Chapter 9

Wang Xiao had worried about his mother throughout the entire journey and had just personally witnessed her nearly being eaten by zombies, so he was still badly shaken. Overcome with emotion, he temporarily forgot Ye Jingyan was even there. He helped his distraught mother sit on the bed inside the bedroom and remained beside her, quietly comforting her.
The middle-aged man who had been in the room with Wang Tao’s wife turned apologetically to Ye Jingyan. “I’m sorry, sir. Madam has always been rather timid, and she just experienced a serious fright, so she cannot properly receive you at the moment. Please don’t take offence.” He looked toward the mother and son speaking softly to each other, then continued, “Thank you for saving Madam and me, and for bringing the young master safely home. I’m Xiao Ping, the household steward.”
“I’m Ye Jingyan.” Ye Jingyan nodded, accepting the thanks. Then he said, “Since you’re all safe now, I’ll leave.”
“Ah, please wait!” Xiao Ping hurriedly stopped him. “You’ve helped us so much and we haven’t even had the chance to thank you properly. How could we simply let you leave?”
Wang Xiao had been comforting his mother nearby, but the instant he heard Ye Jingyan was leaving, he ran over. “Brother Ye, you’re leaving?”
Ye Jingyan nodded. “I still have things to do.”
Wang Xiao hurriedly said, “I know you’re anxious to return to B City and find your mother, but everything outside is such a mess right now, and S City is so far from B City. Even if you leave immediately, travelling alone without any preparation will be very difficult.” He unconsciously glanced back at his mother, then turned to Ye Jingyan again. “Why don’t you stay here temporarily? That way, everyone can look after each other. Once my father sends people to get us out, I’ll ask him to send someone to take you back to B City. What do you think?”
As Wang Xiao spoke, Xiao Ping stood to one side and nodded inwardly. Although the young master’s personality was unlike the chief of staff’s, he was still clever. These few sentences were especially well chosen. They expressed concern for Ye Jingyan while also increasing their own safety.
Around midnight the previous night, Xiao Ping had personally watched the surviving bodyguards die in zombie mouths while protecting Madam. So he knew perfectly well that apart from their bloodthirst, these zombies were mindless, felt no pain, and were almost impossible to kill. Not only were they very strong, but even their bones seemed harder than before mutation.
Yet he had discreetly examined the zombie corpses on the floor and discovered that each monster had been killed cleanly by a single overwhelming blow to the head. That proved the young man surnamed Ye was a trained fighter with extraordinary strength. Zombies were everywhere outside. With him present, the safety of the three people in the house would be far more secure.
Moreover, the chief of staff had called earlier and said the military was currently in chaos as well. Many capable subordinates had become zombies, leaving him unable to spare people to extract his family immediately. If they could persuade this young man to stay and later introduce him to the chief of staff, perhaps he might become a powerful asset within the military. As for Wang Xiao’s mention that Ye Jingyan wanted to return to B City to find his mother, Xiao Ping did not take it seriously at all. At worst, they could simply send people to bring Ye Jingyan’s family to S City. In such extraordinary times, someone with Ye Jingyan’s combat power was an invaluable resource.
With those thoughts, Xiao Ping joined Wang Xiao in trying to persuade Ye Jingyan to remain.
The problem was that anyone who had survived the apocalypse for years had long learned to read people. Ye Jingyan understood Xiao Ping’s little calculation at a glance. In truth, he had helped Wang Xiao today only because he wanted to casually give a favour to a future southern giant. As for remaining behind as a bodyguard for Wang Tao’s family, the idea had never crossed his mind. Besides, he carried too many secrets that would be difficult to explain. He therefore needed to keep some distance from them. If he accidentally exposed something, it could invite even greater trouble.
So no matter how the two tried to persuade him, Ye Jingyan insisted he had other things to do and firmly refused to remain.
