After dinner, night had already fallen.
They took turns keeping watch while the others rested.
The campfire crackled and popped.
Ji Chaoxi and Quan Xiaoyi shared a blanket, leaning against each other as they slept.
Halfway through the night, Ji Chaoxi slowly opened her eyes.
Everyone else was asleep. Even Gong Cheng, who was on watch, had dozed off.
Ye Jiming lay in the farthest corner.
A perfect opportunity.
She silently got up, stepped over the others without making a sound, and left the courtyard.
Under the pale moonlight, she oriented herself and quickly reached the edge of the sonic interference range.
“Where are you going?”
A voice suddenly rang out.
Ji Chaoxi’s entire body stiffened.
The hairs on her back stood on end.
Grinding her teeth, she pretended not to hear and kept running toward the wilderness.
She couldn’t stop.
If she stopped, it would be over.
Even if Ye Jiming had awakened an ability, at most it was Tier-1. He couldn’t catch her.
Suddenly, something tripped her feet and her body pitched forward uncontrollably—
A tall figure appeared instantly, catching her by the waist and pulling her back up.
“Wife, where are you going?”
His deep voice sounded like the night of the wasteland itself—cold enough to seep into her bones.
Right… before the apocalypse, they had been an arranged marriage couple.
“Why aren’t you speaking? Is my wife’s tongue uncomfortable? Let me take a look.”
Ye Jiming tilted her chin up.
Ji Chaoxi struck first. Several vines shot out from behind, attacking him.
He didn’t even react.
He lowered his head and kissed her.
In the next instant, Ji Chaoxi realized something horrifying.
Her vines had been restrained by something invisible, unable to advance even a single inch.
She couldn’t beat Ye Jiming.
She was finished.
Pain flashed across her lips, dragging her back to reality.
“Still distracted? Thinking of escaping?”
His voice was calm, but it sounded like a devil whispering in her ear.
He knew.
He had been pretending to sleep.
Ji Chaoxi swallowed nervously, forcing herself to lie.
“I-I wasn’t running. I just needed to use the bathroom. Yes, I just needed the bathroom.”
“Oh? Bathroom? I’ll help you.”
His hand pressed against her waist.
Ji Chaoxi panicked immediately. “No, no, I can do it myself.”
“But serving my wife is my duty.”
The word wife—and especially master when he used it—sounded like both warning and mockery.
Ji Chaoxi nearly cried. She forced herself to ask, “Ye Jiming, what exactly do you want?”
“F*ck you.”
Her mind blanked at his blunt answer.
Her heartbeat spiked, and her body trembled uncontrollably as memories from the previous night resurfaced.
Ye Jiming looked satisfied with her reaction.
He lifted her chin and leaned closer.
“Was it not good enough last night? Did I fail to satisfy my master, so she ran away without a word?”
“I didn’t.” Ji Chaoxi quickly tried to think. “I didn’t abandon you. It’s a Rank-5 Mutated Beast mission—it’s dangerous. I didn’t want you to take the risk.”
“Oh.” He stood upright, voice casual. “Sorry, I misunderstood my wife.”
Ji Chaoxi forced a smile. “Let’s go back. It’s dangerous here.”
“But my master hasn’t gone to the bathroom yet.”
He switched between wife and master so casually that Ji Chaoxi felt her nerves twist.
“I-I already did.”
“Then why were you here?”
“I… I saw a very rare plant and came to take a look.”
“Oh? Where is it?”
“…Let’s just go back. It’s too dangerous.”
In the distance, mutated beasts had already noticed them, slowly gathering—twenty to thirty of them, their presence suffocating under the moonlight.
Ji Chaoxi couldn’t help but think of herself being thrown into a Mutant Beast Horde by Ye Jiming.
Her breathing grew uneven.
What should she do?
Even though the system mission wasn’t her choice, the harm had already been done. Ye Jiming should hate her.
But she was also terrified. Ever since she learned the ending, she had been trapped in fear.
If she refused the system mission, it would take control of her body and forcibly collect villainization value—and punishment would follow.
That kind of pain was worse than anything she had experienced in the lab.
Pain that came from the soul itself.
“Ye Jiming… let’s go back, okay?”
Her voice was soft, pleading, almost on the verge of tears.
The trembling figure in his arms made Ye Jiming swallow his sarcasm.
He lifted her up without hesitation.
Ji Chaoxi closed her eyes and leaned against him, still trembling.
Ye Jiming frowned slightly. Gray-black mist drifted from beneath his feet, wrapping around the incoming beasts and swallowing them without leaving a trace of blood behind.
When they returned to the sonic interference zone, Gong Cheng’s voice came from the dark.
“You’re back? I woke up and didn’t see you—I thought you got eaten.”
Ji Chaoxi got down from Ye Jiming’s arms.
“Brother Cheng, go rest. I’ll take over the watch.”
Gong Cheng looked between them.
“Alright. Thanks for your hard work.”
He turned and left.
Ji Chaoxi exhaled softly. “Thank you.”
Ye Jiming raised a brow, his dark eyes fixed on her pale face lit by moonlight.
“What are you thanking me for?”
“For bringing me back.”
Instead of throwing her into a Mutated Beast Horde.
Ye Jiming tilted his head. “How are you going to repay me?”
Ji Chaoxi flexed her slightly numb hands.
“All mission rewards will go to you.”
“Fine. I accept.”
She nodded and walked toward the building.
Under the thin moonlight, her slender figure looked fragile.
Ye Jiming’s mind replayed the feeling of her waist in his grip—like something he could snap with a slight squeeze.
Gray-black mist churned in his eyes.
“Ji Chaoxi.”
He suddenly called her.
She stopped and turned. “What is it?”
“I want your thanks right now.”
“I haven’t received the reward yet. When we get back—”
“Ji Chaoxi.”
He interrupted her and walked closer step by step.
In the darkness, she seemed to see a bloodthirsty wolf approaching.
She instinctively wanted to retreat—but thinking of the others inside the house, she froze in place.
He stopped in front of her, backlit by the moon, his gaze locked onto her lips.
And then—
A finger pressed gently against her soft, cold lips.
His eyes grew darker.
“Ji Chaoxi, I want you to kiss me.”