Refusing Moral Blackmail

Cheng Jing gave Zhao Lei a look:

"You do it."

Then he took the girl's father from him, supported him, and headed up.

"..."

The girl stared at Cheng Jing in surprise. Zhao Lei grabbed a towel blanket from the rescue team, wrapped her in it, then scooped her up and said:

"He's married and allergic to women."

Cheng Jing rolled his eyes at him but said nothing.

"..."

The girl was so taken aback that she even forgot to cry. Then she stammered out her thanks.

The smell of blood and people's cries drew more zombies.

The rescue team and the uninjured people stepped up their search for people and supplies beneath the collapsed bridge.

After handing the man over to the medical team, Cheng Jing and the others returned to the ruins.

A vast barrage of lightning and fire descended, reducing a group of zombies to ashes. As the earth churned, several buried people were pushed out through the cracks.

Icicles froze the zombies, while chains dragged stones aside and pulled out several more people, some dead and some alive.

After handing a child of a few years old over to the medical staff, Jiang Nian found an unconscious young woman near a bridge pier, her lower leg pierced by a steel bar.

The woman looked to be in her early twenties. She was beautiful and well dressed, and she even wore lipstick. One look was enough to tell that she had been living well in the apocalypse.

A burly, muscular man had been shielding her in his arms. He appeared to be an ability user with enhanced physique.

Unfortunately, a large rock had broken the man's neck. His head was bloodied, and he was already dead. There were no signs of zombie scratches or bites, so there was no need to worry about him turning.

But there were traces of black blood near the wound on the woman's leg, probably splashed there when a zombie was killed.

Jiang Nian pulled the woman's lower leg off the steel bar and checked that no one nearby was paying attention. He wiped away the black blood with a tissue, then carefully treated the wound with his Purification Ability.

After giving the wound a simple dressing with a small roll of gauze, he picked her up and carefully carried her up.

By the time he reached the surface, the rescue was drawing to a close. They had done their best to save everyone they could; there was nothing they could do for the rest.

The woman woke up and stared blankly at him. Jiang Nian felt awkward for some reason. After giving her a rough account of what had happened, he set her down in an open area and handed her over to the medical staff.

"..."

The woman did not react much to what he told her, but when he turned to leave, she grabbed the hem of his trench coat:

"You can't leave. You saved me, so you have to take responsibility for me."

"..."

Jiang Nian was struck speechless on the spot. The masked medical worker beside them also looked at her in shock.

When Jiang Nian did not respond, the woman added:

"My boyfriend is dead, and I'm injured. I don't have any other family with me. You saved me, so of course you have to take responsibility for me."

She paused and brushed the hair beside her face back:

"I don't mind being your girlfriend."

Her boyfriend was dead, so she had to find someone else to rely on. Otherwise, how was a woman supposed to survive alone in times like these?

"Heh..."

The woman's bizarre logic made Jiang Nian laugh. Dropping his cordial manner, he yanked back the hem of his coat and said coldly:

"I saved you out of humanitarian kindness. There's really no need to repay kindness with ingratitude like this. You may not mind, but I do. I'm married, and seducing a married person is against public decency! Besides, your boyfriend died protecting you. You've got some nerve looking for his replacement already!"

He considered himself well-mannered and had always respected women. He did not want to embarrass a girl in public, but this woman's attempt to latch onto him had gone too far. He could not put up with it for a second!

"If you didn't want to take responsibility, why did you save me? What's the point of me living like this? Boo-hoo..."

The woman caught sight of the ring on his hand and, unwilling to give up, began to shed tears. Her pretty face looked pitiful as she cried.

People around them began to whisper, casting curious, gossipy glances their way after surviving the disaster.

"I was just scared and wanted you to help me..."

"How can you be like this..."

"..."

The woman cried as she played the victim.

Jiang Nian frowned. And to think he had just used his ability to purify her wound. He should have purified her brain instead!

He had intended to leave, but some self-righteous do-gooders around them actually began to speak up:

They said that as a grown man, he should not be so petty, and that if he was capable, he should look after her for the time being, and so on...

Seeing this, the woman became even more insistent. With tears streaming down her face, she reached out again to grab his coat.

"Get lost!"

Jiang Nian's temper flared. He stepped back to avoid her hand and swept a cold gaze over the do-gooders around them, who had mouths but no brains:

"Whoever says it's no big deal can take my place! What gives you the right to be generous at someone else's expense? With skills like yours, you could even morally blackmail zombies. Why were you crying for help just now?"

Only after his retort had shut the do-gooders up did he fix his eyes on the woman again and activate his taunting skill:

"How about this? Neither of us owes the other anything. Lie back down, and I'll throw a few shovelfuls of dirt over you!"

"Pfft..."

"Haha..."

The nurse dressing the woman's wound could not help laughing, and teasing laughter gradually rose from the people nearby. There were still more normal people than not.

An armed soldier from the rescue team walked over, but Jiang Nian paid him no mind and continued:

"Living isn't easy, but dying is much simpler!"

"You..."

The woman's face alternated between red and white as she glared at Jiang Nian. She was about to argue further, but another voice cut her off:

"It's the end of the world. Who cares whether you live or die? Die if you want, live if you want!"

Cheng Jing walked over with the others, his voice cold and his face dark.

He had taken his eyes off his wife for just a moment, and someone had latched onto him.

The woman glared at him, only to lower her head guiltily under his piercing gaze.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Cheng Jing remove his glove, revealing a ring on his ring finger that matched Jiang Nian's. Something immediately occurred to her, and she fell silent.

"You don't have to repay his kindness, but if you keep pestering him, I'll throw you into a horde of zombies! I mean what I say!"

With that, Cheng Jing pulled Jiang Nian back to their group.

The others also shot foul-faced glances at the people around them before following.

Liao Yu was still angry. After walking a few steps, he turned back and warned her again:

"If you can't speak properly, donate your mouth to the zombies. We don't hit women, but we never go easy on dumbasses!"

With that, he ignored the scrutinizing looks from the rescue soldiers and strode away.

What a waste of a pretty face. She had started causing trouble the moment she showed up. Who did she think she was, trying to latch onto his Adoptive Father? Pah!

Li Kaiyun and his son exchanged a look and silently shook their heads. At the same time, they realized how lucky they were to have received Jiang Nian's help.

The woman watched the direction they had gone, her eyes full of resentment and bitterness.

These people were not from the base's rescue team, and one look at their condition showed they were living well, which meant they were powerful and had plenty of supplies. She had thought the person who saved her would be easy to manipulate, but he turned out to be gay!

Back with the group, Liao Yu, with his big mouth, told Huang Qian and the other two girls about the little incident.

Not only Huang Qian and Li Shuhui, but even Xiao Ya knew the woman had been up to no good.

She had probably thought Jiang Nian looked easy to manipulate, only to break her own bones when she kicked him. Served her right!