ATDIWR Chapter 52

Chapter 52 Second Update: Something Happened at the Orphanage!

Gu Jinsheng, whenever he had time to go home, would cook for Ji An. That night, he made four dishes and one soup again: Stir-fried preserved meat with green beans and potatoes, Dry-fried fresh mushrooms, Stir-fried mutated beef, Braised mutated chicken, and Mutated pork bone and lotus root soup.

Ji An felt a bit embarrassed, “You’re so busy, and when you finally get a chance to come home, you cook for me. I’ve never cooked for you, and so far, I’ve only treated you to one Western meal.”

Gu Jinsheng gazed deeply at Ji An, served him rice, and said with hidden meaning, “You don’t need to cook for me. All you need to do is allow me to cook for you for a lifetime.”

Ji An’s heart began to panic. Of course, he wouldn’t remain chaste for a scumbag like Chen Chen or stay single for life. It was just that he wasn’t ready to start a new relationship yet. Others might think he had only misspent a decade or so of feelings, but only he knew it was a lifetime, a whole life. When he was a ghost, he had experienced an entire lifetime through others.

Ji An felt that after experiencing such mental torment, it was already quite remarkable that he hadn’t developed resistance or aversion to love.

“Well, did Zhou Fanxiu tell you?” Ji An couldn’t respond directly and could only change the subject, saying, “He seems to want to take over the Orphanage and help out there from now on.”

This topic was a bit heavy. Gu Jinsheng remained silent for a moment before saying, “He is a person with great ambition and enterprising spirit. He shouldn’t waste the rest of his life like this. We can talk about this matter later.”

“Alright.” Ji An said, “After all, his leg was only recently broken. There’s no rush for him to step down so quickly.”

Gu Jinsheng didn’t say anything and started talking about tomorrow’s mission arrangements. “The exact location of that mental-type Zombie King has been pinpointed again, and the situation with the zombie horde has been mostly checked out. The morning after tomorrow, I’ll lead a team to clear them out. Are you going?”

“I want to go!” Ji An was very interested in that mental-type Zombie King. This was the first mental-type Zombie King he had encountered in his two lifetimes since The Apocalypse.

After he died in his previous life, Ji An didn’t know if a mental-type Zombie King had appeared.

Because he could only stay in Chen Chen and Tang Tang’s bedroom, all sources of information were limited to these two people.

Unfortunately, Tang Tang was not a career-minded person; she only liked men. What Chen Chen discussed with her every night was either romance or jealousy and gossip: who Tang Tang was close to today, who was pursuing her, or which powerful Power User she was flirting with. In short, no matter which topic it started with, the final outcome was always the two of them ending up in bed.

Ji An was bored listening, so he simply blocked them out later and focused on conducting research in his mind. Naturally, he didn’t know if a mental-type Zombie King had appeared around this time in his previous life.

“Alright.” Actually, Gu Jinsheng had already reserved a spot for Ji An. He knew that with Ji An’s personality, he would go no matter what.

The next day, Ji An went to the laboratory as usual for a day of experiments. He had a slight clue, but it was precisely this slight clue that plunged Ji An into an even deeper predicament.

He was now like a traveler walking in the desert. Whenever he saw a lake appear ahead, he would desperately rush towards it, struggling with all his might to reach the place, only to find that it was nothing more than another mirage.

This was the first time he had encountered such a dilemma since he started doing research.

Wu Youyang knew that Ji An was working on a new project and seemed to have encountered difficulties. He sincerely comforted him, “Boss Ji, to be honest, it’s normal for people like us doing research to be in a predicament like yours now, unable to find a breakthrough.

The way you were before, where you could achieve whatever you wanted immediately, that was what was abnormal.”

“Is that so?” Ji An replied casually, but Ji An knew he was different. He had an extra lifetime compared to others. In his previous life, he was idle, almost to the point where he didn’t even care about Chen Chen and Tang Tang in his later life, and spent every day confined within his mental domain, performing various deductions and calculations.

“Of course.” Wu Youyang shrugged, “Boss Ji, to be honest, this cell and tissue regeneration experiment you’re working on is quite anti-human. If you could just say you wanted to do it and immediately succeed like before, I might really think you weren’t human.”

