EOTWR Chapter 23
by VolareThe End
She lay on the ground beneath a cliff, evidently having fallen to her death from above, head-first, brains splattered. If not for the familiar face, Ai Wei would hardly have recognized her.
She chose this way to die, showing she had no desire to become a zombie.
Ai Wei had seen many mutilated zombies and was numb to the sight of corpses in various gruesome states. But strangers and family were different. Seeing the body of a stranger would cause him mental and physical discomfort, but it wasn’t as painful as seeing the body of a loved one.
Seeing his distress, Xia Junchi quickly stood in front of him, blocking his view of Ai Yi’s corpse.
“Don’t look,” Xia Junchi said.
“I’m okay…” Ai Wei took a deep breath, suppressing his emotions, and said, “Let’s prepare for cremation.”
It was inconvenient to take zombies back for cremation, and unsafe to bring their corpses back, so after killing a zombie, they usually cremated it on the spot.
Ai Yi carried the zombie virus and had to be burned thoroughly.
Ai Wei tidied up Ai Yi’s remains, then cremated her.
Xia Junchi’s fire ability had reached level four, and his control over fire was masterful. He could burn a corpse, bones and all, to ashes, and absorb the surrounding flames into his body to store energy. So cremation here wouldn’t risk causing a fire.
Half an hour later, Ai Wei placed Ai Yi’s ashes into a box.
Suddenly, Ai Wei’s ability sensed a humanoid creature rapidly approaching them. Judging by its form and speed, it was a high-level zombie.
His heart tightened, and he pointed in one direction, saying, “A high-level zombie is coming.”
The team members worked well together and immediately prepared defensive and offensive measures in that direction.
Sure enough, after a while, rapid footsteps came from that direction. Then, a tall, disheveled zombie appeared in their sight.
Although the zombie hadn’t washed its face in a long time, and its expression was ferocious as it charged towards them, Ai Wei recognized him at a glance as his own nephew, Shao Yang.
With a “bang,” a bullet hit Shao Yang’s forehead, splattering black and red blood, so fast that Ai Wei barely reacted.
He stared blankly as Shao Yang fell, his heart aching numbly.
He and Shao Yang had grown up together and were as close as he was to Ai Yi. Although he had decided before coming out to treat Shao Yang like any other zombie, seeing this scene really happened was hard to accept.
“Are you okay?” The team member who fired the shot saw Ai Wei’s distressed expression and felt uneasy.
“I’m fine, you did the right thing,” Ai Wei said, “If you hadn’t done it, I would have.”
Hearing this, the team member felt relieved.
Their missions were dangerous, so people who had done many missions didn’t hesitate to act. But seeing Ai Wei’s sad expression now, he couldn’t help but worry that Ai Wei would resent him.
This had happened before. A team member once pushed the son of a zombie he killed into a horde of zombies in retaliation. The son, with a face full of hatred, said that the team member had killed his father, and he was going to kill him to avenge his father.
Now he had blown the head off Ai Wei’s relative, and he didn’t want to be resented by Ai Wei.
The group cremated Shao Yang’s body as well, then returned to the Safe Zone with the two urns.
Ai Wei took two days off to take care of Ai Yi and Shao Yang’s funeral arrangements. Then he went back to the team.
Life had to go on. Ai Wei tried not to dwell on the deaths of his loved ones, but after falling asleep at night, he would always dream of Ai Yi’s death and Shao Yang being shot in the head.
One night, Xia Junchi was sleeping when he was suddenly awakened by Ai Wei’s scream.
He turned on the light and saw Ai Wei sitting on the bed, his pale face covered in cold sweat.
Ai Wei’s mood had been low these past few days, but he hadn’t woken up from a nightmare like this. Seeing his pale face, Xia Junchi couldn’t help but feel sorry for him. He patted Ai Wei’s back and asked, “Did you have a nightmare?”
Ai Wei felt the warmth from his hand, and his cold, fearful heart slowly came back to life. He hugged Xia Junchi.
“Yeah, I had a nightmare,” he said.
“Nightmares are the opposite of reality,” Xia Junchi said, patting his back to comfort him.
Hearing this, Ai Wei looked at him with eyes full of deep fear and anxiety, and asked hopefully, “Really?”
Xia Junchi said, “Really, that’s what everyone says.”
“It seems so,” Ai Wei had also heard this saying, that dreams are the opposite of reality. But he never believed it before, and now he really hoped it was true.
“What if I have a good dream?” Ai Wei asked again.
Xia Junchi said, “If you have a good dream, you’ll be too happy to even think about whether it’s true or not, right?”
