Everyone was startled. Several of them instinctively aimed their guns at the man.
The man’s appearance was striking—the kind of handsome face people never forgot after seeing it once.
There was an extraordinary air about him as well. Like Chu Yebai, he was the sort of person who would stand out at a glance in any crowd. In fact, his presence was even more flamboyant than Chu Yebai’s.
After all, given the nature of Chu Yebai’s profession, he often had to keep a low profile and rein himself in. That had cultivated his ability to switch effortlessly between restraint and openness.
The man in the white coat was different. Although he was unarmed and did not appear to possess the ferocity of a bandit, he inexplicably gave off a sense of extreme danger.
The bandits were particularly sensitive to that sort of feeling. Even Chu Yebai narrowed his eyes, his entire body shifting into a combat-ready state.
There were more than a thousand people aboard the ship, including quite a few medical personnel, yet no one had any impression of this man.
Not even the appraiser, whose memory was practically photographic, recognized him. That meant the man could not have been on the ship.
So how had he suddenly appeared aboard a cruise ship several kilometers from shore? And how were his clothes still dry and immaculate?
The group even hesitantly looked around, but there was indeed no small boat anywhere near the cruise ship.
The man, however, seemed completely unconcerned by their wariness.
His gaze fell on Pei Liang, and he said in a certain tone, “You haven’t evolved.”
He then glanced at Zhong An, who was stark naked. He did not seem particularly interested in Zhong An himself, but the eagerness in his eyes—the eagerness to pin him to an operating table—nearly scared Zhong An into wetting himself.
Zhong An hurriedly hid behind Pei Liang. At this point, he had completely abandoned any semblance of dignity and asked in a trembling voice, “Pei Liang, who the hell is this thing?”
The man was quite polite. Hearing that, he smiled and gave an apologetic look. “My name is Gong Ran. You could say I’m a scholar, more or less.”
“I was simply too curious about the mutated creatures in the deep sea, so I followed you here to take a look. I didn’t expect to witness such a spectacular scene. What a pleasant surprise.”
From the way he spoke, it was clear that he had learned about the evolution and mutation caused by the radiation almost immediately as well. An ordinary person who awakened an ability right away would still be lost in fear or excitement.
Yet this man had appeared silently in the middle of the ocean. That was not something ordinary human strength could accomplish. It seemed he had already become highly proficient in using his ability.
Furthermore, like Chu Yebai and Zhong An—rare individuals of their kind—he had already possessed power capable of bringing about a qualitative transformation while everyone else was only beginning to awaken, with their abilities showing only weak external effects.
He had not only mastered the use of his ability, but had also determined that the creatures in the ocean had mutated and immediately gone down to investigate.
It seemed he, too, had learned in advance that Earth’s organisms would evolve because of this radiation. The only question was where he had gotten his information.
Pei Liang could say with certainty that this man had to be another major character connected to the plot. Moreover, this was not a storyline with Pei Ning as its female protagonist.
Pei Liang could not help feeling delighted. She had not expected to be this lucky. Before even reaching shore, another storyline had already connected with her.
Gong Ran noticed the expression on Pei Liang’s face, and his smile widened slightly. “You seem very happy. Did something I said give you an important clue?”
Pei Liang nodded without a care. “You could say that.”
She then spoke in the same certain tone. “Your ability can alter the state of your body? For example, turn you into water?”
The interest in Gong Ran’s eyes grew even stronger. In truth, this was not difficult to deduce.
He had appeared silently in the middle of the ocean. That meant he had either flown, swum, or teleported.
If he had flown, then with the excellent eyesight of everyone present, they would not have failed to notice him until he spoke.
As for teleportation, it always required a coordinate to serve as an anchor—either a place he had previously visited or a location fixed by sight. One of those conditions had to exist.
Although this ship could be seen as a tiny speck from far away on the surface of the sea, the entire world had only just begun awakening its abilities. No matter how extraordinarily talented someone was, they could not yet wield such precision.
