Gong Lixin was very interested and stared at the other man. From time to time, he pulled out the pink lollipop in his hand. It was quite tasty.

  Looking into the man’s eyes, as dark as ink and as deep as the abyss, the originally cold light in them gave out a faint trace of heat as they decided to watch them stare at the candy in the other’s hand without being able to move his line of sight. Gong Lixin pondered then, with a smile, he searched in his pocket, took out another beautifully packaged lollipop and handed it over to the other as he looked up and said, "You want to eat some? This is for you!"

  The man’s line of sight finally slowly moved away and stopped on the new lollipop with a deadpan expression on his face.

  Some people’s eyes were attracted by the interaction between the two, including the guards who were chatting and Tan Mingyuan.

  Seeing that the other person who was being stared at by Young Master Gong was Dou Heng, Tan Mingyuan’s eyes flashed. He prevented the guard from going to intervene and used his eyes to signal him to wait and see. This Young Master Gong was too simple and kind. Simple and kind people often died faster, so he should learn a little bit right now. Knowing Dou Heng’s nature, he would not turn a blind eye to Young Master Gong’s gesture and with his temper, he might even attack the other. Right then, he only needed to teach Young Master Gong a lesson before beating Dou Heng up. He wanted to come and rescue Young Master Gong after he learned his lesson so that the other would be grateful to him and would listen to his arrangements later.

  But however many times he saw the situation unfolding before his eyes, imagination was often different from reality. Moreover, he obviously forgot that Gong Lixin was not an ordinary person who had no strength to bind even chickens. He could only blame Gong Lixin’s face for being too deceptive and far from the image of a strong person.

  Dou Heng returned to reality and once again looked at the smile of the young man, reached out after a long while to slowly take the lollipop and said ’thank you’ with a low and hoarse voice. The teenager’s eyes were clean and held no sympathy, no mercy, no hidden humiliation. His smile was just a simple smile, without any trace of impurities. It was refreshing. For the first time, Dou Heng didn’t care about what was handed to him by others.

  "No need for thanks." Under the horrified eyes of the people present, the teenager smiled and waved his hand. His jade-like finger pressed against his pink lips as he threw a tacit look towards Dou Heng.

  Dou Heng stared for a moment, then nodded. In his heart and in his lowered eyes were a glimmer of light. This was the first time he realized what was the feeling called pleasure was like since he first had cognition. This feeling was very warm and felt somewhat nostalgic. [1]

  Astounded, Tan Mingyuan turned his head towards Dou Heng, who was stowing the lollipop away in his pant pocket, then towards Young Master Gong, who was smiling brightly. He thought to himself: I never thought that I’d see Dou Heng of all people fall in love. I guess this is where the saying ’beauty isn’t what makes you lose your head, what makes you lose your head is love itself’ comes from. It’s a shame he fell for Young Master Gong too late. Now, he can only look and not touch.

  After thinking about it, he looked to the guard. The guard quickly stepped forward and smacked Dou Heng with his whip and rushed the group of slaves away. Tan Mingyuan also took big steps and led the fourteen people away. As for Gong Xiangyi who was standing ten meters away, she squinted as she ground her teeth. She didn’t understand why all the people Gong Lixin met became so abnormal. Was he that good? What happened to this world, why did it become so unrecognizable?

  ***

  They heard that Gong Lixin joined Tan Mingyuan’s team and Lin Wenbo and Song Haoran, who had drawn the attention of the two factions, went to find Tan Mingyuan and asked to join his team. The two announced that they had reached the second-level middle-grade and were fire and metal ability users respectively with strong attack power. Tan Mingyuan certainly would not refuse after hearing that.

  Bao Long also felt very satisfied that his faction could recruit two such masters.

  This way. The group followed Tan Mingyuan to start a mission and their life as a soy sauce. Gradually, they became familiar with the affairs of the island and the huge class difference on Long Snake Island and how ruthlessly the ordinary people were suppressed. It got on the ordinary people’s nerves causing their anger to flare up and burn them out, but they had to endure for now. Endure and wait for the right time for a change.

  On a certain day, Tan Mingyuan took his team to the city to collect fuel, drugs, clothes and other necessities while also hunting some crystal nucleus for upgrading their abilities. Although Long Snake Island was not abundant in food and clothing, they were far away enough from any possible zombie intrusion. But now was the apocalypse and zombies in the outside world had been constantly evolving. If humans don’t make any progress, even if they didn’t starve to death, sooner or later they would be killed by zombies. Therefore, human beings couldn’t relax and had to grow stronger.

  After hunting all day in the city, their harvest was quite fruitful. Forty members of their team didn’t have any casualties, making Tan Mingyuan feel very satisfied.

  He also thought that the waste wood that he had to look after would drag him and his group members’ down. They never ran around nor did they flee and the experience of this team was also quite good. They killed a few zombies and collected several nuclei. More importantly, there was a space ability user among those waste wood group, which was the equivalent of a mobile warehouse. They had collected several times more items than they usually did and no longer had to choose who had to carry it all. It felt so good.

  Tan Mingyuan didn’t reject the space ability user like the leaders of the other five group on Long Snake Island. He handed over all the collected material to Li Dongsheng but kept inventory in his heart. Li Dongsheng could swallow a few things as long as the amount returned was not far from what he had recorded, then he wouldn’t care. A horse cannot run fast without eating any grass, how could there be such cheap labour in this world? Of course, he didn’t worry that Li Dongsheng would squander all the materials. Between life and materials, any sane person would choose the former.

  From his point of view, Tan Mingyuan was also a courageous and generous person. He was not the same as the prisoners who were extremely evil yet simple-minded under the hands of Bao Long.

