RIACMET chapter 223

 

In their previous life, when extreme cold hit, the Qingyun City officials didn’t divide the city into districts as they did this time. Instead, they gathered most of the people in a single location.

The government considered the varying amounts of supplies that each person had prepared and relied entirely on voluntary donations from the public, providing aid wherever it was needed. This resulted in a more serious shortage of official manpower.

The neighborhood where Xiaoya’s family lived in that past life was one of the areas where survivors were concentrated. Consequently, it was jointly managed by the authorities and individuals with superpowers.

Similarly, when a patrol officer was involved in an accident, Zhou Li was responsible for the investigation. However, without centralized supervision, the scope of the investigation was much wider and more scattered.

Ultimately, it wasn’t the official authorities who uncovered the truth. Xiaoya herself killed her parents and then turned herself in.

Zhou Li rescued her and asked a supernatural team, one that had worked with the authorities before the apocalypse, to monitor her temporarily. The situation was similar to one they had faced before.

While the supernatural team agreed, they disclosed the truth to the victims’ relatives and others in the community, who were filled with anger, without consulting Zhou Li.

Although the official family members of the victims were placed under protective custody, this action ignited the suppressed resentment and hatred that had been brewing among the people since the beginning of the apocalypse.

The supervision team pushed Xiaoya out, and a riot broke out amidst the frigid cold that night.

Several powerful supernatural beings incited ordinary civilians to rise up against the authorities. After Zhou Li was killed, the last semblance of order within the temporary resettlement zone collapsed completely. Ultimately, the officials were driven out after suffering heavy casualties.

Xiaoya wasn’t just beaten; she was humiliated. Having just broken free from her mother’s control, her psychological state deteriorated and she lost access to her superpowers. Only after she was expelled from the resettlement site and faced mortal danger did her powers reactivate, enabling her to escape.

Due to the chaos caused by the extreme cold period, the authorities were unable to dispatch additional manpower to quell the unrest and maintain order. The temporary resettlement zone where Xiaoya lived fell under the complete control of superpowered individuals.

When the government was in charge, food and supplies were distributed fairly. Without their oversight, ordinary people were left begging for mercy from those with powers—far from the ideal of “not being under official control and having enough food and clothing.”

Some later regretted getting swept up in the riot, but by then it was far too late.

Soon after, people began disappearing. Those who stayed indoors were infected by zombies.

Some appeared in basements, while others woke to find a zombie looming over them. A few were bitten to death in their sleep without waking.

Xiaoya was infected and mutated, but she didn’t lose her mind. Instead, she became a zombie who retained her human consciousness and intellect. She returned to the resettlement zone to take revenge on humankind.

As more and more people with powers turned into the undead, she no longer needed to worry. The snow-covered settlement descended into a hellscape. With no chance of escape, nearly everyone perished. Coincidentally, Jiang Wenwen from the previous life was among them.

This also explained why Jiang Nian had never heard of Xia Weiwei having a younger sister in that life.

Xiaoya had killed many people and learned how to absorb the energy of superpower cores to make herself stronger. Her guilt twisted into hatred. She regretted ever turning herself in and killing her parents. In her heart, she came to believe that everyone deserved to die.

“…”

When the extreme cold finally ended and survivors began entering the bases, Xiaoya quietly summoned zombies. She eventually hid in the basement of the apartment complex that Cheng Jing had once rented.

So, when she saw Cheng Jing nurturing the mutated Jiang Nian and learned of his desire for revenge, she decided to help him capture and kill.

With her teleportation ability, these tasks became almost effortless.

“Oh…”

Suddenly, Jiang Nian felt his vision blur. He raised his hand to wipe them away and realized they were tears. Anger and sorrow surged in his heart. He tilted his head back and blinked hard, but he didn’t know what to say.

In the chaos, human nature unraveled. Xiaoya had done what she did. If a trusted supernatural monitoring team didn’t take responsibility seriously, why should she accept their judgment? Just so they could throw her into chaos?

Zhou Li was an upright man who cared about the bigger picture and fought to maintain order, yet he was killed. One could only imagine how severe the riot must have been.

Cheng Jing sighed, too.

“Don’t be sad. We’ve handled things well in this life.”

When he took custody of Xiaoya, he was determined to: ‘If she escapes using her superpowers, it’s not our concern.’ But she never tried to run.

“Yeah.”

Jiang Nian nodded firmly. Compared to the last time, they had handled everything far better this time. Everyone was still alive, and they were lucky enough to be together.

After discussing everything in detail, Cheng Jing added,

“Also, the so-called breakthrough on the anti-zombie serum at Base S in our previous life was a lie. It was just a ploy to lure in the infected and use them as experimental subjects.”

Once the infected had fully turned into zombies, their superpowered cores were harvested and transplanted into their own people to create more superpowered soldiers. It was all an attempt to build an apocalypse-era army.”

Jiang Nian pressed his lips together and scoffed coldly.

“Exactly. That research team, led by Xia Weiwei and her father, was completely deranged!”

After everything they’d been through, it was clear that Base S’s lofty goals were all smokescreens. The people who fell for them weren’t foolish; it was just impossible to see the truth unless you stood on the other side.

Cheng Jing nodded in agreement.

“Exactly. Her father was both greedy and sanctimonious. Under the pretense of developing a serum to save humanity, the moment he acquired purified crystal cores, he tried to turn his daughter into a savior to negotiate with the authorities.”

“When I captured Xia Weiwei and Chen Yue, he still hadn’t realized that Chen Yue—who had been infected, purified, and healed—was the one with the antibodies.”

In the end, Jiang Nian’s self-destruction destroyed the purified core. At the same time, Chen Yue—the only person known to have been cured through purification—also died.

Based on what they had learned, creating a real antidote without purification was difficult.

Unless another miracle occurred, either it would take much longer, or they would have to wait for another purification-type mutant to appear.

In any case, it wouldn’t be easy.

“…”

When those in control of resources went mad, it was always the common people who suffered. Jiang Nian stayed silent for a while, then suddenly asked,

“Brother Jing, when I became a zombie… was I really ugly? I mean, I had already been bitten.”

Moreover, he must have already been reborn by then. The person Brother Jing was protecting was just an unconscious, soulless body.

Cheng Jing answered bluntly:

“You weren’t ugly to me—just not as handsome as you are now. I knew you wouldn’t like it, so I avenged you as quickly as I could and took you away.”

He had considered going on a revenge spree with Xiaoya, but he knew that if Jiang Nian were conscious, he wouldn’t allow it.

After all, if they both died, their families—Yang Kai and Liang Yunhao—would have been left behind in danger.

“Yeah.”

Jiang Nian could hardly suppress his emotions. The urge to cry but not being able to left a hard lump in his chest, making him feel terribly uncomfortable.

Cheng Jing stroked his hair to comfort him.

“Xia Weiwei and Chen Yue’s families have received their retribution. Liang Yunhao has contacted Jiang Wenwen, and they’ll be working together to deal with Professor Xia’s mad research team. Nancheng Base will supply the evidence to support them.”

“Xiaoya didn’t turn into a zombie king, and her personality didn’t change. Zhou Li and the others are alive and well. We’ve taken our revenge and made up for our past regrets. Let’s stop here, all right?”

The road ahead is still long, so let’s leave the past behind and spare ourselves the pain.

“…Alright.”

Jiang Nian tried hard to steady his breathing. He understood the reasoning, but it would still take time for the feelings to fade. He quietly hugged his lover close, closed his eyes, and fell asleep with a heart full of bittersweet emotion.