Chapter 84: Chapter 84: Wrist Grabbed by Zhou Huaijin

In the end, the elated Chi Yuanshan and Zhou Huaijin, who had been forced to keep him company drinking, had their glasses taken away before they could pass out completely.

Fortunately, both of them were well-behaved drunks. Zhou Huaijin, in particular, didn’t cause a fuss even when he drank too much. He just sat there obediently and did whatever he was told, making him very easy to handle.

But when Li Xingye, who had been busy all day moving the base, saw Chi Wan taking care of that drunk "senior" of hers, he felt as if his world had come crashing down.

——After Li Xingye gained the ability to enter the space, he discovered that, just like Chi Wan, he could see what was happening on her side through a small window whenever she left the entrance to the space open.

So when Chi Wan, for the sake of convenience, had just pulled a wet wipe directly from the space to clean Zhou Huaijin’s face, Li Xingye saw everything.

He stared in disbelief at Zhou Huaijin’s half-closed eyes. ’What has this guy been doing when I wasn’t paying attention?! Is he pretending to be drunk, deliberately trying to get closer to Wanwan?!’

Unfortunately, Chi Wan couldn’t hear the silent screams in Li Xingye’s heart. After quickly cleaning Zhou Huaijin up a bit, she and Zhuo Yu managed to get him into the car.

"Sister Xiaoyu, are you sure this is okay? Oh, right, you should probably put this trash bag around his neck."

Zhuo Yu took the trash bag, looking relaxed. "Don’t worry, I’ll take him straight to Zhou Huai’an’s place. Huaijin can usually hold his liquor pretty well; he probably just drank too fast with your dad today. But he’s a well-behaved drunk, so it’s no big deal."

Chi Wan nodded and buckled Zhou Huaijin’s seatbelt for him.

But as she looked at Zhou Huaijin sitting obediently in the car, his eyes hazy but still trying his best to maintain a perfectly straight posture, she inexplicably felt the urge to laugh.

’How is he still so prim and proper even when he’s drunk?’

But just as she finished with the seatbelt and started to pull away, Zhou Huaijin suddenly grabbed her wrist!

Zhou Huaijin, who had opened his eyes at some point, was now staring at her intently.

In the dim light of the car, his pupils were dark and deep. It was a departure from his usual gentle demeanor, as if... he had an inexplicable hint of aggression.

Chi Wan frowned. Just as she was about to pull away, Zhou Huaijin let go of his own accord.

He rubbed his temples, seeming a little uncomfortable. "Sorry, Wanwan. I didn’t hurt you, did I?"

Seeing Zhou Huaijin revert to his obedient, upright posture, his earlier assertiveness seemed like a fleeting illusion.

Chi Wan shook her head. Just as she was about to speak, Zhuo Yu, who was already preparing to drive, glanced over in confusion. "What’s wrong?"

She blinked and chuckled lightly. "It’s nothing. I just think my senior shouldn’t drink so much in the future."

Zhou Huaijin’s hand paused for a moment, but he remained silent.

Zhuo Yu couldn’t agree more. "He’d be better off drinking more milk... Oh, right, Wanwan, all that stuff I brought you is from our own farm. The shelf life is really short, so don’t let it sit around for too long, okay?"

Chi Wan was left speechless by Zhuo Yu’s obsession with fresh milk, and she finally understood how she’d gotten so tall. This time, Zhuo Yu had brought her a whole pile of dairy products from her family’s ranch. Apparently, to make storage easier, Zhuo Yu’s family had even set up a small processing plant.

Chi Wan closed the car door and said with a grin, "Alright now, you two be careful on the road. I put the fruit in your trunk. There’s some for my senior and Brother Huai’an, too, so I’ll leave it to you to get it to them, Sister Xiaoyu."

"You got it. I was dying for these fruits last time I came over. You always know what I want, Wanwan~"

Chi Wan chuckled lightly as she watched Zhuo Yu’s car drive away.

Only when Chi Wan’s figure had vanished from the rearview mirror did Zhuo Yu shoot a sidelong glance at Zhou Huaijin. "I had no idea. You can normally drink a bottle and a half without breaking a sweat, but you get this drunk after less than one today... You punk, has Zhou Huai’an been a bad influence on you?"

Zhou Huaijin kept his eyes lowered, but the hazy look from before was long gone. He spoke slowly, "The fresh air just made it go to my head. Just take me home directly. I’m not going to my brother’s place."

Zhuo Yu scoffed. "So you can use ’it went to your head’ as an excuse to make a move? Wanwan isn’t the type to just take things lying down. Be careful your clever little trick doesn’t backfire." 𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

Zhou Huaijin knew Zhuo Yu had seen him grab Chi Wan’s wrist, so he didn’t try to argue. "Senior," he asked, "do you think I have a chance?"

Zhuo Yu had been watching the road, but she shot him a surprised look at his words before quickly breaking into a smile. "It’s rare to see you looking so unsure of yourself... But you know, sometimes a bystander doesn’t necessarily see things more clearly than the people in the thick of it.

"Still, since you’re both single right now, if you like her, you should just go for it. All this hesitation isn’t like the you I know."

Zhou Huaijin lowered his gaze, staring at the hand that had grabbed Chi Wan’s. He hadn’t even had time to process the impulse that had driven him in that moment.

But he suddenly understood why he’d always felt so uneasy about Zhou Huai’an before.

He was jealous.

*

After seeing Zhuo Yu and Zhou Huaijin off, Chi Wan flexed her wrist, a strange sensation still there, and walked toward the courtyard.

’Zhou Huaijin looks so gentle and refined, but he’s surprisingly strong. I can’t let them drink that much again.’

"Wanwan, is your wrist okay?"

Li Xingye’s voice suddenly rang out. "Is that the senior you mentioned before? He doesn’t seem to handle his liquor very well."

Chi Wan froze for a second before it dawned on her. She asked excitedly, "Brother Xingye, you can see everything on my end now?"

She guessed his view was probably limited, just as hers had been—a perspective locked onto her own location.

Li Xingye hummed in agreement, but Chi Wan couldn’t see the dark expression that flashed across his face. If Zhou Huaijin had let go even a second later, his vines might have already lashed out.

’He knew he was wrong to feel this way. It was Chi Wan’s freedom to befriend whomever she wanted.’

’But it was as if an insatiable monster dwelled in his heart, one that craved more and more of Chi Wan’s attention.’

’And the moment her gaze shifted away from him, that monster would struggle and roar, demanding he do something to reclaim what it desired.’

’Before this, Li Xingye never knew he had such a dark side. Perhaps the apocalypse’s influence on him had been a slow, creeping one all along.’

’He didn’t want Chi Wan to see this ugly side of him.’

Therefore, Li Xingye suppressed those clamoring thoughts and curled his lips into a smile. "I can finally see the world where Wanwan lives her daily life."

Chi Wan, oblivious to the turmoil in Li Xingye’s mind, heard his words and said cheerfully, "Why do I suddenly feel like a streamer? School’s about to start, so I can take you to university with me~ By the way, how’s the base relocation going?"

Li Xingye looked at the bustling convoy before him and chuckled. "Why don’t you come and see for yourself?"

’Oh, right.’

Chi Wan went straight into the space, only to discover that the base, which she remembered as having fewer than a hundred people, had now grown into an enormous convoy. A quick glance suggested there were now several thousand people!

They weren’t living in a town. Instead, they were camped in groups along the side of the highway. Beside the bustling crowd lay the sprawling, unobstructed wilderness.