Chapter Two: The Thunder Emperor Brings Someone Home
The black SUV slowly drove into Thunder Base.
A steel wall more than twenty meters high stood beneath the setting sun. Its surface was covered in patched-over marks, while heavy machine guns, crystal-core energy cannons, and layer upon layer of steel-spike defenses had been set up outside it.
Superpowered people patrolled back and forth along the wall.
Inside, the base was bustling with noise.
Compared to the silent ruins outside, this place seemed like another world entirely.
The gates slowly opened.
The captain of the gate guards immediately stood at attention and saluted.
“Commander!”
Lu Chenyuan merely gave a slight nod.
But the next second, everyone’s eyes fell on the passenger seat in unspoken unison.
There,
a girl was hugging a snow-white puppy, her head tilted as she slept soundly.
She was even mumbling in her sleep.
“Bubble tea... don’t run...”
“I really do have money...”
The guards: “...”
The entire gate fell silent for three seconds.
“...Am I seeing things?”
“There’s someone in the commander’s car?”
“And it’s a girl!”
“The point isn’t the girl. It’s the dog!”
“The commander let a dog sit in the passenger seat?”
The news spread like wildfire.
In less than ten minutes,
the entire Thunder Base knew about an event important enough to make the day’s headlines.
**The Thunder Emperor picked up a girl.**
And got a little white dog as a bonus.
Medical Center.
The hospital room was so quiet that the only sound was the hum of the machines.
Doctor Lin Yuan set down the examination report, looking somewhat perplexed.
“Her external injuries aren’t serious.”
“She’s just malnourished, and she’s been under prolonged mental strain.”
“A few days of proper rest should take care of it.”
As he spoke, he flipped through another set of data.
His brows slowly drew together.
“But...”
Lu Chenyuan raised his eyes.
“Is there a problem?”
Lin Yuan was silent for a moment.
“The tests can’t find anything wrong.”
“But her vitality... it’s strange.”
“Strange?”
“A normal person’s life energy should be very stable, but hers... it’s like it’s constantly, slowly draining away.”
“The rate is very slow, almost impossible to notice.”
“If my superpower couldn’t sense fluctuations in life energy, ordinary instruments wouldn’t be able to detect it at all.”
He shook his head again.
“There’s simply no underlying cause.”
“Maybe I’m just overthinking it.”
Lu Chenyuan didn’t answer.
He only looked toward the girl on the hospital bed.
She was sleeping deeply.
She still held the little white dog tightly in her arms,
as if she were afraid someone might take it away.
“Woof...”
Bai Bai turned over in a daze and tucked his head into Shen Zhixia’s arms.
The scene was so peaceful that it didn’t seem like the apocalypse at all.
After leaving the hospital room,
Adjutant Qin Lie caught up with him.
“Commander.”
“Are you really going to keep her?”
“The base population recently passed thirty thousand, and the pressure on our supplies isn’t small.”
Lu Chenyuan didn’t slow his pace.
“She can’t survive out there alone.”
Qin Lie froze for a moment.
The commander had actually... explained himself?
The Lu Chenyuan of the past had never needed to explain his decisions to anyone.
“Arrange for her to stay in the residential area.”
“Yes, sir.”
“And one more thing.”
Qin Lie immediately took out his notebook.
“Get her a resident ID.”
“Understood.”
“Also, notify the logistics department. Her three meals a day are to be provided as usual for the time being.”
Qin Lie froze again.
Provided as usual?
That meant the treatment of an official resident.
It seemed...
The commander really did intend to keep her.
The next day at noon,
sunlight streamed through the window into the hospital room.
Shen Zhixia slowly opened her eyes.
She blinked.
She stared at the clean white ceiling,
then looked at the soft bed.
She sat there in a daze for a long while.
“I...”
“Am I still alive?”
The next second,
Bai Bai threw himself into her arms with a smack.
“Woof!”
“Bai Bai!”
Shen Zhixia’s eyes reddened with happiness.
“You’re okay too!”
She hugged Bai Bai and rubbed her face against him.
Only after confirming that he was truly safe did she finally let out a breath of relief.
Just then,
the hospital-room door opened.
A girl around twenty years old walked in carrying a meal tray.
Her hair was tied in a high ponytail, and she had a bright, easygoing smile.
“You’re awake!”
“I’m Su Qing, from the logistics department.”
Shen Zhixia immediately sat up straight.
“Hello!”
Su Qing set the tray down beside the bed.
“Eat something first.”
On the tray were
white rice,
tomatoes stewed with beef,
stir-fried greens,
a sunny-side-up egg,
and a steaming bowl of miso soup.
There was even an apple.
Shen Zhixia froze completely.
She stared blankly at the food.
For a long time, she didn’t say a word.
Su Qing thought she was feeling unwell.
“What’s wrong?”
The next second, Shen Zhixia’s eyes suddenly turned red.
“Is... is all of this really for me?”
Su Qing smiled and nodded.
“Of course.”
“The commander said you’d definitely be hungry when you woke up.”
Shen Zhixia sniffed.
She clasped her hands together and said solemnly,
“I’m digging in.”
