The people around them recoiled in horror, for they had not even seen how Gong Ran had made his move.
One moment, Axiong had been brimming with confidence. The next, he was dead in agony—yet Gong Ran had not even moved.
The entire hall fell into a suffocating silence. Gong Ran turned and looked at the others.
Expressionless, he said, “Are you coming into the lab with me, or shall I collect you myself?”
The men who had joined in the provocation were terrified out of their wits. They wanted to resist, but this man killed without warning and was impossible to guard against. Yet if they truly went into the laboratory, whether they lived, died, or suffered a fate worse than death would depend entirely on this lunatic’s mood—and their own luck.
At last, the burly men broke down. They scattered and fled in panic.
Now that they had awakened supernatural abilities, even if those abilities were not particularly powerful, they could clearly feel that their physical strength had improved.
Even if it took everything they had, they would swim their way out if necessary.
But before they could even leave the hall, several jets of water rose from the large fish tank in the center. There was not much water in each stream; each merely splashed the men’s faces, dampening them slightly.
But when the streams turned into thin films of water and clung to their faces, they remained in that form.
Though they were on dry land, inside a room, they were as helpless and suffocated as drowning men.
They clawed frantically at the watery membranes covering their faces, but no matter what they did, the films remained perfectly intact, sealed tightly over them.
In the end, their limbs twisted grotesquely as they collapsed to the floor, choking for breath.
To the surrounding onlookers, it was a scene of silent cruelty. Terror settled over every heart in the room.
Gong Ran slowly walked over. The watery films seemed alive as they peeled away from the men’s faces, drifting back into the fish tank like jellyfish.
Only then did Gong Ran nod in satisfaction. “Now these are fine specimens.”
No one knew whether the men on the floor were alive or dead, and no one dared check.
Most of them could only feel relieved that they had chosen to stand by and watch rather than get involved. That included Guan Qian’s two older brothers.
Cold sweat covered their faces. They had even forgotten to keep hold of their sister, allowing Guan Qian to break free and approach Gong Ran.
Worried, she asked, “Are you all right?”
Gong Ran glanced at her. To be honest, he often could not understand this woman’s way of thinking.
The facts were obvious. Why was she wearing that expression? What was she worried about? Why was she looking at him with such concern and heartache?
Did she think he would be hurt by the betrayal of a few insignificant fools? Did she actually believe that, even for a moment, he had regarded these people as companions?
Still, aside from her poor judgment, this woman’s value was beyond question.
At least for now, she was quite useful.
Everyone in this room had an unusual background.
They were all inmates from a maximum-security prison, one that held hardened criminals convicted of serious offenses, as well as those whose actions had caused severe social harm or who posed an extreme threat to society.
Seven nights ago, a large-scale mutation had broken out within the prison, leaving the guards outside dead or badly injured.
Some prisoners had taken advantage of the chaos to attack the guards, open the cell doors, and infiltrate the central control room. There, they shut down the prison’s security systems and activated the electronic door locks.
Countless prisoners escaped. Gong Ran, who had been secretly imprisoned deep within the facility, was able to escape as well.
They had looted weapons from some prison guards and escaped together, without initially realizing how serious the situation was.
The first thing everyone wanted to do after breaking out of prison was simply reach the docks, board a smuggling vessel, and flee overseas.
The prison was located in a remote, sparsely populated area, which meant the group encountered relatively few zombies along the way.
Axiong had originally been the prison’s top dog—the undisputed leader of the inmates—but midway through their escape, Gong Ran took his place—
Though “took his place” wasn’t quite accurate. More precisely, Gong Ran had used terror and force to bring everyone under his control.
At first, he had kept a low profile within the group. But when they reached the docks and realized that the entire world had turned into this hellhole, they understood that there was no longer any need to run.
Gong Ran then suggested that they seize a boat and sail to a resort hotel in an exceptionally advantageous location.
The hotel was practically cut off from the outside world. Once its interior had been cleared, they would hardly need to worry about zombie invasions.
It was also close to the harbor and well-stocked with supplies, so they had no need to worry about survival in the short term.
The group was swayed by such excellent shelter conditions and followed Gong Ran’s suggestion, entering the hotel.
What followed was the loss of their basic human rights under coercion, and their complete fall into the fate of becoming nothing more than tools.
To be fair, Gong Ran was not usually difficult to get along with. In fact, he was even fairly polite toward others.
But the man was a lunatic!
A lunatic who disregarded human life and treated them as porters, laborers, and backup dissection specimens. He could smile at them with a gentle expression and, as casually as inviting someone to dinner, tell them to lie down so he could cut off a piece of their body.
