Chapter 97

Chapter 97

After listening to the woman, Jiang Nian and Li Cheng immediately thought of Xia Weiwei. Though they weren’t sure about the others, the only one who’d claimed to be Jiang Wenwen’s sister in the Southern City Base could only be her.

The smell of smoke laced with perfume wafted in, and Jiang Nian was slightly surprised—it was actually agarwood and white musk.

The blended fragrance was unexpectedly harmonious, hauntingly sensual, though it clashed starkly with the surroundings.

Due to his Superpower awakening, aside from being sensitive to energy auras, his ability to discern scents had also sharpened. He could recognize any scent he’d come across.

"..."

After watching the woman at the door quietly for a while, Jiang Nian finally asked,

"Aside from her sister, do you have any particular impressions of the others who came looking for her? How many were there? Were they together?"

"Pfft..."

Blowing a flawless smoke ring from her red lips, the woman shrugged.

"Aside from her sister, there were four or five others. All of them either wore hats and sunglasses or masks. They weren’t a group, but hiding their faces sure made them look shady. When they knocked and asked, I just answered—why poke the bear?"

Jiang Nian eyed her skeptically.

"You’d just open up for strangers?"

The prefab door even had a peephole for checking outside. Normally, people wouldn’t casually open the door for strangers.

The woman scoffed lightly.

"Please, rich boy, they paid in credits. A few hundred credits for a couple answers? Hell yeah I opened up. Besides, you live or die by fate, money’s just luck. If it’s fortune, it won’t be disaster; if it’s disaster, you can’t avoid it. Living in a place like this isn’t easy—not all of us roll in Hummers downtown like you."

What would a spoiled brat like you know about the struggles of the outer zones’ underclass?

"..."

Jiang Nian bit back a retort, nor did he want to engage in a heated debate with a woman, so he fell silent to end the conversation, mulling it over silently:

Jiang Wenwen had once mentioned that after the apocalypse, she mostly flew solo. Aside from him, she hadn’t clicked with anyone in the Southern City Base.

Moreover, Jiang Wenwen had always wanted to join their team and wasn’t close with other Superpowered factions—she was the type to play it safe and steer clear of drama.

Yet now that she was missing, suddenly everyone’s after her. Whether good or bad, it didn’t seem normal.

"..."

Taking the woman’s words into account, Li Cheng inspected the room once more. Turning up nothing odd, he said,

"So it seems she took off on her own—either to avoid Xia Weiwei or others, or for reasons we don’t yet know."

"..."

Jiang Nian side-eyed the woman, who hadn’t left after speaking, then murmured after a moment of thought,

"Right, I overthought it. She ghosted us outta nowhere, so I assumed she’d been kidnapped by bad guys."

"The base runs a tight ship. It’s not that easy to get kidnapped, and she’s a Superpowered, too."

The woman looked disdainful at Jiang Nian’s words. Tossing her hair, she sashayed off.

"Then I’ll check with Xia Weiwei later."

Li Cheng shared a look with Jiang Nian, and the two soon left Room 1120.

As for superpowers, Jiang Nian had only sensed one superpower aura in Jiang Wenwen's dorm—her own.

While walking out of the alley, they kept talking. Halfway through, they bumped into a lanky guy in a camo tee.

Jiang Nian glanced back on instinct, just in time to see the man knocking on the door of Room 1121.

The woman from earlier opened the door, phone in one hand, yanking the guy inside with the other. Before closing the door, she glanced in their direction.

Jiang Nian stayed silent.

He’d figured as much, but still...

Looking at Li Cheng's reaction, it was indifferent—acting like he knew but didn’t care.

Then again, in a lawless world like this, even in prosperous times, such things existed. With survival on the line, who’s got time to meddle?

Li Cheng threw a quick look back but kept quiet, instead asking:

"Jiang Nian, you don’t buy her story?"

He rarely dealt with such matters personally, and from his perspective, her words seemed quite normal.

"Yeah."

Jiang Nian didn’t deny it, turning his gaze forward and lowering his voice slightly:

"She sounded legit, but that’s what’s off—too legit. She was all smiles and eagerness—way too much. I’d crossed paths with her before the base, and when I dropped Jiang Wenwen off, we ran into her. She couldn’t stand us..."

He then explained some background details to Li Cheng.

Even a kind stranger or someone with minimal prior interaction would have been more trustworthy to him.

But that woman—after failing to emotionally manipulate him, she’d already shown her true (ungrateful) colors. No shot she was being genuine.

Li Cheng understood after hearing this: "I see..."

"..."

After a moment of thought, Jiang Nian added:

"Also, her cigs and perfume were a weird combo..."

"..."

Li Cheng hesitated briefly:

"Perfume’s not my thing, but I do know tobacco isn’t cheap in the Southern City Base... Though it’s possible someone gifted it to her. You saw her... y’know."

Jiang Nian explained seriously:

"She’s on agarwood cigs and white musk perfume. Last I checked, a 30ml bottle of white musk perfume and a pack of agarwood cigarettes go for like 3K credits here—way pricier than pre-apocalypse."

"Wait—that’s insane!"

Li Cheng’s voice rose in shock—that’s a frontline rescuer’s whole paycheck!

Jiang Nian smiled:

"Yeah, you're mostly in the office and the central district, so it's normal not to be familiar with these things. I happened to have some and got some exchanged recently, so I know."

The perfume wasn’t part of their pre-prepared supplies. After the apocalypse, Brother Jing had brought them back from a perfume shop during a mission in Qingyun City. There was quite a lot of it, all from relatively expensive brands.

They rarely used it in daily life, only occasionally to set a romantic mood.

"The whole world reeks, but our room has to smell nice," their low-key romantic boyfriend had said.

"True. With more and more people in the base, the central district alone keeps us busy enough..."

Li Cheng said with a sigh and a chuckle, then added:

"Though I don’t understand why non-survival luxuries are still so expensive, if there’s a market and a price, it means there’s demand. The market is never wrong."

Some struggle to put food on the table, while others splurge recklessly. Some struggle just to survive, while others profit handsomely from the chaos.

Some things never change across generations.

With that, he understood Jiang Nian’s skepticism toward the woman:

Three thousand credits might not be much for the wealthy, but it’s way out of reach for those living in the outer districts.

Put another way, those who can afford such items wouldn’t normally live in the outer district’s flimsy prefab housing.

It’s not about being low-key or personal preference—safety is the biggest concern. Trouble often comes sniffing around.

"..."