Actually, Wu Youyang thought that Ji An might not be able to accomplish this experiment. Before The Apocalypse, there were no less than tens of thousands of projects globally related to cell and tissue regeneration experiments, and yet, even with The Apocalypse upon them, no progress had been made.

If it were someone else undertaking this experiment and treating it as the primary project that needed immediate resolution, Wu Youyang would definitely advise them to switch projects, or to treat this one as a long-term secondary project.

But the one undertaking this primary project was a god-level expert who had managed to create two completely impossible items: spatial storage devices and nutrient solutions. Wu Youyang didn’t dare offer random advice.

What if the expert could have originally succeeded, but gave up after listening to his advice? Wouldn’t he then become a sinner for all eternity in human history?

Ji An was a deity, a different species from him!

“Are you cursing me?” Ji An knew Wu Youyang was joking with him, so he wasn’t angry. Instead, he joked back.

“No,” Wu Youyang said, “You are a god!”

“Hahaha…” Ji An burst out laughing.

Wu Youyang also said with a grin, “Boss Ji, if you are a god, you must remember that I am your first believer. This position is equivalent to the senior disciple in the cultivation world; my status is different from others.”

“Don’t worry,” Ji An said with a smile, “Didn’t I entrust all the interview rights for our laboratory to you?”

Ji An originally wanted to conduct the interviews himself. In some ways, these would be the first batch of researchers to join his laboratory, and they needed to be carefully vetted.

But he genuinely didn’t have time. Before this, there were issues with M Country, then Power User crystal cores, and recently a mental-type Zombie King appeared and even caused Zhou Fanxiu’s leg to break. On top of that, he started the cell and tissue regeneration experiment.

And this experiment was truly like grasping for the moon in the water. He was like the monkey reaching for the moon from the treetop, no matter how he tried, he couldn’t grasp the bright moon that was so close.

Wu Youyang’s help to Ji An was limited. In fact, anyone’s help to Ji An in this experiment was limited.

At most, they could help Ji An observe and record some data about cell regeneration and growth concerning the tail growing back after a gecko or lizard broke its tail to survive.

But it was precisely these simple data points that Ji An didn’t dare hand over to Wu Youyang and others to observe and record for him.

It wasn’t that he didn’t trust them or was afraid they wouldn’t do a good job. Wu Youyang and the others were seasoned researchers with decades of experimental experience; simple observation and recording of experimental data would certainly not be a problem.

Ji An was worried that they might miss some things that didn’t seem so important to them, and often, the success of some scientific research projects doesn’t lie in the complex difficulties but in those simple small points.

Even the tallest building is built layer by layer. No matter how tall it is, its main structure is just that.

Humans also look very miraculous, but ultimately, they are composed of cells.

As long as one cell can be thoroughly studied, all the mysteries of the human body can be unraveled.

So the problem Ji An was facing now was not to decipher those seemingly difficult human structures, but to study the cell, which seemed simplest but was actually the most complex.

There were truly no ideas in his mind, so Ji An stopped working. He wouldn’t be able to finish anyway, and he had a mission outside the Base tomorrow. He might as well drive over to the Orphanage to take a look.

Once he obtained the mental-type zombie crystal core, he probably wouldn’t have time to see the children. Researching both experiments simultaneously, he wouldn’t know when he would leave the laboratory again.

On the way, Ji An, as usual, bought things worth one thousand credit points for the children before going to the Orphanage.

The Orphanage gate was closed as usual. This was to prevent the children from running out on their own, and it had always been this way. Ji An didn’t mind and continued to knock. But after waiting for a long time, no one opened the door, so Ji An knew there was probably no one inside the Orphanage.

This wasn’t a big deal. The Orphanage was full of small children, and they couldn’t be kept in the courtyard studying all day. It was likely that seeing Zhou Fanxiu had come, Yuan Ming’an took them out for a field trip and also some playtime.

With such a large group of children from the Orphanage going out, it was impossible that no one noticed. Ji An decided to find a resident living nearby to ask.

Just then, he turned back and saw an old lady next door secretly peeking at him through the window.

“Hello, Grandma…” Ji An was just about to ask her if she had seen where the people from the Orphanage had gone when the old lady, hearing Ji An speak to her, abruptly slammed the window shut and pulled the curtains closed.

