ATDIWR Chapter 12

Chapter 12: The Cold Man, Manifestation of Mental Power

Ji An and Tang Ning were greatly startled. To be able to easily kill a Tier 3 Zombie, although it was a sneak attack, Tier 3 Zombies are not that easy to deal with. This zombie is at least a Tier 4 Zombie.

The two of them, one an ordinary person and the other a Tier 2 early stage Power User, even if Ji An is strong enough to control high-level zombies beyond his tier. He can only cross one tier at most, it’s impossible to cross two tiers.

Even his ‘Petrification’ skill, when used against high-tier zombies, is greatly reduced in effectiveness, and mental control is almost impossible.

A zombie wearing ragged green clothes stumbled out from the doorway. Its walking speed was actually very fast. It seemed slow, like a snail, but in the blink of an eye, it was upon them.

Despite this, even though he knew he probably couldn’t mentally control it, Ji An still attempted mental linking multiple times. However, the thin mental threads flying from Ji An’s mind, upon encountering the Tier 4 Zombie’s brain, seemed to hit some kind of barrier, easily blocked from entering.

“Roar!” The Tier 4 Zombie let out a beast-like roar, lightly leaped, soaring into the air, and its two sharp claws grabbed towards Ji An and Tang Ning.

Tang Ning was only focused on escaping and didn’t notice the zombie’s attack from behind. Ji An brutally kicked Tang Ning away.

Tang Ning was kicked and rolled far across the ground, her head heavily hitting a rock, and then her eyes rolled back as she fainted.

As for Ji An himself, by the time he wanted to dodge, the Tier 4 Zombie’s sharp claws were already close at hand, just an inch away from Ji An’s brain.

Ji An seemed to feel the excruciating pain of his brain being ripped open by the zombie’s claws, the call of death was close to his ears.

He cannot die!

Ji An thought of his lifelong passion for scientific research, which he had no chance to pursue in his previous life until his death, and the so-called true love of that pair of scumbags. He felt he still could not die.

Perhaps it was because he thought of many things in a short time, Ji An’s head throbbed with pain, as if a sponge inside his brain had rapidly swelled after absorbing water, about to burst the next moment. Veins on his forehead pulsed, and the sound of blood accelerating its flow seemed clearly audible.

“Ah!” Ji An cried out in pain, his head felt like it was exploding.

He didn’t see it, but at the same time, countless thin threads of mental power shot out from his brain. These mental threads intertwined, woven, and closely interlocked, forming a massive net that wrapped Ji An entirely within it.

The Tier 4 Zombie’s sharp claws grabbed onto the net, instantly breaking off several centimeters of its nails. Blood dripped from the gaps in its nails. Its wrist also snapped, as if it had just hit a wall of bronze and iron.

Ji An’s brain hadn’t yet reacted to what had happened, but his body had already responded first. The machete in his hand chopped directly into the Tier 4 Zombie’s head. Simultaneously, a flash of lightning streaked from somewhere, descending at the same time as Ji An’s blade, illuminating the entire underground Base.

The power of that lightning strike was incredibly formidable, so much so that it instantly burned the Tier 4 Zombie into a handful of charred ash, falling inch by inch onto the ground. Only a shiny Zombie Crystal Core was left lying quietly on the ground.

At this moment, Ji An had exhausted all his physical strength and his mental power was also depleted. His head was throbbing from overuse of mental power, pulsating as if it would explode. He felt nauseous and dizzy. Ji An lay weakly on the ground.

Slightly raising his head, he looked towards the figure standing against the light in the residual glow of the bright lightning.

Although wearing a protective suit, one could see that the figure was very tall, about 190 centimeters, with a slender and upright physique. Even wearing a loose protective suit, it seemed possible to feel the coiled muscles beneath his clothes.

He himself was already extremely conspicuous. Standing among a group of oddly shaped team members in protective suits, he stood out even more, like a divine being.

