When Jiang Nuan woke up the next day, it was already broad daylight.
Her body felt heavy as lead, and her eyelids even heavier.
The light streaming through the gap in the curtains above the ceiling was unusually bright, stabbing at her eyes and instinctively making her turn her head and bury half her face in the pillow.
The pillowcase still carried Lu Shiyan’s scent.
Her eyelid twitched, and the scenes from last night rushed into her mind without warning.
The city lights glittering beyond the floor-to-ceiling windows.
Her wrist.
That kiss.
And… everything that happened afterward.
Jiang Nuan rolled over beneath the covers, then immediately sucked in a sharp breath.
Her waist felt as if someone had taken it apart and put it back together again.
She turned her head with difficulty and glanced at the clock on the bedside table.
11:25.
How had she slept until this late?
Damn Lu Shiyan.
Jiang Nuan cursed him silently.
The spot beside her was empty.
A glass of water sat on the bedside table.
She propped herself up with one arm, sat halfway upright, and took a drink.
When she set the glass down, the corner of her eye caught the small red light blinking on the terminal around her wrist.
She tapped open the unread message.
It was a note from Lu Shiyan.
[Drink some water when you wake up. Have Jiang Ce take you to buy some clothes. Get whatever you need.]
Jiang Nuan stared at the message for several seconds.
It wasn’t that there was anything wrong with the contents. It was just that the text gave her an incredibly strange feeling.
This… really didn’t sound like something Lu Shiyan would say.
She could practically imagine the scene.
Lu Shiyan would be sitting expressionlessly behind his desk, issuing an order in the tone of a military command to the person beside him.
“Notify Jiang Nuan that she’s to go buy clothes. Jiang Ce will accompany her.”
Then, in order to make the message sound even remotely human, the person responsible for relaying it would rack their brains to reword it. Thus, the version in front of her had been born.
How should she put it?
A domineering CEO trying to write a down-to-earth text message, but still somehow missing the mark.
Jiang Nuan couldn’t help laughing.
Then her waist hurt again.
Her smile instantly turned into a grimace.
Damn Lu Shiyan. Times two.
She raised her hand and examined her wrist. A faint red mark circled the pale skin.
She glanced down at her white shirt. It was so wrinkled it was beyond saving.
She quickly looked away, braced herself against the wall, and shuffled out of bed. When she reached the bathroom door, she nearly tripped over the threshold.
She hurriedly took a shower, then removed the white shirt, folded it neatly, and placed it on the sink.
After thinking about it,
she shoved it to the very bottom of the laundry basket.
She changed into the combat uniform that had already been dried, then carefully inspected herself in the mirror.
Only then did she open the bedroom door.
Jiang Ce sat on the living-room sofa with his back to her.
Of course, it wasn’t the sofa by the window.
Jiang Nuan silently thanked him for choosing that particular seat.
The television was on with the volume turned low, showing an emotionally charged urban romance drama.
On-screen, rain poured down in sheets. A man stood in the storm, screaming hysterically at the woman in front of him.
“Go! I never loved you!”
The woman was sobbing her heart out, clutching her stomach as she shouted, “No! You’re lying! I’m carrying your child!”
The background music was a tearjerking symphony featuring both violin and piano.
The moment Jiang Nuan pushed open the door,
this was the scene she saw.
A hulking man nearly six and a half feet tall, with bulging muscles and shoulders broad enough to block half the window, was curled up in the corner of the sofa, secretly wiping away tears with a tissue.
He was muttering to himself.
“Sigh… He’s clearly trying to protect her… Why can’t he just say it?”
Jiang Nuan froze in the bedroom doorway.
She decided she probably hadn’t fully woken up yet.
The door hinge let out the faintest creak.
Jiang Ce’s reaction was nothing short of battlefield-grade.
In a rapid series of movements too fast to follow, he straightened up, crushed the tissue into a ball and stuffed it into the trash bin on the table, then switched the channel to one broadcasting the “Whaleport City Daily News.”
The couple screaming in the rain vanished instantly. The screen changed to a city map marked with red zones, while a crisp, authoritative announcer’s voice rang out.
“…According to reports from the monitoring stations, the frequency of abnormal energy bursts in the areas surrounding Whaleport City has been increasing significantly in recent days. The Governor’s Office has issued a safety warning. Residents in the affected areas are advised to reduce unnecessary travel and remain alert to their personal safety…”
Jiang Ce slowly turned his head toward her.
His expression was perfectly solemn, though his eyes were slightly red.
“You’re awake?”
The corner of Jiang Nuan’s mouth twitched. Out of kindness, she chose not to expose him.
“Mm. I just woke up.”
Jiang Ce stood and walked over to her.
The instant he straightened to his full height, Jiang Nuan was once again stunned by his wall-like build.
She had to tilt her head back just to see his expression.
Jiang Ce frowned slightly and studied her face.
“Are you injured? Or did you not get enough rest?”
His brows drew together more tightly.
“Why do you look so pale?”
Jiang Nuan’s heart clenched.
Could she tell him why she looked pale?
Could she say, “Because your captain pinned me down on that sofa over there—”
No. Absolutely not. She would rather die than say it.
“No… I’m just a little tired,” she replied vaguely.
Jiang Ce didn’t continue the subject.
However, his gaze lingered on her face for another second before he finally looked away, swallowing all the unnecessary questions along with it.
Jiang Nuan took the opportunity to sit on the sofa and change the subject.
“When did you enter this restricted zone?”
Jiang Ce sat down across from her, his broad back resting against the sofa.
