Chapter 89: Apocalypse 4

During the past few days, Ye Yixian had also not rested well. Following Aunt Liu into the villa, she was warmly asked, “Miss, are you hungry? Would you like to bathe first, or eat first?”

The words "bathe first" tugged at her nerves. She stared straight at Aunt Liu. “Didn’t they say the base is badly short of water?”

It had already been three days since she entered this world without a bath. Her whole body felt awful, and she very, very much wanted one.

“In the base, General Xia has a certain supply, so we’re not really short,” Aunt Liu said with a smiling face. “Miss, please wait a moment. I’ll go draw water into the tub for you.”

Learning that she could bathe made Ye Yixian very happy.

Aunt Liu also brought her clean clothes for a change. When Ye Yixian entered the bathroom, she saw steam rising from the water. She reached out to touch it, and remembered clearly that when Aunt Liu had just brought the water in, it had been cold.

Aunt Liu was no simple person either. After thinking about it for a moment, she decided not to dwell on it. In two or three quick motions she stripped off her clothes and jumped into the bathtub.

The water, warm and just right, wrapped around her, and Ye Yixian felt every pore in her body opening.

It was too comfortable.

After scrubbing herself thoroughly several times, Ye Yixian put on clean clothes and walked out.

When she caught the scent of food, her steps faltered, then quickened at once as she followed the aroma downstairs.

Unexpectedly, she ran into Kou Yuandao and the others just as they were coming out of the study after finishing their discussion.

“Meimei,” General Xia called to her, lifting a hand as though he meant to pat her head.

Ye Yixian thought of how he had not bathed for nearly a month, and she stepped back several paces, her eyes full of disgust as she looked at him. He had the nerve to say the base was short on water; clearly there was water, he was just too lazy to wash. Thinking of that, Ye Yixian felt even more repulsed, and that disgust spread to the two beside him, Kou Yuandao and Li Qing.

They had smelled just as bad before, and she had not noticed it. Now she did. Damn, they stank.

“Haha, Mr. Kou and Miss Li, stay and have a simple meal with us,” General Xia said with a hearty laugh as he withdrew his hand and turned to the two beside him. “Aunt Liu has already prepared the dishes.”

“Sure,” Li Qing said readily at the mention of food. After all, fresh food was scarce in the apocalypse, and at the home of General Xia, the base’s leader, the ingredients would certainly be excellent.

Kou Yuandao had originally intended to refuse, but seeing Li Qing agree so cheerfully, and seeing her walk forward without caring about Ye Yixian’s disgust, taking her hand and talking to her, the refusal on his lips turned into a single word: “All right.”

Hearing his answer, General Xia was a little surprised. It was normal enough for Li Qing or someone else to stay for a meal. Since Kou Yuandao had joined the base, he had repeatedly wanted to invite the young man to dine, only to be refused every time.

He noticed Kou Yuandao’s gaze had been fixed on the two girls ahead. Seeing the man’s expression, calm yet faintly unpleasant, he looked again at Li Qing, who was chatting endlessly with his own daughter up front.

So it was Li Qing he liked!

He had heard before that the two of them were close. Probably he was worried that if she stayed alone in the villa, she would be taken advantage of by him.

General Xia thought this in secret.

Aunt Liu’s cooking was excellent. After three days without it, eating hot food again almost brought Ye Yixian to tears.

Kou Yuandao and Li Qing did not slow their pace of eating at all.

Seeing this, General Xia urged them to eat more.

By the end of the meal, everyone was very satisfied.

After eating, Kou Yuandao and Li Qing took their leave.

General Xia escorted them to the gate and said with a smile, “Mr. Kou and Miss Li are both quite capable. Have you considered joining our City Guard?”

The City Guard was the team of ability users he led. Because the ability users and ordinary people in the city all had to pay rent or protection fees, the City Guard’s lodging and food were better than those of ordinary people.

Kou Yuandao politely declined, saying that the people under him were all careless and hot-tempered, and he feared that if they joined the City Guard, they would cause trouble for General Xia.

Li Qing was even more straightforward, saying that she had no intention of forming a team for the time being.

After the two left the Xia residence and had gone some distance, Li Qing turned to the man beside her and asked, “You didn’t tell him that Xia Meimei awakened healing powers just now?”

“She’ll say it herself,” Kou Yuandao replied in a flat tone.

“I don’t think so,” Li Qing said, touching her chin. “Their relationship doesn’t look very good.”

A faint glint flashed through Kou Yuandao’s eyes, but he said nothing.

The two parted ways and each went home.

After watching Kou Yuandao and Li Qing leave, General Xia’s face darkened. He turned back into the villa and saw his daughter sitting on the sofa eating fruit.

He strode forward, his shadow blocking the light from Ye Yixian. She looked up and saw General Xia looking down at her.

“Where is that thing?” he asked.

Ye Yixian’s hand paused on the fruit. Her mind worked rapidly, but even Dog Remnant could offer no answer.

“I don’t know,” Ye Yixian replied.

“What?” The air around General Xia turned irritable and violent. “How could you not know?”

“When the apocalypse came, the research institute was in total chaos. I don’t know who took it away,” Ye Yixian guessed that the thing General Xia wanted had been something the original owner had been told to take out before the end of the world.

After all, the original owner had stayed in the research institute for quite some time before the apocalypse.

“Useless trash. What use are you!” He could no longer keep up his kindly mask. Lifting his leg, General Xia meant to kick her.

Ye Yixian of course would not stand there obediently and let him. She dodged swiftly and said, “If you want to find that thing, you can’t do it without me.”

All the curses in General Xia’s belly were forcibly swallowed back. He began to study this daughter with a dark, uncertain look. She had been timid and brainless before; it seemed he would have to coax her.

His expression softened a little. “Meimei, Father was too anxious. Father apologizes to you. You know how important that thing is to Father.”

Ye Yixian pressed her lips together and said nothing. Seeing this, General Xia thought there was hope and pressed on. “With it, our family will have supreme power and status in this apocalypse. Whatever you want, you can have it.”

“Dad.”

At that moment, a young man and woman walked in from outside.

“You’re back,” General Xia said, his ugly expression returning to calm as he addressed them warmly. “You must be tired. Aunt Liu left some food for you.”

“I smelled the braised beef and radish I like,” the woman said happily. Then she saw Ye Yixian standing nearby holding fruit, and her expression shifted as she pointed at her. “Dad, why is this slut here?”

“Linlin, she is your younger sister,” General Xia said.

“Pah. What younger sister? She’s clearly an illegitimate daughter. She doesn’t deserve to be my sister.”

“Linlin,” General Xia said, his expression growing somewhat unpleasant.

The young man beside her tugged at Xia Linlin’s sleeve and said to Ye Yixian, “Meimei, don’t take your sister’s words to heart. She’s still young and doesn’t know any better.”

“Mm, yes, she does look tall, but her brain is even dumber than a three-year-old’s,” Ye Yixian said with great understanding, nodding.