On the other side of the sweet potato field.
Shen Yue leaned lazily against the apple tree Gu Xi had just spurred to maturity. With one leg straight and the other slightly bent, he tilted his head to look at her. "Today... you’re not quite acting like yourself."
They still hadn’t figured out Gu Yumin’s background, and the Gu Family’s intentions were unclear. For Gu Xi to appear before him so rashly was, all things considered, a bit reckless.
Shen Yue looked at her disapprovingly.
With a flick of her fingers, Gu Xi sliced two bright red apples from the tree with a blade of air, washed them with conjured water, and tossed one to Shen Yue.
Shen Yue caught it, raising an eyebrow at her. "So you’re not planning on hiding it anymore?" She had just used her Wind and Water Elent abilities without a second thought, and there were quite a few people watching them, both openly and in secret.
That little scene just now had probably already been noticed by interested parties.
"I’m just... getting a little tired of it." Gu Xi stared at the apple in her hand. CRUNCH. The apple was crisp, but she didn’t think it was sweet enough.
’Maybe it’s the variety,’ Gu Xi thought with a slight frown.
Shen Yue figured that made sense. She had already revealed her Space Ability, so her Wind and Water abilities weren’t that big of a deal in comparison.
Having them or not didn’t change much.
In short, those who knew her identity wouldn’t be surprised, and as for those who didn’t? So what if they saw? Their status and standing weren’t high enough to matter. Threatening or plotting against her was out of the question.
In other words, those people weren’t capable enough.
Nor were they worthy.
However... "Are you sure about this?" Shen Yue asked, tilting his head. He took a bite of his apple and narrowed his eyes slightly. ’This apple is pretty good. Crisp and sweet.’
The man’s normally stern face looked completely relaxed. He squinted at Gu Xi. "I thought you would..."
"Continue to lay low and power up on the sly?" Gu Xi leaned against a nearby tree, her gaze calm and cold as she looked up at the apples hanging from the branches.
"When I was little, soone taught that in tis of peace and prosperity, when rules and order keep everyone in check, the ones who lay low are indeed the ones who live the longest."
"But things are different now." Gu Xi turned her head to look at Shen Yue. "We’re in an apocalypse. The rules and order have collapsed, civilization has vanished. The mont you show weakness, others will only bully you more. Even if they bully you to death, they’ll still drink your blood and eat your flesh..."
"So if you want to live, you can only fight, you can only be ruthless, you can only be stronger than everyone else." Gu Xi’s voice was calm and earnest. "When you beco powerful to a certain degree, people will only fear you, and they will never dare to bully you again."
Shen Yue frowned slightly. "But no matter how strong you are, there will always be people plotting against you and using you from the shadows." ’The Gu Xi of the past was strong enough, but then...’
"You’re right." Gu Xi looked down, toying with the half-eaten apple in her hand, and sighed softly. "That’s why I don’t want to compromise anymore."
A corner of her lip curled up, in a gesture that was hard to tell if it was mocking or wistful. "The human heart is never satisfied, but over these years, I’ve at least co to understand one thing."
"When you’re weak, everyone wants to step on you. But when you’re powerful enough, the number of people who can and dare to plot against you dwindles to a select few."
"It’s still annoying," she said, looking over at him, "but at the end of the day, it saves a lot of trouble, doesn’t it?"
After speaking, she lowered her head and slowly put the other half of the not-so-sweet apple into her mouth, chewing it thoroughly before swallowing.
Shen Yue frowned slightly.
After a long mont of silence, he finally spoke slowly. "My old man has been acting strange lately. I want to look into the Gu Family and Gu Yumin..."
The statent seed to co out of nowhere, but Gu Xi understood. She thought for a mont, then turned to him. "What did Ye Junhan tell you?"
Shen Yue shook his head slightly. "Nothing. But before, Mr. Li contacted ..."
"Li Ming?" Gu Xi paused, then realization dawned. It seed Li Ming still didn’t trust the people around her.
It made sense. Once bitten, twice shy. For her, these thirty years had passed like a long nap, but for Li Ming and the others, it must have been true agony.
Gu Xi fell silent for a mont.
Shen Yue looked at her, his expression complicated.
This wasn’t like the Gu Xi he used to know.
It wasn’t like her, and yet... perhaps this grimly silent version of her was the most real her there was.
Gu Xi looked up at the sky. ’Thinking back carefully now, Li Ming didn’t hate Gu Yumin; he hated that Gu Yumin kept appearing before , again and again.’
At first, Gu Xi had only thought Li Ming was on guard against the Gu Family trying to win over her and her Doomsday Squad, using the excuse that they shared a surna and were therefore family.
