Yu Cheng was an upright man—upright, and brimming with masculine confidence.
This had nothing to do with his current adventures or strength. Even before entering the reincarnation space, back in the real world, he had been the kind of person who made others feel completely safe.
The ability to make people feel secure was itself a sign of strength—a naturally powerful aura. And he was a man, at that.
So when it came to this sort of thing, it had never occurred to him—not even once—that he might be the one in danger.
He wasn’t the only one who thought that way. The people around him thought so too. Most of the time, when people faced Yu Cheng, the first thing they noticed wasn’t his handsome face.
That was why, when the system issued its warning, the pill had naturally been given to Bai Rou.
But now, all four of them felt their hearts sink. They stared at Yu Cheng as though something terrible had happened, as if they had misunderstood the most important piece of information needed to survive.
Bai Rou in particular. Seeing Gong Ran emerge with his legs trembling, she wished she could turn back time several days and shove that pill straight into their captain’s mouth.
Even Yu Cheng, who had always lacked any sense of danger, felt his scalp prickle under their stares.
“W-Why are you all looking at me?”
The four of them said nothing. A half-formed voice echoed in their minds.
It was only half a voice because it sounded as though someone had been about to speak, only to realize at the last moment that it was already too late and nothing they said would help. In the end, they could only swallow the words back down.
For the first time, all five of them understood the system’s unspoken meaning perfectly.
The system had clearly been saying: I already warned you.
Fortunately, the people inside didn’t seem to be paying any attention to them.
A hand suddenly reached out and dragged Dr. Gong, who had already been thoroughly worn out, back inside.
The five of them watched in horror. It was utterly pitiful and terrifying. Yu Cheng felt an urge to rescue him.
He simply couldn’t bear to watch a living person, already exhausted and desperate to escape after suffering such torment, get dragged back into the abyss.
A woman’s voice came from inside. “Why are you running out? It isn’t over yet.”
“Beast!” someone muttered under his breath. It was either Glasses or Mohawk.
Dr. Gong’s weak, pitiful voice drifted out. “No, please. Let me go back first. Now that Mr. Chu is here, it wouldn’t be appropriate to continue.”
Just listen to him. He didn’t even dare to use overly forceful words in protest. Instead, he had to phrase everything so meekly and cautiously. It was obvious how badly he had been tormented before this.
At that moment, Chu Yebai—the male protagonist of this world, according to the information they had—let out a cold laugh.
“Go back? Do you think I’m some gullible idiot?”
“You may not understand the rules of our line of work, so let me explain. If anyone reaches a hand into my territory, I’ll chop the whole arm off.”
“Now lie back down on the examination table. I want to see with my own eyes how she touched you. Wherever she touched, I’ll cut off that piece of flesh.”
Hiss—
Although the male protagonist’s origins were hardly respectable, in the original novel he had clearly been a relatively righteous character. So why was he acting like this now?
Not only had he joined forces with the villain, he was even taking his anger out on an innocent person and doing something so cruel.
What had Dr. Gong done wrong? He had been forced and humiliated. Instead of blaming the actual abuser, Chu Yebai was blaming the victim?
The group exchanged glances.
Had he already been assimilated and corrupted by the Big Boss?
Everyone understood that the male protagonist was beyond saving. Fortunately, they had never placed much hope in finding a breakthrough through him in the first place.
On the contrary, Dr. Gong, who had only recently been captured, was the person they should be watching.
After Chu Yebai finished speaking, the Big Boss hurriedly interrupted, “No, no, no! I told you, you’ve misunderstood. If you keep making a fuss, I’ll throw you out.”
“I’m making a fuss? Pei Liang, you’re unbelievable! It hasn’t even been half a month since you made that promise!” Chu Yebai shouted furiously.
Dr. Gong’s frail voice cut in between them. “Don’t—cough, cough! Don’t argue because of me. She’s right. I did overstep the boundary.”
