Chapter 82: Jealousy—A Woman Who Became More Beautiful (First Update)

The only mouse that ever appeared by Gu Xu’s side was that one—there wouldn’t be any others.

“Meow—” As soon as Milk saw her, it was like a cat spotting a fish. Just a moment ago, it had been listless, but now it leapt up in excitement. Bian Changxi took a step back. “Don’t come over here!”

“Wuu…” The sound trailed off, like a car running out of gas or a balloon losing air. The little body, which had been pouncing mid-air, fell short and landed on the ground, circling Bian Changxi’s feet a few times, whimpering, its eyes glistening like black grapes.

This trick used to work on Bian Changxi, but now she barely resisted the urge to kick it away. Frowning, she said, “You’re still keeping it?”

“It seems to have a special bond with me,” Gu Xu replied with a smile.

Seeing that Bian Changxi really was ignoring it, Milk gave a light leap and, as nimble as a cat, jumped onto the roof of the car, lying down next to Gu Xu’s shoulder. It continued to look at Bian Changxi with a pitiful expression, its furry tail swaying gently. Bian Changxi noticed it had lost weight—it used to be round like a ball, but now it looked deflated.

Still wary and a little annoyed, Bian Changxi couldn’t shake the feeling that this mouse was odd, but it wasn’t her problem anymore. She glanced at Gu Xu’s face. “Are you alright?”

“What could happen to me? Honestly, I should be thanking you today.”

She stared at him for a while, muttering, “If you’re fine, then that’s that.” Since he didn’t seem to care, why should she be so anxious? She hadn’t forgotten her vow to keep her distance from him.

Just as she turned to leave, her hand was grabbed. Gu Xu’s voice was slightly weak: “Actually, something is wrong.”

He pulled her back a few steps until her back was pressed against the car door. Gu Xu braced his hand beside her ear, standing right in front of her, almost completely blocking her view. From behind, it looked as if he was embracing her.

Her eyes widened. “What are you doing?”

Gu Xu’s voice was low and hoarse, and at such close range, she could clearly smell the blood. She noticed the corners of his mouth were tinged with blue, and there were dark shadows under his eyes.

“Sorry, Su Chensi knows I’ve been injured. They’re watching us right now.”

He was tall and broad, and even though he was leaning in slightly, his shoulders still almost completely blocked Bian Changxi’s view. She pushed herself up a little and, sure enough, saw that some of the patrolling people nearby were glancing over, trying to look casual.

She whispered, “So what if people know you’re hurt? Didn’t Wu Dalang go down too?” Then she asked, “Where are you hurt?”

“My chest,” Gu Xu replied. “I need them to think Su Chensi poses no threat to me.”

Only then would they be more cautious.

But next time, if someone tried something underhanded again, the methods would only get nastier. If it were Bian Changxi, she’d just play weak. But she knew Gu Xu was different—he needed people, needed to build his own team. He couldn’t show even a hint of weakness.

He had to let everyone know that, no matter what monsters or demons he faced, he could stand tall and unyielding.

So he couldn’t just disappear to heal—he had to stand here, calm and collected, to show everyone he was still alive and well.

How exhausting.

Bian Changxi stared at his black shirt, now stained with blood. He murmured an apology and started unbuttoning it with one hand, but she saw that his fingernails were pale and tinged with purple. He was holding on, but barely.

She sighed, pushing aside her discomfort. “Let me do it.”

Under his shirt was a white tank top—though now it was more black and red than white. It was soaked with blood, not a single clean spot left. Over his left chest was a slanted gash; the bleeding had mostly stopped, but the fabric was stuck to the pale wound, making it look even more gruesome.

She frowned and started tearing the tank top. “What happened exactly? How did both you and Wu Dalang get hit? Is Su Chensi really that strong?”

Gu Xu grunted. “We were dealing with a mutant snake. She suddenly appeared, and someone was about to be swallowed by the snake, so she made her move.”

That spatial blade of hers was really something—silent, with barely any energy fluctuation. He’d only just sensed something was off, but by the time he heard Wu Dalang’s scream and Shadow’s warning, it was already too late.

“Shadow was there too? How come he’s fine, but you’re the one hurt?”

Gu Xu forced a smile through the pain. “Shadow’s senses and reflexes are much faster than mine.”

There were three of them at the time—Wu Dalang didn’t dodge, Shadow did, Gu Xu didn’t either, but he blocked the attack.

Bian Changxi finally tore off the fabric. The wound, sliced cleanly by the spatial blade, was pale and swollen from blood loss, now even more mangled. The gash in the middle looked like a black hole, making her shudder.

She glanced at Gu Xu, then reached out, first feeling his heartbeat—already irregular and weak. Her expression changed. “Just a little deeper, and that spatial blade would have killed you! This is way worse than Wu Dalang’s injury, and yet you’re acting like nothing happened.”

