Ex-Girlfriend – Chapter 108
by Little PandaBUG
Life and Death Examination Room 15
Examination God
“Do you need to go complete the mission first?” Xin Lan quickly reacted and spoke up.
After all, her mission this time had already failed right from the start.
Her mission was to act as the ex-girlfriend to slap faces, but the ex-boyfriend had already died before he even appeared.
And Wan Yan was the core of this operation, here to eliminate this world’s BUG.
Being eliminated from this mission could very likely mean facing death. Although the System probably wouldn’t let them truly die in this world, the mission still failed. She didn’t know what to do to eliminate the BUG if she stayed here, so letting Wan Yan succeed was the best option.
“No need.”
Wan Yan immediately refused.
Setting aside how powerful this BUG might be, what if the elimination mechanism actually caused some harm to Xin Lan?
Hosts can travel freely through all the sub-worlds, but that doesn’t mean they themselves can override these worlds. Many native elements can sometimes inflict unexpected harm on Hosts. Wan Yan wouldn’t take that risk.
Whether this mission was random or intentional aside, they currently seemed to be adversaries, but not intensely so.
“They’re both northern bases anyway, isn’t it enough just to merge them?” Wan Yan waved her hand dismissively, “Not a big deal.”
“Sounds risky,” Xin Lan paused, “but I like it.”
A smile touched her face, her eyes gleaming with eager anticipation.
At worst1, it’s just succeeding together or failing together.
As for the other candidates2, not only would they not be harmed, but they would also be better protected, preventing them from dying due to mission failure.
If it triggers a program collapse, then perfect – they could go meet that BUG directly.
Having finished their discussion, Xin Lan and Wan Yan continued walking forward along this path.
“This place isn’t very remote, why are there so few zombies?”
Xin Lan looked at the office areas and laboratories behind the walls, surveying the surroundings.
This should have originally been a densely populated area. How could there only be a few zombies wandering around?
The possibility that the vast majority had been lured to other sections couldn’t be ruled out, but Xin Lan felt it wasn’t that simple.
Rustling sounds reached their ears. Xin Lan grabbed Wan Yan’s hand and indicated a specific spot.
Wan Yan nodded. The two pretended to walk forward casually. As they passed a ventilation shaft, they simultaneously raised the energy guns in their hands and fired in that direction.
The vent cover melted, dangling in mid-air. At the same time, something fell out.
Xin Lan took a look. It was something resembling an octopus tentacle. It was already charred, its end curled up, emitting a burnt, foul smell.
“It’s an experimental subject. Let’s go first.”
Wan Yan knew at a glance it was one of those experimental subjects from the initial gene fusion. As long as it didn’t come down and provoke them first, there was no need to waste time killing it now.
Xin Lan took a step forward and suddenly covered her ears.
Wan Yan heard a sound like a piercing shriek, somewhat grating.
“This body enhancement is worse than useless.”
Because she was an experimental subject herself, Xin Lan’s body this time carried some of their characteristics. Her hearing was exceptionally sensitive, but when others screamed, this heightened hearing became a detriment.
“Are you okay?”
“Mn.”
“The ability I got is weapon disassembly, assembly, and manufacturing, but I already knew how to do that.”
Wan Yan also indicated the added ability was f%cking useless3, but at least it wasn’t a hindrance. Xin Lan’s ability would be very useful for an ordinary candidate, but for her, it was somewhat useless but potentially valuable4.
“It’s coming.”
What kind of feeling is it to see a pile of octopus tentacles drilling downwards?
Xin Lan just wanted to kill it. The sound that thing made just now almost deafened her.
The tentacles extended outwards, quickly filling the space completely.
Xin Lan finally got a clear view of its full appearance. It could no longer be called human, but a monster.
Its upper body was extremely bloated, its head enormous, with almost no neck. It had no limbs; instead, there was a mass of writhing tentacles.
Xin Lan raised her hand and shot through its head with her gun.
“More things are coming, let’s go first.” Having dealt with this one, Xin Lan again heard rustling sounds, accompanied by strange tapping noises.
Perhaps that monster’s earlier shriek was summoning companions. Perhaps it also attracted zombies.
Wan Yan and Xin Lan walked forward quickly, following the map in their minds, until they reached the door separating them from S-Sector.
