Chapter 16 - Lost Memories

Today, they earned a lot because they got three variants of honeysuckle plants and their task completion rating reached rank A. Besides the 2000-Level 1-nuclei reward, each person also got 1500 base points as a bonus. They also got the meat from mutant animals.

Mutant animals had a certain amount of energy that eating its meat would get a similar effect like absorbing crystal nucleus. But mutant animals, aside from being more powerful, were smarter and more cunning than ordinary ones. They were very difficult to catch because they had run away if they couldn't fight back. Therefore, the price of the mutant's meat was much higher than the usual meat. Top-of-the-line pork from an ordinary animal would sell for 20 crystal nuclei per catty, but the lowest price of a mutant's meat could sell for 30 crystal nuclei.

Qin Wuhua, Yang Qi, and the others had agreed that the game and the crystal nuclei harvested in the mission's course will be given to the individual who earned it. Qin Wuhua alone killed four mutant wolves, including the wolf-pack leader.

Three of which were mutant wolves on the peak of Level 1, which made their meat marketable for no less than 35 crystal nuclei per catty. Meanwhile, the wolf-pack leader had already reached Level 2, which enabled its meat to command a high price of 50 crystal nuclei per catty. All four mutant wolves' corpses sold for over 5000 pieces of Level 1 nuclei. Even for evolved people, this was definitely a huge amount of wealth. It's no wonder Zhang Ling, that woman, had ideas of leeching on him.

Instead of giving these crystal nuclei to Wu Ye, Qin Wuhua decided to trade them for some life-saving items from the black market.

"Oh my god, these two guns are awesome! How many zombies could you kill using these? It should be a great amount!" Wu Ye was fiddling with the two heavy machine guns on the table, looking at both while touching each one at a time.

"With these two guys, there will be plenty of people begging to form a team with us." Ji Yun was also very excited. He was just an ordinary guy. He valued equipment more than evolved people. With these two heavy machine guns, as long as they did not go too deep into the zombie wall, it's more than enough to keep their lives in the safe zone.

"If we had a few more heavy machine guns, we could form a metal frenzy, killing as many zombies as we could." Wu Ye was so excited, he wanted to go out with the gun right away and burst some groups of zombies. With this thing, he should be able to collect enough points to go home soon, right?

"There will be more in the future," Qin Wuhua's voice was still cold as usual, but it's easy to recognize the repressed excitement under his cold magnetic voice. Compared to Ji Yun and Wu Ye, Qin Wuhua had touched a gun at the age of one and started shooting at eight. When he turned sixteen and joined the army, his only companions were guns.

Besides the two heavy machine guns, he also bought two boxes of bullets, six life-saving grenades for critical situations, and some bits and pieces of practical gadgets. Together, these things cost all the nuclei they got from selling the wolves' meat.

"Alright, stop looking at it. Xiao Ji, clean up the table quickly and let's have dinner!" Professor Li shouted from the narrow kitchen while knocking on the edge of the pot; a savoury aroma of cooked meat seeped out from it.

Outside the door, several malnourished kids smelled the aroma of meat and repeatedly swallowed their saliva while looking inside the room.

Professor Li and Ji Yun were the rare old residents in the slum. Many people knew them. Moreover, Professor Li was a kind and easy-going person. He would teach the children in the slums how to read and count when he had spare time. When their parents went out during the day, these children often played in front of his home.

Wu Ye ate a few pieces of cooked wolf meat and found that it tasted fantastic. But he felt a bit distressed when he looked at how these thin, coarse-clothed children were constantly swallowing their saliva.

"Since we have so much meat today, why don't you give some to them and let them eat?" Wu Ye couldn't bear the sight. Before he crossed over to this world, which child was not the little prince and princess of their family? Outside the door, every single child was skinny and malnourished. Their heads were bigger than their slender necks, swaying like those in Sanlu brand. It was an unbearable sight. Looking at their pitiful and eager eyes, Wu Ye did not know what other people think, but he thought being stared at by these hungry and thirsty little guys, made him unable to taste anything delicious from this wolf meat.

Qin Wuhua, who sat with his back to the door, turned his head and looked at the children before he spoke to Ji Yun, "Give them the cookies left this afternoon and then give them two pieces of meat each. Tell them not to make any noise." Ordinary people were not guilty; It's only when treasuring a jade ring does it become a crime. While the law and order in this base were better than outside the base walls, it didn't mean that the law and order of the slums were the same as the affluent area in the base.

The law and order in this slum area were only a bit better than the refugee camp outside. Very few patrols visit here, let alone surveillance. It's not impossible to be robbed once you've become a target. He and Wu Ye had just arrived in Lan Cheng base two days ago. They had no foothold in this base at all. As for Ji Yun and Professor Li, they were obviously serious researchers yet unable to enter scientific research institutions in Lan Cheng base. Also, they had been living in slums, so what kind of big shots could they possibly know?

Wu Ye, in the end, was too kind and naive.

However, when his unblinking eyes stared at him with that look of innocence, Qin Wuhua couldn't find himself to say no.

