Chapter 446: Power-Dampening Headband
After they left, Su Yan cautiously asked, “Are you planning to help him take down the Xu family?”
Lu Weiyi shook his head. “I’m only responsible for the version of him now.”
The Xu Yi of the past wasn’t his to deal with. If helping someone now meant repaying their past, then who would seek justice for all the people that Xu Yi once hurt?
Su Yan nodded.
“What, feeling disappointed?” Zhuang Mingxu teased him.
“Not quite,” Su Yan leaned back on the sofa. “Would I want to take him down? Of course I would. He was always making trouble for me, always giving me grief. But when it comes to feelings—there’s still something there.”
“The base wasn’t easy to establish in the beginning. We lacked everything, couldn’t deal with mutated beasts outside, and the zombies were overwhelming. We only made it through by cooperating with each other,” Su Yan said, still moved by the hardships of the past.
Before they could continue, Tang Bai arrived, accompanied by people from the Ping’an (Safe) Squad.
Tao An still looked as he did before—pale and refined, but now with a colder, deadlier aura, like someone who’d spent time among gangs. He was still accompanied by He Ping, the seductive Sister Ping, and behind her was Yao Mei, still decked out in metal studs and walking that rebellious alt-girl style.
Since Ping’an Base and Hope Base were in the same region, they often crossed paths—no introductions were necessary.
Once everyone sat down, they began exchanging stories about the dangers they encountered on their way.
Compared to the mutated locust swarm that Lu Weiyi’s team dealt with, the others had faced what sounded like a wild adventure—being hunted by wolves, robbed by tigers, stumbling into a mutated mantis territory—and, bizarrely, saved in the end by a flock of mutated chickens.
Even Lu Weiyi found their tale thrilling, not to mention how it felt for those who actually experienced it.
“If Capital hadn’t claimed to have found a way to suppress mutated animal reproduction, we wouldn’t have traveled this far,” Yao Mei said, still looking a bit dazed. “If they can’t solve it, we might not even be able to make it home.”
“Base Leader Lu probably doesn’t need to worry,” Tao An, usually quiet, spoke up. “Major Lu said your base has already constructed an underground tunnel to the Capital—you can drive straight through in a few hours.”
“No wonder you were recruiting earth-type users earlier. That was really forward-thinking,” Yao Mei said, openly envious.
“If you want to build one, it’s not too late. We used professional construction crews, pre-surveyed everything to guarantee quality. With earth-type users helping, the speed’s fast. You might not make it this trip, but next year, traveling to the Capital will be much easier,” Zhuang Mingxu said, effortlessly slipping into business mode without sounding out of place.
What surprised him was that after he finished speaking, no one chimed in—everyone fell quiet, even Lu Weiyi looked a bit puzzled.
Su Yan was the first to laugh. “I thought I was the only one traumatized by your schemes. Turns out, we’re all in the same boat.”
Tao An laughed too, recalling how they were once scammed out of supplies. “The moment Mr. Zhuang opened his mouth, I knew he had more to say.”
“Well, go ahead, what do you need?” Su Yan asked.
“Is there anything more straightforward than crystal cores? I need to pay my team,” Zhuang Mingxu said, not bothering to rehash past grievances. In his mind, business was business—there was no discount for old times’ sake.
“We’ve been tormented by fast-mutating creatures lately. We can’t even leave our base, let alone go clean up zombies. We’re running out of crystal cores.”
“Same here. Lately, our teams have been considering shifting focus. If we can’t deal with the mutated beasts, we might as well stay put and live self-sufficiently in the base.”
“You’re not worried about being surrounded by zombies?” Zhuang Mingxu called out their delusion. “Last year the zombie tide was all up in the northern bases. Your bases are smack in the middle—not that far away.”
“With the current situation, if you don’t build your tunnels fast, once you’re surrounded, you won’t even be able to ask for help.”
That shut Tao An and Su Yan up.
After a long pause, Su Yan asked, “Have you ever seen a conscious zombie?”
Zhuang Mingxu thought of Cheng Chuan but wasn’t sure if that counted, so he stayed silent. Tao An shook his head.
“I have,” Su Yan said, frowning deeply.
Everyone in the room looked at him at once.
Su Yan rested his hand against his mouth and went silent for a while.
“It was the summer before last…”
At that time, Hope Base had just started to stabilize. But people still weren’t used to living without electricity. When they learned that there had been a solar tech park north of the base, with a stockpile of solar panels, he led a team there.
The park wasn’t close—they drove over twenty days to reach it.
Some of the equipment had been damaged in earthquakes, but much of it was still usable. Since they arrived late, they decided to camp there for the night.
“We were just happy to be there, didn’t sense anything wrong. That night, we were attacked by mutated plants.”
