Chapter 15: Be My Partner

Ji Mingchen looked at Wen Yao’s aggrieved and heartbroken profile, the smile on his face slightly subsided, then he lowered his eyelashes and said, “What are you crying about, it’s not like you haven’t cried in front of me before.”

Wen Yao: “…” Good, all the tears are gone.

As the off-road vehicle passed through the ruined city, her expression returned to its usual calm, and she said to the man beside her, “This is why I want to leave Beizhou…”

Ji Mingchen raised an eyebrow and looked at her again: “Hmm?”

Wen Yao: “It seems righteous, but it’s also very heartless. Missing team members are abandoned without a second thought, injured team members are left behind, and those who are clearly guilty are not dealt with until they are interrogated. It’s rigid to the point of being pedantic.”

Ji Mingchen listened to her words: “So?”

Wen Yao turned her head to meet his gaze, her tone firm: “I killed someone without permission, so I can’t go back to Beizhou…”

Beizhou has a ban on killing, except for self-defense, no one is allowed to kill without permission. Even if someone commits a capital crime, they must be arrested and interrogated first before being executed. Violators are considered serious offenders.

Ji Mingchen was stunned for a moment, then he couldn’t help but laugh: “Little stickler for the rules…”

“No one knows you did it except you.”

Wen Yao looked at the man’s smiling face and said nothing.

She thought she had made her meaning clear enough. Could it be that even so, he still wouldn’t trust her?

Ji Mingchen noticed Wen Yao’s expression with his peripheral vision. Seeing that the rabbit had taken the bait, he curled his lips into a pleasant arc: “I’ve said it before, my Dongzhou District 14 doesn’t lack capable people. You’re welcome to join us, but you can only enter with one identity…”

Wen Yao looked up at him: “What identity?”

Ji Mingchen smiled at her, his peach blossom eyes curving like a blooming spring flower: “My partner.”

“…”

“???”

Catching sight of Wen Yao’s surprised expression, Ji Mingchen’s lips curved even more wantonly. He leaned his head closer to her and repeated in his clear, pleasant voice: “If you want to join my Dongzhou, be my partner.”

Wen Yao felt that this man was simply toxic. Now, not only was her face hot, but the area by her ear that his breath brushed against felt numb and itchy, making her feel extremely uncomfortable: “…Is that the only way?”

Ji Mingchen didn’t deny it, his smile subsided slightly, and his posture returned to its usual lazy state: “Of course, you can also refuse.”

“…”

The off-road vehicle drove past a dilapidated road overgrown with weeds. Soon, a vast expanse of sea appeared on the horizon, and beside the sea were towering skyscrapers.

This city was much more modern than the ruined city they had encountered before. The buildings were not all crumbling ruins, but mostly high-rises of dozens of stories. Old and dilapidated concrete buildings were rare.

The gradually widening roads, overpasses, and glass curtain walls all indicated that this was an extremely developed metropolis before the apocalypse.

The green plants and green belts along the roadside near the city were all withered and decayed. Occasionally, a few curious and terrifying zombies would pop out, and the damaged asphalt road was pitted and pockmarked with bloodstains and various scratches.

From a distance, the dark blue sea reflects the abandoned rain and foggy city. In the hazy tranquility, the city looks like a high-level soldier wearing battle-damaged makeup.

This was Dongzhou District. Because it was an extremely developed economic zone before the apocalypse, even seven years after the apocalypse, its material resources and urban construction were much richer than the other three zones.

There were not many people in the suburbs. Occasionally, a few slow-moving zombies would chase after the tail of the car until they passed through the thirty-meter-high barbed wire fence, and then there was some sign of human life around them.

Wen Yao turned her head to look out the window, watching the street stalls beside the skyscrapers and the survivors dressed in tattered clothes with dejected expressions. She felt a strange sense of absurdity.

How to describe this feeling? It was like a primitive man living in a city…

Ji Mingchen closed his eyes and rested, unconsciously raising his eyes to glance at Wen Yao. He happened to catch the hint of surprise in her eyes, so he lazily said, “We’re almost at the base. Have you decided?”

Wen Yao looked out the window and nodded when she heard this.

After spending these two days with him, Wen Yao felt that although he was a bit perverted and his brain circuits were a bit strange, he wasn’t as evil and terrifying as the rumors said. At least, he wasn’t bad to her.

Going back to Beizhou was a dead end, and with her current abilities, it was also a dead end to roam alone. But staying with Ji Mingchen, no matter what identity, she could at least stay alive…

And as long as she was alive, there was hope, there was a chance to find her lost family.

“Okay, I agree.”

Although… her approach of joining because she couldn’t beat him was a bit of a blow to her previous upright persona, but there was no other way.

Ji Mingchen put his finger on his lips, his peach blossom eyes filled with amusement. After a while, he nodded: “Okay.”

“Then I’ll… reluctantly agree.”

“…”

“I just want to join you, I don’t have to be your partner, what do you mean ‘reluctantly’…”

Before she could finish her sentence, Ji Mingchen reached out and rubbed her hair, interrupting her: “Little traitor, it’s time to get off.”

The off-road vehicle stopped just in time. Mei Yasha and Di Dahu got off first. Ji Mingchen also pushed the door open and got off. Wen Yao wanted to argue, but the current situation obviously didn’t allow for much talk.

She decided to get out and then settle things with this guy, but when she reached for the back seat, before she could grab her silver moon dagger, Ji Mingchen stood outside the car and gave her a warning look.

Wen Yao looked out the car door. The car was parked in a spacious square. The surrounding buildings had a somewhat European castle style, ancient yet full of grandeur.

There were also a lot of people standing neatly beside the off-road vehicle. Most of them were wearing black uniforms with the Dongzhou base logo. They looked like members of the Dongzhou District 14 base.

“…”

She was an outsider, and it was a bit impolite to have a knife on her when they were at the Dongzhou District 14 base.

So Wen Yao obediently retracted her hand.

Seeing Ji Mingchen, a beautiful girl with chestnut-brown curly hair stepped forward first and asked eagerly, “Captain Ming, you’re finally back! How did the mission go? Did you get the mutated snow bear sample from Beizhou?”