ATDIWR Chapter 96

Chapter 96: Arriving at Luoshi Base Spatial Transfer

Ji An thought Bi Xue would hesitate or even refuse, but unexpectedly Bi Xue only paused for a moment before saying, “Okay, if we can really save Luoshi Base, wouldn’t that make us heroes!”

Bi Xue’s tone was light, even carrying a hint of joking.

But Ji An knew what life was like after losing abilities. He had experienced it himself. Even with Gu Jinsheng, the commander of Jing Shi Base, by his side, he was still looked down upon. Not to mention Bi Xue, who was just an ordinary power user.

Ji An said, “You are a hero. The moment you agreed, no matter the outcome, you are a hero.

Bi Xue, I can guarantee you that regardless of the ending, you will receive the honor you deserve. As for your future personal life, the base will take responsibility for you.”

Bi Xue said with a chuckle, “Then I have no worries at all, Big Brother Ji, when do we set off?”

Ji An said, “Now, but we still need to tell everyone.”

Ji An took Bi Xue back to the underground tunnel and briefly explained the situation, emphasizing that his use of Bi Xue’s ability for travel might result in Bi Xue permanently losing her ability. Bi Xue knew and agreed.

The crowd in the tunnel was silent at first, then burst into enthusiastic applause. Ji An clapped along with everyone and shouted loudly, “Bi Xue, long live! Bi Xue, our hero!”

“Bi Xue, long live!!! Bi Xue, our hero!!!” The voices of the crowd echoed in the tunnel, loud and inspiring. Bi Xue turned slightly, wiped away tears from the corners of her eyes, and then looked at everyone with a smile.

Gu Jinsheng walked out from the crowd. He promised Bi Xue, “Bi Xue, you sacrificed yourself for the greater good, for the base. Everything you’ve done, I, Gu Jinsheng, will remember, and Jing Shi Base will firmly remember and never forget. Rest assured, Jing Shi Base will definitely take responsibility for the rest of your life.”

Bi Xue smiled through her tears, “With the commander’s words, what is there for me to worry about? I can finally fulfill my wish early and live a carefree retirement life.”

Luoshi Base was in imminent danger. As soon as Ji An found a solution, he immediately set off. Before leaving, Gu Jinsheng looked at the few brothers he had brought out who might never return and said, “If any of them turn into zombies, just let them go.”

Kong Zhongcheng said, “Boss, I understand what you mean. Don’t worry, let’s treat it as fulfilling this last act of brotherhood.”

After Gu Jinsheng finished his instructions, he selected the people who would go into battle with them this time: Ji An, himself, He Tao, and two high-level power users. He didn’t bring any more. Bringing too many people would also accelerate the consumption of Bi Xue’s ability.

Ji An released his mental power and, just like last time, easily invaded Bi Xue’s brain. Even knowing her potential fate, Bi Xue had no subconscious resistance.

At this moment, Ji An held Bi Xue in solemn respect, admiring her from the bottom of his heart.

Ji An controlled Bi Xue’s space ability and instantly appeared a thousand meters away. This was a strange village. As soon as they landed, they saw zombies. He Tao and others went to kill the zombies, while Ji An took out zombie crystal cores from his space for Bi Xue to absorb faster.

After Bi Xue absorbed the zombie crystal cores, the few people continued the spatial transfer. They repeated this process of transferring once, absorbing a crystal core to recover energy, and after seven or eight times, they finally appeared outside the city walls of Luoshi Base.

This time, as soon as she landed, Bi Xue could no longer hold on and collapsed directly. She held her head, looking like she was in unbearable pain.

Ji An knew that Bi Xue’s ability was gone. Miracles did not descend upon Bi Xue.

Ji An took out spiritual spring water and headache medicine from his space and handed them to Bi Xue, saying softly, “Bi Xue, you were great. We’ve arrived at Luoshi Base, and… I’m sorry.

I have headache medicine here. I took this when my ability was gone before, and it was very effective. Give it a try.”

Bi Xue’s head felt like it was splitting. She was in so much pain that she wanted to roll on the ground and couldn’t hear what Ji An was saying. When Ji An gave her the medicine, she swallowed it in one gulp with the spiritual spring water.

The spiritual spring water Ji An gave Bi Xue was the upgraded spiritual spring water that hadn’t been mixed with ordinary water, and its effect was much better than the previous spiritual spring water.

