The Max-Level Boss Just Wants to Be a Slacker [Apocalypse] – CH71

Chapter 71: Preparation

“What’s going on?”

Xiong Mingyuan asked anxiously. On the other end, his subordinate replied:

“It’s the research institute—they got ahead of us and spread the news first, saying someone is trying to spread rumors and deliberately smear Professor Frank’s reputation. And also… also…”

“And also what? Just spit it out!”

Xiong Gangyong, standing nearby, grew impatient when the man hesitated. He slapped him on the shoulder, urging him to continue.

The man looked conflicted but finally said, “And Elder Zhuang has also spoken. He said that in this matter, we should stand on the side of the research institute.”

Hearing this, Xiong Mingyuan’s expression immediately turned ugly.

Mo Xiu and Mo Qi naturally noticed the change in the base commander’s expression. Clearly, this so-called Elder Zhuang was not someone ordinary.

Mo Qi remembered that the man reporting just now was one of Xiong Mingyuan’s trusted aides. Could it be that inside Shanhe Base, besides the base commander himself, there were people with even greater authority?

Meanwhile, Mo Xiu’s nerves quickly tightened.

When the professor hadn’t yet appeared and all these incidents hadn’t happened, he had seemed to have nothing important to do on the surface. He didn’t even have a good impression of Shanhe Base, yet he still chose to stay here—because he wanted to find the enemies who had never shown themselves.

Mo Xiu knew clearly that in his previous life, the people who pushed him to that desperate situation were not only Xu Liang and his group. There were others behind them.

But although he had worked for Shanhe Base for a long time, he had never truly entered the core of power. So he never knew who those people behind the scenes really were.

Could it be this so-called Elder Zhuang? Could he be connected?

“Base Commander Xiong,” Mo Xiu said, “we’ve already reached this point. Why not just speak frankly? What exactly is going on?”

Hearing Mo Xiu’s question, Xiong Mingyuan sighed deeply. He waved his hand and dismissed the messenger.

After the room was left with only the four of them—himself, his brother, Mo Xiu, and Mo Qi—he spoke again.

“To be honest, although everyone outside knows me as the base commander of Shanhe Base, in reality, I don’t have full authority over the base’s affairs.”

Mo Xiu nodded. He had already guessed as much.

There had been too many urgent matters recently, so he hadn’t had time to investigate the deeper inner workings of Shanhe Base. He hadn’t expected the truth to present itself so directly.

“So the people truly in charge behind the research institute—and actually controlling this area—are the ones led by this Elder Zhuang?” Mo Xiu asked.

“More or less,” Xiong Mingyuan replied. “And it’s not just the research institute. Most of the base’s supplies and weapons are also in the hands of Elder Zhuang and his group. They were the first ones to arrive and occupy this base, and they have strong backgrounds.

As for me, I’m basically just the person they pushed forward to stand in the spotlight.

To be honest, if I hadn’t arrived at Shanhe Base first, I probably wouldn’t have become the base commander. Xu Liang, who came later, actually pleased Elder Zhuang’s group more. Being able to get rid of those major troubles was all thanks to you and Mo Qi.”

Mo Xiu nodded after hearing this.

So there was clearly more than one person behind the scenes—Elder Zhuang wasn’t the only one.

He became even more certain that among these people Elder Zhuang mentioned were those who, in his previous life, had been desperately trying to get him into the research institute.

But why would these people suddenly help Professor Frank?

On the surface, the professor claimed to be researching a drug that could restrain the zombie virus. But the accusations of “spreading rumors” were completely fabricated.

Their own actions had been conducted secretly so far—they hadn’t exposed anything publicly yet.

“These people have always wanted to research methods to create abilities or enhance them, haven’t they?” Mo Xiu asked.

Xiong Mingyuan nodded with some surprise.

“That’s exactly right. Among those old guys, very few have abilities themselves, but they control a lot of resources. In the apocalypse, who wouldn’t want to have an ability to rely on?

But the research institute here previously didn’t have the capability to develop a cure for the zombie virus. So they put all their focus on researching abilities, hoping to find a way for ordinary people to gain powers.”

No wonder.

No wonder when his ability became abnormal in his previous life, those people were so excited—they must have thought he could become a breakthrough point.

Mo Xiu didn’t know whether to feel happy or worried about this unexpected discovery.

He turned to look at Mo Qi beside him and realized the man’s attention was completely focused on him. Mo Xiu quickly composed his expression.

He didn’t want Mo Qi to worry about him.

Yet his lover had already keenly sensed the fluctuation in his emotions. Mo Qi reached out and gently patted the back of his hand, speaking softly:

“It’s alright. I’m here. Whatever you want to do, I’ll stand behind you.”

Even though Mo Xiu hadn’t said anything—even though Mo Qi didn’t know what he planned to do—he was still willing to give him complete reassurance.

