"Want to fly solo?"
Qiao Ci would not grant his wish. Like a strongman, she grabbed An Ran by the wrist and tossed her towards him. "Please take your trash away, or I can't guarantee I won't do something insane."
Xu Wei placed his severed arm into An Ran's embrace, his face contorted as he said, "Hold this."
He grabbed her with his one good hand and quickly walked towards the exit of the Construction Base, completely disregarding An Ran, who stumbled several times as she was pulled along.
Members of the Lone Wolf Base, who had brought their families and were preparing to reap benefits nearby, saw their leader staggering towards them with his sleeve dangling. They rushed forward to express their concern. "Brother Wei, what happened? Who beat you up like this? I'll get revenge for you!"
Xu Wei, who was almost sent to the afterlife by the phrase "beat you up like this," felt a surge of profanity in his mind.
*Dammit, can't you speak properly!*
"We fell into an ambush set by the Construction Base. Let's head back to our base first!" Xu Wei gritted his teeth in pain, his perfect leader image shattered.
The others had no choice but to hurry back, laden with their belongings.
"This is truly a disaster. The Construction Base's methods are too brutal."
"Their leader's arm was completely ripped off!"
"From now on, if we encounter the Construction Base, we'd better take a detour. We don't want to be dismembered."
Little Spoon had been observing the outside world from the beginning. When it heard that the pill Qiao Ci gave could cure the zombie virus, it cheered excitedly in her mind. "That's great, Host! The original host's first wish is basically secured! You have the pills to cure the zombie virus in your hand, it seems the end of the apocalypse is in sight. Host, you're awesome! Host, you're amazing!!"
"You're overthinking it. That pill only targets zombie emperors with clear consciousness, and using it in large quantities will disrupt the balance of the laws here. Too much is as bad as too little. If that happens, it will truly be the end of the world," Qiao Ci immediately shattered its beautiful fantasy.
Although Little Spoon didn't understand why using too much would disrupt the rules, it knew that its host was an expert, so listening to her was the right thing to do. Besides, there was still Su Ye, wasn't there? Since he could research a zombie assimilation powder in such a short time, he would surely be able to find a way to end the apocalypse.
After Xu Wei and An Ran left, it took a long time for Father Qiao and Yu Hao to find out. After understanding the whole story, they sighed with emotion.
Fortunately, Qiao Ci had sharp eyes and had seen through their ambitious schemes long ago. Otherwise, if they had waited for Xu Wei and the Lone Wolf Base to collude, the Construction Base would have been in danger.
Because Qiao Ci had emphasized Su Ye's capabilities, Father Qiao was quite impressed with him. At least he no longer gave him a cold shoulder. However, he still often made things difficult for him, testing whether he was worthy of being his daughter's other half.
Whenever Qiao Ci saw this, she would favor Su Ye. Father Qiao's heart sank like a rock. Later, seeing Su Ye's constant care and attention towards Qiao Ci, and his dazzling abilities gradually being revealed, he felt relieved and entrusted Qiao Ci to him.
Lone Wolf Base.
Upon returning to the base, Xu Wei immediately summoned someone skilled in medicine to see if his arm could be reattached.
The doctor looked at the extensively burned incision and shook his head regretfully. "The wound is extensively burned and damaged. It can no longer be reattached. Moreover, even if it could be, current medical facilities are insufficient to perform such an operation."
This was the only doctor in the Lone Wolf Base. Xu Wei wanted to vent his anger on him but forced himself to hold back, waving his hand and dismissing him.
An Ran, who had been by his side the entire time, was still shaken. The thought of her lost ability plunged her into an icy abyss, her life feeling hopeless.
Xu Wei, whose mood was already terrible, looked at her with deep eyes. If it hadn't been for her insistent retort, he would have returned intact.
His love for her was genuine, but as soon as he found a reason to hate her, all her faults became apparent.
Suppressing his bloodthirsty impulse, he reached out to An Ran. "Ran Ran, come here."
An Ran walked towards him dazedly, and he pulled her into his embrace. "You must be scared. Don't worry, I'll get revenge for you when I have the chance. For this blood feud, I'll make everyone in the Construction Base pay with their lives!"
"But I can't control zombies anymore," An Ran said hesitantly, glancing at his empty arm.
"And you too... how can we get revenge? Wuwuwu, it's all my fault, I was tricked by Qiao Ci. She fed me a zombie virus cure pill, wuwuwu... I trusted her so much, but she ruined me."
"Calm down, listen to me. She tricked you. How could there be a cure for the zombie virus in the world? If there were, it would have been used extensively to end the apocalypse long ago. She must have tricked you. Rest well and try again calmly."
As a result, An Ran tried many times with no success. Then, one day, after Xu Wei had been intimate with An Ran a few times, he finally gave up when he no longer saw the red in her eyes.
Then, Xu Wei had a sudden idea and persuaded An Ran to be bitten by a zombie again. To his surprise, other than bleeding and feeling pain, An Ran still did not turn into a zombie emperor.
She was immune to the zombie virus!!!
Xu Wei became increasingly irritable, and his actions towards An Ran became more brutal, especially in that regard. Eventually, he simply handed her over to his brothers for their enjoyment.
Occasionally, he would even take her on missions as bait, as she wouldn't get infected even if bitten by a zombie.
An Ran was in immense pain, yet dared not die. She could neither escape nor survive.
She hated everyone who had bullied, insulted, and trampled her into the dust.
She hated all the grotesque zombies that inflicted the most piercing pain upon her.
She hated Qiao Ci and Xu Wei the most: one for causing her to lose her means of survival, and the other for pushing her into an abyss.
But she was powerless and never reflected on herself. Therefore, she blamed everyone else and lived in a daze.
It wasn't until she was captured by a secret organization due to her immunity to the zombie virus and dissected by scientists researching the zombie virus that she truly understood hell and felt regret.
She shouldn't have aided the wicked, and she shouldn't have provoked Qiao Ci.
But it was all too late. From then on, she never saw the sun outside again.
Xu Wei didn't fare any better. Missing an arm, his combat power was greatly reduced. Not only could he not seek revenge on Qiao Ci, but his position as the Lone Wolf leader was also usurped by a subordinate's rebellion!
Unwilling to be under anyone's command, he was driven out of the Lone Wolf Base and soon encountered a large horde of zombies, which ended his life.
Qiao Ci, on the other hand, continued to expand the Construction Base, bringing innocent survivors under her wing. Simultaneously, she kept recruiting scholars in virus-related fields to research a zombie vaccine.
Su Ye, who was a genius in this area, responded to the call immediately. Besides being intimate with Qiao Ci, he spent most of his time in the laboratory.
Qiao Ci felt pained by his dark circles. However, she couldn't get involved in such a global catastrophe. The crisis needed to be resolved using the methods of this small world itself; intervening forcefully would only accelerate the world's collapse.
Recently, Su Ye had been coming home late and leaving early, appearing as if he were determined to research the vaccine and working himself to the bone.
However, there were no significant breakthroughs.
He seemed to have resigned himself to fate, abandoning all his work and no longer being busy all day. Instead, he often accompanied Qiao Ci.
He gazed deeply into the woman in his arms, his long, strong hand caressing her soft hair. "A Ci, are you really looking forward to the end of the apocalypse?"
Qiao Ci lazily lifted her eyelids. "Obviously."