Then she began to eat.
She ate very slowly.
She couldn’t bear to swallow each bite too quickly,
as if she were savoring the most precious food in the world.
Su Qing stood beside her.
She suddenly felt a little heartsick.
How long had it been since this girl last had a hot meal?
After eating her fill,
Shen Zhixia contentedly rubbed her stomach.
Then she suddenly asked in a small voice,
“Su Qing?”
“Do you... have bubble tea here?”
Su Qing couldn’t help laughing.
“We do.”
Shen Zhixia’s eyes instantly lit up.
“Really?”
“Yep.”
“There’s a drink shop in the base.”
“Not many people buy from it, though.”
Shen Zhixia tilted her head.
“Why not?”
Su Qing pulled over a chair and sat down.
She patiently explained,
“You know about crystal cores, right?”
Shen Zhixia nodded.
“Of course.”
“Those shiny stones in zombie brains.”
“I’ve picked up lots of them.”
Su Qing smiled.
“The base uses crystal cores for trade now.”
“Whenever people go out to hunt zombies or complete missions, they get crystal cores.”
“Food, clothes, weapons, even lodging—all of it requires crystal cores.”
Shen Zhixia blinked.
“Huh?”
“You can use crystal cores to buy things?”
Su Qing stared at her.
“You didn’t know?”
Shen Zhixia honestly shook her head.
“No.”
“I always thought they were just pretty little stones.”
“Sometimes I even used them to weigh down my backpack.”
Su Qing: “...”
The corner of her mouth twitched.
“To... weigh down her backpack?”
Someone used crystal cores to prop up a backpack?
“Then where are your crystal cores?”
Shen Zhixia immediately opened her little backpack.
She began digging through it.
Candy.
Cookies.
Hair ties.
A little bear charm.
Tissues.
A glass marble.
Finally,
she pulled out a large handful of colorful crystal cores from the very bottom.
Clatter, clatter.
She dumped them directly onto the bed.
Su Qing: “...”
She looked down.
Her entire body instantly turned to stone.
Tier two.
Tier three.
Tier three.
Tier four.
And even...
there was a tier-five wind-type crystal core.
Su Qing sucked in a sharp breath.
“W-Where did you get these?”
Shen Zhixia tilted her head,
her face utterly innocent.
“I picked them up along the way.”
“Some of the zombies just fell over on their own and dropped them.”
“They’re shiny and pretty.”
Su Qing: “...”
She fell silent.
She began to question her entire life.
Who knew how many superpowered people at the base had to fight for their lives just to get a single tier-three crystal core?
And this girl...
actually treated them like a collection?
Just then,
the hospital-room door opened again.
Lu Chenyuan walked in.
His gaze swept over the pile of crystal cores on the bed.
It paused for a second,
then shifted to Shen Zhixia’s innocent face.
“Where did you get them?”
“Picked them up.”
Lu Chenyuan didn’t press her.
He simply said,
“Put them away.”
“Don’t let anyone else see them.”
Shen Zhixia obediently nodded.
“Okay.”
She put the crystal cores back into her backpack one by one,
as if she were collecting candy.
Lu Chenyuan watched her silently.
For some reason,
he suddenly felt like laughing.
But he still held it back.
Before leaving,
he placed a brown paper bag on the table.
“For you.”
Shen Zhixia opened it curiously.
Inside
was a cup of brown sugar boba milk covered in chilly beads of condensation.
She froze.
“Bubble tea...”
She looked up.
Lu Chenyuan had already reached the doorway.
He didn’t turn around.
He only left her with a flat statement.
“Welcome to Thunder Base.”
Inside the hospital room,
Shen Zhixia held the bubble tea in both hands.
Her eyes reddened again.
She carefully pushed in the straw
and took her first sip.
The familiar sweet flavor spread across her tongue.
She smiled.
She smiled like sunlight spilling through the window.
That day,
for the first time, the people of Thunder Base saw
that a cup of bubble tea
really could make someone smile so happily.
And from that day on,
a new rumor quietly spread throughout the base.
Whenever the commander returned from an outing with a cup of bubble tea in his hand,
it meant—
that today,
everyone had made it safely through another day.
Halfway through her bubble tea,
a burst of footsteps suddenly sounded outside the hospital room.
“Commander!”
“Wait up!”
Qin Lie jogged after Lu Chenyuan.
“The room in the residential area is ready, but... should we take her around the base first?”
Lu Chenyuan stopped.
After a moment of silence,
“Mm.”
“Have Su Qing show her around.”
“And one more thing.”
“She doesn’t need to work today.”
“Let her rest first.”
“Yes, sir.”
Inside the hospital room,
Shen Zhixia took tiny sips of her bubble tea.
Every sip made her smile in satisfaction.
Bai Bai crouched beside her, gazing longingly at the drink.
“Woof...”
“No.”
Shen Zhixia shook her head with absolute seriousness.
“Dogs can’t drink bubble tea.”
Bai Bai lowered his ears in misery.
“But...”
She thought about it,
then secretly lifted the straw.
“Smelling it should be okay, right?”
Bai Bai immediately brought his nose over.
He sniffed.