That left swimming as the only possibility. But if he had transformed into a marine creature, swimming all the way here would still require considerable stamina. And an ordinary animal transformation could not explain how his clothes had remained undisturbed.
Only by merging with water while also being able to freely separate himself from it could he accomplish this so effortlessly.
Gong Ran never took his eyes off Pei Liang. There was even an undisguised possessiveness in his gaze.
He smiled. “You’re very different.”
“At first, I thought you were a strength-type evolved individual. Even so, you’re fundamentally different from ordinary people.”
After saying that, he glanced at Chu Yebai and added casually, “Of course, so are you.”
Though he said that, his attitude showed little interest in Chu Yebai.
In Gong Ran’s view, although Chu Yebai’s previous performance had been impressive, his battle against the giant octopus had still relied on an exceptionally advantageous ability type and extraordinary talent to contend with a monster beyond the limits of common understanding.
It was certainly dazzling, but still within the scope of Gong Ran’s comprehension. Based on Chu Yebai’s current performance, he could even deduce the man’s various physical attributes from before his evolution.
He was a powerful warrior, but still someone Gong Ran could understand.
The people aboard this ship had clearly come prepared for the apocalypse. Their understanding of abilities was even far beyond that of the outside world, making it impossible not to suspect that they had been preparing in advance.
That had been Gong Ran’s initial assumption. But then he discovered that this woman had not severed the octopus with brute force.
The diameter of the tentacles was limited, so the difference was not immediately obvious. But when she cut off the octopus’s entire head, Gong Ran saw—and even sensed—the truth clearly.
A force he did not understand was hidden within that strike. It could solidify qi into something tangible, and when it cut into the octopus’s head, she had even manipulated the creature’s own blood, turning it into blades that attacked its master.
Before the dozens-of-meters-long blade pierced the octopus’s eye, an enormous blade that seemed to have condensed into physical form had already wounded it.
Otherwise, given the creature’s cunning and agility, it would not have been dismembered so easily.
That discovery made Gong Ran abandon his theory that the woman was a strength-type evolved individual. He then assumed her ability might involve air blades or something similar. But when the octopus’s blood condensed into blades and attacked its own body, he wondered whether she could control liquids instead.
In the end, however, he dismissed all of those theories after observing the various signs.
This woman had not awakened an ability at all. She had accomplished everything through her own physical capabilities.
Then there was the man she had turned into a giant blade, as well as his earlier performance, the way he had initially been hung from the flagpole as punishment, and the things he had said after coming down.
It was not difficult to guess that, perhaps after awakening his ability, he had challenged the woman’s authority—only to be effortlessly subdued.
The evolution brought about by the radiation meant that future humans might easily accomplish what she had done.
But someone who had broken through the limits of humanity before evolution, and who possessed a source of power Gong Ran still did not understand, was exceptionally rare.
That made Gong Ran incredibly excited.
Gong Ran’s smile deepened. He looked at Pei Liang, but the expression on his face was enough to send chills down the spines of all the bandits behind him.
Then he said, “I really want your body.”
The bandits all sucked in a sharp breath. The way they looked at Gong Ran instantly became one of profound respect.
What kind of hardcore man was this? To think he actually had the guts to say something like that.
Then they suddenly remembered their boss’s predicament. As the saying went, better for someone else to die than for oneself. This white-coated, bespectacled man might be sinister, but he was also quite handsome—objectively speaking, he was no worse-looking than their boss.
If that woman hit it off with him and took a liking to him, wouldn’t that mean their boss might be spared?
With this thought, the bandits turned to their boss with looks of anticipation. But the moment they saw him, they knew something was wrong.
Why was their boss still frowning?
Chu Yebai had no intention of paying attention to this bunch of idiots. His wariness had only grown stronger.
Although he had his own motives, losing Pei Liang—the core powerhouse of their team—at a time like this would be a major inconvenience.
Pei Liang, however, didn’t seem offended by Gong Ran’s words in the slightest.
She smiled. “The premise for saying something like that is being capable of doing it. Do you think you can do it right now?”
