Eaten Ch.47.2

Chapter 47.2: “I only want to follow you”

“What about Li Daoge?” Xie Chongyi’s voice came from the side. At some point, he had crouched beside the mangled corpse on Wen Yuan’s left, speaking in an unhurried tone.

“You are?” Wen Yuan asked. He could feel a surge of power from the young man—something overwhelmingly strong, far beyond his own.

In all of Jingzhou, there were fewer than three ability users whose strength could make him feel such pressure.

“He’s my father,” Xie Chongyi said.

“My condolences,” Wen Yuan replied, his tone formal and distant. “The lieutenant colonel sacrificed himself to buy Professor Wu’s team precious time to evacuate.”

“Xie Yi—she’s my mother. How is she?”

“The colonel is alive and well.”

Xue Shen then asked, “Xue Xianrong and Xie Yi—are they ability users?”

“Yes.”

At that, Xue Shen finally looked as though a small weight had lifted off his chest.

“When you arrive in Jingzhou and they see you again, they’ll be relieved,” Wen Yuan said.

As he spoke, the corners of his mouth lifted faintly into a small smile.

Just then, Yang Xiaoyun came running toward him. “Captain, reporting!”

“Speak,” Wen Yuan turned around.

“They’re all refusing to leave!” Yang Xiaoyun said, his voice loud and firm.

Wen Yuan’s expression changed. “Refusing to leave? All of them?”

Yang Xiaoyun looked just as baffled as his captain.

“Yeah. At first, two of them agreed to go to Jingzhou, but then one insisted on bringing a friend, and the other wanted to bring all their friends. The rest—well, it’s all ‘if he goes, I’ll go,’ or ‘if they go, then I’ll go.’”

“…”

Wen Yuan took a long, deep breath.

If he’d known this place was full of kids, he never would’ve accepted this assignment. Adults could be persuaded with benefits—but children… children came up with the most absurd, whimsical, utterly illogical demands imaginable.

He looked at the three standing closest to him. “And you?”

Xue Qi lowered his head, tears falling silently. He said nothing.

Xue Shen said calmly, “I have a zombie I need to bring along.”

Wen Yuan inhaled deeply again—his second deep breath.

He turned toward Xie Chongyi. “And you? What do you want?”

Xie Chongyi slowly shook his head, and that made Wen Yuan’s gut twist with dread.

Sure enough, the boy gave him an even more ridiculous answer.

“I don’t like rushed trips,” he said mildly. “You miss too much of the scenery along the way.”

Yang Xiaoyun could no longer comprehend modern teenagers. He glanced at his captain, whose face had gone pitch black with barely contained frustration, and fought the urge to laugh—but didn’t dare.

As Wen Yuan started walking off, Yang Xiaoyun quickly followed behind, speaking in a low, rapid whisper: “No wonder Professor Wu’s detector picked up such strong energy readings here. Besides that metal-type just now, Jiang Qin also detected two wood-types, two metal-types, and one fire-type. But those two ‘metal’ ones are only broadly classified as such—one’s ability is magnetic force, the other seems to be sound—and there’s also one psychic-type… That means there are three left untested—the very ones who were just talking to you, Captain.”

Yang Xiaoyun was drenched in sweat. “Captain, if we could haul this whole bunch of little brats back to Jingzhou, the local authorities would probably set off fireworks in celebration!”

“Fire-type? Psychic-type?” Even though Wen Yuan had already seen more than his share of bizarre abilities lately and had grown somewhat numb to surprises, his heart still skipped a beat. “I don’t think Jingzhou has ever registered anyone with either of those.”

“That’s not all — in Professor Wu’s records, there’s no listing for a sound-based ability either,” Yang Xiaoyun swallowed hard. “I knew something was off — turns out more than half of them are ability users, and some are rare types too! But none of them want to come with us. What do we do now?”

Wen Yuan stopped walking and turned to Jiang Qin. “Test the last three as well.”

Jiang Qin quickly returned with the results and reported, “All three have powers — one water-type, one spatial-type, and one animal symbiote. But the last one’s leg is injured.”

Yang Xiaoyun grabbed Wen Yuan’s arm in excitement. “Captain, we have to take the whole bunch!”