Pei Liang turned to look at Gong Ran and thought, Damn it, don’t drag me down with you.
When someone caught you in a compromising situation—ah, no, when there was a misunderstanding—the first rule was to deny everything to the death. It was a test of whether you could stare straight into someone’s eyes and tell an outrageous lie.
You absolutely couldn’t show the slightest trace of guilt. Besides, their situation hadn’t yet reached the point where the evidence was conclusive and there was no way to argue their innocence.
She had kept a kept man for many years and considered herself a woman who honored contracts. How could she possibly leave a stain on her record here?
So Pei Liang said forcefully, “How exactly did I cross the line? Tell me, which part crossed the line? We agreed on the terms from the beginning, and he knew them perfectly well. How can scientific research be called stealing?”
“Besides, what I’m doing now is no different from what I did before I got together with you. What, do you think what I did to you back then was inappropriate too?”
“Could it be that this is the reason you decided to acknowledge me?”
The moment Gong Ran heard this, he lowered his head, the corners of his lips curling upward.
As expected, Pei Liang had used the excuse he had prepared for her.
Ha! Women.
At that moment, Gong Ran was utterly confident that this woman wouldn’t be able to hold out for long. The only trouble was Chu Yebai.
Sure enough, Chu Yebai nearly died of anger. He stared at Pei Liang in disbelief.
“You actually have the nerve to say that? What kind of noble intentions did you have when you did that to me back then?”
Those outside the room found the exchange thrilling beyond words. They seemed to understand how the male protagonist had fallen.
So he, too, had experienced Dr. Gong’s torment and humiliation, only to develop Stockholm syndrome and become an accomplice of the Big Boss.
The truly sinister one was the Big Boss. She could actually speak of something like this as though it were perfectly natural.
It was simply breathtaking.
Bai Rou’s heart was pounding wildly. Without a word, she pulled out a compact of eyebrow powder.
Cosmetics from the real world were practically free in the reincarnation space, but the captain didn’t approve of paying too much attention to one’s appearance in such a perilous environment.
So Bai Rou could only buy them and use them in secret, making the most of a natural-looking makeup style.
But now she couldn’t worry about being exposed. She immediately handed the compact to Yu Cheng.
“Captain, maybe you should put a little on your face.”
“Yeah, yeah! It’s a little late, but better than nothing.”
Mohawk added, “Hey, should I put some on too? Your brother is actually pretty good-looking.”
The others gave him a look of utter disdain.
Yu Cheng felt guilty, but his fierce pride wouldn’t allow him to do something so cowardly. He clenched his jaw and said, “No!”
In return, Bai Rou gave him a worried look.
The struggle inside continued. The male protagonist raged, the Big Boss argued shamelessly, and Dr. Gong offered pale, innocent explanations.
The group felt that Dr. Gong really didn’t know how to talk to people. At a time like this, he should have kept quiet. Why did he insist on explaining himself?
Couldn’t he see that every explanation only made things worse? If the Big Boss hadn’t kept intervening, he probably would have been beaten already.
Of course, that only made everyone sympathize with him even more.
But then the male protagonist said something that shattered everyone’s worldview.
“She told me that as long as it didn’t involve matters of principle, we could share anything with each other.”
“Actually, you didn’t have to sneak around. I’m not angry about the act itself. I’m angry because you didn’t invite me to join you.”
“...”
The members of the Reincarnation Team waiting outside barely dared to breathe, because the laboratory had also fallen into a brief silence.
Dr. Gong was the first to break it. “Get out of my laboratory, you pervert!”
Chu Yebai said, “Why be so polite? I don’t mind.”
The male lead gave a derisive laugh, his tone dripping with mockery. “At this level, you still think you can pull it off?”
The First Wife’s calm generosity was on full display.
Both men turned to look at Pei Liang. Pei Liang wanted to smack herself. She should never have entertained the hope that today would go smoothly.
After observing Jiang Xun for all those years in the previous world, she had developed the illusion that she could handle situations like this.
