Chapter 139

Chapter 139

The mine is now nothing but ruins, filled with various scrap metals, such as old cars and shells of all sizes. However, these items are not discarded; instead, they are sent to the machinery factory for re-melting at regular intervals.

In the center of the ruins stands a small spacecraft, its silver-white hull covered in patches, and its model quite outdated.

After discovering it two years ago, the boys went to inquire with the military. The spacecraft was no longer useful, and it seemed a waste to melt it down, so the military gave it to them, allowing them to tinker with it as they pleased.

Over the past two years, the spacecraft has been fitted with many new parts, and now it has everything it needs, looking almost complete.

When Shen Juanjuan and his companion arrived at the mine, everyone began installing the power shaft. Tang Yuanyuan and Liu Sijin were comparing blueprints, while Chen Hongliang and Yu Datou were hammering away inside the power compartment. The rest, including Shen Juanjuan, were assisting, carrying tools and parts in and out of the cabin.

The quantum beasts stood in the way inside the cabin and were all chased out, playing and chasing each other on the open ground outside.

"Will our spacecraft be able to fly after we replace this power shaft?" Wang Xiaoxi asked.

Tang Yuanyuan replied, "We only need to replace a few small parts. I can do it alone tomorrow."

Wang Xiaoxi was very excited, "I've never been in a spacecraft before. I wonder what it feels like to fly in the sky."

"It won't be long, very soon we'll be flying," Liu Sijin said, tightening a screw. "But none of us can pilot it."

Shen Juanjuan sat in the main control seat, gripping the control lever beside him, speaking in a hurried and serious tone, "Lock onto the target ahead, prepare to fire."

Lin Duozhi took his seat in the co-pilot's position, "Target hit, target down... Oh no, we've been hit on the side."

"Where's the sentry shield? Why isn't there a shield?" Shen Juanjuan shouted sternly.

Liu Sijin continued tightening the screw without lifting his head, "I've set up the shield, but I'm the only sentry, and it's hard to hold."

"What about the other sentries?"

"Yu Datou and Chen Hongliang are in the power compartment."

Shen Juanjuan and Lin Duozhi exchanged glances, "Trouble, once the spacecraft starts, the temperature in the power compartment reaches nearly one hundred degrees. Those two sentries have probably been cooked."

As they were joking, they suddenly heard the parrot's shrill cry from outside the cabin.

"What's going on?"

Before Shen Juanjuan could finish asking, the parrot rushed into the cabin. It flapped its bald wings in vain, moving its thin legs, rushing straight to Tang Yuanyuan, raising a bare wing and pointing outside, screeching, "Quick, kill them! Kill them all! Not one should be left alive!"

Shen Juanjuan asked in shock, "Xiao Sui, why are you bare-chested?"

The parrot, filled with grief and anger, said, "They couldn't argue with me, so they held me down and pulled out my feathers."

Knowing that it usually had a sharp tongue and loved to argue, which often provoked others, Tang Yuanyuan, seeing it trembling with rage and on the verge of fainting, could not bear to say more. He simply said, "Why don't you just commit suicide? Since you can't fly anyway, jump off the cliff over there, and you'll be repaired in the mental domain."

"What about my revenge? Aren't you going to avenge me?" the parrot demanded.

A group of quantum beasts poked their heads through the cabin door, the Teddy Bear laughing so hard it couldn't close its mouth. Tang Yuanyuan said, "If you promise not to argue with them anymore, I'll help you get your revenge."

The parrot immediately fell silent, weighing the options for a few seconds before saying, "Forget it, I'll go jump off the cliff."

Everyone stayed at the mine to repair the spacecraft, and for lunch, Liu Sijin brought a backpack full of boiled corn. It wasn't until four in the afternoon that Shen Juanjuan, remembering that Chu Ya would be home at six, urged everyone to return to the orphanage.

The Angel Army was planning a night raid on the Cloud Peak stronghold, emphasizing speed and decisiveness, with low task difficulty, led by a flight captain. Yun Tuo let Chu Ya go home to rest, saying he and Xiao Rui would handle it, but Chu Ya also made arrangements until everything was in order before leaving the military building to head home.

He walked through the woods with Black Wolf, still pondering the operation steps, though he noticed an officer approaching, he paid little attention.

"Chairman Chu," the man called out to him.

Chu Ya stopped, looking at the guide standing before him, waiting for him to continue.

The handsome guide seemed to want to say something but remained silent. After waiting for two seconds, Chu Ya raised an inquiring eyebrow.

