Chapter 178: Chapter 165: You Really Like the Human Form?
Gu Ning struggled to open her swollen eyes.
She felt like she had been asleep for a long time, but she was still incredibly drowsy and her whole body ached.
The bedding was warm, though, but the blanket was a bit heavy, making her chest feel tight.
Staring at the ceiling for a moment, Gu Ning let her eyes drift around the room. She recognized the familiar layout and, after a while, realized she was back in her old apartment.
Gu Ning moved slightly, and the motion immediately pulled at her sore muscles. The pain jolted her more fully awake.
After resting for a bit, she reached out one hand to pull the blanket down, took a deep breath of fresh air, and squinted at the time on her terminal.
It was a little after two in the afternoon. Judging by the date, she had been unconscious for nearly a full day.
Gu Ning lowered her wrist, unable to recall how she had gotten back yesterday.
Just then, a large head moved close to her face and a tongue licked her cheek.
Gu Ning focused her eyes. It was Cook.
She smiled and petted Cook’s face, then suddenly remembered someone else was missing. "Cook, where’s Barto?" she asked quickly.
The moment she asked, Barto’s voice sounded right next to her ear. "Right here."
Gu Ning froze for a second, then turned her head to meet a familiar, furry fox face.
Barto met her gaze. "Did you sleep yourself stupid? A huge fox like me is sleeping right behind you, and you didn’t even notice."
As he spoke, he tightened his hold on Gu Ning’s waist.
Only then did Gu Ning realize the weight on her wasn’t the blanket, but two arms wrapped around her waist.
’No wonder it’s so warm. A dog and a fox are both snuggled up sleeping next to me.’
"Huh?"
Gu Ning stared at the fox face before her, something clicking into place. "How are you..." she said, surprised.
She squeezed her eyes shut and opened them again. The face in front of her was still that of a fox.
Refusing to believe it, Gu Ning grimaced as she turned her aching body to face Barto. She reached out to touch his face, then slipped her hand under the covers to feel his body.
Her hand met with a furry texture.
Barto: "...What are you feeling up?"
Gu Ning: "Didn’t you turn into your human form?"
’Was it a hallucination?’
Barto turned his back to her. "You’re just mumbling. I can’t understand what you’re saying."
Gu Ning’s mind was still fuzzy. After a moment of slow processing, she poked his back and said in the Beastman common tongue, "Human form. You. Human form."
Barto’s voice was muffled. "You like the human form that much?"
Right now, Gu Ning wasn’t thinking about whether she liked it or not. She was just confused. She had clearly seen Barto in his human form, so why was he back to his original state now?
Gu Ning wracked her brain for words to communicate with Barto. "Curious..."
Barto didn’t move or make a sound.
After a moment, he turned around, and a fair, handsome face was right in front of Gu Ning.
"..."
Gu Ning’s eyes lit up instantly. ’Barto can switch from his beast state to his human form?’
’Does this mean his mutation value has dropped, and he’s turning back into a normal Beastman?’
Barto looked at her sparkling eyes and said glumly, "I can’t hold it for long. If you want a look, take it now."
Gu Ning: "Hold... not long... what?"
Barto mentally organized her fragmented words. "This form," he said. "The human form. It’s unstable. I can’t just walk around looking all human like a normal Beastman."
He paused, then added, "But if you want to see it, I’ll change for you."
Gu Ning: "Does it hurt? You."
Barto just looked at her without speaking.
Gu Ning: "Change back."
Barto still didn’t say anything, just stared at her for a long time. Just as Gu Ning was starting to think she’d said something wrong to upset him, Barto brushed a finger against her cheek. "Are you going back to sleep or not?"
Gu Ning yawned. She was still a little drowsy, but she felt mostly awake.
Suddenly, she remembered something and touched her face. There was nothing covering it anymore.
Then she remembered she had already been honest with Barto, and she gave him another smile.
"What are you grinning about?" Barto gently pinched her cheek, tucked the blanket around her, and got up. "I’ll go get you something to eat."
Gu Ning’s eyes followed Barto. He was naked, his long, thick hair falling almost to his knees and completely covering his back.
Gu Ning glanced at his long, straight, pale legs, feeling a little awkward, and rubbed her nose.
’I’m really not used to his human form.’
Halfway across the room, Barto also remembered he wasn’t wearing anything and quickly snatched a blanket from the sofa to wrap around his waist.
He glanced back at Gu Ning and saw her shrink back under the covers. He looked down at himself, then raised his hands and clenched them into fists. Looking at the muscles in his arms, he felt a wave of dissatisfaction.
Feeling the traces of fur on his face, he grew even more displeased with this human form.
Barto silently lowered his hands, walked to the window, and glanced down at the heavily guarded Beastman soldiers below. He frowned, then opened a storage cabinet and rummaged through their winter food supply, planning to make something hot for Gu Ning to warm her stomach.
After lazing in the blankets for a while longer, Gu Ning endured the soreness and climbed out to use the toilet. Then, shivering, she scurried back to the warm bed.
’So cold.’
Gu Ning exhaled a puff of mist, sat wrapped in her blanket for a moment, and turned her head toward the balcony. Watching Barto bustling about, wrapped in a blanket, gave her a sense of unreality.
Outside the window, the sky was bright. It wasn’t snowing, there were no sounds from the Mutant Species, and the heavy, unsettling feeling in the air had dissipated.
Gu Ning’s gaze shifted. She saw Cook lying quietly beside her, no longer agitated, and knew the military had probably cleared out most of the Mutant Species.
Perhaps sensing how exhausted she had been these past two days, Cook wasn’t as clingy as he usually was when she woke up. He just watched her without blinking, his clear puppy-dog eyes fixed on her.
Gu Ning came back to her senses and ruffled Cook’s head.
Seeing Cook finally made things feel real to her.
Cook licked her hand and snuggled a little closer.
Gu Ning leaned against him, sighing softly as she looked around the familiar room.
After all that chaos, they were back here again. But it was wonderful enough that Cook and Barto had returned to her side safe and sound.
’As for everything else, I can figure that out later.’
A vibration from her wrist pulled Gu Ning from her thoughts. She lifted her arm and saw Alex’s avatar pulsing on her terminal.
[Are you awake?]
[I brought you some food.]
"WOOF!" Cook barked at the door.
Gu Ning looked up at the door and shifted, but after a moment’s thought, she decided not to get up and open it.
The terror of that day, and the intense, volcanic eruption of emotions that made her desperately want to see Alex, had all calmed down after this ordeal.
Now she had time to properly think about the events of the past few days, and about what path to take in the future.
"Time to eat."
Barto placed a low table next to Gu Ning and set a large pot of cooked noodles on it.
The pot was filled with meat, potatoes, carrots, and other ingredients, and the aroma made Gu Ning’s mouth water.
She had been starving for a whole day and her stomach was empty. She rubbed her hands together and eagerly began to eat.
"Slow down, be careful you don’t burn yourself. No one’s going to steal it from you." Barto ladled some noodles into another bowl for her to let them cool, then grabbed Cook’s dedicated large bowl and poured a generous half of the pot’s contents into it for him.
Cook wagged his tail, gave Barto a happy "WOOF!", and buried his head in the bowl to eat.
’It’s so great that Ningning is back. Barto can make delicious food again.’
Watching the two of them slurping up their noodles, the corners of Barto’s mouth lifted into a slight smile. But then he caught a scent from the doorway, and his smile faded.
He sat cross-legged next to Gu Ning, resting his chin on his hand as he quietly watched her eat for a while. Taking a deep breath and letting it out, he finally went to open the door.
