Lin Yuan’s mind was consumed by the video he had just watched, leaving him with no appetite to look at anything else.
Jiang Ziqi, however, remained clear-headed. She studied the touchscreen, diligently memorizing its contents and roughly pinpointing their location on the map.
She then took out a stone and began etching the route onto the ground.
Lin Yuan, amidst his chaotic thoughts, took a long time to regain his senses.
He had to admit, the Western woman in the video was skilled at negotiation. Fang Yuxin was indeed a tender spot in Lin Yuan’s heart; not a severe pain, but mentioning her would always leave him feeling uncomfortable.
After some thought, he sighed and shook his head.
“Forget it. The current situation is quite good.”
Lin Yuan also noticed Jiang Ziqi drawing the route, realizing he had forgotten to record the map.
“Ziqi, I apologize. I wasn’t processing things properly just now.”
Jiang Ziqi turned her head, her face nearly contorting into a comical meme. “It’s alright, Brother Lin Yuan. I won’t tell Sister Wu Tian, hehehe.”
Lin Yuan: “……”
Please, for the love of all that is holy, keep it a secret!
She discarded the stone, picked up the display screen that had been placed on the ground, cross-referenced it, and finding no issues, handed the screen to Lin Yuan.
“Brother Lin Yuan, I’ve memorized the map. I took a look, and it’s just a small village with only a few households, located on the outskirts of Qing Snake County. We can grab the items and then directly rejoin the convoy on the main road.”
Lin Yuan wasn’t feeling very enthusiastic now. He nodded and said, “Then let’s hurry over. When we get near Qing Snake County, we’ll head there once it’s daylight.”
After memorizing the route map, just as Lin Yuan was about to smash the touchscreen, a message popped up, sent by h.
Simultaneously, the red dot representing the weapon cache on the map disappeared, and a green dot appeared, approximately 3 kilometers away.
This should be h’s current location.
“k, where are you now? Why don’t you turn on your communicator? Ready to evacuate. I’m on my way!”
“ok.”
After sending the message, Jiang Ziqi gave the night a thumbs-up.
The fish had taken the bait.
All that was left was the action.
The operation to hunt h went smoothly. Lin Yuan led the way with the touchscreen, approaching h, while Jiang Ziqi circled around for a surprise attack.
The night was thick. h only knew that the positional information from the touchscreen in k’s hand was approaching, and didn’t notice Jiang Ziqi sneaking up behind.
She was directly impaled through the chest by a tentacle and collapsed without even a scream.
Jiang Ziqi didn’t control the tentacle to “eat” h, but instead remained in place, waiting for h to change.
After Lin Yuan arrived and they waited for some time, the person still hadn’t mutated. Instead, they had begun to sprout mushrooms, their entire body decomposing.
It seemed her tentacles did not contain the substance that could turn humans into zombies, but they did contain something that accelerated the decomposition of organic matter.
It could also make people grow mushrooms, but wouldn’t cause corpses to rise again.
That was good news, in a way.
They collected all the firearms and ammunition from h’s body and checked for any strange markings. Finding none, they dug a hole with a wooden shovel and buried him on the spot.
This was to prevent him from being eaten by fungal monsters and turning into a night demon.
Lin Yuan glanced at the handgun in his hand. It was the same as the ones collected from k; the model was indistinguishable, and all of them were equipped with silencers.
From an external perspective, they looked more futuristic than the 92改. He just didn’t know about their power.
After confirming he had the geographical location memorized correctly, Lin Yuan folded both touchscreens. He then had Jiang Ziqi use her tentacles to crush them before scattering the fragments into the woods, finally concluding the matter.
“Let’s go, we’re going to snag that weapon cache for free!” Lin Yuan declared grandly, gesturing for Jiang Ziqi to follow.
Although Jiang Ziqi was very interested in opening the cache, she looked at Lin Yuan’s feigned cheerfulness and hesitantly asked, “Brother Lin Yuan, are you really not going to do anything about this?”
“How can I? Who knows where that company is? It’s impossible to go. And even if I wanted to, who would pick me up? I can’t possibly travel through over a billion zombies to rescue my first love with whom I haven’t had contact for four years.
Most importantly, I already have people I need to protect, and I don’t need to dwell on the past anymore, especially on something unrealistic,” Lin Yuan said, ruffling Jiang Ziqi’s head.
Although Jiang Ziqi understood Lin Yuan’s words, she still felt he was a little sad.
Perhaps sensing Jiang Ziqi’s thoughts, Lin Yuan rubbed his face vigorously, forcing a smile again. “Don’t worry, Ziqi. I can’t even protect you all properly, so how can I have the energy to protect someone else?”
With this, Lin Yuan had regained his usual spirit and was back to normal.
Jiang Ziqi then smiled along with him, becoming lively and cute again. “Brother, you’re right! You still have to have lots of babies with Sister Wu Tian, and I want to be their godmother! Oh, wait, there’s also Sister Qing Tian, Sister Qing Yan, little sister An Jing…,” Jiang Ziqi’s voice trailed off as she pouted. “Wuwuwu, Brother Lin Yuan, they all want to be godmothers too, I can only choose one.”
Then, perhaps remembering something, Jiang Ziqi suddenly burst into laughter. “But I saved Brother Lin Yuan from fire and water, so I must be the godmother of this precious baby!”
As she spoke, Jiang Ziqi’s eyes blazed with excitement, as if becoming a godmother was an incredibly enjoyable prospect.
Indeed, having a cute baby without having to constantly tend to it sounded perfect.
Lin Yuan watched Jiang Ziqi, who was talking to herself, crying one moment and laughing the next. His heart had finally let go of the matter. Yes, what else was there to ponder or choose?
I will definitely choose Wu Tian, choose Jiang Ziqi, choose my teammates!