Wasteland Rebirth

"Th-That's fine, I-I'll go make breakfast," Zhang Jingyao stammered, feeling embarrassed under Chu Xiang's gaze. She was well aware of what had happened last night, and at this moment, her heart was a mixture of both shyness and joy. How could she face Chu Xiang now? She pretended to be going outside to gather firewood, eager to escape.

Chu Xiang stared blankly at Zhang Jingyao's graceful figure as she walked away, frozen for a moment, before quickly turning and returning to the Pajero. It dawned on him that when he had woken up, a jacket had been draped over him—and now he realized that it had been Zhang Jingyao's!

"Put this on. It's too cold out," he said.

Zhang Jingyao blushed as she took the jacket from him. "Thank you."

Chu Xiang wasn't solely concerned about her getting cold; his real worry was that such a figure might be seen by others. His own team was manageable, but Gu Hai was not someone to trust. His subordinates were equally troublesome, and last night, tensions nearly escalated to a deadly conflict because of Su Yulian. He couldn't let anything else provoke another fight, especially with Zhang Jingyao in the mix.

Before long, everyone began waking up, and Zhang Jingyao's first batch of "porridge" was ready. To the eye, it resembled paste—exactly like the kind used for gluing up posters or sealing walls during Chinese New Year. But despite its lack of flavor, Gu Hai's group had seized it all. They had finished off the sweet potatoes last night, and even paste was better than an empty stomach.

Zhang Jingyao felt angry, but when she saw Chu Xiang watching her indifferently, her anger melted away. She simply began to clean up and add more firewood to the pot, preparing to make a new batch. Chu Xiang disliked the idea of letting them push them around, but the balance of power was still against them. Turning hostile now would only lead to disaster—there were two wounded on their side, including a young boy of about fifteen or sixteen, and Zhang Jingyao was a woman. The disparity in strength was too great. If it came to a fight, it would be one-sided.

While everyone ate breakfast, Chu Xiang quietly sneaked away to open his PDA. Bai Xiaowei was still the same delicate and fragile presence, even stretching lazily in front of him. The PDA's high-quality LCD screen revealed every detail of her fair skin, and her small, slender waist rivaled Zhang Jingyao's in beauty.

Chu Xiang couldn't help but say, "Hey, are you really just a program? How can you have such habits? I'm a man; doing that in front of me isn't very appropriate, don't you think?"

Bai Xiaowei shot him a glance. "Of course, I'm just an intelligent program. Why else would I be stuck in this broken phone? My creators programmed me to behave this way. I don't need to hide my feelings when I'm with you."

Chu Xiang didn't want to argue with a machine. He said, "Hurry up and check, last night I was infected by T3…"

"What?" Bai Xiaowei's expression grew serious. "How could you let yourself be infected by T3? The higher the level of the zombie, the more potent the T-virus becomes. Your body might not be able to withstand the T3 infection."

Chu Xiang shrugged, "I didn't want it to happen, but at least I'm still alive. Last night, I almost froze to death. If it weren't for someone keeping me warm, I would've turned into an ice block by now."

Bai Xiaowei didn't say anything further. She quickly drew a blood sample and began analyzing it. Soon, the results came back, which both excited her and Chu Xiang: There was no trace of the T-virus in his blood. Instead, his physical abilities had reached the threshold of a D-grade lieutenant, meaning that he was on the verge of a second evolution.

"Why is that?" Chu Xiang asked, confused. "Was my first evolution also triggered by the T-virus? Do I need to occasionally take some T-virus to evolve again?"

Bai Xiaowei, brushing her long hair aside, said, "You're being foolish. This isn't a lab, and we can't control the T-virus levels. The T-virus that infected you during your first evolution was relatively weak, not much of it, and it wasn't very active. If it weren't for a stroke of luck, you'd probably be dead by now."

Chu Xiang wiped a bead of sweat from his forehead. "I thought the T-virus from before was pretty powerful. Luckily, the T3 last night only pricked my arm. It was stopped by my clothes, or would I have died too?"

Bai Xiaowei let her hair cascade over her shoulders as she rested her head on her hand, sitting at the table. "That's probably how it was. From the data I have, my master, Bai Xiaowei, has never had an experiment as successful as you. But unfortunately, you have no idea what kind of zombie infected you the first time. Maybe that zombie was a special case."

Chu Xiang knew there was no point in returning to the gas station now. Even if he could go back, that zombie wouldn't still be there waiting for him. It had been the shelves that had struck him, and no one could know which zombie had left the T-virus there. Would he really have to ask them one by one? And what if they didn't answer but bit him again?

Bai Xiaowei continued, "You can't just go around experimenting with the T-virus. The chances of evolving are less than one in ten thousand. If you mishandle it, you might turn into a zombie, and probably a high-level one. From now on, keep away from T-virus. I can't predict what mutations you might undergo if you're seriously infected."

Chu Xiang asked, puzzled, "Isn't it true that if your immunity is strong enough, you won't fear the T-virus?"

Bai Xiaowei replied, "That's for indirect infection. With direct contact, you probably won't be safe unless you reach the level of an A-grade colonel."

Chu Xiang felt a bit dizzy. He wasn't even at the D-level yet. How was he supposed to evolve to the point where his physical abilities could reach the 1,000 threshold of an A-grade colonel? His enthusiasm waned, and he hastily closed the PDA and went back to drinking the paste.

Just as he was finishing his bowl of paste, Gu Hai and his four subordinates approached with guns. "Hey, I heard you were sick last night. Is everything okay?"

Chu Xiang was taken aback. Since when had Gu Hai become so concerned about him? "Thank you for your concern, Captain Gu. I'm fine now."

Gu Hai waved his gun dismissively. "Good. Now get your people and come with me."

Chu Xiang emptied his bowl of paste in one gulp, then directed Zhang Hongbing to carry Zhang Debing into the car. But Gu Hai stopped him. "No, no, the injured stay behind. You, you, and you—along with the kid—come with me. The women and injured stay here. I'll make arrangements to take care of them. When we come back with the stuff, we'll all head to Tong City together."

Song Jun coldly asked, "Why? What if we don't go back?"

Gu Hai sneered. "I'm afraid you don't have much choice. Unless you two are willing to leave the burdens behind!"

Zhang Hongbing was about to retort, but Chu Xiang stopped him. "Tell me what exactly you need to get first."

Gu Hai said, "To be honest, people die for wealth, and birds die for food. We're going back to Ji City to get some gold for self-defense."

Chu Xiang replied, "Looks like you're really ready to die for gold. We encountered a horde of zombies on the outskirts of Ji City. With just our group, trying to retrieve gold from the city would be a suicide mission."

Gu Hai shrugged. "That's not your concern. Get in the car and come with us, or I can't guarantee the safety of your friends."

Chu Xiang exchanged a helpless glance with Song Jun. If they didn't go, they would die now. Even though they were more capable, they couldn't leave Zhang Jingyao, Su Yulian, and the others behind.