“Something entered his body.”
The bullet tore through the air. Accompanied by the dull thud of it striking the target, the scoring announcement sounded.
【B-Team Huang Jieshu: 8.7 rings】
【C-Team Jiang Qiao: 10.9 rings】
10.9. A perfect score.
Huang Jieshu’s pupils suddenly widened. He whipped his head around, his eyes filled with disbelief.
Had she been pretending before?
No, that couldn’t be it. She had probably just regained her shooting form.
It didn’t matter. He was still ahead. There was no need to worry.
The countdown began again. He had no time to think any further and hurriedly turned back to aim.
【B-Team Huang Jieshu: 8.2 rings】
【C-Team Jiang Qiao: 10.9 rings】
The announcement sounded again, and an uproar broke out among the people behind them.
At the center of everyone’s attention, the short-haired girl seemed to have shut out the existence of everyone around her. She silently raised her gun and aimed at the target, waiting for the next countdown.
Huang Jieshu gritted his teeth, quickly wiped the sweat from his palm, and raised his gun again.
But this time, the hand holding it began to tremble almost imperceptibly.
【B-Team Huang Jieshu: 8.3 rings】
【C-Team Jiang Qiao: 10.9 rings】
【B-Team Huang Jieshu: 8.0 rings】
【C-Team Jiang Qiao: 10.9 rings】
……
【B-Team Huang Jieshu: 7.2 rings】
【C-Team Jiang Qiao: 10.9 rings】
【B-Team Huang Jieshu Total Score: 81.9】
【C-Team Jiang Qiao Total Score: 95.2】
【C-Team Jiang Qiao wins】
The instant the final announcement sounded, the entire C-Team erupted into thunderous cheers. The female soldiers excitedly rushed forward and surrounded Wendy.
The members of B-Team looked at one another, discussing in disbelieving whispers.
Huang Jieshu’s face had turned ashen. He slowly lowered his gun in a daze.
7.2 rings?
No. No, how was that possible?
It shouldn’t be like this. It shouldn’t!
The surrounding gazes burned into him, making him not even dare to raise his head.
How could this be? How could anyone possibly hit a perfect score with every single shot?!
The Jiang Qiao from before had only been able to maintain around 10.5. And besides, she had even missed the target with her first shot.
Something must have gone wrong. Something had to be wrong……
His muddled mind held onto that single thought. Suddenly, he raised his head and strode toward Wendy, who was only a few meters away.
The girl was surrounded by the entire C-Team, while the female soldiers excitedly praised her.
The short-haired girl stood among them like a quiet yet resilient orchid, accepting her teammates’ praise with a faint smile.
It shouldn’t be like this.
The one who should have won this match and earned the points and praise should have been him!
It had to be Jiang Qiao. She must have tampered with her gun!
With that thought, Huang Jieshu hurried forward and reached out, intending to snatch the gun from Wendy’s hands.
However, the instant he grabbed the gun grip, the girl twisted her wrist. Her service pistol spun nimbly and returned to her hand.
With nothing left to support him, Huang Jieshu stumbled and fell onto the ground.
She raised the gun and looked down at him coldly.
“Trying to take someone else’s service weapon? Do you want to spend some time in the brig?”
Huang Jieshu clearly came back to his senses as well, realizing that anger had clouded his judgment and that he had just done something incredibly stupid.
“Of course, congratulations. You successfully broke your own record.”
From eight rings to seven.
The girl tilted her head slightly and looked at him with a smile that didn’t reach her eyes. Her lips slowly moved, silently forming a word.
Loser.
A burst of laughter suddenly erupted from the crowd.
Huang Jieshu’s face instantly flushed red. Furious, he pointed at Wendy and was about to say something when a light cough came from nearby.
Liao Chengyu slowly walked down from the control room on the second floor.
The moment they recognized her, both teams immediately fell silent. Huang Jieshu’s face turned deathly pale.
Liao Chengyu…… Why was she here?
How much of what he had said had she heard?
“Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God! Why is Captain Liao here?!”
Mingmei, who had been laughing the hardest because she felt so vindicated, suddenly looked as though she had choked. She shrank beside Wendy and began pretending to be an innocent little bird.
Liao Chengyu swept her sharp gaze across both teams.
“Continue training.”
Short and to the point. No one dared say another word.
