Chapter 184

Chapter 184

"They won’t experiment on Tang Ji, will they?"

Jiang Nian asked half-jokingly, half-worried.

Tang Ji was truly a good person—the first one he had saved with his superpower—so he hoped that someone who had lost loved ones and gone through hell could bounce back and live well.

Cheng Jing immediately shook his head:

"No, it's just blood tests. His superpower is unique, so he might be recruited to work with Chu Yi later. But if we need him, Department Head Wang will arrange for them to assist us."

"That's good..."

Jiang Nian felt relieved, then thought for a moment and asked:

"What about me? Do I need to cooperate with research or something?"

"You don’t have to go anywhere."

Cheng Jing said flatly before smiling and explaining:

"While you were out cold, they ran routine tests, and they drew an extra vial of blood for research. That’s already enough. As for the rest..."

"Right now, the experts and professors are working on extracting and converting energy from the agent while preserving its properties. That way, purified energy can be extracted. It’ll probably take a long time before they need your cooperation."

This was the proper way to conduct research. Those who wanted to strap someone to a lab table 24/7 for injections, drug tests, or dissections were just psychos.

Besides, Department Head Wang had already agreed that Jiang Nian didn’t need to use his superpower to heal every infected person he saw—his powers were his to use as he saw fit.

"Heh. Good."

Jiang Nian’s worries eased:

"Then I can focus on my dream farm!"

With all the troubles finally resolved, from now on, he would live this apocalyptic mess exactly the way he wanted.

"Exactly. You go ahead and do what you want—leave the rest to me and the others."

Cheng Jing encouraged him, then suddenly remembered something:

"Back when your superpower went out of control, it cleansed a massive radius around the church, even changing the color of the soil. Department Head Wang has already sent troops to seal it off. Luckily, no one was there at the time, or it would’ve been troublesome if discovered."

Jiang Nian calculated the maximum area his superpower could cover and whistled:

"That’s a huge area—it’d be easy to notice."

Cheng Jing chuckled and continued:

"The industrial park has few buildings, so it can be used for planting. The initial formula of soil treatment has already been successfully developed. They plan to test it on the land you purified before officially opening it to the public once the heatwave breaks."

"Wow, the department head is pretty sharp."

Jiang Nian’s eyes lit up. That worked—with the solution as cover, there’d be no red flags. Farming and infrastructure were practically in their DNA as a people. Leaving land uncultivated was impossible.

After the extreme heat, it would be a full year since the apocalypse began. If soil-improving solutions could be made available to ordinary people for farming, it would give survival rates a real shot in the arm.

Recalling the scene when his superpower had went haywire, Jiang Nian still gave him chills:

"I was careless. When I broke through in my past life, it wasn't like this—just a quick sting that went unnoticed... Maybe it's because a forced breakthrough from the drugs is different from actively controlling my superpower to break through, which is why it caused such a huge reaction."

The second before losing consciousness, he even worried Tang Ji might bite him. Ugh.

Cheng Jing comforted him:

"The situation was within controllable limits. Don’t overthink it. The most important thing is that we handled it and gave you peace."

The fact that Chen Yue’s family and Xia Weiwei were still alive, even if they had no contact, was like a venomous dagger grinding against Jiang Nian’s wound, preventing it from healing, scabbing, or fading.

No matter how well he did, he couldn’t make his lover ignore that pain. Only revenge could fix it.

"Yeah."

Jiang Nian was happy too and gave him a peck:

"Thanks, Brother Jing."

Without Brother Jing, everything he wanted to do wouldn’t have gone so smoothly. If he couldn’t find closure, he’d be trapped in that bitter darkness for the rest of his life.

Cheng Jing ached to sink his teeth in but held back, sticking to the matter at hand:

"Alright, now tell me how you felt after your breakthrough and the details of your revenge against Chen Yue’s family."

Not being able to participate in the revenge against Chen Yue’s family was a slight regret for him.

But from Liao Yu and the others’ oblique remarks, if he had been there, it might have gotten in Jiang Nian’s way.

In that case, forget it. As long as his lover was satisfied with the outcome, that was all that mattered.

"..."

Jiang Nian collected himself and explained:

"After my superpower breakthrough, I can purge the zombie virus and kill zombies, but it’s not foolproof. It depends on the concentration and range of the Purify energy, as well as the number and strength of the zombies. The tighter the radius, the stronger the purification effect."

Cheng Jing agreed:

"That makes sense. It’s like calling something toxic without checking the dose."

"Exactly."

Jiang Nian nodded and broke down what he’d learned from treating Tang Ji and taking revenge on Chen Yue’s family:

"Those who’ve completely lost human consciousness are beyond saving. The deeper the infection, the harder it is to purify, and those who are purified will suffer even more—it’s agony—mentally and physically."

"Once the virus erodes a person to a certain extent, they’ll fight purification on reflex. Their willpower weakens, making them more prone to bloodlust and the urge to bite. In the later stages of zombification, giving up mentally accelerates the infection."

"..."

After listening, Cheng Jing went quiet for a beat before asking:

"Did you find it difficult when you purified Tang Ji? Did it take a heavy toll on you mentally?"

This was what concerned him most. From what he knew, some superpowers had side effects.

After careful consideration, Jiang Nian answered:

"When I treated him before my breakthrough, it wasn’t too taxing. After all, I could stop anytime—it didn’t have to be a full cleanse all in one go. Just keeping him rational and taking it slow was enough."

"After the breakthrough, I lost consciousness and couldn't feel anything. He was scoured by the out-of-control Purification Superpower, which must have been very painful. The rotted flesh sloughed off and will take time to regrow..."

After the Purification, the virus is gone, but the damage it caused remains.

The Chen Yue family had fully zombified, and in the end, under the Purification Superpower’s surge, they rapidly decayed until only bones were left—this was also the reason.

Cheng Jing reminded him:

"Don't worry, the base has healer-type Supers. Repairing the body won’t be a problem."

"Oh right, I forgot..."

Jiang Nian remembered now. Among the brain-evolved Supers squad, there was also a healer-type Super, which was one of the reasons why S Base was so desperate to poach them.

An idea popped into his head:

If he teamed up with that healer-type Super, who knew how powerful they could be? Unless it’s a one-hit KO, no one’s dying, hahaha...

His face totally betrayed him, and Cheng Jing could roughly guess what he was thinking. Smiling without a word, he listened as Jiang Nian continued:

"Also, Brother Jing, I can now spot Supers and normies without relying on external Superpower fluctuations, and I can roughly identify the type of Superpower. No one can fake it around me."

Jiang Nian tilted his chin up, smug, as he spoke. This blew his mind—he’d missed this trick in his past life when his mind was in a daze.

"Amazing!"

Cheng Jing excitedly gave him a thumbs-up:

"That’s fantastic!"

Jiang Nian grinned, his eyes narrowing:

"I think so too. Now I’ll always have the upper hand in fights."

If a conflict arose and the opponent had Superpowers, he’d tag in his crew. If they didn’t, he’d put them in their place.

Cheng Jing: "..." He saw it coming—someone was gonna cut loose.