He absolutely didn’t believe that some jade pendant could swallow up supplies. It was far more likely that someone inside the base was secretly behind it.
In fact, he already had a few suspects in mind.
Just as Ren Hao was seriously considering the matter, another figure came rushing through the door.
“Young Master! This is bad! People from the Blazing Tiger Squad have stormed in! They even snatched Qiao Lingling away!”
Ren Hao shot to his feet.
“What?!”
…
Inside the exchange street of Jiaoyang Base.
Shu Ran wore a pure-red cloak and wandered around beside Yu Yan.
The street was packed with all kinds of dazzling goods, enough to leave Shu Ran’s eyes practically spinning.
But since someone else was following behind her to pay, she could simply take anything that caught her eye.
By the time Yu Yan’s hands were completely full, and there was nowhere left to carry anything, Shu Ran finally followed him toward the inn where they were staying, looking thoroughly reluctant to leave.
“Did you hear? Ren Hao’s residence was attacked!”
“What? Who would be so bold as to target the heir?!”
“Who else could it be? The Blazing Tiger Squad, obviously… I heard they didn’t get anything out of Ren Hao the last time they went to H City, so they completely lost it. I thought they were just a little crazy, but who would’ve guessed they’d actually dare to attack Ren Hao?”
“I heard it was actually because of a woman…”
As soon as they entered the inn’s lobby, several faint voices drifted over from a corner.
Shu Ran peeked through the hood of her cloak and glanced in that direction. Sure enough, she spotted four people gathered around a table, whispering and gossiping.
Although they had lowered their voices enough, Shu Ran still caught every word.
Once she returned to the room she shared with Yu Yan, she eagerly told him all about the gossip she had just overheard.
The more she talked, the more excited she became. Before long, she had gone from Ren Hao being attacked to discussing the base’s public security.
Her range of topics was truly astonishing.
Watching the girl’s rosy little lips chatter nonstop, Yu Yan lowered his head with a soft laugh and gave her a quick kiss.
“This is only the beginning.”
After saying that, he didn’t explain any further. He simply picked up the soft, little girl in his arms and strode into the bedroom, then shut the door with a resounding bang.
…
Yu Yan was right.
Ren Hao being attacked really was only the beginning.
From that day onward, the entire Jiaoyang Base fell into a tense and uneasy state.
Zombie hunters could be seen hurrying around everywhere, while the sounds of gunfire and explosions rang out from unknown locations.
Shu Ran was wrapped in a blanket, boredly watching wisps of smoke rise outside the window, when the System suddenly cried out in surprise.
【Ranran, Qiao Lingling is dead! And she was killed after being surrounded by zombies!】
Shu Ran immediately straightened up.
“Hmm?”
Qiao Lingling was dead?
【What happened?】
【Let me check…】
The System’s bear paws flew across the air like lightning, and in the shortest time possible, it found out how Qiao Lingling had died.
【I found it!】
【Remember that gossip we heard two days ago? Actually, when the Blazing Tiger Squad attacked Ren Hao, they were after Qiao Lingling.】
【But things weren’t that simple. The Blazing Tiger Squad had already been unhappy with Ren Hao because of what happened in H City, so they secretly got in touch with Ren Hao’s rival, Wu Hong.】
【They learned from one of Ren Hao’s subordinates that Qiao Lingling had fled with the supplies and was later captured and brought back. Wu Hong was afraid that if Ren Hao really obtained those supplies and restored his reputation, things would get even worse for him. So he egged the leader of the Blazing Tiger Squad on to snatch Qiao Lingling away.】
【But after they took her, they discovered that Qiao Lingling wasn’t actually a space ability user. They’d been tricked! So Wu Hong, furious, threw Qiao Lingling into the basement where he kept his zombies…】
At this point, System hugged its fragile little self.
【This Wu Hong is so scary! He actually keeps an entire basement full of zombies!】
After listening to System, Shu Ran finally understood the whole sequence of events.