The man was followed by a group of Power Users. One of them loudly exclaimed, “Wow, there’s actually a Mental-type Power User here, and from the looks of it, they’re a Tier 3 Mental-type Power User!”

Ji An looked very disheveled. His protective suit was ragged from the fight, and his protective mask and glasses on his face were nowhere to be seen.

At this moment, lying disheveled on the ground, he looked towards the illuminated area, his eyes narrowed from the blinding light, like a beautiful fawn discovered by humans after being injured in the forest, showing vulnerability and helplessness. There was also a kind of fragile beauty that made others want to protect him, yet also couldn’t help but want to destroy him.

“A Tier 3 Mental-type Power User, that’s a rare species. How could they appear here alone?” A cool-sounding female voice immediately followed.

The only two people who could answer this question, Ji An and Tang Ning, one had a terrible headache and didn’t want to say a word. The other had hit her head and fainted, sprawled in the corner.

The man stepped on the ashes of the zombie that had been burned by lightning, walking step by step towards Ji An.

He stopped just one step away from Ji An, bent his knees, and used a finger to lift Ji An’s chin, forcing Ji An to slightly tilt his head and look at him.

He didn’t know if the lighting equipment brought by these Power Users had sufficient wattage, but even without someone specifically shining a light on him, Ji An could still clearly see the man’s eyes hidden beneath his protective goggles through his peripheral vision.

Cold, ruthless, dangerous.

Being looked up and down on his face by such a pair of eyes, Ji An felt goosebumps all over. He slightly tilted his head, breaking free from the man’s restraint.

“Boss, what are you doing?” Just then, a boisterous voice broke the strange and tense atmosphere between the two.

Ji An recognized this voice as the one who had just revealed his identity as a Tier 3 Mental-type Power User.

Ji An didn’t know how he recognized his identity. As long as he didn’t use mental control or the ‘Petrification’ skill in front of others, no one should have been able to discover it.

When they just came in, he hadn’t used those two skills. As for what exactly happened to him, he himself hadn’t figured it out yet.

Also, shouldn’t it be a Tier 2 ability? How did this person say he was a Tier 3 ability user?

There was no time to think carefully about all this. The owner of that voice came up to Ji An. He squatted down half a step behind the man, imitating the man’s posture, then thrust his large head between Ji An and the man, tilting his head and innocently saying, “Boss, you looked like a bully harassing a good-natured man just now!”

“Shut up! If you don’t know how to talk, then don’t talk!” A woman walked over, grabbed the questioning man by the neck, and dragged him away like a dead dog, pulling him away from Ji An and the man, keeping him far away.

The atmosphere suddenly changed from inexplicably tense to comical.

However, the man crouching in front of Ji An acted as if he hadn’t seen any of it, his eyes not even changing.

He stared fixedly at Ji An with his deep and dangerous eyes and spoke, “I saved you.”

The man’s voice was very magnetic, as cold and ruthless as he appeared, but unexpectedly pleasant to the ear.

“I know.” Although even if the man hadn’t appeared, his previous strike would have ensured he cleaved the zombie’s head, it would have taken some effort and potentially led to further complications. In the end, the man helped, and Ji An wasn’t one to deny a debt.

He was never a person who would deny kindness. He took out the Tier 3 Zombie Crystal Core he had obtained earlier from his space, as well as the Space-type and Healing-type Zombie Crystal Cores that Tang Tang had hidden in her space. Although these were only Tier 1 and Tier 2 Zombie Crystal Cores, Ji An took them all out.

Seeing the Zombie Crystal Cores appearing out of thin air in Ji An’s hand, the boisterous male voice spoke up again.

“Ah, this Tier 3 Mental-type Power User is also a dual-ability user, and he has awakened Space ability!”

Following that was the woman’s low scolding voice, “Shut up! If you don’t speak, no one will think you’re mute!”

The man who was yelled at felt very wronged.

