Chapter 74

Chapter 74

Starting in 3357, when the Beifeng District First Research Institute woke Wen Jiuzhe from the 002 cryo-chamber, things started to get tough for them.

Before they could fully understand the historical records of the hero who had completed many major missions and was posthumously awarded the title of martyr, they first encountered Wen Jiuzhe's difficult and... insane nature.

This man, who had slept for three hundred years, was filled with alertness and distrust towards everything around him when he first came out of the cryo-chamber. He couldn’t remember anything and resisted their treatment.

After conducting the first round of revival treatment, he regained his memories, but instead of improving, the situation worsened.

Once the initial silence passed, he began to ask many questions.

What year was it now, where was this place, who were these people, and most importantly, where was Xue Ling, who should have been with him, and where was the 001 cryo-chamber.

"Where is Xue Ling?" became the phrase he repeated the most.

At the time, the institute staff were still buzzing with excitement over discovering a mutated virus carrier from the early post-apocalypse and wanted to study the strange virus on him. Little did they know that this was the beginning of their miserable decade.

They told Wen Jiuzhe countless times that his cryo-chamber was unearthed from a certain ruins site, which had been explored several times, and no other cryo-chambers were found.

But Wen Jiuzhe didn’t believe them. He didn’t even undergo the second round of revival treatment and directly escaped from the institute.

There were people guarding the door of his ward, and there were various security measures at the main entrance, but no one knew how he managed to get out.

If it weren’t for his scary look and the fact that Beifeng District was crawling with cameras and guards, he probably would’ve made it out.

To calm him down, they took him to the ruins site, but it didn’t work.

He insisted on seeing every cryo-chamber from the same batch, even those that had been declared unrevivable and buried.

After confirming that the person he was looking for wasn’t there, they thought he would give up.

But soon, the institute staff realized just how stubborn and persistent he could be.

If the same ruins site and batch didn’t have her, then she must be somewhere else.

While continuing his revival treatments, he obsessively combed through three centuries of thawing records, never giving up hope.

Since many of the records required high-level access, Wen Jiuzhe joined the Beifeng District’s anomaly team right after finishing his revival treatment.

Many thawed patients couldn’t adjust to life with regular people, but they had powers far beyond the average human.

To "manage" these individuals, each district provided them with different jobs.

At the same time, to thank some for their contributions and status before being frozen, very generous living conditions and compensations were provided.

Wen Jiuzhe could have chosen other jobs and lived more comfortably, but he didn’t. Instead, he joined the most challenging and elite anomaly team.

The anomaly team, made up of survivors from the seven districts, was known as the elite team. They handled missions that regular teams couldn’t and took care of the toughest mutated creatures.

Of course, they also had high-level access.

Wen Jiuzhe used this identity to gain high-level access and check all recorded thawing cases across the region.

He stayed at the First Research Institute for six months, then spent the next three to four years combing through the massive thawing database.

At the same time, he took advantage of the anomaly team’s mission convenience to search across the seven districts for the person.

If he’d just searched on his own, it would’ve been one thing, but he didn’t let the institute staff off the hook either.

Because he left District A to go to other districts for missions, he couldn't spend most of his time on investigations. So whenever he got the chance, he requested researchers from the institute to accompany him.

Just because they were experienced and had the misfortune of being responsible for Wen Jiuzhe's revival, they became haunted by him, and he took over all of their vacations.

Although there were subsidies and extra income, who would want to spend ten years on a wild goose chase, endlessly searching through cryopods? It was mind-numbing and hopeless.

Wen Jiuzhe simply wouldn't listen to any of their suggestions and rejected any of their wild speculations. Every time he appeared at the institute, he would grab a random person and take them away.

The destinations were just as random; sometimes they were cryopod storage facilities in other districts, sometimes other district's research institutes, and sometimes abandoned cryogenic sites and private labs found in deserted zones.

In those dangerous deserted zones, infected mutant animals were often lurking nearby, watching hungrily.

While Wen Jiuzhe ensured their safety, no one in their right mind would willingly work in such a dangerous and high-pressure environment—except maybe the anomaly team.

The people at the First Research Institute had thought about resisting, but Wen Jiuzhe rose too quickly.

He was the ace of the anomaly team, and with his special past identity, the higher-ups were very lenient with him, allowing him to do as he pleased as long as he didn't cross the line.

In the end, it was only the people from the First Research Institute who got hurt.

They became the ones tasked with keeping Wen Jiuzhe calm, enduring his surprise visits and emotional toll.

The name "Xue Ling" was mentioned most frequently by the people at the First Research Institute over those ten years, not by Wen Jiuzhe himself.

The name had almost become their obsession.

One of the widely circulated jokes at the First Research Institute was about a certain researcher who, during his sleep, continuously mumbled "Xue Ling" for many nights. His girlfriend, thinking he was in love with someone else, broke up with him in anger.

"Yeah, that poor guy was dragged by Wen Jiuzhe to a deserted lab in the wastelands, where they spent days digging through thousands of cryopods."

Xue Ling looked at the person being pointed out; at first glance, he seemed calm, but on second glance, she saw tears falling as he smiled.

Xue Ling: …Come on, you guys are really laying it on thick.

Before Xue Ling could even process her emotions, she was swarmed by a group of middle-aged men, all buzzing with excitement.

They looked like people who had finally found hope after years of despair—only their version of 'hope' was borderline unhinged.

Ironically, the only person in the room who seemed sane was Xue Ling, the actual patient.

With those wide, gleaming eyes fixed on her, Xue Ling didn’t dare to say a word.

