Ch 186: The Farmer Ger in the Apocalypse

In the apocalypse, a contract was nothing more than a gentleman’s agreement, laying out the details of an understanding—did anyone really think it held legal weight? On the contrary, if Suo Binhai were truly dead, Shao Nan would likely lose his mind and refuse to cooperate with them.

Shen Qing grew anxious and quickly stepped forward. “What did you do to him?”

He was starting to regret not bringing Qi Zhan along for this mission. Would they still have time to find a healing ability user at Red City Hospital to check on Suo Binhai?

Chen Jiaxi hurriedly explained, “He’s not dead! It’s just… my ability lost control for a moment.”

Ever since she absorbed Feng Hao’s crystal core, Chen Jiaxi hadn’t felt any major abnormalities in her body. At most, her emotions sometimes became inexplicably irritable, but it was nowhere near an uncontrollable level—certainly much less severe than what Ge Bingbing had suffered.

Chen Jiaxi had speculated that the effects might be related to the nature of the crystal core’s original owner. No matter how despicable Feng Hao had been, his deeds were merely underhanded scheming and backstabbing. Compared to Yang Sen, the second-in-command of that cannibal outpost, Feng Hao was practically a decent person. Meanwhile, the crystal core Ge Bingbing had absorbed had likely been condensed from countless human victims.

Moreover, Ge Bingbing’s in-laws were an ongoing source of stress, constantly pushing her to the edge. In Chen Jiaxi’s opinion, with the things Ge Bingbing’s brother-in-law had done, she would have gone insane even without consuming human crystal cores. By comparison, Chen Jiaxi’s home life was much more stable—her husband was supportive, and her children were obedient and sensible, with no complicated relatives interfering. This contrast seemed to have minimized the side effects she experienced.

Yet after absorbing Feng Hao’s crystal core, despite her ability leveling up twice, Chen Jiaxi hadn’t felt a noticeable improvement in its practical use. Earlier, she had wanted to peek into Suo Binhai’s memories. They had suspected that he intended to take action against their small base after securing power in Red City, but it was just a theory. She had tried using her ability to scan his mind, hoping to see what exactly he had planned.

However, Chen Jiaxi’s power could only access “memories”—and since Suo Binhai’s plans were still in the “thinking” stage rather than something he had acted upon, retrieving them was difficult. In her frustration, she had attempted to probe deeper into his consciousness. But in doing so, her ability spiraled out of control…

Shao Nan rushed forward to check on Suo Binhai. He was indeed alive and in decent condition, though his breathing was rapid, and beads of sweat covered his forehead as if he were in pain.

Chen Jiaxi raised her hand, revealing a small, chestnut-sized orb of light at her fingertips, its surface swirling with a shifting, iridescent glow.

“…I think I accidentally extracted his memory.”

Shao Nan’s eyes widened in shock.

In the end, they had to rush Suo Binhai to Red City Hospital to find a couple of healing ability users. The smarter ones had hidden themselves away at the first sign of chaos, but these two had been working overtime at the hospital and hadn’t had the chance to escape. When the incident broke out, they had locked themselves in an office, unable to flee.

After a quick assessment of Suo Binhai’s condition and a hushed exchange, the healers hesitated before saying, “His body is fine. The reason he hasn’t woken up is likely due to the sudden extraction of his memory. The brain couldn’t handle the shock, so it entered a self-protective sleep state. We’ve helped smooth things out a little—he should wake up soon. But we can’t guarantee… whether his mind will be intact.”

“There’s a chance he’ll wake up only missing the memories that were extracted. But if the shock to his brain was too severe… other complications could arise.”

The healers’ words were tactful, but in simpler terms, there was a possibility he could wake up as a complete idiot.

Shao Nan’s glare immediately burned into Chen Jiaxi.

Chen Jiaxi: “…” I didn’t mean to! QAQ

She glanced down at the glowing orb in her fingertips. If she could extract memories, could she put them back in?

Fortunately, at that moment, Suo Binhai finally woke up.

He struggled to open his eyes, his head throbbing as if needles were stabbing into his brain. Large chunks of darkness loomed in his mind. As he looked around at the unfamiliar faces surrounding him, his gaze finally landed on Shao Nan, who seemed somewhat recognizable.

