I Pursued My Scummy Ex’s White Moonlight – Chapter 76

Strength Does Not Follow From the Heart¹

The number of piranhas was extremely large, and because the man had dived into the sea, he had been accidentally injured while fighting with the other two water-system ability users. A bloody gash on his face bloomed a mist of blood that diffused outwards, spreading into the mouths of the piranhas and instantly arousing their appetite.

The piranhas were like a rolling snowball, growing more and more numerous as they rolled. The man was clearly unable to hold them off. The water shield surrounding him was squeezed broken by the piranhas. A few of them opened their sharp-toothed maws, swam quickly to the man’s side, and before they could even bite him, he brandished the dagger in his hand in a panic to stab at the piranhas.

His eyes were filled with extreme terror, like a person watching a horror movie at home late at night, whose face is suddenly twisted in fear by the urgent ringing of a cell phone.

A person is hindered by resistance in the sea; how could their reactions be as nimble as a fish’s? In the blink of an eye, the piranhas slipped away from the man’s dagger, swimming towards his waist, his legs, and the wound on his cheek to tear and bite.

As fresh blood spilled out, the man opened his mouth in pain, forgetting he was at the bottom of the sea. Seawater rushed violently into his mouth, directly making him lose his breath². The water shield cracked, and more piranhas, following the scent of blood, swarmed onto the man’s body.

Viewed from a distance, it looked like a Taotie’s grand feast³. A thick mist of blood spread out. As they concentrated on filling their bellies, a large mouth like an abyss appeared without a sound, swallowing the piranhas and the man, who had been gnawed down to his bones, together.

And when the zombie whale was feeding, in order to capture its prey more precisely, it would pause for a moment. Luo Xi seized this instant, mobilized her ability, and wove a large net to envelop it.

The zombie whale was completely unprepared—or rather, a dead whale would not be on guard anyway—and plunged straight into the trap.

It was as if something invisible had been added to that area of the sea, hindering the zombie whale from swinging its body smoothly. Seeing this, Su Wenwe quickly swam to the zombie whale’s side.

Sensing a living person approaching, its zombie instinct kicked in, and it began to struggle violently, thrashing its tail without any pattern. The currents at the bottom of the sea were churned upside down by it.

Su Wenwen was struck by the current, and losing her balance, she began to slide towards the depths of the sea. She was grabbed by Luo Xi’s psychic power and flung directly onto the zombie whale’s back.

She aimed for the zombie whale’s head, activated her equipment’s special skill, and felt the power in her body surge. The dagger in her hand stabbed downwards without hesitation.

The blade plunged in at once, leaving only a section of the hilt outside, but the zombie whale was still struggling. It was obvious the dagger was too short and had not yet injured its central hub⁴.

Su Wenwen could only grip the hilt tightly and slice horizontally. A gash was opened in the soft tissue, but inside, a layer of hard skull had unexpectedly evolved. Just as Su Wenwen was in a daze, new flesh grew from the opening, healing the wound at a speed visible to the naked eye.

She hurriedly used her dagger to cut away the new growth, then used both her hands and feet, pressing against both sides of the opening and pushing outwards with all her might. She stabbed the dagger at the skull again and again, but it felt like hitting an iron sheet. The impact made her wrist go numb, yet not a single mark was visible.

The sharp dagger had also developed nicks from the prolonged battle, as if it had reached the end that was destined for it, leaving behind a medal of scars all over its body.

Su Wenwen stopped the movements of her hands and glanced at the slightly twisted military knife. She realized her own powerlessness; she could not break through the zombie whale’s defense.

She wasn’t sure if the zombie whale’s defense was too high, or if the zombies had already been collectively strengthened to another level that she could hardly match. This feeling of being powerless made her vexed and distraught.

However, there was no time for her to figure these things out now. She could only wave to signal Luo Xi…

She had no ability to kill the zombie whale.

A moment later, Luo Xi’s psychic power probed into the zombie whale’s brain hub. The zombie whale struggled violently, its enormous body flipping over. The inertia from the water current nearly threw Su Wenwen off.

Immediately after, dozens of crystal cores flew out from its eye sockets, circling directly around Luo Xi. The zombie whale’s body also sank into the seabed, merging with the darkness and gradually disappearing.

Such a miraculous scene, perhaps only the gods of legend could accomplish it. And the current Luo Xi, in Su Wenwen’s eyes, was no different from a god, floating above the seabed. One could only look up in admiration; she was so noble and unreachable.

This was the same feeling as when she first met Luo Xi on the bus. A powerful aura that made it difficult for people to get close, not daring to cross the line.

A helpless and disappointed smile touched the corner of Su Wenwen’s mouth. So Luo Xi’s strength was this great. I clearly knew it, but I never thought that Luo Xi’s strength was the kind that I could never catch up to, no matter what.

The reason she had the idea of standing shoulder-to-shoulder with Luo Xi was actually because Luo Xi had deliberately suppressed her strength in front of her, all just to let Su Wenwen kill zombies with her own hands.

The next second, Su Wenwen was pulled out of the sea surface by Luo Xi’s psychic power. Wang Kelin waved at her to ask about the situation. After confirming that everyone was fine, the fleet immediately set off to leave this sea area.

The rest of the voyage was relatively smooth. They returned to the sea base in the early morning. The standby personnel immediately came aboard to unload the cargo. Wang Kelin and the crew members were taken to have their bodies checked, and were subsequently fitted with identifiers.

On this mission, Su Wenwen’s only takeaway was the feeling that she was still very insignificant, very weak.

