Chapter 260

Chapter 260

"Timeline: Moving Day"

"Yang Kai, let's go for it."

Late at night, the drunk Gao Xuyang lazily leaned on the sofa, wearing Yang Kai's loose gray pajamas with the top two buttons undone, showing glimpses of his collarbone and chest. His bleary eyes lingered on the person feeding him honey water.

Yang Kai's hand trembled slightly at his sudden suggestive words:

"Teacher Gao, you're really drunk."

Gao Xuyang scoffed lightly:

"Nonsense. How could I, the mighty Zombie King, get drunk? I'm just pleasantly buzzed."

"Right, right. Here, finish the last few sips."

With that, Yang Kai fed him the remaining honey water.

Now without his zombified traits, Gao Xuyang looked elegant and gentle, his features soft, though his skin remained overly pale and his frame slender, with little sign of aging on his face.

Jiang Nian had mentioned that the level of Purify Gao Xuyang underwent was akin to clearing out all the dead cells in his body. While not exactly reversing aging, it did restore a youthful appearance.

The professor specializing in brain evolution Superpower also noted that Superpowered Individuals would naturally live much longer than ordinary people, maintaining their peak appearance for an extended period.

After finishing the honey water, Gao Xuyang slung one arm over Yang Kai's shoulder and braced the other on the sofa, peering at him through half-lidded eyes:

"Just tell me, do you want to or not?"

Yang Kai took a deep breath and nodded honestly:

"I do."

"..."

Gao Xuyang licked his lips, then patted Yang Kai's cheek with the hand on his shoulder, rambling slightly:

"Before the apocalypse, whenever we drank together, wasn’t it always you deliberately getting me drunk to take me home...? If I didn’t drink, how would you have had the chance?"

He never denied Yang Kai's excellence, nor did he shy away from pointing out the mischievous streak inherent in certain privileged young masters.

For a while early on, when work was stable and crisis-free, Yang Kai had become his biggest 'crisis.'

Back then, no matter how obedient and respectful Yang Kai seemed on the surface, he was downright 'wild' when pinning him down.

"Teacher Gao, is this drunken confession turning into digging up my past misdeeds?"

Yang Kai chuckled, set the cup aside, then bent down to swept Gao Xuyang up in his arms, carrying him upstairs to their bedroom. How wonderful—his Teacher Gao had finally returned to his former self.

Gao Xuyang looped his arms around Yang Kai's neck and huffed:

"This is called settling old scores."

Yang Kai laid him on the bed, leaned down, and nipped lightly at his neck:

"When it was mutual, how can it count as settling scores?"

As he spoke, he unbuttoned his pajamas slowly, one button at a time.

"..."

Gao Xuyang gave a soft hum, pushing against his shoulders with both hands:

"Such behavior in ancient times would be considered the worst kind of disrespect to your teacher and ancestors..."

"Well, I have you to thank for teaching me so well. It's all because you spoiled me."

Yang Kai's voice was downright shameless, his hands roaming with bold familiarity. The more one indulges such behavior, the more it escalates to its extremes.

When he resolved to pursue Teacher Gao, those who knew the details, including his family, thought he pretty much 'had a death wish.'

"Mmm... nonsense, I never taught you these things..."

Kisses kept falling as Gao Xuyang brought up old complaints, yet he indulged the man pressing against him without boundaries—after all, the two weren't mutually exclusive.

They say deep affection is fleeting, but they were each other's miracles once lost but now found again.

The long-missing passion surged back with unstoppable force under the influence of alcohol, burning through the night like wildfire.

...

After moving to a new home, settling into a shared courtyard with companions, and rekindling their glue-like closeness with his lover, Yang Kai's Superpower Core transplant surgery was also scheduled.

The surgery was a success, making him the first man-made dual-attribute Superpowered individual. By transplanting a Space Superpower Core, he gained a 200-square-meter (about 2,150 sq ft) space capable of storing living beings.

According to the rule that attributes weaken after core transplantation, estimates suggested the original space should have been around 300 square meters.

With the Space Core transplanted, Yang Kai could now bring Gao Xuyang along anywhere.

It also confirmed a hypothesis:

Transplanting a Space Superpower Core allows inheriting the contents within.

When a Space Superpowered individual dies or their core is removed, the supplies don't go flying everywhere.

The Superpower space temporarily seals, only unlocks when transplanted into a compatible host, allowing a second person to inherit its contents.

However, after a second transplant, even if leveled up to max, the space won't expand further. It will only shrink with subsequent transplants until it vanishes.

Fortunately, Yang Kai was more than satisfied with the 200-square-meter space—it was plenty; no need to get greedy.

After the Superpower fusion was complete, Yang Kai pulled out a few supplies from the shrunken space: a box of instant noodles, some compressed biscuits, two big jugs of purified water, and some medicine.

The original owner wasn't wealthy, or perhaps had removed most supplies before losing rationality—or maybe the shrinking space had 'swallowed' some items.

"..."

The success of the Superpower Core transplant, especially the complexity of creating a dual-attribute Superpowered, Nan City Base didn't keep it under wraps. The relevant experimental data was made publicly available for other researchers.

Yet, while Nan City Base's Superpower Core transplant procedure seemed straightforward, other bases couldn't copy it:

First, the Brain Evolution Superpower professor calculated precise data, crunching custom numbers for each surgical candidate.

Second, Jiang Nian's Purification Superpower assistance made compatibility a breeze, ensuring conscious control during the fusion.

Lastly, healer Supers made for quick healing from surgical wounds.

"These three components" are not available in other bases. They would have to be replaced with standardized formula data and pharmaceutical injections, which would increase the risks severalfold or even dozens of times.

The ultimate result is that the number of artificially enhanced Superpowered individuals in all other bases combined don't even come close to South City Base’s numbers.

Many people who pass the physical tests wish to undergo the modification surgery in South City Base, but hesitate upon learning they must stay and join the military-run corps post-operation.

Some top brass also try to prevent such situations from occurring, though the underlying complexities are not something regular folks would get.

Cheng Jing and his team stay out of the official red tape, focusing solely on assisting in maintaining South City Base's stability and peace.

"..."

*Knock, knock, knock—*

"It's Gao Xuyang."

As soon as the words were spoken, the door to 017 Squad's office was pushed open. Under the long-awaited gazes of the team, Department Head Gao walked in, back straight.

Chu Yi, seated on a chair, glanced at the others in the squad before waving a newly signed access pass from Department Head Wang's office with a smile:

"Department Head Gao, some zombie cores in the special warehouse are tapped out and needs replacement. We’re setting off tomorrow—the warehouse expansion means we’ll need even more zombies this time. We’ll need your help."

Gao Xuyang first shot a look at Yang Kai, then nodded with a smile at everyone before agreeing:

"Alright, no problem."

This time, he wouldn’t have to carry cores like last time—he could pack snacks and chow to share with the team.