Jiang Nuan felt like she had barely closed her eyes.
She was still in that state of sinking down, her consciousness still fuzzy.
Then someone knocked on her door. It was the kind of knock that was clearly restrained in force but urgent in rhythm—three knocks, a pause, then three more.
She struggled to get halfway out of her blanket and squinted at the electronic clock on the nightstand.
01:47.
Not even two in the morning.
"Who is it?" she asked, her voice low, her hand already reaching under her pillow.
The handle of the knife met her palm, cold.
She would have liked to put her Glock 19 under her pillow, but Jiang Ce only let her touch that thing on the training ground, and every time she finished practicing, she had to pop out the magazine and hand it back in front of him.
Tch, he said it was to prevent accidents, but the truth was he didn't trust her.
"It's me. Urgent matter. Open the door."
Jiang Ce's voice.
Jiang Nuan's heart sank.
No way. Not another zone expansion.
They hadn't even digested the last SS-level one yet. Her heart couldn't take a second disaster in a row.
She kicked off the blanket, ran to the door barefoot, and pulled it open.
The emergency lights in the corridor cast a dim yellow glow.
Jiang Ce stood outside in full combat gear. She couldn't quite make out his expression, but his entire aura was completely different from when he taught her target practice at the training ground during the day.
Before she could even open her mouth, her wrist was seized.
Jiang Ce raised a finger to his lips.
"Don't say a word. Come with me. Don't ask on the way."
His voice was low, fast.
All of Jiang Nuan's questions got stuck in her throat. She was wearing a pair of sleep pants that were a little too short, and she didn't even have shoes on. He dragged her down the corridor like this.
The floor was so cold her toes curled.
They swiped through several door locks, and at the end of the corridor was an elevator she had never noticed before. It was embedded in the wall, its doors the same color as the wall.
Jiang Ce scanned his pupil in front of the elevator, and the doors slid open.
Jiang Nuan was pushed inside.
There were only a few options on the button panel.
Jiang Ce pressed B3.
The elevator began to descend.
Only then did Jiang Nuan realize that this base had an underground level.
Three floors.
She had been living here for several days, and no one had ever mentioned that there were facilities underground.
The elevator's running sound was low, as if it was boring into something very thick.
Jiang Ce finally let go of her wrist.
"They're back."
The tension in Jiang Nuan's shoulders eased slightly, so subtly that she didn't even notice it herself.
But that three-day-old worry indeed slid back down her throat and settled where it belonged.
The corridor on the third underground floor was nearly half as narrow as the upper floors. On both sides were heavy metal walls. Every few meters there was a reinforced sealed door. The lights overhead emitted a cold white glow.
Every so often, bright red numbers were painted on the walls: B3-01, B3-02, stretching deeper and deeper into the distance.
The air smelled of disinfectant mixed with a faint, elusive scent of blood.
Jiang Ce walked ahead, giving her a brief rundown as they went.
Communications had been restored three hours ago. The signal was intermittent, but enough for positioning. He had taken a few trusted security personnel and driven to the edge of the zone to pick them up.
"And the zone?" she asked.
"Dealt with."
Three words, spoken lightly.
But Jiang Nuan knew their weight. That was an SS-level zone that had swallowed an entire city. A monster that had devoured nine people, disguised its own rank, and jumped two grades in one go.
Five people had dealt with it.
A chill ran down her spine. She wasn't sure if it was awe or fear.
Jiang Ce pushed open the innermost sealed door. The white light stung Jiang Nuan's eyes.
The underground medical bay was larger than she had imagined. It was divided into several compartments separated by transparent reinforced glass, each one equipped with its own medical equipment.
The members of Zero Squad were scattered around.
Jiang Nuan's gaze swept over them quickly.
Everyone alive.
Five people, not one missing.
Qinian was half-sitting on the nearest bed. The combat uniform on him was so stained you could barely make out its original color—black, brown, deep red—as if he had rolled around inside something's belly. He was trying to bite open a bandage knot, failing, and cursing.