Even laboratory mice used as experimental subjects were at least provided with food, water, and a place to sleep. These people were exploited in every possible way—they were worse off than mice.
Strictly speaking, only a few days had passed, and the oppression they had suffered was limited. But even within that limited time, the shadows Gong Ran had cast over everyone were simply too severe.
After entering what should have been a safe hotel, not a single one of them managed to sleep soundly at night.
Some people had tried to steal a boat and escape, only to discover that Gong Ran had tampered with the vessel long ago. Compared with those struggling to survive outside under the threat of zombies, their situation was hardly any better.
They had merely traded one prison for another.
They had thought that awakening supernatural abilities would give them a chance to resist. Who could have guessed that Gong Ran had already gotten ahead of them and mastered his ability first—and that his power was even more difficult to guard against?
Guan Qian felt a sense of pride on his behalf. Of course she did. Gong Ran was the main villain of the novel.
In her eyes, if the male protagonist hadn’t possessed the protagonist’s halo, it was anyone’s guess who would have won in the end.
Now, with her warnings, Gong Ran had grasped the key to awakening his supernatural ability much earlier than he had in the original story. She would also warn him in advance about several major opportunities and deadly traps.
With the advantage of knowing the plot, Gong Ran was destined to overturn his fate.
A few ungrateful traitors were nothing to him. In the original story, Gong Ran had been able to deal with the process of awakening, adapting to, and developing his abilities step by step with ease. How much more capable would he be now?
Guan Qian glanced at her two “brothers.”
Of course, she was not actually the younger sister of these two serious criminals. She had simply felt so sorry for the main villain, Gong Ran, after reading the novel that, after her accidental death, she never expected her soul to enter the book.
She had been visiting the prison when the apocalypse arrived as a family member of the two convicted felons.
Thus, she naturally became one of the members of Gong Ran’s original team.
Guan Qian believed this was fate’s gift to her. In the original novel, not everyone understood Gong Ran’s ideals—or perhaps the male protagonist, Chu Yebai, simply had an absurdly powerful protagonist’s halo.
People kept submitting to the male protagonist’s ideals and betraying Gong Ran.
In the end, he was the only one left to carry out his convictions.
But Guan Qian knew that now that she had come here, she would stay by his side no matter what. She would not let him taste the loneliness of being severed from the entire world in the end.
That was what Guan Qian was thinking when Gong Ran called out to her, “Come help me!”
“Oh, sure!”
In her previous life, Guan Qian had been a nurse. Her identity after transmigrating was more or less the same. She couldn’t say much about the rest, but helping out in a laboratory was well within her capabilities.
She moved Axiong’s body into the laboratory.
Naturally, she could never have managed it with her own strength, but she had awakened a spatial ability. Inanimate objects could be placed inside, and the space had a considerable capacity.
That was one of the reasons Gong Ran found her useful.
Gong Ran was dissecting Axiong’s body. Guan Qian handed him replacement instruments while admiring his captivating profile.
A man was at his most charming when he was working seriously, and Gong Ran’s allure surpassed that of every young, handsome doctor she had ever seen in her previous life. He was simply not the sort of character who could exist in reality.
Still, Gong Ran seemed somewhat distracted today.
His hands moved with such practiced precision that he could have completed the procedure with his eyes closed, yet his mind clearly wasn’t focused on the task.
Guan Qian asked gently, “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing. It’s just a pity,” Gong Ran replied casually.
“There are plenty of samples of this caliber. They have hardly any research value.”
“Ordinary numbers. An ordinary ability. Ordinary potential. An ordinary evolutionary curve.” As Gong Ran spoke, the scalpel in his hand stopped following the neat contours of the incision.
Instead, he stirred the exposed area of the corpse into a complete mess, as though he were mashing the yolk of an egg.
“I only need one glance to see the past and future contained in a person’s genes. There’s no surprise or mystery at all—just an idiot who happened to scrape together a little luck from the evolutionary process.”
Guan Qian didn’t know how to respond.
In truth, Gong Ran wasn’t entirely pleased with the overall evolution brought about by the radiation.
After all, he himself had been researching the direction of human evolution, only his research had had no ethical boundaries and was considered far too dangerous.
Now, a great hand resembling that of a god had manipulated everything and forcibly accomplished, one step ahead of him, what he had been unable to complete.
The entry of Earth’s organisms into a new era naturally meant that there were more secrets to uncover. On the other hand, the fact that it had not been brought about by him left Gong Ran feeling somewhat frustrated.
In the original novel, Gong Ran’s feud with the male protagonist had begun because he coveted the man’s body.
He believed that the male protagonist’s potential and genetic barriers were far beyond those of ordinary people—that they were different in kind, not merely in degree—and had always wanted to study him.
