Jiang Chen didn’t want to remember what happened that day in the sewerage system.
He only remembered that he threw up, consistently. Yao Yao comforted him and helped him change into clean clothes. She felt terrible inside too, but since she survived in the apocalypse for a long time, death was a not an unfamiliar sight.
In the end, Jiang Chen shot the natural gas canister in the room.
He watched the fire cleanse the filth in the room without saying a word.
He held onto the quivering Yao Yao and stepped over a countless number of bodies. He left this terrifying place.Sun Jiao’s wound scabbed already. After Jiang Chen came back, she could even walk by herself. Three bullets hit her in the stomach, and one in the shoulder. After he had heard Sun Jiao taking out the bullets by herself, he was only a little surprised. This brave girl always surprised him.
After they had returned to the mansion, he got drunk. He finished all the beers he brought. Because of Sun Jiao's injury, she slept early and Yao Yao took care of him for the night.
She was incredibly understanding. She also felt the agony and pain. The scene almost shattered any courage she had built up, but she knew that Jiang Chen needed to be taken care of right now.
This compassionate man was almost like someone who had just left a survival base. She remembered the first time she saw a pile of dead bodies, and she almost immediately fainted. However, as soon as she realized that even in survival camp, death was only a routine, she became desensitized.
Compassion was rare in this world, so wasting it would be considered a sin. In the apocalypse, it was foolish, but incredible at the same time.
She heard about the cannibals. They hid within the shadows, under the filthy sewages. They worshiped a distorted religion which prided the act of feasting on the bodies of the same race. Every single one of them was the enemy of any human force. Even the anti-human neo-human group was disgusted by them. Praised for their freedom, Sixth Street outlawed any cannibals from approaching the area.
She placed a warm towel on Jiang Chen’s forehead, Yao Yao looked at Jiang Chen’s face full of sorrow and then she silently left the room."Did he fall asleep?"
Yao Yao paused slightly. Sun Jiao was awake; she had a perplexed look on her face.
"Mhmm, weren’t you asleep as well?"
"Yes, but I can’t fall asleep. Never mind, I’ll talk to him tomorrow." Sun Jiao turned around.
"You, how are you feeling?" Yao Yao looked at the bandage around Sun Jiao’s waist. That question almost took all of her courage.
"It’s not a big deal. I am quite confident about my healing ability," Sun Jiao forced a smile as she answered weakly. "By the way."
"Mhmm?" Yao Yao stopped, just as she was about to turn around. Yao Yao was puzzled.
"… Thanks."
In the dim light Yao Yao couldn’t make out Sun Jiao’s facial expression, and Sun Jiao went into her room right after. Yao Yao grinned. Although she was not used to dealing with the bold female master, she was a nice person after all.
The next morning.
Jiang Chen sat on the soft bed as he rubbed his sleepy eyes. The sunshine cast through the window was bright.
The radiation cloud finally scattered. The temperature was about to go up; it was the midst of summer in the modern world.
The door slowly opened, Yao Yao’s tiny body squeezed into the room.
"Hmm, let me help you wash your face," Yao Yao said gently as she placed a bowl of water onto the head dresser.
He looked at the cute face. A delighted smile melted from his sore face and he touched Yao Yao's forehead. "Don’t worry. I can do it. What time is it?"
"It’s nine. Let me do it." She wetted the tower and gently rubbed Jiang Chen’s face.
It felt nice, so Jiang Chen didn’t resist.
"Does it feel better now?"
"Much better. Yao Yao is very caring." His muscle still felt sore, but he was capable of moving around.
Maybe because she received a compliment, but a delighted smile appeared on her face.
"You, are you feeling better?" Sun Jiao also came into the room after she heard some noises. She stared at Jiang Chen worriedly from the door.
"I am okay, but you, are your injuries okay?"
"I am fine; I need to explain something to you." Her face suddenly turned serious which made Jiang Chen tense up as well.
Although Sun Jiao loved to joke around, she always treated things seriously when it was necessary.
Just as the mood was about to tense up, Sun Jiao all of a sudden laughed. From Jiang Chen’s shocked look, she turned around.
