I Pursued My Scummy Ex’s White Moonlight – Chapter 84

Su Wenwen lay in her quilt last night, staring blankly at the sliver of light coming through the window. Thinking about her conversation with Luo Xi, she felt a sense of being unable to refute her, which caused her to not sleep soundly all night. While eating breakfast, she was mentally unfocused and didn’t hear Wang Kelin speaking until her shoulder was pushed, startling her awake.

“What are you thinking about?”

“I have a question I’d like to ask you. If the person you like is extremely anxious about you and overprotects you, causing you to lose opportunities to train and grow, how would you tactfully express that you don’t need that kind of protection?”

“What, did you argue with Luo Xi?”

Su Wenwen shook her head. “We didn’t argue, we just have a slight difference of opinion.”

Wang Kelin asked, “Then have you mentioned it before?”

“I mentioned it last night.”

Under Wang Kelin’s wide-eyed stare, Su Wenwen had no choice but to honestly confess the fact that the camp’s defenses were too poor, and that Luo Xi had slipped in several times without being discovered by anyone.

“Since you’ve already mentioned it and she didn’t respond, then it’s useless no matter what more you say. Luo Xi is just a person with a strong desire for control, but it doesn’t matter. When soldiers come, generals block; when water comes, earth covers.¹” Wang Kelin patted Su Wenwen’s shoulder. “I will increase the guards immediately and not let her in. You just focus on your training with peace of mind.”

That night, the number of patrolling guards increased tenfold compared to before, especially near the girls’ dormitory, where there were people everywhere. Even in corners that previously had few people, guards would now pass by from time to time. Seeing this, her roommates thought something major had happened. They spent several days in this state of anxiety, until a great hailstorm descended upon the base.

The hailstones were as small as a fingernail or as large as a fist. The glass of many houses was shattered. There wasn’t a single person on the streets, which were covered everywhere with shards of ice. It was also mixed with gale-force winds that tore branches from the trees. Even the electrical equipment that had been so painstakingly established was paralyzed as a result.

Dark clouds in the sky obscured the sun, like a layer of gray paint smeared on a white sheet of paper. The hail continued for two full hours before it stopped. Su Wenwen and her roommates gathered around a charcoal brazier² for warmth, but everyone was still so cold their teeth were chattering. Even the thermometer hanging on the wall had frozen, completely unable to measure the current temperature.

Someone sneezed several times in a row and said, “It’s over. Don’t tell me I’ve caught a cold from the freezing weather?”

“It could also mean someone is thinking of you.”

“Or it could mean something bad is about to happen.”

“You crow’s mouth³.”

The sound of everyone talking and laughing added a bit of color to the harsh environment, but Su Wenwen felt a little uneasy. Ever since the camp had strengthened its guards, she had received no news from Luo Xi.

In a few more days, the one-month training would officially be over. She had no idea what the situation was like outside, and no one could leave the camp; they could only wait silently for news to be brought in from the outside.

Just then, Wang Kelin hurriedly opened the door to the room. A cold wind poured in, forcing everyone to wrap their quilts tighter around themselves.

“Change into your combat uniforms. Follow me to the restricted area hospital.”

Hearing this, Su Wenwen quickly threw off her quilt, extinguished the charcoal brazier, and put on the heavy combat uniform, following Wang Kelin downstairs. Several armored vehicles were parked downstairs, with the male team members already on board.

Su Wenwen and her roommates all boarded a vehicle.

Wang Kelin sat down beside Su Wenwen. “Don’t ask any questions. When we get to the hospital, you will follow my commands in all matters.”

Su Wenwen saw that her expression seemed very tense and assumed someone had died at the hospital, and that Wang Kelin was saying nothing in order to avoid causing a panic. It was only after the armored vehicle drove into the hospital grounds that she realized the situation was even more serious than she had imagined.

At the hospital entrance, several bodies were lying on stretchers and being carried away. Luo Tianyang had brought a group of people and was trying to forcibly send the people inside the hospital outside the base. Ji Qingshuang was leading another group, blocking the entrance and preventing them from entering. The two sides were in a standoff, their strengths evenly matched.

However, as soon as Wang Kelin arrived, the balance was broken. Her group now had a clear numerical advantage over Luo Tianyang’s, and they surrounded the hospital entrance so tightly that not even a drop of water could leak through.

“A single great snow, and that many people died. Your stubbornness in keeping them here is tantamount to gambling with the lives of everyone in the base,” Luo Tianyang said, his face cold.

Others chimed in to agree. “Indeed, this matter concerns the life and death of everyone. If the Commander-in-Chief finds it difficult to make the hard choice, we can hold a vote. You shouldn’t be making this decision all by yourself.”

After this natural disaster, most of the high-level personnel had sided with Luo Tianyang. They surrounded Ji Qingshuang, using their formation to pressure her and force her to compromise. But Ji Qingshuang was more resilient than they had imagined; she was no weak woman. Her gentle features now held a touch of frost, and she met their gazes without a trace of fear.

The spot where she stood was a dividing line, clearly telling the group of wall-sitters⁴ behind Luo Tianyang that even with a backer, they could not cross this line.

However, Su Wenwen found one thing very strange. Luo Tianyang looked very angry, but the feeling he gave off wasn’t one of genuine anger. Because just now, when Wang Kelin had brought her people over, there wasn’t the slightest trace of surprise on Luo Tianyang’s face. It was as if… as if he didn’t care at all whether the people in the hospital could be sent out of the base. If that’s the case, then what is Luo Tianyang’s objective? Is it to divert attention, or is it to win popular support and isolate Ji Qingshuang?

