What?! I Became the Zombie Beauty in the Villain’s Arms

Chapter 238: More Decisive Than Anyone Else

Duan Xiaolin wasn’t surprised. A matter of this magnitude could never truly be hidden from her, especially when she could already feel the subtle, undeniable shifts within her own body. He had never intended to keep it a secret forever; doing so would only breed unnecessary misunderstandings between them.

“What exactly do you know?” he asked quietly.

“It’s mostly just speculation,” she replied, her voice low. “I’ve noticed that my physical reactions to the zombies and parasites have been dulling. Before, whenever I came near them, the pathogen would flare up. It would torment me, driving me toward an uncontrollable urge to harm myself just to cope with the agony. It was an excruciating, grueling pain. But now… I can feel that influence gradually fading into nothing, whether they are near me or not.”

Still, she couldn’t quite fathom why this was happening or what the eventual side effects would be. But looking at his frantic, relentless behavior over the past few weeks, anyone could have guessed that something was fundamentally wrong.

“Perhaps this is a good thing for you,” she murmured, trying to find a silver lining. “You won’t have to look at these corpse spots anymore, and I won’t look so out of place among regular humans.”

“If this were truly a good thing,” she countered, looking at him with deep concern, “why would you be acting with such absolute ruthlessness? Why would you completely cast aside political decorum and alienate everyone at headquarters just to seize those crystal cores?”

Duan Xiaolin reached out, his large hand gently stroking her cheek. “You don’t need to burden your mind with any of this. I will gladly bear every single consequence of my actions. You don’t need to harbor a shred of guilt.”

“You know that’s impossible,” she said softly. Even if he was willing to carry the weight alone, she could never simply stand by and watch. She grabbed his hand, halting his touch. “Stop hunting for the crystal cores. The ones we have are more than enough.”

His dark green eyes locked onto hers, burning with an unyielding, absolute conviction. “Until I am completely certain of your safety, I will never stop.”

Pei Xiqing let out a helpless sigh. He wouldn’t listen to a single word of persuasion. When it came to her life, he would never compromise, and he would never back down.

She knew the underlying reality had to be incredibly complex. Because of this, she slipped out of the residential block the very next morning and went straight to find Qiu Chao.

Qiu Chao seemed to have anticipated her arrival; he had been waiting in his office for a long time. Stripping off his hazard mask and sterile gloves, he emerged from the main laboratory block and guided her inside.

He poured her a fresh glass of water and set it on the desk. “Miss Pei, is this visit triggered by your curiosity regarding the crystal cores, or are you genuinely concerned about your own health?”

“Both,” she replied cleanly.

He lowered his head, a wry, knowing smile tugging at his lips. He had mapped out this exact conversation hours ago. “What exactly do you wish to unwrap?”

“Brother Duan’s desperate search for the crystal cores—it is directly tied to the sudden changes in my physical baseline, isn’t it?”

“Yes,” Qiu Chao conceded, his tone turning entirely professional.

Pei Xiqing pressed on. “My system used to react violently to the presence of the undead virus. Why is that frequency suddenly weakening?”

Qiu Chao leaned back, pondering his data for a moment before delivering the metric. “It is happening because the secondary virus anchored within your bone marrow is actively disappearing.”

Disappearing? What does that mean?

“Think back to the initial outbreak,” Qiu Chao explained, tapping his fingers against the desk. “When you were bitten by that zombie out in the wild, you didn’t mutate into a mindless variant; you merely developed superficial corpse spots. That meant the undead pathogen had successfully breached your system, but its progression was violently neutralized by a separate, preexisting virus dormant within your biology. That specific virus possessed twice the cellular dominance of the zombie strain. Because it held absolute sovereignty over your cells, baseline pathogens couldn’t infect you. The exact same principle applied to the parasitic virus.”

“A separate virus?” she echoed, her brow furrowing. “Where did it come from?”

“For the time being, my laboratory logs define this anomaly as—Virus X.” Qiu Chao rose from his chair, turning his back to her as he walked over to a specimen display. He idly tossed a brilliant crystal core between his fingers as he continued his brief. “Virus X functioned as a master shield, entirely smothering any external pathogens that entered your bloodstream. But now… its cellular energy is beginning to wane. I trust your imagination can extrapolate what follows once the shield fails.”