The calmer Chu Ya appeared, the more nervous the guide became, but he finally said, "I, I don't have anything else, just, just..."

He hastily finished his sentence, then suddenly shoved a folded piece of paper into Chu Ya's hand and turned to run out of the woods.

Chu Ya glanced at the letter in his hand, immediately realizing what it was. He was about to call out to the guide, but several people approached from behind, so he put the letter in his pocket and continued toward the gate.

"Huh?" Black Wolf tilted his head, asking.

Chu Ya replied calmly, "Personnel information."

When Shen Juanjuan and the others returned to the orphanage, the parrot with its featherless wings perched on Tang Yuanyuan's shoulder, occasionally cursing at the quantum beasts.

It had said it would jump off the cliff, but when it reached the edge, it quickly ran back. Still, it was seething with anger and kept muttering curses. The quantum beasts that had plucked its feathers felt somewhat guilty and rarely spoke up.

"That fox was the first to hold me down, with its pointy nose and slanted eyes, clearly not a good thing."

Liu Sijin's red fox only lifted its chin and looked away, pretending not to hear.

"The dolphin used its tail to pin me down; it's not a good thing either."

Chen Hongliang's dolphin, unable to endure the constant insults, returned to Chen Hongliang's mental domain.

The parrot pecked at its own wing sorrowfully, "My feathers, my most beautiful feathers, have been pulled out." Then it glared at the Teddy Bear, screeching, "What are you looking at, you fat round thing? Even without my feathers, I still look better than you—what are you trying to do?"

The parrot flapped its wings but couldn't fly, watching helplessly as the Teddy Bear's arm swirled toward it.

There was a loud thud.

The parrot turned into black smoke and disappeared into the air.

The young men, who had been walking in silence, all sighed in relief. Tang Yuanyuan sighed, "Finally, it's quiet."

By the time Shen Juanjuan got home, it was already half past six. He opened the door and immediately saw Black Wolf lying in front of the sofa.

"Brother is back? So early today?" Shen Juanjuan asked in pleasant surprise.

The Black Wolf came forward, and Shen Juanjuan heard the sound of running water from the bathroom, knowing that Chu Ya was taking a shower. He changed into slippers under the watchful eyes of the Teddy Bear and entered the house.

The bathroom door was closed. Just as Shen Juanjuan leaned against the door and called out "Brother," he heard the sound of the lock turning inside.

Shen Juanjuan was taken aback for a moment before shouting, "What are you doing? I won't come in, and you actually locked the door? You locked it right in front of me?"

"I'm not locking it to keep you out; I'm preventing the wind from blowing the door open."

"Do you really need to lock it to prevent the wind?"

"The wind is too strong."

Chu Ya suddenly laughed, his voice echoing in the small space and sounding even deeper and more magnetic when it came out, making Shen Juanjuan's ears burn slightly, and he instinctively stood up straight.

"Shen Miaomiao, guess what I did today?" Shen Juanjuan lightly scratched at the door with his fingers.

Chu Ya replied, "I went to fix your Welfare Home 01."

"How did you know?" Shen Juanjuan was surprised. "Did you see us? Did someone tell you?"

Chu Ya answered while rinsing off, "You just got a power core. What else would you do besides fixing the aircraft?"

Shen Juanjuan chuckled and began recounting the amusing incidents during the repair work, including the parrot having its wing feathers plucked by the quantum beasts.

He laughed as he spoke, and the Teddy Bear, playing with the Black Wolf in the living room, pointed at him, signaling the Black Wolf to pay attention.

The sound of water in the bathroom stopped, followed by the soft clinking of a belt buckle.

"Are you done?" Shen Juanjuan asked.

"Done."

"Then open the door." Shen Juanjuan urged.

"I can hear you just fine like this."

"No way, I need to see your face to talk properly. Who knows if you're listening or not?"

"You're talking just fine without seeing my face, aren't you?" Chu Ya's voice sounded helpless, but he still turned around and unlocked the door.

Shen Juanjuan twisted the doorknob and pushed the door open. Chu Ya was facing away from him, pulling a T-shirt over his arms, exposing his entire back to Shen Juanjuan's view.

Shen Juanjuan saw the muscles that hinted at hidden strength, the droplets of water hanging on his smooth, light brown skin, and trickling into the slight indentation of his waist. As Chu Ya raised his arms, the muscles on his shoulders and back rippled, forming smooth, beautiful lines.

After an afternoon of play, Shen Juanjuan had almost forgotten about what happened in the alley earlier, but this scene suddenly brought back his memories, crashing into his mind with great impact.

