15 – Progress
As soon as day broke, Ye Jin said she was going out to find food. Gu Jingzheng wasn’t worried about her running away, so he waited steadily at the gas station.
Of course she wouldn’t run – she’d already saved people, and gaining the Gu family’s favor wasn’t something to take lightly.
Ye Jin immediately went to several nearby gas stations and collected half of the gasoline from each site. After the apocalypse, gasoline became non-renewable, decreasing with every use.
But one shouldn’t be too extreme in their actions – they needed to leave a way out for those who might need it later.
The city was becoming increasingly filled with Zombies, and there were several previously marked spots she couldn’t get to in time. She needed to leave the city first, still somewhat worried about Xiao Chen and the others. She planned to return to the villa tomorrow.
By the time Ye Jin returned with food, it was already afternoon. Gu Jingzheng didn’t ask many questions – anyone who dared to run around in a city full of Zombies must have some capability. As for what Ye Jin had actually been doing, it wasn’t his place to pry.
The food in Gu Jingzheng’s own Dimension was more than enough to keep them from starving. If she wanted to go out, so be it.
As soon as she entered the gas station, she said to the man still recovering: “We need to leave before dark.”
She had been out for two days already – Yi Yi was probably worried sick.
Gu Jingzheng had no objections either. This wasn’t a good place to stay long – who knew if that group would return? In his current condition, he wasn’t suited for direct confrontation.
Getting in the car, Gu Jingzheng glanced at the car window. Was this Bulletproof glass specially installed after his last collision?
Returning to the residential area, they parked the car in a hidden spot. Walking to the building where they lived, there seemed to be far fewer Zombies around, with many dismembered Zombie limbs scattered on the ground.
Ye Jin pointed to the left-side window on the second floor and asked Gu Jingzheng: “I need to climb to the second floor and enter through the window. Can you manage with your injuries?”
Gu Jingzheng chuckled lightly: “You’re underestimating me too much!”
After speaking, he directly used both hands to climb onto the tree branches beside the house, then leaped toward the second-floor balcony and entered.
Inside, Zhang Yiyi was startled by the person suddenly coming through the window, ready to grab her knife and attack, but fortunately Ye Jin followed closely behind.
Seeing Ye Jin return, Zhang Yiyi immediately put away her knife and rushed over, grabbing her hand: “Ye Jin, it’s so dangerous outside, why did it take you so long to come back?”
Then with a bit of complaint: “That silent gourd Xia Li hasn’t said a single word to me since you left! I’m about to die of boredom!”
She was naturally talkative, but when faced with someone as taciturn as Xia Li, there wasn’t much she could do. She couldn’t exactly pry his mouth open – you could use a knife on Zombies, but not on him.
“Did you finish what you needed to do?”
Ye Jin shook her head: “Not yet. Wasted some time along the way saving someone.”
As she spoke, she glanced sideways at Gu Jingzheng standing nearby.
Only then did Zhang Yiyi shift her gaze to him, examining him carefully. This man looked tall and handsome with an upright appearance, but his aura was overwhelmingly powerful.
Gu Jingzheng nodded to Zhang Yiyi as a greeting, then glanced at Xia Li standing behind Zhang Yiyi.
Zhang Yiyi was curious – she and Ye Jin had been together every day before, so how come she didn’t know about such a person around Ye Jin? With such a unique presence, she would definitely remember if she had seen him before.
“Hello, I’m Ye Jin’s friend, Zhang Yiyi.”
“Gu Jingzheng.”
Zhang Yiyi looked at Ye Jin, but Ye Jin didn’t offer much introduction.
She simply pointed to Xia Li and said to Gu Jingzheng: “His name is Xia Li! Since you’ve exchanged greetings, consider yourselves acquainted.”Ye Jin said to Zhang Yiyi and Xia Li, “He’ll be staying with us during his recovery. Rest well tonight, we’re heading back tomorrow.”
Remembering the zombies that had been cleared downstairs, she asked Zhang Yiyi, “The zombies downstairs seem to have been cleared out. Did anything happen these past couple of days?”
At the mention of this, Zhang Yiyi immediately launched into an animated account: “Let me tell you, that Yu Ruanruan actually led Yuan Mo and his group to lure all the zombies from the school entrance over here. Now they’re all blocking the downstairs area. Good thing zombies can’t climb stairs yet! Otherwise, we’d be in real trouble.”
Currently, zombies couldn’t climb stairs because their level wasn’t high enough. But before long, true despair would arrive for humanity. As zombies leveled up, they wouldn’t just be able to climb stairs – they would even launch organized and disciplined attacks on human bases.
Zhang Yiyi grew even more indignant as she recalled what she’d heard about Yu Ruanruan’s actions: “I also heard Yu Lejia say that Yu Ruanruan caused her boyfriend to get scratched by zombies, and also…”
Then she remembered the sounds she’d heard last time, making even someone as straightforward as her blush with embarrassment. Since awakening her Special Ability, she had become much more sensitive to surrounding movements.