“You understand perfectly well that if you merely obtain a portion of my body, it will never be enough to satisfy your curiosity.”
“To uncover the secret, you would need complete control over me.”
Pei Liang took a step forward, moving even closer to Gong Ran. Her deep gaze met his directly, as though the desire in his eyes—which would have sent shivers down anyone else’s spine—was beneath notice.
Nothing more than a child’s delusion.
Pei Liang enunciated each word. “Can you do that?”
Gong Ran stared at her deeply for a long while before answering honestly, “Not yet.”
He glanced at Chu Yebai. “Just dealing with his telekinesis takes everything I have.”
He could come and go without a trace, shifting and transforming unpredictably, but that man’s ability happened to be one of the few he had imagined might be able to counter him.
What was more, Chu Yebai’s mastery and talent for developing his ability were no inferior to his own. Just dealing with the man alone was already difficult.
And then there was this woman.
Her combat strategies were ingenious, and she wasn’t constrained by common sense. Before asking that question, she had probably already come up with several ways to deal with him.
So he said with genuine regret, “What a pity.”
“I should have brought something with me. Sure enough, the world is unpredictable. You never know what will happen the next second.”
With his abilities, he could have quietly mixed some poison into the water tanks aboard the ship. There was a real chance everyone would have fallen victim to it.
Pei Liang merely laughed. “Give me a break. You couldn’t bring yourself to do something like that.”
“You have a powerful need to perform. You’re the type who cares less about the outcome than whether you’re the one directing the entire affair. Someone like you could never hide away and cause trouble in secret. You would have to make sure everyone knew that the pain came from you.”
“Isn’t that right, killer doctor Gong Ran?”
For an instant, the smile on Gong Ran’s face stiffened. His eyes turned more dangerous than ever before, but he quickly returned to normal.
Looking at Pei Liang, he said, “I remember my crimes were classified. How did you find out about them, dancer Pei Liang?”
After all, he was a dangerous researcher. But there was no denying his talent and ability.
Pei Liang smiled carelessly. “Guess. If you can’t figure it out, then this will be another secret that can only be unlocked by taking control of me.”
Gong Ran laughed. “True enough. I’ll ask you once you’re lying on my dissection table.”
As he spoke, he leaned backward, and his entire body began to fall toward the sea.
Chu Yebai tried to control him with telekinesis, but Gong Ran had clearly been prepared. The speed of his descent slowed for an instant, but in the next second, his body liquefied and merged with the surface of the sea, becoming one with it.
Even if Chu Yebai was a genius, there was nothing he could do to overturn the ocean.
All he could do was watch Gong Ran vanish without a sound.
Both sides understood the situation perfectly. With Gong Ran’s abilities, confronting Chu Yebai and Pei Liang head-on might be difficult, but simply withdrawing was easy.
The incident didn’t have much practical impact. The people who had nearly been beaten to death by the octopus’s tentacles were immediately treated by the doctors, who managed to keep them alive.
The doctor’s healing ability was formidable, but he had already expended a great deal of energy that morning.
Those who had suffered serious injuries would be unable to fight for the time being. They could only be carried back to their rooms to rest.
The other guests aboard the ship, meanwhile, had been thoroughly frightened. The sheer visual impact of what had just happened was enough to leave anyone traumatized.
Once they realized that the surface of the sea was not safe at all, those who had previously thought it might be nice to remain out on the water no longer felt that way.
Who knew whether a gigantic mutated shark might use the cruise ship to sharpen its teeth next time? Or whether a mutated whale might simply ram the ship and sink it? Judging by the octopus’s proportions just now, if a whale underwent a similar mutation, it might be able to swallow the entire ship in one bite.
Still, since a fierce battle awaited them once they reached shore, lunch was served ahead of schedule.
The main course was octopus meat that had been tested and confirmed to be both nonpoisonous and edible.
As they ate the octopus meat and recalled what had happened earlier, it somehow no longer seemed quite so horrifying.
