ATDIWR Chapter 68

Chapter 68: Targeting the Mental-type Zombie King Again, After Losing His Ability, The…

“Chief Commander Gu, why have you come? Are you looking for Boss Ji?” Wu Youyang was startled when he saw Gu Jinsheng, then realized Gu Jinsheng must be here for Ji An.

Yin Fang also stood up from the sofa and greeted Gu Jinsheng, “Chief Commander Gu.”

Although Ji An had told Yin Fang and Yu Xi that they could rest in the lounge while he was in the laboratory, the two still maintained a rotating guard system.

No matter the time, one person would stay outside the laboratory, watching the door, ensuring not even a mosquito could fly in.

Yin Fang stood up to go to the lounge to call Yu Xi, but Gu Jinsheng stopped him, “No need, I just came to see Little An. I haven’t seen Little An at home these past few times I’ve been back, I was a bit worried. Has he been staying here this whole time?”

“Yes.” Wu Youyang looked a little anxious at this, “Chief Commander Gu, you know Boss Ji’s habits, he never comes out once he enters the laboratory unless he makes progress.”

Gu Jinsheng asked, “Little An has been inside for two months and ten days, hasn’t he come out even once during this time? Haven’t you seen his face even once?”

“Yes, Boss Ji hasn’t come out even once since entering the laboratory.” Wu Youyang was also worried, “Chief Commander Gu, to be honest, if it were before, I wouldn’t be worried about Boss Ji.

Boss Ji’s experimental habits are like this; he absolutely won’t leave the laboratory without progress.”

Wu Youyang frowned and continued, “Frankly, I used to have a strange, blind trust in Boss Ji. I always felt there was no experiment Boss Ji wanted to succeed that he couldn’t succeed at.”

Speaking of this, Wu Youyang found it difficult to say more, but he had to continue, “But now Boss Ji has, after all, lost his Mental-type ability. I’ve been an ordinary person for so many years, and I know a bit about the dimensional wall between ordinary people and power users.

It’s very normal for Boss Ji not to produce results now. I’m just afraid that he won’t be able to accept the huge gap between being a genius and being ordinary for a while, and that his psychological balance might be affected.”

“I’ll go see him.” Gu Jinsheng was already very worried about Ji An, and hearing Wu Youyang’s words made him even more anxious.

But Wu Youyang blocked him, “Chief Commander Gu, you absolutely cannot. Boss Ji’s rule is that when he’s in the laboratory, no one is allowed to disturb him, not even for matters of the greatest importance.”

Gu Jinsheng stopped, his eyes looking at the laboratory still filled with worry. After such a long time, Ji An hadn’t left the laboratory door even once; Gu Jinsheng really couldn’t rest assured.

Gu Jinsheng thought for a moment and released his Thunder Dragon.

The Thunder Dragon, which was always majestic and extraordinary, appeared as thin as a small snake this time, its entire body only as thick as a strand of hair.

Forget majestic and extraordinary, it was, well, quite cute.

The Thunder Dragon was very dissatisfied with its body, which was so thin it could be blown away by a gust of wind. It twisted and turned, its expression disgusted, roaring at Gu Jinsheng with bared teeth and launching thunderball attacks at him.

Gu Jinsheng waved his hand to block them, frowned, and said to the Thunder Dragon, “Alright, stop messing around. Go now, find a place to squeeze in and see if Little An is alright. How can you squeeze in if you’re that big?”

Only then did the Thunder Dragon stop fussing, but it was likely still unhappy. It glared at Gu Jinsheng with its blood-red eyes, then twisted its snake-like body, no, dragon-like body as thin as a strand of hair, and flew away.

Wu Youyang was already dumbfounded, his mouth unconsciously wide open.

What shocked Wu Youyang wasn’t the Thunder Dragon, after all, Gu Jinsheng had publicly released the Thunder Dragon in the night sky to celebrate Ji An before, so everyone in Jing Shi Base knew that the Thunder Dragon was the materialization of their Chief Commander’s ability.

What shocked Wu Youyang was that even though the Thunder Dragon was materialized so small, it was still so lifelike. Everything it should have was there, it was completely the large version of the Thunder Dragon scaled down proportionally.

