Ding Yao once held the rank of Director when he worked as a white-collar worker. Then came the zombie apocalypse, and by some stroke of luck, he gained extraordinary powers, coupled with a ruthless heart. From the very beginning of the apocalypse, he carved a bloody path through the ugliness of human nature.
He was always stylish, with an imposing presence. Yet, at this moment, he faced an unprecedented situation. If he were still an adult man, his face would surely alternate between green and pale.
But from Han Yanyan's viewpoint, he appeared as a little red baby with closed eyes and tightly clenched fists. He could not even stretch out his legs, curled up like a little red frog. Even his little private part looked like a bunch of small, dark red grapes.
Han Yanyan deliberately tugged at those tiny grapes a few times.
In the first face-off with Duke Klin, he was Ding Yao. Ding Yao wielded dual powers of lightning and space, making him incredibly formidable in the apocalypse. In their second confrontation, he was Yao Chen. Yao Chen was the uncrowned king of the underworld in K City, characterized by one word: strong. If Han Yanyan had not experienced a forced separation from Qiao Chengyu, she might have found him to be an exceptionally difficult person to deal with, considering how she had leaped beyond the logic of this world and surveyed his inner feelings from above.
During that time, Leo erased Han Yanyan's memories of building her world, leaving her uncertain about the kind of persona she was meant to embody. But no matter how she pondered, she felt she wouldn’t be foolish enough to create a target that was so enviably strong that it could not be tamed. Thus, the only explanation was that Ding Yao and Yao Chen’s personas deviated this way not because of her choices.
This was Duke Klin’s own definition of himself.
Tang Ke Barnett could accept the persona of Tang Ke because it closely resembled his childhood experiences. But Duke Klin was different.
Duke Klin Yao Kaland was born with a golden spoon, possessing a noble identity and a fierce bloodline. At a young age, he became an SS-Level psychic. As a royal, he was now the leader of an anti-government force, greatly despised by the royal family who attempted several times to assassinate him. It was clear that he had faced countless storms and possessed unwavering determination that was hard to match.
He simply would not accept a "weak person" persona.
Having tasted the sweetness of empowerment in the mech world, Han Yanyan understood how advantageous it was for her mission to make her target weaker than herself. So in this world, she played a small trick.
When she built her world, she set the premise that “Ding Yao” would travel through with memories, as an exceptional transmigrator destined to “grow up strong enough to become the center of the universe, standing shoulder to shoulder with the stars.”
This impressive persona was willingly accepted by Duke Klin’s psychic source through their mental link. Thus, Han Yanyan happily found a little red frog that didn’t even have the strength to open its eyes.
No matter how incredible you become in the future, shoulder to shoulder with the stars, you still have to grow at your own pace!
What Han Yanyan wanted was this very time before Ding Yao "grew up."
Her hand poked at the little grapes again, and her slender fingers grazed the soft neck of the baby. How fragile he was! It wouldn’t take much effort to swoop a cloth over him, and he could suffocate.
But Han Yanyan certainly wouldn’t do such a thing.
Even until Yao Chen, she was still bothered by the matter between her and Ding Yao. However, when all truths came to light, what did the enmities in this "world" mean anymore?
Love was not real, hatred was not real, and even death was not real.
Han Yanyan’s hand withdrew from the soft little neck, gently caressing the baby’s body as she softly said, “While the meal is not ready, let mom give you a bath first.”
She left, deliberately leaving the cloth uncovered, exposing Ding Yao. He lay there bare, and though the cave was lit by torches, he soon felt cold. Furthermore, since he had not consumed any food since birth, the nutrients from the womb had almost depleted, making his body even colder.
Luckily, Han Yanyan returned swiftly, first cleaning his little butt and then placing him in a basin of warm water. The penetrating cold disappeared instantly, and Ding Yao couldn't help but let out a comfortable sigh. This release of sound was naturally a weak “yi.”
To her surprise, Han Yanyan understood.
Though the girl was somewhat inexperienced in bathing him, she was quite gentle about it.
Ding Yao felt more at ease and began to ponder his situation. The extraordinary abilities he once relied on were gone, and his body was weaker than that of a cat, which left him feeling indescribably uncomfortable. Thankfully, his strong mental resilience prevented him from succumbing to panic.