Mo Xiu suddenly felt lucky.

With Mo Qi’s support, what was there for him to hesitate about? If soldiers came, they would block them; if water came, they would dam it.

There must be a reason for the sudden commotion from the research institute. Perhaps they had sensed something and decided to strike first, trying to frame them instead.

Thinking of this, he immediately said to Xiong Mingyuan:

“Base Commander Xiong, so tell me—do you believe us, or do you believe the research institute and the people behind you?”

“Is that even a question?” Xiong Gangyong blurted out before his brother could speak. “Brother Mo, Boss—we definitely believe you!”

Xiong Mingyuan also nodded.

After all, something so dangerous had happened to his own younger brother, and it was Mo Qi who saved him. How could he still believe the research institute or that damned professor?

As for Elder Zhuang and his group, he knew them all too well.

He had dealt with them for many years—how could he not understand the filthy schemes in their heads?

Most of what they were doing now was simply for their own interests.

He even suspected that what happened to Dayong earlier wasn’t just bad luck. Those people had probably done it deliberately.

They wanted to drag Dayong into it—and then use his own younger brother to control him.

Thinking of this made Xiong Mingyuan’s heart tremble.

He might not be an especially brilliant leader, but he had struggled to climb to his current position for one reason—to protect himself and his only family so they could live well in this apocalyptic world.

If he couldn’t even do that, then everything he had worked for would be meaningless.

So when he looked at Mo Xiu and Mo Qi again, it was as if he had made up his mind.

With an extremely serious expression, he said:

“Mo Xiu, since things have reached this point, let’s speak plainly.

What should we do next? My brother and I will listen to you completely!”

Mo Qi raised an eyebrow and exchanged a glance with Mo Xiu.

They were both somewhat surprised by this answer.

At the same time, Mo Qi formed a new impression of Xiong Mingyuan. Perhaps the man didn’t always appear particularly clever—but this kind of decisiveness was something he appreciated.

Mo Qi then asked Xiong Gangyong to immediately contact everyone he trusted and gather them together.

Their actions were quick. Xiong Gangyong rapidly contacted them, and around a hundred people nearby soon arrived.

Without wasting time, Mo Qi directly spread his spiritual sense over them.

Sure enough, several of them had demonic energy inside their bodies—and there were quite a few.

Especially those with stronger abilities; the demonic energy invading their bodies was even greater.

Thanks to their earlier dual cultivation, his body-refining level had improved a lot, and with prior experience, Mo Qi handled things smoothly this time.

He swiftly extracted all the problematic demonic energy from everyone in the room and gathered it into his own body, storing it as material for cultivation.

Two birds with one stone.

After finishing and confirming everyone in the room was now fine, he turned to Xiong Mingyuan and asked:

“Among these people, has anyone suddenly awakened an ability recently?”

Xiong Mingyuan froze for a moment and pointed to a dark-skinned man standing quietly in the corner.

“Xiao Hei awakened an ability two days ago. He didn’t have one before, but a few days ago he suddenly got a water-type ability.”

The young man called Xiao Hei scratched his head shyly and grinned at Mo Qi.

Mo Qi nodded and said, “Then try it again. Do you still have your ability now?”

Xiao Hei was stunned.

He hurriedly attempted to release some water like he had done in the past two days.

But this time, no matter how hard he tried, his ability seemed to have completely disappeared.

The result shocked him, and he looked at Mo Qi in disbelief.

Mo Qi’s expression didn’t change, but he was now certain—the ability Xiao Hei had gained was just like Feng Wenkang’s earlier case. It had been produced by mutation due to demonic energy.

Now that the demonic energy had been extracted, he had returned to being an ordinary person.

“Explain it to them like I told you earlier,” Mo Xiu said. “Just tell them your discovery. Aren’t they all your trusted people? They should believe you.”

Because time was tight, Xiong Mingyuan quickly explained the situation to the others in the room.

Many of them had previously been “infected with the zombie virus” because of the research institute.

When they heard there had been a virus in their bodies, their expressions immediately turned fearful.

Fortunately, Xiong Mingyuan was good at improvising.

And he wisely avoided exposing Mo Qi right away.

Instead, he said they had discovered the issue early. The virus created by the research institute was different from the ones outside, and they had a method to eliminate it.

Just now, something capable of purifying the special zombie virus had been placed in the room, so everyone present was already cured.

However, because the virus had affected them earlier, any abnormal effects it caused—such as suddenly gaining abilities—would also disappear along with the virus.

Hearing this, Xiao Hei looked extremely disappointed. Some people were still half-convinced.

At that moment, a few others who had been working farther away arrived after receiving the notice.

Mo Qi saw that not everyone believed the explanation.

Coincidentally, one of the newly arrived people also had demonic energy inside his body.

So Mo Qi directly activated the demonic energy within that person—and gave them a demonstration with undeniable proof.

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