Chapter 67: Suspicions, the Sneaky Duo (First Update)

“Huh?” Bian Changxi was startled.

She had been unnerved by the way Gu Xu was looking at her, secretly worrying that he had seen right through her.

Even though she was completely innocent in this matter, she couldn’t explain herself clearly no matter how she tried.

If she tried to explain, she’d definitely give herself away. She hadn’t even figured out how she should face Gu Xu in the future—why should she let him know her final trump card?

She was a stubborn and conflicted person. She didn’t know how things had escalated to this point, didn’t know how Gu Xu saw her, didn’t even know what she really felt about him. But there was one thing she was absolutely sure of: Ning must never be exposed.

She had to defend this at all costs.

Having died once already, she was especially sensitive about this.

Fine, then—she’d just keep lying.

She asked, “You mean the people who went into the city on a mission got seriously injured?” She glanced at the clock. “It’s already past 1 a.m. If they needed help, they wouldn’t have waited until now, right?”

She thought to herself, calculating. Gu Xu had just returned from the 4S shop and immediately got this news. Anyone who didn’t know better would think he’d just come back from a meeting.

Uh, could he be pretending to have just come back from a meeting with big news, just as an excuse to check up on her?

At that thought, her gaze darkened.

Gu Xu loosely gripped his flashlight, turning it gently so the beam flickered. He glanced into the room, calm and unruffled. “There’s nothing to be done. The health department and military doctors probably thought they could handle it before, but now the medicine is running out and the situation is getting worse. Just ten minutes ago, the last batch of people was rescued, and now the pressure on the medical side is even heavier.”

Bian Changxi nodded. Could it really be true? “Then I’ll go take a look.”

Still full of doubts, she turned to leave, but was suddenly grabbed by the arm. “Changxi…”

“Hiss!” Bian Changxi sucked in a sharp breath and immediately tensed up, shaking off Gu Xu’s hand. “What are you doing?”

“You’re hurt?” Gu Xu’s gaze changed instantly. Just now, he’d been calm and probing, but now his eyes were sharp and piercing—an aggressiveness unique to him, Bian Changxi thought.

She hated that look. It made her feel pressured and panicked. But she also knew that was just who he was—someone who could see through and control everything. In her previous life, why had she refused to be his partner? Because she knew that if she stayed too close to him for too long, her whole world would be swallowed up and changed. Her future would become tightly entwined with his, and her past—including Bai Heng—would become insignificant, every important place in her life taken over by him.

It was unbearable.

Ridiculously, in this life, because fate had changed, he had become gentler and more restrained, and she’d let her guard down. During the day, she’d even been so affected by him that she’d had thoughts she shouldn’t have.

Yeah, her willpower was too weak. She couldn’t blame anyone else. It was time to leave the source of danger.

At that moment, she finally made up her mind.

“You’re the one, aren’t you?” Gu Xu pressed.

Bian Changxi’s eyes turned clear and cold. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Under the 4S shop, those two laptops—you were helping me. Why hide it?”

“Sorry. I really don’t understand.”

“I sensed your presence.”

“Then did you see me?” Bian Changxi sneered, suddenly drawing a pistol from behind her waist. “Captain Gu, you’ve crossed the line.”

Gu Xu looked down and realized that, without noticing, he had stepped over the threshold and was now standing inside her room.

He looked up again—right into the dark barrel of her gun.

Bian Changxi’s face was pale, her eyes bright, sweat glistening under her messy hair. Her right hand, holding the gun, trembled almost imperceptibly—whether from exertion or nerves, it was hard to tell.

There was still a faint smell of blood on her, and she had more than one wound.

Gu Xu’s face was expressionless. She was definitely the one.

Bian Changxi said coldly, “Captain Gu, everyone has their own boundaries. Most of the time, outsiders aren’t welcome in those places.”

A lot of thoughts flashed through Gu Xu’s mind. Taking down Bian Changxi would be easy—she was too weak, her slender body looked like it would snap at a touch. Even if she fired right now, he could dodge it easily. In an instant, he’d already thought of a dozen ways to attack.

And it didn’t matter if she didn’t want to tell the truth. He had plenty of truth serums, originally meant for target suspects, though they’d never been used.

But all these thoughts passed in a flash. Under Bian Changxi’s fierce glare, he slowly raised his hands and stepped back out the door. “Sorry, this is important, I was too impulsive and rude.”

Bian Changxi breathed a quiet sigh of relief, her eyelids dropping slightly. When she looked up again, she realized that Shadow and Lin Rongrong had arrived at some point, and even the Chen family members were nervously watching from the stairs. She looked at the gun in her hand, a bit in disbelief—she’d actually drawn a gun.