The door’s energy was still flickering. Xin Lan was about to force it open when Wan Yan scanned her iris.
[Insufficient Permissions!]
“Gaia, open the door.”
The panel5 flickered. After a moment, the red light turned green, indicating access granted.
“Nice going.” Xin Lan gave Wan Yan a look. Wan Yan nodded, looking a little pleased.
S-Sector was a classified laboratory. There weren’t many researchers, only a few zombies wandering around.
Xin Lan dealt with the zombies while Wan Yan had Gaia open the doors. They proceeded like this all the way to the central area.
“It’s actually you guys, great! Jiejies, take me with you!”
Yuan Yuan, seeing Xin Lan and Wan Yan, two people he somewhat knew, almost wept with joy.
These two jiejies were good-looking, decisive, and powerful – simply golden thighs6!
Xin Lan nodded in response, her attitude not overly warm.
They now knew there were two different factions. They just didn’t know which side Yuan Yuan belonged to. More importantly, was there a third faction?
“Professor Ounai7! How did you get here?”
Dr. Kana, seeing the two as if seeing saviors, walked over carrying a locked case.
“We walked. Dr. Kana, are you alright?” Wan Yan replied perfunctorily, looking at Dr. Kana, who bore the name of an NPC.
“Alright, it’s just the others…” Dr. Kana’s face showed a hint of heartache.
“I don’t know how the virus leaked… I saw Gaia wanting to release those experimental subjects to stop the zombies, but the subjects are uncontrollable… the more advanced, the higher the lethality!”
Dr. Kana looked distressed. He had led the team researching this virus… it wasn’t perfected yet. The initial goal was to allow cells to constantly regenerate, extending human lifespan, but this hadn’t been successfully developed before it suddenly leaked.
Fortunately, all the research data still exists. By reverse-engineering based on the virus’s structure, perhaps this crisis can be resolved.
But the surveillance shows the outside has already become a living hell. Without a weapon at hand, he couldn’t even open the door to the outer labs to deal with a few, let alone dozens, of zombies.
As Dr. Kana spoke, the more he looked at Xin Lan, the more familiar she seemed, yet he couldn’t recall why.
Xin Lan, as a high-level experimental subject herself, stood quietly nearby.
“Dr. Kana, let us escort you out.”
“Okay.” The NPC didn’t ask much, just followed his programming.
Each sector had an exit leading outside. Before leaving, Wan Yan first had Gaia adjust the surveillance feed for the exit route.
On the monitor, quite a few zombies were milling around the exit area, likely repeating actions from before their deaths.
“So many zombies.” Yuan Yuan’s legs trembled slightly; he was scared shitless8.
“I’ve only ever seen this kind of thing in movies and games before… facing it directly now is really a bit much… What the hell kind of test is this?”
Yuan Yuan looked crestfallen. Seeing that Xin Lan and Wan Yan had no intention of agreeing with him, his voice trailed off.
“What’s your ability?”
“Me? I can move objects.” Yuan Yuan, suddenly addressed by Xin Lan, paused for a second before immediately answering.
Xin Lan nodded, indicating she understood.
“Let’s go.” Wan Yan and Xin Lan moved out, one in front and one behind, with Dr. Kana and Yuan Yuan between them.
NPCs never cause trouble, so Dr. Kana just silently hugged his case and walked forward.
Before reaching the exit, Xin Lan deliberately listened for sounds. There was nothing, dead silence.
Xin Lan made a hand signal to Wan Yan, who nodded to show she understood.
“Stay here,” Xin Lan tossed out the instruction, then moved forward with Wan Yan, guns ready.
Xin Lan deliberately made footsteps. After a short while, she heard the sound of shuffling feet. Many zombies together, somewhat noisy.
Xin Lan and Wan Yan stood at the end of the straight corridor and proceeded to eliminate the zombies.
The zombies moved slowly, unaware of the need to dodge, coming straight forward only to be shot down.
The zombies behind stumbled forward over the fallen ones, only to fall down themselves.
Soon, a pile of fallen zombies blocked the corridor.
Xin Lan signaled for Yuan Yuan to bring Dr. Kana over. The two of them cleared the path ahead, ready to immediately kill any stragglers9.
