Chapters 264 & 265: Captured
Zhuang Mingxu felt like he truly had nothing left.
Without powers, he had lost everything.
He had fallen into a mental trap.
No one could pull him out.
Seeing this, Lu Weiyi silently withdrew his spiritual power and tossed the jade back into the spatial space.
As the final crack was repaired, the entire space seemed to be hit with a massive surge of energy, bursting outward.
Everyone in the living room was knocked off balance by the impact. The energy then spread in all directions.
Beside the thatched hut, the peach tree that had never moved before suddenly sprang to life and began growing skyward.
That feeling was like something starting from within his body, ready to burst out from the top of his head at any moment.
Lu Weiyi suddenly stood up and walked out of the villa. Not knowing where to go, he subconsciously kept walking outward. Just as he reached the front gate, his entire consciousness vanished in an instant.
The few people who had followed behind watched as Lu Weiyi, while walking, suddenly turned into a tree standing at the gate.
“This… this…”
“What’s going on?”
Li Zhuang quickly stepped forward. “Lu Weiyi? Lu Weiyi!” He reached out to pat the tree but was bounced back by some invisible energy—he couldn’t get close at all.
Li Zhuang called out a few more times. Ning Yuan came out the door without asking anything, but Xu Sa quickly turned to the person behind him. “Brother Mingxu, something’s happened to Weiyi.”
Zhuang Mingxu’s calm movements froze. He hurried a few steps and saw the large tree that had suddenly appeared in the courtyard. Looking up, he seemed to see peaches hanging from it.
It was that tree!
“Xiao Yi!” Zhuang Mingxu ran forward, stumbled due to his unsteady leg, and was directly bounced back by the tree, landing on the ground.
“What happened? What did he do? Why did this happen?” Zhuang Mingxu panicked.
“He said he was going to upgrade the space.”
The upgrade completed—and the tree in the space got upgraded too?
“Where is he?”
“He turned into… a tree.”
“Impossible.” Zhuang Mingxu knew this was a different entity, but he remembered what Lu Weiyi had once said about the consciousness that existed in his mind.
Possession?
Zhuang Mingxu tried hard to stay calm. He gently stretched out his hand, approaching bit by bit, but was stopped short of the trunk. “I know you’re alive—where’s Xiao Yi?”
There was no reply.
Zhuang Mingxu pressed a little harder, but the force rebounded, flinging him back.
He tried again, fingers lightly brushing like a tickle.
Soon, a thin, hair-like branch fell from the tree and swatted his hand away.
Everyone watching this scene stayed silent.
“Where’s Xiao Yi?” Zhuang Mingxu asked again.
No one answered—only that slender branch kept brushing his hand away, not letting him continue.
“Brother Mingxu, what is this?” Xu Sa asked.
“It’s…” Zhuang Mingxu thought for a moment. “Xiao Yi’s mutated plant.”
“It can grow like this?”
“Doesn’t seem to have much offensive ability.”
“Where’s the captain?”
A few people quietly murmured questions.
Zhuang Mingxu had no answers. “You all go back. I’ll stay and watch him. I’ll inform you immediately if there’s any update. We still have to travel tomorrow—get some rest early.”
The others assumed he had some secret method he didn’t want to share and silently returned to the villa.
Zhuang Mingxu sat directly on the ground, leaning against the tree trunk.
*
Meanwhile, Lu Weiyi was trapped inside the space.
The space had expanded infinitely. He stood beneath the peach tree, unable to see the boundaries. Various supplies were scattered all around, as if he had entered a vast supply depot.
He focused and tried to leave, but couldn’t. It felt like he was locked inside this world.
“You can’t get out.”
A childlike voice spoke. Lu Weiyi looked around, seeing no one. “Who are you?”
“I’m Tao Tao.”
“Where are you?”
“Right here.”
As the words fell, a branch waved in front of him.
Lu Weiyi looked up and saw the big tree.
“You’re the peach tree?”
“Nope.”
The voice fell, and a figure about a meter tall appeared. The little boy looked like a porcelain doll straight out of a New Year’s painting, with a tuft of hair on his forehead, two horn-like braids tied with red strings, wearing a red bellyband embroidered with a Taiji (yin-yang) diagram and red shorts.