Ai Wei thought about it, and it seemed that was really the case.
“What did you dream about?” Xia Junchi asked.
Ai Wei looked at him, his lips moved, but he couldn’t say anything.
He had just dreamed that he went to Maple Leaf Mountain and followed the route in his memory to find Ai Yi. However, when he reached the cliff, he saw Xia Junchi lying where Ai Yi’s body had been.
Xia Junchi was lying there covered in blood, his brains splattered, as if he were really dead. In that instant, his heart suddenly contracted, and then he was startled awake.
After waking up, his mind was still immersed in the nightmare and couldn’t recover. It wasn’t until he saw the living Xia Junchi beside him, hugging his warm body, and hearing his strong heartbeat that Ai Wei was sure that what he had just seen was just a dream.
However, the feeling in the dream was too strong and profound. Even though he now knew it was just a dream, his heart was still filled with panic and fear. It was as if the dream was an ominous premonition that Xia Junchi would die like that in the dream soon.
Ai Wei felt uneasy, and only by hugging Xia Junchi, feeling his body temperature and heartbeat, could he be sure that he was still alive and well.
After a long time, he looked up at Xia Junchi and said, “Let’s retire.”
In the past few months, he had seen too much death, and he occasionally thought that something might happen to him. Now, having personally witnessed the death of his relatives and experienced this pain firsthand, he had a deep fear of death.
If it were just him alone, he would be willing to put himself in danger to improve his ability level and for the safety of mankind. But he still had Xia Junchi. He had already lost all his relatives and couldn’t bear the pain of losing Xia Junchi.
“There’s not much danger near the Safe Zone anymore, we can stay in the Safe Zone and do our old jobs,” Ai Wei said.
Xia Junchi looked at him, seeing his eyes filled with complex emotions such as pain, fragility, and fear, and suddenly realized something.
“Are you afraid that something will happen to me too?” Xia Junchi asked.
“Yeah,” Ai Wei said, “We can improve our ability levels by practicing in the Safe Zone. As long as we don’t leave the Safe Zone, okay?”
As he said this, his tone was pleading.
Xia Junchi had also thought about retiring, after all, not many people would really like a life of constant danger and the possibility of dying at any time. But the world was still very dangerous. If even the gifted were only thinking about hiding in the Safe Zone and not coming out, what hope was there for humanity?
What’s more, Ai Wei’s abilities were very rare and useful. It would be a pity if he retired, and the higher-ups wouldn’t easily agree to his retirement.
But looking at the fragile and wounded Ai Wei in front of him, he couldn’t say anything against it.
Seeing his silence, Ai Wei vaguely guessed that he didn’t want to retire, and continued to persuade him, “Isn’t it good for us to stay in the Safe Zone? So many people are staying in the Safe Zone, why do we have to go out and take risks? If something happens to me, or even if I die, wouldn’t you be sad?”
Xia Junchi thought of the scenario he described, and his heart couldn’t help but panic. Like Ai Wei, the only person he cherished in this world was Ai Wei. If something happened to Ai Wei, it would be a devastating blow to him.
Seeing his expression, Ai Wei’s tone softened a bit, trying to persuade him to listen to him, saying, “Our abilities have both reached level four, we can still play a role in the Safe Zone, it’s not like we have to go out and do missions to be useful. If something happens to you while you’re on a mission, what am I going to do?!”
If something happened to Xia Junchi, he felt that he might not be able to live on.
Xia Junchi looked at him, his eyes showing struggle, and said, “You rest first, let’s talk about it in a few days.”
Ai Wei was a little unwilling to let it go, and said, “Why do we have to talk about it in a few days, can’t we talk about it now?!”
“It’s too late now, let’s talk about it tomorrow after we wake up,” Xia Junchi said, patting his back.
Ai Wei looked at Xia Junchi like this and couldn’t help but frown, because he suddenly realized that Xia Junchi was difficult to persuade.
This made him feel wronged, why did Xia Junchi have to do missions?! Didn’t he think about their safety and future?
Didn’t Xia Junchi care at all if something happened to either of them?
He turned over, turned his back to Xia Junchi, and lay down on the bed, too angry to talk to Xia Junchi.
Seeing him sulking, Xia Junchi went over and hugged him, saying, “Let’s take a few days off and rest well.”
Hearing his gentle words, Ai Wei’s heart couldn’t help but soften. He just heard from his meaning that he was still unwilling to retire.
In fact, Ai Wei also knew that his abilities were special, and the gifted team probably wouldn’t be willing to let him stay in the Safe Zone. He couldn’t help but sigh, turned over, faced Xia Junchi, and said, “No need to ask for leave, let’s solve the dangers as soon as possible. When the Safe Zone is really safe, then we’ll stay in the Safe Zone.”
