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Arc 4: Chapter 28

Lu Ye’s breathed chaotically as the veins on his neck bulged. Blood splashed on his clothes and skin, making him seem like the grim reaper. 

He was simultaneously fighting against multiple T4 zombies, protecting Lin Yuan, and resisting the mental assault from the T6ーhis focus stretched to its limit.

Suddenly, he felt an out of place energy fluctuation and saw the power that was directed at Lin Yuan’s legs. With extreme difficulty, he managed to divert some of his mental power to block this attack. But the previous fragile balance was broken as a result, and the foreign mental power grasped this opportunity to drill into Lu Ye’s mind, spreading its tentacles as deeply as possible. 

Le Ye’s breath stagnated and a searing pain left his mind feeling dazed. The T4’s caught onto his weakness and snarled with renewed vigor as they ferociously lunged at him.

His green vines managed to block most of their onslaught, but one of the zombies found a gap in between the vines and its claws scratched Lu Ye’s neck, leaving a bloody mark. The physical pain brought back a bit of Lu Ye’s rationality, and the vines accurately caught the zombie and pierced its head. 

But at this time, the invasion of the foreign mental power had affected his nerves, and Lu Ye’s vision had begun to blur and his sight seemed to be gradually covered by a white fog.

He reached out a shaking hand and patted the fur below him. He felt Lin Yuan’s warm skin and the rise and fall of his breath, full of life.

“Sui Sui……”

“Lin Yuan……”

The young man muttered quietly. He inadvertently touched his own neck, and the sight of the harsh scarlet blood on his fingers was like a symbol of death and destruction. 

Lu Ye let out a faint laugh. Under the dim light, his pale skin, dark eyes, and crimson blood appeared deep and ominous, like a demon emerging from the abyss of hell.

“Sui Sui, listen to me and just run.”

“Don’t look back, and run forward. You must keep on running!”

Run out of this city of death, and run to a safe place. 

Lu Ye leaned down and a soft kiss fell on Lin Yuan’s back. 

Their farewell kiss couldn’t even be a real kiss with their touch being separated by Lin Yuan’s fur.

Lin Yuan’s sharp hearing caught Lu Ye’s words. His eyes widened and he anxiously looked back and howled, but the weight on his back disappeared.

He skidded to a stop and turned around. Countless vines grew widely from the ground, creating a green wall of vines as tall as a mountain, protecting Lin Yuan from danger. 

It was the first time Lin Yuan could not smell corpses or blood since he came to this world, only the fragrance of plants remained in the air. 

“Awoo-woo-woo-”

The huge arctic wolf roared at the wall of green, but it sounded more like a sad cry.

Lu Ye lay curled up on the ground on the other side with his eyes tightly closed. His eyelashes trembled uncontrollably like weak butterflies breathing their last.

Lu Ye had no way to expel the foreign mental power that had invaded deeply into his mind while fighting against the zombies at the same time, so he decided to concentrate on one problem. He pushed his power to the limit and gave himself two mental hints, forcing the bulk of his mental power and his plant power to strike the zombie hoard together. His mental power made the zombies attack its own kind, while the vines tore apart the zombie’s body. Blood and corpse flesh rained on the found, even forming a gooey river. 

But the foreign mental power was forcefully chipping away at Lu Ye’s consciousness. In what might have been his final act of resistance, his mind couldn't help but bring up some memories. 

He remembered the beginning of the apocalypse when he called his parents full of worry. After a long wait, his mother answered the phone with a weak voice. She told him to take good care of himself and not go back to find them because they had been bitten. Lu Ye wanted to go back and see them for the last time, but his mother stopped him. In a blink of an eye, his family was gone, and he was left behind. 

He also remembered how at first, every night was accompanied by the never-ending roar of zombies that shuffled past, and the unbearable bone-chilling coldness. 

The world was like a huge cage, where humans were now prey. Even among humans, the strong preyed on the weak. So when his classmates abandoned him, he didn’t actually feel that unhappy, just quite ridiculous. Lu Ye listened to the power users mock himself and ordinary people, and his eyes only reflected the darkness outside. But suddenly, out of the darkness, a white figure rushed towards him. The appearance of the wolf brought spring flowers and sunlight into his life.

Deep down, Lu Ye always regretted how he treated Lin Yuan at the start. He excused his own actions by thinking they would have a long time in the future together, living and aging together for many many decades. 

Reality was that in this kind of world, death was always around the corner. 

Lu Ye thought that since he lived past yesterday, he could live through today and walk towards tomorrow, but only now did he realize that he couldn’t even make it through today. 

These emotions made Lu Ye go crazy, he despised the person who wanted to hurt Lin Yuan, it was all because of them that he became like this. He knew what they were thinking, they wanted his Sui Sui to get hurt to attract the attention of the zombies.

Where were they? In his craze, he forced out a sliver of mental power and found his target. A vine wrapped around the man’s body and tore off one of his arms. The cry of pain was excruciating, and Lu Ye was a little satisfied. He didn’t know why he thought this way, and he had no energy to think of a reason because his consciousness was already collapsing. 

Memories flashed through his mind like the pages of a picture book, but they shattered into pieces and their colors gradually faded. 

Colors turned gray, and shapes turned into simple lines. Lu Ye could only watch as everything condensed into one black streak, like the stroke from a pencil, and it was erased little by little.

In the end, all was left was an expanse of white like a blank sheet of paper, as if nothing had ever existed. 

But soon on the paper, new simple lines and colors gradually emerged. They connected one by one, and overlapped layer by layer to paint a handsome and cute face, with fluffy hair, round eyes, and pink lips. 

Blue, clear eyes looked straight at Lu Ye, full of love and dependence.

Lu Ye stared at this face, and a name instinctively appeared in the depths of his consciousness. 

Lin Yuan…

Lin Yuan…

Those two words seemed to open a door. His consciousness told him that he liked Lin Yuan, wanted to protect Lin Yuan, and wanted to give the best to Lin Yuan. 

The world was rotten, other people’s hearts were rotten, only Lin Yuan was warm.

Only… Lin Yuan…

   【Di! Please pay attention host, the villain’s blackening value has risen to 55%.】

   【Di! Congrats host, the villain’s blackening value has decreased to 25%.】

   【Di! Please pay attention host, the villain’s blackening value has risen to 94%.】

   【Di! Congrats host, the villain’s blackening value has decreased to 46%.】

Lin Yuan had no way to cross the twenty meter tall wall of vines, so he decided to run along the perimeter to bypass it. He ran for over ten minutes and he could constantly hear the roar of zombies.

Suddenly, everything was silent. It was as if everything had died. 

Lin Yuan had a bad feeling and he sped up and ran back where he and Lu Ye separated. The scene in front of him was shocking. Corpses were piled up like hills and broken limbs were scattered across the ground. The soil had become a deep red color.

Lin Yuan sniffed desperately for Lu Ye’s scent and breath among the dense rotten smell. His usual blue eyes were bloodshot and no longer bright. 

Finally, Lin Yuan’s nose twitched in a certain direction and his vision began to blur with tears. 

He was the one who said he would protect Lu Ye, but in the end, it was Lu Ye who protected him. 

Lin Yuan stepped over corpses and ran over, turning back into human and kneeling beside Lu Ye. 

The young man was covered in blood, and his chest was not moving, as if he were dead. Hot tears dripped onto Lu Ye’s face. Lin Yuan stretched out a trembling hand to touch him, and his choked up voice tried to suppress a sob.

“Lu… Ye…”

“Lu Ye…”