Wei Xu and Fang Yunqi left the research institute when the inspection finished, each returning to their own homes. Liu Tao had a meeting with B city base's people, Zhong Qiu was preoccupied with developing the cure, Yan Zheng spent all day looking for clues outside, Liang Ping was unwilling to leave the research institute. In the span of one day, everyone seemed to all become very busy.

No one has seen Xu Yi ever since Qiu Xiangyu was captured, his small squad quickly dispersed and scattered to the various corners of the base. The Wei family and Zhong family joined forces and began to do a secret sweeping of every corner of the base.

Ye Zhizhou who had nothing to do just took on all of the logistics work. He dragged Fang Yunqi to start preparing three meals and fruits after meals every day for everyone. It was at this moment that everyone discovered that he, unexpectedly, could cook well. The dishes he made were so good everyone wanted to eat their own tongues too. Ye Zhizhou had spent a few lives living in riches and had even spent one eating imperial meals, seeing them behaving like pigs as they ate, he issued a cold snort. Inexperienced bumpkins, he hasn't even learnt the imperial meals from his last life!

A black-faced Zhong Qiu looked at the meal on the table and at Lao Bo and the others who were enjoying the food, the look in his eyes shifted and whirlwinds formed around his body, "The equipment in lab three needs cleaning, you guys go clean it."

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The shoulders of Lao Bo and miss Bao Bao who was pointed out slumped down. Then they sped up their eating pace and dug into the meals. This type of heartless boss bullying his subordinates is what they experienced every day. In all of heaven and earth eating is still number one, whatever work it is can be discussed after they finished eating!

Zhong Qiu got even more riled up, he eyed the Liang Ping sitting to the side.

"I'm helping for free, you can't force me." Liang Ping quickly sliced meat into several chunks and handed it over to Ye Zhizhou, "Boss, your boyfriend is so fierce."

Ye Zhizhou understood what he meant immediately, he stuffed a bundle of bananas onto his hands. "This has the smallest amount in my space, eat it slowly or you will run out." He then gathered the meat and put it down next to Zhong Qiu, waving around a threat, "If you dare turn into a zombie I'll have you eat this."

Zhong Qiu's colour of eyes quickly changed because of the meat's smell until he finally turned normal with difficulty. But he still looked at the few people eating on the other side with a gloomy look. His hands stretched to take Ye Zhizhou by his waist, he took him to hide in the lounge.

The two stopped in front of the quarantine room, Ye Zhizhou picked one chunk of meat and sent it into his mouth, he asked casually, "How is his body's condition?"

"The second batch of vaccine can already suppress the virus in his body, but after the virus has been suppressed his body's condition started to get worse." Zhong Qiu turned a cold shoulder to the meat and perched his nose next to his ear, taking a deep breath.

This abnormal perverted move... Ye Zhizhou cursed in his mind. He gulped down his meal in two-three neat motions then tossed the steak plate back into his space. He tossed a chewing gum in his mouth as he continued to speak, "How's Qiu Xiangyu over there?"

"He's a bit better, only his ability got downgraded two levels and his vitality is as low as always." Zhong Qiu felt better now with the smell of meat gone. He turned to drop a kiss on the corner of Ye Zhizhou's lips and his hands started to misbehave.

He clearly can't get it up but still loves to tease others! Ye Zhizhou tugged his hands off in a practised motion then took out a slim piece of paper, waving it in front of him, "Something stronger than scent hiding objects, scent blocking. Do we start sticking them on now?" After discussions, everyone agreed it would be better the faster they caught Xu Yi, this harmful person. This scent blocking mark is a helpful item, capable of erasing the scent completely, that the system kindly provided.

Zhong Qiu swept a glance at that paper he was holding, not asking where he got these from. His head dipped to plant a kiss on his face, then he swiftly carried him outside. He pointed at the research institute's outer walls, "The elders decided the blockade would be the entire institute, is the paper enough?"

The whole building? Ye Zhizhou's eyebrows picked up, he nodded, "It's enough, enough to block the entire base." However, he's not clear of what the leaders here planned, these few days there were no movements on their part.