Su Yan still seemed annoyed by the memory. “There was a blood-red plant in the park that sucked human blood. Its leaves were practically alive, able to wrap around a person. Once they unwrapped, all that was left was a shriveled corpse. The leaves were stained red.”
“I fought like hell with my team. Thought we were all going to die there. But then, a massive horde of zombies showed up—and the plant backed off and hid.”
“Huh?”
“Yes, it hid,” Su Yan said firmly. “At the time I didn’t understand. Later I figured the blood on the plant’s leaves must have attracted the zombies. Since zombies attack anything with blood, they would’ve gone after the plant too—so it backed off.”
Once the plant retreated, Su Yan and his remaining people took shelter on the rooftop, waiting for the zombies to leave.
“Zombies usually wander aimlessly, so waiting for them to go away takes a long time. There were few of us left—couldn’t fight back. All we could do was hide. I watched them every day until one day…”
Su Yan paused for a moment, as if reorganizing his thoughts. “I saw… a very strange zombie.”
From the outside, that zombie looked just like a freshly turned one—no visible wounds on its face, just dirty and bloodstained clothes.
Compared to the quick movements of other zombies, this one was extremely clumsy, even dazed most of the time.
When small animals were caught and shared among the zombies, that particular zombie…
“It looked very… conflicted, like it was suppressing its instincts. It would take two steps forward, then quickly retreat three. At the time I thought it had been bumped by the surrounding zombies, but later I realized—it was probably trying to suppress the urge to feed.”
“Then one day, when zombies were fighting over prey, one of them had its head smashed open and a crystal core fell out. None of the surrounding zombies reacted, but that one zombie stared at it for a long time… then picked it up and ate it.” Su Yan still found the scene horrifying to this day.
“After that, I kept watching him. Most of the time, he just sat in the gatekeeper’s chair at the tech park. He’d place both arms on the desk, sit with a straight back and zone out—like someone with OCD. That scene…”
“If you didn’t look closely, you’d think he was alive.”
Noticing Su Yan was getting tense, Zhuang Mingxu lit a cigarette and passed it to him. “Thanks.”
“He disappeared for a few days in the middle. When he reappeared, he’d started extracting crystal cores on his own.”
“Extracting them himself?” Tao An frowned.
“Yes. The other zombies didn’t attack him. He would go up and smash their heads in—just barehanded punches.” Su Yan took a deep drag. “And he was using…”
“Military hand-to-hand combat.”
Everyone who had served in the military knew what that meant.
Lu Weiyi glanced at Zhuang Mingxu, and seeing no reaction from him, continued listening.
At first, the zombie only used its fists. Its joints were stiff, movements awkward, and since skulls are hard, it often took several punches to crack one open.
But after eating a few cores, it learned to use bricks. One good smash, and it got a crystal core.
Eventually, the tech park was either emptied or the zombies there were all killed by him. One day, while sitting and spacing out as usual, he suddenly stood up and walked away—never returned. Su Yan’s team took the chance and fled.
“…That doesn’t exactly prove anything,” He Ping hesitated.
“The key is—I saw him again last year,” Su Yan said with a bitter smile.
Early last spring, Su Yan had arranged with Qingyuan Base to exchange crop seeds. Before planting began, he rushed to make the delivery. While passing through Qingyuan City Center, he spotted the same zombie.
“He was sitting on the rooftop of a sixteen-story office building… just dangling his legs over the edge like someone about to jump.”
“Qingyuan City Center?” Zhuang Mingxu raised a brow.
“Yeah, why?”
“Nothing—just a coincidence,” Zhuang gestured for him to continue and whispered to Lu Weiyi when he looked over, “There aren’t many 16-story office buildings there—our company’s building is one of them.”
Lu Weiyi didn’t quite remember but nodded anyway.
“I mistook him for a living person at first and used binoculars to get a better look. Still wearing the same clothes, his hair had grown long and covered his face. He was holding a few crystal cores and popping them into his mouth one at a time.”
No one spoke after that.
Zombies weren’t supposed to sit like that. And eating crystal cores like that… definitely not something an ability user would do.
After a while, Tao An muttered, “The world really is full of the unexpected.”
Su Yan sighed, then suddenly turned to Zhuang Mingxu. “How many crystal cores would it take to build a tunnel from Capital Base to Hope Base?”
Zhuang chuckled and agreed to discuss the details privately.
As the time for the summit drew closer, more and more bases arrived. Delegates visited one another, building connections in advance. Zhuang Mingxu secured several deals, trading away countless purified crystal cores.
Lu Weiyi, on the other hand, didn’t encounter any of the old squads they’d once known. They had likely either not shown up—or were already gone.
Before the Ability Users Summit began, Zhuang Mingxu arranged a dinner with the three main leaders of Capital Base. During the meal, he brought out three black headbands that looked exactly like the one Dean had once worn back at their base.
