Jiang Nuan was woken by a ticklish sensation.
Something soft and furry brushed against her chin.
Still half-asleep, she raised a hand to push it away, only for her fingers to touch a hard forearm first.
That arm was wrapped tightly around her waist, holding her close.
Jiang Nuan woke up completely.
Morning light filtered through the gap in the curtains. She was lying on her side, her back pressed against a warm, broad chest.
Ye Que was still asleep.
His breathing was deep and even, and he looked much better than he had the night before.
Jiang Nuan shifted, and an indescribable soreness immediately shot through her waist and legs.
She had done all the work the entire time…
A critically injured man who had lost so much blood, yet he had lain there completely unbothered.
She ground her back teeth together, angrily recalling what he had said the night before.
“I won’t let you stop again.”
Ye Que had followed through on those words to the letter.
She had been unable to hold out several times, but Ye Que’s arm had stayed locked around her waist, not allowing her to pull away.
He had even murmured in that damned low, hoarse voice, “…Almost there.”
And she had been fooled by those words—and by the feel of the abdominal muscles beneath her palm.
She had no idea where a man with a high fever and such severe blood loss had found the strength.
He was a complete lunatic.
“Meow—”
Jiangjiang sat at the foot of the bed, tilting its round head to one side.
When it saw that she was awake, it stepped across the covers and came up to her, pressing its cool, damp nose against her cheek.
It tickled.
Jiang Nuan couldn’t help smiling. She gently scratched under its chin.
Jiangjiang immediately began purring contentedly, pushing its entire head into her palm.
…It was so much cuter than its owner.
Her gaze unconsciously fell on Ye Que’s shoulder.
The bandage had been wrapped by her the night before. The stitches appeared to be healing well, and no blood had seeped through.
That made her breathe a sigh of relief.
But it also made her realize once again, with painful clarity, that she had really done that sort of thing with a seriously injured man the night before.
She spent exactly one second questioning herself.
Then her gaze traveled down his neck, skimmed over his collarbone, and landed on the half of his waist exposed above the covers.
The blood loss had left his skin unnaturally pale, making the definition of his muscles stand out even more clearly. The lines of his V-shaped abs disappeared beneath the edge of the blankets…
She swallowed.
The self-interrogation was over.
The conclusion was: It was all his fault. Who told him to be so good-looking and insist on getting injured?
Jiang Nuan slowly slipped out from beneath his arm, moving carefully so she wouldn’t touch his wound.
As she freed herself, Ye Que’s brows drew together uneasily in his sleep.
The instant her feet touched the floor, her knees gave way.
She grabbed the bedpost to steady herself and cursed under her breath before turning and walking into the bathroom.
The mirror above the sink reflected her current appearance.
Her long hair was a mess, and the redness at the corners of her eyes had not completely faded.
Jiang Nuan lowered her head and looked at her collarbones, unable to stop herself from clicking her tongue.
It was a disaster.
Marks of varying depths covered the area from her collarbone to her shoulder.
Some were from when she had bitten down while being stitched up, and some were from later… deliberately inflicted.
Was this man part dog?
Expressionless, she tugged her neckline higher and walked out of the bedroom in her slippers.
*
In the kitchen, she stubbornly searched through the cabinets she hadn’t had time to check the day before.
There was nothing.
How had Ye Que managed to survive these four hundred or so days?
Every day, did he go out to kill monsters and people, search for clues, then return to this cold apartment and simply sit in the darkness, staring blankly at the cat called Jiangjiang?
She opened the refrigerator and took out several eggs, dropping them into a pot to boil.
Then she took out the milk and checked the expiration date on the back. It had three days left.
It would have to do.
Just as the water began bubbling, she heard movement behind her.
Jiang Nuan turned around.
Ye Que was leaning against the kitchen doorway.
His right shoulder rested against the wall, while his injured left arm hung at his side. A small section of the gauze wrapped around his stitches showed beneath the edge of his black T-shirt.
His lips were nearly bloodless, and his tousled fringe half-covered his eyes.
But he simply stood there in silence, watching her.
She had no idea how long he had been there.
“Why are you up?” His stare made her feel a little uncomfortable. “Doesn’t your wound hurt?”
Ye Que didn’t answer immediately.
His gaze slowly moved down from her face, landing on the section of collarbone that her neckline couldn’t conceal—the marks of varying depths.
His eyes darkened.
“I woke up and found you weren’t there.”