Pei Xiqing’s throat went dry, her voice dropping into a tense whisper. “…The exact second Virus X vanishes entirely, the dormant strains legacy-coded into my system will break their chains. They will violently exert the full cellular power they’ve been accumulating for months.”

“Precisely.” Qiu Chao caught the tumbling crystal core flawlessly within his palm, turning around to face her. “The resulting structural failure will inflict an agony far worse than death. The immense viral load that has been suppressed for so long will instantly saturate your entire biology, leaving your immune system completely powerless to resist the necrosis.”

He let out a heavy, regretful sigh. “Yesterday, when I audited your pulse in the corridor, I briefly harbored a shred of hope. I wondered if the metrics indicated a pregnancy. If a fetal variable had introduced itself, the bulk of the viral cells could have systematically transferred into the child’s development, saving your baseline. Though, the child would have been born stillborn.”

Pei Xiqing shook her head, a cold shiver running down her spine. “I would never authorize a horrific shortcut like that.”

Qiu Chao shrugged noncommittally. “If that variable had actually manifested, Brother Duan would have executed the extraction and terminated the pregnancy more decisively than anyone else on this board.”

Pei Xiqing’s complexion turned an ashen, deathly pale. She knew he was right; Duan Xiaolin would never permit a phantom variable to compromise her survival.

“Is your division entirely devoid of data to explain why Virus X is suddenly dissipating?” she asked, steadying her voice.

“We have zero empirical explanations,” Qiu Chao muttered, his expression twisting into a grim, frustrated line. “The anomaly had achieved a flawless, stable equilibrium within your bone marrow. You are the absolute solitary carrier of this strain across the human bases; it’s an exceptional rarity. By all biological metrics, it should have permanently fused with your genetic code. Yet, for some unfathomable reason, its cellular footprints are fading.”

From a medical standpoint, a regression of this nature defied baseline logic. In a standard biological network, an anomaly of this scale would only evaporate if the patient’s entire genetic architecture was systematically transformed overnight, or if the specific cellular clusters were being forcibly extracted from the bloodstream by an external mechanism.

But such a scenario was an absolute impossibility. Pei Xiqing had never been subjected to a hidden surgical extraction. No rogue operative could ever breach her perimeter, let alone bypass the terrifying vigilance of the Chief Judge to touch her.

He and Duan Xiaolin had spent countless nights auditing the laboratory models, burning through every available theory. They had found absolutely nothing.

Qiu Chao locked his eyes onto hers, verifying a final timeline. “When I conducted your comprehensive biological audit back at Base Three, the metrics were flawless. The virus was perfectly integrated with your nervous system. Tracing back to the hour we evacuated that sector… have you ever endured unmapped bouts of drowsiness? Have your nerves registered any anomalous tremors or sudden pains?”

Pei Xiqing searched her memory, her response absolute. “No. Nothing.”

“Then the progression makes no scientific sense,” he muttered, thoroughly stumped as he began aggressively scribbling data points into his research log, each stroke of his pen radiating intense confusion.

Pei Xiqing fell into a long, heavy silence, staring down at her lap.

When she had initially dropped into this narrative framework, it was the hidden source code of this world that had granted her this anomalous immunity. But now… was the system systematically clawing its gifts back? If the background code was actively purging her plot armor, then her pre-coded destination in this narrative remained unchanged: absolute death.

When she finally emerged from the clinical research block, she chose not to return immediately to her quarters. Instead, she walked over to the concrete bleachers flanking the Old District garrison, sitting alone by the iron fence. She watched the elite vanguard divisions executing their brutal afternoon training drills, losing herself in the rhythmic, booming cadence of their boots for hours.

Ever since she had opened her eyes in this universe, she had been consumed by a dark terror that the premature deaths of the original protagonist, Xiao Yue, and the villain, Pei Yanting, would trigger a catastrophic collapse of the world order. She had moved with absolute, agonizing caution, measuring every single stride. It was only after she had methodically backed her targets into an unescapable, lethal corner that she had finally sent them on their way.

The apocalyptic framework hadn’t shattered into static, true, but the current progression of human civilization had entirely drifted away from the novel’s original settings.

Yet, after navigating all of these terrifying twists, after executing every desperate maneuver to survive… the system was lazily turning around to inform her that her ultimate narrative ending remained entirely unchanged.

And what about Brother Duan? If the source code reasserted its original baseline, his trajectory would also loop right back to its tragic, pre-coded starting point. Was absolutely everything they had built destined to bleed out in vain?

