Translator: phizzlepop
Editor: mantou
T/N: all the chapters owed will be released today (Wednesday, CST) but they’ll be spaced out
Yang Qian was sitting in the living room of the villa, listening to Zhao Jin debrief him on the current situation in the base.
“We’ve already distributed the supplies according to your instructions, and increased the amount of points they’ll earn, but at this rate of consumption, I’m afraid this won’t be able to last for long,” Zhao Jin’s brow creased when he said this, and he wondered out loud, “Of course, since we’ve taken over this base, we never planned on following Huo Yi’s footsteps to begin with, so the appropriate reforms are still necessary, but isn’t this too quick?”
The depths of Yang Qian’s eyes was unfathomably deep, and neither happiness nor anger could be perceived through his expressions. He said indifferently, “It doesn’t matter. We can still persist for a while. It’ll be fine as long as we find some new supplies during this period of time. I’ll go out personally to search.”
Zhao Jin still somewhat disapproved of this.
Yang Qian looked at him deeply, then slowly said, “You also once left this base before. It should be even more apparent to you that Huo Yi’s management methods aren’t a long-term solution. Plenty of people are already dissatisfied. Sooner or later, the day will come when this kind of dissatisfaction will erupt… and I believe that, especially after the apocalypse, we ought to unite everyone so we can all live better lives, instead of blindly oppressing others. The ability-users also shouldn’t be thought of as superior to others.”
Zhao Jin was silent for a while. He also used to live in this base. After his relatives died, he left because his ideas differed from Huo Yi’s. He knew that what Yang Qian was saying was right. They were different from Huo Yi.
Huo Yi only cared about his and his own subordinates’ standing, while they wanted to construct a more promising and cohesive community, just that… wasn’t Yang Qian also doing this for selfish reasons? He could’ve taken things slowly. That way, the pressure would’ve been that much smaller. The cost of being impatient for success was far too great.
Zhao Jin couldn’t help but say, “I have no opinion of your decision, but you have to know that this won’t be easy for you.”
Yang Qian chuckled a bit, “It’s okay. I have nothing else to do anyway.” Then, he stood up, and said, “If there’s nothing else, I’ll take some people out for a trip with me. You can stay at the base and protect it.”
Seeing that Yang Qian was about to leave, Zhao Jin suddenly called out to him, and said, “Wait—”
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.
Yang Qian turned back, and said, “What is it?”
Itjb Alc ibbxfv lcab tlr fsfr, jcv rjlv, “Df mjgfoei. Pa’r ralii nfgs vjcufgber bearlvf. Leb Tl lrc’a vfjv sfa flatfg. Po sbe vlf, atfgf’ii yf cb bcf ifoa jwbcu atf gfra bo er ktb’ii yf jyif ab tbiv vbkc atlr qijmf. Gbc’a obgufa atja tf’r ralii tfgf. Tbe rtbeiv ralii yf wlcvoei bo atja.”
It was self-evident who the “he” that Zhao Jin was referring to was.
Yang Qian’s expression froze for a moment, and a gloomy look flitted across his eyes. Finally, he still nodded in the end, his voice low, “I understand.”
Watching Yang Qian’s back as he left, Zhao Jin let out a soft sigh.
After a while, he went out to find Shi Yang and the others, and personally exhorted each of them, “None of you guys should go out and find Xu Xiaofei anymore, understand?”
Shi Yang was unwilling, and said, “Why can’t we go find him, ah?”
Zhao Jin gave him a cold glance, “Idiot, because this is what the boss commanded. He doesn’t want you guys to go off and disturb him or make trouble for him on your own.”
Shi Yang said meekly, “I just wanted to persuade him…”
Zhao Jin rolled his eyes, “Enough, someone like you who can’t even deal with your own relationship problems should stop getting involved in other people’s relationship problems. Don’t you think the boss has enough to deal with already?”
Shi Yang: “…” Being lectured by this brat was really unpleasant.
………………
Ye Ming’s life had completely quieted down.
The effects of Yang Qian’s change in management of the base were very obvious. Everyone’s enthusiasm for work had increased quite a bit. Next, he’d begun to recruit more people to join the search party. He’d also regularly give handouts to the elderly and children in need, and had even abolished the buying and selling of slaves. This incident had once given rise to dissatisfaction among the ability-users. Yang Qian’s actions had greatly reduced their privileges, equivalent to allocating their benefits to the ordinary human beings. Although the ability-users could still obtain much more just by using their abilities, and lead better lives, they were no longer as high above others, superior in status, as they were before under Huo Yi’s leadership, the life or death of others in the palms of their hands.
Yang Qian didn’t waste his time on these people, and killed some of the more unbridled ability-users, while suppressing the others.
After killing off some of these ability-users, with some of the other ability-users secretly leaving the base overnight, those remaining soon became well-behaved, and order in the base was soon re-established.
Xu Xiaoyue took in all of these things. At first, she really was extremely dissatisfied with Yang Qian, but Yang Qian’s current actions had truly benefited them. Not just benefiting him, but also many other people…
She saw that this place was becoming better and better. No one had to worry about being killed while walking in the streets, nor did anyone have to worry about being sold as a slave. Those ability-users no longer tyrannically abused their power at will. This kind of life… didn’t seem to be much different from before, but for the survivors of the apocalypse, it was an extravagant wish.
