Everyone looked at Zhou Wangye, waiting for him to make a decision.
But Zhou Wangye suddenly said, “Let’s go back to the villa first.”
As soon as the words fell—
“Hmph!” Lin Ran snorted coldly, jumped down from Zhou Wangye’s arms, and said, “You don’t believe me again!”
Zhou Wangye didn’t explain. He simply tried to pull her back into his arms.
“Stop making trouble. Your clothes are still wet. The temperature difference at night is big—you’ll catch a cold.”
Moreover, now that her clothes were soaked, they clung to her graceful figure.
And almost everyone around them was a man.
Lin Ran’s response was to use her water ability to evaporate the excess moisture from her clothes.
“Stay away from me!”
Still feeling it wasn’t enough, she continued firing at him.
“I told you—you’re blind. You can’t see the truth at all!”
Zhou Wangye rubbed his forehead. He suddenly missed the old Lin Ran.
Although she used to cling to him and constantly cause trouble for him, at least she wouldn’t point at his nose and call him blind in front of so many people.
But even as she scolded him, he still had to chase after her to protect her.
If they ran into zombies again, this little ancestor would definitely be scared into tears.
However, as he went after her, he gave He Sheng a look.
He Sheng immediately understood and quietly followed behind Gu Xiangwan.
Meanwhile, Lin Ran, who was walking ahead, thought to herself: Finally, I have a legitimate reason to stay far away from the male lead.
After this incident, she understood that she and the female lead had already become mortal enemies.
This time, Gu Xiangwan dared to secretly harm her with zombies. Who knew what methods she would use next time?
She couldn’t just sit and wait for death.
Some great person once said: the best defense is offense.
When she first transmigrated into the novel, she had actually thought about getting along well with the female lead.
Using her identity as the male lead’s sister, she could flatter and please the female lead, sweetly calling her “sister-in-law.”
After all, anyone close to the male and female leads in novels usually ended up rising with them.
If she became the female lead’s loyal lackey, her future shouldn’t be too bad.
But perhaps because of the original host’s lingering emotions, she felt annoyed every time she saw the female lead.
And the female lead kept stirring up conflicts between her and everyone else.
She simply couldn’t swallow that anger.
She did want to survive until the end of the story.
But if survival meant bowing and scraping before someone who constantly tried to harm her, she would rather die.
Later, after awakening her copying ability, she feared the female lead even less.
As for her current thoughts…
At worst, she would just kill the female lead. If the spatial ability disappeared with the female lead’s death, she still had other abilities to rely on.
As for whether the novel’s world would collapse if the female lead died—she didn’t care.
She wasn’t some strategy heroine with a system mission that punished failure with electric shocks.
If the novel world collapsed, then so be it—everyone could die together.
In short, her current mental state was very simple:
Living well is fine. Otherwise, everyone can die together.
After chasing for fifty or sixty meters, Zhou Wangye saw Lin Ran standing in front of a container.
She released a pile of medical equipment from her space and then stored an entire container full of imported luxury skincare products into her space.
When she heard his footsteps, Lin Ran even gave him a provocative look.
Zhou Wangye rubbed his forehead again. Now he only wanted to return to the villa as soon as possible.
If he handed Lin Ran over to his mother, he might survive a little longer—otherwise she would drive him to death from anger.
He walked over in a few steps, grabbed her hand, and waited for the others to catch up.
Then he said to Gu Xiangwan, “Take out some unimportant supplies from your space and store these medical devices inside.”
Gu Xiangwan did as she was told.
Since President Zhou still let her collect items, that meant he probably still trusted her.
Earlier in the restroom, the lie detector test hadn’t been carried out.
That must mean President Zhou thought Lin Ran was acting again—just like before—and that there was no need for a lie detector test. He had firmly chosen to stand on her side.
It had to be that.
President Zhou trusted her more!
Thinking this, Gu Xiangwan felt confident again.
But Lin Ran seized the opportunity to say, “Tell Gu Xiangwan to return my off-road vehicle.”
