Chapter 53

Chapter 53

Wei Xiao had the thunderbolt sword pointed at his throat. He looked around in a daze, only to see that the thousand-plus superpowered individuals under his command were also surrounded and controlled by those pale-skinned superpowered zombies.

"Your actions this time truly lack your usual caliber," Lu Wei said, his black eyes inscrutable.

Recalling the rebellion Wei Xiao launched four years ago to seize the base, while it couldn't be called honorable, it was executed with remarkable precision and efficiency.

Stirring up discontent everywhere, secretly winning people over with benefits, striking on the night of the Ice Queen's wedding when her guard was at its lowest... each detail proved that Wei Xiao possessed meticulous scheming, deep calculation, and the decisive judgment to strike with one sure blow.

The Wei Xiao he knew was absolutely not the kind of man to recklessly charge over alone for a fight to the death when clearly at a disadvantage—so immature and impulsive.

"Hahahahaha..." Wei Xiao stared fixedly at Lu Wei, a tear sliding from the corner of his eye, yet he suddenly laughed, a wretched, miserable sound. "For you, I can give up everything. What do standards even matter?!"

"Lu Wei, do you know why the various bases allied to launch a sudden attack on the zombie stronghold? Do you know what price I paid just to enter this city, find you, and bring you back?!" Wei Xiao's Adam's apple bobbed uncontrollably due to his intense emotions. "No... you don't know. And even if you did, you probably wouldn't care..."

"The moment I saw you today, I understood completely. I am nothing in your heart... absolutely nothing!"

"If you hate me, resent me, then kill me... come on, kill me!" Wei Xiao took a deep breath, tears rolling down. "Perhaps for the current me, it would be a form of liberation."

Lu Wei remained silent, watching the red-eyed, emotionally shattered Wei Xiao. Finally, he lowered his sword, the tip pointing down and away from Wei Xiao's vitals. "I won't kill you. Take your people and leave."

From Wei Xiao's fragmented words, he had already guessed the gist of the matter.

No war is driven without interests. For the human bases to unite and attack the zombie city, even if successful, it would be a Pyrrhic victory. Most of the powerful individuals who established their own bases in this apocalypse were shrewd and ruthless. That so many bases would participate in something so clearly disadvantageous was strange in itself.

So it was Wei Xiao.

Making this happen within a year, the effort expended could only be described as painstaking. No wonder Wei Xiao lost his composure and acted beneath himself the moment he realized he couldn't take him away.

He chose not to kill Wei Xiao for the sake of maintaining a balance of power.

He wasn't as devoid of pity for ordinary humans as Wei Xiao believed.

Even though he believed humans would eventually vanish from this world through a process of elimination, he didn't wish for the world to be too cruel to them.

He hoped humans could live well in their bases until a peaceful evolution occurred, with everyone having a chance for transformation.

Not to be slaughtered and devoured—that manner of extinction.

The Green Emperor base sheltered and sustained over two hundred thousand ordinary humans. As its leader, Wei Xiao had always done an excellent job.

However, while Lu Wei intended to spare Wei Xiao, Wei Xiao had no intention of sparing himself.

Wei Xiao let out a bitter laugh and lunged at the tip of Lu Wei's sword, allowing the thunderbolt sword entwined with purple lightning to pierce straight through his throat.

The sword went clean through. Lu Wei could see a small section of the sword tip protruding from the back of Wei Xiao's smooth neck.

Everyone present was shocked by Wei Xiao's action, Lu Wei included.

Lu Wei hastily retracted the thunder sword, almost instinctively reaching out to support Wei Xiao. "Wei Xiao!"

Yet, the moment he extended his hand, Wei Xiao grabbed his arm, pulling the youth's body firmly into his embrace. He lowered his head, his lips brushing against Lu Wei's ear, and whispered softly, "Lu Wei, I've caught you."

Lu Wei, pressed tightly against Wei Xiao, watched as countless slender, delicate, semi-transparent filaments suddenly extended from the wound on Wei Xiao's throat.

With lightning speed, these filaments lashed towards Lu Wei's face, enveloping the lower half of his face completely, tightly winding around and sealing off his nose and mouth.

Favored Ones do breathe.

However, their breathing rate is much slower than that of humans. For a Favored One, going without breath for two or three days wouldn't be fatal.

Of course, that's under conditions of inactivity. Once active, oxygen supply through blood is needed—in this, humans and Favored Ones are no different.

Thus, Lu Wei, deprived of breath, struggled briefly before his body stiffened, held tightly in Wei Xiao's embrace.

Wei Xiao leaned close to Lu Wei, kissing the eyes he had longed for day and night. He extended a moist, crimson tongue, parting Lu Wei's left eyelid with his tongue, greedily savoring the deep, dark, brilliant eyeball.