Lu Weiyi reached out and touched him—he was real.
“I’m the Taiji Yin-Yang Jade,” the boy said, then curiously touched Lu Weiyi in return. “Are you my new father?”
His hands felt soft, like Zhuang Ai Yi’s.
“Father?”
The boy thought for a moment. “Well, just father—I can feel it.”
“How do I get out?” Lu Weiyi knew people outside were probably panicking. He didn’t want to focus on anything extra—he felt exhausted and sat down, drained of strength.
“I don’t know,” Tao Tao said and sat cross-legged across from him. Curiously, he asked, “How did you wake me up? I feel like I’ve been asleep for a long time.”
“I also felt like I got injured in the middle.”
“But I didn’t.”
“What is this place?”
“Why is there so much stuff?”
“Did you put it all here?”
“You…”
Tao Tao chatted like a little motor mouth. After rambling for a while and not getting a response, he poked Lu Weiyi again—only to see him slump sideways, lying flat on the ground.
*
Back in the courtyard, Zhuang Mingxu occasionally tugged at the thin branches wrapped around his fingers. The branch would wiggle in response.
Inside the villa, all was silent.
Unnoticed by Zhuang Mingxu, a floor tile in the villa quietly lifted, revealing a one-meter-square tunnel. Someone leapt out from below and crept toward the unconscious people in the living room.
Outside, a banging sound came from the iron gate. Zhuang Mingxu frowned and looked up, seeing only a shadow.
“Who’s there?”
No response.
“Who’s outside?” Zhuang Mingxu stood up and called loudly.
Upstairs, Xu Yi was woken by the noise. He sat up and realized it was already dark. Groping in the dark, he tore open a packet of bread and shoved a couple bites into his mouth.
It tasted awful.
All because of that lunatic Xu Sa—drunkenly trying to “enlighten” him, which made him skip a proper dinner.
He didn’t know what the others had for dinner either—no one even called him.
So unfair.
Xu Yi decided to check the freezer for any mutant meat to eat. As he turned to walk a few steps, he suddenly turned back—looking straight out toward the courtyard.
At the iron gate stood a man speaking to Zhuang Mingxu, while hidden behind an invisible wall, a dozen or so ability users were concealed.
He squinted to take a closer look; the leader was none other than Li Ji.
Xu Yi was about to shout at Zhuang Mingxu not to open the door when he realized that the usual night guards were nowhere to be seen.
He immediately covered his mouth. Since Zhuang Mingxu didn’t have any special powers, even if he warned him, it would be useless.
Now… he needed to find other ability users.
Xu Yi stepped out of the room and found the villa eerily silent, as if no one was there at all, which made him become cautious.
At the stairwell corner, several familiar figures lay sprawled on the ground.
Xu Yi’s eyes suddenly widened. Hearing footsteps, he quickly hugged the wall and peeked out. Downstairs, someone with their back to him was dragging several ability users and throwing them underground.
Before he could react, Xu Yi carefully went upstairs, opening each room. Everywhere was empty except for—
Lu Xi’s room, where a little kid was sleeping.
“Who are you people?” came Zhuang Mingxu’s loud voice from ahead.
Looks like they had already broken in.
They could keep hiding and wait for Li Ji to come upstairs, then say they were forced into it. Since Li Ji’s powers probably wouldn’t be difficult to handle, at worst, they’d go back to working for the Hunter Guild.
Xu Yi thought this through while watching the kid on the bed roll over, showing a sweet smile and smacking his lips.
He was leaving—but what about this kid?
Li Ji would definitely kill him.
Xu Yi turned to leave.
A few steps later, he turned back again.
“Lu Weiyi, you owe me a life. Let’s see if you can still hold my hand,” Xu Yi muttered lowly. “Ha, maybe you’re already dead. Your son will call me father in the future, support me, and if I get mad, I can beat him until he cries every day.” He went forward and picked up Zhuang Ai Yi along with the little blanket.
There were people at the front door, people in the living room—escaping was impossible now. Xu Yi just thought about how to hide well and run after everyone left.
