Chapter 6 - Temptation

At the moment, Wu Ye is just a poor man buried in debt while still caring for a sick man. He was not afraid at all of being robbed if someone came. However, he also understood the reason why it was necessary to guard against people, especially in this strange apocalyptic world.

He was afraid that the man knocking outside would continue to shout and attract the zombies around the area. Therefore, he grabbed a kitchen knife, held a broken umbrella, and carefully opened the entrance door. Looking at the three people standing vigilantly outside, he asked, "What is it?"

Wang He grew up with a simple and honest face just like an upright eldest brother. He was used to pretending to be pitiful in order to get ahead. Thus, he looked at Wu Ye with sincere eyes and pled, "Brother, my brother is currently sick. The rain is too heavy for us to keep traveling on the road. Besides, our car also broke down, so we couldn't continue on anyway. Would you allow us to stay here for two nights? We brought food so we wouldn't burden you with our needs."

Wang He had spent more than a year in this apocalyptic world, rolling from the bottom and crawling up to his current position. His eyes had been experienced and discerning. Right now, he could see a white and tender man whose looks and temperament were leagues ahead of those kept pets of big shots in the base. His clothes were neat and tidy. He didn't have enough time to check whether there really was another master in the house, so he put his arrogance aside and took on a humble stance.

Wang He's sincere face did nothing to lower Wu Ye's guard. He looked at Wang Jian, whose face he couldn't see, and frowned. "What's wrong with your brother? He's not bitten by a zombie, right?"

Wang He put on an annoyed look and said, "Brother, you can eat things randomly, but you must choose your words carefully. My brother just caught a cold due to the rain."

He restrained his anger and once again assumed a humble posture. "Brother, let us in. By the time the rain stops, my brother will be well and we'll go away. How about you allow us to stay for a day and we'll give you a kilo of rice?"

Ji Yun's thin and tiny frame struggled to carry the weight of Wang Jian's body, which is as big as a cow. It was obvious how difficult his burden was, but he didn't complain. He looked down at a watch-like device on his wrist and saw that many black dots are moving rapidly toward the center.

"Big boss," he anxiously said. "There's a small wave of zombies closing in on us. What should we do?"

As danger approached, Wang He dropped his pretense. He grasped the iron doorknob, and with furrowed brows said, "Boy, if you don't let us in, we'll all die when the zombies surround this courtyard."

Wang He's special power is fire. But because today is a rainy day, his power is limited. He wasn't stupid to fight the zombies on this type of day. Besides, this was the only house nearby that looked more or less stable. There was nowhere else they could hide. So, even if Wang He was worried about Wu Ye's 'master', he was willing to appear cheap and pitiful in order to survive. Anyway, a poor person like him had nothing to lose.

Wu Ye's instincts say that Wang He is not a good person. Right now, Wang He's hand clasped on the door, unwilling to budge like a mountain. However, no matter how much he tried, Wu Ye still kept the entrance door shut. His heart raced knowing that things could turn bad today, so he casually lied, "My brother is sleeping now, and he has a bad temper. If I let you in and you end up waking and provoking him, it would not end well for us all.'

Wang He was doubtful, but Wu Ye's lies only confirmed his suspicion. So, he put his thoughts away and smiled warmly once again. Following Wu Ye's direction, he lowered his voice and said, "Brother, I assure you, we will listen to your arrangement."

Wu Ye quietly opened the entrance door and let Wang He's group in. While the three were not paying attention, he hung a piece of rag sprayed with repellent on the outside the doorknob, then he locked the door to his back. All the while, he was thinking of how to deal with Wang He and the others.

Wang He and the others stood under the eaves, and waited for Wu Ye's arrangement as promised.

Wu Ye spoke with a quiet voice, "My brother and I live downstairs. There are three empty rooms upstairs which you could choose from. You could cook in the kitchen over there, but please do it quietly. My brother went out last night and he had just came back to catch up on sleep. Just don't bother him." Wu Ye is 177 cm tall and is already 23 years old. But because of his baby face him he could still be mistaken for a 17 or 18-year-old boy. And with his face, his words sounded more convincing.

Wang He's suspicion grew even more. He looked at the closed room with curtain door, smiled and said, 'Don't worry little brother. We won't cause you any trouble."

With such a beautiful pet and with such courage to go out at night, that man must possess good strength. He wouldn't want to provoke such a bigshot.

Wang He and Wu Ye introduced themselves to each other as Wang He generously gave Wu Ye a small bag of rice and a can of pork. He also asked Wu Ye to put in kind words for him in front of his brother.

Not too long ago, Wu Ye still casually rewarded League of Heaven with millions in virtual cash. And even after eating sour nutrients for more than ten days, he still could not see the value other people place in this small bag of sand-mixed rice and a dirty can of pork. As he received these supplies, his eyes could not help but look at them with disgust, which he himself did not notice.

Wang He did not miss the boy's behavior and his look of disgust, successfully dispelling Wang He's last straw of doubt without Wu Ye even trying.

After Wang He's group left for upstairs, Wu Ye's calm face suddenly transformed into anxiety. He could deceive Wang He for a while, but he knew he could not hide it for long. He could only hope that the rain would stop earlier so that Wang He's group could leave quickly.

Unfortunately, the heavens seemed to be deliberately going against him. The rainstorm poured heavily and showed no signs of letting up even after two days and a night.

Before he met Wu Ye, Wang He went out to complete a mission issued by the Zombie Hunters Union. The mission was to collect a variant herb in the wild. As he happened to know where to find this herb, he organized a group to work together. Unfortunately, their group were surrounded by mutated animals as soon as they approached the mountain. After a bloody escape, they came across a wave of zombies such that their original group of 12 was razed down to just himself, Ji Yun, Pang Zhong Lin, and Wang Jian. However, Wang Jian was bitten by zombies while keeping watch, and he in turn, bit Pang Zhong Lin to death.