Zhou Wangye tried to reason with her.
“There’s no more space in your storage. You can have it back when we return to Beijing—it’s the same.”
Lin Ran stiffened her neck and said nothing, stubborn to the extreme.
Zhou Wangye patiently continued, “That kind of ordinary off-road vehicle—I can find you as many as you want in Beijing.”
Lin Ran still didn’t speak, lifting her chin even higher.
As if saying: If you don’t give me my off-road vehicle, I won’t leave.
Zhou Wangye helplessly waved his hand and told Gu Xiangwan to do as she said.
The next second, Lin Ran took out several useful supplies from her space to free up room for the off-road vehicle.
Zhou Wangye told Gu Xiangwan to store them.
When he turned around again, Lin Ran had already gotten into the vehicle, leaving only an angry silhouette behind.
He wasn’t good at coaxing girls.
And he felt that lowering himself to appease Lin Ran in front of so many people would damage his dignity.
He knew Lin Ran was angry about what happened in the restroom—angry that he didn’t trust her, angry that he didn’t use the lie detector.
But now wasn’t the time to explain.
Once they returned to Beijing, everything would be fine.
Besides, Gu Xiangwan’s spatial ability was very useful—it was filled with supplies.
Regardless of whether the zombies in the restroom were deliberately released by Gu Xiangwan or not, he had to ensure she safely returned to Beijing.
He believed that one day, Lin Ran would understand him.
Years later, Zhou Wangye would always regret the decision he made that night.
He constantly imagined: if he had firmly chosen to stand by Lin Ran at that time, if he hadn’t chosen to wrong her because of Gu Xiangwan’s spatial ability… would the ending have been different?
The journey back went smoothly.
Inside the business vehicle, everyone was an ability user. Any zombies they encountered were immediately dealt with.
Lin Ran sat quietly in the back seat the entire way, still looking wronged and saying nothing.
Secretary Wang beside her kept trying to cheer her up.
“Miss, congratulations on awakening your water ability.”
“Now you’re like President Zhou—a dual-element ability user. Aren’t you happy?”
“Oh, you and President Zhou both have water abilities. Isn’t that a kind of fate?”
Previously he wouldn’t have dared to say such things.
He was afraid President Zhou would get angry.
But today, seeing how nervous President Zhou was about Lin Ran—it clearly looked like a man’s possessiveness toward a woman.
Suddenly he felt that President Zhou truly had feelings for the young lady.
Lin Ran glanced at Secretary Wang darkly.
“The human body is 70% water. If you keep annoying me… hehe…”
The threat worked.
Secretary Wang mimed zipping his lips and stopped talking.
Along the way they passed a seed company and a large chain pharmacy, stopping to gather more supplies.
Fortunately, after reorganizing the two spatial storages, they managed to free up some extra space.
By the time they returned to the villa, it was already late at night.
On the villa’s helipad sat a military helicopter.
The lights in the first-floor living room were brightly lit.
Xie Jilan and Zhou Yi’an came out to greet them, walking straight past Zhou Wangye toward Lin Ran.
The two of them looked Lin Ran up and down, and only relaxed after confirming she wasn’t injured.
Lin Ran glanced around the living room and noticed a strange man sitting on the sofa.
His long legs stretched out boldly in the limited space, giving off a casual yet aggressive presence.
As she got closer, the man’s suit jacket became clearer.
The dark fabric was sharply tailored, fitting the curve of his shoulders.
As it narrowed downward, it outlined the shape of his chest and tapered slightly at the waist.
It was a kind of upright strength hidden beneath the fabric, like a blade not yet fully drawn.
Lin Ran’s gaze lingered involuntarily for a moment—
This man gave off the feeling that he was extremely capable.
When the man raised his head, a pair of deep eyes appeared.
At the same time, his face was strikingly aggressive—his nose bridge high, the line of his jaw unusually sharp.
Everything combined into a kind of oppressive aura: silent, yet filled with unspoken authority.
“Thump, thump, thump!”
Lin Ran suddenly felt her heart beating rapidly.