Two more days passed when the base leader finalised Zhong Qiu's plan on eliminating Xu Yi. That night, Wang Gang was released out of the research building as a bait. At two in the morning, Xu Yi who had been missing for a long time appeared.

Yan Zheng was hidden in the shadows, when he saw a figure of a man seemingly appear out of nowhere he tightened his grip on his sword, his ability started to seeped out, eager to strike. Wei Xu held his shoulder back and used his ability to neutralise the fire Yan Zheng was unconsciously letting out. Wei Xu made a gesture to him to let him keep his calm. Ye Zhizhou glanced at the two men in front of him and shifted back a bit while carefully mobilising the spiritual force on Wang Gang, starting to monitor the conversation between Wang Gang and Xu Yi.

Wang Gang who was in a very bad condition still felt unreal when he was sent out by the institute, only now that he met Xu Yi that he felt a sense of reality.

"Xiao Yi." He rushed to the increasingly delicate and good-looking young man with a face full of thirst, "Give me some of your spring's water, I don't know what those animals in there injected me wih. It made my body become like this, there's no strength in my limbs, help me, quickly."

Xu Yi's face looked worried and anxious, he quickly took out a glass of spring water and passed it to him while asking, "What animals? Brother Wang, what did you do these few days after you left? How did you turn out like this?"

Wang Gang was busy drinking the spring water, he took a slow breath and then talked resentfully. "It's those inhuman researchers! That day I went out to trade materials for you I happened to see that traitor Fang Yunqi, so I decided to teach him a lesson! Who'd have thought that Wei Xu and that sissy Liu Chen would suddenly come running with their two friends, not only did they took Fang Yunqi, they also tied me up and kept me in Wei Xu's house. The next morning I tried to escape when Wei Xu was gone, but I got captured again by a group of white coats. I was kept in a small room in their research institute, being injected with that medicine that made me a mess and became such a miserable sight!"

"Wei Xu and Liu Chen?" Xu Yi's brows knitted faintly, "They were the ones who caught you? What's that about in the research institute?" The information he got was a lot different from his own guess and he couldn't understand for a bit. He thought that Wang Gang was captured by that strange zombie like Qiu Xiangyu, and both were captured in order to lure him and obtain his spring. After all, when it comes to zombies, his spring emits a very alluring smell. It was because of this that he was careful to hide in the space, he was afraid to be tracked by the smell and captured.

"Don't talk about them anymore, anyway they're bad news! Once I recover, I will kill those bastards soon enough!" The more Wang Gang thought, the angrier he became. He crushed the glass in his hand, then, as if remembering something from his words, "Right, in that awful place I also saw Qiu Xiangyu! his condition doesn't look too good. Xiao Yi, is our team members targeted? Also... Wei Xu and Fang Yunqi, I think I saw them! Xiao Yi, it must be Liu Chen! That petty guy must've been resentful when we let him fall to the zombies, so he colluded with the research institute and also used his father's connections to deal with us!"

"You saw Qiu Xiangyu?!" Xu Yi just noticed this part, he was frightened and asked at once, "Then, did you see a very tall man who's a bit thin, he has phoenix eyes and thin lips, with a wind ability?"

"You mean Zhong Qiu?" Wang Gang's expression completely distorted at this name, his voice was full of hatred. "Wind-type ability, that's him for sure! He's the head of the research institute! He was the one who did experiments on me!"

Xu Yi took a step back without thinking, his whole countenance was incredulous. That strange zombie was actually the head of the vaccine research in B city base? A zombie, researching the vaccine to end zombies for humans? How laughable, there's still such a ridiculous thing in the world now! So that's why he had never been able to track the other down, he was holed up inside the third gate's research institute this entire time — that place that zombies hate the most!

And the people that were caught... Wei Xu, Fang Yunqi, Wang Gang, and Qiu Xiangyu, they've had all drank from his spring! That strange zombie had indeed taken notice of the specialness of his spring, he must be planning to slowly corner him and let him make a slip! No way, he can't continue like this! He needed to think of a way to get out of this situation as quickly as he can! The other side is too powerful and his side is too weak — if he had bad luck and was caught, with his non-offensive healing ability, it's completely the same as being fish on the other's cutting board!

