Chapter 15 Tang Tang’s Disguise

Chapter 15 Tang Tang's Disguise

The crowd watched as several vans sped away, each feeling complex emotions to varying degrees.

One superpowered couldn’t hold back and asked, "Commander Chen, did you really have no idea that Ji An had awakened a psychic superpower?"

Another superpowered, whose arm had been injured in the car explosion, added, "Everyone in the base knows how deeply Ji An felt for you—he’d risk his life for you, joining elite zombie-hunting teams despite being ordinary, never guarding against you. You two were practically inseparable. Didn’t you notice anything unusual about Ji An?"

"Ji An lived with you all this time. Whether missions were successful or not, you provided for all his needs. He stood by you through the hardest times. Why would he suddenly betray you over something so trivial when things were finally going well?"

These questions weren’t new. When Ji An first fled, many superpowered had harbored the same doubts. But back then, the majority had been busy condemning and cursing Ji An, so those with misgivings had kept silent.

Now that their own safety was at stake, the superpowered spoke up, bombarding him with questions.

Chen Chen’s face turned grim—whether from their interrogation or his severe injuries was unclear. He smiled bitterly. "I truly didn’t know. These are the same questions I want answered."

"Could it be love turned to hatred? Maybe he grew jealous, seeing you get too close to Tang Tang," one superpowered suggested, who had long thought Chen Chen and Tang Tang’s relationship seemed too close. "So once he realized how strong his superpower was, he figured he could protect himself and turned traitor."

Chen Chen’s expression remained pained. "I really don’t know. I treated Tang Tang like she was mine and A’an’s child. When we saved her, she was just a twelve-year-old girl."

"But don’t you think your relationship with her was overly close?"

Cornered, Chen Chen averted his gaze, looking uncomfortable. "This isn’t the time for that. Right now, our priority is figuring out how to get back."

They were still far from their Third Base, though much closer to the Capital Base. But having just been attacked by its people, they couldn’t seek help there. Getting home was their most urgent problem.

Fortunately, among their group was a speed-type superpowered who could rush back first and send vehicles. Otherwise, walking would take forever.

The speedster, Yang You, said, "I can go ahead and call for vehicles. I can also carry one person back. Who’s most severely injured? I’ll take them first."

Chen Chen spoke up. "Take me. I may have internal bleeding—I think I saw organ fragments in the blood I coughed up earlier."

At his feet lay Song Pengcheng, unconscious, in much worse condition.

Noticing the others’ gazes, Chen Chen explained hoarsely, "I know Song Pengcheng is worse off than me. But precisely because of that, I’m suggesting I go first.

Song Pengcheng could already be dead. My injuries can’t wait either. If I stay, I might die before help arrives, and then neither of us would survive.

He adopted a resigned tone. "We can’t let personal feelings influence this now. We have to think big-picture. Our base doesn’t have many superpowered—every one is precious. Every life saved matters. The base can’t afford more losses.

Even if it weren’t me but someone else injured alongside Song Pengcheng, I’d make the same decision and give the same explanation.

Actually, there’s another concern, my biggest worry. I’m the base commander. If something happens to me, what would happen to the base?

If chaos breaks out, what happens to the people living there?

Both personally and as commander, I know this is the right choice. Even if I’m misunderstood as selfish, I’ll accept that."

His argument sounded reasonable, logically defensible. Whatever the others privately thought, no one objected.

It helped that no one here was particularly close to Song Pengcheng. His only real ally had been Chen Chen. As Chen Chen’s loyal subordinate, Song Pengcheng had been arrogant, making many enemies. No one would risk offending the base commander for his sake.

Once they’d settled on a route, Yang You carried Chen Chen and set off.

After nearly two weeks of travel, they finally reached the Third Base one night.

The news of the base commander’s grievous return alone was enough to cause an uproar throughout the entire base.

Even though it was the middle of the night, the entire base leadership had risen, and even many ordinary people were awake, peering around and asking questions, afraid that something major had happened in the base that might threaten their safety.

Tang Tang rushed in almost immediately. Her face was pale, and she looked thinner. Although her injuries had healed, her eyes were still swollen. “Chen Chen, how did you get so badly hurt? Did you run into a high-level zombie horde?”

When Chen Chen saw Tang Tang, a flicker of impatience flashed across his eyes, but he quickly suppressed it. Despite being in agony—his body screaming for release—he forced himself to speak gently: “Tang, you’re here. Please help me. I’ve got serious internal injuries—my organs might be torn up. Help me heal.”

At this point, Chen Chen still didn’t know that Tang Tang’s healing ability was fake. He naively believed that, at the very least, she was still a healer.

Panic flickered in Tang Tang’s eyes. Her fear was too obvious, and everyone noticed, though they all assumed she was just worried about Chen Chen.

Under everyone’s watchful gaze, Tang Tang wanted to explain but didn’t dare. She feared being torn apart by the crowd.

“Chen Chen, you know my healing ability is only a secondary one, level one. It might not work on your injuries,” Tang Tang stammered.

That was true. Low-level healers could only treat minor wounds for high-level superpowered individuals—the level gap made the healing effect nearly negligible.

Hearing this frustrated Chen Chen. Space and healing users were already rare, and zombies with space or healing abilities were even rarer. He had gone to great lengths once to obtain some, but in the end, Tang Tang’s ability hadn’t improved at all.

