The Scum Shou’s Survival Guide

Ye Ming abruptly opened his eyes, and found himself sitting in the system space.
He was still stuck in the shadow of being smashed to death by a billboard.
For a while, his eyes stared straight ahead, and he assumed a state of lifelessness.

After a long time, Ye Ming exhaled and said, “This method of death is too unsightly! It doesn’t match my status as a protagonist at all! I strongly protest! What accidental death package? You guys can’t skimp on me like this.”

 

 

888 responded dismissively, “Though death befalls all men alike, some are inherently as light as a feather, while others, as heavy as Mount Tai.
For someone like you who’s lighter than a feather, pairing a billboard with you is more than sufficient.”

Ye Ming criticized 888 with a righteous expression, “All men are born equal! Each life is equally precious! How could you say that about me? Is my life not precious then?” 

888 laughed, he he he.

 

Ye Ming felt he had been scorned again.
He didn’t know if it was his imagination or not, but he’d always felt that the frequency of him being scorned had gotten higher and higher…

888 asked, “Are you going to keep grappling with this problem, or do you want to transmigrate to the next world?”

Ye Ming glared at him, then realized that 888 probably wouldn’t pay any attention to him.
Finally, he gave a dry cough, “Let’s continue on to the next world, then.”

 

Without another word, 888 initiated the transmission.

【Ding.
Transmission complete.】

Ye Ming accepted some memories in his mind, and immediately knew which world he’d returned to.
He couldn’t help but sigh in despair.
It wasn’t that he thought the mission was too difficult or anything, but rather, he just didn’t really like post-apocalyptic worlds where supplies were scarce and zombies ran rampant.
He preferred to pursue an exquisite, high-quality, high-class lifestyle ma.

In this world, his name was Xu Xiaofei.
When he’d first transmigrated to this world, this world hadn’t been a post-apocalyptic one, and had only been a very normal, modern world. 

His capture target was called Yang Qian, Xu Xiaofei’s childhood sweetheart plus classmate.
They’d originally been good buddies.

After Ye Ming transmigrated over, he successfully staged a ‘You treat me like a brother, I treat you like a lover’ performance.
He pretended to have a secret crush on Yang Qian.
Yang Qian didn’t think that Ye Ming would like him like that.
At the beginning, he was still very surprised, but soon, he was captured by Ye Ming, and the two became a couple.

We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection.
If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.

The two families were old family friends, and their parents were all more open-minded.
They had no objections to the two of them being together.
It could be said that the path of their relationship flowed with the wind and currents.
Just when Ye Ming thought that this was simply an easy modern world, and was prepared to go down this path to completely fill up the favorability value, an incident occurred!

Ktf revvfc beaygfjx bo j nlger rkfqa jmgbrr atf fcalgf kbgiv.
90% bo atf tewjc qbqeijalbc tjv agjcrobgwfv lcab hbwylfr.
Ojk jcv bgvfg rbbc mbiijqrfv, jcv atf regnlnlcu tewjc yflcur rageuuifv obg regnlnji lc j qbra-jqbmjisqalm kbgiv. 

An urban theme suddenly turned into a doomsday theme.
Everywhere, there were explosively ugly zombies opening their mouths to eat humans.
There was no power, no water, no WiFi, a lack of food, and little to drink, just like living in the □□ Ages.
At that time, there was only one phrase that could describe Ye Ming’s frame of mind: WTF.

Tf Zlcu tjv yffc abufatfg klat Tjcu Hljc atf fcalgf alwf, yea atflg gfijalnfr kfgf jii lc jcbatfg mlas.
Vbbc joafg atf beaygfjx bo atf nlger, atfs ibra mbcajma.
Mjmlcu atf jgglnji bo atf jqbmjisqrf, atf akb mbeiv bcis weaejiis vfqfcv bc fjmt batfg obg regnlnji jcv jvnjcmf obgkjgv.

Although life wasn’t easy, Ye Ming quickly found out that it wasn’t entirely without benefits.
In such difficult circumstances where they were under the constant threat of death, the two fought side by side.
In order to protect Ye Ming, Yang Qian encountered life-or-death situations on several occasions.
The favorability value that rose very slowly before actually doubled in growth speed.
The danger had actually stimulated Yang Qian’s desire to protect Ye Ming.

