Chapter Ch144.2 - Raising a Big Cat in the Apocalypse (23.2)
translator: xiin
editor: juurensha
There was a rarely seen harmonious atmosphere between the two. One of them smoked while the other drank. Although they were still silent, there was no dispute, and no antagonism. This filled Gu Xinzhi with joy, and he secretly snuck looks at Ding Qiuyun.
Ding Qiuyun seemed to become aware of his gaze and tilted his head to look at him. Gu Xinzhi quickly averted his eyes away, stroking his cuffs a little nervously. Even though his face remained unchanged, his heart was beating crazily.
He wanted to say something, but he was also worried that it would destroy such a good atmosphere between them if he said something wrong.
It took him a long time to pluck up the courage to say, “Captain Ding, go sleep.”
Ding Qiuyun took a deep inhale of the cold, late night air. His voice had already returned to its indifferent, lightly ridiculing tone as he spoke, “Vice-captain Gu, we are the hidden sentries. There’s no such point in having sleeping sentries.”
Gu Xinzhi liked it when Ding Qiuyun addressed him like this, “Captain Ding––”
Even before his words finished, the black leopard who’d been settled quietly at Ding Qiuyun’s feet suddenly lifted up its half-narrowed gray blue eyes. It gave out a low, muted roar, then ran off from Ding Qiuyun’s side, heading down the stairs to disappear into the shadows within a few seconds.
At the same time, 061’s voice sank, and he stated, “Xiaochi, something’s wrong.”
After two years of building up his independent combat experience, Gu Xinzhi, who’d originally already been sharp, had reactions no different from that of a wild animal. When Boss had given out its warning, he’d already turned around and stuck out his head from their hiding place. His expression changed abruptly after he glanced down––
There were over ten fluorescent, green moving spots of light that had silently and quickly moved to surround the campfire.
...... Hyenas.
A pack of hyenas.
What’s more, as the obvious sentry, Yan Lanlan had probably felt too warm and comfortable. She’d also kept in mind that there were two reliable hidden sentries on guard, and had actually fallen asleep with her head hanging.
Chi Xiaochi had also taken in this scene. His spirit tensed up for a moment, and he calculated several scenarios even as he reached for his gun. In that flash of a second, his heart chilled by several degrees.
These hyenas were likely extremely hungry. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have chosen a risky place where the black panther was residing in order to hunt.
The hyenas were too close to Yan Lanlan. If they fired, it was difficult to guarantee that a ricocheting bullet wouldn’t harm Lanlan. What’s more, it was even harder to ascertain if the hyenas would launch a quick attack under pressure from the gunfire and quickly bite into Yan Lanlan’s throat.
The unity of a pack of hyenas moving as a team could not be underestimated.
What made it worse was that these hyenas had triggered extremely bad memories from Ding Qiuyun’s brain.
... A bloody hand with a silver bell on the wrist, stretched out in despair from a hyena’s jaw as though wanting to grab on to something, but unable to do so.
This extreme tension instantly caused a severe headache. Chi Xiaochi gritted his teeth and forced himself to bear with it, pointing the gun with its safety lock still on at the slope below. “Liu-laoshi, help me aim...”
However, even before 061 could answer, the person beside him had silently pushed himself up against the edge of the roof with one hand and jumped down!
The backdraft swept by Chi Xiaochi’s face, causing him to freeze, his fingers turning completely stiff on the trigger as his body shook uncontrollably.
061: “...... Xiaochi?”
The hyenas’ plan to launch a sneak attack had been completely shattered by Gu Xinzhi’s descent from the sky.
Gu Xinzhi didn’t have any intention to threaten and intimidate. He silently took out the dagger at his waist, lifted his wrist, and stabbed straight through a hyena’s head!
The shrill sound and splashing of flesh and blood woke Yan Lanlan up. She noticed the green fluorescent lights in front of her eyes while still in a daze, and alarm bells clamored in her heart. She didn’t hesitate to immediately pick up two sticks from the nearby fire, waving them around with the intent to drive the hyenas away while quickly calculating a way to break through the encirclement.
