Chapter 97: Wu Yu Feels the Pain on His Face

Chapter 97 Wu Yu's Face Stung

This Zombie King learned from the previous Psychic Zombie King’s crushing defeat. Instead of acting arrogantly, it hid within the zombie horde, pretending to be an ordinary zombie. While manipulating the horde to fight, it secretly planted mental suggestions on unsuspecting superpowered individuals.

The moment Ji An’s psychic power surged outward, the Zombie King sensed it and turned its gaze toward Ji An’s direction.

Seeing Ji An circling in the sky atop Thunder Dragon, the Zombie King bared its teeth and snarled a threat at him.

Ji An coldly stared back and even freed two high-level superpowered from its control. The moment they were released, the two immediately launched an attack on the Zombie King.

Psychic zombies lacked combat strength but were strong in psychic abilities. The two high-level superpowered individuals teamed up and forced the Zombie King into retreat. The Zombie King had no choice but to command more zombies to restrain the two attackers.

Ji An’s provocation enraged the Zombie King, prompting it to retaliate.

*Boom! Boom! BOOM!*

A series of explosions echoed from the distance. Ji An turned and saw a scene of blood splattering everywhere.

“The Zombie King forced the superpowered to self-destruct,” Gu Jinsheng said, his expression inscrutable.

Ji An’s expression turned icy. He released his psychic power, manifesting a bow and arrow, and took aim at the Zombie King.

The Zombie King didn’t take Ji An seriously. Instead of dodging the psychic arrow, it lashed out with its own psychic power to counterattack.

The Zombie King hadn’t evolved enough to materialize its psychic superpower, so its attack remained a raw surge of energy. The energies clashed, neither overpowering the other.

The Zombie King’s eyes flashed with arrogance. Ji An fired another arrow, and the Zombie King countered again. This time, however, it struggled much more—its energy was pushed back before barely managing to neutralize Ji An’s attack.

The Zombie King narrowed its eyes, sensing danger. Ji An’s third arrow was already upon it, forcing the Zombie King into a desperate block.

This time, its psychic power was significantly weaker than Ji An’s. It was forced into retreat, and in the blink of an eye, the attack was right in front of it.

Realizing the dire situation, the Zombie King tried to command nearby zombie underlings to shield it—only to find it could no longer control them.

The closest zombies each had a web of psychic threads extending from their minds, all leading back to Ji An’s grasp.

Ji An gave the Zombie King a cold smirk and lightly tugged the threads. The zombie underlings turned on their former master.

Like Psychic Superpowered individuals, the Zombie King shared the same weakness—poor combat skills. The underlings forced it into a frantic escape.

From above, Ji An played with the Zombie King like a cat with prey. Finally losing interest, he manipulated one zombie to rip out the Zombie King’s core crystal.

The Zombie King died, eyes wide in shock, its last sight being the bloodied claws of its own minion.

The moment the Zombie King perished, a large number of superpowered individuals snapped out of their trance. Du Ruanlan watched as many who had been under Mind Control suddenly snapped out of their daze mid-battle.

Jiang Fuzhong stared in disbelief. “What tier is Ji An’s Psychic Superpower? How is he this strong?”

Even their leader, a nearly max-level superpowered, would have lost his life facing a Psychic Zombie King. Yet for Ji An, it seemed effortless.

Owen’s expression was complicated. “Ji An’s psychic power is monstrous. He can free multiple people from Mind Control simultaneously—something even our base’s high-level Psychic Superpowered can’t do.

If the Jing City Base doesn’t have some secret method to enhance psychic power, then Ji An is simply a genius!”

Owen and Jiang Fuzhong’s gazes simultaneously fell on the fang marks on Du Ruanlan’s neck. If only Ji An had arrived a little sooner...

After dealing with the Zombie King, Ji An and Gu Jinsheng returned. Ji An dismounted Thunder Dragon, and Gu Jinsheng recalled it.

Du Ruanlan insisted on standing without support, clinging to his last vestige of dignity. He smiled at Ji An. “Thank you. And as expected, your legend doesn’t disappoint.”

Ji An asked in confusion, "Deputy Commander Du has heard of me?"

Du Ruanlan smiled, "Nutrient solutions and med-pods—there's probably no one in the world who hasn't heard of them."

As soon as Du Ruanlan finished speaking, Gu Jinsheng's expression instantly darkened, his aura radiating deadly intent. Jiang Fuzhong and Owen were so startled by this murderous aura that the hairs on their bodies stood on end.

Du Ruanlan continued to smile, the curve of his lips unchanged. "Gu Jinsheng, why be so guarded? In my current state, what threat could I possibly pose to your heart's desire?"

