Chapter 40: You can’t owe someone a favor for nothing
Dozens of meters up in the air, the cold wind made people shiver. Xu Nuo asked worriedly, "Are you sure he's still alive? Is it too late to give up the game now?"
Zhou Xuanyi stood on the eagle's back, glanced at the man lying on his back, and sneered, "He's half dead. A-rank A has tough skin and flesh, so there's no need to abandon the competition. Just drink a few nutritional supplements and he'll be fine."
"But you," he muttered, "Why are you so nervous about him? Isn't there an A-level for you to command?"
Xu Nuo: "He participated in the competition because of me, and he got injured because of me. How can I live with this?"
Zhou Xuanyi said "Oh" and turned sideways without saying anything.
He stopped talking and didn't want to make himself look bad, so he lowered his head to clean the blood on his hands.
The wind howled in the sky, the thin air suffocating her. She was still trying to catch her breath when a faint voice drifted overhead: "I'm a little jealous."
Xu Nuo looked up blankly.
Zhou Xuanyi stood in front, his back straight, as if the sound just now was an illusion.
Xu Nuo paused, thought it was all hallucination, and continued to wipe the blood.
"Hey! Are you even listening to me?"
He waited for a long time but there was no response. He turned around angrily, glaring with narrow eyes.
Xu Nuo looked haggard, her hair disheveled, and a speck of blood stained the side of her face. She pointed at the young man, then at herself: "Jealous? Of me?"
Zhou Xuanyi said uncomfortably, "Yeah, why? Why can't I? I was the one who met you first, so why should he be the one who came later and got the upper hand?"
Xu Nuo slapped his face, trying to sober himself up: "I've noticed that all of you sentinels speak strangely, always saying things that are ambiguous and suggestive."
Zhou Xuanyi frowned: "All? Can't I be the only one?"
Xu Nuo exclaimed: "Look at him, he's so good at talking, I wonder how many guides' hearts he's won over."
Zhou Xuanyi frowned and sat down next to her: "Don't be ridiculous, I don't say these things to everyone. Don't compare everything to me."
Xu Nuo didn't bother to pay attention to him and silently picked the blood scab from his hand.
My face suddenly felt itchy, as if it was scratched by a feather.
She stared over. The culprit hadn't stopped yet, pointing to the blood on his finger. The corner of his mouth raised slightly: "Why do you always get your face bloody? You used to be pretty, but now you look like a savage."
Xu Nuo: "..."
She raised her eyelids and responded indifferently: "Thank you for the compliment. You are also very handsome, not like a savage."
She needed help from someone, so she couldn't retort at the moment. She could only lower her head and continue picking at the blood scab. She didn't notice that the tip of the young man's ear was faintly red, and he touched his neck uncomfortably.
He raised his voice, "Of course, everyone knows I'm handsome. But with so many people praising me, why do I feel like your praise hits the mark and makes me feel so good?"
Xu Nuo wiped his hands on the eagle's feathers while he wasn't paying attention: "Maybe I'm speaking from the heart, and my tone is quite sincere. Sincerity never goes out of style."
...If you speak so rudely, it's hard to believe you're sincere.
Zhou Xuanyi nodded seriously and said, "That's true. No wonder when people praised me in the past, their words either didn't express their true feelings or were superficial. Now it seems they still weren't sincere enough. Your praise is good, let me hear a few more compliments."
He raised his eyebrows and looked into her eyes, as if he wanted to carefully observe her "sincerity".
Xu Nuo looked away: "How long will it take?"
Zhou Xuanyi glanced at the horizon and said, "About ten minutes. What? You don't want to praise me anymore?"
"Don't give me that." She leaned over and checked Wei Yan's breathing again.
Seeing her movements, Zhou Xuanyi hesitated and said, "What you told me...what you experienced underground is true?"
Xu Nuo rolled his eyes at him and said, "Why would I lie to you? I can't possibly have stabbed him. But who would believe that? I spent so much effort digging underground, discovered the organizer's secret, was almost silenced, and even got injured. I didn't even find the treasure chest or the key."
Zhou Xuanyi: "Are you so sure it was Fino who did this? If he did something like this in his own region, wouldn't it be a bit too obvious if it got exposed?"
Xu Nuo: "But currently, the only two companies capable of building a laboratory of this scale are Baita and Fino, right? If I had to choose between the two, I'd choose Fino."
As for Zhou Xuanyi, she selectively retained the speculation part and only told him what happened underground exactly as it happened.
Zhou Xuanyi's brows knitted together slightly. "Just because he's from the White Tower, you trust the White Tower unconditionally? Aren't you afraid of trusting the wrong person?"
Xu Nuo glanced at him: "I have my own reasons for judging."
In the final analysis, both current clues point to Fino, either explicitly or implicitly. Moreover, with the strength of the White Tower, there is no need to spend so much effort to catalyze mutations. Not to mention the huge number of evolved humans within it, just the two S-level guides and three S-level sentinels in charge are enough to have absolute say.
Over the years, the various bases have lived in harmony with the White Tower. If there were any unusual movements in the White Tower, the base authorities would probably have known about it long ago.
Fino, on the other hand, was financially strong and had some armed forces, but it was ultimately just a large corporation, lacking the legitimacy of a military presence like Al Qaeda. In recent years, they'd been building railroads and establishing an independent communications network, so it was hard not to suspect some ulterior motive.
Zhou Xuanyi's brows relaxed. "Okay, I'm relieved if it's not because of him. It seems I still have a chance, so it's not a loss."
Xu Nuo turned his face away: "Don't come on, don't keep saying such ambiguous things, I don't buy it."
Wei Yan had already given her enough trouble, and this guy was obviously at a higher level than Wei Yan, so she really couldn't afford to offend him.
