If it were any other ability user, Li Zhen Zhen might not interfere, but it was Bai Chen Zhu. And they still had close ties with Jiang Ye; it was impossible to touch him at this time.
No matter how covetous she was of a mental system ability user, Han Yuyan shouldn’t target Bai Chen Zhu.
Bai Chen Zhu seemed to read minds and asked: “Once this is over, do you still plan to use her?”
An expert was valuable, but one without principles wasn’t worth keeping.
Seeing was believing; Li Zhen Zhen was now afraid of Han Yuyan’s superpower. She said cautiously: “So how do you plan to deal with her?”
Bai Chen Zhu hadn’t actually thought of how to deal with her. He’d handled plenty of zombies, but this was his first time with a person.
He stroked his chin politely. “Miss Li, any suggestions?”
Li Zhen Zhen took a deep breath. “If you don’t mind, leave her to me. I guarantee you won’t see her again.”
Hearing this, Han Yuyan shook her head frantically. Her eyes seemed to speak, pleading with Bai Chen Zhu for mercy.
Bai Chen Zhu fell silent.
Han Yuyan thought he had softened and struggled free from Tang Zhao’s hold, falling at Bai Chen Zhu’s feet. Her light-colored clothes were dirtied by dust as she looked up at him with gentle, watery eyes.
But she clearly wasn’t a gentle person.
Bai Chen Zhu pressed his eyelid. “I said, don’t use your superpower on me again.”
She’d been caught! Han Yuyan widened her eyes in shock.
Li Zhen Zhen signaled to the bodyguards behind her, and they dragged the woman before her. “Rest assured,” she said. “I keep my word.”
She trusted those she used and didn’t use those she distrusted, but if someone lost her trust, the consequence was equally decisive.
Bai Chen Zhu led Tang Zhao out of the small building and suddenly felt he had quite the affinity with it—coming here repeatedly for business, hoping there wouldn’t be another upsetting incident.
—
As soon as they stepped out, he spotted Jiang Ye leaning against a tree in the distance. Upon seeing him, Jiang Ye raised two fingers in a casual greeting.
A breeze seemed to brush through Bai Chen Zhu’s heart, instantly erasing all his prior displeasure. He walked over and asked, knowing the answer: “What are you doing here?”
Jiang Ye smiled. “Didn’t I say? Here to pick Ah Zhu up and take him back.”
The smile in his eyes faded slightly as he straightened up and pulled Bai Chen Zhu over, sniffing at him.
Bai Chen Zhu felt like he was being sniffed by a puppy identifying scents. He laughed and pushed Jiang Ye away, lowering his gaze helplessly: “Playing the hooligan?”
Jiang Ye’s senses were always sharp. He suddenly straightened and looked at Tang Zhao. “What happened? There’s a bloody smell.”
Before Bai Chen Zhu could speak, Tang Zhao had already summarized the events.
Jiang Ye suppressed his anger and headed toward the small building. Bai Chen Zhu quickly grabbed his arm. “It’s fine; everything’s settled.”
Jiang Ye glanced at him and saw he truly intended to leave Han Yuyan to others, so he temporarily calmed down.
He seemed to have endless curiosity about Bai Chen Zhu and wanted to probe every detail.
“If you’re worried, have Tang Zhao keep an eye on it and see how Li Zhen Zhen handles her.” Seeing Jiang Ye still dwelling on it, Bai Chen Zhu looked at Tang Zhao. Before he could speak, Tang Zhao cheered: “Yay!”
“If you don’t cut the grass at the roots, it will leave future troubles, Bro! I’ll go check right now!” Unexpectedly, Tang Zhao cared about it too. At his words, Tang Zhao ran off swiftly and vanished.
“That kid.” Jiang Ye said with a laugh.
The two walked side by side down the road.
“What did you mainly discuss this time?” Bai Chen Zhu seized the chance to change the subject.
Jiang Ye pondered and said: “Someone has to spread the news about the alien race. I think Luozhou City is a good place, and Li Min Nian’s position is perfect.”
Especially if Luozhou City developed later, the surrounding small bases and outposts would naturally gravitate toward it, making Li Min Nian’s importance obvious.
“But it has to be done gradually—what form to use, how to say it. With his superpower to discern truth from lies, he’s perfect for it. Let him worry about it himself.”
