Yan Tingting had no idea what was happening on Jiang Xinyue’s end. If she had known that Jiang Xinyue, who had sailed smoothly through the entire original novel, had been forced into such a sorry state, she would definitely have opened a bottle of fine fruit wine to celebrate.
Two days flew by. Calculating the timing, the great villain would soon be arriving in Yancheng. Just to be safe, she decided to leave the city today.
She had spent a few days in the villa, outfitting it like a sturdy fortress. Leaving it behind would be a waste—if it ended up benefiting Jiang Xinyue and her group, that would be terrible.
After a moment’s thought, Yan Tingting waved her hand and stored the villa into her Spatial Dimension.
Every villa in Yancheng’s top-tier district was luxurious and exquisite. Yan Tingting considered for a moment, then picked out several villas with no survivors inside and stored them away as well.
Afterwards, she drove the zombies she had flushed out into the remaining few villas. Although these zombies couldn’t really do anything to Jiang Xinyue, Yan Tingting was more than happy to do things that would annoy her.
With her business done, Yan Tingting drove her modified off-road vehicle down the road, heading straight south.
After getting on the highway out of Yancheng, wrecked cars littered the road everywhere. Many had been burned down to nothing but frames, and twisted, contorted zombies with blood-covered faces lunged toward Yan Tingting.
Yan Tingting slammed the gas pedal to the floor. The zombies blocking the way were instantly sent flying, and the off-road vehicle was coated in a thick layer of blood.
“Host, where are you going?” the System’s mechanical voice rang out.
“Don’t ask so many questions. Just saving the world, nothing much.” Yan Tingting stroked her pretty face, refusing to answer the System’s question.
Of course she was going to steal Jiang Xinyue’s opportunities!
System: “…”
There were quite a few zombies on the highway—it seemed plenty of Yancheng residents had fled the city over the past few days.
Yan Tingting rolled the window down halfway. When the zombies were sparse enough, she activated her ability. The little green sprout shot out, baring fangs and claws as it pierced through the zombies’ heads, then reeled back the purple crystals from inside their skulls.
“So this is the crystal core described in the book? It looks even prettier than gemstones.” Yan Tingting manipulated the little green sprout, examining the crystal carefully.
What did the book say again? Purple ones were lightning-type abilities, red ones were fire-type, blue was water-type, green was Wood-type, yellow was metal-type, brown was earth-type, white was ice-type, and gray was wind-type.
“Yes, Host. This is a Level 1 lightning-type crystal core.” The System felt a surge of excitement, suddenly believing its Host might actually have a chance of saving the world.
Yan Tingting nodded. After the Apocalypse, crystal cores had become hard currency, tradable for virtually any supplies.
She casually tossed the crystal core into a bag on the passenger seat, and the little green sprout shot back out the window, precisely and viciously stabbing into another zombie’s head.
However, her ability was still very weak. Yan Tingting soon felt somewhat exhausted, so she rolled up the window and slammed even more ferociously through the zombies blocking the road, calmly running right over them.
As dusk fell, a dazzling light appeared in the distance ahead. For some reason, the cars leaving Yancheng had scattered haphazardly across the road up ahead.
Not knowing who the convoy opposite belonged to, Yan Tingting instinctively wrapped herself up tightly, concealing her appearance.
The blinding light drew closer and closer. Yan Tingting silently cursed the driver of the high beams, when the System suddenly screamed in her mind, “Host! Host! It’s the great villain! It’s the great villain!”
Yan Tingting swallowed hard and stiffly turned her neck. “What did you say?” That was impossible—hadn’t Nan Huaixu gone back to North City? She had headed southwest precisely to avoid that group of people she shouldn’t run into. How could she have encountered them?
Fortunately, although the vehicles ahead were stuck on the road, they had left a single gap. Yan Tingting steeled herself and prepared to dash through it. Just as she was about to make it, a vehicle behind her overtook hers and, with a smooth drift, parked squarely in the middle of that only gap.
Damn it!
Nowhere to hide, Yan Tingting pressed down the brim of her hat, not daring to glance at the convoy even once.
Just as Yan Tingting was about to play dead in her car, she caught sight from the corner of her eye of a pair of long legs wrapped in combat gear stepping out of the lead vehicle ahead. Looking up, she saw a gleaming submachine gun hanging at his chest. Yan Tingting ignored all that—her gaze drifted up to his head.
Unfortunately, this man happened to have a face she recognized.
