Chapter 9
Back at the office area that had been temporarily cleared out at the port, my tense nerves finally relaxed a little.
The air is still filled with the smell of rust and motor oil, but compared to the strange energy and life-and-death struggle deep in the mine, this place can almost be called "peaceful".
Susie dove headfirst into the makeshift data analysis station, her eyes sparkling as she gazed at the vast amount of data she'd collected. A nutrition bar clung to her lips, she mumbled terms like "frequency," "symbiont," and "ancient code." Han Zhongze led his men to tend to the wounded and reinforce the defenses, his old general's resolute style intact.
Wen Ling stood in front of the sink in the simple bathroom, washing the stains off her cheeks and hands with clean water.
The ice water stimulated his skin and cleared his tired brain a little.
He raised his head and looked at his wet blond hair and deep green eyes in the mirror, recalling Miao Weizhen's precise shooting skills in the mine and the scrutinizing gaze that occasionally fell on him.
On the other side, Miao Weizhen stood alone in front of the observation window, looking at the dim and busy port outside.
He took off his dusty coat and only wore the dark shirt underneath, which made him look taller and thinner.
He held a glass of water in his hand, but did not drink it. Instead, he unconsciously rubbed the wall of the glass with his fingertips, obviously thinking about what had happened today.
Dinner was bland, synthetic food served in the harbor cafeteria. Everyone sat around a long table, the atmosphere somewhat subdued. The portly leader tried to brighten things up by telling a dull joke, but Susie only managed a few dry laughs out of politeness.
After dinner, everyone else went to rest, but Wen Ling and Miao Weizhen stayed where they were, sitting at the two ends of the long table, several meters apart, like an invisible chasm.
The dim lights of the harbor cast a faint shadow on Miao Weizhen's overly pale face. He suddenly spoke, his voice particularly clear in the silence: "Your Highness's skills in the mines are extraordinary."
He didn't look at Wen Ling, his eyes still on the water cup in his hand. His tone was as calm as if he was discussing the weather, but the question itself was as sharp as a knife.
Wen Ling's heart trembled slightly. She picked up the water cup and shook it gently. Looking at the swaying liquid in the cup, her tone was just the right amount of nonchalant. "When I was young, I was weak, so my father hired several teachers to teach me some physical fitness and... self-defense techniques. As a member of the royal family, you have to have some self-protection skills to avoid being easily 'taken advantage of'."
He deliberately paused on the word "grasp" and raised his eyes, his deep green eyes looking at Miao Weizhen, as if just casually mentioning it, but with a subtle sharpness, he turned the tables: "Compared to the Miao army's marksmanship of hitting the target with a hundred steps, my little trick is really not worth mentioning. Minister, when you were in the border patrol before, you must have experienced much more dangerous things than this, right?"
Miao Weizhen's fingertips, stroking the wall of the cup, paused for a moment, barely perceptible. He finally raised his eyes, his icy phoenix eyes meeting Wen Ling's seemingly clear and innocent green eyes.
It seemed as if invisible electric lights were interweaving and colliding in the air.
"It's my job, and I know a thing or two." Miao Weizhen's answer was evasive, neither admitting nor denying. His tone remained calm. "Your Highness is too modest. Being able to block accurately in such chaos is more than just a 'trivial trick'."
The two looked at each other, neither of them saying anything. In that brief silence, it seemed as if a thousand words were exchanged.
Wen Ling confirmed that Miao Weizhen was an extraordinary person and had hidden more secrets. Miao Weizhen also confirmed that Wen Ling was by no means as simple and harmless as he appeared, and that he might have doubts about himself.
However, this probing didn't spark hostility; instead, it seemed to crack a tiny crack in each other's tightly-held defenses. They both recognized the other's sharpness and formidable nature, and vaguely sensed that in dealing with this unimaginable crisis, the other might be someone... someone to be wary of, yet also someone they had to rely on.
"It's late, Your Highness, please go to bed early." Finally, Miao Weizhen was the first to look away, standing up, ending this silent confrontation. His back remained upright and lonely as he left.
Wen Ling watched his back disappear through the doorway and slowly finished his glass of water. His fingertips felt slightly cold, yet his heart felt strangely at peace. At least, he was no longer passively speculating. And Miao Weizhen's lack of direct denial or anger itself conveyed a subtle signal.
The night deepened, and the temporary dormitory in the port office area wasn't very soundproof. Wen Ling lay on her cot, sorting out everything that had happened that day, when she heard a very faint, muffled sound from next door, like someone pressing their forehead against the cold metal wall, again and again.
He didn't pay attention to it at first, but the sound was intermittent, with a hidden rhythm, and was particularly clear in the silent night.
Wen Ling recalled that during dinner, Miao Weizhen barely touched the food, and his face was paler than usual. Even when Susie discussed data with him carelessly, he only responded briefly, with an unrelieved gloom between his brows.
An inexplicable intuition drove Wen Ling to stand up. He quietly walked to the thin metal wall separating the room from the next door. Through the not-so-tight gap, he saw a blurry scene -
Miao Weizhen sat on the edge of the bed, his back slightly hunched, his back facing away. One hand pressed hard against his temples, his knuckles turning white from the effort. The other hand clutched something tightly. In the dim warning lights of the harbor outside the window, Wen Ling could vaguely discern it as a piece of... a broken jade. Miao Weizhen's fingertips caressed the fragment with immense care, as if it were the only solace that could alleviate his immense pain.
He didn't utter a single groan, but his tense shoulders and slightly trembling back betrayed the torment he was enduring. He was no longer the calculating, cold, and self-possessed Foreign Affairs Minister he usually was, but more like a lonely soul tormented by invisible pain.
Wen Ling watched silently, his heart trembling. He had originally thought Miao Weizhen's coldness stemmed from his personality or stance, but now he realized it was perhaps more of a shield against the pain within. The headache was clearly not his first, and it was extremely severe. What did that shattered jade pendant represent?
He didn't make a sound to interrupt, but quietly retreated to his bedside. His original suspicions and temptations towards Miao Weizhen were now quietly mixed with a faint, complex emotion that even he himself hadn't yet clearly understood.
The next morning, when they met again in the cafeteria, Miao Weizhen had returned to his usual cold demeanor, as if the fragile and suffering person from last night was just an illusion of Wen Ling. Only the indelible weariness in his eyes and the paleness of his face silently confirmed everything.
Wen Ling didn't ask anything, but when distributing today's unpalatable nutrient solution, she pushed an unopened bottle of water to Miao Weizhen's hand.
"The synthetic food here tastes too strong. Maybe drinking some water will make you feel better." Wen Ling's tone was natural and casual, as if it was just an insignificant action.
Miao Weizhen paused for a moment and glanced up at Wen Ling. His eyes were still deep and hard to discern, but they seemed to have lost some of their previous absolute coldness.
He took the bottle of water silently and whispered, "Thank you."
Without much talk, a subtle understanding, born of subtle observation and tacit understanding, flowed silently between the two. Wen Ling didn't reveal his secret, and Miao Weizhen didn't reject this subtle gesture of concern. The road ahead remained uncertain, but Wen Ling felt that everything seemed more stable than the isolation of living alone in the country.
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