Forget it, anyway it's just attracting some eyes. If these children come everyday, they could always moved house at once.

Ji Yun agreed with Qin Wuhua and said nothing more. He gave the boys two pieces of wolf meat and three pieces of potatoes. When the little ones left happily with their food, he directly locked the door and went back to the table.

After a large pot of wolf meat was eaten clean, they returned to their house. In the evening, Wu Ye took a bath and laid in the bed only in big underpants. He slapped his round full stomach, tilted his head to look at Qin Wuhua, who was doing gun maintenance, and asked, "Are we going on a mission tomorrow? Or hunting?" A man who wanted to save points couldn't afford to rest.

"Move out."

Wu Ye suddenly got excited. "Where do we move to? Can you find a better house? It's like a steamer here. It's so hot that I can't sleep at night!"

Who was it that closed their eyes every night and slept like a pig?

Wu Ye saw Qin Wuhua's meaningful gaze. "It's very hot and my neck felt toasted," he muttered guiltily, his ears burning red. Can we find a house with air conditioning to rent? Anyway, using salt instead of crystal nuclei is the same as spending nothing. It wouldn't really hurt to spend more." Moreover, it wouldn't be long before he left this world, so it didn't really matter how many crystal nuclei he had. It would be better for him to live a comfortable life right now.

"You're the boss. You arrange it."

Hey, younger brother, that's a pretty good idea.

Wu Ye was happy. He put one leg over the other, showing off his snowy white feet, and asked, "How much salt can be sold in the black market?"

"It can be sold as much as possible." The black market was not exclusive to Lan Cheng base. In fact, there are many similar black markets in other large and medium-sized survivor bases. These black markets seemed to be free from influence, but in fact, everything was still in the hands of the top management of a base. It didn't matter how expensive sellers sold their goods because there were still people willing to buy them. Qin Wuhua gave Wu Ye a rough picture of the hidden rules in the black market, "…it's not a big problem for people to sell 10 cattiess and 20 catties of salt in the black market. However, if they sold salt in even larger quantities, they would certainly become appetizing prey for other people."

Hearing Qin Wuhua's words, it discouraged Wu Ye. "Why is it so troublesome to sell salt? If only you could have your own base. You could sell whatever you have and charge as much tax as you wanted." With that said, Wu Ye started talking about the great schemes from a story he read that was set in an apocalyptic age. Copying the unconstrained style of the MC in the story, he talked loudly about how he would build a great base. Towards the end, his voice became softer and softer until he finally fell asleep. He didn't know when he fell asleep.

Wu Ye, who was asleep, didn't know how bright Qin Wuhua's eyes turned when he listened to his 'Salvation Plan'.

Similarly, he was not aware that nuclei in his backpack near his pillow turned into a fine powder. In the void, the system panel that only he could see popped up, showing that his gene reinforcement bar had skyrocketed from the bottom to 100%.

Wu Ye only knew he had a dream.

Yes, he knew he was dreaming because, as a bystander, he saw himself being taken away by the system that night. Before he fell asleep in the car, he answered a phone call from Lianyu.

She was very serious when she said that she had something to tell him right then.

He asked the driver to turn around and take him to Lianyu's apartment in the city center, a small one, not over 300 square meters. He bought that house with his pocket money and spent over 10 million USD to give it to Lianyu. However, she refused to accept anything. In the end, he had to tell her he would rent it to her for 500 yuan a month for her to accept.

He watched as Lianyu pour a whole glass of red wine to 'him,' and after he drank every drop, she said, "Wu Ye, I'm sorry I can't accept you. I already have someone I like. I hope I can stay with him for a long time. Thank you for taking care of me over the years. I'll move out tomorrow. Here, give it to the girl who really deserves you."

Wu Ye looked at the other him and Lianyu bitterly. He felt his brain froze right then. He seemed to understand countless things in an instant, while not understanding anything at all.

"His" eyes were read when he asked, "Why?"

Tears hung on Lianyu's eyes as she pitifully said, "I'm sorry."

At this moment, Wu Ye looked at the woman whom he had been in love with for eight years, the one he had seriously considered spending his life with. As she let her tears trail her cheeks, the image of Zhang Ling's pretentious tears suddenly appeared.

He opened his mouth to say something, but darkness suddenly enveloped him before he saw a blazing fire surround him.

"Wu Ye, wake up! Are you alright?"

When Qin Wuhua woke him up, Wu Ye's wiped his cheeks damp with ice-cold tears.

I just had a dream…right?

Wu Ye was reluctant to think about it, but things didn't add up when he tried to piece these small details together. The taste of that glass of red wine was strange, was it because of what the system said? That he had taken in a lethal dose of hallucinogens? Who did Lianyu really like? Who arranged the incident? Being rejected by the person you like, taking an overdose of hallucinogens, and getting into a car accident; Without the system, these interlocking details would become a legitimate 'accident' in the eyes of the media.

Who on earth was trying to kill him?

Suddenly, a gentle and elegant face flashed in Wu Ye's mind. He couldn't help but turn pale, his fingers trembled slightly.

How could it be big brother?!