When the apocalypse arrived, besides the majority of human beings who had transformed into zombies, a small number of people awakened special abilities while fighting at close quarters.
In the post-apocalyptic world, these humans with special abilities gradually demonstrated their skills and became existences standing at the apex of the food chain. 

Regrettably, neither Ye Ming nor Yang Qian had awakened any abilities.
There were only the two of them, and they didn’t team up with anyone else, so they led pretty difficult lives after the apocalypse… however, although Yang Qian didn’t have an ability, his survival skills and fighting abilities weren’t low, while his adaptability was very high.
Among the ordinary human beings, he was considered outstanding.
The two had several close calls, but fortunately, still managed to persevere.

Of course, they never ran into any kind of danger with certain death.
Otherwise, even if Ye Ming had to get 888 to step out, he still wouldn’t have let Yang Qian die before his favorability value was full.

 

In fact, getting an ability couldn’t be considered something difficult for Ye Ming to accomplish.
The system store sold ability awakening potions.
Even the type of awakened ability could be selected.
If Ye Ming wanted to dominate this post-apocalyptic world, it wouldn’t simply be a dream.
But, the price of the potion wasn’t cheap, so Ye Ming was reluctant.
Besides, with Yang Qian there, nothing would happen to him.
In the end, Ye Ming’s goal wasn’t to dominate this post-apocalyptic world, but to obtain favorability points.

Making money wasn’t easy, ah.
Ye Ming never wasted experience points on unnecessary things. 

Like this, the two people fled for their lives and killed zombies along the way.
Finally, Ye Ming raised Yang Qian’s favorability value to 90, and they successfully arrived at the largest survivor base in the north.

The leader of this survivor base was a powerful ability-user named Huo Yi.

Huo Yi was a mercenary before he awakened his ability.
He brought along a group of comrades-in-arms under his leadership who had also awakened their abilities.
While other human beings were still escaping in a panic or were reduced to zombie food, they began to plunder resources without restraint, and built up their own forces.
These troubled times, on the contrary, allowed them to be like fish in water.

This post-apocalyptic world that had lost all social order was once again governed by the law of the jungle.
Here, the strong were respected. 

In order to survive, many human beings had no choice but to seek their protection.
But, in order to secure Huo Yi’s protection, they needed to pay a price.
Not only did they have to contribute manpower, but they also had to obey their instructions and hand over a lot of resources as protection fees.
The people living here had to pay a lot to barely acquire enough food for subsistence.
Useless women or weak men were sometimes even reduced to slaves who were bought and sold.

In this survivor base, Huo Yi’s existence was equivalent to that of an emperor, while the powerhouses who supported him were equivalent to the aristocrats of a country.
They would go out to plunder resources, ward off zombies, and battle zombies.
At the same time, they possessed privileges that other people didn’t have.

Nevertheless, compared with living in constant fear outside, the people who had nowhere to go would rather be exploited and stay in the survivor’s base Huo Yi and the others had built.
At least then, they could live with their own kind and have strong people to protect them.

In this post-apocalyptic world, viciousness and cruelty, the instinct to cowardly escape, and all kinds of despicable aspects of human nature could no longer be concealed.
The dark side that had once been constrained by ethics and regulations had lost its restraints, and lay bare for all to see. 

By the time Ye Ming and Yang Qian had fled here, they were nearly spent.
There hadn’t been a single night where they could sleep peacefully, nor a single day where they could rest peacefully.
They didn’t have enough food to eat and lived in a constant state of fear.
Even though they clearly knew that this base wasn’t some paradise, they still wanted to stay there at all costs.

Every day there were many people just like them who fled to this place.
This was the only place they could find for survival.
Even so, it wasn’t as though everyone could go in.
Before they could enter the base, they still had to be assessed first.
Completely useless good-for-nothings were denied entry, while the people who were allowed entry were divided into different classes and suffered through hardships to obtain barely enough food for subsistence.

Ye Ming and Yang Qian were only ordinary human beings without abilities.
Only ability-users would receive VIP treatment, while they could only stay at the bottom and make a living.
Yang Qian joined the dangerous search team and went out with other men to hunt for supplies and earn points to support the two, while Ye Ming stayed at the base to do much safer work.

