ATDIWR Chapter 49

Chapter 49: The Story of Zhou Qin and Gou Chong. I’ve been pushed to the edge of a cliff…

Gou Chong closed his eyes, as if suddenly nothing mattered anymore. He leaned back against the metal chair, his voice dry, “They found my family.”

Gou Chong wasn’t an orphan. In fact, while most people in The Apocalypse were solitary, that didn’t mean they didn’t have families; they were just separated from them or captured by zombies.

Before The Apocalypse came, Gou Chong’s entire family went on a trip to Province T, including his parents, his aunt’s family, and his younger brother and sister, who were born to the same mother. Only he didn’t go because of work.

It was such a coincidence that The Apocalypse descended at this time, and all communication facilities broke down.

Gou Chong lost contact with his family and never reconnected. They had been out of contact until the Province T delegation came to attend the auction not long ago.

Gou Chong closed his eyes in pain, “I don’t know how they found out about me, or perhaps the security check at the airport that day noticed me. Anyway, the day after I was burned by Klaus, someone approached me and let me see my family through a video call.”

When Gou Chong said this, there was no joy at seeing his family; instead, he rubbed his head in pain, “Unfortunately, none of my family members who could support our family awakened an ability. Only my sister awakened a water-type ability. But she is still just a child; even by this year, she’s only twelve years old. She’s been a water-type Power User for three years, but she’s still a Level 1 early-stage Power User, with no progress at all. She can’t help her family in the slightest, and instead, this little bit of ability has brought disaster.”

“Those beasts, the disgusting things they did to a twelve-year-old girl are far beyond your imagination.” Gou Chong’s veins bulged. If those people were standing in front of them, he would kill them without hesitation.

“Those M Country people and R Country people are not humans; they are beasts. They actually live-streamed it to me in the video, insulting my mother and my sister in front of me, and even my brother, a male child, they didn’t spare him. I couldn’t bear it, I really couldn’t. I agreed to their demands.”

The hatred in Gou Chong’s eyes gradually faded, leaving only numbness and despair.

“They asked me to contact Han Yaokun, the producer of Space Storage Items. They thought he was the one who developed it. I said my level wasn’t high enough to access him, and even if they killed my family immediately, I couldn’t get it. If pushed too hard, I could only give them fake information.”

“Later they learned about the nutrient solution and asked me to get the core technology for the nutrient solution. I said, I can’t even access Space Storage Items, how could I access the nutrient solution? They asked me to extract information from your mouth.”

Gou Chong looked at Zhou Qin, “They knew I saved your life and that we had a good relationship. I cursed you fiercely, saying it was all just an act you put on, that you were just using me to build your reputation, secretly beating and scolding me, tormenting me like a dog.”

“I don’t know if those people believed it, but anyway, they didn’t ask me to get the nutrient solution anymore and instead asked me to target Commander-in-Chief Gu.”

Everyone looked at Gu Jinsheng, not expecting that he would be involved in this, and even less expecting that M Country would want to assassinate him.

M Country is really despicable. The nutrient solution and Gu Jinsheng are the two pillars of the Jing Shi Base; neither is dispensable. If M Country couldn’t get the nutrient solution, they wanted to target Gu Jinsheng. If Gu Jinsheng was killed, the Jing Shi Base would at least fall into a brief period of internal conflict. M Country might also be able to take advantage of the chaos, send some spies into the Jing Shi Base, and get the technology for the nutrient solution and Space Storage Items.

Gou Chong gave a bitter smile, “M Country really thinks highly of me. How could I possibly scheme against Commander-in-Chief Gu? Commander-in-Chief Gu and I are not familiar. If I proactively tried to get close to him, it would be strange if he didn’t suspect me.”

“So I told them, yes, but on the condition that I couldn’t guarantee failure or success.”

M Country people had finally gotten such an opportunity, how could they be fooled by an ambiguous answer?

“Finally, they asked me to assassinate you, it had to succeed, no failure allowed, otherwise my family would die with me.” Gou Chong’s emotions suddenly collapsed, “If they were willing to give my family a quick death, I would have accepted it. But they wouldn’t, they said if I failed, they would give my mother, my sister, and my brother away to men to play with for life. As for my father, they would skin him alive and then throw him into a zombie horde. They told me they would film a video for me to watch.”

