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Yang Jinxia never imagined that what awaited her was a sudden gunshot.
Her mind went blank, and she stumbled, falling to the ground in a very awkward manner.
A few seconds later, she realized she hadn't been shot, and a surge of anger rose within her. Had she almost gotten killed by gunfire?
The man appeared somewhat frightened too, asking her, "Are you okay? I just thought you were a monster and fired. Sorry, did I scare you?" Saying this, he extended his hand to her.
She suppressed the fury in her heart; however, her intended dramatic entrance had been completely shattered by that gunshot, and the planned conversation naturally couldn't proceed.
Thinking this, she stood up and, while brushing the dirt off her skirt, she began to think, asking aloud, "Where is this place?"
"I don't know."
She then asked, "Who are you?"
"And you?" he responded with a question instead of an answer.
She felt a chill in her heart. From his words, she clearly sensed a kind of dissatisfaction and a slight sense of confrontation.
Yang Jinxia, has your prolonged life of comfort made you forget how to face a crisis?
She calmed down instantly and said, "My name is Xia Jinse."
She instinctively used a false name, even though she never accepted interviews and usually kept a low profile, her name not known to the public. But in such an environment, she chose to hide her identity.
Then she finally learned the man's name, as ordinary as his appearance, Chen Xu.
She pretended to meet him for the first time and chatted for a while to ease his vigilance.
Later, Chen Xu proposed the idea of teaming up, but she didn't agree immediately, saying she would think it over.
After calming down, she analyzed the current situation. In this wasteland, she had to rely on him to survive. And since he had a gun and supplies, it meant he held the absolute advantage.
She was at an absolute disadvantage. This was not what she wanted; she must regain some initiative.
The only thing she could leverage was the inherent advantage of being a beautiful woman.
At mealtime, Yang Jinxia ate the hard, stale compressed biscuits and requested to have some privacy. This was also a test, to probe his attitude toward her.
In the end, Chen Xu's words made her realize she had encountered a straight man with anti-feminist tendencies, which was quite tricky for her.
Later, she learned that Chen Xu had hidden an important piece of information, which shocked her even more.
Was he really a cop?
Suddenly, she began to doubt her judgment.
Why would a normal young man have such guarded thoughts toward a beautiful, seemingly harmless woman? If he were a cop, it would be even less likely.
Thinking about his familiarity with the gun, a significant sense of crisis arose in her heart.
On the way to the settlement, she remained silent, recalling every word and action of Chen Xu to analyze his personality.
This man was either uninterested in women.
Or he was a very disciplined iron-man straight guy.
Instinctively, she leaned toward the latter because his look at her was the same as any normal man's, just more restrained.
In an apocalyptic environment like this, he still maintained such self-control; either he had high moral standards or he was a weirdo. Either way, he wasn't a normal person.
After walking for over ten minutes, she was a bit tired, and the soles of her feet began to hurt.
She said nothing, gritting her teeth to keep going.
Internally, she understood that her beauty didn't affect him at all. This meant she was completely dispensable to him, which was very dangerous.
In any team, if someone cannot be useful, there is always the risk of being abandoned. She couldn't be his burden.
Fortunately, during the journey, Chen Xu suggested resting a few times, allowing her to keep up.
Even so, her feet got blistered, and with every step, there was a burning pain. More than half of the sweat on her forehead was from the pain.
Finally, they arrived at the settlement, only to find it already overrun by monsters.
"What should we do?" she asked.
Ultimately, Chen Xu made a decision, "Fight our way in."
It was at this moment that she realized it was an excellent opportunity and demanded, "Give me a gun."
A gun is a symbol of power. Having one changes everything.
"Have you ever fired a gun?" Chen Xu asked.
However, she hadn't, so she could only say, "I don't want to watch myself getting eaten by monsters."
Chen Xu refused her, saying, "I won't let you die in front of me."
Still a failure.
A sense of frustration rose in her heart. This man was absolutely impenetrable.
Watching Chen Xu head toward the settlement, she had no choice but to follow, holding a stick as a weapon, better than nothing.
Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!
At about twenty meters away, Chen Xu started firing, and the five green-skinned monsters looking like gorillas at the entrance all fell to the ground with shots to the head.
Behind him, Yang Jinxia saw clearly, five monsters, each shot in the head. Such formidable marksmanship shocked her.
Reality isn't a movie; in actual combat, hitting the target every time with such accuracy is impossible.
Who on earth was this Chen Xu?
She suppressed this doubt tightly and kept close behind him. This wasn't the time to dwell on this; besides, the better his shooting, the safer she'd be. She should be thankful instead.
Once inside the settlement, Chen Xu used a mechanical arm to push the heavy door closed, hearing a click as it locked.
"Chen Xu, there's a map of the entire layout here."
Yang Jinxia wasn't idle. She ran to the nearby security room's window, observed inside, and quickly found something valuable, calling out.
Hearing this, Chen Xu hurried over and, seeing the map on the wall, praised, "Well done."
She asked, "Where should we go first?"
While memorizing the map, Chen Xu said, "The control center."
The layout of the settlement wasn't complex. The control center was in the middle, and a straight path from the entrance led directly to it.
They set off immediately, with Chen Xu leading and Yang Jinxia following.
"Actually, you didn't have to come in," Chen Xu suddenly said.
Yang Jinxia replied, "We're teammates, aren't we?"
Suddenly, a sense of forewarning rose sharply in her heart. She looked up to see a dark shadow swooping down, targeting Chen Xu ahead.
"Watch out," she shouted, pushing Chen Xu aside forcefully. The next moment, a rush of fierce wind hit her, and before she could pull back her arm, something hooked it. Then, with a mighty pull, she was lifted off the ground.
Bang, a gunshot rang out.
A warm liquid splattered on her face, and she lost her balance, falling to the ground.
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