Chapter 22: Director Zhou, Who Takes and Eats
After kneeling on the ground to pay respects at the grave, Xue Yu’s pant legs were covered in dirt. She bent down to pat them, raising a cloud of yellow dust.
Once she had tidied herself up, Xue Yu stood up straight and said to him, “Alright, Mo Li, let’s go.”
Mo Li stood still. “I didn’t find a suitable hospital in the South Continent.”
Xue Yu didn’t understand. “What?”
Mo Li didn’t reply again.
Xue Yu’s mind spun, trying to figure out what he meant.
Mo Li’s personality really drove her crazy. He wouldn’t say a word for ages, and when he did, he only spoke half a sentence, leaving her to guess the rest.
She really wanted to grab him by the collar and shout: My mute bridegroom, do you have to pay to talk? How much per word? I’ll pay!
Xue Yu pondered for a moment and asked, “Does that mean you didn’t find a suitable hospital in the South Continent for an abortion, and if you find one in the future, you’ll still have it, right?”
Mo Li remained silent.
Xue Yu dropped to her knees with a thud, rebuilt the small mound she had kicked down, and continued to cry her eyes out. “Oh, my ill-fated child…”
Mo Li stood tall like a pine tree, watching her from the side. He neither participated nor stopped her, only asking, “Do you have diarrhea? I have medicine.”
Xue Yu wiped away her tears and stood up. “No diarrhea. I pooped my pants.”
Mo Li’s face was impassive. His gaze shifted down to her pants.
Xue Yu patted the sand off her clothes. “Just kidding. Let’s go. Zhou Siyan said we have to cross this desert before we can stop for the night.”
She walked towards the off-road vehicle, but Mo Li’s feet still didn’t move.
Xue Yu couldn’t guess what he wanted to do. Maybe this cold guy needed to relieve himself too.
She jogged away without urging Mo Li.
Mo Li stood in place for a few seconds. After Xue Yu had walked far past the large rock, he squatted down and flattened the small grave Xue Yu had made.
He checked the paper Xue Yu had burned again to make sure there were no sparks before leaving.
When he returned to the off-road vehicle, Xue Yu and Zhou Siyan were ready.
Xue Yu sat in the driver’s seat, her hands on the steering wheel. Zhou Siyan sat in the passenger seat, holding the baby, who was also holding her little seahorse.
In the back seat, Xue Yu’s seahorse Blueberry, Zhou Siyan’s black panther Heimei, and Mo Li’s blue-ringed octopus Xiaoxue were all squeezed together.
To be precise, it was the black panther and the octopus on either side, squeezing the seahorse in the middle.
Xue Yu’s spirit body seahorse was very beautiful.
It had scales that ordinary seahorses didn’t have. The scales on its dorsal and caudal fins were aqua blue, while its pectoral fins were white, creating a high-end aesthetic of blue fading into white.
Its scales also flowed with a soft light. Whether viewed from a distance or up close, it looked like an ocean spirit.
However, the behavior of this ocean spirit was not very elegant. It had its arms around both the black panther and the octopus, kissing the black panther one moment and then turning to flirt with the octopus the next.
Mo Li couldn’t stand it and wanted to retract Xiaoxue into his spiritual landscape.
Xiaoxue was completely unwilling, its tentacles wrapped tightly around Blueberry, its eyes sparkling with love.
“Mo Li, hurry up and get in the car,” Xue Yu urged from the driver’s seat.
Mo Li gave up on disciplining his octopus and walked to the car door on Xue Yu’s side. “I’ll drive.”
His tone was firm, not a suggestion.
Mo Li’s aura was like that of his blue-ringed octopus—laced with deadly poison, dark and damp, like a dangerous creature crawling in the depths of the abyssal sea.
It made Xue Yu think he was going to hijack the car. She swallowed and asked, “Mo Li, are we still friends?”
Mo Li realized his tone was too harsh and softened it slightly. “You’re tired. Let me take over.”
“Alright, thank you.”
Xue Yu happily got out of the car and moved to the back seat.
Zhou Siyan, who had been in the passenger seat, seemed to be thinking about something. He picked up Xue Xiaohai and also moved to the back seat.
Xue Yu was worried that Mo Li would overthink it, thinking that she and Zhou Siyan were deliberately isolating him. So she pinched the baby’s cheek and said loudly, “The baby should sit in the back. She always cries in the front.”
The back seat was already occupied by Blueberry, Heimei, and Xiaoxue.
With Xue Yu and Zhou Siyan squeezing in, the space became even more cramped.
Xue Yu picked up Blueberry and pushed it towards the front passenger seat. “Blueberry, either go to the passenger seat or I’ll retract you into my spiritual landscape.”
Blueberry flew to the passenger seat at top speed.
Immediately, Xue Yu only felt a gust of wind. The black panther and the octopus moved so fast they left afterimages, also climbing into the passenger seat with Blueberry.
