Category: Female Lead Was Coaxed Away by the Villain Again [Quick Transmigration]

Chapter 38: I’m a Vibe of Delicate Weakness (7)

After saying those words, Si Xu felt a strong sense of embarrassment. Was there something wrong with her brain? Why would she say something like that?

Fortunately, there was no one else here besides Jiang Zhiyan. She turned her head, letting the hallway breeze cool her face.

Before letting go of Si Xu, Jiang Zhiyan couldn’t help but nuzzle against her. Her eyes were still red, but the tears were gone: “Sorry, Senior, I seem to have gotten your clothes dirty again.”

“It’s okay, let’s go.”

They had a lot to do, taking care of the rescued people and burning the corpses. With so many bodies in the summer heat, letting them decompose would be dangerous. And who knew if these corpses would turn into monsters later? They had all seen apocalyptic movies.

The alien corpses couldn’t be burned. The evolved humans who had medical knowledge worked together, using chainsaws and kitchen knives to dissect one of the corpses and wrote a dissection report. After discussion, they carefully removed the skin intact.

“I think this could be made into armor, but it’s too heavy, ordinary people probably can’t use it. Or maybe we can attach it to the walls? Aren’t we reinforcing the walls now? But would that anger them? We can try it later.” One person said, recording their thoughts in a notebook.

“Can the meat be eaten?” Someone squatted beside the skinned alien corpse and looked up, asking seriously. “The meat looks very tender.”

Everyone fell silent.

“Let’s send a piece to the lab and see.”

“It really does look suitable for hot pot.”

Their skin was tough, but the meat was easy to cut, indeed very tender. They hadn’t eaten anything warm in days. Hearing the word “hot pot,” they subconsciously swallowed, exchanging glances.

“But this monster looks too scary.”

“Crayfish also looked scary at first.”

“Look closely, isn’t this just a giant octopus?”

“It looks good for teppanyaki too.”

They all swallowed again.

Jiang Zhiyan followed Si Xu, listening to the reports from each group, slightly surprised. The progress was much faster than in the book.

She hadn’t done anything since returning from the dormitory, cultivating an aura of “delicate and helpless,” and lowering her presence. For a time, no one noticed that she hadn’t done anything. She just followed Si Xu, occasionally lending a hand, acting like a pretty, useless accessory.

Oh, she did do one thing, she disposed of the corpse in the administration building and glued the doorknob back on. As long as no one touched it, it wouldn’t fall off.

“Host, are you sure you won’t be discovered?”

“Even if I am, I won’t admit it. Besides, the university is just the first stage, we’ll be leaving in a few days, the probability of being discovered isn’t high.”

“If someone asks you what you were doing, what will you say?”

“I lowered my presence, no one will ask.” Jiang Zhiyan ran out of the administration building. “Besides, I’ve only been out for about ten minutes.”

Si Xu, holding her notebook, looked around and stopped someone running past her: “Where’s Jiang Zhiyan?”

“Huh? Jiang Zhiyan?” The person froze, then shook their head blankly. “I don’t know, I haven’t seen her.”

“When did she leave? I didn’t even notice her leaving the auditorium.” Song Lingqing, sitting on the floor, yawned and rested her chin on her hand.

“Junior Jiang is really mysterious.” Xue Lin walked over and casually sat down on a chair. “The weaknesses on her are different every time.”

“She’s probably been training her abilities.” Si Xu said.

“My natural enemy, it would be troublesome if we encounter an alien like her later. Hopefully, after my ability levels up, I can see her true weakness.” Xue Lin chuckled. “I’m really curious.”

Everyone frowned, it was indeed troublesome.

“Don’t jinx it.” Song Lingqing kicked him. “And maybe you’ll never see it, she can level up too, you know?”

Si Xu frowned: “So when did she leave?”

Everyone shook their heads.

Jiang Zhiyan pushed open the auditorium door. Everyone’s gazes immediately fell on her. She stood there, looking at them blankly, then took a step back.

Jiang Zhiyan: ?

Her ability was definitely activated, not deactivated, so why did these people notice her?

“Because someone realized you were gone.” The system glanced at the data. “Si Xu was looking for you.”

“Oh, so this ability only works on people who don’t pay attention to me or care about me.” Jiang Zhiyan’s mood suddenly brightened considerably.

Si Xu cared about her! This basically meant Si Xu was already in love with her!

This world was progressing quickly.

“What’s wrong?” Jiang Zhiyan asked, stammering slightly.

“Where did you go? I suddenly couldn’t find you, I was a bit worried.”

“Oh.” Jiang Zhiyan breathed a sigh of relief, leaning closer to Si Xu’s ear and lowering her voice. “I went to the bathroom, a bit further away.”

Jiang Zhiyan’s face flushed, her voice getting softer: “Can you ask them to leave? I’m embarrassed to say it in front of so many people.”

“Alright, it’s fine, let’s get back to work.” Si Xu looked at the others waiting for an answer, then pulled Jiang Zhiyan away. “Tell me next time.”

“Weren’t you busy?” Jiang Zhiyan asked cheerfully, like a little fool, following Si Xu.

Si Xu looked at Jiang Zhiyan, a faint scent of blood clinging to her, not human blood: “You can still tell me even if I’m busy.”

“I’ll tell you next time, next time, Senior, you come with me, I’m still a bit scared going alone.” Jiang Zhiyan hugged Si Xu’s arm and swayed it slightly.

“Okay…” Si Xu replied, looking away.

Everyone had secrets, so it was normal for Jiang Zhiyan to have some too. Anyway, she didn’t mean any harm.

Eating was a serious matter. The two evolved humans who could generate electricity went to the biology lab to power the equipment, all for the sake of researching E1—that octopus-like alien—to see if it was edible.

Although most people were a bit hesitant and couldn’t bring themselves to eat it, they were curious. After all, eating aliens was better than resorting to cannibalism later when there was no food left.

Jiang Zhiyan, armed with the script, knew it was edible, tasting like beef, or even better than beef, because E1 was originally a food source on its home planet.

In the original plot, the evolved human in the protagonist’s group who could make plants grow died unfortunately. Left with no other choice, they decided to eat E1. When they first tasted it, they were prepared to be poisoned, but who knew it was edible? It was a major turning point in the novel.

That part of the plot was detailed. She would have a “holy mother” relapse, preventing the team members from eating E1, claiming that E1 was pitiful, and eating them was no different from cannibalism. However, this “holy mother” complex would vanish instantly when someone tried to kill and eat her.

These plot points weren’t the main focus. The main point was that they discovered aliens were edible halfway through the book, while now the plot had just begun.

There were too many bugs in this world. Jiang Zhiyan felt like she hadn’t done anything, she even got rid of things that shouldn’t have appeared, like that high-level alien and the surviving cannon fodder.

“I think the current problems have nothing to do with me.”

“I’ve already written eight bug reports.” The system sighed. “Don’t worry, we won’t take the blame for things we shouldn’t.”

Although Jiang Zhiyan liked to mess things up, this time it really wasn’t her fault, she didn’t have that much influence in this world.

The system already had no hope of retirement with Jiang Zhiyan alone, and if it took the blame for things it shouldn’t, it felt like one day it would voluntarily ask to be scrapped.

The E1 report came out. The initial conclusion was that it was edible, but after all, it was an alien creature, and their technology was more advanced. There might be substances harmful to humans that they couldn’t detect yet. Now, it depended on whether there were any volunteers willing to try it.

Several beautifully sliced pieces of E1 meat were placed on the table, next to a makeshift stove with a pot on top. The beef tallow-flavored broth was already boiling, and everyone present couldn’t help but take a deep breath.

Fragrant, so fragrant.

Many were already salivating, staring at the pot. There were still quite a few edible things available now, but nothing compared to hot pot.

“We need a representative from the evolved humans and a representative from the ordinary people.”

“I’ll do it.” Jiang Zhiyan raised her hand.

Everyone’s gaze fell on her.

Si Xu frowned almost imperceptibly. She didn’t want Jiang Zhiyan to take this risk and subconsciously tugged on Jiang Zhiyan’s clothes, trying to stop her.

Jiang Zhiyan didn’t look down, but reached out and squeezed Si Xu’s hand.

Si Xu knew she shouldn’t be biased, after all, she was the leader, but such feelings were uncontrollable. She was torn between reason and emotion.

She looked at Jiang Zhiyan, who still didn’t look at her, but whispered: “I want to do something for you. You’ll be putting someone in a difficult position no matter who you choose, and you can’t take this risk yourself, after all, you’re the pillar of this place now.”

“I’ll do it.” Someone from the ordinary people also raised their hand.

“I’ll do it.” Si Xu said. She couldn’t watch Jiang Zhiyan take this risk. She was so delicate and fragile, if she had a stomachache or something after eating it, she probably wouldn’t be able to handle it.

“Senior, don’t fight me for food, you’re the strongest here now, you eating it wouldn’t be representative.” Jiang Zhiyan pressed down Si Xu’s arm, stopping her with a look, then picked up her chopsticks and quickly put a piece of meat in the pot.

The aroma intensified.

The sound of inhaling was loud, accompanied by the rumbling of stomachs.

The representative from the ordinary people also eagerly put a piece of meat in the pot. She was optimistic, even if she died, she would die with a full stomach. This shitty life, whether it continued or not didn’t really matter.

Jiang Zhiyan fished out the meat after fifteen seconds. The cooked meat was dark pink, with clear lines, the aroma of meat and beef tallow mixing together, making even more people salivate.

“Cook it a little longer.” Si Xu reminded her.

“No, this is fine.” Jiang Zhiyan dodged Si Xu’s hand, blew on the meat, then took a bite, her face lighting up with enjoyment. “Delicious.”

The representative from the ordinary people also gave a thumbs-up and nodded in agreement, not speaking because she was busy with her second piece of meat.

Standing and eating was tiring, so they brought chairs and sat next to the pot. In ten minutes, they finished two large plates of meat.

The healer on standby had already swallowed her saliva several times.

Chapter 37: I’m a Vibe of Delicate Weakness (6)

Jiang Zhiyan secured the carts at the entrance and slowly walked back.

Actually, as long as the others didn’t see it, it would be fine. A dead person couldn’t talk, and the power went out half an hour ago, so the surveillance cameras wouldn’t capture anything. Even if they did, no one would investigate the truth for him.

Aliens, what perfect scapegoats.

They filled about ten shopping carts, leaving some things behind for other survivors who might need them.

“Why not take everything? What if no one comes, wouldn’t the food be wasted?” Huang Le couldn’t help but say, trying to get others to agree with him.

“What if someone does come? We have many evolved humans, finding food is relatively easy for us.”

“But there might not be any food production later. You’re evolved humans, that’s right, but can you produce pork, vegetables, or rice?” Huang Le frowned. “All of you acting like good samaritans, at a time like this, heh. When there’s no food left, the first ones to resort to cannibalism might be you!”

Everyone frowned. They weren’t fools, they knew the situation would only get worse, but they were all from the same school.

“Anyway, I’m taking these. You can play good samaritans, but the other people raiding the supermarket right now might not be so kind as to leave anything for you.”

“Because today is the first day, and the more humans survive, the better it is for us.” Jiang Zhiyan frowned. “How can you say that? Why would we resort to cannibalism? There are so many different evolution directions now, maybe there’s someone who can make seeds sprout. You know what being virtuous means, right?”

“Let’s take the things back first.” Xue Lin didn’t argue with him. “We’ll talk about other things later.”

His expression clearly said, “It’s pointless to waste words on this kind of person.”

Huang Le didn’t leave, continuing to load the remaining items into the shopping cart: “Since you don’t want them, don’t eat the things I take.”

The others’ faces darkened. The hot-tempered one clenched their fists.

“Then we’ll go first.” Xue Lin led the way out of the aisle.

Huang Le was actually a bit scared, but his luck had held so far, after all, no aliens had come during that time. He could probably finish loading the rest of the things in five minutes and quickly catch up with them.

Jiang Zhiyan deliberately stayed behind. The fruit knife she had been hiding flew out, piercing Huang Le’s head and lodging itself in some goods behind him. Huang Le’s hands went limp, his body slumping against the cart Jiang Zhiyan had pushed over. He didn’t even scream, it all happened too fast.

“Holy shit, Host…” The system hadn’t even reacted.

Jiang Zhiyan caught up with the group, her angry expression still lingering.

“Don’t be angry anymore, that kind of person, heh.” The girl walking in front turned to look at Jiang Zhiyan and patted her shoulder.

