The old district of the imperial capital had long since been reduced to ruins. After nearly two hundred years of wind and rain, deep-green vines crawled over the broken walls and crumbling remains, while the shattered streets had been filled anew by wildly overgrown weeds.
Deep in the ruins, a camp made up of more than a dozen military tents, temporary barricades, and military vehicles of various sizes stood quietly, like an isolated island.
Inside one of the tents, Gu Jinzhi held his phone and stared at its pitch-black screen, lost in thought.
The tent flap was suddenly swept open, and Min Zimo walked in from outside with a military-green metal mess tin in each hand.
He set the mess tins on a folding picnic table, then pulled over two Oxford-cloth camping chairs and called out, "Come on, eat!"
Gu Jinzhi barely reacted, still sitting there in a daze.
Min Zimo found it rather amusing and teased him, "What, still waiting for Miss Jiang's call?"
"It's Madam Gu," Gu Jinzhi corrected him.
At that, Min Zimo burst into hearty laughter, his carefree voice echoing through the small tent.
"When you've beaten her, I'll call her Madam Gu."
He gave him a sly wink.
"Come on, 'Mr. Jiang,' stop spacing out and eat."
The corners of Gu Jinzhi's mouth lifted almost imperceptibly, then his expression returned to its usual cold composure.
He set down his phone, sat on the low camping chair, picked up his mess tin, and began shoveling food into his mouth.
The cook's hodgepodge stew tasted truly strange, yet he ate without the slightest reluctance, showing none of a young master's airs.
Seeing him start eating, Min Zimo laughed and began wolfing down his own meal as well.
That day, the monitoring station had detected abnormal energy fluctuations