Why in Chapter 61?
The villagers collapsed to the ground, crying out and begging for mercy.
Especially the middle-aged man who had just been the leader, whose face was bruised and swollen from being beaten by Jiang Ye, was crying and clutching his head, "We really have no more food, we really have no more food! Young man, spare us! Spare us! We'll never dare to do it again!"
Jiang Ye sighed regretfully, realizing he couldn't squeeze any food out of them. Bai Chenzhu glanced at the two children over there; they had already run away and were trembling behind a large rock.
"Let's go." Bai Chenzhu squatted down in front of Bai Tao, and Bai Tao quickly jumped onto his back.
"The later we get back, the more worried Sister Zhuohua will be," Bai Tao said, touching her bandaged neck.
Jiang Ye, carrying his backpack, kicked the middle-aged man's arm again before leaving. He knew that these people, with their familiar manner, had probably robbed countless people before, so he showed no mercy.
After walking a while longer, they saw familiar vehicles parked by the roadside in the distance. Zhou Zhuohua was wiping the car down, and Tang Zhao was checking the tires.
"You're back!" Zhou Zhuohua put down the rag, jumped out of the car, and rushed over. "Tao Tao, what happened to you?"
"I'm fine," Bai Tao said, pretending to be in good spirits.
Bai Chenzhu shoved her directly into the car, and Zhou Zhuohua took out a first-aid kit to examine her.
He closed the car door and turned around, just in time to hear Jiang Ye and Tang Zhao chatting.
"Luckily, the car is fine, just a few scratches," Tang Zhao said. "There was a strange noise coming from the car earlier, so we got out to check and found two little boys knocking on the car door begging for food..."
Bai Chenzhu's eyelids twitched upon hearing this. "You gave them food?"
"How could that be!" Tang Zhao was a bit anxious about food and couldn't help but count the supplies over and over again. Hearing this, he almost jumped up. "They came up and tried to climb into the car, refusing to get out. I just threw them out."
"Then a lot of people came out and shouted that we should leave the car behind, or they would smash the car and take Sister Zhuohua back to be their wife."
“We not only chased the people away, but also forced them to exchange some food for the two boys. They lived at the foot of the nearby mountain and rushed back to get the food in exchange. Look, there are some taro and sweet potatoes in the back. However, since there were more of them when we attacked, there were some areas that we couldn't protect, and the car got some scratches.”
Tang Zhao sighed deeply, feeling very sorry for Jiang Ye's car. After all, it looked like it had been modified, and if it was damaged or lost, there wouldn't be another one.
Upon hearing this, Jiang Ye walked around the car to examine it.
"I just checked the tires, there's no problem," Tang Zhao said cautiously, following behind him.
Bai Chenzhu crossed his arms and leaned against the car, saying, "No wonder they said they had no food. You know what? We just ran into them on the mountain. Those incorrigible guys."
Tang Zhao looked at Jiang Ye's injuries, then recalled Bai Tao's appearance earlier, and asked, "Did you find the fragment? Was it not going well? Do we need to go over there?"
“Not found, not needed, no fragments.” Bai Chenzhu answered each question concisely.
He couldn't help but frown when he thought about what happened yesterday. He pinched the bridge of his nose and said, "You probably can't imagine how magical our half-day was."
It was so surreal that he still felt like he was dreaming; only the translator in his backpack could prove it was all real.
How strange! They encountered a laboratory that could 'invisibly', deformed members of their own species within the laboratory, and even winged aliens...
All of this is far more surreal than being robbed by the villagers.
Bai Chenzhu sighed, feeling very tired. "Let Jiang Ye tell you."
——
During the lunch break, Jiang Ye briefly recounted their ordeal.
"Holy crap!" Tang Zhao exclaimed.
Zhou Zhuohua's eyes widened. "Are there really people or creatures with blue blood?"
When the topic turned to other races, her professional instincts kicked in: "Do they have the same pulse as us? What about their organs? Are their wings made of bone or soft tissue?"
They had a lot of questions, while Bai Chenzhu crossed his arms and took a nap in the back seat of the car. He had been carrying Bai Tao all morning and had also beaten someone up, so he was feeling a bit sleepy.
When I opened my eyes again, the car had already started moving.
Bai Chenzhu opened the back window to let in some fresh air. "The fragments really know how to pick a place. I heard that Luming Ancient City is also a tourist destination."
Tang Zhao said realistically, "Both of these are large, so the probability of a random occurrence is higher. But it's still better than landing in the center of a big city, right?"
Bai Tao patted the back of his head.
"Hey, what are you doing!"
Bai Tao snorted, "I'm most afraid of the bad things coming true but the good ones don't, so I'm telling you to say less."
If they were to end up in a big city with a population of tens of millions, where would they even be able to find a place to live? They'd be exhausted just trying to survive.
Tang Zhao felt guilty, and his voice grew softer and softer, "But there are quite a few people in Luming Ancient City, tens of thousands of them. And it's so far away, we have to cross provincial borders."
The car moved slowly, stopping frequently, heading northwest. Along the way, they saw mostly desolate suburbs. When they occasionally encountered large cities, they chose to drive around them.