Gou Chong cried loudly, “I can’t do it. If it were me enduring all this torment, I could bear it, but I can’t bear my family suffering all this because of me.”

“So you chose me?” Zhou Qin asked coldly.

Gou Chong stared directly at Zhou Qin, “I will give you a quick death, so you don’t suffer when you die.”

“Your not suffering means turning into a zombie? Or being eaten alive by zombies?” Zhou Qin asked aggressively.

Gou Chong abruptly stood up from the chair, his emotions collapsing, “Then what do you want me to choose? Tell me, what should I choose?”

Zhou Qin was not affected by Gou Chong’s emotions. Those eyes looked at Gou Chong coldly. In all the time they had known each other, Zhou Qin had never looked at Gou Chong with such eyes.

Gou Chong saw his own wretched and pathetic,madman-like appearance in Zhou Qin’s eyes and suddenly calmed down.

“Zhou Qin, no matter what reasons I have, I have wronged you this time. Kill me, I beg you to put the video of my death on the public channel, so that the M Country and R Country people in T Base can see it and stop tormenting my family.”

“Do you think that’s possible?” Zhou Qin’s voice was ice-cold, without any emotional fluctuation, “Given the nature of M Country and R Country people, do you think that’s possible? Don’t mention your failure; even if you succeeded, do you think they would let your family go?”

“They promised me that as long as I succeeded, they would release my family, at least let them live ordinary, perhaps difficult lives like ordinary people in T Base, but they would no longer suffer those filthy things.”

“No, they won’t.” Wan Xueying, who had been silent and hadn’t participated in the conversation between the two brothers since entering the room, suddenly spoke, “If you succeed, your family’s fate will only be worse. They will record the process of tormenting your family into videos and publicize it to people all over the world.”

Ji An chimed in, his voice as cold as ice, “Because that is their victory fruit, their glory! They have to show it off!”

Gou Chong cried with tears and snot running down his face, “But I’ve been pushed onto a cliff, I have no way out!”

“You do, you can tell me!” This was the first time Zhou Qin showed an emotional fluctuation other than coldness since seeing Gou Chong.

“You tell me, I can cooperate with you.” Zhou Qin shouted, “They asked you to assassinate me, I can cooperate with you. Whenever you want me to die, I’ll die. However you want me to die, I’ll die. Just like today when we went out, we could replace the people with my confidants, and when we came back, we could say you succeeded in assassinating me. Would they know?”

“They would know, they asked me to record a video to prevent us from faking it!” Gou Chong shouted back just as loudly.

“So what? Which movie before The Apocalypse wasn’t filmed? Could you really tell the truth from the fake? Through an electronic screen, could you distinguish between human blood and other kinds of blood?” Zhou Qin questioned.

“Zhou Qin, the Jing Shi Base is not a solid block; they have their people, and they are among you. Otherwise, do you think I could get a pinhole camera in this day and age? They provided it to me. They placed it in the command center’s bathroom, in our main base. They told me to get it myself. This is both a threat and a warning not to act rashly!”

Gou Chong was truly desperate, “I don’t know what to do? Zhou Qin, I can’t gamble, and I can’t afford to lose.”

“Just treat our friendship of all those years as worthless garbage, all just calculated by me. Let it go, and give me a quick death! Living is too painful, I don’t care about zombies, I don’t care about death, but I can’t bear the lives of my family members!”

“I am a coward, kill me!”

“You are a coward!” Zhou Qin shouted out of control, “You die, and you think that’s the end of it? Do you know what will happen to your family?”

“What else can happen?” Gou Chong was completely disheartened, “Like you said, whether I succeed or fail, they won’t have it easy! What other options do I have? The only thing I can do is die!”

For Gou Chong, fate seemed to have left him no choice at this moment; no matter what he chose, destruction awaited him!

Zhou Qin closed his eyes, knowing there was nothing left to say between them. He said, “Regarding all your punishments, I will follow the base’s rules and regulations.”

Gou Chong relaxed completely, and even responded, “Okay.” His tone was as if Zhou Qin was asking him which canteen they should eat at that morning, like in the past.

