Chapter 82

Chapter 82

Edmund and his avengers followed Jie Linyuan and Wu Yin, thinking they were moving stealthily and silently, unaware they had been spotted long ago.

Jie Linyuan didn't bother exposing them, focusing on cycling ahead, while Wu Yin, on the back seat, held the recurve bow Frida insisted he take for defense, aimlessly targeting attackers along the way.

With nine out of ten arrows missing their mark, Jie Linyuan had to retrieve the arrows from afar. Eventually tired of fetching, he let Wu Yin pedal while he sat behind, drawing the bow to fight off enemies.

Wu Yin had never ridden a bicycle before, but he learned quickly, perhaps aided by his goat body's balance, mastering cycling within fifteen minutes and smoothly carrying a passenger after twenty.

Tired, in pain, and drowsy, Wu Yin doesn't mind being carried in a princess hold, his head buried in Jie Linyuan's shoulder, making the act of closing his eyes seem all the more natural, "Stop the chatter. If it weren't for discovering that the highest command of Z1932 was transferred to him personally, making it impossible for you to control him quickly, and my strength far exceeding your expectations, making you hesitant to act before fully understanding my capabilities, would you still be here, negotiating with us in good faith?"

Edmund openly says, "War and casualties were never my intention." He removes a backpack from the back of a mutated golden-winged bird, steps forward, and places it on the ground, "This is your missed luggage, returned in full. I'm indeed curious about Mr.'s abilities and hope for some enlightenment."

"If you have any questions, ask now and then leave." Wu Yin responds with a mix of fierceness and nonchalance, like a dragon accepting tributes from mortals, tough and not to be trifled with.

Wu Yin wondered, "How do you know there is a hospital there? And you know so much about it."

"You never venture beyond your own doors, spending your days reading and your nights sleeping, of course, you wouldn't know anything," Jie Linyuan laughed, "I've been hunting with the wolf pack every night recently, getting to know the surrounding area like the back of my hand."

"..." Wu Yin felt an indescribable emotion and asked, "What are you going to the hospital for?"

"To sell you by the pound; the meat of a young ram should be quite valuable."

“……”

Before Wu Yin could react, Jie Linyuan laughed at his own joke, his voice clear and bright, free of any darkness. Listening to the laughter by his ear, Wu Yin sat quietly and curiously in the backseat, his rectangular pupils reflecting the bouncing pebbles and the slowly receding verdant trees by the roadside, lost in thought.

"Sim fell into the water during a hunt the night before and got a fever that hasn't subsided since," Jie Linyuan explained, "The wolf pack says their immunity is strong and they usually tough out colds and fevers, but Sim had a severe injury three months ago, broke a leg, and has been in poor health. This time it might not be so easy to recover, so I decided to go get her some medicine."

"..." The unexpressable odd feeling in his chest intensified, Wu Yin lowered his gaze and asked, "Who is Sim?"

"That female werewolf who limps when she walks, with auburn hair and a loud voice, and a straightforward personality."

Wu Yin vaguely remembered her; this female werewolf had delivered meals for Jie Linyuan to him several times, passing along a few words of caution and even borrowing a book from him.

"You seem to have a good relationship with her?"

"..." This time, Jie Linyuan sharply sensed something and stopped talking in time.

Without turning back to see Wu Yin's expression or knowing what mindset Wu Yin had to ask such a potentially misleading question, after a long pause, the usually cautious Jie Linyuan decided to take a risk and casually hummed, "Yes, we get along well. It started when I felt a bit sorry for her, so I paid her extra attention. Gradually, as we interacted more, our relationship improved, and then I found that her personality meshes well with mine... Oh, and she mentioned wanting to go to the zoo with us, to meet her friends."

Unwittingly weaving a mix of truth and fiction, he strained to deceive Wu Yin, who was usually keen on sensing emotions and lies. However, facing his half-truths, Wu Yin in the backseat remained silent throughout, showing no interest in engaging.

Realizing that the more he said, the more mistakes he could make, Jie Linyuan simply stopped talking and called out Wu Yin's name, asking, "What's wrong?"

"..." Wu Yin was displeased and did not want to answer any questions.

In the past, when he felt down, he would take it out on Xie Linyuan, making him share in his misery. Watching Xie unable to get angry and having to endure with a forced smile would significantly improve his mood. But this time, for some reason, Wuyin didn't really want to bother Xie Linyuan, and he didn't even want to see his face.

