Chapter 205: Dividing Tasks
After the meal, Wu Heng and the others crowded into one of the offices on the first floor of the administrative building. Jiang Xun brought out her equipment and activated a card swipe to connect to Jingzhou’s signal. Static flickered across the display screen. Wu Heng subconsciously looked for Xie Chongyi, and only relaxed when he realized the other was standing right beside him.
He had never been very good at interacting with elders. The only elder he was close to, Grandma Lin, was blind—no matter what expression he wore when he spoke, she couldn’t see it anyway. But Xie Yi was different.
The moment the woman’s face appeared on the screen, Wu Heng almost stood up. He had already lifted himself off the chair when Xie Chongyi placed a hand on his shoulder and subtly pressed him back down.
A few seconds later, the boy’s hazy thoughts finally focused, his gaze settling on the center of the screen.
Xie Yi looked younger than he had imagined. She had slightly curly, shoulder-length hair and seemed gentler than expected—so much so that her first impression even carried a hint of playfulness. Her eyes were almost exactly the same as Xie Chongyi’s, though the emotions within them were vastly different, perhaps because she carried far more on her shoulders.
“My mom’s hair is naturally curly. Luckily, I didn’t inherit that,” Xie Chongyi said softly beside Wu Heng.
Wu Heng was still a bit dazed until Xie Yi’s voice came from the screen, calling his name. “Wu Heng, Wang Xingheng, right? I’m Xie Yi.”
“Hello, Auntie,” Wu Heng replied.
A faint smile rested at the corner of Xie Yi’s lips. “We’re discussing official matters right now, so there’s no need to call me that. Otherwise, you might end up at a disadvantage with me.”
Wu Heng glanced at Xie Chongyi. Xie Chongyi leaned down, his shoulder pressing lightly against the top of Wu Heng’s head, and looked straight at Xie Yi. “Colonel, just say what you need to say.”
Xie Yi glanced at Xie Chongyi, then turned her attention back to Wu Heng. “Wen Yuan has already told me roughly how many people you need and what kind. I’ll gather them within three days. But in those same three days, you must provide us with a route that allows smooth entry into Deathlands.”
Wu Heng nodded. “Alright.”
After nodding, he felt like he had still been taken advantage of—he should have used the opportunity to make a few more demands.
After coming to his senses, he spoke up before Xie Yi could, “Supplies…”
“Have Wen Yuan make a list. I’ll provide whatever I can,” Xie Yi replied. “But Wu Heng, you know my condition.”
Only then did Wu Heng fully wake up. He pressed his lips together slightly. “The people who come in—do you manage them, or do I?”
“Of course you manage them,” Xie Yi said.
“I might not treat them very well.”
“Do you believe that life is more important than anything else?”
Wu Heng thought of Xie Chongyi, then nodded. “Yes.”
“Good. That’s enough. It doesn’t matter—staying alive is what matters most.” After saying that, Xie Yi suddenly smiled. “Have everyone else leave. We can chat now—and you can call me ‘Auntie’ again.”
After everyone else left the room, Xie Yi spoke again. “When Xiao Xie returned to Jingzhou, the first time he met me, he mentioned you. To be honest, I never expected him to like a boy.”
“But Auntie isn’t against the two of you. It’s just that Xiao Xie’s personality… he used to really dislike boys. When he was little, he thought the boys in his class were annoying and unhygienic. In second grade, one boy wiped his snot on Xiao Xie’s clothes—he got so angry he ran a high fever and ended up in the hospital. He gets angry easily, so I imagine it hasn’t been easy for you.”
“It hasn’t been hard.”
“Maybe that’s because he’s grown up and become more mature?”
‘Mature? Not really,’ Wu Heng thought.
“What’s Deathlands like? Is it beautiful?”
“It’s pretty nice,” Wu Heng said. The plants and animals were more beautiful than anything that had appeared elsewhere, more vibrant with life—and there weren’t zombies and rotting corpses everywhere. “Do you want to come take a look?”
