Chapter 52: Half-Human

Tonight was destined to be a sleepless night.

Electricity was a luxury in the apocalypse, so most buildings along the way had plunged into darkness, especially that Holiday Hotel, which loomed like a silent giant ship on the dark sea at midnight. Under the moonlight, only its silhouette remained, yet it housed most of Luozhou City’s population.

Perhaps due to dedicated maintenance, the lights in Luozhou City were far brighter than in Fuguang City, which Bai Chen Zhu had visited.

Bai Chen Zhu strolled slowly through the pitch-black streets under the moonlight. A nearby trash can suddenly toppled over, and a rat of indistinct shape scurried out with squeaks. Bai Chen Zhu jumped back two steps to dodge it.

Fortunately, the rat lost interest in him and darted into the drainage ditch.

About fifty meters ahead, a person’s shadow stretched long. Because he had left a mark in that person’s Mental Sea earlier, even without seeing them, Bai Chen Zhu could pinpoint their location accurately.

That person had tried to shake him off several times, but failed.

Yes, he was tailing them.

Tracking them openly.

Jiang Ye had sent them to scout various suspicious spots while he headed to the Temporary Hospital alone. But Bai Chen Zhu believed the hospital was the most likely place and wanted to go there the most.

The shadow at the end of the alley stopped moving.

Bai Chen Zhu thought for a moment, then approached with leisurely steps.

Jiang Ye, hands in his pockets, turned sideways and looked at him helplessly. “Young Master, spare me.”

“Hm?” Bai Chen Zhu was puzzled. “Where haven’t I spared you? I took on this matter myself. Even if it’s a trap, you shouldn’t come alone.”

Jiang Ye opened his mouth to speak but was stopped by a gesture from him.

“I know what you’re going to say—nothing more than acting alone is faster. Don’t worry, do what you need to. I won’t hold you back.” Bai Chen Zhu understood and patted his shoulder, signaling him to relax and stop looking so on guard.

“I planned to just carry the old man out and run, but with you here,” Jiang Ye said with a wry smile, “I’d end up carrying you instead.”

Bai Chen Zhu’s phoenix eyes turned sharp and cold as he shot him a sideways glance. “Then go back. I’ll go alone.”

With that, he turned and left, forcing Jiang Ye to chase after him.

As for the Temporary Hospital’s location, Bai Chen Zhu knew it better than Jiang Ye. After all, he had once accompanied Zhou Zhuo Hua on a commission there. His long legs carried him swiftly, and he soon skirted the main building of the Temporary Hospital. Based on Zhou Zhuo Hua’s description, he found the conspicuous Inpatient Building.

It was a small building hidden in the darkness, not very noticeable, with faint light inside. In the dark, he could see a smiling sun cartoon on the top floor’s outer wall, along with bright red flowers and lush green grass.

Bai Chen Zhu looked up and counted. The top floor had lights on, but they were all blocked by curtains, hiding any shadows inside.

Suddenly, an arm draped over his shoulder, nearly knocking Bai Chen Zhu flat.

Jiang Ye leaned in close. “Wanna bet whether Old Man Li is in there?”

Bai Chen Zhu raised an eyebrow and chuckled. “You think I’d bet he’s not?”

“Don’t I know you? Don’t you suspect Li Zhen Zhen?” Jiang Ye laughed. “I’ll go first: I bet he is.”

“You trust her that much?”

Jiang Ye shook his head. “Trust her my ass. I just think Bai Guang Zheng has Luozhou City under his thumb and doesn’t bother hiding it. Otherwise, why would Sister Zhuo Hua know the top floor is sealed off? Li Zhen Zhen is just trapped by his side and can’t leave.”

“Don’t you think we’re a lot like Li Zhen Zhen?” Bai Chen Zhu frowned, inevitably worried as he eyed the colorful Inpatient Building. “Is Li Zhen Zhen really unable to find her father, or can’t she? If Bai Guang Zheng is skilled enough, everything we do is just child’s play in his eyes.”

“We’ll see when the time comes.” Jiang Ye removed his arm from Bai Chen Zhu’s shoulder and tilted his head with a smile. “If I win the bet, let me tie a bow at the end of your ponytail tomorrow.”

He hadn’t succeeded last time, and the guy was still hung up on it. Bai Chen Zhu swung a fist at Jiang Ye—not fast—and Jiang Ye easily ducked by crouching.

“That’d be fun.” Jiang Ye chuckled.

“Who’s there!” A beam of light swept over; a patrol had heard faint noises from the bushes.

The two exchanged a glance and silently split up with perfect coordination.

—

The Inpatient Building had five floors, its walls covered in colorful graffiti and equipped with an external iron ladder. Because it had once been a kindergarten, the rooms were especially spacious and open, filled with simple hospital beds.

The two evaded the few security guards and made their way up to the fourth floor. From there, the stairs were heavily guarded; armed-to-the-teeth guards stood at the landing.