She now felt as if she had lost her dog and was sad, but suddenly a group of people told her the dog was still alive—only it had caused a lot of trouble, biting people and destroying homes.

Xue Ling grabbed the dog's collar, facing a group of agitated victims. The joy of finding something lost was scared away by them.

So after saying all that, where was Wen Jiuzhe?

Wen Jiuzhe was on a mission.

An urgent, confidential, and dangerous mission.

But such missions were part of the daily routine for the anomaly team.

Wen Jiuzhe's team consisted of nine people and was the most elite anomaly team in Beifeng District.

Even in the most dangerous abandoned, overrun zones that were perilous to ordinary people, they remained relaxed.

Two were huddled by the rusted rebar, grilling meat; two others sat on cracked stone benches, playing cards; one knitted calmly nearby, while another passed the time by stabbing at the endless stream of mutant ants crawling out of the ground.

The captain and vice-captain felt a headache coming on as they looked around after finishing the cleanup.

"Xiao Dong and Xiao Gu, stop roasting that! It's not safe to eat!" the captain shouted.

The two roasting meat said, "Just trying it, chew and spit, no harm done."

"And it goes perfectly with this hundred-year-old hot sauce I just dug out from the ruins. It's awesome!"

"Just because we're called 'the Undying' doesn't mean we're immune to everything. Don't push your luck," the vice-captain said.

"Xiao Tang, knock it off with the ants!"

Xiao Tang stood up, picked a shiny, palm-sized mutant ant, and tossed it to the edge of the fire. "Here, have some protein."

"Hey, you're gonna mess up my perfectly roasted mutant bug!"

"Cut it out! No fighting or eating! Everyone, hands off!"

"We're almost done with the mission. Let's head back... Wait, where's Wen Jiuzhe?"

The two playing cards said casually, "Where else? He's looking for hidden labs and cryogenic chambers around here."

"He's really persistent. He's been searching for so long and still hasn't given up."

"...Who's going to go urge him? We should leave." the captain said.

"Not me. Who wants to risk bothering him? If he hasn't found anything, he could snap and kick you across the room. Last time, I saw him kick a cryogenic chamber until it fell apart. Terrifying. He's a man who can break the spine of a mutated bear with one kick."

"Wen Jiuzhe isn't that bad. He might toss you around, but you won't die."

"If you're not afraid, then you go."

"I'm not going! It's not whether Wen Jiuzhe hits people—it's his blank stare and silence that are really scary."

As they were talking, a figure walked over from the corner of the ruins ahead.

Tall, carrying weapons on his back, empty-handed, expressionless, he passed by his suddenly quiet teammates and stepped onto the parked aircraft.

"Looks like he didn't find anything again." someone whispered.

Everyone got up one after another. Those roasting meat reluctantly left their half-cooked pieces, and the card players dropped their cards, all silently boarding the aircraft.

If they kept 'the team tyrant' waiting, he'd take off without them.

The hardest part of the journey after completing a mission was the return trip. Even the two noisiest guys in the team stayed quiet.

Finally, the captain, piloting the aircraft, coughed and said, "Wen Jiuzhe, are you heading straight to the research institute again like always?"

From the dark corner in the back, a cold, deep voice responded, "Hmm."

The youngest, Dong Yang, whispered, "Brother Wen, let me take your weapons back to the team."

The man sitting alone in the back didn't say anything but kicked the weapons over.

Dong Yang quickly picked them up and placed them carefully by his side.

Dong Yang was the youngest cryo-sleeper in the team and also the one who admired Wen Jiuzhe the most because he was rescued by Wen Jiuzhe from a cryogenic chamber in some ruins.

If it weren't for Wen Jiuzhe, who knows how many more years it would have taken for him to be discovered.

Over the years, Wen Jiuzhe has been searching through old cryogenic pods everywhere, and many people like Dong Yang were found by him and sent to the First Research Institute for treatment.

However, the person he most wanted to find still hadn't been found.

The anomaly team’s flyer bypassed the usual air checks and headed straight into the habitable zone, hovering above the First Research Institute before starting its descent.

Once he was at the right height, Wen Jiuzhe got up and pushed open the cabin door, jumping out.

The flyer circled over the wide landing pad and soon flew away.

Wen Jiuzhe had nothing with him, still covered in dirt and grime from the mission.

He walked across the landing pad toward the prominent building ahead, without the usual chaos that greeted him whenever he arrived.

The researchers always scattered the moment they spotted him, and the building would erupt into chaos, but today, everything was eerily quiet—no panicked shouts or hurried footsteps.

Nowadays, Wen Jiuzhe's five senses were extremely sharp, and he casually glanced up at the building.

His gaze quickly swept across the corridors and shifted to the sky bridge connecting the buildings.

A shadowy figure caught his eye for a moment.

The person was wearing the blue patient uniform designated for thawed patients, and from this distance, Wen Jiuzhe could see the person's thin body and mummified appearance.

Wen Jiuzhe had seen countless thawed patients—bodies that had lost their vitality after being frozen for too long, just like this one.

She wasn’t anything special to look at, but she was crouched at the edge of the corridor, clearly aware of him.

She quickly stood on her tiptoes, trying to get a better look, then visibly shuddered and instinctively backed away from the corridor, looking somewhat flustered.

She crouched down for a few seconds, then suspiciously poked her half-face out again to look in his direction.

Wen Jiuzhe couldn't tear his eyes away from the figure's series of actions.

A strange, undeniable feeling washed over him.

His pace slowed for a moment, then quickened, and finally turned into a run.