Lin Buyu was not someone who had spent a year surviving in the apocalypse.
Before she was transported into this world, she had been a special forces soldier—properly trained, disciplined, and taught to uphold justice.
The education she had received taught her that everyone was equal and that no one deserved to die.
So when she heard Jiang Ran’s words, she found them difficult to accept. In fact, they made her even more uncomfortable than hearing that scumbag say the same thing earlier.
Because she had thought Jiang Ran was different from those people with such twisted, low-minded beliefs.
She placed her chopsticks on the table and looked at Jiang Ran with her bright eyes.
“The apocalypse has caused the civilized world to lose all of its order. But I believe the real reason this world collapsed wasn’t the zombies or the virus. It was people like you, who stopped treating ordinary people as human beings.
“In the face of disaster, shouldn’t we humans be sticking together and helping one another, fighting back against the threats from the outside world? Just because you’re stronger than others, does that mean you have the right to kill, rob, and plunder without caring about how others feel?
“People without supernatural abilities are also struggling to survive. What gives you ability users the right to take away their right to survive and their right to protect their own interests? They were never born to be sacrifices or shields against disaster.”
Every word she spoke was gentle, yet there was an undeniable strength behind them. Each sentence struck with conviction.
Before the apocalypse, perhaps everyone would have applauded her speech.
But now, everyone would only think she was hopelessly naive.
Jiang Ran looked at her, the smile disappearing from his eyes.
“You asked me what gives me the right? I’ll answer you. They don’t have the ability to fight back.”
Lin Buyu smiled.
She clapped her hands.
“Very well said. So Gao Changsheng didn’t have the ability to fight back against me. What I did wasn’t meddling in other people’s business. It was simply because… I fucking didn’t like him!
“Jiang Ran, let me tell you something. I’m not like you people. As long as I still have the ability to fight back, I’ll meddle whenever I see injustice. I will never let evil run rampant. If there’s someone I can save, I’ll save them. In my eyes, no one is born to be sacrificed or used as a shield against disaster.”
There was one thing Lin Buyu hated above all else—going along with the crowd.
That was how many people thought in the apocalypse, and that was why this world had become increasingly cold and heartless.
But when disaster struck, human beings were the foundation that kept the world moving forward.
And most people were neither protagonists nor the strongest ones.
Only by standing together would they have a better chance of surviving this terrifying apocalypse.
If you remained indifferent when someone else was being treated unjustly today, then one day, others would also turn a blind eye when you were treated unjustly.
There was no reason for them to survive a natural disaster only to be destroyed by the coldness of human nature.
You don’t have to save anyone yourself, but don’t condemn those who choose to save others.
As for a scumbag like Gao Changsheng, Lin Buyu didn’t regret killing him in the slightest.
If anything, she thought she had let him off too easily. If she had been strong enough, she would have cut him into a thousand pieces.
Lin Buyu admitted that different experiences could shape completely different ways of thinking.
Perhaps if she had actually spent a year surviving in the apocalypse, she would have become just as cold and indifferent as everyone else.
But she hadn’t.
And because she hadn’t, she refused to accept their way of thinking.
She was so angry that she had lost her appetite. She didn’t even want to finish her noodles.
Jiang Ran silently stared at her.
For a very, very long time.
Long enough to make Lin Buyu uncomfortable.
She raised a hand and rubbed the tip of her nose, suddenly realizing something.
Oh no.
She had probably said too much.
She had actually just yelled at Jiang Ran.
Damn, she really didn’t value her life!
She still needed to get close to Jiang Ran, influence him, and stop him from developing the desire to destroy the world.
And she’d already offended him right at the beginning?
Lin Buyu suddenly lost her nerve.
She looked at Jiang Ran guiltily.
Jiang Ran had already lowered his head. After a moment, he casually said,
“I hope you can hold on to that way of thinking.”
Lin Buyu: “?”
He wasn’t angry?
After finishing her noodles, Lin Buyu returned to her room.
