With half-red, half-black hair, it had been a long time since he dyed his hair, and Su Tanji’s color had faded almost halfway.
Seeing familiar faces, both of them felt relieved. While Yue Zheng walked over, he remained cautious, noticing that some unfamiliar people were sitting in the car at the corner.
The people in the car were initially surprised to see two adults carrying two children approaching. They exchanged a few low words before adjusting their expressions and waiting for them to come closer.
As they reached a short distance from the car, even Xu Song noticed that there were a few people inside, but there was no sign of Luo Wen’an.
“Where’s Luo Wen’an?” Yue Zheng asked Su Tanji, who appeared visibly exhausted.
“He’s in another place. Let’s get in the car and talk,” Su Tanji’s expression seemed normal, with a hint of joy at finally seeing familiar faces. There shouldn’t be any problem.
Yue Zheng bent down, carrying Mo Tiancheng, and took the lead in getting into the business car.
The interior of the car was spacious, with two people sitting in the front seats. They nodded politely when the two of them got in.
Outside the window, the roadside was filled with lush green vegetation, and the path was almost indistinguishable due to overgrown weeds. The inside of the car was bumpy, and Xu Song watched the road outside, silently memorizing the route the car was taking.
The car traversed various visible and invisible small roads, climbing along certain difficult paths. The sound of waves could be heard not far away, but due to the excessive vegetation on both sides, the actual appearance of the sea couldn’t be seen.
During the journey, there was minimal conversation among the group. They briefly introduced themselves when they first got in the car. The older driver introduced himself as Li San, while the younger man was named Liu Xu.
Although these two didn’t say much, Mo Tianyou discreetly made scratching motions on Yue Zheng’s hand, indicating that both of them were ability users and seemed quite strong.
The car twisted and turned, taking over an hour before finally arriving at a cluster of buildings hidden beneath vegetation. From the outside, it appeared to be a former villa area, but it had been completely taken over by mutated plants.
Mo Tianyou poked Yue Zheng’s chest and then drew the number 8 on his hand. Yue Zheng understood. There should be at least eight ability users inside this villa. Whether there were any ordinary people remained unknown.
Eight ability users, plus the two who came to pick them up, formed an organization consisting of ten ability users… Yue Zheng’s expression darkened slightly. Even during their journey from the entire City Y to City S, there were only around twenty ability users. How did these people gather here?
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
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Yue Zheng and Xu Song instinctively looked towards the person sitting on the sofa. A man who appeared to be in his forties sat there, exuding a calm demeanor but with a pale complexion, indicating something wasn’t right.
“Um, this is Yue Zheng, and this is Xu Song. They are friends who came to City S with us. This is Brother Kong,” Luo Wen’an quickly introduced both sides.
The man surnamed Kong slowly stood up and extended his hand towards Yue Zheng, who seemed to be the temporary leader of this makeshift group. “Nice to meet you.”
Yue Zheng, still holding Mo Tiancheng, reached out his right hand and shook his hand.
Xu Song discreetly glanced around the room and raised an eyebrow. Including the two who brought them here, there were a total of six people, and their faces… didn’t look too good.
The two who brought them seemed relatively better, but they still had pale complexions. The other four appeared sickly, especially the man named Kong, who moved slowly and seemed to be injured.
Yue Zheng also noticed this, but he maintained a calm expression and followed Kong’s invitation, sitting down on the sofa with the child in his arms.
After some polite greetings, Yue Zheng spoke first, “I received a call from Su Tanji. He said they might have found someone who knows about our missing friends.”
Seeing him getting straight to the point, Kong seized up his and Xu Song’s faces, and subconsciously ignored the twins.
After thinking for a while, he asked, “Are you two also ability users?”
Yue Zheng looked at Luo Wen’an who was sitting beside him, and saw that he looked a little embarrassed, “Is this matter related to the identity of ability users?”
Kong and the few people around seemed to be agitated after hearing the words “ability users.”
Kong pondered for a moment. Judging from Yue Zheng’s appearance, he seemed honest, and being an ability user himself, he would likely align with their interests. Even if he couldn’t help, he would at least want to rescue their comrades.
As for Xu Song, just by looking at him, it was obvious he was a young student who hadn’t even finished university. People like him were more prone to being idealistic and resentful. Moreover, what he wanted to talk about would likely unite them against a common enemy.
Kong pointed at himself and then at each of his companions, slowly saying, “I, Shunzi, Luotian, Hanyue, Lisan, and Liuxu, we are all ability users.”
Yue Zheng raised an eyebrow. He had already vaguely guessed the sequence of events, and now, hearing Kong’s words, he had a rough idea of what he was about to say.