Yuan Yuan was grabbed by the leg by a zombie and instinctively cried out. Xin Lan frowned, but before she could speak, Wan Yan warned her first.
“Keep it down. I hope you can stay quiet. Unless a zombie is about to swallow your head, try to remain calm.”
Screaming this close will disturb my wife. Wan Yan thought seriously10 to herself, not daring to say it aloud, afraid Xin Lan would think she was being too flirty/provocative.
Yuan Yuan nodded, assuming Wan Yan told him to be quiet because screaming would attract zombies.
After having Gaia open the exit door, Wan Yan stepped out.
Outside was a stretch of desert.
“It seems we don’t have a map.”
Yuan Yuan froze for a moment. Although he knew the general direction of his clearance point, without a map, how would they know which way to go?
“Let’s get out of here first.”
Before them was endless yellow sand. The sunlight falling on them felt strangely glaring.
“Follow me,” Dr. Kana suddenly spoke up, heading in a specific direction carrying his energy case11.
“I remember there should be a supply station around here. Let’s head there first.”
The NPC provided assistance, so the three naturally followed.
Xin Lan had initially thought Yuan Yuan might talk to ease the atmosphere or interact with Dr. Kana to gather information, but Yuan Yuan said nothing, following behind them looking preoccupied12.
Xin Lan figured he might have experienced some other things after the second examination site, which was why he wasn’t as lively as when he first arrived, nor as willing to probe the NPC for news.
They left a trail of footprints on the yellow sand, which vanished as soon as the wind blew.
The supply station wasn’t far. Xin Lan stood still, squinted, and took a look at the station’s sign.
The closer they got, the wider their field of vision became.
To Xin Lan’s surprise, there were already people waiting there.
Three men and one woman stood there, seemingly having waited for some time.
“Bro13! Seeing you again!” Yuan Yuan spotted one of them and ran over excitedly.
What a coincidence, another acquaintance.
Xin Lan and Wan Yan nodded towards Huo Xu, acknowledging him as a greeting.
“We’ve got the car ready, we can leave anytime.”
The speaker was a fair-skinned man wearing a pink shirt. He looked rather flashy/showy, and the way he smiled with narrowed eyes seemed quite rakish14.
LP: Re-translated on April 06, 2025
Footnotes
- 横竖不过 | héng shù bùguò | Lit. “horizontally vertically not exceed”; Means anyway, in any case, or at worst/best.
- 考生 | kǎoshēng | Lit. “exam candidate”.
- Original: 没什么卵用 | méi shénme luǎn yòng | Lit. “has no egg use”.
- 鸡肋 | jīlèi | Lit. “chicken ribs”; Something of little value or interest, but potentially regrettable to discard. An allusion to Cao Cao’s dilemma regarding Hanzhong, described as ‘chicken ribs’ – not much meat, but a shame to throw away.
- 面板 | miànbǎn | Panel/dashboard; Likely refers to a system interface display.
- 金大腿 | jīn dàtuǐ | Lit. “golden thigh”; Internet slang for a powerful person one can rely on or benefit from associating with (like clinging to their thigh for support/advancement).
- 欧奈教授 | Ōunài Jiàoshòu
- 慌得一批 | huāng de yī pī | Internet slang, roughly meaning “scared as hell,” “panicking hard,” or “scared shitless.” The literal meaning is nonsensical (“panicked a batch”).
- 漏网之鱼 | lòu wǎng zhī yú | Lit. “fish that escaped the net”; Stragglers, escapees, someone who got away.
- 一本正经 | yī běn zhèng jīng | Lit. “one volume proper scripture”; Serious, solemn, in earnest.
- 能量箱 | néngliàng xiāng | Energy case/box; Previously referred to as 密码箱 (mìmǎ xiāng – locked case/password box). Assuming it’s the same item.
- 心事重重 | xīnshì chóngchóng | Lit. “heart matters heavy heavy”; Weighed down with worries, preoccupied.
- 老哥 | lǎo gē | Lit. “old older brother”; Informal term of address for a man around one’s own age or slightly older, similar to “bro” or “buddy”.
- 风流 | fēngliú | Can mean talented and romantic, dissolute, or rakish/charming but perhaps unreliable. Context suggests the latter.
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