The next day, noon, base cafeteria.
Jiang Nuan sat in the private booth reserved for Zero Squad, and when she shoved a piece of braised pork into her mouth, her eyes suddenly burned.
The skin of the meat was soft and tender, the sauce rich and fragrant—the taste on her tongue reminded her.
She was alive.
Yesterday she'd been chased by tentacles on the White Whale, and now there was hot food in front of her, and people lined up outside the booth, chatting and laughing.
It felt wonderful.
Across from her, Jiang Ce watched her expression and smiled.
He'd changed into a black T-shirt, the fabric stretched taut over his chest muscles, his broad shoulders taking up half the table. But when he smiled, his rugged features softened in an instant.
"Eat more." His chopsticks reached over, and three pieces of braised pork landed in her bowl.
Jiang Nuan still had food in her mouth, and mumbled, "That's enough, that's enough, eat some yourself."
"I've already had two bowls," Jiang Ce said, pointing at the empty bowl in front of him. "You're too skinny. At the physical in a couple days, you definitely won't pass with that little frame."
Jiang Nuan looked down at her own wrist. It really was painfully thin.
When she was with Jiang Ce, Jiang Nuan always felt a strange sense of ease.
This guy had the biggest build and the most explosive strength, but there was nothing about him that made her instinctually want to run. Not like Lu Shiyan, who stood like an invisible mountain, suffocating everyone around him.
Jiang Ce was pure, unconditonal safety, with no strings attached.
Jiang Nuan took two more bites of rice, hesitated, then finally spoke.
"That medical pod we brought back yesterday... what happened to it in the end?"
Jiang Ce's chewing paused for a moment. He leaned forward slightly, and his broad shadow enveloped them, enclosing their conversation in a private little bubble.
"Qi Sui already opened it. Bai Siyuan is awake."
So his name was Bai Siyuan.
Jiang Nuan's heart skipped half a beat.
"But the strange thing is," Jiang Ce scratched the back of his head, "there was nothing inside."
"Nothing at all?"
"Right. Just the man himself, and a standard SS-grade medical pod. No hidden compartments, no abnormal substances attached." Jiang Ce spread his hands. "Completely clean."
Jiang Nuan frowned. "Then why was that restricted zone so desperate to open it?"
Jiang Ce scratched his head again—the gesture, paired with his rugged face, was oddly endearing.
"Not sure. Qi Sui did a full search under the pretext of a contamination check on President Bai, but didn't find anything suspicious either." He lowered his voice a little. "The look on his face at the time was pretty subtle. He wanted to do a more thorough sweep—"
Jiang Nuan's heart lurched. "Then what?"
"Captain shut it down," Jiang Ce shrugged. "The Bai family showed up fast. We'd barely gotten the pod back to base when Bai Biotech's team arrived."
"The Bai family carries a lot of weight in the Qiming Foundation, and Bai Siyuan is a core member. Captain's tough, but without solid evidence, he couldn't push it openly."
"So he's already gone back?"
"Not yet," Jiang Ce shook his head. "Captain held his ground and refused to let him go. In the end, they compromised—he's still on base, the Bai family sent two people to look after him, but he can't leave until the investigation is done."
"I actually saw the Captain having tea with Bai Siyuan in the reception room earlier." He added.
Reception room.
"A Nuan..."
That voice came into her head without warning. Gentle, trembling, as if calling to her from an impossibly far distance.
Jiang Nuan's chopsticks paused for a split second.
She shoved the last piece of braised pork into her mouth, but could no longer taste anything.
"Want more? I can ask Chef Li to make you something else?" Jiang Ce's voice pulled her back.
"I'm full," she shook her head and stood up. "I'm going back to my room to rest."
"Alright, that White Whale trip was seriously draining." Jiang Ce casually stacked their trays together. "Good thing we had you. Get some proper rest."
Jiang Nuan murmured an acknowledgment, turned, and walked toward the cafeteria exit.
She killed a lot of time in her dorm.
She estimated that Lu Shiyan had already finished talking with Bai Siyuan and gone to the cafeteria by now.
Her hand rested on the doorknob.
Her rational mind said don't go. That man had nothing to do with her, a woman who'd crossed into this world.
But that voice refused to stop, no matter how she tried to silence it.
She'd just take one more quiet look. Maybe those lost memories would come flooding back.
The reception room was in Sector B of the base, not far from her dorm—just two corridors away.
At this hour, the hallways were nearly empty. If an occasional security guard passed by, they barely glanced at her before moving on.
Her footsteps were light. Instinctively, she didn't want to be discovered by certain people.
Like Lu Shiyan.
The door was closed, the corridor's cold white light casting a pale glow on the metal surface.
She stopped about five meters away.
Then she heard something.
Murmured voices from inside. Warm and gentle, carrying a familiarity that made every hair on her body stand on end.
Go, or not?
Push through that door, then what? Say what? "Hello, I heard you calling my name in my head. Do we know each other?"
Absurd.
Then the door opened from the inside.
Lu Shiyan stood there.
He wore a dark gray shirt, buttons done up to the very top. His complexion was better than it had been on the White Whale, but still pale, lacking color.
His dark brown eyes narrowed slightly the instant they landed on her.
Just for a fraction of a second.
Like a predator's instinctive response when it spots its prey.
"..."
Jiang Nuan's mind went blank for two whole seconds.
Then all the blood rushed to her cheeks at once.
Caught red-handed.
Why wasn't this man going to eat?
"I—" she opened her mouth, "I'm just passing through—"
Lu Shiyan said nothing. He just stood there, looking down at her.
"Passing through," Lu Shiyan repeated. "Your dorm is in Sector A."
"I wanted to take a walk after lunch." Jiang Nuan steadied her voice, doing her best to sound believable.
Lu Shiyan's gaze stayed on her face for two seconds. He didn't call her out, but he didn't step aside either.
Just then—
"A Nuan?"
A voice came from behind Lu Shiyan.
Jiang Nuan's gaze involuntarily slipped past Lu Shiyan's shoulder into the reception room.
A man stood up from the sofa.
White shirt, black tousled hair, skin so pale it was almost translucent.
The exact same face from the medical pod—only this time, his eyes were open, staring at the doorway.
Staring at her.
The moment their eyes met, those eyes blazed with light.
Joy, restraint, trembling, and a kind of cautious disbelief—all of it surged onto that delicate face at once.
He moved urgently, his knee knocking into the coffee table. The teacup wobbled. He didn't even notice.
"A Nuan?"
Once more.
Perfectly matching the voice that had echoed in her mind so many times.
Jiang Nuan's nose burned.
It made no sense. She didn't know this man. She couldn't find a single image of him in her memories.
But her eyes were welling up, as if her body remembered something long before her mind did.
She stood frozen in the doorway.
Beside her, Lu Shiyan hadn't moved.
But in that instant the cry of "A Nuan" landed, the temperature around him dropped by several degrees.
He lowered his eyes and glanced at her.
The look was featherlight.
But every hair on the back of Jiang Nuan's neck stood on end.
