always felt that, at least on this point, she ought to understand Guan Qian’s train of thought.
A shattered fantasy and a heavy blow were understandable enough, but look at how well Guan Qian was living at the base now.
Her food, clothing, lodging, and transportation were all up to the standards reserved for top contributors. No one tried to hide her achievements, and the rewards she received for missions were generous. She had both fame and fortune.
On top of that, her sister was generous to an almost unbelievable degree, entrusting Guan Qian with every good thing she had without reservation. The level of trust she showed her was simply astounding.
With Guan Qian’s current circumstances, honestly, if she could just let go of that mad doctor Gong Ran and live it up, then with her money, looks, and influence, what kind of man could she not find?
She could change boyfriends every day if she wanted. Wasn’t keeping a pretty boy a wonderful life?
With so many good examples right in front of her, Pei Ning had always believed that Guan Qian would eventually be persuaded by this bright road laid out before her.
Perhaps she still harbored some resentment, but men were dogs, after all. Once disappointment piled up high enough, she would naturally let go.
Who would’ve thought she would still choose betrayal? What on earth was she thinking?
Pei Ning found it utterly baffling. Safe bases had been springing up all over the place after the apocalypse, like mushrooms after rain.
But in terms of strength, scale, and safety, their base was the best of the lot, wasn’t it?
Guan Qian was already one of the top-ranking figures here. Why betray the base and flee for the sake of promises that hadn’t even been fulfilled yet?
No matter how good those promises sounded, could they offer her more than her sister did? And what guarantee was there that they weren’t just deceiving her?
At the time, Pei Ning had looked at Guan Qian with an expression that was equal parts smug schadenfreude at watching an idiot crash and burn, and sincere, composed pity for her.
Her sister might be generous, but she was hardly a softhearted person.
Pei Ning had been certain Guan Qian was about to be in for a bad time. Then her sister said one sentence, and Pei Ning felt as if she’d been flung forward by a sudden emergency stop.
Pei Ning froze. The next second, she hurriedly wrapped herself around her sister’s leg. “Sis, I’m not leaving! Wherever you are, that’s where I belong. We’re sisters, remember?”
“Mom and Dad are still waiting for me to bring them meals every day. What will happen to them if I leave?”
Pei Liang’s parents had been brought over long ago. However, both of them were academics, and the moment they arrived at the base, they threw themselves into research. The daily needs of research personnel were naturally handled by professional nutritionists and health specialists, so Pei Liang had no need to deliver meals to them.
Perhaps because of her guilt from her previous life, though, Pei Liang still went to see them every day. For a while, this made the elderly couple feel relieved that their second daughter had finally grown sensible and mature.
It was just that both their daughters had begun treating their love lives rather casually and messily, which gave them plenty to worry about.
But the apocalypse had come, and the two girls carried enormous responsibilities on their shoulders. They faced life-and-death situations every day and were under tremendous pressure. It was only natural that they might occasionally go too far in seeking an outlet, so the couple said nothing.
Pei Liang reached over and rubbed her “little sister’s” head, smiling. “Good girl! Think of it as a business trip with full pay. When you get back, I’ll build you a Chanel room.”
Pei Ning’s eyes lit up. Chanel had been her favorite brand before the apocalypse. Though the Pei family had been well-off, they were hardly wealthy enough to casually buy luxury items costing tens or even hundreds of thousands at a time.
As a result, she owned only a limited number of Chanel clothes, shoes, and handbags. But with her sister’s generosity, a whole room definitely wouldn’t be cramped. It would surely be filled to the brim with countless luxury goods.
That was the kind of treatment only a socialite worth billions before the apocalypse could enjoy. And now, she—
At that thought, the impulse in Pei Ning’s mind faded somewhat. She looked pitifully at her sister. “But I might not make it back alive.”
Pei Liang smiled. “Don’t worry. I’ll send people to protect you. Besides, you still have Guan Qian.”
Both Guan Qian and Pei Ning froze. Did this woman have any idea what was going on?
She had just personally caught Guan Qian betraying her, yet she was still treating her as one of her own?
Even Guan Qian found herself unable to cope with the trust Pei Liang placed in her, completely ignoring her suspicious behavior and divided loyalties.
She took two steps back and, deciding she had nothing left to lose, blurted out, “W-Why do you think I’ll still listen to you?”
“I’ve had enough of your arrogance! So, how does it feel to be stabbed in the back? Not pleasant, is it? I’ve wanted to say this for a long time—every time I saw that look on your face, like you had everything under control, I felt sick.”
