Chapter 38, Let Them Fend for Themselves
The heavy snow showed no sign of stopping, and the snow on the road was already above the knees.
Jiang Ran stood under the eaves, stamping his feet.
In the parking lot not far away, the men of the Special Power Team were clearing the snow to prevent too much snow from accumulating and wetting the supplies in the car.
Jiang Ran originally wanted to help, but was rejected by Gu Yunqing.
"For this kind of weather and this kind of rough work, let the rough men do it."
So Jiang Ran stood in the corridor holding a cup of hot water and watched Gu Yunqing and the rough old man work.
According to Si Xu, the weather wasn't suitable for the team to depart, so he went into the city alone again today. Before leaving, he specifically asked Jiang Ran if she needed anything or had any favorite snacks...
Although Si Xu didn't say it explicitly, Jiang Ran had a hunch that the guy came into the city today for her.
"It's snowing so heavily, aren't you cold standing here?"
Su Qin, who was also holding a cup of hot water, walked back and forth in the living room several times. Finally, she couldn't help but peek through the door to talk to Jiang Ran.
The little girl has been standing at the door for a long time since Si Xu entered the city.
"Are you waiting for Seventh Brother?"
Jiang Ran didn't deny it: "It's snowing so heavily. Is it dangerous for him to go into the city alone?"
Su Qin replied without thinking: "No."
Jiang Ran looked at her, surprised: "Are you so sure?"
"Well, didn't Seventh Brother tell you?" Su Qin stood beside her, her eyes fixed on Gu Yunqing not far away, and said absentmindedly, "Seventh Brother is a water-based psychic. Snow and rain have no effect on him, and they might even be beneficial."
"Huh?" Is this what water abilities work like? The water-based abilities she'd seen all produced water based on their ability level—in other words, a mobile reservoir.
In the apocalypse, unpolluted water is a scarce resource, so water-based mutants are also a scarce resource, similar to space-based mutants.
Su Qin felt that the girl's confused expression was very cute. She pinched her face and said with a smile: "Yes, after a long time, you will find that in weather like rain and snow, Brother Qi will not get wet even if he does not hold an umbrella..."
Jiang Ran: “???” Su Qin would definitely not lie to her, but when Si Xu came back yesterday, his coat was obviously soaked and his hands were frozen, which made her feel distressed for a long time!
"Oh, I saw that when Seventh Brother came back yesterday, he seemed to be covered in snowflakes..." Su Qin smiled meaningfully, "I guess he wanted to get some comfort from you, haha."
Jiang Ran: “…”
After clearing the snow, a group of rough men from the Ability Team struggled back to the living room and huddled together to grab hot water to warm themselves.
Gu Yunqing shook off the snow and shivered as he said, "This damn weather is freezing. If we can't go back, I don't know if the base's supplies can survive this winter."
"There's no point in worrying." Su Qin pressed a cup of hot water into her boyfriend's hand and, while cleaning the snow off him, continued, "Wei Yage and Shen Yang's teams are gathering supplies near the base. They must have returned by now."
"That's true." After drinking a sip of hot water, Gu Yunqing was finally able to speak normally. "Oh, I really miss the heating and air conditioning we had before... I'm freezing to death."
Then he looked at Jiang Ran and said, "Sister Ranran, it's too cold today. You should be careful not to catch a cold. You'd better go in."
If Jiang Ran caught a cold, that old ancestor Si Xu would get angry again, and the unlucky ones would be these innocent victims.
The water in the cup was already cold, and his fingers were almost numb from the cold. Jiang Ran nodded and was about to go into the house when he saw a white figure walking towards him in the heavy snow in the distance.
Recognizing the person she was waiting for at a glance, Jiang Ran forgot the snow under the corridor and ran down the stairs happily to greet him.
"Hey! Ranran, don't go down in such heavy snow!" Seeing the girl plunge into the wind and snow, Su Qin hurriedly spoke out to stop her.
But it's too late.
The girl who ran towards Si Xu excitedly took two steps with difficulty in the knee-deep snow and could not crawl anymore.
Su Qin: "..."
Gu Yunqing: "..."
Looking at the girl stuck in the snow, they laughed unkindly.
Feeling that she had done something shameful, Jiang Ran wanted to retreat back to the stairs, but her physical strength did not allow her to move forward or backward.
The girl leaned forward slightly and took two heavy breaths.
The cold wind wrapped in low laughter blew into her ears. Jiang Ran blushed unconsciously and looked up at the young man who stopped in front of her.
Si Xu stood on the snow, looking at her leisurely.
Jiang Ran: "..." What are you laughing at? Why don't you pick me up! Wait, is she dazzled? This guy is standing on the snow!
Is this the water-based ability Su Qin just mentioned? Why have I never seen other water-based abilities use it before?
Pulling the girl out of the snow by the back of her collar, Si Xu walked on the snow and lifted her up to the corridor like a kitten.
After landing on the ground, Jiang Ran glanced at the snowy ground where not even a footprint was left, and angrily questioned him: "Si Xu, you are so powerful, why did you deliberately get wet yesterday?"
Si Xu was about to tell the little girl that he had brought back her favorite snacks when he met her angry eyes and immediately felt wronged - he had come to the city specially for her, and not only did she not give him a kiss of thanks, she was also mean to him!
Gu Yunqing intuitively felt that Si Xu's mood had turned from sunny to cloudy, and he thought to himself: It's over, it seems like the two are about to fight, should he go up and try to mediate?
