Chapter 42: Departure

Qi Xi extended his right hand, closed his eyes, and stretched his power to its absolute limit. With a snap of his fingers, everyone in the entire Frontier Nation fell unconscious at once. In such a small settlement, where only ordinary people resided, he could easily handle the situation in one go. Having rendered all the inhabitants unconscious, Qi Xi drove his vehicle out of the Frontier Nation.

He was not heading out to execute a grand plan, but rather to occupy himself with some trivial matters—like helping the “children.”

These were child soldiers, mostly sixteen or seventeen years old, the first generation to be born on the wasteland. They had no knowledge of what the previous world had been like, and some weren’t even aware that something called “plants” had once existed.

An interesting fact: there were virtually no plants left in the world. The nuclear bombs and radiation had wiped them out entirely. Yet humans require oxygen to survive, and without it, Earth would have become a dead planet in no time. Yet fate, ever the trickster, left room for exceptions. The very zombies that had brought ruin to the planet had, unbelievably, become humanity’s saviors.

The virus, clinging to the zombies, could not further evolve their genes. However, it could alter the broken genes of the undead, adapting them to environmental changes. After nuclear war had ravaged the world and left no flesh in sight, it seemed the zombies were doomed to vanish. But reality defied expectation: their genes changed, steering them down a path entirely unlike humanity’s evolution.

Something unimaginable occurred—the zombies became “plants.” Not plants in the true sense, but resembling them in every way. And they were far more resistant to radiation. Through photosynthesis, these zombie-plants began absorbing carbon dioxide and water, releasing oxygen in turn. It was thanks to the endless oxygen produced by these plant-like zombies that, in just a hundred years, humans could emerge from the underground and walk the surface again.

It could be said that without these zombies, even another two centuries would not have sufficed to make the surface habitable for humanity.

Soon, Qi Xi drove into a stretch of ruins, whistling as he went. Three figures quickly emerged, clutching automatic rifles, submachine guns, and sniper rifles.

“Tell everyone to come out and get in the car. We’re heading to the Frontier Nation.” Before the youths could voice their questions, Qi Xi spoke up.

“Brother Xi, what’s going on?” asked Martin Luther King, an African American youth. But in this world, nationalities no longer existed. In a sense, the dream of global unity had finally been realized…

“Wow! What a cool car!”

“How did you get this ride, Brother Xi? Weren’t you off arranging that ambush?” Two other boys quickly chimed in. They shouted back over their shoulders, “Hey, everyone! Come out! All of you! Big Brother’s back!”

Soon, five more emerged. These eight were all the child soldiers under Qi Xi’s command.

Looking at these underdeveloped boys—some even suffering from radiation sickness—Qi Xi couldn’t help but feel a pang of emotion. This wasteland, saturated with radiation, was the true apocalypse. For ordinary people, it was a world of unimaginable misery. Yet the boys themselves did not dwell on hardship. Their only wish was to avenge their parents against the private nations, and to follow the omnipotent Brother Xi, living lives both thrilling and fraught with hardship.

“Get in. I’ll explain on the way,” Qi Xi said, patting the vehicle.

Though uncertain, the boys obeyed Qi Xi without hesitation. As soon as they climbed in, they began peppering him with questions.

Qi Xi floored the accelerator and yanked the steering wheel, making the boys scream with excitement.

“Whoa!”

“Oh my God!”

“Hold on tight,” Qi Xi warned, pressing the clutch, shifting up, then releasing it.

“Brother Xi, what’s going on?” one asked.

After gathering his thoughts, Qi Xi replied, “I don’t know. When I arrived, everyone in the Frontier Nation was already unconscious. So I took a car and came to get you. We’re going back to deal with those people.”

“All unconscious? How could that be?”

“What’s going on?”

“How could something so bizarre happen?!”

Confused and bewildered, the boys soon quieted, sensing that Qi Xi had changed in some way.

“Brother Xi, you seem a little strange today,” said Zhou Leng, one of the boys.

Qi Xi, hearing this, hesitated for a moment before saying, “Yes, I suppose I do. The truth is, I’m leaving you. From now on, you’ll have to survive on your own.”

“What?!” They all cried out at once. Zhou Feng promptly smacked Zhou Leng on the head. “That’s what you get for asking questions!” As if blaming Zhou Leng for Qi Xi’s decision to leave. Zhou Leng, both aggrieved and bewildered, wondered if it really was his fault. Why was Brother Xi leaving them?

Qi Xi shook his head and smiled. “This has nothing to do with Zhou Leng. It’s something I decided long ago.”

“But why, Brother Xi? Why?” Martin, sitting in the front passenger seat, grabbed Qi Xi’s arm in agitation, but no matter how hard he shook it, the limb felt as immovable as iron. How was that possible? When had Brother Xi’s arm become so strong?

Looking at the emotional group, Qi Xi shook his head. “I’m leaving, whether sooner or later. You’re all grown now; you can survive on your own. There are many things in this world you can’t imagine, many ways of life you’ve never dreamt of. Even after you become stronger, try not to provoke those with great power and influence—they’re not ordinary people.”

Zhou Leng timidly asked, “Brother Xi, what are you going to do?”

At his question, everyone fell silent, all eager for the answer. Qi Xi sighed, then said, “I have something that I must do. If I don’t, there’s someone who will be disappointed. If the person he admires does nothing in the face of this crisis, what kind of role model would that be?”