Ye Ming carefully and conscientiously collected favorability points.
He and Yang Qian mutually supported each other, not separating from nor abandoning the other, completely embodying what it meant to share trials and tribulations.
The favorability value rose higher and higher, and right when it was almost full… 

Huo Yi took a fancy to Ye Ming.

In this post-apocalyptic world, if someone didn’t have powerful enough strength, a good-looking appearance would often bring a lot of unnecessary trouble.

Without the constraints of laws and regulations, here, the strong were respected.
The strong could willfully take whatever they’d set their eyes on, including people.

If it’d been those who’d originally been willing to rely on the strong by selling their bodies, then that’d be one thing, but there were always those who were unwilling to succumb to such oppression.
But, if they didn’t have the ability to resist, if they weren’t snatched away, then they were turned into slaves who were bought and sold. 

Ye Ming’s appearance in this world, indeed, was rather good-looking.
Since Yang Qian felt especially distressed for him, he went out by himself to fight zombies and grab resources and left Ye Ming in the base to do much safer work.
Ye Ming rarely suffered much after the apocalypse.
With an exceptional temperament and remarkable looks… fortunately, he was a man, otherwise there’d have been even more people casting their greedy eyes on him.
Nevertheless, he still couldn’t escape this obstacle.

Whenever Huo Yi wanted someone, he’d always directly grabbed them.
Or, it could be said that whenever he wanted someone, it’d always been the others hurriedly delivering themselves to his doorstep while suffering a loss.
It was rare to meet a person like Ye Ming who wasn’t willing to obey him, which, on the contrary, made him even more interested and determined to get his hands on him.

 

At first, Huo Yi still had a little patience and gave Ye Ming some time to think about it.
But not after long, seeing that Ye Ming didn’t have the slightest intention to go with him, he lost his patience and directly snatched him away.

Ye Ming thought in his heart, how unlucky. Laozi was only missing a few points before the favorability value would be full, ah! Couldn’t you have waited a bit longer before making your move? 

This was also the reason why Ye Ming hadn’t wanted to come to this base from the start.
Having a lot of people around would easily cause new problems to crop up.
Only, it wasn’t convenient for him to make his thoughts too obvious.
Moreover, Yang Qian insisted on coming because he was afraid that he wouldn’t be able to protect Ye Ming, so even if he had to go through fire and water, he still wanted to leave Ye Ming inside the base.
His original intention had been to protect Ye Ming, but he hadn’t thought that the inside of the base would also be fraught with accidents and dangers.
The darkness in people’s hearts could sometimes be more frightening than zombies.

That day, Yang Qian coincidentally went out with the search team.
When they were coming back, they ran into a large wave of zombies and had heavy casualties.
Only less than half of the group returned alive.
After Yang Qian came back, he discovered that Ye Ming wasn’t at home and searched everywhere.
Finally, he found out that Ye Ming had been snatched away by Huo Yi.

Yang Qian loved Ye Ming deeply.
How could he tolerate his lover being taken away? He immediately went over to find Huo Yi to demand his return, but Huo Yi completely didn't have Yang Qian in his eyes.
He contemptuously proposed using one thousand points for an exchange.
Points were the currency that Huo Yi established in this base.
A thousand points was considered an enormous sum that could be used to purchase a lot of food.
He felt that using it to buy Ye Ming was more than enough, and Yang Qian ought to be deeply grateful for his kindness.
After all, there were many people who were willing to sell their relatives or themselves just for the sake of survival.

But to his surprise, Yang Qian wasn’t moved at all by this.
Instead, he was so humiliated his eyes turned red, and he recklessly attacked him.
Of course, Huo Yi wouldn’t tolerate an ant acting so impudently, refusing a toast only to be forced to drink a forfeit.
So, he made a move to kill Yang Qian. 

Ye Ming thought in his heart, “How could this be alright.
My family’s Yang Qian is only an ordinary person, not enough for one slap from you.
If you slap him to death, my experience points will go down the drain, ah!” His experience points were about to face a life-or-death crisis! Ye Ming was so agitated his eyes also reddened, and he rushed forward to block him. Even if laozi dies, I can’t let my experience points die, ahhh! If you dare kill him, I refuse to live under the same sky as you!

Huo Yi didn’t think that Ye Ming had such ‘profound affection’ for Yang Qian and immediately, the man’s scumbag nature was exposed a bit.
The more he couldn’t obtain something, the more he wanted to obtain it, so instead, he liked Ye Ming even more now.
Instead of killing Yang Qian, he drove him out.
Then, he threatened to kill Yang Qian if Ye Ming didn’t listen to him.

