Previously, the original owner, mindful of her status, remained silent even when beaten half to death. Yu Ling's sudden outburst was the first conversation she had with Jiang Xue.

"Save the world?"

Jiang Xue was taken aback at first, then her tone was full of doubt and sarcasm as she said,

"So you mean... could it be that the hope you're talking about refers to... yourself?"

Jiang Xue's expression practically screamed those three words.

Just you?

"You should know my identity, cough cough, vomit... The zombie virus... mutated from a project I was working on. No one knows it better than me."

Yu Ling could no longer push her heavily injured body to its limits. A metallic taste churned in her throat, and she could only suppress the discomfort with difficulty, while making up some lies along the way.

Whether the original owner understood the virus or not, she didn't know; in any case, she knew absolutely nothing about these things.

But that doesn't stop him from deceiving the people in front of him and giving himself a better chance of survival.

"I don't believe your nonsense! I don't deny that the zombie virus was developed by your subordinates, but if you really had the ability to create an antidote, you would have done it long ago. Why would it take until I come looking for you? Besides, just the fact that you've repeatedly experimented on humans and zombies, resulting in the creation of high-level zombies that threaten humanity, means you deserve to die. Why should I let you go?"

"I remember... when we were fighting here before, your expression didn't look like you were about to save the world."

That expression conveyed a ruthless desire to take the whole world down with him.

"That's because you don't understand me yet!"

Jiang Xue's words made Yu Ling's heart tighten. She knew that this person had already realized the difference between her and the original owner of the body. Adhering to the idea of ​​maintaining the original owner's persona, Yu Ling changed her words,

"It's true that I was once the head of the research lab that investigated the source of this virus infection, and I admit I made mistakes in this accident (it was the original owner's fault to begin with), but are the project developers, organizers, and even others completely without fault? And with the entire team infected, how could I possibly continue my research under such difficult conditions without any assistants?"

Jiang Xue frowned slightly.

Her impression of Yu Ling was limited to the battle not long ago, her long-held speculations, and the few secret documents she had found. As a result, Jiang Xue had no idea whether Yu Ling was lying or not.

Now that Yu Ling has explained it this way, could it be that she really had some wrong prejudice against this guy before?

Seeing that she was starting to hesitate, Yu Ling quickly continued to explain:

"I admit, I'm a crazy researcher. Even knowing the dangers of the zombie virus, I couldn't resist the urge to experiment. But that doesn't prove I'm a bastard who enjoys indiscriminately killing innocent people! I also want to restore this damned world to normal, but I... I can't!"

In the end, Yu Ling, possessed by her dramatic flair, had her dejected eyes welling up with tears, which seemed ready to spill at any moment.

Seeing her like this, Jiang Xue felt a pang of sympathy. She was inherently kind-hearted, but the cold-blooded will forged in the apocalypse forced her to hold back, silently reminding herself that mercy to the enemy was cruelty to herself! Her tone was skeptical, but she finally spoke:

"Is what you're saying... true?"

These words shattered Yu Ling's facade of strength, and she immediately began to sob:

"Really! Chen Xiaoqing's past actions are unforgivable, but I truly had no ill intentions (I'm not Chen Xiaoqing). If I'm lying, may I... may Chen Xiaoqing suffer a terrible death! ...I'll go get you the information about the virus research project right now!"

As she spoke, Yu Ling tried to stand up, but a wave of dizziness washed over her, and she collapsed to the ground, weakly holding her forehead.

"What happened?"

Jiang Xue was shocked and rushed forward to help her up and check her condition.

Upon investigation, Jiang Xue discovered that although Yu Ling appeared to be alright on the surface, several of the wounds she had inflicted on her body had begun to fester and become inflamed. Some of the scabs seemed to have torn apart during the battle with the zombies, constantly oozing blood. There wasn't a single unscathed spot on her body.

Seeing this... well, never mind, I'll just kill her later.

She's so badly injured... No, I can't feel sorry for this bastard! Even if this person isn't the world-destroying madwoman I'm thinking of, just because the virus originated from her, it's not unjust for me to beat her up.

"Even if you say that, don't think I'll let you leave so easily. Pack your things and come with me."

Jiang Xuedao.

"Okay, thank you... thank you."

Yu Ling said gratefully to Jiang Xue.

With the crisis temporarily averted, she finally recovered from the sudden change in the world and the dazed feeling of being disgusted by the zombies.

Once Yu Ling calmed down and took a closer look, she realized that Jiang Xue's cold and exquisite face was actually quite beautiful. In fact, Yu Ling had seen many handsome men and beautiful women in the immortal realm, but this time she was so disgusted by the ugliness of the zombies that she found Jiang Xue pleasing to the eye in comparison.

(Jiang Xue: Are you being polite?)

"You don't need to be so grateful to me," Jiang Xue said. "I just want to use you to develop the antidote, and you will be staying by my side as a prisoner."

\"I......\"

Yu Ling thought for a moment, then raised her face, which was covered in blood and unrecognizable except for her bright eyes, and said softly,

"I can tell you're a good person. My injuries... I deserve them. But as you can see, I have difficulty moving around. There's a hidden compartment in the corner of the lab bench over there. All the data is copied onto a red USB drive inside. The password is 'c'. You can go get it yourself."

"......"

Jiang Xue remained silent after receiving the "friend zone" card.

She was thinking wildly with a brain that was only good for fighting and had very limited capacity.

Although Jiang Xue had never witnessed Yu Ling fighting the zombies she had released while she was seriously injured, she could sense that Yu Ling's close-combat skills were very strong, at least much stronger than her own.

Therefore, in Jiang Xue's view, during their battle, Yu Ling could have used the same methods she used to slaughter the zombies against her; there was no reason for her to allow Jiang Xue to vent her anger through violence. She should have crushed Yu Ling's power core, turning her into a useless ordinary person.

She was very likely going easy on herself at the time!

Furthermore, after I left, Yu Ling, who had no special abilities, struggled to survive against the zombies. Her will to live was still very strong. Why didn't she pretend to be dead when I came in to check and escape this danger? Instead, she allowed me to discover her and threaten her life.

Could it be...?

She's atoning for the mistakes she made!

Even her pleading for mercy was only because she didn't want to see the world plunged into chaos forever; she just wanted to ensure she could develop an antidote and save the world she had destroyed...