Ji An pretended not to hear. He spread open his palm. “These Zombie Crystal Cores are for you, as compensation. Thank you for saving me.”

The man lowered his gaze to glance at them, then fixed his sight on Ji An’s face again. “Too low.”

The man used few words, but Ji An still understood his meaning. He was complaining that the Zombie Crystal Core levels were too low.

Ji An had actually killed many zombies before this, but unfortunately, the Zombie Crystal Cores were all given to Chen Chen and Ji An. He only had this one Tier 3 Zombie Crystal Core that was somewhat presentable.

However, thinking carefully, exchanging one Tier 3 Zombie Crystal Core and a few low-level Zombie Crystal Cores for a life-saving favor was indeed too cheap. But even without the man’s help, he could have handled it. These Zombie Crystal Cores are definitely sufficient to thank the man for his assistance.

Forget it. The man didn’t know the specific situation at the time. He appeared and saw that dangerous scene and must have thought he couldn’t handle it. Let’s just consider it a life-saving favor from him.

“I have a lot of supplies. I can give you supplies,” Ji An added.

The man said faintly, his tone emotionless, “Do you think I would lack supplies?”

Naturally not!

A person who can casually summon a Thunder-type ability to easily kill a Tier 4 Zombie would naturally not lack supplies.

However, in The Apocalypse, supplies are hard currency. Using them as a thank-you gift is the most sincere way to express gratitude.

For some reason, Ji An had a hunch the man had ill intentions. He almost said angrily to his life-saver, “Then what do you want?”

The man didn’t speak, just stared straight at Ji An with those dark eyes.

Ji An was angered by being watched by such eyes. He climbed up from the ground and sat upright. “I only have these. Take them or leave them.”

“Mr. Ji!” While Ji An was in a stalemate with the man, Tang Ning woke up. She thought she would never wake up again, but unexpectedly she opened her eyes to see a room full of Power Users, and the one who looked the strongest among them was currently confronting Ji An.

Tang Ning scrambled up, ran to Ji An’s side, and helped him up. “Are you okay?”

Tang Ning checked Ji An up and down with concern, seeing that he was only weak from battle exhaustion and excessive consumption of mental ability. She let out a long sigh of relief.

“You’re together?” The cold male voice sounded, seemingly mixed with a hint of displeasure.

Tang Ning inexplicably felt a sense of danger rush from her feet to her spine. She shivered.

Turning her head, she saw that the man’s dangerous eyes had finally left Ji An and shifted to her. His cold gaze was like a lurking beast, full of the danger of a predator, ready to ambush at any moment.

“Yes.” Tang Ning didn’t think she had provoked the man in any way, and just took it as the dignity of a superior. She bravely replied, “We are together. Just now during the fight with the zombie, Mr. Ji pushed me away to save me, and I accidentally hit my head on a rock and fainted.”

As she spoke, Tang Ning touched the back of her head. There was a bump there, and it still hurt quite a bit. But compared to her life, this was really nothing.

The aura around the man became even colder. He looked Tang Ning up and down, his eyes filled with pickiness and disdain.

Suddenly, the man stood up, no longer paying attention to Ji An and Tang Ning. Instead, he turned and waved.

“Boss, I don’t know who came here before us, but they’ve completely cleared out all the supplies. It’s worse than a swarm of locusts passing through, not even a useful hair strand was left for us.” Then he chuckled, “But, we dug open the brains of those zombies outside and got a lot of Zombie Crystal Cores. There are even several Tier 3 Zombie Crystal Cores among them.”

“Those zombies were all hunted by us!” Tang Ning quickly said. She really didn’t want to lose the spoils from the zombies she had worked so hard to kill. And it wasn’t just a little bit, there were many Tier 3 Zombie Crystal Cores. They could be exchanged for a lot of supplies, enough for her to eat for a long time.

Unfortunately, no one paid attention to her. That man even tapped the ground with the tip of his foot, and his subordinate quickly picked up that Tier 4 Zombie Crystal Core.