Chapter 35 - Wuhua's Past

It was an unexpected free draw!

Second Young Master Wu's little heart was prepared to go through for another disappointment. Considering the fact that last time it was ineffective to beseech the deities, this time Second Young Master Wu only rubbed his hand together and resolutely pressed the reward button——

"The Supreme Art of Water Control".

Qin Wuhua didn't understand why Wu Ye froze after clicking on the empty air. Nor did he understand why after that Wu Ye's mouth hung agape slightly, but his eyes were shining and the corner of his mouth was widening from ear to ear.

What he didn't know was that inside the Second Young Master's heart right now, a chibi version of him was throwing his head back, hands on his hips as he laughed maniacally. [System! Laozi finally got an art! A supreme art at that! Hahahaha!]

System: [You...]

[Don't speak. Just let me laugh for another five minutes!]

The system stayed silent for a while, but it was better to let the host face reality sooner, so it stated. ['The Supreme Art of Water Control' is just its name.]

At that, the Second Young Master Wu's smile turned unbearable to look at. [... hahaha, what do you mean?]

System: [Just don't think too highly about it.]

Second Young Master Wu finally sobered up and became rational as his smile froze. [... don't think too highly of it? What does that mean?]

System: ['The Supreme Art of Water Control' is just a basic water art. It's not a top-level one.]

Hearing the system information, Second Young Master Wu choked incredulously. [What a liar! Using such a name for a useless good! Laozi became happy for nothing!!!]

By his side, Qin Wuhua silently watched as Wu Ye's expression changed several times in the blink of an eye. First, he was grumbling awkwardly, then the next second he smiled smugly and right after that he froze before curling up on the sofa.

"What happened? Is there something wrong?" Qin Wuhua asked.

"It gave me another junk." Wu Ye said angrily. The gap between the front and the back was too big, so don't blame him for having negative feelings and giving a bad review.

['The Supreme Art of Water Control' is not junk! It's a very good basic art and if you can understand and thoroughly cultivate it to perfection, it'll be a good base for your future practice! That way, when you learn other water system arts, you'll be able to get more results with less time.] The system explained for its stupid host. Anyway, what's drawn isn't decided by it. How could it be responsible for its stupid host unluckiness?

[No matter how good the basics are, I don't intend to unlock more of the gene chains.] Unlocking the secondary gene chain required 5.000 points. Prior to this, the enhanced gene also required 1000 red crystals.

Wu Ye had the points, however, his water system ability didn't have any attack power before the fourth level, and its improvement was bleak. What's more, before unlocking the fourth level gene chain, he needed to use the four-level crystal nucleus to strengthen the gene. By the time he had the strength to get those things, he'd already gathered enough orange crystals to exchange for the medicine Ah Li needed and could return for a comfortable life.

Therefore, in Wu Ye's view, since the abilities wouldn't play much role for him, there's no need to upgrade it. If there were extra nuclei, it's better to buy a few extra boxes of heavy machine guns.

Every time he mentioned this, the system would become unhappy,[ Since you don't plan to continue unlocking the gene chain, no matter how good it is, it's useless for you to have it!] The unemotional mechanical sounds of the system sounded sarcastic when it spoke.

[System, how can you use such foul language?! ]

[Humph.] The system hummed with a guilty conscience. Recently, this damn virus in the chip seemed to be affecting it more and more.

[Don't be upset. While it's useless for me to have good art, it can be given to my little brother. Moreover, Wuhua's now bound to me and the points he'll get by killing zombies will be added to my count. And the more zombies he kills, the more points I get… hey, no matter what, this sounds as if I don't have any good points to myself. I'll cry if I say anymore.] Having said that, Second Young Master Wu was still a bit unreconciled with what he's got and asked the system.

[Between 'The Supreme Art of Water Control' and 'The Basic Breathing Method' which one is more advanced?]

[The basic exercises are different in nature and cannot be compared.]

[Stupid. You just need to show me their price.] As a qualified local tyrant, Second Young Master Wu has always believed that what's good is not necessarily expensive, but what's expensive must be good.

The system didn't say anything as its chip silently flashed a message to itself, saying that its host's an idiot. Still, it followed Wu Ye's request and changed what the control panel displayed.