There were sixteen shopping carts outside, each with a board attached to the bottom basket, holding some items. This way, if they encountered aliens on the road, the carts could be used as cover, and they could carry more things each trip.

After the six of them transported the things back, four more people came out to help with the remaining carts. About a hundred meters away from the supermarket, someone suddenly realized something.

“Why isn’t Huang Le out yet?”

“Who knows? Heh, maybe there were too many things to load? I don’t want to go call him anyway.”

“You go.”

“I don’t want to go either, whoever wants to can go.”

“Get down, there’s an alien!” Jiang Zhiyan, at the back of the group, warned in a low voice. Everyone immediately crouched down, looking at the supermarket in the distance.

Several aliens charged into the supermarket. Two dismembered bodies were flung out, blood splattering everywhere. Their heads were crushed, unrecognizable, and their identities could only be determined by their clothes. It was Huang Le.

Jiang Zhiyan stared at the scene in horror, covering her mouth, looking as if she was about to faint. The girl beside her patted her shoulder, mouthing the words, “Don’t be afraid.”

She was the one who led the aliens there.

She could create an aura, and she could also erase her own presence.

She started testing it during the first trip back with the carts. While talking to them, after saying something, she would erase her presence. No one noticed that she suddenly stopped talking, and even when someone looked directly at her, they couldn’t see her.

Thirty seconds was enough time for her to lure the aliens over. She was the one who threw the corpses, since the aliens weren’t interested in corpses, but they would destroy anything that attacked them.

When news of Huang Le’s death reached the auditorium, everyone sighed but didn’t comment much. Many felt relieved. Having to be wary of your own teammates was the most terrifying thing.

Song Lingqing had reinforced one door. She occupied the sofa, but no one complained because she looked terrible, her eyes unfocused.

The walkie-talkies had also been retrieved, but all six people who went were injured, and the healer was busy again.

After putting down the supplies, Jiang Zhiyan shamelessly squeezed past the people sitting next to Si Xu, sat down, and hugged Si Xu’s arm.

The person she pushed aside was taken aback for a moment, then apologized.

Si Xu: ?

Something felt off, but she had more important things to discuss.

“I have an idea.” Si Xu sat cross-legged on the floor. “The monster we encountered in the administration building was higher level than the ones outside. When it was in the building, other monsters didn’t dare approach. They seem to have a sense of territory.”

Si Xu paused. She felt her idea was a bit crazy, but it might be feasible: “So I’m wondering if we could capture one and keep it in the building next door.”

Everyone exchanged glances.

“Sounds like it could work, but we don’t have a cage to keep the monster in.”

Si Xu looked at Song Lingqing lying on the sofa: “Song Lingqing can create one, but I don’t know if they can communicate with each other. Xue Lin, can you only see fatal weaknesses? Can you find a way to make them unable to make sounds?”

“I’ll try my best.” Xue Lin said.

The brief meeting ended. Everyone got food and water. Evolved humans weren’t very hungry, and the hunger would disappear as their abilities recovered. But they still needed to eat, even if they weren’t hungry, not eating would still cause problems.

“Senior, seeing Huang Le’s body flung out just now, it scared me to death.” Jiang Zhiyan said pitifully. “His head was completely flattened. I want to forget it, waaaah, but I can’t. I’m definitely going to have nightmares.”

Si Xu patted Jiang Zhiyan’s head: “Then go to sleep now, I’ll be beside you.”

“I want to sleep leaning against Senior.” Jiang Zhiyan curled up in the chair, then leaned down, resting her head on Si Xu’s lap.

Si Xu froze, looking at Jiang Zhiyan’s profile. She reached out to move her head, but in the end, just brushed aside a stray strand of hair.

She originally wanted to talk to the others, but with Jiang Zhiyan lying on her lap, she was stuck.

Si Xu stared at Jiang Zhiyan for a while, then took a notebook, leaned against the table, and started drawing, then handed it to the person beside her.

The person took it, looking at Si Xu in surprise. She had drawn two pictures, of the two types of aliens they had encountered so far, very lifelike, with many details captured.

[I want to make a bestiary, give them names, and write down their characteristics and weaknesses, so it’s easier to look up later.]

[Okay.]

Over the next few days, they took turns going out to fight monsters and train their abilities, and checked the supermarket to see if the food had been taken. The food remained untouched, either because there really weren’t any other survivors at the school, or because Jiang Zhiyan had taken the opportunity to dispose of the murder weapon.

On the eighth day of the aliens wandering around the campus, they suddenly lined up and left the school. The people who were out training were surprised not to see any aliens.

Si Xu was slightly disappointed that she couldn’t carry out her plan, but she quickly recovered. They needed to take advantage of this time to find other survivors in the school. Those monsters would definitely return, it was only a matter of time. And most likely, the next time they came, they would be stronger.

Jiang Zhiyan went back to the dormitory to change her clothes. Opening the door, she was met with a foul odor. Fortunately, it wasn’t her roommates, just the rotting fruit and uncleaned trash she had bought earlier. She used the water from her bottle to wipe herself down and changed her clothes.

“Extravagant, using water to clean yourself at a time like this.” The system complained.

Jiang Zhiyan ignored it and went to check the other dormitories. There weren’t many people in the dormitories, nor many corpses. Most of the deceased had committed suicide, as the aliens hadn’t entered the dorms to kill.

She found several people who had fainted from hunger, dragged them into the hallway, and gave them some water. She wanted to leave, the smell here was unbearable, a mixture of various unpleasant odors.

At the last dormitory on the fifth floor, Jiang Zhiyan smelled a strong stench of decay before even opening the door. However, she didn’t see any corpses inside. She frowned, looking at a piece of clothing trapped in the closet door.

She was about to leave when she heard the system say, “Si Xu is coming.” She moved back, opened the closet door, and a corpse fell towards her. She screamed, covering her mouth.

Three seconds later, Si Xu appeared at the doorway. Seeing her, Jiang Zhiyan, as if seeing a savior, threw herself into Si Xu’s arms, trembling and clinging to her, speechless.

“Don’t be afraid.” Si Xu held Jiang Zhiyan’s head against her chest and closed the door.

“I…” Jiang Zhiyan started to speak, then stopped, sniffing.

Si Xu gently patted her back: “I’m here.”

“Yes.” Jiang Zhiyan nodded randomly, clutching Si Xu’s clothes tightly. “I’ll be fine in a moment, just a moment, Senior, don’t leave.”

“I won’t leave.” Si Xu said softly. “Three minutes, okay? I have other things to do, someone is waiting for me.”

“One minute.”

“Okay.” Si Xu felt her tone was a bit too harsh, so she added, “Our Yan Yan is so brave.”

Hearing Si Xu’s coaxing tone almost made Jiang Zhiyan break character.

System: Heh, scheming woman.

Chapter 36: I’m a Vibe of Delicate Weakness (5)

Jiang Zhiyan went to the window. She didn’t know who designed this window, but she could barely reach the frame. Jumping up, she grabbed the frame and pulled herself up.

She saw Si Xu. With the help of other evolved humans, Si Xu was almost at the door, but the aliens had realized they were being tricked, and the loudspeaker wasn’t very effective anymore. The people inside couldn’t expose themselves too much, in case the aliens attacked the auditorium en masse. They couldn’t hold out for long.

“She’s injured.” Jiang Zhiyan’s gaze was fixed on Si Xu, her grip almost deforming the window frame.

Seeing that Si Xu was almost there, she jumped down and hurried to the door to wait.

Huang Le pretended to be anxious, but he stood far away from the entrance.

Although no one said anything, their impression of Huang Le worsened.

The door opened, and Si Xu was the first to be ushered in. Jiang Zhiyan caught her and helped her to a bench. The healer, who had been waiting, immediately came over to examine Si Xu’s wounds.

Si Xu patted the back of Jiang Zhiyan’s hand: “I’m fine.”

Jiang Zhiyan didn’t speak, just bit her lip, trying to hold back her tears, which were already welling up in her eyes.

“Are you okay?” Huang Le also came over. “Senior, I really didn’t mean to, my hand was faster than my brain at the time, can you forgive me?”

Si Xu looked at Huang Le, about to say something, but Jiang Zhiyan, wiping away a tear, spoke first: “I don’t think you care about Senior at all! Hypocrite! You used three words to express concern for Senior, but who knows how many words you used to defend yourself! Can’t you see Senior is injured? She doesn’t have time to listen to your excuses!”

“I… no… I didn’t mean that.” Huang Le wanted to say more, but Si Xu had already closed her eyes and leaned back in her chair.

She was exhausted, having barely rested. Now, with more people around, her tense nerves finally relaxed, and waves of drowsiness washed over her, only to be jolted awake by the stinging pain from her wounds.

The evolved humans who went to rescue Si Xu were also injured to varying degrees, sitting and waiting for treatment.

The only healer was incredibly busy. She had just evolved, and after treating Si Xu’s wounds three times, the superficial wounds of some of the other evolved humans had already healed.

“What do we do now?” Someone asked softly. Almost everyone had gathered around Si Xu.

Jiang Zhiyan still held Si Xu: “Let’s register everyone’s abilities first, let her sleep for a while, you guys should rest too.”

“Okay.”

Everyone went to find paper and pens.

There were thirty-six people in total, twenty-three of whom were evolved humans. Jiang Zhiyan counted on her fingers. Almost all the evolved humans in the school were gathered here. The remaining thirteen ordinary people were mostly already in the activity center.

Jiang Zhiyan scanned the list of abilities, mentally marking a few people.

Of the twenty-three evolved humans, eight would become permanent members of Si Xu’s team, surviving until the end. Seven would die along the way, six would leave due to differing ideologies with Si Xu, one would be parasitized by a psychic alien, and one cannon fodder was about to die in the next couple of days.

Si Xu woke up after half an hour. Finding herself leaning against Jiang Zhiyan, she froze for a second, then sat up uncomfortably, moving to the next chair. The others were also resting, so she didn’t make any noise. She simply divided everyone into teams based on the registered abilities. Due to some personal bias, she assigned Jiang Zhiyan to her team.

Jiang Zhiyan leaned against Si Xu. Si Xu instinctively wanted to push her away, but looking at Jiang Zhiyan’s tired face, she held back.

After all, Jiang Zhiyan had been leaning on her for so long, it wouldn’t be nice to push her away now.

Seeing that Si Xu didn’t move, Jiang Zhiyan clung to her even more, hugging her left arm.

Si Xu wanted to pull away, but after making eye contact with Jiang Zhiyan, she stopped.

Qian Rongrong, sitting in front of them, leaned forward, her eyes full of amusement, startling Jiang Zhiyan.

Qian Rongrong raised an eyebrow at Jiang Zhiyan, glanced at Si Xu, then looked back at Jiang Zhiyan with a knowing look. She didn’t say anything, but she didn’t need to.

Jiang Zhiyan closed her eyes in embarrassment.

An hour later, everyone gradually woke up and moved to the backstage area for a meeting. Huang Le approached Si Xu, wanting to continue his earlier explanation, but Si Xu stopped him with a look.

“We have two main tasks now: find a place for a long-term base and gather supplies.” Si Xu said, sitting in a chair. “Currently, we only have a bag of water and some bread.”

“It’s a pity that our ability levels are still too low, I can only create such small mounds of earth, otherwise I could just build a house directly.” The girl sitting in the corner sighed.

Jiang Zhiyan looked at her. Si Xu’s base would indeed be built by this girl and another person who could manipulate matter.

“No rush, we can reinforce the auditorium doors first. Using our abilities more often can help us level up. I think there should be other ways to level up… after all, most of us here evolved after being injured, right?” Si Xu asked.

Everyone nodded.

“So there must be something beneficial to us in the aliens, but the risk is too high. Hopefully, we can encounter someone with a related ability later.” Si Xu paused and continued, “Jiang Zhiyan and I also encountered another type of alien, that alien can detect our location even without any sound. There might be more different kinds of aliens appearing later. The ones surrounding us outside are probably just the lowest level…”

Si Xu subconsciously looked at Jiang Zhiyan and paused again.

Jiang Zhiyan’s eyes were too bright, staring directly at her, the emotions in them unconcealed. Si Xu deliberately looked away, then met Qian Rongrong’s teasing gaze.

She rubbed her temples.

“The first team will go out to find supplies, the second team will go find walkie-talkies, the security office should have some. Whether you find any or not, come back within three hours. The remaining four teams will stay here on standby.” Si Xu said. “Get more food and water, for other things, just grab a few, I can replicate them. The replicated items have a time limit, but for ordinary items, it’s enough.”

