"That's a preliminarily purified virus serum. Once we take it back to the settlement and process it through certain methods, it can be used for self-enhancement."
Hmm, that's pretty much what I had guessed.
Though I wonder how they discovered this.
"When we get to your base, can we also have you process and use that serum?"
Ji Mengyao's heart leaped with joy, thinking silently that the fish had finally taken the bait.
"Sure, but you'll need to join our exploration team first~"
She gripped the steering wheel while keeping her eyes on the road, pretending to be nonchalant, as if it didn't matter whether they joined or not.
"What does the exploration team do? Things like what you did today, rescuing people?"
Ning Yu wasn't surprised by this requirement - there's no such thing as a free lunch.
"Yeah, we received a distress signal from a man a couple days ago, so they sent the two of us to rescue him."
Ji Mengyao jerked her head backward, gesturing toward Ning Yu.
"Aren't you afraid it might be fake news?"
Ning Yu raised a very reasonable question.
"Hahaha, we're not afraid. Some idiots tried to rob us before, and naturally, we raided their place in return."
"That was exactly what they deserved."
Ji Mengyao said with a cigarette between her lips, showing an arrogant smile, appearing fearless.
Ning Yu couldn't help but think of a movie quote:
Nobody dares to bully our Axe Gang; we're the ones who do the bullying.
"There's also a little girl inside named Wang Yuan. She's the daughter of one of our exploration team members. We found out about this during our communications."
"So we're pretty sure it's genuine."
She added a few more explanatory words.
"So, what do you say? You both seem pretty skilled. Want to join us?"
"We've got plenty of food and clothes, more than enough to go around. Plus, there's rewards and salary for exploration missions!"
"Right now the exploration team is full of smelly men, I don't have a single female friend there. It's so boring!"
Ji Mengyao's tone carried hints of depression, seemingly really eager to have some female teammates.
"Follow big sister's lead, and I'll take you dancing through zombie hordes!"
"Bang!"
She stepped on the gas, running over two mindless zombies.
Black blood splattered on the windshield, and she casually flicked a switch near the steering wheel, turning on the swaying wipers.
"Let us see your place first, then we'll think about it."
Ning Yu maintained a cool demeanor, appearing very calm, her amber eyes deep in thought.
"Deal! Take your time thinking about it~"
Ji Mengyao wasn't in a hurry. She reached out to turn on the old pickup truck's music player.
A dreamy city pop song suddenly burst from the truck's speakers.
The synthesizer-heavy electronic tones seemed to transport everything away from this desolate apocalyptic world. The truck's speakers weren't of great quality,
But this actually added a lofi flavor to the music.
In this powerless world, using car speakers was a decent option if you wanted to enjoy music.
Ji Mengyao seemed to really love this song, her body swaying to the drum beats and bass line in the intro.
She squinted her eyes and took another drag of her cigarette.
In this space filled with blueberry menthol smoke, she seemed to have returned to those colorful, bustling nights in the big city.
"What's this song called?"
Ning Yu asked, feeling this must be a song unique to Blue Star.
"'Plastic Love'"
Ji Mengyao's cigarette-holding hand rested on the steering wheel, unconsciously tapping along, thoroughly enjoying this brief moment of entertainment.
Ning Yu observed her profile, thinking how she had the face of a pure and pretty girl-next-door, probably around the same age as Shen Yiyue.
Yet she styled herself rebelliously: skull T-shirt, gold-patterned baseball cap, golden hair braided into plaits.
Combined with her unexpectedly tasteful music preferences.
There was an indescribable sense of contrast, but it didn't feel disjointed - rather, it was somehow cool in its own way.
"Nice song, right?"
Ji Mengyao flashed a bright and straightforward smile. It was hard to imagine she could also be tsundere.
"Why would love be plastic?"
Ning Yu withdrew her gaze and casually asked an odd question about the song's title.
"Huh? Who knows, I find it strange too."
Ji Mengyao tapped some ash into the car's ashtray, carelessly handling the steering wheel.
