TPAE chapter 5.1

Since leaving Lin Yang’s home, Wei Xicheng had kept in touch with him, and over time, it was proven that Wei Xicheng had a keen eye for people. Lin Yang had always maintained a pure and clean heart, which remained so until his old age.

As for Si Yongyi and Yang Yuan, they were still entangled with each other like in the original plot, but it wasn’t as happy as it was before. Without Lin Yang as the emotional catalyst, and with Yang Yuan having experienced such trauma, their daily lives were filled with conflict and arguments.

The spiritual energy in this world was constantly being diluted, and no matter what Wei Xicheng did, the cultivation of the body he inhabited could not progress. Eventually, he had to rely on Yi Chengze to pass him spiritual energy to sustain his life.

However, this was not a long-term solution. After spending many years together, Wei Xicheng persuaded Yi Chengze that he would wait for him in the next life, then closed his eyes.

In an instant, Wei Xicheng was sucked into the system space. He opened the additional energy slot, and indeed, it had increased a little. Moreover, there were more noticeable changes: many unknown buttons and branch pages appeared, which Wei Xicheng didn’t touch, instead quickly diving into the next world.

He had a premonition that these changes were connected to his lover.

This time, the time and place of the transmission were not as pleasant. As soon as Wei Xicheng’s vision cleared, he saw a bloody, mangled head with its mouth wide open, coming toward him to bite.

A putrid, decaying stench rushed into his nose and eyes, making his eyes sting and causing a wave of nausea.

Fortunately, the creature in front of him wasn’t too large. Wei Xicheng quickly kicked it away and shut the door.

The danger in this world was so high that Wei Xicheng dared not be careless. He immediately accepted the script and understood the background and the original identity of his body.

As he had guessed, the creature he had just encountered was a human zombie. The background of this script was not complex: it was a parallel world, not a high-level dimension. A horrific virus had leaked and spread on a massive scale, turning most of the human population into zombies.

The virus was highly volatile and contagious. After a single night, the humans who remained conscious discovered that the world outside had changed. People became fearful, and the social system collapsed.

However, under the influence of this virus, some humans experienced genetic mutations and benefited from it, awakening supernatural abilities that were once only found in movies and novels, granting them powers beyond those of ordinary people. This group was rare, far fewer than the zombies or the uninfected humans.

In the early days after the collapse of the normal social order, laws and regulations became useless, and moral boundaries were challenged. Danger was everywhere, and people fought and killed each other over food and water.

The awakened humans split into two factions: one that advocated for maintaining light and justice, aiming to establish a base to protect ordinary people and preserve the last hope of humanity. The other group consisted of isolated, scattered individuals who saw human life as worthless, disregarding the future of humanity and reveling in violence, plundering, and releasing the inner evil within them.

The number of zombies continued to rise, and the once orderly and structured cities quickly turned into wastelands. Zombies had no consciousness, only an insatiable desire for fresh flesh and blood.

The original body’s name was Mu Shuyang, who had narrowly escaped death and was now living among a group of ordinary people who banded together to survive. Although danger was everywhere, at least he could still eat.

They set off towards the nearest small base, facing numerous dangers along the way. As they were nearing the base, they were surrounded by a group of zombies. Just as they were on the brink of death, a few ability users descended from the sky and scattered the zombies, driving them away.

It was at this moment that everyone noticed the difference in the original body, Mu Shuyang. Mu Shuyang’s self-healing ability was incredibly strong, yet he wasn’t a healer-type ability user. With the intention of helping Mu Shuyang better understand himself, two ability users took him to the base’s laboratory.

Mu Shuyang was indeed an ability user, but he didn’t know that his ability would only bring him danger. After multiple rounds of blood tests, the professor in the lab came to an exciting conclusion: Mu Shuyang’s flesh could effectively suppress the spread of the zombie virus and even somewhat purify infected cells.

When this news spread, everyone in the base seemed to see the bright future of humanity. They placed all their hopes on Mu Shuyang’s flesh, as though his existence was solely meant to be a test subject to save the world.

Although Mu Shuyang had endured a life full of hardships, he was naturally kind-hearted and simple, still holding onto warmth and hope for a brighter future. So, when the professor asked him to stay in the lab, he didn’t complain much and was even happy to contribute.

What he didn’t expect, however, was that what awaited him wasn’t scientific research, but rather cruel experiments from those who had lost patience. When the blade cut through his skin and the syringe pierced his artery, day after day of dark confinement wore away all the kindness in his heart, leaving only darkness.

