Chapter 103
Chapter 103
8.2 – The Emperor has been feeling ill at ease lately
translator: xiin
editor: alamerysl & BlueBug
Earlier, the team fought in the middle area between the ability user and zombie cities. No one ruled over the city, but rumours had it that it was inhabited by some high-ranking zombies that had been banished by the zombie emperor. These zombies were very powerful, but fortunately, they had encountered some dangerous situations outside of the city, and had not gone towards the center. The zombies they encountered were all low-level with no intelligence or awareness. Xue Ling could deal with them easily without raising the suspicion of the people who came to rescue them later because he had resolved the situation too quickly.
Those who came to the rescue were from Yanshan base, which was not far from here. Chu Han and his team had also set out from there before. This base could not be considered a large base as the highest ability user was only A-ranked, but its geographic location was relatively special. It was along the only route between the ability users’ territory and the zombie’s territory, so this place was also one where fishes and dragons mixed together.
Because there was no particularly powerful force here, the territory was shared among several different forces. Chu Han’s small team was just an ordinary team, and many people looked down on their expeditions. After all, the strength of their team members was not high, and they would most likely lose their lives if even the slightest thing happened to them after they entered the city.
But, they ultimately still went out on such an expedition because He Yan insisted.
He Yan had not expected Xue Ling to be able to deal with this matter so quickly. After all, according to his speculations prior to turning back time, three of He Yan’s team had died before he forcefully awakened his second ability. When the two of them were rescued, they had both been covered with blood and wounds. But now, the entire car was safe and sound.
He Yan frowned, uneasy. As long as some things were different, the butterfly effect would be triggered. If some parts no longer followed his previous assumptions, then there would definitely be problems somewhere down the line. He no longer had a chance to start over again, and he had to pay careful attention to these small differences.
In his last life, at this time he had already set out for the largest ability users’ base because the system had provided him with a plan to prevent the leaders from dividing the land up equally between the ability users and the zombies. He had been unable to spare even a moment, and had set off without any concern for what had happened there.
The system showed him the analysis of Chu Han’s strength, and He Yan had decisively abandoned him after judging that he held no value for him. To him, saving the world was more important than any emotions. Besides, although he and Chu Han were engaged, their relationship had been determined for him by their parents from childhood.
Chu Han’s guiding principles in life had never matched up with his, and he never gave in to him. Even after the end of the world, he still refused to bend to him, the person who had a system and was the world’s savior. He had to be against him in all things, and if he had not learned that Chu Han had awakened his second ability during this incident, he would not place all of his hopes on him this time.
“Big brother Han!” Although he was full of such thoughts, He Yan smiled in pleased surprise when he got out of the car. “Everyone is okay?! That’s great! If my insistence on coming had really caused you guys to have an accident, I would feel guilty for a lifetime!”
Xue Ling looked coldly at the protagonist in front of him and gave a quiet snort of contempt, ignoring his joyful jumping about. Instead, he nodded to the ability users who had come to save them.
He did not speak, but that did not mean that his people would not speak. The fatty that drove proudly opened his mouth to tell He Yan, “This is all thanks to the boss. If he had not awakened his second ability in time, we would all be corpses by now!”
He Yan’s eyes were brilliant, his heart full of excitement. The smile on his face turned a little more real. “Really? Big brother Han is so amazing! What kind of second ability did he awaken? You guys have to know that awakening a second ability represents that the person has the potential to reach SSS-rank! Ever since the apocalypse happened, you can count the number of such people with one hand!”
“I don’t know. Anyway, it looked really fierce.” The fatty clutched at his head and dully turned his head over to ask the girl wearing glasses. “Sisi, earlier, what kind of power did the boss say it was?”
“It looked like the ability had an ice property.” The short haired woman pushed up her glasses. Since Xue Ling had not tried to stop them, that meant he basically agreed to them sharing the story. Their boss probably wanted to use their mouths to spread the news of his rise in power. It looked like there would be big changes in Yanshan base in the future.
The expression on He Yan’s face stiffened for a moment. Others might not have noticed it, but Xue Ling could see it clearly.
Hah, this savior of the world was probably panicking because too many things had changed and become different.
