LABMY CH94.1

In a small hotel room, the expressions of the four people were all different, creating a rather bizarre and chaotic scene. Just by looking at their faces, it was hard to tell what exactly had happened.

Jian Yuanbai looked helpless and a bit caught off guard, while Shen Nian stood to the side, gloating with the expression of someone watching a good show and dragging others into the mess. Qu Wenxuan was anxious and desperate, while Yang Jinhang, weak and confused, looked utterly bewildered.

Shen Nian suddenly thought of something and interrupted Qu Wenxuan, “Saying it like this won’t work. It has to be when others are humiliating him. At that moment, a person’s emotions can be stirred to the extreme, and words will hold more power.”

Jian Yuanbai glanced at Shen Nian with a complicated expression. This theory, which sounded completely unreliable, somehow became more convincing as Shen Nian explained it.

In a way, Shen Nian was truly a genius when it came to spouting Long Aotian-style lines.

Should I say, as expected of the future “Long Aotian”?

Qu Wenxuan began to seriously think, “Where can we find someone to humiliate him right now?”

“Would it work if I humiliate him?”

Yang Jinhang opened his mouth but couldn’t speak. No… Why the hell do I need to be humiliated?

Shen Nian frowned, looking serious, “If you do it, the effect might not be as expected. The power of words must come from genuine emotion. The rebuttal must be forceful, the voice loud, and the emotions intense. I believe his ability is a type of ‘Word Spirit.'”

“Word Spirit?!” Qu Wenxuan was shocked. His gaze toward Jian Yuanbai became even more curious and respectful. “I always thought this only existed in novels and anime. I can’t believe that after the apocalypse, even Word Spirit abilities actually exist.”

At this moment, Jian Yuanbai really wanted to light a cigarette. He thought to himself: You don’t need to respect me. I just heard about this ‘Word Spirit’ thing for the first time too.

Qu Wenxuan applied medicine to Yang Jinhang’s wounds. Beneath the scorched skin, faint brown fuzz had already begun to emerge, making him even more anxious.

“If we need someone to truly humiliate him, we should find those with bad character. I know of a group gathered in a large supermarket in this city. We can take Jinhang there.”

He looked at Yang Jinhang, who was struggling to keep his eyes open, and said softly, “Sleep now. No matter what, we’ll give it a try when you wake up.”

Hearing this bizarre conversation, Yang Jinhang really felt like he was dreaming or hallucinating. So, he relaxed and fell asleep again.

Since eliminating the contamination wasn’t possible at the moment, Shen Nian brought up something that had been bothering him from earlier.

He glanced at his hand and asked, “You can’t turn on the faucet, right?”

Qu Wenxuan nodded, “Some small spiders crawl out of the pipes. This hotel is already occupied by spiders.”

His expression was complicated, filled with pity and sorrow, “Those little spiders… they’re probably the people who were eaten.”

“You may have noticed that they can be burned with fire, but as long as the ‘Spider Mother’ exists, the little spiders will keep being born from its belly.”

Jian Yuanbai asked, “What is the Spider Mother?”

Qu Wenxuan explained, “It’s another contaminant that was once human. I don’t know where it is in the hotel. In the past few days, as the weather got colder, the Spider Mother became more dormant. Before you arrived, Jinhang and I had already been trapped here for several days.”

“The Spider Mother is cruel. The entire hotel is like its giant spider web. Prey can move around inside but cannot leave. I originally planned to take advantage of the cold weather when the Spider Mother was less active to escape. But…”

“Jinhang’s shoulder wound happened when we tried to escape,” Qu Wenxuan explained anxiously, “I told you to leave because I thought the colder weather tomorrow would increase your chances of escaping since none of you are injured. I wasn’t trying to harm you.”

Jian Yuanbai waved his hand, signaling that it was fine. “Let’s rest for the night. We’ll leave tomorrow.”

It was already late, and Qu Wenxuan gave up the idea of moving to another hotel room. He stayed by Yang Jinhang’s side, unwilling to sleep. Jian Yuanbai and Shen Nian simply made do with the sofa in the same room.

Shen Nian sat on the sofa, staring at his hand, struggling internally. After hesitating for a long time, he couldn’t help but call out, “Xiao Ba…”

Jian Yuanbai looked at him and naturally extended his hand, “Cold?”

“No.” Shen Nian was a bit embarrassed and looked at Jian Yuanbai with pleading eyes. “Can you use your water ring to help me wash my hands?”

A pale, slender hand stretched out in front of Jian Yuanbai. “This hand… just crawled over a spider.”

