PSW - Chapter 157

Chapter 157

The energy has vanished, the fragment is gone...

In the dead of night, the Director and the base leaders received an urgent report from the ability user guarding that area. The base leader and vice-leader were stunned for a moment. Their first reaction was to go see it for themselves, only to find that the miraculous, immense energy and its influence were on the verge of dissipating completely. But for some reason, they weren't too anxious. Their first thought was of Zheng Yi, guessing that perhaps the Dawn Research Institute and the two distinguished visitors had reached some kind of agreement.

But it was already the middle of the night, too late to rashly disturb the Director. Even though the Director was in good physical condition, she was still an elderly woman who needed plenty of sleep and rest. As for disturbing the two guests?... Standing in the cool wind of the open space, the two base leaders exchanged a glance. After pondering Zheng Yi's strength for a couple of seconds, they dismissed the idea.

...Forget it. Whatever it is, we can talk about it tomorrow.

Compared to the base leaders' journey through anxiety, investigation, contemplation, and finally calm, the Director's first reaction upon hearing the news was that she finally remembered what she had forgotten!

The agreement she'd made with Zheng Yi—she had forgotten to inform the higher-ups in Changping, forgotten to tell anyone else! After all, it was already late when she left Zheng Yi. She and Chi Heqing had finished dinner together, then said their goodbyes and went back to rest. She had obtained the meteor fragment powder today, and the afternoon's research had already consumed a great deal of her energy. No matter how little energy the fragment contained, it still held mutation factors. Prolonged contact drained her mentally one or two times more than a typical experiment... As a result, after parting with Chi Heqing, the Director returned home so exhausted she wished she could just pass out in her bed.

But she stubbornly pushed through, quickly washing up and changing clothes before letting herself flop onto the center of her soft, large bed like a salted fish. The moment her head hit the pillow, she fell into a deep sleep, not waking until the emergency report jolted her awake.

"...It's nothing serious. Relay this to the two base leaders. Yes, get some rest. That area... it won't need patrols or night watches anymore."

I really am getting old, always forgetting things... Sigh. The price for rushing to bed without tying up loose ends is being woken up right after falling into a deep sleep. After calmly giving these instructions to the guard, the Director closed the door with composure. Only when she turned around did she finally let out two or three consecutive yawns, grumbling to herself.

---

Zhongshan.

The crosstalk performance was nearing its end. Onstage, the Pretty Cure and the robot, one playing the straight man and the other the funny man, finally finished their routine. But throughout the entire process, their hearts were in their throats. Though their faces were wreathed in smiles as they strove for a perfect performance, their bodies trembled uncontrollably by the end.

The mutated zombie below the stage, the mysterious person completely wrapped in a black cloak, hadn't made a sound since the performance began.

With no background music, no dazzling stage lights, in the silent darkness of the night, the crosstalk performance was as oppressive and despairing as it could possibly be.

The two took their bows, using the verbal tics and tones of a robot and a magical girl. Just as they were anxiously awaiting the mutated zombie's reaction, the zombie, like a petrified statue slowly coming back to life, raised its hands a few beats late and clapped. "A fine performance. When you have free time in the future, you can rehearse a few more."

"Yes..." Finally, they completely relaxed.

The zombie slowly rose from beside the campfire, then conjured a large handful of fruit and pushed it in front of the siblings. "There isn't much food, so make do with this. We'll be able to find a place to resupply tomorrow."

A place to resupply? Another base? Like Yongdu? Xia Sheng's expression changed, but he quickly hid it. He cupped the red fruits of various sizes in his hands, shared them with his sister, and verbally expressed his sincere gratitude for the zombie's gift.

No, maybe it was a normal base. Would this zombie reveal its identity and just crush everyone with its power? Or... could it be that it had resources to trade and barter with other ability users at the base? No, if it could do that, it couldn't be a zombie. Over the past few days, the zombie had occasionally made them bleed themselves for it to consume while they were transformed... Thinking of this, Xia Sheng gave a bitter smile. He and his sister couldn't even escape its clutches; how could they have the spare energy to protect, or even warn, others? The zombie's words were a notification, not a question.

Just as they were about to share the fruit by the campfire, the zombie suddenly stood up and gazed into the distance. Xia Sheng froze for a moment, then grabbed a handful of fruit and stuffed it into Xia Cheng's mouth. He quickly swallowed a few himself, anxiously wondering what had happened. Of course, he soon understood.

The distinct sound of a car engine approached, accompanied by the glare of high beams. A black sedan, its surface slightly dented and uneven, executed a beautiful drift and came to a steady stop in front of the campfire.

The mutated zombie remained silent, standing straight by the campfire, staring at the car from beneath its concealing black cloak.

Soon, the car doors opened.

"Hey, buddy! You're in high spirits, holding a concert this late at night!" The newcomers were ability users. One of them's hearty laughter rang out before he even got out of the car.

Xia Cheng frowned slightly, her gaze shifting uncertainly as she sized up the... two ability users. She quickly ate a fruit and, with a reverse motion, stuffed one into the mouth of Xia Sheng, who was also observing them intently. Hmm, no matter what kind of ability users they were, they were probably no match for this particularly special mutated zombie. As she considered this, she saw the male ability user get out of the car and stride forward with a confident air. He walked imposingly to the passenger side, smiling as he opened the door and extended a hand to the woman inside.