"Xiao Yi, what's up with you?" Wang Gang was a bit confused with his ever-changing expression, he felt the current Xu Yi was very strange. Wang Gang couldn't help changing the topic, asking instead, "Ah right, where's our team members? Why haven't I seen them?"

Xu Yi recovered his senses, he regained his usual look and threw together some excuse to deceive him. A dark glint flash through Xu Yi's eyes. Him and that strange zombie were already locked in a fight to death, the other side's fiercely strong, all of his previous plans were now useless. He had to think of another way.

Ye Zhizhou took back the spiritual force carefully and patted Yan Zheng and Wei Xu on their shoulders, signalling them to withdraw. Once they left far enough from Xu Yi's and Wang Gang's range of perception, he gave an OK sign, "There's no problem. Wei Xu, you can get ready to make your move."

Wei Xu's tight expression slightly relaxed. He felt somewhat complicated, "Do we have to do that step? Xu Yi, he..."

Story translated by Chrysanthemum Garden.

"He's not at all like what you think he is, wake up." Yan Zheng made a long face as he mended his sword, he lightly felt the sword scabbard. "Can't be soft-hearted, also can't show weakness, otherwise you'll waste everyone's effort. That space of his can hide him, we only have this one chance to capture him."

Wei Xu's eyes dropped low and he nodded. He remained silent for the rest of the way.

The day after Wang Gang and Xu Yi rejoined they started to gather the members of their small squad scattered all over the place. Meanwhile, the base's atmosphere turned tense as rumours of the research institute doing research on humans they captured began to spread around the base.

Another day later, Wei Xu deliberately chose the busiest time after noon to step out of the third gate. He looked pallid, and as his gaze fell toward the institute, those eyes were filled with hatred. He walked to his home still with a disgruntled expression. That same night, Xu Yi sought out Wei Xu.

The equipment sent out a crisp beeping alarm. Zhong Qiu woke up from his light doze. He strode to the machine and opened it, taking out a dark blue formula from inside carefully. He sealed it properly and put it away, and finally thumbed through the data from the test.

Ye Zhizhou sat up and rubbed his eyes, still fuzzy from sleep as he asked, "What is it? The results are out?"

"Xiao Chen."

"Ah?"

"The apocalypse is coming to an end." Zhong Qiu slowly put down the data. He had a profound expression, "The vaccine is successfully developed, we can finally have our wedding night."

Ye Zhizhou's drowsiness disappeared in a blink of an eye. He first felt happy and surprised then whipped to embarrassment and anger, he rushed over to hit him, "You dirty-brained bastard! Is now the time to be talking about that!?"

Zhong Qiu hugged him in joy, his head lowered and he planted a kiss on his forehead, "Xiao Chen, everyone's hardships can finally end."

The fist he waved forward was lowered, pausing in the air before finally embracing Zhong Qiu's neck. He nestled his face on the other's neck, sticking close against the gradually chilling body. "En... when you get better I'll cook something for you." This man made himself into this sort of monster in order to develop the vaccine, now the dark days will finally end.

Inside the base, the wind of opposition to the research institute rose, leading it were the ones in charge of the base's security, the Wei family. The base residents repeatedly dealt blows the third gate in fury. They took a night to finally break through with a strike of an ability user.

Xu Yi followed behind Wei Xu through the third gate, speaking quickly, "Let's kill Zhong Qiu first then rescue Xiangyu, he had been locked up for so long, he might not last any longer!"

Hearing this, Wei Xu's steps paused, but he quickly concealed it and nodded back, "Don't worry, he will be saved." Just not by you.

Wang Gang, whose body had been reformed by the spring, brandished his large axe with a vicious expression on his face, "Son of a bᴉtch Zhong Qiu! Today, I, Wang Gang must cut him to pieces! Brother Wei! I misunderstood you before, I didn't expect you'd have the courage to do this. You also know that they were belittling you, and you respond by gathering people to strike back!! Once the Zhong family falls, won't this base be all under your Wei family? When that time comes, you can get us your brothers a small position to manage."