Since they first entered the room and saw the injured Yang Jinhang, Shen Nian had been holding back from dealing with his hand that made his scalp tingle.

Qu Wenxuan, who wasn’t sleeping, was surprised when he heard the noise. He was already shocked that Jian Yuanbai had two abilities. He thought Jian Yuanbai would refuse, as using abilities consumes a lot of energy. But to his surprise, Jian Yuanbai agreed without hesitation.

“Come here,” Jian Yuanbai said, getting up. “Use the sink.”

Water flowed continuously from Jian Yuanbai’s palm like a faucet. Shen Nian grabbed an unused bar of hotel soap and rubbed his hands repeatedly.

Under the running water, his pale hands scrubbed each other vigorously. The hand that had touched the spider was washed over and over again, turning red and almost peeling. Shen Nian still refused to stop and was about to lather up with soap for another round.

Jian Yuanbai grabbed his hand, “Still washing?”

“Even the pig trotters in the restaurant aren’t this clean.”

Shen Nian pouted, “I still feel the itch.”

Jian Yuanbai frowned, dragged him away, and said, “It’s already clean. Stop thinking about it. Go to sleep.”

He turned off the lights and didn’t give Shen Nian a chance to refuse. He directly pulled Shen Nian into his arms, interlocking their fingers, and said softly, “Alright, no more spiders. Only me holding you. Sleep.”

Shen Nian was silent for a while before suddenly asking, “Xiao Ba, do you still not remember anything?”

“No. Why?” Jian Yuanbai was momentarily nervous, but he received no response. Shen Nian had already closed his eyes and fallen asleep.

The night was quiet. No honking cars, no sounds of traffic. The kind of tranquility that was once impossible in a bustling city now filled the post-apocalyptic world.

Jian Yuanbai didn’t sleep. He only closed his eyes to rest. After an unknown amount of time, he opened his eyes and looked down.

The person in his arms was sleeping soundly, instinctively burrowing closer to the warmth. Their interlocked fingers had unknowingly loosened. Shen Nian’s long eyelashes cast a shadow on his pale face, and his hand rested on his own cheek, probably feeling cold. The action was a bit silly, yet cute.

This was the quiet and sleeping Shen Nian. But Jian Yuanbai thought of the sly, gloating look Shen Nian had when making Yang Jinhang shout, “My fate is mine to control, not the heavens.”

“Longlong.”

Jian Yuanbai suddenly called out softly.

The person in his arms didn’t wake up. Jian Yuanbai carefully laid him down on the sofa, got up, looked at Shen Nian, and suddenly smiled. He whispered again, “Shen Longlong.”

This sudden nickname appeared in Jian Yuanbai’s mind, but it felt incredibly fitting for Shen Nian.

A future Long Aotian… calling him “Longlong” couldn’t be more appropriate.

Jian Yuanbai walked to the window and opened it. Suddenly, a voice called out to him.

Qu Wenxuan, who had been lying there with his eyes closed, had unknowingly woken up and was now staring at him.

“You…?”

Qu Wenxuan organized his words in his mind, unsure of how to describe this scene appropriately. In the middle of the night, a figure stood by the window, opening it as if about to jump.

He suddenly realized that only he had introduced his name. Now that he wanted to call out to the person, he couldn’t remember their name and didn’t know what to say. After struggling for a moment, he blurted out, “Master of Word Spirits, what are you trying to do?”

Master of Word Spirits… Jian Yuanbai was momentarily speechless. He said flatly, “Just call me Mr. Bai. I’m going out.”

“Don’t worry about it.”

With that, he jumped out of the window. Qu Wenxuan widened his eyes, but he didn’t see any sign of a falling figure. Fearing that spiders might come in, he hurriedly closed the window but didn’t lock it, afraid Jian Yuanbai wouldn’t be able to return.

In the boundless night, a crescent moon hung high in the sky. Jian Yuanbai, dressed in black, landed lightly on the hotel rooftop. He had told the system before that he could feel the pollution creatures feared him.

What he hadn’t mentioned was that he could also sense where the pollution creatures were.

When he was being chased by a swarm of human-faced spiders, Jian Yuanbai had run upstairs, intending to reach the rooftop. He hadn’t expected to run into Qu Wenxuan midway, who helped them.

Standing on the rooftop, the cold night wind rustled his clothes. Jian Yuanbai took a light step forward, and the moment his foot touched the rooftop, a large portion of it silently shattered into fine dust, radiating outward from his toe as the center.

He dropped down. Before him was a creature with a face covered in writhing eyes, limbs long enough to stretch from the center of the room to the doorway and window. Its body was emaciated, but its abdomen was enormous—about the width of an average adult female’s waist and above—supporting a bloated belly that nearly filled half the room.