Guan Qian thought for a moment. By now, the male protagonist should have already disembarked from the cruise ship. He would then lead a shipful of elites and countless weapons, using his formidable initial resources to establish a base of his own.
According to the timeline of the plot, he should have just arrived at the port of G City. It was the closest location to the ideal base he had chosen, and the roads there were also broader and more accessible.
Most of the roads were highways, with few stretches prone to traffic jams. They were easy to clear and made it less likely that they would be surrounded by zombies.
At this point, the male lead had only just awakened his ability. Although his power was formidable, he clearly had yet to fully adapt to it. On top of that, Gong Ran’s ability was impossible to guard against, and he could effortlessly concoct potions with all kinds of effects.
If they ambushed the male lead before he had fully grown—
Guan Qian thought it over before saying to Gong Ran, “There definitely is one. Without a doubt.”
As she spoke, Guan Qian prepared to hint at what she knew in the form of a dream prophecy.
But before she could say anything, Gong Ran let out a soft laugh. “Of course there is.”
“It’s only because I can’t get my hands on them for now that I have to deal with this kind of incompetent fool.” He glanced at the corpse of his subordinate.
“???”
Guan Qian was startled. Then she remembered the faint noise that had come from the direction of the docks several kilometers away.
At first, she had assumed that the commotion had been caused by the remaining government or military personnel coming to take over the port and clear out the zombies. Could it have had another source?
She hurriedly asked Gong Ran, “Did you run into anyone when you went out this morning?”
Gong Ran was filled with regret at the moment, and he did not mind venting about it.
“There was a cruise ship. They were lucky enough to survive the most chaotic period at sea. But just as they were preparing to come ashore, they were attacked by a mutated octopus.”
“However, the people on board were quite strong. Despite the enormous difference in size, they escaped with ease. The octopus even ended up becoming their lunch.”
He had seen it himself. Everyone on that ship had eaten heartily.
Guan Qian’s heart sank when she heard this. She asked cautiously, “Was that cruise ship called the XX?”
Gong Ran raised an eyebrow. “Oh? Did you dream about it?”
It seemed that the people on that ship would cross paths with him sooner or later. The woman liked to use so-called dreams as a cover, and Gong Ran had no intention of exposing her.
After all, there was no need for her to explain many things too explicitly. Besides, he did not particularly enjoy seeing too much of the future in advance. Where was the fun in that?
When Guan Qian heard his answer, she knew that her guess had been correct. It was the cruise ship carrying the male and female leads.
But how the hell had the ship ended up docking here? Although the original story had never specified which port the cruise ship reached, it certainly could not have been anywhere near Gong Ran. The narration had clearly stated that it was “a thousand miles away.”
Why? Why had the plot changed?
She had only influenced Gong Ran. How could the male lead and the others, who were out at sea, possibly have been affected by her?
Was the butterfly effect really this powerful?
Guan Qian’s throat felt dry. She answered Gong Ran, “Y-yes! I dreamed about a cruise ship last night. Perhaps the people you’re looking for are on board.”
Thinking of this, Guan Qian decided to go all in. “The guidance of a dream surely can’t be meaningless.”
“Since that ship is nearby, shouldn’t we go and investigate? It wouldn’t hurt to meet more people and exchange more information.”
Since the male lead had delivered himself right to their doorstep, she might as well have Gong Ran make the first move. After all, the moment Gong Ran saw the male lead, he would certainly become interested in his ability and potential.
Gong Ran shook his head, sounding a little regretful. “I already introduced myself, but they don’t seem to like me very much.”
Yet as he spoke, there wasn’t the slightest hint in his tone that he realized he had been rejected.
He’d already introduced himself? Guan Qian felt that something was off. Gong Ran would definitely crave the male lead’s body the moment he saw him. At present, the male lead’s ability had only just awakened, so his control over it couldn’t possibly surpass Gong Ran’s.
Then why hadn’t Gong Ran simply brought the male lead back? Could it be that Chu Yebai hadn’t shown himself because he was somewhere else at the time?
But hadn’t they just been attacked by an octopus? There was no way Gong Ran could have failed to witness the male lead’s performance if he had been capable of dealing with an octopus—
Wait! The giant octopus had failed to attack them and instead ended up as food? Thinking of the size of the octopus described in the original novel, could Chu Yebai handle it now?
Guan Qian could sense that something was wrong, but at that moment, a greedy, confident smile appeared on Gong Ran’s face.
His lips curled upward. “But it doesn’t matter. As long as I like her, that’s enough.”
“Although that telekinetic guy backing her up is troublesome, I’ll find an opportunity sooner or later.”
