Defaulting Is Also a Choice

Lai'en approached like a cold mountain peak, bearing down on her with tremendous pressure.

Song Zhi opened her mouth, but no sound came out. What could she say? That she could keep walking?

What a joke. She had already fallen behind. This was the fifth time...

She had seriously slowed the team's progress.

"We still have half the journey left..."

There was no inflection in Lai'en's voice. He wasn't rushing her; he was simply stating a fact. The fact was cruel: Song Zhi would never make it on her own.

He was telling Song Zhi to give up.

Song Zhi couldn't understand. If he wanted her to give up, why hadn't he let her go the first day they captured her, or simply killed her? (The heroine isn't omniscient. She and Group A are each thinking their own thoughts. Without trust, they can't communicate.)

"The task force only follows orders. We have no authority to dispose of a target unless the target dies from uncontrollable factors. In other words, we don't have permission to kill you, and bullets are expensive." Lai'en gave her the most direct answer.

Uncontrollable factors included the target dying of their own accord.

"You're stubborn and clever, which let you survive alone in Zone C for a long time. After you were captured, you didn't rush to offer something in exchange for powerful protection, nor did you delude yourself into thinking you could win sympathy by playing pitiful. But you don't have the courage or resolve to die, either. It's a contradictory way to survive. What are you planning?"

Lai'en's voice was cold, and his deep blue eyes were like Lake Baikal, clear and bright, though Song Zhi had never been to Baikal.

"I don't have a plan. I just want to see the 'relatively civilized' base Lu Yu talked about. I've already survived so long since the nuclear explosion... The longer I live, the less willing I am to die easily. I also want to see what other value I might still have..." Song Zhi pursed her lips. The excuse was imperfect and childish, but it was also what she truly thought.

She had seen many people die, and she would die too. She just wanted her death to have more value—or perhaps she wanted to die more comfortably, with a little more dignity, or simply not die at all.

As a medical student, her professional knowledge told her that, in her current physical condition, she would die of disease sooner or later. Even if she didn't, she would starve to death.

"Value? A student of traditional Chinese medicinal herb cultivation is indeed valuable to the higher-ups, but to Organization K, everyone has value. It's just a matter of what kind."

Lai'en's meaning was clear: Song Zhi wasn't valuable enough for the Group A task force to put its full effort into escorting her. The team had taken turns watching her over the past few days to obey orders from above. As for the target dying from uncontrollable causes while on the move, that was not something the Group A task force would intervene in.

The assignment of responsibility over the past few days had simply been an efficient way to allocate resources to complete the mission.

The interactions between the squad members and Song Zhi were more like an amusing diversion from the crushing pressure of war.

Die in the rainforest?

Song Zhi refused to accept it! That was why she had risked going to the experimental field to collect a soil sample. She wanted to increase her bargaining power for survival. A soil sample capable of growing crops was more than enough for her to trade with a force like Organization k in exchange for a measure of freedom.

But she had overlooked the fact that a fair trade was fundamentally based on both sides being evenly matched!

Clearly, Song Zhi, alone as she was, was better suited to forced incorporation or physical elimination.

Lai'en was still waiting for Song Zhi to make her choice. Life or death? Group A never made a losing deal. They had never been saviors, either, nor were they overflowing with sympathy.

Song Zhi looked at Lai'en and seemed to understand everything.

He had heard what Wilk said last night too. He was waiting for her to reveal a weakness, then take effective action. Or perhaps her little action last night had already disrupted the superficial harmony of that "relative civilization."

Today, she would either be "tamed" by Group A or die in the rainforest.

When people were extremely angry, they would first smile involuntarily. Song Zhi sneered. "I didn't do it on purpose last night. I didn't actually do anything destructive..."

She suddenly fell silent before she could finish. She remembered what Kelante had said: Hill was monitoring all her data, even the slightest psychological fluctuations.

What she had felt last night was far more than a slight psychological fluctuation. She had been ready to kill and take them down with her, and she had thought she could hide it well.

"All right! I admit I was disgusted by that so-called 'relative civilization' and 'harmonious consent' of yours last night. At the time, I was ready to take whoever violated me down with me..."

"Then what is your choice?" Lai'en had seen through everything long ago, including Song Zhi's clever little scheme.

Either finish herself off... or undo her clothes and ask for help...

