Apocalypse Chapter 83: Dark-Type Espers

Chapter 83: Dark-Type Espers

Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: Karai

When Jiang Rong returned to the mall holding the child and the scruffy cat, the espers from the Spark Base quickly gathered around. Chu Qiang looked the small child over in surprise. “Xiao Jiang, where did you find a kid? And what’s going on with that cat? Why’s it so bald?”

Jiang Rong put down the child and the cat, then glanced around. “Maybe the kid belongs to some ordinary family in the mall. Not sure how, but he somehow got up to the rooftop. I just brought him down. Keep an eye out and help find his daddy.”

Chu Qiang scratched his head. “Really, how can there be so many careless fathers everywhere?”

Then Chu Qiang raised his voice. “Whose kid is missing? Who lost their child? We found a kid here — is anyone missing one?”

After shouting several times, there was no response. Chu Qiang muttered, “Maybe the kid’s an orphan?”

These days, running into orphans was normal. Jiang Rong smiled. “When we get back, let’s find him some foster parents. It’d be hard for someone so small to survive out here alone.”

From the crowd eating instant noodles came a tense voice. “Um… Esper sir.”

Jiang Rong paused, surprised. He pointed at himself. “Are you talking to me?”

A middle-aged man stepped forward, nervously holding a bowl of rice, his expression anxious. “This kid isn’t good news. If you take him with you, misfortune will follow.”

Jiang Rong frowned slightly. “What do you mean?”

The man sighed. “This kid was here in the mall before us. He has no mother or father. At first, we all tried to look after him. Times are hard, and our meeting felt like fate, so we wanted to help however we could. Some families were willing to take him in. But everyone who adopted him ended up unlucky.”

“The first woman to adopt him got sick for no reason and died soon after. The second person was bitten and killed by zombies… Up until now, five people have adopted this kid. All of them died violently. None survived.”

If only one or two had died, it could be an accident, but with so many, rumors started. Was this kid a jinx? Did anyone who touched him end up cursed?

Just then, an esper from the Peace Base spoke up. “So it’s this kid. Captain Jiang, this kid really is something strange. Our own Captain Zhou didn’t believe it at first and said a few words to him. But on the day we tried to break out, zombies went crazy chasing Zhou. You can see for yourself — Zhou’s arm still has a chunk of flesh missing.”

When the esper finished speaking, Jiang Rong and his teammates exchanged looks. After a moment, Jiang Rong spoke calmly. “Don’t blame the misfortunes of adults on a child. He’s still a baby and deserves a chance to live.”

He gently patted the child’s head. “Baby, don’t be afraid. Uncle will take you back to our base.” The Spark Base had more than one orphan; if the child went there, he’d have a future. The child’s eyes sparkled as he looked at Jiang Rong and grinned, showing a row of small, white teeth.

Seeing the child’s innocent smile, Jiang Rong decided to get him some food first. He patted the child’s head again. “Stay right here. Uncle will get you some noodles.” The child didn’t say anything, just hugged the scruffy cat and tilted his head to watch Jiang Rong carefully.

While Jiang Rong was scooping instant noodles, Pan Pan and the others hurried over. “Captain Jiang! You better go outside and see! It’s weird — all the zombies have stopped moving.”

Could that be true? Jiang Rong held his bowl and ran toward the main door. Through the hole Pan Pan and the others had made in the barricade, he saw that every zombie in the plaza had stopped dead. They faced the mall, their once terrifying faces somehow calm.

The espers were baffled. They whispered among themselves, unsure what was happening. Some thought the zombies had paused to rest before launching a fierce attack on the espers. Others guessed that another esper had killed the zombie leader.

Rumors flew among the espers. Their leaders gathered to discuss briefly and finally decided to send a few espers to investigate. The Spark Base sent out Chu Qiang and Weng Chenggang, both enhancement-type espers — one strengthened his body, the other his speed. They could retreat quickly if needed.

Seven or eight espers stepped outside the mall door. At first, they cautiously watched the zombies around them. But after walking about ten meters, the zombies didn’t react at all. They stood still like the dead. The espers’ confidence grew.

They even pushed a few zombies down. The zombies fell heavily to the ground, utterly motionless. After a moment of silence, the group burst into cheers. “They’re not moving! They really aren’t moving! We’re safe!”

