Chapter 42: Twin Cities Base

Two years later, the Twin City Base.

It was just the end of winter, and the snow that had not stopped for days fell heavily. The chill pierced into the bones, gradually melting into the blood. Hands and feet were frozen stiff, and the breath exhaled into the air was frosty.

The surroundings were bustling and noisy. A child asked in a childish tone, "Mom, will we never go hungry again from now on?"

His voice was not soft, and quite a few people turned to look. Now in the third year of the apocalypse, most of those who survived had experienced countless rounds of slaughter and death. Hearing such endearing and innocent words all of a sudden felt very novel, and some even smiled kindly.

The boy's mother wore a tattered, thick coat, and under the gazes of the crowd, she vigilantly hugged the boy closer to her chest. Only when she realized that these gazes held no malice did she let out a sigh of relief. She stroked the boy's head and said guiltily, "Mom is sorry for you."

The boy smiled softly, two shallow dimples appearing on his fleshless cheeks. "Mom, don't be sad. As long as I can be with you, it doesn't matter if we don't have enough to eat."

...

"Brother Wu? Brother Wu!"

The call reached his ears, and Lin Wu snapped back to reality. A thin layer of snowflakes had settled on his head and shoulders. He rubbed his frozen, numb face hard, turned around, and answered, "Coming!"

Thick snow had accumulated on the ground without anyone sweeping it, and people could only trudge through it step by deep step. Lin Wu bent his waist, laboriously squeezed into the crowd, and asked the young man beside him, "How much longer?"

The long queues were lined up in a straight row. The young man was named Hou Yi, a rather upright and sturdy fellow. He narrowed his eyes, squinting his already slender gaze into a slit. "Probably have to wait a bit longer. Brother, you went the wrong way; the superpower users' queue is on the other side."

Hou Yi reached out and pointed, and Lin Wu looked over. There were only a sparse few people in that queue. He shook his head. "I'll see you in first. I'm not in a hurry."

Hou Yi did not insist further. He crossed his hands and tucked them into his sleeves, making desultory small talk with Lin Wu. "I peeked ahead a few times just now. The inspection is extremely thorough. I'm not afraid of the trouble, though. After all, the more thorough it is, the more reassuring it is. It's just that this weather is bloody cold."

Lin Wu was not listening carefully and hummed twice in response.

Hou Yi did not mind whether Lin Wu spoke or not; he was more like talking to himself. "I wonder if life inside is easy to get by. If it's even harder than living outside, that would be a huge loss..."

The Twin City Base had been established for a full year now. Its predecessor was the old industrial city of G City. Inside the base, it was divided into two areas: the Upper City and the Lower City. The Lower City was the residential zone, where the elderly, weak, sick, and disabled who could not take on missions could do some simple odd jobs to obtain living supplies. The Upper City was the active zone, frequented exclusively by superpower users and task-execution squads. Idlers and unauthorized personnel were not allowed to enter casually.

Although a few other bases had been established successively over the past two years, because the Twin City Base was founded the earliest and maintained fair and strict management, most superpower users and ordinary people alike chose this place. That was also the reason why Lin Wu and the others came here.

Thinking of how others evaluated the Twin City Base, Hou Yi felt slightly more at ease. "At least we can finally get a good night's sleep and won't have to live in fear of zombies suddenly breaking in."

Twenty-something minutes later, Hou Yi was called into the inspection room.

Inside were three men and two women. A bespectacled young man called Hou Yi over to register and then handed him a room key.

Hou Yi weighed the key in his hand and followed another person to a cubicle to check his body for any bite marks.

Through the window, Hou Yi took a moment to catch Lin Wu's eye, thinking to himself that this truly lived up to being a major base; things were handled with such rigor.

Seeing Hou Yi cleared, Lin Wu turned back to line up for the superpower user channel. There were very few people here, and he was called in shortly. The process was identical, except for the addition of a superpower registration. Someone handed over a form and said to Lin Wu, "Take this form, fill it out, and go to the mission center to accept tasks. Your superpower belongs to the combat category. After completing a few missions, the base will promote you to a squad leader, and your benefits will increase accordingly."

Lin Wu rolled up the paper and tucked it into his pocket. When he came out, Hou Yi was already waiting outside.

