Chapter 239 - 230: No Ifs
The moment she got in the car, Gu Xi could sense it—that thing was getting more and more excited.
So excited, in fact, that she could barely contain it.
Gu Xi frowned slightly, subtly glancing over at Ye Junhan in the driver’s seat.
’His perception has always been sharp. Could he be...?’
Just then, the SUV came to a sudden halt.
Gu Xi tilted her head, giving Ye Junhan a questioning look.
They were on a slope halfway up the mountain, still some distance from the cliff at the summit.
Gu Xi had originally thought Ye Junhan had also sensed the aura leaking from that thing’s overexcitement, and that was why he’d rushed out of the camp.
She never expected him to stop the car here, of all places.
Ye Junhan offered no explanation. Resting one hand on the steering wheel, he gazed out the window. They were close to the summit here. Only a few massive trees stood around them, outnumbered by various nameless shrubs and wild grasses. Occasionally, a large boulder would peek out from the sea of green.
Everything looked perfectly normal.
"What do you think of this place?" Ye Junhan asked suddenly, tapping his fingers on the steering wheel.
"Why do you ask?" Gu Xi narrowed her eyes, turning her head to look at him. "You think there’s something wrong with this place?"
’We’re still some distance from the summit cliff, yet he’s asking this...’
Gu Xi cracked her knuckles, her expression unreadable.
"Someone was here a few days ago," Ye Junhan said, suddenly turning his head to look down at her. "But I had Qian Shan erase any traces in the area."
’Ye Junhan wasn’t the type to do things without a reason.’
’He also didn’t seem like the type to meddle in other people’s business...’
Gu Xi poked the little green sprout on her fingertip, then slowly looked up at him. "You... Why did you do that?"
Ye Junhan gave her a long, deep look, then slammed his foot on the accelerator.
The car once again headed toward the summit.
Gu Xi suddenly spoke up. "Um... about what happened earlier... Sprouty, it..."
The car screeched to a halt. As the man turned his head to look at her, she braced herself and continued to explain, "It’s actually a very well-behaved vine. It was just being mischievous earlier..."
Ye Junhan stared at the little bean sprout on her fingertip, which was coyly wiggling at him. "...A well-behaved vine?"
Gu Xi nodded, feigning composure. "Yes. A well-behaved vine."
Ye Junhan lowered his gaze, looked away, and started the car again. "...Alright. I understand."
Gu Xi was speechless. ’Something about this feels strange.’
She glanced down at Sprouty, who was stealthily extending its tendrils and trying to creep over to the driver’s seat. With a deadpan expression, she poked it back into place.
Sprouty wilted dejectedly, shrinking back onto its master’s fingertip. The car drove a little further up the mountain before encountering another off-road pickup truck.
Liu Hao had sharp eyes. He stopped the truck while they were still a good distance away, stuck his head out the window, and yelled, "Captain?"
Ye Junhan stopped the car, opened the door, and got out. "What’s the situation up top?"
Liu Hao and the other two were just about to get out when Ye Junhan gestured for them to stay in the truck and report from there.
Qian Shan briefly reported what had happened below the cliff. He paused at the end before adding, "Captain, I feel like something isn’t right. But we waited up there for another hour and didn’t find anything unusual."
’This whole thing tonight is just plain weird.’
Ye Junhan recalled the surveillance footage from Yang Liu, which showed a live feed where not even a single leaf moved for half an hour. His gaze darkened as he glanced at Gu Xi, who was getting out of the car and walking toward them. "I’m going up to take a look. You all head back first."
With that, he turned and walked back toward the SUV. As he passed Gu Xi, he lifted his eyes to meet hers.
Gu Xi met his gaze and paused for a second before saying, "I’m just going to say hello."
"...Mm," Ye Junhan grunted in acknowledgment before getting back into the driver’s seat of the SUV.
Gu Xi walked over, greeted Liu Hao and the others, and asked about the situation at the summit.
Just then, Ye Junhan pulled the SUV up beside Gu Xi and lowered the passenger-side window. He tilted his head to look at her but said nothing.
Gu Xi gave a slight nod to Liu Hao’s group in farewell, then opened the passenger door and slid inside.