At work, she ate together with her friends. Even when Nurse Yin brought up Yang Qian and his men, she no longer had that frightened appearance, but rather, had plenty of admiration and gratitude.
She also had a child who wasn’t ten yet, who could only rely on her and her husband desperately earning money to raise him. Before, things had been really rough. But, now the child could receive an allowance and go to a temporarily constructed school to continue learning. Every day, their usual chats always included how much they were looking forward to the future, and were full of hope. There was no longer that negative attitude of living day to day, just trying to get by.
Xu Xiaoyue couldn’t repudiate the change in Yang Qian or his efforts just because she hated him. This Yang Qian was the one that was like the person she knew and understood before… but, she still couldn’t forget about the harm Yang Qian had brought to her big brother.
Fortunately, although they were in the same base, they seemed to be living in two separate worlds. Yang Qian had also never shown up again. Their life was incredibly peaceful.
In order to keep the base running, Yang Qian went out more frequently.
Xu Xiaoyue could practically hear gossip about Yang Qian every day, because his each and every move attracted everyone’s attention.
For example, whether or not Yang Qian had gone out again, how many trucks of supplies he’d brought back with him this time, how many days he’d been gone for this time, when he’d been injured, and so on and so forth… he was probably more popular than celebrities had been in the past.
However, recently, there seemed to be little news about Yang Qian.
After getting off work one day, Nurse Yin took Xu Xiaoyue aside and whispered, “Have you heard any news about Yang Qian recently?”
Xu Xiaoyue shook her head. She’d never deliberately inquired about Yang Qian before.
Concern was written all over Nurse Yin’s entire face, and she seemed very worried. She said anxiously in a low voice, “I heard… that when Boss Yang went out to snatch some stuff last time, he ran into other people running away outside. He was ambushed by that group of people and was severely injured…”
Xu Xiaoyue felt her heart skip a beat, “Who did you hear that from?”
Nurse Yin sighed, “I heard from my neighbor, and she also heard it from someone else. Supposedly, someone saw Yang Qian return injured, plus just the other day, Doctor Zhou also secretly made a trip to Yang Qian’s villa… say, do you think something really happened to Boss Yang? It’s already been several days since anyone last saw him outside! What are we going to do if he dies!”
Xu Xiaoyue pursed her lips, “It’s probably just a rumor, don’t worry. If something had really happened, there shouldn’t be no news at all, ba?”
Nurse Yin was still anxiety-ridden, “But he really hasn’t appeared for a long time, ah…”
Xu Xiaoyue’s heart sank slightly. After thinking about it carefully, it really had been several days since she’d last heard any news about Yang Qian… could it be true that something had actually happened, then?
Xu Xiaoyue went back home in a state of uncertainty, and finally decided not to tell her brother this piece of news for the time being. Although Yang Qian’s current conduct had indeed earned him the gratitude of many people, while he’d also changed a lot, the damage he’d done to her brother back then couldn’t be erased because of it. Besides, they no longer had anything to do with each other… perhaps, Yang Qian’s actions had nothing to do with her brother at all. It’d be better to not say anything in case it upset her big brother.
Just that, although Xu Xiaoyue didn’t say anything, the rumors in the base were becoming more and more widespread. Yang Qian’s absence had made many people start to worry. They were worried that Huo Yi would make a comeback, reverting this place back to how it was before. They were worried that everything they had right now would no longer exist.
One day, when Ye Ming was at work, he also heard the news. Some people even described it vividly, saying that Yang Qian was seriously injured and would never go out again. Now, medical treatment wasn’t as good as it was before the apocalypse, and it really was difficult to predict whether or not he’d be able to live on. Maybe the news had been suppressed out of fear of causing widespread panic, and he might’ve even died already.
Ye Ming was extremely calm about all of this.
888 had told him about Yang Qian’s situation a long time ago. Yang Qian had indeed been injured after exchanging blows with other people when he was searching for supplies outside. As for him being injured so badly, the most fundamental reason was that he’d been desperately protecting his comrades and the supplies. If he’d taken care of himself even just a little bit, then this wouldn’t have happened.
In other words, Yang Qian had indeed been seriously injured, but his life wasn’t in any danger. He just couldn’t come out for the time being.
【Ye Ming: I’ve finally made it to the final step, yingyingying, so moved. He’s my old flame anyway, and he’s also reformed himself. It’s plausible for me to go back and get a glimpse of him, ba?】
【888: Since you’ve already made up your mind, then why’re you still asking me, it can’t be that you’re looking to me for some kind of self-affirmation?】
【Ye Ming: Ke ke ke.】
Ke ke ke ke
Why do I feel like this self abandonment/recklessness is unsatisfactory? Come on Ye Ming, do your thing!
hehehe no worries we can always count on Ye Ming-gege…
Don’t Ke Ke Ke me ah! Ahhh it’s gonna end, mama I’m afraid of what’s to come ya QAQ
Thank you for the chapter~ 💕
I’m loving how sarcastic 888 gege is with Xiao Ye 🤭