"The Basic Breathing Method" 15.000 Points and 500 orange nuclei.

"The Supreme Art of Water Control" 50.000 Points and 1.500 orange nuclei.

Although he had long known that the price of the system's items were extremely expensive and unscientific, the Second Young Master still took a deep breath.

Oh my God, this was the price of these basic goods?! If this was the case, then he'd accumulate good morality and hoped he'd get more lottery in the future!

[Bring out your most expensive arts and let me see!] Most of the arts in the system could only be practiced after they unlocked the gene chains. Before, Wu Ye was afraid that he couldn't stand the temptation of power. Furthermore, at the time, he also wanted to save up enough points to go back home so he had never fully understood the exchange function of the system. However, the exchange price of the two arts he had drawn from the lottery had completely changed his perception.

After a while, there appeared a line on the control panel -

"Primal Chaos Dual Cultivation Formula" 1000 trillion points and 100 Queen Mother Energy nuclei.

Boy, this thing had a quite decent name, and the price was also so high. Wait, this is wrong. Second Young Master Wu asked the system. [ What's the Queen Mother's crystal nuclei? Something similar to a Horse God? ]

[Zerg Queen's energy crystal. It's similar to the crystals that came from those infected with D-virus, but it's extremely powerful and pure, unlike those crystals.]

At this, Wu Ye finally realized a very serious problem. The system came from the higher universe. The system itself could even bind two worlds together. So, how could the war in that universe be confined to one planet? What sort of technology does it have to be able to easily destroy the zombie virus?

He reckoned even if all people from his world and this zombie world were completely cleaned up, it would still not be able to redeem two upper-level arts. In the other words, even the basic goods produced by the system were enough for one to have the world under their palms.

Thinking through these key points, Wu Ye was no longer obsessed with stereotypical thinking that clung to the thought that the best need to be the most expensive. Right now, the way abilities users cultivated and used their abilities were developed by themselves. How many detours do they have to take without guidance?

Take the people with abilities in Lan Cheng base now, how many people are trapped in the first-order peak, so close to a breakthrough, but they had never been able to touch the threshold of advancement. In the future, the higher the level, the harder it'd become to advance. How precious would it be if there's a method that could help guide the people to advance their abilities?

Realizing this point, Wu Ye hastily asked the system. [Help me find out if there's any thunder arts that's suitable for Wuhua to practice. Just show me what I can afford!]

[To retrieve the information on the suitable arts for ability user, you need 100 points and 100 transparent crystals.]

[Deduct the points yourself. As for the crystals nuclei, I'll give you later.] The Second Young Master Wu thought that he had a lot of savings, so he didn't care about this 'little money'.

After getting his permission, the system deducted the points accordingly and two suitable arts for lightning ability users appeared on the control panel—

"Low-level Lightning Bending""Code of Lightning Method " (Volume 1)

Damn! This is too expensive! It's simply a rhythm that I can't afford, roll!

Wu Ye then retracted the control panel, and was ready to receive "The Supreme Art of Water Control" at night. He said to Qin Wuhua, "It seems that we have to find more ways to hunt some third-level zombies."

"What happened?"

Wu Ye sighed: "I want to exchange a lightning cultivation art for you, but there's not enough orange crystals."

Qin Wuhua's heart was moved. He's really eager to improve his strength quickly: "How much more do we need?"

Wu Ye told Qin Wuhua the names of the two arts and the requirements to be able to exchange for it. "... Aside from the zombie walls, which place do you think has many third-level zombies?"

The zombies in the zombie wall were too dense, and the cost of containing the first and second level zombies was higher than the cost of hunting the third-level and its mutation themselves, which was very inefficient. Furthermore, if the crystals couldn't be harvested on time, no one would know when it would cause a calamity.

"City." Qin Wuhua understood Wu Ye's concerns. So, he said, "The city is densely populated. After a full-scale virus outbreak, only a small number of people had successfully escaped. The rest became zombies. There are only about ⅓ survivors who managed to leave the city. The rest were trapped in the city, unable to escape the complex layout without risking turning into zombies themselves.

