NOVEL NEXT Chapter 16: Discussion
Early the next morning, Wen Qingling was still dozing away when he was woken up by Xiao Hen’s team of four.
They stood outside South City and shouted: “Wen Qingling! We want to do business with you. If you’re amenable, let us in!”
The group of zombies threw a car at them, with a large word written on it in rotten blood: Scram!
Alright, they could confirm it now. That person was truly Wen Qingling.
Ji Rong wanted to curse. Lu Tianjin had a fucking problem with his brain! Wen Qingling had such great strength but Lu Tianjin not only did not try to get close to him but also forced him into South City—which allowed Wen Qingling to take over the city as its lord. How fucking capable of Lu Tianjin!
Now, none of them knew what the current state of Wen Qingling was. Was he blackened to the point of wanting to destroy mankind and the world? Or did he still have enough kindness in his heart to cooperate with them? Regardless of the result, they had to properly ascertain how dangerous Wen Qingling was.
Xiao Hen: “Come out, let’s discuss, I’ll give you 500 ordinary crystal nuclei.”
Wen Qingling didn’t respond. Trying to lure him out? Impossible!
Xiao Hen: “I’ll add two first-grade zombie crystal nuclei.”
Wen Qingling: …
He felt that he had to give that offer some serious consideration.
Xiao Hen: “I’ll add another five first-grade zombie crystal nuclei.”
Then, the four of them saw a dark shadow approaching them with large leaps.
Wen Qingling didn’t approach and stood on top of a car, looking at them from across the horde of zombies. “Crystal nuclei.”
Ji Rong, He Lin and Shi Chong gave the boss a thumbs up in their hearts.
He really succeeded in luring Wen Qingling out with the crystal nuclei.
A bag of crystal nuclei appeared in Xiao Hen’s hand, and Wen Qingling reached out.
Xiao Hen: “I’ll give it to you after we’re done talking.”
Wen Qingling felt that he had been tricked and turned to leave. At this moment, Xiao Hen suddenly appeared behind him and slashed out—though the blade was blocked by thick, thorny vines.
Wen Qingling jumped up and the vines rushed towards Xiao Hen like a tsunami, completely engulfing him.
Wen Qingling stood still on a roof and Xiao Hen appeared beside him the next instant. Then, Wen Qingling suddenly sank into the floor and disappeared.
Xiao Hen’s face was solemn. Wen Qingling could even pass through matter and do so with ease. How strong did his spiritual power have to be?
Xiao Hen reappeared amongst his team. “I’ll give you the crystal nuclei.”
Xiao Hen threw the crystal nuclei out. A dark shadow flashed past and the nuclei fell into Wen Qingling’s hands.
Wen Qingling’s eyes were filled with indifference. “Are you done testing my strength?”
Xiao Hen: “Two types of abilities—wood and spiritual.”
Wen Qingling: “That’s very obvious.”
If he was still human, he’d be anxious and hesitant about showing his sharp edge. However, he wasn’t human any longer—what was the point of being afraid?
Xiao Hen carefully observed him. “We’ve heard about your matters.”
Wen Qingling: “Did you hear about how I was pushed into a zombie horde by my cousin, then hunted by the whole base?”
Xiao Hen stared at him, “Yes. Now, the South City base has already been destroyed. Those who wished to kill you are dead. You can start a new life. Would you like to leave Ling City with us?”
Wen Qingling: “I have already started a new life and won’t leave Ling City.”
Xiao Hen glanced at the silent group of zombies. “This is your new life?”
Wen Qingling didn’t want to discuss these useless things with him. He would never leave South City.
“If you have something to say, say it quickly and leave. Stop wandering around South City and stop killing the ordinary zombies here. If you want to kill zombies, kill the evolved zombies in other regions. I can’t control those.”
The four of them felt their hearts sink. Was Wen Qingling completely on the side of the zombies?
Xiao Hen reminded, “You are human.”
Wen Qingling was stunned. He hadn’t heard anyone call him a human for a long time.
Unfortunately, he wasn’t one.
Wen Qingling suddenly realized that he no longer had the desire to eat when he faced human beings. Though he could still smell the delicious scent of fresh flesh, he no longer had to restrain himself from pouncing on them.