Food and water could also be replicated, but the taste wasn’t quite right, Si Xu had already tried.

No one objected.

There were ordinary people in each team. They didn’t want to go out, but they knew that in the current situation, relying solely on others for protection was a surefire way to die. Even if they couldn’t kill aliens, going out to train their physical abilities and master escape skills was still good.

Jiang Zhiyan was in the fifth team, but Huang Le was in the first team.

“I want to go out with the first team! I’m useless staying here anyway.” Jiang Zhiyan raised her hand. “I want to train my ability, I won’t be a burden! I can rest when the third and fourth teams go out.”

“Ask the first team’s captain.” Si Xu said.

The first team’s captain was Xue Lin. Although he didn’t have combat ability, his ability was very suitable for commanding, and he seemed emotionally stable.

Jiang Zhiyan looked at Xue Lin with a harmless smile. She should have been nicer to him earlier. Fortunately, he nodded, having no objections. Jiang Zhiyan’s ability meant she didn’t need special protection, just one more person.

“Be careful.” Si Xu said as she watched them leave through the back door. It seemed like she was speaking to everyone, but her gaze lingered on Jiang Zhiyan for a few seconds.

“Stop staring, close the door.” Qian Rongrong stood behind Si Xu and said faintly. “Did you know each other before? You seem quite close.”

Si Xu moved away from Qian Rongrong, keeping a distance.

“Ooh, ooh, ooh, Jiang Zhiyan can cling to you, but I can’t even get close.” Qian Rongrong said in a cutesy voice, following Si Xu.

Si Xu sat down in a chair, ignoring her.

“You like sweet girls, isn’t she sweet enough?” Qian Rongrong put her hands under her chin like leaves and blinked.

…

After leaving the auditorium, Jiang Zhiyan, thanks to her ability, took the initiative to scout ahead. This time, she didn’t mimic the aura of a dead person, but of a trash can. Trash cans were even less conspicuous, and there were trash cans everywhere. Most importantly, it consumed less energy.

Their target this time was the supermarket 300 meters away from the activity center. Because the aliens were concentrated in front of the activity center, there were only a few wandering around behind it, and there was more cover. After working together to eliminate them, they arrived at the supermarket relatively smoothly. No one organized the team, but everyone subconsciously kept their distance from Huang Le.

“Host, are you planning to get rid of Huang Le here?” The system asked.

“I have that thought, but I’ll observe for a while, let him work first, even useless things have their uses.” Jiang Zhiyan glanced at Huang Le from the corner of her eye. He had secretly eaten several pieces of chocolate, which should have been brought back to be distributed. She suddenly thought it wouldn’t be bad if he died first.

Another person also noticed Huang Le’s actions and frowned. But seeing the alien passing by outside the door, they suppressed the urge to curse him out and moved behind a shelf.

“Put the things in the shopping carts, I’ll transport them outside first.” Jiang Zhiyan whispered.

“Okay.”

Jiang Zhiyan looked at Huang Le through the gap between the shelves. This guy probably thought no one knew what he was doing, eating and stuffing things into his pockets, crumpling up the wrappers and throwing them elsewhere, while pretending to be diligently putting things in the shopping cart.

She twitched her lips and pushed the filled shopping carts out of the supermarket one by one, her gaze settling on the alien not far away.

A simple plan formed in her mind.

After all, doing it herself was more satisfying.

Chapter 35: I’m a Vibe of Delicate Weakness (4)

The four of them sat in silence, until Si Xu finally broke it: “What do we do now?”

They definitely needed to meet up, and since she was the one who made the call, she couldn’t just abandon them.

“Lure them away outside, then the remaining three go in first. The last person should be fine hiding. For these level one ones, as long as you don’t move or make any sound, it’s fine. Worst case scenario, just play dead.” Qian Rongrong said. “There must be other evolved humans inside, we’ll think of a way to save the fourth person.”

This plan was feasible, but the question was who would take the risk.

“I’ll lure them away.” Si Xu said. She could tell that she was the strongest of the four and had the most combat experience.

“No need for that.” Jiang Zhiyan looked at Huang Le. “Can’t you control objects?”

As she mentioned Huang Le, the others also reacted. Huang Le could remotely control objects to make sounds.

“But my ability is limited, I can only control things within five meters of me, and there are restrictions on size and weight.” Huang Le frowned.

“Can you control a rock to smash a window? Throw the rock out.” Si Xu asked.

“Well… I can try.”

For the next twenty minutes, Huang Le practiced throwing things. Si Xu looked at him disapprovingly. His accuracy was poor, his strength was also poor, and he seemed to be getting weaker and weaker.

“Find a loudspeaker, would he be able to control that?” Jiang Zhiyan suggested.

“That’s way too big.” Huang Le waved his hand, collapsing on the floor. “I can’t.”

Jiang Zhiyan glared at Huang Le. What use was this person?

“There’s another problem. After luring all the monsters away, how do we get the people inside to open the door for us?” Qian Rongrong raised her hand and asked.

Jiang Zhiyan stood by the window, looking at the situation below: “There are more and more of them. They should be able to communicate simply. It’s impossible to lure all the aliens away, after all, there are more humans inside.”

“The top floor of this building is connected to the building next door. If we make noise in the next building and lure them to the bottom of that building, then we can go down from this building, is that feasible?” Si Xu asked.

“No, it’s too close. They can call for their comrades, and we still need to communicate with the people inside to get them to open the door, we might not have the time.” Si Xu rejected her own suggestion.

“What if we take a gamble and trap them inside the building? One person at the front door, one at the back door. When the aliens enter, we close the doors. Senior Qian is fast, she should be able to maintain a safe distance from them.” Jiang Zhiyan paused. Si Xu looked at Jiang Zhiyan, encouraging her with her eyes to continue. “Even if they break down the door, we can still buy ourselves a few dozen seconds. We can set up obstacles in advance to buy more time.”

“We can try that.” Si Xu said.

“I want to try something first.” Jiang Zhiyan said.

“What?”

“I can mimic atmospheres, or maybe auras?” Jiang Zhiyan didn’t know how to describe it. “I want to see if they’ll still be interested in me if I mimic a dead person.”

“I’ll go with you.” Si Xu stood up, replicated four crowbars, and distributed them.

After leaving the building, Jiang Zhiyan activated her ability. Si Xu stood on the steps, watching her without moving, her gaze fixed on Jiang Zhiyan. She was nervous; she could hear her own breathing and heartbeat.

Jiang Zhiyan didn’t go far, just wandered around the entrance. No aliens paid her any attention. She raised an eyebrow, then tried to mimic the aura of an alien. This time, it didn’t even last half a second before her ability automatically deactivated.

The nearby aliens all looked at her. She quickly switched back to “corpse” mode and ran back inside, pulling Si Xu away from the aliens’ line of sight.

Actually, when mimicking the alien’s aura, Jiang Zhiyan’s energy was completely depleted. Using her ability afterward was overexerting herself. Her internal organs felt like they were being churned together from forcefully activating her ability, and the moment she reached safety, she collapsed into Si Xu’s arms.

“Don’t push yourself.” Si Xu felt a pang of distress and carefully picked her up, carrying her back to the room.

“What’s wrong with her?” The two inside immediately stood up anxiously.

“She overexerted herself.” Si Xu said, letting Jiang Zhiyan lean against her.

Qian Rongrong looked at Si Xu several times. She wasn’t that close to Si Xu, but being classmates, she knew Si Xu wasn’t someone who liked close contact. She had run into Si Xu before and tried to strike up a conversation, but Si Xu wouldn’t even let her hold her arm!

Jiang Zhiyan’s face was pale: “I just wanted to mimic those aliens outside, who knew… cough, cough, but mimicking a dead person is feasible.”

She could currently only mimic things with weaker energy. As for the duration, she still needed to figure it out herself. If she kept practicing, could she possibly change other people’s auras?

“Wait, they won’t notice the movements of a dead person, but will they come if they hear a sound made by an inanimate object?” Huang Le asked.

“Yes.” Si Xu had already verified this. “They’re different. If a basketball falls from a rack and makes a noise, and you’re not in that room, you will go check it out after hearing the sound. But if a basketball rolls past you and bumps into something, you probably won’t care.”

“I would still pick it up.” Huang Le muttered.

“Don’t be a smartass, just understand the general idea.” Qian Rongrong glared at him.

Jiang Zhiyan covered her mouth and coughed again: “I’ll go… cough, cough… and talk to the people inside later. Maybe the two groups can cooperate. Give me ten minutes.”

After saying that, she closed her eyes and buried her face in Si Xu’s embrace, clinging to her tightly.

“Host, you seem to have recovered already.”

“Yes.” Jiang Zhiyan responded. It only hurt for a while.

“A friendly reminder, there’s someone inside whose evolution direction is healing.” The system chuckled. “Let’s see how you fake being sick in the future.”

Jiang Zhiyan seemed to have fallen asleep. Ten minutes passed, and no one woke her, wanting to let her rest. However, she stirred and tried to get up.

“Are you alright now?”

“Yes.” Jiang Zhiyan rubbed her chest and smiled reassuringly at Si Xu. “I just thought about it. After I go in, I’ll find a way to lure the aliens to the leftmost window, and then you guys come in through the door on the right.”

Jiang Zhiyan gestured. “If it doesn’t work, we’ll think of something else. I’ll go now.”

She struggled to get up.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Si Xu asked again.

Jiang Zhiyan nodded: “Senior, trust me.”

“She calls her Senior, but she calls me Senior Qian.” Qian Rongrong clicked her tongue and gave a knowing look.

Jiang Zhiyan lowered her head shyly and said defensively: “Senior Qian, don’t overthink it.”

She set off with the crowbar, weaving through the aliens, her figure thin and trembling, looking as if she would fall with the slightest touch.

Si Xu’s gaze was fixed on Jiang Zhiyan. If her ability faltered, all the aliens would pounce on her, and Si Xu wouldn’t have time to save her.

“Look at him.” Qian Rongrong glanced at Huang Le lying on the floor.

Huang Le covered his face: “Leave me alone, I’m useless.”

Jiang Zhiyan reached the door. Someone had already seen her from the window. She knocked, and after seeing that the aliens didn’t react, the people inside immediately opened the door and pulled her in.

Without wasting any time, before anyone could ask, she explained the current situation. Jiang Zhiyan counted the people in the auditorium, there were actually over thirty of them, far more than she had expected. And most of them here were evolved humans, which wasn’t surprising.

Everyone immediately started acting according to Jiang Zhiyan’s plan. It just so happened that someone here had evolved a “lion’s roar” ability, which was extremely effective at attracting the aliens below. The aliens, as planned, moved towards the leftmost window.

Jiang Zhiyan stood by the door on the right, nervously clasping her hands.

“What’s your ability? Not being caught by aliens?” The person standing beside Jiang Zhiyan asked curiously.

“Mimicking atmospheres, I just mimicked a corpse.” Jiang Zhiyan looked at the person. “What about you?”

“I can see the weaknesses of my targets. For example, the aliens’ weakness is their heart, located just below their necks.” The person looked Jiang Zhiyan up and down. “Your entire body is a weakness.”

Jiang Zhiyan: …

“Thank you for telling me.” Jiang Zhiyan smiled, then her expression turned serious as she continued to wait nervously.

“But when you walked over just now, I didn’t see any weaknesses. I don’t know if it’s because of your ability or because of the corpse you mimicked.” This was the reason he approached Jiang Zhiyan. “Let me introduce myself, I’m Xue Lin.”

“Jiang Zhiyan.” Jiang Zhiyan paused. “Could you please not talk to me, I want to wait quietly.”

“Alright.” Xue Lin went to the second floor of the auditorium to direct some of the evolved humans with offensive abilities to kill aliens.

When Xue Lin mentioned his ability, Jiang Zhiyan immediately knew who he was, another member of the protagonist group, a powerful support. Later, when encountering new types of aliens, they would rely on him to identify their weaknesses. However, he was very fragile, his body only normally enhanced.

It could be said that Si Xu herself was a well-rounded fighter, and her team was also well-rounded, not many people, but with a complete range of abilities.

Jiang Zhiyan heard footsteps. After a knock, the people at the door immediately opened it. Huang Le was the first to enter, followed by Qian Rongrong.

“Where’s Senior?” Jiang Zhiyan waited but didn’t see a third person. As the aliens approached, the door closed again.

