I Conquered the Villain Boss Chapter 41
Translated by Digitalian (ko-fi)
Chapter 41: Antibodies
Why didn’t anyone else discover the psychic superpower? Why was she the only one who felt it?
Fidgeting with the seatbelt with her fingers, Jiang Ran hesitated for a moment before she asked, "Si Xu, could I have awakened some kind of superpower after I was bitten by a zombie last time?"
This was the only possibility she could think of. After she was bitten by a zombie, mutation occurred, and some kind of superpower was awakened. However, her superpower wasn’t one of the known superpowers, so they didn't notice it.
The girl was smart. Through her encounters, she realized that she was different.
Si Xu had no intention of hiding it from her. "If you did awaken some kind of superpower, do you feel any different?"
Jiang Ran closed her eyes and looked like she was focusing on feeling her superpower. After a while, she shook her head honestly. "No."
Si Xu, "...In that case, do you still think that you’ve awakened some kind of superpower?"
The hope that had just been raised was crushed by the heavy hammer of reality. Jiang Ran drooped her head and muttered, "Then how do you explain what happened today..."
The young man who was focused on driving took the time to glance at her and was amused by the girl's wilting look. "Jiang Ran."
Hearing his deep laughter, Jiang Ran knew that he was laughing at her. She glared at him angrily and said fiercely, "What?"
"You’ve not awakened any superpowers." Si Xu pointed out this cruel fact with no consideration for her fragile feelings. "Superpowers are produced when the body adapts to the virus and mutates. If your body can adapt to the virus, you would have awakened superpowers at the beginning of the apocalypse. It wouldn’t have only happened now.”
What he implied was: Don’t even think about it. You’ll never be able to awaken any superpowers in this life!
Jiang Ran pouted and pulled the seatbelt hard as if to vent her anger, without saying a word.
The girl was throwing a tantrum. Si Xu waited until she twisted the seatbelt twice before continuing, "However, your physical constitution is indeed different from other people's."
Huh? Jiang Ran's eyes lit up instantly.
She looked sideways at Si Xu, her eyes full of expectation. Different? Did that mean even though she wasn’t a superhuman, it was still possible for her to become very powerful?
"Do you still remember the mutant zombie with psychic-type abilities you met last time in the villa?"
Jiang Ran nodded.
Being a smart person, she quickly thought about the reactions of Gu Yunqing and Luo Rui that day, and how Si Xu specifically asked her about the zombie afterwards.
"Was there a problem with that zombie?"
"It was a zombie that had awakened psychic superpowers. Its superpower level was about the same as Gu Yunqing's, so it had high-level superpowers. At that time, its psychic powers covered the entire villa, so be it Gu Yunqing who entered the villa first, or those who went in later..." Si Xu couldn’t recall the names of those two at once.
"Luo Rui and Xie Chengzhi?"
"Yeah." Si Xu continued, "They didn't notice the existence of the zombie because the zombie's psychic powers affected their perception." "
Huh?" Jiang Ran blurted out, "But I could see..."
Yes, she could see it – in her opinion, that zombie merely looked more like a person. She did not sense any of the superpowers it released, nor was she affected.
"How could it be?" It was so unbelievable. Jiang Ran stammered, "You mean, I haven't awakened any superpowers, but... but I might be able to nullify the effects and attacks of psychic powers – is that so, Si Xu?"
The girl was smart indeed and understood everything at once.
Si Xu nodded. "Yes."
Glancing at Jiang Ran who had fallen into silence, Si Xu could guess what she was thinking. Si Xu said, "This might be the reason why you didn’t turn into a zombie after you were bitten by a zombie last time."
Jiang Ran remembered the dream she had.
In Jiang Ranran's childhood memories, the time she spent in the hospital, and the medicine that her father injected into her... Could it be that her physical abnormality was related to the medicine she received when she was a child?
"If that’s really the case..." Jiang Ran also thought of a possibility. "Si Xu, my body can resist the virus transmitted by zombies. Does that mean..."
"It's very possible." The girl had asked a crucial question. Si Xu said in a deep voice, "Jiang Ran, this is just my guess now. When we return to Xiling base, I’ll ask Shen Yao to conduct a comprehensive examination for you."
Jiang Ran nodded silently.
Her body could resist the virus most likely because it carried antibodies. No vaccine had yet been developed at any base. Jiang Ran knew what it meant to be a human with antibodies.
Of course, there was something else she was well aware of – if she really had antibodies, it meant that she would never be able to awaken any superpowers in this life.
Thinking about her dream of becoming a powerful person and crushing the scumbags, Jiang Ran wanted to cry.
……
Zombies were blind and relied on hearing and smell to move about. Therefore, day or night made not much difference for them.
Human beings were different. The light was dim at night, which affected their vision. Even superhumans would have their combat power reduced at night.
Therefore, teams that were out on missions would try to avoid moving about after dark to avoid attracting the attention of zombie groups or mutated beasts.
Gu Yunqing naturally knew this, so before dark, he and Su Qin found an abandoned warehouse and decided to spend the night there.
The warehouse was large and could accommodate all the vehicles in the team.
When Gu Yunqing returned from the inspection rounds, he saw Jiang Ran standing alone at the door of the warehouse, pacing back and forth with her head lowered.