Huang Jieshu climbed to his feet with a pale face and sheepishly returned to B-Team. The remaining groups quickly resumed their training.
Under Liao Chengyu’s silent supervision, aside from a few guards whose performance suffered because they were too nervous, the rest of the training proceeded without further incident and was completed in an orderly fashion.
Once the final scores had been announced, Liao Chengyu stepped forward from the side and walked to the center.
“I’ll deal with the disciplinary issue later.” She paused. “Next is the combat-boat driving training. There have been some changes.”
Both teams quieted down, eagerly waiting to hear what Liao Chengyu had to say.
“The 028 AI has collected and entered the data on the sea spiders. Today’s combat-boat driving training will simulate the scene of the previous monster attack. The two teams will need to work together to kill the sea spiders.”
The moment Liao Chengyu said this, the faces of everyone in C-Team instantly went pale.
Those enormous, horrifying monsters had seemed almost too unnatural to have been born on this planet. Even though several days had already passed, they were still jolted awake by nightmares of them in the middle of the night.
Mingmei worriedly turned toward her friend.
Of all the surviving members of C-Team, Jiang Qiao was the only one who had truly come close to dying in the sea spider’s jaws.
Liao Chengyu also glanced inconspicuously at her student, who stood quietly among the others. Aside from her pale complexion from recently recovering from serious injuries, the girl seemed to show no other reaction.
A trace of imperceptible satisfaction flashed through Liao Chengyu’s eyes.
She could remain calm in the face of adversity. Her mentality had improved quite a bit.
“Captain Liao, you only collected data on the sea spiders? What about the water lice we killed?”
“Since you showed C-Team’s prey to us, shouldn’t you let the sisters in C-Team take a look at the monsters we hunted too?”
Several snickers came from B-Team.
Seeing that Liao Chengyu did not seem inclined to punish Huang Jieshu as an example to the others, B-Team became bolder. With their captain’s tacit approval, several male soldiers began whistling and heckling.
Liao Chengyu frowned.
“The sea spiders’ destructive power is far beyond that of the water lice.” She looked seriously at the unconcerned members of B-Team. “After analyzing the data, 028 suspects that those monsters actually have different levels of strength.”
“This is bad news. If the analysis is correct, it means we will encounter even more unpredictable dangers.”
Liao Chengyu took a deep breath, desperately concealing the strange emotions in her eyes.
An Ark they might never be able to reach.
Unpredictable monsters lurking in the sea.
She buried everything deep inside herself, maintaining the existing order aboard the entire escape vessel. No one knew about the enormous secret she was carrying.
B-Team became somewhat more serious after hearing this, but because they had encountered the water lice first, many still merely concealed their disdain.
Every combat boat was equipped with ion-beam weapons that had never existed before the apocalypse. They could turn an entire high-rise building into ashes in an instant.
So what if the monsters had different strength levels?
Those water lice had been completely helpless beneath the ion-beam fire.
With such advanced weapons, C-Team had still suffered heavy casualties merely to eliminate the monsters. In their eyes, such a narrow victory was practically a failure.
If not for mistakes in command or coordination, how could monsters possibly have gotten close enough to breach the combat boat’s defensive line when they possessed such weapons?
“Don’t become overly complacent. Even though this is a simulated battle, you still need to take it seriously.” Liao Chengyu could see what B-Team was thinking. “Even if this is only a possibility, we still need to prepare for it in advance.”
“Also, you all know that the sensory intensity inside the simulation chambers cannot be adjusted. So remember to prepare yourselves mentally. Treat it as a real battlefield and protect yourselves.”
“Otherwise, it will be very unpleasant.”
As she spoke, she looked toward the grim-faced members of C-Team.
Humanity had predicted the apocalypse caused by the tsunami and had exhausted its wealth and resources to construct the Doomsday Ark and escape vessels. Their advanced AI and weapons could help the post-apocalyptic guard forces monitor changes in the ocean.
But no matter how thorough their preparations had been, no one had anticipated that alien species would emerge alongside the apocalypse.
The combat boats responsible for collecting and analyzing oceanic data, as well as their simulation chambers, had been designed to allow the guard forces to experience the post-apocalyptic ocean as realistically as possible.
Therefore, they had no system for lowering sensory intensity.
