“That was just to scare you.”
Zhou Wangye pressed his fingers against his brow, his tone carrying a rare hint of helplessness.“I wouldn’t actually feed you to the zombies.”
“Hmph! I don’t believe you!” Lin Ran turned her head away, completely unmoved.
As a CEO, Zhou Wangye hadn’t faced anyone who dared to argue with him or haggle so stubbornly in front of him for a very long time.
He took a deep breath, suppressing the anger rising in his chest, and said in a low voice,“I promise.”
He had already carefully calculated the locations of several supply caches. This trip couldn’t succeed without using her spatial ability.
But Lin Ran still refused to let it go.
“Then swear it—promise you will never kill me, and you won’t allow your subordinates to harm me either!”
Aunt Lan also spoke up beside them.
“Wangye, swear it in my name. Ranran was truly frightened by you this time.”
Zhou Wangye’s dark gaze fixed on Lin Ran’s face as he forced the words out through clenched teeth.
“I swear I will protect Lin Ran and never allow anyone—or any zombie—to harm her. Otherwise…”
He paused.
In the end, he refused to swear using his mother’s name. He respected her too much to use her as a wager.
Instead he said,
“Otherwise, may I achieve nothing in this life and accomplish no success at all.”
Aunt Lan wasn’t satisfied with the oath, but Lin Ran nodded gently.
She knew when to stop pushing.
For someone as proud as Zhou Wangye to say this much was already enough.
“Alright,” she finally softened her voice. “I believe you, big brother.”
In truth, she would never have forced him to swear in Aunt Lan’s name anyway.
Aunt Lan treated her so well.
She simply… didn’t want him to have it too easy.
He looked down on her, yet still wanted to use her space, and kept threatening her with zombies.
She had to vent that frustration somehow.
At two in the afternoon, everyone gathered in the living room after a quick meal.
Zhou Wangye, He Sheng, Secretary Wang, Gu Xiangwan, Lin Ran, and Meng Yan—six people—set out.
Among them, only the driver Meng Yan had no abilities.
But he was also a retired soldier and quite capable.
Zhou Yi’an also wanted to go, but Zhou Wangye told him guarding the base was just as important.
“Besides, we already sent the villa’s location to the capital. A helicopter should arrive in the next couple of days. You’ll be responsible for receiving them.”
Zhou Yi’an knew his brother wasn’t brushing him off, so he stayed behind without complaint.
Meanwhile Aunt Lan held Lin Ran’s hand and reminded her,
“Ranran, stay behind your big brother. Don’t run around.”
Lin Ran agreed on the surface, but secretly thought:
If I don’t wander around, how am I supposed to secretly collect supplies?
Before getting into the car, Lin Ran quietly pulled Zhou Yi’an aside and said,
“If something dangerous happens, don’t worry about anything else—just protect Aunt Lan.”
Zhou Yi’an rolled his eyes speechlessly. It was the first time Lin Ran had ever given him instructions, as if she wasn’t the unreliable one.
Just then Gu Xiangwan opened the car window and said,
“Miss Lin, everyone is already in the car. We’re just waiting for you.”
Lin Ran sneered.
“What? Isn’t your President Zhou a person too?”
At that moment Zhou Wangye had just opened the car door. He seemed not to have heard her words.
After fastening his seatbelt, he said calmly,
“I told you to protect yourself. I didn’t tell you to keep provoking the young lady.”
Although he didn’t mention her by name, Gu Xiangwan knew the words were directed at her.
She bit her lip and said softly,
“I’m sorry. I won’t do that again.”
Once Lin Ran got in, the black business van slowly drove away from the villa gate.
There weren’t many zombies inside the resort.
Since it hadn’t officially opened to the public yet, only staff and construction workers had been staying there, and they had already cleared them out that morning.
As the vehicle left the resort, the coastline came into view.
It was early June, and the weather had started getting warmer. Many tourists had gathered at the seaside.
Naturally, that meant many zombies as well.
Zhou Wangye calmly gave orders:
“Our main goal is to collect supplies. Avoid unnecessary fights. But if we encounter Level-2 zombies, try to obtain their crystal cores—we need to upgrade the spatial ability first and expand storage capacity.”
As he spoke, his gaze casually swept toward Lin Ran but paused slightly.
The panic he saw in her eyes that morning had completely disappeared.
