NOVPUB
Chapter 148: Chapter 148 Hourly Space-Time Beast
Su Xue winced from the pain in her ankle as she slowly made her way back to the dorm room.
This was an old-style tube building where both men and women lived together, each room containing four beds, though group leaders could have a room to themselves.
The sound of high heels clacked crisply in the empty corridor, and she had only taken a few steps when cursing drifted up from below.
"In the dead of night, can’t you let people sleep? Not everyone is lucky enough to go to banquets! We have missions to carry out early in the morning!"
The women of average looks had no chance of attending the banquet and looked down on those who traded their looks for points, freely making all sorts of sharp and unkind remarks. Though the invitation was beautifully written, claiming it was a temporary job as a banquet hostess, everyone knew it was no different from selling oneself.
Su Xue bit her lip, holding back the rage in her chest, took off her high heels, and walked back to the dorm barefoot, holding her shoes in one hand.
Unexpectedly, just as she reached the dormitory door, she heard laughter coming from inside.
"Sister Xinyue, are these really all for us? My God! I’ve been eating steamed buns and coarse porridge for half a month! You’ve saved my stomach!"
"Haha! Go ahead and eat. I can’t eat this much by myself, and in this hot weather, food won’t last, so eat up quickly!"
"Ms. Han’s birthday banquet was really nice, even allowing us to take food to go, satisfying my cravings..."
"Sister Xinyue, can I save my portion for my little brother to take?"
"Don’t worry about him, Xiaojie also took some for the boys, rest assured, they have enough to eat."
"Really? That’s great!..."
Tian Xinyue brought back many skewered meats and various appetizers like marinated peanuts, pickled soybeans, and spicy lotus slices that piled up on a table, perfect for eating during the hot days.
The girls in the room were joyously eating when one of them hesitantly murmured, "...Shouldn’t we save some for Su Xue?"
Tian Xinyue’s expression stiffened slightly—Su Xue had indirectly caused Li Qian’s death, putting her and her teammates in danger, and she could never forgive Su Xue. However, since she had already given the food to these girls, demanding they not save any for Su Xue would seem petty.
Tian Xinyue felt somewhat displeased but still nodded.
No sooner had she nodded than Su Xue opened the door and entered, her voice cold, "No need to save any for me; I’m not hungry."
The faces of the few girls turned slightly embarrassed.
Tian Xinyue’s expression darkened as she said, "You guys eat, I’m going to rest." Saying so, she turned and left the dorm room.
The girls looked at each other in silence. They also knew the rumors circulating within the team, all saying that Su Xue had deliberately sabotaged Tian Xinyue during a mission out of spite. However, rumors also said that Su Xue had a boyfriend from the ability team, so living under the same roof, they dared not offend her, only choosing to remain silent and ignore the situation.
After washing up, Su Xue lay in her bed but couldn’t sleep at all. The scent of food slowly wafted over, making her restless. Just thinking about how she had demeaned herself at the banquet to please Xu Luosheng, observing and responding to his every mood, yet at the same time, Han Jiaojiao was freely enjoying her birthday party.
Heh... her eighteenth birthday party.
Her own birthday had passed without notice two months ago, uneventful without a single wish or greeting. Both at age eighteen, why could Han Jiaojiao be so happy?! She hadn’t even invited her to the birthday party! Why didn’t she give her a hand? Why couldn’t she help her? Three years of friendship couldn’t compare to a few weeks with Tian Xinyue?!
Why?!
—Resentment, like mold in the damp monsoon, began to grow from every corner of her heart, furiously spreading, covering, engulfing!
Su Xue seemed to forget that Han Jiaojiao had cut ties with her, and Su Xue also forgot the sabotage she had done in the logistics team, endangering not only Tian Xinyue but almost costing Han Jiaojiao her life.
Su Xue just lay there hating, as if only through holding onto this resentment could she find the strength to keep going.
Han Jiaojiao, I won’t let you be pleased for long!—Su Xue, filled with resentment, slowly fell asleep.
...
The sky was clear and cloudless. The scorching temperature nearly melted the earth below.
A massive armored off-road vehicle sped through the desolate wilderness, like a giant beast stirring up rolling dust clouds behind it, leaving a long, ochre tail on the ground as it passed.
The off-road vehicle continued forward under Han Yi’s direction, finally coming to a stop under a lush, large tree.
"This should be good," Han Yi said indifferently. "It’s far enough from the base, so we shouldn’t be discovered."
Han Jiaojiao turned her head to look around and asked, "Brother, I don’t see any mutant beasts."
"The sun’s too harsh; they’re all resting in their burrows," he responded.
One by one, everyone got out of the vehicle. Han Jiaojiao clapped her hands, and two Space-Time Beasts, as green as dark jade, sprang from the car window. Initially, they wandered around Han Jiaojiao’s feet, but after she took a few steps into the distance, they joyfully sprinted away, cooing non-stop, and quickly disappeared from sight.
Han Jiaojiao ran back to the shade under the tree, searched around the off-road vehicle, and asked, "Where’s the other one?"
Yan Xiao shrugged, "It hasn’t come out yet."
"How can it be this lazy..." Han Jiaojiao muttered, opened the rear compartment reluctantly, and indeed saw a bundle of white fur curled up inside, motionless.
"Come on out and get some exercise," Han Jiaojiao said as she tugged at its fluffy vines. "It’s rare for us to come out, and we won’t wait for you, Cotton Candy!"
Cotton Candy finally reacted, slowly shifting its body and climbed out of the back of the vehicle.
Then, it stopped moving again.
"Hey... look at how fat you’ve become, hey, hurry up and move!"
Han Jiaojiao grabbed one of its vines and dragged it into the sun, pulling it seven or eight meters before Cotton Candy finally lazily shook its white fur and began to slowly crawl around.
After all this effort, Han Jiaojiao broke into a sweat, but fortunately, her ability was convenient. She quickly shook off the sweat from her body, then pulled out a small flower pot to place beside her, and began to sit and rest in the shade.
Today, they had come out specifically to "walk the dog."
Ever since Pepper had hatched, Han Jiaojiao had been planning to take these few out hunting.
The newly hatched Pepper was small enough to be carried out in a small flower pot, but Cotton Candy was much too large. Logically, with such a large body, it should have detached from its roots in the soil long ago, yet Cotton Candy showed no signs of movement, had an appetite larger than Xiaogua and Xiaodou combined, and kept getting fatter and fatter...
Until one day, Han Jiaojiao finally couldn’t endure it anymore. She parted Cotton Candy’s white fur to check the extent of its root detachment, and then—
Holy moly! It was completely empty underneath! There were no roots!
It turned out it had detached from the soil long ago but just hadn’t moved at all!
Such laziness was beyond Han Jiaojiao’s ability to complain. In her past life, she hadn’t raised this one and had no idea it would be like this...
"Awooo!—" Yan Xiao suddenly let out a strange yell!
"What are you screaming for?" Lu Changyuan was startled by him and cursed, annoyed.
Yan Xiao, gripping the binoculars tightly, shouted excitedly, "Look over there! They’re fighting, they’re fighting! Oh, ho, ho!!!"
At his words, everyone picked up their binoculars and looked in that direction.