Wei Xu frowned in disgust and sped up his steps forward. Xu Yi pulled on Wang Gang, hinting to him to stop speaking nonsense. This Wei Xu was no longer the good squad leader who protected him wholeheartedly before, they are now only temporarily working together because they hated the same person. It's a critical moment right now, so it's better to not provoke the other man.

The research institute is located near the centre of the base and the guard is extremely tight. It took Wei Xu and Xu Yi's team a lot of effort to break through the several layers of protection and reach the centre.

They moved along the winding maze-like corridors for a long while, walking past room after room with unknown purposes. Xu Yi couldn't bear it anymore, "Brother Wei, where exactly Xiangyu is being kept? And that Zhong Qiu...didn't you say he would usually patrol around these parts, but why haven't we seen him from the start?"

Wei Xu halted, and tilted his head towards him, "Xiao Yi, do you want this apocalypse to end?"

"Of course I wish for its end, " Xu Yi looked at him bewilderedly but pondered and eased his expression, saying, "Brother Wei, I know you're worried that if Zhong Qiu is killed the vaccine's development will be affected, but this world has so many intelligent people. Is Zhong Qiu the only one capable of making the cure? Moreover, even if there's no cure, the spring I have can suppress the zombie virus in a similar fashion. Once we wrap up this matter, I'm willing to provide the water from my spring for free until the day the cure is made."

"Provide spring water for free...." Wei Xu murmured these, abruptly his head dipped and he let out a bitter laugh. He moved back and opened the room next to him. "Xu Yi, I really regret meeting you at that time."

After saying that, he ducked into the room and closed the door, locking it behind him.

[Probability of Wei Xu falling in love with the protagonist has fallen to 0%. Congratulations to the host for removing the third flag, may the host persist in his efforts.]

Ye Zhizhou glanced at the system's screen then at Zhong Qiu who was looking at the monitor. "We're taking him?"

Zhong Qiu looked back to him, he took out a few vaccine vials from the freezer box. He smiled at him, "Taking him. I'll go in myself."

In the corridor Xu Yi was stunned by Wei Xu's baffling actions, he ran up to the door and hit it angrily, "Brother Wei, what is this? Why are you shutting yourself in? Brother Wei!"

"Xiao Yi, step aside." Wang Gang pulled him away with a gloomy face, he lifted up his axe, chopping down the door in two, "We don't need to work with this coward! Wei Xu, come out if you're still a man! I will spare your life!"

A burst of strong winds suddenly rushed up from the depths of the corridor, making everyone unsteady on their feet.

Xu Yi's face changed abruptly, his head leaned to watch the corridor and he moved back a little, using Wang Gang's body to shield his own.

Wang Gang's face immediately scrunched up, he cursed out, "Zhong Qiu, you bastard. Show yourself! I will cut you to pieces today!"

"Bastard, are you talking about yourself?"

A cold voice unexpectedly rose behind them. Xu Yi turned back sharply only to meet Zhong Qiu's yellow eyes opposite of him.

"Wang Gang, saving you is something I should do, no need to thank me." With that, he stabbed his loaded syringe directly to Wang Gang's neck while his leg stretched out to kick Xu Yi away from his side.

Xu Yi was startled by him. He turned in an instant and hid behind the rest of the team and yelled out, "Zombie! There's actually a zombie inside the lab! Everyone, quickly kill him!"

Everyone was frightened, they quickly put Xu Yi behind them to protect him and went to attack Zhong Qiu.

Zhong Qiu took out a second syringe in a relaxed motion. He crossed over the attacking crowd and came face to face with Xu Yi, lips spread into a smile, "I finally caught you, virus storage."

Translator: Padam | Editor: Divetus

To new CG readers: when Mina took over, I had 1 and a half chapter left to the zombie arc. So both I and Mina have chapter 51-52 in our blogs, when we moved APDSH to CG my version of 51 was put up to close Zombie arc, but if you want to read the last half/my chapter 52 you can go to padamtl, and if you want to read Mina's ch 51 you can go to matchalations.