Chapter 118

Chapter 118

Wu Yin's provocative suggestion won enthusiastic approval from Ah Orange, who eagerly asked when they would rob, looking impatient. Wu Yin glanced at the sky, noting some time before sunset, and crisply proposed, "Why not now?"

This was exactly what Lu Ba wanted; he remained expressionless, but his legs started shaking with impatience.

Jie Linyuan looked at him disdainfully, detached a segment of his little finger, transforming it into a simple platinum ring, and slipped it onto Wu Yin's left ring finger, "Given my unique status, I'll abstain from joining. This ring is a monitor; try to keep your hand exposed. I'll be overseeing remotely."

"..." Wu Yin seriously examined the ring, then slid it onto his middle finger, looking up at Jie Linyuan with a stern expression, "Don't think I don't understand."

What exactly tickled Jie Linyuan remained a mystery, but he blinked innocently before bursting into laughter, clutching his stomach, leaving both Lu Ba and Ah Orange dumbfounded.

Ah Orange was stunned because a genuinely handsome man, even when laughing grotesquely, remained attractive. Unlike Ah Lan and Xiao Hei, who claimed to be the faces of the mutants but only marginally passed for handsome when posing deliberately, their unguarded laughter was hideously unappealing.

As for Lu Ba, his reason for being spellbound was somewhat cliché... He had never seen Jie Linyuan laugh so freely, a joy emanating from the depths of his soul, yet upon reflection, their past seemed devoid of moments worth such happiness.

Thinking thus, Lu Ba inadvertently looked up at Wu Yin, appreciating his refined features, watching him impatiently urge Jie Linyuan to either leave with them quickly or not hinder his pursuit of fun.

"Not a good person." This was Lu Ba's immediate judgment upon first meeting Wu Yin, a view that remained unchanged to this day. Yet, Lu Ba also understood why Z1932 was so fond of him.

Vividly vibrant and beautifully flawed, his misdeeds somehow remained unforgivable.

……

It was only upon arrival that Wu Yin understood why the group of refugees from the North Camp had disregarded Ah Orange's kind warning.

They were five in total: one unconscious, barely breathing on the bed; another with a broken mechanical arm, wrapped in bandages and bleeding, who, despite needing rest, was pale-faced and busily repairing himself with a screwdriver; of the remaining three, one was an elderly man with white hair and wrinkles, one a baby in swaddling clothes, and the only one capable of moving around was a female half-mechanic, wishing she could split into five to manage everything.

In a word: tragic.

They were just eager to find a place to rest, to catch their breath, without the luxury of worrying about how much money they had been swindled out of.

The group's resting place was the former street office hall, where they occupied a small office on the second floor, marking them as the more affluent and discerning individuals. Many less fortunate tenants simply slept in the first-floor hall, using chairs or buckets to delineate their space, and hanging curtains as makeshift bedrooms.

As Lu Ba approached the door, he suddenly felt a bout of homesickness, slowing down to let Wu Yin enter first. A'Cheng looked at him curiously before pushing the door open and entering with Wu Yin as if they were inspecting officials, dignified and authoritative.

Inside, the man who had been fixing a broken arm on the floor quickly jumped behind a table, using it as cover to draw his handgun from his waist, warily eyeing the man and woman who had barged in.

With his silver-gray hair and bright red pupils, Wu Yin observed the man with interest, inevitably comparing him to Jie Lin Yuan. The man's hair was not as soft or glossy, his face not as handsome, he was not as tall, his chest flat, and his legs not as long as Jie Lin Yuan's. After nitpicking, Wu Yin joyfully concluded that wildflowers were not as fragrant as those at home, sighing to himself about his good fortune in encountering the finest of the Z series on his first try, and having easily coerced him into compliance.

Suddenly, the ring on his finger emitted a burst of electricity, shocking Wu Yin throughout his body as if warning him not to gaze at other men. Wu Yin incredulously looked at the metal ring, cursing under his breath, then tried to remove it, only to find it had somehow shrunk to an impossibly tight fit. The more Wu Yin tried to force it off, the more intense the needle-like electric shocks became, infuriating him to the point of wishing he could go back and leech off Jie Lin Yuan immediately.

In another corner of the office, an elderly man with graying hair sat beside the bed, gently rocking a baby in his arms while moistening the lips of an unconscious middle-aged man on the bed. He put down the wooden spoon very calmly and turned to look at A'Cheng, "I remember you, young lady, why have you come again?... And you brought your friend."

"Just bored, looking around," A'Cheng casually lied, "My friend said he's never seen someone with white hair and red eyes, so I brought him here to broaden his horizons."

The man with the broken arm felt like he was being made a spectacle of, his annoyance palpable as he frowned and barked, "What's there to see? Get out, and don't come back!"

A'Cheng, not one to take this lying down, widened her eyes and turned to Wu Yin, loudly complaining, "Xiao Hu, it's him, he was just as rude to me."