Less than six months into the apocalypse, humans have already banded together into bases of all sizes, some official, some private. Some are friendly, while others rob each other on sight, and can only communicate with fists.
For Bai Chenzhu, this was a rare period of peace after being constantly chased by strange mutants. He even felt that there was nothing wrong with continuing like this.
One evening, Tang Zhao finished eating sweet potatoes and taro, muttering to himself. "Sister Zhuohua, Brother Bai, what do you think? After this is over, let's find a place to live in seclusion and grow some sweet potatoes."
Bai Chenzhu asked in surprise, "Is your dream to grow sweet potatoes?"
"Why not?" Tang Zhao said matter-of-factly. "Isn't the point of living to eat, drink, poop, pee, and sleep? Sweet potatoes are so delicious, Bai Tao, don't you agree?"
Bai Tao covered her throat and made a vomiting face. Tang Zhao had been feeding them roasted sweet potatoes every day lately, saying they would go bad if they didn't eat them, which made Bai Tao afraid of sweet potatoes.
"How could they do this!" Tang Zhao exclaimed, feeling wronged. "Boss Jiang, look at them!"
So Jiang Ye said to them, "Stop laughing, it's rare for our little one to have such ambition—so let him finish off the rest of the sweet potatoes."
Tang Zhao hurriedly waved his hands, "No! I can't eat that much by myself!"
Jiang Ye smiled at him but didn't say anything, letting Tang Zhao worry anxiously. Unfortunately, the others were also quite mischievous, deliberately echoing Jiang Ye's words, making Tang Zhao even more anxious.
Zhou Zhuohua checked the car as usual and came back to remind him, "There's a city not far away, we need to go and fill up with gas."
The car is great in every way, except it's fuel-guzzling. They have to go to the gas station all the time, and Zhou Zhuohua has developed some 'fuel anxiety' and has to check the speedometer every now and then.
Tang Zhao sighed, "If we didn't have a car, how long would it have taken us?"
Bai Tao rested her chin on her hands and said, "I don't want to carry things around, it's too tiring. We must protect our precious car."
Bai Chenzhu used a stick to dig a sweet potato out of the pile of dirt. After waiting for a while, he reached out to take it, but was burned and quickly withdrew his hand.
Jiang Ye squeezed his fingertips. "Wait a little longer, until it gets cold."
Bai Chenzhu nodded and naturally withdrew his hand.
Jiang Ye tilted his head and looked at him, seemingly puzzled. Just as Bai Chenzhu was about to reach for his dinner, Jiang Ye quickly grabbed it first.
Bai Chenzhu frowned at him without saying a word, but her phoenix eyes seemed to speak volumes, condemning him for taking her dinner.
Jiang Ye tossed the sweet potato in his hand and said, "A-Zhu, shall we go over there and talk?"
They were on a winding path, with fields of blooming rapeseed flowers on both sides. Large swathes of golden yellow were interspersed with small patches of wasteland, and in the distance, several white-painted houses had welcome messages written on them.
When they arrived, they specifically found a patch of wasteland, drove down, borrowed some mud, and sat cross-legged around the pile of mud used for roasting sweet potatoes.
Bai Chenzhu was confused, but Jiang Ye had already gotten up and kidnapped his sweet potato, so he had no choice but to follow. The moonlight was just right, so he didn't really need a lamp and could keep up with Jiang Ye's pace.
Jiang Ye didn't walk far, only a few dozen meters, before stopping. He sat on a stone bench and patted his side.
"Give it back to me." Bai Chenzhu reached out, and Jiang Ye could only laugh and return the 'hostage' to him.
Bai Chenzhu originally intended to take the dinner and leave, but seeing that Jiang Ye seemed to have something important to say, he thought about it and decided to sit down next to Jiang Ye. "What's wrong? Why did you call me out? What's on our boss Jiang's mind?"
Bai Chenzhu peeled the sweet potato and took a bite of the tip.
Jiang Ye asked directly, "Have you been avoiding me lately?"
"No." Bai Chenzhu found the question inexplicable and felt that he had been unfairly blamed. "Why would you think that?"
Jiang Ye rested one hand on the back of the chair behind Bai Chenzhu, and began to list Bai Chenzhu's many misdeeds on his fingers with the other hand, "Are you disgusted with me? You don't want to be friends with me anymore. You insisted on switching seats with Tang Zhao instead of sitting with me. You won't even let me drink water. You avoid me when I touch you..."
Bai Chenzhu's temples throbbed. He thought Jiang Ye was calling him to say something, but it turned out to be an accusation. He lowered his head and took another bite. "That's not called hiding, that's called avoiding suspicion."
Tang Zhao switched places with him because someone kept leaning against him, either on his shoulder or lying on his lap.
Not giving someone water is clearly because that person doesn't know how to get water themselves and insists on drinking from his bottle.
Someone also likes to get handsy, either pulling his ponytail or putting their arm around his shoulder.
...
He remembered that Jiang Ye wasn't so clingy before, but later, he didn't know when it started, he was either being flirtatious or always teasing him. Bai Chenzhu believed he was healthy and fully functional, and to avoid suspicion, he clearly and openly pushed the other person away, so why was he hiding?
