Jiang Mian’s eyes flickered.
‘For Rong Fei to just come right out and say that…
it’s no different from telling me he’s rich.’
According to the rules of this era, a Beast Slave belonged to their master, so naturally, all of a Beast Slave’s money also belonged to their master.
Beast Slaves were forbidden from secretly keeping their own money.
Jiang Mian had a feeling that these five Beastmen had all, to some extent, hidden money away.
Her lips moved, but in the end, she didn’t say anything.
Rong Fei shot her another casual glance before quickly taking the Yun Meihua flowers he was holding into the kitchen.
“I do have money,” Rong Fei said nonchalantly, as if he had seen right through her thoughts with a single glance.
“Ah, is that so,” Jiang Mian replied after a pause.
‘Sometimes Rong Fei seems so perceptive, as if he can always sense what others are thinking.’
‘But just because he has money doesn’t mean it’s my money.’
Jiang Mian felt like Rong Fei was baiting her.
She needed money, and he had it.
He mentioned it and then dropped the subject, leaving a world of possibilities hanging in the air.
‘Was he testing to see if I’d force him to hand over his money, or did he want to see if I’d ask him for it?’
‘He might as well just offer the money to me directly.’
Jiang Mian decided to drop the subject.
It wasn’t as if she had no other way to earn Star Coins.
Rong Fei hadn’t expected Jiang Mian’s reaction to be so placid.
He had indeed deliberately told Jiang Mian that he had hidden money.
They would be arriving at a Pollution Star soon, and they would need Star Coins to buy protective shields, purified food, and pay the entrance fee for the purified city zones.
Star Coins were necessary for access to many things.
‘How is she going to get Star Coins?’
‘And now, I can help her.’
But Rong Fei hadn’t expected that after he brought it up, Jiang Mian would just clam up and show no intention of pursuing it.
Jiang Mian started extracting the nutrient solution, and Rong Fei helped her.
Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed a row of white adhesive bandages on his wrist.
They were placed in a perfectly neat row up from his wrist, the distance between each bandage identical.
“Are you using those bandages as accessories?” Jiang Mian asked, subconsciously assuming that was the case and not thinking much of it.
“My manic phase acted up last night, and I accidentally cut myself,” Rong Fei said calmly.
“Fortunately, I made it through.”
The sight of blood would calm him down.
Jiang Mian’s hands paused.
She turned to look at Rong Fei, her lips moving before she slowly said, “Next time your manic phase acts up, you can come find me.
I can help you through it, no pain or injury necessary.”
Her gaze swept over Rong Fei’s wrist again.
‘Who cuts themselves so neatly?
Is it because he’s a doctor?
Some kind of occupational hazard?’
“Ah,” Rong Fei said, feigning surprise.
“But wouldn’t that be imposing on you, Mianmian?”
“No,” Jiang Mian replied casually.
‘Rong Fei had helped her a lot during this time.
It was only right for her to help him with his manic phase in return.
Besides, it wasn’t any trouble.’
The thought of manic phases reminded Jiang Mian that all five of these Beastmen were currently experiencing them.
If a Beastman’s manic phase wasn’t soothed by a human female, the episodes would become increasingly frequent and severe.
Eventually, they would never be free from the searing pain it brought.
However, if a human female continuously helped them heal, and they successfully evolved to the point where they could freely switch between their human and beast forms, the manic phase would disappear completely.
Jiang Mian thought of Lin Yu’s future, incurable manic phase.
Although Lin Yu had been treating her like a stranger lately, coming and going like a ghost, Jiang Mian still subconsciously paid attention to his daily movements.
‘Things have been peaceful between us for the last few days.
If I offer to help heal him, he probably won’t refuse, right?’
‘That’s right.
I really don’t want to see Lin Yu become that future version of himself, tormented by all sorts of ailments.
Now that I have a chance to treat it and prevent it from getting worse, why wouldn’t I take it?’
“Who are you thinking about?” a low voice murmured.
Rong Fei leaned toward her, his long-fingered hand gently cupping her cheek.
As his face drew closer, his silver eyes stared into hers, and he was satisfied to see her vacant, dark eyes fill with his reflection an instant later.
The cold touch of his hand on her cheek made Jiang Mian flinch.
When she saw the handsome face so extremely close to her own, she instinctively scrambled back a few steps.
Rong Fei, meanwhile, casually straightened up.
He slipped the hand that had just been touching her cheek into his pants pocket, where his fingers curled slightly.
His brow furrowed slightly, and his silver eyes held an inscrutable expression.
‘He was well aware that his own actions had been unusual lately.
Being so proactive about helping her…
was it to test her, or did he just want to get closer to her…’
‘Perhaps he was starting to stray from his original goal.’
‘When he noticed she was distracted, he’d subconsciously wanted to pull her attention back to himself.
He’d moved closer to confirm that her eyes were truly filled with his image.’
‘It was getting a little uncontrollable.’
Jiang Mian backed away, feeling that he was acting very strange.
‘They were just talking, why did he suddenly lean in like that?’
‘And now he was just standing there with his eyes half-lidded, who knows what he’s thinking.’
Seeing him like this, Jiang Mian completely forgot what she had been about to say.
Just then, Rong Fei lifted his gaze to her and offered a gentle smile.
“My apologies.
Did I startle you?”
“No,” Jiang Mian said after a pause.
“I just wasn’t expecting it.”
‘After all, he’d suddenly leaned in, crossing the normal boundary of personal space.
It just wasn’t something she was used to.’
After that, Jiang Mian said no more and resumed extracting the nutrient solution.
Rong Fei quietly helped her.
The kitchen grew quiet again, with neither of them speaking.
They finished extracting the final week’s worth of nutrient solution.
Rong Fei and Jiang Mian then went their separate ways.
‘Honestly, I’m getting so sick of this crude nutrient solution.’
‘With the limited tools, the resulting nutrient solution obviously didn’t taste good.
It was purely for sustenance, with no flavor to speak of.’
But there was only one week left until they reached the Exile Star.
The other looming problems were poverty and the harsh survival conditions on the Pollution Star.
For now, Jiang Mian planned to earn some Star Coins first.
As for the harsh living conditions on the Pollution Star, she would figure that out when she arrived.
After all, Jiang Mian didn’t understand the current situation on X1 Star.
For now, the priority was earning Star Coins.
On a sealed Starship, the only way she could do that was through her Light Brain.
Jiang Mian already had an idea.
But she put those thoughts aside for the moment.
It was time to go check on Lord Lin.
‘I have to help Lin Yu cure his manic phase for good while he’s still young.’
Jiang Mian didn’t know if she would ever return to the future.
In the future, when she was Lin Yu’s Beastman Doctor, he would always wake her in the middle of the night.
He would clutch her hand, his red irises narrowing into vertical slits.
The skin around his eyes would be flushed, and he would be feverish and miserable, his face a mask of suppressed pain.
“Mianmian, my head hurts…”
“Mianmian, I don’t feel well…”
Sometimes, Jiang Mian even heard him talking nonsense in his delirium.
“Mianmian, hold me…”
“Mianmian, I’ll die without you…”
Of course, Jiang Mian knew.
Without her treatment, he would sooner or later drive himself to death.
But what she naturally didn’t know was that the future Lin Yu loved her to the point of obsession, yet only ever dared to do something as restrained as holding her hand.