The increasingly passive situation made her desperately want to improve her abilities as quickly as possible.
Meanwhile, Jiang Ran stood on the large balcony on the second floor, a cigarette between his fingers, its ember flickering in the darkness.
Cigarettes were a luxury in the apocalypse.
Only someone like Jiang Ran, who had plenty of resources, could still have the leisure to grab a few packs whenever he went out searching for supplies.
Xiao Jingcheng walked over and lowered his voice.
“You said the dodder flower doesn’t have any supernatural ability, but judging from her speed, she doesn’t look like someone without an ability. And she really does seem like a little princess who was well protected. She still has the heart to help other people. It’s kind of laughable.”
Jiang Ran didn’t need to guess who he meant by “dodder flower.”
He held the cigarette between his fingers and brought it beneath his nose, inhaling its scent without smoking it.
His dark eyes gazed into the distance.
“After surviving in the apocalypse for a year, how many times have you been betrayed?”
Xiao Jingcheng laughed.
“Too many to count. But I awakened my ability pretty early, so I dealt with those people a long time ago. You probably haven’t experienced that, right, Brother Ran? Your ability is so powerful. You probably awakened it during the early days of the apocalypse.”
Jiang Ran placed the cigarette between his lips and took a deep drag.
“Yeah. Pretty early.”
It had already been a year since the apocalypse began, and he had only awakened his ability three months ago.
Yeah.
Pretty damn early.
“Do you think Lin Buyu looks like a little princess who was well protected?”
Xiao Jingcheng shrugged.
“Judging from what she said, she certainly sounds like one. Thinking like that will get her into trouble sooner or later.”
Jiang Ran smoked in silence.
Xiao Jingcheng continued,
“You were the one who helped Lin Buyu when she dealt with Zhao Peng, right? She wouldn’t have been able to do it otherwise, would she?”
There was no way someone without a supernatural ability could injure an ability user like Zhao Peng, no matter how fast her movements were.
Zhao Peng was the ability user whose throat Lin Buyu had slit.
Jiang Ran turned his head and glanced at Xiao Jingcheng.
“I’ve always thought you were very smart.”
Xiao Jingcheng assumed he had guessed correctly and shrugged indifferently.
Jiang Ran turned his face away without explaining that what he actually meant was that Xiao Jingcheng was being pretty stupid right now.
He had helped her, but only after she had already injured Zhao Peng.
Xiao Jingcheng gripped the railing.
“But after what she did to Zhao Peng, given Zhao Peng and the B Team captain Xu Feiyan’s personalities, they definitely won’t let this go.”
Jiang Ran didn’t seem to care.
“If they refuse to let it go, then they’ll die.”
His words surprised Xiao Jingcheng.
He stared at Jiang Ran in disbelief.
“Are you going to completely turn against the B Team for her?”
“Turn against them?”
Jiang Ran sneered, a ruthless glint flashing in his eyes.
“They aren’t even qualified to be my opponents.”
After leaving the building, Jiang Ran headed straight toward the B Team.
He tossed the cigarette butt onto the ground, sending sparks scattering across the pavement.
He was in a terrible mood because he didn’t like meddling in other people’s affairs.
Lin Buyu’s words hadn’t awakened his conscience.
But she had killed someone who had once humiliated him terribly.
Gao Changsheng.
Before Jiang Ran awakened his ability, Gao Changsheng had broken both of his legs and forced him to drag his crippled body around and barely survive in a basement for an entire month.
He was the person who had taught Jiang Ran, through brutal reality, that people without supernatural abilities deserved to be trampled beneath everyone’s feet.
She had been lucky enough to kill someone who deserved to die.
Still, Jiang Ran was curious.
How had she managed to command the zombies to kill people?
He was certain she wasn’t a zombie.
No zombie had red blood.
And no zombie still breathed.
Could her ability be some kind of mental control?
But even mental-type ability users could only control humans.
They couldn’t possibly control zombies, which had neither reason nor the ability to think.
So what exactly was her ability?