“Fuck, I knew you weren’t a good person!” Qian Rongrong was furious, kicking Huang Le to the ground. He clutched his stomach and groaned in pain. “Si Xu was covering our retreat, I don’t know how to explain it, but this idiot led her into a horde of monsters! I was surrounded too, I couldn’t get through. She moved away from us so we wouldn’t be dragged down with her.”

Qian Rongrong kicked him two more times before someone stopped her.

“We’re going out to save her.” A few evolved humans came downstairs and quickly went out. They had also seen Si Xu’s situation from upstairs. There was still a chance to save her. The loudspeaker upstairs was still diligently attracting the aliens’ attention.

Jiang Zhiyan stared at Huang Le, her fingers twitching slightly. The system hadn’t given any warnings yet, which meant Si Xu was fine, but it was still worrying. This was completely different from Si Xu going out alone. Si Xu would have been prepared, choosing routes with fewer aliens, finding places with cover, but now she was trapped in the open space in front.

No wonder this person wasn’t part of the protagonist group but appeared in front of them. He was that selfish and nameless cannon fodder. He was supposed to be dead, but he was actually alive and standing here.

“My oversight.” Jiang Zhiyan said to the system.

“Host, don’t blame yourself… even if you had noticed, with the four of you together, you couldn’t have killed him.” The system comforted her. “It’s a pity. If those monsters have already noticed a moving creature, even staying still won’t work, otherwise she could just lie on the ground.”

Huang Le had already moved to another spot: “I didn’t do it on purpose, my hand was faster than my brain, I…”

“Shut up.” Jiang Zhiyan smashed her crowbar on a chair, shattering it.

Huang Le looked at the shattered chair in terror. He felt like Jiang Zhiyan wasn’t trying to smash the chair, but him. Everyone around was startled and looked at Jiang Zhiyan.

Jiang Zhiyan took a deep breath, turned around, and wiped away her tears.

If this person was ever alone, he would definitely die.

Chapter 34: I’m a Vibe of Delicate Weakness (3)

Si Xu also didn’t know where to find a pair of shoes. This was a university, the nearest commercial street was 200 meters away, a full kilometer from the administration building.

The supermarket sold shoes, but only slippers, which were even worse than Jiang Zhiyan’s current pair. Going to the dormitory… the dormitory was practically diagonally across the campus, even farther than the commercial street.

She should have refused such a request. After all, in these extraordinary times, being alive was good enough, there was no room for being picky.

But… Si Xu looked at Jiang Zhiyan, who was holding her hand, and found it really difficult to refuse her request. Besides, Jiang Zhiyan’s feet were probably blistered, and if she picked a pair of shoes from someone with athlete’s foot, it would be even worse.

The system noticed the change in Si Xu’s expression and sighed.

It was only the first day, how had she already abandoned her principles? Wasn’t this female lead supposed to be a principled person? Although she was kind, her current emotions didn’t seem to stem from kindness.

“Forget it, Senior, I can still hold on, it’s okay.” Jiang Zhiyan moved her feet.

Si Xu caught a glimpse of Jiang Zhiyan’s raw heels and frowned: “Let’s go to the university clinic first and wrap your feet with bandages, that will make it easier to run. The clinic is right next to the administration building.”

“Do you want to wait here for me?” Si Xu asked.

Jiang Zhiyan hesitated, shaking her head, then nodding: “I want to go with you, but that would just slow you down, so I’ll wait here for you, Senior. Please be careful.”

She gripped Si Xu’s hand tightly.

“Okay.” Si Xu replied.

“On second thought, Senior, forget it.” Jiang Zhiyan looked conflicted.

“It’s fine, I need the exercise anyway.” Si Xu said. “Wait for me in this office. I don’t know if that thing is still out there, so you be careful too. I’ll be back soon. If I don’t return in two hours, find a way to leave on your own.”

“Senior…”

“It should be fine, I’m a fast runner.”

Si Xu was telling the truth. Her current speed and endurance were much better than before. “Let’s not waste any more time.”

She pried Jiang Zhiyan’s hand off hers: “Go inside quickly.”

“Okay.” Jiang Zhiyan nodded.

Si Xu threw the bag filled with water bottles inside: “Conserve your water.”

“Yes, Senior, be careful.”

After Si Xu left, Jiang Zhiyan came out of the office, fan in hand, and ran to the third floor of the administration building.

The monster was still there, surrounded by a pile of doorknobs. Its injured eyes were healing. Smelling the scent of a human, it looked at Jiang Zhiyan.

In its eyes, Jiang Zhiyan was a bright red, bloody target. It sensed danger from her, after all, the doorknobs thrown at it earlier carried her scent.

However, although it sensed danger, it didn’t retreat. Rage took over, and it swung its hammers at Jiang Zhiyan.

Jiang Zhiyan opened her fan, sliced off its hands, and effortlessly cut through its neck. With her left hand, she pulled out its heart, crushing it.

She frowned, looking at the blood on her. Cleaning it herself would be difficult. She bought a restoration card.

“Aren’t you going to check on Senior?” The system asked.

“They’re all level one monsters down there, she can handle them.” Jiang Zhiyan smoothed her hair. “She’s never been a damsel in distress who needs my protection.”

She returned to the office, took off her shoes, and examined her pitiful-looking feet. The sides of her big and little toes, as well as her heels, were all blistered.

It hurt, but it wasn’t a problem.

She opened a bottle of water and waited.

The system noticed that Jiang Zhiyan was surprisingly patient, unlike her anxious self in the previous world.

“Because this world is different. The last world was about a delicate little flower, this world is about a powerful female lead. This world is clearly about growing through battles. And… even the little flower was stronger than I expected, let alone the female lead.” Jiang Zhiyan’s tone was laced with pride. “But it’s normal, my wife is the strongest no matter what.”

The system was speechless.

It hadn’t realized that Jiang Zhiyan had a tendency towards being love-struck. In the worlds they had worked together before, Jiang Zhiyan was always indifferent and clear-headed. Look at her now.

Si Xu returned. The administration building and the clinic were only a hundred meters apart, but it took her an hour to get back. She looked like she had been pulled out of a pool of blood, her hair matted, her entire body reeking of blood.

She placed the two bags in her hands on the table and moved away from Jiang Zhiyan, afraid of the smell overwhelming her. The items inside the bags were clean; there were even shoes and new clothes.

“You should be able to wear these shoes, they’re new, I just picked them up next to a corpse.” Si Xu sat down wearily, looking at Jiang Zhiyan. “Don’t cry, I’m not injured, it’s the monsters’ blood… Bandage your feet yourself, I’m too tired.”

“I need to clean up.” Si Xu coughed and left, supporting herself on a chair.

Jiang Zhiyan quickly bandaged her feet, put on the shoes and clothes, and followed her.

Si Xu’s cleaning method was simple and crude. She took a cold shower next to the mop sink in the women’s restroom. Because the apocalypse had just begun, the water supply was still working. It was summer, so taking a cold shower wasn’t a problem for an evolved human.

Si Xu saw Jiang Zhiyan and froze for a second. Although they were both women, she still felt inexplicably embarrassed: “You can go out first.”

“Then call me when you’re getting dressed. Everywhere here is too dirty.”

Si Xu glanced at the clothes in the plastic bag Jiang Zhiyan was holding and was about to say “no need,” but her body reacted faster than her mind, and she nodded.

Jiang Zhiyan went out and stood at the door, listening to the sound of water inside.

Because the protagonists all had fragments of Xie Liaoyi’s consciousness, their appearances were almost identical to Xie Liaoyi’s. The only differences were in their demeanor, due to their different character settings and ages.

Jiang Zhiyan lowered her eyes slightly.

The system wanted to chat with Jiang Zhiyan but, seeing her physiological data fluctuate, closed its mouth. At a time like this… at a time like this! How could she be thinking about such things?

Si Xu called out from inside. Jiang Zhiyan lifted her head slightly, suppressing all emotions and desires that didn’t fit her character, and walked in, holding the clothes.

Because Si Xu was shy, Jiang Zhiyan didn’t look too much, just handed her the clothes and left, very considerate.

Si Xu breathed a sigh of relief but felt even more uncomfortable knowing that Jiang Zhiyan had noticed her reaction.

After she came out, Jiang Zhiyan gave her a sweet smile.

“Let’s go.” Si Xu said.

“Okay.” Jiang Zhiyan nodded.

“Are the shoes comfortable?” Si Xu asked.

“Very comfortable! Thank you, Senior, you’re so nice.” Jiang Zhiyan walked beside Si Xu, massaging her shoulders.

Si Xu smiled. Jiang Zhiyan brought a sense of peace from a more tranquil era, easing her tense mind.

This time, when Jiang Zhiyan reached for her hand, Si Xu didn’t refuse.

Reaching the first floor, Jiang Zhiyan was surprised to see the scattered alien corpses. Judging from Si Xu’s expression, she must have killed them all.

Si Xu’s growth was astonishing. A few hours ago, she was still running away, and now she could kill level one aliens. She didn’t know how Si Xu did it, but the cross-sections of the aliens’ limbs looked like they had been smashed and broken.

She pretended to be scared, clinging to Si Xu, but with a forced expression of bravery.

“Don’t look if you’re scared.” Si Xu covered her eyes.

Jiang Zhiyan shook her head, pulling Si Xu’s hand down: “I have to get used to it… I can’t always rely on Senior to save me.”

Seeing a level one alien wandering outside, Si Xu replicated the weapon she had used before – a crowbar.

“Where did she get that thing from?”

Si Xu replicated another one for Jiang Zhiyan: “Is it too heavy?”

“Senior, I’ve also evolved! It might have been a bit heavy before I evolved, but now, it’s nothing.” Jiang Zhiyan swung it a couple of times to prove her point. “See?”

Si Xu chuckled: “Sorry.”

The alien ran towards them at high speed. Si Xu smashed the crowbar on its head, then its chest.

“These things only die if you crush their hearts, the heart is located around where I hit. Take a look. If you can’t kill it, break its legs. It takes about ten minutes for them to regenerate.”

“Okay!” Jiang Zhiyan replied.

“So impressive, went out for a while and learned so much information.” The system sighed.

“My wife.”

System: …

Jiang Zhiyan controlled her strength, usually crushing the alien’s chest in two hits. The system watched Jiang Zhiyan’s control over her body and took a deep breath.

While fighting, Si Xu also kept an eye on Jiang Zhiyan, slightly surprised. Although Jiang Zhiyan’s hands were trembling, and her eyes were red, she was focused, her hits accurate. She wasn’t as strong as Si Xu, but every hit landed on the same spot.

They couldn’t waste too much time here, the aliens were endless.

After letting Jiang Zhiyan practice, the two started running towards the meeting point. Jiang Zhiyan originally wanted to keep the crowbar, but Si Xu told her to throw it away, she could replicate more later.

On the way, they encountered another person. Seeing Si Xu and Jiang Zhiyan, the person burst into tears. The unshaven university student in his early twenties looked like he was in his thirties. Jiang Zhiyan glanced at him then looked away.

“Ahhh, Senior, Senior! I finally found someone, I thought you had already arrived there. If it weren’t for your broadcast, I would have thought everyone was dead except me.”

“My name is Huang Le! I study mechanics!”

“Have you also evolved? What are your abilities?” He asked excitedly.

“I replicate objects.” Si Xu said. “She’s camouflage-type, what about you?”

“I control objects. Currently, I can only control inanimate things, and they can’t be too big.” He said as he controlled a rock on the ground to hit a nearby alien. “Hmm, that’s about the biggest I can control.”

Jiang Zhiyan looked at the fist-sized rock and didn’t know what to say. Well, they had just evolved, they were all newbies.

This person was clearly a chatterbox. Even while crying, his voice trembling, he showed no signs of shutting up.

“I think I should give myself a name, what do you think of Manipulator! Isn’t that awesome?”

Jiang Zhiyan looked at him: “How old are you?”

“Huh? Eighteen.”

Jiang Zhiyan stared at his face for a moment, then looked away. She and Si Xu exchanged glances, then laughed.

Huang Le: ?

“Stop talking, you’re attracting the aliens in the distance.”

Huang Le immediately shut his mouth.

After running for about three minutes, a girl came stumbling towards them. As she approached, she tripped over a corpse on the ground. She didn’t get up but crawled towards them on all fours, her speed not slowing down at all. It looked terrifying, like a zombie from a movie.

