CHAPTER 281: CHAPTER 281: I NEED MY ARMY BACK

[No I’m not going to give you a next time. Qingran from here, henceforth..you’ll only be able to access only 45% of your abilities. I will be the one to gauge if it’s life threatening or not and let you access the rest.]

-_-

"Lingquan, don’t you think you’re..."

Lingquan cut her off before she could finish speaking [Good night. I’ll be offline until further notice.]

"Lingquan. Don’t be like that. I’ll be careful next time."

She waited for a reply for a while but didn’t get any. Qingran sighed and rest her head on her knees. If it was different opponent, she would have let Meng Nian pitch in.

But that fight was between her and Boran.

She raised her head when she heard footsteps. It was Meng Nian, who came bearing a tray of food. He sat down next to her, placing the tray on the side of the bed.

"How are you feeling?"

Qingran sighed, rubbing her arm "Like shit."

Meng Nian placed the tray at her front. "Well eat up. Dr. Ren said you can only eat soup.."

Qingran picked up the bowl quietly, she took a few sips feeling warm.

"Have you talked to Haoyu since that time?"

Meng Nian asked, playing with his fingers. His question made Qingran drop her bowl and look at him.

"Worried about your boyfriend?"

-_-

Qingran chuckled "Well I haven’t. But he’s with Feng Yizhou so he should be fine."

Meng Nian sighed, he wanted to believe that but he had tried to talk to Haoyu using their systems. After begging Qiaoqiao, she finally agreed to connect both systems.

He felt relieved to hear Haoyu’s voice again.

"I contacted him recently and he says he’s not with Feng Yizhou. He said they haven’t seen him since he had a conversation with you."

Qingran paused, what did he mean by he hadn’t seen him since their last conversation.

She thought back, their last conversation was about her battling with her rift infection and he promising to take care of those that did it to her.

Qingran bit her lips, she should have told him that she was healed immediately.

"Fuck. Did Haoyu say he was safe?"

Meng Nian nodded "Yeah he’s said he’s with someone called Sun Zi Mo and he’s got a system as well.."

Qingran eyes narrowed, just how many system holders were there now.

"Its fine. Feng Yizhou can take care of himself. Thank you for bringing me food and telling me this. You can go now."

Meng Nian stood up, looking at her softly "You sure?"

Qingran nodded, she wasn’t worried, Feng Yizhou has probably gone to find the elite team.

Alone in the room again, she stood up. Lingquan was too angry to talk to her so she could go go through what she knew.

"Yizhou. Just what are you playing out."

******

Caocao’s voice was crisp in his mind, oddly triumphant.

[Host, Qingran is no longer infected with the rift infection. She’s successfully eliminated a member of the elite team. You can stand down.]

Feng Yizhou didn’t answer immediately. His back was to the crumbling structure he had just cleared, the wind lifting strands of his hair as he stared down at the charred ground. His fingers twitched slightly—an old tick when his mind was deep in calculation.

"I’m not standing down," he said flatly. "She may be healed, but I still have work to do."

[What kind of work?] Caocao sounded amused, but it didn’t try to interfere. It knew better. Feng Yizhou wasn’t the kind of host who asked permission.

"If I want to live up to my name in the previous apocalypse, I can’t just sit around watching others fight." His eyes turned cold, like glass over ice. "I need an army again."

He left the ruin behind and headed for the First Zone—one of the earliest districts to fall completely to the outbreak. It was saturated with rift energy. No survivors. No system holders. Just the undead and mutants.

Perfect.

Zombies wandered aimlessly through the streets, their forms grotesque and mutilated. But to him, they were potential.

His brainwashing ability had its limits. The more he controlled, the more it chipped at his mental energy. But he didn’t stop. Not when the first ten dropped to their knees. Not when the next fifty turned their heads in eerie synchronization. Not even when blood started trailing from his nose as he expanded his reach further.

A hundred.

A hundred and thirty-two.

One hundred and seventy-seven.

Six hundred and twenty.

Seven hundred.

They formed a silent army beneath him, standing at attention in a ring of decaying obedience.

[Warning: Host’s mental fortitude is dangerously low.]

"I know.." he whispered, tasting iron on his tongue. "But I’m not done yet."

The ground of Zone 4 trembled as they arrived not from footsteps, but from numbers. Caocao had granted him a teleportation route so he found ferry these large numbers.

Over seven hundred zombies followed Feng Yizhou into the city’s heart.

Their groans were low and contained, bound tightly under the invisible leash of his ability.

Their presence warped the air, making it feel heavy and made silence feel louder than ever.

Survivors scattered into buildings, some praying their defenses would hold. Others froze on sight, knowing full well that they might not survive this ordeal.

Feng Yizhou had returned.

Wen Wuxiu stood on the balcony of the old government building, arms crossed. Her jaw was tense, dark circles under her eyes. "You brought that mess into my zone?"

Feng didn’t answer her from below. He took the steps slowly, the tension coiling around his spine.

When he reached the second floor, she was already waiting.

"You can’t bring that many infected into a populated sector. Are you trying to start another outbreak?"

Feng Yizhou tilted his head. "I’ve got them under control. You don’t need to worry.."

"Control breaks," she snapped. "I trusted you, brother Feng. I looked up to you. And you disappeared, now you return like this?"

"Trust is emotional. You had feelings," he replied bluntly, gaze leveled. "I didn’t."

Wen Wuxiu flinched. Her hand curled into a fist.

"You!"

"I erased those memories from you for a reason..." he said calmly. "You were inefficient with them."