Ji An couldn’t go up and talk to her again, so he could only turn to ask someone else.

Fortunately, a young woman next door didn’t hide. Instead, she looked at Ji An curiously.

“Hello, ma’am.” The woman in front of him looked quite a bit older than Ji An, but appearances were most unreliable in The Apocalypse. Ji An didn’t want to call her old and potentially upset someone who might help him, so he chose a form of address that wouldn’t be wrong no matter what.

“Excuse me, have you seen where the children from this Orphanage went?” Ji An asked.

The woman nodded, looking a bit reserved. She pointed in a direction with her finger, “There seems to be a park from before The Apocalypse over there. I heard the children say they were going for a field trip, so they should be there.”

“Okay, I see. Thank you.” Ji An didn’t sense any Power User fluctuations from the woman, so he took out a standard adult nutrient solution from his spatial storage and placed it on the windowsill. “This is a thank you gift. Thank you for telling me.”

When Ji An put it down, the woman didn’t take it, but as soon as Ji An turned around, the woman immediately grabbed the nutrient solution, her movements as quick as lightning.

Although the old lady next door had closed her window and drawn the curtains, she was actually hiding behind the curtains, peering through a gap, secretly observing Ji An.

So everything that happened on Ji An’s side, she saw with her eyes and heard with her ears.

Seeing that there was a benefit to be gained, the old lady no longer hid. She quickly climbed out from the back window, her movements so fast they didn’t seem like someone her age; her legs and feet were very nimble.

“Hey, hey, hey!” The old lady didn’t know Ji An’s name, so she just yelled “Hey, hey, hey!” Ji An turned back and asked, “Is there something you need?”

The old lady immediately said, “Don’t you want to know where those motherless little beggars went? I’ll tell you, they went to the park over there, led by an old lady and a disabled person with a broken leg.”

After speaking, the old lady looked at Ji An with expectant eyes.

Ji An knew what the old lady meant. She was asking for a favor in exchange for something. Ji An wasn’t short on one or two nutrient solutions; he was the manufacturer of this stuff and had plenty. But he wouldn’t give it to the old lady. He didn’t like people with her kind of personality, which was evident from his own way of handling things.

He didn’t force others to help people, but it was just a small effort, and helping out wasn’t a big deal. If someone didn’t want to help, that was fine too, no one forced them to. But then they shouldn’t be jealous of the rewards others received for doing good deeds.

In fact, when Ji An first gave the nutrient solution to the woman, it wasn’t meant to show the old lady. It was just a habit he had developed since childhood; he didn’t like owing favors to others, even if it was just a favor of providing information.

Unexpectedly, it provoked the old lady, which could be considered a pleasant surprise.

Ji An said, “I already know. Someone else told me. But thank you anyway.”

The old lady asked in disbelief, “Is that all?”

“I’ve already said thank you to you,” Ji An wasn’t embarrassed at all and said as a matter of course, “Besides, you didn’t actually help me. Thanking you is just out of my personal politeness.”

The old lady pouted, “You’re really stingy!”

Ji An nodded, “Thank you for the compliment.”

These words made the old lady so angry she nearly fell over. Ji An ignored her and walked away in a good mood.

‘Bang bang bang’, Ji An hadn’t walked far when he heard the sound of the old lady heavily pounding on the window. “Hand over the nutrient solution, quick, give it to me!” the old lady threatened fiercely.

The young woman inside the window didn’t open it or speak, but the old lady wouldn’t give up and continued to pound heavily on the window.

Ji An stopped and looked back, his eyes meeting the old lady’s fierce gaze. The old lady wasn’t ashamed; instead, she glared at Ji An provocatively and pounded the window with even greater force, even cursing obscenely, “You little slut, hand over the stuff quickly. All day long you just know how to seduce men, and those men are just asking for it, just…”

Ji An’s face was cold. He wasn’t someone who liked to bully others using his ability, but this time, he raised his hand and a mental force shot out from his finger, striking the old lady’s half-open windowpane. With a crisp ‘crack’, the window glass shattered, leaving fragments scattered on the ground.

Ji An was very skilled; even though he completely shattered the window glass, he didn’t injure the old lady in the slightest.

