Stubborn Life

A Bao calmly stared ahead, her pupils blank. She reached out, seemingly sensing something in the air.

Jiang You glanced at the two of them.

"I wasn't deliberately helping you. It just happened that Liu Ping provoked me. I'm not in the habit of playing the good person. If you insist on thinking I did you a favor,

"then consider it repayment for the apple you gave me back then. You were right. That ugly apple really was delicious and sweet."

With that, Jiang You turned and left.

It was actually because of an ugly apple?

She could not even remember when she had given Jiang You a piece of fruit.

She helped out at her older sister's fruit shop. Out of habit, she gave customers a small bonus after they finished buying fruit, hoping they would come back next time.

She had given things to too many people and genuinely could not remember Jiang You.

"Little Aunt, I remember this big sister." A Bao tugged at the woman's hand. "This big sister smells very special."

"Is it perfume?"

"No. There's a fragrance on her, a fragrance I can't describe. I can't explain it, but it's a little like the smell we noticed on the mountain when we went hiking."

The woman stroked A Bao's head. A Bao could not see, but she had a unique way of remembering the people around her.

She lowered her head and gave a bitter laugh. She had never expected that one day, she would be helped at a crucial moment because of a piece of fruit she had given away.

What she did not know was that Jiang You had not helped her entirely because of that ugly apple.

Elsewhere, a group of people stared at Liu Ping's headless corpse on the ground. It was several minutes before Jiang You's figure completely disappeared.

Only then did someone dare to speak.

"Who was that woman just now? Her ability is incredible!"

"Zhou Lu, you're a Wind Ability user too. Can you control it to that degree?"

The man who had been questioned faced the expectant gazes around him. His face paled as he shook his head.

"I can't. And it's not just me. I estimate that none of the Wind Ability users I've ever seen could do it. Being able to condense wind blades and precisely strike a target is already impressive.

"But she could seemingly change the wind's form at will.

"It's terrifying. Truly terrifying. What kind of monster is she?"

"Not necessarily. I have a feeling she isn't a Wind Ability user. Wind Ability users are powerful too, but none of them are that abnormal!"

"Has a big shot like this been living in our building all along, and no one knew?"

"I know her. I think she lives on the top floor. Every time I see her, she's coming and going alone. I didn't expect her to be so powerful. No wonder she doesn't need teammates."

"I wonder if this big sister needs a leg pendant. It'd be great if I could cling to her. I'm handsome, good in bed, and don't eat much..."

"Shut up. Your underwear practically flew across the Pacific and slapped me in the face. Besides, pretty boys like you aren't popular anymore.

"Pretty girls like muscular hunks now, like me, with my eight-pack abs!"

"..."

Amid the discussion, Hao Hong stared for a long time in the direction Jiang You had disappeared.

Then she hurried home. The moment she entered, she eagerly dragged her older brother over and told Hao Jun what had happened.

"I saw it just now. Jiang You is an ability user, and an incredibly powerful one at that!"

"...Bro, give up. Seriously! Really, give up! There's no chance between you two!"

She felt that her brother was not good enough for Jiang You. A girl that awesome was better off being independent!

Hao Jun stared at her expressionlessly. "I knew long ago that I had no chance. Do you think I'm an idiot? In this world, liking someone is fine, but harassing someone powerful is just asking to die.

"Putting her ability aside, Jiang You's combat skills and marksmanship are no joke either. She only looks harmless. She isn't actually harmless."

Hao Hong nodded deeply.

"Bro, when do you think I'll become an ability user like her? Do you know? She's so freaking cool!"

Hao Hong abandoned her usual cold expression and gestured wildly.

"She just went whoosh-whoosh like this, waved her hands a few times, and that bastard Liu Ping was dead!

"He had thrown his weight around plenty before, relying on his status as an ability user. But after one encounter, his head exploded into pieces in less than a minute. It was a total mess!"

"I heard someone call Jiang You the 'Wall Breaker Boss' just now. It really fits. Liu Ping's brains really looked like they'd been tossed into a blender—scritch, scratch, and they turned into scraps."

"Earlier, some people even mocked her little tornado for coming out before it was a month old. After seeing what happened to Liu Ping, they were practically scared shitless."

Seeing his sister gesticulating with shining eyes—brighter even than when she had been obsessed with Jay Chou—Hao Jun hurriedly threw her own words back at her.

"Don't even think about it. You have no chance either."

Hao Hong's sexual orientation was normal, but she had a fatal flaw: she liked beautiful people. Man or woman, as long as they were good-looking, they were adorable in her eyes.

She was severely face-obsessed and believed that someone attractive could not be all that bad, no matter how wicked they were.

If they really were bad, then it was because they were not good-looking enough.

Jiang You was fair and clean, with striking features and a peculiar air of natural blankness.

She fit Hao Hong's aesthetic perfectly, so Hao Hong had been determined to become the Big Sister who would protect Jiang You.

She had even specifically reminded Jiang You to leave with them during the evacuation.

Who could have guessed that Jiang You was a big shot herself and did not need her at all?

What she did not know was that Jiang You was not naturally blank.

She had simply spent too long on Forbidden Island, surrounded by monsters that were neither human nor ghost, just like her, and was completely unaccustomed to interacting with others.

Outside of combat, her reactions were often a little slow in daily life.

She herself, however, thought this was an aloof and cool demeanor.

She did not realize that, in other people's eyes, it sometimes made her seem a little naturally blank.

"An aloof, violent big shot with a naturally blank personality. This setup is so good." Hao Hong's face grew excited. Before the apocalypse, she had been an online novelist, commonly known as a keyboard slave.

Her results had been average, and her monthly royalties had not even been enough to cover her living expenses. She had relied entirely on her brother's martial arts school for support.

That did not stop her from aspiring to become a great Alexandre Dumas.

At long last, one of her novels had begun to gain some traction, and then the apocalypse arrived.

What use was a keyboard now?

As a washboard?

She could only abandon writing for martial arts. If Hao Jun had not run a martial arts school, possessed decent skills, and had more than a dozen brothers with some Kung Fu who banded together to survive,

it was uncertain whether they would have made it this far.

The highly self-professed aloof Jiang You returned home.

After washing up, she took her potted cactus out of her spatial storage.

The cactus was still alive, but the soil in its flowerpot had already cracked from dryness.

Jiang You placed the cactus, pot and all, into water and soaked it thoroughly before setting it on the table.

She had never raised flowers or plants. The ones in her spatial storage did not count; those were food.

She had heard that cacti were hard to kill. Since this one had survived until now while all the other flowers and plants had withered, it should have a fairly strong vitality.

Jiang You liked strong lives, whether it was Da Zhuang or this potted cactus.