But, the Ye Ming at this time was a little absent-minded, because just now, when he stood in front of Huo Yi to save Yang Qian, the favorability value that had just been missing one final point became full, and his mission was completed!

Huo Yi, however, thought that Ye Ming was unwilling because of Yang Qian, and continued to threaten him. 

The favorability value was full, so Ye Ming felt it didn’t matter much anyway.
After all, he was about to leave, and wasn’t this just the opportunity to make some trouble, ma.
Anyway, Yang Qian’s favorability value was already full, so letting him believe that he decided to follow Huo Yi wasn’t a bad idea.
This way, they could logically go their separate ways.

Ye Ming felt this was absolutely perfect!

The next day, Yang Qian secretly found a chance to meet with Ye Ming outside.
Then, when he expressed that he would definitely think of a way to save him, Ye Ming calmly said to him instead: “Don’t come find me again, and don’t waste your efforts.
Just forget about me.”

Ye Ming’s alienating attitude surprised Yang Qian and made him feel very sad.
But, he didn’t believe that Ye Ming was the type of person who’d sell his own body and forsake their feelings.
Just yesterday, in front of Huo Yi, he’d protected him.
So, he asked sadly, “Did Huo Yi threaten you.” 

Ye Ming said, “No.” He said, “You should realize that this is reality.
I thought about it a bit afterwards.
If I go with Huo Yi, I can live a much better life, and you can also get points, which is a good thing for both you and me.”

Yang Qian still didn’t believe that Ye Ming would abandon him to go with Huo Yi, so he said, “Don’t be afraid, I’ll definitely have a way to save you!”

Ye Ming saw that Yang Qian single-mindedly believed that he’d been threatened, and just wouldn’t believe that he’d abandon him.
He also felt very helpless, but he was about to leave.
If Yang Qian really was unwilling to believe him, then forget it.

But he hadn’t imagined that, on the next day, something would happen that would change his plans. 

888 told Ye Ming that apparently, on that day, Huo Yi had overheard Yang Qian and Ye Ming’s conversation during their secret rendezvous.
He also determined that Ye Ming had been ‘threatened by him and was afraid of something happening to Yang Qian’ and had intentionally said such things.
Seeing Ye Ming ‘enduring such disgrace and bearing such a heavy burden’ for Yang Qian, Huo Yi’s heart gave rise to a murderous intent again.
He instinctively felt that Yang Qian was a threat, and didn’t seem to be a person who could be content with his lot.
So, he ordered his trusted subordinate, Liu Wenguang, to get rid of Yang Qian to eliminate a potential root of future troubles.

Ye Ming anxiously inquired 888, “If Yang Qian is killed before I leave, does the mission still count as complete or not?”

 

888 said that this kind of situation had never happened before, so he wasn’t too certain.
It depended on what the main system decided.
Ye Ming thought in his heart that it would be best not to take this risk.
At any rate, they’d gotten along with each other for such a long time already.
Watching Yang Qian just get killed like this because of him would make him him feel somewhat unsettled, so he brainstormed and conceived an ingenious (rotten) trick to kill two birds with one stone.

That very night, Yang Qian was captured by Liu Wenguang and brought back.
He was only an ordinary human.
He fundamentally wasn’t an ability user’s opponent at all, and could only be a fish on a cutting board. 

Huo Yi decided to personally pay a visit to Yang Qian before he was killed.

Ye Ming accurately chose an opportune moment, and specifically waited until this time to go find Huo Yi.
The men in Huo Yi’s villa all recognized Ye Ming.
Knowing he was the person that the boss had just snatched over recently and was someone he highly valued, they didn’t dare to slight him, and let Ye Ming go over to find him.

 

 

Huo Yi hadn’t expected that Ye Ming would come to find him all of a sudden.
He was certain he couldn’t let Ye Ming see him kill Yang Qian, otherwise Ye Ming would hate him to death.
So after he heard Ye Ming knock on the door, he got Liu Wenguang to tie up Yang Qian, gag him, then stuff him into the neighboring room.
Then, he opened the door to let Ye Ming in.