"Let’s eat breakfast first."
The breakfast was very delicious, to the apocalypse standard.
There were toast and ketchup.
For some reason, ketchup made Jiang Chen’s stomach feel quite upset.
Sun Jiao looked at Jiang Chen who held onto his stomach nervously; she sighed before taking away the ketchup.
Sun Jiao has a passion for food, but all of the sudden she had no appetite.
It was not because of the cannibals. This was the first time she saw something so gruesome. She was worried about Jiang Chen as it was his first time witnessing the cruelty of the apocalypse. That was only the tip of the iceberg.
"I… I need to go out. I’ll probably be back in a month's time. There’s not a lot of food left in storage." If he stayed here any longer, he would break down mentally.
He made up an excuse because the idea of interdimensional travel was too complicated to explain.
"Ok, come back as early as you can." Sun Jiao wanted to say something, but only those words left her mouth.
"Let’s eat." Jiang Chen gave her a weak smile. He knew that he looked terrible, but he couldn't be brave at this moment.
He was fatigued physically and mentally.
Sun Jiao carefully chewed on the toast and explained to Jiang Chen what happened to his body yesterday. Gene vaccine, theoretically, only slightly improved the human regenerative cell function which would improve the human muscle strength, bone strength, reflex and survivor ability. Jiang Chen opened his EP and saw his improvements in the past three days.
****
User Name: Jiang Chen
Muscle Strength: 24
Bone Strength: 25
Reflex: 28
Brain Cell Strength: 14
****
All three basic abilities almost doubled. By modern world standards, Jiang Chen could be described as superhuman.
"Yesterday, because of your anger, you entered fury mode." She remembered Jiang Chen was furious because of her which made her blush a little. "Normally, gene vaccine will only improve the three basic functions. However, because it changed some DNA in the body, some unpredictability does exist. Someone even grew two heads."
"What? The thing you injected into me was something this dangerous?" Jiang Chen dropped the toast onto the ground.
"Some probability, almost negligible." She didn’t want to admit her mistake and chose to change the topic.
"But for some people, the mutations are beneficial, so they received useful abilities. For me, my ability is tenacious." Sun Jiao stood up and unzipped her clothes.
"Ahem, what are you doing?" Surprised by her actions, Jiang Chen was slightly confused. However, when he saw the flawless waist, he was shocked. "What happened to your scar?" Only three faint white dots were left on the lightly tanned skin. This was the new skin she grew. In a couple of days, he wouldn’t even be able to tell the difference.
"Tenacious’s ability is to increase cell regenerative speed for the non-fatal wound. After the usage of the ability, the body will be frail. Constant usage will also result in cardiac arrest.
Cardiac arrest.
"Your ability is the same. You have to remember you are exchanging your life for power. Therefore, you shouldn’t use it as much. According to EP, it is called Fury right?"
"Yes." Jiang Chen nodded. He checked the EP yesterday, and it showed "Special Ability: Fury."
"Clinically, anyone with this ability will be triggered by strong emotional stimulants. The body’s cell will enter a rapid stage of regeneration. In macro terms, it’s an increase in strength and reflex. The specifics are person-dependent. You can find information related to your usage on your EP.
Jiang Chen was surprised by the EP’s function. Under Sun Jiao’s guidance, he found the document.
Hidden Gene Ability:
Fury
Muscle Strength +20
Reflex + 19
Brain Cell Strength +17
Special effect: Killer instinct, use any of the five human sense to identify the location of the opponent's heart.
Maximum effective duration: Thirty minutes
The fury ability could increase brain cell strength? Make me Smarter? Jiang Chen was quite bewildered.
"I caution you against using the ability too much." Sun Jiao noticed Jiang Chen’s surprised expression, and she sighed.
"Why?"
"Did you forget the effect of the ability?"
He remembered he fainted that day and only regained consciousness after a long time.
"If it’s in a safe environment, then it is okay. But in the midst of the battle, no one can predict the outcome. If you met someone you cannot take care of while using the ability, then there is only one ending for you."
Sweat began to roll down Jiang Chen’s forehead as Sun Jiao explained. If Yao Yao didn’t get there in time, he would be a headless body by now.
