Chapter 24 - Secure Base

Nie Yi and the others had already left, but the remaining people in the isolation area were still waiting; as they waited, they digested the information they had just received.

Nie Yi was actually the son of the chief of this secure base?

They had already felt that Nie Yi probably didn’t have a low identity. Still, they never imagined that it was actually this high... The chief of the secure base! Could it be that this entire secure base was his?!

For the past few days, Xu Nan had always tried his best to prove himself in front of Nie Yi. After learning about Nie Yi’s status, he couldn’t help feeling excited. The others, who were the same as Xu Nan and were on good terms with Nie Yi, also revealed delight.

The world outside was now so disorderly. If they had a supporter, their coming days would be much better! Moreover, Nie Yi had previously said that he wanted to form a battle squadron. If they followed Nie Yi, then they wouldn’t go hungry in the future, right?

Some people were happy, and naturally, some were afraid. The Yao parents were the ones who were exceptionally frightened.

Nie Yi unexpectedly had such important backing. They had even reported him just now. Was it possible that Nie Yi would put them to death? Could they still stay in this secure base?

The more they thought about it, the more fearful they became, as well as extremely regretful. If they had known earlier, they would’ve gotten their son to kill zombies with them from the beginning.

With their protection, not only would their child have lived, Nie Yi might even have come to appreciate him... Of course, thinking this now was already useless... The Yao parents hid in a corner, afraid to speak any further.

At that moment, a new registrar arrived to inquire about their overall situation and do a headcount. They were then given residency documents, which allowed them to stay in temporary housing for two days free of charge, along with some other things.

People could stay in the temporary housing free of charge for two days, but everyone had to sort themselves out during this time. They had to proceed to the registration area and get their photos taken. After registration, the secure base would allocate them accommodations and put them into residential teams based on a particular measure, then arrange for two leaders in each residential team.

In the residential teams, everyone who could work had to do so in order to receive work points to trade for supplies. If they were doctors or nurses before the apocalypse, they would be assigned to a special unit. Meanwhile, skilled laborers, like electricians and solderers, would often have to transfer to various other places to carry out all kinds of emergency repairs and renovations. If they had none of the skills required by the secure base, then they would work on construction sites, which were jobs that had been given to migrant workers before the apocalypse. Currently, housing was in short supply in the secure base. There were also plans to extend the base, so there was no lack of this sort of work.

The people who were able to work had to work to eat, but the elderly and children who definitely couldn’t work could receive some rations every day. Of course, if the elderly or children were willing to do manual labor and were competent, they could also earn work points.

These were the living conditions for ordinary people, but they differed for ability users to some extent. Ability users were treated better. Someone would actively take them to be registered, and they would be allocated better accommodations. Of course, all ability users were collectively assigned to work for the secure base.

For example, the clean water that was given to everyone outside the base was continuously supplied by water ability users there. Otherwise, given how many people came to the secure base every day, it was unlikely that the secure base could provide that much water.

Under the operation of this administration, it wasn’t even a month before B city’s secure base was tidied up and put in order. Of course, it was still the apocalypse, after all, so no matter how well-managed a secure base was, it was impossible for everything to be sunshine and roses.

The registrar who came to get everyone registered first asked if there were any ability users in their ranks. He then asked where they came from, how many casualties they had, and even what they encountered on the way here.

When he found out that there actually weren’t any ability users among them, that there hadn’t been any casualties on the way here, and that all of them had been rescued after being trapped inside their homes for more than half a month, the registrar couldn’t help saying, “All of you were really lucky.”

In fact, many teams of citizens had hurried to the secure base before this. Some teams might have saved people, but they only saved ability users, while others saved whoever they could. Some teams were just people who were fleeing and had assembled together to form a team. The losses which all these teams suffered were incredibly disastrous...

“Nie Yi and his men protected us very well,” someone immediately said.

“Why did I hear that someone even reported him for murder?” that registrar asked with a laugh.

“Someone took something from a zombie’s body and wanted to use it to harm a member of the team, so Nie Yi burned them to death,” the same person replied.

The registrar initially thought that Nie Yi had killed someone because of a conflict; never had he imagined that it was actually because of this. He instantly didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. “This sort of person should definitely be killed!”

