Chapter 179: Chapter 166: I’ll Definitely Teach Better Than Him
Gu Ning heard the door open and looked up from the steaming pot. Barto was already back, closing the door behind him with a bag in his hand.
Even without seeing who was at the door, Gu Ning knew. She wasn’t surprised to see Barto pull a familiar thermal container from the bag.
In addition to the thermal container, there was also a small first-aid kit in the bag.
Barto pushed the first-aid kit aside for the moment and took the food out of the container one by one: a portion of meat porridge cooked until tender, steamed egg, and a sponge cake Gu Ning liked. They were all easy to digest.
"Eat," Barto said, pushing the food toward Gu Ning.
Gu Ning remained silent.
"Don’t you like it?" Barto asked when he saw she wasn’t moving. "If you don’t want it, I’ll feed it to the dogs."
"WOOF." Cook trotted over to sniff the food, only to be slapped away by Barto. "I meant the dogs outside."
Gu Ning was speechless.
She picked up a piece of the sponge cake and took a bite. It was still warm, with a soft, fluffy texture and a hint of sweetness.
The porridge was thick and smooth, perfectly suited to her taste. It was just like the food from the days Alex had cared for her—simple, but prepared with great care.
’How could I not like such good food?’
’I just don’t know how to face Alex right now. So much has happened lately. I need to rest, clear my head, and think carefully about my situation.’
Barto saw Gu Ning slow down, her worries written all over her face. He said,
"The military has almost finished clearing out the Mutant Species, so it’s much safer outside now. Eat up. You can go out after you’re well-rested."
Gu Ning nodded lightly. She wanted to ask Barto about leaving Zone 19, but seeing that he hadn’t eaten, she swallowed her words. Instead, she picked up a piece of sponge cake and held it to his lips.
Barto said, "I don’t like sweets."
So, Gu Ning had no choice but to give the sponge cake to Cook.
Cook would eat anything. He happily gobbled down the food Gu Ning offered him in two bites.
Seeing Barto just watching them eat, Gu Ning asked, "Aren’t you going to eat?"
Barto replied, "That’s right, I’m not. I’m waiting for your leftovers."
Gu Ning was speechless.
’This little fox and his weird temper.’
’I offer him food, he refuses. I ask him about it, and he gets all sarcastic.’
"Speak. Nicely. This... not good," she said, puffing out her cheeks.
Barto retorted, "You’re the one who needs to speak properly. Who taught you to string words together so nonsensically? Was it Alex? He’s completely useless."
Gu Ning slammed her chopsticks down with a CLACK!
"You, useful! You teach me! If you’re so able."
Hearing her defend Alex, he corrected irritably, "I’m not ’useful,’ I’m *capable*."
"Fine, I’ll teach you," he said. "I’ll definitely do a better job than him."
Gu Ning said, "He... is good. At teaching. I... learn... not enough."
’I’ve only been in this world for a little over two months. It’s already an achievement that I can have simple conversations with them. I just need more time to study and improve.’
Barto grabbed the chopsticks and stuffed them back into her hand. "Just eat! I’m not arguing with you."
’Just hearing Alex’s name is annoying.’
Gu Ning picked up a piece of meat from her bowl and held it to his lips. "Here."
Barto huffed, but opened his mouth to eat it. "Just eat your own food. I’ll eat."
Gu Ning couldn’t resist patting his cheek. Sometimes, she really just wanted to shut him up.
’Before, I just thought he was foul-mouthed, short-tempered, and a little irritable. But as I’ve gotten to know him, I’ve realized he’s impossibly tsundere.’
Barto grabbed her hand, stuffed a piece of sponge cake into it, then leaned in and took a bite from it.
"It’s not good," he declared.
Gu Ning was speechless.
After bickering a bit with the little fox, Gu Ning’s awkwardness around the humanoid Barto faded considerably. Other than his appearance, he was still the same prickly, tsundere fox as always.
After they finished eating, Barto cleared the dishes, poured Gu Ning a cup of hot water, and sat back down next to her. He opened the small first-aid kit Alex had brought and took out the gauze, disinfectant, and other supplies.
Gu Ning thought he was injured and was going to use it on himself, or maybe on Cook. But instead, he took her left hand and rolled up her sleeve.
Gu Ning looked down. Her forearm was wrapped in a layer of gauze. Only then did she realize she was injured.
"He switched the medicine. Said this one is better," Barto said as he unwrapped her bandage.
’He?’
Gu Ning had Cook fetch her a new pen and paper. She wrote on the paper, "Did you bring me back? Have you been the one taking care of me?"
Barto glanced at her writing. "If it wasn’t me, who’d you expect?"
Gu Ning wrote: "Speak nicely!"
Barto took the pen and paper from her. "You’re the one who needs to speak properly. Open your mouth more. Stop relying on your translation terminal all the time."
Gu Ning froze, then asked tentatively, "...You know?"
Barto dabbed a cotton ball with disinfectant. Holding her hand, he lowered his head to clean her wound. "It wasn’t hard to guess. You can barely speak, and you’re always wearing that earpiece."
He paused, then added in a casual tone, "It’s nothing special. Not all Beastmen speak the common continental language. Places like the Sea Area and Sky Watch Point have their own languages."
At this, he glanced up to observe Gu Ning’s expression.
Hearing this, Gu Ning felt a wave of relief, which was quickly followed by curiosity. "The Sea Area? Sky Watch Point?"
She had heard of those two places, but she’d understood them to be similar to other Beastman cities—like Zone One or the Second District—all with proper names.
There were many Beastmen in Zone 19 from other zones, but she had almost never heard any language besides the common tongue. The occasional variations she’d heard just sounded like regional accents, so she’d always assumed their languages were all the same.
Although she could access the internet on her terminal, the Beastman populations were severely segregated. Much of the information wasn’t public, and many apps even required species-identity verification. There was very little she could learn on her own.
"You don’t know?" Barto asked, hearing the question in Gu Ning’s voice and seeing her look of blank curiosity. A flicker of doubt crossed his mind.
But then, after thinking it over, he decided it wasn’t so strange after all.
’Perhaps she’d never seen the outside world before leaving Sky Watch Point.’
Gu Ning shook her head. She didn’t belong to any part of this world; right now, Zone 19 was the place she knew best.
Still, she said, "I know a little."
Barto didn’t press her. "They’re not nice places. No need to know the details. It’s not like you’ll ever go there anyway."
But Gu Ning wanted to learn more about this world. "Tell me," she said.
Barto opened a tube of ointment for external injuries. He dabbed some of the translucent, milky-white cream onto his finger and began spreading it on her wound, changing the subject. "Does it hurt?"
Her attention was drawn to the wound. She looked down and saw a cut about four or five centimeters long on her left forearm. She must have been scratched by something sharp when she was on the wall.
"A little," she said.
Barto’s touch softened as he applied the ointment. "You say ’a little’ for everything."
"Don’t worry," he added. "The wound isn’t deep. It’ll heal quickly."
Gu Ning said, "My body... hurts more."
As she spoke, she shifted, adjusting her posture.
Her body was still aching terribly, especially her legs, which felt uncomfortably sore with the slightest movement. It had been a long time since she’d felt like this—like someone who rarely exercises suddenly going for a multi-kilometer cross-country run and waking up feeling like their body was about to fall apart.
"Your body?" Barto heard her hiss in pain. "You’re injured somewhere else? I checked you all over. I didn’t find anything."
The moment the words were out, he clamped his mouth shut and met Gu Ning’s gaze.
