Eaten Ch.83

Chapter 83: Jingzhou Faction

“……”

Xie Chongyi didn’t answer—he countered with a question instead. “Are all of you locals?”

“No, my friend and I came from Meizhou.” The round-faced young man next to the short-haired woman sounded discouraged. “There are only a few hundred people in the base, and almost half of us are from other places. Even Teacher Zheng isn’t local. He united the people here and urged us to build a new home of our own together. The base was small, just a few hundred people, but as life got better day by day, the smiles on everyone’s faces grew as well. We started feeling more hopeful too. But now… now our hope is gone again.”

His words reached Zheng Xi at the head of the table. Zheng Xi had shifted positions—his elbows propped on the table, his face buried low behind his hands.

Zheng Xi thought of Hanzhou.

Regret flooded him.

Creating something from nothing was like climbing to the heavens.

When you carry people’s hopes, those hopes become shackles—and poison.

The others in the conference room did not need to shoulder the hope of keeping everyone alive. Even if the survivors downstairs looked up at them with eyes full of expectation, they had no obligation to fulfill that hope.

Everything they had done for the base so far was only under the condition that their own safety was not threatened.

Their concerns had nothing to do with moral nobility or grand ambition.

After chatting a bit more, the atmosphere slowly grew more relaxed on the surface.

“You’re still students? Why didn’t you stay in your hometown?”

Wu Heng said, “There hadn’t been any news about a base when we left.”

But even if Hanzhou had already established its base back then, he still would have chosen to leave with Xie Chongyi—people needed food to survive.

“That’s a pity. I heard a lot of places have set up local bases directly. But people from places like Cangzhou really had no choice but to leave their homes.”

“What happened in Cangzhou?”

“You don’t know? The earthquake triggered a tsunami. Cangzhou and several nearby provinces have already turned into part of the Canghai.”

Wu Zhi frowned. “How do you know that?”

“My friend’s ability strengthens all five senses. Two hours before the earthquake, we were still in Meizhou. He heard crying from underground. We immediately dragged our families and ran to open ground—at the time, the streets were full of zombies wandering around.”

“Not long after, he said he heard the sound of waves. But Meizhou isn’t near the sea, and we don’t have any large lakes. Then he said it was a tsunami.”

“Just earlier, he also said the bamboo forest was expanding. That’s how we managed to save the last standing building in the base ahead of time.”

“That’s amazing.” Wu Zhi said sincerely. “So all of you are ability users?”

“Yeah, but none of us are very strong. For example, my friend with the enhanced senses—besides having a slight advantage when it comes to sneaking around and stealing chickens, um…” The woman turned to look at her friend. “Does your ability have any other good points?”

“Get lost.”

“Teacher Zheng,” a hoarse male voice sounded from the corner, “the base definitely can’t be saved. Have you figured out the next step?”

“A base with only a few hundred people isn’t even a base—it’s a shelter at best. We might as well head to Kuhuang. There are several thousand people there.”

“The most important thing right now is clearing those damn things outside.”

“Bamboo’s great, actually. You can make all kinds of things—cups, chairs, tables, winnowing baskets. Bamboo whips can even be used for… S equipment.”

“Once it grows to a certain point, it’ll stop on its own. Honestly, I think it’s better not to touch it.”

“I—”

“Teacher Zheng, there’s—”

The shut door was pushed open. The guard standing at the entrance had barely spoken a few words when a hand yanked him aside.

The man with the round bun haircut stepped into everyone’s view, almond eyes narrowing into two slim, bamboo-leaf slits. His tone was cheerful.

“Hello everyone, surname Sheng, given name Jiang. From Jingzhou.”

All he did was introduce himself, but the person beside him seemed to think he was talking too much. He shoved him forward. Sheng Jiang staggered a few steps, and behind him, the mushroom-cut young man swept an indifferent gaze across the room.

“Jingzhou detected abnormal magnetic activity beneath your base. We were specifically dispatched to assist.”

Only then did Zheng Xi react at last. He stared at the doorway, stunned.

“Jingzhou?”

“At the same time, Jingzhou will begin unifying national administration next week. All bases will be reorganized according to the number of survivors, geographic conditions, and other relevant factors.”

Zheng Xi shot to his feet, his chair crashing loudly to the floor.

“Post-disaster reconstruction and protection education, the new population census, the 999 regulations and obligations for ability-users—these will all be carried out once Jingzhou personnel arrive at each base.”

The mushroom-cut man’s tone was flat, emotionless. He wasn’t answering Zheng Xi at all, let alone acknowledging his reaction. He simply delivered the announcement word for word.

“How do we know you’re actually from Jingzhou? With a crisis this big, Jingzhou only sent you two?”

And this ‘Sheng Jiang’, along with the androgynous mushroom-cut, both looked barely in their early twenties. They didn’t inspire much confidence.

