Countdown Day Four

A rhythmic knocking sounded at the door.

"Enter."

Su Huan said indifferently, showing no intention of getting out of the bathtub.

He never locked his door; there was no need to lock it when people were around, and even less need when he was alone.

Yu Jing and the others often had to enter the room to fetch things for him.

Yu Yue pushed the door open and walked in, her gaze sweeping across the room before landing on the bathroom in the corner.

Hearing the sound of water inside, she felt slightly awkward. "I saw that you seemed to be injured..."

Su Huan put down his logbook and glanced at his left shoulder, where a large, charred mark had appeared, clinging to his skin like a hard shell.

Some of the venom Gao Zhe had thrown had trickled down inside his collar.

To prevent the toxin from spreading, he had simply used high heat to carbonize that patch of flesh.

He had long since grown accustomed to such injuries.

Once he evolved, or after a few days passed, the carbonized tissue would simply fall off.

Creak.

Su Huan pulled the door open and saw Yu Yue standing in the middle of the room holding a tray, which was stocked with iodine, bandages, and other medical supplies.

"I want to help you treat your wound." Seeing the naked Su Huan, Yu Yue instinctively thought of the cold, clinical healing process, and her expression grew tense.

Only then did Su Huan remember that she was a nurse.

After a moment's thought, he said, "Come over."

He casually draped his injured arm over the edge.

Yu Yue stepped forward and prepared the supplies, but before she could begin, she heard Su Huan say, "You're missing something. Go to the dining car and bring me some of that whiskey, and some ice cubes."

Yu Yue hurried to comply, returning shortly with a glass filled with ice and the bottle of whiskey.

With a conflicted look on her face, she said, "This alcohol won't disinfect the wound."

Su Huan curled his lip. "That's for me to drink."

"Oh."

Yu Yue said nothing more, kneeling at the bathroom entrance to tend to his wound.

Su Huan downed half the glass in one go, the ice cubes crunching loudly between his teeth.

Alcohol was a luxury that could be kept for a long time even in the apocalypse, but it was expensive; in his past life, his supplies had been so tight that he never had the chance to pursue such indulgences.

Now that the most urgent matters regarding the Armed Train were settled, it was a rare moment to relax.

After a while, Su Huan tilted his head to look at the woman picking away at his shoulder; she had been using tweezers for ages and had only managed to remove a tiny piece of the charred crust.

He frowned and flicked his finger against the area.

A large chunk of charred flesh fell away, and fresh blood welled up.

"Hurry up and finish. We're entering the city tomorrow, and you need to get up early to cook."

Su Huan said calmly, as if the gaping hole in his shoulder wasn't his own flesh.

The woman's movements became much more nimble. "What would you like for breakfast tomorrow?"

Su Huan swirled his glass. "Wonton soup."

Soon, the wound was treated. Yu Jing began to pack up the supplies, glancing up at Su Huan from time to time, wanting to say something but hesitating.

"If you have something to say, say it quickly. I'm going to sleep."

Su Huan said irritably.

"I... I really didn't hear his location..."

Yu Yue looked like a child who had done something wrong, her face filled with trepidation.

She had been so happy to become an Evolutionist, thinking she might finally be of some use, but she hadn't expected such a massive oversight during her first mission.

The enemy had been so close, yet she hadn't issued a warning.

Thinking of Su Huan's usual cold-faced and ruthless style, she had been on edge the entire way back, terrified that her mistake would lead to both her and her mother being kicked off the train.

After hesitating for a long time, she decided to admit her fault first, lest the petty train captain record it in his little black book.

Rumor had it that his little black book was filled with the names of everyone he didn't like.

Su Huan looked surprised.

"Am I really that terrifying?"

Then, a dark voice escaped his lips: "Did you really not hear him... or were you hoping I would die out there?"

Yu Yue's almond-shaped eyes widened, and her soft, moist lips instantly drained of color.

"I, I..."

Seeing her looking so easy to bully, Su Huan felt even more aroused.

