43 3.2

"Baobei, what is this? Is it eatable?"

Feng Mian stared and poked lightly at the glass round globe in front of her that had been brought over.

System 555: "Those are crystal nucleus that contains nutrients ba. They're more precious than food and snacks. Those scientists are really generous, this is even a high quality one, very rare."

"Are you sure it's safe to eat? Looks so weird." Feng Mian prodded at it. "And hard. Isn't this like chewing on glass?"

System 555: "To others it'll be like chewing glass, but the identity I've chosen for you is special. Basically a walking golden finger, no, a golden human sprinkled with rubies and wrapped in a platinum bow. Just by eating one of these you'll gain power and continue evolving. How lucky you are bah! Last world I got you a CEO position, this world… tsk tsk tsk, other hosts could only dream. That system next door, its host was also transported into an apocalyptic world but it was inferior to daddy and did not have daddy's fighting spirit to quarrel with the higher ups for better roles and the host unfortunately was transmigrated into a mutant frog."

"... What happened to the host?"

System 555: "What else? Got caught by a bunch of hungry orphaned children and broiled into soup."

Feng Mian had a face that wanted to argue but a mouth that did not dare to, lest her system hold some grudges and she'll be transmigrated into an ugly animal in the next plane.

She swallowed her tongue and blew steam up System 555's mechanical ass instead. "Un, I just knew that you were one of a kind ever since we met. Baobei is handsome, capable, and highly competent, unlike those other void systems that is lacking in every aspect. I definitely must have used three lifetimes of luck to meet a system as dependable as baobei."

System 555's chest code puffed out and it huffed proudly. "Hmph, now you know. Lucky you met me first, if this daddy had been just a second late accepting this assignment you would've had 444 as your system."

Feng Mian couldn't help asking. "What did 444 do?"

System 555: "Had its host transmigrated into Ju-On. You know, the friend of the protagonist who was the first to die. Poor chap did not even know how to speak Japanese."

The name 444 was already ominous, even the way it does things was also sinistrous. For the first time since she and her system met, she was grateful to avoid being plucked by a random, even more incompetent system.

There was a harsh sound of the metal door scraping against the concrete floors as the room's door was opened inwards from the outside. From the barricades of the steel gate, a male figure adorning a similar fashion of white lab coat could be seen. Feng Mian who had an enhanced vision, felt that this suspiciously good looking person had an uncanny resemblance to someone she knew. Like an 80 percent similarity. Even as he sat languidly standing with a hand in his coat pocket. The more she looked, the more familiar he became.

She sprang from her chair and ran to reach over the gate in a whirlpool, but underestimated her own speed and the gate made a resounding clang as her body collided with it. Feng Mian barely felt any pain.

Ye Junli's eyes widened as he felt someone pulling him sideways to the gate by the shoulder - faster than he could register - and his face was half squished into the inside of the experiment room in a heartbeat. The guards behind him were also surprised but quick to react as they pulled out their hybrid guns to aim at the perpetrator.

"Junli AH!!! YOU FINALLY CAME TO GET ME~" Amidst the frenzy of guards loading up on their ammos and researchers going hysterical from having their best scientist held hostage, Feng Mian wailed.

Ye Junli felt himself go taut from being suddenly grabbed by an unknown force, his glasses had already fallen off from the tug. He tried to remain still to avoid stimulating the girl infamous for putting her retainers in ICUs and looked at her from his side eye.

Was she going in for a punch? Will she be biting his ears off their sockets from the gaps in the gate? She didn't seem to be hostile though. More like someone reuniting with a long time best friend? Ye Junli fought the urge to cover up his earlobes. He recalled having his name called out loud but he was pretty sure that they had never met each other before.

"Junli my good friend~ Did you know we're in the apocalypse? There's zombies ba! The eat your brains kind! You've played these zombie killing games before right? You should've invited me to play along, you piece of ungrateful shit!"

Ye Junli stood frozen as this person rubbed the hair on his head in all four directions. At first she was still talking to him, but had gone askew mid blame and is now blabbering to herself.

"Should've taken that archery class."

"If I knew it'd have come to this, I wouldn't have skipped PE but have rather kissed that old Teacher Wong for his commendable efforts. Who knew cardio could be a matter of life or death."

"Damn, didn't Train to Busan have a tragic ending?"

Ye Junli: 'Who's old Teacher Wong? What's Train to Busan?'

Feng Mian went around in full circle before she once again addressed the man she had in her arms. "Junli, let's not take the train to escape! I feel like the sea is our best bet. Even if we sink, we can still swim! How do you feel about moving to South Korea? I'll call you oppa you call me hyung?"

Ye Junli felt the stare of the wild glassy eyed girl waiting for his response. It seemed that 119's intelligence had evolved unsteadily? And why would he move to Korea? To get eaten by Korean zombies?

He felt goosebumps rising from her eager stare and directed his gaze elsewhere. He tried shuffling back to gain some personal space but stopped moving altogether when he felt her hold getting tighter. 'Was this the attitude of someone asking for an opinion? It was clearly a threat, bah! These hands have the strength to break walls, take a look at those dented bar gates!'

Ye Junli took a deep breath. He spoke gently and calmly, "Calm down for a second 119. Let's talk inside."

It took Feng Mian a solid half a minute to realize that several guns were aimed towards her. It took her another ten seconds to realize that Hao Junli had called her 119.

Which meant that he hadn't remembered who she was.

She stiffly let go of the person and moved a couple of steps back, feeling somewhat despondent. Ye Junli who was released breathed a sigh of relief and fetched his fallen glasses which was thankfully undamaged and fixed his crooked tie. He gestured for the weapons to be put away. Finally restoring his perfect vision, he saw 119's downcasted face behind the bars as if she had just been abandoned by the world and for some reason unknown to himself felt his heart tightened just a bit.

"Open the inner gate." Ye Junli was like clear lake water that barely rippled.

The guard behind him was hesitant. "Are you sure sir? 119 seems a bit… strange today. She could be dangerous."

Ye Junli gave him one look that stopped any further arguments. The guard moved to press the red button on the side of the wall and the inner gate was lifted upwards, swiftly disappearing into the walls. Ye Junli walked into the room steadily, his footsteps making consistent sound and without timidness.