Chapter 347: Chapter 332: You Really Think You Can Play Games Just Because You’re Ugly?

Not interested in power?

Impossible!

Tang You froze when he heard her words, his head snapping up to look at Gu Xi.

Gu Xi lowered her gaze as Xidao, the blade that struck fear into the hearts of all, materialized once more in her hand.

Just then, the first ray of dawn broke through the clouds and fell upon the chilling blade. It refracted a captivating light that danced across her features, lending her a cold, stunning beauty. Yet, it was a beauty that carried the eternal, unmelting snow of a mountain peak—utterly frigid.

Tang You found himself staring into those cold eyes. They were deep and serene, seemingly devoid of emotion, yet they perfectly mirrored the scimitar in her hand—chilling and brimming with killing intent.

A breeze rustled through the woods. The mist caught the dawn light, refracting it into a rainbow of ethereal, dreamlike colors. He shivered involuntarily, only then realizing... his back was already soaked in a cold sweat.

"Miss Gu," Tang You swallowed nervously, suddenly unable to meet Gu Xi’s eyes.

He instinctively averted his gaze. "I..."

For some reason, his mind suddenly flashed back to the twenty-first year of the apocalypse and the zombie siege.

No one knew why, but that year, zombie hordes had erupted at one major base after another. City A was besieged, isolated, and helpless, and the reinforcements from other bases were nowhere in sight.

Just as everyone had fallen into despair, Gu Xi had charged in, all on her own.

That time, she had single-handedly slaughtered over a million zombies, crushing the horde until it scattered in disarray.

That had been many years ago. Tang You had thought he’d forgotten all about it.

But in this moment, it was as if he were back in that year, standing on a crumbling section of the city wall, watching from afar as the masked girl stood amidst a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood—her peerless, world-defying magnificence on full display.

Tang You was lost in a daze.

But he quickly snapped out of it.

He was terrified of Gu Xi, that much was true. But to just hand over City A... he clearly wasn’t willing to accept that.

Now... His gaze flickered to Liu Bo and the others, and Tang You sighed.

"Miss Gu, I naturally have no objection to you taking over City A. However, you may not be aware that City A, like Central Base, is currently under temporary military jurisdiction. I..."

With his lifeless, dead-fish eyes, Tang You began to expertly pass the buck.

He had no choice. The cold glint of Xidao was still shining on his face; his only option was to deflect the trouble onto someone else.

And Liu Bo was clearly the perfect person to pass the buck to.

Liu Bo: "..." ’I’ll be sure to send my regards to all eight generations of your ancestors.’

Liu Bo saw Tang You shove the problem onto him and was about to say something, but then Gu Xi’s gaze drifted over to him. She was nonchalantly toying with her scimitar.

"You have an objection?" she asked, her voice perfectly calm.

"Of course not," Liu Bo said without a second thought. ’Losing City A won’t hurt the Liu Family the most. Besides, Gu Xi has deep ties with the military. Even if she takes control of City A by herself, how much can she really manage?’

’She’ll need help eventually, won’t she? This might just be the Liu Family’s big chance...’

’Of course, the most important thing was that she’d already drawn her blade. I wouldn’t dare object.’

The gears in Liu Bo’s mind were spinning.

Tang You stared at him with his dead-fish eyes. ’It’s one thing for a weak-willed paper-pusher like me to not dare oppose Miss Gu too forcefully,’ he thought. ’That’s understandable. But at least I put up a bit of a fight. And Liu Bo?’

’A military powerhouse like him agreed instantly without so much as a single word of protest!’

’He’s even more of a wimp than I am!’

Somehow, Tang You suddenly felt much better about himself.

Even the look he gave Liu Bo with his dead-fish eyes held a new, subtle emotion.

Liu Bo: "..."

Just then—

"That’s unacceptable!"

