There Will Always Be Protagonists With Delusions of Starting a Harem

Chapter 49

Ye Zhizhou turned back the data to the beginning of the end of the world, when the protagonist just awakened his powers. Ye Zhizhou read it word by word, and his hands unconsciously felt the small mirror tattoo on his arm.

The protagonist's spatial power didn't awaken with the healing ability, he got it suddenly during a supply hunt, half a month after awakening the space. The plot was rather vague that it could be easily missed, but Ye Zhizhou noticed some of the words: 'high fever', 'almost bitten', 'absorbed high level zombie core stone', and 'witnessed his comrade being eaten'. Skimming through it, it was as if the protagonist awakened his potential due to the desperate situation but after careful consideration there were many issues with it.

Firstly, the 'high fever' after he was 'almost bitten' — after someone was bitten by a zombie the first symptom was precisely that the body temperature would suddenly rise then suddenly drop. And then, while in that high fever he 'absorbed a high level zombie's core', the reason to absorb a crystal core is to replenish the powers that you used up, but the protagonist basically didn’t use his powers at that time so isn't this action unnecessary? Lastly, he 'witnessed his comrade being bitten' — the problem here being, there was no mention of that bitten comrade when Qiu Xiangyu happened to save the protagonist. Those two were definitely trapped in one place, moreover, the guy was just bitten so he should still appear like a normal human. He would be very noticeable in the middle of a zombie crowd.

The protagonist's high fever persisted even after the rescue. In the middle of the night he went inside the space in a trance and drank from the spiritual spring that was still only a tiny amount at the time. The next day the high fever receded. After he came to, he found that the space in his mind grew a lot bigger. He first discovered the effect of purifying and strengthening the body as his space slowly grew and his spring also became bigger, since the protagonist drank down an increasing amount of the spring water. Afterwards, he also discovered a spiritual field had appeared inside the space…

He continued to flip through the future plot, he marked out the paragraphs where the protagonist upgraded his spatial ability, reading it carefully until he found out; each ability upgrades occured after the male leads' fierce battle against the zombies. The protagonist leads the logistics in their team so the unpleasant duty of taking care of the battle spoils afterwards had always been his responsibility.

The male leads had wanted to take over these duties before, since they loved him very much, though he said these — 'wants to contribute to the team', 'doesn't want to appear too useless', 'are you discriminating against me?', 'I'm not a canary' — to refuse them. And, materials that could be taken from zombies are just their crystal core and…the rapidly rotting zombie's remains after its crystal cores were removed.

The cause of the virus could result in some variation with the zombies; some had rotting skin, some had bones as hard as steel, several zombies with higher levels were even able to regenerate intact skin and they would look no different from a normal human. One part mentioned members of the survivor's base going out to get some of these unusual zombie's bodies for research. And one time, after one of his battles, Wei Xu told the protagonist to prepare the rotting skin zombie so that they can take it to B city and hand it to the lab. However, the protagonist refused to because he was too nauseated. Wei Xu thought to take some sample with him but he couldn't find the zombie remains anymore…

Inexplicably disappearing corpses coupled with the space upgrade, spiritual field which suddenly appeared…he covered his mouth. He felt as if he would throw up. If his guess is correct…, then from the very start what was in the protagonist's space was not a spiritual spring and field, but concentrated corpse fluid and a mound maintained by the use of corpses…… This is too much of a thriller. He felt like he is watching a horror movie right now.

In the original story all of the male leads had drank from the spiritual spring, those few members of their small squad who were saved did as well. Besides them there was that put-anything-into-his-mouth-to-help-of-his-research stupid fake-genius…

Ye Zhizhou had now reached the lounge door. Flopping onto the sofa, he took out an extremely big apple from his space, engrossing himself in eating. He needed to eat something sweet to ease his mind that was filled with terrible images.

Zhong Qiu walked in with a heavy face. When he saw Ye Zhizhou eating like he was starved in his last life, his heavy mood got a little better. He sat down beside him and took him in his arms. His head moved in for a sniff, "You definitely look like you're eating something very sweet, but what I smell is a sour scent instead. Luckily for me, your body's smell is very nice, I really like it."

