Chapter 41

Because the treatment couldn’t be interrupted, Lin Tantan stood still and, smiling, asked Ye Xiao, “Did the trip go smoothly?”
“Very smoothly.” Ye Xiao stepped in and couldn’t help patting her head gently. He wanted to hug her, but he worried it would disturb the treatment.
He looked at the man on the treatment bed, struggling to breathe though without visible wounds. “What happened?” he asked.
“He fell from an upper floor a few days ago, lung bruising and fluid. See, the doctor over there just drained fluid from his chest; the drain is still in, but his breathing hasn’t improved much, so they brought him to me.”
As she spoke, Lin Tantan increased the flow of energy and the man’s breathing visibly eased and smoothed.
Five minutes later she withdrew her hand. “Alright, you can get up. If you have any questions about care, ask the doctor over there.”
The man thanked her again and asked about payment. Lin Tantan told him to go talk to someone about that.
She turned to explain to Ye Xiao. “I hate haggling with every single person, so I had Bai Cheng find someone to collect fees for me. I made a lot tonight!” She wiggled her five pale fingers to show she really had earned a lot; excitement glinted in her eyes. This direct way of getting supplies amused her.
Ye Xiao smiled. “Let Bai Cheng keep it for you.”
“His storage holds the most important supplies; mine aren’t worth it. I even gained two vehicles. I’ll pick the better one for myself and hire someone to drive and watch the supplies.”
Ye Xiao’s brow furrowed slightly. “You’re going on your own? Not coming with us?”
“Huh? No.” Lin Tantan scratched her head. “Me, Meimei, Xiaotian and Cheng Qinan agreed to share a vehicle. Xiaotian has lots of equipment, the car’s already chosen: a big, sturdy box van that can even fit a bed. I’ll have my car follow behind; when I get tired of that one I’ll move into theirs, and later I’ll switch back.”
Everything was so neatly arranged that someone who didn’t know might think they were going on a picnic. Ye Xiao smiled. “And me?”
“You? You’ll be busy, you can’t be hanging around with us.”
This time Lin Tantan wanted to take it easy, leave things to others. If someone came begging for treatment she’d work, and of course she’d pitch in if there was danger. Jiang Xiaotian is the tech guy; there won’t be many situations on the road that need his skills. Cheng Qinan is a weakling. Mei Baisheng used to be a fanatic front-line fighter, but he just finished recovering and recently awakened his powers; he’s been cooped up studying them all day and has his head in that now.
So the four of them basically planned to stick together and just survive the trip.
Ye Xiao didn’t fit in with them at all.
“…” “Hanging around”, what an interesting choice of words. Ye Xiao’s eye twitched; he sighed and ruffled her hair. “You.”
Caught off guard and having her head tousled again, Lin Tantan was speechless.
Ye Xiao: Mmm, finally got to pat her, satisfied.
Thinking he was bitter she could enjoy things he couldn’t, Lin Tantan put on a coaxing smile. “If you’re tired or have time, you can rest in our van. I’ll give you top-quality convalescent care.”
Ye Xiao: “Like last time?”
“Last time I only rushed a bit of energy into you, that wasn’t real convalescence, at best a warm-up before proper rest.”
Ye Xiao raised an eyebrow and smiled, holding out his hand. “Then try it on me now.”
Lin Tantan didn’t hesitate to reach out and grasp his forearm. A gentle, wood-aligned energy flowed into him, and the taut, tired muscles relaxed instantly. The corner of Ye Xiao’s mouth stiffened slightly, his gaze flickered; his empty hand curled in on itself, and then his whole arm went slack and at ease.
Lin Tantan’s profession was convalescence therapy. More than treating wounds or curing illnesses, in her previous life the bulk of her work was helping people recuperate: children born with deficiencies, young people with frail constitutions, elderly patients riddled with age-related ailments, groups suffering severe occupational diseases, terminal patients needing improved quality of life, those struggling with anxiety and depression, they were all her clientele.