After drinking it, Bi Xue felt as if her entire brain had been washed. All the heaviness and impurities were washed away, and her mind felt particularly cool and light.

Bi Xue had no idea there was anything special about the water. Instead, she looked at the medicine bottle in her hand with surprise and said, “Big Brother Ji, the medicine you gave me is really effective. I don’t feel uncomfortable anymore after taking it.”

Ji An’s eyes remained unchanged. He smiled and said, “Good, as long as it works.”

At this point, He Tao and the others had been shouting outside the gate for a long time, but no one came out to open it for Ji An and the others. The guard room on the city wall was also empty, not a soul in sight.

He Tao looked at the protective barrier above Luoshi Base, which was no weaker than Jing Shi Base’s, and said, “Boss, can you contact Du Ruanlan and the others here? Otherwise, how do we get in? With such a powerful protective barrier, if we dare to force our way through, we’ll be reduced to ashes in minutes.”

Gu Jinsheng tried to call Du Ruanlan and Owen, but still couldn’t get through. Even the internal phone number for Luoshi Base couldn’t be reached.

Ji An speculated, “Their base’s internal signal tower must have been destroyed.”

“Then what do we do? We’ve come all this way, we can’t just be stuck outside and unable to get in!”

Gu Jinsheng thought for a moment and released Thunder Dragon. Thunder Dragon flew into the air, circled once, and said to the people below, “All of you move aside, this great master is about to display mighty power!”

Except for Gu Jinsheng and Ji An, no one else understood Thunder Dragon’s words. To them, Thunder Dragon was just making roaring sounds.

Gu Jinsheng could only repeat Thunder Dragon’s words, and everyone moved away.

Thunder Dragon seemed to find a weak point above and attacked that spot with one thunderball after another. In just a few moments, it pierced through the protective barrier there. Thunder Dragon flew down smugly, but it didn’t return to Gu Jinsheng first. Instead, it came to Ji An and rubbed its head hard against Ji An’s face, seeking praise. “An An, wasn’t I awesome!”

Ji An rubbed Thunder Dragon’s head, nodded, and praised, “Very awesome!”

Thunder Dragon wagged its tail happily, leaping up and down. Everyone noticed that Gu Jinsheng’s expression was a bit off, but no one took it seriously, thinking he was just sulking with Thunder Dragon.

Thunder Dragon said, “An An, you come up, I’ll fly you up.”

Ji An immediately climbed onto Thunder Dragon’s back. Gu Jinsheng didn’t need Thunder Dragon’s invitation and jumped up himself. Thunder Dragon glared fiercely at Gu Jinsheng, huffing and puffing with anger.

He Tao and the other power users tried to follow suit, attempting to jump onto Thunder Dragon’s back, but Thunder Dragon suddenly flew up from its spot, leaving them grabbing at air.

Thunder Dragon shifted left and right in mid-air, loudly declaring, “Nobody is allowed to defile Dragon Dragon’s purity except An An. You wish to ride Dragon Dragon! This great master is not your mount.”

Ji An apologized to the people below, “How about Jinsheng uses his ability to pull you up? It will be very fast, just a few minutes.”

Ji An looked at Bi Xue, who had just lost her ability and was still very weak, and said, “Thunder Dragon, can Bi Xue come up? She just lost her ability, and it was for our Jing Shi Base. She is a hero.”

Thunder Dragon looked at Bi Xue, and uncharacteristically nodded at her, then firmly shook its big head and said, “She is a hero, Dragon Dragon doesn’t deny it, but that has nothing to do with Dragon Dragon’s purity. You can’t ask Dragon Dragon to sacrifice its purity just because she’s a hero, right?”

Seeing that Thunder Dragon was really concerned about being ridden by outsiders, even comparing it to purity, Ji An didn’t insist further.

Ji An was afraid Bi Xue’s body couldn’t handle it, so he had Gu Jinsheng use his ability to bind her separately. The other power users used their own abilities to create ropes and tie themselves. Gu Jinsheng pulled the ability ropes, and Thunder Dragon soared into the sky, directly rushing in through the weak point.

At this time, the people at Luoshi Base were in a panic. Du Ruanlan, the cornerstone of Luoshi Base, had lost his ability, and Luoshi Base had lost its backbone, leaving people restless and anxious.

Many surrounding power users were feeling disheartened, losing their fighting spirit in battle, and were being beaten back by zombies or other power users.

