Chapter 168

Chapter 168

"It hurts!"

Tang Ji's expression twisted from restraint to agony, his body rapidly heating up until the pain wracked him with convulsions, forcing a scream:

"Ah—!"

"Jiang Nian... this hurts like hell!"

"Bear with it."

Jiang Nian didn’t stop, his gaze fixed intently on the changes in Tang Ji’s arm and body.

Drawing from his past experience treating Chen Yue and his mastery over his Superpower, he compressed the Purification energy as much as possible for better results.

Pain was normal—last time, that asshole Chen Yue had screamed bloody murder too.

"Shit! I’m dying here!"

"Just shut me up already!"

Jiang Nian refused:

"No, letting it out helps."

That was exactly the effect he wanted.

Tang Ji panted heavily:

"Why do I... feel like you’re kinda messed up..."

Jiang Nian shrugged:

"People are born messed up."

"..."

As the Purification energy delved deeper, battling the zombie virus, Tang Ji felt like he was being burned alive. Excruciating pain surged through his nerves, wave after wave.

The virus had stiffened and darkened his veins, making them bulge grotesquely under his skin, snaking across his skin—making him look scarier than any zombie.

Only after repeated Purification did the swollen veins gradually recede. The blood oozing from the wounds turned from black to dark red, but the pain didn’t let up.

"Just hold on a little longer! First-time Purification’s always the toughest..."

Jiang Nian watched as Tang Ji’s gaze glazed over in pain, his own hand trembling slightly where it rested on Tang Ji’s shoulder.

Passing out would’ve been a mercy, but the absurd nature of Purification forced the recipient to stay conscious—like some cruel glitch.

"...Ugh... Hngh!"

Tang Ji’s throat emitted choked sounds. He knew this was progress—his zombie-like numbness was wearing off, replaced by human pain again.

His screams echoed through the basement for over twenty minutes before finally ceasing, leaving those who heard them breaking out in cold sweats.

Before Jiang Nian stepped out, the neighboring door swung open. Two men in white coats stepped out, hands in the air:

"Don’t shoot! We give up! We’re just hired medical staff—we weren’t involved in this..."

The middle-aged man of average height and slightly stocky build was Xia Weiwei's personal physician, surnamed Wei.

The other was a young bespectacled man with a bowl-cut hairstyle, his assistant surnamed Tan, holding up a medical kit with both hands—both looked perfectly ordinary.

When they noticed the unusual commotion in the basement and found their phones weren't getting service, they knew something was wrong.

Their expressions remained calm as they pushed the door halfway shut behind them, only then spotting a small signal jammer attached to it.

"Dr. Wei..."

Chen Shanmin called out. The doctor and his assistant hesitated for a beat before walking over at Liao Yu’s signal.

Upon getting closer and seeing the family’s beaten-up condition, they couldn’t help but ask,

"What happened to you guys? Where are Da Jun and Xiao Liu? Have you contacted Ms. Xia?"

"Da Jun and Xiao Liu were captured. Ms. Xia will be here soon..."

Chen Shanmin shook his head, giving them the short version of the situation in a low voice.

"..."

After hearing it, Dr. Wei didn't say another word and nodded to his assistant to open the medical kit to treat their wounds.

Unexpectedly, the next moment, Liao Yu and Li Liang stepped forward and yanked the kit from them. After checking it for anything suspicious, they took it for good measure.

"What are you doing?"

Chen Shanmin shot them a furious look.

"Jiang Nian said the doctor should treat our wounds!"

Li Liang curled his lip.

"Right now, we're running things here. Besides, Brother Nian only said the doctor was in the basement—he never said anything about letting him patch you up."

"You’re total scumbags!"

Chen Shanmin fumed.

"Hah!"

Liao Yu dropped the medical kit and wheeled around on him.

"Even at our worst, we’d never trick our own son into coming here just to kill him. If it weren’t for Brother Nian, you’d already be turned into slush by me. How dare you keep running your mouth here? Don't push your luck!"

"Motherf—You—"

Chen Shanmin was left speechless, unable to retort.

Beside him, Chen Xiuling flew into a rage.

"We never meant to kill him! Yet he shot his own father!"

"Oh please—you planned to kidnap him, kill the rest of us, and then control Cheng and the others!"

Liao Yu’s temper flared. Facing people who deliberately sought to kill him and his teammates, there was no reason to hold back.

