Chapter 115 Companions Reunite, Miao Yuanjin

Chapter 115: Reunion with Miao Yuanjin

Yu Xing crouched, her upper body still bent backward. She wanted to store the contaminant in her storage ring, but the problem was that her ring already contained a fruit capable of spawning creatures. Yu Xing dared not simply put the contaminant inside.

Yet, holding it indefinitely wasn't a solution either. After a moment's thought, she quietly tucked the contaminant into her pocket.

After all, her clothes were transformed from the Celestial Serpent Feathered Robe, so it didn't matter what she put in them.

Di Shensi's eye twitched at the sight.

The contaminant was no ordinary item; many couldn't endure prolonged exposure to it. Yet, the Bull Warrior had been holding it and now had tucked it directly into her pocket, close to her body.

Once the contaminant was secured, Yu Xing stood and faced Di Shensi. Fearing her voice might betray her, she refrained from speaking.

To Di Shensi, it appeared the Bull Warrior was staring at him coldly.

Feeling the pressure, Di Shensi first explained his presence. "I'm looking for someone—my soldier, Yu Xing. Have you seen her?"

Shen Tanrong, standing at the rear, wore a peculiar expression, thinking: *Commander, the person you're looking for is right in front of you.*

Behind her mask, Yu Xing's lips parted slightly, but she decided silence was best and simply shook her head.

Di Shensi wasn't bothered by the Bull Warrior's aloofness, but he didn't believe she hadn't seen Yu Xing.

Yu Xing had come ashore nearby, and the Bull Warrior had appeared in the same area to deal with a contaminant. Di Shensi didn't think this was a mere coincidence. It was more likely that Yu Xing had encountered a pollutant and the Bull Warrior had saved her. As for why Yu Xing wasn't there, perhaps she had gone ahead to reunite with the team upstream?

Glancing at the beehive behind her, Yu Xing sighed inwardly. Bringing honey back for her online buddies was out of the question now. She really didn't want to stay here any longer, in this awkward standoff with Di Shensi.

Just as she prepared to leave, she froze mid-step.

She turned her head and saw a bee approaching from afar.

Yu Xing's eyes widened behind her mask. *How could there still be bees? Didn't I already take the contaminant?*

Watching the bee hover nearby, Yu Xing had to accept the truth—there was more than one beehive, or rather, more than one pollutant here.

Thinking about it, this made sense. Bees naturally behaved this way. Once a hive reached a certain size, a queen would leave to establish a new colony elsewhere.

City 25 had fallen a long time ago. These bees might have existed since the city's fall, and over the years, no one knew how many hives had formed.

Yu Xing frowned, suddenly concerned about the safety of Miao Yuanjin and the others, and turned to leave.

Seeing the Bull Warrior suddenly materialize a broomstick, Di Shensi knew she was about to leave and quickly called out, "Wait! Please, just a moment!"

Yu Xing paused and turned back.

Di Shensi took two steps forward, his voice earnest. "I have a question for you."

Yu Xing raised an eyebrow. *What does Di Shensi want to ask me? Is he wondering if this organization really only accepts female members?*

"I am a Beloved of the God of Thunder and Lightning," Di Shensi said, his gaze pleading. "I want to know how to advance to a Level 4 Divine Favored."

Yu Xing blanked. She wasn't even a Divine Chosen—how would she know how to level up?

……

Watching the Bull Warrior fly away without a word, Di Shensi felt a bitter taste in his mouth. *She wouldn't even answer a single question?*

He had initially thought the members of this organization weren't cold-hearted, since they'd helped others while rescuing Yu Xing. Monkey Man had saved him from the giant earthworm, and the Bull Warrior had dealt with the bat swarm. Perhaps he had been mistaken. Shaking it off, Di Shensi decided to continue upstream.

Yu Xing flew on her broomstick upstream until she caught faint voices up ahead—likely Miao Yuanjin and the others talking.

She quickly stashed the broomstick, changed her outfit, and cautiously approached the source of the voices.

“What do we do about this?”

It was Da Ya’s voice.

“Why are you looking at me? I don’t have Purify,” Miao Yuanjin replied.

“But if we leave it here, I’m afraid new pollutants will appear,” Zhao Lan said worriedly. “The car sank into the river, and all our gear sank with it. Now we have nothing to contain the contaminant. This sucks…”

As soon as she finished speaking, they heard a familiar voice.

“What’s so frustrating?”

All three froze, then turned to see Yu Xing walking toward them with a smile.

“Xingxing!” Da Ya almost leapt with joy.

Zhao Lan and Miao Yuanjin were just as excited, especially Miao Yuanjin. Yu Xing had come to City 25 solely because of her intel. If anything had happened to Yu Xing here, she would have carried the guilt for life.

Yu Xing walked over with a smile, but when she looked down, her smile died.

Before the three of them floated a purple orb, and beneath it lay a mutilated body.

It had no lower body, its wings were tattered, its body covered in wounds, and most horrifyingly, its head was pulp, like a dropped melon.

