Ye Junhan could clearly sense that thing’s presence. It was lurking in the thick of the night, watching them from afar.
But strangely, he couldn’t see it, nor could he find it.
’What about her?’
’Could she see that intangible presence?’
Ye Junhan turned to look at Gu Xi.
Gu Xi looked away from the distant mountain forest. "Let’s head back."
She turned to face Ye Junhan, thought for a mont, and added, "It probably won’t co back tonight." ’After all, it just got a harsh lesson from my little sprout. The creature is highly intelligent; it wouldn’t be so foolish as to try again.’
’As for those strange team-up requests...’ Gu Xi poked her little sprout. ’I’ll worry about that later.’
’It?’
Ye Junhan’s intense gaze landed on Gu Xi’s face, but in the end, he didn’t voice his question.
Gu Xi assud he was worried about the ordinary people in the camp, so she explained, "It’s likely here for ."
’But it can’t beat right now. As long as I’m here, it won’t be foolish enough to attack.’
’And when I leave, it will probably follow .’
’So the survivors in the camp won’t be in any danger.’
’Of course, if sothing unexpected happened, I wouldn’t hesitate to step in and put a stop to it.’
Ye Junhan paused for a second, then quickly put it together. "It... The one from the valley?"
Gu Xi hesitated before nodding. "I think so. You should look into this..."
"Soone had just jamd the signal here, and right after, that thing showed up."
"That’s too much of a coincidence."
’Ye Junhan ca to the sa conclusion. Soone had jamd the convoy’s signal, likely because sothing had happened back at the valley...’
’Soone didn’t want the personnel stationed in the valley to be able to contact them!’
Ye Junhan picked up his walkie-talkie. "Yang Liu, send a drone back to the valley to take a look."
’It seems another faction has gotten involved.’
’Ye Junhan ntally reviewed the major factions at the base, focusing on those connected to the Qee Family...’
As the two passed a nearby vegetable patch, Ye Junhan paused.
Not far away, Liu Hao, Ouyang, and the others, who were simultaneously shoveling vegetables into their arms and stuffing them into their mouths, all froze for an instant.
Once Ye Junhan and Gu Xi were at a distance, the n exchanged glances. ’Did we... just embarrass the captain?’
’Liu Hao was especially regretful. If he had known, he wouldn’t have asked this pack of animals for help. So what if there were a few extra vegetables? He could have just made a few more trips by himself.’
Back at the camp, Ye Junhan found Zhao Qingxiao and whispered a few words to him. He then led Yang Liu toward the dical area.
Seeing this, Qi Xiang’s curiosity got the better of her, and she quickly pulled Gu Xi along to follow.
Due to the large number of injured, the area had been reorganized.
Ye Junhan walked straight through, finally stopping at the door of a lounge.
"Jun Han." Ye Nan opened the door and stepped out.
Her eyes were slightly red-rimd, her face still streaked with tears, as if she had just been crying.
Ye Junhan narrowed his eyes, his gaze sweeping over every corner of the room behind her before finally settling on Ye Nan’s face.
"A mont ago, soone activated a signal jamr," Ye Junhan said suddenly, staring into her eyes.
Ye Nan froze, then it registered. She looked up at him, her face a mask of disbelief. "Jun Han, are you suspecting ?"
Ye Junhan stared at her and said nothing.
His gaze held a detached scrutiny.
’Zhao Qingxiao had said that at the exact mont the signal jamr was activated, everyone was under his surveillance, including the base’s Guard Team and the people from the Abnormal Ability Research Institute.’
’During that ti, no one in the entire convoy was ever out of soone else’s sight.’
’The only exception was Ye Nan. She had claid to be exhausted and needed a quiet environnt to absorb Crystal Cores and recover her powers, so she had stayed in this lounge by herself.’
’Because Ye Nan was one of their own and the team’s only healer, Zhao Qingxiao had worried his spiritual power probes would interfere with her Crystal Core absorption, so he hadn’t extended his surveillance to this lounge.’
Yang Liu glanced at Ye Nan before entering the lounge, carrying a black case.
"What’s going on?" Qi Xiang nudged Gu Xi beside her and whispered.
Gu Xi’s gaze swept across the lounge. It wasn’t large; aside from an empty stone bed, there was nothing else inside.