He had gotten out of bed and forced himself to come looking for her just because he’d woken up and not seen her, without caring about his injury at all.
“I just came to make something to eat.” Jiang Nuan pressed her lips together. “There are only eggs and milk left.”
“Mm.” He replied in a low voice, but made no move to return to bed. “I’ll go out and buy some later.”
“You should rest.” Jiang Nuan carried the eggs to the dining table.
This man really didn’t see himself as an injured patient at all.
She turned back to bring over the milk. When she returned to the table, she froze.
Ye Que was sitting there, peeling eggs.
His left arm was completely useless, so he could only work with his right hand, but it didn’t seem to affect him much.
He had already peeled one and placed it on the plate across from him—her plate.
Once the second was peeled, he put that one on her plate too.
Only then did he begin peeling his own.
*
After breakfast, Ye Que refused to go back to the bedroom to lie down, no matter what she said.
Instead, he walked to the living room and sat on the sofa. Jiang Nuan tried to support him, but he refused.
He refused to be taken care of, yet last night, when he had been lying down, he hadn’t rejected her once.
Jiang Nuan rolled her eyes inwardly.
But as she watched him lean against the sofa, he seemed to have regained even more strength than he’d had at breakfast.
This man’s physical constitution was so good it was practically inhuman.
She gathered the gauze and iodine scattered across the coffee table. As she bent down to tidy things up, she felt a gaze settle on her.
Ye Que’s eyes were fixed on her collarbone, on the marks exposed there.
There wasn’t the slightest hint of guilt on his face. If anything, he looked faintly satisfied.
Unable to hold back, she threw a roll of gauze at him. “Shameless!”
Ye Que caught it effortlessly with his right hand and nodded calmly. “Mm.”
Did he think she was complimenting him?
Jiang Nuan turned her face away and continued putting things in order.
Something furry brushed against her calf. Jiangjiang’s tail stood high in the air as its round body repeatedly nudged her leg.
The cat was incredibly friendly.
Ye Que was clearly its owner, yet it completely ignored him on the sofa and clung stubbornly to Jiang Nuan instead.
Watching this, Ye Que leaned back into the sofa. “Looks like it’s accepted you.”
Jiang Nuan crouched down and rubbed Jiangjiang’s head.
How could it not accept her? Even its name had been chosen based on hers.
“Where’s the cat food?” she asked.
“Bottom drawer of the TV cabinet. There are cans inside.”
She walked over and pulled open the drawer.
Several neat rows of canned cat food filled it, with a wide variety of flavors and enough supplies to last a long time.
She glanced back at the nearly empty refrigerator.
There was a moment of silence.
She took out a can of duck, tore it open, and poured it into the cat’s bowl.
Jiangjiang immediately ran over and buried its round face in the bowl, purring with satisfaction.
Sunlight streamed through the living-room window, falling warmly across Jiangjiang’s orange fur.
Jiang Nuan reached out and stroked its plump back.
The scene was so peaceful that, for a moment, she almost forgot this was a restricted zone.
The terminal on Jiang Nuan’s wrist vibrated. It was an encrypted message from Shen Wu.
[Retreating toward your coordinates. We have a wounded person.]
Jiang Nuan’s heart lurched.
A wounded person?
The fact that Shen Wu had gone out of his way to mention it meant the injuries were certainly serious.
“What’s wrong?” Ye Que immediately noticed the change in her expression, his gaze sharpening.
“Shen Wu and the others are back.” Jiang Nuan spoke quickly. “They have a wounded person.”
Jiang Nuan sprang into action.
She hurried to an empty bedroom on the first floor and spread a medical pad across the bed. Then she checked the medical supplies once more.
Fortunately, as a bounty hunter, Ye Que kept more medical supplies in the apartment than most pharmacies had in stock.
As she prepared everything, she found herself thinking of Qi Sui.
He always wore a smiling expression, yet would occasionally say the most terrifying things in the gentlest of tones.
If he were here, he could handle all of this in perfect order.
Could the wounded person Shen Wu mentioned be him?
Perhaps Jiang Ce and the others had finally found him and brought him back.
The faint sound of an engine drifted in from outside, drawing closer.
Please let them all come back safely.
*
Jiang Nuan carefully set the last roll of bandages in place and finally let out a sigh of relief.
She straightened up, went to the bathroom to wash her face, and rolled her stiff neck.
When she raised her head, she met her own eyes in the mirror.
The overlapping marks of varying shades stretching from her collarbone to her shoulder were painfully conspicuous.
