Chapter 60: Different Part 2

Bai Chen Zhu unholstered the gun from Bai Tao’s waist and threw it to him. “What about that alien?”

Jiang Ye said, “Dealt with.”

As he spoke, his gaze swept over and fixed on the nearby corpse. His expression changed slightly.

Bai Chen Zhu set Bai Tao aside and followed. “What’s wrong?”

Jiang Ye squatted down to inspect the alien, his face grave. “Look at its wings—very short. It’s a male insect.”

“What’s wrong with male insects?”

“Male insects have mental power.” Jiang Ye looked at Bai Chen Zhu, then at Bai Tao. “You two okay?”

“Bai Tao was knocked out, but her wounds aren’t fatal.” Bai Chen Zhu shook his head and shared his speculation. “The fragment aura I sensed is probably from it.”

Jiang Ye thought quietly for a moment, then slapped his thigh. “That’s it. We got it backwards.”

For some reason, this gave Bai Chen Zhu a bad premonition.

“We’ll talk later.” Jiang Ye quickly instructed, “Bandage yourself and Bai Tao. I’ll handle these bodies and traces. We’ll camp nearby tonight.”

He stood, grabbed the corpse by the feet, and dragged it away, soon vanishing.

“Get your leg wound treated!” Bai Chen Zhu shouted.

Watching his back disappear, Bai Chen Zhu turned, hoisted Bai Tao onto his back, grabbed their packs, and headed back the way they came.

At this point, he didn’t dare take Bai Tao near the lab—it was too horrifying and bad for an injured person’s mental health. And who knew when more aliens might show up. He walked for about half an hour and sat in a clean spot nearby.

He hadn’t checked before, but there was a laceration on Bai Tao’s neck—any deeper and it could have been fatal. He patiently applied medicine, wrapping bandage after bandage around her neck, then her arms, then her waist… By the end, she looked just like a mummy.

Bai Chen Zhu patted Bai Tao’s head, picked a leaf fragment from her hair, and sighed deeply. “As long as you’re okay.”

He stood and looked around, gathered some dry branches and firewood, lit a fire, set up the tent, and carried Bai Tao inside. He sat outside tending the fire.

—

The sun had set, and the woods were pitch black.

He wondered how Sister Zhuohua was doing. Bai Chen Zhu poked the ground repeatedly with a stick.

Light footsteps approached. He looked at the drenched Jiang Ye and first checked his leg, frowning at the blood on his pant leg. “Where did you go?”

“There’s a big river that way, fast-flowing. I went to wash up—don’t go.” Jiang Ye slicked back his wet short hair and limped to the fire, bringing a cool mist of water vapor.

“Are you trying to die? Soaking wounds in water.” Bai Chen Zhu gripped his stick tightly and threw it at him.

He had thought Bai Chen Zhu would ask something else, but the first words were these. Jiang Ye paused, then grinned at him. “You know how fast I recover.”

Bai Chen Zhu was a bit angry, but it faded in two minutes. He grabbed bandages and went over, saying coldly, “Stick out your leg.”

Jiang Ye blinked, cleared his throat to suppress a laugh, and obediently extended his leg.

Bai Chen Zhu half-squatted to apply medicine.

Jiang Ye watched him quietly. His taut nerves relaxed, and he zoned out. A beauty under the moonlight was indeed more captivating, especially one already so handsome and refined.

From this angle, Jiang Ye could see the perfect curve of his collarbone at the neckline, his tight lips, the long lashes hanging down, and the messy hair tips. Seeing his poor mood, Jiang Ye didn’t dare tease.

Normally, Jiang Ye would have gone over to be a nuisance.

Bai Chen Zhu suddenly looked up. “Take off your shirt.”

Jiang Ye’s mind had already wandered off. Without a word, he stripped off his top. Bai Chen Zhu circled behind him before he realized it was for the back wounds.

Time stretched on.

Jiang Ye had been spacing out, but though he couldn’t see him, Bai Chen Zhu’s deliberately heavier pressure, the warmth of his fingertips, the itchy breath… Jiang Ye’s sensitive senses caught it all. He couldn’t help shrinking, only to be lightly scolded not to move.

It was like prolonged psychological torture.

As Bai Chen Zhu applied medicine, he asked, “All taken care of?”

“Uh? Yeah, I buried them and cleaned the lab traces.” Jiang Ye said.

