ATDIWR Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Rebirth – Unfair Treatment

“Ji An gege, Ji An gege…” Tang Tang pulled at Ji An, dragging him back from his overwhelming hatred. He turned and met Tang Tang’s young and beautiful face. The cute little girl was pretty and gentle, her voice sweet and pure, “Ji An gege, please give the Thunder-type Zombie Crystal Core in your hand to Pengcheng gege. Pengcheng gege is just at the peak of Tier 2, and with this core, he can break through… Ah…”

As Tang Tang was speaking, she felt something was wrong. She looked up and met Ji An’s eyes full of hatred, the hatred in his eyes like a towering wave, threatening to engulf Tang Tang completely. It scared Tang Tang so much she couldn’t help but shriek.

A man flashed out from behind Tang Tang. It was Song Pengcheng, also looking decades younger. At this moment, his face was free of the wrinkles and weariness of decades later, filled with youthful vitality.

Song Pengcheng glared at Ji An unhappily and reprimanded, “What kind of look is that? You scared Tang Tang, you know! Tang Tang is also thinking for The Base. If I can successfully upgrade, The Base will have one more Tier 3 Power User, which is more beneficial to The Base. Can’t you be less selfish? Just because you haven’t awakened an ability, you don’t want others to upgrade. Haven’t you thought that without Power Users like us, how could The Base be as safe as it is now? How could you, an ordinary person without an ability, live so freely!”

“A’an, Pengcheng really needs this core. Give it to him, okay? Consider it a loan from me; I’ll hunt Zombies later and repay you, alright?” Chen Chen, who had been silent, also spoke up to persuade him.

For a moment, Ji An couldn’t tell what year it was, why all these enemies in front of him had become young again, and why these conversations and people felt eerily familiar.

Some memories broke free from the dust. Ji An suddenly remembered that this seemed to have happened not long before Tang Tang conspired against him. The few of them went out on a mission together, and he hunted Zombies, obtaining a high-quality Thunder-type Zombie Crystal Core from one.

Song Pengcheng in the team happened to be at the peak of Tier 2 at this time, and with this core, he could attempt to break through.

When Tang Tang saw it, she asked for it on Song Pengcheng’s behalf. For Tang Tang, the girl he had rescued from a pile of Zombies with his own hands and then raised, Ji An had long considered her family. He didn’t think much about it, nor was he willing to contradict her in front of others for just a little thing, so he casually gave it to Song Pengcheng.

As a result, Song Pengcheng wasn’t grateful to him but attributed the gratitude to Tang Tang, becoming even more fawning and solicitous towards Tang Tang, treating her like his second parents.

Ji An frowned. But didn’t this happen decades ago? It’s been a very long time. What’s going on?

Ji An looked around at the people before him, then his gaze fell on the green jacket Chen Chen was wearing.

That was the birthday gift he had given Chen Chen not long before he died. After that, Chen Chen almost never took it off. It was because of this jacket that Ji An had thought the person surrounded by Zombies was really Chen Chen.

After his death, Chen Chen never wore that green jacket again, and even when he discovered it was missing, he didn’t try to find it.

Ji An’s gaze fell on their youthful faces again, and he suddenly understood something.

He stretched out his hands and found that his hands were tangible, able to touch any part of his body. His heart was beating strongly and vigorously in his chest; he could breathe the air freely. He was alive, still alive.

“A’an, what’s wrong? Don’t scare me.” Chen Chen walked over to Ji An and tried to embrace him, but when he reached out his arms to hug him, Ji An fiercely pushed him away, sending Chen Chen stumbling back several steps before he managed to steady himself.

“Don’t touch me!” Ji An roared, as if Chen Chen was some detestable bug.

“Ji An, don’t take advantage of Chen gege’s kindness to you and act crazy towards him!” Tang Tang ran over, supported the now steady Chen Chen, and spoke up indignantly, “Chen gege is a Tier 4 Power User. If it wasn’t for his liking you, do you think you could treat him like this? He could crush you with one finger!”

Chen Chen also looked at Ji An with hurt eyes. Although he said nothing, his gaze seemed to convey thousands of words of grievance.

He was back, he had reborn!

Ji An finally understood the situation before him and knew the point in time he had returned to. This was the scene from their mission not long before he died, where the core in his hand allowed Tang Tang’s admirer, Song Pengcheng, to advance to Tier 3 Power User.

Ji An curled his fingers and put away the Tier 3 Zombie Crystal Core in his hand. He would not give it to Song Pengcheng again. If he wanted to advance his ability, he should go hunt Zombies himself. Don’t use his things and still dislike him.

Ji An blinked twice, suppressing the surging hatred in his eyes. Now was not a good time for revenge; they were all Power Users, and he was not. Moreover, with so many of them, his two fists were no match for four hands; he was no match for these people at all.

Since he was given a chance to be reborn, he must live well, live better than all of them. He couldn’t die again just after coming back.

Restoring his usual expression, Ji An said calmly, “What? Did I do something heinous for you to treat me like this! I merely don’t want to give the core I obtained from hunting Zombies to Song Pengcheng. I remember The Base has a rule that whoever hunts a Zombie gets its core and can dispose of it as they please. Others who want it must trade materials for it.”

Perhaps not expecting Ji An to say this, Chen Chen choked.

Before, whenever Ji An got something good, as long as Tang Tang or Chen Chen asked for it, Ji An would agree without a second thought and give it away. He had even given away things more valuable than this Tier 3 core.

What was wrong with Ji An today?

Song Pengcheng said, “Okay, fine, I’ll trade materials with you.”

Tang Tang then seemed to remember something and added, “Ji An gege, what materials do you want? You can tell us.”

Chen Chen also said, “We just collected a batch of materials. You can pick first if you want anything.”

