Chapter 172

Chapter 172

"Ah!"

Jiang Nian had aimed perfectly—the infected area hadn’t completely necrotized yet and still retained sensation. Chen Yue let out a scream, realizing Jiang Nian was deadly serious. Furious and terrified, he shouted:

"In our past life, I just wanted you to use your Superpower to heal me! The real masterminds were Xia Weiwei and Base S! We were set up too!"

All he had wanted was to survive. Everything else—the deception of their parents and sister—had been orchestrated by Xia Weiwei.

The truth is, it was the Purify ability that had drawn Base S’s attention, that doomed us. Whether he had been used as an excuse or not, the outcome would’ve been the same. So why pin all the blame on him?!

Even strangers would’ve helped, let alone brothers!

"Hah!"

This kind of backstabbing spectacle never failed to amuse Jiang Nian. He said coolly:

"Stop shifting blame. None of you will escape! You were the one who told me not to go anywhere, which led to my imprisonment! You used Xia Weiwei’s influence to control me from the start, Chen Yue. You deserved to die from the very beginning!"

"You—! But in this life, we haven’t harmed you at all! You’ve lived well, haven’t you?! It was Base S and Xia Weiwei who wanted to recruit Cheng Jing and the brain-evolved Superpowered! That’s why we came to you!"

Chen Yue, furious, seemed to have stopped thinking.

Jiang Nian increased the pressure on the steel pipe, said, icy and deliberate:

"You being alive is the greatest harm to me! My good fortune in this life has nothing to do with you—but every suffering in my past life was caused by you!"

"Pfft—!"

Chen Yue spat another mouthful of blood, instinctively trying to lunge forward. But the steel pipe’s length exceeded his range of motion—even if he impaled himself further, he couldn’t reach Jiang Nian. He could only choke out blood and curses:

"We’re innocent now! Jiang Nian, I hope you die a horrible death!"

Unfazed, Jiang Nian grinned, unhinged, and nodded:

"I already died horribly once. Now it’s your turn. Even ten lifetimes later, none of you will ever be innocent!"

Done listening to his excuses, Jiang Nian willed his Superpower to surge from his palm. A blue-white glow spread along the steel pipe, enveloping Chen Yue.

He needed the man’s mind sharp and clear—so he could talk.

"AHHH!"

"Jiang Nian! I’ll kill you—!"

A scream ripped out, the previously weak voice now hoarse and broken.

Jiang Nian savored it. He even added brightly:

"I’ll Purify you first, then inject you with drugs and infected blood. We’ll repeat the cycle until your body rots away—while your mind stays perfectly aware!"

"......"

Smoke curled off Chen Yue’s entire body. Jiang Nian might as well have been an exorcist, purging an unrepentant demon.

Since his rebirth, he had suppressed the rage in his heart, playing the cheerful role around others. But now—the revenge he’d dreamed of was finally happening!

He wouldn’t let Chen Yue die easily. Nor would he let him lose his sanity. Not ever.

The more severe the infection, the more painful Purifying is. A few minutes later, Chen Yue convulsed on the iron-framed bed, filthy blood oozed out continuously as chunks of rotting flesh sloughed off.

His head cleared considerably, but the clearer his mind, the sharper his fear.

Jiang Nian moderated the Purification process, withdrew his Superpower and the steel pipe, then grabbed an anesthetic and jabbed him, remarking coolly:

"You won’t die, nor can you kill yourself. You have all the time in the world to consider whether to tell me the truth."

"Haah..."

After a long while, Chen Yue trembled his lips and gasped out between clenched teeth:

"You... this... demon!"

If he’d known it’d come to this, he would have told Xia Weiwei about Jiang Nian’s Superpower—if they were to die, they could all rot together!

"This is nothing. After what you did to me in my past life, did you never think you’d face retribution?"

Jiang Nian smiled as he took out a crossbow, shooting clean through his hands and calves, pinning them to the bedframe. Blood quickly soaked the plain bedsheet.

After a few more screams, Chen Yue was forced to quiet down, soaked in a cold, clammy sweat.

Jiang Nian flung the steel pipe away, turned, and walked out the door. Chen Yue would crack eventually—so he needed a few spectators to listen together.

"..."

The area outside was cleared out. Uncle Li had ordered the soldiers out of the basement.

Now, only a few of their inner circle remained, guarding outside with Chen Shanmin’s family in custody.

Liao Yu, standing guard outside, smirked when he saw Jiang Nian’s composed expression:

"I was afraid a crowd would cramp your style, godfather, so I had Uncle Li arrange for them to go upstairs."

"Good."

Jiang Nian smiled at him, then shot a look at Tang Ji’s room:

"If Xia Weiwei shows up, remind Tang Ji."

Tang Miao had been forced to take a zombie hit for Xia Weiwei and was cut down right then and there, without even a chance to say goodbye to her brother.

Tang Ji hadn’t even been able to recover his sister’s corpse. Such hatred couldn’t be vented unless he killed Xia Weiwei with his own hands.

Once he got what he wanted from Chen Yue’s mouth, he could slice out the bastard’s tongue and hand it to Tang Ji... Revenge was addictive—he felt himself slipping into monstrosity!

Lost in thought, Jiang Nian nodded to his teammates and walked toward the three members of the Chen family.

Chen Xiuling, her face deathly pale, asked:

"You... what have you done to Xiao Yue?"

"Why don’t you go see for yourselves? I said I wouldn’t keep you from your... reunion."

Jiang Nian motioned for them to go inside.

Chen Shanmin, his face full of fear, stammered:

"Jiang Nian..."

Jiang Nian said coldly:

"Don’t make me regret this."

"..."

The trio hesitated briefly but stumbled forward anyway.

"Xiao Nian, is it alright to let them stay together?"

Uncle Li frowned, still a bit worried.

Jiang Nian shook his head:

"They’re harmless, Uncle. Relax."

Injuries, handcuffs, special collars... Unless Chen Shanmin and Chen Xiuling suddenly awakened some insane superpower, they wouldn’t be able to cause trouble.

Just as he spoke, Chen Xiuling’s sobs erupted from across the room.

Jiang Nian instructed his teammates:

"I’ll be tied up here a bit longer. You guys back up Tang Ji out there. If you contact Brother Jing, tell him not to worry and to come find me after handling his business."

Xia Weiwei and the deranged doctor would be left to Tang Ji. He needed to square things with Chen Yue before dawn. With Brother Jing’s track record, he’d definitely come looking for him soon.

"Got it."

Liao Yu said, and Uncle Li’s group nodded.

"..."

Chen Xiuling almost sobbed herself unconscious when she saw Chen Yue nailed to the bed.

Chen Shanmin held her with one hand and embraced the equally weeping Chen Lin with the other.

"Save the waterworks—he’s still breathing."

Jiang Nian walked in wearing a mask, locked the door behind him, and took out a tranquilizer gun, handing them out.

This stuff was custom-made by some post-apoc specialists Brother Jing found after the apocalypse—timing and potency were dialed in.

Before the apocalypse, such things were hard to come by, but after, it was different.

"You—"

"..."

The mother-daughter pair slumped first at the foot of Chen Yue’s bed.

Chen Shanmin fell back onto his ass, looking at Jiang Nian’s frosty glare:

"Jiang Nian! I’m your damn father!"

"Pfft—"

Jiang Nian barked a laugh as if hearing a joke and retorted:

"Got any receipts?"