“Her body will be mine.”
Telekinesis? Wasn’t the male lead’s ability—the one-in-ten-thousand telekinesis?
If the “troublesome” person Gong Ran was referring to was the male lead, then was it not the male lead’s body he coveted?
Guan Qian finally realized what was wrong and hurriedly asked, “Who is she?”
Gong Ran seemed excited the moment he mentioned her. “She said her name was Pei Liang. She hasn’t awakened an ability yet, but her strength has already surpassed the limits of ordinary humans.”
“There’s even something about her that I can’t understand. I’m very curious. I really don’t want to wait another night.”
Pei Liang? Wasn’t that Pei Ning’s older sister—the woman who had become a mere passerby after the female lead, Pei Ning, returned to the past?
Guan Qian knew that she had entered a novel about rebirth. She had always looked down on the female lead, and never believed that a fool who relied on foreknowledge to cling to powerful allies could pose any threat to her.
But clearly, she wasn’t the only variable in the story. That Pei Liang was definitely not the same person described in the original novel.
Who was she? Why did she possess such overwhelming power? What price had she paid to obtain it? And how had she gained such a huge advantage over Guan Qian?
That woman had obviously chosen the male lead’s side and clung to his influence. Yet, on top of that, she had somehow obtained a cheat-like ability that made even Gong Ran regard her with special interest.
Where had this Mary Sue come from?
Guan Qian absolutely could not tolerate another woman holding a special place in Gong Ran’s heart.
By then, the group they had been discussing had finished burning the zombies and thoroughly cleared the surrounding area. After confirming that there was no danger, they began organizing the people aboard the ship to come ashore.
Once they set foot on land again, the world had already become completely unrecognizable. Many of them found it difficult to process.
No matter what, however, they had to pull themselves together and think about what to do next.
The centralized factory buildings at the port had been cleared out. In terms of size, they were more than large enough to shelter everyone from the ship.
Of course, the living conditions aboard the ship were actually much better. But by now, quite a few plants and animals in the ocean had mutated.
Even while docked at the shore, they still had to guard against cunning creatures lurking beneath the water. So, although many people were reluctant to give up the luxury of the cruise ship, they didn’t dare remain aboard.
The mattresses, blankets, pillows, and other supplies from the cruise ship had been taken apart and brought ashore. After all, they had plenty of time, and their situation was fairly comfortable for the moment. Since they could treat themselves well, there was no need to make life unnecessarily hard.
Once they had settled in, they had to start thinking about building a base.
In the original story, Chu Yebai had chosen a base location with certain geographical advantages. Surely this place had its own advantages as well.
The port covered a fairly large area. If everyone squeezed in a little, it could easily accommodate several million people.
Even better, it occupied an isolated fragment of the coastal tectonic plate, separated from the mainland where the city stood and connected to it by three bridges.
In other words, once they cleared out the zombies and mutated plants and animals within a radius of several dozen square kilometers, this place would become a natural fortress.
Even if the zombies launched an invasion, as long as they held the bridges, they could prevent the area from falling.
The threat from mutated creatures in the deep sea was not nonexistent, of course. However, this was still a shallow-water region, and large mutated creatures would run aground before they could get here.
And once they were on land, they could naturally begin constructing artillery emplacements.
Of course, the territory here was small, which made expansion difficult, and its capacity would always be limited.
By Chu Yebai’s way of thinking, this choice was far too conservative. Once the various factions had established themselves, the strong would inevitably begin devouring the weak.
Pei Liang, however, said, “For now, the entire city belongs to us.”
Chu Yebai frowned. “This city has no particular geographical advantage. If we build walls around it, it’ll take far too long and require far too much manpower.”
Pei Liang looked at him as though he had said something absurd. “Why do we have to live behind walls?”
“Isn’t it already bad enough that we’re confined to this place? Why should we imprison ourselves just because of a few zombies and mutated plants and animals?”
Chu Yebai was taken aback. He was just about to say that she certainly had a beautiful dream—but not everyone possessed her ability to protect themselves and come and go as they pleased.
Yet considering that she never did anything without a purpose, this woman—
Had she already made plans?
Chu Yebai was intensely curious, but Pei Liang had no intention of revealing anything in advance.
With Pei Ning, their ultimate weapon, on hand, clearing the zombies and mutated plants and animals from the base was remarkably easy.
The fact that they did not have to search for them one by one alone saved an enormous amount of manpower.
To avoid wasting firepower, Pei Liang took Pei Ning directly to the bridge in one of the port’s helicopters. She released her pheromones, drawing all the zombies on the island toward the opposite side of the bridge.
Then they blew them all up in one go.
