The team dispersed at the campsite and began setting up their tents.
Li Yuheng and Shu Bai worked swiftly and quickly set up their own tents.
Li Yuheng lay down directly on the moisture-proof mat at the tent entrance, gazing at the darkening sky and muttering, "What should I eat tonight..."
Shu Bai sat down next to him, unscrewed a bottle of water and handed it to him, but his eyes scanned the camp.
The team members were busy building their shelters, the clanging of nails and the occasional chatter mingling together.
His gaze quickly fell on something not far away.
The omega guy in the group named Yu You was struggling to bend a flexible tent pole into place to support the main structure of the tent.
He was rather thin and weak. After several attempts, his cheeks turned red, but the mischievous tent pole always just missed getting caught in the buckle.
A familiar soft hum came from behind.
Gao Lang had already set up his own tent sometime earlier.
He stood not far away with his arms crossed, pouting as he watched Yu You's clumsy yet hard-working appearance, his face bearing the same expression he had when watching Wu Yue put down her luggage before boarding the bus.
He took a few steps and walked over.
"Get out of the way."
Yu You was startled and instinctively let go and took a step back.
Gao Lang didn't look at him, and went straight to him, one hand gripping the middle of the tent pole, the other hand bracing against the end, his forearm muscles instantly tensing up.
It seemed like she didn't use much force, but with a soft click, the tent pole that Yu You had been struggling with for so long was precisely and easily snapped into place.
Then, he did the same thing, almost single-handedly supporting the main body of the tent in no time. His movements were smooth and powerful, displaying the formidable efficiency characteristic of an Alpha.
After finishing all this, he patted non-existent dust off his hands, glanced at Yu You who was still somewhat dazed beside him, and habitually snorted through his nose:
"Omegas are such a hassle. Their physical strength and stamina are as weak as kittens that haven't been weaned. Why can't they just ask for help earlier when it's such heavy work? Why do they have to make things difficult for themselves?"
His words still sounded harsh, carrying a hint of discriminatory stereotypes.
Yu You seems to be naturally oblivious to the barbs in his words.
He blinked twice, a genuine, even slightly goofy, smile appearing on his face.
"Thank you so much! I heard you're a veteran member, and your name is Gao Lang, right? Wow! You're incredibly strong! Amazing! No wonder you're an Alpha! Next time I'll definitely ask for your help sooner!"
Gao Lang: "..."
"...You know that much." He said curtly, then turned and walked back.
Yu You was still waving happily from behind: "Thank you so much! I'll treat you to durian candy later!"
As Gao Lang turned to walk back, his gaze inadvertently swept across the camp, and happened to meet Shu Bai's gaze.
He suddenly stopped in his tracks.
The afterglow of the setting sun outlined the profile of Shu Bai's face, and his calm, unwavering eyes, bathed in warm golden light, momentarily overlapped with the features of the person in his memory.
Gao Lang's lips unconsciously parted slightly, as if a name or a shout was about to escape his lips.
But the next second, the brief illusion vanished, and he clearly saw that it was Shu Bai, not the person he admired yet resented.
Gao Lang's eyes flickered for a moment, but in the end he said nothing and deliberately looked away.
Shu Bai withdrew his gaze and turned to look at Wu Yue, who was watching them.
Li Yuheng, lying on the ground beside him, followed Shu Bai's gaze and took in the whole scene just now.
He crossed his legs, a blade of grass he'd somehow produced dangling from his mouth, and gave a muffled, sneer.
"If you're going to help, then you have to say something unpleasant to make up for it, as if you can't show off your Alpha superiority otherwise."
When Wu Yue noticed Shu Bai's gaze, she looked back at him openly and gave him a frank smile, her eyes clear and without any hint of evasion or guilt.
Shu Bai's gaze lingered on her face for two seconds before sweeping downwards, passing over Li Yuheng, who was lying undignifiedly at his feet, as if silently assessing something.
Wu Yue's gaze naturally fell on Li Yuheng, still quite composed.
Shu Bai seemed to have finally confirmed something, and nodded almost imperceptibly, about to look away.
Just then, a foot wearing hiking boots suddenly blocked his view.
Li Yuheng swung his feet, the toes of his shoes intentionally or unintentionally drawing circles in Shubai's field of vision, blocking his view of Wuyue.
"Hey, Xiao Shubai," he said, chewing on a blade of grass, his voice muffled but clearly showing his displeasure, "You were so focused on that old relic earlier, and now you're staring at Wu Yue's O-shape endlessly. What, my face, the most handsome in the universe, can't attract your attention anymore?"
Shu Bai reached out and precisely pinched Li Yuheng's ankle, moving the distracting hiking boots away: "Attractive, how could it not be attractive?"
Li Yuheng sat up and leaned closer, a blade of grass twitching at the corner of his mouth: "Then why are you looking at other people? I'm such a handsome guy right here, isn't that enough for you to see?"
Shu Bai released his ankle and looked directly at him: "I'm seeing if Gao Lang is the kind of person who holds grudges and has the ability to trip up Squishy A in the later stages of the game."
Upon hearing this, Li Yuheng's playful expression faded somewhat.
He spat out the grass stem and glanced at Gao Lang's back.
"Trying to trip me up?" He scoffed, lowering his voice. "He doesn't have the brains, and he certainly doesn't have the guts."
"Oh?" Shu Bai raised an eyebrow.
“A truly vengeful person would either act immediately or do something underhanded. Someone like him, at most, would just bottle up his anger and rage in a helpless frenzy.”
As the crown prince of the underworld, Li Yuheng had seen many people like this.
On the banks of the endless River of Oblivion in the underworld, among the souls lingering by the Well of Reincarnation, nine out of ten are of this kind.
In life, one's abilities cannot support one's ambitions, one's dignity cannot withstand reality, and one's resentment far outweighs one's skills.
Even in death, they remained stubbornly defiant, whimpering and complaining about their resentment and grievances, as if the whole world owed them something.
Gao Lang's awkward kindness, clumsy attempt to cover it up, and the resentment that he couldn't hide in his eyes were as clear as ink on a blank sheet of paper to Li Yuheng.
Truly ruthless characters either seek revenge and settle scores on the spot, or they hide a knife behind a smile and strike deadly.
Impotent rage.
Li Yuheng mentally stamped his approval.
Such a character poses no threat while alive, and once he dies and goes to the underworld, he is nothing more than one of the countless mediocre and resentful souls, not even worthy of a second glance from this prince.
He withdrew his gaze and returned it to Shu Bai, instantly forgetting the trivial comments he had made about Gao Lang.
Well, teasing my wife is still the most fun.
Li Yuheng curled the corners of his mouth, brought his face close to Shu Bai's eyes, and forcibly occupied his entire field of vision.
"So, stop caring about those unimportant people, huh? Shouldn't your attention be focused solely on me?"
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