Xia Junchi patted his head and said, “Don’t think nonsense, even if I’m not here, there are still Doctor Li, Lu Feng, and them, you won’t live alone in the world.”
Ai Wei looked at him with an indescribable expression and said, “Why are you talking like that? What do you mean even if you’re not here? Don’t say that kind of thing again, understand?!”
After saying that, he hit Xia Junchi hard on the butt.
Seeing that he had returned to his usual self, Xia Junchi was relieved, stretched out his hand and ruffled his hair, messing it all up, and said, “Okay, okay, we will all live well, and no one will have an accident.”
“That’s more like it,” Ai Wei snorted and said.
After the incident with Ai Yi and Shao Yang, Ai Wei became more cautious when doing missions, and he also worked harder and more attentively during training. Only by becoming stronger was it more likely to survive.
He turned the pain of his relatives’ deaths and the fear of what might happen in the future into motivation to become stronger, after all, he still wanted to spend his life with Xia Junchi!
Three years later, an exciting piece of news spread on the Internet.
That was that scientists had cultivated an edible mutated grape.
In the video, the hostess introduced the latest cultivated mutated grape forest in the Safe Zone in clear and fluent Mandarin.
“According to scientists, the fruit of this mutated grape is fresh, sweet, nutritious, non-toxic, and contains trace amounts of gifted elements. Ordinary people can strengthen their bodies by eating it, and gifted people can benefit from it and improve their own abilities…”
The screen’s camera focused on a mutated grape tree nearby, showing the mutated grape in all directions to the audience.
Ai Wei widened his eyes when he saw this scene.
Wasn’t this the mutated grape tree he had turned in two years ago?
When he turned in the mutated grape tree that year, he also kept a few grape seeds, wanting to try to grow small mutated grape trees. However, to his disappointment, only one of the small mutated grape trees he grew contained trace amounts of gifted energy. The other small grape trees were similar to ordinary grapes, not to mention being able to stimulate ordinary people’s abilities after eating them, they couldn’t even replenish the abilities of the gifted.
But he didn’t expect that the Safe Zone had actually cultivated mutated grape trees that could provide abilities to the gifted.
And what was even more exciting was that this grape tree could be mass-produced. In the future, ordinary people in the Safe Zone could hope to eat it as ordinary fruit!
In fact, in the past three years, the Safe Zone had discovered many edible mutated plants and animals. However, most mutated plants and animals were dangerous for ordinary people to eat, and mutated plants that ordinary people could eat were difficult to mass-produce, so the emergence of mass-producible mutated grape trees was of great significance.
“They actually cultivated a mass-producible mutated grape tree,” Ai Wei excitedly told Xia Junchi the news, saying, “If this mutated grape is popularized, won’t we be able to eat it too?!”
Xia Junchi shook his head and said, “I’m afraid it’s still a long way from being popularized.”
At least wait until the year after next.
“But there’s still hope! I wonder if our abilities will continue to improve after eating the mutated grapes?” Ai Wei said excitedly, “I have 100 million contribution points in my card, which should be enough for the two of us to eat every day if we exchange it for mutated grapes.”
In the past three years, the two had been killing zombies and clearing dangerous mutated plants and animals. Through several adventures, not only had their positions improved, but the contribution points in their recharge cards had also been constantly increasing.
Not only him, but Xia Junchi also had hundreds of millions of contribution points in his card.
Moreover, after three years of training, Ai Wei’s ability had risen to level seven, and Xia Junchi’s ability had also risen to level six, and their combat experience had also become much richer. Now Ai Wei had become accustomed to this life and was reluctant to retire.
“When the grapes are ripe, the Safe Zone should give us welfare,” Xia Junchi said.
As the main force fighting on the front line, their welfare had always been very good. Since the Safe Zone had reported the mutated grapes, they would definitely not forget them.
Xia Junchi liked sweets and was more looking forward to the popularization of mutated grapes than Ai Wei. He had eaten mutated grapes once before, and he had always remembered the extremely sweet taste.
He didn’t wait long. Two days later, the first batch of ripe mutated grapes was distributed as military welfare. According to the degree of contribution, each person received one to ten grapes.
It wasn’t that the Safe Zone was stingy and reluctant to distribute grapes to the military, it was just that the number of mutated grapes in the first batch was not enough, so they could only distribute them by the grain.
As the batch of gifted soldiers with the highest contribution degree, Ai Wei and Xia Junchi both received ten mutated grapes. As they expected, after eating the mutated grapes, their abilities did improve, but because their abilities had improved and the mutated grapes they ate were not the first generation, the effect was minimal.