  The returning team walked on the winding national road, watching the sunset and the sky dim. All the ability users were already exhausted and hungry, but they were still two hours away from Long Snake Island base. Tan Mingyuan immediately called the team to a stop, let everyone take a break on the side of the road and handle their own dinner.

  They chose a soft lawn to sit down on and everyone formed into groups. The waste wood alliance led by Gong Lixin had formed a circle and were surrounded by the old members led by Tan Mingyuan, each taking out food and eating.

  "Lixin (Xiaoxin), here." Lin Wenbo and Song Haoran unanimously took out a bag of biscuits and both handed it over to Gong Lixin. They were Gong Lixin’s most favourite brand too. The bag of biscuits collided together and made a crisp sound. The two men groaned and smiled. But the difference was that Song Haoran’s smile was pure while Lin Wenbo’s smile was a bit stiff as he thought about finding the right time to tell his friend. He didn’t want to do this kind of thing behind his friend’s back. He wanted to win fair and square.

  Gong Lixin smiled and waved away the two people’s offer. Neither of their cookies was picked, but he looked towards Li Dongsheng instead. With an eager tone, he asked, "Beef sauce and white bread? Take it out quickly."

  Li Dongsheng had already prepared a bottle of sauce and several white pieces of bread and handed it over to Gong Lixin. Although it was very weird to eat bread with beef sauce, it was a rare delicacy these days. Gong Lixin opened the sauce bottle and scent greeted everyone around them. Everyone drooled as they watched Young Master Gong eat it with gusto.

  Song Haoran and Lin Wenbo put away their biscuits and pushed their disappointment in the depths of their eyes. They each took a piece of bread and ate some. Cao Yanan took a sneak peek at the two and a thought appeared in her mind.

  When Tan Mingyuan came over after having finished his compressed biscuits, he saw the bread with a lot of sauce in the waste wood group’s hands and his eyes showed a hint of desire.

  This Young Master Gong was really spoiled. Not only does that general old man gave him such delicious food, but he also had two masters to protect him. He’s such a lucky man! Although his heart was dark, Tan Mingyuan couldn’t thicken his face and ask for food. He swallowed his saliva and said, "Young Master Gong, just now, your team members seemed to have gotten a second-level low-grade wind crystal nucleus? Isn’t it for me? Let me have it."

  "Why should I give it to you?" Cao Yanan was very angry. She was a wind ability user and naturally needed wind crystal nuclei to improve herself. This was what they had worked hard to get and it was impossible to give it up to others.

  "This is the rule of our team. Wind crystal nuclei from hunting missions must be handed over to the boss first and foremost. The boss will return it to you if he can’t use it." Tan Mingyuan said sympathetically. Because Bao Long was a wind ability user, he had priority over wind crystal nuclei and only the useless or low-level nuclei were reserved for other wind ability users.

  If he didn’t use this method, Bao Long wouldn’t have advanced so fast and be promoted to the third-level before Lin Wenbo and Song Haoran. It could be said that the strength of Bao Long was at the expense of the interest of all wind ability users. Therefore, the level of wind ability users on Long Snake Island was very low and they all secretly hated Bao Long. But so what? In front of Bao Long, their little power was not enough to do anything, so they had to swallow their pride and live with it.

  Hearing this kind of sh***y rule, Cao Yanan wanted to jump up and beat him up, but she was pulled down by Le Jia and Yang Xiaoxue. Gu Nan also lowered his head to cover his eyes filled with anger. Gong Lixin’s eyes were also slightly stunned as he stared at Tan Mingyuan. His oppressive aura slowly leaked out of his body, spreading around him.

  Tan Mingyuan’s expression became tight and he looked at the other strangely. Lin Wenbo knew this wasn’t good and quickly took Gong Lixin into his arms and pushed the other’s head into his chest, gently rubbing his head without any word. Song Haoran looked at Li Dongsheng and ordered, "Give the nucleus to Tan leader. We will collect some afterwards."

  Gong Lixin felt the warmth and quietness of Lin Wenbo’s embrace and the suffocation in his heart gradually dissipated and he was reluctant to let go. When he looked up from the other’s chest, his eyes returned to its usual pure self. He looked at Li Dongsheng and nodded slightly. When Li Dongsheng saw this, he summoned two green nuclei and handed them over.

  Tan Mingyuan smiled and took the nucleus. He glanced at Gong Lixin, who seemed dazed, before leaving. Along the way, he thought about whether the change in Young Master Gong at that moment was an illusion.

  When the storm passed, everyone was in a bad mood. Even Ma Jun, who used to love to talk and make jokes, didn’t talk, making the atmosphere a bit stagnant.

  "Don’t worry. I’ll kill a few more three-level wind zombies to compensate you later." Gong Lixin whispered to Gu Nan and Cao Yanan. If someone else said that, the two would definitely sneer at them and secretly curse that that person was bragging. But if the words came from Young Master Gong’s mouth, it was different, it’s a real blessing!

  The gloomy expression of the two people dissipated in an instant and was joyful again, but at the same time, they received countless stares that came from everyone’s envious eyes.

  Seeing that the two people were in a good mood, Gong Lixin, who had also been frustrated, also showed a smile on his face. He secretly put Bao Long on his blacklist and waited for the time to act.

  The group began to smile and talk, the atmosphere becoming lively once again. Gong Lixin sat quietly in between Lin Wenbo and Song Haoran and there was joy in his voice as well. But soon, this easy and comfortable atmosphere was replaced with alertness. His brows slightly drew together and his palms settled on the ground as if he felt something. After a moment, he whispered to his team members. "There are foreign objects in the ground. Let’s all go sit on the nearby stones."

  His team members didn’t suspect him and got up and, very naturally, moved slowly to the rocks laying around the open space. As for Tan Mingyuan’s group, Gong Lixin would naturally not care about it.