In the apocalypse, there was barely any furniture at home. This villa had nothing except the bed when they first arrived. The group wasn’t picky; aside from daily necessities, they hadn’t unpacked anything else.
Xu Yi thought hard and finally remembered the kitchen cabinets under the counter might be safer than under the bed.
With no other choice, Xu Yi took the risk and said to himself, “I’m in healing; even if I get caught, I won’t die. You just pray your dad protects you. Hopefully, we can hide through this.”
Muttering to himself, Xu Yi quietly went downstairs.
The living room faced the door, with a hallway to the side, next to the kitchen.
After observing several times and confirming there was only one person, he took the chance while that person was moving others and quickly slipped into the kitchen.
He saw clearly that there was no one downstairs—not even Li Zhuang, who would wake up if someone merely rolled over—everyone lay still like dead pigs.
They took down an entire group?
Then why was Zhuang Mingxu okay?
Could it be that Zhuang Mingxu was the one who did it?
No way—wasn’t he close to Lu Weiyi?
Xu Yi’s mind raced, but it didn’t stop him from crawling into the cabinet.
The cabinets had long been rifled through countless times since they didn’t stay there often. The dust inside was undisturbed, and the bowls and utensils were left out on the counter, which made it easier for him.
*
In the courtyard, Zhuang Mingxu had already recognized the leader of the intruders—Li Ji, the man who had once crippled his legs.
“Mr. Zhuang, long time no see,” Li Ji said, curling one corner of his mouth in a sinister way.
“Li Ji!” Zhuang Mingxu said this, but felt anxious inside.
At the door appeared Liu Cheng, a speed-type ability user who had previously passed messages about the old master Zhuang. Zhuang Mingxu wasn’t planning to leave. Lu Weiyi’s situation was unclear, and he couldn’t just leave him and go for surgery himself.
Just as he was about to explain, the locked front door automatically opened.
Liu Cheng pushed inside, followed by a group of ability users filing in one after another.
He had already made enough noise to alert the people inside, but no one came out for a long time.
Li Ji walked a few steps closer to Zhuang Mingxu. Liu Cheng stood in front of Zhuang Mingxu, smiling at him.
“Don’t kill him,” Li Ji shrugged and stepped back two paces. Then, waving his hand to the ability users who came with him, he ordered, “Kill every single one of their teammates.”
Zhuang Mingxu’s first thought was something had happened inside the villa.
“Ning Yuan!” Zhuang Mingxu called out but got no response. He immediately rushed inside.
Liu Cheng grabbed him, and as Li Ji sneered and followed in, he suddenly struck Zhuang Mingxu on the back of the head.
“Xiao Yi,” Zhuang Mingxu whispered as he fell, reaching to touch the nearby big tree.
As Zhuang Mingxu collapsed, over a thousand ability users rapidly appeared around. Their leader, Zhuang Chengye, called out, “Mingxu?”
“Go check the situation inside quickly!” He grabbed Zhuang Mingxu and shouted to those who had followed, frowning as he glanced at the suddenly appeared big tree.
The commotion quickly alerted those inside the villa. Li Ji led his men out and saw that they were already surrounded by ability users. A speed-type ability user swiftly dashed past them to peek inside, then shouted, “There’s blood everywhere inside—they killed everyone!”
“When we came in, no one was there,” Sun Wei, who followed Li Ji, shouted.
But no one paid attention.
“You Hunters came to my Zhuang family’s territory to kill people. Do you think no one’s home?” Zhuang Chengye loudly demanded. “Arrest them all!”
“Yes, sir!” the thousand-strong group responded.
Li Ji’s group, seeing this, prepared to use their abilities. Unexpectedly, several needles shot from a hidden corner at them. Those hit immediately fell.
With various abilities disrupting them, more than a dozen A-level ability users soon collapsed to the ground.
“Take them away,” Zhuang Chengye ordered, looking down arrogantly.
*
Xu Yi felt he had seen a lot since childhood, but tonight really opened his eyes wide.
He hadn’t been hiding in the cabinet long before the people outside finished moving things. Then he heard a voice from below asking, “Why are three missing? One child, two adults?”
Xu Yi’s eyes instantly widened.
He recognized the voice.