Bai Chen Zhu moved to another wound, worried. “I shot it after hearing it say ‘mental power.’ Hope it wasn’t some big shot.”

“It would be fine if it were some big shot, but unfortunately, it’s probably just some small fry.” Jiang Ye shook his head regretfully. “I’ll just say it straight: your guess was right.”

“From the very start, the mental power on the fragment was deep and mottled because it wasn’t damaged by a single male insect, but by many.”

“Many?” Bai Chen Zhu was surprised. “For just one thing, was that necessary?”

That alien race was too useless.

As if he had heard the implication in his words, Jiang Ye burst out laughing. He said, “First off, that ‘thing’ you mentioned is the core of the ‘space communication station.’ The space communication station originally orbited Earth in the atmosphere. Though it was destroyed, the core was indestructible and still operational. Finding it was like looking for a needle in a haystack.”

“Maybe to locate it, or maybe to leave no traces, they didn’t use weapons. Instead, they chose mental power that would naturally dissipate to pinpoint and attack the communication station’s core.”

“Second, their mental power is used to heal and control the female insects of their race, so its offensive power is weak. Only a very few male insects have strong attack capabilities. So it’s not impossible for them to gang up.”

Recalling the past, Jiang Ye said gravely, “According to the original course of events, after a few more years, there really wouldn’t have been any mental power left on it, and it would have been hard for anyone to find traces.”

Could mental power, when strong enough, actually attack physical objects? Did that mean his superpowers still had room to grow? Bai Chen Zhu’s eyes darkened slightly. He deliberately slapped Jiang Ye’s shoulder. “Sit still; it’s crooked!”

Jiang Ye’s emotions scattered like mist in the wind. He sat properly as Bai Chen Zhu instructed and fell silent.

In the quiet, Bai Chen Zhu lowered his gaze and smoothly finished bandaging him. In the end, he maliciously tied a bow on his waist.

“Jiang Ye?” He looked up, only to see that Jiang Ye had already leaned back against the tree trunk and fallen asleep, his chest rising and falling with vigorous life force.

His figure wasn’t bad. Bai Chen Zhu quietly packed up his things. He glanced at Jiang Ye, draped clothes over him, then went into the tent to check on the sleeping Bai Tao. Finally, he sat by the campfire, choosing to keep watch tonight.

The moon in the sky was very round, reminding him of that male insect’s eyes.

A strange tone echoed in his ears, and at the same time, the simultaneous translator by his ear mechanically intoned: “Humans… mental power…”

Bai Chen Zhu’s pupils contracted sharply. He snapped out of his daze and looked down at his five fingers, flexing them. His heart sank. ‘Is mental power someone’s exclusive privilege?’

Mental power wasn’t wrong in itself, but the current situation was just like: a child carrying gold through a bustling market, where everyone becomes a devil.

If Wei Tuo stood by his side, all devils would turn into sages.

‘Wei Tuo’ ah, Bai Chen Zhu sighed to himself. Weren’t they seeking the fragment to connect with ‘Wei Tuo’ as well?

With a muffled grunt, Jiang Ye woke from a nightmare beside him, drenched in sweat.

Bai Chen Zhu walked over and wiped the sweat from his forehead.

“Thanks.” Jiang Ye looked at him with dazed eyes, clearly not yet oriented.

Bai Chen Zhu raised an eyebrow and leisurely wiped the sweat from his body. Then, with a curve of his eyes, he draped the ‘sweat towel’ over his shoulder. “You’re welcome. Your shirt.”

It took Jiang Ye a good while to react to Bai Chen Zhu’s little bit of mischief. He said nothing, pulled the clothes back on, then tilted his body and slumped onto Bai Chen Zhu’s lap.

Bai Chen Zhu thought this was ‘retaliation’ and pinched his ear. “Hey?”

Jiang Ye immediately whined and grumbled, looking aggrieved. “I’m injured; you can’t chase me away.”

He still remembered how, not long ago in the car, Bai Chen Zhu hadn’t let him lean.

Why should he? He didn’t want to end up with the same treatment as Tang Zhao.

He was different! He had the best relationship with A’zhu!

Bai Chen Zhu glanced at the bandages on him, which were even more numerous than Bai Tao’s. The urge to shoo him away flickered back and forth, but in the end, looking at his face as he hugged his arms and fell asleep, he sighed softly, his heart softening. “Jiang Ye, you’re being shameless.”

Now, it was hard to say who was taking advantage of whom.