Zhong Qiu pulled Ye Zhizhou into his embrace and covered him. He looked towards the people at the doorway coldly. His eyes which were turning a normal colour had an unusually cold glint. "Everyone close your eyes! Get out!"

A blur of white rushed past everyone, Liang Ping appeared behind Zhong Qiu and held him by the shoulder, his scalpel reflected off an eerie light in the dim warehouse.

"Let our boss go!"

Ye Zhizhou was about to blow his top. He took advantage of Zhong Qiu's coverage to pull out a robe from his space and put it on. He growled, "Liang Ping, beat him up! Zhong Qiu, if you dare to fight back I'll castrate you!!"

The young man with glasses gulped, thinking he'd probably came at a bad time. He quietly retreated...

"Running somewhere?" Yan Zheng stood at the warehouse's entrance. His hand waved backwards, rising a wall of fire outside the warehouse without an opening to get through. "Tell us clearly, who are you?!"

Zhong Qiu nimbly avoided all of Liang Ping's attacks using his wind ability and speedily approached Ye Zhizhou. He picked him up, jumped several times until he landed in front of the youth with glasses and handed Ye Zhizhou over to him.

"Lao Bo, this is my battle trophy, take him away." He said as he charged towards Yan Zheng at the door.

Trophy? Ye Zhizhou's repressed rage exploded thoroughly, the large burst of spiritual force enveloped Lao Bo's group was as fierce as thunders. He threw a large cut of spiritual force at Zhong Qiu and grasped his own robe's belt. "Zhong Qiu! Continue fighting and I'll strip, right here and now!"

Zhong Qiu's offense jerked to a stop. The fireball prepped in Yan Zheng's hand sizzled out. Liang Ping's scalpel slipped out of his hand and hit the ground with a loud clang. Lao Bo, who was ready to spring up and fight, sat on the ground embarrassed and dumbstruck from Ye Zhizhou' words.

Large amounts of spiritual force laced with Ye Zhizhou's indignation and irritation circulated inside the warehouse without a stop. Zhong Qiu sensed the emotions conveyed in his spiritual force and the wind surging around his person slowed down. He turned back and strode to Ye Zhizhou, held and comforted the other man by patting his back, coaxing him using a gentler tone, "Don't be angry, they haven't seen it. Only show me your body. Don't be angry."

Is this the focus!? Ye Zhizhou threw a left hook to his head. "Me, a trophy?"

Zhong Qiu's ducked his head sideways, but his hands still firmly held Ye Zhizhou's waist, "No, I am your trophy."

Ye Zhizhou's fist withdrew and his knee raised up, "Still gonna fight?"

"Not gonna." Zhong Qiu pushed down on his knee then rubbed there in an intimate manner, he dipped his head next to Ye Zhizhou's ear and lowered his voice, "I just want to fight you on the bed."

Ye Zhizhou sneered, he can see Zhong Qiu hadn't learnt his lesson. He pushed the other man aside and pulled on his arm, pressing down hard on the needle hole. "If I guess correctly the medicine you took would only be able to suppress the virus inside your body temporarily. Once your mood fluctuates or you go without the injection for a long time the virus will flare up. You still want to do bed stuff like this? Dream on! Just stay like this unable to get it up forever!"

Lao Bo who had just picked himself up fell down in embarrassment again. He seemed to have heard of something incredible just now.

The corners of Yan Zheng's mouth twitched. He withdrew his powers. It turned out to be a lovers' quarrel..... Really played them all.

Liang Ping looked abck and forth between Ye Zhizhou and Zhong Qiu bewilderly, then he also put away his scalpel. He took out a longan from his pocket and started nibbling on it.

All the noisy people stopped except for Zhong Qiu. He examined his pricked arm for a bit and then stared at the small glimpse of skin near Ye Zhizhou's collar with a pitch-black face. He asked suddenly, "Whose clothes are you wearing? I hate that scent!"

Ye Zhizhou dipped his head to check and found that he had put on Yan Mingyong's black robe in his hurry. Mischievousness brewed in him, he laughed, "Oh, this? This robe was worn by someone I really like. The material's really good! It smells really good! The feel on the body is very smooth! What's wrong? You don't like it? Then I'll just take it off." He said and directly pulled on his collar like he would undress in seconds.

Zhong Qiu hastily gripped his hand, he glimpsed at the tattered overcoat on himself, a flash of yellow appeared in his pupils. "Don't take it off, wear it well."