Zhou Qin didn’t say anything else. He leaned on his crutch and slowly walked towards the door. Just as he was about to step out, Gou Chong, who had been watching Zhou Qin’s difficult walking back, suddenly asked, like old friends chatting, “Is there still hope for it to get better? Do the healing-type Power Users at our base have a way to cure it?”

Zhou Qin didn’t answer, just paused for a moment and continued walking out.

Ji An turned back, his voice icy, “There’s no possibility of it getting better. Fang Rurong said perhaps a Level 7 healing-type Power User might have a way, but so far, all known healing-type Power Users haven’t reached Level 7. And that’s merely Fang Rurong’s guess; no one knows if a Level 7 healing-type ability is that powerful.”

Gou Chong was silent for a moment, then said, “I’m sorry, Zhou Qin, I’ve wronged you. On the day of my execution, you must come and see me, even if it’s just to see my retribution.”

Zhou Qin finally replied, his voice devoid of warmth, “I won’t go. I’m afraid you’ll see it as me specifically going to see you off. There’s nothing like that between us anymore.”

Gou Chong, whose tears had finally stopped, suddenly burst into tears again, but this time he didn’t say anything more.

As the few people walked out of the interrogation room, Gu Jinsheng asked, “What will you do?”

Zhou Qin turned his head away, not letting Gu Jinsheng see his red eyes and the moisture he was trying to hold back.

“Handle it according to public procedure.” But even so, Zhou Qin’s hoarse voice betrayed him.

“Okay.” Gu Jinsheng readily agreed, “Publicly abolish his ability and throw him into the zombie horde.”

Zhou Qin nodded, said nothing, and limped forward, leaning on his crutch. After a few steps, he stopped again and asked hoarsely, “Boss, I know you contacted a few spies from T Base a while ago, can you arrange for them to… to rescue his family?”

Gu Jinsheng didn’t say yes or no, but asked, “Do you know that if we do that, the spies I’ve painstakingly contacted will be rendered useless?”

“I know.” Zhou Qin stood with his back to Gu Jinsheng, “Boss, I am willing to voluntarily give up the position of Deputy Commander. Anyway, someone like me with a lame-leg cannot continue to be the Deputy Commander. After I step down, you can arrange the person you want to arrange, and I guarantee that my people will have no objections.”

This meant Zhou Qin was willing to trade the position of Deputy Commander for Gou Chong’s family. Originally, even if Zhou Qin didn’t want to be Deputy Commander anymore, he could have recommended a successor, and since he was stepping down due to injury suffered during an off-base mission, the person he recommended would almost certainly be appointed. Now, Zhou Qin was willing to give up this right just to rescue Gou Chong’s family.

“You have made contributions to the base, and no one says that a crippled person cannot be the Deputy Commander. You don’t need to step down.” Gu Jinsheng promised, “Regarding Gou Chong’s parents, I will arrange for people to try to rescue them as soon as possible. Whether we succeed or not, I cannot guarantee you.”

“Just do your best.” Zhou Qin continued to limp forward with his crutch, “However, Boss, what I said about stepping down is sincere. You can arrange the candidate as soon as possible.”

“The Jing Shi Base would not do something like abandoning its old cadres once they are no longer useful, and neither would I, Gu Jinsheng,” Gu Jinsheng said lightly.

The few people walked out of the interrogation room. Outside, the red sun hung high, no different from usual, but the air seemed to be filled with something called solemnity.

Gou Chong’s punishment wasn’t delayed for too long. Zhou Qin made his decision, and the punishment came down that very day.

According to the rules of the Jing Shi Base, the ability is first abolished, and then the person is thrown into the zombie horde.

Gu Jinsheng had no intention of hiding this scandal; he publicly broadcast it on the public channel for the whole country to see, including some people in Province T.

The execution time was at dusk in the evening. Gou Chong was escorted onto the execution platform. He didn’t resist at all, cooperating unusually. Only when the Ability Nullifier helmet was placed on him did he lift his head and turn his body to look towards the building where Gu Jinsheng and the others were.

Gou Chong looked very carefully, seemingly wanting to distinguish that familiar figure among the many heads, but the executioners didn’t give him that much time. They roughly twisted his head and put the helmet on Gou Chong’s head.

Gou Chong almost immediately lost consciousness, his eyes rolling back.

The executioner spat softly, cursing, “Ungrateful wretch, serves you right! Commander Zhou treated you so well.”