Jiang Nuan’s face instantly grew hot.
Without hesitation, she rummaged through Ye Que’s wardrobe and quickly pulled out a high-collared jacket, covering the provocative marks completely.
She had just finished straightening the collar when the doorbell rang.
Jiang Nuan opened the door.
The sharp, overpowering stench of blood rushed in at once, sweeping away the warmth and gentle morning light that had filled the apartment.
Shen Wu’s face was pale, dried blood staining his cheek, his lips nearly the same color as his skin. But he was still standing steadily enough as he supported Jiang Ce’s right arm.
Qinian was in a completely different state.
His head hung low, his eyes hidden beneath his tousled bangs. Though he was firmly supporting Jiang Ce’s left arm, he looked as if his soul had been drained from his body.
Jiang Ce was being held between them. Multiple wounds were visible through his torn clothing.
A deep gash split across his back, the flesh torn open and still oozing blood.
He could remain upright only because the two men were holding him up. His head drooped, and he had already slipped into semi-consciousness.
Jiang Nuan’s heart sank. She turned and hurried toward the bedroom.
“Get Jiang Ce into the bedroom. Quickly!”
Saline, alcohol, clotting agents—she had already laid them out one by one in preparation.
Ye Que rose swiftly from the sofa. The wound on his shoulder had not yet fully healed, but his movements were still decisive and efficient. His sharp gaze swept across the view outside through a gap in the curtains.
After confirming that there was no danger, he pulled the curtains shut. “No one followed us.”
Shen Wu nodded. He and Qinian supported Jiang Ce together and followed Jiang Nuan inside.
The commotion startled Jiangjiang, who darted beneath the TV cabinet, leaving only the tip of his fluffy orange tail visible.
*
Bedroom.
Jiang Nuan cut away Jiang Ce’s ruined shirt. The fabric had been soaked through with blood and stuck to his skin, so she had to wet it with saline before peeling it away.
His condition was even worse than she had imagined.
In addition to the main wound across his back, there were three or four lacerations of varying sizes along his side.
She had no time to be shocked. She immediately began cleaning and disinfecting the wounds.
Shen Wu stood beside her, wordlessly handing her whatever she needed and pressing gauze against the wounds.
As for Qinian, the moment he took Jiang Ce’s arm from his shoulder, it was as if all the strength had been pulled from his body.
He swayed.
Then he silently retreated into a corner, lowering his head and clenching his fists tightly.
He did not dare make a sound, as if even breathing were a sin.
After confirming that the area around them was secure, Ye Que came to the bedroom door. Leaning against the frame, he glanced at Jiang Ce on the bed before finally turning his attention to Shen Wu.
“What happened?”
“It was a trap,” Shen Wu said hoarsely. “We tracked the last location where Qi Sui’s signal disappeared—a deserted factory on the outskirts of the city.”
“The Cleaners used Qi Sui as bait.”
In the corner, Qinian’s shoulders jerked violently.
Shen Wu closed his eyes. When he opened them again, they were filled with cold fury.
“There were at least fifty of them, and their personnel and abilities were specifically chosen to counter our team.”
Jiang Nuan threaded a needle and began stitching the main wound on Jiang Ce’s back, listening intently as she worked.
“Jiang Ce stayed behind to cover Qinian and me while we retreated…” Shen Wu looked at the wound that had nearly cleaved Jiang Ce’s back in two. “He took the brunt of it alone.”
Silence spread through the room, broken only by the faint sound of the needle passing through flesh.
Then Ye Que began to recount what had happened to him.
“The information I received said that Qi Sui was being transferred, and that the window of opportunity was very short.”
“I followed it to the reported location.”
“But there were a large number of ability users among the Cleaners. One of them was an S-rank ability user whose power was distortion.”
Everyone immediately understood why one of the four bullet wounds on Ye Que had gone off target.
That ability could distort an opponent’s vision—a nearly fatal power when used against a sniper.
Those shots had been fired while Ye Que’s vision was being taken from him. He had killed three people relying solely on instinct and experience.
Ye Que continued, “They could control abnormal-energy creatures. I dealt with the creature and the ability user with the distortion power.”
“When I tracked them to the holding site, I discovered it was another trap. The entire building was packed with explosives.”
He looked at Jiang Ce unconscious on the bed and fell silent for two seconds.
“I couldn’t avoid it alone.”
Ye Que described his experience in a flat, detached voice, but everyone knew what kind of hell lay behind those understated words.