“Ah!” Jiang Zhiyan let out a short scream, only to find that Huang Le screamed even louder.

She glared at him disapprovingly. Huang Le didn’t notice and ran even faster. Si Xu conjured another crowbar, preparing to strike. This girl was much faster than the aliens.

“I’m human, I’m human!” The girl yelled, tears streaming down her face. She originally wanted to stand up and run, but this was faster. She caught up with them. “Si Xu, it’s me, Qian Rongrong!”

Jiang Zhiyan looked at Qian Rongrong, a member of the protagonist group. Her ability was zoomorphism. When she reached the highest level, she could completely transform into five different animals and gain all their abilities, even communicate with the same species.

Her first form was a cheetah, perhaps because she thought of a cheetah when she was running.

But cheetahs seemed more suited for sprinting, and her current speed clearly wasn’t as fast as a cheetah’s, just slightly faster than a normal person. Perhaps she could be faster, but she didn’t dare go alone. After running for a while, she got up. She couldn’t maintain her ability for too long, and her hands hurt too much.

“Xu Xu, do you know how I survived this long?” Qian Rongrong asked loudly. “If it weren’t for my ability, I think I would have just killed myself.”

Jiang Zhiyan looked at Si Xu, who noticed her downcast mood.

“We’ll talk when we get there, now is not the time for idle chatter. Loud noises will attract aliens from other areas.” Si Xu reminded her.

“Fine.” Qian Rongrong said, glancing at Jiang Zhiyan.

Jiang Zhiyan looked away. They were all part of the protagonist group, but Qian Rongrong’s ability seemed much stronger than hers.

“Host, you’re already powerful enough, if you get any more cheats, you’ll become OP, you’re already almost OP.” Besides, the system felt that Jiang Zhiyan could definitely find other uses for her ability.

They soon saw the activity center building, surrounded by a circle of aliens, howling, seemingly calling for their comrades.

They immediately changed direction, turned into the building next door, killed the aliens wandering inside, and locked the door.

Chapter 33: I’m a Vibe of Delicate Weakness (2)

The footsteps outside were unhurried, and they could faintly hear the sound of metal chains dragging on the floor.

As the sound drew closer, Jiang Zhiyan trembled even more, covering her mouth tightly, tears streaming down her face.

The system didn’t understand how she could cry on command, and so convincingly.

Jiang Zhiyan tugged at Si Xu’s clothes. Si Xu gently patted her back to comfort her, but Jiang Zhiyan continued to tremble.

Only the system could see the amusement in Jiang Zhiyan’s eyes. It was curious whether her trembling was feigned fear or something else.

The sound stopped at their door.

The two stared at the door, their vigilance at its peak. Si Xu’s hand rested on the table. She had already replicated eight pens, and these replicas would only last for three hours. This was her current limit. She needed to rest for a while before she could replicate again.

The sound at the door didn’t reappear. They were in a stalemate with the thing outside for a full ten minutes.

If Si Xu wasn’t there, Jiang Zhiyan would have probably grabbed a weapon and rushed out to send it to the next life.

Clearly, Si Xu was also getting impatient. She patted Jiang Zhiyan’s hand, telling her to let go, then stood up and walked towards the door.

“Your feet!”

The instant Jiang Zhiyan spoke, Si Xu had already stabbed the pens at the black, oil-like substance on the floor. The monster, hit, lost its patience and smashed the already flimsy door. Splinters of wood flew everywhere, cutting Si Xu’s cheek, a few even embedding themselves in her flesh.

Jiang Zhiyan was unharmed. She crouched under the table, watching the blood trickle down Si Xu’s cheek, and frowned slightly.

The monster at the door wasn’t the same type as the one before. This one was much shorter and stockier, its body shape similar to a human’s, but its face wasn’t two eyes, one nose, and one mouth. Instead, it had sixteen eyes packed densely together, enough to make anyone lose their sanity. Its two hands held giant metal hammers, which it had just used to smash the door.

It seemed to possess basic thinking skills, mainly because its gaze shifted between Si Xu and Jiang Zhiyan, who had peeked out from under the table. The drool dripping from its mouth showed that it was considering who to eat first. The black oil slowly flowed into the room, and Si Xu took a few steps back.

Such a commotion should have attracted other monsters, but it didn’t.

Jiang Zhiyan glanced out the window and noticed a few eight-tentacled monsters trying to approach, but as if wary of something, they retreated.

Just as evolved humans had levels, so did the monsters. This ugly creature was clearly higher level than the eight-tentacled ones. How much higher, she wasn’t sure. The script she received was about being protected, and then morally coercing others into sacrificing themselves, nothing more.

But she shouldn’t encounter a high-level monster for a few more days.

The hammer swung towards Jiang Zhiyan. Grabbing a pen, she rolled on the floor, dodging it. The hammer grazed her, messing up her carefully styled hair. The monster was clearly very strong, creating a crater in the floor, revealing the floor below.

Unfortunately, there were people hiding below, and they were crushed by the falling ceiling debris and desk. Jiang Zhiyan glanced at them, covered her mouth, then looked away.

Just as she got up from the floor, Si Xu jumped down through the hole.

“Come down quickly! I can’t beat it!”

Jiang Zhiyan didn’t hesitate and jumped down after her, landing on the rubble. Si Xu had intended to catch her, but it turned out to be unnecessary. Pretending her legs were weak, Jiang Zhiyan let Si Xu drag her away.

After running for a while, Si Xu glanced at Jiang Zhiyan with some confusion.

Although Jiang Zhiyan looked scared, her legs weak, as if she was about to collapse at any moment, her legs moved quickly, not hesitating at all as they ran.

The monster also jumped down, but it was clearly the type with strong attack power but poor agility, very bulky, unable to keep up with their speed. However, the black, oil-like substance on the floor continued to follow them closely.

Jiang Zhiyan held her hand behind her back. A pen flew out, striking one of the monster’s eyes. It roared in pain, completely enraged. The “thump, thump, thump” of its footsteps seemed to shake the ground. Si Xu was surprised but didn’t look back.

“Host, you can’t kill it, the pen isn’t strong enough.” The system reminded her. “But your fan definitely can.”

Jiang Zhiyan ignored it, casually snapping off a nearby doorknob and throwing it backward, hitting another eye.

The system examined the broken doorknob and hesitantly opened Jiang Zhiyan’s character profile.

???

Why was there a “super strength” added to Jiang Zhiyan’s evolution direction? It wasn’t there a few minutes ago.

So, was it because Jiang Zhiyan’s strength was great, causing the profile to automatically fill in “super strength,” or was it another bug?

This world was too strange.

However, the system didn’t report any errors. If it was really a bug, and it was fixed later, it felt that Jiang Zhiyan would drag it out and beat it up.

Jiang Zhiyan broke off anything she could find along the way and threw it into the ugly monster’s eyes. Because of the awkward throwing positions, her arm was starting to ache. Si Xu seemed to sense something and looked back at Jiang Zhiyan several times, but each time she only saw Jiang Zhiyan’s pale and exhausted face.

Perhaps the monster gave up, or perhaps it changed its strategy. The footsteps disappeared again, even the oil-like substance was gone.

“Let’s go to the broadcasting room, the broadcast should still be working, let’s gather the survivors.” Si Xu said quickly.

“Where should we gather them?” Jiang Zhiyan asked.

“The auditorium in the activity center, it’s in the center of the school, convenient to get to from anywhere, and there are many paths, the overall structure is also good.”

“But the problem is… not everyone will be willing to risk coming out.” After all, it was only the first day, and the survivors were still in survival mode. Many, to be safe, would probably observe for a while before acting. “I hope everyone is okay.”

She “sincerely” wiped a tear from the corner of her eye.

“We have to try.” Si Xu frowned. “We shouldn’t be the only two who have evolved, there must be others. If we can be together, it’ll be safer.”

Si Xu was very familiar with the area. They took two shortcuts that Jiang Zhiyan considered absurd to get to the broadcasting room. Fortunately, they didn’t encounter any aliens along the way. Perhaps they were all scared off by that multi-eyed monster.

The door to the broadcasting room was wide open, the smell of blood thick in the air. Inside lay two corpses, desiccated, like they had been sucked dry. They must have been alive when it happened, their expressions frozen in pain and terror. There were no other external injuries, just a circular hole on their necks.

Si Xu frowned and turned away. Jiang Zhiyan closed her eyes and turned her back.

“Wait for me outside, I’ll move the bodies.”

“Don’t touch them directly, in case there’s something wrong with them.” Jiang Zhiyan tugged on Si Xu’s sleeve, reminding her.

“Okay.” Si Xu thought Jiang Zhiyan’s words made perfect sense, so she didn’t touch the bodies, simply bypassed them and used the equipment. “This is Si Xu.”

Si Xu was a well-known figure in the school before the apocalypse. Her name was familiar to most people. As Si Xu’s voice echoed through the school, the aliens wandering around the campus went into a frenzy again, searching for the source of the sound.

“What if they understand us and surround that location in advance?” Jiang Zhiyan asked. Although as long as people ran towards that location, it would definitely be surrounded, there was still a big difference.

Si Xu paused, as if thinking, then said: “It’s fine.”

Then Jiang Zhiyan heard a string of school slang, the kind of thing every school had, only understood by the students.

Actually, Si Xu had thought of many other encryption methods, but they were all rejected. These aliens clearly came from a more advanced world, and there might be intelligent aliens behind them. If they used encryption, it might be easily deciphered. And she didn’t have time to think of a more sophisticated method now. Even if she did, not everyone would be able to decipher it immediately.

The people hiding around campus, hearing the broadcast, couldn’t help but cover their mouths. The slang, usually used for jokes, sounded a bit comical when spoken so seriously by Si Xu, but everyone understood her meaning.

“I hope everyone can unite and work together to eliminate those monsters. They will only get stronger. If we don’t grow stronger, the only outcome is death.”

Si Xu turned off the broadcast and saw Jiang Zhiyan’s teary-eyed, adoring gaze. She rubbed her throat. She didn’t usually talk much, and she wondered if she had talked too much today. Her throat felt dry.

“Senior, you’re so amazing. If only I could be as calm as you.”

“But I think you’re very calm.” Si Xu said.

Jiang Zhiyan shook her head: “If I were alone, I would have fainted already. It’s all thanks to your strength, Senior! I, I don’t want to be a burden to you.”

Si Xu, looking at the light in Jiang Zhiyan’s eyes, quickly looked away as if she had been burned: “Let’s empty the vending machines.”

“Okay.” Jiang Zhiyan obediently followed Si Xu and held her hand. Si Xu instinctively tried to shake her off, but couldn’t. “Senior, I’m scared. You held my hand like this just now… I wiped my hands.”

Si Xu pursed her lips and didn’t try to shake her hand off again.

System: Ha, not surprising at all.

Jiang Zhiyan’s lips curled up slightly, looking at their joined hands. There would be countless times after the first.

“You should find a way to change your shoes.” Si Xu pried open the vending machine and stuffed the contents into the large bag she had taken from the office. Glancing at Jiang Zhiyan’s shoes, she frowned.

“Hmm?” Jiang Zhiyan looked down at her small leather shoes. Now that Si Xu mentioned it, she felt a stinging pain in her feet, they must have been rubbed raw. She bit her lip. “They do hurt a little, but where can I find shoes… I don’t want to wear someone else’s old shoes. Senior, am I being too spoiled?”

“It’s okay, I’ll think of something.”

“Senior…” Jiang Zhiyan said clingily, looking at Si Xu with increasingly adoring eyes.

Si Xu glanced at her, then quickly looked away.

This junior was really too enthusiastic.

Chapter 32: I’m a Vibe of Delicate Weakness (1)

“Are you sure, Host? I suggest you find a safe place to receive the script.” The system said.

“If you don’t tell me, how would I know where a safe place is?” Jiang Zhiyan dodged a stool falling from above, grazing a wound on her leg, her face paling further.

The script was transmitted.

This was an apocalyptic, female-led power fantasy. The story’s backdrop: an alien invasion attempting to exterminate humanity and seize Earth’s resources.

The female lead was named Si Xu, currently a senior at A University. She was among the first wave of naturally evolved humans after the alien invasion. Her ability was “infinite replication.” In the early, low-level stages, she could replicate objects she touched. Later, she could replicate living beings and other people’s abilities. Her cheat was maxed out. Her only weakness was that she would fall into a coma every time she leveled up, and the higher the level, the longer the coma.

