Chapter 12: Did the Moon Rise from the West Tonight?

Wen Yao was so angry that she didn’t want to speak. She had made up her mind, but after a moment of hesitation, she still spoke: “I’ve figured it out.”

“Hmm?”

“I was abandoned on the ice field by my teammates because I was infected with the R-type zombie virus.”

Ji Mingchen had already expected this reason. Although he didn’t ask much, when he heard her mention it, the corners of his lips curved up, but his eyes were cold: “Hmm.”

Wen Yao continued calmly: “Think about it from another perspective. If it were Shen Yichuan who was infected with the R-type zombie virus, I wouldn’t say I could handle it better than him, but based on our seven years of partnership, I couldn’t just leave him behind and remain calm and composed without any emotion.”

Ji Mingchen lowered his eyelashes: “…Say something I like to hear.”

“…”

Wen Yao: “I mean, he and I are not the same kind of people. Since we have different paths, then we should not be together.”

Ji Mingchen looked up at her, a little incredulous: “What?”

Wen Yao’s voice was soft: “I’m not going back to the Beizhou Thirteen Zone.”

The scenes in her dream were mainly about Shen Yichuan and Mu Shengsheng. She couldn’t see what happened to her in the days after she was rescued by Ji Mingchen, but she knew she wouldn’t mutate. And after several days, Ji Mingchen would send someone to safely return her to the Beizhou Thirteen Zone.

After that, she became much colder towards Shen Yichuan. She no longer followed his opinions in everything, leading to disagreements between them on many issues. Sometimes, she would even speak up for the Dongzhou. However, this also became one of the pieces of evidence that ultimately labeled her as a traitor.

Since she was destined to be wronged, she might as well be a complete traitor and simply not go back.

Whoever wanted to be the early-death white moonlight could be it. She wouldn’t do it. She couldn’t fight, but she could always hide. She wanted to distance herself from the male and female leads from the root and change the tragic ending in her dream.

Ji Mingchen’s gaze swept across the faint candlelight, staring at Wen Yao. His eyes were deep, filled with inquiry and scrutiny, as if he was confirming the truth of her words.

Did the moon rise from the west tonight?

This stubborn, tenacious girl who swore to protect the Beizhou Thirteen Zone suddenly became enlightened?

Wen Yao lowered her eyelashes, her voice tinged with a sigh: “Can I… join your Dongzhou?”

She hadn’t actually considered not joining any base and becoming a non-evil hunter. But she was alone and hadn’t awakened any abilities, which made it too risky.

Not to mention encountering powerful mutated zombie creatures, even if she encountered a hunter group, she would be finished.

So, before awakening her abilities, she could only find an organization to hide in. And her best choice at the moment was the Dongzhou Fourteen Zone base.

Seeing that he didn’t speak, Wen Yao explained further: “You saved my life twice. I can use this as a reason to become your deputy to repay you. It seems reasonable.”

Ji Mingchen smiled in response: “I don’t lack subordinates. My Dongzhou Fourteen Zone doesn’t lack capable people either…”

Wen Yao frowned, not quite understanding what he meant: “What I can do for the Beizhou Thirteen Zone commander, I can also do for you. What I can do for Shen Yichuan, I can also do for you.”

Looking at her straightforward manner, Ji Mingchen tried hard not to laugh out loud, but the corners of his lips still curled up mischievously. He tilted his head slightly, his fingers rubbing his temples: “But I’m not that useless Shen Yichuan after all. I don’t need you to do anything for me…”

Wen Yao didn’t say anything.

So, did that mean she was rejected?

It made sense. In his eyes, even Shen Yichuan was useless. She was even weaker than Shen Yichuan, so she probably wouldn’t be worth much in his eyes.

Wen Yao nodded, somewhat disappointed: “Okay.”

Ji Mingchen couldn’t help but chuckle: “Okay what?”

“I don’t lack subordinates, but I lack…”

Wen Yao stood up, her silver moon blade flashing, interrupting his words: “The two of them have been guarding all night. It’s my turn tonight.”

With that, she lifted the curtain and stepped onto the balcony.

Ji Mingchen: “…”

Tsk, she’s still a boring old-fashioned girl, impossible to flirt with.

…

Beizhou Snow Field.

When Shen Yichuan led several team members back to the area, all traces had been covered by the snow.

He searched for the entire day and night, remembering the location, but only found a group of headless zombies. He didn’t even see Wen Yao, let alone find a piece of her clothing…

“Report to Captain Shen! Nothing on the west side.”

“Nothing on the east side either…”

“The north side is the ice field. There’s nothing there.”

“…”

Shen Yichuan’s sword-like brows were deeply furrowed, his expression serious, his whole body radiating a chilling aura: “This is impossible…”

Wen Yao had always been in excellent physical condition, and with years of rigorous training, the probability of her mutating after being infected with the R-type zombie virus was actually less than one-third, even less than one-fifth.

To be safe, even if she did die and mutate into an R-type zombie variant, without a living target, she would only wander around this area. At worst, she would choose to eat the zombies nearby.

But from the current situation, the zombie corpses on the ground showed no signs of being eaten, and there were also scattered wandering zombies nearby, clearly indicating that no variant had ever appeared to hunt…

The team members looked at each other, Fang Lanyin also came over. Her face was filled with disappointment and sadness: “Did Deputy Captain Wen freeze to death and then get buried by the snow?”

A team member also followed up with speculation: “Was she eaten by the zombie horde or zombie wolves?”

“Could it be that she encountered bandit hunters and was taken away? After all, Deputy Captain Wen is so beautiful…”

Shen Yichuan refused to believe it, he didn’t even dare to think about it.

Who was Wen Yao?

Over the years, no matter how hard, tiring, painful, or unbearable it was, she had never fallen, and she wouldn’t even complain.

She wanted to find her sister so badly, she wanted to find her parents and family, how could she just die like that? How could she not hold on until he came back? …

Shen Yichuan’s eyes were red, his eyelashes covered in frost. He looked at the snow with a haggard expression, his voice hoarse as he commanded: “Keep searching, find her alive or dead…”

“…Don’t miss any suspected body parts, bring them back for DNA testing.”

“…Yes.”