Chapter 27 - Became Handsome
After his rebirth, Qi Jingchen had never been able to raise his spirits. If it weren’t because he was worried that if he really went around trying to kill himself, Qi Yaoyao would be torn apart by Nie Yi, and Nie Yi would probably lose his mind, he would have killed himself already.
For example, sitting beside the bay window right now, he longed to open the window and jump down— Every day, he endured his sickness as he watched humanity walk step by step towards extinction. It was a truly unpleasant experience.
Because of this, he didn’t pay much attention to anything else these days besides making himself even just a bit more comfortable. Seeing how he didn’t even mind Nie Yi princess carrying him, repeatedly confessing in public, and even continuously eating his tofu, it was certainly impossible for him to care about his own appearance.
After his rebirth, Qi Jingchen hadn’t had the chance to look at his reflection, until now, when he suddenly saw his appearance in the mirror.
In the late stages of his previous life, his entire body was lacking flesh… He knew that he looked incomparably hideous, and he often missed his appearance before the apocalypse. It should be known that before the apocalypse, he could also be called a ‘cutie’.
However, even if he looked pretty good before the apocalypse, it shouldn’t be to this extent…
The person in the mirror had cherry red lips, sparkling white teeth, and a pair of large, dewy eyes. His skin was clear and fair; his eyelashes long. Even though there wasn’t the slightest expression on his face, when he blinked, there was still some cuteness. He looked as though…he wasn’t even twenty!
No, he looked like he was seventeen or eighteen, at most!
He had a babyface, and he really did look a little young, but it had never been to the point of looking as young as this!
Qi Jingchen opened the window expressionlessly and tossed out the mirror. He then coldly watched as the mirror fell and only closed the window after it had shattered into numerous pieces.
After Nie Yi settled Qi Jingchen down properly, he left. The first matter of business was to go out of the city to visit Xu Nan and the rest.
For him to painstakingly bring such a large group of people to the secure base of B city, it was impossible for it to just be based on Qi Jingchen’s fondness for liveliness. Even Qi Jingchen wouldn’t allow Nie Yi to tow along a pile of ordinary people just because he wanted liveliness— Even if Qi Jingchen didn’t admit it, Nie Yi knew very well that he had a place in Qi Jingchen’s heart.
Therefore, having these people practice killing zombies, protecting them while allowing them to get enough training was definitely not just to save them. It was done more to cultivate his own trusted aides. Without mentioning anything else, some of Xu Nan’s performances weren’t any worse than ability users.
Nie Yi knew very well that only high-level ability users could survive during the later stages of the apocalypse. However, during the beginning of the apocalypse, there were still many ordinary people that stood out. Also, if he wanted to develop his own influence, wouldn’t it be better to do it during the beginning period of the apocalypse? When it becomes the middle and late stages and everything’s overgrown wilderness, what would there be to contend for?
In this life, he was always thinking of ways to establish a safe fort so that Qi Jingchen wouldn’t have to suffer even the slightest hardship.
Since he didn’t bring Qi Jingchen along, Nie Yi chose not to take a car and ran with large steps instead.
During the apocalypse, all the abilities awakened by the people were related to elements. When they were used, it was just like in a science fiction film, but it wasn’t like certain novels, with strength, speed, and so on abilities. However, after the apocalypse occurred, the survivors all knew that they had to train themselves with great effort. As a result of the vile environment,the overall physical strength of humanity improved by leaps and bounds. Without mentioning others, Nie Yi himself had improved his physical quality by a lot in these past twenty days; to the extent that even after he ran to the temporary housings at the entrance of the secure base, he didn’t even pant.
When he arrived, Nie Yi went to meet Xu Nan and the others, who were also waiting for him.
“All of you can choose to stay in the secure base to work. Even though the work points you earn with this isn’t much, it is very safe, and you won’t encounter any dangers. If you come with me, you’ll have to leave the base to gather supplies in the future. With this, you can earn many more work points, but with the slightest inattention, you might not even have a corpse left,” Nie Yi said.
The people that Nie Yi had saved were very grateful to Nie Yi, but after arriving at the secure base, most of them didn’t want to go out and face all kinds of dangers again. However, they were also worried that if they disagreed, Nie Yi, the son of the secure base’s chief, would be discontent. At this moment, many of their faces had some hesitation.
