After My Death, the Protagonist Broke Character - Chapter 6

The hunting squad had been closely observing Huaisi’s every move. Seeing him stare repeatedly at that building, only to leave with Liao Muqing in the end, they couldn’t help but approach him.

“Sir…” Since Huaisi hadn’t told them his name, they had to address him as “Sir,” taking care to use an honorific. “Is there something you need?”

Huaisi looked at them in surprise, a hint of confusion showing in his vertical pupils. He shook his head and remained silent, clearly unable to comprehend their question.

However, Huaisi’s behavior only made the others feel that he was even more difficult to get along with. He was too lazy to even respond with a single word, refused to reveal his name throughout the journey, and only occasionally nodded or shook his head. His face was hidden beneath a broad hood, and his scarf covered most of his face, but the glimpses of his eyes revealed a hidden, menacing glint that left people too frightened to meet his gaze.

Even though they were eager to recruit this mysterious, powerful man, they couldn’t help but feel awkward at constantly being met with the cold shoulder. After all, they were also ability users who were usually respected in the shelter, and they possessed a certain unspoken self-esteem.

Moreover, in the past, it was always Huaisi who handled the recruitment of other ability users. Huaisi was the lubricant of the group; it was Huaisi who had organized the hunting squad and Huaisi who had brought Xie Shoushan back. If not for Huaisi, the hunting squad would likely have disbanded long ago.

Fortunately, Liao Muqing stepped in, offering to take Huaisi around for a walk himself.

“You’ve all worked hard; you should go back and get some rest. I’m much more familiar with the shelter than you are,” Liao Muqing said, easing the tension. The others breathed a sigh of relief.

Huaisi, too, wanted to go with Liao Muqing. He had only come back to check on him, after all. Although the members of the hunting squad were former partners, there wasn’t a strong emotional bond there.

He followed quietly behind Liao Muqing. Just as in his memories, Liao Muqing fell into his old habit of chattering away like a storyteller. He pointed out one building as the former playground where everyone used to walk, occasionally greeting the people they passed.

“Although things aren’t peaceful outside lately and I hear the zombies are getting harder to deal with, it’s not surprising that zombies are evolving when people are developing abilities. But life here remains the same. Take me, for example—thanks to everyone’s care, I’m doing quite well; I’m not a burden to the young people. The young have their own things to do; don’t always worry about us old folks.”

Huaisi watched as Liao Muqing started lamenting again. Even though Liao Muqing was hardly middle-aged, let alone “old,” he always loved to nag about being old in front of Huaisi, acting like a little old man. It always made Huaisi want to laugh, but this time, he couldn’t his brain hadn’t yet shifted gears.

“…But life in the shelter will get better. Last time we applied to join the General Base’s protection, the base sent an investigation team. There are ability users among the investigators this time, which shows the base really values us. If things go well, our Shelter 8 will soon get approval for protection and aid from the base.”

Liao Muqing sighed softly, stopped, and lowered his voice: “…Don’t worry too much.”

Huaisi immediately stopped as well, maintaining his distance from Liao Muqing. He felt the nervous apprehension of returning to his hometown, fearing that Liao Muqing would recognize him, and fearing that he wouldn’t be able to hold back and would devour him.

Seeing Huaisi didn’t respond, Liao Muqing looked around and asked in a low voice: “Why are you here alone? What happened? Where is Shoushan?”

Huaisi didn’t know how to answer. His little zombie CPU was still struggling to process the implications of Liao Muqing’s words. Suddenly, he sensed someone rushing toward them. He whipped his head toward the front it was the scent of those “meals” from behind the door!

Liao Muqing, noticing the movement, calmly pushed Huaisi into the shadows to hide him. When the people approached, they indeed failed to discover Huaisi’s position, merely glancing at Liao Muqing a few times.

“What are you doing over here?” He Qiao asked, sizing him up, while Wei Xingchang looked around.

Liao Muqing said politely, “I walk around the shelter every day because I’ve been here for so long. I like to see where I can help. I’ve been thinking about teaching everyone to read lately. Although we’re in a shelter, people could still benefit from some cultivation of character; I have some books I’m planning to use to teach the children…”

Wei Xingchang quickly cut him off. He hated long-windedness above all else. He gave He Qiao a look, and He Qiao simply said, “I see. Since there’s nothing else, we’ll be going.” With that, he led Wei Xingchang away.

After they walked away, Wei Xingchang asked He Qiao, “Why did we leave? That guy was suspicious.”

“Suspicious of being a zombie?”

“No, that’s not it—I didn’t smell any zombie scent on him, but his reactions were abnormal,” Wei Xingchang asked. “Should we report him to the Minister?”

He Qiao and Wei Xingchang were members of the base’s investigation team. There were four ability users sent down for this assessment a massive over-investment for a broken-down shelter.

They walked out and saw no suspicious people. The inhabitants of the shelter, out of a certain psychology, kept a distance from them as if afraid to disturb them, harboring a kind of pathetic sycophancy. Naturally, they didn’t want to get too close to these people, and as they walked, they ran into Liao Muqing.

Liao Muqing’s polite and poised attitude was novel to them, but they had also detected his oddity.

He Qiao frowned and said, “Don’t bother the Minister with such trifles. He’s been out investigating the large-scale zombie horde that happened here these past two days. He’s been constantly looking for that Xie Shoushan character; he’s busy enough as it is.” Thinking of the Minister’s temperament, he knew if they bothered him with such small matters, the consequences would be dire; the Minister was not a man of good humor.

He didn’t understand why the Minister would personally come to inspect such a small shelter. With his skills, he should be handling far more important affairs. He had a hunch that the Minister’s mission was related to Xie Shoushan. Combining this with what the hunting squad said about the zombie horde, Xie Shoushan was clearly a key figure it was just strange that they hadn’t seen him yet.

“We can handle these small matters ourselves. You don’t want to experience the Minister’s methods, do you?”

Wei Xingchang shuddered at the thought of the Minister’s cold face, feeling suffocated just standing in front of him. The Minister was a man who didn’t care about sentiment, so he naturally shook his head.

“Good. It’s just a broken-down shelter; the few ability users they have don’t even have rare powers, and the rest are just old, weak, and disabled. If we really have to evaluate whether to merge them, the workload will just increase.”

“Yeah, it’s a dump with no reason to be evaluated why did we even come here?”

He Qiao glanced at him and offered his insight: “The Minister probably only agreed to the inspection because of the crystal incident during that massive mutated zombie horde. Have you noticed how little time he spends in the shelter? He’s basically always outside. So, we just need to put on a show here.”

“And that Xie Shoushan is likely an ability user. If his ability is rare, that will be the shelter’s only value. If not, this place is completely worthless. So, if a situation really does arise, the people inside don’t matter.” He Qiao’s blunt statement made it clear to Wei Xingchang, and the two chuckled as they headed back to the best building in the complex.

Liao Muqing, seeing them disappear into the distance, finally dared to pull Huaisi out and hide him back in his small, cramped room. Huaisi resisted with his body, but he was afraid that using too much strength would hurt Liao Muqing. After all, his current body was unlike the one he had before he feared even the slightest movement might cause harm.

Huaisi only wanted to leave quickly, but seeing Liao Muqing turn to lock the door, he panicked like a startled rabbit, leaping up and jumping toward the window. Just as he was about to climb out, a clear, stern voice rang out from behind him.

“Where are you going? Huaisi!”