"Maybe it's because love takes 1000 years to decompose."
She offered an equally absurd explanation.
The car fell into a brief silence.
"Actually, besides rescuing people, we also hunt mutated zombies."
Ji Mengyao started up the conversation again after a while, apparently having forgotten she just told Ning Yu to take her time thinking.
"Oh? Is it for the serum?"
Ning Yu made a reasonable guess.
"Yes, that's one aspect - the serum makes us stronger."
"The other reason is to reduce threats around the base. Most people there are actually ordinary civilians."
After answering, she suddenly turned to look at Ning Yu:
"It's quite rare to see two awakened ones traveling together like you two."
Seeing her turn her head, Ning Yu couldn't help but remind her:
"Shouldn't you be watching the road while driving?"
"Pfft, I've driven this broken road countless times!"
Ji Mengyao pouted and grudgingly turned her head back.
Only then did Ning Yu continue:
"It's just a coincidence. I can see zombies' weak points, and her bullets can curve. We're a match made in heaven."
She concealed all their other combat abilities, only revealing what Ji Mengyao and Wu Di had already seen.
"You can really see mutated zombies' weak points?!"
Ji Mengyao exclaimed, though she had vaguely guessed this already.
"If you could join us, we might lose fewer people."
She seemed to recall something, her eyes growing distant with memories.
"Never mind! Don't worry about what I said, it's entirely up to you whether you join or not."
Perhaps realizing her words carried a hint of emotional manipulation, Ji Mengyao quickly explained.
"In the base, ordinary people can also live well with food and clothing as long as they contribute their efforts."
"This is our common ideal, and the vision of the Ark."
Listening to Ji Mengyao's words, Ning Yu's impression of this survivor settlement seemed to improve somewhat.
It didn't seem as dire as she had imagined.
If their exploration team focused on killing mutated zombies, perhaps she could use them to complete her tasks by hunting mutated zombies.
She had some vague plans forming in her mind.
"By the way, what would you have done if we hadn't come earlier?"
Ning Yu wanted to probe Ji Mengyao's "Death Resistance" ability.
"Me? After dying another ten times or so, I probably would have worn that thing down."
Ji Mengyao spoke these terrifying words casually, as if it was completely normal.
"You... don't feel pain?"
Ning Yu pretended to be sympathetic as she expressed her 'concern'.
"Nope, I was born without the ability to feel pain. Got bullied a lot as a kid because of it."
Bringing this up seemed to anger Ji Mengyao, and she punched the steering wheel:
"Hey, you're not making fun of me, are you? For having to work so hard to kill it?"
Seeing this golden-haired tsundere being so competitive, Ning Yu understood:
Her rebellious and competitive personality probably had something to do with her childhood experiences.
"No, no, I'm just curious."
"Oh...."
Ji Mengyao responded sheepishly, feeling she had overthought things.
"Well... really, thank you guys for earlier. It would've been rough having to die that many times...."
She said these words of gratitude with a red face and somewhat stubbornly, her voice getting increasingly quieter.
Ning Yu was speechless - why couldn't you say this earlier outside?
Was it because there were more people around then?
e bizarre and supernatural had descended. The previous emperor was a thoroughgoing tyrant; no longer satisfied with human women, he had set his sights on a stunningly beautiful supernatural entity. He met his end in his bedchamber, drained of all his vital essence. As the legitimate eldest son and crown prince, Wang Hao was thus hastily enthroned, becoming the young emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty. No sooner had he awakened the "Imperial Sign-In Intelligence System" than he was assassinated by a Son of Destiny—a classic villain's opening. The Great Zhou, ravaged by the former emperor's excesses, was in national decline. The great families within its borders harbored their own treacherous schemes, martial sects began to defy the imperial court's decrees, and border armies, their pay and provisions in arrears, grumbled incessantly against the central government. Fortunately, the central capital was still held secure by the half-million Imperial Guards and fifty thousand Imperial Forest Army who obeyed the court's orders, along with the royal family's hidden reserves of power, barely managing to suppress the realm. As the Great Zhou's finances worsened and supernatural activities grew ever more frequent, the court sat atop a volcano. Ambitious plotters everywhere dreamed of overthrowing the dynasty, and even some reclusive ancient powers emerged, attempting to sway the tides of the world. At the first grand court assembly, the civil and military officials nearly came to blows, fighting tooth and nail over the allocation of fifty million taels of silver from the summer tax revenues. The spectacle opened Wang Hao's eyes—the Great Zhou's bureaucracy was not only corrupt but also martially proficient, a cabinet of all-rounders. Some officials even had the audacity to suggest the emperor release funds from the imperial privy purse to address the emergency. Wang Hao suddenly felt weary. Let it all burn.
