Still completely paralyzed, Jiang Ran had no choice but to let Lin Buyu rub up against him.
He fixed his dark eyes on her as she stared back with bright, expectant eyes.
Yet, Jiang Ran wasn’t foolish enough to believe she genuinely liked him. The look and attitude of someone truly in love were completely different.
“You only did it because you were certain you wouldn’t get hurt.”
Tsk, well that takes all the fun out of it.
Lin Buyu pouted. “Group Leader, you really do have a heart of stone! Why must you be so rational all the time? Can’t you just entertain the thought that someone might actually be willing to die for you?”
Jiang Ran refused to be led astray by her act. “Your motive.”
“What motive?” Lin Buyu played dumb, wide-eyed.
Showing a rare flash of patience, Jiang Ran said, “Your goal in joining Yulan Base wasn’t to take over the base, nor was it to assassinate the leader. It was me. What I want to know is—what are you after by going through such lengths to get close to me?”
If he couldn’t see by now that she was targeting him specifically, he would have lived all these years for nothing.
Lin Buyu hadn’t expected Jiang Ran to be so acutely perceptive—guessing almost instantly that he was her target.
Of course, no matter how hard he racked his brain, he’d never guess her real objective.
So, shameless as ever, she flashed him a playful wink and delivered a ridiculously cheesy line in a soft, cooing tone: “Do you have any idea how simple love is? It’s so simple that the moment I laid eyes on you, I fell hopelessly head over heels. You guessed right—my motive really is you! The first time I met you, God leaned down and whispered four little words in my ear: Fated. Beyond. All. Escape.”
She enunciated those four words with dramatic flair, giving him a cheesy wink with every single syllable.
The villain needs to be reformed with love, right?
She had made him sound so overwhelmingly important—surely that would warm his heart just a little bit, wouldn’t it?
After all, people who need reforming are just starved for love!
She swore she was trying her absolute hardest to make him feel treasured.
She delivered her performance with deep, sultry passion, looking for all the world like a seductive siren leading him into temptation.
Yet Jiang Ran remained razor-sharp, clearly seeing that everything she did was entirely deliberate, calculated around him.
She didn’t love him—it wasn’t the so-called “love at first sight” she kept preaching.
He wasn’t going to fall into such an obvious trap.
Pressing his lips into a fine line, Jiang Ran felt the mobility finally return to his limbs. He reached out, pulled her into his arms, and leaned in close to murmur right against her ear: “If you love me so much that you’re willing to die for me… then how about having sex with me right now? Are you willing?”
The smile on Lin Buyu’s face nearly froze solid.
Sex, sex, sex—all this guy knows how to do is use this to threaten her, full well knowing she’s cornered by it.
Bah!
“What’s the matter? You love me enough to give your life, yet you’re unwilling when it comes to something so natural?”
Natural my foot! Who’s letting nature take its course with him?!
Curses raged in her mind, even as sweetness dripped from her lips.
Pushing against Jiang Ran’s chest, she cast him a flirtatiously coy look: “Mmm~ Group Leader, we’re out in the middle of nowhere—it’s not really appropriate. Besides, Nie Fei and the others are right outside… How about I accompany you properly once we get back…?”
Internally, Lin Buyu scratched her chin, deep in thought. Why does it feel like this whole strategy is veering off course?
Her mission was to reform Jiang Ran, but nobody said she had to reform him through romance!
Where exactly did things start going sideways?
Oh right—it started the moment she claimed she fell for him at first sight.
Tsk. This loose tongue of hers! Cheesy romance lines just spill out effortlessly—it’s all because she wrote way too many love letters for her younger brother back in the day.
“Fine. We’ll talk about it when we get back.” Jiang Ran released her, pulled open the door, and stepped out of the vehicle.
Seeing Jiang Ran walk over from a distance, Nie Fei and the others—who had been scouting the area—hastily hurried over, asking: “All done?”
The faint smirk in Jiang Ran’s eyes vanished instantly, replaced by a wall of icy frost.
Nie Fei immediately backpedaled: “Heh… my bad, Ran-ge! Are you and Lin Buyu finished catching up?”