But later, during the years when the Blood-colored Asura was at the zenith of her power, the Gu Family completely vanished from her sight.
Logically, that didn’t add up.
"It’s a good idea to investigate the Gu Family," Gu Xi said, turning to Shen Yue. "However, Gu Yumin and the Gu Family might not be on the sa side."
"What makes you say that?" Shen Yue raised a hand, using a Wind Blade to slice another apple from the tree. He then gestured with his eyes for Gu Xi to provide so water to wash it.
A stream of clear water appeared out of thin air, swirling around the apple twice.
Gu Xi said, "Just a gut feeling." ’I always felt that the way Gu Yumin looked at back then was a little sad, and... nostalgic.’
Shen Yue ate his apple, raising an eyebrow slightly, noncommittal.
...
Perhaps because the base had given the official go-ahead, the military personnel arrived quickly this ti.
At 7:30 p.m., before the sky had completely darkened, three large military transport planes landed on the temporarily cleared-out space outside the factory, carrying a fully ard garrison squad and related equipnt and supplies.
Gu Xi glanced over. Quite a few people had arrived—over 500 by her estimate.
Ye Junhan was handing over duties with the person in charge, Shen Yue had taken the Qin sisters and Qi Xiang to deliver the grain, and Wei Heng was busy weighing and calculating everything, even calling Ouyang over to help.
Everyone else was busy loading sweet potatoes and fruit onto the transport planes. Gu Xi looked around and realized there didn’t seem to be anything for her to do.
After all, in everyone else’s eyes, with her slender arms and legs and her pale, frail appearance that looked like a gust of wind could knock her over, just ten pounds of sweet potatoes would be enough to exhaust her. How could they dare let her do such manual labor?
Gu Xi: ’Actually, I’m a King Kong Barbie, but nobody believes .’
Figuring she might as well do sothing since she was idle, Gu Xi wandered around for a bit before returning to the sweet potato field.
The transport planes were going to haul away the batch of sweet potatoes grown during the day overnight. No wonder several hundred people had co, and the military had dispatched three large transport planes for the job.
Gu Xi thought about the factory’s current inventory and figured it wouldn’t be enough to fill the planes, so she decided to grow another wave.
’Can’t let the planes go back empty and waste fuel, right?’
Besides, with several hundred more people here now, there was no shortage of hands to harvest the sweet potatoes from the field.
Just as she finished planting the sweet potatoes, Yang Chi sidled up to her. "Sis, don’t you think the camp is a little too quiet tonight?"
"Is it?" Gu Xi replied casually.
Yang Chi shuffled half a step to the side, dodging a sweet potato vine that shot out as it grew rapidly. He jutted his chin toward the encampnt of the Guard Team and the research institute. "It’s been silent over there since this afternoon."
They’re usually never this quiet.
Gu Xi followed his gaze, thought for a mont, and said, "...Perhaps it’s because... self-preservation is a human instinct?"
Yang Chi: "...?!"
’What does that an?’
Yang Chi didn’t get it. He looked at Gu Xi in confusion, hoping his dear sister from another mister would be kind enough to enlighten him.
Gu Xi said, "News about what happened at the Central Base has probably reached the ears of those two."
Yang Chi frowned slightly. "You an the incident at the quarantine hospital?" He didn’t understand. "What does that have to do with us?"
Gu Xi explained, "I heard the first person who got infected was previously in our convoy. He was just sent back to the base two days ago."
Yang Chi’s eyes widened in realization. "Don’t tell they think we did it?" ’They must be crazy. Who is Gu Xi? If she wanted to kill soone, would she need to be so roundabout?’
’Who are they looking down on?’
Gu Xi, however, glanced at him. ’We?’
Yang Chi imdiately puffed out his chest to show his allegiance, then furtively sidled up next to Gu Xi and lowered his voice. "Sis, give the inside scoop. Are those few at the Central Base really beyond saving?"
"Did your uncle have you ask?" Gu Xi thought for a mont, then slowly shook her head. "Hard to say." ’I’d have to see the specific situation to know for sure.’
Yang Chi frowned and asked, "Then who do you think did it?"
’Judging by He Yue and Xu Hai’s attitudes, they’ve almost certainly pinned the bla for this on Gu Xi. That’s why they’ve been as quiet as quails ever since they got the news, terrified they might get infected at any mont. Now they don’t even dare to show their faces.’
Gu Xi didn’t speak, rely looking up in the direction of the encampnt.
She, however, had soone in mind.
User Comments
0 comments from readers