You know, Qian Xin and I are both part of special forces. After the virus outbreak, he, I, and the other brothers have participated in many city rescue missions. And in order to rescue some influential people, we've been to many cities. Last time, before we met, we had also participated in a confidential mission issued by the military—"

There's a hint of irony in Qin Wuhua's face when he spoke of this mission. "The mission required us to go to a secret military research institute in a small county near Lan Cheng and bring back the researchers who might still be living there."

"And then?" Wu Ye tilted his head, looking at him. It was the first time he ever heard Qin Wuhua talking about his personal business.

"The mission was a trap," Qin WUhua said. "When we got to the institute, we found out that the so-called distress signal was sent a year ago, and all the people there were already dead. By the time we got out of the research institute, the helicopters that sent us there had long since disappeared and our distress signal was cut off… We went there with more than 30 brothers, but the only one who survived were Qian Xin and I. If it's not for the vaccine you provided, Qian Xin and I would have already died long ago."

"Why did they do that?" Wu Ye didn't expect such a thing had happened.

"Through a large amount of experiments, the Jing Cheng Research Institute has developed a drug that's able to convert ordinary people into ability users. But, the success rate was only 1%. However, it's said that the stronger the willpower, the greater the probability of success is. However, because the mortality rate is too high, when the soldiers are tested, they need to sign a voluntary agreement.

After the end of the world, the president ordered the removal of core troops from various military regions to the capital. The first purpose was to have a united form and clear the infected people while building the capital as the largest survivor camp in China and the world. Soon, the camp began to take shape, but the president and vice president were accidentally attacked by people who were already infected by D-virus on the same day the order came down. In the chaos, both died at the same time.

On that same day, many members of parliament were assassinated and purged. When the capital was in a state of chaos and headless, the ten military regions relied on their powerful military forces to seize control alongside the wealthy families who managed to survive the disaster, and together they had taken charge of the capital regime.

Qian Xin and I were under the command of the third military region. Before the end of the world, we were the ace of the military special forces, and we had performed countless missions, contributing to the third military regime as such we were also recalled to the capital. But, after the death of the president and vice president, the soldiers became the personal soldiers of the military leaders in various regimes.

And the third military regime joined forces with the Li family to take charge of their area, and we were loyal to the Li family and General Wang Qi of the third military. Then, Li Wang Qi's oldest and youngest son awakened their abilities in the beginning of the apocalypse. And currently, both brothers were the most powerful ability users in the capital.

Prior to my last mission, Li Min Min had just reached the peak of third-order fire ability, while Li Zhi Ji's wind ability was also at the peak of third-order. Both were very strong and their combined skills were unmatched in the capital. And because of both of them, the Li family became more ambitious and wanted to gain even greater power.

As such, Li Wang Qi asked me and more than the thirty brothers under me to participate in the 'Awakening Plan'. During the apocalypse, our ace special team had lost more than 300 people, leaving a mere 30 people. And knowing that a disaster had occurred, we, the soldiers, went to the front-line and fought.

We left our parents and family behind to fight. But because of that, my parents died at home alone and I had no brother or sister. Who knows what the other people's situation was? How many of us even dared to think about their home situation? But, what do we get in return for our efforts?

I didn't want the thirty brothers I had left to be sacrificed needlessly, and I rejected Li Wang Qi's order. Ever since my rejection, we've been frequently dispatched to do the most dangerous tasks, and we've escaped several times more or less intact.

Some people, who didn't agree with Li Wang Qi's order, spread the information to the rest of the third military regime so no soldiers in the military regimes would volunteer to participate in the awakening plan. And this caused Li Wang Qi to think of us as a thorn in his eyes. That's why he deliberately arranged for this suicidal task to kill us to warn the monkeys by killing the chicken."

"Since he treats you like that, can't you choose to retire?" Wu Ye did not expect Qin Wuhua to have such a past. He never expected that the water in Beijing would be so deep. In contrast, the five forces in Lan Cheng base looked much more loving.

Qin Wuhua shook his head: "After the disaster's outbreak, the military stipulates that the soldiers will not be allowed to retire unless they lose their combat capabilities. Deserters shall be executed immediately once found."

The Second Young Master Wu smacked his lips. "You guys are so honest. If it was me, I'd have run away already even if I had to pretend to be dead."

