PSW - Chapter 113

Chapter 113

Zhao Haiyue had been sleepless all night, only managing to drift off as dawn broke. But even in her sleep, she was anxious, worried that Yun Lingjian would come looking for her. She startled awake once or twice, only to find that no one had visited at all. It wasn't until she got up to wash in the afternoon that she heard a knock on the door. She assumed it was Yun Lingjian, finished with her work, but was surprised to see Yu Yinan when she opened the door.

She thought it wasn't so bad that Yu Yinan had come. After all, she had learned a few things from their last conversation. As for courage… Zhao Haiyue was also very curious how Yu Yinan had managed to muster the courage to confess her feelings to someone like Zheng Yi. If she thought about it carefully… the distance and the concerns between Yu Yinan and Zheng Yi should have been even greater than those between her and Yun Lingjian.

But Zhao Haiyue had never expected this. On the first day of the new year, Yu Yinan had actually brought the great demon king, Zheng Yi, to visit her! This wasn't a visit; this was clearly a summons from death! Not to mention the marks on Yu Yinan's body, which were so obvious they couldn't be more so. The sight made Zhao Haiyue both flustered and jealous, and the moment she heard Zheng Yi speak, she was overcome with guilt.

After recounting the events of the previous night, Zhao Haiyue let out a deep sigh. She shrank into the shadows, looking exceptionally pitiful.

Zheng Yi and Yu Yinan didn't bother to poke holes in her "cousin" story. After a moment of thought, Yu Yinan couldn't help but speak up. "But she waited outside for your… cousin for so long, at least an hour or two, right? The weather is getting colder, and she was busy all day, just to stand there waiting for your cousin? You just kept the door shut and locked her out? And it was so late. When she said she was leaving, she was obviously waiting for your cousin to open the door, right? And your… cousin really didn't open it? It was so late, wasn't it dangerous for her to go back alone? You didn't even walk her back?"

If their roles were reversed, forget letting Zheng Yi wait that long—Yu Yinan would probably have opened the door in advance, with everything prepared and waiting before Zheng Yi even arrived.

Zhao Haiyue's head sank lower and lower with each of Yu Yinan's rebukes. She couldn't even find a way to argue. As for Yu Yinan's final slip of the tongue, where she directly said "you," Zhao Haiyue didn't notice it at all.

"But at that time… my brain just wasn't working. It was a complete blank. I felt like I'd become an idiot! Yes, maybe I'm just a fool… sob, what can I do? What am I supposed to do? Th-then should I prepare a new gift and go apologize? Should I go find her at the lab now?" In her emotional breakdown, Zhao Haiyue covered her face, casting the "cousin" story aside. She asked desperately, "But what if she's busy? When she left last night, she said she'd be very busy today…"

"What is she busy with?" Zheng Yi asked curiously. "Has Humanity's Light made any new discoveries?"

"…Not really. Weren't there a lot of zombie corpses from the last horde? And many were enhanced zombies. The shelter preserved many relatively intact bodies and dissected their brains, finding something like energy crystals in a small number of them. Of course, they also extracted their blood and so on. In short, they've been busy with zombie research recently." Zhao Haiyue glanced at Zheng Yi, answering honestly, looking small, helpless, and resentful. "That special mental-type zombie you sent back last time has also given the research institute plenty to study for a long time."

Yu Yinan, at least, was genuinely trying to help her brainstorm. But this powerhouse, Zheng Yi… was clearly just here to watch the drama unfold.

But did Zhao Haiyue dare to object? She did not. She still had to answer truthfully. After all, Zheng Yi had provided almost all the research materials. If she hadn't dealt with the zombie horde, who knew where Humanity's Light would even be right now.

"Those energy crystals seem to help improve an ability user's strength." Yu Yinan thought of the mutated beast from the extreme cold period long ago. "If Yun Lingjian continues her research, maybe she can invent some kind of potion to enhance ability users?"

Zhao Haiyue: "…Could you focus on me for a bit?"

"And why do you all know it's Yun Lingjian! It was my cousin and her childhood friend!"

Even though there was no longer any point in hiding it, Zhao Haiyue stubbornly refused to face reality.

"Chu Yi Jiejie, is liking Yun Lingjian something to be ashamed of? Is that why you're unwilling to admit it, not even daring to face it?" Zheng Yi looked at her, her face full of innocence as she asked, "If that's the case, why continue to like her and want to confess?"

"…" Zhao Haiyue was hit where it hurt. She bit her lip, finding Zheng Yi's "Chu Yi Jiejie" incredibly piercing. Even the powerhouse's innocent expression seemed twisted and sarcastic in her eyes. But after a moment of silence, she finally relented. "I don't know how she feels about me. I just… don't want to trouble her, and I feel the gap between us is too big. Also… I'm really scared that we won't even be able to be friends after I confess." All these years of feelings, all these years of companionship—if it were all destroyed by her affection, her feelings, her confession, Zhao Haiyue couldn't bear to think about it.

She was far from being as determined or resolute as Yu Yinan. Yu Yinan held nothing back, giving her all. But Zhao Haiyue would waver, get scared, and hesitate.

