The sound of an engine stopped downstairs, then the engine died.
Car doors opened and closed. Someone had gotten out.
Calculating the time, Qin Wang and the others had only been gone for two or three hours. She hadn’t expected them to be back this soon.
Qiao Xi crouched by the window and looked down. A pickup truck was parked in front of the villa.
She didn’t recognize the people getting out of the car. Xia Manman was greeting them downstairs.
The group got out and started unloading cargo. In the truck bed were two boxes… braised beef noodles?
There were also some instant meal boxes and milk.
In the apocalypse, these things were all scarce goods. For them to deliver so generously to their doorstep, they must want something.
Either they were trying to win them over, or they needed their help with something.
Qiao Xi watched as they carried the supplies into the house.
“Have Mr. Qin and Mr. Li gone out?” The man in gold-rimmed glasses at the front was quite polite.
Xia Manman hummed in acknowledgment. “Did you need something with them?”
The man nodded. “Would it be convenient for us to wait inside for them to return?”
“Of course.” Xia Manman stepped aside. “Please, come in.”
The man stepped through the door, then his movements suddenly paused—as if sensing something, he abruptly looked toward Qiao Xi.
That look wasn’t exactly friendly. It even carried a hint of coldness and hostility.
Qiao Xi’s heart trembled. An inexplicable sense of panic crept up her spine.
With just one glance, Qiao Xi could tell this man was an Ability User.
And his Ability Level wasn’t low.
The hostility in the man’s eyes vanished in an instant, so quickly it seemed like her imagination.
After taking in Qiao Xi’s features, a trace of barely perceptible confusion appeared in his eyes.
Qiao Xi withdrew her gaze and pressed a hand to her wildly pounding heart.
That was such a dangerous feeling. That man seemed to have sensed her identity just now.
That person wasn’t right.
“What’s wrong with you?” Xu Nuo sidled up, tilting his head to look at her. “Is the man downstairs that good-looking? Got you all worked up like this?”
Qiao Xi moved her gaze to his face, and looking at his clueless expression made her irritated.
She couldn’t tell if he was genuinely stupid or just pretending.
She raised her hand and smacked him flying with one slap.
“Shut your mouth.”
Xu Nuo, like her, didn’t react much to pain, but his head was left feeling numb from the hit—like he might have gotten a mild concussion.
He pouted. “Then when exactly can I leave?”
Qiao Xi shot him a glance.
To her, Xu Nuo was essentially a ticking time bomb. She had to get him out of here before Qin Wang and the others returned.
Realizing this, Qiao Xi stood up, ran her fingers through her hair in front of the mirror, and straightened her clothes. “I’m going down now to stall them. You pick the right moment and go.”
“Be smart about it, got it?”
“What if they find out you’re a monster?”
“Then we’ll deal with it then.”
Qiao Xi went downstairs and saw two unfamiliar men sitting on the sofa.
The one with gold-rimmed glasses was around forty, refined-looking, sitting upright and proper—the type who seemed very rigid and old-fashioned.
Beside him sat a young man who was chatting casually with Xia Manman.
From the moment Qiao Xi came downstairs, he started getting distracted, his gaze constantly drifting toward her.
Until a zombie’s roar sounded from outside the door, drawing everyone’s attention.
Zombies had followed their car into the courtyard.
Three zombies in security guard uniforms, their bodies rotting all over. One had a huge hole torn open in its stomach, intestines dragging along the ground, with rats crawling in and out of the cavity.
Qiao Xi turned her face away and dry-heaved.
The zombies slammed against the glass, howling endlessly.
Xia Manman’s little face went pale. She shot up from the sofa and instinctively backed away a few steps.
The two men on the sofa looked completely unruffled.
The younger one, seeing his chance to show off, rolled up his sleeves and said to Qiao Xi and the others, “Don’t be scared. I’ll go take care of them.”
“Be careful, then,” Xia Manman cautioned.
The young man smiled confidently and pushed open the door.
The zombies caught the scent of living humans and howled as they lunged at him.
The young man raised his hand without hurry, golden light flickering in his palm.
The zombies had just gotten within two or three meters of him when—
A steel pipe shot through the air, piercing straight through a zombie’s hardened skull.
The young man rotated his palm, and the steel pipe spun in a circle through the air before stabbing into another zombie’s head.