Madam Wang, who had been sitting silently nearby, did not agree with her son’s proposal. At first, she had indeed been very grateful to the cold-looking young man for bringing her son home. But to her, gratitude was one matter; allowing a stranger of unknown background to remain in her house was another.
So Ye Jingyan’s determination to leave pleased her considerably. She first interrupted Wang Xiao’s persuasion. Once all three men looked toward her, she said gently, “Since Mr. Ye has matters to attend to, we shouldn’t force him to stay.” She stood, took several gold bars from a drawer, walked over, and held them out to Ye Jingyan with a smile. “Mr. Ye, thank you for saving my child and me. These material things are only a small expression of my gratitude. Please accept them.”
Although Madam Wang deliberately softened her tone and wore an appreciative expression, Ye Jingyan still noticed the distance and caution in her eyes. He shook his head inwardly but showed nothing on his face. “There’s no need to be polite. I merely helped because I happened to be there. I can’t accept these gold bars.” He nodded to Wang Xiao, then turned to leave.
Wang Xiao had grown up beside his mother and naturally understood her personality. He could see that she did not approve of his attempt to make Ye Jingyan stay. He did not want to upset her, and since Ye Jingyan had clearly decided to leave, forcing him would accomplish nothing. So he quickly called, “Brother Ye, wait a moment.”
Under the surprised gazes of the other three, he hurried into the room next door and came back carrying a Tang saber. Holding it horizontally in both hands, he presented it to Ye Jingyan. “Brother Ye, this is for you.”
Before Ye Jingyan could speak, Madam Wang became anxious when she saw the saber. “Xiao, that is…”
“Madam!” Xiao Ping hurriedly interrupted her. He had served the Wang family for many years and knew the weapon’s history very well. But their family owed Ye Jingyan an enormous favour, and Xiao Ping wanted to recruit him on behalf of the master of the house. Naturally, he was willing to use this saber as a link to establish a relationship. Anything else could be handled slowly later.
After being cut off, Madam Wang gradually understood the steward’s intention and swallowed the words she had been about to say, standing silently to one side.
Wang Xiao, still holding the Tang saber, did not notice his mother’s reaction at all. He looked seriously at Ye Jingyan. “Brother Ye, we were complete strangers, but you saved both my mother and me and taught me so much… I don’t know how else to repay you. My grandfather loved Tang sabers when he was alive, so our family collected several. This is the sharpest and strongest one. I saw that your weapon is a rusty iron rod, so I’m guessing it isn’t very comfortable to use. Please take this saber as my thank-you gift. Otherwise, I’ll keep feeling uneasy.”
With Ye Jingyan’s current hearing, he had naturally caught the words Madam Wang almost blurted out. But at the same time, he could clearly see the sincerity in Wang Xiao’s eyes. And the boy was right. After the origin crystal strengthened him, Ye Jingyan’s strength and speed had increased substantially. The iron rod that had suited him before was now somewhat too light and awkward.
He was not someone who rejected useful things out of false modesty. He nodded, accepted the Tang saber from Wang Xiao, drew the blade, and examined it carefully. It was not an antique but a modern replica. The entire blade looked solid and heavy, while the cutting edge was extraordinarily sharp. The sheath was pitch black, and when viewed from the side it gave off a faint dark sheen, showing that its owner had maintained it carefully.
The weapon Ye Jingyan had used most often in his previous life had also been an alloy Tang saber, but in both material and sharpness it was far inferior to the one before him.
So he sheathed the blade, nodded his thanks to Wang Xiao and his mother, then took his leave.
Before going, he looked once more at the people before him: a slender, delicate woman, a boy not yet fully grown, and a steward who did not look particularly capable in a fight… This combination…
He hoped they could last until reinforcements arrived.
With that thought, Ye Jingyan sighed inwardly and warned Wang Xiao, “The situation outside is far too chaotic. Water and electricity may be cut off very soon. If you plan to hide here, you should prepare in advance. Your gate is sturdy, but until your father arrives, you still need to stay alert. Pay special attention to the windows around the house—sometimes zombies search for prey by following light.” He tightened his grip on the Tang saber and continued, “And be careful not to let these zombies scratch you. Otherwise, you can easily become infected and turn into a bloodthirsty monster yourself.”
