Although anyone who turned into a zombie had to be killed immediately—
this was his own biological mother.
The fact that he could raise his gun and kill his own mother without the slightest hesitation was enough to show just how cold-blooded he was, with not a shred of humanity left in him.
And when he killed his mother, the corners of his lips had even curled into a mocking smile.
By the time everyone recovered from their shock, Jiang Ran had already left the meeting room.
Jiang Tao had not forgotten the look Jiang Ran had given him—a look that regarded him as nothing more than an insignificant ant.
A sense of humiliation he had never experienced before instantly overwhelmed him. Without thinking twice, he chased after Jiang Ran.
Jiang Ran walked out of the meeting room. His cold eyes showed a hint of surprise when he saw the petite figure at the end of the corridor.
“Why are you here?” he asked Lin Buyu expressionlessly.
After the zombies surrounding the city had dispersed, the thirteen leaders of the ability teams had been summoned to the meeting room.
Lin Buyu had originally planned to return to her quarters and figure out what was going on with the crystal core in her head.
Then she overheard Su Ya and Nie Fei talking to a young man dressed in a white suit.
“How the hell did that idiot Jiang Tao come again? If you ask me, Brother Ran should just throw him into a pile of zombies and be done with it. Every time he sees Brother Ran, he has to remind him that his parents once pushed him into a horde of zombies.”
When Lin Buyu heard this, she almost thought she had misheard.
Jiang Ran had actually been pushed into a horde of zombies by his own biological parents?
Why hadn’t the storyline provided by the system mentioned this?
It had only said that Jiang Ran was cold-blooded and heartless, and that even when his biological parents died in front of him, he remained completely indifferent.
Damn.
Who wouldn’t become cold and heartless after going through something like that?
Lin Buyu, who was already furious at the injustice of it all, suddenly wanted to go over and throw a few words at Jiang Tao.
After reading Jiang Tao’s storyline, she wanted to beat the bastard half to death even more.
She was completely immersed in the story. She had gotten so angry while reading it that she couldn’t help herself.
The moment she finished reading the plot, she rolled up her sleeves and ran over.
She was just about to answer Jiang Ran when she saw a young man in white stagger out of the meeting room, clutching his chest and coughing up blood.
It was Jiang Tao.
Staring viciously at Jiang Ran’s back, he snarled,
“Jiang Ran, if you’ve got the guts, then kill me! I don’t need you to show me mercy. Don’t think that just because your ability is powerful, you can look down on everyone from up high.
“Let me tell you something. No matter how arrogant you are, you’re still an orphan whom nobody wants. Before the apocalypse, you humiliated me for the sake of your mother. After the apocalypse, you took your mother and fled for your lives, barely surviving.
“But when your mother wanted to stay alive, she pushed you into a horde of zombies. And to beg for my protection, she even called you a bastard who deserved to die. She said she had never loved you and wished she’d never given birth to you.
“You probably never saw the way she groveled before me, did you?
“You certainly didn’t see how she knelt on the ground and licked my shoes, begging like a lowly dog.
“Your father never regarded you as his son either. In his eyes, I was his child. Your mother wasn’t loved by him, so you didn’t deserve his love either.
“Even your beloved and respected grandfather begged you to protect me and Dad and give us a chance to live before he died. Your grandfather was bitten to death by zombies while saving you. Do you really think he loved you?
“He didn’t!
“He knew that you hate evil and wouldn’t spare Dad and me, so he sacrificed himself to save you. Then he used that debt to make you remember his kindness, so that every time you wanted to kill Dad and me, you’d hesitate.
“Hahaha! He knew exactly how much suffering you’d endured because of Dad and me, yet he still made such a demand of you. Do you really think he loved you more than he loved his own son?
“Jiang Ran, stop dreaming. His son is the person he loves most. Even if he didn’t love me as much as he loved you, that doesn’t change the fact that he loved me too.
“From beginning to end, you were the unwanted one. So what gives you the right to look down on me?
