Chapter 223

Chapter 223

In her past life, when the extreme cold descended, Qingyun City's authorities did not partition the city from the beginning as they did in this life, gathering most people in the same area.

Instead, considering the varying levels of supplies individuals had prepared, they let people gather voluntarily, sending aid where needed. This, however, led to an even greater shortage of official personnel.

In the previous life, the residential area where Xiao Ya's family lived was one of the more concentrated survivor zones, co-managed by the authorities and other Superpowered individuals.

Similarly, after a patrol incident, Zhou Li was assigned to investigate. However, without centralized supervision, the investigation became far broader and more fragmented.

In the end, the truth was not uncovered by the authorities—it was Xiao Ya who personally killed her own parents and then surrendered.

Zhou Li protected her and arranged for a Superpowered team that had collaborated with the authorities before the apocalypse to temporarily take custody of her, similar to their situation in this life.

However, that Superpowered team agreed but, without consulting Zhou Li, disclosed the truth to the furious relatives of the victims and others.

While the relatives of the official victims remained restrained, it ignited the pent-up anger and bitterness the public had accumulated since the apocalypse.

Xiao Ya was pushed out by the oversight team, and the temporary shelter descended into riots during the freezing night.

High-level Superpowered individuals banded together to incite ordinary people to resist the authorities. Zhou Li was killed, and the tenuous order in the temporary shelter completely collapsed. In the end, the official personnel were decimated before being forced out.

Xiao Ya was not only beaten but also humiliated. After breaking free from her mother's control, her mental state was affected, leaving her powerless. It wasn’t until she was thrown out of the shelter, in a life-or-death moment, that she finally used her Superpower to escape.

Amid the chaos caused by the extreme cold, the authorities couldn’t spare extra personnel to quell the unrest and maintain order. The temporary shelter where Xiao Ya had stayed was taken over by Superpowered factions.

When the authorities were present, supplies had been distributed equally. But without official oversight, ordinary people could only beg for the mercy of the Superpowered, a far cry from the imagined scenario of "living free and prosperous without oversight."

Some regretted being swayed by emotions and participating in the riots, but it was already too late.

Not long after, people started vanishing—some turned into zombies without even leaving their homes:

They would inexplicably wake up in the basement, or open their eyes to find a zombie by their bedside. Some were even bitten to death without ever waking up.

Xiao Ya was infected and mutated, but she didn’t lose her sanity. Instead, she became a sentient zombie with human consciousness and reasoning abilities, returning to the shelter to take revenge on humans.

As more and more Superpowered individuals turned into zombies, the snow-covered shelter turned into a nightmare without much effort on her part. Almost everyone perished because escape was impossible. Coincidentally, Jiang Wenwen was among them in the previous life.

This was also why Jiang Nian had never heard of Xia Weiwei having an elder sister in the previous life.

Xiao Ya killed many people, learning to drain energy from Superpower Cores to grow stronger. Her guilt turned into hatred, and she regretted killing her parents and turning herself in—she came to believe everyone should die.

"..."

When the extreme cold ended, the survivors began entering bases. Xiao Ya quietly rallied zombies and eventually hid in the basement of the apartment complex where Cheng Jing had rented a room.

So, when she saw Cheng Jing sheltering the mutated Jiang Nian and learned of his desire for revenge, she decided to help him capture and kill people.

With her teleportation Superpower, it was all too easy.

"Tsk..."

Jiang Nian suddenly felt his vision blur. Raising a hand to wipe his face, he realized it was tears. Anger and grief churned inside him. He tilted his head back, blinking hard, but couldn’t find the words to say.

Chaos brought out humanity’s worst. But for Xiao Ya—a child who had already gone to such lengths—if they didn’t intend to oversee her properly, why accept the responsibility in the first place?

Zhou Li, a man of such integrity who prioritized stability and order for the greater good, had been killed. It was unimaginable how severe the riots must have been.

Cheng Jing also let out a soft sigh.

"Don't be upset—we did pretty well this time."

When they took Xiao Ya in, he had the attitude that 'if Xiao Ya ran away using her superpower, it had nothing to do with them,' but Xiao Ya didn’t.

"Yeah."

Jiang Nian nodded firmly. Compared to last time, we did way better—everyone was still alive and fortunate enough to gather together.

After going over more details, Cheng Jing said:

"Also, that 'breakthrough' in the zombie cure from S Base in the previous life was fake. The purpose was to trick infected people to willingly become test subjects."

"Once people fully turned, they were disposed of, their crystal cores harvested and transplanted to their own people to create more Supers, strengthening their forces in an attempt to build a doomsday army."

Jiang Nian clenched his jaw and snorted:

"Just as I thought. Xia Weiwei and her father’s research crew are nothing but lunatics!"

Having experienced more firsthand in this life, he now understood that beneath S Base’s noble-sounding excuses were nothing but schemes. It wasn’t that the deceived were foolish—without standing in their current position, you'd never see through their act.

Cheng Jing nodded in deep agreement:

"Exactly. Moreover, Xia Weiwei’s father was too greedy and full of himself. Under the pretense of developing an antidote serum for humanity, he wanted to transform his daughter into a savior to negotiate with the authorities after obtaining the Purification crystal."

"When I captured Xia Weiwei and Chen Yue’s group, he hadn’t yet discovered that Chen Yue, who was infected but then Purified and cured, possessed antibodies."

In the end, he blew himself up holding Jiang Nian, destroying the Purification crystal. At the same time, Chen Yue—the only one cured by Purification Superpower—also died.

Based on what they’ve seen and learned in this life, developing a cure without Purification as a medium wouldn’t be easy.

Either another miracle would have to occur—which would undoubtedly take much longer—or they’d have to wait for the next Purification Superpowered to appear.

But no matter what, it would be rough going.

"..."

When the powerful messed around, the ones who suffered were ordinary people. Jiang Nian fell silent for a long while before suddenly asking:

"Brother Jing, did I look... really bad as a zombie? After all, my body had been torn apart."

And by then, he had already been reborn, hadn’t he? What Brother Jing had been guarding was his soulless, unconscious body.

Cheng Jing answered frankly:

"To me, you weren’t ugly—just not your usual handsome self... I also knew you wouldn’t like that state, so I avenged you as quickly as possible and took you away."

He had considered joining forces with Xiao Ya to go on a revenge spree against humanity, but he also knew that if Jiang Nian had been conscious, he wouldn’t have allowed it.

Besides, with both of them dead, their families, Yang Kai, and Liang Yunhao wouldn’t face any backlash.

"Yeah."

Jiang Nian almost broke down, the feeling of wanting to cry but being unable to choking him up with suffocating heaviness.

Cheng Jing soothed him gently:

"Xia Weiwei and Chen Yue’s family got what was coming to them. Liang Yunhao has already contacted Jiang Wenwen—they’ll work together to deal with Professor Xia and his mad scientists. South City Base will provide relevant evidence to assist."

"Xiao Ya didn’t become the Zombie King, nor did her personality twist. Zhou Li and everyone else are alive and well... We’ve taken our revenge, and in this life, we’ve made up for our regrets. Let’s call it even, okay?"

The road ahead is still long. Once old debts are settled, let them go—no point dwelling on it.

"Okay."

Jiang Nian tried hard to steady his breathing. He understood the reasoning, but he still needed time to gradually let go. Quietly curled up in his lover’s arms, he closed his eyes until sleep took him, still feeling that mix of pain and peace.