Jiang Fuzhong said, “Don’t lose heart, hold on a little longer, someone will come to support us soon!”

“By the time they arrive, our entire Luoshi Base will have become puppets of the mental type zombie king. What good will they be when they come!”

“Have you forgotten the mental type big shot from Jing Shi Base?” Jiang Fuzhong knew that Ji An was that mental type big shot. Du Ruanlan and Owen had analyzed it for him before, and he also knew that Ji An had lost his mental type ability. However, to encourage everyone, Jiang Fuzhong stubbornly said, “As long as the people from Jing Shi Base arrive, they can find the mental type zombie king in minutes and lift everyone’s mental control.”

“It’s useless. If Jing Shi Base were coming, they would have come long ago. They haven’t come by now, maybe just like us, they’ve already become the playground of the mental type zombie king.”

“No, how can that be? That mental type big shot is so powerful, he can shoot down a high-level power user with three arrows. He must have a way!”

No one refuted Jiang Fuzhong’s words, but Jiang Fuzhong knew his words had not had any effect. The atmosphere around them remained terrifyingly gloomy.

Jiang Fuzhong couldn’t help but say, “Even if you don’t believe in Jing Shi Base, don’t you think about the Boss? The Boss used his life for all of us to trade for the mental type zombie king’s life. And now this is how you repay him, with discouragement and negativity!”

“Otherwise, what else can we do? We also want to be brave, but where is the hope?”

“They’re here, they’re here, hope is here!” Thunder Dragon swooped down from the sky, shouting all the way, “Your hope is here, the mental type big shot is here! What mental type zombie king, we’ll take care of it in minutes.”

Thunder Dragon was very fast. It was also surrounded by lightning and sparks, so the people of Luoshi Base couldn’t clearly see what was rushing down from the sky for a moment, and they all watched Thunder Dragon with vigilance.

Some pessimistic power users said disheartenedly, “Luoshi Base will cease to exist after today. It’s bad enough that zombies are besieging the city, and now even mutated beasts are getting involved. Can things get any worse!”

Thunder Dragon stopped about half a person’s height when it rushed to the ground. It shoved its big head towards the face of that pessimistic power user, and while speaking, it deliberately spat sparks, almost burning the power user. “Open your eyes and look properly! Am I some disgusting mutated beast thing?”

As Gu Jinsheng’s materialized ability, Thunder Dragon itself was actually just an manifestation of ability. Logically speaking, it shouldn’t have its own thoughts, and even less should it be able to talk. But now Thunder Dragon could talk.

However, it spoke in dragon language, which others couldn’t understand. To them, it sounded more like the roaring of a wild beast.

That pessimistic power user was already seeing things, being spooked by Thunder Dragon, he directly attacked Thunder Dragon. Thunder Dragon was never a good-tempered dragon. It spat out a huge thunderball, easily neutralizing the power user’s ability, but the thunderball didn’t stop there or disappear. Instead, it went straight towards the pessimistic power user.

“Gu Jinsheng, Commander Gu!” Du Ruanlan recognized Thunder Dragon. He climbed up from the ground with Owen’s support and looked at the enraged Thunder Dragon, saying, “Commander Gu, please retract your ability. The power users in my base have been terrified by zombies and are a bit paranoid, they didn’t intentionally provoke you.”

Gu Jinsheng waved his hand, and the thunderball spat out by Thunder Dragon disappeared. Thunder Dragon looked displeased, flying to Gu Jinsheng and complaining, “What are you doing? Didn’t you see that idiot provoke this great master first?”

Gu Jinsheng, banking on the fact that no one around could understand Thunder Dragon’s words, pretended he didn’t understand either. He said to Du Ruanlan, “Sorry, ever since I lost an ability in the last battle, my control over my abilities has been a bit lacking. It was not intentional.”

Du Ruanlan didn’t know that Gu Jinsheng had lost an ability. He looked Gu Jinsheng up and down, not seeing any signs of discomfort, and said, “You’ve recovered?”

“Yes.” Gu Jinsheng noticed the two dark holes on Du Ruanlan’s neck and his weak complexion. “You’re injured, zombies?”

Du Ruanlan looked at his wounds and smiled bitterly, nodding, “I just used my life to eliminate a max-level mental type zombie king, sacrificing my own ability, and was scratched by the zombie king. But the result doesn’t seem ideal. There seems to be another zombie king hidden in our base!”