Pei Liang smiled sweetly and patted her on the shoulder. “I heard you used to be a nurse. You never changed jobs, did you?”
That sort of information wasn’t a secret. Guan Qian had been a nurse in both this world and her original one. However, the fact that she had never changed jobs was something Pei Liang had guessed correctly.
She eyed Pei Liang warily. “How did you know? What does that have to do with the situation now?”
“How could it not have anything to do with it? It has everything to do with it.” Pei Liang tilted her head. “Tell me, what did they promise you?”
Guan Qian knew she wouldn’t be able to bluff her way out of this. Since Pei Liang clearly already had a good idea who had contacted her, there was no point in pretending otherwise.
Hiding such an insignificant matter would only make her seem petty, and Guan Qian refused to lose face in front of Pei Liang.
So she said bluntly, “They promised me far more than you ever could. As long as I bring Pei Ning over, I’ll become the third-in-command.”
Pei Liang shook her head. “That base is indeed quite strong when it comes to combat ability alone.
“But its management—no, its ruling class, to be precise—is the Seven, led by their leader.”
“If you join us, that’ll make eight people.” Pei Liang looked at Guan Qian. “I don’t need to explain what it means to have an odd number of members, do I?”
Guan Qian was startled. A fact she had overlooked because she had been blinded by excitement suddenly surfaced in her mind.
The decision-making body had an odd number of members, naturally to prevent pointless deadlocks when controversial decisions arose.
Guan Qian had been in secret contact with the people on the other side for some time now. Yet judging by Pei Liang’s calculations, her understanding of that base was nowhere near as thorough as Pei Liang’s.
For a moment, despair filled her heart. With abilities like theirs, how could they possibly break through Pei Liang’s base and take it over?
Pei Liang continued, “Among the base’s pillar-level ability users, aside from those who joined later, you’re the easiest opening to exploit among the original members. And you possess enormous value. They’ll definitely try to find a breakthrough through you.”
“Of course, that’s also why I’ve been piling value onto you.”
“What?” Guan Qian abruptly raised her head and stared at Pei Liang in disbelief.
What value did she possess? Her experience as Gong Ran’s assistant, her rare spatial ability, and the trust Pei Liang had shown her without the slightest attempt to hide it.
Many of the base’s core personnel knew that, to prevent important documents and resources from being destroyed in an attack, Pei Liang stored some of them with Guan Qian as a safeguard.
It was considered a secret, but quite a few core personnel were aware of it. Still, it was by no means common knowledge. Fewer than ten people in the entire base knew about it.
A secret known by ten people was, naturally, capable of being discovered through careful questioning.
Only then did Guan Qian realize that this had been Pei Liang’s trap from beginning to end.
Otherwise, there would have been no need to tell anyone besides her, Chu Yebai, and Gong Ran. She had deliberately informed a few other people so that the secret would have a chance of leaking out.
From the very beginning, she had been used as bait to lure in those with ulterior motives.
Guan Qian’s eyes widened with fury. “You—”
Pei Liang raised an index finger and pressed it to her lips, smiling faintly. “Don’t worry. Everyone will be rewarded according to their contributions.”
“When you come back, you’ll get everything Pei Ning has—and you won’t receive any less.”
A whole room filled with luxury clothing, jewelry, shoes, and bags?
Guan Qian had been an ordinary person in both her lives, and at that moment, she was shamefully tempted.
The apocalypse had long since been twisted beyond recognition by Pei Liang. The biggest difference between her base and the one described in the original novel was this:
As long as ordinary people stayed inside the base, they could no longer feel that they were living through the apocalypse. It was as if everyone had returned to that orderly age when daily life was convenient and well-regulated.
Disaster had even driven the rapid development of technology. Life inside the base was now more convenient and advanced than it had been before the apocalypse.
Unlike other bases, it wasn’t a place where a minority exploited the majority, nor had the opportunities brought by evolution divided humanity into different classes.
There was no barter system inside Pei Liang’s base, either. No one had to sell their body for a packet of biscuits or a slice of bread.
Just as before the apocalypse, people could earn what they needed through their labor. Apart from a few regulations that had been slightly adjusted to account for the apocalypse, the laws and social order were much the same as they had been before.
When people live under stable conditions, naturally, they can still pursue beauty and vanity.
Take Pei Ning, for example. Apart from wearing the standard-issue uniform required during missions, she loved shopping and dressing up whenever she had free time.