After all, in a peacetime era there aren’t that many wounded, and there are plenty of doctors who need to make a living. Only the illnesses ordinary doctors can’t handle, or patients who have reached the rehabilitation stage and need a convalescence therapist to step in, get passed on to therapists like her.
So when she got serious… When Ye Xiao came to, he realized he had dozed off in his chair without noticing. A glance at the time showed half an hour had passed.
Given his usual vigilance, this was simply unimaginable.
Lin Tantan smiled at him: “How do you feel?”
Ye Xiao stared at her, then sighed, “How many tricks do you have? Don’t give people that kind of treatment so casually, understand?”
He looked grave, such an ability was terrifying, able to strip someone of their will without them noticing. If others found out, how much fear and suspicion would she draw?
Lin Tantan blinked and obediently nodded. “Okay.”
Worried his tone had been too harsh, Ye Xiao cleared his throat and added, “At the very least, tell me beforehand, alright?”
“Okay.” Lin Tantan kept nodding.
“Ye Xiao, something’s not right, there may be a zombie tide forming.” Bai Cheng’s voice outside was serious. Ye Xiao stood up, feeling fully refreshed, as if an inexhaustible reserve of energy had filled him; that half hour had been more effective than a whole night’s sleep.
He patted Lin Tantan’s head gently again. “I’m off.”
“Mm, be careful.” After he left, Lin Tantan foolishly rubbed the top of her head, why did he seem to like patting her head so much?
Outside, Bai Cheng watched as Ye Xiao’s fatigue vanished in an instant and his face lit up like he’d taken a miraculous pill, and he wondered to himself: could this be the power of love?
Today far too many people had come to the west side of the city, and they attracted even more zombies. Although the zombies that had chased them into the west had been wiped out, others still came, drawn by the scent.
They didn’t approach rashly, but quietly gathered at a distance from the west side of the city.
After learning the situation, Ye Xiao recalled the command behind the animal zombies that day, these zombies today probably had leaders too.
They couldn’t let a tide of zombies form, so he went straight to talk it over with Xing Guoliang.
Xing Guoliang was the major general Xing, the highest-ranking officer at present. Before him, Zhu Xin was embellishing his complaints.
“…They’re utterly undisciplined; they don’t take my words seriously. If they disdain me, they’re disrespecting you, Brother Xing. How can we manage like this? Better they go their own way and we go ours!”
Xing Guoliang glanced at him. “Ye Xiao alone is worth dozens of other ability-users. Bai Cheng runs things very effectively. From what you’ve said, those 150,000 people trust him. Compared with those just rescued, this group is more united, more obedient, and has stronger collective disaster-response capability. With those 150,000 as an example, half the force is stabilized. Are you sure you want to split up?”
Zhu Xin’s face went pale; he hadn’t expected that, and to treat those 150,000 as a backbone made him both resentful and somewhat dispirited.
Xing Guoliang then looked to a slightly plump, older officer beside him, who nodded in understanding and said, “They total about 153,000 people, of whom 140–150 are confirmed ability-users, almost a one-in-a-thousand ratio;
They selected promising recruits for rigorous training; over 3,000 are now ready to fight with confidence, with a much larger reserve force;
Their weapons are scarce, but there’s a man named Xu Qin who’s adept at making chemical weapons. He’s formed a weapons manufacturing team that produces armaments daily, mainly high-energy bombs;
They’ve formed a highly efficient medical team. One member, Lin Tantan, a wood-element ability-user, can handle almost any injury and is the medical team’s core, she’s also a central figure among the ability-users;
Their internal communications are very convenient. A technician named Jiang Xiaotian modified a batch of radios that aren’t affected by external signals; they’re quite powerful;
Their supplies are abundant: dozens of vehicles are loaded with goods, including several tanker trucks;
They’ve prepared thousands of vehicles, each fully inspected and fueled. They’ve even formed a vehicle maintenance team to repair any breakdowns on the road immediately.
Finally, during the day Bai Cheng already divided these 150,000 into units: ten brigades, each with ten squads, with various squad leaders appointed. They’ll be managed hierarchically on the road. He told me beforehand that the rescue forces hadn’t returned and these 150,000 couldn’t wait until everyone had arrived to be organized, so they were grouped first. It’s not about special treatment; they can be merged with later survivor groups along the way.”
