Of course not. In the original plot, the male protagonist was betrayed by someone he trusted and after the horrific experience in the lab, he had already lost faith in humanity. After his second evolution, his humanity diminished significantly compared to his rapidly growing power, to the point where he wasn’t even sure if he could still be called “human” in the end.
In the later stages of the apocalypse, not only humans evolved, but the infected did as well. Aside from lacking human emotions, they became almost indistinguishable from evolved humans.
But all of that is far in the future. Right now, it’s still the early stages of the apocalypse. The male protagonist had just undergone his second evolution, and all the powers in the capital were in the hands of his so-called “good brothers”. He didn’t even have his own strength.
In the early stages of the apocalypse, the differences between evolvers and ordinary people were not that significant, and the conflicts between them were not prominent either. The primary focus of humanity at that time was dealing with the infected. It wasn’t until humans cleared out the infected from their living areas and established safe bases that the real conflict between the two groups would intensify.
The timing of Li Shu’s arrival was actually not ideal. The betrayal had already happened, and after going through everything, the male protagonist could no longer return to his former self.
The infected outside the door hesitated. It sensed food just beyond the door, but there was also danger. Its mind wasn’t sharp, only able to sense a strong oppressive force. Instinct drove it to break down the door and devour the food. It hadn’t eaten in a long time and was starving. Now that food had finally come to it, there was no reason to let it go.
At the same time, its instinct also pushed it to stay away from the source of that oppressive force. That presence was stronger than it, and it shouldn’t provoke it.
After a while, it left, its submission to the stronger presence overcoming its hunger.
“The infected outside is gone. You can leave now.” At the same time, the man’s cold voice rang out.
He instinctively didn’t see Li Shu as a threat, but having just gone through what he did, he didn’t want to get close to anyone. Besides, it wasn’t safe to be around him. How could those people let such a perfect experimental subject like him wander around. The people in the lab wouldn’t allow it, and neither would the “good brothers” who feared his revenge.
He was meticulous, and when the young man spoke, he didn’t miss the word “we”. The young man wasn’t alone—there had to be someone nearby protecting him. Otherwise, there was no way an ordinary person could appear here looking so clean.
Rather than follow him, it would be better for the young man to return to where he belonged. It would be safer than sticking around him and getting caught up in danger.
Just moments ago, Li Shu was puzzled by the male protagonist’s attitude. But hearing these words, he thought to himself: This is more like the male protagonist’s character.
“Are you alright staying here alone? How about you come with me?” Li Shu maintained the original owner’s character setting; he didn’t want the male protagonist to become overly suspicious of him from the start.
This world was different from the previous worlds where he completed missions. In theory, he should have arrived before the male protagonist was betrayed, to prevent those events from happening. But he was too late, and those things had already happened.
Although the male protagonist wasn’t someone who trusted others easily before all that happened, at least his wariness was within a normal range. It wasn’t as extreme as after he blackened. During that time in the lab, the male protagonist’s soft emotions as a human were completely drained. Because of that softness, he lost everything and could only flee in disgrace.
The man didn’t expect Li Shu to say such words and refused without a second thought, “No need, go find your companions.”
“Then I’ll go first. By the way, what’s your name? I still don’t know it.” Li Shu opened the door, and the light outside rushed in.
The young man stood in the light, and the glance over his shoulder was enough to stun anyone.
“If we meet again next time, I’ll tell you,” the man remained where he was, not moving.
Li Shu stepped out of the door, “Then I’ll go first. I left something here that you might find useful. See you next time.”
The door closed behind him.
Darkness reclaimed the room. The man looked toward the spot where the young man had stood and, as expected, found a small bundle. He picked it up with a complicated feeling—inside were some medical supplies.
[Host, are we just leaving like this?] Seeing Li Shu walk away, 1314 couldn’t hold back anymore.
Li Shu didn’t stop walking, [Of course not. The plot isn’t finished yet, is it?]
In the original plot, the original owner and the male protagonist only met once on this day. The original owner was the first person to show the male protagonist kindness after his betrayal, the first to help him without regard to status or power.
The male protagonist had been injured when he escaped from the lab and hid in the mall for a few days. Thanks to his powerful self-healing ability after his second awakening, he barely survived the injuries. Li Shu left the medical supplies because of this—despite appearing normal in the dark, the male protagonist was gravely injured, he just didn’t show it.
On this day, the male protagonist met the first person to show him kindness, and he also crossed paths with the people searching for him from the lab. Judging by the time, those people should already be in the mall by now, and they would soon pinpoint the male protagonist’s location.
The mall was large, and Li Shu wasn’t worried about them running into Lin Xuan and the others. In the original plot, the two groups operated in different areas until the male protagonist took care of the lab people, so they never crossed paths.
Li Shu didn’t go far. He pretended he was searching for supplies, and soon encountered a group of strangers.
They were a team of evolvers dressed in black combat uniforms. Li Shu stood by the shelves and caught sight of the emblem on their right arms from the corner of his eye—they were lab personnel.
