Chapter 222

Chapter 222

As the saying goes, "Play stupid games, win stupid prizes." Jiang Nian was no stranger to this experience, though how wild things got differed each time.

Generally, the more reckless the "opening move," the more "miserable" the ending—thankfully, their toughened bodies could take it.

Uncontrollable tremors, intensity that left them mindless, the deep-seated unease and lingering dread, along with the irreparable regrets of their past life—all faded in the heat of the moment.

"..."

"Nian Nian?"

After things calmed down, Cheng Jing carried him from the bathroom back to the bed, kissing the man who had grown quiet since earlier.

"If you're tired, sleep first. We can talk about the rest tomorrow."

"I'm fine, it's nothing."

Jiang Nian mumbled his reply, tilting his head slightly to let him dry his hair before blurting out again:

"The experience was great, mainly because Brother Jing’s gotten really good now."

Cheng Jing wrapped his arms around him, spotting the hickeys below his neck from behind and smiling.

"As long as you like it."

Having a blunt and understanding partner made daily life incredibly easy.

"Mhm, I love Brother Jing the most."

Jiang Nian lightly pinched the man’s arm—he knew full well how much the other was secretly loving every bit of the praise, despite pretending to be reserved.

After all, he’d once hurt Brother Jing’s pride by commenting on his lack of skill the first time, so now he made sure to praise him twice as much when things went well.

Once his hair was dry, Jiang Nian nestled comfortably into Cheng Jing’s embrace. As it neared 11 p.m., he sent a group message to their teammates and friends announcing that Brother Jing was "back in action," then set his phone aside and looked up.

"Brother Jing, tell me about your dream."

Now that Brother Jing had regained memories of their past life, they were finally on the same page.

"Alright."

Cheng Jing interlaced their fingers and leaned against the headboard, telling him every detail of his dream.

Just as they’d guessed, in their past life, Cheng Jing had reported his awakened superpower immediately—informing Liang Yunhao and heading to the northern city, putting work in Qingyun City on hold and giving Zhao Lei and the others leave.

Unable to contact the now-defunct "Special Phenomena Management Experimental Research Base," he temporarily got checked out at a research institute in the northern city.

After the apocalypse struck, Cheng Jing joined the S Base directly, while his teammates, caught in the rain during their break, all became part of the first zombie wave.

Amid the chaos and urgency, as a frontline superpowered individual, he was drowning in work and couldn’t return to Qingyun City.

Instead, he looked for any trace of Jiang Nian while participating in rescue missions in the northern city.

Moreover, the distance was vast, and information was severely fragmented. Like most people in the early stages, Cheng Jing found himself powerless to help his parents, family, or even Jiang Nian—barely keeping his head above water.

By the time the extreme cold ended, the base’s rescue teams began searching the country for survivors. Finally able to leave the northern city and the S Base, he searched for Jiang Nian while continuing rescue efforts.

However, by then, Xia Weiwei and her father, along with Chen Yue’s family, had already found out about Jiang Nian’s superpower and used their influence to cover it up, trapping him in the Z Base with threats and guilt trips.

"......"

Given the unchecked power Xia Weiwei and her father held in Z Base through their ties to S Base in their past lives, Jiang Nian, whose superpower wasn't offensive, stood no chance of escape. His fate was sealed the moment he tried to kindly save Chen Yue on the road.

After the apocalypse began, Jiang Nian stayed with Chen Yue and the others. Through Xia Weiwei's connections, they managed to survive the extreme cold despite scarce supplies. In such circumstances, wanting to save Chen Yue was only natural.

The subsequent betrayal was just human nature.

It wasn’t until the zombie horde arrived, forcing Z Base to collapse and evacuate, and Yang Kai and Liang Yunhao pieced together the truth, that Cheng Jing finally learned what had happened.

But once the truth came to light, Yang Kai, Liang Yunhao, and their families were placed under base confinement.

He rejected all of S Base’s peace offers and contacted the Southern City Base to rescue his friends and family.

Meanwhile, with Xiao Ya’s help, he recovered Jiang Nian’s core from Xia Weiwei, who had become an artificially enhanced dual-attribute Superpowered, and brought her and Chen Yue’s family back to Qingyun City to imprison them as retribution.

Only after breaking Xia Weiwei and the others beyond recovery did Cheng Jing take Jiang Nian and, with Xiao Ya’s assistance, return to S Base to take them down with him.

Before heading to S Base, Xiao Ya said she would choose to self-destruct after helping them.

He didn’t see what happened afterward, but it aligned with what Chen Yue had said:

Xiao Ya had already exposed her identity as the Zombie King. After reporting their bombing raid on S Base back to Qingyun City to eliminate any hope of rescue for Xia Weiwei and the others, she mercilessly executed them before finally self-destructing.

"Ah..."

Cheng Jing sighed, turning to kiss the face of the person in his arms:

"What happened to us in our past lives was mostly the same as what Chen Yue said... Only Xiao Ya’s family’s situation played out very differently from how we dealt with it in this life."

Jiang Nian nodded and asked:

"In our past lives, was Xiao Ya infected by her mother? What happened to her parents afterward?"

"No... She was thrown out of a temporary shelter after the incident and was infected..."

Cheng Jing shook his head, pausing mid-sentence as he recalled the details he had investigated in his past life and the truth Xiao Ya herself had told him. After a long moment of consideration, he continued:

"In our past lives, under her mother’s control, Xiao Ya overused her superpower, making her break the mental control too soon. Then... she personally killed her own parents and turned herself in."

After killing her zombified father and deranged mother with her own hands, she surrendered—only to be cast out of the shelter, eventually becoming infected and mutating into Qingyun City’s Zombie King.

She unleashed her vengeance on humanity, yet after helping him, she made peace and detonated herself, taking Qingyun City’s largest zombie horde with her.

"Huh?"

Jiang Nian’s eyes widened in shock:

"She..."

About the "Room 1805" incident in their past lives, he'd considered many scenarios—but never one like this. It was even more unexpected than learning Xiao Ya had become the Zombie King.