anwhile, the ten milliliters of Gu Xi’s blood had, through Zhou Jing, made its way to the Chen sisters.
"She really sent it?" Chen Lu pushed open the door and walked in. She picked up a cup of water and took a sip, her eyes fixed on the small box on the lab bench. Her aged face was lifeless, its wrinkles tinged a sickly gray.
She looked as if she were at death’s door.
Chen Lu looked up at her sister, tapped the box in front of her, and asked suspiciously, "Sis, you don’t think... soone’s tampered with what’s inside, do you?"
’Gu Xi’s blood is so precious. Would that little minx from the Gu Family really just hand it over willingly?’
Chen Lu found it hard to believe.
Neither did Chen Yun.
But she had personally tested the blood in the box. It was, without a doubt, Gu Xi’s, and she hadn’t detected anything else in it.
But even so, the two sisters didn’t dare to use it rashly.
After all... Chen Yun raised a hand as withered as a chicken’s claw and touched her face, a crosshatch of deep ravines. She wasn’t even a hundred years old, yet she had beco this.
And that vixen from the Gu Family, who was only a few years younger than the two of them, now looked like a young woman in her early thirties, still beautiful, youthful, and exceptionally graceful.
How could this not fill the Chen sisters with hatred?
Back then, it was that vixen who had tricked the two sisters with her sweet talk, convincing them to secretly take Gu Xi’s blood for experints. At first, their abilities had grown rapidly, but now...
Chen Yun slowly caressed the box before her, her expression instantly darkening.
"Any news from the quarantine hospital?" Chen Yun looked up and asked her sister.
Chen Lu slowly shook her head. "No. The ones in charge of guarding Lu Xiao inside the hospital are all military personnel now. Dr. Qi hasn’t been able to see him yet... However, after Gu Yumin went to the quarantine hospital today, he contacted the Special Service Team. I heard Gu Xi spoke with him, too..."
She paused, then added, "Sis, do you think we should leak so of the Gu Family’s business to Gu Xi?"
"No," Chen Yun said, her eyes narrowing. "It’s not ti yet."
"As for the quarantine hospital, just keep a close eye on it." As she spoke, she opened the box, took out the vial of Gu Xi’s blood, and swirled it gently.
The red liquid sloshed gently inside the special transparent vial, refracting an alluring sheen under the light.
Chen Lu licked her lips involuntarily.
But she managed to hold back.
"Sis, should we have soone warn Xu Hai?" she asked, her gaze fixed on the bright red blood.
"There’s no need," Chen Yun said with a frown. "Xu Hai is just a pawn. If we warn him too strongly, he’s bound to overthink things. Then he might not be willing to stay by that precious Ye Xin’s side and continue to be our eyes and ears."
With that, she used a syringe to draw a small amount, then turned and handed it to Chen Lu. "Take this to Lab Two."
Chen Lu took it but hesitated. "Sis, isn’t this a waste? The subject in Lab Two only has a few days left."
Chen Yun turned to look at her sister. "You want to use it directly?"
Chen Lu shook her head instinctively. ’Back then, they had been too confident, thinking that sothing they’d used for decades couldn’t possibly cause problems.’
’Who would have thought Gu Xi had been on guard against them all along? This ti, upon waking, she’d even sent them a ’grand gift’.’
Just as Chen Lu was about to leave with the syringe, Chen Yun stopped her. "Send the data from Lab One to Old Master Qee."
Chen Lu was stunned. "To the Qee Family?" ’Isn’t that what we prepared for the Gu Family?’
Chen Yun gave a grim smile but didn’t say anything.
’Back then, the Qee Family and City A had worked together to prop up Ye Xin, trying to kick the two of us out and seize sole control of the research institute. Now that I have another bargaining chip, why would I let them have an easy ti of it?’
’In the end, I really have to thank Gu Xi...’
’If Gu Xi hadn’t appeared, she probably would have just gone on a mad revenge spree before she died. But now...’ Chen Yun stared at the remaining half-vial of Gu Xi’s blood. ’Since there’s a chance to live, who would want to die?’
