294: Chapter 294 is quite white, but I'm not talking about the moon.

Heatwaves rolled across the base's training ground.

As the captain of the Fire-type squad, Ji Wushuang was currently standing in front of a group of new Ability Users.

Hands on her hips, her expression serious...

If one ignored her slightly unfocused eyes.

"Listen up! The key to Fire-type Superpowers is explosive power! It is passion! It is..."

Ji Wushuang waved her arms, giving a passionate lecture.

Yet, the image of Lin Yuan handing her a tissue while they were eating yesterday inexplicably appeared in her mind.

Those slender, distinctively jointed fingers, that gaze—faint yet carrying a hint of gentleness...

"Ah—!"

A scream interrupted Ji Wushuang's "flashback."

She snapped back to reality, realizing she had subconsciously conjured a fireball.

She had originally intended to demonstrate.

But her hand slipped, and the orange-red flame flew straight toward the equipment rack nearby.

Not only did it burn the rack to nothing,

but it also happened to scorch the vice-captain who was drinking water next to it.

An Earth-type Ability User, he was scalded into performing a tap dance right on the spot.

"Captain! That's murder!"

The vice-captain clutched his butt, tears threatening to fall.

Ji Wushuang was instantly so embarrassed she wanted to curl her toes into the ground.

She nearly dug a three-bedroom apartment out of the concrete training ground floor.

She quickly coughed twice, trying to maintain her captain's authority:

"Ahem! This is... this is the consequence of losing focus! I am using myself as a negative example for you all! Understand? If you lose focus on the battlefield, it is your own butts that will get burned!"

The new female team members looked at each other, then nodded in unison:

"Understood, Captain! The Captain is wise!"

Ji Wushuang's face flushed, and she waved her hand:

"Alright, alright, practice on your own. I... I am going to go on a patrol."

After saying that, she fled the training ground as if escaping.

In this Apocalypse base, Ji Wushuang had always been a whirlwind of energy.

She used to think that a woman should be like fire.

Passionate, direct; burn what she didn't like, protect what she did.

As for men, she had never really looked at any of them properly.

She thought most of them were weaklings, not even as capable of fighting as she was.

Until she met Lin Yuan.

At first, it was gratitude—gratitude for him saving her life, gratitude for him giving her the dignity to survive in this cruel Apocalypse.

But recently, this feeling seemed to have soured.

Like milk left out too long, it had fermented into a sweet and sour taste that made one's heart itch.

Ji Wushuang walked down the base's corridor, kicking small pebbles by the roadside in agitation.

"Didn't I just look at him? Is it really worth my heart beating this fast?"

She muttered to herself, raising a hand to touch her chest.

The heart inside was beating thumping happily, like she was carrying a rabbit that had just escaped its cage.

"Ji Wushuang, oh Ji Wushuang, how could you lose your composure just because of one man's gaze?"

She stopped and faced the reflection in the fire hydrant glass on the corridor wall.

She made a fierce expression.

It looked rather adorably fierce...

"Look at you, how spineless! So what if he's a bit strong, so what if he treats you a bit well? What's the big deal!"

While she was self-hypnotizing in front of the fire hydrant, Su Yuyan's cold voice suddenly came from behind her.

"If you continue to get horny at the fire hydrant, I will tell Lin Yuan."

Ji Wushuang was so startled she jumped a meter high on the spot.

Turning around, she saw Su Yuyan standing with her arms crossed, looking at her with an expression as if she were looking at an idiot.

"Who... who is getting horny! I am practicing facial muscle control!"

Ji Wushuang's face flushed red as she forced a lame excuse.

Su Yuyan's lips curled into a meaningful arc:

"Oh? Is that so? Then what was that about you shouting 'Lin Yuan' at the fire hydrant just now?"

"I never expected it, you are actually such a repressed woman, actually having fantasies about Lin Yuan??"

"I didn't shout! You heard wrong!"

Ji Wushuang felt all the blood in her body rushing to her face.

If there were a crack in the ground right now, she would definitely stuff herself inside and weld it shut.

"Heh."

Su Yuyan sneered, turned around to leave, and let a sentence drift back.

"If you like him, go for it. With the personality of a guy like Lin Yuan, he would definitely not refuse a great beauty like you."

Ji Wushuang froze in place.

Watching Su Yuyan's retreating back, she gritted her teeth in anger, yet was unable to refute.

Like?

These two words were like a thunderbolt, directly splitting the mush in her brain.

She leaned against the wall, her whole body like a deflated balloon.

It's over.

This time, it's really over.

Night fell, and the entire base was shrouded in silence.

Only the footsteps of the patrol team occasionally rang out, breaking the quiet of the night.

Ji Wushuang tossed and turned, unable to sleep.

Her mind was filled with Su Yuyan's words from the day,

Go for it?

How to go for it?