Lu Wei wasn't particularly bothered by Wei Xiao's actions. During the three years he lived with Wei Xiao in the Green Emperor base, he had experienced far more extreme things. Many of Wei Xiao's behaviors were undoubtedly perverse by societal norms.

Of course, Wei Xiao hadn't started out that way.

Anyone who lived in intimate proximity with a mindless zombie that fed only on fresh flesh, with its ugly, disfigured appearance, for three years would inevitably develop behaviors and thoughts different from ordinary people.

What concerned Lu Wei now were those semi-transparent filaments entwined around his mouth and nose, extending through his nasal and oral cavities deep into his body.

The filaments kept growing, entwining around his meridians, penetrating his bones.

"Lu Wei, aren't you going to return to your own body yet?" Wei Xiao released Lu Wei, stepping back a few paces, smiling at the pair of black eyes now glistening from being licked. "This child's body belongs completely to me now."

As soon as Wei Xiao finished speaking, the semi-transparent filaments around Lu Wei's mouth and nose suddenly unfurled like a blooming chrysanthemum, retracting along his nostrils and slightly parted mouth back into Lu Wei's body.

"A 2S-level superpower is indeed not so simple."

Lu Wei stood in place. Although it seemed Wei Xiao had released him and there were no visible restraints on his body's surface, only he knew that dense filaments now coiled around every inch of his meridians and bones, firmly controlling this vessel.

"However, since I've borrowed Ziting's body, how could I possibly abandon it now, leaving him in a defenseless state for you to exploit?" Lu Wei curved his lips, which he could still control. "Wei Xiao, you know this—'borrow properly, return properly' has always been my life's creed."

If he left Ziting's body now, Ziting would truly be doomed.

Wei Xiao would show Ziting no mercy. Nor would Ziting himself, were he conscious of his body being manipulated.

"You really are..." Wei Xiao shook his head disapprovingly, then broke into a radiant smile. "Since you know I can't bear to see you suffer, let's do something enjoyable instead."

It was the first time in over a year he had smiled so relaxedly.

"I have no interest in this child, but with your soul inside the shell, that's different."

Wei Xiao extended a slender index finger, tapping his own thin lips. "Come, kiss me."

Lu Wei felt the delicate filaments inside his body manipulate him, making him step towards Wei Xiao, then open his arms to wrap them around Wei Xiao's waist.

"Tantrums, hysterics, and fake suicide attempts. Wei Xiao, your strategies are getting uglier and uglier." Lu Wei stood on his toes, pressing his lips lightly against Wei Xiao's. "Finally achieved your goal by pretending to seek death in front of me, hmm?"

"I'm still far from my goal. I've merely gained the initiative. I know you well. Even using this child's life as leverage, you wouldn't come with me." Wei Xiao rubbed Lu Wei's eye socket with his thumb, gazing deeply into those beloved black eyes. "You are so cruel to me, and I am so unable to let go. If I could die by your sword, it might truly be liberation... However, I am now half a monster, not so easily killed."

"Do you want to be with me that badly?" Lu Wei asked.

"You know the answer perfectly well." Wei Xiao gave a bitter smile. "In university, I waited for you for four years. At the outbreak of the zombie virus, we were inseparable, life and death, yet you wanted to marry a woman. That's why I seized the base."

"Perhaps I've made mistakes, but everything I've done so far has been for you."

"Including sleeping with Lu Ying?" Lu Wei maintained the intimate posture with Wei Xiao, but there was no emotional fluctuation in his eyes.

"I didn't know you had consciousness..." Wei Xiao showed a troubled expression. "And at that time, I believed his body was your vessel, destined to be yours eventually... I was just too lonely... enjoying it a little ahead of time."

"...Forget it. Think what you will. I don't need to justify myself so much." At this point, Wei Xiao suddenly deflated. "Even if I were a saint with flawless character, you would still think about leaving me all day long."

"In this post-apocalyptic world, there is no right or wrong, only strength and weakness. Only the strong can obtain everything they desire, isn't that so?" Wei Xiao spoke with a hint of vulnerability, lowering his eyelids.

"You've got a point," Lu Wei replied, kissing Wei Xiao's lips once more.

As their lips pressed tightly together, the translucent, slender filaments entwined within Lu Wei's body were suddenly shattered into fragments by countless hair-thin bolts of purple lightning.

Wei Xiao sensed it and stared at Lu Wei in shock.

But before Wei Xiao could react, he felt countless thread-like currents of electricity seep into his body through their contact.

Just like the filaments that had earlier invaded Lu Wei's body, they coiled around his bones, meridians, and muscles.

"That's a pretty neat trick you've got," Lu Wei released Wei Xiao and took a few steps back. "It's just a shame I haven't mastered it yet."

He could mimic the filaments with his purple lightning, but he couldn't control a person's body with the same precision as Wei Xiao. He could only bind Wei Xiao in place, leaving him unable to move.

Author's note: Normal update today, giving the top's kidneys a break~~