On Luo Xi’s face, there were still some bloodstains, which were Su Wenwen’s bloodstains; after several hours, they had already dried into mottled patches.
She moved slightly closer to Su Wenwen, her voice trembling, suffused with an inexplicable danger: “Do you know what it felt like for me to watch you being torn and bitten with my own eyes?”
Luo Xi was unwilling to recall the scene at that time, but that bloody scene constantly surfaced before her eyes; it was not something that could be forgotten just by closing her eyes, especially the blood that had landed on her face, which was so sticky, flowing along the line of her lips into her mouth, and unexpectedly even had a trace of sweetness.
“I know, but it was also a matter of having no other choice.” Su Wenwen knew she had a System, and even if she were bitten down to a skeleton, as long as she still had health left, she could be restored. But Luo Xi was different; no matter how strong her mental power was, it would be impossible for her to regenerate flesh and bone.
“No other choice?” Luo Xi frowned, her voice becoming much deeper, truly about to get angry. “That’s right, you can use your own body to lure Doctor Liu, so you also don’t care how heartbroken I would be to personally watch the scene of you being gnawed on by zombies.”
“How could I not care? It’s precisely because I care about you so much that when I saw you were about to be bitten by a zombie, I subconsciously shielded you.” Su Wenwen explained patiently, “I didn’t have time to think about the consequences of doing that, nor did I intentionally mean to scare you. I just hope you understand that blocking in front of you was entirely my instinctive reaction; I’m incapable of rational thought.”
After these words were spoken, Luo Xi’s expression clearly softened a lot. She then gripped Su Wenwen’s hand tightly and said: “How am I any different from you? So you should understand even better how terrified I was at that moment. Wenwen, put yourself in my shoes, okay1?”
“You asked me not to be overly protective of you, and now I am the same, asking you not to be overly protective of me.”
Su Wenwen nodded in a daze, which counted as agreeing to Luo Xi’s request, but she didn’t feel she had done anything wrong, because compared to temporary sadness and sorrow, it was better than a lifetime of regret.
This matter temporarily came to a close with Su Wenwen’s compromise.
A few hours later, everyone had rested more or less enough, so they set foot on the ice surface to continue their journey.
Originally, the journey was peaceful, but Su Wenwen always felt as if she had forgotten something, frequently turning her head back to look in the direction of the hospital.
After Luo Xi and Su Wenwen talked things through, her attitude was no longer so cold. Seeing Su Wenwen’s unusual behavior, she couldn’t help but ask one more question: “What’s wrong?”
Su Wenwen said: “I seem to have forgotten something, something quite important, but I can’t remember it.”
“Is it about the Adjutant?”
“It’s not him.”
Su Wenwen carefully tried to capture the fleeting image in her mind, but sometimes it’s just that magical; the more she tried to think about it, the more she couldn’t remember what she had forgotten.
So she simply stopped thinking about it.
Passing by the place of the great battle with the Zombie King again, the originally cracked ice surface, after only a few days, had already frozen over with a new layer, concealing all traces of the fight. If it weren’t for a broken boat nearby, Su Wenwen wouldn’t have recognized it.
She still remembered that night on watch duty on the boat, when she urgently needed to urinate, it was Xiao Luo who pointed out a clean spot. Now… half of the team was dead, and she couldn’t even clearly remember their names.
Passerby cannon fodder, that probably refers to people like them, who die without anyone noticing, and whose names no one remembers.
Returning to the Sea Base, the sky was already dark, but the guards were still faithfully carrying out their duties. Upon seeing the team’s return, they immediately passed the news to Ji Qingshuang’s ears, and she brought people to welcome them that very night.
Seeing that Su Wenwen and Luo Xi were safe and sound, Ji Qingshuang’s eyes couldn’t help but turn red, and she hugged the two of them: “It’s good that you’re back.”
For the past few days, Ji Qingshuang hadn’t been able to sleep a single night, and her complexion looked much more haggard. However, when she heard the news of the successful development of the antidote, her weary eyes instantly radiated with light.
After saying “good” three times in a row, Ji Qingshuang arranged for personnel to take Lin Wan for treatment, with Sisi and Shen Ming accompanying her.
The others were settled in by Lin Yu.
The Adjutant merely greeted Ji Qingshuang before going overnight to find Luo Tianyang to show his “loyalty.”
“Good children, you must be tired too, right? Whatever it is can be discussed tomorrow, get a good rest tonight.” Ji Qingshuang looked at the two of them, who were travel-worn2, and said with heartache.
Su Wenwen had always listened to her elders, and besides, she was indeed tired, so she obediently took Luo Xi back to their residence to rest. She just hastily changed her clothes and fell asleep on the bed.
After Luo Xi washed up, she used a towel to wipe Su Wenwen’s face and hands, only then did she lie down quietly, her gaze fixed on Su Wenwen’s side profile without blinking, as if she were repeatedly confirming something.
It wasn’t until she placed the palm of her hand under Su Wenwen’s nose and felt her light breathing that she finally closed her eyes and fell asleep.
The next morning.
Su Wenwen and Luo Xi handed over the antidotes from their spatial backpacks to Ji Qingshuang.
Although the antidote had been successfully developed, mass production still required time to prepare materials and for manufacturing. Currently, there were no more than a hundred vials of the existing antidote.
Ji Qingshuang rubbed the space between her eyebrows with a bit of a headache. Although she was happy to see Su Wenwen and Luo Xi return safely, the current quantity of the antidote gave her a great headache. She then said: “How about we keep ten vials, and give the rest to the elderly in the hospital.”
