Chapter 388: What Did You Break?
"I went shopping," Lingyun said, looking like a golden retriever that just wanted pets, cuddles, and probably a belly rub.
I stared at for probably a little longer than I should have, considering the fact that an invisible tail was shaking behind Lingyun hard enough that the rest of his body followed the motion.
Letting out a long sigh... and I would never admit that it was a sigh of contentment, I looked back into the velvet bag. I didn’t notice how much I had missed him until he came back. But he was here now, and that was what mattered.
Well... that and the green cores.
They were still in the bag. Larger than I ever thought possible, crystal clear, and humming with enough power that I could feel them even at this distance. I didn’t even want to think about the number of people that probably died carving it out of a zombie or just how powerful that zombie had to be.
None of that was my concern. What was was the fact that they were easily several times stronger than the best core I had found downstairs. Hell, they were several times stronger than the best core I had seen in two lifetimes.
Now this was a treasure that I wasn’t willing to share. Not that I tended to share my treasures. But just in case, I closed the bag before the baby vine’s two leaf-heads could dive into it.
Both snapped their teeth at the drawstring in protest.
"Not happening," I told it, my expression flat. "Get your greedy eyes off of them. "
They hissed together, clearly no more impressed with me as I was with them.
"These are mine," I continued, now glaring at the two heads without eyes. "I’m not sharing." Besides, with all my luck I’ll end up giving all this power to the plants that I couldn’t see for a reason I had no idea about.
Fuck my life.
As if sensing that I wasn’t concentrating, one leaf-head bit the air near my fingers while the other turned toward Lingyun as if it had already identified the person most likely to help it commit theft.
Either that, or it now knew which side of the bread was buttered and it was going to take full advantage.
Lingyun smiled proudly. "They like my gift," he announced as the leaf that was looking at him like it didn’t know if he should eat him or not nodded its head.
"They want to eat your gift," I grumbled under my breath, clutching the bag even tighter to me.
"That still counts," Lingyun countered, still looking much too pleased with himself.
I settled the bag firmly on my lap and looked at him again.
The clean shirt had distracted me at first, so had the smile if I was being honest.
And I was never one to lie to myself.
But Lingyun had returned looking bright, cheerful, and far too pleased with himself, which was normal enough that I had almost ignored everything else.
Almost.
One of his eyes was bright red. Not from the glow of his power, but an ugly red that screamed of burst blood vessels, and possibly a punch to the face. His right shoulder sat slightly lower than the left, and his arm around me was carefully positioned so he didn’t have to move it too much.
Not to mention, he was also breathing like every full breath had personally offended him and cost him more than a month’s work of pay.
I reached up and caught his chin, making sure that his complete attention was on me. Lingyun immediately leaned into my shoulder and moved his head up and down like he was begging for pets.
"What did you break?" I asked softly.
Look I get that I had a resting bitch face and I wasn’t the best at the whole ’communication’ thing, but Lingyun was mine, and I wasn’t going to let anything happen to him. And I was pretty sure that I had made that more than clear by now.
His smile grew softer as he read all the words on my face that I refused to say out loud. There was no need to jinx ourselves. Saying the L word was almost as bad as tattooing someone’s name on your body. It was the kiss of death to any relationship.
"Nothing important," he assured me, but I couldn’t help but notice that he didn’t deny that something was broken in the first place.
"That wasn’t what I asked," I replied, my voice still soft, but my shoulders went tight as I wondered who I would have to kill.
I was equal opportunity after all. ’Touch her and die’ didn’t apply to just me. It definitely applied to him and Yuche, too. Zhenlan and Chenghai if I was honest. But they would have to get their heads out of their asses for that to happen, and I didn’t see that happening anytime soon.
Mind you, Chenghai was getting a lot of brownie points by carrying everything. It reminded me of us going shopping before the end of the world and I couldn’t help the smile that appeared on my face as I thought about those times with him.
Before he died and was reborn.
"Shopping became competitive," replied Lingyun, pulling my undivided attention back to him. By the smile on his face, he knew it, too.
I turned his face toward the light coming through the warehouse windows. There was a thin cut near his hairline that had been cleaned, and faint bruising had already begun darkening beneath his jaw.
"You were fighting," I said, really not impressed that he was fighting one against who only knew. I should have sent one of the guys with him. I’ll make sure to do that... next time.
"I won," he announced like that was a surprise. Of course he won, I never doubted that. But he still shouldn’t have been put in that situation.
"Lingyun."
"I won very thoroughly."