Now, Wang Jian had completely transformed into a zombie. There is no way for him to survive and gain power the same way Wang He did. However, Wang He not only refuse to kill him, but even fed him using Pang Zhong Lin's body. Wang he's group had suffered heavy losses for this mission, and their food supply is quickly running out.

He looked at Ji Yun, who was extremely silent, and asked, "So, top student, you don't think that kid downstairs is lying to us, do you? Say, you've been downstairs the past two days. Have you seen his brother?"

Ji Yun was surprised and immediately understood what he was thinking.

Wang He did not wait for Ji Yun's answer. He continued to speculate out loud. "There had been no sound coming from downstairs. Can the master continue to sleep for two days and a night without going to eat or go to the toilet? Do you think Wu Ye just made up his "big brother" to deceive us? Maybe the master is hurt and unable to protect himself now, right?"

The ears of evolved humans like Wang He were more sensitive than those of ordinary people. He could clearly hear the movements downstairs. What surprised him was that, aside from Wu Ye's breath, the other person's breath was very faint, almost imperceptible. What did all those mean?

Ji Yun glanced at Wang He's sinister eyes and said, "I don't think Wu Ye was fooling us."

"Then, do you think his brother is seriously injured?"

"Boss, I don't think we should create trouble." Ji Yun said. In his heart, he did not want to attack his fellow countrymen, whether Wu Ye really had a master or not.

"Don't create trouble? You really are as soft as a woman!" Wang He snorted in derision. "We have no more food. Are you going to starve to death here? Without petrol, how would we reach the next settlement? There's still another 20 kilometers or so from here to that place. Do you plan to go there on foot? This mission had failed and we couldn't afford to pay for our entry back to the city. Are you going to sleep outside in a refugee camp?"

Ji Yun admitted that Wang He was only being practical in dealing with their current problem. But whether he was being kind or cowardly, it did not matter much to him. He could fight and kill zombies to survive, but he could never do so to his countrymen for no reason.

Wang He suddenly smiled and said, "You're not attracted to Wu Ye, are you? Tell you what, you go and help me find out about his brother and his current situation, and I promise I will keep him alive afterwards and give him to you."

Ji Yun was silent. Although this had been his first time working with Wang He, he had already seen what kind of person he was. He did not believe in anything he said.

A dazzling flame suddenly burst on Wang He's palm. He smiled and looked at Ji Yun with amusement. "Top student, you're not planning to abandon our employment contract, are you?"

That was a blatant threat.

Ji Yun is just an ordinary person with no special power. The reason why Wang He took him into the team was because he was able to tamper with a zombie detector which enable them to monitor zombie movement within 800 meter radius. Because his setup was still in its trial stage, it often bugged down, and so Ji Yun was needed to constantly debug it. In fact, he often tagged along with other hunters to gather data.

Ji Yun has successfully helped many hunters in avoiding disasters because of his setup. However, there had been some teams how had lost their money due to data errors. This incident, coupled with Ji Yun's lack of fighting ability, made hunters unwilling to take him to their teams. Besides, he also had to feed his old teacher, which made life even harder.

According to Zombie Hunters Union rules, violating employee contract would require him to pay three times the salary stated in the contract. Ji Yun could never afford to pay this fee at all, and he is no position to oppose Wang He. He had witnessed Pang Zhong Lin's death and how crazed Wang He had become trying to raise his brother's zombie corpse. No matter whether he deserved it or not, Wang He would never let him go from the moment he witnessed his action.

Trying to escape would be futile. Wang He's hearing as an evolved human was much stronger than a normal human being. Should he dare step out of the gate now, Wang He would never hesitate to burn him down to ashes or chop him up to feed Wang Jian.

He could only take risks.

"Boss was joking. That little boy, Wu Ye, looks really delicious. I'll find out about his brother and their situation in a minute. Don't forget what you just promised."

Wang He diffused his flame, laughed and said, "Listen to what you just said, even I am a little tempted. Now, quickly go and find out." They had spoken so loudly but there was no movement downstairs. He was afraid that there was something wrong with Wu Ye's big brother, who was supposedly an evolved human. Some theories said that if an evolved human became a zombie, their nuclei level would be higher and their strength bigger than the average zombies.

The sky was overcast. Wu Ye had locked the door and sat next Qin Wuhua with wrinkled brow. He was frowning so hard, he could kill flies.

In these two days, especially last night and today, Wang He had persistently mentioned his wish to meet with Qin Wuhua to personally thank him. While Wu Ye had found many reasons to deceive him, it had obviously made Wang He suspicious. At first, he had frightened Wang He by acting like a tiger, but as Qin Wuhua continues to sleep, Wu Ye is stuck on the back of a tiger with no way out. Once Wang He saw through his bluff and decided he had supplies, his fate was obvious.

Wang He was not a good person. This is a fact Wu Ye had noticed the first time they met. Yesterday afternoon, he received a random mission issued by the system, ordering him to remove the zombie from the building he was currently in. He, Qin Wuhua, Ji Yun, and Wang He were obviously healthy human beings in this house. Aside from them, there was only Wang Jian, whose face he had never seen, that could be the zombie. Who else could it be?

Wu Ye was ordered to take over the task, and since the task was still labeled 'ongoing, unfinished', what did that mean? It obviously showed that Wang He and his teammate did not kill Wang Jian who had turned into a zombie. He also noticed how Ji Yun would often looked tense looked around him, and look at him with conflicted eyes. He could guess that Ji Yun himself did not agree with Wang He's decision.

Could Ji Yun be that weakness he could use to free himself from the difficult situation he is in?