No. I refuse to validate that metric.

Pei Xiqing’s eyes narrowed as she watched a soldier break through a concrete barrier on the field. She would never permit the world’s original script to reclaim their lives.

Chapter 239: His Head Down

An ambitious concept had already taken root in Pei Xiqing’s mind, but the raw logistical variables required to actually execute it were incredibly daunting.

She absolutely refused to passively surrender to her fate. Yet, it was structurally impossible not to cycle through moments of bitter resentment and heavy sighs; her mind remained entirely held hostage by her emotions. The negative currents of entrapment, hesitation, and deep psychological pain still fully monopolized her consciousness.

Pei Xiqing sat on the concrete bleachers until the absolute dark of night swallowed the horizon. Her physical frame grew increasingly numb and unresponsive, but her internal anxiety refused to stabilize.

Suddenly, a sudden wave of intense heat cloaked her shoulders. A familiar, comforting scent enveloped her senses. It was his exact baseline.

Duan Xiaolin had materialized from the shadows without triggering a single metric. He draped a heavy winter coat over her trembling frame, bending down to scoop her into his arms without uttering a single syllable. He carried her steadily back toward the old district.

The tracking avenues were entirely devoid of personnel along their route. It was just the two of them, enveloped in an unnaturally heavy, suffocating quiet.

The man finally broke the silence, his voice dropping into a low murmur against her hair. “What exactly has thrown your system into a panic again? Looking at you just now… it’s an exact mirror of how you acted back at Base Three.”

“The metrics are entirely different,” she whispered, leaning her forehead against his solid chest. “Right now, the data is genuinely infuriating.”

When she was grounded at Base Three, she had merely been wrestling with a baseline existential fog—harboring a mild, melancholy displacement about operating as a narrative outsider who couldn’t seamlessly integrate with the civilian population. But this current crisis was inflicting a genuine, physical headache.

“Exactly how severe is the irritation?” he probed intentionally, his pace never wavering.

“It is exceptionally severe.”

Her thoughts were a chaotic tangle. It appeared the psychological data on humanity was flawless: the exact millisecond an individual secures their baseline survival, their core matrix becomes greedy and unrestrained. Human desire was a bottomless chasm. It could never be structurally satiated.

In her initial, detached phase, her concept of surrendering to the world’s rules had been simple: navigate the narrative one day at a time. It was a highly profitable venture where she could accumulate wealth, log system rewards, and experience the terminal collapse of civilization as if it were a high-definition 3D projection.

But then, she had crossed paths with Duan Xiaolin. He had forcibly dragged her into the inner sanctum of the alliance. Operating as a half-zombie variant, she had been forced to cautiously interface with humanity, masterfully engineering a way to coexist within their heavily fortified sectors. Eventually, their mutual attachment had deepened, devolving into a complex, chaotic entanglement of emotional teasing and profound devotion. By the end of the arc, she couldn’t even calculate whether she had been more profoundly moved by his actions, or if he had surrendered more completely to hers. The metrics were impossible to balance.

Pure greed had driven her to advance her position step by step. Yet, the empirical reality of the world order had rendered her path completely unpredictable; she lacked the source data to calculate when their timeline would suffer an abrupt termination, leaving her zero reaction time to counter the blow.

Her deepest, most consuming terror… was the certainty of leaving him behind to endure an eternity of isolated, agonizing grief.

The moment they breached the perimeter of their residence, Duan Xiaolin set her down. The exact second her toes touched the floorboards, her limbs felt as though they had been injected with ten pounds of solid cement; she was entirely devoid of sensory feedback, unable to even lift her feet to clear the rug.

Duan Xiaolin sat her down on the plush sofa, pulling her paralyzed legs across his knees to methodically massage the circulation back into her muscles. “Do you desire a meal? You’ve been locked in a vegetative daze for an entire cycle without absorbing a single calorie.”

Pei Xiqing forced a faint, reassuring smile. “My digestive tract feels completely locked, but I harbor zero desire to spike your anxiety metrics. I’ll swallow a few bites.”

Duan Xiaolin peeled off his formal uniform jacket, methodically rolling his shirtsleeves up past his forearms before turning into the kitchen.