Yang Xi finally snapped out of the stupor caused by Qi Xiang calling her ’ma’am,’ only to hear that Gu Xi taking over City A was now a foregone conclusion. She instinctively cried out in protest.

’City A doesn’t just belong to the Tang and Liu Families. My boss has a stake in this, too.’

"I do not agree to this," Yang Xi said, her face grim. She knew she couldn’t stop this on her own, so her eyes shifted, landing on Zhou Jinyu and Li Xiao, who had remained silent.

’No matter what, these two are from Central Base. They’re the perfect pawns to put on the front line. How could she not give them a little push?’

"Mr. Zhou, Mr. Li, what are your thoughts on this matter?" Yang Xi asked, determined to drag these two old foxes into the fray.

Zhou Jinyu adjusted the cold frames of his glasses on the bridge of his nose and offered a placid smile. "This is a matter for City A’s leadership. It wouldn’t be appropriate for our research institute to get involved, now would it?"

Li Xiao, however, stared at her with his own dead-fish eyes, a smirk playing on his lips that didn’t reach his eyes. "I seem to recall that Miss Yang is merely Mr. Tang’s secretary, correct? Since Mr. Tang himself has already agreed, why is it that you..."

He paused there deliberately, his gaze shifting between Tang You and Yang Xi, the insinuation in his eyes completely undisguised.

Just then, a grotesquely colorful toad suddenly plopped out of Bai’s mouth.

Now, everyone knows that toads aren’t exactly lookers, but this mutated specimen from Bai—who knew how it had even mutated—was on another level... it was spectacularly ugly.

Before anyone could even process the sudden appearance of this spectacularly ugly toad, Qi Xiang let out a soft chuckle from the side.

"What’s this ugly little monster? Doesn’t it know where it is, daring to pop out like this? Hah. Does it really think being ugly gives it the right to act up and play games?"

Everyone fell silent. Then, for some reason, all heads turned to look at Yang Xi.

Yang Xi... Yang Xi looked about ready to explode.

Frost was even beginning to flake off her face.

Seeing the signs that Yang Xi’s ability was on the verge of spiraling out of control, Tang You frowned slightly. Just then, Gu Xi lifted her gaze to look their way.

The next second, Yang Xi was completely encased in ice by her own ability.

Through the translucent ice, the look of terror and shock on Yang Xi’s face was still clearly visible.

It all happened so fast that everyone’s expression changed in an instant. They whipped their heads around to stare at Gu Xi in horror. 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

Gu Xi, however, simply toyed with Xidao and said dismissively, "She was getting a little too emotional. It’s best she cool down a bit."

’Saves me the noise.’

Everyone else: "?" ’You call *that* cooling down a bit?’

Nearby, a glint of light flashed behind the cold lenses of Zhou Jinyu’s glasses. Though he’d long known Gu Xi could control the abilities of others, this was the first time he had witnessed it firsthand.

’How to put it... He wasn’t an ability user, so he couldn’t fully appreciate the implications.’

But it was a different story for Liu Bo.

...He was also an Ice Ability User—and a High-level Ice Ability User at that.

In that brief moment, he had clearly felt his own ability begin to stir, threatening to slip from his control!

And Gu Xi hadn’t even been targeting him!

At this thought, he couldn’t stop himself from speaking up. "Miss Gu, Miss Yang was only acting in the line of duty. For you to do this..." ’Isn’t this a bit much?’

Unfortunately, before he could finish, Qi Xiang kicked the toad that Bai had pinned to the mud with its paw and let out a long sigh.

"I’ve always heard that toads are not only ugly, but they like to play dirty, too. I never really believed it before, but now..." Qi Xiang let her meaningful gaze drift over him, Tang You, and the frozen Yang Xi.

Liu Bo froze for a second. When he realized what she was implying, he was absolutely furious.

’I’m a decent, upstanding man! I have absolutely nothing to do with that stupid, promiscuous woman Yang Xi!’

’Nothing at all!’