Pretending to have no idea that Yang Qian was right next door, Ye Ming said to Huo Yi: I thought things through.
I’m willing to follow you. 

Huo Yi was a little surprised.
He hadn’t imagined that Ye Ming would suddenly change his mind and asked him, was he serious?

 

Ye Ming said he was serious.
Before, he simply couldn’t switch gears for a period of time.
In fact, it was his good fortune to be able to follow Huo Yi.
Moreover, Yang Qian was very useless, and was only an ordinary human.
He couldn’t give him a good life at all.
Anyone intelligent would know what to choose.

Huo Yi still didn’t really believe Ye Ming’s words.
After all, at the time, Ye Ming had still made a move like that to rescue Yang Qian.
Obviously, he cared about him immensely.

Ye Ming said that he indeed did like Yang Qian before.
After all, they’d known each other for many years, and Yang Qian treated him very well.
When he saw that he might be killed, he felt guilty, so he stepped in to obstruct him, but it’d only been out of gratitude… the past was in the past.
People eventually needed to look forward into the future.
He thought it’d be better to go with Huo Yi.

 

After that, he took the initiative to go up and kiss Huo Yi, and requested for Huo Yi to drive Yang Qian away from here.
He didn’t want to see Yang Qian appear in front of him again.
He had actually wanted to get away from him for a long time now.
Only, Yang Qian had always treated him so well, so it was difficult for him to tear open their faces.
At that time, he’d still needed Yang Qian.

Now he didn’t need him anymore, and would be with Huo Yi, so it wasn’t very appropriate for Yang Qian to continue to stay any longer.

Huo Yi saw Ye Ming being so proactive, and was delighted.
But, he was acutely aware that Ye Ming probably knew something and was purposely saying such things.
Perhaps, he was afraid that he would make a move against Yang Qian, so he proposed to drive Yang Qian away.

But he didn’t prod, and asked him instead, “Are you really not reluctant?” 

Ye Ming said with ease, “There’s nothing much to be reluctant about.”

Huo Yi thought that even if Ye Ming was lying, it didn’t really matter.
After all, obtaining the person was good enough, so he pushed down Ye Ming and continued kissing him.
Ye Ming was also rather cooperative.
After all, Huo Yi was still a super handsome and super powerful ability-user.

But in the end, he didn’t really go all the way, because Huo Yi recalled that Yang Qian was still next door.
This situation still had to be dealt with.
So, he let Ye Ming go back first, expressed that he would arrange things according to his wishes, and promised that in the future, Yang Qian wouldn’t appear in front of him to bother him anymore.

After Ye Ming left, Huo Yi opened the door and released Yang Qian. 

Rounding up a bit, Yang Qian had approximately listened to an entire live spring palace performance while he’d been inside.
He’d listened to his beloved person say such things to Huo Yi behind his back, kiss Huo Yi, and even say that he wanted to kick him out, and never wanted him to appear in front of him again… he was so furious his eyes reddened to the point it seemed as though blood was about to drip out.
He didn’t want to believe that those were Ye Ming’s actual feelings, but Ye Ming had even said that he wanted to kick him out so heartlessly and callously.

Ye Ming absolutely didn’t know that he was here, so there was no need to lie, was there? Could those actually be his true feelings?

This was impossible.

But Huo Yi seemed to believe that the blow Yang Qian had received hadn’t been large enough.
He improvised on the spot and said to Yang Qian, “Originally, I was just going to teach you a little lesson and then let you go, but Ye Ming doesn’t want to see you again, so get lost.
In the future, don’t come back to bother Ye Ming anymore.
A useless good-for-nothing like you absolutely can’t give him much.” 

Then, Huo Yi intructed Liu Wenguang to break Yang Qian’s legs and drive out that night to ditch him outside the base.
This move of his was extremely cruel.
Although he listened to what Ye Ming had said, and wouldn’t directly take Yang Qian’s life, there wasn’t much of a difference between doing this and taking his life.

Liu Wenguang threw Yang Qian whose legs had been broken out into the woods.
He also honked his horn a few times to attract some zombies over, then drove away.
Both he and Huo Yi believed that Yang Qian had a 100% chance of dying.

 

We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection.
If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.

This didn’t count as lying to Ye Ming.
After all, Huo Yi hadn’t personally made a move to kill him.
He’d only ordered a subordinate to drive Yang Qian away ma.