They didn’t take an ordinary person like Li Shu seriously, and since he was standing at a distance, they didn’t plan to bother with him. After chasing that person for days and finally finding him, they had more important things to focus on.
They casually sent someone to deal with him while the rest continued forward.
Li Shu pretended not to notice anyone approaching. When the person got close, he quickly made his move, and before they could react, he had dealt with them.
Perhaps thinking an ordinary person didn’t require much attention, after sending someone to deal with Li Shu, the others didn’t bother checking on the situation, which played right into Li Shu’s plan.
It was a small team, with ten people in total. After Li Shu dealt with one, the male protagonist still had nine more to handle. Li Shu assessed the situation and slowly moved closer to the group.
He couldn’t expose his combat skills. Otherwise, his earlier encounter with the male protagonist would seem suspicious. If the male protagonist thought he had ulterior motives, it would make completing the subsequent tasks much harder. In this world, playing the role of a weak, ordinary person was ideal.
After determining the general area, the nine people split up to search for the male protagonist’s hiding spot. Because they had separated, they didn’t notice that the person sent to kill Li Shu had already been killed. The fact that they were searching in different areas gave Li Shu an opportunity.
This place was still a little distance away from the small room where the male protagonist was hiding—just enough for Li Shu to take down a few more people.
The male protagonist had already noticed the lab personnel. He knew they wouldn’t easily let him go. He had been chased all the way here and had endured countless assassination attempts. He was already prepared to be found.
He knew he couldn’t escape and didn’t intend to. When he first escaped, he didn’t know there was a tracker implanted in his body. That was his most humiliating period—no matter where he hid, they could easily find him. With three major forces and wave after wave of people, he was exhausted, barely holding on by sheer willpower.
It wasn’t until he removed the tracker that he finally got some breathing room.
He leaned against the wall, his posture relaxed as he listened to the approaching footsteps, his eyes lowered. When he saw the bag scattered near the corner of the wall, his eyes lingered for a moment. He thought of that young man who had suddenly barged in. It hadn’t been long since he left and he wondered if the young man had been discovered by those people.
That young man… right, his name was Li Shu. Was Li Shu safe now? For some reason, he didn’t want anything to happen to that young man.
The footsteps grew closer. The man slowly rotated his wrist and black mist began to form.
“Bang—”
The man stepped out of the dark room. When he first saw the light, he squinted his eyes and looked at the men in black in front of him.
After looking at each other, the men immediately charged at him without a word.
They had all underestimated the man’s strength. Facing six evolvers, the man didn’t show the slightest sign of weakness; instead, he overwhelmed them all.
The intruders were horrified. The man’s growth was too fast. Before that incident, he had only been slightly stronger than them, but now his strength was on a whole different level.
After getting rid of these people swiftly and efficiently, the man leaned against the wall and scanned the surroundings vigilantly. He had to make sure there were no other threats before he could relax.
This place had been compromised; it wasn’t safe to stay any longer. He had to leave before the larger forces arrived.
He wondered if there would be a chance to see that young man again.
After briefly dealing with the situation, he started to leave.
While walking, he paid attention to his surroundings. Suddenly, his gaze froze, and his body reacted faster than his thoughts and he rushed forward like an arrow.
Not far from him, the young man was being strangled by someone. His slender fingers looked even more pale and fragile against the black gloves, and an abnormal flush spread across his face…
The young man had indeed been dragged into his troubles.
The man moved quickly; in the blink of an eye, he sent the man in black flying several meters away, and the young man collapsed softly into his arms.
Before the man in black could react, the man unleashed a surge of black energy, instantly ending their life.
Li Shu grabbed the man’s sleeve, stunned. He was too familiar with the power emanating from the man. In the previous world, he had personally sealed this power within Lu Xi’s body. At that time, he had wondered whether this power came from the soul. Unexpectedly, in this world, he encountered this power again.
His guess was correct after all. He just didn’t know what this man’s true identity was.
“Don’t be afraid, no one will hurt you now.” Thinking Li Shu was frightened, the man was at a loss for a moment and comforted him clumsily.
While lost in thought, a large hand gently touched his forehead. Li Shu came back to his senses, meeting the man’s concerned eyes. His heart suddenly softened: “I’m not afraid. Are you alright? Those people…”
“They were after me,” the man’s eyes darkened. He didn’t want to drag the young man into this. “I’ll take you back first.”
“Can you tell me your name now?”
Facing the young man’s bright, eager eyes, the man didn’t want to lie: “My name is Gu Lin. If you ever have any trouble, you can come find me.”
Li Shu agreed readily, “Alright.”
The two of them went downstairs together and happened to run into Lin Xuan and his group in the lobby.
Seeing Li Shu, Lin Xuan hurried over, “Xiao Shu, where did you go? Are you hurt?”
As he got closer, he noticed the man beside Li Shu, “And this is…?”