A refined and beautiful woman, a hero admired by everyone in the base—she walked by in high heels, trailing a fragrant breeze, with a glamour comparable to the stars of the pre-apocalypse era.
The base’s outstanding female members were much the same. The evolution of their genes had improved their appearances to one degree or another.
As the leader of the base, Pei Liang was not the sort of person who suppressed her true nature. In fact, she had openly expressed her support for everyone in the base enjoying, within reason and within the law, what they had earned.
Except for the strict requirements imposed during work hours for the sake of safety and efficiency, she did not believe people should repress themselves in their private time.
As a result, there was not the slightest trace of oppression in the base’s atmosphere. Beauty was allowed to exist openly and unapologetically.
Even Chu Yebai’s base in the original novel had failed to achieve this, let alone the average bases where the strong preyed on the weak and humanity had fallen into ruin.
Guan Qian had never imagined that such living conditions could exist in the apocalypse. So when Pei Liang offered her that reward, she had been genuinely, shamefully tempted.
Yet her anger toward Pei Liang still held sway over her.
She desperately suppressed that shameful temptation and shouted, “Do you really think something like that can win me over?”
“Of course it can!” Pei Liang replied matter-of-factly.
Guan Qian’s expression grew even angrier, but then Pei Liang continued, “I said just now that you’ve never changed jobs. Do you know what I meant?”
“Young people always ignore objective circumstances, blindly drawn in by the grand promises others make.”
“But I can say with certainty that you’ll miss this job. Your abilities are indispensable to both me and the base.”
After all, she was one of the female protagonists. Her cheat-like ability naturally had to be exceptional. Spatial ability users were rare to begin with, and someone with an ability on Guan Qian’s scale was practically unheard of.
Protagonists always possessed a certain degree of uniqueness.
What was more, Guan Qian’s spatial power had not only grown as she absorbed more cores, but had also expanded in scope. It even seemed to be showing faint signs of coming to life.
According to Gong Ran, it might not be long before she could contain living organisms.
“So, during this period, you’ll be considered to be away on a business assignment. Your salary will continue as usual, and you’ll receive additional performance pay. Since you think you might have better prospects elsewhere, I don’t mind letting you experience it firsthand while remaining on the payroll.”
When she had finished, Pei Liang declared confidently, “In the end, you’ll still come back. Since you’ll ultimately be my person anyway, what’s wrong with me trusting you?”
Guan Qian’s face flushed, partly from anger and partly from embarrassment.
At this moment, she finally somewhat understood why Gong Ran had gone from stubborn and twisted at the beginning to actively throwing herself at Pei Liang now.
This woman was simply too—too—
Pei Liang then said, “All right, enough small talk.”
“Take Ning away tonight. Naturally, take everything in your spatial storage with you as well. We have to make the act convincing. If we don’t create the impression that the base has suffered devastating losses, how will the other side believe it and get to work without worry?”
“Wait. What kind of work?” Guan Qian had a bad feeling.
Pei Liang said, “They want Ning, don’t they? That means they’ve found out what Ning can do and want to imitate us—wipe out the zombies in one fell swoop and expand their territory, right?”
“Why, I’m positively grateful to them. The more good Samaritans like that, the better.”
Yu Cheng glanced at Pei Liang, clearly unable to understand what she meant for a moment.
Guan Qian and Pei Ning were just as bewildered. Sister, they were trying to expand their territory! Once their forces were firmly established, all the various factions would start competing with one another.
Weren’t you going to give up your advantage as the number-one faction?
Pei Liang, however, cheerfully said, “Many hands make light work. Dealing with the majority of the dangerous zombies and mutated plants and animals is our top priority.”
“Relying on our base alone would be far too inefficient. Naturally, we need to mobilize everyone.”
“As for what happens after the threat has been more or less eliminated…” Pei Liang shrugged. “It’ll all be my territory in the end anyway. Why worry about the details?”
So not only did she regard employees who harbored ulterior motives toward her as her own, she had already claimed the base trying to poach them as her property too?
For a moment, the three of them inexplicably felt sorry for the base trying to recruit them. What were they working so hard for? To do unpaid labor for Pei Liang?
Pei Liang continued making arrangements. “However, you and Ning aren’t very capable of protecting yourselves. You’ll still need someone to look after you.”
“Don’t worry. That base has quite a few of my people in it as well. They’ll discreetly support you. But they’re operating undercover, so they can’t afford to reveal themselves and are somewhat constrained.”