Xie Yi couldn’t help but laugh. “I’m tied up with official duties—I can’t go.”
“You could come on a business trip or something.”
Xie Yi shook her head. “Things aren’t like before. I can’t leave. You and Xiao Xie just stay there without worry. If you need anything, have Wen Yuan tell me.”
Seeing that both Wu Heng and Xie Chongyi had fallen silent, the smile on Xie Yi’s face deepened, becoming gentler. “You’ve both grown up, and you’re already very capable. Don’t be afraid.”
Wu Heng felt a warmth sting his eyes. At last, he understood why Xie Chongyi, when he was young, had been willing to volunteer for experiments with the dream of saving the world. He also understood why, even while dissatisfied with everyone, Xie Chongyi still led them all in their escape. After meeting Xie Yi, everything that hadn’t made sense before suddenly did. After all, even after suffering Ying Liuquan’s mental attack, the worst Xie Chongyi could say about her was only that she hadn’t bought him the T-shirt he liked.
Before Xie Yi and Xie Chongyi could continue speaking, she suddenly glanced behind her, then turned back. “I have something to take care of. Once you’re done, get some rest early. We’ll talk again.”
The signal cut off so abruptly that both Wu Heng and Xie Chongyi were caught off guard. After exchanging a look, Wu Heng said awkwardly, “Your mom is really nice.” He had originally thought she wouldn’t be—clearly, that was all because of Xie Chongyi.
Xie Chongyi pinched Wu Heng’s ear. “She’s our mom.”
Wu Heng could clearly feel that the meaning behind the ear pinch shifted—from a simple joke at first to something more layered. Half his body tingled, and he instinctively tried to pull away, which only gave Xie Chongyi an excuse to act further.
He was pulled back and pressed against the back of the chair. He had just taken a breath when Xie Chongyi leaned in close, their faces nearly touching. The contact that followed was more forceful than before, carrying a sharp, possessive edge. Wu Heng frowned slightly in discomfort and looked up, meeting a pair of striking red eyes.
For a moment, Wu Heng almost mistook it for contamination—like some kind of anomaly—and his fingers tightened instinctively.
But the next second, Xie Chongyi pulled back just a little, letting out a low chuckle near his lips. “Gege, you spaced out.”
“Don’t brush me off. No next time.”
Wu Heng’s cheek was briefly caught between his fingers, the gesture teasing but firm, before Xie Chongyi finally let him go.
—
That night, to avoid any unexpected incidents in an unfamiliar place, everyone gathered to sleep together in the first-floor hall of the building.
Outside, Wen Yuan’s people took turns standing guard, allowing everyone to get a good night’s rest.
But at nine in the morning, Wen Yuan had someone go around and wake everyone up one by one.
“I’ll assign today’s tasks,” Jiang Xun said.
Wu Heng leaned against a floor-to-ceiling window that hadn’t completely shattered yet, hugging his blanket, still bleary-eyed. He had only been sitting there for less than two minutes when his body slowly started tilting to one side.
“Last night, we conducted a field investigation to see whether it’s possible to establish a passage through the barrier between Deathlands and other regions. It’s almost entirely surrounded by snow mountains, but in the end, we successfully found a location—a cave. Lin Mengzhi, take some people and go open it up. Set up defenses at the entrance and exit.”
“Shen Ping’an and Yang Xiaoyun, you’ll lead teams to clear out all the wild plants in the city today. Leave the landscaping greenery intact. Also, carry out repairs and reinforcement to guard against second or third impacts. Conduct geological and water source surveys as well—the specifics are up to you.”
“Search the entire area for usable energy sources—wind? water? Confirm everything today. Once the personnel assigned by the Colonel arrive, hand over the materials so they can plan the construction of the system.”
“Captain Wang, your task today is to assess the area’s capacity for a self-sustaining internal cycle.”
“Most of the specialized issues will have to wait for the people the Colonel sends.”
