The Broth at the Bottom of the Pot

The distant artillery fire still rumbled, and every explosion sent a faint tremor through the ground.

Bubble.

Bubble.

Tiny bubbles still rose through the broth left in the camp pot. Dania held her iron mess tin and carefully scraped the bottom with her spoon, letting not a single drop of grease go to waste.

She ate with intense concentration, putting the last mouthful of broth, mixed with tears, into her mouth. Then she stuck out the tip of her tongue and gently, reverently licked the spoon.

Sigelica: (°_°|||)

"Yaya, dear, are... are you licking your spoon?"

Dania paused with the spoon in her mouth and slowly turned her pink head around, her eyes still red.

"Is that wrong, Xixi?"

"Of course it's wrong! You're the ultimate weapon of the Ming-type androids, not a stray cat!"

"But he's licking his too."

Dania pointed her spoon at Zhou Yu.

Zhou Yu was unhurriedly moving a broken-off piece of potato around his mess tin, mopping up the last of the grease. He popped it into his mouth and chewed contentedly.

He felt two pairs of eyes on him but didn't even look up.

"I call this making the most of what I have. It's a basic skill for a corporate drone."

"She's making the most of what she has too!" Sigelica didn't know why she was defending Dania, and regretted it the moment the words left her mouth.

The communicator abruptly rang at that moment.

"Report! The Ming-types in defense zone three... they fell into a ravine on their own!"

"What do you mean, they fell into a ravine?" Sigelica roared in a lowered voice.

"I don't know, ma'am! They charged to that ridge at point B you mentioned, and then it was like their feet had been greased. They slipped down one after another!"

A muffled thud came through the static, as if another big one had taken a tumble.

"They're piled on top of each other in the ravine now. Should we go down and finish them off?"

Sigelica's brain crashed for three seconds.

She glanced in the direction Zhou Yu had pointed with his lips, then at Zhou Yu, who had just let out a satisfied burp.

Zhou Yu: (-_-) zzZ

"Hold your positions! Don't make any rash moves!"

Sigelica ended the call through gritted teeth and turned to stare hard at Zhou Yu.

"Did you do that?"

"I just had them move somewhere else to take a beating."

Zhou Yu stretched, his bones giving a pleasant series of cracks.

"Who would've thought the soil at the Lahai-Roi Defense Line was so loose? I'll have to write a complaint letter later. T_T"

"You call that loose soil? That's a bug in the physics engine!"

"Shh."

Zhou Yu held a finger to his lips.

"Don't go shouting and bring the patch down on us. I'd like a couple more peaceful days."

"You knew in advance they'd slip down?" Sigelica kept her voice very low, but her fists were clenched tight.

"I did."

"Then why didn't you just tell me? Did you have to wait until I was worried enough to have a heart attack?"

"It wouldn't have been fun if I'd told you beforehand."

Zhou Yu blinked.

"Besides, you're pretty funny when you're worked up."

Sigelica's temple throbbed twice. She felt she was one breath away from drawing her sword.

"You..."

"Xixi."

Dania gently tugged on Sigelica's sleeve.

"You still have half a potato in your bowl."

"What?"

Sigelica looked down at her mess tin. Sure enough, there was half a potato she'd overlooked.

"It'll get cold," Dania said softly. "It won't taste good when it's cold."

Sigelica froze.

Those were the words Zhou Yu had said earlier.

This android, who didn't even know what a question was, had already begun learning to use someone else's warmth to care for others.

"...Got it."

Sigelica sat back down sullenly, stuffed the half potato into her mouth, and chewed hard.

Zhou Yu pulled a crumpled napkin from his pocket and held it out to Dania, his tone as casual as if he were commenting on the nice weather.

"Wipe your mouth. The soup's almost reached your chin."

Dania: Σ(°△°|||)

She raised a hand to her chin, and sure enough, her fingertips touched a little warmth and moisture.

A blush spread visibly across her cheeks, starting at her ears.

"I... I..."

She fumbled to take the napkin and wiped her mouth haphazardly a couple of times, but she was so nervous that she smeared grease onto the tip of her nose instead.

Dania: (〃＞＿＜〃)

Zhou Yu looked at the conspicuous shine of grease on the tip of her nose and couldn't help snorting with laughter.

Dania's face grew even redder, and she nearly buried her head in her mess tin.

"Stop laughing!" Sigelica glared at Zhou Yu, though the corners of her own mouth were twitching.

"I've never seen her like this."

"Guess no one ever handed her a napkin before," Zhou Yu said casually, but no one could answer that.

The air fell silent for two seconds.

A steady rhythm of footsteps approached from the distance: the defense line's night patrol.

Sigelica's expression immediately tightened, and her hand went to the weapon at her waist.

Without rushing, Zhou Yu pulled over a damaged supply crate and positioned it just right to block the three of them from view.

"Don't move. They'll go to the right."

"How do you..."

"Three, two, one."

Two soldiers walked past on their right, talking about the bizarre battle earlier. Neither looked their way once.

By the time the footsteps faded, a thin layer of sweat had formed on Sigelica's back.

"You even know the patrol route?"

"They take this route three times every night, forty-seven minutes apart." Zhou Yu counted on his fingers. "On Tuesdays it's forty-three minutes, because the guy on the next shift is quick on his feet."

"...How long have you been camping out here?"

"In the game? About three thousand hours, I guess."

Zhou Yu laughed at that himself, a trace of something hard to place and self-mocking in his laugh.

"Never thought it would actually come in handy one day."

The last log in the fire gave a soft crackle and burned out.

The surroundings fell once more into the silence peculiar to a battlefield at night, with only the wind and the faint echoes in the distance remaining.

Zhou Yu stood, stamped out the last sparks, and brushed the ash from his hands.

Dania also raised her head to look at him. Her eyes, their whites and dark pupils distinct, looked especially clear in the moonlight, his reflection mirrored in them.

"Zhou Yu."

For the first time, she called him by name of her own accord, her voice still a little hoarse from crying.

"Yeah?"

"Tomorrow... can we eat again?"

Zhou Yu met her gaze and curved his lips into a smile.

"Are you full?"

Dania nodded.

"All right, then."

Zhou Yu flexed his wrist, producing a series of cracks.

"Time for us to walk off that meal."