“Even if I’m an illegitimate child, I’m still an illegitimate child whom everyone loves. What are you? You weren’t even wanted when you were born. You’re nothing but a bastard whom nobody wanted!”
Jiang Ran stood there silently, his back to Jiang Tao, listening to every word of abuse.
His expression didn’t change in the slightest.
His dark eyes merely settled on Lin Buyu, who stood opposite him with a stunned expression.
“Have you heard enough? If you have, you can leave.”
He was like an impenetrable wall, as though Jiang Tao’s words hadn’t hurt him in the slightest.
But Lin Buyu couldn’t do the same.
She was furious.
At her insistence, the system had shown her the entire story between Jiang Ran and his parents—the backstory that had never appeared in the main plot.
Because the novel began with the apocalypse, and the story revolved around the male protagonist.
Jiang Ran, the major antagonist, only appeared in scenes connected to the male protagonist.
His past had therefore never been explained in detail.
After learning Jiang Ran’s story, Lin Buyu had felt a deep sense of sympathy for him, just like when she became emotionally invested in a novel.
But hearing Jiang Tao recount everything right in front of Jiang Ran was different.
Her sympathy had somehow transformed into an inexplicable ache for him.
She closed her eyes for a moment before running toward Jiang Ran.
Suddenly, she threw her arms around him.
“I heard everything, but I can’t leave yet. Wait for me.”
The embrace came without warning, and so did the sudden withdrawal.
Like warm sunlight from a gentler world, yet also like a breeze that could never be caught.
Jiang Ran turned around and watched Lin Buyu run back.
Lin Buyu stopped in front of Jiang Tao.
Jiang Tao looked at the woman who had suddenly appeared before him.
She was so clean and beautiful that she seemed completely out of place in the apocalypse.
He had just seen her hug Jiang Ran, so naturally, he assumed she was on Jiang Ran’s side.
Seeing the anger in her eyes, he knew she was standing up for Jiang Ran.
He hated everyone who treated Jiang Ran well, so he did everything he could to belittle Jiang Ran.
“Are you Jiang Ran’s woman? Heh. You feel sorry for him? Let me tell you, he’s nothing but a murderous, cold-blooded killing machine. Even his own parents thought he was disgusting. Instead of standing up for him, why don’t you come and please me—”
“Is that so?”
Lin Buyu swept her right hand forward.
A cold flash of light gleamed beneath the lights.
“Pfft.”
The sound of a blade slicing through flesh rang out.
Jiang Tao’s eyes widened in horror.
He clutched desperately at his throat as blood gushed between his fingers, unable to believe what had happened as his body slowly slid toward the ground.
Lin Buyu stood before him, a beautiful yet dangerous smile spreading across her face.
“I forgot to tell you. I’m a ruthless killer too.”
Especially when it came to killing evil people.
Jiang Tao was the kind of person who had killed an entire doctor’s family in order to force the doctor to research a dangerous drug, leaving only the doctor’s daughter alive as leverage.
He deserved to die.
He was nothing but a bastard who flaunted himself in front of the legitimate child despite being an illegitimate son himself.
Before the apocalypse, he had toyed with women and driven someone to jump from a building.
Whether before or after the apocalypse, he deserved to die.
Lin Buyu looked like a demon wearing an angel’s clothes as she smiled and watched Jiang Tao struggle helplessly, terrified of death.
He kicked desperately against the ground, trying to call for help, but with his throat severed, he couldn’t make a sound.
All he could do was stare at Lin Buyu in terror.
He couldn’t stand seeing anyone treat Jiang Ran well.
So Lin Buyu deliberately chose to disgust him in his final moments, making sure he died with regret.
“Even if you tried your hardest to make everyone hate Jiang Ran, it wouldn’t work. Let me tell you something. There is someone in this world who loves Jiang Ran deeply.
“I love Jiang Ran. I’d die for him.
“If he’s a hero who saves the world, I’ll stand beside him and be a hero too.
“If he’s a ruthless demon, then I’ll fall into hell with him and become a demon by his side.
