ATDIWR Chapter 5

Since Chen Chen couldn’t convince Ji An, he turned around and went to find Tang Tang.

Tang Tang had a cousin living at her place. When Chen Chen went in, the two were eating.

Tang Tang’s lunch included chicken, duck, fish, and vegetables. The staple food was a mix of white rice and black rice. Even before The Apocalypse, this meal would be quite luxurious for one person.

Across from her, Tang Ning was eating moldy bread, her eyes fixed on Tang Tang’s lavish meal of fish and meat, swallowing constantly.

“Chen Chen, why did you come?” Tang Tang stood up in surprise, pushing aside her luxurious dinner.

Chen Chen subtly glanced at Tang Ning. “Tang, I need to talk to you privately.”

Outside, Tang Tang always maintained the image of a simple and harmless little white flower, speaking softly and amicably with everyone. But now, alone with Chen Chen, she dropped the act. Lifting her head, she pointed at the leftovers with her chin, speaking in a condescending tone like a master bestowing a favor on a servant: “Here, these leftovers are for you. Take them outside to eat, go far away, and don’t you dare eavesdrop on our conversation.”

“Yes.” Tang Ning responded softly, her eyes fixed on the leftovers on the table, practically pouncing on them.

Tang Ning carried the leftovers out of the house. As soon as she was outside, she began to devour them ravenously, looking like a starving ghost who hadn’t eaten for eight hundred years. For some reason, although it wasn’t raining, drops of water fell into the bowl. Tang Ning touched her face and realized it was already covered in tears.

Seeing all this through the window from inside the house, a hint of smugness flashed in Tang Tang’s eyes. Her cousin, she used to be quite something. Before The Apocalypse arrived, her family was very wealthy, and her uncle and aunt had good jobs, unlike her own poor family. This cousin used to flaunt her superiority in front of her constantly, always trying to get the upper hand. But now, wasn’t she suppressed to the point of being unable to breathe, like a dog who could only get her leftovers by wagging its tail and begging? It just goes to show, until the moment you close your eyes for good, nobody knows what anyone will become! Nobody should look down on anyone!

“Tang.” Chen Chen called Tang Tang back to attention, speaking with unprecedented seriousness. “Tell me the truth, what is going on with that necklace?”

“Wh-what do you mean, what’s going on? I’ve just worn it for a long time, I’m attached to it, and I can’t bear to give it back to him, that’s all.” Tang Tang’s eyes darted around nervously, looking guilty.

“Tang Tang!” Chen Chen said heavily. “At this point, are you still refusing to tell me the truth!”

Tang Tang’s eyes instantly turned red. “Chen Chen, this is the first time you’ve called me by my full name. Is it because of that person?” As she spoke, Tang Tang’s tears fell, and she began to cry with wronged sobs.

Chen Chen’s heart instantly softened. Rubbing his temples, he looked helpless and said, “Tang, at this time, you must tell me the truth. Otherwise, I don’t know how to protect you. Don’t look at Ah An as someone who usually doesn’t care about anything, as if nothing matters, but in reality, his personality is the most stubborn. Once he makes a decision, even I can’t change it. If he asks you for the necklace and you don’t give it back, he has ten thousand ways to take it back. His strength, you’ve been in a team with him for so many years, you should know. It’s terrifyingly not like an ordinary person. Even if I personally attacked, I wouldn’t dare say I’m confident I could beat him.”

Chen Chen looked at Tang Tang, his eyes dark and deep. When he focused intently on someone, they always held a hint of deep affection. It made Tang Tang’s chest pound like a rabbit was trapped inside, her face blushing as if it were on fire.

“You have to tell me the truth, that’s the only way I’ll know how to protect you!”

“I, I am telling the truth.” Tang Tang lowered her eyelids, avoiding Chen Chen’s eyes that made her face blush and heart pound.