Ye Zhizhou stopped biting his apple. He suddenly recalled a part of the plot, all of the male leads was repulsed by the spring water's flavour after drinking it. They all said they didn't want to drink it again. The protagonist couldn’t accept it, he angrily said that the spring's water was definitely sweet. What's more, after the protagonist got the spiritual field he never ate anything the male leads collected. He would say those things all had a strange taste and he couldn't swallow it down, he would only eat crops his space yielded. This unexpectedly made the male leads feel touched, they said he paid too much attention to others, the small squad had a lot of supplies and he didn't need to save food like that……

Completely different taste from the male leads, feeling that normal human foods tasted strange, recovering from the high fever immediately after drinking the spring water, a body made stronger by the spring's 'purifying and strengthening' effect… Ye Zhizhou bit down the apple, suspicions flashing through his eyes followed with fright.

This world's protagonist… Is he still human?

"Why did you stop eating?"

"Zhong Qiu." Ye Zhizhou titled his head — clatter — he took out a pile of food from his space and pushed it towards him. "Smell these, do all these have a strange smell?"

Zhong Qiu moved back, his aversion of those food clearly written on his face, "Xiao Chen, I really don't need to eat these. Quickly put those away."

Sure enough…he put away all the food. He grabbed a pheasant from his space and drew a knife to kill it.

Zhong Qiu hastily gripped his knife-holding hand. Letting out a helpless soft laugh, he moved forward to hold him and patted on his back to placate him, "Xiao Chen, I'm really not hungry. Don't worry so much, hm?"

Loosening his hand, the pheasant fell to the ground. The bird clucked and ran wildly around the lounge. "From now on, you can't eat just anything for your research! Not even one bite! Do you understand?" Especially the protagonist's spring water, must not touch even one drop of it!

Zhong Qiu thought he was still angry about the pill before, so he followed quickly with nod and a promise and quickly turned the topic away. He talked about the zombie vaccine's research.

Ye Zhizhou withdrew from his arms while staring at him helplessly. His thought switched to Wei Xu who had stayed with the protagonist for so long. He grew nervous immediately.

As the person who's been with the protagonist the second longest, Wei Xu most likely had drank the spring water. Not good, he had to ask him! He took Zhong Qiu to his lab, had miss Bao Bao lead him out of the institute then skimmed the base's map before going out of the third gate, heading straight to the Wei family's house's direction.

Who could've known him rushing to the Wei home would be in vain? Mother Wei told him that Wei Xu just left the house for the Annan base's fleet of cars and they just missed each other. He quickly said bye and ran to the area where his family's car was.

It was already evening. As the second gate's area was very wide, when he arrived to the fleet it was almost completely dark. Yan Zheng and Liang Ping were standing outside of a building, they were relieved to see him coming back.

"Just because it's inside the base doesn’t make it safe. There are times when humans are scarier than zombies, it's better to take someone with you when going out in the future." Yan Zheng urged with a serious face.

Liang Ping nodded his head in favour, he also held out a hand to Ye Zhizhou, "I'm hungry."

Ye Zhizhou's highly strung mind was completely broken by the two's words, he found it funny as he stuffed a big honeydew melon into Liang Ping's arms, "Did Wei Xu come by?"

Yan Zheng nodded and also answered, "He waited for you and uncle Liu here for a while. But before you arrived he saw the sky was getting darker and left first, he said he'll come again tomorrow, he just left two minutes ago."

To actually miss him again! He felt speechless, he couldn't help rolling his eyes… He clapped on Yan Zheng's shoulder and he said, "I need to find him for something. You guys go back first, I'll come back after a while. When my dad comes back, help me explain it to him so he doesn't worry."

Yan Zheng frowned, "Then I will go with you. The base is less safe when it's dark."

Liang Ping hurriedly nodded as well. He didn't even want the melon anymore, he shoved the fruit back to Ye Zhizhou. Ye Zhizhou helplessly let the one man team become a three-men-team.

Luckily, Wei Xu didn't walk too fast this time, the three found him after few moments. Just as they were about to run up and call out to him, shouts and cries for help came from the dense side-bush ahead of them.

They stopped in their tracks, Wei Xu in front of them also halted in place.

"Let me go! If brother Wei knows he won't let you off!"

