“Ahem…”

“Ahem, ahem…”

After Yi Nanye gave Jiang Yuan mouth-to-mouth a few times, he finally came around. He lay on the floor, gasping desperately for air. He’d really almost choked to death.

“So… unlucky…”

“Seriously… I nearly… nearly choked to death just drinking some water!”

Jiang Yuan was reminded of an old saying: when you’re unlucky, even a sip of water can choke you to death. He’d never really believed it before, but now that it had happened to him, he understood just how awful it felt.

“I’m the unlucky one. My first kiss tasted like cola. I mean, I love drinking cola, but now every time I have one, I’m probably going to remember this whole miserable mess.”

Yi Nanye wiped her mouth with the back of her hand, sighing as she complained. There wasn’t a hint of bashfulness about her. She didn’t take her first kiss seriously at all.

“What if it turns into a heart-fluttering memory years from now?”

“Oh? You think so?”

Yi Nanye finished wiping her mouth. A few strands of hair were still stuck to it, but the look on her face was downright terrifying. She looked like she wanted to eat Jiang Yuan alive.

“I’m sorry! I really am! If you’re that angry, you can beat me up!”

Jiang Yuan had no idea what else to say. What could he do? He was helpless too.

“Why would I hit you? Do you even know why I’m angry?”

“Why?”

“You tell me. I can’t even figure out if I’m saying one thing and feeling another, or if there’s something wrong with my mental state. My hormone count has gone through the roof.”

Yi Nanye turned her wristband around to show Jiang Yuan. The reading really was sky-high. Jiang Yuan immediately checked his own wristband. His count was so normal it had barely budged. He’d almost choked to death—where was he supposed to find the energy to pay attention to that?

“You…”

Jiang Yuan frowned. Yi Nanye had always been a strange one, especially when it came to showing her feelings.

“Heh. My mind might be tough, but it looks like my body’s seriously horny.”

Yi Nanye calmly and accurately assessed herself. After a moment’s thought, she turned and headed straight for her room without another word.

“Hey, what are you going to do? Calm down!”

Jiang Yuan was a little worried Yi Nanye might do something reckless. He still hadn’t fully recovered his ability to move, so he was at her mercy.

“I’m just going to calm down.”

“Huh? How are you going to do that?”

“Do you have to ask so many questions? I’m going to do some magic! The secret to staying calm is not letting stray desires pile up!”

With that, she quickly disappeared into her room to do who-knows-what. And just like that—maybe she’d used her Esper ability—she came back out in less than ten seconds, looking completely refreshed.

She walked into the bathroom and washed her hands, her expression perfectly calm. Then she came over, helped Jiang Yuan up from the floor, and moved him to the sofa.

As she did, Jiang Yuan noticed the hormone count on her wristband. It had settled back down.

But before it calmed down, the reading had shot almost through the roof.

The two of them sat on the sofa. Yi Nanye turned on the TV and started watching, while Jiang Yuan sat there in awkward silence, unsure what to talk about.

“Hey, do you have any idea how weird you are?”

Jiang Yuan finally couldn’t hold back. He was genuinely curious how Yi Nanye could be so bold.

“Am I? I think it’s more of a pain when people make such a big deal out of this stuff and get all coy whenever it comes up. Look at me: I don’t even blush. I’m obviously very disciplined.”

“Y-yeah… very disciplined…”

Jiang Yuan thought that his own ironclad restraint was what counted as self-discipline, right? She was just indulging herself!

They kept chatting about a bunch of pointless nonsense. As Yi Nanye flipped through the channels, she eventually landed on the news.

“The Esper criminal incident at Wanhong Plaza today has caused an uproar. Political and social circles in countries around the world, as well as the internet, have erupted in heated discussion. Systems for identifying and regulating Espers are now being drawn up and put into effect. We ask all citizens to remain calm and not panic.”

“According to reports from the scene, Jiang Yuan, one of the suspects using the codename Jiang, provided great assistance to the police during this incident, and his actions deserve commendation. We ask the public to remain objective and impartial toward Jiang Yuan, and not to generalize or jump to conclusions. Please do not believe or spread rumors.”

The news had already started clearing Jiang Yuan’s name. It was only a few brief words, but every little bit helped. Jiang Yuan watched with great interest. Normally, he couldn’t care less about the news.

But tonight’s broadcast made him want to cheer. He’d thought his actions wouldn’t be reported and that it would be enough for the people in charge to know what he’d done. He never expected them to report it to the whole country.

Jiang Yuan really wanted to thank Captain Wang and his whole family. And he wasn’t being sarcastic—he meant it. The kind of person you could rely on really was someone like Captain Wang, a weathered middle-aged man built like a tank.

He didn’t make trouble for Jiang Yuan. He judged things on their merits, had a mature outlook, and didn’t do inexplicable, bizarre things.

“What are you so happy about? Is that really all it takes to impress you? The public won’t change their minds that easily. Before long, conspiracy theories will probably take over the conversation again. They’ll say you planned the whole thing yourself, sacrificed your own people to clear your name, and then wrap it up by asking why you’re still alive.”

Yi Nanye poured cold water all over Jiang Yuan’s excitement. Of course, he wasn’t optimistic enough to think a single news report could change the fact that everyone hated him.

But as a start, it was already pretty good, wasn’t it?

“But at least some people will start believing me!”

Jiang Yuan had the mindset of someone panning for gold in a cesspool. He’d already stepped in it, so running into more shit was only to be expected. He might as well ignore it.

“It’s not a bad way to think about it.”

“Huh?”

At her words, Jiang Yuan stared at Yi Nanye. Since when did she know how to say something nice? She hadn’t even put him down this time!

“What? Surprised I can say something nice too?”

“A little…”

“Just the past few days have been enough to leave me at a loss. Things will probably get even more troublesome from here on. I think we need to build more trust between us. I got one thing wrong, too. I thought these next two years would be a stable period for development, but it turns out we’re already on the eve of a calamity.”

“Honestly, I’d rather have been born after the apocalypse than watch everything I know crumble before my eyes.”

The people who had it worst weren’t those born after the apocalypse, or middle-aged and elderly people who’d already enjoyed decades of ordinary life. It was the young generation—the ones who’d only just begun to understand the world and hadn’t even had the chance to experience it before they had to watch it collapse.

And without a doubt, this generation would be the backbone of the apocalypse, the spine of civilization.

“You feel that way too?”

Jiang Yuan deeply agreed with Yi Nanye. He’d felt that way for a long time, especially after seeing Zheng Chengjie with his own eyes today—and seeing how his corpse still burned with heat even after death.