Run the Plot Ch.41

Chapter 41: The Eighth Plotline

It was an order — and the alarm stopped abruptly.

The punishment panel vanished, leaving only the mission panel that had been triggered at the same time.

A voice came from beside him: “Okay.”

Then, Yan Chuanbai looked at him again. “What about you?”

Time was tight. Qi He thought for only two seconds before making a decisive choice. “You go first. I won’t be going with you this time.”

Yan Chuanbai paused slightly at that. Yu Tianxing was also stunned, looking at him — ‘Wasn’t it agreed that you two couldn’t be apart?’

Qi He added, “I’ll come find you later.”

Yan Chuanbai looked at him for a second. “Alright.”

The helicopter and the support squad were already on standby. Once he finished speaking, Yan Chuanbai turned and strode away.

His swift steps stirred a gust of wind as he disappeared around the corner of the corridor.

Yu Tianxing turned toward Qi He, his genius mind unable to make sense of it. “If you’re going anyway, why not just go together?”

Qi He didn’t explain much. “I still have something to take care of.”

With that, he bid Yu Tianxing goodbye and headed downstairs.

The system popped up, sounding equally shocked: [You’re actually not tailing Yan Chuanbai step by step this time?]

“…” Qi He replied mildly, “Don’t make me sound like some kind of p*rvert.”

He walked down a few steps, and the system continued in his head: [The key plot has already been triggered — why not just follow along as usual?]

Qi He said, “Didn’t it say two days later? There’s no need to catch up right now.”

This was the first time a “key plotline” overlapped with the main storyline.

He narrowed his eyes slightly. During those brief two seconds, a bold hypothesis had formed in his mind — his “cannon fodder” role, aside from constantly courting death and becoming a stumbling block for Yan Chuanbai, must also contain one crucial element — a key point that would influence the final storyline.

And through this latest trigger, he had finally found it.

The system disagreed: [Aside from following the plot, what earth-shattering thing could you possibly have to do in the next two days?]

Qi He didn’t answer.

——It was precisely “the next two days.”

The timing was too precise, too delicate to be a coincidence…

After a few steps, he had already left the research institute.

Bright sunlight poured down. Qi He changed the subject. “Show me the script that was just released.”

[Oh, right.]

The system pulled up the script it hadn’t had time to display earlier:

『F City is under siege by mutated creatures. Yan Chuanbai, representing Base I, is sent as reinforcements.

You have already gained a notorious reputation at Base I. Now that the hidden Base III has surfaced, an idea occurs to you…

Since Yan Chuanbai is no longer someone you can cling to, perhaps you can go to another base, take on a new identity, and live▇▇▇▇.』

Qi He stopped mid-step and couldn’t help saying, “Stop.”

The system paused the playback. [What’s wrong?]

“The earlier parts were tolerable.”

Qi He stared at the floating panel above him and took a deep breath. “But in this kind of limited manpower mission, how is the useless ‘me’ supposed to tag along?”

The system seemed to stutter for a moment before replying: […As cannon fodder, you’re meant to appear where no one expects you.]

It added, [That’s why you were given two days in advance this time — how you use them is up to you.]

“…” Qi He gave up arguing. “Continue.”

The script continued to load:

『Your appearance completely exhausts Yan Chuanbai’s patience. He no longer cares whether you live or die, leaving you to fend for yourself on a battlefield teeming with danger.

Just then, an unexpected event occurs — the ground above collapses under the assault of the mutated creatures. The entire horde of zombies plunges down, surrounding you both!

You stare at the encircling swarm of zombies, then turn around and ▇▇▇▇ Yan Chuanbai』

The script ended there.

Qi He narrowed his eyes slightly as he read the final line.

The system, however, seemed rather unconcerned and closed the script window.

After all, the hardest prerequisite had already been resolved. As long as Qi He appeared at the right time and place—

A plot like this was nothing he couldn’t handle.

[You’ve got plenty of time this round. Make good use of it.]