But even so, the old lady was so scared she fell on her bottom onto the ground. Gone was her previous fierce and malicious demeanor; she collapsed into a heap like soft mud, trembling and saying, “You can’t kill me. You’re not allowed to use your ability in The Base. You, you violated the Base rules. The Base will expel you.”

“Is that so?” Ji An smiled wickedly and terrifyingly, “Don’t you know that the Orphanage was established by The Base? And I am internal personnel of The Base. As you know, internal personnel have some privileges.”

These words were naturally meant to scare her. Gu Jinsheng’s management was very strict, and he himself didn’t have many privileges.

The old lady didn’t know that. She was so scared that her whole body trembled, then her eyes rolled back, and she fainted.

With his mental-type ability, Ji An might not know other things, but he could tell whether the old lady was truly or falsely fainted. He ignored her and turned to see the young woman standing by the window, looking at him with adoring eyes. Ji An nodded politely to the young woman and strode away.

Almost as soon as Ji An turned the corner, the old lady immediately jumped up from the ground. The young woman was so frightened she immediately ran away from the window. The old lady saw this, but this time she didn’t dare to curse again, fearing that Ji An hadn’t gone far and would come back to settle accounts if he heard her.

The old lady quickly climbed back in through the back window again. As soon as she got in, she quickly closed the window, as if there were some demons or ghosts behind her. Even so, she didn’t forget to touch the shattered window glass with a pained heart.

To make getting around easier and not be a burden, Zhou Fanxiu specifically used a wheelchair today, and indeed, it was much faster.

The group quickly arrived at the park. This park no longer had the lush trees, green lawns, and flowing streams from before The Apocalypse; there were only artificial rockeries, broken bridges, and withered flowers and willows that had fallen into disrepair over the years.

However, this was already a great scenic spot for the children who had been wandering for years. In the past, even if the children passed by here on an empty stomach, they would hurry along, having no leisure to play. Today, they could finally play to their heart’s content.

The art teacher said, “You can choose a location or a scene according to your preference, a flower or a blade of grass is fine, and then draw it. I will check them when we gather later.”

“Understood, Teacher,” Little Rose led the children in answering loudly.

Yuan Ming’an added, “Don’t go too far from the three of us. Play within this park. At least pair up, and shout immediately if you encounter anything.”

“Okay,” the children replied, Little Stone’s voice being the loudest.

“Remember, don’t leave my sight or Teacher Zhou’s sight,” Yuan Ming’an emphasized again, “You can disperse now! Gather immediately when you hear the whistle!”

Yuan Ming’an and Zhou Fanxiu sat on the lawn with the widest view. From there, they could see almost the entire park.

Actually, this park was far more desolate than it is now just the day before yesterday. The weeds that hadn’t been tended to for a long time were half a person’s height.

It was because the art teacher planned to take the children out for a field trip that Zhou Fanxiu woke up early that morning and specifically came to tidy it up.

Zhou Fanxiu never dreamed that his wood-type ability would one day be used for cleaning, but the effect was quite good. After one morning, although the park wasn’t completely renovated as if rebuilt, it at least wasn’t like a large wilderness. Sitting on the lawn, they could clearly see where the children were in the small park.

“Commander Zhou, will you be taking over the Orphanage side in the future?” Yuan Ming’an chatted with Zhou Fanxiu while watching the children.

Zhou Fanxiu smiled and said, “Sister Yuan, you can call me Zhou Fanxiu or Little Zhou from now on. Don’t call me Commander anymore. We’ll likely be colleagues in the future, and my work focus will gradually shift to this side.”

Yuan Ming’an didn’t ask about Zhou Fanxiu’s leg. Zhou Fanxiu’s status was significant, and his connections and influence were incomparable to hers. If there was even a sliver of hope, it would have been treated a long time ago.

“Little Rose! Mommy Yuan, help! Someone snatched Little Rose! Uuuuu…” Little Stone’s voice suddenly rang out, filled with panic and desperation, but after just one shout, only muffled sobbing remained.

Zhou Fanxiu and Yuan Ming’an looked up and saw a dozen adult men grabbing the children from the Orphanage. Little Stone, Little Rose, and another dozen or so children were each being held by an adult man with their mouths covered.

