"Boss, this order will be paid twice as much."

Ruan Qing'an sighed softly, took a half step back, and dodged Li Dongmei's outstretched hand. She raised her Tang sword and pierced Li Dongmei's hand directly, letting the woman fall back into the deep pit in pain.

Ruan Qingan stood on the edge of the pit, looking down at Li Dongmei inside: "You wanted to kill me, so—why should I save you? You were the ones who attacked first."

"Lin Da is probably dead, right? You've come to avenge him? How strange, wasn't he the one who wanted to kill me?"

Li Dongmei, clutching her bleeding hand, glared at her with hatred: "So what? Lin Da and Zhang Si are both dead, shouldn't you take responsibility?! You're a lunatic too, colluding with him!"

"..."

Ruan Qing'an paused, then frowned slightly: "My boss is just going crazy. Is there a problem with me cleaning up his mess?"

The girl carrying the knife was genuinely puzzled. She didn't care what Zhou Ziqi had become; even if he had become a zombie, he would still be her boss until the employment ended.

During this period, she will always be his weapon.

On the trunk of the strange tree with human faces, Zhou Ziqi suddenly raised his hand to cover half of his face, his throat filled with an uncontrollable laugh, twisted and crazy, like a beast hidden in the darkness that could devour people.

"Xiao Ruan, how come you always manage to surprise me?"

"How silly of you, Xiao Ruan! You almost fell into the trap."

Although Zhou Ziqi said this, his emotions were teetering on the edge of getting out of control—he had considered many possible reactions from Ruan Qing'an, but this was the only one he had never thought of.

He was insane, inhuman...

But none of that mattered to his bodyguard. When pushed too far, he just muttered, "I need more money."

【Affection Points: 20】

Li Dongmei's eyes were filled with hatred, but the next moment, she was strangled by the wildly surging vines, and with the woman's last shrill scream, she finally breathed her last.

Finally, the entire city of S fell silent.

The trunk of the strange tree with the human face grew longer and longer, carrying Zhou Ziqi to Ruan Qing'an. The tall and slender man then followed the outstretched vines and stopped in front of her.

“The little mice have all been strangled to death, Little Ruan.”

"Understood, boss."

Zhou Ziqi raised an eyebrow slightly: "Nothing you want to ask?"

But his bodyguard pursed his lips and said listlessly, "I asked the boss, but you wouldn't tell me. I don't want to ask anymore."

"Ha, you're blaming me now? You've got some nerve, haven't you?"

Zhou Ziqi chuckled, patted the girl's head, and his slender fingertips slid down her cheek, gently touching her earlobe: "How about this, I'll tell you, and you tell me too."

Ruan Qingan countered, "What does the boss want to know?"

"I'm curious to know what kind of place could raise such a clumsy little guy like Xiao Ruan. He's so stupid."

Zhou Ziqi spoke softly.

He's always been a madman and never a good person—so whatever he finds interesting or wants, he has to know it in every detail, down to the last strand of hair.

...

After dealing with Li Dongmei and Zhang Si, it was completely dark, and the entire city of S fell into a deathly silence once again.

However, due to Zhou Ziqi's special circumstances, it wasn't considered dangerous.

On the relatively intact road surface, slender and soft vines spontaneously wove themselves into the shape of hammocks, hanging between the strange trees with human faces. Zhou Ziqi, who had changed into clean clothes, sat on one of them with his legs bent.

In the quiet night, only the faint crackling sound of flames burning dry branches could be heard, and the bright yellow firelight danced on the road.

Zhou Ziqi raised his hand slightly, and a dry branch beside him obediently fell halfway into the fire to serve as fuel. He then looked up at Ruan Qing'an opposite him.

His bodyguard was sitting on the ground, holding a knife.

After giving a brief explanation of the principles behind controlling mutated plants, Zhou Ziqi asked, "Is there anything else you'd like to know, Xiao Ruan?"

"So, boss, you were planning to come here all along."

"Um."

Zhou Ziqi nodded slightly: "After the apocalypse, many cities were overrun by zombies, but S City was an exception. It was occupied by mutated plants, and the only place to find the strongest mutated plant was here."

“I learned about their habits in advance, which is why I had the Third Human Base send people here. I also plan to take this opportunity to come to S City. Regardless of whether you take me away or not, I will leave the team before returning to the Third Human Base.”

Ruan Qing'an nodded knowingly, then suddenly asked, "But boss, why do you want to control the power of mutated plants?"

"The power of mutated plants?"

Zhou Ziqi raised an eyebrow and laughed. In the flickering firelight, one could vaguely see the excitement in his eyes: "My purpose is certainly not to gain power. Power is just a tool."

"Although there are significant differences between mutated plants, mutated animals, and zombies, they all originate from the same viral infection and are essentially the same organism. The most important thing to obtain the power of mutated plants is to master this vast gene pool."

As he spoke, he fiddled with the vines beside him.

Zhou Ziqi didn't spell it out, but Ruan Qing'an already understood. All he wanted was the gene pool of the mutated plants to advance his research on zombies and mutated animals, and even... to study the virus itself. That was Zhou Ziqi's true purpose.

But it's even more wrong to say that Zhou Ziqi did the research to save the world. He wasn't that kind of person—he risked his life simply because he wanted to study and was curious about the virus.

Seeing Ruan Qing'an remain silent, Zhou Ziqi's smile deepened. The mutated plant beside him was controlled, bringing him to her.

The distance between the two suddenly closed.

His slender fingertips curled slightly, and the smile on his lips carried a touch of androgynous beauty, but because of Zhou Ziqi's own madness and twistedness, Ruan Qing'an could feel the bloodthirstiness hidden beneath his skin.

"Xiao Ruan, is there anything else you want to ask?"

"That's all, boss."

"So—isn't it your turn to speak?"

As Zhou Ziqi spoke, his voice grew even gentler, as if he were coaxing her, while his upturned phoenix eyes stared intently at her.

037: [What does the male lead want to ask?]

"My birth and origins."

Ruan Qing'an paused: "Zhou Ziqi is a typical pleasure-seeker. He only cares about whether something is interesting. For example, right now is the most interesting thing to him, but unfortunately—"

"Zhou Ziqi's desire for control was excessive."

That makes sense, but unfortunately, the original owner's identity information is missing. In the original story, the original owner was just a tool or cannon fodder, given amnesia, and was picked up from outside the Third Human Base.

Then, because he had no special abilities but was quite good at fighting, Zhou Ziqi found him interesting and hired him as a bodyguard.

They have no identity information, not even a trace of origin.

037 blushed: [Wait, the original owner's existence was just a tool, and even the background setting was that he had no parents, this...]

The question is, how should Nguyen Thanh An answer this?

The brief silence had already attracted Zhou Ziqi. The man in front of him, his eyes full of affection, leaned down and his fingertips twitched slightly.

"Xiao Ruan, why aren't you saying anything? The boss is very curious."

Before Ruan Qingan could speak, he suddenly felt as if something was wrapping around his exposed ankle.

Looking down, she saw the vines that had climbed up her skin, leaving mottled red marks, yet Zhou Ziqi still gazed at her with deep affection.

Nguyen Thanh An: ...

She seriously doubted that if she couldn't speak, this bastard would look at her tenderly and then snap her neck with vines.

That bastard is absolutely capable of doing it!