One of the tentacle tips had even been roasted in the style of a whole roasted lamb. It tasted surprisingly delicious, and both children and adults enjoyed it.
Despite the octopus’s enormous size, its meat hadn’t grown tough. It was fresh, tender, and pleasantly chewy, and the generous chunks of meat had everyone exclaiming over how satisfying they were.
Pei Liang nodded. “Looks like we won’t have to worry about food in the future.”
Just then, someone came over and reported, “Boss, part of the octopus’s brain and heart is missing.”
Octopuses had nine brains and three hearts. Of the nine brains, only the main brain was responsible for thought. The other eight were located where the tentacles connected to the body. They weren’t responsible for thinking, but were connected to the memory system.
Part of the main brain and one of the auxiliary brains were missing. There was no need to ask who had done it. Naturally, it was Gong Ran. After all, his original purpose in diving into the sea had been to search for mutated marine life.
But the octopus had been far too enormous, and its brain and heart were correspondingly huge. It had been impossible to carry away the organs whole, so he could only cut off portions of them.
Pei Liang didn’t care about that. On the contrary, her primary purpose in coming here had been to acquire Gong Ran.
Although Gong Ran was a dangerous mad scientist whose research principles completely disregarded human ethics, there was no denying his talent. His ideas were too dangerous, and he had committed several other crimes, which was why he had been imprisoned.
But in the apocalypse, biological ethics had already been forcibly cast aside. His abilities were beyond question. Many of his crazed theories might have been unacceptable in an era of peace, but now they could help humanity rapidly reclaim its position at the top of the food chain.
That man wanted Pei Liang.
But why wouldn’t Pei Liang want him in return?
Clearly, if Chu Yebai still couldn’t understand Pei Liang’s intentions at this point, then he wouldn’t have deserved to stand at the pinnacle of humanity in his previous life.
He raised an eyebrow and asked Pei Liang, “What? Have you taken a liking to that lunatic?”
Pei Liang nodded. “His value is irreplaceable.”
Then she looked at Chu Yebai and smiled. “In certain respects, he’s even more important than you.”
Chu Yebai knew perfectly well that this information about the future had undoubtedly come from Pei Ning. In truth, in an apocalypse like this, if they wanted to bring it to an end as quickly as possible, their hope really did lie with scientists.
No matter how strong an individual’s martial prowess was, it could not solve the problem at its root. This was not something that could be decided by strength or authority.
Even so, Chu Yebai was still unhappy. If he couldn’t make his sugar mommy utterly infatuated with him despite being her kept man, then to him, that was simply humiliating.
So Chu Yebai smiled, a hint of malice in his expression. “But a madman like that won’t obediently work for anyone.”
“I can tell. I’m sure you know that yourself.”
“That lunatic has nothing in his eyes but a fanatical interest in whatever catches his attention. He has no empathy or sense of responsibility toward humanity whatsoever. Ordinary methods won’t be enough to make him work for you.”
Pei Liang knew Chu Yebai was right. Although Chu Yebai had started out by robbing people, when all was said and done, he was not some utterly deranged, inhuman monster.
When disaster struck, he still had empathy for the fate of humanity as a whole. And as a powerful individual, he was instinctively aware of the responsibility that came with his strength.
Overall, he could not be considered a good person, but if one took into account the world he had protected in his previous life—protecting millions of people—he could still be called a great man.
Gong Ran was different. That man was a true villain. The world had nearly met its end in his hands.
On the other hand, he was only a villain from Pei Ning’s perspective. In the eyes of others, that might not necessarily be the case.
Although this world contained several different storylines, the setting itself was only so large. And with transportation so difficult in the apocalypse, if Pei Ning had to come into contact with all the male and female leads, then the main targets of those storylines could not be separated by impossibly vast distances.
Moreover, people with an overwhelming presence might be playing entirely different roles in different storylines.
For example, Chu Yebai played the male lead in Pei Ning’s storyline. In another place, he might well be the main villain.
