Chapter 244 - 235: Carrot and Stick
As dawn broke, two SUVs descended the mountain, one after the other.
Unlike on the way up, Shen Yue and Ye Junhan took the lead in one vehicle, as they had things to discuss. Wei Heng drove the second car, following behind with the young women.
The drive down the mountain was slow. Gu Xi glanced back through the window, then retracted her gaze and closed her eyes.
Qi Xiang quickly pulled a thick piece of clothing from her large backpack and gently draped it over her.
The Qin sisters exchanged a look and also moved quietly, adjusting their seats to let Gu Xi rest more comfortably.
But Gu Xi wasn’t actually asleep. Right now, she was arguing with a certain presence in her mind.
The thing that was always following her was clearly displeased with how she, one of its own kind, had acted tonight. ’Why did you scare away my prey?’
Gu Xi could clearly sense its anger and dissatisfaction, but she had no intention of indulging it. Instead, she coolly retorted, ’Then why did you help it hide my knife? Besides, weren’t you the one who let the prey go in the first place?’
The thing replied righteously, ’How was I supposed to know that was your knife?’
It was clearly evading her second question.
Gu Xi sneered internally. ’You didn’t know?’
The thing probably sensed Gu Xi’s mood. It paused for a moment, and her perception of it grew fuzzy, making it unclear what it was trying to express.
But Gu Xi couldn’t be bothered to dwell on it and simply severed her connection to the thing.
’It was for no other reason than what Li Ming had once taught her: training a beast is like training a person. You can’t just rely on coaxing and tricking. Sometimes, you have to show them you mean business.’
’The stick and the carrot complement each other. Sooner or later, the beast will learn to obey.’
Gu Xi deeply agreed with this principle.
By the time the group returned to the encampment, it was already broad daylight.
The moment Gu Xi stepped out of the vehicle, she sensed several gazes—some overt, some covert—land on her.
’It seems the research institute and the Guard Team weren’t idle last night while we were busy on the mountain.’
Gu Xi pretended not to notice and walked toward the rest area.
Nearby, Qi Xiang saw Ye Nan looking over, seemingly wanting to say something but holding back. She let out an exaggerated yawn. "I’m so sleepy. I can’t take it, I need to go catch up on my sleep."
With that, she grabbed Gu Xi’s hand and pulled her into a tent.
Seeing this, Ye Nan pressed her lips together and turned to look at Ye Junhan with a complicated expression.
Beside the SUV, Zhao Qingxiao was reporting last night’s situation to his captain. When he caught sight of Ye Nan walking toward them out of the corner of his eye, he sighed inwardly but said aloud, "Captain, you’ve been busy all night. You should go get some rest."
His voice was just loud enough for Ye Nan to hear.
Ye Nan stopped in her tracks again, then turned and returned to the research institute’s rest area.
Inside the tent, Qi Xiang was sound asleep the moment she lay down.
Miss Qi’s sleeping posture was incredibly unrestrained, and she didn’t stay still in the slightest.
It was a complete mismatch with her exquisite, beautiful appearance.
Gu Xi turned on her side, dodging Miss Qi’s arm as she tried to hug something in her sleep. She stared at the tent’s tarp for a while before closing her eyes and sinking her consciousness into her personal space.
Xidao whistled through the air and came to rest obediently in her hand, nuzzling against her palm.
Gu Xi slowly stroked the blade, a hint of tenderness appearing in her usually cool and composed eyes.
After nurturing the blade once more with her ability, Gu Xi tossed it to Ya Bao and began to ponder Ye Junhan’s knife.
Ability weapons were called such not only because parts of high-level mutant animals and plants were integrated into them as raw materials during forging. More importantly, after being continuously nurtured by an ability user’s power, the weapon would form a special connection with them.
This connection allowed the ability user to wield the weapon as if it were an extension of their own arm, unleashing its maximum power.
In other words, while any ability user could wield an ability weapon, only the person who nurtured it could bring out its full potential. Any other user would feel a certain sense of resistance.
But today, when she used Ye Junhan’s curved blade, she hadn’t felt the slightest resistance.
Admittedly, her ability had always been dominant, capable of simulating and transforming into any other ability. That was how the Blood-colored Asura of the past had been able to tame all the ability weapons in the world.