A sniper deprived of his vision, surrounded by Cleaners and monsters specifically sent to hunt him down.
Yet he had not only survived—he had taken out numerous Cleaners and monsters, and even killed the S-rank ability user with the power of distortion.
Jiang Nuan tied off the final bandage.
Both her hands were covered in Jiang Ce’s blood, and fine beads of sweat dotted her forehead. Once her intense concentration finally eased, a wave of delayed dizziness and exhaustion washed over her. She lightly braced herself against the edge of the bed and took a few breaths.
Jiang Ce’s fingers curled unconsciously in his sleep, as if even without consciousness, his body still retained the instinct to protect everyone.
When Jiang Nuan saw it, her nose stung.
Shen Wu set down the special wound medication in his hand and walked over to her.
His face was still pale, and the dried blood on his cheek had not yet been wiped away, lending him a strange, almost otherworldly beauty.
His gaze moved from her bloodstained hands to her pale yet unyielding face.
“Our mission failed.”
Shen Wu stated the cruel fact, his voice heavy with exhaustion.
“Qi Sui is still in their hands.”
The truth came crashing down with crushing weight, and the air seemed to freeze.
He lowered his eyes and remained silent for several seconds.
Then he looked at Jiang Nuan again. In those pale eyes, her bloodstained yet still luminous face was reflected.
"The Scavenger's plan was perfect," he picked up the clean gauze beside him and gently wiped the sweat from her forehead. "They lured Ye Que away, drove Qinian crazy with Qi Sui, and then took separate actions to break up our remaining forces. It was a well - connected plan, and we did lose the first round."
"But you made a choice that was out of the plan." Shen Wu's fingertips brushed across her eyebrows, and finally a glimmer of warm light appeared in his eyes. "You brought Ye Que back."
"You're amazing."
"As long as we're all alive..."
Shen Wu's voice was soft, but his tone was very firm.
"We won't lose."
Jiang Nuan suddenly felt a pang of sourness in her nose.
She blinked hard to hold back her emotions and nodded.
Qinian in the corner never looked up. Jiang Ce on the bed was breathing much more steadily, and his chest rose and fell rhythmically.
Ye Que was leaning against the doorframe, with his arms crossed. If it weren't for the bandage on his left shoulder, it would be almost impossible to tell that he had just come back from the brink of death yesterday.
There was only the sound of breathing in the room.
It was enough that everyone was still here.
Team Zero would never lose.
*
Qinian didn't know how long he had been crouching in the corner.
His eyes were always fixed on the shocking wound on Jiang Ce's back.
It was his fault.
Jiang Nuan was busy beside the bed. Her slender and frail figure was covered with Jiang Ce's blood on her hands, but her movements were very steady.
And he, crouching in the corner, didn't even dare to breathe loudly.
Qinian clenched his fists, and his fingernails dug deeply into his palms.
At that time, through the sensory sharing, his brother's breath was weak, and vague pain and coldness came in waves.
This pierced through all his rationality, and he rushed into the Scavenger's trap regardless.
Jiang Ce stayed behind alone to protect him and let him leave.
If he hadn't lost control and rushed out recklessly, if he could have been as calm as Shen Wu.
"Sigh..."
Qinian closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and propped himself up against the wall to stand up.
*
In the living room.
Jiang Nuan washed the blood off her hands and was whispering with the others to discuss the next plan.
The sound of Qinian's footsteps made them all look over at the same time.
He stood in front of them, with his head down.
"...Sorry."
His voice was so hoarse that it was almost impossible to tell his original tone.
"It's my fault."
Qinian's shoulders trembled slightly, and the fingers hanging by his sides were tightly clenched.
"If it weren't for my impulsiveness, Brother Jiang Ce wouldn't be so badly injured."
"Shen Wu was almost implicated too."
He paused for a moment, and his Adam's apple rolled with difficulty.
"My brother... is still in their hands."
When he said the last sentence, his shoulders slumped, and he was waiting for something.
Accusation or anger, even a beating.
The living room was silent for a moment.
Jiang Nuan looked at him.
Qinian at this moment reminded her of the orange kitten that had been caught in the rain and was crouching downstairs in the dormitory, all wet and pitifully curled up.
She stood up and her eyes fell on the fist tightly clenched by his side. Drops of blood were constantly dripping on the floor.
"Qinian, I know you're very sad."
She reached out and covered his fist.
The girl's palm was soft and warm.