Wu Ye had never been a soldier. He did not understand the glory of soldiers felt in their bones. Qualified soldiers were most disdainful of deserters and Qin Wuhua along with his special forces are the elites among the elites. They would rather fight to death in the battlefield than to be ridiculed as someone who's greedy for life and fears death. However, although the ideals are very beautiful, the reality is very harsh. These soldiers, who only wanted to protect their country and people, all underestimated the degree of politicians' shamelessness.

Qin Wuhua lowered his head with remorse, and couldn't hide the hatred in his eyes. "Yes. If only I could take them away at the very beginning."

Wu Ye secretly scolded himself for speaking arbitrarily and accidentally twisted the knife embedded in his younger brother's heart. So, he quickly shifted the topic away. "You haven't finished talking about the city just now. Are there many third-level zombies in the city?"

Qin Wuhua nodded. "Yes, I don't know why, but the zombie evolution in the city seems to be faster than elsewhere. Two months ago, we encountered third-level zombies in that small city on that mission, and there were quite a number of them in that city."

Wu Ye hesitated and asked, "Then, wouldn't we be stepping into the tiger's mouth at that time?"

Qin Wuhua shook his head and said. "Two days ago, Ji Xiang invited me to his house. There, he said that he would organize an acquisition mission in the near future and invited us to participate. The destination of the mission was that small city."

Wu Ye's mind was somewhat decided already, "What stuff are they planning to collect there?"

Qin Wuhua said, "He said he wanted to get some solar power generators from the industrial zone on the outskirts of the city. The sunshine in Lan Cheng base is not strong in winter. Without enough solar power generators, it's likely the electricity would be cut off in the winter."

Lan Cheng has always relied on solar power to generate electricity. Electricity is included in the rent and no additional calculations are made. However, this did not mean that Lan Cheng's senior management did not want to collect money. It's mainly because they didn't have enough electricity meters yet, and they also lacked a fair excuse to charge for it.

It is estimated that Ji Xiang's intention to act this time was to ambush in order to collect electricity charges in the future.

Wu Ye touched his smooth chin. "Have he mentioned to you how the reward calculation is going to be done for the task?"

Qin Wuhua shook his head. "No, he only said he will talk about it in detail when the plan has been worked out."

Wu Ye said, "That's good. At that time, when he wants to pay you, just let him do it with orange crystals. Right now, Lan Cheng's third-order ability users can be counted with one hand. Presumably, he knows the situation in that city. I'm not afraid he won't invite you. Not only you, but he will also invite Qian Xin, Yang Qi, and Yang Lina."

During the base' siege, the capital base took a large number of ability users from Lan Cheng base. They gave those whose ability had reached second-order level a free flight to the capital base. Not only that, they also gave discounts to the first-order ability users to fly to their base.

So, Lan Cheng's combat force that originally amounted to less than 2.000 ability users, now only amounted to 1.400 ability users after the siege battle. And this amount is helped along with those who had newly awakened their ability during the siege. Therefore, the amount of ability users that had reached second-order level that was still in Lan Cheng base was truly pitiful to look at. Furthermore, these ability users were not all loyal to the five forces controlling Lan Cheng base.

Therefore, the five forces in Lan Cheng base couldn't underestimate Wu Ye and his group's combat effectiveness, despite their few numbers. After all, they had Qin Wuhua, Qian Xin, Yang Qi, and Yang Li Na, who all have reached the peak of second-order level, on their side.

The longer he stayed in this zombie's world, the more aware Wu Ye became. He profoundly understood words were meaningless, and the only thing he could rely on as the foundation of his life was a strong force.

Wu Ye and Qin Wuhua chatted for a while about everything. Meanwhile, in the afternoon, the number of customers coming into the shop suddenly increased.

Most of these people came for the Chanel No. 5 perfume bottle. When they saw the heart-breaking price Wu Ye set for his goods, all of them got so angry their teeth itched. After Yu Hui, the owner of the other bottle of Chanel No. 5, received the news; the smile on her face didn't disappear for the whole afternoon. As the wife of the first person in charge of Lan Cheng base, what she wanted was this unique respect.

Wu Ye, huh. Very well.

