I Pursued My Scummy Ex’s White Moonlight – Chapter 45

The Human Heart is Hard to Fathom

After traveling for half a day, the convoy stopped at an intersection to rest, and the van carrying the ordinary people parked not far from the nanny car. Two men got out, carrying clubs and knives, and cautiously crept into a dilapidated storefront to look for food.

But this street was full of hardware stores; there was no chance of finding food. Sure enough, they came out a short while later, dejected, and stood in front of their van, looking over at the convoy from time to time.

The Adjutant¹ had no intention of dealing with these survivors who lacked abilities. After distributing the food, he had Chen Zixuan² clear out the nearby wandering zombies.

Chen Zixuan remembered that Luo Xi³ had previously asked her to find out why there were no ordinary people in their team, so she asked the Adjutant, “What about those people?”

“I don’t have extra food to feed idle people⁴.” The Adjutant glanced back at her, his sharp gaze seeming excessively heartless. “If you want to be charitable, go find food for them yourself.”

Chen Zixuan squeezed the small amount of food in her hand and sighed helplessly. She now had a good idea why there were no ordinary people in the team: the Adjutant simply didn’t accept them.

If Su Wenwen⁵ hadn’t been with Luo Xi, she probably would have been driven away too. Working for such a cold person, if she were to make a mistake in the future, she’d probably be skinned alive.

Just as Chen Zixuan was about to find a place to rest, she saw Su Wenwen walking over to the van with food. When the Adjutant turned around, he also saw Su Wenwen sharing her food. In peacetime, this would be a virtue, but now, in the apocalypse, it was, in the Adjutant’s eyes, being a hypocritical Holy Mother⁶.

He scoffed, then turned and ordered the space ability user not to distribute food to Su Wenwen and Luo Xi anymore. “Since they’re so capable of feeding others, let them find their own food.”

Chen Zixuan was standing right there and heard the Adjutant’s words loud and clear. She couldn’t say that Su Wenwen was wrong, but food was so important now; at the very least, it shouldn’t be given away so easily.

“Luo Xi is Commander-in-Chief Ji’s⁷ daughter, after all. Aren’t you afraid she’ll go back and report you for doing this?” Helian Yun⁸ walked up to the Adjutant and looked him straight in the eyes.

The Adjutant chuckled. “No need for you to worry yourself. Even if I’m criticized or disciplined, that’s my business.”

Helian Yun looked at the indifferent Adjutant, then glanced worriedly toward Su Wenwen, only to see the scene of her affectionately feeding Luo Xi. She suddenly felt a sense of suffocation. A sour feeling flowed through her throat, and she forced herself to look away, but the bitter smile at the corners of her mouth couldn’t hide the emptiness in her heart.

After Chen Zixuan returned from killing the zombies, the convoy set off again. However, the gasoline reserves the convoy had stored up were almost depleted. They had originally planned to resupply at a nearby gas station, but it had been blown up for some unknown reason, leaving only a field of ruins.

The convoy had no choice but to take a detour to find a gas station farther away. But their luck was bad; they had run into an expert who had basically pumped the underground storage tanks dry. After a great deal of effort, they managed to extract just enough to give each vehicle half a tank of gas.

The Adjutant pondered for a moment. “Check the abandoned cars on the roadside for any gasoline.”

Su Wenwen and Luo Xi sat in their vehicle, watching them anxiously scuttling through the streets. The gasoline stored in her spatial backpack was enough to last for half a month, but it wasn’t convenient to take out and use. It would be hard to explain, after all.

“Adjutant, the fuel tanks in all these cars are empty.”

The Adjutant frowned. “Looks like our only option is to enter the city.”

Ahead of the convoy, one could see towering skyscrapers stacked one upon another. But even under the blazing sun, the city appeared exceptionally gloomy and devoid of life. Seen from a distance, it inexplicably inspired a sense of dread.

“It’s too dangerous to enter the city. Why don’t we go somewhere farther? We might find gasoline there,” a few of the ordinary people said to the Adjutant, trembling.

The Adjutant hadn’t wanted to bring them along in the first place, and hearing them contradict him now, his expression immediately soured. “You can take a detour on your own. As for where we are going, it seems to have nothing to do with you.”

Hearing this, their faces went deathly pale. No matter how thick-skinned they were, they knew the other party was dead set on not accepting them. Yet, they were in desperate need of protection. For a moment, they were holding their breath with frustration, unable to vent it or swallow it, and their faces turned red.

The Adjutant ignored them and raised a hand, signaling for his team members to get in the cars. Su Wenwen sat in her vehicle, watching the ordinary people who were with their hands and feet at a loss⁹. She still felt a great deal of sympathy, so she rolled down the window and said to them, “You should stop following us. Take the roads with fewer people and detour to the Sea Base.”

One of them shook his head and gave Su Wenwen a smile. “To get to the Sea Base, you have to go to the port first. The port is in the center of J City. If we go by ourselves, we’ll never survive. Our only hope is to follow you.”

What does he mean? Is he planning to latch onto me?

“I can tell you’re different from those other people, so we can only try to be thick-skinned¹⁰ and beg you to take us with you,” the man said, his expression embarrassed.

【Side Mission Triggered: A Plea from the Weak】

【Building a base requires a large population. Escorting them back to the Sea Base will yield generous rewards.】

Su Wenwen was stunned. She hadn’t expected a side mission to trigger at a time like this, but she wasn’t very keen on doing this task. It felt like she would expend effort for no praise¹¹, and it would likely expose her true strength, especially her spatial backpack. If that was discovered, it would be really hard to explain.