“Forget it.” Chen Chen sighed deeply. “Let’s leave it at this for today. Tang Tang, I’ll give you three days to think about it. After three days, give me an answer, or I won’t get involved anymore. You should know Ah An’s personality; he will definitely find an opportunity to take the necklace back again. I’ll help you keep him steady for these three days.”

Tang Tang scraped her toe back and forth on the ground, lowering her head to look at her shoetips, staying silent.

“I’m leaving.” Chen Chen could only leave in the end.

Tang Tang watched his departing back, her expression complex. A fleeting flicker of hesitation appeared in her eyes, but it was quickly replaced by determination.

Just then, Tang Ning entered the room. Tang Tang’s frustration finally found an outlet, and she yelled at Tang Ning, “Eat, eat, eat, all you know is eating, are you a pig? Even pigs are worth more than you are. Right now, one pig is worth ten Tier 1 Crystal Cores. And you? A useless person who hasn’t even awakened an ability, one Crystal Core is too much for you! You’re just a disgusting bug!”

Tang Ning didn’t say a word. Her clothes looked like they hadn’t been washed in ages, sloppy and dirty, her hair so greasy it could be deep-fried into twisted dough. She lowered her head, her long hair covering her face, making her expression unclear. From inside out, her whole being exuded the common air of dejection seen among ordinary people in The Base.

“Seeing you is bad luck. What are you standing there for like an idiot? Go and wash the dishes for me quickly! Also, the clothes I wore today, wash them too.” Having finished her rant, Tang Tang felt relieved and turned to go back to her room.

Tang Ning took the clothes Tang Tang had just changed out of to wash. Looking at the clear water in the bucket, Tang Ning scooped it up with her hand and drank several large gulps greedily, only then feeling the burning thirst in her lungs subside slightly. For ordinary people, wanting a sip of water was harder than ascending to heaven. Even Power Users needed to trade with Water-type Power Users to get water. But what about Tang Tang? She had plenty of water. Even in The Apocalypse where water sources were polluted and only water provided by Water-type Power Users could be consumed, not only did she drink water freely every day, she was even luxurious enough to use it to wash clothes she only wore for one day each time.

Tang Ning scooped up a bottle of clean water and hid it, then proceeded to wash the clothes with numb, mechanical movements.

The nights in The Apocalypse, perhaps due to the reduction in light sources, were darker than before The Apocalypse. Without illumination, you could barely see your own hand.

A nimble figure moved quickly in the darkness, stopping in front of a small two-bedroom house. Somehow, the person quickly used a thin wire to pry open a window and climbed inside. This figure was Ji An. The window he jumped into was Tang Tang’s bedroom window.

Ji An came in, looked back at the window glass, and sighed at how spoiled Chen Chen kept Tang Tang. In The Apocalypse, factories had stopped production. Glass, being neither edible nor a necessity, had long ceased to be manufactured. Finding a suitable piece of glass for a window was incredibly difficult, yet Tang Tang’s house still had glass windows. Don’t tell him Tang Tang earned it herself; he knew best how capable Tang Tang really was. Her ability was fake, what else could be real? She was just a parasitic plant, only able to survive by clinging to others.

Ji An quietly walked to Tang Tang’s bed and found her breathing steadily, sleeping soundly. With this level of vigilance, how could she possibly go on missions without protection? She would have died eight hundred times over already. It was clear Tang Tang was the most useless in the team, yet everyone thought it was him, and Tang Tang even got more mission rewards.

Ji An extended his hands and squeezed Tang Tang’s neck. The sleeping person remained unaware. Only as Ji An’s hands tightened, a look of pain gradually appeared on Tang Tang’s face. But even so, this woman still didn’t wake up.

Suddenly Ji An released his grip, and a wicked smile bloomed on his face. He changed his mind; he wasn’t going to kill her. Death was often much, much easier than living. He wanted to see if Tang Tang, without her ability, could still win Chen Chen’s heart again as he saw when he was a ghost? Could the two of them still be as happy and loving together for a lifetime as they were in his past life? Sometimes death wasn’t the torment; living was more painful. And what could be more satisfying than watching two former lovers who became enemies torment each other with hatred!