Qi Sui was changing the bandage on his shoulder. His sleeves were rolled up to his elbows. His movements were gentle, a smile faintly playing on his lips, though his own lips were cracked in several places.
"If you move again, I'll dislocate your joints and put them back together," Qi Sui said softly.
Qinian sucked in a breath through his teeth. "Go easy, go easy—"
"I'm already being very gentle," Qi Sui replied.
Shen Wu was on another bed. His outer jacket was half-removed, revealing several medicated wounds. His face was pale, but his expression was still that cool, detached look, as if he hadn't just walked out of an SS-level zone.
Ye Que was sitting in the farthest corner.
He wasn't leaning back. His spine was straight. There was more blood on his clothes than on anyone else's, the dried dark stains nearly covering up the fabric's original color, but his face was clean under the fluorescent light. His features were cold. It was hard to tell if he was injured.
Her eyes lingered on him for half a second longer before quickly looking away.
"Nuannuan's here," Qi Sui said, turning his head and smiling at her.
Since when was she on such familiar terms with this guy?
That smile was warm and gentle. When he smiled, one of the cracks on his lips split open, and a tiny bead of blood seeped out. He didn't seem to feel it at all.
But she noticed something else.
It wasn't their wounds.
It was the look in their eyes.
She couldn't quite say what was wrong, but they were... heavier, darker than usual. Like something was pressing down behind their pupils, ready to burst out at any moment.
Their mental state was off.
All of them.
Jiang Nuan swallowed hard. "You guys..."
"It's fine, just minor injuries," Qi Sui said, rubbing his face with his shoulder. "It went more smoothly than expected."
Smoothly.
An SS-level zone that had swallowed an entire city. She wondered how they believed he could call it smooth.
"Let's go." Jiang Ce's voice came from behind her. His hand gently pushed on her back, guiding her further inside.
They passed the main area of the medical bay and turned into a short corridor. At the end was a single closed door.
Jiang Ce opened the door and let her go in.
Then he didn't enter. He closed the door behind her.
The room was small. A long table. Two chairs. A single light overhead.
Finally, she saw the man with the calm voice.
Lu Shiyan was sitting at one end of the long table.
He looked like he had already been cleaned up. He had changed into clean clothes—a dark gray long-sleeved shirt, buttoned all the way to the top. His hair was still a little damp, as if he had just showered.
He didn't look fierce.
His features were deep, almost like he was mixed-race. His eyes were a dark brown, and when the light hit his face, it accentuated a sharp, handsome quality.
But he still looked terrible. The dark circles under his eyes were pronounced.
A man who had just crawled out of an SS-level zone was sitting calmly here to talk to you. That fact alone was already absurd.
Jiang Nuan stood by the door, hesitating over whether she should say something.
Something like "good work" or "I'm glad you all made it back safely."
Just as her lips parted slightly to speak.
"Sit."
Alright.
Jiang Nuan walked over and took the seat at the other end of the long table.
Lu Shiyan offered no pleasantries.
No “How have you been these past few days,” no “Has Jiang Ce been taking good care of you,” not even “Why aren’t you wearing shoes.”
He went straight for the stack of documents in front of him.
“Originally I planned to talk to you the afternoon after the test results came in, but the Forbidden Zone suddenly expanded,” he said, his voice calm.
He flipped a page. “The triggering method of your purification ability has essentially been confirmed.”
The room went silent for two seconds.
“You know that yourself,” Lu Shiyan said.
It wasn’t a question.
Jiang Nuan clenched her hand under the table.
“I don’t know what you’re talking—”
“Yes, you do.”
His tone didn’t harden; it carried the demeanor of “I’m stating a fact; you don’t need to perform.”
Then he looked at her and, without saying a word aloud, mouthed something.
Two syllables.
All of Jiang Nuan’s blood rushed to her head in an instant. Her cheeks burned so hot they felt like they might ignite.
She felt like she’d been stripped naked and thrown onto a judgment stand, publicly executed under the scrutiny of his gaze.
Her fingers curled tighter under the tabletop. Her line of sight dropped to the wood grain—anywhere was better than meeting his eyes.
She knew it.
She’d known it all along.