Zhou Xuanyi had obviously never been exposed so directly before, and his face looked unhappy: "Are you really that blunt? It was fine at the beginning, I didn't provoke you."
Xu Nuo squinted at him and said, "What else? You always say some inexplicable things. Do you really like me?"
Zhou Xuanyi was speechless.
"We've only known each other for two days, so why have you been following me? We both know it," Xu Nuo said confidently. "But I don't understand why you came back after leaving the cave. Shouldn't you hurry up and find a more capable guide partner?"
Zhou Xuanyi is an A-level sentinel, and B-level guides are not a scarce resource for him, not to mention that he has to compete with another A-level sentinel for her, which is time-consuming, laborious and thankless.
With his strength, if he went to sweep the area immediately after leaving the cave, he would not be unable to find the second senior guide.
Zhou Xuanyi froze for a moment, then lowered his head and said, "...it's none of your business."
Xu Nuo glanced at him calmly: "I don't really want to care, as long as you don't have any plans."
The three of them entered the cave together. Zhou Xuanyi escaped first. They met by chance and it would have been fine if they just said goodbye. However, he appeared nearby as if he knew they would come out from this exit.
If an ordinary person had such skills, he would have gone to fight for other strongholds eight hundred years ago.
Unless he really decided to make her his partner as he said, but it was obvious that Zhou Xuanyi did not think so.
"But," she changed the subject, her tone carrying a hint of sincerity, "no matter what the reason, I'm very grateful that you came back. If it weren't for you, Wei Yan would still be waiting for rescue, and I would probably have given up the competition."
Zhou Xuanyi's expression relaxed slightly, and he lowered his head awkwardly: "Let's not talk about these nonsense, we're here."
They landed on a deserted flat area.
There are many footprints and traces of fighting here, and the so-called supply area is just a few unattended boxes of nutrients thrown on the ground.
Zhou Xuanyi went to get a few nutrient supplements. "It's better to arrive early than to arrive early. I happened to run into the new supplies landing. Otherwise, this trip might have been in vain."
Xu Nuo took the nutrient solution, opened the package and prepared to pour it into Wei Yan's mouth.
"Wait! How long do we have to wait for this injection?" Zhou Xuanyi thoughtfully handed over the needle left in the packaging bag, "Be careful not to choke. Or maybe just inject it directly."
"Didn't you just say that drinking a few nutritional supplements will be enough? Is it necessary to have an injection?" Xu Nuo was suspicious.
Drug injections work faster than taking the medicine directly, but the side effects also occur quickly. She understands this medical common sense.
Xu Nuo didn't trust Fino. Even though they claimed that the nutritional supplement had no side effects, he didn't want to give Wei Yan the injection directly without authorization.
Besides, she had seen Wei Yan drinking nutritional supplements during training before, and they were clearly soaked in a teacup and were still steaming.
Zhou Xuanyi threw down the needle and said, "Anyway, I've persuaded you to drink it. If you want to drink it, then drink it. It doesn't make any difference."
Xu Nuo held Wei Yan's jaw and handed the nutrient solution to his mouth.
Zhou Xuanyi crossed his arms and said, "Just a reminder, it's very dangerous to drink liquids while lying flat on your back while unconscious. You can easily choke and asphyxiate."
Xu Nuo could only support the man's upper body with great effort and patted his face: "Wake up, drink the nutrition supplement."
After calling her several times, Wei Yan finally woke up slowly. He leaned on her shoulder unconsciously and rubbed her with his nose.
Normally he looked as terrifying as if he could defeat anyone in a second, but now his hair was disheveled, his face was pale and bloodshot, even his usually rosy lips had lost their color, his black pupils were wet and dazed, and he looked unhappy and disobedient.
Xu Nuo looked at him with more favor, raised his chin and drank the nutrient solution.
As expected, Wei Yan choked a few times, his face turned paler, and he pushed the nutrient solution away.
Xu Nuo frowned: "Just a few sips? The bleeding won't stop."
He lowered his head for a moment, then weakly continued drinking from her hand. After finishing a few nutrient supplements, he leaned over her shoulder and closed his eyes.
The cold, straight nose pressed against Xu Nuo's neck, and the hot breath made her neck feel a little itchy. She touched the back of Wei Yan's head and said nothing.
Zhou Xuanyi witnessed the entire incident, then turned away with his arms folded in anger: "What a pretense."
How can A-level be so weak, green tea guy!
Xu Nuo felt relieved knowing that the person was fine. He took out the metal box from his bag and handed it to him, "Zhou Xuanyi."
The young man angrily folded his arms and turned his back to the two of them, as if he couldn't hear them.
"Zhou Xuanyi." Xu Nuo repeated helplessly.
He turned around with an expression that said, "Now you know how to call me uncle," and said, "...What? Why are you taking out the treasure chest?"
Xu Nuo: "For you."
Zhou Xuanyi frowned and said, "Put it on you. It's not convenient for me to hold it in a fight."
Xu Nuo: "No, this treasure chest belongs to you. As a thank you for helping us."
Whatever the purpose, it is a fact that he helped.
We met by chance, and Xu Nuo didn't want to owe anyone a favor in vain.
Zhou Xuanyi was stunned for a moment.
He scratched his head irritably, not knowing what he was thinking. "It's just a small favor. I don't want anything from you. And what do you mean by gratitude for helping you? You're my guide. Your request is my request. Of course I will satisfy it."
Xu Nuo sighed and said seriously, "Actually... Wei Yan and I are from the same college. We agreed to be partners before the competition, but it just happened that our landing points were too far apart, so we didn't have time to meet up right away."
"...I'm sorry. I was so eager to win the game, and since he hadn't shown up yet and you were pressing me, I decided...to use you to win the treasure chest."
She finished, lowering her head and preparing to endure the sentinel's wrath.
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