After speaking, he nodded to the mistress and steward still standing by the bedroom door, then turned and left the Wang residence under Wang Xiao’s gaze.
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Without needing to look after Wang Xiao, his “little tail,” Ye Jingyan’s return journey became much easier. While hunting zombies, he could not resist beginning to “chat” with the Heaven-Devouring Plant inside his origin-energy sphere.
No matter how vicious its nature might be, the Heaven-Devouring Plant was still only a Level-One mutated plant. At this stage, mutated plants had only just developed vague consciousness and could be considered in their “juvenile period,” with intelligence comparable to a human child of two or three. Now that it had become Ye Jingyan’s “logistics pet,” it was surprisingly dependent on him and even seemed to regard him vaguely as its “mother,” frequently acting spoiled toward him.
Ye Jingyan was in an excellent mood after gaining so much from the trip and was happy to build a bond with his pet as they travelled. Having already noticed that the Heaven-Devouring Plant was intensely curious about the outside world, he simply began teaching it to identify things along the road one by one.
Of course, the fact that he was partly doing this so it would be easier to order the plant around later did not need mentioning…
Thus, man and plant travelled harmoniously toward the rented house during their little lesson.
Unfortunately, Heaven apparently had no intention of allowing everything to continue smoothly. The Heaven-Devouring Plant might have been obedient and intelligent, but its true body was still a plant, so it retained certain “basic needs” of plant life. Therefore, when they passed a flower bed, it suddenly began whining and throwing a tantrum, insisting that Ye Jingyan bring home two bags of manure someone had left beside the planter as snacks…
Ye Jingyan naturally rejected the idea with absolute determination. Was it a joke? He barely wanted to let his pet eat zombies. How could he possibly agree to let it store something as disgusting as faecal fertiliser?
But how could the Heaven-Devouring Plant understand its “mother’s” difficulties? Its master had always answered its questions and satisfied its requests, so when Ye Jingyan unexpectedly refused, it became deeply aggrieved. It twisted its stem and swung its head, trying to communicate just how badly it wanted the manure. But the Heaven-Devouring Plant could not speak, and after Ye Jingyan repeatedly pretended not to understand, it simply began throwing a tantrum. In the end, it curled its entire body into a little ball and rolled around inside the origin-energy sphere. If he refused to let it eat what it wanted, then it would just keep making trouble!
After avoiding a vine that secretly wrapped around his ankle and tried to trip him for the fourth time, Ye Jingyan sighed inwardly and helplessly looked at the smug little creature in the centre of his origin-energy sphere. Suppressing the throbbing pain in his head, he began an extraordinarily difficult round of bargaining with his pet. In the end, with the corner of his mouth twitching, he persuaded the Heaven-Devouring Plant to abandon its dream of “making its own fertiliser and feeding itself” by promising one additional crystal core every day…
Looking at the Heaven-Devouring Plant celebrating inside the origin-energy sphere, leaves waving wildly, Ye Jingyan gritted his teeth and silently wiped cold sweat from his forehead. Then he privately decided that on the way home he absolutely had to avoid any other “dangerous areas” that might attract his pet’s interest.
Unfortunately, Heaven seemed unwilling to let Ye Jingyan live too comfortably. Because he was unfamiliar with the development zone, he accidentally passed a fertiliser factory not far from home. After he firmly refused his pet’s request to bring back urea, the Heaven-Devouring Plant threw another enormous tantrum…
In short, Ye Jingyan’s journey home was truly… extraordinarily difficult. By the time he finally returned to the rented house, he was too exhausted even to count the day’s spoils. He ate something hurriedly, collapsed into bed, and fell asleep.
Truly, a cause for celebration.