In other words, once they entered the combat-boat simulation chamber, they would truly relive the night they were attacked by the Abyssal Giant Spider.
Except that they would not die, everything they sensed would be exactly the same as reality.
B-Team showed little reaction and entered the simulation chambers one after another.
C-Team, however, still carried varying degrees of trauma from the incident. Standing before the chamber, they would reach out to verify the door, only for their hands to freeze in midair.
“Qiaoqiao, can you do this?”
Mingmei’s own face looked terrible, yet she still looked worriedly at her friend.
“Don’t worry. I’m fine.” Wendy smiled at her. “It’s only a simulation anyway. Don’t be nervous.”
Mingmei nodded. After passing the retinal verification, the two of them turned around and entered the chamber together.
The combat-boat simulation chamber was a sealed, oval-shaped aluminum-alloy pod.
Wendy entered, put on the sensory helmet, and lay down. The hatch slowly closed.
The instant the hatch sealed shut, her vision suddenly changed.
“Warning! Unknown biological attack!”
“Warning! Unknown biological attack!”
The red mechanical alarm rang throughout the entire escape vessel. Amid the constantly flashing red lights, dozens of small combat boats were launched from beneath the escape vessel and deployed into the ocean.
Wendy opened her eyes. She should have been sitting in the pilot’s seat, but her field of vision was fixed. All she could see was the endless ocean beyond the combat boat’s front window and the equipment inside the vessel.
She took a moment to adjust to the unfamiliar perspective and looked at the control panel in front of her.
It was covered with various gauges, buttons, and control levers. Everything was complicated and densely packed, but fortunately, each one was labeled with an abbreviated description of its function.
The control stick was self-explanatory. It controlled the combat boat’s direction.
The instrument panel beside it displayed the combat boat’s speed, altitude, remaining energy, and weapons-system status.
Time was running short. Wendy quickly memorized the locations and functions of all the systems as fast as possible.
“Holy shit, these things…… Why are they so huge?”
The escape vessel was completely submerged into the sea, and everyone in B-Team clearly saw the densely packed crimson giant spiders clinging to its hull.
Thick, ink-black clouds covered the sky. The seawater, untouched by even a trace of light, was like violently churning black water stretching endlessly into the distance, filling everyone with despair.
The wind howled, rain poured, lightning flashed, and thunder roared. In the gloomy world, the only glaring red came from the giant spiders crawling noisily across the vessel.
For a moment, B-Team finally understood the indescribable terror of the creatures.
Seeing that the giant spiders at the highest point had already begun attacking the ventilation pipes, C-Team hurriedly compiled the information they had gathered and transmitted it to B-Team through their headsets.
“These monsters are extremely fast, and their legs can withstand the impact of the ion beams to some extent,” Mingmei’s hurried voice came through the headset. “Let’s spread out first, then avoid their legs when attacking, otherwise we’ll—”
Bang!
Before she could finish, a dazzling beam suddenly erupted, striking one of the giant spider’s sturdy legs head-on.
The voice in the headset abruptly fell silent.
Everyone went quiet.
The giant spider that had been hit let out a sharp, bizarre shriek. Dozens of giant spiders were startled at once and turned their heads.
The eight crimson eyes atop their spider heads rotated, locking firmly onto the small combat boats more than ten meters away.
The next second, they dove toward them.
“The ion beams aren’t within effective firing range. Activate the shields first!”
Movements that appeared extraordinarily fast to ordinary people seemed almost slowed down in Wendy’s eyes. After calculating the distance between them, she issued her command in a low, urgent voice.
“Stop being so timid and wasting energy! Brothers, ignore them. Let’s go!”
A mocking laugh came through the headset.
Wendy frowned slightly.
That voice should belong to B-Team Captain He Zhaoxing.
Idiot.
“What…… what should we do?”
Seeing B-Team respond one after another and dozens of combat boats dive toward the spiders, hesitant voices came through the C-Team headset.
C-Team’s captain had died in battle. Technically, without a captain, they should follow the orders of B-Team’s captain.
But B-Team’s earlier disdain and mockery were still fresh in their minds. No matter what, there was a thorn in their hearts.
Moreover, they were the ones who had actually experienced the battle against the giant spiders. They knew the creatures’ habits.
Yet B-Team had dismissed the information they had gathered, and the decision they had made seemed like nothing short of suicide to C-Team.
