The armored vehicle’s chassis shook violently from rough terrain.
Jiang Nuan’s head slammed hard against the window glass with a loud “bang,” the pain jolting her eyes open.
Before her vision fully focused, a pungent mix of mildew and rotten dust hit her nose—the smell of old buildings that had sat untouched in darkness for years.
The light outside the window had changed.
No longer the grayish sky she’d seen before, it was now a strange, muddy yellow, as if she were looking at the world through a old newspaper soaked in water.
Before she could make sense of things, she heard heated voices not far from the vehicle.
“Don’t push! Don’t push! You want to die or what?” a wiry man growled, his voice trembling with barely contained fear.
“That armored car—I saw it—it’s Zero Squad! I’m sure of it, it’s Zero!”
A woman beside him clutched his sleeve desperately.
“With them here, we’re saved! This is Zero Squad!”
“Shut up! If Zero Squad’s here, it means this place is no joke!”
A middle-aged man at the front of the group spun around and barked. In his hand, he clutched a sharpened steel pipe.
“This is a class-S-or-below restricted zone. At least there’s a rule against random killing—we’re lucky there.”
“Captain Lu already found the first rule: you can’t be alone in the dark. Stick together, all of you. They’re still figuring out a second rule. Anyone who triggers it without a member of Zero around is dead for sure.”
The survivors immediately linked arms, pressing tightly against each other, barely daring to breathe.
Jiang Nuan’s breath caught in her throat.
A restricted zone. Again.
She’d run for her life all night, bruised her knees raw, been carried for god knows how far. And the moment she closed her eyes, she’d wound up in another restricted zone.
Was this broken world just determined to squeeze every last drop out of her?
She turned and looked inside the vehicle.
The driver’s seat was empty. Ye Que wasn’t there.
The hand that had once gripped her wrist, nearly crushing the bone, was gone now. But that didn’t make her feel any relief.
Because the passenger seat had been pushed all the way back and was occupied by a literal “mountain.”
A man of immense, towering build.
The tactical suit stretched taut over his bulging muscles, as if it might rip apart at any moment. His shoulders and back were so broad they blocked most of the view ahead.
Sensing her stir, this mountain of a man turned his head.
He had a rugged, sharply defined face—with none of the bleakness she’d seen on people lately.
Looking at Jiang Nuan, he gave a wide grin, flashing a set of neat, white teeth.
“You’re awake? Man, you can sleep.”
His demeanor was disarmingly genuine, sunny and bright, a total mismatch with this post-apocalyptic nightmare.
Jiang Nuan rolled her eyes internally.
I ran all night. I split my knees open. I got carried who-knows-how-far. Of course I’m exhausted—you try it, why don’t you?
She swallowed the words a few times and forced them back down.
From the seat next to her came a lazy, mocking chuckle.
Qinian.
He was still reclined, one arm resting on the window frame, his long legs stretched out, as if he hadn’t moved an inch this whole time.
He cracked one eye open, glancing at the front passenger seat.
“Jiang Ce,” he drawled, “how did you get in here?”
“Shen Wu detected a sudden, abnormal expansion of the old-city restricted zone,” Jiang Ce said, scratching his head. “The Captain brought us here to investigate. We just happened to run into your vehicle being pulled in by the expansion.”
“Where’s the Captain headed?” Qinian asked.
“Ye Que left in a hurry without saying much. They went to meet up.”
“They took your brother, Shen Wu, and Ye Que to rescue people in the residential area up ahead. They just broadcasted an order for the survivors to stick together.”
Jiang Ce turned to Jiang Nuan, his smile still as friendly and dog-like as ever.
“Don’t be scared. We’ve got you. We’ll get you out in one piece.”
Jiang Nuan managed a slight nod.
But what scared her more was what would be waiting for her outside this restricted zone.
She looked out the window again.
The view was an endless stretch of old city streets. Crumbling brick walls packed tightly together, crooked and warped, like rows of cages that couldn’t be escaped.
Jiang Nuan bit down on her molars, forcing her panic down.
First, she had to think of a way.
The man who had first grabbed her, who had crushed her wrist until the bone almost snapped, was gone for now.
Only Jiang Ce and Qinian were in the vehicle.
One seemed easy to deal with. The other... not so much.
But at least it wasn’t the worst scenario.
She raised her head. In a spot no one could see, she quietly pinched her own thigh.
The sharp pain instantly made her eyes redden.
“You...” Her voice trembled as she looked at Jiang Ce, her gaze full of confusion and resentment. “Why did you grab me? I’m just an ordinary person.”