Chu Han’s first ability was fire based. His ability did not stand out amongst the large group of ability users after the apocalypse, and his attack power was just so-so, but he was a natural leader. He had led a group of people even before the apocalypse, so he had formed a team and continued along this path. Although he was not well-known, it was still a simple matter for him to get enough for him and his team to live. Because of this time’s matter, he awakened his second ability, which was lightning-based. Because of the emergence of this ability, his fire ability became more powerful. Fire and lightning together allowed his power level to soar all the way up, and in a short period of time he gained absolute control over Yanshan base, turning it into a stronghold. It continued to develop and grow.
At that time, He Yan was wandering amongst the major bases, provoking their relationship with the zombies and causing the relations between them to become increasingly tense. Many skirmishes erupted, and Chu Han took this opportunity to develop himself. Slowly, Yanshan base’s fame grew.
He advocated for peaceful coexistence with the zombies, and tried to sign a peace agreement with them. Many people’s opinions were swayed by him, which made He Yan very angry. Then, a whole string of things happened, that made He Yan’s original chess moves completely useless. It was at that time that he began to resent Chu Han. If it hadn’t been for Chu Han, he would not reached the point where he would have to reverse time.
Now that he was starting over again, he wanted to make use of Chu Han. But his careful planning has once again gone wrong because of Chu Han!! How could it be an ice property power! Ice based abilities also belonged to the water property! It was clearly a counter to fire, and if this was Chu Han’s second ability, then where was his guarantee of success this time!?
Xue Ling looked at He Yan’s face with interest as it changed, and then said, “Yes, it’s an ice property ability.” He Yan’s face turned even more peculiar when he spoke up himself to confirm.
“How come it’s ice based? Isn’t big brother Han’s first ability fire based?”
“Aren’t these abilities great?” Xue Ling curved his lips and said, “After it’s been frozen, it can be baked in fire.”
The people who came to rescue them looked at this group of people and sensed that the atmosphere was rather weird, but this had nothing to do with them. Since they had already come back, then they would not need to venture out and take any risk. “I don’t mind if you guys want to play with your lives, but don’t involve us. There won’t always be people willing to go out to save you!”
“Sorry.” Xue Ling told the people in the car to take out a part of their belongings and split it amongst those who had come to save them. Interpersonal relationships now were different from how they had been before the apocalypse. In order not to have people stab him in the back with a knife, it was better to maintain good relationships with them. “We were reckless this time. You brothers can come take some things and consider it as compensation. We will calculate the rewards separately.”
He Yan opened his mouth, wanting to tell them not to waste their provisions on these superfluous people, but he shut up when he remembered that these were people that he had called over.
He also knew that he had to think before he spoke during the end of the world. Otherwise, he would get stabbed in the back if he wasn’t careful.
The more it was like this, the more he wanted to return to a peaceful world. He must straighten out this twisted world and bring things back to how it was before. In this kind of world where the powerful were respected, he was not strong, and therefore could only chose to depend on someone else. He did not like this feeling at all.
After sending off the reluctant rescuers, Xue Ling gathered his teammates together. “The incident this time was He Yan’s fault. It was also my fault for giving in. For a leader to bring his team into danger is something that should not happen.” His expression was calm. He Yan did not know what he wanted to say, but his instincts made him anxious.
His parents died when he was young, and it was Chu Han’s parents who had adopted him because he had been engaged to Chu Han from birth. Before, people always speculated that he was Chu Han’s childhood bride. He really detested that term, and it even caused him to have a bad impression of Chu Han.
Chu Han did not seem to like him either, but he took good care of him nonetheless. Even in an environment like the end of the world where it was completely reasonable to abandon He Yan, he had always brought along this person who seemed to feel that he was far above others despite his low ability. His parents had always told him to properly look after He Yan, but last time, after his team members’ tragic death, there was no longer any love lost between them.
This time, Chu Han’s teammates were all right, but Chu Han’s current behaviour made He Yan feel uneasy.
“Brother Han, don’t mention these unimportant things. This time, without you, we would have no way to leave that city.” The person speaking was a relatively stocky man. His ability was a very basic ability to strengthen his muscles, and he could only strengthen himself and make his ** more powerful. He had been Chu Han’s bodyguard before the apocalypse, and followed Chu Han ever since. If Xue Ling had not appeared just then, he would have already died in the hands of those zombies.