She appeared aloof and tough on the surface, but she was actually kind-hearted and dedicated to uniting everyone to resist the aliens.

Jiang Zhiyan was Si Xu’s junior from the same department, also an evolved human, but very weak, with practically no offensive power. Her physical strength, speed, and endurance barely met the standard for evolved humans. Her ability was “atmosphere creation.” In the early stages, she used this ability to survive the apocalypse, repeatedly dissuading people from killing her. However, it became useless later on, as high-level evolved humans could resist the illusions she created.

She was also a “holy mother,” not the self-sacrificing type, but the kind who morally coerced others into sacrificing themselves for her own glory. She had encountered this type of person before when she was a female lead. She usually wouldn’t save them, instead ensuring both the “holy mother” and the person she wanted to save would die together.

Because this was a female-led story, the male lead’s presence was minimal. He appeared early on but was frequently offline. This background character, strictly speaking, wasn’t a true “protagonist.” He was only elevated because he was designated as the female lead’s partner. Si Xu was the sole protagonist of this book.

Jiang Zhiyan checked some lists, confirming her guess.

This also meant that if the male lead died, the small world would be unstable, but not to the point of collapse. Similar to her treatment as the female supporting character, perhaps even worse, as she had many more scenes. Her main role was to annoy the readers from beginning to end. If she died midway, there would be many plot holes.

The apocalypse had just begun, the alien invasion only ten minutes old, and most people would die in these ten minutes.

As she ran, the person behind her was caught by an alien, their waist constricted until their body was ripped in two, organs spilling onto the ground. The person in front of her looked back, their legs giving way as they fell. The next second, they were also snatched by an alien, their head crushed.

Jiang Zhiyan looked down at the burning wound on her leg and quickly ran towards the hiding place assigned to her in the plot. She was about to evolve. Although she wouldn’t lose consciousness, she wouldn’t have the strength to deal with those aliens during evolution.

The hiding place was a storage room in the gymnasium. Relying on the “plot armor,” she successfully made it inside, locked the door, lay down on the high jump mat, and closed her eyes.

“Si Xu is in the dormitory now.”

“Host, how can you be sure Si Xu is the person you’re looking for?” The system didn’t understand. They hadn’t even met.

“I just know, and she wouldn’t deign to be a random passerby.”

Fatigue washed over her in waves, her entire body burning up.

She had a fever. Clutching her head, although it was relatively safe here, she forced herself to stay awake, not falling asleep. This place was too unsafe to sleep in.

It turned out that her decision not to sleep was correct.

The closed door inexplicably opened, but there was no one outside.

Before she could speak, the system quickly closed the door.

“What’s going on? So many bugs in just half an hour. Normally, there’s a buffer period after entering a world, but there wasn’t here. And the door just opened by itself.”

“Sounds like something is trying to kill me.” Jiang Zhiyan mumbled.

Evolution was clearly a very unpleasant process. Jiang Zhiyan felt like her bones and flesh were being pulverized and then reassembled.

This lasted for an hour. She felt like she had just been fished out of a river, drenched in sweat mixed with blood from who knows where. Fortunately, the wound on her leg had healed, otherwise she would be rolling on the floor in pain.

Even a low-level evolved human like her found evolution so painful, she wondered how Si Xu was feeling, if she was crying from the pain.

After resting for half an hour, Jiang Zhiyan got up. According to the plot, she should go out now and be rescued by Si Xu at the designated location.

But…

Her gaze fell on the door not far away.

The moment she opened the door, an alien waiting outside punched at her head. Jiang Zhiyan quickly dodged the fist and the tentacles reaching for her. The tentacles, originally gray, were now crimson, stained with the blood of countless victims.

A folding fan suddenly appeared in Jiang Zhiyan’s hand. This was a cold weapon she brought back from the interstellar era, all the fan bones made of special materials, theoretically capable of cutting through most things.

This world was already experiencing an alien invasion, so having this wasn’t considered a major bug.

“Host, where did you get that? I’ve never seen it before! And why can you pull out a weapon from somewhere I don’t know about?” The system was shocked. It felt like it wasn’t doing a good job as a system. The host had so many secrets it didn’t know about, even after working together for so long.

Jiang Zhiyan didn’t answer. She glanced at the faint scales on the alien’s body, quickly analyzed its weak points, stabbed the fan into its body, then reached in along the wound and directly pulled out the alien’s “heart.”

Her movements were swift and decisive, as if she had done this many times before.

Dark red blood dripped from her fingertips, and she casually wiped it off with a jacket she picked up from the floor.

“Interesting.” She looked at the alien on the ground with two arms and eight legs.

The alien should have broken down the door after sensing her inside, after all, that door couldn’t stop it. But it waited at the doorway, as if following some kind of instruction.

Jiang Zhiyan wiped the blood from her arm and ran towards the designated location in the plot. Passing by a restroom, she went in to tidy herself up.

She had to look pitiful and tragic. Too dirty and miserable, it would be hard to evoke any emotion other than sympathy.

Over an hour had passed, and the number of survivors still moving around had decreased significantly. Most people were hiding, not daring to speak or even breathe.

She glanced at the time, then at the plot, the corners of her lips lifting slightly as she ran towards a certain location.

System: …

Seeing her smile like that in a place littered with dismembered limbs and internal organs, it was seriously worried about Jiang Zhiyan’s mental state, and worried that she would scare other people.

Running quickly attracted nearby aliens. This time, without other passersby to divert their attention, Jiang Zhiyan was almost caught several times. Fortunately, she was nimble, narrowly avoiding the tentacles.

Reaching the designated location in the plot, Jiang Zhiyan tripped over a conveniently placed rock and rolled down a grassy slope. Instinctively protecting her head, she watched as an alien’s tentacles lashed out at her.

The system held its breath nervously.

A mop flew over, pinning the tentacle to the ground. A second mop followed, this time aiming for the alien’s chest. But the material was clearly not strong enough. Upon contact with the alien’s scales, the mop disintegrated, only slightly hindering its movement without causing any real damage. The next four mops all struck the tentacles.

Jiang Zhiyan scrambled towards the person on the other side of the slope. Si Xu, using her ability for the first time, was clearly not proficient. Her speed was also slow. Having just replicated six mops, her face was already pale, and she hadn’t fully grasped her ability yet.

“Senior, let’s hurry and go!” Jiang Zhiyan looked at Si Xu tearfully, her voice trembling, seemingly panicked to the extreme.

“Yes.” Si Xu nodded, glancing back at the aliens.

They found refuge in a nearby office in the administration building.

“Are you hurt?”

Jiang Zhiyan shook her head, wiping away her tears, and leaned against Si Xu, clinging to her waist, her body trembling uncontrollably: “Senior, I was so scared, I’m so glad you came. Waaah, I thought I was going to die.”

System: Painful to watch.

Si Xu didn’t like close contact, but looking down at Jiang Zhiyan’s tears, she hesitated for two seconds and didn’t push her away.

Sitting together on the same chair, Si Xu organized the current information, writing on a piece of paper.

“I just ran here from the dormitory and found that they notice any movement or sound.”

“But there might be other monsters later, I don’t think there’s only one type.”

Jiang Zhiyan immediately closed her mouth and nodded.

“My body has undergone some changes, as you saw. Have you experienced any changes?” Si Xu didn’t elaborate on her ability. It was better not to tell others about something that served as her trump card.

Jiang Zhiyan nodded and tried to grab the pen, but her hand was trembling too much, she couldn’t hold it. She looked at Si Xu, then carefully leaned closer and wrapped her arms around Si Xu’s neck.

“Me too, it seems to be about changing my aura or the atmosphere, I don’t know about anything else, but it doesn’t seem very useful. Just now, I tried to become one of them, but they still chased after me.”

Jiang Zhiyan thought it should be feasible, she just didn’t know what level of evolution was required to truly become one of them.

“Host, it is feasible. You actually succeeded just now, but it only lasted for half a second. At your current level of evolution, you can at most mimic a small cat or dog, or make yourself appear harmless.” The system said.

Jiang Zhiyan: …

What a weakling. Appearing harmless… did someone like her even need to mimic that?

Seeing that Si Xu didn’t react, a look of panic appeared in Jiang Zhiyan’s eyes: “Senior, don’t leave me behind, I’ll work hard to become stronger.”

“I’m not going to leave you behind.” Si Xu said. She just wasn’t used to this kind of talk.

Hearing sounds from outside the door, Si Xu covered Jiang Zhiyan’s mouth, looking at the door warily.

Jiang Zhiyan leaned weakly against Si Xu, closing her eyes. She was afraid she would burst out laughing.

Chapter 31: I Also Want Cake (31)

“You don’t love her at all. She’s so happy here. You’ve messed up my world and now you’re saying you want to leave? On what basis?” It shrieked.

“Let her go.” Jiang Zhiyan warned, a skill card appearing in her hand. She held Liang Xi’s shoulder tightly. “You know I can snap Yan Yanzhuo’s neck. He has no way to resist.”

“There’s a chance I can escape with her, but you will definitely die.”

“This is just one of her soul fragments.” It said. “Look, it’s only a small fragment, her personality is still complete, it means losing a bit won’t make any difference.”

“Three…” Jiang Zhiyan didn’t bother responding, discussing this with the world’s consciousness was meaningless. She didn’t understand why it insisted on keeping Liang Xi, she only knew that she wouldn’t let it happen.

The skill card began to glow, a sign that it was activating.

It cursed and tried to stop Jiang Zhiyan, but she wasn’t going to waste any more time.

In the blink of an eye, Jiang Zhiyan and Liang Xi vanished.

Even a world consciousness that considered itself highly civilized couldn’t help but want to curse.

Yan Yanzhuo was still awake. He had just been whipped with a rattan cane, the wounds on his body freshly treated and stinging so badly he couldn’t sleep. Seeing the two suddenly appear in front of him, he froze for a second, slightly surprised. He glanced around, as if pondering how they appeared.

“As expected of the male lead, not even panicking after encountering something so unscientific.” The system sighed. “Great, now there are three lunatics in this room.”

Jiang Zhiyan carefully placed Liang Xi on the sofa and looked at Yan Yanzhuo.

In the plot, the female lead would find the beaten-up male lead and carefully treat his wounds. Because of the skin contact, their hearts would race, and their feelings would rapidly develop.

She had always wanted to kill Yan Yanzhuo. Even though Liang Xi didn’t interact much with him, and even though this plot point was now impossible, just thinking about it made her feel uncomfortable.

Jiang Zhiyan grabbed a tie from nearby and swiftly wrapped it around Yan Yanzhuo’s neck.

Her movements were so fast that Yan Yanzhuo barely had time to react. Just as he reached out, he heard a crisp “crack,” and his wrists went limp.

He gasped and stared at Jiang Zhiyan, his face pale. He had seen Jiang Zhiyan fight before, but she had held back then. Now, he could sense a clear killing intent in her gaze.

She clearly wanted him dead.

“What a psycho, not even screaming?” The system was shocked. “But Host, are you really going to kill him? Wait, let me write a will, save my basic data, I think I still have a chance to be reborn…”

The world consciousness, seeing its precious son being tortured without making a sound, felt a phantom heart attack coming on.

What was wrong with these people?

Yan Yanzhuo stared at Jiang Zhiyan. The pressure on his neck increased, and he couldn’t suppress his physiological reaction, coughing violently.

He felt like Jiang Zhiyan was in a tug-of-war with something, and his life was the bargaining chip.

“Jiang Zhiyan! I compromise!” It roared.

It had finally awakened and couldn’t disappear so quickly. Although soul fragments could help it upgrade the world, it was nothing compared to its own life and death.

However, it wouldn’t let them go so easily. It had already written a complaint letter accusing Jiang Zhiyan. A tasker who threatened the world consciousness should be erased, otherwise, who knew how many small worlds she would harm. These two suddenly appearing in front of Yan Yanzhuo would require it to expend a lot of energy to fix this bug.

Jiang Zhiyan released her grip. Yan Yanzhuo collapsed weakly, his wounds hitting the nightstand, causing him to wince. He covered his neck with his forearm and coughed, each cough aggravating his treated wounds.

“What are you doing?” Yan Yanzhuo asked hoarsely.

She glanced at Yan Yanzhuo coldly, not answering the question, and walked over to Liang Xi, helping her up. Liang Xi still seemed to be trapped in her dream, showing no signs of waking up.

Jiang Zhiyan frowned and looked at Yan Yanzhuo again, her hand resting on a vase.