Seeing Lin Wu emerge, he looked excited, gesturing wildly as he spoke. "Look, Brother Wu, they even assigned me a house! Hehe, pretty great, right? I'm a man with property now. If my mom could see this, she'd definitely be thrilled..."

As he spoke, his voice grew quieter and downcast. "It's a pity my mom won't be able to see it."

After comforting himself for a moment, he remembered he hadn't asked where Lin Wu was staying, but when he looked up, he found no one beside him.

Hou Yi looked around in a panic, finally spotting Lin Wu's figure ahead. He hurried to catch up. "Brother Wu, what are you looking for?"

Lin Wu raised his neck, his eyes fixed ahead, and tossed his backpack into Hou Yi's arms. "I'm going to find someone."

Leaving those words behind, he squeezed into the crowd. Hou Yi was left standing bewildered in place. All around him were superpower user squads returning from completed missions. The sight made Hou Yi's heart pound with apprehension, and he quickly picked an uncrowded path to turn into.

Lin Wu cast aside the backpack, quickening his pace, and finally tracked down the receding figure. Just as he raised his hand and before he could speak, someone intercepted him.

Blocking him was a bulky man with a long scar across his face, wearing a fierce expression. "Who are you looking for?"

Lin Wu felt no fear; instead, he raised his voice and shouted, "Yan Zhuo? Are you Yan Zhuo?"

The person leading the procession stopped, turned around, and wore a duck-billed cap, obscuring his face.

Yet Lin Wu was certain—this was Yan Zhuo.

The fierce-looking man withdrew his hand and scratched his head. "You're looking for the boss? Are you an acquaintance of the boss?"

Acquaintance was hardly the word; they merely shared a past relationship involving a hijacked vehicle, which was certainly unsayable. While Lin Wu was calculating this in his mind, Yan Zhuo had already walked over.

He was a head taller than Lin Wu. Having just finished a mission, there were faint bloodstains on his pegged trousers, adding a hint of murderous aura to him. "Looking for me?"

Yan Zhuo had changed significantly compared to two years ago. Lin Wu hesitated for a moment before asking, "I'm Lin Wu. Do you remember me? Two years ago..."

Yan Zhuo interrupted him, his thin lips pressed tightly beneath the shadow. "What is it?"

That probably meant he remembered, Lin Wu figured, and continued, "Is Mr. Qu still with you? My younger brother, Lin Six, said before he died that he wanted me to thank Mr. Qu on his behalf."

Two years ago, if not for Qu Yan's words, they would never have walked out of that abandoned building. Although zombies were rampant and Lin Six's illness was incurable, they had spent a joyful period of time in the end.

Whether it was his imagination or not, the moment Lin Wu finished those words, he felt the atmosphere around Yan Zhuo turn even colder.

Yan Zhuo raised his chin slightly, his sharply angled jaw exuding cold indifference. "He doesn't need it."

With that, he turned on his heel and walked away. Lin Wu opened his mouth, not even having time to ask further.

He looked at the man who had previously blocked him, but the man abruptly took a step back, waving both hands. "The captain's taboo. Cannot be spoken of."

Lin Wu became even more puzzled. After asking several people consecutively, someone finally proved willing to explain it to him: "Mr. Qu had an accident two years ago."

Two years ago, a horde of zombies breached the residential compound, causing countless casualties. And the only two people who died in that sudden explosion were Qu Zizhi and Qu Yan.

Ever since then, the name Qu Yan had become a taboo that Yan Zhuo could neither touch nor bear to hear mentioned.

Lin Wu's expression paused before returning to normal. "Mr. Qu... did he pass away?"

In the apocalypse, a so-called accident meant either death or being bitten by a zombie. In essence, the two were no different.

"He's not dead."

For some reason, Yan Zhuo had returned. He removed his duck-billed cap, his distinct black-and-white eyes entirely devoid of ripples.

A snowflake fell upon his brow bone, quickly melting from the warmth of his skin and rolling down the corner of his eye like a stream of water.

Yan Zhuo suppressed emotions that others could not decipher within his eyes, casting a faint glance at Lin Wu. "I will convey your words to him."