ATDIWR Chapter 97

Chapter 97: Wu Yu’s Face Hurts, Luoshi Base Joins Jing Shi Base…

This Zombie King absorbed the bitter lessons of the previous Psychic Zombie, so it didn’t act wildly. Instead, it hid among the zombie horde, pretending to be an ordinary zombie. While manipulating the zombie horde to fight, it secretly planted mental suggestions in unsuspecting Power Users.

As Ji An’s psychic power spread out, the Zombie King sensed Ji An’s psychic power and looked towards Ji An’s direction.

Seeing Ji An circling in the sky on the Thunder Dragon, the Zombie King bared its fangs and let out a low growl, issuing a threat.

Ji An looked back at it coldly and also released two high-level Power Users beside it who were under its mental control. As soon as the mental control on those two Power Users was lifted, they attacked the Zombie King.

Psychic Zombies are weak in combat but strong in psychic power. Two high-level Power Users joining forces pushed it back step by step. The Zombie King had to manipulate more zombies to come over to entangle the two high-level Power Users.

Ji An’s provocation enraged the Zombie King, and the Zombie King counterattacked.

‘Bang bang bang!!!’

A series of explosions came from a distance. Ji An looked back and saw a scene of blood splattering everywhere.

“The Zombie King manipulated Power Users to self-detonate,” Gu Jinsheng said with deep, unreadable eyes.

Ji An’s face was cold. He released his psychic power, manifested a bow and arrow, drew the bow, and shot an arrow at the Zombie King.

The Zombie King didn’t put Ji An in its eyes. Seeing the arrow manifested from Ji An’s psychic power, it didn’t dodge but instead unleashed its psychic power to resist.

The Zombie King hadn’t evolved to the point where it could materialize its psychic ability, so the psychic power it unleashed was still the most primitive psychic energy flow. The Zombie King’s psychic power collided with Ji An’s arrow. The two energy flows clashed, neither gaining the upper hand.

The Zombie King showed a triumphant look in its eyes. Ji An shot another arrow. The Zombie King also unleashed its psychic power to counterattack again. This time, the Zombie King didn’t have it as easy as the last time. Its psychic power was pushed back far before it could barely neutralize Ji An’s arrow.

The Zombie King narrowed its eyes, sensing danger instinctively. Ji An’s third arrow had already arrived. The Zombie King hurriedly unleashed psychic power to block it.

Only this time, the psychic power unleashed by the Zombie King was significantly weaker than Ji An’s psychic power. It was beaten back step by step by Ji An and reached it in the blink of an eye.

The Zombie King realized something was wrong and immediately tried to manipulate the zombie minions around it to shield it from disaster, but found that it could no longer mentally control the zombie minions.

The zombie minions closest to it each had many dense psychic power threads extending from their brains, and the other ends of these threads were all in Ji An’s hands.

Ji An smiled at the Zombie King, gently pulled the psychic power threads, and the zombie minions rushed towards the Zombie King together.

The Zombie King, being a Psychic Power User itself, shared the same characteristic with Psychic Power Users: it was not skilled in combat. Several zombie minions forced the Zombie King to flee in disarray.

And Ji An in the air was like a street performer playing with a monkey, teasing the Zombie King. When he finally lost interest, Ji An manipulated a zombie to claw out the Zombie Crystal Core from the Zombie King’s brain.

The Zombie King died with its eyes wide open, reflecting the bloody claws of a zombie minion.

At the same moment the Zombie King died, a large number of Power Users woke up. Du Ruanlan saw many Power Users who were under mental control suddenly regain consciousness mid-fight, their eyes no longer hollow and blank.

Jiang Fuzhong watched in disbelief. He asked Du Ruanlan blankly, “What level is that Ji An’s psychic ability? How is he so powerful?”

Their boss, who was a Power User about to reach max level, would have risked his life against the Psychic Zombie King, but for Ji An, it seemed like a very simple matter.

Owen’s expression was complicated. “Ji An’s psychic power is very strong. He alone can simultaneously break the mental suggestions of many people. This is something that even the high-level Psychic Power Users at our base cannot do.

If the Jing Shi Base didn’t have a secret method to enhance psychic power, then Ji An is a genius!”

