A bead of cold sweat trickled down Jiang Chen's forehead as he swallowed hard, his eyes fixed on the menacing object swaying before him.
At least 36D…
Beneath sharp willow-leaf eyebrows, her phoenix eyes gleamed with an intimidating aura. With her tall nose bridge and cherry-like lips, she might have been a beauty—if not for the vicious expression twisting her face. The black pistol in her grip, the leather whip exuding a chilling aura… If the surroundings had been adorned with more suggestive decor, any man might have fantasized about what could happen here.
Fantasize my ass!
Right now, Jiang Chen felt nothing but regret and sheer terror—absolutely zero physiological excitement. Wait, why do my pants feel tighter? Must be an illusion. No way in hell I'm a masochist!
First of all, Jiang Chen had zero unusual fetishes. The reason he was currently tied to a chair by this whip-wielding beauty was purely accidental…
"Name?" The buxom woman, clad in a black leather jacket and faded jeans, flicked her disheveled long hair over her shoulder before rudely planting a boot on the armrest of the chair.
"Jiang Chen…" He gulped and answered honestly. As a civilized man, he'd never encountered such a barbaric beauty before.
Her eyebrow twitched. "What kind of girly name is that?"
Ask my mom, damn it! Of course, he kept that thought to himself. One wrong word, and he was sure the gun in her hand would decorate his skull with a new ventilation hole.
Yep, this bombshell was packing heat. The atmosphere instantly soured.
"...My mom gave birth to me in the morning," Jiang Chen muttered. Truthfully, his name wasn't that feminine—it's just that his delicate features made even the manliest name sound mismatched on him.
"No sidetracking." The whip in her hand lashed out, cracking against the leather couch beside them. The sharp snap made Jiang Chen flinch. "I don't care about your mom."
You're the one who asked! Jiang Chen cursed inwardly, his face paling.
"Now that I look closer, you've got the makings of a pretty boy." She smirked, suddenly leaning in and tapping his cheek with the coiled whip. "Answer my questions truthfully. Lie, and I won't hesitate to carve a few unattractive marks into that face of yours."
Jiang Chen's face flushed beet red.
Damn it, why do I feel like the damsel about to get violated here?
"Where are you from?" she demanded, narrowing her eyes.
"The north," Jiang Chen lied smoothly. No way he'd believe this woman could uncover his secret. Shanghai? This dump is still called Shanghai?
"This can… Co-la. Where'd you get it?" Her pronunciation was awkward, as if she'd never heard of cola before.
Jiang Chen noticed her tone growing urgent—laced with something like greed?
"Cola. A carbonated drink."
"No shit! I know what it is. I'm asking where you got it!" She took a swig from the can, exhaled in satisfaction, then tossed it aside before cracking the whip against the couch again.
The barrel of her bizarre-looking gun pressed against Jiang Chen's forehead.
Another cold sweat slid down his temple as he forced his breathing to steady.
"I can't explain."
"You wanna die?"
"Is this how you treat your savior?" To his own surprise, Jiang Chen mustered the courage to retort.
"..."
The woman fell silent. After a long pause, she sighed, holstered the gun, and tossed the whip aside.
"Fine… Maybe I was a bit excessive." Though her words softened, she made no move to untie him.
She only hit the couch earlier… Maybe she's not that evil? Jiang Chen dared to hope.
"...Trust me, I mean no harm." He wasn't sure how long her conscience would last, but he had to keep spinning the lie.
"No harm?"
"I saved you from starvation. If I talk too much, neither of us will have an easy time later." He left his words deliberately vague, letting her imagination fill in the gaps.
"Heh." Though she scoffed, hesitation flickered in her eyes.
"Maybe we can work together. I just got here, and… well, everything's a mess. I need a guide. In return, I'll pay you handsomely." He dangled the carrot carefully.
"Oh? From the Northern Federation?" Her eyebrow arched.
In this wasteland, if any semblance of order remained, it was in the distant northern grasslands—the Federation. Spared from nuclear strikes and infections, they'd maintained some stability.
