"You two must be the awakened ones she mentioned," Zhuang Wugou said as he stood up from his seat, extending his hand towards Ning Yu and Shen Yiyue.
Ning Yu stepped forward to shake his hand first.
They shook hands for several seconds, but nothing happened.
What? Ji Mengyao didn't say he was an awakened one with intelligence-related abilities? But now there's no hint at all.
Through physical contact, the system can determine the origin of the other person and their corresponding awakened abilities.
That means Zhuang Wugou in front of them is not an awakened one.
So where did his knowledge come from, and why did he claim to be an awakened one with intelligence-related abilities?
Zhuang Wugou didn't notice any reaction from Ning Yu and then turned to shake Shen Yiyue's hand.
"Since she brought you here to meet me, it seems you've decided to join the Ark exploration team?"
"Welcome to you both!"
He smiled warmly, looking very enthusiastic and happy to have new members join the exploration team.
However, Ning Yu couldn't see any joy on this man's face, nor any goodwill or malice.
He seemed devoid of emotion; the smile was just a movement of his facial muscles.
"Can you tell me why you want to join the Ark?"
"With your abilities, you should be able to live relatively easily outside, right?"
After the handshake, he looked at Ning Yu and Shen Yiyue, his smile not yet fading, but clearly in a scrutinizing state.
However, Ning Yu and Shen Yiyue had already prepared for this question before coming.
Ji Mengyao had told them that Zhuang Wugou would ask this.
"We think the Ark's concept is fantastic; the situation outside is getting worse, with terrifying mutated monsters roaming."
"To fight against such things, if we don't unite, it's like having no hope at all."
Shen Yiyue answered according to Ning Yu's instructions.
Zhuang Wugou's eyes lit up when he heard the phrase "if we don't unite, there's no hope":
"Well said!"
He couldn't help but say, nodding his head as if very satisfied.
"Is this also the purpose of your creating the Ark?"
Shen Yiyue followed up with a question.
"Yes, I don't know how this disaster started, but what's more important now is that if we want to survive, we must stick together."
Zhuang Wugou's gaze grew deep, as if contemplating a very serious topic.
"Why do you take on such a heavy burden yourself?"
Hearing Zhuang Wugou's words, Shen Yiyue felt a sense of unreality; could there really be such a noble person?
"Hahaha, good question."
Zhuang Wugou suddenly burst into laughter, and this time Ning Yu could see his genuine joy.
"It might sound a bit funny, but I've always wanted to be a partner of justice since I was a child."
He jokingly teased himself.
"For me, the continuation of humanity is the absolute justice that nothing can compare to."
Ning Yu's mouth twitched slightly; being a partner of justice, friend, that's a dangerous ideal.
"Besides, I'm not the one carrying this burden alone."
He changed the subject, pointing at Ji Mengyao:
"They are all my comrades; everyone gathered here for similar purposes."
"So I'm not shouldering this burden alone."
Ji Mengyao, who was boredly playing with her nails, suddenly felt embarrassed when she was mentioned.
After all, she had never thought about such a serious topic.
"By the way, Laozhuang, they want to visit the underground power generation layer, is that okay?"
Ji Mengyao, as if suddenly remembering, asked Zhuang Wugou.
This was something Ning Yu had mentioned earlier; she was curious about how this genius idea was implemented.
"Oh?"
Zhuang Wugou looked Ning Yu and Shen Yiyue up and down.
"This is the first time anyone's shown interest in this."
"Yeah, I never thought those living dead outside could have such a use."
Ning Yu pretended to be naive and said.
"Haha, no problem, I'll take you to see it."
Zhuang Wugou laughed and walked out of the office.
"Laozhuang, hearing them talk about it, I also want to go see it."
Ji Mengyao, who was also free at the moment, asked to go along.
"Come on, follow me."
Zhuang Wugou gestured for them to follow.
The group followed Zhuang Wugou to the elevator of the building, which was different from other apartment buildings, as it had a downward elevator.
After entering the elevator, Zhuang Wugou pressed the button for the -2 floor, which should have been the second level of a double-decker underground parking lot but had been modified.
"The air down there is bad; you should be mentally prepared."
As the elevator descended rapidly, Zhuang Wugou warned everyone.
Sure enough, when they reached the -2 floor, they could already faintly smell the familiar stench of rotting zombies.
"Aaah!"
"Ugh!"
As the elevator doors opened, the dense and chaotic roars of zombies filled the air.
Shen Yiyue and Ji Mengyao tensed up, as if ready to enter combat.
"Don't worry, they're all contained."
Zhuang Wugou, seeming to notice their state, said with a chuckle.
His expression didn't change at all, not even a frown, as if he couldn't smell the stifling stench.
The group exited the elevator and passed through a small corridor to the area that used to be the underground parking lot.
As soon as they reached the entrance, Shen Yiyue and Ji Mengyao widened their eyes.
The entire second underground level was filled with rows of iron cages, each containing a zombie.
They were placed on a machine resembling a treadmill, with their hands and feet bound by something on the machine.
In front of the machine, rotting meat, hanging from a mechanical arm, swayed tantalizingly close.