Should she play the role of a domineering female CEO and force... that kind of scenario??

This is all wrong!

In her agitation, she threw on a jacket and snuck up to the rooftop.

The wind on the rooftop was strong, carrying the unique, grim atmosphere of the Apocalypse, but tonight's moonlight was unexpectedly nice.

Ji Wushuang leaned against the railing, looking at the pitch-black base below, her thoughts drifting far away.

She recalled the scene of when she first met Lin Yuan.

At that time, she was in a sorry state, like a stray dog; the various events of her family made her thoughts suddenly drift.

She thought about how it was Lin Yuan who reached out his hand and pulled her back from hell.

She remembered his focus when he taught her to control her Superpower, and the trust he showed when he handed the Fire-type squad over to her.

"Am I... really starting to like him?"

She muttered to herself, her voice scattered by the wind.

This time, there was no hypocritical refutation in her internal monologue.

She shook her head violently, trying to shake that thought away.

"Right, it must be because training has been too tiring lately, causing hallucinations. Or maybe I ate too much for dinner, leading to insufficient blood supply to the brain. Yes, that must be it."

To prove that her "heart was as still as water," Ji Wushuang decided to perform a set of military boxing on the rooftop.

"Ha! Hey! Hu!"

She provided her own sound effects as she practiced.

Her movements were vigorous, attempting to dispel the romantic thoughts in her heart this way.

She executed a roundhouse kick, her posture impressively cool, while muttering lines of chuunibyou dialogue she had seen online.

Just as she was preparing to follow up with a high-difficulty "Divine Dragon Tail Whip,"

a low and familiar voice suddenly came from behind her.

"It seems you have plenty of energy, practicing martial arts... in the middle of the night?"

"Hah—Pfft!"

Ji Wushuang had just caught her breath, but upon hearing this voice, she instantly gasped.

Her foot slipped, her center of gravity lost, and she tumbled toward the edge of the rooftop.

"F*ck—"

A classic piece of national profanity escaped her lips.

If she fell, although with her constitution as an Ability User she wouldn't die,

it would definitely be a social death!

Tomorrow the whole base would know.

The Fire-type squad captain crippled herself because she practiced military boxing in the middle of the night.

Just as she thought she was about to have intimate contact with Mother Earth,

a strong, large hand firmly grabbed her wrist.

Immediately following that, a huge pulling force came.

Ji Wushuang only felt the world spinning.

The next second, she didn't fall to the ground, but crashed into a solid, warm embrace.

Her nose hit him painfully, and a faint scent, like mint or perhaps some kind of cold woody fragrance, instantly entered her nasal cavity.

That was the scent on Lin Yuan.

Time seemed to freeze in this moment.

Ji Wushuang froze in Lin Yuan's embrace.

Her hand was still in the awkward pose of the "Divine Dragon Tail Whip" from before, and one leg was even still hanging in mid-air.

Lin Yuan looked down at the woman in his arms, his eyes carrying a hint of helplessness and... amusement.

"Throwing yourself into my arms?"

He raised an eyebrow, his voice carrying a touch of teasing.

Boom—

Ji Wushuang felt like smoke was rising from the top of her head.

She scrambled to break free from Lin Yuan's embrace.

Taking two steps back, her back against the railing, she stuttered an explanation:

"N-no! I... I was just... just looking at the moon! Right! Looking at the moon! Look at how round this moon is! How big! How white!"

She pointed trembling fingers at the sky.

Lin Yuan looked in the direction of her finger; the sky was covered in dark clouds.

Let alone the moon, there wasn't even a single star.

"It is quite white, but that is not what I meant by moon."

Lin Yuan stared smilingly at Ji Wushuang, who was inches away.

"..."

The atmosphere was once very awkward.

Ji Wushuang wished she could slap herself.

Why say anything else, why did she have to say she was looking at the moon!

Now it's great, her IQ is being questioned too.

"Um... I meant... the moon in my heart."

She tried to make up for it, her voice getting quieter and quieter, finally even carrying a hint of a crying tone.

"Lin... how do you walk without making a sound? Do you know that scaring people can kill them?"

Lin Yuan looked at her embarrassed appearance, his lips slightly curling up.

He walked to the railing, stood side-by-side with her, and did not expose her clumsy lie.

"Can't sleep?" he asked.

"Mm... a little."

Ji Wushuang lowered her head, her fingers unconsciously scraping at the rust on the railing.

"Maybe... maybe I ate too much for dinner."

"Is that so?"

Lin Yuan turned his head, looking at her with deep eyes.

"Why do I feel like you've been a bit absent-minded lately? Daydreaming during training, spacing out during meals, even just now..."

He looked Ji Wushuang up and down:

"That set of punches just now was very... creative."

Ji Wushuang felt her face was hot enough to fry an egg.

"Please stop making fun of me."

