Having settled on their next destination, the question of how to get there became a problem again.
Qi Xing had no sense of direction. He could not even find his way around the enormous A District, much less Hurricane Base.
Bai Xiaoling had not left her apartment at all since the apocalypse began, so naturally, she did not know where Hurricane Base was either.
Their only hope was Jiang Zhaosu.
Both of them looked at Jiang Zhaosu.
Qi Xing asked suspiciously, "Fortune, since you came from Hurricane Base, you should know where it is, right?"
The novel Jiang Zhaosu had read had never specified Hurricane Base's exact location.
Jiang Zhaosu widened her innocent eyes, spread her hands, and said, "I'm also directionally challenged."
"Forget it. We'll just drive around!"
Qi Xing waved a hand. "It's somewhere in this area anyway. We'll make a full circuit. Are we really afraid we won't find it?"
Jiang Zhaosu silently thought that, with Qi Xing's incredible sense of direction, they really might not find it.
Still tied to the ground like a maggot, Bai Xiaoling gazed at them with admiration and said emotionally, "You're so good to me. I love you."
"You're welcome," Qi Xing replied smoothly. "Reserve Food."
Jiang Zhaosu also gave Bai Xiaoling a stiff grin, exposing a row of little white teeth and two upturned canine teeth. Slowly, she said, "Reserve Food."
Bai Xiaoling looked like she was about to faint again.
When they got back into the vehicle, Qi Xing and Jiang Zhaosu sat in the driver's and passenger's seats, while Bai Xiaoling was tightly bound with hemp rope and curled up miserably amid the gaps between all sorts of cargo.
After being alone for more than a hundred days and finally seeing living people again, Bai Xiaoling could not keep her mouth shut despite being terrified of Jiang Zhaosu and Qi Xing. The more frightened she was, the more she talked, chattering nonstop the entire way.
"We haven't introduced ourselves yet, have we? Hi, my name is Bai Xiaoling. What should I call you two?"
"This young lady is called... uh, Fortune? And what's your name, handsome?"
Qi Xing probably felt there was no need to say much to someone who was about to die, so he ignored her.
Jiang Zhaosu found talking exhausting and would not speak unless necessary. Qi Xing often could not even be bothered to respond when she talked to him, so naturally, she would not answer Bai Xiaoling either.
But Bai Xiaoling did not mind. She could keep talking to herself for ages.
"Are you brother and sister? You kind of feel like it."
"Oh, no. This handsome guy is looking for his sister."
"Handsome, what's your sister's name? How old is she? What does she look like?"
Ever since Jiang Zhaosu and Qi Xing agreed to go to Hurricane Base, Bai Xiaoling had regained her enthusiasm and excitement. She seemed convinced Bai Xiaoqing was still alive as she chattered, "You need to tell Bai Xiaoqing that information so he can help you find her!"
At the mention of his sister, Qi Xing's cold attitude softened slightly.
He turned his head and glanced at Jiang Zhaosu.
Jiang Zhaosu, who was sitting idly in the passenger seat, immediately understood. She leaned over and fished a wallet from Qi Xing's pocket.
After opening it, Jiang Zhaosu saw the photo of Qi Xing and his sister again.
Their beautiful, delicate faces were practically molded from the same cast, pressed close together in the photo. One look was enough to tell they were biological siblings.
Bai Xiaoling had just said she and Qi Xing looked alike, but after seeing the photograph of his sister, she immediately exclaimed, "Wow, you and your sister look so alike! Your sister is so pretty, like a little princess. She's adorable!"
"Uh, this was taken when my sister was eight."
Bai Xiaoling:?
"How old is your sister now?"
Bai Xiaoling looked at the photo of Qi Xing in a middle school uniform, then at the clearly adult-faced Qi Xing before her. Hesitantly, she asked, "Handsome, how old are you this year?"
Jiang Zhaosu had wanted to know that too, and she chimed in with a howl, "How old?"
Qi Xing was beautiful and had nice skin. Judging by his appearance, she had always thought he was only in his early twenties, no more than two years older than her.
But Qi Xing handled things very maturely, and he occasionally said things that sounded extremely corporate-worker-like. Clearly, he had worked for quite some time before the apocalypse.
Hearing the question, Qi Xing raised a hand and rubbed between his brows. He thought for a moment before answering.
"My sister was fourteen when she disappeared. She's been gone for three years, so she's seventeen this year. We're nine years apart. That means I should be twenty-six this year."
He had not celebrated his birthday since graduating elementary school.
After he started working, he became even busier. Other than important schedules related to company business, he could not remember any anniversaries.
Now, he even had to calculate his own age this way.
Bai Xiaoling's mouth fell open. "Holy shit..."
Jiang Zhaosu echoed her, "Shit..."
"You really can't tell at all!"
Bai Xiaoling said in shock, "I thought you were only twenty-one or twenty-two, handsome. I didn't expect you to be pushing thirty already."
A vein bulged on Qi Xing's forehead. "I'm only twenty-six, all right? How am I pushing thirty?"
"You just don't understand, do you?"
Bai Xiaoling was not very old, but she spoke with the worldliness of someone far more experienced.
"Men's prime doesn't last long. A lot of them start going downhill at twenty-five—nice to look at, but useless in practice."
After saying that, Bai Xiaoling gave a wicked little chuckle and shot Jiang Zhaosu, who was lying over the passenger seat with an arm stretched out to show her the photo, an ambiguous look.
At first, Jiang Zhaosu did not understand what she meant. But after receiving Bai Xiaoling's sleazy, comically suggestive look, she suddenly got it.
Jiang Zhaosu could not help thinking of that night a few days ago, when she and Qi Xing had listened in by the wall. Qi Xing had also put on that deadpan, ascetic act.
Weren't men supposed to be ruled by their lower halves and more lustful than women?
Why did Qi Xing seem completely uninterested in that sort of thing?
He can't be impotent, can he?
Unable to suppress her curiosity, Jiang Zhaosu secretly glanced between Qi Xing's legs.
When she looked up again, she happened to meet Qi Xing's gaze as he turned toward her.
Jiang Zhaosu: "..."
Qi Xing: "..."
"Fuck."
When he met Jiang Zhaosu's instantly wide, innocent black eyes, Qi Xing—who was usually so composed—actually blushed.
His skin was fair, and once he blushed, the color spread over a large area. A faint flush rose over his cheeks, ears, and neck, and it looked rather nice.
Qi Xing immediately looked away from Jiang Zhaosu and sternly warned Bai Xiaoling in the back.
"There's a child in the car. Don't bring up unhealthy topics like that again. Say one more word, and I'll cut out your tongue."
Bai Xiaoling immediately clamped her mouth shut, but less than two minutes later, she could not help speaking again. "But eight and seventeen are way too far apart. Don't you have a photo of your sister when she was fourteen?"
Qi Xing drove on and answered irritably, "No."
"Then at least describe what your sister looked like when she was fourteen."
Jiang Zhaosu nodded in agreement. "Sister's appearance."
Qi Xing frowned as he looked ahead. He recalled for a moment before saying, "I think... red hair, a buzz cut?"
Qi Xing's frown deepened as though he really did not want to remember. He gestured at his face. "She also had a bunch of piercings on her face. Her nose and mouth too. Ugly as hell. I told her to take them out, but she refused."
Jiang Zhaosu, who had been listening intently with her little ears perked up:?
Jiang Zhaosu lowered her head and looked again at the pretty, innocent little girl in the photo, with her seaweed-like long hair. She simply could not connect that princess-like figure with the fourteen-year-old sister Qi Xing described.
Bai Xiaoling was also shocked. "Damn, your sister was a Yabi?"
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