Jiang Nuan was frozen solid.
The words "target" and "capture" hit her like a hammer, and she felt all the blood in her body run cold.
So that was it. This guy had come for her all along. Saving those people was just something he did on the side.
She couldn't break free.
His strength was terrifying. She had just used all her might to pry his fingers apart, but it was like trying to bend an iron rod.
She couldn't outrun him, so all that was left was her mouth.
"Um..."
Jiang Nuan squeezed out a soft, timid voice, trying her best to seem harmless.
"Mr... Mr. Ye?"
Ye Que put away his communicator and finally turned his head to glance at her.
"Shut up."
Then he walked off.
Carrying her over his shoulder.
He strode forward with long steps, completely ignoring her squirming and struggling, and equally ignoring the complicated looks from the survivors behind them.
Lying across his back, Jiang Nuan watched as the figures of those people grew smaller and smaller. She saw the bespectacled boy's mouth open and close, as if he was saying something to the person next to him.
"Who's that woman?"
"Why is Zero Squad taking her away?"
"Could she have done something wrong..."
The wind carried their fragmented chatter, but the phrase "done something wrong" still reached her ears.
Done something wrong?
What had she done wrong?
She'd just transmigrated!!
Was this her fault?
Just how much did she owe this crappy world from her past life?
Jiang Nuan lay there on Ye Que's back, her view filled entirely with the short hair at the back of his head and his black collar. She was utterly miserable.
She wanted to cry, but she didn't dare. Instinct told her that this man probably wouldn't even allow that.
She could only bite her lip and frantically cheer herself on in her head.
Jiang Nuan, you cannot panic.
Stay calm. Think of a way out!
Alright, let's sort this out. They knew she was alive, and they sent someone from Zero Squad to capture her.
That meant her SSS-rank purification ability was really rare and valuable in this world—valuable enough to justify mobilizing the highest-level investigation team just to grab one person.
But that was actually bad news.
The good news was—
She clenched her fist.
The good news was that she was still alive. She hadn't become some kind of public charging station yet.
As long as she was alive, there was still a chance for things to change.
The black armored vehicle was parked at the edge of the ruined square, its engine humming low.
Ye Que shoved her into the back seat with quick, efficient movements.
The moment Jiang Nuan sat down, someone climbed in from the other side of the car.
She instinctively turned her head.
And came face to face with a pair of eyes.
Those eyes, carrying a lazy, careless expression, had slightly uptipped corners. Their owner looked her over slowly, from top to bottom.
He bent down to get in. He was tall, and his combat suit was half-zipped.
When he sat down, he deliberately tilted his body a few degrees toward her side. His long legs stretched out generously, the tips of his shoes almost reaching the base of the opposite seat.
Her living space was compressed into the tiny, pitiful gap between the car door and him.
Jiang Nuan shrank into a corner, her back pressed against the cold door, wishing she could melt into the metal.
His gaze traveled upward, starting from her scraped knee.
Past her dust-covered hands.
Past the swollen red mark around her wrist.
Finally, it stopped on her profile.
A scorching stare.
Jiang Nuan didn't dare look up to meet those eyes.
Only one thought swirled in her mind: Psycho. Another psycho. Was there anyone normal in Zero Squad at all?
Was there anyone normal in Zero Squad at all?
He tapped a finger against the red mark on her wrist, the one Ye Que had left from gripping her so tightly.
The touch was very light, but the icy sensation of his fingertip sent a numb jolt through her arm, making her instinctively want to pull back.
He obviously noticed, and the corner of his mouth curled into a wicked smile. Glancing back at the red mark, he let out a soft tsk. "Holding that tight?"
Ye Que sat in the driver's seat, his fingers resting on the steering wheel. He had already buckled his seatbelt. A pair of dark, gloomy eyes reflected in the rearview mirror, sweeping toward the back seat.
"Shut up, Qinian."
The car started moving.
The engine rumbled low, and the armored vehicle pulled onto the road. The cabin was so quiet that Jiang Nuan could hear her own heartbeat.
The man named Qinian leaned back in his seat, one arm resting lazily on the window frame. His posture was completely relaxed.
Occasionally, he would lift his eyelids a fraction to glance at her, as if confirming that his prey was still there before closing them again.
An absurd thought popped into Jiang Nuan's head.
This guy Qinian was pretty good-looking.
No.
She needed to stay sharp.
Good looks wouldn't fill her stomach. Besides, the owner of that good-looking face was currently taking her straight to Zero Squad.
Outside the window, stretch after stretch of gray-white ruins flew past. Collapsed buildings, twisted lampposts, traffic signs that had been uprooted and then planted crookedly back into the ground.
This apocalyptic world was utterly ruined.
Her exhausted body finally couldn't hold on anymore. Her eyelids gave out first, and her consciousness began to slip away bit by bit. She struggled for a few seconds before completely losing consciousness.
The last image she saw before falling asleep was Ye Que's dark eyes in the rearview mirror.
He was watching the road.
But she felt like he was watching her.