His spirits low, he gazed down, his eyes falling on the uneven muddy road, "…Is His Highness almost done weaning? I've noticed he's been more interested in meat than milk lately."

"It's finished," Xie Linyuan said. "Yesterday, I discussed it with His Highness and gave all of yesterday's sheep milk to Sim, who is ill and needs nutrition."

"Why?" Wuyin suddenly reacted very vehemently, lifting his head, "Why give it to her? You didn't ask me; why take it upon yourself?"

"…" Xie Linyuan came to a stop, nervously licking his lips without turning back, "It's mine to dispose of as I see fit. Besides, the sheep milk was intended for His Highness, who also agreed… Do you really want to fight a sick person over a bit of milk?"

Wuyin, with his limited social experience, had never encountered such a manipulative moral entrapment. Of course, he disdained the idea of fighting over sheep milk. He was just… unhappy, uncomfortable, wanting to vent…

Why?

What exactly was the source of this inexplicable emotion?

The answer seemed within reach, yet Wuyin remained perplexed, as if he had memorized all the textbooks before an exam but was stumped by a slightly altered question on the test. However, Wuyin quickly thought of a way to alleviate his anxiety with the straightforward logic that if he couldn't solve the problem itself, he could deal with the person causing the problem.

Had it not been for the terrifying screams that suddenly echoed from not too far away, Xie Linyuan might have lost his life right there and then.

The rooftop of the private hospital appeared at the end of the road, originally a maternity center praised for its serene environment, away from the city's noise, surrounded by vegetation, with only a large sign standing in front.

As screams continued to pierce the air, Xie Linyuan couldn't care less about their romantic troubles or the Edmund gang that had stubbornly followed them for 15 kilometers. He quickly dismounted his bicycle, took Wuyin by the hand, urging him to keep up, and cautiously moved forward.

A middle-aged man was seen in a panic, carrying his daughter at the forefront, running with one foot in a slipper and the other barefoot, his daughter wailing loudly in his arms.

At the sight of Wuyin and Xie Linyuan, the man let out a reflexive scream, almost collapsing to the ground in fright.

"What happened?" Xie Linyuan hurried over to ask, while Wuyin glanced back at the bicycle carelessly abandoned in the bushes, following with an expressionless face.

After the initial shock, the man calmed down, rubbing his daughter's head: "A mutant zombie got into the hospital, leading a group of smaller zombies. Everyone who survived is trying to escape; the hospital is completely overrun!"

The public has various names for the polluted and the mutated, with "zombies" being the most common term for the polluted, and thus, the mutated are naturally referred to as mutant zombies.

"Total capitulation? Impossible!" Jie Linyuan couldn't believe it. He had seen the hospital's security capabilities, with ample ammunition and a mercenary team from the big safe zone stationed there. Two mutants and a bunch of contaminators were troublesome, but the hospital was not without means to fight back.

As they spoke, more disheveled men and women also fled towards them, reacting similarly to the middle-aged man, startled by Wu Yin's exaggeratedly realistic ram's head, and still managing to loudly ask if they were human or ghosts, before clamorously telling Jie Linyuan that the hospital was in complete chaos, then starting to wail and curse.

Seeing that he could get no more information, Jie Linyuan nodded, "Be careful, don't run around, there are quite a few wandering zombies outside."

After saying that, he pulled Wu Yin and continued to make his way to the hospital against the flow of people.

"Jie Linyuan, you're still going to the hospital?" Wu Yin asked in confusion. "It's full of contaminators and mutants, all in chaos."

"It's okay, they can't hurt me," Jie Linyuan said without looking back, in the gentlest tone expressing the most audacious words, "Might as well take advantage of the chaos to grab some medicine for Sim, no need to trade anymore."

Wu Yin's expression turned ice-cold. He jerked his hand away from Jie Linyuan and then gripped his wrist tightly, his anger hard to contain, his voice cold, "Jie Linyuan, you are making me very unhappy."

He wanted to punish Jie Linyuan to alleviate his anger, but all means to control Jie Linyuan had been severed by his own hand, including the highest command and that failed parasite. Wu Yin was not the type to plan for the long term, acting instead on immediate likes and dislikes.