He couldn’t tell whether she had simply forgotten her fear—or if his oath had worked.
He even had the faint feeling that the current Lin Ran was harder to deal with than before.
Just in case, he added sternly,
“Lin Ran, when we fight zombies you are not allowed to get out of the car. Don’t scream if you see them, and don’t make trouble trying to go outside.”
Lin Ran replied calmly,
“Understood.”
Her straightforward answer actually made Zhou Wangye relax a little.
Good. She’s still afraid of zombies.
What he didn’t know was that Lin Ran was secretly thinking:
If someone is charging ahead clearing zombies for me, why wouldn’t I be happy?
When there were many zombies, the modified van simply rammed through them.
When there were fewer, the others got out and harvested crystal cores.
The vehicle was originally imported and specially reinforced—even armor-piercing bullets would struggle to penetrate it.
Running over zombies was practically effortless.
Alright… she was a little jealous of this car.
She wondered if there was a chance to secretly claim it for herself later.
Before long, the team had already collected eight Level-2 zombie crystal cores.
After leaving the coastline, the atmosphere in the vehicle became quiet.
After a moment of thought, Zhou Wangye looked at Lin Ran.
“Can we let Secretary Gu use these zombie cores first?”
The moment he spoke, he realized he had unconsciously phrased it as a question.
Lin Ran answered calmly,
“That’s fine.”
The persuasion speech he had prepared suddenly became useless.
In his plan, eight crystal cores were far from enough for foolish Lin Ran to level up. The most reasonable solution was to prioritize upgrading Gu Xiangwan’s spatial ability to Level 3 so they could store more supplies.
But he never expected Lin Ran to agree without hesitation.
He had even prepared himself for her sudden screaming and attracting zombies.
Unconsciously, his tone softened.
“The next batch of crystal cores will be given to you first.”
Lin Ran nodded indifferently.
After all, when Gu Xiangwan leveled up, her copied spatial ability would level up too.
Not only Zhou Wangye, but everyone else in the car was surprised by her reaction.
Yet no one said anything.
After all, who knew whether the young lady was just in a bad mood today.
Gu Xiangwan took the crystal cores, her cheeks slightly red as she secretly glanced at Zhou Wangye.
President Zhou really treated her differently.
When the vehicle stopped again, a massive complex appeared before them.
RDC—the country’s largest regional distribution center for a national supermarket chain.
This enormous logistics hub supplied all stores across East China.
It received goods from countless suppliers and distributed them to every supermarket in the region.
Thanks to Xu City’s extensive transportation network, this place was essentially the heart of the region’s supply chain.
Gu Xiangwan suddenly opened her eyes, unable to hide her excitement.
“President Zhou, my spatial ability has reached Level 3! I now have 1,000 cubic meters, and I’ve gained a new skill—Spatial Blade.”
As she spoke, she rolled down the car window and waved her hand.
An invisible blade shot through the air and instantly cut off the head of a zombie not far away.
Several people in the car gasped softly.
No one expected a normally support-type spatial ability to have such lethal attack power.
“What should we do? I’m starting to feel jealous,” Secretary Wang joked while pushing his glasses up.
Zhou Wangye merely nodded faintly, then looked at Lin Ran.
“Stay close to me later. And put the business van into your space.”
A hint of disappointment flashed in Gu Xiangwan’s eyes.
She had expected President Zhou to be happier.
“I can store it instead,” she said gently, sounding considerate.“Miss Lin’s space… isn’t it only 100 cubic meters?”
Under Zhou Wangye’s instruction, Lin Ran had publicly claimed her space was only 100 cubic meters.
No one knew that her spatial ability had already reached Level 3, just like Gu Xiangwan’s—also 1,000 cubic meters.
Even Zhou Wangye himself believed she only had 500 cubic meters.
Ugh… this is complicated. Like a spy movie.
Lin Ran ignored Gu Xiangwan completely and simply reached out to touch the vehicle.
In the next second, the entire van vanished instantly.
She snorted and walked forward without looking back.
Gu Xiangwan watched her back and said softly to Zhou Wangye in a hurt tone,
“President Zhou, I was only trying to help… I didn’t expect Miss Lin to get angry.”
But Zhou Wangye glanced at her coldly.
“You should call her Young Lady, not Miss Lin.”