Ji An reached out and roughly yanked the necklace from Tang Tang’s neck. This time, Tang Tang was finally startled awake. In the darkness, she couldn’t see anything clearly, only a blurry figure standing by the bed.

“Ah…” Tang Tang’s scream was cut short as Ji An covered her mouth. He roughly pulled her off the bed and dragged her to the window. In the hazy moonlight, Tang Tang could barely make out the familiar pair of eyes. It was Ji An!

Tang Tang’s eyes widened. She suddenly began to struggle violently, making muffled sounds from her mouth.

“Quiet!” Ji An watched Tang Tang with cold eyes. His mental energy transformed into strands of silk, probing deep into Tang Tang’s brain, controlling her mind.

Tang Tang gradually stopped struggling, her expression becoming blank. Controlling her was much easier than controlling Chen Chen. Just the little mental energy he had recovered in the afternoon was enough. After all, Tang Tang was just an ordinary person who hadn’t awakened an ability. If it were even a Tier 1 Power User, the little mental energy Ji An had just recovered wouldn’t be enough to control them.

“From now on, you will answer whatever I ask. Understand?” Ji An said.

“Understood.” Tang Tang’s eyes were vacant, her pupils unfocused, like a puppet.

“First question, does Chen Chen know the secret of the necklace?” Ji An asked.

“He should know.” Tang Tang answered slowly, her tone slightly drawn out. “He came to ask me today if the necklace was unusual, and he promised to protect it from being taken. However, I didn’t tell him the secret of the necklace.”

Listening to Tang Tang’s answer, Ji An really didn’t understand what Chen Chen was thinking. They were lovers, surely closer than Tang Tang, an outsider. How could he give a treasure like the necklace to an outsider instead of his own person? Their relationship… what was the difference compared to the one he had with Chen Chen!

“Second question, did you know about Ji An’s abnormality?” This was a question Ji An had wanted to ask when he was a ghost. Had they discovered his ability early on? If she didn’t know and treated him as an ordinary person, harming him might be understandable, but how could they dig out the Power User Crystal Core from his brain the moment he died?

“Yes.” Tang Tang nodded obediently, answering every question. “How could we not notice how obvious that scoundrel Ji An was? What ordinary person can single-handedly hunt and kill a Tier 3 Zombie?”

“What secret do you think he was hiding?” Ji An pressed.

“He is a monster.” Tang Tang was currently under mental control, speaking without any embellishment, expressing her truest thoughts from the bottom of her heart, saying exactly what she thought. “He is a terrifying monster. The ability he awakened turned out to be a Mental-type ability. He can mentally control others, make them listen to him and become his puppets! Such an ability is simply not something a human should have. He must be a devil crawled out of hell, purely to control the human world.”

Ji An guessed Tang Tang might know something, but he never expected her to know it so clearly, clearer than he knew himself back then.

“Third question, does Chen Chen know?”

“Chen Chen knows. Chen Chen is also very scared, but he can’t help it. Even knowing Ji An is a monster, he can’t bring himself to kill him. After all, they were classmates since high school, fell in love in college, and shared life and death for seven years in The Apocalypse. Chen Chen’s feelings for him are very deep, and he simply can’t bring himself to deliver the fatal blow. Chen Chen even said he didn’t know if his love for Ji An was from his true heart or if he was being mentally controlled by Ji An.”

Speaking of this, Tang Tang’s emotions suddenly became agitated, and she nearly broke free from Ji An’s mental control. Ji An had to strengthen his mental control to regain control of Tang Tang.

“Chen Chen must have been mentally controlled by that monster, otherwise how could Chen Chen like that monster! The person Chen Chen truly likes should be me. I am the one who is most worthy of Chen Chen. I have both Space-type and Healing-type dual abilities. I am the most amazing person!”