Apparently, she had been overthinking things.
Pei Liang gave two dry little laughs. “I just remembered—I think I have a meeting scheduled.”
“It’s with an important talent who only arrived at the base today. I can’t afford to neglect them. You two can take your time talking. I’ll be leaving now.”
Hearing this, the members of the Reincarnation Team could only think: What an unbelievable scumbag.
But the next second, they immediately realized that she seemed to be talking about them.
The group hurriedly turned around and tried to return to the reception room, but it was already too late. Pei Liang had come out.
She hadn’t gone on a mission today, but since combat could break out at any moment in the apocalypse, her clothing had become neat and practical. She was wearing a pair of black combat trousers, short boots, and nothing but a black short-sleeved T-shirt on top. She looked sharp and capable.
The ravages of the apocalypse had not ruined her beauty, but she was entirely different from the elegant confidence of a dancer shown in the photographs and footage they had found along the way.
There was no doubt that her entire aura was forceful and domineering, intensely striking, perfectly befitting the title of the apocalypse’s biggest boss.
Combined with her aggressively beautiful appearance, the moment she entered their field of vision, the group felt as though a beam of light had stabbed straight into their eyes.
After seeing a few strangers, Pei Liang immediately realized who they were, and a trace of awkwardness flashed across her face.
Based on their assessment of the Big Boss, the members of the Reincarnation Team became extremely wary. They wouldn’t even have been surprised if the Big Boss had killed them on the spot just to avoid losing face.
But clearly, they had overestimated the situation. The reason the Big Boss was the Big Boss wasn’t merely because of her schemes and strength. Her ability to face the messes she created with complete composure was also beyond what ordinary people could match.
The Big Boss instantly reined in the awkwardness on her face and put on a warm smile.
“Sorry to keep you waiting. I was a little busy just now. Don’t take it personally.”
Oh, she had been very busy indeed.
The male lead and Dr. Gong hadn’t expected this shameless woman to flee at the critical moment either. Still, she did have enough sense of shame to realize that, with other people waiting outside, she had decided to play dead for the day.
They could only let her off for now.
Afraid that the two men would pester her again once she went back inside, Pei Liang didn’t bother leading the group into the reception room.
She simply said, “Let’s go. We can talk while we walk.”
The five hesitated for a moment, but eventually followed her.
Only then did Pei Liang have time to look them over properly. She immediately saw that these people were not ordinary.
Strictly speaking, apart from the handsome man leading them, the others didn’t look like strong fighters at all.
They were the sort of people one could see everywhere on the street. Their temperaments had been shaped by years of ordinary life. Even though they possessed a particular kind of arrogance, they still couldn’t conceal their true nature.
But their physical fitness and walking rhythms, along with the keen senses revealed by the tiniest changes in their expressions, were another matter entirely.
Pei Liang understood this kind of incongruity very well. Wasn’t it similar to the disharmony she had brought to others after entering the original host’s body, drawing half of her internal energy from her previous life while possessing martial abilities and experience the original host had never had?
Could these people have been transmigrated too—
No. The probability of all five of them being transmigrated was far too low. Besides, in this apocalypse, where information traveled slowly, it was impossible for them to seek one another out through coded messages online. How had they managed to gather together in such a short time?
This was becoming more and more interesting.
Pei Liang had only studied them for a moment, but the members of the Reincarnation Team nearly broke out in a cold sweat.
Their five senses were exceptionally sharp, an inevitable enhancement brought about by their physical strengthening. Not every one of them was an expert at reading expressions, but they could easily detect abnormalities in an ordinary person’s face.
And their opponent didn’t seem to have any intention of hiding her suspicions. So they knew that the Big Boss had become suspicious.
How had she figured it out so quickly? They had even prepared flawless explanations during the journey. Yet the other party had no intention of asking them anything.
All the explanations they had prepared were now useless. Worse, before Pei Liang withdrew her gaze, they had caught a flash of understanding in her eyes.