Ye Zhizhou hit his cheeks without hesitation, "You, calm down! You dare turn back to zombie?!"

Slightly yellow pupils then gradually returned to its normal colour.

Lao Bo looked dumbfounded, he felt his family's leader had turned into a completely different person, he was so obedient! He didn't want to disturb his very strange leader at this time but his sense of duty left him no choice, he started talking against his wish, "That, uh, leader, I sprayed the drug that misleads the zombie's sense of smell when I came in, but it won't last long. The old master is worried about you, why don't we... return first?"

"You guys go." Zhong Qiu lowered his head to look at him, his usual cold demeanour had also returned in front of his subordinate. "I'm going with Xiao Chen."

"But, old master..."

"The machine is with Xiao Chen." Zhong Qiu whipped out a high-sounding reason, "I'll get the machine to the capital with Xiao Chen. There's not enough space in the plane, you guys leave first."

Lao Bo was scared by his cold gaze and couldn't say anything else, but he looked at Ye Zhizhou to the side, "Then, Mr. Liu, please look after—"

"Yan Zheng, Liang Ping." Without glancing at Lao Bo or Zhong Qiu, Ye Zhizhou beckoned his two subordinates towards him. "Mission completed, let's go!"

There seemed to be a mutation in his lover's gene in this life. He needed some time to adapt, and until he can adapt...... Distance breeds fondness!

The three men quickly rushed out of the warehouse. Zhong Qiu looked at his own dumbstruck subordinate before glancing away in disdain, then he flew away using the speed of his wind ability. After being cut off, Lao Bo's words died in his mouth. His various inner organs felt like they were being squeezed and hurting, Lao Bo couldn't help stomping his foot, "So many zombies outside, are they still humans?! Just say 'go' and they went out like that! Isn't this looking to die!"

One of the subordinates who came with him poked his shoulder and whispered, "But before we even arrived, that group had already crossed the entire hospital and reached the warehouse... They also had time to quarrel, being surrounded by zombies......"

"......" He felt more angry now!

When Ye Zhizhou's group reached the location of their fleet of cars it was already dawn, the sky was greyish blue. Li Hao, who had always been an early-riser, saw them coming back from outside and couldn't help asking puzzledly, "Where did you go this early in the morning? Also, Xiao Chen, what's that thing you're wearing? Looks strange, eh."

"I saw an uncontaminated sweet potato plant out there so I took Yan Zheng and Liang Ping to dig it out and put it in my space." Ye Zhizhou lied with a truly honest face. He pulled on his clothes and continued, "I can get these black clothes dirty so I changed into them."

The extremely gullible Li Hao nodded his head, his attention was diverted instantly, "Ah, you found sweet potatoes? That's great. Sweet potatoes are very filling, they're good to get! It'll be perfect to eat when it gets colder."

Yan Zheng took out his long sword and wiped it clean. He felt that the future of working as a bodyguard was bleak. Liang Ping looked at him thoughtfully, he pulled out a small tangerine from his pocket and pushed it onto Yan Zheng. "Eat it."

A gentle breeze blew and Zhong Qiu suddenly appeared beside Ye Zhizhou with a small pouch in hand. He gave the pouch to Ye Zhizhou and smiled at him, "Xiao Chen, I found some potatoes too, I helped you dig it out." He glanced at Li Hao as he talked and then extended his hand to the older man, "Hello. I'm Zhong Qiu, Xiao Chen's boyfriend. Thank you for all your care for him all this time."

Li Hao was charmed by his amiable, handsome smile, and took Zhong Qiu's hand dumbly. His reaction was delayed too, "Ooh, so it's Xiao Chen's boyfriend. Nice to meet you. Just call me uncle Li like Xiao Chen......, wait, boyfriend?!"

His eyes opened wide. He turned his head to the direction of the fleet of cars and yelled out, "Old Liu! Come here, Xiao Chen got a boyfriend!"

The peaceful camp of cars immediately came to life with the clattering sound of things falling at every corner. Liu Tao peeked his messy head out of one of the cars, his face twisted up and his eyes full of killing intent.

"What did you say? Boyfriend?!"

Ye Zhizhou was stupefied from this unexpected plot event and he couldn't help but kick his big and tall man.

"Zhong Qiu! Why are you here!" Didn't they lose this guy when they left the hospital?!