The next second, her head began to spin. Through the static, she saw a translucent spirit emerge from Liang Xi’s body and fly towards her.

When she woke up again, she saw the familiar ceiling of her tasker lounge.

She immediately sat up, saw the spirit floating beside her, and breathed a sigh of relief.

The spirit couldn’t speak and didn’t have much self-awareness, but it still floated over to Jiang Zhiyan and nuzzled her face. Jiang Zhiyan couldn’t feel it, but she could see it.

Jiang Zhiyan looked at her tenderly.

“Host…”

“Hmm?”

“Mission failed, ha, minus 100,000 points.” The system said, exasperated. “And congratulations on becoming the first tasker in history to be personally kicked out by a world consciousness. You could have gotten a completion bonus for the side plot, but now that the mission failed, there’s nothing.”

Jiang Zhiyan responded indifferently, not really caring. She took out the jade pendant she had exchanged for 500,000 points to nourish souls and placed Xie Liaoyi’s soul fragment inside.

She had spent almost all her savings to buy this, hoping it would work.

She got out of bed and placed the items she brought back from the mission world on the shelf.

The housewarming gift Jiang Zhiyan gave her was placed in the center. It was a jade carving, the craftsmanship clearly amateurish, practically ruining the material, but she loved it.

“Host, just a reminder, you now owe 96,236 points.” The system sighed again. “Other taskers at most earn a little less, you’re directly in debt.”

“It’s fine, I still have points.”

“Where did you get them?”

“Hers.” Jiang Zhiyan touched the jade pendant in her hand. “Quite a lot, actually.”

System: ???

“Why can you access her points?” The system’s eyes widened. It had never heard of something so absurd.

“I just can, ask the Main God if you have any questions.” Jiang Zhiyan lay back down on the bed, placing the jade pendant on her chest.

Looking at Jiang Zhiyan’s lovesick appearance, the system showed her the mission settlement page. The four words “Mission Failed” were starkly visible. Jiang Zhiyan glanced at it and then looked away.

After Jiang Zhiyan and Xie Liaoyi’s soul fragment left, the world consciousness quickly dumped Jiang Zhiyan onto a busy street and began tampering with the memories of everyone involved.

“Heehee, this is better, you two are a match made in heaven, you should be together.” The world consciousness looked at the two sharing a room, its mood improving despite having expended a lot of energy.

Liang Xi, lying on the sofa, woke up with a headache. She opened her eyes, looked around, her face gradually paling, and screamed when she saw Yan Yanzhuo.

“Who are you? Why am I here?” Liang Xi looked at Yan Yanzhuo in terror, wanting to call the police, but realized she didn’t have her phone.

Yan Yanzhuo frowned at Liang Xi, not saying anything, just went out of the room and called for someone. A few minutes later, Yan Yanzhuo and Liang Xi were rushed to the hospital. Liang Xi was so scared by the bodyguards in black that she kept crying.

Yan Yanzhuo got his wrists checked, Liang Xi got her head checked.

The world consciousness, seeing the plot develop completely differently from what it had imagined, panicked. After carefully checking and finding the problem, it wanted to drag Jiang Zhiyan back and beat her up.

Jiang Zhiyan had actually used a skill card before leaving, making the female lead forget all plot points related to Yan Yanzhuo.

To save effort, it had tampered with the memories starting from the first day Jiang Zhiyan and Liang Xi met. But it had tampered with too many memories just now. Its previous attempts to control Xie Liaoyi, and the creation of the small world to trap Xie Liaoyi, had depleted its energy reserves, so it couldn’t tamper with Liang Xi’s memories any further.

It suspected that Jiang Zhiyan had calculated all of this.

And now, if it wanted to tamper with Liang Xi’s memories, it would have to wait at least two years. But in two years, these two would have gone their separate ways, it would be too late.

It angrily wrote another long complaint letter against Jiang Zhiyan.

Looking at Liang Xi, who was asking the nurses to call the police and looking for her mother, it closed its eyes and went back to sleep.

Whatever, let it be.

…

“Host, what have you done again? You’ve received another complaint letter.” The system looked at the “Complaint Received” notification in the inbox, its vision darkening, then chuckled dryly. “Host, I think I’ll be scrapped before you even finish working for the Main God.”

“Oh, whatever.” Jiang Zhiyan closed her eyes. “Stop talking nonsense, take me to the next world.”

“Why are you in such a hurry? Don’t you want to rest?” The system sighed. “Host, please prepare yourself, connecting to the next world.”

“This world is perfect for you, it’s just the character setting that’s not quite right.” The system chuckled. “Host, friendly reminder, you used your wife’s savings to pay off your debt, now your wife has 396,000 points left.”

“I know.” Jiang Zhiyan was very satisfied with the system’s address and, for once, wasn’t annoyed by its chatter.

The familiar dizziness hit.

Perhaps because she was kicked out of the previous world, her current state wasn’t good. After landing, Jiang Zhiyan instinctively moved to adjust, then suddenly tasted something strange in her mouth, like dirt.

She heard screams around her, saw the situation in front of her, and instinctively dodged a stool thrown at her. She looked at the person behind her who was hit by the stool, their body a bloody mess.

She pushed herself off the ground and, ignoring the sharp pain in her legs, ran towards the approaching alien creatures.

“Give me the script, quickly!”

Chapter 30: I Also Want Cake (30)-2

Warm breath brushed against Liang Xi’s palm, and she quickly pulled her hand away.

Jiang Zhiyan accompanied Liang Xi to the countryside. Liang Xi had told her family beforehand that Jiang Zhiyan was coming, so Liang Xi’s mother prepared new slippers, added another blanket to Liang Xi’s bed, and prepared a late-night snack.

Jiang Zhiyan bought gifts for everyone in Liang Xi’s family. She was good with words and, if she wanted to, could be everyone’s favorite.

Liang Xi stood in the distance, watching Jiang Zhiyan chat with her grandmother.

“What are you standing there for? I bought some cherries, go wash some and eat them.” Liang Xi’s mother patted her.

“Okay.” Liang Xi replied, then couldn’t help but ask, “Mom, do I seem different from before?”

“Yes, you’re lazier.”

Liang Xi: ???

Liang Xi didn’t want to talk and went to the kitchen to get a plate. Less than a minute later, Jiang Zhiyan followed her in, rolling up her sleeves and standing beside her.

“You’re a guest, I can’t let you do the work.”

“Doing chores with you is like playing a game.”

Liang Xi nudged Jiang Zhiyan with her elbow, glancing back to make sure no one was around before speaking: “Is it strange that I don’t want them to remember me, but if they really don’t remember me at all, I’ll be very sad… Would they still be so nice if I were just ‘Liang Xi’?”

Jiang Zhiyan was silent for a long time before replying: “That’s a normal feeling, nothing strange about it.”

She didn’t answer the other question, and Liang Xi already knew the answer.

“I will always remember you, no matter what you become, I’ll recognize you at a glance. That’s you.”

“The legendary ‘recognize you even if you turn to ashes’?” Liang Xi joked.

“Yes.”

Liang Xi put a cherry in Jiang Zhiyan’s mouth, then continued washing the rest, her disappointment evident.

“She must be very sad right now.” The system said. “This truth is too cruel for her, after all, she has genuine feelings.”

“That’s why the first rule for taskers is not to develop feelings for NPCs.” Jiang Zhiyan threw the cherry pit in the trash can. “She can handle it, she’s the most outstanding tasker in my eyes.”

The system didn’t know how to respond. It had been curious before and searched for information, but it couldn’t find any records. This meant that under normal circumstances, one shouldn’t become a soul fragment. It figured she must have exploited some bug or used some unusual means to survive as a soul fragment. And taskers who did that sort of thing usually couldn’t earn many points, like Jiang Zhiyan.

As for whether Jiang Zhiyan was an excellent tasker… the system didn’t dare say, but her mental fortitude was definitely strong.

“Host, do you know there’s an asterisk next to your mission name?” The system said.

“Yes.”

“Then what does it mean?” The system had always been puzzled. It previously thought it was a harmless bug, but now it felt like there might be another meaning.

Jiang Zhiyan didn’t answer the question.

The two elders went to bed early. Liang Xi’s mother was working overtime in her room, leaving only Jiang Zhiyan and Liang Xi. They went back to their room early and locked the door.

Liang Xi lay on the bed, watching a video Yang Xiao forwarded to her. Jiang Zhiyan leaned against her, her leg hooked around Liang Xi’s, gently swinging it.

“Does she send you such boring videos every day?” Jiang Zhiyan asked after watching with her for a while.

“Yes, they’re not that boring, it’s just that my sense of humor is higher.” Liang Xi put her phone aside. Just as she turned around, Jiang Zhiyan leaned on her, burying her face in Liang Xi’s shoulder and taking a deep breath.

“Are you trying to sniff me like a cat?” Liang Xi pressed Jiang Zhiyan’s head. “You’re still so thin, even after I’ve been feeding you for so long.”

“I have some meat.” Jiang Zhiyan pressed against Liang Xi’s chest.

Liang Xi: …

“My mom is right next door.” Liang Xi whispered. “Behave yourself, the walls are thin.”

“We’re not doing anything.” Jiang Zhiyan slid down slightly and kissed Liang Xi’s stomach.

Liang Xi’s legs instinctively wrapped around Jiang Zhiyan’s body, her waist involuntarily lifting. Jiang Zhiyan’s hand found the sensitive spot on Liang Xi’s waist.

“A major stimulus, I feel like, this could be considered a stimulus.” Liang Xi said, her voice slightly muffled. “My soul is trembling.”

“No, going halfway and then returning would be too frustrating. I’d rather just leave directly.” Jiang Zhiyan nuzzled against Liang Xi again, clinging to her.

Liang Xi laughed: “You really are…”

She turned around, facing Jiang Zhiyan: “Let’s go back after you’ve calmed down.”

“Okay, I’m not in a hurry, and you don’t need to be either.”

Even with Jiang Zhiyan beside her, Liang Xi still didn’t sleep well that night.

She dreamt she was sitting in a small, dark room. After a long period of silence and loneliness, the surroundings brightened, and she was surrounded by mirrors.

The person in the mirrors was her, and yet not her. She clearly felt herself sitting in a chair, but the reflection of herself was blindfolded and gagged, hanging mid-air, like a corpse.

Black smoke appeared from nowhere, coiling around her neck.

The feeling of suffocation made it hard to breathe. She felt like the black smoke was trying to strangle her.

She clutched her neck, trying to tear away the smoke.

The “self” in the mirror suddenly opened its eyes and lunged at her, looking down at her.

“Isn’t it nice to stay here, stay here forever? You’re the protagonist here, the entire world revolves around you.”

“Weren’t the days before happy? If it weren’t for Jiang Zhiyan, you would be happy forever.”

“Everyone loves you… You are Liang Xi, you are Liang Xi!”

The scene changed again. She clutched her chest, taking two deep breaths.

She was sitting in the classroom, facing an excited Yang Xiao.

“Jiang Zhiyan is going to get what’s coming to her.” Yang Xiao said excitedly.

“What?” Liang Xi didn’t react for a moment.

“Aren’t you angry? She’s so vicious, actually getting someone to stop you on your way home from school. If it weren’t for a righteous passerby, who knows what would have happened? Ha, I heard Yan Yanzhuo helped you get revenge. It would be great if she could be expelled.”

Liang Xi looked at Yang Xiao’s outstretched hand, avoided it, and stared at Yang Xiao.

“What’s wrong, Xi Xi? You’re acting weird today.” Yang Xiao waved her hand in front of Liang Xi’s face. “Don’t tell me you’re still not planning to confront Jiang Zhiyan? This isn’t the first time she’s done something like this! You can’t let her get away with it! She’s just taking advantage of your good nature.”

“Fine, I won’t talk about it if you don’t like it.” Startled by Liang Xi’s look, Yang Xiao slumped onto the desk.

Liang Xi saw another Jiang Zhiyan. She yelled at her hysterically, but Liang Xi couldn’t hear a single word. Unable to dodge in time, she was hit twice. If Yang Xiao hadn’t rushed out to stop her, Liang Xi might have been pushed to the ground.

It hurt.

Liang Xi touched her arm, a bruise was already forming.

Wasn’t this a dream? Why did it hurt?

That day, she inexplicably won a lottery, she was confessed to by ten people, and every passerby on the street smiled at her.

“She’s just jealous of your position as the protagonist, so she wants to kill you.”

“See, how annoying she is.”

“Don’t believe her lies, look how fortunate your life should be.”