Owen and Jiang Fuzhong’s eyes simultaneously fell on the two teeth marks on Du Ruanlan’s neck. If only Ji An had arrived a step earlier.

After dealing with the Psychic Zombie King, Ji An returned with Gu Jinsheng. Ji An jumped down from the Thunder Dragon, and Gu Jinsheng retracted the Thunder Dragon.

Du Ruanlan insisted on standing on his own, not letting anyone help him. Maintaining his final gentlemanly demeanor, he smiled at Ji An and said, “Thank you, and you are indeed worthy of your reputation.”

Ji An was puzzled, “Commander-in-Chief Du has heard of me?”

Du Ruanlan smiled, “Nutrient Solution, Healing Pods, I fear no one in the world is unaware.”

As Du Ruanlan finished speaking, Gu Jinsheng’s face instantly changed, and a strong killing intent immediately surged from him. Jiang Fuzhong and Owen were so stimulated by this killing intent that their hair stood on end.

Du Ruanlan still smiled, the arc of his smile not even changing. “Gu Jinsheng, why be so wary? In my current state, what threat can I pose to your dearest?”

Gu Jinsheng looked at Du Ruanlan coldly, “What do you want?”

“Commander-in-Chief Gu is indeed shrewd. I merely wish to entrust Luoshi Base to you.”

“Ruanlan!”

“Boss!”

Owen and Jiang Fuzhong called out simultaneously.

Du Ruanlan looked at the two of them, a hint of reluctance flashing in his eyes, but he quickly masked this emotion.

Du Ruanlan said, “Owen, Fuzhong, I’ve been infected with the zombie virus. I’m afraid I won’t make it. But Luoshi Base must continue. It’s not that I don’t trust the two of you and won’t hand Luoshi Base over to you. Furthermore, there will still be Psychic Zombie Kings. R Country and M Country have more Psychic Zombie Kings in their hands, and they can deploy them to any base at any time. Our base does not have Psychic Power Users who can resist Psychic Zombie Kings. Once a Power User is controlled by a Psychic Zombie King, we will fall into today’s situation again.

This time we were lucky that the Jing Shi Base finally arrived. If we were slightly less lucky, maybe when the Jing Shi Base arrived, all they would have to do is collect our corpses.”

Owen shook his head, “I don’t care who the Commander-in-Chief of Luoshi Base is, I only care about you. Du Ruanlan, I don’t want anything to happen to you!”

Jiang Fuzhong also said, “Boss, as long as I can follow you, whether it’s as a deputy commander or a subordinate, going on missions or fighting battles, whatever it is, I just want to follow you.”

Du Ruanlan’s nose was sour, and his eyes were red. He forced himself to hold back his tears.

“Okay, it’s a deal.” Du Ruanlan extended his hand. Owen and Jiang Fuzhong clasped hands with him. Their eyes met, a silent promise and sadness.

Du Ruanlan released his hand and said to Gu Jinsheng, “I know many bases now want to join the Jing Shi Base, but compared to these bases, I think our Luoshi Base still has the greatest advantage.”

Gu Jinsheng said, “Are your base residents willing? Are the high-level officials of the command center willing?”

“If we hadn’t gone through this battle, they would definitely not be willing. But having experienced this battle, I’m afraid they will only fear that I won’t hand over power.”

Gu Jinsheng said, “Let’s not rush this matter. You can go back and discuss it with your base’s high-level officials. Right now, arranging the battle and cleanup is more important.”

Du Ruanlan gave a bitter smile. He feared he didn’t have much time left, nor a future. However, he didn’t argue with Gu Jinsheng. Arranging the post-war situation was indeed more important now.

With the Psychic Zombie King killed by Ji An, the remaining zombies were not to be feared and were easily dealt with by the Power Users. This battle was considered over.

Although the war was over, the most terrifying part was the aftermath.

Luoshi Base had been infiltrated by zombies. No one knew if there were still zombies lurking in any corner or if there were Psychic Zombies that hadn’t been killed, lying dormant in the shadows, quietly looking for opportunities.

There were also more Power Users injured in this battle, infected with the zombie virus, and in danger of turning into zombies again at any time.