She said with difficulty, “Yu Ruanruan actually… did that kind of thing with Yuan Mo in the stairwell…”
Zhang Yiyi didn’t know how to describe it. Xia Li had been present when she heard those sounds, making her entire face burn crimson.
Hearing this, Ye Jin roughly understood – it was all within her expectations. In her previous life, Yuan Mo had been Yu Ruanruan’s ultimate simp.
She remembered that in her previous life, Yu Ruanruan and Yuan Mo’s relationship hadn’t progressed this quickly.
In her past life, Yu Ruanruan had been well-versed in harem management principles – only those she couldn’t obtain were considered simps. Before Ye Jin died, Yu Ruanruan had never let Yuan Mo sleep with her, at most engaging in some ambiguous behavior.
It seemed many things had changed in this lifetime. Without Ye Jin’s protection, Yu Ruanruan had become desperate enough to grasp at any opportunity.
“So who killed the zombies downstairs?” Ye Jin went straight to the key question.
Zhang Yiyi paused: “It was Fu Yihao!”
Him? Ye Jin was surprised.
“Ye Jin, Fu Yihao seems to have brought people looking for you!”
Fu Yihao came looking for her? Ye Jin pondered. In her previous life too, Fu Yihao had brought people to rescue her, Zhang Yiyi, and Xiao Chen from the school, and had even agreed to her request to help the Yu family pick up Yu Ruanruan’s family.
Because of this, she had thought Fu Yihao was interested in her. But later, Fu Yihao had grown increasingly closer to Yu Ruanruan.
Zhang Yiyi looked at the silent Ye Jin and asked, “Xiao Jin, are you going to see him?”
A dark light flickered in Ye Jin’s eyes as she simply said, “No need. I have no relationship with him.”
Whether he had been involved in the events of her previous life, she could no longer verify. But Fu Yihao’s later favoritism toward Yu Ruanruan had indeed left her with reservations.
Moreover, in the book, he was one of the female lead’s important harem members. Even without her, Ye Jin, in this lifetime, hadn’t he still become entangled with Yu Ruanruan?
Regardless of why he had saved her life in her previous incarnation, the favors and grievances balanced out. In this life, if he threatened her loved ones, even if he was a powerful Special Ability user, she would personally eliminate him.
Ye Jin’s attitude made it clear she wanted nothing to do with Fu Yihao. Zhang Yiyi didn’t press further. Although Fu Yihao was heaven’s favored son, his personality was aloof and arrogant. Even though Ye Jin had never explicitly stated she liked him, after all their time knowing each other, nothing had come of it. With both having cold personalities, even Zhang Yiyi felt they were incompatible.Yu Ruanruan was already filled with regret. If she had known Fu Yihao would come, she would never have rushed into sleeping with Yuan Mo.
Now she didn’t have enough Points and was utterly defenseless. Yu Leyang had gone to Y Province on a business trip before the apocalypse. Although Yang Yu had woken up and awakened a powerful ice Special Ability, that shrew Yu Lejia still targeted her at every turn.
In order to secure some support, she had wanted to earn the Points first, but even after sleeping with Yuan Mo, the Points didn’t immediately max out—she was still 20 Points short.
“Host, please don’t be impatient. All experience points from romancing the male leads can be accumulated. Once the required value is reached, they can be exchanged. Currently, Fu Yihao’s favorability is 5 Points.”
Only 5 Points? She had met Fu Yihao so many times while following Ye Jin and frequently showed him kindness, yet his affection wasn’t even as high as Yuan Mo’s, whom she had only met a few times?
Could it be that those 5 Points were only because of Ye Jin?
“System, can you detect Fu Yihao’s affection toward Ye Jin?””Host, the System can only detect the affection of romance targets toward you.” Please focus on completing your romance tasks to avoid punishment.”
At the mention of punishment, Yu Ruanruan shuddered all over. The pain of being struck by lightning was deeply etched into her bones.
From a very young age, she had known that her brother, who was ten years older, had some perverted desires toward her. To make life in the Yu family more bearable, she had deliberately acted close to him but never dared to cross the line.
As soon as she obtained the System, she was ordered to romance Yu Leyang. When she refused, the System punished her with a lightning strike. The excruciating pain of being electrocuted forced her to submit, and in the end, she climbed into his bed that very night.
Thinking of Yu Leyang’s methods in bed, Yu Ruanruan felt a surge of fear and could only hope to encounter him again as late as possible.
His fondness toward her fluctuated wildly, extremely unstable. For now, the best approach was to fully romance Yuan Mo and Fu Yihao first. The reward Points for successfully romancing Fu Yihao and Yu Leyang were currently the highest.