…
Lin Mengzhi sat on the ground. “Me? I’m digging a tunnel? Who am I supposed to go dig with?”
“That’s your problem,” Jiang Xun said, lifting her eyes from the notebook to look at the messy-haired young man. “Captain Lin.”
Lin Mengzhi immediately straightened his back as rigid as possible.
Xie Chongyi held a notebook he’d gotten from somewhere. As long as Jiang Xun spoke, he leaned against the window, sketching and writing. By the time Jiang Xun finished, the page in his hand had just been completed—a portrait of Wu Heng’s sleeping face.
Within moments, more than half of the dozens of people in the hall had left. Almost everyone capable of working had been picked by Jiang Xun, while Wen Yuan and Pu Fei, along with Feng Yu, had already left before dawn to assess the safety level of Deathlands.
Outside the hall, a large group descended the hundred-step staircase in a grand procession. Once they reached the streets, they split up in different directions.
“It’d be great if we had vehicles we could use.”
“We need to fix the roads as soon as possible.”
“Fixing just the city roads isn’t enough—the entire Deathlands needs roads.”
“Good thing we have abilities now. With a snap, we can blast out a few tunnels. Back in the day, who knows how much explosives we’d need—and excavators would be running themselves into the ground.”
Lin Mengzhi left with four others—five people in total including himself. He knew he tended to be impulsive and lacked enough capability, so aside from Xue Qi and Dou Lu from his own team, he also brought along Xue Shen and Zhou Yi.
Their task was to open up the cave within three days, so they simply brought along supplies for those three days, planning to return only after completing the job. After all, from the current situation, opening the cave and establishing a passage was the most critical step.
The hall gradually emptied out. Jiang Xun quietly walked over and crouched beside Xie Chongyi, lowering her voice. “Have you told Wu Heng what his current position is in everyone’s minds?”
Xie Chongyi didn’t react.
Jiang Xun leaned in a little closer. “When he wakes up, we need to come up with a more official title for him.”
Xie Chongyi yawned, then looked up. “Husband?”
“….” Jiang Xun suddenly felt like taking on this responsibility might shorten her lifespan by a few years.
Seeing Jiang Xun freeze on the spot, Xie Chongyi lazily continued, “Big brother, boss, captain, chief captain, chief, president, director, prime minister, president, chairman, city lord, overlord?”
Jiang Xun felt dizzy. “Let him choose himself.”
Instead, Xie Chongyi smiled. “And you’re all really this comfortable pushing Wu Heng into that position?”
Jiang Xun paused for a moment. Of course, she didn’t think Xie Chongyi was trying to seize power from Wu Heng. With mixed feelings, she said, “I know this isn’t fair to him. He’s not even twenty yet—he shouldn’t have to shoulder such heavy responsibility. But we belong to the military. If we take control, that wouldn’t be fair to Wu Heng either.”
Deathlands had always been territory Wu Heng intended to claim. From the very moment they stepped into it, they had already tacitly acknowledged his absolute authority over it. No one had ever questioned that point, nor did anyone dare to.
But authority also meant that an equal weight of responsibility and obligation would fall onto Wu Heng’s shoulders. At the very least, if Deathlands improved, his own life there would become more comfortable too.
“You wouldn’t be able to take control anyway,” Xie Chongyi said bluntly.
Jiang Xun: “…Leave your sister some dignity.”
“We just want to make this place better. I know it’ll put a lot of pressure on him, but Wu Heng has you, doesn’t he?” Jiang Xun tried to phrase it more tactfully.
Xie Chongyi’s expression visibly softened, the faint trace of mockery in his eyes fading.
“True.”
Jiang Xun let out a breath of relief. She tore a page from her notebook and stuffed it into Xie Chongyi’s hand. “Then I’ll leave this to you—talk to him about it.”
