Even if anyone who turned into a zombie had to be put down on the spot…
She was still his birth mother.
The fact that he could raise a gun and shoot his own mother without a moment’s hesitation was proof enough that he was cold-blooded to the core, devoid of even a shred of human warmth.
And when he shot her, a mocking smirk had even curled on the corner of his lips.
By the time the crowd recovered from their shock, Jiang Ran had already walked out of the conference room.
Jiang Tao had not forgotten the look in Jiang Ran’s eyes—the way he looked at him like an insignificant insect.
An unprecedented surge of humiliation instantly consumed him, driving him to give chase without a second thought.
As Jiang Ran stepped out into the hallway, the icy edge in his eyes softened with a flicker of surprise when he caught sight of a charming figure waiting at the far end.
“What are you doing here?” he asked Lin Buyu, his face expressionless.
After the zombie horde surrounding the base dispersed, the leaders of all thirteen esper squads had been summoned to the conference room. Lin Buyu had originally intended to head back to her quarters to figure out what on earth was happening with the core forming in her head.
However, she overheard Su Ya and Nie Fei watching a young man in a white suit and muttering: “Why the hell is that dumbass Jiang Tao here again? If you ask me, Ran-ge should just throw him straight into a pile of zombies and save himself the headache. Every time he sees Ran-ge, he has to bring up how his parents shoved him into a crowd of zombies.”
When Lin Buyu heard that, she almost doubted her own ears.
Jiang Ran was actually pushed into a horde of zombies by his own birth parents?!
Why hadn’t that been mentioned in the novel plot provided by the System?
It had merely stated that Jiang Ran was cold-blooded and unfeeling, completely indifferent even when his biological parents died right before his eyes.
Damn it, who wouldn’t turn cold and unfeeling after going through that?!
Overcome with indignation, Lin Buyu had suddenly felt a burning urge to march over and give Jiang Tao a piece of her mind.
After reading through the detailed plot regarding Jiang Tao, she wanted to beat the dumbass half to death even more.
The immersion was far too real—reading the novel plot had genuinely infuriated her.
So, the second she finished reading the plot details, she had rolled up her sleeves and rushed straight over.
She was just about to answer Jiang Ran when she saw a young man in white come stumbling out of the conference room, clutching his chest and spitting up blood.
This young man in white was Jiang Tao.
Glaring maliciously at Jiang Ran’s back, he growled: “Jiang Ran, if you have what it takes, then kill me! I don’t need your mercy! Don’t think for a second that just because your abilities are strong, you can look down on everyone from your high horse!”
“Let me tell you—no matter how proud you are, you’re still an unwanted orphan! There isn’t a single soul in this world who gives a damn about you! Before the apocalypse, you humiliated me for your mother’s sake. After the apocalypse, you risked life and limb to flee with her, escaping death by a hair’s breadth!”
“And yet, just to save her own skin, your mother pushed you straight into a crowd of zombies! To beg for my protection, she even called you a damned bastard, claiming she never loved you and wished she had never brought you into this world!”
“You probably never saw the way she groveled and begged at my feet, did you?!”
“She knelt on the ground and licked my shoes—you have no idea just how pathetic and humble she was, do you?!”
“And Dad never considered you his son for a single second! In his eyes, I am his only child! Your mother was never loved by him, and you aren’t worthy of his love either!”
“Even your beloved, most respected grandfather begged you on his deathbed to protect me and Dad, to give us a way out! Grandfather was bitten to death by zombies while saving you—do you honestly think he loved you more than us?!”
“He didn’t! He knew you hated evil with a passion and would never leave me or Dad alive! So he used his own life to save you, burdening you with that debt of gratitude so that every time you wanted to move against us, you’d have to stay your hand!”
“Hahaha! He knew full well how much wrong and humiliation you suffered at our hands, yet he still demanded that of you! Do you really think he loved you more than me and Dad?!”
“…Jiang Ran, stop deluding yourself! The one he loved most was his son! Even if he didn’t love me as deeply as he loved you, it doesn’t change the fact that he loved me too! From beginning to end, you were nothing more than a trash heap everyone reviled! So what right do you have to look down on me?!”