"Brat, you actually dare betray me and Xiao Yi! I should've taught you a lesson right at that time! Does it feel good being Wei Xu's dog? You little wussy, you were lucky Xiao Yi agreed to save your life with his spring before, you ungrateful wretch!"

As pained shouts and beating noises rose, Ye Zhizhou's whole countenance changed. He dashed straight ahead! He was sure the voice that cried out just now was the young man who was very kind to him before! And that man beating him was definitely the bald headed man!

Wei Xu who was far from them also heard something wrong over there, he immediately sent a row of icicles flying over, each embedded into the wooden post by the bush. He yelled out, "Wang Gang, stop there! If you have complaints you come to me! You call yourself a man and bully Fang Yunqi?!"

The movement behind the bushes stopped. Ye Zhizhou also stopped in place, a tall silhouette dragged out a thinner figure out of the bushes, his tone full of ridicule, "Yo, just when I hit the dog the owner came looking for him. You're so quick, ah. Did you put a chain on him?"

Wei Xu didn’t feel like talking nonsense with him. His icicles flew straight to the tall figure. Wang Gang had never awakened an ability, but he's not even a bit afraid right now. He stood his ground and caught the icicles with his hands — not only that, he caught and cracked the several icicles heading towards him. The ones he didn't catch hit his body like eggs hitting a rock, all of them broke into pieces.

Wei Xu had some qualms because of their previous relationship, his attack was very careful and restrained. Even so, it's not that restrained that it would be so ineffective to a normal human like this. He frowned and his face grew solemn.

Fang Yunqi coughed. He cried out to warn, "Brother Wei, run away! Something's wrong with Wang Gang's body, it's very hard, don't fight hi— Urgh!"

Wang Gang withdrew his fist. he patted on Fang Yunqi's cheek, he grinned as he threatened, "Your life is in my hands now, if I don't allow you to talk you better shut up, you trash."

Ye Zhizhou who was standing still now had a gloomy expression, his spiritual force spread out of him and forward. Yan Zheng and Liang Ping saw and didn't stay silently watching anymore, they launched attacks in succession. Wei Xu was startled by the three men who suddenly appeared, but he quickly recovered and also sent out an attack.

4 vs 1, with Liang Ping used his speed ability to grab Fang Yunqi back first, the other three lost all restraints. They directly overthrew Wang Gang and beat him to the ground. Ye Zhizhou pulled back his fists with a disdainful sneer, "To have your body change to this extent, how much of that spring water did your 'Xiao Yi' make you drink? You said Fang Yunqi is trash, then what are you right now? Trash 2.0?"

Yan Zheng held Wang Gang firmly to the ground that he couldn’t resist in any way. Only his face could twist in anger as he listened, he glared hatefully at Ye Zhizhou, "In what way are you better, Liu Chen! Don't think you’re so great just because you awakened a spatial ability! If not for Xiao Yi, can you even awaken your ability? I see you and Wei Xu are well matched, a pair of d?mned hand-biting cheaters! Xiao Yi helped you all so much but you not only forget his kindness, you even abandoned him when a zombie wave was approaching! Bah! You're all a bunch of cowards!"

This misrepresentation of the facts made Ye Zhizhou unbearably angry, his foot raised, and he ruthlessly stomped down on Wang Gang. He growled, "Is this what Xu Yi told you guys? Me and Wei Xu are together? When the zombies attacked we ran away first? There were notices about the retreat passed around in the base for days, you all just ignored those right?! Spouting nonsense, and even running here to beat Fang Yunqi. Bah! You're the coward!"

"Didn't each one of you get healed with Xiao Yi's spring water before? If it wasn’t for him, you would've died a hundred times over! How would you even be alive to run off to B city?!"

What words can you say to someone with a sick mind?! Ye Zhizhou sucked in a breath, then turned to the tense-faced Wei Xu, "This is your ex-squad member! That person you like and protected before, this is his teammate! This trash has nothing to do with me, I hand this to you. Give me Fang Yunqi, he'll be in my team from now on. Go back, look for me tomorrow. I have something to tell you." After he finished talking he patted Yan Zheng who was holding the man down, waving to Liang Ping (who was checking Fang Yunqi's wound for him) over, then turned to leave.