Of course, these were only Pei Liang’s conjectures for now. But she considered the possibility highly likely. After all, if the various male leads were all opposed to one another, she would inevitably find herself caught in a dangerous vortex.
If someone was targeting her and plotting against her, this sort of trap would make perfect sense.
Just then, Chu Yebai suddenly said, “How about I persuade him for you when the time comes?”
“Using the same method you used to interrogate me that night. How does that sound?”
Chu Yebai’s intentions were obvious. Even his own willpower had failed to hold out for two hours that night, and he had long been itching to try Pei Liang’s methods himself.
Perhaps he could even use them to truly discover the source of her abilities and see whether there was any way to counter them.
And if he could get that lunatic into his own hands, keeping him from having too much direct contact with Pei Liang and preventing any unexpected complications, that would be a good thing as well.
It would kill two birds with one stone.
Who knew that before Pei Liang could even respond, Guan Tian, seated at the neighboring table, chimed in, “Exactly! Once that pretty boy shows up, he’ll definitely have to be handed over to our boss so she can lay down some ground rules.”
“That’s right. There’s such a thing as first come, first served.”
“Besides, our boss put him through so much. Why should the people who come later get off easy?”
“Exactly, exactly! Boss Pei, you have to be fair. You can’t shortchange our boss. At the very least, he was the first one to get together with you.”
“In the old days, that would make him the first wife.”
“Doesn’t the first wife get the authority to manage the younger ones?”
“Of course he does.”
Chu Yebai: “...Guan Tian.”
“Yeah? What is it, boss?” Guan Tian looked toward Chu Yebai, wearing an expression that practically said, “Boss, don’t worry. Since you’re addicted to being a kept man and can’t bear to give it up, your brothers will support you and fight for your rights.”
Chu Yebai pointed toward the tables in the distance. “From now on, you’re not allowed to sit within three tables of me during meals.”
All the bandits: “...”
After lunch, the cruise ship finally docked.
Countless shipping containers were stacked in neat rows throughout the port. Each enormous container represented a plentiful supply of goods.
Although the people aboard the ship had not yet experienced shortages of food or clothing since the apocalypse began, the fact that global production had come to a halt made such seemingly inexhaustible supplies reassuring.
The port was highly mechanized and did not require much manual labor to operate, but it was easy to imagine that there still had to be plenty of people there.
And where there were many people, there would be many zombies. Before Pei Liang and the others could claim the dock, they first had to clear all the zombies from the container area.
The cruise ship pulled up alongside the shore. Fortunately, the octopus’s previous attack had shattered the banquet hall’s windows—though Pei Liang had already planned to break them herself.
The banquet hall was spacious, with an unobstructed view, and the difference in elevation between it and the port below was among the smallest of all the open areas on the ship.
Everyone from the security department and the bandits were already armed and positioned along the edge, crouching, lying prone, or standing with their guns aimed outside.
The noise of the cruise ship docking was not insignificant. There were also more than a thousand people aboard. Strangely enough, although zombies were nothing more than walking corpses, they could still locate humans by sound and scent. In theory, their sensory functions should already have stopped working.
But there was no point dwelling too deeply on it. They were already dead and still eating people, so that alone was impossible to explain.
In any case, a few scattered zombies had already been drawn over.
“Don’t fire rapidly,” Pei Liang ordered. “Do your best to maintain accuracy and conserve ammunition.”
“We’re several meters above the ground. Ordinary zombies won’t be able to climb up easily, so don’t panic just because of their numbers.”
“If any mutated ones appear, Chu Yebai and I will deal with them first and ensure your safety.”
As she spoke, she fired three shots in quick succession, taking down several zombies that had just approached, even though they were still more than twenty meters from the ship.
Then Pei Liang pulled Pei Ning out from behind her and said, “Begin.”
Pei Ning looked deeply unwilling, but she had no choice except to obey her orders.
The people nearby seemed to catch the scent of some kind of fragrance, but it vanished almost immediately. Under normal circumstances, no one would have paid it any attention. It smelled somewhat like a young woman’s natural scent.