Just as she was about to shake her head and refuse, she heard the sound of a child crying. Following the sound with her eyes, she saw a woman with a gentle smile on her face, softly coaxing the child. The sunlight struck just right, accentuating a quiet and peaceful scene, making such a moment seem all the more precious.

“Then you can follow behind my car. But I’ll speak the ugly words first¹²: if we encounter danger, I can’t guarantee I’ll save you,” Su Wenwen sighed, she was ultimately moved by the heart of compassion¹³.

“That’s okay. Life and death are up to fate.”

Having received Su Wenwen’s answer, they were visibly excited and quickly ran back to their van to share the good news with their companions.

Su Wenwen closed the car window and looked at Luo Xi beside her. “I’m sorry. I made a decision for you without getting your consent.”

Luo Xi reached out, the tip of her finger hooking a strand of hair by Su Wenwen’s face and tucking it into place. “Don’t apologize to me. You did the right thing. My mother sent the Adjutant out to find people with abilities, but she would never have him abandon ordinary people. What the Adjutant is doing is actually a deliberate attempt to make things difficult for her, and your decision just happened to solve this problem for her.”

Su Wenwen mulled over these words and suddenly understood. If the Adjutant were to see death and not save¹⁴ the ordinary people, wouldn’t that imply that Luo Xi’s mother had given the order? As the Commander-in-Chief, if she disregarded the lives of ordinary people, could she maintain her position?

Obviously not.

My god, what level of Palace Scheming¹⁵ is this?

If it had been Su Wenwen, she truly wouldn’t have understood the Adjutant’s actions, let alone connected them to something so far-reaching. But the human heart is built up, bit by bit, and it is also dismantled, bit by bit.

Every command must be carefully considered.

There was just one thing Su Wenwen didn’t quite understand. Since the Adjutant had a crush on Commander-in-Chief Ji, shouldn’t he be desperately trying to protect her? Why would he do something so harmful?

It was truly too difficult to comprehend.

At the very least, if it were Su Wenwen herself, she would never let anything happen to Luo Xi, even if her own body was pulverized and bones shattered¹⁶. Therefore, she was determined to help those ordinary people.

“But even if you want to help them, you must measure your strength and then act¹⁷, understand?” Luo Xi’s fingertips slid down the strand of hair and rested lightly on Su Wenwen’s shoulder.

Su Wenwen felt a tingling sensation spread from her shoulder, as if all strength had been drained from her body, leaving her feeling limp. Her throat was also very dry, and she could only nod in response.

The convoy moved slowly, not daring to drive too fast.

Someone opened a sunroof, poked his head out, and observed the surroundings with a pair of binoculars. The deathly silent buildings had, at some unknown point, been overrun with green plants. Birds occasionally flew across the sky, and the air was not filled with the stench of decay, but rather the sweet, fresh fragrance of vegetation.

For the time being, there were no signs of zombies. But just as the convoy turned a corner, they saw numerous zombie bats clinging sporadically to several tall buildings ahead. Occasionally, a bird would fly past, not knowing life from death¹⁸, and be instantly swarmed by the dense black dots and devoured, leaving only a few feathers to flutter down from on high.

“Stop the cars, take another road.”

Fortunately, they were still some distance away, and the zombie bats had not noticed the convoy. They carefully drove down another street and soon saw a public bus stop. Su Wenwen took out her phone and snapped a picture of the city map on the station sign.

There was a gas station 1 km¹⁹ ahead.

Their luck was good. There were no zombies near the gas station, and its lights were on, meaning it had power. They wouldn’t have to waste energy pumping gasoline from the underground tanks.

However, filling up with a gas pump was slow, so the convoy had to form a line. Su Wenwen wasn’t in a hurry and parked her car on the side of the road. The van followed suit and stopped as well. The original plan was to wait for the convoy to finish fueling up, but who would have thought that they would then bring out numerous barrels to fill, deliberately not making way for the van.

Su Wenwen smiled, started the engine, and pushed directly against a car’s ass to push it forward. The tires screeched against the ground, smoking, as it inched forward. One had to know that Luo Xi’s nanny car was custom-made; how could an ordinary car withstand its power? In no time, the car in front was pushed into another spot.

Su Wenwen waved to the van. Only then did they drive their vehicle over and fill it with gasoline. Seeing this, the others wanted to say something, but when they saw the Adjutant remain silent, they could only shut their mouths with unfriendly expressions.

Chen Zixuan glanced at the Adjutant and Su Wenwen and felt more and more that the Adjutant was not an easy person to get along with. Although Su Wenwen unconditionally helping others in the apocalypse seemed a bit like a white lotus²⁰, by comparison, she would rather deal with a “white lotus” than with someone so gloomy.

Helian Yun sat in her car, looking at the nanny car. Even though she couldn’t see anything, just staring at it made her heart feel much calmer.

Luo Xi’s words still seemed to linger in her ears. It was true she had given up many things for the sake of personal gain, but she had never regretted it. Now, however, she was a little uncertain.

Watching Su Wenwen and Luo Xi getting close, she didn’t feel jealousy, but a suffocation that left her breathless. Yet, when she recalled her mother’s repeated teachings not to forget her origins²¹ for the sake of temporary gains, she knew she couldn’t afford to be soft-hearted or regretful, no matter how much it hurt.

The Helian family was her everything.

Even in the apocalypse, her goal was to grow stronger, step by step. Even if it meant being with someone she didn’t like, as long as it could make her stronger, she would not hesitate.

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