Without thinking, the next second, a shard of ice pierced through Chen Xiuling’s palm while jagged spikes of ice erupted beside her, ‘conveniently’ hitting even the doctor and his assistant.

The heir dropped his usual carefree act, his eyes burning with fury:

"What are you jumping around for in front of me? Your family tried to screw Jiang Nian over completely, and he’s not allowed to fight back? Who are you trying to manipulate here! The next ice spike won’t just pierce a palm—it’ll be worse!"

Cheng had privately instructed them that even if their 'godfather' showed mercy and spared Chen Shanmin’s family, they still had to play the bad guys.

Their 'godfather' had other secrets, but everyone kept it unspoken. Between digging for the truth and questioning its logic, they chose to trust their big brother.

"......"

Hot blood sprayed onto the doctor and assistant, freezing them in place, even making them ignore the pain of their accidental injuries.

Chen Shanmin, fuming and panicked, held the screaming Chen Xiuling, preventing her from speaking recklessly in anger. At a time like this, lashing out would only make things worse.

Chen Lin trembled violently, biting her lip so hard she didn’t dare utter a word, her face as pale as paper. She couldn’t understand—how had their well-laid plans turned into this?

They hadn’t actually harmed Jiang Nian, so why was he so ruthless, showing no mercy at all? Was it just because of that 20 grand his father had demanded back? Did he really hold a grudge over that?

Could they still go to S-Base?

Would Xia Weiwei still come to save them?

"......"

Only when Liao Yu walked away, the ice shards melting away, did they finally relax.

"This is bad. Keep quiet," the doctor warned as he tore off a pocket from his white coat to staunch Chen Xiuling’s bleeding.

After a moment of silence, Chen Shanmin finally whispered, "Doctor, how’s Xiao Yue doing?"

Dr. Wei frowned, shaking his head with a sigh. "He's building up resistance. We need to get back to S-Base quickly for the special medication... Or he's done for."

After speaking, he glanced around, his gaze lingering on the doorway where Tang Ji stood, and asked, "What’s really going on with Jiang Nian? Does he have a grudge against Tang Ji too?"

It seemed they'd been set up. But neither Chen Shanmin’s family nor the intel Xia Weiwei had gathered mentioned that the other side was a total monster.

From the screams Tang Ji had let out earlier, it sounded even worse than what he’d done.

"I don’t know either. We haven’t seen each other since the apocalypse... His change is... way too extreme..." Chen Shanmin lowered his head as he answered, hiding his guilt.

The doctor didn’t know about Chen Yue’s visions, so he couldn’t voice his suspicions about Jiang Nian’s abnormal transformation.

He’d even worried Jiang Nian might use his superpower to save Tang Ji, but the screams had eased his mind. Though he didn’t know the reason, he had bigger problems now.

At this point, all they could do was pray Chen Yue could get through to Jiang Nian using the information from his special visions.

If not... they were in real danger.

Dr. Wei pondered for a moment, growing suspicious.

"You didn't tell him anything you weren't supposed to, did you?"

He always felt something was off.

Chen Shanmin shook his head:

"No, I followed what you and Weiwei said, using family ties to lure him into the shielded area of the basement. The rest wasn't our concern... But who knew the person he brought was hiding military forces in their space?"

"The reason Jiang Nian snapped was that I didn’t tell him about the address change, and later he discovered the secret of the basement’s shielded area... That's how we got here."

After speaking, he let out a heavy sigh. Under normal circumstances, the plan would have worked—the wild card was Jiang Nian.

"Alright..."

The doctor could only say helplessly after listening:

"Buy some time and wait for Miss Xia to arrive..."

Had he known how this would turn out, he wouldn’t have come. He needed to find a way to get the hell out first!

*Clang—*

From behind the door where Tang Ji was, the clank of a bolt being drawn echoed.

Then Jiang Nian shouldered the door open and stepped out. Under the light, aside from looking slightly pale and sweating profusely, he seemed physically fine—his clothes were clean.

Liao Yu and the others let out a sigh of relief.

The reek of decay blended with the iron scent of blood surged from the half-open door. Jiang Nian reached out and felt along the wall beside the door, switching off the light.

Those outside only had time to catch a glimpse of the floor awash in blood and Tang Ji lying motionless on the metal-framed bed.