Seeing the two of them whispering honeyed words in the car earlier, the rest of the group had strategically cleared the area.
None of them questioned why Jiang Ran hadn’t stepped in while they were being swarmed by zombies.
After all, he was notoriously indolent, often deciding whether to raise a finger purely based on his whim. They simply assumed he felt the situation hadn’t grown dire enough yet.
Thus, apart from Lin Buyu, no one realized that Jiang Ran had genuinely been rendered helpless.
And only Jiang Ran understood that the silver-tongued woman hadn’t come for his head.
If she wanted his life, she could have taken it the second he confessed his secret.
Yet she didn’t. Not only did she stay her hand, but she had also staged a grand act of self-sacrifice, drawing the zombie horde away to buy him time.
Jiang Ran had to admit—even knowing it was likely a calculated show, his emotions had been stirred.
Tsk.
He despised having his emotions swayed; it signaled a loss of control.
Su Ya had walked over to join Lin Buyu, and the two were chatting by the side of the car. Jiang Ran glanced over, catching a glimpse of her charming, animated smile.
It was just like earlier inside the car—leaning against his chest with a mind full of hidden schemes, yet fluttering her eyes and showering him with sweet talk all the same.
She already had Su Ya giggling uncontrollably.
Noticing his fixed gaze on Lin Buyu, Xiao Jingcheng stepped up beside him, adjusted his black-rimmed glasses, and offered in deadpan seriousness: “Ran-ge, why not just yield to her? That way, every lonely night might actually bring you some joy.”
Jiang Ran opened his right hand, unleashing a crackle of lightning that detonated at Xiao Jingcheng’s feet, very nearly singing him to a crisp.
Xiao Jingcheng clamped his mouth shut instantly.
“How far are we from the base?” Jiang Ran asked.
Returning to business, Xiao Jingcheng instantly straightened up: “I surveyed the area from high ground earlier. We’re roughly ten-plus kilometers out, maybe further. The vehicles are running on empty, and zombies are far more active at night. Should we wait until tomorrow morning to head back?”
Jiang Ran had no patience for waiting. “Unnecessary. A dozen kilometers is nothing—I can power the car with my ability.”
He moved without hesitation.
The group quickly piled into a single vehicle.
This time, Jiang Ran took the wheel—though he didn’t touch the gas pedal. He simply held the steering wheel to guide their trajectory.
The force driving the vehicle forward was a steady stream of lightning channeling directly from his hands.
Propelled by his ability, the car moved even faster than it would on gasoline.
Sitting in the front passenger seat, Lin Buyu leaned against the window and stared outside, marveling at how versatile supernatural powers could be.
Who knew electricity could be used as an engine?
Rushing against the clock, the group finally pulled up to the base around two in the morning.
The moment they returned, Lin Buyu collapsed onto her bed. Though zombies didn’t strictly require sleep, the sheer chaos of the day had left her unusually exhausted.
Even if she couldn’t sleep, her body needed to sprawl flat and idle.
Jiang Ran didn’t head back to his quarters, and Lin Buyu couldn’t be bothered to care where he went.
By the next morning, rumors were already circulating throughout the base. Words flew that Jiang Ran had led Team A out to scavenge medical supplies, only to return completely empty-handed.
It was the very first failure in Team A’s record.
No one could bring themselves to believe that a mission led by Jiang Ran could yield nothing.
Consequently, a far more sinister rumor began to take root.
Word was spreading that Jiang Ran had embezzled the supplies for himself, plotting to break away and betray the base.
Early that morning, Jiang Ran was summoned to the Base Leader’s office for questioning.
Upon entering, his demeanor proved far more arrogant than that of the Base Leader himself.
While the Leader sat behind his executive desk, Jiang Ran sprawled casually across the sofa opposite him.
“Did you want to ask me whether I actually stashed supplies away?”
He casually twirled a small, exquisitely crafted handgun in his hand—an item he had retrieved from the storage vault, part of the supplies he had brought back in the past.
He felt this gun suited Lin Buyu well.
She looked good holding a firearm.
