Zhao Sanyan’s Eschatological Philosophy

Zhao Sanyan looked at the beautiful young girl before him, his eyes at first filled with appreciation.

Then, he saw the large word “Idiot” written on her chest and couldn’t help but laugh out loud.

“Is it that funny that I became a girl? You laugh one more time and see what happens.”

Ren Anhua was a little irritated by her old friend’s attitude.

“No… Actually, you look quite cute right now, it’s not funny at all.”

“It’s just this outfit… it reminds me of your old self… pfft…”

Zhao Sanyan saw the two words on the girl’s chest again, and he had to suppress another laugh.

“Instead of laughing at me, you’d be better off finding me some clothes to cover this up.”

Ren Anhua vented her frustration by stomping on Zhao Sanyan’s foot, but without her ability enhancing it, she didn’t have much strength.

Zhao Sanyan merely feigned pain and composed himself a little.

“But I don’t have any little girls’ clothes.”

Zhao Sanyan spread his hands; his composure was also an act.

Seeing Ren Anhua like this, he couldn’t resist the urge to tease her.

Compared to the old Ren Anhua, who carried a terrifying aura at the slightest provocation, the current Ren Anhua was far more interesting.

Her punches didn’t hurt, and a stomp on the foot was barely noticeable, unlike before when even a casual ruffle of his hair could make his ears burn.

“Are you f*cking messing with me? I’m already like this and you’re still messing with me!”

“Just give me one of your jackets to cover up this stupid-as-hell swimsuit, don’t you get it!?”

Due to her height, Ren Anhua could no longer furiously give Zhao Sanyan a noogie like she used to, so she had to resort to stomping on his foot again.

After Zhao Sanyan arrived, Ren Anhua had activated her ability to deal with the remaining three thugs as a way to prove her identity, and Zhao Sanyan was quickly convinced that this young girl was indeed Ren Anhua.

What Ren Anhua didn’t know, however, was that Zhao Sanyan hadn’t confirmed his old friend’s identity through her ability.

Rather, it was because his own superior—the one who’d been sent to watch the gate—had tossed him an urgent intelligence briefing.

[A young girl in a school swimsuit, pink hair, cherry-blossom eyes, cute appearance. Distinguishing feature: the word ‘Idiot’ written on her swimsuit.]

Ren Anhua fit the description perfectly.

How could Zhao Sanyan have believed it?

But since the order came from his superior, he could only comply.

It was only after meeting her that Zhao Sanyan realized this was most likely the real Ren Anhua.

Putting her ability aside, her personality was a perfect match for Ren Anhua’s explosive temper.

He just hadn’t expected her to look so cute after becoming a girl.

She was like a small kitten baring its teeth and claws, yet utterly powerless to hurt anyone.

Of course, it was impossible for Ren Anhua to be powerless to hurt anyone.

It was just her habit not to use her ability during friendly roughhousing, as its destructive power was simply too great.

And now, without her original strong physique, her physical strength was pitifully weak.

It seemed that due to Ke Xingmei’s haphazard transformation, her strength was actually quite a bit less than that of an average woman.

Her combat prowess relied almost entirely on her masterful control of her ability to get by.

When it came to controlling the flow of energy within her body, Ren Anhua had her own well-developed methods.

This was what separated the strong Awakened from the weak.

The intensity of the energy flow within the body and the control over that flow—it could be said that every Awakened had the potential for powerful close-quarters combat, but not every one of them could charge in with flames blazing and beat someone unconscious like Ren Anhua could.

Though Ren Anhua’s ability was formidable, in the hands of others, high temperature would be nothing more than just high temperature.

“Hey, I’m warning you, don’t you dare treat me like a real girl.”

“This appearance is only temporary, by tomorrow at the latest… no, maybe the day after.”

“Anyway, I’ll be back to my original body soon. This body is temporary, understand?”

Ren Anhua was very dissatisfied with Zhao Sanyan’s attitude of treating her like a little girl.

“Ah… that’s a real shame,” Zhao Sanyan said with regret.

“Looks like you really don’t get it. I will get my original body back! Did you get a big head just from joining the army or something?”

Ren Anhua, who had thought her old friend would understand, was getting angry.

“Of course not… But speaking of joining the army, I’m on a fast track now.”

“The army’s given me extremely generous benefits, and they’ve even provided support for me to legally possess special-issue firearms. You know what that means for my ability, right?”

At this, Zhao Sanyan was immensely proud.

Ren Anhua certainly understood what firearms meant to Zhao Sanyan.

Guns were perfectly suited to his ability.

His power was called State Retention; he could choose to maintain various physical properties of an object.

In the early days of the apocalypse, Zhao Sanyan, armed with a longbow, had coordinated with Ren Anhua.

First, he would maintain the solid state of an arrowhead, turning it into an absolute rigid body.

Then, Ren Anhua would heat it to an extreme temperature without it melting.

He would maintain the temperature, and after it was fired, he would maintain its velocity.

A single “cloud-piercing arrow” was virtually unstoppable in the early days of the apocalypse.

A crucial point was that his ability was also a “fire-and-forget” type.

Once a state was imbued, it could be maintained for an extremely long time until the energy flow was depleted.

Generally, without outside interference, this duration could be considered indefinite.

For the military, which possessed a certain industrial capacity, his ability was not only useful in combat but also had enormous applications in logistics and production.

In Zhao Sanyan’s hands, any firearm, regardless of its grade, could become a divine weapon with the enhancement of his ability.

By maintaining the state of a high-temperature, high-velocity bullet, there would be absolutely no trajectory deviation, no loss of kinetic energy, and it would even gain incredibly powerful penetration.

It was undeniably strong.

But would Ren Anhua say that? Of course not.

“So what if you can legally own a gun? I can illegally own one.”

“What’s the use of a gun? Why don’t you try and see if you can kill me with a bullet,” Ren Anhua said with deliberate sarcasm.

“Hey, why are you being so salty? The support the military provides for the Awakened is nothing to scoff at.”

“The military even helps develop your ability. My power now is far beyond just throwing something and maintaining its speed.”

“And special-issue firearms, do you get it? Do you know what special-issue firearms are?”

Zhao Sanyan pulled out a rather large and aggressively styled pistol from his coat to show Ren Anhua.

“This is a firearm the military developed specifically for me.”

“This thing doesn’t fire bullets. It shoots out a spread of steel wire over ten meters wide.”

“You know what I can do with this? I can take out a whole group of zombies with one shot.”

“The scene… it’s just like a harvester cutting down wheat in the autumn.”

Zhao Sanyan gestured with his hands.

“And the Awakened allocation, you understand what that means? It means if the military thinks your ability is powerful, they’ll assign other Awakened to support you.”

“See those two sisters I sent to get the car just now? Pretty, right?”

“And they’re both Awakened assigned to me by the military. Both have reconnaissance talents, one with Visual Sharing, the other with Penetrating Hawkeye.”

“Combined with my special-issue firearm, which is specialized for penetration, the role I can play is huge. I’m telling you, I’m a hotshot in the army now.”

“What’s the use? A moment ago, you almost couldn’t even protect your own brother,” Ren Anhua continued to pour cold water on him.

“That’s not fair. I know you value brotherhood, but don’t you understand that both the times and people have to move forward.”

Zhao Sanyan continued, his expression turning serious.