Qi He gave no response, simply heading toward the tall building ahead.

In his eyes, the bright sunlight reflected a sharp glint — tinged with a gambler’s recklessness.

Plenty of time? He could only gamble on that.

—

Over the next two days, battle reports from the frontlines kept pouring in. Headquarters had dispatched Le Yunyu and the tank-type fighter; Base I had sent Yan Chuanbai; Base II, Xi Moqing.

Because F City was built underground, what had once been its advantage had now become a fatal weakness — the mutants were invading from all directions.

Four S-rank combat types were each holding a front on their own.

At the same time, the three major bases continued to send A-rank ability users via helicopter as reinforcements.

News about F City wasn’t being deliberately concealed.

At Base I’s training ground—

A helicopter thudded overhead, flying back toward the base. At the front of the field, Ye Yi stood with her hands behind her back, Ji Yan beside her.

She swept her gaze across the group. “Instructor Qi isn’t here today. We’ll be leading your training instead.”

Everyone below exchanged bewildered looks.

In the crowd, Ke Yuan’s expression twitched. He asked with feigned casualness, his tone carrying a trace of mockery: “Not here? He’s a super 4S-rank, yet he didn’t go to the frontlines — and now he’s not even showing up for training?”

Ye Yi shot him a cold glance. “Do you have the right to question that?”

Ke Yuan was momentarily choked off, then glared back at her. “What, S-ranks are all high and mighty now? Ordinary people can’t even ask?”

Those with ability and responsibility were often the easiest targets for moral judgment and scrutiny. Before the apocalypse, Ke Yuan had been skilled at exploiting this very principle — stirring up trouble so the chaos would keep him safe.

Seeing Ye Yi pause without replying, he pressed on: “You small cliques just rely on privilege to throw your weight around. And that Meng Yan — the one who somehow snagged the position of head of the research team…”

Most people didn’t know much about the feud involving Meng Yan and his group.

At his words, a few people below exchanged uncertain glances.

“Team Leader Meng is close with them?”

“Seems like it. I’ve seen them coming and going together pretty often.”

“No way, something shady like using power for personal gain…”

Ji Yan frowned and shouted, “Hey! Anyone spreading baseless rumors again — try it and see what happens!”

Ke Yuan curled his lips in satisfaction. After all, he hadn’t said anything outright — it was everyone else who filled in the blanks themselves. Once gossip like this started to spread, proving one’s innocence would be next to impossible…

Suddenly, the loudspeaker at the edge of the field beeped.

A moment later, Yu Tianxing’s voice rang through the entire base: “Now for an important announcement — thanks to the relentless efforts of Meng Yan’s team, Base I has successfully developed a serum that can suppress the zombie virus to a certain extent—”

“It is temporarily designated as Antibody No. 1.”

The entire base erupted in an uproar.

“An antibody!? Doesn’t that mean the infection rate could be greatly reduced?”

“Team Leader Meng developed that? That’s incredible!”

Yu Tianxing’s gentle voice continued over the speakers: “Everyone may proceed to the cultivation base to register and receive it in an orderly manner.”

With that, the announcement ended.

Before the crowd could rush off in excitement toward the cultivation base, another siren blared across the sky—

“Beeep—beeep—beee-woo—”

It signaled that the base had entered full defense mode.

Which also meant—the only super 4S-rank combatant had left the base.

At the front of the training ground, a flash of bright red passed by.

Hands in his pockets, Ji Yan was the first to leave, calling out loudly, “Hey! I’m going to register first—you guys do what you want!”

“Wait up, I’m coming too—”

Among the crowd, a few people who had heard Ke Yuan’s “bold statements” in the cafeteria two days ago couldn’t resist throwing a reminder over their shoulders: “Right, didn’t some people say they wouldn’t use anything developed by Team Leader Meng?”

Hearing that, several others glanced over disdainfully.

“Oh, then don’t you dare forget your principles!”

