Chapter 193: Raising a Little Zombie 11

Yao Yu stood beside a tall man, dressed in full combat gear with her short hair cut neatly to her ears. The two of them were talking, and judging by their expressions, they seemed to be getting along quite well.

He Fang followed Xie Hui’s gaze and took the initiative to explain, “That’s Huo Li and his girlfriend. Before you arrived, Huo Li was the only Second-rank Ability User in our base.”

After speaking, He Fang pulled out the safety helmet his father had helped him find yesterday and handed it to Yunyun.

“Little one, I forgot to tell you earlier. After the apocalypse, safety helmets have been hard to come by. I only managed to find a pink one. Is that okay?”

Yunyun frowned instinctively when he saw the soft pink color.

He was clearly a cool little boy. What he really wanted was a military green helmet like Uncle He Fang’s.

But given the current situation, he still walked over and took it.

“Thank you, Uncle. I like it.”

In the apocalypse, there was no room for being picky. As long as he had a helmet to protect his head, the color… well, he couldn’t see it anyway.

As He Fang led Xie Hui and the others over, before he could even introduce them, Huo Li spoke first.

“Why did you bring a kid to a place like this? Do you think missions are a joke? He Fang, are you getting more and more out of line?”

The words were laced with obvious malice and disdain.

Within the Guardian Team, Huo Li was far less popular than He Fang.

Logically speaking, as someone from an ordinary background, Huo Li should have been more well-liked than He Fang, the son of a base executive. But Huo Li always carried himself with an air of superiority because of his ability rank, while He Fang was approachable and got along well with everyone, never putting on airs.

Still, in this case, He Fang had indeed not handled things properly. Missions were dangerous—how could he bring a child along?

Yao Yu hadn’t intended to get involved until she caught sight of Xie Hui’s face, which looked vaguely familiar.

“Sir, didn’t we meet on the road before? At the time, you didn’t seem like you planned to come to the base.”

Xie Hui gave a slight nod, replied with a quiet “Mm,” and said nothing more.

Facing the man and woman responsible for his son’s death on the operating table in his previous life, it was already restraint enough that he hadn’t killed them on sight. There was no way he could be polite.

Yao Yu, sensing the awkwardness, forced a smile to cover her discomfort. Huo Li, already displeased with Xie Hui, furrowed his brow even tighter at the exchange.

“Do you even understand the rules?”

Xie Hui turned to glance at He Fang and repeated the word “rules,” his tone questioning.

He Fang quickly stepped forward to smooth things over and explained, “Mr. Xie is a Fourth-rank Ability User, so…”

Most of the time, the base operated on fairness, but when it came to Ability Users, exceptions were made.

They had to offer better conditions to persuade powerful Ability Users—who could get better treatment at private bases—to stay and help protect the base.

Once He Fang clarified Xie Hui’s strength, the faint discontent among the Guardian Team members quickly vanished.

In the apocalypse, strength was everything. If Xie Hui was strong enough, then he had every right to act proud.

At first, they had been annoyed that a child like Yunyun was tagging along on a mission, thinking he’d be a burden. But now, the more they looked at Yunyun, the more pleasing he seemed. A burden? Bring on more burdens like this!

“So what if he’s a Fourth-rank Ability User? Does that mean he gets special treatment?”

Huo Li had originally just been venting his frustration with He Fang onto the newcomer. Not long ago, he’d made a mistake that He Fang witnessed. Instead of covering for him, He Fang had let the whole base find out.

Not only was he punished, but he’d also lost face completely.

Now, hearing that Xie Hui was a Fourth-rank Ability User and seeing how warmly the others were treating him—attention that used to be his—Huo Li’s attitude grew even nastier.

Xie Hui looked up at Huo Li, but before he could say anything, another member of the Guardian Team beat him to it.

“Huo Li, can you just shut the hell up already?”

If someone else had said that, it might not have been such a big deal. But coming from someone who constantly used his own ability rank to get special treatment, Huo Li’s words were especially grating.

“By your logic, no special treatment, huh? Then how did your girlfriend get in?”

“You’re always whining and grabbing all the good stuff for yourself.”

The fire suddenly turned on Yao Yu. It was true that she had joined the Guardian Team thanks to her relationship with Huo Li.

Realizing this, Yao Yu gently tugged on Huo Li’s arm, successfully stopping him from saying anything more.

Xie Hui sat down in the large truck with his son. He Fang gave a brief introduction of the team members, and after exchanging greetings, everyone turned their attention to Yunyun.

Healthy, fair-skinned children like him had become a rare sight after the apocalypse.

Xie Yun had been cooped up with his dad for so long he was practically bursting. Now that so many uncles were willing to talk to him, he chirped away like a little sparrow.