In comparison, Chu Ya's physique was better than that man's, his muscles strong but not overly bulging. Shen Juanjuan, who often saw this back, suddenly felt uneasy and quickly turned away, leaving the bathroom.

"Why did you stop talking?"

Chu Ya, after putting on his T-shirt, turned his head and found no one at the door.

Shen Juanjuan sat on the sofa in the living room, his face flushed, his heart pounding wildly. When he heard Chu Ya's question, he replied nervously, "I've finished talking. There's nothing else to say."

Chu Ya didn't pay much attention, only placing the dirty clothes in the sink, starting to rinse them and lather them with soap, saying loudly, "My coat is hanging on the rack by the door. Bring it in so I can wash it together."

Shen Juanjuan responded and got up to fetch Chu Ya's coat from the rack by the door.

Chu Ya was wearing military uniform today. As Shen Juanjuan carried it toward the bathroom, a piece of paper fell out of the pocket. He picked it up distractedly, placed it on the coffee table, and when he turned his head, he saw the words "Chairman Chu" at the top.

The handwriting was elegant, clearly not an official document. Curious, Shen Juanjuan picked it up again and read on, his expression gradually darkening.

Chu Ya, not receiving the dirty clothes for a long time and hearing no noise outside, walked out of the bathroom.

No one was in the living room, and the two quantum beasts had gone downstairs to play. Chu Ya called out to Shen Juanjuan but received no response. However, the door to his own room was tightly shut, indicating that someone was inside.

Chu Ya didn't call out again. Instead, he went to the coat rack by the door, reaching out to take the coat. Seeing the clothes haphazardly draped on the rack, he paused for a moment.

After some thought, he took the coat and retrieved the letter from the pocket.

Earlier, he hadn't had the chance to return the letter to the guide and couldn't just discard it, fearing others might find it. He planned to deal with it once he got home. However, preoccupied with the evening's plans, he had forgotten about it.

Now, although the letter was still in the same pocket and folded as before, there were obvious creases on the paper, indicating it had been crumpled and then smoothed out, unable to return to its original state.

Chu Ya stared at the letter for a few seconds before tossing it into the nearby trash bin.

Since the age of fourteen, he had started receiving love letters from others. Initially, he was troubled and didn't know how to handle them, so he sought advice from Yun Tuo.

He originally wanted Yun Tuo to teach him a polite way to refuse, but Yun Tuo volunteered to meet the person, saying he would give them a good lesson, asking if they knew their target was still a child?

But after just one glance, Yun Tuo turned back to Chu Ya and said, "He looks quite handsome. Why don't you get to know him before deciding whether to reject him?"

Chu Ya: ...

As Chu Ya grew older and more mature, such incidents only increased. He handled them with increasing skill, rejecting people without hurting their feelings, and never letting Shen Juanjuan know about any of it.

After reading the letter, Shen Juanjuan lay in bed, sulking, kicking the blanket into a heap at the foot of the bed.

He knew Chu Ya was already in his early twenties and at the age where he should be dating guides. Many of the older students from the welfare home who had joined the military were already paired up. But knowing was one thing; seeing someone write a love letter to him was another. His heart felt as if it had been submerged in a jar of pickles made by Chu Ya, both sour and painful, with a surge of uncontainable anger.

Hearing the sound of running water from the bathroom again, he finally couldn't hold back, flipping over and walking out of the room.

Chu Ya was still washing clothes with his back to the door. Shen Juanjuan leaned against the bathroom door frame, arms crossed, his gaze sliding from Chu Ya's broad shoulders to his firm waist, and down his long legs.

"Attracting bees and butterflies," he spat out the four words with a dark look.

Chu Ya continued rubbing the clothes. "What have I done to upset you now?"

"You annoy me everywhere."

"Tell me, so I can have an idea."

"I won't say it; you should know yourself."

"I don't understand." Chu Ya turned off the tap and bent his head to lather the soap on his clothes.

Shen Juanjuan walked into the bathroom, leaned against the sink, and continued staring at Chu Ya. Then he reached out and lifted Chu Ya's chin with one finger.

Chu Ya raised his head following the movement, allowing Shen Juanjuan to lift his chin while looking at him with deep eyes.

After a few seconds of eye contact, Shen Juanjuan suddenly felt uneasy but couldn't show it, so he said in a harsh voice, "Don't look at me."

Chu Ya slightly averted his gaze, and Shen Juanjuan asked, "Where did you look?"

"You said not to look at you," Chu Ya's voice was low, and his Adam's apple moved as he spoke, lightly vibrating Shen Juanjuan's finger.