Tf Zlcu ifoa rbbc joafg tf olclrtfv tlr yerlcfrr.
Coafg jii, tf mbeivc’a xffq bc rajslcu lc atlr kbgiv, jcv mbeiv bcis tfiq tlw atlr wemt, ulnlcu Tjcu Hljc j yla bo fzagj alwf.
Cr obg atf gfra, Tjcu Hljc’r ilof bg vfjat mbeiv bcis yf ifoa eq ab ojaf. 

Next was what had happened in the past two years, the things that Ye Ming didn’t know about.

When his legs had been broken and he was thrown out of the base, alone and abandoned, Yang Qian had also believed that he would undoubtedly die.
In that dark night of despair, countless zombies growling with hunger staggered towards him.
The moment he was surrounded, only grief and hatred were left in his heart.

He hated his own powerlessness, and hated Ye Ming’s heartlessness.

He recalled the sounds of Ye Ming and Huo Yi kissing, recalled the heartless words Ye Ming had said, and recalled Ye Ming saying that he never wanted to see him again… and wanted Huo Yi to kick him out.
He’d said that since long ago, he’d already not wanted to be with him anymore… he was merely worried about his face and found it difficult to speak up. 

Because he treated him well, he kept on taking advantage of him…

When Ye Ming had said such words, when he’d asked Huo Yi to do such a thing to him, had he even bothered considering whether or not he would be able to survive?

Just because I wasn’t strong enough, couldn’t give you a better life, and couldn’t protect you, you wanted to leave me? Like this, where exactly are you placing the love between us?

His extreme despair and hatred caused Yang Qian to awaken his abilities and survive a deadly, hopeless situation.
His powerful ability allowed him to strangle all the zombies in an instant, and escape with his life intact in the end! 

Yang Qian dragged his injured legs dripping with blood behind him, and crawled away from that place.
Because he was injured and alone, he depended on drinking rainwater, eating weeds, eating raw animal meat, and even eating mice to survive.

His ability was very powerful, and also had some healing capabilities.
Because of this, he didn’t become disabled even though his legs had been broken.
Eventually, he slowly recovered from his injuries.

Yang Qian who’d become strong spent each and every moment in his heart wanting to go back for revenge.
But he knew that right now, he still wasn’t Huo Yi’s opponent.
Not only was Huo Yi very strong as an individual, but he also had a powerful group of trusted subordinates.
So, Yang Qian endured his humiliation and bore this burden, while he devised a strategy outside to ally with people from other small bases, and slowly gathered his own forces and subordinates.
Once he had enough assurance, he would take revenge on Huo Yi.

Like this, nearly two years later, Yang Qian finally had enough capital to confront Huo Yi with, and raided Huo Yi’s survivor base. 

With that battle, everything was turned upside down, and there were extremely heavy casualties.
In the end, Huo Yi was no match for Yang Qian.
He took his subordinates and fled, cutting a sorry figure.
Thus, Yang Qian became the new owner of this base.

Ye Ming watched until here, his expression a bit awkward and unsightly.
He hadn’t thought that Huo Yi would be that cruel, and hadn’t thought that Yang Qian’s life would be so difficult.
After all, he’d left as soon as he finished speaking at the time, and hadn’t imagined that he would return… so he’d been a little careless.

Speaking of, Yang Qian had spent these past two years outside, secretly preparing to stage a comeback, but it definitely hadn’t been as easy as it sounded.

Compared to Yang Qian, Ye Ming’s body, Xu Xiaofei, lived a very simple and monotonous life, like a canary by Huo Yi’s side.
Huo Yi was pretty good to him, and it was apparent there was a modicum of genuine like.
In this entire base, everyone knew that Xu Xiaofei was one of Huo Yi’s people. 

But right now, Huo Yi had just been defeated and ran away! Leaving him behind by himself! And now that he had transmigrated back, the new owner of the base had become his old love, Yang Qian!

The corners of Ye Ming’s lips twitched as he looked at his own room.

 

This was Huo Yi’s villa.
He lived in the most luxurious room.
Just taking a look, this place didn’t seem like it belonged in a post-apocalyptic world at all.
Inside the room, there was a large European-style bed.
Beautiful curtains were hung up, while the floor was covered with thick wool carpets.
The table was set with exquisite silver tableware and food that hadn’t been finished yet.