"...Once I'm completely dead, please take me out of here. I don't want to become a blood bag for these bugs, and I certainly don't want to rot in a python's stomach..."

"You're lying!" Lai'en interrupted her coldly, exposing her lie once again.

Song Zhi's attempt to advance by retreating couldn't penetrate Lai'en's defenses. His heart was as hard as stone.

Song Zhi had already lost her chance to choose. The light quickly faded from her eyes. She couldn't bring herself to do it. She couldn't do it.

Lai'en wasted no more time. He strode over and made the choice for Song Zhi, pulling her out of the mire and hoisting her over his shoulder.

Song Zhi didn't refuse. She acquiesced...

Song Zhi didn't refuse. She acquiesced...

Was acquiescence a choice too?

The kukri was back in Lai'en's hand. She no longer needed the knife. She had gained a bargaining chip to stay alive. Lai'en carried her over his shoulder across the muddy swamp, then easily passed the other squad members.

Lu Yu shrugged as though adjusting the position of his sniper rifle. Wilk pressed his lips together and continued covering the rear. Kelante remained on the far right. Hill watched the data on his screen and radioed the squad to adjust their direction.

They acted as though they saw nothing, just as they had watched coldly from the sidelines the night before.

Without Song Zhi holding them back, the rest of the crossing was easy and quick. She huddled on Lai'en's shoulder like an ostrich, hiding the sharp edge that had courted death.

An hour later, they reached Seji Outpost, a bay hidden behind the rainforest. Deep blue seawater washed over coarse sand and gravel. There was sunlight and a sea breeze, and the breeze carried the salty, fishy smell of the sea.

Before Song Zhi could appreciate the seaside scenery, Lai'en took her into a white building. It was a small hospital.

There were advanced and fully equipped modern buildings here, and Song Zhi was once again immensely grateful for her choice...

"I'll come back for her in an hour." Lai'en put Song Zhi in a wheelchair and gave the order coldly. He didn't look at her, turning instead to leave and rejoin the other Group A squad members.

"You're with Group A!" The female doctor assigned to receive her wasn't asking; she was surprised.

Song Zhi was taken into a bathroom, where her mud-caked clothes were cut off, including the shoes whose soles had already come unglued.

At last, she had a properly comfortable hot bath in the apocalypse. A nurse cleaned the wounds from leech bites, and the blood blisters rubbed into her feet were disinfected, lanced, and treated with medicine.

An orderly brought her clothes that fit: an army-green training uniform and a pair of comfortable, waterproof military boots.

Her various medical examinations were also given priority, and the report was sent to Group A's data platform thirty minutes later.

All these privileges and preferential treatment were because she was with Group A.

In all her life, she had never enjoyed any special privileges or treatment. Yet today, amid the chaos and war of the apocalypse, she had received preferential treatment because of a trade.

What an irony!

She also understood the "harmonious consent" Wilk had spoken of. It was a shortcut, one that would make people lose their fighting spirit and courage.

All the examinations were complete. Wearing clean, comfortable clothes, Song Zhi sat in the wheelchair and waited for the doctor to give her an injection. The needle pierced her skin, and the clear liquid in the syringe was slowly pushed into her body.

"It's a long-acting contraceptive injection, given once a month. Remember today's date," the blonde, blue-eyed female doctor said gently.

Song Zhi's dark, bright eyes dimmed again.

The doctor noticed Song Zhi's discomfort and explained gently, "Dear, this injection isn't for anyone's convenience. It's to give you a last line of defense. You wouldn't want to have a child casually in the apocalypse, would you? That would be cruel. There is no need for new lives to be born in the apocalypse. They're far too young..."

Song Zhi nodded and said softly, "Thank you."

She wore neither shoes nor socks, and the military boots rested on her legs. She sat quietly in the wheelchair, her freshly washed face glowing with a touch of softness.

Lai'en came in to collect her, and only when she raised her head did he get a proper look at Song Zhi.

She had bright black eyes, a small mouth, and a delicate, straight nose. She looked very well-behaved, but she had the contrary personality of a violent loli.

"Let's go."

Instead of pushing the wheelchair, Lai'en bent down and hoisted Song Zhi over his shoulder, picking up her new shoes as well. Then he headed toward the dormitory.

Song Zhi was still praying that Lai'en would spare her for now, considering all her injuries.