Bai Chen Zhu released his mental power and sensed carefully. “Four at the stairs. Take them out quietly—best not to let them see your face… We’ll go around outside.”

Under Bai Chen Zhu’s shocked gaze, Jiang Ye pulled up his short sleeve higher, draping the collar over his nose and tying it into a live knot.

Bai Chen Zhu could even see his belly button. To stifle his laughter, he covered his mouth and turned away silently.

The next second, Jiang Ye charged out. His speed was so blinding that by the time the guards raised their guns, they had already gone limp and collapsed. Only then did he look back at Bai Chen Zhu after knocking them all out.

Bai Chen Zhu prodded one unconscious man with his shoe tip. “Strange, they’re all ordinary people.”

Luozhou City was so large with decent conditions, yet it had so few ability users—not even one on par with Chen Hao from Fuguang City, let alone ability teams or organizations.

Jiang Ye dusted off his hands. “Let’s go.”

Bai Chen Zhu nodded, but glanced at his ridiculous getup and couldn’t help wanting to laugh.

They dealt with the stairwell guards, then climbed out a window and scaled the outer wall to the fifth-floor window.

A bodyguard heard the noise and turned in alarm, trying to shout, but was swiftly taken out.

Dull thuds followed one after another as bodies hit the floor.

Jiang Ye untied the knot at his collar and took a deep breath of fresh air.

Bai Chen Zhu stepped onto the floor and surveyed the downed corridor full of people, feeling a deep sense of dissonance: If Mr. Li was inside, surrounded only by ordinary people and low-level ability users, Bai Guang Zheng was way too dismissive of threats.

But on second thought, aside from their group of outsiders, everyone in Luozhou City depended on him. Who would dare break into a ward in the dead of night?

He gripped the door handle and pushed down. The door opened.

An elderly man of about sixty sat on the bed. Though his hair was full of silver, his spirits were hale. Hearing the noise, he shifted his gaze from the window to the two young men and asked puzzledly, “Who are you?”

Bai Chen Zhu froze in place, staring at the old man as his pupils contracted sharply.

An ability user!

He immediately sensed the extraordinary mental power emanating from the elder.

Bai Chen Zhu stepped back, bumping into Jiang Ye’s chest. Jiang Ye looked at him questioningly and steadied his shoulders.

Bai Chen Zhu steadied his mind, recalling the mind-influencing Han Yuyan he had encountered before. Looking at the old man now, he didn’t find him so terrifying.

He stepped forward two paces.

“Are you Mr. Li Min Nian? Miss Li Zhen Zhen sent us to pick you up.” Bai Chen Zhu pulled a pendant from his pocket.

He’d even snuck in the ‘token.’ Jiang Ye’s eyes darkened slightly as he subtly elbowed Bai Chen Zhu’s waist.

Caught off guard, Bai Chen Zhu felt his waist go numb, sucked in a breath, clutched it, and glared fiercely at Jiang Ye.

“It’s… Zhen Zhen.” Li Min Nian cradled the pendant in both hands, tears welling in his eyes. “How is she? Is she okay? She hasn’t been wronged, has she?”

“She’s fine,” Bai Chen Zhu assured him. “No time to waste. Come with us.”

Li Min Nian nodded, then shook his head. “Without his permission, you can’t take me away.”

“Oh?” Jiang Ye’s lips curved in a roguish grin. “Then guess how we got up here?”

“This…” Li Min Nian looked troubled, lowering his head to gaze at the pendant. “This isn’t good. Too dangerous.”

He sighed repeatedly. “Too dangerous. You should go, quickly.”

Bai Chen Zhu took a step forward. “We’ve already come here—it’s dangerous either way. If you don’t come with us today, this trip was for nothing.”

Instead of agreeing immediately, Li Min Nian frowned deeply. “You must be ability users, able to take out all those people outside. Hurry and escape—go now.”

“Otherwise, he’ll eat you.”

—

“He means Bai Guang Zheng ate Li Min Nian’s old ability user subordinates?!” Bai Tao incredulously covered her mouth. “My god!”

The thought of how close she had once been to Bai Guang Zheng gave her goosebumps all over. They said ignorance is bliss; she’d basically been dancing wildly in a minefield.

Bai Tao slumped into her chair, her stomach churning with nausea.

Zhou Zhuo Hua’s gaze was calm. “So Bai Guang Zheng is an ability user too?”

“According to the old man, yes.” Bai Chen Zhu touched his chin and glanced at the silent Jiang Ye since their return. “Upgrading by eating ability users—is that an ability user upgrade method??”

Jiang Ye’s fingertips tapped rhythmically on the armrest, deep in thought without speaking.

Tang Zhao stuck to the wall like a gecko, jumping up and down for a while before calming.

Zhou Zhuo Hua, after the initial shock, quickly regained her composure. “So from our arrival in Luozhou City, Tao Tao recognizing him, him letting us stay so easily… In his eyes, it was all just ingredients hopping into the pot, waiting to be cooked!”