Drawing the curtains aside and looking down, there was a beautiful flower garden outside… 

But at the moment, unfamiliar people had surrounded the place and were cleaning up the corpses nearby, preparing to go upstairs! This place had already been seized.

【Ye Ming: Ao ao ao, what should I do?】

【888: He he.
Now you know how to be afraid.
Why weren’t you afraid before when you were acting all unrestrained?】

【Ye Ming: What should I do? I’m about to meet with my family’s Yang Qian.
I haven’t seen him in two years, and he’s already become an ability-user.
His stamina should’ve also improved a lot, right?】 

【888: …】Isn’t there something wrong with your point of concern?

【Ye Ming: This won’t do.
Right now, I shouldn’t know that the person coming is him, and I shouldn’t know what he’s been through.
And, I also shouldn’t know about him overhearing those words that I said to Huo Yi at the time.
I don’t know about any of these things! I need to think about how I should act right now.
Better not give myself away.】

【888: …】

【Ye Ming: Okay, I’m ready.
I’ve gotten into character! We can start now!】 

【888: Shut your mouth.
These things don’t need to be said to me anymore.】

【Ye Ming: Ying ying ying】

At this moment, the door was unceremoniously pushed open, and two unfamiliar men appeared at the doorway.

One was a burly man who was two meters tall.
His fists were almost as large as Ye Ming’s head.
He seemed to be a strength-type ability-user.
The other was a tall, thin man with a pale face.
His icy gaze fell upon Ye Ming. 

The tall, burly man was called Shi Yang, and was Yang Qian’s right-hand man.
He took large strides over and lifted up Ye Ming who was hiding in a corner with a frightened expression like a baby chick all of a sudden.
He said in a booming voice, “Huo Yi has already been defeated by our boss.
All of his property, including his slaves, have been claimed by my master.
So have you.”

Ye Ming looked at him in fury and panic.
When he thought about how he was going to be regarded as Huo Yi’s property to be claimed by a complete stranger, he felt fearful and disoriented, and kept on struggling, “I’m not Huo Yi’s slave!”

But, he was only an ordinary human being.
How could he be an ability-user’s opponent.

“Hehe, if you’re not his slave, then why’re you inside his home? I’ve heard that Huo Yi has a slave that he likes very much.
It should be you ba,” Shi Yang said while chuckling.
Seeing Ye Ming being dishonest, he turned his head and said, “Hey, Lao Zhao, this little guy isn’t very obedient.” 

Zhao Jin, the tall and thin man, walked over.
He thought about things more deeply.
Boss Yang had just seized this base and still had lots of things to do, yet he still had the mindset to claim a mere slave of Huo Yi’s despite his busy schedule.
Perhaps there was some kind of reason here.

What was different about this person?

 

Zhao Jin tilted his head and said lazily, “If he’s not obedient, then don’t you know how to make him obedient? You even have to ask me about something like this.
What exactly is inside your head? A stone?”

Shi Yang rubbed his head, clapped his hands, then strode downstairs.
He was massive, and it seemed as though the earth was quaking and mountains were shaking whenever he ran.
When he came back, he was holding a black iron collar attached to a chain, exactly like those made for slaves to use.
He grabbed Ye Ming and put it on his neck with a ‘kacha’. 

Ye Ming clutched the collar around his neck, his expression unbearably ashamed and indignant.
Although for these past two years, he’d also lived beside Huo Yi like a chunk of meat, Huo Yi had never made him use this kind of humiliating collar before, and he still had a little bit of freedom.
However, this barbarian who had come out of nowhere was treating him like this as soon as he showed up.
He was afraid his boss was probably more dreadful and detestable than Huo Yi.
When he thought about how he was going to be reduced to this state, and then handed over to someone else, he thought it’d be far better to die.

Zhao Jin glanced at the ugly look on Ye Ming’s face, shrugged, and said with a smile, “Let’s go ba, don’t let the boss wait too long.”

As soon as Shi Yang heard this, he yanked on the chain and walked out, not the slightest bit concerned that Ye Ming might shake him off.
With Ye Ming’s small stature, using one hand to resist three of him still wouldn’t be a problem.

Ye Ming grabbed onto the chains and fought desperately to resist, but his strength was much too small.
He felt as though his neck was about to be snapped in half, and eventually, he was still dragged outside while stumbling along. 