The man with the bun haircut leaned against the wall.

“Why would we need to prove anything? Convincing you isn’t part of our job description.”

Everyone fell silent.

“If nothing unexpected happens, the Meili Base will be merged with Xingli, Shisanhe, and Anxi into the Kuhuang Base. For now, I need your base to allocate two-thirds of your ability-users to escort the survivors there.”

“That’s dozens of kilometers away,” someone whispered. “Are we supposed to leave right now? None of us have even slept tonight.”

“Anyone who doesn’t want to leave can stay,” Sheng Jiang said with a light laugh. “But the next three hours will be the lowest temperature you’ll see for the next half month. If you don’t leave now and try later, prepare yourselves for dying of heat halfway.”

Mushroom-cut added, “Meteorological monitoring shows that for the next fifteen days the highest temperature will rise to 53 degrees, with an average of 47. The current temperature is…”

Sheng Jiang tilted his head. “Thirty-eight.”

A powered individual in the corner reached a hand out the window and used their ability to check the air.

“It really is 38! And it’s definitely rising!”

“Then how come it’s so cool in the meeting room? I’m even feeling a bit cold!”

Sheng Jiang’s eyes crinkled as he smiled, glancing toward the little white-haired girl not far away.

Wu Zhi met his gaze, shrank closer to Wu Heng, and muttered, “What are you looking at.”

At this moment, Zheng Xi finally spoke, his tone doubtful, almost disbelieving.

“Didn’t the higher-ups say each base was to govern itself? Why are you talking about unified administration now?”

The mushroom-cut lowered his eyes slightly, something pained flickering across his face. A moment later, he smoothed it over, returning to the same mechanical composure as before.

“At the beginning of the disaster, Jingzhou was also caught off guard. At that time, even Jingzhou could barely protect itself. The troops sent out to assist suffered heavy casualties—less than one-twentieth made it back. Survival became our only goal.”

“After disaster comes breath. After breath, civilization must continue.”

Some people frowned, unsure of what to make of that.

Sheng Jiang shook his head, a helpless yet mocking smile on his face.

“Perhaps you’ve heard of someone using their ability to set up their own feudal empire?”

“The idea of Jingzhou was to let everyone live safely, but you’re all just messing around—tsk, so annoying.” Sheng Jiang nudged the mushroom-cut man. “Right?”

The mushroom-cut man didn’t react. His gaze fell instead on the oldest person in the room, an elderly man with his back to the door, facing the window.

“Professor Ye, Jingzhou has encountered some difficulties with mutated plants. They hope you can come to Jingzhou to help solve them.”

Through the whispers of others, Wu Heng finally realized that Ye Zongran was a nationally renowned botanist. He held positions at China’s graduate schools and botanical research institutes, the Hanzhou Botanical Society, and even the United Nations.

Science is the foundation of human civilization. With Ye Zongran stationed at the base, it was no wonder Zheng Xi treated him with such deference.

—

The air was stiflingly hot, the moon hidden behind the clouds, and bamboo tens of meters high swayed with the wind.

On the ground, the remaining few hundred survivors of the base lined up in a long, anxious queue. Although Zheng Xi’s face showed clear reluctance, he still followed Mushroom Head’s lead, pairing several ability users into teams of two and placing them at the front, middle, and rear of the line.

“The children go in the middle. Sheng Jiang, pay extra attention.”

“Huh? Me too?”

Zheng Xi placed Guan Jin into the line. Tears streamed down Guan Jin’s face. “Aren’t you coming with me?”

Amid his reluctant emotions, a trace of irritation slipped through. “Xiao Jin, you go to Kuhuang first. Once I find the cause of the geomagnetic anomaly with the others, I’ll come to Kuhuang to find you.”

“Mom asked you to take good care of me…”

“Xiao Jin, we’ve already abandoned our family and friends once. We can’t be selfish again,” Zheng Xi said, lowering his head as he pried Guan Jin’s fingers off his sleeve. “We can’t become monsters too.”

“But haven’t you forgotten your ambition? To build a base of our own.”

Zheng Xi sighed. “That’s not ambition. That’s greed, taking advantage of chaos.”

In the end, fewer than ten ability users remained. Under their escort, the survivors slowly moved toward the Kuhuang base. Sheng Jiang walked at the very back of the line with Ye Zongran. After instructing Mushroom Head to stay safe, he let his gaze pass over him and fall on three people a short distance away. Xie Chongyi had been forcefully shoved by the little white-haired girl, then said something to the sullen-looking boy, prompting the girl to raise her fist in even greater anger.

“That heartless Xie, and he still has the nerve to play around.”

Mushroom Head said lightly, “He was angry when they forced him to leave, it’s not surprising.”

“Give this to him.” Sheng Jiang took a palm-sized metal box from his canvas bag. “Make sure to tell him how to use it.”

“No need to remind me.”