She sighed in a self-abandoning way, simply giving up on pretending.

"I do have something on my mind."

"About what?" Lin Yuan asked.

Ji Wushuang opened her mouth, wanting to say "About you," but swallowed the words back.

She didn't dare to say it.

She was afraid that if she said it, she wouldn't even be able to maintain the current superior-subordinate relationship.

Lin Yuan was too outstanding, surrounded by so many outstanding women.

"Nothing, just... feeling a bit stressed."

She told a lie, her eyes dodging, "After all, since I became captain, I'm afraid I won't lead the team well, afraid of failing your trust."

Lin Yuan looked at her, his gaze seemingly able to see through her soul.

The night wind blew Ji Wushuang's somewhat messy long hair.

A few strands of hair brushed against Lin Yuan's cheek, tickling.

The distance between the two was very close, close enough that Ji Wushuang could clearly hear her own thunderous heartbeat.

She even suspected that this heartbeat was loud enough for Lin Yuan to hear.

"Wushuang."

Lin Yuan suddenly called her name.

"Here!" Ji Wushuang subconsciously stood at attention, like a soldier waiting for inspection.

Lin Yuan chuckled.

This smile was very faint, but under the night, it appeared exceptionally charming.

He stretched out his hand; Ji Wushuang instinctively wanted to dodge, but her body honestly froze in place without moving.

That hand landed gently on top of her head, ruffling her hair.

The movement wasn't gentle, even carrying a bit of a technique like petting a dog.

It messed up her already messy hair into a bird's nest.

"You don't need to put so much pressure on yourself."

Lin Yuan's voice was low and magnetic.

"You are doing very well, even better than I imagined."

Ji Wushuang was stunned.

She felt the temperature coming from the top of her head.

Her whole person felt like she had been struck by an electric current, tingling and numb.

"Also."

Lin Yuan withdrew his hand, looked into her eyes, his tone suddenly becoming serious.

"You've been absent-minded lately, is it really just because of stress?"

Ji Wushuang's heart skipped a beat.

She raised her head, just in time to crash into Lin Yuan's pair of deep, starry-sky-like eyes.

In that instant, she felt all her disguises had been stripped away.

"I..."

She wanted to deny, wanted to escape, but looking into those eyes, the lie just wouldn't come out.

Lin Yuan watched her conflicted appearance and didn't force her.

He laughed again, this time with a hint of obvious pleasure in his laughter.

"Alright, if you don't want to say it, then don't."

He turned around, waving his hand with his back to her.

After saying that, he strode away with his long legs toward the stairwell.

After taking two steps, he stopped again, without turning back, just saying faintly:

"If there is anything, whether it is about training or personal... you can tell me. My door is always open for you."

Until Lin Yuan's figure completely disappeared at the stairwell.

Ji Wushuang still maintained her previous posture standing in place.

The night wind howled, blowing her clothes with a rustling sound.

After a long time, she slowly raised her hand and touched the spot that Lin Yuan had just ruffled.

It was as if his body temperature still remained there.

"Personal... can I talk about that too?"

Ji Wushuang muttered to herself, her lips gradually curling up, finally unable to help but reveal a silly smile.

"Hehe..."

She giggled a few times on the empty rooftop.

Suddenly realizing that she must look like an idiot right now, she quickly covered her mouth and looked left and right.

Fortunately, no one saw it.

But the palpitation in her heart could not be suppressed no matter what.

The original emotions of conflict, inferiority, and confusion.

After Lin Yuan's words, they miraculously dissipated for the most part.

Replacing them.

Was an unprecedented sweetness and... determination.

"So, he cares about me too."

Ji Wushuang took a deep breath and waved her fist at the pitch-black night sky.

Seemingly having made a major decision.

Returning to her room, Ji Wushuang was still too excited to sleep.

She tossed and turned on the bed.

One moment she held the pillow in her arms as if it were Lin Yuan and giggled, and the next moment she kicked the quilt onto the floor to vent her excess energy.

Until Chen Hanyue's cold voice came from next door:

"Ji Wushuang, if you have another episode, I will slap you to death."

Ji Wushuang finally quieted down.

She wrapped herself in the quilt, revealing only a pair of bright, sparkling eyes.

Do you dare to slap me to death...

She replied silently in her heart.

Then she closed her eyes, and with a mind full of pink bubbles, fell into a deep sleep.

In her dream, she was wearing a wedding dress.

Riding a fire dragon, Lin Yuan stood at the end of the red carpet waiting for her.

It's just that the red carpet was a bit strange, no matter how she looked at it, it looked like the training ground's track...

And what Lin Yuan was holding in his hand was not a bouquet, but a huge wrench.

He said to her: "Come, tighten this screw and I'll marry you."

"Hehe... tighten... I'm tightening..."

Ji Wushuang talked in her sleep, her drool wetting the pillow.