An Ran smiled at Jiang Rong. “Captain Jiang, I think maybe Little Guaiguai and Little Fairy accidentally killed the leader of the zombie horde.”

Jiang Rong had never seen anything like this before. He said calmly, “If that’s true, it’s good news for us — it’s an opportunity. Captain An, let’s clear the zombies outside together later.”

As long as zombies didn’t chase and bite people, they were no different from dead objects. It’d be easier for espers to destroy them. An Ran nodded with a smile. “Okay.”

At that moment, a piercing dog’s howl echoed through the mall. Zheng Zhanqing let out a shout, “Captain Jiang! That kid bit Ba Wang!”

Jiang Rong whipped his head around just in time to see the child flipping over and straddling the mutated dog Ba Wang. The little hands gripped tightly around Bawang’s neck, the child’s whole face buried in the dog’s thick fur.

Ba Wang must have been in a lot of pain. The dog twisted its head, mouth open, trying to pull the child off its back. But the child was caught in a blind spot of the dog’s movements. After struggling for a long while, BaWang finally gave up.

The gentle dog lay down on the ground, whimpering pitifully, pleading silently for help from its owner. Zheng Zhanqing reached out, trying to grab the child’s collar, but just as his hand extended, the child suddenly slid off Ba Wwang’s back.

The child turned his head and spat out a mouthful of bloody dog fur, then pounced onto the ground, quickly picking up some dog food and shoveling it into his mouth. The scruffy cat beside him buried its head too, greedily eating the dog food. The two, human and cat, growled low in a protective, beast-like way over their meal.

Zheng Zhanqing gaped, unable to form words. How on earth had this kid survived? He actually dared to fight a mutated dog for a bite to eat. What kind of life had he been living before?

Jiang Rong’s eyes stung with emotion. He hurried forward and scooped the child into his arms. “I’m sorry. Uncle was careless.” He had been so busy with everything else, holding a bowl in his hand, yet had forgotten to feed the starving child first.

Startled by the sudden embrace, the child struggled briefly, his eyes flashing fiercely. But when he recognized Jiang Rong, his small body relaxed. Chewing on dog food, he gave Jiang Rong a pleading smile. Jiang Rong held him close. “No more dog food. Let’s go eat something good.”

The child’s smile blossomed. He reached out a tiny hand and mumbled, “Daddy, give.”

A few hard brown pieces of dog food dropped into Jiang Rong’s palm. The child urged, “Daddy, eat. Tasty. Good.”

Jiang Rong’s heart felt crushed in invisible hands — aching, tender, and sharp. He turned his head, eyes already red. In that moment, the child overlapped with memories of Jiang Xiaoheng from his past life.

His nose tingling, Jiang Rong gently hugged the child tighter. “Good boy. You’ll never be alone again.”

*

After the zombies stopped moving, the espers cleared the streets and alleys of corpses in less than three hours. The massive army of zombies found peace in the raging fires. Watching the huge piles of graves rise, the espers finally exhaled in relief.

Even if the zombies stirred again, their numbers would never be as terrifying as before. With their strength, the espers would surely wipe them out completely.

The industrial park didn’t quiet down just because the zombies stopped. Roars of thunder and explosions kept coming from the northwest side of the park, and the intense psychic waves amazed the espers. When they learned it was Guan Shao from the Spark Base battling the Sovereign’s Gu Zefeng, everyone wanted to see.

The two were so powerful that watching up close risked being caught in the fight. So the espers settled for drones to observe. They clearly underestimated the drones. After losing more than a dozen, all they could do was strain their eyes toward the northwest, listening for sounds.

As dawn approached, Jiang Rong’s expression grew grimmer. He hadn’t heard thunder for several minutes. Flames lit the northwest horizon. Had Guan Shao been defeated by Gu Zefeng?

Thinking this, Jiang Rong closed his eyes and entered his mental realm, hoping to see the battle through Little Guaiguai or Little Fairy’s perspectives. But as soon as his consciousness entered, the noisy, playful meowing from the Meow Meow Team drowned him out. For mutant plants, two espers fighting wasn’t as entertaining as a cartoon.

Seeing Jiang Rong’s troubled face, Chu Qiang comforted him, “It’s okay, Xiao Jiang. We just wait. Isn’t it still dark outside?” Jiang Rong pressed his lips together. “Yeah.”