The two vehicles passed each other, and the distance between them quickly grew.
Li Shen, cradling his rifle, turned to look back. He nudged his companion’s arm and asked in surprise, "Why would the Captain bring Miss Gu out here in the middle of the night?"
"Miss Gu is a Wood Element ability user," Qian Shan said meaningfully, glancing up from his equipment to look behind them.
The higher they went up the mountain, the fewer tall trees there were, and the more open the view became. Qian Shan was a Vision Purifier. A single glance was all he needed to see something emerge from Miss Gu’s fingertip and start sneakily crawling toward the Captain.
He stared for a second before realizing it was Miss Gu’s companion plant. According to Feng Xiao, that vine was vicious. A single tendril had dispatched all the plant monsters in the factory’s underground lab in a matter of minutes.
"...Miss Gu’s companion plant..." Qian Shan trailed off as he watched Gu Xi emotionlessly poke the vine, forcing it back. The vine actually seemed to be sulking.
Qian Shan was struck dumb. ’Am I seeing things? How could I possibly think a vine looks like it’s sulking?’
Liu Hao, busy driving, hadn’t looked back. Hearing Qian Shan trail off, he couldn’t help but ask, "What about Miss Gu’s companion plant?"
"It’s nothing," Qian Shan said, looking away.
’There was an old saying from before the apocalypse: curiosity killed the cat.’
’As for that vicious yet sulking vine... hadn’t the Captain always said that in the apocalypse, nothing was impossible?’
’So why should he be so surprised by it?’
Qian Shan lowered his head and went back to checking his rifle.
Liu Hao shot him a glance through the rearview mirror.
"Hey," Li Shen muttered quietly while cleaning his gun, "what do you guys think the Captain is really up to?"
"What do you mean?" Liu Hao asked casually.
"You know, that whole thing," Li Shen said, always one to drop a bombshell. "I heard the Captain was raised to be Ye Nan’s husband..."
Liu Hao was driving, and at those words, the truck swerved, nearly crashing into a large boulder ahead. "Li Shen, don’t you dare spread rumors like that! If Miss Gu were to hear that, would we still have it this good?"
Li Shen steadied himself with one hand on the ceiling, then shot Liu Hao an irritated glare. "I’m not an idiot, you know."
Just as Liu Hao was about to say something, Qian Shan looked up and reminded them sternly, "That’s the Captain’s private business."
’Even though they could all see that the Captain treated Miss Gu differently from everyone else.’
’But he and Ye Nan did have the bond of growing up together...’
The three of them fell silent as the truck drove on toward the camp.
Meanwhile, Ye Junhan’s car came to a stop in a flat area, a few dozen meters from the summit.
The engine cut out, leaving the car half-submerged in waist-high wild grass. Neither of them moved to get out.
After a long moment, Gu Xi asked from the passenger seat, "What did you sense?"
Ye Junhan opened his personal terminal and pulled up the surveillance feed from below the cliff. "There should be wind at the bottom of the cliff, but the footage has been completely motionless."
Not a single leaf on the whole crooked tree had moved.
It was too still.
So still it was as if someone had hit the pause button on the entire scene at the bottom of the cliff.
Gu Xi unbuckled her seatbelt and glanced at his Light Screen. Her gaze then shifted to the distant edge of the cliff as she slowly asked, "If, one day, we find ourselves on opposite sides..."
As she spoke, she turned her head toward Ye Junhan, her eyes meeting his.
Ye Junhan looked away, pushed open his door, and was the first to get out.
He took a few steps forward and stood before the car, his posture as straight and unyielding as a pine tree. He lowered his gaze, his hand gripping the scabbard at his waist, his own eyes unreadable. His tone was calm and steady. "There are no ifs."
Gu Xi lowered her lashes, poking at Sprouty’s tender leaf, which had wilted somewhat from her repeated, iron-fisted suppression.
’I hope so,’ she thought.
After a long moment of silence, she pushed open her door and stepped out. Her gaze landed on the cliff’s edge not far away, and a vast tide of spiritual power surged forth, crashing down into the abyss below.