After Chen Lu left, Chen Yun opened her personal terminal, aid its cara at Gu Xi’s blood, and began a new round of experints.
...
The military quickly took over everything. Gu Xi stayed for one more day to fill the temporarily converted factory granary, then left with the convoy.
The cleanup mission over the next few days went smoothly. Not only did the Guard Team stop causing trouble, but even the people from the research institute seed to understand that discretion is the better part of valor, and they rarely loitered in Gu Xi’s presence.
The convoy advanced slowly toward the heart of Region YY7749.
The area was full of high mountains and dense forests, teeming with high-level mutant plants. In just a few days, the convoy had already encountered two malignant ones. But with the Special Service Team on hand and Ye Junhan watching over her, Gu Xi didn’t even have a chance to sneak away and snag so loot.
’It was so frustrating.’
A few days later, the convoy successfully completed its cleanup mission along the route. Beyond this deep, ancient forest ahead lay the territory of City A.
"Captain, City A’s border is just over the next two mountains," Yang Liu’s voice crackled through the walkie-talkie.
Ye Junhan glanced at the ti—10:30 p.m. "Find a suitable place nearby to make camp."
City A covered a vast area, and Ye Junhan wasn’t sure which part Gu Xi was heading to.
He lifted his gaze, looking at Gu Xi in the back seat through the rearview mirror.
Gu Xi gazed out the window, her expression serene, but her left thumb was slowly, forcefully pressing down on the knuckle of her index finger. ’I’ve been here before... after the great battle all those years ago, just before the helicopter arrived to take back to the Central Base.’
’She had slipped away from her teammates to secretly et a friend here.’
Gu Xi closed her eyes.
Ye Junhan frowned, sensing an inscrutable emotion in her eyes at that mont.
In the end, Ye Junhan couldn’t resist asking, "We’ll reach City A tomorrow. You..."
Gu Xi turned and cut him off. "Ten kiloters to the northwest, there’s a small stream. Its source is a cave in a cliff, and there’s a hot spring inside."
Ye Junhan frowned slightly as Gu Xi continued, "I rember... back then, before the Zombie Emperor was killed, it hid in that hot spring cave. At that ti..."
"Gu Xi." Ye Junhan’s cold voice suddenly cut her off as he watched her in the rearview mirror.
The atmosphere inside the command vehicle suddenly grew tense.
Never mind the soldier at the wheel; even Wei Heng and Qi Xiang, sitting nearby, held their breath, not daring to speak.
Gu Xi pressed her hand against the windowpane, saying nothing.
’She still rembered how strong the wind was that day, scattering the mist in the mountain forest. After a bitter battle, she had finally slain the last Zombie Emperor on earth. The people around her were cheering, embracing, and weeping with joy.’
’But for so reason, her own heart felt hollow.’
’Later, while waiting for the aircraft from the base, she had refused the company of Li Ming and the others, choosing to wander the area alone.’
’Eventually, she found herself on a cliff, where she sat on the edge and let the wind whip around her for a long ti.’
’A chaotic jumble of thoughts had raced through her mind...’
In the front passenger seat, Ye Junhan sat bolt upright. One hand gripped his walkie-talkie while the other rested on the open window fra, but his gaze remained fixed on Gu Xi.
After a long mont, he pulled his gaze away, keyed the walkie-talkie, and ordered the convoy to head northwest.
As the convoy suddenly changed direction, Gu Xi lowered her eyes slightly and poked the tiny green sprout on her fingertip.
’Thirty years had passed. Aside from the general shape of the mountains and the land, which was vaguely as she rembered, everything else had changed.’
’Including her.’
Gu Xi suddenly lowered the car window, her gaze landing on the base of a cliff several hundred ters ahead.
’Before she left that day, on so strange impulse, she had buried her blade at the foot of the largest crooked tree at the base of that cliff.’
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