Wen Yuan pried his arm loose. “You don’t get to decide that.”

—

Wen Yuan stood with his team facing the group. His hands rested on his belt, and his sharp gaze swept across every face in front of him. “Are you all three-year-olds? Do you have to go to the bathroom holding hands? Humanity needs you right now — what are you doing?”

“I have a question.” Wu Heng rarely spoke up when everyone else stayed silent.

“Speak,” Yang Xiaoyun said eagerly, his eyes lighting up.

Wu Heng asked, “Do we each only have one ability?”

“?” A visible question mark seemed to appear on Yang Xiaoyun’s face.

“I mean,” Wu Heng clarified, “when you tested us, were the results showing that everyone has just one ability?”

“Otherwise, how many could you possibly have?” Yang Xiaoyun started taking deep breaths — just like his captain.

Wu Heng met Xie Chongyi’s gaze from a short distance away.

Wasn’t Xie Chongyi a dual-ability user?

Could he have somehow avoided detection by the scanner?

Or was it that the device these people used simply couldn’t pick up dual abilities?

Know yourself and know your enemy, and you’ll never lose a battle — but the fact that Xie Chongyi was hiding something left Wu Heng with an uneasy feeling.

“Why are you only taking ability users? Are the others not people?” Dou Lu’s face flushed red with anger. “Didn’t you say humanity needs us? So the ones left behind aren’t human anymore?”

Du Yaoyuan did want to go. After all, following the class monitor to Jingzhou sounded great — taking a helicopter would be faster, safer, and more efficient.

But the team only accepted ability users, and he wanted to bring Ruan Silian with him.

“Are you sure we can’t take anyone else?” he asked again, clinging to a last bit of hope.

“There’s no extra space in the cabin,” Jiang Qin replied. “If you refuse, we’ll proceed to the next mission point.”

Wen Yuan crossed his arms. “You’d better think carefully. Jingzhou’s manpower and resources are limited. This is a one-time opportunity — there won’t be a second transport. And even if others come later to recruit more ability users, your treatment will never match that of the first batch to arrive.”

“Beyond that, the world is in chaos. Mutated creatures and plants are slaughtering humans everywhere. Even ability users are groping in the dark — one misstep, and you die. If you waste time on the road, how many more people will die in the meantime? I don’t want to call your decision selfish, but it is selfish.”

Wu Zhi listened but didn’t understand.

“You want my brother to go save people?”

“And your brother is…”

Wu Zhi tugged on Wu Heng’s sleeve.

“Humans,” Wen Yuan said. “Countless humans.”

Wu Zhi looked even more confused. “Then why are you leaving me behind?”

“That’s not what he means,” Jiang Qin tried to explain.

“Our mission is to escort the ability users back to Jingzhou. Saving people isn’t part of our assignment,” Wen Yuan said, no longer looking at Wu Zhi. Instead, he asked, “Which one of you is the psychic ability user?”

From a corner, Ying Liuquan didn’t even turn his head. “I’m not an ability user. Don’t ask me. I’m not going anywhere.”

When Jiang Qin’s test showed that Ying Liuquan was a psychic, everyone waiting nearby for the results was stunned. If you asked them, anyone could’ve turned out to be an ability user—anyone except Ying Liuquan. He didn’t look the part at all. From start to finish, all he’d done was cry and scream incoherently, completely useless. The earlier earthquake had scared him so badly that his mind was still in a daze and hadn’t recovered. How could someone like that possibly have an ability?

But Jiang Qin insisted that the tester’s accuracy so far had been one hundred percent.

Du Yaoyuan actually hoped Ying Liuquan would go with them—he’d only be a burden anyway.

The young man looked frail and pale, spoke unclearly, his mind seemingly detached… even Wen Yuan found himself, for the first time, doubting the tester’s accuracy.

“There’s no way it’s wrong,” Jiang Qin said firmly.

“The fire ability user—why aren’t you going?” Wen Yuan asked again.

Lin Mengzhi hid behind Wu Heng. “If he goes, I’ll go.”

Wen Yuan turned to Wu Heng.

Wu Heng replied, “I’ll listen to the class monitor.”

Wen Yuan exchanged a look with Yang Xiaoyun. She shrugged, her expression saying: Now you know how I felt just now, Captain.