"Sister Ranran." He greeted Jiang Ran and said, "What are you doing here?"
"Nothing." Jiang Ran said, "I came out to take a breather."
The girl was sensitive, so Gu Yunqing didn't ask further questions. After saying "be careful", he walked into the warehouse.
Three bonfires were lit in the warehouse, driving away the cold chill of the warehouse.
Si Xu was standing next to Su Qin, and the two of them studied the route on the map by the light of the fire.
"With our current speed, I'm afraid it’ll take a month to return to Xiling base." Su Qin pointed at a spot on the map with her pen and sighed. "And that is assuming we don’t encounter any accidents."
If there was another heavy snowfall, they really would have to wait until next spring before they could go back.
"Be prepared for the worst." Si Xu said, "As we head north, the weather will only get worse."
"Therefore, I think we might as well find a relatively safe place and wait until winter is over before hitting the road."
"..."
After hearing the conversation between the two, Gu Yunqing walked up to Su Qin and put his arm on the girl's shoulder in a familiar manner. "I just checked the surrounding environment. All zombies have been eliminated, and no trace of mutated beasts was found."
"Yeah."
"Hey, when I came in, I saw Ranran alone at the entrance. She seemed to be in a bad mood." Gu Yunqing asked Si Xu, "Did you quarrel with her this afternoon?"
Si Xu shook his head, feeling confused. "Why is it that when she is in a bad mood, it’s because she quarreled with me?"
"Whether you quarreled isn’t the point,” Gu Yunqing rolled his eyes at Si Xu. "The point is, she’s in a bad mood!"
Si Xu, "Oh."
Jiang Ran was in a bad mood... Had he upset her? Was it because he didn't give her a reward?
Gu Yunqing looked at the sky speechlessly. After waiting for a moment, he could only say, "Why don't you go out and check on her? She’s alone outside. If a mutated beast attacks, she won't even have time to run."
Si Xu looked at Gu Yunqing who was leaning against Su Qin as if he was too weak to stand. Then, he heeded the advice and decisively went out to find the girl he had been keeping at his side.
Watching the young man leave, Su Qin stretched out her finger and poked Gu Yunqing's waist. She lowered her voice and said, "You think highly of Sister Ranran?"
"No way. I only think highly of you~"
"You know that's not what I meant. Be serious." Instead of poking him, Su Qin was now pinching him. She got angry. "If you don't think highly of her, why do you keep bringing her and Seventh Brother together? You know clearly that Seventh Brother doesn't know how to love anyone..."
"He should learn if he doesn’t know. I think he’s doing a good job at learning." Recalling the details of Si Xu and Jiang Ran's relationship, Gu Yunqing said, "He doesn't know how to love anyone because he didn't need to know these things in the past – in the thoughts that those people instilled in him, he wasn’t told how to love someone. However, Si Xu would become a really scary guy."
Those people in the laboratory needed Si Xu to be the sharpest weapon. Weapons didn't need feelings, so they taught him everything that could make him more powerful. Yet, he was deprived of his rights as a human being.
"That was scary." Gu Yunqing said, "Look at him now. Even though he says beautiful words of love to Jiang Ran, protects her, takes care of her, and his attitude toward her is like that of a man toward his lover, but Qin, if you ask him if he loves Jiang Ran, he’ll definitely ask you why he has to love her..."
Si Xu now merely regarded Jiang Ran as an item that belonged to him. It was out of possessiveness that he indulged and cared for his posession, not love.
"But..." Su Qin whispered, "This is quite good as well – other than us, people don't find anything wrong with Seventh Brother – look at Jiang Ran. After being with him for so long, she didn't notice his abnormality at all."
"This isn’t good at all." Gu Yunqing said, "I don't want Seventh Brother to become the second Qin Huai."
Qin Huai.
Su Qin fell into deep silence when she heard that name.
Holding his lover's hand, Gu Yunqing looked at the dancing flames in front of him and murmured, "I don't want Seventh Brother to become like Qin Huai... That's too scary and tragic..."
……
After walking out of the gate, Si Xu saw Jiang Ran not far away at a glance.
The girl's figure was thin, and she seemed as if she would be blown away by the wind at any time in the biting winter wind.
Gu Yunqing said that she was in a bad mood. How would her mood get better by standing in the cold wind? How stupid.
"Jiang Ran." He called the girl's name, and she turned her head to look at him like a frightened deer.
"Shh..." She ran up to him in a few steps, raised her index finger to his lips, and gestured at him to be quiet.
Si Xu, "...?"
"Si Xu, why did you come out?" Jiang Ran said in a low voice, "I was thinking about going in to find you."
She didn’t move her finger away, so Si Xu continued to remain silent.
However, the girl's eyes were bright, her cheeks were slightly flushed, and there was a slight tremble to her voice. She didn't look like she was in a bad mood. Instead, she looked... a little happy?
Si Xu had no expression on his face, but countless thoughts came to his mind, and he finally reached a conclusion: Gu Yunqing's words couldn’t be believed indeed.
Ranran: Boohoo, Si Xu said that I would never be able to awaken any superpowers in this life ( ╯‵ □′) ╯ ︵ ┻━┻
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The Author: I’m your creator. When I say you would, it means you would.
One of the characteristics of the female protagonist’s superpower was revealed.