“That’s right, that’s right!” Everyone agreed. Even though they had been frightened when Nie Yi killed someone, they also agreed that Yan Zhe should have been killed. Moreover, if it wasn’t for Nie Yi, they probably would’ve lost their lives long ago.

As the people outside chatted about Nie Yi, Nie Yi and the others had already gone through the inspection using the experimental strips and entered the secure base.

The clothes that all of them were wearing were clean, and there was an astonishingly commanding air around them. It was clear at a glance that they were experts who weren’t to be trifled with. This made everyone around them admire yet envy them.

“I’ve never seen those people who just came in. Who are they?” a young man who was carrying out inspections close to the passageway asked his colleague curiously.

“You’d know if you had taken a look at the photo album issued by the higher-ups.” His colleague glared at him.

“Actually, I’m a bit face-blind...” This person rubbed his nose before flipping open the photo album next to him. The people in this album were individuals whom the higher-ups had told them to pay attention to. The young man only flipped a single page when he saw the photo of the man who had just walked by.

Nie Yi, Chief Nie’s son ah...

In fact, in this secure base of theirs, their top leader wasn’t the chief. It was similar to the former situation in B city; even though the mayor’s position wasn’t low, above him still were the chairman, prime minister, and so on.

Right now, this B city secure base was actually divided into quite a few forces. The major ones were also the largest forces, which naturally were the military and political powers. However, apart from them, B city had many schools, so scholars had assembled a faction. Businessmen had also gathered into one faction, and even some people from state-owned groups had come together as one faction. Overall, there were about seven or eight minor forces.

Because of this, the chief of the secure base actually didn’t have control over the entire secure base; it was also impossible for a single person to control a base as large as this.

However, as the chief, he was responsible for many things, so his son could definitely walk around this base arrogantly.

The person who claimed to be a little face-blind finished going through the photo album, then suddenly thought of something. “Back then, that Yu –”

“These aren’t things we should care about.” The other person interrupted his words.

The two of them didn’t continue speaking and continued to inspect people. This work took no effort at all, and gave a lot of work points as well. Even though the possibility of encountering dangers outside the base was much higher than inside, they didn’t want to quit.

“Boss, I never imagined that uncle would actually become the chief!” After entering the city walls, Ping Shengchao spoke excitedly.

Nie Yi’s father was called Nie Boyuan. Even though he had a high position before the apocalypse, it also wasn’t especially significant, so Ping Shengchao really couldn’t imagine that Nie Boyuan would actually become the chief of the secure base.

However, the apocalypse had happened too abruptly, and many people had turned into zombies without the least bit of warning. It could be assumed that power at the upper levels had gone through a major reshuffle.

“Heh.” However, there wasn’t any happiness on Nie Yi’s face.

“Boss...” Ping Shengchao looked at Nie Yi, puzzled.

“You’ll find out later,” Nie Yi said.

“Mysterious,” Shao Zhenglan said, but she felt extremely uneasy in her heart. Before the apocalypse, her father had been on roughly the same level as Nie Boyuan, but now, the people outside recognized Nie Yi but didn’t recognize her...

Previously, she had always been in a hurry to reach B city, but now that she really was here, she was scared. The phones had still worked when the apocalypse first began, but no matter how she tried, she couldn’t contact her family...

Shao Zhenglan hated that she couldn’t immediately look for her relatives, but she also didn’t dare to do so.

“Ge, we...” Qi Yaoyao secretly walked over to Qi Jingchen’s side. She was just a little girl who couldn’t be any more ordinary and had grown up in a small place, so now she was at a loss.

“It’s alright, you don’t have to be scared,” Qi Jingchen said. So what if Nie Boyuan was the chief? He was still going to die a few years later, wasn’t he?

“That’s right, you don’t have to be scared. As long as you listen to me, and have your ge listen to me too, you’ll definitely pass your days well,” Nie Yi suddenly said to Qi Yaoyao.

historical

Qi Yaoyao looked at Nie Yi with wide eyes. Of course she didn’t want to agree, but the sight of Nie Yi killing someone back then had frightened her, so she didn’t dare disagree either.

Nie Yi just enjoyed seeing her scared appearance, and he quirked his lips.

Qi Jingchen smacked Nie Yi’s shoulder, and Nie Yi, who was frightening Qi Yaoyao, jolted back to his senses. Qi Jingchen then abruptly said, “I don’t want to walk.”