But as soon as the fragrance spread, the zombies below, which had previously been shuffling along at a leisurely pace, suddenly quickened their steps and charged toward the ship as if they had gone mad.
Then the zombies hidden behind the densely packed containers, impossible to spot with the naked eye, began to emerge as well.
Only moments ago, the port had looked completely clear. Now, countless zombies poured out from every direction like swarming ants.
Some wore the uniforms of port workers, while others were dressed in ordinary clothes and appeared to have been residents of the nearby apartment complexes.
The zombies rushed toward the cruise ship in a frenzy. Some even collided with one another and were trampled underfoot because they were moving too quickly. They looked just like wild dogs scrambling to find a mate.
Pei Liang gestured toward the bridge. “Begin!”
The cruise ship’s horn blared at once, its deafening sound guiding the zombies toward them even more clearly.
In only a few minutes, the once-empty docking area was churning with a tide of corpses. Looking down, one could see them packed together so densely that there had to be at least a thousand.
“Where did all these people come from?” someone asked.
Pei Liang did not answer. She only said, “Wait a little longer. Apart from the snipers, don’t rush to open fire.”
The snipers and the few people with the sharpest aim took out the fastest zombies, while Pei Liang and Chu Yebai each dealt with one of the obviously mutated zombies whose jumping ability was far beyond normal.
Those two zombies could easily leap several meters in a single bound. If the ship had not had enough firepower, they might have jumped straight aboard and feasted on everyone there.
Unfortunately for them, their heads were pierced by precise gunfire, and they plummeted down.
Only after the gathering zombies had reached a sufficient number—and had begun stepping on one another’s bodies to build a ladder—did Pei Liang say, “Open fire!”
It began with several explosions. Zhong An had already planted C4 explosives on the ground at the center of the area where the zombies had gathered, and now detonated them.
That single wave of explosions reduced most of the zombies to fragments. Severed limbs went flying everywhere. Whether they were truly dead or not, they had been rendered incapable of moving for the time being.
Immediately afterward, a torrent of firepower poured out, sweeping across the horde like a downpour.
Pei Liang was wielding a forty-meter-long blade. In this kind of large-scale close combat, it was actually more useful than a gun.
With every slash, countless zombies were severed at the waist as easily as weeds being cut down. After swinging it several times, Pei Liang decided that this was not the most efficient way to use it.
She turned to Zhong An and said, “Turn into a cleaver!”
A tear slid down the metal blade.
He was used like a pole to shakily prod explosives over the side, then used as a chopping knife, his body coming into direct and intimate contact with zombie flesh.
Pei Liang had come up with all kinds of new ways to play with him, but what else could he do? He had no choice but to comply.
He desperately widened himself until he had become something like an ordinary butcher’s cleaver. Its shape was somewhat strange, since he had to take into account Pei Liang’s grip—she was as tiny as an ant.
Zhong An had a bad feeling about this.
Sure enough, the moment Pei Liang had a cleaver in hand, it was as if every seal had been broken.
Facing the densely packed zombies below, she chopped away as if mincing meat. Her strikes were so fast, so frequent, and so evenly spaced that, to the naked eye, the distance between every cut appeared identical.
Naturally, the zombies’ heads were chopped off as well.
She was even able to spare one hand to protect her younger sister while mincing the horde.
An evolved zombie broke through the encirclement and lunged at Pei Ning. Pei Ning shrieked in terror, but her sister calmly drew a gun with her other hand and blew the zombie away with a single shot.
After more than half an hour, everyone aboard the ship had gone blood-crazy from killing.
The people hiding in their rooms and secretly watching through the windows all swallowed nervously.
Although the sight was drenched in blood and entirely unsuitable for children, it somehow gave them an enormous boost of confidence.
With the level of firepower on their ship, ordinary hordes of zombies were truly nothing to fear.
Once the last zombie had been killed, everyone finally came back to their senses amid their excitement—and realized how exhausted they were.
