Chapter 8

In his previous life, Ye Jingyan had once seen Wang Tao from a distance. By then, Wang Tao had already become the leader of the southern region, and wherever he went, a team of ability users accompanied him as guards. Although Ye Jingyan had never met him directly, he still remembered the man’s gloomy expression and the powerful military bearing revealed in every movement, enough to make others instinctively wary.
Thinking carefully now, Wang Tao’s features had indeed been rather refined, and he resembled the boy before him by at least half. Moreover, unlike Ye Jingyan, Wang Xiao had no way of knowing that Wang Tao would someday become a regional giant, so there was no reason for him to impersonate the man’s relative just to trick Ye Jingyan into helping.
It seemed Wang Xiao’s claim that he was Wang Tao’s son was probably true.
Although Wang Xiao had repeatedly insisted that his father would soon send people to collect them, Ye Jingyan knew that Wang Tao should currently be busy resolving a crisis inside the military itself. Combined with the blocked roads, he probably would not be able to spare anyone to rescue his wife and son for some time. The reason there had been no rumours about Wang Xiao and his mother in Ye Jingyan’s previous life was most likely that both had died before Wang Tao could reach them…
At that thought, Ye Jingyan felt an indescribable emotion rise inside him. This was the apocalypse! What did it matter if Wang Tao later became a southern giant? What did it matter if he commanded soldiers and numerous ability users? Faced with the deaths of his closest family, he had still been powerless!
However, now that Ye Jingyan had basically confirmed the boy’s identity, saving him could provide an opportunity to establish a connection with Wang Tao…
Ye Jingyan considered silently that B City had always been the country’s political and economic centre and was home to many enormously influential figures. So after the apocalypse began, the military quickly used force to stabilise order. But the situation did not last long. With the rise of ability users and the manipulation of ambitious people behind the scenes, all kinds of factions quickly appeared in B City. Their interests intertwined, and they schemed constantly against one another. The city remained tense, with residents living in daily anxiety. Compared with that, people in the south actually lived more comfortably once Wang Tao’s faction became dominant.
More importantly, one year from now, Li Xuemei—the dangerous woman who posed a threat to his mother—would appear in B City… From this perspective, B City really was not a suitable place for his mother to live…
Forget it! With his current ability, rescuing Wang Xiao and his mother would not be difficult. He might as well help now. It would effectively mean giving the boy’s father an enormous favour to repay. If he really moved south with his mother someday, having Wang Tao’s goodwill would make doing anything on his territory much easier.
All these thoughts turned repeatedly through Ye Jingyan’s mind, but Wang Xiao beside him naturally had no idea. Unable to guess what Ye Jingyan was thinking and afraid to make any sudden move, he could only keep trying to make him believe. “Sir, everything I said is true. There are photographs of my father in uniform and his medals at home. You’ll know once you see them. Or you can ask my mother. She can prove I’m absolutely not lying. I…”
Seeing the boy almost exhausting himself trying to persuade him, Ye Jingyan finally interrupted. “Where do you live?”
Wang Xiao froze, then immediately understood what he meant. Delight entered his voice. “My family lives at Villa Number Eleven in Golden Cauldron Residential Estate. It’s less than a kilometre from here.” Then, hardly daring to believe it, he confirmed, “Sir, do you mean… you’re willing to help me go home and save my mother?”
“Mm.” Ye Jingyan casually killed a zombie lunging toward him and nodded. “Lead the way.”
“All right! I’ll lead the way right now!” After receiving an affirmative answer, the anxiety Wang Xiao had carried throughout the night finally eased. His eyes even reddened with relief. Remembering that Ye Jingyan was right in front of him, he felt embarrassed and roughly wiped away the tears at the corners of his eyes before leading him toward his residential estate.
Clearly, Ye Jingyan’s earlier display of combat power had given Wang Xiao tremendous confidence. Once his worry eased, he gradually became more talkative. Before long, he had learned Ye Jingyan’s name, and his form of address quickly upgraded from “sir” to “Brother Ye.”