Jiang Congwen started by fixing 江燃 with a sinister glare, but the second Jiang Ran looked up, his face instantly smoothed into a warm, practiced smile.
“Ah, why must we talk like this between father and son? The base’s supplies are your supplies. You are my most cherished child—how could there be any talk of ‘stashing’ or ‘hoarding’? I only wanted to check if someone in the base upset you recently. If anyone did, just tell me. I’ll make sure you aren’t wronged.”
Jiang Ran found it laughable. Jiang Congwen was simply terrified that he might actually abandon the base, stripping them of their ultimate safety net.
Had it not been for the promise he made to his grandfather never to kill him, Jiang Congwen would have died a hundred times over by now.
“Save your hypocritical concern for your precious illegitimate son. He’s returning in a few days—perhaps he’ll bring you a nice surprise.”
“Jiang Tao is coming back?” Jiang Congwen’s eyes lit up with excitement.
Jiang Ran threw him a sideways glance and sneered: “A word of advice: once he returns, warn him to stay away from where I live. Otherwise, if my hand slips, I might just take his worthless life.”
The smile on Jiang Congwen’s face almost cracked, but he forced himself to keep beaming: “Jiang Tao has always been well-behaved. He won’t push your buttons.”
“He’d better not.” Jiang Ran nodded, tossing the sleek handgun lightly in his palm as he took his sweet time walking out.
The second he stepped through the doorway, the smile wiped clean from Jiang Congwen’s face.
If the base didn’t still desperately need him, he would love nothing more than to shove this unfilial son into a zombie horde all over again and let him get eaten alive.
Meanwhile, Lin Buyu was taking a casual stroll around the base when she bumped into the registration clerk who had processed her on her very first day.
The clerk was a middle-aged woman who appeared pleasant enough and knew how to read the room.
Catching sight of Lin Buyu, she immediately jogged over with a friendly smile to strike up a conversation.
Seeing that Lin Buyu hadn’t been kicked out by Jiang Ran yet, the clerk figured Jiang Ran had to be hopelessly enraptured in her gentle embrace.
Word on the street was that he had even brought her along on yesterday’s field mission!
What sane leader brings a frail, delicate bedmate out on a lethal scouting run?
Eager to stay on her good side, the clerk walked alongside Lin Buyu, chatting away.
They started off with mundane small talk, but as the conversation flowed, the clerk took a sharp detour into juicy gossip.
She leaned in and whispered to Lin Buyu: “Miss Lin, how is Group Leader Jiang’s performance at night? Is he… strong?”
After all, rumors used to circulate that the reason Jiang Ran never kept a bedmate was because he was impotent. Now that he finally had someone by his side, the clerk’s curiosity was practically burning.
Lin Buyu had no clue how “strong” he was at night—they hadn’t done anything, after all.
She casually tossed out: “He’s… passably okay, I guess.”
Just passably okay?!
The clerk’s face twisted into an unreadable expression. Looks like the rumors were true after all.
As they passed by the clerk’s quarters, the woman asked Lin Buyu to hold on, then dashed inside and returned with a sleek white bottle.
“What’s this?” Lin Buyu asked, holding the bottle that looked suspiciously like body wash.
The clerk’s eyes crinkled into a sly smile: “Some good stuff for the shower! My husband scavenged it on a run. You don’t have to turn things like this in to the inventory vault, so take it. I’ve got plenty more inside.”
Shower stuff? So it really is body wash.
Lin Buyu unscrewed the cap and took a sniff—it actually smelled surprisingly delightful.
The water contamination in this apocalyptic world wasn’t as severe as in some other web novels; most of the natural water was still perfectly usable.
Coincidentally, Jiang Ran didn’t have any body wash back at his place.
“Alright then, I won’t stand on ceremony. Thanks!”
Humming a cheerful tune, Lin Buyu strolled all the way back to their quarters.
Jiang Ran was inside the bedroom, lying flat on the bed with his hands folded behind his head.
Seeing her head toward the bathroom, Jiang Ran casually called out to her: “I stopped by the warehouse earlier and grabbed a wooden tub for you.”