Chapter 6: The Original Female Lead Who Delivers Supplies in an Apocalypse Novel (5)

Xuanyuan Chengze was too focused on talking to Ji Qinghe to notice the danger. Caught off guard, the fire singed his face and hair. Once he snapped out of it, he hurriedly pushed Xiaoran away. In his mind, he quickly ordered his trading system to temporarily shield his senses. 

Now, even though his hair and face were burned, he wouldn’t feel much discomfort, though the physical burns remained.

Fortunately, Chen Yan was also quick to react, extinguishing the flames in the very next instant.

Xuanyuan Chengze roared in anger, “Chen Yan, what is wrong with your fire? Why does your aim keep messing up?!”

Ji Qinghe noticed four thumb-sized blisters instantly rising on Xuanyuan Chengze’s face. She immediately rushed over with an expression full of deep worry. 

“Oh my, Chengze, your face is covered in blisters from the fire! Does it hurt? This breaks my heart so much.”

While her mouth clamored about her broken heart, her hands showed absolutely no mercy. Pretending to caress Xuanyuan Chengze’s face, she pinched and popped a blister right then and there. Yet, Xuanyuan Chengze didn’t react at all, as if Ji Qinghe had just pinched someone else entirely.

Liu Xiaotao witnessed this scene and shrieked again, “Ji Qinghe, are you insane?! You actually popped the blister on Brother Xuanyuan’s face!”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to! Chengze, you won’t blame me, right?” 

Ji Qinghe’s face was the picture of guilt, but her hand was already reaching toward another blister.

Xuanyuan Chengze finally realized what was happening and hurriedly backed away. But Ji Qinghe was too fast, and the second blister was ruthlessly punctured as well.

He slapped Ji Qinghe’s hand away and barked furiously, “What do you think you’re doing?!”

Ji Qinghe dropped her caring act instantly, turning the tables on him instead.

 “Xuanyuan Chengze, you have four huge blisters on your face. I popped them to help you heal faster. You really don’t know what’s good for you.”

Xiaoran had mostly gotten her hair burned, leaving her face covered in black soot. 

She said disapprovingly, “Sister Qinghe, you’re being too reckless. Brother Chengze’s face has turned dark from the burns, and you just pop them carelessly like that. Who knows if there are bacteria? What if he gets sick?”

Ji Qinghe retorted, “Oh, he’s an ability user, his body’s resistance is strong. Didn’t you see him not even flinch when I popped his blisters just now? Getting sick? He’s not some fragile sick cat!”

Being shut down by Ji Qinghe made Xiaoran highly displeased. She looked toward Xuanyuan Chengze, hoping to find some comfort from him. To her surprise, he was staring straight at Ji Qinghe. She was so angry that her singed, curled hair practically trembled.

“Brother Xuanyuan, what are you looking at?” she asked in a low voice, suppressing her anger.

Xuanyuan Chengze’s expression froze, and he quickly snapped his gaze back. His heart was in utter turmoil. 

[Could that woman, Ji Qinghe, have noticed something? Does she suspect I have a system? Was her action just now deliberate?]

It wasn’t that he was being paranoid; his girlfriend’s reactions were just too completely different from how she had behaved at this time in his past life.

Ji Qinghe, however, stopped paying them any attention and turned her gaze to Chen Yan. 

“Are we still competing or not?”

After accidentally burning two of his own people in a row, Chen Yan was starting to doubt his control over his abilities. 

Yet, he was unwilling to just let Ji Qinghe off the hook like this, leaving him momentarily conflicted.

Ji Qinghe taunted, “Don’t tell me you’re scared?”

Liu Xiaotao couldn’t stand anyone talking down to Chen Yan. 

She glared and said, “Nonsense! Brother Chen is so powerful; how could he be scared? He’s just afraid of hurting you. Didn’t you see how Taoran and Brother Xuanyuan just got burned?”

Ji Qinghe scoffed, “Oh, that’s because they’re stupid and slow to react.”

Liu Xiaotao was nearly dying of anger. 

She turned to Chen Yan and urged, “Brother Chen, look at how arrogant she is! She doesn’t even respect Brother Xuanyuan or Sister Taoran. You must defeat her and teach her a lesson on their behalf!”

Xiaoran: “…” 

Her face flushed hot with anger, though thanks to the soot from the fire, the color didn’t show.