The passenger seat was so small. The three of them piled on top of each other like a human pyramid, a scene that was both harmonious and bizarre.
There was a spiritual link between a spirit body and its master, creating a shared sense of feeling.
Xue Yu felt like she was sitting on pins and needles, afraid that Blueberry, that big rogue, would pull some indecent stunt.
She really didn’t want to have a spiritual connection with Zhou Siyan and Mo Li at the same time. It was too terrifying!
Xue Yu reached over and punched Blueberry. “Blueberry, don’t mess around. Behave yourself.”
Blueberry defiantly blew bubbles at her, as if to say, what can you do to me? It was very arrogant.
Xue Yu was on high alert the whole way. Fortunately, the three of them were just playing a stacking game and didn’t create any outrageously shameful scenes.
The sky had completely darkened. There was no moonlight tonight.
The lonely off-road vehicle drove through the desert, like a lone firefly in the dark night.
Two hours later, they finally left the desert and saw grassland ahead.
In the grassland, there was a camp with about ten people faintly visible.
Those people were not nomads. They were tall and wore full combat gear.
Zhou Siyan recognized it as the uniform of the White Tower’s Public Security Brigade.
He handed the baby to Xue Yu, took out a pistol from under the seat, loaded it, and said to Xue Yu, “You and the baby stay in the car. I’ll go check it out.”
Xue Yu took the sleeping Xue Xiaohai and looked out. “Could they be here for us? Has your pregnancy been discovered?”
Zhou Siyan: “I’ll handle it.”
He got out of the car with the gun and also called out Heimei.
In the driver’s seat, Mo Li turned around and reached out to Xue Yu. “Hand me my gun.”
Xue Yu held the baby with one hand and lifted the sniper rifle he had placed under the seat. It was very heavy. She couldn’t lift it with one hand, so she could only hand the strap to Mo Li and let him pull it over himself.
Mo Li took the gun, observed the situation outside, and prepared for battle.
When Zhou Siyan got out, a member of the Public Security Brigade immediately recognized him and greeted him with surprise. “Director Zhou, what are you doing here?”
Zhou Siyan: “Out tracking Abominations. And you?”
The captain came out from behind and walked with him towards the camp. “We’re here to hunt down Yan Wantang.”
After a few words, he learned that Yan Wantang had been mixing with Abominations and selling organs.
A few days ago, she had colluded with Abominations again and entered the White Tower to commit a crime. This time, she was so bold as to cut out a kidney from the Minister of the White Tower’s Affairs Department.
This had completely infuriated the entire leadership of the White Tower.
The higher-ups had given the Public Security Brigade a direct order to capture Yan Wantang.
The captain and his team had been searching for five days since leaving the White Tower but had found no trace of Yan Wantang.
“Come, come, Siyan. We just hunted a wild boar, and its contamination level is actually within the edible range. We’re grilling it now. You should come and have some too,” several team members warmly invited.
Zhou Siyan looked around. Most of them were classmates he had known at the military academy.
He was pushed along by a few of them, and they all sat around the fire. The dry wood crackled, and the flames leaped high.
The wild boar meat on the spit sizzled with oil, the aroma making one’s mouth water.
They started chatting, still on the topic of Yan Wantang.
Yan Wantang had been an excellent student at the academy. Her spirit body was an eagle owl. She, Zhou Siyan, and a few others were in the top tier of their class, promising cadets groomed by the military academy.
After graduation, Yan Wantang had entered the Air Combat Department and was expected to become the next head of the department.
But she had used her position to collude with Abominations and sell organs. Now she was on the White Tower’s blacklist, and everyone couldn’t help but sigh.
After talking about Yan Wantang, the conversation turned to Xue Yu.
Xue Yu was always a popular topic at class reunions.
They would rehash the same old trivial matters, always finding new jokes to laugh at.
“Sigh, even a good-for-nothing like Xue Yu didn’t go astray. How did Yan Wantang go down the wrong path? Such a bright future. I don’t know what she was thinking.”
“You’re overthinking it. Xue Yu can barely carry a gun. Even if she wanted to sell organs like others, she couldn’t do it. Just removing an organ would probably make her faint.”
“Xue Yu set the record for the lowest grades in the history of the White Tower Military Academy. Do you remember? At the graduation ceremony, the principal’s face was green.”
“By the way, what is Xue Yu doing after graduation?”
“Mining, what else can she do?”
Everyone suddenly realized that Zhou Siyan was Xue Yu’s ex-boyfriend.
They all clapped their hands over their mouths and changed the subject.
“Why are there so many things happening in the White Tower lately? The pregnant person still hasn’t been found, and now we have to hunt down Yan Wantang.”
“Who do you think is pregnant in the White Tower?”
“Who knows? That kind of person should be nailed to a pillar of shame!”
“Getting pregnant secretly, that person must have a problem with their brain. Do they really want to have a baby in the White Tower? So audacious, they deserve to die a thousand deaths!!”
Zhou Siyan remained silent.