No matter how she thought about it, something felt off.

Just then, a commotion erupted from inside the hospital. Su Wenwen had just turned her head when she saw many medical personnel running out. She subconsciously raised a hand to block them, and the other team members also spread their arms to stop the people from running out of the hospital.

But there was clearly something terrifying inside the hospital that had frightened them. One by one, they pushed outward with looks of terror on their faces. Wang Kelin told everyone to calm down, but her voice was drowned out by the sounds of their panic, among which the roar of a zombie could be faintly heard.

“Quick, get out of my, your father’s⁵, way.”

The man in front of Su Wenwen had lost all reason due to excessive fear. He raised his fist to smash it into her face, but it was blocked by a male teammate beside her, the fist landing squarely on his face instead.

The male teammate was someone Su Wenwen had been on a team with before. As the team’s “thorn head”, his personality was naturally hot-tempered, but he didn’t fight back after being hit, dutifully continuing to block the man.

It wasn’t until the sound of a gunshot cut past everyone’s ears that they all ducked and covered their heads like birds startled by a bowstring⁶, terrified of being shot.

Wang Kelin holstered her gun and squeezed through the crowd. She walked over to the zombie and saw that it was an elderly man with white hair, his teeth long gone. His withered body was wrapped in a heavy cotton-padded coat, and pinned beneath him was a female caregiver. Because the zombie had no teeth, the caregiver wasn’t injured, merely frightened to the point where her face was drained of all color.

In this bizarre weather, many of the elderly couldn’t survive. Today already marked the eleventh elderly person who had frozen to death.

“You see? Someone else has died.”

The high-level officials seized upon this incident to launch another verbal assault. Ji Qingshuang remained silent through it all, bearing all the pressure on her slender shoulders. Sometimes, Su Wenwen would think that since it was so exhausting, it might be better to just send the people from the hospital away. Without them, the base would indeed be much more stable. However, her way of thinking was exceptionally selfish, which was why she wasn’t suited to be a leader. It was far more relaxing to simply follow commands.

“Death is an unavoidable factor.”

Luo Xi and Au Ge arrived with many people to provide support. The two of them walked side-by-side; Luo Xi was wearing a white down jacket, and Au Ge was in a white combat uniform. At a glance, it had the look of a matching couple’s outfit.

Su Wenwen pressed her lips together, feeling particularly inconspicuous standing in the crowd. Unlike Luo Xi and Au Ge, who were eye-catching presences no matter how many people surrounded them.

“Even people in the prime of their life can die by accident. That’s why the base conducts personal health checks every half-month. What if one of you were to contract some incurable disease? Should you also be sent away from the base immediately?” Luo Xi said, looking calmly at Luo Tianyang.

“Besides…” Luo Xi shifted her gaze, letting it sweep across the faces of the trainees before finally resting on Su Wenwen. “Their relatives are in that hospital. If they are abandoned just like this, those family members will be very disappointed in the base’s leadership, won’t they!”

“This…”

Everyone looked at one another. What Luo Xi said made sense. Even if they didn’t care about their own relatives, what if by some accident they contracted a disease? Would they also have to go outside the base and wait to die? And one couldn’t just say the probability of such an accident was low; in the apocalypse, the one thing there was no shortage of was accidents and coincidences.

Just then, Au Ge took out a palm-sized heater. The device was composed of many small, square heating plates. As he flipped a switch, the plates began to emit a brilliant red glow. “You all don’t need to be too worried. Our Au family has just developed a new type of heater. Using a single crystal core, it can continuously heat a twenty-square-meter space for three days.”

After the heater was turned on, the red light shone on Luo Xi’s face, giving her a rosy blush. She was as radiant as a blooming rose, bringing a trace of precious warmth—and the most dazzling splash of red—to the cold, snow-white world.

Su Wenwen stared, stunned.

No one else spoke.

Au Ge continued, “We will prioritize installing these heaters in the hospital to test their effectiveness. If that really doesn’t work, then we will think of another solution.”

Hearing Au Ge’s words, the expressions on the crowd’s faces visibly relaxed. However, they didn’t dare to agree on their own and could only look toward Luo Tianyang. Luo Tianyang was a shrewd man; without much hesitation, he agreed and then led the high-level officials away.

Their departure was exceptionally clean and decisive.

Su Wenwen frowned again. She couldn’t quite understand Luo Tianyang. And in the book’s original setting, he hadn’t seemed particularly noteworthy.

After the people in the hospital were pacified, Wang Kelin prepared to leave with her team. While she was speaking with Ji Qingshuang, Su Wenwen quietly slipped up behind Luo Xi. Luo Xi was currently talking with Au Ge and didn’t notice her.

“The materials are limited, so this heater can’t be mass-produced. We can produce a hundred or so at most, so they can only be provided to the hospital first.”

“Then give me the one in your hand.”

“Take it, take it…”

Luo Xi turned around just as she received the heater. Seeing Su Wenwen, the corners of her lips lifted slightly, and she pressed the heater into Su Wenwen’s hands. “Put this in your dormitory. You’ll be able to sleep well at night.”

The device couldn’t be mass-produced. Other than the hospital, which got priority, no one else could get a heater. But because of Luo Xi, Su Wenwen was receiving special treatment. Although she really wanted to accept it, as a member of the training camp, she knew that participating in training wasn’t meant to be about enjoyment.

“I don’t need it. Keep it at your home and use it for yourself.”

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