Chapter 97 People from the Desert Island

With only two months left until the two-year deadline, Zhou Jiu wiped the blood from his face, shifted his gaze from the beast's corpse at his feet, and looked sharply toward the back of the forest.

"Xiao Jiu, I'm back." Chu Zhao, dressed in a black training uniform, waved to Zhou Jiu, whose expression was cold.

Zhou Jiu was slightly dazed, and the person waving at her suddenly seemed a little unfamiliar.

“…Chu Zhao?” Zhou Jiu slowly read out Chu Zhao’s name.

As the video played out, a series of actions orchestrated by the Chinese People's Volunteer Army on the internet gradually caused some trouble for her. After several unsuccessful attempts to obtain divination tools and technology, she lost her freedom for a year and a half and was exiled to a small island on a desolate planet with a danger rating of D. Her means of communication were confiscated, and she lived a primitive life for nearly a year.

Zhou Jiu was still holding the light blade when Chu Zhao hugged him tightly. Zhou Jiu's gaze gradually shifted to the blood-stained light blade in his hand, and he slowly withdrew his hands, holding the light blade as he hugged Chu Zhao.

"Long time no see," Chu Zhao said with a sigh.

"Long time no see." Zhou Jiu's cold expression gradually softened, and the corners of his mouth slowly curved up as he said, "I missed you, Chu Zhao."

“I missed you too.” Chu Zhao let go of Zhou Jiu and took the hand that wasn’t holding the light blade. “Come into my spacecraft, I brought a lot of things.”

Zhou Jiu glanced at Chu Zhao's trouser cuffs, noting signs of a battle with a strange beast. "You encountered a spider beast?"

"I'm not quite sure. Although the beasts here aren't high-level, there are a great many of them. I've encountered several kinds, and I don't even recognize some of them."

“The teeth marks on your pants are from a spider beast, which is what we commonly call a spider beast. It looks like a spider, but its mouthparts look like the teeth of a piranha from a distance. The bite marks are more like half a fingernail crescent mark, which is very special. However, it is poisonous. You shouldn’t be injured, right? I didn’t smell any other blood.” Zhou Jiu calmly explained what she had seen.

"You... can distinguish the different smells of blood?" Chu Zhao held Zhou Jiu's hand, occasionally making sure to support her so that her weight didn't fall on her other leg.

A smile involuntarily appeared on Zhou Jiu's lips. She leaned on Chu Zhao's arm, letting him support her more easily: "Of course, I've been here for over a year, and I'm quite familiar with these strange beasts now."

"I'm sorry I haven't come to see you."

“Hey, I’m showing off how great I am now, shouldn’t you play along and praise me?” Zhou Jiu raised her eyebrows and said. She didn’t think there was anything wrong with this kind of life. Apart from the slightly difficult adjustment period of a month when she first arrived, her life was quite fulfilling now, except for not being able to talk or chat with people.

"What's wrong? Don't look at me with such a sad face," Zhou Jiu said again. Looking at Chu Zhao's expression, she suddenly felt a sense of grievance. She hugged Chu Zhao tightly. "I felt like you were a stranger when I first saw you. We should hug each other more often."

"However, it wouldn't be good if we got caught by a monster after the hug, so dear senior, hurry up and take me to your spaceship, let me see what good stuff it has." Zhou Jiu saw Qi Qi floating in the air and rolling her eyes at him, raised an eyebrow slightly, gently patted Chu Zhao's shoulder, let go of Chu Zhao, and started walking forward with Chu Zhao's hand in his.

"Slow down," Chu Zhao said gently to Zhou Jiu with a smile, following behind him.

"It's alright, my leg is fine now, you don't need to take extra care of me." Zhou Jiu kicked his right leg and showed it to Chu Zhao.

"...I've seen your medical records. You should take it slow, there's no rush."

"I'm in a hurry! I haven't had spicy food in ages. You must have brought me something spicy, right?" Zhou Jiu pouted and tugged at Chu Zhao's hand.

"hiss……"

Zhou Jiu loosened her grip a bit; it seemed like she had used a lot more force than usual, and judging from Chu Zhao's reaction, it looked like she was in quite a bit of pain.

"I brought it."

"However, how did you get here? Was it a normal procedure?" Zhou Jiu suddenly asked.

"I was on vacation recently, and the aircraft's navigation malfunctioned during my trip, causing it to land by mistake," Chu Zhao said in a very serious tone.

Zhou Jiu's grin widened. "Then I'll have to write a report later, stating that on October 26, 1081, during the Nova Era, a spacecraft that had landed unexpectedly was discovered here, and the civilians were rescued from among the alien beasts."

Chu Zhao smiled, took two steps forward, and walked alongside Zhou Jiu.

"However, now that I have saved this person, I wonder if it is now common to repay a life-saving debt with one's body?"

"Hey, Chu Zhao, speak up."

Chu Zhao held Zhou Jiu's hand, "Don't rush, we'll talk about it when we get to the aircraft."

Zhou Jiu used the flat of the blade in her other hand, which was holding a light blade, to pat Qi Qi, who was sticking out her tongue and mocking her, and gestured with her eyes to tell her not to provoke her.

"What's wrong?" Chu Zhao's eyes showed a hint of worry. Zhou Jiu had already looked in another direction twice, exchanging glances.

"It's nothing." Zhou Jiu withdrew his gaze from Qi Qi.

The two quickly arrived at Chu Zhao's spacecraft.

"There's a cake? Did you make this especially for my birthday?" Zhou Jiu had just turned around when he saw Chu Zhao holding roses and posing as if to propose.

"Zhou Jiu, you proposed to me on your eighteenth birthday. I said yes then, but I felt that you didn't really like me. But now I want to tell you very clearly that I like you very much and want to spend the rest of my life with you. Will you accept my proposal?"

After staring at Chu Zhao's ring for a long time, Zhou Jiu's fingers curled slightly. She slowly squatted down, not accepting the ring from Chu Zhao: "I like you very much, but I can't accept this proposal for now. I still have some things to figure out. And Chu Zhao, although the marriage certificate I made before has no legal effect, it is valid for me."

"Then why don't you agree?"

"Chu Zhao, I remember you once told me about your dreams. On the one hand, I think we don't need a legally binding marriage document as proof of our love. On the other hand, I think dreams and careers are also important. Marrying me will have a certain impact on your future career as a commander. Of course, there is another reason that I can't tell you for now."

Helpless, Chu Zhao took the ring and directly grabbed Zhou Jiu's hand, slowly pushing it into his ring finger. "You're the one who said you wanted to get married, and you're also the one who said you didn't want to get married. Anyway, I feel like I've never had any say in our relationship."

"Where isn't there? You clearly knew who I was in the first place, but you still didn't tell me." Zhou Jiu ultimately didn't take off the ring; after all, the worst that could happen was they wouldn't get a marriage certificate.

"It's because your initial approach to striking up a conversation was really inept."

While eating, Zhou Jiu and Chu Zhao snuggled together, chatting about this and that, sharing their experiences over the past year.