As expected, after ticulously searching the room with the case, Yang Liu looked back and gave Ye Junhan a slight shake of his head.
The signal jamr wasn’t here.
Ye Junhan narrowed his eyes slightly.
Ye Nan looked at him, a sad, bitter smile on her face. "Jun Han, I thought... even if we can’t go back to how things were, we’d at least still have a basic level of trust..."
Nearby, Qi Xiang curled her lip.
’Here she goes again. What’s all this about "the past"? Who is she trying to fool? Anyone who didn’t know better might actually think they had a thing.’
’But you know perfectly well whether you did or not, don’t you?’
’So it’s not that I look down on this Miss Ye, but sotis... the way she acts is just so nauseating.’
Gu Xi, on the other hand, stared at Ye Nan’s still pale and weak face, lost in thought.
’No wonder I felt sothing was off earlier. Ye Nan absorbed so many Crystal Cores, yet she still looks like her powers are completely drained. So that’s why... ’
’This girl must be a dual-elent ability user.’
’But Space Ability is a mysterious thing.’
’In the early days of the apocalypse, users with Space Abilities were extrely rare. And according to Wei Heng, ever since the zombie virus disappeared in year twenty-eight of the apocalypse, no new Space Elent ability users have erged.’
’Yet now, there was this exception: Ye Nan.’
’But this girl’s Space Ability is a little strange. It’s as if... her space was forcibly created by fusing her own ability with so kind of external object, and she can only use it sporadically?’
’And each use cos at a great cost.’
’This thod, using an ability to fuse with an external object to create a space... is rather interesting.’
’And Ye Nan... is Ye Xin’s daughter.’
’And Ye Xin is the vice-director of the Abnormal Ability Research Institute. The institute has been researching abilities for so many years; it seems they have a few tricks up their sleeve after all.’
’But why would Ye Nan do it?’
Just then, a clamor of footsteps echoed from the end of the hallway.
Qi Xiang tugged on Gu Xi’s sleeve and gestured with her chin. "The people from the Abnormal Ability Research Institute are here."
Gu Xi looked up and saw several people from the institute, supporting one another as they ran toward them in a panic.
"Jun Han," Ye Nan seed nervous, her hands by her sides curling slightly. "Did sothing happen outside? Look at them... Should we... go out and see?"
"How do you know sothing happened outside?" Ye Junhan glanced at her, then turned his cold gaze on the approaching group.
’He’d barely begun investigating the signal jamr, and now the people from the institute show up.’
’What a coincidence.’
Ye Nan avoided Ye Junhan’s gaze, biting her lower lip without speaking.
’Gu Xi glanced between the two of them. The people from the Abnormal Ability Research Institute were looking for Ye Nan now... this probably wasn’t just about the signal jamr.’
Just then, as if on cue, gunshots suddenly rang out from outside—
"BANG! BANG!"
"Gu Xi!" Qi Xiang reacted instantly, instinctively pulling Gu Xi to find cover.
Ye Nan’s expression changed drastically as well. Not far away, the mbers of the Abnormal Ability Research Institute suddenly picked up their pace and sprinted in their direction.
The entire camp seed to fall into chaos in an instant.
The group from the institute quickly reached Ye Junhan, still shaken. "Mr. Ye, there’s trouble outside..."
But before he could finish, the gunfire outside ceased.
Ye Junhan glanced at them but didn’t speak.
"Don’t worry, our brothers from the Special Service Team are on watch outside. Nothing will get out of hand," Yang Liu explained, stepping forward with his treasured case and a wide smile. "The gunshots just now were simply to catch a rat."
At the ntion of "catching a rat," the expressions of the institute mbers changed drastically.
Qi Xiang glanced around and understood. ’The brief commotion outside was just a cover. Soone was trying to take advantage of the chaos, while soone else was trying to smoke out the culprit.’
’No one here was a fool.’
For a mont, no one said another word.
The atmosphere grew tense. Gu Xi toyed with the small green sprout on her fingertip, her attention fixed on Ye Nan.
’For so reason, seeing her again now, I can’t shake the feeling that there’s sothing... off about this girl.’
Just then, Zhao Qingxiao’s voice crackled through the walkie-talkie. "Captain, we caught the rat."
User Comments
0 comments from readers