"Wait!" The girl immediately called out to stop Feng Xue when he was about to leave, then asked a little nervously:
"Where are you going?"
"I'm going to get you some water. Though, of course, it'd be even better if you could hold out until tomorrow." Feng Xue adjusted his gear. He didn't have a container on hand, but his Storage Bag worked more like one from the Game World: every kind of item went into its own separate slot. He just had to put the bag in the water, and he could fill it with tens or even hundreds of tons. That was more than enough to drink—and enough to fill a swimming pool, too.
"Your home... Oh, right, this isn't your home." The girl had been about to ask why there was no water in his house, then remembered that this didn't seem to be his house at all.
"It doesn't matter whether it's my home. People in our world don't eat or drink."
Feng Xue explained offhandedly. Chen Xiyao's eyes widened. She'd already realized she was experiencing a Spirited Away-style transmigration, but she still found it hard to accept a setup like this.
What is this, some old-fashioned pretty-boy-and-girl setting? Chen Xiyao grumbled to herself. Still, she was pretty envious of not having to eat or drink. And, well, not having to use the bathroom would be even better.
"Um, can I come with you?" The girl knew it might be more dangerous outside, but the thought of staying alone in a dilapidated house like a Ghost House, with people hunting her, made her feel uneasy all over.
"It's dangerous out there... Forget it. You'll have to go outside to use the bathroom sooner or later anyway." Feng Xue sighed. He imagined having to accompany her every time she went to the bathroom in the future, and his head started to ache.
But no matter how much of a headache it was, he had to do it. After all, she was a bridge to the outside world. If he could make good use of her, it would undoubtedly be a huge leap in social standing.
As for why Feng Xue wanted to become a Weird Tale himself—come on, nobody wanted to be a nonentity.
Wasn't the desire to live longer and more authentically an instinct shared by all living things?
He claimed to be free to use [Shi] as he pleased, but that was just a way of deceiving himself. The source of [Shi] was still in the hands of the Administrator Gang. If they stopped supplying bricks, then even with money in hand, Feng Xue could only wait in despair for his [Shi] to run out.
Shaking off his gloomy thoughts, Feng Xue first poked his head out and looked both ways. Once he'd confirmed the Administrator Gang hadn't come looking for them, he nodded.
"Let's go. Stay behind me, and don't act too nervous. If we run into anyone, don't say a word. Got it?"
"Mm-hmm. I'll pretend I'm mute, right?" Chen Xiyao nodded firmly, but then she remembered what he'd been discussing on the phone earlier and couldn't help asking:
"If people here don't eat, what am I supposed to eat?"
"We'll see what we can find. But let me make this clear: it's dangerous out there. If you bring trouble down on us by not listening, I might leave you behind and run."
Feng Xue's tone was quite stern, but Chen Xiyao didn't believe him. As she saw it, if he were going to abandon her, he could've left her in that house and gone off on his own. There'd been no need to bring her all this way.
Still, Chen Xiyao knew better than to be unreasonable. She wasn't like those idiotic heroines in novels and TV dramas, throwing a tantrum when their lives were at stake. Nor would she recklessly get herself into trouble just because she was sure he'd protect her.
She nodded obediently, then spoke as if she'd just remembered something:
"Um, I was planning to run away from home, so I've still got some snacks in my bag."
"Oh?" Only then did Feng Xue notice the small School Bag on her back. He quickly asked, "Did you bring any water?"
"I brought a water bottle when I left this morning, but I've already finished it." Chen Xiyao awkwardly took out her cup and shook it hard, as if she were worried Feng Xue wouldn't believe her.
Faced with this, Feng Xue could only sigh. "Fine. If you've got snacks, that'll at least save us some trouble. Let's go. Remember, don't speak loudly."
As Feng Xue spoke, he pushed open the Room Door. Since they were close to the outer wall, they reached its base without incident. When Chen Xiyao saw the towering wall, with its distinctly mechanical look, she stared wide-eyed, just as Feng Xue had the first time. But remembering his warning, she clapped a hand over her mouth, stopping the decidedly unladylike "Holy shit!" from escaping.
As usual, when it sensed someone approaching, a passage slowly opened in the wall. Looking at this remarkably high-tech scene, Chen Xiyao could hardly connect the wall with the dilapidated street behind them, which didn't even have a bathroom.
"What kind of crazy world is this?!"
Chen Xiyao felt her head spinning. Feng Xue had already stepped into the passage, and the girl hurried after him. They walked through the narrow tunnel, more than twenty meters long, and a chill wind immediately made Chen Xiyao shiver.
Fortunately, the girl was wearing winter clothes. Otherwise, she might have struggled to bear the cold.
Even so, going from the comfortable temperature of the Landfill Area to the wilderness made Chen Xiyao feel as if she'd just stepped out of an air-conditioned room into the bitter cold of midwinter. Her whole body trembled uncontrollably.
"If you need to take care of any bodily business, do it now."
As Chen Xiyao shivered, Feng Xue suddenly said this. Her face flushed bright red. Clutching her chest with both hands, she stared at him in disbelief. "Here?"
"Where else? The wilderness is dangerous. The farther you get from the walls, the more likely you are to run into an Omen... that is, a monster. We're mainly going to get water this time. I won't be coming this far with you every time, so hurry up and find a suitable spot nearby. That'll be your regular toilet from now on."
Hearing how coldly practical Feng Xue was, Chen Xiyao's mind went blank. But she knew she had no choice, so she hurriedly looked around.
She was fairly lucky. About seventy or eighty meters from the outer wall, there was a patch of woods. This wasn't unusual—in Feng Xue's experience, you only had to walk a little way beyond the Landfill Area walls to find trees.
Maybe the Infinite City had some kind of obsessive-compulsive need to arrange things this way.
"Over there, then." Chen Xiyao started toward the woods as she spoke.
She'd been out all day after running away from home, then bounced around on Feng Xue's back for the whole journey. She'd been holding it in for a while.
But just before entering the woods, she realized there was one more problem. Awkwardly, she asked, "Do you have any toilet paper?"
"No." Feng Xue rolled his eyes. If he had toilet paper, would he need to pick up cards to make books?
Still, considering she was a high school student, he softened his tone a little. "Just make do with some leaves... Or should I whittle you a few sticks? I heard people in ancient times—"
"No need!"
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