Of course, the maneuver was somewhat dangerous. It was not only the zombies on the base island who were attracted; even more zombies from the city came rushing over.
Pei Ning was so frightened that she shrieked in panic, thinking several times that she was about to die.
From the helicopter, Pei Liang and the others dropped bombs and poured diesel fuel onto the zombies below. Tens of thousands of zombies were drawn in and burned until the horizon itself glowed red.
They even managed to catch several monstrously evolved behemoths that, with a single leap, nearly reached the helicopter.
Chu Yebai watched the scene in awe and could not help looking at Pei Ning. “No wonder your sister treats you like a treasure. You really are—”
When he had previously heard Pei Liang say that Pei Ning’s reason for being here was far more important than his own, he had been rather disdainful.
Now, though, it seemed that Pei Ning truly was a devastating weapon for taking cities and territories—and clearing out entire regions.
Its real value lay in its strategic significance. As long as the person using her was strong enough to withstand the overwhelming tide of zombies, the benefits were self-evident.
The commotion here had even been noticed by the people on Gong Ran’s side. From the flank, they watched the distant city erupt in towering flames, and everyone was left speechless with astonishment.
Guan Qian glanced in that direction. At that moment, the male lead’s group was displaying a level of strength that didn’t fit their early characterization in the original story. That was certainly not good news for them.
Gong Ran, however, showed no reaction at all, acting as though he were completely buried in work in the laboratory.
It was nearly evening when all the zombies within Pei Ning’s sphere of influence had finally been lured over and burned to ashes.
Pei Liang ordered the helicopter to return, but Pei Ning said, “The mutated zombies all have crystal cores inside them. They can enhance your abilities. You don’t want them?”
“Leaving them there won’t make them disappear,” Pei Liang replied. “It’s too dangerous to go down and search through them at this time. Besides, we can’t rule out the possibility that powerful mutated zombies are pretending to be dead among them.”
That made sense. Mutated zombies had already evolved beyond the realm of mindless walking corpses. Although they were still controlled by the instinct to devour the living, they possessed intelligence.
They could finish burning the rest and clear the area during the day, after making the necessary preparations and taking proper precautions.
Because the bay beneath the middle section of the bridge was also used by enormous oil tankers and cargo ships, the bridge could be raised and lowered.
Once the bridge span was raised, its foundation became a completely isolated island. Even mutated zombies would probably be unable to leap across the nearly hundred-meter-wide chasm.
They arranged for people to stand guard through the night. The lights around the factory buildings and dormitories were switched on, bright as day, and everyone went down in shifts to rest.
The physics whiz kid had tinkered with quite a few things while they were still on the ship. Once they reached land, it was finally time to put those inventions to use.
They broadcast an announcement declaring the establishment of a shelter base. They publicized methods for hunting zombies and information about their characteristics, while designated personnel provided real-time reports on the conditions of the city and nearby roads, as well as zombie distribution, based on satellite surveillance they had hijacked.
They also announced that they would next clear the city, gather industrial equipment, and restore production. At the same time, they broadcast the base’s geographical advantages and the routes leading to it.
This was the first base to officially announce its establishment. People stranded across the country—especially those not far from this city—suddenly saw a glimmer of hope.
Naturally, the people staying at the hotel where Gong Ran was also heard the news loud and clear.
They discussed it among themselves. “It’s right next to us.”
“Forget it. Take a look at that killer doctor. Does he look like someone who’d join a group?”
“He won’t go, but we can go ourselves, can’t we?” Lowering his voice, the speaker continued, “It’s not as if he can go without sleeping.”
“Once he’s asleep, we’ll find a way to get there. In this world, who’s going to investigate what kind of people we are anyway?”
The group whispered among themselves in the lobby. When they saw Guan Qian passing by, they immediately fell silent.
They knew that this woman was one of Gong Ran’s loyal dogs and were afraid she would report them to him.
In truth, Guan Qian had already guessed that people’s hearts were beginning to waver. When she arrived at the laboratory, Gong Ran’s work seemed to have just come to an end.
He was holding several test tubes in his hand, a smile on his face. “They should be useful for the time being, right?”
Guan Qian asked, “What are we going to do next? The broadcast just said that they’ll be clearing the zombies from the city.”
“In other words, these people will split up. When that happens, there’ll be—”
Gong Ran let out a soft laugh. “How could that possibly happen?”
“I’m not so useless that someone would dare scatter their forces without a care. She’s bluffing.”
Guan Qian was startled. “You mean she deliberately created the impression that her people would be split up, luring you out so they could ambush you?”
“More or less.” Gong Ran said, “But they’ll still split up eventually. After all, they’ve seen what I can do and know I could appear anywhere.”