Only…
Shu Ran’s beautiful fox-like eyes narrowed slightly, her glassy pupils fixing directly on Yu Yan, who was sitting on the sofa.
She just had a feeling that Yu Yan had a hand in all of this.
Sensing the girl’s gaze, Yu Yan, who had been reading the Jiaoyang Daily, casually removed his gold-rimmed glasses and turned to look at her.
“What’s wrong?”
Under the man’s gaze, Shu Ran’s waist instinctively ached.
She hurriedly looked away.
“Nothing…”
Then she continued gossiping with System.
Shu Ran and Yu Yan had been staying at Jiaoyang Base for five days.
Then, on the morning of the sixth day, a massive explosion jolted everyone in the base awake.
The order within Jiaoyang Base completely collapsed.
Whether on the streets or inside various private establishments, scenes of burning, killing, looting, and plundering could be seen everywhere.
The forces of Ren Hao and Wu Hong had finally gone to war in earnest.
But Shu Ran didn’t care much about the artillery fire outside.
The main reason she and Yu Yan had come this time was to pick up some people.
They were researchers who had been suppressed for a long time because their ideas and research philosophies differed from those of the director of Jiaoyang Base’s research institute, Old Wang.
Perhaps they had endured it for too long. Eventually, one of them completely snapped and confronted Old Wang.
The outcome was predictable.
He was stripped of his status, had all of his research confiscated, and was eventually forced to survive in the slums.
By chance, he came into contact with Dong Zizhuo.
After going back and forth a few times, he was drawn in by Dong Zizhuo’s promises of freedom—and the five huge steamed buns that came with a single meal.
So, in the end, he rallied everyone else in the same situation as him and led them in pledging allegiance to Yu Yan!
The problem was that while it would have been easy for him to leave the base alone, bringing along so many researchers who were still officially registered with the research institute was another matter entirely.
So they told Dong Zizhuo about their predicament.
And that was why Yu Yan and Shu Ran had come.
Taking advantage of the chaos, they picked up all the researchers.
Then Yu Yan parked the vehicle somewhere very close to Ren Hao’s residence.
He waited until a fully armed man, practically covered from head to toe in guns and ammunition, climbed into the vehicle before starting the engine again.
Seeing the curiosity in Shu Ran’s eyes, he casually introduced the man.
“My brother, Zheng Jiarong. He’s been undercover beside Ren Hao this whole time.”
Actually, Ren Hao’s side wasn’t the only one that had been buying off his people.
Yu Yan had also planted his own men beside Ren Hao.
In an era where people could be eaten alive and turned into food at any moment, how could anyone survive this long without a few tricks up their sleeve?
Zheng Jiarong was also quick on the uptake.
Seeing how close Yu Yan and Shu Ran were, he immediately grinned and called out,
“Hello, sister-in-law!”
Shu Ran: …
She really didn’t want to be anyone’s sister-in-law.
Her lips moved once, then again, but in the end, she still didn’t correct him.
Forget it. Let them call her whatever they wanted.
【Good grief! I knew Zheng Jiarong sounded familiar!】
System suddenly shrieked in surprise.
【He’s the one who told Wu Hong that Qiao Lingling’s space contained supplies!】
At this point, System connected everything that had happened over the past few days.
Then it shuddered all over.
Could it be…
The Supreme God had gone through all these twists and turns not only to bring down Ren Hao, but also because he wanted Qiao Lingling to die horribly among the zombies?
The reason System thought this was because, while looking through the information, it had discovered that Wu Hong had a terrible temper.
And his favorite method of torturing people was to feed them alive to zombies…
Thinking about that, System suddenly didn’t dare look directly at the Supreme God anymore.
How could someone with such a handsome face possibly do something so utterly unhinged?!
Shu Ran had no idea what kind of psychological struggle System had just gone through.
After hearing what System said, she simply gave Zheng Jiarong another appreciative glance.
Then Yu Yan caught her hand.
The man’s long, dark eyes remained fixed on the road ahead, yet it was as if he had noticed every tiny movement she made.
“Sit properly. Stop looking around.”