Chapter 161 Reincarnation Hell 5

Xia Qi drove an autonomous car through the streets, which were filled with demons dancing in the night.

Just when he thought he was clear of the base, the relentless young master appeared, blocking his path once more.

“Aaaah!”

Disregarding Xia Qi's speeding car, the young master let out a desperate howl and pounced toward the window, his hands actually grabbing the wing mirror.

“Aaaah!” The young master glared at Xia Qi inside the car, his expression showing he was determined to smash the window that day.

Xia Qi looked at the snarling young master, completely unable to understand the thought process of the zombie young master.

The young master had clearly turned into a zombie, so why did he have such a deep obsession with Xia Qi, determined to kill him?

“Swoosh—”

Xia Qi slammed on the brakes, sending the young master flying.

With a thud, the young master landed sideways on the roadside not far away.

Xia Qi shook his head, started the car again, and headed toward the nearest city.

As he arrived near the city, Xia Qi realized something was off. This place was actually X City, where he and Cha Gong had once lived, and it was also the headquarters of the Lin Group.

Would he encounter the dead Cha Gong or the real Lin Mo?

Suspecting that X City was created by Lin Mo, Xia Qi became extra cautious and deliberately drove slowly.

Once the car slowed down, it was harassed by nearby monsters. Xia Qi didn’t dare take the main road and instead chose narrow alleyways with fewer monsters.

The alleyway he entered was pitch-black, littered with trash and decaying corpses.

“Bam!”

Suddenly, something like a garbage lid smashed onto his car roof.

Startled, Xia Qi was about to hit the gas and speed out of the alley when, from the direction the lid had come, an old and hoarse voice called out, “Xia Qi!”

Xia Qi turned his head to see an old man with a hunched figure climbing out of an overturned trash bin behind him.

Judging by the old man's dirty clothes and messy hair, he seemed to have been in the trash bin for quite some time.

No surprise there—he was a familiar face.

Xia Qi lowered the rear window and said to the old man, “Get in the car quickly!”

“Oh, coming!” Despite being cooped up in the trash bin for two days, the old man moved surprisingly fast. Seeing that Xia Qi intended to take him along, the old man grinned and pulled open the side door, plopping himself into the passenger seat, carefully fastening his seatbelt.

As soon as the old man entered, the car was filled with the smell of fish and dirty socks.

Xia Qi wrinkled his nose and silently turned the car's ventilation system to the maximum.

“Xia, where did you get this car? Not bad, this silver finish and sleek interior are pretty sharp.” The old man whistled, inspecting the interior. “And this seat? Soft as hell.”

“Don’t flatter me. You probably have an easier time getting a ride,” Xia Qi said, giving the old man a sideways glance.

The old man laughed dryly, “Haha, I was just too lazy to drive.”

Xia Qi didn’t respond.

Seeing that the atmosphere was a bit awkward, the old man hurriedly changed the subject, "Where did you come from?"

Xia Qi replied that he had come from a nearby small town.

After finishing his account of his experiences, Xia Qi asked again, "What were you doing during the day?"

Hearing this, the old man's expression went blank for a moment, but he quickly adjusted his face, his eyes darting around as he said, "This was a place I used to live."

Seeing the old man's guilty look, Xia Qi pointed out bluntly, "You also committed crimes here, didn't you?"

"Xia, life's hard enough without bringing it up," the old man gave a dry laugh. "How did we circle back to this?"

During the day, he did return to the place where Xiao Ou grew up. Back then, I was pretty reckless and got into some trouble, but it was all for Xiao Ou's education.

"So, where do we head next?" Xia Qi cleared his throat.

The old man glanced at Xia Qi nervously before saying, "Let's go to Chaoyang Middle School, turn left and go straight ahead, and we'll be there."

Worried that Xia Qi might object, the old man added, "I figure the school might be safer."

Since I got locked up, I missed out on Xiao Ou's entire middle school years...

He had seen Chaoyang Middle School in maps and photos before. It was the place where Xiao Ou had studied.

Even now, he really wanted to see what the real Chaoyang Middle School looked like.

Xia Qi seemed lost in thought as he slowly drove the car forward.

X City, much like the small towns in Inner Mongolia, had become a ghost town—roads cracked and littered with trash. After driving for a while, Xia Qi found the road becoming blocked.

He indicated that they might not be able to see the original state of Chaoyang Middle School, but the old man still insisted on going.

Alright, he would accompany the old man to take a look.

At the entrance of Chaoyang Middle School.

Xiao Ou, wearing a loose school uniform, was running at full speed, with two zombie monsters chasing after him.