When in a good mood, he was willing to grant Jie Linyuan freedom, even if Jie Linyuan made mistakes that hurt him, Wu Yin would say "wait and see," but often it would end with no further consequence. Now, furious, he darkly plotted how to fasten a new collar around Jie Linyuan's neck, this time ensuring control was firmly in his hands.

"Why?" As Wu Yin's gaze dangerously swept over Jie Linyuan's neck, oblivious to the imminent danger, Jie Linyuan posed the question he had prepared, "Why are you unhappy?"

But before Wu Yin could answer, a woman's shrill scream pierced the atmosphere like a dagger, as Wu Yin turned to see a young woman struggling against two contaminators hooking her clothes, her efforts futile against their filthy, terrifying teeth biting into her arm.

The next second, an arrow pierced through both contaminators' heads, skewering them to a tree trunk like kebabs.

In the woman's panicked gaze, Jie Linyuan pinched Wu Yin's chin, forcing his attention back to himself, "Answer me, why are you unhappy?"

How could this man still seem so pleased?

Wu Yin grew increasingly displeased, "Because you're becoming more unruly, Jie Linyuan. Don't forget what we agreed upon when I rescued you from the shelter. If you've forgotten, I don't mind reminding you. Remember, everything you have now was given by me. Protecting me and making me happy is what you should be doing, not obsessing over getting fever medicine for some Sim. That's putting the cart before the horse."

He brushed away Jie Linyuan's hand from his chin, making a domineering and unreasonable decision, "I don't like it here. We're going back to pack up, and we leave at dawn tomorrow."

Before Jie Linyuan could speak, Wu Yin quickly added, "Don't even think about taking Sim with us. If you think life has been too comfortable and insist on opposing me, I can take away everything I've given you at any time. Did you hear me clearly?"

Jie Linyuan almost couldn't suppress the smile tugging at his lips, but knowing any slip would ruin it all, he forcibly contained his joy, deliberately portraying a sullen, very reluctant, and forcibly subdued demeanor, "You, you... I thought after all this time together, our relationship was different... Turns out, it was just my wishful thinking."

Wu Yin, annoyed, snapped, "Shut up."

"...," Xie Linyuan muttered under his breath, "Understood."

Wu Yin took pleasure in seeing him seethe silently, forced to restrain himself despite being bold enough to challenge authority, resembling a fierce dog pretending to be tame and obedient.

His anger somewhat abated, his grip on Xie Linyuan's wrist loosened, turning into absent-minded caresses on the back of his hand. Although Xie Linyuan's submission usually amused him greatly, this time, as his mood gradually evened, he felt an inexplicable irritation.

So, was Xie Linyuan feeling wronged? What did he have to be wronged about? Was it because of Simu?

It's the same old solution: if you can't solve the problem, eliminate the source. Wu Yin decided to dispose of Simu upon their return, and if Xie Linyuan tried to stop him, he'd be dealt with, too. They could depart this world together.

...But then, he'd have to find a new personal assistant.

“……”

Wu Yin's mood dipped again, hoping desperately Xie Linyuan wouldn't intervene, for he wasn't ready to change assistants.

Just then, the woman Xie Linyuan had rescued from the jaws of two zombies suddenly exclaimed excitedly, "Brother Xie? Is that you, Brother Xie?"

Both Wu Yin and Xie Linyuan looked up to see the woman stumbling towards them, "I'm Liu Shu, we just met. I'm Director Liu's daughter. Last time, you traded venison for Vaseline, glycerin, and laxatives with my dad. Do you remember?"

Xie Linyuan: "..."

Wu Yin, still naive and unaware of the implications, asked, "What did you need those for? I didn't see you bring back any Vaseline... Was it for Simu again?"

"No, no, just leave it be, I needed them," Xie Linyuan coughed lightly, addressing the worried woman, "I remember you, Liu Shu."

"Brother Xie! I know you're amazing. My dad is still trapped in the hospital, in his lab. He insisted on saving his research materials. I've heard you're some kind of cyborg. Please, I beg you, save him," Liu Shu spoke in a frantic, disjointed manner, "I'll do anything, give you anything, if you can save my dad!"

Xie Linyuan indeed had his eyes on something, something he had previously inquired about to Director Liu, who had refused to sell. Now seemed like an opportune moment to exploit the situation... With this thought, he turned to Wu Yin, only to meet his gaze, sharper and more dangerous than before, cutting through him like a knife.