If Yun Lingjian didn't feel the same way, if Yun Lingjian didn't like women at all… Zhao Haiyue was afraid Yun Lingjian would distance herself from her, even despise her. She was also afraid that Yun Lingjian, with her gentle personality, would compromise for the sake of their long friendship, forcing herself to "give it a try" with her just to preserve what they had.

Childhood friends, years spent together, supporting each other after the apocalypse… At times, Zhao Haiyue felt that Yun Lingjian already saw her as family. They had no other relatives in this wasteland; their friends were the closest people they had.

"But if you like her like this, you can't interact with her like a normal friend, can you?" Yu Yinan couldn't help but say. "Yun Lingjian's position in the shelter isn't low, and she's an ability user. What if another ability user shows interest in her in the future? Are you just going to stand by her side as a friend, a bestie, giving her advice, watching her fall in love with someone else, and eventually get married and have children?" Although in this apocalypse… the possibility of getting married and having children was slim, Yu Yinan felt it was necessary to provoke Zhao Haiyue a little more.

She paused, and without waiting for Zhao Haiyue to answer, she pressed on, "Chu Yi, are you the type of person who doesn't care what happens to you, as long as she's happy?"

Zhao Haiyue finally snapped. If she were that kind of person, it would be so much better. She wouldn't be in such turmoil! "Of course not!"

"There's no way to have the best of both worlds. If you want to be friends, don't be lovers. If you want to be lovers, you have to be mentally prepared." Zheng Yi's tone was languid. As if bored, she leaned back, looking completely relaxed.

Seeing this, Yu Yinan took Zheng Yi's hand and squeezed her fingertips. "No matter what, you have to go and apologize."

Zhao Haiyue finally took the words to heart. She bit her lower lip even harder, the pain making her mind clearer. "But Yun Lingjian won't be… angry. She has a very good temper; she almost never gets angry." In Zhao Haiyue's memory, she had almost never seen her lose her composure. Even when they were children, no matter how mischievous she was or how much she teased Yun Lingjian, she would never get angry with her.

Perhaps it was her upbringing. Perhaps it was her refinement. Or perhaps that was just Yun Lingjian's personality.

"The point isn't her, it's you. You have to show your attitude." Yu Yinan was exasperated. How had she, with her experience and methods in romance, become Zhao Haiyue's teacher? This was truly… She sighed internally and began to list the offenses. "You asked her out for New Year's Eve, you prepared a gift for her, you ran off halfway and stood her up, and in the end, it was you who made her wait at your door for hours, never opened it, and let her go home alone late at night after being snubbed. You didn't even celebrate the new year properly—didn't finish watching the fireworks, didn't see the performances. The New Year's Eve experience was practically zero."

"Whether you want to stay friends or confess, you have to apologize first, right?"

Zhao Haiyue smacked her own head hard. She felt like a complete idiot whenever it came to Yun Lingjian. How could she need Yu Yinan to point out something so simple?

"As for what comes after… I can't give you much advice. Just, be more careful with your next confession. Once you decide, don't back down. Suddenly running away or something…" Yu Yinan couldn't even imagine such a scene.

How awkward would that be?

She stole a glance at Zheng Yi and imagined herself in that situation. If she were about to confess but ran away midway… she would probably be frozen on the spot, completely unable to escape.

Or perhaps, with Zheng Yi's personality, before she could even work up the courage to confess, Zheng Yi would preemptively ask with a half-smile, "You like me?" or something similar.

…Zheng Yi had said something like that before. Yu Yinan's thoughts drifted back to that day, and she quickly recalled her own words about "digging out my heart" and that kiss that tasted of blood.

"…Then I'll go pick her up from the lab later and apologize." Zhao Haiyue lowered her gaze. "So, what should I bring her as a gift? The fruits from the botanical garden have all been picked clean. I can't just bring vegetables, can I? New Year's is over, so fireworks and stuff don't mean much… I bought all the roses yesterday, and I've already given them once." If she gave them again, Zhao Haiyue was afraid it would trigger Yun Lingjian's traumatic memories of last night.

"I have premium-grade strawberries in a high-end gift box. Twenty per box." Zheng Yi spoke with a smile. "You can choose the color of the box. A flat price of 888 contribution points."

"There are also gift-boxed chocolates. You can choose the flavor and cocoa concentration. Same flat price, 888 contribution points."

Zhao Haiyue: "…" She desperately wanted to ask if Zheng Yi was robbing her, but before the words could escape, she remembered Zheng Yi's power. She figured it wouldn't be a big deal even if this powerhouse robbed her directly.

How touching! The great powerhouse wasn't just robbing her, she was even giving her strawberries and chocolate!

She gave Yu Yinan a deep look, then heard Zheng Yi's gentle voice. "Chu Yi Jiejie~ You've earned quite a few contribution points from my jiejie, you can surely afford these little gifts, right?"

Crap! Zhao Haiyue's expression changed instantly. She immediately took out her ID card. "I'll buy them, I'll buy them both! As for the box color, blue is fine. The chocolate… pure dark chocolate will be good!" Yun Lingjian liked blue and pure dark chocolate.

As soon as Zhao Haiyue finished speaking, a surprised and happy expression appeared on Yu Yinan's face. Yu Yinan didn't think Zheng Yi was extorting her "business partner" at all; instead, she was touched that Zheng Yi cared so much about her.

Zhao Haiyue: Fine, as long as you two are happy.

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