Seeing that their whereabouts were exposed, they immediately launched an ability attack towards Yuan Ming’an and Zhou Fanxiu first, and then turned around and ran.

More than a dozen abilities struck simultaneously. From the start, they used killing moves aimed directly at taking lives, fierce and ruthless.

In the blink of an eye, they reached Zhou Fanxiu and Yuan Ming’an. Zhou Fanxiu unleashed several abilities in succession, breaking several of the opponent’s attacks.

Hastily, he unleashed another move, ‘Dense Forest’. The weeds and wild trees around the few adult men immediately grew rapidly and twisted wildly, instantly forming a wall of grass blocking their escape path. At the same time, they coiled around the men’s ankles, pulling them down.

“Ah!” Little Stone seized the opportunity to bite down hard on the web of the hand of the man grabbing him, making the man cry out in pain and instinctively release Little Stone’s hand.

Little Stone escaped and immediately ran towards Little Rose.

At this moment, Yuan Ming’an also let out a scream. It turned out that her level was not as high as the opponent’s. When the abilities hit her, they completely scattered Yuan Ming’an’s counterattack and still hit her chest. Yuan Ming’an screamed and spat out a large mouthful of blood.

And at this time, two more abilities attacking her arrived one after another. If these three abilities were to hit Yuan Ming’an again, it was likely that Yuan Ming’an would die on the spot. Even if Fang Rurong was present, she wouldn’t be able to save her.

Zhou Fanxiu could only give up attacking the few adult men and turn to save Yuan Ming’an. Just as he blocked the abilities attacking Yuan Ming’an, the art teacher over there also shouted for help, having also been attacked. Zhou Fanxiu immediately saved them and erected a wooden cage around Yuan Ming’an and the art teacher, trapping them inside for protection.

It was in this blink of an eye that Zhou Fanxiu loosened his ability attacks on the few adult men, allowing them to seize the opportunity and escape.

“Mommy Yuan, they escaped!” Little Stone kicked and hit the man holding Little Rose, but his strength was too small. The man just swung out an ability fiercely, knocking Little Stone rolling repeatedly on the ground, and he even spat out blood.

Yuan Ming’an was trapped inside the four-sided wall formed by Zhou Fanxiu’s ability. It was very safe, but she also couldn’t see what was happening outside.

“Zhou Fanxiu, Zhou Fanxiu, retract your ability!” Hearing Little Stone’s cry, Yuan Ming’an was burning with anxiety. She scrambled up, not bothering to wipe the blood from the corner of her mouth, and pounded the wall while shouting loudly.

Yuan Ming’an shouted many times, but Zhou Fanxiu didn’t answer. She couldn’t see the situation outside and was extremely anxious, so she desperately attacked a spot on the wooden wall.

The wall made of wood looked very fragile, but once you actually attacked it, you would realize just how indestructible it was.

Yuan Ming’an attacked the same spot over and over, not knowing how long she attacked, but finally managed to create a small hole.

Yuan Ming’an quickly put her mouth to the small hole and shouted, “Zhou Fanxiu, quickly retract your ability and let me out!”

This time, Zhou Fanxiu seemed to hear her and quickly retracted his ability. Yuan Ming’an, clutching her chest, scrambled and stumbled out. She saw Little Stone, who had been knocked tumbling several times, getting up with his bloody mouth covered, and running in the direction those people had left.

Yuan Ming’an roared, “Little Stone, come back quickly!”

Little Stone heard her. He turned and glanced at Yuan Ming’an but didn’t stop, continuing to chase after them.

Yuan Ming’an chased forward while shouting loudly. Zhou Fanxiu shouted, “Yuan Ming’an, come back! I’ll go after them! You can’t beat them!”

Zhou Fanxiu roared, anxiously propelling his wheelchair. He was not yet skilled at using the wheelchair, and the lawn was uneven. After turning a couple of times, he and the wheelchair fell directly to the ground.

Yuan Ming’an immediately said, “The children also need protection here. Your ability level is higher. You stay and protect the children in case they turn back and launch a sneak attack. I’ll go after them!”

Zhou Fanxiu, who was lying sprawled on the ground and couldn’t get up, could only weakly pound the ground furiously, hating his own incompetence!

But Zhou Fanxiu didn’t have time to think about this much. In his awkward prone position, he immediately took out his phone and called the command center for help.

