Chapter 132: Xie Congzhou Gains Another Label

Inside the submarine, the two of them felt only a violent jolt. Then a huge chunk of severed flesh swept past the monitoring equipment in front of them.

After that, everything became very quiet.

Jiang Huan cautiously switched on the lights and saw a tumor-covered sea beast, barely alive and in terrible condition.

The two exchanged a glance.

“Is it dead?”

It was.

And so, a tiny fish reaped the life of the victor.

“Leave, quickly. They fought too savagely, and there are severed limbs everywhere. They’re bound to attract other sea beasts.” Xie Congzhou seemed to have sensed something. Jiang Huan had originally wanted to salvage some of the remains and see whether they could be exchanged for points.

Stockpiling supplies was only human instinct.

But upon hearing the urgency in Xie Congzhou’s voice, she immediately understood and piloted the submarine away from the area.

Sure enough, after they left, several sizable sea beasts arrived, and another bloody battle began.

The two of them gave up on the idea of directly capturing large sea beasts. Along the way, they skewered more than a dozen mutated octopuses and called it a day.

When they returned, Xie Congzhou did not keep any of the exchange points. He gave them all to Jiang Huan.

Jiang Huan accepted them without the slightest guilt. She often fed him, after all. What was wrong with taking a few exchange points in return?

Xie Congzhou thought the same way.

He never expected that his actions would give rise to yet another rumor about him.

Love could turn a brave man into a shameless simp.

Even in the apocalypse, he was still shamelessly devoted—a pure-hearted simp of a breed on the verge of extinction.

After that incident, the two of them teaming up to earn extra points became an unspoken arrangement.

Jiang Huan gradually took on six or seven missions involving large sea beasts. Her combat experience and performance earned the recognition of everyone, and those insignificant rumors never reached her ears.

There were, however, two male team members who had recently begun approaching Xie Congzhou frequently. They even made suggestive advances of a certain sort, frightening Xie Congzhou and Jiang Huan into staying even closer together.

For the sake of protecting her companion, Jiang Huan was also willing to accept his closeness. This display finally prompted Wu Bing to act.

She actually sought Jiang Huan out to discuss something personal.

She said she was bisexual. Ever since she had seen Jiang Huan in the videos, she had found her appearance very pleasing, and after meeting her in person, she admired Jiang Huan even more. However, she felt that compared with Xie Congzhou, she could never go as far as he had.

“My honor and my efforts can only serve me. I’m sorry for what I did before. I must have caused you some psychological distress.”

Jiang Huan smiled faintly. “You’re a good leader.”

But inwardly, she was thinking: What? When did she ever cause me distress? No, wait—when had she ever liked me? She always took me along on dangerous missions, and she never gave me any extra benefits... No, that’s not right. She did give me two or three ultrasonic lure devices.

So this was her way of showing affection?

Sorry, but this display of goodwill was far too official, far too proper, far too... well, in any case, it did not contain even the faintest trace of romantic feeling.

After this misunderstanding, Wu Bing believed that she and Jiang Huan had cleared the air and become friends who could share secrets. Her later attitude finally resembled an actual show of goodwill. Since she had to return to the safe zone for a meeting, she asked Jiang Huan whether she wanted to go with her.

“When you say the safe zone, you mean...?”

“The Central Safe Zone. Oh, and the place where your family member lives is there too.”

Of course Jiang Huan wanted the opportunity. She immediately packed her luggage, then went to ask Xie Congzhou whether he had any message he wanted her to deliver.

“Just tell him to take good care of himself. I’ll work hard on my end too. Once I’m granted leave, I’ll go visit him.”

Jiang Huan promised that she would. Before leaving, she stuffed him full of another hearty meal of fish and meat, and left two or three dozen eggs behind for him to eat later.

Following Wu Bing, Jiang Huan traveled by both boat and helicopter. It took them a day and two nights to reach the Central Safe Zone, and dawn had just broken when they arrived.