Gu Jinsheng glared coldly at Du Ruanlan. "What do you want?"

"Commander Gu is as sharp as ever. I just want to hand over Luo City Base to you."

"Ruanlan!"

"Boss!"

Owen and Jiang Fuzhong called out simultaneously.

Du Ruanlan looked at them, a trace of reluctance flashing in his eyes, but he quickly masked it.

Du Ruanlan said, "Owen, Fuzhong, I've been infected with the zombie virus. I don't think I'll make it. But the Luo City Base must continue. It's not that I don't trust you two or refuse to hand the base over to you. It's just that there will be more Psychic Zombie Kings. R and M nations still have many more in their possession, and they can drop them on any base anytime. Our base lacks a psychic superpowered capable of resisting a Psychic Zombie King. Once a superpowered is controlled by one, we'll fall back into today's situation."

"This time, we were lucky—the Capital Base arrived just in time. If we'd been slightly less fortunate, they'd only be arriving to collect our bodies."

Owen shook his head. "I don't care who becomes the Commander-in-Chief of Luo City Base. I only care about you. Du Ruanlan, I won't let anything happen to you!"

Jiang Fuzhong added, "Boss, as long as I can follow you, whether as your deputy or just a grunt, on missions or in battle—it doesn’t matter. I just want to stay by your side."

Du Ruanlan's nose burned, eyes turning red, but he stubbornly held back his tears.

"Alright, promise." Du Ruanlan extended his hand, and Owen and Jiang Fuzhong clasped it in theirs. The three exchanged glances, silent vows and grief hanging between them.

Du Ruanlan released their hands and said to Gu Jinsheng, "I know many bases now wish to join the Capital Base, but compared to them, I believe our Luo City Base still brings the most to the table."

Gu Jinsheng replied, "Even if your residents are willing, what about your brass?"

"Before this battle, they would have refused. But after today, they're probably begging me to step down now."

Gu Jinsheng said, "This matter isn’t urgent. You can discuss it further with your high command later. Right now, mopping up comes first."

Du Ruanlan smiled bitterly—time was running out, and he likely didn't have a future. But he didn’t argue with Gu Jinsheng. Indeed, post-battle arrangements took precedence.

With the Psychic Zombie King slain by Ji An, the stragglers were no threat and were swiftly dealt with by the superpowered. The battle was effectively over.

Though the war had ended, the most terrifying part was what came after.

Zombies had already infiltrated Luo City Base. No one knew if more lurked in hidden corners or if any psychic zombies remained undefeated, biding their time.

Many more superpowered had been injured in the battle, infected with the zombie virus, and could turn any second.

Du Ruanlan instructed Jiang Fuzhong, "All injured superpowered must be quarantined and placed in makeshift med-bays. Mobilize all healers and doctors in the base to treat the wounded. Establish a temporary safe zone where all uninjured civilians can rest until the entire base is cleared of any undead before returning home..."

Du Ruanlan gave detailed orders, covering nearly every possible contingency. As a base Commander-in-Chief, he was every bit Gu Jinsheng's equal.

At that moment, Wan Xueying arrived with Kong Zhongcheng and the others. Not only had she wiped out every last R stealth fighter, but she had even captured a live prisoner.

Du Ruanlan and the others now understood why Gu Jinsheng's group had arrived so late—R and M nations had been behind the interference.

Owen and Jiang Fuzhong gritted their teeth at the mention of R and M, seething with hatred, wanting to tear them limb from limb.

Wan Xueying said, "Leader, when I received the message and rushed over, the first batch of treatment pods had just been completed. I brought fifty of them with me. The rest were pre-ordered by other bases, and I couldn’t go back on those agreements."

Gu Jinsheng nodded. "Hand the treatment pods over to Commander Du."

"Understood." Wan Xueying retrieved the treatment pods from her spatial storage device. Fifty pods sprawled across the ground made quite a spectacle.

"Thank you, Gu Jinsheng!" Du Ruanlan's gratitude was sincere. With these fifty treatment pods, more superpowered personnel in the base could be saved—each one a life.

Du Ruanlan immediately ordered them to be taken and deployed to the makeshift aid stations.

Ji An spoke up, "Commander Du, could I borrow a research lab?"

Du Ruanlan's eyes lit up. He knew that anything Ji An touched turned to gold. "Researcher Ji, are you developing something new?"

Since this project was, in a way, specifically tailored for Luoshi Base, Ji An saw no reason to hide it. "It's a Mental Scanner. I’ve researched it before but didn’t have time to produce it earlier. As the name suggests, it scans human mental states to detect whether they’ve been implanted with mental implants by Psychic Zombie Kings."