What Wang Xiao did not know was that Ye Jingyan was privately worrying about how to change the boy’s personality and make him grow strong enough to face reality quickly. Otherwise, in his present state, Ye Jingyan might very well make this trip for nothing…
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Because Ye Jingyan had to protect Wang Xiao while also avoiding monsters drawn by other people, it was already broad daylight by the time the two reached Golden Cauldron Residential Estate, despite Ye Jingyan’s high efficiency in killing zombies. Through the wide entrance, they could clearly see many zombies wandering inside. From time to time, someone would run out of a stairwell in terror, only to scream and become surrounded by zombies drawn by the sound until no noise remained…
Ye Jingyan had seen far too many similar scenes in his previous life, so he felt little. Weapon in hand, he watched the surroundings vigilantly and periodically smashed the heads of zombies attracted by the scent of living humans coming from himself and Wang Xiao.
Wang Xiao, however, could not remain calm. He was still only a teenager. The fact that he had escaped from school on his own had been driven entirely by worry for his mother and a burst of courage. On the streets earlier, he had been so focused on avoiding nearby zombies that he had barely paid attention to scenes of them eating people. Now, seeing zombies tearing apart people he normally knew, his heart turned cold. His knees weakened, and he nearly collapsed onto the ground.
“Scared now?” Ye Jingyan casually smashed another lunging zombie and turned to Wang Xiao with deliberate teasing. “You seemed quite brave on the street earlier.”
During their journey, Wang Xiao had already become a complete admirer of Ye Jingyan. He had been privately frustrated that he was not as strong as Ye Jingyan, so now, seeing his own cowardly reaction exposed, he felt even more embarrassed. He instinctively tried to justify himself. “I didn’t know those people on the street. But the person surrounded by zombies just now was Uncle Xiao…”
“Oh? So because you knew him, you couldn’t bear it?” Ye Jingyan asked coldly. “You need to understand that this is only the beginning. In the future, you’ll see even more people you know—even family members—being eaten in front of you, or… eating other people. What will you do then?”
Seeing Wang Xiao’s face grow even paler, Ye Jingyan pressed harder. “And if, after eating someone else, they turn around and target you…” His voice rose sharply at the end. “When that time comes, what… are you going to do?”
Wang Xiao was clearly shocked by his words. He jerked his head up and stared in disbelief at the handsome young man whose every sentence sounded cruel. Ye Jingyan remained unmoved under his gaze. “Everything I’m telling you is true. Refusing to face reality doesn’t make it disappear, so looking at me like that is useless. Your father, the person you can rely on, is not beside you right now. So you have only two choices—either become strong enough to protect yourself and your mother, or be eaten by these zombies.”
“This is an extraordinary time. Whether you die horribly or survive depends on the choice you make now.”
Ye Jingyan knew his words might be cruel to Wang Xiao. But the apocalypse had only just begun. If he did not force Wang Xiao to change his mentality early, then even if the boy escaped danger today, sooner or later he would still end up torn apart by zombies. If that happened, rescuing him now would become meaningless.
If you wanted a young eagle to learn how to fly, you had to be ruthless enough to push it from the cliff yourself. Besides, this child was not even his own, so pushing him brought even less pressure.
With that, Ye Jingyan handed the iron rod to him. “I’m tired. You lead the rest of the way… Remember to attack their heads. Otherwise, you won’t be able to kill them completely.”
Wang Xiao stared at the hellish residential estate with a pale face, then thought of his mother trapped at home. Hot blood surged through him. He snatched the iron rod from Ye Jingyan, strode forward two steps, shut his eyes, and smashed it down toward the head of the approaching zombie. But he lacked strength, and zombies felt no pain, so the creature merely staggered backward two steps before swaying toward him again.
Wang Xiao had accepted the weapon largely on impulse. When he failed to kill the zombie with one blow as Ye Jingyan always did, panic immediately overtook him. Seeing the creature lunge again, he had no time to think. He tightened his grip and used every bit of strength in his body to smash the iron rod down on its head again. This time, the zombie’s skull split under the heavy blow. But Wang Xiao seemed unaware and continued striking the zombie’s head again and again…
Ye Jingyan watched his frantic state and felt a trace of pity, but he quickly hardened his heart. As he had said, if the boy wanted to survive the chaotic apocalypse with his mother, he could not think of relying on anyone else, because no one was truly dependable. The companion beside you one moment could be the person driving a knife into your heart the next.