Mohawk, the least composed among them, had already placed a hand on his spatial ring, ready to fight at any moment.
Then Pei Liang asked, “What are each of your abilities?”
The question was not particularly offensive. The base currently needed to allocate its manpower efficiently, so abilities were naturally an important part of the evaluation.
They had prepared their stories long ago, and Bai Rou answered first. “Accelerated plant growth.”
Mohawk said, “Mine is pretty ordinary. I only awakened superhuman strength.”
The older man said, “I have an earth-based ability. Its range and power are both fairly good. We’ve relied on it to create defenses and traps along the way and avoid attacks from hordes of zombies.”
Glasses said, “I’m good at locating people.”
Finally, it was Yu Cheng’s turn. He said, “Teleportation.”
Pei Liang’s interest was immediately piqued. “What’s your range?”
Yu Cheng hesitated for a moment, but ultimately chose to increase his value and make the Big Boss take his ability seriously.
He answered, “I can instantly reach anywhere I’ve been before. For places I haven’t visited, I can teleport anywhere within sight.”
Pei Liang’s eyes lit up with undisguised delight.
“Wonderful. What about using a telescope?”
Yu Cheng’s heart tightened. As expected of the Big Boss—she clearly understood how to develop abilities and maximize their efficiency.
Still, he didn’t hold back in his answer. “With a telescope or visual assistance, I can reach anywhere within fifteen kilometers.”
“How long can you maintain it each time? Or are there limits on the number of uses?”
“...My maximum is ten uses, regardless of distance,” Yu Cheng said, somewhat awkwardly.
Pei Liang was even more delighted after hearing that. “You’re very impressive. I like you. Come with me!”
With the male lead and Dr. Gong already in the picture, those words sent all sorts of alarm bells ringing in the others’ minds.
Even so, they obediently followed Pei Liang onto the ship. They didn’t stay at the research base for long before leaving.
When they returned to the shore by the harbor, Pei Liang immediately had someone bring over several sets of weapons and equipment.
She ordered each of them to take a set, without even asking whether they knew how to use it.
Her casual yet utterly confident attitude weighed even more heavily on their hearts. Still, they had to admit that the Big Boss was completely leading them by the nose.
After changing into the same combat uniforms as Pei Liang and equipping themselves with weapons, the Big Boss shouted toward a nearby building:
“Zhong An, there’s work to do.”
A few seconds later, a man appeared at the window, his face clearly showing that he wished he were dead.
“Didn’t you say I had today off?”
Pei Liang ignored him completely. He didn’t dare refuse to come down, so he could only resign himself to his fate and start getting dressed.
When the results came back, the members of the Reincarnation Squad could clearly smell a woman’s perfume on him.
Just then, a girl who bore some resemblance to Pei Liang walked over as well. The moment she saw the man called Zhong An, she sneered, “There are actually women who’d want you?”
Zhong An immediately bristled. “Why wouldn’t there be? What’s wrong with my qualifications? Am I ugly, or is there something wrong with my body?”
“I have a high income and a handsome face here at the base. No matter how you look at it, I’m one of the top eligible bachelors—a diamond among men. The beauties chasing after me could line up all the way from here to the main city.”
“Pfft!” the girl said. “By now, who in the entire base doesn’t know you’re the Big Sucker? You make a living as a hired blade and have mastered the art of living off others.”
“If you hadn’t made a little money, who would bother with you? Oh, right—the former celebrity Nana. She only wanted to squeeze a few benefits out of you. Can you stop bragging everywhere that a former top star from before the apocalypse threw herself at your feet?”
“She’s already miserable enough. There’s no need to let everyone see how desperate and humiliated she is. You claim that paying her doesn’t violate the principle of mutual consent, but at the very least, you could spare a girl’s feelings, couldn’t you?”
Zhong An’s face flushed red. Of course he knew he had nothing to be proud of, but so what? Pei Liang simply paid him far too well.
