Sensing his gaze, Qiao Xi calmly lowered her hand and asked, “When do we leave?”
Li Chuan’s eyes were filled with scrutiny and assessment as he looked at her.
The moment the zombie dog crashed into the car, he knew someone would die.
He hadn’t held any hope when Qiao Xi volunteered to treat Qin Wang.
Yet she had actually done it.
The other two were equally stunned.
“She actually healed him?”
Xia Manman reached out in disbelief and poked Qin Wang’s arm, who frowned slightly.
Chen Zhiang leaned in. “So that means Brother Qin’s hand is saved, right?”
Qiao Xi stretched her limbs, preparing to get back in the car.
She had expended quite a bit of energy earlier, and all she wanted now was a good nap.
But before she could reach the car, a figure suddenly blocked her path.
“What did you do to Qin Wang? And what was that blood smell in the car?”
“Hm?”
Li Chuan’s expression was cold and sinister. “An ordinary Healing Ability User couldn’t possibly achieve that level.”
“What do you mean?” Qiao Xi looked at him in confusion.
Li Chuan spoke slowly, word by word: “You’re not Healing Type at all.”
Qiao Xi’s heart tightened. This guy Li Chuan had indeed noticed something.
But she didn’t show any sign of panic on her face.
Instead, she looked at Li Chuan with just the right amount of displeasure and confusion. “If I’m not a healer, then what am I?”
Li Chuan stared at her intently. “I said before, there’s a kind of monster that can disguise itself as a normal person. They all share one most distinctive trait…”
Qiao Xi’s face remained expressionless, as if she couldn’t care less about what he was saying.
“Qin Wang is about to wake up. If he sees you standing this close to me, guess what he’ll think?”
With that, she moved to walk past him.
The next instant, Li Chuan suddenly sidestepped half a step forward and grabbed her hand.
Qiao Xi instinctively struggled. “What are you doing?”
“Monsters are bloodthirsty and vicious, and their most distinctive trait is that they have no body temperature.”
The words fell.
Qiao Xi suddenly smiled, the corners of her mouth curling with mockery. “Are you saying I’m a monster?”
Li Chuan stared at her coldly, his gaze as if it could see right through her.
But he couldn’t help starting to doubt himself.
Why was the temperature under his palm different from before?
Just now in the car, when she stopped him from cutting off Qin Wang’s arm, those hands had been ice-cold.
How were they back to normal now?
His brows furrowed tightly, and he squeezed her hand again.
A hint of cunning was hidden in Qiao Xi’s eyes. She struggled symbolically twice.
Sure enough, she couldn’t break free.
She turned her head and shouted toward the car: “Qin Wang-wang!”
Qin Wang had woken up at some point. He propped himself up against the car door and sat up, his face pale, but his gaze fell like a blade on Li Chuan’s hand gripping Qiao Xi’s.
“Let her go.”
His voice wasn’t loud, but it carried a bone-chilling coldness.
Li Chuan’s hand stiffened instantly, then slowly released.
Qiao Xi regained her freedom and walked toward the car, covering her reddened wrist.
After getting in the car, Qin Wang’s gaze landed on the red mark on her wrist, and a murderous aura surged in his eyes.
“Does it hurt?” he asked.
Qiao Xi pulled her sleeve down to cover the red mark, then shook her head with feigned strength.
“It doesn’t hurt anymore.”
On the other side, from the moment Li Chuan got in the car until they set off again, he never dared to look back at Qin Wang’s expression.
The icy stare from behind made him feel like he was sitting on pins and needles.
Qin Wang reached out to touch her wrist, but his fingertips trembled uncontrollably.
In the end, he only took her hand.
It seemed only by holding this person in his grasp could he fall asleep with peace of mind.
Qiao Xi lowered her eyelashes.
Good thing she had anticipated Li Chuan would notice something and converted her energy in time, managing to fool him.
When Qin Wang woke again, it was already the afternoon of the next day.
