Chapter 176

Chapter 176

"Hah—"

"That's how it is. I've told you everything I know, whether from personal experience or hearsay."

After finishing, Chen Yue let out a long sigh.

A moment later, he murmured as if to himself:

"The torment and harm we inflicted on you in our past life... Cheng Jing has paid it back double... Now you got what you wanted."

Cheng Jing was truly ruthless—when he lost his mind, even those lab freaks were nothing compared to him:

To make them suffer more, that devil even injected them with a drug that cranked up nerve sensitivity, turning a 5 into 50 on the pain scale.

Sometimes, even the slightest touch felt like agony, let alone being cut with a knife. Each slash felt like getting killed all over again, yet it was considered a minor injury.

Cheng Jing also wouldn't let them beg for mercy. They could only keep apologizing to Jiang Nian, who had turned into a zombie. If they dared say anything else, the knife would come immediately. Even now, the memory still gave him nightmares.

Jiang Nian shook his head:

"The way I see it, you didn’t just kill me—you also killed Brother Jing. With his abilities, he could've made it through safely with his family and friends. It was you who killed him! If you had even an ounce of decency left, you wouldn’t feel wronged."

In their past life, they killed him and Brother Jing. In this life, they still schemed against them. When their schemes failed, they tried to guilt him into forgetting the past. They deserved to be torn to pieces.

"..."

Chen Yue had no comeback. If given the chance, he would still fight for his own survival, even at the cost of others—after all, wanting to survive wasn’t wrong.

But confronting their past life's truth, though resentment and unwillingness still seethed inside him, he could kinda get Jiang Nian’s hatred...

"Jiang... Nian—*cough*—"

"*Cough*—"

The turning into zombies of Chen Shanmin and the other two continued. Due to differences in constitution, their throats had stiffened, robbing them of speech. Their eyes were bloodshot as they struggled desperately, emitting garbled, choking noises.

Even knowing they had wronged Jiang Nian in their past life, even knowing his revenge was justified—with death staring them in the face, they still hoped Jiang Nian would spare them, considering their "beef was from another life."

"..."

The story was over. Jiang Nian didn’t want to hear another word from them. Their inability to speak was a relief—otherwise, their noise would've driven him up the wall.

The gunfire above ground had long since ceased, and the surroundings were dead quiet, leaving his thoughts crystal clear.

He had suspected Chen Yue might withhold crucial details, but he never expected it to be this messed up.

In their past life, he had truly become a zombie. Brother Jing had raised him, abandoned his family, and chosen to die with him. How agonizing that must’ve been.

Heartache, sorrow, and grim satisfaction surged within him. Jiang Nian took a few deep breaths before asking a disturbing question:

"So you’re saying... in our past life, I ate your flesh?"

The sorrow was real—but so was the disgust.

"No."

Chen Yue denied it. Seeing Jiang Nian’s look of revulsion, he quickly explained:

"Cheng Jing patched up your body and fed you with raw beef, pork, or even bread drenched in his own blood... You never ate human flesh, nor harmed anyone. From start to finish, it was always him who acted."

This was one of Cheng Jing's most disturbing traits—keeping them clinging to life with rotting, maggot-ridden food while feeding Jiang Nian the finest food mixed with his own blood, occasionally even feeding the Zombie King.

"..."

The discomfort faded; his nose stung and his chest ached for Jiang Nian.

Back then, he had no soul, no Superpower Core—just a soulless, snarling low-level zombie with a tattered body. Even if patched up, he wouldn’t have looked any better.

He couldn’t imagine how devastated Brother Jing must have been, hurting himself to feed someone in that state.

His vision blurred as Jiang Nian sucked in a breath. Dammit, he suddenly missed Brother Jing so much!

He prayed tomorrow’s sunrise would bring his Brother Jing back to him...

"Jiang Nian, kill me, but please spare Mom, Dad, and Lin Lin."

The infection was worsening. Chen Yue’s eyes began shifting again, using Jiang Nian’s emotional state to beg.

Chen Shanmin and the other two were deteriorating too, their eyes glazing over as death took hold.

Jiang Nian didn’t want to repeat answers he’d already given. With reddened eyes, he unleashed his Superpower, Purifying the entire room to keep them conscious.

Before Chen Yue could speak again, he demanded:

"Do you know the origin of the Zombie King Brother Jing kept? Did you recognize it? Was it any of my current companions or acquaintances?"

This was crucial. In his past life, he’d heard little about Qingyun City, let alone its Zombie King.

Moreover, Zombie Kings had ranks—the more human-like, the higher the rank.

According to Chen Yue, that Zombie King retained human consciousness, could speak, and communicate. If its Superpower was offensive, it would’ve been a catastrophic threat.

No wonder the military had been mobilized to suppress it. Without self-destruction, they’d have needed high-grade weapons or suffered heavy losses.

If Qingyun City had a Zombie King in his past life, it should exist now too—unless it was one of their companions, prevented by the butterfly effect of his rebirth. That would be a relief!

But if it wasn’t someone familiar, they’d need to investigate and prepare. This was no joke.

Beyond being nearly invulnerable and terrifying, a Zombie King could summon hordes.

The higher its rank, the larger and deadlier the horde.

With many events unfolding earlier this time, if the Zombie King emerged ahead of schedule, humanity would need to brace for a siege now.

"Cough... cough..."

"Ugh... cough..."

After a long pause, Chen Yue recovered from the agony of Purification, wheezing weakly before answering:

"I didn’t know it, nor heard Cheng Jing or itself mention a name... Only that it was from Qingyun City, highly advanced. Aside from feeding on humans and Superpower Cores, plus stiff limbs and slow speech, it was nearly indistinguishable from a human."

Jiang Nian nodded.

"Fine. What were its traits? Gender, age, abilities?"

When lacking flesh, Zombie Kings consumed Superpower Cores—something only they could do. Unlike medium extraction, they treated the cores as mere food, gobbling them down raw.

Say what you will, becoming a Zombie King even makes your teeth better, which is quite enviable.

"..."

Chen Yue recalled for a moment and said:

"A teenage girl dressed entirely in a black cloak... Her ability is teleportation... the kind that can take an entire room with her... It's totally OP."

"..."

Jiang Nian was so shocked he caught his breath, a familiar figure flashing through his mind—how could it be such a coincidence!

Chen Yue swallowed hard before finishing:

"Cheng Jing used the Zombie King's superpower to transfer us, Xia Weiwei, and the entire lab pod out of the base... Then, he kept making the car blink in and out, transferring us back to Qingyun City. Otherwise, Cheng Jing alone wouldn’t have been able to spring us from S Base."

Though there was no proof, he felt that the teleporting Zombie King’s later going kaboom was likely influenced by Cheng Jing, not out of desperation.

After all, if it had just teleported away to another location, it could've ghosted us completely.