After Jiang Xun strode away, Xie Chongyi finished another sketch. Only then did he pick up the page she had given him and glance over the listed tasks. After a while, he tucked the page into the middle of his sketchbook. Such an enormous workload—Jiang Xun didn’t want to say it herself and pushed it onto him instead? Was she trying to affect his relationship with Wu Heng?
But after a moment, Xie Chongyi pulled the page out again and began carefully planning and arranging the tasks listed on it.
By a little past ten, bright sunlight appeared behind him. His back was bathed in the light, while his face remained in shadow, dim and slightly weary.
Meanwhile, the diligent workers had already begun their day. The lush vegetation was gradually being cleared away from among the buildings, and the barren city slowly revealed its original state.
Xie Chongyi broke Liu Shen’s group apart completely. Liu Shen had brought the largest number of people, but very few truly followed him willingly—most had only submitted because they were parasitized. Now that Liu Shen himself was as good as finished, unable to take care of even his own situation, it was the perfect time to split his forces up.
As for Liu Shen, Xie Chongyi handed him over to Ying Liuquan—sometimes a thug needed a proper teacher to set him straight.
A quiet, peaceful atmosphere gradually settled around the two—one asleep, one awake. Xie Chongyi spent two to three hours filling several pages with writing, arranging all the matters Jiang Xun wanted Wu Heng to plan. After finishing, he rubbed his sore wrist and leaned the back of his head against the glass. A few patches of moss still clung to the ceiling—soft, green clusters like little clouds.
The population of Deathlands would only grow, never shrink. Xie Chongyi didn’t trust those people—not even Xie Yi’s. When disasters strike, humans can unite as one. But once their basic needs are met, they begin to pursue things more “advanced” than food, drink, and survival—and in that pursuit, conflict becomes inevitable.
So for now, he wasn’t in a hurry to assign work to Lin Mengzhi and the others. Instead, he planned that once Xie Yi’s people arrived, he would hand them over for proper training. They needed to become more professional in every aspect—ideally well-versed in everything from astronomy to geography—so they could better serve as Wu Heng’s support.
At that moment, the quilt beside him suddenly shifted.
Xie Chongyi set aside his pen and paper and first checked on Wu Heng, only to find that he was still asleep. Then he reached under the blanket and pulled out the wriggling thing.
X’s pitch-black eyes blinked. “Hungry.”
Xie Chongyi stuffed it back under the blanket. “Didn’t you go eat when they had breakfast?”
“Tastes bad!” X shouted.
Probably just some instant corn paste and meat mash again, Xie Chongyi thought. The parrot, spoiled by Wu Heng, had likely refused to take a single bite. Shukui, on the other hand, had probably eaten—judging by how it was sleeping soundly nearby in a posture resembling a curled-up dog.
Xie Chongyi scooped it up into his hands. Before leaving, his gaze swept around the hall—there were still a few people left: the Yang siblings, Ruan Silian, and Qiu Li.
Seeing Xie Chongyi heading out with the bird, Qiu Li jumped out of the fish tank and chased after him, following him out the door. “Where are you going?”
“To find some bird food. No need to follow me—stay in the hall and keep them safe,” Xie Chongyi said. He could already guess that this was the task assigned to Qiu Li.
“I don’t need you to tell me that,” Qiu Li scoffed. “I’m just recording personnel movements as part of routine.”
Xie Chongyi gradually came to a stop. He turned around and looked at the boy in front of him—his skin, made almost translucent by his pink hair, still carried the same arrogance as always. But something subtle had changed—something was missing, like that blind admiration he once had for the strongest person he knew.
If he guessed correctly, the person Qiu Li admired now was probably Wu Heng. And going further, it was likely that Qiu Li had volunteered to stay behind on guard duty.
Xie Chongyi slowly smiled. Without hesitation, he tucked the parrot that had been nestled against him into Qiu Li’s arms, brushed past him, and started walking back.
As he did, his voice drifted into Qiu Li’s ears—
“Birds and fish should have something in common. Take it to find something to eat. I’ll watch the hall for you.”