“You can say it like that.” The short-haired woman with glasses was called Du Sini. She was Chu Han’s assistant before the apocalypse. The ability she had awakened was psychic, and her fighting ability was not high, but she was particularly clever. Because she was a woman, she had been protected at the very back by the team. In the last life, other than Chu Han, she was the only one left alive. She had never felt good about He Yan, and never wasted any opportunity to attack him. Before He Yan reversed time, she had previously destroyed countless of He Yan’s plans, making him hate her so much his teeth were itchy.
If this was based on the original plot, then she and He Yan were the nails in each other’s eyes. Unfortunately, she did not have the protagonist’s halo, so she was still harmed to death by He Yan later on.
“But we can’t go on like this. Although the few of us in the team are not strong enough, we still have a clear division of labor and everyone contributes. Only He Yan kicks up a fuss all day long and acts like everyone has to listen to him just because he is boss’ fiancé. We respect the boss, but that does not mean we respect you. You aren’t anyone special to the boss, and now that it is the end of the world, any previous agreement has already been scrapped. If you don’t want to do anything, it would be better for you to split from us today.”
He Yan gritted his teeth at Du Sini and said, “What do you mean? How am I kicking up a fuss. Even if you don’t like me, you don’t have to talk about me like that.”
“Yo~ You won’t let others talk about the things that you do~ You really think that you are some Holy Father white lotus? If you hadn’t threatened the boss this time, would the boss have brought us out here? Saying that there is something important that you need to get there, and then running faster than anyone else as soon as the zombies show up. Then can I ask Master He, where is that important thing of yours?~” Although she had a noble and cold appearance, Du Sini’s tone could be harsher than anyone else’s when tearing somebody apart. Xue Ling quite liked the way she talked, and he just crossed his arms over his chest and leaned against the car to watch the show.
He had to drive the protagonist shou out today. Although he knew without thinking too much about it that He Yan would never give up the chance the mend his relationship with ‘Chu Han’ so easily, Xue Ling would not do questionable things like letting him stay in the team and getting too close to his plans.
While their little team was entering a crisis of trust and splitting up, a few ‘people’ had also come by, attracted by the fact that a little under half of the city had been completely frozen.
Unlike the ability users who sorted their strength so that the closer they were to this city, the weaker they were, the zombie faction was always ready to fight with the ability users. Their largest base was located not far from that city, and some high-level zombies also lived in the city that had been attacked.
Only, they had not been banished there by the zombie emperor. Rather, they had been placed there as guards.
“Emperor, at about 4 p.m., we were shocked awake by a powerful ability. The ice covered half the city, and some of us were frozen. If we hadn’t noticed that something was wrong and got out in time, we would probably have been crushed to pieces just like the low-ranking zombies outside.”
The man addressed as ‘Emperor’ had long black hair that spread out behind him. His forehead looked mild, but his face was especially frightening when he was expressionless.
He measured up the ice that showed no sign of dissolving, and his expression was calm as he opened his mouth to say, “He was merciful. He should have noticed that you were here, but chose not to be ruthless.”
“… What does Emperor mean?
“He has the power to freeze an entire city and thoroughly destroy it.” After speaking this sentence, the man’s gaze darkened, and his expression showed a rare solemnity. “If it was not for the fact that he was not hostile, you would not have the opportunity to see me.”
The high-ranking zombies who had been secretly spying and reporting back were dumbfounded.
“With this kind of power, is it the legendary SSS-level? Emperor and that…”
The man waved his hand and signalled for him to stop talking. “The previous plan has to be changed. Since such a strong person has appeared among the ability users, we can no longer act rashly. For the time being, don’t make a move. I’ll go and see what kind of person this is.”
“The Emperor will go personally?”
The man did not answer him. He simply turned and left. His white trench coat fanned out in a beautiful arc behind him, and the high ranking zombie was left standing there with dull expressions on their faces.
The woman who had been following the man saw that he was standing there foolishly. She opened her mouth and explained kindly. “The Emperor has been upset lately, and now this happened. He is probably really concerned about it, which is why he wants to check it out in person.”
“Oooh…” Their Emperor was indeed very powerful, with the power to foresee things without an oracle.
alamerysl: if you replace ** with a certain part of a the male anatomy in this sentence…
The person speaking was a relatively stocky man. His ability was a very basic ability to strengthen his muscles, and he could only strengthen himself and make his ** more powerful.
xiin: *cough* this is officially the halfway point of WTMT!