Qinian stiffened all over.
"But self - blame is the most useless thing now. It can't save Qi Sui," Jiang Nuan looked at the dejected Qinian.
Qinian's shoulders slumped a little more.
"That power that made you lose control is not called impulse," Jiang Nuan paused for a moment before continuing. "It's called love."
She tightened her fingers a little. "It's because you love Qi Sui too much."
Qinian suddenly raised his head. Those beautiful eyes with slightly upturned tails were now red all over, churning with too many and too complex emotions.
He thought he would be met with a storm of accusations or pity, but neither was the case.
Instead, it was a kind of... understanding that was completely unexpected.
This understanding was more powerful than any gentle and comforting words.
Qinian felt as if his heart had been burned hard by something.
The blood that was almost frozen all over his body was thawed by warm emotions, and the warmth rushed through his limbs and bones along the blood vessels.
Besides his brother, he tasted the feeling of having his emotions accepted by others for the first time.
But Jiang Nuan didn't give him time to indulge in the feeling of being touched.
"But love alone can't save people," she changed the subject and her voice became half a degree colder. "It will only make you and the people you love die together."
Qinian's breath caught in his throat.
"What you have to do now is to learn to control it and master it, and turn it into your sharpest blade."
Jiang Nuan's firm eyes fell on his face. "I need you, Jiang Ce needs you, and so do Shen Wu and Ye Que."
"But what we need is not a poor guy who only knows how to apologize," she lifted her chin slightly. "It's Qinian who can stab the enemy's heart with a single blow."
There was a long silence.
He firmly grasped Jiang Nuan's hand with his back - hand, the strength so great that it seemed as if he wanted to knead her into his bones.
The churning in those slightly upturned eyes was as hot as ignited magma, looking at her without any disguise. That kind of heat was mixed with gratitude, attachment, and something deeper and more dangerous.
But it only lasted for a few seconds. The flame quickly cooled and settled.
His voice was still a little hoarse, but it was steady and firm. "I won't lose control again."
The little animal crouching in the corner in the rain was gone. Now it was a wolf showing its teeth again.
This was the right way.
Jiang Nuan breathed a sigh of relief.
Well, the ideological education class was over, and it was time to end the class.
She symbolically moved her wrist, indicating that the other person could let go.
But she couldn't pull it out. Qinian held it even tighter.
Jiang Nuan:?
She looked up and met Qinian's gaze.
That look... well, it was just like a stray dog that had just been picked up from a cardboard box, afraid that the owner would regret it the next second and throw him back into the heavy rain.
Well, she couldn't get her hand back.
She couldn't have a wrestling match with him, and the scene was just too embarrassing.
She pulled this Qinian who refused to let go and sat down on the sofa beside them.
The two were still holding hands, and the atmosphere was once very strange.
Jiang Nuan could feel two other pairs of eyes silently falling on their clasped hands... It was a bit chilling.
Her scalp went numb, and she began to think about the success rate of pulling her hand back now.
"It seems that the task of taming abnormal creatures can be handed over to you in the future,"
Shen Wu's voice broke the strange silence. His eyes fell coldly on their clasped hands, and when he looked up again, a faint cool smile appeared in his light - colored eyes. "After all, you're very good at making them obedient."
Jiang Nuan couldn't help but let out a snort of laughter.
Qinian was stunned for a couple of seconds, and then his face flushed red at a visible speed.
"You're the abnormal creature! Your whole family—"
Just as the words came to his lips, he suddenly remembered the promise he had just made to Jiang Nuan that he "wouldn't lose control again".
Qinian's whole face was so red that he was about to burst, and the more unpleasant words stuck in his throat, making his cheeks puff up.
"...Just you wait."
These were the only words that finally squeezed out between his teeth.
Jiang Nuan really couldn't hold back and laughed again.
When she laughed, Qinian unconsciously tightened his grip on her hand.
Shen Wu's gaze skimmed over the hands that the two were holding. Then he stood up, poured a glass of warm water and handed it to Jiang Nuan. "You worked so hard bandaging the wound just now. Have some water."
He held the glass out on Jiang Nuan's left side, where her hand was firmly held by Qinian, with an elegant gesture.
In the stalemate, Ye Que suddenly let out a very soft groan.
"Jiang Nuan," he pressed his right hand on his left shoulder, where the bandage was stained with blood at some point. "I need to change the dressing."
...
Help.
This atmosphere feels even more suffocating than facing the scavengers.