Wang Gang wanted to run away when the restraints on him loosened, but Wei Xu's hand immediately chopped at his neck and made him lose consciousness. He watched Ye Zhizhou's back, gradually disappearing to the end of the road, until he couldn't see him anymore. He heaved a sigh. His decision to bring Xu Yi back to Annan base at that time seemed to be a total mistake. If only he had never met Xu Yi in the first place….

[Probability of Wei Xu falling in love with the protagonist dropped to 10%, may the host persist in his efforts.]

Ye Zhizhou swept a glance at the screen, he tapped on the small mirror in his pocket, saying in his mind, "Help me do a scan of Fang Yunqi, see if there's a problem with his body."

The light screen turn into a beam, scanning the other man. Shortly after it popped out, [Evolved version of the zombie virus found. It's a small amount and there are no risk of contamination. Pills applicable: complete replenishment pill.]

"…Give me one."

The small mirror vibrated and sent out a pill, slightly bigger in size, into his palm.

"Boss." Liang Ping who had been silently supporting Fang Yunqi all along started to speak, his normally unmoved brows creased. "Was that Wang Gang's body transformed by the spring?"

"En." He put away the pill and then answered with a nod, he thought and added, "Do you remember Xu Yi from Annan base? The spring I talked about is from his spiritual space. There's something wrong with that spring water, you definitely must not drink it, okay?"

Liang Ping's head bobbed, his brows quickly wrung into a knot, "That Wang Gang's body… It's very strange, just now I used my scalpel to cut though his skin but couldn’t draw blood," he paused, "that spring water is nothing good. It has to be destroyed."

[Probability of Liang Ping falling in love with the protagonist has fallen to 0%. Congratulations to the host for removing the first flag, may the host persist in his efforts.]

Ye Zhizhou was a little giddy by this unbelievable luck. Directly pulling out a flag? Little friend Liang Ping, how can you be so decisive? If he's right, wasn't this only his second drop? For it to actually fall to zero… The first reduced the odds to half, this sort of efficiency was simply unbelievable! He looked at Liang Ping's expressionless face deeply, then tossed a pomegranate from the space to him, "Your reward, eat a lot."

Liang Ping's eyes brightened and he rushed to take the pomegranate, tucking the fruit inside his white robe's pocket.

…Such a well-fed boy, ah.

[Probability of Yan Zheng falling in love with the protagonist dropped to 30%, may the host persist in his efforts.]

He quickly turned his head toward the taciturn Yan Zheng's by his side. After considering it, he took out another pomegranate, tossing it over and said, "If you want to eat fruit, say so. I won't laugh at you."

This world's male leads are all little angels like he thought, if his meat pies want anything he would stuff them full of it.

Yan Zheng was thinking of Wang Gang's oddity while inwardly being afraid of the spiritual spring's owner. He stared blankly but his lip twisted, he took the pomegranate with a 'thanks', then stuffed it into his waist pocket without another word.

Fang Yunqi was watching over here and then over there, his mouth pursed together.

Ye Zhizhou turned his head just in time to catch this. His head was full with ellipses. He took out another pomegranate and passed it to him, "Your hand's injured, be careful when you eat so you don't tear your wound."

Little friend Fang instantly bloomed like flowers in warm spring.

The day's already over… He rubbed his face, he felt he should give Fang Yunqi the pill after some time, in case Liang Ping and Yan Zheng saw him give it out and think it's some candy and want him to share some with them too. What should he do then…? He doesn't want to be a kindergarten lunch lady.

Because Wang Gang didn't return all night Xu Yi was a bit worried, he pulled Qiu Xiangyu out to go look for him. They searched until they reached a place near the second gate. Xu Yi made an abrupt stop and watched the metal gate in the shadows that seemed to grow taller and taller.

"What's wrong?"

He snapped out of it, turned back to Qiu Xiangyu with a smile and shook his head.

"It's nothing, I just thought I saw something white flashing past." He caught a whiff of a really nice scent, and surprisingly that smell appealed greatly to him…. There's something good in this base.

In the shadows not far from them, Zhong Qiu's eyes were turning yellow as he played with a small wind blade in hand. To stink to this extent, who are these two?