“If they don’t put on a convincing enough act, there’s no way they’ll draw me out.”
“Then what are you planning to do?” Guan Qian asked.
“Kill that telekinetic first.” Gong Ran smiled. “She knows perfectly well that she’s my target, so the center of her plan will definitely be built around herself.”
“But when all is said and done, without the telekinetic restraining me, I have all the patience in the world to wear her down. There’s no need to rush.”
“She needs to settle her team and establish a base. She’s eager to eliminate any unstable factors. When it comes to patience, she can’t compete with me.”
Guan Qian felt uneasy, but she still trusted Gong Ran’s judgment.
He had indeed thought things through carefully. What he couldn’t have imagined, however, was that Pei Liang’s plans for dealing with him had already begun long before they ever met.
Gong Ran had expected Pei Liang to act quickly, but he still underestimated her efficiency.
As they were speaking, Gong Ran’s expression suddenly changed. He tapped at the computer twice, and sure enough, the surveillance footage throughout the hotel began behaving strangely.
The same people were coming and going, with most of them sitting in the lobby, drinking beer and chatting.
Guan Qian had no idea what was happening. “What’s wrong?”
“The surveillance has been hacked.” Gong Ran stated it with certainty. “These people are repeating what they did more than ten minutes ago.”
“You remember all that?” Guan Qian exclaimed. But then she remembered it was Gong Ran and felt that she was making a fuss over nothing.
After all, more than ten minutes earlier, Gong Ran’s attention hadn’t even been on the surveillance screens.
He had been right. At that very moment, everyone in the lobby had already collapsed. Pei Liang had stormed their lair.
They had come down from the mountaintop. The sheer cliffs had been dangerous, but with adequate equipment and a well-trained team, they were no obstacle.
On the contrary, the overly comfortable surroundings had caused everyone there to let down their guard.
By the time Pei Liang and the others slipped into the lobby, the first tranquilizer dart had already struck someone, and only then did the group realize what was happening.
But it was too late. Several shots rang out in rapid succession, and before anyone had time to raise the alarm, they had all fallen to the ground.
With a miniature communicator in her ear, Pei Liang asked the whiz kid on the other end, “Have you found any trace of that doctor?”
The child’s voice came through her earpiece. “No. He probably removed the cameras in both the room where he’s staying and the one where he works.”
“But our guess was right. He’s there.”
With the clues Pei Ning had provided, Gong Ran’s original research base hadn’t been difficult to locate. After all, once the man’s schemes had collapsed, none of this had remained a secret.
The hotel they had occupied had been fairly well-known online before the apocalypse. Working together, the whiz kid and the appraiser had reconstructed the entire hotel from pictures on its official website, guest-uploaded photos on booking platforms, and travel vloggers’ videos.
They had even obtained the blueprints for its plumbing and utility lines.
Given Gong Ran’s profession, it hadn’t been difficult to deduce which part of such a building he would choose, based on the professional insight provided by the doctor aboard the ship.
Just then, a bee flew over. On closer inspection, one would have realized that it was actually an insectoid robot.
The whiz kid had won an award in a competition several years ago. After making some improvements, he had used it to infiltrate the hotel and even take control of the surveillance system.
“Follow the bee. It’ll lead you to them.”
Pei Liang and the others were just about to set out when they heard someone collapse behind them.
They turned around to find one of their team members suddenly unconscious on the floor.
Before anyone nearby could figure out what was happening, almost everyone began to feel dizzy. Their hands and feet went limp, leaving them unable to fight.
It was only a matter of time.
“Oh no, it’s the Qingfeng system,” the whiz kid’s voice came through.
“He modified the Qingfeng system. It can poison you through the central air-conditioning.”
“You’re too late.” Pei Liang could no longer hold himself up either, and collapsed to the ground.
Within moments, not a single person in the lobby remained standing.
Several minutes later, two figures appeared in the lobby. The one in front was Gong Ran, dressed in a white lab coat.
When he saw Pei Liang lying in the middle of the crowd, delight flashed across his face.
Guan Qian saw it too. She was the only woman on the team, and truly lived up to her reputation as the world-famous dancer who, in the original story’s previous timeline, had been the male protagonist’s woman.
Even unconscious on the floor, her face was captivating enough to draw anyone’s attention.
Though Guan Qian knew that Gong Ran’s excitement at this moment might have nothing to do with gender, there was no denying that the woman possessed an irresistible allure for him.
Guan Qian’s expression darkened, but Gong Ran looked as though a long-awaited gift—something he had been prepared to obtain by any means necessary—had suddenly been delivered to his door for free.
He fired several more tranquilizer darts into the intruders before finally walking over.
