Arc 4: Chapter 26
The time limit of their zombie extermination task was set to three days. And each group had to achieve a certain threshold of zombie kills depending on their density of the zombie population in their area and their power levels.
On this day, Lu Ye was on a zombie killing streak. He killed over 700 T1s, 200 T2s, and 100 T3s, leaving about a thousand crystal nuclei to Lin Yuan.
Lu Ye's dark eyes glowed like obsidian, reflecting the thousands of crystal nuclei he was about to give to Lin Yuan. He lowered his voice and said: “Sui Sui, will you take these now?”
Lin Yuan looked at Lin Yuan with a little speechlessness and realized, So this was why his husband was so intensely killing zombies today. He said helplessly: “Lu Ye, normal husbands are trying to hide their extra money, but you… you are always trying to hand me your salary and even get mad at me.” t/n in traditional chinese culture, husbands handed over their earnings to their wives, resulting in them having to secretly stash away a portion of their money to use for personal interests
Crystal nuclei was the new currency, so it was quite accurate to call all of these crystal nuclei as Lu Ye’s salary.
Hearing Lin Yuan’s comparison, Lu Ye was stunned for a moment and then his heart couldn’t help beating faster. His ears felt slightly hot, and they turned pink like peach blossoms.
Hand over my salary?
Indeed, this situation was exactly how he would give Sui Sui, his wife, his salary.
Lu Ye’s eyes lit up, and his sight was almost burning.
“Then I’ll hand over my salary to my wife,” Lu Ye narrowed his eyes happily: “Sui Sui can’t return it to me.”
Lin Yuan was infected by Lu Ye’s happiness and his round eyes curved and his dimples deepened. He declared with some cleverness: “No returning. In the future, I’ll make sure to give you some pocket money.”
He stuffed all of the crystal nuclei into the storage ring and then jumped up and hugged Lu Ye’s neck. He clung to the other’s body and dropped a big kiss on the young man’s cheek.
Lu Ye tightened his grip around Lin Yuan’s thin waist and his voice couldn’t hide his smile: “Sui Sui, use more force. I like it when Sui Sui kisses me hard.”
Lin Yuan thought this request was quite unexpected, but he obediently responded. He learned from past experience and pushed Lu Ye against the wall, and even interlocked their hands together.
Lin Yuan was shorter than Lu Ye, so he had to raise his head and stretch his neck to kiss the other. When they lips met, he exerted a lot of force, colliding their mouths and teeth together, and the faint taste of blood spread on his tongue.
The blood seemed to stimulate Lin Yuan like a switch, driving their tongues and lips to messily entangle in a fierce battle. The pain stimulated Lu Ye, making his heart beat like a drum as dopamine rushed to his head. He liked it when Lin Yuan was soft and delicate and liked it when Lin Yuan was strong and wild.
The sweet Lin Yuan, the fierce Lin Yuan, the human Lin Yuan, and the beastly Lin Yuan一Lu Ye felt were all of these facets of Lin Yuan were like the faces of a diamond, attracting his sight and hooking his soul away.
When their lips and tongue separated, Lin Yuan was short of breath and his eyes were teary. He looked at Lu Ye and asked softly: “Husband, did I do it right?”
During the kiss, Lu Ye had felt especially restless and eager to regain control. But, Lin Yuan, who focused on kissing him, was simply too endearing, so he held back. At this moment, he lowered his head and nibbled and licked Lin Yuan's soft, rosy lips to quench his desire.
He said hoarsely: “Sui Sui did a good job.”
Lin Yuan was a little shy and wanted to be sure: “Really?”
Lu Ye gently stroked Lin Yuan’s hair and coaxed: “Really. Sui Sui kissed very well. It felt really good and I liked it.”
Lin Yuan was overjoyed with the praise. He rubbed his flushed face against Lu Ye a few times and said a little flustered: “I… I will do better next time, and make you feel even better…”
Lu Ye smiled and pressed their foreheads together and said dotingly: “En, then I’ll forward to next time.”
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On the last day of their task, they entered the central area of Nan City surrounded by the roar of zombies and the smell of blood and corpses.
When Lin Yuan was first hit with the smell, he almost cried. He managed to dig out a mask from the storage ring to put on, but some of the smell still managed to permeat through the cloth. Moreover, the mask was stifling in the hot weather.
