Chapter 24: Meet

The End Of The World (WORLD)

A thick blanket of dark clouds slowly drifted in from the east, obscuring the faint moonlight and plunging the earth into darkness. The powerful flashlight in Zhou Yi's hand became the main source of illumination for the team, as the lean man effortlessly pulled a cart of people towards the northwest.

The bone-chilling night wind grew louder as the man picked up speed, leaving Jing Xia staring at Zhou Yi. Just as Zhou Yi was about to awkwardly maintain his smile and answer his unspoken question, Jing Xia slowly furrowed his brow and asked, "The two from B City? Can I know their names?" His voice was barely audible, perhaps due to the chilly wind or the unsteady ride, trembling slightly.

Qi Yang stood at the front of the cart and didn't hear Jing Xia's faint voice, only Zhou Yi and Ji Chuancheng beside him did. Ji Chuancheng with his clear and handsome features, subtly furrowed his brow and turned to look at Jing Xia.

In the dim darkness, the young man's exquisite eyes widened in surprise for a moment before he regained his composure. Swallowing nervously, he explained, "I didn't expect anyone from B City to be here, so I'm curious. Zhou Yi, do you know their names?"

Standing more than a meter away, Zhou Yi didn't notice Jing Xia's unease and replied, "Since they're not in the same group as me, I'm not very familiar with them. But I've heard that one of them is a powerful ice ability user. He even killed three c-class mutant beasts during a small attack by mutants on the Huangpu River half a month ago."

Jing Xia, his fingers tightening around the railing, maintained a calm expression and said with a smile, "Being able to kill three c-class mutant beasts is indeed impressive. Maybe we can go see if we know them."

Zhou Yi paused, "Do you know them?"

Just as there were already nearly a thousand evolvers in S City so far, the number of evolvers in B City was definitely not small either. It was indeed unlikely to know two people out of the vast crowd.

Jing Xia shook his head with a smile, "No, I just feel that since we're from the same place, there might be some common ground, making it easier to fit in here."

Zhou Yi nodded in understanding and didn't say anything further.

Jing Xia slowly closed his eyes, his gaze darkening as he stared fixedly at the dark spot on the cart, remaining silent. The pitch-black night concealed his expression, but his fingers gripping the railing were already tightly clenched.

"Who are they?" The deep and melodious voice seemed somewhat elusive in the night breeze, as Ji Chuancheng shifted his gaze away from Jing Xia's left hand, seemingly casually asking.

"Jijijiji!!!"

Suddenly startled by Ji Chuancheng's question, Jing Xia almost dropped the little black ball from his palm. Seeing this, the small black ball hurriedly climbed up his arm until it reached his shoulder, where it comfortably settled down.

With his eyes lowered, Jing Xia hesitated for a moment before lifting his head to reply, "I guess... they're probably Wu Jiqing and... Su Weishang. It's normal for them to come to S City, as I mentioned to you before."

In such a public setting, Jing Xia didn't reveal everything but Ji Chuancheng understood everything. Before leaving B City, on that afternoon when everything had yet to formally begin, the handsome young man standing in the warm yellow sunset had told him everything, including—what happened at the S City base.

Thinking of this, Ji Chuancheng's sharp phoenix eyes lowered, concealing the expression in his eyes.

Jing Xia came to S City with the team led by Wu Jiqing and Su Weishang, although according to his account, Wu Jiqing was supposed to arrive in S City two months later. But if they were already here now, then without a doubt, history had changed from what Jing Xia had said.

Wu Jiqing had an ice ability and although he lacked practical experience in combat, his ability level was very high, enough to make him the main offensive force for humanity in the subsequent battles against the tide of beasts. As for Su Weishang, he had a wind ability. His physical fitness among the evolvers was only average and his ability level was moderate but his unexpected lifesaving skills were strong, always turning the tide in the numerous battles against the tide of beasts.

Ji Chuancheng's black tousled hair fell over his full forehead in the night breeze and he remained silent for a long time before finally opening his lips, "Perhaps it's just the butterfly effect, which is quite common. After I've taken Qi Yang to where he needs to go, I'll accompany you to find those two from B City." He paused for a moment before adding, "I'll go with you." The last five words were spoken very softly but they carried a solemn meaning that brooked no refusal, causing Jing Xia to pause slightly.

After a moment, he nodded, "Okay."

As the night fell, a black shadow swiftly and fiercely flashed past from the darkness. If there were any bystanders looking towards the middle of the road at that moment, all they would see in the blink of an eye was a muffled thud as the heavy object hit the ground, and then the black shadow disappeared from the street.

By the time Jing Xia and the others arrived at the headquarters of the S City base, less than ten minutes had passed.

After exchanging a few words with the lean man, Zhou Yi waved goodbye with a smile. Watching the man disappear into the darkness once again, Zhou Yi turned to Jing Xia and said, "I already informed the headquarters of your arrival through special means earlier. Now we should be able to go in directly."

Jing Xia smiled and asked, "Was it when you were talking to someone on the protective net side?"

Zhou Yi nodded slightly after a brief moment of surprise. "That's right. We have established central communication methods at three main defense points, and there is someone with a unique ability in the base who is related to this. You should meet him later."

Jing Xia nodded lightly, a hint of a smile playing at the corner of his lips, without saying more.

Naturally, he knew about the unique communication method in S City, which was extremely rare in this post-apocalyptic world of communication barriers. However, this ability also had its drawbacks—it could only communicate over short distances.

This drawback was fatal.

Sighing softly, Jing Xia lowered his head, a hint of disappointment crossing his heart. Then, he heard a low voice beside him, "Since Wu Jiqing and the others have already come to S City, then many things have changed without us realizing it. Have you thought about what needs to be changed and maintained?"