nd fell into a coma while saving his younger sister from an out-of-control car. He became a vegetable. No one knew that his consciousness had crossed into a world of cultivation. Over the course of sixty years, he began as the lowest kind of mine slave, struggling to survive amid mountains of corpses and seas of blood. By sheer chance, he eventually obtained the complete memories of a fallen Immortal King. Alchemy, medicine, formations, feng shui, physiognomy, artifact forging… Every great inheritance of the cultivation world was now his. But when he opened his eyes again, he discovered that ten full years had passed in the modern world. To pay for his treatment, his father had sold the family’s shop and house, leaving himself covered in lasting injuries and illness. His mother had cared for him day and night, and more than half of her hair had already turned white. His younger sister, who had been only fifteen back then, was now twenty-five. To help repay the family’s debts, she had been forced to lower her head and put on a smiling face in places of glittering lights and endless revelry. Only then did Chen Xuan understand that what he had lost was not merely ten years. He had lost the life his entire family was meant to have. The good news was that he had brought back the memories of an Immortal King’s entire lifetime. The bad news was that his soul had returned alone—his cultivation had not come with him. Spiritual energy was scarce, resources were depleted, and the modern world still had firearms, surveillance, capital, and laws. If he wanted to protect his family, break free from everyone’s control, and become truly invincible beneath the heavens, he would have to start all over again.
s + Rent Collection Wealth】 At the start, he inherited a rundown house in the urban village from his grandfather. The house had no tenants, but the moment he was diagnosed with a terminal illness, a self-proclaimed empress from the Tianxuan Continent arrived as his first tenant. Ye Chuan soon discovered that with every new tenant moving in, not only did he receive massive daily payments, but he also obtained unique items related to their backgrounds. 【Acquired Bai Qianshuang’s related item: Tiger Strength Pill—dramatically enhances physical power!】 【Acquired Bai Qianshuang’s related item: Deer Blood Pill—significantly boosts vitality!】 …… From that day on, all sorts of bizarre tenants began appearing in the house: the empress from Tianxuan Continent, an apocalyptic sorceress from the Magic Realm, a mysterious scientific girl who fell through a spacetime rift… Every single day, he received strange, powerful items and endless money. Then one day, he suddenly realized—he had become invincible. Enough, enough! Stop giving me more!
villain is the number one simp for the book's leading female protagonist, Shen Wan'er. As expected, he later becomes a tool for the main character to show off and slap faces, ultimately meeting a tragic end with his family ruined and his life in shambles. Fortunately, he awakens the [Universal Pure Love System], which allows him to earn points by performing acts of pure love. To change his fate, Gu Yan makes a decisive choice to seek warmth and companionship with the book's biggest villain—Cold Qingqiu. ........... My name is Leng Qingqiu. To find the murderer who killed my parents years ago, I deliberately blinded myself so that everyone would lower their guard around me. Just as I was secretly accumulating power and capital according to my initial plan, a man walked into my world. "Lengleng, Qingqing, Qiuqiu, which nickname do you prefer?" I don't like any of them. You'd better leave quickly! "Why aren't you saying anything? How about I call you my baby wife?" Leng Qingqiu thinks to herself, this man is truly annoying! (Stubborn pure love warrior + single female lead + true pure love + 1v1)