“Even if I am a bastard, I am a bastard who was showered with love by everyone! What are you?! You were an unwanted stray from the day you were born! You’re just a worthless, unloved bastard!”
Jiang Ran stood rooted to the spot, his back turned to Jiang Tao as he listened to every single word of toxicity spat at him.
His expression didn’t flicker in the slightest, his dark eyes fixing upon Lin Buyu, who stood across from him looking dazed.
“Finished listening? If you’re done, we can leave.”
He appeared like an impenetrable wall of iron and stone, entirely unphased by Jiang Tao’s venomous rant.
Lin Buyu, however, was a different story—she was practically bursting with fury!
At her insistence, the System had revealed the entire back-story between Jiang Ran and his parents—a narrative never included in the novel’s main text.
Because the main story had opened directly with the apocalypse, focusing entirely on the male protagonist.
As the story’s ultimate villain, Jiang Ran only ever made appearances that directly served the protagonist’s plot.
Consequently, none of these details had been spelled out in the main text.
Having read through Jiang Ran’s past, Lin Buyu felt an overwhelming wave of sympathy for the man, just as any reader would.
Yet hearing Jiang Tao hurl it into his face in real-time felt completely different.
That sympathy instantly morphed into an inexplicable, aching heartache.
Closing her eyes tightly for a second, she sprinted toward Jiang Ran and abruptly threw her arms around him, wrapping him in a tight hug: “I’m done listening, but we can’t leave just yet. Wait for me for a sec.”
A sudden embrace, followed by a sudden release.
It was like the warming sun of a spring morning, yet as fleeting as a breeze slipping through one’s fingers.
Jiang Ran turned around, watching Lin Buyu as she turned and charged right back in the opposite direction.
Lin Buyu stopped directly in front of Jiang Tao.
Jiang Tao stared at the woman who had suddenly materialized before him. She looked far too clean and beautiful to be living through an apocalypse.
Having just seen her embrace Jiang Ran, he naturally assumed she was in league with him.
Catching the blazing fury in her eyes, he knew she was standing up for Jiang Ran.
He hated anyone who treated Jiang Ran well, driving him to vilify Jiang Ran with everything he had: “You’re Jiang Ran’s woman? Ha, you feel sorry for him? Let me tell you, he’s a cold-blooded, ruthless killing machine who slaughters without blinking! Even his own mother and father found him revolting! Instead of standing up for him, you’d be much better off pleasing me—”
“Is that so?” Lin Buyu slashed her right hand forward, a gleaming arc of icy steel flashing under the light.
Splat.
The sickening sound of a blade slicing straight through flesh.
Jiang Tao’s eyes bulged in absolute terror. Hands frantically clutching his throat to stifle the geyser of blood spurting from his neck, he slid helplessly down toward the floor in sheer disbelief.
Lin Buyu stood over him, a gorgeous yet dangerously lethal smile blooming across her face: “Forgot to mention—I slaughter without blinking, too.”
Especially when it comes to scum like you.
Jiang Tao—a monster who had butchered Dr. Yang’s entire family just to force the biologist to research dangerous drugs, keeping only his daughter alive as leverage—deserved to die ten times over.
A mere illegitimate bastard, yet strutting around and barking arrogantly in front of the rightful heir.
A piece of filth who had toyed with women before the end times, driving people to leap off buildings.
Whether before or after the apocalypse, he was long overdue for a blade to the throat.
Lin Buyu looked like a devil dressed in an angel’s skin, a cold smile on her lips as she watched Jiang Tao writhe helplessly, drowning in panic and mortal dread as he tried to call for help.
His legs kicked frantically against the floor as he struggled to cry out, but with his windpipe severed, not a sound could escape his throat.
He could only stare up at Lin Buyu in absolute horror.
He couldn’t stand seeing anyone treat Jiang Ran with kindness, so Lin Buyu made a point of sickening him right before his dying breath, ensuring he would die with his eyes wide open in sheer resentment.
“No matter how hard you try to make everyone hate Jiang Ran, it’s useless,” Lin Buyu whispered down at him. “Let me tell you something—there are people in this world who love Jiang Ran deeply. I love Jiang Ran, and I love him more than my own life. If he chooses to be a hero saving the world, I’ll stand by his side and be a hero with him. If he becomes a ruthless, bloodthirsty demon, I’ll plunge into the dark and be a demon right along with him. Now, you can die satisfied.”
