Chapter 60 Forever Alone
As the night passed, Bai Chenzhu yawned, forced himself to use his backpack as a pillow for Jiang Ye, and took the place of his own legs. He rubbed his back as he entered the tent and saw that Bai Tao was already sitting up.
She sat there blankly, her hair loose and her eyes lifeless.
Bai Chenzhu thought something was wrong with her, so he rushed over, waved his hand in front of her, and called softly, "Bai Tao? Bai Tao?"
Bai Tao shivered. She bent her knees to hug her arms, but accidentally touched the wound on her arm and gasped.
"Are you alright? Is there anything else that's bothering you? Let me put some medicine on you," Bai Chenzhu said hurriedly.
"I..." Upon hearing this, Bai Tao pursed her lips, and her eyes silently welled up with tears. She quickly raised her hand to wipe her eyes and turned her back.
Bai Chenzhu gently patted her back, "It's alright, it's alright."
These words were like a trigger. Bai Tao, who had been holding back, couldn't hold back anymore after hearing this. She buried her face in Bai Chenzhu's arms and cried, "Waaah, Brother Bai, I thought I was going to die! Waaah, they have wings and tentacles, they're so scary! One wing almost sliced off my arm!"
She tearfully recounted how terrifying the aliens were, saying that her first reaction upon discovering them was to run, but she never expected to be relentlessly pursued by the winged creatures.
She said she found one of them to be weak and not very good at flying, so she attacked the one that couldn't fly much, and then her head inexplicably started to hurt.
Bai Chenzhu frowned more and more as he listened. He comforted Bai Tao and combed her long hair, but he couldn't help but think: Why does it sound so much like his superpower?
Has the similarity between the Zerg and human superpowers really reached this level?
At that moment, a sharp pain shot through her head, and Bai Tao's movements became sluggish. She was nearly slit in the throat by a wing, but fortunately, Jiang Ye arrived in time, saving her from death.
"Oh right, where's Boss Jiang?" Bai Tao belatedly remembered that there was someone else and suddenly looked up.
"You were sleeping like a log outside." Bai Chenzhu patted her hair, and Bai Tao burst into laughter through her tears, a snot bubble appearing on her nose.
She cried for a long time, then drifted off to sleep, muttering words like "tentacles," "cockroach," and "insect," looking very restless in her sleep.
Going back won't make a difference of a few hours. As the only one who wasn't injured, Bai Chenzhu felt a strong sense of responsibility. He comforted Bai Tao and then went out to check on Jiang Ye.
Upon closer inspection, the spot was completely empty.
It's even more troublesome than a white peach.
"Jiang Ye?" Bai Chenzhu called out.
There was no response.
"Won't something bad happen?" Bai Chenzhu went to search for Jiang Ye's spiritual power.
Because Jiang Ye had planted his spiritual power in his spiritual sea long ago, Bai Chenzhu could easily track his movements from a place a few kilometers away from them.
"Why are we going all this way again, to the river we went to yesterday?" Bai Chenzhu wondered to himself.
He felt relieved, sat down on the spot, and began to pack his backpack. As he packed, something fell out of his side pocket.
It was that translator. Bai Chenzhu paused, put it back, and took out food and water.
Sure enough, Jiang Ye returned covered in moisture, along with some small, blue-purple wild fruits the size of fingernails. "Edible," he said, eagerly sharing them with Bai Chenzhu.
Bai Chenzhu poked his shoulder with her fingertip, "Why did you go to take a shower again?"
Jiang Ye was poked so hard that he had to back away.
Was he trying to scam him? He clearly hadn't used much force. Just as Bai Chenzhu was wondering, the guy jumped out, deftly removed the bandages from his body, and nakedly showed him the scabbed wounds on his body. "You're good at this. Look, they're almost healed."
"Really?" Bai Chenzhu asked, still somewhat skeptical.
Jiang Ye spun around to show him that she was perfectly healthy and active.
Isn't this a bit exaggerated? Bai Chenzhu didn't believe it and looked at Jiang Ye's wound several times. The place that was a bloody mess yesterday had a thin scab on it today, and the bleeding had stopped.
"In that case, let's go back now," Bai Chenzhu said.
——
Bai Tao's recovery was clearly not good; her wounds had barely stopped bleeding. Bai Chenzhu picked her up and slapped away Jiang Ye's outstretched hand, saying, "Go get the backpacks for the three of us."
“I’ll carry the backpacks, and I can carry the white peaches too,” Jiang Ye said, pulling on three backpacks.
"Don't push yourself." Even after seeing his wound, Bai Chenzhu firmly believed that the outside had scabbed over but the inside hadn't fully healed, and resolutely refused to let Jiang Ye do so much work by himself.