His fingers twirled a lock of hair at her temple, his tone eerie and laced with desire, "You wouldn't want your own mistake to lead to your daughter ending up wandering the wilderness with you, would you?"

Water splashed as Su Huan stood up.

The woman tried to stand and explain in a panic, but because she had been squatting for too long, her legs went numb, and she stumbled, falling to the floor with her rounded thighs pressed into a plump curve.

His fingertips grazed her sensitive, delicate earlobe, and Su Huan scoffed, "Good attitude."

"..."

Perhaps Gao Zhe was right; he was just a bad seed.

Su Huan woke up very early the next day, his mood less than pleasant.

He had intended to give himself a little reward last night, but that woman's clumsy daughter acted as if she had been picked up off the street.

Sitting in the cold-toned gloom, Su Huan ground his teeth grimly before eventually walking toward the window.

Just like yesterday, it had started raining in the middle of the night, leaving the air thick with mist and a lingering, stifling heat; the air conditioner, running at full capacity, sounded like it was wheezing its last breath.

He pulled back the steel plate, picked up the thermometer from the table, and extended it out the window, watching the red line soar.

A layer of irritation added to Su Huan's already foul mood.

"December 21st, rain, 35°C."

"Four days until the extreme heat erupts."

He walked out of the compartment and headed straight for Carriage 2, where the five-meter-tall Integrated Water Purifier stood silently, a sight that brought a sense of peace.

He walked a circle around the purifier, checking the metal nameplate that detailed its specifications.

It could filter river and lake water with a turbidity of ≤3000mg/L, a level equivalent to rivers choked with mud and sand after a downpour or untreated lake water.

The terminal was connected to the water tanks inside the carriage.

There were two such tanks in each carriage, each capable of storing two tons of water, equipped with internal baffles to prevent liquid sloshing, much like the fuel tanks beside them.

He climbed to the second level, where an opening had been made, allowing plenty of rainwater to collect in the storage tank via the collector.

This changed Su Huan's opinion of rainy days quite a bit.

Once he added a pH adjustment device to the terminal, collecting water in the Acid Rain Zone would no longer be an issue.

He pressed his palm against the Integrated Water Purifier, and the massive machine began to hum, filtering all the collected rainwater and injecting it into the pre-built tanks.

It only filled half a tank, though.

By the time Su Huan came back down, the sky was only just beginning to brighten, and Yu Yue was already busy in the dining car.

She carried a sense of humble subservience, as if saying, "Look at how hard I'm working, please don't make things difficult for me."

Su Huan let out a silent, cold laugh and sat to the side, staring at her.

Yu Yue was nervous, tidying up here and wiping down there, not daring to stay idle even for a moment.

The hem of her ginger-yellow shirt lifted slightly with her movements, revealing a waistline as smooth as cream.

The supple, evolution-enhanced muscles tensed into a breathtaking arc as she bent over, like a willow branch bowed by a spring breeze, only to snap back into a full, fluid curve the moment she stood up.

Finally, the wontons were ready.

Yu Yue carefully brought them over, "Brother Su, would you like to add some chili oil?"

Su Huan looked at her downcast, submissive appearance, his anger flaring up; he scooped a large spoonful of chili oil into the bowl, stirred it, and lifted a wonton to her lips.

Yu Yue hesitated, pursing her lips and blowing on it for a long time until the wonton skin wrinkled, revealing the glistening meat beneath, before she took a bite.

The wonton rolled in the spoon, its skin and meat intact.

Su Huan narrowed his eyes, staring at her.

"Can't you just swallow it?"

"It's too big..."

Yu Yue felt a bit aggrieved, her crystalline skin beaded with a light sweat that pooled into tiny droplets of moisture in the hollow of her collarbone.

The woman had a small mouth and a narrow throat; it took her three bites to finally manage to swallow a single wonton.

"If you bite it again next time, I'll pull your teeth out," Su Huan said grimly.