“The ability users in the secure base are innumerable. I don’t lack comrades in battle, but I just wanted to inform you after learning about such a method. At that time, it might not be me who’ll bring you to look for supplies. Just think about it,” Nie Yi said. Probably because he had just resolved the troubling matter in his family, he didn’t have an inkling of his terrifying aura at the moment. He also seemed to speak abnormally kindly, which had everyone relaxing.
Most of them had backed out, and only Xu Nan and ten others ended up agreeing to collect supplies outside the base.
Nie Yi gave these people a briefing and told them to pick the job of leaving the base to collect supplies when selecting jobs. Then, he gave them his address and left.
Others didn’t know, but Nie Yi knew very well that the path chosen by those who’d agreed to follow him was right. Although there were sufficient supplies at the base right now, to the extent that most of the people employed by the base could all eat their fill, it would not necessarily be the same in the future&#k2026; Moreover, even in a secure base, there was still the risk of turning into a zombie.
Of course, it was also likely that the risks these people would meet outside might be much greater, but this was something no one could be certain about.
While leaving the resettlement area, Nie Yi caught a glimpse of two familiar figures. It was precisely the Yao parents. When they saw him, they hastily avoided him, as if they were afraid to be harmed by him. It really made him amused.
He always held grudges, but he had never taken these sorts of people seriously.
After he was done discussing with Xu Nan and the others, Nie Yi then went to the place where the military department could collect water.
The secure base supplied water, and right now, it was even free of charge. So after they arrived at the secure base, besides a few small bottles filled with pure water and mineral spring water, they didn’t bring any other sorts of water. Now, it was only natural that he wanted to bring some water back for Qi Jingchen to make it easier for Qi Jingchen to shower.
Most of the water from the water collection area for the military department was drawn from underground, but there were also some water ability users nearby who added water to the water reservoirs. Nie Yi had some work points at hand that was given by Zhang Chengqi, and he used four work points to exchange for four plastic buckets. He then filled them up with the water made by water ability users and headed back with two buckets in each hand.
“Who’s that? Why’d he take that much water?” Among the water ability users who were filling up the water jars, there was a youth in his twenties who watched Nie Yi carry the huge load of water with a face full of amazement.
“I reckon he has a lot of people in his family.” The water ability user next to him was a gorgeous beauty who was either twenty-seven or twenty-eight. She replied with a sentence, and then added, “Yu Xuguang, if your ability is depleted then rest properly. Don’t run around everywhere like last time and make yourself collapse.”
“…” Yu Xuguang looked helplessly at his sister, then obediently sat down. Still, his mouth didn’t stop. “That person really is quite amazing. He’s carrying four buckets of water, yet he’s still able to walk so steadily.”
“I’ve already said before, there’s a lot of amazing people in this world. Don’t assume that just because you’re an ability user, you can be undisciplined and out of control.” Yu Xuguang’s sister, Yu Yuehui, educated her brother. This brother of hers had somewhat of an inconsistent personality, and it worried her sick.
“I know. Jie, haven’t I been very obedient all this time?” Yu Xuguang gave his sister a fawning smile, then began to concentrate on restoring his ability. His ability was weak, so he must work very hard!
After restoring some of his ability, Yu Xuguang began to add water into the reservoir. Unexpectedly, at this time, he saw that man who had carried away four buckets of water return. On top of that, he left while carrying another four more buckets.
This person was probably helping someone carry water, right? He’s a good person. Yu Xuguang sat next to his sister and tried to produce a little more water. As a result, he only produced pattering water droplets, turning his face red— Among the water ability users present, he was always the most disappointing one.
For Nie Yi to request so much water, was obviously to bathe Qi Jingchen.
He prepared a sufficient amount of water for Qi Jingchen and put the rest in the kitchen. As for Ping Shengchao and the rest who might also want to bathe… The others could go fetch the water themselves if they wanted a bath.
The water had been brought over, so Qi Jingchen took off his clothes and reclined in the bathtub with the growing feeling that he had changed a lot.
He didn’t look bad, but in the end, he was still a man. It was unavoidable for him to have hair on his arms and legs, and because he didn’t have a good life when he was a child and often worked when he grew up, his hands even had calluses. There were even a few scars on his body.
