QT: LAC Chapter 125: Eighth World (8)

Chapter 125: Eighth World (8)
Translated by Zombie Shiya of Exiled Rebels Scanlations
Editor: Sulo

In the end, Bai Duan was convinced, because after this period of time, he developed an instinctive trust in Nie LanLei’s words.

Unlike Bai Duan, who was an orphan, who lived in a muddle and had only basic requirements for the quality of life, Nie LanLei was obviously the kind of person who knew how to enjoy life and increase his own quality of living as much as possible.

Of course, this didn’t mean that Nie LanLei was corrupt and luxurious — in the end, he didn’t have any qualification to be indulgent — his requirements were always things that were not difficult to reach, they only needed a little effort to achieve smoothly, but once reached, they could make Bai Duan obviously feel the improvement of his quality of life.

After two or three sweets, Bai Duan had become obedient to Nie LanLei’s offers. Although he didn’t think it was necessary, thinking about the soft, elastic and comfortable Simmons mattress that Nie LanLei had mentioned, he could not help but start to imagine the feeling of lying in such a big bed.

Soon, Bai Duan agreed to enter the city again to search for the things, and specially trained the golden snub-nosed monkey to be a ‘mobile warehouse’, before embarking on their journey.

The golden snub-nosed monkey now had a higher IQ. After two or three times of training, he could fully understand the meaning of Bai Duan’s words, though he could still just understand simple instructions.

Bai Duan didn’t know how much space a normal dimensional pocket Esper could have, but the space of that golden snub-nosed monkey was obviously not small at all. It was more than enough to store a military off-road Jeep. As long as Bai Duan and Nie LanLei didn’t clear the whole market away, it was big enough to meet the needs of the two people.

For Bai Duan to bring it to the city with him this time, the golden snub-nosed monkey showed extreme excitement and pride. He left his monkeys without saying a word, and even went to the dogs to show off in front of them. Before he left, Bai Duan was bathed in the sad eyes of the dogs who looked as though they had been abandoned.

When it was ready, Nie LanLei was in charge of driving, while Bai Duan took the golden snub-nosed monkey and sat in the passenger seat of the Jeep on the way to the city.

Driving along the mountain road, they did not see zombies on their way. On the contrary, there were many more human beings than when Bai Duan had first crossed the area. It was because they noticed that the number of zombies here was very small, so they lived here cautiously.

With human beings, there would always be troubles. While driving, Nie LanLei encountered several attempts to block the car, but Nie LanLei was obviously not a softie, ignoring the people shouting and waving their arms on the road, and directly stepping on the gas pedal, forcing them to evade for their life. Sometimes, however, even this kind of brute force would not work. It wasn’t long before they came across a deadly form of block — or so-called ‘suicide’ block.

The road was very narrow, sometimes it could only accommodate one vehicle. When there was a person lying on the road, the vehicle could only pass through with brute force. Of course, this ‘lying on the road’ blocker was obviously not willing to do so. He looked like he was 60 or 70 years old, skinny and sick, and had no ability to survive at all. Normally, the old man should be respected and protected by society, but he had become a burden to be abandoned at the end of the world.

The old man was tied up all over and could not escape from the road by his own strength. He was looking at the approaching Jeep, and he was full of despair and panic. Even if he struggled and twisted his body violently, it had no effect at all.

There was a saying that “the ones who follow the rules are afraid of ones who rely on brute force, and the ones who use brute force are afraid of those who aren’t afraid of dying”. Even if the one who was ‘not afraid of dying’ was unwilling himself, it still had the power to stop those who relied on brute force.

Nie LanLei didn’t care if he killed one or two people, but he didn’t want to show his ruthless and murderous face in front of Bai Duan. So he had to step on the brake when he was near the old man. With the superior braking ability of the military cross-country Jeep, he just scratched the old man’s clothes and stopped.