Pei Xiqing lingered on the sofa until the heavy numbness finally drained from her lower extremities, then slowly navigated her way into the kitchen to assist with the preparation. During their extended isolation in the agricultural sector, Duan Xiaolin’s culinary execution had improved exponentially. Leaning her weight against the pristine marble counter, she quietly monitored his fluid, practiced movements, a genuine smile finally softening her features.

Duan Xiaolin caught her expression and couldn’t help but let out a low chuckle, his eyes warming behind his silver glasses. “You remain exceptionally breathtaking whenever you smile.”

Pei Xiqing refused to let his charm disrupt her objective. She looked at him with a lazy, measured intensity, her voice dropping into a casual register. “Brother Duan, if I explicitly informed you that I intended to leave our ultimate survival entirely to fate… what exactly would your office execute?”

In her mind, that alternative carried no real horror. Since the source code of this world desired to reclaim her anomalous immunities, she wouldn’t throw herself into a frantic, undignified frenzy to force the cells to stay. When a mountain blocks the path, a trail inevitably manifests; beyond the weeping willows and blooming flora, another haven always awaits. There was always an alternate solution.

Duan Xiaolin’s hands instantly froze over the cooking range. When he spoke, his voice carried the most unyielding, terrifyingly absolute conviction she had ever recorded in his baseline. “I will exhaust every single grain of my leverage, expending the maximum extent of my power to secure your line. As for whether your system chooses to defer to fate… we will simply have to evaluate if fate possesses the structural capacity to deliver the exact resolution I demand. I will see if the cosmos can satisfy my parameters.”

“Your logic defies empirical data,” she countered softly. “What if the total collection of the crystal cores yields zero utility? Those artifacts are fundamentally worthless to my baseline biology. I am deeply terrified that you are expending your absolute political capital on a dead end.”

“I will formulate a secondary calculation the exact second I have secured the entire global cache.”

“But if the worst-case scenario initializes—”

“There are no unmapped variables,” he interrupted, his tone cutting through her words like a razor.

Pei Xiqing’s mouth clamped shut.

An incredibly heavy silence saturated the kitchen before his voice drifted through the steam, low and rough. “I desperately harbor zero desire to execute the final alternative.”

Pei Xiqing failed to process the underlying variable initially, her ears merely tracking the faint, exhausted sigh that escaped his chest. It was only then that she sharply hoisted her gaze to lock onto his face. “Duan Xiaolin… Qiu Chao explicitly warned me that you are strictly barred from weaponizing a phantom pregnancy to neutralize this virus.”

“That stands as my ultimate tactical contingency,” he stated, his stubborn gaze locking onto hers with an absolute, terrifying absence of compromise. “If the global network is completely devoid of an alternative variable, I will execute that move without a single glance at the biological cost.”

“That would be your own flesh and blood—your very first child,” she pressed, her voice trembling with rising panic. “Did your system never harbor a single shred of anticipation for that reality?”

During their deployment in the agricultural sector, the civilian children from neighboring compounds would regularly sprint through the fields, occasionally breaching their perimeter to frolic with Xiaobai. Every single time Duan Xiaolin’s eyes had drifted over those children, his gaze had grown profoundly deep, laced with a quiet, unvoiced longing. She absolutely refused to believe he had never mapped out a future as a father.

Duan Xiaolin plated the main dish with a detached precision, immediately switching his focus to monitor the simmering broth.

Pei Xiqing advanced a step, trapping his position against the counter. “Brother Duan, I am begging you to permanently strike that alternative from your blueprint, okay? If my system genuinely conceives… are you truly prepared to sentence that child to absolute termination before it can even draw its first breath, simply to preserve my baseline?”

She had privately audited the mathematical probability of a pregnancy herself. Ever since she had surrendered her heart to Duan Xiaolin, a deep, primal part of her system had desperately desired to grant him a complete, unbroken family unit.

The rich, savory aroma of the soup began to saturate the kitchen air. Without offering a single syllable of data, he smoothly ladled the broth into a porcelain bowl.

“Brother Duan!” she cried out, her frustration boiling over.

The man’s shoulders stiffened for a fraction of a second. He carried the dishes past her frame, setting them down onto the dining table with a clinical calm. “Seat yourself. We will absorb the nutrients first.”

Pei Xiqing let out a long, defeated sigh. Realizing the futility of pressing him while his tactical walls were fully raised, she sat down and lifted her chopsticks.

They ate in a tense, heavy quiet. It was only after she had forced down a few measured bites that his low voice cut through the room again. “I will re-evaluate the parameters. If our luck aligns sufficiently to manifest that child… I will exert the entirety of my authority to shield his development.”