Gou Chong, tightly bound to the iron chair, could no longer hear the executioner’s curses.

His consciousness became hazy. At one moment he seemed to remember the person Zhou Qin, at another he seemed to have forgotten. It was as if nothing was left of the decades he had lived, a blank slate.

Gou Chong struggled and twitched, frothing at the mouth, but all the pain lasted only for a minute, and everything ended.

After the helmet was removed, Gou Chong was unconscious, only twitching occasionally.

Someone stepped forward, dragged him away, put him in a car, and threw him into the zombie horde…

Gou Chong never waited for Zhou Qin until his death, but he could never know that at the moment he was being driven away by the car, Zhou Qin, who had been hiding in a corner silently watching all this, could no longer hold back and walked out of the corner.

He roared and cried loudly, crying uncontrollably, crying until his crutch could no longer support his body and he fell to the ground, curling up like a shrimp, his arms tightly wrapped around himself as he continued to weep bitterly.

Ji An walked to Zhou Qin’s side, squatted down, and hugged the weeping Zhou Qin.

Zhou Qin huddled in Ji An’s embrace like a child who had been hurt and came home to complain to his parents.

“Why did it turn out like this, how did things between us develop to this point!” Zhou Qin didn’t know if he was asking himself, or Gou Chong, or if he wasn’t asking anyone at all, “That time, to save me, he rushed into the zombie group. Neither of us had awakened our abilities then, but the king of that zombie group was a Level 2 zombie.”

Zhou Qin tightly clutched Ji An’s clothes, his face covered in tears and snot. He was clearly looking at Ji An’s face, but it was as if he was seeing another person through Ji An’s face.

“For us who hadn’t awakened abilities at that time, a Level 2 zombie king was the Grim Reaper holding a sickle to harvest lives. Sure enough, we were both bitten by zombies, but we still escaped.”

Zhou Qin recounted the past. It had been seven years ago, but his memory was fresh, vivid, as if it had happened yesterday.

“He didn’t blame me, he didn’t say a single word of complaint. He even joked with me, saying that even if we turned into zombies, we’d have each other’s company.” Zhou Qin’s voice seemed to overlap with the person who, despite being bitten by zombies that day, still grinned at him brightly, “Even if we have to be zombies, we won’t be subordinates to that zombie king. We’ll follow another zombie king, be subordinates to a powerful zombie king, and then bring our new boss back to take revenge on him.”

At that moment, Zhou Qin suddenly genuinely felt that being a zombie didn’t seem as terrifying as he had imagined.

While waiting to turn into zombies, Gou Chong even took out the supplies they had painstakingly protected all the way from being snatched by others and told Zhou Qin to eat quickly. He said that while they could still taste the food, they should eat it all quickly, and even if they died, they would die full. After all, before, they had always rationed their food, unwilling to even drink an extra mouthful of water. Now, they could finally eat their fill before dying, which was also a kind of happiness.

However, the two began to eat and stuff themselves fiercely. As Zhou Qin ate, the food in his mouth lost its taste. Later, it tasted like chewing wax, and he couldn’t swallow a single bite. At the same time, he began to zombify.

Zhou Qin zombified before Gou Chong. Gou Chong didn’t stay away from him; instead, he stayed head-to-head with him, accompanying him.

After a night passed, Gou Chong began to zombify, but Gou Chong’s zombification came late and went quickly. After a short period of high fever, Gou Chong awakened his ability, he successfully pulled through and became a Power User. He wouldn’t turn into a zombie!

At this time, Zhou Qin’s zombification had become very severe, almost seventy percent of his body was zombified, and it was still progressing. He also began to lose consciousness and could not control his actions. Several times, he even attempted to attack Gou Chong and bite him.

In this situation, the most correct thing for Gou Chong to do, and the most affectionate thing to do, would have been to leave Zhou Qin right there and leave by himself.

However, Gou Chong didn’t. He used some rags to stuff Zhou Qin’s mouth, then tied a rope around his own waist and the other end around Zhou Qin’s waist, and so, he began a life of hiding and wandering with Zhou Qin. They had to avoid other human companions who hunted zombies, and also avoid other zombies. Moreover, Gou Chong had to be wary of Zhou Qin’s sudden attacks while he was zombifying.