When Wen Yuan spoke again, his expression and tone had both turned cold. “Some of your parents are in Jingzhou. They must be very worried about you—and they want to see you again.”

Several teammates who didn’t know the situation couldn’t tell who Wen Yuan was referring to, but the few who understood—

“I’m not that close with my family,” Xie Chongyi said with a faint smile.

Xue Qi kept his head down. “I don’t want my dad to see me like this.”

Xue Shen simply said, “Farewell.”

Wen Yuan took a deep breath—for the third time. Expressionless, he lowered his arm and turned away without hesitation. “We’re leaving.”

Jiang Qin and the others immediately turned and followed.

Only Yang Xiaoyun stayed, glaring at the group of young people with a look of bitter disappointment. “Do you have any idea how dangerous the world is now? Jingzhou needs you—and can protect you! Don’t act on impulse!”

As the helicopter group grew smaller in the distance, Du Yaoyuan ran a few steps after them. He climbed onto a pile of ruins, pointed at their retreating figures, and shouted, “You’re all trash—scum! You don’t deserve to be soldiers! You’ve betrayed the people!!”

The echo of his words hadn’t even faded when, about ten meters away, a massive boulder suddenly ripped itself from the ground and shot toward him like a meteor.

A shield of water formed in front of Du Yaoyuan—

The boulder slammed into it, shattering into pieces that scattered across the ground.

By then, the helicopter had already lifted off. Through the whirring of the rotors, Wen Yuan’s voice carried down clearly to every ear on the ground:

“From a month ago up to this very moment, nearly a hundred of my people have died. Whether we’re worthy or not—it’s not for you to decide.”

The helicopter dwindled into a small black dot in the sky, but Wen Yuan’s words still echoed in everyone’s minds.

Du Yaoyuan, pale and shaken, gasped for breath. “He’s—he’s full of shit!”

Jumping down from the rubble onto open ground, he spat, “We can get to Jingzhou ourselves! It’s not a big deal.”

“I’m sorry… I think I slowed everyone down.” Ruan Silian looked at the group, her back slightly bent. “But our destination was always Jingzhou.”

“Ah, don’t be like that,” Dou Lu quickly said. “You’re not the only one without an ability—Wu Zhi and Aunt Ji don’t have one either, and Teacher Ying probably won’t be much use even if he does. Shen She and Wu Heng just found out about theirs too—brand new powers, brand new chaos. If we go to Jingzhou right now, we might even get bullied. Let’s train ourselves a bit more first. By the time we make it there, we’ll be so amazing it’ll scare them to death!”

“Lulu… thank you.” Ruan Silian’s eyes welled up with tears.

Xue Shen took a deep breath to steady himself, clapped his hands, and said, “I already found a vehicle over there. Pack your things and gather the supplies—we’re heading out soon.”

They had just refused to go to Jingzhou. Though it wasn’t on the same level as the college entrance exam, it was still a decision that concerned their very lives. Everyone was still lost and unsettled, but their hands and feet moved instinctively at Xue Shen’s command, quickly getting busy.

At some point, Xie Chongyi had climbed onto the pile of rubble behind Wu Heng. “Wu Heng.”

Wu Heng turned around, startled. “Class monitor.”

The young man’s eyes were lowered, the corners slightly tilted upward. He wasn’t smiling, yet somehow looked as if he was. Wu Heng guessed that his mood must be fairly good right now.

But how could he be in a good mood? When he’d been talking with Wen Yuan just now, his face had been so dark.

Seeing the thoughtful look on Wu Heng’s face, Xie Chongyi finally spoke.

“You really want to follow me that much? You’d even give up going to Jingzhou for me?”

‘I guess that’s about right,’ Wu Heng thought.

So he nodded. “Yeah. I only want to follow you.”

Wu Heng wasn’t very good at lying—his little tricks were easy to spot. Xie Chongyi could tell his answer came straight from the heart. He could even sense a kind of pure, sincere longing radiating from him.

For the first time, Xie Chongyi felt a genuine urge to dig into someone—to get to the very bottom of them—and he acted on it.

He wanted to know Wu Heng, completely.

From head to toe, inside and out.

“Why do you want to follow me?”

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