A wave of laughter and chatter followed as people streamed away.

Only Ke Yuan and his few companions were left standing in place, their faces alternating between pale and livid.

—

Meanwhile, Qi He was already seated aboard a helicopter.

The aircraft sliced swiftly through the air above the ground.

He had several doses of the newly issued “Antibody No. 1” secured in a case beside him.

The system was dumbfounded: [So this is what you were waiting for? The thing you had Meng Yan working on earlier—it was the antibody?]

Qi He brushed a hand lightly over the storage case.

“As a first version, I’m not sure how effective it’ll be.”

In truth, research on antibodies had never completely stopped.

But after the virus outbreak, pollution and mutations had spread; hybrid crops cultivated to increase yield, combined with the contaminated rainfall from the skies, had altered the structure of most plant species.

None of the three major bases had managed to locate that specific “stable structure”—

until they brought back an unpolluted flower specimen from the greenhouse;

until the triggered alarm hinted at the key plot event.

“Clinical data shows that within 24 hours of infection, the antibody can enter the bloodstream and activate.”

Qi He tapped his finger lightly. “Then we have to move quickly.”

The system was on the verge of a breakdown:

[We’re the ones running out of time! Do you even remember your plotline? There’s less than two hours left!!!]

It had thought this time would be plenty.

Who could’ve guessed Qi He would spend that “plenty” waiting for the antibody to be finished!?

[Yan Chuanbai doesn’t necessarily have to get infected… No—wait, he’s the protagonist. Of course he won’t get infected. You could’ve just waited to give it to him when he got back!]

The system sounded utterly heartbroken:

[If you miss the timing, you’ll be gone!]

Qi He split the words calmly: “Then I’ll still have the ‘Qi’ part left.” (He’s punning on his own name — “Qi He”: losing the second character “He” leaves just “Qi.”)

The system froze for a second, then shrieked in despair: […Can you not crack jokes right now!!!]

“Alright, alright,” Qi He said soothingly. “I have a plan.”

He was gambling on time, gambling on odds.

If he couldn’t directly interfere with the triggered storyline, then he would make sure there were endless ways for it to turn.

Eyes fixed ahead, he ordered, “Prepare to accelerate.”

The words had barely fallen—

BOOM!

The helicopter surged forward, cutting through the air toward F City.

—

Underground, in the eastern breach of F City.

Yan Chuanbai stood amid a frozen, frost-covered wasteland.

Through the collapsed opening in the ground ahead, beams of daylight poured in—and with them, an endless tide of zombies and mutated creatures flooding into the city.

Behind him stood the newly constructed defensive wall of F City.

Because the city was underground, they couldn’t use large-scale firepower for cover. The rest of the reinforcements remained inside, protecting the lower-ranked ability users and ordinary civilians.

BOOM!!!

Another section of the ground collapsed.

Yan Chuanbai’s eyes locked on the surging tide of corpses ahead, his expression grim and sharp as a blade. Everything from the ground upward behind him had already been frozen solid by his ability—

When he first arrived, he had received a transmission from Qi He: “Watch out for zombies falling from above.”

His ability was being consumed rapidly, his concentration stretched to its absolute limit.

Fine red lines traced across his eyes.

The communicator at his collar beeped twice. He answered with one hand, and his adjutant’s anxious voice came through:

“Colonel, you have to fall back! We’ll send a squad out to hold the line for a bit!”

“Stay where you are. Guard the interior.”

Yan Chuanbai’s hoarse voice issued the order before he cut the channel.

As soon as he did, he turned and sliced through a mutated vine bursting out of the frozen ground behind him—his reflexes taking no more than half a second.

An A-rank combat type would be useless on a battlefield like this. Sending them out would just be sending them to die.

He drew in a deep breath and lifted his hand again.

A wave of extreme cold sealed the mutants in place; ice spikes tore mercilessly through zombie skulls. His other hand didn’t stop moving—the bullets flew, one after another.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

His super-3S-rank mental power was being pushed to the very edge of collapse.