They had found a seaside guesthouse as their base.
It had been the off-season before the apocalypse, so there were few people and few zombies.
His body recovered quickly, and the wound from the zombie dog’s scratch had nearly healed.
He was just a bit anemic.
Qin Wang got up and didn’t see Qiao Xi.
Thinking about how she had saved him, his feelings were complicated.
If she cared about him, then why wouldn’t she see him back then when he stood on the rooftop wanting to meet her?
If she didn’t care whether he lived or died, then why did she…
When he found Qiao Xi, she was sitting on a large rock by the sea, head lowered, studying something.
He approached, steeling his emotions, and inexplicably felt nervous.
He wanted to say something, but before he could speak—
Qiao Xi suddenly turned her head to look at him.
“You’re awake.”
“Yeah.”
Qin Wang sat down beside her, his gaze inadvertently falling on her hands.
Qiao Xi was holding a ring in her hand, one that looked especially familiar.
“Good timing that you’re awake.”
Qiao Xi held up the ring with the engraving on the inside and asked him: “Who is QQ?”
Qin Wang’s expression froze. He instinctively touched his neck, and his face changed drastically.
“How dare you go through my things?”
“I’m asking you, who is QQ?”
Qin Wang’s face flushed with anger, and he reached over to snatch it. “Give it back.”
Qiao Xi hid her hand behind her back, refusing to return it.
Qin Wang’s face darkened. “What do you want?”
The more anxious he got, the less Qiao Xi wanted to give it back. “Answer my question.”
“Qiao Xi, are you insane?”
Qiao Xi sneered. “I’m insane?”
“Is this the attitude you should have toward your lifesaver?”
“Apologize to me!”
“Give me back my stuff first.”
“I said apologize!”
“Have you not caused enough trouble?”
Qin Wang shouted at her impatiently, “Is pretending to have amnesia fun, Qiao Xi?”
“Me? Pretending to have amnesia?”
“Fine.” Qiao Xi raised her hand and tossed it, “Go pick it up yourself.”
As if anyone cared to have it.
Qin Wang watched helplessly as the ring arced through the air, splashed into the sea with a tiny ripple, and disappeared.
“You—”
He glared fiercely at Qiao Xi, then dove into the sea without a moment’s hesitation.
He jumped off the three-meter cliff without a second thought, and she didn’t even have time to grab him.
Qiao Xi froze. She hadn’t expected Qin Wang to actually jump.
The waves churned, and she sat on the rock, a sour feeling welling up in her chest.
Was that ring really that important?
Who exactly was QQ?
He searched for two whole hours.
The seawater was freezing cold, his lips turned purple from soaking in it, yet he stubbornly refused to come ashore.
Qiao Xi was upset, but Qin Wang’s body hadn’t fully recovered yet, and in the end, she couldn’t bear to watch.
When Qin Wang surfaced again to catch his breath, she quickly shouted to him, “I didn’t throw the ring away. Stop looking.”
Qin Wang froze, staring at her as if he hadn’t understood.
Only when she pulled a ring out of her pocket did she speak with a guilty look, “I was just teasing you. What I tossed was just a pebble.”
Only then did Qin Wang climb ashore, drenched from head to toe.
Qiao Xi sidled up to him with a cheeky grin, “Since you care so much, how could I bear to actually throw it away?”
Qin Wang took the ring, wiped it with his wet hands, and carefully tucked it into his inner pocket.
Then he pulled her into his arms.
His arms tightened around her, squeezing her until it was almost uncomfortable.
Nestled in his embrace, she could hear his heart pounding fast.
She was a little dazed.
Was Qin Wang moved by this?
Seizing the moment, she pressed on, “So who exactly is QQ?”
Qin Wang still didn’t answer. He let go of her.
Under Qiao Xi’s bewildered gaze, he kicked her into the sea.
“You’re not allowed to come ashore until you’ve swum for two full hours.”