Ji Mingxia was concerned about Yu Ning’s safety, and his mind only had thoughts of taking Yu Ning out of there. He gritted his teeth and carried Yu Ning on his back, bypassing the crowd and leaving the cordoned area, then heading for the back of the school.
It was not until he reached the grove behind the mountain that Ji Mingxia heard Yu Ning say in his ear, “Mingxia, I’m fine.”
Ji Mingxia paused and turned his head to find that Yu Ning had indeed opened his eyes and was looking at him. He found a place with soft grass and gently put Yu Ning down, calling his name in a helpless tone: “Yu Ning…”
Feeling Ji Mingxia’s panic, Yu Ning stretched out his hands and held Ji Mingxia’s hands.
Upon feeling Yu Ning’s cold hands, Ji Mingxia came back to his senses a little.
Although Yu Ning was no longer vomiting blood, he looked different from before.
The grey pupils of his eyes, which were already rather frightening, had turned translucent, and his black as ink hair was faintly mixed with a few white strands.
He looked even more eerie than before, and even less like an ordinary person.
Like a person mutating into a monster…
As soon as this thought arose, Ji Mingxia immediately pushed it out, refusing to think about it any further.
Yu Ning was still pale, but he looked calmer. He said to Ji Mingxia, “Mingxia, do you still remember my summer vacation at the capital?”
“I remember.” That was the first time he and Yu Ning had been apart since they met, so how could Ji Mingxia forget.
“The research institute in the capital city has people who specialize in researching those with special physiques like me.” Yu Ning laughed to himself, “Those people in Funan County were right, I am indeed a monster. I am not a full human at all, there is a small part of my genes that mutated to have energy similar to that of mysterious items, so people like me are able to control mysterious items very easily, but at the same time, they are also easily assimilated by those things.”
“Assimilated?”
“Yes. Mysterious items can become stronger by devouring each other.” Yu Ning said, “To them, I am equivalent to being half of their kind, so those things are very eager to find me, fuse with me, and become a more powerful existence.”
Ji Mingxia looked at Yu Ning in shock, “Then is there a way to avoid this from happening?”
“The average person can, all they have to do is go to the Institute for genetic stripping every once in a while.” Yu Ning said.
What he didn’t tell Ji Mingxia was that this technology was still immature, and all those who entered the Institute were guinea pigs to be experimented on.
Most people were eager to gain the power of the mysterious item, so that little pain was worth enduring. Once they gained the Institute’s approval, they could gain power openly and walk freely around the world, just like Pei Yuan.
But Yu Ning was different from the others.
His genes seemed to have been irradiated by something and mutated later in life.
The Institute’s technology was already immature, and all the doctors were excited and greedy about his mutated condition, torturing him for two whole months.
Although there were no wounds on his body, it caused indelible damage to Yu Ning’s spirit and brain.
Not to mention contacting Ji Mingxia, he didn’t even have the strength to open his eyes during those two months.
The good thing was that it was not without its rewards.
Although the research institute did not come up with anything, the torment stimulated Yu Ning’s potential, allowing him to understand his body more thoroughly and also be able to change the color of his pupils.
The start of the school year was approaching but the Institute refused to release him.
In the end, Yu Ning found the opportunity to contact the media outside and use his status as an orphan and a top student in the college entrance exams to make a name for himself on the internet.
All of a sudden, his name was all over the internet, and he became a popular figure, the god of learning.
A place like the Institute was most afraid of being noticed by the outside world. Yu Ning had thousands of fans online, so this kind of person was no longer suitable to stay at the Institute.
Nothing was found after two months of research, so there was no point in keeping Yu Ning locked up any longer. After weighing the pros and cons, the institute reluctantly let him go.
This was also why Yu Ning did not appear until the beginning of the school year.
Ji Mingxia was good-natured so although he had been sad for two months, he didn’t force Yu Ning when he saw that the latter never took the initiative to mention the summer holidays.
Now, it was time to tell him.
There was no need to say much about those painful memories, but he could tell Ji Mingxia part of the situation within the Institute.
After listening, Ji Mingxia hurriedly said, “I’ll book a flight right now and take you to Beijing!”
“It’s too late, I started assimilating a long time ago. I thought I could delay it longer …… but I didn’t expect it to be much faster than I expected ……” Yu Ning said, his voice becoming a little lower.
Ji Mingxia saw him lower his head to endure the pain, and his heart ached: “Was it caused by our trip to see Ke Chengxuan this time, I wouldn’t have looked for him if I had known things would turn out like this.”
Yu Ning saw that Ji Mingxia was on the verge of tears and said softly, “It has nothing to do with him, no matter where we go, they will always find me.”
“So what do we do now, what can I do to help you?” Jiminha asked.