Through the thin layer of skin, veins were visible, as well as countless small spiders writhing inside, their shapes pressing against the surface.

The frenzied eyes covering its face all stopped moving at once, staring at Jian Yuanbai in terror.

“I don’t want to kill you, but you’ve killed too many people,” Jian Yuanbai said, reaching out and tapping its forehead.

He made no other movement. Just like that, he turned and left the room.

Behind him, the Spider Mother’s wide-open eyes lost all light. Inside its massive abdomen, the tiny spiders stopped writhing. The thin skin, once stretched by their movements, now lay still. Because the mother body had died, the spiders dependent on it would perish as well.

When Jian Yuanbai returned, Qu Wenxuan was still awake. This time, he didn’t ask any questions. He simply watched as the man returned to the sofa and pulled the shivering, curled-up beautiful youth into his arms.

Qu Wenxuan knew Jian Yuanbai had no intention of explaining what he had just done, so asking would be pointless.

However, he was quite curious about the relationship between these two strikingly good-looking individuals. If he hadn’t misheard, that young man had called this tall, mysterious man “Xiao Ba”?

Qu Wenxuan stole a glance at the two tightly embracing figures. At this level of intimacy… If it was just “Xiao Ba,” wasn’t this a bit too close?

…

The next morning, before Shen Nian even opened his eyes, he felt a wave of cold air, shivering as he instinctively leaned toward the nearest heat source.

Unexpectedly, a hand patted his butt, followed by the familiar voice of a man beside his ear: “Get up.”

Jian Yuanbai watched as Shen Nian, upon opening his eyes, swiftly stood to the side, trying his best to act as if he hadn’t just been clinging to him.

Jian Yuanbai chuckled, “Eat something. We need to head out.”

Food was not scarce in the hotel. This room was stocked with supplies Qu Wenxuan and his group had gathered. While eating breakfast, Shen Nian kept glancing at Jian Yuanbai, hesitation written on his face.

It was too cold. The weather had become so frigid that Wang Li and Su Su were shivering nonstop. As an ordinary human, Shen Nian naturally wasn’t spared either.

He gritted his teeth and held his bowl, saying nothing.

Meanwhile, in the bedroom, the just-awakened Yang Jinhang listened blankly to Qu Wenxuan’s explanation, finding it hard to believe. “This actually works?”

“Doesn’t this sound completely ridiculous to you?”

Qu Wenxuan simply said, “If we don’t try, you’ll soon turn into a mindless monster. If we try, at least there’s a sliver of hope.”

Looking at Yang Jinhang, his tone was light, yet it carried a heavy weight, almost unbearable. “I don’t want to be the one to kill you.”

“Alright,” Yang Jinhang didn’t say anything else to refuse. Instead, he agreed, “Let’s try.”

After breakfast, when Wang Li learned they were changing plans, he hesitated for a moment but then nodded. “Alright, I understand. I’ll follow behind Mr. Qu in the car.”

Qu Wenxuan waved his hand and quickly said, “You don’t need to call me Mr. Qu, just call me by my name. Xiao Qu is fine too.”

“How can that be?” Wang Li knew Qu Wenxuan was an ability user and naturally didn’t dare to be disrespectful. “How about this, I’ll call you Qu-ge.”

Although he looked older than Qu Wenxuan, he called him “Qu-ge” without any awkwardness.

Su Su also softly called him “Qu-ge.”

This left Qu Wenxuan, who was just a college student before the apocalypse, feeling a bit embarrassed. He didn’t know what else to say and could only smile along with them.

The group introduced themselves to each other, so they were now somewhat acquainted. After that, they packed their things and prepared to set off.

Jian Yuanbai walked at the front, followed by Shen Nian. Wang Li, remembering the spider from last night, played it safe and positioned himself in front of Qu Wenxuan. With an ability user in front and behind, his safety was guaranteed.

Qu Wenxuan, acting like a gentleman, let Su Su walk ahead of him. Yang Jinhang was in front of him, and he himself took the rear.

The burns on Yang Jinhang’s body weren’t too severe. His fainting yesterday was due to pollution. After applying medicine and sleeping for a night, he could walk normally this morning.

Before leaving the hotel, Qu Wenxuan remained on edge, wary of spiders that might suddenly appear from anywhere. However, even after completely leaving the hotel, he didn’t see a single spider.

At that moment, he glanced at Jian Yuanbai walking in front and suddenly understood what this man had done last night.

Qu Wenxuan didn’t feel fear or anxiety about this. Instead, he was even more pleased. The stronger Jian Yuanbai was, the more reliable their plan to remove the pollution from Yang Jinhang would be.

