Chapter 59

Zhou Yan suddenly sensed a chill, as if someone were watching him. The feeling faded quickly, but it still made his hairs stand on end. He looked around for anything suspicious and found none, only two people.
Ye Xiao and Lin Tantan.
These two had been the talk of many people over the past fortnight; Zhou Yan knew of them, at least by face. Now they stood facing one another, Ye Xiao’s hand still resting on Lin Tantan’s head as if to comfort her. He was a little surprised, were they really like that?
But it made sense in a way. No wonder various powers tried to recruit Lin Tantan openly and behind the scenes, she remained unmoved. She’d rather spend her days doing things others found baffling: running a clinic, treating people for a pittance of grain, even offering free medical help with no return expected.
With her talents, any faction would have treated her like a treasure, yet she willingly lowered herself, mixing with ordinary wood-type ability users and serving the common people.
It didn’t look like she was trying to buy hearts and minds either. So what was she after? Surely it wasn’t love?
Zhou Yan snorted inwardly, only to see Ye Xiao suddenly sweep his gaze over. Caught staring, Zhou Yan couldn’t look away; the casual contempt and ridicule on his face lingered. Startled, his heart jumped and he stumbled over a stone.
Lin Tantan followed Ye Xiao’s look and saw Zhou Yan in his awkward state. She rolled her eyes, tripping on flat ground; truly someone who couldn’t win except by luck.
She figured that unless fate favored him, as long as people stronger than him lived well, he would never have his day in the sun.
So rather than killing him, it was more important to make sure Ye Xiao’s whole team made it soundly into the later stages.
She suddenly stopped agonizing and decided to play the ordinary villain and stay alert. If he provoked her, she would make him pay, and she wouldn’t hold back because of his status.
She was no longer tangled in doubts, but Ye Xiao’s eyes grew colder. If he hadn’t misread it, that man had just sneered at Tantan?
He narrowed his eyes slightly; his expression turned cold.
Zhou Yan hurried to Zhou Li’s side and at last felt a flicker of safety, only then realizing he was covered in a cold sweat.
Zhou Li asked, puzzled, "Why do you look so pale?"
"It’s nothing," Zhou Yan shook his head. "Brother, that over there, it's Ye Xiao, right?"
Zhou Li saw Ye Xiao and Lin Tantan by a truck and his expression soured.
Zhou Yan said, "This mission failed. I wonder if Major General Li will blame us."
Zhou Li replied, "He won’t, I'm only the guide and assistant. The main force was Li Qun’s people; the primary responsibility isn’t mine."
Even so, Zhou Li knew Li Qun would be displeased. Rather than complain that his men hadn’t performed, Li Qun would more likely pin the failure on him, leaving the impression that Zhou Li couldn’t even handle minor tasks.
He looked at the dozen or so messy trucks on his side. Xing Guoliang’s team had been scattered by zombies, vehicles strewn everywhere, waterproofing undone; many trucks had even overturned. Supplies were either waterlogged or dumped all over the ground. They’d barely salvaged enough edible and usable goods to make up the few trucks they had now. It was an ugly sight.
He felt miserable, what had been a chance to shine had ended up like this. Where had the leak been?
He watched Ye Xiao’s side with complicated feelings, his gaze pausing on Lin Tantan for two seconds as she talked to him, thinking: Ye Xiao really is his bane.
As he thought that, several officers strode toward Ye Xiao.
"Captain Ye, you sure are quick to act. Major General Li just issued the order and you already had the news, moving before we did. Your execution is truly admirable," came a voice thick with sarcasm. Everyone nearby stopped what they were doing. These men looked like they wore "annoyed, looking for trouble" on their faces, full of swagger and ready to rough someone up. Clearly, they meant to give Ye Xiao a beating.
Lin Tantan took them in. Though in uniform, they were dirty, slovenly and sullen, boots caked with mud, an ugly sight.
A hand pressed lightly to her shoulder, drawing her closer. Ye Xiao looked at them and said calmly, "You're flattering me."
The leader’s expression turned hard. "Cut the crap, asshole. Your commander told you to hand them over and you stalled, so you were waiting here to cause trouble. Hand over those supplies!"
The "commander" he meant was not Lu Jianping, of course, but his own superior, Li Qun.
People on Ye Xiao’s side gathered as well. Mei Baisheng, hot-tempered by nature and sharp with words, rushed forward and started blasting, "Bullshit, this stuff was ours to begin with! Hand it over, will you? This morning you ran off like a coward when you saw us; now that you’re back at the base you feel safe and start mouthing off? If this is what Li Qun’s men are, I pity him, what an outfit, not a useful soul among you!"
The other man flew into a rage. "What did you say?! Fine, I'll show you what we've got. Brothers, grab your gear!"
At his shout, a group of soldiers charged out.
Mei Baisheng was furious and signaled his men, "Go!"
But his yell didn’t have much effect. These workers handled supplies; though tough, they were essentially hired hands. Facing a group in uniform, few dared to act rashly.
Mei Baisheng hesitated, rolling up his sleeves to go in himself, and the other side surged forward. Just as a clash seemed inevitable, every one of those charging soldiers suddenly lifted off the ground about half a meter, then slammed back down. The ground was muddy and flooded; they sank into the muck and thudded down in all kinds of awkward positions.