As the only healthy member of the team, he should have taken better care of the injured.
"How much can a little girl weigh?" Jiang Ye felt underestimated. "You know I'm strong."
Seeing herself being fought over like an object, Bai Tao was so angry that she wrapped her arms around Bai Chenzhu's neck and said, "Don't fight over it! I'm staying with Brother Bai."
"You've been chosen as a concubine," Jiang Ye teased her. "You actually got chosen?"
Bai Tao pouted and grumbled, "If I were choosing a concubine, I would first send you to the Cold Palace."
Jiang Ye slung a backpack over his shoulder and carried one in each hand. Hearing this, he shook his head and said, "Sigh, he must be a tyrant."
Bai Chenzhu said helplessly, "Let's go while the weather is nice, you two."
They need to cross a mountain to get back to where they parked.
Jiang Ye walked ahead, while Bai Chenzhu carried Bai Tao behind, both of them slightly sweating.
Bai Tao drifted off to sleep, and when she woke up again, she saw the lush forest, dappled sunlight filtering through the trees, and Jiang Ye carrying three backpacks in the distance.
She blinked, flicked Bai Chenzhu's little ponytail, and smiled.
"What are you laughing at?" Bai Chenzhu asked, puzzled.
Bai Tao said, "This feels a bit unreal, brother. You're usually quite..."
She racked her brains for an adjective, “You’re quite ‘alone.’ You don’t talk much usually, and you’re somewhat distant from me, or rather, from both of us. It’s rare to see you carry me on your back.”
She said in a daze, "It feels so unreal, like you've been possessed."
Possession? All I did was carry someone on my back for a moment, right? Bai Chenzhu was speechless for a moment. "Am I a man of few words?"
Bai Tao added, "Except when I'm with Jiang Ye."
Bai Chenzhu tried hard to recall for a while, but couldn't remember what Bai Tao had said. "I think I'm pretty sociable."
As if she had heard a lame joke, Bai Tao laughed out loud. She quickly waved her hand, "It's different. It's not the same as being sociable."
Bai Chenzhu said very seriously, "I think I'm quite sunny and cheerful. Is there some misunderstanding between us?"
If someone is truly sunny and cheerful, then who is the one who often goes off to be alone? Who is the one who quietly withdraws from the conversation and watches when people are chatting about interesting things? And who is the one who sits quietly to the side, dozing off, while people are playing around?
Bai Tao was about to laugh herself silly, but the injury to her throat kept her from making too much noise.
The laughter drew Jiang Ye over. He stopped and walked back a few steps, joining Bai Chenzhu in conversation. "What are you talking about?"
Bai Tao quickly changed the subject to avoid them going on and on about whether Bai Chenzhu was 'optimistic and cheerful'. It was obvious that Jiang Ye would side with Bai Chenzhu.
So Bai Tao said whatever came to mind, "They said you two have a good relationship."
Speaking of this, Jiang Ye became proud. He carried one backpack on his back, two bags in one hand, and patted his chest with the other, exclaiming with boundless pride, "Of course, my best buddy!"
Bai Chenzhu sighed.
"More than that, our relationship is even better than that of best buddies," Bai Tao said casually.
Jiang Ye asked in genuine doubt, "Is there anything closer than a best friend?"
Bai Tao fell silent.
Bai Chenzhu's heart pounded, but he remained silent.
Bai Tao suddenly exclaimed, "Ah! I know! They're brothers!"
Jiang Ye, acting as if he had taken a chicken feather as an imperial edict, said to Bai Chenzhu, "We already said we should become sworn brothers. From now on, we're family."
Bai Tao laughed so hard she almost fell off Bai Chenzhu's back.
None of them are reliable. Bai Chenzhu lifted Bai Tao's knees up and said helplessly, "Isn't there a relationship deeper than family and friendship?"
Bai Tao quickly interjected, "I know that! It's a married couple!"
Jiang Ye disagreed, saying, "How can love possibly transcend family and friendship?"
As someone who only had one relationship in his past life, and who not only didn't experience any sweetness but was also betrayed, and has remained single in this life, Jiang Ye believes that love is a lie, and he absolutely does not believe that there is any such thing as a relationship of mutual support and companionship in the world.
Bai Chenzhu chuckled and said, "Then you're destined to be single forever."
"Isn't being single by fate a good thing?" Jiang Ye said dismissively. He looked at Bai Chenzhu, his eyes clearly saying: I've always been like this, and there's nothing wrong with it.
Bai Chenzhu shook his head. "Walking alone is always tiring. Look, when we walk together, the road is much easier."
