Everyone was digging out zombie rat crystal cores, but they kept an eye on their surroundings in case any remaining rats showed up. Hearing Lin Xuan's voice now, they all looked at him.
Jiang Yuntan said calmly, "I didn't even hit you. It landed at least a meter away from you, right? A grown man making such a fuss."
She knew her words were harsh, but she had no goodwill to spare for the Lin siblings. Besides, she wasn't one to hit a smiling face—it was Lin Xuan who started by questioning her.
Lin Xuan laughed in frustration. "You throw something over here and then you have the nerve to blame me? I was worried there might be a zombie rat that wasn't dead yet. What if it came for me?"
"I really wouldn't," Jiang Yuntan said casually, dusting off her hands. "Just now a zombie rat jumped on me. I didn't freak out like you did."
Lin Xuan: ... He paused for a moment, then said, "But at the beginning of the apocalypse, you were jumpy, weren't you? You attracted zombies to everyone."
Jiang Yuntan looked unapologetic. "You said it yourself—that was before. Back then, I really couldn't kill zombies. Isn't it normal to be scared of danger I can't handle? Back then, you could handle the zombies I couldn't. Now, you're comparing your current self to my past self?"
"You also said you have abilities now and aren't afraid. But I don't have abilities now, so being scared of something suddenly rushing at me from behind is normal, isn't it? And you threw a zombie rat head," Lin Xuan said, feeling like he was losing the argument.
What was going on? He couldn't outdebate Jiang Yuntan? The one known in Jing City as arrogant and brainless? No, she must be quibbling and muddling through.
Jiang Yuntan let out a light scoff, then picked up a dead zombie rat from beside her foot and tossed it toward Yu Ke. It landed half a meter away from him and fell into the fire wall behind him.
Yu Ke looked confused. "Hey, sis, what are you doing? Practicing your aim?"
"Not really," Jiang Yuntan said with a smile, then turned to Lin Xuan with a cold face. "See? Brother Yu Ke doesn't have abilities either, but when something flew over, he didn't make a fuss like you did. Besides, I threw it only half a meter away from him, much closer than your one meter, and he didn't say a thing. It's just you making a big deal. I think you and your sister just have it out for me, so you nitpick everything I do."
She continued, "If I really scared you, then I'll say I'm sorry, alright?"
Even though she was apologizing, her tone was arrogant and dismissive, not like someone truly sorry—more like mockery. But her words were technically correct, so no one could really fault her.
Yu Ke thought, 'This sister sure has a way with words. But why does she have to use me as an example? Why are you dragging me into this?'
After listening, Lin Xuan felt even more aggrieved. If he accepted her apology, it would make him seem unreasonable, as if he'd forced her to apologize. If he didn't, it would prove he was unreasonable and indirectly admit that he was inferior to Yu Ke, who was also a normal person. What a trap.
Lin Xuan looked at Shen Hegui, hoping he would say something to rein in Jiang Yuntan. But Shen Hegui acted as if he hadn't seen his pleading gaze. He didn't even look at Lin Xuan; instead, he looked up at the sky.
Shen Hegui noticed Lin Xuan's gaze from the corner of his eye, but he had no intention of interfering. Anyway, that arrogant little ancestor hadn't suffered a loss, so why should he say anything?
Rather than worrying about whether the Lin family would become hostile to the Shen family when they returned to Jing City because of the unpleasantness on the road, he might as well think about how to improve himself. If he hadn't experienced the overwhelming power that abilities brought, he might have hesitated. But since meeting Zhang Qiang, a Thunder Element user, he realized that even people with the same element had different potentials.
Now, Yuntan might be arrogant, but she treated her own people normally, was more methodical than before, and had awakened an attack-type ability like Fire Element. What was there to worry about? Honestly, he didn't want to say too much and make Yuntan, who now had an attack ability, feel constrained. Otherwise, he was afraid that when he got back to Jing City, the old man would beat him.
Jiang Yuntan was very satisfied that Shen Hegui hadn't backed Lin Xuan. She thought, 'See? Brainwashing people subtly really works.'
Stuck between a rock and a hard place, Lin Xuan knew that Shen Hegui was the only one who could handle Jiang Yuntan. Seeing that Shen Hegui intended to stand by, Lin Xuan refused to let him off easily and called out, "Shen Hegui, your own teammate—are you going to control her or not?"
Shen Hegui gave him a confused look. "What are you talking about? She already apologized to you. It was just a trivial matter. An apology should be enough. What more do you want me to do?"
Lin Xuan: ...
"Petty," Jiang Yuntan said, rolling her eyes at Lin Xuan as he looked at her in disbelief.
Lin Xuan gritted his teeth and tried to soften his voice. "Fine. But why'd you throw that thing anyway? Did you finish collecting the crystal cores? Are you that free?"
"I am collecting crystal cores," Jiang Yuntan said calmly.
"What?" Lin Xuan was baffled.
Jiang Yuntan pointed into the fire wall. "Look, aren't those shiny things crystal cores? Since we can use fire to get them out, why dig them out one by one?"
Everyone looked where she pointed and saw that some zombie rats in the fire wall had turned to ash, leaving only crystal cores lying on the ground. What she said made sense... Rats carried a lot of germs, especially zombie rats, and digging them out with a knife was troublesome. Plus, if they accidentally stabbed themselves, they might get infected with the zombie virus.
Yu Ke deliberately said loudly, "Sis, you really have a lot of clever ideas."
Shen Hegui heard him calling her "sis" so familiarly and shot him a look. "Who are you calling 'sis'? Are you trying to steal someone else's little sister?"
"Oh, Shen, you're being too formal. Yuntan calls me Brother Yu Ke, so what's wrong with treating her like a little sister?" Yu Ke continued, "You're not going to be as petty as some people, are you?"
Shen Hegui thought, 'Are these two in their rebellious phase or what?'
But thanks to Jiang Yuntan's suggestion, they threw the scattered zombie rat corpses into the fire. If a rat head was severed, they only threw the head. Soon, a pile of zombie rats accumulated in the fire. Shen Hegui used his Metal Element Ability to create a ventilated metal cover over the fire, then had Jiang Yufeng use his ability to blow wind. Inside the metal cover, a blazing fire raged, and the outer wall glowed red hot.