“Two days before you. My entry point was a secluded alley in the north of the city. I contacted the captain immediately after arriving.”
Jiang Nuan’s eyes fell on the clothes Jiang Ce was wearing.
They looked familiar.
She remembered now. They were the same kind of uniform worn by the tall commander who had escorted her into the command building yesterday.
The exact same style.
“Your current identity is…”
“Commander.” Jiang Ce tugged at his collar, clearly unused to the restrictive uniform. “The captain arranged it. This identity makes it convenient for me to cooperate with him. Technically, I’m Governor Lu’s deputy.”
“There’s a guy named Gao who used to stay by the captain’s side. He hasn’t exactly been friendly toward me. He’s always glaring at me.”
Jiang Nuan couldn’t hold back her laughter.
As if Commander Gao could be friendly.
Lu Shiyan, a governor who had risen through the ranks year after year, was already a major blow to someone like Commander Gao, who might otherwise have had a chance at that position.
And now, out of nowhere, another commander of equal rank and equally mysterious origins had been inserted into the picture.
This was the highest possible level of workplace bullying.
Jiang Nuan observed a moment of silence for Commander Gao in her heart.
What a tough break.
“Eat some biscuits first,” Jiang Ce said, picking up a box from the table and handing it to her. “Then we’ll go buy clothes. After that, I’ll take you out for barbecue.”
Jiang Nuan’s eyes lit up.
Barbecue? Shopping?
Since coming to this world, the best clothes she had worn were the few outfits Lu Shiyan had custom-made for her. The rest of the time, she had been stuck in the same monotonous combat uniforms and base-issued clothes.
When was the last time she had gone shopping at a mall?
Before she transmigrated, she and her roommate had gone to Wanda.
That felt like a lifetime ago.
“Can we go to a shopping mall?” she blurted out, almost adding, “Do you have money?”
“Captain told me to give this to you. No spending limit.” Jiang Ce pulled a card from his pocket and handed it to Jiang Nuan.
“Let’s go!” At that moment, Jiang Nuan felt that although Lu Shiyan was a little crazy, he was certainly thorough.
*
Even the commercial district of Whale Harbor City, despite being a false world constructed within the restricted zone, simulated the word “prosperity” flawlessly.
There were people, cars, and traffic lights on the streets. Passersby hurried along with shopping bags in hand.
The scents of coffee and freshly baked bread drifted out from cafés and bakeries.
Fresh sunflowers stood in buckets outside a flower shop.
It was all too real.
So real that one could repeatedly forget that everything in this world was merely an old image of an era reconstructed from anomalous energy.
But Jiang Nuan, carrying several shopping bags and looking at the crowds around her, felt lighter than she had in a long time.
She pulled Jiang Ce from one clothing store to another, enjoying this brief stretch of false peace.
Jiang Ce’s physique was simply too eye-catching for a place like this mall.
Jiang Nuan noticed that almost every few steps, she could feel discreet glances coming at them from all directions.
The young women who had been chattering excitedly about lipstick shades would fall silent in unison whenever Jiang Ce passed by, their eyes glued to his broad back. Only after he had gone by would they erupt into excited whispers again.
One particularly bold girl even slowed down deliberately as she passed them, pulling out her terminal and pretending to take a selfie. But the direction of the camera was unmistakably aimed at Jiang Ce.
Without realizing it, Jiang Nuan quickened her pace by half a step and edged closer to Jiang Ce, walking so close that she was nearly brushing against his arm.
Still, shopping really did improve her mood.
She went in and out of the fitting room, trying on everything from simple shirt dresses to fitted knit jackets. Each time she changed, she pushed aside the curtain and asked Jiang Ce for his opinion.
A pale blue shirt dress, its waistline cinched just right, with the cuffs rolled up slightly to reveal a small section of her wrist.
She pushed open the curtain.
“How is it?”
Jiang Ce was sitting on the waiting chair outside the fitting room. The chair looked especially tiny beneath him.
He looked up at her.
“Looks good.”
The second outfit.
“Looks good.”
The third, the fourth…
Jiang Nuan put on a pink floral dress.
Even she thought it looked rather awful. She was wearing it purely to test a theory.
“You can’t possibly think this one looks good too, can you?”
Jiang Ce looked at her.
He thought about it seriously.
“Looks good.”
Jiang Nuan ground her back teeth together.
Somewhat irritated, she glared at the man who could only say those two words no matter what she changed into.
By the standards of a normal shopping companion, he had become completely useless as a source of feedback.
He had probably treated this shopping trip as an escort mission that needed to be completed as quickly as possible.
Jiang Nuan sighed. “Forget it. I’ll pick them myself.”
She was just about to turn toward another rack of clothes when Jiang Ce suddenly spoke.
“I’m telling the truth.”
He wasn’t looking at her. His gaze rested on her reflection in the fitting-room mirror.
His Adam’s apple bobbed lightly.
“Ever since I met you, whether you were wearing your combat uniform or dressed like this… you’ve always looked good.”
His tone was too serious.
So serious that Jiang Nuan didn’t know how to respond for a moment.
She stood beside the fitting-room curtain in the pink floral dress that even she thought looked like curtain fabric, watching the expression in the eyes of the man nearly six and a half feet tall as he looked at her in the mirror.
And she suddenly realized that every one of his earlier “looks good” had been completely sincere.
“…Thank you,” she said.
Then she darted back into the fitting room and pulled the curtain shut.
A man like Jiang Ce wouldn’t deliberately flirt or make suggestive advances.
He was merely stating a fact.
…Right?