Even though he was feeling a little better because of how comfortable it had been in the past few days, he still felt weak from head to toe.

“I’ll carry you.” Nie Yi always seized the opportunity.

“Take a car!” Qi Jingchen said. Compared with being carried, sitting was definitely much more comfortable.

“Are there any cars around?” Nie Yi settled for the next best thing and reached out to wrap an arm around Qi Jingchen as he looked at the registrar who was leading them.

“There are; I’ll have someone bring two.” The registrar glanced at Qi Jingchen, his gaze a little strange. Just now, when he saw Qi Jingchen’s behavior, he had even thought that Qi Jingchen was some strong ability user, but now it seemed... What strong user wouldn’t be able to walk even a few steps, and even had to be held up?

But all sorts of weird things were happening after the arrival of the apocalypse; just the other day, there had even been a group of people streaking. Everyone was now used to it.

The cars which the registrar brought over were battery-operated pedicabs. The secure base still supplied electricity at a fixed time, so there was electricity that could be used. Gasoline, on the other hand, was crucial but couldn’t be produced anymore. Because of this, transportation in the safe zone had basically all switched over to electric-operated vehicles.

Four people could sit in the back of this battery pedicab, and two cars were just enough for all of them to fit. The registrar drove a separate vehicle, accompanied by another person, and took them to the center of the secure base.

Outside was all zombies, but inside the secure base was all people. Even though many of them didn’t actually have very good situations, it was still a bustling sight. Qi Jingchen looked at the scenery outside the window of the battery-operated pedicab and felt as if it was a lifetime ago.

Even though he had once suffered so many tragic things, he still hadn’t fallen so far as to believe that all of humanity should die just because of those few people. After all, he himself was a human being.

After experiencing life as the only living person in the entire world, he was more eager than ever to be surrounded by people.

However, all of this was going to disappear sooner or later.

Qi Jingchen looked away as his interest waned, and he closed his eyes to rest in the car.

Unlike Qi Jingchen, Nie Yi looked at the sights outside the window as he pondered the path he had to take.

That enemy of his, whom Yan Zhe had betrayed him for in his last life, had a fever for two whole days when the apocalypse began. When he woke up with his abilities, he was already incredibly close to level two. At this time, he should probably already be a level-two ability user, and even had the most potent thunder ability.

That wasn’t the end of it. Because of his unique identity before the apocalypse, this guy then became one of the representatives of the ability users in this secure base on the third day of the apocalypse, and was also the most high-profile one.

As of today, the secure base was using his image to recruit and promote ability users. Furthermore, he already had a formidable team of ability users.

This sort of person wasn’t easy to handle. If it wasn’t because this person was too strong, Nie Yi wouldn’t have been constantly pressured by this man in his last life, and almost dying in the end.

However, Nie Yi didn’t know if he should say that this person was fortunate or unfortunate... A thunder ability’s prowess was no weaker than Nie Yi’s water and fire dual abilities. In order to live, this person finally made a deal with that secure base which had held Qi Jingchen captive in his last life, and ended up eating Qi Jingchen’s flesh.

After that...

After Nie Yi protected Qi Jingchen while Qi Jingchen killed those who had eaten his flesh, he suddenly discovered that his adversary had also lost his life.

Those who had supported his adversary hated Nie Yi to the bone after that, chasing him for thousands of miles to kill him...

Nie Yi recalled the events of his past life, and before he knew it, the two battery-powered vehicles had stopped in front of a small district with a guard on sentry duty.

Just as Nie Yi brought Qi Jingchen and the rest out of the car, he saw the nanny waiting at the entrance to the small district, Auntie Liu. Auntie Liu was now over sixty years old. She was the nanny Nie Yi had brought back from his hometown, and who had taken care of his grandparents for nearly thirty years. She was also the one who had always taken care of Nie Yi when he was small.

“Auntie Liu.” Upon seeing this old lady, Nie Yi showed a rare, sincere smile.

“Xiao Yi, it’s great that you’re okay!” Auntie Liu stared at Nie Yi for a while, then covered her eyes and began to cry.

Auntie Liu brought Nie Yi and the rest into the district, and they entered a villa. “Xiao Yi, your dad is now the chief, which is why he was allocated this villa. He also gets a large amount of food every day; I’ll cook some for all of you right away.”