As those gentle hands cradled his neck, carefully washing him with warm water, Ding Yao sighed internally, realizing that the only one he could rely on now was this girl.
He could only hope that she was capable of protecting herself.
And, what kind of environment was he in? He felt clearly that this was a cave, yet she had turned around and brought hot water without a moment's delay. Even if it was freshly boiled, it couldn’t be so fast. Plus, the silent, floating feel of the motorcycle-like seat filled him with an odd impression.
What kind of place had he ended up in?
Once he was clean, Han Yanyan wrapped Ding Yao in a clean cloth.
“I initially planned on making several new clothes for you. You can use this for now. I’ll go find some for myself later.” She murmured to herself, “Sigh, ever since the old tailor passed away, no one can make clothes. If I want something comfortable to wear, I’ll have to sew it myself.”
Her voice echoed slightly, sounding like a person who had lived alone for a long time, without companions, thus developing the habit of talking to herself.
Ding Yao longed to see what she looked like so he could gauge her strength. But right now, he couldn't even do something as simple as “open his eyes.”
Wrapped up like a matchstick, he was held by Han Yanyan as she prepared the “meal.” She had cooked a pot of rice soup.
As she fed Ding Yao, dipping the chopsticks into the soup, she murmured, “We need baby bottles, diapers, clothes… Ah, so many things to get.”
She seemed troubled and said, “I don’t know if it’s enough…” But as if afraid of hurting Ding Yao’s feelings, she gently shook him and said, “Don’t be scared, baby, there’s everything with mommy. You don’t need to worry.”
With his eyes closed, Ding Yao sucked on the rice soup at the chopstick’s end, thinking that humans truly are social beings. When one isolates for too long, even speaking can feel a bit insane.
And, how had she cooked the porridge? In less than ten minutes after a quick wash, it had already become thick and oily. Wasn’t that too fast?
And what was this incessant “mommy” talk? How old even was she?
After eating his fill, the little baby nearly tilted his head over and fell asleep.
Han Yanyan placed the little matchstick on the bed, her earlier tenderness completely vanishing. She glanced at him coldly before heading off to tend to her own matters.
She did indeed live in a cave, selecting a spot with several connected chambers. The environment looked extraordinarily primitive, yet everywhere within the chambers were oddly shaped machines and devices. Most were broken and looked as if they had been salvaged from rubbish.
The cave Ding Yao occupied was smaller and contained a makeshift bed resembling a nest made from various materials, where he now slept. This cave had more household items, like rags, old clothes, food, and other utensils.
Han Yanyan moved into another larger cave, where there were even more machines, gadgets, and junk. In one corner, there stood a half-person-sized iron barrel, beside which hung a water gun. A black hose trailed along the ground like a serpent, disappearing at the cave entrance, its water source unknown.
Han Yanyan’s gaze swept across the open ground in the chamber again, and she glanced to her side.
Leo and his attendant would definitely be monitoring her. If they used a light-flow infusion method, perhaps from their vantage, they might be “standing” beside her, and she might have unknowingly passed through them several times while moving about.
Han Yanyan detached the water gun and filled the iron barrel. After hanging the water gun back up, she took a pipe-like object, gripped the handle to submerge it in the water, and pressed a switch. In twenty seconds, the water in the barrel reached the temperature she desired.
“Dear attendant, I have high hopes for your gentlemanly conduct. Please don’t disappoint me,” Han Yanyan silently thought in her heart.
After placing the pipe aside, she began to undress, taking off one piece of clothing after another...
“Skip over.”
Outside the “world,” Leo watched, gritting his teeth at the bare back of Han Yanyan as she removed her clothing. The attendant issued a detached command through the communication channel.
Leo was displeased.
“As a man, if you cannot learn the most basic etiquette, I shall monitor alone,” the attendant replied.
Leo sulkily bypassed this section.
The two did not enter the “world”; it was a simulation system extracting world information, providing them with a monitored perspective through the light-flow inhalation method.
The so-called “skipping” merely sped up the progress bar. Even at such a low-speed operation, this jump still represented several days’ worth of time, a result of Leo’s very gentle manipulation of the progress bar.
Leo was furious, secretly cursing the attendant’s hypocritical noble demeanor.
