IDMLA 21

Zheng Xue was the type of person who hated nothing more than being embarrassed in front of others.

Especially in front of so many people. Tang Tang’s words had undoubtedly struck a nerve, sounding to his ears like she was looking down on him. His face immediately darkened.

“Miss Tang sure knows how to joke. We’ve actually met before at the Jiang family’s estate, surely you remember, Miss Tang?”

The moment Tang Tang saw his expression shift, she knew things had taken a bad turn. She’d probably managed to offend him.

But dealing with this type of person wasn’t exactly her strong suit.

As she agonized over how to respond and smooth things over, she suddenly caught sight of Jiang Chi standing off to the side, still looking thoroughly annoyed, even releasing a small wisp of wind-element energy as he idly toyed with it in his hand.

Tang Tang’s eyes lit up.

He’s the one!

When passive-aggressive snark met someone as arrogant and blunt as Jiang Chi, let’s see how Zheng Xue could keep his little games going. Hmph!

Tang Tang chuckled inwardly, then turned her head toward Jiang Chi.

“Have you all awakened your abilities?” she asked.

Jiang Chi looked up at the sound of her voice. Seeing that this woman seemed to be talking to him, he was annoyed, but still tilted his chin up and replied arrogantly, “Of course.”

Then he frowned. “You know about abilities? Don’t tell me you’ve awakened one too?”

Tang Tang felt wounded by the sheer disbelief on his face.

Her heart, ached so much!

Yeah, she hadn’t awakened one.

“Of course.”

But under these circumstances, how could Tang Tang possibly admit that? Naturally, she’d puff herself up as much as she could.

“Really?” Jiang Chi was clearly skeptical, letting out a scoff.

Tang Tang: …

“Of course it’s true. Otherwise, how do you think someone as delicate as me could have survived this long?”

Ignoring Zheng Xue, who was staring at her with cold, murderous intent as if he wanted to tear her apart, Tang Tang turned her entire body to face Jiang Chi.

Back when she was following the original plot, her character had a bit of a haughty streak, she’d tilt her chin up slightly when speaking, giving off an air of pride and arrogance. It had been a bit awkward at first, but after playing the role so many times, she’d gradually gotten used to it.

Now was the perfect time to put it to use.

Jiang Chi still didn’t look convinced. He began gathering a strong gust of wind in his hand, and just as Tang Tang thought he was about to attack her to test whether she was telling the truth, he suddenly stopped.

Then he extended his arm toward Tang Tang, still looking thoroughly impatient.

“Oh. Well, I have wind abilities. What do you have?”

So… he’d reluctantly believed her?

Tang Tang guessed as much, glancing at the rapidly spinning mass of wind in Jiang Chi’s hand, then stealing a look at Zheng Xue beside her, wondering what kind of ability he had.

“Me?” Tang Tang withdrew her gaze and looked back at Jiang Chi. “What I awakened is—”

“Miss Tang…” Zheng Xue couldn’t stand being ignored like this and cut in.

Tang Tang wasn’t angry about being interrupted, but there was no way she’d let him have a chance to speak. She quickly talked over him: “Sorry, I’m talking to Jiang Chi right now. Could you wait a moment?”

Zheng Xue: …

Zheng Xue clenched his fists, his face growing even darker.

“Miss Tang can’t remember me, but she remembers Young Master Jiang? What a remarkable memory. Zheng is truly impressed. I just wonder, why is it that Miss Tang remembers only Young Master Jiang? Could it be because…”

He trailed off, leaving the sentence hanging.

Tang Tang: …

Here we go again.

Could this guy even talk normally?

Fine then. Don’t blame her for being rude!

Tang Tang raised the half-meter blade in her hand in front of her. “Do I need a reason? You said it yourself, he’s the young master of the Jiang family. But who are you? Is your surname Jiang?”

Saying that out loud felt incredibly satisfying.

“You—!”

This time, Zheng Xue couldn’t hold back. His face twisted with fury as he flipped his palm, as if summoning his ability.

But Tang Tang had already anticipated that her words would provoke him. The moment she saw this, she quickly pointed her blade at Zheng Xue.

“What are you doing? You’re not actually going to attack me, are you? You’re the one who asked me for the reason, it’s not like I volunteered to say it!”

Tang Tang’s sharp eyes caught sight of a small flame gradually forming in Zheng Xue’s palm.

She was surprised.

So this guy had fire abilities too? Judging by how long it took him to gather such a tiny flame, and how much effort it seemed to take, he wasn’t exactly a powerhouse, was he?

Tang Tang speculated inwardly.

Given how Zheng Xue carried himself like the leader of this six-person team, she’d assumed his ability was something truly impressive, the strongest of the group.

“What’s all this racket about? It’s the middle of the night, I’m dead tired.”

At that moment, Jiang Chi, who had long since lost patience, spoke up. He yawned, showing no intention of sparing anyone’s feelings.

