Chapter 22: The Male Lead Awakens His Superpower
At that moment, Jiang Jue felt as if his entire body had been tossed into a blazing furnace. Scorching heat tore through him, accompanied by a sharp, agonizing sensation, like countless needles driving deep into the joints of his bones. The sheer pain made his muscles convulse violently. His mind was a chaotic blur, and the sounds of the outside world drifted past him, muffled and indistinct.
He wanted to fight back, but his limbs felt as heavy as solid lead. He could only endure the agony as it surged through his veins, bringing him to the very edge of unconsciousness.
Just as his awareness was about to sink into darkness, a strained, tear-choked voice pierced the haze, desperate and broken—
“Brother Jiang, absorb it! Hurry up and absorb it…!”
Was that Chu Yang’s voice?
Was he… crying?
Jiang Jue’s hazy mind struggled to make sense of the words. Absorb what?
The next second, an icy coolness brushed against his palms, creeping up through his fingertips. That soothing chill gradually pushed back the burning fever, clearing the persistent buzzing in his ears.
He could feel a steady stream of pure energy pouring into him from the hard objects pressed into his hands, flowing smoothly through his bloodstream. Wherever it traveled, the raging fire in his body began to recede.
Beside him, Chu Yang hadn’t looked away for a single second.
Time dragged on with agonizing slowness. For over two hours, he watched helplessly as Jiang Jue’s complexion shifted from a bruised purple to a deathly, ashen gray, his frame wracked by intermittent spasms. Chu Yang’s heart sank lower and lower with every passing minute.
“No way, Brother Jiang… please don’t actually kick the bucket on me!” Chu Yang paced anxiously, wringing his hands as he muttered under his breath, “You’re the male lead! How could you go out like some background extra? You have to pull through…!”
“I’ve barely learned a fraction of the combat techniques you know! I’m still waiting for you to teach me the real moves!”
Wiping the moisture from the corners of his eyes, his voice cracked with a touch of genuine grievance. “Didn’t we agree to find a safe zone together, live comfortably, and eat good food? You can’t back out now!”
“Besides, if you really turn into one of those things, I’ll be the one stuck cleaning up your mess. If you bite someone, I’ll have to apologize for you—do you know how much trouble that is?” His panic flared higher the more he spoke. “Wake up and absorb the cores! Don’t leave me all alone to wander this damn wasteland by myself!”
Just as he was on the verge of despair, already dreading what he would do if he had to face a zombified Jiang Jue, the situation took a sudden turn.
A sharp, crackling sound echoed from Jiang Jue’s hands. The faintly glowing crystal cores fractured into fine pieces with soft snapping noises, crumbling into a dull, gray-white powder that slipped between his fingers and scattered across the floorboards.
Almost immediately, the sickly grayish-blue tint on Jiang Jue’s face receded at a visible pace, replaced by the natural color of healthy skin. His breathing, previously so faint it was barely noticeable, grew deep, steady, and strong as his chest rose and fell in a calm rhythm.
“It worked!” Chu Yang’s eyes lit up, his voice trembling with sheer relief. “I knew it! How could the main character go down that easily? Brother Jiang, you’re incredible!”
Jiang Jue’s mind cleared completely. When he opened his eyes, the first thing he saw was Chu Yang’s face hovering just inches away. Those bright eyes, usually full of cheerful mischief, were rimmed with red and glistening with unshed tears, his expression a chaotic mix of lingering terror and overwhelming joy.
“Brother Jiang! You’re awake?!” Chu Yang lunged forward, throwing his arms around him in an emotional embrace. “That’s amazing! You’re finally back! I knew you’d be fine—there was no way you’d turn into a zombie! Hahaha!”
The hug wasn’t crushing, but it was filled with complete, unguarded relief. The heavy weight that had crushed Chu Yang’s chest for hours finally lifted, leaving his back soaked in cold sweat.
Looking at the boy’s reddened eyes, Jiang Jue’s gaze softened. Instinctively, he moved to raise his arms to return the embrace, only to realize his wrists and ankles were tightly bound to the heavy wooden chair.
He raised an eyebrow, casting a calm, questioning look down at the youth clinging to his chest.
