Chapter 28, She Fell
At night, the wind was howling and the voices of the team members who were changing shifts could be faintly heard. Si Xu opened his eyes and noticed something strange in his arms with a slight movement.
The girl lay on her side, slightly curled up, her head resting on his arm, sleeping soundly.
Si Xu, who was about to get up, hesitated for a moment and gave up his original decision.
He lowered his eyes and stared at Jiang Ran for a moment, then raised his arms and the girl rolled unconsciously into his arms.
The young man took his arm around the man and closed his eyes again.
The body in his arms was warm, slender, and soft... If he applied a little force, he could easily break her neck - such an extremely fragile life.
For the first time, Si Xu vaguely understood what Gu Yunqing meant by "fragility". He reached back and gently stroked the back of Jiang Ran's neck, like stroking a cat, with a hint of caution.
The girl whimpered in her dream, and snuggled into his arms as if trying to avoid his hand.
Si Xu: “…” The woman named Luo Rui was stupid and selfish, but she said something that he agreed with - well, Jiang Ran was really cute.
…
Early in the morning, Jiang Ran woke up from his sleep, rubbed his eyes, and habitually greeted the familiar people around him.
"Good morning, Si Xu."
“…”
As usual, there was no response. Jiang Ran didn't take it seriously: "Are you waiting for me to wake up? Didn't you say we were going into the city together today..."
"Yeah." Si Xu got up and changed his clothes. "It's still early, let's go downstairs and have breakfast first."
"good."
After Jiang Ran finished washing up, Si Xu called her: "Jiang Ran, this is for you, carry it with you."
Jiang Ran took the pistol he handed over and noticed that the pattern on it seemed different.
"This is the one I told you about yesterday, the one with the silencer." Si Xu said, "There are six bullets in it. Remember to keep the last one for yourself."
"Eh?" Leave it to yourself? Jiang Ran was puzzled, but nodded.
"Let's go." After giving the instructions, Si Xu took Jiang Ran's hand and went downstairs.
…
Unexpectedly, she met Si Xu at the stairs. He Ru smiled sweetly and said softly, "Si Xu, Ran Ran, good morning."
Si Xu nodded slightly in response, and Jiang Ran smiled and said, "Good morning."
"You guys got up so early, are you going into the city together today?"
Si Xu didn't say anything, so Jiang Ran could only reply, "Well, thank you for your hard work yesterday."
"It's not hard. It's all for the team." After receiving the answer, He Ruyingying smiled and said, "I'm very familiar with the city. Ranran, if you encounter any problems, you can come to me."
Jiang Ran just smiled and did not respond to the girl's sudden change of attitude, from the original tit-for-tat to the current enthusiasm.
Slightly lagging behind the other two, the smile on He Ru's face disappeared, and her gaze fixed on Jiang Ran seemed to contain sharp thorns: Jiang Ran was going to follow the team into the city, did it mean that her chance had come?
In this kind of world, it is too easy for a person to disappear.
As long as Jiang Ranran disappears, with her abilities, it will only be a matter of time before she takes down Si Xu.
…
After breakfast, the team arranged for the remaining members, and the others got on the bus and headed for the city.
Gu Yunqing detailed the streets searched yesterday and began assigning tasks: "Song Rong, there aren't many of us out today, so we'll split into two teams. Starting from the streets we searched yesterday, we'll expand the search outwards."
"yes."
"Professor Si is with you."
"Yes." This arrangement made no sense to Song Rong. "He Ru..."
"He Ru is also with your team," Gu Yunqing said. "With Si Xu here, he's more than capable of protecting two ordinary people. He Ru would only be a drag if she follows us."
"yes."
…
The members of the Ability Team were already accustomed to the task of collecting supplies. They had clear goals and acted quickly. Jiang Ran was already a little out of breath after searching two shopping malls with them.
Hearing the girl's suppressed breathing, Si Xu stopped beside her and asked in a low voice: "Do you want to rest?"
Jiang Ran shook her head: "I can't let myself be spoiled just because I have Si Xu's protection. If I were to drag my feet at a time like this, how could I have the face to continue to stay in the team?" Si Xu's indulgence was a favor and protection, but it was not an excuse for her to spoil herself.
After getting the answer, Si Xu nodded: "You wait here and pay attention to the situation outside. I'll go inside to take a look."
"good."
After Si Xu left, Jiang Ran leaned on the glass door of the mall with one hand to catch his breath, while observing the movements on the street - the zombies in the mall had been dealt with by the team, and now they had to be wary of the zombie hordes and mutant beasts outside.
"You're here." After yesterday's day, He Ru was barely able to keep up with the team's pace. She walked to Jiang Ran's side, her eyes full of disdain, but she said with concern, "Are you okay? You don't look well."
"I'm fine." Jiang Ran finally breathed a sigh of relief, the dull pain in her chest dissipating. She replied calmly, "My face is like this because of the wind. It's nothing serious."
"Oh, I thought I was just tired." He Ru said, "I ran with him all day yesterday and was really exhausted - but after getting used to it, I felt okay."
Jiang Ran smiled at the girl's words of experience: "Everything has a process."
"Yeah." He Ru stood beside her and smiled, "I admire you a lot—you said you were with Si Xu, he dotes on you so much, there's absolutely no need for you to go out and suffer."
Jiang Ran's smile vanished after hearing these seemingly caring yet actually divisive words. She stared indifferently out the glass door and said calmly, "It's because Si Xu dotes on me that I can't hold him back." She looked at He Ru and smiled, "Don't you think that's the truth?"