Strangely enough, while he hated Han Yanyan to death now, his obsession with her had not lessened even the slightest, but had deepened instead. His face twisted from resentment as he experienced the mixed emotions that Yao Chen felt for Han Yanyan right before the world met its end.
It truly was... wanting to press her down, shower her with tender love amid chaos, while simultaneously wishing to torture her until she bled, watching her crawl and plead. These two contrasting images alternated like ice and fire in his mind, torturing his face to assume a grotesque form.
No worries. Once the attendant has fallen asleep, he could replay it all alone. But he thought again, in this world Ding Yao was merely a baby, and Han Yanyan, that flirt, would probably seek out another wild man.
His face twisted even further.
What he didn’t yet know was that the attendant had previously played back the events from the “Spaceship World.” That world was not a simulated one; it was a virtual realm, reconstructed by the system without involving a builder, replicating the true environment of his spaceship.
The attendant already knew Leo would be sneaky in accessing the private interactions between Duke Klin and Han Yanyan in the “world.” Such lewdness was utterly unbearable. The attendant had decided that from now on, soldiers must monitor Leo Pike around the clock, including his meals and sleep, to prevent any more acts of disrespect towards the Duke.
Once they sped up the progress bar, they did not observe Han Yanyan bathing or what followed.
Han Yanyan pretended to prepare for a bath, but after quickly cleaning herself, she put her clothes back on. Although her contact with the attendant was brief, she had already developed an accurate profile of his character.
His upbringing wouldn't allow him to indulge in “useless” information like her bathing; he would definitely skip it. As long as she established the functionality of her dwelling, he likely wouldn’t monitor this cave meant for privacy in the future.
Once dressed, she moved over to a chair on the other side of the cave, reclined slightly, and donned a helmet.
This was essentially a device used for internet access, but her current location had long since disconnected from the star network; thus, she used it as a standalone learning machine.
The technology of this helmet, of course, was not as advanced as that of Leo’s light-flow infusion technology onboard the ship, but compared to the rudimentary VR technology of her hometown, it was miles ahead and even slightly better than the technology in the mech world.
While the mech world’s technology was also far more advanced than what she had back home, that world was heavily influenced by Tang Ke, inclined towards “mechs” and “martial arts.” Moreover, during that time, the system had yet to reveal itself and establish a tacit understanding with her. Although the technologies she incorporated into her world were real, they still fell drastically short compared to the authentic capabilities in Leo’s world, skewed too far from the focus.
Yet now, the system was offering her comprehensive technological support.
Leo indeed imposed restrictions on what technologies could be integrated into the “world.” But the restrictions pertained only to what he deemed the most important, such as weaponry and light brains.
The first loophole this created was that many technologies deemed unimportant by Leo were, in Han Yanyan’s view, quite useful. For instance, her attempts to pry open doors by sabotaging circuits on the “Spaceship.”
Thus, when Leo crafted the “Spaceship World” to confound Han Yanyan, since it was a direct order from him, the system faithfully recreated the true environment with an accuracy of... one hundred percent.
Such environmental restoration would naturally not directly reveal spaceship technology to Han Yanyan. After all, no one learns to build a television just by watching one or understands the intricate structures of a car merely by driving it. But this remained blind to the likes of Leo Pike, who was deep in technology.
Han Yanyan, however, was strategic.
After donning the VR helmet, she accessed the information on Leo's spaceship. Since she had obtained the "copy existing world data" permission, she naturally could also replicate the “Spaceship World.” This permission was granted directly by Leo and would not trigger any alarms. With the system's full support, hiding this information within this world—like within a helmet—was not difficult at all.
The time spent in the “Spaceship World” was too short for Han Yanyan to thoroughly understand the spaceship itself. Now, it was like entering a VR game, as she “walked” through Leo’s ship, carefully traversing every corridor, memorizing the locations and purposes of each compartment, studying every possible hiding place or escape exhaust and power conduit.
The attendant entered the virtual space to intimidate her; however, he did speak one truth.
As long as one lives, there is hope.
Leo existed aboard that ship. Her body also existed on that ship.
As long as Leo didn’t kill her, there would inevitably come a day when they would truly meet in the real world. By then, the ship... would be the battlefield.
Han Yanyan had never given up.