"But you don’t have to worry; these abilities are often controllable. You can use special medicine to active and terminate the ability. It will make your ability much more useful. With practice, you can even use your mental strength to control the ability. Like me, I don’t need the assistance of medicine anymore." Sun Jiao passed on two plastic tubes to Jiang Chen. "Put this inside your EP and match the corresponding color. If you need to active fury, you just need to press a button. The EP will use the micro-needle to inject the medicine into your body. However, my recommendation is still to not over-rely on this ability."
"Ok." Jiang Chen carefully nodded.
After breakfast, he packed up his bag filled the gold. The two girls followed him into the living room to say goodbye. Although Jiang Chen reassured them that he would be back soon, Sun Jiao and Yao Yao insisted.
He hugged Sun Jiao as she kissed him without a slight hesitation. The passionate and wetness of the kiss would not be dull even after a million times.
"The food is in the fridge. There is enough in there to last half a year. Remember to eat the fresh vegetable first; canned foods are not that healthy."
"Ok honey, can you say something romantic right now. " Sun Jiao rolled her eyes at Jiang Chen, but her eyes were filled with longing.
After Sun Jiao, Jiang Chen also hugged Yao Yao. "Remember to take care of your body; I want to see a healthy Yao Yao after I come back."
"Mhmm!" Yao Yao nodded her head.
He felt her pointy chin on his shoulder before he placed her down.
"First, you have to come back." She asked him with a plea.
Jiang Chen gave her a sincere smile to assure all of her concerns. "Of course I will be back."
Jiang Chen was about to leave, but he felt a weak resistive force from his waist. He looked at Yao Yao confusedly as she held onto him and just as he was about to ask her why.
Her lips covered his.
There was an elegant fragrance; it tasted like lavender. Yao Yao pecked him on the lips and ran away.
He touched his lips still stunned by what happened; he then saw Sun Jiao’s deadly stare.
"You can’t blame me for this."
Sun Jiao sighed as Jiang Chen tried to explain. She hugged him again and whispered, "don’t say anything, come back soon."
"Mhmm." Jiang Chen opened his mouth, but he only left a simple response.
She stared at his shadow with a perplexed look. The woman was a sensitive creature. She could guess that Jiang Chen was from a country before the war. Only in a structured society would gold have any value. From her knowledge, there was no place in this world where gold has any value left.
Will he come back to this world? She didn’t know.
If it was before, she might choose to keep him here. It was typical for people in the apocalypse. But she didn't choose this option.
She saw the fearlessness in his eyes since the beginning. Even if he was tied down with a gun pointed at his head, he was afraid, but he never feared. The companions were all lies; the organization was also a story he created. She didn’t know what he hid.
It was not a stupid fearlessness, but it a was calculated risk. Sun Jiao had the feeling that at Sixth Street if he wanted to leave, no one in this world could stop him. He would also do it with less effort than her.
She even had the idea of hiding the gold to control Jiang Chen, but she restrained the idea to her head.
She chose to trust him.
He will not leave me here. He will be back. Sun Jiao believed him. Although if she followed him, she would find out his secret. But, she didn’t do it.
It was odd because this was the first she trusted the idea of a relationship in the apocalypse.
Although Yao Yao didn’t know Jiang Chen’s secret, as witty as she was, she was smart enough to see a slight hesitation in his eyes. She didn’t know from where this hesitation came. Maybe it was because of the conflict with the Huizhong Mercenaries, or maybe it was because of the mental image left behind at the cannibals’ camp.
She saw the hesitation in him. Maybe it was because of this uncertainty that made him postpone the vault idea and leave for a period.
This choice made Yao Yao quite relieved. Though it was a gloomy feeling, she felt that if Jiang Chen got the gold from the vault, then he would not be back for a long time.
If Jiang Chen disappeared, she would feel despair. She didn’t want to feel that way.
So in the last moment, she followed her heart, and she kissed Jiang Chen.
For the same reason, Sun Jiao didn’t stop her despite Sun Jiao's possessiveness. In the end, he needed some attachment in his heart. So, the more, the better.
Then, he would come back.