In the end, Mu Shuyang died, committing suicide in the dark laboratory. Even after his death, the people in white lab coats carefully preserved every drop of his blood and every inch of his flesh, continuing to make use of its residual power.

Wei Xicheng glanced around at his surroundings. It seemed to be a public restroom, with no one else present. At this point, the original body had yet to join the group of ordinary people.

Due to the original body’s special nature, unless the zombies were provoked or had no other choice, they would automatically ignore him. His flesh didn’t taste as good as others’. Moreover, in the early stages, zombies had low intelligence. The little zombie he had kicked away had already forgotten about him and staggered off from the tightly closed door.

In this world, the destined child of fate was the future lord of the largest human base, Zhong Wen. His father, Zhong Lei, had fought hard to establish a relatively well-functioning human base but was betrayed and harmed by traitors. After Zhong Wen took over the base, he found Mu Shuyang in the lab and personally took a piece of his flesh to feed his father.

Zhong Lei had been infected for too long, and though he didn’t turn into a zombie, he lost his abilities. Even though the result wasn’t as expected, it still amazed everyone and sparked a desire for Mu Shuyang’s flesh.

Later, the base turned Mu Shuyang’s extracted flesh into medicine, rewarding those who had contributed to the base, providing a kind of life-saving guarantee. Thanks to this miraculous medicine, Zhong Wen’s base gradually became the largest, most developed, and most populated base.

It could be said that it was Zhong Wen who personally started Mu Shuyang’s tragic life.

Wei Xicheng sighed. There had never been an easy journey. But then again, if it wasn’t tragic, how would he have ended up making a deal with the system?

He walked up to the restroom mirror. Upon seeing the body he inhabited, his first impression was that this time, his appearance… was quite handsome.

Strangely enough, even after experiencing over a thousand mission worlds, not every world placed him in a beautiful body. However, after the system suddenly malfunctioned, every world he traveled to—though the target’s identity, temperament, and personality were different—without exception, the body was always good-looking.

Perhaps Qi Chen was the most androgynous, exquisite, and ethereal-looking person Wei Xicheng had encountered, but clearly, this world’s Mu Shuyang was more to his liking.

As an actor, Wei Xicheng wasn’t very demanding about his face, as long as it was pleasant and easy on the eyes, he was fine with it. After all, he had to play thousands of different roles, so he didn’t need a face with too many features to avoid giving the audience a sense of déjà vu. However, it couldn’t be too average either, or the audience would forget about him.

Despite the demands of his profession, Wei Xicheng still had his own aesthetic. For example, this face of Mu Shuyang was the kind of look he liked the most.

The features were prominent yet not sharp, with sword-like brows and starry eyes, handsome yet clear, with a high nose bridge and moderately thick lips.

Wei Xicheng grinned, and immediately the person in the mirror changed expression, his entire aura shifting. He looked lively, sunny, and full of youthful energy, as if there were stars shining in his eyes. When he slightly smoothed the corners of his mouth, leaving a gentle arc, his eyes held a soft smile, exuding tenderness. When he lowered it, his gaze became sharp, exuding strength and handsomeness. With a wicked grin, his eyes and brows flickered with charm and allure, giving off a playful, mischievous vibe.

A face that seemed blessed by the heavens.

However, Wei Xicheng didn’t have much time to play around with facial expressions. He quickly adjusted himself to the original body’s usual state and then focused on improving his physical fitness.

It seemed that not only had the system’s control interface changed, but even the system’s level had also changed. There was no longer the previous restriction of only being able to change body data once. As long as there was enough energy, Wei Xicheng could change his body as many times as he wanted and adjust to any state.

After thinking for a moment, Wei Xicheng decided to set his body to the highest level.

The original body was just an ordinary person, and the awakened ability was not helpful at all—it would only bring trouble. It was better to be prepared for battle at any time in case of an emergency.

He gently pushed open the restroom door and found that the original body seemed to be in a supermarket.

This should be about a week after the virus leak. The number of zombies had risen exponentially, to a point where it was uncontrollable. People had lost their sense of direction and only cared about their own survival, unleashing the darkest sides of themselves.

The supermarket was pitch dark, with only faint reflections from the steel shelves, and in the distance, the occasional zombie roar and the sound of dragging movements could be heard.

The original body had been living alone and, after a week of staying at home, realized that the situation was beyond repair and ventured out in search of food. It was here that he encountered the small group of survivors.

“Xiao Huan, hurry, take it, I’ll lead them away!” A male voice shouted in the pitch-black supermarket, not caring that his voice might attract zombies.

With that shout, a few zombies wandering in the supermarket turned and began to move toward him.