“Young Master Jiang, this woman—” Zheng Xue clearly wasn’t about to let Tang Tang off the hook.

“Come on, enough already. So she didn’t remember you? You walk around all gloomy and brooding all day, who’d want to remember you? Let’s just find a place to stay. I’m exhausted, I need to sleep!”

If the situation weren’t so inappropriate, Tang Tang would have jumped up and applauded Jiang Chi.

Those words, absolutely beautiful!

Sure enough, when arrogance met arrogance, it was Zheng Xue’s worst nightmare.

Zheng Xue’s expression wasn’t going to improve for the rest of the night.

“Not yet. We can’t trust this woman easily, she’s too strange.”

Jiang Chi shot him a glare.

“Miss Tang, why don’t you first explain why the zombies don’t attack you? That might convince us and put our suspicions to rest,” Zheng Xue chimed in again.

Tang Tang was just: ?

Wait, why should she explain the reason? And why should she ease their suspicions?

She wasn’t their teammate. She could do whatever she wanted, and what business was it of his?

How could he be even more annoying than that damn system?!

Tang Tang was stunned, starting to wonder if Zheng Xue had a screw loose.

“Oh right, why don’t the zombies attack you?” Jiang Chi seemed to just realize it too, looking interested.

The situation was clearly not in her favor. Whether she explained or not, Zheng Xue wasn’t going to let her off easily.

And from what she’d just seen, Zheng Xue seemed to show some respect for Jiang Chi. She didn’t know the exact reason, but if she could work that angle, maybe her chances of escaping would be better.

So, Tang Tang figured she could rile Zheng Xue up again.

She deliberately said, “Fine, since you’re curious, I’ll tell you.”

She looked at Jiang Chi and said mysteriously, “It’s actually because I awakened a wisdom-based ability. Through my intelligence, I made those zombies not attack me.”

Tang Tang’s expression was so serious that it fooled all six people across from her.

“Bullshit. There’s no such thing as a wisdom ability,” Zheng Xue was the first to voice his opinion.

Tang Tang looked at him: “You asked me for the reason, and when I tell you, you don’t believe me? Then why did you ask?”

Zheng Xue was choked by those words, and Tang Tang quickly continued.

“You all know what I was like before the apocalypse. If I hadn’t awakened a wisdom ability, how could I have survived until now? And lived this well?”

Paired with her current gear, those words seemed pretty convincing.

Whether the others believed it or not was unclear, but Jiang Chi believed it first.

“Right, you must have awakened a wisdom ability. Otherwise, you’d be dead somewhere by now,” Jiang Chi said, speaking his mind.

Tang Tang: …

Tang Tang took a deep breath and told herself it was fine.

Out of the mouths of babes.

She suddenly thought of the earlier incident and asked, “But how did you know that zombie didn’t attack me? It was so dark out, how could you see that?”

Could it be an ability too?

“Yeah, her ability lets her see,” Jiang Chi pointed at the girl from before.

The girl stepped forward, nodded at her, and stepped back.

Tang Tang hadn’t expected to guess right.

“Since that’s settled, let’s split up and find somewhere to sleep,” Jiang Chi said impatiently, turning to leave.

Zheng Xue objected: “No, we need to bring Miss Tang along.”

Tang Tang wanted to punch him.

“Why?” Jiang Chi turned back to ask.

“It’s the apocalypse now, too dangerous. Miss Tang is a girl after all, and i’m not at ease. Anyway, our team only has six people, adding one more won’t hurt.”

Zheng Xue sneered inwardly. Of course he had to bring her, otherwise, how would he find a chance to get back at her?

Tang Tang saw the look on his face and knew he was up to something. There was no way she’d go along with it. She hoisted her big blade and made to leave.

“Whatever you want,” Jiang Chi said, and walked off.

Tang Tang bolted at the same time, but suddenly, a rope wrapped around her waist.

Then she heard Zheng Xue’s annoying voice in her ear.

“Miss Tang, shall we go?”

Tang Tang shuddered violently at that, looking down at her waist to see a thin rope glowing faintly red, somehow tied around her without her noticing?!

His ability!

Damn, she’d underestimated him!

Meanwhile, on the other side, Jiang Zhu and the others, who had been asleep for days, gradually woke up.

They were just about to sit up when they noticed something was off, they were all tied up?

Jiang Zhu moved his fingers, and the rope binding him snapped instantly.

He sat up from the wooden plank and scanned the room, but only saw Yan Chen by the table in a state similar to his own earlier. Tang Tang, however, was nowhere to be seen.

His gaze turned cold in an instant.

Yan Chen noticed the commotion and, with his last shred of consciousness, shouted, “Save—go save Tang Tang. She… flew… go, save her.” Then he lost consciousness.

!!

Qin Zhang and Qi Mu exchanged a glance, then looked at Jiang Zhu.

“I’ll go find her,” Jiang Zhu said, already moving to leave.

“We’re coming too!”