They talked back and forth, the road ahead seemed to grow longer and longer, and they got closer and closer to Zhou Zhuohua and the others.
Bai Tao forced her eyes open, her wounds burning with pain. The words around her were indistinct. In her drowsy state, she heard Bai Chenzhu ask, "Taozi, are you still afraid now?"
"Don't be afraid, Jiang Ye and I are here."
Bai Tao was startled, never expecting that her fear during her half-awake state would be taken to heart. Feeling somewhat embarrassed, she quietly rested her forehead on Bai Chenzhu's broad shoulder, suppressing her breathing, and pretended to be asleep without saying a word.
If I had an older brother… Bai Tao thought for no reason, he would probably look like this.
——
"Who's there?" Jiang Ye grabbed Bai Chenzhu, who was walking forward, and stared in one direction. "Come out!"
Bai Chenzhu looked in the direction of his gaze and saw a large rock. Behind the rock stood two boys, about thigh-high, wearing wrinkled old clothes and with scratches on their faces.
They tried to approach. Bai Chenzhu frowned, and Jiang Ye picked up a long branch, pointed at the two of them, and said, "Stand there, don't move."
The sudden appearance of two children deep in the mountains seemed highly suspicious. Bai Chenzhu glanced at their clothing and asked coldly, "What are you doing here?"
The taller boy said, "Big brother, my brother and I are lost."
The shorter boy was much easier to understand. He stared intently at the backpack on Jiang Ye's back and in his hands. His round eyes, which should have been innocent and pure, were now filled with greed and longing.
The older brother looked at them pitifully. "We've been lost for two days, and we're so hungry." He rubbed his stomach, weak and powerless. "We're starving, big brother, can you give us something to eat?"
Bai Tao, who hadn't said a word until now, couldn't hold back any longer and cursed, "You want to eat me!"
These two children don't look like they've been starving for two days at all. Although their clothes are a bit worn and they've lost some weight, they're in great spirits.
Bai Chenzhu looked at them indifferently, released his spiritual power, and a layer of invisible spiritual power, like air, swept around.
He opened his eyes and said knowingly, "We've been hungry for a long time too."
He stared at the two boys, his expression as calm as if he'd eaten countless children. "Tell me," he said, "whose flesh is more tender, yours or your brother's?"
The older brother was startled and took two steps back. He wanted to run away timidly, but he was worried about something and didn't dare to take off.
The younger brother was even more blunt; he didn't believe Bai Chenzhu's story at all. These three were clearly well-dressed, and their bags were bulging.
"Please! Give me some food!" he pleaded, but then lunged at Jiang Ye with a fierce urge to grab the backpack in his hand. Unexpectedly, Jiang Ye, quick as a flash, grabbed him by the neck.
Jiang Ye knocked the person unconscious.
Bai Chenzhu remained expressionless and put the white peach down from his back. "Then let's eat 'little brother' first."
White Peach stood close to the tree, adding fuel to the fire, and shouted, "I want to eat the leg! The leg has the most meat!"
"Alright." Jiang Ye put down his backpack, spread the child out on the ground, and took out a small knife. "We need to deal with the internal organs first."
"Wait! My son!" A weathered middle-aged man suddenly ran out from fifty or sixty meters away, carrying a hoe. "If you dare touch him, I'll fight you to the death!"
The "brother" quickly ran back and hid behind the middle-aged man, looking at Bai Chenzhu and the other two with a mixture of fear and relief.
As the middle-aged man emerged, he was followed by five or six other men carrying various tools such as hoes and brooms. They were dressed in tattered clothes, their skin was tanned from years of sun exposure, and they had fierce expressions.
The middle-aged man roared, "Give the paparazzi back!"
"Yes, let go of the paparazzi! Otherwise, none of them are leaving!"
"You beast, worse than a pig or a dog! Leave some food and that woman behind, and get out of here!"
...
One offensive word after another hurled at them. Facing this group of barbarians, Bai Chenzhu coldly said, "I've said it before, we haven't eaten in a long time. Unless you bring food in exchange, otherwise today..."
Jiang Ye smiled, pinched the tip of the knife between two fingers, and tossed it upwards. The knife fell and was flipped up again and tossed upwards. He played with the knife on the boy's head like this, making everyone watching afraid that he would drop it and the knife would fall on the boy.
The middle-aged man's eyes were bloodshot.
Bai Chenzhu continued his previous statement with a cold laugh, "He is our lunch."
There were only three of them, while there were seven or eight of us. The middle-aged man mentally assessed their strength, his breathing rapid, and he roared, "I'll fight you to the death!"
As he spoke, he grabbed a hoe and charged forward, followed by the men behind him, who also rushed over, wielding their tools.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com