But the moment he drew near, his expression changed.
He stared intently at Pei Liang’s face, as though he might be able to discern a flower blooming there.
Keeping a wary eye on their surroundings, Guan Qian asked, “The telekinetic didn’t come with them? Could they be waiting outside to provide backup? Be careful.”
But Gong Ran said, “This isn’t her.”
Guan Qian was startled and looked at Pei Liang, but she could not see any difference.
The face was identical to that of the dancer in the original character’s memories. Yet the way this person had fallen—sprawled out flat on the floor—possessed none of a dancer’s elegance or poise.
Someone who had trained in dance for years would move gracefully even by instinct, even when unconscious—
As if still unwilling to accept it, Gong Ran jabbed Pei Liang with a needle. It contained the very drug he had only recently formulated in the laboratory.
Even Guan Qian had no idea what it was supposed to do.
But she found out the next second.
The moment the drug entered Pei Liang’s body, his facial features, skin, bones, and physique all began to change. In the space of a few seconds, he visibly transformed into a man.
“It’s a mimicry ability.” Remaining alert to their surroundings, Guan Qian continued, “That kind of ability is quite rare. Yet their ship is practically overflowing with talent.”
As expected of the male protagonist—he had an advantage right from the start that others could only dream of.
Guan Qian warned, “Be careful. Neither of them is in the lobby. They must be hiding somewhere.”
She did not need to say it. However, Gong Ran’s drug was not potent enough to let someone remain inside the hotel and move around freely for long.
It was a formula specially modified to withstand the powerful metabolism of mutants. The telekinetic might have been able to activate their ability before being completely affected, preventing the poison from continuing to take effect.
But Pei Liang was not a superhuman. Even if he had been, aside from possessing certain special abilities, no one could hold their breath for that long.
Gong Ran watched the bees flitting around in front of him. Everything he did now should be transmitted to Pei Liang through those things.
That only further proved that Pei Liang and the telekinetic were not in the lobby at that moment.
A smile touched Gong Ran’s lips. He raised his voice and said, “What’s the matter? You went to the trouble of visiting my place, yet you won’t even give me the honor of playing host?”
As he spoke, he fired at the bee in front of him. A controller appeared in his hand, and when he pressed one of its buttons, steel plates rapidly descended over every door and window in the hotel, sealing off the entire building.
This was not something Gong Ran had managed to install in just a few days. The hotel stood in the middle of a bay, so the possibility of rising tides had been taken into account from the very beginning. Its original design had included measures like these.
In an instant, the hotel became a sealed fortress. Then all the power was cut, plunging everything into absolute darkness and silence.
Yet at the edge of the lobby, near the staircase, a conspicuous trail of footprints appeared.
On his first day there, Gong Ran had poured a layer of liquid across the lobby on the first floor—the sole route in and out of the entire hotel—and ordered everyone inside to coat the soles of their shoes with a medicinal solution he had provided.
The solution neutralized the effects of the liquid, so it produced no reaction. But if an outsider stepped onto it, then once the lights were turned off, their footprints would become clearly visible.
Gong Ran saw the trail. The footprints unmistakably belonged to a woman. It seemed she really had come after all.
His heart leaped with excitement.
He was just about to go over when he suddenly sensed a chill.
Startled, Gong Ran hurriedly switched the lights back on. The enormous aquarium only a few meters away from him had been frozen solid at some point.
A soft chuckle drifted over. “You’ve got tricks like this up your sleeve too? Fortunately, we can at least say we made some preparations in advance.”
Gong Ran turned toward the voice and saw someone in the clothes of one of their captive criminals rise to his feet.
It was clearly Pei Liang’s face, yet Gong Ran was certain he had not looked like that when Gong Ran had checked everyone’s numbers earlier.
After all, this person had been in the hotel from the beginning and had fallen unconscious after being affected by the drug, with an anesthetic needle still stuck in him.
Those useless idiots were hardly worth relying on. After confirming their presence with a glance, Gong Ran had ignored them, focusing instead on the intruders and anyone who might be hiding.
He had never expected the enemy to be right beside him.
Gong Ran was about to make a move when Pei Liang spoke at just the right moment. “If I were you, I’d choose to surrender obediently.”
“After all, there isn’t any water around for you to use. If you try to force your way out, I’m confident I can keep at least sixty percent of your body here. It wouldn’t be very amusing for you then.”
Gong Ran narrowed his eyes. “No one could remain unaffected by the drug for this long.”
He and Guan Qian had injected themselves with the antidote, so they could move about without trouble. But Pei Liang was a different story.
Pei Liang nodded. “It was indeed dangerous. That’s why I haven’t taken a breath since the moment I came in.”