He kept his head down, his focus entirely anchored on his bowl. Pei Xiqing chose not to dissect the underlying complexity of his statement. A sudden, violent wave of profound emotion crashed against her chest, but she masterfully forced it down, allowing a soft smile to grace her lips.

“Thank you.”

She recognized that her aggressive interrogation had crossed a boundary; there was zero tactical utility in inciting an argument over a hypothetical scenario. She wasn’t even pregnant, yet she was actively burning her mental energy leveling accusations against him.

Pei Xiqing quietly returned to her meal, systematically drinking the warm soup. Because her head was lowered, she completely failed to register the dark, unfathomable, and predatory gleam shifting behind the man’s elegant lenses.

Chapter 240: They Are Not a Couple at All

The next few days passed without incident. Pei Xiqing fell into a comfortable routine, eating, drinking, and taking Xiaobai out for a walk every day. She rarely crossed paths with the strange, robotic citizens who frequented the main thoroughfares, choosing instead to wander along the quieter paths to clear her mind and take in the scenery.

Duan Xiaolin had permanently suspended his grueling trans-sector operations. He no longer vanished before dawn and returned after midnight; instead, he spent nearly every hour of the day anchored to her side.

A month had flown by since they first breached the perimeter of Central Headquarters. Pei Xiqing rarely ventured onto the commercial tracks anymore, but today, Xiaobai had grown stubborn. The massive pup took a sudden interest in a bustling market corridor, slipping away from her the exact millisecond she let her focus waver.

It took a fair amount of tracking to corner him in a secluded alleyway. Just as she secured his leash and gave it a firm tug, an agonizing cry for help violently shattered the quiet behind her.

The voice carried a striking, familiar ring.

Pei Xiqing froze. The exact second she turned around, Shadow had already materialized, stepping smoothly in front of her frame to lock shields.

Further down the pavement, a woman with wild, disheveled hair and tattered garments was sprinting forward in a state of absolute, blind panic. She managed only a few desperate strides before her foot caught, causing her to crash heavily onto the concrete.

Hounding her heels was a pack of a dozen expressionless citizens, tracking her down with a chilling, relentless focus. Their synchronized, mechanical movements were anomalously fast—easily capable of run-down and capturing a baseline human within moments.

Just as the lead automaton reached down to clamp his fingers onto her shoulder, the fleeing woman spotted Pei Xiqing standing in the shadow of the brick wall, flanked by an imposing enforcer.

Her eyes widened in desperation, and she shrieked, “Miss Pei! For the love of God, save me!”

Pei Xiqing narrowed her eyes, studying the mud-caked features. Surprise rippled through her chest as she recognized the girl. It was Ma Mengjia.

It was an absolute anomaly to cross paths with her inside the high-security capital. Still, tracing back to their time in the village, their interactions had been harmless. Ma Mengjia had never actively conspired against her or crossed her boundaries.

Pei Xiqing gave Xiaobai a firm pat on the shoulder. “Go.”

The giant pup charged out of the alleyway like a thunderbolt.

The chasing pack was clad in uniform attire, their dull eyes fixed entirely on their target as if an unyielding code had commanded them to execute the extraction at all costs. The sudden manifestation of a massive white beast didn’t immediately scatter their formation.

However, Xiaobai’s anatomy carried the latent, terrifying scent of a tier-one parasite. He bared his massive fangs, letting out a series of booming, earth-shaking barks. Registering the lethal biological threat, a buried glitch of human survival instinct seemed to override the citizens’ programming. They violently broke formation, retreating down the thoroughfare in a frantic scramble.

Once the corridor was verified clean, Pei Xiqing signaled the pup back to her side. “Xiaobai, heel.”

The giant dog trotted back, panting happily. Ma Mengjia dragged her limping frame across the asphalt, desperately clutching at Pei Xiqing’s sleeve. “Miss Pei! You actually managed to breach this base as well? Didn’t you explicitly state you had zero intention of migrating? When the structural failure hit the region and the factions fled, only you and Ma Mengxiang stubbornly refused to abandon the valley. Tell me… did she manage to clear transit with you? Is she here?”

“Mengxiang didn’t join the migration,” Pei Xiqing replied, disengaging her sleeve.

“So she’s still entrenched in that primitive village?”