So he shot back, “As if all the handsome guys who hang around you aren’t after something from you.”
Pei Ning nodded indifferently, showing no shame—in fact, she seemed rather proud. “I’d be more worried if they weren’t after something. A clean financial relationship is perfectly fine by me. I’m nothing like certain people who get drunk on their own imagined charm.”
The Reincarnation Squad: “…”
What the hell was this? What kind of base had such a tangled mess of men and women? No matter how dazzling the surface looked, it couldn’t conceal the corruption of those in power.
According to the system’s information, they now understood Pei Ning’s identity as well. She was one of the key figures in the plot.
Her ability was to attract zombies and mutated plants and animals. It was said that she had made tremendous contributions by helping the Big Boss conquer territory.
Given how terrifying that ability was, the squad instantly imagined all kinds of utterly deranged ways to use it.
Could it be that this woman was smuggling Pei Ning into other bases so that she could use zombies and mutated plants and animals to destroy them?
For a moment, visions of a post-apocalyptic hell flashed through their minds.
The look Yu Cheng directed at Pei Ning even contained a trace of killing intent.
But they couldn’t act rashly. The Big Boss had plenty of assistants around her, and they would have to eliminate them one by one. Being too deliberate or too eager would only alert their enemy.
Still, the Big Boss was astonishingly bold. She had brought only two people with her and gone outside the city with the Reincarnation Squad.
Unable to hold back, Yu Cheng asked, “Shouldn’t you bring more people?”
“Where would we find that many people?” Pei Liang smiled. “Everyone’s been working themselves to the bone lately. They’re exhausted. They finally managed to get a day off, so let’s not bother them.”
She was supposed to be taking the day off too. But after getting caught up in trouble, she had slipped away.
And while she was at it, she might as well find something to do.
Zhong An complained, “Then why is everyone else off-limits, but I’m always available? Don’t tools have human rights?”
Pei Ning retorted, “What are you tired from? What do you even do on missions? Don’t you just lie down?”
Hiss—
The members of the Reincarnation Squad shuddered and looked at Zhong An.
They could already tell from the conversation that there was something strange about his situation, but what kind of job in the apocalypse involved simply lying down?
Even more shocking was Zhong An’s response.
“You think lying down is easy?”
“There’s a whole science to what position I lie in, the rhythm, when to change positions and angles. Length, softness, hardness, shape—everything matters. The moment your sister gives me a signal, I have to cooperate. I have to stay focused the entire time. If I don’t coordinate properly, I get beaten half to death.”
“Do you think I have it easy? And you still have the nerve to criticize me? Who has it easier than you? You just have to stand there!”
Everything he said after that about Pei Ning went completely unheard by the Reincarnation Squad. All they heard was what sounded like an account of the sort of “use” that ought to have been censored.
Once again, the four of them turned to Yu Cheng, their eyes clearly conveying a single message—
Captain, there’s still time to disfigure your face.
Just how many men had fallen into the Big Boss’s clutches at this base? And what exactly had she brought them out here for?
On the surface, it was supposedly to test their abilities, but she had brought only these few people along.
As for the Big Boss’s claim that she didn’t want to inconvenience anyone else on their day off, they didn’t believe a single word of it.
Besides, as the Big Boss, she couldn’t possibly be so careless as to leave the base with people she had only just met, people she had no reason to trust, and go on a mission alone with them.
And look at the people she had brought. Her younger sister was clearly an ardent admirer—a lackey cut from the same cloth.
The other man looked as though he had already been played into stupidity and abandoned all human dignity.
Their situation was extremely dangerous. Could it be that once they reached some remote wilderness, the Big Boss planned to do something to them?
“Captain, it really isn’t too late to disfigure your face,” Mohawk whispered.
The others were as jumpy as startled birds. Just then, a high-clearance off-road vehicle approached from a short distance away, and all eight of them squeezed inside.
