Chapter 29: A Startled Shiver
Su Han froze entirely.
Only now did it dawn on him: ever since the male lead had regained consciousness, Shen Chengyin had never once introduced himself.
From Shen Chengyin’s perspective, Su Han had appeared out of nowhere, treating it as completely natural that he knew Shen Chengyin by name, right down to his status as the founding leader of Hope Base.
“I…”
A chill crept through Su Han’s veins.
He realized with sinking dread that there was no plausible excuse in existence to explain this away.
System 111 chimed in, stumbling over its words to pitch an idea: [How about… using that excuse you fed the folks back at Hope Base on him?]
Just claim Shen Chengyin was his senior from college whom he’d admired from afar for ages.
Su Han naturally discarded that option on the spot.
It was far too clumsy. Feeding that line to clueless bystanders was one thing, but trying to play Shen Chengyin for a fool was an outright death wish.
The lingering fever left Su Han lightheaded and woozy. Lifting a hand, he grasped Shen Chengyin’s wrist and guided the man’s palm straight toward his own throat.
The youth’s neck was slender and pale, small enough for Shen Chengyin to encircle entirely with a single broad hand.
The man lowered his dark lashes, masking the unfathomable flicker in his eyes.
“I can’t tell you who I really am, but I swear on my life that I have ties to no one in this world. If you don’t trust me, just kill me right now, Shen Chengyin,” Su Han murmured.
The fingers around his throat tightened a fraction, and Su Han’s heart sank lower with every passing second.
He was gambling—betting that since Shen Chengyin had expended his life ability to keep him breathing, he wouldn’t snuff that life out on a whim.
Just as Su Han felt the edges of suffocation closing in, Shen Chengyin released his grip.
Faint pink finger marks bloomed across the boy’s pale skin. Tilting his head back, Su Han gulped in air in ragged, desperate gasps, finally dragging his soul back from the brink.
Shen Chengyin hadn’t killed him. That meant he had secured a temporary shred of the male lead’s trust.
The man produced a small plastic bottle of white tablets, tapped a single pill into his fingers, and flicked it across to Su Han. Su Han caught it cleanly in his palm.
He knew these pills intimately by now: the weekly dose Shen Chengyin used to keep him on a tight leash.
Without the slightest hesitation, Su Han popped it into his mouth and swallowed.
Right after, he watched Shen Chengyin shake out another tablet, toss it past his own lips, and crush it between his molars.
“…Why are you taking one too?” Su Han couldn’t help asking.
Shen Chengyin didn’t grace him with a response. Stowing the bottle away, he snapped off the overhead light and lay back down to sleep.
The entire sequence was executed with seamless, fluid precision, treating Su Han as nothing more than thin air.
Su Han: “…”
Why did it feel like Shen Chengyin was sulking?
[The absolute priority right now is to rest. Once your fever breaks, check what your ability turned out to be,] the system grumbled. [It’d better be something with decent combat capability, otherwise you won’t survive the mid-apocalypse.]
In the early stages, Su Han could still scrape by on pure physical agility and martial skills. But once intermediate zombies were crawling across every ruin in a couple of years, ordinary humans without powers would have no option left but to roll over and die.
Letting out a long, slow breath, Su Han closed his eyes.
The following morning, Su Han’s fever had broken completely.
He opened his eyes to an empty bunk; Shen Chengyin was nowhere to be seen.
Rolling out of bed, he followed the system’s guidance: spreading his palm flat and channeling his inner reserves with all his might.
He strained until his arms trembled from exhaustion, yet not a solitary flicker of flame or single bead of moisture manifested.
[Weird… why isn’t there any reaction…? Could it be a mental-type or time-type ability?] the system muttered to itself.
In this apocalyptic world, abilities fell into six major domains: Space, Life, Time, Elements, Mental, and Law.
Most metahumans Su Han had run across were elemental users—metal, wood, water, fire, and earth. They formed the vast majority of the empowered population.
As for the remaining disciplines, Su Han had never laid eyes on a single one.