“Mhm.”

“Oh, heavens! Anyone who willfully chooses to drop anchor in that wasteland is nothing more than a stubborn donkey!”

Pei Xiqing lowered her gaze, her expression turning cool. “And what exactly are your metrics for being inside this perimeter?”

Ma Mengjia looked so thoroughly ragged and broken that a casual observer would have immediately categorized her as a common street beggar. Thick sheets of dried mud caked her garments, obscuring the majority of her face, and her skin radiated a sharp, pungent odor of stale river brine.

“I…” Ma Mengjia stammered, her eyes darting nervously as she abruptly shifted the narrative. “Why are you asking about me? This is the supreme directorate of the entire alliance! How on earth did a civilian like you secure a residential permit here? Gaining entry into this capital is an absolute mathematical impossibility for a regular survivor…”

“An administrative variable granted me clearance,” Pei Xiqing answered flatly.

“Could it be that you, much like myself, were dragged into this sector because you crossed paths with an elite…?”

“Hm?” Pei Xiqing arched a single, calculating eyebrow. “What exactly does that imply?”

“It’s an incredibly long story,” Ma Mengjia sighed, her shoulders slumping. “If I unpack the logistics, it’s nothing but tears.”

Half an hour later, Pei Xiqing had authorized a private table for her inside a lavish center-tier restaurant. She turned a pristine glass cup over in her fingers, sliding the warm water smoothly across the linen cloth until it rested before the shivering girl. “Regulate your breathing and take your time. My schedule isn’t facing a deficit.”

Ma Mengjia stared blankly at her surroundings, her eyes widening to the size of saucers. She looked thoroughly convinced she was trapped inside a vivid hallucination. The resplendent gold accents, the upscale automated dining room, a table groaning under the weight of fresh, premium culinary delicacies, and the absolute luxury of security—safely insulated from the terrifying enforcers outside.

Unable to contain her shock, Ma Mengjia whispered, “Miss Pei… who on earth are you? How can a civilian casually afford the crystal core tariff of an elite establishment like this?”

“Rather than auditing my ledger,” Pei Xiqing countered calmly, leaning back in her chair, “why don’t you detail the precise timeline of how you arrived at this coast?”

“I…” Ma Mengjia stumbled over her words, her jaw tightening as she hesitated to expose her cards. But after aggressively shoveling several mouthfuls of fresh meat into her mouth, she recognized that Pei Xiqing was acting with absolute sincerity and had zero intention of abandoning her to the bill. She shot a discreet glance across the table, lowering her voice. “You recall the hour I abandoned the village, correct?”

“At the initialization of the arc, my family followed the evacuation track overseen by Liu Dongshu. But after waiting at the rendezvous coordinate for an extended period, he failed to materialize. That was when a woman named Zhang Tian declared she was taking executive command of the remaining villagers to force a march out of the sector.”

Pei Xiqing’s brow furrowed slightly in confusion. “According to the tracking data, your unit abandoned the valley days ahead of the main body. How did your trajectory become re-entangled with Liu Dongshu’s faction?”

“I didn’t march with the baseline civilians,” Ma Mengjia explained defensively. “I chose to align my path with a high-tier ability user from Liu Dongshu’s personal vanguard. We pushed ahead as a scouting element, intending to link back up with the primary infantry force later.”

“An active ability user? A male?”

Ma Mengjia offered a sharp nod. “Yes.”

Pei Xiqing’s perception trait immediately flagged the pattern. “Continue.”

“Well, I harbored an absolute aversion to tracking behind that Zhang Tian woman,” Ma Mengjia muttered, her expression twisting with bitter distaste. “I can’t define the baseline logic, but looking at her polished, righteous face simply made my skin crawl. I possessed an instinctual certainty that her empathy was a total fabrication. Therefore, on the third dawn of the march, I convinced my psychic brother to sever ties with her column and Liu Dongshu’s remnants entirely.”

Pei Xiqing let out a helpless, mocking sigh. “Then let me update your metrics: Sister Tian required a single week of tactical transit, but she successfully guided every single villager across the badlands, delivering them safely to the gates of Base One without abandoning a solitary casualty.”

“That is an absolute statistical impossibility!” Ma Mengjia denied instantly, her voice rising in defensive shock. “How could she not drop a single asset along that meat grinder? Even if they breached the outer perimeter, a premier military base would never authorize sanctuary for the elderly, the sick, or the structurally disabled!”