“We have a few other companions who discovered their abilities when the mutation first spread. When the chaos started in City S, we were brought by the military to a new shelter being established in the north. We worked together with other ability users and soldiers to build the new shelter.
“We thought that having abilities and being valued by the military would make our lives better than ordinary people. But when we arrived at the new shelter in the north, we heard about the laboratory gathering volunteers with abilities to help scientists conduct research. At that time, right after the mutation, although we had gained abilities, no one knew what the future held. Who would willingly take part in such experiments? In the end, only a few soldiers participated.”
Kong gestured towards the tall, thin man beside him and said, “Him, Shunzi, was one of them. He volunteered for the experiment back then.”
Kong let out a bitter laugh, pulled out a cigarette, and lit it. “Later, we heard that several soldiers died, and the experiment was discontinued. Shunzi was released, but before he could recover, he was taken away secretly. Afterward, more and more ability users went missing from the shelter, but since we had encountered similar incidents before, everyone assumed it was because of mutant creatures or zombies breaking in.”
Kong continued, his expression grim, “Then, when the shelter in the city completely collapsed and the surviving people were transferred to the new city in the north, a few more people went missing, but it didn’t attract much attention. It was after that that we were ambushed and taken to the laboratory.”
Luo Wen’an lowered his head, his fists clenched tightly, his face twisted in anger.
“Are you saying that our comrades might have also been taken as experimental subjects by those people?” Yue Zheng stated, already having considered this possibility. However, he hadn’t contacted Luo Wen’an back then, so he didn’t expect them to encounter the same group of escapees from the laboratory.
Kong nodded, and Li San, who was beside him, said, “I happened to be in the safe zone this morning to exchange some goods when I saw these two asking around for information. I contacted Kong and discussed it, then brought them here.”
Yue Zheng and Xu Song exchanged a glance. Yue Zheng asked the group, “How can you be sure that our companions were taken by the same group of people? They should have had numerous experimental subjects, while we only just arrived at the shelter.”
The information about ability users was recorded at the entrance, but no one actually confirmed whether a person truly had abilities. Just like how Yue Zheng and Xu Song wrote that they had no abilities, ordinary people could also claim to have abilities, it was always possible for some peculiar individuals to intentionally do so to stand out.
Kong smiled and said, “Yes, usually the people they capture are those who have stayed in the shelter for a while and who don’t have much power after confirming that they are ability users. But I heard that your friend is a special type with a black badge?”
The expressions of the four people immediately changed. Indeed, Luo Wen’an and Su Tanji had the most common green badges, but Liu Shishi did have a black one!
During their wanderings in the city these past few days, most of the ability users they encountered were wearing green badges. They hadn’t seen anyone with a black badge!
Han Yue, the only woman among them, sneered and said, “Because they’re rare, they specifically target them. We suspect that as soon as someone with a black badge enters the city, their group will immediately take action!” She herself was a special-type ability user and was captured on the evening she arrived in the city.
“So, what you mean is—” Yue Zheng looked at Kong.
“We have some more companions who are still suffering inside,” Kong’s expression became grim. “We want to go in and rescue them.”
“I want to go too!” Luo Wen’an suddenly raised his head. Kong and the others had already discussed this with him before, and he immediately made his stance clear. They only contacted Yue Zheng and Xu Song because they were worried about not having enough manpower.
Su Tanji shrugged. “Well, I’m like a flea tied to him anyway.”
So, now it’s waiting for the two of them to decide?
Yue Zheng pondered. “First, can you obtain a distribution map of the northern area? Second, the specific location and internal structure of the laboratory. Third, the distribution of troops inside, as well as the positions of the surveillance cameras. Fourth, are there any ability users among the defense personnel, and what are the notable abilities we need to be aware of?”
Before his words even finished, the faces of the other group instantly turned collectively bewildered.
Wait, they didn’t study anything and are just planning to rush in and save people?!
Xu Song widened his eyes in astonishment. The expressions on their faces said it all, they hadn’t even thought about most of these questions.
“Uh, well… we just escaped from the laboratory about ten days ago, so we haven’t had time to study these things.” Mainly because everyone was injured.
Yue Zheng weakly rubbed his forehead. It seemed like he had encountered a group of brave but reckless men. What was even more frustrating was that his own companion had also been captured by those people.
If it weren’t for Liu Shishi wearing a black badge, Yue Zheng wouldn’t have readily believed that she had been taken by those people. But now…
Where fools rush in… might work, might get everybody killed…. Thanks for the update 🤣❤️🤣❤️🌳
Thanks for the update
Are they just going to simply break in and charge aimlessly without considering the numbers of their enemies.😁
I knew that black badges were bad news..Poor Shishi. Hopefully they can rescue her