Chapter 160: Anomalous Manifestation

"Lanhuang, why don't you clear things up for them?" Fang Qiu said as he started the engine. Having just received his driver's license not long ago, he drove with extra caution and had no spare attention for chatting.

Lanhuang let out a disdainful snort. Instead of answering Ling Lan's previous question, he threw one right back at her.

"Your name is Ling Lan, and you're Tian Weiguo's student, right?"

Ling Lan was momentarily stunned. Hearing the name "Tian Weiguo" once again felt like hearing from a lifetime ago.

Professor Tian had been a respected mentor of hers and the head of the original zombie research team, and she had learned a great deal under his guidance. Yet, only by experiencing the apocalypse and facing life-or-death crises could one truly see a person's core nature and true colors.

"That's right, but how do you know that?" Ling Lan asked, puzzled, starting to wonder if the man possessed some special ability to read his targets' memories.

"Tian Weiguo used to collaborate with the hospital my father ran. I saw your name on his student roster."

"So that's how it is... But Professor Tian had so many students, how could you possibly remember me?" Ling Lan asked again.

"After all, those with the surname Ling are few; it must rank pretty far down the Hundred Family Surnames. Besides, a weird name like yours is hard to forget once you've seen it," Lanhuang said leisurely.

Ling Lan felt a spark of irritation upon hearing this. What did he mean by a weird name?

If anyone else had said it, she might have let it slide, but what right did he have? Wasn't the name Lanhuang far weirder?

"Heh, today is also the first time I've ever heard of someone surnamed Lan. I wonder if that's your real name or a fake one?" Ling Lan was no pushover and instinctively struck back.

"Hey—people can call themselves whatever they want in the apocalypse. Stray cats and dogs go, and since no one cares, it's no surprise he goes by that name either." True to being her younger brother, Ling Zhe delivered a sharp finishing blow.

Lanhuang sneered. He could certainly tell that this pair of siblings was insulting him through roundabout ways.

Back in Xijing, no one dared to speak to him like that.

He had a network of connections across clinics and hospitals of all sizes; with just a single phone call, he could decide the fate of any patient. Ling Lan and Ling Zhe were only acting cocky now, enjoying a momentary verbal triumph, but who knew how they'd be begging him later on?

At the thought of that scenario, Lanhuang chose not to pursue the matter further for now. He wanted to figure out what interested him first.

"In early June, Tian Weiguo sent a WeChat message saying there was an infected person at your hospital. That infected person is him, isn't he?"

Ling Lan hesitated for a moment and nodded. The other person's perception was too sharp, and lying probably wouldn't work; it was better to admit the truth.

"He's very unusual. Judging just by this appearance, he looks more like a zombie," Lanhuang said, sizing up Yichen.

Ling Lan's heart skipped a beat. The fewer people who knew about Yichen's unique traits, the better. However, since the other man was a peer and also an infected individual, some things were probably impossible to hide.

Initially, she had thought Lanhuang's personality was similar to Liang Bing's—both reserved and quiet—but she immediately realized how utterly mistaken she was.

Liang Bing was simply not very good at communicating with others, possessing a passive and somewhat autistic personality; as for Lanhuang, his aloofness stemmed entirely from pure disdain.

Now that he had developed an interest in Yichen, he wouldn't let go easily.

"I've never seen an infected person with heterochromia. Does he still have any intelligence left?" Lanhuang said, reaching out a hand and waving it before Yichen's eyes.

Yichen abruptly seized his wrist, staring at him with ruthless, blood-red eyes.

Lanhuang had never expected such a reaction. Feeling somewhat embarrassed, he yanked his hand back with force, only to find several clear finger indentations deeply pressed into his wrist, throbbing with pain.

In truth, Yichen hadn't even exerted much strength. If he had wanted to, Lanhuang's arm would have already parted ways with his body.

"Interesting... He reacts quickly, possesses immense strength, and still has his intellect," Lanhuang said, steadying his emotions.

During that fleeting second, he had genuinely felt fear. He was certain that Yichen was a formidable entity whose strength was unfathomable. Given the chance, he wanted to test just how large the gap in speed and power was between him and ordinary zombies.

Seeing Lanhuang suffer a setback greatly improved Ling Lan's mood, and she smiled faintly. "Your eyes are different from ordinary infected people too, so why make a fuss about this?"

"Him? He was born with unusual features; his left eye has always looked like that," Fang Qiu, who had been listening to their conversation the whole time, finally managed to chime in.

"Our Lanhuang is graceful as a dragon and phoenix, possesses everything, and has both wealth and leisure, except that sometimes he's as cold as a blade and a bit tsundere and twisted in personality... But overall, he's still a fine young man. Beautiful lady, would you like to consider him? He rarely meets women he can actually talk to; usually, exchanging three sentences is a stretch, but today is definitely an exception!"

"Just drive your car," Lanhuang said with a dark expression.

Fang Qiu immediately shut his mouth, knowing Lanhuang's temper well enough to stop while the joke was still moderate. If he pushed further and the other guy flipped out, he wouldn't even acknowledge him as a friend.

Ling Lan was somewhat astonished. So Lanhuang had been born with a pupil that cast a pale hue. Society had always cast out those who stood out from the crowd; no matter how privileged his family background was, certain aspects of him could never truly blend into normal human life. Thinking along those lines, she suddenly felt a shred of pity for him.

Seeing her expression, Lanhuang roughly guessed what she was thinking and let out a deeply displeased snort.

"Put away that sickening sympathy of yours; I don't consider this a problem at all. Through this eye, I can now foresee certain scenes three days into the future. It's precisely for this reason that I knew I'd run into you here."

Such a powerhouse?! The siblings Ling Lan and Ling Zhe quickly exchanged glances.

Being able to predict specific targets' actions ten seconds in advance and seize the initiative—a trait Liang Bing possessed—already seemed heaven-defying to them. For Lanhuang to actually be able to foresee events three days ahead was simply outrageously overpowered!

"Then did you know in advance that a zombie horde would erupt in Nanchuan and the city would fall?" Ling Lan asked anxiously.

"It's not that miraculous. I only see fragments, and the times and locations are entirely random; I can't control them myself." Lanhuang's expression stiffened, as if he were reluctant to reveal the truth—that crossing paths with them was purely by chance.

"You didn't know about the train explosion either?"

"No."

"You only knew we'd be here?" Ling Lan pressed on relentlessly.

"Yes."

"Let's drop the beating around the bush. What do you want?" Ling Zhe asked bluntly. If Lanhuang had merely foreseen a few ordinary people in danger, he could have completely ignored them without needing to take such personal risks.

"This guy." Lanhuang didn't waste words, pointing directly at Yichen. "He is extraordinary. I want to collect some samples and data for my research."

The goals of the vast majority of capable and resourceful doctors in the apocalypse were startlingly similar. They were all researching the virus.

"Perhaps you don't know the situation in Xijing. I can tell you now—it's completely different from Nanchuan, which you've walled off and sealed under domes layer by layer. In Xijing, survival of the fittest is the rule, and processed, diluted virus has already been circulating on the market as a physical enhancement drug." As Lanhuang spoke, the pale left eye of his looked as though it were obscured by a thick fog, losing its focus and hiding the ultimate truth.