Pei Xiqing’s dark eyes narrowed, drilling into her across the table. “Exactly what parameters are you basing that assumption on?”

Realizing she had exposed too much of her underlying calculations, Ma Mengjia’s gaze darted away evasively. “Nothing… it was merely a casual observation.”

“And what manifested after you severed ties?”

Sensing she needed to reclaim the leverage, Ma Mengjia leaned across the table, pitching her voice down to an intense whisper. “Do you possess the clearance to know the true identity of the ability user I tracked within Liu Dongshu’s inner circle?”

Pei Xiqing remained entirely unbothered. “What is his designation?”

“He is the biological son of a supreme executive director stationed right here at Central Headquarters!” Ma Mengjia quickly held up a finger to her lips, flashing a frantic warning look. “Keep your volume dead low. You would never have calculated that Liu Dongshu’s backwater mercenary unit was packed with covert power players, including elite bloodlines directly linked to the capital!”

“So you systematically targeted him to secure a transport route,” Pei Xiqing murmured, the corners of her lips curling into a slight, mocking silhouette. Her tone remained completely level. “And you calculated that breaching these walls would grant you immediate access to luxury, political prestige, and decadence. Except the reality of his standing failed to match your fantasy. Or perhaps your unit stumbled into an administrative crisis that completely eclipsed his genetic power, reducing the both of you to fleeing for your lives across the dirt tracks.”

Ma Mengjia’s mouth fell open, her face a mask of absolute shock. “How on earth did you extract that data? We ran straight into a high-threat lockdown, and he explicitly drew the enforcers’ aggro away from my coordinate to clear my retreat.”

She aggressively patted her chest, letting out a loud, shuddering breath of romantic delusion. “Brother Lin treats me with absolute, consuming devotion. His supervision along the transit tracks was flawless; my heart has been completely conquered. I have finally secured my ultimate soulmate. He is an exceptionally formidable ability user! Once the grid stabilizes, I will formally introduce his network to you.”

“I see.”

“That brings me to the core objective,” Ma Mengjia said, reaching across the linen to desperately grasp Pei Xiqing’s hand, her eyes swimming with naked opportunism. “Miss Pei, can your residence temporarily take me in? Brother Lin is currently neutralizing the tracking units; according to his operational log, he should re-establish contact within a few cycles. The exact second he arrives, I will utilize my influence to ensure his office renders whatever assistance your household requires.”

Before Pei Xiqing could articulate a refusal, Ma Mengjia’s eyes began to restlessly scan the empty corridors of the restaurant. Since the initialization of their conversation, she had continuously tracked the empty space behind her.

“By the way… where exactly is Brother Duan?” she probed, her tone laced with a sudden, malicious curiosity. “Is he not anchoring your perimeter? Or has the reality of this base exposed a fracture between you? To see you wandering these dangerous tracks entirely unescorted, without his shadow nearby… did your relationship suffer a structural failure, or are the two of you… not a genuine husband and wife at all? Do you actually command a deep, unshakeable attachment from him? How could a powerful man like that callously permit you to navigate a high-hazard sector entirely alone…?”

“Your language has breached protocol,” Pei Xiqing interrupted coldly.

She violently ripped her hand away from the girl’s grip, her expression turning entirely flat with irritation. “The village elders previously authorized sanctuary for Brother Duan and myself out of basic human empathy. Out of respect for that historical debt, my office will allocate a secure lodging for your unit so your baseline survival remains unthreatened. But you are strictly barred from demanding a single thing beyond that.”

Ma Mengjia’s lips puckered into a resentful, sour pout. “Fine…”

“Define the precise timeline of your stay.”

“Brother Lin explicitly instructed me to maintain my coordinate for a maximum threshold of five days.”

“Then my office will authorize a ten-day clearance,” Pei Xiqing stated, rising from the mahogany table. “Let us evaluate if his tracking logs actually compel him to return for you.”

Ma Mengjia scrambled to her feet in a panic. “Are you clearing the area already? Are you seriously going to abandon my logistics entirely?”

“I have already executed the exact extent of my moral obligation,” Pei Xiqing smiled slightly, her dark green eyes entirely devoid of warmth as she tightened her grip on Xiaobai’s leash. “My enforcers will arrange your temporary housing parameters. As for your remaining trajectory, it holds zero relevance to my network. I am taking my leave.”

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