Zhong Qiu maintained a gentle cordial smile on his face. He turned to Ye Zhizhou to stuff Ye Zhizhou's hand with the potato pouch. "Here, betrothal gift."

What darned bethrothal gift!

After breakfast their fleet set off again.

Liu Tao came out of the empty truck with purpose. He had a stern face as he stared at the calm and handsome Zhong Qiu. He asked with knitted brows, "Your age? Job? How many in your family? Marriage history? How many sisters and brothers? How long have you known Xiao Chen?"

Ye Zhizhou could only cover his forehead.

Zhong Qiu's head tilted to look at him. He very naturally took Ye Zhizhou's hand as he looked at Liu Tao earnestly, "26, researcher. Seven people. I've never married, but one of my older brothers has. As for how long I've known him... I know Xiao Chen has a mole on his lower abdomen."

To even know the mole on his lower abdomen...... Liu Tao's expression scrunched up in an instant, but as he swept his gaze at their interlocked hands he took in deep breaths to calm himself. He continued asking, "Do your parents know about you and Xiao Chen?"

"They know, they really like Xiao Chen." Zhong Qiu lied through his teeth, "Also, my grandfather knew I left B city to look for Xiao Chen and he supported my decision."

Liu Tao's expression finally eased up. He sighed looking at Ye Zhizhou, only extending a hand to stroke his head, "Since it's someone you like, dad won't stop you. It's not so easy to meet someone you like in the world now. I can see Xiao Zhong's person is very steady and dependable. If you can live well with him from now, when it comes to the day when I have to leave you, you'll still have someone to support you."

All of Ye Zhizhou's gloom and silence were broken by these words. He broke away from Zhong Qiu's grasp and sternly glared at the man wearing a harmless smile. He stepped forward to hug Liu Tao. "Dad, the apocalypse will end soon. You'll live for a long, long time."

"Yes, the apocalypse will soon end." Zhong Qiu added in his words in a timely manner, obsessed with giving off a good impression. "I am halfway finished developing a vaccine for the zombie virus, there will be results very soon." And it must be finished soon, he wants to get to the wedding night!

Liu Tao couldn't stop his eyes from getting wet as he listened to these. He hugged his son and patted his back, with a bit more force because of his excited mood. "Good, good... This sort of world is finally going to be saved."

After a day and a half, their fleet of cars reached B city. They headed straight to the base.

Ye Zhizhou carefully looked through the system's provided data, he felt a bit concerned; according to the timeline the Annan base should have been broken into more than a week ago. He didn't know how the protagonist and Qiu Xiangyu were doing now or if they were separated like in the original plot... Only one of the four flags has fallen low enough to be safe, the other two flags were 50% and 60% respectively and the remaining one firmly stayed at 100%......

Right now the only consolation was that the story plot of Zhong Qiu snatching the protagonist shouldn't happen— wait. If a madman like Zhong Qiu (who in order to develop vaccines would experiment on himself) knew of the protagonist's spring... It's over!

He hastily flipped through the data and checked the plot point when Zhong Qiu would snatch the protagonist. He thought about the several low grade marrow cleansing pills he got from Tongtian. He poked the Zhong Qiu sticking to his side and was resting with his eyes closed. "This is for you, it'll be useful for your research."

The reason why that spring caught Zhong Qiu's attention was because of its unnaturally powerful function of strengthening the body and washing out impurities at once. If you look at it this way, the system's drug-peddling function was simply, extremely kind! Washing out impurities? Strengthening the body? It's all covered by the low grade marrow cleansing pill! Moreover, there are still the middle grade and high grade. Those will surely be more effective than the protagonist's spring!

Zhong Qiu opened his eyes to look at the pill on Ye Zhizhou's palm. The colour of his eyes changed. He said, "Really? Then I'll try it." While his hands already picked the pill up and directly put it inside his mouth.

Ye Zhizhou looked at his empty palm and then at the man's expressionless face. His hand quickly pinched Zhong Qiu's neck, "How did you develop such a bad habit? Just put anything remotely relating to research into your mouth! What if that was poison?! You don't act like a genius at all!"

"I am a genius." Zhong Qiu didn't care for the hand pinching his neck. He looked straight into Ye Zhizhou's eyes and spoke obscene words with a straight face: "Though I have never done it, I can guarantee you'll feel really good doing it with me."

"...I will strangle you!"

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Translator: Padam | Editor: Divetus

[1] Betrothal gift