She was somewhat absent-minded as she took Wang Kelin to see Ji Qingshuang. The feeling of uncertainty about the future diluted the joy of her long-awaited reunion with Wang Kelin, so the expression on her face appeared faint.

“The Commander-in-Chief is too amazing. The technology here is even more complete than on my side…” Wang Kelin glanced at Su Wenwen, then observed the construction of the base as she walked.

Whether in terms of scale or defense, it was far, far stronger than Southern District No. 1 Base. But even so, it was still not good enough.

That was why Ji Qingshuang toiled day and night, afraid that this “not good enough” would lead to the base being breached.

Yet it just so happened that not every survivor was so united, so selfless. No matter when or in what situation, there would always be a small group that would backstab, seeking the greatest benefit for themselves.

Luo Tianyang was just like that.

The people who followed Luo Tianyang were also like that. They were gambling against Ji Qingshuang. The winner would write history, while the loser would be searched for but no news found, or even become a negative teaching material⁵.

Su Wenwen hoped Ji Qingshuang would win, but only today did she discover how weak her own ability was, and how strong ability users were. The ability users she had seen were but one corner of an iceberg⁶.

Without Luo Xi, if Su Wenwen had to 1v1 a water-system ability user herself, she really might not have been able to win, and might even have drowned in the sea.

【Host, don’t overthink it. Just focus on improving your own strength. In the apocalypse, teamwork is necessary in the first place. A situation where the Host alone can greatly kill in all four directions⁷ does not exist.】

Hearing the system’s voice, Su Wenwen opened her character panel and found that her character attributes had not been upgraded for some time. Firstly, she was stuck at the upper limit, and secondly, there were no main or side quests.

It was like reaching the late game in a video game, where one could basically only rely on awesome equipment to run rampant through the game world.

Su Wenwen now had crystal cores to enhance high-level equipment, but she didn’t have enough attribute points to purchase high-level equipment. She still had to leave the base to fight zombies.

Su Wenwen, Luo Xi, and Wang Kelin stood before Ji Qingshuang, with Wang Kelin reporting alone on the situation with the supplies and the injured.

Besides the daily necessities like bedding and food, Wang Kelin had also brought a lot of coal, which could help the physically weak survive this cold winter. If the coal was not enough, they could also cut down the trees around the base for firewood. These trees, having been nourished by the red rain, were now evergreen all year round, regardless of the weather.

When Wang Kelin was clearing land at No. 1 Base, she cut down trees and discovered that as long as the roots were not pulled out, the felled trees could actually grow new shoots, growing into saplings in two months’ time. So there was no need to worry about causing damage to the environment.

This news did indeed solve the base’s current urgent need, and because of it, Ji Qingshuang’s brows relaxed.

Wang Kelin was temporarily left at the base on standby, living in a villa next to Su Wenwen’s, the same one Chen Zixuan had lived in before.

After the three of them left Ji Qingshuang’s office, Wang Kelin couldn’t wait to have Su Wenwen show her around. Su Wenwen turned her head and glanced at Luo Xi, who had been silent the whole time.

Luo Xi’s eyes were lowered, making it impossible for others to discern her mood. “I have other things to attend to. You can show her around first.”

Hearing this, Wang Kelin grinned and pulled Su Wenwen away. After they had walked far, Luo Xi entered Ji Qingshuang’s office again and recounted the attack Su Wenwen encountered at sea, down to the last detail.

Ji Qingshuang’s expression did not change, as if she had long expected it. Seeing she had no reaction, just as Luo Xi was about to lose her patience and leave with a flick of her hand, Ji Qingshuang called out to her.

She stood up and brewed a cup of tea for Luo Xi. This tea was the most common chrysanthemum tea that Luo Xi’s father used to drink daily. It was light on the palate, with a hint of sweetness, and no bitterness afterward.

Ji Qingshuang chatted with Luo Xi about the things her father liked, and then about the kinship relationship that was as bland as water⁸ between Luo Tianyang and her father.

They talked from early morning until noon, and then talked about the day Luo Xi’s father died. In truth, Luo Xi was not the only one who was sad; so were Ji Qingshuang and her brother.

But Ji Qingshuang had neither the right to be sad, nor the time to be sad. She had guessed that the death of Luo Xi’s father was very suspicious, so she had to turn all her sorrow into armor to protect her two children.

“Since you guessed, why didn’t you tell me?” Luo Xi pursed her lips, looking at Ji Qingshuang, whose face still showed no fluctuations. She thought of her own personality; it was simply as if from the same rut⁹.

“Because I have to wait for an opportunity. An opportunity to pull out his fangs, a time when he can never harm us again.”

Luo Xi could not wait. To wait while Su Wenwen was being bullied and not fight back—she did not have Ji Qingshuang’s excellent patience, because all her patience was given to Su Wenwen.

“You wait for yours, I’ll do mine.” After saying this, Luo Xi glanced at the chrysanthemum tea. In the end, her heart softened a little. She picked it up and drank it all, then stood up to leave.

“Xi’er, I won’t say anything about what you want to do. You can tell me if you need any help, but you must remember, don’t give him a chance to start over.”

Luo Xi smiled. She had always thought Ji Qingshuang was as easy to bully as a sheep, herded wherever the sheepdog drove her. It turned out she was a venomous snake lying in wait in the grass.

Leaving the office, Luo Xi called Su Wenwen. “Where are you?”

“The exchange hall, getting some daily necessities for Wang Kelin. She lost all of hers on the way here.”

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