“Let me pick first?” Ji An smiled faintly, “Do these materials belong solely to Song Pengcheng personally? I seem to remember these materials were collected by all of us together; they are The Base’s things. To use The Base’s things to exchange for Song Pengcheng’s private benefit, don’t you find it funny?”

“Ji An, what exactly do you want?” Song Pengcheng was so angry his chest heaved, his eyes glaring fiercely at Ji An. If eyes could kill, Ji An would have died a thousand times over. “This won’t do, that won’t do, don’t be too excessive!”

Ji An was merely stating a fact. When did stating a fact become excessive? Ji An only felt it was amusing, and he genuinely laughed, “I merely don’t want to trade the core to you, and that’s called excessive! Song Pengcheng, let alone you, even Chen Chen, the Base Commander, has no right to force a purchase or sale, right?”

Song Pengcheng was like a bombshell about to explode, his eyes bulging, staring intently at Ji An, looking like he wanted to kill him.

Chen Chen, being the person who understood Ji An the most, knew how stubborn his personality was. Once he set his mind on something, he wouldn’t change it even if it meant being crushed. For example, loving him.

It seemed that today, no matter what, Ji An would not give the core to Song Pengcheng. More talking was useless; they could only look for other suitable opportunities in the future.

Chen Chen said, “Forget it, let’s talk about this later. Let’s go back to The Base first; it’s not safe here now.”

The team members had no objection and drove back to The Base.

Whenever The Base receives information and dispatches a team to search for materials, the materials obtained are split 70/30 between The Base and the team. The Base gets 70%, the team gets 30%.

This was also the reason Ji An found it amusing when Chen Chen suggested using the newly obtained materials to trade for the core in Ji An’s hand.

Why should everyone’s materials be used to benefit Song Pengcheng personally? Furthermore, even if they claimed to use Song Pengcheng’s personal share to trade, that would be even more ridiculous.

In the seventh year of The Apocalypse, materials that could be found had long been found. Materials not yet discovered by others at this time were generally small or not valuable. The materials Ji An and his team found this time were very few. After taking out The Base’s 70%, each person’s share was negligible, enough for perhaps only one day’s food consumption at most.

And even this depended on each person’s contribution in the team. Given Song Pengcheng’s contribution, he probably wouldn’t even get a day’s worth of food.

However, the Zombie Crystal Core in Ji An’s hand was of high quality. If he wanted to, he could auction it at the Jing Shi United Base auction and trade it for half a year’s or even more materials. This was more than all their earnings from this trip combined.

Despite this, they acted as if Ji An was taking a huge advantage. How could Ji An not find it funny!

He didn’t usually argue, which didn’t mean he was an ignorant fool. He just felt that his lover Chen Chen was the Base Commander, and the advancement of other Power Users in The Base was beneficial to The Base, and thus beneficial to him as the Commander. Moreover, it also served as a disguised way of winning people over privately, which was conducive to stabilizing Chen Chen’s position as Commander. Therefore, he never argued about it.

But from this moment, this second onwards, he would never do that again.

Because the materials found this time were very few, The Base accountant verified them quickly and immediately distributed the materials earned by the team members that day, without waiting until the next day.

Ji An stood in line. When it was his turn, the staff member responsible for distributing materials was a young girl named Ning Xia. She was stunned, “Excuse me, Mr. Ji, your name is not on this list?”

“I participated in this mission and successfully hunted a Tier 3 peak Zombie during the mission. I was also a main contributor to this mission. Why don’t I have any mission rewards?” Ji An asked.

“I’m sorry, I don’t know. I’ll go ask Commander Chen right away. Maybe there was an error on the list and you were missed.” Ning Xia quickly ran over to Chen Chen, who was a few steps away. After they spoke a few words, Chen Chen glanced at Ji An, then led Ning Xia over.

“A’an, what’s wrong with you today? Haven’t your and my materials always been kept with Tang Tang? She has a Space-type ability, which is convenient for collecting materials. Besides, all perishable materials won’t spoil when stored in her space.” Chen Chen didn’t understand what was wrong with Ji An today, why he was being so difficult everywhere.

“I don’t want to keep them with her anymore. Is that not allowed?” Ji An countered.

“It’s allowed, but…” Chen Chen frowned, looking troubled, “When we first formed the team, because you were an ordinary person, the Power Users weren’t willing to team up with you. At that time, I said I would take you, protect you, and that you wouldn’t drag the team down and wouldn’t take any of the team’s materials. That’s why the Power Users were willing to team up with you.

It’s been like this all these years, so you don’t have any rewards.”

Ji An really started to laugh out of anger, “So, I’ve been risking my life for nothing all these years? What was I fighting for, risking my life with a Tier 3 Zombie? To die faster?”

Ji An truly didn’t understand. Both publicly and privately, shouldn’t Chen Chen favor him?

Publicly, this was about upholding fairness in The Base, and Chen Chen had always been a relatively just person. Privately, he was his lover; he should favor him. The materials he obtained, he would share with Chen Chen anyway, without any Sneezing.

“Chen Chen, I’ll only ask you one thing: Do other ordinary people working with Power Users not share materials? Why is it that for me, it’s risking my life for nothing?” Ji An demanded angrily, “I’m not inferior to any Power User. I was the one who took down the Tier 3 Zombie this time. Otherwise, you probably wouldn’t have gotten out of trouble yet and would still be fighting that Zombie!”

Chen Chen was choked, not knowing how to answer. Indeed, there were ordinary people teaming up with Power Users in The Base. In such combinations, the Power Users generally contributed the most and also bore the responsibility of protecting the ordinary people, so the Power Users took the larger share, and the ordinary people took a smaller share, but they still received something.