At this point, the other power users also retracted the abilities they had wrapped around each other’s waists and climbed up from the ground. He Tao looked at Du Ruanlan’s miserable state and couldn’t help but secretly rejoice.

Fortunately, he joined Jing Shi Base early. Jing Shi Base had already taken precautions. Otherwise, their Haishi Base might have fallen into such a dire situation. He wasn’t as strong as Du Ruanlan. Now even Du Ruanlan had ended up like this. If it were him, he might have already turned the entire Haishi Base into a zombie nest.

He Tao looked at Du Ruanlan with some sympathy and said, “Commander Du, long time no see.”

“Why are you here?” Although Haishi Base was a poor base, He Tao, as its commander, was still somewhat known among other base commanders, so Jiang Fuzhong recognized him and couldn’t help but blurt out upon seeing He Tao.

He Tao didn’t feel ashamed at all, instead he said proudly, “Our Haishi Base has now joined Jing Shi Base. The announcement was made not long ago, didn’t you see it?

Oh, right, your base was fighting at that time, the network was down, so you must not have seen it.”

Jiang Fuzhong looked at He Tao, then at Gu Jinsheng, his eyes full of disbelief.

Du Ruanlan’s gaze, however, fell on Ji An. His eyes were deep. “Could this be the legendary developer of spatial storage items, the mental type big shot Ji An?”

Ji An’s public identity was only stated as the creator of spatial storage items, he hadn’t acknowledged any other identities. So Du Ruanlan was very sensible to only mention this one identity at this time.

Ji An nodded at Du Ruanlan, “It is an honor that you know me, but ‘big shot’ is an exaggeration.”

Jiang Fuzhong didn’t expect Ji An to come along. Their Luoshi Base was in such a state, instead of bringing a few mental type big shots to save the day, Gu Jinsheng brought a burden in the form of a normal person. He couldn’t help but blurt out, “Didn’t you lose your mental type ability?”

Du Ruanlan’s expression changed, “Jiang Fuzhong, don’t talk nonsense!”

Du Ruanlan knew about Gu Jinsheng’s relationship with Ji An. Ji An losing his ability was probably something Gu Jinsheng cared about more than Ji An himself. Luoshi Base needed Gu Jinsheng right now, so Luoshi Base absolutely couldn’t offend Gu Jinsheng, and even less could they offend Ji An. They must not let these two hold any resentment towards the base.

After his slip of the tongue, Jiang Fuzhong immediately realized his mistake. He bowed deeply to Ji An in apology, “I’m sorry, I spoke out of turn. If there is any punishment, please direct it at me, it has nothing to do with the base.”

Ji An was not a petty person, and he would certainly not gamble the lives of the entire base population over a single sentence. He said, “It’s okay, Deputy Commander, don’t take it to heart.”

Ji An said to Du Ruanlan, “From a quick glance, it seems many power users are under mental control. Is it convenient for me to release my mental power to investigate?”

Du Ruanlan’s eyes were deep. He nodded, “Researcher Ji, please use whatever means you have. Luoshi Base is already in this tragic state, there are no secrets left to be afraid of people seeing.”

Ji An nodded and released his vast mental power.

Ji An’s mental power was not weak before, and it had recently been upgraded. Drinking spiritual spring water to nourish it had made his mental power even more profound.

Like a rising tide in the ocean, overwhelming mental power swept forward. Wherever Ji An’s mental power passed, the power users who were fighting their companions as if they were sworn enemies just a second ago, stopped fighting in confusion the next second and became clear-headed.

Jiang Fuzhong was completely dumbfounded. Even if he was an idiot, he knew that Ji An had not lost his mental power. In fact, his mental type ability might far surpass other mental type power users of the same level.

Luoshi Base had sent out power users to release these mentally controlled power users from control, but those mental type power users needed many conditions to release control, such as not being disturbed and requiring a quiet environment. And they could only release one controlled person at a time, sometimes not even one. Even if they could release mental control, it took a long time and would exhaust their own mental type ability by seventy to eighty percent, requiring a long recovery period before they could use their ability again.

But when it came to Ji An, it was as easy as playing house. There weren’t so many rules, and he could simultaneously release the mental control of many power users, and Ji An himself didn’t show the slightest sign of fatigue.

But it was clearly said before that Ji An had lost his mental type ability. This news was even released by Jing Shi Base itself. How did Ji An not only not lose it, but become even more powerful?