Bai Tao came to a sudden realization. “No wonder. No wonder.”

“Jiang Ye.” Bai Chen Zhu called out.

Jiang Ye snapped back. “I’ve thought it over.”

Bai Chen Zhu held his breath, thinking he’d come up with a perfect plan, and listened intently. “What?”

Jiang Ye declared confidently, “We’ll go with the double-layer bow style!”

Everyone: …?

The only one who understood, Bai Chen Zhu, unhesitatingly grabbed his head, twisted it around with a wrenching motion, leaned in close, and hissed coldly in his ear, “Jiang Ye, we’re discussing serious business. Are you zoning out?”

Jiang Ye wouldn’t admit it and rubbed his nose. “No, no. Where were we? Cough, right, Bai Guang Zheng eating people?”

“Don’t worry, Sister Zhuo Hua is definitely the safest.”

This confirmed the ‘man-eating’ bit, and Zhou Zhuo Hua gave his arm a smack with a wry smile.

Bai Chen Zhu’s expression turned icy. “Can’t you beat him?”

Jiang Ye stayed upbeat and admitted frankly, “Hard to say. Haven’t fought him.”

His usual playful grin made Bai Chen Zhu’s heart sink. After thinking, Bai Chen Zhu proposed an even worse possibility. “I don’t think Li Min Nian is entirely right. He might not be an ability user.”

Jiang Ye raised a brow, eyes twinkling with amusement as he looked at him approvingly, waiting for more.

Jiang Ye’s attitude made Bai Chen Zhu’s heart sink further.

Bai Chen Zhu averted his gaze and shared his speculation with the others. “Li Min Nian said that when their group encountered an accident, Bai Li was injured and sent back early, while the others continued and were all killed by Bai Guang Zheng, who then imprisoned him. So before the incident, Bai Guang Zheng was already no longer ‘normal.'”

“Compared to that previous Mutated Cow, he might be the real ‘Zombie King.'”

Shocks came one after another. Bai Tao’s eyes widened as she clutched the sofa in terror. “You mean he’s a Zombie King that can talk, think, and hop around lively!”

“Jiang Ye, what do you think?” Bai Chen Zhu turned to Jiang Ye for an answer. When it came to zombies and ability users, Jiang Ye knew far more than anyone present.

But Jiang Ye held up an index finger. “You’re only half right.”

Bai Chen Zhu frowned, certain he hadn’t erred.

Bai Guang Zheng had thoughts and speech but ate ability users. The previous Mutated Cow had eaten zombies too.

Bai Guang Zheng evolved by consuming ability users. Jiang Ye had said zombies evolved by devouring mental power, but humans couldn’t.

All the pieces fit: Bai Guang Zheng was a zombie.

“I’ve basically confirmed the Fragment is on him.” Jiang Ye’s eyes curved in a smile as he revealed the truth. “The Fragment’s powerful mental power can influence humans and zombies alike. He’s a human halfway through zombification, but the Fragment halted the process.”

“He’s human?” Bai Chen Zhu’s eyes fixed intently.

“Yes, a half-zombified human. The more clearly he knows his situation, the more instinctively he’ll pursue what he has as a human—memories, emotions—and reject his zombifying side. After all, he yearns to be human.” Jiang Ye looked at Bai Tao, his words cutting like knives. “You’ve surely noticed, right? He’s not your father anymore.”

“As your father, ‘spoiling’ you wasn’t because of familial love. It was because he yearned for his human self, imitating and role-playing his past self. But he might not even remember you anymore. He doesn’t remember what he should do as a father, a human, or a base leader anymore—leaving behind only an obsession.”

Bai Tao fell silent, her ten fingers digging deeply into her clothes. Her face was deathly pale as she struggled to recall something.

Her expression silently confirmed Jiang Ye’s words.

“This is a good thing.” Zhou Zhuo Hua suddenly cut in coldly, diverting the gazes from Bai Tao. “It’s far better than clashing directly with the zombie king. So now, we can figure out how to deal with a ‘half-human’.”

At the mention of this, Tang Zhao—who had been nervously gnawing on his fingers nearby—perked up. He immediately recalled how they had defeated the mutated cow earlier, like a model student eager to answer a question in class. He impatiently raised his hand. “Can we just drug him!”

The others exchanged glances.

Tang Zhao grew uneasy and weakly retracted his hand. “W-What’s wrong? Was I wrong?”

Bai Chen Zhu reassured him. “On the contrary, you were spot on.”

His phoenix eyes curved into a smile as he looked at Bai Tao. For once, he mimicked Zhou Zhuo Hua and called her, “Tao Tao.”

Bai Tao hugged her arms and shivered.

Bai Chen Zhu stood up and stretched lazily. “Then you all handle the drug. Jiang Ye, we still need to go find Li Zhen Zhen again.”

He pulled a slip of paper from his pocket and shook it, his voice low and lingering. “As the messenger.”