She wasn’t surprised at herself for doing it, but amazed that she could go this far.

She’d asserted her boundaries, made her position clear, and given herself the resolve she needed.

After tonight, she and Gu Xu were probably finished.

It felt like she’d put down a heavy burden, though she couldn’t help feeling a little lost.

She lowered the gun. “Was the rescue mission you mentioned real?”

Gu Xu nodded.

“Then let’s go.” Bian Changxi went back to quickly pack her bag, weapons slung over her body. Luckily, she didn’t have much stuff, and anything that needed to go into Ning was never left out in the open. She was done in just a few moments.

She wouldn’t be coming back here.

While everyone’s attention was elsewhere, she secretly took out Milk the fat rat from Ning, released the vines binding it, and took out the heavy sniper rifle, handing both to Gu Xu. “Here, I can’t take care of this rat anymore, and this gun—I’m returning it to you.”

No matter where this rat came from or who it was helping, that was between it and Gu Xu. She was just a middleman who’d been played for a fool.

Of course, since she’d gotten those weapons, she and the rat were even.

“Wuwu…” Milk had been tied up for a long time, its limbs stiff, but its intelligence lay in its human-like emotions and perspective. It could tell something was wrong and called out to Bian Changxi.

Gu Xu took it, giving her a complicated look, but didn’t take the gun. “What’s given out doesn’t get taken back. Let’s go.”

He said to Shadow, “You stay here. I’ll go to Qiu Feng and have him come back to rest.” Shadow still needed to guard those two computers.

Shadow looked at him, then at Bian Changxi, and nodded.

Bian Changxi nodded back—her way of saying goodbye—then waved at the worried Lin Rongrong. “Go back to sleep.”

Downstairs, she saw two soldiers waiting.

They saluted Gu Xu, then said to Bian Changxi, “Miss Bian, right? The situation is urgent. Please come with us.”

“I’ll go with her,” Gu Xu said, leading the way to a car parked nearby. Bian Changxi paused, then followed.

Once inside, she realized there were already two people in the car, a man and a woman. The woman was fiddling with a cigarette, the tip flaring red before dimming, smoke curling in the cramped space. She flicked her hair, her face obscured by the dim light, only her large earrings clinking together. The air was thick with perfume. “You guys are so slow. If I’d known I’d have to wait this long, I could’ve walked here already.”

No one responded. Bian Changxi glanced at her—an afro, a revealing tank top and leather pants, a sultry face. Before the apocalypse, she’d have been a textbook delinquent girl. She also sized up the newcomers, and when the car’s headlights illuminated Gu Xu’s face, her eyes lit up and she leaned over flirtatiously. “Hey, handsome…”

Gu Xu shot her a look from the corner of his eye, and she shivered, quickly waving her hands. “Never mind, never mind.”

As for the man, he shrank into the corner, silent.

The car started. Sure enough, it was only a ten-minute walk to their destination—the train station.

By now, the train station was no longer the headquarters for the new district’s management. The military command center wasn’t set up here anymore; instead, it had been cordoned off, guarded by soldiers, and turned into a place for handling various affairs.

The “medical room” was among them, occupying a large area to the left of the main hall.

Several diesel generators rumbled, light bulbs tied to bamboo poles or nailed to walls or cars, flickering dimly. The air was thick with the smell of blood, creating a tense, chaotic, storm-brewing atmosphere.

Before even entering, Bian Changxi saw stretchers being carried out, each bearing a corpse shrouded in white cloth. The medical area—really more of a medical zone—was partitioned off with bamboo poles, strips of cloth, and vehicles. Each section had a few “beds,” with people in white coats rushing around.

A doctor and two nurses were arguing heatedly with several people, faces red with anger. At their feet lay a severely wounded patient. Everyone else seemed used to it, paying no attention. Bian Changxi also saw a few wood-type ability users helping the medics, channeling energy to treat the wounded. But watching their technique, sensing the fluctuations of their powers, she shook her head inwardly. At this level, they could only treat superficial wounds. Serious injuries were beyond them, and minor ones didn’t really need treatment—practically useless.

She’d started out just as useless in her previous life, but after years of hard work and training, she’d finally reached an above-average level and earned a place in the medical system. Unfortunately, her powers were later damaged, leaving her stuck at level six, overtaken by newcomers and left behind forever.

That was her eternal pain. If not for that, Zhu Yunhua might never have been able to destroy her. No matter the time or place, no matter who was around, your own strength always came first. Thinking of this, the dull ache from “breaking up” with Gu Xu seemed trivial.

Just then, one of the nurses—almost dragged into the fight—spotted them and called out, “Are they new ability users? Maybe they can save someone!”

ps:

Ugh, I tried uploading this so many times and it just wouldn’t go through."