“…”

Yu Xing could tell this was also a queen bee—but how had it ended up like this?

“You…” Yu Xing sucked in a breath. “Were you guys torturing that thing?”

The three of them froze. Then, Da Ya burst into tears, wailing, “Xingxing, you don’t know how bad it was for us just now…”

They then all talked over each other, recounting what had happened after they separated—how they had outmaneuvered the monster, and how Miao Yuanjin had finally caved its skull in with a boulder to save Zhao Lan.

Miao Yuanjin stretched out her hand, her palm covered in wounds. With lingering fear, she said, “That thing’s head was so hard. I had to smash it over and over—my hands got shredded—before it finally died.”

Yu Xing wordlessly examined her palm. Miao Yuanjin’s expression showed no victory but rather something more complicated. “It looked so much like a person… When I was smashing its head, I felt like a total psychopath.”

Noticing Miao’s unease, Zhao Lan quickly changed the subject. “Huh? Wait—where’s the commander and Shen?”

“They were behind me,” Yu Xing said, surprised. “I don’t know—weren’t they with you?”

“They went to save you,” Miao Yuanjin said. “They didn’t fish you out?”

When they heard Yu Xing made it ashore on her own, Zhao Lan grew uneasy. “Thank god you’re alright, but… what if something happened to them?”

Yu Xing guessed Di Shensi and Shen Tanrong would catch up soon. They should probably return to the riverbank and wait.

“By the way,” Yu Xing asked, “you haven’t seen anyone else all this time?”

“No one at all,” Zhao Lan shook her head.

Yu Xing started worrying for their squadmates. She turned to look upstream, frowning despite herself.

"What's wrong?" Miao Yuanjin noticed the look on her face.

"Did you guys hear that?" Yu Xing asked.

"Hear what? No." Seeing Yu Xing hearing something again, Da Ya immediately got nervous. "What sound? Not bees again, right?"

No, it wasn’t. Yu Xing peered curiously in the direction of the river’s upstream. "I think I heard... breathing."

She hadn’t noticed it earlier when they were downstream, but here, Yu Xing could hear the faint but clear sound of breathing.

At first, she thought it was from Miao Yuanjin and the others, but she quickly realized the sound was coming from upstream.

Listening closely, the breathing was mixed with other noises.

As she listened, Yu Xing looked spellbound. She turned and walked toward the river. Suddenly, her arm was grabbed, snapping her back to reality—she had nearly stepped into the water.

"What’s wrong with you?" Miao Yuanjin looked at her with real concern. "Are you contaminated? Let me Purify you right now."

Miao Yuanjin pressed her palms together. "My Divine Skill has improved a bit. I can feel it—I’ll level up soon."

Her expression turned solemn and devout as a holy light shone down, enveloping Yu Xing.

Yu Xing stood motionless by the riverbank. After a moment, Miao Yuanjin’s confusion was plain to see. "How come you..."

She hesitated. "...have no contamination at all?"

"Isn’t that a good thing?" Yu Xing didn’t understand why this was puzzling.

"No," Miao Yuanjin said. "Outside the walls, the contamination's everywhere. People living in this environment end up getting contaminated to some degree—it’s unavoidable. That’s why exploration teams beyond the walls must have at least one Moon God Chosen with them."

"But we’ve been away from City 24 for so long. I’ve Purified everyone, yet from the start till now, you’ve had zero contamination."

She stared at Yu Xing as if facing an impossible puzzle.

Yu Xing was at a loss for words. Fortunately, she spotted Di Shensi and Shen Tanrong appearing in the distance.

"Sir!" Yu Xing immediately called out, hurried over excitedly toward Di Shensi—mostly to get away from Miao Yuanjin.

"Sir, you’re back!" She ran up, standing before Di Shensi with joy. "I’m so glad you’re okay!"

Di Shensi stopped, a hint of confusion in his eyes.

He looked at Yu Xing, who was looking at him so happily, and wondered, *Is she really this happy to see me? Since when did she care so much?*

Suddenly, memories flashed through his mind—finding Yu Xing in the dark forest, her approaching him, her hands groping over him.

Di Shensi looked away and nodded. "Mm."

The other three also approached. Seeing Miao Yuanjin still staring at her, Yu Xing decided not to give her any chance to ask questions. She turned to Di Shensi. "Sir, what's the plan? Should we look for the others?"

Di Shensi nodded, though he couldn't shake his unease.

They had rolled down the slope with their vehicle, then gone searching for Yu Xing before regrouping. Yet, after all this time, they hadn’t encountered a single member of the exploration team. It was impossible for Di Shensi not to worry.

If the team had escaped danger, they would've come found us. But they hadn’t...

Di Shensi glanced around. The tracks from their vehicle rolling down the slope were still visible nearby. Following those tracks, they could return to where they had been.

"Let’s go," Di Shensi said. "It’s almost nightfall. Without supplies, being here after dark would be dangerous."