Shen Juanjuan's finger trembled and he quickly withdrew it, tucking it behind his back.

"I'm talking to you, you should look at me, but not with that look."

Chu Ya turned back, his expression as calm as usual, and softly asked, "Which look?"

Shen Juanjuan wanted to say it was the current look, but suddenly couldn't speak.

His heart started racing again, feeling the bathroom too small and the air too thick, making his breathing quicken.

He avoided Chu Ya's gaze and looked at the sink, only to see the jacket Chu Ya had been wearing soaking in it.

Seeing the jacket reminded him of the letter, and all other emotions vanished, leaving only anger.

"Did you wash the clothes?" He frowned deeper.

Chu Ya also looked at the sink: "I'm washing them, what's wrong?"

Shen Juanjuan didn't answer, just sneered, "In a good mood, huh?"

"How do you see that I'm in a good mood?"

When Chu Ya asked this, his expression was relaxed, and his tone light, making him seem genuinely cheerful.

Shen Juanjuan reached into the jacket pocket, finding both empty, which made his heart ache even more, accompanied by unexplained anger.

"You're so afraid of losing things, such treasures, you took them out before washing the clothes," he said sourly.

"I always clear my pockets before washing clothes, taking everything out," Chu Ya paused, then added meaningfully, "especially paper, which gets ruined when wet, and paper shreds sticking to clothes are troublesome."

Shen Juanjuan felt a lump in his throat but still forced a sneer, "Troublesome? You're afraid the paper will get ruined, right?"

A faint light flickered in Chu Ya's eyes, his gaze roaming over Shen Juanjuan's face. He explained gently, "Right, there was a letter in my pocket, given to me by someone before I left home. Since I couldn't return it immediately, I don't need to make a special trip later. Just pretend nothing happened, and they'll understand. I planned to deal with the letter at home, but I forgot."

Shen Juanjuan was stunned, his mouth slightly open as he looked at Chu Ya, then lowered his head, asking indifferently, "Oh? There was a letter? What kind of letter? Can I see it?"

"The letter is already thrown away," Chu Ya said.

"Did you read it before throwing it away?" Shen Juanjuan's voice sounded too excited as soon as the words were out, so he suppressed his emotions and added coldly, "Weren't you curious about what it said?"

"I didn't read it; it's not important if someone gives me something trivial, I'm not curious."

Hearing the word "trivial," Shen Juanjuan's heart bloomed with joy but still asked coldly, "Is that so?"

"Yes," Chu Ya replied patiently.

"Hmph!" Shen Juanjuan finally lifted his head.

He held his chin high, his lips downturned as he looked at Chu Ya, though his face showed disdain, his eyes sparkled with joy.

"Shen Miaomiao, how old are you now? Just twenty, don't think about other things. Besides, Linya City is surrounded by zombies, and Cloud Peak sends people to attack us at any time. The situation is so serious, and you, as the leader of the Third Army, are thinking about dating. Do you think that's appropriate?" Shen Juanjuan placed his hand on Chu Ya's shoulder, speaking earnestly.

"It's not appropriate," Chu Ya thought seriously for a moment.

"Right, wait until we defeat Cloud Peak and clear out the zombies, then consider these personal matters," Shen Juanjuan said.

"You make a good point, but... I'm already twenty-two, not just twenty," Chu Ya looked at him.

"What's the difference between twenty and twenty-two?"

"Not much."

"Exactly," Shen Juanjuan patted his shoulder, "Actually, I'm not against you dating, it's just not the right time now." He added sternly, "If anyone gives you a letter again, you must tell me, and if you can't return it, don't read it. If you really need to return it, I'll help you."

"I won't read it," Chu Ya said.

"That's good." Shen Juanjuan left the bathroom satisfied, but stopped at the door, turning back, "Remember, don't make me angry."

"I won't," Chu Ya promised softly.

Shen Juanjuan was clearly being unreasonable, but Chu Ya indulged him, his expression and gaze full of tolerance. Shen Juanjuan, enveloped in his gaze, felt a wave of joy as the gloom lifted, and left the bathroom pretending to be calm.

Chu Ya continued washing clothes, while Shen Juanjuan bounced on the sofa, flipping over happily.

He lay back and looked at the ceiling, then suddenly stood up and went to the trash can by the door.

Sure enough, the letter was lying in the bin. He closed the lid in satisfaction but stopped and opened it again.

He carefully tore the letter into pieces, ensuring no coherent sentence remained, then patted his hands and left.