However, in just twenty days, all of them were gone.
If it was before the apocalypse, and he took a picture of his legs and uploaded it online, he estimated that it would probably attract a few wolfish howls…
Not only had his face become fair and delicate, but the skin on his body had also become tender to the point that it seemed as though water could be squeezed out… He wondered, was this to make it convenient for other people to eat his flesh?
Qi Jingchen scoffed at himself. Still, he knew that the reason he was like this was mostly because of his ability. The darkness ability could naturally bewitch. In his last life, he could use his spiritual strength to confuse other people, as for this life…
Maybe he could even become like those seductive witches who were able to captivate people.
He didn’t know if it was like this in his last life… Qi Jingchen carefully thought back, but could only remember that during the beginning of the apocalypse, he had always been covered in grime, and then he was later captured…
For some reason, his injuries always healed very quickly. When those people cut off a piece of flesh from his body, it would grow back in a few days. However, after he was injured, it was impossible to recover his flesh’s original appearance. That’s why, at that time, his body had multiple scars. The meat that had grown back after being cut off was all pinkish, and if it wasn’t sunken inwards, then it was protruding outwards. The overlapping wounds on his scarred skin looked exceptionally disgusting.
Qi Jingchen didn’t continue recalling those memories, but after he finished bathing and went out, he suddenly looked at Nie Yi. “What do you think about my looks?”
“There’s no one more good-looking than you in this world,” Nie Yi replied without the slightest hesitation.
“Hehe…” This skill of his, talking nonsense with his eyes wide open, really was amazing. Qi Jingchen was certain that it was because his skin became good that he looked younger; he didn’t go through plastic surgery and become some great hottie.
“You look good after washing up… How old are you?” Ping Shengchao suddenly asked. The first time he saw Qi Jingchen, he had sized him up carefully, but at the time, Qi Jingchen had a sweaty smell from head to toe, and later… He was busy killing zombies, and Qi Jingchen was often carried by Nie Yi, so he never had a proper look at Qi Jingchen’s appearance…
It turns out that this person was so young?
According to what Nie Yi said, he had met Qi Jingchen when he was in the army. That was four years ago… His family’s boss wouldn’t have fooled around with a minor, right?!
“Twenty-two,” Qi Jingchen said.
That’s still fine; four years ago, he was fortunately already eighteen… Ping Shengchao sighed in relief.
“Your skin is really good; how do you maintain it?” Shao Zhenglan, like Ping Shengchao, hadn’t had a good look at Qi Jingchen in the past few days— watching this person being waited upon, wasn’t it just asking for trouble?! And now that she looked clearly, besides sighing with emotion over Qi Jingchen’s skin, she also had some understanding of why Nie Yi would not want Yan Zhe but wanted Qi Jingchen.
Even though Qi Jingchen wasn’t as handsome as Yan Zhe, just looking at his skin made people want to pinch it!
Qi Jingchen himself wanted to know how he became like this…
“Ge, you’ve become more handsome.” In the end, it was still Qi Yaoyao’s words that Qi Jingchen felt the happiest about when he heard them.
Even though Qi Jingchen was very baffled by the changes in his appearance, he didn’t put much thought into investigating the matter thoroughly, and he soon threw this mystery to the back of his mind.
Dinner was sorted out by Jiang Huai and the two bodyguards. Jiang Huai had previously lived alone, so he knew how to cook, and the two bodyguards also had some knowledge. In the end, the meal they made was quite passable. Of course, Qi Jingchen’s portion was made by Nie Yi, and differed from the rest.
After eating, Nie Yi had Qi Jingchen go to sleep a little earlier, then left again. This time, two bodyguards were brought along.
Nie Yi’s two bodyguards were called Gan Jun and Zhou Xiaofeng, and both of them were arranged to be by his side under the orders of Nie Yi’s grandfather four years ago. Nie Yi’s grandfather regarded Nie Yi very importantly and spent no small amount of effort to find bodyguards for him.
In regards to Gan Jun and Zhou Xiaofeng, not only were their capabilities very strong, but they also didn’t have any close relatives, so they could be regarded as the kind who could protect Nie Yi single-mindedly.