The battle happened suddenly. Zhou Fanxiu had been fighting and only now finally had time to make a distress call. As for the art teacher, she was just an ordinary person. In The Apocalypse, it was difficult for ordinary people to survive, and they simply didn’t have things like mobile phones.

“Teacher Zhou, let me help you up.” The art teacher ran over, helped move the wheelchair off Zhou Fanxiu, and supported him to get back into the wheelchair.

Only then did the art teacher have time to blow the whistle. The whistle was blown quickly and urgently, and while blowing, she shouted loudly, “Children, gather here with Teacher Zhou, hurry! Immediately! Right now!”

Ji An had just reached the entrance when he heard the urgent whistle and the art teacher’s panicked shouts. He immediately realized something had happened. He sprinted into the park and saw the children, one by one, running in panic like startled deer towards Zhou Fanxiu and the new art teacher.

A few other children seemed to be scared stiff, hiding in the corner, motionless.

Ji An had already run close and immediately asked, “Zhou Fanxiu, what happened?”

Zhou Fanxiu’s eyes, which were filled with frustration over his incompetence, immediately brightened when he saw Ji An. He grabbed Ji An’s arm and said, “Quickly go save Yuan Ming’an! There are Power User traffickers who have taken Little Rose and the others! Yuan Ming’an went after them, but she’s no match for those Power Users at all! Go quickly and save them!”

Zhou Fanxiu was never a weak person waiting to be rescued; he was always the strong person that those in distress waited for. At this moment, the helplessness in his heart reached its peak, and he felt utterly useless.

However, he didn’t dwell in his own sorrow but explained the situation immediately.

“I’ll go after them!” Ji An was about to chase in the direction Zhou Fanxiu pointed, but just as he was about to run, he found that Zhou Fanxiu grabbed him again.

“What’s wrong?” Ji An was anxious. Every minute of waiting meant an extra minute of danger for Yuan Ming’an and the children.

Zhou Fanxiu said, “No, you can’t go. We don’t know how many people are in their main camp, or if there are even more powerful Power Users. If something happens to you when you go over there, I will become a sinner for all eternity in the entire Xia Country!

Boss will kill me!”

These weren’t exaggerated words, nor was it Gu Jinsheng perverting the law for personal gain; it was the value of Ji An himself!

Spatial storage devices, nutrient solutions – in less than a year since arriving at The Base, he had created two entirely new things that could be said to have broken through dimensional barriers. There was still a long future ahead, and there was no telling what even more world-shaking research Ji An might come up with!

The value of Ji An as a person already far surpassed anything else; it was simply not comparable to a few children plus Yuan Ming’an.

Saying this might make many people uncomfortable and feel that all human lives are equal. Human lives are equal, but Ji An’s existence could save the lives of tens of thousands, or even hundreds of millions, of people. This wasn’t comparing Ji An’s single life to the lives of Yuan Ming’an plus a few children; it was comparing the lives of hundreds of millions of people to the lives of Yuan Ming’an plus a few children on a scale.

Which was heavier, which was lighter, was clear at a glance.

Zhou Fanxiu continued, “I’ve already called for reinforcements, and they are on their way.”

“No, waiting for reinforcements will take too long. Maybe the clues that could have been found will be destroyed by passersby.”

Ji An firmly pushed away Zhou Fanxiu’s hand. “I’ve never been a flower in a greenhouse. Before I came to Jing Shi Base, I survived by fighting to acquire supplies. Don’t forget, even the laboratory was exchanged with my own combat supplies!”

“But…” Zhou Fanxiu hesitated.

“No buts. If I don’t go save them today, and anything happens to any of them, my conscience will be troubled, and I’ll be plagued by inner demons for the rest of my life. If I can’t produce another research result, that’s what would truly ruin me!”

As Ji An spoke these words, his eyes were brighter and more dazzling than the midday sun. At this moment, the sunlight seemed to cloak him in an armor of light; he was a deity descended from the heavens. Beautiful beyond gender, handsome with a sharp edge!

Where the sword pointed, it would level the four seas!

Zhou Fanxiu’s hand unconsciously released him. At this moment, there seemed to be a magic about Ji An that made people unconsciously believe in him and surrender to him!