"What are you trying to avoid?" Jiang Ye concluded, "It's obvious that you've changed your mind."
Bai Chenzhu really wanted to smash his head open with a sweet potato to see what kind of magical structure was inside.
If they're so determined to be brothers, why are they being so clingy? Doesn't Jiang Ye find something strange about it?
Jiang Ye didn't think so.
Jiang Ye is about to start rambling on again.
Unable to bear it any longer, Bai Chenzhu cut to the chase and dropped a bombshell: "I like men."
This sentence was like the beginning of the world; Jiang Ye's mind went blank. He was stunned for a long time, seemingly unable to understand these words, stammering, "Ah... what do you mean, 'like'? Like what?"
He scratched his head, puzzled. "So you don't like women? Don't you like Bai Tao and the others?"
This is going a bit too far. Bai Chenzhu remained silent for a long time before shaking his head.
"What does shaking your head mean?" Jiang Ye persisted. "I'm a man, don't you like me? I quite enjoy being with you."
Bai Chenzhu swallowed a mouthful of sweet potato with difficulty. "To give you an analogy, you're always sticking to me, just like a super beautiful woman is always sticking to you."
Jiang Ye:...?
"What? I'm not a great beauty."
Bai Chenzhu took a deep breath and decided to be more direct, "What I mean is, you're too clingy, and I like men. You don't want to be taken advantage of by your brother someday, do you?"
"Why would you want to fight me?" Jiang Ye asked, confused. "You can't beat me in a fight. If anyone's going to fight, it'll be me fighting you."
This guy… Bai Chenzhu clenched and unclenched his fist repeatedly. He felt from the bottom of his heart that he had a really good temper. Jiang Ye asked these questions like a complete novice, and he was still able to patiently explain.
Bai Chenzhu said coldly, "'Gan' doesn't mean fighting, it means having sex."
"Do you understand what making love is?" Bai Chenzhu suppressed the urge to beat him up, made a circle with her left hand, and threaded one of her right index fingers through the circle. "I don't need to explain anymore, right? I'm someone who likes to do this with men, so stop clinging to me all the time."
"Huh? Huh??" Jiang Ye's pupils dilated in shock, his face blank.
After finishing his dinner in silence, Bai Chenzhu clapped his hands and asked, "Is there anything else?"
Jiang Ye's worldview was crumbling, and he shook his head blankly.
Bai Chenzhu stood up and walked back, with Jiang Ye following him in a daze.
After returning, Bai Chenzhu observed the man and noticed he was still not quite grasping the situation. But in the blink of an eye, Jiang Ye walked over to Tang Zhao and asked him to go outside and talk.
Could it be that this guy was rejected and his pride was hurt, so he's going to become sworn brothers with Tang Zhao?
Bai Chenzhu was somewhat annoyed, but given that he had already dealt a heavy blow to Jiang Ye's values today, he decided not to investigate further what Jiang Ye was up to.
After a while, not only Jiang Ye, but Tang Zhao also returned. However, Tang Zhao didn't seem to have changed much, while Jiang Ye looked as if he had been hit twice and was quite shocked.
Bai Tao took the taro Zhou Zhuohua offered and thanked her. Her eyes darted around, sometimes to the left, sometimes to the right. "Where have you three been? Acting all mysterious."
"Huh?" Tang Zhao swallowed hard. "N-nothing."
Jiang Ye, however, was quite straightforward: "We talked about some male-related topics. Don't ask, I won't tell you."
Bai Tao turned her head away, "Who wants to hear that? Humph!"
Zhou Zhuohua mistakenly thought someone had a health problem and said worriedly, "If you feel unwell anywhere, you can tell me. Although I'm not a urologist, I know more about men than you do."
Jiang Ye gave a stiff laugh. "No problem, don't worry, sis."
Seeing his appearance, Zhou Zhuohua felt even more worried. "You must not hide your illness from the doctor."
Jiang Ye looked at Bai Chenzhu, and Bai Chenzhu looked back at him. Jiang Ye hesitated for a moment, then walked over and sat down next to Bai Chenzhu.
Bai Chenzhu admitted that he was being a bit mean. He deliberately tried to scare Jiang Ye by making claw gestures with his hands and acting like a wild beast: "Aren't you afraid of me? I can 'eat' people!"
Jiang Ye pulled his claws down. "You can't beat me. You should be the one who's afraid."
This certainty left Bai Chenzhu both amused and exasperated.
Jiang Ye retorted confidently, using the example Bai Chenzhu had just given him to shut him up: "No normal person likes a beautiful woman sticking to them, right? So you clearly like me following you around."
How exactly was this distorted conclusion reached? Bai Chenzhu was astonished.
Jiang Ye was smug, practically wagging his tail. "Boys and girls can have pure friendships, so can we! Are you afraid I'll look at you with prejudice if I find out? Don't worry, I won't distance myself from you because of it."
He patted Bai Chenzhu's shoulder hard, looking like they were buddies, "Want more sweet potatoes? I'll get you some more?"
Bai Chenzhu slapped his hand away expressionlessly, "You look like a sweet potato to me."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com