Auntie Liu enthusiastically greeted Nie Yi and the others, and the more she talked, the faster her tears flowed.

“Auntie Liu... I want to see my grandparents, and my mom,” Nie Yi suddenly said.

Auntie Liu’s weeping became louder. When she looked at Nie Yi and noticed that his expression wasn’t quite right, she subconsciously asked, “Xiao Yi, do you know?”

“I do.” Nie Yi nodded.

At the beginning of the apocalypse, when everyone could still make phone calls, everything had been a mess. Nie Boyuan still wasn’t home at that time, so when Nie Yi arrived at B city in his last life, he didn’t know that everyone in his family had died, and Nie Boyuan was the only one left.

On the road to B city, he had always worried about his mother, whose health wasn’t good, and who might not be able to adapt to the sudden changes in the world. But when he reached B city, he realized that his worries were unnecessary – his mother had long become a zombie when the apocalypse began.

Aside from his mother, his grandparents had also become zombies.

Even though his grandfather was old, he hadn’t yet completely retired, and he still had plenty of connections. When the apocalypse arrived and he suddenly died, all this fell into Nie Yi’s father’s hands.

His father also relied on all of this to ultimately become the chief of the secure base.

“They’re all in the study upstairs, Xiao Yi... Go upstairs and burn them a joss stick.” Auntie Liu began to cry again.

Nie Yi stood up and headed for the study right away.

The study wasn’t large, and there were three cinerary caskets on a shelf inside.

Most of the people who became zombies died without being buried, so for his mother and grandparents to have cinerary caskets was already extremely good. But seeing these three cinerary caskets, Nie Yi still felt a trace of sorrow well up from the bottom of his heart.

All three of his closest family members had died, only leaving behind three boxes of ashes.

Thankfully, he still had Qi Jingchen...

Nie Yi didn’t cry bitterly as he had in his last life. He stood in front of the cinerary caskets for a while, then went downstairs.

“Boss, I’m sorry for your loss,” Ping Shengchao said. Remembering that he himself didn’t know how his relatives were, his face showed some sadness as well.

Ping Shengchao and Jiang Huai didn’t say anything. Their relatives had initially been living in B city, but for now, they still didn’t know if they were in the secure base...

“To be able to become a zombie when the apocalypse just started is also quite a good thing. In any case, they didn’t suffer,” Qi Jingchen suddenly said.

What kind of consolation was this? Nie Yi didn’t know if he wanted to laugh or cry, but he really wasn’t sad anymore.

Actually, for him, his mother and grandparents had died a long, long time ago. The main reason why he was sad now was because he was recalling a lot of matters from his last life as he thought about that father of his, Nie Boyuan.

In his last life, this person had died at his hands... As the most vicious subordinate of the dark, big BOSS, patricide wasn’t that outrageous of a crime for Nie Yi to commit, was it?

Auntie Liu had already done her grieving long ago. After her bout of crying, she picked herself up and went to prepare dinner, saying that it was a welcome feast for Nie Yi.

Nie Yi didn’t stop Auntie Liu. After learning that there were still apples and such at home because the secure base had taken over some cold storage warehouses, he smiled. “Auntie Liu, I haven’t had fruits in a very long time.”

“I’ll get some for you right away. You should eat more; you won’t be helping anyone if you don’t eat!” Auntie Liu said. Soon, she brought back six apples, and even some melon seeds and such.

Nie Yi wasn’t polite and took three, then pointed at the remaining three as he told the others, “Each one of you can have a half each of those three.”

In his last life, he was actually a person who was willing to share with others even during this time. He who had never lacked for anything since childhood had always spent freely, and wouldn’t fight over anything with anyone, but now...

If there was anything good, he naturally had to help his family’s Jingchen snatch it.

Nie Yi peeled an apple, used a fruit knife to cut it into small pieces, then used a toothpick to feed them to Qi Jingchen bit by bit.

This apple was quite delicious, so Qi Jingchen, who was happy to live a life of pleasure, naturally wasn’t opposed to it.

When Nie Boyuan received news of his son and rushed home after hurriedly dealing with the affairs of the secure base, this was the scene he saw.

Baobao Notes

Extra special thanks to Jules, who helped me edit this chapter cuz I was struggling really hard with it.