It was the old man who had come to find Zhuang Mingxu earlier.
At that time, Xu Yi had just been “guided” by Xu Sa in life, feeling frustrated and lost in thought back in his room, when he overheard the chat in the courtyard below. He and Zhuang Mingxu had been getting along quite well then.
“There’s only one person outside,” said the mover.
“Apart from that one.”
Damn, could it be that Zhuang Mingxu was really on their side?
That would mean only he and Zhuang Ai Yi were left? Who else escaped?
“Forget it, let’s go first,” Zhuang Mobai said. After some rustling, it quieted down.
Not even two minutes later, a group rushed in with pounding footsteps.
“No one here?”
“Have they all been killed?”
“Why is there blood everywhere?”
“Where did that person go?”
“Thump thump thump.”
“Thump thump thump.”
“Not upstairs either.”
“People are coming from outside.”
“Damn, we’re surrounded! Who are these people?”
“Zhuang Chengye!”
Xu Yi tightly covered his mouth. He felt like his brain was about to explode.
Inside, Zhuang Mobai was secretly doing something; outside, Zhuang Chengye was arresting people.
What on earth was going on?
He was panicking when the person in his arms moved slightly.
That night was Sichuan cuisine. Zhuang Ai Yi had eaten some hotpot broth, slept a little, and then woke up.
Waking up in a pitch-black cabinet, he was startled and shivered.
Xu Yi hurriedly covered the kid’s mouth, leaned close, and whispered into his ear, “Don’t make a sound. Don’t say a word.”
“I’m Uncle Xu Yi. We… ate sunflower seeds together, remember? There are lots of bad people outside. Your dads… went to catch the bad guys. I’m going to hide you. You can’t talk, or the bad guys will catch us.”
“Don’t make a sound. If you get caught, you’ll never see your dads again.”
Zhuang Ai Yi nodded after hearing this.
But Xu Yi didn’t let the kid go. The child was just too unreliable in his mind.
He listened to the noises outside, occasionally speaking softly to Zhuang Ai Yi. In the darkness, time was unnoticeable. Eventually, Zhuang Ai Yi fell asleep again in his arms.
Late into the night, Xu Yi carefully placed the sleeping Zhuang Ai Yi back in the cabinet and quietly went out to look.
Bloodstains were everywhere in the living room, like a silent massacre had occurred.
Whether or not Zhuang Mingxu was involved, the current situation was that the Zhuang family had captured the Hunter Guild people. If they wanted to interrogate them, they would surely inspect the scene. They couldn’t stay here any longer.
Xu Yi avoided the bloodstains and quietly went upstairs, checking several rooms before finding a large backpack.
He packed a bunch of food and drink from the villa, stuffed himself full in the kitchen, tied Zhuang Ai Yi to his body, and jumped out from the back wall.
Not long after Xu Yi left, Zhuang Mobai and his group appeared around the big tree.
*
The moment Zhuang Mingxu regained consciousness, his whole body became alert.
He still remembered being attacked by Zhuang Mobai’s people, and that his men had lured Li Ji’s men, who said they would…
Kill everyone.
He quietly sensed his surroundings—no living thing nearby—and slowly opened his eyes.
He was still wearing the clothes he had before fainting. Everything around him was white: a hospital bed, a flower pot, and a private bathroom.
This too-familiar layout and the distinctive smell in the air instantly told him where he was.
He had been brought to the laboratory.
Then, what about Lu Weiyi?
Zhuang Mingxu got up, his head aching. He touched it, feeling bandages wrapped around, and compared to Lu Weiyi’s carefully wrapped wrist, Liu Cheng had really hit him on the back of the head.
Making sure there were no surveillance devices around, he got up and headed to the door.
Faint footsteps could be heard in the hallway, all hurrying by.
After listening for a while, he heard them discussing various test subjects—who was who—but no useful information.
Zhuang Mingxu waited until the sounds died down, then carefully opened the door.
—Unfortunately, the hallway had cameras.
Zhuang Mingxu took a metal ball from his spatial pocket and shot it at the camera. It was made especially for him by Antonio at Lu Weiyi’s request—a slingshot and metal ball that allowed him to attack effectively when guns were inconvenient to use.