Jiang Tao lay there, listening to her tender declaration of love for Jiang Ran as his life force ebbed away second by second.
He was unwilling—so fiercely unwilling to accept that Jiang Ran actually had someone who loved him, someone willing to go to such lengths for his sake.
He was even more unwilling to die like this.
Yet he did, utterly powerless to cry out for help.
Inside the conference room, the leaders continued their heated debate, completely oblivious to the bloody drama unfolding just beyond the door.
From the moment Jiang Tao had begun spouting his toxic insults at Jiang Ran, Lin Buyu had quietly deployed one of her abilities as the Zombie Sovereign: Sonic Barrier.
The invisible dome created by the vibration completely sealed off all sound and sight from the outside world.
Having dealt with Jiang Tao, Lin Buyu turned back toward Jiang Ran. The moment she turned, her lethal demeanor vanished into a radiant, flower-like smile, transforming her back into a sweet, delicate young girl.
“Jiang Ran, I just killed the Base Chief’s precious son,” she chirped, tilting her head. “You can handle the fallout, right?”
Jiang Ran stared at her without a word, his dark, impenetrable eyes seemingly trying to pierce straight through her gaze and peer into her heart.
He rarely trusted liars.
He knew that her declaration of loving him more than life itself was just a tactic to sicken Jiang Tao in his final moments.
He knew that all the cheesy pickup lines she constantly tossed his way were completely fake.
He even knew she harbored a sense of justice that had no business existing in a post-apocalyptic wasteland.
He saw right through all of it, and he believed none of it.
And yet…
Jiang Ran gazed down at her deeply, his voice raspy and thick when he finally spoke: “There’s nothing in this world I can’t handle.”
Did he really just talk like that?
Lin Buyu blinked, but she couldn’t help thinking that his arrogant, “I’m invincible” attitude was strangely handsome.
Grinning like a naive sweetheart, she gave him a big thumbs-up: “Badass!”
Jiang Ran turned his head away and took long strides forward. Lin Buyu hastily scrambled to keep pace with him.
She grabbed his arm, tugging on it lightly: “Hey, slow down a bit! Jiang Ran…!”
Jiang Ran didn’t reply, but his steps perceptibly slowed.
Assuming he was still feeling down over Jiang Tao’s harsh words, Lin Buyu sought to distract him, taking his hand in hers: “I want to ask you a question.”
“What?” Jiang Ran, who usually ignored her antics, actually responded.
Lin Buyu cupped her face in her hands like a blooming flower: “Do you know the difference between you and the stars?”
The moment that familiar tone came out of her mouth, Jiang Ran knew another cheesy line was coming.
Yet he played along anyway: “What’s the difference?”
“The stars are up in the sky, of course, while you… are in my heart!”
Jiang Ran stayed silent, dipping his head as a low chuckle escaped him.
Lin Buyu asked again: “Do you smell something burning?”
Jiang Ran had heard this line before; it was all over the old internet.
He even knew the standard punchline.
Yet he still asked: “What smell?”
Lin Buyu clutched her chest, her face twisting: “It hurts so much!”
That was definitely not the standard script. Thinking she was genuinely in pain, Jiang Ran instantly caught her by the arm: “What’s wrong with you?”
Lin Buyu clutched her heart, shaking her head with a pained expression: “It’s nothing… It’s just that my heart is burning far too wildly for you. It hurts so bad!”
The original internet version went like this: Do you smell something burning? That’s my heart burning for you.
She had just cheekily improvised a twist on it.
Jiang Ran realized a second too late that he had been played.
Yet he wasn’t annoyed in the slightest.
Instead, a subtle wave of genuine amusement washed over him.
Gazing down at her playful, coaxing smile, Jiang Ran’s eyes grew deep: “Has anyone ever told you that your lying skills are pretty average?”
Huh?
Lin Buyu covered her eyes: “Is it really that obvious?”
Jiang Ran took her by the arm, letting out a soft laugh: “Extremely obvious. I can see right through it with a single look.”
He had laughed more times today than he usually did in a month.
Lin Buyu suddenly felt an odd chill run down her spine, as though she were about to be plotted against by someone.