Chapter 17: Lei Zheng Is Nothing but a Dirty Old Pervert

Chapter 17: Lei Zheng Is a Straight-Up Dirty Old Pervert

The three-day trip flew by.

The zombies the convoy ran into along the way weren't all that tough—mostly slow, rotting low-tier walkers.

A few high-level ability users casually raised their hands, tossed out a few energy blasts, and easily disposed of all that rotten flesh.

Lei Zheng had thrown serious money around this time, hiring the Shengsu Squad's First Team as escorts, all to guarantee zero screw-ups in this godforsaken fallen zone.

After all, not every one of his so-called elite soldiers had superpowers, and they'd also brought along several technical personnel.

In this fallen world, superpowered folks were just a rare handful of lucky bastards blessed by fate.

If everyone had awakened abilities when the apocalypse hit, the world wouldn't have lost so many people in just a few years.

When everything fell apart, it was regular humans with no powers at all who were the first to set up safe zones in the ruins.

They paid with their lives and bodies to pull off miracles in the depths of despair, hammering down the last cornerstone of human civilization on the wasteland.

Back then, the worst and fastest outbreaks always started in crowded city centers.

Those dust-choked, crumbling buildings were usually the most dangerous spots of all.

Because you never knew when a zombie might burst out from behind a rusted door or from some alley and chomp down on your neck before you could even blink.

At dusk, the convoy finally rolled into a city that used to be booming but was now nothing but a wreck.

As they passed through the Seventh District, they stopped at a temporary safe zone set up by civilian survivors to stock up on supplies and gas.

During this short break, Rong Hua was glued to Shu Hanqing's side, never more than half a step off.

When Shu Hanqing went to grab food, he shadowed him the whole way.

When Shu Hanqing went to check the vehicle treads, he stood nearby with his arms crossed, playing guard, and even when Shu Hanqing went to take a piss, he'd plant himself nearby and keep watch.

That clingy, possessive vibe—like he wouldn't let anyone else within ten feet—was way too much.

As a result, Mu Ye—whose face had been souring more every day—never got a single chance to get Shu Hanqing alone.

Sometimes, leaning by the car, Shu Hanqing could catch Mu Ye in the side mirror, his face all twisted in pain and misery under Rong Hua's goading—whether it was regret or something else, he couldn't say.

Shu Hanqing figured he must've gone bad for real, because every time he saw Mu Ye's face scrunch up like that, a sneaky little thrill of satisfaction bubbled up in him.

But thrill aside, having some hyperactive young buck stuck to him nonstop was genuinely draining.

He sometimes wondered if Rong Hua was even really a mutated wood-type ability user—the guy was obviously a reincarnated octopus.

Most of the Shengsu Squad and Lei Zheng's guys had basically accepted that he and Rong Hua were a thing, but not everyone was buying it.

Wang Meng—a squad member who used to share a dorm with Rong Hua—let out a nasty sneer when he saw Rong Hua all fawning over Shu Hanqing with a water bottle today.

Shu Hanqing was completely at his wit's end with Rong Hua's clinginess.

While the main group was resting and counting ammo and canned food inside the safe zone, he finally found an excuse to ditch his shadow, slipped off alone, and hurried to a corner of an abandoned concrete stairwell in the Seventh District.

He fished a slightly squashed pack of smokes out of his pocket, tapped it with his long fingers, and pulled one out.

Shu Hanqing wasn't much of a smoker—only when he was restless or bored out of his skull would he light one up and watch the thin blue-white smoke curl lazily around his fingers.

The lighter flickered. Before he could even take his first drag, the soft crunch of shoes on broken bricks echoed up from the dark, empty stairwell below.

Then Wang Meng and Chen Wu's voices drifted up, along with the sharp click of a lighter.

They'd obviously snuck off here for a smoke too.

From below the stairs, Wang Meng's tone dripped with venom and contempt: "I saw it coming a long time ago—that Rong Hua kid's always been a damn queer. Acted all straight in the dorm, and now he's crawled right into the deputy captain's bed. Real slick."

Chen Wu said in a low voice: "Come on, watch your mouth. Everyone in the squad can see Xiao Rong's strength—he's the real deal, a high-level ability user. This is the apocalypse, man. Who gives a damn if he likes guys or girls behind closed doors? As long as he can kill zombies and keep us breathing, that's all that counts."