One by one, the zombies fell as their brains were pierced through.
Colorful fluids splattered everywhere.
Qiao Xi glanced up at the second floor. Xu Nuo could see what was happening downstairs. Hopefully he wasn’t stupid enough to jump down at a time like this.
The young man finished off the zombies and came back inside.
Xia Manman clapped her hands in praise. “Amazing!”
Qiao Xi snapped back to attention, looking at the young man with an impressed expression. “How did you do that just now? It looked so cool.”
Hearing this, the young man couldn’t stop the corners of his mouth from curling up. He scratched his head and said, “Honestly, uh, this is nothing.”
There were even cooler things.
Ever since awakening his ability, praise and admiration had become routine for him. He thought he’d built up an immunity to it.
But facing a pretty girl like Qiao Xi, he realized he had absolutely no resistance at all.
From their conversation, they learned the two men were from Jian’an Base. The older one’s surname was Qi—they called him Mr. Qi—and the young Metal-type Awakened was called Xiao Zhang.
This Mr. Qi had a deep, reserved demeanor and spoke little, but from the moment Qiao Xi came downstairs, his gaze kept drifting toward her—not with the appreciation a normal man might show for a pretty girl, but with scrutiny, suspicion, and a faint trace of wariness.
Like a dormant beast lying in wait, it made Qiao Xi’s skin crawl.
Xiao Zhang, on the other hand, was quite taken with Qiao Xi. His attention was almost entirely on her, leaving Xia Manman beside him unable to get a word in.
She shot Qiao Xi a displeased glare, cursing her as a scheming vixen under her breath, then turned to Mr. Qi and said, “You two have a seat for a moment. I’ll go grab you something to drink.”
“Much obliged.” Mr. Qi gave a slight nod.
Xia Manman had barely taken two steps when a dull thud suddenly came from upstairs.
Like something heavy hitting the floor.
Mr. Qi’s head snapped up, his gaze fixed on the ceiling.
“Someone’s upstairs?”
Qiao Xi’s heart skipped a beat. She had no idea what that pig Xu Nuo was up to now.
But before she could speak, Xia Manman jumped in first: “There’s no one up there—they’ve all gone out.”
Mr. Qi’s expression shifted slightly. He signaled Xiao Zhang with a look. “Go check if something’s gotten in.”
“Got it.” Xiao Zhang rose to his feet.
“It’s nothing.”
Qiao Xi blocked Xiao Zhang before he could leave, then turned to the two men with a smile. “It’s probably just mice. This house sat empty for so long—when we first moved in, we caught quite a few.”
Xiao Zhang believed her without a trace of doubt. He sat back down, speaking with a serious expression. “Houses outside really aren’t that clean. Miss Qiao, why don’t you come back to The Base with us? I can guarantee you won’t have those kinds of problems there.”
Qiao Xi smiled but said nothing.
Just then, Xia Manman came over carrying the drinks, and happened to catch the look passing between Qiao Xi and Xiao Zhang.
The more she looked at Qiao Xi, the more she disliked her. Subconsciously, she tilted the cup slightly in Qiao Xi’s direction.
Qiao Xi heard the footsteps approaching behind her but didn’t turn around. It was as if she had eyes in the back of her head—the moment the cup “accidentally” tipped toward her, she suddenly shifted to the side.
Her shoulder bumped the tray, sending the cup flying—straight at Mr. Qi.
The cup hit the floor, and the water splashed all over Mr. Qi.
“Mr. Qi!”
Qiao Xi let out a little gasp and turned to the stunned Xia Manman, striking first: “How could you be so careless? Hurry up and take Mr. Qi to get cleaned up.”
“Mr. Qi, I’m so sorry.” Xia Manman snapped back to reality, her face flushed with embarrassment. “Let me take you to change your clothes.”
After the two went upstairs, Qiao Xi had just turned her face back when she spotted a human foot poking out from above the floor-to-ceiling window.
She sucked in a sharp breath of shock.
“What are you looking at?” Xiao Zhang started to turn around.
Qiao Xi immediately grabbed his arm and pulled him back. “I can read palms. Let me read yours.”
Xiao Zhang let out a startled “huh,” his face turning red all the way down to his neck. “Okay… sure.”