“Little guy, how old are you?”

“I’m six! Uncle, how old are you? What’s your zodiac sign? Do you have a girlfriend?”

Whoever talked to him, Xie Yun would scoot over and sit beside them.

If these questions had come from some nagging relative pushing for marriage, they might have been annoying. But coming from such a cute, good-looking kid wearing a pink safety helmet, with that high-pitched voice untouched by puberty, it was oddly endearing.

“Uncle, what are we going to do?”

Xie Yun had been watching for a while but still couldn’t figure out what the mission was. All he saw outside was a sea of yellow sand.

The truck was moving fast, too fast for zombies to catch up, so they hadn’t run into much trouble along the way.

“We’re going to rescue some teammates in another city. We got a distress signal this morning. Little one, can you stay in the truck and wait for us to come back?”

The speaker was the Guardian Team’s captain. His ability wasn’t the strongest, but he was excellent at coordination.

After he finished speaking, he was already thinking about finding someone with no abilities but solid combat skills to accompany them on future missions, just to look after this kid.

He completely understood why that powerhouse of a father wouldn’t feel comfortable leaving his child behind at the base.

Having an Ability User babysit was a bit of a waste, but finding a capable normal person would be easy.

“Uncle, I’m going with my dad. Don’t worry, I won’t hold anyone back.”

Xie Yun had no intention of being left behind. He wanted to stay with his father—especially after discovering that there was a bad uncle in the group.

Besides, he was definitely not some useless burden who couldn’t do anything.

He was a super awesome little Zombie—he just wasn’t allowed to tell these uncles, because Dad had forbidden it.

“Yunyun’s been with me since the start of the Apocalypse. He may not have awakened any abilities, but he’s capable in his own right. I can take care of him,” Xie Hui offered, stepping in to defuse the situation and shield Xie Yun.

No matter who wanted to take him, Xie Hui wouldn’t feel at ease.

Yunyun’s identity was too unique. Until he could be sure whether the person in charge of this base would accept a Zombie like Yunyun, Xie Hui wouldn’t risk exposing him.

“Alright then.”

The captain didn’t press the issue. This mission wasn’t particularly dangerous—just a search and rescue for survivors.

When they arrived at their destination, the vehicle came to a stop. Xie Hui got out first, and Yunyun followed, bouncing into his father’s arms.

It was only then that Yunyun noticed there was a dog in the vehicle too.

He’d wanted a puppy for a long time, but Dad had refused, saying he couldn’t even take care of himself, let alone a dog.

“Uncle, can I pet it?”

The dog belonged to Xiao Li, a friend of He Fang. Before the Apocalypse, it had been a military dog. After the world fell apart, it mutated into a Beast, but surprisingly, it retained its memories from before.

Now that it was a Mutated Beast, its sense of smell had become even sharper, making it an essential part of every search and rescue mission.

It could still tear through Zombies just like in the old days, and it couldn’t be infected. It remained Xiao Li’s most reliable partner on missions.

Earlier, there had been too many people around, and Xiao Li hadn’t gotten a chance to interact with the little boy. Seeing him run over, clearly interested in the dog, he crouched down and smiled, nodding.

“Of course you can. Ping An is very gentle.”

Yunyun crouched down, staring intently at the dog. He realized that even when he squatted, he still had to tilt his head up a bit to see it clearly.

“Uncle, what breed is Ping An? He looks so cool!”

“Look, he’s so tall—he’s even taller than me!”

Xiao Li was usually a serious person, but compliments about his dog were the one thing that could make him soften.

“Ping An is a Doberman.”

As Ping An turned to look at him, Yunyun instinctively clenched his fists, holding back the urge to reach out and touch its ears.

Those upright Doberman ears looked so cool. Yunyun stared at them, his eyes full of longing and his hands itching to reach out.

Noticing what he was thinking, Xie Hui quickly called him over.

“Yunyun.”

“Coming, Dad!”

Yunyun responded and glanced at Xiao Li, then at the dog. He asked,

“Uncle, can I come play with him later?”

“Of course you can.”

“Yay!”

Xiao Li’s answer made Yunyun bounce happily as he ran back to his father’s side.

Once they reached the destination, the captain had them take a short break. Then he stood at the front and began explaining the details of their mission.

The search target was a shopping mall. The distress signal had come from members of their base’s Guardian Team.

They had gone out on a supply run a while ago and hadn’t returned. It wasn’t until this morning that a distress signal came through, prompting the Guardian Team to rush out immediately.

“Based on our past experience, it’s likely that there were too many Zombies outside the mall, and they got trapped inside.”

“Everyone inside is a Tier 1 Ability User, which means there could be some very high-level Zombies in the area.”

“Stay alert and stay safe.”