In an instant, the four elemental attacks were firmly blocked by a wall of fire.
Jiang Ye closed her eyes, but the pain she anticipated never came; instead, a wave of heat washed over her face.
Opening her eyes, she looked at the firewall that had materialized out of thin air and knew she had gambled correctly.
Zhou Yan possessed Level 4 fire-element abilities.
The other four were only Level 2, so their attacks were easily fended off.
What a pity for the new dress on the ground, though—it had been reduced to ashes.
“Brother Yan?! Why?!”
Lin Hui’s voice rang out, full of unwillingness.
The firewall vanished.
Jiang Ye appeared completely unscathed before the group, the triumphant look on her face so smug it made their teeth itch with hatred.
She smiled even more arrogantly and even blew a kiss toward Zhou Yan, who had turned to look at her. He knitted his brows and averted his gaze, which only made her chuckle.
Having inherited all of the original owner’s memories, flattering these people was completely out of the question.
The original owner had indeed been a self-centered drama queen, but these people hadn’t bullied her any less in private. They withheld her water and food supplies, used their powers to trip her up or soak her with water out of nowhere, and even lured zombies toward her to make her look pathetic. Because of them, the original owner had suffered a non-stop barrage of minor injuries and constant distress.
With all those memories in mind, Jiang Ye naturally leaned toward taking the original owner’s side.
All she could say was that while the original owner had been obnoxious, her behavior hadn’t come out of nowhere.
Thinking of the original owner’s twin sister, Jiang Xing, Jiang Ye’s eyes darkened for a moment.
Zhou Yan was also feeling a surge of annoyance at his own intervention. He had originally intended to let her learn a lesson, stepping in only after she was slightly hurt. After all, as Jiang Xing’s sister, he couldn’t leave her to die.
However, the moment she called out to him in a tone identical to Jiang Xing’s—with that exact same face—it threw him into a momentary panic, causing him to react reflexively before he could stop himself.
Far from teaching her a lesson, it had only made her even more insufferable.
Zhou Yan looked at Jiang Ye with undisguised disgust.
He truly couldn’t comprehend how Jiang Xing’s sister could be so stupid and selfish.
Beside him, Lin Hui continued to whine, demanding an explanation while looking at Zhou Yan as if she were on the verge of tears.
Jiang Ye raised an eyebrow at the sight.
A secret crush?
Lin Hui couldn’t understand why Zhou Yan had protected Jiang Ye. Was it purely because she was Jiang Xing’s sister?
At the thought, a wave of sour jealousy washed through her chest, making her gaze toward Jiang Ye turn even more venomous.
Both of these sisters are insufferable!
Zhou Yan lowered his voice and said, “Enough. Right now, our priority is figuring out how to regroup with Jiang Xing and the others. It’s not worth wasting time over certain individuals.”
The phrase ‘certain individuals’ obviously referred to Jiang Ye.
Realizing he was right, the others cast disdainful glances at the ‘individual’ in question.
Although the squad hadn’t been formed for very long, its hierarchy was crystal clear.
Zhou Yan’s fire abilities were at Level 4—a level exceedingly rare to reach within just two months of the apocalypse. As a result, his words carried immense weight in the squad. Since he said to drop it, they had no choice but to drop it.
Zhou Yan glanced up at the darkening sky.
“Before night falls completely, let’s find a place to stay overnight.”
Zombies were more active and far more dangerous at night.
The others had no objections. Leaving Jiang Ye behind without a second thought, they turned to leave.
Just as Zhou Yan took a step forward, his body froze for a split second. Even though he hid it extremely well, Lin Hui—who had been keeping a close eye on him—noticed it immediately.
She hurried forward a few steps, reaching out to support him.
“Brother Yan, what’s wrong?”
Zhou Yan took a step back, dodging her touch.
Lin Hui’s face paled.
Zhou Yan took a deep breath. “I’m fine. Let’s move.”
The others looked on with concern.
“Where are you hurt, Brother Yan?”
Zhou Yan was the strongest fighter among them; if he was seriously injured, they would be in big trouble.
Someone expressed nostalgic regret: “If Sister Xing were here, she could use her abilities to heal Brother Yan.”
At those words, everyone directed hostile glares toward the culprit, Jiang Ye.
If it weren’t for her, how could they have ended up in such a dire situation?
【Ding-dong~ Have target Zhou Yan carry you on his back. Time limit: 1 minute.】
The system’s voice echoed in her mind.
Jiang Ye’s mind raced. She hadn’t expected the tasks to come with a timer.