Just waiting like that wasn’t really an option. Jiang Rong needed something to distract himself. His teammates had taken on all the small tasks, and there wasn’t much left for him to do personally.

Looking around, Jiang Rong’s gaze landed on the child trailing him closely. “Xiaoyuan, how about Uncle gives you a bath?”

The child seemed tireless, following Jiang Rong no matter how busy he was. The child was too young to know his age or where his home was. He only knew his nickname: Yuan Yuan. Though the adults were ragged, they could still take care of themselves. But Yuan Yuan was so filthy even the dogs avoided him. Jiang Rong had been bothered by the child’s smell for hours. Yuan Yuan was cooperative and listened. “Okay.”

Bathing a child wasn’t hard for Jiang Rong. With Ruan Hanyu’s help, he quickly got a basin of clean water. Jiang Rong carefully took off the child’s coat. It was already June, but the child still wore thick winter clothes, dirtied and stiff enough to make a dull sound when dropped on the floor. Beneath the old clothes, the child’s thin frame appeared.

Just as Jiang Rong thought, not only the clothes but Yuan Yuan’s body was filthy beyond belief. Jiang Rong casually pulled down the child’s pants. He glanced quickly and looked at Yuan Yuan in surprise. “Ah… this…” He’d always assumed Yuan Yuan was a boy. He hadn’t expected she was a little girl.

Jiang Rong hurriedly placed the child in the basin. “Sorry, Yuan Yuan. Uncle didn’t know you were a girl. I’ll find a young lady to help you take a bath, okay?”

Yuan Yuan clung to the basin’s edge and obediently nodded. Jiang Rong scratched his head in frustration — he’d been too careless. The child was young and innocent, but as an adult, he should have basic awareness about gender. Jiang Rong quickly ran off to ask for help. “Sister Chunlan, Leilei, can you help me out?”

*

Wang Chunlan laughed until her belly hurt. “Xiao Jiang, you’re way too cautious. Yuan Yuan’s so little, it’s no big deal if you bathe her yourself.”

Jiang Rong said seriously, “No, I can’t. A girl’s body shouldn’t be exposed to just anyone, especially someone she barely knows.”

As clear water flowed over Yuan Yuan’s skin, Wang Chunlan frowned slightly. “Xiao Jiang, look.”

Jiang Rong turned and saw many bruises on Yuan Yuan’s body. Considering how fiercely she had fought the dog for food, it was obvious how she’d gotten those injuries. Jiang Rong crouched and took Yuan Yuan’s hand. She hadn’t been treated well before. From now on, she would receive lots and lots of care.

After three basins of filthy water, Yuan Yuan finally showed her true appearance by the fourth. Her skin was very pale and her eyes large and round. Wang Chunlan dressed Yuan Yuan in a red dress Leilei had worn as a child. In the red skirt, she looked like an adorable doll, her face full of childlike innocence.

Now relaxed, Yuan Yuan smiled more. She squatted by the basin watching Ruan Hanyu wash her scruffy cat. The cat had barely any good fur left, but it was lucky to have an owner like Ruan Hanyu. Jiang Rong believed its fur would grow back soon.

Jiang Rong stood by the basin, gazing northwest. Half an hour had passed since the last thunder. The battle should be decided by now. What was Guan Shao’s situation?

After a moment’s thought, Jiang Rong said to Chu Qiang, “Qiangzi, I’m going to check on Guan Shao. Hold down the fort here.”

Chu Qiang clicked his tongue. “What nonsense? If you go, I’m coming too. Wait here — I’ll get the car.”

In places with no activity, wild animals often ran rampant. As Chu Qiang walked to the pickup, a huge rat darted past his feet. Chu Qiang lifted his foot and crushed the rat’s skull, splattering brains. “Damn it. No humans left alive, but the rats sure are big and fat.” He kicked the corpse aside casually.

A pair of sparkling eyes watched this. Before Chu Qiang could get far, Yuan Yuan waved toward the rat. The bloodied rat wobbled to its feet and stiffly walked toward the basin. It collapsed by the basin, and Yuan Yuan petted the scruffy cat. “Tasty, eat quickly.”

Ruan Hanyu’s hand trembled. After looking back and forth between the rat and Yuan Yuan several times, she called out shakily, “Captain Jiang, Captain Jiang, come quickly…”

What kind of kid had Captain Jiang brought back?!

 

 

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