"What's the point of telling me? I can't beat him," Wu Yin replied, equally helpless.

A'Cheng: "..."

After speaking, Wu Yin's gaze shifted to the person lying side by side on the bed, completely intact and with a deathly pallor. He immediately brightened up, realizing this was precisely the fresh corpse that Gui You needed.

Just then, a woman's exclamation came from outside the door: "1068? ...Is that you?"

Hiding and peeping outside the door all this time, Lu Ba shuddered, turned around, and saw a female half-mechanical being standing behind him, carrying two buckets of water and a bag of food. Lu Ba gasped twice, his eyes and brows instantly relaxing: "429, it really is you. Hearing about a female warrior experiment, my first thought was of you."

Z429, equally filled with joy, hurried over, stopping half a meter in front of Lu Ba to give him a serious look, and said with deep sadness: "You've lost a lot of weight. Your eyes... has your right eye's vision been affected?"

Wu Yin and A Cheng peeked their heads out from behind the door. Z429 was a short-haired woman, not very tall, but with a very healthy and strong build, her muscle lines clearly defined, also with white hair and red pupils.

As Wu Yin observed her, Z429 also noticed the two curious strangers. She recognized A Cheng immediately, understanding everything: "...Are they your friends? 1068, no wonder you were warning us about the rent being too expensive..."

Lu Ba nodded, "Right. A Cheng, Wu Xiaohu."

At this moment, the man with the missing arm also came to the door. He looked at Lu Ba in surprise, not expecting to encounter a fellow kind here, especially the most famous one. Not just because Z1068 had been highly ranked, but because he was the only one among them who had achieved complete freedom at the cost of self-destruction.

"He's 1305," Z429 introduced.

Lu Ba smiled and nodded at him, and 1305 immediately stood up straight as if he had seen an idol.

Wu Yin, on the other hand, squinted and puzzledly said: "Don't you have names? Numbers are hard to remember and awkward to call."

"You won't forget. We have a unified name, Z, and usually, others call us by this letter," Z429 explained gently. "As for us internally, because each of us has a population database in our left eye that helps us search and remember..." Her left eye quickly transformed from the shape of a human pupil into rows of codes and pop-ups, "Like this young lady's original name is Cheng Chuyun Can."

A Cheng blinked, finding it quite miraculous.

Z429 then looked at Wu Yin, "...As for you..." She suddenly frowned and fell silent.

Wu Yin knew this would be the answer. He wasn't the slightest bit embarrassed about his uniqueness, even slightly lifting his eyebrows in pride, "Can't find it? That's correct if you can't."

Perhaps his arrogance actually lowered Z429's guard. She glanced at Lu Ba, deciding not to bother with this petulant youth with black hair and azure eyes, and lowered her gaze to bring the items in her hands into the house.

Lu Ba carried a bucket of water for her. As soon as the door was shut, he couldn't wait to inquire about the current situation at the North Camp. Z429 answered all his questions truthfully, her information mostly aligning with what had been gathered from the mutants, albeit with more details.

The North Camp, once representing the nation's pinnacle of technological prowess, shouldn't have descended into such chaos, being defenseless against a horde of mutants. Ironically, half of the high-ranking Z series War God experimentals' supreme commands were in the hands of the immunity faction. The turmoil initially stemmed from infighting within the Z series, which lasted until nearly all the Z series War Gods were depleted. Only then did the immunity faction unexpectedly unleash a mutant army, catching everyone else off guard.

"Can you believe it, I'm now considered among the highest-ranking Zs," Z429 suddenly laughed. Her left arm morphed into a broadsword, which she swung lightly. The blade was blunt and cracked before it transformed back into an arm. "I used to rank at the very bottom."

Lu Ba, not good at lying, quickly changed the subject: "What are your plans for the future? Settling down in the zoo?"

Z429 shook her head, her eyes suddenly filled with profound sadness, and said with a bitter smile, "There might not be a future... You know, 1068, the death order. Our mission this time is the death order. If our protectee dies, the moment their heartbeat stops, the supreme command will forcibly control us to self-destruct. Given our current physical state, self-destruction means death."

Lu Ba was startled and quickly asked, "Who is your protectee?"

Z429 and Z1305 both looked towards the man lying on the bed, the middle-aged man cared for by the white-haired elder. Lu Ba immediately walked over, placing his fingertips on the man's pulse. For a moment, all eyes were on him.

Unable to hold back, Z1305 cursed through clenched teeth, "This idiot! We could have safely evacuated, but he had to go off on his own, claiming 'tigers can't climb trees,' and climbed up a tree to evade the mutant tiger, only to damn well fall down! ...It's ludicrous; we're up front battling mutants and mutant animals, and he ends up like this mess!"

He took a deep breath, cursing even more in his mind.