Chapter 143 : Chapter 143
“Sigh~”
Inside the Hero Association, Deputy Director Miss Qiu Yu lay slumped against the back of her chair, head tilted up, letting out a sigh every so often.
She looked like her soul had left her body.
“Sigh~”
Not long after, another sigh came from Miss Qiu Yu’s direction.
Ye Qin, unable to bear it any longer, stuck her head out and looked at Miss Qiu Yu.
“What’s wrong?”
Unfortunately, Miss Qiu Yu didn’t respond. She first glanced at Ye Qin, who had asked the question, then cast a helpless gaze at Lu Zheng, and finally let out another hopeless sigh.
“Sigh~”
Ye Qin had no choice but to turn to Lu Zheng, who clearly knew something, and asked him.
“Hey, Lu Zheng, what’s with Qiu Yu?”
She nudged Lu Zheng’s arm with her elbow. When he looked over, she pointed toward Miss Qiu Yu sitting across from them.
“Uh…”
Lu Zheng looked at Miss Qiu Yu, then at Ye Qin beside him, an extremely awkward expression appearing on his face.
“How do I put it… Yesterday…”
He paused to carefully choose his words, trying to explain without mentioning that he and Yi Ning had been forced to go to a hotel together out of pride.
“In short, she’s just overthinking too much.”
This vague explanation left Ye Qin confused.
She suspected that, once again, Miss Qiu Yu was getting irrationally jealous over Lu Zheng.
Yi Ning scratched her head and looked at the lifeless Miss Qiu Yu, genuinely unable to imagine what could possibly stress her out this much.
“What’s she even worrying about?”
“…Sigh~”
This time, it was Lu Zheng’s turn to sigh.
If he wanted to fully explain everything, he’d have to recount all the foolish things he and Yi Ning did the night before—and that was just too embarrassing. He didn’t want to expose it all.
But after a moment’s hesitation, he decided to just tell the truth.
After all, he had already talked with Miss Qiu Yu about a lot of things last night. Even if he didn’t say anything, once Miss Qiu Yu snapped out of her daze, Ye Qin would just ask her and find out anyway.
Might as well say it himself. At least it would look a little better for him.
“Last night, when Qiu Yu went out for dinner, she happened to see me and Yi Ning standing at the entrance of a hotel…”
Lu Zheng honestly gave Ye Qin a rundown of everything that happened the previous night—from inviting Yi Ning to dinner, to ultimately walking Qiu Yu back to the Hero Association.
Ye Qin: “?”
The info dump was so overwhelming that she needed a moment to process it all.
“So last night, you were seen by Qiu Yu standing outside a hotel with Dr. Alien, and you just stood there while Dr. Alien stabbed her in the heart repeatedly, and then on the way home, you kept praising Dr. Alien to her?”
After quite some time, Ye Qin finally digested Lu Zheng’s explanation and gave a simple summary.
“Yeah, that’s about right.”
Lu Zheng thought about it and figured Ye Qin’s summary was pretty accurate.
He looked at Ye Qin. “Basically, Qiu Yu’s just worried I’ll repeat the same mistakes, so she doesn’t want me getting too close to Yi Ning.”
“But I think she’s being overly anxious…”
Ye Qin didn’t listen to the rest of Lu Zheng’s ramblings.
This was trouble.
Love coach Miss Ye Qin sensed big problems.
As a hero originally stationed in D-City, Ye Qin didn’t know much about Lu Zheng’s past, so she couldn’t fully grasp what he was referring to.
But she understood why Miss Qiu Yu had mentally checked out.
Lu Zheng was too dense—he had no idea why Miss Qiu Yu had been angry last night.
And unfortunately, Miss Qiu Yu couldn’t really explain the misunderstanding either.
She couldn’t just admit that it wasn’t about fearing Lu Zheng would be hurt again—she was simply jealous of Yi Ning.
That would tank her approval rating for sure.
The love coach rubbed her temples, feeling like Qiu Yu’s future was dim.
Her “Yi Ning Threat Theory,” which she’d used to spur Qiu Yu on, now looked dangerously close to becoming reality.
As a born-and-raised girl herself, Ye Qin wasn’t sure if it was normal for a TS woman to go to a hotel with a man.
But she believed that if someone knew full well the implication of going to a hotel with the opposite sex and still chose to do so, that action itself spoke volumes.
At the very least, on Yi Ning’s side, Lu Zheng’s favorability rating wasn’t low.
Ye Qin looked at the dazed Miss Qiu Yu, then at the clueless Lu Zheng beside her.
What a bunch of useless people—guess it’s all up to me again.
Ye Qin stood up, walked over to Miss Qiu Yu, grabbed her arm, and pulled her toward the door.
“Strategy meeting.”
She needed to properly discuss some of Qiu Yu’s little relationship issues with her.
…
Just a few minutes after Ye Qin dragged Miss Qiu Yu out of the office, music suddenly played from Lu Zheng’s pocket.
He pulled out his phone and looked at the screen. Two large characters were displayed—
Yi Ning.
Calling at this time? That was unusual.
Lu Zheng felt a little confused but still swiped to answer the call.
“Hello?”
“It’s me, Yi Ning.”
A familiar voice came from the other end.
Through the phone, Lu Zheng could faintly hear the clinking of a spoon against a porcelain bowl.
It sounded like Yi Ning was eating.
Having a meal at this hour was a little late.
With that thought, Lu Zheng asked, “What’s up?”
“Nothing.”
Yi Ning’s voice on the phone was relaxed.
She had just called to wrap up something she’d forgotten to mention yesterday.
“Rejoice, you guys can have some peace and quiet for a while. I’ve decided to take a break. Not sure for how long. Just giving you a heads-up so you don’t show up at my base and blast a hole in my wall again.”
“Ah, uh…”
Hearing Yi Ning’s teasing complaint, Lu Zheng couldn’t help feeling a bit awkward. He didn’t know how to respond, so he just gave a couple of dry chuckles.
Wanting to quickly shift away from this awkward topic, Lu Zheng asked why she was taking time off.
“Why the sudden break?”
Yi Ning had been working steadily in D-City for a long time, never once skipping work or taking leave.
Now she was suddenly taking time off, which made Lu Zheng a little concerned.
At the very least, they were friends. If there was anything he could help with, he wanted to. Plus, he felt like he owed her a favor.
There was no way he wouldn’t help.
“It’s nothing. Just that thing you gave me—it’s really interesting. Taking it apart completely is going to take a while. I just finished handling a bunch of problems recently, so I figured I’d give myself a little vacation.”
“Oh, oh, well, good luck then. Let me know if you need any help.”
There wasn’t much Lu Zheng could do. He was a pure combat-type hero, totally clueless when it came to scientist stuff.
All he could do was cheer her on verbally.
“Alright, that’s it. I’m hanging up now.”
Before Lu Zheng could respond, Yi Ning hung up.
Lu Zheng looked at the phone, shrugged helplessly, set it on the desk, and leaned back in his chair, stretching.
Without Yi Ning stirring up trouble, the next few days were probably going to be pretty quiet.