“It’s fine. Just try healing me. If it works, great. If not, no problem,” Chen Chen said.

“O-okay.” Tang Tang nearly burst into tears but sat down opposite him, holding out her right hand and slowly moving it about a centimeter above his wounds.

Tang Tang wasn’t a real healer at all. She could only fake what healing might look like. She imagined it must be hard, especially for a high-level user, so she winced in fake strain, as if enduring great pain.

Her performance was convincing, but it still crushed Chen Chen. He felt nothing—no relief, no sensation at all from Tang Tang’s "healing."

It seemed her healing ability was simply too low-level to help him. He’d have to find a way to boost her power.

Still, despite the lack of results, Chen Chen didn’t tell her to stop. He was in agony—both inside and out. If not for others being present, he would’ve rolled on the floor. He thought maybe she could at least ease some of his external pain.

Tang Tang kept up the act for a long time, but Chen Chen never called a stop. Finally, she couldn’t keep pretending and rolled her eyes, pretending to pass out.

“Tang Tang fainted!”

To make it believable, Tang Tang let herself drop to the ground with a loud thud, hitting her head. The pain was sharp, but she gritted her teeth to keep from crying out.

The moment she fell, someone shouted, and another superpowered rushed over to help her up.

“She must’ve exhausted her energy. This is what happens when a low-level tries to heal a high-level—it drains too fast!”

“My fault. I was too hasty—I forgot about that. Could you get her home now? I’ll check on her later,” Chen Chen said quickly. “Also, could you pour me a glass of water? Tang always says drinking water helps after healing. She used to give every superpowered a cup after treating them.”

This was how Tang Tang had passed herself off as a healer all along. Her “healing” was an act—she slipped in water from her space’s Magic Spring. Though the superpowered didn’t feel immediate effects, they recovered afterward, believing it was her healing.

“Sure,” a female superpowered poured Chen Chen a glass while another carried Tang Tang home.

Tang Tang timed it perfectly, waking up just in time.

“What happened?” she asked weakly.

“You drained your energy and fainted. You should’ve stopped when you hit your limit! Draining yourself completely is dangerous—you know that, right?” the woman scolded.

“I’m sorry for the trouble. I was just too anxious. Seeing Chen Chen so badly injured, I wanted to help even a little… I didn’t expect…” Tang Tang put on a guilty face.

The woman sighed. “Well, I can’t blame you. Given your close, almost familial bond with the commander, it’s understandable—you were just worried.” She meant no harm—just stating that Tang Tang had been saved and raised by Chen Chen, sharing a deep connection.

But Tang Tang’s feelings for Chen Chen weren’t innocent, so she read into it, her face darkening instantly.

Noticing her reaction, the woman realized she may have misspoken and hurried away.

After about another ten days, the vehicles dispatched by the base finally brought the superpowered individuals back. Unfortunately, two of them had perished—they had unexpectedly encountered a group of high-tier zombies, resulting in the loss of two superpowered individuals.

Whether it should be said or not, the bad ones always survive—Song Pengcheng was still alive, having somehow managed to drag himself back to the base with severe injuries.

As a healing-type superpowered individual, Tang Tang was once again called over to heal the wounded. This time, she couldn’t refuse; among the injured were beginner-level superpowered individuals, whom she should theoretically be able to heal.

Tang Tang’s heart pounded with fear as she forced herself to enter the treatment room.

Seeing the bloodied superpowered individuals strewn about, Tang Tang nearly burst into tears.

What was she supposed to do? If healing across levels had no effect, she could at least find an excuse. But there was someone here at her exact power level—if she still couldn't heal them, her disguise would be exposed.

The consequences of faking being a superpowered individual were too terrible for Tang Tang to even imagine. At that point, even if Chen Chen wanted to protect her, he might not be able to.

Just as Tang Tang was about to panic, she spotted Song Pengcheng, severely injured and hovering near death.

Tang Tang almost laughed out loud. She rushed past the other injured straight to Song Pengcheng's side. “Pengcheng, let me help you heal.”

Her delight was so obvious that Song Pengcheng almost suspected Tang Tang secretly disliked him—why else would she look so happy seeing him injured?

Fortunately, Tang Tang immediately grabbed his hand and eagerly began “healing” him, which helped allay his suspicions.

Although Song Pengcheng wasn’t as powerful as Chen Chen, who was a peak tier-3 superpowered, he was a peak tier-2 superpowered and considered an outstanding individual within Third Base.

Tang Tang, as a beginner-level superpowered individual, wouldn’t have made any difference even if she truly had healing abilities—it would have been like a drop in the ocean.

That was exactly what Tang Tang was counting on. Soon, she feigned exhaustion and acted weak.

“I can’t go on, Brother Pengcheng. My powers are almost depleted. Do you feel any better?” Tang Tang pressed a hand to her forehead, pretending to be weak and worried.

“I don’t feel anything…” Song Pengcheng then remembered Tang Tang was only a beginner-level superpowered and added, “Thank you, Tang Tang. Just your concern makes me feel much better. Don’t worry, I’ll hold on.”

Tang Tang nodded, genuinely moved. Song Pengcheng continued, “Tang Tang, could you get me a glass of water? Back then, whenever you healed me, I never felt anything right away, but after drinking water, I always felt much better. Another glass, please.”

Tang Tang almost couldn’t maintain her caring expression but forced a nod.