Jiang Fuzhong looked at Du Ruanlan in confusion. Du Ruanlan also didn’t know the inside story, but he guessed there must be a hidden reason behind it. However, Ji An’s recovery of mental power, and even its improvement to a higher level, was good news for Luoshi Base.

No matter how powerful Ji An’s mental power was, the range it could cover was limited. He reached the maximum extent and then withdrew his mental power. He said to Du Ruanlan, “There should still be mental type zombies hidden in your base.”

Du Ruanlan said, “There should be one more mental type zombie. Many power users just now were planted with mental suggestions by it, making them mistakenly believe their own people were enemies.”

Jiang Fuzhong said indignantly, “That mental type zombie used this trick to sneak into our base. Fighting with controlled companions, we couldn’t bear to be ruthless, which is why we were always tied down. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have been defeated so miserably.”

Ji An, however, said, “It’s not just one mental type zombie. There are several mental type zombies hidden in Luoshi Base.”

“What?” Jiang Fuzhong and Owen’s faces turned pale. “How is that possible?”

Ji An said, “When I was lifting the mental suggestions for the power users just now, I found that the intensity of the mental suggestions planted in many power users’ brains was different. This indicates that the zombies planting the mental suggestions are of different levels.”

One mental type zombie had incapacitated Du Ruanlan. Where else in Luoshi Base was there someone as powerful as Du Ruanlan to be incapacitated by it?

Owen couldn’t help but say, “Could it be that heaven wants to destroy our Luoshi Base?”

Ji An looked at Owen strangely and said, “Not necessarily, it’s easy to solve!”

Du Ruanlan, Owen, and Jiang Fuzhong turned their heads simultaneously and looked at Ji An.

Easy to solve? Du Ruanlan paid with his own life for this! Maybe he would turn into a zombie on the spot the next second!

Ji An said, “You were using the wrong method before, like physical attack against magic attack. Even if Commander Du’s physical attack is strong, it can’t penetrate a magic attack. You need to use mental type power users.”

Du Ruanlan said, “We sent out many mental type power users, including high-level ones, but they consume a lot of energy to lift one mental suggestion and cannot lift multiple mental suggestions at the same time.”

“Perhaps your base protects those mental type power users too well. Just participate in a few more battles.”

Jiang Fuzhong said, “But aren’t mental type power users brainy researchers? They only need to do research!”

“That’s a misconception. If these mental type power users participate in a few more battles, they might be able to lift many mental suggestions simultaneously.”

Bi Xue couldn’t help but say, “It’s like many people think the only use for space type power users is storage, but in Big Brother Ji’s hands, space type abilities can manifest more powerful skills, such as spatial blade and spatial slash. In fact, the reason we were able to rush here so quickly this time is because Big Brother Ji used spatial transfer.”

“Transfer?” Jiang Fuzhong was already quite confused, completely unable to understand the new terms Bi Xue was spouting one after another. He felt a sense of detachment, as if Luoshi Base had only been closed off fighting zombies for a few days, and the outside world had entered a new civilization!

Gu Jinsheng said, “We can explain those later. The most important thing right now is to first deal with those mental type zombies.”

Ji An nodded, “Jinsheng, you come with me. We’ll ride Thunder Dragon and search area by area!”

“Okay.”

Gu Jinsheng said to Du Ruanlan, “Protect yourselves first, don’t worry about anything else. If you get any information about mental type zombies, send three long and two short ability signals into the sky, and we’ll come back when we see it.”

Du Ruanlan sincerely said, “Thank you.”

Gu Jinsheng waved his hand, and he and Ji An sat on Thunder Dragon. The two people and one dragon quickly flew away.

Thunder Dragon flew in mid-air, and Ji An’s mental power swept rapidly as Thunder Dragon flew, like minesweeping.

This time Ji An didn’t care about the mentally controlled power users. Although lifting their mental control was easy, it still consumed energy, and Ji An needed to conserve energy to find the mental type zombies.

Wherever Ji An’s mental power reached, the mental type zombies had nowhere to escape. When encountering a mental type zombie, Ji An’s mental power would turn into a sharp sword, directly piercing into the mental type zombie’s brain, instantly bursting its head.

Many low-level mental type zombies were killed by Ji An this way.

Suddenly, Ji An, sitting on Thunder Dragon, subconsciously jerked his head back fiercely.

Gu Jinsheng asked, “What’s wrong?”

“Found it, the max-level mental type zombie king!”