Yu Hui was in a good mood, so she directly suppressed the complaint letter sent by the patrol and directly summoned the deputy director of the patrol management office to scold him. "Is your brain eaten by the zombies? Can counterfeit goods have the same price as the real ones? Isn't that cheating the customers? If it's you, would you be willing to spend 1.200 crystals to buy counterfeit hibiscus cigarettes? In my opinion, Wu Ye's pricing is very reasonable. After all, his counterfeit goods are appropriately priced as counterfeit goods. Don't come bother me with such a mentally retarded things in the future!"

When the deputy director entered the door and smelled the charming fragrance coming from Yu Hui's body, he had a bad feeling in his heart. In the end, his bad feelings came true and he could only act as a grandson as he repeatedly apologized. And when he returned, he immediately chewed out the subordinates who gave him the rotten idea.

He could realize that Wu Ye and his companion should have approached Ji Xiang already and had coaxed the tigress beside him to be so happy with them. As such, they would have to take more care of them in the future.

Not mentioning the small disturbance on the patrol side, the people who came to see the perfume couldn't afford the high price as well, but that didn't prevent them from buying other things in the store.

At the end of the day, Yunnan Baiyao, the alcohol, and sweets were all sold out. Meanwhile, 40 packs of counterfeit cigarettes were sold. As for the chocolate and snickers, their price was too high, making most people reluctant to buy. Of course, there were also some people who wanted to coax their women (men) to be happy, as such they paid for them while feeling pained in their heart.

Penicillin and cold medicine were also expensive. Furthermore, it was not packaged. As such, everyone was afraid of being allergic to it. So, unless it was needed, most people rarely buy it. Still, even with the hesitation, there's still some people who buy it.

The worst sales in the store were salt and compressed biscuits.

Due to high-level restrictions, the salt in the store was at the same price as the official store. As for those who have other alternatives, they were more willing to buy cheaper salt on the black market.

Meanwhile, the cause for the low sale of the compressed biscuits was because people didn't think it was cost-effective. The price of a good pork in Lan Cheng base was 30 crystals per 500 grams, but the price of a pack of compressed biscuits that weigh about one or two hundred grams was the same. As such, the customers thought it was simply too expensive.

Although a small piece of fruit-flavored sweets was sold for 20 crystals, many people still bought it because its purpose was to satisfy their cravings or to take it home to coax their children and wives. After all, there were so few snacks in the apocalypse that many people haven't tasted sugar for a long time. Anyway, their mindset was that it's not a big deal to be extravagant once in a while.

Compressed biscuits weren't the same. Its taste was not much better, and people buy it just to fill their stomach. So, subconsciously, people would compare it with grain meat. And, when people found that this thing was actually more expensive than 500 grams of pork meat, naturally no one was willing to buy.

In the end, there weren't many goods left in the shop. And, after closing it at 8 P.M, Zeng Xin and Chen Zhao Yang put the rest of the goods into the suitcase they had bought at a low price and brought them back to their building. After all, while there were guards who would patrol at night, people weren't promised the goods they lost would be recompensed.

The survivors in Lan Cheng base wouldn't dare to think of the five forces goods, but that didn't mean they were afraid of the four new small shops.

In the evening, after listening to Zeng Xin's sales report, Wu Ye decided to go back and sold the packaged compressed biscuit back to Pang Zhi after the package was replaced of course. Then, he would no longer sell it here.

Apparently, some people wanted to buy stomach medicine. He'd need to ask Wuhua what Pei Yuan pills are; and there were those who wanted to buy sanitary napkins. However, he didn't know what the price for that particular good in Lan Cheng was. But, if the price is good, then he'd considered selling it.

Well, next time he would bring more sweets and other small snacks. Furthermore, he had to go back and study how to set up the food factory with the old man.

The author has something to say: ╮(╯▽╰) ╭ In fact, the exercises learned by Er Shao were not as bad as he thinks ~~~

In addition: Below are the system's calculation for crystal nuclei below the third level

1 powder crystal nuclei = 5 transparent crystal nuclei

1 pink crystal nuclei = 10 transparent crystal nuclei

1 red crystal nuclei = 50 trans crystal nuclei

1 orange crystal nuclei = 100 trans crystal nuclei

Similar to the 2012 setting, the ability users and the zombies will have an evolutionary ruling every third level, and the nucleus exchange rate will be adjusted. When you write it, say it again.