B-Team had already engaged the shrieking giant spiders. Explosions of light erupted repeatedly beneath the surface of the sea.
The spiders charging toward C-Team were blocked by the shields and angrily swung their legs.
“They can’t break through the shields for now. Take this opportunity to split into three and circle around them.”
Just as everyone was hesitating, a calm yet powerful voice sounded through the headset like a stabilizing force, instantly steadying the entire C-Team.
“These monsters hunt in groups. We can’t let them form an effective hunting formation.”
Wendy piloted the combat boat, staring unblinkingly at the terrifying giant spiders blocked by the shield outside.
The spiders clinging to the shield rapidly crawled around, searching for a weak point where they could break through with their legs.
But that very movement completely exposed their egg-shaped abdomens.
Seeing her opportunity, Wendy raised the shield to maximum energy consumption.
The shield suddenly expanded, blasting the giant spider clinging to it several meters away.
The powerful current generated by the impact flipped the creature over. Wendy immediately pressed the firing button.
A dazzling ion beam shot straight toward the spider’s abdomen.
A massive amount of bloody fluid and yellowish liquid spilled into the water as a hole was blasted through the spider’s abdomen. It slowly sank into the depths of the ocean.
“Split up first. A few of you follow me. Activate the sonic waves and draw their attention.”
Another giant spider attacked.
While issuing instructions through the headset, Wendy pulled the control stick, making the combat boat roll sharply to the right and evade the diving spider.
“Mingmei, Sha Jing, once I lead the sea spiders into the optimal attack range, I’ll activate the electromagnetic pulse cannon to disrupt their nervous systems. When that happens, take the opportunity to attack their abdomens.”
Her steady and powerful commands calmed C-Team’s panic and tension. Everyone responded in unison and divided into three groups according to Wendy’s orders.
Ten combat boats followed closely behind Wendy, accelerating to maximum speed as they weaved between the giant spiders, creating chaos and preventing the creatures from forming an effective attack formation.
Their prey repeatedly slipped away just as it seemed within reach. Completely enraged, the giant spiders pursued relentlessly, rapidly closing the distance until they were only dozens of meters away.
“Activate the electromagnetic pulse!”
Wendy’s calm command rang through the headset.
The C-Team members who received the order simultaneously pressed the pulse buttons.
A powerful burst of electromagnetic energy was released instantly.
The giant spiders that had been about to pounce suddenly froze. Their enormous, razor-sharp legs flailed helplessly through the water as they lost the ability to move.
At the same time, accompanied by dazzling beams of light, more than a dozen giant spiders, forcibly suspended in place with their abdomens exposed, fell one after another toward the seabed.
Through the submarine window, the seawater had become murky with spider remains and blood. In the distance, they could vaguely see B-Team’s combat boats, which had exhausted their energy and were continuously crashing down.
“Simulation complete. Please exit the chamber.”
028’s mechanical notification sounded.
Wendy opened her eyes. The hatch was slowly opening, and the bright lights of the training ground streamed inside.
The salty sea breeze, the surging waves, the sea spiders, gunfire, bloodied water……
Everything remained vividly etched in her mind, yet her thoughts were abruptly pulled back to reality.
She removed the sensory helmet and looked at the built-in neural sensors, a dark glint flashing through her eyes.
Weapons.
Humans were truly fascinating.
They possessed no divine powers, yet relying solely on technology, they had managed to develop such terrifying destructive capabilities.
Ion-beam weapons. Photon shields……
These weapons had never existed before the apocalypse. Before this, she had never considered human civilization a potential threat.
Originally, she had only thought of the human escape vessels as natural bait. Since the sea race could construct things remotely, the human escape vessels could attract large numbers of alien species toward the surface, allowing her to obtain more Action Points.
That was why she had impulsively decided to replace Jiang Qiao and enter the escape vessel.
But now, she had no choice but to consider a question.
According to the guards, the financial and technological resources invested in an escape vessel amounted to no more than one-thousandth of those invested in Noah’s Ark.
Yet the weapons aboard an escape vessel were already powerful enough to kill groups of C-rank alien species.
Then what about Noah’s Ark?
As two intelligent civilizations coexisting on the same planet, competition was inevitable.
If human technology had already surpassed her understanding without her knowledge, what would happen when they discovered the existence of the sea race?
