Chapter 68 Li Wei
The only response to Jiu Jiu was a heart-wrenching cough.
"Mom!" The water glass was slammed down, and Jiu Jiu rushed to the bedside, gently patting her mother's thin back with her little hands.
"Jiu Jiu...you can't lie!" Her mother's voice suddenly became stern.
Jiu Jiu bit her lip: "Okay... I met them on the road! A few older brothers and sisters who were looking for a place to stay..."
She glanced furtively at the doorway: "They don't look like bad people, and they gave me five bags of bread!..."
Lu Nange gently knocked on the door frame at the opportune moment.
Several boys stood in the center of the living room, but did not approach.
Lu Nange and two other girls stopped at the bedroom door.
The woman on the bed suddenly pulled her daughter into her arms, and with her other hand grabbed a kitchen knife from beside the bed.
"My daughter was being unreasonable...she took your things...I'm returning them to you." She emphasized each word: "Now, please leave my house!"
When her face was fully turned to the light, crisscrossing scars covered her entire face.
Lu Nange and the other two remained expressionless, but their pupils contracted almost imperceptibly for a moment.
Wen Qing dug her nails deep into her palm, using the pain to maintain a calm facade.
Lu Nange pretended to take a box of cough medicine from her pocket, but actually took it from her system space, and bent down to place it on the cracked ground.
"This is cough medicine." She took a step back. "Excuse me."
Lu Nange and the others turned and left, and Jiu Jiu's mother loosened her grip on the kitchen knife.
"You like them?" Jiu Jiu's mother's voice suddenly softened.
"I love Mom!" Jiu Jiu answered immediately, then added in a low voice, "But they gave us bread, five bags of it!"
"Let them stay in the two rooms inside," Jiu Jiu's mother suddenly said, looking at the cough medicine on the ground.
Jiu Jiu's eyes lit up instantly, and her short legs dashed towards the door—there were five bags of bread! Enough for her and her mother to eat for a long time!
"Sister!" Jiu Jiu tugged at Lu Nange's sleeve, "Mom said you can stay in the rooms inside!"
The group exchanged glances.
It's still unclear what the Su family's background is, but with such a large commotion, it's likely that everyone outside is looking for them.
The other side has figured out their superpowers so clearly.
They have obviously been under surveillance.
If they are determined to get Wen Qing, then those exits should all be guarded.
Staying here for the time being is indeed the safest option for them!
Everyone nodded slightly to Lu Nange.
Lu Nange crouched down, looking Jiu Jiu in the eye: "Thank you. We'll leave as soon as possible."
Jiu Jiu raised her little face and gave a deliberately mature-sounding snort: "For the sake of those five bags of bread! You can go inside, don't disturb my mother's rest!"
After saying that, he turned around and slammed the door shut, shaking off a few wisps of dust.
Sensing the hostess's wariness, the group tiptoed into the inner room.
After locking the door, they quickly checked the empty room.
The windows were covered by black curtains, the walls were mottled with mold, and there were cobwebs in the corners, but nothing else seemed out of the ordinary.
Lu Nange took out several folding chairs from her spatial storage, and everyone was finally able to catch their breath.
Level 1 crystal cores are now practically useless in the hands of these individuals.
Gu Qi and He Zhuo each held a crystal core, feeling the faint energy fluctuations within them—even absorbing dozens of them would only barely fill a small gap in their superpowers.
In contrast, Wen Qing's healing ability allows them to recover their abilities more quickly.
They need to maintain their best condition now.
After sitting down, Wen Qing took turns treating everyone.
By the time Wen Qing regained his powers, most of the crystal cores he had accumulated had already been used up.
As the green light in Wen Qing's hand gradually faded, turning into pure white, she suddenly opened her eyes wide: "I think... I leveled up?"
All eyes turned to him.
Wen Qing: "After I upgraded, the effect of the level one crystal core is almost negligible."
Lu Xici and Gu Qi exchanged a glance and nodded in unison.
Lu Nange seemed lost in thought, inwardly grumbling: [I told you to skip chapters and read the whole thing, even though I said you had to memorize the entire novel! How could you not see something so important...]
Chi Yanzhou: "It seems that after the upgrade, we will need crystal cores of the corresponding level..."
He Zhuo: "Does that mean Sister Wen Qing's healing abilities will be even more powerful in the future? But she needs a level two crystal core to recover her powers."
"It's almost certainly true," Gu Qi said in a deep voice.
Lu Xici: "Therefore, we need to collect more secondary crystal nuclei."
Chi Yanzhou recalled the level-two zombie he had encountered last time: "We can't rely too much on Sister Wen Qing's healing abilities in the future."
The atmosphere in the room instantly became heavy.
Wen Qing lowered her head and murmured, "Or perhaps..."
"No!" Several voices rang out simultaneously.
Lu Nange: "Sister Wenqing!! You've already boarded this pirate ship, how can you jump ship halfway?"
He Zhuo: "That's right, Sister Wen Qing! Once we're on this pirate ship, we're family, friends, and partners. How can we split up halfway through?"
Lu Xici coughed lightly: "Although the way that chuunibyou guy talks is stupid... he's right. We're a team."
"Sister Wenqing, we can't even respect ourselves if we have to hand you over in exchange for leaving!" Gu Wan grabbed Wenqing's arm.
Wen Qing's eyes reddened: "Thank you!"
...
Just as the first light of dawn peeked through the crack in the window, a soft knocking on the door startled everyone awake.
Everyone instantly went on high alert, silently standing close to the wall.
Lu Nange's spiritual power quickly seeped out.
Chi Yanzhou lifted a corner of the curtain with his fingertips and glanced out the window—no ambush, no unusual activity.
He shook his head at his companions.
"I'm going to open the door." Jiu Jiu knocked lightly on the door, her voice hushed through the crack: "Please don't make a sound."
The thin walls couldn't block out the conversations outside at all.
A male voice rang out: "Jiu Jiu, did you sleep well last night? Were you scared?"
"Uncle He, Jiu Jiu isn't afraid."
The hunched-over middle-aged man bent down and gently ruffled Jiu Jiu's dry, yellow hair with his rough hands: "Here, this is today's water and food."
Jiu Jiu took a half step back, her little hands behind her back: "No, no, Uncle He, thank you, but Mom said...we have to rely on ourselves..."
He Yao sighed and placed the bulging cloth bag on the rickety table: "Xiao Wei, I left the things in the living room. There's something else going on at the team; if you need help, have Jiu Jiu call me."
His response was a series of heart-wrenching coughs, mixed with Li Wei's hoarse voice: "He Yao! I told you... cough cough... you don't owe us, mother and daughter, anything... take your things!"
Only the soft sound of the door closing came from outside.
Jiu Jiu darted quickly into the inner room.
She carefully squeezed out the cough medicine that Lu Nange had given her and brought it to Li Wei's chapped lips.
After taking her medicine, Li Wei struggled to sit up, her thin fingers running through her daughter's tangled hair.
"Jiu Jiu..." she asked weakly, "Are those people... still in the room?"
"Yes," Jiu Jiu nodded vigorously, "I haven't come out at all."
Li Wei took a deep breath: "Help Mom up."
With her daughter's help, the frail woman struggled to get out of bed.
She dragged her ailing body to the living room and said in a deep voice to the tightly closed door, "Gentlemen, please come out and talk."
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