At that moment, the baby-faced young man was crouching by the bedside, his hands lightly resting over the bedsheet atop Ye Li's severed leg.
The stream of warmth was flowing from his hands.
Meanwhile, the little girl cowered behind him, clutching a teddy bear in one hand and tightly gripping the young man's clothes with the other, her head lowered, too frightened to look.
“What are you doing?”
Ye Li's gaze was chilling, cold as permafrost, sweeping icily across their faces.
At this moment, she was extremely weak, like a dying savage beast laying bare all the bloodthirst and slaughter in its heart, arming itself to the teeth and baring its sharp fangs at intruders.
“D-Don't misunderstand! We're Mutants who just moved in here. I... I have a healing ability...”
Terrified by the naked killing intent in her eyes, the hairs on the young man's body stood on end and his voice trembled, yet his hands didn't stop.
Ye Li could clearly feel the warm current steadily flowing across her wound, gentle and faintly tingling, soothing the burning pain bit by bit and granting her a slight reprieve from the endless agony.
This person was healing her.
Ye Li's expression went blank for a fleeting moment.
She couldn't remember the last time someone had taken the initiative to treat her wounds. It seemed that every time before, she had quietly licked her wounds all on her own...
“No need. I won't die,” Ye Li said, her eyes narrowing slightly.
Her voice sounded weak and feeble, yet it carried an aloof chill that kept people thousands of miles away.
“I know, but this should make you feel a bit more comfortable,” the young man explained cautiously, suppressing the fear in his heart.
His eyes were round and dewy, shimmering with soft specks of light, like those of an innocent, harmless little animal.
Ye Li looked at the young man silently without saying another word, then closed her eyes and drifted back to sleep.
...
When Ye Li woke up again, it was already noon the next day.
Her wounds had eased considerably; as long as she didn't touch or strain them, there was hardly any intense pain.
At this moment, she was the only one in the cell; the two Mutants who had arrived last night were nowhere to be seen.
Just as Ye Li was wondering about this, the cell door opened, and Zhao Lei walked in carrying a tray of lunch.
He walked straight up to the bed, saw her frail state lying there, and asked, “Need me to feed you?”
“No need, I can do it myself!”
Ye Li had always disliked being overly physically intimate with others. Declining his offer, she braced herself against the wooden bed frame and slowly sat up, leaning sideways against the wall.
After catching her breath, she reached out to take the watery porridge and sponge cake from his hands, eating slowly.
Zhao Lei didn't leave immediately after delivering the food. Instead, he pulled over a nearby chair and sat down.
Scratching his head, he spoke up a bit sheepishly, “Um, there's something I'd like to ask of you!”
“What is it?” Ye Li asked, puzzled.
What could she, an imprisoned test subject, possibly help him with?
“It's about the new roommates arranged for you. Could you be just a tiny bit more lenient with them?” Zhao Lei pinched two fingers together to indicate a tiny gap, his voice laced with earnest pleading.
“I was actually meaning to ask you. How come there are two people this time, and one of them is even a child?”
Ye Li raised an eyebrow and questioned him, “What's their relationship to you? To think it warrants you coming over in person to put in a good word!”
None of the previous people had received such treatment.
“They have nothing to do with me...”
Zhao Lei shook his head, then proceeded to explain their specific circumstances to her.
The young man's name was Qiao Bei. Before the apocalypse, he had been a young medical student who had just started his internship. Later on, he mutated and awakened a healing ability, which was why he usually went to the laboratory to help out.
The little girl was named Duoduo, an orphan brought back from the Exiled Lands by a guard squad on field duty.
When she was found, there were corpses of two young Mutants—a man and a woman—around her, along with the corpse of an Abomination nearby.
Deducing from the scene, those two were likely Duoduo's parents, who had perished together with the Abomination while trying to protect her during their escape.
Duoduo had developed mutism due to excessive trauma and hadn't spoken a single word to this day; even the name “Duoduo” was just casually given to her by someone else.
Since Duoduo came from the Exiled Lands and weak mutation fluctuations had been detected on her, she had been brought straight to the research institute.
“...She was injured when she first arrived, and Qiao Bei has been looking after her the entire time, so Duoduo is very attached to him. During the day, Qiao Bei takes Duoduo with him to the laboratory, and they only return to the cell to rest at night. That way, they won't disturb you too much.
“The cell they stayed in before was on basement level four. It was only because I suggested it that they were transferred here. Consider it a personal favor—please have mercy, turn a blind eye, and get along with them. Just stop causing trouble, all right?”
Zhao Lei pressed his hands together in a pleading gesture, his tone filled with helplessness, bitterness, and entreaty.
“I don't like the sound of that; you make it seem like I'm so difficult to get along with!” Ye Li scoffed with a dissatisfied look. “Why don't you look at what kind of freaks and monsters were assigned to me before?!”
Pausing mid-sentence, she suddenly hit him with a soul-searching question: “Though, why are you being so good to me? Even going out of your way to find me suitable roommates... Could it be that you have a crush on me?”
It wasn't that she was conceited.
Although the original host usually dressed like a tomboy and sported an ultra-short haircut, her features were exceptionally well-defined. She was naturally blessed with a cool, striking beauty—dashing and fierce—which, paired with her tall, well-proportioned figure, made her quite attractive to the opposite sex.
“Wh-What nonsense are you talking about? I don't!” Zhao Lei immediately shot up from his chair upon hearing that, his honest, simple face flushing bright red.
“If you don't, then you don't. Why get so worked up? One look and anyone can tell you're a single dog who's never dated before!”
Seeing his flustered, pure-hearted reaction, Ye Li grinned and continued to tease him.
“Besides, just because you don't now doesn't mean you won't later. But let me warn you: definitely don't go falling for this big sister, lest you end up with a broken innocent boy's heart—I won't take responsibility for it!”
“I'm not wasting my breath on your nonsense. Hurry up and drink your porridge; I'll have to collect the bowl soon!”
Flushed red to his ears, Zhao Lei hurried toward the cell exit, not forgetting to call back over his shoulder, “Remember! Don't make things hard for them again. Get along with them!”
The cell door slammed shut, and the smile on Ye Li's face faded away with it.
She narrowed her eyes slightly, her unfocused gaze resting on a blank spot as if deep in thought, an impenetrable gleam lingering in her eyes...
Rate on N.U.
