Upon their return, Tang Ye took advantage of his relationship with Li Songhua to inform him that they had entered Qinshan Base without registering any information. Li Songhua quickly attended to their registration needs.
That same night, Yan Jie and Ah Fu headed for the temporary base of Shiwuguan Base, while Tang Ye found a quiet room to concentrate on his split self.
Although his consciousness could reach every part of his body, even when separated, his consciousness was ultimately singular, not numerous. Therefore, his attention could only shuttle back and forth between his main body and his split self.
Tang Ye felt bothered, perhaps after evolving to Level 7 he could have countless consciousnesses at his disposal. But by then there would be countless Tang Ye’s, he wondered what sort of feeling that would incite.
He really wanted to experience it, but he had no idea when he’d evolve to Level 7.
His consciousness returned to his split body, and he opened his eyes to see a fourteen or fifteen year old girl, dirty and dressed in ragged school uniform, waving her hand in front of his eyes.
"Who are you?" Tang Ye asked, frowning.
Surprised by the sudden reanimation of Tang Ye, the young girl flinched. The memory of him looking furious and grizly had imprinted in her memory, and she had already labeled him as a monstrous demon.
Outside the car window, corpses laid densely around. Far away, green fought against grayish-yellow. The yellow sand obscured the entire sky. The broken shards of nearby houses, ravaged by the explosion of nuclear bombs, were visible.
Human and beast carcasses laid on the ground. Some were covered with dried blood, which time had not completely erased. Black grass grew out of the dried blood, creating an eerie scene!
The desolate and disconnected scenes together presented a haunting beauty unique to the apocalypse.
Tang Ye looked at Qiongli who was holding Nannan in the back seat. She was lightly sleeping while the driver, a lean man, was driving. Behind the driver sat a muscular man who was probably his substitute.
As for Brother Zhang, he barely spoke after Tang Ye had joined their team. He had only stolen a few glances at Tang Ye.
After scanning his surroundings, Tang Ye’s gaze returned to the schoolgirl in front of him.
"What were you doing earlier?"
The girl retreated into the crowd and situated herself in a corner. There were limited seats which were taken by the quicker passengers, leaving her to sit on the floor.
Tang Ye glanced at her, but didn’t pay her any attention afterward. He turned his head to look out of the car window at the scenery. However, after a while, he felt something was off. He turned back to the passengers and saw that everyone was holding a piece of dark bread. He looked at his hands and realized he was the only one who didn’t have any.
Didn’t they give him any food?
Touching his stomach, Tang Ye realized he was a little hungry. It was unclear whether he wanted to eat humans or human food, but watching others eat made him want something for himself.
"F*ck, I’ll just fix myself some noodles later!"
Everyone was wary of him. The area around where Tang Ye sat was basically empty, with no one willing to sit by him. His ferocious appearance was simply too terrifying, quite like a relentless killer.
Even though he hadn’t acted violently, the feelings he had incited were just that!
Tang Ye had brought nothing with him, and the sounds of others eating made him feel annoyed. The sunset outside made the radiation cloud over Lin City look eerie. Occasionally a hideous zombie bird would crash into the window, causing a scare.
The car was not speeding, but it was not slow either. The car didn’t dare to speed, one of the tires was faulty and made a creaking sound with every rotation.
Nannan was awake now, probably because she had bonded a little with Qiongli, she was no longer rejecting her. However, the usual smile on her face was gone. Through the reflection on the car window, Tang Ye saw Nannan constantly staring at him. He smiled but felt a spontaneous sense of sadness.
Although he was reluctant, he had to let her go. Qiongli was going to Yunchuan City, miles away, which fulfilled Tang Ye’s wish to send Nannan far away, where he would not see her for a lifetime, and where she would not have a zombie father like him.
Wasn’t this scene strikingly similar to when he sent Ning Yu’er away?
But in the end, he was a zombie. Staying with humans for extended periods could result in good or bad outcomes, and Tang Ye thought it might be bad. Maybe it was a psychological reaction, but he wanted to harm those who did not share his interests, like Chen Chaoyang’s group. However, he didn’t want to hurt those who accepted him.
But after considering it for a while, Tang Ye realized it wasn’t that humans could not accept zombies, but rather he could not accept himself. Ning Yu’er initially wanted to stay with him, but he insisted on sending her away. Afterwards, his unhappiness was nobody’s fault but his own.
He laughed at himself, but then felt strange. Maybe using human emotions as a zombie didn’t feel right psychologically.
Suddenly he felt a finger poke him on his shoulder. He turned to find the schoolgirl from earlier looking at him with bright, innocent eyes, so pure they stood out even with the grime on her face.
The girl didn’t respond but reached into her bag and pulled out a piece of the dark bread, tore it in half, and offered it to Tang Ye. He was taken aback.
"It’s mealtime, you’ll be hungry if you don’t eat."
After stuffing half the dark bread into Tang Ye’s hands, she scurried away. She seemed fearful of him. Tang Ye picked up the bread, turned around, and examined it.
"She seems nice. But... can this even be eaten?"
He hadn’t realized what this was, but when he got his own piece of bread, Tang Ye noticed it was made up of multiple strands coiled together. He had no idea what it was made of, nor did he want to ask. What zombies wouldn’t dare to eat what humans did?
With that thought, he took a big bite. The bread wasn’t hard to chew; it was even a bit sweet. But beyond that, it had a rather bland flavor. Except for that touch of sweetness, it was quite similar to eating zombie meat. After a few bites, he lost his appetite, but behind him, he could hear a few people whispering accusingly.
It seemed they were afraid Tang Ye would hear.
"Girl, what are you doing? Didn’t you finish eating already? Where did you get that extra piece from? To even give it to..." The speaker turned to look at Tang Ye and did not finish their sentence.
"Enough!" Qiongli shouted, but the crowd seemed undeterred and let out a swiping sound of contempt.
It was the first time Tang Ye saw ordinary people daring to be so disrespectful towards a Level 3 New Human.