“Having other people join the rebellion at the last minute would leave traces that are far too obvious. No one would believe them.”
“So this is what we’ll do: I’ll have Bai Rou and the others defect with you. Their strength is more than enough to protect you, and with their captain having just been captured, they have ample reason to do so.”
Yu Cheng opened his mouth, but in the end, he said nothing.
Actually, it might be better for the other four members of the Reincarnation Squad to keep a little distance from him for the time being.
Unlike him, the only thing the four of them wanted was to stay alive. Even if there really was something fishy about the Reincarnation Game, they wouldn’t risk themselves investigating it.
If they stayed too close to him, they might instead be exploited by the game. Yu Cheng didn’t have particularly deep feelings of camaraderie for them, but if possible, he still didn’t want the teammates who had fought alongside him to end up turning their blades on one another.
Pei Liang had thought everything through thoroughly, taking every aspect into consideration.
And so, when Guan Qian’s true purpose was finally exposed, not only was she spared, she was even allowed to leave with Pei Ning, Bai Rou and the others, countless important documents and research findings from the spatial storage, and a pile of snacks and clothes Pei Liang had stuffed in for fear that they might not live comfortably.
Guan Qian was completely dazed.
She had never heard of anyone making such a success of being a traitor. It was practically a paid business trip—no matter which side won, she came out ahead.
She was unbelievably badass! If not for Pei Ning’s thoroughly disgruntled face beside her, she might even have believed that her own abilities were really that incredible.
The people sent to receive them were visibly delighted when they saw that she had actually managed to bring Pei Ning out. Then they glanced at Bai Rou and the others.
They asked warily, “Who are they?”
Before Guan Qian could answer, Bai Rou spoke first. “You’re planning to take down Pei Liang’s base, right?”
“As long as you’re enemies of Pei Liang, you’re our friends.”
Her expression was far too resolute, and the hatred in her eyes was far too obvious. The contact was stunned for a moment.
Then he carefully asked Guan Qian, “What… what’s going on with them?”
Guan Qian felt no joy at having successfully backstabbed Pei Liang. All she felt was exhausted.
So she casually said, “Oh, them? Four of the five people leading the convoy that defected to us earlier today.”
“Their captain was too beautiful, so that female sex fiend took a fancy to him and simply snatched him away. Out in the middle of nowhere, she had her way with him along with Chu Yebai and Gong Ran.”
“They were locked up too. I’m guessing they’re planning to dissect them for Gong Ran’s research. Naturally, they hate Pei Liang to the bone now.”
Guan Qian had barely finished speaking when Bai Rou shrieked, “Don’t bring that up again! I never should have told you!”
Pei Ning hurriedly comforted her. “All right, all right, don’t get worked up. There, there! The three of us have all been through this. You can cry on my shoulder.”
“Who the hell wants to cry?” Bai Rou’s face twisted viciously. The fair, beautiful woman had been driven to profanity. “I’m going to butcher Pei Liang.”
Pei Ning thought that, at times like this, it was probably best to lie flat and accept reality. From now on, any man Bai Rou fell for would definitely end up being one of those three, joining them in committing unspeakable acts against the newcomers. Pei Ning had more or less figured out the pattern.
Her sister really was something else. Still, although Pei Ning was only pretending to defect, she couldn’t bring herself to join in cursing her sister.
After all, whenever she thought of the Chanel-filled suite waiting for her back home, her sister seemed to wear an angelic halo in her eyes.
So she changed tactics and tried to comfort Bai Rou. “All right, all right, no crying, then. I mean, when you’re upset about this, wouldn’t it make you feel a little better to look at Guan Qian and me?”
Bai Rou was completely beyond reason by now. She glared at Guan Qian and Pei Ning. “How could that possibly make me feel better? Those two men are in there too! They’re accomplices. Why should I sympathize with people who like accomplices?”
“They willingly corrupted themselves. Our captain is innocent.”
Pei Ning and Guan Qian were losing patience. “You’re so annoying! They haven’t even come back yet at this hour. What’s the point of raging helplessly here?”
“Maybe your captain’s still being used.”
Bai Rou nearly burst a blood vessel. “You two—don’t talk as if you were any help back then! If you’d been able to stop it, we wouldn’t have had to defect and seek refuge at another base to get revenge!”
“The men you liked were used too. What gives you the right to stand there and look down on me?”
If she didn’t want their sympathy, and she didn’t want them standing by coldly either, then what exactly did she want?