She had to go to the Ark.
“No!”
Suddenly, accompanied by the dull thud of a body hitting the floor, a terrified scream rang throughout the training ground.
Wendy rose and stepped out of the simulation chamber.
She saw B-Team Captain He Zhaoxing kneeling miserably on the ground, clutching his chest and gasping for breath.
He was alive.
He was still alive.
He had not been disemboweled by the monster, nor had he died in the depths of the sea alongside his crashing combat boat.
The sensation of approaching death had been far too real. So real that he had completely forgotten that everything had merely been a simulated battlefield.
Under the gazes of everyone in C-Team, the members of B-Team stumbled out of the simulation chambers one after another, collapsing onto the floor.
In the simulated battle just now, not a single member of B-Team had survived.
“C-Team: tight planning, excellent coordination, and a full combination of the advantages of coordinated combat with the sea spiders’ weaknesses. Each member will receive 50 points. Commander Jiang Qiao will receive an additional 10 points.”
“B-Team: Captain He Zhaoxing acted blindly and arrogantly, while Lü Yi ignored orders and fired without authorization. Did you ever consider that if this had been a real battlefield, everyone would have been put in danger because of the two of you? They could have even died!”
Liao Chengyu’s brows were tightly furrowed. Her sharp gaze locked onto the trembling, collapsed members of B-Team, her voice filled with barely suppressed anger.
“I know you weren’t originally my soldiers, and that you don’t accept me. But if you refuse to accept me, then show me some ability. Don’t make me truly look down on you!”
“Starting today, every member of B-Team will undergo an additional hour of training at night. He Zhaoxing, Lü Yi, and Huang Jieshu will undergo an additional three hours.”
He Zhaoxing was half-kneeling on the ground, cold sweat still dripping from his body.
Upon hearing this, he raised his head and wanted to say something.
But in the end, he said nothing.
The short-haired girl stood quietly in the distance. The moment He Zhaoxing saw her, he suddenly remembered.
Jiang Qiao seemed to have truly almost died in the same way he had just experienced.
What she had gone through was not a virtual battlefield, but being genuinely ripped open by a sea spider.
He hadn’t thought much of it before, when he regarded the sea spiders as being more or less like water lice. But now that he thought about it, after reliving the scene of her own death, she had still managed to give such calm, timely, and practically perfect commands.
This girl would definitely go far in the future.
Compared to that, their earlier arrogance and self-righteousness was practically a joke.
“Jiang Qiao, you’re incredible! How did you manage to stay so calm?”
On the way back, Wendy was surrounded by the female soldiers from Team C.
After this battle, everyone in Team C had unconsciously begun to regard her as their core.
“Seriously! My mind was a complete mess at the time. Then I heard Jiang Qiao’s voice through the headset saying, ‘Raise the shields!’ and I immediately snapped back to reality.”
Sha Jing chimed in.
Sha Jing was a very distinctive girl. All the female soldiers kept their hair short, either shoulder-length or ear-length, but she was the only one who always kept hers in a buzz cut.
It looked very cool.
“Of course! Our Qiaoqiao has always been amazing, right?”
Seeing her friend suddenly become the most popular person in the team, Mingmei nudged her with her elbow and teased her.
“No, I’m never going back with you again!”
As they reached the corner of the stairs, a sudden, desperate scream interrupted Team C’s cheerful laughter.
The voice was very familiar.
And… this place seemed to be very close to the confinement room.
Wendy frowned and inconspicuously quickened her pace.
“Fuck, have I been too nice to you…?”
Wang Tianci looked at his girlfriend, who was no longer willing to obey his every command. Gritting his teeth, he raised his hand and was about to slap her.
Suddenly, the wrist of his raised hand was grabbed tightly by another hand.
“Officer Jiang, please save me!”
The moment Feng Jianan recognized who had arrived, her eyes suddenly lit up. She no longer cared about anything else and stumbled toward the guards approaching from the opposite direction, desperately seeking their protection.
Mingmei, Sha Jing, and the others hurriedly shielded her behind them.
Wendy stood at the front, coldly staring at Wang Tianci, who still wanted to come forward.
“If you don’t want to continue serving time in confinement, get lost.”