Shu Hanqing's fingers froze on the cigarette, but he stayed quiet.

Wang Meng snorted below: "Strength? Sure, Rong Hua's got strength. But haven't you noticed who's been off lately? The deputy captain's powers have dropped way too much compared to before!"

Wang Meng's voice got sharper: "You've seen the deputy captain fight—he used to wipe out high-tier zombies with one flick. When I first joined, his ability aura was pure deep blue. But look at him these past few days taking down those rotten walkers—the color's clearly dropped to..."

"Shh!" Chen Wu cut him off. "Keep it down! The captain gave a direct order—nobody in the squad is allowed to talk about this behind his back."

Wang Meng shut up, looking annoyed, but kept grumbling under his breath.

"Not being allowed to talk about it doesn't mean everyone's blind. I seriously don't get why the captain insisted on bringing him this time. Isn't it obvious he's just dead weight? It's only because the captain's soft on old ties that he keeps protecting him. The way I see it, if this goes on, sooner or later he's gonna drag all of us who are out here busting our asses down with him."

Shu Hanqing tipped his head back and crushed out his cigarette.

He had to find a way to get rid of these goddamn black Thunder Marks for good.

Back when his powers were at their peak, hearing that kind of reckless trash talk would've sent him down there in a heartbeat, stone-faced, to rip into Wang Meng and his crew—or even pop the bastard's jaw out of its socket.

But now, weirdly enough, his temper had mellowed out a lot.

Probably because he knew he was just cannon fodder—no protagonist's plot armor—so he had to watch his own ass.

Once he got through this stretch, purged the Thunder Marks from his body, and got his old rank back, the first thing Shu Hanqing would do was pack his bags and ditch the Shengsu Squad for good.

The guys downstairs left.

After a bit, Shu Hanqing pushed himself up off his knees and got ready to head back the way he'd come.

But fate never played nice.

The second he stepped out of that abandoned stairwell, he ran smack into Lei Zheng.

Shu Hanqing had decided to treat him like thin air and brush right past him without a look.

But right as they were about to pass each other, Wang Meng's "dead weight" comment suddenly slammed into his head. The reason he'd sunk to this pathetic state—weak powers, everyone talking shit—was all this man's fault.

Shu Hanqing stopped dead, his cold, sharp eyes drilling into Lei Zheng like he wanted to kill him.

Lei Zheng obviously caught Shu Hanqing's look—like he wanted to eat him alive—but didn't budge: "...If you just tell me straight, honestly, where your powers really came from, I'll find a way to help you get rid of them."

Hearing "get rid of," the rage in Shu Hanqing's chest flared up even harder.

He stepped up, all ten fingers grabbing Lei Zheng's military collar, shoving his face right into Lei Zheng's: "...I don't need your phony concern."

And wouldn't you know it—this scene, looking all intimate from a distance and straight-up hostile up close, landed right in the line of sight of Rong Hua, who was frantically hunting all over for him.

"Lei Zheng! Let go of me!"

Rong Hua rushed forward in a few swift strides, roughly shoving Lei Zheng aside and shielding Shu Hanqing behind himself.

He glared at Lei Zheng, baring his teeth in warning: "Are you addicted to bullying? He's mine now, so keep your hands off him!"

Shu Hanqing stood behind Rong Hua, one eyebrow slightly raised.

He genuinely loved watching this scene.

In the book, Rong Hua and Lei Zheng were madly in love, but now Shu Hanqing saw them tearing each other apart over him—a bloody, dramatic spectacle that soothed the pent-up resentment he'd been harboring.

—Go on, tear each other apart. If these two can still fall in love after this, I'll eat my hat.

He loved watching the world burn.

Shu Hanqing poked half his face out from behind Rong Hua's shoulder, deliberately stirring the pot: "Right, Officer Lei. You can't just keep stabbing me in the back just because I'm with Rong Hua now, can you?"

Rong Hua puffed up with confidence and chimed in smugly: "That's right. Next time I catch you at it, I won't go easy on you."

Lei Zheng looked at the two of them playing off each other, his handsome brows furrowing into a deep frown.

He took a deep breath, suppressing the inexplicable irritation churning in his chest, and straightened the wrinkled collar of his military uniform.