This move was truly impressive. It didn’t consume significantly less energy than the large Thunder Dragon. Gu Jinsheng’s strength was truly unfathomable. Such a small yet realistic Thunder Dragon was something no ordinary person could create.

Many people, when using abilities this thin, would simply release a raw energy thread. Doing this was simple and saved ability, but the main reason was actually that they couldn’t create something like this.

They should really come and see the pretentious display of Jing Shi Base’s Chief Commander when chasing his wife. Something that could be done with a raw energy thread, he had to make it this complicated, just to show off his strength in front of his wife.

Like a male peacock fanning its tail, turning around, showing his wife his colorful feathers from every angle…

However, even though Gu Jinsheng intended to display his strength, Wu Youyang still felt there was something strange about the Thunder Dragon. He couldn’t think of it immediately, “Chief Commander Gu, your materialized Thunder Dragon seems a bit different from others’.”

Gu Jinsheng also felt a headache when this was mentioned. He said, “Ever since I lost my Wind-type ability, my control over the Thunder Dragon has been somewhat out of control.”

The Thunder Dragon was the materialization of Gu Jinsheng’s ability. Losing control over the Thunder Dragon meant losing control over his ability.

Indeed, losing one ability, even for a dual-ability user, was a significant loss.

This was normal. There should be damage. Otherwise, the performance of both Gu Jinsheng and Ji An made it seem like abilities weren’t very important, and it was no big deal if they were gone.

Ji An’s laboratory was renovated with special materials, it was airtight. Even if there was an explosion inside, it shouldn’t be heard outside. Logically, not even a mosquito should be able to fly in.

But somehow, the Thunder Dragon managed it, finding a way to squeeze in.

The Thunder Dragon was formed from Gu Jinsheng’s ability, which only goes to show how powerful Gu Jinsheng’s strength was.

After the Thunder Dragon squeezed in, it looked around first. When it saw Ji An, its bright red small eyes lit up, and it immediately wagged its head and tail and flew over.

The Thunder Dragon’s small round eyes, which now looked like beans, sparkled as it looked at Ji An, showing clear affection.

However, it didn’t disturb Ji An, but instead just circled quietly beside him, curiously watching him experiment.

When the Thunder Dragon saw what Ji An was handling with sterile gloves, it shivered all over.

Ji An was holding a small piece of leg bone from some unknown animal.

Ji An suddenly turned around and immediately spotted the Thunder Dragon. At first, he didn’t react, staring warily at the Thunder Dragon.

When the Thunder Dragon saw that Ji An had discovered it, it immediately wagged its head and tail and flew over, even attempting to rub its thin little head against Ji An’s face.

This time, Ji An clearly saw what the little guy in front of him was, “Thunder Dragon?” Ji An said in surprise, “How did you become so small?”

The little guy, which was snuggling against Ji An’s face and acting cute with him, froze for two seconds after hearing Ji An’s words, then immediately showed a wronged expression, and vanished in place with a ‘Bang’ sound without any warning.

Ji An quickly stood up and opened the laboratory door. As expected, he saw Gu Jinsheng standing in the research area. “The Thunder Dragon suddenly disappeared, are you alright?”

Gu Jinsheng shook his head, “No, perhaps it was embarrassed because you said it was small, so it disappeared on its own.”

“Disappeared on its own?” Ji An noticed something was wrong, glanced at Wu Youyang, pulled Gu Jinsheng into the laboratory, and closed the door, asking, “What’s going on? The Thunder Dragon is the materialization of your ability, how could it disappear on its own?”

An ability is just a power of a power user, just like a person can walk. If you don’t want to walk, your legs can’t move on their own. Legs themselves don’t have thoughts; they are controlled by the brain.

Abilities are the same; they are just a power of a power user, controlled by the power user.

Gu Jinsheng said, “Ever since my Wind-type ability was crippled, my control over the Thunder Dragon seems to have developed problems, it seems a bit out of control.”

“You can’t fully control your ability now?” Ji An looked worried.