Pei Liang ordered the bridge to move the cruise ship a little farther out. She then instructed Zhong An to transform into a gigantic baseball bat.
Chu Yebai used his telekinesis to float several barrels of diesel that had been prepared in advance. Pei Liang then swung Zhong An like a baseball bat, sending the barrels flying.
They landed in the middle of the pile of zombies, smashing open on impact and spilling their black diesel fuel across the ground.
After several more barrels had been sent over, and Pei Liang decided there was enough fuel, someone fired a shot.
In an instant, flames shot into the sky, and the pile of zombies began to burn.
The blaze practically dyed the surrounding seawater red. Most likely, all the zombies in the vicinity had gathered there.
Although Pei Ning had only just awakened her ability, her experience from her previous life meant that her understanding and starting point were completely different from those of an ordinary newcomer.
Pei Ning’s ability was to emit pheromones that possessed an absolute attraction for zombies and mutated species.
In her previous life, she had been terrified when she first realized what her ability was. Fortunately, Chu Yebai had started from a high enough point that, as soon as he came ashore, he had cleared out an area and established it as their base of operations.
She had hidden inside the base. In the early stages, the concentration of her pheromones had remained limited, and she had deliberately kept them restrained. As her ability grew stronger later on, she also learned how to control them.
Thus, she had never suffered because of her ability. Even so, she had absolutely never dared to reveal it.
Pei Ning had always hated her ability. It had no offensive power whatsoever, and it only brought trouble. It was even worse than a useless ability.
But now, seeing how her ability had allowed them to sweep through the complicated harbor with ease and eliminate so many zombies in one go, a surge of pride suddenly rose in Pei Ning’s heart.
So it turned out that she really was—quite useful?
She looked toward Pei Liang. Her sister was calmly and methodically issuing orders, having already planned everything that needed to happen after they docked.
Meanwhile, the people aboard the ship took advantage of the burning zombies and began returning to their rooms to collect their luggage.
Pei Ning lowered her head, a smile spreading across her face.
The cruise ship began taking orderly control of the “kingdom” it had conquered.
But in an inconspicuous place far away, a pool of water emerged from the sea and gradually took human form.
It was none other than Gong Ran.
Everything that had just happened had fallen into his eyes. Excitement was impossible to conceal in Gong Ran’s gaze, but then his brows furrowed and he murmured, “This makes things even more difficult.”
He turned around and, before anyone could discover him, sank back into the sea. He followed the current along the coast for several kilometers before stopping at a private beach.
Gong Ran emerged from the water, and a woman immediately approached him.
She had a pure, delicate air, fair skin, and striking features. The moment she saw Gong Ran return, a smile appeared on her face, as if she had been waiting for him ever since he left.
One of his hands had not yet regained its human form and remained liquid. Two tiny pieces of marine life were suspended inside it, though it was impossible to tell what they were.
Guan Qian asked, “Was it difficult to find? Though I suppose it makes sense. The sea is so vast, and it’s only been one night. Only a tiny portion of them have revealed themselves, so it must be hard to come across one.”
Gong Ran replied, “They were easy to find. But I discovered something even more interesting.”
As he spoke, a sick, desperate longing appeared on his face.
“I really wanted to bring her back right then and there. What a pity I couldn’t.”
Guan Qian assumed he was referring to some troublesome marine creature and comforted him. “You can do it. It’s only a matter of time.”
“I made lunch. Let’s go back and eat first.”
Gong Ran ignored her. He did not even spare her a glance. The light in his eyes made it difficult to breathe, and his expression was clearly still immersed in thoughts of the object of his desire.
Guan Qian did not mind. She knew all too well how difficult it was to gain this man’s approval and recognition, and she had long since prepared herself for it.
This was a private bay hotel, ideally situated with a cliff at its back and the sea in front. The entire establishment was enclosed within an isolated harbor.
Before the zombies and mutations appeared, it had been completely inaccessible except by boat or helicopter, making it an extremely secure location.
Even after the mutations, as long as they took proper precautions, it could still keep out most dangers.