Once outside the hotel, the cold became even more biting without any cover. When the wind blew, Shen Nian felt like he wasn’t wearing any clothes. He glanced at Jian Yuanbai again but didn’t say a word.

The group split into two cars. Wang Li, as usual, took the driver’s seat, Su Su sat in the front passenger seat, while Jian Yuanbai and Shen Nian sat in the back.

Not long after sitting down, Jian Yuanbai noticed Shen Nian shifting closer to him.

A moment later, he moved a little closer again.

Jian Yuanbai leisurely watched Shen Nian scoot closer and closer, his expression indifferent as if nothing was happening.

Until Shen Nian’s leg finally touched his, Jian Yuanbai suddenly spoke, “What’s wrong?”

Shen Nian stubbornly replied, “Nothing.”

“The car is moving too fast. I couldn’t sit still.”

Wang Li was about to defend himself, but then remembered something and swallowed his words. “Sorry, I’ll slow down.”

He couldn’t afford to offend the real “Mr. Bai,” nor could he afford to offend Shen Nian, whom “Mr. Bai” treated like a treasure.

Shen Nian’s ears turned slightly red. He pretended to be calm and said, “It’s fine.”

Five minutes later, Jian Yuanbai glanced at Shen Nian, who was now practically pressing half his leg against him. “And this time? The car is still too fast?”

Shen Nian couldn’t take it anymore. The pampered young master had never experienced such cold before. He gave up on pretending and looked at Jian Yuanbai with pleading eyes.

“Can you hold me?”

“It’s really too cold.” He raised his pinky finger and gestured, “I’m very small. I won’t take up much space. Just one hug, okay?”

Jian Yuanbai: “I can, but… what should you call me?”

“Xiao Ba —” Shen Nian’s expression turned strange for a moment, then he smiled with curved eyes and dragged out the end of his words softly and sweetly, “Xiao Ba, hug me~”

Jian Yuanbai pulled him into his arms. Shen Nian immediately slipped his hands inside Jian Yuanbai’s coat, sighing in relief from the warmth.

If he had known calling him “Xiao Ba” would work, he wouldn’t have acted tough and wasted so much time.

When they arrived at their destination, Jian Yuanbai carried Shen Nian out of the car like a koala, drawing frequent glances from Qu Wenxuan.

Faced with the choice between saving face or freezing to death, Shen Nian didn’t hesitate. He buried his face in Jian Yuanbai’s shoulder, looking exactly like a sleeping koala.

Qu Wenxuan said, “We’re almost there. It’s not suitable for all of us to go in. Jinhang will go in alone. I know a place where we can observe him.”

“But…” Qu Wenxuan hesitated and looked at Jian Yuanbai. “Can you make someone unable to make a sound for a while?”

“I want to stay close so I can help in case something happens.”

Jian Yuanbai nodded, “I can.”

It was said that the group occupied a large supermarket, but that wasn’t entirely true. They actually lived in a house not far in front of the supermarket. The supermarket was guarded, and they communicated via walkie-talkies in case of emergencies. Next to the house was a two-story café. From the second-floor balcony, it was easy to access the house’s second-floor balcony.

The six of them split into two groups. Yang Jinhang went directly to the front of the house to draw attention, while Jian Yuanbai and the others snuck in from the balcony, swiftly taking down the guards without making a sound.

Quietly, they stood on the balcony, listening to the sounds inside.

Jian Yuanbai and Shen Nian had a good position, allowing them to see part of the situation through a gap.

A man with decent looks but greasy hair plastered to his head sneered when he saw Yang Jinhang walk in.

Before he even spoke, the mocking smile had already emerged.

Then he said, “What’s this? My dear old roommate finally hit rock bottom and came to beg me?”

Yang Jinhang only had one line to say and didn’t know how to respond to the man’s words. So he decided to stick to the script. “Mm.”

The man sneered with disdain, “Back then, I said I’d take care of you guys for the sake of our friendship as roommates.”

“But you and Qu Wenxuan insisted on calling me despicable. Am I despicable?”

“It’s the apocalypse, bro. The law of the jungle is the way of this world now,” the man said, then asked, “So, has Qu Wenxuan finally decided you’re just dead weight?”

Yang Jinhang nodded again. “Mm.”

“Then why should I take you back? After all, you’re just an ordinary person with no abilities,” the man said as he sat down on the sofa. Immediately, someone knelt beside him and began massaging his legs.

The man added, “Give me a reason to forgive and forget.”

Yang Jinhang’s silence echoed in the man’s mind.

A reason… what reason?