The only person who would never betray you, the person most worthy of reliance, was yourself.
So if you wanted to protect your family, you first had to become strong yourself.
And often, strength did not refer only to physical force. It also meant possessing a resilient heart.
Wang Xiao was still not an adult. The fact that he had escaped school alone showed that he was intelligent, and under Ye Jingyan’s deliberate guidance, he had finally gathered the courage to fight in order to protect himself. For Ye Jingyan, that result was already enough.
Seeing Wang Xiao continue smashing the zombie’s head into pulp, Ye Jingyan stepped forward, grabbed his arm, and pulled him back, dragging the boy out of his violent emotional state as well.
The cruelty of the apocalypse lay not only in humans devouring humans, but also in how it forced every child to confront bloodshed and death overnight…
Wang Xiao looked at the mangled corpse on the ground. His stomach churned violently, but he forcibly held it down. After taking several deep breaths, he slowly lifted his head and looked at Ye Jingyan. “I’ll become strong as quickly as I can. Thank you, Brother Ye…”
Ye Jingyan froze. He had not expected Wang Xiao to understand the deeper intention behind his actions, and the boy’s straightforward gratitude left someone who had not received kindness from a stranger in far too long unsure how to respond.
So he instinctively avoided Wang Xiao’s gaze, silently took the weapon back, and said lightly, “I’ve rested enough. Lead the way. Let’s keep moving.”
This time, with Ye Jingyan clearing the path, the two entered the residential estate smoothly and soon arrived at Wang Xiao’s home.
The Wang family lived in a two-storey villa surrounded by a high fence. The normally sturdy gate was hanging half open, and when they entered, several badly rotting zombies were wandering aimlessly through the garden.
After easily dealing with the zombies, Ye Jingyan signalled for Wang Xiao to go forward and open the door.
The instant the door opened, a scene of complete devastation appeared before them. No one was in the living room. Expensive furniture had been overturned chaotically, and decorations that looked extremely valuable had been smashed to pieces. Black, mottled bloodstains and fragments of internal organs covered the white carpet… At the same time, repeated thudding sounds came from upstairs as something struck a door.
Wang Xiao felt his mind explode with a roar. Forgetting Ye Jingyan behind him, he crouched down, picked up a broken chair leg, and rushed upstairs two steps at a time. Seeing this, Ye Jingyan hurried after him.
The second floor looked much like the first, with one major difference: three zombies were repeatedly throwing their bodies against a door at the end of the corridor. The wooden door was already on the verge of collapsing. A woman’s faint sobbing came from inside, so the person trapped there was presumably Wang Xiao’s mother.
Sure enough, the instant Wang Xiao saw the scene, he shouted “Mom!” and charged forward with the wooden club as though he had lost all reason.
The three zombies had been frustrated by their inability to break through the door and enjoy the food inside. Hearing Wang Xiao, they abandoned the door. Amid the woman’s cry from inside—“Xiao, don’t worry about me! Run!”—they turned and lunged toward him.
Wang Xiao’s eyes were already red. There was no chance he would obediently abandon his mother. He tightened his grip on the wooden club and swung it down at the head of the zombie in front.
With a sharp crack, the wooden club snapped in two, while the first zombie staggered backward two steps. At the same time, the second zombie’s claws reached straight for Wang Xiao’s face. At that critical moment, Wang Xiao suddenly felt the back of his collar tighten, and a tremendous force dragged him backward. He narrowly avoided the claws reaching for his face. When he staggered two steps and regained his balance, all three zombies were already lying nearby with their skulls smashed open.
At that moment, the door before them was thrown open. Ignoring the middle-aged man trying to stop her from behind, a woman rushed out. After seeing the scene clearly, she could no longer control herself and threw her arms around her blood-covered son, bursting into uncontrollable sobs…