Little Pink Starfish

But no matter how much Su Qingyan hated it, the fact remained that it had been eaten by Meng Qiao—eaten meant eaten, and there was nothing he could do about it. He couldn’t possibly always “coincidentally” find the same things as Meng Qiao, could he? That’d be too obvious. People might start thinking he was doing it on purpose—like, how come every time Meng Qiao had just eaten something, he would come asking or investigating?

That was a dumb loss, and he had to swallow it.

Besides, as an ordinary person, it was possible for him to fight and obtain one or two mutant plants. But more than that would be suspicious. What he did before already stood out—he couldn’t block off his own retreat.

If this were the original novel, Su Qingyan wouldn’t be in such a miserable state. There were some mutant plants he hadn’t gotten to in time and were found by Meng Qiao first, so he couldn’t take them. But there were others he truly had seized before Meng Qiao. Back then, those plants couldn’t be used to enhance himself; at most, he could ruin Meng Qiao’s fortune. But now, he was chasing those mutant plants because of a delusion—a vain hope that they could awaken a healing water-type ability in him.

—But in reality, that was impossible.

In fact, after Meng Qiao learned those plants could improve his own power, he had thought about giving some to Su Qingyan, to try and awaken his powers. But Yin Jiu had gone through so much trouble to get them—how could Meng Qiao give them to a “love rival”? These things originally belonged to Yin Jiu, not Meng Qiao; he had no right to give them away. Plus, Gu Bai also feared the protagonist shou would be tricked, so he quietly let Meng Qiao “accidentally” find out that powers could only be awakened naturally—forcing them might lead to death. With this double assurance, Meng Qiao never brought up the idea again.

He only thought, Qingyan is so nice, even without powers he’s still great. Since Qingyan had already recovered, he didn’t want to disturb him. After all, Qingyan had always been stronger than him, right?

Su Qingyan, who desperately hoped Meng Qiao would bother him and even take him along to look for mutant plants: “……”
There was an indescribable tragic feeling.

What happened after was even more dramatic.
Su Qingyan had basically given up on flirting with Yin Jiu—yes—but that was because he wanted to climb up to someone else. But now that he lost his space, he no longer had any apocalyptic assets, no bargaining chips to woo anyone. Might as well keep working on Yin Jiu.

After all, Yin Jiu and Meng Qiao weren’t together yet. They were slow. It was the perfect chance to sneak in… like hell it was.

Before Su Qingyan even had a chance to do anything, Meng Qiao dragged Yin Jiu in front of him, face all red, asking for his blessing! He said, “Qingyan, I’m with Brother Yin now. You’ll be happy for me, right?”
Su Qingyan really wanted to shout back, Laozi happy my ass, but in the end, he could only put on a gentle smile and say softly, “Of course. As long as A Qiao is happy, I’m happy.”

In the many days that followed, Su Qingyan had to endure the hard-as-iron Yin Jiu and the awkward-bottom Meng Qiao publicly and privately displaying their love in front of him. Not only showing off—but never even having any breakups in between! Damn it, it made him want to burn into ashes!
This was tragedy +10086.

Gu Bai: Hahahahahahahahahaha!
This drama was seriously freaking amazing!

---

Because the black-hearted lotus from the original had now been completely reduced to cannon fodder, Gu Bai had been in an especially good mood for several days. Even though he didn’t smile, the aura around him had clearly become less cold.

Qiguan Rui continued following behind him as usual, his heart feeling both happy and jealous.

【Why isn’t it me making gege this happy?
Why does gege care about an ant like that?
If he wants a show, I can perform anything he wants—so why isn’t his attention on me?
I really want to kill that ant…】

With great patience, Qiguan Rui really wanted to tell Gu Bai about their past, but the last time gege’s head got blown up had left him psychologically scarred, so he ultimately gave up.
Thinking about it, aside from himself, gege couldn’t possibly have anyone else. Anyone who dared covet gege would be instantly killed by him. So it didn’t matter anymore.

Being able to see gege was enough.
Being able to follow him at all times was enough.
Being born and never separated was enough.

Qiguan Rui’s only wish left was this.
Maybe this was the bittersweet trouble of being in love?

After so many lifetimes, Qiguan Rui still desperately wanted to sleep with his beloved. But even so, his already very thin patience that Gu Bai had once spoiled had somehow gotten tempered during this time.
Snakes are naturally lustful, but even the most perverted python, after being forced into abstinence for years, decades, centuries, could eventually become… abstinence-style (→ on the surface).

Qiguan Rui slowly learned something new.
That was… watching gege, whose memories were stuck at some point in time, reliving every bit of their past, remembering how he himself once doubted and misunderstood, was jealous and possessive, imprisoned by love and desire—also kind of sweet!

Three hundred times a day of dirty fantasies.
↑
This helpless, miserable guy could only comfort himself like this.