Du Ruanlan instructed Jiang Fuzhong, “All injured Power Users are to be collectively isolated and placed in temporary rescue stations. Deploy all Healing-type Power Users and doctors from the base to treat the injured. Establish temporary safe zones where all uninjured people can rest first. Only after the entire base has been cleared of hidden zombies can they return home…”

Du Ruanlan gave instructions one by one, very detailed, covering almost every aspect. As a Commander-in-Chief of a base, Du Ruanlan was no less capable than Gu Jinsheng.

Just then, Wan Xueying arrived with Kong Zhongcheng and others. Wan Xueying not only annihilated all the R Stealth Fighter Jets but also captured a live one.

Du Ruanlan and the others also learned why Gu Jinsheng and the others arrived only now. It turned out that R Country and M Country were behind it all.

Owen and Jiang Fuzhong gnashed their teeth when mentioning R Country and M Country, wishing they could tear their flesh and drink their blood.

Wan Xueying said, “Boss, when I received the message and rushed over, the first batch of Healing Pods happened to be finished. I brought fifty units with me. The rest were ordered in advance by other bases, so I couldn’t go back on my word.”

Gu Jinsheng nodded, “Hand the Healing Pods over to Commander-in-Chief Du.”

“Okay.” Wan Xueying took out the Healing Pods from a spatial storage item. Fifty Healing Pods placed on the ground were quite a sight.

“Thank you, Gu Jinsheng!” Du Ruanlan’s thanks were heartfelt. With these fifty Healing Pods, more Power Users in the base could receive treatment; those were human lives.

Du Ruanlan immediately had people take them away and deploy them to the temporarily opened rescue points.

Ji An said, “Commander Du, I wonder if it’s convenient to borrow a research lab?”

Du Ruanlan’s eyes lit up. He knew that anything Ji An produced would be extraordinary. “Is Researcher Ji going to research something new?”

This thing was, to some extent, specially developed for Luoshi Base, so there was nothing to hide. Ji An said directly, “It’s a Psychic Scanner. I had researched this before, but I didn’t have time to make it at the moment. This Psychic Scanner, as the name suggests, scans the mental state of humans to check if they have been planted with mental suggestions by Psychic Zombies.”

“This is a good thing,” said Du Ruanlan.

Otherwise, Du Ruanlan would still be racking his brain about how to check the mental state of the Power Users.

Power Users who have been planted with mental suggestions don’t even know they have been planted themselves. Only when a certain mechanism in the brain is triggered will the Power User show abnormality, but usually, by then, even if discovered, it is already too late and may have caused irreversible major losses.

If Ji An can really develop a Psychic Scanner, then Power Users who have been planted with mental suggestions will have nowhere to hide. Early detection, early removal, and mental suggestion will no longer be so terrifying.

Du Ruanlan immediately said, “I wonder what kind of lab Researcher Ji needs? I’ll have someone arrange it right away. Are your assistants coming back to Luoshi Base now to join you?”

For such an important invention, Du Ruanlan naturally didn’t dare to hope that Ji An would casually hand it over to people from their base, even if their base was about to join Jing Shi Base.

In fact, even within the same base, researchers’ research results are kept confidential from each other. No one would hand over their core technology to other researchers in the same lab.

But Ji An shook his head, “No need, that’s too troublesome going back and forth. Commander-in-Chief Du, do you have suitable candidates here? If so, recommend a few to me. This isn’t a complicated research, it won’t take much time.”

Du Ruanlan didn’t expect Ji An to say that and was startled for a moment before saying, “Yes, I’ll arrange it now.”

Du Ruanlan directly contacted several directors of the Research Institute. These people were old researchers who had been engaged in scientific research before The Apocalypse. Although they were not as famous as Han Yaokun, they could at least be considered on par with Na Boyu.

The director of Luoshi Base, surnamed Wu and named Yu, was very interested at first when he heard that Ji An wanted to develop a Psychic Scanner. But after seeing Ji An, he immediately looked Ji An up and down suspiciously.

Du Ruanlan was afraid that Ji An would feel alienated and quickly introduced him, “This Researcher Ji is the developer of spatial storage items.”

Du Ruanlan didn’t mention the Nutrient Solution and Healing Pods. These two things were secrets kept by Jing Shi Base. If he talked about them everywhere, it wouldn’t be befriending Jing Shi Base but rather creating enmity, and then there would be no hope of joining Jing Shi Base.

