Chapter 79

Chapter 79

"That self-righteous, know-it-all woman!"

After hearing Cheng Jing's words, Jiang Nian almost laughed angrily, a surge of anger flared up inside him. At the same time, a flood of disjointed thoughts surged through his mind.

It seemed that his rebirth had altered his own fate, and the butterfly effect from this had also caused certain events to change:

Chen Yue hadn’t been infected and killed by zombies, and the family that was supposed to be at Z Base were about to be brought over by Xia Weiwei.

But even without him, Chen Yue and the others' experiences shouldn’t have differed much from the previous lifetime...

In the past life, they had encountered a horde of zombies on their way to the base. In the chaos, Chen Yue had been scratched, forcing them to abandon their original plan of heading to a major base and instead settle for the nearby, lesser Z Base.

As for Xia Weiwei, she had been traveling elsewhere before school started and had stopped by Tianhe City to meet Chen Yue so they could head to school together.

Due to her background, when chaos erupted, she received priority for protection and evacuation from the authorities. Moreover, she had awakened her superpower early on.

It could be said that all the behind-the-scenes privileges Chen Yue’s family enjoyed were all thanks to Xia Weiwei.

At the end of the extreme cold in the past life, Xia Weiwei’s plan had been to circle around to the S Base in the northern capital. However, with Chen Yue infected by the zombie virus, taking him along would've prevented them from entering a major base.

In the end, after discovering that the Purification Superpower worked against the zombie virus, Xia Weiwei used her connections to help them slip past Z Base’s screening and enter the central district.

Looking back now, Xia Weiwei’s ability to act as if she called all the shots in Z Base was likely due to S Base’s hidden control of Z Base.

His experimentation and later evacuation might have had more to it than met the eye...

"......"

"Niannian..."

"Niannian!"

Seeing the man suddenly lower his head, lost in thought, his expression shifting, Cheng Jing reached out and patted his back:

"What’s wrong?"

"Huh?"

Jiang Nian snapped out of his daze, startled, and gave a faint smile at Cheng Jing’s concerned gaze:

"I’m fine, Brother Jing. I was just thinking about some things..."

With that, he gave his cheeks a light pat and laid out his thoughts.

"......"

After listening, Cheng Jing hesitated before saying:

"Could it be that in this life, they didn’t encounter a zombie horde on their way to the base?"

Chen Yue being scratched by a zombie could be considered what changed Jiang Nian’s fate. The butterfly effect worked both ways—put mystically, if it wasn't Chen Yue's time to die, then without Jiang Nian’s presence, he wouldn’t have been injured...

Jiang Nian still shook his head:

"If they didn’t run into zombies or hit any snags, then why would they still go to Z Base? Why didn’t they stick to Xia Weiwei’s original plan from the past life—heading to other bases closer to the northern capital before working their way to S Base?"

"Mmm... That is weird," he muttered.

Cheng Jing was equally puzzled. After a moment of silent exchange, he reasoned:

"Chen Yue probably wasn't infected, but something else happened that messed up the plan."

"That's what I think too."

Jiang Nian nodded, then asked:

"Can we ask Yang Kai to do some digging? Like why Xia Weiwei came to the Southern City Base—it can't just be about me, right?"

Whether Xia Weiwei had ever visited the Southern City Base in their previous life aside, in this life, none of them knew he had a superpower, and Chen Yue wasn’t injured. At this stage, the idea that she came solely for him didn't add up.

Cheng Jing smiled and patted him:

"I already asked Yang Kai one-on-one. Xia Weiwei’s background is similar to his—they grew up in the same military housing complex as kids, and their families know each other."

"But because of what Yang Kai does, he’s not that tight with Xia Weiwei. However, he mentioned that aside from checking you out, another reason she came was to look for her sister."

"Sister?"

Jiang Nian drew a blank:

"She has a sister?"

He remembered Xia Weiwei was the same age as Chen Yue—19 this year—and his stepmother had once mentioned she was an only child or whatever…

Cheng Jing nodded, explaining:

"Yang Kai said Xia Weiwei’s parents were both only children. After marrying, they had two daughters. She took her father’s surname, Xia, while her sister took their mother’s surname, Jiang. Later, her parents divorced, her mother went abroad, and her sister was sent to live with their maternal grandmother in Qingyun City."

"After the apocalypse, only her sister remained at their grandmother’s place. Word is she developed a water-based superpower. Xia Weiwei wants to bring her back to the S Base. Oh, and we know this person—it’s…"

"Jiang Wenwen!"

Jiang Nian blurted out, finishing his sentence. In that instant, some of his lingering doubts suddenly clicked into place, and he felt everything clicked.

"Right, Jiang Wenwen."

Cheng Jing sighed softly. Sometimes, the way fate ties people together was truly subtle.

"Hah…"

Jiang Nian sank back onto the sofa, tilting his head up with a bitter laugh:

"No wonder I always felt Jiang Wenwen seemed vaguely familiar but couldn’t place her. Jiang Wenwen, Xia Weiwei! What kind of screwed-up situation is this?"

Was he cursed to die young? No matter how he hid or tried to change things, a bunch of shitty people and shitty situations kept piling up around him.

Just when he thought Jiang Wenwen could be a helpful friend, this bombshell drops.

Still, in their past life, he’d never heard Xia Weiwei mention anything about Jiang Wenwen—otherwise, he wouldn’t have had no memory whatsoever of the name.

What was going on there?

"..."

As he pondered, Cheng Jing spoke up again:

"Yang Kai said Xia Weiwei and Jiang Wenwen aren’t on good terms. The sisters haven’t spoken for years… Jiang Wenwen’s relationship with her birth family is pretty much like yours."

He remained cold toward Jiang Wenwen. He didn’t oppose Jiang Nian’s collaboration plan, but he would never hesitate if she became an enemy.

"Is that so..."

Jiang Nian felt reassured:

"Let’s wait and see. If Jiang Wenwen leaves with Xia Weiwei, our cooperation will be void. There’s no real loss for now, just a little annoying. What worries me is Chen Shanmin’s family."

So that’s how it went. Judging by the events of his past life, Jiang Wenwen never went to S Base with Xia Weiwei.

"Relax, I’ve got this. If they come on their own, it’ll save me the trouble of tracking them down."

Cheng Jing gave his shoulder a reassuring squeeze, though his voice had an unsettling coldness.

Z Base was quite far from here. With zombies everywhere now, it’d take at least a month to get there from Nan City Base, and up to two months if there were delays.

That’s how he knew his past-life trip to Z Base wasn’t random—he had gone there specifically to find Jiang Nian.

Jiang Nian flinched at his cold tone:

"Brother Jing?"

Cheng Jing laid it out bluntly:

"I have no intention of letting go of those who hurt you in your past life. Even if they haven’t done anything to you in this life and know nothing about the past, that doesn’t matter to me. If you can’t bring yourself to do it, I will."

He was even somewhat glad they were coming—deal with them now, no regrets later. That way, Jiang Nian wouldn’t have to live with lingering resentment.