Chapter 236

Chapter 236

After a night of careful consideration, Jiang Nian first discussed with his teammates and friends, listening to their advice and receiving their encouragement, before going with Cheng Jing to see Department Head Wang.

Department Head Wang was both surprised and moved by their proactive proposal. He carefully assessed the current situation:

Jiang Nian was now absolutely safe, with no need to worry about others harming him. The fact that the transplanted core's effect reduction was his best protection.

No one dared raid South City Base for him, and South City Base flat-out refused anyone or any group trying to guilt-trip Jiang Nian under any pretext.

The military’s strength wasn’t just for show.

Although things didn’t go as Jiang Nian had initially planned—staying under the radar—this outcome was still good. The main issue was the inability to extract antibodies from animals, leaving no way to cover it up. They had no choice but to be honest.

A few days later, South City Base went public with the antidote serum’s formula, explaining the full scope of Jiang Nian’s Purification Superpower and the process of extracting viral antibodies:

First, the infected had to be purified and cured, then antibodies were extracted from the recovered individuals. No surgery required—just a single tube of blood was sufficient.

The disclosure was thorough, preventing those with ulterior motives from acting in secret and deterring unethical researchers from conducting human experiments under the guise of producing antidote serum.

At the same time, a Brain-Evolution Superpowered professor publicly stated after data analysis:

Certain superpowers with unique effects, such as brain domain evolution, healing, restoration, and purification, typically had very few individuals possessing them.

The probabilities ranged from one in tens of thousands to one in tens of millions. If lost, these powers might not resurface for ages.

Experts from other bases drew similar conclusions based on the data.

A year deep into the apocalypse, only two Purification Superpower individuals were known nationwide. One had died long ago, not even leaving a core behind. Now, the only one they could rely on was Jiang Nian.

The situation in other countries was similar, with one key difference: they shipped special Supers off to labs, as these bases offered big payouts for them.

Regarding the apocalyptic disaster, professors and experts worldwide figured it was nature’s reset button. Make it through, and humanity gets a do-over.

Under the threat of annihilation, humans and other organisms would evolve due to a strong survival instinct. Awakening superpowers and adapting to extreme climates were both forms of evolution.

As for how long it would take, the zombie virus could be controlled within three to five years, but other factors remained unpredictable.

A year into the apocalypse, shelters and bases had become the new lifelines, and humanity had stabilized after the initial chaos.

With South City Base developing the antidote serum so quickly, it was good news for all of humankind.

Most people supported South City Base’s approach, and the Superpowered army under Cheng Jing’s management expressed full support for Jiang Nian.

The public disclosure of this matter and the establishment of the "Superpower Bounty Guild" led more people to join them.

However, there were still those who acted like they’d taken a zombie bite to the brain, demanding that Jiang Nian use his superpower without limits. If he refused, they suggested handing his powers to some "martyr for the cause."

Some self-styled "experts" shamelessly claimed that transplanting purification crystal cores two or three times wouldn’t be a big issue.

The most absurd part was that a bunch of brainwashed "volunteers" popped up, declaring their willingness to sacrifice for the "greater good of humanity."

South City Base ignored them while issuing each a long-term "manual labor ticket" without discrimination.

Even high-ranking officials from other bases, after learning about Jiang Nian’s personal circumstances, suggested that South City Base "upgrade" him like a lab rat to expand the range of his superpower and prolong his purification duration—all wrapped in "for the greater good" BS.

During a team meeting, Jiang Nian snarled through gritted teeth.

"Fuck that, if they try to mess with me, I'll wreck their shit! Bro Kai, help me find out which base's top brass are behind this. I'll go handle them personally!"

Yang Kai backed him up:

"Quite a few, actually. Z Base is the most vocal, probably instigated by S Base behind the scenes. S Base publicly claims to align with the Four-City Base on this matter, but they’re playing dirty in the shadows."

"Brother Nian, I’ve got your back! If you’re going, I'm first in line."

Huang Qian chimed in, throwing Cheng Jing a look.

Something flashed in Cheng Jing’s eyes as he patted Jiang Nian’s shoulder reassuringly:

"Don’t bother with those idiotic remarks. Those assholes will get what’s coming to them."

In their past life, Z Base had been hit by a zombie wave. If it happened again this time, they’d just intervene slightly—evacuate the civilians and, while at it, take out the Z Base higher-ups who’d once covered for Xia Weiwei.

They weren’t originally on the kill list—just opportunistic targets if the chance arose. But now that Z Base had the audacity to say such things, they’d find a way to put them in the ground.

Yet, Cheng Jing also realized how absurd his own past idea of replacing Jiang Nian’s core had been, leaving a bitter taste in his mouth.

Carrying this mix of guilt and frustration, he worked through the day, had dinner at his parents’, and returned to his dorm.

He wanted to find the right moment to come clean to Jiang Nian, but the latter beat him to it.

Fresh out of the shower, Jiang Nian dropped right into his lap and declared:

"Sister Qian asked me before if I’d ever consider a core replacement. I said no fucking way—anyone who tries, I’ll end them!"

He chuckled, then added with a smirk:

"Unless it’s you, Brother Jing, telling me to do it."

"Nian Nian..."

Cheng Jing rested his chin on Jiang Nian’s shoulder, stopping the message he’d been typing on his phone.

Jiang Nian cut him off before he could explain:

"Sister Qian was worried your hovering might backfire, so she told me about you considering a core replacement for me."

Cheng Jing set his phone aside and crushed him in a hug:

"I’m sorry... I was too fixated... I took it too far... I’m sorry!"

Jiang Nian fought back tears:

"It’s fine. Your intention was to keep me safe forever—that’s different from the others. If you really insisted, I’d agree. Nothing matters more than you."

Cheng Jing shook his head:

"That was my intention, yes, but I locked onto one idea. I didn’t think it through."

Jiang Nian sniffed, getting himself under control before continuing:

"Mm. To me, replacing cores is no different from cowardice. After rebirth, I thought of every way to survive—except that. You want to protect me, and I want to protect you and everyone else. Look how strong I am now."

"In this world, aside from the zombie virus, there are countless unknown threats where Purify is crucial. Replacing cores would only screw us over."

He was like a rare special skill in some games—without Brother Jing, he wouldn't have been able to "level up properly" to this point.

So, when it came to the same issue, if others brought it up, he couldn't help but feel angry enough to want to get into a fight. But if Brother Jing mentioned it, he would seriously consider it, even if it meant compromising—it didn’t matter.

The reason Brother Jing became so fixated on his situation was because he knew he had died before. A feeling teammates and others could never grasp, and he didn’t blame Brother Jing for it.

"I was being narrow-minded... Nian Nian, let’s not change it."

Cheng Jing was happy, though his heart ached with a stifling pain. Fine—after carefully planning everything up to now in this life, he refused to believe things would end as badly as before.