Wu Bing drove her directly to the residential district.

“I’ll come pick you up for lunch once the midday report is over.”

“I’ll eat with my brother. But notify me anytime if you need me.” Jiang Huan shook the communicator in her hand.

Wu Bing nodded and drove away.

Jiang Huan searched around twice, then followed the district number where Jiang Xi lived and found his building. She had only just reached the stairwell when a loud bang erupted outside.

By instinct, Jiang Huan slipped into the shadows beside her without immediately checking what had happened.

The outside world suddenly grew noisy. Someone screamed that a person was dead, that someone had jumped from the building. Sirens and whistles sounded as well. Only after seeing the crowd did Jiang Huan step out from the shadows.

A man came rushing down the stairs. Seeing someone blocking the entrance, he cursed, “Get out of the way!” and charged straight at Jiang Huan.

Jiang Huan narrowed her eyes and kicked him, striking him squarely in the knee. His balance gave way, and he fell flat on his back.

Jiang Huan moved around to the other side and, once the man had fallen, planted her foot firmly on his back, preventing him from getting up again.

She pulled out a pistol and pressed it against him.

“What are you, to dare shout at me like that?”

The man had never expected a seemingly slender woman to possess such force, much less a gun.

Terrified, he immediately began begging for mercy. He even said he had valuable things he was willing to give her if she would let him go.

“I’m in a hurry, that’s why I lost my temper. Miss, ma’am, leader, please, show some mercy and let me leave. I... I’m worried about my family member’s health. Someone in my family was exposed to radiation and sent back here. I need to see him one last time. Please, leader, great lady!”

Jiang Huan disengaged the safety. The sound seemed to herald death itself, and the man beneath her screamed, drawing the attention of the people outside.

The guards, who had been about to rush upstairs to investigate, froze. The next moment, one of them roared at Jiang Huan, “What are you doing? Let him go!”

Jiang Huan pressed her tongue against her upper lip.

What was this supposed to be? Was today simply an unlucky day for her to leave the house? One person after another kept shouting at her.

Her voice was not as loud as the guard’s, so she simply pulled a megaphone from her pocket.

“This man looked nervous, had blood on him, and had tears in his collar. Someone just died outside his door. Naturally, I became suspicious. I didn’t realize that having reasonable suspicions and helping maintain public order was a crime. Fine, fine, you can deal with it yourselves.”

Jiang Huan lifted her foot, but the man had already lost the strength to crawl away.

It was not that she had kicked him too hard. There were people blocking him from both the front and the back, so he had no way out.

The man was filled with regret. Why hadn’t he kept his composure just now? Why hadn’t he been more polite? If nothing else, was it really so difficult to say, “Miss, could you please move”?

The guard who had shouted at Jiang Huan grew awkward. He seemed ready to say something to save face, but Jiang Huan had already strode upstairs.

There were no surveillance cameras in the corridor. This was hardly an absolutely safe place.

Jiang Huan thought that if her brother was living somewhere like this after all her hard work, she might as well return to the air-raid shelter.

“Found it.”

Jiang Huan stopped in front of the door and knocked.

A voice called out from inside first. Then someone peered through the peephole, and the door was suddenly yanked open.

The boy—no, he was nearly twenty now, so he should be called a young man—Jiang Xi immediately threw his arms around his sister.

“Sister! Sister! Sister!”

He kept calling out to her, as though he was afraid that what he saw was nothing more than an illusion.

Jiang Huan was squeezed so tightly that she could barely breathe. After enduring it for a while, she finally pushed him away.

“Haah... I nearly passed out. Little Xi, your strength has really improved.”

Laughing cheerfully, Jiang Huan entered with her brother. With a click, the door closed behind them.

The neighboring door opened, revealing a charming face. The woman looked suspiciously at Jiang Xi’s door, then quickly withdrew her head and went back inside.

(End of Chapter)