Have You Heard of *New World*?

Shang Qian walked through the pitch-black tunnel. She had not gone far when—

Snap!

The lights came on.

"There are voice-activated lights on the walls!"

Only then did she see what the underground area looked like.

A perfectly straight passage!

So straight that even someone with severe OCD could not find a single flaw.

"Huh? There's a staircase leading up here, and it says 'Kind Auntie'? What does that mean? Is she Shen Jin's relative?"

There had to be some deeper meaning!

Shang Qian did not understand, but she was impressed. She assumed this person must be especially important to Shen Jin!

Besides, carving out such a massive underground project could not have been easy, even for an Earth-based Ability user like Shen Jin, right?

Shang Qian passed rooms marked "Yellow" No. 10, No. 9, No. 8, and so on.

Why did none of them have doors?

How strange.

"Cough, cough... Is the food ready? Where am I? The dorm?"

Sun Can groggily woke up, muttering incoherently.

Shen Jin and Li Moxiao exchanged a glance and hurriedly put down their cleaning tools.

They sniffed.

Fortunately, the exhaust fan Shen Jin had installed was good quality. This time, they could not smell the steak.

"You're awake?"

When Sun Can opened his eyes, he found two smiling faces, one big and one small, above him.

"Fuck! Who are you two?"

Flames ignited in his hands as he did a backflip and landed steadily on the floor.

Only after the two explained things did Sun Can ask suspiciously, "You're that... Ultraman?"

Shen Jin's face darkened as he remembered that he had still been wearing the mask before Sun Can passed out.

"It's me."

Only then did Sun Can understand. "Oh, you're the one who brought me here?"

Seeing that Sun Can still wanted to ask more, Shen Jin hurriedly said, "You're hungry, right? Eat first."

He had Li Moxiao serve Sun Can a corn bun, while he went underground to bring Shang Qian over as well.

"Huh? What a pretty young lady. This is..." Li Moxiao glanced at Shang Qian's—

( .人. )

Then lowered her head to look at her own... shoelaces.

Σ(°△°|||)︴

The steak she had just eaten suddenly did not seem appetizing anymore.

For some reason, a sense of crisis suddenly welled up inside her.

"This is my former colleague, Shang Qian. I happened to save her on the road and brought her back."

"Come on, come on, sit here. We can talk while we eat." Shen Jin did not notice Li Moxiao's thoughts and warmly greeted them.

"Ah, okay."

Shang Qian sensed Li Moxiao's faint hostility and found it strange. She did not seem to know her, did she?

And why was there another woman in Shen Jin's house? Was she a relative?

Then she noticed where Li Moxiao's gaze was focused and seemed to understand something.

She probably doesn't know Shen Jin is gay yet, does she?

She straightened her chest, sat down elegantly, and picked up a corn bun and some pickled mustard greens.

Munch, munch~

Sun Can was equally thick-skinned. Once he saw that Shen Jin was not an enemy, he casually sat down and began eating.

"Hey, you know what? Ever since I got to your apocalypse, I haven't had a hot meal."

"Your?"

"Ah! Slip of the tongue, slip of the tongue. Our, our apocalypse."

Sun Can raised his bowl and took a mouthful of millet porridge as punishment.

After they had eaten their fill, Sun Can and Shang Qian let out satisfied burps before asking in confusion, "Why aren't you two eating?"

Both of them forced smiles onto their faces. "We already ate, we already ate."

"Oh, while I was unconscious, I dreamed that someone beside me was eating. But they were having steak. Heh, that dream was half real, half fake!"

"Cough, cough... Burp~"

Li Moxiao turned her head and burped, trying her best not to let the smell of beef escape.

Shen Jin hurriedly changed the subject. "So, Sun Can? Why were you there at the time? And what you said before you passed out... what did it mean?"

Shang Qian pricked up her ears too. She felt that Sun Can was about to confess his feelings.

What came next was bound to be some extremely cheesy love confession!

Instead, Sun Can warily glanced at Shang Qian and Li Moxiao. "Let's talk in your room."

Shen Jin nodded and took Sun Can to the second floor of the villa.

Shang Qian narrowed her eyes as she watched the two acting so intimate, then spat under her breath.

"They couldn't wait the moment they got home, huh."

Li Moxiao half narrowed her eyes and sized Shang Qian up, making a gesture with her hands.

W(￣_￣)W

She... she could not hold them with both hands?

Damn it!

Shen Jin, that big hentai! So vulgar!

Meanwhile—

Sun Can looked at the huge hole smashed through the floor on the second level, his face full of confusion.

"Cough, cough... A guest was too heavy and collapsed it. Don't worry about such details. Also, don't walk around the house casually."