"Stable" being relative. Slavery, exploitation, civil wars… Aside from slightly better food production, it wasn't much better than lawless Shanghai.
"No, just… a well-off place. Collecting useful items for someone. And offloading surplus goods—like the soda you drank and the three cans you licked clean." He couldn't claim to be from the Federation; he'd never even been there.
The best strategy? Insist he was from somewhere mysterious. Somewhere no one could verify.
At the mention of "licked clean," her face reddened, clearly recalling her less-than-elegant feast. She glared, but Jiang Chen just smiled. Negotiation successful.
"I don't know what's left here worth taking. Every supermarket, granary, even household fridges in Shanghai have been looted dry. You won't find a crumb—"
"Miss, may I ask your name?" Jiang Chen interjected with a calm smile.
"Sun Jiao." She studied him, then smirked. "Just so we're clear—if this 'cooperation' involves special services, I might have to—"
"You're overthinking, Miss Sun." Jiang Chen sighed. No way I'd bed a tigress who might bite my dick off."I just need an experienced guide. And… do I look like I'm short on food?"
"Then what do you want? Slaves?" Her expression darkened.
Of course. If he had food, he must have farms or plantations—which needed labor. Her first thought: human trafficker. Slavery was rampant in the wasteland, but Sun Jiao hated it. Her sister had been sold God-knows-where—to a factory, a brothel, or worse…
"No, no misunderstanding. We don't deal in slaves. We need technology."
"Technology?"
"Like that laser gun of yours, or the computer on your arm. We have them but can't produce them independently. So we're scavenging pre-war tech."
"That stuff?" She blinked, then eyed him suspiciously. "That's hard to make? Plenty in Liuding Town can assemble those."
Shit. Jiang Chen cursed internally but kept his face neutral.
"Just an example. Our tech excels in food production and logistics, but… general tech lags. Hence why I'm here." His lies flowed effortlessly. Oscar-worthy performance.
He'd noticed it already—this world once had cutting-edge technology, but civilization had crumbled after the nuclear war and zombie virus. The fact humanity survived at all was a miracle.
One word described the wasteland: uneven.
High-tech hover cars coexisted with clunky internal combustion engines on the streets.
"Whatever." Sun Jiao gave up pressing further. "Let's talk about my payment."
"What do you want?" Jiang Chen asked. What even passes for currency here?
"Type-C batteries, food, or crystal chips. But I prefer food." Her tongue flicked over her lips. "Also… got more of those curry chicken cans?"
"You ate them all." He feigned regret. Batteries? Crystal chips? No idea. Food it is.
"Uh… sorry." She scratched her head, then quickly reverted to her tough act, slamming a foot on the chair. "Payment: ten cans a month. Plus meals!"
"Deal."
His instant agreement threw her off, stirring an odd guilt. In the wasteland, only fools had consciences—but buried deep, they still existed.
The ferocity? Just a survival mask.
"...I'll keep you safe." She coughed, almost apologetic.
No shit. Dead men don't pay. Jiang Chen mentally rolled his eyes. The cost was negligible to him, but still a dent in his wallet.
"Then, my lovely bodyguard, mind untying me?" With the crisis averted, Jiang Chen relaxed—though his limbs were numb from the ropes.
Sun Jiao drew a dagger from her belt and sliced through the bindings with practiced ease.
Rubbing his circulation-starved wrists, Jiang Chen shot her a half-hearted glare before picking up his ransacked backpack.
Sun Jiao whistled innocently, her cheeks faintly pink.
"What now? We leaving?"
"Leaving? This is our base for now."
Beyond the grimy window, the skeletal remains of skyscrapers stood lifeless. Streets once bustling now belonged to endless hordes of zombies and nameless mutants gnawing on corpses, their howls declaring dominion. Gunfire echoed faintly in the distance—another day in this city of death, where humans fought monsters, and humans fought each other.
Through the filth-streaked glass, Jiang Chen saw danger, death…
And gold littering the ground.