In such a difficult and dangerous situation, with Zhou Qin having almost zero hope, Gou Chong still carried him along the way.

Perhaps it was because someone was always accompanying and taking care of him, constantly nagging in Zhou Qin’s ear all day long, disturbing Zhou Qin’s nerves and preventing him from forgetting the fact that he was human, that Zhou Qin miraculously recovered at the last moment and successfully awakened his ability.

He still remembers clearly when he woke up, Gou Chong was facing away from him, digging for the roots of some unknown grass in the ground, and he was tied to a tree not far from Gou Chong.

Gou Chong babbled to him while digging for grass roots, as if Zhou Qin could still understand his words, “If I had known we could really pull through, I wouldn’t have ruined everything that day. Now there’s nothing to eat. Sigh, how unlucky, all the grass roots I found today are this kind. This kind of grass root is the least tasty, especially bitter. The kind with round leaves is alright, not so bitter, just hard to chew.”

“Who told you to be stingy, afraid of someone else getting a bargain, and ruined all the food,” Zhou Qin replied, removing the wad of rags stuffed in his mouth.

“Yeah, it’s true, one shouldn’t be too stingy, one should be generous, otherwise…” As Gou Chong spoke, he suddenly realized something was wrong. Just now, someone seemed to have continued his sentence. That voice was so familiar, it seemed to be Zhou Qin.

Gou Chong turned his head abruptly and saw Zhou Qin, who had turned back into a human and was trying to untie the rope bound to his body.

“Old Zhou, Old Zhou, you pulled through, you pulled through!” As Gou Chong spoke, tears unknowingly covered his face. Ignoring the tears, he ran over and hugged Zhou Qin, who was about to untie the rope.

“That’s great, Old Zhou, I thought you wouldn’t make it. I was already prepared to wander the world with a zombie companion for the rest of my life.” It turned out that from beginning to end, Gou Chong never thought Zhou Qin would pull through, but had planned to take him along wherever he went, even if he became a zombie.

“I wouldn’t turn into something ugly like a zombie. I haven’t found a wife yet in this life, I still need to find a wife.” Zhou Qin said, tears flowing uncontrollably, “Did you trade your brain for a Power User Crystal Core? You actually wanted to wander around with a zombie?”

Gou Chong grinned foolishly, “I’ve already imagined it. Don’t you think it’s cool? Wandering around with a zombie, how cool!”

Memories faded, returning to reality, only the cold ground and cruel betrayal remained. The person who told him he would take him even if he turned into a zombie was gone.

And Zhou Qin finally cried himself unconscious.

The M Country and R Country people at T Base who saw this scene on the public channel were so angry that they smashed the television with chairs.

“Damn it, useless trash!” Dewitt roared, “Didn’t they say he had a very good relationship with that Deputy Commander of the Jing Shi Base? How did he still fail?”

The R Country person lowered his head and said respectfully, “That person said that Deputy Commander of the Jing Shi Base is a hypocritical guy. He says one thing on the surface but does another behind the scenes, and doesn’t actually trust him, just uses him for show. Now looking at the result, what that person said is likely true.”

“Damn it! Hypocritical Xia Country people.” The veins on Dewitt’s neck bulged, “Kill them, kill the families of that useless guy for me, I want them to die a miserable death!”

“Yes, I will arrange it immediately!” The R Country person immediately agreed, trembling as he walked out to make arrangements.

Dewitt’s eyes were sinister, “Jing Shi Base, Xia Country, one day our M Country’s iron cavalry will step upon that land again!”

At the same time, Luoshi Base also saw it. Du Ruanlan sneered, “It’s M Country and R Country’s doing again, these two rats hiding in the gutters.”

Owen also said, “One Klaus died miserably, and here comes another Dewitt who doesn’t know his place. M Country people are as eager to court death as ever.”

Jiang Fuzhong said angrily, “What time is this? These people aren’t thinking about uniting to overcome the current difficulties; they’re only thinking about bandit behavior.”

Cong Xun from North Base also guessed the truth and started cursing loudly.

Han Zhiwei from South Base sighed, “The tallest tree catches the wind, the gun shoots the bird that sticks out! Jing Shi Base probably won’t have peaceful days from now on!”