LABMY CH95.2

He wouldn’t do anything, just save those poor ordinary people.

On the other side, Jian Yuanbai and the others had no idea about Wang Li’s situation. At this moment, Jian Yuanbai was in their rented room, watching Shen Nian swaying his head from side to side.

The facilities in this fortress were even more comprehensive than they had imagined. Here, communication devices could function normally—though there was no internet, phone calls and text messages could still be sent. It was hard to imagine how such a well-structured and well-equipped fortress had been established in such a short period of time.

Unless… it had been prepared in advance.

Jian Yuanbai had some suspicions in his mind, but he didn’t say anything. Instead, he looked at Shen Nian. “You like it?”

Shen Nian nodded eagerly, his eyes bright. “I’m not afraid of the cold anymore.”

Jian Yuanbai looked at the distance between them, feeling an inexplicable sense of irritation. But he couldn’t pinpoint the source of his frustration, so he simply said, “Heating requires payment—either with supplies or labor.”

Ability users could join the fortress’s ability user team and take on missions, either patrolling the city or going outside to search for supplies.

Ordinary people had many job options too, but naturally, their earnings couldn’t compare to those who risked their lives fighting against polluted creatures.

Shen Nian nodded at his words, then hesitated. “I’ll go see what kind of job I can find tomorrow.”

He sounded uncertain. After all, he had been pampered all these years and had never done anything before. He wasn’t sure if he could manage.

But… Shen Nian glanced at Jian Yuanbai and thought, he had to try.

That night was the first time in a long while that they slept apart.

With heating, Shen Nian no longer needed to squeeze into the same bed as Jian Yuanbai. He rolled around on his bed, reveling in his excitement for a while before quickly falling asleep.

In the next room, Jian Yuanbai stared at the ceiling in a daze, finding the space around him, though not large, strangely empty.

After a long silence, he muttered to the system, “It’s normal for children to grow up and leave home, right?”

“Like fledglings flying into the sky.”

System: …What the hell do you mean, fledglings flying into the sky?

It silently rolled its eyes. “If you can’t sleep, go bang your head against the wall. Don’t disturb my sleep.”

Jian Yuanbai sighed. “Do you think he’s asleep yet?”

Without waiting for an answer, he sat up. “I’ll go check.”

He pushed open Shen Nian’s door. The person inside was clearly fast asleep.

Since Jian Yuanbai wasn’t afraid of the cold, he hadn’t turned on the heating in his own room, but Shen Nian’s room was warm—so warm that Jian Yuanbai started sweating a little.

In the cozy bed, Shen Nian slept soundly, his long lashes casting small shadows under his eyes. The moonlight draped a soft glow over him. His lips were slightly parted, leaving a small gap, with his thumb resting against them, making him look somewhat innocent and childlike.

He was beautiful, pure, and flawless.

Jian Yuanbai looked at him and suddenly thought, Shen Nian is still a minor. He’s still a child.

“He hasn’t even turned eighteen yet. How can he sleep alone?”

The system’s cat-like face scrunched up. “He’s seventeen, not seven. Why wouldn’t he be able to sleep alone?”

But Jian Yuanbai had already stopped listening. He transformed into a golden, gleaming cat and burrowed under the blanket.

He still remembered that he had sneaked in without permission to check on Shen Nian, so he didn’t climb onto the bed directly. Instead, he simply curled up in his original form.

At this moment, in a heavily guarded area of the fortress, a blinding red alarm blared,

“Alert! Alert! A highly intense pollution wavelength has just been detected near the fortress!”

The top pollution research specialists scrambled out of bed in the middle of the night and, along with their team, stared at the data on the screen.

The originally stable line on the graph suddenly surged upward at a certain moment, reaching a terrifying height before instantly plummeting back to its original normal value.

“This level of pollution… it’s terrifying. We’ve never seen anything like this before.”

“This must be an S-level pollution, right? Are we sure this was detected near the fortress?”

An elderly man with graying hair spoke with a solemn expression, “With such a high pollution reading, based on the calculations… it wouldn’t just be S-level.”