Of course, these two bodyguards couldn’t possibly protect Nie Yi forever. After they protected Nie Yi for five years, they would receive a large amount of money and retire, taking a wife and having children. At that time, Nie Yi’s side would also have switched to having new bodyguards.
In the end, the two bodyguards’ tenure hadn’t ended when the apocalypse occurred… In his last life, these two bodyguards attached great importance to their commitment; when the apocalypse arrived, they still protected Nie Yi, and both ended up dead. As for this life… the words Nie Yi had previously said, that he would think of a way for these two bodyguards to awaken to abilities, weren’t lies at all. He’d already made the decision that in the future, he must obtain all the mutated plants that he knew of.
Nie Yi took the two of them and walked very quickly, soon arriving at the garbage dump outside the base.
The people who had just arrived at the base brought along many things, but there was also a lot that they couldn’t bring in; those things were handed over to the secure base’s staff.
Some of the things in here were supplies needed by the secure base, and the base’s people would sort them out while the rest were put aside. At the same time, each of the secure base’s troops would go out to find supplies and bring back some useless things. All of those would also be thrown here, and all of this could be taken as one pleased.
Among these things, most were dirty clothes and such. Some of the elderly wore gloves and collected clothes in good condition to be washed with water at the side— after these clothes were washed, they would be brought into the secure base and could sometimes be exchanged with other things.
In addition, there was a lot of other equipment here. Regarding this, the surplus of pots and pans, as well as other things that Nie Yi had brought but was inconvenient to bring into the base, were all thrown in here.
There were many people in the secure base who were refugees, and the houses allocated to them were only semi-finished. Due to that, the things they could use in their homes were very limited, so they would all come here to rummage through and see if they could find any usable pots and pans.
After Nie Yi brought Gan Jun and Zhou Xiaofeng here, he went and found a wooden stick, just like the people around him. To be honest, using their hands would be more convenient, but if they directly used their hands, who knew if something dirty would cut their hand and infect it?
“Young master, what are we looking for?” Gan Jun promptly asked.
“Find some things that could grow flowers and plants,” Nie Yi said.
In their last life, Qi Jingchen really liked growing plants. During the last stages of the apocalypse, he even planted a lot of vegetables in his domain. Afterward, if it wasn’t because Yu Xuguang had suddenly run out to assassinate them, they might have been able to live a few more days by depending on those vegetables.
When he thought of Yu Xuguang, Nie Yi secretly clenched his fist. During the apocalypse, numerous people had tried to assassinate them, and even if he wanted to hate all of them, he physically couldn’t… But, to think that Yu Xuguang had actually used self-detonation to injure Qi Jingchen!
In this life, if he ever came across this person, he definitely had to think of a way to kill him a little earlier! Thinking of this, killing intent suddenly emerged from Nie Yi.
Perhaps he’d once been a good youth with normal three views, but now he had lost all of his kind intentions.
“It’s the end of the world, but there are people who even have the mood to plant flowers and plants.” Someone saw Nie Yi and the two bodyguards dressed in clean clothes and sourly commented.
This person spoke very sarcastically, but the people by his side suddenly thought of something and began to rummage around as well. Regardless of whether it was a wooden plan, a broken washbowl, or even a can, they all continued to shove it over to themselves.
Planting flowers and plants during the apocalypse was really quite stupid, but they could plant vegetables ah!
Even though they could use work points to exchange for food now, they still couldn’t trade for fresh vegetables. If they plant it themselves, then it would be a different story.
While other people began to busy themselves to find things that they could grow plants out of, Nie Yi had already found enough of what he wanted and started to head back.
There were many flower beds in the base, and he filled all the things he had collected from the garbage dump with dirt, then brought them back home with the two bodyguards.
“Tomorrow, I’ll go ask for some seeds. Right now, the base probably hasn’t tried to plant vegetables. If there are seedlings, then we’ll also get some. This way, you can plant things at home,” Nie Yi said with high spirits.
Even though Qi Jingchen didn’t have much energy, he honestly did like having a lot of green plants in his home, so he immediately said, “You plant them.”
“Ok, I’ll plant.” Nie Yi used Qi Jingchen’s bathing water to wash up, then he laid down beside Qi Jingchen.
Baobao Notes
Four new character names in a span of One (1) chapter…