While the others were clueless, Jiang Ye—who knew the entire plot—understood what had happened.
When the original owner was ambushed by a zombie, Zhou Yan had reached out to grab her. But by a stroke of horrible luck, the zombie slipped, its head slamming directly into Zhou Yan’s crotch.
With the apocalypse raging and supplies scarce, Zhou Yan kept his nerves strung tight every single day through constant, blood-soaked killing, making his body far more sensitive than before. Right when his whole body was in a state of high arousal and tension, that specific spot took a blow. What would normally be a minor pain was magnified tenfold in that moment.
But how could he possibly explain that to the others?
Naturally, all the blame fell on Jiang Ye.
Zhou Yan joined the rest of the group in glaring coldly at the woman off to the side, who was smiling shameless and brazenly.
He had no idea what she was smirking at.
“Let’s move.”
At Zhou Yan’s command, the group gathered their composure and prepared to set off.
Then, a delicate, sickeningly sweet voice rang out.
“Zhou Yan, I can’t walk.”
Hearing that voice gave Lin Hui goosebumps all over. Overcome with an indescribable envy, she whipped around to stare at Jiang Ye.
“Jiang Ye, have you no shame?!”
Jiang Ye ignored her outburst completely, stubbornly fixing her eyes on the tight-lipped man.
“Zhou Yan~”
Zhou Yan felt nothing but repulsion. He knit his brows coldly, his gaze locking onto Jiang Ye as if turning into physical blades of fire.
He warned, “Don’t ever call my name in that tone again!”
“But I twisted my ankle, I really can’t walk.”
Jiang Ye put on a pitiful expression and revealed her ankle.
At that moment, her ankle—where skin tone could barely be made out through the dirt—did indeed show a faint sign of redness and swelling.
Jiang Ye gritted her teeth and endured it.
It was the apocalypse now; fresh water was getting scarcer by the day, and showers were an impossible luxury. The bare bit of skin showing on her body was only clean because the original owner had thrown tantrums at Jiang Xing to hoard stolen fresh water just to wipe herself down.
The odor on her body was genuinely unappetizing.
Earlier, she had actually thought there was a pit of filth nearby; little did she realize the smell was coming from her own body.
Then again, she had no elemental powers and made zero contributions to the team. Why would anyone share hard-earned fresh water with a universally despised burden like her?
Jiang Ye was acutely aware of her current plight; experiencing it firsthand was far harder than reading it in a novel.
With zero self-defense capabilities, an empty stomach, danger lurking around every corner in the post-apocalyptic world, and a bunch of ability users eager to see her dead… every step forward was an uphill battle.
The others were equally filthy. Looking at Jiang Ye’s ‘fair’ ankle, a flicker of something subtle flashed through the eyes of the three men.
Only Zhou Yan remained unfazed, staring at her coldly.
Seeing Jiang Ye’s ankle filled Lin Hui with murderous jealousy. Everyone else had been filthy for a long time, yet Jiang Ye had shamelessly thrown tantrums to snatch other people’s water just to wipe her own body down. If it weren’t for Jiang Xing protecting her, she would have died a dozen times over!
She snapped spitefully, “Then you can just stay here by yourself.”
She couldn’t help but harbor a vicious thought: It would be best if she just died.
Jiang Ye drooped her eyelids and spoke in a tone designed to infuriate them.
“Ah, if my sister were here, she definitely wouldn’t leave me behind. Even if she had to carry me on her back, she’d bring me along. As expected, wonderful and kind women like my sister are rare nowadays. If she knew how pitiful I am right now, she’d be crying tears again.”
After saying that, she even cast a glance at Zhou Yan, her implication crystal clear.
That’s right—she was deliberately bringing up Jiang Xing. Zhou Yan was one of the male leads and currently harbored feelings for Jiang Xing, so he definitely wouldn’t sit idly by and ignore his crush’s sister.
The others were enraged by her shameless behavior.
Who was to blame for all of this in the first place?!
Zhou Yan stood motionless.
In her mind, the countdown was ticking closer to zero.
At the very last second before time ran out, he moved.
With a helpless sigh, Zhou Yan stepped up to her and crouched halfway down.
“Get on.”
Lin Hui shrieked, “Brother Yan!”
Looking at the broad back before her, Jiang Ye hopped on without a moment’s hesitation.
【Ding-dong~ Target Zhou Yan has taken the Host onto his back. Intimacy level +1, total score: 1. Reward: 10 minutes of hot bath time. Host may select the activation time at your discretion.】