But how would the hyenas be willing to let go of their prey? Two of them leapt up from different directions, aiming to bite at Yan Lanlan’s throat and arms while Yan Lanlan was still half turned away!
One of them had only just jumped up when it was shot dead by a gunshot from the second floor.
But there was no way for him to stop the other one.
It revealed its snow-white, drooling fangs, aiming at her forearm and bit down fiercely!
But that bite, it landed on an iron pipe instead.
While the biting fangs that made one’s scalp go numb broke, Gu Xinzhi swung the iron pipe in his hand in a beautiful semi-circle through the air, smashing the hyena’s body to the ground.
The pipe broke into two due to too much force.
Gu Xinzhi caught the half of the iron pipe that had gone flying and flipped it in the air, pushing the broken tip downwards and stabbing it into the hyena’s stomach. He grabbed the hyena’s neck with his other hand, slashed down, and directly cut it open.
Fresh blood splashed onto his lips.
Another two shots were fired from upstairs, killing one hyena and injuring another. At the same time, the fierce howling of the dying hyena, who’d had its stomach split open, succeeded in scaring the surviving hyenas into retreat.
Gu Xinzhi stood up, wiping blood from the corners of his lips with the back of his hand. He then used his clothing to briefly wipe the iron pipe dyed with blood. Instead of paying attention to Yan Lanlan, who was frightened and dazed after the fact, he lifted up his head towards the top floor.
Ding Qiuyun’s figure had already disappeared.
The gunshots had woken up the team members who’d been sleeping in the supermarket. When they rushed out, they saw Yan Lanlan still standing in the same place, holding the burning branches.
Ding Qiuyun came out of the supermarket with the sniper gun hoisted over his shoulder. “Yan Lanlan, let me ask you, what is an obvious sentry?”
Yan Lanlan’s face turned pale. “I......”
Ding Qiuyun tossed the gun into her arms and shouted, “Who told you to sleep?! Do you want to die?!”
Yan Lanlan had just experienced the line between life and death, and cold sweat oozed in a torrent down her back. The cold wind blew by, and goose bumps sprang up in waves. “Captain Ding, sorry...”
“What do you mean, sorry? Who are you sorry for?” Ding Qiuyun kicked at the fire with one foot, sending sparks in all directions, and said, “The one you should be sorry to is yourself!”
Yan Lanlan was frightened by this furious Ding Qiuyun, but she also knew that she’d made a big mistake and could only bow her head and let herself be disciplined.
Sun Yan and the others had never seen Ding Qiuyun so angry, and they all stepped up one after another to try and smooth things over. “Captain Ding, Captain Ding, calm down.”
“Lanlan’s still young and doesn’t understand the importance of such things. Don’t be angry.”
“Lanlan, come here and say something nice to Captain Ding.”
Gu Xinzhi was a bit distressed for Ding Qiuyun’s sake, and he took the initiative to come closer,.“Qiuyun...”
Ding Qiuyun didn’t say a word and directly tossed his hand out to punch him.
Gu Xinzhi was beaten into a daze and lifted his gaze to look at Ding Qiuyun in surprise.
“What are you looking at?! You’re the one I wanted to punch!” He could hear a slight tremor in Ding Qiuyun’s voice. “What do you think you’re doing, jumping down? Do you want to die, too? Are you still young, too? Showing off that you have the ability and endurance?”
After that, he pushed away the people who were blocking him, turned around, and went back into the supermarket. He strode upstairs, then locked the door leading to the roof.
Everyone could see that Ding Qiuyun was really angry this time.
No one felt any sleepiness after such a big event.
Yan Lanlan hadn’t cried when she was besieged by hyenas, but now she was thoroughly scared into tears. She sobbed as she went to bang on the door, wanting to admit to her mistakes, but she begged for a long time to no avail.
She turned back with tears in her eyes and was bonked on the head by one person after another, which made her cry even worse.
Sun Bin went to coax her, while Uncle Luo cleaned up the corpses, intending to store the meat for food rations. Sun Yan fiddled with the fire, saying to Gu Xinzhi, “Vice-captain Gu, Captain Ding’s just upset with you. Don’t take it to heart.”