He can set up ordinary traps too? Heh, interesting. Sun Can shook his head and started talking business.

"I want to ask you something. You have to answer me honestly."

"Mm, go ahead."

"Do you know a game called 'New World'?"

Shen Jin thought carefully, then shook his head. "Never heard of it. Is this game popular?"

"Popular? It's more than popular. It's sweeping the whole world."

Shen Jin was baffled. "Then there's no way I wouldn't know about it. Is it some private server run by a small company?"

Seeing that Shen Jin truly did not know, Sun Can waved his hand. "Forget it if you don't know. As for why I saved you yesterday, it's because I like helping people when I see injustice."

Shen Jin frowned. He always felt that Sun Can was not telling the truth.

"Then how did your fire ability awaken?"

Sun Can took out a blood crystal the size of a soybean from his shirt pocket and tossed it to Shen Jin. "Advanced Zombies have these energy crystals in their brains. They might help awaken abilities. Of course, don't swallow one lightly. It'll make you explode."

A translucent blood crystal, clouded with streaks of blood-red threads inside, landed in Shen Jin's hand.

Looking closely, the viscous energy within it was still slowly flowing.

Amazing!

Sun Can had not gotten the answer he wanted and did not wish to stay any longer.

"I'm leaving. We'll meet again if fate allows."

With his skills, jumping down from the second-floor window would not have been a problem at all.

"Hey! Wait."

Before Shen Jin could finish, Sun Can, who was about to leap over the huge hole, was suddenly hammered down to the first floor by a piston from the ceiling.

"Fuck!!!"

Fortunately, Sun Can's reaction speed was astonishing. He grabbed the first-floor flooring and forcibly flipped himself back up.

"Whew~ Not bad. But traps at this level... aren't much of a problem."

With his physical strength, such an impact could hardly injure him.

Whoosh!

A small hole opened in the wall, and a feathered arrow shot toward him.

Sun Can reacted swiftly. The flames in his hand surged as he grabbed it directly, and the arrow began to burn.

"This arrow is rather clever. Ordinary people would probably find it hard to dodge, but unfortunately, it ran into someone like me."

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!

A barrage of arrows shot out from the walls on both sides!

Sun Can rolled toward the wool carpet, only to narrowly fall into the deep pit.

(｀д′): "Fuck! Shen Jin, you bastard! Is this how you treat the person who saved your life!?"

Listening to Sun Can's roar from the second floor, Shen Jin wore an equally pained expression and shouted back.

"I told you not to run around!"

After releasing Sun Can from the surveillance room, Shen Jin watched him limp along while still easily hunting ordinary Zombies.

"What incredible individual strength! If the government had more people like him, they probably would have wiped out the Zombies long ago."

Shen Jin spun the limited-edition 'Mai Sakurajima' figurine in his hand as he silently sorted through everything that had happened today.

"Heavenly Net, Sun Can, Lu Qiang, Agile Zombie, Strength-type Zombie."

"Superhuman powers have already begun appearing step by step, and the Zombies are constantly evolving. If I go out, I'll inevitably encounter Superhuman powers again."

"Anyway, I've gathered more or less enough supplies. Enough for me alone to use for several lifetimes. Should I... wash my hands of it?"

"As long as I don't leave the house, there won't be any danger. At worst, I'll hide underground. I refuse to believe Zombies can evolve drills."

"..."

"Fuck! That's actually not impossible!"

"Ah, as the old saying goes: thoughts can be dirty, but the body must be strong. Only a strong body can support a filthy soul."

"Uh, that doesn't sound right? I think it was, 'Those without long-term worries will have immediate troubles.'"

"So, once I can ensure it's safe, I'll first complete the system's mission. Then I'll take Yang Ao to Future Human Pharmaceuticals and have a look. If the gene optimization serum really works, that would be perfect. It could greatly improve my physical fitness."

"Otherwise, opening the Gene Lock in a life-or-death situation will probably be difficult for me in this lifetime."

"And both of those things will require Yang Ao's help. Hehehe~"

"Eat!"

Shen Jin's voice rang out from the underground 'test room.' Yang Ao was startled and saw a plastic bag at the door containing—

A piping-hot, fragrant corn bun!

Having gone a whole day without eating, Yang Ao grabbed it and wolfed it down.

Fragrant! Soft!

"A delicacy of the human world!"

After finishing it, Yang Ao took a few sips of water and closed his eyes contentedly, a smile on his face.

Sure enough, waiting had not been in vain!

Tomorrow, this book will get a recommendation slot. I hope everyone can prioritize voting recommendation tickets and monthly tickets for Ice and Fire next week. This concerns the book's future performance! Thank you, my dear patrons!