He was dressed in white pajamas.
His features were delicate and handsome, clean and fresh.
Now he was walking outside barefoot while being dragged along in chains, his eyebrows furrowed, so pretty it made others want to bully him… it instantly attracted everyone’s attention, and those people gazed at him with amazement and greed in their eyes.
As expected, the people Huo Yi liked really were very good looking.

Ye Ming hadn’t even put on his shoes, and was boorishly dragged outside like this.
He walked on the frigid ground, his chafed neck bleeding.
Finally, he was suddenly shoved into a room.

In the past, this was the hall Huo Yi had used to meet with his subordinates, but now the ones standing in there were all people Ye Ming didn’t recognize.
The measuring, probing, disdainful, and covetous looks all made Ye Ming’s entire body stiffen, and his face paled.
He was like a sheep that’d entered a tiger's mouth.
He lowered his head and looked at the ground, his body slightly shivering.

Shi Yang said in a loud voice, “Boss, this is the person you wanted.
I brought him over for you.” 

The sound of his voice had hardly faded away, when steady footsteps sounded, approaching Ye Ming step by step.
This person should’ve been sitting in the seat Huo Yi used to sit in, then had gotten up and walked over after hearing those words.
Before, Ye Ming hadn’t dared to look around too much.
There were so many people inside the room, so he hadn’t seen that person’s appearance clearly.

The footsteps were neither too fast nor too slow, steady and powerful, and each one felt as though it’d landed on Ye Ming’s heart.
He didn’t even dare to lift his head up and look.
When he thought of the circumstances he’d most likely face, his heart was filled with desolate despair.

This was the world after the apocalypse.
The weak didn’t even have the dignity of the living.

Finally, Ye Ming saw a pair of legs standing in front of him.
This person was dressed in all-black clothes.
His legs were straight, slender, and long.
His pant legs were tucked into black boots. 

Ye Ming’s hands were tightly clenched.
Right at this moment, he heard a very soft chuckle coming from above his head.

This was only a soft chuckle that had slipped out between his lips, but Ye Ming’s entire body jerked as he revealed a look of disbelief.
This voice… could it be…

In the past two years, there had been no news at all.
The person he’d always been worrying about and yearning for all this time, could it possibly be him?

But how could that be possible? There hadn’t been the tiniest bit of news for two years.
At the time, he’d been the one who’d asked Huo Yi to drive Yang Qian away.
Yang Qian had been out there by himself, his life or death unknown.
Ye Ming inwardly blamed himself and had been in endless agony.
Eventually, he’d even believed that Yang Qian had died already and slowly gave up.
He had despaired and lived on numbly in this hopeless world, just like a walking corpse. 

But now, could it be that he had returned?

At last, Ye Ming slowly raised his head, and took a clear look at the man standing in front of him.

 

The man had neat, short black hair, sharp and deep facial features, and a healthy wheatish complexion.
This was the handsome face that he was so familiar with.
The only difference was the addition of a scar on the right side of his face, near his ear.
This scar almost seemed to mar an otherwise perfect face, but strangely enough, couldn’t dampen his brilliance.
On the contrary, it made him seem more grim and unruly, making people not dare to look straight at him.
Right now, those eyes that were as dark as an abyss were filled with a cold, mocking light.

But Ye Ming’s heart was flooded with pleasant surprise, because the person he’d been worried about for countless days and nights had suddenly appeared alive in front of him, so he didn’t even notice that there was something wrong with the other’s expression.
His head was filled with only one thought– Yang Qian was still alive! He came back alive! 

Right… if it was Yang Qian, then he’d definitely save him!

Joy emerged in Ye Ming’s eyes.
The feeling of being unexpectedly rescued from a desperate situation made him so excited that his lips were trembling.
But before he could open his mouth to ask for help, he suddenly saw Yang Qian’s lips curl up, exposing a meaningful smile.

He raised his hand and flippantly lifted Ye Ming’s chin, his eyelids lowered, his voice carrying a slightly teasing, cold tone, “Huo Yi escaped already.
From now on, you’re my slave.
Remember who your new master is.”

Ye Ming’s face immediately turned ghastly pale, and he looked at the person in front of him incredulously. 

【Ye Ming: Ke, what’s his blackening value?】

【888: Only 90.】

【Ye Ming: …】