As he spoke, he gestured outside with his chin. “Chu Yebai didn’t even come in.”
More than ten minutes had passed. Was it really possible for him to still be holding his breath?
Gong Ran once again witnessed the limits of this woman. He laughed. “If he has the guts to come in here, there’s a chance you might actually take me down tonight.”
“Too bad—”
Before he could finish, Pei Liang cut him off. “Take you down? How could I bear to? But capturing you will be more than enough.”
“What?”
A bad feeling suddenly struck Gong Ran. He immediately retreated, only to find that Pei Liang had no intention of attacking him at all.
Had the intimidating pressure she exuded—the sense of danger she created—merely been a bluff to deceive him?
By the time he realized this, it was already too late. As Gong Ran stepped backward, he collided with something invisible.
The next moment, his entire body was wrapped up. Even if he transformed into liquid, there was no longer any way for him to escape.
Pei Liang seemed to appear in front of him in an instant. With a deft movement, she snatched a syringe from his hand and plunged it into him.
His ability vanished, and Gong Ran returned to his normal form.
He had never expected to be subdued so easily. Setting all this up had required an exceptionally thorough understanding of the place, as well as an accurate prediction of his way of thinking. Many of the traps and warning systems had even been unknown to Guan Qian, despite the fact that she spent every day at his side.
But there was no point dwelling on that now. Pei Liang twisted his arms behind his back, seized him by the hair, pulled out a remote, and opened up the entire hotel, deactivating the Qingfeng System.
Chu Yebai also came in from outside. “I was even worried you might escape from in here. Turns out you’re more useless than I thought.”
A look of humiliation appeared on Gong Ran’s face. By now, the people around them had also been injected with something, and with Gong Ran’s life held over her head, Guan Qian had been forced to go to the laboratory and retrieve the antidote.
Pei Liang said, “Tie them all up and take them away. And remember to inject them with ability suppressants first.”
Then she smiled at Gong Ran. “We really have to thank you for being so efficient. Otherwise, taking just you back would have been troublesome enough.”
Gong Ran was furious, while Guan Qian was completely stunned.
The main villain she had admired and obsessed over, the man she had resolved to help change his fate and turn the tables, had actually been captured by the male lead at the very first encounter—before the story had even begun?
Although Chu Yebai was the male lead, he was no saint. When it came to anyone who posed a threat to him, he had never been merciful.
So what Gong Ran would face next was easy to imagine.
She had originally been full of fighting spirit, believing that with her help and her advance knowledge of the future, she could at least offset the male lead’s halo and accomplish something ambitious.
But before his ambition could even get off the ground at this run-down harbor, it had already come to an end.
Guan Qian burst into tears and pointed at the two of them. “You two cheated! This isn’t fair!”
She was primarily speaking to Chu Yebai. In her eyes, he had always been the one calling the shots.
Yet Chu Yebai merely turned to Pei Liang and said, “How about it? Just like we discussed before—why don’t you let me have him for a bit first?”
Pei Liang gave him a coy, reproachful look. “How could I? What if you break him?”
Everyone, Guan Qian included, drew a sharp breath and stared at Chu Yebai in horror.
The meaning in Guan Qian’s eyes was unmistakable. As she looked at Chu Yebai, her face practically had one sentence written across it—
There is something seriously wrong with you!
This guy is supposed to be the male lead? Since when was the male lead into this sort of thing?
Wasn’t the male lead in the original story just the classic overpowered hero surrounded by beautiful women? There shouldn’t have been any ulterior meaning behind what he’d just said, right?
Just as everyone was growing more and more suspicious, Pei Liang added, “Let’s go together!”
Another collective gasp shot straight down everyone’s throats, and their horrified gazes once again landed on that woman.
Just what kind of perverted freaks were this shameless couple?
The thirty-odd people from the prison, in particular, had originally lived under Gong Ran’s tyrannical rule and believed that, when it came to perversity, no one could surpass him.
Who would have thought they’d get to witness a scene like this?
They really wanted to believe they were overthinking it, but judging from the expressions on the faces of the invaders’ underlings, wasn’t that exactly the embarrassment of hearing a shameless couple make dirty jokes?
Several of them even looked around, unable to bear watching.
Seeing that Gong Ran was about to be dragged away by the hair, Guan Qian hurriedly shouted, “Stop! What are you planning to do?”
The shameless couple turned around at the same time.
“We captured a hostage, so we’re taking the prettiest one into the room.”
“What else do you think we’re doing?”
Gong Ran: “……”
Chu Yebai: Why does saying that feel so good?
No wonder Pei Liang had said it that way back then.
