You Too

[The protagonist's reaction at the end of the previous chapter was unnatural and unreasonable, so minor revisions have been made. Readers interested may return to the previous chapter for a quick look, though skipping it will not affect the continued reading. Thank you for your support.]

No matter what, Lu Xi'an slept extremely comfortably this time.

Ever since coming to this apocalyptic world, this was the first time he had slept with such peace of mind and comfort.

The soft blanket was dyed gentle by his body temperature, then fed back to his body, making him fall unconsciously into a deep sleep without even dreaming.

The power-cut shelter was pitch black with no sunlight coming in, making it impossible for him to tell day from night.

When he woke up, he first listened carefully to the sounds from the opposite bed, confirming that the breathing sound had changed and that Yao Wei had already woken up, before asking the dog a question: "Doggy, has it dawned yet?"

Actually, he was not sure whether the mechanical dog could give him an answer to this question.

Previously, he always observed whether it was dawn with his own naked eyes, and had never asked nor needed to ask the dog about this.

Yet now, he had no choice but to appeal to the dog.

Who told him to lack a watch?

Fortunately, however, the dog made its reply very soon; the mechanical dog originally parked beside the bed like a box immediately recovered its original shape, and then its dog eyes emitted light.

According to the rules Lu Xi'an had trained it in long ago, the dog emitting light from its eyes—shining steadily for "yes", blinking once for "no", and flashing constantly for "unable to determine"—meant "your humble concubine simply cannot do this".

Now the light in the dog's eyes shone steadily, illuminating the entire dormitory brightly, allowing Lu Xi'an to confirm that outside the shelter, it was already daytime.

Very good, yet another new function of the dog was discovered.

Yao Wei had also opened her eyes, and illuminated by the light from the dog's eyes, that pair of pupils also reflected the light, bright and sparkling, looking quite different.

She was lying sideways on the bed, her two eyes looking at the dog.

Noticing Lu Xi'an's gaze, she then turned to look at Lu Xi'an, but did not speak.

Her expression no longer held any anomaly, as if she didn't remember the events and read books of last night.

"How do you feel?"

Lu Xi'an asked.

"Mhm."

Yao Wei nodded with great satisfaction, indicating that she felt very good.

For her, this was also a very different feeling, one she had never experienced before.

Lu Xi'an suddenly thought of a question and asked again: "Did I snore?"

Yao Wei shook her head, and unexpectedly asked in return: "Me?"

Lu Xi'an smiled: "Definitely not. Someone looking like you obviously isn't the type to snore."

Yao Wei retorted: "You too."

Lu Xi'an's mood thereupon became greatly improved: "Flattery will get you nowhere."

Yao Wei: "You too."

Lu Xi'an was unclear whether Yao Wei understood that "flattery will get you nowhere" was actually meant as a compliment, but his mood remained very good anyway.

Not only because of Yao Wei's words, but even more so because of the current peaceful and comfortable environment.

"Then shall we continue sleeping?"

Lu Xi'an said. "Anyway, we don't have anything to do in this shelter for the time being."

"Good."

Yao Wei nodded again, indicating that Lu Xi'an's proposal was a good idea.

So Lu Xi'an ordered the mechanical dog again: "Doggy, turn off the lights, rest."

The mechanical dog immediately received the command, the light in its dog eyes extinguished, and a slight sound immediately rang out in the darkness. Without looking, Lu Xi'an knew it was the dog turning back into a box shape.

Continuing to sleep.

This sleep was so deep and dark that when Lu Xi'an woke up again, he suddenly noticed that the sound of breathing next to him was actually gone.

Not even the slightest trace of even the faintest sound remained.

He was startled at once, and hurriedly called out: "Doggy!"

The mechanical dog hastily changed back from a box, its dog eyes lighting up. Lu Xi'an hurriedly looked over at Yao Wei's bed by the light, only to see that the quilt on that bed had already been lifted away, empty and bare.

On the other bed overhead, all of Yao Wei's other clothes were gone, leaving only that red leather jacket.

So she had gone out...

Lu Xi'an let out a breath of relief.

As long as she had gone out, it was fine—anything was better than her still lying right there without the sound of breathing.

Lu Xi'an dressed in his own clothes, got up and walked out of the dormitory, whereupon he heard the sound of a "whooshing" wind coming from not far away.

That sound was fierce and muffled, as if something was beating against the air at extreme speed.

Relying on the light scattered from the eyes of the dog following behind him, he saw that in the rest area, the table had been moved to the edge at some point, leaving a large open area in the middle.

Yao Wei was standing in that open space, throwing punches and kicking forward one after another.

So she was working out.

Lu Xi'an couldn't help his curiosity arising, had the dog turn on the power for the shelter, and then watched from here.

Yao Wei noticed Lu Xi'an's gaze, but did not stop, continuing to throw punches and kicks one after another.

Those fists and feet were so fierce and cut through the wind so swiftly that people couldn't even clearly see her movements, seeing only afterimages instead.

Lu Xi'an's eyes were opened wide, and he was certain that he was incapable of doing such a thing, yet as he watched, he still felt somewhat disappointed.

"What is it?"

Only then did Yao Wei stop, appearing as if she had caught the emotion revealed in Lu Xi'an's eyes while watching, and she cared about it.

Lu Xi'an smiled and said: "I thought what you were practicing was some kind of Eighteen Dragon-Subduing Palms, Melancholy Soul-Depriving Palms, or at the very least Xingyi, Tongbei, Taiji, or Wing Chun..."

Yet what he saw was simply Yao Wei throwing punches and kicks purely, exercising her fists and feet until they were strong enough and fast enough, rendering any further technique unnecessary.

When all was said and done, what Yao Wei relied on was still the talent of the New Humans, Great Strength Creates Miracles.

It seemed that martial arts and the like probably did not exist in this world.

Yao Wei frowned, not entirely understanding.

Lu Xi'an chuckled again instead and said: "It's nothing, I was just talking about some nonsense heard in stories from the past.

"It's best that these things don't exist, then we don't need to care."

Just imagine if martial arts truly existed and were enough to break through the strength limits of New Humans, while he and Yao Wei did not master such abilities, wouldn't that be ominous?

"Oh,"

Yao Wei uttered, and did not pursue the questioning.

She continued practicing, punching, punching, punching, kicking, kicking, kicking...

Lu Xi'an watched for a while, then went over and, just like Yao Wei, lashed out with his own fists, legs, and feet, using his full strength every single time while attempting to make a breakthrough.

It was time to work hard.

This was no longer the northern region he had come from, and he was seeing more and more people.

Moreover, most of those people were not kind characters.

From now on he could no longer continue idling as a salted fish, merely traveling blindly and searching for supplies.

Making his own body stronger and less prone to injury or collapse was the only way to better face this world and keep himself safer.

"How did you practice your marksmanship?"

While throwing punches, he chatted idly with Yao Wei and asked.

"Shoot people, pick up bullets."

Yao Wei didn't mind talking to Lu Xi'an; their physical strength was sufficient to support them in keeping their breathing steady even while throwing full-force punches, preventing any disruption to their internal circulation from improper training.

Yet upon hearing Yao Wei's words, Lu Xi'an fell silent for a spell.

So Yao Wei was this formidable with firearms entirely because she was fed on live targets!

And this wasn't merely as simple as practicing with live targets; Yao Wei also needed to possess sufficient luck, being able to pick up enough usable bullets for the next time after winning each time she fought a live target.

Where was he supposed to learn something like that?

Although his own luck was not bad either, the problem was that he had already fought quite a few people, yet his marksmanship had never improved.