Xuanyuan Chengze: “…” 

His face grew even darker. 

[That dead woman has a foul mouth. She deserves to be thoroughly dealt with by Chen Yan.]

With that thought, he gestured for Chen Yan to come over. Pretending to fish for something in his pocket, he actually retrieved an item from his trading system’s inventory, handed it to Chen Yan, and whispered strict instructions in his ear.

Chen Yan’s eyes lit up, and he stepped back into the center of the courtyard with renewed confidence.

Seeing this, Ji Qinghe grew a bit more cautious. In the next instant, Chen Yan threw a punch toward her, which she easily sidestepped.

However, Chen Yan threw a bright, golden object straight at her. Ji Qinghe looked closely and realized it was actually a talisman paper.

[Oh? That spiritual glow… there’s a trick to this.]

Having experienced many worlds, she felt the energy carefully and instantly recognized it as an Immobilization Talisman. If an ordinary person were touched by it, they wouldn’t be able to move a muscle, leaving them entirely at the mercy of the opponent.

This kind of talisman belonged to cultivation worlds. There was no way Chen Yan could possess one; it must have been exchanged by Xuanyuan Chengze from his dimensional trading system.

[Heh, that bastard must have secretly handed this to Chen Yan just now.]

Ji Qinghe preferred giving people a taste of their own medicine. With a slight flick of her finger, the talisman paper turned around and flew straight back toward Xuanyuan Chengze.

Xuanyuan Chengze had grown wary of Ji Qinghe, but he never expected her to pull a stunt like this. Out of instinct, he quickly grabbed Xiaoran, who was closest to him, and pulled her in front of himself as a shield. The Immobilization Talisman instantly sank into her body.

Ji Qinghe flashed him a thumbs-up. “Impressive! As expected of you—even Xiaoran, whom you treat like your own little sister, can be used as a human shield!”

Xiaoran had originally been eagerly anticipating the sight of Ji Qinghe getting taught a lesson. She never anticipated that the tables would turn so quickly, or that she would be the one caught in the trap. Now, only her eyeballs could move. “Brother Chengze, what should I do? I can’t move!”

Xuanyuan Chengze felt incredibly awkward. In truth, getting hit by the Immobilization Talisman wasn’t a major crisis—it would wear off in half an hour anyway. But using people as shields had become such second nature to him that he just hadn’t controlled himself in the heat of the moment.

“I’m sorry, Xiaoran. Don’t panic, you’ll be fine in half an hour.”

Chen Yan hadn’t expected this twist either. He barked in shock and anger, “You actually know how to use an Immobilization Talisman?!”

From the attitudes of Xiaoran and Xuanyuan Chengze, as well as Chen Yan’s exclamation, Ji Qinghe extracted some key information: talisman papers were clearly nothing new to them.

That bastard Xuanyuan Chengze must have distributed Immobilization Talismans to the few ability users he trusted beforehand, teaching them how to use them to get twice the results with half the effort when fighting zombies.

Yet, the bastard had never given his actual, legitimate girlfriend a single life-saving talisman.

Seeing his attitude toward his girlfriend, those ability users had simply followed his lead. Not a single person had ever told the original host anything regarding the talismans.

“Oh, my boyfriend dotes on me, so he taught me,” Ji Qinghe replied.

Waves of shock crashed through Chen Yan’s heart. He snapped his head toward Xuanyuan Chengze, his eyes glaring with a crystal-clear accusation:

[How could you do this? You told us not to mention anything about the talismans to Ji Qinghe, yet you went and told her yourself! You even gave me a talisman to use against her when her skill level with it is higher than mine—were you trying to dig a grave for me?]

Not only was Chen Yan stunned, but the other ability users in the team—both those trusted by Xuanyuan Chengze and those who weren’t—all turned their gazes squarely upon him.

Xuanyuan Chengze scrambled to explain.

“I didn’t! It wasn’t me!”

He spun back toward Ji Qinghe.

“When did I ever teach you how to use talismans?!”

Ji Qinghe rubbed her chin, pondering for a brief moment before seriously spouting utter nonsense:

 “Oh, it was on a beautiful, sunny afternoon. Right after you and Ding Taoran finished having sex, you felt guilty and sorry for me, so you taught me.”