Chapter 82 A sober child? Not interested.
Shen Mi slowly sat up. The old clothes that had appeared out of nowhere slipped off her shoulders, revealing a patch of white skin. She looked down and realized that she wasn't wearing anything on her upper body. Her heart skipped a beat, and she was so startled that she quickly pulled the clothes up to cover herself tightly.
After a moment, she seemed to remember something, glanced down at her lower body, and then breathed a sigh of relief.
—Thankfully, my pants are still intact.
She patted her chest and let out a sigh of relief, as if to comfort herself.
Looking around, she quickly found her tattered clothes from the previous night, soaked in water. They were now drying on a withered branch at the entrance of the tree hollow, most of the moisture having been blown away by the morning breeze. The hem, torn open last night while helping to stabilize Ren's leg injury, now resembled some kind of exaggerated crop top.
Chen Mi tiptoed out of bed, feeling weak and exhausted with every movement, but she persisted, her steps small yet swift. As she walked, she carefully observed Ren, who sat opposite her against the tree wall, silently praying—
Don't wake up, don't open your eyes!
Otherwise, he would see a half-naked woman, wearing only shorts and a tattered cloth covering her upper body, walking past him in a disheveled state.
Shen Mi clutched the old clothes she was wearing tightly, as if clutching her last shred of dignity, and slowly made her way to the cave entrance. She reached out, ripped down the clothes that were hanging out to dry, turned her back to the blade, and quickly changed.
I'm finally dressed.
The huge weight on her heart finally lifted, and she felt much more relaxed.
Whether it was due to excessive nervousness or preoccupation, when Shen Mi turned around, she didn't see that the person who had been leaning against the tree wall with their eyes closed and asleep had quietly changed their position.
At this moment, Ren's eyelashes were lowered, and his expression was calm, as if he was patiently waiting for her to finish getting ready.
A few minutes later, he finally "slowly woke up".
Ren slowly opened his eyes, his gaze calmly falling on her, his tone indifferent: "Awake?"
Shen Mi nodded, but his heart skipped a beat.
She hesitated for a moment, then tentatively asked, "Yesterday... I think I had a fever, and I felt dizzy and disoriented. I don't think I said anything incoherent, did I?"
After speaking, she stared cautiously at Ren's face, trying to catch even the slightest change in his expression, afraid that she had said the wrong thing, or that something that shouldn't have happened had really happened last night.
Blade didn't answer immediately, but just looked at her silently.
Shen Mi's heart jumped into his throat.
His gaze fell on her face, his eyes showing no obvious emotion, yet as deep as the lingering darkness of night, making it impossible to guess what he was thinking.
"What do you think a patient who's so feverish they can be manipulated can say?" He asked indifferently, his tone devoid of emotion.
"Then mine..."
Shen Mi spoke cautiously, her cheeks still flushed from her lingering fever, her voice hesitant. She only uttered half of her words before swallowing them back, the meaning of which was obvious.
"Oh, your clothes?" Blade glanced at her and answered unhurriedly, "I took them off for you."
"..."
Shen Mi was instantly struck dumb, his entire body turned to stone, his mind went blank with a "buzz," and even his breath caught in his throat.
Seeing her shocked expression, Ren slowly added, "You had a high fever back then. If you hadn't taken it off and used it to cool down, you wouldn't even have the right to ask me now."
He spoke calmly, as if he were stating a routine medical procedure, and there wasn't even a hint of embarrassment in his tone.
Chen Mi felt her face burning red at a visible speed. Countless images flashed through her mind in an instant, and finally she stiffly lowered her head, tugging hard at her clothes as if to confirm that she had indeed put them back on.
"Well, thank you. Did...did you see anything?" She bit her lip, her voice so low it almost blended into the quiet surroundings.
"Yes," Ren answered frankly, without any attempt to hide it.
Shen Mi almost couldn't catch his breath. He felt like he'd been struck by lightning, his face turning bright red to his ears. He wished he could find a crack in the ground to disappear into and bury himself completely.
“However,” Blade added slowly, “it’s pitch black, so you can’t see anything.”
He spoke casually, as if stating something trivial: "You should ask me if I touched anything I shouldn't have."
Chen Mi's heart was pounding wildly, and her mind was racing: "Then do you...don't you..."
Before the question could be finished, Ren interrupted, "I touched almost every part of your body."
Chen Mi: "!!!"
She froze instantly, her pupils dilated, and she felt as if her soul had been slapped out of her body by those words.
Blade simply watched her calmly from the side, a faint smile playing on his lips, as if admiring some kind of "adorable animal."
He concealed his smile deeply, leaving only his unfathomable eyes slightly curved as he watched her slowly fall into the trap he had set for her.
Shen Mi finally realized that she had been tricked. The redness on her face did not fade, but instead burned even more intensely, as if she had been picked up and thrown into a furnace.
"I'll kill you—!!!" She practically exploded.
“Don’t rush,” he interrupted her slowly, his voice deep and steady, with a touch of matter-of-fact calm, “I just wiped your body with a strip of cloth, don’t overthink it.”
He paused, his tone becoming even more indifferent: "Besides, I'm not interested in...kids who are hundreds of years younger than me."
Shen Mi paused for a moment, the blush on her face still lingering, her expression shifting from embarrassment to astonishment: "A... child?"
Ren didn't offer any further explanation. His gaze sharpened slightly, as if he had suddenly remembered something.
After feeding her the blood, he was so focused on confirming whether she had transformed into a demonic form that he overlooked the most crucial question—
life.