"That’s a game-changer," Du Ruanlan remarked.

He’d been racking his brain over screening the mental states of superpowered individuals. Those implanted with mental implants often didn’t even realize it themselves. Only when certain triggers activated the hidden mechanisms would abnormalities surface—but by then, it was usually too late, often resulting in irreversible damage.

If Ji An could successfully develop the Mental Scanner, those carrying mental implants would have nowhere to hide. Catching them early would neutralize the threat.

Du Ruanlan quickly responded, "What specs does the lab need, Researcher Ji? I’ll arrange it immediately. Should your assistants be summoned from Luoshi Base now?"

He didn’t dare assume Ji An would casually hand over such a crucial invention to their base’s personnel, even if they were soon to merge with Jingshi Base. After all, even within the same base, researchers kept their core technologies confidential and rarely shared them with peers.

But Ji An shook his head. "No need. The round trip would waste time. Do you have suitable candidates here, Commander Du? If so, recommend a few to me. This isn’t a complicated project—it won’t take long."

Du Ruanlan was taken aback by Ji An’s response. After a pause, he said, "We do. I’ll arrange it right away."

He contacted several deans from the research institute—veteran researchers who had been in the field even before the apocalypse. Though not as renowned as Han Yaokun, they were at least on par with Na Boyu.

The head of Luoshi Base’s research institute was named Wu Yu. Initially intrigued by the prospect of the Mental Scanner, Wu Yu’s face twisted with skepticism the moment he saw Ji An.

Worried about causing offense, Du Ruanlan quickly introduced Ji An. "This is Researcher Ji, the developer of the spatial storage device."

He deliberately avoided mentioning the nutrient solutions and treatment pods—both were closely guarded secrets of Jingshi Base. Revealing them would only sow discord rather than foster goodwill, jeopardizing any chance of joining Jingshi Base.

Wu Yu’s scrutinizing gaze at Ji An was like a patient told some rookie outshines a gray-haired professor. He wasn’t buying it.

Still, out of respect for Gu Jinsheng, Wu Yu refrained from outright rejection. Instead, he politely declined, "Commander-in-Chief Gu, we still can’t confirm whether Psychic Zombie Kings are hiding in the base. My team’s helmet repairs are at a critical phase, and I can’t leave. Perhaps you could assign someone else?"

Ji An didn’t bat an eye, but He Tao was displeased. Though unaware that Ji An had invented the nutrient solutions and treatment pods, He Tao deeply admired him for leading their escape from the stealth fighter and utilizing Bi Xue’s superpower for spatial teleportation.

"Researcher Ji is a Psychic heavyweight. He knows far more than you think. We only escaped the R-country’s stealth fighter thanks to him. His efforts also ensured our timely arrival here, and it was he who took down the Psychic Zombie King in your base."

Wu Yu replied courteously, "Thank you, Researcher Ji, for your help. But I truly can’t step away. Pick anyone you want, and I’ll assign them to assist you."

Ji An had no time to waste arguing with Wu Yu, nor would he tolerate skeptics—disagreements during research would only cause headaches.

He turned to Du Ruanlan. "I need obedient assistants—ones who obey orders, right or wrong. If no such candidates exist, I’ll work alone."

Of course, they couldn’t let Ji An work solo. But finding researchers who’d suppress their own judgment and blindly obey was no easy task. Talented folks had egos to match, and without proof of Ji An’s expertise, Du Ruanlan knew better than to promise blind obedience.

To prevent conflicts during the research process, Du Ruanlan ultimately had Wu Yu handpick a few bright, pliable students to assist Ji An.

Ji An had no objections and took a few people directly into the laboratory.

Gu Jinsheng looked at Du Ruanlan meaningfully and said, "Your people really have no vision. Among our researchers, so many are waiting for Xiao An's guidance, yet he has no time. If there were a chance to participate in Xiao An's research, they'd fight like hell for it."

Du Ruanlan smiled. "If Commander-in-Chief Gu were willing to tell Director Wu Yu that Researcher Ji is the inventor of the nutritional supplements and the treatment pod, I believe the researchers in our institute would also fight tooth and nail for this opportunity."

Gu Jinsheng gave Du Ruanlan a deep look but said nothing.

After quickly handing off the base's follow-up tasks, Du Ruanlan urgently convened a high-level meeting. His time was short—every minute and second was precious.

As Du Ruanlan had anticipated, when the high-level command meeting was held to announce the Luoshi Base's merger with the Jingshi Base, not a single one of the surviving high-ranking officials of Luoshi Base objected.