“It’s not that, there’s absolutely no problem when I use my ability to fight.” Gu Jinsheng rubbed his temples, “It’s just that the Thunder Dragon seems less controllable. It seems to have developed some thoughts of its own, especially when facing you, it’s even less controllable. Just now, when you said it was small, it felt very embarrassed and disappeared on its own. Also, when I materialized it just now, it didn’t want to become that small, it wanted to be taller and mightier in front of you, but I said only if it was small could it squeeze into your laboratory to see you, and only then did it compromise.”

Ji An discovered an even bigger problem. Gu Jinsheng was clearly not inside the laboratory just now, yet he knew what he had said to the Thunder Dragon. As for whether the laboratory wasn’t soundproof and Gu Jinsheng heard it himself, that was absolutely impossible.

All laboratories were made of the highest-grade special materials, there was absolutely no such low-level problem. “Can you now see or perceive things through the Thunder Dragon even when you are not present?”

“Yes.” Gu Jinsheng had discovered this problem earlier.

“But, perceiving or seeing things where you are not present through your ability, that should clearly be a unique characteristic of the Mental-type ability of Mental-type power users. The abilities of other power users do not possess this characteristic…” Ji An murmured, suddenly recalling Little Stone and Little Rose in his mind. Those two children also awakened Mental-type abilities. Gu Jinsheng’s change now also indicated that his mental strength was increasing.

However, Gu Jinsheng had just lost his Wind-type ability. Logically speaking, after a power user’s ability is crippled, their mental strength should decrease, returning to the level of ordinary people.

Under normal circumstances, a power user’s mental strength is stronger than an ordinary person’s, and a Mental-type power user’s mental strength is far stronger than a regular power user’s. A powerful one can even mentally control other power users.

Now Gu Jinsheng’s mental strength hasn’t been damaged by his ability being crippled, but instead has increased…

Spiritual Spring Water?

Ji An’s gaze fell on the Spiritual Spring Water on the experimental bench.

The Spiritual Spring Water is truly amazing. How can I find the correct method to upgrade it!

Gu Jinsheng watched Ji An, who was deep in thought, frowning tightly, and occasionally rubbing his temples to relieve his headache, and his heart ached.

Ji An had always been so diligent, so deeply in love with his scientific research, but now he had lost his Mental-type ability. What a heavy blow this must be to Ji An.

Gu Jinsheng couldn’t bear it. He couldn’t bear for Ji An to continue being so tired, nor could he bear for Ji An to fall into experimental difficulties, so he said, “I came to see you this time, firstly because I was worried about you not having come home for a long time, and secondly, I wanted to ask you if you still want to go hunt that Mental-type Zombie King we targeted last time?

We have successfully locked onto its location again.”

Actually, Jing Shi Base had been tracking that Zombie King for a long time and had locked onto it for quite a while, but due to the special nature of the Mental-type Zombie King, everyone hadn’t dared to act until Gu Jinsheng returned to the team, fearing that startling it might cause it to escape, and it would be difficult to catch it again.

Ji An didn’t expect Gu Jinsheng to still be willing to take him along. After all, his Mental-type ability was crippled now, and he was truly just an ordinary person, essentially a burden.

It was also very dangerous for him personally, but even so, Gu Jinsheng still asked him, was still willing to respect his choice, and still remembered his desire to go. Ji An was very touched.

“I’ll go.” Ji An promised, “Don’t worry, I won’t hold the team back. Before I awakened my ability, I used to team up with power users at the Third Base to fight zombies. I’ve learned ancient martial arts, I won’t become a burden to the team.”

“I’m not Chen Chen, Little An!” Gu Jinsheng’s tone was a bit heavy, and Ji An could hear that he was a little angry, “Also, I don’t consider you a burden.”

Ji An knew Gu Jinsheng’s good intentions and quickly said, “I’m sorry, I misspoke.”

“You don’t need to say sorry to me.”

Ji An felt that today, whatever he said seemed wrong, so he played dumb and said, “So are you going to take me or not?”

Gu Jinsheng just stared steadily at Ji An with his deep black eyes, until Ji An started to feel uncomfortable. Only then did Gu Jinsheng quietly ask, “Little An, were you acting cute with me just now?”