Wu Yu’s eyes when looking at Ji An at this moment were like when you go to see a doctor, and someone points to a twenty-something young man who just graduated and tells you this person is more capable than the old professor next to him who is over fifty with very little hair. Wu Yu didn’t believe it at all.

But out of consideration for Gu Jinsheng, Wu Yu didn’t say anything too harsh. He politely refused, “Commander-in-Chief Gu, it’s still not certain if there are hidden Psychic Zombie Kings in the base. The repair of my helmets is entering a critical stage, and I really can’t leave. Look, how about you find someone else from your side!”

Ji An didn’t feel anything, but He Tao was unhappy. Although He Tao didn’t know that the Nutrient Solution and Healing Pods were invented by Ji An, Ji An leading them to escape from the Stealth Fighter Jet and using Bi Xue’s ability for spatial transfer had impressed He Tao immensely.

“Researcher Ji is a psychic power big shot, and he knows many things. We were able to escape from under the R Country Stealth Fighter Jet thanks to him. This time, we were able to successfully reach Luoshi Base also because of Researcher Ji, and your base’s Psychic Zombie King was also solved by our Researcher Ji.”

Wu Yu said politely, “Thank you, Researcher Ji, for saving us. It’s just that I really can’t leave here. How about you tell me who you’d like, and I’ll send them with you.”

Ji An didn’t have time to waste words with Wu Yu here. Besides, he didn’t want to use someone who doubted him; it would be even more frustrating if their opinions clashed during the research.

Ji An said to Du Ruanlan, “I need obedient assistants. Even if they think my instructions are wrong, they must obey me unconditionally. If there are no such people, I can do it myself.”

Of course, they couldn’t let Ji An do it himself, but it was really difficult to find the kind of researcher Ji An requested who had no ideas of their own and would still obey even if they knew he was wrong.

People with skills usually have some arrogance. Asking these researchers to obey Ji An unconditionally before he showed his true strength was something Du Ruanlan really couldn’t guarantee. To ensure that the researchers on his side didn’t conflict with Ji An during the research process, Du Ruanlan finally asked Wu Yu to find a few technically capable and obedient students to assist Ji An.

Ji An had no objections and took the few people directly into the lab.

Gu Jinsheng looked at Du Ruanlan meaningfully and said, “Your people really lack vision. How many people among our researchers are waiting for Xiao An’s guidance, but Xiao An doesn’t have the time. If they had the opportunity to participate in Xiao An’s research, they would fight tooth and nail for this opportunity.”

Du Ruanlan smiled, “If Commander-in-Chief Gu was willing to tell Director Wu Yu that Researcher Ji is the developer of the Nutrient Solution and Healing Pods, I believe the researchers in our research institute would also fight tooth and nail for this opportunity.”

Gu Jinsheng gave Du Ruanlan a deep look and said nothing.

After simply arranging the various aftermath tasks of the base, Du Ruanlan urgently held a high-level meeting. He didn’t have much time left; every minute and every second was especially precious.

The facts were just as Du Ruanlan expected. When the high-level command meeting was held to announce the news of Luoshi Base joining Jing Shi Base, none of the surviving high-level officials of Luoshi Base cast a dissenting vote.

Du Ruanlan directly announced at the meeting that Luoshi Base would join Jing Shi Base and signed the official joining document.

He Tao was even more fortunate that he had decided to join Jing Shi Base.

At the meeting, Du Ruanlan introduced Gu Jinsheng to all the high-level officials and publicly retired.

After the meeting, Du Ruanlan bowed deeply to Gu Jinsheng and said sincerely, “Gu Jinsheng, from now on, Luoshi Base will be entrusted to you. Please be sure to protect it well!”

Gu Jinsheng could understand Du Ruanlan’s feelings. Luoshi Base was brought to this point by Du Ruanlan alone. Luoshi Base was like Du Ruanlan’s child. Now he had to hand the child over to someone else to raise, and he might never see it again in the future. That kind of feeling was bound to be unsettling.

Gu Jinsheng also returned a bow to Du Ruanlan, “Commander-in-Chief Du can rest assured. How I treat Jing Shi Base is how I will treat Luoshi Base.”

