After Zhao Peng found a healer to treat him, he still couldn’t swallow the humiliation of losing his crystal core. So he immediately went to report the incident to his team leader.
After hearing what happened, Xu Feiyan’s sinister eyes flashed with murderous intent.
With a loud bang, he slammed his palm down on the table, instantly smashing it into pieces.
“Jiang Ran really doesn’t give a damn about me!”
The moment he finished speaking, a bolt of lightning split down from above his head. Xu Feiyan quickly dodged.
The spot where he had been standing was immediately struck by four or five bolts of purple lightning.
Even the place he had moved to wasn’t spared, as several more bolts crashed down.
The overwhelming force forced Xu Feiyan to retreat step by step.
He kept dodging until the lightning finally drove him to the ground.
Everyone in Group B stared at the scene in stunned silence, too frightened to make a sound.
The moment the purple lightning appeared, everyone knew who had arrived.
Sure enough, as soon as the lightning subsided, the door to Group B’s residence was kicked open.
The man’s signature black combat boots were particularly eye-catching, as cold and hard as their owner.
Jiang Ran stood at the doorway, smiling as he looked at everyone in Group B.
“Team Leader Xu, long time no see. I’ve missed you terribly.”
Bullshit. Who the hell missed you?!
Xu Feiyan got to his feet and glared coldly at Jiang Ran.
“What exactly do you mean by this, Team Leader Jiang?”
“A threat.”
The corners of Jiang Ran’s thin lips curled into a faint smile, amusement dancing in his eyes.
But everyone knew that his smile was a blade meant for killing, not a gesture of goodwill.
He stepped into the room one slow step at a time. Everyone’s hair stood on end as he approached.
There was hardly anyone in Blue Base who wasn’t afraid of Jiang Ran, the devil.
It was just that the devil hadn’t made a move in a long time, and apparently, some people had forgotten that he wasn’t exactly known for his good temper.
When Jiang Ran reached Xu Feiyan, he suddenly raised one leg and kicked him hard in the chest, pinning him firmly against the wall behind him.
“Ugh!”
Xu Feiyan spat out a mouthful of blood. His eyes bulged with fury as he glared at Jiang Ran.
“Jiang Ran, don’t push me too far!”
It wasn’t that he didn’t want to fight back. He simply couldn’t.
From the moment Jiang Ran appeared, his supernatural ability had been completely suppressed.
A vast and terrifying force enveloped his entire body, leaving him no opportunity whatsoever to resist.
Jiang Ran tilted his head and chuckled softly.
“Too far? Fine. Then just consider me unreasonable.”
He paused before continuing, “I’m here mainly to make two things clear to Team Leader Xu.
“First, Lin Buyu is my person. If anything happens to her, no matter who hurts her, I’ll take your life.
“Second, I really don’t give a damn about you. So… Team Leader Xu, you’d better watch yourself.”
With that, Jiang Ran left in a carefree manner.
He even hummed a tune, looking completely relaxed.
But in the eyes of everyone in Group B, that appearance was even more terrifying than a high-level zombie.
After he left, Zhao Peng—the one who had gone to complain—trembled all over, wishing he could make himself invisible.
As for Xu Feiyan, his face alternated between red and green, then green and red, creating quite the spectacle.
Jiang Ran had actually shown a rare bit of conscience and stood up for Lin Buyu.
Meanwhile, Lin Buyu was hiding under the covers, twisting herself into a pretzel.
She was regretting the things she had said to Jiang Ran.
She grabbed her hair and groaned in frustration.
This is the apocalypse, for crying out loud.
Why had she lectured people who had grown accustomed to death and human cruelty in the apocalypse?
Would Jiang Ran think she was being a pain in the ass?
Sigh…
She let out a long, mournful sigh.
Sometimes it’s all about fate.
She was supposed to win Jiang Ran over and curry favor with him. How could she possibly lecture him?
Now she was in trouble.