Wasn’t this Fu Jun, Nan Huaixu’s most trusted assistant? Rumor had it he’d been personally selected and trained by Nan Huaixu’s grandfather since childhood—they were as close as could be!
“It’s over, it’s over. Nan Huaixu must be in one of these cars.” If Fu Jun was here, then Nan Huaixu definitely was too—ahhh!
What should she do!
What should she do!
What should she do!
Their breakup had been ugly. Nan Huaixu was such a proud man—after being humiliated by her like that, he’d surely want to flip her skull right off her shoulders!
She could already picture her own corpse drifting in the wind.
“Host, don’t be nervous. It looks like the people up front stopped the big villain’s convoy.” The System’s voice was just as nervous.
Through her sunglasses, Yan Tingting secretly peeked at the situation outside.
Nan Huaixu and his group were driving the most heavily defended military vehicles. Perhaps the people fleeing Yancheng thought rescue had arrived, and now they were excitedly crowding around Fu Jun and the others.
As time passed bit by bit, the excited crowd was just about to be calmed down when Fu Jun turned and bent down toward the person inside the car window.
A moment later, Fu Jun and two soldiers in combat gear walked toward Yan Tingting.
Yan Tingting fought down the urge to bolt out of the car door, her whole body as cold as if she’d fallen into an ice cellar. It had been like this before too—whenever she did something excessive, Nan Huaixu would order Fu Jun to come clean up her mess.
But this time was different. This time, Nan Huaixu was coming to deal with her.
Yan Tingting glanced at the useless little green sprout in her palm, casually stashed the crystal cores from the passenger seat into her Spatial Dimension, and, unable to fight and unable to flee, closed her eyes in avoidance.
Worst case, she could just hide in the Spatial Dimension and never come out.
The System was trembling in fear inside Yan Tingting’s mind as well.
“Hello, are you injured? Do you need help?” Fu Jun tapped on the car window, his voice surprisingly gentle for his rugged appearance.
Yan Tingting came to her senses. In this situation, refusing to get out of the car would seem even more suspicious. With trembling fingers, she rolled the window down a crack and lowered her voice. “No. Are you really with the military?”
Yan Tingting deliberately let doubt creep into her tone. Fu Jun was a crafty old fox, so she could only use distrust of them as an excuse to cover up her earlier refusal to get out of the car.
Fu Jun laughed heartily, but his bright eyes were quietly observing the off-road vehicle Yan Tingting was driving.
The vehicle was covered in splotches of blood, but it was clear the entire car had been expertly reinforced. As for the person inside, though somewhat thin and frail, they were wrapped up snugly and cleanly, remained wary upon encountering the group, and showed not the slightest fear even when they approached with guns raised.
Not a simple person.
“Don’t worry. We’re a force dispatched by the Nan family. The government has established three major shelters in response to the Apocalypse. You can follow our troops to a shelter.”
“We’ll be resting here for a while. If you make up your mind, just let me know,” Fu Jun said patiently, though his eyes studied Yan Tingting intently.
He couldn’t shake the feeling that the person inside looked somehow familiar.
“Thank you, but I’m going home to find my family, so I won’t be coming with you. Still, could you tell me where the shelters are? If I find my family, we can head to a shelter.” Yan Tingting deliberately kept her voice low and hoarse.
Fu Jun’s doubts eased somewhat. If the person inside were the Yan family’s young lady, with her spoiled, delicate temperament, she would have come out the moment she saw him.
Besides, the people of the Yan family would never let Yan Tingting go searching for them. Given how doted upon she was by the Yan family, they would only ever have her hide somewhere safe and wait for them to come find her.
He told her about the three major bases one by one, then turned to leave.
The moment Fu Jun turned away, Yan Tingting’s tense body went limp. Before, she had only thought him skilled and capable; now she found him downright troublesome.
What a sin. If she’d recovered her memories earlier, she never would have broken up. And Jiang Xinyue, really—why hadn’t she pushed her sooner?
Yan Tingting had just breathed a sigh of relief when, for some reason, Fu Jun suddenly turned back.
But her gaze landed on the man behind him. He wore the same black combat uniform as Fu Jun, with a black baseball cap on his head, the brim faintly revealing a smooth, handsome jawline.
As he walked, deep, sharp brows and eyes came into view—broad shoulders, narrow waist, long legs wrapped in the combat uniform, his whole bearing radiating an oppressive air that warned strangers to keep their distance.
Unfortunately, Yan Tingting regarded him at the moment as she would the King of Hell. Even if he were a celestial being, she was in no mood to appreciate the view.
Damn it all—why was Nan Huaixu here?