Gu Xinzhi remained silent.
He thought about Ding Qiuyun from just now. The expression on his face had been obviously worried and nervous, making Gu Xinzhi’s heart feel sweet and delighted; how would he nitpick over such a trivial matter?
On the top floor, isolated from the crowd, Chi Xiaochi leaned against the guardrail and buried his face between his knees. His hand, the one which had just hit Gu Xinzhi, trembled slightly.
061 called out to him softly, “Xiaochi?”
Chi Xiaochi straightened out his hair. “Sorry, I got too into the act.”
061 replied, “Mm, I know.”
He could guess what Chi Xiaochi was thinking.
Chi Xiaochi had had a serious reaction to similar scenes in the welfare homes from the last world.
.... He couldn’t bear to see ‘people falling from buildings’.
At the same time, 061 also knew that Chi Xiaochi was really angry with Yan Lanlan.
But the anger he showed to Gu Xinzhi was completely on purpose.
He knew that Gu Xinzhi would misunderstand the meaning behind the punch, and would think that ‘Ding Qiuyun’ was concerned about him. He would even willingly accept it.
So, he’d simply taken advantage of it.
This was because Chi Xiaochi was very clear that everything he was doing was for Ding Qiuyun.
Based on Gu Xinzhi’s personality, in order to ensure that nothing went wrong after Chi Xiaochi left, he had to give Ding Qiuyun a Gu Xinzhi who was completely devoted to him.
To put it simply and crudely, even if the first thing that Ding Qiuyun wanted to do after returning to his body was to kill Gu Xinzhi, then what Chi Xiaochi had to guarantee was that the Gu Xinzhi at that time would be willing to trust Ding Qiuyun with his back.
However, that one punch was also him venting his own emotions.
He’d really been afraid when he saw Gu Xinzhi jump down.
Chi Xiaochi was in a cold sweat due to the migraine that had broken out from the shock.
He wrapped the coat and scarf around himself tightly and whispered, “Liu-laoshi.”
061: “Yes, I’m here.”
He squeezed out a light laugh from his throat. “It’s fortunate that Brother Lou can’t see me like this now.”
Just now, when Gu Xinzhi jumped down from the top of the building, it had made Chi Xiaochi think about the last, last time he’d been faced with such an event.
The Chi Xiaochi from that time who’d been crying and flustered, kneeling on the ground and begging Lou Ying not to die, not to leave him behind, had already turned into this current him, who could make use of this immediate onset of emotion to scheme against others.
It was rare for Chi Xiaochi to feel such a strong sense of self-loathing. While his hands were still shaking, a strong shadow leapt from the rooftop beside his and silently landed in front of Chi Xiaochi.
061 spoke at the same time. “No I think... he would like it.”
He really liked Chi Xiaochi, who was cunning, clever, and filled with tricky ideas.
Two warm forepaws landed on Chi Xiaochi’s knees while Chi Xiaochi was still in a slight daze.
Chi Xiaochi looked up and found that Boss had already cleaned itself up.
And the bodies of the hyenas who’d attacked and fled just now were all lined up and placed on the roof next door, to be frozen and air-dried.
The leopard’s warm forehead bumped against his, gently and lightly.
And 061’s pure, warm voice also sounded by his ear, “Alright, alright. Don’t think about it so much. If you’re scared, then just give it a hug.”
In a trance, Chi Xiaochi felt that these words seemed to be coming from Boss speaking to him.
He silently went to hug Boss, burying his face against the fur at its shoulder. He thought to himself, he’d just let himself go for a little while, just a while.
He lay there quietly, without tears. He simply emptied out his whole heart, leaning against the leopard’s warm body and allowed his tired spirit to relax.
The black leopard let him lean against it, quietly acting as his support.
Just then, Chi Xiaochi’s right ring finger, which was wrapped against the black leopard’s waist, felt like it had been zapped by a small electric current.
Then, a voice signal came from the ring. “Mr. Chi? ... Mr. Chi? You’re––”
The signal connection only lasted for a moment. By the time Chi Xiaochi came back to his senses, the sound and the tingling of his fingertip had already disappeared.
... What was this? An illusion?
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