Just outside the school gates, he spotted a girl in a white dress.

The girl in the white dress was walking on the road, heading towards the path on the right. Xiao Ou was startled; the deeper part of that road was a zombie nest. He quickly warned, "Little sister, don't go there..."

The girl in the white dress ignored him and kept walking, oblivious to the danger.

Gritting his teeth, Xiao Ou rushed towards the girl in the white dress.

After all, he was trained in the special forces.

He had to save her.

"Wait! Don't go!" Xiao Ou ran quickly, and just as he was only a meter away from the girl in the white dress, she suddenly turned her head.

Instead of a normal face, her neck twisted to reveal a livid, purple zombie face.

After a moment of eye contact with Xiao Ou, the girl in the white dress's green eyes flickered, and she revealed a sinister smile.

Something's not right!

Xiao Ou suddenly realized, and just as he was about to turn and run, he found that he couldn't move, not even the items in his system backpack could be taken out.

As Xiao Ou stood frozen in place with the girl in the white dress, a black car, like a ghost, sped towards him and hit him head-on.

"With a deafening crash!"

The ghostly black car struck Xiao Ou, sending him flying through the air.

Like a broken kite, Xiao Ou drew a parabola in the sky before crashing hard onto the ground, rolling several times before coming to a stop.

As he rolled, he left a long trail of bright red blood on the asphalt road.

Just as Xia Qi had arrived at the entrance of Chaoyang Middle School, he witnessed Xiao Ou being hit and sent flying through the air.

His eyes bulged in shock as he looked at the purple-haired youth lying in a pool of blood nearby. "Xiao Ou?" he muttered in disbelief.

The old man beside Xia Qi froze, his expression as if he had been struck by lightning.

Xia Qi turned his head to look at the ghostly black car.

The people in the black car noticed him too. The man sitting in the passenger seat made a gun gesture at him and then blew on his fingers as if cooling them.

It was Lin Mo!

Shaking all over, Xia Qi pulled out a magic wand from his backpack, opened the window, and prepared to cast a spell at the car opposite him.

The sound of an engine roared. Before Xia Qi could act, the black ghost car suddenly started, turned around, and fled.

It was unclear what kind of top-tier supercar the ghost car was, but it was incredibly fast, disappearing like a shadow in the darkened city, leaving only exhaust fumes behind.

"My, my son..."

The old man opened the door, crawled out from the passenger seat, and with another loud thud, fell to the ground, sobbing while lying face down.

Xia Qi immediately got out of the car, casually knocked away two zombies that were chasing him, and ran towards the spot where Xiao Ou had fallen.

"Xiao Ou?"

Xia Qi arrived near the pool of blood, looking at the blood-covered, emaciated young man whose elbows and legs were twisted in unnatural positions. He couldn't believe that the person on the ground was really Xiao Ou.

"B-Brother Xia..." Xiao Ou lay motionless on the ground, forcing a faint smile.

Xia Qi's hands trembled as he tried to help him up but didn't dare to touch his body.

"X-Xiao Ou, do you have any reconstruction fluid left?" Xia Qi's voice cracked, his heart feeling like it was being torn apart.

"...It's no use," Xiao Ou said with his eyes closed, his voice soft, as if he were about to fall asleep.

The reconstruction fluid could only help living people grow corresponding organs but couldn't bring back someone who was about to die.

He was broken.

Xiao Ou's eyelids drooped, his eyes barely a slit. "...I regret not being able to finish the game with you... I'm sorry."

Tears instantly streamed down Xia Qi's face. "No, I should be the one to say sorry. I failed to protect you."

All along, Xiao Ou had helped him complete the game. Though Xiao Ou often acted silly and occasionally became a burden, in truth, Xiao Ou had helped him a lot.

Xiao Ou weakly twitched his right hand, and Xia Qi quickly grasped his rapidly cooling hand.

"Captain..." Xiao Ou's voice was raspy, and he struggled to speak, "If we could go back in time, would you still take me in?"

"Of course, I'd take you in. I always did, and I always will..." Xia Qi's vision blurred, and he could barely make out Xiao Ou's appearance, but he nodded frantically, "I really accept you, I always have..."

On his first day in Reincarnation Hell, he had already agreed to the deputy leader's request to take in Xiao Ou.

"Good."

Xia Qi's memories flooded back, and he realized everything.

Xiao Ou's face lit up with a sweet smile, and two small dimples formed on his cheeks.

Suddenly, a loud shout came from behind Xia Qi: "You can't die!"

The old man rushed towards Xiao Ou like crazy.