Jiang Ran continued to mutter: "Do you know that it's easy to catch a cold in such cold weather wearing wet clothes? I know you are very strong, but you have to take care of yourself too! If you catch a cold, I will definitely feel bad!"
As the girl spoke, she sneezed twice and stared at him with her almond-shaped eyes wide open as if to challenge him.
Si Xu: “…”
He bowed his head and admitted his mistake, "I won't do it again next time."
As soon as he admitted his mistake, Jiang Ran softened her heart.
"I don't mean to blame you, I just hope you can take care of your body in the future..." She held his hand and muttered: "Look, your hands are so cold, I told you to wear more clothes, but you didn't listen..."
Gu Yunqing, who was about to step forward to mediate, said: "..."
Caught off guard by being fed a mouthful of dog food again, Gu Yunqing hugged his girlfriend and shouted angrily: "Aqin, let's go in!"
Let these two guys who are always showing off their affection fend for themselves! Too much!
…
This time when Si Xu went into the city, he brought back various snacks and skin care products.
Jiang Ran looked at the bottles and jars on the table and kept breathing in.
Su Qin, who was also a girl, picked up a bottle of essence with her eyes shining: "Hey, Brother Qi, how many of these little black bottles did you take? Give me two bottles~"
Si Xu was indifferent: "If you like it, take it." He turned his head and asked Jiang Ran, "Which one do you like?"
Jiang Ran was dazzled by the pile of skin care products in front of her and hesitated: "This, any of them are fine, actually it doesn't matter if I don't use them..."
Brother, it has been half a year since the end of the world. Please focus on saving the people of the world and don’t focus on your daily skin care!
"Oh, then I'll put them all away." After Su Qin took away the essence she wanted, Si Xu put the other bottles and jars back into the space. "Gu Yunqing told me that the girls in the base pay attention to daily maintenance. Don't worry, I have collected a lot in the space, enough for you to use for a long time..."
When his name was suddenly called, Gu Yunqing put down the cup he was holding and responded, "That's right—you'll know when you get to the base. Those girls, tsk tsk."
In the apocalypse, is there still the mood to think about maintenance? Jiang Ran recalled the novel and suddenly remembered that there was indeed such a description in the novel.
In order to get close to the strong and ensure their life and status in the base, many people in the base will pay special attention to taking care of themselves.
The base's five major special-ability teams were drawn from former military personnel and were considered public property. In addition to the five major special-ability teams, there were also numerous smaller special-ability teams composed of civilians, who survived by taking on missions issued by the base administration and had relatively little control over their movements.
If the girls have familiar members of the superpower team, they will ask them to help bring back some usable skin care products and cosmetics when they go on missions... Of course, the superpowers will also receive corresponding rewards from them.
There is a passage in the novel: A girl asked Xie Chengzhi for help and promised to exchange her body for it. However, after seeing Luo Rui without makeup, she felt ashamed and instantly woke up... Of course, the focus was to highlight Luo Rui's beauty and temperament.
The reminiscence ended, and Jiang Ran's attention was refocused, but the topic was not over yet.
"It's normal for girls to love beauty," Su Qin said. "Many girls have been spoiled by their families since they were young. They are pampered and have no ability to be self-reliant. They haven't awakened their special abilities. In order to survive, they can only choose the way they can choose - oh, it's not just girls, there are many boys in the base who do this too."
"Yeah." Jiang Ran agreed with Su Qin's point of view. "In this kind of world, it's already good enough to survive."
When she said this, the little girl looked very melancholy. Si Xu frowned slightly, thought for a moment, and took out a bag of White Rabbit candies from his space and handed it to her: "Have some candy."
Jiang Ran shoved the cold package into his hand and let out a low cry. After a moment of surprise, he stuffed the candy back into his pocket: "I can't touch the team's supplies casually."
Last time it was a reward, but she couldn't just accept what Si Xu gave her - if others knew that Si Xu always used the team's supplies to coax girls, it would also cause dissatisfaction among the team members.
"Hmm?" Rejected, Si Xu patiently explained, "It's not the team's thing."
Jiang Ran was puzzled: "No?" Wasn't it collected for the team?
"Ah, Ranran, the things in Sixu's space are not the team's private property. You can use them as you like, and then let him collect them after you're done."
Knowing that Jiang Ran had misunderstood, Gu Yunqing explained for someone who couldn't explain, and couldn't help but complain after the explanation.
"That guy Si Xu is like a hamster hoarding food. He likes to add things to his space whenever he wants. I remember the last time I went to IKEA, he took away several pots and pans, for cooking rice, porridge, and soup... I don't know what he wants to do with all that stuff."
"Of course someone like you who can't cook doesn't need it." Si Xu said with disdain.
Gu Yunqing retorted: "You talk as if you can cook, haha."
Si Xu was very confident and said with a proud tone, "I can't do it, but Jiang Ran can." After that, he glanced at Su Qin and said with disdain, "It's okay if you can't do it, but Su Qin can't do it either."
Su Qin, who was innocently caught in the crossfire, choked on the air: "Cough cough cough cough!"
Jiang Ran knew that Si Xu's words were very offensive, but she couldn't help but feel her cheeks getting hot when she heard his straightforward praise. She secretly tugged at his sleeve, reminding him not to be so high-profile.
(End of this chapter)
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