Looking at the several armed guards before him, Wang Tianci gritted his teeth unwillingly. He shot Feng Jianan a vicious glare before turning and leaving.
“Thank you… thank you all…”
After watching Wang Tianci leave, Feng Jianan could no longer hold herself up. Her strength gave out, and she slid helplessly to the floor.
The guards quickly helped her up.
Wendy looked at her for a moment before slowly pulling back her sleeve. The skin hidden beneath her clothes was covered in bruises and wounds.
She sighed.
“Wang Tianci might come back. Do you want to come back to the dormitory with us for now?”
Feng Jianan raised her head dazedly and looked at the guard standing before her. Tears streamed down her face like a burst dam.
They brought Feng Xinran back to the dormitory. Mingmei stayed behind to comfort her, while Wendy went out and exchanged her points for a bag of bread and a carton of milk.
Looking at the points in her wristband that had barely been credited before immediately being spent again, she helplessly let out a long sigh.
Inside the room, Feng Jianan was sobbing as she talked with Mingmei. When she saw the guard return carrying bread and milk, her eyes widened.
“This… is this for me?”
Wendy nodded and smiled gently, the smile resembling Jiang Qiao’s.
Feng Jianan took them in disbelief. The moment she received confirmation, she tore open the package and began wolfing down the bread.
The sweet aroma of the bread filled her nose. Before she had even swallowed her previous bite, she stuffed another one into her mouth. As expected, she choked and began coughing violently.
Along with the coughing, uncontrollable tears streamed down her face.
Mingmei quickly opened the milk and helped her catch her breath.
“…I’ve actually wanted to leave him for a long time. But, but after all, it was the Wang family who brought me onto the escape boat. My life was given to me by them, so whenever I had the thought of leaving, I would feel like I was such a terrible person…”
“I’m sorry, Officer Xiao Jiang. Back then, you told me that if I wanted to leave them, you would protect me. But I still refused you and let… let Mu Yan insult you like that. I’m sorry. I just… I just didn’t dare to truly face the reality back then…”
“Everything I had before was ruined because of him. If I really admitted to myself that I’d entrusted myself to the wrong person, I don’t know… I just don’t know what the meaning of continuing to live would be anymore…”
Feng Jianan sobbed out her grievances in broken sentences, struggling to catch her breath between sobs. It was obvious that she had kept all of this bottled up inside for a very long time.
Wendy quietly listened to her, her thoughts drifting back to before the apocalypse.
Their dormitory was a mixed dorm. She, Tong Yu, and Feng Jianan were all majoring in Brain-Computer Intelligence Development, while Pei Xiao was the only one studying philosophy.
Tong Yu had been spoiled growing up. She never had to worry about food or clothing, nor did she have to worry about finding a job. She had mainly gone to university simply for the experience.
Compared with brain-computer intelligence development, she preferred developing her own little career as a self-media creator. Her grades were merely decent.
Meanwhile, Feng Jianan and Wendy ranked first and second in their major, respectively.
At the time, Wendy was very interested in the technology of brain-computer intelligence, and that naturally made her somewhat interested in Feng Jianan as well, since Feng Jianan was one of the few people who could compete with her academically.
As a freshman, Feng Jianan had still been very shy. It was obvious that her family wasn’t particularly well-off, but that was also one of the things Wendy admired most about her.
In an era when class divisions had already been firmly established, even Wendy had relied on the Tong family’s influence, yet Feng Jianan had managed to get into Huai University entirely through her own efforts.
She was truly impressive.
At that time, she had been shy and introverted, but whenever there was a problem related to brain-computer intelligence, she would instantly become composed, with a light shining in her eyes.
But then, she suddenly changed.
She got together with Wang Tianci, skipped classes and missed exams for the sake of dates, and even gave up her spot for graduate recommendation…
She raised her head and looked at the sobbing Feng Jianan. After a long while, she slowly spoke.
“Was that kind of life really what you wanted?”
Feng Jianan froze, confusion filling her tear-streaked face.
The guard before her seemed to overlap with another figure. She felt as though she had returned to that seemingly ordinary afternoon, to the doorway of that office.
The brilliant evening sunset streamed through the window at the end of the main teaching building’s corridor, dyeing half the hallway a warm orange-red.
She had finally made the decision she had hesitated over for so long. After happily submitting the form, she walked out of the office.