Even as she spoke, she was already channeling her wood-element energy into him.

Gu Xu, already short of breath from blood loss and lack of oxygen, shuddered as the energy surged through him, gritting his teeth to endure it. He glanced at her—she was definitely doing this on purpose.

Her breath brushed past Bian Changxi’s ear, making her uncomfortable. He leaned in even closer. Though they weren’t touching, it looked incredibly intimate, as if he were whispering sweet nothings in her ear. She noticed people by the campfire were already glancing over, some shocked, some with ambiguous looks. For the first time, she felt embarrassed, but she knew she couldn’t leave. If she and Gu Xu disappeared together, anyone with half a brain would know it wasn’t for romance, but for emergency treatment.

She gritted her teeth. “Gu Xu, if there are any rumors after this, you’d better clear them up.”

What a mess.

Gu Xu flashed a wickedly handsome smile. “Do you know what people said after you left last time?”

“What did they say?”

“They said I snuck into your room in the middle of the night and you chased me out at gunpoint.”

Bian Changxi: “…”

That sounded… beastly.

She clenched her teeth even harder. “There goes my reputation…”

Gu Xu sighed too. “Yeah, mine too.”

“Who started it?”

“Probably Qiu Yun, pestering the Chen family for details. They had to reenact the scene.”

Damn Qiu Yun!

Bian Changxi withdrew her hand. “How do you feel?”

Gu Xu steadied himself against the car for a moment, his sharp brows furrowed over tightly shut eyes. In the dim light, he looked striking. He buttoned up his shirt. “Much better. Thank you.”

She pouted. “I’m just repaying a favor. We’re even now.”

Gu Xu paused. “Yeah, even. In fact, I probably owe you now.”

She was momentarily stunned, didn’t retort, just looked at her blood-stained hands. Gu Xu said, “There’s water in the car, I’ll get it for you.”

“It’s fine, you rest. Eat something good later, same for Wu Dalang. It’ll take you days to recover.” Bian Changxi took the white plastic container—it was heavy, a ten-kilo jug, nearly full. “This water came from a water-element ability user?”

“Yeah.”

Just then, Qiu Yun came over, carrying a folding table, and added, “The military’s got all the ability users they can under control. The water-element ones provide water for the higher-ups. We get ten kilos a day, but that’s for washing and such. For drinking, we use bottled water.”

He grinned. “Feels weird drinking water that came out of someone else’s body. I keep watching to see if people who drink it have any side effects. But honestly, even if there are, we’ll have to drink it eventually. Clean water’s getting scarcer by the day.”

Bian Changxi thought to herself: one in twenty ability users is an elemental type—metal, wood, water, fire, earth, plus derivatives, let’s say six types. With over 600,000 people, that’s about 5,000 water-types. A first-level water user can produce about 100 liters a day, so Gu Xu’s group getting ten kilos—twenty liters—is about one twenty-five-thousandth of the total.

It didn’t seem like much, but with so many high-ranking officials, privileged families, and the military’s own hierarchy, not to mention other industries and the need to keep up appearances and relationships, getting twenty liters was actually pretty good.

But her math was flawed.

First, the one-in-twenty ratio was from two or three years into the apocalypse, when ability users were being born and dying every day. Early on, the ratio was much lower—maybe one in fifty, or even one in a hundred. Second, the military couldn’t control all the ability users, especially since their authority wasn’t absolute yet. If they could control half, that would be impressive. Third, a newly awakened first-level user couldn’t produce 100 liters a day—her estimate was too high.

With all these factors, Gu Xu still managed to get twenty liters. That was impressive—he clearly held a high position and was highly valued. Su Chensi’s attack on them was definitely premeditated and orchestrated by someone.

She was on Qu Shangjin’s side, and he’d just shown her some favoritism. But Qu Shangjin needed talented people to help him hold things together—managing the survivors, and making sure he wouldn’t be too weak when they got to Sucheng. Even if he was wary of Gu Xu, taking him out now would be self-destructive.

It didn’t make sense.

Both sides were at odds.

After thinking it through, she realized it was Qiu Yun talking to her. Remembering what happened earlier, she couldn’t help but get angry. Qiu Yun felt uneasy under her glare. What was wrong? Things had been fine just a moment ago. Sure, he’d come over under the pretense of grabbing the table to eavesdrop on her and the boss, but he hadn’t heard anything!

He hurriedly lugged the table away, tail between his legs.

Bian Changxi went back after a full meal, bringing two pieces of roasted rice cake for Zhang Bubai as a late-night snack. Gu Xu’s food stores seemed plentiful—two rice cakes were nothing. Sure enough, honest Zhang Bubai was still up, worried about her. She made him eat the cakes and go to bed, then went to the farm to shower and wash her hair, changed out of her bloody clothes, and finally collapsed onto a seat, falling into a deep, sweet sleep.

PS:

Woke up late…"