Chapter 435: Just a Hooligan
Chapter 435: Just a Hooligan
That look in Zhan Lian’s eyes makes it clear—whatever he’s thinking can’t possibly be serious.
An Ran, holding Doll in her arms, gives him a slightly awkward smile. She wants to remind him to stay focused and emphasizes her point again: “Anyway, if we stay here, the situation will only get worse. The more those little zombies eat, the harder they'll be to kill. It's better to destroy the rat nest now—at least then we still have a chance of survival, right?”
Zhan Lian still doesn’t speak. His eyes reflect the firelight outside the window as he looks at her. Then, slowly, he lowers his head.
An Ran clears her throat, heart racing, her head instinctively tilting away. “I—”
Before she can finish, Zhan Lian leans in and kisses her. He bends forward; she instinctively steps back. But his lips catch hers anyway.
An Ran freezes in place, back straight as a board. Then she takes another step back, only for Zhan Lian to follow, kissing her again with lowered eyes and a quiet intensity.
Doll between them giggles loudly, clapping her tiny hands against Zhan Lian’s face, then leans forward and bumps her forehead into his, clearly wanting to join in. She’s a natural-born atmosphere killer.
Zhan Lian finally straightens up, smiling at An Ran in the firelight. His grin has a roguish charm—like a kid who knows he’s about to get scolded and dares her to try.
An Ran snorts, clutching Doll closer. She turns her head away, refusing to look at him, heart pounding and emotions fluttering uncontrollably. It’s maddening.
Thank goodness the firelight helps mask her expression—otherwise, she might actually punch Zhan Lian out of sheer embarrassment.
So instead, she snaps, “Before other people go off to do something big, they always look tragic and determined. But you? You act like a complete hooligan.”
“When I’m really acting like a hooligan, I don’t look like this. You’d know.”
He hasn’t even taken off his clothes yet—this doesn’t count as hooliganism in Zhan Lian’s book.
With a grin that shows off his big, white teeth, he kisses Doll, turns around, and strolls out of the clothing store to talk to Luo Feifan.
Doll leans over in An Ran’s arms, tilts her head, and bumps her forehead gently into An Ran’s face, humming and gurgling—clearly asking for a kiss too.
An Ran gives in and kisses Doll’s soft cheek. Then she carries her out the door.
Everyone has agreed to head toward the bus station together to eliminate the rat nest. But before they can move out, they need to stock up on supplies. Even though the mall has been raided repeatedly by waves of Strength-Type Ability Users, there are still plenty of things left untouched—items they didn’t need or didn’t value.
Toys, clothes, diapers—all kinds of essentials for infants still fill the shelves of the maternity store. An Ran, along with Little Mint and Hengheng , take charge of gathering those.
Meanwhile, Yun Tao takes Liang Ziyu to siphon gasoline from the cars parked along the road, and Zhan Lian busies himself with attaching a new section to the back of their truck. He installs four new tires and hitches it to the vehicle. As a metal-type ability user, manipulating metal is easy for him.
“Hey! Come down here and take a look!” Yun Tao’s voice echoes up from below the mall.
The sky is gradually lightening, and An Ran, with Doll in her arms, rushes out the side door, which is full of rolling fat thorn balls. Standing at a distance, she sees Yun Tao excitedly pulling a tanker truck out from behind the mall.
The fat thorn balls roll eagerly ahead, and as An Ran walks, they pave a prickly, hedgehog-like path in front of her—all rolling in the direction of the bus station.
By now, Zhan Lian has a clear idea of what kind of boost An Ran’s plant abilities receive from metal-type crystal cores. Almost all the metal-type cores are saved for her.
But since the metal-type zombies have already been dealt with, and in order to conserve power for the fight ahead, An Ran stops using those metal-type cores for now.