I Conquered the Villain Boss Chapter 28
Translated by Digitalian (ko-fi)
Chapter 28: She Fell Into The River
At night, the wind howled. The team members who were changing shifts were faintly heard talking and laughing. Si Xu opened his eyes, and noticed something moving slightly in his arms.
The girl was lying on her side, curled up slightly. Her head was resting on his arm, and she was sleeping soundly.
Si Xu, who was about to get up, hesitated for a moment before giving up his original decision.
He stared down at Jiang Ran for a moment, raised his arm, and the girl rolled into his embrace subconsciously.
With his arms wrapped around the girl, the young man closed his eyes again.
The body in his arms was warm, slender, and soft... If he exerted a little force, he could easily break her neck — ending an extremely fragile life.
For the first time, he vaguely understood what Gu Yunqing meant when he said girls were fragile. Si Xu gently stroked Jiang Ran's back neck with his hand as though he was stroking a cat, but with a bit of caution.
The girl whimpered in her dream, and slipped into his arms as if trying to avoid his hand.
Si Xu, "..." That woman named Luo Rui was stupid and selfish, but she said something that he agreed with — yeah, Jiang Ran was really adorable.
……
In the early morning, Jiang Ran woke up from her sleep, rubbed her eyes and habitually said hello to the familiar person beside her.
"Good morning, Si Xu."
"..."
As usual, Jiang Ran didn’t get a response. She didn't take it to heart. "Are you waiting for me to wake up? Didn't you say that we’ll go to the city together today..."
"Yeah." Si Xu got up and changed his clothes. "It's still early. Let's go down and have breakfast first."
"Okay."
After Jiang Ran finished washing up, Si Xu called to her, "Jiang Ran, this is for you. Carry it with you."
Jiang Ran took the pistol he handed over, and noticed that the pattern on it seemed to be different.
"This is the modified pistol that I mentioned to you yesterday. It had a silencer." Si Xu said, "There are six bullets in it. Remember to save the last bullet for yourself."
"Huh?" Save it for herself? Jiang Ran was puzzled, but nodded.
"Let's go." After his explanation, Si Xu held Jiang Ran's hand and led her downstairs.
……
He Ru didn’t expect to meet Si Xu at the stairs. She smiled sweetly and said softly, "Si Xu, Ranran, good morning."
Si Xu nodded slightly in response, while Jiang Ran replied with a smile, "Morning."
"You woke up so early. Are you going to the city together today?"
Si Xu didn't speak, so Jiang Ran had no choice but to answer her, "Yeah. You worked hard yesterday."
"I don’t consider it hard work. It's all for the team." He Ru smiled in response, and said, "I’m familiar with the downtown area. Ranran, if you encounter any problems, you can come to me."
The girl used to be hostile, but now, she was so friendly. Regarding her sudden change of attitude, Jiang Ran just smiled and did not respond.
Walking one step behind the two of them, the smile on He Ru's face disappeared, and it seemed as though she was staring daggers at Jiang Ran. Jiang Ran was going to follow the team into the city. Did that mean her chance had come?
In such a world, it was really easy for a person to disappear.
As long as Jiang Ranran disappeared, with her ability, it was only a matter of time before Si Xu would be captivated by her.
……
After breakfast, the team arranged for some people to stay behind to guard the place. Then the others boarded the cars and set off for the city.
Gu Yunqing explained in detail the streets that had been searched yesterday, and began to assign tasks. "Song Rong, we don't have that many people here with us today, so we’ll divide into two teams. We’ll start from the streets that we searched yesterday, and expand the search outward."
"Okay."
"Professor Si will go with you."
"Okay." Song Rong had no objection to this arrangement. "He Ru..."
"He Ru will also be following your team." Gu Yunqing said, "With Si Xu around, he can easily protect two ordinary people — He Ru will only slow us down by following us."
"Okay."