The old man was so frightened that he turned over his eyes and fainted. The Jeep had just stopped. From the dense trees on both sides of the road, as Bai Duan and Nie LanLei had expected, more than a dozen armed human beings quickly came out and surrounded the jeep.

Most of these people were young men and several of them were Espers. They must have done a lot of burning, killing and looting. They were full of the temperament of bandits and looked bloodthirsty.

Bai Duan and Nie LanLei looked at each other and realized that a battle could not be avoided. The two men got out of the car under the ferocious shouting of the bandits. Bai Duan held onto his gun, then walked out of the Jeep, he was ready to attack anytime, and Nie LanLei also used his mental strength, shrouding the attackers, he could instantly kill them all.

“We have nothing,” Bai Duan doesn’t like conflict with people. He showed his empty Jeep on his side and said after a short pause, “Let us go.”

The robbers could not help but look disappointed when they saw the emptiness of the Jeep, but they were obviously unwilling to do a job with no pay. The leader-like man looked at the military cross-country Jeep behind Bai Duan, his eyes were shining and he lifted his chin with a bad attitude, “Your car looks good. If you don’t have supplies, leave it with us!”

Naturally, Bai Duan would not accept such a request. His eyebrows furrowed and his heart had killing intent. And the golden snub-nosed monkey in the car was sensitive, it sensed the change of Bai Duan’s mood and quickly got out of the car, then jumped on Bai Duan’s shoulder. It bared its fangs at the leader — obviously, it did not get the chance to fight side-by-side with Bai Duan for a long time, and it was now itching to fight.

The robbers who had robbed countless people before already were not afraid of Bai Duan and Nie LanLei, but when they saw the monkey suddenly appear, their faces changed, “Monkey?!”

“It looks like a golden snub-nosed monkey……?” Another thin and capable man added in a low voice, his voice slightly trembling, “It looks very special, I’m not mistaken…”

After the three words “golden snub-nosed monkey” were said, the faces of the robbers were even worse. They could not help looking into the surrounding woods, as if they were afraid of seeing a herd of monkeys suddenly emerging.

To survive in the apocalypse, one must first learn to be ruthless, and then must have self-awareness and never take chances.

Although they still coveted the cross-country Jeep behind Bai Duan, the robbers stopped the intention of robbery, and in a flash they rushed back into the trees without even saying a word. Before leaving, the leader looked at the license plate number of the cross-country Jeep, and looked at the faces of Bai Duan and Nie LanLei, as if to remember their faces.

Bai Duan and Nie LanLei looked at this group of people inexplicably. They didn’t know what happened. Bai Duan looked at the golden snub-nosed monkey with his eyes and shoulders converging to attack, raised his hand and poked its head, “What have you done? How can they run away as soon as they see you? ”

The golden snub-nosed monkey was poked and asked by Bai Duan, but it was still able to keep his balance easily. He even raised his hand to grab Bai Duan’s fingers, thinking that he was playing with him.

Nie LanLei walked away from the jeep, he pulled the old man who was almost under the wheel out, then untied the rope.

By this time, the old man had recovered from fainting, and the man was shaking like chaff, still having not recovered from the horror. He didn’t even have the strength to get up.

From time to time, he would look at the golden snub-nosed monkey on Bai Duan’s shoulder with fear, but he didn’t dare to look straight at it. He just glanced at it from the corner of his eyes, dodged it and looked at it again.

Seeing the old man’s performance, Nie LanLei raised his eyebrows and asked, “Do you know this monkey?”

“…Of course, there is no one around here who doesn’t know,” The old man nodded and lowered his voice carefully. “It’s… it’s the monkey king. It leads the monkeys, dogs and other animals to kill zombies. The zombies around here are basically taken care of by them, they are especially fierce. Many people have seen it, and I have seen it once with my own eyes as well, and that scene…” He seemed to recall the scene, and the old man shivered obviously, the mood in his eyes growing more and more frightened, but he shut his mouth and didn’t dare to continue to talk, as if he was afraid that the golden snub-nosed monkey could understand what he said.