But today was different.
Gu Xi could clearly sense that the blade had been incredibly docile in her hands, as well-behaved as if it were her own.
And at that moment, she hadn’t even been using her ability.
Gu Xi’s eyes snapped open. She stared up at the transparent mesh window in the tent’s ceiling, her gaze dark and profound.
’It seems Ye Junhan’s ability really might have some connection to my own. Otherwise, his blade wouldn’t have been so obedient.’
’And that so-called G01 Project is probably not so simple, either...’
’It’s a pity that Li Ming always hid the most crucial parts of the G01 Project from me, and even Ye Junhan is unwilling to talk about it.’
Gu Xi suddenly felt a surge of frustration. Unwilling to dwell on the reasons behind it all, she thought for a moment, then sat up and got out of bed, treading lightly as she headed outside.
In the outer section of the tent, the Qin sisters were sleeping together. Qin Shi’s eyes suddenly opened. She glanced over, saw Gu Xi leaving, and then quietly closed her eyes again.
Gu Xi lifted the tent flap. The morning dampness, mixed with the faint, earthy scent of mutant plants, washed over her. In the distance, mist drifted through the forest, and the mountains were a hazy, indistinct silhouette.
’Looks like there’ll be heavy rain later.’
Gu Xi frowned slightly. Her gaze swept across the camp before she started walking toward its edge.
By a distant mountain stream, a few team members who had just been relieved from the night shift were fetching water to wash up. Ye Junhan leaned against a nearby rock with one knee bent, listening to a teammate talk while he lowered his head to wipe his curved blade.
Through the hazy mist, the man’s face looked even more ethereally handsome, like that of a celestial being.
For some inexplicable reason, a line of poetry she’d read somewhere long ago suddenly popped into Gu Xi’s head—’The one I seek is across the water.’
’What the hell was that?’
Gu Xi suppressed the strange and random thought and started walking toward him.
Before she had even gotten close, Ye Junhan’s movements as he cleaned his blade paused slightly. He turned to look, his deep gaze falling upon Gu Xi, his silence tinged with a complex emotion.
"Why aren’t you resting?" Ye Junhan frowned slightly, his voice a little low.
Gu Xi smiled and greeted the other team members nearby before walking over, her eyes landing on the curved blade in his hands.
"Back then, why did you choose this as your weapon?"
she asked, looking up.
Ye Junhan glanced at her, then sheathed the blade at his waist.
The team members washing up by the stream had, at some point, already left.
Silence fell by the mountain stream. Just as Gu Xi thought Ye Junhan wasn’t going to answer, he suddenly spoke. "I chose it because I saw a combat video of someone using a knife in the training camp."
Back then, he didn’t know that person was her. He didn’t know what kind of deep connection he shared with the girl who wore the Blood-colored Shura Mask, the one who charged into a horde of zombies with a curved blade like a living weapon, honed to a razor’s edge.
But it is human nature to admire the strong.
The first time he saw that slender figure annihilate a huge swath of High-level Zombies with a mere flash of her blade, a powerful conviction took root in Ye Junhan’s heart.
He had to become an unrivaled warrior just like her. Only then would he be worthy of standing by her side and fighting alongside her.
That year, Ye Junhan was thirteen.
Ye Junhan lowered his gaze, his hand tightening around the hilt of his blade as he concealed the complex emotions in his heart.
"A video?" Gu Xi raised an eyebrow in surprise. "Of me?" ’But weren’t all the records on the Blood-colored Asura destroyed long ago?’
’It seems my earlier guess was right. Someone did intervene back then to preserve some of my files.’
’As for their purpose... that’s still hard to say for now.’
Ye Junhan sat leaning against the rock, his gaze fixed on the gently flowing stream beside them. The young woman’s profile was reflected on the water’s surface, seeming close yet far away, so beautiful it felt untouchable.
He subtly averted his gaze. "Someone used those videos as combat training material for cultivating death warriors."
"What did you say?" Gu Xi whipped her head around to look at him. "Death warriors?"
Ye Junhan remained silent, his hand resting on the sheath at his waist, slowly stroking it.
Gu Xi thought for a moment, then tilted her head and asked earnestly, "Is it related to the G01 Project?"