Chapter 168 : Chapter 168
Chapter 168: Even on an Alien Planet, Workers Still Worry About Work
Yi Ning was not happy.
Arms raised high, she jerked her head toward Lu Zheng and let out an indignant howl:
“Meat!”
“I want meat! Meat!!”
Lu Zheng's expression became subtly awkward.
He had caught a few edible creatures, but… they weren’t exactly the kind of ingredients you'd find in a decent restaurant.
If not for desperate times, he wouldn’t have put any of it near his mouth, either.
Yi Ning, perceptive as ever, caught the change in his face.
A bad feeling crept into her chest.
She pointed at Lu Zheng with a trembling finger and spoke in a voice filled with disbelief:
“You’re not about to tell me this is all you brought back, are you?”
“Well… not exactly…”
“There is meat… just… uh…”
Lu Zheng’s voice faltered.
He reached into his pocket and, acting very mysterious, slowly withdrew something. When Yi Ning curiously leaned closer, Lu Zheng opened his hand.
Three dead rats—each roughly palm-sized.
Yi Ning jumped back, swearing instinctively: “What the hell is this garbage?! Can we please have something from this realm of existence?!”
“I don’t think these guys are from any realm now.”
Lu Zheng glanced down at the lifeless rats.
Definitely dead.
He dangled them by their tails and shook them in front of Yi Ning.
To be fair, she wasn’t the kind of girl who’d scream at the sight of dead rodents—she’d been a guy once. But that deep, gut-wrenching disgust? Yeah, that still came with the territory.
She took a few steps back, only to lean in again with a scowl, eyeing the creatures like she might catch a disease just from looking.
“This is your idea of meat?”
“What else did you expect?”
“Where’s the rabbit? Rabbits are cute, so they deserve to be roasted! What’s with bringing back a few filthy rats?!”
Lu Zheng threw his hands up in frustration.
It’s not like he wanted to bring rats!
It was just all he could catch!
Stranded unexpectedly on an alien planet, he had none of his usual tools for setting proper traps. All he could do was improvise with sticks and branches—basic survival traps.
Naturally, that meant he was only catching low-level critters like these rats—and even then, the success rate wasn’t great!
He’d set up multiple traps and only caught three.
As for rabbits? He’d spent ages searching, and not even a single shadow of one appeared.
And he hadn’t dared stray too far—he had to stay close to Yi Ning in case something went wrong.
Where exactly was he supposed to conjure her a rabbit from?
Thankfully, Yi Ning wasn’t entirely unreasonable.
She didn’t force Lu Zheng to keep the rodents, but she did demand that he bury them far, far away.
“Get rid of those nasty things right now! Don’t bury them anywhere near our clearing—at least ten meters away!”
Waving her hand as if shooing away garbage, she ordered him off.
So, in order to please their squad’s esteemed leader, Lu Zheng put on a sour face, grabbed the rats by the tail, and trudged into the forest.
He even felt a twinge of regret.
That was some high-quality protein…
Would’ve been better to cook and store for later than waste like this.
But alas, shirtless as he was and with only tiny pockets, he couldn’t carry them discreetly. So he gave up, found a nice little plot of land, and laid the rats to rest.
When he returned, Yi Ning had already buried the sweet potato-like roots he'd brought back in a new fire pit. She now sat by the fire, munching on fruit.
“You seem pretty experienced at this,” Lu Zheng commented.
He glanced at the buried fire pit and sat down beside her, grabbing a fruit of his own.
He rummaged through the remaining bag of supplies and frowned.
“You buried too many. I only brought those back because they looked like sweet potatoes. No clue if they’re edible. I was gonna test one before giving you any—no need to roast the whole batch.”
“Doesn’t matter,” Yi Ning replied nonchalantly.
She tossed her fruit core into the flames again, glanced at Lu Zheng, and smirked.
“If they’re edible, then great—we have more. If not, roasting a bunch still doesn’t hurt. Why stress over it?”
As she spoke, she picked up another fruit, took two bites, and casually tossed that one into the fire too.
The flames flickered with the impact—again.
Considering how Lu Zheng had explicitly told her off for this just the night before…
This was pure provocation.
He glanced at her mischievous grin and gave her a solid flick on the forehead.
“What’s your problem? Do you want to get scolded?”
Yi Ning, unbothered, raised both hands as if reciting an oath:
“Even on an alien planet, one must never forget the sacred creed: One Evil Act Per Day!”
What was this?
Villain character integrity?
Then Lu Zheng found himself being used as a cameraman.
Yi Ning had him film her, snap a few photos, and quietly muttered to herself:
“Maybe if I file a record of all my evil deeds when I get home, the boss will see how pitiful I am and not dock my pay…”
Pathetic wage slave.
Even marooned on a different planet, she was still worried about her job.
Wait a second—
Yi Ning wasn’t the only one with a job.
That thought hit Lu Zheng like a brick.
He hadn’t reported anything. He’d vanished without a trace—with Yi Ning no less—and now they were both stranded off-world.
He didn’t even want to imagine what Miss Qiu Yu’s reaction would be when he got back.
Lu Zheng quickly did the math on how much salary he could afford to lose before it hurt.
His kidneys began to ache.
Even the fruit in his mouth didn’t taste so sweet anymore.
While he was spacing out, Yi Ning casually tossed another untouched fruit into the fire.
By the time Lu Zheng noticed and reached out to flick her forehead again, she was already on her feet—grinning mischievously.
She transformed her universal tool back to default form and skipped off toward the woodpile he had stacked earlier.
Lu Zheng didn’t chase after her.
He just sat there by the fire and increased his eating pace.
The world is vast—but going home is the biggest priority.
He mentally logged every one of Yi Ning’s transgressions. Once they were safe and sound again—revenge would be served.
Once his stomach stopped growling, Lu Zheng stood up and headed toward the pile of lumber.
Yi Ning had already started working.
Naturally, he was going to see if he could help.