“You’re… the company commander of the Third Company, Xiao Shao?”

He tried to sit up but immediately winced, clutching his head. The pain was unbearable. “What… what happened? Where am I?”

Shao Nan and the healers immediately looked relieved. No matter what, at least he wasn’t completely brain-dead—he could still recognize people!

The two healers hurried forward, their fingertips glowing with white light as they attempted to ease his pain. But the moment Suo Binhai saw them approaching, his eyes widened in terror. He flinched away despite the stabbing pain in his head, scrambling backward.

“What is this?!”

After much effort, they finally pieced things together—Suo Binhai had lost his memory and could only recall events up to before the apocalypse. Everything that had happened in the past year or more was completely gone.

“What? The Commander… Old Wang, Old Zhang… they’re all…?” His eyes widened in disbelief. He rushed to the window and looked outside, only to see the chaos engulfing Red City Base. There was not a single trace of the peaceful world he remembered.

But his reaction was completely different from when Song Kaiji had forced him to look down earlier. This time, his expression was filled with shock, sorrow, and grief for his fallen comrades. A wave of complicated emotions surged through him—his lips trembled, and his sharp eyes even glistened with unshed tears.

For a moment, Shen Qing and the others fell silent, unsure of how to handle the situation.

Chen Jiaxi stared at the glowing orb in her fingers for a long time before suddenly crushing it.

The light fragmented into countless tiny specks, dissipating into the air before they could even touch the ground.

She had originally considered keeping it for research. But now, she felt that whether or not Suo Binhai had planned to eliminate their small base after consolidating power no longer mattered.

With his memory gone, he had also lost his political rivals. He was now the undisputed ruler of Red City Base.

Perhaps, without the weight of past grudges and schemes, he could lead Red City toward a new beginning—a new future.

Shen Qing and Song Kaiji shared the same thoughts. Song Kaiji held up the contract—though it had no legal effect, at this moment, it was proving useful. He turned to Suo Binhai and said, “Now that things have come to this point, you need to pull yourself together. We collaborated on some things before… Anyway, take a look at this contract. It has your signature. Moving forward, we will provide Red City Base with regular supplies of salt, sugar, medicinal herbs, and other strategic resources. We also hope that Red City Base will honor its commitments and fulfill the terms outlined in the contract.”

He pressed two fingers together, a faint breeze swirling around his fingertips as he carefully observed Suo Binhai’s expression. “This is Commander Shao Nan. He has followed you since the apocalypse began and is one of your most trusted subordinates. If you have any questions, you can ask him.”

Song Kaiji turned to Shao Nan. A struggle flickered across Shao Nan’s face, but he quickly made a decision and nodded. “Yes.”

Before Suo Binhai lost consciousness, Shao Nan had been well aware of what Shen Qing’s group wanted—to have him replace Suo Binhai as the highest leader of Red City Base. But Shao Nan had no such ambition. He simply wanted to do his duty as a soldier: protect civilians and follow orders. He also didn’t believe he had the capability. If Suo Binhai couldn’t manage everything perfectly, how could he, a low-ranking officer who had risen through the ranks during the apocalypse, possibly do better? In the end, wouldn’t he just become a puppet for Shen Qing and his people?

Moreover, if he agreed, what would Shen Qing’s group do with Suo Binhai?

The bloodstains on the office floor had yet to dry—that was the blood of the capital’s special envoys whom Suo Binhai had personally killed. Was it only the government’s people who were allowed to bleed?

But what choice did he have? Shao Nan had no doubt that Shen Qing and the others had the power to kill both him and Suo Binhai if they wanted to. They simply chose not to.

Now, however, the situation had unexpectedly resolved in the best possible way. Suo Binhai had lost his memory. Before him stood a version of himself that had never experienced the brutal factional struggles of the post-apocalyptic world. He didn’t know Feng Hao or Lu Yanghui, nor was he aware of Shen Qing’s secrets. He still had the heart of a pre-apocalypse soldier, filled with the ideals of duty and service.

And Shen Qing’s group was willing to give him another chance. All Shao Nan had to do was guide him—tell him what he needed to know, while filtering out the darkness of the past.

