Chapter 52 (END)
by LhaoziChapter 52: The Grand Finale
Qin Song’s deduction was not without reason.
The direction from which the sound originated was indeed not the city center.
However, because the distance was far too great, they had no way of knowing what had actually transpired.
The group stayed overnight at this household.
Early the next morning, after finishing their meal, packing up, and grabbing their weapons, they began clearing the zombies out of this household floor by floor.
The zombies had already begun evolving; their rotten bodies were gradually hardening, their nails lengthening, their skin turning gray-white, and their eyes glowing red—becoming increasingly like monsters in the literal sense of the word.
While clearing out the eleventh floor of the third building, the number of zombies killed reached the standard requirement, and Qin Xi’s system successfully upgraded:
[Reward: Composite Bow ×1 (Uses automatic targeting; deals at least 40% damage to Tier-3 and lower mutated variants; reduces target movement speed by 20%; automatically replenishes arrows after use).]
This upgrade actually rewarded a brand-new weapon!
Qin Xi was overjoyed; this was a long-range weapon. Using it would significantly boost her safety factor.
After the rain ceased, the weather gradually began to heat up.
Qin Xi knew that the extreme heat was fast approaching.
The silt on the ground outside had already been baked dry by the scorching sun, and vehicles on the roads were growing increasingly numerous.
Seizing the window while few people were out, Qin Xi and her group quickly ran to several gas stations on the city outskirts, collecting additional gasoline.
Over recent days, drones had been continuously broadcasting the existence of the base across the city while simultaneously clearing out urban zombies.
Qin Xi and her team had encountered several base teams sent out to clear zombies.
It was evident that these teams were well-trained and highly professional.
A portion of the zombies on the city streets was drawn out by drones every day, reducing their numbers significantly.
However, many zombies remained locked inside homes, hospitals, or various enclosed spaces; clearing these required supernatural ability teams to go through bit by bit.
Qin Xi and her group were brought back to the base by a supernatural ability team while inside a hospital.
It was not a forced relocation, however.
Qin Xi and her team went to the hospital for two reasons: first, to collect prescription medications that might prove useful down the line; second, because hospitals held large zombie populations, making them ideal for harvesting crystal cores.
Unexpectedly, while walking through the inpatient department, they bumped right into a base team that had also come to clear zombies.
Even more unexpectedly, the leader of that team turned out to be Shi Lin!
The curly-haired boy who had died in their past life after being dragged into danger because of her.
In this life, right when she was reborn, she had even pulled him out!
Sure enough, he had been reborn as well, bringing back the supernatural ability he had awakened as the Zombie King in his past life!
He had awakened a Mind Control supernatural ability.
Upon meeting, although he enthusiastically invited Qin Xi and Qin Song to the base, Qin Xi remained wary of him.
After all, he had died because of her in his past life; she had no way of telling whether his invitation was genuine or a scheme to seek revenge against her.
Bai Hanyue and the other two, however, followed him directly.
Especially Li Zekai—although merely a junior research scientist before the apocalypse, he had now become a key individual in the base requiring high-level security protection!
Qin Xi and Qin Song remained outside the base, searching for necessary supplies while keeping an eye on the base’s movements.
The evolution speed of the zombies was extremely fast.
Although the base had cleared out the majority, omissions were inevitable.
Furthermore, many mutated animals began advancing into the city; these mutated animals had all evolved, even manifesting toxic venom attacks, illusionary field attacks, and similar mental disturbances.
This plunged the base’s survivors—who had originally assumed they could return to pre-apocalyptic living conditions once zombies were cleared—into absolute despair.
Qin Song and Qin Xi watched with their own eyes as high perimeter walls were constructed around the outer boundary of the base to block attacks from mutated animals.
Meeting Shi Lin again occurred inside a department store supermarket in the western district of the city.
However, Shi Lin’s situation wasn’t looking good; he was being attacked by a high-tier mutated hound. Seizing an opening while the mutated hound was unprepared, Qin Xi shot it with a single arrow, after which Qin Song stepped in to finish it off completely.
Seeing the two of them, Shi Lin let out a sigh of relief.
After talking, Qin Xi learned that in his past life, while existing as a zombie, Shi Lin had actually retained human consciousness the entire time until his rebirth.
Moreover, he had never harbored hatred toward her; he merely detested his identity as a zombie. After being reborn in this life, he had frantically hoarded supplies, then began organizing his own team and establishing a survival base as soon as the apocalypse erupted.
Living as a zombie had been far too excruciating—having to hide from human hunts while battling the craving for human flesh—to the point where he held intense hatred for the zombie virus.
For this reason, Shi Lin had also looked into prominent virus experts and doctors in the current city.
After the apocalypse erupted, he rescued two virus experts first, hoping they could research an antiviral medication in the days ahead.
Naturally, he knew relying on just these two experts offered slim hope, but having a sliver of hope was far better than none.
This time, Qin Xi and Qin Song followed Shi Lin back to the base.
Upon hearing the news, Bai Hanyue and the other two immediately ran over.
Nowadays, Li Zekai was high-level talent inside the base, naturally living quite well, while Bai Hanyue and Lin Xin had joined the outer foraging team, responsible for gathering supplies outside.
Bai Hanyue had also awakened a supernatural ability—a Fire-element ability, currently at Tier 4.
The group shared a hotpot meal at Qin Xi and Qin Song’s residence.
With the air conditioning humming inside the room, the hotpot bubbling with heat, and ice-cold beverages in hand, after months of rushing about, Qin Xi finally felt her constantly anxious heart settle down into complete peace.
The place where she and Qin Song resided inside the base was a standalone villa situated near the edge of a villa complex.
The villa featured small courtyards in both the front and back; because it was extraordinarily expensive, there were very few households in the complex, and even the round-the-clock electricity inside the villa was set up by themselves.
Even so, Qin Xi and Qin Song still had to trade a full truckload of supplies alongside four barrels of gasoline to secure the residency rights for the villa.
Qin Xi held no regrets, however, because it was truly quiet.
A steaming hotpot meal left everyone feeling thoroughly relaxed and satisfied.
Lin Xin babbled that he hadn’t eaten a good meal in four months since parting ways with Qin Xi, only for Bai Hanyue to tease him, telling him to watch out lest Shi Lin hear and punish him by making him drink vegetable porridge slurry every single day.
After the group left, Qin Song took the initiative to get up and tidy the mess.
Qin Xi went upstairs to wash up, washing away the hotpot odor clinging to her body.
Stepping out after washing, she sat on the bed slowly applying body lotion, right when Qin Song pushed the door open and came inside, taking the body lotion from Qin Xi’s hand:
“Let me.”
With her hands propped behind her on the bedding, Qin Xi lazily watched Qin Song’s actions.
Suddenly, however, she felt the hand resting on her calf gliding further and further upward. Her brow twitched, and she moved to yank her leg back in a flash, only to be held firmly by the man’s broad hand:
“Where are you running off to?”
Qin Xi gritted her teeth:
“It’s still daytime!”
Qin Song, however, continued squeezing out body lotion in a calm, methodical manner:
“It is daytime. I never said I was going to do anything—could it be that you’re the one overthinking things…“
Qin Xi stared at his hand, which had already settled onto her thigh:
“You’d better be…”
(The End)
Lhaozi’s Note: Thankyou for reading! See you again around!
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