From the day she realized she’d crossed over and discovered she was a Triple S purification ability user, she knew.
But knowing was one thing.
Having it confirmed to her face, in a silent mouthing of the words, was another entirely.
These past few days she’d been dodging that reality. Not because she didn’t know, but because she didn’t want to confront it.
The Judgment Line, the corruption index, the purification—she wanted no part of any of it.
All she wanted was to curl up in her corner and survive, eat, sleep, maybe learn to shoot a gun, stay safe and stay out of the kind of trouble that would drag her own life down alongside it.
But now the man sitting across from her used two soundless syllables to block off her last path of escape.
Lu Shiyan continued.
“For this emergency mission with Zero Number, the entire squad’s corruption index has already reached the Judgment Line. Once command finds out we’ve returned to base, they’ll send people for a full evaluation immediately.”
Her shoulders sagged.
She wasn’t some iron-willed heroine. At the end of the day, she just wanted to live.
And with things having progressed this far, it seemed her say in the matter hardly mattered anymore, right?
Still, he hadn’t directly overridden her wishes.
The Judgment Line was right on their heels. Command could show up at any moment. So why was he sitting here asking for her “say” at all?
Unless the purification effect was tied to her personal willingness.
Her throat dried. “Then… conditions are involved.”
Lu Shiyan studied her and gave a slight nod, signaling for her to speak.
“I need freedom of movement—authority to come and go from base freely.”
“No.”
His refusal came without hesitation, with even a faint lift at the corner of his mouth.
“You’re too prone to running away.”
Jiang Nuan bit her lip.
She’d figured it would go that way, but it was worth a shot.
After a few seconds of silence, she spoke again.
“The method of my purification must stay confidential. No public disclosure, and no reporting the specifics to command.”
Her fingers clenched and then loosened.
“Also… I only purify for Zero Number Squad.”
When those words came out, her voice finally gained some edge.
She really had no intention of becoming a shared, public plug-in.
The phrase pure for Zero Number came off smoother than she’d expected.
As if she’d unconsciously started to identify as part of this group.
No.
She was just making the optimal survival choice. Zero Number had the strongest combat strength; sticking with them meant the highest survival rate.
It was that simple.
Lu Shiyan watched her, a trace of subtle scrutiny in his gaze.
“Zero Number naturally protects its people,” he said. “You won’t be handled by anyone else. You can trust that.”
Jiang Nuan nodded, more or less choosing to believe the captain of this top combat squad.
“And I want to learn combat.”
That thought had been rolling around in her head for days. This world was too terrifying. She wasn’t going to stay someone who only ever got hauled over someone’s shoulder to escape.
That remark made Lu Shiyan’s stare shift.
He looked at her like he was observing a test subject that had unexpectedly deviated from his anticipated answer.
He hesitated for two seconds.
“Fine. We’ll assign a specialist instructor for you.”
Jiang Nuan steadied herself and brought up her final point.
“I don’t know how to use my purification ability yet. During the process, you have to guarantee my safety.”
“That goes without saying.” Lu Shiyan’s tone was steady. “Based on your previous test data, initial estimates suggest that a Triple S purification ability user won’t accumulate corruption from the purification process itself. But we’ll monitor your levels at all times.”
The negotiation was over.
Everything she could bargain for, she’d bargained for.
She hung her head, unclenching her fingers one by one. Her palms were all sweat.
A few seconds of silence passed.
She was almost hunched beneath the table by now.
“Then… start today?”
Another pause tightened her breathing, the words squeezed out between her teeth one syllable at a time.
“Who is it today?”
Lu Shiyan raised an eyebrow.
That expression wasn’t exactly cold, but it carried a sliver of something deeply subtle and almost cruelly self-evident.
“Today is the six of us.”
Jiang Nuan thought she misheard; her ears rang.
“…What?” Her lips started trembling.
“All six of us,” Lu Shiyan repeated. His pace didn’t change. “The entire squad is at the Judgment Line. That includes Jiang Ce—his corruption rating was already far higher than the others’. None of us is in any position to wait longer than the others.”
Six of them.