They could take a speedboat to a nearby pier to obtain supplies. Since their group was small and highly mobile, they were unlikely to attract the attention of the zombies. As long as they were careful, the risks were minimal.
So while the rest of the world was suffering, this place was practically a secluded paradise.
When the two entered the dining room, Guan Qian immediately saw that the lunch she had specially prepared for Gong Ran had already been eaten.
Several scruffy, muscular men were sitting in the place that normally belonged to Gong Ran. They were eating the meal meant for him while looking at him provocatively.
Guan Qian was furious.
“You—”
Before she could finish, her two brothers cut her off. “Shut up. Stay out of this.”
Guan Qian stared at her brothers in disbelief. “You betrayed him too?”
Her heart ached even more for Gong Ran. No wonder he had taken that path in the original story. To be betrayed time and again until he was utterly alone—his eventual descent into darkness had been practically inevitable.
Her two brothers, however, looked at her as if she were an idiot. One of them lowered his voice and said, “Are you kidding?”
“Axiong and the others may not be good people, but at least they value loyalty and follow the rules. The brothers are willing to follow them.”
“But what kind of person is Gong Ran? He’s a complete lunatic and a psychopath. We’ve only been doing his bidding because we had no choice. That was before. Things may be different now.”
Guan Qian was frantic. She hated that these two idiots had chosen the wrong side—and might even drag her down with them.
Did these morons really think that awakening a mere supernatural ability was enough to give them a say? They hadn’t even confirmed whether Gong Ran had awakened an ability too.
They had blindly assumed that their numerical advantage was enough.
Sure enough, when Axiong and the others saw Gong Ran return, they greeted him with a grin.
“Well, well! If it isn’t Dr. Gong!”
“Sorry, we saw that it was time to eat and you still hadn’t come over, so we figured you weren’t hungry at noon. The brothers went ahead and helped you finish it.”
Gong Ran glanced at them. His gaze was no different from the way someone might look at an earthworm that had dirtied his shoe.
“It’s fine. I’m not hungry. Since you’re all done eating, come to the lab with me.”
“I need a little of your blood, spinal cord, and brain tissue.”
The words made everyone’s scalp prickle, but no one doubted that he was capable of doing it.
Axiong and the others felt a chill run down their spines. They dropped the act and overturned the table as they stood.
Several burly men loomed in front of Gong Ran. The difference between the two sides appeared enormous.
Axiong seized Gong Ran by the collar and yanked him completely off the ground. Gong Ran’s feet dangled in the air, making him look utterly defenseless.
The men laughed smugly.
“We thought all that talk of yours was enough to scare people?”
“When we heard this morning that we’d awakened superpowers, we figured you’d been so terrified that you’d flee by boat. We never expected you to come back!”
“Let go,” Gong Ran said, sounding somewhat exasperated.
Why did he have to stay with so many idiots?
It only made him want that woman even more. She could match his wavelength without him having to explain anything.
How easy communication was with her.
His attitude only infuriated the burly men further. The other man sneered.
“Fine. I’ll let go right now.”
With that, he lifted Gong Ran high over his head and hurled him toward a decorative object in the middle of the hall, as if he intended to fold him in half.
But in the next instant, before Gong Ran could hit it, Axiong’s eyes bulged out. He dropped to his knees in agony.
Gong Ran landed lightly and calmly straightened his clothes.
Even the slowest among them realized that Gong Ran was responsible. They hurriedly grabbed whatever objects were within reach and turned them into weapons, pointing them at him.
“What did you do?”
Axiong stretched out a hand toward Gong Ran like a drowning fish, a pleading look on his face. But moments later, he fell silent. His features were twisted in agony in death.
At the sight of this, the courage and superiority granted by their supernatural abilities vanished without a trace.
Gong Ran merely said, sounding a little regretful, “Now the heart isn’t intact.”
Only then did everyone notice that the fabric over Axiong’s chest had first become soaked by a pool of water.
Then blood began gushing out.