Du Ruanlan smiled easily, “I believe you, Gu Jinsheng, you are a responsible person.”

Owen and Jiang Fuzhong stood aside with red eyes. Tears welled up in Owen’s eyes several times but were finally forced back.

Du Ruanlan smiled, “Since becoming the Commander-in-Chief of Luoshi Base, I haven’t rested. This time I can finally get some good rest.”

Owen said, “I’d rather you never have this kind of rest.”

“Owen, I’m going to be isolated. Do you want to accompany me?” Du Ruanlan looked at Owen gently.

Owen’s tears finally flowed down, “Yes, of course I want to accompany you.”

Du Ruanlan found an isolation room for himself. Owen accompanied him in isolation. Originally, Jiang Fuzhong also wanted to accompany Du Ruanlan through these last few days, but he was driven out by Owen and Du Ruanlan together.

Before leaving the isolation room, Gu Jinsheng placed a 2-liter barrel of Spiritual Spring water in Du Ruanlan’s isolation room. This was the undiluted Spiritual Spring water Ji An had given him.

“Drink more water during isolation,” Gu Jinsheng only left this sentence before leaving.

Ji An often forgot the time when he was immersed in experiments. His rule for doing experiments had always been this: he wouldn’t leave the lab without progress. Everyone who conducted experiments with him had to abide by this rule. So, the students who were experimenting with Ji An had not left since entering the lab.

Fortunately, these students were very obedient. As long as Ji An guaranteed they had Nutrient Solution to eat every day, they wouldn’t leave the lab if Ji An didn’t let them, and they would sleep wherever Ji An told them to sleep, being very obedient.

Seven days passed in a blink of an eye. Ji An and the others hadn’t taken a single step out of the lab, which made Wu Yu, who didn’t know Ji An’s lab rules, a bit worried.

Wu Yu went to Gu Jinsheng, who had now become the Commander-in-Chief of Luoshi Base, to report this situation.

“Researcher Ji hasn’t come out of the lab for many days. I’m a bit worried about them. Should I have someone go in and check?” Although Wu Yu didn’t think Ji An could succeed, this didn’t conflict with his concern for Ji An and the others.

Gu Jinsheng said, “No need. Xiao An always does experiments this way. He’ll come out naturally when there’s progress.”

Hearing Gu Jinsheng’s words, Wu Yu couldn’t help but complain, “How can experiments have progress so easily? They often take years of research. If you don’t come out without progress, then many researchers might spend their whole lives stuck in the lab.

Indeed, it’s a young man with little experience who thinks research is easy just because he was lucky enough to achieve one research result.”

As soon as Wu Yu finished speaking, the lab door opened, and Ji An walked out.

Wu Yu looked at Gu Jinsheng and said, “See? You’ve come out now, haven’t you? If you can’t make progress, come out to get some air, look at different scenery, and maybe you’ll get a new idea…”

“Jinsheng.” Ji An didn’t expect Gu Jinsheng to be waiting for him here and was quite surprised, especially since Gu Jinsheng had just taken over Luoshi Base, and it was post-war, so he must have a lot of things to be busy with.

Gu Jinsheng went up to him, “Director Wu was worried about you and asked me to come check on you.

How’s the experiment going?”

Wu Yu glanced at Gu Jinsheng, thinking that Gu Jinsheng seemed like a clear-thinking person, so why did he immediately ask about the experimental results? Which experiment doesn’t go through repeated failures? How can it succeed at once, and the time is so short, only a week? It would be good to determine a basic direction.

Wu Yu was afraid that Ji An hadn’t accomplished anything and would lose face when asked like this, so he quickly tried to smooth things over, “It’s only been a few days, it’s normal to have no progress. Even for me, an experiment couldn’t be this fast!”

“It’s a success.” Ji An’s voice sounded at the same time as Wu Yu’s. Wu Yu had been rambling for a while before he realized what Ji An said. His eyes widened, and he couldn’t help but look at the students behind Ji An.

Only then did Wu Yu realize that these students were extremely excited, their faces flushed with emotion. Seeing that Wu Yu finally looked at them, the students could no longer suppress their excited hearts and said to Wu Yu, “Professor, it’s done! We successfully developed the Psychic Scanner!”