Chapter 170

Chapter 170

[Silence.]

Chen Yue didn’t want to wear it, because he could put it on himself but couldn’t take it off himself.

But ever since he heard his mother’s screams earlier, he knew things were no longer under their control. Jiang Nian wasn’t giving him a choice.

His hands stiffening, he struggled to pick up the collar and slowly put it on, his mind racing with scattered thoughts:

Ever since awakening his memories from his past life, he knew many things in this life would be different, and he was ready for changes. But facing Jiang Nian, who was so different from the person in his memories, was still tough to swallow.

It was all his father’s fault for cutting ties over just 20,000 yuan (about $3,000). That small slight festered into deep resentment in the apocalypse.

Jiang Nian must’ve had it rough—why else would he crawl back to his ex?

After all, in his past life, that sick bastard Cheng Jing only came looking for Jiang Nian after his death.

But even in his past life, his father had the same attitude. Why couldn’t this Jiang Nian handle a little backtalk?

Was it because he was destined to awaken these memories, so the world changed in advance?

[Silence.]

Jiang Nian didn’t give a damn whether he was unwilling, resentful, or thinking something else. He pulled a chair over and sat across from him, coldly eyeing his decaying form as he asked:

"Craving human flesh yet?"

By now, the hunger should be kicking in.

[Silence.]

Chen Yue’s throat worked painfully, defiantly shaking his head:

"No."

The infection was locking up his nerves, making his voice low and weak. After putting on the collar, he wheezed out:

"Bro..."

Jiang Nian raised a hand to cut him off:

"Cut the crap. With how things stand, there’s no need to disgust each other."

Across two lifetimes, the number of times Chen Yue and Chen Lin had called him "brother" could be counted on one hand. They always addressed each other by name.

This fake buddy-buddy act made him sick—he wanted to smash his stupid head in!

[Silence.]

Chen Yue had no choice but to bite back his anger and change his words:

"Jiang Nian, my parents and Lin Lin... are they alive?"

Jiang Nian lounged back, legs casually crossed:

"Their fate’s in your hands."

[Silence.]

Chen Yue took it as a threat, biting back his annoyance and putting on a sincere act as he said:

"What I said is all true. Take it or leave it."

"Say what you gotta say, I’ll make my own judgment."

Jiang Nian shrugged it off—he refused to believe this guy would actually dare to speak the truth!

Chen Yue glanced down at his infected arm and said:

"You were helping Tang Ji just now, not torturing him."

His tone was matter-of-fact. Jiang Nian raised an eyebrow:

"You could tell?"

So, making Tang Ji cry out had been the right move.

Chen Yue bit his cracked lips:

"Because in my previous life, you treated me the same way."

Then he locked eyes with Jiang Nian.

He had expected Jiang Nian to react with surprise at such a crazy story, or to laugh at him for talking crazy.

But Jiang Nian didn’t. Instead, he shot back coolly:

"Like in those novels and movies? Did you reincarnate, or did you awaken memories of your past life in a dream?"

Whether it was reincarnation or awakened memories, at this point, it wasn't all bad—at least it would let him die with clarity.

"..."

Chen Yue froze, eyeing him warily. For some reason, this serious "wild guess" gave him the creeps. No normal person would buy that.

Jiang Nian snapped impatiently:

"What’s there to be surprised about? There are only so many possible explanations. At this stage, beating around the bush benefits no one."

Take a wild guess—it's not like it matters now.

"Fine..."

Unable to detect anything unusual from Jiang Nian’s expression, Chen Yue nodded and admitted:

"After getting infected, the doctors gave me medication to slow the virus. While drowsy, these weird memories just popped up in my mind. Call it an awakening, I guess."

Jiang Nian nodded. "Go on."

Chen Yue continued:

"I’m certain it wasn’t a dream or a hallucination, because the memories before the apocalypse lined up perfectly with what I went through. Only after the apocalypse were things off slightly... In my previous life, you were with us, but this time you weren’t..."

"In that life, our family faced the apocalypse together. Later, we followed Xia Weiwei to Z Base first. On the way, I had the bad luck to get scratched and infected by a zombie. You used your superpower to save me, and afterward, we went to S Base..."

Chen Yue said, piecing it together as he went, mostly sticking to the truth but leaving stuff out and sugarcoating the rest in his favor.

A ruthless play on tragedy was twisted into some heartwarming story of a loving family standing together through hardship.

"..."

Jiang Nian felt nauseated by what he heard, but he suppressed his physical discomfort and asked the question he most wanted to know:

"At the end... did I cure you?"

Chen Yue nodded:

"Yes, you did. Because when your Purification Superpower broke through the 500-meter range, it mutated into its final attribute—the ability to Purify the zombie virus. What’s the current range of your Purification Superpower?"

Whether referencing his past life’s information or Tang Ji’s reaction, he was certain Jiang Nian’s Purification Superpower hadn’t surpassed 500 meters yet.

Jiang Nian didn’t answer and instead pressed further:

"Was it a complete zombie virus Purification? Did it fully restore the infected to normal?"

Chen Yue nodded: "Yes."

Then, his tone shifted:

"But... after we reached S Base, we were betrayed. Professor Xia had your Core transplanted into Xia Weiwei to make her a dual-attribute Superpowered individual."

"The Purification Core had high compatibility. Unlike other combinations, it didn’t cause rejection between the two cores. That’s why Xia Weiwei became S Base’s only lab-made dual-attribute Superpowered individual. Any other core combinations without Purification failed."

As he spoke, Chen Yue kept his voice carefully even to avoid tipping Jiang Nian off:

It was true that Xia Weiwei eventually received the Purification Core—but not from Jiang Nian’s body. It was taken from his own.

Because in Z Base’s underground lab, Jiang Nian’s Core had already been transplanted into him.

This, of course, couldn’t be revealed.

"..."

Jiang Nian could discern the truth in his words but chose to ignore it for now, lowering his gaze to mask his emotions, clenching his bedsheets. So that’s how it was. The irony.

After a moment of thought, he asked again:

"Then what?"

"Afterward... you died. Our entire family was imprisoned and turned into experimental subjects for Core transplants, forced to test different Cores... until Cheng Jing avenged your death... *cough*..."

Chen Yue’s voice turned bitter, his jaw tight, his anger choking on suppressed rage.

This was another crucial question. Jiang Nian looked up at him:

"If I wasn’t with Brother Jing in my past life, how did he avenge me?"

"..."

After taking a deep breath, Chen Yue answered:

"You never reconciled with Cheng Jing in that life. He *only* found you after what happened to you... Cheng Jing got your Core back and detonated in S Base’s testing chamber, nearly destroying the entire base. We died too. That’s where my memories end," he said, his eyes glazing over.

Cheng Jing’s detonation was real—but the details were unclear to him. In truth, they hadn’t been in S Base at the time. Instead, Cheng Jing had locked them in an underground bunker in Qingyun City, leaving them to be devoured by zombies until they were barely conscious.

The news had been delivered by the Zombie King who aided Cheng Jing. After relaying the message, it tore them apart and threw them into a zombie horde before following Cheng Jing’s lead and detonating under the pressure of Nan City Base’s military forces.

This, of course, couldn’t be mentioned either. Right now, all he wanted was to survive and avoid the tragedies of his past life.