Su Wenwen had no objections.
Luo Xi, however, said: “No, you have already given them a lot of preferential treatment. If you even prioritize giving them something as important as the antidote, the others will definitely not be able to sit still.”
Indeed, giving priority of supplies to the elderly was one thing; young people could endure the cold winter. But the antidote could give those who were bitten hope of survival. When it concerned one’s own life and death, people were not that magnanimous.
Sometimes, Ji Qingshuang was just too indecisive, seeking thoroughness in her actions, which in turn made it easy for her to lose her authority.
“Then what are your thoughts?”
Luo Xi replied: “The antidote should be provided for the use of personnel on missions outside. There must be a dedicated person to manage it. Once someone is bitten, they can be given priority to use it.”
“That’s good too. This way, the others will naturally have no objections.”
Ji Qingshuang quickly handed this proposal over to Lin Yu to arrange, and the antidote was also given to Lin Yu for safekeeping.
After the matter was properly arranged, Su Wenwen and Luo Xi went to the hospital to visit Lin Wan.
Lin Wan’s wound had been properly treated. Unwilling to lie in a hospital bed, she insisted on applying to Ji Qingshuang to have a look at the research equipment in the base.
Ji Qingshuang approved.
Shen Ming couldn’t stop her either, and Sisi listened to Lin Wan, so when Su Wenwen and Luo Xi arrived at the hospital, they found no one there3, and they hurriedly rushed to the research building to search.
The research equipment at the Sea Base was not as complete as that at the military academy, but fortunately, the materials for production were abundant, having everything one could need, so they could just about manage to start work.
As soon as Su Wenwen entered the door, she saw Lin Wan wearing a white lab coat and a protective mask, starting to work. And her colleagues who worked with her had also been forcefully brought over to work.
She really has the persona of a research fanatic.
However, according to the plot’s direction, after Sisi dies, the female lead’s spirit is struck a blow, and only then does Shen Ming walk into her heart. From then on, Lin Wan’s world is no longer just about research.
But looking at the current situation, apart from research, Lin Wan was considering how to take good care of Sisi, automatically blocking out the flirtatious glances cast by Shen Ming.
A pair like this would probably have a hard time getting together, and thus wouldn’t count as the male and female leads.
Su Wenwen glanced at Lin Wan’s neck, which was still wrapped in a bandage: “It’s okay to rest for a couple more days.”
Lin Wan was continuously processing some mutated plants. Without turning her head, she said: “No, my body is fine. Could I trouble you to take Sisi out to play for a while? I’m afraid she’ll be too bored.”
“Jiejie, I’m not bored, I can accompany Jiejie.” Sisi pouted, “I don’t like to play that much either.”
Hearing this, Lin Wan put down the plant in her hands, stroked Sisi’s head and said: “Jiejie knows Sisi is the most well-behaved. Don’t you want to talk with Wenwen-jie?”
Sisi looked at Su Wenwen, her eyes filled with expectation. Su Wenwen let out a chuckle, indeed a child, easily coaxed.
Feeling helpless, Su Wenwen took Sisi out shopping with Luo Xi. And you know, although they had only been away from the base for a few days, it felt like several years, making one miss this rare tranquility.
Sisi was full of curiosity about the Sea Base, and because she hadn’t been shopping like this for a long time, even though it was the middle of winter and every household’s doors were shut tight for business4, she was still extremely happy, having a blast playing with snowballs.
First, she built a snowman, then she started a snowball fight with Su Wenwen. Luo Xi and Sisi were on one team, with Su Wenwen alone to pk5 the two of them.
Relying on her nimble figure, she dodged all the snowballs. Sisi and Luo Xi got their faces smashed full of snow. The more Su Wenwen played, the happier she became, especially when she saw Sisi’s eyes turning red, she even deliberately asked: “What’s wrong, Sisi, are you not happy playing with Jiejie?”
Sisi shook her head; she was just angry at herself for not hitting Su Wenwen even once. She was so anxious her eyes turned red, and her cheeks were puffed up, like a soft and white steamed bun6.
Luo Xi pinched Sisi’s cheek, her gaze on Su Wenwen burning, and said: “Do you want Jiejie to get revenge for you?”
Sisi’s eyes lit up: “Yes.”
Next, Su Wenwen was dazed by snowballs coming from all sorts of redirected angles. She ran and shouted all the way: “Luo Xi, you’re cheating!”
“Is that so? But there were no rules before that we couldn’t use special abilities.” Luo Xi smiled, feeling that when Su Wenwen was angry, she was just as cute as Sisi.
The three of them played for a long time, but the snowy day was really too cold. Su Wenwen was afraid Sisi’s small body would freeze stiff, so she suggested going to the exchange hall to redeem supplies. Originally, she wanted to exchange for some food ingredients to bring to the laboratory to cook, but who knew that the supplies available for exchange in the supplies hall were much less than a few days ago.
Only after asking did she learn that because most of the supplies were given in priority to Su Wenwen’s team, the supplies in the base had to be used sparingly.
At least until Chen Zixuan and Wang Kelin returned, the daily amount of supplies everyone could exchange was reduced by half. The base’s upper management was the same; no one could get special treatment.
After exchanging for the food ingredients, the three of them returned to the laboratory. When Lin Wan saw them carrying the ingredients, she said: “You keep the ingredients for yourselves. The laboratory will have specially supplied meals. You can just eat with me.”
After all, they were important scientific researchers; anyone could be starved, but not them.
Su Wenwen shook her head and politely declined. After leaving the ingredients, she went home with Luo Xi.
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