Recalling the original plot, Bai Chen Zhu couldn’t help worrying. “I remember you were the first to discover it, right? Then you took the lead to unite the bases. Now that you’re not doing it, if it’s Li Min Nian or someone else, will it have a big impact?”
Jiang Ye was stunned, then laughed and slung an arm around his shoulders. “Ah Zhu, are you thinking too highly of me?”
“Without Jiang Ye, there would be Chen Ye, Li Ye, Liang Ye… It’s always the times that make the hero, not the hero who makes the times.”
—
Back in the small building, the other two were also there.
Bai Tao tilted her head. “Why did everyone go out today? Zhuo Hua-jie and I went to the hospital to pick up some medicine, but we didn’t see a single one of you.”
“We ran into Bro Bai’s relative—that woman in the white robe.” Tang Zhao said indignantly. “I always thought she was a gentle big sister. I didn’t expect her to be a bad person, that kind of evil expert who wanted to use Bro Bai for experiments.”
Use people for experiments? Bai Tao frowned, filled with righteous indignation. “That’s really too much! Where is she? Let’s go teach her a lesson.”
Tang Zhao grinned foolishly. “Bro Bai took care of her. It’s fine now.”
Bai Tao said, “I also ran into something else at the hospital today…”
They gathered together and opened the floodgates of conversation.
Zhou Zhuo Hua looked toward Jiang Ye. “What did Mr. Li say?”
Jiang Ye shared his conversation with Li Min Nian with the others, including precautions against the alien race and support for their search for the fragment. “He asked if we wanted to bring more people. I refused.”
“Refusing was the right call. More people means more trouble.” Bai Chen Zhu hated trouble the most, and he also disliked excessive interactions.
“This is a token. You can seek help from Luozhou City at any time.” Jiang Ye fished around in his pants pocket and pulled out an emerald gem ring. The setting on the back of the ring was engraved with a ‘Luo’ character. “It was valuable before, and now it can only serve as a token.”
Zhou Zhuo Hua felt it wouldn’t be used most of the time, but she nodded. “Luozhou City is an exception. Future small bases will probably all lean toward it. It’s good to build a relationship with it, but just Luozhou City alone is far from enough.”
Bai Chen Zhu affirmed her statement. “There are very few bases that can develop like Luozhou City right now. The top priority should still be finding the fragment.”
“Yeah, I’ve thought about all that too. We can’t rush it.” Jiang Ye put the token away. “If there’s no problem, let’s set off the day after tomorrow.”
“The day after tomorrow?” Bai Chen Zhu was a bit surprised. “We’re not in a hurry anymore?”
“Because there’s one more thing.” Jiang Ye turned to Bai Tao on the side. “Would you be willing to hold a concert in Luozhou City?”
“Me?” Bai Tao pointed at herself in disbelief, her mouth forming a perfect ‘O’. “For real?”
She looked at Jiang Ye, and he nodded. She looked at Zhou Zhuo Hua again, who made a fist with one hand in a ‘go for it’ gesture.
Tang Zhao excitedly clapped his hands, cheering her on enthusiastically. “Yes, yes, yes! Eh? But I guess I can’t listen.”
“Because this concert is for those who have been infected but haven’t shown symptoms yet. Do you still remember Bai Li from that night?” Jiang Ye sat boldly on the sofa, legs crossed as he looked toward Bai Chen Zhu.
Bai Chen Zhu sat on the single-seater sofa. Jiang Ye glanced at the empty spot next to him and frowned.
“I remember.” Bai Chen Zhu rubbed his chin, recalling. “That night, we were schemed against by Bai Guang Zheng. Bai Tao’s mental power stimulated Bai Li and accelerated his zombification.”
After he finished speaking, Bai Chen Zhu said in surprise, “You mean to use Bai Tao to identify the infected?”
“This is Li Min Nian’s request. Whether you’re willing or not is up to you.” Jiang Ye said.
“Yes, yes!” Bai Tao had long wanted to showcase her singing voice. She rubbed her fists eagerly. “I’ll definitely save you some VVVVIP seats then!”
Tang Zhao was happy for her. “Yay!”
Zhou Zhuo Hua nodded, a smile on her face as well.
Jiang Ye stared at Bai Chen Zhu, the resentment plain on his face, as if silently asking why he was sitting so far away. Bai Chen Zhu pretended not to notice and clapped for Bai Tao.
