Yan Lidong sat on the edge of the bed, deep in thought. On the bright side, he had regained strength in his muscles. On the other, this was only after he had spent several hours every day sifting through the siblings' house, trying to find more hints on what the situation was.
Based on the scattered newspapers he found, his previous conjectures were all correct. Five years ago, a virus suddenly appeared and, starting from Yan Lidong's university, rapidly infected most of the population. While a majority of people turned into zombies, some were able to overcome the virus, developing powers as a result–the so-called "evolvers" that He Jiuyu was talking about.
As for the Lord, he was a mysterious figure who was allegedly the first to evolve. Nobody knew who he was or where he came from, but he left every fight he entered unharmed.
And... that was about it. Yan Lidong sighed wearily; it was already time to head to the inner cities, but he still felt woefully unprepared. At the very least, he was still in his original world, even if he was knocked out cold for five years. Hopefully, he would be able to find out more soon.
As for his plans for the future... he could figure those out later.
"Hey, Yan Lidong! You ready?" Botany asked, walking into the guest room.
"Ready. Not that I had luggage to begin with," he replied, smiling wryly.
"Poor thing… it must have been hard to survive alone when you knew so little."
This was Yan Lidong reaping the consequences of nodding along with whatever they said and lying through his teeth.
Somehow, they began viewing him as a rich, sheltered kid, who knew nothing of the apocalypse. First, it was his family protecting him, but after they all became infected, a group of scammers who learned of the Lord's love coaxed him into joining their team. He lived happily under their protection, only to be cast out once the Lord strictly banned any human offerings. Without anywhere to go, he tried to scrape by on the streets, where he eventually met his kidnappers.
Yan Lidong himself was impressed with the absurdity of it. Not a single word he'd said to them was truthful, aside from his name.
"Everything's loaded in the car!" He Jiuyu called from outside.
"Coming!" Botany yelled back. "Alright, let's head out!"
A car? Yan Lidong hadn't been outside these days, so he had no chances to properly explore the town. He stepped outside, finding that it was indeed a car, though…
Ah. It's floating. In place of wheels, the vehicle had, well, nothing. It simply hovered above the ground. Still, after finding out that he had slept through an apocalypse, nothing shocked him anymore.
"What, you're not gonna ask about the floating car?" He Jiuyu asked, seemingly pouting. Unfortunately, on a face like his, it looked rather unsightly.
Botany made a mock-gagging motion. "Don't make that face. And don't forget he's from the inner cities, so he would've seen these literally every day. The engineering and the evolvers there are way higher-level than this old town—I don't doubt that they could imbue the engines with enough power to fly into the atmosphere."
"Fine, whatever. Get in already, let's not keep our baby brother waiting."
Getting into the car, Yan Lidong couldn't help but grow more curious about the extent of the evolvers' powers. Given what Botany said, even a lower-level one could make a car float, so what of the most powerful? Again, the Lord had a way of staying on his mind.
He shook his head. Forget it; he closed his eyes, figuring that he would catch some sleep first. Soon, he had to deal with the headache of the inner cities and trying to prove his very fake identity.
"Oh, right! Jiuyu, didn't Hunter mention that there've been rumours around the Lord recently?"
Yan Lidong's eyes snapped open.
"You mean about Magonia?" He Jiuyu furrowed his eyebrows. "Yeah, apparently she finally confessed to the Lord. Can you believe she beat Piper to the punch?"
"Piper's always been so open about his affection for the Lord, though. I'm more surprised about his reaction to Magonia's confession."
"What do you mean?"
"Hunter didn't tell you? Actually, you've always liked Magonia, so I guess he wouldn't," Botany mused, sighing. "He rejected her on the spot."
The car jerked around wildly before skidding to a halt. He Jiuyu snapped his head to Botany in the passenger seat. Luckily, there were no cars on the road, as expected of such a small town, much less one recovering from the apocalypse. Nevertheless, Botany was quick to slap He Jiuyu on the back of the head.
"I knew I shouldn't have told you! What are you doing?! We could've died!"
"Are you kidding me?! But Magonia and the Lord—I thought… I thought they were destined to be together! Isn't that the public sentiment?!"
Botany rolled her eyes as dramatically as she could. "Just keep driving! Gosh, the public doesn't care nearly as much as you about the Lord's romantic affairs. Personally, I've always thought Piper would be a better fit, since they've been a team since the beginning. Well, not that the Lord would ever reciprocate either of their feelings, given that person…"
She trailed off, hesitantly glancing at Yan Lidong in the backseat. He looked back innocently, as though he hadn't been listening intently. "I know, I look like him. Still, it's not like I am him, so there's no need to worry about me. You guys can continue."
She nodded and turned back around, unaware that Yan Lidong had surreptitiously leaned closer to listen more clearly. "My point is that, no matter how fervently they pursue him, it'll be hopeless. I guess Magonia thought she'd be different, though, since he did specifically scout her out to join his team."
He Jiuyu, who had been sniffling after being scolded, perked up. "Right?! So surely, she's special to the Lord, isn't she?! Sure, Piper was his first teammate, but the length of the relationship doesn't matter! It's all about the intensity of the feelings!"
"Can you stop being so corny?! Besides, it was probably just because Magonia was notorious, even among high-level evolvers. They needed somebody who focused purely on doing damage, anyway."
He Jiuyu's face contorted into a horrific pout once again. Yan Lidong, who was unfortunately looking at him through the rearview mirror, winced. "I'm not saying you don't have a point. Piper was his first teammate and all, but... I mean, just aesthetically, doesn't Magonia look better with the Lord?"
"See? You just think Magonia is pretty, you—" Botany turned around, also seeing He Jiuyu's face. She froze, then rubbed her eyes as she leaned back in her seat. "I'm begging you to never make that face ever again. Ugh, forget it, I think I'm getting a headache. I don't need to hear about other people's love lives right now. Anyways, there's this shop I want to visit…"
As the siblings began their idle chatter, Yan Lidong gradually tuned it out. He hummed as he fell in thought. The main part he gathered was that, beyond how powerful he may be, the Lord's romantic affairs seemed much, much more interesting. He suppressed the terribly irritating grin that threatened to creep onto his lips.
Gathering information on the apocalypse? Living stably? In the face of such an interesting development, he could throw everything out of the window. Now, the first thing on his mind was learning more about what seemed to be a messy love triangle involving the world's strongest people.
Botany and He Jiuyu had promised to send Yan Lidong into the inner cities, but they didn't say anything about what came afterwards. Since they would be busy handling themselves, he could surely find an excuse to slip away. If the inner cities were protected so well, then there had to be entertainment establishments, and where there was entertainment, there were people gossiping.
As for potential dangers, those were completely irrelevant. He had no combat skills, and society was still recovering from an apocalypse—he was easier to knock out than tissue paper. An evolver could sneeze in his general direction and his bones would probably shatter.
With that in mind, he had already found his goal: to get his fill of gossip before inevitably kicking the bucket.