Du Ruanlan immediately announced the Luoshi Base's merger with the Jingshi Base during the meeting and signed the formal accession documents.

He Tao was even more glad about his decision to join the Jingshi Base.

At the meeting, Du Ruanlan introduced Gu Jinsheng to all the high-ranking officials and stepped down publicly.

After the meeting, Du Ruanlan bowed deeply to Gu Jinsheng and said sincerely, "Gu Jinsheng, from now on, the Luoshi Base is entrusted to you. Please protect it well!"

Gu Jinsheng understood Du Ruanlan's feelings. The Luoshi Base was like Du Ruanlan's child, raised single-handedly to this point. Now, he had to hand over his child to someone else, knowing he might never see it again—such emotions were hard to let go.

Gu Jinsheng returned the bow and said, "Commander-in-Chief Du, rest assured. My dedication to the Jingshi Base is the same as my dedication to the Luoshi Base."

Du Ruanlan gave a small smile. "I trust you, Gu Jinsheng. You are a responsible person."

Owen and Jiang Fuzhong stood nearby, their eyes red. Owen was fighting back tears several times but forced them back.

Du Ruanlan chuckled. "Since becoming the Commander-in-Chief of Luoshi Base, I haven't had a day off. Now, I can finally rest properly."

Owen said, "This kind of rest... I'd rather you never have it."

"Owen, I'm going into quarantine. Will you accompany me?" Du Ruanlan looked at Owen gently.

Owen's tears finally broke down. "Yes, of course I'll stay with you."

Du Ruanlan found an isolation room for himself, with Owen accompanying him. Jiang Fuzhong had also wanted to stay with Du Ruanlan during his final days, but both Owen and Du Ruanlan sent him away.

Before leaving the isolation room, Gu Jinsheng placed a 2-liter jug of pure Magic Spring water—given to him by Ji An—inside Du Ruanlan's room.

"Stay hydrated during quarantine," Gu Jinsheng said before departing.

Once immersed in experiments, Ji An would lose all sense of time. His rule was simple: no progress, no leaving the lab. Everyone working with him had to abide by this rule, so the students assisting him hadn't left since entering the lab.

Fortunately, these students were obedient. As long as Ji An ensured they had daily nutritional supplements, they followed his orders—sleeping where he told them and never leaving without permission.

Seven days passed before they knew it. Ji An and his team hadn't left the lab once, which worried Wu Yu, who was unfamiliar with Ji An's way of working.

Wu Yu went to Gu Jinsheng, now the Commander-in-Chief of Luoshi Base, to express his concerns.

"Researcher Ji hasn't left the lab for days. I'm worried about them. Should we have someone check on them?" Though Wu Yu doubted Ji An's capabilities, his concern was genuine.

Gu Jinsheng replied, "No need. Xiao An always operates like this. He'll come out when there's progress."

Wu Yu couldn't help but mutter, "Making breakthroughs isn't that easy. Often, it takes years. If one refused to leave without progress, many researchers would waste their lives in labs.

"Such a young man, lucky enough to achieve one result, thinks research is simple."

No sooner had Wu Yu spoken than the lab door opened—Ji An emerged.

Wu Yu glanced at Gu Jinsheng and said, "See? You came out after all. If the experiment doesn't work, getting some air and a new view might spark new ideas..."

"Jinsheng." Ji An was surprised to find Gu Jinsheng waiting for him here. After all, Gu Jinsheng had just taken over Luo City Base, and with the post-war situation, he must have a ton on his plate.

Gu Jinsheng stepped forward. "Dean Wu was concerned, so he sent me to see how you're doing. How’s the experiment going?"

Wu Yu shot Gu Jinsheng a look, thinking how someone so sharp could jump straight to asking for results. Experiments take trial and error—who gets it right the first time? Especially in such a short time, just a week. Settling on a basic direction would already be an achievement.

Worried that Ji An might have nothing to show and feel embarrassed by the question, Wu Yu quickly interjected, "It’s only been a few days—no progress is normal. Even for me, experiments don’t move this fast!"

"Succeeded." Ji An’s voice overlapped with Wu Yu’s. It took Wu Yu a moment to process what Ji An had said. His eyes nearly popped out of his head, and he instinctively looked at the students behind Ji An.

Only then did Wu Yu notice how exhilarated the students were, their faces flushed with excitement. Seeing Wu Yu finally turn to them, they couldn’t hold back anymore. "Professor, it worked!" one of them burst out. "We succeeded—we developed the Mental Scanner!"