---

Of course, this was the apocalypse.
The entire world had changed, and in times when everyone was busy, even though a few people were constantly caught up in love triangles, jealousy, and schemes, life wasn’t peaceful at all!

Take now, for example—weren’t zombies besieging the city?

Gu Bai: “……”
Zombie siege or not, high-level zombies weren’t invincible! It’d been a while since he went to grab a comparable-level elite zombie to lead a charge, and it was scary as hell, okay!
Did Laozi forget that in the original plot, this was exactly when the love-hate entanglement between Lao Lian and the protagonist shou reached its peak?

This guilty conscience feeling…
Couldn’t break it.

With the stirring voice of the emergency broadcast, Gu Bai stepped on an ice dragon with Qiguan Rui at his side, leading the Frost Mercenary Group brothers in a mighty formation, all assembling beneath the vast city walls.
Around them, countless ability users and normal hunters gathered. On top of the city walls, leaders and generals stood shoulder to shoulder, all watching the approaching zombie tide!

In the distance—there were giant zombies several meters tall, grotesque mutant zombies, dark-skinned poisonous zombies, zombies with various abilities, and countless pale-skinned, broken-limbed ordinary zombies.
Zombies of all ranks had formed massive groups, each preparing to charge under the lead of higher-level zombies, forming formations like armies.

This scene had never appeared before.
It was the scariest siege in history!

Inside the base, all sorts of voices erupted:

“Wocao what the hell is that thing, damn!”
“So scary please let me live!”
“Sh*t am I gonna die today?”
“Sweetie wait for me! I wanna die together as a pair of lovers!” → Um, wait, something’s off?

Overall, people were peeing their pants in terror. Everyone was scared!
They had never seen this many zombies, right!
This wasn’t just a small horde, right!
This was a total ripoff, right!

It really felt like the whole base wasn’t enough to feed this many zombies…
How could anyone not be scared!

But no matter how scared, they couldn’t just let themselves be eaten, right?
Very soon, the idol figures of the base—level-six ability user Yin Jiu and Gu Bai, plus level-five peak fire-type user Hong Wei—stepped onto the scene with incredible presence.
They stood tall, surrounded by terrifying powers, looking explosively handsome! They were the people’s hope! Truly amazing!
In an instant, morale soared.

Gu Bai was very unhappy.
Back when he was the lord of Tianya City, he also had this much presence, power, and charisma. Now he had to share the spotlight with these other two—it just felt a little off, okay?

Qiguan Rui seized the moment: “If the captain doesn’t like them, shall I kill them for you?”
Gu Bai gave him a deadpan look: “No need.”
Where the hell did this murder-fiend come from, always wanting to kill someone!
Laozi is a pure and kind person, okay? Never kills the innocent!

Gu Bai’s gaze shifted forward.
This guy seriously didn’t deserve a name like “Little Mountain.” Not even a bit of actual adorable mountain-ness!
Thinking about that child from the past, he must have grown into a super cute boy by now, right? What a pity he never got to see Little Mountain all grown up, sigh.

Qiguan Rui noticed Gu Bai’s wandering eyes and felt a little sour. He leaned closer and whispered into his ear: “Zombies are at the gates. What is the captain thinking about?”

Gu Bai casually said, “I’m thinking of someone I knew when I was a kid…”

Qiguan Rui’s heart stirred, his voice soft: “And who was that?”
Gu Bai expressionlessly glanced at him: “Someone with the same name and surname as you.” Then paused and added with a deadpan face, “Cuter than you.”

Qiguan Rui suddenly gave a gentle smile: “Is that so…”

Gu Bai had no idea how fast this guy’s mood shifted. Seeing that he wasn’t talking anymore, he turned his face back and continued watching the perfectly categorized zombie types.
Speaking of which, what was the original author thinking? These zombies were totally like xenomorphs. When reading the text, it was fine to imagine—but seeing it in real life was nauseating okay.

Can’t we get something more aesthetically pleasing?

And when Gu Bai remembered that his own type also fell into one of these categories…
He instantly felt awful.
Damn it—why.
Why wasn’t Laozi human this time!

Transmigration and all that… most annoying!

Very soon, the zombies increased in number, more and more and more…
Densely packed in front, blinding to the eyes—how could anyone fight?

Answer: Fight with all you’ve got!

The general gave the order, the three top ability users responded, the troops assembled in groups, one team after another.
Finally, the ability users gathered all their powers and hurled them like crazy into the zombie horde!

A series of booms followed as the powers surged through the zombies like crashing waves. Countless zombie chunks flew in all directions under the bombardment.
The three top ability users now unleashed their full might!

Gu Bai, in his peerless showing-off mood, was second to none. He struck first!
A sweep of ice mist—and thousands of zombies were frozen into blocks!

Gu Bai: Laozi is just that cool and badass!