...only to be ignored. The female ability user, with a hint of embarrassment and disdain, placed her fingers on the man's shoulder, pushed him a certain distance away, and then got out of the car herself.

Their relationship...? Never mind. Xia Cheng had no interest or curiosity, even if these two might become the special zombie's next set of performers.

The special zombie remained silent. If not for the bright campfire, it would have been completely hidden in the darkness. It scrutinized the man and woman, then finally spoke. "What are your abilities?"

"Who asks that right off the bat? You're way too blunt." Xie Congdong's temper had been trained to be quite good; even when Wan Yinyue rejected his help, he didn't show any particular emotion. Now, hearing the mutated zombie's blunt question, he wasn't angry, just found it a little amusing. "You look really pale. Are you sick? Unfortunately, we don't have healing abilities." Obviously, neither of them had realized the person before them was a zombie.

"Our abilities are nothing special. He's a transformation-type. And I have a personal storage space." Wan Yinyue briefly sized up the three of them. She vaguely sensed that the expressions of the man and woman were somewhat off, and there was something strange about the guy completely covered by the black cloak. After a moment's consideration, she decided to reveal the general nature of Xie Congdong's ability. "Transformation-type" was extremely broad; knowing just the category was useless. As for a personal storage space... it had no combat power and might even lower an enemy's guard, assuming these three had malicious intent.

"Mm." Perhaps because it heard the words "transformation-type," the special zombie's tone became much calmer. It didn't press further, instead saying, "We plan to go to a nearby base to resupply."

"The Zhongshan base? We're headed there too." Xie Congdong smiled. "But we're from Humanity's Light. We're going to the Zhongshan base this time to discuss the details of a cooperative agreement. The high-temperature period is approaching, and we hope to get everything settled before it arrives. Where are you from?"

The special zombie discreetly directed its aura at the siblings, Xia Cheng and Xia Sheng, warning them not to say anything they shouldn't. When it heard the question, it thought for a moment and glanced at the two siblings.

"Yongdu," it said, then added, "The base in Yongdu."

"If you don't mind, you can rest here for the night. Tomorrow, we can go to the Zhongshan base together," it quickly proposed.

Xie Congdong glanced at Wan Yinyue for her opinion. They had also come over after seeing the light and hearing the sounds, guessing that perhaps some ability users from Zhongshan were camped here for the night. But these were ability users from Yongdu... The Yongdu base. Were they on an exploration mission, or did they also have a mission to cooperate with Zhongshan? But they had only mentioned needing to resupply.

Wan Yinyue felt that there was some secret between these three. And that pair who looked somewhat similar... were they siblings? The siblings hadn't spoken a word from start to finish. Although they tried hard to hide it, their emotional state seemed off. Was the atmosphere a bit oppressive? She lowered her gaze slightly, then quickly looked up and smiled. "That's fine. We'll just rest in the car. We can visit the Zhongshan base together tomorrow."

"My name is Wan Yinyue, and he is Xie Congdong. May I ask your names?"

The special zombie first glanced at Xia Cheng and Xia Sheng. The two siblings reacted quickly, schooling their expressions and emotions and forcing enthusiastic smiles. "My name is Xia Cheng, and this is my older brother, Xia Sheng [夏盛 | Xià Shèng - Flourishing, prosperous, magnificent]. We're both ability users." After the introduction, Xia Cheng briefly explained which characters were used for their names.

Only then did the special zombie slowly say, "My name is Xia Sheng [夏笙 | Xià Shēng - A traditional Chinese musical instrument]."

Xia Cheng and Xia Sheng's expressions instantly became exceptionally strange, but they didn't dare say anything.

Three siblings? It seemed this strange-looking Xia Sheng was the leader among them.

"It's a pleasure to meet you. I hope the rest of our journey goes smoothly," Xie Congdong said with a slight nod. He had wanted to do something for Wan Yinyue, but then he remembered she had said they would rest in the car, so he didn't ask why they weren't taking out a tent. Instead, he returned to the car and adjusted the seats to a comfortable angle for lying down.

"It's getting late. Well then, good night to you three," Wan Yinyue said politely. "See you tomorrow morning."

Xia Sheng gave a slight nod and sat back down by the campfire, like a silent stone statue. The feeling that something was wrong grew stronger in Wan Yinyue's heart, but she suppressed her emotions and returned to the car with Xie Congdong, her expression normal.

Something was wrong. There was always this... indescribable sense of strangeness. Was it intuition? Or something else? This person gave her an extremely dangerous feeling. Her instincts told her to leave immediately. But that might be too abrupt, especially since their arrival had been abrupt enough... Damn it, if she had known, she wouldn't have been so curious. They had previously thought it was some Zhongshan ability users holding a late-night concert outside.

With a normal expression, Xie Congdong opened the car door for Wan Yinyue before walking around to the other side to get in. He didn't immediately lie back in his seat. Instead, he waited for Wan Yinyue to look over, then gently took her hand, opened her palm, and wrote, stroke by stroke: Dangerous?

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