At this time, ordinary people’s interest in mutated grapes was also extraordinary.
The fact that the fruit of mutated plants might stimulate ordinary people to awaken their abilities undoubtedly had a huge attraction for ordinary people. For a time, mutated grapes were snapped up by everyone and were炒出了天價.
Even some people who had been muddling along in the Safe Zone had started working hard after the appearance of mutated grapes, just so that they could eat mutated grapes in the future. Although mutated grapes had been炒出了天價 now, the price would definitely drop after mutated grapes were mass-produced in the future. At that time, ordinary people should be able to afford them if they gritted their teeth.
Now the Internet was full of various comments about mutated grapes. People felt that eating more mutated fruits, even if they couldn’t have abilities, might enhance their physique and increase their lifespan. Some people also felt that mutated fruits might beautify the skin and so on.
And not long after, another shocking good news was reported on the news. That was that the zombie virus vaccine had finally been developed.
The zombie virus was different from other viruses. Even after several attenuation and inactivation treatments, it could still infect people into zombies. Moreover, so far, no one had been infected with the zombie virus and spontaneously produced antibodies to heal themselves, so it was not until three and a half years later that someone in the world finally developed the first batch of zombie virus vaccines.
If they wanted to make the zombie virus vaccine as safe and harmless as possible, and then vaccinate everyone, it would take some time to test it.
More than three years had passed, and there were no large dangerous mutated plants and animals in China, and zombies had almost disappeared. New cities were being built, and people’s lives were gradually returning to the prosperity and tranquility before the end of the world.
Ai Wei and Xia Junchi had vacations, and they would also go out for a trip or do something they liked. But on the path of cultivating abilities, neither of them would stop.
His abilities were improving, his assets were abundant, he had a certain social status, and he had a handsome man in his arms. Ai Wei’s life was simply perfect. The only flaw was that the two had been dating for more than three years, and they had lightly touched, hugged, and solved each other, but they had never broken through to the last step.
Ai Wei was a complete bottom, and Xia Junchi was also a top, and the two had never reached a consensus on this point.
However, Ai Wei was more active in this regard, and after more than three years of unremitting efforts, Xia Junchi’s attitude had finally loosened.
Ai Wei felt that he would be able to truly communicate deeply with Xia Junchi soon.
So one night, Ai Wei dressed himself up carefully, ordered a few takeaways, and opened a bottle of good wine.
After Xia Junchi took a shower, he saw him sitting at the dining table, his whole body washed clean, his hair carefully styled into the same hairstyle as a certain star, and wearing a set of blue shirts and jeans that looked very beautiful.
The top three buttons of the shirt were open, revealing his delicate collarbone and a small piece of skin on his chest, which looked sexy, clean and pleasing to the eye.
Ai Wei’s foundation was good, his facial features were delicate and handsome, his figure was slender and symmetrical, and he had muscles. He had taken care of himself so carefully, he was really pleasing to the eye no matter how you looked at him.
After dating for three years, Ai Wei knew Xia Junchi’s preferences very well. Today, he was dressed up in Xia Junchi’s favorite style.
Sure enough, when he saw him like this, Xia Junchi’s eyes lit up.
“What day is it today? Why did you prepare so many things?” Xia Junchi sat down in the seat next to Ai Wei and said.
Ai Wei smiled slightly and said, “It’s nothing, I just want to have a good vacation these few days. Are you hungry? Eat quickly.”
He didn’t have to go to work tomorrow, so he could sleep in.
While eating, Ai Wei also poured a glass of wine for Xia Junchi and said, “Top-quality osmanthus wine, come, have a taste.”
Xia Junchi looked at the glass of white wine that exuded a intoxicating floral fragrance, and then looked at Ai Wei’s face, his expression couldn’t help but become a little ambiguous.
He could see at a glance what Ai Wei was planning.
However, Ai Wei’s alcohol capacity might not be as good as his. It was still unknown who would die tonight.
Xia Junchi was very confident that his alcohol capacity could win over Ai Wei. However, what he didn’t expect was that this osmanthus wine was sweet.
Most of the wines Xia Junchi had drunk before were beer, and the few times he had drunk white wine were all spicy, so he didn’t know that there was sweet white wine. He liked sweets, and the fragrant and sweet wine liquid had a intoxicating taste of wine, which was very delicious. He couldn’t help but drink a few more glasses. Then, before long, the alcohol hit him.
He felt dizzy and very wonderful. When he looked at Ai Wei next to him, it was as if he was wearing a filter, and he looked even better than before.