Then, with a gaze cold enough to freeze hell over, he glanced sideways at Rong Hua and sneered: "Right now, you look exactly like some fool completely bewitched by a fox spirit."

With that parting shot, Lei Zheng strode off without looking back.

Rong Hua: "Damn! That smug bastard Lei Zheng—could he actually have a thing for you too? Otherwise, why would he call you a temptress?"

Shu Hanqing shrugged nonchalantly: "Well, what can I say? I'm a heartbreaker."

Rong Hua: "No way. From now on, you keep your distance from him too."

The Plot Guide couldn't hold back: "Can you just can the sarcasm?"

Shu Hanqing retorted innocently: "Lei Zheng's the one who came at me first. If I didn't fight back, I'd die of sheer frustration before you even got the chance to erase me."

The system in his head fell into another weird silence.

After a long pause, the Plot Guide replied in a low voice: "Fine... do whatever you want. You've never been one to back down anyway..."

Shu Hanqing couldn't shake the feeling that this Plot Guide bound to him showed an almost unreasonable tolerance for his reckless, boundary-crossing behavior.

It was like a helpless resignation—like it couldn't control him and knew he wouldn't listen anyway.

Though it always threatened to erase him at first, it never actually laid a finger on Shu Hanqing.

The convoy pushed on through the raging sandstorm for several more days before finally rumbling into Tenth District territory.

Only then did Lei Zheng reveal more details about the mission to the team.

The target they'd crossed half the fallen zone to extract from the dead city was none other than a name that rang out across all ten districts—Yan Shenyun.

This top-tier chief researcher, who held core secrets, had his whereabouts sold out by his most trusted subordinate while en route to the central safe zone.

Not only did that bring relentless pursuit from his former employer, but during the retreat, he got cornered by a mutated zombie horde in this ruined, fallen city.

Carrying experimental results that could tip the balance of the ten districts, Yan Shenyun had completely gone dark half a month ago.

When he last pinged his coordinates to central command, he was right in the middle of this dead, silent cluster of residential buildings.

After countless signal sweeps, the technicians could only lock that faint red dot to the area between the two towering, half-collapsed gray concrete structures at the center.

Though the ten safe zones were nominally united, behind the scenes, the power struggles and covert maneuvering among their leaders had never stopped for even a second.

To guard against magnetic field interference and superpower fluctuations in the fallen zone, Lei Zheng's adjutant stepped up and handed each person a pager.

The Plot Guide in Shu Hanqing's mind came online: "Key plot character Yan Shenyun has been triggered. He's an extremely rare peak-level psychic-type superpower user—the one in this storyline who can forcibly remove the Thunder Mark from your body."

Shu Hanqing thought, so this is the plot they've arranged for me—maybe the Plot Guide wants me to get rid of the Thunder Mark, leave the Shengsu Squad, and then Rong Hua will go off and fall in love with someone else.

Not a damn chance.

Shu Hanqing had already learned from the Plot Guide exactly which building Yan Shenyun was holed up in.

The streets around them had been deserted for way too long.

Shop signs along the road hung broken and crooked overhead, and the electronic screens that once blazed with neon all night were now caked in dirty cobwebs.

To be safe, Lei Zheng waved his hand, and his soldiers immediately hauled over a crate of steel pistols, handing one to each member of the Shengsu Squad.

Shu Hanqing looked at the heavy thing in his hand—in both his past and present life, he'd always relied on his own superpower for killing and robbing, never used to such weapons. It was annoyingly heavy.

He initially wanted to hand it back, but glancing around, he didn't want to deal with any of Lei Zheng's lackeys. His gaze swept the area and landed directly on the only senior female officer under Lei Zheng's command—Yin Bianyan.

Yin Bianyan was leaning against the hood of an off-road vehicle. When she heard Shu Hanqing come up and claim he didn't know how to use a gun, she blinked in surprise, then let out a low chuckle.

"Really can't? Then I'll teach you."

She casually grabbed Shu Hanqing's wrist, about to pull the safety and teach him herself.

But before Yin Bianyan could make her move, Lei Zheng appeared out of nowhere.

Without even glancing at Shu Hanqing, Lei Zheng ordered Yin Bianyan to take the technicians and re-verify the signal source for those two buildings right away.

Yin Bianyan raised an eyebrow, flicked her pretty hair with slender fingers, cast an amused glance between the two men, and then tactfully turned and walked off.