Bai Duan and Nie LanLei shared a silent look, and they had to admit that their fears were reasonable.

Even though they were very close to these animals, Bai Duan also thought that when they killed zombies, the scene was really bloody and brutal, and people with a little weak psychological endurance would have nightmares for several days in a row after witnessing such a scene, and then avoid all animals.

However, Bai Duan was really close to them, and seeing that they are so afraid of these animals — especially his close little friend, the golden snub-nosed monkey — Bai Duan was still a little unhappy, “They help you kill all the zombies, so that you can live here safely, why aren’t you thanking them?”

“…Thank you?” The muscles on the old man’s face twitched for a moment, then nodded hurriedly and heavily, “Of course, I am grateful! Thank you very much!”

Bai Duan, “…………”

——Humph, I can’t feel your gratitude at all.

There was no desire to continue talking. Bai Duan waved to the old man to leave. He bent down and went back into the Jeep and sat in the passenger’s seat.

The old man obviously didn’t want to go back to the group of robbers who used him as a roadblock. He subconsciously grabbed the door and prayed for Bai Duan and Nie LanLei to take him with them, but before he opened his mouths, he was stared at by the golden snub-nosed monkey. He immediately shrank his hands back in fear and backed away while tremblingly.

Nie LanLei’s mouth twitched, he got into the driver’s seat, drove the Jeep, and soon left the old man watching them behind.

In the passenger’s seat, Bai Duan held the golden snub-nosed monkey, he smoothed its beautiful golden fur, and still expressed some dissatisfaction, “They killed all the zombies. It’s a bit fierce, but it’s also a kind of protection for human beings.”

“But there is a saying that ‘if they are not of our own race, our hearts will be different’. In the eyes of humans, animals kill zombies not to protect them, but just to get the crystal cores in the zombies’s brains — of course In fact, that’s true,” After a short pause, he continued, “In fact, not only zombies have crystal cores in their heads, in the brains of human Espers, crystal cores are also produced.”

“…What do you mean?” Bai Duan looked sideways at Nie LanLei. He was not sure if he fully understood the other side’s words.

“The goal of the animals are the crystal cores. Although they only kill zombies now, people who also have crystal cores will surely think — will one day, the animals expand their hunting range, and just like how they killed zombies, would they take crystal cores from human beings and start killing people instead?” Nie LanLei blinked, in a soothing tone.

Bai Duan opened his mouth, but couldn’t find any refutation. Finally, he became silent and looked down at the golden snub-nosed monkey, who was sitting in his arms as he combed his hair.

“If there really is such a day, what will you do?” Nie LanLei asked in a low voice.

Bai Duan pursed his lips and his eyes were full of confusion, “I don’t know. I never thought about it,” For a moment, he sighed, “If they were close to me as always, I would… I won’t help either side? I have no reason to save the world, not to mention when that time comes, even if I want to intervene, it probably won’t play a role…”

“Indeed,” Nie LanLei took out a hand and rubbed Bai Duan’s hair. “By that time, it will become a race struggle for survival, a struggle for either you nor I. Even if it’s you, it will be impossible to control the situation that has been settled, so put your mind in order. It’s a wise choice not to participate.”

The palm of Nie LanLei’s hand was very hot, and his touch on Bai Duan’s head was gentle and steady, full of pacifying power.

Bai Duan subconsciously raised the corner of his mouth and suddenly relaxed, but soon he raised his arms and pulled the other person’s hand off his head, “What are you doing? Know your place!”

Nie LanLei took back his hand and complained gently, “How can you throw things away right after you just use it.” But the smile in his eyes was even stronger.

Bai Duan moved his body a little uneasily, only to feel that the atmosphere inside the closed car suddenly became sticky and ambiguous, and his heart rate was also a little uncontrolled, disorderly and restless — just like his confused thoughts at the moment.