Along the way, the atmosphere around the Big Boss was surprisingly relaxed. She even asked what kind of music they liked.
The five members of the squad sat stiffly, while the other three acted completely at ease. They treated it like a sightseeing trip, turning up the music and singing loudly.
It didn’t feel like the apocalypse, with its scheming and constant calculations, or like a world where zombies and mutated plants and animals might burst out at any moment.
Instead, it felt like a few friends had arranged a weekend road trip out of the city for a barbecue.
After driving for about an hour, they arrived at their destination, an outlying suburb beyond the city.
Pei Liang got out first and pointed at the hundreds, perhaps thousands, of abandoned cars clogging the road ahead.
“Let’s get to work.”
The Reincarnation Squad had no idea what she meant. Pei Liang smiled and explained, “There are several crucial locations. I need to be able to reach them instantly when necessary, so I brought Mr. Yu here to familiarize himself with the area.”
“You said teleportation can carry at most one other person, right?”
Yu Cheng nodded, recalling the several points that had appeared on the display inside the vehicle.
He couldn’t help admiring the Big Boss’s grasp of the overall situation and her keen sense for strategic positioning. Before coming here, he had studied the city’s terrain.
Those locations happened to be weak points. At the same time, the base had not yet expanded to the point where it could cover them. If the base came under attack by zombies, opening or blocking those routes could directly affect the outcome of the battle.
Still, placing her hopes in someone whose background was unknown to her was excessively arrogant.
On the other hand, it was also a good sign. It meant that, in her eyes, his usefulness would remain valuable for quite some time. At least for now, the squad’s lives were not in danger.
Yu Cheng nodded. “I’ve memorized the coordinates. Where are we going next?”
Pei Liang waved a hand. “No rush. Let’s clear the road here first.”
She pointed at the traffic jam ahead—the vehicles that had been driven onto the road by people fleeing the main city before the apocalypse.
Yu Cheng was startled. “Why? These vehicles are natural roadblocks. They can stop the zombie hordes coming from this direction.”
The entire road was clogged for two or three kilometers, stretching so far that the end was nowhere in sight.
Normally, when ordinary zombies encountered an obstacle, they would automatically change direction as long as there were no living people ahead to lure them onward.
With two or three continuous kilometers of abandoned vehicles blocking the way, they were enough to stop the vast majority of zombies—aside from mutated ones—and provide the base with an added layer of security along its outer perimeter.
Yu Cheng couldn’t understand why Pei Liang wanted to clear away the roadblocks. Then the realization struck him.
She had only brought two people under her absolute control, along with a group like them who had just arrived and had no foundation here.
What was she planning?
Was she deliberately increasing the city’s threats in order to maintain her absolute rule?
Yu Cheng had seen plenty of ugly power-holders use tactics like this during his missions. For a moment, killing intent stirred in his heart.
His gaze sharpened. The Big Boss might be formidable, but she had only awakened her abilities less than a month ago—
A nerve inside him drew taut. Then the Big Boss turned around.
In a matter-of-fact tone, she said, “Because the survivors fleeing from this direction wouldn’t be able to get through either.”
Then she smiled, and in the sunlight, that smile looked exceptionally radiant. “As for the zombies, people have to fight sooner or later.”
“Right now, the city has enough combat strength, comprehensive warning systems, and you. When necessary, you can even directly influence the direction of a zombie horde.”
“But the people fleeing here are different. If they have zombies chasing them from behind and find themselves trapped here, I can’t imagine how desperate they would feel.”
“I hope that when survivors approach the base, the closer they get, the harder they can press down on the accelerator—leaving the danger and panic behind them and driving straight into the base’s safe zone. I don’t want them to look at the city in the distance, already glowing with lights, and fall into despair because they’ve been stopped outside.”
She spoke as though it were the most natural thing in the world. This was no thoughtless act of kindness. It was the confidence of someone capable of containing every possible outcome.
Yu Cheng was stunned, and the tension in his nerves eased before he even realized it.