What could she do to make Jiang Ran treat everything she’d just said like complete nonsense?
“System, System, come out quickly.”
The system sensed that she was thinking about Jiang Ran and immediately bounced around in her mind.
“Host, please speak.”
Lin Buyu asked, “Can you tell me some of Jiang Ran’s preferences? If I want to win him over and gain his favor, I need to know what he likes, right?”
The system remained silent for a long while before digging through its records.
“According to the available information, Jiang Ran hardly has any preferences after the apocalypse. He’s a man without desires.”
“What about before the apocalypse?”
“There are some records from before the apocalypse. He liked sunflowers because he felt that they allowed him to see hope. He also liked spicy food because it made him feel like he was still alive. And he liked cotton candy because it was the first snack his mother ever gave him…”
After listening to the system, Lin Buyu fell silent.
Why did it sound as though this great villain had lived a pretty miserable life before the apocalypse?
It was as if he had been someone staring death in the face with no hope in sight, clinging to things that could fool himself into holding on a little longer.
Had he been abused?
Forget it. She’d better win him over first.
But where was she supposed to find sunflowers, cotton candy, and chili peppers?
Everything she ate now was provided by the people in Group A. She was basically a freeloader.
Just as she was thinking about this, the bedroom door suddenly swung open.
Jiang Ran’s handsome face appeared in the doorway.
She had wrapped herself up like a silkworm cocoon and stared at him with wide eyes.
Jiang Ran glanced at her strange position before striding toward the bed.
“Are you practicing how to crawl like a worm?”
What kind of comparison is that? He really doesn’t know how to describe things.
Only after Jiang Ran sat down on the right side of the bed did she clear her throat and inch closer to him.
“Team Leader, about what I said in the living room earlier… don’t take it to heart. I didn’t mean to lecture you.”
What is wrong with me? I’m still a parasitic vine relying on him to survive!
And yet she’d actually had the nerve to lecture the boss.
Good grief, she really didn’t value her life.
Jiang Ran took off his jacket, leaving himself in nothing but a black shirt.
Hearing her apology, his expression didn’t change. He merely slowed his movements as he undressed.
“Regretting it?”
“Yep. I regret it.”
Lin Buyu nodded furiously.
She regretted it all the way down to her ancestors.
Damn this stupid mouth of mine.
Jiang Ran turned his head toward her. His gaze met her clear, expressive eyes, and a mocking smile flickered across his lips.
“Do you regret it because you think your way of thinking was wrong and you shouldn’t have meddled in other people’s affairs?
“Or do you think that people should simply know when to submit to circumstances and go along with the crowd?”
“That’s not it. I don’t think I was meddling.”
Lin Buyu’s stubborn mouth remained as hard as ever. Her commitment to “knowing when to yield” had lasted only a few seconds.
“Even if I had to do it all over again, as long as I had the ability to help, I would still step in. I will never think that people without supernatural abilities deserve to take the blame for someone else or deserve to be mistreated.
“But!”
She glanced at Jiang Ran before flashing him an ingratiating smile.
“But I shouldn’t have criticized your way of thinking. After all, everyone’s experiences are different, so naturally, their ways of thinking will be different too. My beliefs only represent my own views.”
“You’d still interfere if you had to do it again?”
Jiang Ran stared into her clear eyes, suddenly wanting to light a cigarette.
“Mm-hmm. That part won’t change. But only if I’m capable of protecting myself.”
For some reason, Jiang Ran suddenly felt that Xiao Jingcheng had been right after all.
She really was like an innocent little princess who knew nothing of the ways of the world.
Otherwise, how could she say something so naive?
“Once you’ve suffered enough, perhaps you won’t think that way anymore.”
Lin Buyu blinked.
How much more suffering am I supposed to endure?
From having nothing to becoming the captain of a special forces unit, she had probably suffered more hardship than an ordinary person had drunk water.
He’s so vicious!
He actually wanted her to suffer even more.