The old man's weathered face twisted into a painful grimace, like a wilting flower. His eyes were bloodshot as he grabbed Xiao Ou's broken arm and shouted, "You can't die! You haven't called me dad yet!"

All along, the old man had given Xia Qi the impression of being spirited. In the game, the old man was completely different from other elderly people. He’d don women’s clothes to dodge the game’s restrictions and ditch his teammates without a second thought, thriving in various brutal dungeons with unmatched cunning.

Xia Qi had never seen the old man so out of control. He reached out, trying to make the old man let go of Xiao Ou. "Sir, please calm down..."

"How am I supposed to calm down?!" the old man shouted through tears, his eyes overflowing with grief, "My son is going to die!"

His son was about to die, and he would soon become the old count who had lost his son.

Only now did the old man truly understand what it felt like to lose a son.

"Sir, please let him go." Xia Qi forcibly pried the old man's hand off, gritting his teeth, "Holding him like that hurts him."

As Xia Qi held the old man's hand, Xiao Ou sighed helplessly and, with his last bit of strength, called out:

"Dad..."

Xiao Ou whispered, his voice barely audible, like a leaf drifting to the ground.

The world suddenly fell silent.

The old man sat down on the ground silently.

Xia Qi bit his lip and slowly let go of Xiao Ou's uninjured hand, opening his palm.

Xiao Ou had slipped something into it.

A single glance at the object made Xia Qi’s eyes well up with tears, and he quickly tucked it into his pocket.

Xia Qi pulled out the tent cover Xiao Ou had once sold him and gently draped it over Xiao Ou’s body.

"This must be the game taking revenge on me! How did it come to this?!" the old man, now seemingly possessed, suddenly jumped up from the ground.

"Sir..." Xia Qi looked up, not knowing how to console him anymore.

The old man tore at his hair, then bolted into the distance, screaming into the void as he ran.

"Damn overpowered players! You want to kill? Fine, come after me!"

The old man moved so fast that he disappeared in the blink of an eye.

With Xiao Ou’s body still unattended, Xia Qi couldn’t chase after the old man.

He carried Xiao Ou's body to a large tree at Chaoyang Middle School.

Fearing that the surrounding monsters would eat Xiao Ou's body, Xia Qi clenched his teeth, forcing himself to burn him with the lighter Xiao Ou had sold him, before burying him in the soil beneath the tree.

After finishing these tasks in a daze, it was already 5 o'clock, and dawn was approaching.

Xia Qi drove back to the small town in Inner Mongolia.

By 7 a.m., the sky was light again.

The private line rang again, and Xia Qi numbly answered the call.

A face appeared on the light screen—the vice-captain, looking determined, presented him with a file and said, "Captain! Have you thought it through? Do you really not want that Number 01?"

Determined to get Xia Qi's attention, the vice-captain thrust the file right in front of him.

Inside the file was the same resume, showing a youthful face, clean and refreshing, without the later purple hair that would come.

Xia Qi sat in the car, silently looking at the photo of the boy on the light screen.

"Ah ha, Captain, you really have a heart of stone, rejecting such an excellent candidate... Well then, I'll help you refuse!" The vice-captain said before quickly cutting off the connection.

The car fell silent again.

Xia Qi lowered his head and slowly covered his eyes with his hands.

"...I wanted him."

Unfortunately, Xiao Ou could no longer hear him.

When he finally made it to work, Xia Qi didn't know how he had entered the lab.

Zhang Yun was his usual self, holding a light screen computer in one hand, a cup of hot soy milk in the other, and a fried dough stick in his mouth, casually following Xia Qi into the lab.

Inside the lab, Xia Qi folded his arms and stood to the side, not looking at the Z inside the glass ball, and said, "Go ahead and show off."

He had no mood at all and completely failed to notice that Z's expression had become gentler today.

"Xia Qi." Z greeted him with a smile, with two suspicious rosy patches on his cheeks, "Over the past half month, I've quickly browsed 18,762 of your human romance movies and dramas, and I've figured out what 'love' is..."

"It's a special emotion between human individuals, a magical bond between humans..."

Z babbled on.

"...I want to be human, what do you think?"

Z stared at Xia Qi, as if he had conveyed something crucial, but Xia Qi stood there like a zombie, lost in his own grief, barely hearing a word.

At this point, Z nervously clenched his fists, a shy expression on his face.

"Qi, can you... help me choose a name?"

Hearing the change in Z's address, Xia Qi snapped back to reality, looking at him incredulously.

The author has something to say: #My-old-attack-is-my-training series#

Someone: Happy, I'm finally getting a name!

Beyer Luo: Looking up, we're already at chapter 161, you are truly the most tragic old attack on JJ.

Someone: ...