After confirming the camera was destroyed, he quietly left the room.
The door said “206,” and the surrounding doors started with “2.” Compared to previously seen doors starting with “1,” Zhuang Mingxu guessed he was now on the underground second floor.
Thinking back to how he had only glanced briefly before deciding on the surgery, he realized it was somewhat reckless.
Now calm, he noticed something was off everywhere. Zhuang Mobai seemed to be guiding his thoughts, especially when in front of the old master Zhuang—every sentence hit exactly at the points between him and Lu Weiyi.
Zhuang Mingxu gritted his teeth.
Lu Weiyi was inexperienced and could be schemed against—that was normal. He never expected he himself would fall for such a shallow provocation.
He had been too careless.
Zhuang Mingxu quietly moved forward. In every room, he saw people lying down, many with various instruments attached.
Medical staff were few. He kept walking to the place marked “office,” went in, put on a white coat, and began destroying surveillance openly as he walked.
Near the end, he finally saw two people in white coats walking together, looking at a document, unaware of him.
Zhuang Mingxu casually hid in a room where a dying patient lay hooked up to all kinds of tubes, with various electronic devices at the bedside.
“Here, right?”
“Yes, just adjust it and it’ll be fine.”
“Too busy, making such a low-level mistake.”
“Everyone’s been working overtime since last night, fully concentrated—it’s already pretty good.”
“I heard over thirty donors came in last night, all A-level. Is that true? We know exactly how many A-levels our base has.”
“Shh.”
“It’s just the two of us on this floor; the others have gone to provide support.”
“I heard that… yeah, there’s a healer type and a mental type too.”
“Tsk tsk tsk… impressive. You think this time the recipients won’t still be those beggars?”
“What are you thinking? Top-tier donors like these are rare. Giving them to beggars? That would be such a waste. Lots of big shots are lining up for transplants.”
“Sounds great. Wonder when it’ll be our turn.”
“Just think about it, then get back to work.”
As the two walked away, Zhuang Mingxu’s mind kept turning.
More than thirty donors, all A-level; healer types, mental types—surely including members of their own team.
Donors, recipients, transplants…
He seemed to understand the so-called awakening process that Zhuang Mobai had mentioned.
This was the real truth behind the surgery.
So—
Did his family know about all this?
Zhuang Mingxu didn’t dare think too much. At this point, he no longer gambled on his position in the Zhuang family.
He checked his spatial stash of supplies—he had weapons and everything—but the walls…
There was no way to get through them.
Before Zhuang Mingxu could think of a plan, the sound of a dozen or so footsteps came from outside.
“Attention inside, you are surrounded,” a voice said from the door.
In the sealed room, besides an unknown life-or-death person, there was only him. No second escape route available.
Zhuang Mingxu pulled out his crystal core gun, aimed at the door, and waited for the others to open it.
“Come down,” Zhuang Mobai’s voice came, and Zhuang Mingxu quickly put away his weapon into his space.
“Mingxu, open the door,” Zhuang Mobai politely knocked.
Zhuang Mingxu stepped out. Outside, besides Zhuang Mobai, there was an armed squad—half of them carrying real firearms, military issue; the other half held something like tranquilizer guns with a blue syringe attached.
A person who could fall just by running two steps had absolutely no chance of escaping from them.
“Young master, your men attacked me. I think you owe me an explanation,” Zhuang Mingxu was the first to confront them.
“Sorry, I have already punished Liu Cheng. I didn’t expect him to behave this way. Feeling unwell anywhere? I put painkillers by your bedside. If you feel bad, tell me, and we can do a more thorough check,” Zhuang Mobai maintained his gentle, elder-like demeanor.
“Why am I here? What about Weiyi?”
“…” Zhuang Mobai waved his hand to the people behind him, and the group quickly withdrew. “I haven’t seen Weiyi.”
Zhuang Mingxu looked up at him, his eyes full of anxiety and anger.
Zhuang Mobai led him back toward the room. “You must have heard about it—the awakening of abilities.”
Zhuang Mingxu slowly followed beside him. After a long moment, he nodded heavily. “What about Ai Yi?”