…

He didn’t know how much time had passed.

At last, the number of mutants pouring in from the collapsed opening began to thin. Yan Chuanbai finally let out a small breath of relief.

Any more than this, and he really wouldn’t be able to hold out.

He lowered his hand, his fingertips trembling faintly—a rare sign of exhaustion. He was just about to open the channel again, to tell his adjutant to bring a team out and finish off the remaining stragglers—

when, above him, the frozen layer of ice suddenly cracked with a sharp “krrk”, splitting open.

Like a signal—

The next moment, the ground collapsed with a thunderous crash!

Yan Chuanbai’s heart clenched sharply as he dodged the falling ice and soil in an instant. His ability could no longer hold back the spreading sinkhole. Amid the deafening roar of sand and stone—

A horde of zombies came crashing down before his eyes.

A dense black tide reflected in his pupils; Yan Chuanbai suddenly let out a low laugh.

“Ha…”

Then he raised his gun, gaze unwavering—

Behind him stood a city.

He could not retreat.

The ice had already covered several kilometers behind him.

Yan Chuanbai stood atop the frozen ground, his spiritual energy nearly at its breaking point, yet his posture remained unshaken and upright.

Bang! Another shot rang out—then a sharp click.

The chamber was empty.

Yan Chuanbai reached for more, but there were no bullets left—only a single cigarette.

His fingers paused for two seconds… then pulled it out.

Click. It lit.

A small red glow flickered in the darkness of his eyes. He lifted his gaze once more.

His spiritual energy was about to ignite completely, burning itself out—when suddenly, a rhythmic thump-thump-thump of rotor blades came from above the sinkhole.

Yan Chuanbai’s heart jolted violently. He held his breath.

…

Above, a helicopter swooped down toward the collapsing pit.

The cabin door flew open—a hand gripped the boarding rail.

A white T-shirt fluttered in the wind, the tactical harness wrapped tight around his body. Qi He stared down at the widening sinkhole below.

A familiar figure stood alone before the encircling tide of zombies.

Thirty seconds left on the mission countdown.

Even the System’s code was about to glitch out: [Hurry hurry hurry!!!]

Qi He loosened his grip—then leapt.

The white figure plunged through the air, landing hard in front of Yan Chuanbai with a thud! Qi He straightened, planting himself between him and the surging horde.

Yan Chuanbai’s eyes widened; his heartbeat thundered in his chest.

He stared at the person who had appeared within arm’s reach, unable to name the flood of emotions crashing through him. It was as if the blood in his body—ashes moments ago—had suddenly reignited.

“Qi—”

Before he could finish, a hand suddenly reached out.

A fingertip brushed past his lips—

and snatched the half-burnt cigarette away.

Qi He’s gaze burned bright, fierce as flame.

He glanced at the glowing interface beside him:

『…Since Yan Chuanbai can no longer be relied upon, perhaps it’s time to move to another base, change your name, and start ▇▇▇▇』

With a flick of his wrist, he hurled the cigarette toward the zombie horde behind them.

That single spark burst in the frozen air—

BOOM!!!!!!

He had, quite literally, set the world on fire—blasting open an escape route, buying them a few seconds.

Five seconds left.

『You stare at the encircling swarm of zombies, then turn around and ▇▇▇▇ Yan Chuanbai』

Qi He lifted his head and called, “Yan Chuanbai.”

“What—”

Before Yan Chuanbai could react, a pair of arms suddenly wrapped tightly around his waist. His chest filled with warmth; for the first time, he froze even as the zombies closed in.

The next instant, his feet left the ground.

Qi He—without hesitation—scooped him up and bolted straight through the encirclement.

Yan Chuanbai: “…”

Yan Chuanbai: “????”

— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —

Author’s Note:

Yan Chuanbai: When I first saw him lift that tree by himself, I should’ve known something was wrong…

Qi He: Assault!! 💥

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