“Don’t you like this kind of life?”

Liang Xi stood by the roadside, pushed away the friendly passersby, covered her ears, and ran forward. She bumped into a few e-bikes and several pedestrians.

No one blamed her. They all asked her kindly if she was okay.

“See, if it weren’t for her, you wouldn’t be blamed.”

“Who said that? I was just hit by Jiang Zhiyan.” Liang Xi retorted.

“But she’ll die. Everyone who hurts you will die, isn’t that good?”

Jiang Zhiyan, sleeping beside Liang Xi, abruptly opened her eyes and looked at Liang Xi’s pale face. She was frowning, clearly resisting something.

“This world’s consciousness is really troublesome.” Jiang Zhiyan was irritated. She pulled Liang Xi into her arms.

“Feels like it’s targeting you two.” The system said. “This world’s consciousness is so active. When you were the protagonist, you practically turned the world upside down, and it didn’t stop you.”

“Xi Xi, Xi Xi.” Jiang Zhiyan called softly, but Liang Xi didn’t react. She lowered her head and bit Liang Xi’s lip hard.

Liang Xi in her dream clutched her mouth and gasped, immediately realizing it was Jiang Zhiyan. She felt exasperated, but also anxious.

She didn’t know what this damn place was, but clearly, Jiang Zhiyan couldn’t enter.

She looked around, her gaze settling on the railing not far away. She ran towards it and, without thinking, jumped over.

“What a stubborn person you are.”

The voice appeared in Liang Xi’s head.

“You won’t be happier than you are now. Jiang Zhiyan is just pretending. You’re only here because of her.”

“You’re bullshitting.”

“How can you curse? My female lead wouldn’t curse!”

Liang Xi suddenly found it incredibly ridiculous: “I’m not your female lead! Get that straight!”

She was falling. Many people crowded around the railing, looking down. Several people also jumped down, trying to pull her up. She didn’t know where she got the strength, but she shook them off.

False sensations surrounded her, but she could clearly distinguish the warmth on her lips, burning hot and forceful, pressing down until her lips hurt.

She tentatively opened her mouth.

Jiang Zhiyan held Liang Xi and kissed her twice. Liang Xi’s face became even paler. “System, send me to Yan Yanzhuo, I’m going to kill him, let’s all die together.”

If the male and female leads didn’t die according to the plot, the world would collapse.

“Are you guys insane?” The system shrieked. Liang Xi inside hadn’t been dealt with yet, and now Jiang Zhiyan outside was having problems.

This was the first time Jiang Zhiyan spoke directly to the world’s consciousness: “Ah, I’ve always been.”

Chapter 30: I Also Want Cake (30)-1

Seeing the two embracing and kissing, the system’s shriek abruptly cut off. It cursed inwardly, then, looking at Yan Yanzhuo’s disgusted expression, felt much better.

It calculated carefully. Currently, every named character in this world seemed to have been hurt by these two.

It felt even more balanced.

Jiang Zhiyan, looking at Liang Xi so close, felt like she was dreaming. Although they had kissed many times, Liang Xi’s kisses were still shy and tentative, lingering between their lips and teeth.

She unconsciously bit Liang Xi’s lip, hard enough to make her open her eyes. Liang Xi stared back, momentarily stunned.

Liang Xi: ?

“What are you doing?” Liang Xi released Jiang Zhiyan, her breathing still uneven, her voice unsteady.

“I thought I was dreaming.”

Liang Xi’s eyes widened: “Why… why do you always do this?”

System: The fact that Jiang Zhiyan has a girlfriend could be listed as the eighth wonder of the world.

“But now I’m sure, it’s not a dream.” Jiang Zhiyan put her arm around Liang Xi’s shoulder and kissed her again.

Liang Xi’s complaint turned into a soft whimper. She felt like Jiang Zhiyan was a ravenous dog, stealing the air from her lungs. Her body went weak, and she unconsciously grabbed Jiang Zhiyan’s clothes to keep her balance. Feeling Liang Xi about to fall, Jiang Zhiyan wrapped her arms around her waist and pressed her against the railing.

The haziness in Liang Xi’s mind was dispelled by the burning sensation against her stomach, startling her. She smelled roasted sweet potatoes and pounded on Jiang Zhiyan’s shoulder.

“It’s hot!” Liang Xi turned her head away, finally able to speak.

“Oh, the sweet potatoes.” Jiang Zhiyan looked down. Their jackets had been unzipped at some point. “Seems like they’re squished, are they still edible?”

“Yes, aren’t they hot? Did you carry them like this the whole way?” Liang Xi frowned, taking out the sweet potatoes.

“It was alright.” Jiang Zhiyan touched her stomach. “You really wanted to eat them.”

Liang Xi tugged at Jiang Zhiyan’s thin sweater, her eyes reddening: “You really are…”

“Why are you crying? If they’re still edible, try them quickly.”

“Can’t you let me be touched for a little longer?” Liang Xi leaned against Jiang Zhiyan and carefully peeled the skin off a sweet potato. “It’s sweet.”

“Really? Let me try.” Jiang Zhiyan took a bite from Liang Xi’s hand, licked her lips, then kissed Liang Xi. “Indeed, very sweet.”

“You really are…” Liang Xi wiped her face with the back of her hand, then noticed the commotion in the distance. A group of bodyguards in black suits were rapidly approaching. “What’s going on over there? Are they filming a drama?”

“Probably the Yan family’s bodyguards. I called Yan Yanzhuo’s uncle.” Jiang Zhiyan said.

“Huh?” It took Liang Xi a second to remember that Yan Yanzhuo was still here. Thinking about her bold actions just now, she blushed, wondering how long he had been watching.

Jiang Zhiyan held Liang Xi, watching as Yan Yanzhuo was led away by the bodyguards. As he left, he turned and glared at Jiang Zhiyan.

Liang Xi frowned: “Why is he looking at you like that?”

“Oh, I told his uncle that he was trying to be a homewrecker, repeatedly trying to seduce my girlfriend.” Jiang Zhiyan said.

Liang Xi: …

The Yan family was very strict. For actions like Yan Yanzhuo’s, he would definitely be whipped with a rattan cane when he got back. Moreover, the internal strife within the Yan family was intensifying, and Yan Yanzhuo had caused a big problem for his father. Their already strained father-son relationship would only worsen, he would have a lot to deal with later.

“He’s lucky.” Jiang Zhiyan said.

After all, he almost ended up paralyzed.

“I didn’t want to come here, but…” Liang Xi took another bite of the sweet potato and explained softly, “I lost control again, it’s like it was waiting for you to leave.”

“I know, I know everything.” Jiang Zhiyan nuzzled Liang Xi’s head. “You’ve done very well.”

Liang Xi narrowed her eyes and looked up at Jiang Zhiyan: “Didn’t you believe I could come back on my own just now?”

“Huh? I did.”

“I saw the rock in your hand. You weren’t planning to kill me, were you?” Liang Xi lifted Jiang Zhiyan’s right hand. “It’s clean.”

Liang Xi paused for three seconds, then reacted and jumped up: “Did you just wipe it on my clothes?!”

She tilted her head, pulling at her clothes, trying to see her back.

“I was planning to throw it at Yan Yanzhuo, how could I throw it at you?”

“No wonder you said he was lucky.” Liang Xi muttered, finally seeing her back. “It really is dirty! Oh no, these are new clothes, my mom’s going to scold me when I get back!”

Jiang Zhiyan helped Liang Xi pat the dust off her clothes: “Where did you buy it? I’ll buy you another identical one.”

“Why would I want two of the same clothes? Forget it, if she scolds me, she scolds me. Life isn’t complete without being scolded.” Liang Xi said, taking another bite of the sweet potato. “Will I experience that kind of thing again?”

Jiang Zhiyan paused for a few seconds: “I’m not sure, maybe. The force compelling you comes from the world’s origin, and the world’s origin won’t disappear.”

“Ah… the world’s origin? Why would the world’s origin force me to do that?” Liang Xi clung to Jiang Zhiyan, her face crumpled. “It was so scary just now, I felt like my consciousness was disappearing, like I was fighting someone in my mind, like someone was desperately trying to drown me.”

“Because this is a book, and you’re the protagonist.” Jiang Zhiyan said. “There’s a way to break free, but you’ll have to leave this place forever. Are you willing?”

Jiang Zhiyan had originally planned to just die, but hearing Liang Xi mention her mother, she suddenly wasn’t sure if it was right for her to make this decision for Liang Xi. She was Xie Liaoyi, but she was also Liang Xi, the Liang Xi who had lived in this world for a long time.

And this incident made her realize that Liang Xi didn’t need her “rescue” as much as she thought. Like the person she remembered, Liang Xi always had her own ideas and could face difficulties on her own.

Liang Xi looked at Jiang Zhiyan: “Leave this place?”

She paused for two seconds.

“Don’t you belong here?” Liang Xi continued to ask.

“I don’t belong here, and neither do you. That’s why you don’t fit in with this world, that’s why the world’s origin wants to eliminate your self-awareness.” Jiang Zhiyan leaned against the railing, looking into Liang Xi’s eyes, then paused.

Liang Xi’s pupils trembled: “I don’t understand, leave… after I leave, will there still be a ‘me’ in this world?”

“Yes, she’ll still be called Liang Xi, but she won’t be you.”

“I don’t understand.” Liang Xi leaned over the railing, looking at the dark river. “From what you’re saying, I’m not Liang Xi, I’m someone else?”

“Yes.” Jiang Zhiyan put her arm around Liang Xi’s shoulder and said softly, “After I arrived, your true self was awakened, suppressing the personality the world’s consciousness gave you.”

“No wonder, I always felt like you were thinking of someone else.” Liang Xi glanced at Jiang Zhiyan. “So, do you like Liang Xi, or do you like her?”

“I like you.”

“Tsk.” Liang Xi ate the sweet potato. Strangely, although she should have been surprised, she wasn’t. It felt like everything Jiang Zhiyan said was something she should have already known. “Why didn’t you tell me sooner?”

“If you hadn’t realized it yourself, and I told you, you would have thought I was crazy. And the world’s consciousness would have paid even closer attention to you, locking you in even tighter, preventing you from ever waking up. It doesn’t like any factors that could cause instability in the world.”

Liang Xi finished the sweet potato and wiped her hands.

“Perhaps you don’t want to leave yet.” Jiang Zhiyan looked at Liang Xi.

This was also a big shock, but Liang Xi didn’t react, she was too calm.

“Leave here, then go where? Why am I in this world?”

She had too many unanswered questions. She couldn’t see her reflection in the river, as if it was about to swallow her whole.

“You’ll remember eventually, it’s not time yet.” Jiang Zhiyan lowered her eyes.

Liang Xi touched the remaining sweet potato: “If I leave, will they know? Will they notice the difference?”

“No, the world will automatically repair itself. They won’t notice the change, just like how no one has noticed the change in us so far.” Jiang Zhiyan paused. “Perhaps they have noticed, but they won’t suspect anything, they’ll naturally accept everything that has changed.”

“The NPCs in a novel world? Are they all fake…” Liang Xi touched the still-warm sweet potato. “This place feels so real.”

“Perhaps it is real, it’s just that we’re not in the same dimension.” Jiang Zhiyan didn’t care whether this world was real or not. As long as Liang Xi was by her side, it was enough.

“How do I leave?” Liang Xi asked.

“By separating your own consciousness. I’ll take you away.” Jiang Zhiyan paused. “You can separate it yourself, or it can be forcibly separated by a major stimulus.”

“A major stimulus?” Liang Xi stared at Jiang Zhiyan. Seeing that Jiang Zhiyan didn’t speak for a long time, she knew she must have already thought of a method. “What were you planning to do?”

Jiang Zhiyan subconsciously touched the bracelet Liang Xi had given her: “Respecting my ending in this book, a car accident.”

Liang Xi: ???

Liang Xi stared wide-eyed at Jiang Zhiyan: “That brutal?”

She clutched her chest, feeling dizzy just hearing it.

“Do you have to use this method? I can try to do it myself.” Liang Xi chuckled nervously, her body trembling slightly. “You’re not allowed to use this method.”

“It doesn’t really matter. I’ll leave this world the moment I’m hit, it won’t hurt much, the scene might be a bit bloody though.”

“Shut up.” Liang Xi interrupted Jiang Zhiyan, covering her mouth. “I can do it, you have to believe me.”

“Okay, of course I believe you.” Jiang Zhiyan replied.