[If it’s mental or temporal, it’s completely normal to feel weak early on,] the system offered in consolation. [Don’t sweat it. As long as you make it past the initial hurdle, you’ll be tearing through battlefields in no time.]
Reassured, Su Han hopped down from the bunk and stepped out of the vehicle.
The RV was parked along the shoulder of a broad, desolate highway. As far as the eye could see, the asphalt stretched out empty, with only the roadside trees rustling softly beneath the dry breeze.
With no sign of where Shen Chengyin had gone, Su Han rummaged through the cabin, found the provisions the man had left behind, and began chewing through breakfast while waiting.
Now that Hope Base was reduced to ashes, all they had to do to shatter the original plot was steer clear of the two remaining megabases, Revival and Dawn.
With Shen Chengyin’s terrifying combat prowess, surviving as a lone wolf out here shouldn’t pose much of a challenge.
Su Han suddenly recalled how, back during their days at Hope Base, Shen Chengyin had routinely vanished overnight, disappearing for days on end.
Presumably, the man had slipped out to hunt down mutated zombies for their cores. How else could his power levels have skyrocketed at such a monstrous pace?
The wait stretched on until noon.
The sun hung high and blistering. Perched beneath the RV’s extended awning by the cabin door, Su Han began to nod off.
A subtle vibration pulsed through the soles of his boots, followed by the low, distant rumble of a vehicle’s engine.
Ever since his power stirred, Su Han’s senses had grown noticeably sharper.
Snapping awake instantly, he ducked behind a piece of roadside cover and peered toward the horizon.
The undead didn’t drive, but in this godforsaken world, living humans were infinitely more dangerous than the walking dead.
A dusty passenger van cruised into view, gradually slowing as it drew near. Su Han tightened his grip on his dagger and sidearm.
His marksmanship was mediocre at best; hitting anything past mid-range was a gamble. If these strangers brought trouble, he had to be ready to pull back at a second’s notice.
As the van rolled closer, Su Han blinked in surprise.
Sitting in the front passenger seat was Shen Chengyin.
Lowering his guard, Su Han stepped into the open and tilted his head inquisitively as the vehicle ground to a halt before him.
Catching Su Han’s puzzled look, Shen Chengyin explained flatly:
“They blew a tire. Borrowing a spare from our rig.”
The van’s sliding rear door flew open with a harsh rattle, revealing several burly, menacing men packed inside.
Flanked in their center like a delicate flower surrounded by thorns, a girl dressed in clean white attire stepped down, casually tucking a stray lock of hair behind her ear.
“Hello there. We’re a scavenging squad from Revival Base. Our vehicle broke down, and we need to borrow a spare tire from your RV.”
The girl possessed fair, delicate skin and pristine clothes, carrying a faint whiff of expensive perfume that instantly set her apart as someone from high society.
Su Han narrowed his eyes, surveying her with an icy tone.
“And why should we lend it to you?”
Hearing Su Han’s blunt hostility, the muscular enforcers inside the van bristled, leaning forward with dark scowls.
The girl raised a slender hand to hold them back, patiently explaining to Su Han:
“Your companion has already agreed to a trade. If you’re willing to help us out, I can bring you both back to Revival Base and secure the highest tier of privileges for you.”
Su Han’s gaze remained razor-sharp, refusing to yield an inch. “That’s easy for you to claim now. What happens when we arrive and you go back on your word?”
His aggressive pushback made his deep distaste for the girl glaringly obvious.
“Allow me to properly introduce myself. I am Cheng Ruoyan, daughter of the leader of Revival Base.”
Cheng Ruoyan carried herself with effortless poise, gesturing for a subordinate to hand over a heavy cloth sack filled with zombie crystal cores—several hundred of them, varying in size and clarity.
“Consider these a preliminary gift. If this isn’t enough, there are plenty more waiting once we reach the base.”
As the hefty sack was pressed into Su Han’s hands, a sudden jolt shot through his chest.
Cheng Ruoyan!
It really was her.
Apocalypse: Becoming The White Moonlight Of A Possessive Mad Dog