Suo Binhai sluggishly accepted the contract from Song Kaiji and flipped through it, his mind a jumble of confusion. Most of the agreement revolved around resource exchanges, and the values seemed fair enough. But military supplies—how could they be freely traded like this? Yet the signature on the document was undeniably his own… The sheer amount of new information was overwhelming. He couldn’t process it all at once, and his gaze anxiously drifted to the chaos below.

“We can’t just leave things like this! Separate those people immediately and restore order!”

The soldiers outside the conference room exchanged glances before hastily following the command. Order was finally being restored in the base. Shao Nan leaned in and whispered to Suo Binhai, “Zombies destroyed the city, so we established the Red City Survivor Base on the outskirts. These are refugees who just entered… As for military supplies, they are now available for sale to everyone. We support both ability users and armed civilians in hunting zombies. The crystal cores in zombies’ heads can enhance abilities…”

Shao Nan even demonstrated his own ability. “You have an ability too.”

It took Suo Binhai a long while to digest everything. He glanced at the contract in his hands again. If the entire population was arming themselves to kill zombies, then trading weapons made sense. The designated land area seemed large, but… wasn’t it normal for developers to want more land before the apocalypse?

He handed the contract back to Song Kaiji, an apologetic smile on his face. “I don’t know what’s wrong with my head… Please bear with me. Since this is my signature, I won’t go back on my word, even if I’ve lost my memory. Let’s proceed as written. I hope we’ll have a good partnership moving forward!”

Song Kaiji rubbed his nose. Just a short while ago, he had taken Suo Binhai hostage without hesitation, yet now, faced with this “naive and pure” version of Suo Binhai, he felt a bit guilty. He shook Suo Binhai’s hand.

“…Looking forward to working together.”

By the time Shen Qing’s group left Red City Base, the military had rounded up the refugees, gathering them in an open area where they were given tarps and watched as they set up tents. Some individuals, their hands shackled, crouched against the wall, their clothes stained with blood—likely those who had wounded others during the earlier chaos, now awaiting punishment.

A few residents stood outside their homes, sobbing and cursing. After a while, others came forward to comfort them and register their losses. For the original inhabitants of Red City Base, this entire event had been an unprovoked disaster.

Shen Qing’s group watched from a distance as the refugees pitched their tents. “I wonder if this was Suo Binhai’s own idea or if Shao Nan suggested it.”

The military had always wanted to provide indiscriminate aid to civilians, allowing everyone into the base. But merely giving them a plot of land for tents wasn’t enough—entry into the base also meant providing food, water, and jobs. Otherwise, what was the difference between living inside or outside the city walls?

Hopefully, this time, Suo Binhai would manage the base’s affairs more effectively.

The outcome of this situation had been unexpected. But overall, it was a good one. Qu Weiwei teased Chen Jiaxi, “Even Jiaxi jie gets flustered sometimes.”

Chen Jiaxi grimaced. “I’m planning to wear these from now on, just in case I accidentally hurt someone again.” She pulled out a pair of ability-restraining cuffs. “Didn’t we collect the research lab’s data? When we get back to our base, we should find some talented researchers to study it. Maybe they can make me a pair of bracelets—something I can take off when I actually need to use my ability.”

She stole a glance at Shen Qing. Maybe this would help him trust her a little more.

“Oh, right—the research data,” Shen Qing smacked his forehead. It was still stored in his spatial ability. They had originally planned to use it as a bargaining chip to negotiate further terms with Suo Binhai, but now…

“It doesn’t matter,” Song Kaiji said with a wink. “As far as Suo Binhai’s memory is concerned, those documents never existed in the first place. We’ll wait until Shao Nan remembers them before bringing it up again.”

The research lab hadn’t been completely useless—after all, it had created ability-sealing cuffs. They would need to sift through the collected data carefully. They could copy anything useful for themselves while erasing any information related to Shen Qing before returning it to Shao Nan.

As they reached the city gates, Shen Qing turned back to look at Red City Base and murmured, “Without the suppression of the government, and with so many refugees flooding in, it’s almost like a reset… Do you think Suo Binhai will turn out to be a good leader for Red City Base?”

Song Kaiji patted him on the shoulder and joked, “If he doesn’t, we’ll just have Jiaxi jie extract his memories again. He looks pretty decent right now—why not let him stay forever young, forever passionate?”

◦°˚(*❛‿❛)/˚°◦