……
The members of the superhuman team have long been accustomed to the task of collecting supplies. They had clear goals and moved quickly. After Jiang Ran followed them to search two shopping malls, she was already a little out of breath.
Hearing the girl's suppressed panting, Si Xu stopped beside her and asked in a low voice, "Do you want to have a rest?"
Jiang Ran shook her head. She refused to be pampered just because she had Si Xu’s protection. If she delayed the team’s progress at this juncture, she would be embarrassed to stay in the team. Si Xu was kind to protect and indulge her, but this wasn’t an excuse for her to pamper herself.
Si Xu nodded in response to her reply. "You wait here, and pay attention to the situation outside. I’ll go inside and have a look."
"Okay."
After Si Xu left, Jiang Ran leaned on the glass door of the shopping mall with one hand. She panted, while observing the movements on the street — the zombies in the shopping mall had been killed by the team. Now, she needed to guard against the zombies and mutant beasts outside.
"You’re here." After the experience from the day before, He Ru was able to keep up with the pace of the team, albeit barely. He Ru walked up to Jiang Ran. Her eyes were filled with disgust, but her tone was concerned. "Are you okay? You look pale.”
"I'm fine." Finally catching her breath, the pain in Jiang Ran's chest dissipated, and she replied calmly, "My face is pale when the wind blows against it. I’m okay."
"Oh, I thought you were tired." He Ru said, "I traveled with the team all day yesterday, and I was really tired — but after getting used to it, I feel quite okay now."
Jiang Ran smiled at the girl’s recount of her experience. "People get used to things eventually."
"Yeah." He Ru stood beside her, smiling, "I’m quite impressed with you — you followed Si Xu, and he favors you so much. You didn’t have to come out and suffer."
Once again, she was saying such words that sounded considerate, but with an intention to sow discord. The smile on Jiang Ran's face disappeared. She looked out of the glass door indifferently, and said calmly, "It's because Si Xu favors me that I can't be a hindrance to him." She looked at He Ru, raised her lips and smiled. "Don’t you think so?"
He Ru, "..." Hah, it seemed that this woman was smart. She had underestimated her before.
Despite knowing that Jiang Ran had seen through her thoughts, He Ru didn't back down. Instead, she struggled to strike up a new conversation. "How did you and Si Xu meet?"
"Aren't you staying in the same room as Zhou Jian?" Jiang Ran said, "Zhou Jian is so fond of gossip. Didn't she tell you how I met Si Xu?"
"I don't know Zhou Jian very well. How could she possibly tell me about that..."
"You can go back and ask her at night then. I think she’ll be happy to tell you." Jiang Ran replied with a half-smile. "That isn’t a good memory for me. I don't want to mention it again, sorry."
After being snubbed again, He Ru bit her lower lip and said bluntly, "Jiang Ran, it seems that you don't like me."
"Huh? Really?" Jiang Ran played dumb. "You misunderstood."
"I misunderstood? I..."
"It's not that I don't like you. It’s just that I don't like any woman who covets Si Xu." Jiang Ran smiled faintly. "If you don’t harbor such thoughts, I absolutely won’t dislike you."
He Ru, "..." Covet Si Xu? How dared she even say that! When did Si Xu become her property? This woman thought too highly of herself!
……
Knowing that she had once again rendered the other party speechless, and seeing that He Ru finally stopped talking, Jiang Ran was pleased with her fighting power ––she couldn't comprehend it. He Ru clearly disliked her, yet she acted as if she liked her and wanted to be close with her. Why bother?
With He Ru here, Jiang Ran wanted to go into the mall to find Si Xu. But before she could go in, she saw Song Rong coming down from the second floor.
"Sister Ranran, He Ru, get out!" The man jumped down from the second floor. Without giving Jiang Ran a chance to react, he pushed the two of them out. "There are mutant beasts on the fourth floor. Professor Si asked me to take you away from here first!"
"Si Xu..."
"It's a herd of mutant beasts with psychic abilities. Professor Si has to protect the low-level team members and deal with the mutant beasts. He can’t leave for now ––let's leave first."