Seeing his star eyes looking at him with a bit of blur, Ai Wei only felt that he was very handsome and sexy, so charming that he couldn’t help but feel hot in his heart. He leaned over and kissed his lips.
The sweet osmanthus wine taste spread between his lips, and the taste of lips and tongues intertwined was very beautiful. When the two separated, their breathing was a bit rapid.
“Let’s go to bed,” he whispered in Xia Junchi’s ear.
Xia Junchi sensitively shrank his neck, then put one hand around his back and the other under his knees, and hugged him horizontally.
Ai Wei was suddenly picked up by him and couldn’t help but be startled. He quickly hugged his neck, fearing that he would not be able to stand firmly and fall.
However, Xia Junchi’s consciousness was still very clear. He hugged him very steadily and didn’t fall all the way into the bedroom and put him on the bed.
“Xiao Wei…” He propped his arms on either side of Ai Wei’s head, his star eyes filled with Ai Wei’s figure. The focused and affectionate look made Ai Wei’s heart flutter.
He slowly closed his eyes and leaned down to kiss Ai Wei. Ai Wei turned over and pressed him under him.
The next day, as soon as Ai Wei opened his eyes, he saw Xia Junchi sleeping next to him.
The morning light shone through the window, spilling on Xia Junchi’s well-defined handsome face, as if coating him with a faint light. His eyelashes were very long, casting a faint shadow on his face, making him look particularly handsome and beautiful.
Thinking of the sweetness of last night, Ai Wei’s heart couldn’t help but become sweet. He just looked at Xia Junchi, enjoying the peace of the morning and the warmth and happiness of having his lover by his side.
Not long after, Xia Junchi also opened his eyes, and the confused look made Ai Wei’s heart melt.
Unfortunately, it was only for an instant, and Xia Junchi was completely awake. That bit of cute confusion also turned into clarity and calmness.
Living with danger for many years, they needed to stay awake at all times.
Seeing Ai Wei looking at him with a sweet and satisfied smile, Xia Junchi couldn’t help but show a smile. He got up and leaned over to kiss his lips and said, “Finally got your way, are you satisfied?”
Ai Wei looked at him and smiled, his heart was so sweet that it was about to melt. He hugged him and said, “Honey, you’re great, I’m going to love you to death.”
Looking at him like this, Xia Junchi smiled helplessly and dotingly. Ai Wei’s persistence on this matter was simply comparable to Ai Wei’s insistence on cultivating abilities.
Xia Junchi had always thought that he was the top, but after tasting that kind of pleasure last night, he felt that being at the bottom was not bad either.
The two cuddled for a while, and after eating breakfast, they went out.
A rare vacation, so naturally they couldn’t stay at home. Ai Wei had planned how to spend this vacation two days ago.
Go hiking in the morning, play a few rounds of rafting on the mountain, eat a buffet for lunch, rest for two hours in the afternoon, and then go to the zoo. In the evening, go to a well-known local restaurant for dinner, and then go home for hehehe…
The two had a lot of fun, and Ai Wei secretly planned to come again tonight.
Moreover, he felt that Xia Junchi also liked it very much. He even asked him to come again last night.
Ai Wei’s mind was full of erotic pictures and rippling thoughts. Now that he had tasted the forbidden fruit, he was simply so addicted to it that he couldn’t wait to stick to Xia Junchi all the time.
“I really hope it stays like this,” Ai Wei put one arm around Xia Junchi’s waist, rested his chin on his shoulder, and let out a comfortable sigh like a lazy large cat.
Xia Junchi pulled away the other hand that Ai Wei had stretched towards his butt, and twisted his arm hard, saying, “Be reserved when you’re outside!”
Ai Wei let out a happy howl and looked at him with moist and bright eyes, saying, “Okay, husband, we won’t be reserved when we get home.”
Xia Junchi couldn’t help but feel amused and amused when he heard him call him husband, but he also enjoyed his husband very much, saying, “I’ll take care of you when we get home!”
When they got home, there was naturally another series of caresses.
Ten years later, the zombie virus vaccine had been推广到了全世界, and the zombie virus had almost disappeared from the human world.
Humans had discovered and cultivated more edible mutated plants and animals, and the fruit of mutated grapes had become a fruit that ordinary people could afford, as people had initially expected, because of mass production.
More gifted people had awakened among humans, and life had become more rich and diverse. Because of the emergence of many mutated plants and animals, some previously incurable diseases could no longer threaten human health. But some other diseases that had never been seen before had appeared, becoming problems that humans could not overcome. Ai Wei and Xia Junchi had been living well, and they would continue to walk hand in hand in the future.