Before everyone could fully exhale in relief, they heard him continue, “I’m certain that this pollution reading indicates a presence that surpasses S-level.”

A man in a black combat uniform standing behind him asked in a deep voice, “Professor, in your opinion, can our current ability users and defensive measures withstand it?”

The old man shook his head, “It’s difficult. I’ve never encountered this before, so I can’t give you a definite answer. But…”

He didn’t finish the sentence, but everyone present understood the implication.

The atmosphere on site became unbearably heavy, but the old man added, “No need to be too pessimistic. It only appeared for an instant. The situation might be different from what we imagine.”

The man nodded and said, “Have all the squads stay alert during this period. We can’t be passive, but we also can’t leave ourselves unprepared.”

If Jian Yuanbai were here, he would immediately recognize that the sharp spike on the black screen occurred exactly when he transformed into the harmless-looking golden cat.

The next morning, before Shen Nian woke up, Jian Yuanbai left the room right on time. When Shen Nian greeted him sleepily with a “Good morning,” Jian Yuanbai calmly replied, “Morning.”

Jian Yuanbai couldn’t cook, and Shen Nian hadn’t learned how to cook before the apocalypse either. Their breakfast was nothing more than packaged bread and milk.

After breakfast, Jian Yuanbai went to check on the situation with the ability user squad along with Qu Wenxuan and Yang Jinhang. Meanwhile, Shen Nian went to try his luck and see if he could find a suitable job.

Heating was only provided indoors, so it was still freezing on the streets. The difference between ordinary people and ability users was obvious. Those bundled up in thick layers, almost wrapping themselves up like dumplings, were ordinary people. In contrast, those in light, simple jackets were the ability users.

There were even vehicles running regularly on the streets here, traffic lights functioning as usual, and buses stopping at designated spots. If not for the extreme cold in June and the polar-opposite outfits on the streets, this place would seem like the world before the apocalypse.

Following the directions given by the person who led them to their residence yesterday, Shen Nian arrived at a large hall that had been converted from a library.

He had no idea what kind of job would suit him, and clearly, he had no right to choose here. After filling out a simple form, he was assigned a job.

Holding the paper that instructed him to report to the plantation, Shen Nian stared blankly at the words “farming,” almost burning a hole through them with his gaze.

He had no choice. Clutching the paper, he asked around and made his way toward the plantation.

While Shen Nian was heading to the plantation, Jian Yuanbai was already on a cargo truck heading out of the city.

The large, swaying truck carried five people. This was the temporary ability user squad he had joined. The captain was a straightforward and cheerful man who looked at them with slight apology and said, “Sorry for the trouble. You guys just arrived in S City yesterday, and today you’re already heading out with us.”

Qu Wenxuan shook his head, “Not at all. Since we’ve joined S City, we have to contribute.”

Yang Jinhang, whose ability was healing, stayed in the city to help more people. Meanwhile, Qu Wenxuan and Jian Yuanbai were assigned to a squad that had just lost two members.

Jian Yuanbai simply said, “It’s our duty.”

Compared to him, Qu Wenxuan was obviously more sociable and quickly became familiar with the captain. The other two squad members sat at the front of the truck and didn’t engage in conversation for the time being.

The captain explained, “This mission is actually quite simple. As you know, our fortress doesn’t cover the entire S City, only half of it.

Our task is to gradually clear the polluted creatures from the outskirts and bring back any usable supplies we find.”

Jian Yuanbai spoke up, “The fortress in S City seems quite impressive. To build something this advanced in such a short time… The current leader of S City must be very capable.”

The captain laughed heartily, with a hint of pride in his voice, “To be honest, all of this was done by the mayor of S City. I guess we got lucky. I’m a local of S City. Before the polluted creatures appeared, the city was already undergoing large-scale construction of power plants and food production bases. Who would’ve thought the apocalypse would suddenly arrive, and all of it would come in handy.”

Jian Yuanbai nodded in agreement and asked with subtle guidance, “Yeah… almost as if they knew the pollution was coming in advance.