He waited quietly. Only when the barbecue was ready did his eyes flicker slightly.
The wild boar meat was ready, and everyone shared it.
The captain cut off a large piece of pork leg, placed it on a piece of oiled paper, and handed it to Zhou Siyan. “Here, Siyan, you have some too. It’s not easy to get fresh barbecue these days.”
Zhou Siyan took the barbecue but didn’t eat it. Instead, he stood up and said, “You guys enjoy. I have an important mission, so I’ll be leaving now.”
Everyone tried to persuade him to stay for a while, then politely said, “Then, Director, you should take some more meat. It’s very fragrant.”
It was a rare treat of meat. These people were drooling, and there wasn’t enough to go around. How could they want to give more to Zhou Siyan? It was just a polite gesture.
To their surprise, this usually serious and solemn Director Zhou pretended not to understand the politeness in their words.
He nodded calmly!
Staring at the barbecue on the wooden rack, he said something that left everyone dumbfounded: “Okay, then I’ll take some more. Thank you.”
The circle of people around the fire was stunned.
This wasn’t right.
According to Director Zhou’s usual way of doing things, he should have given the meat in his hand back to them and said, “You guys enjoy. I have to go.”
Then he would leave gracefully.
Why was he taking and eating now?
The words were out. Everyone was too embarrassed not to give him any.
But there was so little good meat. They were reluctant to give away too much. Besides, they had already given Zhou Siyan the best piece of pork leg.
An old team member picked up a dagger, reluctantly parted with some meat, and cut off a small piece of pork head meat. He wrapped it in oiled paper and handed it to Zhou Siyan. “Here, Director Zhou, take this.”
Zhou Siyan took the pork head meat. “Thank you very much.”
“No problem, no problem,” the old team member said with a smile.
According to normal social etiquette, he should have asked again, “Director, is that enough? If not, have some more.”
But they didn’t dare to be polite anymore. If they gave away one more piece of meat, everyone would have one less bite to eat!
Zhou Siyan returned to the off-road vehicle with the meat.
He got into the car, gave the good pork leg to Xue Yu, and handed the pork head to Mo Li.
Xue Yu opened the oiled paper, her eyes shining. “It smells so good! Where did you get it?”
Zhou Siyan: “The people from the Public Security Brigade were having a barbecue and gave me some.”
Xue Yu held the baby with one hand and the meat with the other, sniffing it again and again. “This meat is so delicious. I can’t believe those guys were willing to share it with you.”
Zhou Siyan: “I didn’t want it. They insisted on giving it to me.”
Xue Yu took a bite first, then held it up to Zhou Siyan. “You eat too. It’s so good, so fragrant!”
Zhou Siyan took the baby from her arms. “I don’t like the taste. It’s too gamey.”
Mo Li, sitting in the driver’s seat in front, handed the bag of meat back to Zhou Siyan.
Zhou Siyan slowly wiped the baby’s face with a wet wipe, his voice flat. “You eat it. You’re still pregnant. You need to replenish your nutrients.”
Xue Yu, chewing on the meat, raised an eyebrow. “You know he didn’t have an abortion?”
Zhou Siyan: “I have a precedent. I can tell at a glance.”
Mo Li ate the meat, chewing very quietly, saying nothing.
Zhou Siyan asked again, “You went to such great lengths, walking all the way from the White Tower to the South Continent, and in the end, you didn’t even get rid of the child. What were you thinking?”
Mo Li swallowed the meat in his mouth before saying, “I didn’t go for an abortion. I went for a prenatal check-up.”
Zhou Siyan: “You’ve made up your mind? You’re going to have the baby?”
Mo Li: “It’s none of your business.”
Xue Yu secretly tugged on Zhou Siyan’s sleeve, winking at him and whispering, “Just take care of your own child. Why are you meddling in other people’s business? Don’t interfere with Mo Li’s choice.”
“If Mo Li really wants to have it, it will be Xue Xiaohai’s younger sister or brother. I can’t just turn a blind eye,” Zhou Siyan reasoned.
Mo Li said, “I’ll raise it myself.”
Xue Yu quickly raised her hand to show her stance. “I’ll raise it too. No abandonment, no giving up. I’ll raise as many as you have! I will definitely work hard to earn money and be responsible for you and the children.”
Mo Li didn’t speak again. After finishing the barbecue in his hand, he neatly folded the oiled paper with his long, strong fingers and put it in the trash bag in the armrest box.
Zhou Siyan sat up straight, holding the baby. “Let’s keep driving. Another hour.”
Mo Li started the car. The headlights of the off-road vehicle cut a path of light in the night.
Xue Yu asked Zhou Siyan again, “Are you sure you don’t want to eat?”
Zhou Siyan: “I don’t like to eat this.”
Xue Yu took a big bite of meat. “Tomorrow, I’ll try hunting too. I’ll catch a pheasant to help you and Mo Li recover.”
Zhou Siyan: “Good luck.”