As soon as Song Rong finished talking, an angry roar of a beast came from the fourth entrance of the shopping mall.
"Go now!"
The alpha wolf’s ability level was considerably high, and it possessed psychic abilities. Even the low-level team members couldn’t withstand its attack, let alone two ordinary girls like Jiang Ran and He Ru.
"Oh, okay." Jiang Ran snapped out of her daze, dragged He Ru, who was limp all over, and ran out.
Song Rong, "..." Huh? Affected by the mutant beast’s psychic power, He Ru couldn't even move. Why was Sister Ranran able to run so fast?
……
Jiang Ran stopped soon after leaving the mall.
At the corner of the street, affected by the wolf’s psychic power, a group of zombies was moving toward the shopping mall. When they caught the smell of fresh flesh and blood, the zombies moved a lot faster.
Jiang Ran was assaulted by the rancid smell.
Jiang Ran looked back at Song Rong, who was protecting them behind, with an awkward expression: "It's a group of zombies. Captain Song, what should we do?"
They couldn’t return to the shopping mall for sure. Now, they could only find a relatively safe place to hide first.
Surrounded by zombies on both sides, Jiang Ran glanced at the other road. "Over there is the bridge. Captain Gu and the others should be on the opposite side."
"Okay, I’ve already contacted Captain Gu. Let's evacuate toward there first."
With two girls in tow, and one of them was even in a delirious state, Song Rong’s movements were somewhat restrained. Fortunately, there were no high-level mutants among the group of zombies. Song Rong was able to fend them off for the time being.
Jiang Ran dragged He Ru along the bridge toward the opposite side. They had only run a short distance when the girl who was dragged by her tripped over something and fell heavily to the ground.
Jiang Ran leaned over to help her up. "Are you okay?"
The originally delirious girl looked up at her, and said softly and charmingly, "I’m fine. Thank you, Jiang Ran."
Sensing that something was amiss, Jiang Ran subconsciously wanted to let go. However, at this moment, He Ru stood up abruptly, and slammed into her with all her strength.
Jiang Ran staggered backwards uncontrollably, slipped through the gap in the railing, and fell straight into the river.
"Plop"! She clearly heard the sound of herself plunging into the water.
……
Seeing the girl fall off the railing and disappear into the water, He Ru lay on the ground, took a deep breath, and screamed, "Ahhhh!"
Song Rong, who had killed a low-level mutant zombie, turned around and was stunned. Where was Sister Ranran?
"Captain Song! Ranran accidentally fell into the river!" He Ru pointed at the gap in the railing and exclaimed, "She fell into the river! What should we do? What should we do?"
Song Rong, "...?!" She fell? Where did she fall into? The river? This... couldn’t be real!
……
Using the sword to cut off the head of the last mutated beast, Si Xu shook the blood off the sword and asked his team member not far away. "How are they?"
Xiaochen checked the conditions of the team members, and said, "They are just affected by the psychic power. They should be fine after a short rest."
"Okay." Thinking of the girl whom Song Rong had taken away from here, Si Xu kept his sword away. "I’ll leave this place to you. I’m leaving first."
"Okay, Professor Si."
……
Gu Yunqing hurriedly led his team to the shopping mall. On the bridge, they met Song Rong who was devastated, and He Ru whose face was tear-stained. Instinctively sensing that something bad had happened, Gu Yunqing looked at Song Rong. "What happened? Where’s Jiang Ran? Didn't you say that Si Xu asked you to retreat with Jiang Ran first..."
"She fell into the river..." Having accepted the reality, Song Rong lowered his head, and said sadly, "Captain, Jiang Ran fell... into the river from here." He was done for. He got himself in trouble... Professor Si trusted him and told him to take Jiang Ran away, but in the end, he lost her...
"She fell into the river?" Song Rong was still blaming himself when he heard a cold voice behind him, asking emotionlessly, "How long has it been since she fell?"