The zombies, seeing the food within reach, roared with desire, wildly flailing their limbs to get closer.
But it took a lot of effort for them to bite even a tiny piece of the meat.
Before they could enjoy it, the meat was cleverly moved away.
So they had to continue flailing their limbs, trying to get closer to the meat again.
All the zombies in the cages repeated this process.
Everyone stared at this incredible sight.
"How long can each one last?"
Shen Yiyue asked the first question, approaching one of the iron cages.
The zombie inside, seeing more fresh meat approach, flailed its limbs even more frantically, generating electricity more vigorously.
It roared, but it couldn't scare Shen Yiyue.
"Well, it depends on the supply of meat. With the current supply method, which is the best ratio calculated, one can last for several weeks."
Zhuang Wugou didn't give a specific number, just vaguely answered.
"And... what happens when they're used up?"
Shen Yiyue continued to ask.
"Used up? When they run out of strength, they will die completely, and the T-virus in their bodies will lose its activity due to lack of nutrients."
"Then just throw them away and replace them with the next one."
He described these zombies as if they were ordinary industrial consumables.
Ning Yu's ears, however, caught a familiar term: "T-virus."
Zhuang Wugou actually knew this virus was called the T-virus.
u Chenyuan transmigrated into a female-oriented novel about a real and fake heiress, becoming the CEO elder brother of both. Unfortunately, the entire Lu family—including himself, the CEO—were mere cannon fodder in the story. Determined to save himself, Lu Chenyuan took action. The spoiled, attention-seeking fake heiress? Thrown into the harsh realities of the working class to learn humility. The love-struck real heiress? Pushed toward academic excellence, so lofty goals would blind her to trivial romances. As for the betrayed, vengeful arranged marriage wife… the plot hadn’t even begun yet. There was still time—if he couldn’t handle her, he could at least avoid her. "CEO Lu, are you avoiding me?" Mo Qingli fixed her gaze on Lu Chenyuan. For the first time, the shrewd and calculating Lu Chenyuan felt a flicker of unease.
ut it can buy an entire year of absolutely perfect training results! Su Yu stared at his empty wallet and decisively opened up various online loan platforms. “Borrow a thousand bucks! Recharge my vitality!” Boom! His vitality broke a hundred points, shattering the limits of the human body! “Borrow ten thousand bucks! Recharge my combat skills!” Boom! A basic punching technique so common it was everywhere instantly maxed out, revealing the ultimate assassination technique of Five Elements Unity—Inner Force! When a rich kid hired assassins for a midnight ambush, aiming to break both of his legs, they instead ran headfirst into a monster—a human-shaped tyrannosaur, brimming with dragon-like vitality. With just two fingers, Su Yu snapped a steel staff reinforced with alloy. Staring at the killer’s stash of stolen cash—a staggering quarter-million dollars—he showed a corporate-sincere smile: “Thanks for the pre-exam gift pack, Mr. Zhao! I’m gonna go re-invest this!” Three days later, at the National Martial Arts College Entrance Exam, while everyone else struggled just to reach the passing line, Su Yu threw a single punch—and more than a thousand vitality points literally detonated the entire arena!
ing gift was a patch of barren land, and disciples were all picked up along the way. He spent fifty years diligently building three "ramshackle little sects," thinking he could finally live a carefree life relying on his disciples. But right at the fifty-year mark, he was suddenly swept away by a spatial rift and exiled to the Chaos Desolation, the Disorderly Ruins. There was no spiritual energy there, only slaughter. Relying on the cultivation feedback from his disciples, Gu Changyuan hacked his way through a sea of blood for eleven hundred years. When the system finally fished him back out, he discovered the ramshackle little sects he'd built back then had developed a rather... unusual style. Hold on... I vanished for a thousand years, so how did my ramshackle little sects become holy lands?!
] [Lone Wolf, No Male Gaze] [Protagonist is pursued early on; extreme protagonist-stans, stay away!] The "Carnival Paradise" descends and slowly devours the real world in the form of a game. By chance, Zhu Yan awakens the talent [Roleplay], becoming one of the first beta players. He thought he could develop safely, but after clearing the first instance, he is branded by humanity as the chief culprit behind the game's spread—a traitorous villain. A villain? Who would ever... become one! He'll be the villain! From then on, Zhu Yan is not only a player but also a lackey for the Carnival Paradise. Between the straight path and the crooked path, he chooses the con. With his left hand, he dons the villain's mantle, staging scenes within instances, infuriating players who decry him as a despicable traitor, all while the game happily promotes him. With his right hand, he joins the non-human organization "Fangcun Mountain," which opposes the Carnival Paradise, transforming into a mysterious player who slaughters game bosses, earning cheers of "Long live the expert!" from fellow players. Gradually, Zhu Yan rises to become an S-rank human player in Fangcun Mountain's archives, while also being the Carnival Paradise's certified top game Boss. But when the final war erupts and both major factions place their hopes in him— Players tag his various aliases: "Experts, this offensive depends on you." The Carnival Paradise's supreme Boss throws an arm around his neck: "Bro, you're the iron, I'm the steel; you can't let me down again!"