The sudden turn of events stunned everyone; many had no idea what had happened. Ye Xiao said coldly, “Enough. Did you come here on purpose to cause trouble?”
The ringleader gaped at Ye Xiao, then at his own men, dozens of them, none had even got close, and in the blink of an eye they were all down. What the, !
“You, you, ” The arrogant lines he’d prepared vanished. He pointed at Ye Xiao but couldn’t hold the stare; instinctively he jabbed to the side at a face that looked weak and harmless, finally forcing out a last bit of bluster: “You just wait!”
Lin Tantan, suddenly being pointed at, blinked in confusion: “?”
Ye Xiao’s cold expression shifted in an instant. Just as the other felt he’d saved face with his fierce words and was about to swagger off, Ye Xiao struck at the pointing hand. With a twist so fast it was hard to follow and two sharp pops, he’d reversed the man’s arm and pinned him to the ground, half-kneeling, with the arm bent at an exaggerated angle behind his back. When Ye Xiao tightened his grip the joints protested and the man screamed in pain.
Lin Tantan took an involuntary half-step back, startled by Ye Xiao’s sudden eruption.
“What did you just say?” Ye Xiao asked, wrenching the man’s arm with one hand and pressing at his shoulder and neck with the other, his other hand poised so that with a little extra pressure he could have snapped the man’s neck. There was a chilling cruelty to him.
He tilted his head slightly as he spoke; the voice was ordinary, but it made the hairs stand up on people’s arms.
The man’s face went deathly pale, sweat poured from his head, his throat tightened, he couldn’t get a single word out.
His companions and the others knocked down tried to rush in to help, but felt a sudden weight on their shoulders; those still getting up were forced back into the mud, pressed even harder this time. Those who remained standing were driven to their knees and pinned, unable to move.
They felt as if a thousand-pound weight sat on their shoulders, though there was nothing visible. That invisible danger was even more terrifying.
Nearby, Zhou Li’s pupils constricted at the sight, and Zhou Yan’s face changed too. Zhou Yan still didn’t have an ability, his knack for getting people to do his bidding came from cunning and the marksmanship he'd trained at the club, so these powers were beyond him, utterly mysterious. He was terrified and asked Zhou Li, “Bro, what kind of ability is that?”
Wasn’t Ye Xiao supposed to be only a wind-type ability user? What trick was this? Controlling so many people at once, and the scariest part was he hadn’t made any obvious move. Was someone helping him put on a show?
Zhou Yan instinctively searched for Ye Xiao’s “accomplices,” but Zhou Li was different. As an ability user himself he could see what was going on. His Adam’s apple bobbed and he said with difficulty, “It’s a wind ability.”
“What? How is that possible?”
Wind abilities look like this? Zhou Yan stared as if he were being mocked. He’d seen plenty of wind users, none of them used their power like this.
Zhou Li couldn’t spare the time to explain; a bitter taste filled his mouth. He was a lightning-type, with terrifying destructive power. Though he hadn’t shown it off, he’d always felt a certain pride, instinctively thinking wind, ice, and water types weren’t in the same league, lightning was naturally stronger.
Even when he first met Ye Xiao and realized how strong he was, Zhou Li had thought wind could only go so far, while lightning had enormous potential.
But reality had just dealt him a heavy blow. He’d been shocked when those men floated earlier, lifting people with wind wasn’t exactly impossible, but this…
How had Ye Xiao done it? Focus wind on each person individually? No, it wasn’t that. So then how?
He realized that in the past half-month since entering the base, Ye Xiao had made huge progress. It wasn’t just that his ability had become stronger, the ways he could use it had multiplied.
This is how it is now, what about the future?
A cold dread gripped Zhou Li as he realized that wind is air, and air is everywhere. Think about it: the thing surrounding you that you can’t see or touch but can never be separated from, what if it suddenly became a weapon that could finish you?
He shut his eyes. Perhaps he’d taken the wrong path.
Putting aside how complicated Zhou Li felt, Ye Xiao asked again over there, “What did you just say?”
The man pinned under him saw his comrades’ miserable state and was thunderstruck, any hope of getting lucky was gone. He opened his mouth: “I, I was wrong. I was talking nonsense. I ran my mouth. I’m really sorry.”
Ye Xiao watched him for a moment, then released him. “Apologize.”
The man apologized quickly and decisively. Then, suddenly inspired, he bowed hastily to Lin Tantan: “Miss, I’m wrong. I didn’t mean to point at you. I’m not your father, I’m your grandson.”
Lin Tantan: “……” How was she supposed to respond to that?
Fortunately she didn’t have to. With a wave of his hand Ye Xiao lifted the pressure from everyone. Long breaths of relief could be heard as if they’d been given a new lease on life. They had enough sense to keep their pride; one by one they climbed up without a sound. Some couldn’t get up after two tries and had to be helped by comrades. The whole lot slunk away in shame, not daring to so much as make a peep.
Ye Xiao watched them.
Lin Tantan, however, was watching him.
At that moment Ye Xiao looked especially cold; every line of his face said he was not to be messed with. But in Lin Tantan’s eyes there was only one thought: he was so cool, she hadn’t expected him to look like this when he was angry.
Terrifying, and yet oddly warm.
When that man had pointed at him before, he’d stayed calm; the moment the finger landed on her he exploded, so he’d stood up for her?
Lin Tantan’s heart bloomed with joy; she was thrilled.