Before the apocalypse, Pei Ning had been spoiled and willful. Even after everything she had endured in her previous life, once she latched onto her sister’s coattails, she had everything she wanted—and that spoiled nature came right back.
Guan Qian was the same. She had more than a little inflated sense of self-importance. Otherwise, how could she have such an intense possessiveness toward a villain who didn’t return her feelings?
At first, the two of them had still wanted to reason with Bai Rou. But now? To hell with putting up with this woman.
They stabbed back without hesitation. “At least your captain is only being used by three people at once.”
Upon hearing that, Bai Rou burst into tears. She raised her hand and lunged at the two women, ready to fight.
The people from the other base who had come to meet them were completely dumbfounded. They hurriedly restrained the three women. By now, they had finally stopped harboring any doubts.
To avoid making too much noise and exposing themselves, they hurriedly bundled the whole group into the vehicle. Thanks to the preparations they had made in advance—and the convenience provided by Pei Liang—they soon made their way out of the base.
Although it was certainly a good thing that these women, whose minds were foolish but whose abilities were exceptionally useful, had genuinely defected, the reason for their defection was truly difficult to put into words.
And then there was Pei Liang. She really was the nightmare of handsome men. What kind of depraved play was this? Just listening to it made them feel sorry for the captain who had only just arrived at the base.
What a pity. He seemed like a powerful person. Still, perhaps they could see whether his humiliation and resentment might be used to win him over later.
According to Bai Rou, this man named Yu Cheng was an upright person. Surely he wouldn’t become corrupted like the bandit chief Chu Yebai and the killer doctor Gong Ran, would he?
Yu Cheng and Pei Liang stood at a concealed vantage point, watching from afar as the vehicle drove away from the base.
Then, after signaling Yu Cheng to activate his ability, the two of them returned to the moving vehicle.
After all, a performance had to be convincing from beginning to end. Since these people had chosen to make their move at this particular time, they must have had some way of keeping track of Pei Liang’s movements. They had to make sure she had truly returned at this time, or it would arouse suspicion.
When the two suddenly appeared in the back seat, Chu Yebai asked, “Have they been sent off?”
“They have. I hope they’ll work hard and not let down all the assistance I’ve provided.”
All three of them knew that “they” did not refer to Pei Ning and the others, but to that base.
Among the things Guan Qian had taken with her were quite a few plans for clearing out zombies and aggressive mutant plants and animals—practically step-by-step instructions.
That was precisely so they would do their jobs properly, eliminate dangers, and expand the safe zones.
If regions all over the world worked together, humanity would eventually reclaim the Earth from the zombies and monsters.
By then, aggressive creatures would either be domesticated or driven into remote, uninhabited mountains and forests, just like dangerous wildlife had been before the apocalypse.
In essence, there was not much difference.
Gong Ran asked, “The pheromones have already been produced in bulk. We’re just waiting for the right opportunity to distribute them to bases across the country.”
“But about what the two of you discussed privately in the car just now—when are you planning to tell us?”
Pei Liang thought for a moment. “When Guan Qian comes back.”
Gong Ran immediately understood what she meant. “You suspect—”
Pei Liang nodded. “You said it yourself. Guan Qian’s ability doesn’t fit the logic of evolution. Compared with ordinary people, there’s nothing exceptional about her evolutionary genes—in fact, they’re downright average.”
“And yet she can control such an enormous storage space, and that space is already showing signs of mutation. My guess is the same as yours: before long, Guan Qian’s space should be able to ‘come alive.’”
“Then, once that happens, will her space still count as an ability? Will it still exist within this world? What is its true nature? Will it remain within the reach of the world’s laws?”
“Once we confirm that, everything will be much easier. I won’t have to go to such lengths to help you understand.”
Gong Ran nodded. “That’s true!”
Yu Cheng followed up, “I see. So that’s why you allowed her to defect?”
Because by then, when Pei Liang used Guan Qian’s “living space,” she would have to be absolutely certain of Guan Qian’s loyalty.
Guan Qian already harbored resentment toward her, but this sort of thing was better released than suppressed. It would be better to let Guan Qian make her own comparisons.
Pei Liang nodded. By then, the vehicle had already entered the base.
The three of them turned to Yu Cheng. His whole body tensed, and he suddenly had a bad feeling.
Pei Liang smiled. “If we’re putting on an act, we have to make it convincing. Since you’re the reason Bai Rou and the others defected, you’ll have to show that you really went through the misery she described.”
With that, she glanced at Chu Yebai and Gong Ran. “I’ll go first.”
