Chapter 125: Did I Consent to This Myself?
“Did I consent to this myself?” Lin Xiao snapped his head around, his eyes piercing as he stared straight at her. The frustration and long-suppressed anger he had carried for days finally broke through, pouring out in a rush. “Lin Weiwei, you tell me—how could someone who was completely blacked out, someone who couldn’t even remember how he got back to his room, have ‘consented’ to anything? And you—you were sleeping downstairs on the second floor. Why did you just ‘happen’ to show up in my room on the third?”
The entire situation had driven him to the brink of madness.
He had even held onto an absurd, desperate hope that the soft touch and warm breath lingering in his hazy memories belonged to Su Mubai. If they did, he could at least be certain Lin Weiwei had schemed against him, giving him every right to push her away in anger.
Su Mubai’s outright denial had shattered that fragile illusion completely.
If it really had been Lin Weiwei that night, then regardless of how it started, he was partly to blame for whatever followed. That shared responsibility was what made him so furious and miserable—he hated the idea of being manipulated, but he hated his own drunken carelessness and lack of control even more.
Lin Weiwei stiffened under his sharp questioning, her fingernails digging deep into her palms.
She could not afford to panic; she absolutely could not lose her composure now.
Quickly shifting her expression, tears welled in her eyes. “It… it was me who went looking for you. But that was only because I was worried! You drank so much that night, and you were throwing up. I was terrified something might happen to you in the dark with no one there to look after you, so I just wanted to check on you.”
Lowering her voice, she added a delicate blend of embarrassment and wounded innocence. “But… you were the one who grabbed my hand first. You pulled me close and said you liked me… I only… Brother Lin, I’m just a woman. Would I really make a joke out of my own dignity and reputation?”
Lin Xiao’s heart sank like a stone. He cursed himself bitterly for drinking so much that night, letting things spiral beyond repair. Looking at the tearful, helpless woman in front of him, a suffocating weight clamped down on his chest.
He closed his eyes in sheer exhaustion. When he opened them again, his gaze held nothing but cold, detached finality.
Pulling his arm away with firm, undeniable force, he forced each word past his teeth: “Lin Weiwei, regarding what happened that night, I apologize. I promised I would take responsibility for you, and I intend to keep my word. But my responsibility begins and ends with your basic safety in this group. I will make sure you have food, clean water, and protection from harm. Anything beyond that… I cannot give you, and I never will.”
Panic flared in Lin Weiwei’s eyes. Forgetting to wipe away her tears, she asked frantically, “Why? You clearly had feelings for me, didn’t you? Otherwise, how could you have… that night?”
“I don’t like you,” Lin Xiao interrupted bluntly.
The moment the words left his mouth, an almost cruel sense of relief washed over him. It felt as though a massive boulder had been lifted from his chest, exposing the underlying truth he had spent days avoiding.
He did not love Lin Weiwei.
Whatever fleeting attraction he had felt in the beginning seemed hollow and utterly insignificant now, especially when compared to the racing heartbeat and quiet comfort he felt around another person.
Without waiting for a response, he turned away from her pale, stunned face and strode purposefully toward Wang Qiang, who was sorting through supplies.
Lin Weiwei stood frozen in place, watching his retreating back with disbelief. Her fingernails pressed into her palms hard enough to nearly draw blood.
Humiliation, resentment, and sheer terror collided inside her. How could he reject her so coldly? What was the point of all her careful calculations and forced patience over the past few days?
A deeper dread quickly took over.
Everything she currently enjoyed—her safety, her rations, a secure roof over her head, and her place in this formidable team—hung entirely on that single promise of responsibility from Lin Xiao. Without his backing, she wouldn’t last a week alone in this brutal world, let alone survive the horrors of being hunted by zombies or exploited by dangerous survivors.
She could not afford to burn this bridge.
Shuddering, she swallowed down her bitter pride and took a few deep, steadying breaths to regain control of her expression.
Take it slow, she told herself. As long as she stayed with the team and Lin Xiao honored his protective duty, she still had a chance. One day, things would turn around.
Meanwhile, the gentle smiles on Su Mubai’s face were fading with each passing day.
He still answered whenever his teammates spoke to him, helped carry equipment, and offered a soft nod whenever Li Yu chatted by his side. Yet that gentleness felt guarded, shielded behind an invisible barrier, and his smiles never quite reached his clear, quiet eyes.
He spent hours in silence, sitting by the vehicle window and staring absently at the desolate, monotonous wasteland rushing past. A heavy, lingering solitude settled around him.
The suffocating tension quickly spread to the rest of the group.
Sitting in the back row of their SUV, Li Yu and Jiang Lin leaned in close, whispering under their breath.
Li Yu sighed, looking miserable. “Linlin, have you noticed how tense everything has been lately? The air in this group is so heavy it feels like we’re choking.”
Jiang Lin nodded in quiet agreement, nudging her chin toward the front seats. “Tell me about it. Old Lin and Lin Weiwei are walking on eggshells around each other, Su Mubai looks completely heartbroken, and it’s even got Brother Chu and the Boss talking less. I’m usually quiet, but lately I barely dare to open my mouth, terrified I’ll say the wrong thing and trigger an explosion.”
“Exactly!” Li Yu sighed again. “I just hope we reach the base soon. Maybe a change of scenery will help clear the air…”
Before she could finish her sentence, the vehicle violently lurched forward.
Wang Qiang cursed loudly as the SUV slammed into a sudden dip, its front tires sinking deep into a hidden ditch. The passengers inside were tossed wildly in their seats, sharp cries of alarm ringing out.
Noticing the lead car come to a sudden halt, Jiang Jue frowned and stepped down from the RV. “What happened?”
“Boss! The ground gave way out of nowhere! There’s something burrowing underneath us!” Wang Qiang shouted, scrambling out of the driver’s seat.
Before his words faded, a heavy, yellowish-brown shape burst through the cloud of dust kicked up by the spinning wheels.
It was a mutated groundhog the size of a large dog, its bulky frame covered in a thick, armor-like layer of hardened earth. A pair of beady eyes gleamed with wild aggression, and long, razor-sharp claws curved from its stocky front paws. It had clearly used an Earth-type ability to undermine the road.
“Prepare for combat!” Jiang Jue commanded sharply.
Chu Yang, Lin Xiao, and Su Mubai leaped out of their vehicles immediately, drawing their weapons.
The mutated beast was remarkably agile, instantly launching sharp earthen spikes from the ground while turning the dirt beneath their feet into shifting quicksand.
“Chu Yang, disrupt its vision! Wang Qiang, secure our footing!” Jiang Jue ordered swiftly, arcs of purple lightning already crackling across his palms.
Chu Yang unleashed a sharp Space Blade, aiming directly for the cracks in the creature’s rocky shell while constantly shifting his position to break its attack rhythm. Taking advantage of the openings, Jiang Jue hurled bolts of lightning, leaving scorched, smoking craters across the beast’s armored hide.
Daily Life of Being Turned Gay by the Male Lead After Transmigrating into an Apocalypse
