Chapter 53: Volume 1, Chapter 53: Black-bellied x Arrogant (17)

Jiang Zhi didn't even want to glance at him.

She wasn't a good person; she hated that kind of moral coercion. Originally she still had a slight impulse to serve her country with her life, but now… forget it.

It's just a world formed from data.

Luo Heng had left not long ago, and Xie Wuchen entered carrying a bamboo basket.

He smelled, besides the girl's scent, a hint of a familiar odor in the room, and his face darkened.

"Has anyone come?"

Jiang Zhi was curious about what was in his bamboo basket; hearing the voice, she nodded and said, "Luo team came by, urging me to sacrifice."

Xie Wuchen's brows were shrouded in a coldness like mountain-top snow, and his whole body emitted a killing intent hard to suppress.

Jiang Zhi noticed his abnormality, lifted her gaze from the bamboo basket to him, sighed, and said, "Don't be angry; I won't listen to him. Even if my blood could be used to develop a virus antibody serum, I wouldn't go. I just want to live a bit longer."

Xie Wuchen's fingers, resting on the bamboo basket, went from clenched to relaxed; he raised his brows, and his warm, watery eyes gave the illusion of deep affection.

"Mm, Zhizhi."

Yet deep in his pupils lurked a streak of ruthlessness.

They must be killed.

Jiang Zhi's voice interrupted his thoughts: "So many vegetables, where did you get them?"

There were even fish and pork.

Xie Wuchen explained to her the origin of these vegetables.

The vegetables were picked from a garden near the village; the fish were caught from mountain rivers; the pork was from wild boar he hunted.

They were all cleaned outside.

Besides that, Xie Wuchen also took out a packet of hot pot base from the car, making full preparations.

He lit the stove, set an iron pot on it; as the hot pot base's aroma filled the room, Jiang Zhi could hardly wait and put the vegetables into the pot.

Since the apocalypse, she had never tasted hot pot; a mouthful went down, and tears welled up.

"Delicious, delicious!!"

Xie Wuchen, fearing she'd get burned, brought her a cup of warm water, placed it before her, and earnestly warned: "Be careful not to burn yourself."

Jiang Zhi wouldn't listen; the hotter it was, the faster she ate. Her snow-white face flushed with a gorgeous crimson, her clear black-and-white eyes shining as if from a distant galaxy, devoid of any daytime dullness, sparkling brightly.

That was Xie Wuchen's favorite look of hers—not related to desire, pure liking, as if etched into his marrow, bringing boundless ultimate pleasure.

Until she had eaten half, someone brought in a few bottles of homemade liquor brewed by a farmhouse from outside.

She beamed and said, "Let's have a drink tonight!"

Xie Wuchen hesitated a moment, seeing her so happy, he nodded and said, "Can't drink too much."

Jiang Zhi revealed her childlike nature, stuck out her tongue at him, embraced the liquor, poured herself a full cup, tilted her head back and drank; it was full of fruity aroma, sweet and fragrant.

"Delicious! Xie Wuchen, hurry up and drink!"

Xie Wuchen didn't drink alcohol, but he couldn't resist the girl's bright, expectant dark eyes.

He drank a cup; it wasn't a taste he liked.

Compared to liquor, he liked her.

The girl drank cup after cup, her cheeks flushed to the point of dripping, the hand holding her cup trembled unstably, and finally it clanged as it fell to the ground.

She stepped toward him step by step until she stood before him, her drunken eyes hazy and unclear, yet she stubbornly lifted her hand to touch his face.

"Xie Wuchen!"

"What's wrong?"

"Xie Wuchen!!"

"I'm here."

Jiang Zhi confessed while drunk, hazy-eyed, having harbored this for a long time.

"I like you, Xie Wuchen."

Xie Wuchen, embracing her slender, soft waist to prevent her from falling, had his pupils suddenly freeze; his whole person stood there dazed.

After confessing, Jiang Zhi also regretted it; she staggered out of his embrace, leaned against the table's edge, head lowered.

"Sorry, Xie Wuchen."

Her speech became incoherent, sinking into sorrow and despair.

"In the Evil-doers Organization, I was, I was by a pervert... forced. He tormented me, didn't treat me as human; I hate him so much, I hate him."

She lifted her eyes; a tear silently slid down her pale cheek, her raven-feather long lashes trembling with agitation, her tone humble and choked.

"Xie Wuchen, sorry, I didn't mean to hide it from you; I was afraid, afraid that if I told you, you'd leave me, despise me—"

Separated by a wooden table, Xie Wuchen standing not far away heard her words; his breath grew heavy, intense regret enveloping each breath like death by a thousand cuts, unbearable.

A voice inside him questioned him.

—Xie Wuchen, shouldn't you be happy now? The girl you treated as a plaything has finally lost all her arrogance and confidence; isn't this exactly what you've always wanted to see?

"No… not!"

Xie Wuchen hoarsely shouted with exhausted strength.

A moment.

He took heavy steps toward her face, raised both hands to lift her lowered face, and spoke word by word:

"Zhizhi, I will not despise you."

"I will love you forever."

Jiang Zhi gazed at the man before her, relieved, closed her eyes, tiptoed closer, and kissed the corner of his lips.

Unlike the daytime fear and panic, she cast aside everything, leaving only reliance and trust—

The touch was soft, with a faint sweet, cloying fragrance.

Xie Wuchen's pupils shrank slightly; he froze, his heart pounding violently, uncontrollable, as if it would leap from his chest.

It was the first time he had such a reaction.

Unlike forcing her to be intimate, this was a reaction that made both body and soul tremble.

Xie Wuchen came to his senses, his arms encircling her slender waist, kissing her exceedingly gently, lips and teeth intertwining, lingering and entwined.

After the kiss, Jiang Zhi dazedly murmured, "I really like you, Wuchen."

【Villain Xie Wuchen Favorability 100】

Xie Wuchen's painstakingly restrained rationality instantly collapsed; he scooped up the girl in his arms and strode toward the bedroom.

Moonlight spilled onto the bed, silvery-white and translucent; outside the window, dancing goose-feather snowflakes blanketed the entire sill, the cold shut out by the glass, and faint mottled afterglow fell upon the entwined figures.

Three a. m.

Jiang Zhi opened her clear eyes, listening to the man's deep breathing, and gently lifted the blanket to get out of bed.

She looked at the man's handsome profile and silently smiled.

Her smile carried infinite malice.

Xie Wuchen, it's your turn.

Early morning.

Snow drifting across the sky intertwined with sunlight pouring down; on the asphalt road, snow piled higher than a car, and Yu Xiaochun, sitting in the passenger seat, raised her hand to control her ability, pushing the snow aside, making the whole road passable.

The atmosphere inside the car was eerily quiet.

In the end, it was Luo Heng who broke the silence.

"Jiang Zhi, have something to eat."

Having received the signal, Song Xuefeng reluctantly sat beside the girl and took out various snacks from his space.

"What do you want to eat?"

Jiang Zhi looked at the food in his hand and suddenly found it a bit amusing.

Back when she traveled with them, wanting a basin of water to wash up, Song Xuefeng brushed her off, claiming water was scarce.

But now, she said nothing and proactively gave her food.

She expressionlessly refused, "I don't need it."

She never truly intended to go to the lab with them.

After leaving the farmhouse last night and finding Luo Heng, it was to complete the upcoming mission.

And the reason Xie Wuchen slept so deeply last night was all because of that cup of wine.