His body was no longer mortal; from the moment he was touched by fleeting flesh and blood and stepped into the abyss of immeasurable lifespan, he was no longer within the realm of humanity.
And what about her?
She swallowed his blood; would she also be irreversibly... changed as a result?
His fingertips twitched slightly, and his gaze fell on her, devoid of obvious emotion, yet concealing a deep and unfathomable contemplation.
Are you feeling unwell right now?
His voice was calm, but so low it was almost inaudible, as if he were talking to himself, or as if he were testing the waters.
Shen Mi was taken aback. Her hand, which was straightening her clothes, paused. She looked up at him and asked, "Not feeling well? Not really... it's just that I feel a little lightheaded."
She frowned, as if trying to recall something. "My head isn't dizzy anymore, but I feel strangely energetic. Also... didn't I have a pretty high fever last night? But now I don't feel weak at all, in fact..."
She hesitated for a moment, then tentatively said, "You seem to have more energy than before you got sick?"
Shen Mi pondered for a moment. Could it be that her experiences during this period had made her body stronger? Or was it that the water and soil of the Immortal Ship were more nourishing?
After all, will seeds from Earth undergo different degrees of change after being taken to space and returning to Earth?
Could it be that I, like the seed, have undergone a "change"?
Shen Mi had no idea what had happened last night, and Ren had no intention of telling her.
Ren lowered his eyes and gave a soft "hmm," as if he was thinking about something, but his gaze became more serious.
really.
That blood is not harmless.
He had thought that as long as she could survive without transforming into a demonic being, the price would be far greater than anything he had ever paid before. But now it seemed that... a sudden influence was quietly taking root and sprouting within her.
Shen Mi didn't notice his unusual silence and continued to move his hands and feet, then patted his face: "But I should be fine, right? Maybe it's because I had a fever for too long and it just came down..."
Blade didn't respond immediately, but from an angle she couldn't see, he slowly clenched his fist, his knuckles turning white between his fingers.
—What she drank was blood that could make all things grow and also mutate living beings.
What the price of this "living" will be is something even he himself cannot say for sure.
He said in a low voice, "From today onwards, if you experience any unusual symptoms, even the slightest one, tell me immediately."
Shen Mi blinked, then nodded as if she understood: "Oh... okay."
She didn't take it seriously, but his expression was excessively serious.
The air fell silent for a moment.
After a moment, Ren lowered his eyes and chuckled softly, his tone indifferent, as if deliberately trying to scare her, and said in an ambiguous tone, "After all, your current body... may not be the same as before."
Either he's the same, or it's just not the right time yet?
Ren frowned slightly, a barely perceptible shadow flickering in her eyes. It's too early to tell, but if it truly is the latter… if she really does become some kind of mutated being because of it…
He will personally sever the path he himself led, even if it was the only chance he gave out of pity.
He will never allow the past disasters to repeat themselves.
He paused for a moment, then looked up at Chen Mi and said calmly, "You didn't eat anything yesterday, so I'll go out and find something to eat."
He paused, then added, "Don't wander around, just stay here."
Shen Mi paused for a moment, watching his back as he turned to leave, and for some reason felt a tightness in her chest.
"You're going alone? There might still be pursuers outside. Going out rashly... wouldn't that be dangerous?" she blurted out, her tone unconsciously carrying a hint of worry.
Ren didn't stop walking; he merely turned back and glanced at her indifferently: "For you, yes."
The implication is that he is not her, there is no need to worry about him, and he is not worth her attention or comparison.
Chen Mi choked, opened her mouth, but ultimately kept it shut. Oh well, her good intentions were wasted; she deserved to be so talkative.
"Alright, come back soon." Shen Mi still gave him a word of advice.
"Hmm." Ren responded softly, his voice as indifferent as ever. Compared to his initial icy demeanor, his attitude had improved considerably.
After going through so much, he must feel a little different about me now, right?
As Shen Mi watched Ren's departing figure, the thought quietly arose in her mind. She didn't say it aloud, only pondered it briefly before silently lowering her head.
Now, she is all alone in the cave.
Chen Mi sat cross-legged, closed her eyes, and tried hard to recall the words the system had spoken to her in her dream.
The gist of it is: This world is slowly collapsing, and she is the one who must complete the "strategy" mission. Only in this way can she save Danheng, Jingyuan, and... Ren.
At that moment, Shen Mi suddenly remembered that dream.
In the dream, Jingyuan, covered in wounds, knelt on a ground strewn with rubble, his eyes vacant, as if he were using his last strength to defend something. Danheng, on the other hand, was like a puppet on strings, trapped in an endless scene, struggling repeatedly, unable to escape no matter how hard he tried.
The images weren't blurry; on the contrary, they were terrifyingly clear, as if they were playing out right before her eyes.
Shen Mi shivered suddenly, a chill running down her spine. She sat there, stunned, a thought that almost suffocated her as it surfaced in her mind—
No way... Could those dreams be their future fate?
If, as the system says, this world is collapsing and they are destined for that fate, then a hundred years later, the "pioneers" who boarded the Star Train would never have met them; they would have already died. So what would be the follow-up?
What about all those tender moments and camaraderie she experienced in the game? Wouldn't those who accompanied her through the long storyline eventually disappear without a trace?
If that's really how things turned out, then isn't her current position at a fork in the road where things can change?
No, she wouldn't allow what the system said to happen.
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Author's note: I'm late! I'm late!!! (bows)
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