Was this due to his increase in strength? Did it help him overcome his natural instincts?
Wen Qingling: “Forget any thoughts about persuading me to return to human society, I will not leave South City.”
This method wasn’t feasible. Xiao Hen had no choice but to change his plan of attack.
Xiao Hen: “Can you treat the infected?”
Wen Qingling: “I am a wood-type ability user and have an innate healing ability.”
Xiao Hen: “That doesn’t include treating the infected.”
Wen Qingling: “Isn’t it possible that my ability has mutated?”
Not only did his ability mutate, but his entire person had also mutated.
Xiao Hen: “…”
The fact that the healing ability mutated to become an ability that could treat the infected was great news. It was just that the owner of the ability was a little troublesome.
Xiao Hen: “This kind of ability is very important to humans. Humanity needs you.”
Wen Qingling: “What a coincidence, zombies also need me.”
Xiao Hen’s expression suddenly changed, “You’re treating zombies?!”
Wen Qingling: “Is it so surprising? What’s wrong with treating my zombie little brothers?”
Ji Rong angrily retorted, “You’d rather treat cannibalistic zombies than come back to help humans?!”
Wen Qingling looked at him, “Do you have any family members who turned into zombies? If you did, you wouldn’t be saying these words. Instead, you’d be returning here and requesting me to treat them.”
He Lin and Shi Chong were silent.
Ji Rong reacted after a while and also turned silent.
Xiao Hen lowered his eyes slightly and questioned, “Can you turn zombies back into humans?”
Wen Qingling: “No.”
Xiao Hen: “Then what does your treatment do?”
Xiao Hen glanced at the zombie group. “Your treatment is to restore a little bit of consciousness to them?”
Xiao Hen: “Do you think that the current situation isn’t disastrous enough for humankind? Why do you wish to create more man-eating zombies with consciousness?”
Wen Qingling: “Eating humans is subconscious behaviour that stems from a zombie’s natural instinct for survival. How can you be sure that zombies will not restrain their desire for human flesh after regaining their consciousness?”
Xiao Hen asked back, “Then what if the zombies aren’t able to restrain themselves?”
Xiao Hen did not let up. “You should know how terrifying zombies with consciousness are! Every zombie that has consciousness has an evolved form. Even third-grade evolved zombies are not yet at the stage of being able to think for themselves—so what exactly are the conscious zombies you’ve created? The sixth-grade evolved lifeform, ‘Leader’?!”
“All across the globe, at every minute and every second, countless survivor bases are ruined beneath the hands of a ‘Leader’. Everyone wishes to wipe ‘Leaders’ off the face of the planet. Yet you! You’re artificially creating ‘Leaders’!”
“Wen Qingling, you must stop. Otherwise, I will kill you.”
Wen Qingling’s face was rigid and expressionless. “Tell that to me when you have the ability to kill me.”
Wen Qingling turned and left, quickly leaping away.
“Wen Qingling!”
“Get out of South City right now! Otherwise, don’t blame me for being rude!” Wen Qingling’s voice travelled to their ears.
The group of zombies crowded here all let out shockingly loud roars.
Ji Rong turned around in a hurry, “This is too scary. Even a lunatic will bow down before him.”1Even a lunatic (who cannot think rationally) will fear him
Xiao Hen said: “The three of you should wait for me outside the city. I’ll go find him.”
“Boss!” The three of them disagreed.
Xiao Hen: “He is very dangerous, more so than any other evolved zombie. We cannot leave him alone.”
【IMPORTANT NOTICE】
Hello everyone, I’m really sorry for disappointing you guys, but unfortunately, it turns out that AC is not my cup of tea. I made the mistake of not finishing the story before translating it (it won’t happen again).
I’ll be dropping AC as of Chapter 16 (13 March 2022). If anyone wants to continue from where I left off, do let me know, I’ll link the continued translation here (if you’re planning to release on a site other than Dummy).
Feel free to reach out to me on Discord (waterlemon#8591) if you want the google docs for my published chapters. And for AC’s readers, thank you to everyone for staying with me through this journey!
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Even a lunatic (who cannot think rationally) will fear him