Ji An immediately flushed to the tips of his ears with shame and irritation. Ji An, out of annoyance and embarrassment, fiercely asked, “When are we leaving?”

Gu Jinsheng let out a short laugh, his eyebrows and eyes softened, and his eyes held a gentle feeling like a clear breeze and bright moon.

“Tomorrow.”

Ji An suddenly felt that perhaps what was broken about Gu Jinsheng wasn’t his ability, but his brain.

Yes, wasn’t it Gu Jinsheng’s brain that was broken? The power user’s crystal core was in the brain.

So it was his brain that was broken, no wonder his temperament had changed, hmph!

They had to fight tomorrow, so Ji An didn’t continue experimenting. Gu Jinsheng also didn’t go back to the command center. The two of them left together.

Opening the laboratory door, Ji An saw Wu Youyang, Yin Fang, and Yu Xi were all there.

Ji An said to Yin Fang and Yu Xi, “Go home and rest. I’ll go home with Jinsheng later, you don’t need to escort me.”

“Okay.” Yin Fang and Yu Xi responded.

Gu Jinsheng’s strength was much greater than theirs; ten of them couldn’t defeat one Gu Jinsheng.

With Gu Jinsheng protecting Ji An, they didn’t need to show off their limited skills.

“You also don’t need to pick me up from home tomorrow. I have a mission outside the base tomorrow, and I might need to be quarantined for a few days upon return. I will notify you when I will come to the laboratory then, and you can pick me up.”

“Okay.” Yu Xi and the other responded.

“What, Boss Ji, you’re going on a mission outside the base tomorrow? Your ability…” Wu Youyang was a bit anxious. Which base mission wasn’t dangerous? Mental-type power users were originally non-combat oriented, and the base never required Mental-type abilities to participate.

If Boss Ji went on missions before, that was fine, he liked it, and his combat power was very strong. But now Boss Ji’s ability was crippled, wasn’t it too dangerous to go on a base mission again?

Wu Youyang looked at Gu Jinsheng, not understanding how Gu Jinsheng could agree to something that sounded so dangerous.

Gu Jinsheng said, “Don’t worry, I will personally lead the team for tomorrow’s mission. I will protect Little An.”

What else could Wu Youyang say? Gu Jinsheng had already agreed.

Before leaving, Ji An instructed, “When I am not here, no one is allowed to enter the laboratory, not even the cleaning staff.

Don’t touch anything inside. For the next few days, help me feed those regenerating mutated animals and just make sure they don’t die. You don’t need to worry about anything else for now.”

“I understand, Boss Ji.” Wu Youyang agreed.

Gu Jinsheng drove Ji An home. Upon arrival, Ji An smelled the aroma of cooked food. It turned out Gu Jinsheng had already prepared the meal before coming.

It must be said that Gu Jinsheng really understood Ji An; he was confident that Ji An would definitely go hunt the Zombie King.

Ji An didn’t feel that his thoughts being guessed by Gu Jinsheng was a form of control, but rather felt a little touched.

Gu Jinsheng himself was incredibly busy all day, probably having to squeeze in time even for nutrient solutions, but as soon as he returned home, he cooked for him. His mental power was also damaged, and he had to endure the splitting headaches every day.

Ji An didn’t say anything, but he kept all of this in his heart.

Ji An was never a person who didn’t know gratitude. On the contrary, if someone was good to him by one point, Ji An always wanted to repay them tenfold.

Saying “thank you” would be an insult to Gu Jinsheng’s intention. Ji An didn’t say much, but simply showed his attitude with practical actions. He ate a lot, and Gu Jinsheng was very satisfied.

After the meal, Ji An took out the original Spiritual Spring Water liquid from his Space Necklace and gave it to Gu Jinsheng.

“Drink a cup before going to bed tonight. If your headache is too severe to sleep, take some medicine with it. We have a battle to fight tomorrow. We need good rest.”

But Gu Jinsheng didn’t take it, “You gave me several boxes before I went to work, I haven’t finished drinking them yet. I have some.”

Ji An smiled, “Just take it when I give it to you, this is good stuff.”

Gu Jinsheng naturally knew this, and he also vaguely felt that the Thunder Dragon’s change might indeed be related to the Spiritual Spring Water.