As the line moved forward, Sheng Jiang said, “Professor Ye, let’s go.”

Clearly, there were ability users in the departing team tasked with maintaining the base’s security. As their figures vanished along the path, the ground beneath immediately began to shake.

A bamboo shoot tower shot up from the earth, sending clumps of soil flying.

They were growing even faster than before, erupting from the ground like a hail of arrows.

Wu Heng squinted and yanked Wu Zhi and Xie Chongyi into the bamboo grove beyond the open space—the area they had already occupied was paradoxically the safest.

The other ability users still in the center of the open space regained their composure after a brief moment of panic.

Zheng Xi swung a long blue whip in his hand, scooping up two people and flinging them to the edge. The two scrambled to their feet, eyes wide. “Be careful!”

Wu Zhi held the monkey tightly, stamping her feet. “Brother, I’m so nervous!”

The short-haired woman from before also stayed behind. Her body seemed to melt, but on closer inspection, shadows flowed out from her silhouette. They split into black claw-like forms that plunged into the ground, yanking out countless bamboo roots along with the bamboo towers atop them, toppling everything with a deafening crash.

She ran out, sweat streaming down her face, followed by her friend in a panicked flurry.

The woman’s eyes widened in disbelief.

“You didn’t go with the team?!”

“My ability doesn’t work! Being with them… I was so scared of being assaulted.”

“…You’re a guy.”

“So what if I’m a guy? Men also have…”

Before he could finish, Xie Chongyi frowned, stepped up beside Wu Heng, and covered the boy’s ears.

“Men also have what?” Wu Heng asked, unable to hear.

Wu Zhi spoke seriously: “A hole.”

Xie Chongyi: “……”

By this point, all the ability users had escaped from the bamboo towers’ siege.

Mushroom Head walked at the very back, his black uniform covered in burrs, his hair silky like satin, fluttering in the wind.

He strode up to Xie Chongyi. They were about the same height. His expression was cold. “You’re just going to stand there and watch?”

Xie Chongyi blinked in slight surprise, then shrugged lightly. “You’re not stuck; you can get out anytime.”

Mushroom Head quietly watched Xie Chongyi, then suddenly lifted his arm.

A vine shot up from the ground by his leg, wrapping around Mushroom Head’s wrist. Wu Heng squinted. “What are you trying to do?”

Mushroom Head cast a glance at Wu Heng. The vine snapped midair, and as it whipped up, a blade of wind shredded it to pieces.

He didn’t even move. The ability users behind him were almost all stunned by his power. Is this really someone from the Jingzhou faction?

Mushroom Head took a metal box from his uniform pocket and handed it to Xie Chongyi.

Seeing Xie Chongyi hesitate, he opened the box. Inside were neatly arranged slender syringes, each already containing liquid—a pale blue substance faintly glowing.

“The geomagnetic anomaly affects us too, and you’re no exception. Colonel Xie asked me to give these to you. One injection per month.”

Wu Heng felt like this was Xie Chongyi’s private matter. He tilted his head to the side.

After Xie Chongyi accepted it, Mushroom Head finally asked, “What are your plans next?”

Wu Zhi answered eagerly: “We want the energy cores of the mutated bamboo.”

Mushroom Head looked at her. “Energy cores… for what?”

“To grow bigger and stronger!”

“To grow bigger and stronger… for what?”

Wu Zhi froze. She tugged at Wu Heng’s sleeve. “My brother will answer that question.”

Wu Heng nudged Xie Chongyi with his shoulder.

Before Xie Chongyi could speak, Mushroom Head said, “Go to Jingzhou. There, your abilities will have more room to develop. But whether you go or not is your choice.”

Wu Heng hesitated, then tentatively asked, “Um… do you wear perfume?”

“?” Mushroom Head blinked, clearly taken aback. “Perfume? No.”

“Oh.”

After handing the items to Xie Chongyi, Mushroom Head didn’t waste any more time. He turned and, while stepping forward, pulled a folded detector from his shoulder bag.

“Northwest, 8.6 kilometers. That’s where the abnormal signal is coming from,” Mushroom Head said, lifting the corner of his eyes. “Now, let’s move out.”

No one questioned him. He led the ability users away.

Once their figures disappeared, the wind carried the chill from Wu Zhi to Wu Heng and Xie Chongyi.

“So cold,” Wu Heng said.

“Let’s head back,” Xie Chongyi said, holding the metal box as he turned.

The bamboo sheaths were piled thickly. Walking through the forest, the three of them casually dealt with several zombies along the way.

Wu Zhi frowned. “Are we still going for the bamboo energy cores? The wood-type cores would be really useful for my brother.”

“Of course,” Xie Chongyi said suddenly, gripping Wu Heng’s arm. “We need to hurry—get there before them.”

Wu Heng took the initiative to hold Xie Chongyi’s hand. “Northwest, 8.6 kilometers.”

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