Jing Xia was slightly taken aback. He instinctively looked up at the tall figure beside him. The other person was staring at him with lowered eyes, his gaze serious, as if asking a solemn question.

After a moment of contemplation, Jing Xia slowly curved his lips into a smile and replied, "We should change what must be changed and let the rest happen naturally."

Their voices were very low, deliberately trailing behind, so only the two of them could hear.

At some point, the dark clouds covering most of the sky had gradually been blown away by the wind. With the moon rising to the middle of the sky, the surrounding dark night was illuminated by the gentle moonlight, casting a soft glow on the young man's handsome features, making his clear eyes appear even clearer.

After gazing at Jing Xia for a long time, Ji Chuancheng finally turned his gaze away.

The four of them walked briskly towards the four-story building.

The walls of the building were made of dark yellow artificial stone, supported by several milky-white Ionic columns. The first floor was extremely high, and on each side of the Baroque-style circular arch door stood a man holding a black Ruger AC, vigilantly guarding the surroundings.

After Jing Xia and his companions climbed the steps, they nodded to Zhou Yi and then proceeded inside. The two men's gazes lingered on Ji Chuancheng for a long time then, after Ji Chuancheng nodded slightly in acknowledgment, the two of them stood at attention, executing a neat and standard military salute.

It was only after they had walked more than ten meters away that Zhou Yi turned his head in surprise and said, "Are you... a soldier? It's the first time I've seen original soldiers being so serious."

Ji Chuancheng nodded. "Yes, I've been to City S before."

Zhou Yi understood and smiled, then explained, "That's understandable. You may not know but for some reason, there are very few successful evolvers among these soldiers. Although the proportion of evolvers among them is still high, the failure rate is much higher than that of ordinary people. Of course, those who successfully evolved are generally quite strong, so I guess it's because the evolution difficulty is too high that these failures occur."

Qi Yang, who had been silent all along, suddenly laughed softly, "If it's really as simple as you guess, can I not think of it?" His tone was full of mocking undertones, as if he were sneering.

Zhou Yi glanced at him coldly and said in a low voice, "I thought you were a mute." Then, ignoring Qi Yang's increasingly dangerous smile, he continued to speak to Ji Chuancheng, "The two people you saw just now were brought by the researchers from the institute. They haven't evolved, but their strength is also very strong, much stronger than ordinary people."

Ji Chuancheng nodded thoughtfully and said nothing more.

It seemed that Zhou Yi was already used to Ji Chuan Cheng's cold demeanor. In his heart, he even felt a bit strange, finding this cold attitude more pleasing than the previous eccentric behavior of the mute lunatic.

"It's getting late now. The other two people in your team should have arrived at the accommodation by now. After the people from the institute conduct some investigations on your ability, you can also go rest. " As he spoke, Zhou Yi led Jing Xia and the others around a corner, then through a French romantic-style corridor and into another two-story small house.

Along the way, people greeted Zhou Yi with smiles and curiosity, casting curious glances at Jing Xia and his companions. Bathed in such voices and gazes, Jing Xia followed behind Zhou Yi and entered the door, his field of vision suddenly opening up.

Different from the darkness outside the headquarters, in fact, after entering this magnificent and beautiful complex, Jing Xia felt as if he had returned to the pre-apocalyptic days. Although the lighting equipment was slightly lacking, it was enough for normal walking. As soon as they entered this wide and long two-story small house, the lights shone as brightly as before.

Shortly after Jing Xia arrived in City S in his previous life, he encountered the first large-scale beast tide. Nearly ten thousand mutated beasts lurked along the Huangpu River from the mouth of the sea, and eventually erupted in the most densely populated and prosperous area of the city. Within a little over an hour, they attacked and slaughtered tens of thousands of people, ultimately reducing the base camp of evolutionists in S City to ruins.

And this place, Jing Xia had only spent two or three days here before it was completely buried under the yellow soil. This time entering, for Jing Xia, it was like revisiting an old place, mixed with an indescribable sense of strangeness. He looked around with a sense of novelty and emotion, looking more like it was his first time here compared to the calm Ji Chuancheng and the disinterested Qi Yang.

"So, Jing Xia, you'll come with me to the institute first, and as for..." Zhou Yi paused, realizing that Ji Chuancheng and Qi Yang hadn't told him their names, "As for you two, just wait here for a while. We'll be out soon."

Ji Chuancheng shook his head, pointing at the relaxed and casual Qi Yang. "I'll also take him to the institute and hand him over to Professor Qi."

Zhou Yi was momentarily stunned, then nodded. "Okay, then come with me."

As Zhou Yi finished speaking, the group took a few steps but before they had walked out two steps, Jing Xia heard a gentle and melodious voice coming from around the corner. Each sound seemed to carry a thick smile and just this pleasant and clear voice made people feel a sense of fondness.

"Jiqing, why were you distracted during training today? You almost got injured by that D-grade mutant brown bear. You were really careless."

The response came from a clear and clean male voice, "Xiao Shang, don't worry, it was just a small accident. I promise there won't be a next time."

"You were indeed too careless. I almost thought you were going to the infirmary. But I trust in your abilities. You definitely won't..." The voice abruptly stopped, and a beautiful and delicate face slowly appeared around the corner. The young man's light-colored pupils slightly contracted when he saw Jing Xia, then quickly returned to normal.

He seemed to casually glance at Zhou Yi and the others.

But his gaze lingering on Ji Chuancheng for half a second then the rose-red lips slowly curved into a beautiful arc, revealing a clear smile and said, "Big brother? What are you doing here?"