Leaving just the two of them alone.

Shu Hanqing's gaze inevitably collided with Lei Zheng's, and he was the first to look away.

Lei Zheng's presence was overwhelming—his eyes always brimming with sharpness and judgment, and wherever he went, his thuggish ferocity could cow the vast majority of superpowered individuals.

Just as they passed each other, Shu Hanqing felt his back blaze again.

The violent lightning ability still lurking deep in his spiritual core, sensing its original owner's presence, began thrashing and screaming beneath his skin.

Shu Hanqing shot Lei Zheng a dirty look.

Before the irritation could fade from his eyes, Lei Zheng made his move.

His right hand gripped Shu Hanqing's gun hand, while his other hand caught Shu Hanqing's shoulder, pulling him into his embrace.

Strangely, the lightning ability instantly settled down.

That's why Shu Hanqing didn't put up a fight.

Lei Zheng put force into his arm, swiftly raising Shu Hanqing's wrist, leveling the dark gun barrel and locking onto a target in the distance.

The man behind him pressed his chest against Shu Hanqing's back, welding him into his embrace without a single gap.

"Didn't you say you didn't know how? Let me teach you. Watch closely."

Lei Zheng pressed Shu Hanqing's index finger, along with the trigger, and pulled it down rapidly.

Two bangs rang out.

The recoil exploded through the gun grip, jolting Shu Hanqing's fingers numb, catching him completely off guard, the kickback shoving his whole body backward, pressing him even more tightly against Lei Zheng's chest.

Through the thin uniform, Shu Hanqing could feel the solid muscles of this military brute.

The acrid smell of gunpowder filled the air.

Amid the spent casings and gunpowder dust, Shu Hanqing shot out of Lei Zheng's embrace like a cat whose tail had been stepped on.

Lei Zheng lifted his chin, eyeing Shu Hanqing sideways. "Now, have you learned?"

Shu Hanqing rubbed his numb right wrist, then flicked the pistol onto his fingertips, hooking his index finger through the trigger guard and thrusting it hard against Lei Zheng's broad chest.

"No! This fine thing—better keep it for yourself to save your own skin, Officer Lei. Take it back."

Lei Zheng seemed to see right through the pride and defiance in Shu Hanqing's heart. "Sure, it's a bit heavy to carry, but when your ability is completely drained, it's what will keep you alive."

Lei Zheng stepped forward, his frame looming over him. "In my squad, Deputy Captain Shu, you'd better follow my rules to the letter."

Shu Hanqing couldn't be bothered to waste words and turned to leave.

Just as he was about to brush past Lei Zheng, Lei Zheng grabbed his wrist and suddenly flashed a roguish, teasing smirk, murmuring, "By the time I was ten, I could take apart a gun and play with it like a toy from a street stall. Shu Hanqing, that habitual wrist-press micro-movement when you raised the gun just now—you're clearly no novice."

With that, Lei Zheng walked off ahead of him.

No fooling him.

Of course he couldn't.

Shu Hanqing's dead-on marksmanship had been taught to him hand-over-hand by Lei Zheng in his previous life.

Lei Zheng wasn't just good with guns—he could wield them with almost supernatural skill.

Back when they were together, Lei Zheng said he'd teach him to shoot. In the enclosed underground shooting range, he blindfolded Shu Hanqing with a black tactical cloth, claiming it was so he could really feel the movements.

His broad palm wrapped around Shu Hanqing from behind, sealing him in place, Lei Zheng's lips pressed against Shu Hanqing's ear, breathing hot air as he guided him.

Shu Hanqing's shooting stance had been corrected bit by bit under Lei Zheng's hands.

Whenever Shu Hanqing missed his aim, Lei Zheng would slam him down hard onto the shooting range's operating table, punishing him under the guise of discipline, making him learn his lesson—Shu Hanqing would get taken apart while reviewing his mistakes.

If Shu Hanqing hit a perfect score, Lei Zheng would scoop the young man up, force him onto his lap, and with that sickeningly sweet, filthy tenderness, kiss his sweat-soaked neck while murmuring that he'd give him a reward.

Either way, good or bad performance, it was always Shu Hanqing's ass that paid the price.

In short, Lei Zheng was exactly that kind of man—a handsome, upstanding facade hiding a sanctimonious, lecherous old pervert underneath.