Chapter 55: "Using the same reason twice, do you take me for a fool?
You don’t stumble in the same place twice. If you do, you must be a fool.
Xue Can had never considered himself a fool, but today, he felt like the biggest fool alive.
Shen Lu couldn’t understand why Xue Can had suddenly attacked her. If she hadn’t, out of sheer boredom on her walk, used a Lottery Ticket and been insanely lucky enough to draw a protective item, the consequences would have been unthinkable.
She immediately activated the Good and Evil Judgment Device. Sure enough, the heart floating above Xue Can’s head was gray.
Shen Lu pursed her lips. ’This Xue Can probably had ill intentions toward me from the very beginning. His help later was likely just part of some other scheme.’
’And to be even more conspiratorial, maybe Ma Laosan was acting on his orders.’
’But we didn’t know each other before this, and we certainly didn’t have any grudge between us.’
’The only unpleasantness, if you could even call it that, was when she refused to sell him more than his share of mint water on her first day at the stall.’
’Could he really hold such a huge grudge over something so minor?’
"Mr. Xue, what is the meaning of this?" Shen Lu struggled to keep her voice steady. "I don’t believe I’ve done anything to offend you."
Xue Can used his superpower to cauterize the wound, stopping the bleeding.
"Apologies. My Spiritual Sea was a little unstable just now."
Shen Lu’s face was devoid of expression. "Using the same excuse twice... Do you take me for a fool?"
Xue Can had used the very same excuse the last time he’d suddenly attacked someone.
Shen Lu had a good memory; she hadn’t forgotten.
"I’m not trying to fool you."
’He just couldn’t find a better excuse.’
Shen Lu gave him one last, deep look, then turned and walked away.
’He saved me today, but he also tried to hurt me. As far as I’m concerned, we’re even.’
"What is wrong with him?" Shen Lu couldn’t help but mutter. "Attacking me for no reason. If I could actually beat him, I’d definitely teach him a lesson."
[You did teach him a lesson, Host. His palm was injured just now.]
Shen Lu retorted, "That’s not nearly enough. You have to pay them back double to make the lesson stick."
Shen Lu opened the door, went inside, and flicked on the light with a CLICK.
The moment Shen Lu returned, Fu Cheng detected the scent of a mutant beast on her.
It was faint, but his nose missed nothing.
’She encountered a mutant beast?’
Fu Cheng hurriedly scanned Shen Lu with his Divine Sense to check for injuries. Aside from some mud on her pant cuffs from running and a drop of blood Xue Can had accidentally dripped on her hem, the girl was unharmed.
’What happened?’
’Didn’t she just go to take a shower?’
’Why is she back so late? Why does she smell of a mutant beast? Why is there blood on her clothes?’
Fu Cheng had a million questions, but he had to bottle them all up. The most he could do was open his right eye and twitch his left hand. His vocal cords felt as if they were glued together, completely silent.
Shen Lu collapsed onto the sofa for a moment. She was exhausted. If she hadn’t remembered that she still needed to feed Fu Cheng, she would have been too lazy to move.
She ladled a bowl of millet and pumpkin porridge from the rice cooker. As she sat on the edge of the bed, she noticed Fu Cheng’s right eye was fixed on her, a storm of emotions churning within it.
Shen Lu thought for a moment and guessed he was just hungry because she was feeding him later than usual.
"There was a little... incident on my way back from the showers," Shen Lu said, her tone casual as she began to feed him. "I ran into a mutant beast, but luckily, someone was there to capture it."
Shen Lu might not have seemed particularly frightened or horrified, but in truth, her heart had stopped the very second she saw the mutant beast.
Especially after being chased by it, she had nearly run her lungs out.
But Xue Can had saved her, and she’d had time to pull herself together while resting at the Gale Mercenary Corps’s stronghold.
"That Xue Can... he’s incredibly calculating."
Shen Lu didn’t expect a response from Fu Cheng, so she just let her thoughts wander, speaking whatever came to mind.
"He attacked me again today, you know?" Shen Lu said with a pout. "If I hadn’t had something to defend myself with, I wouldn’t have made it back."
Fu Cheng paused in his swallowing, his eyes filled with worry.
’I knew Xue Can was an ambitious wolf. It’s a shame that last time, I could only use a minor trick to warn him. More than ten days have passed, and the deterrent effect has clearly worn off.’
"Don’t worry, it’s all over now. Let’s finish the porridge. I want to get some rest after you’re done."
Only then did Fu Cheng resume swallowing, cooperating with Shen Lu to finish the porridge as quickly as possible.
After washing the empty bowl, Shen Lu transferred the rest of the porridge into another container and stored it in her System Warehouse.
She then started braising the chicken legs and dried tofu she planned to sell the next day, only lying down on the bed after she was done.
Shen Lu had a knack for bouncing back. Once she finished venting to Fu Cheng, her frustrations were gone. She fell asleep the moment her head hit the pillow, her carefree manner both amusing and endearing.
Fu Cheng gently closed his eyes. His left hand slowly moved, turning palm-up.
A few minutes later, Shen Lu’s hand slipped off the side of the bed, landing perfectly in his open palm.
The man quietly closed his fingers around hers, the line of his lips softening into a gentle curve.
Shen Lu slept exceptionally soundly. When she woke up, her legs were still sore.
’How is he holding my hand again?’
Shen Lu stared at her right hand for a moment before glancing over at Fu Cheng.
Fu Cheng’s consciousness returned the moment Shen Lu’s eyes opened. When he felt her confused gaze on him, he felt a pang of guilt.
’But I can’t just move. If I let go now, won’t that be even more awkward?’
"Is he like a baby, just grabbing onto whatever his hand touches?" Shen Lu mumbled, pulling her hand free. A thought suddenly struck her. ’Wait a minute... I thought he couldn’t move anything but his eyes?’
’If he can grab things with his hand now, does that mean his condition is improving?’
Shen Lu felt she had hit upon the truth.
"Is his life force just that tenacious, or am I just that good at taking care of him?"
Sighing with emotion, Shen Lu got up to wash. She had a bowl of millet and pumpkin porridge for breakfast, transferred the braised items from the rice cooker pot into another container to continue soaking, then washed the pot and started a large batch of rice.
She fed Fu Cheng his breakfast before leaving, then grabbed her tools and headed to the No. 3 Landfill.
Cai Su was already waiting outside. The moment she saw her, she asked, "Boss Shen, did something happen to you yesterday?"
There wasn’t much to do for entertainment at night, so to save on power, Cai Su usually went to bed early.
Before going to sleep, she had specifically glanced downstairs. Shen Lu’s room was dark, which meant she hadn’t been back yet.
"Yeah, I ran into a bit of trouble, but it was nothing serious."
Having already told the story to her system and vented about it to Fu Cheng, Shen Lu had no desire to repeat it a third time. She brushed past the topic with a couple of vague sentences.
The two of them scavenged at the No. 3 Landfill for two hours. At one point, they saw two other scavengers suddenly collapse. Their skin began to ulcerate as if it were dissolving. Their mouths gaped open, but no sound came out. In less than ten minutes, they were dead.
"’A contagious disease?’ Shen Lu had never seen anything like it. That was her first thought."
Cai Su pulled her further away. "It doesn’t look like a disease," she said uncertainly. "It looks more like... poisoning."