Facing Lin Yuan’s discomfort, Lu Ye was at a loss at what to do. He could only pepper him with kisses to coax him little by little.
Gradually, Lin Yuan felt a little better and tugged Lu Ye forward to kill zombies.
At this time, Lu Ye’s power had advanced multiple levels. His mental power advanced to level 5 after absorbing one of the T4 nuclei on the first night, and then advanced to level 6 after absorbing the remaining T4 nuclei and two-thirds of the T3 nuclei in the storage ring. His plant power had also followed and advanced to level 6.
Compared to Lu Ye, Lin Yuan’s speed of upgrading was slower, even though he also absorbed a large amount of crystal nuclei. His water power was now level 4, and his transformation power was now level 3.
At noon, the two of them took a break and found an empty building to rest in. Although it was sweltering outside at 42 degrees Celsius, they still liked to stick together, shoulder to shoulder and legs touching. t/n 107 degrees Fahrenheit 🥵
After a simple lunch, Lin Yuan lay down and napped on Lu Ye’s lap.
Lu Ye didn’t sleep, he was holding a fan they took from the storage ring and fanning Lin Yuan. At the same time, he closed his eyes and let his mental power spread around them.
The windows of the building were all not locked, and some of them were even open. Suddenly, a fishy-smelling hot gust of wind blew into the building. Lu Ye looked in the direction from where the wind came from and his expression turned serious.
He gently shook Lin Yuan and whispered: “Sui Sui! Sui Sui!”
Lin Yuan awoke and his nose immediately caught the scent in the air. He reacted quickly and pinched his nose: “It stinks!”
Lu Ye’s eyes darkened as his mental power continued to explore: “There are a lot of zombies gathering at the city center.”
Thinking of what happened in the original plot, Lin Yuan subconsciously hugged Lu Ye and tensed up: “Lu Ye…”
Lu Ye thought that Lin Yuan was afraid and lowered his head to kiss his forehead: “It’s okay. I’ll protect you. Sui Sui, don’t be scared.”
Lin Yuan looked at Lu Ye quietly. His gaze traced the outline of the young man’s face, from his dark hair to his cheeks, to his nose, to his lips, and finally refocused on his deep and inky eyes. When their eyes met, Lin Yuan smiled sweetly and said firmly: “Lu Ye, as long as I’m with you, I’m not afraid of anything.”
In Lin Yuan’s gaze, Lu Ye could see his complete affection and trust, and his heart felt as if it was soaked in spring water.
“Me too. As long as I’m with Sui Sui, I’m not afraid of anything.”
They discussed a plan together and decided to venture outside to observe the situation, approaching at a distance just close enough for Lu Ye’s mental power to see what was going on exactly.
Lu Ye led Lin Yuan to a nearby building, and they ran up to the highest floor. Looking down, they saw the streets near the city’s tallest financial skyscraper overrun with zombies, like a huge colony of termites.
Lin Yuan had never seen so many zombies concentrated in one place. He nervously took Lu Ye’s hand and squeezed it.
Lu Ye pulled him into his embrace, and exerted all of his mental power in the direction of the skyscraper.
As time passed, his expression gradually sunk further and further. Lin Yuan noticed and realized the situation was worse than they expected and whispered: “What’s going on?”
In Lu Ye’s mental world, the skyscraper was like a hell on earth, even describing it as a mountain of corpses wasn’t enough to depict the tragic situation. His voice was gloomy: “Outside of the building there are probably one or two million of T1s, T2s, and T3s. These zombies are being manipulated by something and are killing each other and devouring each other’s crystal nuclei.”
Lin Yuan asked with confusion: “What are they trying to do?”
“Inside the building, there are dozens of T4s and multiple T5s that are killing each other. On the highest floor, there is a T6 zombie. It has the same mental power as me, and is controlling the zombies to absorb crystal nuclei to create more T6 crystal nuclei. Its absorbing these T6 nuclei to evolve into T7, and then later probably T8.”
Lin Yuan widened his eyes in half disbelief and half worry: “T6? How can a zombie evolve so fast?”
Lu Ye curled his lips but there was no hint of a smile: “Sui Sui, that zombie is now not much different from a normal human being. Its behavior is similar to refining gu.” t/n refining gu is the process of creating a malevolent entity, called gu, through the ritual of placing multiple creatures in a sealed container to fight to the death, with the surviving gu possessing the most powerful/poisonous/dangerous qualities