Chu Yang followed his gaze and instantly remembered what he had done earlier. He let out an awkward chuckle, scrambling back to untie the ropes. “Ah… um… I completely forgot to untie you!”
“It was just… well, I was terrified you wouldn’t be able to control yourself earlier. If you had lunged over and taken a bite, my skinny arms wouldn’t have survived it!” He babbled out an explanation while working on the tight knots, careful not to pull too hard and hurt Jiang Jue’s skin. “Don’t hold it against me, Brother Jiang! It was strictly a safety precaution!”
As the layers of nylon cord fell away, Jiang Jue flexed his wrists and shoulders. His muscles still carried a dull ache, but the bone-deep agony from the infection was entirely gone.
Even more surprising was the surge of new energy coursing through his veins with a sharp, tingling current. His senses felt vastly amplified; he could distinctly hear the faint whistling of the wind outside the glass and even the muffled rustling in the neighboring apartment.
Focusing inward, he channeled that strange energy toward his hand. A crackling blue arc of electricity materialized at his fingertips with a sharp pop, startling Chu Yang into taking a quick step back.
“I’ve awakened a Lightning Ability.” Jiang Jue looked at the spark dancing across his skin. A brief flash of surprise crossed his eyes before his expression settled back into its usual composure.
“A Lightning Ability?!” Hearing that Jiang Jue had unlocked the exact power described in the novel, Chu Yang’s eyes sparkled. “Holy crap! Brother Jiang, that’s insane! That’s one of the strongest offensive powers out there! Once you level it up, you’ll be practically invincible!”
Watching his animated excitement, the look in Jiang Jue’s eyes grew softer, tinged with a quiet, subtle indulgence.
Chu Yang celebrated for a moment before his expression darkened as he remembered what had happened earlier. His tone turned sharp with indignation. “By the way, Brother Jiang, you have no idea how shameless those three were while you were down!”
“That bastard Wang Rui actually hurled a fireball straight at you, clearly trying to take your life! And Zhao Dayong and Li Wen were cheering him on, shouting about putting you down before you mutated. Absolute ungrateful wolves!” The more he recounted it, the angrier he became, gesturing wildly. “If I hadn’t reacted fast enough to clip Wang Rui’s shoulder, they might have actually killed you!”
“They ate your food, drank your water, and stayed under your roof. You saved their lives out of kindness, and the second you got hurt, they turned on you like rabid dogs. They’re the absolute worst kind of scumbags! Don’t ever bother helping them again!”
Jiang Jue listened to the passionate rant, offering only a calm nod. His eyes remained unruffled.
He had long anticipated how those three would react.
In an apocalypse, human decency rarely survived under pressure. He had never placed any real expectations on them to begin with. What he hadn’t expected, however, was that Chu Yang would stand his ground so fiercely to protect him, willingly making enemies of the other three without a second thought.
“Back then… did it ever cross your mind to just leave me?” Jiang Jue asked, his tone level, though his eyes carried a quiet, searching gravity.
Chu Yang blinked in surprise, then answered as if it were the most obvious thing in the world: “Leave you? How could I ever do that! You’re my Brother Jiang! Besides, those useless cowards aren’t worth my time. All I knew was that I couldn’t let anything happen to you!”
He gave Jiang Jue’s shoulder a firm pat, his voice resolute. “From now on, let’s just ignore those ingrates completely. They can fend for themselves out there—you only need to look after me!”
Jiang Jue held his gaze for a long moment. When he finally spoke, his voice was quiet, yet carried an unshakable weight: “Alright. From now on, I will only look after you.”
A burst of pure joy bloomed in Chu Yang’s chest. A direct promise from the main character himself!
With someone this powerful watching his back, surviving this wasteland was going to be a breeze!
Grinning mischievously, he leaned in a little closer. “Brother Jiang, don’t you dare forget what you just promised. You have to keep covering for me from now on!”
Watching his playful grin, the corners of Jiang Jue’s lips curved upward into a faint, genuine smile. It was subtle and fleeting, but it was enough to leave Chu Yang momentarily staring in surprise—turns out the resident iceberg actually knows how to smile, and he looks ridiculously good doing it.