“Help me leave here, leave the crowd, get me as far away as you can.” Yu Ning said.
Ji Mingxia nodded his head without hesitation, “Good.”
Yu Ning had recovered slightly after the short talk and he did not allow Ji Mingxia to carry him again, instead he gritted his teeth and insisted on walking with Ji Mingxia.
After crossing the back of the mountain, Ji Mingxia and Yu Ning passed by several small shops, where they bought some essential food and daily necessities, and then headed deeper into the forest.
When they left the cordoned area, Ji Mingxia’s mobile phone gradually regained its signal, but it slowly deteriorated as they entered deeper into the mountains.
While the phone was still working, Ji Mingxia first checked in with his grandmother and then opened WeChat and other apps to talk to his roommates.
He had just opened the social networking apps when a piece of news suddenly popped up.
He had no intention of reading the news at first, but the picture attached to the news was very familiar, and when Ji Mingxia looked at it, he saw a large headline with a line that read: [Recently, there have been frequent catastrophes around the world, and many abnormalities have appeared over different regions.]
Ji Mingxia was stunned.
It turned out that the news he had seen on a phone from a hundred metres away was actually real.
Without waiting for him to think more, the news content was refreshed. Ji Mingxia took a look and only then did he realize that the whole world had recently fallen into chaos.
It turns out that at the time of the incident in Funan County, similar incidents had broken out around the world, only that they were suppressed by the local media.
Because of Ke Chengxuan, Funan county could not suppress its incident and had quickly made the hot search. This attracted all the attention, resulting in the abnormalities in other places to happen unnoticed.
But with so many days passing in the blink of an eye, many people became desperate. With the development of the internet today, it was difficult for governments to conceal information even if they want to.
There were places where, as in the case of Funan County, areas had been blocked off and no one from the outside world was able to enter.
There were places where temperatures had dropped from the mid-twenties to minus 30 degrees in just a few days.
Places where there were outbreaks of plagues similar to the zombie virus.
In other cities, hundreds of thousands of people disappeared overnight, turning what was once a lively city into a cold, empty city ……
Ji Mingxia suddenly thought of how he and Yu Ning tried to contact Pei Yuan previously, but Pei Yuan’s phone was unreachable.
Perhaps many cities were in trouble and Pei Yuan and the others had already run off to various places to rescue them.
Thinking of this, Ji Mingxia tried to make another call, and sure enough, the voice coming from the other end of the line said the phone was switched off.
Yu Ning’s body had changed, and Pei Yuan could not be reached, so who else could help at this time.
The faces of Pei Yuan’s colleagues and even the Ding couple came to mind.
Unfortunately, Ji Mingxia did not have any of these people’s contact numbers.
At this moment, Ji Mingxia was not only a little remorseful but also full of self blame.
He always felt that he was just an ordinary person, so matters related to mysterious items didn’t have anything to do with him. That Yu Ning could handle it, that it would be fine to leave it to Yu Ning, that he didn’t need to bother with such matters.
It was not until this moment that Ji Mingxia tasted the bitter fruit.
Yu Ning always took care of him and took care of everything for him.
Now that something had happened to Yu Ning, he was unable to help in any way.
“Mingxia.” Yu Ning saw Ji Mingxia standing still and turned his head to look at him. He noticed that the end of Ji Mingxia’s eyes were a little red and instantly panicked, “Are you not feeling well, are you tired of walking?”
Ji Mingxia had been able to hold it in, but when he heard Yu Ning’s panicked voice, he couldn’t restrain himself anymore. “I’m sorry Yu Ning! I don’t know how to help you.”
Yu Ning saw his eyes becoming redder and the whole person became anxious, he quickly hugged Ji Mingxia and whispered soothingly, “I’m fine, it’s a bit weird but I feel better than ever.”
“Really?” Ji Mingxia looked at him worriedly.
“Of course, assimilation with mysterious items makes one become stronger, I’m just not used to suddenly getting stronger, so I need to find a place with no one so that I can digest it slowly.” Yu Ning said, with an unprecedentedly gentle expression.
Ji Mingxia still had a worried expression, his eyes were red and tears were still hanging by his cheeks, Yu Ning couldn’t help but lower his head and gently kiss his eyes.
He kissed them gently, working his way down and finally kissing Ji Mingxia deeply.
With Yu Ning’s familiar scent filling his nostrils, Ji Mingxia indulged in his tenderness, his emotions gradually being soothed.
Yu Ning teased, “I’m getting ugly, you won’t leave me behind, will you?”
“Of course not.” Ji Mingxia hugged him nervously and said, “We’ll be together forever!”
Yu Ning couldn’t help but lower his head and gently kissed Ji Mingxia’s lips again.
“Good.”
Forever and ever! 🥺