With every sentence, Zhu Xin’s face darkened further and Xing Guoliang’s expression grew more solemn. At last he sighed, “That’s real talent. Look at him: he does things well and speaks impeccably. Better to befriend him than to make an enemy.” He fixed Zhu Xin with a stern look. “Mind your tongue and stop needlessly making enemies!”
Zhu Xin twitched his mouth, inwardly resentful, now it was his fault. He hadn’t been told to hold back before; wasn’t he just pushing back? He said, “But the more capable they are, the more letting them into the base is like inviting wolves in!”
Xing Guoliang shook his head. “Are there fewer wolves in the base?”
This disaster had come with no warning. Those at the very top of the hierarchy were almost wiped out, throwing the whole system into chaos. Even though Xing Guoliang was one of the beneficiaries of the old system, he couldn’t deny there was too much rot and too many messy people around.
Just like the Ning City base, from the very first day several factions had been quietly vying to be the one with the most say; he didn’t want to wade into that mess, so he took the external rescue assignment.
He had already spent his influence to secure himself a promotion to major general; after that he planned to keep a low profile, so he wanted the situation to stabilize as quickly as possible.
He hadn’t paid much attention to young people like Ye Xiao and Bai Cheng at first, but after seeing them he was impressed, and he was willing to give them more respect and expectation than he’d originally intended.
With that in mind, when Ye Xiao came to discuss how to handle the impending horde of corpses, he readily told him to take charge.
Ye Xiao was a little surprised at his promptness, then thanked him without changing expression, selected some military psionic soldiers with long‑range critical abilities, borrowed a few shells and some troops. As he left he glanced at Zhu Xin, a chill in his eyes, but in the end he said nothing and walked away.
Zhu Xin quietly exhaled, only then realizing cold sweat had broken out across his back.
He quickly gathered some military personnel and a few capable people from the west side of the city, along with several soldiers shouldering artillery tubes, and stealthily closed in on where the zombies were gathering.
Ye Xiao also picked out some people from the west, approached the place where the zombies had stalled, and after a few shells plus psionic long‑range interference, the nascent horde was quickly scattered.
Ye Xiao vaguely spotted a suspected leader among the pile of zombies, but it moved too quickly and he couldn’t hold it.
He squinted; a bad premonition rose in him. If leaders could emerge among animals, and now in the zombies too, that was definitely terrible news.
…
The next dawn, just after two o’clock, survivors in the west side were roused and began lining up to board in the parking lot according to the number tags handed out during the day.
The scene was inevitably chaotic, but everyone had been warned: no shouting, no dawdling, no loud noises, or you lose your boarding privileges. No one wanted to be left behind, so overall things proceeded fairly quietly and efficiently.
Loading more than 150,000 people took two hours.
“YS010 unit, boarding complete.”
“YS0310 squad, boarding complete.”
“YS1002 squad, boarding complete.”
“…”
After each small squad prepared to depart, the squad leaders reported via their radios to the company commander, who tallied the ten squads under his command and then relayed the information up the chain.
“YS02 company, boarding complete.”
“YS07 company, boarding complete.”
“…”
Bai Cheng handed the original radio in his hand to Ye Xiao. Ye Xiao shook his head: “You take it.”
Bai Cheng: “You’re the team leader.”
Ye Xiao: “Are we still arguing about that? You manage things better than I do, you're more suitable.” Besides, getting people to the base alive is the most important thing right now.
Bai Cheng didn’t refuse. Calm and concise, he replied: “Copy. I’m Bai Cheng. All units follow my command. Now, each team hold position and await departure orders.”
Lin Tantan happened to overhear their conversation and thought to herself that, generally speaking, whoever manages the troops holds the power; if the roles were reversed, even sworn friends would probably grumble a bit.
But these two, one magnanimously ceding authority, the other willingly accepting, showed no suspicion or testing of one another. That’s definitely the power of love!