His tail instantly began wagging like a fan.
Su Qing happened to push the door open at that moment.
Seeing the scene, she couldn’t help laughing.
“You two are way too cute.”
Shen Zhixia smiled shyly.
“Bai Bai was curious too.”
Bai Bai: “Woof!”
As if agreeing.
“The commander said that if you’re feeling okay, I can show you around the base first.”
Su Qing smiled and held out her hand.
“Welcome to Thunder Base.”
Shen Zhixia froze for a moment.
Then she broke into a radiant smile.
“Okay!”
They walked out of the Medical Center.
Sunlight spilled across the streets.
Shen Zhixia froze all over again.
The scene before her was completely beyond anything she had imagined.
Children chased each other and played in the streets.
Someone pushed a little cart piled high with vegetables.
The clang of metal rang out from the blacksmith’s workshop.
A tempting aroma drifted from a restaurant in the distance.
People haggled.
People traded crystal cores.
Others sat on the roadside, drinking hot coffee and chatting.
“This place...”
Shen Zhixia stared blankly around her.
“It’s so lively.”
Su Qing smiled and nodded.
“Not what you imagined?”
“Mm!”
Shen Zhixia nodded vigorously.
“I thought...”
“People in the apocalypse spent every day running for their lives.”
Su Qing looked toward the distant walls.
She said softly,
“That’s how it used to be.”
“But people have to keep living.”
“So everyone came together and built a base.”
“Some people handle combat.”
“Some people grow crops.”
“Some people cook.”
“Some people treat the sick.”
“Little by little, life came back.”
Shen Zhixia listened quietly.
Her eyes grew brighter and brighter.
So this was what it meant...
There really was a place like this
in the apocalypse.
Along the way,
many people looked at Shen Zhixia curiously.
“Is that her?”
“The girl the commander rescued yesterday?”
“She’s so cute.”
“That dog is so cute too!”
Bai Bai heard someone complimenting him
and immediately puffed out his little chest proudly.
His tail wagged at lightning speed.
Then, in the next second—
smack!
He stepped on his own tail.
His entire body rolled across the ground.
Shen Zhixia hurriedly picked him up,
holding back a laugh as she stroked his head.
“It’s okay, it’s okay.”
“It doesn’t hurt, it doesn’t hurt.”
Everyone around them burst out laughing.
“Hahahaha!”
“How can a little dog be this dumb?”
Bai Bai immediately buried his face in Shen Zhixia’s arms,
pretending nothing had happened.
As they walked,
a small wooden shop suddenly appeared ahead.
A handwritten wooden sign hung outside the door.
[Wishing Time Drinks]
A faint tea fragrance drifted out.
Shen Zhixia stopped immediately.
Her eyes didn’t move.
“Bubble tea...”
Su Qing smiled.
“The only drink shop in the base.”
“A lot of the ingredients are precious, so they don’t have it every day.”
“The cup you had today was also made by the shop owner not long ago.”
Shen Zhixia suddenly lowered her head.
She looked at the half cup of bubble tea still in her hand.
She couldn’t bear to drink it anymore.
Su Qing looked puzzled.
“What’s wrong?”
Shen Zhixia said quietly,
“I want to save it for tonight.”
“That way...”
“I can be happy all day today.”
Su Qing was stunned.
She watched the girl cradle the bubble tea carefully, as if it were a treasure.
For some reason,
her heart suddenly ached.
To other people,
a cup of bubble tea was just a drink.
But to her,
it was the happiest thing she would have all day.
The two continued walking.
They passed the mission hall.
Dozens of superpowered people were gathered around the bulletin board.
“A tier-three mutant has appeared in the western district.”
“Seeking lightning and fire superpowered people.”
“Reward: three crystal cores.”
Shen Zhixia stopped and looked over curiously.
“What’s this?”
Su Qing patiently explained.
“The base posts missions every day.”
“Scavenging for supplies, clearing out zombies, escorting teams...”
“Complete a mission and you’ll receive crystal cores.”
“Besides being used to strengthen superpowers, crystal cores are also the base’s most important currency for trade.”
Shen Zhixia nodded thoughtfully.
“I see...”
She quietly made a decision in her heart.
**From now on,**
**she would work hard to complete missions.**
**She would earn crystal cores herself.**
**Then she would treat Lu Chenyuan to bubble tea.**
Though she didn’t know
that he didn’t like sweet things at all.
Just then,
the base alarm suddenly rang out.
Woooo—!
Woooo—!
Woooo—!
Everyone’s expression changed in an instant.
The laughter in the streets vanished.
The superpowered people rushed toward the gates.
Su Qing’s face paled.
“Oh no!”
“Something happened outside!”
Shen Zhixia froze for a moment,
then instinctively hugged Bai Bai tighter.
Far away, atop the walls,
a dazzling bolt of purple-silver lightning shot into the sky.
Even from halfway across the base,
it still illuminated the entire sky.
Shen Zhixia stared blankly at that familiar lightning.
For some reason,
she wasn’t afraid.
Instead, she felt an indescribable sense of security.
Because she knew
that as long as that man was here,
Thunder Base would never fall.