Perhaps it wasn’t that the Thunder Dragon was out of control, but rather that his mental strength had increased in a short period, leading to his insufficient control over his mental strength, which made the Thunder Dragon seem like it had its own thoughts.

The next morning, Gu Jinsheng woke up and made mutated beef noodles for Ji An. After breakfast, the two drove to the command center to meet up with everyone.

The deputy commander accompanying the team this time was Wan Xueying. To ensure the mission went smoothly and without incident, almost all those present were experts at Tier 4 or above.

This team composition was standard for Gu Jinsheng and his team on missions; they barely needed instructions, everyone coordinated very well.

Wan Xueying briefly introduced the condition of the Zombie King again and answered a few questions.

The Mental-type Zombie King had likely evolved intelligence. In the past month, it had changed its lair several times, and the new lairs were getting further away from Jing Shi Base but closer to weaker small bases.

For example, the Mental-type Zombie King’s lair this time was not far from the Sixth Base. The Sixth Base was a small base with a total population of less than 30,000 people, and the overall strength of the base was weak. The base leader was only a Tier 4 power user, making it a good choice as a zombie reserve food source.

Fortunately, Jing Shi Base had taken precautions and sent notices to the surrounding small bases. The Sixth Base paid special attention and discovered the anomaly in the zombie group in time. Otherwise, the entire base might have been taken over by the zombie group someday, and outsiders wouldn’t even know that the Sixth Base had been completely wiped out.

The zombie group was hidden in a small village. Gu Jinsheng and his team got out of their vehicles about a thousand meters outside the village and proceeded on foot, fearing that the Mental-type Zombie King might hear their movements.

If Ji An’s Mental-type ability were still intact, he could have released his ability and, with caution, found the Zombie King’s hiding place. Now without his ability, they had to search house by house.

Zombies hated sunlight the most and usually hid and slept during the day. Nighttime was the time for zombies to hunt.

It was daytime now, the sun was high in the sky, and when Ji An and the others infiltrated, they saw almost no zombies, but this might be because they were on the periphery.

Ji An walked with Gu Jinsheng. Gu Jinsheng gave Ji An many defensive items. Handguns, bombs, and other defensive items went without saying, there were also smoke bombs and landmines.

Of course, the landmines were not ignited at this time, Ji An shoved them all into the space bracelet he had made himself.

Even though one of Gu Jinsheng’s abilities was crippled, he was still one of the top experts in the base, so the two walked through the most dangerous middle section.

They also encountered more zombies along the way than the other teams.

Turning a corner, Ji An saw a team of zombies on patrol outside. This was something not seen in other zombie groups; dwelling in the day and hunting at night, and disliking sunlight, were the innate characteristics of zombie groups.

But these zombies were now overcoming their nature and even patrolling in an organized and disciplined manner, which was a bit terrifying.

Ji An exchanged glances with Gu Jinsheng, and the two quietly infiltrated.

Although Ji An had no ability now, he was fearless and dared to approach the zombies stealthily. Ji An’s footsteps were very light, so light that the last zombie in the group didn’t notice him even when he was close.

Ji An struck with his knife, stabbing it directly into the brain of the last zombie. His strength was astonishing, piercing straight through the zombie’s skull.

The zombie died silently without even reacting, and the other zombies had no idea that one less corpse was in their ranks and had already walked away.

Gu Jinsheng lightly frowned, shaking his head at Ji An, disagreeing with his action just now. Ji An smiled at Gu Jinsheng. The reason he did this was simply to prove to Gu Jinsheng that although he no longer had an ability, he was not just a little chick needing protection.

Ji An moved his hand, quickly and cleanly dissecting the zombie’s head and picking out a Zombie Crystal Core from inside.

This Zombie Crystal Core had many impurities, wasn’t very transparent throughout, and was an indistinct blue color. It should be a Tier 1 early or mid-stage Water-type Zombie Crystal Core.

Ji An didn’t dislike the low-level Zombie Crystal Core. He wiped the Zombie Crystal Core with a specially made disinfecting wet wipe and put it into his Space Bracelet.