“You can die happy now.”
Jiang Tao listened to her declaration of love for Jiang Ran as his life slowly drained away.
He was unwilling to accept it.
He couldn’t accept that Jiang Ran still had someone who loved him.
He couldn’t accept that someone would go this far for Jiang Ran.
And more than anything, he couldn’t accept dying like this.
Yet he died anyway, unable to call for help.
Even the people inside the meeting room continued their discussion, completely unaware of what was happening outside.
Because the moment Jiang Tao began insulting Jiang Ran, Lin Buyu had activated one of her abilities as the Zombie King.
—Resonance.
Within the area enveloped by this sound, all hearing and sight could be blocked.
After dealing with Jiang Tao, Lin Buyu turned back toward Jiang Ran.
The moment she turned around, her face blossomed into a radiant smile, once again becoming the clean, delicate young woman she usually appeared to be.
“Jiang Ran, I just killed the base leader’s precious son. You can cover for me, right?”
Jiang Ran looked at her without saying anything.
His dark eyes seemed capable of seeing straight through her, as though they wanted to peer into the depths of her heart.
He didn’t trust liars.
He knew that when she had said she loved him enough to die for him, she had only been trying to disgust Jiang Tao.
He also knew that all those cheesy pickup lines she constantly threw at him were fake.
And he knew even better that she possessed a sense of justice that had no place in the apocalypse.
He knew everything.
And he believed none of it.
But still…
Jiang Ran stared deeply at her.
When he finally spoke, his voice was already hoarse.
“There isn’t a mess in this world that I can’t clean up.”
So he really said laozi?
Lin Buyu glared at him.
But suddenly, she found the way he acted as though the entire world belonged to him strangely handsome.
She grinned like a silly, sweet girl and gave him a thumbs-up.
“Damn, you’re awesome!”
Jiang Ran turned his head and walked forward without another word.
Lin Buyu hurried after him.
She grabbed his arm and shook it.
“Hey, slow down. Jiang Ran…”
Jiang Ran didn’t answer, but he slowed his pace.
Lin Buyu thought he was still upset over what Jiang Tao had said.
Wanting to distract him, she took his hand.
“I want to ask you something.”
“What?”
The Jiang Ran who normally couldn’t be bothered to respond to her actually answered.
Lin Buyu cupped her face and made a blooming gesture with her hands.
“Do you know what the difference is between you and the stars?”
The moment he heard that familiar tone, Jiang Ran knew she was about to start with another cheesy pickup line.
But he still played along.
“What difference?”
“Of course, the stars are in the sky, while you’re in my heart.”
Jiang Ran said nothing.
He lowered his head and smiled.
Lin Buyu asked again,
“Have you ever smelled something burning?”
Jiang Ran had heard that cheesy pickup line before. It was all over the internet.
He knew what the answer was supposed to be.
Yet he still asked,
“What smell?”
Lin Buyu clutched her heart.
“It hurts so much.”
That wasn’t the original answer.
Jiang Ran thought she was actually in pain and immediately grabbed her arm.
“What happened to you?”
Lin Buyu covered her heart and shook her head, speaking with difficulty.
“I’m fine. It’s just that my heart has been burning too fiercely for you. It hurts.”
The original internet version of the cheesy line went:
“Do you smell something burning? That’s my heart burning for you.”
She had improvised and added her own twist.
Only afterward did Jiang Ran realize that she had played him.
Yet he wasn’t annoyed.
Instead, he felt strangely pleased.
Looking at her mischievous smile, Jiang Ran’s gaze deepened.
“Has anyone ever told you that you’re not very good at lying?”
Huh?
Lin Buyu covered both her eyes.
“Is it really that obvious?”
Jiang Ran pulled her arm down and chuckled.
“Very obvious. I can see right through you at a glance.”
He had smiled quite a lot today.
For some reason, Lin Buyu suddenly felt a chill run down her back.
She had a strange feeling that she was about to be schemed against.