That person had stopped her and asked her the exact same question.
At the time, she had been immersed in the sweetness of love and had scoffed at those words.
Looking back now, it was truly ironic.
She forced out a bitter smile and slowly shook her head.
When had she started to change?
Ever since she was little, she had been the child no one expected anything from.
Jianan. Jia nan.
Her parents had wanted a boy, but their first child turned out to be her. Bitterly disappointed, her parents named her Jianan in hopes that their second child would finally be a boy.
Later, they really did have a son.
Jianan had indeed helped the Feng family “add a boy,” but from that moment onward, she never received her parents’ love again—even though that little bit of love had been pitifully scarce to begin with.
All of her parents’ love and expectations were given to her younger brother.
At first, she deliberately worked hard to get excellent grades and earn certificates, just so she could receive a little attention from her parents.
But when her parents changed the name on her certificate to her younger brother’s and happily hung it on the wall, she finally understood.
No matter how outstanding she became, her parents would never love her.
The only thing she could do was find a way out for herself.
Fortunately, she was talented. The little girl sat at her desk and studied day and night. Finally, relying entirely on her own efforts, she transformed into a little bird and flew out of the great mountain that had imprisoned her.
She saw towering skyscrapers, encountered the career she wanted to devote her entire life to researching, and she also met… him.
Wang Tianci was a key. He showed her a prosperous world she had never seen before, and he gave the girl she had been back then so, so much love.
No one had ever cherished her like that. So when he told her he wanted to marry her, she thought that she was willing to give up everything else for him.
But in the end, all of it had been nothing more than flowers reflected in a mirror and the moon reflected in water, fleeting dreams and illusions—all nothing but hypocritical lies.
And for the sake of those lies, she had ruined her own future.
The little girl she had once been would probably be disappointed if she saw the person she had become now.
“Since you’ve already realized that everything in the past wasn’t what you truly wanted, then from now on, live the life you truly want.”
“Anyway, the world you once knew has already been destroyed by the great tsunami. As for having your future ruined, just pretend it never happened.”
“At least you’re still alive, and you still have the chance to choose again. That’s enough.”
The gentle words awakened her thoughts, which had been sinking deeper and deeper.
Feng Jianan raised her head in a daze. The short-haired girl in a guard’s uniform was smiling at her.
This time, that gentle smile truly reached her eyes.
On the other side, Wang Tianci, having been driven away, wandered aimlessly through the corridor. Remembering how miserable he had looked moments earlier, he angrily kicked the metal exterior wall of the escape ship twice.
The sturdy outer wall sent all the force straight back at him, causing Wang Tianci to bend over in pain.
Suddenly, a squad of guards hurried past him, their combat wristbands emitting a continuous series of red warning lights.
Curious, he followed them. Perhaps because the incident had happened so suddenly, he quietly trailed behind them and actually made his way all the way to the drainage compartment without encountering any obstacles.
Something seemed to have happened.
He hid behind a metal tank and watched as the guards put on tightly sealed protective suits and began working at the drainage pipes.
After a while, once the risk inspection had been completed, the guards removed their equipment and left the drainage compartment.
Wang Tianci slowly crawled out from behind the metal tank and approached the place where the guards had just been working.
He had been eavesdropping the entire time. Apparently, something had gone wrong with the drainage pipe, and it could no longer close automatically.
He stared at the drainage pipe. Images of the cafeteria and the entrance to the confinement room surfaced in his mind, and he scoffed disdainfully.
What was so special about them? Weren’t they just relying on their status as guards?
They had humiliated him, so he’d make all their hard work go to waste.
Thinking resentfully, Wang Tianci pressed the green button marked “ON” on the inner wall.
The spiral barrier slowly opened.
Curious, he leaned forward to take a look, only to suddenly feel a sharp pain in his ankle.
He lowered his head in alarm.
Under the dim light of the drainage compartment, he clearly saw a tiny bloody puncture wound suddenly appear.
Author’s Note:
The punishment for hoarding draft chapters when you have nothing going on is—
having to write a ten-thousand-word chapter while suffering from a terrible cold and having classes all day, ahhhhh!
Sorry for being late. I’ll make up the remaining two thousand words later. I really can’t write anymore today, 555.
Also, thank you everyone! I’ve prepared red envelopes for you all! o(￣▽￣)ブ