By the way, has the mayor ever revealed what caused the infection and what exactly this pollution is?”

Infection and pollution referred to the grotesque transformation of human bodies.

This transformation could make people grow tails, turn their bodies into spiders, or even sprout tree branches from their flesh.

Like a viral infection, this transformation could spread to others. Everyone’s mutation was different, but in the end, they would all lose their sanity and become mindless monsters.

After completely turning into monsters, they were no longer considered human and were referred to as pollutants.

Just like a drop of ink falling into a bowl of clear water, turning the entire bowl murky and black, pollutants within a crowd would infect others as well.

The captain, who was straightforward, simply shook his head, “No, the mayor hasn’t said anything. Probably because the research hasn’t yielded any results yet.”

He sighed again, “I just wonder when this disaster will finally end.”

Seeing that there was no more information to extract, Jian Yuanbai fell silent. When the truck stopped, he jumped off the vehicle and followed the captain into the danger zone marked on the map.

The once bright and clean classroom had become dark and gloomy, with an unbearable stench filling the air. The captain’s expression turned serious as he walked at the front. “Be careful.”

The other two teammates, who had only exchanged a few words with Jian Yuanbai and Qu Wenxuan, had no interest in chatting further after arriving at this school. The two of them silently positioned themselves at the back.

Ironically, the newly joined Jian Yuanbai and Qu Wenxuan ended up in the safest spots.

Drip, drip.

A sticky liquid continuously seeped from the ceiling and walls. Stepping on it gave a highly uncomfortable, sticky sensation.

As if sensing their presence, a sudden “whoosh” sound echoed. Something gray and black pierced through the wall and shot directly toward the group.

The captain grabbed it with one hand. The slimy texture was so disgusting that his face twisted in discomfort. He tried to yank it out, but despite his face turning red from exertion, he couldn’t pull it free.

“I got it,” Jian Yuanbai reached out from behind, grabbed the thing, and yanked it hard.

In the next second, the entire wall shook, as if the building was about to collapse. The captain’s eyes widened like copper bells as he shouted repeatedly, “Holy sht, holy sht! Stop! The building’s going to collapse!”

Jian Yuanbai had no choice but to let go. That thing instantly retracted back into the wall with a swoosh.

A moment later, a massive creature with an octopus-like body and a human head collapsed in front of them. Everyone except Qu Wenxuan was stunned.

The captain swallowed hard and looked at Jian Yuanbai. “You… you… you…”

After stammering for a while, he finally blurted out, “Do you want to be the captain?”

While Jian Yuanbai was killing pollutants like chopping vegetables, Shen Nian was seriously digging the soil and planting crops.

Thanks to the ability users, there was no need to wait for a long time to harvest crops. The plantation base often required people to dig and plant seeds.

Shen Nian wiped the sweat from his forehead. Mud from his hands smeared on his face, but he didn’t care. He looked at the small patch of land he had spent the entire day digging, then glanced at the progress of others around him, falling into silent despair.

His back ached, his eyes stung from sweat, and after a hard day’s work, Shen Nian received the heartbreaking news that he was fired due to low efficiency.

After collecting his one-day wage, Shen Nian happened to run into Yang Jinhang, who had also just gotten off work, on his way home.

One was covered in mud, while the other was clean and refreshed.

After a simple greeting, they each went their separate ways.

After showering, Shen Nian collapsed on the couch, too exhausted to care about his appearance.

Staring blankly at the ceiling, he suddenly remembered what Yang Jinhang had mentioned—he awakened his ability by saying the same phrase every day…

A moment later, Shen Nian sat up, opened his mouth, but no sound came out.

He mentally prepared himself and tried again, his voice as soft as a mosquito’s buzz.

Taking a deep breath, Shen Nian gritted his teeth, closed his eyes, and shouted,

“My fate is mine, not Heaven’s!”

Click.

The door opened.

Jian Yuanbai, who had just returned home, looked at Shen Nian, who shouted with an aura that could shake mountains and rivers, and hesitantly said,

“…Longlong?”