He Ru: "..." Haha, it seems that this woman is a smart person. She underestimated her before.
Even though she knew Jiang Ran had seen through her thoughts, He Ru didn't back down and kept looking for new topics to talk about: "How did you and Si Xu meet?"
"Aren't you in the same dorm with Zhou Jian?" Jiang Ran asked. "Zhou Jian loves gossiping so much, but he never told you about how Si Xu and I met?"
"Zhou Jian and I aren't very familiar with each other, so why would she talk to me about this..."
"Then you can go back and ask her tonight. I think she'd be happy to tell you." Jiang Ran replied with a half-smile, "That memory isn't a good one for me. I don't want to mention it again. Sorry."
After being rejected again, He Ru bit her lip and said bluntly, "Jiang Ran, you seem to dislike me very much?"
"Huh? Really?" Jiang Ran pretended to be confused, "You misunderstood."
"Misunderstanding? I..."
"It's not that I don't like you, it's that I don't like women who covet Si Xu." Jiang Ran smiled slightly, "If you didn't have this intention, Miss He, I definitely wouldn't dislike you."
He Ru: "..." Coveting Si Xu? How dare you say that? When did Si Xu become her property? This woman really thinks of herself as a thing!
…
Knowing that she had once again killed the conversation, and seeing that He Ru had finally stopped talking, Jiang Ran was very satisfied with her fighting ability - she couldn't understand why she had to pretend to like someone and say some intimate words when she obviously hated him so much?
With He Ru here, Jiang Ran wanted to go into the mall to find Si Xu. But before she could go in, she saw Song Rong coming down from the second floor.
"Ranran, Heru, get out!" The man jumped down from the second floor and didn't give Jiang Ran a chance to react. He pushed the two of them out the door. "There are mutant beasts on the fourth floor. Professor Si asked me to take you away first!"
"Si Xuta..."
"They're psychic mutants, and they're in herds. Professor Si has to protect the lower-level team members and deal with the mutants, so he can't get away for now—let's retreat first."
As soon as Song Rong finished speaking, an angry roar like a beast came from the fourth door of the mall.
"Go!"
The wolf king's ability was of a high level, and it was a mental ability. The lower-level members of the team could not withstand his attack, let alone Jiang Ran and He Ru, two ordinary girls.
"Oh oh." Jiang Ran came back to his senses, grabbed the limp He Ru and ran out.
Song Rong: "..." Huh? Affected by the mental power, He Ru couldn't move, so how could Ran Ran run so fast?
…
Jiang Ran stopped after running a few steps out of the mall.
At the corner of the street, drawn by psychic powers, hordes of zombies were moving towards the mall. Smelling the fresh scent of flesh and blood, the zombies' movement sped up considerably.
The stench of decay was overwhelming.
Jiang Ran turned around and looked at Song Rong, who was left behind, and said awkwardly: "It's a group of zombies, Captain Song, what should we do?"
I definitely can’t go back to the mall, so now I can only find a relatively safe place to hide.
Surrounded by zombies on both sides, Jiang Ran glanced at the other road: "That's the bridge across the river. Captain Gu and the others should be on the other side."
"Okay, I've already contacted Captain Gu. Let's retreat over there first."
Song Rong was accompanied by two girls, one of whom was still unconscious, so they were somewhat restricted. Fortunately, there were no high-level mutants in the zombie swarm, so Song Rong could still hold off for the time being.
Jiang Ran dragged He Ru along the cross-river bridge to the other side. Before they had run far, the girl she was holding was tripped by something and fell heavily to the ground.
Jiang Ran leaned over to help her: "Are you okay?"
The girl who was originally unconscious raised her eyes to look at her and said softly and charmingly: "It's okay, thank you, Jiang Ran."
Jiang Ran instinctively wanted to let go, as she felt something was wrong. However, He Ru suddenly stood up and slammed into her with all her strength.
His body fell backwards uncontrollably, slipped through the gap in the railing, and fell straight into the river.
"Plop!" She clearly heard the sound of herself hitting the water.
…
After watching the girl fall over the railing and disappear into the water, He Ru lay on the ground, took a deep breath, and screamed: "Ahhhhhhh!"
Song Rong, who had just dealt with a low-level mutant zombie, turned around when he heard the voice and was stunned: Where is sister Ranran?
"Captain Song! Ranran accidentally fell down!" He Ru pointed at the gap in the railing and screamed, "She fell down! What should we do? What should we do?"
Song Rong: “…?!” Falling? Where? Into the river? Are you…are you kidding me!
…
After slashing off the head of the last mutant beast with his knife, Si Xu shook off the blood on the knife and asked the team members not far away: "How is it?"
Xiao Chen checked the condition of several people and said, "They are just affected by their psychic abilities. They should be fine after a short rest."
"Okay." Thinking of the girl Song Rong had taken away, Si Xu put away his knife. "I'll leave this to you. I'll be out first."
"I understand, Professor Si."
…
Gu Yunqing led the team to the mall and encountered a distraught Song Rong and a tearful He Ru on the bridge. Gu Yunqing instinctively looked at Song Rong, "What happened? Where's Jiang Ran? Didn't you say Si Xu asked you to take Jiang Ran with you to retreat first..."
"She fell down..." Having accepted the reality, Song Rong lowered his head deeply and said dryly, "Captain, Jiang Ran fell from...from here." It's over, everything is over... Professor Si trusted him and gave Jiang Ran to him to take away, but in the end, he lost her...
"Falling down?" Song Rong was still blaming himself when he heard a cold voice behind him, asking without any emotion, "How long have you been falling?"
(End of this chapter)
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