NOVEL NEXT Chapter 273: 9.19
"Tsk, that's a reasonable, expected choice."
Behind the truck, in the trailing SUV, Ling Zhuang was gripping the wheel with an indifferent calm.
"Help… help me…"
The voice came faintly from the roadside. The truck in front did not slow down. As its engine roared forward, the girl lying on the cracked pavement was immediately swallowed by a tide of zombies. Their claws reached for her, their teeth gnashing in hunger. A single bite would be enough to end her.
Hearing Ling Zhuang's flat remark, Jiang Jiamian sneered. Without hesitation, he swung himself out of the passenger window. His movements were swift and elegant, more like a feather cutting through air than a man leaping into danger.
The zombies lunged, but before their claws reached the girl, Jiang Jiamian's arm wrapped firmly around her waist. In a blur of motion, he pulled her against him and sprinted across the cracked road. His other hand caught the curb with effortless strength, vaulting him back toward the SUV. Within seconds, he landed smoothly and pushed her inside.
The whole process looked less like a rescue and more like a carefully choreographed dance. Smooth, practiced, almost infuriatingly perfect.
Ling Zhuang's eyes flicked toward him. His gaze was cold, but it settled not on Jiang Jiamian's face, rather, on the arm that still lingered around the girl's waist.
"Have you hugged her enough?"
Jiang Jiamian: "…"
He grinned lazily, releasing her at once. With exaggerated politeness, he slid her through the front seat gap and set her carefully in the back.
"Thank you… thank you…"
Her voice was weak, trembling, and before more could be said, her body went limp in exhaustion. She fainted.
Ling Zhuang's hands tightened on the steering wheel. His voice was low and glacial.
"Your Majesty the Zombie King, you have a thousand ways to save her. Every zombie outside listens to your command. Why choose this method? Hm? Was holding her so comfortable?"
Jiang Jiamian's lips twitched. He leaned back into his seat, deliberately careless. "Ah, ah, I see. Someone's jar of vinegar just got tipped over." He swung one leg casually over the other, his foot bouncing like a spoiled brat's. "You're jealous."
His tone was mocking, and his expression screamed: come hit me.
Ling Zhuang's eyes narrowed.
Not stopping there, Jiang Jiamian leaned closer and tapped his cheek with playful fingers. "If you must know, I do have a way to scatter the zombies. But I can't use it. Not when I'm traveling with Gale Squad. If I give a single command, won't they wonder why the monsters listen to me? So I treat myself as prey instead, let their danger rush toward me, toward us. Do you see now?"
Ling Zhuang's gaze paused. Of course he understood. If he were in Jiang Jiamian's place, he would have done the same.
And indeed, he himself could slaughter the horde with ease. But as far as Gale Squad knew, he was only a powerless professor. If he revealed otherwise, all the quiet control he held would fracture. So he, too, bore the mask of weakness, the mask of polite dependency.
Ling Zhuang's lips curved faintly. "We're truly a match made in heaven."
In the end, Ling Zhuang could no longer suppress the words that had been quietly stirring within his heart.
Jiang Jiamian blinked. "Huh?"
Who's with you? Don't lump me in, you pervert!
Ling Zhuang tilted his head slightly, lenses catching the light. "Tell me then, why disguise yourself as human? Why bother infiltrating their team?"
Jiang Jiamian's eyes narrowed in return. "You ask me? Then why did you choose this farce of weakness and gentleness?"
Ling Zhuang's smile deepened, and for the first time he didn't bother hiding the crooked edge of obsession in his expression. "Because it's interesting."
"Hiss…" Jiang Jiamian rubbed his arm, goosebumps rising instantly. "I advise you, don't be too proud of being a lunatic, and pretend to be kind."
Ling Zhuang gave a low sneer. "If I were not kind, would I have worked for more than ten years toward human evolution? Toward the long-term survival of this species?"
For the briefest moment, even his lenses couldn't mask the madness flashing through his eyes.
"You're insane." Jiang Jiamian's chest tightened. "You turned me into this. You turned the whole world into this. And you dare to call it kindness?"
Ling Zhuang tilted his head, voice steady, almost tender. "At least you became stronger. Without me, you, Xiao Jinfeng, Xue Fang, Zheng Shuqiu, Shen Hao, all of you would still be ordinary ants. But now? I raised ants into winged creatures. That is evolution. That is progress."
"But…"
"There is no but." Ling Zhuang cut him off sharply. "Survival of the fittest. Since ancient times, that rule has never changed. I refined humanity, forced it to shed weakness, and pushed it into evolution. Tell me, is that not painstaking effort?"
Jiang Jiamian shook his head. "But what if they never wanted it? You imposed your will. That's not evolution, it's tyranny."
Ling Zhuang laughed, sharp and sudden. "Not what they want? Hahaha… ridiculous."
His laughter echoed in the confined SUV, manic and suffocating.
Jiang Jiamian gave him a flat look, eyes dull with irony. "Is it funny?"
Abruptly, the laughter cut off. Ling Zhuang's tone shifted, soft but steeped in disappointment. "I thought you would understand, even if others could not. What a pity."
The faint curve of his lips was laced with something almost childlike, petulant dissatisfaction.
Still an ordinary person after all? How dull.
Jiang Jiamian exhaled, turning his gaze to the road ahead. The truck sped forward, deserted streets flashing past. Behind them, the groans of zombies still echoed, chasing futilely.
Not understand?
Of course he understood.
He had lived through countless small worlds, met perverts of every shade. He had seen cruelty wrapped as reason, madness cloaked as faith.
And he himself was no saint, he was still the Zombie King.
But if anyone could restrain Ling Zhuang, it was him.
If he could not turn him into a savior, then he would drag him down into hell together. But first, he would try.
Because truthfully, he understood Ling Zhuang's point too well.
Whether people wanted it or not, once they tasted power, could they ever let it go? Could they go back?
The answer was obvious.
It was like the world of cultivation. Once someone soared through clouds, wielded lightning, or commanded rain, could they ever return to crawling like ants?
Even if the apocalypse vanished tomorrow, would those who had awakened truly accept becoming ordinary again? Could they?
This world was cruel, yes. But it was also honest.
The strong reigned. The weak fell.
Compared to the old world, perhaps this was an elevation.
"You understand."
Ling Zhuang's cold voice snapped Jiang Jiamian out of his thoughts.
His eyes flicked sideways, only to see Ling Zhuang watching him, gaze sharp and invasive, as if he could read every thought.
Jiang Jiamian blinked. "No. I don't understand, and I don't want to understand."
Ling Zhuang turned back to the road, but the faint curl of his lips betrayed satisfaction. His fingers tapped lightly on the wheel. "I knew you weren't the kind of person who couldn't understand."
Jiang Jiamian: "…"
Selective hearing much? He literally said the opposite!